{
    "Contributors": [
        "Vansh Patel"
    ],
    "Source": [
        "health_fact"
    ],
    "URL": [
        "https://huggingface.co/datasets/health_fact"
    ],
    "Categories": [
        "Sentence Composition"
    ],
    "Reasoning": [
        "Deductive Reasoning"
    ],
    "Definition": [
        "Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long."
    ],
    "Input_language": [
        "English"
    ],
    "Output_language": [
        "English"
    ],
    "Instruction_language": [
        "English"
    ],
    "Domains": [
        "Healthcare"
    ],
    "Positive Examples": [
        {
            "input": "\"Although the story didn’t cite the cost of appendectomy – emergency or urgent surgery – and we wish it had, we nonetheless will give it a satisfactory score because it at least cited what the editorial writer wrote, \"\"A secondary benefit is the savings to the hospital generated by minimizing staff and anesthesiologist presence late in the evening and during the wee hours of the morning.\"\" As with our harms score above, although the story didn’t give absolute numbers, in this case we think it was sufficient for it to report that \"\"The scientists found no significant difference among the groups in the patients’ condition 30 days after surgery or in the length of their operation or hospital stay.\"\" Although the story didn’t give absolute numbers, in this case we think it was sufficient for it to report that \"\"The scientists found no significant difference among the groups in the patients’ condition 30 days after surgery or in the length of their operation or hospital stay.\"\" Despite running less than 300 words, this story did an adequate job in explaining the quality of the evidence, including pointing out limitations. No disease-mongering here. The story meets the bare minimum requirement for this criterion in that it at least cited what an editorial stated. The focus of the story was on a study comparing emergency appendectomy with surgery done up to 12 hours later or beyond. This is the whole focus of the story – and one we applaud – when it begins:  \"\"Appendectomy is the most common emergency surgery in the world, but it doesn’t have to be.\"\" There were no claims made about the novelty of this research, and we may have wished for a bit more context on this. Nonetheless, the potential for guiding future care decisions was made clear. Not applicable. Given that the story only pulled excerpts from the journal article and the accompanying editorial, and didn’t include any fresh quotes from interviews, we can’t be sure of the extent to which it may have been influenced by a news release.\"",
            "output": "Some appendicitis cases may not require ’emergency’ surgery",
            "explanation": "The paragraph mentions that \"Appendectomy is the most common emergency surgery in the world, but it doesn’t have to be.\" which is considered evidence for the output. Thus, the output is a valid claim."
        },
        {
            "input": "The story does discuss costs, but the framing is problematic. The story, based on a conversation with one source, the study’s lead investigator, says, “It’s difficult at this point to predict costs. However, he expects costs will not approach those for Provenge, the pricey treatment vaccine for prostate cancer approved by the FDA in 2010. Provenge costs $93,000 for the one-month, three-dose treatment. Medicare covers it.” This tells readers that, no matter what the drug costs, Medicare likely will cover it. We appreciate the effort to bring cost information into the story, but this type of information is misleading. The story does explain that only one patient remains cancer free following the study. It then details how for most of the patients cancer continued to progress after 2 months. It says that the median overall survival in both the breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients was less than 16 months. But the story is framed in such a way to highlight the one potentially positive outcome of the study and to downplay the negative. We read more sooner about the one patient who may have responded well to the vaccine than we do about the 25 other patients who did not. The story mentions side effects in a satisfactory way. Technically, the story provides readers with much of the information they would need to assess the validity of the study, but it comes out in bits and pieces. For example, we only find out near the end of the story that “The woman, who remains disease-free, had a previous treatment with a different treatment vaccine. ‘That might have primed her immune system,’ Gulley speculates. She also had only one regimen of chemotherapy, perhaps keeping her immune system stronger.” This casts much doubt on the study’s design, and it would have been nice to have seen some outside expertise brought in to either discuss those design problems or to torpedo the story altogether. Again, the story deserves high marks for being very specific in the lead and throughout the story. It says, that the vaccine is “for breast and ovarian cancer that has spread to other parts of the body” in the lead and later details the particular circumstances of the study cohort. It says, “The patients had already undergone a variety of treatments but the cancer was progressing. Twenty one of the 26 had undergone three or more chemotherapy regimens.” This is the root of the story’s main shortcoming. Almost all of the information in the story comes from one source: Dr. James Gulley, who oversaw the study. Gulley is quite enthusiastic about this vaccine, despite the evidence, and the story needed more perspectives to put this vaccine into a broader context. At the very end, there are a few comments from Dr. Vincent K. Tuohy, who also is working on a breast cancer vaccine. Because of his competing research, he seems to have a conflict, but even putting that aside, his comments were not used to their best effect. There was no comparison in the story to existing alternatives. The median survival, for example, is presented without the context of how long these patients might have lived had they been undergoing standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments. We give high marks to the story for saying right in the lead that the findings are from “a preliminary study in 26 patients.” That tells readers both that the findings need to be interpreted with caution and that the treatment is not available to most people. The concept of vaccines for breast/ovarian cancer is indeed novel, and the story acknowledges that other vaccines are being studied. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": "Study: Vaccine for Breast, Ovarian Cancer Has Potential",
            "explanation": "The output highlights key points mentioned like \"concept of vaccines for breast/ovarian cancer is indeed novel\" and \"shows promise\", the output also highlights the contradicting evidence clearly and considers the overall point of view of the paragraph. Thus, the output is a vaild claim."
        }
    ],
    "Negative Examples": [
        {
            "input": "The story does discuss costs,but the framing is problematic. The story,based on a conversation with one source,the study’s lead investigator,says,“It’s difficult at this point to predict costs. However,he expects costs will not approach those for Provenge,the pricey treatment vaccine for prostate cancer approved by the FDA in 2010. Provenge costs $93,0 for the one-month,three- dose treatment. Medicare covers it.” This tells readers that,no matter what the drug costs,Medicare likely will cover it. We appreciate the effort to bring cost information into the story,but this type of information is misleading. The story does explain that only one patient remains cancer free following the study. It then details how for most of the patients cancer continued to progress after 2 months. It says that the median overall survival in both the breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients was less than 16 months. But the story is framed in such a way to highlight the one potentially positive outcome of the study and to downplay the negative. We read more sooner about the one patient who may have responded well to the vaccine than we do about the 25 other patients who did not. The story mentions side effects in a satisfactory way. Technically,the story provides readers with much of the information they would need to assess the validity of the study,but it comes out in bits and pieces. For example,we only find out near the end of the story that “The woman,who remains disease-free,had a previous treatment with a different treatment vaccine. ‘That might have primed her immune system,’ Gulley speculates. She also had only one regimen of chemotherapy,perhaps keeping her immune system stronger.” This casts much doubt on the study’s design,and it would have been nice to have seen some outside expertise brought in to either discuss those design problems or to torpedo the story altogether. Again,the story deserves high marks for being very specific in the lead and throughout the story. It says,that the vaccine is “for breast and ovarian cancer that has spread to other parts of the body” in the lead and later details the particular circumstances of the study cohort. It says,“The patients had already undergone a variety of treatments but the cancer was progressing. Twenty one of the 26 had undergone three or more chemotherapy regimens.” This is the root of the story’s main shortcoming. Almost all of the information in the story comes from one source:Dr. James Gulley,who oversaw the study. Gulley is quite enthusiastic about this vaccine,despite the evidence,and the story needed more perspectives to put this vaccine into a broader context. At the very end,there are a few comments from Dr. Vincent K. Tuohy,who also is working on a breast cancer vaccine. Because of his competing research,he seems to have a conflict,but even putting that aside,his comments were not used to their best effect. There was no comparison in the story to existing alternatives. The median survival,for example,is presented without the context of how long these patients might have lived had they been undergoing standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments. We give high marks to the story for saying right in the lead that the findings are from “a preliminary study in 26 patients.” That tells readers both that the findings need to be interpreted with caution and that the treatment is not available to most people. The concept of vaccines for breast/ovarian cancer is indeed novel,and the story acknowledges that other vaccines are being studied. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": "Study: Vaccine for Breast, Ovarian Cancer Has Zero Potential",
            "explanation": "It is mentioned in the paragraph that \"concept of vaccines for breast/ovarian cancer is indeed novel\" and \"shows promise\". Thus, the output contradicts the overall point of view of the paragraph and the output is invalid claim."
        }
    ],
    "Instances": [
        {
            "id": "task1368-764c32debdb04d9196240d4e2c79d7f7",
            "input": "Antibody tests show whether whether people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and developed immunity - potentially allowing them to return to their places of work. The British government has provisionally ordered 17.5 million of them, but health minister Matt Hancock has said some of those already being trialled work poorly, and that one test even missed three out of four cases. Brigette Bard, chief executive of the diagnostics firm BioSure, said that her firm’s at-home test could not get as far as a formal trial as she had received no details of the approval criteria. “How they fail tests when there is no specification, I literally have no idea. We have been begging to be told what to do. We have a test ready to submit,” she said. “We need to get our test approved, and they’re not giving us an option of how to get it approved.”   BioSure has been producing an at-home HIV test since 2015, and Bard met Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March to discuss her COVID-19 test. At-home tests, in this case of blood obtained by pricking a finger, are designed to be read by the person taking the test, whereas others need results to be read in a lab. Bard said laboratory trials were producing good data, but that the firm needed to know what size and scope of trial and what accuracy level would be accepted by regulators. Doris-Ann Williams, chief executive of the British In Vitro Diagnostic Association, said that clarity would be coming soon. “There will be specifications released for tests this week by MHRA (the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) which will help companies understand the technical performance expected for their kits,” she said in an email. The MHRA itself said it was developing the specifications but declined to give a timeline. Once criteria were established, Bard said the trials would take one or two weeks, and then BioSure could begin production, subject to approval, with the aim of making 1 million tests a month. “If our test fails the validation, then it’s not fit to go to market,” she said. “I’m happy to go through whatever validation they want us to go through.”",
            "output": [
                "Britain to reveal trial criteria for coronavirus antibody tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44428613e8334da097497bd0aa869771",
            "input": "The story did not provide cost estimates for either approach; the story did mention that the through-the-wrist approach was associated with shorter hospital stays (and therefore reduced costs.) There was no discussion in the story about whether there are different costs associated with the procedure itself. The story explained that the through-the-wrist approach was associated with lower risk of bleeding and shorter hospitalizations but should have included a caveat explanation about the strength of research and that the results of the study reported on require follow-up investigation. The story mentioned risk of bleeding at the site of catheter insertion as a possible harm of treatment which was greater for those who had a the catheter inserted in the leg. To its credit, the story provided absolute risk information, i.e. pointing out the 60% reduction in bleeding was the difference between 2 and 1% of patients having this complication. The story did not mention whether there were any particular side effects or harms associated with catheter insertion at the wrist. The story explained that the study was an analysis of information contained within a national registry. But it should have explained that this is the weakest type of study from which to draw a clinical conclusion (such as this procedure is safer or as safe as the alternative). Thus the statement in the story ‘both methods were equally effective’ should have been more tentative. The underlying weakness of the study, that it is not a controlled trial, may mean that the patients who had the wrist approach had something else about them that helped to reduce risk and that the researchers may not have been able to take into consideration. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included interview material from one clinician who was not associated with the study reported on. The quality of the piece would have been improved if it had included input from physicians who might have explained some of the reasons why not all interventional cardiologists use the wrist approach. The story did an adequate job of reporting about a recent study comparing two approaches to angioplasty. The story indicated that the angioplasty using access through the wrist as opposed to a leg, was used much less frequently.vThe story explained that extra training is required in order to use this procedure and many doctors are not trained in this technique. This would contribute to the procedure’s limited availability. The story did a good job of explaining that neither of the two approaches compared were new and that the point of the study was to determine how the two sites compare in terms of their use. The story does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Angioplasty through the wrist backed by new study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47cbc36573bf494b8755451283878b62",
            "input": "As part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, the efforts center around more than 360 accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are networks of doctors, hospitals and other providers specially organized to help move Medicare away from traditional fee-for-service medicine. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said preliminary data show that the ACOs produced $380 million in savings vis-a-vis traditional Medicare in 2012 by giving doctors and other healthcare providers the incentive to focus on improved outcomes for patients instead of fees from tests and services. Medicare, the $575 billion government healthcare system for 51 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries, faces growing financial pressures as a result of America’s aging population. A mainstay, the trust fund that pays for hospitalization, is expected to be exhausted in 2026. Deficit hawks view Medicare as a future driver of the federal debt and have called for major systemic reforms. But the Obama administration has pursued gradual changes including the reform of care delivery systems. So-called fee-for-service medicine is widely viewed as a cause of rising healthcare costs, because it calls for paying healthcare providers for tests and services that are sometimes unnecessary. Obamacare seeks to tackle costs by exploring ACOs and other new healthcare business models intended to find savings that do not jeopardize care. A main goal is to generate savings large enough to be shared between Medicare and providers. But some experts are skeptical, saying significant cost reductions could be hard to maintain over time. But CMS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, runs two different ACO programs. In its largest, 54 of 114 ACO networks achieved lower than expected expenditures. But only 29 saw savings big enough to share with providers. All told, the program produced $128 million in net savings for Medicare’s trust funds. “Overall, the ACO program’s a net saver to the Medicare program,” CMS principal deputy administrator Jon Blum told reporters in a conference call. “It’s giving us great confidence that this is the right course for the Medicare program and we are confident that it will continue to show quality improvement and cost savings.”  Officials said the ACOs also achieved a wide range of quality goals. But CMS released no quality statistics. Thursday’s government release drew some cautious optimism from the healthcare industry. “Today’s report reflects important steps. More work is needed to modernize our antiquated Medicare payment system and base payment on evidence-based quality measures and proven patient outcomes,” said Dr. John Noseworthy, chief executive of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which is not part of the government’s program. “As results of the team-based care models are analyzed, those most effective in driving down health care costs without compromising safety and quality should become part of the healthcare system,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. says results encouraging for healthcare delivery reforms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b06cfa2984543cbb2b960ba94c3b996",
            "input": "The lawsuit brought by Terry Leavitt in Alameda Superior Court in Oakland is the first of over a dozen J&J talc cases scheduled for trial in 2019. The company is facing some 11,700 lawsuits over the safety of talc in its products. Leavitt’s lawyer, Joseph Satterley, accused J&J in his opening statement of knowingly selling a dangerous product, according to an online broadcast by Courtroom View Network. “The evidence will show that J&J knew about the asbestos risk and they continued to sell the product, giving consumers no opportunity to protect themselves,” he said. A lawyer for co-defendant Imerys Talc America, a unit of French Imerys SA (IMTP.PA), told the jury the evidence would show there is no asbestos in its talc and that Leavitt’s disease was not caused by its product. A lawyer for J&J will make his opening remarks on Tuesday. “Our talc is safe and does not contain asbestos. For decades, Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder has repeatedly been tested and been found not to contain asbestos,” the company said in response to a request for comment on Monday. J&J and Imerys have argued in court that decades of studies have shown their products to be safe and asbestos-free. Leavitt’s is the first talc case to go to trial since Reuters on Dec. 14 published a special report detailing internal J&J documents showing talc in the company’s raw and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos from the 1970s into the early 2000s. The report prompted a stock selloff on fears of J&J’s liability. Shares on Monday closed at $127.01, 14 percent below their Dec. 13 value. While earlier talc lawsuits alleged talc itself causes ovarian cancer, plaintiffs’ lawyers have more recently focused on arguing that asbestos contamination in talc caused mesothelioma, a form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure. Leavitt’s case is being tried by the same team of lawyers, including Satterley, who in April 2018 won a $117 million award by a New Jersey jury for a man who blamed his mesothelioma on J&J’s cosmetic talc. That verdict is under appeal. In 11 cases so far alleging asbestos contamination in talc, three resulted in wins for plaintiffs, awarding damages as high as $4.69 billion in a July 2018 multi-plaintiff ovarian cancer verdict. J&J won three other cases and another five ended in hung juries. J&J has appealed all of the plaintiff verdicts, and the company said it is confident the verdicts would be overturned on appeal. Leavitt was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017. She was born in the Philippines and claims she was exposed to J&J cosmetic talc that originated from South Korea mines during the first two years of her life before her parents moved back to the United States in 1968, Satterley said on Monday. He said testing of Asian talc samples from the 1960s and 1970s by his own expert would show Korean-mined talc tested positive for asbestos fibers, as has talc from U.S. sources. J&J in court filings in the Leavitt case said that fibers found in the Korean talc or any of its other cosmetic talc could not be classified as asbestos and referred to them as non-asbestos forms that its experts say are harmless. Geologically, some asbestos can occur as “non-asbestiform” rocks. Both forms often occur together and in talc deposits. The company in its Monday statement did not specifically address the allegations surrounding the South Korean mine.",
            "output": [
                "Latest trial in J&J talc litigations gets under way in California."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0aef7caad84f48959aff391e2a2e7cc5",
            "input": "On 18 March 2016, an image of an opossum was uploaded to Imgur with overlaid text reading as follows:  Given the frequently absurd nature of “amazing facts” memes, many viewers were rightly skeptical of the claim attached to that photograph. The image provided no citations to substantiate the information it presented, and the notion that opossums were a possible tool in the epidemiological battle against Lyme disease seemed implausible to some. As it turned out, there is at least some truth to the opossum-as-tick-slayer rumors. On 18 April 2014, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and NewsTimes published an article that focused on the role of opossums in the spread of Lyme disease with respect to their role in the ecosystem: [N]ow ecologists have learned something else about opossums. They’re a sort of magnet when it comes to riding the world of black-legged ticks, which spread Lyme disease. “Don’t hit opossums if they’ve playing dead in the road,” said Richard Ostfeld, of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. Ostfeld is forest ecologist and an expert on the environmental elements of infectious diseases like Lyme disease. Several years ago, scientists … tested six species — white-footed mice, chipmunks, squirrels, opossums and veerys and catbirds — by capturing and caging them, and then exposing each test subject to 100 ticks … [O]f the six, the opossums were remarkably good at getting rid of the ticks — much more so that any of the others. [A]mong other opossum traits, there is this: They groom themselves fastidiously, like cats. If they find a tick, they lick it off and swallow it … Extrapolating from their findings, Ostfeld said, the team estimated that in one season, an opossum can kill about 5,000 ticks … Some ticks end up getting their blood meal from the possum. But more than 90 percent of them ended up being groomed away and swallowed. “They’re net destroyers of ticks,” Ostfeld said. Ostfeld had previously discouraged disruption of opossum populations for this reason. In July 2012, he said in a podcast: Because many ticks try to feed on opossums and few of them survive the experience. Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out — we never would have thought that ahead of time — but they kill the vast majority — more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them. So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health. Ostfeld was also named as one author of a September 2009 study in Proceedings of the Royal Society which examined animal kingdom hosts “as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease” and asserted that: By subjecting field-caught hosts to parasitism by larval blacklegged ticks, we found that some host species (e.g. opossums, squirrels) that are abundantly parasitized in nature kill 83–96% of the ticks that attempt to attach and feed, while other species are more permissive of tick feeding. [T]he vast majority (96.5%) of larval ticks that encounter an opossum and attempt to feed are apparently consumed. Working backwards, [we calculate that] during any given week in the larval activity peak, each opossum must host more than 5500 larval ticks to produce 199 that successfully feed. By this logic, during the larval peak, each mouse encounters approximately 50 larval ticks per week, almost half of which feed to repletion and become nymphs. As far as “amazing facts” images go, the opossum/Lyme disease one was very well researched, with numbers that matched up with what ecologists have learned about opossums, deer ticks, and the spread of Lyme disease in recent years (although those studies surmised opossums kill approximately 5,000 ticks per season, not per week).",
            "output": [
                "Opossums kill thousands of ticks each week, inhibiting the spread of Lyme Disease to humans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cdd7fdb62a0456cb9657aa17a2a23a4",
            "input": "Those candidates include Lauren Underwood, a 31-year-old registered nurse from Illinois and part of the Democrats’ master plan to regain control of the House. While Underwood is no fan of President Donald Trump, she said her No. 1 concern — and the top concern of the voters she hopes to will send her to Washington — is access to health care. Attacking the Republican president hard just isn’t necessarily a winning play in Illinois’ 14th congressional district, said Underwood, who served as an adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services under Democratic President Barack Obama. “I don’t talk about him that much. He has a higher approval rating than my congressman does, so we talk about our congressman,” said Underwood, who’s hoping to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren in a district that narrowly backed Trump two years ago. Other Democrats aiming to flip House seats say they’re also trying to zero in on policy more than the president. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has its hopes pinned on 50-plus candidates looking to upend enough seats — 23 — to wrest control of the chamber from the GOP for the first time in eight years. Republicans have their own plan to retain control, but Democrats are banking they have more than just both momentum and history on their side. U.S. Rep. Denny Heck is helping lead the effort to flip the House. The Washington Democrat said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee can assist candidates with a range of tasks — from tapping into a national donor base to aiding with the basic mechanics of building a campaign. But he warned that trash-talking Trump will get a candidate only so far. “What candidates ought to be doing is talking about that crowded freeway that they need to get additional funds to widen or additional funds to provide mass transit for, or that lake that is becoming polluted and they need the EPA to step up,” Heck said. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is also on the “Red to Blue” list. Mucarsel-Powell, who came from Ecuador as an immigrant with her mother, said Florida’s 26th Congressional District — the state’s southernmost district — is one of the most vulnerable for Republicans in the country. She pointed to a 16-point win by Hillary Clinton there in 2016. The seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo. While Mucarsel-Powell doesn’t shy away from talking about Trump, she says she’s more focused on the struggles of local residents. “They don’t have access to health care. They don’t have good quality education,” she said, adding that tens of thousands depend on the Obama 2010 health care law that Republicans have worked to undo. Talk of a Democratic blue wave is overblown, according to Matt Gorman, communication director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He said the committee — which has its own “Young Guns” program — is raising impressive sums and has battle-tested incumbents who know they’re going to be targets. Gorman said the NRCC is also urging candidates to run on local issues and not focus on the latest headlines on cable new or Twitter. He said polling shows the party is in better shape than many assume. “This is going to be a fight and certainly we’re going to work like we’re 10 points down as we do every day, but for the bedwetters out there who are claiming that all hope is loss I would encourage them to actually look at the data,” he said. “It’s simple math.” Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark, who is also heading up the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” initiative, said many candidates she’s been working with are more eager to dig into what’s on the minds of voters than taking swipes at Trump. “They’re not concerned with talking about Donald Trump as much as they are about talking about how people in their communities want their children to have job opportunities in the communities that they grew up in,” Clark said. While defeating Trump may galvanize the Democratic faithful, the party is still fumbling for a wider unifying message, according to Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor and former political media consultant. And Democrats may have trouble finding issues, local or not, for voters to latch onto in November. “The problem is that unemployment is low, economic confidence is relatively high, so to tell people you’ve never had it so bad when compared to eight years ago they’ve got it pretty good, that’s sort of also a tough road to hoe,” he said. “The Democrats may have history on the side. The question is A, will they blow it? And B, is Trump such an anomaly that history is being rewritten?” Roxane Pirayesh, a 32-year-old from Sacramento, California, who works for an education nonprofit, said in the end, the pitch from Democrats has to be more than just an anti-Trump drumbeat — and she’s not sure everyone’s gotten the message. “I think that’s probably the biggest flaw coming out of the Democratic Party,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Democrats hoping to flip House not just trash-talking Trump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-716df8217798423093676c20f09a175a",
            "input": "CES is allowing space for sex tech companies as a one-year trial. At the show, such companies were scattered throughout the health and wellness section, near startups pitching fitness trackers and infrared saunas. Lora DiCarlo, a startup that pushed for changes after organizers revoked its award, showed off its Osé robotic “personal massager.” It’s one of a dozen companies at the show focused on vibrators, lube dispensers and other sex tech products. Founders of these startups say their products are about empowerment and wellness for women, something they say has often been overlooked in tech. The historically male-dominated tech trade show has received criticism in past years for having an all-male lineup of speakers and for previously allowing scantily clad “booth babes,” fostering a “boys’ club” reputation. Besides allowing sex tech, CES organizers brought in an official “equality partner,” The Female Quotient, to help ensure gender diversity. The Female Quotient, which trains companies in equality practices, will hold a conference for women during the four-day show, which opened Tuesday. “It’s been a process,” said Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on CES. It’s been a longer process for many sex tech companies to convince investors that they are part of a growing trend that has enough customers. Much of the push has come from the startups’ female founders and from younger consumers who talk more openly about sexuality. As with other technologies, some exhibitors including Lora DiCarlo had prominent booths at CES, while others such as the wearable vibrator company Crave were tucked away. Crave’s exhibit included a camper with a “Build-a-Vibe-Workshop,” where attendees could get an engraved vibrator to wear around their neck. Sex tech has existed in some form for decades. But the gates really began to open in 2016, said Andrea Barrica, founder of sex education site O.school. That year, several other “fem tech” companies made progress in areas such as menstruation and menopause. Those paved the way for sex tech to grow and get investors interested. “Larger institutions are starting to take note, all the way from VC firms to large Fortune 100 companies,” said Barrica, who recently published the book “Sextech Revolution: The Future of Sexual Wellness.” Large institutions like CES had no choice but to look at sex tech, she said. The journey hasn’t been easy. Sex tech founders, many of them women, recount being turned down by dozens of investors. They faced decency arguments and entrenched corporate standards that equated them with porn. But investors are becoming more receptive, said Cindy Gallop, a former advertising executive turned sex tech entrepreneur and founder of the website MakeLoveNotPorn. “It’s entirely because of our refusal to allow the business world to put us down,” she said. Founders insist that their devices — ranging from vibrators to lube dispensers to accessories — have effects outside the bedroom. “Sexual health and wellness is health and wellness,” said Lora DiCarlo, CEO and founder of the company of the same name. “It does way more than just pleasure. It’s immediately connected to stress relief, to better sleep, to empowerment and confidence.” DiCarlo’s $290 Osé device has gotten $3 million worth of advance sales, bolstered in part by the attention it received after CES organizers overturned a decision by an independent panel of judges to give the vibrator a prestigious Innovation Honoree Award in the robotics and drone category. The organizers, CTA, told the company it reserved the right to rescind awards for devices deemed “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image.” DiCarlo and other female founders pushed back for banning them but allowing humanoid sex robots meant to serve men the previous year. Following criticism, CES organizers ultimately  reinstated the award and apologized. A few months later, the show announced policy changes such as a dress code to prevent skimpy outfits and new “Innovation for All” sessions with senior diversity officials. Osé began shipping to customers this month. DiCarlo said the company is planning to introduce new devices, including less expensive options. Sex tech companies still face major barriers to growth. Polly Rodriguez, CEO of sexual wellness company Unbound, said the company is profitable and customers are more open about buying products than they once were. But she said she still faces roadblocks advertising on social media, and many traditional investors snub the company. “Things are better, but there’s just still this genuine fear of female sexuality more broadly within the institutional side of technology,” she said. And while Gallop offered to speak at CES, conference organizers declined, saying sex tech was not a part of its conference programming. ___ AP Business Writer Joseph Pisani contributed to this report. ___ AP’s CES coverage: https://apnews.com/Consumerelectronics",
            "output": [
                "Sex tech from women-led startups pops up at CES gadget show."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc3cf75ac5124e7b8c952d8099d4d45f",
            "input": "Officials discovered that there were 182 intravenous drug users who were affected in Lowell and Lawrence between 2015 and 2019, The Boston Globe reported. The number of cases dropped after the summer of 2018 after a campaign to increase access to treatment. There were six new cases diagnosed in Boston in December 2018 before a similar campaign was launched, and cases dropped down until fall of 2019. “We do seem to see a growing number of very, very vulnerable people with substance use disorder, with injection drug use, in great need for care,” said Dr. Jennifer K. Brody, director of HIV services at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. The state has increased the number of needle exchanges from five in 2015 to 33, in an attempt to provide clean injection supplies and training, the paper reported. Infections among people who inject drugs declined 91% between 2000 and 2014. “What we’re seeing is the need for much more aggressive street outreach,” said Carl Sciortino, vice president of government relations for Fenway Health.",
            "output": [
                "Officials alert health care providers of HIV surge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7f24943ed8f44eab9c0f902e631e49f",
            "input": "As the CostCo retail chain prepared to implement new requirements for shoppers, a message of support for the policy gained traction among Facebook users.The post is based around a photograph of a sign informing shoppers that members will be required to wear face coverings when shopping at CostCo warehouses starting on Monday, May 4 2020.“Members without face coverings will not be permitted inside the warehouse,” the sign reads:At least one iteration of the lengthy post, attributed to Cherrie Vierra Lonkar, has been shared nearly 1,000 times on the platform. She wrote:Ask yourself why you, a retail shopper deserve a handout from Costco. I mean you’ve eaten $5000 worth of free samples there in your lifetime anyway. We are asking many of our healthcare workers to wear bandanas and t-shirts as masks. You aren’t above it. There are school children all over this country who are sewing masks to give away. If a 7 year old can be a decent person and choose to make the world a little more comfortable or safe, then so can you.This isn’t a Burger King drive-through, and no we can’t have it our way. This disease, infection, pandemic, whatever you wanna call it, doesn’t give a shit about you or me. Doesn’t give a shit about black, white, short, tall, age, gender. It’s not our battle to dictate.The bottom line is, don’t be a dick. Just put a mask on your self centered, mouth breathing face and let the greeter see the smile in our eyes as we head off to buy our cases of bottled water, pool floats, 10 pound bags of Cheetos, bulk items and cheap premixed margaritas. You’ll be fine.However another version, presented as an extended quote without attribution, has been shared more than 4,500 times since being posted on April 29, 2020.CostCo president Craig Jelinek confirmed the new rule in a letter to members posted on the company’s website, saying:Costco employees are required to wear face coverings, and now we are asking that Costco members do so too. We know some members may find this inconvenient or objectionable, but under the circumstances we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience. This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others too.In short, we believe this is the right thing to do under the current circumstances. Although some may disagree with this policy or question its effectiveness, we’re choosing to err on the side of safety in our shopping environments. Costco has continued to operate during this crisis as an essential business in all of our communities, and our employees are on the front lines. As part of a community, we believe this simple act of safety and courtesy is one that Costco members and employees can undertake together.However, the requirement does not extend to children under the age of 2 or to anyone who cannot wear a mask or face covering for medical reasons.Several states and retail chains have shifted safety policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with some opting to walk back laws banning the use of non-reusable shopping bags.Comments",
            "output": [
                "CostCo stores will require shoppers to wear masks beginning on May 4, 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-691ae73ecdba4c128ec4610ab0ef87e3",
            "input": "The movements of Brazilians have been completely restricted in fewer than two dozen cities scattered across the vast nation of 211 million — even though Brazil’s death toll stands at more than 12,000, Latin America’s highest. While public health experts are demanding bolder action, most governors and mayors have not imposed mandatory stay-at-home orders. Their apparent reluctance comes amid Bolsonaro’s relentless message for Brazilians to defy regional and local public health efforts to stop the virus’ spread. Stricter lockdowns are needed because Brazilian doctors are now being forced to choose who lives and dies and triage situations could generate social unrest if they increase, said Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil’s non-profit Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials. “We need to avoid a total disaster,” he said. Lago said mandatory lockdowns across much of the country would help: “It is late in terms of avoiding hospital collapse, but certainly it isn’t too late to avoid a bigger catastrophe.” Brazil had more than 177,000 confirmed cases on Tuesday, with the actual figure believed to be much higher because of limited testing. Many intensive care hospital units are full and cemeteries are increasingly overwhelmed with bodies. Bolsonaro, who called the virus a “little flu,” has insisted for more than a month that governors are stoking economic carnage with voluntary quarantine recommendations and urges Brazilians to go about their everyday. He reiterated criticism of governors Tuesday for ignoring his decree that gyms, barbershops and beauty salons should be treated as essential services. Amid Bolsonaro’s rejection of coronavirus danger, most of the country’s 27 governors have criticized his stances but none have imposed mandatory statewide lockdown measures recommended by experts. Instead, the governors have either applied selective lockdowns in cities or deferred to mayors to make those decisions. Governors had been hoping the virus would not spread in Brazil’s warm climate, but their response is also a reflection of Brazil’s political landscape because the governors depend on mayors to endorse re-election campaigns. Many worry that imposing mandatory lockdowns could hurt local leaders in this year’s municipal election, decreasing support for incumbent governors in their 2022 campaigns, said Thiago de Aragão, director of strategy of the Arko Advice political consultancy. But as the death toll rose from less than 7,000 to more than 10,000 last week, local authorities began adopting stricter anti-virus measures. The riverside community of Tefe in the Amazon region was among the first, with a lockdown decree specifying criminal charges for residents leaving home except for visits to hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets. The mayor imposed it because only about half of Tefe’s 60,000 residents complied with an earlier recommendation by the governor of Amazonas state to take virus precautions. Those who did not comply “think they’re immortal, that they won’t get it,” Tefe Mayor Normando Bessa de Sá said on Facebook. Over the next three days, the governors of the northern and northeastern states of Maranhao, Para and Ceara decreed lockdowns for their capital cities as intensive-care units filled with COVID-19 patients. Despite the new lockdowns, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo still don’t have mandatory stay-at-home-orders at the state or city level — even though they are the hardest hit places in Brazil. Lockdowns “should have been imposed at least three weeks ago, when the epidemic was already increasing, but not at this speed that it is now,” said Margareth Dalcolmo, a respiratory physician and researcher with the widely respected Oswaldo Cruz Foundation biological research group. “I gave that recommendation more than once,” said Dalcolmo, among the experts on a COVID-19 panel that advises Rio’s governor. Rio Gov. Wilson Witzel has decreed non-binding quarantine recommendations and commerce restrictions through the end of May. He pledged to make police available so the state’s 92 mayors can enact lockdowns, instead of imposing them himself. In another example of Brazil’s scattershot local lockdowns, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella on Monday prohibited non-residents from entering 11 neighborhoods and ordered the closure of all businesses except supermarkets and pharmacies in the teeming slums called favelas. “People still haven’t perceived the need to avoid gatherings, stay home,” Crivella complained. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms including fever and cough. The risk of death is greater for the elderly and people with other health problems. The cities of Niteroi and Sao Goncalo near Rio on Monday authorized fines and criminal charges for violating stay-at-home orders. Niteroi police took the temperatures of those entering the city, and put a man and his two dogs inside a police van after he allegedly refused to show documents to justify being out of his home. In Sao Paulo state, Gov. João Doria last month urged but did not require residents to self-quarantine while shutting down schools and most businesses. Nearly 70% of the state’s 44 million people initially complied, but that dropped below 50% in recent weeks, according to cellphone carrier data provided by the state. Doria, a presidential hopeful, saw his popularity increase as he challenged Bolsonaro. But police stopped enforcing his recommendations after Bolsonaro criticized the handcuffing and detention of a middle-aged woman exercising in a park who resisted removal. With noncompliance rising, Doria said last week that “if we need to step up to a lockdown, we will not hesitate.” Sao Paulo’s mayor this week limited vehicles circulating in the city to 50% of the normal flow. Television images showed long lines of people entering crammed buses with standing room only in clear violation of social distancing guidelines. Public health analysts from the Imperial College London, whose COVID-19 research has guided global policymakers, last week called Brazil’s anti-virus efforts “partially successful.” “In the absence of the introduction of further control measures that will more strongly curb transmission, Brazil faces the prospect of an epidemic that will continue to grow exponentially,” they wrote. ___ Savarese reported from Sao Paulo",
            "output": [
                "Brazil cities lurch to lockdowns amid virus crisis red flags."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a1e6702024d4768acadba95e395f010",
            "input": "Prime Minister Igor Matovic, whose team took office this past weekend, said the government would seek in coming days to double testing capacity to as many as 4,000 daily tests. Since the first coronavirus infections surfaced in the central European state of 5.5 million people earlier this month, only around 300 people have been tested daily, he said, and “that is well below our needs” to help detect and isolate cases. Slovakia has reported 226 positive cases out of a total of 4,751 tests so far. The first two patients recovered this week. Neighbouring Czech Republic, with 10.7 million people, has tested 26,698 and reported 1,775 cases as of Thursday. There have been far fewer diagnoses of coronavirus in central Europe so far than in bigger western neighbours like Germany. But the region’s economies have been hard hit due to shutdowns of borders, most shops and restaurants, and an increasing number of business idling or limiting factory output. Slovakia’s parliament approved legislation on Wednesday allowing public health authorities to use data from telecommunications operators to ensure people quarantined due to coronavirus exposure remain isolated.",
            "output": [
                "Slovakia's new government to sharply ramp up coronavirus testing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ccad962618a4355b9f1f238dfc70793",
            "input": "State health officials say the rating system will primarily use data from three sources: insurance claims, provider surveys, and consumer experience surveys. The information will be made publicly available to those searching for high-quality addiction treatment, as well as to public and private payers, states, and referral sources. The system is being developed by the national nonprofit organization Shatterproof . The rating system will examine evidence-based specialty addiction treatment providers including residential, outpatient, and intensive outpatient programs that are licensed, certified or approved by states to provide treatment for substance use disorder. If the pilot program is successful, the rating system will be launched nationwide.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts to help test addiction treatment rating system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c293e56a86ec444e9340f4c5ca11548d",
            "input": "The United Nations calls climate change the “defining issue of our time” and is hosting a New York summit on it next week. But reformers within say in the letter addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that it needs more radical change to get its own house in order. “Our commitments need to be more ambitious and at least as concrete as those of the UN Member States and non-party stakeholders attending the UN Climate Action Summit,” said the letter, signed by at least 1,950 employees. It was organized by a group called Young UN, an internal network committed to ensuring the organization embodies the principles it stands for. “As Greta Thunberg just sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and young people across the world continue to strike every Friday, let us look at our own impact and take bold steps to address the climate emergency,” the letter said, referring to the Swedish teenager who has inspired global climate strikes. The United Nations emitted 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2018, according to its own data which includes both the 44,000 secretariat staff present in more than 60 countries as well as tens of thousands of interns, contractors and peacekeeping troops deployed worldwide. That equates to a carbon footprint larger than several of its member states, including Malta and Liberia, according to statistics from the Global Carbon Atlas for 2017. Among 10 issues identified by Young UN are travel allowances, which the letter said needed to be cut or scrapped “in order to disincentivize travel by UN employees and UN meeting participants motivated by financial gain”. Allowances, or per diems as they are known internally, are intended to cover travel costs including food and accommodation, and can exceed $400 a day for some locations such as New York, according to the International Civil Service Commission website. The letter also suggested that staff should be rewarded for downgrading from business class, where a spacious seat generates several times the emissions of an economy class ticket. Travel accounts for nearly half the United Nations’ emissions, its data show. Last year, under pressure from member states, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, Erik Solheim, stepped down amid criticism of his travels. Other reforms recommended in the letter include a complete divestment of the more than $60 billion U.N. pension fund from fossil fuels and creating offices run entirely on renewable energy. Young UN did not respond to requests for comment. Guterres is seeking to combat climate change from within in order to boost sustainability. “The Secretary-General welcomes the initiative of Young UN on climate action in the UN system,” Guterres’ office said in a statement to Reuters on Friday. “The Secretary-General is committed to lead by example and calls for transformative action to address the climate crisis, including on the part of the UN system and Secretariat itself,” it continued. The employees’ letter welcomed Guterres’ internal strategy but said it “misses the urgency of the crisis we are facing”. The United Nations has also launched a “Greening the Blue” initiative which measures the U.N. system’s greenhouse gas emissions, waste disposal, fresh-water use, and environmental management. According to its latest report issued on Friday, 55 of its entities, or 95 percent, including the Secretariat, were climate neutral in 2018, against just over a third the previous year. But the letter raises doubts about U.N. offset mechanisms, a method that works through purchases of U.N.-certified carbon credits from approved green projects and is widely used by organizations and businesses to tout their green credentials. This echoes criticism from NGOs about the contribution of offsets to sustainable development. Isabella Marras, Sustainable UN Coordinator, whose team produces the Greening the Blue report and was a signatory to the letter, said she saw scope for the United Nations to give even greater attention to environmental considerations. “What we are missing is the aggressive integration of environmental issues into our programs like the UN has done for women,” she told Reuters. But she stressed some of the pragmatic challenges in regions where environmental standards are less strong than in Western countries. Marie-Claire Graf, a 23-year-old Swiss climate activist visiting the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva, said the number of U.N. vehicles in vast carparks overlooking the lake and mountains was surprising. “The UN is doing some amazing things on environment but I am shocked by so many SUVs and the amount of travel,” said Graf, who was selected along with 100 young climate leaders to attend the U.N. Youth Climate Summit on 21 September. “The UN needs to lead on this transformation.”",
            "output": [
                "U.N. urged by own staff to look at its climate footprint."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fefcac692f634576b08a0aa6570c27f6",
            "input": "Frates is fighting back from a summer health scare that landed him in the hospital while still trying to be a public face of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a degenerative disease that destroys nerve cells, impairs physical functions and so far has no cure. The former Boston College baseball star, who can no longer speak or move, spent most of July in the hospital battling pneumonia and other infections. In July, a tweet erroneously reporting his demise led to worldwide headlines. Frates wryly countered by posting a short video of himself lying in a hospital bed with Pearl Jam’s “Alive” playing in the background. Using a computer system that lets him type out words through eye movements, Frates has been tweeting about his progress to his nearly 30,000 followers, along with regular musings about his family and friends, living with ALS and Boston sports. “lots of down days as you can imagine with als, sometimes you don’t feel human,” he tweeted Sept. 23. “Today I am definitely feeling sorry for myself, sukxx. but I will bounce back. Eff! you als.. Friggin a hole! !” In the weeks since his July health scare, the 32-year-old has re-emerged to accept honors and accolades across his home state of Massachusetts. Last month, he joined Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Red Sox officials and the Boston College baseball team on the steps of City Hall to declare Sept. 5 “Pete Frates Day” in Boston. And former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and other Boston sports legends feted Frates at Fenway Park to mark the release of a new book on his life, “The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight Against ALS.” Half the proceeds benefit Frates and his family. Frates’ wife, Julie, said it’s been a difficult and busy few months, but she couldn’t persuade her husband to slow things down even if she wanted to. “He’s the one pushing to be out there,” she said. “We take all the lead from him.” The ice bucket challenge had been around for almost a year to benefit various causes. But Frates is credited with helping focus it on ALS specifically and taking it global using his wide network of supporters as an established ALS advocate. The challenge raised roughly $220 million in 2014, of which $115 million went to the ALS Association. A sequel campaign the next summer raised just over $1 million, according to the association. The ALS Association says it has committed more than $89 million of the 2014 windfall to research. “New, exciting research is just starting to pan out, and that’s drawing new talent to ALS research, and a lot of companies are now interested in ALS,” said Dr. Nazem Atassi, a Massachusetts General Hospital neurologist whose ALS research benefited from ice bucket challenge money. “It’s the perfect environment for drug discovery.” Among the most promising developments to come out of research funded by the challenge has been the identification of at least four genes that contribute to the disease, a critical step toward developing new treatments, said Kevin Eggan, a professor at Harvard University who specializes in ALS. Another development that gives the Frates family hope is Radicava, a drug approved in May by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration following testimony from the Frates and other advocates. It’s the first new treatment approved specifically for ALS in 22 years. Frates’ mother, Nancy, said they’re applying to get her son on the drug, even though it’s not clear how it might help, given his advanced condition. The medication, which was developed in Japan without funding from the ice bucket challenge, has been shown to slow the disease in recently diagnosed patients. “You just want it to stop,” Nancy said. “You want someone to say this disease is not tearing through your loved one’s body anymore.” ALS is still finding new ways to attack Frates, said his father, John, a city councilor in Beverly who quit his financial services job to help care for his son after he was diagnosed in 2012. Frates’ bladder stopped working last year, requiring his urine now to be drained with a catheter every three hours, John Frates said. “It’s amazing he’s tolerating all of it. It just shows the courage, will and determination he has to be with us,” Frates’ father said. “He’s as incapacitated as a human being can be. That’s his quality of life.” ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/philip%20marcelo",
            "output": [
                "ALS patient behind ice bucket challenge: I will bounce back."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae190bef88314e06ba89159b975c5996",
            "input": "Republican Gov. Charlie Baker administered oaths to the 40-member Senate and 160-member House in ceremonies signaling the start of the 191st term for one of America’s oldest legislative bodies. Formally known as the General Court, the Legislature traces its roots to the Colonial era. The first order of business in each chamber — both firmly controlled by Democrats — was the re-election of presiding officers. Rep. Robert DeLeo, of Winthrop, already the longest-serving House speaker in the state’s history having first taken the gavel in 2009, returned for another two-year term. Ashland Democrat Karen Spilka will serve her first full term as Senate president after first assuming the post in July. Speaking in the ornate Senate chamber, which reopened Wednesday for the first time in more than 18 months following a $20 million renovation, Spilka called for several “bold” initiatives in response to what she said were demands from Massachusetts residents to move beyond “small ideas and incremental change.” Spilka said her priorities would include legislation to better control health care spending by reining in the high cost of prescription drugs and redistribute state education funding to better serve children who live in poorer school districts. Recalling the untreated psychological trauma her father suffered as a result of his military service, the Senate leader also appealed for a broad expansion of mental health services throughout the state. “We simply cannot end the epidemic of addiction or solve the problems of chronic homelessness and unemployment, child abuse and neglect, veteran and first responder PTSD, childhood bullying, or repeated incarceration, without first addressing the underlying issue of mental health,” said Spilka. While not specifically calling for tax increases, Spilka said the state would need to “capture new revenues” to support new and existing programs. Spilka, a liberal Democrat, was widely expected to stake out a progressive agenda that could meet resistance in the House, which is also controlled by Democrats but is seen as more conservative than the Senate. Baker, a moderate Republican who remains opposed to any broad-based tax hikes, could also prove a stumbling block. In brief comments following his re-election on Wednesday, DeLeo declared that “no one’s rights will be infringed upon in Massachusetts,” an apparent swipe at the policies of President Donald Trump and other Republicans in Washington. DeLeo generally waits until a few weeks into a new session before outlining his legislative priorities. Sen. Bruce Tarr, of Gloucester, and Rep. Brad Jones, of North Reading, will again serve as the minority leaders in their respective chambers. There are 32 Republicans in the House and only six in the Senate, with the GOP having lost a handful of legislative seats in the November election.",
            "output": [
                "State Senate leader outlines agenda as lawmakers sworn in."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f321a0d9d60b4772813a9d82ae574a74",
            "input": "Doctors in India have been successful in treating coronavirus with a combination of drugs (Lopinavir, Retonovir, Oseltamivir along with Chlorphenamine) and are going to suggest the same medicine globally. India’s ministry of health has advised that the anti-HIV drugs, Lopinavir and Retonovir, are used in some groups of Covid-19 patients. But it is unclear how successful this treatment has been. The other two drugs from the claim are not mentioned in their guidance. Researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center claim to have found an antibody against coronavirus. Researchers in the Netherlands have released research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, on an antibody against the new coronavirus. A 103 year-old Chinese grandmother has made a full recovery from Covid-19 after being treated for 6 days in Wuhan, China This has been widely reported in the media. Apple has reopened all 42 China stores. Correct. On 13 March 2020, Apple announced that it had reopened all 42 stores in mainland China after a closure of almost six weeks. Cleveland Clinic developed a Covid-19 test that gives results in hours, not days. The number of new cases in South Korea is declining. Italy is hit hard, experts say, only because they have the oldest population in Europe. Whilst it is true that an older population has contributed to a high number of deaths in Italy, it may not be the sole reason. Scientists in Israel are likely to announce the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Scientists in Israel and elsewhere are working on developing a vaccination to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, but it won’t be ready for the public for over a year. Three Maryland coronavirus patients fully recovered and are able to return to everyday life. Correct. On 13 March 2020, Montgomery County, Maryland confirmed that three residents who previously had the virus no longer tested positive. A network of Canadian scientists are making excellent progress in Covid-19 research. At least one group of Canadian scientists has recently announced some progress in understanding Covid-19. A San Diego biotech company is developing a Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Duke University and National University of Singapore. Tulsa County's first positive Covid-19 case has recovered. This individual has had two negative tests, which is the indicator of recovery. Correct, this patient has recovered according to official Tulsa County sources. Two negative tests is one of three official indicators of recovery among people with Covid-19 (who showed symptoms). All seven patients who were getting treated for Covid-19 at Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi have recovered. There is a news story reporting that seven patients in this hospital in New Delhi had recovered. However, these were not the only Covid-19 patients in the city. Plasma from newly recovered patients from Covid -19 can treat others infected by Covid-19. This is being used as a treatment in some countries, but clinical trials have not yet proved that this is effective. Claim 1 of 15",
            "output": [
                "Italy is hit hard, experts say, only because they have the oldest population in Europe.",
                "A 103 year-old Chinese grandmother has made a full recovery from Covid-19 after being treated for 6 days in Wuhan, China",
                "A network of Canadian scientists are making excellent progress in Covid-19 research.",
                "Doctors in India have been successful in treating coronavirus with a combination of drugs (Lopinavir, Retonovir, Oseltamivir along with Chlorphenamine) and are going to suggest the same medicine globally.",
                "China has closed down its last coronavirus hospital. Not enough new cases to support them.",
                "All seven patients who were getting treated for Covid-19 at Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi have recovered.",
                "Researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center claim to have found an antibody against coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e907698b21f746b0995febb241dc237f",
            "input": "Many of China’s usually teeming cities have almost become ghost towns during the past two weeks as Communist Party rulers ordered virtual lockdowns, canceled flights, closed factories and shut schools. Even on Monday, a large number of workplaces and schools will remain closed and many white-collar employees will work from home. The scale of the potential hit to an economy that has been the engine of global growth in recent years has taken a toll on financial markets, as shares slumped and investors switched into safe-havens such as gold, bonds and the Japanese yen. China’s ambassador to Britain described the newly identified virus as “the enemy of mankind” in a BBC interview on Sunday, but added it “is controllable, is preventable, is curable”. “At this moment is very difficult to predict when we are going to have an inflection point,” Liu Xiaoming said. “We certainly hope it will come soon, but the isolation and quarantine measures have been very effective.”  China’s cabinet said it would coordinate with transport authorities to ensure the smooth return to work of employees in key industries such as food and medicines. The State Council’s special coronavirus group also said workers should return in “batches”, rather than all at once, in order to reduce infection risks. China’s National Health Commission recorded another 89 deaths on Saturday, pushing the total well above the 774 who died from SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002/2003. GRAPHIC: Comparing new coronavirus to SARS and MERS - here  Total confirmed coronavirus cases in China stood at 37,198, commission data showed. New infections recorded the first drop below 3,000 cases Feb. 2, at 2,656 cases. Of those, 2,147 cases were in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. The virus has also spread to at least 27 countries and territories, according to a Reuters count based on official reports, infecting more than 330 people. Two deaths have been reported outside mainland China - both of Chinese nationals. The latest patients outside China include a group of British nationals staying in a mountain village in Haute-Savoie in the Alps, French health officials said, raising fears of further infections at a busy period in the ski season. A British man who contracted the virus while attending a conference in Singapore may have infected seven other people when he stopped off at a chalet in the French village on his way home, health experts said. Those infected include a British man diagnosed in Spain and a Briton found to have the disease in the UK, both of whom appeared to have been part of the chalet group. GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus - here  As millions of Chinese prepared to go back to work, the public dismay and mistrust of official numbers was evident on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter. “What’s even more frustrating is that these are only the ‘official’ data,” said one user. “We all know we can’t purchase masks anywhere, why are we still going back to work?” said a second. “More than 20,000 doctors and nurses around the country have been sent to Hubei, but why are the numbers still rising?” asked a third. Authorities had told businesses to tack up to 10 extra days on to holidays that had been due to finish at the end of January and some restrictions continued. Gaming giant Tencent Holdings said it had asked staff to continue working from home until Feb. 21. Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, will keep schools shut until March 1, the People’s Daily newspaper said. Several provinces have shut schools until the end of February. The local government in the southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, meanwhile, denied a report in the Nikkei business daily that it had blocked a plan by Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Co to resume production in China from Monday. The company would restart once inspections were completed, it said. Among the latest deaths, 81 were in Hubei. An American hospitalized in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the outbreak began, became the first confirmed non-Chinese victim. Joseph Eisenberg, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, said it was too early to say whether the epidemic was peaking. “Even if reported cases might be peaking, we don’t know what is happening with unreported cases,” he said. Major cities and capitals announced new travel restrictions as concern over the spread of the virus increased. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong introduced a two-week quarantine on Saturday for all people arriving from the mainland, or who have been there during the previous 14 days. Malaysia expanded its ban on visitors from China. France issued a new travel advisory for its citizens, saying it did not recommend traveling to China unless there was an “imperative” reason. Italy asked children traveling from China to stay away from school for two weeks voluntarily. Princess Cruises, operator of the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan, said a further six people had tested positive, bringing the total cases aboard to 70. (This story corrects to remove in paragraph 23 reference to 53-year-old geneticist who died, citing Washington Post, after newspaper said it incorrectly identified the name and age of a U.S. citizen who died.)",
            "output": [
                "'Enemy of mankind': Coronavirus deaths top SARS as China returns to work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df23690e94904633954fe44f6d84f2f4",
            "input": "\"Univision journalist Jorge Ramos said President Donald Trump’s promised border wall is built on a false premise. Ramos appeared on Fox News on May 12 and told Tucker Carlson that there is \"\"no invasion\"\" of immigrants coming illegally. Ramos said the number of immigrants in the country illegally has been stable, at about 11 million, over the past half decade, and more Mexicans are leaving than coming to the United States (which we have rated True). \"\"You know, whatever we’re doing at the border somehow is working. Some of the safest communities in the United States are along the border,\"\" Ramos said. \"\"So, I don't think a wall is really going to help.\"\" Studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crime than the native-born population, though the Trump administration often backs its tough stance against illegal immigration with claims that immigrants bring a wave of crime and threaten public safety. We wanted to know if the border region has some of the country’s safest communities, as Ramos claimed. FBI data shows they have lower violent crime rates than other places (though the FBI has cautioned against making safety comparisons), and some local crime statistics show drops in crime in recent years. One possible explanation: Border towns have a heavier presence of federal and local law enforcement. The U.S.-Mexico region includes the four U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and six Mexican states. Some estimates pin the population in the border region (from both Mexico and the United States) at more than 15 million people, as of 2015. Many of the residents live on one side of the border and work on the other, with likely 1 million legal border crossings daily. Ramos has a point that these communities tend to be safe. The most common kinds of crime are those that ail other poor communities, such as drinking and driving, and domestic violence, said Tony Payan, a fellow and director of the Mexico Center at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. \"\"The murder rates, however, are indeed very low,\"\" Payan said. He said it’s very difficult to tell exactly why those communities don’t have high levels of crime, but would not disregard as a deterrent the heavy presence of law enforcement. \"\"But it may also have to do with other issues like the crime levels among migrants,\"\" Payan said. \"\"It is well known, contrary to what Mr. Trump may say, that crime among migrant communities is lower than that among natives. And those communities tend to have very high migrant communities and foreign-born populations.\"\" When we asked Ramos about his comment, he pointed to reports in the Huffington Post and the Texas Tribune. The April 2015 Huffington Post report quotes former U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner David Aguilar at a 2015 Border Security Expo event. Aguilar reportedly said that border communities are safer than the interior of each of the border states — as well as Washington, D.C. — and \"\"violent crime is lesser along the border than it is in the interior.\"\" Robert Harris, then a commander heading a joint task force for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Huffington Post that violence on the Mexican side of the border did not reach the United States sector because criminal groups were less organized in the United States. The February 2016 Texas Tribune analysis offered some support for Ramos’ statement. The Tribune article said that based on state and federal data, violent crime rates in many border cities either remained the same or dropped between 2009 and 2014 -- setting them apart from larger cities in the state. In Houston, for instance, the violent crime rate was at 991 crimes for every 100,000 residents, according to data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The border cities of Laredo, El Paso, Edinburg and Brownsville recorded fewer than 400 crimes for every 100,000 residents, the Tribune said. It’s important to keep in mind that the FBI has warned against using its data to rank and compare the safety of communities, because such comparisons may neglect unique factors in each locale. CQ Press years ago ceased using the words \"\"safest\"\" and \"\"dangerous\"\" in its annual rankings of cities with the lowest and highest crime rate. Our colleagues at PolitiFact Texas considered the FBI’s cautionary note in a past fact-check of a claim that El Paso is the safest city in Texas and in the United States. PolitiFact Texas rated that claim Half True, because it was based on CQ Press’ past lists and related news stories that labeled El Paso the safest. Also, the rankings did not factor in every Texas burg and did not account for differences in population density, PolitiFact Texas found. (PolitiFact Texas analyzed crime in Texas in another fact-check in 2014, rating Half True a claim about less crime in the Rio Grande Valley than in other major Texas cities.) In its report, the Tribune also noted that border communities have a large presence of local and federal law enforcement officers. Ponce Treviño, Webb County Jail commander, told the news organization: \"\"You've got to understand, we're a border city so we have a lot of local law enforcement. You have Laredo (Police Department). You have Webb County Sheriff's Office. You've got the constables. Then you have the federal government here. You've got customs. You've got border patrol. You've got ICE. You have a big influx of law enforcement and there's officer presence, so that makes the crime rate a lot lower.\"\" In 2011, the Austin American-Statesman analyzed all 14 counties sharing a border with Mexico and two dozen border cities. It found that between 2006 and 2010, violent crime on the U.S. side fell 3.3 percent. The combined number of murders in the 14 counties also dropped, from 97 in 2006 to 73 in 2010, according to the newspaper. The newspaper said its data analysis did not paint a picture of \"\"out-of-control chaos\"\" at the border, although some areas did see a rise in crime. \"\"Violent crime increased in seven border counties, although those tended to be among the region's least populated, so a small number of incidents can have an outsize effect on rates,\"\" the Statesman reported. \"\"Aggravated assaults, in particular, spiked in Starr County and the city of El Paso, the latter long held up as a paragon of border safety.\"\" While violent crime overall decreased in the border, it \"\"badly trailed\"\" the more than 12 percent statewide decrease in that same timeframe, the newspaper found. Ramos said, \"\"Some of the safest communities in the United States are along the border.\"\" Violent crime rates in some border communities are lower than in other parts of the United States, according to FBI data. The FBI has warned against using its crime rates to rank communities’ safety because doing so overlooks other factors. Yet, local law enforcement officials have said crime is low in their border communities, and heavy federal and local law enforcement presence may be deterring crime in border communities.\"",
            "output": [
                "Some of the safest communities in the United States are along the border."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c0e9195808d4b418a8fa7955a1b4a4e",
            "input": "There is also the revival of the humble foam roller, which experts say, like old-time push-ups, squats and planks, has never been more popular. Anita Golden, fitness manager at a Crunch gym in New York City, said she’ll be giving clients a foam roller called the GRID. “We’ve always had foam rollers in the club but now more people are using them as a way to ease post-workout muscles, prevent injuries and exercise the core,” Golden said. When it comes to big-ticket items, Colleen Logan of Icon Health and Fitness, which manufactures a number of fitness brands, said the treadmill remains the most popular gift. “Treadmills continue to lead the industry in terms of home fitness purchases,” said Logan. They account for about 57 percent of fitness purchases, while elliptical trainers and stationary bicycles are a distant second and third place at about 8 percent each. The average home treadmill costs about $700, said Logan, but the technology revolution has transformed even this stalwart at the high end. The ultimate splurge, at $4,000, she said, is the Boston Marathon Treadmill, which allows users to adjust speed in 1/10 of a mile per hour increments without touching the console. It also lets users run a virtual Boston Marathon. For people on a smaller budget, there is the iFit app that lets the iPhone capture a favorite vacation run or bike ride in Hawaii, store it in data centers all over the world which collectively are referred to as the “cloud,” and download it to an iFit-enabled treadmill at home. “You’ll view the exact route and experience the same terrain again,” Logan explained. Devices, gadgets and apps proliferate as tech-savvy fitness becomes more accessible, according to Jessica Matthews of the American Council on Exercise (ACE). “There’s a lot of interest in on-body monitoring devices as ways to motivate and track progress,” she said. “They run the gamut from basic devices to track hours, steps, and caloric expenditure to full-body tracking.”  Nike+ Sportsband has a series of small lights on the wrist band that change from red to green as the runner nears his goal, while the BodyMedia FIT Armband tracks everything from the number of calories burned to the quality and quantity of sleep. ACE also studied fitness DVDs released for the holidays. “We evaluated them for quality of instruction, safety, effectiveness and design of workout,” Matthews said. Among the best were “Amy Dixon’s Breathless Body Vol.2: The Edge.” Matthews called it a challenging cardio workout best suited to those on your list with “an established base of fitness.”  “Jessica Smith’s 10 Pounds Down Better Body Blast” also got a thumbs up for its well-rounded routine and clarity of instruction. For people seeking a mind-body approach, Matthews praised “STOTT Pilates Intense Body Blast: Pilates Interval Training: Level I,” which she said is accessible for someone new to fitness. “They do a great job queuing movements and creating flow,” she said. Richard Cotton of the American College of Sports Medicine suggests giving the fitness novice the gift of a personal trainer. “The best is human assistance,” he said. “Another way is a beginner group exercise class.”  He also suggests a gift certificate for shoes at a running store equipped with a treadmill. “You need shoes that fit your gait,” he said. “People should always get their gait analyzed.”  Golden likes to cite the law of reciprocity to the personal trainers she manages. “I always tell them to get their clients something,” she said. And what does the personal trainer want for Christmas? “I like the roller, or a new jump rope,” she said. “Fitness people aren’t hard to please. Get me a new yoga mat and I’m happy.”",
            "output": [
                "Holiday fitness gifts trend from high-tech to basic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77095219d07a4df59ad39ad171c57d61",
            "input": "The residents at the Weiss nursing home in eastern France want to chat face to face, to play board games, to share meals. And so each gave a vial of blood to be tested for the coronavirus, as did each staff member — about 580 tests in all. The goal: to identify who must be isolated and who will be allowed the freedom to leave their rooms. “We spend all our days between those four walls — that’s it, we are not allowed to go out. We don’t even have the right to go out in the hallway,” said Henry Bohn, a 69-year-old who suffered a stroke that has left him in a wheelchair. “They bring us breakfast, lunch and dinner here in the room. Luckily, we have the sun these days and it helps, but we do miss the essential things.” An Associated Press photographer spent two days chronicling the virus testing at three of the 10 nursing homes in France’s Haut-Rhin region, where comprehensive testing was ordered by local authorities. The site in Ammerschwir poses particular problems with its small rooms and long corridors, and residents with often-severe cognitive difficulties. “It is hard for them to remember the rules that we give them. When we put masks on them, they hardly keep them on, and they need to socialize and leave their rooms,” said Sylvie Ghiringhelli, the head nurse. Some patients wander out anyway, clustering in hallways or taking seats in the common room before they can be led gently back. The elderly make up a disproportional share of coronavirus victims globally, and that is especially true in nursing homes, which have seen a horrific number of deaths around the world. In France, nursing home deaths account for more than a third of the country’s total 17,000 coronavirus victims — figures the government now documents meticulously after weeks of pressure. Infections have swept through the country’s 7,000 residences for the elderly, with more than 15,000 confirmed cases among patients and 8,900 among staff between March 1 and April 14. And nowhere has it been deadlier than in France’s east, near the border with Germany, where the outbreak began at an evangelical gathering in the city of Mulhouse. Overall mortality in the Haut-Rhin was up 143% from March 1 to April 6, according to government figures. Restricting residents to their rooms can take a different kind of toll. “The confinement stopped all the communal meals in the dining room, stopped every form of social life,” Ghiringhelli said. “There are no more activities, no more visits. Our residents bear the consequences.” Marie Louise Kopp’s room is filled with souvenirs — photos, china cats, octagonal paintings — to help jog a 79-year-old memory that waxes and wanes. “My son was coming to visit me and some family, but now nobody can,” she said, an untouched newspaper on her lap. “Everyone stays at home with this crisis.” France’s health minister, Olivier Véran, said family visits would again be permitted beginning Monday, at a resident’s request and as long as the nursing home staff can organize a system of ensure protection against the virus. “There will not be physical contact but there can be visual contact, and that can provide solace,” Véran said Sunday. It’s not clear how quickly visitors will be allowed again in Ammerschwir, but the nursing home staff hope testing everybody will enable most residents to at least leave their rooms without fear of infection. Results are expected next week and the local administration and nursing home directors will then meet to discuss the next steps. Elsewhere, France has locked down nursing homes after two positive tests and simply assumed that anyone with symptoms was infected. “The testing will perhaps allow us to partially resume life, communal meals and activities in small groups,” Ghiringhelli said. “And to mend the social ties.” ___ Lori Hinnant reported from Paris. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak  and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Mass virus test in nursing home seeks to combat loneliness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b5987fc82994f949962919180f07f09",
            "input": "Tokyo’s metropolitan government has strongly urged people to stay at home as the city of nearly 14 million has seen an uptick in the number of cases in recent days. The number of cases with untraceable transmission routes had increased in recent days, Governor Yuriko Koike said in a livecast YouTube video on Sunday, adding it was worrying that there were a number of people who were infected at hospitals. The majority of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the weekend in Tokyo were of people under the age of 50, a member of Japan’s health ministry taskforce for the virus said in the same livecast Sunday night, adding that many of them were in their 20s and 30s. Tokyo’s metropolitan government has repeatedly called on residents in the densely populated city to avoid all unnecessary outings. Koike said in an earlier TV appearance that “lives were at stake”. Global cases of the new coronavirus have shot past 1 million with more than 64,000 deaths. Japan, with some 3,000 cases and 73 deaths as of Friday, has so far been spared the kind of explosive surge seen in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. With the increase in cases in Tokyo, there have been growing calls from Tokyo’s governor and groups representing medical professionals for the central government to call for a “state of emergency”. Unlike in some countries, that would give the government limited enforcement power.",
            "output": [
                "Tokyo reports 143 new coronavirus cases, highest jump in one day: governor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1be1568670b54f01b8273c8112087e99",
            "input": "Miami U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno rejected a motion by the South Florida Water Management District to end a decree signed in 1992. Among other things, the order sets thresholds for the amount of phosphorous in the Everglades, an ingredient in fertilizer from the vast sugar-growing regions to the north that promotes unhealthy plant growth in the sprawling marsh. Moreno said among his reasons for denying the water district’s motion is that its governing board is being largely replaced by new Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made the environment a top priority. The judge also said it would require a full evidentiary hearing on complicated scientific and environmental issues to end the decree. “This is the right thing to do at this time,” Moreno said at a hearing. “There’s really no harm, is there?” The order allows the water district to file the motion again in the future. The decree is not involved with other water problems that plagued Florida coasts last year, including red tide outbreaks and algae blooms. The water district and sugar growers say the decree is outdated, thwarts projects that would benefit the Everglades and has been superseded by subsequent state and federal laws that guarantee restoration would continue. The projects include vast reservoirs that cleanse water flowing south from sugar farms before it flows into the Everglades. “Twenty-seven years is enough. It’s enough because it’s unnecessary,” said water board attorney Brian Accardo. The U.S. government, environmental groups and the Miccosukee Indian tribe disagree, saying the decree is key to pursuing potential violations and ensuring the cleanup projects get built. They say it should remain in place until the Everglades has achieved an environmental balance close to its historical makeup. The Miccosukee reservation is in the Everglades. “The decree is essential to protect the Everglades,” said Anna Upton, attorney for the Florida Audubon Society. “We’re not there yet. We’ve come a long way.” The decree arose out of a 1988 lawsuit filed by the U.S. against the water district claiming high phosphorous discharges were threatening the long-term future of the Everglades. The state and water district contended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was equally responsible by moving polluted water into the area. In 1992, the consent decree was signed involving the federal and state entities, setting goals for reducing phosphorous as well as the levels of water at the right times needed to keep the ecosystem healthy. A key point in the settlement talks came with then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, showed up at a court hearing in 1991 and said: “We want to surrender. I want to find out who I can give my sword to.” Florida Department of Environmental Protection attorney Charles DeMonaco said about $2 billion has been spent to date on Everglades projects, with another $1 billion in the pipeline over the next four years. He said the state would also like to see the consent decree end, but only when there is an agreement on how success would be measured. “We don’t want to fight anyone. We want to end it,” DeMonaco said. _____ Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt",
            "output": [
                "Judge won’t end decades-old Everglades cleanup oversight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f387a5449a448b485d7045423a9395d",
            "input": "On March 9 2020, WJLA-TV reporter Sam Sweeney tweeted about a Washington, DC priest’s purported positive coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnosis, adding that the clergy man led Communion services and shook hands with “more than 500” churchgoers:BREAKING: A D.C. priest has Coronavirus. He offered communion and shook hands with more than 500 worshippers last week and on February 24th. All worshippers who visited the Christ Church in Georgetown must self-quarantine. Church is cancelled for the first time since the 1800's— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) March 9, 2020According to Sweeney’s tweet, the exposure to COVID-19 occurred during services on March 1 and February 24 2020. Sweeney added that churchgoers who attended services on those dates at Christ Church in Georgetown were ordered to “self-quarantine,” and that services there had been canceled for the first time in more than a century.In a reply to a response to that tweet, Sweeney stated:This weekend. The priest who self identified himself in a letter to his congregation.— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) March 9, 2020The Washington Post reported that the individual Sweeney referenced was Rev. Timothy Cole, the rector at Christ Church in Georgetown. In that article, the outlet indicated 550 congregants were potentially exposed to COVID-19 across multiple services on a single Sunday:A third case of coronavirus in Northern Virginia was announced [March 9 2020], shortly after D.C. officials urged hundreds of Christ Church, Georgetown attendees to self-quarantine because of their exposure to the Rev. Timothy Cole, the church rector, who is the city’s first known coronavirus patient … Cole, who first became sick after returning from a Feb. 22 [2020] conference of Episcopal leaders in Louisville, tested positive for coronavirus Saturday and is quarantined at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in stable condition. […]Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced the self-quarantine recommendation at a news conference [on March 9 2020 in the] morning, as authorities try to contain the spread of the virus. It is the first broad self-quarantine order in the Washington region.Cole oversaw multiple services on March 1 [2020], attended by a total of 550 people, the church has said. He provided Communion at the 11:15 a.m. services. Church officials said he appeared healthy that day and had been regularly washing his hands. But he had been ill in late February [2020].There was no immediate estimate of how many people came into close contact with him on the other targeted days.Bowser emphasized self-quarantine was crucial to stop the virus from spreading, adding that officials recognized that “there will be hardships for many people not just in D.C., but in Maryland and Virginia” due to the restriction. The newspaper also reported that Cole engaged in no recent international travel, visiting only the church conference in Kentucky on February 22 2020.CBS News obtained a copy of the email issued to parishioners about Cole’s diagnosis:In an email to parishioners obtained by CBS News, Cole confirmed he has tested positive, and said services were suspended “out of an abundance of caution for the most vulnerable among us.” All services were canceled Sunday, the first time the church has closed since a fire in the 1800s, [Reverend Crystal] Hardin said.“I can now confirm that I am the individual who tested positive for the Coronavirus,” Cole wrote in his email. “First, I want to assure you that I will be okay. I am receiving excellent care and am in good spirits under the circumstances. I will remain quarantined for the next 14 days as will the rest of my family.”CBS further reported that public health officials assessed the exposure risk posed by Cole, concluding that visiting the church was sufficient to warrant quarantine:The D.C. Department of Health said in a statement that it has been in contact with the church and “determined an individual’s visitation to Christ Church Georgetown warrants precautionary measures.” The department recommended “a temporary pause of services” and said it was “conducting an intensive investigation to identify any exposures to COVID-19 that may have occurred at the church,” referring to the virus.Anyone who visited the church under any circumstances or for any reason within a specific date range was affected by the self-quarantine. One outlet provided the dates as between February 28 2020 and March 3 2020; Bowser provided the longer range in a tweet:Visitors to Christ Church, Georgetown Episcopal on Feb 24th, and between Feb 28th and Mar 3rd could've been exposed to COVID-19, and DC Health recommends that anyone who visited on those dates isolate themselves at home for 14 days from the last time they visited the church.— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) March 9, 2020In the March 9 2020 statement, DC Health clarified self-quarantine instructions:Through DC Health’s investigation, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all visitors to Christ Church, Georgetown Episcopal on February 24th, and between February 28th and March 3rd could have been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19, and DC Health is recommending that anyone who visited Christ Church, Georgetown Episcopal on those dates isolate themselves at home for 14 days from the last time they visited the church. Isolating at home includes not going to work or school, and not attending any large or public gatherings, or using public transportation or ride-sharing. DC Health may also be reaching out to certain individuals who are more likely to have been exposed with further guidance.Additionally, any person who has visited Christ Church, Georgetown Episcopal on the dates mentioned above, should call DC Health if they develop symptoms, or if they have experienced symptoms of COVID-19 in the 14 days since they visited the church at (202) 576-1117 or call their healthcare providers. Symptoms of COVID-19 may include fever, cough, and/or shortness of breath. If you have any questions and are not symptomatic, you can also email DC Health are [email protected]On the Church’s official website, a link on the homepage led to a statement titled “Church Closure and Coronavirus,” which began:Dear friends in Christ,Many of you have been asking for additional guidance in light of today’s events. At 10:47 p.m., we received the following from DC Health. Please read it carefully and reach out to DC Health with your questions and concerns about their guidance.We will continue to send updates periodically, upon receipt of new information and as warranted. Let us hold one another in prayer and rest assured of God’s presence and grace, which abounds—always.Faithfully,The Clergy and Wardens of Christ Church, GeorgetownImmediately thereafter was the statement from DC Health, and under that, Cole’s email to churchgoers:IMPORTANT UPDATE: CORONAVIRUS IN OUR COMMUNITY Sunday, March 8, 2020Dear friends in Christ,As you are now aware, we have suspended all services and meetings at Christ Church until further notice in response to a presumed positive case of Coronavirus in our community. As we said before, we did not make the decision to close our doors lightly, but out of an abundance of caution for the most vulnerable among us. There is no need to panic. Following sensible precautions provided by the CDC will go a long way towards insuring the good health of our community.I can now confirm that I am the individual who tested positive for the Coronavirus.First, I want to assure you that I will be okay. I am receiving excellent care and am in good spirits under the circumstances. I will remain quarantined for the next 14 days as will the rest of my family.Many of you will want to speak by phone or email; however, at this time, rest is what I need most, and it will be difficult for me to respond. Should you have any situations requiring pastoral care, please do contact the Reverend Mother Crystal Hardin or the Reverend Father John McDuffie. For matters concerning operations of the church, please contact one of the Wardens, Chad Thorley or Rusty Lindner.The obvious question at this point is what you should do. First, please read the information provided on the CDC’s website, linked here. If we are given any firm advice by public health officials, we will pass it to the Christ Church community as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have been asked to let parishioners know that should you experience any symptoms, please contact your healthcare provider.Faithfully,Father TimThe Reverend Timothy A. R. Cole, RectorA tweet reporting a large-scale quarantine mandate and coronavirus (COVID-19) case at a Washington, DC church because of an infected clergyman was accurate. Public health officials said that visitors who went to the church between February 24 and March 3 2020 may have been exposed to COVID-19. Parishioners were instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days, beginning with the date of possible exposure.",
            "output": [
                "A Washington, DC clergyman tested positive for COVID-19, potentially exposing congregants."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c366982927849fd91d5b934430c16c9",
            "input": "Anti-smoking groups hailed the ban, which restricts sale and consumption of flavored vaping products immediately and does the same for menthol cigarettes starting June 1, 2020. “The Massachusetts law is a major milestone in the fight to reverse the worsening e-cigarette epidemic and stop tobacco companies from targeting and addicting kids with flavored products,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. But the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, which opposed the legislation, said it’s exploring challenging the new law in court, or seeking other ways to change it. “Public health and safety has been dealt a blow by anti-tobacco crusaders exploiting a youth vaping crisis, and by lawmakers bypassing prudent policy-making,” the group said in a statement. In recent months, Massachusetts and other states, including Michigan, Montana, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington, have temporarily banned or restricted the sale of vaping products. But Massachusetts is now the first with a broad, permanent ban in place on all flavored tobacco or nicotine vaping products, anti-smoking groups say. The new law specifically restricts sale of the products to licensed smoking bars such as cigar bars and hookah lounges, where they’ll only be allowed to be consumed on-site. The restriction extends to menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco. It also places a 75% excise tax on nicotine vaping products, gives public health officials new authority to regulate the products and requires health insurers cover tobacco cessation counseling. Baker said he hopes other states adopt similar restrictions but argued that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are the only ones that can address the issue comprehensively for the nation. “Sometimes someone has to go first,” he said. “It’s pretty clear there isn’t going to be a federal policy on this anytime soon. So, in the absence of that, we had to act.” President Donald Trump has promised for months to approve a national ban on most flavored e-cigarettes. But in recent weeks his administration has walked back that promise, cancelling a planned announcement of a ban in favor of private meetings with the vaping industry and medical professionals. Massachusetts’ decision to extend the ban to menthols is unique. The mint flavor has typically been exempt from such restrictions because it’s long been one of the most popular flavors. Menthols were omitted from legislation passed by the New York City Council on Tuesday after advocates, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, argued their inclusion could lead to harsh police enforcement in the black community. Studies have shown menthol cigarettes are consumed disproportionately by young people and minorities, and anti-tobacco groups and health experts have argued menthol has been marketed to African Americans. But there have been recent signs that reluctance to address menthols is waning. Boston health officials earlier this week prohibited the sale of menthols in convenience stores, and dozens of other communities in Massachusetts and California have taken steps to restrict menthols and other flavored cigarettes. State Attorney General Maura Healey and other supporters said that restricting menthols and other flavored tobacco products is critical because they’ve contributed to growth in the traditional smoking market, which in turn prompted the creation of flavored vaping products targeted at youths. The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network said it hoped the new law sends a message to the industry. “More than 80% of teens who have ever used a tobacco product started with a flavored product, and the tobacco industry knows this,” the organization said in an emailed statement. The legislation responds to growing concern about the health effects of vaping products, including deaths whose exact cause is still being investigated. Massachusetts health officials say there have been more than 200 suspected cases of vaping-related lung injury and three confirmed deaths in the state. In September, Baker declared a public health emergency and ordered a temporary ban on the sale of all vaping products — flavored and unflavored. Baker said Wednesday he’ll lift that ban a few weeks early on Dec. 11, when state health officials are expected to roll out additional regulations. The Tobacco Merchants Association, an industry group, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. But the Vapor Technology Association, which has challenged Massachusetts’ temporary vaping ban in state court, said a better strategy than the ban would be raising the age to purchase tobacco and nicotine vapor products to 21 and to impose stricter marketing standards on companies. “A ban will drive people back to combustible cigarettes, the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., or lead to illegal sales with a new and larger black market,” the organization said in a statement. __ Associated Press editor William J. Kole contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "No more menthol cigarettes: New ban on tobacco, vape flavors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6398d7550074f5c8239a895818c8687",
            "input": "Western wildfires have grown ever more lethal, a grim reality that’s been driven by more housing developments sprawling into the most fire-prone grasslands and brushy canyons, experts say. Many of the ranchers and farmers who once managed those landscapes are gone, leaving neglected terrain that has grown thick with vegetation that can explode into flames when sparked. That’s left communities ripe for tragedy as whipping winds and recurring drought that’s characteristic of climate change stoke wildfires like the ones still raging in Northern and Southern California that have killed at least 51 people in recent days. Hundreds of thousands of people were told to leave their homes ahead of the blazes to get out of harm’s way. Yet some experts say there’s been an over-reliance on evacuation and too little attention paid to making communities safe, as well as not enough money for controlled burns and other preventive measures. Search crews found many victims inside their vehicles, or just next to them, overcome by flames, heat and smoke as they tried to flee. Survivors of the blaze that nearly obliterated the Northern California town of Paradise and nearby communities spoke of having just minutes to escape and narrow roads made impassable by flames and traffic jams. “There are ... so many ways that can go wrong, in the warning, the modes of getting the message out, the confusion ... the traffic jams,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension program. As deadly urban wildfires become more common, officials should also consider establishing “local retreat zones, local safety zones” in communities where residents can ride out the deadly firestorms if escape seems impossible, Moritz said. That could be a community center, built or retrofitted to better withstand wildfires, which can exceed 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, leaving little trace of ordinary homes. Such fire protection measures in buildings can include sprinklers, fire- and heat-resistant walls and roofs, and barriers that keep sparks out of chimneys and other openings, according to the International Code Council, a nonprofit that helps develop building codes used widely in the United States. Creating more buffers — whether parks, golf courses or irrigated agriculture, like the vineyards that helped keep 2017 wildfires in California’s wine country from spreading into even more towns — around new and old housing developments would help stave off wildfires threatening to overrun cities and towns. So would burying electric power lines, which can spark and fail in the high winds that drive many of California’s fiercest fires, said Jon Keeley, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in California. Sparks from electrical utility equipment are suspects in the Northern California wildfire that consumed Paradise, destroying some 7,700 homes, and other deadly blazes in the state. A proven method to prevent wildfires from getting out of control is the use of controlled burns. By intentionally lighting fires, property owners or land managers can remove dead and low-lying trees and brush — material that otherwise accumulates and can accelerate the growth of fires. In the mid-20th century, California ranchers burned hundreds of thousands of acres annually to manage their lands, said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council. That was phased out in the 1980s after California’s fire management agency stepped in to take over the burns, and by the last decade, the amount of acreage being treated had dropped to less than 10,000 acres annually, Quinn-Davidson said. Former agricultural land that rings many towns in the state became overgrown, even as housing developments pushed deeper into those rural areas. That was the situation in the Northern California town of Redding leading up to a fire that began in July and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. It was blamed for eight deaths. “You get these growing cities pushing out — housing developments going right up into brush and wooded areas. One ignition on a bad day, and all that is threatened,” Quinn-Davidson said. “These fires are tragic, and they’re telling us this is urgent. We can’t sit on our hands.” The latest California fires have fueled debate over the reasons for ever-more deadly wildfires, with President Donald Trump claiming in a tweet Saturday that “gross mismanagement of the forests” was the sole reason the state’s fires had become so “massive, deadly and costly.” He also threatened to withhold federal payments to the state. However, most of California’s deadly fires of recent years have been in grasslands and brushy chaparral, Keeley said. “Most of the fires we’ve been seeing in the last couple years that are the most destructive are not in the forest. Thinning isn’t going to change anything,” he said. Trump’s assertion also ignored the huge federal land holdings in the state and brought a quick backlash, with the president of the California firefighters union describing it as a shameful attack on thousands of firefighters on the front lines. To ease tensions, the White House sent Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to tour fire-damaged areas and offer assistance to California Gov. Jerry Brown. In an interview prior to the two-day visit, which began Wednesday, Zinke struck a conciliatory tone and said federal officials share blame for not managing public forest and rangelands aggressively enough. “We need to work in unison to make sure we thin the forest, especially fire breaks, and make sure we have prescribed burns,” Zinke told The Associated Press. “There’s been a lack of management on Interior lands, on U.S. Forest Service lands and certainly with state lands.” But it’s California, not the Trump administration that is putting more money behind such efforts. In response to the deadly blazes of recent years, California lawmakers in September approved a measure that would provide $1 billion over five years for fire protection, including more controlled burns and projects to thin forests and brush land. By contrast, federal spending on hazardous fuels reduction has been flat in recent years, hovering just under $600 million, even as direct firefighting costs jumped to a record $2.9 billion last year. For 2019, the Forest Service has proposed a $3 million bump for its wildfire fuels program. At Interior, Zinke proposed a $29 million cut in fuel management spending. ___ Knickmeyer reported from Washington. ___ Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MatthewBrownAP",
            "output": [
                "As wildfires grow deadlier, officials search for solutions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dbed60eee09c4f778681eb802d6bb4e1",
            "input": "\"Just before commemorating World AIDS Day on Tuesday, Fulton County’s health department released some rare good news on its efforts against the disease. Citing a report from an independent program of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the press release said the number of people dying here from HIV-related diseases plunged 59 percent between 2004 and 2012. \"\"Fewer people are dying from HIV/AIDS in metro Atlanta, in part, due to our Integrated Care Service Delivery of services,\"\" Dr. David Holland, chief clinical officer of Fulton’s Communicable Disease Prevention Branch, said in the release. Could this be the same department that had to give back between $7 and 8.7 million of $20 million in federal grant money because it didn’t have enough programs to help stop the spread of HIV? And are deaths declining even though at least a quarter of all new HIV diagnoses in Atlanta are for people who have already developed AIDS? PolitiFact Georgia was skeptical. The numbers The 27th anniversary of World AIDS Day comes at a time when both the rate of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths are on a global decline. Effective antiretroviral drugs can control HIV and help those with the disease live longer lives. As of June, 15.8 million people were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Worldwide, that has pushed down new HIV infections, which have fallen by 35 percent since 2000, and deaths, which have fallen 42 percent since a peak in 2004. The 2015 report from NACCHO’s Big Cities Health Coalition examines health data from the nation’s 27 largest cities and counties, including a look at more local HIV and AIDS figures. According to the Big Cities Health Inventory report, released in late November, cities experienced new cases of HIV and HIV-related deaths in higher numbers compared with the rest of the country. But Atlanta (as reported by Fulton County’s health department) and every other city except Detroit saw drops, some significant, in mortality rates since the last report. Atlanta had the fourth highest mortality rate of the cities, with 24.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2004, according to the report. In 2012, the last year data was available for a majority of the cities, the rate was 9.8 – a 59 percent drop just as Fulton touted in the press release. Data from Georgia’s Department of Public Health back up those figures on the mortality rate and also provide the specific numbers of deaths. The number of people dying annually from HIV/AIDS in Fulton County dropped from 195 to 96 in those eight years, a 51 percent decline. Further bolstering Fulton’s claim are figures showing continued drops in deaths for the past two years. By 2014, 80 people in Fulton had died from HIV or AIDS, a rate of 8 percent. That’s a 59 percent decline by number or a 66.8 percent decrease in rate from the peak a decade ago. Statewide, HIV/AIDS deaths also declined during this period by 47 percent said Nancy Nydam, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state death rate from HIV/AIDS was 7.9 per 100,000 in 2004 and 4.2 in 2012, a 47 percent drop, she said. The context All of this is to say, Fulton is on target with its figures. Missing from the press release, though, was the context that Atlanta remains in the top 5 cities for HIV-related deaths (and top 3 for new infections). And, its 10 per 100,000 mortality rate is five times greater than the national average of 2. \"\"It’s a big improvement but obviously some big improvements still need to be made,\"\" said Chrissie Juliano, director of the Big Cities Health Coalition. \"\"We know from other sources that challenges remain in Atlanta-Fulton County regarding HIV and AIDS.\"\" Fulton is making headway. It completed an internal audit in October that found mismanagement and bureaucratic delays cost it the nearly $9 million in federal money to fight HIV. It has since replaced the health department director and strengthened oversight of its grants. Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, cautioned against reading too much into Atlanta’s ranking in comparison to national mortality rates. He added that it would not be \"\"informative\"\" to directly compare Atlanta, or any city, to the overall U.S. rates on HIV mortality. \"\"HIV-related deaths are much higher in cities, because people living with HIV are more concentrated in cities,\"\" Sullivan said. \"\"The high HIV-related mortality rate reflects the high impact of HIV in Atlanta.\"\" Our ruling At a time when new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are down globally, Fulton County touted a report that showed its mortality rate dropped 59 percent from a peak in 2004. The report, and state data, back up the dramatic decline. While Atlanta remains in the top five cities in the nation for such deaths and still struggles with executing prevention programs, it also has seen the mortality rate drop since the report.\"",
            "output": [
                "The number of people in Atlanta dying from HIV and AIDS declined 59 percent between 2004 and 2012."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf1506c9bf744d01b7596ccd11501ad8",
            "input": "Aerus air quality technicians who inspected the Jefferson County Election Commission office last month found evidence of water damage and mold buildup, and an oppressive musty odor permeated the air. “They found mold in the carpet,” Commissioner Stuart Soffer said. “In the heating and air room, the readings were unbelievable and there was a pickle bucket in there with water and mold that has been growing because apparently one of the units back there was leaking, and the two air filters were black with mold.” Soffer noted that mold was growing inside the cabinets in the media room, where commissioners work to prepare elections and to tabulate election results. He added that the moisture contamination was coming from a building next door that was leaking into the election commission office. “The bottom line is that we cannot continue using this building,” he said. “We have a liability and if you knowingly expose people to this stuff, you’re setting yourself up.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mold can prompt a variety of health problems including eye, nose and throat irritation, but can also lead to lung disease and upper respiratory tract illness for those with asthma or a compromised immune system. Aerus’ measurements showed that one election room contained 73,300 particles per cubic foot small mold spores, which technicians said far exceeded acceptable levels of 2,500 particles per cubic foot. They also found large mold spores measuring 16,800 particles per cubic foot, while the acceptable level is 200 particles per cubic foot. The Arkansas Gazette-Democrat reported that the damp and mold could lead to corrosion of electronic voting machines. The technicians said mold spore levels far exceeded acceptable levels. Aerus, which sells air and water purifiers, recommended a $1,500 dehumidifier. Soffer suggested that the election commission could move into the former sheriff’s office facility in the county courthouse. But County Judge Gerald Robinson, the chief executive of county government, said that room wasn’t available to the election commission. Robinson said he would look for another county-owned building to use. ___ Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Arkansas election office may move due to high mold levels."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c3d176143f342e19edb6da0606227d5",
            "input": "Some of the birds have already died and the remainder will be culled, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said in a statement. bit.ly/2jOxDEv  A 3-km (1.9-mile) protection zone and a 10-km surveillance zone have been put in place around the farm in Preston, it said, adding that the virus posed very low risk to public health. Different strains of bird flu have been spreading across Europe and Asia since late last year, leading to the large-scale slaughter of poultry in certain countries and some human deaths in China. A case of the contagious H5N8 bird flu strain was found in southwest Wales earlier in January while the eastern English county of Lincolnshire and the Irish Republic each reported a case in December. The World Health Organization called on all countries on Monday to monitor closely outbreaks of deadly avian influenza in birds and poultry and to report promptly any human cases that could signal the start of a flu pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Britain confirms bird flu case in Lancashire, to cull infected poultry."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ae288c2e3c54d6b8cadaf88cf98e652",
            "input": "The government had gone to the High Court to extend an April 24 deadline to submit its plan to improve air quality and comply with nitrogen dioxide limits set by the European Union (EU). But the court ruled on Thursday against any extension, ordering a draft plan to be submitted by May 9 and a full report by July 31, British media reported. The government is obliged to draw up a new plan after the High Court ruled in November that a calculation of future vehicle emissions was too optimistic. It was not immediately clear whether the government would appeal Thursday’s ruling. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was considering the judgment. Concern over air quality has grown since the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) emissions scandal broke and reports that real-world emissions exceed those recorded during laboratory tests have put pollution high on the political agenda. “Air pollution is an election issue with or without publication of this plan, and we clearly need robust commitments from all parties on tackling the UK’s toxic air,” said Areeba Hamid, a clean air campaigner at environmental group Greenpeace. Nitrogen oxides reduce air quality and EU member states have been flouting limits on a range of pollutants associated with respiratory and other illnesses and more than 400,000 premature deaths per year, according to European Commission data. Under the EU’s Air Quality Directive, member states were supposed to comply with nitrogen dioxide limits in 2010 - or by 2015 if they delivered plans to deal with high levels of the gas, which is produced mainly by diesel engines.",
            "output": [
                "Britain loses case to delay submission of air pollution plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-531eeadde86a491db2013101eef974fd",
            "input": "Abbott executives said the increase in manufacturing capacity will begin in the second half of this year and make room for the expected U.S. launch of the FreeStyle Libre 2. This next-generation device has been approved in Europe and is now under U.S. regulatory review. Abbott’s plans for Libre, its fastest-growing diabetes product, used by 1.5 million people worldwide, will be in focus when the company reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday. Jared Watkin, Abbott’s senior vice president for Diabetes Care, said in an interview that scale is a “huge part” of the company’s strategy for its glucose monitors. “When you’re making disposable diagnostic products, the more you can make, the lower the cost you can produce them at.”  While the Libre 2 has more features, including alarms for when blood sugar levels swing too low or high, Abbott plans to keep the U.S. price the same as its predecessor, Watkin said. Abbott started in diabetes care as a maker of inexpensive test strips and glucose meters. More recently, the company has sought to expand access to its so-called continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices - traditionally sold to type 1 diabetics in markets with generous insurance coverage. “It’s not good enough to bring this to a small, wealthy population. Diabetes is such a global epidemic that you need to bring products that can really make a dent in that,” Watkin said. Launched in Europe in 2014 and in the United States three years later, the FreeStyle Libre allows people with diabetes to track blood sugar levels without multiple daily finger sticks. A sensor attached to the back of the upper arm uses a thin filament under the skin to measure glucose every minute. Users check their blood sugar levels throughout the day by waving a reader, or smartphone, over the sensor. Major competitors Medtronic Plc (MDT.N) and Dexcom Inc (DXCM.O) critique the current Libre’s lack of automatic alerts that can help diabetics manage their disease. Yet they also are taking steps to introduce cheaper models themselves, executives told Reuters. Libre’s sales are expected to reach $1.5 billion this year, the company said. In April, Goldman Sachs estimated the global CGM market could reach $5 billion by 2021, up from $3.7 billion in 2019. Goldman projected Abbott’s 2021 sales at $2.7 billion compared to $1.7 billion for Dexcom and $894 million for Medtronic. In the past, CGMs were used almost exclusively by type 1 diabetics, whose bodies do not make insulin and who must inject themselves with the blood-sugar regulating hormone to survive. Increasingly, people with type 2 diabetes - the kind driven by obesity, lack of exercise and genetics - must also closely monitor their blood glucose and use insulin to manage their disease when it is not controlled by other medications and lifestyle changes. For now, Libre users include 1 million type 1 diabetic patients and half a million type 2. That’s a tiny sliver of the 425 million people with diabetes worldwide. Although not all diabetics need glucose monitors, “there is an element of scratching the surface at this point,” Watkin said. “The need to invest and bring up capacity is, we believe, going to be an ongoing activity for us.”   Two 14-day Libre sensors, a month’s supply, retail for $109. Abbott says most of its patients are commercially insured, and many pay as little as $10 out of pocket. In the United States, the company says, more than half of people in commercial health plans are covered, as well as any eligible diabetic person on Medicare, the federal program for the elderly and disabled. The device is also approved in 45 other countries, including Germany, Japan, Brazil, China and the United Arab Emirates. Medtronic told Reuters it offers a discounted price of $345 per month for uninsured patients. The company estimates that the typical insured patient pays $50 a month. Medicare does not cover the device. Dexcom’s G6 sensors retail online, with a discount, at around $350 for a month’s supply. Dexcom says 98 percent of all U.S. private insurers cover the device, and patients covered by commercial insurance pay an average of $50-$80 per month for sensors through pharmacies or durable medical equipment suppliers. It is covered by Medicare. Libre’s 14-day sensor is also longer-lasting. Dexcom’s sensors work for 10 days, and Medtronic’s for up to 7. Abbott was also the first company to introduce a product that can be used without routine finger stick tests to validate the sensor’s readings – a feature Dexcom later matched and Medtronic has not. Dr. Roy Beck, an endocrinologist at the Jaeb Center for Health Research in Tampa, Florida, said that Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre is “an excellent sensor” but not as accurate at detecting very low blood sugar as the devices from Dexcom, Medtronic or an implantable CGM made by Senseonics (SENS.A). That makes it less desirable for patients for whom this is a major issue, he said. Beck’s center has received research funding from Abbott and Dexcom. Medtronic and Dexcom executives say the current Libre does not compare with their devices when it comes to features such as alerting users to dangerous blood sugar changes and providing comprehensive trend data. “It’s the cheapest, but it’s not exactly in the same category,” said Mike Hill, vice president and general manager of Medtronic’s sensor business. Abbott countered that its sensor has best-in-class accuracy, and noted that the next-generation Libre 2 does have optional alarms. Still, Medtronic is considering making a cheaper sensor for patients who don’t need all the features of its current continuous monitor, Hill said. And next year, Dexcom plans to launch a cheaper, smaller, 14-day sensor developed in partnership with Verily, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) life sciences division. Dexcom Chief Executive Kevin Sayer acknowledged that Abbott’s pricing strategy will affect the global market over time, and that Dexcom expects its own prices to come down. “We’ve planned for this,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "You see a whole bunch of Korean cars here in the United States, and you don't see any American cars in Korea."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0f3662db1ec04c3da8297838d7cbba84",
            "input": "\"At a minimum, the reporter could have found out how much the master used in the study typically charges and how much the DVD costs. Still, unlike most of the stories, this reporter did write, \"\"Dr. Shmerling said that though tai chi is inexpensive compared with other treatments, some patients would reject such an alternative therapy.\"\" The story presents the evidence in relative terms. It would have been nice to see the absolute numbers. Still, it’s easy to calculate roughly what one third of 33 would be and one sixth would be. Essentially about 11 people stopped taking drugs after tai chi, and 5 or 6 stopped using other therapies. That’s not a huge difference, but, because there was any improvement, the researchers and the journal were understandably curious and hoping the study might spark more research. A big point of the story is that tai chi would be a much less onerous therapy with no harmful side effects. It is difficult to imagine that twice-weekly tai chi, like any other form of moderate exercise, would be harmful, but, at a minimum, the story could have reported upon the study’s adverse events registry. The journal article on which the story is based clearly discussed this. The story makes it clear early that the study is small and that more research would be needed in order to recommend tai chi as a therapy. There is no disease mongering and the description of the syndrome is the best of the five stories we reviewed. Most of the quotes in the story are from people not affiliated with the study. The story talks about how the study compared different alternatives, and it mentions, at least in passing, several other therapies. The story makes it clear that there are multiple versions of tai chi. It could have been more clear about how widely available it might be, especially in sparsely populated areas. The story says, \"\"Recent studies have suggested that tai chi, with its slow exercises, breathing and meditation, could benefit patients with other chronic conditions, including arthritis. But not all of these reports have been conclusive, and tai chi is hard to study because there are many styles and approaches.\"\" This is all important context, succinctly presented. This story shows that you can pull together a lot of information and still keep the story tight. The story is very well reported and goes well beyond the original study, the editorial and any supporting materials. We were unable to locate a press release about the study.\"",
            "output": [
                "Tai Chi Reported to Ease Fibromyalgia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88178e9417644bb598111e73d33cd82c",
            "input": "The story does not say how much this new procedure costs or compare it with existing treatments for patients who don’t respond to medication. Deep brain stimulation, the current treatment standard, can run anywhere from $30,000 to $70,000, according to various online cost estimates. There also may be additional costs incurred by those patients who have adverse effects. The story is long on description but short on numbers. Saying the treatment “has had an immense impact on patients’ lives,” the story devotes quite a bit of print along with video footage to show rapid functional and quality-of-life improvements experienced by patients, focusing on one women who said her tremor “has almost disappeared” since she had the procedure in June. Video showing this patient before and after treatment–including her attempts to write her name, trace a spiral and pour water from one cup to another–do a great job of conveying the improvements. This is terrific news for this woman, but we’re not told how representative her experience is of overall outcomes. Is she a best-case scenario? Middle of the road? There are also inspiring quotes from a researcher, including a description of the “remarkable moment” patients experience when they realized the tremor has subsided. “They can write their names again, they can feed themselves, they are not embarrassed about being in public. So it really is extraordinarily helpful for people,” he says. In terms of study data, the story says researchers “found that the severity of essential tremor reduced significantly” in patients who underwent the treatment as well as reported improvements in quality of life. But there are no figures. In fact, according to the study, patients experienced a 47 percent improvement in tremor scores, dropping from 18.1 points on a 32-point scale at baseline to 9.6 points three months after the procedure. That data should have been included. Also, the story should have spelled out that 56 patients received the treatment, versus 20 who experienced a fake procedure. Also worth pointing out: We don’t know the meaning or clinical significance of a reduction of this magnitude in the total score. The story addresses adverse effects, and that’s sufficient for a Satisfactory rating. We do wish the story had quantified the harms that were measured in the study. The fourth paragraph says the procedure “brings lasting side effects in some patients” and later the story quotes a physician who is not involved in the research as saying, “It’s a pretty high incidence of side effects.” But nowhere do exact numbers appear. Rather than citing data from the study, the story quotes the physician as saying that “over a third of patients actually experienced either gait disturbance or paresthesia,” or numbness. This information isn’t very useful because the story does not explain when these rates were measured. According to the study, three months after the procedure 36% of patients had gait disturbance and 38% had numbness. After 12 months, the numbers dropped, to 9 percent and 14 percent respectively. Also worth mentioning is that one patient was reported to have permanent diminished sensation of the dominant thumb and index figure, which was categorized as a serious adverse event. That did not appear in the story. The story clearly spells out that there isn’t data on the long-term efficacy of this procedure, and that more study is needed, so we’ll give this a barely passing Satisfactory. Several important study limitations were not included in the story, such as the fact that the treatment did not provide significant improvement for some types of tremors, and the treatment is not appropriate for people who are unwilling or unable to undergo an MRI. We’re also not told that the sham group was only followed for 3 months, while the experimental group was followed for a year. This is not usually recommended in clinical trials and both groups should be followed for the same length of time. The story cites a figure from the International Essential Tremor Foundation, an advocacy group, that an estimated 10 million people in the United States suffer from the condition. However, a 2014 analysis of existing research put the number of cases at around 7 million as of 2012, or about 2.2% of the U.S. population. While this may not qualify as disease mongering, the story could have pointed out that the exact number of cases isn’t clear. Also, the story should have noted that not all people with essential tremor have symptoms severe enough to require treatment. The story only fulfills part of our criteria. It does use one independent source, a physician who was not involved in the study. It also accurately reports the trial’s funding sources: InSightec, which developed the device; along with Focused Ultrasound Foundation, which is funded by device makers and philanthropic organizations; and the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, an Israel-U.S. government partnership that receives corporate support. However, the story falls short because it does not report the fact that nine of the study authors reported conflicts of interest, with most receiving financial compensation of some sort from device makers in the field. Lead researcher G. Rees Cosgrove, M.D. who is quoted in the story, reported receiving consulting fees from InSightec. The story states, “Doctors usually treat essential tremor with medication, but the drugs don’t work well for all patients.” That’s true, and so we’ll give this a Satisfactory rating for at least mentioning alternatives. But it should be noted that other procedural treatment options were not compared or even mentioned in the story and received only a brief mention in one of the videos. The current standard for tremor patients who don’t respond to medication is deep-brain stimulation, in which a probe connected to a pacemaker is implanted in the thalamus to suppress the tremors. Gamma Knife thalamotomy, which delivers precise doses of radiation to the thalamus, is also considered to be a safe and effective therapy for patients who don’t respond to medication. Also, some patients have mild symptoms that can be treated with relaxation techniques and the avoidance of triggers such as caffeine. The story states that the device was approved by the FDA in July. The story could have done readers a service by giving a sense of how many medical centers around the country are geared up to perform the procedure, or will be soon. This is indeed a new treatment option for essential tremor, though the story may leave readers with the false impression that the concept of killing off neurons in the thalamus is new. Rather, it’s the use of focused ultrasound to destroy brain tissue, rather than a probe inserted in the brain, that constitutes an advance. The story does not appear to rely solely on the news release, which we also reviewed.",
            "output": [
                "New treatment offers some hope for an unshakable tremor"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab8203ad10f34f94b56214d14fdeda04",
            "input": "On 10 June 2016, the Daily Beast reported that Sen. David Perdue urged attendees of the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference to pray for misfortune and death to befall President Barack Obama: At a major event for conservative Christians this morning, a Republican senator joked about praying for President Obama’s “days to be short.” Sen. David Perdue, a freshman senator from Georgia, opened his remarks at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference by encouraging attendees to pray for President Obama. But, he added in a joking tone, they need to pray for him in a very specific way: “We should pray for him like Psalms 109:8 says: Let his days be few, and let another have his office,” the senator said, smiling wryly. The crowd chuckled and he moved on with his address. The rest of that passage, which Perdue did not recite, reads, “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.” The psalm is a pointed, lengthy death wish for one of David’s enemies. Video depicted Purdue’s 10 June 2016 remarks:  Psalms 109:8 (alternately named “Song of the Slandered”) was rendered in the manner below in the King James Bible: Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. As many pointed out, the Senator’s Biblical reference wasn’t a new or even uncommon scripture-based jab at President Obama. A 2009 article reported that the verse was traction across the internet as a veiled threat cloaked in the guise of prayerful intent: There’s a new slogan making its way onto car bumpers and across the Internet. It reads simply: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8” A nice sentiment? Maybe not. The psalm reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Presidential criticism through witty slogans is nothing new. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, and hats with “1/20/09” commemorated President Bush’s last day in office. But the verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” The slogan comes at a time of heightened concern about antigovernment anger. Earlier this year, the president’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, said that Tea Parties could lead to something unhealthy. In September, authorities shut down a poll on Facebook asking if President Obama should be killed. Still, that doesn’t push the Psalms citation into the realm of hate speech, says Chris Hansen, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). That particular piece was published during President Obama’s first term in office. Some argued at the time that the reference to the verse simply expressed a hope that he not be re-elected to a second term: Deborah Lauter, director of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League agrees that the bumper sticker falls within acceptable political discourse. “The problem is you don’t know if people who are donning that message in a shirt or on a bumper sticker are fully aware of the quote or what follows. Obviously that message makes the ambiguity disappear. If they’re just referring to him being out of office, that’s one thing. If they’re referring to him being dead, that’s so offensive. It’s protected speech, but it’s clearly offensive.” However, that motive ceased to be relevant after Obama’s 2012 re-election. A representative for the Senator provided a terse statement to a Bloomberg reporter about the controversy: David Perdue spokeswoman Caroline Vanvick responds in an email: “He in no way wishes harm towards our president” pic.twitter.com/PPj5jtZv0n — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 10, 2016  The statement read: Senator Perdue said we are called to pray for our country, for our leaders, and for our president. He in no way wishes harm towards our president and everyone in the room understood that. However, we should add the media to our prayer list because they are pushing a narrative to create controversy and this is exactly what the American people are tired of. It is true Sen. David Perdue laughed and referenced Psalms 109:8 during a 10 June 2016 conservative Christian event. A representative for the Senator addressed the ensuing controversy, blaming the media for “pushing a narrative” for the outcry.",
            "output": [
                "Sen. David Perdue advised attendees to offer up an ominous prayer aimed at President Obama during the 2016 Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10156cfddf864d8d915a1844a13b9704",
            "input": "In a TV message on Monday evening watched by more than 27 million people, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered people to stay at home, told nearly all shops to close and banned social gatherings including weddings and baptisms. However, public transport in London was busy during the morning rush hour and the streets were far from deserted amid confusion over the government’s advice to workers. The death toll from coronavirus in the United Kingdom has jumped by 87 to a total of 422 - the biggest daily increase since the crisis began. Meanwhile, the economic devastation was underscored by a survey that suggested the economy was shrinking at a record pace, faster than during the 2008-09 financial crisis. The unprecedented peacetime restrictions announced by Johnson, which will last at least three weeks, are intended to stop the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which suffers from staff shortages at the best of times, being overwhelmed. “These measures are not advice, they are rules and will be enforced, including by the police,” health minister Matt Hancock told parliament. At a news conference later, Hancock announced plans to open a temporary hospital next week at the Excel Centre, a huge venue in east London normally used for trade fairs and similar events. “With the help of the military and with NHS clinicians we will make sure that we have the capacity that we need so that everyone can get the support they need,” he said. British Transport Police said 500 officers will be deployed to train stations across the country to remind the public of the government’s advice to travel only when essential. Hancock called for 250,000 volunteers to help the NHS with tasks such as delivering medicines from pharmacies, driving patients to and from hospital appointments and phoning people isolating at home to check up on them. “If you are well and able to do so safely, I would urge you to sign up today to help the most vulnerable people in our communities as an NHS Volunteer Responder,” Hancock said. He also said the government had bought 3.5 million coronavirus antibody tests so that people who suspect they have had the virus would be able to find out for sure. Despite the message for people to stay at home, some roads were still busy and utility workmen and others were still mingling close together. Social media images showed the capital’s underground trains were packed with passengers closer than the 2-metre (6-foot) recommended distance apart and the government said “appropriate” construction work should continue. “The government needs to urgently provide clearer guidance on who should be working and who shouldn’t,” said Rebecca Long-Bailey, the opposition Labour Party’s business policy chief. “No one should be asked to work if they are not providing an essential function in this crisis.”  Under the curbs on movement, people should leave their homes only for very limited reasons such as going to supermarkets for vital supplies or for exercise once a day. Police, who will be able to issue fines of 30 pounds ($35), will now be able to break up gatherings of more than two people. A snap YouGov poll found that 93 percent of Britons supported the measures but were split on whether fines would be a sufficient deterrent. Supermarkets, where shelves have been stripped bare by  panic-buying in recent days, said they had begun limiting the number of shoppers in stores at any one time, erecting barriers outside, and installing screens at checkouts to protect staff. Last week, the government announced billions of pounds of help for businesses and said it would help to pay the wages of employees, giving grants to cover 80% of a worker’s salary if they were kept on as staff. But critics said it did not provide support for the self-employed, who total about 5 million in Britain compared to roughly 28 million employees, meaning they either had to keep working or risk losing all income. Finance minister Rishi Sunak told parliament the government was working on measures to help self-employed people, but said these had to be practical and fair.",
            "output": [
                "UK calls for 250,000 volunteers as virus deaths surge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e8ea9eac51947aa9ebddc1d51fec09a",
            "input": "Gives a cost comparison with injected insulin. Given that the article stresses the need for injected insulin as an adjunct to inhaled insulin (in some cases), the cost would be higher. No quantitative data presented. No information on the efficacy of Exubera at controlling blood sugar as compared to existing methods of insulin delivery. No data on the side effects, or how many people who did not have pre-pre-existing lung disease experienced inflammation due to Exubera. No quantitative data presented. No long-term data on the side effects, or how many people who did not have pre-existing lung disease experienced inflammation due to Exubera. No data from any Exubera trials. No mention of study design or incidence of side effects. Provides American Diabetes Association statistics on prevalence. Does not appear to be disease mongering. Mentions that not all diabetics take insulin and some people with Type 2 can manage with oral hypoglycemics, diet and exercise. There is some discussion that more diabetics will take insulin if it is inhaled form, which may or may not be true. Balanced. FDA, American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and diabetic patient perspective provided. No conflict of interest noted. (No mention if anyone received research funding from Pfizer.) Mention of alternative treatment (i.e. injections alone) and possible treatment needed in conjunction with inhalable insulin. There is mention of some of the side effects on the lungs (coughing or decrease in lung capacity) , and that the inhaled form of insulin is not appropriate for all diabetics, especially those with asthma or poorly controlled lung disease. There is a reminder that diabetics still need to check their blood sugar levels via needles, pens or pumps. Mentions availability of treatment and that Exubera won’t replace injected insulin. The story focuses on recent FDA approval. No clear evidence that the story relied heavily on a press release; however, the financial information seems to be PR-driven. While investors may be interested that this could be a “$1 billion a year seller for Pfizer”, people with diabetes who take daily insulin in this new form would appreciate quantitative information on the risks and benefits of Exubera.",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves first inhalable version of insulin"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3528653ab782438a838f6867402e8ab0",
            "input": "But a decade on, work at the site is only 10% complete because of a row over an increasingly scarce resource in Iran that is vital to keep the facility cool: water. “In early project studies, there were some mistakes about the amount of water the plant would need,” said Hamidreza Soleymannejad, one of the plant’s project managers. “They found the plant needs a lot of water, but the region could not provide that.”  The fate of the Firouzabad plant is not unique in Iran, even though the nation has huge oil and gas reserves and is eager to expand output of downstream products which can more easily evade crippling U.S. sanctions on its vital energy industry. At least a dozen petrochemical, fertilizer and refinery projects, with combined capacity to produce more than 5 million tonnes a year of products, have hit the buffers or been delayed due to water supply problems, according to a Reuters assessment. The list was compiled based on reports in state media, direct comments from project managers involved in several of the delayed plants, traders, and details published by some of the companies or major shareholders in the developments. Reuters sought comment from investors or companies involved. Most did not respond to emailed requests, while two confirmed water shortages were a major issue. One denied there was any problem, although a trader with close links to the project flagged a lack of water supplies as a crucial factor. Fasa Petrochemical Company and Darab Petrochemical Company, which each own 30% in Firouzabad Petrochemical Company, did not respond to requests for comment. “Many of these projects were proposed by lawmakers who were trying to create jobs in their constituencies. Unfortunately the technical studies have been widely ignored,” said Reza Banimahd, a businessman in Tehran who has worked on refinery projects. The water shortage is one of many challenges facing Tehran as it seeks to skirt U.S. sanctions by ramping up production of products, which are more difficult to trace back to Iran than Iranian crude, which has clearly identifiable characteristics. Under sanctions, crude exports have plunged 80% and are now worth about $700 million a month - a calculation based on Iran’s normal selling price although under sanctions Iran tends to sell crude at a discount. By comparison, Tehran has kept oil product sales at about $500 million a month, Reuters calculations show. Graphic: Iranian fuel oil exports, here  Oil refineries and other processing plants need water mainly for cooling. Producing a single gallon of gasoline requires 0.61–0.71 of a gallon of water. But diverting limited supplies away from farming towards industry carries political risks. Drought and depleting water supplies have sparked unrest. Farmers in Iran's central region protested here in several cities in 2018 over water mismanagement, as rainfall dropped 25% below the average. The plant in Firouzabad, an inland area in the parched south of the country, aimed to produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene a year. Based on figures for a similar capacity plant, that output would use more than 2 million tonnes of water a year. The government, which worries about falling national groundwater levels, wants the $500 million plant moved to the coast where desalinated water could be used. But local officials and a senior cleric have objected and the project has stalled. Azizollah Hashemizadeh, Firouzabad’s Friday prayer leader who reports to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top authority in Iran’s theocratic system, said in June the project would bring prosperity and could not be shifted. While Khamenei has the last word in state affairs, there are a range of parallel institutions below him that often compete for influence. For example, the Revolutionary Guards, an investor in the Firouzabad plant, has a separate command structure to the conventional army and has vast industrial interests. The Revolutionary Guards did not respond to a request for comment sent via their website. The structure of rival power centers often creates a tortured decision-making process and can push aside commercial and environmental factors. “There is a problem with coordination between ministries over development plans,” said Kaveh Madani, a former Iranian deputy vice president for the environment and now visiting professor at London’s Imperial College, adding that sanctions had pushed the government to prioritize jobs over water and the environment. The delay in the Firouzabad plant has had knock on effects, disrupting four other projects that aimed to use the facility’s output of ethylene, an ingredient used to make products such as polyester resins and adhesives. Those offtake plants would also have added to strains on the region’s scant water reserves. “Delay is not a good word. After 12 years, we are practically facing a failed project,” said another project manager for the Firouzabad plant when contacted by Reuters. Asking not to be identified, he said the proposed new coastal site was empty, flattened but with nothing yet built. Despite the challenges, Iran has boosted refining capacity, announcing in February it was self sufficient in gasoline. Iran’s petrochemical plants have capacity to make about 65 million tonnes of products a year, of which about 22.5 million tonnes is exported. The government aims to increase output to 91 million tonnes in two years and 130 million tonnes in five years. Iran’s refining capacity stands at about 2.23 million barrels per day, putting it behind regional leader Saudi Arabia. Graphic: Middle East refining capacities (2018), here  Social Security Investment Company, a state body with 200 subsidiaries and major energy investments, flagged problems facing the industry in a 2018 report including sanctions and “the drought and shortage of water for the inland refineries.”  It said some projects “were not economically feasible as they were initiated to create jobs in unsuitable locations.”  In northeast Iran, Khorasan Petrochemical Company has struggled to launch a fertilizer plant to produce 660,000 tonnes of urea, using gas as a feedstock. Five years on, the project is at a standstill despite securing $700 million in state support. “Water resources for the project have not been provided and remain unclear,” Tamin Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Company (TAPPICO), a major shareholder, wrote on its website. Agriculture, a major employer in Iran, accounts for about 90% of Iran’s water usage, with industry using 10%. But any extra demand strains Iran’s depleting reserves. U.N. data indicate Iran is using 3.8 billion cubic meters of water a year more than is replaced, leading to a fast falling water table. Nevertheless, some projects still go ahead even in areas where strains are acute. Shazand refinery in central Iran had to drill deep wells to pump groundwater, state news agency IRNA reported in 2018, alarming environmentalists and sapping supplies from farmers. When asked to comment, Shazand Petrochemical Company pointed to a statement published on its website that was published after Reuters made the request: “To reduce consumption of groundwater, the company has planned to use the reservoir of Kamal Saleh dam - when it is full - and wastewater of neighboring cities.”  The company said it was seeking a contractor for its water recycling project. Graphic: Iran refineries, here",
            "output": [
                "Iran's thirsty energy industry runs up against water shortage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a621189f4f54b1aa633ebe531e2ef15",
            "input": "\"At this year’s March for Life -- the annual anti-abortion rally in Washington -- Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, decried a federal rule implemented in the waning days of President Barack Obama's administration. Ernst told the crowd on Jan. 27, 2017, that she would \"\"introduce a bill Monday to stop what some have referred to as ‘President Obama’s last gift to Planned Parenthood.’ \"\" Ernst referred to Title X of the United States Public Health Service Act, which covers family planning. She said that her effort, in cooperation with Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., \"\"would scrap the Obama administration’s 11th-hour rule that entrenches federal family planning funding for Planned Parenthood.\"\" We wondered if Ernst had accurately described the Obama administration’s action. Our conclusion: Ernst was essentially on target. About Title X Title X, as the federal rule notes, is the only federal program focused solely on providing family planning and related preventive services. In 2015, the rule says, more than 4 million individuals received services through more than 3,900 Title X-funded health centers. Planned Parenthood says its affiliates served approximately 1.5 million patients that year under Title X, about one-third of the federal program’s yearly total. Planned Parenthood has drawn criticism from anti-abortion advocates because in addition to providing uncontroversial women’s health services, the group also performs abortions. By law, abortions performed by Planned Parenthood are paid for by private money, not federal dollars. But anti-abortion advocates argue that money is fungible and that the federal government is effectively supporting a major provider of abortions. Supporters of Planned Parenthood counter that the money flows are separated and that barring federal dollars from being spent on Planned Parenthood would have dire negative consequences for women’s health, especially among poor Americans. The Obama administration rule On Sept. 7, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a \"\"notice of proposed rulemaking\"\" -- the first step in formulating a new federal rule. The proposed rule would make clear that the decision to fund an organization under Title X cannot be based on \"\"reasons other than its ability to provide Title X services.\"\" The effect would be that the fact of providing abortion services couldn’t be used against a group that seeks Title X funding. After the notice of proposed rulemaking was issued, the rule went through a series of required steps, including a public comment period. Ultimately, HHS acted to finalize the rule while the Obama administration was still in charge, but after Donald Trump had won the 2016 presidential election. HHS made the rule effective Jan. 18. Though the proposal was framed broadly, it was widely perceived as having a significant impact on Planned Parenthood. Both sides essentially agreed on that. After the notice of proposed rulemaking, Ernst and other lawmakers immediately expressed concern to HHS about its impact on Planned Parenthood. And after the rule was finalized, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said in a statement that \"\"President Obama has cemented his legacy as a champion for women's health. This rule protects birth control, cancer screenings, (sexually-transmitted infection) testing and treatment and other health care for millions of people.\"\" Evaluating Ernst’s description So how well does Ernst’s characterization stack up? We’ll take her statement phrase by phrase. • \"\"11th-hour rule.\"\" While all relevant procedures were followed in the formulation of the rule, the final rule did materialize quicker than many federal rules do, experts said. \"\"The rule was proposed in September and finalized in December,\"\" said Columbia Law School professor Gillian Metzger. \"\"In practice, that's a pretty fast turnaround.\"\" And of course, by making the effective date Jan. 18, 2017, it took effect in the final 48 hours of the Obama administration. All told, Ernst has a strong case for calling it an \"\"11th-hour\"\" rule. • \"\"Entrenches federal family planning funding.\"\" Experts told PolitiFact that the Obama rulemaking did make the policy harder to overturn, although either Congress or Trump’s HHS department could take steps to do so. \"\"I would not quibble about the use of ‘entrench’ in this context,\"\" said Boston University law professor Gary S. Lawson. \"\"Rules are not that easy to change. There are degrees of entrenchment, of course, depending on the procedures required for change, but if someone wants to apply the term to a substantive agency rule, I would let them do it.\"\" Metzger agreed. \"\"As a practical matter, reversing a rule takes resources and time by the agency, and there would likely be a court challenge and the possibility that a court would repeal the reversal as arbitrary.\"\" • \"\"For Planned Parenthood.\"\" As we noted earlier, both sides in the abortion debate publicly linked the rule to Planned Parenthood. That said, the rule did not exclusively target Planned Parenthood. The rule itself does not mention the organization by name, although the accompanying material does mention the group specifically in a question-and-answer section summarizing public comments. \"\"While Planned Parenthood might be one of the affected applicants, the rule is actually written in a neutral manner,\"\" said Jeffrey S. Lubbers, an American University law professor. Our ruling Ernst said the Obama administration issued an \"\"11th-hour rule that entrenches federal family planning funding for Planned Parenthood.\"\" It may be a slight exaggeration to use the word \"\"entrench,\"\" since there are ways to overturn the rule within a matter of months, and it should be noted that the rule would affect a variety of other health care providers, not just Planned Parenthood, Still, it’s hard to argue that this was not an 11th-hour rule, and in general we find that Ernst has characterized pretty accurately what the Obama administration did.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Obama administration issued an \"\"11th-hour rule that entrenches federal family planning funding for Planned Parenthood.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a3e40dc66b04c6a93f716a8f56275ca",
            "input": "The Tri-County Health Department said Thursday prairie dog burrows are being sprayed with insecticide to kill fleas that could transmit the disease to the rodents, people and pets. The health department says Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Gateway Open Space are temporarily closed. The department says parking at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, where the Colorado Rapids play, is restricted to asphalt lots, and a planned fireworks display after Saturday’s game has been postponed. Tri-County Health Director Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. says plague is common in Colorado prairie dog colonies and can be managed safely with insecticides.",
            "output": [
                "Plague confirmed in prairie dogs in Commerce City."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c232e4e3916f4e54bd634381c2b17988",
            "input": "Indonesia confirmed 40 more deaths and its death toll accounts for nearly half of the more than 590 across Southeast Asia. More than 16,500 cases have been reported across the region. Indonesian health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said the country had registered 337 new infections, also a new daily high, taking the total to 3,293. Health experts say Indonesia faces a surge in cases after a slow government response masked the scale of the outbreak in Southeast Asia’s biggest country. Indonesia has brought in “large-scale social restrictions”, but President Joko Widodo has resisted bringing in the type of tough lockdowns imposed by neighbours and only moved to allow areas like Jakarta, where there has been a spike in cases, more powers to tackle the crisis. Researchers at the University of Indonesia have predicted there could be 140,000 deaths and 1.5 million cases by May without tougher curbs on movement and gathering. Indonesia has stepped up the number of tests to 16,511 as of Wednesday, but for a country with more than 260 million people it has one the lowest testing rates in the world   Neighbouring Malaysia, with only 32 million people, has conducted 69,675 tests. There are also growing fears that the outbreak could spread across the archipelago during the annual exodus to home villages for the Muslim Ramadan holiday.Widodo has said the government would give aid to poorer families, particularly in Jakarta, to persuade them to stay put but has rejected calls for an outright ban on the “mudik”, as the holiday is known. Malaysia reported 109 new infections on Thursday, the second-lowest daily increase since a partial lockdown was imposed on March 18. The data comes a day ahead of possible ministerial discussions on whether to extend the curbs on travel and non-essential businesses beyond April 14. The country has so far recorded 4,228 infections - the highest in Southeast Asia - with 67 deaths. But government officials have said the restrictions are showing results. “We have done well,” Ministry of Health Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah told a news conference. “We have a small window of opportunity. If we do it right we may be able to avert the surge that we have seen in other countries.”",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia reports biggest jump in coronavirus deaths as Malaysia trend improves."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3f9e0f7c4a4458d8334ae28e4a92a51",
            "input": "The recommendations won’t be final until public health officials and Gov. Chris Sununu give their OK. The task force unanimously recommended that hotels be limited to half their capacity, though the limit would not apply to motels with outdoor access to rooms or to inns and bed-and-breakfasts with 10 or fewer rooms. Face masks would be required for staffers and are recommended for guests, who would be asked at check-in about any possible exposure to the coronavirus. A reopening date of May 22 is recommended for lodging, but target dates for other sectors were not included. On attractions, the guidance covers activities in “recreational and natural settings,” including biking, canoe and kayak rentals, mini-golf, driving ranges, shooting ranges, and racetracks. Also included are small group tours such those offered at Lost River Gorge and the Polar Caves, but task force members said amusement parks, water parks and indoor attractions would be addressed later. Outdoor attractions would be limited to half their capacity, or to the number social distancing guidelines can accommodate, whichever is less. The requirement would be the same for gyms and fitness clubs, which also would be prohibited from enrolling out-of-state residents as new members. The Republican governor’s stay-at-home order has been extended to May 31, but some businesses were allowed to reopen this week, including retail stores, hair salons and golf courses. Restaurants will be allowed to begin offering outdoor dining May 18. Other pandemic-related developments: ___ MANDATORY MASKS? Officials in a New Hampshire town near the border with Massachusetts are considering requiring face masks in indoor public spaces. The proposal in Salem would require anyone over age 2 to wear some type of face covering, or face a fine as high as $200. The town board discussed the matter during a virtual meeting Monday but didn’t vote on it. Jim Keller, the selectman who wrote the proposal, said the main concern is to protect residents from visitors from Massachusetts, where the outbreak is worse, WMUR-TV  reported. Some callers disagreed and believed the fine was too high. In Massachusetts, residents must wear face coverings in public or face fines of as much as $300. ___ THE NUMBERS As of Monday, 3,239 people in New Hampshire had tested positive for the virus, an increase of 81 from the previous day. There have been at least 142 coronavirus-related deaths in the state. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death. ___ Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Rules for reopening hotels, gyms, attractions taking shape."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a94bb31cbca4438b7b46be8a9b4d578",
            "input": "___ WILDFIRES — In a step to curb greenhouse gas emissions, California becomes the first state to require new homes to install solar panels, which the California Energy Commission says could add about $9,500 to the cost of a new home. But another new law exempts homeowners forced to rebuild because of a wildfire or other natural disaster. — The state is temporarily suspending its lengthy environmental review process for areas affected by the 2018 Camp Fire wildfire in a bid to speed up reconstruction of housing after the state’s most destructive wildfire displaced more than 50,000 people. But the law does not include the city of Chico because the mayor and most of the city council opposed it. — State entities can waive or reduce governmental licensing fees for businesses experiencing hardship and displacement after wildfires and other emergencies. — Caregivers can face enhanced civil penalties if they abandon the elderly in disasters such as wildfires. The law responds to the abandonment of seniors at two Santa Rosa assisted living centers during wildfires in 2017. ___ ANIMAL WELFARE — California becomes the first state to ban commercial or recreational fur trapping. It remains legal to trap animals for other purposes, including pest control and public health. — It is also the first state to bar cosmetic companies from selling products in California if they were tested on animals. — California becomes the third state, behind Hawaii and New Jersey, to ban most animals from circuses, including bears, tigers, elephants and monkeys. The law exempts rodeos and does not apply to domesticated dogs, cats and horses. — It’s illegal to hunt, trap or kill bobcats in California until 2025, when the state can begin issuing limited licenses as part of a bobcat management plan. — California’s ban on importing and selling alligator or crocodile products takes effect, though the state of Louisiana is suing to block the prohibition. — California becomes the latest state to allow for the eventual use of road-killed deer, elk, pronghorn antelope and wild pigs. But wildlife wardens warn it’s still illegal to collect roadkill because a state permitting and tracking program is not yet in place. — It’s illegal to smoke or dispose of cigar and cigarette waste in California state parks and beaches. The law covers traditional cigarettes and electric smoking devices, but smoking will still be allowed in parking lots. Supporters say it will provide a healthier environment for people, fish and wildlife. ___ CRIMINAL JUSTICE — California is the first state to bar health and dental co-pays for all inmates. California has one of nine state prison systems that already banned the charges, but the American Civil Liberties Union says California is the first to also abolish the practice in county jails. — Police are barred for three years from using facial recognition software in body-worn cameras in a move that follows New Hampshire and Oregon. — Victims of violent crime have seven years, up from three, to seek compensation. — Law enforcement agencies must submit rape kits for testing within 20 days. — The statute of limitations for domestic violence felony crimes increases from three years to five. — Most of those with felony convictions can serve on juries. — The state removes two mandatory sentences: a mandatory minimum for certain drug crimes, and an automatic one-year enhancement for each prior felony jail or prison term. Officials estimate the latter change could affect about 10,000 current inmates. — Inmates convicted of a sexually violent offense must undergo a risk assessment before their parole hearing. — Most children under age 12 must be released to their parents instead of prosecuted if they come to the attention of law enforcement. — Those under 21 can no longer buy center-fire, semiautomatic firearms, the type of rifle used in shootings this year at a Poway synagogue and a Gilroy food festival. Sales of those rifles will be limited to one a month for adults starting July 1. ___ BUSINESS — New Year’s Day is the deadline for publicly held California corporations to add at least one woman to their boards of directors, though the mandate is being challenged in court. — Employers are prohibited from using “no re-hire” clauses for workers settling a sexual harassment, discrimination or other employment dispute. Supporters say the clauses punish victims, while perpetrators may remain employed. — California’s minimum wage increases to $13 an hour for employers with more than 26 employees, and to $12 for employers with 26 or fewer workers. Annual dollar-a-year increases continue until all employers reach $15 an hour in 2023. — Employers are barred from forcing workers to enter into arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. Proponents say waiving rights including the ability to sue can leave employees more vulnerable to harassment and discrimination. — California is capping interest rates for consumer loans between $2,500 and $9,999 at 36 percentage points above the main interest rate set by the Federal Reserve. Consumer advocacy groups say some loan companies charge interest rates as high as 225%. — Local governments can form their own banks to handle taxpayer money, which supporters say could be used for things like affordable housing and infrastructure. The California Bankers Association fears they could be unfair competition for community banks. — Colleges must disclose whether they provide preferential treatment to students related to donors or alumni under a law aiming to provide more equity in college admissions following a nationwide admissions scandal. ___ HEALTHCARE — California begins taxing people who refuse to buy health insurance. A family of four would pay at least $2,000. The projected $300 million to $400 million in tax proceeds will go to giving middle-income people discounts on their monthly health insurance premiums. — California will provide health insurance for low-income immigrants ages 25 and younger living in the U.S. illegally. It’s expected to cost $98 million and cover about 100,000 people. California already provides health insurance for children living in the U.S. illegally. — Adults enrolled in the Medicaid program will have insurance coverage for eyeglasses, restoring a benefit cut during the Great Recession. Children are already eligible for the benefit. ___ GENDER — School districts must update former students’ diplomas, GEDs or transcripts upon request to reflect the graduates’ chosen names and genders. The law is intended to particularly help transgender graduates or those whose student records don’t match their legal name. — Heterosexual couples can register as domestic partners as an alternative to marriage. California’s 20-year-old domestic partnerships law previously applied only to same-sex couples, who at the time could not marry.",
            "output": [
                "New California laws help animals, fire victims, immigrants."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff13e4ae002146059cefcde771af2ab3",
            "input": "Attorney and Democratic state Sen. Jacob Candelaria recently filed a lawsuit in state district court on behalf of Joe Montano, who said authorities recently seized his medical cannabis, KOAT-TV reports. According to court documents, correctional officers searched Montano’s home while he was on house arrest, found the marijuana, and put him in jail for a month as punishment. The petition is seeking a judge to order the jail to allow him to possess and use his medical marijuana. State lawmakers passed a measure last year to allow people on house arrest to use medical marijuana. In a statement, Metropolitan Detention Center Chief of Corrections Ralph Fernadez said Community Custody Program inmates are considered in jail custody, and medical marijuana use is prohibited in the detention center.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico man in house arrest sues to use medical marijuana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98b7f1b05445410a9e47d70c6931cf58",
            "input": "Once the captain announced their vessel may be tainted with coronavirus, Grand Princess cruise ship guests like Kathleen Reid were left with little to do but contemplate the prospect of extended isolation at sea, or worse. “My first reaction was, ‘Oh, crap. We’re going to be quarantined, and maybe get sick,’” Reid, 67, a retiree from Granbury, Texas said. “We don’t know what’s happening, so we’re just kind of in limbo, waiting.”  Reid, who spoke to Reuters by cell phone on Thursday, was one of some 2,300 passengers stuck with about 1,100 crew members aboard the Grand Princess, idled off the coast of California a day after the ship was denied entry to its home port in San Francisco. Like the Diamond Princess, the liner held in quarantine off Japan last month, the Grand Princess is owned by a unit of Carnival Corp, the world’s largest cruise operator. Experts have criticized Japanese bureaucrats’ handling of the onboard quarantine, as ultimately about 700 people were infected and six have died in what was at the time the largest concentration of coronavirus cases outside China. California Governor Gavin Newsom insisted that the Grand Princess remain at sea until passengers and crew complaining of flu-like symptoms during a 15-day roundtrip cruise to Hawaii could be tested for possible coronavirus infection. On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard airlifted a batch of diagnostic kits to the ship via helicopter, and public health officials said samples collected would be flown back to a San Francisco Bay Area state laboratory for testing. Results were expected in about 24 hours, said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the city’s Department of Emergency Management. State and local officials acted after learning that 35 people aboard the ship had fallen ill, and that two passengers who had traveled on the same vessel for a voyage last month between San Francisco and Mexico later tested positive for coronavirus. One, an elderly man from Placer County near Sacramento with underlying health conditions, died this week, marking the first documented coronavirus fatality in California. The other, from the Bay area, was described by Newsom as gravely sick. Health officials say both individuals likely contracted the virus while they were aboard the ocean liner. The Princess cruise line said fewer than 100 passengers and crew from the Hawaii voyage of its Grand Princess have been identified for testing, including those who were ill.  Tests will also be given to dozens of holdover passengers from the Mexico trip who stayed on the ship for the voyage to Hawaii, as well as “guests currently under care for respiratory illness,” the cruise line said in a statement. They will remain quarantined on the ship until cleared by medical staff. Specialists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were working with local health authorities and the Coast Guard to coordinate the operation. They also were seeking to contact some 2,500 passengers who disembarked in San Francisco on Feb. 21 after the earlier cruise to Mexico. One of them, a Canadian woman from the province of Alberta, tested positive for the virus this week, health officials there said. Princess Cruises has canceled the next scheduled departure of its Grand Princess Hawaii voyage from San Francisco, which had been set for March 7. Passengers on the current cruise, meanwhile, were forced to make do with a rapidly shrinking choice of amusements. Having already lost access to many of the ship’s favorite attractions - the bar, casino, shops, food buffet and gym - guests were also urged to practice “social distancing,” making an effort to keep at least 6 feet away from strangers on the ship, the company said. By midday on Thursday, they were asked to confine themselves to their staterooms until further notice. It was unclear what would occur should anyone now aboard the ship test positive for the respiratory virus, which has infected more than 95,000 people worldwide, most of them in China, where the outbreak originated. “Once we have results from the tests, the CDC and the state will determine the most appropriate location for the ship to berth, and the location needs to provide for the safety of the surrounding community as well as the passengers and crew,” Carroll told reporters on Thursday. She said the ship might be directed to an arrival point other than San Francisco. Reid, who is traveling with her husband, said the ship’s captain was keeping passengers informed of developments throughout the day with announcements every couple of hours, and that fellow guests seemed to be taking the uncertainty mostly in stride. “People are, I’m sure, a little anxious, but nobody has just gone screaming mad yet,” Reid said, adding she had seen no obvious signs of anyone being sick. “Hand-washing is a big deal,” she said, but “nobody is walking around sneezing or coughing.”",
            "output": [
                "Cruise ship passengers 'in limbo' off San Francisco awaiting coronavirus tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a83d5594c2c44af8e6743955a201ce3",
            "input": "Such a test could initially be used to select patients for clinical trials of experimental treatments being developed to try to halt progression of Alzheimer’s, the researchers said, and may one day move into routine use in doctors’ clinics. “Alzheimer’s begins to affect the brain many years before patients are diagnosed (and) many of our drug trials fail because by the time patients are given the drugs the brain has already been too severely affected,” said Simon Lovestone of Oxford University, who led this work from King’s College London. “A simple blood test could help us identify patients at a much earlier stage to take part in new trials and hopefully develop treatments,” he said. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a brain-wasting disease which in 2010 was estimated to be costing the world $604 billion a year. The fatal disease affects 44 million people worldwide, with the number set to triple by 2050, the campaign group Alzheimer’s Disease International says. Several big pharma firms including Roche, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson, are pursuing various approaches to get to the root cause of Alzheimer’s and try to find treatments to halt its progression. Yet over the past 15 years, more than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in trial. Lovestone and other experts believe this may be because drug trials are conducted too late, in patients whose condition has already gone too far. A predictive test for use before people develop symptoms would help researchers select the right people for drug trials, and help show whether the experimental drugs are working. Previous studies have found that PET brain scans and tests of lumbar fluid can be used to predict the onset of dementia from people with a less severe condition known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but these tests are expensive and invasive, so scientists are keen to develop a cheaper, simpler blood test. MCI includes problems with day-to-day memory, language and attention. It can be an early sign of dementia, or a symptom of stress or anxiety. Around 10 percent of people diagnosed with MCI develop dementia within a year. Apart from regular assessments to measure memory decline, there is currently no accurate way of predicting who will or won’t develop dementia. For this study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Lovestone’s team used blood samples from 1,148 people - 476 with Alzheimer’s, 220 with mild cognitive impairment and 452 elderly controls without dementia. They were analyzed for 26 proteins previously found to be linked with Alzheimer’s. The team found 16 of these 26 proteins to be strongly associated with brain shrinkage in either MCI or Alzheimer’s and then ran a second series of tests to see which of these could predict which patients would progress from MCI to Alzheimer’s. With this second series, they found a combination of 10 proteins capable of predicting with 87 percent accuracy whether people with MCI would develop Alzheimer’s disease within a year. Experts in the field welcomed the results but said they should be replicated in larger studies before an Alzheimer’s blood test could be rolled out for use in doctors’ clinics. “The results reported today are interesting, but as the authors point out there is still a very large amount of work remaining until a usable blood test for Alzheimer’s disease becomes available,” said Adrian Pini of the MRC Center for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London. James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the research “does not mean that a blood test for dementia is just around the corner”. “These 10 proteins can predict conversion to dementia with less than 90 percent accuracy, meaning one in 10 people would get an incorrect result,” he said. “Accuracy would need to be improved before it could be a useful diagnostic test.”",
            "output": [
                "Study paves the way for a blood test to predict Alzheimer's."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36906fad4ce949a1937d6465ab9b8cbe",
            "input": "The radiologists used angiography, an X-ray of the blood  vessels, to confirm loss of blood flow in the severely  frostbitten hands and feet of 17 patients. They threaded catheters into the arteries to directly  deliver clot-busting drugs to dissolve the blood clots and  anti-spasmodics to relax the arteries. This helped 90 percent of the patients, they told a meeting  in Washington of the Society of Interventional Radiology. “Previously, severe frostbite was a one-way route to limb  loss. This treatment is a significant improvement.” said Dr.  George Edmonson, an interventional radiologist with St. Paul  Radiology in St. Paul, Minnesota, who worked on the study. “We’re opening arteries that are blocked so that tissues  can heal and limbs can be salvaged. We were able to reopen even  the smallest arteries, saving patients’ fingers and toes,”  Edmonson added. Severe frostbite can block blood flow and cause small clots  to form. These clots can worsen already slowed blood flow. “For half our patients who received the clot-busting drug  Tenectaplase, this technique worked beautifully, saving all  fingers, hands, toes and feet that otherwise would have been  lost,” said Edmonson. “Overall, in about 80 percent of the cases, it  significantly improved patients’ outcomes. Within one to three  days of treatment, we saw improvement.”",
            "output": [
                "Clot-busting drugs save limbs from frostbite."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d817219a28474ee2b68e30a40c11754e",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs. Were people to begin taking B vitamins in the quantities necessary to show improvement along the lines of what has been seen in some of the studies mentioned, B vitamins could become a lifelong treatment with significant cumulative costs. The slant of the story was to question the wisdom in augmenting vitamin B intake in light of the studies failing to demonstrate benefit. The story itself, however, reported on several pieces of evidence over time rather than reporting on the results of a specific study or studies. Where it did provide numbers on benefits, it did so in a clear and cautious way. For example, it noted “a recent study in which brain atrophy (or shrinkage, which occurs in older people who are losing brain function) slowed by 30% in elderly patients with both high homocysteine levels and mild cognitive impairment who took a B vitamin pill daily for two years. Brain shrinkage occurred at a rate of about 0.75% in the people taking B vitamins in the study, compared with a rate of 1.1% per year in a group that took a placebo.” By including the actual percentages for people in both groups, the story shows the reader that the shrinkage was not dramatic to begin with and that the difference between the two groups could also be described as a 0.26 percentage point difference. The story did include information about possible side effects and harms associated with excessive consumption of B vitamins. The story provided a reasonable description of several studies in which outcomes were not changed with vitamin B supplementation. There was a useful quote by one of the researches indicating that only a minority of studies showed any indication of benefit from increasing vitamin B intake. We wish it had taken a little more care in making clear distinctions between the different populations being studied. In some cases, the studies were focused on anyone of advanced age, while in others they were focused specifically on Alzheimer’s patients, but there was no discussion in the story about whether these differences may also have accounted for the different findings among the studies. The story did not engage in disease mongering. The story detailed several studies of the relation between the B vitamins and cognitive impairment; it included quotes from two researchers  (Haan and Miller) in the field who are at different institutions but have several studies that they have worked on and published together. There was no discussion of how the fortification of common foods in the supply chain, such as grains, flour, cereal, energy bars and drinks, has affected the levels of B vitamin. There was also no mention of other specific therapies to stop cognitive decline. The story described the urge to rush out and purchase B vitamins, which is suggestive of their ready availability. The story neglected to mention that many foods are already fortified with B vitamins, which may already cover the recommended intake levels for many readers. This story provided a nice overview of what is known about B vitamins in relation to age- and disease- related cognitive decline. The story does not appear to rely solely on a news release. It is not clear why this information about the long-term research interest of two local scientists is news right now, but it is an interesting piece nonetheless.",
            "output": [
                "Vitamin B and its role in improving memory"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-262d60a75b574acaa145f22d7262c8f4",
            "input": "The total number of infections climbed to 41,495. “In the past 24 hours we had 117 new deaths and 3,186 new confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus,” Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, calling on Iranians to stay at home. Iran has had an intercity travel ban since Thursday and the government has extended the closure of universities and schools and the suspension of all cultural, religious and sports events. “If necessary, we might impose tougher measures as our priority is the nation’s safety and health,” said Iran’s first Vice President, Eshaq Jahangiri, according to state TV. Iran last week warned of a surge of cases as many Iranians ignored calls to avoid traveling for Persian New Year holidays that started on March 20. To stem the spread of the virus in crowded jails, Iran’s judiciary on Sunday extended furloughs for 100,000 prisoners. On March 17, Iran said it had freed about 85,000 people from jail temporarily, including political prisoners. Iranian media on Monday, citing the governor of Iran’s Fars province, Enayatollah Rahimi, reported that prisoners at one prison “broke cameras and caused other damage in two sections of the prison where violent criminals are kept”. The state news agency IRNA said similar riots had erupted in other prisons since March 20. Families have called for the release of all prisoners.",
            "output": [
                "Iran plans tougher restrictions as coronavirus toll rises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5ffd771dba2430fa4459945d4ebac92",
            "input": "\"The article includes price information for the drug’s likely competitor, Plavix–about $4 per day, a significant cost for a drug that is taken daily, perhaps for a lifetime. The article correctly indicates that the price of Plavix is likely to come down when it goes generic in four years. The article properly includes speculation that the pricing of prasugrel may be a key factor in its adoption, should it be approved. The reporter includes considerable data about several key clinical endpoints of both benefits and harms, in two cases using both absolute numbers of patients and percentage increase or descrease. The reporter gets extra points for including \"\"number needed to treat\"\"–the number of people who would have  clinically significant outcomes for each 1,000 treated with the drug. The story is built around the question of the drugs’ risks vs. benefits. Data about harms are mentioned early and often, and described in detail. A direct comparision of the fatal bleeding rates for the two drugs would have been additionally useful. The New England Journal of Medicine article is based on results of a Phase III trial that appears to meet all the important criteria for significance: the study is prospective, the study group is large, the patients were randomized, the treatments double-blinded, the clinical endpoints signficant. While there is no placebo group, this was likely decided for ethical reasons, so all patients in the study would receive at least current best-practice treatment. The article assigns proper crediblity to the study, which to appear in NEJM has received rigorous peer review. The article does nothing to exaggerate the risk of death or the consequences of heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular disease deaths. It allows the outcome figures to speak for themselves. The article quotes five experts in cardiology from different institutions, providing greater balance and context than just one or two experts would. In each case the relationship of the souce to the study and/or its funders is revealed. The considerable conflicts of interest of the investigators are made very clear. The article makes clear that prasugrel is being developed as an option to Plavix, and that Plavix with aspirin is currently best-practice treatment. The article makes clear that the drug prasugrel is not FDA approved and that its approval is uncertain. The article makes clear that this is a drug that is very similar to Plavix, and that it may be marginally more effective. No claims of novelty are made. The companies’ joint press release, an enthusiastic announcement about the drug’s benefits, bears little resemblance to this story.\"",
            "output": [
                "Blood drug trades benefit for risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-68c971364b1d4de0b8847120a62b1067",
            "input": "Kenosha County prosecutors said 20-year-old Tyler Huffhines had employees make professionally packaged cartridges. Authorities said the employees filled about 3,000 to 5,000 cartridges per day and were sold for $16 each. “Based on how everything was set up, this was a very high-tech operation that was running for some time,” Andrew Burgoyne, Kenosha County assistant district attorney, said during a Monday court hearing to set bond. Police said the business started in January 2018. Police arrested Huffhines on Thursday. He was being held on a $500,000 cash bond while he awaits charges to be filed. He was due in court Friday. His attorney, Mark Richards, did not respond to an email or a phone message left at his office. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Kenosha Drug Operations Group and other agencies executed search warrants at two homes. The Kenosha News reports that authorities seized 188 pounds (85 kilograms) of marijuana, THC oil, eight firearms, and about $20,000 in cash. The arrest comes as health officials investigate 450 possible cases in 33 states where vaping was linked to a severe lung disease. Kansas reported its first death tied to the outbreak on Friday. Nationwide, as many as six people have died. Health officials have warned against buying counterfeit vaping cartridges. It’s unknown if the Wisconsin operation has been linked to any illnesses. No single vaping device, liquid or ingredient has been tied to all the illnesses. But recent attention has been focused on devices, liquids, refill pods and cartridges that are not sold in stores. New York state has focused its investigation on an ingredient called Vitamin E acetate, which has been used to thicken marijuana vape juice but is considered dangerous if heated and inhaled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating Vitamin E acetate, but officials said they’re looking at several other ingredients as well. Last week, the CDC warned against buying vaping products off the street because the substances in them may be unknown. The agency also warned against modifying vaping products or adding any substances not intended by the manufacturer. This isn’t the first time Huffhines has made it into the headlines. Last year, the Kenosha News wrote a feature story about him when he was an 18-year-old Central High School student, selling athletic shoes online. The story’s headline was “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin man accused in illegal THC vaping cartridge scheme."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34b1009728d04199a94ed3e508ad2497",
            "input": "A statement from Bogota’s Shaio Clinic says Londono is in “satisfactory” condition following Wednesday’s coronary bypass surgery. The ex-rebel was also diagnosed with chronic lung disease and a clogged artery. Londono is more commonly known by his nom-de-guerre — Timochenko. After the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia disarmed following a peace agreement with Colombia’s government, Londono announced his presidential candidacy. But his campaign has been marred by protests and complicated by his own health problems, including a stroke last year. Analysts expect Timochenko to come in last in the presidential election. But his party will be awarded 10 congressional seats under the 2016 peace deal.",
            "output": [
                "Colombian rebel-turned-candidate OK after heart surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e5c7030859ee4649870d097a27315c91",
            "input": "Democratic state Sen. Tom Holland of Baldwin City and Republican Sen. Molly Baumgardner of Louisburg outlined the details of their bill during a recent Statehouse news conference, the Lawrence Journal-World reports. They’ve already drafted it and filed it so that it will be introduced when lawmakers open their next annual session Jan. 13. The measure  would strengthen a state law that requires health insurance companies to cover mental health services in line with how they cover medical care. Holland and Baumgardner say people suffering from mental illness and their families have discovered that insurers can throw up obstacles to getting services, such as requiring prior approval or not authorizing coverage unless someone has attempted suicide first. The bill would rename the state’s mental health coverage parity law after Kristi L. Bennett, a Lenexa woman who overdosed on antidepressant medication eight months ago, family members said, after being told that her outpatient treatment wouldn’t be covered unless she had tried to commit suicide first. “Imagine if an individual — family member, neighbor, or co-worker — with coronary artery blockage was told by their insurance company that they wouldn’t cover stent surgery until they first suffered a heart attack. That seems irrational,” Baumgardner said. “But that is what’s happening with individuals facing a mental health crisis.”  This bill would require insurance plans to provide coverage without requiring prior authorization or a review by the insurance company when a health care provider deems treatment medically necessary. Four other Democratic senators have joined Holland and Baumgardner as sponsors. The measure also would require that when no in-network treatment facility is immediately available, the insurer must provide exceptions to ensure coverage within 24 hours. “It is imperative that Kansas lawmakers begin knocking down those barriers that would deny life-saving services and treatments to those Kansans desperately crying out for help in a time of crisis,” Holland said.",
            "output": [
                "Kansas lawmakers want stronger law on mental health coverage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e18309dfabb464bb2618eccf1b9f02d",
            "input": "Amid warnings from public health officials that a 2020 outbreak of a new coronavirus could soon become a pandemic involving the U.S., alarmed readers asked Snopes to verify a rumor that U.S. President Donald Trump had “fired the entire pandemic response team two years ago and then didn’t replace them.” The claim came from a series of tweets posted by Judd Legum, who runs Popular Information, a newsletter he describes as being about “politics and power.” Legum’s commentary was representative of sharp criticism from Democratic legislators (and some Republicans) that the Trump administration had ill-prepared the country for a pandemic even as one was looming on the horizon. Legum outlined a series of cost-cutting decisions made by the Trump administration in preceding years that had gutted the nation’s infectious disease defense infrastructure. The “pandemic response team” firing claim referred to news accounts from Spring 2018 reporting that White House officials tasked with directing a national response to a pandemic had been ousted. Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer abruptly departed from his post leading the global health security team on the National Security Council in May 2018 amid a reorganization of the council by then-National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Ziemer’s team was disbanded. Tom Bossert, whom the Washington Post reported “had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks,” had been fired one month prior. It’s thus true that the Trump administration axed the executive branch team responsible for coordinating a response to a pandemic and did not replace it, eliminating Ziemer’s position and reassigning others, although Bolton was the executive at the top of the National Security Council chain of command at the time. Legum stated in a follow-up tweet that “Trump also cut funding for the CDC, forcing the CDC to cancel its efforts to help countries prevent infectious-disease threats from becoming epidemics in 39 of 49 countries in 2018. Among the countries abandoned? China.” That was partly true, according to 2018 news reports stating that funding for the CDC’s global disease outbreak prevention efforts had been reduced by 80%, including funding for the agency’s efforts in China. But that was the result of the anticipated depletion of previously allotted funding, not a direct cut by the Trump administration. And as the CDC told FactCheck.org, the cuts were ultimately avoided because Congress provided other funding.",
            "output": [
                "The Trump administration fired the U.S. pandemic response team in 2018 to cut costs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-38ab20cd82f6499cbc34d71222dbb0e3",
            "input": "Leaf appeared Thursday at C.M. Russell High School in Great Falls for the first time in more than 20 years, The Great Falls Tribune reported Friday. In a speech titled, “Lying to Myself,” Leaf discussed his football career as a star at Washington State University, Heisman Trophy finalist and second-overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers. Four years later he was out of professional football and became addicted to prescription pills, which led to burglary and drug charges and a prison sentence, Leaf said. He recalled attending a boxing match in Las Vegas in the time shortly after hanging it up in the NFL and being booed loudly by the crowd as the announcer recognized celebrities in attendance. At an after-fight party, he took a Vicodin, and for the next eight years, kept trying to chase that high, he said. “I was a drug addict long before I ever took a drug,” Leaf said. “I didn’t know any better.” Leaf’s goal in telling his story was to connect with the audience and “try to give back to a community that I took so much from and victimized,” he said. He also spoke about the need for more discussion of mental health issues in Montana. “There is a mental health epidemic in this state,” Leaf said. “We need to come together as a community.” He does not practice a specific religion but spoke of spirituality, community and accountability. Leaf found his calling working as an assistant to a substance abuse counselor in prison, he said. He is now a program ambassador for Transcend Recovery, an addiction treatment center in Los Angeles where he worked after getting sober. As a pro athlete, “I was making $5 million a year and was miserable,” Leaf said. “Now, I was making $15 an hour and felt valued.” ___ Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Former NFL player Ryan Leaf gives speech on  substance abuse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8a61448220f4f58820a51858608bf49",
            "input": "\"New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said prescribers in some states have been so lenient that they have given out more prescriptions than there are residents in those states. With 33,091 opioid-related deaths in 2015 across the country, the ease in getting prescriptions for the painkillers has become an issue attracting attention from state officials. \"\"Some states hardest hit by the crisis have more opioid prescriptions than residents,\"\" Schneiderman said at a press conference. Twenty-three states have a higher rate of opioid overdose deaths than New York state. But is Schneiderman right that some of those states have more opioid prescriptions than residents? National numbers Eight states reported more opioid prescriptions than residents in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Alabama recorded the highest rate, with 125 opioid prescriptions for every 100 people in the state. Even so,  Alabama had a lower rate of opioid-related deaths than most other states, according to Centers for Disease Control data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research organization. Two other top prescribing states — West Virginia and Kentucky — had some of the highest rates of opioid related deaths. West Virginia had the highest rate in the country, with 36 opioid deaths for every 100,000 residents. The state reported 111 opioid prescriptions for every 100 residents. Kentucky,  ranking sixth with 21 deaths for every 100,000 residents, had 102 prescriptions for every 100 residents in 2015. West Virginia’s rate decreased in 2016 to 96 prescriptions for every 100 people. Kentucky’s went down to 97 opioid prescriptions for every 100 people. Alabama remained highest with 121 prescriptions for every 100 people. New York state numbers New York state had 42 prescriptions for every 100 residents in 2016. There were no counties in New York with more opioid prescriptions than residents, according to the state Department of Health. Montgomery County had the highest rate in the state with 82 opioid prescriptions for every 100 residents in the county. The county had two opioid deaths for one of the lowest opioid-related death rates in the state. Our ruling Schneiderman said some states hit hardest by the opioid crisis \"\"have more opioid prescriptions than residents.\"\" West Virginia and Kentucky — two states with the highest rates of opioid deaths in the country — reported more opioid prescriptions than their respective population, according to CDC data. Six other states had more prescriptions than residents, too.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Some states hit hardest by opioid deaths \"\"have more opioid prescriptions than residents.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-054baadf34314e9bb95bc78d1d3fd30c",
            "input": "A woman sits on Arpoador beach in Rio de Janeiro August 27, 2010. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes Nearly half of adult Brazilians are overweight and about 15 percent are obese, Brazil’s IBGE social statistics agency said on Friday, citing the results of a national study carried out with the Health Ministry. Among 20- to 24-year-olds, the percentage of men who were overweight jumped to 50.1 percent from 18.5 percent in a survey carried out in 1974, while the percentage of overweight women rose to 48 percent from 28.7 percent. “We are in a situation of absolute red alert,” Brazil’s Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao told reporters in beach-side Rio de Janeiro. “If we stay at this pace, in 10 years we will have two-third of the population overweight (or obese), as has happened in the United States.”   Incomes in Brazil have been rising rapidly in recent years as Latin America’s largest country enjoys a prolonged economic boom that has lifted millions out of poverty. The IBGE did not give reasons for Brazilians’ expanding girth but said the biggest incidence was found among higher-income men, older people and in the wealthier south of the country. “The excess of weight and obesity is a growing phenomenon that is happening everywhere (in Brazil),” said Marcia Quintsler, the IBGE’s coordinator. “This information on obesity shows that clearly.”   One in three Brazilian children between 5 and 9 years old was above the weight recommended by the World Health Organization, it said. The IBGE said 49 percent of adult Brazilians were overweight in 2009, based on the body mass index that is calculated from a person’s height and weight. That is more than the third of Americans defined as overweight. The Brazilian obesity rate of 15 percent is still well below the U.S. rate of nearly 27 percent.",
            "output": [
                "The chubby girl from Ipanema? Brazil puts on weight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0becb33043a544be9e44eec14c0fc3ba",
            "input": "The biosimilar, Ontruzant, is sold by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp, a unit of Merck & Co Inc, and is developed by Samsung Bioepis Co Ltd, which is a joint venture between Samsung BioLogics and Biogen Inc. The approval here comes just a few weeks after the health regulator gave Celltrion Inc's Herzuma - another biosimilar to Herceptin - its nod to market it commercially. Herceptin, which generated sales of 7.01 billion Swiss francs in 2017, is one of the world’s most successful antibody drugs and has been a mainstay of Roche profits for many years. Herceptin and other complex medicines called biologics are made from living cells, making them difficult to copy with precision. Their similar versions are called biosimilars, instead of generics. The FDA had declined to approve Pfizer’s biosimilar of Herceptin in April. (This story corrects paragraph 2 to say Ontruzant is “sold” by Merck Sharp & Dohme and Corp not “co-developed”. Also removes reference to Merck from headline)",
            "output": [
                "Samsung Bioepis biosimilar to Roche's Herceptin wins FDA nod."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9645dd822fc477485f090b8a8c9da50",
            "input": "More than 115,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Italy since the outbreak was discovered in its wealthy northern regions on Feb. 21 and almost 14,000 have died, the highest death toll in the world. But daily tallies of new infections and fatalities have been steady in recent days, which experts hope points to a decline soon. Pressure is growing to find out who has been exposed to the virus and whether some people have developed immunity, in order to soften the severe lockdown measures the government has imposed to curb the contagion. Franco Locatelli, the head of Italy’s Higher Health Council, said a reliable antibody testing system to use at the national level had still to be identified, though various products had already been proposed. Locatelli told reporters that government scientists were working hard to analyse the tests and hoped to have a result “in a few days”. He added that it would probably then take another month before the health authorities are able to roll out recommendations on a nationwide testing procedure. Some badly hit Italian regions have already started buying some of the tests already on the market. Speaking at the same news conference, health officials said the lockdown had prevented a potentially ruinous spread of the contagion from its northern epicentre to less developed southern regions. “The social distancing measures adopted on a national scale have meant that where the number of infections was relatively low, it remained low,” said Giovanni Rezza, director of infectious diseases at the national health institute. The government said this week that curbs on movement and business activities introduced nationwide on March 9 would stay in place until at least April 13. The head of the Civil Protection Agency, Angelo Borrelli, said on Friday he expected them to remain beyond May 1.",
            "output": [
                "Italy experts say reliable coronavirus antibody test may be ready soon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d4999444df8f4a40b2b59b3043d7be0e",
            "input": "Activists say they fear the move, which reflects Bolsonaro’s oft-stated skepticism about environmental organizations, could lead to more deforestation and less oversight in the nation that holds about 60% of the vast Amazon rainforest, which scientists see as crucial for efforts to slow global warming and for the world climate systems. A policy roadmap drafted by Bolsonaro’s transition team before he took office Jan. 1 proposes a decree creating a “government council” to replace Brazil’s National Council of the Environment, which has almost 100 members, including representatives of independent environmental and business groups. The new body would consist of five presidential appointees plus Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, who is one of the authors of the plan. The documents, first published by the Brazilian Climate Observatory environmental group, were obtained and verified by the AP. Brazil’s Environment Ministry did not reply to a request for comment. Part of the transition plan has already come into force. The country’s forestry service, aimed at promoting “knowledge, sustainable use and widening of forestry coverage,” was transferred to the Agriculture Ministry on Bolsonaro’s second day in office. On the same day, the Agriculture Ministry was given the power to determine the limits of indigenous lands, rather than Brazil’s official indigenous rights agency. As a congressman and candidate, Bolsonaro often questioned the reality of climate change and cast environmental groups as foreign-influenced meddlers restraining Brazil’s economic growth by holding back mining and agriculture — stances that resemble those of U.S. President Donald Trump, who before taking office described the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a “disgrace” that largely should be dismantled. The authors of Bolsonaro’s transition plan say the current Environment Council, known as CONAMA, is a “confusing” body that “acts emotionally, without due technique, being subjected to ideological interference.” In another transition team document, lawyer Antonio Fernando Pinheiro Pedro argues that CONAMA’s decisions have led to “the emission of norms and standards that are far from reality.” In an interview shortly after his election, Bolsonaro complained that it could sometimes take a decade to get an environmental license. “That will not continue,” he said. While officials haven’t yet formally proposed the smaller council, there has already been increased friction over CONAMA. Security guards blocked alternate members of the council from joining the main meeting at a March 20 session in the capital of Brasilia, breaking a long tradition of wide-open debate in Brazil’s top environmental council. Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, which includes several nonprofit groups, said he believes that chaotic meeting was “more evidence that the plan (for a smaller council) is indeed being implemented.” “Deforestation ended 2018 on the rise. It is on the rise in 2019, but we haven’t heard a word from the minister about that. We have heard about limiting the access to civil society so we can’t have a fair discussion,” Rittl said. Former Environment Minister Rubens Ricupero speculated the new administration may have delayed creating the new council due to public anger over the collapse of a mine dam near the city of Brumadinho in January that killed at least 223 people, with 70 still missing. Ricupero noted that Bolsonaro’s chief of staff suggested closing the environmental ministry during the campaign, but said that the powerful agribusiness lobby is afraid such a move would damage trade and has prevented any such move. “Then Brumadinho showed that our problem is not excessive care in environmental licensing — it is the lack of it,” Ricupero said. He added that hopes Bolsonaro would engage with environmentalists have not come to pass. Bolsonaro recently defended his environmental ideas at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying that Brazil “is the country that most preserves the environment” and that “those that criticize us actually have a lot to learn from us.” The Bolsonaro transition plan also suggested closing the federal agency that oversees conservation zones such as national parks and biological reserves and issues fines for violation of environmental laws there. Many of those penalties are never paid, but several Brazilian agribusiness leaders have complained about them over the years. Pinheiro Pedro, the transition team lawyer, wrote that the agency should be folded into the Environment Institute, which enforces other environmental legislation and aims to promote the sustainable the use of natural resources. He said the two have “the same objective” and streamlining environmental governance is key to “avoid international interference.” Rittl, of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, said he believes that change would reduce oversight in key areas by diluting the focus of regulators. Environmentalists also took umbrage at the language used in the transition documents, though the tone echoes Bolsonaro’s own pronouncements. The plan says NGOs involved in climate change discussions are “uncontrollable organisms” that need to be stopped so the system is “closer to ministerial control.” It also contends Brazil’s environmental governance is crafted to give jobs to political appointees, describing that as “a risk to national sovereignty.” Emilio Bruna, a tropical ecologist focused on the Amazon who is based at the University of Florida, said the transition plan shows the “worst fears” about Bolsonaro’s presidency “are starting to come true.” “Scientists are not only concerned about the government not creating new protected areas, but also the downgrading of existing protections in the rainforest,” he said. “There was already a culture of impunity, but now it’s being reinforced.” ___ Associated Press science writer Christina Larson and EPA reporter Ellen Knickmayer in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil’s Bolsonaro eyes new body for environmental policy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2cc41c86106e46beb3bbeed994566224",
            "input": "The story mentions that beta-blockers are available as generics but doesn’t specifically mention costs. As a class, beta blockers drugs are low cost ($10 to $200 a month according to some estimates). The article describes the median survival time afforded the women with ovarian cancer under different scenarios – with or without beta blockers in addition to their chemotherapy. For example, women who had been taking any beta blocker at the time of their chemotherapy had a median survival of 47.8 months while women who were not being treated with beta blockers while on chemo had median survival time of 42 months. The article notes that the quoted source and the study authors cautioned that beta blockers carry some side effects and additional research is needed to determine if the drugs’ benefits outweigh their risks for cancer patients. It specifically mentions risks for people with asthma. Other specific harms from beta-blockers for the general population include depression and diarrhea. Beta-blockers may also cause complications for people with diabetes. The article provides a good overall description of the size of the study and how patients were followed. It describes the median survival time afforded the 1,425 women with ovarian cancer under different scenarios – with or without beta blockers in addition to their chemotherapy. The use of language is appropriate in that it says these drugs were “linked to” and “associated with” benefits, but never claims that the drugs “prolonged survival” as stated in the MD Anderson news release. The story also briefly touched on the study limitations. Because the research was a retrospective look at 1,425 cases in a database of ovarian cancer cases, it wasn’t randomized. The article also notes that more research is needed to determine if the findings will translate into new treatments, and that “This is not something that people should rush out and start taking.” One area of concern is that the subheadline touts the dramatic benefits seen in a subgroup of patients taking nonselective beta-blockers — “A type of beta blocker is tied to more than four-year increase in survival for women with ovarian cancer, study finds” — but the story never specifically cautions readers about the small size of this group (only 75 people). Findings from such a small subgroup should be treated very carefully, and we’re not sure that they should have been highlighted for readers in the headline. We say this knowing full well that reporters often have no control over what gets put in the headline. We observed no evidence of fear-mongering language in the story. The story includes an independent source who wasn’t affiliated with the research. Christina Annunziata, a director with the Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health, said that while she found the study “interesting” and “thought-provoking,” she cautioned that “I don’t think it’s practice-changing quite yet.” Annunziata co-authored an editorial accompanying the report which were both published in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer journal. The story would have been even stronger had it outlined the funding sources for this study, which included government and foundation grants. However, since we didn’t find any significant conflicts in the list of funding sources, we didn’t think this omission unbalanced the coverage. The relevant research is based on evaluating the use of beta blockers in conjunction with conventional chemotherapy, not as an alternative to chemotherapy or other courses of treatment. As such, we’ll rate “Compare Alternatives” as Not Applicable. Beta blockers are called “common heart drugs” in the story and are thus generally understood to be widely available. Beta-blockers first came on the market more than 50 years ago and their use has become widespread as researchers found more applications for this class of drugs. Generic versions are available, making them some of the most affordable prescription drugs. A close call here. The story acknowledges previous research in this areas when it says, “Mouse and test-tube studies have shown that so-called nonselective beta blockers inhibit molecular pathways that promote tumor growth. Selective versions, designed to minimize side effects for heart patients, are less effective in hitting such targets. Dr. Sood and his colleagues wondered if the same effect would be found in people.” That’s good context, but the story could also have noted that a number of studies have indeed examined the impact of beta-blocker use on ovarian cancer patients, and did not find the same prolonged survival rates that are reported on in this story. The researchers think that’s because these earlier studies didn’t distinguish between the two types of beta-blockers. Because the article quotes an independent, unaffiliated cancer expert, we are confident the article doesn’t rely solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Heart Drug Linked to Extra Years for Cancer Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e760dbb42fe3432787ac47af6ba73e30",
            "input": "This is a tricky one. The story does not explicitly address cost, except to call text messaging “a scalable and affordable approach.” For many (or most) patients, the cost of receiving four text messages a week would likely be negligible — covered by an individual’s phone plan or by nominal text rates. However, not everyone owns a mobile phone, a fact that makes access (and cost) a more significant issue. However, the story does deliver on this point. The story discusses both the number of U.S. adults who own mobile phones (90 percent) and the fact that text messages are more accessible than other forms of mobile health communication (such as apps, which require patients to own smartphones or other smart devices). So, while we’d prefer a more in-depth discussion here, we’ll award a Satisfactory rating for the story’s nod in this direction. The story addresses the range of benefits reported in the study, such as reduced cholesterol and blood pressure, but doesn’t quantify that information or offer readers any context. For example, while the story says “patients who had received the text messages had reduced their cholesterol,” the JAMA paper reports that patients who received the text messages had a “mean difference [of] −5 mg/dL” in “LDL-C.” In other words, the information in the paper, while quantified, probably isn’t very useful to many readers outside the health industry. Is “a mean difference of −5 mg/dL in LDL-C” good? Bad? Irrelevant? This is where reporters have an opportunity to shine. If a news story can take those numbers and translate them into language that is accessible to non-experts, it provides a very real service. It would have been great to see that here. As long as people aren’t driving and checking their cell phones, there don’t appear to be any harms associated with receiving well-meaning text messages four times a week, so we’ll mark this one “not applicable.” This is a strong suit. The story not only offers a concise, but good, summary of the study — but it also goes out of its way to address the study’s limitations. For example, the study notes that the study “can’t tell us whether text messaging could eventually lead to fewer subsequent heart attacks among the patients receiving those messages or whether the positive health outcomes would continue past the six-month study window.” Good points, and we’re glad the story includes them. No disease mongering here. The story includes input from an outside expert who was not involved with the research. The story clearly meets our bar here, although it would have been stronger if it had reached out to at least one more independent source — preferably one who hadn’t written an editorial that ran in conjunction with the paper in JAMA. Yes, the editorial was independent and provides some insightful commentary. But it also means we already knew where this source stood on the issue. Finding another reputable expert, who hadn’t already weighed in publicly on the work, would have been great. The focus of the story is not so much on how the text message intervention directly reduced heart disease risk, but on the extent to which it resulted in patients taking steps to reduce their own risk — such as by exercising more, smoking less, making dietary changes, or taking prescription drugs on a regular basis. The story does discuss other “mobile health interventions,” such as smartphone apps — but notes that there don’t appear to be many mobile health projects that rely simply on text messages. The story also looks at how the text messages helped patients pursue lifestyle changes — like exercising more and smoking less — that reduced their risk. It was fairly clear from the story that this was a clinical trial, and that this particular service doesn’t seem to be available to offer customized, encouraging text messages for heart disease patients. From the start, the story frames this research in the context of the much larger “mobile health” field. For example, the story notes that “While there are more than 100,000 health-related apps on the market, the evidence to date is lacking as to whether many of those apps are safe or effective.” Since the story includes quotes from an interview, we can be fairly certain it went beyond the related JAMA news release.",
            "output": [
                "Text Reminders Help People Lower Cholesterol, Blood Pressure"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c640b8b669f4391ae6186fcce407d3c",
            "input": "The plague outbreak has killed 63 people in the Indian Ocean island nation, Madagascar’s government says. For the first time, the disease long seen in the country’s remote areas is largely concentrated in its two largest cities, Antananarivo and Toamasina. Global health officials have responded quickly. The World Health Organization, criticized for its slow response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, has released $1.5 million and sent plague specialists and epidemiologists. The Red Cross is sending its first-ever plague treatment center to Madagascar. On Wednesday, Madagascar’s minister of public health rallied doctors and paramedics in a packed auditorium at the country’s main hospital, saying they’re not allowed to go on vacation. “Let’s be strong, because it’s only us. We’re at the front, like the military,” Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo said. The outbreak could continue until the end of infection season in April, experts warn. Madagascar has about 400 plague cases per year, or more than half of the world’s total, according to a 2016 World Health Organization report. Usually, they are cases of bubonic plague in the rural highlands. Bubonic plague is carried by rats and spread to humans through flea bites. It is fatal about the half the time, if untreated. Most of the cases in the current outbreak are pneumonic plague, a more virulent form that spreads through coughing, sneezing or spitting and is almost always fatal if untreated. In some cases, it can kill within 24 hours. Like the bubonic form, it can be treated with common antibiotics if caught in time. The WHO calls plague a “disease of poverty” caused in part by unsanitary living conditions. Madagascar has a per capita GDP of about $400, and national programs to control the disease have been “hampered by operational and management difficulties,” according to a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. But the airborne pneumonic plague, which accounts for about 75 percent of cases in the current outbreak, makes no class distinctions. “Normally, the people who catch the plague are dirty people who live in poor areas, but in this case we find the well-to-do, the directors, the professors, people in every place in society, catching the disease,” said Dr. Manitra Rakotoarivony, Madagascar’s director of health promotion. The current outbreak began in August, earlier than usual, when a 31-year-old man who had spent time in a village in the central highlands, Ankazobe, traveled by bush taxi to the east coast, unaware that he had the plague. He died en route and was buried without any safety precautions in Toamasina. Four people in contact with him also died. Residents of the capital began to relax in recent days amid the global response to the outbreak, but the disease remains a serious threat with the number of new cases per day remaining steady. Madagascar has fought the disease for more than a century. It was introduced to the island in 1898 when steamships from India brought rats infected with the bacteria that causes the disease. The plague nearly disappeared from Madagascar for 60 years, starting in 1930, but re-emerged in recent decades. The black rats that carry the disease in the highlands have gradually developed resistance to it. Unsafe burial practices that involve touching corpses are another reason the disease spreads, according to a 2015 study by scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Madagascar. The outbreak has alarmed neighboring countries. A 34-year-old man in another Indian Ocean island nation, the Seychelles, contracted the pneumonic plague while in Madagascar. He was treated in his own country and no longer has symptoms. It was the first-ever plague case in the Seychelles, said the country’s public health commissioner, Dr. Jude Gedeon. Another Seychellois, a 49-year-old basketball coach, died of the plague last month while in Antananarivo for a tournament. Seychelles authorities have established a plague isolation ward and announced that schools will be closed through Tuesday. Foreign travelers who have recently visited Madagascar are not being allowed into the country. While the WHO says the risk of the epidemic spreading beyond the region is very low and does not advise restrictions on travel to Madagascar, Air Seychelles has canceled all flights to and from the island until further notice. “The situation is still not under control in Madagascar,” Gedeon said.",
            "output": [
                "In Madagascar, plague outbreak now threatens largest cities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-68d8cc65afee4eb18b24ba99ffe62514",
            "input": "At the same time, the WHO said, record numbers of children are getting the vaccine - offering hope that the rise in infections may not last. “Progress has been uneven between and within countries, leaving increasing clusters of susceptible individuals unprotected, and resulting in a record number of people affected by the virus in 2018,” it said in a statement. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can cause hearing loss and brain disorders in children and, in severe cases, can kill. Vaccination coverage needs to be around 95 percent to prevent the virus circulating in communities - so-called “herd immunity”. In many countries, anti-vaccine campaigners seek to dissuade parents from getting their children immunized, despite strong scientific evidence that vaccines are safe and effective. In Italy, the co-ruling anti-establishment Five Star Movement has questioned the safety of some vaccines and loudly denounced efforts to make vaccinations mandatory. In the WHO’s European region, which covers nearly 900 million people, some 82,600 in 47 countries contracted measles last year - the highest number this decade. Of those, 72 cases were fatal. Six of the 53 countries did not report. In 34 of the countries, estimated coverage with a second dose of measles vaccine was below 95 percent. “(Immunization) gaps at local level still offer an open door to the virus,” the WHO’s European director, Zsuzsanna Jakab, said in a statement. Professor Arne Akbar, president of the British Society for Immunology, said the figures were “extremely concerning”. Heidi Larson, a specialist in vaccines and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the increase in cases was a “wake-up call on the importance of building confidence in vaccination”. A report published by the European Commission last year and compiled by a team led by Larson found that measles immunization coverage has fallen in 12 EU countries since 2010, and that seven out of the 10 countries with the lowest vaccine confidence in the world are in Europe.",
            "output": [
                "European measles cases highest in a decade as pockets refuse vaccination."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39d68b14a75f4aaf92762c934b121863",
            "input": "“It’s because my body has been suppressed for so long, it can’t fight it (cancer),” the Wisconsin resident said. Patty, who has worked at her father’s restaurant for 27 years, now struggles to handle full-time duties. “I’m trying to get disability, but I’ve been denied once already. I don’t plan on quitting working. I just need help. I need help because I can’t do a full-time job,” Patty said. In March 2017, a friend who lives in New Mexico, where medical marijuana is legal, mailed her Buddha Tears, a cannabis oil product containing cannabidiol (CBD), and THC, the psychotropic component of cannabis. After consuming a tiny amount of the oil each day — as well as smoking marijuana — Patty said she saw a massive improvement in her condition. “Unfortunately, I have to smoke everyday, because if I don’t, I will be in the bathroom all the time,” said Patty, who asked that her last name not be published because she is using an illegal substance. But these days, Patty is again struggling with the symptoms. “My connection (for CBD and marijuana) got cut off,” she said. “I’m very angry.” While Patty and others have found success treating their medical ailments with cannabis, the drug remains illegal in Wisconsin. And because of its status as a Schedule I drug — the most restrictive classification — there has been limited research in the United States about its effectiveness as medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized one component of cannabis to treat serious and rare seizure disorders, as well as three drugs with synthetic cannabis substances; no other uses have been approved. ___ The nonprofit news outlet Wisconsin Watch provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News. ___ Although it remains illegal federally, 33 states and the District of Columbia have authorized medical use of cannabis. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed legalizing it for medical use in Wisconsin, and another group of Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill in October to decriminalize possession of less than 28 grams. But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, remains opposed. An April poll conducted by the Marquette Law School Poll showed that 83% of registered voters polled support the use of marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor’s prescription. “When issues receive more than 70% support from registered voters in Wisconsin, the Legislature needs to listen and act,” said Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee. According to Dr. Angela Janis, director of psychiatry for University of Wisconsin-Madison’s University Health Services, Schedule I drugs, including marijuana, are considered to have no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, whereas for Schedule II drugs, there is less potential for abuse, and there is some therapeutic benefit. Janis is intimately familiar with this distinction. In addition to her university job, Janis is chief medical officer at LeafLine Labs, a Minnesota-based medical marijuana company. “To put this in perspective: methamphetamine is Schedule II because it’s approved for obesity. Cocaine is Schedule II because it’s approved for nasal surgery since it can constrict your blood vessels as they do surgery in your nose. So that’s the bar for what ‘medical benefit’ means,” Janis said. According to Janis, cannabis has less abuse potential than any of those substances. “Cannabis is not appropriately scheduled. And that’s one of the barriers, but not the only barrier, to research,” Janis said. Janis recommends rescheduling the drug so researchers can further study its properties. Even Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), which opposes marijuana legalization, is “fully supportive” of drugs containing cannabis that have been approved by the FDA, said Colton Grace, a spokesman for the group. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, cannabinoids are substances within the cannabis plant that act on specific receptors in the human brain and body. They are the main active ingredients in the medical products derived from cannabis. These receptors affect many essential functions, including one’s memory, thinking, concentration and coordination. Interfering with it can have profound effects — both positive and negative. Two of the most extensively studied cannabinoids are delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and CBD. However, there are dozens of cannabinoids that may also have medical uses. “Many strains of the cannabis plant can have 60, 70, 80 cannabinoids in them that all interact in different ways,” Janis said. The National Institutes of Health reported spending $191 million on researching cannabinoids for medicinal use in 2017-18. Some effects are already known. For example, THC can affect the central nervous system, producing benefits such as decreased vomiting and nausea, increased appetite, reduced pain and anti-inflammatory effects. CBD also acts as an anti-inflammatory, increasing immune function, reducing pain and keeping certain cells from proliferating. Cannabinoid receptors are not in areas that control breathing, which is why there are no fatal overdoses with marijuana, Janis said. CBD actually blocks the psychotropic effects of THC, Janis said. In addition to all those cannabinoids, the cannabis sativa plant has a lot of other chemicals. For instance, terpenes, which give each strain its particular smell, such as lemon or pine, “are thought to have a lot of effects, but we just don’t know what they actually do in the body,” Janis said. In 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine came out with one of the most comprehensive reviews of scientific research on what is known about the health effects of cannabis and cannabis-derived products. The committee considered more than 10,000 scientific abstracts. It reached nearly 100 conclusions, finding substantial evidence for just a few indications — the biggest one being pain. The report found there is substantial evidence that cannabis is an effective treatment for chronic pain in adults, specifically nerve pain, Janis said. The group also found conclusive evidence for cannabis treating chemotherapy-associated nausea and vomiting and MS-associated muscle spasms. The report also showed moderate evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids are effective for improving sleep in individuals with sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis. It also found limited evidence for cannabis as effective for increasing appetite and decreasing weight loss associated with HIV/AIDS, relaxing muscle tightness and pain from MS, symptoms of Tourette syndrome, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Anecdotal evidence has also proven the effectiveness of cannabinoids for treating Rett syndrome. Norah Lowe, 10, started feeling relief from the rare neurological disorder one year ago when she began using CBD to treat her symptoms. Rett syndrome impacts nearly every part of a child’s life, including the ability to speak, walk, eat and breathe. A distinct feature of the condition is repetitive, almost constant hand movements. At a news conference arranged by state Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, to introduce her latest bill to legalize medical and recreational marijuana, Norah’s father, Josh Lowe, said he is frustrated that state law prohibits her from trying medical marijuana, which has helped others with her condition. Norah, who uses a wheelchair, has experienced “increased flexibility, decreased pain and muscle cramping, increased communication, cognitive ability, reduction in seizures, better mood control, and the list goes on and on,” Lowe said. A 2017 study published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews analyzed several studies, concluding that cannabis-based medicines were better than placebos for pain relief — and that these medications also improved sleep and psychological distress — it concluded that any potential benefits might be outweighed by their potential harms. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the most common conditions accepted by states that allow medicinal cannabis relate to the relief of the symptoms of cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS and MS. Some other common indicators include Alzheimer’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s, Parkinson’s disease and PTSD, according to the group, which advocates for marijuana legalization. Additionally, the University of Michigan published a study in the February issue of Health Affairs to understand the reasons why people are using cannabis for medical purposes, and whether those purposes are evidence-based. The authors found that 85.5% t of uses of medical cannabis were for conditions for which there was substantial or conclusive evidence of their therapeutic effectiveness. Even more, they found that chronic pain is currently the most common qualifying condition reported by medical cannabis patients, used by 64.9% of such patients in 2016. “That’s a good sign,” Janis said. “Even though a physician can write it (a cannabis prescription) for a variety of things, it seems to be being used for what it’s intended for.” Since cannabis is a Schedule I drug, it is “very difficult to study at any institutional level” because, in order to do so, researchers need sign-offs from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which has “historically been unwilling to provide them,” said David Abernathy, vice president of data and government affairs for the Arcview Group, a firm that advises investors in the cannabis industry. Because of this, “Things like double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials weren’t happening in the U.S.,” Abernathy said. But there has been a lot of research in the past decade in other countries including Israel, Canada, China and Italy, and “now we’re starting to see more research in the U.S.,” he said. The 2017 National Academies review of cannabis research agreed that the drug’s status as a Schedule I substance made it hard to study. “Researchers also often find it difficult to gain access to the quantity, quality, and type of cannabis product necessary to address specific research questions,” the review found. Patty, the Crohn’s patient, believes that her cannabis treatment not only alleviated her Crohn’s symptoms, but she credits it with keeping her aggressive skin cancer at bay. According to a 2018 article published in Biochemical Pharmacology, studies have shown the potential of cannabinoids to reduce of skin cancer progression. However, there is a significant lack of clinical studies promising enough to make any conclusive statements at this time. “I haven’t had the cannabis oil since March of 2018, and once I couldn’t get it anymore, I mean I just finished my 12th surgery (for cancer),” Patty said. “So, you tell me, what do you think?”",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin residents using medical cannabis amid restrictions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa0715589ff74c9f88b986d03a5440bd",
            "input": "“This pandemic is not only a public health crisis, it is also fueling an economic crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression,” Hancock said at a news conference. Denver has seen steep declines in sales, lodging and other taxes since the pandemic hit Colorado two months ago, and the state is still under a safer-at-home order that has placed restrictions on businesses. City leaders say the drop in tax revenue is affecting the fund that pays for police and fire services, as well as street maintenance. American cities, from Puyallup, Washington, to Miramar, Florida, have also furloughed employees to save money in the face of dire economic forecasts. In April, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti released a spending plan he called “a document of our pain” that includes service cuts and furloughs for nearly 16,000 workers. Under the proposal, city employees would take 26 furlough days, the equivalent of a 10% pay cut, in the coming year. The spending reductions in Los Angeles are likely to be a sign of what’s to come at city halls across the nation, as jobless lines grow and local treasuries see steep drops in tax revenue. Denver’s planned furloughs, which do not apply to uniformed employees like firefighters, police officers and sheriff’s deputies, will save the city about $16 million. The city also is reducing travel, hiring and purchases, and it is asking departments to cut 7.5% from their budgets. About 3,000 of Denver’s 12,000 employees are uniformed workers. “I want everyone to know that we have worked to exhaust every other tool we had before taking this step,” said Hancock, who repeated his call for lawmakers to include cities in the next federal stimulus package. “The reality is this: If cities can’t recover, there will be no national recovery,” he said. Brendan Hanlon, the city’s chief financial officer, said he thought the fallout from the 2008-2009 Great Recession was astonishing, but the current crisis will be harder to address. “I could have never imagined seeing the numbers that we’re seeing right now and the gravity that it means to the services that we provide to the public every day here in Denver,” he said. The city last instituted furloughs in 2011. A survey by the National League of Cities found nearly universal agreement that cities would be hit hard by revenue shortfalls caused by the coronavirus outbreak, and in many cases furloughs and layoffs would be used to close budget gaps.",
            "output": [
                "Denver to furlough thousands of workers amid coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-593e41a17ac343ec9922c707dc789adb",
            "input": "\"Gov. Bruce Rauner’s signing of a controversial abortion bill last month triggered an avalanche of protest from his fellow Illinois Republicans and anti-abortion groups, who said he had betrayed them. The bill, House Bill 40, removed a \"\"trigger provision\"\" in Illinois law that would have made abortion illegal should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe vs. Wade. It also made abortion eligible for coverage under Medicaid in Illinois and under the state’s employee health insurance plan. Opponents were angry that Rauner broke a promise he made five months earlier to veto the bill because of its Medicaid and insurance component, which for the first time would use state taxpayer funds to pay for abortion outside of cases of rape or incest or to protect the life of the mother. They also claimed Rauner reneged on a campaign pledge that he had \"\"no social agenda,\"\" which they interpreted as Rauner having no plans to change the state’s abortion laws. In a Sept. 28 press conference in which he announced his intent to sign the bill, Rauner lamented that he could not convince Democratic lawmakers to split the legislation into separate bills, one covering the trigger provision and the other dealing with insurance coverage. But he defended his action as consistent with his pro-choice principles. \"\"I personally am pro-choice. I always have been. And I made no qualms about that when I was elected governor,\"\" Rauner said. Rauner’s statement sent us combing through video clips, ads and news coverage of the 2014 gubernatorial election to see if he really was consistent in presenting his pro-choice stance to voters during that hotly contested race. Here’s what we found. Rauner, a wealthy private equity investor who had never run for elected office, sought to build his campaign solely on economic, educational and political reform issues. He stated often that he had no social agenda, and his wife, Diana, appeared in a campaign ad making that very statement. This helped Rauner avoid taking a direct stand on same-sex marriage, which was a hot topic in Illinois politics in the months preceding the 2014 GOP primary for governor. In May 2013, just before Rauner formally declared his candidacy, longtime state GOP chairman Pat Brady resigned in part because of fallout from him having declared his support for same-sex marriage. Rauner’s no-social-agenda claim also proved useful when it came to navigating the political minefield of abortion. To win election in a Democratic-leaning state, Rauner needed to get votes from Democrats who support abortion rights and moderate Republicans without antagonizing social conservatives. \"\"My opponent is desperate for social issues to become prominent in the campaign,\"\" Rauner said in a campaign appearance with his running mate, Evelyn Sanguinetti, in June 2014. \"\"And I’ve been crystal clear: I do not have a social agenda. Evelyn and I are not running on social issues. We all have our personal beliefs. We are not advocating leading on social issues, we are fine with the status quo on that.\"\" That said, we found several examples in which Rauner explained his position on access to abortion during the campaign. In an appearance before Wauconda Township Republicans on Oct. 2, 2013, Rauner said: \"\"Abortion is a tragedy. It’s a loss of life. To me that’s not debatable. However, I do not advocate making it illegal. I can’t, I won’t, I’m not going to talk about making it illegal. I’m going to work and support efforts to make it safe and rare. Parental notification, late-term restrictions, teaching abstinence outside of marriage and strongly encouraging adoption as a far better alternative.\"\" To residents of HeatherRidge community in Gurnee on Nov. 3, 2013: \"\"The reality is the right for a woman to choose is the national law and we’re not gonna, that ain’t gonna change in Illinois. I think we can agree on some common-sense ways where abortion can be more rare and safe. I support parental notification. I support late-term restrictions. I strongly encourage adoption as a far better alternative to abortion. There are things we can agree on to work on to try and get done, realistically… \"\"I just think it’s better for a woman and her physician and her family and her minister or priest make the decision than the government. That’s my view. People can disagree with me. I respect that. But that’s my view, it ain’t gonna change.\"\" It came up in an interview on the \"\"Big John and Amy Show\"\" on WIND-AM 560 on March 17, 2014: Amy Jacobson: \"\"If there was a possibility that the decision was passed from federal to state jurisdiction, what would your position be?\"\" Rauner: \"\"My position would be abortion is a tragedy but it should be an issue left to a woman with her physician and her family and her minister, not the government.\"\" It wasn’t just the candidate himself proclaiming his \"\"pro-choice\"\" bona fides during the campaign. Diana Rauner, head of the child advocacy concern the Ounce of Prevention Fund, became a strong spokeswoman for her husband’s no-social-agenda agenda, especially where it concerned reproductive rights. \"\"You can trust him that there’s no way he will ever let anything happen to our reproductive rights,\"\" Diana Rauner said in an interview with NBC5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern on Sept. 26, 2014. \"\"I actually think this is a great opportunity in this race where we actually don’t have to think about the social issues because both candidates are pro-choice.\"\" The campaign featured a 30-second TV ad in which Diana, who claimed to be a Democrat,  sought to bring Democrats to her husband’s side by telling viewers, \"\"Bruce doesn't have a social agenda. He has an economic and educational agenda.\"\" After an Oct. 24, 2014, event in Chicago in which feminist icon Gloria Steinem endorsed Quinn and accused Rauner of financially supporting anti-abortion causes and candidates. \"\"In terms of money and action, he is, in fact, anti-choice,\"\" Steinem said during her appearance with Quinn. Diana Rauner provided the response in an interview with then ABC-7 political reporter Charles Thomas. \"\"Bruce has a strong history of being a supporter of reproductive rights,\"\" she said. \"\"He’s a social moderate and he’s committed to education and has shown that commitment over the years.\"\" Throughout the campaign, Rauner found himself in the strange position of being a Republican candidate forced to deny charges that he opposed abortion. Despite Rauner’s many statements to the contrary, the Quinn campaign sought to portray Rauner as a major funder of anti-abortion candidates and organizations. The Chicago Tribune story on Steinem’s appearance carried this rebuttal from Rauner’s campaign: \"\"Rauner campaign aides said the candidate and wife Diana have donated money to abortion rights groups including Planned Parenthood and the Roger Baldwin Foundation.\"\" The Baldwin Foundation is a branch of the American Civil Liberties Union that litigates issues including reproductive rights. At the same time, however, Rauner was a heavy donor to Republican candidates and state and national Republican organizations that were firmly in the anti-abortion camp. Chicago Magazine detailed the political/ideological conflict of the Rauners in an article published the day before the 2014 election headlined, \"\"Is Bruce Rauner Pro-Choice, Anti-Choice, or Just an Opportunist?\"\" (I)t’s interesting to look at the self-proclaimed Democrat, Diana, who has given in 2014 the max in the primary and/or general to several Republicans, some who are decidedly not socially moderate...  Just a couple of examples: David McSweeney (abortion and gay marriage opponent), Mark Neerhof (against gay marriage). Diana has also given generously ($10,000 in 2012; $5,300 this time around) to the Republican Renaissance PAC of the late ultra-conservative Jack Roeser (anti abortion, anti gay marriage). Bruce has a much more extensive record of contributions—including $27.6 million to himself, $5 million to the state Republican party, and also, along with Diana, donations to McSweeney, Neerhof, and to Roeser’s PAC. (Roeser, who died last June, was an early Rauner backer and a member of his gubernatorial exploratory committee.) Considering the contradictory nature of the Rauners’ donations -- giving heavily to groups that support abortion rights and also to political candidates and organizations that oppose them -- it’s reasonable to believe that some anti-abortion voters might have inferred anti-abortion leanings in candidate Rauner. But we found no evidence of Rauner himself attempting to hide his  stance. In 2014, campaigning on maintaining the status quo on abortion was a viable option. State finances were a wreck and there appeared to be little pressure either way to change the state’s laws on abortion. The election of Donald Trump, who stated an intent to overturn Roe v. Wade and turn the question of abortion’s legality back to the states, changed that overnight. Almost immediately, Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly began advancing a bill to both keep abortion legal should Roe v. Wade be overturned and provide insurance coverage for it under Medicaid and Illinois’ state employee health insurance. \"\"I look at it as an insurance parity issue. There’s no excuse about the cost,\"\" Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, said in December 2016. By packaging the trigger language and the expanded insurance coverage into a single bill, supporters of what became HB 40 effectively boxed Rauner by forcing the no-social-agenda governor to pick a side in the culture wars. He would infuriate pro-choice voters by either vetoing the bill outright or issuing an amendatory veto to strike the abortion insurance provision, the practical effect of which would be to kill the measure anyway. But signing HB 40 would be sure to antagonize much his Republican base, much of which remains passionately opposed to abortion. This was something Rauner had worked throughout the spring to avoid, at times sending out mixed signals about how he intended to handle the bill if lawmakers sent it to his desk. He made public statements in April promising to veto the bill as written. When he broke that promise, he faced the wrath of everyone from rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to Chicago Cardinal Blaise Cupich. Rauner, speaking haltingly and appearing physically uncomfortable, explained at his signing press conference that adding government funded insurance coverage was consistent with his pro-choice beliefs. \"\"I also believe that no woman should be forced to make a different decision than another woman make purely based on her income,\"\" Rauner said. \"\"I believe that a woman living with limited financial means should not be put in a position where she has to choose something different than a woman of higher income would be able to choose.\"\" Bruce Rauner said his signing of a controversial abortion bill was consistent with his pro-choice principles and that he had never presented himself as anything but pro-choice. We looked through numerous campaign appearance videos, ads and news stories and found no evidence that Rauner ever tried to hide or downplay his pro-choice beliefs. In fact, his campaign touted the Rauners’ support of abortion rights groups to rebut the charge that he was not pro-choice. Rauner sought anti-abortion voters by assuring them that, as governor, he had no social agenda and that \"\"the right for a woman to choose is the national law and… that ain’t gonna change in Illinois.\"\" Politically, it proved to be a smart strategy that helped gain him election in 2014. By 2017, however, it became impossible to continue finessing the issue. In picking a side, Rauner declared that he has been consistent in declaring his pro-choice beliefs.\"",
            "output": [
                "I personally am pro-choice. I always have been. And I made no qualms about that when I was elected governor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a44c972dc0b147508226da4fe586a6ae",
            "input": "\"It’s clear that Scott Walker’s views on abortion will get intensified scrutiny now that he has joined the crowded Republican presidential field. In 2014, during the final weeks of the campaign before he won re-election as governor, Walker was attacked in a TV ad by a national political action committee that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights. And weeks before his White House run announcement on July 13, 2015, Walker was targeted twice: once in a TV ad by the nation’s oldest abortion rights advocacy group and once on a TV talk show by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, used her June 3, 2015 interview on MSNBC to cast Walker as out of step with other Republicans on abortion. After host Chris Hayes suggested that Walker’s support for a law banning abortion after 20 weeks was mainstream among Republicans, Baldwin agreed. But she drew a contrast, stating: \"\"Yes, but if you look at the history of those who have been elected president, Scott Walker's views are clearly more extreme than any Republican president in recent times -- much more extreme than President George W. Bush with regard to the issues of having exemptions that deal with the health and the life of the mother, and the issues of exemptions for rape victims and incest.\"\" On abortion, is Walker to the right of any recent Republican president? Previous claims Some statements about Walker and abortion have missed the mark, including the two we mentioned. The TV ad by EMILY’s List shortly before Walker defeated Democrat Mary Burke in 2014 claimed Walker was \"\"forcing some women to undergo a transvaginal probe to get an abortion.\"\". A law Walker signed says women can choose either a transvaginal or transabdominal ultrasound, though in certain cases a transvaginal probe may be medically necessary. The TV ad by NARAL Pro-Choice America, which aired in June 2015 in Iowa and New Hampshire, claimed Walker had said that \"\"forcing women facing abortion to get invasive ultrasounds was 'just a cool thing.’ \"\" The \"\"cool\"\" reference wasn’t to forcing some women to get vaginal ultrasounds, but rather to the ultrasound technology that produces images from the womb. Nevertheless, there is no question that for decades -- going back to before his time as governor and as a state lawmaker -- Walker has been staunchly anti-abortion. Baldwin’s office didn’t respond to our requests for information to back her claim, and Walker’s campaign didn’t weigh in, either. But we can compare Walker’s public positions on abortion to those of recent GOP presidents. NARAL, Planned Parenthood We asked NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America about how they rate politicians on abortion rights. The groups told us they don’t produce ratings on a continuum. They put politicians into broad categories -- not on a scale that would rank one as more extreme, to use Baldwin’s term, than another. NARAL gave Walker and 13 other Republican presidential contenders a grade of F, for Fail. The group points to Walker’s votes in the Legislature and measures he has signed into law as governor restricting access to abortion services. Planned Parenthood rates the Republican and Democratic 2016 contenders more broadly, on access to abortion, affordable birth control and family planning. Like most of the other GOP hopefuls, Walker was given a red X on each measure, rather than a green checkmark. Planned Parenthood notes that besides wanting to ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Walker tried to repeal a law requiring insurance companies to cover prescription birth control and defunded Planned Parenthood, which is something Walker himself highlights in his campaign speeches. The website of the National Right to Life Committee, meanwhile, highlights the records of President Barack Obama and his four most recent predecessors, dating back to the late Ronald Reagan, but doesn’t do any ratings. So let’s look more closely at Walker and the three most recent GOP presidents, dating back to Reagan. Walker vs. Bushes, Reagan Walker’s basic position is clear. In 2010, a week before he was elected to his first term as governor, we rated a claim that Walker wants to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. He acknowledged that was his position. As Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin told us, since then, Walker has not contradicted that position in words or actions. In fact, Walker has underscored his support for banning abortion without exceptions commonly accepted by other abortion opponents. In March 2015, Walker released an \"\"open letter on life,\"\" which began by noting that he had \"\"earned a 100 percent rating with pro-life groups in Wisconsin.\"\" And in June 2015, Walker pledged to sign legislation to ban abortions in Wisconsin after 20 weeks -- with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. That measure was passed by the Legislature the next month and is awaiting Walker’s signature. No recent Republican president has gone so far in opposing exceptions. As president, George H.W. Bush (1989-’93) and George W. Bush (2001-’09) both supported allowing abortions in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother. The elder Bush said in 1992 he said: \"\"My own position on abortion is well-known and remains unchanged. I oppose abortion in all cases except rape or incest or where the life of the mother is at stake.\"\" The younger Bush declared in 2006: ''My position has always been three exceptions: rape, incest and the life of the mother.\"\" Meanwhile, Reagan (1981-’89), an idol of Walker’s, was closer to Walker’s position. He didn’t support an exception for rape or incest, but did support one to protect the life of the mother. In 1987, he promoted a bill with a provision that \"\"no funds appropriated by Congress shall be used to perform abortions, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.\"\" Our rating Baldwin said Walker's views on abortion are more restrictive \"\"than any Republican president in recent times.\"\" Walker supports outlawing abortion in all circumstances. The three most recent GOP presidents each supported exceptions, such as allowing abortion to protect the life of the mother.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Tammy Baldwin Says Scott Walker's views on abortion are more restrictive \"\"than any Republican president in recent times.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d97383051bc049d68b0bc75c2de1ee81",
            "input": "On December 18, 2018, a spate of posts and articles about fast food chain Popeye’s new “emotional support chicken” appeared on social media:The move appeared to be a stunt that was either tasty or tasteless, depending on your perspective. Although several general news outlets posted about the Popeye’s product, readers and social media users remained on high alert for leg pulls and marketing stunts based on the topics of the day — in this case, the ongoing controversy around emotional support animal companions and air travel:Delta says it saw an 84 percent increase in reported incidents involving service and support animals in 2016 and 2017. According to the trade group Airlines for America, airlines in the US saw a 74 percent increase overall in emotional support animals from 2016 to 2017. This increase has caused other major airlines including American and United to tighten their policies.Even if you haven’t encountered a nonhuman passenger on your own flight, you’ve probably heard one of the viral stories about one, which seem to surface every few weeks. In January [2018], a woman was barred from bringing her emotional support peacock on a United flight, even when she offered to buy the bird its own seat.Likely owing in part to the evergreen popularity of the debate, Popeye’s advertisement of a new purported product relating to emotional support animals proved popular on social media:Sorry, Fido. Popeyes #EmotionalSupportChicken doesn’t bark on the plane. (Available in the Philadelphia airport on 12/18.) pic.twitter.com/vWyBWq4PTe— Popeyes Chicken (@PopeyesChicken) December 18, 2018Popeye’s issued a press release on December 18, 2018 about its purported new product:There is no doubt the holiday season is one of the busiest and most stressful travel times of the year. The airports are crowded, the delays are frustrating, and travelers are stressed about getting from point A to point B with gifts in hand. This year, POPEYES® is launching “Emotional Support Chicken” to provide a good-hearted laugh most need to get through stressful holiday air travel. Starting Tuesday, December 18 [2018], travelers passing through Philadelphia International Airport can purchase their fried chicken meal with an “Emotional Support Chicken” carrier at the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Terminal C to bring with them on their flight.Emotional support animals provide comfort and companionship, especially during a highly stressful time like air travel. However, according to recent headlines, some travelers are pushing the envelope with the types of animals they try to bring on flights and classify as “emotional support animals,” including the likes of peacocks, squirrels and tarantulas. Knowing this, Popeyes decided to launch its new “Emotional Support Chicken” to bring holiday travelers some humor to what is one of the most stressful places to be during the holidays – the airport.As is often the case with headline-grabbing fast food news, Popeye’s “Emotional Support Chicken” promotion was a bit overhyped for its real-world impact. The product was only available at one location (Philadelphia International Airport), and only while supplies lasted. Overall, the announcement largely served to get Popeye’s a bunch of news mentions, with little substance behind the novelty item.",
            "output": [
                "\"Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen is selling \"\"emotional support chicken\"\" for weary flight passengers.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c8ff53c4d924a0c94300c6309dff4c9",
            "input": "The European Medicines Agency had already restricted the use of Protelos - also known as Osseor or strontium ranelate - last April but its pharmacovigilance committee said on Friday the drug should no longer be used to treat osteoporosis at all. The move follows an analysis which found that for every 1,000 patient-years there were four more cases of serious heart problems, including heart attacks, and four more cases of blood clots among patients taking the drug than those on placebo. The recommendation will now be sent to the agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, which is expected to issue a final opinion at its January 20-23 meeting.",
            "output": [
                "EU panel recommends suspension of risky bone disease drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9960c469ec44f42b4fa2b51365dd126",
            "input": "U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross is expected in July to decide whether to halt more than 160 active lawsuits brought by state attorneys general, cities and counties against opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics Inc. When it filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware earlier this month, Insys requested the cases be paused. A bankruptcy filing would normally halt active litigation immediately, giving a company such as Insys time to reorganize and preserve money that would otherwise be spent fighting the cases. But a longstanding exception in U.S. bankruptcy law can keep the lawsuits alive if they are enforcing government officials’ “police or regulatory power.” The exception holds that government actions seeking to enforce laws related to matters such as public health and safety are not automatically stopped by a company’s bankruptcy filing as other lawsuits are. State and local officials are suing Insys and other drugmakers in an attempt to address harm from an opioid crisis that has killed nearly 400,000 people between 1999 and 2017. More than half these deaths resulted from prescription painkillers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For a graphic, click tmsnrt.rs/2EgfT0n  “Criminal enterprises … should not be permitted to shield themselves from the consequences of their misconduct by running to bankruptcy court and obtaining the equivalent of a stay that allows them to evade justice,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh in a Tuesday legal filing opposing Insys’s request to halt lawsuits. The opioid crisis “is a national public health emergency,” they said in the filing, which other state attorneys general supported, including those in New York, New Jersey and Arizona. “The interests of the public therefore are served by allowing these police powers actions of the states to continue unfettered by the injunctions that Insys seeks.”  A spokesman for Insys, which faces trials in Maryland and Minnesota beginning in August, declined to comment beyond the company’s court filings. Insys already had reached a $225 million settlement before filing for bankruptcy with the U.S. Justice Department, admitting to illegal conduct in resolving claims that it bribed doctors to write prescriptions, including medically unnecessary ones, for a fentanyl spray called Subsys designed to treat cancer pain. The Chandler, Arizona-based company still faces, overall, more than 1,000 lawsuits raising similar allegations of deception and fraud in marketing its opioids. The misconduct occurred under a prior management team that has since “entirely turned over” and Insys is now committed to lawful marketing practices, the company said in court papers. Insys contends in bankruptcy-court filings that Judge Gross should halt the lawsuits against it regardless of any exceptions, lest the company drain limited financial resources fighting cases on multiple fronts. Allowing the cases to continue would leave less money for creditors, including the very government officials seeking to hold it to account, Insys contends, adding that its request is not an attempt to escape liability. It had less than $40 million in the bank when filing for bankruptcy and predicts spending up to $9 million through December to continue fighting lawsuits, according to court papers. The judge’s ruling is expected to influence whether another opioid manufacturer facing 2,000 lawsuits - OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP - decides to file for bankruptcy protection, according to a person familiar with the matter and legal experts. A Purdue spokesman declined to comment. A ruling allowing the Insys litigation to proceed could discourage Purdue from seeking bankruptcy protection, while pausing the cases might signal that Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings are a viable way to halt lawsuits and take advantage of breathing room to reach a broader settlement with plaintiffs, according to the person familiar with the matter and several legal experts. Insys lawyers are attempting to persuade government officials to agree to voluntarily halt their cases, according to a bankruptcy-court filing. Insys is nearing a deal that would effectively halt some of those legal claims against the drugmaker that are consolidated in an Ohio federal court, said Paul Hanly, a lead lawyer for plaintiffs in the opioid litigation. An Insys spokesman declined to comment on the potential agreement. Insys has some legal precedent backing its approach. In 2017, a bankruptcy judge sided with Takata Corp when temporarily halting lawsuits brought by Hawaii, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands against the Japanese supplier of automobile airbags that exploded, finding that allowing the litigation to continue threatened the company’s reorganization. That would have harmed creditors, including those seeking to hold Takata accountable for widespread deaths and injuries, the judge ruled. The ruling allowed Takata to focus on completing a sale to a rival, creating a combined company called Joyson Safety Systems. A Joyson representative declined to comment. The Minnesota and Maryland attorneys general argued in their legal filing on Tuesday that Insys has not demonstrated the kind of exceptional circumstances present in the Takata case - an unprecedented automotive recall - that warranted halting government lawsuits. While the outcome in the Insys case is not critical for opioid manufacturers with stronger balance sheets that face lawsuits, such as Johnson & Johnson, it holds significance for the likes of OxyContin maker Purdue, according to several legal experts. In March, Reuters reported that Purdue was exploring filing for bankruptcy protection to address lawsuits alleging it pushed prescription painkillers while downplaying their abuse and overdose risks, according to people familiar with the matter. Purdue’s CEO later confirmed the company was considering a bankruptcy filing. The company has denied allegations it contributed to the opioid crisis, pointing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving labels on its drugs carrying warnings about risk and abuse associated with treating pain.",
            "output": [
                "Fate of opioid litigation hinges on government 'police power'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b97c4c9b80e840aa8767e19a1cc26c6e",
            "input": "Maxwell, 31, started the Australian summer season in strong form when he hit 62 runs off just 28 balls against Sri Lanka on Sunday and executed a run-out from near the Adelaide Oval boundary. Australia won that match by 134 runs and the second on Wednesday by nine wickets, when Maxwell wasn’t required to bat, to clinch the three-match series. Maxwell met with Cricket Australia staff on Wednesday, and is expected to miss the rest of the T20 internationals against Sri Lanka on Friday in Melbourne and against Pakistan in three matches next week. Team psychologist Dr. Michael Lloyd said Thursday that Maxwell “has been experiencing some difficulties with regards to his mental health. As a result, he will spend a short time away from the game ... Glenn was proactive in identifying these issues and engaging with support staff.” Australia coach Justin Langer said he approached Maxwell before Sunday’s match. “There’s been a few times over the last 12 months where I’ve probably suspected that he’s been battling a little bit,” Langer said. “The day before the game in Adelaide he didn’t seem to have his normal zip and enthusiasm, although he still worked hard. “People in public positions have to put on a mask and that’s the mask he puts on. He’s the great entertainer, but underneath the mask I could probably just sense he wasn’t quite right.” D’Arcy Short has been chosen as a replacement player and will join the Australian T20 squad on Friday ahead of the final Sri Lanka match. ___ More AP cricket: www.apnews.com/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Cricketer Maxwell to take break due to mental health issues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0fab05625cb54f56899642fc6f5e059d",
            "input": "According to Simon and Schuster’s website, it’s the truth. The game is called “Panty Raider: From Here to Immaturity.”  The publicity says, “Gamers will Seek Out Supermodels to Strip Them Down to Their Bra and Panties.” Here are some other tidbits from the Simon and Schuster publicity:  PANTY RAIDER takes gamers to Model Isle where a supermodel photo shoot is taking place. The player is on a mission to photograph specific styles and colors of panties worn by supermodels to satisfy three testosterone-driven aliens and keep them from blowing up the Earth.One day on a planet far, far away, a catalog from a famous lingerie store inexplicably showed up in the mailbox at one horny alien’s home. Some time later, he and his two buddies had worn out the catalog and they needed more! So they hijacked a flying saucer for a joy ride across the universe in search of supermodels in their underwear.The player assumes the role of “Nelson,” an innocent bystander who is forced to help the aliens in their perverted quest. Nelson’s job is to photograph specific models, wearing specific types and colors of underwear (as specified by the aliens). If Nelson does not get the photos that the aliens are asking for, in the amount of time given, the aliens will destroy Earth.Once on the island, Nelson can use all the tools available to him: * Pick up lines – Use cheesy pickup lines to lure models out of the woods. * X-Ray glasses – You know the ones seen in the back of comic books? These actually work – allowing the player to see what kind of underwear each girl is wearing, before they go through the process of undressing her. Keep in mind if you waste too much time undressing a supermodel….BOOM! Earth will be destroyed… can you control yourself? * Lures – Items such as tiny mints (lunch!) and credit cards. No self-respecting supermodel can resist these items. * Camera – Once the correct model is found wearing the right panties, and the outer clothing has been removed, it’s time to use the camera to photograph the model. These photos are then added to the player’s inventory. If all the correct models in the correct lingerie are photographed within the given amount of time, Earth is saved. Otherwise, the frustrated aliens are forced to take their hormone driven anger out on the planet. Last updated 11/13/00 For more information:  Simon and Schuster News Release   Comments",
            "output": [
                "  The email says that Simon and Schuster has announced a new CD-ROM computer game where “…to win the game, boys must strip supermodels down to their underwear, then provide photographs of them to aliens who ‘wore out’ their one lingerie catalog – or else the aliens’ ‘hormone driven anger’ will destroy the earth.”   "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94ae0834d252474c8bbcc39083237313",
            "input": "\"At a rally in Houston, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg apologized for supporting the stop-and-frisk policy he endorsed while serving as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. Bloomberg told the mostly black audience at the rally that he should have \"\"acted sooner and faster\"\" to stop the policy and said if he were elected, he’d use \"\"the power of the presidency to right the wrongs of institutional racism.\"\" He used the rally as an opportunity to unveil a new initiative that he says will address issues specific to the black community in the United States: \"\"Mike for Black America.\"\" One issue he highlighted in his address was access to health care. \"\"We will build a future in which we better protect the health of black mothers and their babies,\"\" Bloomberg said at the rally. \"\"You should know that black babies die at rates twice as high as white babies because of a lack of access to affordable health care and here, in the wealthiest country in the world, we cannot accept that and we will change that.\"\" Bloomberg’s figure is accurate, but is he right in his assessment of the cause of this disparity? His team did not return a request for more information about his claim. Mortality rate higher for black infants The latest statistics on infant mortality from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that there were 22,341 infant deaths reported in the United States in 2017, putting the mortality rate at 5.79 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Statistics on infant mortality are compiled based on birth and infant death certificates in cases where infants less than a year died during the calendar year. Generally, the infant mortality rate has trended downward since 1995 and has declined 16% since 2005, when the rate was 6.86 deaths per 1,000 live births. The CDC also analyzes the infant mortality rate by race. In 2017, infants born to black women had the highest mortality rate of 10.97 deaths per 1,000 live births. The mortality rate for infants born to non-Hispanic white mothers was 4.67 deaths per 1,000 live births, meaning infants born to black mothers have an infant mortality rate 2.35 times higher than infants born to white mothers, according to the CDC. Bloomberg’s claim wasn’t limited to Texas, but this trend is also visible at the state level. A 2018 report from the CDC looked at infant mortality data from 2013 to 2015 by state and race and found that, in Texas, the mortality rate for infants born to non-Hispanic white women was 5 deaths per 1,000 live births and was 10.52 for infants born to black women. Exploring causes of disparity It’s true that infants born to black mothers have died at rates twice as high as white babies in recent years, but is it true that it is due to a lack of access to affordable health care? It isn’t that simple. The five leading causes of all infant deaths in 2017 identified by the CDC were all health related: In a 2019 report, the CDC noted that infants born to black women had the highest mortality rates for disorders related to short gestation (premature birth) and low birthweight and maternal complications. Numerous academic studies and media investigations have highlighted correlations between access to health care and the disparity in infant and maternal mortality rates between black and white mothers. But access to health care is widely considered to be one of many contributing factors. One 2017 study published in the American Journal of Public Health identified other factors that contribute to the high black infant mortality rate: socioeconomic status, maternal behavior, \"\"exposure to protective and risk factors over the course of a woman’s life,\"\" and certain historical factors like segregation, limited educational opportunities, structural racism, and intergenerational poverty. This is not to say that a lack of access to health care is not a significant cause of this disparity. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2019 explored how state Medicaid expansion associated with changes in low birthweight and preterm birth across different races — which are more likely to affect black mothers and infants than white mothers and infants. The study did not explore the link between Medicaid expansion and reducing infant mortality. Researchers found that overall, Medicaid expansion was not associated with differences in rates of low birth weight or preterm births. However, they identified \"\"significant improvements in relative disparities for black infants compared with white infants in states that expanded Medicaid vs. those that did not.\"\" In other words, states that expanded Medicaid saw rates of low birthweight and preterm births decline among black mothers and infants. In general, black mothers were less likely than white mothers to access prenatal care, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Minority Health. In 2017, black mothers were 2.3 times more likely to receive no prenatal care or late prenatal care than non-Hispanic white mothers. The same year, 66.6% of black mothers received prenatal care during the first trimester, compared to 82.4% of white mothers who accessed early care. Our ruling Bloomberg said: \"\"Black babies die at rates twice as high as white babies because of a lack of access to affordable health care.\"\" Bloomberg’s figures about the black infant mortality rate vs. the white infant mortality rate are accurate. Studies show that access to healthcare is a contributing factor to this disparity, but it is far from being the only issue at play.\"",
            "output": [
                "Michael Bloomberg Says “black babies die at rates twice as high as white babies because of a lack of access to affordable health care.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72cfe3d217a0487cb2a8e561859be848",
            "input": "The state Department of Environmental Conservation says an investigation determined the geese died of the fungal disease Aspergillosis, caused by eating moldy grain or bread. Three dozen Canada geese were found dead in a pond at the Malone Recreation Park in Franklin County near the Canadian border. State wildlife staff in Albany tested the dead birds. The state agency is asking the public not to feed waterfowl to help prevent the fungal disease or cause poor nutrition, delayed migration and other problems. Officials are also asking farmers to dispose of moldy grain and silage by burying it rather than spreading it over fields.",
            "output": [
                "Moldy bread or grain blamed for Canada geese deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7edd2e67b9b403288b8d088d7046183",
            "input": "A woman smokes a cigarette in an undated file photo. REUTERS/File Independent Pharmaceutica, a private company based at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute and founded in 1997 by Professor Torgny Svensson, joins a growing line-up of biotech companies seeking to develop an anti-nicotine shot. Its researchers say the vaccine eliminates the quick high smokers relish by creating antibodies that bind to nicotine molecules, making them too bulky to enter the brain. Once the high is gone, the argument goes, so is the main cause of addiction. In the Phase II study on 400 people in three Nordic countries, researchers will measure the effect of the vaccine on those who have quit smoking and want to avoid relapse. But they may use it in future to help active smokers quit, according to Independent Pharmaceutica. Several other vaccines against nicotine dependence are under investigation, but Independent Pharmaceutica Chief Executive Lena Degling Wikingsson said her company hopes to produce a more potent product with fewer side effects than competitors. “After this Phase II study, we want to have co-operation with a bigger pharmaceutical company to be able to take this further,” Wikingsson told Reuters on Tuesday. “We are discussing (this) with the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.”   Switzerland’s Cytos Biotechnology published results from a Phase II trial in 2005, showing 42 percent of patients who achieved high antibody levels at vaccination stayed smoke-free after 12 months, against 21 percent in the group given a placebo. Bermuda-based private equity firm Celtic Pharma has said it will announce results from its Phase II trial on a nicotine vaccine this quarter, while U.S. company Nabi Pharmaceuticals is developing a similar product. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death in the world, killing 5.4 million people every year, an increasing proportion of those in low-income countries.",
            "output": [
                "Nordic scientists start trial on nicotine vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4425d3ccb5674cf5a0cfbe8eb1f99db4",
            "input": "The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the winning applicants Thursday, just days after the state awarded licenses to companies seeking to transport cannabis products. Testing facilities were licensed earlier this month, reports  the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newly announced licensees included Blue Arrow Holdings LLC, a newly formed company that plans to retrofit a building in the long-shuttered Lempt Brewery complex in St. Louis to grow cannabis indoors, reports  the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We’ll be taking over that space and sustaining it,” said Max Bonanno, a consultant to Blue Arrow Holdings. “It’s pretty cool.”  But some of the applicants that didn’t win licenses threatened to sue or appeal. Among them was Dr. Paul Callicoat, a retired cardiologist and a principal of Sarcoxie Nursery in southwest Missouri, who said his family will review “all available lawful remedies” to reverse this decision. Voters made medical marijuana legal in 2018. The licensing program is expected to wind up by February with the awarding of licenses to applicants seeking to sell cannabis products to Missourians holding doctor-approved cards.",
            "output": [
                "State awards license to grow medical marijuana in Missouri."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-feaf6321b57f48a5a3fdc79982f6de65",
            "input": "\"Native American tribes have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and Joe Biden claims that President Donald Trump has not done enough to help. \"\"Donald Trump has failed to live up to our trust and treaty obligations to Native Americans,\"\" Biden told The Arizona Republic May 21. \"\"He took more than a month to allocate Congress’ emergency funding to tribes — and only did so after tribes sued. He has failed to provide tribes with adequate protective personal equipment and medical supplies. It’s unacceptable.\"\" Indian treaty rights recognized and established rights, benefits, and conditions for tribes who agreed to cede millions of acres of land to the United States and to accept the United States’ protection. Under a \"\"trust responsibility\"\" legal principle, the United States federal government is obligated to ensure the survival and welfare of Indian tribes. Is Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, right that it took more than a month for tribes to get funding allocated by Congress, and that it happened only after suing the Trump administration? The chronology lines up, but omits important context. The Treasury Department has argued that payments were delayed because it is required to consult with tribes and the Interior Department regarding how much money to allocate to tribes. That consultation process started before the lawsuit over the delay in payments. A separate lawsuit filed by tribes to prevent corporations in Alaska from receiving aid has also affected the process. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, and Trump signed it into law March 27. The $2.2 trillion measure included a $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund for states, local governments, and tribal governments. The law set aside $8 billion for tribal governments. The law said the Treasury secretary had to make the payments within 30 days; so by April 26, all entities were supposed to have received funds. It wasn’t until May 5 that the Treasury Department said it would begin making funds available to tribal governments. So that part of Biden’s claim adds up. By May 5, the Trump administration was facing several lawsuits by multiple tribes: for delay of payment. The lawsuits also challenged the administration for intending to direct some of the funds to the Alaska Native Corporations, which are regional and village corporations recognized under Alaska law and created by Congress as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. In the lawsuit to stop the corporations from getting a share of the $8 billion, tribes argued that corporations do not meet the statutory definition of \"\"tribal government,\"\" or \"\"Indian tribe\"\" and therefore did not qualify for the relief. A federal district judge on April 27 issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the Treasury from giving money to the corporations. Pending a final determination, the judge did not direct the Treasury secretary to immediately disburse the entire $8 billion to the tribes. In its May 5 announcement, the Trump administration said it would begin paying tribes 60% of the $8 billion, or $4.8 billion, based on population data. The remaining 40% would be paid at \"\"a later date\"\" based on employment data and tribe expenses related to COVID-19. Amounts calculated for corporations would be held back \"\"until pending litigation relating to their eligibility is resolved.\"\" The Navajo Nation, which joined tribes in the lawsuit, on May 5 said the judge’s April 27 ruling \"\"led to the (Treasury) Department’s announcement to begin distributing funds to federally-recognized tribes.\"\" In a separate lawsuit over the delay in the disbursement of funds, lawyers for the Trump administration argued that providing funds to tribal governments required a more involved and difficult process than the one for states and local governments. While the CARES Act imposed a 30-day deadline for funds disbursement, it also called for a consultation process among tribes and the Treasury and Interior departments. According to the Trump administration, Treasury staff spent about 2,200 hours on efforts to get tribes the appropriated money. The same federal district judge from the corporations case said that those hours of labor \"\"arguably should have produced better results,\"\" but a court intervention was not warranted. \"\"‘Egregious’ delay is the governing standard, and the Secretary is not there quite yet, even in the midst of a public health crisis,\"\" U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote in a May 11 opinion. Mehta did not find that the Treasury secretary was \"\"lagging unreasonably\"\" behind in delivering the funds. \"\"The Secretary has not been ‘twiddling his thumbs’,\"\" he said, citing language from a precedent. Mehta said he would not give the Treasury department a deadline for disbursing the rest of the funds, but if it took the department double the amount of time Congress directed for the disbursement, \"\"then the question of egregiousness becomes a closer one than it is today.\"\" Biden said Trump \"\"took more than a month to allocate Congress’ emergency funding to tribes — and only did so after tribes sued.\"\" It did take more than a month for tribes to begin receiving funds appropriated by Congress, and they began to flow after lawsuits were filed against the Trump administration. But a consultation process for disbursing the funds began before the administration was sued.\"",
            "output": [
                "Joe Biden Says President Donald Trump “took more than a month to allocate Congress’ emergency funding to tribes — and only did so after tribes sued.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2a54b9d6e064dccad9c61095c091db6",
            "input": "As the criminal case moves toward possible trial this year, related pending lawsuits reflect a battle over blame. A look at where things stand: THE ALLEGATIONS  The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System determined William Husel ordered excessive doses for nearly three dozen patients over several years, though it said the doses likely weren’t what caused six of those deaths. Reviewers found that in many cases, the drugs were accessed by overriding a dispensing system. Husel was fired in December 2018, weeks after a concern was raised. Mount Carmel later said three patients died during those weeks after receiving excessive doses he ordered. ___ CRIMINAL CASE  Last June, Husel was charged with murder in 25 deaths and pleaded not guilty in one of the biggest cases of its kind ever brought against a U.S. health care professional. He was charged only in cases involving 500 to 2,000 micrograms of the powerful painkiller fentanyl – doses so unusually large that prosecutors said it indicated an intent to snuff out lives. His initial lawyer said Husel was providing comfort care to dying patients, not trying to kill them. Husel’s current lawyers in the criminal case — including Florida-based Jose Baez, who is known for successfully defending high-profile clients such as Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez — haven’t said much publicly about his motives. Husel’s lawyers in civil cases contend that he provided appropriate care and that Mount Carmel misled the public about what happened. Mount Carmel publicly apologized, tightened its drug policies, fired other employees and changed leadership but has stood by its investigation and subsequent decisions. “There is nothing more important to us than our patients’ safety and their trust in us — and we will do everything in our power to continue to improve,” it said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Trial for Husel, 44, is currently scheduled for June. _____ LOTS OF LAWSUITS  More than 30 lawsuits have been filed against Mount Carmel in the matter, and it has agreed to more than $13 million in related settlements so far. Husel and Mount Carmel unsuccessfully argued the remaining lawsuits should be put on hold until the criminal case is resolved. Husel also has filed lawsuits. One against Mount Carmel and its parent company, Michigan-based Trinity Health, alleges defamation. Another against Trinity and its insurer seeks to force them to cover costs of his defense in the criminal case, just as in civil cases against him. _____ FORMER COLLEAGUES  Authorities aren’t prosecuting those who administered the drugs, though they have faced other fallout. Mount Carmel said it fired 23 nurses, pharmacists and managers after its internal investigation. Ten of Husel’s former colleagues recently sued Mount Carmel for defamation and, in some cases, wrongful termination. The group of mostly nurses decried a “ false narrative of an evil rogue doctor and his complicit staff” and said the spread of that narrative damaged their lives and livelihoods regardless of whether they were fired. Three pharmacists and 25 nurses still face potential disciplinary action from their respective state boards and have administrative hearings scheduled in the coming months. Husel is in line for one, too, after the Ohio State Medical Board suspended his license. It hadn’t previously disciplined him. ___ Follow Franko on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kantele10.",
            "output": [
                "Amid doc’s murder case, lawsuits reflect battle over blame."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-123c4201a9cf4b22a6432090797312e1",
            "input": "\"On Nov. 27, 2013, a Madison-based liberal advocacy group used a mass email to promote protests that were planned against Walmart stores for two days later -- Black Friday. The demonstrations aimed to \"\"expose Wal-Mart’s shameful labor practices and support workers,\"\" according to One Wisconsin Now, which then made this claim: \"\"The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined.\"\" That reminded us of a March 2011 claim by filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore. He said in a Madison speech that 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Based on online hits, it became one of our most popular fact-checks ever. So we wondered about the Walmart claim. Wealth, not income In the days before and after Black Friday, leaders no less prominent than President Barack Obama and Pope Francis decried the extent of income disparity in the United States and around the world. Obama called the growing income gap a \"\"defining challenge of our time.\"\" The pope said that while the earnings of a minority \"\"are growing exponentially, so, too, is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few.\"\" Walmart, of course, is a big target. According to Forbes, as of May 2013 the international retailer had $469 billion in sales and 2.2 million employees, including 1.3 million in the United States. The corporation has been criticized for low wages; and in December 2012, PolitiFact National rated as Mostly  a claim that more Walmart employees are on Medicaid and food stamps than other companies. But let’s be clear up front: Although income and wealth are related, they’re not the same. Wealth is commonly measured in terms of net worth -- the value of a person’s assets minus liabilities. So, things like savings and retirement accounts, minus what is owed on a home mortgage, credit cards, etc. That means a person with heavy debt can have little wealth, or negative wealth, even while earning a six-figure income. One more point before we get to the wealth figures. Walmart was founded by the late Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Arkansas in 1962. Walmart incorporated in 1969 and became a publicly traded company a year later. So, Wal-Mart is not family owned, but rather owned by its stockholders; on the other hand, according to Bloomberg and other news reports, the Walton family members still have control of the company, owning about half of the shares. Group's evidence Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now's executive director, told us his evidence to back his group’s claim is a July 2012 article by economist Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the liberal Economics Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Bivens wrote that in 2010, the wealth of six Walton family heirs was $89.5 billion, 22 percent higher than in 2007. Meanwhile, the median wealth of American families in 2010 was $77,300, nearly 39 percent lower than three years earlier. (Median wealth refers to the American family that is exactly wealthier than half of all families and less wealthy than half.) As for measuring one against the other, Bivens said the Walton family wealth in 2010 was as large as the wealth of the bottom 48.8 million families in the United States, or 41.5 percent of all American families. Rounded up, 41.5 percent would be 42 percent, the figure One Wisconsin Now claims. But let's keep shopping around a little. Similar claim It turns out that a statement nearly identical to the one made by One Wisconsin Now was uttered in July 2012 by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sanders said the Walton family owns \"\"more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America,\"\" a claim PolitiFact National rated . Our colleagues found that Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the University of California, Berkeley, compared the Waltons’ cumulative net worth with that of the overall population, as cited in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. That survey was published in August 2012. Allegretto found that the Waltons’ wealth in 2010 was valued at $89.5 billion -- equal to the entire bottom 41.5 percent of American families. The 2010 figures are the latest available for doing comparisons with the net worth of the overall population. But we found, using the Forbes 400 list for 2013, that the wealth of six of Sam Walton’s descendants has continued to grow. Here are their rankings and their wealth: No. 6 Christy Walton (daughter-in-law), $35.4 billion No. 7: Jim Walton (son), $33.8 billion No. 8: Alice Walton (daughter), $33.5 billion No. 9: S. Robson Walton (son), $33.3 billion No. 95: Ann Walton Kroenke (niece), $4.7 billion No. 110: Nancy Walton Laurie (niece), $4 billion Total Walton family wealth: $144.7 billion. A note before we close: Allegretto told us the housing crisis is a key reason that the gap between the Walton family wealth and the wealth of other American families has grown. More Americans were left with \"\"negative wealth\"\" because they lost their biggest asset -- their home -- and often significant amounts of their savings, as well, she said. Our rating One Wisconsin Now wrote: \"\"The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined.\"\" For comparison purposes, the latest data available, for 2010, the figure is 41.5 percent. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website.\"",
            "output": [
                "The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b51a44f2d5294fbb944141911ec720a1",
            "input": "\"Hillary Clinton's near-collapse at a Sept. 11 memorial service and the subsequent revelation that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier has people wondering about the health of the two major presidential candidates. The Clinton campaign promised more medical data on her health, and Republican Donald Trump pledged to release details of a recent checkup. Both candidates have already released letters from their doctors saying they are healthy enough to be president. Clinton’s team argues that Trump has released less information about his health than Clinton. In an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Clinton said her two-page 2015 letter from her physician is consistent with what presidential candidates have released in the past. \"\"You know, you've got a medical report on me that meets the same standard as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama\"\" when the two ran for president, Clinton said. \"\"Donald Trump's doctor said he'd be the healthiest president in history. That's just not even serious.\"\" When Cooper asked what additional information she would be supplying, Clinton did not offer any details. \"\"Well, we're going to be releasing more information, and I think it's fair to say, we've already met the standard of disclosure of past presidential candidates like Mitt Romney and President Obama.\"\" Actually, there is no \"\"standard\"\" for the type of medical information that should be released. The experts we consulted agreed. But Clinton's disclosures are on the same level as Obama and Romney in previous elections. \"\"There is no 'standard' of medical disclosure, just whatever the voting public is comfortable with,\"\" said Jerald Podair, professor of history at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. \"\"This means, of course, that as much secrecy as possible has been the historical norm.\"\" Thus, he said, the public didn't know about Grover Cleveland's cancer, Franklin Roosevelt's paralysis or John Kennedy's Addison’s disease. \"\"All kept the true nature of their illnesses secret from the American public. Obviously, is is harder to do so today, but as Hillary (‘darn these allergies’) Clinton has shown, the system can still be gamed.\"\" \"\"This is an imaginary standard set up by candidates,\"\" said Brooks Simpson, a presidential historian at Arizona State University. Interest in candidate medical records has varied over time. There was a lot of interest when John McCain ran against Obama in 2008. McCain was 71 and had a history of skin cancer. He released 1,173 pages of records going back to 2000. In contrast, medical records were not much of an issue in 2004 when George W. Bush, then 58, sought re-election against John Kerry, then 60. Both were known to be big fitness enthusiasts. Bush had received regular checkups as president but that year decided to have his physical after the election. As CNN reported at the time, \"\"Neither President Bush nor Senator Kerry have released their full medical records, but there isn't much public pressure for either man to release more details. Americans may want a healthy commander-in-chief, but 61 percent say the president has the same rights as other citizens to keep medical records private, compared to just 38 percent in favor of releasing all information that might affect his ability to serve.\"\" It's more of an issue today, in part, because both candidates are so old. \"\"These people are in the Ronald Reagan category,\"\" said Simpson. Trump, if elected, would be the oldest person to assume the presidency. Clinton would be the second oldest behind Reagan. \"\"Maybe 70 is the new 60, but these people are old,\"\" Simpson said. \"\"Neither one has really satisfied issues of disclosure in the public mind,\"\" although Clinton has been more forthcoming, he said. \"\"Trump's efforts have been pretty feeble. But the incident on Sunday and the cough just illustrated a personal attack narrative and has given traction to an accusation that her health is less than ideal. This is a way not just to raise questions about candidate health, but about candidate transparency.\"\" When we contacted the Clinton campaign, spokesman Josh Schwerin acknowledged that there is no real standard. He said the candidate was simply referring to the examples of Obama and Romney as a relevant point of comparison. How do their medical summaries compare? Candidate Obama Romney Clinton Trump Year 2008 2012 2015 2015 Words in doctor letter 280 535 578 174 Blood pressure 90/60 130/80 100/65 110/65 Heart rate 60 40 72 Not mentioned Triglycerides 44 179 69 Not mentioned Total cholesterol 173 169 195 Not mentioned Good cholesterol 68 Not mentioned 64 Not mentioned Bad cholesterol 96 Not mentioned 118 Not mentioned Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 0.6 Normal Not relevant .015 Allergies mentioned? No Yes Yes No Past health problems detailed? No Yes Yes Yes Family history mentioned? Yes Yes Yes No Because there is no standard, the doctors of different candidates included different levels of detail. The letters for all four candidates gave blood pressure. The letters for Obama, Romney and Clinton offered at least some blood test results, such as total cholesterol. Trump's does not. Family history, a key factor for predicting a person's lifespan or potential health problems, is missing from Trump's letter. The doctors for Clinton and Romney go into more detail about the candidate's past health problems, but that may be because they had some issues in the past. We don't know about Trump's history, but the detailed 2014 health report for Obama once he became president says he's had no significant medical problems, including no surgeries. The most detailed template was Obama’s annual presidential physical. The 2014 report contains far more information than he released when he first ran in 2008. It talks about immunizations. It lists medications (without giving doses), a fasting blood sugar level and cholesterol counts. There's also discussion of the status of his heart, lungs, eyes, head neck, bones, muscles, nerves and skin. \"\"Probably Hillary is about right since the standard is that most politicians conceal their debilitating illnesses or fabricate (maybe exaggerate) how wonderfully healthy they are,\"\" said Bert Rockman, professor emeritus of political science at Purdue University. Because of their age, \"\"there is bound to be something wrong with each of them despite Trump's likely-dictated note to his doctor, which meets the standard of a school boy note.\"\" \"\"Of course, some candidates are in terrific shape — Romney and Obama, for example, and Carter,\"\" he said. \"\"And you likely wouldn't run for president if you were seriously (physically) debilitated,\"\" putting the cases of Kennedy and Roosevelt aside. \"\"In other words,\"\" said Rockman, \"\"the bar is really low, and Hillary likely met it by historical standards.\"\" Our ruling Clinton said, \"\"You've got a medical report on me that meets the same standard as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.\"\" If Romney and Obama exemplify a standard, then the information Clinton has provided to the public is on a comparable level. But Clinton's statement implies a standard that doesn’t really exist, according to the experts. And both the quality and quantity of information on presidential candidates has varied widely.",
            "output": [
                "You've got a medical report on me that meets the same standard as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1030afe46e7d4578b4a1d6f46b7944e9",
            "input": "This release makes no mention of the costs of the drugs compared in this study, even though the drugs have been in use for years and are widely available. Since the study is a comparison of various treatments for this form of cancer, it seems relevant to offer a cost comparison as well as a comparison of efficacy. It appears that the high dose methotrexate is given over a 24-hour period, presumably in the hospital, while the standard methotrexate is given as a single dose. Also, the high dose methotrexate is followed by leucovorin administration while the standard dose is not. According to the site GoodRx, the cost for methotrexate in low-dose (2.5 mg) pill form averages out to about $50 for a month’s supply. Newer, injectable variations of the drug cost upwards of $500 a month for the 25 mg dose. The release states that patients receiving high doses of the drug methotrexate “had a significantly better outcome, by 5 to 6 percent” than did patients receiving the current standard of care, which is gradually escalating doses of the drug. The release also explains that patients nine years old or younger who were also treated with a steroid called decadron (dexamethasone) for half as long as normal (14 versus 28 days) benefited from the treatment while patients 10 and older did not. We’re not sure of the meaning behind these results as portrayed in the release. Which outcome was better by 5 or 6 percent? The study has several. Does that mean the relapse rate was reduced or is it the event free survival that was better? It would be more meaningful to readers if the release had included the actual relapse and event free survival rates for each group analyzed in terms most people can understand. For example: “relapse rates were 5 percent lower in Group X compared to Group Y.” We’ll give this category a satisfactory rating largely due to the release including information that patients 10 and older receiving dexamethasone “were at much higher risk for a debilitating bone condition called osteonecrosis,” although we would have been happier if that greater risk would have been quantified. However, the published study explains that there were toxicity problems beyond that of dexamethasone and the release would have been stronger including that information as well. The release stated the study was randomized and controlled, and provides a broad overview of the study design, for which we give the release a borderline satisfactory under this criteria. However, these are the superficial results. On deeper delving into the study methodology, the statistical significances of the results were very close to not statistically significant. This is due to their planned interim stopping of the treatment and the fact that they were looking at multiple outcomes in multiple groups. This release doesn’t demonstrate disease-mongering. While the release does say that this clinical trial was run by the Children’s Oncology Group, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health, it makes no mention of possible conflicts of interest. Compounding that is the fact that the published study says, “Disclosures provided by the authors are available with this article at www.jco.org,” but that information is behind the journal’s paywall for most readers, so it’s unknown if there is, or is not, a conflict. It appears as though five of the authors (out of a total of about 20) have some conflicts of interest, mostly from several types of drug company payments. The release is comparing the efficacy of treatment regimens using different drugs so alternative treatments for B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia are noted. The release makes clear at the end that the treatment of this disease is improving thanks to refinement of the use of existing drug treatments, meaning that they are readily available for patient use. The release suggests the study findings could change the way childhood leukemia is treated. Modifying existing treatments to enhance a patient’s survival is certainly novel enough to warrant a release. There is no use of unjustifiable language in this release. However, the tone may be a bit overly optimistic given the study findings.",
            "output": [
                "Relapses of childhood leukemia improve with high doses of common chemo drug"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1d5ba2723634416d8655b270af42957a",
            "input": "About 1.3 million people worldwide died of TB in 2017. A further 300,000 people with both HIV and TB died in last year, according to World Health Organization figures released this month. Once referred to as ‘consumption’ because of the way sufferers appear to waste away, tuberculosis has been known for centuries. The bacterium responsible for TB was discovered 136 years ago and the development of an effective antibiotic helped rich countries to largely contain the disease after World War II. Still, the U.N. health agency estimates that about 10 million people worldwide become newly infected with TB each year, mostly in poor countries where access to health care is limited. “It really is a global epidemic,” said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, who heads WHO’s program to combat TB. Speaking ahead of a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Kasaeva said the U.N.’s target of eradicating tuberculosis worldwide by 2030 “is very ambitious given that for now progress is too slow.” Like HIV, tuberculosis remains a highly stigmatized illness, preventing some sufferers from seeking treatment. Experts are particularly concerned about the rising number of people contracting drug-resistant variants of TB, many of which aren’t diagnosed properly. Treating them can be costly and arduous, requiring years of medication with strong side effects. Dr. Ralf Otto-Knapp of the German Central Committee to Combat Tuberculosis, a group established in the late 19th century when the disease was still widespread in much of Europe, warned against complacency about the disease in an age of global travel. “Because of the increasing mobility in society it also affects economically more powerful countries,” he said. “We need a joint political will and the necessary resources to fight tuberculosis effectively.” Kasaeva said she hoped leaders attending the New York meeting Wednesday will commit to closing the growing gap between the amount of money available and the billions more required to tackle the disease. Campaigners applauded a recent decision by the World Health Organization to recommend a change in the way drug-resistant tuberculosis is treated, prioritizing oral drugs over injectable medication. The group Doctors Without Borders said such treatment can reduce debilitating side effects, help improve cure rates and cut the number of deaths, but noted that it requires U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, which makes the key drug bedaquiline, to reduce its price in low- and middle-income countries with high rates of drug-resistant TB. The company has already sharply reduced costs for the drug in some countries, but in others a six-month course of treatment can cost several thousand dollars — far more than most people can afford. Companies have been reluctant to invest in developing TB medication — with only two new drugs coming onto the market in the past 50 years.",
            "output": [
                "Governments to discuss tackling tuberculosis at UN summit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a7b86bd4a7a146c49411cb5e69d7b7bd",
            "input": "An image that purports to show a screengrab from a medical journal was featured on a tweet that gained traction on January 15 2020.The tweet contains a capture of this citation:It says:Hormone replacement therapy has many nicknames among transfeminine people, including titty pills, titty skittles, smartitties, chicklets, anticistamines, mammary mints, life savers, tit tacs, breast mints, femme&m’s, antiboyotics, trans-mission fluid, and the Notorious H.R.T.“oh fuck this was in an actual medical journal I’m gonna cry lmao,” the user wrote.While it is legitimate, many of the users sharing it may not be aware of the context behind it. The citation was included in an article published by the McGill Journal of Law and Health, a publication covering healthcare-related law. The story itself is a first-person account by activist Florence Ashley regarding their experience seeking medical care both pre-and post-gender transition.Their listing of the nicknames for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) appears alongside a passage covering the temporary effects from stopping the treatment prior to reassignment surgery:I had to stop taking the hormones three weeks before surgery, give or take a few days. I was ill-prepared for this endeavour. Because hormones regulate emotions, amongst many other things, changes in hormonal regimen can have a heavy impact on mood stability and mental health. In my case, the fluctuations were large enough that I had to raise my dosage of antidepressant.A few months after surgery, my reflection in the mirror elicited an emotional reaction I had not yet grown accustomed to. After over a year on hormone replacement therapy, my body had changed in ways that finally began feeling comfortable. After decades of discontent, I was finally feeling at home in what I had previously described as a flesh prison. It had only taken a few weeks without hormones to lose what I estimated as six months of progress, noticeable in terms of fat redistribution, breast tissue loss, and changes to sexual functioning. The mirror served me a cruel reminder of this loss of self.In their paper, Ashley argues that current regulations covering disclosure of information between medical providers and transgender patients rely “on overly narrow conceptions of informed consent and underestimates the role that communal knowledge should play in health care.”Their own surgeon, for example, did not mention what the side effects would be of stopping HRT prior to surgery.“I would not have changed my mind about having surgery, it is true, but I could have done more to prepare had I known about the impact of ceasing hormone replacement therapy,” they wrote:Knowing in advance is crucial to psychological preparation and adaptation. Armed with knowledge, I could have scheduled appointments with my therapist, warned my loved ones about my increased need for support and softness, and refrained from in-person commitments. I did the latter two of those for a subsequent surgical procedure.",
            "output": [
                "\"An article published in a medical journal makes reference to nicknames for hormone replacement therapy that included \"\"antiboyotics, trans-mission fluid, and the Notorious H.R.T.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da7ad47ddebf4861a4568ade1f528cb4",
            "input": "The story does not mention the costs of screening or follow-up tests or treatment – to the individual or, collectively, to society. Those costs are significant. This story uses several different statistics and expert perspectives to explain what the researchers found in their examination of the effects of mammography screening. It not only include the relative risk reduction (10 percent) and an absolute risk reduction statistic (among women in their 50s, a decade of screening would boost the likelihood of avoiding a fatal breast cancer from 995.6 out of 1,000 to 996 out of 1,000), but it also offered comments from different experts about how they would personally value effects of that size. The story notes that screening mammography exposes women to false alarms scares as well as the risks and harms of treating tumors that actually would not have become life-threatening. This story explains how this study is different from earlier research on mammography. It points out both advantages of the study methods (comparing women in regions with screening to those without as Norway rolled out a national program over a 9 year period) and limitations (an observational study like this is not as powerful as a randomized trial, and the study might have found more benefits to screening if it had lasted longer). The story also noted the uncertainty in the numbers the researchers reported and that the real differences might be different. The story does not exaggerate the risk of breast cancer or the need to be screened for it. The story includes comments from several independent sources offering a variety of perspectives. It does not mention that the study was funded by the Cancer Registry of Norway and the Research Council of Norway. The story notes that improved treatments appear to have reduced the breast cancer death rate even among women who did not have regular screening mammograms. Not being screened was clearly acknowledged as an alternative, something not all competing stories explicitly addressed. The availability of mammography screening is not at issue. This story does point out that the women who were screened in Norway had access to special treatment teams. And it noted that these treatments are available at “many major medical centers in the United States.”  Mammography is not new, but this story does a good job of explaining what is new about the way these researchers examined the effects of screening. The story includes comments from several sources and does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Mammograms’ Value in Cancer Fight at Issue"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa920b2ea3954eb08211c93584073f3d",
            "input": "Such hedge funds, often cast as villains of the piece because they bet against share prices, scent a profit from company valuations they believe are unduly inflated by ESG promises or which they say ignore risks that threaten to undermine the company’s prospects. The fact short-sellers, who look to exploit information gaps, are targeting the ESG sphere underlines the complexities facing investors in accurately gauging companies’ sustainability credentials. Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg last week spoke of CEOs masking inaction with “creative PR”. Against a backdrop of growing public and political concerns about climate change and economic inequality, companies are under increasing pressure to show they are taking greater responsibility for how they generate their profits. Investments defined as “sustainable” account for more than a quarter of all assets under management globally, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. About $31 trillion has been invested, buoyed by analyst reports that show companies with strong ESG narratives outperform their peers. Some short-sellers, including Carson Block of Muddy Waters, Josh Strauss of Appleseed Capital and Chad Slater of Morphic Asset Management, argue share prices can be bolstered by corporate misrepresentation about sustainability, or so-called “greenwashing”. “Greenwashing is absolutely rampant now,” says Slater, whose fund bets on both rising and falling share prices. If companies fail to engage with long-term investors, he sees a red flag. “From the short side, it’s quite interesting.”  Analytics companies that provide corporate ESG ratings use a combination of company disclosures, news sources and qualitative analysis of third-party data. They are a major source of information for investors, but it is not an exact science. Hedge funds have various strategies for selecting targets, often focusing on those they think show both ESG and more traditional financial or operational weakness. A high ESG rating can attract short interest. A Reuters analysis of data from financial information company Refinitiv and national regulators in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy shows the five companies in each country with the best ESG scores collectively were being shorted more than those with the worst scores. The short positions against the companies deemed to have the best ESG credentials were 50% greater in size than those placed against the worst-performers. (Graphic: ESG shorts - UK:  here)  For an interactive version of the graphic, click here tmsnrt.rs/2RwpBDj. For additional graphics covering the other countries mentioned, see related content. ESG data providers compile ratings based on a slew of  measures ranging from energy usage to board gender make-up, salary gap data and the scale of negative press reports on the company from newspapers across the world. Refinitiv, part-owned by the parent company of Reuters News, factors in more than 400 ESG measures for each company, taken from a range of sources including company reports, regulatory filings, NGO websites and news articles. A key problem, though, is scant regulations governing what ESG measures and risks companies must disclose and their patchy nature, said Diederik Timmer, executive vice president of client relations at Sustainalytics, a major ESG data provider. “When things go well, companies report quite well on those, when things don’t go so well it gets awfully quiet,” he added. Some policymakers, largely in Europe, are pushing for standardized disclosures to help investors better gauge the risks, something which will leave less wriggle room for companies and make scores even more reliable. Two leading global asset managers interviewed by Reuters,  who manage nearly $1 trillion in assets but declined to be identified, said they had tested their portfolios using several data providers and found the correlation between ESG ratings to be so low, they are building their own ranking system. Peter Hafez, chief data scientist at RavenPack, which helps hedge funds analyze data to get a trading edge, agreed. “There’s no perfect ESG rating out there,” he said. The influence of news flows on investor sentiment was underlined by a Deutsche Bank study here published in September that mapped 1,600 stocks and millions of company announcements and climate-related media reports over two decades. It found companies that had a greater proportion of positive announcements and press over the preceding 12 months outperformed the MSCI World Index by 1.4% a year, on average, while those with more negative news underperformed by 0.3%. For graphics of the data, click here tmsnrt.rs/2ncsFY0 and here tmsnrt.rs/2nd5hcT. Short-sellers borrow shares, pay the lender a fee and sell them on, betting the price will fall before buying them back and returning them to the original lender - pocketing the difference, minus the fee. But it is not for the faint-hearted. If funds trigger a share price fall, they can earn millions, but the downside, should shares rise, is unlimited. The perils of the practice were shown by the shorts burnt by a 17% surge in the shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA.O) in October after a surprise quarterly profit. Short-sellers suffered paper losses of $1.4 billion, erasing most of their 2019 profits, according to analytics firm S3 Partners. And in a decade-long stock market bull-run, short-selling can be tricky. Morphic’s joint chief investment officer Slater said the Sydney-based money manager’s standalone short positions in its Trium Morphic ESG long-short fund had weighed on the portfolio over the past 12 months. Niche activist short-sellers, who can torpedo company valuations by publishing negative reports on targets - often alleging fraud or serious failures - are often criticized for undermining long-term company objectives and blurring the lines between whistleblower and market manipulator. Short-sellers agree they are biased, but argue no more than long investors, the banks that raise money for the company and the company’s management. Carson Block, founder of American short-seller Muddy Waters, who shot to prominence spotting wrongdoing in some Chinese-run companies, is now seeking a “morality short” on ESG - branching out from a traditional focus on corporate governance issues to targets whose success he says hinges on secretly harming society. As an example of what he is seeking, he points to the U.S. opioid crisis, which has triggered around 2,500 lawsuits by authorities seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for stoking a scandal that has claimed almost 400,000 overdose deaths between 1999 and 2017. “I’m really skeptical of ESG,” he says, likening the use of the acronym by the corporate world to the token straw slipped into a large plastic cup with a plastic lid. “ESG is the paper straw of investing,” he says. “I definitely want to find companies like that because I know they’re out there and I want to help put them down.”",
            "output": [
                "Villains or visionaries? Hedge funds short companies they say 'greenwash'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc608a4a31644e48b7c4b7d3fe6530f0",
            "input": "The patient likely contracted meningitis at the downtown club on Saturday, officials said. The KitKatClub is renowned for its sexually uninhibited techno parties that draw visitors from around the world. City authorities issued a warning this week after being alerted to the Berlin patron’s exposure to the disease, urging all others who were at the club at the time to consult with a doctor. Bacterial meningitis can be spread via saliva and close body contact. Common symptoms are strong headaches, high fever, a stiff neck, dizziness and weakness. The disease can become life-threatening within hours. In a statement on its home page, the club itself said that “while infections in the club were very unlikely according to doctors and authorities ... anybody suffering from symptoms should immediately see a doctor.” The club said that none of its employees had shown any symptoms so far, but all had been offered antibiotics as a preventive measure. City officials said there was no need to shut down the club because it wasn’t the source of infection, and the site itself was not contaminated.",
            "output": [
                "Berlin nightclub patrons urged to get meningitis test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bca0713da3204959b45613411f4316ac",
            "input": "A normal-sized gurney (L) is pictured alongside an oversized one at the children's and women's maternity ward at the University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, April 26, 2012. OBESITY/ REUTERS/Marvin Gentry The nation’s rising rate of obesity has been well-chronicled. But businesses, governments and individuals are only now coming to grips with the costs of those extra pounds, many of which are even greater than believed only a few years ago: The additional medical spending due to obesity is double previous estimates and exceeds even those of smoking, a new study shows. Many of those costs have dollar signs in front of them, such as the higher health insurance premiums everyone pays to cover those extra medical costs. Other changes, often cost-neutral, are coming to the built environment in the form of wider seats in public places from sports stadiums to bus stops. The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic’s second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic. “As committee chairmen, Cabinet secretaries, the head of Medicare and health officials see these really high costs, they are more interested in knowing, ‘what policy knob can I turn to stop this hemorrhage?’” said Michael O’Grady of the National Opinion Research Center, co-author of a new report for the Campaign to End Obesity, which brings together representatives from business, academia and the public health community to work with policymakers on the issue. The U.S. health care reform law of 2010 allows employers to charge obese workers 30 percent to 50 percent more for health insurance if they decline to participate in a qualified wellness program. The law also includes carrots and celery sticks, so to speak, to persuade Medicare and Medicaid enrollees to see a primary care physician about losing weight, and funds community demonstration programs for weight loss. Such measures do not sit well with all obese Americans. Advocacy groups formed to “end size discrimination” argue that it is possible to be healthy “at every size,” taking issue with the findings that obesity necessarily comes with added medical costs. The reason for denominating the costs of obesity in dollars is not to stigmatize plus-size Americans even further. Rather, the goal is to allow public health officials as well as employers to break out their calculators and see whether programs to prevent or reverse obesity are worth it. The percentage of Americans who are obese (with a BMI of 30 or higher) has tripled since 1960, to 34 percent, while the incidence of extreme or “morbid” obesity (BMI above 40) has risen sixfold, to 6 percent. The percentage of overweight Americans (BMI of 25 to 29.9) has held steady: It was 34 percent in 2008 and 32 percent in 1961. What seems to have happened is that for every healthy-weight person who “graduated” into overweight, an overweight person graduated into obesity. Because obesity raises the risk of a host of medical conditions, from heart disease to chronic pain, the obese are absent from work more often than people of healthy weight. The most obese men take 5.9 more sick days a year; the most obese women, 9.4 days more. Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year, health economists led by Eric Finkelstein of Duke University calculated. Even when poor health doesn’t keep obese workers home, it can cut into productivity, as they grapple with pain or shortness of breath or other obstacles to working all-out. Such obesity-related “presenteeism,” said Finkelstein, is also expensive. The very obese lose one month of productive work per year, costing employers an average of $3,792 per very obese male worker and $3,037 per female. Total annual cost of presenteeism due to obesity: $30 billion. Decreased productivity can reduce wages, as employers penalize less productive workers. Obesity hits workers’ pocketbooks indirectly, too: Numerous studies have shown that the obese are less likely to be hired and promoted than their svelte peers are. Women in particular bear the brunt of that, earning about 11 percent less than women of healthy weight, health economist John Cawley of Cornell University found. At the average weekly U.S. wage of $669 in 2010, that’s a $76 weekly obesity tax. The medical costs of obesity have long been the focus of health economists. A just-published analysis finds that it raises those costs more than thought. Obese men rack up an additional $1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalizations and prescription drugs, Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University reported in January in the Journal of Health Economics. Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year. Using data from 9,852 men (average BMI: 28) and 13,837 women (average BMI: 27) ages 20 to 64, among whom 28 percent were obese, the researchers found even higher costs among the uninsured: annual medical spending for an obese person was $3,271 compared with $512 for the non-obese. Nationally, that comes to $190 billion a year in additional medical spending as a result of obesity, calculated Cawley, or 20.6 percent of U.S. health care expenditures. That is double recent estimates, reflecting more precise methodology. The new analysis corrected for people’s tendency to low-ball their weight, for instance, and compared obesity with non-obesity (healthy weight and overweight) rather than just to healthy weight. Because the merely overweight do not incur many additional medical costs, grouping the overweight with the obese underestimates the costs of obesity. Contrary to the media’s idealization of slimness, medical spending for men is about the same for BMIs of 26 to 35. For women, the uptick starts at a BMI of 25. In men more than women, high BMIs can reflect extra muscle as well as fat, so it is possible to be healthy even with an overweight BMI. “A man with a BMI of 28 might be very fit,” said Cawley. “Where healthcare costs really take off is in the morbidly obese.”   Those extra medical costs are partly born by the non-obese, in the form of higher taxes to support Medicaid and higher health insurance premiums. Obese women raise such “third party” expenditures $3,220 a year each; obese men, $967 a year, Cawley and Meyerhoefer found. One recent surprise is the discovery that the costs of obesity exceed those of smoking. In a paper published in March, scientists at the Mayo Clinic toted up the exact medical costs of 30,529 Mayo employees, adult dependents, and retirees over several years. “Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs,” said Mayo’s James Naessens. “Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. There really is an economic justification for employers to offer programs to help the very obese lose weight.”   For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer’s care, and other pricey items. That’s what happens to smokers. While they do incur higher medical costs than nonsmokers in any given year, their lifetime drain on public and private dollars is less because they die sooner. “Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare” trillions of dollars, said Duke’s Finkelstein. “But mortality isn’t that much higher among the obese.”   Beta blockers for heart disease, diabetes drugs, and other treatments are keeping the obese alive longer, with the result that they incur astronomically high medical expenses in old age just like their slimmer peers. Some costs of obesity reflect basic physics. It requires twice as much energy to move 250 pounds than 125 pounds. As a result, a vehicle burns more gasoline carrying heavier passengers than lighter ones. “Growing obesity rates increase fuel consumption,” said engineer Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois. How much? An additional 938 million gallons of gasoline each year due to overweight and obesity in the United States, or 0.8 percent, he calculated. That’s $4 billion extra. Not all the changes spurred by the prevalence of obesity come with a price tag. Train cars New Jersey Transit ordered from Bombardier have seats 2.2 inches wider than current cars, at 19.75 inches, said spokesman John Durso, giving everyone a more comfortable commute. (There will also be more seats per car because the new ones are double-deckers.) The built environment generally is changing to accommodate larger Americans. New York’s commuter trains are considering new cars with seats able to hold 400 pounds. Blue Bird is widening the front doors on its school buses so wider kids can fit. And at both the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, seats are wider than their predecessors by 1 to 2 inches. The new performance testing proposed by transit officials for buses, assuming an average passenger weight of 175 instead of 150 pounds, arise from concerns that heavier passengers might pose a safety threat. If too much weight is behind the rear axle, a bus can lose steering. And every additional pound increases a moving vehicle’s momentum, requiring more force to stop and thereby putting greater demands on brakes. Manufacturers have told the FTA the proposal will require them to upgrade several components. Hospitals, too, are adapting to larger patients. The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s hospital, the nation’s fourth largest, has widened doors, replaced wall-mounted toilets with floor models able to hold 250 pounds or more, and bought plus-size wheelchairs (twice the price of regulars) as well as mini-cranes to hoist obese patients out of bed. The additional spending due to obesity doesn’t fall into a black hole, of course. It contributes to overall economic activity and thus to gross domestic product. But not all spending is created equal. “Yes, a heart attack will generate economic activity, since the surgeon and hospital get paid, but not in a good way,” said Murray Ross, vice president of Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Policy. “If we avoided that heart attack we could have put the money to better use, such as in education or investments in clean energy.”   The books on obesity remain open. The latest entry: An obese man is 64 percent less likely to be arrested for a crime than a healthy man. Researchers have yet to run the numbers on what that might save.",
            "output": [
                "As America's waistline expands, costs soar."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76113fcb106344f3bf7e20b197454ca4",
            "input": "\"During ongoing controversy over United States Postal Service slowdowns and mail-in voting in August 2020, historian Heather Cox Richardson posted a status update to Facebook quoting United States President Donald Trump as saying that withholding USPS funding meant “they can’t have universal mail-in voting”:The post began:August 13, 2020 (Thursday)Today was another one for the history books.This morning, in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump came out and said it: he wants to starve the United States Postal Service to destroy mail-in voting. Claiming that mail-in voting favors Democrats, he said: “Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots… Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”It was fairly easy to determine the veracity of the quote; myriad news outlets in the United States and abroad covered the interview between Trump and Bartiromo on August 13 2020. A clip of the comments also circulated on Twitter:Trump this morning why he won’t fund US Postal Service. “Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots … But if they don’t get those two items that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting.” pic.twitter.com/73NBmSnoNC— The Recount (@therecount) August 13, 2020That video clip started with Trump saying “they want,” with no previous context about the “they” he referenced. Those comments appeared after memes began circulating, warning voters to avoid using USPS to submit ballots in November 2020:‘Don’t Mail Ballots In, Drop at Board of Elections, This is an Inside Tip from a Postal Worker, Can’t Say More than That’Both controversies occurred against the backdrop of comments made by Trump in March 2020, in which he appeared to express disapproval of broader access to voting:Trump openly admitting if we made voting easier in America, Republicans wouldn't win electionsTrump: \"\"The things they had in there were crazy. They had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.\"\" pic.twitter.com/x5HmX6uogo— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 30, 2020With respect to the August 13 2020 Bartiromo interview on Fox Business, most clips and transcripts started with “they,” making it not entirely clear which “they” Trump referenced. However, Slate published a partial transcript of the portion of the video about USPS funding and mail-in voting. Bartiromo asked what specifically Democrats were seeking that was “causing a breakdown in any deals”:Bartiromo: What specifically are they pushing for that is causing a breakdown in any deals? Nancy Pelosi said that the Democrats and the White House are still miles apart on any stimulus.Trump responded, indicating “they” were congressional Democrats:Trump: Well they’re right. And it’s their fault. They want $3.5 billion for something that’ll turn out to be fraudulent. That’s election money, basically. They want $3.5 billion for the mail-in votes. Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion—billion—for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren’t getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if you don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting. Because they’re not equipped to have it. And you see how bad it’s been with this Carolyn Maloney scam. She scammed her way into an election she probably lost. But they said mail-in ballots, its all mixed up. Paterson, New Jersey, same thing. Yesterday Virginia, 500,000 applications for ballots got sent to everybody, nobody even knows. Got sent to dogs. Got sent to dead people. Nobody has no idea what happened. They said, Oh we made a mistake, I’m sorry. Five hundred thousand ballots sent in Virginia. How do you feel about Virginia going in there when you have 500,000 phony ballot applicants? And this is all over.Bartiromo asked about whether quibbling over USPS funding and infrastructure for mail-in voting was “holding up money for the American people,” referring to stimulus payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his second response, Trump confirmed that funding for mail-in voting was at issue in broader negotiations:Bartiromo: This is what’s holding up money for the American people? They want mail-in voting and they want money for the post office? This is one of the sticking points that’s holding back stimulus for Americans during this coronavirus?Trump: That’s one of them. [Cross talk]Trump: That’s one of them. That’s right. Maria, how would you like to have $3.5 billion for mail-in voting. Billion! You know how much that is? Nobody has any idea, you people, Oh, you know, 3½ billion. They want $25 billion for the post office, because the post office is going to have to go to town to get these ridiculous ballots in. You know, there’s nothing wrong with getting out and voting. They voted during World War I and World War II. And they should have voter ID, because the Democrats scam the system. But two of the items are the post office, and $3.5 billion dollars for mail-in voting. Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting. They just can’t have it. So, you know.As such, the comments Heather Cox Richardson shared were accurate; Trump said Democrats sought money in order to have the post office functioning “so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” and “if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” and “they can’t have universal mail-in voting … they just can’t have it.” The commentary occurred across exchanges with Bartiromo, in the same short section of an interview on Fox Business. The segment in its entirety can be viewed here.Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "\"On August 13 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump said: \"\"They need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots... Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db84eeee39df45d886bf93ce1eab3834",
            "input": "Publishing a study that found risk score tools are only around 46 percent accurate on how likely psychopathic convicts are to kill, rape or assault again, they said probation officers and judges should set little or no store by such tests. They warned that clinicians carrying out such classifications must be aware of their severe limitations, and make sure prisoners undergo comprehensive psychiatric diagnosis before any risks assessment is made. “If you apply these (tests) to somebody who is a psychopath, they’re utterly useless, you might as well toss a coin,” said Jeremy Coid, director of the forensic psychiatry research unit at Queen Mary University of London who led the study. “They will not predict accurately at all,” he told reporters at a briefing in London about his findings. Coid and other forensic psychiatrists say the findings - which also showed the tools perform only moderately well in prisoners with disorders like schizophrenia, depression, drug and alcohol dependence - could have major implications for risk assessment in criminal justice systems. “There are increasing expectations of public protection from violent behavior, and psychiatrists can be seriously criticized if they make wrong decisions,” he said. Seena Fazel, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at Britain’s University of Oxford, said the reliability of the tests’ predictive ability was so low that it might be best not to use them at all - and warned that at the very least, their results should only be noted by parole boards, rather than acted upon. “If you’re going to use these instruments, be aware of their strengths and limitations,” he told reporters. The estimated prevalence of adult psychopathy in the general population is around 1 percent, but that rises to between 15 percent and 25 percent among men in prison. Coid, whose study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, analyzed data from 1,396 male prisoners in England and Wales who were interviewed between six and 12 months before their release. All the men were serving sentences of two or more years for a sexual or violent offences. The prisoners were assessed for personality disorders, symptoms of schizophrenia, depression and drug and alcohol dependence, as well as being measured for psychopathy on a reputable scale known as Hare Psychopathy Check List. After their release, data on their re-offending rates was added to the study, and showed that among three different re-offending risk assessment tools used before their release, the accuracy among psychopaths was below 50 percent. While the tools were more accurate in predictions for prisoners with no mental health disorders - at around 75 percent accuracy - they were only around 60 percent right when it came to prisoners diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression. For prisoners with anti-social personality disorders the predictive value of the tests ranged from poor to little more than chance, with an average 53.2 percent predictive accuracy. And for the 70 prisoners rated as psychopathic, none of the tests was statistically better than chance. Coid said the results suggest it is time to question the expectations put on psychiatrists and psychologists asked to forecast future behavior of offenders, and to consider what can happen to their reputations if predictions are wrong. “The easy solution is to be highly restrictive on who is released, and be risk averse. However, even for serious offenders, most will be released at some stage and someone has to carry out a risk assessment,” he said. “We need to prioritize the development of new assessment tools for these hard-to-predict groups.”",
            "output": [
                "Predicting violence in psychopaths is 'no more than chance'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36215bf3ae9049b0b315919a6dd6133c",
            "input": "The state health department said Friday the case was confirmed in a man over 50 from West Warwick. It’s the first human case in Rhode Island since 2010. State environmental officials said Thursday a six-month-old horse tested positive for the virus in Westerly. Mosquitoes carrying the disease have been found in Westerly and Central Falls. Ana Novais, the health department’s deputy director, says there’s a high risk for transmission of the disease to humans through mosquito bites. She recommends taking extra precautions to prevent bites. In neighboring Massachusetts, there have been four confirmed human cases of the virus this year, one of them fatal. The virus can cause brain infections.",
            "output": [
                "Man in Rhode Island tests positive for rare equine virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47aced87aa5f4dc2811b092b01a9d8d3",
            "input": "\"The release of a video showing NFL running back Ray Rice striking his now-wife in an Atlantic City, N.J., casino elevator revived conversations about domestic violence on the Sunday shows. On the Sept. 14, 2014, edition of CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., shared an anecdote from her time as a prosecutor to illustrate the ills of domestic violence. \"\"We had a poster outside the door so everyone would see it when they came in. It was a picture of a woman beaten up with a Band-Aid over her nose, holding a little baby boy,\"\" Klobuchar said. \"\"And the words read, ‘Beat your wife, and it’s your son that goes to jail.’ \"\" \"\"Kids … that have seen it happen,\"\" Klobuchar said, are \"\"twice as likely to commit it themselves.\"\" Klobuchar concluded that because the NFL puts \"\"out their players as role models,\"\" they have \"\"to set a different culture.\"\" We were interested in checking Klobuchar’s claim that kids who witness domestic violence are \"\"twice as likely to commit it themselves.\"\" 90's kids We want to be clear upfront that witnessing domestic violence means witnessing it in a child’s household -- not watching the TMZ.com Rice video. That said, the \"\"twice as likely\"\" talking point is fairly popular among advocates against domestic abuse, and suffice to say has been around for a while. The domestic violence literature we’ve seen often cited that claim with a 1990 book called \"\"Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families.\"\" This book compiled the results of the landmark National Family Violence Surveys of 1975 and 1985, which constituted 60-minute face-to-face interviews and 30-minute phone interviews, respectively, with thousands of American families. Based on those interviews, the book’s authors illustrated how a variety of factors influenced the incidence of domestic violence. Most of the book is about gender differences and roles in domestic violence, but the section on the effects on children crunches the surveys’ numbers on whether abusers said they witnessed abuse as children. That produced the \"\"twice as likely\"\" estimate. The experts we talked to told us there hasn’t been any study as definitive or comprehensive since, although other studies have taken stabs at the issue of intergenerational transmission of domestic violence. \"\"We’ve known for such a long time that the biggest risk factor for being abusive against wives and children is witnessing domestic violence at home or being abused,\"\" said Jacquelyn Campbell, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing who studies domestic violence. So \"\"people haven’t repeated the research for a while,\"\" Campbell said, and \"\"a lot of stuff is old and mostly cross-sectional.\"\" What the existing literature says Campbell pointed us to a 2010 study about intimate partner violence -- a subset of domestic violence -- which found that children who witnessed any intimate partner violence were 2.6 times as likely to perpetrate it themselves. Children who witnessed any violence were 1.6 times as likely, according to the study, to become abusers as adults. Klobuchar’s claim, then, has grounds in literature both old and new. There are literally dozens of studies on this issue, though, and different studies tell different stories. A 2000 meta-analysis of 39 different studies on this issue found a \"\"small-to-medium\"\" correlation between witnessing and perpetrating. The studies in that survey, while a couple decades old, ranged from showing a causal relationship between witnessing and perpetrating to showing no relationship at all. That corroborates Klobuchar’s larger point that parents’ domestic violence has negative outcomes for their children, but that’s not the same as these kids being \"\"twice as likely to commit it themselves.\"\" Difficulties with measurements Putting numbers on domestic violence is particularly hard, and perhaps even inappropriate, said Ruth Glenn, executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. \"\"I wouldn’t say twice as likely,\"\" said Glenn. \"\"So I would say that it is an additional risk factor. I get nervous when we start to assign data, because there’s not enough data to support it. Domestic violence happens in families, and each of those families are individual units.\"\" In other words, there’s enough out there to suggest that children who witness domestic violence are more likely to perpetrate it, but saying something as precise as \"\"twice as likely\"\" is difficult. Domestic violence is \"\"hard to measure for various and sundry reasons,\"\" said Glenn, from the lack of \"\"good data\"\" on who’s charged and convicted of domestic violence to confidentiality issues with its victims. And even when researchers can get affirmative data, there are methodological concerns. The studies about children who witness domestic violence often surveyed clinical populations -- meaning those with family issues, so a non-representative sample -- and ask respondents to self-report and to retroactively report. Extricating domestic violence from other family issues -- like mental health and substance abuse -- is also difficult, according to the studies Campbell referred us to. Our ruling Klobuchar, arguing that the NFL has a responsibility to hold its \"\"role models\"\" accountable to a \"\"different culture,\"\" said that kids who witness domestic violence in their households are \"\"twice as likely to commit it themselves.\"\" There are legitimate, peer-reviewed studies that bear Klobuchar’s claim out. But overall, even though there’s a consensus that witnessing domestic violence puts kids at a greater risk for perpetrating it themselves, the precise figures differ. Measuring domestic violence is very difficult for a variety of reasons, and there hasn’t been a recent, comprehensive study. So saying these kids are \"\"twice as likely to commit\"\" domestic violence is a little too precise.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Children who witness domestic violence are \"\"twice as likely to commit it themselves.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88f345f3aaca459fbb007a5ee39479ba",
            "input": "Darren Salter, senior coroner for the county of Oxfordshire in southern England, said a post-mortem has found that the singer died of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.” Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes stretched and weakened, limiting the heart’s ability to pump blood. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle. The former Wham! singer-songwriter was found dead at his country home in Oxfordshire on Dec. 25. He was 53. An initial autopsy failed to determine the cause of death for the star, who had battled health problems and drug addiction. Salter said that because Michael died of natural causes, there will be no coroner’s inquest or further inquiries. In Britain, inquests are held to determine the facts of unexplained deaths. Police initially investigated and took witness statements in order to establish the facts surrounding Michael’s death, which they called “unexplained but non-suspicious.” Wham!, formed by Michael and his friend Andrew Ridgeley, topped charts in the 1980s with exuberant pop hits including “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” ″Young Guns (Go For It)” and “Freedom.” Michael went on to a solo career studded with major hits including “Careless Whisper” and “Faith” and sold more than 100 million albums around the world. He suffered problems with drugs and alcohol, however, and in 2010 was briefly jailed after crashing his Range Rover into a shop front near his London home while high on prescription drugs and marijuana. Michael had experienced health problems including a bout of pneumonia in 2011 that saw him hospitalized in intensive care. He said later it had been “touch and go” whether he would survive. Michael’s former partner, Kenny Goss, has said he thinks the musician’s body “just gave up.” Dilated cardiomyopathy can be an inherited condition, or can be caused by factors such as viral infections and high blood pressure. Myocarditis is usually caused by a viral, bacterial or fungal infection, while fatty liver disease can be caused by alcohol, or by other factors that cause a buildup of fat in the liver. Michael’s death prompted an outpouring of recognition for his musical gifts as well as his charitable work in support of causes including AIDS groups, cancer charities and Childline, which offers confidential phone counseling for young people. Paying tribute to Michael at the Brit Awards last month, Ridgeley said that with his death, “a supernova in a firmament of shining stars has been extinguished.” At the Grammys, Adele performed Michael’s song “Fastlove” — restarting the rendition because she said the tribute was “too important” to mess up.",
            "output": [
                "George Michael died of natural causes, British coroner says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07f34c4d3b3d4de1a11338b6e337687c",
            "input": "A Lehigh County judge tossed out evidence cited in support of drug and firearms counts stemming from the Nov. 7 search in Allentown, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported . “The smell of marijuana is no longer per se indicative of a crime,” Judge Maria Dantos wrote in her opinion filed earlier this month. Authorities said Timothy Barr, 27, was a passenger in the car driven by his wife that was stopped by state troopers on a traffic violation. Troopers said they smelled a strong odor of marijuana and told Barr that gave them the legal right to search the vehicle even after he showed them his card authorizing the use of medical marijuana. Officers found small amounts of marijuana and residue and also found a loaded handgun under the driver’s seat. Court records indicate that Barr cannot legally possess a firearm due to a prior conviction. In her ruling, Dantos said it was “illogical, impractical and unreasonable” for the troopers to suspect illegal activity once Barr showed them his medical marijuana card. She said Pennsylvania lawmakers never contemplated people with such cards being arrested and prosecuted for possession of marijuana in a package not clearly marked with a dispensary name. “Such actions are merely means of hampering the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes,” Dantos wrote. Prosecutors must now decide whether to appeal to state Superior Court or try to move forward without the evidence. District Attorney Jim Martin said his office is reviewing the opinion and transcripts from a July 17 hearing and had made no decision on an appeal. Defense attorney Joshua Karoly said the ruling could be the first step in changing a procedural rule that allows police to search a vehicle based on the smell of drugs alone. “This case will put a spotlight on the plain smell doctrine in Pennsylvania which police use far too often to invade citizens’ privacy,” he said. Dantos wrote in the opinion that officers’ confusion over medical marijuana exemplified a “clear disconnect between the medical community and the law enforcement community.” One trooper testified that he believed medical marijuana had no smell and the other said she mistakenly thought dried marijuana was illegal and not used for medical purposes. Marijuana in flower and dry leaf form has been offered at dispensaries since August 2018. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the medical marijuana card belonged to the passenger, not the driver, and decision came earlier this month rather than Friday. ___ Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com",
            "output": [
                "Vehicle search prompted by marijuana smell ruled illegal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e6391216b254206bd98536183ee965b",
            "input": "The Alpine republic with a population of 8.8 million has tested around 28,400 people so far with nearly 4,900 cases and 28 deaths confirmed. It was one of the first European countries to put severe restrictions on movement and close shops and schools in response to the developments in neighboring Italy and a strong increase in coronavirus infections in its western regions. In coming weeks, Austria plans to test up to 15,000 people per day, the chancellor said. “We will also launch rapid tests, to test hundreds of thousands of people, as quickly as possible,” Kurz told a news conference. He referred to brand new tests that are comparably cheap but take longer than laboratory tests used up until now. Broad testing is key to getting a clear picture of the real infection rate and an idea of how many people have developed immunity against the virus, the chancellor said. Top priority was to delay the peak of infections as long as possible to avoid a situation like in Italy or Spain, where the health systems are overwhelmed. “Our goal is that the number of infections doubles only every 14 days and not every two, three or five days and that we will set the right measures to keep it that way once we ramp up social life again,” Kurz said. Austria’s strict measures are in place until April 13, and Kurz said there was hope that a gradual withdrawal could start the day after. A government task force developing scenarios for the “ramp up” was currently dealing with questions such as in which order schools, businesses and production should restart. Lessons from other countries showed that it was crucial to remain disciplined and to make use of “big data”. Asked what he meant by “big data”, Kurz said: “We are currently working with the Red Cross and other enterprises on ideas that could be implemented in Austria and in Europe, and which are suitable for our system and our democracy.”   Austria’s Red Cross is promoting a so-called “Stop Corona” app, which enables a user to digitally store who he meets and when. If a person shows symptoms of corona disease, these contact persons can be notified. Austria’s mobile carrier A1 Telekom Austria  is already sharing results from a motion analysis application that visualizes the movement flows of groups of people with the health authority.",
            "output": [
                "Austria bets on mass testing to manage coronavirus spread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bae2ffef9f15430a93121408d112a09b",
            "input": "The first Democrat-only televised debate is Wednesday, a natural forum for the three candidates to tout their agendas to a broader audience after several weeks of unveiling fresh items. Gretchen Whitmer, Shri Thanedar and Abdul El-Sayed agree on many issues, like raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, spending much more on roads and other infrastructure, shutting down twin oil pipelines in a waterway linking two of the Great Lakes and repealing the state’s emergency manager law. But there are some differences that are being emphasized more in the stretch to the Aug. 7 election. El-Sayed, Detroit’s former health director, has proposed a plan to provide all Michigan residents with government-financed “Michicare” until they reach Medicare age, including 600,000 who have no insurance. He hopes to make it a “wedge issue,” especially with Whitmer, who has not embraced the single-payer concept and whom he has criticized for accepting campaign donations from the political action committee of Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s dominant insurer. “Health care is a human right,” he said, contending that raising taxes to fund the Medicare-for-all-style system while eliminating premiums, deductibles and copays would save both residents and businesses overall. Whitmer is expected to announce her own health care plan before the primary and most recently has rolled out education and economic proposals while also focusing on her mantra to “fix the damn roads.” The former Senate minority leader frequently points to her role in the bipartisan expansion of Medicaid to more than 600,000 adults, including in a TV ad that is airing. “She’s the only candidate in the race who has actually expanded coverage for Michiganders,” said spokesman Zack Pohl. El-Sayed, who is courting the party’s liberal wing and in recent days outlined a plan to address high auto insurance premiums, proposes paying for Michicare with a 2 percent or 2.25 percent gross receipts tax on businesses, depending on their size, with the first $2 million exempt from taxation. He also would effectively raise the state’s 4.25 percent personal income tax to between 5 percent and 8 percent, via a graduated payroll tax. Thanedar, a multimillionaire businessman, also supports a universal, single-payer system but has not elaborated. He is recommending tax increases to fund signature facets of his economic plan — expanding child care subsidies to cover 345,000 additional low-income children, ten times more than now, and paying for 78,000 more 3- and 4-year-olds to attend preschool. He says the moves would allow thousands of women to re-enter the workforce and improve students’ educational outcomes. He wants to boost the 6 percent corporate income tax to 7.5 percent for businesses with at least $350,000 in gross receipts and assess a 10 percent tax on the portion of receipts exceeding $1 million. He also would assess an 8.85 percent personal income tax for individuals earning at least $200,000 and a 10 percent rate for millionaires. Households with less than $50,000 income would pay no income tax. “We are one big family. We need to chip in to make it helpful to the ones who need help,” Thanedar said during a recent joint Democratic-Republican debate on Mackinac Island. Both he and El-Sayed, if elected, would face steep obstacles, including a Republican-led Legislature — unless power shifts — and the constitutional requirement that voters approve a graduated income tax. Whitmer, with an eye toward the general election, has been more pragmatic — focusing on what her camp says is actually achievable in the current budget and political environment. While not ruling anything out, she has not called for changes to business or income taxes and has proposed repealing the taxation of retirement income that was enacted as part of a GOP-written tax overhaul. She pledges to work with lawmakers to fund an infrastructure bank to upgrade roads through user fees such as higher fuel taxes or, if that is unsuccessful, to ask voters to approve bonding. Thanedar wants to borrow money, while El-Sayed also proposes an infrastructure bank funded with increased fuel taxes and other revenue-raising mechanisms. The centerpiece of Whitmer’s jobs plan is providing a two-year maximum $3,040 annual scholarship to high school graduates who attend an in-state university, community college or receive technical training, as long as they do community service, maintain a certain grade point average and have a good attendance record. The estimated cost is $100 million a year. “It’s about creating a path for everyone in to a high-wage skill,” she said. ___ Online: Policy plans for — El-Sayed: https://abdulformichigan.com/issues — Thanedar: https://www.shri2018.com/ — Whitmer: https://www.gretchenwhitmer.com/issues/ ___ Follow David Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20Eggert",
            "output": [
                "Democrats unveil new policies before gubernatorial primary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02d03c913b774162b5f2a5c6fb74e280",
            "input": "Through ups and downs in popularity, health troubles and weight fluctuations and the sorts of seismic shifts that take place over decades in the entertainment industry, Lewis always figured out a way to battle back, to reinvent himself, to stay relevant. It’s what enduring stars know how to do instinctively; perhaps it’s that very drive that makes them stars in the first place. Through it all, Lewis remained the consummate showman, and his distinctive comic legacy surely will continue to survive for decades to come. The manic, rubber-faced performer who jumped and hollered to fame in a stage, radio, TV and film partnership with Dean Martin, settled to become a self-conscious auteur in movies he wrote, produced and directed, and found new fame as the tireless, teary host of the annual muscular dystrophy telethons, died Sunday at home in Las Vegas surrounded by family. He was 91. Lewis, who had battled the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis, heart issues, a debilitating back problem and addiction to pain killers, died of natural causes, according to his publicist. His career spanned the history of show business in the 20th century, beginning in his parents’ vaudeville act at the age of 5. He was just 20 when his pairing with Martin made them international stars. After their cold parting in 1956, Lewis made such favorites as “The Bellboy” and “The Nutty Professor,” was featured in Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy” and appeared as himself in Billy Crystal’s “Mr. Saturday Night.” In the 1990s, he scored a stage comeback as the devil in the Broadway revival of “Damn Yankees.” In his 80s, he was still traveling the world, planning to remake some of his earlier movies and working on a stage version of “The Nutty Professor.” He was so active he would sometimes forget the basics, like eating, his associates would recall. In 2012, Lewis missed an awards ceremony thrown by his beloved Friars Club because his blood sugar dropped from lack of food and he had to spend the night in the hospital. In an interview with The Associated Press from 2016, Lewis, at 90 and promoting the film “Max Rose,” said he still woke up every day at 4:30 or 5 in the morning to write, and he had a handful of standup shows on the schedule. Although a clear influence on Jim Carrey and other slapstick performers, later generations knew Lewis primarily as the ringmaster of the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association, joking and reminiscing and introducing guests, sharing stories about ailing kids and concluding with his personal anthem, the ballad “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” From the 1960s onward, the telethons raised about $1.5 billion. He announced in 2011 that he would step down as host, but he would remain chairman of the association he joined some 60 years ago. His fundraising efforts won him the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2009 Oscar telecast, an honor he said “touches my heart and the very depth of my soul.” But the telethon was also criticized for being mawkish and exploitative of children, known as “Jerry’s Kids.” A 1960s muscular dystrophy poster boy, Mike Ervin, later made a documentary called “The Kids Are All Alright,” in which he alleged that Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association had treated him and others as objects of pity rather than real people. Responded Lewis: “You don’t want to be pitied because you’re a cripple in a wheelchair, stay in your house!” He was the classic funnyman who longed to play “Hamlet.” He cried as hard as he laughed. He sassed and snarled at critics and interviewers who displeased him. He pontificated on talk shows, lectured to college students and compiled his thoughts in the 1971 book “The Total Film-Maker.” “I believe, in my own way, that I say something on film. I’m getting to those who probably don’t have the mentality to understand what ... ‘A Man for All Seasons’ is all about, plus many who did understand it,” he wrote. “I am not ashamed or embarrassed at how seemingly trite or saccharine something in my films will sound. I really do make films for my great-great-grandchildren and not for my fellows at the Screen Directors Guild or for the critics.” In his early movies, he played the kind of fellows who would have had no idea what the elder Lewis was talking about: loose-limbed, buck-toothed, overgrown adolescents, trouble-prone and inclined to wail when beset by enemies. American critics recognized the comedian’s popular appeal but not his pretensions of higher art. Not the French. Writing in Paris’ Le Monde newspaper, Jacques Siclier praised Lewis’ “apish allure, his conduct of a child, his grimaces, his contortions, his maladjustment to the world, his morbid fear of women, his way of disturbing order everywhere he appeared.” The French government awarded Lewis the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1983 and Commander of Arts and Letters the following year. Film critic Andrew Sarris observed: “The fact that Lewis lacks verbal wit on the screen doesn’t particularly bother the French.” Lewis had teamed up with Martin after World War II, and their radio and stage antics delighted audiences, although not immediately. Their debut, in 1946 at Atlantic City’s 500 Club, was a bust. Warned by owner “Skinny” D’Amato that they might be fired, Martin and Lewis tossed the script and improvised their way into history. New York columnists Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan raved over the sexy singer and the berserk clown. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis saw them at New York’s Copacabana and signed them to a film contract. Martin and Lewis first appeared in supporting roles in, then they began a hit series of starring vehicles: “At War With the Army,” ″That’s My Boy,” ″Sailor Beware,” ″Jumping Jacks,” ″The Stooge,” ″The Caddy,” ″Money From Home,” ″Living It Up,” ″Three Ring Circus,” ″You’re Never Too Young,” ″Artists and Models,” ″Pardners,” ″Hollywood or Bust.” But in the mid-1950s, their partnership began to wear. Lewis longed for more than laughs. Martin had tired of playing straight man and of Lewis’ attempts to inject Chaplinesque pathos into their movies. He also wearied of the pace of films, television, nightclub and theater appearances, benefits and publicity junkets on which Lewis thrived. The rift became increasingly public as the two camps sparred verbally. “I knew we were in trouble the day someone gave Jerry a book about Charlie Chaplin,” Martin cracked. On July 24, 1956, Martin and Lewis closed shop, at the Copa, and remained estranged for years. Martin, who died in 1995, did make a dramatic, surprise appearance on Lewis’ telethon in 1976 (a reunion brokered by mutual pal Frank Sinatra). After Martin’s death, Lewis said the two had again become friendly during his former partner’s final years and he would repeatedly express his admiration for Martin above all others. Lewis distinguished himself after the break, revealing a serious side as unexpected as Martin’s gift for comedy. He brought in comedy director Frank Tashlin for “Rock-a-bye Baby,” ″Cinderfella,” ″The Disorderly Orderly,” ″The Geisha Boy” and “Who’s Minding the Store?” With “The Bellboy,” though, Lewis assumed the posts of producer, director, writer and star, like his idol Chaplin. Among his hits under his own direction was the 1963 “The Nutty Professor,” playing a dual Jekyll and Hyde role, transforming himself from a nerdy college teacher to a sexy (and conceited) lounge singer, Buddy Love, regarded as a spoof of his old partner Martin. Lewis’ more recent film credits included such low-budget releases as “Arizona Dream,” co-starring Johnny Depp, “Funny Bones,” and “Max Rose,” from 2016. He was seen briefly in Eddie Murphy’s remake of “The Nutty Professor.” He was born Joseph Levitch in Newark, New Jersey, on March 16, 1926. His father, billed as Danny Lewis, was a singer on the borscht and burlesque circuits. His mother played piano for Danny’s act. Their only child was often left alone in hotel rooms, or lived in Brooklyn with his paternal grandparents, Russian Jewish immigrants, or his aunts in New Jersey. “All my life I’ve been afraid of being alone,” Lewis once said. In his later years the solitude haunted him, and he surrounded himself with an entourage at work and at home. Joey Levitch made his professional debut at age 5, singing the Depression tearjerker “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” to great applause. By 16, Jerry Lewis had dropped out of school and was earning as much as $150 a week as a solo performer. Rejected by the Army because of a heart murmur and punctured eardrum, Lewis entertained troops in World War II and toured with his lip-sync act. In 1944 he married Patti Palmer, a band vocalist. The following year he met Martin, on a March day in 1945 in Manhattan. Fame brought him women and Lewis wrote openly of his many partners. After 36 years of marriage and six sons, Patti Lewis sued her husband for divorce in 1982. She later wrote a book claiming that he was an adulterer and drug addict who abused their children. In his late 50s, Lewis married Sandra Pitnick, 32, a former airline stewardess. They had a daughter, Dani, named for Jerry’s father. “When the truth comes down to the truth, I am so grateful that I’m on that stage or in front of that camera,” Lewis told The Associated Press in 2016. “To have a career that I had in film, I’m the luckiest Jew that ever lived. I’m so grateful for it. I don’t take advantage of it. I don’t use it improperly. And I love the fact that there’s nowhere I can go where people don’t know me.” ___ Lemire is a former Associated Press writer. Associated Press writer Bob Thomas and AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles and AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Jerry Lewis, Hollywood survivor, showman, dies at 91."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bad5aaba423046c6ab56d62727f47c5c",
            "input": "Signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, the measure is one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws and would effectively ban the procedure around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Staci Fox, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said at a news conference that she had one message for Kemp: “We will see you, sir, in court.” The organization also planned to campaign to unseat lawmakers who supported it, saying they would “be held accountable for playing politics with women’s health.” The legal director of the ACLU of Georgia, Sean Young, has said the measure is unconstitutional, and the group plans to challenge it in court. “Under 50 years of Supreme Court precedent, this abortion ban is clearly unconstitutional,” Young said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Every federal court that has heard a challenge to a similar ban has ruled that it’s unconstitutional.” Kemp said he approved the bill “to ensure that all Georgians have the opportunity to live, grow, learn and prosper in our great state.” The signing caps weeks of tension and protests at the state Capitol and begins what could be a lengthy and costly legal battle. “We will not back down,” Kemp said, acknowledging the likelihood of a legal challenge. “We will always continue to fight for life.” Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers across the country have been energized by the new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court that includes President Donald Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. They are pushing abortion bans in an attack on the high court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide until a fetus is developed enough to live outside a woman’s uterus. Current law allows women in Georgia to seek an abortion during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. If it’s not blocked in court, the new ban would take effect Jan. 1. The measure makes exceptions in the case of rape and incest — if the woman files a police report first — and to save the life of the mother. It also would allow for abortions when a fetus is determined not to be viable because of serious medical issues. In addition, the bill includes provisions for alimony, child support and even income tax deductions for fetuses, declaring that “the full value of a child begins at the point when a detectable human heartbeat exists.” The legislation will result in $10 million to $20 million in lost tax revenue for the state each year, according to its author, Republican Rep. Ed Setzler. Setzler called the bill a “common sense” measure that seeks to “balance the difficult circumstances women find themselves in with the basic right to life of a child.” But Democratic Sen. Jen Jordan said “there’s nothing balanced about it: It’s an all-out abortion ban.” Jordan said she is particularly worried that the new law will push obstetricians away from practicing in Georgia, worsening health care outcomes for women in a state that already has one of the nation’s worst maternal mortality rates. “It’s about the unintended consequences,” Jordan said. “They’re making policy choices that are going to end up causing women to die, and they’re preventable deaths.” Georgia has at least 11 abortion providers, according to the National Abortion Federation, a group that advocates for access to abortion. Some providers have already faced negative effects from the bill, according to Wula Dawson, director of development and communications for the Feminist Women’s Health Center, an abortion clinic in Georgia. Dawson said anti-abortion protesters outside their clinic have become “bolder and more aggressive” toward patients. In the first few months of 2019, “heartbeat” abortion bans have been signed into law in four states: Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, and now Georgia. Lawmakers in other states including Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia, are considering similar proposals. A bill that recently passed the Alabama House would outlaw abortions at any stage of pregnancy, with a few narrow exceptions. Kentucky’s law was immediately challenged by the ACLU after it was signed in March, and a federal judge temporarily blocked it. Earlier versions of the law passed in North Dakota and Iowa have also been struck down in court. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, about 33,000 abortions were provided in Georgia in 2014. ___ Associated Press Writer Sanya Mansoor in Atlanta contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Opponents of Georgia abortion ban promise court challenge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3f941a220a8c4858b897a5545ebdda4c",
            "input": "Ishikawa only heard his voice, bellowing from his fire engine as he sped towards the sea to try to evacuate people before the wave struck. As the truck raced past, Ishikawa heard her son call out to her grandson, telling the boy to evacuate to higher ground. Then he was gone. She is haunted by what happened and tormented by what might have been. “I blame myself over and over again, asking myself why I didn’t stop him,” said Ishikawa, 65, as she sat in the spartan shelter where she has lived since that day. Small towns across Japan’s northeastern coast are rebuilding but far from healing three years since a massive earthquake set off a tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people. In Rikuzentakata, where one in 10 residents died, nearly everyone lost a friend or family member on March 11, 2011. The resilience of Rikuzentakata’s tsunami survivors was embodied by a lone surviving tree, dubbed the “miracle pine”. But the tree died last year and a replica stands in its place. Around 5,000 people, a quarter of the town’s population, are still in temporary shelters with their lives on hold. Many like Ishikawa have chosen to suffer alone rather than seek support. Ishikawa’s voice cracked as she described how her husband placed a scarf around their son’s neck when they found him in a makeshift morgue. “He looked so cold,” she said. After finding him, she went back to the rubble to search for the bodies of her mother and younger brother. There were days in the wake of the disaster when her mind was completely blank, Ishikawa said. Then her blood pressure spiked and she was taken to a hospital. Her doctor urged her to see a counselor but she declined. “No stranger can understand what is in my heart. I must bear this alone,” she said, tears running down her face. Survivors can find it especially difficult to seek help in a country that still stigmatizes mental illness and prizes stoicism, experts say. “Japanese hesitate to use mental health support - not only mental health support, but support in general,” said Tsuyoshi Akiyama, the chairman of the disaster support committee set up by the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology. Most of the debris has been cleared in Rikuzentakata, leaving only an overgrown field where the town once stood. Dump trucks and bulldozers barrel down the town’s few paved roads, sending clouds of yellow dust into the air. After sunset, there is only silence. Some residents say they believe in ghosts and a few taxi drivers say they refuse to pick up passengers after dark after some claimed to have seen apparitions. The sound of the ocean is faint, and many survivors say they avoid the seaside at night. Mental health professionals say resentment has also built among the survivors because some have managed to get their lives back on track faster than others. “In the first year, there is a collective feeling of working together, of overcoming this together,” said Ayako Sato, a psychologist hired by the Rikuzentakata city board. “In the second year, everyone wants to help each other because everyone suffered a loss in the disaster. But by the third year, you start to see a rift in living standards. People drift apart,” Sato said. Takeshi Kanno, 63, is a pillar of the Rikuzentakata village of Kesencho, which lost all of its homes to the disaster. While Kanno built a relief camp at the Buddhist temple above the town, his youngest son, a volunteer firefighter, searched for bodies in the debris below. “He was young and reliable and everyone depended on him. This became a massive burden,” said Kanno. “He didn’t sleep and collapsed from exhaustion.”  Kanno’s son has since been hospitalized and has not spoken or left his room in nearly a year, he said. A photo of his 28-year-old son hangs on the wall of the log cabin Kanno built after the disaster. The photo, taken in 2012, shows a young, slender man smiling as villagers line up before a drum performance. Some of that sense of community has disappeared, Kanno said. There are no comprehensive statistics on the depth of the tsunami’s psychological impact on survivors. Rikuzentakata’s city hall so far counts three disaster-related suicides. A study funded by Japan’s health ministry found that more than a quarter of children aged between 3 and 5 in the disaster zone exhibited signs of distress that needed professional help. Some daycare centers don’t celebrate Mother’s Day or Father’s Day anymore because so many children lost at least one parent. Rikuzentakata mayor Futoshi Toba lost his wife in the tsunami. He says the city must do what it can to help its residents heal as it rebuilds. “There are people who feel better when they speak to someone, and then there are those who feel more traumatized when they remember the past,” Toba said. “What we have to do is to keep rebuilding and share the town’s progress with the residents to keep up hope.”",
            "output": [
                "Japan's tsunami survivors suffer in silence three years after disaster."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-93fd8fb638f24045b205d4405be58599",
            "input": "Dr. William D. Parham will oversee the union’s new program designed to help members with mental health issues. The program will be headquartered in Los Angeles. NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts says the union has “heard our players’ stories and are making mental health a priority now.” Earlier this season, NBA stars Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors revealed issues they’ve struggle with on and off the court. Love detailed his experience with panic attacks and anxiety. DeRozan talked about battles with depression.",
            "output": [
                "NBA players’ union hires director of mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e44188d5ec574586b8b2ec002f097d76",
            "input": "The ruling Communist Party’s Politburo said on Friday it would step up macroeconomic policy adjustments and pursue more proactive fiscal policy, state media reported. With the world’s second-biggest economy expected to shrink for the first time in four decades this quarter, China is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus. The Politburo called for expanding the budget deficit, issuing more local and national bonds, guiding interest rates lower, delaying loan repayments, reducing supply-chain bottlenecks and boosting consumption. “We expect government ministries to roll out more tangible measures in the coming weeks as this Politburo meeting gave them no choice but to do more,” Goldman Sachs analysts said. The Politburo did not elaborate on plans for the central government to issue special treasury bonds, which would be the first such issuance since 2007. China should issue at least 2 trillion yuan ($282 billion) of such bonds to aid the economy, Morgan Stanley Chief China Economist Robin Xing said. Restrictions on foreigners entering the country went into effect on Saturday, as China reported no new locally transmitted infections and a small drop in so-called imported cases. Airlines have been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday. Beijing has in recent days emphasized the risk posed by imported virus cases after widespread lockdowns within China helped to sharply reduce domestic transmissions. The Politburo said it would shift its focus to prevent more imported cases and a rebound in locally transmitted infections. “We must be extremely vigilant and cautious, and we must prevent the post-epidemic relaxation from coming too soon, leading to the loss of all our achievements,” the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page editorial. The authorities also reversed planned reopenings of movie theaters, the state-owned China Securities Journal reported, citing sources. With local transmission of the virus basically under control, China shifts focus toward rebooting paused businesses. China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday nearly all of the country’s major supermarkets, convenience stores, shopping malls and farm produce retail markets have reopened, while all e-commerce platforms are operating. Meanwhile, 80% of restaurants and 60% of hotels are back in business, ministry official Wang Bin told a news conference. In a sign of businesses getting back to normal, wholesale prices of vegetables have dropped 16.5% from end-February, while pork prices have fallen 7.4% from a mid-February high. However, many street shops such as beauty salons are not yet open as “sentiment is reviving slowly, while people remain cautious about going out shopping”, Wang said. In China’s central Hubei Province, authorities had removed all highway checkpoints except those in its capital city Wuhan - the virus epicenter - and allowed traffic to leave the province as of Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. Hubei officials vowed to help businesses re-open and people get back to work. Gong Dingrong, mayor of Hubei’s Qianjiang, dubbed “lobster city”, said the government would promote sales across the country both online and offline, adding “there’s nothing to fear” eating lobsters from the city. China’s National Health Commission said on Saturday that 54 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Friday,  all imported cases. There were 55 new cases a day earlier, one of which was transmitted locally. The number of infections for mainland China stands at 81,394, with the death toll rising by three to 3,295, the commission said. Hubei province reported no new cases, and three new deaths. The province of 60 million, where the virus was first detected, has recorded 67,801 coronavirus cases and 3,177 deaths. Shanghai reported the highest number of new cases, with 17. An additional 11 cases were reported in Guangdong, six in Fujian, five in Tianjin, four in Zhejiang, three each in Beijing and Liaoning, two each in Inner Mongolia and Jilin, and one in Shandong. Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that China would support U.S. efforts to fight the coronavirus. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States rose by at least 16,000 on Friday to nearly 102,000, the most of any country. George Gao, the director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, urged people to wear masks to control the virus’s spread overseas. Gao told the journal Science in an interview published on Friday that the “big mistake in the United States and Europe has been the failure to wear masks, which “can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others”.",
            "output": [
                "China readies stimulus measures as local virus cases dwindle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56131dfab7bc4adc9bf27f8e1e6b6189",
            "input": "The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed Wednesday that an older woman in north Texas died last week from a lung disease associated with using electronic cigarettes. The agency says the state has also identified 95 confirmed or probable cases of lung illnesses linked to vaping. The agency says those illnesses affect patients as young as 13, with a median age of 22. The department also says that among the illnesses, nearly 90% of patients reported vaping marijuana or THC, the high-producing ingredient in marijuana. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 1,000 confirmed or probable vaping illnesses have been reported nationwide as of last week.",
            "output": [
                "Texas records 1st death linked to e-cigarette use."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f70e887500f4a08a1ad788e46f21d10",
            "input": "In October 2018, a warning appeared and made its way around the usual internet circles to warn against eating meat from deer afflicted with “bovine tuberculosis.” The warning was accompanied by a rather unappetizing photograph of a lesion-studded hunk of meat that showed what people should avoid:Since 1995, Michigan has been testing white-tailed deer for bovine tuberculosis year-round. Michigan has the longest- running continuous wildlife TB surveillance program in the world.“Most Michiganders, and even most policymakers, don’t realize how much we’ve learned about bTB in the last 20 years”, said Dan O’Brien, veterinary specialist with DNR’s wildlife disease lab. “The research we’ve done here in Michigan is respected around the world.“Other countries dealing with similar outbreaks of bTB continue to watch our situation with great interest. At this point, we know what it will take to get rid of bTB. Whether we as a state will choose to make that happen though is still an open question.”The original warning was belched back into the public consciousness in October 2018 because a large cattle herd in Alcona County was found to be infected with bovine tuberculosis, the 73rd herd so infected since 1998:Bovine TB is a bacterial disease that also has infected free-ranging whitetail deer in parts of the northeastern Lower Peninsula.Cattle in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Oscoda counties must be tested before they are moved off the farm, which can help prevent the illness from spreading.Assistant State Veterinarian Nancy Barr says farmers in that area should do all they can to prevent deer from having contact with cattle feeding and watering areas.The original warning simply urges hunters to get the wild deer they kill tested free of charge before consumption, even if it looks healthy. Humans as well as cattle can potentially contract bovine tuberculosis, which is relatively rare, but potentially fatal if left untreated.",
            "output": [
                "\"Bovine tuberculosis\"\" has appeared in a herd of cattle in Michigan.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b7d420f3f52406dbc12784acd076e5d",
            "input": "IndyCar medical director Geoffrey Billows said Thursday a “very limited supply” of vaccines will be available at the medical building near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum. He says most insurance companies will cover the cost. Billows encourages concerned fans to get vaccinated before coming to a race expected to attract in excess of 275,000. Measles was once common in the U.S. but gradually became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s. The nation is struggling with a high number of cases this year as some families choose not to get vaccinated despite the recommendations of public health experts. At least 20 confirmed cases of mumps also were reported at Indiana University in Bloomington, about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis. ___ More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Indianapolis 500 officials to offer measles vaccine at race."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff53769c8d34414382b5d40260b41614",
            "input": "\"As New York state began implementing a regional approach to reopening after coronavirus-related shutdowns, a lawmaker from western New York complained that many of his constituents faced a longer wait to reopen because they were geographically linked to more hard-hit counties. State Sen. George Borrello, who made the comments in a statement on May 11, represents New York’s 57th district, which includes three less-populated counties — Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua — south of more heavily populated regions near Buffalo (Erie County) and Niagara Falls (Niagara County). \"\"While infection rates in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have consistently been among the lowest in the state throughout the COVID-19 crisis, our linkage with Erie County and its higher infection rates means that we don’t meet the metrics for reopening, and our hurting, rural economies must remain shut down for at least another two weeks,\"\" Borrello said in the statement. The state’s reopening plan allowed regions to begin Phase 1 of the reopening process on May 15 as long as they met seven metrics established by the state. The Western New York Region subsequently met all seven metrics on May 18 and entered Phase 1 the following day. But we wondered whether Borrello was correct in his May 11 statement that the infection rates in the three rural counties was substantially lower than those of the more urbanized counties to the north, and consistently among the state's lowest. We used the county-by-county infection tallies posted on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pressroom page and converted them to a rate per 10,000 residents. We ranked the counties from the highest to the lowest for each week from March 30 to mid-May, when Borrello made his statement. We found that, as Borrello had said, Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties ranked low in infection rates consistently over that period, while Erie and Niagara started higher and continued to rise: Our analysis found that Chautauqua never ranked higher than sixth from the bottom for infection rates among the 58 New York counties for which data was available, and Chautauqua had the lowest rate of any county for much of the period. Allegany and Cattaraugus ranked marginally higher than Chautauqua, but well below Erie and Niagara. Overall, the three small counties usually ranked in the bottom one-third of counties in the state, and by the time Borrello made his statement, they were all in the bottom one-fifth of counties. By contrast, Erie and Niagara were consistently in the top half of counties as measured by infections per capita. New York City (including all five boroughs) ranked at or near the top for the entire period. The state reopening plan mirrored what many other states are doing, with certain types of non-essential businesses opening in phases in each of 10 regions, as long as certain health measurements are met in the region. Borrello said in an interview that he just wants sensible reopening policies that are implemented \"\"fairly and equitably.\"\" \"\"Even though the infection rates are higher in Erie County than the rest of the region, we’re still talking about keeping those same precautions and ensuring that they’re being adhered to,\"\" he said. Borrello said that \"\"infection rates in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have consistently been among the lowest in the state.\"\" A look at the data from the end of March to mid-May confirms that the infection rate in each of the three counties was usually in the bottom one-third of counties in the state, and by the time Borello made his statement, they were all in the bottom one-fifth of counties. By contrast, Erie and Niagara were consistently in the top half of counties as measured by infections per capita.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Infection rates in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have consistently been among the lowest in the state.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f357750fb473494f9cd26a0a540634e7",
            "input": "US-Patent 8835624 is for the H1N1 virus. The patent with this number was for a strand of DNA that binds to the H1N1 virus, not the virus itself. US patent number 20120251502 is for Ebola. This application number was for a strain of the Ebola virus but the application has now been abandoned. The virus was not created by those who filed the patent. US patent number CA2741523 is for swine flu. This is the application number for a patent for the Ebola virus made to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. This patent has not been granted, and doesn’t mean the Ebola virus was created by someone. 0070031450 A1 is a US patent for BSE (mad cow disease). There is a patent application number one digit away from this that mentions BSE, but is not a patent for BSE itself. ATTC VR-84 is a patent for Zika virus that comes from the Rockefeller Foundation. This is the name of a certain strain of Zika virus, which was first isolated in the 1940s in a lab funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. This strain was not patented. US patents 7897744 and 8506968 are for SARS. The first number is the US patent number for the SARS virus. The patent application was made by the CDC, but after the outbreak in 2002. The second number is a patent for a SARS vaccine which has now expired. US patent 10130701 is for coronavirus. This number is not a patent for the new Wuhan virus, Covid-19. It’s a patent for a weakened version of a virus in the same family as Covid-19, a family which includes the common cold and SARS. Claim 1 of 8",
            "output": [
                "US patents 7897744 and 8506968 are for SARS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e5543338ce304d6dbb42c3dff3837505",
            "input": "In recent weeks, vaccine opponents have made several unsubstantiated claims, including allegations that vaccine trials will be dangerously rushed or that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, is blocking cures to enrich vaccine makers. They’ve also falsely claimed that Microsoft founder Bill Gates wants to use a vaccine to inject microchips into people — or to cull 15% of the world’s population. Vaccine opponents in the U.S. have been around for a long time. Their claims range from relatively modest safety concerns about specific vaccines or the risk of side effects to conspiracy theories that border on the bizarre. The movement is receiving renewed attention, especially as it aligns itself with groups loudly protesting restrictions on daily life aimed at controlling the spread of the virus. Health professionals say vaccine misinformation could have lethal consequences if it leads people to opt for bogus cures instead. “Only a coronavirus vaccine can truly protect us from future outbreaks,” said Dr. Scott Ratzan, a physician and medical misinformation expert at the City University of New York and Columbia University. “But what if the effort succeeds and large numbers of people decide not to vaccinate themselves or their children?” While vaccines for diseases such as polio, smallpox and measles have benefited millions, some skeptics reject the science, citing a distrust of modern medicine and government. Others say mandatory vaccine requirements violate their religious freedom. Rita Palma, the leader of the anti-vaccine group in Long Island called My Kids, My Choice, is among those who say their families won’t get the coronavirus vaccine. “Many of us are anxiety stricken at the thought of being forced to get a vaccine,” Palma said. “I will never choose to have a COVID-19 vaccine. I don’t want the government forcing it on my community or my family.” From the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine skeptics have tailored several long-standing claims about vaccine safety to fit the current outbreak. When the first U.S. case was announced in January, some alleged the coronavirus was manufactured and that patents for it could be found online. Thousands of deaths later, vaccine opponents are endorsing unapproved treatments, second-guessing medical experts and pushing fears about mandatory vaccinations. They’ve also latched onto protests against stay-at-home orders in the U.S. “The coronavirus has created this perfect storm of misinformation,” remarked David A. Broniatowski, an associate professor at George Washington University’s school of engineering and applied science who has published several studies on vaccine misinformation. Last week, an anti-vaccine activist was arrested in Idaho after repeatedly refusing police orders to leave a playground closed because of the pandemic. The woman, who was there with other families, is affiliated with two groups that protested at the Idaho Statehouse against stay-at-home orders. Facebook groups formed to organize the protests have been peppered with vaccine hoaxes and myths. Perhaps no one plays a bigger role in the conspiracy theories than Gates, who is funding vaccine research. The online movement has centered concerns around a COVID-19 vaccine on false claims that Gates is planning to microchip people with the vaccine or use it to reduce the world’s population. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine critic who helped popularize unsubstantiated claims that vaccines can cause autism, said Gates’ work gives him “dictatorial control of global health policy.” Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, went further on a New York City radio show, saying Gates “and other globalists” are using the coronavirus “for mandatory vaccinations and microchipping people.” Such wild theories can have real-world effects. False rumors that Gates hoped to test an experimental vaccine in South Africa became mainstream after a news site erroneously reported the claim. One of the country’s political parties then sent a letter to President Cyril Rampahosa demanding answers about “deals” struck with Gates. In fact, Gates and his wife are financing a vaccine trial in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Missouri, not South Africa. He also suggested creating a database of people immune to the virus, not implanting microchips. On Monday, during remarks recognizing World Immunization Week, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized vaccine skeptics for spreading misinformation at a time when many families are delaying or skipping routine childhood immunizations because they’re afraid of COVID-19 exposure in doctors’ offices. “Myths and misinformation about vaccines are adding fuel to the fire,” he said. Health experts have repeatedly said there is no evidence the coronavirus was intentionally created or spread. They also insist that vaccines are not only safe, but essential to global health. “Vaccine researchers and anyone who is a vaccine advocate cares deeply about vaccine safety,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia physician and co-inventor of a vaccine for rotavirus, which kills hundreds of thousands of children annually. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. But it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death for some people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems. The vaccine debate is fertile ground for groups looking to sow discord in the United States. Russia seized on it to create divisions before the 2016 U.S. election, and appears to be at it again. A report from a European Union disinformation task force found numerous conspiracy theories in English-language Russian media, including state-run RT, claiming an eventual vaccine will be used to inject nanoparticles into people. “When pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets spread anti-vaccine tropes, they become responsible for those who will hesitate to seek professional medical care,” the EU report said.",
            "output": [
                "Groups sow doubt about COVID vaccine before one even exists."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aca9b992430448a483fc65997ca0c4da",
            "input": "“The enemy is the virus and now we have to do our utmost to protect our people and to protect our economies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the second videoconference in a week of the European Union’s 27 leaders. “We are ready to do everything that is required. We will not hesitate to take additional measures as the situation evolves.”  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country has been hardest hit by a global health crisis now centered in Europe, said no nation would be left untouched by the “tsunami”. He called for special “coronavirus bonds”, or a European guarantee fund, to help member states finance urgent health and economic policies, an Italian government source said. Rome has issued similar calls for joint EU funding during previous crises, usually running into opposition from the bloc’s most powerful economy and paymaster, Germany. Asked about Conte’s proposal, Chancellor Angela Merkel said euro zone finance ministers would continue discussing ways to help their economies cushion the impact, but no decision has been made. “These are initial discussions and there have been no decisions by the finance ministers,” said Merkel. “I will talk to (Finance Minister) Olaf Scholz so that Germany continues to take part (in the discussions). But there are no results regarding this.”  The EU has scrambled to find a coherent response to the outbreak, with countries imposing their own border checks in what is normally a zone of control-free travel, limiting exports of medical equipment or failing to share key data swiftly. The national leaders agreed on Tuesday to close the external borders of most European countries for 30 days and establish fast-track lanes at their countries’ frontiers to keep medicines and food moving. Ireland will not join the travel ban on Europe’s borders, von der Leyen said, because the United Kingdom - which left the EU in January - was not either. Despite Brexit, the two have an obligation to preserve an open border on the island of Ireland. Should Ireland go with the majority of European countries while the UK stays away, it would mean erecting controls on the sensitive border with Northern Ireland, something sides sought to avoid at all cost in three years of tortuous Brexit divorce talks. France went into lockdown on Tuesday to contain the spread of the highly contagious new coronavirus and Belgium announced it would follow suit, as the death toll in Italy jumped above 2,000, European banks warned of falling incomes and pummeled airlines pleaded for government aid. The EU’s executive European Commission warned member states that this was just the beginning of the crisis and Germany said it would run for “months rather than weeks”, diplomats said. Alarmed by the unilateral border restrictions being imposed in a bloc that prizes the free movement of people, French President Emmanuel Macron had pressed for the decision to close Europe’s external borders to foreigners. “That was meant to convince European countries to drop internal and unilateral border moves. But it’s hard to see anyone doing it,” an EU diplomat said, adding the move was largely symbolic as the virus was already within. Indeed, tensions over borders still abounded across the EU, with three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - criticizing Poland for blocking their citizens in transit from  returning home. Portugal and Spain on Tuesday notified Brussels that they have introduced controls on Europe’s internal borders, bringing the total taking such measures to at least 12 countries. Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary have not formally informed the EU about such moves despite pursuing them, meaning the real number is likely higher. The EU has also moved to repatriate Europeans stranded abroad as airlines cut flights. Von der Leyen said nearly 300 Austrian and other European nationals were flown back from Morocco to Vienna on Tuesday. Their border control steps aside, the EU leaders have come together on a “whatever it takes” approach to cushioning the economic blow from the pandemic, including by relaxing limitations on state aid. The bloc’s antitrust chief proposed allowing governments to offer grants or tax advantages of up to 500,000 euros ($550,000) to ailing companies, though some EU countries want Brussels to go further. (GRAPHIC-Tracking the spread of the novel coronavirus link: here)",
            "output": [
                "Europe grapples with 'socio-economic tsunami' of coronavirus crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03db197f92434c44af823e0518371d2a",
            "input": "\"Hostilities between the dairy industry and its competitors are flaring anew as alternatives to cow’s milk take up more space in the dairy case. That means the politicians can’t be far behind. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, spoke up Jan. 12, 2017 in a news release lauding herself as somebody who \"\"stands up for Wisconsin dairy farmers.\"\" Baldwin wants Congress to pass the Dairy PRIDE Act -- officially known (at least to a few) as the \"\"Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act.\"\" After two years of falling milk prices, she and other federal lawmakers want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to enforce consumer regulations defining \"\"milk.\"\" Is Baldwin right that imitation dairy products -- for instance, soy milk -- often differ nutritionally from dairy item? And is labeling them \"\"milk\"\" or \"\"cheese\"\" or \"\"yogurt\"\" against the law? To back that up, Baldwin’s office pointed us to nutritional labels, and to FDA regulations that plainly state: \"\"Milk is the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.\"\" 'Against the law' To dairy officials, inclusion of the word \"\"milk\"\" on non-dairy products is a misappropriation of the popularity of cow’s milk. But competitors say coconut milk and soy milk have long histories and aren’t confused with dairy. What’s more, they note, the FDA doesn’t punish \"\"peanut butter\"\" for using the dairy term \"\"butter.\"\" But the FDA in 2008 and 2012 did tell two makers of drinks labeled \"\"soy milk\"\" that under its regulations, such labeling was inappropriate because the products did not contain \"\"milk\"\" as defined by the agency. \"\"Soy drink\"\" or \"\"Soy beverage\"\" would be better, the agency said at the time. That -- and regulatory language allowing the FDA to declare a product misbranded and try to block its sale -- help Baldwin’s case. Federal regulations are part of the United States Code that is the law of the land. But to the frustration of the dairy industry, the agency has not consistently enforced that line of reasoning, allowing use of \"\"soy milk\"\" and \"\"almond milk\"\" and many others. Rebecca Cross, a San Francisco-based regulatory lawyer for food product companies, said the FDA may be viewing labels on a case-by-case basis and allowing use of dairy terms on plant-based products so long as the use is not misleading. Nathan Beaver, a food and drug lawyer with Foley & Lardner in Washington, D.C., explained that foods such as soy milk that have no FDA-written \"\"standard of identity\"\" must choose a \"\"common or usual\"\" name for their products. Courts, though, have jurisdiction over disputes on the issue and therefore get final say on the meaning of the FDA rules. On milk, courts so far have found that cow’s milk competitors are not misbranded if their names don’t confuse consumers, said Cross. The nutrition comparison Dairy alternatives, Baldwin said, \"\"contain a range of ingredients and nutrients that are often not equivalent to the nutrition content of dairy products.\"\" This is a bit tricky to evaluate given that beverages labeled as some kind of \"\"milk\"\" now come from such diverse sources as soy, almonds, cashews, hemp, rice, oats, coconut and sunflowers. For help, we turned to Vandana Sheth, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a leading organization of food and nutrition professionals. For starters, Sheth noted that dairy products can be a good source of calcium, vitamin D, protein and other essential nutrients. Soy milk provides close to the same amount of protein as cow’s milk. Rice milk typically provides minimal protein and is higher in carbohydrates. Almond milk is usually quite low in protein and also less calorically dense, she said. Plant protein tends to be of a lower quality than dairy proteins, though soy is close, said John Lucey, a food scientist who directs the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our own review of labels found that soy and almond beverages, like cow’s milk, are all relatively low calorie, low carbohydrate, low sodium drinks. They are all heavy with calcium. But they feature a different mix of vitamins and minerals, and fat content. Examples: soy milk has a lot of folate, while cow’s milk typically has none; cow’s milk contains some Vitamin C, but the soy, almond and hemp drinks we examined have none. Almond and soy milks feature some iron and fiber -- nutrients typically not found in cow’s milk. \"\"All the products profile differently,\"\" said Susan Levin, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition education for the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Bottom line: Baldwin’s nutrition observation is on target, based on a comparison of milk products. Our rating Baldwin claimed that imitation dairy products made from plants often differ nutritionally from the real thing, and labeling them \"\"milk\"\" or \"\"cheese\"\" or \"\"yogurt\"\" is \"\"against the law.\"\" The nutrition point is accurate, and the legal point is partially so.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Imitation dairy products often differ nutritionally from those they mimic, and labeling them \"\"milk\"\" or \"\"cheese\"\" or \"\"yogurt\"\" is \"\"against the law.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7890d34f5ca4335b509f894be26a76f",
            "input": "\"On May 14, 2013, a federal agency recommended reducing the threshold for evidence of drunken driving from a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 to 0.05. That means having a glass of wine at dinner might make a person drunk, a spokesman for the Tavern League of Wisconsin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the same day. Under a BAC standard of 0.05, a person could get nailed for DUI after one drink? Tavern League’s evidence The statement was made by Scott Stenger, a Madison lobbyist whose clients include the tavern league. He told us he based his claim on news articles about the 0.05 recommendation, including a report from the Journal Sentinel and The Associated Press, and a chart on blood-alcohol concentration from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The news covered the recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates transportation accidents and makes recommendations based on its findings. The board said states should cut the current blood-alcohol level for evidence of intoxication as part of a series of ideas aimed at reducing alcohol-related highway deaths. In its report, the Associated Press said 0.05 is \"\"about one drink for a woman weighing less than 120 pounds,\"\" and that a drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce of 80-proof alcohol \"\"in most studies.\"\" Meanwhile, the Texas agency chart that Stenger cited says its BAC data comes from another federal body, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which works to prevent highway crashes. That data says essentially what Stenger and AP did: A 100-pound woman could reach 0.05 after one drink. (Incidentally, both the AP and the chart used by the Texas agency said a 160-pound man could reach 0.05 after consuming two drinks in one hour.) So, there’s evidence that a limited group of drinkers -- women weighing under 120 pounds -- could be legally drunk after one drink, if the standard for drunken driving were reduced to a blood-alcohol level of 0.05. What other evidence is out there? BAC calculators We checked three online calculators that provide blood-alcohol concentration estimates based on various factors, including gender and weight. They generally found a BAC of less than 0.05 for a 100-pound woman consuming one drink. The calculator at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (which also has a smartphone app), says the BAC would be 0.03. A more detailed calculator from the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Alcohol and Drug Education says the BAC would be 0.04 for a 5-ounce glass of wine, if the wine is red and 12.5 percent alcohol. And the calculator at Central Connecticut State University’s Office of Alcohol and Drug Education says the BAC would be 0.05 after a 5-ounce glass of table wine. So, why do the blood-alcohol concentration figures vary? Well, as we noted, all of the figures are estimates. The Wisconsin DOT also points out that besides gender, weight and the amount of alcohol consumed, other factors are in play. Your BAC will be higher if you drink faster or drink on an empty stomach. Women reach higher BACs faster because they have less water in their bodies and more adipose tissue (fat), which is not easily penetrated by alcohol. Jan Grebel, a chemical test supervisor for the DOT, told us about another factor: If you drink frequently, your liver can break down alcohol more efficiently, but if you don’t, your BAC would be higher after even one drink. Grebel quoted to us from a chart she utilizes when testifying in court in drunken driving cases. She said the chart estimates the BAC at 0.047 -- nearly 0.05 -- for a 100-pound woman after one drink. But Grebel said that would be the maximum BAC in that instance. Most people would not reach 0.05 after one drink, she said. Our rating The Tavern League of Wisconsin said a proposal to make 0.05 the standard for drunken driving would mean that having a glass of wine at dinner could make a person drunk. The statement is accurate, in that it’s possible an individual could reach 0.05 after one drink. But it needs additional information, namely that the situation would apply only in a small number of instances and would depend on other factors, such as drinking on an empty stomach.\"",
            "output": [
                "A 0.05 standard for drunken driving means having a glass of wine at dinner could make a person drunk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c03edd1dc0d24dbc9cdfd5f14e38b8a3",
            "input": "The News Journal of Wilmington reports the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline this week revoked the license of Nihar B. Gala, who oversaw the pain management and addiction treatment center Alpha Care Medical. State prosecutors say Gala took the woman off Suboxone and prescribed her large amounts of Oxycodone and Fentanyl. Gala denies the allegations, which his lawyer has said are part of a conspiracy to hurt Gala’s career. The state is asking for any of Gala’s patients who sought treatment for substance abuse to contact the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health’s crisis helpline at 800-345-6785. ___ Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Delaware doc accused of trading drugs for sex loses license."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bf19d32f07194313aa806888b6c22ca5",
            "input": "TruthOrFiction.com contacted Madison’s great-aunt, Jan        Kuhn, who confirmed that this story was true. Madison is        Madison Lehman. Her parents are Keith and Ty Lehman. They live        near Mansfield, Ohio. She said Madison has been diagnosed with Berkets non-Hodgkin lymphoma,        stage 4 and that she had large abdominal tumors and cancer in the bone        marrow. Madison was being given chemo therapy and as of 5/31/08 her        tumors were shrinking. Jan asked for continued prayer for Madison whom she described as “Adorable        with long blonde spiral curls and huge bright blue eyes.” Updated 5/41/08   Comments",
            "output": [
                " A prayer request for a 4-year old girl who has        been diagnosed with “non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stage 4.”  The email        says her father works for a temp service, the mom works part time at a        family-owned business, and that they do not have insurance.   "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9663d8b63f924603925568d2caa99fe1",
            "input": "The program will be paid for by a $3.2 million grant awarded to Presbyterian Healthcare Services by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The program will focus on providing care in medically underserved areas. The clinics that will be part of the residency are in Capitan, Carrizozo, Corona, Ruidoso, southwest Albuquerque, Socorro, Belen, Los Lunas and Tucumcari. Officials say all but one of the communities served through the grant also have higher than average poverty rates. The priorities for the residents who will participate in the program include combating the opioid crisis and addressing mental health issues.",
            "output": [
                "Nursing residency program to tackle rural health care needs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1b54cdababe4a1c948816f5f94de56a",
            "input": "\"At least among Fox News viewers, nothing boosts audience like taking President Barack Obama to task. The day after Fox News host Bill O’Reilly had an interview with Obama, O’Reilly picked up an additional 1 million viewers for his show The O’Reilly Factor. The president sat down with O’Reilly right before the Super Bowl, and the tone of the conversation itself stirred up a flurry of reactions. Here’s a small example from a moment when O’Reilly pressed Obama on the administration’s response to the attack on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya. O’Reilly: If (Ambassador to the United Nations) Susan Rice goes out and tells the world that it was a spontaneous demonstration... Obama:  Bill... O’Reilly:  -- off a videotape but your... Obama:  Bill... O’Reilly:  -- your commanders and the secretary of Defense know it's a terror attack... Obama:  Now, Bill... O’Reilly:  Just... Obama:  -- Bill... O’Reilly:  -- as an American... Obama:  -- Bill -- Bill... O’Reilly:  -- I'm just confused. Obama:  And I'm -- and I'm trying to explain it to (you), if you want to listen. No wonder that many observers described the interview as testy. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank called it \"\"the roughest and nastiest exchange\"\" of the three times that O’Reilly has interviewed Obama. \"\"He interrupted the president 42 times in 10 minutes,\"\" Milbank said on MSNBC’s Politics Nation. Of all the words uttered in this 10-minute interview, 40 percent were uttered by O’Reilly.\"\" We wanted to check Milbank’s numbers. Not on the interruptions, but on the word count. We pulled out our digital centrifuge and separated the O’Reilly and Obama utterances. According to our research, O’Reilly delivered 787 words to Obama’s 1,484. This gave O’Reilly 35 percent of the conversation. That’s a little lower than Milbank said but more or less in the same ballpark. We reached out to Milbank and did not hear back. To satisfy our own curiosity, we decided to compare this with another one-on-one interview between the president and a journalist. A couple of days before Obama sat down with O’Reilly, he did the same with CNN’s Jake Tapper. We subjected that transcript to the same rigorous methods and found that Tapper spoke 23 percent of the time, leaving the president the other 77 percent. The precise word counts were Tapper -- 849 and Obama -- 2,886. Milbank’s point was that O’Reilly’s interview was almost as much about O’Reilly as it was about the president. We don’t know about that, but we can say that O’Reilly spoke about 50 percent more than Tapper did in his interview. The topics in the two interviews differed greatly. O’Reilly brought up Obamacare, the Benghazi attack and the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Tapper focused on issues like immigration reform, legalization of marijuana, spying by the National Security Agency, and security at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. O’Reilly had a second installment of his time with Obama that aired the night after the Super Bowl. Milbank’s comment came on the same night, so we’re counting only the segment that had aired publicly at that point. For the record, in the second installment, O’Reilly asked the president about African-American children raised in single-parent households, school vouchers, the Keystone pipeline, a contraceptive coverage exemption for Little Sisters of the Poor, and veterans benefits. Our ruling Milbank said O’Reilly said 40 percent of the words during his interview with the president. That was a little high. By our count, 35 percent would be more accurate. O’Reilly spoke decidedly more than Tapper did in his time with Obama.\"",
            "output": [
                "Dana Milbank Says Bill O’Reilly spoke 40 percent of the words in an interview with President Barack Obama."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60ec4defa8e34af0a6c4f0710597c118",
            "input": "Although Pfizer continues to test the drug, called dacomitinib, in another Phase III study, hopes for its success have now largely faded, according to ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum. “We believe consensus expectations (for the drug) will be close to zero given today’s readout” of unsuccessful trial results, Schoenebaum said in a research note. In one of the failed trials, called ARCHER 1009, patients given Pfizer’s once-daily pill did not show improved survival without the cancer worsening, compared with Roche Holding AG’s widely used Tarceva (erlotinib). Tarceva is the current standard of care in patients with mutated forms of a protein called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). The protein plays a role in normal regulation of cell growth, but when mutated is believed to cause cells to proliferate and thereby help spur various types of cancer. Dacomitinib is designed to block several types of Epidermal Growth Factor receptors, while Tarceva and similar treatments for lung cancer target only one type of receptor. Cowen and Co had forecast annual sales of $500 million by 2020 for dacomitinib, if it were approved for lung cancer. That would make it a moderate-sized product for Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker, which has annual revenue of $50 billion. Schoenebaum said there has been little investor interest in the drug and that Wall Street had expected it to generate annual sales of only $300 million by 2018. The second failed trial, named BR.26, involved patients that previously had failed to benefit from chemotherapy as well as from treatment with an EGFR inhibitor. Overall survival of patients taking the Pfizer drug was not prolonged in the study, compared with patients given a placebo. Pfizer said adverse events seen with dacomitinib were consistent with those seen in smaller earlier studies. In the meantime, Pfizer said dacomitinib is also being tested in a third late-stage trial, called ARCHER 1050, among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who have not received prior treatment. The study will compare dacomitinib with Iressa (gefitinib), an EGFR inhibitor sold by AstraZeneca Plc. Results from that study are expected in 2015. Pfizer shares were little changed in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.",
            "output": [
                "Pfizer lung cancer drug fails in two large studies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8378e50ca21d4b28b98c81a66fe6bcab",
            "input": "A Facebook post from the family of 32-year-old Pete Frates said he is resting comfortably at Massachusetts General Hospital and that “doctors, medicine, prayers and love continue to help him get stronger.” After some news outlets erroneously reported Monday that he had died, Frates responded by posting a 45-second video on Twitter showing him lying in a hospital bed while the song “Alive” by Pearl Jam plays in the background. Frates’ family said Sunday that he had returned to the hospital and was “battling this beast ALS like a Superhero.” He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012. The disease weakens muscles and impairs physical functioning. There is no known cure. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised more than $220 million when it took off worldwide on social media in 2014. Frates is a native of Beverly, Massachusetts, and played baseball at Boston College. He played professionally in Germany after graduation and in amateur leagues upon his return to the U.S. He received his diagnosis after getting hit on the wrist by a pitch and noticing it wasn’t healing properly.",
            "output": [
                "Man who inspired ice bucket challenge is back in hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a448990d711497b9a09da126dc2fe89",
            "input": "P&G, with roughly $68 billion in annual revenue, said it has invested millions in creating and testing refills for detergents over the years and is now trying to push in to mainstream beauty and body care refills – which are virtually  unheard of. It recently began offering some Olay face-cream jars with refill pouches on Olay.com, telling Reuters it has plans to expand the sales of the pouches in Europe early next year. “We’re learning on our legs so I don’t know that we’re in a position to say, ‘Hey, here’s the magic to selling refills,’” P&G spokesman Damon Jones said. Beauty products retailer The Body Shop, owned by Brazil’s Natura Cosmeticos SA NATU3.SA, says it plans to roll out “refill stations” in its stores globally next year, allowing shoppers to buy reusable metal containers to fill with Body Shop shower gels or creams. The company had offered refills at its stores in the early 1990s, but discontinued them in 2003, citing a lack of consumer demand. Unilever, which has set targets for reducing and recycling plastic by 2025, in October announced the planned launch of “refill sticks” of deodorants under its Dove line of personal care products on Loopstore.com. The website, operated by recycling company TerraCycle, offers consumers the chance to buy some household products in ultra-durable packaging with refills delivered to their doors, milkman-style. Across the consumer goods industry, results for refillable products have been mixed so far as many shoppers are far too set in their ways to be easily weaned from living in a throwaway culture. While refills are less expensive to purchase - generally priced at 20% to 30% less per item than the containers they are aimed to replenish, according to Unilever - shoppers have so far, for the most part, failed to snap them up, the companies said. SC Johnson & Son Inc, marketer of Windex and Pledge, said refills and concentrates so far have not played well with either Americans or Europeans over the decade they have been offered, with unit sales of such products pretty much flat. It pulled concentrated refills for Shout stain remover off the shelves because they were not selling very well. In 2010, Unilever put 20-liter tanks to dispense detergents in Walmart Inc’s (WMT.N) British supermarket chain Asda, and provided flexible pouches for customers to refill. But with leaky machines, safety and maintenance problems and the high costs of upkeep, Unilever said the tests fell short of expectations. Asda was also unhappy because the tanks occupied a lot of space. “None of them sell very well – it is a convenience issue,” SC Johnson CEO Fisk Johnson told Reuters. Johnson said some people find it painstaking to wash and refill bottles themselves while others worry that smaller bottles filled with concentrates are less “bang-for-your-buck” than the larger ones they have used for years. Still, the privately held company said it was expanding its refill offerings this year to address concerns surrounding plastic waste and is also testing refill stations for cleaning products with UK retailer Waitrose, owned by Britain’s John Lewis [JLPLC.UL]. The Waitrose tests are showing the first signs of progress in refill sales, Johnson said, and the company is now thinking of expanding the project. Even if consumers are comfortable using refills for some household goods, it is more complicated to sell them for products like Pantene shampoo and Olay creams, P&G spokesman Jones said. For instance, with beauty products, the look and feel of packaging is a big factor in creating and maintaining customer loyalty, while delivering an environmental benefit, he said. Some shoppers say they want to buy refillable products, but that the offerings are not available at many stores. Earlier this year, dozens of consumers took to social media to urge The Body Shop to bring back its refill counters. “Refill, refill, refill!” Twitter user @JaiChipperfield said on July 22, joining a thread in which several other shoppers demanded the return of refills. “Seems to me that judging by these comments your customers want to see the return of refills,” @JaiChipperfield added. “Me too, it would be brilliant to see that return.”  The Body Shop eventually responded to those pleas. “Now with the renewed focus on sustainability, we believe it is the right time to return with it,” Body Shop spokeswoman Lucy Muircroft told Reuters this week.",
            "output": [
                "Procter & Gamble, rivals take refills into beauty aisle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fc0fc18a16c41929437b15f00335f57",
            "input": "Montana Public Radio reported Thursday that Freedom Vapes stores in the cities of Bozeman and Hamilton and the town of Belgrade are offering the workaround to help maintain business. The kits allow customers to purchase vaping components separately so they can make their own products, officials said. The option was announced by Freedom Vapes owners Ron and Deanna Marshall a day after the start of a four-month statewide ban on all flavored vaping products. Freedom Vapes was one of the businesses that unsuccessfully sued Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and his administration to stop the ban. The Marshalls have not returned calls for comment since the ban was put in place on Wednesday, but a statement on their shops’ Facebook page Thursday said they plan to offer the kits for the duration of the 120-day ban. “We are trying our best to keep your needs met while we work through this blatant witchhunt (sic) against our business, and products that have helped all of you break the deadly habit of tobacco use,” the statement said. Their Facebook announcement also warns customers that buying cheap ingredients off the shelf could lead to serious lung damage or death, they said. Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesman Jon Ebelt said Friday it’s not yet clear whether the kits are in compliance with the ban. “If retailers are offering flavor components intended for use in e-cigarettes, including in the do-it-yourself kits, it would fall under the temporary restriction,” Ebelt said in an email. “The flavor may be subject to enforcement.” Do-it-yourself products may lack quality controls and health officials recommend consumers refrain from using any e-cigarettes at this time, he added. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues its investigation into lung illnesses that have sickened over 2,500 and killed 54 people in 27 states, including one in Montana. People are urged to avoid all THC vape products and recommend not using any e-cigarette or vaping products, health officials said.",
            "output": [
                "Montana vape shop turns to home kits to dodge flavored ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08cfbf6384db488198ae24278f1cf17a",
            "input": "In his private practice, Ian Paterson lied to exaggerate risks that patients would develop breast cancer, performing needless surgery and in some cases mastectomies for which patients paid, judge Jeremy Baker said. “The physical, and particularly, psychological effect upon each of them, has been profound,” the judge told Nottingham Crown Court. The trial had heard that patients trusted the doctor who was charming and reassuring, but were later left feeling violated and vulnerable, with some having suffered prolonged psychological distress. The 59-year-old surgeon’s motives were not clear, the judge said, but he had shown a “complete lack of remorse” during the trial. “I have no doubt that in pursuit of your own self-aggrandizement and the material rewards which it brought from your private practice, you lost sight of the fact that you were carrying out significant surgical procedures,” Baker said. “Without any regard for the long-term effects which it had on them, you deliberately played upon their worst fears,” he said. Speaking after the sentencing, Patricia Welch, one of Paterson’s victims, said she felt justice had been done but called for an inquiry so that patients had full protection when seeking private medical care. “We will never know the real reason he has acted in such an evil way,” she told reporters outside the court. “It will never go away because you just see it in the mirror every morning.”",
            "output": [
                "UK doctor jailed for 15 years over unnecessary breast surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-679ae2f3733c45b5a6abfd3e2a7cda78",
            "input": "\"Not applicable – the cost of coffee is not in question. The online and on-air stories still used inappropriate causal  language – as the WebMD story did – in describing the results of a study that can’t establish cause-and-effect. The online story said \"\"may cut risk\"\" and \"\"may lower the risk.\"\" Adding the qualifying \"\"may\"\" doesn’t detract from the inappropriate causal verb that follows. The on-air story used the term \"\"benefit\"\" when benefit can not be established in this kind of study. Inappropriate. Inaccurate. At least this story did what the WebMD story didn’t do in discussing some of the potential harms from drinking a lot of coffee. At least the story commented briefly on the nature of the study:  \"\"They looked at nine existing studies and analyzed how much coffee was consumed by more than 5,000 cancer patients and about 9,000 healthy people.\"\" But it never stated explicitly that this kind of study CAN NOT establish cause and effect. That’s still a major shortcoming of such stories. It only takes a line to do so, and we’ve provided some sample lines in a primer on this topic elsewhere on our site. No overt disease-mongering in the story. One of the researchers and two independent sources were interviewed – something WebMD didn’t do. The story didn’t comment – as the WebMD story did – on other factors analyzed in the study such as tea, fruits and vegetables. Not applicable – the availability of coffee is not in question. The story at least briefly mentions other coffee research: \"\"Other recent studies suggest coffee may have beneficial effects in other diseases like dementia, diabetes, liver and Parkinson’s disease. However, coffee alone may not be the answer according to some experts.\"\" Because of the number of sources cited, it’s clear this did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Coffee may cut risk for some cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f6742be1b398453199eea206e5b513be",
            "input": "Researchers from the University of Glasgow reported the results in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday. They compared the causes of death of 7,676 Scottish men who played soccer with 23,000 similar men from the general population born between 1900 and 1976. Over a median of 18 years of study, 1,180 players and 3,807 of the others died. The players had a lower risk of death from any cause until age 70. However, they had a 3.5 times higher rate of death from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. In absolute terms, that risk remained relatively small — 1.7% among former players and 0.5% for the comparison group. Former players also were more likely to be prescribed dementia medicines than the others were. The results “should not engender undue fear and panic,” Dr. Robert Stern, a Boston University scientist who has studied sports-related brain trauma, wrote in a commentary published in the journal. The findings in professional players may not apply to recreational, college or amateur-level play, or to women, Stern noted. “Parents of children who headed the ball in youth or high-school soccer should not fear that their children are destined to have cognitive decline and dementia later in life. Rather, they should focus on the substantial health benefits from exercise and participation in a sport that their children enjoy,” while also being aware of the risks of head-balling, Stern wrote. English Football Association chairman Greg Clark said “the whole game must recognize that this is only the start of our understanding and there are many questions that still need to be answered. It is important that the global football family now unites to find the answers and provide a greater understanding of this complex issue.” The association and players’ union sponsored the study. “We need to kick on now and understand what it means, because that’s all an awful lot we don’t know,” English FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said. “We don’t know if concussion was the cause or whether it was heading or whatever or whether it’s the old heavy ball or something entirely different.” But the association’s medical advisory group has not deemed it necessary to issue to change how the game is played, even reducing heading among younger age groups. “In youth football, you might want to reduce the likelihood of aerial challenges,” Bullingham said. “But our research shows this has already been reduced significantly over the years as we change to small size of pitches, move to possession-based football and now rolling substitutes.” Referees across all levels can stop games for three minutes to fully assess head injuries, but some experts believe that is not long enough. The English FA also is pushing soccer’s global lawmaking body for the introduction of concussion substitutes, with an additional player switch or as a temporary replacement. Campaigning to discover more about the long-term impact of head injuries in soccer has been led in England by the family of former England striker Jeff Astle, whose death at age 59 in 2002 was attributed to repeatedly heading heavy, leather balls. In 2017, a British study of brains of a small number of retired players who developed dementia highlighted the degenerative damage possibly caused by repeated blows to the head. ___ AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Study raises fresh dementia concerns from playing pro soccer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b3399e035a1b46c38fe7a7e2a82d905d",
            "input": "A study showed that the drink, which works by trapping gas  in foods to make people feel full, worked even better than the  company’s Slim-Fast weight-loss drink, they said. The researchers, who presented their findings at the 2008  European Congress on Obesity, said the company has patented the  technology. “The technology is now available for the brand to use in  future formats,” said David Mela, a Unilever nutritionist who  worked on the study. “The food maintains the bulk, much of  which is air that helps you maintain that full feeling.”    Obesity is a big problem and big business. About 400  million people are classified as obese, putting them at higher  risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart diseases,  according to the World Health Organization. This has in part spurred companies like Unilever, Kraft  Foods, General Mills, Sara Lee and others to turn to healthier  products with a whole range of so-called health and wellness  foods. “If you look at western populations, a (large number) of  adults are overweight,” said Gert Meijer, an executive at  Unilever’s research and development division. “In terms of the  amount of people who might be interested in this product, it  could be huge.”    In the Unilever study, the researchers tested their  milkshake on 24 volunteers who were given either the new drink  or a serving of regular Slim-Fast at breakfast. People who had the milkshake reported that they were  significantly fuller when asked at different intervals over a  four-hour time period. The researchers found that a half-sized  serving of the milkshake also suppressed hunger. “We are clearly talking about hours,” said Sergei Melnikov,  a physical chemist who helped develop the technology. “It is an  effect that lasts for an hour or two or longer.”    The milkshake is designed to trap gas in the food after  consumption, preventing it from dissolving in the mouth as  happens with foods like whipped cream, and cutting appetite. To do this the team engineered the fats, proteins and  fibers in the food until reaching the right mix to trap the gas  — a technology that might appear in other Unilever foods, the  researchers said. “I would say this is not limited to liquids,” Melnikov  said. “It could be used in other food forms.”",
            "output": [
                "Unilever says new milkshake helps control appetite."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9994dd71f5e489f82480d5898c88758",
            "input": "In December 2016, a video went viral, purportedly showing a man punching a kangaroo in order to save a dog:  Matthew Amor, who organized the trip in support of a friend who was battling an incurable disease, detailed the events that led to his friend punching a kangaroo to News.com.au: Mr Amor said it was totally out of character for his friend, Mr Tonkins, to hit the marsupial, describing him as a “placid bloke”. “My mate has a good government job, so he’s gone pretty quiet on this,” Mr Amor laughed. “We were driving along, the dogs are loose. They are trained to smell pig’s blood, and picked up a scent. “The dogs went past 20 kangaroos, which they are trained not to touch. “Anyway, this big buck got a hold of my friend’s dog. It just grabbed him.” Shortly after the video went viral, many people called on Taronga’s Western Plains zoo to fire Tonkins for punching the kangaroo. However, the zoo released a statement on 6 December 2016, saying that the incident did not put Tonkins’ position in jeopardy: Best practice animal welfare and the protection of Australian wildlife are of the utmost importance to Taronga. Taronga strongly opposes the striking of animals and does not support the practice of using dogs to hunt, as this can result in negative welfare for both species. We support the Guidelines outlined by the Department of Environment and Heritage in the event of confrontation with a kangaroo. Mr Tonkins is an experienced Zoo keeper and during his six years at Taronga Western Plains Zoo has always followed Taronga’s best practice approach to animal care and welfare. We confirm that there is no suggestion of Mr Tonkins’ employment at Taronga Western Plains Zoo ending as a result of this event. However, the highest standards of animal welfare and care are a core value of Taronga and one that we expect our staff to uphold in all their interactions with wildlife and we continue to work with Mr Tonkins on his conduct in regards to this incident. Kangaroos are often portrayed as cuddly and gentle marsupials and are generally docile, but can be quite vicious and even dangerous (kicking with their muscular back legs, using feet topped by razor-sharp nails as weapons) when they feel threatened (often by dogs).",
            "output": [
                "A viral video shows a man punching a kangaroo in the face to save his dog."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-462e1e8aa8e74b3e9372db0eb5d309dc",
            "input": "Many motorists are aware of dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning resulting of running a car engine inside an enclosed space such as a garage with a lowered door. But with extremely cold weather afoot in many parts of the U.S., a Reddit user on 12 February 2019 sought to warn about another danger: sitting inside a snowed-in car parked outdoors with the engine running. “Just a reminder that if you haven’t moved your car since Saturday and you’re parked outside, make sure your exhaust is clear before warming up your car,” was the advice. A vehicle’s exhaust system serves the dual purposes of carrying away carbon monoxide and other harmful gases resulting from combustion and of muffling noise produced by the engine, according to safety literature published by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The former purpose can be rendered less effective if something is obstructing a vehicle’s tailpipe. “Carbon monoxide is odorless, very hard to detect, and it can quickly cause death. If your car is stuck in the snow and you have the engine running, open a window slightly and clear snow away from the exhaust pipe,” motorists are advised when weather conditions bring immobilizing amounts of snowfall. If you must run your vehicle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cautions, “clear the exhaust pipe of any snow and run it only sporadically — just long enough to stay warm.” Carbon monoxide can fill up a small enclosed space (such as the passenger compartment of a car) quickly and render persons unconscious before they realize the danger. This hazard was demonstrated tragically in 2016 when 23-year-old New Jersey mother Sashalynn Rosa and her two small children died sitting in a running car trying to keep warm as the children’s father worked to clear snow from around the vehicle, as television station WABC reported at the time:  “It’s hard to lose them like that,” says boy’s grandfather, Felix Bonilla. His son, Felix Bonilla, Jr. had been digging out the family’s car while his girlfriend and their two children sat inside to stay warm. With the car’s engine on, and its tail pipe clogged by snow, the odorless, invisible gas seeped into the car in minutes, killing the mother and her baby boy. The little girl also unconscious, was kept alive by paramedics and a bystander who was not afraid to get involved. … Police say the tragedy is a reminder to people to make sure their tailpipes are free and clear because it doesn’t take long for cars to fill up with carbon monoxide. Rosa’s daughter also passed away at a regional hospital soon afterwards.",
            "output": [
                "Sitting inside a running, snowed-in car can result in carbon monoxide poisoning."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a498aae3abef4941a2858e0e710b1780",
            "input": "Florida’s Republican Party leadership had opposed the wording of the ballot measure, saying it was too vague and misleading and that it would allow almost anyone to obtain marijuana for the slightest medical complaint. A bitterly divided state Supreme Court voted 4-3 on Monday to allow the medical marijuana initiative to go on the November ballot, saying it met all legal requirements. If the petition is backed by 60 percent of voters in November, Florida would become the first Southern U.S. state to approve marijuana for medical use, joining 20 other states. A Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey late last year showed 82 percent public support for the amendment if it was put on the ballot. A constitutional amendment in Florida requires 60 percent voter approval for adoption. In an unsigned 44-page ruling, the high court held that the ballot title and summary wording “are not clearly and conclusively defective.”  It went on to say the proposed amendment gave voters “fair notice as to the chief purpose and scope of the proposed amendment, which is to allow a restricted use of marijuana for certain debilitating medical conditions.”  Organizers of the “United for Care” campaign had succeeded on Friday in topping the signature requirement of 683,000 verified voter petitions from across the state. “We’re obviously thrilled with the results,” said Ben Pollara, campaign manager for the ballot drive. “The voice of Floridians will finally get to be heard on this issue.”  Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, opposes the initiative, as do the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Sheriff’s Association. The Florida legislature has refused for years to authorize medical use of marijuana, although a plan to permit tightly controlled prescription of a non-euphoric marijuana derivative known as “Charlotte’s Web” for children with epileptic seizures has gained traction in the House. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and the state’s Republican leadership filed briefs in the Supreme Court last year urging the justices to deny the ballot initiative. The justices do not rule on the wisdom of an amendment, but only determine whether it deals with a single subject and whether its ballot summary properly informs the voter of what the proposal does. Scott issued a short statement expressing “empathy” for people battling diseases but said he would vote against the amendment. Charlie Crist, a one-time Republican governor of Florida who is running for the same office against Scott in November as a Democrat, welcomed the court’s decision. “I’m going to vote for it and I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said. Chief Justice Ricky Polston and Justices Jorge Labarga and Charles Canady strongly dissented on Monday. “The summary and title ‘hide the ball’ and allow this initiative to ‘fly under false colors’ regarding the severity of medical issues that qualify for marijuana use,” wrote Polston. Bondi and legislative attorneys had argued that allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana when they believe its benefits outweigh its risks for a patient was overly broad. In oral arguments in December, Polston said the amendment would allow doctors to prescribe pot for “stress” and asked whether a college student worried about final exams might be able to get marijuana legally. Backers of the amendment said marijuana would be tightly controlled and that the proposal would not lead to legalization of recreational pot smoking. Jon Mills, a former University of Florida law school dean defending the ballot language, replied that doctors - and voters - know the difference between a debilitating “disease,” such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, ALS (also called Lou Gehrig’s disease), or epilepsy, and a “condition” warranting marijuana use. Canady, a former Republican congressman, focused much of his dissent on potential conflict with federal drug laws, saying the ballot was “blatantly deceptive.”  The ballot language states that nothing in the amendment allows illegal marijuana use or violation of federal law. That cannot be, wrote Canady in a separate dissent. “The summary states that the proposed amendment ‘does not authorize violation of federal law,’ but the truth is that violations of federal law unquestionably are authorized by the amendment,” he wrote.",
            "output": [
                "Florida's top court puts medical marijuana initiative on November ballot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d87a5703f9c447aeb77a2e368635d2ec",
            "input": "When President Pierre Nkurunziza hands over power, it could be the first truly peaceful transfer of authority in the East African nation since independence in 1962. But the coronavirus poses a threat to the May 20 vote. Burundi has kicked out World Health Organization workers after concerns were raised. The WHO Africa director messaged the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief about political rallies the day that Burundi’s campaigning launched and images of crowds circulated online. Authorities have been accused by critics of downplaying the pandemic and citing divine protection. But the government appears to be using virus measures to limit election observers, warning the East African regional bloc on May 8 that arriving foreigners face a 14-day quarantine. More than the virus, however, it’s the fear of violence that weighs on many of the more than 5 million people eligible to vote. Government agents have been accused of harassing the main opposition party, the CNL, whose leader Agathon Rwasa is believed to be in a close race with Nkurunziza’s chosen successor in the ruling CNDD-FDD, Evariste Ndayishimiye. More than 145 CNL members have been arrested since campaigning began on April 27, according to SOS Medias Burundi, a group of independent journalists. Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye has accused Rwasa of making “incendiary and defamatory” remarks and inciting revolt. Rwasa, the deputy parliament speaker, has drawn large crowds despite the risks of openly supporting him, according to an online group of activists known as i-Burundi. The group worries that a rigged election could spark the kind of street demonstrations that marked the previous vote in 2015. “The ruling party was hoping to use this post-Nkurunziza election to gain a semblance of legitimacy, but given what’s happening we might end up with more violence,” i-Burundi said in an interview. “People want change. ... But the ruling party has the incumbent advantage and controls the electoral process.” Rwasa told The Associated Press he feels it’s important not to boycott the election even if the outcome is not expected to be fair. “Everything has its right time,” he said. “Right now, it is not the time to give up and abandon our people.” Ndayishimiye, a retired general, would be a weak president because he will be a front for Nkurunziza and other powerful ruling party members, said David Gakunzi, a Burundian political analyst: “He consults but he will fear to take independent decisions.” Ndayishimiye fought alongside Nkurunziza as a rebel in the civil war from 1993 to 2005 that killed about 300,000 people. Nkurunziza was chosen by lawmakers to be president during the peace process known as the Arusha Accords, which specified that a president’s term can be renewed only once. But Nkurunziza, who won a second term in 2010, said he was eligible for a third term in 2015 because he had not been chosen the first time by universal suffrage. The deadly turmoil that followed badly damaged ties with the international community, and Burundi became the first country to leave the International Criminal Court after it started investigating allegations of abuses. The U.N. human rights office reported more than 300 extrajudicial killings and was kicked out of the country. Nkurunziza survived a coup attempt shortly after the 2015 vote while traveling in Tanzania and has left Burundi only once since then. Meanwhile international donors have cut support, leaving the government struggling. It has ordered citizens to pay for the upcoming vote. Many Burundians were surprised when the president announced in 2018 that he was serving his last term. Skepticism persists. The government has approved legislation that bestows upon Nkurunziza the title of “paramount leader” after he steps down. “It’s hard to know what’s going to happen ... Nkurunziza has a track record of being quite unpredictable,” said researcher Lane Hartill of the Burundi Human Rights Initiative. “Both the ruling party and the main opposition party, the CNL, are convinced their candidates are going to win the presidential election. It’s telling, though, that government officials continue to arrest large numbers of CNL members.” Even some senior members of the ruling party are tired of rights violations and the cratering economy but are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs or being killed, Hartill said. Burundi’s government has denied allegations it targets its people, calling them malicious propaganda by dissidents. Memories of the 2015 violence are still raw. Jean Baptiste Bakunzi said he remains traumatized by his brother’s death at the hands of the police and the Imbonerakure, a militarized youth group associated with the ruling party. His brother, accused of participating in anti-government activities, “knelt down and begged them to save his life,” Bakunzi said. “Instead, one policeman pulled the trigger and shot him dead,” he said. “Whoever opposes the ruling party becomes an enemy even today.” The violence has dimmed hopes for those outside Burundi who will not be able to vote. Over 330,000 refugees are sheltering in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, according to U.N. figures. “These elections will not bring hope for us because we have lost so much,” said Solange Teta, a refugee in Rwanda. “The ruling party candidate cannot alleviate our suffering.” Sporadic violence persists. Police said two people were killed and eight wounded in a grenade attack Sunday on a bar in Bujumbura that’s a popular hangout for ruling party supporters. Opposition supporters worry the security services may retaliate. Charles Nditije, a former government minister who lives in exile, described the election as a “joke,” calling the polls a formality aimed at installing Nkurunziza’s chosen successor. “What Burundians want now is anything that can bring to (an) end the reign of CNDD-FDD. But the ruling (party) candidate will fight tooth and nail to win fraudulently and set another round of crisis,” he said. Hartill, the Burundi researcher, said disputed election results could put the country back on edge. The big question, he said, is whether the opposition leader will “say enough is enough.” ___ Ssuuna reported from Kigali, Rwanda. Eloge Willy Kaneza in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed.",
            "output": [
                "Burundi defies COVID-19 for election ending a bloody rule."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d11423ffb3964fdca80da05f846d78f3",
            "input": "The article doesn’t comment on costs. Though most readers will know that if duct tape were effective it would cost only pennies, few are likely to know the cost of the various medical therapies – from over-the-counter ointments to lasers and injections. The article notes that the researchers looked at a single outcome—the disappearance of the wart—and that one in five patients in each group had a successful outcome. According to the published study, duct tape is a virtually harmless treatment, but can cause minor irritations (numbness and bleeding in two of the 90 subjects enrolled in the study). The AP story neglects to mention this. The article nicely explains the workings of a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in which one group received treatment with moleskin alone and the other group received moleskin plus duct tape; neither doctors nor patients knew which treatment they received. The news story puts warts in their proper context—saying they are “harmless, stubborn bumps” that will eventually go away on their own without any treatment at all. The article quotes the lead author of the study and the chair of the dermatology department at an academic medical center with no relationship to the study. The news story ably summarizes a broad range of other medical therapies that attempt to eliminate warts, from over-the-counter ointments to lasers and injections. Duct tape is as American as apple pie, and if readers want to buy some they will know where to find it. The news story explains that duct tape has fascinated previous researchers, and “earned a place in the medicine cabinet in 2002.” No obvious use of text from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Study casts doubt on duct tape wart cure"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5b1f7cd0c3c45b380373feb66b1572e",
            "input": "\"TXA costs $10 per treatment, according to the story. Although this cost is characterized as low, the story could have noted that the price may be prohibitively expensive in many poor countries. The story focuses on mortality difference between the TXA and placebo groups and presents the results in absolute terms. It helpfully notes that TXA would need to be adminstered to 66 patients to prevent one death. Although it passes along the claim that TXA might save \"\"tens of thousands of people\"\" without questioning it, the story doesn’t hype the assertion quite as vigorously as the competing coverage. The story mentioned there was no increase in deaths due to blood clots in the TXA group. We understand it’s a blog brief – so this is sufficient. The story provides the bare essentials noting the outcomes in absolute numbers and in number needed to treat. Unfortunately, several important facts were not reported including the number of sites involved, the number of countries and other essential attributes of the study. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. No disease-mongering in this story. It’s difficult to find room for an independent perspective in a 245-word brief, and this story didn’t find the room. Numerous other pro-coagulatory agents are used to help control bleeding in trauma patients. The story didn’t mention any of them. The story states that TXA is a 25-year-old medicine that is approved in the U.S. to prevent bleeding in hemophiliacs who have teeth pulled. The story mentions that TXA is already used to control bleeding during surgery and doesn’t portray the treatment as new. While there’s no evidence that this story lifted anything directly from a news release, we can’t be sure to what extent this story may have relied on one. We’ll call it not applicable.\"",
            "output": [
                "Generic Drug Could Save Many Trauma Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61291e56f77c4cdc96ab61aec4b02385",
            "input": "\"There was no discussion of the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables compared to the typical American diet of largely processed/fast foods. But it’s safe to assume most readers know the costs from their regular grocery shopping. The story provided information that the two groups did not differ in terms of rates for breast cancer recurrence, the main outcome of the study. The story only provided the information that the two groups did not differ in terms of rates for breast cancer recurrence, not survival. The story did mention that neither of the groups lost more weight, so such a high-fiber diet is not a guarantee for weight loss. The story does not mention any harms of a diet high in fiber and low in fat. Possible \"\"side effects\"\" of such a diet might include bloating, gas, and diarrhea or loose stools. The story discusses the study design and presents the absolute number of women who had a breast cancer recurrence in each group. The story does not mention that the study participants self-reported their dietary habits. The story did not engage in disease mongering. The story only quotes the author of an editorial on the newly published data. Her comment needs further explanation, so more information from her or from other researchers or clinicians not affliated with the study would have been useful, especially regarding a discussion of other benefits associated with a high-fiber low-fat diet focusd largely on plant-based foods. The story failed to mention other breast cancer recurrence strategies such as hormone and biological medications, etc. Other studies have suggested that weight management via diet and exercise may play a role in the prevention of certain types of breast cancer in post-menopausal women  (e.g hormone receptor negative). The story did mention prevention of excessive weight gain via diet and exercise would be the \"\"next frontier in cancer prevention research\"\". The story does not specifically mention the availability of a fresh fruits and vegetables for all populations, but the focus of the story is on the lack of evidence that a diet concentrated on these foods has any benefit for breast cancer recurrence. No preventative behavioral modification related to diet is advocated. The story was also suffienciently clear about what the \"\"treatment\"\" was (number of servings of vegetables and fruits, etc) such that if a person wanted to \"\"treat\"\" themselves in this manner they could replicate the intervention. The story mentions that this is a newly published study showing no evidence that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is not directly related to a decreased risk of breast cancer recurrence. Increasing fruits/vegetables in the diet is not a novel concept. The story does not appear to be taken directly from a press release and there is independent reporting.\"",
            "output": [
                "Intensive Vegetable-Fruit Diet Shows No Effect on Breast Cancer Return"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d559ebc55fa4e27ace61531263fb771",
            "input": "\"The story only said once that \"\"the costs are high\"\" referring to screening and the risks of false positives and invasive procedures associated with them. We look for a bit more detail than that. But because it was the only story we reviewed that even mentioned costs, and becasue it reported that even this study indicates that over a thousand women would need to be screened for a decade to make a difference for one, we give it a satisfactory score. This story reports not only the percentage difference in breast cancer deaths between the regions where women were routinely screened and where they weren’t, it also gives readers the total number of deaths and it highlights the finding that about 1250 women would need to be screened for a decade to prevent one breast cancer death. The story also pointed out that the study did not report true breast cancer mortality rates – meaning how many women diagnosed with breast cancer died of it. The story notes that screening can lead to false alarms and other adverse outcomes. Although it does not go into detail on the adverse outcomes, it includes comments from independent experts that the study failed to include the harms of screenings as well as the benefits. The story provides an overview of the key features of this study and includes critiques from independent experts. Indeed, the story highlights concerns about the study design near the top of the story. (It could have done much more on this issue. For example, see our blog post on this matter.) This story highlights both the total number of deaths reported by the researchers and the number of women who would need to be screened in order to prevent one death, thus putting the risk in perspective. This story includes critiques of the study design and conclusions, although it does not identify or quote the independent experts, except for one neutral summary quote. (Why are these other critics named?) Although potential conflicts of interest are not reported, the researchers did not disclose any conflicts in their journal article. We’ll give it a barely satisfactory score, although the unnamed critics issues bothers us. The story does not go into detail about alternatives, but it does highlight a guideline report from the United States Preventive Services Task Force that questions the value of screening mammography for women in their 40s, thereby implying that not being screened is an option. There was no explicit discussion of mammography, but we can’t criticize the story for that. Nonetheless, we can only give a score of Not Applicable on this criterion. The story does a good job of putting this study in context with other reports. The story does not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Swedish mammography study sows more confusion about screening for breast cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3b479bb05d614be4ad56b53ddcec40fe",
            "input": "Homebred beef cattle are seen at a local cattle market in Hongseong, about 170 km (106 miles) south of Seoul July 29, 2008. A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won The mutation, in an Alabama cow that tested positive in 2006 for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is identical to one that causes a related brain-wasting disease in humans. This suggests BSE may sometimes arise spontaneously in cattle. Jurgen Richt of Kansas State University said cattle producers must never let down their guard against BSE because cattle anywhere, at any time, can develop the disease. The finding may support a 2005 theory that the BSE epidemic in cattle could be traced to feed contaminated with cattle remains from India, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens. BSE or mad cow disease swept through British dairy herds in the 1980s, forcing the destruction of millions of animals. No one ever found where it came from but most experts thought at the time it came from cattle feed that contained the remains of sheep infected with a similar disease called scrapie. Cattle were never known to develop BSE before the epidemic, but some experts have argued they may have. This report lends credence to that idea. BSE, scrapie and a human version called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, are brain-destroying illnesses called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In some cases, animals or people that eat brain and nervous system material from victims of these diseases can develop them, too. They are passed along by misfolded infectious protein fragments called prions. A very rare disease called variant CJD has been found in people who ate infected beef products. Fatal and incurable, it has affected just 167 people so far. Most countries now ban the use of meat and other parts from mammals in food for cattle. They also ban the use of potentially infectious tissues such as brain and spinal cord in human food. “There are tendencies around the world, now that the feed-borne epidemic has gone down, to relax these rules and regulations,” Richt said in a telephone interview. “So if we have these genetic cases popping up here and there and we don’t have our mitigations in place, we will have another epidemic somewhere.”   He suggested breeding the gene out of cattle. “We can clean the world cattle herd of that mutation,” Richt said. CJD is also known to pop up spontaneously in the human population. A genetic mutation causes the disease in one in a million people globally. Richt and colleagues tested the brain of the Alabama cow and found a mutation identical to the prion gene mutation that causes some cases of CJD. It is probably rare in cattle, found in fewer than one in 2,000, they said in the report, published here  But the animal passed along its mutation to its heifer, which suggests it is inherited.",
            "output": [
                "Gene mutation underlies some mad cow disease: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94b281f3ac4d4b2eba02eedfceff0fa2",
            "input": "Alex Azar, speaking in Uganda, told reporters that he and others are “very concerned” and urged Tanzania’s government to share laboratory results regarding the case. The Ebola outbreak in neighboring Congo has become the second-deadliest in history, with confirmed cases now exceeding 3,000. Azar said efforts were underway to secure Tanzania’s compliance with international health regulations and obligations to the World Health Organization “to protect Tanzanians as well as all people in the region.” Tanzania’s government said Saturday there is no confirmed case of Ebola in the East African nation. No confirmed Ebola case has ever been recorded there. WHO in a statement last week noted a rumor regarding a death in Tanzania from an unknown illness and said it was sending a technical team to investigate “as a matter of urgency.” According to an internal WHO document seen by The Associated Press, the patient, a 34-year-old woman, died on Sept. 8 and was buried that day. It was not clear where she died. The document says the victim most recently was a student in central Uganda, where she visited health facilities on a research mission, before returning to Tanzania on Aug. 22. No case of Ebola has been reported in Uganda’s central region. “This mysterious disease has to be investigated and samples have to be tested. We couldn’t rule out any of the viral hemorrhagic fevers and the investigation will continue,” Dr. Yonas Woldemariam, the WHO representative in Uganda, said Monday. The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, which was declared over a year ago, has killed nearly 2,000 people. Health workers have been challenged by community mistrust and insecurity caused by years of rebel attacks. Cases of Ebola patients crossing borders during this outbreak have been rare. In June, a family of Congolese with sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path. Two died of Ebola inside Uganda. And in August, a Congolese girl tested positive for Ebola and later died in Uganda after traveling from Congo. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "US urges transparency in Ebola-like death in Tanzania."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2159d5fae6540ad8e7049c3636fb780",
            "input": "That’s the conclusion of scientists from the University of Bristol and the University of California at Davis who dressed horses in black-and-white striped coats to help determine why zebras have stripes. The researchers found that fewer horseflies landed on the cloaked horses than on the ones without striped coats, suggesting that zebra stripes may offer protection from blood-sucking insects that can spread disease. “This reduced ability to land on the zebra’s coat may be due to stripes disrupting the visual system of the horse flies during their final moments of approach,” said Martin How, a research fellow at the University of Bristol. “Stripes may dazzle flies in some way once they are close enough to see them with their low-resolution eyes.” From a distance, the flies were equally attracted to both horses and zebras, with the same number of insects hovering around both types of animals. But when the flies got closer, things get dicey. The flies landed less frequently on the zebras and the horses covered in striped coats. “Once they get close to the zebras, however, they tend to fly past or bump into them,” said Tim Caro, a professor in the U.C. Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. “This indicates that stripes may disrupt the flies’ abilities to have a controlled landing.”  The work , reported in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, seeks to answer one of the oldest questions in zoology — why do zebras have stripes? Charles Darwin had his theories. So did British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. But the scientists from Britain and California sought to examine that question by studying both horses and zebras at the Hill Livery in Britain, which works with zoos in Europe on conservation for zebras. That provided a controlled environment where the horses could be dressed up and closely observed to test the theory. “It’s one of those pieces of research that you say, ‘why hasn’t someone done this before?’” said Tim Woodfine, the director of conservation at Marwell Wildlife in southern England. He did not take part in the study. “It’s simple and neat. I think it’s a great piece of work,” he said. How, an expert on animal vision, told The Associated Press on Thursday there are reasons to be “quite excited” about the research, which he said helps scientists understand what’s happening in the mind of a fly. The insights have broader implications for technology such as driverless cars, which are inspired by insect vision. If stripes disrupt a fly, they might also disrupt a driverless car’s systems, according to How. “What we needed to do is get our mind into the eye of the fly,” How said. “They have very different eyes from us.” Erica McAlister, the senior curator of flies and fleas at the Natural History Museum in London, said the research contributes information to a subject long debated by scientists. “We’ve been arguing about zebra stripes for 75 years,” said McAlister, who was also not involved in the study. But there are also human applications. How says from now on, he’s wearing stripes while riding his bicycle during horse-fly season. Caro hopes the study will underscore the wonders that remain to be discovered in the natural world. “If we can try to pique the public’s appreciation of the wonders of nature, they’ll be less cavalier about destroying it,” he said. “That’s my hope.” ___ This story has been corrected to show the verb in the closing quote should be “pique,” not peak.",
            "output": [
                "Why do zebras have stripes? Perhaps to dazzle away flies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-786f45c146ff41748d1ae805f6cda764",
            "input": "This was a strong point for the story, which did provide some information on cost. “The study did not address whether screening is cost-effective. In the U.S., cholesterol tests cost around $80 and usually are covered by health insurance, though much lower prices often are negotiated. The study authors in England estimated that if cholesterol testing costs $7 and gene testing costs $300, it would cost $2,900 for every person identified as having the disorder.” We wish the story would have noted the cost of gene testing in the U.S. but otherwise found this satisfactory. The story also could have noted that although statin drugs are generic and relatively inexpensive, the long-term costs of treatment from childhood onward are likely to be significant. The story quantified the findings this way: “For every 1,000 people screened in the study, four children and four parents were identified as being at risk for early heart disease. That’s nearly twice as many as most studies in the past have suggested.” That lets us know how many more people might get identified if screening was widened, but readers should also be informed that it isn’t clear if this ultimately reduces cardiac deaths. The harms of screening including false positives and negatives, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, inappropriate disease labelling and so on are not mentioned. The story explains how many babies were tested and how they were tested. But, we didn’t get a sense of how reliable these testing methods are, nor what the study’s limitations were. Instead, the story implied that the study showed that screening kids will lower their risk, with statements like this: “What if a blood test could reveal that your child is at high risk for early heart disease years in the future, giving you a chance to prevent it now?” The story included numbers on how prevalent this condition is, and the increased risk of heart disease that it carries, though it would have been stronger if it had given specifics on what the baseline risk is versus the 10-fold increase. The story included independent sources. Also, the story discloses this: “The study was led by Dr. David Wald at Queen Mary University of London. He and another author founded a company that makes a combination pill to prevent heart disease. The work was funded by the Medical Research Council, the British government’s health research agency.” The alternative here is no screening in early childhood. Are these sorts of genetic tests available for parents to buy off the shelf, or ask for a referral from a doctor to get? The story doesn’t clarify. The story establishes the novelty of the study by explaining that it found that this genetic condition is more common than originally thought. There are two sources who do not appear to be associated with the study.",
            "output": [
                "Testing cholesterol in toddlers, even younger? Study says it could help"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1d1afc282727482fa2e1fa8be5e41add",
            "input": "The school’s Global Health Institute is hosting “Outbreak Week” starting Monday, featuring public lectures and discussions with prominent scholars and scientists. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is scheduled to give a keynote address Friday. Other speakers include Ron Klain, the U.S. Ebola czar under former President Barack Obama, and Scott Burns, a screenwriter who penned the 2011 film “Contagion.” Harvard’s Global Health Institute says the week-long event is meant to explore epidemic and pandemic preparedness in the 21th century. The 1918 influenza outbreak, also known as the Spanish Flu, infected about 500 million people around the world and killed more than 50 million.",
            "output": [
                "Harvard’s ‘Outbreak Week’ marks centennial of flu pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5c0a2b6d7d74854bd80b19e8ca7fc52",
            "input": "There was no discussion of the potential cost of the drug. Since the story briefly discusses “a similar drug” it could have at least given the cost of that drug. As it is, cost is unaddressed – a huge vacuum. The benefits are quantified. Women who received Iniparib plus chemotherapy lived an average of 12.3 months while those receiving chemotherapy alone lived an average of 7.7 months. Tumor volume decreased in 50% of the women receiving Iniparib & 33% of women receiving only chemotherapy. While the researcher believed the drug was well-tolerated, the article should have included information about demonstrated side effects, even minor ones. The author also should have noted if the study was powered to detect differences since the study cohort was so small. The evaluation of the evidence was good. The piece included cautionary quotes from the researcher. Quotes from a journal editorial also specified drawbacks of the study. Three of the four drawbacks listed were not explained in the piece. Explanations would have been helpful especially since the piece termed the chemotherapy regimen “commonly used” but one drawback was “the unconventional chemotherapy regimen.” There is no disease mongering. The article does not include information about Dr. O’Shaugnessy’s funding from the drug company for consulting & travel. Observations from other researchers about the study would have provided needed perspective about the results. Alternative treatments are not mentioned but the piece explains that metastatic triple-negative breast cancer is very difficult to treat & that many currently available treatments are not effective. The story notes that the drug is experimental & that the results reported are from a Phase 2 trial. Results from a larger Phase 3 trial of 500 women will be available in 2-3 months. Information about whether the drug has FDA approval or whether it is currently used for treating other diseases would have been helpful. The piece states that Iniparib is from a new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors. It also notes that a similar drug has shown benefits in women with BRCA I or BRCA II mutations. The piece includes information beyond that available in the press release from Sanofi-Aventis.",
            "output": [
                "Experimental Drug Helps Fight Aggressive Breast Cancer: Report"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87db031f09b74c62a8d6965f93e716bb",
            "input": "The heath secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced Thursday she’ll be adding them as of July 20. Levine says her decision was based on the recommendation of the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board and her own review of medical research literature. She says medical marijuana shouldn’t be the first treatments for those conditions, but physicians can recommend it to be used together with traditional therapeutic approaches. The list already includes cancer, epilepsy, intractable seizures, post-traumatic stress disorder, terminal illness and other conditions. Nearly 111,000 Pennsylvanians have been certified for participation in the state’s medical marijuana program .",
            "output": [
                "State adds anxiety to qualifying conditions for medical pot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d63e1d336ac04839aa05e5680ecf46c5",
            "input": "Hanan al-Hroub, a Palestinian teacher scheduled to speak at a Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting dinner event on 20 September 2016, drew criticism from Republicans because her husband, Omar al-Hroub, is a Palestinian official who served 10 years in an Israeli prison for supplying chemicals used in a deadly bombing attack in Hebron that killed six Israelis in 1980 — especially given the close proximity (in both time and distance) of the speaking engagement to recent bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey. For example, Raj Shah, ​deputy ​communications director of the Republican National Committee, stated that:  In the wake of this weekend’s attacks, granting a platform to the spouse of a terrorist bomb-maker just miles away from where explosives were detonated days ago is an insult to the victims and makes a mockery of the Clinton Foundation. Donald Trump’s campaign similarly issued a press release titled “Statement on Clinton Foundation Honoring Wife of Palestinian Terrorist,” objecting to al-Hroub’s appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative dinner: Today’s report that the Clinton Foundation is feting the wife of a Palestinian man convicted of helping bomb innocent Israeli citizens is deeply disturbing, especially in the wake of this weekend’s attacks. The decision to honor the wife of a terrorist by Hillary Clinton’s foundation shows a complete lack of judgment and a callousness that should disqualify her from holding the presidency. Mrs. al-Hroub has become famous in her own right, independently of her husband, as described in a March 2016 Guardian profile of her achievements that delved into her experiences and her path to worldwide recognition: Hroub only began working as a teacher in 2007. After leaving school, she was forced to abandon her plans for further education when Palestinian universities closed during the first intifada, or uprising, between 1987 and 1993. Instead she got married and had five children. In 2000, when her youngest was established at school, Hroub resumed her education part-time at Al-Quds University. Within months, her husband, Omar, and two of her daughters were shot at by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near Bethlehem. Omar was injured in the shoulder and the girls were traumatised. “This incident changed my life. We were in shock. My children were suffering, and the teachers were not trained to deal with trauma. At that point I decided to commit my life to teaching.” She vehemently rejects Israeli claims that Palestinian schools incite children against Israel. “My message to those who say that is that all children should be protected from violence. I had a very hard childhood, and I don’t want these children to experience the same. Once a cycle of violence is created, it’s very hard to break.” Prior to the Clinton Foundation-related controversy, the Associated Press reported on a similar issue surrounding Mrs. al-Hroub’s March 2016 receipt of a global award for excellence in education: The U.K.-based foundation that awarded a Palestinian schoolteacher a $1 million prize for preaching nonviolence is sticking by its choice following revelations that the woman’s husband participated in an attack that killed at least six Israelis three decades ago. The Varkey Foundation awarded Hanan al-Hroub its Global Teacher Prize. In its selection, it cited her slogan “No to Violence” and her efforts in protecting Palestinian schoolchildren from the effects of living in a conflict zone. She had developed a book called “We Play and Learn” focusing on the importance of playing, trust, respect, honesty and literacy. However, her husband, Omar, served time in Israeli prison, convicted as an accomplice in a bombing attack that killed six Israelis as they were walking home from sabbath prayers in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1980. According to an Associated Press account at the time, Omar al-Hroub was a chemist who provided chemicals needed for making the bombs … In a statement, the Varkey Foundation said it does not look into the conduct of candidates’ relatives and that the teacher was committed to nonviolence. “As a point of principle, we only look at the qualities, achievements and conduct of the candidates themselves … As Hanan al-Hroub has said herself, she has spent her whole life dealing with the effects of violence on children at close hand and every day she works toward a world where children, wherever they come from, can grow up peacefully,” it added. “She has spent her entire career teaching the principle of nonviolence. She believes in nonviolence in all its forms and in all circumstances.” Qadura Faris, the director of the Palestinian prisoners’ association, said that after serving a 10-year sentence, Omar al-Hroub accepted the 1993 Oslo interim peace accord with Israel, served as a deputy Cabinet minister in the Palestinian Authority and supports a two-state solution with Israel. He said al-Hroub remains a senior Palestinian official who is close to President Mahmoud Abbas and “believes in his peaceful approach.” Al-Hroub’s biography, as presented among those of the speakers at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)’s Annual Meeting from 19 to 21 September 2016, reads: Winner of the 2016 Global Teacher Prize, an initiative of the Varkey Foundation, Hanan Al Hroub grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem, where she was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatized by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school. Her experiences in meetings and consultations to discuss her children’s behavior, development and academic performance in the years that followed led Al Hroub to try to help others who, having grown up in similar circumstances, require special handling at school. With so many troubled children in the region, Palestinian classrooms can be tense environments. Al Hroub embraces the slogan “No to Violence” and uses a specialized teaching approach she developed herself. Al Hroub has shared her perspective at conferences, meetings and teacher training seminars.",
            "output": [
                "Hanan al-Hroub, whose husband was jailed for providing chemicals used in making bombs that killed Israelis, was invited to speak at a Clinton Global Initiative dinner."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2db2cc8763e64529bd075424279b75c7",
            "input": "Brian and Kristen Festa, of Woodstock, have filed a lawsuit requesting a temporary injunction. The parents of an unvaccinated son say they’ve suffered “mental and emotional distress due to the vitriolic and hateful statements from the public” since the agency released immunization data on May 3. The couple’s 7-year-old son attends a private school in Meriden for students with autism spectrum disorders where 18.5% of students claim a religious exemption from vaccinations, one of the highest exemption rates in the state. They say it’s “reasonable to presume” their son and other students will be harassed. Attorney General William Tong’s office declined to comment.",
            "output": [
                "Couple seeks to stop release of more vaccine data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a23265e2afd840a5a052577382e9c695",
            "input": "On 10 May 1991, a 14-year-old Boy Scout named David Hahn earned an Atomic Energy merit badge, the first (and likely only) person in the history of Troop 371 in Clinton Township, Michigan, to receive a badge in that discipline: David was awarded his Atomic Energy merit badge on May 10, 1991, five months shy of his fifteenth birthday. To earn it he made a drawing showing how nuclear fission occurs, visited a hospital radiology unit to learn about the medical uses of radioisotopes and built a model reactor using a juice can, coat hangers, soda straws, kitchen matches, and rubber bands. By now, though, David had far grander ambitions. Throughout his childhood, Hahn had been obsessed with chemistry, teaching himself everything he knew from encyclopedias, textbooks, and chemistry sets, while personal safety did not seem to be a concern of his. According to a 1998 Harper’s profile of Hahn written by Ken Silverstein, “He once appeared at a scout meeting with a bright orange face caused by an overdose of canthaxanthin, which he was taking to test methods of artificial tanning.” In another instance, he was held responsible for a blowing a large hole in the wall of a Boy Scout tent after accidentally igniting a stockpile of powdered magnesium he had brought along. His “laboratory” was eventually moved to the potting shed behind his mother’s house, after an incident in his father’s basement that did not go as planned: One night as [Hahn’s father and stepmother] were sitting in the living room watching TV, the house was rocked by an explosion in the basement. There they found David lying semiconscious on the floor, his eyebrows smoking. Unaware that red phosphorus is pyrophoric, David had been pounding it with a screwdriver and ignited it. After achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, Hahn decided he wanted to experiment with real radioactivity, not merely the models he had used to earn his badge. He created various radioactive devices, including two different “neutron guns” that emitted radioactive particles, and eventually decided he wanted to create a “breeder reactor” — an energy generating nuclear reactor that actually produces more fissile material than it consumes (by essentially turning material around it radioactive). The concept was popular in the 1970s but for the most part has been abandoned thanks to modern technology and geologic finds that make mining uranium more cost-efficient. The breeder reactor concept was described by the Department of Energy in 1971 as follows: A breeder is a reactor that produces more fuel than it consumes … If the breeder can be used in a nuclear power plant, it can provide the heat needed for the generation of electricity and simultaneously produce an excess of fissionable material that can be used to fuel other plants. The answer to this apparent contradiction is that breeder reactors do not give “something for nothing”, but produce usable fissionable material from comparatively useless fertile material at a greater rate than the original fuel in the reactor is consumed in the fissioning process. The obvious question is how would an adolescent working out of his mother’s potting shed acquire fissile material to play around with? This is where Hahn’s myopic focus and determination really shined: Many household products (and even more in the 1990s) contain radioactive material, but the problem is scale. Hahn exploited several commonly found products and used his knowledge of chemistry to extract and concentrate it to create radioactivity at levels “not found in nature.” Early on, one common source of Hahn’s radioactive material came from household smoke detectors, which contain extremely small amounts of the radioactive isotope americium-241 as part of the mechanism that detects smoke. He “contacted smoke-detector companies and claimed that he needed a large number of the devices for a school project.” To obtain the radioactive isotope thorium-232, Hahn recalled a fact he had learned as an Eagle Scout: that the mantle of gas lanterns contains traces of the radioactive material. So he purchased “thousands of lantern mantles from surplus stores and, using the blowtorch, reduced them into a pile of ash.” This method produced radiation levels “9,000 times the level found in nature and 170 times the level that requires [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] licensing.” Radium-226, he learned, was found in the paint of antique luminescent clocks. Hahn was able to find an antique can of the mildly radioactive paint in a clock at a nearby antique store, which he used to isolate the isotope for experiments. Tritium, he found, was used as a component of glow-in-the-dark gun and bow sights, which he repeatedly purchased and returned as part of a scheme to collect the material. Hahn “removed the tritium contained in a waxy substance inside the sights, and then, using a variety of pseudonyms, returned the sights to the store or manufacturer for repair—each time collecting another tiny quantity of tritium.” These purchases were not the only instances in which Hahn employed subterfuge to obtain radioactive material. Claiming to be a professor, he once wrote to a Czechoslovakian firm that sells uranium to commercial and university buyers, obtaining a few samples of material which contained uranium-235 and uranium-238. “Ignoring any thought of safety,” as Harper’s described it, he attempted to build a reactor using the radioactive material he had collected over the years, using a schematic in his father’s college chemistry textbook as his guide: [Hahn] took the highly radioactive radium and americium out of their respective lead casings and, after another round of filing and pulverizing, mixed those isotopes with beryllium and aluminum shavings, all of which he wrapped in aluminum foil. What were once the neutron sources for his guns became a makeshift “core” for his reactor. He surrounded this radioactive ball with a “blanket” composed of tiny foil-wrapped cubes of thorium ash and uranium powder, which were stacked in an alternating pattern with carbon cubes and tenuously held together with duct tape. While he never achieved the critical mass necessary for a self-sustaining reaction, Hahn certainly appeared to have accomplished the creation of some new fissile material: [Hahn] monitored his “breeder reactor” … with his Geiger counter. “It was radioactive as heck,” he says. “The level of radiation after a few weeks was far greater than it was at the time of assembly. I know I transformed some radioactive materials. Even though there was no critical pile, I know that some of the reactions that go on in a breeder reactor went on to a minute extent” … When his Geiger counter began picking up radiation five doors down from his mom’s house, David decided that he had “too much radioactive stuff in one place” and began to disassemble the reactor. He placed the thorium pellets in a shoebox that he hid in his mother’s house, left the radium and americium in the shed, and packed most of the rest of his equipment into the trunk of the Pontiac 6000. All of these events took place before the end of 1994, and perhaps they would have remained a secret to this day if Hahn had not stashed the remains of his nuclear reactor in that Pontiac. On 31 August 1994, police responded to complaints that Hahn was in a residential neighborhood “stealing tires from a car.” In their discussion with Hahn, the police ended up performing a search of the car and found: When they opened the trunk they discovered a toolbox shut with a padlock and sealed with duct tape for good measure. The trunk also contained over fifty foil-wrapped cubes of mysterious gray powder, small disks and cylindrical metal objects, lantern mantles, mercury switches, a clock face, ores, fireworks, vacuum tubes, and assorted chemicals and acids. The police were especially alarmed by the toolbox, which David warned them was radioactive and which they feared was an atomic bomb. The discovery of the radioactive contents of Hahn’s trunk “automatically triggered the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan, and state officials soon were embroiled in tense phone consultations with the DOE, EPA, FBI, and NRC.” After examining his mother’s property (which she had cleansed of the most radioactive material in advance of law enforcement searches of the property for fear she would lose her home), authorities decided that the site was to be an EPA clean-up operation: A Superfund cleanup took place between June 26 and 28 at a cost of about $60,000. After the moon-suited workers dismantled the potting shed with electric saws, they loaded the remains into thirty-nine sealed barrels placed aboard a semitrailer bound for Envirocare, a dump facility located in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert. There, the remains of [Hahn’s] experiments were entombed along with tons of low-level radioactive debris from the government’s atomic-bomb factories, plutonium-production facilities, and contaminated industrial sites. Hahn fell into a deep depression following this episode, according to Harper’s, which was likely exacerbated by his mother’s suicide in 1996. He enlisted in the armed forces and spent four years in the U.S. Navy followed by some time in the Marines Corps before returning to his home state of Michigan. In 2007 the FBI investigated claims that Hahn was storing radioactive material in his apartment. In an interview with the FBI, Hahn described his honorable discharge from the military and his struggles with paranoid schizophrenia in the years following his return home: Hahn advised that prior to joining the Navy in May, 1997, he got into trouble for stealing tires and rims from a vehicle. Hahn stated he was in the Navy for approximately five and a half years as a internal communication specialist as well as various other positions. Hahn said he then received his associates from Macomb Community College for Applied Science in Criminal Justice. Hahn advised that he then enlisted in the Marines in 2004. Hahn stated he was a truck driver for approximately a year and a half before he was honorably discharged. Hahn said after a few months living with his [REDACTED], Hahn moved to his current residence. Hahn advised that he does not currently have a job. Hahn stated he is on disability because he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Hahn said he also has radiation poisoning from his prior contact with radioactive substances. Hahn advised that he is compliant with all his medications most of the time. Hahn stated he occasionally drinks while he is on his medications. Hahn ran into trouble with the law for stealing smoke detectors in 2007 as well, and he experienced repeated drug-related incidents in the years following. He died on 27 September 2016 at the age of 39, a death which was the result of alcohol poisoning, his father said: Citing a toxicology and autopsy report, Kenneth Hahn said his son was found with a dangerous level of blood alcohol content, 0.404, late in the evening on September 26, 2016 … Prior to his death, [Kenneth] Hahn accompanied his son to the Veterans Administration hospital for quarterly routine checkups. Medical staff there found no lingering ill effects from the earlier radiation exposure.",
            "output": [
                "In 1994, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout built a nuclear reactor in his mother’s backyard, an act that ultimately necessitated a Superfund cleanup."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44b92240544f487f85e5db7f8fc74174",
            "input": "\"The Orlando shooting massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub that led to the deaths of 49 victims has led to more national attention about hate crimes targeting the gay community. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke about the attack hours later on Fox News Sunday. \"\"I think we have to keep our eye on a larger picture here, which is the victims of this crime were from a community that is often marginalized and that, frankly, the LGBT community is more often the victims of hate crimes than any other recognized group,\"\" she said. Lynch is correct if we examine per capita rates for hate crimes, although there are some caveats about the data -- mainly that there are gaps in how law enforcement reports hate crimes. The FBI defines hate crimes as \"\"criminal offenses motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against\"\" a particular group such as a religion, race or sexual orientation. Data on hate crimes A spokesman for Lynch said she was referring to an analysis by the New York Times published days after the Orlando shooting. Using data from the FBI and the U.S. Census, the newspaper compared hate crimes per capita in two years: 2005 and 2014. The newspaper found \"\"L.G.B.T. people are twice as likely to be targeted as African-Americans, and the rate of hate crimes against them has surpassed that of crimes against Jews.\"\" Mark Potok, an expert on extremism at the Southern Poverty Law Center, did a similar analysis of 14 years of hate crime data in 2011. He found that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people are far more likely than other minority groups to be victimized by violent hate crimes. Potok examined the percentage of the population represented by these groups:  LGBT, Jews, blacks, Muslims, Latinos and whites. Then he compiled the total number of hate crimes against persons (excluding crimes against property) between 1995 and 2008. Then he compared the level of hate crime aimed at each group to the group’s percentage in the population to determine the rate of victimization. He found that LGBT people were victimized at 8.3 times the expected rate. Jews were victimized at 3.5 times the expected rate, blacks at 3.2 times, Muslims at 1.9 times, Latinos at 0.6 times, and whites at 0.2 times. An important caveat: There are several holes in the reporting of hate crimes to the FBI. Local law enforcement agencies voluntarily report their data to a state agency that compiles the information for the FBI. Some local agencies report no hate crimes or don’t submit a report. A study by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 60 percent of violent hate crime victimizations were not reported to police in 2012. A 2016 Associated Press investigation found that more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff's departments have not submitted a single hate crime report to the FBI during the past six years — about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide. Among the agencies that reported zero hate crimes in 2014 were several major cities, including Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa. Another way to look at the data about hate crimes rather than per capita is the sheer number of crimes. By that measure, there were more hate crimes against African-Americans than LGBT residents. But that’s not surprising since African-Americans represent about 13.2 percent of the population according to the U.S. Census, while the LGBT community represents about 2.3 percent of the population, according to a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control (other surveys found a slightly higher rate.) Why would LGBT be victimized at a higher rate Answering the question as to why the LGBT community would be victimized at a higher rate is more complex. Some of the crime, paradoxically, may be motivated by more widespread acceptance of gay rights. \"\"We are seeing lots more gay people getting married,\"\" said Jack Levin, a sociologist at Northeastern University and expert on hate crimes. \"\"I think what hate crimes represent is a reaction to that.\"\" Some are motivated by fear. \"\"There is a visceral hatred against LGBT people in large part connected to fears about sexuality,\"\" Potok said. \"\"Sexuality is an incredibly fraught topic for some people and especially those people who fear they might have same-sex attraction themselves.\"\" Law enforcement is still investigating the Orlando shooting, but based on information so far, experts said that the shooter appeared to be motivated in part by bigotry and self-loathing. Omar Mateen, who was married to a woman, regularly visited the gay nightclub and used gay dating apps, according to reports by patrons at the club. Our ruling Lynch said, \"\"The LGBT community is more often the victims of hate crimes than any other recognized group.\"\" It’s worth noting that there may be widespread underreporting of hate crime incidents in general. However, the best available research shows that the LGBT community is victimized at a higher rate than other minority groups, according to FBI data.",
            "output": [
                "The LGBT community is more often the victims of hate crimes than any other recognized group."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f514c1d1d16423881ed0e425bbb8a06",
            "input": "The college says the chairs were removed for treatment to kill the insects after they were found Thursday on the chairs in the Mott Memorial Building’s student lounge. MLive.com reports that the bedbug find on the Flint campus follows the discovery of bedbugs earlier this month in a high school classroom in the Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools, which is also in Genesee County. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture all consider bedbugs a public health pest. But unlike most public health pests, bedbugs are not known to transmit or spread disease. ___ Information from: The Grand Rapids Press:MLive.com, http://www.mlive.com",
            "output": [
                "Chairs removed from Mott’s Flint campus after bedbugs found."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72cc87d38f0a47faaeaa0dc1f6485649",
            "input": "The mosquito-borne viral infection has spread across the country, with 61 out of 64 districts reporting dengue cases by late Tuesday. The government has confirmed 15,369 dengue cases since Jan. 1. Of those, 9,683 patients were diagnosed between July 1 and July 30. As of Tuesday, about 4,400 patients, including many children, were undergoing hospital treatment. There have been 14 deaths. Officials from Dhaka, the overcrowded capital and the epicenter of the outbreak, have struggled to contain it, drawing criticism and spreading panic among some residents. Dengue is found in tropical areas around the world and is spread by a type of mosquito that mainly lives in urban areas. The virus causes severe flu-like symptoms, and while there is no specific treatment for the illness, medical care to maintain a person’s fluid levels is seen as critical. There are fears that the situation in the countryside will worsen as many residents of the city travel to villages to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha next month. Infected humans can serve as a source of the virus for uninfected mosquitoes. Ayesha Akhter, assistant director at the Directorate General of Health Services under the Ministry of Health, said an outbreak of dengue has accompanied every monsoon since 2000, but this year’s situation is the worst. A DGHS study identified a six-fold increase in the Aedes aegypti mosquito population in four months in Dhaka as the primary cause of the larger-than-average outbreak. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization said the dengue situation in Bangladesh was “alarming but not out of control.” Other countries in Asia are also facing a surge in dengue cases this year, including Thailand, where 53,699 cases and 65 deaths were reported as of July 23. Nevertheless, with dengue cases soaring in recent weeks, Dhaka hospitals have been running out of room and manpower to treat new patients. Prof. Abul Kalam Azad, director general of DGHS, said they had asked the hospitals to increase beds for dengue patients and to open dengue wards. The government also halved the charges for diagnosing dengue and directed public and private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers to do the same. Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the largest hospital in the country, opened a special ward for dengue patients, said A.K.M. Nasir Uddin, its director general. Prof. Uttam Kumar Barua, director of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, another major public hospital in Dhaka, said they were relying on senior medical students to assist doctors in the face of so many patients. “We don’t have manpower, logistic support and technicians as much as needed. That’s why we are having too much pressure. We have three times more patients than our bed capacity,” Barua said. He said they were admitting every dengue patient who entered the hospital but could not provide beds or even seats for everyone, adding that many had been asked to wait in hospital corridors and verandas. Champa Begum took her 8-month-old to Shaheed hospital on Wednesday. “I have other kids. I go to work leaving this one to another child. I have no way but to work,” she said. “I can’t take care of this child properly. This child is laid down anywhere. My home is above dirty water. That how this one was bitten and got dengue.” On Tuesday, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for concerted efforts to fight the illness. “The government is working to tackle dengue,” she told an emergency meeting of her ruling Awami League party via teleconference from London, where she was on an official visit. “I urge everyone to keep their houses and surrounding areas clean. That will save us from the disease,” she said. The country’s opposition parties and urban planning experts blamed the central and local government’s lack of preparedness for the rise in dengue cases. People have taken to Facebook to vent their anger about city authorities’ failure to control dengue-carrying mosquitoes.",
            "output": [
                "Bangladesh grapples with country’s worst dengue outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d1b58805c7748c79298d61bfcc277a8",
            "input": "As folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand wrote back in 1988, rumors of mice found in soda bottles and cans have a long history in urban folklore. And as explained in one of our own articles, the supposed remarkable dissolving power of modern sodas is another familiar aspect of urban folklore. Both of those elements came into play in January 2012, when public attention was directed to a February 2011 article from the Madison/St. Clair Record which referenced a lawsuit filed against PepsiCo by a man named Ronald Ball, alleging that after he purchased a can of Mountain Dew soda from a vending machine at work, he found a dead mouse inside of it. Readers of that article focused on a pair of sentences near the end of the story: Pepsi had at one point sought summary judgment in the case. It cited the testimony of a scientist who testified that if the mouse had truly been in the soda since its bottling, its body would have dissolved into a “jelly-like substance.” Ronald Ball did indeed have a pending lawsuit against PepsiCo, as the Record reported back in May 2009: A man who found a dead mouse in a can of Mountain Dew after taking a swig from it is suing Pepsico, a store and its manager. Ronald Ball claims he bought a can of Mountain Dew from a vending machine located at his work place, Marathon Oil, in Wood River on Nov. 10 [2008], according to the complaint filed April 29 in Madison County District Court. “After purchasing said can of Mountain Dew, Plaintiff opened the can and immediately became violently ill such that he began to vomit,” the suit states. Immediately, Ball poured the Mountain Dew into a Styrofoam cup. Along with the liquid, a dead mouse plopped out of the can, Ball claims. Before Ball purchased the can, it was sealed and had not been punctured or tampered with, the suit states. In response to Ball’s claims, PepsiCo filed with the court an 8 April 2010 affidavit from Lawrence McGill, a licensed veterinarian with a speciality in veterinary pathology. In his affidavit, Dr. McGill stated that after a mouse had been submerged in a fluid such as Mountain Dew for 30 days or more, the mouse would “have been transformed into a ‘jelly-like’ substance”: If a mouse is submerged in a fluid with the acidity of Mountain Dew, the following will occur due to the normal acidity of the fluid: a. Between four days to at most seven days in the fluid, the mouse will have no calcium in its bones and bony structures. b. Within four to seven days in the fluid, the mouse’s abdominal structure will rupture. Its cranial cavity (head) is also likely to rupture within that time period. c. By 30 days of exposure to the fluid, all of the mouse’s structures will have disintegrated to the point the structures (excepting possibly a portion of the tail) will not be recognizable and, therefore, the animal itself will not be recognizable. Instead, after 30 days in the fluid, the mouse will have been transformed into a “jelly-like” substance. Likewise, Dr. Yan-Fang Ren of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry averred that a soft drink such as Mountain Dew could dissolve a mouse that was immersed in it, leaving behind only some soft tissue: “I think it is plausible that it could dissolve a mouse in a few months,” said Yan-Fang Ren of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, who has studied the effects of citric acid on bones and teeth. “But dissolving [the mouse] does not mean it will disappear, because you’ll still have the collagen and the soft tissue part. It will be like rubber.” According to Ren, Mountain Dew contains citric acid, a substance naturally found in citrus fruits that exists as a powder in its purified, industrialized form. Most citrus sodas mix in the stuff to give drinks their tangy bite, while most colas, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi, incorporate phosphoric acid for the same effect. Consequently, these drinks have a low pH value around 3 (very acidic). Coca Cola, with its dark coloring and non-fruity flavor, may be the soft drink most often compared to battery acid, but in 2004, a well-known study led by dentist J. Anthony von Fraunhofer found that citrus sodas like Mountain Dew and Sprite erode tooth enamel around six times faster than colas. However, after examining the rodent provided by the plaintiff to PepsiCo, Dr. McGill also ventured his opinion that it could not possibly have been found in the can of Mountain Dew as claimed, because it wasn’t even born until several weeks after the can had been filled and sealed: Based upon findings from my examination of the mouse, my educational and professional education, training and experience. my background with such matters as summarized above, and upon a reasonable degree of scientific, veterinary medical, and veterinary pathological certainty, I have (without limitation) the following opinions: a. The animal claimed to have been found in the subject can of Mountain Dew was a young mouse at the time of its death, at most 2 to 4 weeks old, though I cannot completely rule out the possibility the animal was a very young rat of approximately the same age. b. The mouse was dead when it entered the Mountain Dew fluid and had been exposed to air after it died. c. This mouse had not been born when the can of Mountain Dew was produced (filled and sealed) on August 28, 2008.",
            "output": [
                "\"A veterinary pathologist testified that being immersed in a can of Mountain Dew would turn a mouse into a \"\"jelly-like\"\" substance.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20a9e80f53b246ec96b9e89aff509711",
            "input": "The story notes the an additional $20 per mammogram with CAD when billed to Medicare. With the newer technology, costs to public health would increase via additional screening and unnecessary biopsies, and treatment would increase for cancers that may never become problematic (i.e. some forms of DCIS or ductal carcinoma in situ). The story provides data that there was little positive difference between radiologists' and CAD detection of cancer via mammogram images. However, the story does not mention results of any other evaluations of the technology (e.g. how it has been used in UK and other countries where results did show benefit in terms of increased detection of cancer). The story mentions that the newer technology may result in over treatment as there are more false positives with the CAD technology vs. radiologists' analysis alone. In a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, there was 20% increase in biopsy rates after mammographers used the CAD software. The article does not present the study well. It was an observational study of select practices in the US – not randomized, not controlled and there was no information about how representative these samples were, especially the centers that used CAD. The story presented some key results but virtually nothing about the study design. The story does not engage in disease mongering or suggest that women should opt for mammograms at centers that have the new CAD technology. The story provides many clinical perspectives on the CAD technology. The reporter interviews not only the study author and the author of an accompanying NEJM editorial, but also clinicians and radiologists who talk about use of CAD in practice. Interviews with clinicians who provide their rationale for not using the CAD technology provide excellent balance to the story. The story discusses the continued benefit of mammography for early detection of breast cancer. The story highlights that computer-assisted screening does not replace human judgment in interpretation of radiological films. The story mentions that about 30% of mammography centers use computer-aided detection (CAD) technology. The story mentions that CAD is a newer method of reading mammographies, but in a recent observational trial it was no better–and may have produced more false positives–than images read and interpreted by radiologists alone. The story does not rely solely on a press release for information, and there is independent reporting and sources cited not affiliated with the recently published data on CAD.",
            "output": [
                "Doubts on mammogram software"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19f99a9051764d5ba904ede8d9e4031f",
            "input": "In February 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of reports which claimed that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg had once said health care providers should not treat elderly patients with cancer due to the improbability of their recovery and as a means of prioritizing treatments for younger patients and stemming a rise in health care costs and hospital overcrowding. On Feb. 18, the right-leaning Daily Caller website published an article with the headline “Mike Bloomberg Said Elderly Cancer Patients Should Be Denied Treatment to Cut Costs.” The article reported that: Billionaire and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said in a 2011 video that elderly cancer patients should be denied treatment in order to cut health care costs. “All of these costs keep going up, nobody wants to pay any more money, and at the rate we’re going, health care is going to bankrupt us,” said Bloomberg, who was then New York City’s mayor. “‘We’ve got to sit here and say which things we’re going to do, and which things we’re not, nobody wants to do that. Y’know, if you show up with prostate cancer, you’re 95 years old, we should say, ‘Go and enjoy. Have a nice [inaudible]. Live a long life. There’s no cure, and we can’t do anything.’ If you’re a young person, we should do something about it,” Bloomberg said in the video. The same article was later republished by the National Interest magazine, and on Feb. 17 the right-leaning Red State blog published an article with a headline that stated “Bloomberg Suggests Denying Care to Elderly Patient With Cancer Because Not Cost Effective in 2011 Video.” All three articles contained a 40-second video clip of Bloomberg sitting with a group of men, making the following remarks: […] And what things they can’t fix right away. If you’re bleeding, they’ll stop the bleeding, if you need an X-Ray, you’re going to have to wait. All of these costs keep going up, nobody wants to pay any more money, and at the rate we’re going, health care is going to bankrupt us. So not only do we have a problem, it’s going to bankrupt us, and we’ve got to sit here and say which things we’re going to do and which things we’re not. Nobody wants to do that. If you show up with prostate cancer and you’re 95 years old, we should say ‘Go and enjoy, have a nice [inaudible], lead a long life.’ There’s no cure and you can’t do anything. If you’re a young person, we should do something about it. Society’s not willing to do that yet. So we’re going to bankrupt us, and we’re not looking at […] Bloomberg says we should deny healthcare to the elderly. “If you show up with cancer & you’re 95 years old, we should say, Go & enjoy. There’s no cure, we can’t do anything. A young person, we should do something. Society’s not willing to do that yet.”  pic.twitter.com/ZExr2Opghx — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 17, 2020  Bloomberg undoubtedly made the remarks shown in that video. Although the 40-second clip was cut from longer footage, it was not doctored or further edited. Likewise, the video did not present the remarks in their full and proper context, but that did not serve to substantially alter or misrepresent the sense or meaning of what Bloomberg said. He did indeed propose that, in light of rising health care costs and hospital overcrowding in New York, health care providers should not attempt to treat elderly patients with terminal cancer, instead prioritizing younger patients with better prospects of recovery. The conversation shown in the video took place in February 2011. Bloomberg was “sitting shiva” (a Jewish mourning ritual) with the family of Rabbi Moshe Segal, a Brooklyn man who, according to his family, spent 73 hours in a New York emergency room before his death. Shimon Gifter, a Brooklyn photographer, recorded more than nine minutes of Bloomberg’s visit and posted it to his YouTube channel. The full conversation can be viewed below. In the interest of providing as much context as possible, the following is an unedited transcript of the section of the discussion during which Bloomberg made his comments about treating elderly prostate cancer patients. The first few seconds shows Bloomberg entering the room, greeting and shaking hands with Segal’s family members, some of whom thank him for his visit. Bloomberg, who was mayor of New York City at that time, sits and observes that the deceased was “young.” A brother of Segal replies “Very young,” then quickly segues into a conversation about health care: Segal’s brother: …I apologize for bringing up conditions in New York City during this [visit], but in light of my brother’s death, I must tell you that we have, I know you know this, but from personal experience the overcrowding in the emergency rooms is insane. He was there for 73 hours [inaudible].",
            "output": [
                "In 2011 Mike Bloomberg said health care providers should not treat elderly prostate cancer patients in order to alleviate health care costs and overcrowding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76f39d0928b240198555c2d83380bd62",
            "input": "\"Shaheen, a Democrat seeking a third term next year, outlined her proposal at a news conference with recovery center workers, health care providers and advocates. Substance abuse disorders claim 70,000 lives a year nationally at a cost of $500 billion to the economy, she said. New Hampshire, meanwhile, has one of the nation’s highest drug overdose death rates. The state medical examiner’s office said in May that the 2018 total was 470 deaths, with results of two cases still pending. That was down slightly from the previous year, but Shaheen said such figures should not become the “new normal.” While Congress recently authorized $6 billion over two years to respond to the opioid crisis, Shaheen said providers and others need more flexibility in how they spend such money. Her legislation would increase state opioid response treatment grants from $1.5 billion per year to $5.5 billion per year for the next five years, and would change the grants to allow the money to be used for the treatment of disorders involving non-opioids, such as methamphetamines. It would also prioritize prevention, seeking to replicate a successful New Hampshire program aimed at helping children who witness violence and other trauma. “This is a substantial, long-term investment in getting more Granite Staters and Americans across the country on the road to recovery. It would help our state get ahead of the curve as we see different threats like meth that are coming in, and most important, it would save lives,” she said. Tym Rourke, who oversees substance use disorder grantmaking at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, praised the legislation, particularly the focus on flexibility. “We know that this issue is not going away. It is nuanced. It is ever-changing, and effective systems that bring the promise of recovery need to be nimble to address not only who’s coming in the door today but who will come in the door tomorrow and the day after that,” he said.\"",
            "output": [
                "Shaheen announces broad legislation to address addiction."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1005983c250d4ca0b4f5f1976248b5af",
            "input": "The number of Americans age 90 and older nearly tripled in the past three decades, to the current 1.9 million from 720,000 in 1980, said a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number may reach 9 million by 2050, according to the report titled “90+ in the United States: 2006-2008.”   “I think it’s going to grow even faster than predicted in the report,” said Richard Suzman, director of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, which commissioned the study. More folks over the age of 90 means increased stress on pension and retirement funds, health care costs and caretaker relationships with younger generations, the study said. A person who makes it to 90 years old today is expected to live almost another five years, the study said. And, a person who lives to celebrate a 100th birthday is likely to live another 2.3 years. An increase in education, improvements to nutrition and public health, a decline in smoking, diabetes controls and a reduction in strokes have been major factors contributing to the aging boom, Suzman said. The report, which details the demographic, health and economic status of the oldest Americans, is based on the 2006- 2008 American Community Survey. It was released on the U.S. Census Bureau website. “This is very important data for policy makers and researchers to start considering whether to change the definition for oldest-old from 85 to 90-plus,” said Wan He, a Census Bureau demographer and an author on the report. The so-called “oldest-old” in the United States has generally been defined as 85 and older. Given the aging boom and increased life expectancy, that marker may now be inching closer to 90, researchers said, and it’s important to understand the differences among the older population. For example, of people aged 85-89, about 69 percent reportedly have a disability, which might include trouble hearing or seeing or a physical limitation. At ages 90-94, that number jumps to nearly 83 percent. Other study findings showed that the 90-plus population in the United States is overwhelmingly white with most earning a high school diploma. Education is linked to a number of factors related to a person’s well-being, according to the report, with higher education linked to lower mortality rates and better overall health. Women over the age of 90 outnumbered men by nearly 3 to 1, according to the report. Nearly 80 percent of those women were widowed while more than 40 percent of the men 90 or older are married, it said.",
            "output": [
                "Ranks of people reaching age 90 tripled since 1980: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b79a771fc07f4467af4c0ae3a2ed32a3",
            "input": "“The EPA on the track it’s on ... is endangering public health,” Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator under George W. Bush, told the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee. Whitman said she was “deeply concerned that five decades of environmental progress are at risk because of the attitudes and approach of this administration.” Lee Thomas and William K. Reilly, EPA chiefs under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, respectively, also spoke, as did Obama-era EPA leader Gina McCarthy. The unusual testimony came after seven of the 10 surviving, Senate-confirmed past heads of the 49-year-old EPA signed a letter urging lawmakers to work to make the EPA focus on its mission of protecting public health and the environment. “I’ve never seen a situation where three Republicans and one Democrat come in and sound the alarm the way they have today,” subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, said after the hearing. Much of the criticisms from the former EPA heads focused on perceptions that the Trump administration was focusing on economic and financial interests, sidelining or rejecting science and minimizing environmental and health effects in moving to ease dozens of environmental regulations. Asked for reaction, EPA spokesman Michael Abboud said current EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler was working to engage the agency’s Science Advisory Board, or SAB. “Administrator Wheeler will continue to work with the SAB and try to improve relations that the previous administration took for granted,” Abboud said. Abboud did not immediately comment on the broader criticisms. While his predecessors were testifying, however, Wheeler tweeted that the agency was balancing “our regulations to ensure a healthy and safe environment while also saving the taxpayer $3.6 billion. And we’re just getting started.” With his comment, Wheeler tweeted a Washington Examiner article that quoted him as saying he had saved taxpayers that amount by rolling back 40 “major regulations, and plans to axe another 49.” Republicans on the subcommittee did not join the former EPA heads or Democratic lawmakers in expressing alarm at the rollbacks, most of which have targeted Obama-era measures on air, water, pesticides and other threats, and climate change. Republicans instead said the EPA under past presidents had grown uncommunicative or adversarial with businesses and ordinary people. “Under your leadership, I think the EPA went rogue,” Rep. David McKinley, a West Virginia Republican, told McCarthy. During the regulation-cutting Reagan administration, Thomas told lawmakers, congressional oversight and unending press coverage of EPA changes would be enough to get the president himself to step in and make sure the agency was still following its mission of protecting public health and the environment. There was sometimes the perception that when it came to the EPA, it was “jobs vs. the environment,” Thomas said after the hearing. “There’s been fifty years of history that says that’s not the tradeoff.”",
            "output": [
                "Former Bush, Reagan EPA heads warn on Trump rollbacks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e31a0a9f09aa4fb3b60f52331ef42cde",
            "input": "The airline had earlier said only cabin crew operating mainland China flights could wear masks, in response to the airline’s flight attendants calling for permission to wear masks on all flights globally as cases have also been confirmed in the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. “Due to the evolving information from health authorities, we will allow crew members and frontline airport employees to wear surgical face masks when on duty at their discretion,” Cathay said in a statement. The coronavirus outbreak, which began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, struck as millions of Chinese prepared to travel for the Lunar New Year, heightening contagion risks. Wuhan’s local government said it would close all urban transport networks and suspend outgoing flights from the city as of 10 a.m. on Thursday (0200 GMT), state media reported, adding that the government said citizens should not leave the city unless there were special circumstances. The Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union said on Tuesday it had received a “tremendous” amount of emails and messages from members concerned over catching the virus given they are exposed to over 300 passengers from numerous places on a single flight. On Wednesday evening, Cathay said on its website that rebooking, rerouting and refund charges would be waived for all tickets booked on or before Jan. 21, arriving to or departing from Wuhan through March 31, an extension from the Feb. 15 date listed the prior evening. Deaths from China’s new flu-like virus rose to 17 on Wednesday, with more than 540 cases confirmed. The virus has already spread beyond Wuhan to population centers including Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong. Cathay said that as required by the Hong Kong health authorities, it was distributing health declaration forms and will be making face masks and antiseptic wipes available at the boarding gate to passengers traveling from Wuhan to Hong Kong. “Our frontline staff are reminded to maintain good personal and environmental hygiene, and to remain alert and vigilant while being on the lookout for passengers presenting with infectious disease symptoms,” the airline said. Cathay has already been hit by plummeting demand as a result of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, leading it to cut capacity and defer the delivery of four planes. Shares in Cathay have fallen by 10% since the start of January as the virus spread. Jefferies analysts said shares in Cathay and mainland Chinese carriers could remain under pressure for some time if the coronavirus situation paralleled the 2003 SARS outbreak and cases continued to increase. That coronavirus outbreak killed nearly 800 people.",
            "output": [
                "Cathay to let crew wear masks on all flights due to new coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f165f6435ff41bf9a2b14cfa4200fde",
            "input": "In almost all the 12 countries polled, three-quarters or more of those responding to questions posed by the Swiss Medical Lawyers Association (SMLA) said people should be able to decide when and how they die. Two-thirds to three-quarters of them said they could imagine opting for assisted suicide themselves if they suffered from an incurable illness, serious disability or uncontrollable pain. “In practically all European countries, many signs indicate that the prevailing legal system no longer reflects the will of large parts of the population on this issue,” the SMLA said. The results of its poll “should allow politicians to take democratic principles into account when considering legislation on these issues,” it added in its introduction to the study. Assisted suicide is now allowed only in Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland. The German government has proposed legalizing it as long as no profit is involved while France is debating whether to allow it. In both Germany and France, the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches oppose legalizing euthanasia and argue for better palliative care to ease pain for dying patients. The study was conducted by the Swiss pollster Isopublic in Austria, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. It did not survey the four European countries that allow assisted suicide, or countries in eastern Europe. Germans were most open to letting people decide when and how they die, with 87 percent supporting the idea, and results slowly descended to Denmark’s 71 percent in 11th place. Greece was the only exception to this strong support, with only 52 percent backing the idea of allowing assisted suicide. Spaniards were the most willing to consider asking for help to die, with 78 percent support, followed closely by Germans (77 percent) and the French (75 percent). In Britain, 71 percent said they might seek assisted suicide while Greece was again the most reluctant with 56 percent saying they might do so. More than three-quarters of those polled in all countries said only doctors or trained practitioners should perform assisted suicides. A majority of all respondents said doctors should not lose their licenses if they help a patient die. Results ranged from 84 percent in Britain to 58 percent in Greece. About 30 percent of those polled thought dying patients might occasionally be pressured by relatives or doctors into accepting assisted suicide if it is legalized. Roughly another 30 percent thought this would almost never happen. In Germany, where the government’s bill is now being debated in parliament, 76 percent said the proposed law was wrong to ban assisted suicide if the doctor is paid for the service. The bill would not punish those helping patients commit suicide, for example by accompanying them to Switzerland where assisted suicide has been legal since 1942. A rise in dying foreigners - particularly from Germany, France and Britain - ending their lives there has prompted calls for tighter laws, but Zurich voters rejected in 2010 a proposed ban on what opponents called “suicide tourism”. In the United States, assisted suicide is allowed in Oregon, Washington and Montana. Massachusetts voters narrowly defeated a proposal to legalize it there this month.",
            "output": [
                "Large Europe majorities for assisted suicide: survey."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f64b1aa1f7214deca354d90c83656f8f",
            "input": "The online shopping giant, which already works with BP and Shell, has been trying to woo more oil and gas companies to use its technology to help them find drillable oil faster, angering workers who have been pushing Amazon to do more to combat climate change. The employees say the company should drop its work with industry entirely, arguing that it shouldn’t contribute to hurting the environment. Workers at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters have been meeting regularly, spreading the word and encouraging more involvement to put pressure on the company. The issue came to a boil on Wednesday, when workers publicly published a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos that was signed by more than 4,000 Amazon employees. “Amazon absolutely should not be helping oil and gas companies extract oil from the ground,” said Emily Cunningham, a user experience designer at the company who is part of a group of employees who have pushed Amazon to reduce its carbon emissions. Amazon, which hooked shoppers on getting just about anything delivered in two days, is likely to already have a massive carbon footprint. The very foundation of its business model is dependent on fossil fuels to power the planes, trucks and vans that ship its packages all over the world. The company is now courting oil producers to Amazon Web Services, which offers cloud computing services to government agencies and major companies, such as video-streaming service Netflix and digital scrapbooking site Pinterest. AWS is one of Amazon’s biggest money makers, accounting for more than 70% of Amazon’s total profit last year. It’s unclear how big of a business oil and gas companies are for AWS; BP and Shell have been clients for several years. But it seems Amazon has stepped up its courting of the industry recently. Andy Jassy, who runs AWS, spoke at last month’s oil and gas conference CERAWeek in Houston for the first time. Amazon was also one of the sponsors of the event, which brings together executives from some of the top oil and gas producers around the world. At one of Jassy’s discussions, he explained how Shell was using Amazon’s machine learning technology to figure out which wells would produce the most oil before drilling. “That’s a real game-changer,” he said at the conference. Questions sent to Amazon about its ties to the oil industry were not answered. Instead, AWS spokesman Jason Kello sent a link to its sustainability website, which said the company uses solar and wind power to some of its data centers. Erik Gordon, a professor who follows Amazon at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said ditching an entire industry as a client would seem unlikely, and could lead to more employees trying to tell Amazon which companies it can or can’t work with. “I’ll be surprised if Amazon gives into the demands,” he said. Employees at big tech companies have been emboldened to advocate for issues they care about. At Google, for example, high-paid employees walked out of their offices last year to protest the tech company’s mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives. Amazon employees say they already got the company to budge somewhat on climate change. About 30 Amazon employees, including Cunningham, filed a shareholder resolution late last year asking the company to cut its use of fossil fuels to power Amazon’s data centers and the trucks and jets used to deliver Amazon’s packages. In February, Amazon announced that it would release its carbon footprint for the first time later this year and said it would make half of its shipments carbon neutral by 2030, but provided no details on how it will do that. Employees say the announcement wasn’t enough. In the letter released Wednesday, workers list a number of grievances, including that the company doesn’t have any detailed climate change plans and that it’s seeking the business of fossil fuel companies. “Amazon has the resources and scale to spark the world’s imagination and redefine what is possible and necessary to address the climate crisis,” the letter said. More young workers are demanding that their employers do more to combat climate change, said Sue Reid, a vice president of climate and energy at Ceres, a nonprofit that works with large investors and companies to make sustainability changes. She said that ignoring worker demands could hurt worker morale and bring more negative attention to the company. Often, making the changes benefits the companies since reducing energy use can mean cutting costs. “It’s kind of baffling companies don’t line up to do this,” Reid said. Nonetheless, workers like Rajit Iftikhar, a software engineer at Amazon, are still making a push. Iftikhar said climate change is a personal issue for him: He’s of Bangladeshi decent, a country that has been hurt by flooding and other natural disasters that have been linked to global warming. He said large companies like Amazon that are contributing to climate change should be doing more to reduce their impact. “This is extremely concerning to me,” he said. “The people who are least responsible for climate change will bear some of its worst consequences.” ____ Follow Joseph Pisani at http://twitter.com/josephpisani",
            "output": [
                "Amazon’s growing ties to oil industry irks some employees."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9aa0cb4405e4d86ba6b2254f2aa1d2d",
            "input": "A person carrying the novel coronavirus in Norway contaminates now on average 0.7 other individuals, Bent Hoeie told a news conference. The government’s goal had been to limit the spread to maximum one other person. “Before we implemented tough restrictions, every contaminated person in Norway infected 2.5 other individuals on average,” Hoeie said. “If this development had been allowed to continue, we would probably have been in the same situation that we have seen in some countries in Europe.”  The Norwegian government announced three weeks ago  emergency shutdowns of many public and private institutions, including schools and kindergartens, sending the economy into a tailspin and triggering hundreds of thousands of layoffs. The government will decide on Wednesday whether to extend the restrictions beyond mid-April. It was not immediately clear which measures could be lifted, nor when they would be. Local authorities in the capital Oslo and Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city, have already said they will not reopen schools and nurseries by mid-April because they needed more time to prepare. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Monday the number of coronavirus cases in the country stood at 5,755 people, with 59 deaths. The FHI also estimated for the first time on Monday that around 14,000 people in total may be carrying the virus in Norway, or 0.26% of the population. “It is good news. It shows the restrictions have worked,” Camilla Stoltenberg, the head of the institute, told public broadcaster NRK. “(But) we don’t know which specific measures worked.”",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus epidemic 'under control' in Norway: health minister."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b358ec1c5e3a40149739fa389ab32397",
            "input": "It’s good that the report states the price of the device–above $200,000–and that at least one insurer does not pay for its use. But the story should have stated what it costs a patient to get treated with the device, and who bears any additional costs. The story says the device’s efficacy is uNPRoven, but it does not explore the body of inconclusive data. There is a 2007 study that shows 5 years of outcome data. The fact that that study did not demonstrate improved outcomes suggests the device does not have big, measurable benefits. The story would have been stronger had it referred to this study. The story reports that the extra time required to do a navigation-assisted surgery may lead to more complications. The story would have been stronger if it had mentioned the potential risks associated with the surgeon learning curve. The story does an excellent job of stating, plainly and repeatedly, that there is no conclusive evidence the surgical device improves outcomes. The story doesn’t exaggerate the severity or prevalence of the underlying joint conditions. Neither does it make false claims for the relief the device can provide. The story does use one positive anecdote, which could be read to mean the navigational device contributed to the positive outcome. The reality is that most patients do very well with the surgery without the need for a navigational prompt to the surgeon.But since the story states repeatedly that the technology’s benefits are uNPRoven, this is not a serious flaw. The reporter interviewed four surgeons, three of whom use the device and one of whom does not. The reporter did not quote the device maker, an impressive show of restraint. A key shortcoming: The reporter did not explore potential conflicts of interest of the sources. Doctors who are early adopters of expensive new technologies often have relationships with the device makers. So do the medical facilities where the doctors practice. Such relationships should have been disclosed, or the lack of relationship should have been plainly stated. The story indicates that most surgeries are done without the navigation device, and that other similar devices are in development. The story names four Iowa institutions that have the computer assisted surgery device. It also names four surgeons who use it. Ideally the story would stated how many of the devices are in use in Iowa, Des Moines or the U.S. But the story includes sufficient information to be rated satisfactory under this criterion. The report makes clear that the device has been in use for a few years but is still considered investigational. By reporting how many surgeries certain centers and surgeons have done with the device, the story provides an adequate view of its clinical use. There is no evidence that the story relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "GPS-like system helps surgeons align joints"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dab947644ff941d8805a7d210a2043a6",
            "input": "\"Looking to out-green Hillary Clinton in New York, Bernie Sanders charged that Clinton’s position on fracking was at odds with voters. New Yorkers ended the practice in the state in 2014, and Sanders called for a nationwide ban during an April 11 rally in Binghamton. Clinton, in contrast, remains on the side of the frackers, Sanders said on NBC’s Meet the Press, when he launched a multipart attack on Clinton’s positions on fracking, trade and campaign finance. \"\"Well, when you vote for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs, when you support and continue to support fracking, despite the crisis that we have in terms of clean water,\"\" he said April 10, \"\"and essentially, when you have a super PAC that is raising tens of millions of dollars from every special interest out there, including $15 million from Wall Street, the American people do not believe that that is the kind of president that we need to make the changes in America to protect the working families of this country.\"\" Was Sanders telling the fracking truth? (We examined Clinton’s support for free trade in a separate fact-check.) While Clinton’s past support of fracking is well documented, her current position leaves more wiggle room than Sanders’ statement suggests. Shale promoted 'round the world To refresh, fracking or hydraulic fracturing means producers are blasting pressurized water, sand and chemicals into shale rock miles underground to extract natural gas. The Environmental Protection Agency considers shale gas to be clean energy. Some environmentalists, though, are doubtful that it’s that much better than coal or oil, given reports that fracking can cause methane leaks (a greenhouse gas that’s much more potent than carbon dioxide) and earthquakes and set water ablaze. Clinton clearly supported the practice as secretary of state. Her special envoy for international energy affairs launched the Global Shale Gas Initiative encouraging other countries to explore shale as an energy source. An in-depth investigation by progressive magazine Mother Jones said that Clinton’s support of fracking was \"\"part of a broader push to fight climate change, boost global energy supply, and undercut the power of adversaries such as Russia that use their energy resources as a cudgel.\"\" We found instances of Clinton and the State Department talking up fracking to Latin America, the European Union, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Pakistan, China and India. \"\"The United States will promote the use of shale gas. Now, I know that in some places is controversial. But natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available for power generation today, and a number of countries in the Americas may have shale gas resources,\"\" Clinton said in a 2009 speech to the Inter-American Development Bank. After Clinton left the State Department in 2013, she continued to support fracking but repeatedly called for \"\"smart regulations\"\" in speeches and in her book, Hard Choices. Fracking with nuance in 2016 Compared with Sanders’ unequivocal opposition and the Republicans’ strong support, Clinton has a more complicated answer when it comes to fracking. Essentially, she supports it as long as there’s environmental oversight and no local opposition. Here’s how Clinton detailed her position during the March 6 debate in Flint, Michigan: \"\"I don’t support it when any locality or any state is against it, No. 1. I don’t support it when the release of methane or contamination of water is present. I don’t support it — No. 3 — unless we can require that anybody who fracks has to tell us exactly what chemicals they are using. So by the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place. And I think that’s the best approach, because right now, there are places where fracking is going on that are not sufficiently regulated.\"\" (\"\"My answer is a lot shorter,\"\" responded Sanders. \"\"No, I do not support fracking.\"\") Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin referred us to Clinton’s plan \"\"to address the fracking-related risks people are concerned about.\"\" \"\"This is particularly important given that the federal government doesn’t get to say where fracking occurs and where it doesn’t, but can put new safeguards in place,\"\" Schwerin said. Katie Brown of Energy in Depth, the research and education arm of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told PolitiFact that Sanders’ position to ban all fracking is outside the mainstream. \"\"Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, joins Democrats across the county such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, and California Gov. Jerry Brown, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (just to name a few), who have all touted strong regulations by the states and supported fracking for its environmental and economic benefits,\"\" Brown said. Warren Gunnels, Sanders’ policy director, referred us to a Reuters article, in which supporters of fracking cast Clinton’s comments as campaign rhetoric and opponents urged her to cut the caveats and ban it outright. But what exactly would Clinton’s caveats mean for frackers? A portrait of regulated extraction Clinton’s three conditions would uphold existing bans and add new ones to the mix. But they wouldn’t amount to a universal ban. The first condition leaves local and state bans in place, such as those in Vermont, New York and a few dozen cities and counties across America. Her second condition would add dozens of sites that have methane emissions or water contamination. Natural gas is primarily methane, so we’ll assume Clinton is talking about \"\"fugitive emissions\"\" or leaks. Estimates for fugitive emissions, typically expressed as a percentage of the total production, vary widely. A round up of studies by watchdog blog Carbon Brief found estimates ranging from 0.6 to 9 percent (the threshold for being cleaner than coal is 3.2 percent). Various industry and independent research has indicated that a good chunk of leaks come from a small number of \"\"super-emitters\"\" (roughly one in 25 facilities, according to a 2015 Colorado State University study). Clinton could ostensibly shut down these methane spewers, which include, for example, about 50 production sites in northern Texas and four lift wells in the Gulf Coast. Water contamination is not systemic, according to a controversial 2015 EPA study, which nonetheless identified 151 cases of fracking fluid spills in 11 states from 2006 to 2012. Robert Howarth, a noted critic of fracking and biogeochemist at Cornell University, estimates at least 4 percent of production wells pollute water, but contends that the problem is widespread given the sheer number of wells. Under Clinton’s condition, fracking could be banned in, for example, at least 25 counties in Pennsylvania and at least 12 counties in Colorado, if not in all 11 states with noted cases of spills. Frackers are already meeting Clinton’s third condition, to an extent. At least 26 states have some rules on chemical disclosure on the books, though most allow frackers to protect \"\"trade secrets,\"\" according to the American Chemical Society. In addition, the Obama administration now requires drillers on federal and tribal lands to report the composition of their fracking fluid to FracFocus, an industry-backed registry of more than 100,000 wells across America. (Here’s an example.) Environmentalists contend that these rules are not nearly enough. Howarth told PolitiFact that chemical additives are \"\"a small part of the problem.\"\" \"\"The frack return fluids are full of really nasty materials in addition to the additives, and the precise nature of this toxic brew is seldom known,\"\" he said. \"\"Clinton's focus on just the additives is misguided.\"\" That being said, Clinton’s condition could ban fracking in Virginia and Missouri, two states with fracking activity but no disclosure rules in place at the time of this report. Here’s a map that shows how Clinton’s conditions could affect fracking in America:  Our ruling Sanders said that Clinton supported and continues \"\"to support fracking.\"\" As secretary of state, Clinton supported and promoted fracking around the world. As a 2016 candidate, her support comes with conditions such as local choice, stronger environmental regulation and chemicals. Sanders’ claim is accurate but needs additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Bernie Sanders Says Hillary Clinton supported and continues to \"\"support fracking.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d67695be0d04ff59bcab2c856dbb93d",
            "input": "Although the physician-expert interviewed for the article works at an academic medical center–where there is conceivably a vested interest in root-cause and advanced immunotherapies instead of OTC symptomatic care–the article deserves gold stars for noting the costs of the newer sublingual tablet and drop treatments, and some important information about what most insurers will and won’t cover. Ideally, the article would have also mentioned the costs of over-the-counter options to provide a comparison point. Even with a Q&A format, articles about allergies can be more useful by making sure to include relative and absolute rates of benefit from various treatments. This article leaves the readers with the idea that all or most people get relief from one or more of the triad of treatment approaches: avoidance of allergy triggers, OTC or prescription drugs like antihistamines and nasal steroids, and immunotherapies like allergy shots. But drawbacks and side effects should be made clear, so that the true benefit is more accurate. For example, while the article does note that successful immunotherapy often takes years, it doesn’t report: The article duly notes the most common side effect of the newer sublingual drops treatment and the rare risk of serious side effects from allergy shots. The article could have been strengthened by including information on the side effects of OTC and prescription drug treatments. The article relies on the credentialed expertise of an allergy specialist, and the “Ask the Expert” format means it’s mostly a “review” of best practices and what’s available therapeutically. The interview subject makes allusions to trial data (“significant decrease” of symptoms, follow-up period) without giving information on the quality of the studies. This story didn’t disease monger; allergies are certainly a common affliction. But, while this isn’t enough to lose the Satisfactory rating, there was what we call “treatment mongering” because of the emphasis on immunotherapy for treatment. Most people won’t need this level of treatment, and will do well with standard OTC and prescription medications. The format clearly excludes independent sources commenting on what the expert is saying. The interviewee himself might have quoted another source or two and strengthened his information, but overall, N/A seems reasonable. The article does a pretty good job of explaining alternatives to the relatively new immunotherapies, as well as some treatment cost comparisons. As stated earlier, the discussion was weighted toward immunotherapy and not OTC and prescription medications. The report makes clear what’s FDA approved and what’s not; and where to get the latest immunotherapies, and where people cannot get them. Good job on this. It seems reasonably clear that the timing is related to the fact that this is prime allergy season for readers. Although the intro makes a grab for a news hook, it’s a pretty weak one, given that the “newest” immunotherapies have been available for at least a couple of years. But again, we don’t think the article was intended to break any news or present anything as especially novel. The feature was not based on a release as far as we can tell from the university’s news release site.",
            "output": [
                "More than shots, there's new help for allergy sufferers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-58d540d613014738a21a8641e86fc1de",
            "input": "\"Former Gov. Jeb Bush is using the recent release of activist videos criticizing Planned Parenthood as a chance to advertise his own record on restricting abortion. During the first Republican primary presidential debate on Aug. 6, 2015, Bush sidestepped a question from Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly about his time on the board of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, which has donated millions to Planned Parenthood. Instead, Bush reiterated he had a long history of opposing abortion. \"\"Here’s my record: As governor of Florida I defunded Planned Parenthood. I created a culture of life in our state,\"\" he said. (Watch the exchange in the video here.) Bush earlier this week said the federal government should do the same. We’ve documented Bush’s opposition to abortion before, as well as his preference for abstinence-only education. But we wanted to check if he cut off state assistance for Planned Parenthood while governor, well before the current controversy. It turns out he did, long prior to recent calls to end federal funding for the group. Targeted cuts Planned Parenthood is a network of affiliated nonprofit organizations that cooperate with each other, led by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Funding comes from a wide range of sources, including private donations, grants, health center revenue and Medicaid. In Florida, there are currently two affiliates accredited with the national organization after several mergers, so the group is not organized quite the same as it was in 2001. There are now 23 health centers in the state, 16 of which provide abortion services. (Three of these were recently cited by the state Agency for Health Care Administration for allegedly providing second-trimester abortions without a license, violations Planned Parenthood has denied. A fourth was cited for improper recordkeeping.) Both Bush’s campaign and the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates pointed to the same thing: Two line-item vetoes Bush made to the state budget in 2001. According to a 2001 state fiscal analysis, Bush vetoed $115,759 in funding for Northeast Florida Planned Parenthood in Duval County and $187,084 for Department of Health contracts with Planned Parenthood in Collier and Sarasota counties. As governor, Bush was well-known for his frequent use of his veto power. That money was not for abortions, but was being used to provide family planning services to poor women, and had been available for more than a decade. To give you an idea of the scale of the state assistance, one of the affiliates confirmed in 2001 the payments made up about a quarter of their budget. It used the money to help pay for pap smears and sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, among other services. The other affiliate noted the money went to treat patients who had no health insurance or access to Medicaid. Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida alliance, confirmed the group did not get any state funding after Bush’s 2001 veto. It still does not receive assistance from the state now. Our ruling Bush said, \"\"As governor of Florida I defunded Planned Parenthood.\"\" In 2001, he used his line-item veto power to end funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates, and that funding never returned. We must note that the money was for family planning and health care services, not abortions, but he did cut off state money for the group.\"",
            "output": [
                "As governor of Florida I defunded Planned Parenthood."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50959b260c5b41b7818c1948a8c8cfb7",
            "input": "The Billings Gazette reported Wednesday that the Montana Human Rights Bureau ruled that Yellowstone County unlawfully denied “gender-affirming health care” to Eleanor Andersen Maloney in 2018. The newspaper reports Maloney was a county prosecutor when she was denied a health insurance request for possible elective surgery, although she was still on a waiting list at the time. The newspaper reports the county also sought the return of payments for Maloney’s therapist. Yellowstone County has 30 days to respond. The case will move to a formal hearing if an agreement is not reached. Calls by the newspaper to the county seeking comment Wednesday were not returned. ___ Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com",
            "output": [
                "Montana county faces transgender discrimination complaint."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15d144f5f05841ac86c52f36b644f25b",
            "input": "The story quotes an expert who states that exercise is ‘cheap’, which is generally true, but can vary depending on the type of exercise. The exercises included in most of the studies examined were taught and supervised by trained individuals, which can increase the cost. The story does not provide any data (either relative or absolute) about the benefits of exercise and other approaches to managing these injuries. This was probably appropriate, because outcomes are defined in different ways depending on the study, but the story author might have explained it. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt and grade it satisfactory. The potential harms of exercise in the context of repetitive strain injuries, such as making the injury worse, are not mentioned. The story accurately describes the original article as a review of studies, but it misstates the authors’ conclusions and makes it appear that exercise was far more effective than ergonomic approaches. In the original review, 8 of 14 studies looked at the effects of exercise compared with no treatment, and the authors state that here they found conflicting evidence of the effectiveness of exercise. The story inaccurately states that ‘the majority found positive results.’ Although the authors reported that the evidence for ergonomic adjustments such as special keyboards was also conflicting, the story says that evidence of their efficacy was limited. It should also have stated that most of the 22 studies reviewed were rated as poor quality by the reviewers, and that 103 of the 126 references reviewed were rejected for various reasons. The story states that the direct and indirect costs associated with repetitive strain disorders are as much as $100 billion dollars annually in the U.S. The original article actually estimated these costs at about 1/50 that much, or $2 billion. This exaggeration of impact is a form of disease-mongering. Story quotes the lead author of the review as well as other experts, whose affiliations are provided. The article correctly states that many types of exercise have been studied for repetitive strain injuries. However, rather than “hiking, cycling, walking, swimming and yoga,” as stated in the article, the studies examined generally were investigating the effects of prescribed exercises in a supervised context. The story mentions that exercise in various forms has been studied as a potential therapy for repetitive strain injuries for many years and is not new. The story does not appear to have relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Exercise may be the Rx for RSI"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6b58401a3cd4b99aa0ac8c45669cbc4",
            "input": "The PAWsitive Peers therapy dog program was implemented in five schools in Mesa, The Arizona Republic reports. Students at East Valley Academy, Johnson Elementary School, Kino Junior High School, Rhodes Junior High School, and Mountain View High School interact with dogs in counselors’ offices and classroom visits. School employees volunteer to adopt the dogs that are trained using a curriculum developed at Yale University to create a bond between humans and the animals, officials said. At Mountain View, students visit with a dog named Sawyer while experiencing panic attacks or thoughts of suicide. Sawyer is also brought in when teachers discuss difficult topics such as the Holocaust. Mountain View Counselor Ariel Koch adopted Sawyer in Flagstaff after he was found wandering when he was 8 months old. The dog with black, brown and white hair draws students to Koch’s office who may not have visited before. Students who said they only came to visit Sawyer have discussed issues such as depression or parental divorce, Koch said. “They don’t have to look at me and they don’t have to make it like they came to talk about that, so they can kind of sit and pet him,” Koch said. The Maricopa County Health Department said 29 children ages 11 to 17 died by suicide in 2018, up from 23 the previous year. Two Mountain View students died by suicide in 2019, officials said. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed the Mitch Warnock Act in September. The law expanding suicide prevention and awareness training in public schools is named after a teen who died by suicide in 2016. The idea for the PAWsitive Peers program came after a team of Mesa Public Schools administrators visited schools in New York City using therapy dogs.",
            "output": [
                "Arizona schools use therapy dogs to assist mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-528d24ace68d41698d640964433a9a6a",
            "input": "On March 21 2020, Facebook and Twitter users began sharing purportedly official guidelines for COVID-19 and sex, attributed to the New York City Health Department:the NYC department of health says that during the COVID-19 pandemic “you are your safest sex partner”, so i’m just trying to spread the word pic.twitter.com/oUHIqRKlfY— Tommy Siegel (@TommySiegel) March 23, 2020OMG I had a mouthful of ass while reading this NYC Health guide to Covid-safe Sex and of course, responsible New Yorker that I am, I IMMEDIATELY spat it out. Is there a five second rule? #oneonethousandtwoonethousand pic.twitter.com/QpDmt4hJU0— BD WONG (@wongbd) March 23, 2020Highlights of NYC’s government official guide to having safe sex during these times include:-“wash your hands (and any sex toys)”-Rimming (mouth on anus) might spread COVID-19.”-“You are your safest sex partner.” pic.twitter.com/M0VzSVP75I— chris (@ichrisherrero) March 22, 2020The NYC Health Department’s guide to sex during the COVID-19 outbreak is a gem. https://t.co/pX3nrHzrjv— Sasha Perigo (@sashaperigo) March 21, 2020Facebook’s iterations of the share bore the NYC Health logo, but typically linked to a Google Docs PDF with no clear attribution. That document was unassumingly titled “covid-sex-guidance.pdf,” and it began by urging all New York City residents to stay home in an effort to reduce the spread of highly infectious coronavirus strain COVID-19.Immediately thereafter, it addressed whether it was safe to have sex at all while coronavirus was spreading:Sex and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)All New Yorkers should stay home and minimize contact with others to reduce the spread of COVID-19.But can you have sex? Here are some tips for how to enjoy sex and to avoid spreading COVID-19.1. Know how COVID-19 spreads. • You can get COVID-19 from a person who has it. o The virus can spread to people who are within about 6 feet of a person with COVID-19 when that person coughs or sneezes. o The virus can spread through direct contact with their saliva or mucus. • We still have a lot to learn about COVID-19 and sex. o COVID-19 has been found in feces of people who are infected with the virus. o COVID-19 has not yet been found in semen or vaginal fluid. o We know that other coronaviruses do not efficiently transmit through sex.Amorous New York City residents were first advised to understand how coronavirus COVID-19 spreads, and detailed how as of March 2020 — still in the first weeks of a global pandemic — comparatively little is still known about about SARS-nCoV-2. In the document’s second point, it went on to provide perhaps the most discussed of all the advice on the page (emphasis ours):2. Have sex with people close to you. • You are your safest sex partner. Masturbation will not spread COVID-19, especially if you wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after sex. • The next safest partner is someone you live with. Having close contact — including sex — with only a small circle of people helps prevent spreading COVID-19. • You should avoid close contact — including sex — with anyone outside your household. If you do have sex with others, have as few partners as possible and avoid group sex. • If you usually meet your sex partners online or make a living by having sex, consider taking a break from in-person dates. Video dates, sexting or chat rooms may be options for you.City residents were, to put it bluntly, advised to stay home and masturbate. However, if that wasn’t sufficiently stimulating, household members were deemed the safest option with whom to have sex.Group sex was, perhaps predictably, not recommended during the pandemic.While Facebook shares linked to a Google Docs page, tweets about the NYC guidelines for safe sex and COVID-19 tended to be in screenshot form. It was uncommon to see anything with a direct link back to an official, verified NYC.gov account. We checked the official NYC Department of Health Facebook page and did not see the COVID-19 sex guidelines shared there.Twitter was another story, though:Soooo …Since we’re all staying home, you might be wondering what to do with all that extra time. We got you, NYC. 😘Read our guide on how to enjoy sex and avoid spreading #COVID19: https://t.co/fjjkfGgf3C— nycHealthy – STAY HOME NYC (@nycHealthy) March 22, 2020In addition to a link to a NYC.gov page, the tweet read:Soooo …Since we’re all staying home, you might be wondering what to do with all that extra time. We got you, NYC. 😘Read our guide on how to enjoy sex and avoid spreading #COVID19: https://on.nyc.gov/3agKh8ULinked was the same circulating document [PDF], with “covid-sex-guidance.pdf” and “Sex and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” as titles. The officially issued guidance matched the aforementioned screengrabs and documents, right down to “you are your safest sex partner” and “masturbation will not spread COVID-19.” The circulating document is authentic — despite the fact it s spreading primarily via screenshots or an unattributed Google Docs page.",
            "output": [
                "New York City Health (NYC Health) issued official guidelines for sex during a global coronavirus pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3eb20585d4b14e2182edabd106f1bb01",
            "input": "Cancer patients increasingly are having their care guided by gene tumor boards, a new version of the hospital panels that traditionally decided whether surgery, radiation or chemotherapy would be best. These experts study the patient’s cancer genes and match treatments to mutations that seem to drive the disease. “We dissect the patient’s tumor with what I call the molecular microscope,” said Dr. Razelle Kurzrock, who started a board at the University of California, San Diego, where Cairnes is treated. It’s the kind of care many experts say we should aim for — precision medicine, the right drug for the right person at the right time, guided by genes. There are success stories, but also some failures and many questions: Will gene-guided care improve survival? Does it save money or cost more? What kind of gene testing is best, and who should get it? “I think every patient needs it,” especially if cancer is advanced, said Kurzrock, who consults for some gene-medicine companies. “Most people don’t agree with me — yet. In five years, it may be malpractice not to do genomics.” Few people get precision medicine today, said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Translational Science Institute. “The only thing that’s gone mainstream are the words.” HOW IT WORKS NOW If you have a cancer that might be susceptible to a gene-targeting drug, you may be tested for mutations in that gene, such as HER2 for breast cancer. Some breast or prostate cancer patients also might get a multi-gene test to gauge how aggressive treatment should be. Then most patients get usual guideline-based treatments. If there’s no clear choice, or if the disease has spread or comes back, doctors may suggest tumor profiling — comprehensive tests to see what mutations dominate. That’s traditionally been done from a tissue sample, but newer tests that detect tumor DNA in blood — liquid biopsies — are making profiling more common. The tests cost about $6,000 and many insurers consider them experimental and won’t pay. Gene tumor boards analyze what the results suggest about treatment. They focus on oddball cases like a breast cancer mutation in a colon cancer patient, or cancers that have widely spread and are genetically complex. The only options may be experimental drugs or “off-label” treatments — medicines approved for different situations. But as tumor profiling grows, it’s revealing how genetically diverse many tumors are, and that oddball cases are not so rare, said Dr. John Marshall. He heads the virtual tumor board at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center that also serves cancer centers in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan and Tennessee. “There is a little bit of faith” that testing will show the right treatment, but it’s not a sure thing, said Dr. Lee Schwartzberg, who heads one participating center, the West Cancer Center in Memphis. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society’s deputy chief medical officer, is optimistic yet wary. Drugs that target BRAF mutations work well for skin cancers called melanomas, but less well for lung or colon cancers. “Just because a mutation occurs it doesn’t mean that drug is going to work in that cancer,” he said. LUCKY CASES When it does, results can be dramatic. Cairnes’ cancer was between her stomach and esophagus, and had spread to her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. Tissue testing found 10 abnormal genes, but on the liquid biopsy only EGFR popped out as a good target. Two drugs aim at that gene but aren’t approved for her type of cancer. A tumor board advised trying both — Erbitux and Tarceva, the drug her husband also had taken. Within two weeks, she quit using pain medicines. After two months, her liver tumor had shrunk roughly by half. There are signs that cancer may remain, but it is under control. She feels well enough to travel and to take care of her granddaughter. “I’m very, very grateful to have a targeted therapy,” Cairnes said. “I cannot expect a better outcome than what we’re seeing right now,” said her doctor, Shumei Kato. WHAT STUDIES SHOW But is gene-guided treatment better than usual care? French doctors did the first big test, with disappointing results. About 200 patients with advanced cancer were given whatever their doctors thought best or off-label drugs based on tumor profiling. Survival was similar — about two months. Another French study, reported in June, was slightly more encouraging on survival but exposed another problem: No drugs exist for many gene flaws. Tests found treatable mutations in half of the 2,000 participants and only 143 got what a tumor board suggested. Some doctors worry that tumor boards’ recommending off-label treatments diverts patients from research that would benefit all cancer patients. For example, the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s TAPUR study tests off-label drugs and shares results with their makers and federal regulators. LETTING PATIENTS CHOOSE Ann Meffert, who lives on a dairy farm in Waunakee, Wisconsin, endured multiple standard treatments that didn’t defeat her bile duct cancer. “She was going to be referred to hospice; there was not much we could do,” said Dr. Nataliya Uboha, who took the case to a tumor board at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The panel gave several options, including off-label treatment, and Meffert chose a study that matches patients to gene-targeting therapies and started on an experimental one last October. “Two weeks in, I started feeling better,” she said, and when she saw test results, “I couldn’t believe the difference.” Many lung spots disappeared and the liver tumor shrank 75 percent. She is not cured, though, and doctors are thinking about next steps. And that could involve a fresh look at her tumor genes. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed at @MMarchioneAP __ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Ultra-personal therapy: Gene tumor boards guide cancer care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-958c0f573f5f4d048291653c02425da9",
            "input": "Lovato has been an open book since she announced in 2010 that she was checking into a rehabilitation center to deal with an eating disorder, self-mutilation and other issues. Over the next eight years, she became a role model and bona fide pop star, releasing multi-platinum songs and albums that range from playful to serious with lyrical content about her battles with drugs and alcohol. ″(She) has found enormous success by addressing those issues, and not only addressing them when they were still fresh, but also continuing to speak about them as she had been sober for years. She’s always kind of keeping it at the forefront ... and showing people that it’s OK to be open about having struggles whether it’s mental health issues, substance abuse (or) body positivity,” said Jason Lipshutz, the editorial director at Billboard. “By opening herself up and sharing herself she has given the signal to a lot of people — either young listeners or adult listeners — that they can do the same.” “Obviously she’s got an amazing voice and she’s got some great hooks and a lot of hit singles, but I think people really connect with that type of openness,” he added. Lovato’s representative said in a statement Tuesday that the 25-year-old was awake and recovering with her family after the singer was reportedly hospitalized for an overdose. It came a month after she released a new song called “Sober,” indicating that she relapsed after six years of sobriety. Lovato has chronicled her life and battles throughout the years, from her bisexuality to being bullied as a child to suffering from depression. She has said she’s used cocaine before interviews and drank alcohol in the morning out of a soda bottle to mask it. That candor has helped her become a role model for young women and men who have faced their own issues. Actress Lili Reinhart, who appears in the hit CW Network series “Riverdale,” said she looked up to Lovato. “When I was 14, she was an idol to me in how she spoke so openly about mental health. And now she continues to inspire thousands of young men and women with her body positivity messages,” the 21-year-old tweeted Tuesday. In her YouTube documentary, “Demi Lovato, Simply Complicated,” Lovato said at one point she idolized Amy Winehouse, whose seven-year death anniversary was Monday. “I wanted to be as thin as her,” Lovato said in the film, released last year. “I wanted to sing like her. I wanted to be just like her.” The last two years have been Lovato’s biggest in music: “Sorry Not Sorry,” the sassy, punchy pop song, became the entertainer’s biggest hit of her career, peaking at No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and reaching triple-platinum status. Her “Confident” album competed for best pop vocal album at the 2017 Grammys (she lost to Adele’s “25”). Lovato earned praise and more hit songs for her collaborations with the electronic music groups Cheat Codes and Clean Bandit. And she’s even expanded to the Latin market with the Luis Fonsi collaboration “Echama la Culpa” and the Spanish version of “Solo” (Lovato is of Mexican descent). But her latest release, “Sober,” was concerning since Lovato had said she was clean for six years. “I’m not sober anymore,” she sings. “I’m sorry that I’m here again, I promise I’ll get help/It wasn’t my intention, I’m sorry to myself.” “We should wrap our arms of love around Demi Lovato. I am so happy you’re alive. Thank God,” Lady Gaga tweeted. “If I know my monsters as well as I believe I do, we all wish you self-compassion and inner peace. And may you receive the love so many have for you.” Lovato started as a child star on the series “Barney & Friends,” later breaking through as a teen on the Disney Channel film “Camp Rock” and the network series “Sonny with a Chance.” She did not return for the third season of “Sonny” after checking into rehab in 2010, also leaving an international tour with the Jonas Brothers. She emerged with the album “Unbroken” in 2011, detailing her recovery in the ballad “Skyscraper.” More songs like that followed as Lovato toured the world and reached new heights on the pop charts. There was a worldwide outpouring of support for Lovato as the hashtags #PrayForDemi and #StayStrongDemi trended heavily on social media and everyone from Bruno Mars to Ariana Grande to Ellen DeGeneres to Justin Timberlake rooted for Lovato’s recovery. “I think everybody just wants her to be OK and there’s no feeling that I can perceive of (people saying), ‘How dare she?’ or anything like that,” Lipshutz said. “People are understandably concerned and I think that no matter what happens next people are going to be supportive of her.”",
            "output": [
                "With rare candor, Lovato chronicled her recovery and relapse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4ef9a59a21664bc78584d47646508794",
            "input": "NCR Corp. will fund the dredging of contaminated sediments and removal of an aging dam in the Kalamazoo River under an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Michigan, officials told The Associated Press ahead of an official announcement. “This is a big step forward toward cleaning up the river,” said John Irving, a deputy assistant administrator in the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. The Kalamazoo is polluted with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from paper recycling mills. Used for ink removal, the chemicals were discharged into the river from the 1950s through the mid-1970s. They also seeped into groundwater and surface waters from landfills where mill waste was dumped. In addition to the river, the contamination zone in Allegan and Kalamazoo counties includes a roughly 3-mile (5-kilometer) section of a tributary called Portage Creek, as well as mill properties, riverbanks and floodplains. It is on the federal Superfund list of hazardous sites. Signs posted along the river warn anglers not to eat the fish they catch. The EPA has overseen the removal of nearly 450,000 cubic yards (344,000 cubic meters) of soil and sediment from the area since 1998, in addition to cleaning up 7 miles (11 kilometers) of the river and riverbanks. Eighty-two acres (33 hectares) of landfills containing PCBs have been covered with layers of clay, topsoil and vegetation to prevent the toxins from leaching into groundwater. But much remains to be done. The agreement between NCR and the government calls for the company to pay at least $135.7 million for cleanup work that is expected to take an additional 10-15 years. Among the tasks: dismantling Trowbridge Dam in Allegan County. The dam, which was built in 1898 to supply electric power to Kalamazoo, is in poor shape and has been over-topped by high water. It is the highest-priority dam removal planned in Michigan, according to the state Department of Natural Resources, which set aside $2.9 million in May to get the project underway. The first step is to stabilize the structure so that it won’t collapse while a contractor dredges PCB-laced sediments from a 2.4-mile (3.9-kilometer) river section upstream, which is expected to take three years, said Paul Ruesch, the EPA’s on-site coordinator. NCR funds will pay for that work and for razing the dam when the sediment removal is complete, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark told the AP. “You want to get that sediment out before taking the dam out, so you’re not letting the sediments wash further downstream,” he said. The removal of tainted soils in several floodplain spots is also funded under the deal. And the company will also pay $76.5 million to the EPA to cover past and future costs of the river cleanup; $27 million to other federal and state agencies for damages to natural resources; and $6 million to the state for past and future costs. The proposed settlement was filed in federal court Wednesday. The public will get 30 days to comment, after which the government agencies could make revisions before requesting final court approval. NCR spokesman Scott Sykes said the company had no comment. The agreement represents a significant milestone in the overall cleanup, which is expected to end up costing about $851 million, Clark said. Payment negotiations are continuing with other companies that share responsibility for the pollution, including Georgia-Pacific, International Paper and Weyerhaeuser. The Kalamazoo River project is among those on the Superfund list designated by the Trump administration for special attention because of cleanup delays, Irving said. “This settlement represents substantial progress in the cleanup and restoration of the Kalamazoo River,” said Liesl Clark, Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. In addition to protecting public health and the environment, she said, it will fund “projects to restore natural resources and help compensate the public for lost recreational opportunities within this important Southwest Michigan watershed.” While “extremely welcome,” the deal won’t raise enough money to finish the cleanup and agencies should continue pressing the polluters to do more, said Kenneth Kornheiser, president of the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, a nonprofit advocacy group. “I appreciate the monumental size of the problem, but somebody created the problem and needs to be responsible for remediating the damage,” he said. ___ Follow John Flesher on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnflesher",
            "output": [
                "Company to pay $245M toward cleanup of Kalamazoo River PCBs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-772f91afb9164962a7412a9bd4df796d",
            "input": "Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees declared an emergency Thursday to allow the state to spend more on testing and treatment, saying Florida has had more than 2,000 cases since the beginning of the year compared with 548 all of last year. Most have been in central Florida, and health officials are still investigating the sources. “We urge vaccination and stress the importance of washing your hands regularly,” Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez said in a tweet . Philadelphia also declared an emergency Thursday, and Mississippi officials announced an outbreak in their state earlier in the week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Kentucky has had 4,793 cases since an outbreak there in 2017; since 2018, Ohio has had 3,220 and West Virginia 2,528. Hepatitis A is a virus that infects the liver and is spread through food, water and objects tainted by feces, or through close contact. Its flu-like symptoms, if they occur, usually last about two months. It had been considered a disease that was fading away, thanks in part to vaccines available since 1995. As recently as 2015, fewer than 1,400 cases were reported nationwide. But three years ago, a wave of outbreaks among homeless people and illicit drug users began appearing in the U.S. More than two dozen states have reported such outbreaks since then, with more than 22,500 cases, including 221 deaths. Vaccines have typically been administered to children, but many of the new cases have been in adults. Florida had 65 new cases in the past two weeks alone, bringing the total to 2,034, state officials said. That compares with 548 last year and 276 cases in 2017. Dr. Eugene Schiff, director for liver diseases at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and former epidemic intelligence service officer for CDC, told The Associated Press that the disease is likely spreading in Florida among homeless and unvaccinated people. He said intravenous drug users, men who have sex with men and the homeless are at a higher risk for the illness. “Homelessness is a big issue throughout the country and in Florida, and they are at higher risk to spread hepatitis A around,” Dr. Schiff said. “It is more epidemic in the homeless community.” But he noted that the vaccine protects people against the disease: “This is entirely preventable. It is not that this is a virulent strain, there is just a larger risk if people haven’t been vaccinated.” Dr. Neil Gupta, branch chief in the CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis in Atlanta, said cases have increased nationally since 2016 among homeless communities, drug-users and, to some extent, males who have sex with each other. There are 27 states that declared an outbreak. Gupta said the groups at-risk have historically not received vaccinations. “The most effective response measures are to increase vaccinations to the at-risk groups through coordinated, targeted vaccination efforts to stop the outbreak,” he said. ___ AP medical writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Florida latest place to declare emergency over hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-719585a7992841aab2bcd2cb29fdd96a",
            "input": "Capital Care Network of Toledo surrendered its license for performing surgical abortions to the Ohio Department of Health last week. The surrender prompted conflicting messages from anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights groups. The head of Greater Toledo Right to Life said Wednesday that Toledo’s “last surgical abortion chamber is closed.” NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio countered in a tweet that the halt in surgical abortions is temporary. Calls last February by feminist icon and Toledo native Gloria Steinem helped the clinic secure a patient-transfer agreement with a local hospital system, a requirement for surgical abortions. A clinic spokeswoman said Wednesday the agreement is no longer valid. She wouldn’t say whether the clinic will reapply.",
            "output": [
                "Toledo clinic suspends surgical abortions during change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f590ff0ff234afd8b3fb21a3bd3bb72",
            "input": "He did not spell out why he expected no corresponding EU moves. But in a statement, his agency said a key finding in its latest annual report was a “marked rise in the potency and purity of Europe’s most commonly used illicit drugs, fuelling concerns for the health of users who, wittingly or unwittingly, may be consuming stronger products”. It also pointed out an increase in the numbers of cannabis-related health emergencies in Europe between 2008 and 2012. Gotz told a briefing arranged to present the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s report: “In Europe I do not know any government, or parliamentary majority backing a government, that is currently seriously discussing cannabis legalization or regulation in a different way. “I don’t see a discussion coming up of the level as it is in the Americas,” he said in Lisbon, the agency’s headquarters. Portugal pioneered the decriminalization of all drug use in 2001 and some countries have followed suit, making possession of small quantities of drugs, especially marijuana, a misdemeanor rather than criminal offence. Germany allows seriously ill patients to grow, buy and consume their own cannabis under a special license, and medical marijuana is legal in the Czech Republic, but otherwise cultivation and use remain illegal in the EU. In the United States, 23 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana, and voters in four states have gone further by approving the drug for recreational use by adults. But the drug remains illegal under federal law, which classifies pot as a dangerous narcotic with no current medical use. The EU drug monitoring agency said technical innovation and market competition have led to an increase in the potency of cannabis, the purity of cocaine and the MDMA-content in ecstasy tablets. It also flagged market changes such as detection of heroin processing laboratories in Europe and a greater diversification of trafficking routes and opioid products, which, combined with a substantial increase in opium production in Afghanistan, could reverse declines in heroin supply and stagnation of demand.",
            "output": [
                "EU drug agency sees no U.S.-like cannabis legalization moves."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6983919f7fdc4f15b51a961c41a3b507",
            "input": "“It was great to move out because I have my own life now,” said Gregory, who lives in a Pittsburgh-area development where half of the 42 units are for those diagnosed with autism. “I want to be able to come and go as I please,” said Gregory, who likes to draw and take photographs. The complex, called the Dave Wright Apartments, opened in December and is among innovative housing developments popping up across the U.S. to serve those who were diagnosed with autism as children amid increased awareness about the disorder and changes in how it’s defined. The developments are often spearheaded by parents who see their adult children’s desire for independence and wonder who will care for them in the future. According to the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, 87 percent of adults with autism live with their parents at some point between high school and their early 20s — a far higher percentage than the general population. “They want to live independently and they want to work. They want to be involved. Right now there are just not enough opportunities for them to do those things,” said Debra Caudy, who is working with her husband on a housing development near Dallas inspired by their 19-year-old autistic son, Jon. Gregory’s mother, Connie, said her daughter is “thriving” in her new home. “I think she realizes that she fits in,” Gregory said. “I don’t know that she would feel as secure anywhere else.” Masha Gregory describes herself as having a “little bit of autism,” along with auditory processing disorder, meaning her ears and brain don’t function well together. Autism impairs one’s ability to communicate and interact with others, but there can be a wide range to the symptoms and severity of the disorder. Symptoms could include not speaking, repeating certain behaviors and not wanting change in daily activities. Some people with autism have signs of lower than normal intelligence, but others have normal to high intelligence. The new crop of developments to accommodate autistic adults is varied. Some are in big cities, others in small towns. Some are like the complex where Gregory has an apartment to herself. Others have homes with shared living areas and private bedrooms and bathrooms. Some just have a person on staff who can offer guidance to residents, while others offer an array of supportive services. “What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for the other,” said Carolyn Klebanoff, a co-founder of Sweetwater Spectrum, a development featuring four shared homes in Sonoma, California. “Having a whole variety of options out there is critical.” Sweetwater, which opened in 2013, is within walking distance of the town square. It has a community center, farm, greenhouse and pool. The homes have noise-dampening ceilings and quiet heating and air conditioning systems for residents who are hypersensitive to loud sounds. Residents include those like Klebanoff’s 23-year-old daughter who aren’t conversational, as well people with high-functioning autism. “It’s more like just a place to live,” said 24-year-old Sweetwater resident Gwen Fisher, while adding that she appreciates its focus on people with autism. Fisher said she participates in activities offered at Sweetwater but also gets out into the community, including working as a dog walker and volunteering at a food bank and animal shelter. Desiree Kameka, director of community engagement and the housing network at Madison House Autism Foundation in Maryland, said such developments can provide more freedom than group homes, where housing is typically tied to a specific provider of support services. “It gives the people that live there the most flexibility and control,” she said, adding that sometimes group home residents end up being required to all do the same outside activities. Many people with autism don’t qualify for government services once they leave school, she noted, and these developments may help bridge the gap, providing enough support that they can live on their own. “Some of these communities could give people opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have: They’d be forced to live with family,” she said. Elliot Frank, president of the nonprofit Autism Housing Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, which was behind the Dave Wright Apartments where Masha Gregory lives, has watched as a community has formed there. Frank said he came up with the concept after hearing a businessman talk about employing autistic adults and wondering where they would live. “The whole concept of what we call disability housing, it’s not what we used to think about,” Frank said. ___ Follow Jamie Stengle on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JamieStengle",
            "output": [
                "Housing options help autistic adults find independence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-545fe24cedc34dc09a4bcb35b775c2de",
            "input": "Until a month after the end of the state of emergency, called on March 18 to prevent the spread of coronavirus and extended last week to at least April 17, electricity, water, and gas cannot be shut off, easing pressure on Portuguese families struggling to pay their bills. Government data shows over 4,000 people registering at job centres per day in the first week of April and an increase in unemployment of 28,000 in March as the country’s export-driven, tourism-dependent economy reels from the sudden drop in demand. Also on Wednesday, parliament voted to grant partial pardon to prisoners with pre-existing health conditions, up to two-year sentences or less than two years left behind bars, in a move aimed at decongesting prisons to minimise risk in the event of an outbreak. Prisoners given sentences longer than six months who have served a quarter of their time, normally allowed three days leave, will be granted 45 days. “The virus would spread like a fuse in a prison,” justice minister Francisca Van Dunem said. “A decent state does not leave any of its citizens behind, even if they are prisoners.”  Those convicted of homicide, sexual violence, physical abuse, or association with criminal networks will remain in prison, as well as anyone who committed a crime while in public office, from politicians to police officers. Portugal, currently in its third week of a nationwide state of emergency, has so far reported 13,141 confirmed coronavirus cases and 380 deaths, a relatively low toll, especially compared with neighbouring Spain and Italy. Earlier on Wednesday, hotel association AHP reported that around 85% of hotel workers in Portugal will be temporarily laid off in April due to the impact the coronavirus is having on the country’s economy. AHP also said the hotel industry could lose 80% to 90% of its revenues, or up to 1.4 billion euros between March and June if the novel coronavirus continues to spread. Portugal attracts millions of foreign visitors annually, and the tourism sector, accounting for nearly 15% of gross domestic product, helped it to recover from the 2010-14 debt crisis. (This story corrects 2nd paragraph to reflect that state of emergency was extended last week, not this week)",
            "output": [
                "Portugal suspends water, electricity shutoffs and releases some prisoners amid coronavirus outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e68c206222d0425f929bcaf84c1b3a98",
            "input": "\"Jerry Patterson says the fellow Republican who succeeded him as Texas land commissioner, George P. Bush, fixed very few homes in the months since Hurricane Harvey slapped ashore in August 2017. Patterson, otherwise confirming his 2018 candidacy for land commissioner, a post he previously held for 12 years, said in a recent interview that the Bush-led General Land Office hadn’t accomplished much in the way of hurricane relief. On Dec. 8, 2017, Patterson said to Austin American-Statesman commentator Ken Herman: \"\"I mean, who the hell’s in charge here? And now we have tens of thousands of Texans who are essentially homeless and the land office has repaired two--two homes. And we’ve got folks waking up that have been sleeping in tents and they got snow this morning. People are still sleeping in tents.\"\" Patterson’s comment seemed potent given that the GLO announced in September 2017 it was teaming with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hasten post-Harvey recovery in part by helping eligible survivors begin to patch up their homes--though full rebuilds weren’t in the mix. Bush said at the time: \"\"With the magnitude of the damage from Hurricane Harvey, there is no doubt this will require a long recovery. This agreement marks the beginning of a new model for simplifying and expediting the transition out of sheltering to short-term and long-term housing recovery efforts.\"\" We focused this fact-check on Patterson’s insistence the GLO had only repaired two homes. Homeless--and tents? But Patterson’s other pokes also got our attention. How many Texans remain homeless due to the hurricane is hard to pin, we recently found. But a University of Texas expert, Gordon Wells, has estimated, based on flood insurance claims and satellite imagery, that at the least, more than 1 million Texas homes sustained flood damage though he told us that count could exceed 1.7 million. After Patterson spoke, we queried government officials about survivors in tents. By phone, the GLO’s Pete Phillips said some Aransas County residents, resistant to options such as out-of-town hotels, were residing in tents. Similarly, Bob Howard of FEMA’s Harvey response team responded by email: \"\"Every effort is made to ensure survivors are aware of available local, state and federal resources. Thus far, all tent-dwellers found by the field team have indicated they prefer to remain in their current status or are not eligible for federal disaster assistance.\"\" Now let’s turn to Patterson’s focus on homes repaired with government help since Harvey and related rains flooded much of Southeast Texas. Patterson points to federal program We asked Patterson the basis of his numerical claim; he told us by phone that he was referring to two homes repaired as of early December 2017 through the federal Direct Assistance for Limited Home Repair (DALHR) program. Patterson, who said he’d drawn his tally of two from state-enlisted contractors and others he declined to identify, urged us to seek insight from elected leaders in counties hit by Harvey. We heard back from elected officials in two counties. Galveston County’s county judge, Mark Henry, said by phone that flooding due to Harvey had flooded 22,000 to 24,000 local homes with water an inch to eight feet deep. Henry, who volunteered that he’s a longtime friend to Patterson, said his office daily fields calls from residents awaiting help. Calling delayed  repairs \"\"frustrating,\"\" Henry said: \"\"As far as the why\"\" repairs have been delayed, Henry said, \"\"I don’t know and I don’t care. I want it to get done.\"\" By email, a GLO spokeswoman,  Brittany Eck, specified that as of mid-December 2017, the agency along with FEMA had housed 56 Galveston County \"\"applicant households and 446 are in the process of receiving a direct housing solution.\"\" Also by phone, Loyd Neal, Nueces County’s judge, expressed chagrin that no agency advanced dollars enabling the Coastal Bend Council of Governments to hire individuals to consider applicants for short-term housing help. By email, Eck countered that the GLO had guaranteed up to $200,000 in reimbursed administrative costs to the regional councils asked to help administer post-Harvey housing assistance. Eck said that after the Coastal Bend council declined to participate, GLO employees were carrying out the program in that region. Neal told us that nearly four months since Harvey’s arrival, FEMA-funded housing including trailers or manufactured homes had yet to be brought into Port Aransas, the island tourist town where, Neal elaborated, more than two-thirds of local hurricane-damaged condominiums had yet to reopen. \"\"It’s an absolute disgrace,\"\" Neal said, \"\"that the state of Texas and the federal government and whoever else is in charge of this have not responded. It’s the greatest bureaucratic buck-passing I’ve ever seen.\"\" By email, Eck said that per FEMA in December 2017, 52 Nueces County households were in need of direct housing assistance. Correct count, but… We confirmed Patterson’s count of two homes whose DALHR repair projects had been completed with Eck and Phillips, a land office administrator. But those officials said Patterson’s claim gave short shrift to everything Harvey-related that Bush and the land office have undertaken and, Phillips said, to FEMA’s supervisory governing role. \"\"He is oversimplifying what is going on,\"\" Phillips said, and \"\"cherry-picking\"\" given that the federal government supports housing options including thousands of hotel rooms, two types of home repair and possibly temporary apartments or trailers or manufactured homes. At the state level too, Phillips elaborated, \"\"we’re always at the mercy of FEMA. They control the triage process\"\" including, Eck said, confidential lists of homeowners for GLO to contact about their possibly seeking partial repairs backed by federal aid. Patterson, commenting on Phillips’ general assessment of his claim, said by email that \"\"to be clear, I made a statement, and it turned out to be 100% factually accurate. None of the ‘context’ or ‘cherry-picking’ BS need apply.\"\" DALHR in Texas In November 2017, Bush announced the completion of the first DALHR home-repair project in Dickinson, in Galveston County. A GLO press release said the project included electrical and plumbing repairs, wall insulation, sheet rock, siding repair and replacing kitchen and bathroom sinks and a bathtub. That release said DALHR \"\"provides permanent repairs for homeowners with moderate damages who lack available housing resources.\"\" But not everybody qualifies, the release made clear, in that beneficiaries must have sustained a FEMA-verified loss of $17,000 or more after 18 inches of interior flooding or more--though Phillips told us the GLO later encouraged FEMA to drop the 18-inch requirement, a change that qualified an additional 2,600 homes for consideration. According to the release, interested homeowners had to clear another half dozen hurdles such as a lack of other applicable insurance coverage and that eligible damages wouldn't exceed $60,000 or half the pre-hurricane taxable assessed value of the home. Then again, Eck told us by email, the latter limit was subsequently relaxed to allow awards to pay for up to half of a home’s replacement value. The November release also said that funded repairs under DALHR \"\"are limited to real property components such as heating, plumbing, ventilation and air conditioning, walls, floors and ceilings,\"\" leaving our structural or engineering needs or any items covered by other aid. Varied aid offerings Let’s walk through some more of what the GLO and FEMA described as the programs they’re steering to Harvey survivors. Notably, Phillips said, and FEMA’s Howard confirmed, the teaming of the state agency with FEMA to coordinate short-term housing aid marked the first time a state agency had been given that front-line role. Eck said Gov. Greg Abbott \"\"tapped the GLO to help FEMA implement these programs three weeks after the storm, in part due to the enormity of the affected area. In all cases, the applicant must be approved for eligibility by FEMA and, if interested, agree to the terms of FEMA’s regulations. The GLO is processing eligible applicants for short-term housing programs as FEMA is making their information available to the agency,\"\" Eck wrote. By email, Eck wrote that individuals displaced by the hurricane and its aftermath were offered federally funded hotel stays by FEMA while they looked for longer-term housing. \"\"This program is currently housing 15,027 individuals in 1,334 hotels,\"\" Eck said. \"\"None of the programs provided by FEMA are designed to be a permanent home replacement or complete repair program,\"\" Eck added. \"\"The programs are designed to be short-term (up to 18 months) stopgap solutions while individuals work on long-term solutions.\"\" Starting Nov. 18, 2017, Eck wrote, the agency through early December 2017 had contacted 664 households judged by FEMA to be potentially qualified for the program. She said those contacts led to 290 expressions of interest and 182 DALHR home inspections--with 67 homes pre-qualified for repairs and 13 work orders issued for builders to start. \"\"To date, two homes have had the work completed,\"\" Eck wrote. By email. FEMA’s Howard wrote: \"\"We believe it is two projects at this point.\"\" Phillips said by phone that his DALHR goal was to complete more than 100 home projects by 2018; he said 36 builders were standing by ready to do the \"\"re-work\"\" on homes. Meantme, Phillips said, over 670 Texas families had received direct housing help by landing a trailer or manufactured home. At our request, FEMA’s Howard emailed us that agency’s daily Harvey fact sheet from the date that Patterson made his claim stating that 638 Texas families by then had been provided a trailer or manufactured home. As of mid-December, Howard told us by email, 8,057 Harvey survivors in the state still showed a need for a trailer or manufactured home and, he said, 2,600 of them remained under review for DAHLR aid. Otherwise, Phillips said, the GLO helped make available 40 apartment units in Wharton and also found 120 units of  \"\"corporate housing\"\" to be made available in Conroe, in both cases under FEMA-backed programs. Howard said that generally by Dec. 14, 2017, 894,606 Texas residents had registered for Harvey-tired FEMA assistance of one kind or another. Another Patterson-cited program Patterson further told us the GLO had failed to help Texans benefit from another FEMA offering, the Partial Repair and Essential Power for Sheltering (PREPS) program, which provides up to $20,000 enabling homeowners to shelter in their homes thanks to limited repairs and the restoration of power. Eck said by email that PREPS aid was being offered by FEMA separately in that beneficiaries need a local government to provide a 10 percent match for an award to be made. By phone, meantime, Phillips said GLO officials had judged PREPS to be of limited value because families getting awards end up practically camping at home. The DALHR program, Phillips said, gets families \"\"close to being whole.\"\" Our ruling Patterson said that since Hurricane Harvey, the agency helmed by Bush has done just two home repairs. Patterson’s figure, confirmed by GLO, was accurate. However, this claim leaves out ample significant information such as FEMA’s overriding control of the complicated DALHR program, which isn't open to every homeowner and only funds partial repairs. Notably too, additional  homes were poised to qualify for or get repairs through DALHR at the time that Patterson spoke. – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Jerry Patterson Says the Texas General Land Office led by George P. Bush has repaired just two homes since Hurricane Harvey."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45b8b50714164428a09d9662dea0d10d",
            "input": "That proposal was one of 65 recommendations released Tuesday to tackle the intractable problem of domestic violence in France, where a woman is killed by her partner every three days, according to government statistics. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe launched the initiative in September. It’s the first time that France has undertaken a comprehensive national effort to address domestic violence, according to Gender Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa. Other proposals include mandatory reporting requirements for health professionals who witness signs of domestic violence and new protocols for police responding to domestic violence complaints. The experts also are encouraging awareness programs about gender violence, urging banks to make it easier for women to leave their partners, and educating children and adolescents about gender equality. Schiappa said most of domestic violence killings in France are carried out with guns, arguing that if authorities take away the weapons that could reduce such deaths. French law enforcement has received much criticism for failing to quickly and adequately respond to complaints of domestic violence. The government began to treat the issue with increased urgency after President Emmanuel Macron visited a domestic violence hotline in September and observed a police officer rejecting a woman’s call for help. Schiappa, who is overseeing the government commission, told a news conference Tuesday that the recommendations mark an important step toward “a system of zero tolerance” for all types of domestic violence. The commission also urged greater awareness of the psychological effects of domestic abuse, including when women feel so trapped in a toxic relationship that they decide to kill themselves. In 2018, 217 French women died by suicide for this reason, according to lawyer and domestic violence specialist Yael Muller. Schiappa said it is important to recognize “psychological violence” and “economic violence” as forms of domestic violence that are just as pernicious as physical blows. She described a case of a woman who was driven by her partner to jump out of a window. “Does he bear no responsibility since he didn’t physically push her? I don’t believe so,” she said. “We still have an enormous amount to do to make progress against domestic violence, because for years, despite all the efforts of previous ministers, the number of femicides has not decreased,” she said. The government pledged 5 million euros ($5.5 million) in September to create 1,000 shelters for female victims of domestic violence in 2020. An additional 1 million euros ($1.1 million) will go toward anti-domestic violence initiatives. The recommendations will now go to government ministries and France’s National Assembly and Senate to consider making them into law. The commission will formally conclude its work on Nov. 25, the international day for the elimination of violence against women.",
            "output": [
                "French panel: Seize guns to reduce domestic violence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f7e64d776bb4126a86ff3fd2a23f3f6",
            "input": "The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma, the privately held drug company that has made billions from OxyContin, and Sacklers hold most of the seats on the board. Members of the family have been accused in a case brought by the state of Massachusetts of deceiving patients and doctors about the drug’s risks as deaths mounted. And documents recently released in the case shine new light on former Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler’s role in the aggressive marketing of the powerful opioid. As the allegations mount, family members who made their fortunes well before OxyContin even went on the market have sought to distance themselves from their relatives. At the same time, activists have called on institutions to cut ties with the Sacklers, staging protests at museums that have received millions in donations. “The Sackler name is becoming synonymous with the opioid epidemic, and it is damning for these institutions to have their name up,” said Nan Goldin, a photographer whose works have been displayed at Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum and at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a Sackler Wing. Lost in the outrage: One of the most generous and best known of the Sacklers died in 1987, nearly a decade before OxyContin was released. Arthur M. Sackler made his money from medical research, medical advertising and trade publications. His younger brothers, Raymond and Mortimer, bought out his stake after he died. Arthur Sackler’s name is on a gallery at the Smithsonian, a wing of galleries at London’s Royal Academy of Arts and a museum at Beijing’s Peking University. The Sackler Wing at the Met, which houses the celebrated Temple of Dendur from ancient Egypt, was funded by all three brothers. Richard has likewise donated heavily to various institutions. After a federal investigation, Purdue Pharma and three executives — none of them Sacklers — pleaded guilty in 2007 and agreed to pay more than $600 million for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. The Stamford, Connecticut, company has also been hit with a multitude of lawsuits over its role in the opioid crisis that killed more than 47,000 people in 2017 alone. Arthur’s nephew, Richard Sackler, who became president of Purdue Pharma in 1999 and remains on the board, is at the center of the litigation. He and other current and former executives have been accused of hiding the dangers of the drug from doctors and patients, encouraging physicians to prescribe more of the highest doses and minimizing the abuse crisis as it was unfolding. “This is not too bad. It could have been far worse,” he wrote to Purdue Pharma executives in 2001 after a federal prosecutor reported that 59 people in one state had died from OxyContin, according to documents released this week in the Massachusetts case. At the launch party for OxyContin in 1996, Richard Sackler boasted the drug would bring a “blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,” the documents say. Years later, they say, he sought to shift blame onto drug users themselves, recommending the company “hammer on the abusers in every way possible.” “Richard followed that strategy for the rest of his career: collect millions from selling addictive drugs, and blame the terrible consequences on the people who became addicted,” attorneys in Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office wrote. “By their misconduct, the Sacklers have hammered Massachusetts families in every way possible. And the stigma they used as a weapon made the crisis worse.” A spokesman for Richard Sackler’s family referred questions about the lawsuit to the company. Purdue Pharma said in a statement that Massachusetts’ case — the first one brought by a state to personally name members of the Sackler family — is “littered with biased and inaccurate characterizations.” The company said it will “aggressively defend against these misleading allegations.” Arthur Sackler’s widow and children insist that they never financially benefited from the sale of OxyContin. “It is a gross injustice to connect Arthur to the opioid crisis some 30 years after his death when he had nothing to do with it,” Dame Jillian Sackler said in a statement. “It denies the many important contributions he made working to improve world health and to build cultural bridges between peoples.” But activists have made no distinction between Arthur and his relatives. In July, dozens of activists led by Goldin held a protest inside the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard, scattering pill bottles and holding banners that read “SHAME ON SACKLER.” Similar demonstrations have been held at the Met and the Smithsonian. Goldin, who was addicted OxyContin for years, said that getting the institutions to act will be difficult. “Who is going to turn down the money? They offer millions to these institutions, and the board members are not necessarily committed to action, so it’s going to take a lot,” she said. A Met spokesman said that the Sackler family’s support began decades before the opioid crisis, but that the museum will be examining its gift acceptance policies. The Guggenheim, home to the Sackler Center for Arts Education, had no comment. A Harvard spokesman said in an email that Arthur Sackler’s donation in 1982 paid for the construction of the building that originally housed the museum but that his foundation does not fund the museum. ___ Associated Press reporter Verena Dobnik contributed to this report from New York. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricher",
            "output": [
                "Opioid crisis brings unwanted attention to wealthy family."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7150a53ae5604095ad3eac358c38e168",
            "input": "As the world mobilizes to battle the virus, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have been relatively successful in curbing the spread so far. But a surge in imported cases in recent days has raised alarm that those efforts could rapidly unravel. “In many countries the number of confirmed cases can be described as explosive,” Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told a  press briefing on Tuesday. “If we don’t adopt some strict measures...I’m afraid all precaution efforts done in the past two months would be wasted.”  The latest tally from mainland China, the original epicenter of the coronavirus, showed 21 new confirmed cases on Monday, of which 20 involved infected travelers arriving from abroad, mostly Chinese nationals. Hong Kong said most of the recent confirmed cases in the past two weeks were imported. In Taiwan, 24 new cases up to Tuesday were all imported, while South Korea had 44 new infections involving infected travelers as of Sunday. Singapore confirmed 17 new infections on Monday, its biggest daily jump in cases, with 11 of those imported. The rush to flee virus hotspots in Europe and the United States has pushed up the price of flights. A ticket from London  to Hong Kong was going for up to HK$50,000 on Monday night as people tried to get to the city before it imposed tougher restrictions. “It is safer home than in Britain as the policy to contain the outbreak under Boris Johnson is doubtful,” said Ling, a Cambridge University student after landing in Hong Kong wearing a surgical mask and rubber gloves. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain rose to 1,543, up from 1,372 the day before, the health ministry said on Monday. The British death toll rose to 55. Four of Hong Kong’s 157 confirmed coronavirus patients have died, while more than 3,200 people have died from the disease in mainland China, the highest number of fatalities. Measures in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, include city-wide lockdowns, border tightening, contact tracing efforts and strict social distancing. The virus has already taken a heavy economic toll, especially in mainland China and global financial hub Hong Kong, so any rise in new cases could be devastating. Hong Kong on Tuesday toughened measures on travelers, requiring 14 days of quarantine for those entering the city as of midnight on Thursday, and joined Singapore in advising against all non-essential travel. China said all inbound, non-transit travelers to Beijing need to be isolated for 14 days at designated quarantine venues, mostly hotels in the city. Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, on Tuesday banned the entry of all non-residents, a move likely to have a significant impact on the already struggling casino industry. How seriously authorities in Asia take the virus battle has been underscored by punishments meted out or threatened to those who violate quarantine rules or give false information about their whereabouts or travel history. Taiwan said those who do not follow home isolation or quarantine rules could be fined between T$100,000 and T$1 million (US$ 3,300- US$33,000), and has advised people not to travel abroad at all. “We held firm to block the first wave of infection, but a new wave is coming, so everyone should cooperate with disease prevention efforts,” Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told  a news conference on Monday. While the imported infections in mainland China are still modest in number - 143 cases so far - authorities are concerned that virus carriers could trigger a second wave. The first imported case was reported in late February in the northwestern Ningxia region involving a traveler flying in from Iran. More cases quickly arrived from Iran, a hotspot with nearly 15,000 infections so far, followed by the first infected travelers from Italy in the first week of March. Soon, the infected were spotted on flights from countries including Spain, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand entered the list this week.",
            "output": [
                "Asia prepares for coronavirus boomerang wave as residents return home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf7d2ed19b3b4493951620679756e11a",
            "input": "The increase in deaths was the largest since the outbreak surfaced 10 days ago in the wealthy northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto. Lombardy, around Italy’s financial capital Milan, is by far with hardest hit, with 38 casualties. The virus has since spread south but the vast majority of cases remain centered on the original hotspots, with the addition of Emilia Romagna, another affluent region which borders on both Lombardy and Veneto and now has more cases than Veneto. In total, 2,036 people have tested positive in Italy, up from 1,694 on Sunday. Of these, 149 have recovered, the civil protection agency said. “What is comforting is that 50% of the 258 people who tested positive (in the last 24 hours) have no symptoms or are being looked after at home,” Angelo Borrelli, head of the agency, told reporters. In total, Italy has tested 23,345 people for the disease. The Lombardy regional government urged people over the age of 65 to remain at home, as data showed they were by far the most vulnerable to the highly contagious illness. “All those who have died (in Lombardy) are people over 65 with underlying health conditions, especially cardiovascular problems,” said Giulio Gallera, the region’s councillor responsible for welfare policy. In a worrying development, a policeman and a fireman based in Rome have also tested positive, authorities said, raising the risk of the virus spreading in the Italian capital. Cases in Rome, Italy’s largest city with 3 million people, had previously been limited to a Chinese couple on holiday and an Italian repatriated from the Chinese city of Wuhan - where the outbreak originated late last year - on a special flight and hospitalized. All three recovered. On Monday the Spallanzani infectious diseases hospital where the policeman was staying announced that his wife, two children and sister-in-law were also infected. The school attended by his son, in the nearby town of Pomezia, was closed and lessons were suspended in the university faculty at Rome’s main Sapienza university, attended by his other son. The coronavirus is taking a heavy toll on Italy’s economy, which was already teetering on the verge of recession before the outbreak, with sectors from manufacturing to tourism hit by a plunge in orders. Several international airlines including Lufthansa Delta Airlines and countries such as the Czech Republic have reduced or suspended flights to Italian cities. Milan cathedral reopened to the public on Monday but schools and universities remain closed and many companies told staff to work from home. The top of the UniCredit  skyscraper in Milan was lit in red, white and green, the colors of the Italian flag, in a sign of solidarity with people hit by the virus. National statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Monday that the 2019 budget deficit came in at 1.6% of national output, the smallest fiscal gap for 12 years. The much-lower-than-expected reading potentially gives the coalition of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party more leeway to spend and borrow this year - good news with coronavirus costs soaring. Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri announced on Sunday the cabinet would this week approve 3.6 billion euros ($3.5 billion) of measures to help companies. An aid package worth 900 million euros was unveiled on Friday for the worst-impacted zones.",
            "output": [
                "Italy coronavirus deaths jump to 52, cases climb above 2,000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-622ce292e5af4c5c806ea76d41c0003e",
            "input": "New Hampshire recently set some of the nation’s toughest standards for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS, but a judge temporarily blocked enforcement in November after chemical company 3M sued. The New Hampshire standard limits one chemical to a maximum of 12 parts per trillion and another to 15 parts per trillion, far lower than the 70 parts per trillion the Environmental Protection Agency has advised for the chemicals. Sanders, a Vermont senator, said instead of spending millions on lawsuits to gut clean water rules, such companies should be paying to clean up contamination. He said as president, he will create national clean water standards for PFAS and other chemicals in an effort to guarantee clean drinking water “as a human right.” “Corporate greed is threatening one of the most basic necessities of life: clean water,” he said in a statement. “Not only will we support state efforts to enforce stronger clean water laws, we are going to create federal clean water standards that force these companies to clean up their mess.” More than 700 homes in New Hampshire whose drinking water was contaminated by PFAS have been connected to new water, and the state estimates that more than 100,000 other people eventually could be affected. The contamination is the result of the chemicals leaking into groundwater from industrial facilities, as well as a former Air Force base. Studies have found potential links between high levels in the body of one form of the contaminants and a range of illnesses, including kidney cancer, increased cholesterol levels and problems in pregnancies. 3M Co., based in St. Paul, Minnesota, said in a statement Tuesday that it “supports appropriate science-based regulations of PFAS” and therefore backs “consideration of an enforceable, science-based national drinking water standard” for the toxic chemicals. “A consistent and unified federal policy based on sound science can help avoid the confusion and uncertainty of a state-by-state patchwork of regulations,” the company said. ___ Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, “Ground Game.”",
            "output": [
                "Sanders says he’ll enact national drinking water standards ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b1fd5893d7244108e25a09902be1f66",
            "input": "\"Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has made no secret of wanting to close the homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets. Reed, who has been active in downtown’s post-Recession resurgence, says he’ll push for the city to acquire the property through eminent domain and turn it into a police precinct and fire station. Health concerns are a major reason for closing the Peachtree-Pines shelter, Reed said during a lunchtime speech to Atlanta’s Commerce Club on Tuesday, Aug. 11. \"\"Peachtree and Pine is one of the leading sites for tuberculosis in the nation,\"\" he told the crowd. Reed said top officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently asked to meet with him and \"\"laid out how tuberculosis cases, not in Georgia, but across America, are being traced back to Peachtree and Pine.\"\" Could Peachtree-Pine, billed as the largest homeless shelter in the Southeast, be a leading site for tuberculosis in the nation? PolitiFact decided to do some checking. First a little background. The homeless are prime candidates for tuberculosis because they typically have greater exposure to cold weather, are in crowded conditions when they stay in shelters and lack proper nutrition and medical care. That means shelters, such as Peachtree-Pine, have to be vigilant to avoid becoming breeding grounds for TB, which is spread person to person through the air and caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB normally attacks the lungs, but also can strike the kidney, spine, brain or another body part. In most cases, tuberculosis is treatable and curable, although people can die if they don’t receive the proper treatment. Most people live with the bacteria, or latent TB infection, without feeling sick or showing symptoms. In 2014, 9,412 new tuberculosis cases were reported in the U.S., 334 in Georgia, according to the CDC. A new drug-resistant strain of TB was discovered in 2008 at the shelter at Peachtree and Pine, which is run by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. The strain was labeled G05625 TB by the CDC. The research To fact check Reed’s statement, we reached out to Fulton County government, the CDC, the mayor’s office and the Georgia Department of Public Health, as well as shelter management. Anita Beaty, Peachtree-Pine’s executive director, rejects Reed’s assessment of the shelter and says it is \"\"100 percent compliant\"\" with CDC protocol for spotting, treating and avoiding the spread of TB. She said Reed and the business community have conspired for years to force the shelter to close so they can take over its prime location, just south of Midtown and in sight of the Fox Theatre. Tuberculosis has been a worry at all Atlanta and Fulton County shelters, not just Peachtree-Pine, for years. But alarm bells apparently really started going off after an uptick in TB cases last year. \"\"At a time when the incidents of tuberculosis has been declining across the metropolitan Atlanta area and the rest of Georgia, it has actually increased in Fulton County,\"\" Brenda Fitzgerald, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, wrote Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves in April. A month later, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were sitting down for the first of two meetings with Reed about the ongoing TB problem generally, and Peachtree-Pine specifically. \"\"Our inability to control (the Peachtree-Pine) outbreak has led to infections in multiple other states,\"\" Philip A. LoBue and Jonathan Mermin, doctors with the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, wrote Reed after they met in May. Based on interviews, data and documents that PolitiFact reviewed, here’s a summary of the major points. -- Since 2008, new cases of the drug-resistant strain of TB that originated at the Peachtree-Pine shelter have turned up in metro Atlanta and Georgia as well as eight other states -- Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. (Genotype evidence, similar to a fingerprint, exists for every strain of TB, and that’s how every new case of G05625 in the state and nation can be traced to the Peachtree-Pine shelter. Similarly, that’s how the Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 201, was traced back to a 2-year-old from a small village in Guinea who died in 2013 and who became known around the world as Patient Zero.) -- At Fulton County’s four shelters, the number of TB cases rose by 230 percent, from 13 in 2013 to 43 in 2014. Twenty-two of the 43 cases, or slightly more than 50 percent, were at Peachtree-Pine. (The CDC defines a large outbreak as being 10 or more cases, CDC spokesman Brian Katzowitz said.) -- The number of drug-resistant G05625 tuberculosis cases, those linked to Peachtree-Pine, grew 10-fold from 2013 to 2014, from two to 23. -- Fulton County accounted for 82 percent of all cases of that strain of tuberculosis in Georgia and 69 percent of all cases of the strain in the United States. -- At least four clients of the Peachtree-Pine shelter, according to Fitzgerald, have died of tuberculosis since early 2014. In her letter to Eaves, Fitzgerald said, public health researchers identified the homeless shelter at the corner of Peachtree and Pine Streets \"\"as a major source of the current outbreak. \"\"If it [tuberculosis]  gains a foothold in the community, then the cost in healthcare and human suffering will be incalculable,\"\" she wrote. Jessica A. Corbitt-Dominguez, director of external affairs for Fulton County government, said Fulton health workers, in conjunction with officials from the Georgia Department of Public Health and CDC, responded to the outbreak with an aggressive campaign of education, testing and treatment. Anyone with active disease was relocated from the shelters while in treatment under the supervision of Fulton Health and Wellness. The county set up special teams that make daily visits to shelters to perform screenings and administer medicines, Corbitt-Dominguez said. In June 2015, the county health department also signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with four shelters, including Peachtree and Pine. This was considered a significant step since a lack of administrative controls and protocols is considered a likely contributor to the spread of TB. As of this month, the number of 2015 confirmed TB cases at Fulton homeless shelters is 13, Corbitt-Dominguez said. Beaty’s attorney last week provided reporters with a certificate showing the shelter is fully in compliance with the CDC’s TB protocol, and Beaty told PolitiFact \"\"it’s ludicrous to think we wouldn’t be on it.\"\" Corbitt-Dominguez confirmed that the shelter has never been cited by the county, although Eaves has said there have been concerns about the shelter’s TB safeguards. In a letter to Fitzgerald, he wrote that the shelter’s administration \"\"routinely exhibits sub-optimal administration of the procedures required to control the spread of this disease.\"\" Beaty said Reed’s statement makes clear he \"\"is just not getting good information.\"\" \"\"We have been cleared by Fulton County, which is on site every day to monitor. And we’ve got 100 percent clearance from the CDC’s requirements,\"\" she said. \"\"We resent those easy headlines that have no basis in fact and that marginalize homeless people in our facilities.\"\" Tom Andrews, president of the non-profit Mercy Care, which operates 14 clinics, some associated with shelters, said the strain of TB originating at Peachtree-Pine has to be a major concern. Since it is medicine-resistant, it requires a more expensive and longer treatment program, Andrews said. The CDC estimates that the costs of treating a person with TB increases with greater resistance. Direct costs in 2010 U.S. dollars average from $17,000 to treat drug-susceptible TB to $430,000 to treat the most drug-resistant form, according to the agency’s website. So is it a national leader in TB? We asked the mayor’s office for evidence to back up Reed’s statement that Peachtree-Pine \"\"is one of the leading sites for tuberculosis in the nation.\"\" Anne Torres, his spokeswoman, provided us copies of the letters from Fitzgerald and the doctors, as well as a highly technical report from the CDC. We reached out to the CDC. A spokesperson said agency officials would not comment on the mayor’s public statements. CDC officials also would not identify the states where they said the TB strain from Peachtree-Pine had spread. We were able to obtain that list from the Georgia Department of Public Health, as well as the number of cases of G05625 strain TB in each state from 2008 to 2014. The most were in Florida (14), followed by California (8) and North Carolina and Alabama (2 each). New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and South Carolina each reported one case in the five years -- for a total of 30 in the eight states in five years. But do 30 cases over a several-year period raise Peachtree-Pine to a leading site of TB in the nation? We posed that question to Philip Hopewell, a leading tuberculosis expert and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. \"\"Peachtree and Pine is clearly  a major site for transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and it may be one of the leading sites in the nation,\"\" Hopewell said. \"\"However, there are not data from every such facility in the country,\"\" he added. \"\"To say that the Atlanta facility is one of the leading sites in the country -- it probably is -- implies that there are data with which to compare the Atlanta facility. Thus, strictly speaking, what he said can't be backed with evidence. Even so, I wouldn't fault the mayor for saying this.\"\" Our ruling Mayor Kasim Reed said \"\"Peachtree and Pine is one of the leading sites for tuberculosis in the nation.\"\" Thirty cases of a medicine-resistant strain of TB in eight states have been traced back to the shelter at Peachtree and Pine. The shelter also had a large share of the cases in a recent TB outbreak in Fulton County and four TB deaths, according to state data. CDC officials clearly believe it’s a concern, but a leading tuberculosis expert says there’s a dearth of comparative data.\"",
            "output": [
                "Peachtree and Pine is one of the leading sites for tuberculosis in the nation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc795d1901e84ee9b5fe57617c5680d9",
            "input": "The council, which covers the city’s business center, was “reviewing (its) weed management methods and investigating other technologies”, a spokeswoman told Reuters in an email, a day after a strike by workers at a nearby council pressured it into trialing an alternative weedkiller. The City of Sydney council currently used Roundup “as a last resort ... when non-pesticide methods such as hand-weeding and mulching have been ineffective”, and began testing alternative products in late 2018, the spokeswoman added. Bayer says Roundup is safe and backed by several regulatory bodies, despite research that found its main ingredient glyphosate was probably carcinogenic. The German company has been hit by massive compensation payouts in the United States this year, over claims its product caused cancer, which have seen its shareprice to plummet. The prospect of Sydney council rethinking its ties to Roundup, a flagship product of U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto Co until a buyout from Bayer last year, shows the pressure that grassroots campaigns and lawsuits are putting on governments about the product even as regulators declare it safe. “Because there’s a lot of emotion around it, local agencies may be moved to make a decision that’s made based on placating the general public rather than the available science,” said Ian Musgrave, a molecular pharmacologist and toxicologist at University of Adelaide. “We should be making decisions on safety based on actual science, not based on our fear or dismay of megacorporations.”  Earlier this week, Blacktown City Council in Sydney’s west agreed to trial an alternative to Roundup after a worker strike over the product left 40,000 garbage bins unemptied. Another four councils around Sydney previously quit using Roundup over possible links to cancer. Last month, an Australian gardener filed the country’s first lawsuit against Bayer, accusing Monsanto of causing him harm from exposure to glyphosate via decades of using Roundup. A Bayer spokesman said the company “encourages constructive dialogue with our stakeholders to build a broader trust in science”. The company had published “extensive research which supports our products’ safety” and was “committed to ensuring our customers continue to have access to these critical products as part of their sustainable agricultural activities”.",
            "output": [
                "Sydney's city council reviews use of Bayer's Roundup weed killer amid cancer fears."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7a14345d0624b539a7b11ea1aed7cc0",
            "input": "The significant costs of both drugs were mentioned. Nice job. Good job describing the benefits reported in the two drug studies. The two papers present a bewildering array of statistics. This story did a nice job distilling the information into a couple of very understandable sentences. Good job explaining signifcant potential harms of both drugs – something competitors didn’t do at all. Nice job, including linking (in the online version) to the papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. No disease-mongering of melanoma. Several independent sources cited. The story adequately explained the comparisons between both new drugs and the older dacarbazine chemo drug. Vemurafenib was described as experimental and as “expected to be approved by the FDA within a few months.”  Ipilimumab was explained to be approved in March and already on the market. The relative novelty of both drugs was well explained. It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Drugs Show Promise Slowing Advanced Melanoma"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-232f9259cc39423299918e14af2a56c9",
            "input": "The Department of Health said Monday that no single product has been linked to the cases and the specific ingredient causing the lung injuries remains unknown. The state is recommending Tennesseans refrain from using vaping products as the investigation is ongoing. The CDC reported earlier this month that the number of vaping-related illnesses in the U.S. has reached about 1,300, with at least 26 deaths. Most who got sick said they vaped products containing THC, the marijuana ingredient that causes a high, but others said they vaped only nicotine. The CDC is advising Americans to refrain from using any vaping products.",
            "output": [
                "Tennessee reports 49 cases of lung injury linked to vaping."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f734d17ec5944b5b2560151421b3d07",
            "input": "The California deaths were caused by a strain of the influenza virus that is sending sufferers across the nation to the doctor for flu-like symptoms at rates that are 50 percent higher than normal, said Lyn Finelli, head of the influenza surveillance and outbreak response team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “That’s way above the norm for flu,” Finelli said. “It tells us we’re still in the middle of flu season, and in the Northeast and California it’s going up, up, up.”  The flu strain responsible for the California deaths, H1N1, also predominates nationwide this year. It hits people hardest between the ages of 25 and 64, partly because some older people are believed to have more immunity due to similar outbreaks many decades ago. In California, 52 people died last week alone, including one child, the state’s chief of communicable disease control told reporters on a conference call Friday. “This influenza season continues to be a severe one as the increasing number of influenza-related deaths indicates,” Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement, urging Californians to get vaccinated. In addition to the 147 confirmed California flu-related fatalities this season among people under age 65, another 44 suspected flu deaths remain under investigation, said Dr. James Watt, chief of the state’s Division of Communicable Disease Control. Most of those felled by the disease had other health conditions, but not all, he said. Last year at the same time, the state had recorded just 14 flu deaths among Californians under age 65. The death of a 47-year-old television advertising executive in the state’s capital city prompted a renewed call for residents to become vaccinated against flu. Sacramento County, with 21 deaths so far, leads the state in fatalities. “After reading the heartbreaking story of Nancy Pinnella, went to CVS and got my first flu shot ever,” California’s first lady, Anne Gust Brown, posted on Twitter. It is not fully clear whether California is an outlier in the severity of its cases, because states are not required to report flu deaths to the CDC, and data is collected differently from state to state and county to county, said CDC spokesman Jason McDonald. The fatality data that the public health agency does collect, on pediatric deaths, is not useful in studying H1N1, because the virus is more likely to attack adults, Finelli said. The public health agency does, however collect information on why people go to the doctor, and whether they are hospitalized for flu. Those signs, she said, show that this year’s flu is likely to continue to hit hard. Although the number of cases nationwide appears to have plateaued, she said, that does not take into account that California and the Northeast are lagging other areas with a late flu season. Meanwhile, CDC data does show that far more people under the age of 65 are being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms than last year. As of last week, for example, 76 percent of those hospitalized for flu were under age 65, compared to less than 50 percent last year. Nationwide, the data shows that somewhat fewer people have contracted flu so far this year than last year, Finelli said. This year’s strain, however, appears to be causing severe illness in a population that is more typically robust, she said.",
            "output": [
                "California sees high rate of flu deaths in unusually severe season."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-410ebb86e7f445c3b266e6468fdb5c50",
            "input": "Here’s the Story: In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over asking for a carry out at check register 4. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe 26, and he was only 22) and he fell in love. Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card, BRENDA. He walked out only to see her start walking up the road. Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work. She simply said it wasn’t possible. He pressed and and she explained she had two children and she couldn’t afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday. That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, “Well, lets take the kids with us.” She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed. Finally Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had a older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with down syndrome. Kurtis asked Brenda, “I still don’t understand why the kids can’t come with us?” Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities. Just like her first husband and father of her children did. That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids, went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the rest room, he picked him up out of his chair, took him, brought him back. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with. A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children . Since then they have added two more kids. So what happened to the stock boy and check out girl? Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner, now live in St. Louis, where he is employed by the St. Louis Rams and plays quarterback. The premise of the above-quoted story — that NFL quarterback Kurt Warner (who made the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite starting his career as an undrafted free agent) married the mother of two children, one of whom which had severe medical problems — is true. On the other hand, most of the key details provided in this widely circulated story were wrong. (Which in itself is a crying shame because the real story about Kurt’s and Brenda’s path through life is far more inspiring than this factually incorrect one.) Let’s address the inaccuracies first: Kurt and Brenda did not meet while both were working in a grocery store, so you can throw out all that bit about his mooning over her timecard. They met in 1992 at a country bar while he was Northern Iowa’s starting quarterback. (After being cut by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, Kurt did find employment in a grocery store, though: He stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour.) The next morning Kurt brought Brenda roses and wanted to meet her youngsters. She’d told Kurt about her children the night before, so there was no dramatic surprise when she introduced her disabled son. The Warners’ was a lengthy courtship. They married in 1997 after meeting in 1992 (not “a year later,” as the e-mail has it). Brenda (who is four years older than Kurt) had two children by a previous marriage; however, the e-mail version has their birth order reversed. In real life, Zachary is three years older than his sister, Jesse Jo. (More on this seemingly picayune point later because it’s pivotal to the real story of Brenda Warner’s life before Kurt.) Zachary Warner (born in 1989) does indeed have serious physical infirmities, but how he came by them is far more of a story than the Internet fiction lets on. He was a perfectly healthy infant, not a Down Syndrome child. When he was four months old, his father dropped him, and in the blink of an eye, this previously healthy baby was suddenly clinging to life, his grip slipping fast. He suffered severe brain damage, and both of his retinas were ruptured. At the time, few thought Zachary would live, and fewer still held out any hope he would ever see, sit up, read, walk, or talk. Zachary’s recovery has been long and arduous, but he now walks and talks. Though still legally blind, he can make out colors and shapes. No longer strictly a special-needs student, he is integrated for half-days in a regular high school classroom. Kurt adopted Zachary and Jesse after his wedding to Brenda in 1997. The Warners have since added five more children to their brood: Kade in 1998, Jada in 2001, Elijah in 2003, and twins Sienna and Sierra in 2005. As for what sort of lad Zachary is and what kind of relationship he enjoys with his adoptive father, this anecdote should say it all: After the Rams victory in the NFC Championship game in 2000, 10-year-old Zachary presented Kurt with a homemade card done in Rams blue and gold. Inside, in childlike scrawl, it read: “You’re as good a dad as you are a quarterback!”  Zachary’s birth dad could hardly be described in similar fashion. An inability to come to terms with the injuries he’d visited upon his son led to the breakup of his marriage to Brenda. He left her when she was eight months pregnant with Jesse. Over and above the numerous inaccuracies, the worst offense this particular e-mailed glurge is guilty of is omission. Not content with recasting the details of the Warners’ lives (and the reality had the fiction beat, remember), it leaves by the wayside horrendously large chunks of a truly thrilling story of the sort one usually pays $9.00 to see at the movies:      As you can see, falling in love with and then marrying a gal who had two children, one of them a special needs child, was just part of this most remarkable story.",
            "output": [
                "Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner married a woman who had two children, one a special needs child. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aaf1d4f2dde349ae9c12ff355a3a7be9",
            "input": "Gov. Brian Kemp said proposed changes to former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act would give individuals and families less expensive coverage options, a particular benefit for those who don’t qualify for federal subsidies to cover premiums. “They’re going to work to reduce costs, make health care more accessible and have better quality in our state,” Kemp said in a statement. Critics say it would drive up insurance costs for older and sicker people. Kemp also wants to offer subsidized coverage to a fraction of Georgia’s uninsured poor if they worked or went to school for 80 or more hours a month. Kemp’s administration projects the expansion would cover 50,000 people, far less than the 400,000 uninsured Georgians who might be covered by the Medicaid expansion originally envisioned by the overhaul. This second proposal, aimed at people earning incomes of up to 100% of the federal poverty level, echoes those made by other states. Federal officials have rejected some similar partial expansions. But it’s the first plan, under which Georgia would take over the federal insurance marketplace and the associated funding that goes with it, that’s drawing national notice. The state would make those federal subsidies available to people who buy health plans that don’t provide the full array of benefits that the Affordable Care Act requires. Passed in 2010, Obama’s signature health care law extended insurance coverage to millions of Americans by expanding Medicaid and subsidizing premiums for individuals and families who make up to four times the federal poverty level. The law — also known as “Obamacare” — allows states to seek waivers from the federal government to change certain provisions, but only if they adhere to strict rules. The Trump administration has loosened those rules, and Kemp’s plan includes three approaches promoted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in November 2018. Health policy experts say that change would drive up ACA premiums by drawing healthier people to less expensive, skimpier insurance plans. That would leave the ACA with a sicker patient pool. Under Kemp’s plan, Georgia residents would be required to bypass the central HealthCare.gov website to sign up for insurance. Instead, the state would redirect them to a list of approved brokers and insurers where consumers would be able to compare ACA-compliant plans side by side with plans that don’t meet ACA requirements. All plans would have to continue covering preexisting conditions. In addition to the current gold, silver and bronze level plans, Georgia would let insurers offer a new lower tier of benefits, called copper level, which would cover only about half the cost of projected expenses. The current lowest level of bronze covers about 60% of costs. The state says copper level premiums are expected to be 17% lower than bronze level premiums, on average. Georgia also would let insurers offer disease management plans aimed at helping patients manage a particular high-cost disease such as diabetes or HIV and AIDS. State officials would set an overall cap on its own subsidies at $255 million. There is no cap under the ACA, although the state doesn’t project its spending will come anywhere near the cap, even though it projects enrollment will increase by more than 37,000. The governor’s office estimates that the availability of subsidies for pared-down health plans would only increase “Obamacare” premiums by a little more than 1%. State officials say that amount would be more than offset by its intention to pay a portion of insurance companies’ costs to treat their sickest patients, a relatively small group that incurs the biggest bills. The so-called reinsurance program would allow the companies to lower monthly premiums for all customers. Twelve other states have received approval for reinsurance programs, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. State officials expect to hear by August whether Georgia has permission to implement its plans.",
            "output": [
                "Georgia’s Kemp submits bid to remake health insurance market."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c3565624dca49c793374cf1ae6e8ed1",
            "input": "China is battling the world’s fastest spreading outbreak of African swine fever, an incurable pig disease that has been confirmed in 28 of its provinces and regions. Livestock shares initially slid on the early outbreaks in August and September. But they have climbed since November, even as outbreaks continued and as transport curbs on infected provinces hit prices and hurt profits at most producers. Shares in Muyuan Foods Co Ltd, the No.2 producer, have doubled in the past six months. No. 4 producer Jiangxi Zhengbang Technology Co has surged more than 200 percent, while rapidly growing Tech-bank Food Co Ltd is up 143 percent. Graphic - Swine Stampede: Listed pork producers in China surge to near record levels as investors bet on tighter supplies & govt support - tmsnrt.rs/2BYgwdC  While listed companies still account for only a modest proportion of China’s annual production of 700 million pigs, they are growing quickly as Beijing promotes modern farm techniques. Muyuan produced 11 million pigs last year. The share price gains come even as most companies have forecast a plunge in earnings for last year. In a preliminary report, Muyuan said its 2018 net profit slid 78 percent to 520.2 million yuan ($77.7 million), after prices fell partly because of African swine fever. But analysts say prices for live pigs have bottomed and could rise from 12 yuan per kilogram currently to as much as 20 yuan in the second half, as supplies plunge and farmers face challenges in restocking farms. “Prices could rise quite high, quite quickly,” said Xiong Kuan, analyst at Cofco Futures, who expects a 20 percent drop in supplies. Others say it could be as much as 30 percent. Large players with low-cost modern farms that are better able to resist disease are expected to reap good profits. They will also win support from the government, already worried about supply. China eats half the world’s pork, by far the country’s most popular meat, but much of the production comes from millions of small farmers whose farms have been most at risk of disease. “The government sees very clearly, among all the cases of African swine fever, less than 20 percent took place on big farms. They are encouraging big farms with good biosecurity measures to expand production,” said Feng Yonghui, chief analyst at Soozhu.com. Last month the agriculture ministry urged farmers to quickly replenish their herds as concerns grew that prices will rise rapidly in the second half of the year. And last week, Beijing issued a draft plan aimed at tackling the disease and shoring up supplies. It called for the promotion of high-quality farming companies in southern areas that need to increase supplies and support for large-scale integrated processors across the country. Many big companies have continued to expand, eyeing future bumper profits. Top 10 producer New Hope Liuhe produced 2.5 million pigs in 2018, up 50 percent on the prior year. Muyuan raised 5 billion yuan in a share placement in December to add new farms for 4.8 million pigs. The expansion would help provide the market with stable supplies and allow the company to “firmly grasp the opportunities from market transformation,” it said.",
            "output": [
                "Pigs fly: China pork producers surge as swine disease cuts supply."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9aa958e0dbb4e30886704f968c6c0c6",
            "input": "WellPoint, which released lower fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, said that based on age, insurance plan selection, income levels, gender and available pharmacy data, it believes it has set the right premium rates for these new customers. Insurance plans under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law went on sale October 1 and into effect on January 1. Initial enrollment data nationwide has shown that the first wave of people who enrolled are older people who can be more expensive to insure because they often have more health problems than young people. Shares in WellPoint rose about 3 percent, or $2.75, to $87.05 in morning trading after the comments. Competitor Aetna Inc shares rose 39 cents to $69.32 while UnitedHealth Group Inc gained 33 cents to $72.03. “There was a concern that a lot of the firms that were involved in the exchanges would be underpriced for the demographic that would find the exchanges appealing, at least over the first year,” Morningstar analyst Vishnu Lekraj said. “What they said was that they priced everything appropriately given the data they have currently, in terms of medical cost utilization,” Lekraj said. WellPoint, one of the biggest players on the exchanges, said that it was still not certain about how enrollment, which is open until March 31, would finally end up, contributing to uncertainty about its 2014 earnings. The company forecast earnings of above $8 per share in 2014, representing a likely drop from the $8.52 it earned in 2013 before special items. Analysts on average were expecting 2014 earnings to fall to $8.39 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt said the 2014 outlook reflects about a $100 million negative effect of changes in government policy regarding the rollout of Obamacare. Late last year as political pressure mounted around technology problems on the exchanges and the higher premium rates on new plans, the Obama administration said that older individual plans could be renewed and it increased the number of people eligible for catastrophic coverage. DeVeydt said ACA insurer fees, which are not tax deductible for insurers, would cost earnings $1.10 per share and that it would spend about $30 million on first-year exchange costs. FOURTH-QUARTER PROFIT FALLS  WellPoint said fourth quarter profit fell as consumers increased their use of medical services ahead of the cancellation of some insurance plans at the end of 2013. The company also took a charge for the recently announced sale of its contact lens business, 1-800 Contacts, to private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, which caused a sharp decline in net profit. WellPoint, which sells Empire and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, also said its costs went up as it prepared for the rollout of Obamacare, and an expected increase of 1 million new members this year. So far, about 3 million people have enrolled in exchange plans, according to the government. The Congressional Budget Office had forecast that about 7 million people would sign up for 2014 coverage. Sign-ups are lagging targets because of technology problems in the first two months after the launch of the national website HealthCare.gov that sells insurance plans in 36 states. The other 14 states run their own sites. WellPoint said it had received 500,000 applications for new individual health plans that went into effect January 1, most of them for exchange-based plans but some for plans it sells off the exchange. Income-based subsidies from the government are only available for exchange plans. It said most of these customers were new to WellPoint. WellPoint said net profit for the fourth quarter fell to $148.2 million, or 49 cents per share, from $464 million, or $1.51 per share a year earlier. Excluding costs for the sale of 1-800 Contacts and investment gains, earnings fell to 87 cents per share from $1.03 per share, which also included investment gains and acquisition costs. The quarterly earnings were in line with analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company spent 87.8 percent of its premiums brought in on medical claims, up from 87.3 percent a year ago. It said that as old individual plans were being canceled ahead of the introduction of the new 2014 insurance, customers used more medical services. Spending on medical procedures, doctor visits and hospitalizations has been at a historical low for the past several years. This has helped insurers keep these medical cost ratios down while still complying with the Affordable Care Act, which requires them to spend at least 80 percent of plan premiums on care or refund customers the difference. WellPoint said it added 145,000 members during the quarter as it picked up small business customers and new enrollees in the California Medicaid program for the poor. It had 35.7 million members at the end of 2013.",
            "output": [
                "WellPoint says health exchange applicants hit expectations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-265dbb6d36c545f2bb303030889e6d0e",
            "input": "\"The GOP's alternative health care plan hadn't even hit the streets before the Democratic push-back began. The day before the plan was officially unveiled, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., took aim at the way the GOP plan was described by media outlets that had gotten early, leaked versions of it. In a press release from the Democratic National Committee, Vice Chair Wasserman Schultz said the GOP plan, \"\"would allow health insurance companies to continue engaging in unfair and discriminatory practices like denying coverage to people because of a pre-existing medical condition.\"\" Requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions has been a popular element of the Democratic plan. Now that we've seen the full 219-page GOP alternative plan, it shows Wasserman Schultz is correct that it does not prohibit health insurance companies from denying coverage to people due to pre-existing medical conditions. But to listen to her, one might get the impression the Republicans have completely ignored the issue of pre-existing conditions. And they haven't. They have a different idea that they think will get at the problem. More than 10 pages of the GOP bill spell out a plan to help people with pre-existing conditions by allowing universal access to expanded and improved state-run high-risk pools. They accept patients who have health conditions that might prompt private insurance companies to reject them. Already, 34 states have high-risk insurance pools. \"\"We want to encourage all states to have these,\"\" said House Republican Leader John Boehner. \"\"And we put more money into these high-risk pools so that we can bring down the cost of health insurance. And at the end of the day, what we're doing with our proposal is lowering health care insurance premiums — lowering cost and expanding access.\"\" The Republican plan calls for $25 billion in funding through 2019 to subsidize state high risk pool and reinsurance programs. In an MSNBC interview on Nov. 4, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said the cost of bolstering state funds and insurance programs to cover people with pre-existing conditions would be offset by savings from medical malpractice reforms that he said would \"\"rein in some of these runaway massive lawsuits that drive defensive medicine and drive up the cost of premiums.\"\" Democrats counter that high-risk insurance pools have done little to solve the problems faced by people with pre-existing medical conditions. Premiums in those pools are usually far more expensive than in your average health insurance plan, and therefore remain out of reach for many moderate to low-income people with pre-existing conditions. The Republican plan tries to address that by requiring that the pool \"\"must limit the pool premiums to no more than 150 percent of the average premium for applicable standard risk rates in that state.\"\" In other words, it might cost people with pre-existing conditions 50 percent more than average premiums paid by healthy people. But a study shows that might make the price too high. A February 2005 study by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund found that in states with high-risk pools, the rates were typically 25 percent to 50 percent higher than average rates. People with lower incomes just couldn't afford to buy into the state pools. As a result, they found, high-risk pool subsidies tended to go to a small number of relatively high-income people, those who could afford premiums well above market rates. The GOP plan for dealing with the issue of people with pre-existing conditions \"\"is essentially the same as now, and now is not working,\"\" said Jonathan Beeton, a spokesman for Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz was correct when she said the GOP plan does not prohibit health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. We found nothing in the 219-page Republican plan that would do that. Insurance companies have argued that they can only absorb the cost of taking people with pre-existing conditions if they could offset that expense by expanding their customer base through mandates that everyone buy insurance. And the Republican plan doesn't do that. Still, we think Wasserman Schultz's comments imply that Republicans have simply ignored the issue of pre-existing conditions altogether. They have not. They have taken a different tack from  the Democrats. And Democrats may not agree that dealing with the issue through state-run high-risk pools is an adequate plan, but it  is  a plan. And so we rule Wasserman Schultz's comment .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The GOP health care plan \"\"would allow health insurance companies to continue engaging in unfair and discriminatory practices like denying coverage to people because of a pre-existing medical condition.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d4865e04bd064e2b9c844311e3291655",
            "input": "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the edict in a televised address in which he also held out hope of implementing an “exit strategy” soon that would gradually loosen restrictions imposed to try to stem the spread of the virus. Netanyahu said a ban on inter-city travel would go into effect on Tuesday afternoon and end on Friday morning. On Wednesday evening, when roads are usually jammed with families traveling to large, festive seder dinners, all Israelis, including the country’s Arab minority, will be confined under the order to their homes until the next morning. “Every family will hold the seder alone, you will celebrate only with the limited number of family members now in your home,” Netanyahu said. Similar seder practices were expected in other parts of the world where people were urged to stay at home because of the virus. At the seder, participants recount with prayers, songs and a festive meal the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It is an intergenerational affair, with the youngest child at the table traditionally asking, “Why is this night different from all other nights of the year?” and elders then explaining why, while drinking holiday-proscribed glasses of wine. In Israel’s sombre modern-day reality, there have been nearly 9,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 57 people have died as a result. Under restrictions already in place, Israelis have been instructed by the government to venture no more than 100 metres (yards) from home, with the exception of those going to workplaces that are still open or to shop for groceries or medicine. Netanyahu noted much higher death tolls in other countries and said the numbers in Israel are a result of government measures to contain the outbreak. “There is a real possibility that if the positive trends continue we will gradually end the lockdown after the Passover holiday,” he said. Restrictions will be eased according to “the level of risk among the population,” he said, with those most vulnerable remaining in isolation longest. The government-imposed limitations have forced many businesses to close, sending unemployment soaring to 25%. Netanyahu has also been trying to form a national unity government with his centrist rival Benny Gantz, a former general and political newcomer. Neither Netanyahu nor Gantz secured a parliamentary majority after three inconclusive elections this past year. The veteran leader proposed a unity government to tackle the coronavirus, promising to step down as prime minister within an agreed period, with Gantz then taking over. Negotiations appeared to have been moving forward until they hit a snag late on Monday. Gantz’s party said there was a dispute over the make-up of the government committee for appointing judges. Political analysts had said a final deal was imminent.",
            "output": [
                "Israelis put on coronavirus lockdown for Passover holiday celebration."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45243fd77fa546b0b618300b3aeb276f",
            "input": "In March 2020, as cities around the world announced “shelter-in-place” or “self-quarantine” orders in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, social media users started to circulate an image that supposedly showed a newspaper clipping from 1918 with a similar announcement in the town of Kelowna, British Columbia:  The clipping reads: Public Notice. Notice is hearby given that, in order to prevent the spread of Spanish Influenza, all Schools, public and private, Churches, Theaters, Moving Picture Halls, Pool Rooms and other places of amusement, and Lodge meetings, are to be closed until further notice. All public gatherings consisting of 10 or more are prohibited. D. W. Sutherland, Mayor. Kelowna, B.C., 19 October 1918. This is a genuine newspaper clipping that was published in the Kelowna Record in 1918 as this Canadian town, as well as the rest of the world, fought to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, commonly and misleadingly called the “Spanish Flu.” The clipping was archived by the University of British Columbia and can be viewed here. Kelowna, of course, was not the only city to issue such an order. We searched the archives of Newspapers.com and found several similar announcements in cities across the United States. On Oct. 10, 1918, for instance, Des Moines, Iowa, Mayor Thomas P. Fairweather announced that “in order to prevent the spread of Spanish Influenza and to protect the public health and safety,” he was directing “all public places of amusement, including theaters, moving pictures houses, dance halls and public dancing places, pool and billiard halls, skating rinks, outdoor athletic events, all public congregating places subject to unusual congestion, be closed.”  Thu, Oct 10, 1918 – Page 6 · The Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa) · Newspapers.com Mobile, Alabama, took these closures one step further. In addition to closing restaurants and businesses, Mobile also asked people to refrain from kissing:  Tue, Oct 8, 1918 – 10 · Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com In 1918, just like today, individual cities and states made the decision to close schools, businesses, and public gathering places. According to a recent study from the Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology, cities that implemented strict social guidelines during the early days of the 1918 pandemic saw lower transmission rates and reduced total mortalities.",
            "output": [
                "\"A newspaper clipping from 1918 documents a \"\"public notice\"\" from the city of Kelowna, British Columbia, announcing that schools, movie theaters, and other public places would be closed to prevent the spread of \"\"Spanish Influenza.\"\" \""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-633fa5a6f4c1438982f8278d7f1e892e",
            "input": "The EPA held a hearing Friday on whether to lower the ozone status of Denver and eight other northern Colorado counties from “moderate” to “serious.” That would force the state to work harder to reduce harmful pollution but also bring tougher and costly regulations for businesses. The agency expects to decide by the end of the year. The EPA acted after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in March that Colorado would no longer ask for an exemption from EPA standards by claiming some of the pollution was drifting into the state from elsewhere. It’s time to stop “sugar-coating” Colorado’s air problems, he said last month. “Moving to ‘serious’ status finally helps us stop sweeping our air quality crisis under the rug and gives us additional tools to move urgently to make our air cleaner,” he said. But business groups say the state’s own data shows Colorado would meet EPA standards if not for pollution from other states and even other continents. Lowering the air rating would hurt the economy by increasing the cost of doing business, they say. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in direct and indirect costs,” Paul Seby, an attorney representing Defend Colorado, said in an interview before the hearing. Defend Colorado advocates for business and industry on state and federal regulation. Denver and the northern Colorado urban corridor have struggled to meet EPA ozone standards for 15 years. Ground-level ozone can aggravate asthma and contribute to early deaths from respiratory disease. It’s the main component of smog, and it’s created from pollution emitted by vehicles, industries, solvents and other sources. Clean-air advocates welcomed Polis’ decision to pull the state’s request for an exemption. “It’s a big deal,” said Christine Berg, Colorado field consultant for Moms Clean Air Force. “We know ozone pollution is particularly harmful for children.” At Friday’s hearing, several people told the EPA they blame ozone for their health problems. “I’m someone who never used to have breathing problems,” said Marie Venner, who lives in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Now, it sometimes hurts to take a breath, she said. Seby said Polis’ decision was based on politics, not facts. Polis’ predecessor, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper — who ended his presidential bid last month and is now running for the U.S. Senate — had asked for the exemption based on data showing that pollution elsewhere and forest fire smoke from other states had pushed Colorado over the limit, Seby said. “Gov. Polis came into office and the exact opposite came about,” Seby said. “The data didn’t change, the science didn’t change — except for the politics.” Seby said hundreds of businesses and institutions could be affected if Colorado’s air rating is downgraded: oil and gas drilling, refineries, large breweries, print shops, wastewater treatment plants and hospitals. Anna Unruh, an air quality consultant for Trinity Consultants, which helps businesses get environmental permits and comply with regulations, agreed that a lower rating would complicate life for businesses and industry. New businesses and expansion projects might have to go through a longer, more rigorous process to get permits, she said. Existing operations might have to get an additional permit. More businesses would have to devote employee time to monitoring and reporting on their pollution. “Permitting definitely will get more difficult,” she said in an interview. Failing to act on dirty air also has economic costs, especially to Colorado’s vital tourism economy said Robert Ukeiley, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. Nitrogen and other pollutants are affecting the environment and the views in Rocky Mountain National Park, the third-most-visited park in the nation, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northwest of downtown Denver. “People don’t want to go to a national park and look at smog,” Ukeiley told the EPA at Friday’s hearing. In addition to Denver, counties affected by the change are Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld. ___ Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP .",
            "output": [
                "In a twist, Colorado asks EPA to lower state’s air rating."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3b1b2bff030c4604abf1426b2e44c4a8",
            "input": "At La Flor de Jalisco #2 supermarket in the heart of Gainesville’s large Spanish-speaking community, hundreds of people drove up or walked up Friday to be tested for COVID-19. Shoppers wearing masks trickled in and out of the store. It’s part of an effort aimed at tamping down the spread of disease in an area where an outbreak alarmed officials. Gainesville’s Hall County and neighboring Habersham County have the highest infection rates in north Georgia, which prompted Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration to begin focusing on the region in late April. The Republican governor visited Gainesville Friday to highlight the effort, with local leaders saying they believed community outreach and infection-control efforts had begun to control the disease. It had threatened to overwhelm local nurses and take down the nation’s largest concentration of chicken processing plants. As poultry industry officials proudly noted Friday, Georgia is the nation’s largest chicken producer, a $41 billion industry that employs more than 45,000 people statewide and turns out 15% of U.S. production. Kemp’s visit came as Georgia neared 37,000 overall infections and had more than 1,550 deaths. The state recently surpassed 300,000 tests, which Kemp hailed as a milestone in efforts to locate virus cases. The latest testing figure represents close to 3% of the state’s population. But an Associated Press analysis found Georgia was among 41 states that are falling short of the COVID-19 testing levels that public health experts say are necessary to safely ease lockdowns and avoid another deadly wave of outbreaks. The spread of the virus claimed two workers at the Fieldale Farms Corp. poultry complex in nearby Cornelia as well as a nurse at the Gainesville hospital, among 56 confirmed deaths in Hall and Habersham counties. Norma Hernandez, an accountant who heads the Northeast Georgia Latino Chamber of Commerce, said that over the past two weeks, community leaders have worked to present a message from people that Spanish speakers will trust. “We need to make it simple. And the main thing is, let’s get healthy. Let’s get back to work,” Hernandez said. “And how are we gonna do that? We’re gonna do it by taking care of each other, taking responsibility for yourself. Because if you are careful, then you will not get infected and then you will not bring it home.” Besides testing, a company was sanitizing taxis for free outside the grocery store. Hernandez said she and others have handed out 3,000 masks to stores so they can force customers to don them before entering. Hernandez said she’s been counseling businesses to stay closed, but many stores were open Friday. State Insurance Commissioner John King and others say they’ve been trying to warn Latinos not to have large gatherings. Fieldale Farms executives said they saw a spike in cases in the weeks after families got together on Easter. “This community has embraced what we’ve asked them to do, not only in the plants, but in the communities — with social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, and helping us to flatten the curve and stop the spread,” Kemp said. Concerns have been widespread nationwide about the spread of the virus in meatpacking plants. Poultry plants in Georgia have soldiered on, under orders from President Trump to stay open, even as workers’ groups have voiced concerns that workers could be sacrificed and conditions could lead to widespread outbreaks. “I’m proud of how quickly the industry has responded, but even more so I’m proud of the workers, essential workers, that continue to come to work and provide food for America,” said Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles. Executives at an 800-worker Fieldale Farms plant in Gainesville that prepares chicken slaughtered elsewhere for fast-food restaurants said they have taken typical precautions. Those include having partitions between workers and in breakrooms, taking temperatures of everyone who comes on property and wiping down vending machines and other surfaces. Vice President for Operations John Wright said of 17 cases at the plant, 11 workers have returned to work. The privately held company has seen 200 cases among 5,000 employees in facilities scattered over six Georgia counties, and says 75% have returned to work. Wright said that the company has paid employees with symptoms to stay home for 14 days or more. “We’re glad to be on what we believe to be the waning end of this pandemic, and we’ll remain vigilant, until it’s eradicated or no more exists,” Wright said. ___ Writer Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak or https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Georgia aims to ease virus spread among Hispanic residents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7946b9e0aef4d0cbe68026203e7cf15",
            "input": "The list price is 282,000 pounds ($369,000) per patient, given as a single intravenous infusion, but Novartis agreed to offer the therapy for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) at a confidential discounted price, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said. NICE had turned down a previous proposal from Novartis in September, saying it exceeded the level considered an acceptable use of resources. “Today’s positive announcement regarding access to Kymriah treatment in England and Wales was secured as a result of our close working collaboration with NICE and NHS England, with all parties showing flexibility,” Novartis said. DLBCL patients eligible for Kymriah have life expectancies of just months, after failing previous treatments. Novartis expects Kymriah to eventually top $1 billion in annual sales, though the drug has started modestly with $76 million in 2018. Over 2019, the company expects to increase commercial and clinical capacity for Kymriah four-fold after buying more production facilities and deals with partners. The Swiss firm hopes expanding its treatment geography will narrow the sales gap with Gilead Sciences’ Yescarta, which reaped $183 million in the first nine months of 2018. Novartis already has NICE’s go-ahead for children and young people with aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) when other drugs have failed. The Basel-based company now has 26 treatment centers in the European Union and Kymriah is now commercially available to patients from 10 countries, it said. Kymriah belongs to a new class of treatments, like Yescarta, called CAR-T therapies where disease-fighting T cells are removed from a patient and genetically modified to better recognize and attack cancer. They are then re-infused into the same patient where they can circulate for years to seek out and fight the disease. Novartis is also working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to resolve a snag in which some batches of Kymriah did not meet commercial specifications, forcing the company to give it away for free to some patients. “We expect resolution ... soon,” a spokeswoman said.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis's cancer therapy wins UK backing after initial lymphoma snub."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b31d1651c0f49fc941ec14a5b6cb9a9",
            "input": "Those actions became the new normal this week, when the count neared 12,000 people infected by a new coronavirus that originated in China and spread to other countries. More than 250 have died in China. The precautions were on display Friday in a string of majority-Asian population cities in Southern California — Alhambra, San Gabriel and Arcadia — that are linked together just east of Los Angeles. “Business is way down. Everybody is staying inside and lots of people are wearing masks,” said Leo Peng at Beyond Services in Alhambra, a normally bustling business where people can notarize documents, get fingerprinted and use other services needed to obtain forms of identification. Peng himself says he has become diligent about washing his hands and is thinking about getting a mask, “although some people say they’re really not necessary.” Sitting just a few feet away at a computer terminal was Cynthia Bao, wearing a bright pink mask. “I never wear a mask, but I’m pregnant, and I don’t want to get the coronavirus or the flu or any virus,” she said. In San Francisco’s Chinatown, Hoa Nguyen and her husband were among the few people wearing masks as they waited at a bus stop carrying bags loaded with fruits and vegetables. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” she said. “In Chinatown, there’s a higher chance you might come across someone who has traveled to China recently.” While people are taking personal precautions, organizers are going a step further by canceling Lunar New Year celebrations in parts of the U.S.  Sponsors of Saturday’s annual festival in Alhambra announced they were postponing it indefinitely. The event normally draws thousands and shuts down the city’s main thoroughfare for blocks, featuring a parade, games, music, food booths and other events. Other cancellations include a Lunar New Year Temple Bazaar this weekend in Flushing, Queens, home to New York City’s largest Chinatown; a Lunar New Year celebration Saturday at a high school in Rockville, Maryland; a Chinese New Year Festival on Saturday at the University of Arizona in Tucson; and festivities Friday in the city of Elk Grove, outside Sacramento. San Francisco still plans to go along with its celebration on Feb. 8, though officials said they are closely monitoring the outbreak. Gregg Orton, national director of the Washington-based National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, said it’s understandable that events are being canceled out of an abundance of caution. “We want to take this seriously but we don’t want to fall back into racism and hysteria at the end of the day,” Orton said. “We’re all in this together.” In Alhambra, many people supported canceling the festival. “I think that’s a good idea until we see that the virus is gone,” said Richard Vu who repairs cellphones at a shop on the edge of the festival’s parade route. He said he’s trying to keep his distance from customers and uses hand sanitizer after handling each phone. He usually wears a mask, too, but forgot it Friday. When he tried to buy another at a pharmacy, he found they were sold out, a common experience that others cited. “They say they won’t have any more until March,” Vu said. Pharmacies in Manhattan’s Chinatown and other neighborhoods also have reported being out of masks. Officials gathered at a hotel in San Gabriel, a city neighboring Alhambra, said it’s important to take precautions but that people should not panic. “At this point, we are not in the same situation as China,” Dr. Munto Davis of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told reporters. “We do not have thousands of cases inside the United States.” There are seven cases: three in California, one in Washington state, one in Arizona and two in Chicago. Meanwhile, a main drag in Alhambra that is lined for miles with upscale restaurants, hipster bars and tea houses, was unusually quiet Friday. A sprawling parking lot, a difficult place to find a parking spot on any day, was only half-filled and business was slow at the huge 168 Market, part of a popular Asian chain of grocery stores. People seemed to be heeding the advice of medical professionals, being careful but not panicking while expressing hope that others wouldn’t blame every Asian person for the outbreak. “The racism has been something,” Bao said with disgust. “I sort of get it,” she added. “We’re Chinese, and we don’t know who has been to China and who hasn’t. But you don’t need to make remarks about it.” To which Peng added: “I hope everybody would work together and not discriminate against one group of people.”  ___ Associated Press reporters Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this story.",
            "output": [
                "Chinese communities rattled by virus, cancel new year events."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47ba5fa96b5e44248fd6d0eac812388c",
            "input": "The state had 1,742 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday. Most of the cases and deaths have been in Clark County, which is Nevada’s most populous and includes metro Las Vegas. Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Saturday that the federal government has approved Nevada’s request to declare a major disaster declaration for the state. He said that move will unlock additional federal assistance for residents affected by the coronavirus pandemic. On March 12, Sisolak signed a state declaration of emergency, which is a required step to request a federal major disaster declaration. Sisolak’s request asked for help under a variety of programs, including assistance for unemployment, legal services, crisis counseling and mass care and emergency assistance. Federal help is needed because the public health crisis “is beyond the capabilities of the state, local and tribal governments,” Sisolak said. Most people with the virus experience mild or moderate fever and coughing for two to three weeks. Some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, can face severe illness including pneumonia and death.",
            "output": [
                "Nevada has 94 new coronavirus cases, pushing total to 1,836."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c94e302049b545a498d6c9276ae58c84",
            "input": "State Sen. Tom Cullerton said Monday that the joint House-Senate hearing will be Feb. 7 at the state Capitol. The hearings have been called to examine the state’s response to the disease that contributed to the deaths of 13 residents at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy since 2015 and sickened dozens more. Cullerton says he has requested testimony and documents from veterans’ home executives, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office and public health officials, among others. Rauner stayed at the home earlier this month for several days and announced that the state would replace the plumbing at the site. Legionnaires’ is a severe form of pneumonia caused by water-borne bacteria.",
            "output": [
                "Illinois lawmakers plan 2nd Legionnaires’ disease hearing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab6392777c254484b3449ad4e18170b7",
            "input": "Furiex said it would apply by mid-year for U.S. approval of the drug, eluxadoline, to treat diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-d), a debilitating bowel disorder that affects about 28 million people in the United States and major European markets. Furiex said it expected to seek European approval in early 2015. The company’s shares rose as much as 165 percent to $121.97, valuing it at about $1.3 billion. “We believe that there are a lot of patients out there who need this drug. There is a huge unmet need,” Furiex Chief Medical Officer June Almenoff said in a telephone interview. Currently approved drugs for IBS address constipation associated with the disorder, but there are few options for diarrhea predominant IBS. Furiex founder and chairman Fred Eshelman said he believes the drug has the potential for blockbuster sales, which he defined as annual sales of between $750 million and $1 billion. Eluxadoline was tested at two doses against a placebo over the course of 12 weeks to meet requirements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and for 26 weeks for European health regulators, in Phase III studies involving 2,428 patients, Furiex said. For the combined goal of improvement in abdominal pain and stool consistency for at least half the days in the study, eluxadoline achieved a statistically significant improvement at the 100 milligram and 75 mg doses through 12 weeks in both studies. On the 26-week measure, the higher dose succeeded in both studies but the lower dose missed statistical significance in one of the two trials, according to initial results released by the company. The success appeared to be driven by the percentage of patients reporting improvements in diarrhea, which ranged from 30 percent to 37 percent versus 22 percent and 20.9 percent for the placebo groups. When the composite goal was broken into its two components, researchers found a numerical improvement in pain response rates that did not achieve statistical significance. The drug appeared to be safe and well-tolerated in both studies, Furiex said. The most commonly reported side effects were constipation and nausea. The company plans to present a far more detailed analysis of the late stage studies at an upcoming medical meeting. “We’re very excited about the path ahead and about how this can transform patients’ lives,” Almenoff said. Furiex shares were up 142 percent at $110.99 in early trading on the Nasdaq.",
            "output": [
                "Furiex irritable bowel syndrome drug succeeds in large trials."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e08341f908a44d4b6a4e00fe93bc8c5",
            "input": "\"On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that certain companies with religious objections can opt out of a mandate under the Affordable Care Act to provide free contraception to their employees. The 5-4 ruling involved a case brought by two companies owned by Christian families: Hobby Lobby, a chain of hobby stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, which makes wood cabinets. The companies opposed providing certain types of contraception that they believe is equivalent to inducing abortion, including morning-after pills and IUDs. (They didn’t oppose other methods of birth control.) They based their case on the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by President Bill Clinton. The issue arose because birth control is included among the free preventative services mandated by President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 health care law. Houses of worship and religious institutions were already exempt from this aspect of the law. The court’s ruling applies to \"\"closed corporations\"\" which are in control by a few people, rather than public companies with many shareholders. Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, stating that women who work for these corporations can still access these types of birth control either by the federal government paying for it or through a third-party administrator. Though the ruling was narrower in scope than it could have been, supporters of broad access to contraception expressed disappointment. One of these supporters was U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair from South Florida. In a statement attacking the decision, Wasserman Schultz said that contraception for women isn’t just about avoiding pregnancy. \"\"Nearly 60 percent of women who use birth control do so for more than just family planning,\"\" she said. We wondered whether that was correct. Guttmacher Institute study A DNC spokeswoman said Wasserman Schultz was referring to a November 2011 report from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that studies reproductive rights. The report focused specifically on the oral birth control pill, not all contraception. (We should note that the Guttmacher institute filed a brief on the side of the federal government in the Supreme Court case. We will also note that the oral birth control pill is different from the morning-after pill the plaintiffs objected to funding.) The Guttmacher report stated that while birth control pills are primarily intended to prevent pregnancy, they also provide other health-related benefits including easing menstrual-related problems. The report used national data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth, which is administered by the government’s National Center for Health Statistics. Here are some of the key findings: • Out of about 7,350 women surveyed, 58 percent of pill users relied on the method at least in part for one non-contraceptive reason, such as managing menstrual pain, regulating periods and controlling acne. That’s the source for Wasserman Schultz’s claim about \"\"nearly 60 percent.\"\" • Birth control is the most common reason women use the pill, reported by 86 percent of pill users at the time. That left 14 percent of pill users who said they only took the pill for non-contraceptive reasons. • Reliance on the pills for non-contraceptive reasons is highest for teenagers. A spokeswoman for the Guttmacher Institute told PolitiFact that they had not updated their 2011 report. Previously, we fact-checked a similar claim based on the same report. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said on MSNBC in March that \"\"it’s important to note that women take birth control, more than half of them, as a medication for other conditions, so it is an attack on women.\"\" We rated that claim because it required additional clarification about the type of birth control and the survey results. Wasserman Schultz's statement was somewhat more carefully worded. Our ruling Wasserman Schultz said that \"\"nearly 60 percent of women who use birth control do so for more than just family planning.\"\" This claim gets support from a Guttmacher Institute report that found 58 percent of pill users citing at least one non-contraceptive reason. However, Wasserman Schultz’s comment glosses over two important caveats. First, she said \"\"women who use birth control,\"\" even though the study looked at women who use the birth control pill specifically -- a type of birth control that wasn’t even one of the ones directly at issue in the Supreme Court case. Second, the Guttmacher study found that birth control is indeed the most common reason that women use the pill, with 86 percent saying it was one of the reasons they chose that option. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Nearly 60 percent of women who use birth control do so for more than just family planning."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fcaf4182de3146e8b710776874f7a2d9",
            "input": "The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its creator says could provide an answer to global food shortages and help combat climate change, will be fried in a pan and tasted by two volunteers. The burger is the result of years of research by Dutch scientist Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht, who is working to show how meat grown in petri dishes might one day be a true alternative to meat from livestock. The meat in the burger has been made by knitting together around 20,000 strands of protein that has been cultured from cattle stem cells in Post’s lab. The tissue is grown by placing the cells in a ring, like a donut, around a hub of nutrient gel, Post explained. To prepare the burger, scientists combined the cultured beef with other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg powder. Red beet juice and saffron have been added to bring out its natural colors. “Our burger is made from muscle cells taken from a cow. We haven’t altered them in any way,” Post said in a statement on Friday. “For it to succeed it has to look, feel and hopefully taste like the real thing.”  Success, in Post’s view, would mean not just a tasty burger, but also the prospect of finding a sustainable, ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to meat production. According to a 2006 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), industrialized agriculture contributes on a “massive scale” to climate change, air pollution, land degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity decline. The report, entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow, said the meat industry contributes about 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and this proportion is expected to grow as consumers in fast-developing countries such as China and India eat more meat. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), annual meat production is projected to rise to 376 million metric tons by 2030 from 218 million metric tons in 1997-1999, and demand from a growing world population is expected to rise beyond that. Post cites FAO figures suggesting demand for meat is expected to increase by more than two-thirds by 2050. Animal welfare campaigners applauded the arrival of cultured meat and predicted a great future for it. “In vitro technology will spell the end of lorries full of cows and chickens, abattoirs and factory farming,” the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign group said in a statement. “It will reduce carbon emissions, conserve water and make the food supply safer.”  A study published in 2011 comparing the relative environmental impacts of various types of meat, including lamb, pork, beef and cultured meat, said the lab-grown product has by far the least impact on the environment. Hanna Tuomisto, who conducted the study at Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, found that growing meats in-vitro would use 35 percent to 60 percent less energy, emit 80 percent to 95 percent less greenhouse gas and use around 98 percent less land than conventionally produced animal meat. While Monday’s fry-up will be a world first and only an initial proof-of concept, the Dutch scientist reckons commercial production of cultured beef could begin within the next 20 years. “What we are going to attempt is important because I hope it will show cultured beef has the answers to major problems that the world faces,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists to cook world's first in-vitro beef burger."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00a50b8632ad4bbca8ad4d73eb9cb311",
            "input": "Ahead of an anticipated shortage of medical supplies, hospital staff met in a conference room south of Seattle to make homemade masks for the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals on the frontline of tackling the coronavirus outbreak. “We’re days away from running out of the equipment we need,” said Melissa Tizon, Associate Vice President of Providence St. Joseph Health, which runs 51 hospitals across five western states. “We’re expecting more shipments later on but until then we’ve got to improvise.”  With coronavirus cases surging past 13,000 in the United State, health care workers are dealing with not only a shortage of masks but also surgical gowns and protective eye gear. President Donald Trump, speaking about medical gear at a White House briefing on Thursday, said “millions of masks” were in production, but did not give details. “We have helped out, and there are right now millions of masks being made. But this is really for the local governments, governors and people within the state, depending on the way they divided it up. And they’ll do that, and they’re doing a very good job of it.”  When asked by a reporter at the briefing why the increased production of masks was not reaching hospitals, Trump said the medical system was “obsolete” and the production system “wasn’t meant for this” emergency. “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion,” Trump said. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.”  Vice President Mike Pence said at the same briefing, “We’ve vastly increased the supply of medical masks, and we’re going to continue to put a priority on making sure that we’re calling on industry at every level.”  Meanwhile, many hospitals in other states have issued emergency calls for private companies to donate face masks and other items that can be used as medical protective gear. The Illinois Health and Hospital Association on Thursday, made that plea to help the state’s 200 hospitals, asking for donations of masks from construction companies, dentists, veterinarians and any other group that might have the masks, called N95s. “Hospitals all over the state are in jeopardy of potentially running out of critically needed protective medical supplies,” said the associations president and chief executive officer A.J. Wilhelmi.",
            "output": [
                "Faced with a shortage of face masks, some U.S. doctors make their own."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92702dd03e0d4bacb461c7c52231f86e",
            "input": "The court’s decision flies in the face of much scientific opinion, which generally says there is not enough evidence to declare a link between mobile phone use and diseases such as cancer and some experts said the Italian ruling should not be used to draw wider conclusions about the subject. “Great caution is needed before we jump to conclusions about mobile phones and brain tumors,” said Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics and clinical engineering at Britain’s Royal Berkshire Hospital. The Italian case concerned company director Innocenzo Marcolini who developed a tumor in the left side of his head after using his mobile phone for 5-6 hours a day for 12 years. He normally held the phone in his left hand, while taking notes with his right hand. Marcolini developed a so-called neurinoma affecting a cranial nerve, which was apparently not cancerous but nevertheless required surgery that badly affected his quality of life. He initially sought financial compensation from the Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority INAIL which rejected his application, saying there was no proof his illness had been caused by his work. But a court in Brescia later ruled there was a causal link between the use of mobile and cordless telephones and tumors. Italy’s supreme court rejected an INAIL appeal against that ruling on October 12 though its decision was only reported on Friday. It said the lower court’s decision was justified and that scientific evidence advanced in support of the claim was reliable. Marcolini’s situation had been “different from normal, non-professional use of a mobile telephone”, it said. The evidence was based on studies conducted between 2005-2009 by a group led by Lennart Hardell, a cancer specialist at the University Hospital in Orebro in Sweden. The court said the research was independent and “unlike some others, was not co-financed by the same companies that produce mobile telephones”.",
            "output": [
                "Italy court ruling links mobile phone use to tumor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-493101a8e9f64901af4804aabd194171",
            "input": "The Mail Tribune reports the state forestry and environmental quality departments will hold a meeting next week in Medford, which has recorded 23 unhealthy air quality days because of smoke this summer. The state is seeking feedback on rules that would make it easier to conduct controlled burns as a way of reducing the threat of major wildfires. The burns would still be required to follow certain state and federal air quality standards. Meetings are also planned for Bend, Klamath Falls, LaGrande and Eugene — cities often affected by wildfire smoke. State officials hope to have the proposed rules in place by spring 2019. ___ Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/",
            "output": [
                "Oregon plans meetings on proposed controlled burn rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71bdc820056044c29b0e194ddf547ede",
            "input": "- Frustration over limited time spent with patients. - Inordinate amounts of time inputting required data. - Side effects including high levels of stress. The patient? Herself. The remedy? “I did the research and found direct primary care,” said Anderson-Elder of Windsor. And in June she joined Dr. Frank Morgan at Balance Health in Greeley, a direct primary care clinic he founded four years ago in Greeley. Leaving her family practice at UCHealth Medical Clinic in Windsor after seven years wasn’t an easy decision, she said, but it was the right decision for her. Many physicians — from all specialties — share Anderson-Elder’s frustration and levels of stress incurred while working in insurance-based health care systems. In the 2018 Medscape National Physician and Depression Report, 42 percent of family physicians admitted to having burnout or depression, listing “too many bureaucratic tasks (charting, paperwork)” and “too many hours at work” as the leading factors in burnout. Although direct primary care has been around for some time, it is just now gaining a toehold with both physicians contemplating the switch to a different way of providing care and patients willing to give it a shot, so to speak. In 2017, there were more than 600 direct primary care clinics in the U.S., 10 percent of those in Colorado, according to the Colorado Independent. Anderson-Elder said in her research she found 1,000 out of the 80,000 family doctors practicing in the U.S. have gone the direct primary care route. DIRECT PRIMARY CARE What is direct primary care? And why the interest? First and foremost, the major difference is that direct primary care does not accept insurance. Patients instead pay a monthly membership fee that includes unlimited visits, calls and emails, along with many routine services and access to prescriptions and lab work at a reduced cost. For the physician, it means quality time spent with patients and no more time filling out paperwork to satisfy health insurance company regulations. What the monthly fee is varies from clinic to clinic. At Balance Health, it is $99 for adults, $180 for couples and $30 for children. Those who sign up for direct primary care are asked to sign an annual contract but can be released from it with 30 days’ notice, Anderson-Elder said. “We want to be accessible to our patients. We don’t want them to go to urgent care or ER if they don’t have to,” she said. And yes, that includes calls at 3 a.m., but if it can wait till morning, the patient is worked into that day’s schedule. Anderson-Elder typically sees eight to 17 patients per day, depending on whether it’s cold and flu season. And she spends as much time as needed with them. At her previous practice, she was limited to spending 15 to 20 minutes per patient. “People service their cars,” she said. “They should do the same thing with their bodies. You should be looked at and tuned up.” While most people think of going to the doctor only when they don’t feel well or need a physical for work or school, Anderson-Elder said she likes to see patients even when they feel healthy so she can check in on their well-being and talk about proper nutrition. “Oftentimes patients think they’re healthy, but then we do an exam and sometimes find things,” she said. Direct primary care works best when combined with a high-deductible health plan, Anderson-Elder said, for those times when unexpected surgeries are scheduled and for patients who suffer from chronic illnesses. But she said about one-third of her patients have no health insurance at all. She also noted direct primary care should not be confused with concierge medicine, which also provides direct access to providers for a flat fee but still bills insurance companies for services provided. Another key distinction between the two is direct primary care is mentioned in the Affordable Care Act as an acceptable option for receiving medical care without insurance, while concierge medicine is not, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. And last year, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Colorado HB17-1115, which establishes that direct primary health care can operate without regulation of the division of insurance. Windsor Republican Rep. Perry Buck was a primary sponsor of the bill. Patients at Balance Health also can tap into other healthy-living services for additional fees. Dr. Dana Morgan, a family care physician, specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Balance Health also has a small fitness gym replete with trainers and classes. Wellness coaching also is offered. Leaving her practice in Windsor, though a hard decision, has been the right prescription for her, she said. “I no longer take paperwork home,” she said. “I’m happier and less stressed.” ___ Information from: The Tribune of Greeley, Co, http://greeleytribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Windsor doctor joining direct primary care movement."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86bb20efc9734dd79fa6fede73d12f8f",
            "input": "The compound, from Danish biotech firm Santaris Pharma,  works by blocking or “silencing” microRNAs — tiny strands of  RNA, or ribonucleic acid, that help turn genes into proteins. The ground-breaking study is the first demonstration of  microRNA silencing in primates and an early endorsement of the  technique. Phase I safety trials are now planned in humans. Unlike other drugs in the hotly pursued RNA interference  field, the new designer molecule, known as Locked Nucleic Acid  (LNA), can be given as a simple injection rather than having to  be delivered direct to affected tissue. “We think LNA is a one-stop shop for silencing,” Santaris  Chief Executive Keith McCullagh told reporters. Scientists from Santaris and the University of Copenhagen  lowered total cholesterol in African green monkeys by up to 30  percent, without ill effects, by targeting a microRNA linked to  genes in the liver that are involved in cholesterol metabolism. The results were published in the journal Nature, along  with other test-tube research showing that LNA effectively  blocks the production of hepatitis C virus in human liver  cells. Santaris intends to test its first LNA compounds in humans  by the middle of this year but it will take at least five years  before any medicine is ready for submission for approval. While the cholesterol effect is interesting, McCullagh said  the most promising opportunity actually lay in pursuing LNA as  a treatment for hepatitis C, a poorly treated viral disease  that can cause serious liver damage. Further ahead, LNA could also have a role to play in other  infectious diseases, as well as cancer and autoimmune  disorders, since many disease-associated genes are regulated by  microRNAs. “There are great prospects for future drug development both  for liver diseases and other disease types, and Europe has the  potential to match the USA in this area,” said Mike Gait at the  MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Up until now, U.S. firms such as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals  Inc and Sirna Therapeutics — which was bought by Merck & Co  Inc for $1.1 billion in October 2006 — have led the field in  RNA interference. Santaris last year signed a pact that could earn it more  than $700 million with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, giving Europe’s  biggest drugmaker the right to develop certain products as  antiviral medicines. That alliance did not include the new  technology but McCullagh said Santaris could potentially extend  the Glaxo deal. For a story on Santaris Pharma’s possible IPO, please click  on",
            "output": [
                "\"New kind of gene \"\"silencing\"\" drug works in monkeys.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-91b13cfcccfe42db9e9e34e4ccb6d018",
            "input": "In a declaration issued after a meeting in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, they urged Balkan governments to halt any further construction of hydro dams. “We want everybody to see that it is bad, and it is wrong and that we are devastating our natural beauties,” said Irma Popovic Dujmovic, from World Wide Fund for Nature Adria group, one of the organizers of the Sarajevo gathering. Concerns have been raised that small plants are being built for profit without any regard for the local community and local eco-systems. “Nature is losing, and local people are losing,” Dujmovic said. In Bosnia alone, participants at the meeting said there are plans to build 300 dams on 244 rivers. In the region, some 2,700 hydropower plants are envisaged in the coming years. Also Thursday, EuroNatur and Riverwatch groups said in a report that small hydro power plants are putting “immense pressure” on rivers throughout Europe. In addition to the 21,387 existing hydropower plants, another 8,779 are planned, mainly in the Alps and the Balkans. According to the report, this proliferation could destroy previously untouched rivers especially in the Balkans. Anger over crystal clear rivers being turned into building sites has fueled citizens’ movements throughout the Balkans. Residents of small villages have held protests and sought to bring the work to a halt. In the central Bosnian village of Merdani, residents said a small hydro plant under construction on the river Lasva has led to problems with water supplies and damaged roads. “It was a peaceful river before,” said villager Mehrudin Halilovic. “I am totally against the building of this plant.” Countries in the Balkans are lagging the rest of Europe in environmental standards. Many rivers in the area also are heavily polluted with waste from factories or clogged with garbage washed away from the riverbanks. Martin Skalsky, from the Czech Republic’s ARNIKA group, said in Sarajevo that it is important to preserve the Balkan nature because there are not many other regions in Europe so untouched and unpopulated. “If you will build hundreds or thousands of small hydropower plants on your rivers, you can just lose everything in very few years,” he said. “So, it’s really dangerous.”",
            "output": [
                "Activists warn Balkan rivers at risk from hydropower plants."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-82c0c27addf04841bd53d2ed9bd2d67f",
            "input": "Officials went ahead with the parade despite the discouragement of the city health department about the ever-spreading virus. Within 72 hours of the parade, all the hospital beds in Philadelphia were full of flu patients. Within six weeks, more than 12,000 people died — a death every five minutes — and 20,000 had died within six months. Despite the human toll, there has been no memorial or public remembrance of flu victims in the city. Until now. The Mutter Museum, known for its collection of organs preserved in jars, deformed skeletons and wax casts of medical maladies, is launching new permanent exhibit on the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic in Philadelphia. “Spit Spreads Death” will open on Oct. 17, and will feature interactives mapping the pandemic, artifacts, images and personal stories. “It’s still referred to by some historians as the forgotten pandemic, because how many Americans are conscious of it today?” said Robert Hicks, the museum’s director. The exhibit takes its name from health department signs that popped up around the city as the pandemic spread. Ahead of the exhibit’s launch, the museum will present a parade Saturday along the same stretch of road where the ill-fated Liberty Loan Parade took place. A sort of moving memorial, the parade will feature about 500 members of the public honoring victims of the pandemic, four illuminated floats and an original piece of music performed by Grammy-winning choir “The Crossing.” “The parade has turned into an interesting commemorative act,” said Matt Adams, co-founder of Blast Theory, the artists’ group creating the parade. Anyone can sign up to participate and can choose the name of an actual flu victim to honor while marching. Marchers will be given a sign with the name of the person they chose and will move along the parade route flanked by the illuminated sculptures. Members of city’s public health community have been urged to join in. “This is all about the process of remembering what the risks are in public health, because that is a crucial way for us to stay safe today,” he said. More U.S. soldiers died from the flu than from battles in Europe during the war. It was called the Spanish flu at the time because Spain was neutral during the conflict and had no restrictions on the press, and could therefore report the outbreak freely, said Nancy Hill, special projects manager at the museum. The general public in much of the U.S. was uninformed about the virus because of the crackdown on news and any speech deemed unpatriotic. Speaking of soldiers dying from the flu fell into that category. About 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population, became infected with the virus. An estimated 20-50 million died around the world, with about 675,000 flu-related deaths in the United States. Troops moving around the globe in crowded ships and trains helped the deadly virus spread as the war dragged on. The exhibit itself will include interactives that allow people to explore their own neighborhoods to see how the flu hit their street, and even their own homes. Among the most poignant artifacts is a selection of Christmas gifts that a woman named Naomi Whitehead Ellis Ford purchased for friends and family, all fitted with handwritten personal notes to the intended recipients. But they were never handed out, because she passed away from the flu on Oct. 21. Hicks hopes visitors take away a sense of the scope of the pandemic and see how the city came together to help each other, and to be vigilant — getting vaccines, taking common-sense health care measures and staying informed. The museum even threw a health fair in a south Philadelphia neighborhood, offering everything from flu shots to Narcan training. “It is too easy in the United States to forget,” Hicks said. “Cholera, typhus, typhoid fever all mean nothing to most Americans today, but President Lincoln’s son was killed by typhoid fever. From the high and mighty to those whose names aren’t remembered, these diseases were commonplace. The fact that measles is back again is a great reminder: These diseases don’t go away.”",
            "output": [
                "From parade to pandemic: Museum looks at 1918′s deadly flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b70b1639b0c54982974b20ed96951ee5",
            "input": "“I just love pitching,” says Rosenfield, a high honors freshman at Grafton High School. “I want to be a major league pitcher.” Doctors told him he needed Tommy John surgery, which typically has a recovery time of 12-18 months. His parents researched a ligament repair instead of a reconstruction, which could cut his recovery time in half. They wound up at the famous Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, where Roger Clemens, Michael Jordan, Drew Brees, and John Cena, among other top athletes, have been treated. Tommy John surgeries were performed here on pitchers John Smoltz, David Wells, and Kerry Wood. But none of the above superstars has had the operation that Rosenfield is considering. Known by its clunky official name — Ulnar Collateral Ligament Repair with Internal Brace — it could be called “Tommy John lite.” “Is this a breakthrough? Yes,” says Glenn Fleisig, the research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute. “It’s a big deal because up until this, having Tommy John surgery was the only choice. You either have the big surgery or you live with the situation. This introduces a middle compromise approach.” For Rosenfield, who has pitched only six innings the past two seasons because of arm injuries, playing next season could become a reality. “When I’m on the mound I feel like that’s where I am supposed to be,” he says. ‘All of a sudden my arm was just dead’ June 13, 2015 was Rosenfield’s bar mitzvah day. It was also the day he pitched the New England Storm to an AAU New England championship. Unbeknownst to his parents, he put his uniform on under his navy suit, read from the Torah, and then abruptly left the party. His uncle drove him to the ballpark and he changed in the car. “My coach told me he thought I’d be really nervous, so he said depending how I looked, he’d decide whether to pitch me,” Rosenfield says. Former Storm manager Keith Lyon remembers the day well. “Time was tight, but I saw how he pulled it together. He was normal Sammy, ready to go, all business, and we won.” Rosenfield pitched a complete game, got the game ball, and then schlepped his team back to the reception. It wasn’t long before injuries started to set in. Fast-forward to March 2016. After hearing a pop in his shoulder while throwing a bullpen session, Rosenfield was diagnosed with a fractured growth plate. Sammy Rosenfield couldn’t throw overhand at a practice in late March, flipping the ball back to his coach underhand. Sammy Rosenfield couldn’t throw overhand at a practice in late March, flipping the ball back to his coach underhand. “All of a sudden my arm was just dead,” he says. The orthopedic surgeon prescribed rest and rehab for 12 weeks. Rosenfield returned in early June to play first base. Then in December, Rosenfield was playing junior varsity basketball when he reached in for a loose ball. “I got arm-barred,” he says. One doctor told him he could be back in six weeks. But an orthopedic surgeon for his new baseball team, the New England Ruffnecks, a college development program, discovered a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament during a physical and asked for a second opinion. The doctor’s opening line was chilling. “The first thing he said to Sammy is, ‘Are you a good hitter?’ ” recalled Sammy’s father, Todd Rosenfield. Sammy was told he needed Tommy John surgery, but he was too young to be a candidate because his growth plates were still developing. Sammy cried all the way home. They tried a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection. It didn’t help. So they sent his MRI to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Dugas in Alabama. Dugas’s mentor is Dr. James Andrews, a household name among professional athletes. Dugas performed his first UCL repair in August 2013 on a local high school pitcher who went on to pitch successfully at the college level. Dugas has performed an estimated 150 of the 400 done nationwide. This relatively new surgery has a 100 percent success rate to date. Tommy John surgery has a success rate of nearly 85 percent, according to the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The bigger issue is the alarming number of elbow injuries in baseball. One in four major league pitchers has already had Tommy John surgery, according to the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The number of Tommy John surgeries increased 343 percent between 2003 and 2014, with the highest rise in the 15- to 19-year age group, according to a study published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. Another problem is that more than half of high school athletes (51 percent) incorrectly “believe that Tommy John surgery should be performed on players without elbow injury to enhance performance,” according to the Phys Sportsmed journal. Rosenfield walks toward an examination room at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala. Rosenfield walks toward an examination room at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala. Kids today throw harder and are recruited at younger ages for travel teams and showcase events, where scouts swarm. Fleisig, the researcher, helped Pitch Smart, a collaborative educational effort by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball, change pitch counts from innings to pitches. He says Rosenfield’s situation is slightly different. “Sammy did not get injured by overuse, but he is going through the same process,” he said. His coach always followed strict pitch counts and his parents refused to let Sammy pitch in the offseason. His parents aren’t pushing their son to be a major leaguer. “I just want you to have fun and get into an Amherst or Williams,” says Todd Rosenfield to his son in the waiting room. Added his mother, Amy, “I think where we’ve pushed him is that we want him to be the best that he can be.” How good is this kid? “He’s so young and raw, but he definitely has a lot of upside with how big he is for his age and how loose his actions were,” says Matt Blake, who tutored Sammy before being hired by the Cleveland Indians as a minor league pitching instructor. Rosenfield’s trip to Alabama in early April begins with an ominous start. Baseball-sized hail and tornado warnings have been posted. When Dugas enters the exam room he informs Sammy that the odds are 90-100 percent that he can do the UCL repair instead of the reconstruction. He explains that the operation is not for everyone — the ligament can’t be frayed from overuse —but the final decision will have to be made in the operating room. Sammy doesn’t want the Tommy John surgery; he doesn’t want a tendon graft taken from his leg or from a cadaver. “Do I have the confidence to do this in you?” Dugas asks himself. “Absolutely. Do I know what it’s going to look like in 10 years? I don’t, nobody does. Based on what we’ve seen this looks good.” Two major league pitchers have already had the primary repair surgery, performed by Dr. George Paletta, the St. Louis Cardinals’ head orthopedic physician — former Cardinals reliever Seth Maness, now with the Royals, and Mitch Harris, who is currently with the Cardinals’ Triple A team in Memphis. Sitting in an exam room surrounded by signed photos and uniforms of sports stars, Dugas senses Rosenfield’s drive to return ASAP. “It takes 6-8 weeks to heal and you are not the biological stud that heals faster than every other human being who has ever been born,” Dugas says. “You are not at liberty to make up the Rosenfield Protocol. Do what we tell you. Deal?” “Deal,” says Rosenfield. Sammy will have a scar on his elbow but no pain after a day or two, says Dugas. “You can always get a tattoo over it,” the doctor adds, with a smile. Basic throwing exercises can begin nine weeks later, with a return possible in 6-8 months. But the night before the operation, Rosenfield tosses and turns. “He kind of shut down. He really had a tough time last night,” says his father. The operation on April 6 lasts just 29 minutes. Within 10 minutes, Dugas has inspected the ligament and found it to be in good shape. A minute fleck of bone had broken off the elbow and with it a small piece of the ligament. Dugas drills two small holes, taps a surgical hammer a dozen times so that two plastic anchors are set in the bone, and then reattaches the ligament with collagen-dipped tape, a suture material. “Now I’m going to sew it down so it doesn’t windshield wipe a little bit,” Dugas says, checking Rosenfield’s range of motion. “Call the father,” says Dugas, “so he doesn’t have a heart attack waiting.” There is little blood and zero drama. The whole process seems as routine as an oil change. “Piece of cake,” says Dugas, giving fist bumps as he exits the room. Rosenfield wakes up groggy but happy in the recovery room, sucking on ice chips, then dozing off before they melt. Dugas has already visited him with the good news. “That’s a great kind of injury because we don’t have to guess the length of things, you just stick it back from where it came. And that’s what makes this operation so good. You’re just putting it back where God made it,” says Dugas. Rosenfield is relieved. He remembers nothing of the operation and wants to see the photos. Like every other 14-year-old, he wants his phone back immediately. He hugs his parents and tells the nurse he’s ready to go home. “It feels like when I go to the school dance and I’m out with friends afterwards, I’m just dead tired. But at the same time I wanted to get up and see you guys,” he says. Earlier this spring, he attended his varsity team practices. He was limited to flipping the ball underhand back to the coach hitting fungoes. He said he wasn’t in pain but he clearly looked wounded. “I want to tell my story because I hope this can help some other kids,” he says. ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2qz55kf ___ Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com",
            "output": [
                "Teen baseball player finds alternative to Tommy John surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25ba1536360d48d5b2f3097534ed93f0",
            "input": "Reuters reported on Tuesday that drugmakers including Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L) and Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) were planning to increase prices on more than 200 drugs in the United States on Jan. 1. Nearly all of the price increases are below 10% and the median price increase is around 5%, according to 3 Axis. More early year price increases could still be announced. Soaring U.S. prescription drug prices are expected to again be a central issue in the presidential election. President Donald Trump, who made bringing them down a core pledge of his 2016 campaign, is running for re-election in 2020. Many branded drugmakers have pledged to keep their U.S. list price increases below 10% a year, under pressure from politicians and patients. The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than in other countries where governments directly or indirectly control the costs, making it the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers. Drugmakers often negotiate rebates on their list prices in exchange for favorable treatment from healthcare payers. As a result, health insurers and patients rarely pay the full list price of a drug. Bristol-Myers said in a statement it will not raise list prices on its drugs by more than 6% this year. The drugmaker raised the price on 10 drugs on Wednesday, including 1.5% price hikes on cancer immunotherapies Opdivo and Yervoy and a 6% increase on its blood thinner Eliquis, all of which bring in billions of dollars in revenue annually. It also raised the price on Celgene’s flagship multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid, 6%. Bristol acquired rival Celgene in a $74 billion deal last year. Gilead raised prices on more than 15 drugs including HIV treatments Biktarvy and Truvada less than 5%, according to 3 Axis. Biogen price increases included a 6% price hike on multiple sclerosis treatment Tecfidera, according to 3 Axis. Gilead and Biogen could not be immediately reached for comment. 3 Axis advises pharmacy industry groups on identifying  inefficiencies in the U.S. drug supply chain and has provided consulting work to hedge fund billionaire John Arnold, a prominent critic of high drug prices.",
            "output": [
                "Anti-inflammatory diet could reduce risk of bone loss in women"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08321ae540f14adfa539dce56859fa92",
            "input": "Speaking to a crowded auditorium, one professor recounted the time he sank a $21 million company. Another recalled failing her college statistics course. One graduate described his past struggles with drug addiction. Each story reinforced the same message: Even successful people sometimes fail. “Failure is normal. It’s healthy. And I think people on this panel would argue it actually is transformative,” Peter Forkner, director of Bentley’s counseling center, told students. “If you’re not failing, it probably means that you’re not taking enough risks.” Bentley, a private business school near Boston, joins a growing number of U.S. colleges trying to ease students’ anxieties around failure and teach them to cope with it. On many campuses, it’s meant to combat climbing rates of stress, depression and other problems that have been blamed on reduced resilience or grit among younger generations. Across the country, campus mental health officials report today’s students appear to have a harder time bouncing back from adversity. Counseling centers have seen surging demand, often from students overwhelmed by everyday stresses. Professors have raised concerns about students’ fragility when it comes to receiving bad grades. “Anxiety is rising like crazy,” said Nance Roy, a psychologist who works with colleges through the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit mental health group. “For many students, it’s the first time they’re navigating independently away from home, and if they also don’t have basic life skills, it’s sort of a perfect storm.” Colleges have responded with an array of programs meant to boost resilience and help students catch up on life skills. The University of California, Los Angeles, offers ”grit coaching .” The University of Minnesota recently hosted a ”resilience resource fair .” Dozens of schools now provide ”Adulting 101 ” workshops covering topics from finance to romance. As part of that work, more schools are also striving to normalize failure and create an environment where students can take risks and learn from setbacks. Stanford University encourages its students to celebrate their failures through song, poetry and other creative outlets at an annual event called ”Stanford, I Screwed Up! ” Smith College in Massachusetts and the University of Central Arkansas have both issued students ”certificates of failure ” as part of broader programs on the topic. Colorado State University invites students to take a pledge to embrace failure and persist through it. When it comes to grades, Cornell College in Iowa is warning professors that they shouldn’t soften their scoring for the sake of students’ emotions. A directive on the issue notes that “a grade of a C or below is not the end of the world.” “Normalize failure. It’s part of life. It’s one way we learn,” the message says. “Sometimes students need to fail, and not be given an undeserved grade by a sympathetic faculty member.” Others, like Bentley, are highlighting the failures of successful people. Harvard University has a website sharing rejection letters received by faculty, staff and alumni. Experts propose a variety of theories to explain why today’s students might be struggling. Some say the pressure to succeed is stronger than ever, making even small failures seem disastrous. Some say social media floods students with images of perfection that make them feel bad about their own lives. Others blame parents who tightly manage their children’s lives and shield them from failure — a tendency taken to the extreme in the college admissions bribery scandal , in which dozens of parents were charged last month with paying bribes to help their children get into top schools. Whatever the cause, mental health issues appear to be on the rise on college campuses. A 2018 survey by the American College Health Association found that 22% of college students were diagnosed with anxiety or treated for it over the past year, up from 10% a decade before. The rate for depression rose from 10% to 17% in the same span, the survey found. Efforts to tackle campus mental health have sometimes been met by sneers. On social media, some observers mock a generation of fragile “snowflakes” who need “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings.” But mental health advocates counter that today’s students are grappling with a host of pressures that past generations didn’t, from social media to the threat of school violence. “There’s this temptation to judge or criticize today’s youth,” said Laura Horne, program director at Active Minds, a college mental health group. “They’re just responding to a different and more challenging landscape with the resources we’ve given them.” At Bentley, along with hosting events on failure, officials have launched a “Failure Friday” series on social media that shares a different story of failure from someone on campus each week. Lea Guldemond, a junior who attended the event on professors’ failures, said she welcomes the conversations about anxiety and struggle. Especially at a business school, she said, students face constant stress to compete for the best grades, the best internships and the best jobs. “We’re under a lot of pressure and I think we’re stressed all the time,” said Guldemond, 21, of West Newbury, Massachusetts. “It’s nice to be able to talk about it and know that you’re not alone when you fail. Everyone deals with it.” ___ Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley",
            "output": [
                "Colleges’ message to ease student stress: Failure is normal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c84a68dff0f9436a88bc23f38e46f587",
            "input": "The department cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showing that the number of people across the U.S. being infected by diseases from mosquitoes, ticks and fleas has tripled from 2004 to 2016. Reported cases have increased in Illinois by 58 percent in that same time period. Ticks and mosquitoes can carry diseases causing mild to severe illness, and even death in some cases. The most common mosquito-borne illness in the state is West Nile virus, which can cause paralysis or death in severe cases. The department recommends people use insect repellent containing DEET to repel the insects.",
            "output": [
                "Illinois illnesses from insect bites increased by 58 percent."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a73e13c4df643eb9be86b0caf476980",
            "input": "The story does not address cost at all. The story is focused primarily on childbirth practices in the U.K., which has a significantly different healthcare system from that in the U.S. However, the story does discuss childbirth practices in the U.S., and speaks to U.S. experts on the subject. Home births are often significantly less expensive than hospital or birth center deliveries, but there are still costs involved. The story would have been stronger if it had addressed this, even in broad terms. The story addresses benefits in only general terms. For example, when summarizing the NICE guidance, the story states “home births are safer than hospital births for women who are having their second or later child with a low-risk pregnancy.” And when describing the findings of the U.K. study that was the basis for the guidance, the story notes that “among low-risk women who chose to have a second or later child at home, there were fewer interventions and complications, such as cesarean sections, forceps delivery, infections and hemorrhage compared with hospital births, while the health of babies didn’t differ.” How much safer are home births under the relevant circumstances? How much lower was the risk of complications? It would be helpful to have at minimum an estimate of a summary figure, such as the frequency of complications and interventions overall for home and/or hospital births. In addition, while the story makes clear that the reduced risk is only for women with low-risk pregnancies — it doesn’t tell readers what that means. Does having had a previous C-section rule out a low-risk pregnancy? Which chronic medical conditions might rule a low-risk pregnancy out? It’s not clear. Potential harms are mentioned at different points in the report: maternal deaths; interventions and complications, such as cesarean sections, forceps delivery, infections and hemorrhage compared with hospital births; “complications” for the babies. But the story does not really explore the difference (if any) between risks that would be of potentially greater concern during home birth versus hospital birth — or vice versa. The story does note that the U.K. study behind the guidance found that there was a slightly increased risk of complications for babies born at home if it was the mother’s first birth. We’ll rule this Satisfactory with suggestions noted for next time. The story reports on an expert guideline published last spring that draws on a high-quality UK cohort study (Birthplace) and a Canadian case-control study.The story offers a broad overview of the cohort study that served as the basis for the NICE guidance. The overview would have been stronger if it had offered some additional details, such as information on the likelihood of complications for mothers and infants in both home and hospital settings. However, the story did include a link directly to the relevant research, which is always laudable. The story also offers limited details about the Canadian case-control study — but again the story linked directly to the study. One thing that’s missing from the discussion is any explanation of the hierarchy of evidence — how these two studies differ from one another and how the evidence they provide might compare to, say, a randomized trial. No disease mongering here. The story was very careful not to over-hype risks associated with giving birth, whether at home or in the hospital. This was a strong point for the story. The story cites multiple sources on both sides of the issue, and clearly notes when a given source has written about the issue and what that source’s position was. The story is, by its nature, about comparing alternatives. The story looks explicitly at home births compared to births in medical centers; and, among medical centers, the story explains the difference between hospitals and birth centers. This is another close one. The story does explain the difference between hospitals and birth centers, but doesn’t let readers know how common birth centers are in the U.S. Nor does it mention the availability of midwife services for home births, which can vary by state. However, the story does cite one U.S.obstetrics expert as saying that more birth centers could be established. Because the story addressed the issue, at least tangentially, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The novelty here, which the story emphasizes, is the evidence-based statement from an expert medical group that hospital births may be riskier than home births for uncomplicated second or later pregnancies. It is unusual to see a medical group recommending against a higher level of medical intervention. With that being said, there is a fairly broad body of work on risks associated with childbirth, and home birth in particular, but the story only mentions the U.K. and Canada studies we noted above. While other research findings may not offer as convenient a comparison to the study used to inform the NICE guidance, they could help readers understand the levels of absolute risk facing mothers and infants at home, in hospitals, or at birth centers. And if the U.K. and Canada studies offer insights that were simply not to be found in other work, that would have been worth mentioning too. But the story earned a Satisfactory here. The story does not seem to be tied a news release, and clearly draws from interviews with multiple sources.",
            "output": [
                "New Support for Home Births U.K. board NICE, in a surprise, rules having a baby at home is safer than a hospital in some low-risk pregnancies"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b788e57c3c874d0cba38845e74d41392",
            "input": "\"Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott drew heat for a Feb. 4 2014, speech in which he likened official corruption scandals in Texas-Mexico border counties to \"\"third-world practices,\"\" a comment PolitiFact Texas unpacked in a Feb. 11 In Context article. His comparison drew criticism from lawmakers, the McAllen newspaper and his main opponent in the governor’s race, Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis, who said, \"\"Abbott even went as far as comparing the Texas border to a third-world country.\"\" (Abbott soon after won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the March 2014 primary.) Responding to such criticism, Abbott said in a Feb. 10 opinion article in the McAllen Monitor that his concerns about corruption expressed in his speech \"\"apply wherever corruption is found.\"\" \"\"Public service is a public trust,\"\" Abbott wrote. \"\"As attorney general, I have prosecuted judges, district attorneys and other public officials across Texas who violated that trust, who have been corrupted.\"\" We were curious about that because the attorney general’s office doesn’t focus on battling violent crime. That’s the purview of local prosecutors and police departments. As the Texas Constitution makes clear, the primary job of the attorney general is representing the state in civil matters. Still, state law permits the attorney general to help prosecute a criminal case if a local prosecutor requests assistance. For such purposes, state lawmakers have allowed the attorney general to employ peace officers and lawyers with backgrounds in criminal prosecution to pitch in on occasion. We asked Abbott’s office for information on the prosecutions he referred to in his commentary. Spokeswoman Lauren Bean emailed us a list of 104 prosecutions handled by the agency since Abbott became attorney general in late 2002. The AG’s office was the lead prosecutor in the vast majority of the cases, she told us by phone. The list included cases involving public officials from dog catcher (a child pornography case that ended in a guilty verdict) through higher city and county officials, tax assessors, sheriffs, justices of the peace, judges, assistant district attorneys and one former district attorney (who pleaded guilty to paying himself and others more than $2 million illegally while in office). Crimes involving child pornography and taking public funds are certainly violations of the public trust, though we also wondered how many of Abbott’s cases involved corruption like the examples he presented in his \"\"third-world\"\" speech: a former state district judge sentenced to six years in prison for his role in a cash-for-favors scheme, a former sheriff’s captain who took bribes from drug traffickers; and law enforcement officials who stole drugs and resold them to dealers. Abbott also noted in his Feb. 10 opinion piece that the Monitor had reported that \"\"cases of public officials on the take have spiked.\"\" And, Abbott said, \"\"there have been other stories about law enforcement officers in other Texas counties involved in money laundering, drug smuggling and accepting bribes to protect the cartels and their smuggling routes.\"\" Texas Penal Code Chapter 1, Section 1.09, says the attorney general’s office can aid county or district attorneys in prosecuting certain criminal offenses including misuse of state property or funds and abuse of office, according to the office’s website. Public corruption, bribery and abuse of office were specifically cited in some of Abbott’s prosecutions. We set aside those that did not immediately appear to relate to misusing a public office. Deleting DWI cases, child pornography or indecency, murder, assault/injury, sexual offenses and gambling left 61 prosecutions. Eleven of those 61 prosecutions cited theft by a public servant. Others fell into criminal offense categories including bribery, (breach of) public integrity, official oppression, election violations, fraud and abuse of official capacity, as well as misappropriation or misallocation of public funds or property. The type of case in one prosecution involving an assistant county auditor was specifically given as \"\"public corruption.\"\" So certainly some of the prosecutions involved what ordinary citizens might regard as corruption. We sought expert advice. Two attorneys suggested it’s not easy to decide when a criminal case involves corruption in office. Director Gregg Cox of the Travis County district attorney’s special prosecutions division, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by public officials, told us by email, \"\"There is no definition of ‘corruption’ in the Penal Code or Code of Criminal Procedure, and because the way that term is used can differ from office to office, I would just not be comfortable commenting on that.\"\" George Dix, a criminal law expert and University of Texas law professor, said via email, \"\"I'm not sure what are 'corruption' cases. As far as I know, that is not a term of art. I suppose the term could mean a prosecution for a crime that requires proof of some official malfeasance.\"\" Finally, we looked at whether the prosecutions occurred across Texas, as Abbott wrote, and at whether the prosecuted individuals included judges and district attorneys, as he said. The 104 prosecutions occurred in about one-fourth of Texas’ 254 counties -- six on the border and 193 scattered elsewhere across the state. Nine of Abbott’s public-official prosecutions involved a judge, assistant district attorney, county attorney and district attorney (at the time of his crimes). Four seemed not to be related to abuse of office: a child pornography case, two drunken-driving cases and one case involving misdemeanor offensive contact with an employee. The remaining five prosecutions: State v. David McCoy A Feb. 21, 2008, Amarillo Globe-News news story said, \"\"Suspended 100th District Court Judge David McCoy concluded an agreement with the state Attorney General's office Thursday afternoon that will prevent him from facing felony charges. … A Childress County Grand Jury indicted him on two felony indictments: abuse of official capacity and theft by a public servant.\"\" News reports provided no additional detail. State v. Emil Karl Prohl An April 29, 2010, Facebook post by the Kerrville Daily Times said, \"\"Former 198th district judge Emil Karl Prohl has pled guilty to charges of misapplication of funds. He gets two years probation for taking double reimbursement for travel expenses out of several district and county accounts.\"\" State vs. Joe Frank Garza A May 9, 2011, Corpus Christi Caller-Times news story said, \"\"Former 79th District Attorney Joe Frank Garza began serving a six-month stint behind bars on Monday for illegally paying himself and his employees more than $2 million from his office's drug forfeiture fund.\"\" In re: Judge Christopher Dupuy A Sept. 19, 2013, Houston Chronicle news story said, \"\"A suspended Galveston judge pleaded guilty Thursday to two misdemeanors in exchange for two years of probation. County Court-at-Law Judge Christopher Dupuy pleaded guilty to abuse of office and perjury in exchange for two years of deferred adjudication. … The petition for removal accuses Dupuy of failing to obey an order from a state appeals court, abusing his authority by retaliating against attorneys and threatening the district clerk while attempting to interfere in his own divorce case.\"\" State vs. Scott Tidwell An Oct. 5, 2011, Associated Press news story said, \"\"A former West Texas county attorney will spend four months in jail for retaliating against two nurses who made an anonymous complaint about a doctor to state medical regulators. … The nurses were fired from their jobs at a hospital in Kermit and charged with felonies.\"\" Our ruling Abbott said, \"\"As attorney general, I have prosecuted judges, district attorneys and other public officials across Texas who violated that (public) trust, who have been corrupted.\"\" During Abbott’s decade-plus as attorney general, his office has helped prosecute 104 cases against public officials across Texas -- 61 of them appearing to involve public corruption and five of those against judges, a county attorney and a DA. The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "As attorney general, I have prosecuted judges, district attorneys and other public officials across Texas who violated that (public) trust, who have been corrupted."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e023ccca4e3c40acaff064e1af6c0bd4",
            "input": "\"The handling of a police traffic stop involving Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s brother raises questions about power, politics and ethics. What has the Truth-O-Meter spinning is a more practical concern: crime databases. When police stopped Tracy Reed on Oct. 28, he had an open warrant for failing to appear at a traffic court hearing three weeks earlier. Reed could have been arrested on the spot. Yet when an officer ran his name in the Atlanta Police Department’s criminal database, the warrant never popped up. A police major let Reed go. This was no fluke, according to a recent city of Atlanta news release about its internal investigation on the stop. Police may rely upon the Atlanta Criminal Information Center database to find out whether someone has a warrant, but in certain cases, it can’t tell them. \"\"Atlanta Municipal Court bench warrants are not included in the Atlanta Criminal Information Center [ACIC] database,\"\" the Nov. 28 release said. Bench warrants are arrest warrants initiated by a judge, often when people fail to appear in court. We PolitiFact Georgia scribes squinted our eyes and read the sentence twice. If these arrest warrants aren’t in the system, how do police know whom to haul to jail? We talked to Atlanta police, reviewed existing policies and statutes, contacted court officials, and looked at investigative reports to find some answers. And yes, there is a hole in the city’s criminal database. In case you missed the controversy, Reed ran into trouble Oct. 28 after an Atlanta police officer stopped him for driving with an expired tag, according to a city internal investigation. Even though Reed drove with a license suspended since 2006, the patrolman’s superior let the mayor’s brother go. Running a criminal history database is a complex operation. The information is sensitive and the stakes are high. If the people who enter the data get it wrong or don’t enter it in time, an officer might come face to face with a dangerous felon and not even know it. A person could be jailed for a crime he didn’t commit. That means police can’t do something as simple as make a phone call or send an email to put a warrant in the system, state and local law enforcement officials told us. Only specially certified employees may enter the information into the computer, and they may do so only after receiving the proper documentation. When Atlanta police obtain warrants as part of their investigations, agency policy gives investigating officers 12 hours to hand-deliver the paperwork to the APD team that updates the criminal database. But when an Atlanta municipal judge issues a warrant because someone fails to appear in court, no one hands this paperwork over for entry in the city’s database, police spokesman Carlos Campos told PolitiFact. In fact, these bench warrants are not entered into any local, state or national database, according to the city’s investigative report. Georgia law doesn’t require it, said Shirley Andrews, who helps run the state’s criminal database for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The state attorney general designates what minor offenses must be in the system. Bench warrants for failing to appear in Municipal Court are not on it. This is a problem, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner told investigators. \"\"[T]he truth is, there are thousands of folks that are warranted by Municipal Court warrants. But there’s no way, not to my knowledge, on how to deal with it,\"\" Turner said, according to a transcript of his interview. The head of a state professional organization for prosecutors said he has heard that other jurisdictions are wrestling with the issue. Officers or dispatchers could telephone the Atlanta court to check for open warrants, Turner told investigators, but it’s closed on Friday, the day Reed was stopped. Police and court officials told PolitiFact they’ve been working on this problem for months but need funding to solve it. Atlanta Municipal Court bench warrants are not included in the ACIC database, as the city’s news release said. In fact, Atlanta’s police chief estimates that thousands of people with open warrants aren’t in there. We find the city’s claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "A database police use to look up wanted suspects excludes certain warrants issued by Atlanta Municipal Court."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec14566650ed42a7b8c6d21168676583",
            "input": "Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said Wednesday any suspected cases of unexplained e-cigarette or vaping-associated pulmonary disease must be immediately reported to the Department of Public Health for the next 12 months. Last month, the agency sent an alert to 25,000 Massachusetts health care providers asking them to voluntarily report pulmonary-related disease associated with vaping. “Today’s action establishes the legal framework for health care providers to report cases and suspected cases so that we can get a better sense of the overall burden of disease in Massachusetts,” Bharel said in a written statement. She said the reporting will also help the state provide case counts to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they to try to understand the nationwide impact of vaping. U.S. health officials are investigating what might be causing hundreds of serious breathing illnesses in people who use e-cigarettes and vaping devices. They have identified about 450 possible cases in 33 states, including six deaths. Massachusetts is actively investigating several suspected vaping-associated pulmonary cases. There have been no confirmed Massachusetts cases. The last time the state health commissioner issued a similar mandate was two years ago. That mandate required providers to report cases of amnesia associated with intravenous drug use. The new mandate was sent to all clinicians — including internal medicine, family practice, general practice, emergency medicine, and clinical care — in Massachusetts as well as pediatricians, pulmonologists, and nurse practitioners. It asks providers to report any case of a person experiencing otherwise unexplained progressive symptoms of shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, cough, or weight loss, of any severity, and an abnormal chest imaging study associated with vaping. In the cases reported to the CDC, patients experienced coughing, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Symptoms worsened days or weeks before they were admitted to a hospital. Other symptoms reported by some patients included fever, anorexia, pleuritic chest pain, nausea, and diarrhea. All the patients had reported vaping in the weeks and months before going to the hospital. No specific product has been identified in all cases, nor has any product been conclusively linked to the clinical syndrome. According to the state health department, 41% of Massachusetts high school students have tried e-cigarettes at least once. About 20% of them reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days — a rate six times higher than adults. Nearly 10% of middle school students say they have tried e-cigarettes. A 2018 law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker includes e-cigarettes into the definition of tobacco, making it illegal to vape where it is illegal to smoke. The law also raised the minimum legal sale of tobacco products — including e-cigarettes — to 21.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts collecting data on possible vaping illnesses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8278b2d00e65428b95173b6b05a16bc9",
            "input": "\"Thanks to a little-known congressional bill, it may soon be impossible to tell whether your Fourth of July burger is all-American Angus or beef imported from the Amazon, according to a Facebook meme. \"\"The House of Representatives just voted 300-131 to remove ‘country-of-origin labeling’ on chicken, pork, and beef sold in the United States,\"\" the meme says. \"\"Sorry but you don’t deserve to know where your meat is coming from.\"\" What beef could the House possibly have with the consumer-friendly law? We looked into the vote in question and found an interesting story of international trade disputes, riled up Canadian hog farmers, and \"\"jingoist fears.\"\" Meat of the matter Under the country-of-origin labeling law, or COOL, supermarkets have to tell consumers where their meat, fish, and nuts are produced with varying degrees of specificity (i.e. \"\"Born in Canada, Slaughtered in the U.S.\"\", \"\"Farm-Raised in Vietnam\"\", or simply a laundry list of all the countries the product has passed through). COOL passed in 2002 but wasn’t fully implemented until March 2009. By then, Canada already had a bone to pick with the law, saying it violated World Trade Organization agreements. A mandatory \"\"made-in\"\" stamp discriminated against foreign hog farmers and cattle ranchers and was too costly to boot, according to Canada. Joining Canada’s complaint were a long list of other countries. Between 2011 and 2015, the WTO ruled four times that COOL was inconsistent with trade agreements. The United States made several unsuccessful appeals, but eventually Canada and Mexico asked the WTO for permission to impose retaliatory tariffs totalling $3 billion. The WTO’s decision is pending. In May of 2015, House Agriculture Committee Chair K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, introduced H.R. 2393, a bill to repeal the labeling requirements for ground and muscle cuts of beef and pork -- and threw in chicken for good measure. \"\"Retaliation by Canada and Mexico will soon become a reality, meaning economically devastating tariffs on a broad spectrum of U.S. exports,\"\" Conaway wrote in Roll Call. \"\"Ripple effects will be felt in nearly every industry, every state and every consumer’s wallet. This is why COOL for beef, pork and chicken — nothing more than a failed government experiment — must be repealed.\"\" On June 10, the House passed the repeal bill by a not-entirely partisan vote of 300-131: a third of House Democrats voted in favor of the Republican-backed bill. Saving COOL’s bacon The meme’s wording implies that the country-of-origin labeling law’s fate is sealed, but that’s a bit hammed up. The bill now awaits the Senate’s and, ultimately, President Barack Obama’s approval. In the upper chamber, COOL repeal will be more of a battle. \"\"The politics are going to be much, much more difficult in the Senate,\"\" said Victoria Guida, a trade reporter for Politico. \"\"Part of the reason this passed the House so easily is because so many other industries, outside of the meat world, are freaked out about retaliation. But the Senate tends to be a little more big-picture about policies, and straight repeal is expected to have a tough time.\"\" The Senate Agricultural Committee held hearings on June 25, where Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., called for repeal. In lieu of completely getting rid of the labeling law, top Democrat, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, proposed a voluntary labeling system supported by some Republicans but rejected by Conaway. We didn’t hear back from the White House about what the president plans to do if the bill reaches his desk. If the repeal is greenlit by both the Senate and the White House, country-of-origin still won’t be prohibited from meat packaging. As per Stabenow’s proposal, it could potentially mirror the USDA’s paid grading service of beef (i.e. \"\"prime choice\"\" and \"\"select\"\"), though supporters say that’s not enough. \"\"The (meat) industry has had plenty of time to do a COOL program, and they didn't. So we have mandatory COOL. That is the solution that provides consumers with what they’re demanding,\"\" Chris Waldrop of the Consumer Federation of America. What’s at 'steak' At its core, COOL is a consumer rights law, intended to help people make purchasing decisions -- be it supporting American ranchers or boycotting beef associated with Amazon deforestation. Yet it has provoked intense debate. While 90 percent of Americans want country-of-origin labeling, the interest doesn’t necessarily reflect in the dollars spent, says Jayson Lusk, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University. \"\"Analysis of scanner data from grocery stores shows essentially no impact of (mandatory country-of-origin labeling) when buying meat,\"\" he said. \"\"Despite this, there are real and demonstrable costs to processors and retailers. Thus, the totality of evidence suggests that COOL does not pass a cost-benefit test.\"\" Canada and Mexico have also argued that the labeling might make people think U.S. products are safer, even when experts say there is little evidence to support or refute that point. \"\"U.S. companies have been doing a marvelous job of poisoning us for years,\"\" said Bill Marler, a food-borne illness attorney and publisher of Food Safety News. He pointed out that Malaysia banned American apples earlier this year due to a listeria outbreak, and Mexico rejected Californian lettuce in 2006 after growers found E. coli on the crop. While Marler thinks COOL can feed \"\"jingoist fears,\"\" he nonetheless supports it, as he believes in greater transparency in the food system. Like Marler, 283 consumer, agricultural, environmental, labor, and faith-based groups say COOL is about empowering consumers. In a letter ultimately unheeded by Conaway, they urged the House to not bow to the standard scare tactics of trade partners. \"\"We shouldn't automatically repeal a law passed by Congress because an international trade tribunal tells us it violates trade law. We first need to look at other options aside from repeal,\"\" said Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a sustainable farming advocacy group. He added that COOL laws exist around the world, and United States has willingly paid tariffs when it’s disagreed with past WTO rulings. \"\"Consumers have a legitimate interest in knowing where their food comes from,\"\" said Waldrop of the Consumer Federation of America. Our ruling \"\"The House of Representatives just voted 300-131 to remove ‘country-of-origin labeling’ on chicken, pork, and beef sold in the United States,\"\" according to a Facebook meme. The bill in question seeks to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling or COOL from ground and muscle cuts of chicken, pork, and beef. The House passed it in June this year with a 300-131 vote, after Canada and Mexico said the consumer rights law was unfair to foreign hog farmers and cattle ranchers and threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs. The Senate has yet to decide on the labeling law’s fate and, at this early stage, there has been support for making COOL voluntary. While country-of-origin labeling isn’t quite dead meat, the House voted for repeal.\"",
            "output": [
                "The House of Representatives just voted 300-131 to remove ‘country-of-origin labeling’ on chicken, pork, and beef sold in the U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96a795819d7e43f5a87e84d73df7019d",
            "input": "“We met with the whole chef team,” said Stauffer, who runs Vitruvian with Shawn Kuhn. “They reaffirmed to me they were going to be keeping us on board, buying the same stuff. They talked about expanding a few things they were not getting locally.” A few weeks later, Stauffer got a brief letter from a University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority employee he’d never met. “A decision has been made to move this business to another vendor,” it said. The termination date was 30 days later, the Capital Times reported. For the past four years, UW Health has touted its wide-ranging commitment to local farms and sustainable sourcing. UW’s goal to source 20% to 30% of its meat, cheese and produce in an “environmentally, economically and socially responsible” way was rare enough to merit stories with headlines like “Wisconsin hospitals want more local food for patients’ plates.” On Instagram and Facebook, the culinary team showcased mushrooms from a farm in Waunakee and beef from Boscobel. In summer 2016, a weekly farmers’ market popped up outside the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. Purchasing data compiled in 2018 won the hospitals a Circle of Excellence in Food Award from PracticeGreenHealth, an industry organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care. Yet this past winter, many of the small scale, local producers praised by UW Health in recent years received letters like the one Stauffer got. In the Four Lakes Cafe at University Hospital, a silhouette of Wisconsin under the words “Made Locally, Served Here” has been wiped clean of farm names and cheesemakers. When an institution the size of UW Health stops buying from a small producer, it affects not only that smaller company’s bottom line. It also impacts these producers’ visibility to a local audience with a vested interest in healthy food. Many of those partnerships came about under the leadership of Ellen Ritter, UW Health’s executive chef, who left the company at the end of 2018 and has not been replaced. “People love to know where their food comes from and making that connection,” Ritter said. “The biggest piece was the economic impact on the farmers and the community.” Megan Waltz, director of culinary services and clinical nutrition at UW Health, said its list of farms is “ever evolving.” Waltz cited efficiency, cost savings and a new accounting system as reasons to shift back to broadline distributors like Sysco (which UW had used all along, in addition to smaller farms). The promotional push now is around antibiotic free meats, sourced primarily through Sysco and UW Provisions. “You only have so much money,” Waltz said. “In a health care institution you have a variety of needs. If you’re spending more money on food, that’s less money for the latest machine for patients.” UW Health has a net revenue of $2.9 billion. Its food budget was around $10 million in 2018. Last year, Vitruvian saw $36,000 in sales from UW Health. The relationship was important enough to Vitruvian that Stauffer offered UW a discounted rate for an event held on their farm. “When I got that stock letter I was so frustrated,” Stauffer said. “It’s one thing for them to say we’re cutting costs everywhere. It’s another thing to not have their chef even call me when we’ve developed this relationship.” UW Health serves about 2.5 million meals per year to employees, patients and their families. Changes on the culinary side first made headlines when, in 2015, it stopped selling sugary drinks. The kitchen got rid of fryers and revamped the salad bar, sprucing up options with local kale and greens, putting the cost of a plant-based lunch below a burger. Salad sales nearly doubled in two years. By February 2017, Nancy Stohs reported in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that UW Health’s culinary services bought directly from 50-60 small Wisconsin farms. Then last year, Culinary Services cut $2.1 million (about 20 from its food budget. One producer that dropped in the first wave of cuts was SuperCharge! Foods, which had been making prepackaged grab-and-go salads and growing microgreens for the salad bar. Jamaal Stricklin said purchases from UW Health had a real impact on his company’s bottom line. “We’re pretty small. A couple thousand dollars a month is a big deal for us,” said Stricklin, SuperCharge’s director of sales. SuperCharge!, like Vitruvian, hopes to work with UW again. The microgreens producer has yet to replace the lost revenue. “I don’t want to close that door,” Stricklin said. “I need to make sure I don’t burn bridges.” Belle Pleva at Paleo Mama had been supplying UW Health with cheesecakes, granola, candied pecans and cheddar crisps at about $600 to $1,000 a month for more than three years. She got her termination letter on March 11. Paleo Mama has been adding stores every month, so it won’t be a huge financial hit. But for Pleva, selling to UW Health was a boon to visibility for her gluten-free, keto-friendly snacks. “A lot of customers have come to me and told me they found our products there,” Pleva said. “We did reach a lot of people and had the potential to continue to reach more. It’s frustrating and sad they decided to make these cuts and eliminate all these local products.” Waltz attributed recent changes to a need for greater efficiency. She’d hoped to get Paleo Mama snacks through L&L Foods, a distributor in Verona. (Pleva said she does not work with a distributor). “We like purchasing through local farms but we have challenges with that because of volume,” Waltz said. “We have limited loading dock space. If you have 40 small farms delivering to a loading dock where they are also delivering medical supplies, we have to be mindful of that.” A partnership with UW Health gave Underground Meats the incentive it needed to develop deli-style salamis and deli meats to fit into UW’s program. Jonny Hunter, founder and co-owner of Underground, said Meats was able to “hit the same price point as the product they were using,” sourced through Neesvig’s. (UW Health now stocks Applegate Farms, available from Sysco.) “It was a good amount, $700 to $1,500 a week, in deli meats and sausage crumble,” Hunter said. “They would use it for sandwiches, for pizza and the salad bar. We knew we could do this type of product, and she (Ritter) gave us the quantity that they would use.” Underground’s products appeared in UW Health’s cafeterias in March 2017. In April of this year, they got a termination letter. Hunter, like Pleva, was less concerned about losing business and more disappointed in the larger changes at UW. “It was really exciting the way they were doing it, as a big institutional buyer,” Hunter said. “It was something I thought could be a model for other companies, other institutions in this area. You can work with small producers, you can support your local economy.” “We were trying to create a local food system,” Ritter said. “Any time you can eliminate the middleman you put more money in pockets.” Hunter said it felt like they were helping each other out. “She was using the size and the customer base of UW Health to support the local food economy and build something that could be modeled elsewhere,” Hunter said. “It adds strength to our local food systems and farmers’ capacity, their durability to survive.” If UW Health does source locally, Waltz wants it to be through distributors, the way most food-related institutions and restaurants work. Distributors take 10-20% on top of already discounted wholesale prices, so it’s not a one-to-one financial swap with direct distribution. But when a company like Cadence Cold Brew partners with a broadline, they get greater reach around and outside the state. Compared to the direct relationships Ritter and her team cultivated, this kind of system has layers of processing. Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen makes applesauce from Wisconsin apples, and Sysco distributes it to UW Health. JRS County Acres buys cage free brown eggs from Amish farms and packs them for distribution by Fifth Season Cooperative in Viroqua. Fifth Season, in turn, is distributed by Sysco. Every business takes a cut. More than a decade after the first big boom of the farm to table movement, it’s unusual for large institutions to commit to the kind of sourcing UW Health was trying to do. Ritter had insisted it was complicated, but possible. Some of the attrition has been to changes on the farms themselves — Peacefully Organic Produce is no longer producing. Twisted Oak founder Heather Oppor said it was difficult to turn a profit on antibiotic-free, free-range pork without selling the whole animal. Twisted Oak made its last deliveries last fall. UW still works with some local bakeries, among them Greenbush Bakery, Just Bakery and Fosdal Bakery in Stoughton. And some farm relationships developed during the years of focus on local sourcing have remained. Rufus Haucke at Keewaydin Farms, a certified organic CSA farm in Viola, dropped off his first UW Health order of 2019 on May 15. In the past, UW Health has purchased cabbage and kale, cherry tomatoes and rhubarb from Keewaydin. It has been a steady buyer for the past two years, he said ($7,000 in 2018, $5,000 the year before). “I’ve been in the business long enough to know that in these institutions, it’s how much the director is involved and passionate about the purchasing,” Haucke said. “Our sales have gone up in the last two years and we talked about them going up again. They have been an important customer.” Mark Bearce founded Kettle Range Meats, an aggregator of beef from about 50 Wisconsin farms, after the closure of Black Earth Meats. In summer 2016 he worked with Ritter on a purchasing plan for UW Health that kept in mind both cost constraints and whole animal butchery. “When we started the program, they were interested in finding a way to optimize their purchasing to use whole animals as much as possible,” Bearce said. “People get used to being able to order 200 cases of rib-eye steaks without thinking about how many animals need to be sacrificed and processed to get 200 cases of steaks. “UW was conscious of the fact when they ordered large quantities they weren’t using the whole animal,” he said. “We tried to optimize how the animal got used, to minimize number that needed to be processed to meet the hospital’s needs.” Bearce and others working in local food systems recognize why it’s hard for schools, large companies and hospitals to work with small farms. “One of the problems is finding a way to meet the needs of bigger customers on a regular basis at the prices that they need,” he said. “Kettle Range fills that gap by consolidating and wholesaling to make it easier.” Becker Family Farms has been selling to UW Health for a couple of years, having worked with St. Mary’s Hospital before that. Matt Becker’s Lodi farm is not certified organic, so it was hard to break into the community supported agriculture market. He decided to focus on grocery accounts like Woodman’s, Hy-Vee and Piggly Wiggly, Capitol Lakes retirement community, and several restaurants. “For wholesale you need to move more product to make it profitable,” Becker said. In January and February of this year when UW Health was paring down the farms it worked with, Becker said they upped their commitment to him. He’s happy about this — it’s more profitable for a farm to sell directly to an institution than to a wholesale market, he said. “That helps us,” he said. “We know that if we’re able to plant certain amount of tomatoes or broccoli, we can say you’re willing to commit to 100 pounds of tomatoes every week. At UW, instead of wholesale, we can get a similar or little better price than what Sysco would charge.” Waltz said UW Health wants its “food environments” to support the wellness of its employees and staff, to “model behaviors we’re asking them to do outside our building.” “You teach people how to eat within a budget,” Waltz said. “It’s a balance of the choices you’re making and we balance that every day. We try to best support local farms, best support people’s health and wellness and well-being, have healthy foods available, fresh foods. But we also need to work within a budget.” Haucke at Keewaydin Farms is glad to work with institutions when he can, for as long as he can. He said UW Health has been an “easy and enjoyable” partner. “Institutions would have a greater impact on our business if they put more of their purchasing power behind us,” Haucke said. “We’re bringing in a pittance compared to what they do serve. I’m happy to get any sort of business I get. “Whatever they do do is better than nothing.” ___ Information from: The Capital Times, http://www.madison.com/tct",
            "output": [
                "Producers grapple with UW Health’s shift from local food."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1fae6e753614651a1e59b240387f195",
            "input": "They said a device that stimulates the vagus nerve in the neck while simultaneously playing different sounds for several weeks helped eliminate the condition in a group of rats. A trial of the treatment in humans is set to start in Europe this year, said Dr. Navzer Engineer of MicroTransponder, a medical device company affiliated with The University of Texas at Dallas, whose study appears in the journal Nature. Tinnitus is sometimes brought on by hearing loss. It occurs as cells in the inner ear are damaged, often from a loud noise. Current drugs help mask tinnitus, but the condition is incurable. Engineer’s team thinks tinnitus may be caused when too many brain cells become tuned to a specific tone in the brain. So his team set out to train the brain to ignore the nerve signals that cause the ringing sound. To do this, they paired a device that sends electrical impulses to the vagus nerve in the neck with different sounds. Stimulating this nerve releases chemicals such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine that trigger changes in the brain. The University of Texas at Dallas team tested this approach in a series of experiments with rats, using an indirect but accepted method of testing hearing in animals. In one, they stimulated the vagus nerve while playing different sounds 300 times a day for 20 days to a group of eight rats with a form of tinnitus. The tones were close to the frequency of the ringing sound, and the hope was to trick some of the nerve cells into listening to the new tones rather than the ringing tone. When the team checked the nerve responses to different tones, the tinnitus had disappeared in rats exposed to the tones and nerve stimulation, but it persisted in a group of control animals. “Unlike previous treatments, we’re not masking the tinnitus. We are eliminating the source of the tinnitus,” Michael Kilgard of the University of Texas-Dallas, who worked on the study, said in a statement. MicroTransponder is developing a wireless medical device to stimulate the vagus nerve and hopes to test it in people later this year. Cyberonics Inc already sells vagus nerve stimulation devices for people with epilepsy and depression. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, part of the National Institutes of Health, funded a large part of the research.",
            "output": [
                "Device treatment may silence ringing in the ears."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e05fde73218e47f09bbdcaa0075f3db1",
            "input": "Democrats who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives say they have stretched out a hand to Republicans to bridge the partisan divide. Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, said lawmakers are building consensus on land use in eastern Oregon. He highlighted a Senate bill on Tuesday that allows counties in the sparsely populated, predominantly Republican region to designate up to 50 acres outside urban growth boundaries for industrial and other employment uses. The bill was sponsored by Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, and Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena. Courtney has said he wants legislation to benefit the entire state of Oregon. Rep. Carl Wilson, leader of House Republicans, warned on Friday that they would try to block legislation they deem dangerous to rural Oregon’s economic health. Legislation to cut statewide carbon emissions is a top priority, Dembrow told reporters. Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is the biggest component of greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. “You’ll see it as a priority for the governor, the House and as well for the Senate,” Dembrow said. One of the challenges in doing a carbon pricing program is to not cause manufacturers in Oregon to move to other states with no, or more lax, greenhouse-gas emissions standards. “Global warming is a global problem, and so our preference would be to create a program where they can be kept in state, under the program, and put on a steady (emissions) reduction diet over time,” Dembrow said. A third-party analysis will be incorporated into the bill that determined which high-emissions manufacturers wouldn’t be able to compete if the carbon pricing program was instituted too abruptly, Dembrow said. The Legislature’s joint committee on carbon reduction hopes to have draft legislation ready by the end of January, Dembrow said. Gov. Kate Brown has a $2 billion education investment package, in addition to her base budget, in her proposed state budget that would require some type of tax increase. Priorities are for early childhood education, increasing the school year to 180 days, increasing the high school graduation rate, and technical education. Payments into the unfunded liability of the state’s public pension system, known as PERS, will inevitably siphon off some education funding, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton, told reporters Tuesday. “Whatever we invest in our K-12 system, or even our higher ed system, won’t buy us as much— in terms of teachers, in terms of classroom days — because of the ever-increasing percentage of employer payments into the PERS system,” Steiner Hayward said. A health care financing package for the Medicaid recipients is critical and will start in the House, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, who is the chairwoman of the health care committee, told reporters. Speaking at the opening of the Senate, Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, cited words penned by Langston Hughes that read: “Keep your hand on the plow; hold on.” “I think that’s appropriate for us as we begin this session,” Frederick said. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Education, climate change, health care on lawmakers’ agenda."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-154ca64bd5b145ec9cbd5c389aa12fda",
            "input": "The measure would give state public health officials instead of local doctors the authority to decide which children can skip their shots before attending school. It’s being considered by the state Assembly amid growing cases of measles. Newsom told reporters at the California Democratic Party Convention Saturday that although he supports immunization, he has concerns about having government officials sign off on vaccine exemptions. He said as a parent, he wouldn’t want a bureaucrat to make a personal decision for his family. The Sacramento Bee reports Newsom didn’t mention the bill explicitly. Opponents say the doctor-patient relationship will be compromised if it becomes law. California does not allow exemptions based on personal beliefs, but still allows exemptions for children who must avoid vaccinations for medical reasons.",
            "output": [
                "California governor has doubts about tougher vaccine rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7faa82793d3440429c4f62f4b4e61ff1",
            "input": "The Swiss death toll rose on Monday to 584 from 559 people on Sunday, while the number of positive tests increased to 21,652 from 21,100 on Sunday, a less steep rise than of late. “Of course we look at the others but we decide for ourselves,” Health Minister Alain Berset told a news briefing after visiting health care officials in the southwestern canton of Valais. He said Switzerland would use epidemiological data to decide when it might start easing up on measures — including closing schools, bars and restaurants and banning gatherings of more than five people — set to run until April 19. Hospital stays and infections were still rising in Switzerland, which had not yet seen peak cases of respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the new virus, Berset said. “You cannot forget that even when we are at the peak it does not mean it is over. The peak is only the moment you hope it goes down. When it is really going down then you can imagine measures to loosen up,” he said, urging people to stay home. “Easter and the whole month of April will be somewhat different this year.”   The cabinet is set to meet twice before April 19 so has time to gauge the situation before adopting any measures as in Austria, which has fewer COVID-19 infections, Berset said. Austria’s government plans to start reopening shops from next week, saying the country was turning a corner though it widened a requirement to wear face masks.",
            "output": [
                "Too soon to ease anti-virus curbs, Swiss say as new cases decelerate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86baee578673402f86f4b5e3228ef7ab",
            "input": "The lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of a dozen children against Gov. Jim Justice, the state Department of Health and Human Resources and other state officials. The 105-page complaint describes stories of neglect and harm done to foster children while under the department’s care. Many were in inadequate and dangerous placements, left without necessary services or forced to languish in foster care for years, including a 17-year-old suicidal boy who sleeps in a locked cell at a juvenile detention center. Filed by a Charleston law firm and nonprofit advocacy groups A Better Childhood and Disability Rights West Virginia, the lawsuit said the state’s child welfare system has “significant administrative problems that hinder its ability to operate effectively.” “For years, the state has ignored repeated recommendations about how to fix the damaging West Virginia foster care system,” Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of A Better Childhood, said in a statement. “Children are being sent to institutions, placed in foster homes without any services, and abandoned by the state.” New York-based A Better Childhood has filed similar lawsuits in several states. DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch said changes were made to the child welfare system starting in 2013 and efforts have increased every year since. Crouch said the lawsuit will cost the state millions of dollars “and was filed by a company that has never contacted us to ask the question: ‘What are you doing to fix these problems?’ We welcome the opportunity to make our case in court.” The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year, West Virginia agreed to expand mental health services for children after a federal investigation found the state unnecessarily institutionalized kids with emotional or behavioral disorders. In the case of the 17-year-old boy, the lawsuit said he was physically abused by his family and has been under DHHR care since 2012. He lived in group homes and residential care centers before being sent to a juvenile detention center, where he sleeps on a mattress on a cement floor in a locked cell. He suffers from depression, has attempted suicide several times and will be homeless when he ages out of the system within the year, the lawsuit said. In September, the DHHR told lawmakers that 651 foster care children, mostly teen boys, have run away from group care settings or schools in less than a year. “Not only are we failing to provide federally mandated care, but we are also failing to prepare these children for what lies ahead and instead condemning many of them to a life of abuse and homelessness once they age out of foster care,” plaintiffs’ attorney Richard Walters said. The DHHR’s foster care ranks have swelled to about 6,900 children — an increase of more than 60% from the same time in 2015 — as the state grapples with the opioid addiction epidemic. West Virginia has by far the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the nation. The lawsuit said three siblings ages 2, 3 and 4 were placed under DHHR care because of drug-addicted parents, but the children have moved from one foster home to another “due to DHHR’s inability to appropriately develop case plans and to follow department procedures.” West Virginia can no longer use the opioid epidemic as an excuse, the lawsuit said. “The foster care crisis in West Virginia is not an issue that just arose in the last 4-5 years, it’s a systemic problem that has festered in the state for almost 20 years,” said Jeremiah Underhill, legal director of Disability Rights West Virginia. The lawsuit also says the state failed to maintain an adequate number of appropriate foster homes and resorts to quick placements among relatives without vetting or monitoring to ensure children’s safety. The reliance upon kinship caregivers has increased more than 30 percentage points over the past five years. State lawmakers have limited placement of a child in an out-of-state facility unless it’s closer to the child’s family or the child has a health issue that cannot be addressed by an in-state facility.",
            "output": [
                "Federal lawsuit targets West Virginia foster care system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27b9e9bd7c24423a8e847c5b0ab6c6a0",
            "input": "Dozens of people are missing and 1.2 million are sheltering in the camps, state officials said, as water receded and a huge clean-up gathered pace. “The death toll has risen to 373,” an official of the state’s disaster management authority told Reuters. Kerala received rainfall more than 40 percent greater than normal for the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. Torrential rain in the last 10 days forced officials to release water from dozens of dangerously full dams. The Indian government classified the floods as a “calamity of severe nature.” Kerala has pitched it as a national disaster, which if accepted by the federal government, is likely to prompt greater commitments of funds for relief and rebuilding efforts. But, without a yardstick for such a declaration, it could be an uphill task, state officials involved with disaster management said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the flood one of the worst in India’s history, displacing more than half a million people. Federal health minister J.P. Nadda said more than 3,500 medical camps were set up across a region roughly the size of Switzerland, where rains since Aug. 8 have swelled rivers and triggered landslides. “There is a requirement for 90 different medicines and the first installment has reached,” he added. “The biggest challenges immediately ahead are cleaning of the flood-hit houses, rehabilitation, and prevention of water-borne diseases,” said Mahesh P., a village official in Rayamangalam, about 45 km (28 miles) from Kerala’s financial capital of Kochi. Mahesh oversees four relief camps in his village, which itself escaped flood damage. The camps accommodate people rescued from neighboring areas, which were among the worst affected. The villagers had all pulled together to rescue people and prevent an even bigger disaster, Mahesh said. “The flood has bonded the people like never before, sharing whatever they had.”  Chlorine powder to disinfect water and other cleaning material are distributed by the camps Mahesh oversees, along with a basic survival kit consisting of a five-day supply of rice and food, toiletries and clothing. Light to moderate rain was expected across Kerala on Monday, promising respite to rescue workers, who have battled rising waters and mudslides to reach tens of thousands of stranded villagers. In one of the worst-hit areas, Chengannur, about 100 km (62 miles) from Kochi, a long queue of women snaked out of a medical camp at the main relief center. As a helicopter hovered overhead, doctors checked elderly men and women lying on wooden benches in an engineering college. “People are being screened for respiratory infections,” said a camp doctor, Rajesh Parameshwaran, adding that another infection doctors were targeted was leptospirosis, which can strike people wading through stagnant water. Those returning home from the camps as the waters recede face a difficult clean-up. The insides of many homes will have about 60 cm (24 inches) of mud, officials said. Wells, commonly used in Kerala, are contaminated and few places have electricity to pump water. Kochi’s airport has suspended operations until Sunday. National carrier Air India on Monday began flying turboprop planes from the city’s naval airport to the cities of Bangalore and Coimbatore in neighboring states. To assist passengers, India’s aviation regulator asked domestic airlines to cap maximum fares to and from Kerala and nearby airports. Kerala faces no shortage of food, at least. Traders had stocked up before the Hindu harvest festival of Onam on Saturday, the chief minister said. Kerala has canceled all official celebrations of what is usually its biggest festive event. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition Congress party, urged Modi not to discriminate between states controlled by his Bharatiya Janata Party and those such as Kerala, which it does not rule. The state, ruled by the communist party, has received just a third of the immediate assistance of 20 billion rupees ($285 million) it sought from the federal government.",
            "output": [
                "Death toll nears 400 in India's flood-hit Kerala, dozens missing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d13f25a27075484ba42b3bbcef87a18a",
            "input": "The advisory is for people using the waters for recreation. The advisory area is from the McAlpine Dam near Louisville to the Greenup Dam near Greenup in northeastern Kentucky. State officials also issued an advisory for Briggs Lake near Russellville. The advisory means algal toxins have been found at various locations along the water. Swimming, wading, and other water activities are not recommended during the advisory. State officials say ingested water may increase the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It can also cause skin irritation.",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky issues harmful algae warning for Ohio River."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1065126cc5184c049d66670ab6f63546",
            "input": "The Division of Public Health in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says that as of Wednesday, it has confirmed 134 cases in multiple states and North Carolina counties. The department says the cases are connected to people who attended the Mountain State Fair last month in Fletcher. In addition to the two deaths, 88 people have been hospitalized. According to the department, preliminary findings suggest exposure to Legionella bacteria occurred inside the Davis Event Center at the fair, specifically near the hot tubs and during the last five days of the event.",
            "output": [
                "North Carolina confirms 2nd death from Legionnaires’ disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4da425b93e7942519e04121dec305b49",
            "input": "The “Getting to Know the Real John McCain” commentary that began making the rounds in forwarded emails in August 2017 contains a combination of verifiable facts and opinions about John McCain’s first marriage to Carol Shepp McCain. The commentary is largely based on a Daily Mail article that ran in 2008, when John McCain was running for president. The article included rare public comments from McCain’s ex-wife, Carol Shepp McCain, about the couple’s divorce and about John’s mindset after he returned from Vietnam after spending five and a half years as a prisoner of war. We couldn’t track down the original “Getting to Know the Real John McCain” commentary, or verify that a woman named Burma Davis Posey was its actual author. But we can look at some of the biographical details included in the commentary. The commentary’s central theme is that Carol McCain was a loyal wife and mother — and that John selfishly divorced her because of life-altering injuries that she sustained in a car accident on Christmas Eve of 1969. Both John and Carol McCain have agreed that their divorce fell apart because of John’s immaturity, but Carol disputes the idea that her accident was the central cause. For his part, John McCain wrote in his 2002 memoir “Worth Fighting For” that: “My marriage’s collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity. The blame was entirely mine.” For her part, Carol McCain told the Daily Mail in a 2008: “My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce. My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens…it just does.” And the commentary’s claims about John McCain meeting Cindy and beginning a relationship with her before his first marriage ended appears to be true. John claimed in “Worth Fighting For” that his relationship with Cindy didn’t begin until after he separated from Carol, but others dispute that. A 2008 Los Angeles Times story that quotes a friend of John McCain who was at the reception in Hawaii where John met Cindy said that some people in his social circle believed that the McCains had already separated by the time John and Cindy met based on John’s behavior: By contrast, some of McCain’s friends, including the Senate aide who was at the reception where McCain first met  (Cindy) Hensley, believed he was separated at that time. Albert “Pete” Lakeland, the aide who was with McCain at the reception in Hawaii in April 1979, said of the introduction to Hensley: “It was like he was struck by Cupid’s arrow. He was just enormously smitten.” As the pair began dating, Lakeland allowed them to spend a weekend together at his summer home in Maryland, he said. The senator has acknowledged that he behaved badly, and that his swift divorce and remarriage brought a cold shoulder from the Reagans that lasted years. In the end, the “Getting to Know John McCain” commentary draws from a number of credible reports that were published during the 2008 presidential campaign. Many of the biographical details about John McCain and his first marriage are true, but they’re also colored by the author’s unfavorable view of McCain. A number of rumors about John McCain went viral in July and August 2017 as the senator’s battle with brain cancer, and his deciding “no” vote on the Obamacare repeal bill drew attention to him. We investigated claims that Richard Nixon pardoned John McCain and that John McCain started the USS Forrestal fire.",
            "output": [
                " A commentary titled, “Getting to Know the Real John McCain” by Burma Davis Posey began making the rounds in August 2017 after Senator McCain voted against the GOP’s plan to repeal Obamacare. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8e3f8899c14481f8f8d07abd556d823",
            "input": "The release did not mention it, but the app is “gratis” according to the Luna app website (in German). Most apps of this kind are sponsored and free, and even those that are not free of charge are mostly very inexpensive. The release put the benefits experienced by the treatment and control groups in numerical context: “After three months, 37 percent of participants in the acupressure group reported a 50 percent reduction in pain intensity. After six months, this proportion had increased to more than half of the women in this group (58 percent). Only 25 percent of women in the control group reported a similar reduction in pain intensity at both the 3-month and 6-month marks. Women in the acupressure group also used less pain medication than women in the control group and reported lower levels of pain overall.” The news release leaves the impression that there were no ill effects, but the study summary itself notes that some women in the acupressure group experienced bruising, nausea, dizziness or chest pressure. According to the study, 15 participants experienced an adverse effect. The release states that the study was randomized and controlled and that it included 221 young women that were assigned to one of two treatment groups. Only the treatment group (those doing acupressure) were given instructions on how to administer self-acupressure before and during menstruation. Participants were assessed on their pain levels at 3- and 6-months. Some limitations described in the study but not mentioned in the release: about 90% percent of volunteers had at least 12 years of school education, higher than the average population which would affect the generalizability of the results to the general population. Researchers also stated that the relatively short follow-up time could have resulted in an overestimation of the treatment’s benefit. Although the vast majority of women are estimated to have mild to moderate menstrual pain, and menstruation has often been inappropriately construed as a “disease” always in need of medical intervention, this release presented the issue matter-of-factly, and reasonably. The release doesn’t say how the research was funded. The last line of the release notes the trade name of the app used in the study but not the developer. The release notes that the trial aimed to evaluate whether women achieved greater reduction from acupuncture as an add-on treatment than from “usual care alone.” Usual care was described as pain medication and hormonal contraceptives. The release would have been improved had it made it explicit that the study participants continued to use other pain relief therapies while doing acupressure and that the acupressure study was designed to test the technique’s value as an adjunct therapy. The release links to a website where the app is available in German and where it can be downloaded for free. The release notes that there’s been only limited research into the therapeutic benefits of smart phone apps and that only a few have been randomized controlled trials. It does not claim to be the first to test an app for acupressure and menstrual pain. The release doesn’t engage in unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Acupressure for menstrual pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f9a03538ddcd4ed39179239acb1aac6c",
            "input": "A University of Iowa study shows the state’s contribution to the Gulf dead zone spiked 47 percent to 618 million pounds in 2016, based on five-year running annual averages. “Just based on water quality data, I think we can say we’ve not made much progress over the past 20 years in terms of nitrogen,” said Chris Jones, a research engineer at the UI’s IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering. Environmentalists say the study raises new questions about the effectiveness of Iowa’s approach to improving water quality and its reliance on voluntary ag compliance. “We’ve been pouring state and federal money into cutting nutrient pollution for decades, and this highlights the fact that the voluntary approach is not working,” said Jennifer Terry, executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council. “We’re not headed in the right direction. ... We need to follow the lead of other states and pass some environmental laws that will actually reduce loads and result in cleaner water,” Terry said. The Des Moines Register reports that the news comes as Iowa marks the five-year anniversary of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a plan designed to cut by 45 percent the nitrogen and phosphorus levels that leave Iowa and feed Gulf hypoxia — or the dead zone. Oxygen levels within the zone are so low that marine life can no longer survive, threatening the Gulf’s seafood industry. Most of the nutrient losses come from farming, although the strategy also targets losses from urban wastewater and industrial operations. Last year, Iowa invested $420 million in those water quality improvements, including helping farmers plant cover crops, build terraces and tackle other conservation practices that hold nutrients in place. But farmers expanding their drainage tile systems — along with increasing hog, cattle and chicken feeding operations, which provide manure to fertilize crops — likely outweigh those conservation efforts, UI scientists say. The nutrient reduction practices “being implemented are a tiny, tiny portion of what needs to be done, and it’s occurring in a system that’s changing,” Jones said. “We appreciate all that is being done with nutrient management and conservation farming. Unfortunately, we’re just impacting too few acres with too few practices,” added Larry Weber, executive associate dean for UI’s College of Engineering. Jones wrote the study with Weber and Keith Schilling, another UI research engineer. Increased nutrient pollution in water creates problems for people and animals beyond the dead zone. High phosphorus levels can lead to toxic algae blooms that can befoul lakes, rivers and streams, potentially killing pets and making people ill. And the federal government limits the amount of nitrates in drinking water to 10 milligrams per liter. Higher levels can be fatal to babies under 6 months old. Increased levels translate to higher costs for utilities for nitrate removal. “We need a dramatic increase, a rapidly-scaled up increase in conservation practices and more funding,” said Cindy Lane, the Iowa Environmental Council’s water program director. Schilling said the study shows that targeting nutrient reduction investment in Iowa can have a significant impact downstream. “Iowa has a dominant role in this Gulf hypoxia issue,” Schilling said. “Let’s invest the resources here, where we really need it. “If we solve Iowa, we solve the Gulf,” he said. The UI study gives Iowans new information in the fight to reduce the nitrogen levels that flow from the state into the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, which make their way to the Gulf of Mexico. Looking at Iowa Department of Natural Resources data from 23 monitoring stations, the study shows Iowa on average over the past 18 years contributed 29 percent of the total nitrogen headed to the Gulf from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya river basin. The river basin is a massive watershed that includes all or part of 31 states. Iowa’s nitrogen impact was even greater in other watersheds. The state averaged 45 percent of the nitrogen levels going into the Upper Mississippi River basin, and 55 percent of the nitrogen going into to the Missouri River basin. “When you look at the entire Missouri (River) watershed, our land comprises 3.3 percent of the total area ... and Iowa contributes nearly 12 percent of the water,” Jones said. But “we contribute 55 percent of the nitrate,” he said. “The way that pencils out is that the amount of water coming from Iowa has seven times more nitrates than the rest of the Missouri River watershed,” Jones said. If Iowa’s contributions were removed, the Missouri River would have little nitrogen contributions in some years. “We really need to take seriously the Missouri River’s contribution as a driver for Gulf hypoxia,” Jones said. The growing concentration of livestock feeding operations in western Iowa might account for Iowa’s large contribution to the Missouri River nitrate levels, the scientists said. “People tend to dismiss livestock influences, but maybe there’s more to it than people give credit it for,” Schilling said, adding that it would require more study to determine the impact. Iowa’s nitrogen levels, based on running five-year annual averages, have been above the 2003 value for 10 consecutive years, the study says. The scientists say 2003 was the first year the five-year rolling average could be calculated, with data that starts in 1999. The goal of the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force, made up of federal, state and tribal leaders, “will be very difficult to achieve if nitrate retention cannot be improved in Iowa,” the report said. The task force, with Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig as chairman, seeks to reduce the dead zone to 1,900 square miles by 2035. The deadline was extended from 2015. Last year, the dead zone set a record, which, at 8,776 square miles, was more than four times the goal size. The report says about 90 percent of Iowa’s nitrogen levels “can be sourced to the 72 percent of the state’s land area that is in crop cultivation.” Iowa, an agriculture powerhouse, is a national leader in corn, soybean, pork, egg and beef production. “This intense production of carbohydrates and protein has resulted in the state being a leading contributor” to the nitrogen loads and Gulf hypoxia, the report said. Naig said farmers understand the important role they play in improving water quality and are scaling up efforts across the state “as we move from demonstration projects to larger, watershed-scale implementation projects. “We recognize that there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are on the right path,” said Naig, who adds farmers are working with more than 250 partners in 65 rural and urban demonstration projects. The UI scientists doubt that increased cropping is the reason for the increased nitrogen impact. Iowa’s cropped area has increased only 4 percent over the past 18 years, while other states’ farmed land has climbed 21 percent, particularly in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Kansas. About 85 percent of Iowa’s acres are farmed, making it the fifth-highest in the nation, based on the 2012 U.S. Agriculture Census, so there are few acres left that can be brought into production compared with other states. “Iowa’s decline in the share of the region’s soybean area was especially pronounced, dropping from 18.6 percent in 1999 to 14.5 percent in 2016,” the report said. “One would expect our (nitrogen) contributions relative to the other areas would be diminished,” Jones said. “But the opposite has occurred.” Jones said it’s led the scientists to consider other factors. The scientists doubt that Iowa farmers are using significantly more fertilizer. “When we look at nitrogen sales data, it might change a little year over year. But on a per acre basis, that hasn’t changed a lot since 1990,” he said. And with little increase in corn and soybean acres, the scientists speculate that Iowa’s increased nitrogen levels could be coming from more drainage tiles. Or farmers could be using more manure as fertilizer from animal feeding operations. Without Iowa, the Gulf’s overall nitrate loads would have declined 43,400 tons over 18 years, based on five-year running annual averages, the scientists’ data show. Instead nitrate loads grew by 52,000 tons. “It’s pretty clear these loads from the Ohio basin have to be declining,” Jones said. “A lot that is coming from Indiana.” That state’s high level of cover crop adoption by farmers could be the reason, he said, and should be studied. Cover crops such as cereal rye slow the rate of water runoff, reduce erosion and improve soil fertility. Iowa also needs to honestly discuss the impact that drainage tiling has on nitrogen losses, Jones said. Iowa doesn’t collect data on how much underground drainage runs through the state, although officials estimate about 9 million acres are drained through tile. Environmentalists believe the number is much higher. Underground drainage tile helps improve yields by quickly removing excess water from fields. Iowa’s tiling system consists of a network of drainage lines that feed into large pipes. The massive network, first constructed in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, turned once swampy lands into some of the nation’s most productive farmland. But water quickly carried away by the tiling system misses cleansing that would naturally occur by filtering through soil or the roots of trees, shrubs and grasses in riparian buffers along streams. Des Moines Water Works unsuccessfully sued drainage districts in three north Iowa counties in 2015, claiming underground tiles funneled high levels of nitrates into the Raccoon River, a source of drinking water for 500,000 central Iowa residents. “We acknowledge that it’s important to track implemented conservation, and we encourage that,” Jones said. “But we also need to have the courage to talk about these things that drive the system in the other direction.” Terry said Iowa is “one of the most heavily tiled states in the nation,” and its 110-year-old law regulating the practice does little to protect water quality. ___ Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com",
            "output": [
                "Study: Iowa nitrogen pollution in the water is getting worse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db764b57231e4003899733acf4788ba1",
            "input": "The virus, first detected in the Southeast Asian country in February, has hit farms in 29 provinces, and prompted the authorities to cull more than 1.2 million pigs. “Soon, soldiers and policemen will take part in efforts to make sure infected pigs are culled in a timely manner, keeping the outbreak from spreading further,” the state-run Tien Phong newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing Vietnam’s deputy agriculture minister, Phung Duc Tien. According to the report, Tien said police will launch an investigation into cases, where local authorities have failed to properly handle the outbreak. “Vietnam had never faced such a dangerous, complicated and costly disease outbreak in its husbandry industry,” agriculture minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a conference in Hanoi on Monday. Many provinces had failed to detect outbreaks and cull infected pigs properly due to the lack of funds and space required for burying the dead pigs, the government said on Monday. Pork accounts for three-quarters of the total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million people, where most of its 30 million farm-raised pigs are consumed domestically. The disease, which is harmless to humans but incurable in pigs, has also spread quickly across neighboring China, the world’s top pork producer. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in March advised Vietnam to declare the swine fever outbreak as a national emergency.",
            "output": [
                "Vietnam to mobilize military in fight against African swine fever."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-602bfe07611840a0b3698cc8ef19a350",
            "input": "Following Italy in extending the lockdown but announcing no immediate easing of restrictive measures as in Spain, Macron said the tense situation in hospitals in Paris and eastern France meant there could be no let-up in the country. Since March 17, France’s 67 million people have been ordered to stay at home except to buy food, go to work, seek medical care or get some exercise on their own. The lockdown was originally scheduled to end on Tuesday. “I fully understand the effort I’m asking from you,” Macron told the nation in a televised address at the end of the lockdown’s fourth week, adding the current rules were working. “When will we be able to return to a normal life? I would love to be able to answer you. But to be frank, I have to humbly tell you we don’t have definitive answers,” he said. Schools and shops would progressively reopen on May 11, Macron said. But restaurants, hotels, cafes and cinemas would have to remain shut longer, he added. International arrivals from non-European countries will remain prohibited until further notice. Macron, whose government has faced criticism over a shortage of face masks and testing kits, said that by May 11, France would be able to test anyone presenting COVID-19 symptoms and give nonprofessional face masks to the public. Macron also said he had asked his government to present this week new financial aid for families and students in need. Acknowledging his country had not been sufficiently prepared early on to face the challenges posed by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Macron appeared to seek a humble tone in contrast to the war-like rhetoric of his previous speeches. “Were we prepared for this crisis? On the face of it, not enough. But we coped,” he said. “This moment, let’s be honest, has revealed cracks, shortages. Like every country in the world, we have lacked gloves, hand gel, we haven’t been able to give out as many masks as we wanted to our health professionals.”  The French, long accustomed to being told their high taxes paid for the “best healthcare in the world,” have been dismayed by the rationing of critical drugs, face masks and equipment and have watched with envy the situation in neighbouring Germany. Macron’s acknowledgment of the shortcomings was broadly well-received. “It’s not every day you hear a president offer a mea culpa and dare say ‘we have no definitive answers.’ Reassuring and necessary sincerity,” analyst Maxime Sbaihi of the think tank GenerationLibre said. After a relentless increase until the first week of April, the number of patients in French hospitals’ intensive care units has started to decline, prompting health authorities to call a plateau in the epidemic. But if French hospitals are just about coping, helped by a massive effort to transfer patients by plane, helicopter or even high-speed train from hospitals in the east and Paris to the west, nursing homes have been overwhelmed. By Monday, the coronavirus had claimed 14,967 lives in France, the fourth-highest death toll in the world, with more than 98,076 confirmed cases, according to official figures. “We’ll have better days, and we’ll return to happy days,” Macron said.",
            "output": [
                "Promising 'better days,' Macron extends France's lockdown until May 11."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03fefb4f253e4a7c96eab99d5b8a59c3",
            "input": "A popular meme appearing in January 2019 presented a series of statements attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump on the topic of abortion. The meme, with its judicious use of quotation marks, accurately reflected excerpts of Trump’s videotaped remarks to be shown in conjunction with the 18 January 2018 March for Life:  However, these excerpts were presented out of order and in one case repeated the same section of text twice, reflecting a certain amount of artistic license. Presented below are Trump’s full remarks, with the relevant sections highlighted and numbered to reflect the four excerpts, and their order, as presented in the meme:  I am very proud to welcome tens of thousands of families, students, and people of all faiths and backgrounds to our nation’s capital for the 46th annual March For Life. This is a movement founded on love and grounded in the nobility and dignity of every human life. When we look into the eyes of a newborn child, we see the beauty and the human soul and the majesty of God’s creation (4). We know that every life has meaning and that (4) every life is worth protecting (3, 4), As president, I will always defend the first right in our Declaration of Independence — the right to life. During my first week in office, I reinstated the Mexico City Policy. We have taken bold action to protect the religious freedoms for doctors, nurses, and charities like the Little Sisters Of The Poor We issued a new proposal to prohibit Title Ten taxpayer funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions. We are supporting the loving choice of adoption and foster care, including through the support of faith-based adoption services. And I am supporting the U.S. Senate’s effort to make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion in spending bills. Today I have signed a letter to Congress to make clear that if they send any legislation to my desk that weakens the protection of human life, I will issue a veto. (1) And we have the support to uphold those vetoes. Every child is a sacred gift from God (2). As this year’s March For Life theme says, each person is unique from Day One. That is a very important phrase. Unique from Day One. And so true. I want to thank Americans who traveled all across the country to march for life, and I especially want to thank so many young people who give us hope for the future. Together we will work to save the lives of unborn children, so they have a chance to live and to love, to thrive and to dream, and to bless our nation and reach their full and glorious potential. Thank you. God bless you and your families, and God bless America.",
            "output": [
                "President Donald Trump said: “I have signed a letter to Congress to make clear that if they send any legislation to my desk that weakens the protection of human life, I will issue a veto … Every child is a sacred gift from God … Every life is worth protecting … We know that every life has meaning and that every life is worth protecting.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-147a6450047c47e383a829b4cf3b38cd",
            "input": "\"A bill that would stop the state’s more than 3,000 concealed-carry permit holders from bringing their weapons into Rhode Island schools quickly became the center of attention at an April 26 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Sponsored by Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, Senate Bill 2761 would make schools \"\"gun free zones,\"\" meaning that only \"\"peace officers\"\" — defined in state law as people who are sanctioned by the school and have extensive firearms training — could carry weapons in school zones. This roiled Second Amendment enthusiasts who argued against the bill, saying it would put kids at higher risk for acts of terrorism. Legal gun owners, or \"\"good guys,\"\" can help disarm a potential attacker if they are on school grounds before police arrive, Michael O’Neill, a pro-bono lobbyist for the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition said at the hearing. Sen. Frank Lombardi, D-Cranston, and Sen. Stephen Archambault, D-Smithfield, both agreed with O’Neill on that point. \"\"If we're going to issue law-abiding concealed-carry permits to people,\"\" Archambault said, \"\"... I'd rather know there's a chance someone can put down a lunatic.\"\" O’Neill added: \"\"There’s no data that says a gun-free zone has saved lives.\"\" We reached out to O’Neill, and his colleague Frank Saccoccio, also of the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition, to clarify. We briefly spoke with both men. Saccoccio said he’d send us information via email Tuesday night. By Friday, he hadn’t sent us an email, and he hasn’t returned subsequent emails and phone calls. On the other side of the argument, support for the bill comes from school committees across the state, Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, the Rhode Island Association of School Principals and the Rhode Island Federal of Teachers and Health Professionals, among others. Is it possible that it's not backed up by data? Is there no data? O’Neill’s statement is tough to refute because it’s so broad, said Linda Finn, a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence. There may not be data that gun-free zones have \"\"saved lives.\"\" It’s hard to disprove a claim like that. Further, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the leading national public health institute — has not extensively researched firearms since 1996, when the National Rifle Association accused the agency of promoting gun control. After the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama signed an executive order reversing the research ban. But nearly four years later, Congress still hasn’t approved the funding. There is, though, \"\"plenty of data that shows that when guns are present, it increases the likelihood of an injury or death,\"\" Finn told us. Like when Michelle Ferguson-Montgomery, a sixth-grade teacher and a concealed-carry permit holder in Utah, shot herself in the leg in the school bathroom in September 2014. Or when an Idaho State University professor literally shot himself in the foot with his concealed gun on campus. Then there’s a psychological phenomenon called the \"\"weapons effect.\"\" Numerous peer-reviewed studies, including one dating back to 1967, show the presence of a weapon, or just a photo of one, leads to aggressive behavior in humans. This is especially true when stress levels are high -- say, in an active school shooter situation. The study \"\"Does the Gun Pull the Trigger?\"\" published in \"\"Psychological Science\"\" in 1996 showed that \"\"simply identifying weapons increases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts.\"\" This theory played out for a Barrington sixth grader, according to testimony by his father, Willis Peter Bilderback. Bilderback testified that his son became \"\"very afraid\"\" after his teacher told him he had a firearm in his desk. The boy was so shaken that he switched out of the class and had repeated nightmares of \"\"his teacher attempting to track him down with a gun and kill him,\"\" according to Bilderback’s testimony. \"\"The fact that my son believed his teacher had a gun in the classroom turned a nationally recognized blue-ribbon Middle School into a house of horrors for him,\"\" Bilderback wrote. But do ‘good guys\"\" help? There is anecdotal evidence to back up O’Neill and Archambault’s idea — some of which is outlined in this  Washington Post blog from October 2015. In Chicago in April 2015, an Uber driver with a concealed-carry permit \"\"shot and wounded a gunman who opened fire on a crowd of people,\"\" according to a Chicago Tribune report. A similar incident played out in a Philadelphia barber shop. And an FBI \"\"Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013\"\" showed that out of the 160 incidents studied, in 21 cases  unarmed citizens \"\"made the selfless and deeply personal choice\"\" to confront the shooter, and ended the threat. There were seven times that an armed, off-duty police officer, citizen or security guard used a weapon to end the threat. Our ruling: O’Neill says \"\"there’s no data that says a gun-free zone has saved lives.\"\" He is correct. There is no definitive data to say that a gun-free zone has saved lives. In part, that’s because the CDC has been blocked from studying anything related to firearms for the last 20 years. And also because \"\"saved lives\"\" are hard to quantify. However, there are many anecdotes, scholarly articles and federal studies with data showing that just the presence of guns can cause anxiety and increase aggressive behavior. Plus, there are the teachers who accidentally shot themselves on school grounds. And yes, there are the cases in which the \"\"good guys\"\" prevail.",
            "output": [
                "There’s no data that says a gun-free zone has saved lives."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f2b7b812f184cd6a5dcd3e2119c3157",
            "input": "His case is but one in a long history of troubling incidents at the Anderson assisted living facility. Relevant police and state records don’t add up. In South Carolina, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is responsible for overseeing the quality of services at assisted living facilities such as Upstate Residential Care, but records reveal a gap in accountability. Many of the disappearances from the home were never disclosed to regulators, an Independent Mail investigation found. If a resident of Upstate Residential Care leaves for more than 24 hours without notifying the staff, the facility is required to report the incident to DHEC, local law enforcement and the resident’s “responsible party,” said DHEC spokesman Tommy Crosby. But what happens if a vulnerable resident disappears for less than a day? According to state regulations, an assisted living facility’s administrator or someone he designates must notify police immediately if a cognitively impaired resident leaves the home’s premises for any amount of time without notice to the staff. The first time Shell left, Dec. 11, 2013, he was gone from the two-story brick building on South McDuffie Street for 10 hours and 58 minutes before Horace Alexander, the owner of the facility, called police, according to the times clocked on an officer’s incident report. Alexander told police that Shell was “mentally challenged.” Alexander said Shell could communicate only in sign language or writing. Alexander said Shell, then 57, had left the home at 9 a.m. that winter day wearing an orange Clemson University pullover and faded purple sweatpants. Alexander told officers that he didn’t know which direction Shell was traveling or where he intended to go. Less than a month later, on Jan. 6, 2014, Shell left the home again. Alexander told police Shell had left at 6:30 a.m. and had missed the facility’s 7 p.m curfew. Alexander notified police of Shell’s absence at 8:21 p.m. Alexander told officers Shell “becomes agitated and violent if he is told he cannot leave the property to drink.” He told them Shell had left on “multiple occasions” and found people to give him money so he could buy alcohol. A month later, Shell left Upstate Residential Care again, this time at 6 a.m. Police were notified at 10:33 a.m. A worker told police Shell left wearing a black and gray jacket. It’s not clear when or how he returned to the facility the first three times he left. Six months later, Shell left the home for a fourth time. Three days passed before Upstate Residential Care called Anderson police on Aug. 25, 2014, according to a police report. The report offers little information except that he “left walking” on Aug. 22 and hadn’t returned. Police sought the public’s help to find Shell and told media he may have left the home to buy cigarettes. Four days after he disappeared, Shell was found uninjured in Greenville. Upstate Residential Care never reported Shell’s disappearances to DHEC, according to records. DHEC sent an inspector to the home after the South Carolina Governor’s Office of the Ombudsman filed a complaint about the way Upstate Residential Care handled Shell’s fourth disappearance. In agency records, DHEC refers to Shell only as “Resident A.” The dates and details included in DHEC’s records match those in Anderson police records about Shell. On Sept. 9, 2014, DHEC cited Upstate Residential Care for failing to report Shell’s disappearance and for recording that he “rejected his medications” on five days that he was actually missing from the facility. Alexander said Shell had tried to leave the assisted living facility many times, and given that, he thought the time he took to notify police was reasonable. He wrote that his staff was under the impression that Upstate Residential Care Residents “refused their medications if they failed to be on campus at the time the medications were to be dispensed.” “It appears we have become a dumping ground for people who would otherwise be homeless or public nuisances, and in return, we find ourselves the brunt of all complaints,” Alexander wrote to DHEC. When contacted by an Independent Mail reporter, Alexander declined to comment for this article. Anderson police records show that residents were reported missing from Upstate Residential Care at least 10 times in the last five years, with most of those disappearances occurring in 2014. None of the disappearances were detailed in four serious incidents reported by the facility to DHEC. A schizophrenic man who was placed at the home “by mental health” walked away after having an argument with another resident, according to police records. The man was gone for more than three hours before someone from the facility notified police that he had missed the evening curfew. Another schizophrenic man walked away from the home the day after he started living there. He left at 6 p.m. and was supposed to be back an hour later, Alexander told police. Records show that police were dispatched to the facility at 10:25 p.m., more than three hours after the mentally ill man had walked away. Police noted in their incident report that Alexander had “waited a few hours and then notified law enforcement.” On another occasion, an Upstate Residential Care worker called police and said a resident who was “required to take several medications” had left the home the day before to go to AnMed Health Medical Center’s emergency room and had not returned. At least 22 hours passed before the worker called police. In another case, a teenager described as having the mental capacity of a 6-year-old disappeared from Upstate Residential Care twice in two days. According to a police report, Alexander told officers that the 19-year-old was at his facility because he was ordered by the court to be there. Alexander described the teen as having a “history of mental issues such as ADHD, bipolar and mood disorders.” Alexander told police the teen had left the facility with another resident who has a mental health problem and whom he described as “addicted to crack cocaine.” Alexander told police both residents were probably “at a crack house on the south side of town.” Six months after that, police called Alexander about a missing resident instead of Alexander calling police. The woman was standing outside The Little General on South Murray Avenue when officers found her. Someone called 911 after seeing her at the Anderson convenience store asking for help. A police report describes her in the briefest of terms: Asian, “very confused” and having “medical issues.” She had with her a piece of paper that bore the address of Upstate Residential Care. When officers called the assisted living facility a half-mile away, the owner said “it was just discovered” that the 58-year-old woman had walked away. It’s not clear how long she had been gone. Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo or email her at mayon@independentmail.com. ___ Information from: Anderson Independent-Mail, http://www.andersonsc.com",
            "output": [
                "Vulnerable people disappeared, regulators didn’t know."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ad8f2ef2973473dbefb418a8ea4926a",
            "input": "Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said Tuesday a proposed $11.4 million expansion of the health department includes hiring four epidemiologists and about 140 new employees to work on COVID-19 data analysis and contact tracing. More teams will be formed to focus on nursing homes and jail detainees, Harris said during an online news conference. Nurses also will he hired to work on testing. Shelby County, which includes Memphis, has received nearly $50 million from the federal CARES Act. The city also has received federal money. “Most of these positions will only exist while we have the federal funding to pay for them,” Harris said. The proposal has been presented to the county commission. Also in Shelby County, district attorney Amy Weirich said grand juries could begin meeting next week. Grand juries will be seated starting Monday, Weirich said in a statement. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause severe illness, or even death.",
            "output": [
                "Tennessee county adding public health jobs with fed funds  ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5713af99d53349ec9e0c21b8919e9527",
            "input": "On 1 March 2017, a Reddit user posted a picture of two lions bearing manes and a caption indicating that five “lionesses in Botswana have grown manes, developed a deeper roar to defend off rivals and even fight for territory”:  This is a factual statement. Though rare, the phenomenon of female lions growing manes and exhibiting other masculine traits has been documented both in the wild and in captivity. The specific group of lions in Botswana discussed in the Reddit thread is the most thoroughly documented example of the phenomenon, with a two-year observational study of these lions having been published in the African Journal of Ecology on 24 August 2016. New Scientist later recounted that report’s context and findings: Male lions are distinguished by their mane, which they use to attract females, and they roar to protect their territory or call upon members of their pride. Females lack a mane and are not as vocal. But sometimes lionesses grow a mane and even behave a bit like males. However, until now, reports of such maned lionesses have been extremely rare and largely anecdotal. We knew they existed, but little about how they behave. The researchers collected data on five lionesses that had developed manes in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. In addition to the physical appearance of a mane, the researchers also documented behavioral differences, including vocal calls and scent-marking behavior more typical of males. Lead author Geoffrey D. Gilfillan, a researcher at the University of Sussex, observed these changes in the primary target of observations, a maned female with the ID SaF05: “While SaF05 is mostly female in her behaviour — staying with the pride, mating males — she also has some male behaviours, such as increased scent-marking and roaring, as well as mounting other females. Although females do roar and scent-mark like males, they usually do so less frequently “SaF05, however, was much more male-like in her behaviour, regularly scent-marking and roaring.” Despite the frequent copulation, however, SaF05 never once became pregnant — an observation that led the researchers to speculate that the behavioral and physical changes were associated with infertility. A photograph from Botswana of what appeared to be two male lions mating went viral in April 2016, but this photo was later determined to have captured a lion and a maned lioness mating. In discussing that photograph in National Geographic, Luke Hunter, president of the big-cat conservation group Panthera, suggested it was possible the development of maned lionesses could be either genetic or a fetal development: The genetic contribution of the sperm — which determines the sex of the fetus in most mammals — [could be] aberrant, giving rise to a female with some male characteristics. Alternatively and perhaps more likely, the problem may have occurred during gestation if the fetus was exposed to increased levels of androgens—male hormones such as testosterone. Testosterone is likely a big part of the story. As noted in New Scientist, a captive lioness at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa developed a mane back in 2011 that disappeared after her testosterone levels were corrected. Infertility, the story pointed out, is a side effect of elevated testosterone in females as well. While it is unclear what specifically causes the elevated testosterone, Lead author Gilfillan also thinks the cause is likely genetic: Given all five known maned females [in the wild] come from the Okavango region, there must be a genetic component in this population underlying the phenomenon.",
            "output": [
                "\"Under certain conditions, lionesses can grow manes and develop \"\"masculine behavior\"\".\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7af00f7b5d32490f8fa5214112fc0d3d",
            "input": "On 11 March 2016, the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was jarred when a scheduled rally in Chicago was disrupted by protesters, resulting in Trump’s opting to cancel the event at the last minute: The Downstate event came after Trump pulled the plug on a Friday night rally in Chicago as thousands of protesters gathered outside and hundreds more were in the arena after getting tickets online through his campaign. After Trump canceled, citing security concerns, there were scattered skirmishes between supporters and demonstrators inside and outside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. Security in Bloomington was tight Sunday, with attendees told to leave bags and umbrellas in their vehicles, forcing some to don black trash bags to protect against the rain as they waited to pass through metal detectors. Hundreds of people didn’t make it inside. Also outside was a group of about 100 protesters, who waved anti-Trump signs and chanted “Mr. Hate, leave our state.” In the immediate wake of those events, a number of Facebook users shared the image reproduced above, which overlaid a quote from Trump about protesters over an iconic news photograph of a student fatally shot by National Guard troops during a 4 May 1970 anti-war protest at Kent State University: “I love the old days.” “You know what they used to do (to protesters) like that when they got out of line? They’d be carried away on a stretcher, folks.” The quote reproduced with the image reflected words spoken by Donald Trump, but it was something of a paraphrase plucked from a longer statement, and it referenced an utterance made by Trump well before the chaotic Chicago rally. After a disruption at a Las Vegas political rally that took place on 22 February 2016, Trump told his gathered supporters that: I love the old days, you know? You know what I hate? There’s a guy totally disruptive, throwing punches. We’re not allowed to punch back anymore … I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks. Trump then briefly lauded police before describing the protester as “throwing punches … nasty as hell,” and telling a cheering crowd: The guards are very gentle with him. He’s walking out like big high-fives, he’s smiling … laughing. I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya. (Contemporaneous reporting suggested that the individual removed from the 22 February 2016 rally was not “throwing punches.”) The image seen here truncated Trump’s remarks, replacing “to guys like that in a place like this” with “to protesters.” A 23 February 2016 Esquire article pointed out that the euphemisms in Trump’s commentary weren’t entirely apparent to non-attendees: I wonder who the “guys like that” are, and why they don’t belong “in a place like this”? The protester’s identity is not yet clear, nor do we know whether or not they were actually throwing punches. But this is not the first time Trump has responded to dissenting voices at his rallies by encouraging violence. On 12 March 2016, Vox compiled variations of remarks made by Trump at various rallies on multiple dates across the United States and selected eight instances during which Trump made similar comments. Four of those examples were as follows: [1 February 2016, Iowa] “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell. I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise.” [26 February 2016, Oklahoma] “In the good old days, they’d rip him out of that seat so fast. But today, everybody’s politically correct. Our country’s going to hell with being politically correct.” [29 February 2016, Virginia] “Get him out of here please. Get him out. Get him out … Are you from Mexico? Are you from Mexico? Huh? Are you from Mexico?” [4 March 2016, Michigan] “Get out of here. Get out. Out! … This is amazing. So much fun. I love it. I love it. We having a good time? USA, USA, USA! … All right, get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court. Don’t worry about it … We had four guys, they jumped on him, they were swinging and swinging. The next day, we got killed in the press — that we were too rough. Give me a break. You know? Right? We don’t want to be too politically correct anymore. Right, folks?” The image entered wide circulation following Trump’s canceled Chicago rally and subsequent interest in the GOP candidate’s lamentations that protesters couldn’t be violently ejected from his rallies. The photograph upon which Trump’s words were superimposed was well-known, as described in a 6 May 1990 New York Times article marking the twentieth anniversary of the prize-winning image: The photograph was of Mary Ann Vecchio, then a 14-year-old runaway from the Miami area, kneeling in anguish beside the body of one of four students slain by Ohio National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970. The photograph won a Pulitzer Prize for John Filo, a student photographer who is now deputy picture editor at Sports Illustrated magazine. It became a classic image of the Vietnam War and its repercussions at home. Context for the image and the events it depicts are available via the Kent State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. In brief, as described at History.com, the Kent State shooting incident unfolded when:  On April 30, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon appeared on national television to announce the invasion of Cambodia by the United States and the need to draft 150,000 more soldiers for an expansion of the Vietnam War effort. This provoked massive protests on campuses throughout the country. At Kent State University in Ohio, protesters launched a demonstration that included setting fire to the ROTC building, prompting the governor of Ohio to dispatch 900 National Guardsmen to the campus During an altercation on May 4, twenty-eight guardsmen opened fire on a crowd, killing four students and wounding nine. Following the killings, the unrest across the country escalated even further. Almost five hundred colleges were shut down or disrupted by protests. Despite the public outcry, the Justice Department initially declined to conduct a grand jury investigation. A report by the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest did acknowledge, however, that the action of the guardsmen had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” Eventually, a grand jury indicted eight of the guardsmen, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.",
            "output": [
                "Donald Trump said in the good old days, protesters were harshly dealt with and carried away on stretchers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc6cce9c90ff406f965d0fa0db8afe45",
            "input": "The release clearly states that the relevant screening technique would normally cost between $100 and $250, but was free as part of the initiative. The release tells us how many cancers were found with the screening program, but it includes a misleading statement about what this might mean for survival rates. It notes that if lung cancer is identified in its early stages, the “overall survival rate” is 90 percent, whereas five-year survival rates for patients whose cancer is identified in the advanced stages is approximately 5 percent. A 90% vs. a 5% survival rate sounds impressive, but this is likely a significant overstatement of the true difference. Why? As Professor Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute explained in a BMJ editorial, the answer has to do with something called “lead time bias.” He said, “Earlier detection implies that the time of diagnosis is earlier; this alone leads to higher survival at five years even when patients do not live any longer.” This Youtube video by Dr. H Gilbert Welch discusses this issue in more detail. The bottom line is that when cancers are diagnosed at an earlier stage due to screening, patient survival time will be longer than if they were diagnosed later. This may or may not mean their survival was prolonged. They may have been destined to die at the same age regardless of when the cancer was diagnosed. CT scans expose a patient to a significant amount of radiation, which this release doesn’t address at all. Do the benefits of a potential early diagnosis outweigh the risks associated with radiation exposure? That’s for each patient (and his or her physician) to decide. But a patient needs to be aware of those risks in order to make an informed decision. In addition, an important limitation was not addressed in the release (nor was it spelled out in the study abstract). According to a 2017 article in the journal Chest, “A significant limitation of lung cancer screening is the false-positive rate. One of the major concerns with the NLST [National Lung Screening Trial] has been the high false-positive rate of screening with LDCT (27.3%).” The release does a thorough job of laying out the screening procedure, and its rationale, for the Augusta study — and places it in the context of previous screening initiatives. No disease mongering here, when it comes to lung cancer. However, we do have some concerns with the headline and first paragraph. More on that below in the Unjustifiable Language section. While the story doesn’t explicitly state where the funding for the initiative came from, it’s also not clear whether there was any external source of funding. Based on the description, the study comes across as a clinician-driven initiative designed to make use of down time on diagnostic equipment. There does not appear to be a conflict of interest. The focus appears to be on getting lung cancer screenings or not getting them — rather than on the virtues of any particular diagnostic technique (though there is one reference to the use of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) technology rather than conventional chest X-rays). As such, we’ll rate this not applicable. The release makes clear that the relevant diagnostic techniques are in widespread use; that there is limited access to the screening initiative (based on availability); and that there is an effort underway to expand the screening initiative. The release makes clear that the Augusta screening initiative was modeled after a previous national study and after a similar, regional initiative in Massachusetts. The headline states that “Free lung-cancer screening in the Augusta area finds more than double the cancer rate of previous screenings.” That’s the first thing the reader sees, and it’s a real attention-grabber. However, it is misleading. At first glance, many readers are likely to think that the rate of lung cancer in the Augusta area has more than doubled since the last time there was a lung-cancer screening initiative. That would be incorrect, given that this appears to be the first such initiative focusing on the Augusta area. Rather, the rate of lung cancer among “high risk” patients screened in the Augusta initiative was more than double that of high risk patients screened during a national screening initiative launched in 2002. That was cleared up a bit in the first paragraph. However, while the release clearly thinks this information is sufficiently important to merit making it the headline, it doesn’t give readers any information about why the cancer rate may be higher in Augusta. Even if the researchers don’t know, it’s important to just come out and say that. We urge research institutions to provide some discussion of those problems they highlight in news releases — and to take special care when writing headlines to ensure that readers don’t get the wrong idea.",
            "output": [
                "Free lung-cancer screening in the Augusta area finds more than double the cancer rate of previous screenings"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9801d991118d473180eb8be737644d2e",
            "input": "The testimony from Dr. Colleen McNicholas at a hearing that could determine the St. Louis clinic’s fate came as the state faced fallout over a revelation a day earlier from Missouri’s top health official that he kept a spreadsheet that tracked the menstrual cycles of women who obtained abortions. Missouri officials were staying mum, while Democrats and abortion-rights supporters decried what they called government overreach into women’s private lives. During testimony Tuesday, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams said the spreadsheet was compiled at his request. He said the goal was to find women who had what the state calls “failed abortions,” in which a woman is still pregnant after an abortion and needs more than one procedure to complete it. McNicholas told the administrative hearing that the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis followed protocol in all of the instances cited by the state. She said that while a surgical abortion is safer than even a colonoscopy or tonsillectomy, complications do happen. Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, told reporters that the organization learned of Williams’ spreadsheet from his testimony. She did not know how many patients were listed on the spreadsheet. “I think what is deeply disturbing about that is the fact that Director Randall Williams is using his position of authority and power to push a political agenda in order to try to end access to safe and legal abortion in the state of Missouri,” Rodriguez said. Williams declined an interview request, and spokeswomen for him and Gov. Mike Parson didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. But Wednesday night the health department emailed a statement denying Williams compiled spreadsheets tracking menstrual cycles, claiming that his testimony was misinterpreted. According to the statement, which was titled “DHSS denies false allegation,” the department investigated concerns about missing reports into failed surgical abortions by using “legally-obtained information which was required by law and which Planned Parenthood routinely submits.” The Associated Press also submitted open records requests seeking additional information. Williams testified that the spreadsheet contained information accessible by the state through its annual inspection, performed in March. It also included medication identification numbers, dates of procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses, The Kansas City Star reported. The spreadsheet did not include patients’ names. The state has said it is concerned about patient care, and Williams called safety “the North Star” of the licensing process. Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat, called for an investigation to determine whether patient privacy was compromised or laws were broken. State Auditor Nicole Galloway, who is running for governor in 2020, called for Williams to be fired. The spreadsheet was developed after an inspector raised concerns about an abortion that took five procedures to complete. That led to an investigation that found four overall instances where women underwent multiple procedures to complete their abortions. Among those cases was one where the doctor missed that the patient was pregnant with twins, requiring two procedures five weeks apart, according to Williams’ testimony. Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, a national research group that supports abortion rights and tracks abortion legislation, told the AP she hasn’t heard of another case where a state agency has tracked menstruation as part of regulating a clinic. Dr. Jennifer Conti, a San Francisco-area abortion provider, said in an interview that tracking periods is not a reliable way to determine when a pregnancy has ended and suggested that data was used to avoid having to obtain women’s consent for access to addition information. “It’s very odd and it feels like an invasion of privacy,” said Conti, who is a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. The state moved to revoke the clinic’s license in June, prompting a court fight that was turned over to the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission, which is conducting the hearing. A ruling isn’t expected before February. Missouri would become the first state since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, without a functioning abortion clinic if the license is revoked. Three clinics near Missouri offer the procedure. Two are in Illinois suburbs of St. Louis, and one is in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City. ___ Associated Press reporters Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Doctor at Missouri abortion clinic defends patient care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d35b7f630b9466b8c01e62a46d0decd",
            "input": "Earlier this year the French health watchdog recommended the move, citing what it said was the insufficient effectiveness of the drugs after an investigation into how they affected conditions such as anxiety or foot warts. Healthcare Minister Agnes Buzyn told Le Parisien newspaper that there would be a phase-out period before 2021. The government initially aims to cut refunds for the drugs from 30% of their cost to 15% as of January 2020 as a first step, she added. “That will give manufacturers time to get organised,” Buzyn said. France has long had a stronger attachment than many other countries to homeopathic drugs, which aim to treat patients with highly diluted substances, and is home to the world’s biggest maker of the alternative medicine, Boiron . Boiron criticised the plan earlier on Tuesday as rumours of the health ministry decision circulated, and it said it would fight the edict. “Depriving French people of their freedom to choose (their treatment) is totally misaligned with the demands and needs of patients,” Boiron said in a statement, adding it had been due to meet Buzyn this Thursday and was shocked by the decision. Stopping the refunds would hit the company and the broader sector involved in manufacturing the alternative drugs, Boiron said. Some 60% of its own business came from France, and its suppliers and staff might be affected, it added. The impending move had sparked various online petitions calling for the welfare refunds to stay in place, including one on Change.org last year as the policy review loomed that drew over 46,000 backers. A dedicated online campaign platform against the reimbursement changes - set up by Boiron, other firms and several patient and medical professional groups - obtained over 1.2 million signatures. Buzyn said she took full responsibility for a measure that might prove unpopular, and denied that the primary aim of the plan was to save 127 million euros ($142.30 million) in social security payouts. She estimated that some 7 million French people, or just over 1% of the population, had used homeopathic drugs in 2018. Boiron said in its statement that over half of people in France used the medicines.",
            "output": [
                "France will end healthcare refunds for homeopathic drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6887d5a897fd422cbf2fd91394fc31e0",
            "input": "The doctors went on strike on Sept.3 to protest against poor wages, in some cases less than US$100 a month. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which responded to the job boycott by firing 448 doctors and pursuing disciplinary action against more than 1,000 others, on Thursday offered to reinstate them if they returned to work within 48 hours. Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade that has seen resurgent inflation soaring to three-digit levels, eroding salaries and bringing back bitter memories of the hyperinflation era of a decade ago. According to the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), the last wage offer by the government would see the doctors earning a total package, including allowances, of Z$3,900 (about US$240) per month. “Sadly, the moratorium has come without a new offer on the table having been communicated to us,” ZHDA said, explaining its rejection of the offer. The strike by junior and middle-level doctors has paralyzed state hospitals, used by Zimbabwe’s poor majority. Even before the strike, the hospitals had already been struggling with shortages of drugs and other basic products. Critics say President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to keep promises he made in last year’s election campaign to revive the economy by pushing through reforms, attracting foreign investment and rebuilding collapsing infrastructure. On Thursday Parirenyatwa Hospital, the country’s biggest, was deserted, with only a handful of desperate patients being attended to by nurses. Sheila Muzanenhamo, who lives in one of Harare’s poorest townships, Epworth, grimaced as she explained how she had been turned away from the hospital because there was no doctor to attend to her. “I have been here since dawn, hoping to get assistance but the nurses said they could not help me,” said Muzanenhamo. “They told me to go to private doctors, but I have no money to pay for that.”",
            "output": [
                "Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3b4024d2af94ce0ac129d5e84691eb2",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs. The story included quantitive information about weight loss over time. It did not quantify the impact on blood pressure. The story mentioned specific side effects of this particular medication combination. To be most informative to readers, the story should have mentioned that the potential for long-term harm is not known. And the rate at which people stopped taking the drug due to side effects should have been included. While indicating that several studies had been conducted in more than 4,500 people with various characteristics, the story never mentioned whether the studies are considered definitive or not; it also did not mention that the results of these studies have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals. And while reporting that weight loss appeared to be dose dependent, there was no discussion of how weight loss compared with those in control groups. Lastly – as the focus of the story appeared to be on an effect on blood pressure, it would seem that the story should have included some detail about the magnitude of the change. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story mention that the study author and Dr. Aronne received funding from the manufacturer of this drug. It also included a quote from the president of the American Society of Hypertension who does not appear to have a financial tie to this product. There was no information about how well this product works in comparison with other approaches to weight loss. It’s pretty clear from the story that the combination of the two drugs is not yet available. The story reported that the drug was a combination of two commercially available medications. It does not appear that the story relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Weight Loss Pill Also Lowers Blood Pressure"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-317c6b944ce94a8daa3cdaaeb1946273",
            "input": "The Douglas County Health Department said Wednesday that the bat was found on the ground at Morton Middle School on Friday afternoon. The bat was sent to a state lab and tested positive for the infectious disease. A small group of students at the school were seen around the bat, and officials are urging anyone who had any physical contact with the bat to contact their doctor as soon as possible. Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the bite or scratch of an infected animal that affects people. It is almost always fatal if not treated before symptoms appear.",
            "output": [
                "Officials warn of exposure to rabid bat at Omaha school."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a12e78613f7e4281918259aeff67a997",
            "input": "In February 2019, the following image appeared (archived here), with the description “victorious black soldiers returning to the U.S. from World War I are lynched while still in uniform.” An attached image showed a black man being dragged from a streetcar by several white men, captioned “the massacre they don’t teach you about in history.”However, the photograph did not appear to show a man in a military uniform. A reverse image search revealed that it was attributed to the Associated Press in June 1943, not 1919. A caption read:A man is dragged from a street car on June 21, 1943, during fighting near Detroit’s downtown section.That photograph was seventeenth in a gallery titled “Detroit in the 1940s,” the sum of which were described by The Atlantic in 2015:The early part of the 20th century saw the city of Detroit, Michigan, rise to prominence on the huge growth of the auto industry and related manufacturers. The 1940s were boom years of development, but the decade was full of upheaval and change, as factories re-tooled to build war machines, and women started taking on men’s roles in the workplace, as men shipped overseas to fight in World War II. The need for workers brought an influx of African-Americans to Detroit, who met stiff resistance from whites who refused to welcome them into their neighborhoods or work beside them on an assembly line. A race riot took place over three days in 1943, leaving 34 dead and hundreds injured. After World War II ended, the demand for workers dried up, and Detroit started plotting its postwar course, an era of big automobiles and bigger highways to accommodate them.A June 2003 Detroit Metro Times piece about the 1943 riots included elements of the backstory presented on Facebook:As the night [of June 20 1943] wore on, a police riot erupted in the ghetto. Hostile officers charged through the streets, beating senseless many innocent blacks, some of whom were in military uniform. When confronted, police didn’t hesitate to use deadly force. […][White Detroit residents] began stoning blacks who were driving to work, breaking windows. They caused a car to crash and the black driver to stumble out. As the man lumbered to safety, his car was set on fire. Mobs ranged up and down Woodward, pulling black motorists from cars and beating them senseless while their autos were turned over and torched.By midmorning [on June 21 1943], whites crowded streetcar stops, waiting to drag black straphangers off trolleys and beat them. When motormen tried to pass through without stopping, the mobs yanked the streetcars off the wires. Blacks trying to flee found themselves falling right into the hands of the waiting mob.Although the image is real and black veterans of World War II were attacked in the 1943 Detroit riots, the photograph did not show any events related to World War I or 1919. However, while the description of this particular photograph is inaccurate, it does describe real events. The same nativist frenzy that swept in massive changes to immigration laws just a few years later also sparked and fed horrifying violence against black Americans in what came to be called the Red Summer of 1919:During the Red Summer of 1919, white mobs attacked African Americans in six cities, deadly episodes of collective violence that often lasted for days. Chicago’s riot, one of the worst, lasted a week and claimed the lives of 38 men (23 black, 15 white). The mobs, in Chicago and the other cities (Charleston, S.C.; Bisbee, Ariz.; Longview, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Knoxville, Tenn.), sought to drive African Americans from industrial jobs or from majority white neighborhoods; to punish blacks for their prosperity; and to “protect” white women against the alleged assaults of black men.Why, then, were African Americans blamed for the Red Summer? During Chicago’s riot, for example, a local newspaper printed a false report that “a group of twelve discharged negro soldiers, all armed, terrorized small groups of whites in various parts of the south side this afternoon.” In fact, these men had tried to protect black residents because the city’s police were unable to halt white mob attacks. This wasn’t just a problem in Chicago. During all six riots of the Red Summer, local authorities failed to restore law and order. In some instances police abetted the violence by protecting white rioters or joining in the attacks. Denied protection of the law, African Americans took up arms to defend themselves. Especially in Chicago and Washington, newly returned black veterans of World War I organized and carried out this armed resistance. Calling themselves New Negroes, these veterans and other African Americans fought to stop the violence and to demand — and receive — long denied constitutional rights. Many white observers unjustly blamed the summer’s violence on blacks’ armed resistance.A primary archival source for the violent lynchings in the “Red Summer” appeared to be an October 1919 New York Times item [PDF], “FOR ACTION ON RACE RIOT PERIL; Radical Propaganda Among Negroes Growing, and Increase of Mob Violence.”  Its author claimed that 1919 race riots were caused in part by the World War I, as here had been “no trouble with the Negro before the war when most admitted the superiority of the white race.”The article went on to claim that due in part to the war, black American no longer focused on the sacrifice of “white men’s lives” in ending slavery:PBS published an undated entry in its “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” series about the 1919 race riots, detailing some of the events:On the afternoon of July 27, 1919, a stone-throwing melee between blacks and whites began after a black youth mistakenly swam into territory claimed by whites off the 29th Street beach in Chicago. Amidst the mayhem, Eugene Williams, a black youth, drowned. When a white police officer refused to arrest the white men involved in the death, and instead arrested a black man, racial tensions escalated. Fighting broke out between gangs and mobs of both races. Violence escalated with each incident, and for 13 days Chicago was in a state of turmoil. By the time the riot ended, 23 blacks and 15 whites were dead, 537 injured, and 1,000 black families were left homeless. The Chicago riot was part of a national racial frenzy of clashes, massacres, and lynchings throughout the North and the South. All of the incidents were initiated by whites. In Washington, D.C., from July 19 to 23, four whites and two blacks were killed; whites were astonished that blacks dared to fight back. The NEW YORK TIMES lamented the new black militancy: “There had been no trouble with the Negro before the war when most admitted the superiority of the white race.”As noted in the New York Times article from October 1919, one of many outbreaks of violence occurred in July 1919 in Norfolk, Virginia. A homecoming ceremony for black soldiers returning from World War I was attacked by a white mob; six people were shot. The role of the war and the return of soldiers was examined in the 2011 book Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America. A November 2011 review summarized its focus:Black servicemen fighting in Europe encountered a white population often less hostile than American whites. The talk of a “New Negro” appeared in print and was heard on the streets. Civil rights protests erupted in the North and South. It was not unreasonable for African-Americans to think — or at least hope — that wartime gains would be maintained and even extended.Instead of rewarding black Americans for their military service or even acknowledging their patriotic sacrifice, however, white Americans resolved to restore the pre-war status quo. Southern states cracked down hard on black protest organizations. The summer of 1919, argues journalist Cameron McWhirter, witnessed the “worst spate of race riots and lynchings in American history.” From April to October, American cities exploded in an orgy of violence whose extensive bloodshed led Johnson to name it the “Red Summer.” “Though no complete and accurate records on the eight months of violence were [ever] compiled,” McWhirter notes, “at least 25 major riots erupted and at least 52 black people were lynched” in those months. “Millions of Americans had their lives disrupted. Hundreds of people — most of them black — were killed and thousands more were injured. Tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes.”A February 2019 Facebook post claimed that “victorious black soldiers returning to the U.S. from World War I [were] lynched while still in uniform,” alongside a photograph of 1943 race riots in Detroit. However, the deadly “Red Summer of 1919” is a part of American history, the product of racism and  race-related tensions exacerbated by World War I. Many black civilians were killed, but in at least one instance a homecoming event for black soldiers was marred by racist violence in July 1919. Although the image is misleading, the claim is accurate.",
            "output": [
                "\"Black soldiers were lynched after World War I during the \"\"Red Summer\"\" of 1919.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b000fea610594b5784c6d4569fb669cb",
            "input": "News outlets report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it was notified on Oct. 1 that a flight attendant had a confirmed case. The Mecklenburg County Health Department says it contacted 18 Charlotte-area passengers who were on the American Airlines flight Sept. 21 from San Francisco to Charlotte. Spokeswoman Rebecca Carter says those passengers have since been vaccinated. American Airlines released a statement saying it’s in close contact with the CDC and public health officials and will coordinate with them on any required health and safety related measures. Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by contaminated food or water.",
            "output": [
                "Flight attendant may have exposed passengers to Hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9118fd46b9b34c70a976e2fd294a54ea",
            "input": "The story makes no mention of costs. With an estimated cost of $150,000 to 200,000, the cost of a allogenic bone marrow transplant is significant enough to be mentioned. We’re giving this one a pass here. The story makes quite clear that it is a report on the experience of only one patient and that while the researchers say there are now no signs of HIV infection in this individual, the tests don’t completely rule out the possibility that the virus is lurking somewhere. In particular, the comments of Dr. Gallo to place the apparent benefit in this single patient into context. The story notes that bone marrow transplants are risky and in fact , “…can kill people.” But it should have told readers that for some types of leukemia, up to 40 percent of patients die have receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor. What’s more the list of serious complications is harrowing. According to the National Cancer Institute, leukemia patients treated with a bone marrow transplant may have less than a 50-50 chance of successful treatment and even when the treatment works, it is often very painful and may cause serious to kidneys, liver, heart and lungs. So even though this story does tell readers that transplants are risky, it fails to provide numbers that would make clear just how perilous this course of treatment is. The story does a great job on this point, emphasizing the almost unique circumstances of this case and that the results could not be replicated in most people with HIV. By making good use of the right experts, it is able to show what a long shot this treatment really would be for most patients. “AIDS researchers have rejected the approach on any kind of scale for patients with HIV. A bone marrow transplant is a last-ditch treatment for cancers such as leukemia. It requires destruction of a patient’s own bone marrow — itself a harrowing process — and then a transplant from a donor who has a near-exact blood and immune system type. Months of recovery are needed while the transplant grows and reconstitutes the patient’s immune system.” The story does not engage in disease-mongering. The story does point out the staggering number of people worldwide (33 million) infected with the AIDS virus. We would have liked to have seen some mention of the number of people who more closely resemble this patient, having both HIV infection and a type of leukemia that might be treated with a bone marrow transplant. The story’s main expert source was Dr. Robert Gallo of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, who helped discover the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. His comments offered context and appropriate cautions. While the story does not discuss potential conflicts of interest, the researchers declared in their journal article that they had no competing financial interests and the work was supported by non-commercial institutions. The last sentence in the story reads “Cocktails of strong drugs can suppress the virus, keeping patients healthy and reducing the chance they will infect others, but there is no vaccine.” We would have liked to have seen a little more on this point. The fact is, HIV infection is becoming more and more like a chronic disease because of the success of antiretroviral (ARV) therapies. The death rate from AIDS has plummeted, even in developing countries, over the past two decades. This means that, while a vaccine or another therapy that eliminated the virus post-infection would be a boon for humankind, it is not the only approach worth hailing. We would like to see more ink devoted to innovative attempts to stop the spread of HIV and to broadly apply ARVs in countries that already have a high concentration of infected adults and less attention given to one offs like this study. We would have rated this as satisfactory if the story did not mention the vaccine issue. That expands the criterion into prevention and therefore into public health measures as comparators. The story makes it clear that it is based on the findings in one patient and that it couldn’t be applied broadly. The story shows that bone marrow transplants are available and points out the unique aspects of the procedure in this single patient; that is, while bone marrow transplants are available, marrow from recipients with the CCR5 mutation is not. The story apppropriately points out the uniqueness of the report. The patient presented with leukemia and HIV and a donor was available who happened to have te CCR5 mutation. The story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "German doctors declare “cure” in HIV patient"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab054524c0c14f7291f951e1109220a0",
            "input": "Sometime before Oct. 1, the state will start using electronic benefits transfer cards that will allow recipients on the Women, Infants and Children program to buy food at grocery stores and pharmacies Most states are already doing that, and Mississippi is among the few still using a warehouse distribution system, the Commercial Dispatch  reported. WIC provides “nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care” to low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children up to age 5 who are considered to be at nutritional risk, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program serves almost half of all infants born in the United States. WIC foods include “infant cereal, iron-fortified adult cereal, vitamin C-rich fruit or vegetable juice, eggs, milk, cheese, peanut butter, dried and canned beans/peas, and canned fish.” Katie Peterson, a mother of two young children, picked up packages of food recently at the WIC warehouse in Oktibbeha County. “I don’t have a lot of free time, so coming down here can be kind of difficult at times,” Peterson said. “They often run out of stuff too, so when I’m here, I’ll have to skip a couple things that are on my list.” Peterson said picking up WIC-approved food at a grocery store “would be wonderful.” Each state’s health department operates the WIC program, with funding and guidelines from the USDA. The federal agency decided all 50 states must start using electronic cards for WIC recipients by Oct. 1. Each county in Mississippi has at least one WIC warehouse. Liz Sharlot, spokeswoman for the Mississippi State Department of Health, said there will be no need for WIC warehouses once the cards are in place. Oktibbeha County resident Mariam Reynolds, a mother of three, said she got WIC products from grocery stores when she lived in Birmingham, Alabama. “You can go to the grocery store any time to get what you need, and you’ve probably got better options,” Reynolds said. Selection and availability were not a problem for Peterson and her family when they lived in Illinois, which administers its WIC program at grocery stores, she said. “If I need milk and eggs, and they don’t have eggs (at the warehouse), I either have to get the milk and skip the eggs or just get nothing at all,” Peterson said. WIC’s transition from warehouses to grocery stores is still in the early stages of searching for and authorizing grocery stores and pharmacies as vendors, so nothing is final yet, but “the wheels are in motion,” Sharlot said.",
            "output": [
                "Mississippi will phase out warehouses for nutrition program."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca8fde15dba74bc087ec0ea9bda64f36",
            "input": "On 19 July 2017, the Finnish news web site Yle reported that a group of Finnish researchers had developed a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes, and that human trials were set to begin in 2018:  A vaccine for type 1 diabetes developed by Finnish researchers will be tested on mainly Finnish human subjects in late 2018, researchers announced on Tuesday. The scientists first found that the prototype works effectively and safely on mice, and now say that the vaccine could be in mainstream use within eight years if the coming rounds of tests prove successful. One skeptical reader asked us to check out the story. Yle is Finland’s public broadcasting corporation (akin to NPR or the BBC). T he names of the lead researchers and their universities are real, the announcement of vaccine trials is real, and the story is true. On 18 July 2017, the University of Tampere in Finland announced that Professor of Virology Heikki Hyöty and his team of researchers had identified a particular strand of enteroviruses (viruses transmitted through the intestines) linked to Type 1 diabetes, and developed a vaccine against them. “Already now it is known that the vaccine is effective and safe on mice,” Hyöty said. “The developing process has now taken a significant leap forward as the next phase is to study the vaccine in humans.” The university’s statement continued: In the first clinical phase, the vaccine will be studied in a small group of adults to ensure the safety of the vaccine. In the second phase, the vaccine will be studied in children and the aim is to investigate both the safety of the vaccine and its effectiveness against enteroviruses. In the third phase, the aim is to investigate whether the vaccine could be used to prevent the onset of Type 1 Diabetes. However, it can take about eight years in order to certainly know whether the vaccine prevents Type 1 Diabetes. Hyöty added that the vaccine would not cure existing cases of Type 1 diabetes, but that if it is successful, it would protect from other infections caused by enteroviruses including the common cold and meningitis. Another pioneer in this research, Professor Mikael Knip from the University of Helsinki, told Yle that the vaccine could have massive financial and public health benefits: It is estimated that the additional cost of care for one child with diabetes over their lifetime is about a million euros. This vaccine could prevent at least half of new cases, which amounts to some 250 million euros in annual savings.",
            "output": [
                "In July 2017, it was announced that Finnish researchers would begin human trials of a Type 1 diabetes vaccine in 2018."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c054ae776a6487482cc6aa25dac12ed",
            "input": "\"Thought there was no discussion of cost, most people have a general idea how much cocoa costs. The story fails to describe the improvement in blood flow in absolute terms, instead noting only relative or percent improvement (e.g. 37% compared to baseline for consumption of artificially sweetened cocoa). The reported 37% improvement is much greater than that reported in a press release from the American College of Cardiology (2.4% over baseline); the reason for the discrepancy is unclear. The story notes that chocolate is laden with fat and calories, potentially harmful in people who are already overweight or obese. This story is based on the preliminary results of a small, unpublished study presented at a national cardiology meeting. The researchers fed three different foods (two types of chocolate and a placebo whey powder) to 39 people during three separate 6-week trials, and then after each trial used ultrasound to measure arterial blood flow in the arms of their subjects, a test that purportedly “corresponds well to heart disease.” Unfortunately, the story says little about the methodological shortcomings inherent in such a research design. Are there enough subjects in the study to muster the statistical power to answer the question being asked—or could the improvements in blood flow be the result of chance? Did the researchers account for other factors that might affect arterial blood flow, such as exercise routines? Is there research to suggest that the observed differences in arterial blood flow correspond to any outcome of clinical significance, such as rates of heart attack, stroke, or death? This news report says nothing about such potential limitations. We suspect many observers would say that this study simply raises an interesting question, but certainly doesn’t answer it. Despite the researcher’s assertion–\"\"This tells you that it (cocoa) is cardio-protective\"\"–the data seem only to show that cocoa simply relaxes smooth muscle in the arm.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Dark chocolate improves blood vessel health"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-652033fc3c7049d99158dc88f7be143c",
            "input": "The story provided explicit information on cost. The story reported on the possible benefit of the drug to slightly reduce the incidence of prostate cancer progression; it also mentioned that it might help with anxiety for those who decided to forego immediate invasive treatment. Most meaningfully, it also included early in the story the expert perspective that “most of these men do very well with no treatment at all.” We wish the story had indicated whether the differences were statistically significant and clinically significant in the percentage of men whose cancer progressed or the percentage of men in whom cancer was not found upon repeat biopsy. For example, to say that “cancer got worse” – what does that mean? Is it a worsening of clinical significance? Unlike the competing HealthDay story, this story was sure to include a discussion of harms. Noting that the researchers had indicated that no new additional harms or side effects had been observed, the story then went on to detail the common known side effects. The story did not, however, discuss the issue that the use of this drug, in the new context described, could result in men taking it daily for decades and the possibility of longer-term harms have not yet been studied. Nonethless, a satisfactory job. The story indicated that the study being reported on was to be presented at a meeting and that there had been a teleconference before the fact to provide the media with information coming out of the meeting. Unlike the competing HealthDay story, the AP story appeared to include independent perspectives from people they interviewed outside the teleconference setting. The story did an adequate job explaining the evidence. And the independent perspectives helped a great deal. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Unlike the competing HealthDay story, the AP story did appear to include perspectives of some experts who were not on the teleconference and some who were not directly involved in the study discussed. The true choices of choosing active surveillance or “watchful waiting”, of taking a drug, or of “rushing to have treatmetns that can leave them with urinary or sexual problems was very clear. The story clearly indicated that it was describing another use for a medication that is already available to consumers. The story was explicit that it was reporting on a possible new indication for a drug already in the market place. It was clear from the story that a news conference ahead of the meeting was the genesis of this story;  that said, other experts in the field appear to have been consulted for this piece.",
            "output": [
                "Drug may slow growth of early prostate cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2e0c70f2adf4260b4f32a38051b9f09",
            "input": "The county Department of Public Health said Thursday a new confirmed case is linked to an outbreak of four cases reported last month and is not associated with the University of California, Los Angeles, or California State University, Los Angeles. Both universities recently had quarantines for students staff who may have been exposed to measles. Health officials say they have not identified any public exposure locations associated with the new case. In addition to the cases involving county residents, there have been five cases among non-residents who traveled through the county. Authorities are urging people to get immunized and to learn symptoms of the extremely contagious illness.",
            "output": [
                "Los Angeles County identifies additional case of measles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61e4a1edba114796aacc61d19ba01ff2",
            "input": "\"On January 12 2020, the Facebook page “Lower Drug Prices Now” shared what appeared to be a screenshot of a tweet, which claimed that “500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year” due to medical bills:Claims referencing “this year” can be difficult to fact-check, as images like the one above could circulate for several years in perpetuity, muddying the timeframe of “this year” (or “this week,” or most commonly, “yesterday.”)A search for the phrasing used in the screenshot led back to its ostensible source, an August 20 2019 tweet by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Twitter. The tweet’s origin was unsurprising, as Medicare for All was a major plank of Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign platform:500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills.They didn't go to Las Vegas and blow their money at a casino.Their crime was that they got sick.How barbaric is a system that says, \"\"I'm going to destroy your family's finances because you had cancer\"\"?— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 20, 2019Both the tweet and the screenshot contained four lines, and read:500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills.They didn’t go to Las Vegas and blow their money at a casino.Their crime was that they got sick.How barbaric is a system that says, “I’m going to destroy your family’s finances because you had cancer”?Although the Facebook post was shared in January 2020, the “this year” clearly referenced 2019 — the year in which Sanders published the tweet. No source was shared alongside the claim, but a fairly specific figure of 500,000 medical bankruptcies was mentioned.A cursory search revealed both a possible underlying source for the figure, as well as what appeared to be a controversial fact-check. On August 28 2019, a Los Angeles Times op-ed asserted that Sanders had reiterated the “500,000 medical bankruptcies” claim in a debate — and that the Washington Post fact-checked the claim and scored it as “mostly false” or “three Pinocchios.” (The article displays a date of September 4 2019, indicating that it was updated; additional commentary is marked, but changes to the article remained unmarked and impossible to identify via the article itself. )Diving in, the article explained:You’ve got to hand it to Sen. Bernie Sanders for his ability to keep hot-button issues in the forefront of the presidential race.The latest example is his assertion, made at least twice in the last month, that medical bills drive 500,000 Americans into bankruptcy every year. The Washington Post’s fact-checker column examined the numbers and concluded that Sanders deserved “three Pinocchios” for the statement, which means the Post found it “mostly false” and that Sanders was, basically, lying.The Post blundered, as the authors of the study on which Sanders based his claim point out. In the real world, Sanders’ assertion that “500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills” is “mostly true.” Medical bankruptcy is an American scandal, and possibly even more common than he or the study’s authors calculate.On the same date as the Los Angeles Times editorial, the Washington Post published a fact-check of Sanders’ assertion. It was indeed rated “mostly false” or “three Pinocchios” as the op-ed said.We noticed two familiar names in the paper’s examination of the claim — David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler. Himmelstein and Woolhandler were researchers credited with a study referenced by our January 13 2020 fact-check about the cost of Canadian healthcare versus that of the United States.In a section titled “The Facts,” the Washington Post reported:Sanders said 500,000 people were driven to bankruptcy by medical bills. A Sanders campaign aide said he was relying on an editorial published by the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) in March [2019].That study, led by David U. Himmelstein, took a sample of bankruptcy court filings from 2013 to 2016, identified 3,200 bankrupt debtors and mailed them a survey. The response rate was 29.4 percent, with 910 responses and 108 surveys returned as undeliverable.Debtors were asked whether medical expenses, or loss of work related to illness, contributed to their bankruptcies. Of those who responded, 66.5 percent said at least one of those factors contributed “somewhat” or “very much.”Sixty-six percent of 750,000 is 500,000, so Sanders’s math adds up at first glance.The study referenced, “Medical Bankruptcy: Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act,” was accepted by the American Journal of Public Health in November 2018 and published in February 2019. Sanders’ campaign website also hosted a page (“Medical Bankruptcy is Real, Even if the Washington Post Refuses to Believe it”) about the claim, controversy, and fact-check; the page was written by the study’s authors, Himmelstein et al.The Washington Post fact-check noted that as an editorial, that particular AJPH article “did not undergo the same peer-reviewed editing process as a research article.” We were unable to find how they were able to make the determination that the article was not peer-reviewed.The paper also posited that while the 66 percent of bankruptcies cited medical bills as a factor, other factors may have been involved:This study includes a range of people for whom medical expenses or illness contributed “somewhat” to bankruptcy. What does “somewhat” mean? It’s broad enough to mean “slightly,” “fairly” or “moderately.” Sanders’s claim works only by erasing this ambiguity and taking “somewhat” to mean “mostly.”In Sanders’ tweet, no qualifiers (like “mostly”) were used. He said “500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills,” a statement that could reasonably be framed to mean either that medical bills were a defining factor in bankruptcies, or that medical bills caused bankruptcies, or that medical bills were a contributing factor in bankruptcies.Himmelstein was quoted by the paper in its attempt to assign a truth rating to the claim, and he explained that a number of confounding factors made sweeping statements difficult. Of note is that Himmelstein cited circumstances in which illness and mounting medical bills could drive other bankruptcy-exacerbating circumstances, such as work missed due to illness or compounding debt again related to health issues:“We did not ask about the sole or main reason for bankruptcy, because our past experience indicates that this is a meaningless question,” Himmelstein, a professor at CUNY’s Hunter College who supports single-payer health care, wrote in an email. “The vast majority of debtors suffer multiple problems that bring them to file, and cannot identify a single problem among them. Thus, if an illness led to lost work time (and hence income) and medical bills, debtors cannot separate out these different problems; they are of a piece.”Critics of Himmelstein and his colleagues’ research into medical bills and bankruptcy proposed different approaches, like “[instead of] looking at a sample of people who go bankrupt and see how many have medical debt, look at a sample of a bunch of people who have medical debt, and how many of them go bankrupt [to get an] idea of causality.” Another study cited a far lower number, while at the same time noting that the figure only involved debtors who had been hospitalized:“Based on our estimate of 4 percent of bankruptcy filings per year and the approximately 800,000 bankruptcy filings per year, our number would be much closer to something on the order of 30,000-50,000 bankruptcies caused by a hospitalization,” one of the co-authors of the NEJM study, economist Raymond Kluender of Harvard Business School, wrote in an email.“This would lead us to be skeptical of the 500,000 medical bankruptcies statistic, but that very much depends on how one defines a medical bankruptcy.…  An enormous share of households have some amount of medical debt, so any survey of individuals will report a high share of them have medical debt but this does not imply that the debt caused them to file for bankruptcy.”Some people could still face high levels of medical debt without ever going through a hospital, and they wouldn’t be counted in the NEJM study.The Washington Post asked Himmelstein directly if Sanders had accurately represented the findings of his and his colleagues’ editorial, to which he replied in the affirmative:Himmelstein wrote: “37 percent of filers said medical bills ‘very much’ contributed to their bankruptcy. Even if you use that restricted definition, then Sanders’s statement is accurate — or an underestimate. There are about 700,000 bankruptcy filings each year. Many filings are joint husband/wife filings, and based on our past research, we estimate that on average 2.71 persons reside in each debtor’s household. So the total number of persons who undergo bankruptcy is about 1.9 million annually.“37 percent of 1.9 million is a bit over 700,000. Even if you only count the husband and wife in a filing, the number suffering a bankruptcy to which medical bills ‘very much’ contributed is about 500,000.”The fact-check then concluded that the claims constituted politically motivated “cherry-picking” over the researchers’ objections:This is a classic case of cherry-picking a number from a scientific study and twisting it to make a political point.An undated response from Himmelstein and Woolhandler appeared at the bottom of the post. The authors pointed out several objections to the fact-check and factors cited in it, writing:An August 28 [2019] Fact Checker article in the Post assigned a “Three Pinocchios” rating to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ statement that 500,000 Americans are bankrupted by medical bills annually. Sanders’ estimate relied on an editorial by David Himmelstein and colleagues in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) reporting findings from a Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP) survey that asked debtors about causes of their bankruptcy. The editorial (which the Post falsely implied had not undergone peer review) updated previous CBP studies carried out by Himmelstein, along with then-Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, Steffie Woolhandler and Deborah Thorne that reached similar conclusions and appeared in leading medical and policy journals.The Post’s denigration of Sanders’ statement rests on an econometric study that found only a modest uptick in bankruptcy filings among persons hospitalized in California between 2003 and 2007. As Himmelstein, Woolhandler and Warren noted in their response to that study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study excluded most persons with frequent hospitalizations (a group at high risk of medical bankruptcy); assumed that anyone not hospitalized could not suffer medical bankruptcy; that a child or partners’ illness couldn’t lead to bankruptcy; and that potentially bankrupting illnesses always commence at the moment of hospitalization – an assumption contradicted by the study’s own data.Rather than checking facts, the Post has chosen one side in an ongoing and unsettled scholarly debate, and labeled those on the other side (and public figures who cite their research) “liars”.More than 200 readers commented on the fact-check, most objecting to the paper’s dismissal of both the underlying research and the researchers’ responses. One commenter wrote:I’m not a political supporter of Senator Sanders, I’m a retired former CEO of several significant medical device companies and the former Co-Chairman for eight years of the National Council for Healthcare Technology. The authors of the original editorial and its supporting peer reviewed studies, are the widely acknowledged preeminent experts in the field of medical bankruptcy, which they’ve been studying and publishing peer reviewed articles on for many years. The Washington Post’s reporter has substituted his uninformed judgement for the expertise, acquired over many years, by the authors of the original editorial and its supporting studies. As the authors pointed out in their rebuttal, Senator Sanders’s estimate of medical debt related bankruptcies is, if anything, to conservative. Medical debt related bankruptcies are a huge problem in the US, the only developed country in the world where they occur. The Washington Post is flat out wrong on this issue.Another echoed:How hard is it to retract this? I think we are being generous when we say the author made some mistakes here, I think it is pretty clear to anyone who pays attention what the intent of this “fact check” was, and that is to try and discredit Bernie Sanders in any way possible.But you got called out on it by both Senator Sanders and the authors of the study he cited, now own up to it and retract it. If the WaPo had one shred of journalistic integrity, they would admit they were wrong and seek to correct it. All this does is damage the Post’s credibility going forward the longer they remain obstinate about this.A third addressed a conclusory claim by the Post that Himmelstein somehow moved the goalposts on his own original claim, remarking on the inferences underlying the “mostly” aspect:Is the WaPo serious here? The entire article is based on the fact checker’s claim that Sanders implied with his tweets “solely caused” instead of “one of the causes”. But him also saying “people(/Americans)” instead of “cases” isn’t relevant? The study refers to different contributions to bankruptcy. Which one are you proving false? If you are going off of the peer reviewed editorial it is talking about contribution and cases. If you are going off of Sander’s tweet, it’s cause and people. Himmelstein even gave you an easily verifiable fact as to how many people are experiencing bankruptcy per case. This article has many more basic logical inaccuracies, I just wanted to point out this blatant disregard of parallelism in fact checking.That commenter’s critique was not restricted to one comment:So…what is your point? Because health care costs may not be the sole reason for a person’s financial difficulties, it is wrong to point to them as a burden? Has WaPo never heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back?We were unable to find commenters defending the amended fact-check, but we did find an additional comment signed by Himmelstein:Although the Post agreed to post our brief letter responding to their column, it refused to include the names of the 101 additional colleagues who were signatories of that letter. David U. Himmelstein, MD and Steffie Woolhandler MD MPHClearly, Sanders’ claim (depicted in the January 12 2020 Facebook post above) that “500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills” (referencing 2019) was a point of contention, worsened by a widely-disputed Washington Post fact-check originally published on August 28 2019 — after Sanders’ tweet and a Democratic debate in which he referenced the same statistic. Normally, we turn to the source material to verify such debate — in this case, research published in a medical journal.In a very odd turn of events, the authors of the article in the medical journal spoke up to insist their figures were accurately represented by Sanders in both places. In turn, the Washington Post added some of their objections (but not all), did not correct a claim that the editorial was not subjected to peer-review, and left out important elements of the authors’ response. Although the paper retained its “mostly false/three Pinocchios” rating, we were hard pressed to replicate those findings based on extensive comment from researchers whose peer-reviewed work had been published in medical journals.Update, January 14 2020, 4:28 PM: Himmelstein responded quickly to our request for additional information, forwarding two documents. One was published to Sanders’ website and linked above.The second was a letter to the editor — signed, as Himmelstein noted — by several parties. We are including both in their entirety. The first:Medical Bankruptcy is Real, Even if the Washington Post Refuses to Believe it David U. Himmelstein, M.D. and Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.HThe Washington Post has broken new ground, calling a presidential candidate a liar for citing a statistic from research published in the world’s leading public health journal. ThePost’s Fact Checker column labeled Bernie Sanders a “three pinocchio” level liar for saying that 500,000 Americans are bankrupted by medical bills each year. Sanders’ statement relied on research that we and three colleagues published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). Dozens of politicians and publications (including the Post itself!) have cited that study as a reliable source.Our AJPH study was part of an ongoing research effort by the Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP). For decades, the CBP has been surveying debtors about the causes (including medical ones) and consequences of their bankruptcy. In our 2019 research, 37.0% of bankrupts “very much” agreed that medical bills were an important factor, while another 21.5% “somewhat agreed”. Many others cited lost wages due to illness, and overall, two-thirds cited illness-related bills, income loss or both. As we wrote in the AJPH, that’s “. . . equivalent to about 530 000 medical bankruptcies annually.” That figure is in line with estimates based on our earlier CBP studies (carried out with then-Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren and sociologist Deborah Thorne), which were published in leading medical and policy journals.But even the 530,000 figure is an underestimate of the number of people affected by medical bankruptcies. Most bankruptcies involve more than one person – an average of about 2.7 people, often including a spouse/partner and children. That means that the 750,000 bankruptcies last year involved more than 2 million people. And even if you usethe most restrictive definition of medical bankruptcy – i.e. including only debtors who “very much” agreed that medical bills were a cause of their bankruptcy – Sanders’ 500,000 figure is, if anything, too low. The right number is more like three quarters of a million.And our studies aren’t the only indictor that many American families suffer a crushing burden of medical bills. A Nobel Prize winner was forced to sell his medal to pay medical bills. More than 250 000 people sought to raise funds for medical bills through GoFundMe campaigns last year. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,medical bills account for more than half of all unpaid bills sent to collection agencies.And in a New York Times/Kaiser Foundation survey, more than one quarter of respondents said they or someone in their household had a problem paying medical bills, and of them, 11% said they’d declared bankruptcy due, at least in part to medical bills.So why did the Fact Checker claim that Sanders told a whopper? That claim rests on an econometric study that found only a modest uptick in bankruptcy filings among persons hospitalized in California between 2003 and 2007. But that study appeared tailor made toundercount medical bankruptcies. As we and Elizabeth Warren noted in our response to it in the New England Journal of Medicine, it excluded most people who were frequently hospitalized (a group that’s at high risk of medical bankruptcy); it assumed that anyone not hospitalized could not suffer medical bankruptcy (even though people who aren’t hospitalized in the course of a year account for four-fifths of all out-of-pocket medical bills); that no one is bankrupted by bills for a child’s or partners’ care; and that potentially bankrupting illnesses never start before the moment of hospitalization – an assumption contradicted by the study’s own data.Yet despite these flaws, the economists behind the study insisted (and the Post believed) that their math was a more reliable indicator of what caused financial ruin than the testimony (and court records that we’ve used as cross-check) from the thousands of debtors surveyed and interviewed by the CBP.At this point everyone agrees that many thousands of Americans suffer medical bankruptcies each year, but there’s still scholarly debate over exactly how many; economists and business school professors (including some funded by the health insurance industry) generally offer lower estimates, and medical and legal researchers find higher numbers, We’d be happy to see the Post report the facts and nuances of that debate. But instead it’s chosen a side and labeled those on the other side – researchers, public figures who cite their research, and the debtors who shared their painful stories – “liars”.David U. Himmelstein, M.D. and Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. are both Distinguished Professors of Public Health, City University of New York at Hunter College and Lecturers in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the founders of Physicians for a National Health Program.As Himmelstein’s comment in the comments section of the Post article maintained, all of the many additional signatories of the letter had been stripped in the appended portion. We have included them below, in the full text of the second document:To the Editor:An August 28 Fact Checker article in the Post assigned a “three pinocchios” rating to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ statement that 500,000 Americans are bankrupted by medical bills annually. Sanders’ estimate relied on an editorial by David Himmelstein and colleagues in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) reporting findings from a Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP) survey that asked debtors about causes of their bankruptcy. The editorial (which the Post falsely implied had not undergone peer review) updated previous CBP studies carried out by Himmelstein, along with then-Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, Steffie Woolhandler and Deborah Thorne that reached similar conclusions and appeared in leading medical and policy journals.The Post’s denigration of Sanders’ statement rests on an econometric study that found only a modest uptick in bankruptcy filings among persons hospitalized in California between 2003 and -2007. As Himmelstein, Woolhandler and Warren noted in their response to that study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study excluded most persons with frequent hospitalizations (a group at high risk of medical bankruptcy); assumed that anyone not hospitalized could not suffer medical bankruptcy; that a child or partners’ illness couldn’t lead to bankruptcy; and that potentially bankrupting illnesses always commence at the moment of hospitalization – an assumption contradicted by the study’s own data.Rather than checking facts, the Post has chosen one side in an ongoing and unsettled scholarly debate, and labeled those on the other side (and public figures who cite their research) “liars”.Sincerely,David U. Himmelstein, MD Distinguished Professor Hunter College at City University of New York Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard Medical SchoolSteffie Woolhandler MD MPH Distinguished Professor Hunter College at City University of New York Lecturer (formerly Professor) in Medicine, Harvard Medical SchoolMary T. Bassett MD MPH Director, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard Former New York City Commissioner of HealthRobert Pollin, PhD Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director Political Economy Research Institute University of Massachusetts-Amherst.David H. Bor, MD Chief Academic Officer Cambridge Health Alliance Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical SchoolSteven B. Auerbach, MD MPH Retired-CAPT U.S. Public Health Service/ Dept. of Health & Human ServicesAshwini Sehgal, MD Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health Improvement Co-Director, Center for Reducing Health Disparities Case Western Reserve UniversityMarion Nestle, PhD, MPH Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health New York UniversityArthur MacEwan Professor Emeritus of Economics University of Massachusetts BostonHoward Waitzkin, MD, PhD, FACP Distinguished Professor Emeritus University of New Mexico Visiting Professor, Fulbright Senior Fellow Seoul National University School of Public Health Division of Health Care Management and PolicyKaren Lasser, MD, MPH Professor of Medicine and Public Health Boston UniversityJoia S. Mukherjee, MD, MPH Chief Medical Officer, Partners In Health Associate Professor, Harvard Medical SchoolPriyank Jain, MD Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical SchoolMardge H. Cohen, MD Boston Health Care for the Homeless Boston UniversityGordon Schiff, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical SchoolSonali Saluja, MD, MPH University of Southern California School of MedicineSabrina A. Esbitt, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Family & Social Medicine Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein College of MedicineZinzi Bailey, PhD University of Miami, Miller School of MedicineKaren A. Becker, MD, MPH Associate Professor, Albert Einstein College of MedicineIman Hassan MD MS Montefiore Health System/Albert Einstein College of MedicineCarles Muntaner MD, PhD, MHS. Professor of Public Health, Nursing and Psychiatry University of Toronto Toronto, CanadaHenry S Kahn, MD, FACP Professor Emeritus Emory University School of MedicineScott Goldberg, MD Bronx, NYLara Goitein, M.D Santa Fe, NMVikas Saini, MD, F.A.C.C. President, Lown InstituteJoe de Jonge Medical Student, Columbia UniversityDavid Ozonoff, MD, MPH Professor of Environmental Health Boston University School of Public HealthLinda Prine MD Professor of Family Medicine Icahn Mount Sinai School of MedicineMerlin Chowkwanyun, PhD Assistant Professor of Public Health Mailman/Columbia University School of Public HealthMatt Anderson, MD Montefiore/Albert Einstein School of MedicineSheba Sethi, MD Montefiore/Albert Einstein School of MedicineChristopher J. Wong, MD University of Washington School of MedicineRichard J. Pels, MD Chief of Medicine Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical SchoolKathleen Hanley, MD Associate Professor NYU School of MedicineMark Eisenberg, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical SchoolAdam Gaffney, MD MPH Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School President, Physicians for a National Health ProgramJoel Lexchin MD Professor Emeritus School of Health Policy & Management York University Toronto Ontario, CanadaPaul Song, MD Los Angeles, CAPieter Cohen, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical SchoolLipi Roy, MD, MPH, FASAM New York CityHeather Paladine, MD Residency Director Family Medicine Residency Program New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University Medical CenterMartha Livingston, PhD Professor and Chair, Public Health State University of New York, Old WestburyMartin F. Shapiro, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Weill Cornell Medical CollegeDan O’Connell, MD MPH Asst. Prof Family Medicine, Albert Einstein School of MedicineVictoria Gorski, MD, FAAFP Associate Clinical Professor Department of Family and Social Medicine Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of MedicineAlec Feuerbach Medical student Icahn Mount Sinai School of MedicineGabriel Silversmith, MD, MS New York CityA.H. Strelnick, MD Associate Dean and Professor, Family & Social Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical CenterGordon Guyatt, MD, MSc, FRCP, OC Distinguished University Professor McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaLew Pepper, MD MPH Newton, MANancy Krieger, PhD Professor of Social Epidemiology American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthMichael A. Zingman, MPH MD Candidate, Columbia University College of Physicians & SurgeonsGarrett Adams, MD, MPH Past President, Physicians for National Health Program Louisville, KYEllen Benoit, PhD New York CityJoanna Watterson Medical StudentPhilip Verhoef, MD University of Chicago School of MedicineDeborah Thorne, PhD Associate Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of IdahoLeo Eisenstein, MD Bellevue Hospital/NYU School of MedicineVikas Gampa, MD Cambridge, MAMargot Smith, DrPH Berkeley, CACatherine DeLorey, PhD Women’s Health Institute Boston, MAMartin Donohoe MD FACP Portland State UniversityRichard N. Gottfried Chair, New York State Assembly Health CommitteeRachel Madley PhD Candidate Columbia University Medical CenterTom Lieb, MD Portland, OR 97213William M. Fogarty, Jr., MD Webster Groves, MOEd Weisbart, MD, CPE, FAAFP St. Louis, MissouriKenneth D. Rosenberg, MD, MPH Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public HealthAirín D. Martínez, PhD Assistant Professor School of Public Health and Health Sciences University of Massachusetts-AmherstMark S. Krasnoff, MD FACP St. Louis, MOAndrew Goldstein, MD. New York, NYAaron D. Fox, MD MS Associate Professor of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of MedicineSam Dickman, MD University of California San FranciscoChristine Jacobs MD Professor and Department Chair Family and Community Medicine St. Louis UniversityRachel Kreier, PhD Associate professor, health economics Saint Joseph’s College Patchogue, NYRobert E Aronson, DrPH, MPH Professor and Director, Public Health Program Department of Environmental Science, Public Health and Sustainable Development Taylor University Upland, INMichael Hochman, MD, MPH Director, USC Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science Keck Medicine of USCKevin Grumbach, MD Hellman Endowed Professor and Chair Department of Family and Community Medicine University of California San FranciscoOlveen Carrasquillo, MD MPH Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine University of Miami, Miller School of MedicinePaul O’Rourke-Babb, MSN, FNP-C Chico, CAWilliam Honigman, M.D. Orange County, CATom Koren, PT San Francisco, CANoralou Roos, O.C., PhD Professor, University of MannitobaHarvey M. Weinstein, MD, MPH Senior Research Fellow, Human Rights Center, Berkeley LawCorinne Frugoni M.D. Humboldt County, CAMarc Sapir MD, MPH Hayward, CAHenry L. Abrons, MD, MPH Berkeley, CAJay Bowman-Kirigin MD/PhD student, Washington University, St. LouisJessica Schorr Saxe, MD Charlotte, NCLeonard Rodberg, PhD Professor Emeritus, Queens College/City University of New YorkMarce Abare, MD San Jose, CARuth Wangerin, PhD, MPH Lehman College, City University of New YorkJ. Wesley Boyd, MD, PhD Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical SchoolJudy Norsigian, Board Chair, on behalf of Our Bodies and OurselvesRussell Phillips, M,.D. William Applebaum Professor of Medicine; Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine and Director of the Center for Primary Care, Harvard Medical SchoolMarcia Angell, M.D. Former Editor-in-chief, New England Journal of MedicineAffiliations are for identification only\"",
            "output": [
                "500,000 Americans will go bankrupt this year from medical bills."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57a003a055c64e5abf5c6a321b0ee0fa",
            "input": "With only six months to go until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union, the highly regulated pharmaceuticals industry still does not know exactly how medicines oversight will function. Severin Schwan, chief executive of the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, said in an interview that Europe was already slower than the United States to approve new medicines and there are fears the UK might fall further behind, jeopardizing investment. “The UK would get markedly less competitive and less interesting for the industry as a life science hub,” he told Reuters. “For us, this is a very relevant question and if the regulatory system should not keep up with Europe, then this would be a big issue for us.”  Roche employs 2,100 staff in Britain and has been in the country since 1908. Staff work not only in the commercial business but also in a substantial drug development operation. “It goes without saying that we give preference in research and development activities where we bring the medicines to patients first,” Schwan said. “Even though we very much appreciate the science and capabilities in the UK, it is not possible to disconnect that from access to innovative medicines.”  Schwan noted that the UK could, in theory, use Brexit to create an independent drugs regulator that was faster than the European Medicines Agency. However, he also said this would require large government investment in both staff and resources. In addition to uncertainty over the licensing of medicines, Schwan is also frustrated by curbs on access to some treatments within Britain’s National Health Service. His company is in a bitter row over the health service’s refusal to approve Ocrevus, the company’s new drug for treating a highly disabling form of multiple sclerosis. “We now have a situation where patients in need don’t get the medicine. It’s as simple as that,” Schwan said. In preparation for potential supply disruption in the event of Britain leaving the EU without a deal with Brussels, the government has told drugmakers to build an additional six weeks of medicine stockpiles. Schwan said that Roche is increasing its stocks in line with peers and would be able to continue to supply patients in the event of a no-deal Brexit.",
            "output": [
                "Roche boss says Brexit and curbs on drug use pose threat to UK science."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2da9564f25a40e09f0c95e906c3589b",
            "input": "El Paso’s Department of Public Health is investigating the possible TB exposure at Hanks High School. Officials believe a student came in close contact with someone who had an active case of TB. Robert Resendes is the director of the city’s Public Health Department. He says free testing will be available to those who may have been exposed. Health officials say the bacterial illness isn’t easily transmitted and requires extensive exposure to spread. It can be contracted by breathing in infected droplets from the cough or sneeze of a person with active TB. Symptoms include a persistent cough, coughing up blood, fever, night sweats and chronic weakness.",
            "output": [
                "Texas officials investigating possible tuberculosis exposure."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50f124f00d2041948617fded97df6101",
            "input": "The story states that a $25 blood test can identify someone with a thyroid disorder. The costs associated with daily hormone therapy are not discussed. The article does an excellent job explaining the importance of thyroid hormones during pregnancy for fetal brain development, especially during the first trimester. It also points out the role in preventing miscarriage and premature birth. Furthermore, the story thoroughly details the risks that come with an overactive or an underactive thyroid gland for the average person. The article mentions that, for mild cases of hypothyroidism, scientists are unsure whether diagnoses and subsequent treatment sufficiently help pregnant patients or, instead, waste money on blood testing and thyroid medication. This is appropriately stated high up (in the first third) in the report. The article briefly mentions that the Quest Diagnostics study looked at records and surveys from half a million pregnant women, but apart from this fact, the story does not outline any more research methods or protocol. We could interpret the findings better if we knew, for example: There is no disease mongering in this story. The article gives appropriate and sufficient background information on various thyroid disorders and how they could affect pregnant women. The comment from Dr. Dena Goffman of New York’s Montefiore Medical Center offers an outside perspective on the research and the “long-running controversy” regarding thyroid testing for pregnant women. However, researchers at Quest Diagnostics – one of the world’s biggest companies for diagnostic services – conducted this study, which found a “higher-than-expected” number of pregnant women with underactive thyroids. Whether Quest Diagnostics funded the study, or whether Dr. Elizabeth Pearce had ties to the company, were not explicitly discussed. The story offers different perspectives and guidelines on thyroid screening from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Thyroid Association. The story makes it clear that “nearly a quarter of pregnant women are getting the simple thyroid blood test regardless of whether they have symptoms.” Thyroid function screening via a blood test is not a new concept. The question is whether milder cases of hypothyroidism in pregnant women should be treated with daily hormone therapy. In general, the article does an excellent job laying out both sides of the issue. There was no evidence that the story relied solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Debate over who needs a thyroid check in pregnancy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-37253bda4cb24329b8716ef8b4918708",
            "input": "Organizers announced Monday that Biden will be a featured speaker in Austin on Sunday, during the portion of the festival focusing on interactive technology. Biden will discuss plans for his new cancer-fighting initiative. Biden has said recently that the initiative will focus on improving data standards to help researchers, work with community care organizations to improve access to care and push to ensure patients can afford treatments. Biden previously led a White House “cancer moonshot” effort to accelerate developments toward a cure. The former vice president has focused on improving cancer research efforts since his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015.",
            "output": [
                "Biden to discuss fight to end cancer at South By Southwest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef9bfda3c6db4271944044ffb4787994",
            "input": "The overall number of religious exemptions in the state climbed by 25%, from the 2017-18 school year to the 2018-19 school year, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. The agency said the increase from 2% of students to 2.5% represents the largest single year upturn in religious exemptions for vaccinations since it began tracking statewide data 10 years ago. While the immunization rate for kindergarten students remains high in Connecticut, the new information shows it has declined from 96.5% to 95.9%. “It does raise concern,” said Public Health Commissioner Renee D. Coleman-Mitchell, adding how the new numbers warrant releasing more data, including county-by-county and school-by-school. The commissioner originally planned not to release the school-by-school data, but Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday overruled that decision, arguing the public should have the information. A Bristol couple on Thursday asked a court to stop the release of the school-by-school vaccination rates, arguing they’ll suffer “irreparable harm” if the information is released. Their unvaccinated son attends a private school where 18% of the students claimed a religious exemption from vaccinations, according to school-by-school data DPH released in May. The couple has another lawsuit pending. “We believe that out of deference and respect for the authority of the court, no new data should be released during the pendency of this litigation,” the couple said in a written statement. “To do otherwise is to move into the dangerous waters of undermining the separation of powers that is so important to our system of government.” Lamont’s office declined to comment on the pending litigation. Coleman-Mitchell said the resurgence of measles in the U.S. is of great concern and the decline in Connecticut’s vaccination rates, coupled with the increase in religious exemptions, validates the need to release both county-by-county and school-by-school data by Oct. 21. There have been three cases so far in Connecticut this year. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the Festas live in Bristol, not Woodstock.",
            "output": [
                "Data show 25% increase in religious exemptions for vaccines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ccbd1aab5f64b0da1128ec30915009e",
            "input": "The Casper Star-Tribune reported Monday (http://bit.ly/2oUz0aa ) that a press release by the Wyoming Health Department said while the rates for other sexual transmitted diseases such as chlamydia and syphilis have risen, gonorrhea has affected young people the most. The department says there were 44 reported gonorrhea cases in Wyoming in 2012. The number of gonorrhea cases rose to 279 in 2016. Communicable Disease Surveillance Program Manager Courtney Smith says two-thirds of the gonorrhea cases and half of chlamydia cases were reported by people between 15 and 24 years old. Smith says that Natrona County has the highest gonorrhea infection rate in the state in 2016. It’s followed by Laramie and Fremont counties. ___ Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com",
            "output": [
                "Wyoming health officials report rise in STDs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aea5acffc6db40869e06e8650a3759f0",
            "input": "Not applicable. The cost of olive oil is not in question. The story only cited a 41% lower risk of stroke but didn’t give the actual numbers of how many versus how many in the different groups. That may give an inflated sense of benefit or risk reduction. Not applicable. Unlike the LA Times piece, WebMD rurns to an editorial writer and two other independent experts to evaluate the evidence. It mentioned that this was an observational study but didn’t explicitly define that or why that’s a potential limitation. No disease-mongering of stroke in the story. Great sourcing – with 3 independent voices besides the study authors. The story ends, appropriately, with this: “Keeping blood pressure controlled, not smoking, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet that is low in salt and rich in fruits and vegetables can also help reduce stroke risk.” Not applicable. The availability of olive oil is not in question. The relative novelty of the study’s focus was clear in the story. It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Olive Oil Linked to Reduced Stroke Risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffb2de8eceee4e9eaad8cd85b5c546dc",
            "input": "An asthma sufferer wears a paper face mask as she is attended by nurses in this undated file image. REUTERS/Jason Reed The findings were published in the journal Lancet together with two other studies, which found that runny noses and wheezing early on in life may be strong predictors of asthma. In the first study, researchers pored through data provided by parents of more than 205,000 children and found paracetamol use in the first year of life was associated with a 46 percent higher risk of asthma by the time the children were 6 or 7 compared to those never exposed to the drug. Known as acetaminophen in the United States, where it is widely sold under the brand Tylenol, it is used to relieve fever, minor aches and pain, and is used in a liquid suspension for children. Medium use of paracetamol in the past 12 months increased asthma risk by 61 percent, while high dosages of once a month or more in the past year raised the risk by over three times. Medium use was defined as once per year or more, but less than once a month. Suspicions of a possible link between paracetamol and asthma emerged in recent years when experts observed an increased use of the drug to a simultaneous rise in asthma prevalence worldwide. One theory is that paracetamol reduces antioxidants in the body. Some experts think antioxidants, which stop unstable molecules known as free radicals from doing too much damage, can lower the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments. “Paracetamol can reduce antioxidant levels and ... that can give oxidative stress in the lungs and cause asthma,” one of the researchers, Richard Beasley at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, told Reuters in a telephone interview. As with asthma, monthly use of paracetamol doubled the risk of eczema and trebled that of rhinoconjunctivitis — repetitive sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and hay fever — by the time children were 6 or 7, the study found. However, the researchers stressed paracetamol should remain the preferred drug to relieve pain and fever in children because its alternative, aspirin, was linked to the risk of Reye’s syndrome, a rare but serious complication in children. “The findings do lend support to the current guidelines of the World Health Organization, which recommend that paracetamol should not be used routinely, but should be reserved for children with a high fever (38.5 Celsius or above),” they wrote. Another study in The Lancet found that rhinitis, or hay fever and other allergic reactions causing a runny nose, was a strong predictor of asthma that develops in adulthood. Researchers monitored 6,461 people in 14 countries who were free of asthma at the start of study for more than 8 years. Those who suffered rhinitis and were allergic to an assortment of agents like house dust mites, cat, grass and birch were 3.5 times more likely to develop asthma later on compared to those who suffered no allergies nor rhinitis. The third study in Arizona in the United States found wheezing early in life may be an ominous sign of asthma developing in adulthood. Researchers pored through data on 849 people going back 22 years to the time they were babies. Of 181 cases of active asthma, 49 were newly diagnosed, of which 35 were women. “In over 70 percent of people with current asthma and 63 percent of those with newly diagnosed asthma at age 22 years, episodes of wheezing had happened in the first three years of life or were reported by parents at age six years,” wrote the researchers at the Arizona Respiratory Center. In an accompanying comment, Suzanne Lau of Charite University Medicine in Germany, wrote: “These findings identify a population at risk of chronic obstructive airway disease in early adulthood, and they already showed a predisposition during preschool years.” Lau was not involved in the study.",
            "output": [
                "Paracetamol use may raise asthma risk in children."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3223604201c6460a8eaa753b158e4ca4",
            "input": "A set of photographs circulated online show Peng Shuilin, a Chinese man who lost the lower half of his body in an automobile accident in the town of Shenzhen in 1995. Surgeons were able to save his life by closing up his bottomless torso, but his weakened condition required him to remain largely immobile in a horizontal position. After years of building up his strength, Peng was fitted with specially made “bionic legs” attached to a casting that allowed him to regain a substantial degree of mobility:  “Half Man — Half Price Store” — The Story of Peng Shuilin In life we keep complaining about what is or why we don’t have. Half the time we seem dissatisfied, though full-bodied and free to choose. Fat people say,”I want to be slim.” Skinny people say,”I want to be fatter.” Poor people want to be rich and rich are never satisfied with what they have. In 1995, in Shenzhen, a freight truck sliced his body in half. His lower body and legs were beyond repair. Peng Shuilin, 37, spent nearly two years in hospital in Shenzhen, southern China, undergoing a series of operations to re-route nearly  every major organ or system inside his body. Peng kept exercising his arms, building up strength, washing his face and  brushing his teeth. He survived against all odds. Now Peng Shulin has astounded doctors by learning to walk again after a decade. Peng has been walking the corridors of Beijing Rehabilitation Centre with the aid of his specially adapted legs and a re-sized walking frame. There is a cable attached to both legs so when one goes forward, the other goes backwards. Rock to the side, add a bit of a twist and the leg without the weight on it advances while the other one stays still, giving a highly inefficient way of ambulation. Oh so satisfying to ‘walk’ again after ten years with half a body! Peng Shuilin has opened his own bargain supermarket, called the Half Man Half Price Store. The inspirational 37-year-old has become a businessman and is used as a role model for other amputees. At just 2ft 7ins tall, he moves around in a wheelchair giving lectures on recovery from disability. His attitude is amazing, he doesn’t complain. He had good care, but his secret is cheerfulness. Nothing ever gets him down. You have a whole body. You have feet. Now you have met a man who has neither. His life is a feat of endurance, a triumph of the human spirit in overcoming extreme adversity. So the next time you want to complain about something trivial – don’t. Remember Peng Shulin instead. The Telegraph reported of Peng in January 2008 that:  Nearly 13 years after his body was sliced in half when he was struck by a freight truck, Peng Shuilin is making the most of life, thanks to an assortment of mobility aids. The Chinese man — who measures just 78cm — was discovered in two pieces after a road accident in the town of Shenzhen in 1995. Medics realised his lower half was beyond salvation but a series of operations closed up his bottomless torso. Skin was transferred from his head to the underside of his severed body to keep his organs alive and away from the damaging effects of outside exposure. After several operations he was still too weak to contain his organs and spent the subsequent months in a horizontal position. Mr Peng built up the strength in his arms for mobility and then began searching for firms specialising in manufacturing artificial limbs. Experts assembled artificial legs for Mr Peng, specially fitted to his torso. Doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre helped Mr Peng learn to walk again with two bionic legs, attached to a special casting. His perseverance and fight for life, and a number of mobility aids, now help him negotiate the everyday activities of normal-bodied people.",
            "output": [
                "Photographs show Peng Shuilin, a Chinese man who lost the lower half of his body in an automobile accident."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1d02c48d62640338e7657e0aafa0771",
            "input": "On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious virus. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578 from a previous 47,021, an increase of 13.9%, the Civil Protection  Agency said. The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remains in a  critical situation, with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases. Of those originally infected nationwide, 6,072 had fully recovered on Saturday compared to 5,129 the day before. There were 2,857 people in intensive care against a previous 2,655.",
            "output": [
                "Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-866c149f45e741a99e6de33629c9de88",
            "input": "Brian Frosh announced the indictments on Wednesday. Officials say multiple charges have been filed against Troy Brown, Sharon Isaac and Barbara Parker, all of Baltimore. The charges include abuse and neglect of a vulnerable adult and financial exploitation. The attorney general’s office says it began investigating Neiswanger Management Services in 2015. The company operated five nursing homes throughout Maryland. The investigation was led by the attorney general’s office and the Maryland State Police. Officials say the investigation found that the company was discharging their nursing home patients at sham unlicensed living facilities. Search warrants revealed overcrowded homes and deplorable living conditions in some cases, including bed bugs and mice.",
            "output": [
                "3 indicted in unlicensed assisted living facilities case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bade8cf483044a5da87f5c2ffaaaaf04",
            "input": "\"There are no financial costs associated with fasting one day per month. The article generally presents data well: While at the top it uses the phrase \"\"40 percent less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease,\"\" later in the text it explains that 67 percent of the non-fasters were diagnosed, compard to 59 percent of fasters. Providing both measures is useful. The article also lays out the study’s methodology in considerable detail. The article cites the two important safety issues regarding fasting: That it can be dangerous for diabetics, and that it can depress metabolism and possibly make weight gain more likely. It should also have said that anyone who wants to fast should consult their doctor first. While the article reports that the study was presented at an American Heart Association meeting, it did not explain that this means the data has not been peer-reviewed or published – and as such carries less credibility until (or if) it is published in such a journal. The article also failed to point out an observational study of self-reported behavior is a less powerful type of evidence than a prospective clinical trial. The risk in this study of \"\"Healthy user bias\"\" – the fact that people who choose to fast may have healthy characteristics that others do not – should have been emphasized. The article also permits the researchers to overinterpret some data. It quotes the researchers as saying the results apply to non-Mormons too. But only 8 percent of the survey group of 515 – or 41 people – were not Mormons. Conclusions of disease prevalence based on such a small sample size are premature. The article does not exaggerate the consequences or prevalence of heart disease. This article was based on a presentation at a medical meeting. It included interviews from two sources: The study’s author, and an independent expert on the subject of diet and heart disease. The article states that quitting smoking also reduces heart disease risk. But it fails to indicate that a more common approach to reducing heart risk is controlling what and how much you eat rather than when. It would have been useful to know how much benefit this group of fasters saw compared to a similar group that used more common dietary measures to reduce heart risk. The article also fails to mention other common and effective ways to reduce heart risk, such as controlling high blood pressure and lipids, taking aspirin, etc. The activity studied, refraining from food and drink one day per month, is available to anyone. The article correctly implies that little research has been done on the cardiac benefits of once-a-month daily fasting. There is no evidence the article is based on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Monthly fasting may help heart"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-add4283f5989419bb5052949a5958e76",
            "input": "Health authorities across Asia have been stepping up surveillance and other precautions to prevent a repeat of the disruptions and deaths during the 2003 SARS crisis, which caused $40 billion to $50 billion in losses from reduced travel and spending. The first cases of what has been identified as a novel coronavirus were linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, suggesting animal-to-human transmission, but it now is also thought to be spread between people. As of Wednesday, more than 500 people were confirmed infected and 17 had died from the illness, which can cause pneumonia and other severe respiratory symptoms. A retreat in financial markets on Tuesday was followed by a rebound on Wednesday, as investors snapped up bargains. Share benchmarks were mostly higher both in Asia, Europe  and the U.S. While the new virus appears much less dangerous than SARS, “the most significant Asia risk could lie ahead as the regional peak travel season takes hold, which could multiply the disease diffusion,” said Stephen Innes, chief Asian strategist for AxiCorp. “So, while the risk is returning to the market, the lights might not turn green until we move through the Lunar New Year travel season to better gauge the coronavirus dispersion.” The 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in China, along with cases of a deadly form of bird flu, resulted in widespread quarantine measures in many Chinese cities and in Hong Kong. More than 8,000 people fell sick and just under 800 people died, a mortality rate of under 10%. While the ordinary flu kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, such new diseases raise alarm due to the uncertainties over how deadly they might be and how they might spread. That’s especially true during the annual mass travel of the Lunar New Year festival, which begins this week. “The cost to the global economy can be quite staggering in negative GDP terms if this outbreak reaches epidemic proportions,” Innes said in a report. In China, health officials stepped up screening for fevers. “We ask the public to avoid crowds and minimize the public gatherings to reduce the possibility of cross infection,” Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said Wednesday. As with SARS, the impact of the disease is likely to fall heaviest on specific industries, such as hotels and airlines, railways, casinos and other leisure businesses and retailers, analysts said. In a statement on its website Wednesday, Shanghai Disney Resort said it was operating normally but understood if some guests wished to change their travel plans. The park said it would let guests reschedule their visits or refund their money. China’s Civil Aviation Administration called on airlines to offer free refunds for tickets in or out of Wuhan. “If the pneumonia couldn’t be contained in the short term, we expect China’s retail sales, tourism, hotel & catering, travel activities likely to be hit, especially in the first and second quarters,” said Ning Zhang of UBS. Government efforts to offset the shock would help, but growth will likely rebound less than earlier forecast, Zhang said. The outbreak is a boon, meanwhile, for pharmaceutical companies and makers of protective masks and other medical gear. As of Jan. 17, the World Health Organization had not recommended any international restrictions on travel but urged local authorities to work with the travel industry to help prevent the disease from spreading while warning travelers who fall ill to seek medical attention. The illness is yet another blow for Hong Kong, whose economy is reeling from months of often violent anti-government protests. The wider concern is China, where the economy  grew at a 30-year low 6.1% annual pace in 2019. An interim trade pact between Beijing and Washington had raised hopes that some pressure from tensions between the two biggest economies might ease, and the latest data have showed signs of improved demand for exports. The virus outbreak raises the risk such optimism might be premature. “We expect increased downward pressure on China’s growth, particularly in the services sector,” said Ting Lu and other analysts at Nomura in Hong Kong, who based their projections on the spread of the SARS virus. The growing number of global travelers has contributed to the spread of various diseases in recent years, including Middle East respiratory syndrome, the Ebola and Zika viruses, the plague, measles and other highly contagious illnesses. The World Economic Forum estimates that pandemics — cross-border outbreaks like the flu that killed 50 million people a century ago — have the potential to cause an $570 billion in annual economic losses. The 2014-16 Ebola virus epidemic caused losses amounting to over $2.2 billion, according to the World Bank. That includes a 40% decrease in the number of working Liberians at the height of the crisis, lower exports and harvests, and costs for combating the disease. Apart from the human tragedy, such crises gobble up resources needed for other government spending, exacting a harsh toll on the poorest economies. In Africa, the loss of health care workers to Ebola resulted in thousands more deaths of mothers and babies, hindered work on other diseases such as preventing and treating malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, reduced vaccination rates and fewer surgeries, the World Bank said in a report. Many survivors, meanwhile, suffer from lingering effects of the illnesses and the powerful drugs used to save their lives, becoming more vulnerable to hunger and other risks. At the same time, increasingly sophisticated tools for collecting data and analyzing are aiding efforts to prepare for and cope with severe disease outbreaks. In 2016, the World Bank set up a $500 million rapid response insurance fund, working with the WHO and insurance companies, to combat pandemics in developing countries. The fund uses “cat bonds,” or catastrophe bonds, whose principal will be lost if the funds are needed to help deal with an outbreak. Private insurers have followed with products of their own meant to hedge against risks from such disasters.",
            "output": [
                "China virus outbreak may wallop economy, financial markets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97f68fd3012946ae95173f7e15c1cff9",
            "input": "\"Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is urging Congress to pass legislation to deal with Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, saying that without action the economy and welfare of the U.S. territory will continue to deteriorate. During an interview on the Bloomberg network, Lew said that Puerto Rican hospitals are ill-equipped to deal with the spread of the Zika virus, that schools are closing and that the failing economy is driving people out. \"\"You have broad economic stress causing people to leave the island,\"\" Lew said May 3, 2016. \"\"Almost 100,000 people left Puerto Rico last year.\"\" For an island with a total population around 3.5 million, that’s a serious exodus. We decided to see if Lew was right. Looking at the data Census data shows a small, but steady increase in the number of people leaving Puerto Rico for the mainland. More than 360,000 people went from Puerto Rico to the United States btween 2010 and 2014. However, the Census data isn’t out for 2015, which is the year Lew was talking about. So where did Lew get that figure? The estimate comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which tracks passengers departing from and arriving to the island. The Treasury Department has relied on this data before, according to department spokesperson Daniel Watson. The data show about 90,000 more people left Puerto Rico for the United States than came in. *The American Community Survey showing total out-migration of Puerto Rico to the US mainland **T-100 Domestic Market Data (US Carriers) None of this data includes people leaving Puerto Rico for somewhere other than the United States. Islanders mostly tend to head to the mainland, however, countries in Latin America, the Dominican Republic and Spain have been attracting Puerto Ricans as well. So the total number of migrants leaving the island is actually larger. Recent qualitative interviews by researchers from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies found that the people leaving Puerto Rico in the greatest numbers are nurses, paramedics, police officers, teachers, college professors and lawyers. They are often recruited and going to states with growing Hispanic populations in need of bilingual professionals. The surge in departures has led to the social media tag #yonomequito (\"\"I am not going anywhere\"\"). On Facebook this movement has been liked by 70,000 people. Our ruling Lew said that \"\"almost 100,000 people left Puerto Rico last year.\"\" That appears to be close. Airline data suggests about 89,000 more people departed Puerto Rico for the United States then entered it in 2015. While that’s not a perfect estimate to measure out-migration, all the population trends suggest Puerto Rico is experiencing a surge in out-migration, as residents leave for better jobs and prospects in the United States. Lew’s statement is .\"",
            "output": [
                "Almost 100,000 people left Puerto Rico last year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb49623f033c440d8fcf21aba1028907",
            "input": "The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Monday that it suspects a flock of migratory birds found dead last week brought the latest outbreak of the H5N8 strain of bird flu. Since the virus hit three farms in the southwestern part of the country last week, about 90,000 poultry have been culled from South Korea’s population of 160 million farm birds as of Saturday, according to ministry data. Asia’s fourth-largest economy has had four outbreaks of bird flu viruses in the past 10 years. The most recent, in 2011, led to a cull of more than 3 million poultry. The government has issued a movement control order for livestock and related transport in North and South Jeolla provinces in the southwestern part of the country, and raised its bird flu warning level to ‘alert’ from ‘caution’ ahead of next week’s Lunar New Year holiday. The farms hit last week were in North Jeolla province. No human infection has been reported in the most recent outbreak. The first case of H5N8 bird flu was discovered last Friday at a duck farm in the county of Gochang, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Seoul. Another two farms were hit in the nearby county of Buan, some 240 km from Seoul. The H5N8 strain was first identified in a 2010 case reported in China and is similar to the H5N1 type. In Asia, around 150 people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been infected by a new H759 strain of bird flu since it emerged in China last year, claiming at least 46 lives.",
            "output": [
                "South Korea steps up measures to contain bird flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8914ccee941d4f069d3bb285dcda18f2",
            "input": "The animals ferried to safety are eastern lowland gorillas, a species that only lives in Democratic Republic of Congo and is classified as “endangered” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list. The four gorillas, which had been rescued from traffickers in various parts of Congo’s rebel-infested east, were flown by helicopter on Tuesday from Goma to the Kasugho Sanctuary in North Kivu province. “If you use vehicles, there is a great risk of losing the animals because they are traumatized. We used aircraft because we really wanted to reduce their stress level,” Benoit Kisuki, Conservation International’s country director, told Reuters. Kisuki said the air transfer was part of a wider project to combat the illegal trade in baby gorillas, which has intensified in recent years with the proliferation of armed groups and constant insecurity in eastern Congo. “The objective is to reintroduce them in their natural environment,” he added. The gorillas are often caught, trafficked and sold for thousands of dollars on the world market as exotic pets. Others are killed and sold locally as “bush meat.”   The research center in Kasugho has developed a two-hectare (4.9 acre) area where scientists can monitor young gorillas as they prepare to be released into the wild. Six other individuals, currently under protection in Rwanda, are due to be flown in on June 10 to “socialize” with the first group and “form a family of 10,” Kisuki said. The gorillas could be a valuable asset for the future economic development of east Congo, after the animals became a major tourist attraction in Uganda and Rwanda, raising several million dollars in revenues. There is no accurate data for eastern lowland gorilla populations. But Congo’s gorillas have weathered years of warfare in the east and more than 150 rangers have been killed trying to protect the area’s five national parks from poachers. A U.N.-backed report last month said gorillas may become near-extinct in Africa’s Greater Congo Basin by the mid-2020s unless action is taken to stop poaching and protect their habitat.",
            "output": [
                "U.N. helicopters fly baby Congo gorillas to safety."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dde0c64c839f40f1b2248effcfcbecaa",
            "input": "Although some of these infections can be treated easily, others - like the superbug MRSA and other drug-resistant bugs - can be fatal or affect patients’ health very seriously, taking several months of costly hospital care and medication to beat. A survey by the European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) found that on any given day, one in 18 patients in European hospitals has at least one hospital-acquired infection - amounting to around 3.2 million patients per year. “Healthcare-associated infections pose a major public health problem and a threat to European patients,” said Marc Sprenger, director of the Stockholm-based ECDC. He said many of these infections could be prevented by well thought-out, sustained and multi-pronged prevention and control programs and he urged hospitals to step up the fight. “Such programs, as well as prudent use of antibiotics, will help all actors involved to protect the patients of European hospitals,” he said in a statement. The ECDC warned last year that doctors are increasingly having to turn to last-ditch antibiotics due to growing drug-resistant superbug infections in Europe - many of them acquired in hospitals. The latest survey, which covered 1,000 hospitals in 30 European countries, found the highest rates of hospital-acquired infections were among patients admitted to intensive care units, where 19.5 percent of patients had at least one bug they had picked up from the hospital. The most common types of infection are respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and infections of the bloodstream. These are often caused by Klebsiella pneumonia and E. coli bacteria, both of which have shown an ability to develop resistance to some of the most powerful antibiotics. Among a total 15,000 reported healthcare-associated infections, surgical site infections and urinary tract infections are also common. Many of the infections are also found to be drug-resistant “superbugs”, the survey showed. Among all infections with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in which full testing was carried out, more than 40 percent were reported as resistant to methicillin - in other words they were MRSA infections, the ECDC said. Worldwide, MRSA infects an estimated 53 million people annually and costs more than $20 billion a year to treat. It kills around 20,000 people a year in the United States and a similar number in Europe. EU health and consumer affairs commissioner Paola Testori Coggi said the findings of the European survey were “worrying” and urged health authorities to do more to protect patients in hospital and to step up the fight against antibiotic resistance. Drug resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages bacteria to develop new ways of overcoming them. Experts say hospitals are often guilty of overusing antibiotics, giving them as “blanket” treatments before full testing has established which drugs are really needed.",
            "output": [
                "Three million Europeans catch infections in hospital annually."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e67837aa16542aab40b4eb06ee3244a",
            "input": "The news release does not bring up costs, but we’ll rate this Not Applicable since the release is clear that this is early-stage work that is not yet ready for use in humans. Some mention of costs would have been valuable nonetheless. Gene therapy is known to be extremely costly, and when a disease is rare, as this is, that raises questions about what company would find it profitable to pursue the potential treatment. The University of Utah provides some excellent background on the “commercial viability” of gene therapy. The release squeaks by on this. There are no numbers used to quantify, but this excerpt at least touches on the method of measurement and the three-year follow up. “The treated dogs had expressed levels of clotting factor VII that would be therapeutic in humans, with long-term stability. In one dog, the effects persisted nearly three years.”  The release could have explained what a “therapeutic” expression level of clotting factor actually means. A closer look at the paper reveals that a clinically therapeutic level is greater than or equal to 15% of normal. The release addresses harms in a couple of places, as in this excerpt: “The FVII-deficient dogs tolerated the initial gene therapy infusions very well and have had no adverse side effects over several years of follow up.” and in a quote by the lead researcher: “Based on kidney function, liver function, and blood measurements in the dogs, the treatment was safe, and did not elicit unwanted immune responses.” But as this study was done in canines, we would have liked a bit more detail on how harms might  manifest in human clinical trials. The limited information given in the news release describes the quality of the evidence, particularly the fact that this was an animal study that is not directly applicable to humans. The release notes that the study “sets the stage for clinical trials in humans.” The release could have noted that a study with only four (canine) participants is very small. There is no disease mongering. There were no conflicts identified. All the funding sources were listed. The release tells us that this rare clotting disorder is currently treated by infusions of clotting factors. The release could have done a better job of explaining how difficult that therapy is for patients. Is the disorder regulated well by that method? We aren’t given any information or what those costs are vs. what a one-time gene therapy might cost. The release makes clear that this treatment will not be available until human clinical trials are conducted. This gene therapy is novel for this particular condition. The news release should also be commended for pointing out that a similar gene therapy approach has been tested by the same researchers for hemophilia. It’s admirable that they are not overselling the novelty of this approach by referencing their own previous work in related areas. We were pleased to see proof-of-concept in the headline, because this is a very useful way to immediately alert readers that an idea has been validated, but not a therapy for human patients.",
            "output": [
                "Gene therapy for rare bleeding disorder achieves proof-of-concept"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19324813171c46079f92c97421aa3889",
            "input": "Four times as many black people are being detained as white people. If you're black, you're about four times as likely to be detained than if you're white. Overall, more white people are detained, since they make up a larger portion of the population. The number of people detained under the Mental Health Act has increased by 47% in ten years. Correct in England between 2005/06 and 2015/16. Claim 1 of 3",
            "output": [
                "People from black and minority ethnic populations are most affected by detentions under the Mental Health Act.",
                "Four times as many black people are being detained as white people."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-482f6d02b275421c839a2af9643474a0",
            "input": "The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, revealed the pregnancy Wednesday while making his first public comments about his controversial work at an international conference in Hong Kong. He claims to have altered the DNA of twin girls born earlier this month to try to make them resistant to infection with the AIDS virus. Mainstream scientists have condemned the experiment, and universities and government groups are investigating. The second pregnancy is in a very early stage and needs more time to be monitored to see if it will last, He said. Leading scientists said there are now even more reasons to worry, and more questions than answers, after He’s talk. The leader of the conference called the experiment “irresponsible” and evidence that the scientific community had failed to regulate itself to prevent premature efforts to alter DNA. Altering DNA before or at the time of conception is highly controversial because the changes can be inherited and might harm other genes. It’s banned in some countries including the United States except for lab research. He defended his choice of HIV, rather than a fatal inherited disease, as a test case for gene editing, and insisted the girls could benefit from it. “They need this protection since a vaccine is not available,” He said. Scientists weren’t buying it. “This is a truly unacceptable development,” said Jennifer Doudna, a University of California-Berkeley scientist and one of the inventors of the CRISPR gene-editing tool that He said he used. “I’m grateful that he appeared today, but I don’t think that we heard answers. We still need to understand the motivation for this.” “I feel more disturbed now,” said David Liu of Harvard and MIT’s Broad Institute, and inventor of a variation of the gene-editing tool. “It’s an appalling example of what not to do about a promising technology that has great potential to benefit society. I hope it never happens again.” There is no independent confirmation of He’s claim and he has not yet published in any scientific journal where it would be vetted by experts. At the conference, He failed or refused to answer many questions including who paid for his work, how he ensured that participants understood potential risks and benefits, and why he kept his work secret until after it was done. After He spoke, David Baltimore, a Nobel laureate from the California Institute of Technology and a leader of the conference, said He’s work “would still be considered irresponsible” because it did not meet criteria many scientists agreed on several years ago before gene editing could be considered. “I personally don’t think that it was medically necessary. The choice of the diseases that we heard discussions about earlier today are much more pressing” than trying to prevent HIV infection this way, he said. If gene editing is ever allowed, many scientists have said it should be reserved to treat and prevent serious inherited disorders with no good alternatives, such as sickle cell anemia and Huntington’s disease. HIV is not an appropriate candidate because there are already safe ways to prevent transmission, and if contracted it can be kept under control with medications, researchers said. The case shows “there has been a failure of self-regulation by the scientific community” and said the conference committee would meet and issue a statement on Thursday about the future of the field, Baltimore said. Before He’s talk, Dr. George Daley, Harvard Medical School’s dean and one of the conference organizers, warned against a backlash to gene editing because of He’s experiment. Just because the first case may have been a misstep “should in no way, I think, lead us to stick our heads in the sand and not consider the very, very positive aspects that could come forth by a more responsible pathway,” Daley said. “Scientists who go rogue ... it carries a deep, deep cost to the scientific community,” Daley said. Shortly after his talk, He canceled a planned appearance in a Thursday session on embryo gene editing, according to the Royal Society, one of the conference organizers. Regulators have been swift to condemn the experiment as unethical and unscientific. The National Health Commission has ordered local officials in Guangdong province to investigate He’s actions, and his employer, Southern University of Science and Technology of China, is investigating as well. On Tuesday, Qiu Renzong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences criticized the decision to let He speak at the conference, saying the claim “should not be on our agenda” until it has been reviewed by independent experts. Whether He violated reproductive medicine laws in China has been unclear; Qui contends that it did, but said, “the problem is, there’s no penalty.” The U.S. National Institutes of Health said Wednesday there should be international intervention. “Without such limits, the world will face the serious risk of a deluge of similarly ill-considered and unethical projects,” the agency said in a statement. Meanwhile, more American scientists said they had contact with He and were aware of or suspected what he was doing. Dr. Matthew Porteus, a genetics researcher at Stanford University, where He did postdoctoral research, said He told him in February that he intended to try human gene editing. Porteus said he discouraged He and told him “that it was irresponsible, that he could risk the entire field of gene editing by doing this in a cavalier fashion.” Dr. William Hurlbut, a Stanford ethicist, said he has “spent many hours” talking with He over the last two years about situations where gene editing might be appropriate. “I knew his early work. I knew where he was heading,” Hurlbut said. When he saw He four or five weeks ago, He did not say he had tried or achieved pregnancy with edited embryos but “I strongly suspected” it, Hurlbut said. “I disagree with the notion of stepping out of the general consensus of the scientific community,” Hurlbut said. If the science is not considered ready or safe enough, “it’s going to create misunderstanding, discordance and distrust.” Jennifer Doudna and David Liu are paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP’s Health & Science Department. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed on Twitter: @MMarchioneAP ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Another gene-edited baby may be on the way, scientist says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ba9218751b4463da3ee643ce1b752de",
            "input": "Tapping mounting concern in Europe about climate change, especially among young people, ‘Die Gruenen’ won 20.5% of the German vote in May’s European Parliament elections, their best-ever result. Their success has caused convulsions in Merkel’s fragile coalition of conservatives and center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who have dominated German politics since World War Two. “This is in no way just a protest vote or a hoovering-up of Social Democrat (SPD) votes, it’s a longer-term trend,” said  Heinrich Oberreuter, a politics professor at Passau University. “The advantage for the Greens is they own the issue of climate change which is a long-term problem.”  Merkel has lost the status she enjoyed as “Climate Chancellor” for pushing global leaders to address climate change, and the SPD’s green credentials have been tarnished by close ties to the coal industry. Hitting 27%-29% in opinion polls in June, the Greens became Germany’s strongest party, spawning headlines about popular co-leader Robert Habeck becoming the chancellor. That may be a long shot, but they could well join the government and replace the SPD - the junior partner in the  coalition - as the main center-left force, say experts. Inspired by the peace movements of the 1960s and founded in 1980, the party was long dismissed as a fringe group of tree -huggers. Politically, it is closest to the SPD, with which it shared power under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1998-2005. A pro-European party that welcomed refugees in the 2015 migrant crisis, it wants a total switch to renewable energy, an end to the combustion engine and higher taxes on SUVs. The chances of a snap election before 2021 have increased since the European vote when the Greens pushed the SPD into third place. In turmoil, with ratings near all-time lows, the SPD may quit its loveless coalition with Merkel by the end of the year. Polls suggest the Greens would be big winners in an election. One option for national government would be a conservative-greens coalition, albeit without Merkel who, after 14 years leading Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, says this is her last term. But radically different positions on energy, tax cuts and migration would pose challenges for such an alliance. “(It) would need to direct its focus and available financial resources to climate protection and the energy transition,” said Deutsche Bank in a research note. “Citizens and corporates cannot hope for major tax relief.”  However, the Greens may prefer a left alliance. In a May state election in Bremen, they emerged as kingmaker, but joined hands with the SPD and radical left instead of the conservatives, who had won most votes. The Greens have won over urban professionals by embracing social issues such as soaring rents in cities, and the leadership duo of scruffy-looking but media-friendly Habeck and less charismatic Annalena Baerbock, is also popular. “They have a pragmatic, rational political style and so far are acting wisely and keeping internal differences quiet,” said Manfred Guellner, head of the Forsa pollster. Habeck last month overtook Merkel to become Germany’s most popular politician. A novelist and children’s writer, he is the likelier candidate for the top job, said Guellner. He and Baerbock, an ex-trampoline competitor who studied international law, brush off questions about their ambitions but acknowledge the pressure is on. “We have awakened hopes that must be fulfilled. Everyone knows we must deliver,” Habeck said after the European election. On the plus side, they have something of a track record. In government, the Greens helped usher in a nuclear phase-out and bottle deposits to promote recycling, and they share power in nine of Germany’s 16 states. Yet the road to the chancellery is long. In the 2017 federal election they won just 8.9% of the vote and previous poll highs, especially after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, have evaporated fast. They are weak in the former Communist East, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is strong. With some 85,000 members, the party is about a fifth the size of the main parties. Germans’ love affair with the car is also a hurdle. Keenly aware of the potency of popular movements like the yellow vests in France who opposed fuel tax plans, the Greens will not want to hurt an export-oriented economy that relies on companies like Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche. Plans for a fuel-tax rise cost them votes in 1998. Winning the chancellery in a spring 2020 election may be a tall order, said Oberreuter, but movements, not traditional parties, have taken hold in France, Austria, Britain and Italy. “This goes to show that almost anyone can become chancellor  - so who knows?” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Climate fears lift Greens' chances of running Germany."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-642d6e02a4304dd594702ecda59268ef",
            "input": "The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed the lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers seeking to overturn the Alabama law that would make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for the abortion provider. The only exception would be when the woman’s health is at serious risk. The law is set to take effect in November unless blocked by a judge. “Make no mistake: Abortion remains - and will remain - safe and legal in Alabama. With this lawsuit, we are seeking a court order to make sure this law never takes effect,” said Randall Marshall, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. The lawsuit says the Alabama law to criminalize abortion is clearly unconstitutional and would harm women by forcing them to continue pregnancies against their will. “For over 46 years — since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade — U.S. law has recognized the fundamental constitutional right to make the profoundly important and personal decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy,” the lawsuit reads. The plaintiffs in the case are the three Alabama clinics that perform abortions, Planned Parenthood and Dr. Yashica Robinson, an obstetrician who also provides abortions at the Alabama Women’s Center in Huntsville. Robinson told The Associated Press last week the Alabama law has confused and scared patients, with some wrongly thinking abortion was already illegal. She said the law “further shames” women seeking abortions and “punishes providers like myself, and stigmatizes essential health care.” Emboldened by new conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court, Alabama is part of a wave of conservative states seeking to mount new legal challenges to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Governors in Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. None of the laws has taken effect and all are expected to be blocked by the courts as the legal challenges play out with an ultimate eye on the Supreme Court. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Mississippi law on Friday . Supporters of the Alabama law have said they expected a lawsuit and to initially lose in court, but they hope the appeal could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Rep. Terri Collins, the bill’s sponsor, said the law is “a vehicle to challenge the constitutional abomination known as Roe v. Wade.” “This lawsuit is simply the first battle in what we hope will ultimately be a victorious effort to overturn Roe and protect unborn babies from harm,” Collins said. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey did not have an immediate response on the lawsuit. In signing the bill last week, Ivey said, “to the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God.” Ivey also acknowledged the state ban may be unenforceable “at least for the short term.” The case was filed in Montgomery federal court and assigned to U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Thompson has previously struck down Alabama’s attempt to require abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges and to ban a commonly used procedure for second trimester abortions. Alabama has appealed the ruling striking down the second trimester procedure ban to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices have not said whether they will hear the case.",
            "output": [
                "Federal lawsuit filed to block Alabama’s new abortion ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce74affd1a754543ab025cc1fc771fc2",
            "input": "\"CORRECTION, 5:22 p.m., Oct. 15, 2014: This story has been amended to remove the incorrect original declaration that the $250,000 donation was given before the suits were filed. According to copies of the filings provided by Zac Petkanas, a spokesman for Davis, one of several suits singled out by Davis as the basis of her ad was filed in January 2014, before the donation the next month. This change led us to change our rating of the statement from Half True. (See the original fact check here.) In a TV ad, Wendy Davis said Greg Abbott took a hefty campaign donation before siding with a hospital against patients injured and killed by a drug-taking surgeon. Davis, the Fort Worth state senator and Democratic gubernatorial nominee, consistently depicts Abbott, the state attorney general and Republican choice for governor, as an unethical insider beholden to powerful interests. The narrator of the ad, titled \"\"Operation,\"\" says: \"\"He was a Texas surgeon, performing operations while reportedly using cocaine. Two people died, others were paralyzed. Doctors spoke out,\"\" the narrator says, \"\"but the hospital did nothing to stop him. Families and victims sued the hospital. \"\"Then, weeks after accepting a quarter-million-dollar campaign contribution from the hospital's chairman, Greg Abbott got involved, using his office to go to court -- against the victims.\"\" Abbott solicited and accepted the donation, we confirmed, and the state intervened in lawsuits pitting patients against the hospital, though he got involved to defend a state law. Senator’s backup By email, Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas said Davis based her claim in part on a July 30, 2014, news story in the Dallas Morning News stating that not long after the chairman of the board of the Baylor Health Care System, which owns the Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, donated $250,000 to Abbott’s campaign, Abbott weighed in on federal lawsuits against the hospital where a neurosurgeon allegedly had done damage to patients. News report and interview of donor We confirmed from Abbott’s campaign finance filings with the state and an interview with the board chairman and donor, Temple businessman Drayton McLane, that McLane donated $250,000 to Abbott’s campaign in January 2014. That donation, the News story said, came after McLane gave the campaign $100,000 in 2013. Before the six-figure contributions, the story said, McLane’s biggest donation to Abbott had been $25,000. Abbott’s campaign recorded the $250,000 donation as arriving Jan. 23, 2014 -- the very date one of the relevant federal lawsuits were filed against the hospital. Then again, we realized with a nudge from Petkanas after this article initially appeared, one of the several lawsuits was filed Dec. 27, 2013, weeks prior to McLane's contribution. His $250,000 check, a photo of which McLane’s office emailed to us, was dated Jan. 21, 2014. The News story said Abbott and McLane had each told the paper the two had not discussed the lawsuits. McLane also said he didn’t know about the case before contributing the $250,000, the paper said, and he stressed he had no personal financial interest in the nonprofit hospital system; the chairman’s post is unpaid. By phone, McLane told us he’s known Abbott since before Abbott, originally a Houston lawyer, won election as a Harris County state district judge in 1992 and gave the $250,000 after Abbott asked him for a large contribution. McLane said he hadn’t spoken with the Republican nominee since. Asked what he expected for the eye-catching contribution, McLane said: \"\"I’m not expecting to get anything back. I believe in strong good government. Unfortunately, on both sides, there are heavy contributions.\"\" On top of not knowing about the lawsuits described by Davis before making his donation, McLane said, he hadn’t long been chairman of Baylor Scott & White Health, which owns the Plano facility, having become chairman when healthcare systems merged in October 2013; McLane previously chaired Scott & White Healthcare. Abbott in court As noted in the News, the federal suits against the Baylor system and Plano hospital challenge the constitutionality of a state law requiring the plaintiffs to prove Baylor acted with actual intent to harm patients -- which the suing plaintiffs/families call an impossibly stiff burden. Petkanas of Davis’ campaign provided copies of several lawsuits filed on behalf of patients and families, each one alleging a neurosurgeon, Christopher Duntsch, was permitted by the Plano hospital to perform surgeries under the influence of illegal drugs and alcohol, causing harm. Those suits also challenge action by state lawmakers in 2003, while overhauling laws regulating lawsuits seeking damages,  to delete a definition of \"\"malice\"\" in the law, hence \"\"eliminating a common-law right arbitrarily in light of the purposes of the statute leaving only an impossible condition before liability will attach,\"\" the lawsuits say. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, Lauren Bean, emailed us the state’s nearly identical March 24, 2014, filings in three plaintiff challenges to the law. In the filings, the state said it has a statutory right to intervene in a case when the constitutionality of a state law is at issue. On March 31, 2014, a week after the state filed its request, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis granted the request to intervene \"\"for the purpose of defending the constitutionality of Texas law,\"\" Solis wrote. His order said no parties to the litigation objected. It’s undisputed an attorney general may seek to get involved in a federal suit to defend a state law, but some lawyers told us it’s up to the official to do so -- or not. Attorney Kay Van Wey, who represents some plaintiffs in the suits against the hospital, said by email Abbott’s move was unusual and unreasonable, though she didn’t object, she said, because there is no legal way to do so; we didn’t divine what she meant by that. Van Wey further said Abbott \"\"is defending a law that essentially gives immunity to hospitals for credentialing dangerous physicians. The law, as it now stands, denies access to the courts for good, taxpaying Texas citizens, who through no fault of their own, were butchered by a highly dangerous surgeon. \"\"Even if we prove the hospitals were grossly negligent in hiring and retaining a dangerous surgeon,\"\" Van Wey said, \"\"...it isn't enough under the current state of the law. In Texas, we have to prove ‘malice,’ meaning we have to prove the hospital had a subjective intent to harm the patient. That is considered to be an impossible standard. It is clearly an erroneous and completely unfair law. He didn't have to intervene in our lawsuits. He chose to.\"\" The News story quoted Bean saying McLane’s contributions played no role in his decision to intervene in the suits. Besides, Bean said, the \"\"state is not defending the hospital or the doctor in this case — or their alleged conduct. If the hospital or doctor have violated the law, then they will be held accountable, and nothing in the state’s court filings opposes the plaintiffs,\"\" patients and families, \"\"on that front,\"\" she said. Bean gave us the agency’s full response sent to the News. In it, Bean said the state \"\"will not be putting on any defense of any action by the hospital or any doctor. The state will not put on any evidence or make any argument whether the hospital’s actions or the doctor’s actions violate the law. The state does not condone, support or defend the actions of the hospital or doctor. The only thing the state will argue is that the law is not unconstitutional.\"\" Outside lawyers An Austin lawyer who helped write the 2003 change told us he believes the attorney general was bound to defend the revised law as Abbott is doing. Michael Hull emailed: \"\"The AG intervention is consistent with federal and state law. The AG is defending the constitutionality of a statute. His office has not taken a position on the facts alleged in the petition nor has the AG chosen to defend the hospital or the doctor.\"\" Hull later said such constitutional challenges are rare, \"\"but when challenges do occur, it is common for the AG to defend the constitutionality of the statute.\"\" Hull and Michael Guajardo, the Dallas president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, each pointed out any litigant is required to notify the state of a federal challenge to a state law’s constitutionality We asked if that formal notice touched off Abbott’s intervention. Not so, Bean said, adding the attorney general’s office has no record of receiving the notice, which court filings say was sent by certified mail. Instead, Bean said, Jonathan Mitchell, the state solicitor general, learned of the suits from a March 10, 2014, news story in the Texas Lawyer magazine. Petkanas, told we hadn’t uncovered proof the McLane donation prompted Abbott to enter the lawsuits, said by email the ad didn’t assert a cause and effect -- only that McLane gave his campaign donation before Abbott intervened. Our ruling Davis said that weeks \"\"after accepting a quarter-million-dollar campaign contribution\"\" from a hospital board chairman, Greg Abbott went to court against victims of a drug-taking neurosurgeon. Davis’ statement needs clarification – that Abbott’s intervention was limited to defending the constitutionality of Texas’ tort-reform laws. That makes this statement . – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Weeks after accepting a quarter-million-dollar campaign contribution\"\" from a hospital board chairman, Greg Abbott went to court against victims of a drug-taking neurosurgeon.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9aa5bf993859452aac3c1615485cd227",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration approved Medtronic’s CoreValve system based on U.S. clinical trials in which it was shown to be safe and effective while demonstrating low rates of stroke and valve leakage, the company said. Medtronic and Wall Street analysts had not expected the approval decision until April, giving the company a head start on efforts to seize market share from a similar rival product sold by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. News of the early CoreValve approval sent Edwards shares down nearly 5 percent. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have severe aortic stenosis with about one-third too ill or frail for open-heart valve replacement surgery, making them candidates for CoreValve or the rival Edwards Sapien system. The systems, in which the replacement valve is threaded into place through an artery using a catheter - known as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR - spares patient’s chest-cracking surgery, cutting down on recovery time. CoreValve has been available since 2007 in Europe, where it is not uncommon for medical devices to win approval several years ahead of the United States. “We estimate the U.S. TAVR market will be approximately $450 million in 2014,” said Glenn Novarro, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “With approval earlier than expected, share loss for Edwards will likely occur sooner than expected,” added Novarro, who sees Medtronic grabbing 20 percent of the U.S. TAVR market this year, rising to more than 30 percent by 2016. But CoreValve’s U.S. sales prospects may hinge on further legal proceedings after a U.S. jury earlier this week found that the Medtronic system infringes a patent held by Edwards and awarded Edwards more than $390 million in damages. Medtronic vowed to appeal the decision and oppose any request for an injunction. Edwards, meanwhile, said the patent infringement ruling entitled it to seek increased damages of up to three times the value of the award. The FDA approved CoreValve without first requiring an expert advisory panel to review the device and make recommendations to the agency. “The low rates of stroke and valve leakage with the CoreValve System - two of the most concerning complications of valve replacement because they increase the risk of death and have a dramatic impact on quality of life - set a new standard for transcatheter valves,” Dr. Jeffrey Popma, director of Interventional Cardiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and one of the lead investigators of the pivotal clinical trial, said in a statement. The CoreValve uses a smaller catheter than the currently approved Sapien, giving it a potential but temporary competitive edge. Edwards is awaiting U.S. approval of a next generation Sapien with a similarly smaller catheter. Both companies are also testing their systems in less high risk patients in hopes of broadening the potential patient population and market for the devices. Medtronic shares were up 18 cents at $59.29 in afternoon trading, while Edwards shares were off $3.49, or 4.8 percent, at $69.18, both on the New York Stock Exchange.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. FDA approves Medtronic heart valve system early."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83a1d310bd614246919ae4405539b097",
            "input": "Experts say that White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillars are both poisonous and allergenic, but most people who encounter them experience mild symptoms, like itchy skin or a rash. The White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar’s longer white lashes are connected to poison glands inside the caterpillar’s body. These hollow lashes enable a chemical to be piped into a “poker” that makes touching them an itchy experience, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  reports. Those who experience skin irritation after touching a White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar should wash the sting with soap and water and dab the area with ammonia or calamine lotion. More serious side effects from the toxic chemical can result in swelling and nausea. Researchers speculate that White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillars either ingest toxic chemicals from the leaves they eat, or create the chemical “in house,” or in their own body. In general, it’s a good idea to stay away from animals or insects that have bright colors or assume “look at me postures” because it often indicates they’re poisonous, according to UW-Milwaukee. The University of Maine  adds another unpleasant tidbit to the White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar’s repertoire: its white hairs are “very allergenic.” Painful irritation and itchy rashes may occur from touching a dead caterpillar, or one of their cocoons. Posted 10/08/14 Comments",
            "output": [
                "   Posts on social media sites warn that White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillars are poisonous and can cause skin irritation or more serious health complications when touched by humans.  "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8aa2385112664bd0b7487e703cc3a350",
            "input": "While the cause remains unclear, officials said Friday that many reports involve e-cigarette products that contain THC, the mind-altering substance in marijuana. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they are looking at 215 possible cases across 25 states. All the cases involve teens or adults who have used e-cigarettes or other vaping devices. Symptoms of the disease include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration warned the public not to buy vaping products off the street. And officials recommended people concerned about the health risks “consider refraining from using e-cigarette products.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement the government is “using every tool we have to get to the bottom of this deeply concerning outbreak.” E-cigarettes generally heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable aerosol. The products have been used in the U.S. for more than a decade and are generally considered safer than traditional cigarettes because they don’t create all the cancer-causing byproducts of burning tobacco. But some vaping products have been found to contain other potentially harmful substances, including flavoring chemicals and oils used for vaping marijuana, experts say. The mysterious illness underscores the complicated nature of the vaping market, which includes both government-regulated nicotine products and THC-based vape pens, which are considered illegal under federal law. Eleven states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana for recreational use. THC-based products in these regulated markets are generally inspected for quality and safety, but there is a largely unregulated gray market. On Thursday, top health officials in the Trump administration reiterated warnings against marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, emphasizing the increasing potency of the drug. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "More vaping illnesses reported, many involving marijuana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-095f3a00f88140288df0245b9ddd474a",
            "input": "Developed by Eli Lilly and Co’s (LLY.N) Loxo Oncology and marketed by German drugmaker Bayer (BAYGn.DE), it fights a rare genetic mutation that appears in less than 1% of solid tumors, regardless of where they appear in the body. Finding those patients will require widespread adoption of sophisticated tests that look for multiple genetic alterations that could be driving the cancer. So far, progress has been slow. Adoption of so-called next-generation sequencing (NGS) tests has been stalled by lack of reimbursement from insurers over concerns that the evidence is not there yet to support widescale use, according to more than a dozen interviews with oncologists and pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry executives. As a result, pharma companies from small biotech Blueprint Medicines Corp (BPMC.O) to larger rivals Lilly and Roche Holding AG (ROG.S) are taking matters into their own hands, bulking up staff to increase patient and physician awareness about testing and building up a gene testing infrastructure that for many community hospitals still does not exist. Bayer executives told Reuters it plans to spend $70 million to increase patient and physician awareness of testing for rare mutations and to encourage regulatory approval of more tests. They expect that budget to expand as Vitrakvi continues to win approval in other countries. Lilly told Reuters the company has signed an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO.N) to develop a companion diagnostic test for its experimental drug, LOXO-292. The deal adds RET mutations - the target of both Lilly’s and Blueprint’s drugs - to Thermo’s Oncomine Dx Target Test, which local pathology labs can use to identify multiple genes linked with non-small cell lung cancer. The agreement is aimed to help identify more lung and thyroid cancer patients who may benefit from the Lilly or Blueprint therapies. The Thermo test is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - a key standard for Medicare coverage, the companies said. According to Dr. Brian Alexander, chief medical officer of Roche’s gene testing company Foundation Medicine, only about 15% of U.S. patients with advanced cancers get comprehensive genomic  profiling. Another 25% get single-gene testing, he said, and a large proportion “are not getting any testing at all.”  At MD Anderson, which sees 100,000 new cancer patients a year, only around 10,000 eventually have their tumors sequenced. For a rare few, the tests are lifesaving. Xin Zheng, 47, a mother of three in Michigan who was referred to Reuters by Blueprint, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2016. After failing several treatments, she was out of options. Her husband, Zhigang Wei, asked for genetic sequencing, and the test turned up a RET mutation. After contacting multiple lung cancer experts, Zhigang found an early-stage clinical trial treating patients with Blueprint’s experimental drug, BLU-677. Now, Xin is nearly back to normal. “My wife is lucky,” he said, adding her quality of life is much better and she has hope for the future. Finding patients with such rare mutations is like “looking for the needle in the haystack,” said Stefan Oelrich, head of pharmaceuticals at Bayer. Dr. David Hyman of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who tested Vitrakvi in clinical trials, said making these tests the norm for advanced cancer patients will require a huge shift in the way oncology is practiced. “It’s painful to know there are patients out there with these alterations who are dying without knowing about it and without getting any treatments,” he said. For Bayer’s Vitrakvi and Roche’s Rozlytrek, along with similar drugs in development, genomic testing is critical to finding patients who can benefit from them. Cancer patients and drug companies alike got a boost last year when the federal Medicare health program for the elderly and disabled said it would cover FDA-approved tests for advanced cancer patients that can identify hundreds of genetic mutations at once. A Medicare endorsement is generally followed by widespread coverage decisions by private insurers. But the final regulations dropped a requirement that testmakers prove the tests are cost-effective and improve patient care. That created an “evidence gap” that has allowed some insurers, also known as third-party payers, to withhold coverage or demand more proof that they benefit patients, said Jeff Schreier of Diaceutics PLC (DXRX.L), a data analytics company that works with drugmakers to improve diagnostic testing. “More payers are coming around, but it’s slow,” he said. The most recent coverage policy from CVS Health Corp’s (CVS.N) Aetna approves many single-gene tests for specific cancers, but still largely considers multi-gene tests experimental. Anthem Inc’s (ANTM.N) policy limits testing to “medically necessary” use and states there’s “insufficient published evidence” to support widespread testing. And while Foundation Medicine’s and Thermo Fisher’s tests are getting reimbursed from Medicare, many hospitals such as MD Anderson, which have developed their own tests, are not guaranteed payment. “Reimbursement is still a driving force,” MD Anderson’s Kenna Shaw said of genomic testing, which costs an average of $5,000 per patient globally. Lilly bought Loxo in January for $8 billion to profit from its targeted drugs in early-stage development. Bayer secured the rights to Loxo’s two leading compounds in a 2017 alliance. Dr. Anthony Sireci, Loxo’s senior medical director, said the company has been working to “democratize” testing in the United States by increasing its use in local pathology labs, where most cancer testing has traditionally been done. The Thermo Fisher agreement will support those goals and expand patients’ access to “high-quality genomic testing,” he said. Bayer has hired diagnostic experts to help its medical and sales staff assess the barriers to genomic testing and ensure that local pathology labs are including the genetic alterations targeted by its drugs when they profile tumors, the company’s oncology strategic business chief Robert LaCaze said in an interview. Bayer also launched a public awareness campaign called “Test Your Cancer” that urges patients to ask their doctors about genomic cancer testing. The company is working with testing providers to ensure test reports are easy to understand. Blueprint, which has six genomically-targeted drugs in development, told Reuters it plans to hire six diagnostics experts to increase awareness of the mutations their drugs target, especially in community medical practices, where 70% of cancers are treated. Bayer sees signs of progress. Based on internal data, the company estimates average sequencing rates across tumors neared 30% last year, and the company saw a two-fold increase in the number of labs offering tests that carry the mutation targeted by Vitrakvi. Bayer has not released sales figures for Vitrakvi. Asked for an update in the most recent earnings call in July, Bayer’s Oelrich said uptake is going “according to plan,” but declined to say how many patients are using the drug. LaCaze said with very rare cancers like the ones Vitrakvi targets, sales growth is “something that will build over time.”",
            "output": [
                "Inside drugmakers' strategy to boost cancer medicines with 'Lazarus effect'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-534d690010b34791af7583a55567c917",
            "input": "The story does not describe the cost of CA-125. The story adequately quantifies the survival benefit with CA-125 compared to no testing. The story adequately describes the major harm of CA-125 testing, which is that it could lead to unnecessary treatment in women who would not benefit from it. The story does a good job of describing the current study and placing the results in context with current clinical thinking. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of Ovarian Cancer. The story quotes several experts who are not involved in the story, providing valuable perspective on the results. Clearly no testing is the alternative to CA-125. The story could have also mentioned regular imaging tests as a way to monitor for recurrent cancer. Clearly CA-125 is available. Clearly CA-125 testing for recurrent Ovarian Cancer is not a new idea. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume that the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Doubts on Ovarian Cancer Relapse Test"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5e140314b9a485f967a1016b60f07fb",
            "input": "The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the person did not die from their illness, according to the Oregon Health Authority, which provided no other details about the person or where they were treated. The reported case comes a week after state health officials announced that a middle-age Oregonian died from a respiratory illness tied to vaping cannabis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been roughly 450 cases of the lung disease reported in at least 33 states so far, and as many as five people with the illness have died. Oregon health investigators believe the person in the state’s fatal case purchased cannabis oil from two marijuana retail shops. They are trying to find leftover product to analyze.",
            "output": [
                "Oregon officials confirm 2nd case of vaping-related illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eff4ae54c52544a8b16a9d31d1971e7d",
            "input": "Coronavirus-related developments in New Hampshire: BEACHES Guidance on walking, swimming and other activities at Hampton Beach were approved Thursday by a task force on reopening New Hampshire during the coronavirus pandemic. The guidance initially had a June 1 starting date, but the Governor’s Economic Reopening Task Force omitted that for now. Instead, members decided they would submit separate correspondence about a specific timeline to public health officials and to Gov. Chris Sununu, who would make the final decision. The plan, which also was discussed and approved by Hampton officials, calls for closing a portion of the main road parallel to the beach to vehicle traffic and cutting available parking in half. Sunbathing and congregating in small groups on the beach would eventually be allowed. Sununu said earlier this week he wanted to wait and see what neighboring states planned for their beaches before making a decision. ____ SCHOOL PLANS  New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut kicked off a task force on school recommendations Thursday by suggesting any proposals will have to be flexible, prioritize safety and consider the possibility that districts won’t have access to their school buildings in the fall. Edelbut said any plans must consider that schools would open in full, partially open or not at all. He also said proposals must factor in the possibility that schools could reopen and then be forced to close again in October or November, should there be a new surge in coronavirus cases. Edelbut also said this process is an opportunity to “raise the quality of education across the board.” He acknowledged that the remote learning has worked for most, but not all, students in New Hampshire. As a result, the commissioner said he is hopeful that there could be the creation of “common learning platforms” that would ensure all district can succeed. ___ VOTING-POLITICAL PARTIES New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has issued an emergency order allowing voters who want to change their political party affiliation in time for the Sept. 8 state primary elections to mail in or drop off an application to their town or city clerk’s office, rather than apply in person. Applications will be accepted through June 2. Voters who submitted an application but aren’t listed as a member of the party in which they thought they were registered may complete an affidavit on Sept. 8. ___ CLOSED MOUNTAIN HUTS The Appalachian Mountain Club closed its high huts in New Hampshire’s White Mountains for the rest of the year because of the coronavirus, the first time all eight of them have been closed, a spokesperson said. About 50 staff members work in the hut system during the summer. ____ UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS Nearly 9,500 initial unemployment claims were filed in New Hampshire last week, down nearly 3,000 from the previous week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The latest number covers new claims through May 9. The number of new claims in a week peaked at 39,000 in early April and has since been declining. New Hampshire has paid out $400 million in claims in the last two months, “more than we paid out at the highest benefit year during the Great Recession,” Richard Lavers of the Department of Employment Security told WMUR-TV. ___ THE NUMBERS As of Thursday, nearly 3,382 had tested positive for the virus, an increase of about 80 from the previous day. One new death was announced, for a total of 151. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.",
            "output": [
                "Hampton Beach guidelines passed, back-to-school talk starts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-918d929fa8144aaba8b413451e662c3e",
            "input": "\"There was no discussion about the cost of increasing fruit and vegetable content in the diet, but it’s safe to assume that most people know the costs from their grocery shopping. The story mentioned that the study it was reporting on found no reduction in breast cancer recurrence for individuals that reported eating more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The researcher said \"\"We didn’t find any harm in going over (a threshold of fruits and vegetables).\"\" This story presented a mosaic of information without any indication of the relation between the pieces. It opens with a statement that \"\"While it’s true that adding fruits and vegetables to a woman’s diet can help prevent cancer from recurring….\"\". A nutritionist follows with some guidance to breast cancer patients sharing her advice about choice of fruits on the basis of color; and that the food \"\"you eat matters tremendously\"\". It then provides \"\"data\"\" from a previous study, though the percentage reported is not consistent with the study results. Finally, the story goes on to discuss the results of the most recent study which were cast as showing that eating more than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables doesn’t provide any benefit or additional harm. But then they go back and talk about other dietary advice regarding meat, alcohol, and tofu without any indication of what the source is for this information nor that it is independent of the newly-highlighted study. Lastly there is a discussion between the anchor and medical correspondent where the anchor suggests that cancer risk is due to genetics and the medical correspondent agrees that \"\"fate is a big part of it\"\". However – genetics and fate are not synonymous and should not be used interchangeably. There was no overt disease-mongering – that is, exaggeration of the prevalence of breast cancer or recurrence. However, one weakness in the story is that it contained no information about prevalence. In the study highlighted in this report, 16.7 and 16.9% of the women (in the intervention vs. control groups) experienced a recurrence of breast cancer. Providing this information allows the viewer to have a sense of how often the event they hope to prevent actually occurs. The story sought independent perspectives. However, here are two suggested improvements: When the lead author of the highlighted study was interviewed, he was not identified as such; the nutritionist was identified by her work place without indicating that she was not involved in the highlighted study. The story failed to mention other breast cancer recurrence stragies (avoiding weight gain, medications, etc.) This story illustrated availability of fresh fruits and vegetables with a walk-through of a grocery store. That said, the study reported on involved an intervention designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, but not limited to fresh produce. It’s clear that the study finding is new. However the story could have been much more clear on the context of other related research. The story sought independent perspectives.\"",
            "output": [
                "Extra servings of veggies fail to prevent cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2591b636e80475d9e9f061128af06cd",
            "input": "The Oxford University team’s experimental product, called “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19”, is a type known as a recombinant viral vector vaccine and is one of at least 70 potential COVID-19 candidate shots under development by biotech and research teams around the world. At least five of those are in preliminary testing in people. The Oxford scientists said on Friday they were recruiting volunteers for early stage - Phase 1 - human trials of their shot, and large-scale production capacity was being put in place “at risk”. This means the shots will be produced in large numbers at risk of being useless if trials show they do not work. “We have started at risk manufacturing of this vaccine not just on a smallish scale ... but with a network of manufacturers in as many as seven different places around the world,” Adrian Hill, a professor and director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, told reporters in an online briefing. “The aim is to have at least a million doses by around about September, when we also hope to have efficacy (trial) results.”  He said three of the manufacturing partners were in Britain, two in Europe, one in India and one in China. The scientists said initial manufacturing costs would be in “tens of millions” of pounds and acknowledged the investment risk of pressing ahead with production before verification. They did not give details of their financing. More than 2.14 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 143,744 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Hill’s team said they plan to start safety and then mid-stage efficacy trials of their potential COVID-19 vaccine in adults aged between 18 and 55 within weeks. They then plan to expand the trial group to older age groups later, and hope to run a final phase trial with around 5,000 volunteers in the late summer. Hill and his co-researchers - including Sarah Gilbert, an Oxford professor of vaccinology - said they have “a high degree of confidence” that human trials of the ChAdOx1 shot will show positive results in protecting against COVID-19 infection. They acknowledged that many other research teams worldwide were also working on potential vaccines, with only a proportion likely to be fully successful. “We can never be certain these things are going to work,” Gilbert told the briefing. “My view is that I think this one has a very strong chance of working.”  Asked when the shot - if proven to work - might be able to be made widely available to the public, Hill said the best case scenario would be for regulators to grant it “emergency use approval” - something that could be achieved within six weeks beyond the point at which data show whether it is effective. That, he said, could mean around six weeks from September, when the team hopes to have positive trial data.",
            "output": [
                "UK scientists to make a million potential COVID-19 vaccines before proof."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ccc43c2a34134ca68d7f577b04872906",
            "input": "The French drugmaker said it was working with health authorities to determine the level and extent of the recall, which it called a precautionary measure being taken due to possible contamination with a substance called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Sanofi has sold over-the-counter Zantac in the U.S. and Canada since 2017. It is pulling the drug off shelves after previous recalls by some manufacturers of generic versions of the drug. Sanofi reported Zantac sales of 127 million euros in 2018 69 million euros over the first half of 2019. U.S. and European health regulators said last month they were reviewing the safety of ranitidine, which is commonly sold as Zantac and its generic alternatives, after an online pharmacy called Valisure notified them that it had found impurities in the drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said earlier this month it found unacceptable levels of NDMA in drugs containing ranitidine. The regulator asked ranitidine makers to conduct their own testing to assess levels of the impurity and to send samples of their products for testing by the agency. Canada has requested drugmakers halt distribution of the drug while it gathers more information. Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, speaking at a press conference in Framingham, Mass., earlier this week, downplayed concerns about the drug. “We don’t believe there’s a risk,” Hudson said on Tuesday. “But we have to - and are appropriately duty bound to - satisfy the regulators, which we will do, and we’ll move on from there.”  Other drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline and  Novartis have recalled or halted distribution of their versions of the drug. Retailers and pharmacy chains including Walmart Inc CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Rite Aid Corp have suspended the sale of drugs containing ranitidine. The FDA has said it does not have enough scientific evidence yet to determine how long NDMA has been present in ranitidine. But Valisure - the online pharmacy that flagged the issue to regulators - believes the problem is inherent to the drug itself and NDMA may have been present as long as its been on the market. Ranitidine is the latest drug in which cancer-causing impurities have been found. Regulators have been recalling some blood pressure and heart failure medicines since last year.",
            "output": [
                "I have never supported cap and trade.",
                "Sanofi pulls Zantac from U.S. and Canada after carcinogen found."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3157be3993364628bb679997ab5001bb",
            "input": "Pacific Gas and Electric Co (PG&E) has imposed  unprecedented shut-offs that left more than 730,000 homes and workplaces in northern California without power on the second day of planned outages. But as of late Thursday, power was restored to more than half of those who had lost it, PG&E officials said in a release. About 312,000 electric customers remained without power as of 10 p.m. officials said. Some of the state’s most devastating wildfires were sparked in recent years by damage to electrical transmission lines from high winds, with flames then spreading through tinder-dry vegetation to populated areas. Newsom, a Democrat, told a news conference on Thursday he did not fault the utility for shutting off electricity as a safety measure, but he described the outage as too broad and said it resulted from years of mismanagement by the utility. “We’re seeing a scale and scope of something that no state in the 21st century should experience,” Newsom said. “What’s happened is unacceptable and it’s happened because of neglect.”  The remarks were the most pointed comments Newsom has directed at PG&E since the outages began early on Wednesday. Among the questions he raised was whether the utility was too large, with a service area covering more than 40 counties. He also faulted PG&E for putting what he called “greed” ahead of investments in its infrastructure to protect the electrical grid from dangerous winds. PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019, citing potential civil liabilities in excess of $30 billion from major wildfires linked to its transmission wires and other equipment. PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson acknowledged that his company had left “millions of people” without a “fundamental service” they expect and deserve. “This is not how we want to serve you,” he told a media briefing in San Francisco, adding that PG&E “was not adequately prepared” for such a large power outage. As high winds moved south, a similar cut-off was under way by neighboring utility Southern California Edison, which warned that more than 173,000 customers could lose power in parts of eight counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura. Residents, business owners and even public officials expressed frustration about the blackouts, which the utility began on a much smaller scale last year during times of high fire risk. “Northern California is not a Third World country,” the San Jose Mercury Statesman said in an editorial. “It’s unacceptable that the region is being forced to endure this level of disruption as the long-term strategy for dealing with the threat of wildfires.”  PG&E, California’s biggest investor-owned utility, said power would be restored to areas once up to 77 mph (124 kph) winds die down and 2,500 miles (4,025 km) of transmission lines could be inspected. “We faced a choice between hardship or safety, and we chose safety,” Michael Lewis, PG&E’s senior vice president of electric operations, said in a statement. The National Weather Service said the hot gusty winds that usually hit northern California in October, sometimes called the “Diablo Winds”, would continue into Friday morning. Much of northern California, from San Francisco to the Oregon border, remains under a state “red flag” fire alert, although no major blazes have been reported. “As soon as the weather passes, PG&E will begin safety inspections with 6,300 field personnel and 45 helicopters standing at the ready once we get the all clear,” the utility said in a tweet on Thursday. Oakland supermarkets brought in refrigeration trucks to save food. Michael Wara of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment estimated the economic cost of the shutdown could reach $2.5 billion, with small businesses hit hardest as they typically lacked back-up generators. In Santa Rosa, a California wine country town where entire subdivisions were destroyed by a deadly 2017 wildfire, restaurateurs Mark and Terri Stark said they had to close one of their six restaurants after it lost power. “This is preventative medicine and medicine sometimes is not good to take,” said Mark Stark, 60, who lost one restaurant in the 2017 blaze. The fires in that region killed 46 people. “Those fires and what they caused are still very real for people in our ‘hood,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "California governor says broad power shutdown to prevent fires 'unacceptable'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4caec89226574690b4b0268085f32ffe",
            "input": "The University of Washington’s predictive model, regularly updated and often cited by state public health authorities and White House officials, projected on Friday that the virus will take 60,308 U.S. lives by Aug. 4, down from 68,841 deaths forecast earlier in the week. Strict adherence to stay-at-home orders and business closures imposed by governors in 42 of the 50 U.S. states over the past four weeks to curb the spread of the virus was cited as a key factor in the improved outlook. “We are seeing the numbers decline because some state and local governments, and, equally important, individuals around the country, have stepped up to protect their families, their neighbors, and friends and co-workers by reducing physical contact,” said Christopher Murray, director of the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The institute said states with low death rates, including Vermont, West Virginia, Montana and Hawaii, could safely relax some restrictions on May 4, so long as they continued to limit social gatherings. States moving to ease stay-at-home measures also are urged to institute widespread testing for infections and to isolate anyone testing positive, while tracing their close contacts and quarantining them. Other largely rural or sparsely populated states, including Iowa, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, may need to wait until late June or early July, the institute said. It also recommended that states reopen only if they have infection rates of less than one in 1 million people. The model’s latest forecast for the first time incorporated cell phone data that suggested people began having less contact with one another earlier than was previously assumed, especially in the South, as a growing number of states imposed social distancing and stay-home orders. The model’s earlier assumptions were based on state policies without considering the public’s reaction to them. The latest update of the University of Washington model came as the number of known coronavirus infections in the United States surpassed 700,000, the most of any country. At the same time, the tally of deaths from COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the virus, has soared to well over 35,000. New York state accounts for nearly half those deaths. Friday marked the fourth consecutive day that the number of COVID-19 deaths nationwide grew by more than 2,000 in a 24-hour period.",
            "output": [
                "Adherence to social distancing spurs dip in projected U.S. coronavirus deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-046538c1052d4118a0037e545c7bc767",
            "input": "The CDC said Friday health care providers have diagnosed about one case in each month since last November, and officials are trying to determine if they’re related. The CDC said all six individuals were hospitalized and that one died, although it’s unclear if the Legionella bacteria was to blame. Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling water droplets containing the bacteria. The bacteria is common in streams and ponds, but it can also spread in buildings through air conditioning systems, hot tubs and fountains. Last year, there were 33 cases in Maine. The exact number is uncertain because healthy people generally don’t produce symptoms.",
            "output": [
                "Maine officials investigate Legionnaires’ disease cluster."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd38566b233d465d84b14ae7e17174e6",
            "input": "It’s too bad this story didn’t mention costs. Considering that the trial found only small differences in the effectiveness of the treatments, it seems that cost might be a key deciding factor for many people with neck pain. It’s notable that two educational sessions about home exercise were as effective as 15 chiropractic sessions. The story includes both some of the specific results reported by researchers as well as more conversational descriptions of the overall experiences of people in this trial. Readers get the message that people with neck pain tend to feel better as time passes no matter which treatment option they used and that none of the treatments is clearly superior or can deliver sure-fire pain relief. This rating is a close call. The story does warn readers that spinal manipulation can pose “rare, but serious risks.” Also, none of the trial participants reported a serious adverse event. But the story could have been more specific and reported that, as the editorial accompanying the research article pointed out, “neck manipulation has a rare but potentially catastrophic risk for vertebral artery stroke.” Also, the story should have at least briefly mentioned some of the harms that can be caused by the pain medications (including acetaminophen, narcotics and muscle relaxants) that were prescribed to some participants. This story gives readers the important highlights of the study design and how the researchers measured effectiveness. It also includes a comment from an independent source that the trial would have been better if it had included a no-treatment group (in order to look for improvements that were due simply to the passage of time or a placebo effect). The story could have pointed out that unlike major drug trials that use placebo pills there was no way to prevent patients from knowing which treatment they received, which means the researchers can’t be sure that the reports from patients weren’t partially influenced by their beliefs about how effective a treatment might be. For instance, it could be that people who got spinal manipulation from a professional (and paid for it) might tend to believe that the treatment was more effective than a set of exercises that they did themselves at home. The story accurately reports that neck pain is common. It also includes cautionary statements about the uncertainty that exists about what sort of treatment works best, thus helping readers keep expectations in line with reality. The story includes quotes from multiple independent sources. It reports that funding for this trial was provided by “U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.” It might have been helpful to point out that the center is part of the National Institutes of Health, so that it would be clear to readers that it is a public institution. Although the story does not report on any potential conflicts of interest on the part of the researchers, the article authors did not disclose any conflicts in their journal article. The trial was set up as a direct comparison of popular treatments for neck pain, and that is just how the story presents it. It even includes a comment from an independent source that this sort of neck pain tends to improve on its own. As mentioned above, the story could have provided more details about the potential harms of the various treatment options. It is clear that all of the treatments included in this trial are widely available. The story points out that this trial was designed to address the lack of solid evidence comparing common treatments for back pain, while also noting that this trial doesn’t answer all of the questions. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Spinal Manipulation, Home Exercise May Ease Neck Pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9fe4b9e35eb94b5a963cd5aeefcfb84c",
            "input": "A disturbing video that has gone viral and apparently shows a young girl hanging herself has turned into a criminal investigation by police. While we made numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach Polk County police in an effort to verify the video, Chief Kenny Dodd told local reporters the video is authentic. Dodd told Fox5: I’m just shocked that a child that young would not only think to end her life in that manner but would also think to put it live on a livestream. The girl, who died of self-inflicted wounds on Dec. 30, streamed her death online, Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd said. It has since been posted and reposted on various sites across the internet. Investigators are looking into allegations of abuse and attempted rape the girl posted in an online diary on Dec. 27, Dodd said. In an online blog linked to Davis, she talks about depression but also about being physically and psychologically abused by a male family member who she says attempted to rape her. The Polk County Standard Journal reported Davis’ body was found on 30 December 2016 with “self-inflicted wounds” outside her home. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where emergency department staff were unable to revive her. An obituary for the girl says she is survived by her parents, sister and brother. A funeral service will be held on 6 January 2017. In the video connected to the incident, Davis could be seen setting up a camera, then making a noose and tying it to a tree before tearfully apologizing to a number of people and talking about feeling inadequate and unable to deal with depression. The video (which has since been removed from YouTube) appeared to show her hanging for a number of hours as the sunlight faded. It is unclear how many people were watching her stream, and whether any of them called for help. Polk County Police Det. Kristen Hearn told the Standard Journal that investigators were working on obtaining search warrants for Davis’ phone, Facebook account and a third, unnamed social media site.",
            "output": [
                "A 12-year-old girl livestreamed her suicide by hanging."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9fe71be145d436e99dfe54cd8ebcbfa",
            "input": "\"Years have passed, but not the collective chill that comes when our minds are drawn back to Sept. 11, 2001. In the days leading up to this year’s 14th anniversary of the terrorists’ attacks, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle issued a press release, urging Georgians to stop to reflect on the critical role that law enforcement officers play in our communities. \"\"Eighty-three law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty this year,\"\" Cagle said in the statement issued Sept. 8, \"\"Twenty-four of them were shot and killed in cold blood.\"\" Those are sobering national statistics, the sort that have been replayed more lately -- the result of angry displays and discourse that have escalated since the August 2014 killing of a black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. But are the stats accurate? PolitiFact decided to check. We contacted Ben Fry, Cagle’s chief of staff, who said the numbers came from the Officer Down Memorial Page, a resource that he said was recommended by the Georgia Sheriffs Association. The privately run website is dedicated to memorializing police officers who die in the line of duty and is constantly updated. It showed a 2015 death count of 92 by Sunday, Sept. 20, that included seven Georgia law enforcement officers. The causes of death varied. Twenty-eight died from gunfire, two accidentally. Auto and motorcycle accidents claimed 24 lives. Vehicle pursuits killed four, and vehicle assaults three. Heart attacks accounted for 15 deaths, and a fall caused one death. Five law enforcement officers died in 2015 of illnesses related to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to the website. Texas and Louisiana have had the most officers die this year, 10 and 9, respectively. The website numbers track those in Cagle’s statement; they’re more current and so higher. We decided to spot check the website’s data against information gathered for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, as well media reports. The names of officers who die in the line of duty are etched in marble each spring, in conjunction with National Police Week, at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in  Washington D.C. That group keeps up-to-date data on law enforcement deaths and reported 92 on Sunday (identical to what the Officer Down Memorial Page was reporting that day.) We also used Google to verify all seven of the officer deaths in Georgia noted on the Officer Down Memorial Page. This included DeKalb County Police Officer Kevin Toatley, who was killed Saturday night when his patrol car was struck head on by a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction on South Fulton Parkway. The Officer Down Memorial Page, which has data that appears spot on, says that with the count of 92 deaths as of Sept. 20, all law enforcement deaths for 2015 are down 1 percent this year, compared to 2014. Gunfire deaths are down 26 percent; and auto-related deaths, at 36, are up 13 percent. (In May of this year. the FBI released its preliminary stats for 2014 law enforcement deaths in the line of duty. It showed 51 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed, meaning they were killed with \"\"criminal intent, as opposed to by accident), an increase of  almost 89 percent from 2013 when the death count was 27. Between 1980 and 2014, an average of 64 law enforcement officers died this way each year. The 2013 death count was the lowest in this 35-year period.) With all the conversation about relations between the police and the communities they serve, that’s valuable information to know, especially when a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports.com suggests that all those discussions may be influencing public thinking. The telephone survey showed that 58 percent of likely U.S. voters believe there’s a war on police in America today. Our conclusion:  In the days leading up to the 9/11 anniversary, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle issued a press release, urging Georgians to stop to reflect on the critical role that law enforcement officers play in our communities. \"\"Eighty-three law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty this year. Twenty-four of them were shot and killed in cold blood,\"\" he said. His numbers come from a group that works to diligently track data and pay tribute to law enforcement officers who die in the line of duty.\"",
            "output": [
                "Eighty-three law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty this year. Twenty-four of them were shot and killed in cold blood."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9513f91e5534e16b2fdf9e883d5c266",
            "input": "Though modest, it was the first such price drop in 45 years, according to nonpartisan economic experts at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, who deliver an annual report on the nation’s health care spending. The price drop was for retail pharmacy prescriptions, not medications administered in hospitals or doctor’s offices. HHS experts said the last time retail prescription drug prices declined was in 1973, when they went down by 0.2%. The price drop comes amid questionable prospects for major legislation to curb prescription drug costs. Nonetheless, it was a nugget of decent news in a sobering, broader report on rising U.S. health care spending. The HHS report found that spending on prescription medicines at pharmacies accounted for 9% of the total $3.6 trillion national health care tab in 2018. Total U.S. health care spending grew by 4.6% last year, averaging $11,172 per person. In the real world, U.S. spending is concentrated on the sickest patients, with 5% of the population accounting for half of costs. Because of strong overall economic growth last year, health care spending as a share of the national economy declined slightly, from 17.9% in 2017 to 17.7%, the report found. Legislation pending in Congress to curb drug costs would mainly benefit older people on Medicare, who are the biggest consumers of medicines. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is forging ahead with a floor vote next week on her bill authorizing Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest drugs, including insulin. Under her bill, private insurance plans would be able to get Medicare’s prices as well. But President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are solidly opposed to Medicare negotiations. Instead Trump is backing a bipartisan Senate bill that would require drugmakers to pay rebates to Medicare if they hike prices above inflation. As a candidate Trump had called for allowing Medicare to negotiate directly. Both bills would cap what Medicare recipients must pay annually in out-of-pocket costs for their prescriptions. The HHS report made no forecast of future prescription drug prices. It’s unclear if the 1% price decline seen last year may be the beginning of a sustained trend or was merely a temporary pullback by drug companies getting pummeled by Trump and lawmakers of both parties. Thursday’s report found that nearly 9 out of 10 prescriptions dispensed are for generic drugs, which puts downward pressure on prices. Even though prices of brand-name drugs increased more moderately, they still accounted for most of the spending on prescriptions — nearly 79%. The government’s findings on prices for brand-name drugs dovetailed with  an analysis earlier this year by The Associated Press. In the first seven months of 2019, drugmakers raised list prices for brand-name prescription medicines by a median of 5%, the AP found. That was down from about 9% or 10% over those months the prior four years. The AP’s findings suggest that an easing in drug prices may continue this year. Reducing prescription drug costs remains one of the top priorities for consumers. The White House claims that Trump has already delivered historic price cuts, but a recent Gallup poll found that 66% of adults believe the president has made little or no progress. The government study was published online by the journal Health Affairs.",
            "output": [
                "US report: Prescription drug prices down slightly last year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-772b0ed649c84b6189b6af91efa131b5",
            "input": "The Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday the three people were all patients at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Chicago. One person was an inpatient, while the other two had outpatient visits. IDPH said the three patients also had other possible sources of exposure in the 10 days before their symptoms began, so the hospital may not be the source. The department says it’s working with the hospital to further investigate the cases and will be conducting more tests of facility’s water. IDPH says the hospital is providing information to patents and employees who may have been affected. Most healthy people don’t get Legionnaires’ disease after being exposed to Legionella bacteria, which occurs naturally in the environment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends public health officials conduct investigations into the source of Legionella whenever two or more cases are possibly associated with a health care facility within 12 months of each other.",
            "output": [
                "Legionnaires’ cases may be linked to Chicago-area hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b530a422542b40a28d2995335eb4d89d",
            "input": "The change comes after Missouri voters in 2018 said patients with cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses may use cannabis with doctor approval. But legalizing medical marijuana put those patients at odds with another Missouri law that requires Temporary Assistance for Needy Families applicants to be screened for drug use. Under that law, participants risk losing welfare benefits for three years if they are asked to take a drug test and either fail or don’t show up. Department of Social Services spokeswoman Rebecca Woelfel said in an email that the agency now exempts recipients with medical marijuana cards. Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association spokesman Jack Cardetti in a statement applauded the agency “for a humane and sensible decision that protects these patients and doesn’t needlessly intrude upon the doctor-patient relationship.” Roughly 9,400 families and 22,000 individuals received cash assistance in Missouri in August, according to Social Services data. Woelfel told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the agency’s new welfare policy still will require some applicants to take drug tests. Woelfel said participants can refuse to take a drug test, but they would then be required to enter a substance misuse treatment program. “If an individual fails a drug test, testing positive for marijuana only, and does not have a medical marijuana card, they can receive TANF benefits only if they get substance abuse treatment approved by the MO Department of Mental Health,” Woelfel said.",
            "output": [
                "Medical pot use won’t put Missouri patients’ welfare at risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13eb8d295e234b77af52c38acf5dff24",
            "input": "Under the agreement, Emergent BioSolutions will no longer enforce a contract that had allowed it to be the only company to develop a nasal spray version of the drug nalmefene for use as an antidote in a nasal spray. The attorney general’s office said the new agreement came after it found that Adapt Pharma, which has since been bought by Rockville, Maryland-based Emergent, had the exclusive rights to sell the drug using Aptar Pharma’s nasal spray technology. The drug is still in the pipeline and is not on the market, though. “Given the tragic, devastating effects of the opioid crisis, and the urgent need for additional drugs for the emergency treatment of opioid overdoses, my office will do whatever possible to ensure that there are no unnecessary impediments to the development of additional life-saving opioid overdose reversal drugs,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a written statement. The agreement with James’s office does not affect Narcan, a spray version of the drug naloxone now sold by Emergent. That from is popular for police, firefighters and others to use to try to revive people who are overdosing. It is not subject to an exclusivity agreement on the spray technology. Narcan retails for about $140 for two doses, but the company sells that amount to first responders for $75. More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000 have been linked to opioids, a class of drugs that includes heroin, fentanyl, and prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin. Companies would still need Food and Drug Administration approval before their products could be on the market. There is at least one effort to introduce a generic version of a naloxone nasal spray. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, announced a grant in 2018 for a nonprofit drug company to develop one. ___ This story has been updated to correct that the drug at the center of the agreement is a spray version of nalmefene that is under development, not naloxone. It also clarifies that Narcan is sold to first responders for a lower-than-retail price.",
            "output": [
                "Deal will let more companies make an overdose antidote spray."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac2c4a3dd0674b76acc9cbfb22a385da",
            "input": "Policymakers and investors are turning up the heat on companies across sectors in the run up to global climate talks in Glasgow in November, demanding they assess the risks and put plans in place to mitigate them. Incoming United Nations climate envoy Mark Carney is pushing all companies to use a risk-assessment framework devised by the G20-backed Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). As a leading contributor to global carbon emissions, through deforestation and the methane produced by livestock, the meat sector faced a particularly acute risk, but has yet to act in a meaningful way, the FAIRR Initiative investor group said. “Investors can see the inescapable truth for the meat sector is that it must adapt to climate change or face ruin in the years ahead,” said Jeremy Coller, Founder of FAIRR and Chief Investment Officer at Coller Capital. “Conversely, there is also an appetizing prospect of enormous upside if the world’s meat companies shift their protein mix to align with a climate-friendly path.”  Of 43 listed meat companies assessed, only two had publicly disclosed a climate-related scenario analysis, FAIRR said. The group, which includes Allianz Global Investors and Aberdeen Standard Investments, said it had created an online scenario analysis model, based on the TCFD framework, that investors could use to assess the risk to their portfolios. A ‘climate progressive’ pathway would see companies grow alternative proteins faster, and shift feed and livestock mix towards less climate-influenced crops and species, while a ‘climate regressive’ pathway would keep things as they are. Following the second pathway would lead combined annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization at five of the leading assessed companies to be $8 billion lower by 2050 than if they follow the first pathway, FAIRR said. Among the risks factored into the model are the potential hit to profits of higher electricity costs due to carbon pricing; higher costs of feed due to poor crop yields; and increased livestock mortality due to heat stress. In addition, by 2050 alternative proteins such as plant-based burgers will account for at least 16% of the current meat market, FAIRR’s model forecasts, rising to 62% depending on factors such as technology adoption rates, consumer trends and the potential imposition of a carbon tax on meat.",
            "output": [
                "Dead meat: Industry faces 'ruin' if slow on adapting to climate change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a75b49e4e834fb9a2550444535e6559",
            "input": "The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics said Thursday that the number of U.S. babies born last year fell 2 percent from 2016 to 3.85 million, also a 30-year low. Births have fallen for three straight years. The fertility rate dropped 3 percent last year to 60.2 births per 1,000 women ages 15 through 44. An aging society has already weighed on economic growth in the United States in the past decade, with the vast baby boom generation retiring and fewer young people replacing them. Thursday’s data suggests that the trend is likely to continue. Economic growth is generally driven by population growth and worker efficiency, both of which have slowed in the past decade in the United States. Kathy Bostjancic, an economist at Oxford Economics, a consulting firm, said that roughly 10 years ago, the number of Americans working or looking for work was growing about 1 percent annually. With birthrates declining, that figure has since fallen to about a 0.3 percent growth rate. That essentially acts as a 0.7 percentage point drag on the United States’ long-run growth. “Demographics have a really powerful impact on the economy,” Bostjancic said. The U.S. economy has grown at a 3 percent average annual rate since World War II. Yet it hasn’t reached that pace for a full calendar year since 2005. The baby boomers first reached retirement age in 2008. The Federal Reserve in March upgraded its short-term economic growth forecast to about 2.7 percent for this year and 2.4 percent in 2019, partly because of the Trump administration’s tax cuts. But the Fed kept its longer-run annual growth forecast at just 1.8 percent, reflecting the demographic headwinds. Aside from fewer workers, an aging society can hold back growth because fewer people are buying homes, cars and other costly purchases. Savings generally rise as people age and prepare for retirement. And as elderly people live longer, they also slow their spending while in retirement, Bostjancic noted. Most economists attribute the low interest rates and low inflation of the past decade, in the United States, Europe and Japan, at least in part to aging. In Japan, where adult diapers outsell those for children, the impact of fewer births has kept growth nearly nonexistent for more than two decades. The economy has picked up recently and enjoyed two straight years of growth, the longest such streak since the late 1980s, before contracting again in the first three months of this year. The U.S. accepts many more immigrants than does Japan, and that influx has boosted population growth. The Labor Department released separate data Thursday showing that last year, there were 27.4 million foreign-born workers in the United States, the most since records began in 2005. Immigrants now make up 17.1 percent of the U.S. workforce. Economic research earlier this year found that U.S. fertility fell sharply roughly nine months before the past three recessions. That suggests that such declines could signal economic downturns. But Kasey Buckles, an economics professor at Notre Dame who conducted the research with two colleagues, said that recent such declines aren’t sharp enough to point to a recession. Instead, she noted that fertility declines over the past three years have occurred mostly among women under 30. Birth rates among older women have risen or held steady. That suggests that the fertility declines largely reflect a drop in unwanted pregnancies since the 2008-2009 recession. Fertility among women of all ages fell sharply in 2008 and 2009, Buckles said, but rebounded quickly for women 30 and over. Separate data from the Guttmacher Institute, a policy organization that tracks reproductive health, shows that unwanted pregnancies have fallen since the Great Recession, Buckles said. “It’s possible that the Great Recession may have been something of a triggering event that caused people to be more intentional about their fertility,” she said. ___ Contact Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber .",
            "output": [
                "Lowest US birth rate in 3 decades could pose risk to economy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48d07aa2916947c6ab0671f05eb216f4",
            "input": "\"There was no discussion of costs and we always think there should be – even if inconsequential. Overall, we would have wished for more specificity on the data that was reported. There were glimpses of specifity, as when the story reported: \"\"The latest study does suggest that some subgroups of women might benefit from fish-oil supplements. For instance, those with a history of clinical depression—and thus are at higher risk of post-partum depression—who took 800 milligrams of fish oil daily lowered their risk of getting depressed after the birth by about 4% compared with those who didn’t take fish oil. However, the difference wasn’t statistically significant because of the small number of women in the study who had been previously depressed, said Dr. Makrides, who is also a professor of human nutrition at the University of Adelaide.\"\" But we were disappointed that the story didn’t disclose how much preterm birth risk was reduced – an issue of vital concern to many readers. A preemie and an induction (covered as a harm but also without any numbers provided) aren’t necessarily equal. On balance, we just didn’t get enough data on benefits. There was no broad discussion of safety or side effects. But one issue was raised that was not in the NYT story: \"\"Women in the fish-oil group had lower rates of pre-term births, particularly births earlier than 34 weeks of gestation. But, there was a trade-off: More women who took the supplement needed their labor to be induced or had caesarean sections because the babies stayed in the womb longer, said Dr. Makrides.\"\" Because it at least nodded in the direction of a specific potential harm issue, this story gets a satisfactory score on this criterion. Satisfactory job and in little ways superior to the NYT story we reviewed on the same study. For example, the language in this story was much more clear and helpful: \"\"Several previous studies have shown that eating fish during pregnancy helped in the baby’s brain development and in reducing the risk of post-partum depression. That research, however, typically didn’t involve randomized, controlled studies. Instead, women were asked whether or not they chose to eat fish during pregnancy. It could be the case that eating fish is better than taking fish-oil supplements or that women who opt to eat fish are generally healthier and engage in other health-promoting behaviors, Dr. Oken said. The few trials conducted that separated participants, into a group taking fish-oil supplements and another that didn’t, weren’t well done, because the women often knew if they were getting the supplement, and in some cases there wasn’t a comparison group at all, she said.\"\" There was no disease-mongering in this story. Barely adequate – in that the story at least cited the views of an editorial writer in addition to those of one of the study authors. Again, barely adequate in that the story at least discussed a bit about both DHA supplements and fish consumption – but wrapped this into broader healthy alternatives such as \"\"all pregnant women should strive for balance and eat a variety of foods, including fish.\"\" The story makes it clear that fish oil is widely available and has been widely used for the described uses. However, it would have been helpful for readers/consumers if the story had discussed the challenge of assessing product purity, quality control, etc. – that it’s not just a simple matter of \"\"just take fish oil.\"\" Past research on this topic is covered quite clearly. It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Fish Oil Study Finds Little Benefit for Pregnant Women"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-001eae37dfcb49169a16c0c92f6609fa",
            "input": "On this night, however, there’s a 90-minute class being offered unlike any other in the Quad-Cities. A small group of teens, 20- and 30-somethings with Down syndrome is clapping and cheering for each other as they jump on boxes, toss medicine balls and walk on their hands and feet, also known here as a bear crawl. The Quad-City Times reports that gym owners Jessie and Colin Cartee, who partner with GiGi’s Playhouse Quad-Cities to offer this monthly workout, are co-teaching. “They’re miracle workers because they can get them to do things that their parents can’t get them to do,” said Jenn Parsons, program manager at the Down syndrome achievement center in Moline. The couple knows how to keep them engaged. “The biggest thing is just treating them like normal,” said Jessie, 29, a full-time physical therapist. “They know what’s going on; they’re smart.” CrossFit is a fitness regimen that mixes bodyweight exercises, weightlifting and cardiovascular and high-intensity interval training. Since the sport’s inception in 2000, more than 13,000 CrossFit gyms have popped up across the nation, according to crossfit.com. While they modify exercises for participants with Down syndrome, who usually have low muscle tone and decreased strength, the Cartees still set high expectations. If someone is struggling during a certain activity, for example, they won’t be asked to just sit out that part, said Becky Takemoto, who accompanied her 35-year-old daughter, Lisa, to the class. Instead, that person will get a different challenge, “and they’re better for it,” Takemoto said. Plus, they learn by doing, Parsons said, so it helps to keep them moving. Colin, 27, was scared before launching the program because he didn’t know what to expect, but his fear since has disappeared. He now finds the experience very rewarding. “One of our missions is to change the way the world views Down syndrome,” Parsons said. “People are always very impressed by what they can do.” Similar to how he runs any other CrossFit class, Colin keeps the sessions lighthearted. “I want to show it’s for everybody,” he said. During a break in the action last class, Colin transitioned to nutrition and asked each attendee what they ate for breakfast that day. Between meetings, they’re supposed to keep track of meals, water consumption, exercise and general feelings in a journal. Chris Morley, whose son Michael, 27, attends the classes, said the exercise gives him and his friends “something else to talk about.” “It makes him feel like he’s part of something,” she said, noting the limited amount of organized activities for adults with Down syndrome. Drenched in sweat after completing his fair share of squats, burpees and clean and jerks, a pumped Luke Frutiger, 17, of Moline, exchanged high-fives and hugs with anyone in sight. “I made it!” he said to his mom, Julie. “It was hard.” Currently, about eight people from GiGi’s are signed up for CrossFit, but Parsons expects that number to grow. The local chapter of the global organization, which serves about 200 families in the area, received a grant to cover the costs of workout gear. Everything else, including the space and hands-on instruction, is free. “There’s no way we could afford to do CrossFit classes,” Parsons said. “This truly is an amazing community we’ve been let into.” ___ Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com",
            "output": [
                "Davenport gym offers workouts for people with Down syndrome."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f54ed8e6a7c4be8a118757862b3c671",
            "input": "“This is a once-in-a-hundred-year type event,” said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, warning the crisis could last six months as his nation became the latest to restrict gatherings and overseas travel. The fast-spreading disease that jumped from animals to humans in China has now infected over 212,000 people and caused 8,700 deaths in 164 nations, triggering emergency lockdowns and injections of cash unseen since World War Two. “We have never lived through anything like this,” Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a parliament chamber nearly empty with more than 90% of lawmakers staying away and a masked and gloved cleaner wiping handrails between speeches. “And our society, which had grown used to changes that expand our possibilities of knowledge, health and life, now finds itself at war to defend all we have taken for granted.”   There was particular alarm in Italy, which has experienced an unusually high death rate - nearly 3,000 from 35,713 cases. It has called on student and retired doctors to help an overwhelmed health service. On Wednesday Italy reported 475 new deaths, the biggest increase since the outbreak started and the highest one-day total posted by any nation. France also reported a spike in deaths - rising by 89, or 51%, to a total of 264 in 24 hours. Around the world, rich and poor alike saw lives turned upside down as events were cancelled, shops stripped, workplaces emptied, streets deserted, schools shut and travel minimized. “Cleanliness is important, but here it’s not easy,” said Marcelle Diatta, a 41-year-old mother of four in Senegal, where announcements rang from loudspeakers urging people to wash hands but water was often cut off in her suburb. The crisis has created a wave of solidarity in some countries, with neighbours, families and colleagues coming together to look after the most needy, including dropping supplies at the doors of those forced to stay inside. Around Spain, applause and the banging of pots ring out in evenings at 8 p.m. as self-isolating neighbours express gratitude to health services. In several countries, stores began reserving special times for elderly shoppers to help keep the most vulnerable away from those who might infect them. The United States, which closed its border with Canada except for essential travel, was sending its two military hospital ships - Comfort and Mercy - to New York’s harbor and the West Coast, while the Swedish military is setting up a field hospital near Stockholm. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the country was on wartime footing and invoked special powers through the Defense Production Act to rapidly expand manufacturing of masks and protective equipment in short supply. Spooked by a seemingly inevitable global recession, rich nations are unleashing billions of dollars in stimulus to bolster economies, aid health services, provide loans to tottering businesses and help individuals with mortgages and other routine payments. Extra cash from governments and central banks failed to calm markets: Stocks and oil prices reeled again, with European shares down nearly 5% to approach seven-year lows and major U.S. indexes off by 9% and down 30% from highs reached last month. Taking their cue from the waning of the coronavirus in China, where it emerged late last year, optimists predict a bounce back once the epidemic also passes its peak elsewhere - hoped to be within months. Pessimists are factoring in the possibility of recurring outbreaks and years of pain, some even whispering comparisons with the Great Depression of the 1930s. On the ground, millions of workers fear for their jobs. In the airline industry, tens of thousands have already been laid off or put on unpaid leave. The U.S. state of Nevada, home to the casinos of Las Vegas, effectively shut its entire leisure industry overnight. The sector employs 355,000 people - a quarter of all jobs in the state. In China, the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States, the jobless rate rose to 6.2% in February, the highest since records began, and up from 5.2% in December. The majority of Chinese businesses and factories – apart from the original epicentre in Hubei province – have reopened, but it is unclear how many workers and staff have actually returned. The crisis has exacerbated some long-running geopolitical frictions. A European Union document accused Russian media of stoking panic in the West via misinformation over the disease, while China withdrew credentials of American journalists at three U.S. newspapers in a row in part over coverage of the coronavirus. Among the latest cultural events to be cancelled was the 50th anniversary of Britain’s Glastonbury music festival. With most major sports events now cancelled, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was under increasing pressure to reconsider the summer Games in Japan. Several athletes, including reigning Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi, said athletes’ health was at risk as they juggled training with coronavirus shutdowns. “We all want Tokyo to happen but what is the Plan B if it does not happen?” Stefanidi told Reuters. ($1 = 0.9125 euros)",
            "output": [
                "Rattled world 'at war' with coronavirus as deaths surge in Italy, France."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7766f4d5091b4a8fb7222a9fd4b8be32",
            "input": "The story notes that TMS equipment is expensive and requires specialized training. However, this story didn’t put a dollar figure on the cost of the machine as Reuters did. And neither this story nor its Reuters counterpart attempted to quantify the costs of treatment for patients and insurers. The story tells us that patients receiving TMS improved “16.3% immediately following treatment and by 22.6% two weeks later.” Fair enough. But it didn’t tell us whether that type of improvement represents a meaningful change in patients’ ability to function and care for themselves. Reuters, by contrast, cautioned that “it’s not clear what the amount of improvement they observed would mean for patients in their daily lives.” We were also confused by this story’s use of the word “neglect” without defining what the term means clinically. Better to leave it out entirely or give a complete explanation of the meaning, as Reuters did. Although TMS used for depression is associated with a low rate of adverse effects (mostly headache), we don’t know if other problems might emerge when using it on patients who’ve had a stroke. The story didn’t discuss the potential for adverse effects or mention whether any adverse effects were seen in this study. Any new treatment – however theoretically safe – may cause unexpected harms in such a clinically fragile population. That is one of the limitations of a study of such a small number of highly selected individuals. We would’ve appreciated some stronger cautions about the very small size of this study (only 20 patients) and the danger of drawing firm conclusions from such a tiny sample. Overall, however, we were impressed with the expert comments that generally sought to restrain expectations for the technology. Examples: The story didn’t exaggerate the challenges faced by individuals who’ve had a stroke, but it would have been helpful to know how many stroke sufferers experience the “neglect” symptoms discussed in the story. The Reuters piece helpfully explains that about half of stroke sufferers experience these symptoms. The story had excellent sourcing and included comments from four different experts. The story says that “neglect” symptoms after stroke are usually treated with cognitive and physical therapy, but that this is “often not enough to make a meaningful improvement.” Later, however, it quotes an expert who says that this kind of rehab alone “could and should be enough to treat this kind of stroke.” Well, which one is it? We’ll give the story credit for addressing this criterion, but wish there had been a bit more clarity on the effectiveness of standard rehab. The study is described as “preliminary” and the treatment is called “not ready for prime time.” We think readers get the idea that this treatment is not available for stroke rehabilitation outside of a research setting. The story quotes an expert who calls TMS “a very novel treatment” for stroke, which is accurate. However, the story could have given more details about TMS’s more established use as a treatment for depression. The story alludes to this use, but doesn’t convey that depression is what TMS was originally designed to treat and where it is most frequently employed. This story was not based solely or largely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Magnet Therapy May Help Stroke Survivors Recover"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f80f158272c4e98bd57515fcfe7444b",
            "input": "“There is no scientific basis for this, it is barbarism,” said Katarzyna Karpa-Swiderek, a spokeswoman for animal rights organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Poland. “We broadly do not protest against hunting wild boars, but in our opinion the scope of the proposed cull is excessive.”  Estimates of Poland’s wild boar population vary widely and range from at least 200,000 to one million. In December, the government called on all licensed hunters to kill most of the wild boar population in order to prevent the further spread of African swine fever. ASF is a highly contagious disease that affects pigs and wild boar and has spread in Eastern Europe in recent years. It does not affect humans. The European Commission said on Thursday that a wild boar cull is the only appropriate way of dealing with the spread of African swine fever, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Friday. Hunters, however, branded this an excessive measure. “It is not possible to call it anything other than an animal slaughter. A significant number of hunters do not approve of these activities (the wild boar cull),” said hunter Wojciech Metler. Thousands of opponents of the cull have shown their support by changing their Facebook profile photos to ones that feature an image of a wild boar. Poland’s veterinary officials approved a plan to kill 185,000 wild boars in the 2018/2019 hunting season. In 2018 the Supreme Audit Office concluded most farms did not implement sufficient preventive measures to stem the spread of the disease, such as installing disinfection mats.",
            "output": [
                "Poland's wild boar cull prompts protests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af7015e074074b598d74ad70077bae28",
            "input": "\"Costs were not discussed but this drug is still in development. The story reported the benefit (increased time spent sleeping compared with a placebo) as ‘significant’, though the only statistically significant result contained in the company presentation about this product was something termed \"\"increased sleep efficiency\"\". Although the data on total sleep time was greater for those taking the 200 and 400 milligram dose of this drug than placebo, it is not clear from the way the information was presented that it represented a statistically significant increase. The story mentioned that ‘few side effects were reported’. While it is true that ‘few’ is a subjective term, it would have been useful for readers to know that ~13% of those taking the 200 milligram dose experienced side effects; further – in order to have some idea about how to value the side effects, it would have been helpful to list that the side effects included fatigue, dry mouth, headache, and drowsiness. The story reports on a randomized clincial trial, states that it was performed by the drug company, gives the number treated and the main result. It is worth noting that the data on the main result differs from the information available at the company website. The results presented in the story: \"\"people taking a 200 milligram dose of almorexant slept 59 minutes longer than those on placebo\"\";  the increased sleep efficiency reported on the website for those taking the 200 milligram dose was 31.4 minutes. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story did not appear to make use of any independent sources of information regarding the clinical efficacy of this drug. While the story mentioned one other category of drug used in the treatment of insomnia, it did not mention that a range of treatment options exist including lifestyle changes that may be of benefit. While the story did not explicitly state that this drug is not yet available, the first sentence makes it quite clear this drug is still in development and in the process of undergoing clincial trials. This story appropriately reported that the drug described was a new drug with a novel mechanism. The story is about what appears to be a corporate-sponsored presentation at the World Sleep Congress. While this is not technically a news release, readers should know that it is somewhat comparable. Until more work is done and peer-reviewed, they may not be getting the entire picture. See our primer on some of the pitfalls of reporting news from scientific meetings.\"",
            "output": [
                "Actelion Sleep Aid Does Well In Midstage Clinical Trial"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-85ac4139c6aa46c588f35ff428a8ca02",
            "input": "\"State Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Gardens Democrat running for the congressional seat now held by Kendrick Meek, is making an unusual boast about her accomplishments as a school board member: She says she introduced a ban on \"\"dirty dancing. \"\"Here is what she says on her campaign Web site: \"\"As a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board, Senator Wilson introduced reading labs and an African-American history curriculum into our schools, as well as a dirty-dancing ban in our community. \"\"She reiterated that claim in a March 9, 2009 press release announcing her campaign and on her Facebook page -- so there's no doubt she's against kids engaging in nasty booty moves. Pelvic thrusts aren't usually mentioned in congressional campaigns, so we jumped at the chance to explore whether she truly had introduced a ban. First, some background on dirty dancing. To many, the phrase conjurs up memories of the 1987 movie starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Remember the story? Grey plays a good girl nicknamed \"\"Baby\"\" who is on a family vacation at a Catskills resort. She stumbles upon a room where the working-class crew -- including Johnny, a beer-swigging-shirt-unbuttoned dance instructor played by Swayze -- are grinding their scantily clad bodies wrapped around each other in Do You Love Me. Johnny teaches Baby to dance -- among other, ahem, lessons -- and they fall in love. She learns some choreographed dance moves that are more of the gaze-into-each-other's-eyes variety than the make-your-grandma-blush type. In one famous scene, he lifts her by her hips as she is dripping wet in a lake. A decade later, the Miami-Dade school board took up the topic. There was no mention of the movie in the articles we found about the mid 1990s discussions, but there was plenty of harrumphing about kids dancing in sexually suggestive ways. \"\"I've seen it in little tiny elementary school children. I couldn't take it, \"\" Wilson said in a Nov. 19, 1995, Miami Herald article which stated that she asked school administrators to hold a meeting on the topic. \"\"I don't think it sets a good standard for our district. We cannot allow (the dancing kids) to degrade the school district or themselves.\"\" In a 1997 op-ed, school board member Wilson said she was considering introducing a ban. \"\"It has been called 'dirty dancing,' but it's really nothing more than simulated sexual intercourse. Outrageously, too many folks involved with Dade County's public schools -- including teachers, administrators, and parents who ought to know better -- call it 'cheerleading,' 'marching,' or other types of school-sponsored student performance. Whatever it's called, it's vulgar and degrading. It has no place in our schools, on our playgrounds, or in our students' lives. So, imagine my disgust and dismay when I marched in Dade's Martin Luther King Day Parade earlier this year and saw Dade high school cheerleaders bumping and grinding their way down Martin Luther King Boulevard.\"\" In a July 1997 news article, she was quoted saying, \"\"I've seen horrendous behavior. I saw a band member bend over and a female majorette come from behind and simulate actual intercourse. I almost passed out, but people in the stands were applauding. \"\"Rather than calling it a \"\"dirty dancing ban,\"\" it was known as \"\"Guideline 25B: Student dance performances and/or productions: Procedures for promoting and maintaining a safe learning environment. \"\"The board's explanation of the rule said that cheerleading, dance and band performances at events, performances or educational settings \"\"are essential to the establishment and maintenance of an atmosphere that fosters cultural and artistic exchanges. However the board recognizes that certain modes of dance are inappropriate, unsuited for immature audiences and may offend the community's sense of propriety rather than foster appropriate conduct that is consistent with school board rules and state statutes.\"\" School board documents said the rule prohibited performances that depicted \"\"actual or simulated sexual intercourse (normal or deviate), masturbation, excretory functions and actual lewd exhibition of genitalia.\"\" It's clear from news coverage and school board minutes that Wilson was the driving force behind the ban. School board minutes for the July 9, 1997, meeting state that Wilson proposed the rulemaking. The motion passed unanimously. On Aug. 27, 1997, the school board voted again in favor of the proposal. But there's still a bit of exaggeration in her statement: Wilson described this as a ban \"\"in our community\"\" when it strictly related to school-related groups or performances. She told us that was a reasonable description because \"\"the dirty dancing ban was on school bands and majorettes in the community. We have a lot of parades -- the MLK parade, different half time shows at football games in the community. I witnessed it -- a lot of forward-thrusting of the pelvic bone.\"\" Clearly Wilson introduced the dirty dancing ban approved by the school board in 1997 and we don't doubt that school activities now have less forward-thrusting of the pelvic bone. But her claim that the ban would apply \"\"in our community\"\" is a little misleading. Some people might think her ban applied to the entire county, not just the schools.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Frederica Wilson Says she introduced a ban on \"\"dirty dancing.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f4f3f49dbc0419e9823d194d44ed70b",
            "input": "\"More than a month after Prince died at the age of 57, toxicology tests determined the visionary musician’s cause of death: fentanyl, a synthetic opiate up to 50 times more potent than heroin. On June 6, 2016, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel penned a guest column in the Wisconsin State Journal connecting Prince’s overdose to the state’s opiate epidemic. He sought to end to the stigma around drug addiction — and urged people to lock up prescription painkillers in their homes. Painkillers are often the starting point for people who develop opiate addictions. \"\"We must alter our view of opiates,\"\" Schimel wrote. \"\"More people now die in Wisconsin from drug overdoses than car crashes.\"\" Is Schimel right that drug overdoses have not always outnumbered car accident fatalities in Wisconsin but do now? If accurate, it would strengthen his case that drug addiction has become an increasingly urgent issue. We decided to look at the numbers. Checking the figures In support of Schimel’s statement, state Department of Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos provided a report issued in September 2015 by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. \"\"Deaths from drug poisoning, also called ‘overdose,’ have doubled since 2004 and surpassed motor vehicle traffic deaths in 2008,\"\" the report said. The sentence doesn’t refer to the total number of deaths, but to age-adjusted death rates. That approach is used to better make comparisons across years, when the age structure of a population changes. An accompanying age-adjusted chart showed that 4 out of every 100,000 people died from a drug overdose in 1999 while 16 out of 100,000 did by 2013. The death rate from car crashes moderately declined during the same period, from around 13 out of 100,000 people to 9. Beginning in 2008, the death rate from drug overdoses surpassed the death rate from car crashes in the chart. We asked the Department of Health Services what the unadjusted numbers show. According to Jennifer Miller, spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services, 2009 was the first time that deaths from drug overdoses outnumbered deaths from car crashes in Wisconsin. And overdose deaths have outnumbered car crash deaths every year since. In 2014, the most recent year available, 843 people in Wisconsin died of drug overdoses while 558 died in car crashes. So both age-adjusted and raw numbers show that beginning in 2008 or 2009 (depending on which numbers you use) more people in Wisconsin died from drug use than from car crashes. Nationally, the total number of drug-related deaths surpassed the number of motor vehicle deaths in 2008 -- about the same time the numbers flipped in Wisconsin. Our rating Schimel said more people now die in Wisconsin from drug overdoses than car crashes. The most recent data available from 2014 supports his statement -- 2009 was the first year when more people died from drug overdoses than in car crashes.\"",
            "output": [
                "More people now die in Wisconsin from drug overdoses than car crashes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7009e945dae4f389ac9b52ffe91dd0d",
            "input": "The story notes the costs of several of the therapy sessions offered. “A five-day program costs $2,200 and includes about 20 minutes of dolphin time each day.” The story only makes reference to one specific claim of quantified benefits. “The website for the Living From the Heart Dolphin Experience says that 95% of autistic children who receive dolphin therapy enjoy benefits that last up to two years. Those benefits are said to include longer attention spans, better emotional control and improved communication skills.” The story debunks this and other more vague claims in the story by saying, “There are a few dolphin studies out there, but they don’t add up to much, says Lori Marino, a neuroscience and behavioral biology researcher at Emory University in Atlanta.” The story does not quantify the potential harms from dolphin therapy. We think the reporter may have had a hard time finding this information in the literature, but we would have liked to at least have seen a little more discussion of how money and effort wasted on an uNPRoven therapy might actually be detrimental for people who have serious illnesses that could benefit from other, more proven courses of treatment. The story does not spend a lot of time with the studies that have been touted as supporting dolphin therapy, but it doesn’t have to. There are very few studies that have even examined the topic, and none of them have examined a substantial number of people. Instead, the story brings in strong independent analysis to help readers understand both the reasons why some are claiming a thereaputic benefit and the paucity of the evidence supporting those claims. The executive director of one of the dolphin centers “agrees that there’s no real research to support dolphin therapy, but she sees that shortcoming in a positive light: “If there’s no science behind it, how can you say that it doesn’t work?”  This is a classic argument, and one that the column handles adroitly. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. It also doesn’t make light of the people who are seeking help at these centers. It says, for example, “The dolphins also work with some adults, including veterans who have lost limbs.” We think it is often too easy to take cheap shots when it comes to far-fetched sounding treatments, even though some of the people who have sought these treatments may believe whole heartedly that they benefited. The story uses a wide variety of sources and allows many of the centers operators to speak for themselves. We would have liked to have heard from at least one of the researchers examining the issue. There were no comparisons with alternatives, and this goes back to potential harms. The story mentions that “Through mechanisms that aren’t completely clear, there are also reports that dolphins have relieved chest pain and restored faulty vision.” Anyone seeking to relieve chest pain through dolphin therapy may be ignoring serious warning signs about heart problems. This is just one of many ways that people could be sidetracked by an uNPRoven therapy like this. The story does a great job showing where these centers operate, even saying, with a mind toward its regional audience, that there are no such centers in California. The story makes it clear that there is nothing novel about dolphin therapy. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "The shallow waters of dolphin therapy claims"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05b45d90d8b04e25b37d0f8d03769a71",
            "input": "Chase Bliss Colasurdo was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in May. He was arrested after posting a photo showing a gun pointed at a picture of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. He also made online threats to kill Donald Trump Jr. He bought ammunition but was blocked from purchasing a handgun because the Secret Service flagged him. The 27-year-old Colasurdo has a history of paranoid delusions. His attorney suggested he should serve less than a year in prison followed by five years of supervised release and mental health treatment. U.S. Attorney Brian Moran said the case highlights the “frightening intersection of mental illness and weapons.”",
            "output": [
                "Man who threatened Trump family, media figures gets 5 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4af65d1be4a242b8b6fe6a7f65bfa97a",
            "input": "In July 2014, Eric Garner was stopped by Daniel Pantaleo and several other NYPD officers on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. After Garner protested that he was tired of being harassed and denied that he was selling cigarettes, several officers attempted to arrest him;  Pantaleo took part in the efforts to restrain Garner, wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck for about 15 to 19 seconds as the 43-year-old suspect yelled, “I can’t breathe!” eleven times while lying face down on the sidewalk. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive and was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately one hour later. The entire incident was captured on video and prompted widespread outrage after a medical examiner concluded that Garner had been killed by “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police”:  In December 2014, a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Daniel Pantaleo of criminal wrongdoing in the death of Eric Garner, with jurors determining there was not probable cause that a crime was committed by the NYPD officer and delivering a vote of “no true bill.”  The non-indictment of  Pantaleo prompted another wave of protests, at one of which New York Daily News photographer Stephanie Keith snapped the award-winning picture of “a young white woman at the demonstration near the Barclays Center screaming in an officer’s face, her open mouth inches from the cop’s chin”:",
            "output": [
                "Photograph shows a protester face-to-face with an NYPD officer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aaf0a42c7b914c61abd650fd694251dd",
            "input": "Philippe also promised an extra 1.5 billion euros over three years for hospitals, including an 800 euro bonus for 40,000 nurses and carers earning less than 1,900 euros per month. “The hospital crisis is nothing new. But it has gone through one of its acutest phases in recent months,” said Philippe. “Healthcare workers can’t go on like this any longer.”  The government had hoped the package would stave off further unrest by hospital staff as public anger toward pension system reform mounts. However, within hours, trade unions said the new measures were “very far from our members’ expectations” and called for a strike in hospitals across France on Dec. 17. French transport workers and civil servants are already due to go on strike on Dec. 5. The 10 billion euros to be hoovered up by the state over three years represents nearly one third of the total debt burdening the public hospitals’ balance sheets. The hospital protests began in March and thousands of health workers marched through Paris last Thursday carrying banners that read “Public hospitals in life-threatening emergency”. President Emmanuel Macron’s government faces a possible winter of discontent if doctors and nurses join up with other discontented groups such as transport workers, civil servants and students threatening to go on strike. Medics say multi-billion euro spending cuts have stretched a healthcare system that was once the envy of the world to breaking point, with elderly patients left for hours on trolleys and doctors exhausted by stressful conditions. Philippe said 300 million euros of the extra money would become available next year. That means a budget increase for hospitals of 2.4% in 2020, against the 2.1% rise proposed in the draft 2020 budget - figures that drew derision from some medics. “Three hundred million next year when we’re demanding four billion, you can see where the problem is,” Christophe Prudhomme, spokesman for the Association of Emergency Room Doctors, told BFM TV. “We’re demanding a shock to the system.”  Mireille Stivala of the hard-left CGT union told Reuters: “There will be enormous disappointment.”  France’s budget deficit is estimated at 2.2% of national output next year, so the government has some wriggle room to absorb the extra funds for the hospitals without pushing the deficit over the 3% limit set by the European Union. “My objective is not to increase indefinitely the public debt. It is to give our hospitals some room for maneuver,” Philippe said.",
            "output": [
                "France pledges debt relief for hospitals, unions call another strike."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a4396080f314779abf79103f0de12e2",
            "input": "U.S. first lady Michelle Obama participates during breakout sessions at the Young African Youth Leaders Forum in Johannesburg, June 22, 2011. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool Obama is on her second solo trip abroad as first lady to promote issues such as education, health and wellness. But her speech to a group of young women and men at Regina Mundi Church, which played a role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, touched on much harder topics: race, discrimination, democracy and development. Obama, who is traveling with her mother and two daughters, cited the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the civil rights movement in the United States as examples for the younger generation to follow. “It is because of them that we are able to gather here today...It is because of them that I stand before you as First Lady of the United States of America,” she said to applause. “That is the legacy of the independence generation, the freedom generation. And all of you — the young people of this continent — you are the heirs of that blood, sweat, sacrifice and love.”   Obama appeared visibly moved when the audience stood and sang an impromptu serenade as she approached the podium. Placing her hands over her heart, she thanked the crowd and seemed to choke back tears. She spoke passionately about women’s rights, saying the young leaders should ensure that women were no longer “second class citizens” and that girls were educated in schools. “You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place, including the home — especially the home — that isn’t just a women’s rights violation. It’s a human rights violation,” she said. “You can be the generation that ends HIV/AIDS in our time, the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease, the generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable and treatable, and should never be a source of shame,” she said to applause. Obama was introduced by Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife. She and her family met Mandela at his home Tuesday. Mrs. Obama said she told Mandela that he had been an inspiration to her and her husband, the first black president of the United States. “I told him that words can’t express how much your life has meant to who my husband is and who I am,” she said. “You know what he said? ‘OK, thanks,’” she continued, laughing. “There’s nothing new I can say to Nelson Mandela. But I felt good about being able to just say: ‘This is your legacy’.”   The first lady said President Obama had not known whether she would meet with Mandela. “I still haven’t talked to the president,” Mrs. Obama said Wednesday afternoon. “He talked to the kids last night. I was tired.”   She used her husband’s famous campaign slogan, which helped him win the 2008 presidential election, to urge the church audience to follow through on the issues she addressed. “If anyone ever tells you that you shouldn’t or you can’t, then I want you to say with one voice — the voice of a generation — you tell them: “Yes, we can.”",
            "output": [
                "Michelle Obama urges Africa to advance women's rights."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2be9e04ef6f3497d8bfd917a31937049",
            "input": "The story notes the cost of specific VR headsets (from $599 to $799) and says that users would also need to have a computer (costing approximately $999) to run the relevant software. Presumably, the games or other content for the VR systems would also cost money, which the story doesn’t address. The story also does not address whether any of these costs would be covered by insurance or government programs (at this point, probably not). Benefits aren’t quantified. The story mentions that, in some studies, “patients reported less discomfort.” The story also notes that one of these studies found that patients “actually experienced less pain.” However, it’s not clear how much less discomfort and pain. A little bit? A lot? Instead, the story relies heavily on anecdote; for example, citing two patients who found VR useful in addressing their pain. On a side note, the story also cites “proponents of virtual reality” as saying that VR “can be an effective treatment” for Alzheimer’s disease, arachnophobia and depression — then doesn’t expand on this or even mention any of those conditions again. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary support. Repeating claims from unnamed proponents about conditions that aren’t the subject of the story, and then not subjecting those claims to any critical analysis, does a disservice to readers. The story doesn’t address potential harms. The types of consumer-focused VR technology being discussed in this article are relatively new, and the field is undergoing rapid growth. As such, it can be difficult to determine what harms associated with VR use, much less what the extent of those harms might be. However, that doesn’t mean that nothing is known about potential risks associated with VR. One VR technology provider offers an overview of potential risks associated with its headset, and those risks range from dizziness and seizure for adults and children, to the potential for developmental problems related to balance, hand-eye coordination and multi-tasking in children. We don’t expect stories to list all of the potential harms associated with any given intervention, but we do expect there to be at least some acknowledgment that risks exist. The story refers to at least two completed studies, but tells readers virtually nothing about them. Have they been published or presented at conferences? How many patients participated? Did they use control groups? Not only does the story tell us very little about the studies, it doesn’t even give readers enough information to look the studies up themselves if they’d like more information (assuming the studies are even publicly available). Since the story is wide ranging in its definition of “pain” giving the reader additional resources would have been very useful. No disease mongering here. The story quotes multiple sources, and clearly identifies whether a source was associated with related research or (in one case) had financial ties to the VR industry. The story mentions a variety of other pain treatment options. The story would have been stronger if it had discussed if any comparative studies have been done. For example, it refers to pharmaceuticals, but primarily in order to point out that drug use can lead to drug tolerance and be addictive. Similarly, the story mentions that “hypnosis, yoga, and meditation decrease your perception of pain” — but only in a context that indicates VR may use a similar mechanism to also reduce pain. Could VR work as well as these treatment options? Could it work better? Could it be used in conjunction with other pain treatment approaches? Those are questions the story doesn’t address. Even acknowledging that there is uncertainty in this area is useful to readers curious about this intervention. The story discusses the availability of various VR technologies, but — more importantly — the story also stresses that much more research needs to be done on VR’s utility as a means of effectively treating pain. For example, the story says: “VR’s effectiveness still has to be proven, particularly when trying to combat chronic pain”; and “VR has a lot of promise, but it’s too early for it to be the standard of care”; and “There’s a lot more research needed before VR is going to be widely accepted as a pain relief method.” The story is, in essence, focused primarily on the novelty of using VR to treat pain — how it might work, why it may become increasingly popular as VR prices drop, and how much work still remains to be done. As a result, we’ll give it a Satisfactory rating. However, there are some things that could have been much more clear. For example, one of the researchers who is discussed in the story — Hunter Hoffman — has been publishing articles on VR’s use to address pain since at least 2000. And a search of Google Scholar turns up more than a dozen studies on the subject, including a review article that was published in 2009. In short, while much work certainly does need to be done, there’s more work out there than the story might lead readers to believe. The story would have been stronger if it had given readers some inkling of what researchers have already learned, based on the available literature. The story does not appear to be based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Hospitals Try Giving Patients a Dose of VR"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-994a58365f584c838b720945622a0c2b",
            "input": "McDonald’s has implemented contactless pickup and delivery of Big Macs, fries and other menu items across the China as the outbreak has unfolded. Customers order remotely – on mobile phones or by computers in store – and employees seal the meals in bags and put them in a special spot for pickup without human contact, McDonald’s says on its website. For delivery orders, drivers drop McDonald’s packages at building entrances, disinfect their delivery bags and wash their hands more frequently. Drivers carry ID cards showing that they - and the people who made and packaged their food - had their body temperature scanned to prove they do not have a fever. “While we look at how to further improve the process, the stepped-up preventive measures apply to all of our servicing channels,” McDonald’s said in a statement to Reuters. The flu-like virus has infected more than 68,500 people globally and killed 1,665 as of Sunday, mostly in the central Chinese province of Hubei. Some major Chinese cities still resemble ghost towns as China struggles to get its economy back on track after a prolonged Lunar New Year holiday. In early February, 83% of all stores on the Meituan-Dianping delivery platform - one of the largest in the country - were closed, according to Beijing-based data firm BigOne Lab. Earlier this month, China’s National Health Commission recommended that deliveries limit contact. Starbucks suggests customers order coffee via its app and then wait outside its cafés until they get a pick-up notice. Orders are placed on tables just inside café entrances. If they do enter Starbucks locations, customers have their temperature taken at the door, as fever is one of the main symptoms of infection, and baristas wear masks. For delivery, Starbucks said it regularly sterilizes containers and that its delivery people have their temperature taken daily. Indoors staff must wash hands every 30 minutes, and public areas are sterilized every 2 hours. Starbucks delivery is provided by ele.me, owned by ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The measures illustrate how companies are quickly adapting in order to sell prepared food while keeping people safe. Yum China Holdings Inc rolled out contactless delivery on Jan. 30, with contactless pickup coming two days later at its KFC and Pizza Hut locations, the company said. There had been contactless delivery in China prior to the crisis, when couriers would drop packages at a consumer’s door or lobby or place parcels in lockers for later pickup. But since the outbreak, many residential compounds are limiting access for drivers and asking customers to pick up their own packages. In transactions that previously would have involved one person handing a package to the other, the driver now puts the food down – on the back of a moped, for instance – and then steps back and waits for the customer to take it and leave. One customer, for example, asked a delivery person to put a parcel in the elevator and press the button for the designated floor. The customer grabbed the package when the doors opened - unaccompanied by the courier, according to a post on CCTV News’ social media account on Weibo, said Allison Malmsten, a marketing strategy analyst at Daxue Consulting in Shanghai. The outbreak “redefines contactless food delivery,” Malmsten said via email. Since the start of the outbreak, Yum China has closed more than 30% of its locations. There have been “significant interruptions,” with sales off as much as 50% in those that remained open since the Lunar New Year holiday, versus the same time last year, Chief Financial Officer Ka Wai Yeung said in a Feb. 5 earnings call. The crisis has accelerated the rollout of Yum China’s  contactless services in China, it said in a statement. “These services have been well-received by customers and are playing an important role in ensuring that our delivery business continues to hold up during this period of significantly reduced dine-in traffic,” it said. Early during the epidemic, meal delivery took a hit because customers feared contact with drivers would put them at risk of infection, according to news reports. Cases of couriers being diagnosed with the virus after working for days arose in Shenzhen and Qingdao cities. The companies’ reliance on pickup and delivery to offset some losses does, however, have limitations. Malmsten said many drivers cannot return to work due to travel restrictions, and those who can return face long hours and physical and mental fatigue. As a result, SF Express, the second-largest courier in China, has ramped up hiring, she said.",
            "output": [
                "Fast-food companies in China step up ‘contactless’ pickup, delivery as coronavirus rages."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f2826afe53744a9acb4604ff72514ad",
            "input": "With an alcohol by volume figure of 43 percent, the 2-ounce sachets are about as intoxicating as a typical 16-ounce beer, but consumers say that’s just one of their virtues. Kouame claimed they give him a jolt of energy other drinks can’t match — just what he needs to face a long day of hectic traffic, run-ins with police and testy fare negotiations. “It inspires me. It gives me a bit of courage to confront the challenges of life,” he said. From now on, however, Ivory Coast’s government wants Kouame to get his courage elsewhere. Last month, officials announced a ban on alcohol sachets, citing their health risks and the need to combat alcoholism, especially among youth. The measure is one of more than a half-dozen bans or partial bans on alcohol sachets in effect in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Other countries with bans include Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and South Sudan, said Jean-Marie Vianny Maurice Yameogo, the WHO’s Ivory Coast representative. Tracking the sales of alcohol sachets, many containing spirits distilled from palm wine, is difficult because they are often produced outside regulated markets. The sachets are typically mass-produced in West Africa, with colorful packaging. The drink “Amour Profond,” or “Deep Love,” shows a man standing behind a bare-shouldered woman, whispering into her ear. The sachets are not necessarily more potent than other drinks available. Palm wine-based traditional drinks such as koutoukou, which are similarly cheap, can have alcohol by volume rates of more than 50 percent. But sachets are more likely to contain toxic chemicals such as methanol, or wood alcohol, Yameogo said. And the packaging often boasts of health and other benefits that Yameogo said have no basis in science. Some are said to provide cures for maladies such as hemorrhoids, while others are reputed to function as appetite-suppressants or aphrodisiacs. Moreover, the small sachets are easy to hide, making them especially tempting for schoolchildren, according to the Ivorian government and the WHO. “It’s something that’s accessible to everyone. You can buy a sachet, put it in your pocket and just walk around like that,” said Patrick Gbodou, president of School Anti-Drug, an Ivorian organization that campaigns against drinking and drug use by students. The official drinking age in Ivory Coast is 21, but it is rarely enforced, and teenage drinking is common. Vendors are worried they will take a huge hit if the ban on sachets is enforced, as many drinkers go for sachets and nothing else. “The government needs to have pity on us,” said Adjo Abega, the owner of a bar in Abidjan’s Port-Bouet district. Drinkers generally acknowledge the health risks posed by alcohol sachets, but some criticized the government for cracking down on their favorite vice while permitting other health hazards such as cigarettes. Desire N’Guessan, an unemployed 26-year-old, began drinking sachets when he was a teenager. He said he relies on them to ward off illness and for motivation to keep looking for work. “When you are not able to overcome your timidity, it can be difficult to operate in your neighborhood,” N’Guessan said. If the government makes good on the ban, he warned, Ivorian children could turn to drugs. He also predicted marches and protests. But Kouame, the taxi driver, was less worried. In the absence of alcohol sachets, he said he would switch up his morning routine by drinking glasses of palm wine instead, adding: “Man can adapt to anything.”",
            "output": [
                "Ivory Coast is latest to crack down on alcohol sachets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-edc71ba42ed64258ba148132883c24d6",
            "input": "\"On a recent radio talk show, Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate gently criticized a widely discussed Republican bill mandating that food stamp recipients buy mostly healthy foods from a state-approved list. In doing so, Tate framed the debate around a certain orange-colored, cheese-flavored snack and a fruit grown in every state in the continental U.S. Tate spoke after one-third of Democrats in the state Assembly joined Republicans in approving the bill, which aims to cut down on junk food purchases seen as contributing to poor health in low-income families participating in the state’s FoodShare program. \"\"I’ll be honest with you, I think that having nutritional standards is an important thing,\"\" Tate told liberal radio talker John \"\"Sly\"\" Sylvester of Monroe’s WEKZ-FM on May 14, 2013. \"\"I think there is a need for government to play a role in the marketplace and having healthy, nutritious food be available for people on FoodShare that can’t have access to it. \"\" Tate defended those who voted for the bill as well-intentioned in trying to ease an obesity problem that is worse in Milwaukee and other urban areas, but said the legislation may not have been the best mechanism to do it. Tate also unpacked some specific claims about urban areas, specifically Milwaukee. \"\"You know, I think that it’s a problem that a bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,\"\" he said. \"\"You go around some neighborhoods in Milwaukee and, good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option.\"\" Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. made a similar statement in a recent opinion piece in the Journal Sentinel, saying that \"\"it’s generally a lot easier to reach for the less expensive Cheetos, doughnuts and Suzy Q’s than the more pricey veggie chips, granola bars and almonds.\"\" Is Tate right? To check out the two parts of Tate’s claim, we reached out to local food experts, but also fueled up a car to test the food market in some of Milwaukee’s poorest north-side neighborhoods. In all we made purchases at 11 stores, ranging from full-line groceries to corner convenience stores and gas-station marts, mostly in Milwaukee but a few in neighboring suburban communities. The first thing that jumped out at us: At 2-for-$1, a single serving bag of Cheetos Crunchy (170 calories, 18 percent of recommended daily fat allowance) is hard to beat on price for a snack. In fact, many stores offer a whole range of chips at 50 cents a bag. By comparison, when we sought out single apples at the lowest per-pound or individual price available, we paid less than half a buck only once. At the top end, we paid $1.21 and $1.20 for an apple at two full-size markets and 65 cents and 99 cents at two convenience stores. Still, we were able to beat or match the Cheetos price, finding apples for 37 cents at a major Milwaukee supermarket, and for 50 cents at two city convenience stores as well as a supermarket in bordering Wauwatosa. Not every store had apples and not every store had single apples. That was just for snack-sized purchases. Bulk packaging, of course, drops the cost. We found 5-packs of gala apples (estimated 79 calories each, 0 from fat) at a small grocery in Milwaukee for the equivalent of 40 cents a piece, give or take a penny. And a chain supermarket near the edge of the city, in Shorewood, had bags of apples that averaged about 45 cents a piece. A chain store had them for 38 cents apiece in bulk. But Cheetos can drop even lower, to as little as 24 cents cents a bag, in 50-bag packs in combination with other snack chips, we found at one supermarket in Milwaukee. It was clear from our limited check that Cheetos are often cheaper than apples -- though not always. Prices, of course, can vary widely depending on quantity, timing, sales and other factors. And individual appetites can skew comparisons -- a 3.75-ounce bag of Cheetos Crunchy Flamin’ Hot is advertised as four servings but we’re guessing it doesn’t always go down that way. That bag will set you back $1.49 -- or about 37 cents a serving if you can stop  after 21 pieces. Seeking fruit We sought out expert opinion on the larger issue Tate raised -- on the availability of healthy food options. Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee, told us that many FoodShare recipients rely at least in part on convenience stores because they lack transportation to reach supermarkets that can offer fresher and sometimes less expensive products. Hunger Task Force, which opposes the state legislation as too expensive and complicated, closely tracks food availability in the city and plans to create a corner market emphasizing healthy foods. Residents in Milwaukee’s lowest socioeconomic-status group have more than twice the saturation of small food outlets as in higher-status neighborhoods, the Milwaukee Health Report 2012 study found. The annual report, by the Center for Urban Population Health, examines health disparities by socioeconomic status. \"\"There is strong evidence that access to supermarkets rather than smaller grocery/convenience stores correlates with lower prevalence of overweight, obesity, and hypertension,\"\" the study said. The report said obesity rates in Milwaukee -- which easily top the Wisconsin average -- are highest in lower-economic status populations. The Health Report study found that inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is prevalent across all economic groups, but somewhat better at higher levels. \"\"A lot of it is because you can afford it and you can find it,\"\" said Geoffrey Swain, medical director for the Milwaukee Health Department and a co-author of the Health Report study. A close observer of convenience stores in town commented recently that corner convenience stores are the main food source for Milwaukee’s poor. \"\"Some stores do have fruits and vegetables, but are likely to be more expensive and of poorer quality, mainly because our nation’s produce distribution system is not geared to service the small mom-and-pop corner stores,\"\" Young Kim, executive director of the organization behind the north-side’s Fondy Farmers Market, wrote in May 14 column for Urban Milwaukee. Tate points to Kim’s piece as part of his argument on the difficulty in getting access to fresh fruit. Kim told us that fruit \"\"just isn’t nearly as readily available\"\" as some of the snack foods. \"\"Cheetos and a lot of those snack foods get delivered\"\" to small stores, in contrast to fruit, which small-store owners have to buy from larger stores and then mark up, he noted. Kim opposes the state legislation for singling out low-income people. In our spot check at five small stores, we, too, found that you can get some limited amounts of fruit at some corner stores -- as well as, of course, a full selection at the few larger food markets on Milwaukee’s north side. And we found that fruit quality was very mixed at the small stores, ranging from excellent to very poor. We learned that programs run by the Fondy Food Center and the Walnut Way Conservation Corp., among others, are working to try to put more fresh goods into local stores and educate people on healthy choices. The city of Milwaukee Health Department, through grant funding from the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program of the Medical College of Wisconsin, has provided funds for produce coolers in several convenience stores in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side. At one store, Eagle Foods at N. 14th and W. Centers streets, we found fruit in a large and prominent display near a cooler stocked with take-out servings of cut fruit and vegetables, as well as mangoes and tomatoes. At the Families First store, 1845 N. 12th St., candy bars are behind a caged cashier, and a small stock of large Golden Delicious apples are front and center. There were a few tomatoes in the cooler, but overall the produce stock was very limited. Nobody’s suggesting that better access is a panacea for changing people’s dietary decisions. Consumer education is another key, Hines and other say. But experts told us that providing more choices is a necessary first step toward improvement. But there’s a steep hill to climb in terms of making good quality produce widely available. A 2008 study by the Neighborhood Health Alliance in Lindsay Heights, for example, found that more than 65% of the neighborhood retail food outlets offered no fresh produce. \"\"Residents indicated that key concerns were: poor food quality, poor access to quality fresh produce and healthy food options, and a lack of transportation,\"\" the study found. \"\"I don’t want to call it a ‘food desert,’\"\" Eric Gass, the Health Department’s public health research and policy director, said of Lindsay Heights. \"\"Food is available. It’s just not good food. There’s a term I’ve heard for that: a ‘food swamp.’\"\" Residents in the Amani neighborhood, near Lindsay Heights, who lack vehicles or can’t get a ride have to figure out how to cover a mile and a half or more to find a full-service store on the city’s north side, Tussler said. Buses are an option. \"\"Think bus fare,\"\" Tussler said in an email to us. \"\"Then how much can you carry? Then think once a month you pay for a taxi. You buy case goods because they don't spoil. You freeze meat and buy Wonder Bread because it doesn't mold. Then you get milk at the corner store.\"\" While access to good quality, healthier foods has improved only marginally on the north side in recent years, Tussler said, \"\"the south side has been a big winner.\"\" She noted the expansion by local El Rey markets and the addition of large stores such as the Pick ‘N Save at S. 19th St. and W. National Ave. Overall, on this part of Tate’s claim, we heard -- and saw for ourselves -- that fruit is for sale on the north side, but not necessarily in the kind of quantities that make it as affordable or as fresh as in some other neighborhoods. And getting to the store that has what a family needs can be a challenge for some. The legislation, meanwhile, was pending in the state Senate as of late May 2013. The city of Milwaukee took no position on the bill. Our rating Tate, the Democratic Party official, decried the lack of healthy and affordable food options in some Milwaukee neighborhoods. \"\"A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,\"\" Tate said, and \"\"good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option\"\" at stores there. He’s mostly right on the price comparison, and is partially accurate in suggesting it’s very difficult to locate fresh fruit. While fresh fruit can be found at big and some small stores, it’s more available in some low-income areas more than others, and getting there, finding it worth eating and paying for it are a challenge for some, according to experts and residents.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,\"\" and in some Milwaukee neighborhoods \"\"good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0958876507594a3ea8a0941c2d6997fb",
            "input": "All 46 schools in the district serving Grand Junction and the surrounding area were closed and won’t reopen until after the Thanksgiving break so custodians can disinfect surfaces. Norovirus is a highly contagious bug that causes diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms, and can spread quickly in public places. It’s most common in winter but can be seen any time of year. The outbreak was first seen last week at a high school before spreading to other schools. Officials in the district, the largest in western Colorado with 22,000 students, believe there is now another related strain of the virus that has affected some students who were previously sick. “We are taking this highly unusual action because this virus is extremely contagious and spreading quickly across our schools,” district nursing coordinator Tanya Martin said. It’s not clear how many students have become sick. Some custodians also became ill, slowing down the cleaning process, but it’s unknown if the suspected viruses were to blame. Nicole Comstock, communicable disease deputy branch chief for the state Department of Public Health and Environment, told The Daily Sentinel that there are about 150 to 200 suspected norovirus outbreaks in the state each year. She said most occur at nursing homes but outbreaks at schools are not uncommon. The U.S. Air Force Academy outside Colorado Springs reported that 400 cadets have been sickened by norovirus since October, but the outbreak hasn’t disrupted classes. The Gazette reported that infected cadets are kept on bed rest for at least three days after their symptoms disappear before they can be cleared to return to class and training.",
            "output": [
                "Suspected norovirus outbreak closes 46 Colorado schools."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a5861a95ee146f8937ab9376049f9f7",
            "input": "The increased scrutiny of medical exemptions was announced Friday and follows the elimination of religious exemptions. The new regulations aim to keep people from obtaining medical exemptions for non-medical reasons. The Department of Health says doctors who issue medical exemptions will now be required to complete a state form specifically outlining medical reasons preventing a child from receiving each required vaccine. Amid the nation’s worst measles outbreak in decades, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June signed a law ending all non-medical exemptions for vaccines required for children to attend school in the state. The Centers for Disease Control has counted nearly 1,200 cases of measles in 30 states this year.",
            "output": [
                "New York issues stricter rules on vaccine medical exemptions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0368ba008db24a8bb63fcdb0b236dc89",
            "input": "Acadia Montana closed its 108-bed hospital in July, shortly after Oregon officials questioned its use of injected medications, such as antihistamines, to control the behavior of a 9-year-old foster child from Oregon. The former patient, Alexander Miller, 21, alleges negligence, assault and infliction of emotional distress during his time as a patient seven years ago, the Missoulian reported Sunday. Officials with Acadia did not respond to calls seeking comment on Miller’s lawsuit. Separately, 30 former employees are seeking back pay alleging Acadia Healthcare violated a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days notice to employees before a layoff of more than 100 people. Acadia has argued that it was not subject to the federal law because it did not employ 100 people when it closed. Attorneys for the former employees allege Acadia incrementally laid people off, driving the number of employees down so it wouldn’t fall under the federal notification law.",
            "output": [
                "Lawsuits filed against closed psychiatric facility."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f115c9aaf6654696ac57194fdbf5496d",
            "input": "The Utah Waste Management and Radiation Control Board on Thursday voted unanimously to reject the military ordnance after EnergySolutions had petitioned the Department of Environmental Quality for an exemption to Utah’s provisional prohibition on burying the radioactive munitions. Agency staff and outside consultants concluded metallic depleted uranium is more hazardous and unstable than the processing company had characterized in its presentations. “While disappointed by the Utah regulators’ recommendation today,” said the firm’s marketing vice president, Mark Walker, “EnergySolutions will continue to cooperate with the ongoing regulatory review of the performance assessment that was initially submitted to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality in 2011 and concurs with the (waste) board’s request to expeditiously complete their review.” Stephen Marschke, a nuclear engineer with SC&A Consulting, told the board that the company has failed to demonstrate that the “exemption will not result in undue hazard to public health and safety or result in undue hazard to the environment.” Board members said they were uncomfortable authorizing such waste before the Department of Environmental Quality completes its long-running “performance assessment” of the Clive facility, located 80 miles (about 130 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City, where EnergySolutions hopes to bury far more depleted uranium oxide, a granular waste product from the uranium-enrichment process. EnergySolutions wanted regulatory approval to avoid a lengthy performance assessment so it could competitively bid on a U.S. Department of Defense contract for the munitions disposal. The 5,000 cubic yards (about 3,800 cubic meters) of 30 mm bullets are at Tooele Army Depot and a military installation in Indiana. Don Verbica, with the radiation control division, said he didn’t believe previous assessments done at the Clive facility addressed the risks posed by depleted uranium metal. “They have to demonstrate that (disposal of the material) will not result in an undue hazard to public health, safety and the environment,” Verbica said. Verbica added that depleted uranium metal is chemically unstable, relatively mobile and pyrophoric, or able to ignite spontaneously.",
            "output": [
                "Utah denies EnergySolutions from accepting depleted uranium."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97c1ccfacd514c70b712e5ad7298f4c3",
            "input": "\"\"\"We're No. 23\"\" may not sound like a stirring claim, but Gov. John Kasich has been using one version of it to lead cheers for Ohio. \"\"We jumped 11 spaces since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly,\"\" he said in an interview July 12, 2011, with former Fox News colleague Sean Hannity, crediting the improvement to \"\"probably the most massive comprehensive piece of legislation passed in modern times in Ohio.\"\" He was referring to the recently passed state budget, which he signed into law June 30. He cited more accomplishments and some sources of information when he repeated the claim the next day with former House colleague Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC: \"\"My state was dying. It is my job to get us out of this. We jumped, according to CNBC, 11 places since I've become governor as business friendly in America.\"\" And Kasich got a third chance to tout Ohio July 17, 2001, on NBC's \"\"Meet the Press,\"\" telling host David Gregory: \"\"Ohio was dying, and we are beginning to really become business-friendly. ... In Ohio, because we faced our $8 billion budget deficit and provide tax relief, what's happened? CNBC says we've jumped 11 points, 11 places in terms of business-friendly.\"\" PolitiFact Ohio decided to take a look at the claim. The governor’s office confirmed he was talking about CNBC's annual rating of \"\"America's top states for business,\"\" which the business channel released in June. Ohio ranked 23rd. That is, in fact, an advance of 11 spots from last year’s list, which made Ohio the most improved state (followed by Florida and Pennsylvania). CNBC said its study used input from business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness to rank states in 10 categories: cost of doing business; workforce; quality of life; economy; transportation and infrastructure; technology and innovation; education; business friendliness; access to capital, and cost of living. Ohio's biggest improvement came in the \"\"cost of doing business\"\" category, based on tax burden, including individual income and property taxes, and business taxes, particularly as they apply to new investments. Utilities, wages and rental space were also figured. That specific improvement was hailed by the Ohio Business Development Coalition, which said, \"\"Ohio improved to 5th place from 29th place last year due to a multi-year effort to reform the state's tax structure, which took full effect in 2010.\"\" In April, the coalition noted, a report from Ernst & Young with the Council On State Taxation ranked Ohio as having the third friendliest tax environment in the nation. Those tax reforms came before Kasich's watch, however; they started two administrations ago, under Republican Gov. Bob Taft and a GOP-controlled legislature in 2005. Kasich can claim some credit in the category of economy, where the study measured each state’s fiscal health by looking at projected budget gaps or surpluses for the coming fiscal year. Ohio moved up 10 spots to 24th. We think it's fair to allow the governor some license for salesmanship, but we don't think it's splitting hairs to note that the CNBC study did not give Ohio high marks for being \"\"job friendly\"\" or \"\"business friendly\"\" as he stated. His underlying meaning is that Ohio’s business climate has improved, and his wording is similar to the name of the study, \"\"America’s top states for business.\"\" But Ohio did not fare as well in some of the study’s 10 categories as it did overall. One category specifically graded states \"\"on the perceived 'friendliness' of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business.\"\" Ohio ranked 42nd in it. The state was dead last in the \"\"workforce\"\" category. CNBC says states were rated \"\"on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs.\"\" CNBC's list is one of many. Chief Executive magazine annually rates the \"\"best/worst states for business,\"\" using input on \"\"overall business-friendliness\"\" from 550 CEOs. Ohio this year ranked 41st -- improved two places from last year but down 19 places from 2006, making the state one of the biggest losers over five years (with Illinois, Washington, Maryland and Pennsylvania). The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation ranked Ohio 46th in its state business tax rankings for 2011. But the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, a trade group that represents small businesses and advocates for less government regulation, annually issues a rigorous \"\"Business Tax Index\"\" that pulls together 18 different tax measures to rank the states from best to worst in terms of the costs of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business. The index for 2011, published in April, ranked Ohio 9th. The SBE Council also has a \"\"Small Business Survival Index\"\" that evaluates states in 36 categories including  corporate and income taxes, gas and diesel taxes, government spending, health care and energy costs, inheritance taxes, and workers compensation costs. The latest, released in December, rated Ohio 9th in the nation, up from 11th a year earlier. So where does that leave the governor’s claim? He was correct that Ohio jumped 11 places in a study from CNBC, although he misstated the name of the study. The state didn’t fare as well in some catagories of that study, including one that specifically looked at perceived friendliness to business. There also are several other rankings for business climate and tax burdens out there. In some of those, Ohio has shown improvement. Others, however, still have the state low in their rankings. And some of the tax changes that boosted the state were put in place by previous administrations. Kasich was trying to show progress in Ohio, selling both the state and his stewardship. In his claim, he was citing only one study. On that study his statement was accurate, but these other points help clarify the picture. On the Truth-O-Meter, that gets a rating of .\"",
            "output": [
                "We jumped 11 places since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b27ec598f14849ff85b295967c2bfaea",
            "input": "President Sebastian Pinera said on Thursday during a tour of the affected zone that there was evidence the fire had been started deliberately. “I deeply regret that what should have been a good night, a night of peace, should have been so profoundly altered by this tragedy,” he said. Valparaiso, known for its colorful wood-frame houses, is popular among tourists in the South American country. The fire broke out in a forested area on the outskirts of the city and spread toward the coast, hitting the Rocuant and San Roque hills, a jumble of settlements that overlook the city. Inhabitants fled their homes just moments before sitting down to their Christmas Eve dinner, some losing all their belongings and even pets. Marta Pinto, 78, said her granddaughter spotted the fire coming down the hill and raised the alarm. “They took me to the house of a niece because I suffer from lung disease,” she told Reuters. “My husband arrived and said: ‘Love, we have lost everything.’ I´ve cried all my tears already. My heart is so sore for everything that has happened to us, to our neighbors, in this tremendous tragedy.”  Juan Silva Suazo, 68, said he had lost his home and all of the possessions he spent 45 years accumulating. “So many years of sacrifice, it has cost me so much to make my house and now that I´m retired, I have no way of making it back,” he said. “I have polio, I cannot stand for a long time, or sit for a long time either as I have osteoporosis in my hips, knees and feet. We are sleeping in a bathroom right now, it´s terrible.”       Chile´s forestry commission said the fire was only fully brought under control at midday on Thursday with the help of nine firefighting teams, five helicopters and two water trucks. A total of 132 hectares of vegetation were destroyed, it added. Agriculture Minister Antonio Walker said the high temperatures at the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December to March, and dry conditions caused by a historic drought currently blighting Chile had provided fertile ground for the fire. Valparaiso’s mayor Jorge Sharp, said on Wednesday he had filed a criminal complaint with the courts against those who started the fire, once they are identified. “That this fire was intentionally started is, from various indications, clear and we want to know who is responsible and why they would want to cause so much damage to Valparaiso,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Wildfire in Chilean port city of Valparaiso leaves 700 homeless."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31bd69a7bd02475296dc3fb29383bd0c",
            "input": "Thomas Metzmacher was faced with the prospect of having to shut down his Frankfurt restaurant specializing in a traditional tart hard cider due to German regulations prohibiting groups of people from gathering amid the coronavirus pandemic. So he came up with a novel solution. After toying with the idea of a delivery service, he instead turned his half-timbered restaurant into a makeshift drive-thru. Now he is serving up schnitzel, fried potatoes and other German favorites — of course the tasty Aeppelwoi cider — to customers waiting in a long line of cars. “The restaurant had to close, nobody was allowed to sit inside anymore, so it was either give up or fight,” he said. “And I decided to fight.” Metzmacher’s Zum Lahmen Esel restaurant, which has been in operation since 1807, normally seats 200 people inside and another 200 in an outdoor garden. Now, cars drive up to a small booth in front of the restaurant, where one of Metzmacher’s 36 employees takes their order, and then pushes a plastic tub down a makeshift slide to the car’s window to take payment at a safe distance. Driving ahead, the customer gets their order in another tub pushed to their window. “It’s going great,” says Metzmacher. “My regulars are supporting me, they’re really happy I’m open.” Without people sticking around for a few more of the signature ciders, profit margins are low but Metzmacher says it’s better than nothing. “At least we’re carrying on and we’re continuing to work,” he says.",
            "output": [
                "German restaurant takes novel approach to keep cider flowing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9b5aa622a9e42f4b79cae9b77e0cef6",
            "input": "\"Wearing pink shirts and holding up signs, people gathered outside the Statehouse in Trenton recently as Democratic legislators led a rally to increase women’s health care funding in the face of opposition from Gov. Chris Christie. When Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. (D-Burlington/Camden) addressed the crowd on June 20, he claimed Christie also has been cutting health care funding for another group: people with AIDS. \"\"This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life,\"\" said Conaway, a physician specializing in internal medicine. \"\"People who have AIDS today can live out their life...almost as long as anybody else if they get the drugs they need and this governor, time and time again, has cut that.\"\" PolitiFact New Jersey confirmed that the Christie administration had cut or proposed to cut state funding for AIDS and HIV services, but in two cases, other funding sources would allow the same number of individuals receiving those services to be served. When we asked Conaway’s chief of staff, Ethan Hasbrouck, to back up the statement, he pointed to two funding cuts in the governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 as well as a change made last year in eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. Although a final budget for fiscal year 2012 was approved at the end of June, this Truth-O-Meter item focuses on the proposed budget at the time of Conaway’s statement. We later called Hasbrouck twice and sent him multiple emails to set up an interview with Conaway about our findings, but we never heard back. Let’s review those three items one at a time. Hasbrouck said the fiscal year 2011 budget lowered the income eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. That disqualified about 960 people from the program, saving $7.9 million. But the state later set up a new drug benefits program to assist those individuals who would no longer be eligible under the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. That new program was funded through additional rebates from pharmaceutical companies and a new federal grant program. The state increased AIDS Drug Distribution Program funding last year for people who met the new income eligibility, but reduced spending in other categories of HIV services, according to Dawn Thomas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Now, let’s turn to the cuts in the originally proposed fiscal year 2012 budget. Hasbrouck correctly states that the governor’s proposed budget would have cut $4.7 million for special-care nursing facilities, including Broadway House in Newark, the state’s only long-term care facility for people living with HIV and AIDS. The second proposed cut cited by Hasbrouck was $3.7 million from the AIDS Drug Distribution Program. Although that state funding was proposed to be cut, the mix of funding sources would enable the same amount of participants to receive access to medications through both the AIDS Drug Distribution Program and the other drug benefits program, according to Thomas. But remember this: two of the funding cuts cited by Hasbrouck were only proposals at the time of the assemblyman’s statement. Here’s how the final budget for fiscal year 2012 affects AIDS and HIV funding:  The income eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program was restored to its previous level, but state funding for the program has been further reduced for a total cut of about $10.7 million, Thomas wrote in an email. Other funding sources will allow the same number of participants to be served, she wrote. The budget reduces overall funding for nursing facilities, but there is no longer a specific cut to special-care nursing facilities like Broadway House, Thomas wrote. The impact on those special-care facilities remains unclear, she wrote. Let’s review:  Conaway claimed at a Statehouse rally that Christie has repeatedly cut AIDS funding. His chief of staff pointed to three pieces of evidence, one from the budget approved last year and two from the proposed budget for fiscal year 2012. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed cuts to AIDS and HIV funding in both budgets. But last year, a new program was created to assist people impacted by the eligibility change. This year, state funding was proposed to be cut, but other funding sources were to maintain services for participants. Conaway correctly stated that Christie has cut state funding for AIDS and HIV programs, but at least when it comes to pharmaceutical assistance, people continued to receive medicine for their AIDS and HIV treatment. To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com.\"",
            "output": [
                "This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4e93f8bc33b48699a0509e6be1913eb",
            "input": "The bulk of the money will come from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and its affiliates for paying to delay a generic narcolepsy drug, Provigil, from entering the market for nearly six years. Teva is paying $69 million, which Becerra says is the largest pay-for-delay settlement received by any state. Such agreements let the developer of brand name drugs keep their monopolies over the drugs after their patents expire, thereby letting them continue to charge consumers higher prices. The drug developer pays the generic manufacturer to keep the cheaper version of the drug from entering the marketplace for an agreed period of time. Teva said the money will come from a pre-existing fund that was created in 2015 as part of the company’s settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over similar claims, and it will not make any additional payments. Becerra said such agreements can force consumers and the health care market to pay as much as 90% more than if there were generic alternatives. More than $25 million of the settlement will go to a consumer fund for California residents who purchased Provigil, Nuvigil or Modafinil between 2006 and 2012. “No one in America should be forced to skip or ration doses of medicine that they need ... and certainly not because a drug company is colluding to keep the price of your drug artificially high even when cheaper options could be available. But that’s what’s happening,” Becerra said. The second, $760,000 settlement is with Teva, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Teikoku Pharma USA over keeping a genetic alternative to the pain patch Lidoderm from entering the market for nearly two years. Teva said it is paying $200,000 to cover the state’s legal costs after settling similar federal claims earlier this year. Neither Endo nor Teikoku responded to requests for comment. Both settlements bar the companies from pay-for-delay agreements for several years. Teva is agreeing to not to enter any such agreements for 10 years, while Endo Pharmaceuticals has an eight-year agreement and Teikoku a 20-year injunction. Teva said the restriction is identical to its federal consent decree. Becerra also backed pending legislation, AB824 by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Santa Rosa, that would ban such agreements. The measure would require pharmaceutical companies to prove that their agreements are not anticompetitive. It passed the Assembly 56-0 in May and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Pharmaceutical companies oppose the bill, arguing the Federal Trade Commission already does this monitoring. ___ This story has been corrected to say that while there are four settlement agreements, they involve only three companies.",
            "output": [
                "3 companies pay California $70 million for delaying drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44e542581ec44f559b223abf2b7e67b5",
            "input": "Measures to curb the movement of people, imposed to contain the spread of the virus, have hit car sales hard, leading Germany’s Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) on Thursday to abandon its full year outlook and issue a profit warning. As Germany prepares to ease lockdown measures which will allow car dealerships to reopen, lobby group VDA said demand needed to a boost. “There is currently no reason for optimism. It is likely that economic support measures will be necessary in order to revive overall economic demand and, in particular, the demand for vehicles,” Hildegard Mueller, president of German auto industry association VDA said in a statement on Thursday. How such incentives should be structured and funded depends on how well demand rebounds after Germany loosens lockdown measures, Mueller said. “We will only be able to estimate what is actually necessary once the car dealerships have opened. Then we will see how customers will behave.”  Politicians and the auto industry need to act in a timely fashion, she cautioned. “It will be too late to talk about possible demand impulses in autumn.”  Mueller’s remarks, made on Wednesday and published by the VDA on Thursday, follow calls for state aid made by Bavarian premier Markus Soeder on April 8. At the time, he called for a cash-for-clunkers scrappage scheme to boost low emission cars, an idea which was immediately endorsed by BMW’s Chief Executive Oliver Zipse. “We need to have another very specific discussion about how we can strengthen the automotive sector. And I think it is necessary to develop a model similar to the scrappage scheme in order to give a massive boost to domestic demand,” Soeder said, adding that measures were needed to boost demand for low emission vehicles in particular. “Let’s be quite honest, all the new engines have not yet been as successful on the market as we thought. Now is the chance to start a project in which we can promote cars in Germany with an innovation premium.”  Stephan Weil, the premier of Lower Saxony, the German state which owns a 20% stake in Volkswagen, this week told Hannoverschen Allgemeine Zeitung that the country needed an “eco scrappage scheme” to boost demand for electric and hybrid cars. Tobias Austrup, a transport specialist at environmental lobby group Greenpeace, also welcomed the idea. “It is good that Weil and Soeder link any state aid for the car industry to ecological progress this time. If all taxpayers make this money available, then everyone must benefit from it - for example through better air, less climate damage and secure jobs.”",
            "output": [
                "German auto industry calls for incentives to boost green car demand."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a163b3d546a346f98bd2c6f77a05c3fc",
            "input": "Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), told a briefing that the virus may have been “reactivated” rather than the patients being re-infected. South Korean health officials said it remains unclear what is behind the trend, with epidemiological investigations still under way. The prospect of people being re-infected with the virus is of international concern, as many countries are hoping that infected populations will develop sufficient immunity to prevent a resurgence of the pandemic. The South Korean figure had risen from 51 such cases on Monday. Nearly 7,000 South Koreans have been reported as recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. “The number will only increase, 91 is just the beginning now,” said Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital. The KCDC’s Jeong raised the possibility that rather than patients being re-infected, the virus may have been “reactivated”. Kim also said patients had likely “relapsed” rather than been re-infected. False test results could also be at fault, other experts said, or remnants of the virus could still be in patients’ systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others. “There are different interpretations and many variables,” said Jung Ki-suck, professor of pulmonary medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital. “The government needs to come up with responses for each of these variables”. South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases, its lowest after daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February, according to KCDC, adding the total stood at 10,450 cases. The death toll rose by seven to 211, it said. The city of Daegu, which endured the first large coronavirus outbreak outside of China, reported zero new cases for the first time since late February. With at least 6,807 confirmed cases, Daegu accounts for more than half of all South Korea’s total infections. The spread of infections at a church in Daegu drove a spike in cases in South Korea beginning in late February. The outbreak initially pushed the tally of confirmed cases much higher than anywhere else outside of China, before the country used widespread testing and social distancing measures to bring the numbers down.",
            "output": [
                "South Korea reports recovered coronavirus patients testing positive again."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d882615ac44f42e383971f1c0e2b7f89",
            "input": "\"Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate making a strong run in a historically Republican House district, recently aired an ad in which he sought to burnish his credentials as an opponent of unnecessary government spending. Speaking directly to the camera, Ossoff, a former congressional aide, said in part, \"\"Both parties in Washington waste too much of your money. When I worked there I helped  expose waste and abuse by government contractors. We need stricter oversight and tougher penalties. They need to be held accountable. And there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs. That can be cut.\"\" We wondered where that $16 billion figure came from, so we did some due diligence. When we contacted the Ossoff campaign, they sent us to a report published every year since 2011 by the Government Accountability Office, the respected, nonpartisan, investigative arm of Congress. The report, which is mandated by law, is designed to point out programs, offices and practices in government that could be eliminated or changed because they duplicate other government functions or fail to provide value for the taxpayer. Ossoff’s campaign said the $16 billion figure came from several line items in the GAO report that the candidate has reviewed and believes can be eliminated in short order and without significant harm. Here’s a list. (For readers who want the full, in-the-weeds description of these programs, you can refer to the GAO report.) • Consolidate federal data centers: Save $5.4 billion. • Use \"\"strategic sourcing\"\" at the Defense Department: Save $4 billion. • Expand joint basing at the Defense Department: Save $2.3 billion. • Improve \"\"demonstrative spending\"\" at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Save at least $2 billion. • Improve management of oil and gas resources on federal lands: Save $1.7 billion. • Consolidate mobile communications: Save $388 million. • Improve oversight of state spending under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Save at least $200 million. These seven items add up to almost exactly $16 billion. That said, it’s worth noting that only some, not all, are duplicative in the strictest sense; with some of these recommendations, the GAO is calling for improved oversight or management. Also, the $16 billion figure doesn’t include all recommendations in the GAO report -- or even all of those that stem specifically from programs or efforts that GAO deemed duplicative. We found at least two recommendations from the report that suggested savings from duplicative programs: • Prevent individuals from collecting both full disability insurance benefits and unemployment insurance benefits that cover the same period: Save $1.9 billion from 2016 to 2025. • Terminate the U.S. Family Health Plan and have other DOD health care contractors take over its duties: Save $189 million over fiscal years 2017 to 2022. Meanwhile, the report includes a wide range of other recommendations that Ossoff has not explicitly said he supports. (We excluded recommendations where GAO was unable to provide a specific dollar figure.) They include: • Conduct timely children’s disability reviews to ensure that only eligible children receive Supplemental Security Income benefits: Save $3.1 billion over five years • Obtain better data to better enforce offsets and ensure benefit fairness in Social Security. Save $2.4 billion to $7.9 billion over 10 years. • Limit the subsidy for crop insurance premiums for individual farmers: Save $2 billion annually • Permanently rescind the U.S. Enrichment Corp. Fund: Save $1.6 billion • Market the Energy Department’s excess uranium: Secure $1 billion in additional revenue. • Modify how Medicare pays certain cancer hospitals: Save $500 million annually. • Broaden the Internal Revenue Service’s authority to correct simple tax return errors in order to avoid audits: Secure $274 million in additional revenue over fiscal years 2018 to 2026. • Achieve greater cost efficiencies with checked baggage inspection: Save $234 million in 2015 to 2027. • Adjust the air passenger immigration inspection user fee to fully recover the cost of inspection activities: Save almost $175 million. So when Ossoff says \"\"there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs\"\" that can be cut, he’s actually undercounting. GAO found at least $13 billion in additional specified savings that Ossoff did not allude to in the ad, plus even more when savings of unspecified amounts are included. (The campaign told PolitiFact that there \"\"a lot of additional areas for cutting wasteful government spending that he thinks are worth examining as well.\"\") A final note: $16 billion is real money, but it’s still a fairly small fraction of overall federal spending. Total federal spending is about $4 trillion for fiscal year 2017, and even if you exclude mandatory spending on such programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the accumulated debt, the government still spends more than $1 trillion a year on \"\"discretionary\"\" programs. Our ruling Ossoff said that in the federal government, \"\"there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs\"\" that can be cut. There are indeed $16 billion in cuts recommended by a credible study published by a nonpartisan arm of Congress, though not all are examples of duplication. The actual universe of cuts offered by GAO is even higher -- somewhere north of an additional $13 billion. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In the federal government, \"\"there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs\"\" that can be cut.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a054e7bbd09d49ea911a0990a1f93e84",
            "input": "The Yakima Health District said Thursday that the cases involve people experiencing homelessness or those who use illicit drugs. The health district announced the outbreak Nov. 7, when five cases were confirmed in Yakima County. Since then, various local agencies have done outreach and vaccinated 74 people. The virus affects the liver and spreads through contaminated feces. It causes symptoms like fever, dark urine, yellow-tinged skin or eyes, fatigue and gastric issues. People pass it along by eating or drinking tainted food or water, or through sex. On July 30, the Washington State Department of Health announced a multi-county hepatitis A outbreak. Through genetic testing, it was found that the Yakima County hepatitis A strain that is being observed is related to the hepatitis A outbreak in Spokane.",
            "output": [
                "Hepatitis A outbreak increases to 11 cases in Yakima County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6c74b190d2bf4b0692d8d5eb5ff8eaed",
            "input": "The groups delivered a letter to the president dated January 16 reminding Obama of a campaign pledge the groups said he made in 2007 as he campaigned in Iowa to work to label so-called GMO foods. The issue is hotly contested, with more than 20 states considering laws to mandate labeling of foods made with gene-altered corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other biotech crops. Currently, labeling of such foods is voluntary. Advocates of labeling say consumers deserve to know if the food they eat contains GMOs. But the makers of biotech crops, and many large food manufacturers have fought against mandatory labeling, arguing that genetically modified crops are not materially different and pose no safety risk, and labeling would mislead consumers. Among the signatories on Thursday’s letter to President Obama are the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, cereal maker Nature’s Path, organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms, the Consumer Federation of America and several environmental and health groups. “We believe there should be a mandatory national labeling system. FDA has a duty to act when the absence of labeling would leave consumers confused about the foods they buy,” the groups said in their letter. Four Democratic members of Congress held a press conference on Thursday to support the call on Obama for mandatory labeling - U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon; U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut; U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster from New Hampshire; and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree from Maine. The move comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to pre-empt any state labeling mandates in favor of a federal standard for voluntary labeling, and to allow some GMO foods to be labeled “natural.”  Most of the biotech crops on the market have been genetically altered to repel pests or tolerate direct spraying of herbicides. Those crops are used in a vast array of food products. The companies that develop them say the crops are safe, and are backed by many scientific studies. But U.S. government regulators do not independently test GMO crops before approving them for commercialization. And there are also many studies showing links to human and animal health problems, and environmental damage. Last October, an international coalition of scientists declared there still was no consensus in the global scientific community about the safety of genetically modified crops, which were first commercialized in 1996.",
            "output": [
                "Organic food and farm groups ask Obama to require GMO food labels."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-250dfcd444ca4d6aa70f30a85107392a",
            "input": "\"Like its competitors, the Times did not discuss costs–an omission which perhaps is more acceptable in this story since it clearly indicated that this is not very close to being a marketable product. Nevertheless, we would have liked to have seen some mention of the financial impact. Many patients with type 1 diabetes are not using currently available pumps and sensors because of the high cost of these devices. It seems likely that this new treatment, if it ever becomes widely available, will be as expensive or more so than the current pump and sensor technology. We applaud the Times for avoiding the term \"\"artificial pancreas\"\" in the headline and using it sparingly in the body of the story. The competing stories couldn’t resist it. We can understand why marketers and media relations people would favor this term because of its promotional value, but we don’t think it’s a good way to describe this technology in an objective piece of journalism. \"\"Artificial pancreas\"\" is misleading because we’re not really anywhere close to being able to replicate what the normal human pancreas does through artificial technology. Forgetting for a moment that the pancreas does much more than simply dispense insulin (it also produces a number of other hormones and digestive enzymes that aren’t impacted by diabetes), what’s more important is how the pancreas works in concert with the brain and other systems to regulate glucose in a very tight range. The normal human pancreas starts releasing insulin before we eat in response to complex environmental cues, whereas any artificial system would need to be told that meal is coming or react to the rise in glucose after the fact. Plus, insulin produced by the body starts acting right away, whereas insulin analogues take about 20 minutes to take effect. Put this all together and we see that the \"\"artificial pancreas\"\" will, for the foreseeable future, require human intervention to predict post-meal insulin needs and dosing or else patients will be at risk of post-meal blood sugar spikes. And it’s not at all clear that such a system will improve overall blood sugar management compared with existing methods. The term \"\"artificial pancreas\"\" conjures up a vision of totally automated glucose management and essentially a \"\"cure\"\" for type 1 diabetes. This is overselling what the technology can do. The Times waited until the last 3 paragraphs of an 1,100-word story to hint that an automated system could deliver unsafe doses of insulin. It isn’t until the last sentence that we learn that the system would need to be \"\"exquisitely reliable\"\" in order to be safe. We feel the story should have raised these issues earlier and that it could have done more to emphasize just how difficult it will be for any device to calculate insulin requirements on the fly. Insulin dosing is affected by factors ranging from how much a person has exercised to what and how much they have eaten. It’s conceivable that technology can account for all of these variables, but there are a lot ways things could go wrong, with potentially deadly results. It’s a close call, but we don’t feel the story did enough to call attention to these issues. In contrast to its competitors, which all led readers to believe there had been a fully automated system sensing glucose levels and dispensing insulin to the participants in this study, the Times noted that the insulin was dispensed by a nurse based on calculations made by a computer algorithm. The Times clearly indicated that the significance of this test was as a \"\"proof of concept\"\" that the algorithm works and is safe, not as a test of any specific device. It noted that a fully automated system combining glucose monitoring and insulin delivery was still \"\"hypothetical.\"\" In addition, the Times story was the only one to draw attention to the small size of this study and the fact the findings were not statistically significant for the primary outcomes. This note of caution was completely lacking from the competing coverage. The story did not exaggerate the effects of type 1 diabetes. The story includes quotes from interviews with one of the study investigators and another researcher, and identifies both as having ties to diabetes products manufacturers. It also quotes an analyst at an investment firm. It would have been better had they included one more source who didn’t have commercial ties to specific products. The story describes currently available technology for glucose monitoring and insulin infusion. It describes the limitations of current approaches for managing insulin, especially during the overnight period. The story is a bit misleading in that it leaves the impression that all type 1 diabetics are currently using pumps at night. This is not actually the case. Most people are doing self monitoring of blood glucose and making judgement calls on whether and how much insulin to administer. However, the story does enough for a satisfactory in our view. The Times did a good job of describing the system used in this study and how close it is to being commercially available. It called the system \"\"experimental\"\" and said that it was \"\"not fully automated.\"\" It said that a fully automated glucose monitor/insulin delivery system was still \"\"hypothetical\"\" and would face regulatory hurdles before it could be marketed to the public. The story describes the progression from skin prick glucose testing to continuous monitoring and insulin pumps. It places the new developments in this field on this continuum. There could have been more discussion of many of the recent advances that have made daytime hyper- and hypoglycemia less of a problem such as the newer short-acting insulins. The story did not rely on any news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Insulin Study Could Lead to New Dosage Devices"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-840fbd8123bc4ff1a48105c2995eaf18",
            "input": "Dawkins told Hoosiers coach Tom Allen on Sunday he was leaving the program after enrolling in school this summer as a graduate transfer from Arizona. He lost the starting job to Peyton Ramsey. Dawkins had not provided a public explanation until writing a post Wednesday night on Instagram. In it he explained he needed a “take a break from the game.” Dawkins indicated he also had lost the “joy” he felt playing the sport over the past couple of seasons and needed to take care of himself. He thanked the psychology teams he worked with at both Indiana and Arizona. ___ More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25",
            "output": [
                "Dawkins says he gave up football because of mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c0f6a1bc18084083892eb1f5cce42cc6",
            "input": "Attorney General Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department on Wednesday filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to require regular groundwater and surface water sampling as the case proceeds. They also want the Air Force to offer voluntary blood tests for residents who may have been exposed to the contamination as well as provide additional documentation on the extent of contamination around Cannon and Holloman air bases. The state sued in April, saying the federal government has a responsibility to clean up toxic chemicals left behind by past military firefighting activities. “I am extremely frustrated that the Air Force has not been responsive to protecting the health and safety of New Mexican families by addressing years of environmental pollution,” Balderas said in a statement. The contamination is linked to chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Air Force has not commented directly on the pending litigation but has argued its response to PFAS contamination in New Mexico and elsewhere has been aggressive. Officials have said they’ve been working with regulators to identify and implement long-term solutions to prevent exposure. New Mexico environmental regulators first issued a notice of violation to the Air Force in 2018 for failing to properly address the contamination at Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis. They followed earlier this year on Holloman, saying that base had violated its state permit and had yet to respond to concerns about the pollution near Alamogordo. Balderas in May requested that a publicly accessible lake at Holloman be closed to limit exposure after sampling indicated PFAS contamination was dozens of times higher than federal health advisory levels. Fed by treated wastewater from the base, the lake already is off limits to swimming but camping is allowed along the shoreline. Balderas’ office said Wednesday it believed the lake was still open. Similar contamination has been found at dozens of military sites across the nation, and growing evidence that exposure can be dangerous has prompted the EPA to consider setting a maximum level for the chemicals in drinking water nationwide. Currently only non-enforceable drinking water health advisories are in place. Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have argued that the contamination needs to be addressed. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes some provisions aimed at tackling PFAS, from funding further study on the best ways to clean up and dispose of contaminated groundwater and soils to assistance for dairies and other affected businesses.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico AG ‘frustrated’ with response to contamination."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e32ec7cf43b2451490c569f2032b04e4",
            "input": "The breakout of COVID-19 not only altered plans to promote the book but also kept him home from work. “General Hospital” stopped production March 15. The ABC show recently began airing four new shows a week with flashbacks edited in to pad the episodes; Benard believes the show has enough material to get through mid-May. “It’s a very hard time and people are thrown from their routines or they’re alone in isolation,” said Benard, 57, in a recent interview from his Los Angeles home. “I’m having anxiety and last week I had it horribly. It’s weird for me. I need to act.” Benard says even though routines are altered, people shouldn’t pause their commitment to taking care of themselves: “You can’t let that stop you from working out and eating well. You’ve got to stay out of your thoughts because that’s where the demon is.” Benard has won a Daytime Emmy Award for his portrayal of Sonny Corinthos, a mobster who is beloved by his friends and family and feared by his enemies. His illness has been incorporated into his character’s story, which Benard calls “so nice.”  “It tells people, you know, Sonny is bipolar and Sonny can function. If Sonny can do it, then I can do it,” he said. His book, written with Susan Black, was born out of posting Sunday check-ins on social media about how he was feeling: “You’ve got to talk about it because if you hold it in, you will explode.” Both in the book and in his interview, Benard credits his wife and manager, Paula, for guiding him through his low points. “My wife is the one who, during the panic attacks or the harder times, has that calming voice, who makes everything much easier.” Benard has been on “General Hospital” for 25 years. This would naturally put him in a leadership position with his co-stars, but he says that wasn’t always the case because he wasn’t always approachable. “I’ve changed in the last five years. I used to be kind of tough. I think getting older, having a little more wisdom made something change in me,” he said. “Everybody’s noticed. What a great feeling to not feel ugliness inside.” Chad Duell, who plays his son Michael, said in an email to the AP: “He definitely has helped me grow as an actor, and he always brings out the best of me when I am working with him.”  “I loved working with Mo. He elevated my performance every time,” added Bryan Craig, who played another one of his sons, also via email. Benard said he relishes working with the younger actors on the show. “I love taking the young actors under my wing, especially when they’re talented. The young actors are winning Emmys,” he said. “At this point in my life I’m more proud of what they do than what I do.” ____ Follow Alicia Rancilio at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar",
            "output": [
                "Soap star Benard says quarantine hard on his mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-469e9f5971c54b38a455993f9f9366b9",
            "input": "The wheelchair-bound Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease aged 21 and told he had two to three years to live. Now 71, he is one of the world’s leading scientists, known especially for his work on black holes and as author of the international bestseller “A Brief History of Time”. Speaking ahead of the release of a documentary about his life this week, Hawking said he backed the right to die but only if the person involved had chosen that route. He recalled how he was once put on a life support machine after suffering pneumonia and his wife was given the option of switching off the machine but this is not something he wanted. “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives, and those who help them should be free from prosecution,” Hawking told the BBC. “There must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and are not being pressurized into it or have it done without their knowledge and consent as would have been the case with me.”  Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and the issue of whether or not to decriminalize it for people whose lives are unbearable is a matter of debate in many countries. Right-to-die advocates say people capable of making that decision should be allowed to die with dignity. Opponents say liberalizing the law could leave vulnerable people at risk. Switzerland and several U.S. states are among places where some forms of euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal under certain circumstances. Hawking, who has made guest appearances in TV shows such as The Simpsons and Star Trek, says his active mind and sense of humor are key to his survival. Hawking communicates via a cheek muscle linked to a sensor and computerized voice system. He urged anyone with a disability to focus on what they can do and not regret what they cannot do. “Theoretical physics is one field where being disabled is not a handicap. It is all in the mind,” said the scientist, who works at Cambridge University. The documentary “Hawking” by Vertigo Films is due to be released in Britain on September 20.",
            "output": [
                "British cosmologist Hawking backs right to assisted suicide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d48c79a7031645cea3a2a051184b3a93",
            "input": "The North Dakota Department of Health says the Herbology store will open in Minot on Thursday. Another dispensary is expected to open in Jamestown next Tuesday. State officials say more than 1,200 registry identification cards have been issued to qualifying medical marijuana patients. Division of Medical Marijuana director Jason Wahl says an estimated 85% of the state’s population will be within 50 miles of one of the seven open dispensaries by the end of the month. The final dispensary location, in Dickinson, is expected to be open by the end of the calendar year.",
            "output": [
                "Sixth medical marijuana store opens this week in ND."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7640b71e835340648613e227030abee9",
            "input": "Quarantining infected people and their family members, closing schools, and imposing workplace distancing and homeworking can all limit the spread, the study found, but a combination of all three is most effective in reducing cases. The global number of confirmed cases passed 377,000 across 194 countries and territories as of 0200 GMT on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 16,500 reported deaths. Singapore, which according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data had reported 455 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths as of March 22, has imposed some social distancing recommendations but has not closed its schools. Elsewhere, millions of children have seen their schools closed in the United States, across much of Europe and in many other countries as governments have imposed strict social lockdown measures to stop people meeting and mingling in groups. Published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the study, conducted by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), looked at a simulated Singapore setting to analyze the potential impact of social distancing policies. It found that while less effective than the combined three-pronged approach, quarantine plus workplace measures presented the next best option for reducing COVID-19 cases, followed by quarantine plus school closure, and then quarantine only. “The results of this study provide policy makers in Singapore and other countries with evidence to begin the implementation of enhanced outbreak control measures that could mitigate or reduce local transmission rates if deployed effectively and in a timely manner,” said Alex R Cook, an associate professor at NUS who co-led the work.",
            "output": [
                "Three-pronged distancing most effective at controlling COVID-19: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1b6906f551845b0bb7e572416f91e9b",
            "input": "The story doesn’t discuss costs for this new approach. One web source points to an average cost of $3,400 per eye for conventional cataract surgery, although the costs can be considerably less under some insurance plans. The story does not make clear if this procedure would be similarly priced. The story states the new procedure “restored vision in babies for the first time” but doesn’t describe any quantified benefits of this newer method. At the end of the story, we are told the researchers claimed a “100 percent” success rate three months after surgery. However, that’s not specific enough: Readers should be informed of how the researchers measured success–what were the outcomes they measured?–especially in such a young patient group where vision testing is tricky. The story doesn’t discuss short- or long-term harms that may arise from this new approach. It may be too soon for researchers to determine potential long-range harms from this approach, but saying that would have offered readers some perspective. The story explains that the study included a small number of infant patients (12) with a condition that differs from routine adult cataracts. The story did a good job of letting us know the study had some key limitations, primarily its short duration. As one source said, “this study wasn’t long enough. They [cataracts] may come back.” Ideally, the story would have specifically told us the length of time (six months), which helps readers better understand the need for more research with a larger pool of patients followed over a longer timeframe. It also should have been made clear if the study was randomized and included a control group. No, this story did not cross over into disease-mongering. It did a good job of explaining why it’s important to treat congenital cataracts. We were pleased to see multiple independent sources interviewed for this story. Seeking out multiple viewpoints can often surface new details about the illness or field of study, and place it in the context of wider research efforts and the typical patient experience. The story does a good job of describing conventional cataract surgery as the main alternative to this new procedure. The story includes several statements by the researchers saying that larger studies are needed as well as a longer follow-up period in patients before the success with this research is confirmed, which should give the average reader and understanding that this approach is not available at this time. A quote from one of the researchers also lets us know they hope to bring this surgery to the public within four to five years. The story says the study is the first to use the body’s own stem cells to regrow lenses in the eyes of babies with congenital conditions. This is enough to establish the novelty of the procedure. It also alludes to a possible use of the procedure in older adults, although it is cautious in that suggestion. The story did leave us curious about the technique in general and we would have welcomed a sentence or two about this emerging field of science. Are there similar procedures where the patient’s own stem cells repopulate damaged or missing tissue? What inspired the researchers to study? Given the multitude of independent sources, this story doesn’t appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "First-of-its-kind cataract surgery using stem cells shows promise"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6dfaab03fa2d48f6bc7c52ea1024b924",
            "input": "The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, meeting in Orlando, found that the state’s mental health system is too often a revolving door. Under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows a police officer, judge or mental health professional to involuntarily commit a person for a 72-hour evaluation, less than 1% of the 200,000 people examined last year received long-term treatment, the commission found. Many were released in less than a day despite repeated commitments because the system is set up to treat the immediate crisis that led to the Baker Act being implemented and not toward long-term treatment, the commission found. It also found that Florida ranks near the bottom among states in per capita spending on mental health at about $36 annually per resident, which the commission said contributes to short-term fixes instead of long-term solutions. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the commission’s chairman, said his department is now dealing with a 14-year-old who has threatened to commit a school massacre, rape teachers and shoot police officers. He said the boy has been committed under the Baker Act 35 times since age 8 and arrested 14 times, but is always released. Gualtieri said records compiled by law enforcement, schools and the mental health system are often kept separately, so it wasn’t until recently when an analyst in his office did a threat assessment of the teen that a full picture was compiled. He compared the boy to Nikolas Cruz, who is charged with killing 17 people in last year’s Stoneman Douglas shooting. Cruz had severe emotional and behavioral issues but was never hospitalized. “There was no holistic view of this child and, importantly, nobody owned the problems with this kid,” Gualtieri said of the Pinellas County teen. “When I read that threat assessment report, there was just a big pause. ... There was nothing in the system to say, ‘Hold on, there is something seriously, seriously wrong here.’” Commissioner Mike Carroll, former head of the state’s Department of Children and Families, said the system lacks accountability for both the child and the parents. A judge can order a program addressing the child’s behavioral or emotional problems, but has no power to impose consequences if the program isn’t followed, he said. That must change, he said. “If I had diabetes and went to the doctor, no one would ask why this program isn’t working if the person wouldn’t take their insulin shots,” Carroll said. Gualtieri said many teens and adults when confronted by police have learned to act as if they are severely mentally ill to avoid arrest. Then when they are evaluated under the Baker Act by a medical professional, they act normal and are released, he said. For many, the process repeats over and over, he said. “We are on the hamster wheel,” Gualtieri said. “People have this idea that if you Baker Act, you are going to solve all the problems.” The 15-member commission is composed of law enforcement, education and mental health professionals, a legislator and the fathers of two students slain in the massacre. It is completing its second annual report aimed at preventing future school shootings. Cruz, 21, had a long history of mental health issues, court records show. Those included making threats at school, fights, vandalism, and other inappropriate behavior. He spent years being periodically assigned to a school for students with behavioral and emotional problems before he was allowed to briefly attend Stoneman Douglas. He was kicked out in early 2017. Cruz’s attorneys have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, an offer prosecutors have declined. They are seeking the death penalty.",
            "output": [
                "Florida commission says mental health system needs overhaul."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7713d94a4294e0998bb1dedcf950249",
            "input": "No discussion of costs, something we always look for and wish would be provided. As already noted, the story explained that the drug “isn’t a magic bullet. The study showed that 37 percent of women who got weekly injections of it delivered prematurely, compared to 55 percent of women who got injections of a placebo.” Good discussion of concerns and ongoing monitoring of the drug’s safety. The story explains the drug “isn’t a magic bullet. The study showed that 37 percent of women who got weekly injections of it delivered prematurely, compared to 55 percent of women who got injections of a placebo.” No disease-mongering of prematurity or its consequences. The medical director of The March of Dimes was quoted throughout. (Although they are seen as having a very pro-progesterone slant that is not held by consumer/advocacy/health policy/maternity care groups in UK, Australia, and Canada. in those countries surveys of providers uniformly get low utilization responses with the reason stated being need for more data. Similar surveys of US providers (specialty and generalists) show the vast majority use >70% (as opposed to low double digits in more evidence-driven countries) and that mission creep has started. Indications for which it is not tested see regular use in the US.) There was at least the historical perspective on “the last drug thought to prevent premature birth – a synthetic estrogen called diethylstilbesterol, or DES.” The focus of the story is FDA approval of the drug. Good historical context, explaining that “Interestingly, the drug is not new — it’s just taken a long and circuitous route to approval.” It’s clear the story didn’t rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "FDA Approves First Drug To Prevent Preterm Births"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d3a9fa28b1f4b37bdf91f63be70a524",
            "input": "By late evening, Victoria had 14 fires rated at emergency or evacuate warning levels, and New South Wales had 11 rated emergency, with more than 150 others burning across the states. New fires had started, and others had broken containment lines. “There are a number of fires that are coming together - very strong, very large, intense fires that are creating some of these fire-generated thunderstorms,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said at an evening briefing. “And unfortunately we’ve still got many hours to go of these elevated and dangerous conditions.”  The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said conditions were deteriorating rapidly as a gusty southerly wind change pushed up the coast and smoke plumes from the fires triggered storms. Authorities are worried the fires could turn out to be worse than New Year’s Eve, when they burnt massive tracts of bushland and forced thousands of residents and summer holidaymakers to seek refuge on beaches. In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews said while conditions were difficult, the job of firefighters had been made easier by tens of thousands of people following advice to evacuate. It may be Sunday or later before damage assessments can be made. Prime Minister Scott Morrison put the national death toll from the current fire season, which began in September, at 23. Twelve of those are from this week’s fires alone. In updates, the NSW RFS repeatedly delivered the same blunt advice to those who had not evacuated at-risk areas: “It is too late to leave. Seek shelter as the fire approaches.”   Residents used social media to post photos of the sky turning black and red from the smoke and glare of the fires, including in the Victorian town of Mallacoota, where around 1,000 people were evacuated by sea on Friday. The first of those evacuees arrived near Melbourne on Saturday morning after a 20-hour journey by boat and a second ship with about 1,000 people landed in the afternoon. The federal government announced an unprecedented call up of army reservists to support firefighters as well other resources including a third navy ship equipped for disaster and humanitarian relief. Andy Gillham, the incident controller in the Victorian town of Bairnsdale, said the area had avoided the worst of the fires on Saturday but stressed this was an exceptional fire season. “In a normal year, we would start to see the fire season kick off in a big way around early January and we’re already up towards a million hectares of burnt country. This is a marathon event and we expect to be busy managing these fires for at least the next eight weeks,” he said. * Click on links to see maps posted by emergency services in NSW and Victoria to predict the spread of fires on Saturday: bit.ly/2QnjU9L and bit.ly/2sL7dfR  Following are highlights of what is happening across Australia:  * Temperatures topped 113 degrees in much of the Sydney metropolitan area, with Penrith recording a high of 120 according to the BOM. Canberra, the national capital, recorded a temperature of 111.2 just after 4 p.m., which the chief minister said was a record for the territory. *As the fires have flared, many towns have been isolated as major and minor roads are closed. Some fires are generating their own storm systems, which create the risk of lightning strikes generating new fires. * A late southerly wind change on Saturday dramatically lowered temperatures, but also brought wind gusts of 43-50 miles per hour that caused some major fires near the border of Victoria and New South Wales states to merge and strengthen. * In South Australia, two people died on Kangaroo Island, a popular holiday spot not far off the coast. South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said more than 247,000 acres have burned there, about one-quarter of the total area. * Six people remain unaccounted for in Victoria, Premier Andrews said on Saturday, down from 28 reported on Friday. * The focus on Saturday is preventing more loss of life, authorities said. National parks have been closed and people urged earlier this week to evacuate large parts of NSW’s south coast and Victoria’s north eastern regions, magnets for holidaymakers at the peak of Australia’s summer school holidays. * Morrison confirmed that his visit to India and Japan scheduled for mid-January had been postponed due to the fires. * More than 13 million acres of land has been burnt this fire season.",
            "output": [
                "Bushfires rage out of control across southeast Australia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-049cf5a16fa84701a330948845b80564",
            "input": "State health officials said Tuesday that lab tests are being done to determine whether the deer ticks collected carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The ticks were found in Douglas, Sarpy and Saunders counties. Lyme disease can cause fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash. Health officials say most people recover completely, although some may be left with joint pain that can be treated with medication. Nebraska health officials have yet to confirm any cases of Lyme disease originating in the state.",
            "output": [
                "Deer ticks turn up in east Nebraska; can carry Lyme disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-11934f7e51cb499e81f57bbc2e611cc3",
            "input": "At the end of 2016, images (often unaccompanied by any explanatory news story) began circulating online suggesting that California’s iconic “Hollywood” sign had been altered to read “Hollyweed” (presumably as an homage to the state’s recent passage of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational use of marijuana beginning in 2018). Owing to the number of humorous digitally created images to be found on the Internet at any given time, a skeptical social media public was unsure if the “Hollyweed” picture was one of the funny-but-not-real photographs going viral on any given day. But it was true that the sign was briefly altered to read “Hollyweed” on the night of 31 December 2016, an event that was extensively covered by local news outlets: Authorities say someone managed to modify the famed Hollywood sign to read “Hollyweed” in an overnight act of trespass. Sgt. Guy Juneau with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Security Services said the incident unfolded around midnight after a thrill-seeker climbed the mountain and threw two tarps over the “O’s” to make them appear like “E’s.” It was caught on city surveillance cameras. The Perrot family visiting from Australia said they noticed the sign from their hotel. At the time, it read “Hollywoed,” while city park rangers were switching it back. “We looked out this morning, and the Hollywood, the double O, there was actually only one E left,” Lia Perrot said. The sign was restored to “Hollywood” by 10:45 a.m. [the following morning]. It remains unclear who was involved in the incident, which was being investigated as a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, according to Los Angeles police. According to Los Angeles television station KCAL, the prank wasn’t the first time the sign had been altered (nor the first incidence of its being changed to “Hollyweed”): Back on Jan. 1, 1976, a man named Danny Finegood altered the sign to read “Hollyweed,” the same day a marijuana law took effect, according to published reports. In November [2016], California voters approved Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana. It was one of several times Finegood altered the sign. In 1979, to mark Easter, he changed it to read “Holywood.” In the 1980s, during the Iran-Contra hearings, he changed it to “Ollywood” to mock Lt. Col. Oliver North. Images of the prank were rife on social networks: Hollyweed!!! I think security took the night off last night in Hollywood?. pic.twitter.com/ycQXzjsyjG — Sd3gaughC (@Sd3gaughC) January 1, 2017   The Hollywood sign right now pic.twitter.com/wHNRir6KHL — Vsauce (@tweetsauce) January 1, 2017   What the fuck. #hollyweed pic.twitter.com/KzNYeEib3A — Adam Singer (@singy) January 1, 2017 Likewise, documentation of the sign’s restoration was reported contemporaneously:   UPDATE: Crews have restored the Hollywood sign, which was altered overnight to read “Hollyweed.” #LIVE @ https://t.co/w3oJ4nTd1g pic.twitter.com/yKiufGQhku — CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) January 1, 2017",
            "output": [
                "\"Pranksters briefly changed California's iconic \"\"Hollywood\"\" sign to read \"\"Hollyweed.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bb53151a074413790ee4d732861e902",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention the cost of the test. Since most costs will be covered by the patient and not by the insurance company, this is vital information for the consumer. The story adequately quantifies the benefits of treatment. Because this study had no control group, there is no way to directly compare screening to no screening – and the story explains that. Furthermore, the story rightly points out that the study looked at survival at 10 years as the outcome (although the study only followed patients for an average of 3 years and 10-year survival was estimated), not mortality, leaving open the question about whether or not screening actually extends life or if it only pushes forward the time of diagnosis (a situation known as lead-time bias). The story mentions that abnormal scans can lead to biopsies and that the scans may pick up cancers that \"\"grow so slowly they will never pose a health problem.\"\" The story should have also mentioned radiation exposure as a potential harm and described the consequences of false positive test results. The story adequately describes the design of the current study and, very appropriately, points out the limitations – that is, lack of controls and the use of 10-year survival as an outcome instead of mortality. These are very important caveats. By accurately describing the prevalence and seriousness of lung cancer, the story avoids disease mongering. The story quotes multiple independent sources, providing much needed balance in the story. The story mentions x-rays and no screening as alternatives to CT scanning. The story does not discuss if the lung cancer screenings are available, or how widely available the screening scanners may be. The story should have mentioned that the tests are being advertised by private screening centers and some hospitals, but are not generally covered by insurance. The story states that screening for lung cancer is not a new idea, but that screening with CAT scan is relatively new. Because the story quotes multiple independent sources, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Cancer Study Finds Promise in CAT Scans for Smokers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e30e35185c54c1f8469f75db7eeda9e",
            "input": "The rare condition can lead to loss of nerve and muscle control, and it can ultimately be fatal “This is a huge step forward for public health in Connecticut,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell. “The ability to screen newborns gives allows the medical community to diagnose a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy before symptoms are visible. It also gives medical providers an opportunity to recommend the best possible plan of care for families and their children.” It’s estimated that SMA afflicts one in 11,000 Connecticut residents. State legislation passed in 2019 required DPH to conduct newborn screening for the disorder, which was recently added to the Federal Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children’s Recommended Uniform Screening Panel. There are different types of SMA. Most children have SMA Type 1, which causes weakness and, without treatment, can deteriorate quickly and lead to death. There is no cure, but new treatments can slow or prevent symptoms from worsening.",
            "output": [
                "Connecticut now testing newborns for rare genetic disorder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b04ded12a344e3e90f6757b049f071d",
            "input": "With increasing diarrhea diseases, more dangerous heat waves, air pollution and increases in mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, man-made global warming is already harming public health around the world, the annual climate change and health report from the medical journal The Lancet said Wednesday. But the report and its authors said they worry that the future health of the world’s youngest people will get even grimmer if emissions of heat-trapping gases aren’t curbed. “A child born today as they go through their lives they are going to be increasingly exposed to more and more harms that I did not experience,” said study co-author Dr. Renee Salas, a Boston emergency room physician and professor at Harvard. “I cannot think of a greater health emergency,” Salas said. Already, the number of days when conditions are ripe for the spread of the water-borne bacteria Vibrio, a major cause of debilitating diarrhea, have doubled since 1980 with last year ranking second highest on record, the report said. Because of the warming climate, 29% more of the U.S. coastline is vulnerable to Vibrio. The report also said the cholera version of Vibrio has increased nearly 10%. Nine of the top 10 years where conditions were most ripe for dengue fever transmission have occurred since 2000, the report said. Those diseases hit children harder, the report said. And children, the elderly, the poor and the sick are most hurt during extreme heat with dangerous overheating, respiratory disease and kidney problems. “Children are the most vulnerable. They will bear the vast majority of the burden of climate change,’’ said Dr. Nick Watts, an Australian emergency room physician and the lead author of the global report. “Their health will be hit by climate change in a profoundly different way.” While medicine and public health have improved over the decades, allowing people to live longer, climate change “threatens to undermine all of the gains we’ve had,” Salas said. Dr. Cindy Parker, an environmental health professor at Johns Hopkins University, praised the peer-reviewed report, which she wasn’t part of, but she worried that focusing on the health effects that have already happened lessens the urgency of the future. “Climate change is a risk amplifier,” Parker said in an email. So as bad as the health problems are, add in water and food shortages caused by climate-change and there will be more social unrest and conflict around the world that will still hit the United States in indirect ways, she said. As an emergency room doctor, Salas said diseases that spread farther because of a changing climate, such as Lyme Disease, are something she has to consider when she treats patients. During an emergency room shift in July, Salas saw an elderly man during a heat wave with a body temperature of 106 degrees. The ambulance crew said he lived on the top floor of a public housing complex with no air conditioning and when they opened the door “there was this wave of heat that hit them.” Salas was able to save him. But as a doctor she struggles with cases where there is no way to treat the patient, such as with devastating bleeding inside the brain. With climate change health problems, she said, the remedy is stopping emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas. “We can’t ‘doctor’ our way out of this,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who wasn’t part of the study but praised it. “We must address the root causes of climate change.” ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors: Warmer world is unhealthier place for children."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27f827ea9df54c1b85b257475bcbf384",
            "input": "Researchers around the world are working to develop potential treatments or vaccines against the respiratory disease that has killed nearly 47,000 people and infected almost a million in just a few months. A team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the United States said they were able to move quickly in developing a potential COVID-19 vaccine after working on other coronaviruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). “These two viruses, which are closely related to SARS-CoV-2 (the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic), teach us that a particular protein, called a spike protein, is important for inducing immunity against the virus,” said Andrea Gambotto, an associate professor at Pittsburgh. “We knew exactly where to fight this new virus.”  When tested in mice, the prototype vaccine - which the researchers have called PittCoVacc - generated what they described as “a surge of antibodies” against the new coronavirus  within two weeks. The Pittsburgh researchers cautioned that because the animals have not been tracked for very long as yet, it is too early to say whether and for how long the immune response against COVID-19 lasts. But they said that in comparable tests in mice with their MERS experimental vaccine, a sufficient level of antibodies was produced to neutralize the virus for at least a year. So far, the antibody levels of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated animals seem to be following the same trend, they said in peer-reviewed study in the journal EBioMedicine. The team said they hope to start testing the vaccine candidate on people in clinical trials in the next few months. The potential vaccine uses a needle patch design, called a microneedle array, to increase its potential potency. This array is a fingertip-sized patch of 400 tiny needles made out of sugar and the spike protein, Gambotto explained. It is designed to deliver the spike protein pieces into the skin, where the immune reaction is strongest.",
            "output": [
                "Potential COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in mouse study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f9d1ef2439a24b43b9c0a022ab8a8774",
            "input": "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s partial hold on the so-called STRONG trial impacts patients aged up to five with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who were to receive a higher dose of the gene therapy via a spinal infusion. The hold was issued after Novartis told health authorities about the animal study’s findings that showed dorsal root ganglia (DRG) mononuclear cell inflammation, a neurological condition sometimes accompanied by nerve damage or loss. Novartis shares fell 1% at 0715 GMT, while other European drugmakers rose. Analysts said more information was needed to assess whether these findings could have an impact on Zolgensma’s long-term prospects. “We need to better understand, what the issues are and whether there really is a read-through to the human trial,” Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider said. Novartis said it was working with regulators, in hopes of having the hold released. Zolgensma, whose $2.1 million list price makes it the world’s most-expensive treatment, is already approved for children aged up to two with the deadly muscle wasting disease and is given by infusion into the young patients’ veins. The medicine had $160 million in sales in its first full quarter on the market. The STRONG study is meant to underpin its expanded approval for older children, where Novartis would also compete with Biogen’s Spinraza that is already on the market, and Roche’s investigational risdiplam that is due to seek approval this year. Roche shares were up 0.7%. “The clinical significance of the DRG inflammation observed in this pre-clinical animal study is not known and was not seen in prior animal studies,” Novartis said in a statement. “We are working with health authorities to confirm further guidance to clinical investigators.”  The partial FDA hold halts enrollment of patients getting a higher dose of Zolgensma, also known as AVXS-101, via an spinal infusion, also called intrathecal administration. Low- and mid-dose portions of the STRONG trial have already been completed, as has presentation of interim results. “Of note, we have completed a thorough review of human safety data from all available sources to date and no adverse effects related to sensory changes have been seen,” Novartis said.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis' Zolgensma study halted by FDA amid safety questions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fff68d95440241d2a6b148dc0db52d0b",
            "input": "The story takes the rare step of talking about costs from three different angles. The cost to the physician. The cost to the patient. And the cost to insursers. “Doctors will pay a one-time fee of $7,500 to lease and receive training on the device. Patients will pay $150 out of pocket for a MelaFind scan, which analysts say may limit use to more affluent patients who are willing to pay extra for the latest medical care. Mela Sciences does not plan to ask insurers to cover the device until several years from now, after it is more widely used. The story shows that the device is fairly effective at finding cancerous lesions. “In a company-sponsored study published last year involving around 1,300 patients, some with multiple growths, doctors reported that MelaFind correctly suggested biopsies on 125 of 127 melanomas that doctors had removed.” It’s a bit confusing, but the story explains that the device also makes the wrong call too often, giving too many false positives. “However, the device did not raise an alarm about non-melanoma growths only about 10 percent of the time; that was still better than doctors in the study who correctly ruled out melanoma in less than 4 percent of such cases, on average.” Just presenting the false positive and false negative rates would have been more helpful to readers. We would have liked to have seen a little more about the latest study of the device, but there was enough information in the story to let readers know that this is the case where the evidence is still not quite settled. It says, for example, “MelaFind underwent a contentious, years-long review by the Food and Drug Administration, which initially rejected the device and concluded it could ‘potentially cause more harm than good. '” And later it says that “an FDA-required follow-up study would help determine how much of a benefit MelaFind represents for patients.” The story both gives the broader context about melanoma while taking care to pinpoint the appropriate patient population. It says in the second paragraph, “The device is approved only for dermatologists and only for use on growths that don’t have obvious signs of cancer but still have one or two worrisome traits.” It also says, “Nearly all patients diagnosed with early-stage melanoma can be treated and cured, but 85 percent of patients with late-stage melanoma die from it within five years.” The story could have more clearly stated that while many are diagnosed with melanoma only a small number actually will die from it. The late stage cases are a small fraction of the total. The story does not use a truly independent source because everyone appears to have some sort of conflict, but this is also one of the stories strengths. Rarely have we seen conflicts presented with this kind of detail. For example, the story says describes Dr. Leonard Goldberg as “a dermatologist at the Texas Medical Center and vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, a disease awareness group that accepts donations from makers of sunscreen.” The story compares the device to clinicians throughout, and shows clearly that dermatologists are still the ones with the best authority in this area. The story says clearly that the devices are not currently available in most areas. “But don’t expect to see a MelaFind machine at your next doctor’s appointment. The company plans a limited rollout next year of just 200 dermatologists on the East coast, all of whom must undergo company training before they can begin using the device.” The story calls the device a “first of its kind,” but it also explains that it is only approved for use in a subset of patients and that much more work needs to be done. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New device uses light to screen for melanoma"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e3b4a989c1d04204a95298e70836af44",
            "input": "The Indian Valley Local Schools in Tuscarawas County sent a letter to parents Saturday that said the student’s bus, a school restroom, and other surfaces inside the school will be sanitized. The student hasn’t been identified. The Tuscarawas County Health Department in a statement on its website said officials learned Friday that a student had died from a probable case of meningitis. The health department says symptoms of bacterial meningitis can appear quickly and progress rapidly. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and a stiff neck. The health department is contacting anyone who recently came in close contact with the student.",
            "output": [
                "Ohio high school closes after probable case of meningitis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b661fbedc841488ea4424b5d687bd4c6",
            "input": "The group are promoting the planting of native trees amid a nationwide push to replace invasive species with indigenous one to cope with drought and climate change. Last year, Cape Town suffered its worst drought in a century, nearly running out of water and forcing authorities to enforce severe water rationing and set up public water points. Spooked businesses put $3.7m into a fund to eradicate invasive water-hungry trees around Cape Town, a move that would top up reservoirs with billions of liters of water. Activist and treegrower Siyabulela Sokomani, who is running carrying a wild olive, said the group of friends is raising cash to plant 2,000 trees in Khayelitsha, one of Cape Town’s biggest townships, where many of them come from. The 34-year-old entrepreneur attended school there and was  inspired by a teacher who started an environmental club. “There were no trees in the township where I grew up,” he said. Now Sokomani has tattoos of his favorites - the Coral Tree, Speckboom and Acacia - twining across his shoulder. The Speckboom is a favorite at Sokomani’s Shoots and Roots nursery. Spekboom can grow almost anywhere and absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere faster than most other trees in dry conditions, the United Nations says. Last year Sokomani went back to his school to plant 67 trees on Mandela Day, symbolizing the 67 years that Mandela spent in public service. He co-founded Township Farmers in 2017 to teach children about agriculture and plant trees in schools. From 2001 to 2018, South Africa lost 1.34 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 22% decrease since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch, a monitoring organization run the Washington-based thinktank World Resource Institute.",
            "output": [
                "If marathons weren't hard enough already: strap a tree to your back."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a55c66d9f1524dfaaf3a9e958063e03e",
            "input": "\"Defiant Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan-- whose drinking problems have spurred scorn from citizens, humiliation on YouTube and ridicule from Jay Leno -- says he would become a singular figure in the history of Wisconsin government if his Common Council succeeds in removing him from office. Wisconsin witnessed a historic set of nine recall elections in the summer of 2011. Voters removed two Republican state senators from office. But Ryan, whose city calls itself the bratwurst capital of the world, claims his removal would be unique -- partly because it would not involve a recall. On Aug. 15, 2011, the Sheboygan Common Council launched a process that could eventually take Ryan, who has resisted calls to resign, out of office. If the move plays out, Ryan essentially would be put on trial with the council acting as judge and jury, according to a Sheboygan Press article and Sheboygan City Attorney Steve McLean. Ryan made his claim to aldermen during the Aug. 15 council meeting, according to WBAY-TV in Green Bay. \"\"This whole thing stinks. If you want to take me out of office, by all means start your recall,\"\" he said. \"\"If you want to go down this path, it's not a threat, it's a fact, it's never been done. There's never been a public official removed from office in this state for anything but malfeasance in office. I'm here to do a job. I will continue to do that job. You should know by now, I never quit. Ever.\"\" For us, the key claim is this sentence:  \"\"There's never been a public official removed from office in this state for anything but malfeasance in office.\"\" Never is a long time. Ryan didn’t return our call and emails over two days asking him to clarify his claim and to provide evidence for it. \"\"Public official,\"\" for example, could mean an elected official or an appointed one, such as a school superintendent. But our sense is Ryan was referring to elected officials like himself being removed by a governmental body, and not the voters. Ryan has argued that his drinking -- he has admitted to being an alcoholic -- has not affected his duties as mayor. The saga in Sheboygan, a Lake Michigan community of about 50,000 people 60 miles north of Milwaukee, began in September 2009, six months after Ryan, 48, was elected mayor. He called a news conference to apologize for making a sexually explicit remark about his wife’s sister. Ryan’s remark was captured on video, posted on YouTube, became fodder for Jay Leno and led the Common Council to censure him. The drama intensified in July 2011, when news surfaced that Ryan was issued a warning by police after a weekend of drinking at taverns in Elkhart Lake, becoming rude and obnoxious and passing out at least once. The Common Council voted to begin the removal process after Ryan refused its call to resign. To see whether Ryan’s claim is correct, we contacted a number of experts. They include state government entities -- the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Historical Society, the Department of Public Instruction and the Judicial Commission; statewide associations -- the League of Municipalities, the Counties Association and the Association of School Boards; political scientists -- Dennis Dresang of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Joe Heim of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; and Milwaukee historian John Gurda. Here’s what we found:  Fatal shooting: In 1842, six years before Wisconsin became a state, James Vineyard, a member of the Territorial Legislature’s version of the state Senate, shot and killed fellow member Charles C.P. Arndt during an argument after a legislative session adjourned. Vineyard was expelled from the legislature after it refused to accept his resignation, although he was acquitted of manslaughter at trial, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Given that the shooting occurred on the legislative floor, it could be fairly argued that the removal was related to misconduct in office. So, that one does not directly undercut Ryan’s claim. Felony crimes: At least four state lawmakers have been removed from office after being convicted of a felony. But under state law, the expulsions were automatic -- no action needed to be taken by the Legislature -- so that makes their removals different than Ryan’s would be. Crimes not directly related to official duties also have led to removals that were not automatic. For example, the New Holstein School Board fired Christopher J. Nelson, the district’s superintendent, after he was charged in February 2011 with trying to set up a sexual encounter with a person he thought was a 15-year-old boy. That could undercut Ryan’s claim, but Nelson was an appointed official, not elected. Non-criminal removal: In 1992, the state Supreme Court removed Racine County Circuit Court Judge Jon Skow from the bench after he admitted he was permanently disabled from stress and depression. The high court determined that Skow, who suffered from alcoholism, could not carry out his duties. He previously had been suspended following a number of incidents, including leaving the bench during a trial. That case does undercut Ryan’s claim, since the judge was not removed for malfeasance in office. As rare as removals from office appear to be, at least two other Wisconsin mayors have been targeted for removal since 2008. The Common Council in Montello, 60 miles north of Madison, removed Mayor Frank Breitenbach in August 2008 for reasons related to misconduct in office, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. He faced 15 allegations by city employees and residents, including using profanity with employees and threatening to fire Montello's police chief without legal authority. In Marinette, a Lake Michigan community 120 miles north of Sheboygan, a Common Council committee recommended hiring a special prosecutor in an effort to remove Mayor Robert Harbick from office. Harbick had pleaded no contest to first-offense drunken-driving, which is a traffic violation in Wisconsin. But the removal process failed to proceed when the proposal to hire the attorney failed in a 4-4 vote before the full council in August 2011. Let’s review what we’ve found. The embattled Sheboygan mayor said no public official in Wisconsin has ever been removed from office \"\"for anything but malfeasance in office.\"\" Ryan’s reference was not to recall elections or automatic removal, but removal by a governmental body such as a city council. Our sense is it’s likely the mayor was speaking of elected officials, and we could find only one instance, involving a judge, in which a removal was not for misconduct in office. We also found a school superintendent fired by a school board following the filing of criminal charges, but he did not hold an elected position. This is a statement we could revisit if more information surfaces; after all we’re talking about more than 150 years of history and countless governmental entities in Wisconsin. For now, we feel Ryan’s statement needs a little clarification, but is essentially accurate -- our definition of .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Outside of recall elections, \"\"there's never been a public official removed from office\"\" in Wisconsin \"\"for anything but malfeasance in office.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5c82bae92ed9494c8a44278b22c52e2e",
            "input": "The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s latest attempt to justify the violent arrest of a journalist was clearly exposed as false by video footage of the attack posted by the reporter and other news outlets.Huang, a reporter for KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) and LAist in Los Angeles, was arrested on September 12 2020 while filming an arrest on her cell phone, and subsequently charged with obstructing a peace officer.In a statement following the arrest, the department claimed:After deputies issued a dispersal order for the unlawful assembly of a group of protesters blocking the hospital emergency entrance & exits, a male adult protester refused to comply & cooperate. During his arrest, a struggle ensued at which time a female adult ran towards the deputies, ignored repeated commands to stay back as they struggled with the male and interfered with the arrest. The female adult, who was later identified as a member of the press, did not identify herself as press and later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person.However, video Huang posted after she was released the following day debunked LASD’s account of the arrest.In one clip filmed on her mobile phone, Huang walks toward deputies (refuting another claim from the department that she “ran.”) She is taken into custody seconds after someone off-screen says “back up” rapidly several times.“I saw a commotion ahead of me. Deputies rushed one man and chased another,” she wrote. “I was filming an arrest when suddenly deputies shout ‘back up.’ Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up.”Here’s more of the video, the zoom is still on.I saw a commotion ahead of me. Deputies rushed one man and chased another.I was filming an arrest when suddenly deputies shout “back up.” Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up. pic.twitter.com/Y0amc46NZr— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020A second clip captures Huang clearly identifying herself as a reporter and naming her station multiple times:Somehow I was able to start a new video right away. You see my phone clatter to the ground and I start shouting “I’m a reporter…I’m with KPCC.” I scream for help from the TV reporters I know are around the corner doing their 11 p.m. live hits pic.twitter.com/O9CZNuSrQI— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020According to Huang, her phone kept recording while she was being arrested. She posted video showing two deputies stepping on the phone and kicking it:After my phone drops, it keeps recording and it captures two deputies damaging my phone by kicking and stepping on it. I can hear myself in the background shouting: “You guys are hurting me” and “Stop it.” It feels very out-of-body to play this back. pic.twitter.com/8o1kdjqlA9— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020“I can hear myself in the background shouting: ‘You guys are hurting me’ and ‘Stop it'” Huang wrote after her release. “It feels very out-of-body to play this back.”Huang’s account was also corroborated by footage of her arrest taken by KABC-TV, which shows an object matching the description of a press lanyard hanging from her neck while she is being taken into custody:LAist reported that Max Huntsman, the county’s inspector general, said he would open an investigation into Huang’s arrest. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the area where the incident took place, called for a special meeting of the Citizens Oversight Commission to further investigate.We contacted the Sheriff’s Department seeking comment on the footage Huang’s posted but did not hear back. However, a spokesperson had told LAist that she “didn’t have proper credentials” and was “interfering with a lawful arrest,” two claims that were quickly debunked by the various video clips.Huang was arrested following a press conference by Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva concerning the shooting of two deputies who were inside their patrol car. One of the deputies, a 31-year-old woman, is listed in “critical but stable condition.” The other, a 24-year-old man, was described by KABC as “alert.”Villanueva blamed Huang for her arrest during a September 14 2020 press conference. He said:What she had around her neck was not a press credential. I think it said SCPR, that or KPCC. For the average deputy, doesn’t mean anything. Unless it had a household name that they recognize, OK that’s a reporter. You have two of their colleagues shot in the hospital, you have a crowd of protesters chanting for them to die. I think it’s unrealistic to expect them to separate friend from foe and do it in a correct way. If they felt they were justified because she was interfering with a lawful arrest, well then the elements of the crime are met and they took action based on that. Could they have done it better? Everyone could have done better.Joel Bellman, a board member for the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, strongly questioned Villanueva’s claim.“She was in a public space, she was not behind the line. She was not trying to get behind the line,” Bellman told KABC. “She was not in a disaster area or a crime scene. She was entirely within her rights from everything we could see.”Associated Press reporter Stefanie Dazio also posted video of Villanueva falsely claiming that Huang’s station had published a story the previous month about a private event for “first responders” that defied statewide measures regarding both the bar being open and the use of facial coverings and social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19.Last clip: After I asked @LACoSheriff how we can trust his department’s statements after an @LASDHQ tweet inaccurately characterized @josie_huang’s arrest, the sheriff disparaged @KPCC reporting on a separate + unrelated, story. pic.twitter.com/SnnIKuozvz— Stefanie Dazio (@steffdaz) September 15, 2020The Sheriff’s Department denied that any of its personnel attended the event. The local police department later confirmed that two officers were present.KPCC/LAist said in a statement that Huang’s arrest was “the latest in a series of troubling interactions” between law enforcement and reporters, such as tear-gassings:So thankful for all the folks who helped me after the police started shooting tear gas into the protest. pic.twitter.com/bkamzDom52— Jose Salvador (@chavatweets1) May 31, 2020Beatings:Here's a short clip of the @LAPDHQ officer jabbing me in the stomach with a baton, sending me flying back into a crowd of people. https://t.co/R3qUiBgZ5L pic.twitter.com/IIi9Yf9gOd— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) May 31, 2020And attacks with projectile weapons:I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. I had just interviewed a man with my phone at 3rd and Pine and a police officer aimed and shot me in the throat, I saw the bullet bounce onto the street @LAist @kpcc OK, that’s one way to stop me, for a while pic.twitter.com/9C2u5KmscG— Adolfo Guzman-Lopez (@AGuzmanLopez) June 1, 2020“We offer condolences to the two sheriff deputies who were shot Saturday evening,” the station said. “These are challenging and stressful times for everyone, but Josie Huang was arrested while doing her job. The charges should be dropped.”Update 11:15 a.m. PST September 15, 2020: Updated with comments from Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.Comments",
            "output": [
                "KPCC-FM reporter Josie Huang told Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies she is a journalist as she was arrested in September 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-38a12369ba4c4614b0873105888c0344",
            "input": "Biotechnology company Alkermes said earlier in the day that  it expected Lilly to drop out of their program to develop an  inhaled insulin treatment for diabetes, sending Alkermes shares  down more than 9 percent. Lilly’s decision marks the third setback in recent months  for inhaled insulin formulations, once deemed potential  blockbuster products because of their greater convenience than  standard injectable insulin. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Alkermes, which makes the  alcohol addiction drug Vivitrol, said Lilly has the right to  terminate its license to the inhaled treatment, Air Insulin, at  its discretion. “While Lilly may elect not to commercialize Air Insulin,  Alkermes believes that the phase 3 safety and efficacy trials  should be completed,” Alkermes said in a statement. After Lilly’s announcement, the company said it was  evaluating the impact of the termination, which will become  effective in 90 days. Indianapolis-based Lilly said its decision was not due to  safety concerns, “but rather was a result of increasing  uncertainties in the regulatory environment, and a thorough  evaluation of the evolving commercial and clinical potential of  the product compared to existing medical therapies.”    Lilly Chief Operating Officer John Lechleiter said in a  statement that the company is beginning the process of halting  ongoing clinical studies. Lilly said it will record a first-quarter 2008 charge of  around $90 million to $120 million, or 5 cents to 7 cents per  share. The company said its adjusted earnings per share outlook  remains unchanged at $3.85 to $4.00, while net earnings will  range from $3.73 to $3.90. Lilly’s action comes just five months after Pfizer Inc  abandoned Exubera, the first approved inhaled form of insulin,  and returned rights to the product to longtime partner Nektar  Therapeutics. Exubera had dismal sales because patients were turned off  by the clumsy device used to administer the powdered insulin  and because doctors were concerned by the drug’s tendency to  slightly impair lung function. Alkermes Chairman Richard Pops, in an interview with  Reuters in October, said Air Insulin may have similar effects  on lung function. “We’re assuming that pulmonary insulins in that regard are  all pretty much the same,” he said, although a conclusive  picture of Air Insulin’s safety will not emerge until two-year  safety trials of the product end later this year. A second setback for inhaled insulin came in January, when  Novo Nordisk said it was halting development of its AERx  product, meant to deliver inhaled droplets. The Danish  drugmaker said AERx did not have adequate sales potential,  given the limited commercial success seen with Exubera. Morgan Stanley analyst Jami Rubin said on Friday Lilly’s  abandonment of AIR Insulin made good business sense. “We are not (at) all surprised, and have never been strong  advocates of the pulmonary insulin agents, following the poor  launch and ultimate demise of Pfizer and Nektar’s Exubera and  Novo Nordisk’s termination of its AERx program,” Rubin said in  a research note. Rubin said Alkermes, known for its drug-delivery  technology, is unlikely to continue development of Air Insulin  without Lilly, “given that this represents the third  termination of a pulmonary insulin drug.”    But she said the sharp drop in Alkermes shares represented  a buying opportunity for investors because Air Insulin had only  paltry sales potential. She said investors should be focused instead on another  product Alkermes is developing with Lilly: a long-acting  formulation of Lilly’s Byetta diabetes treatment called Byetta    “We estimate that Byetta LAR could be worth $11 to $12 for  the (Alkermes) stock,” Ryan said. Alkermes shares fell $1.14 to close at $11.26 on Nasdaq. Lilly, a far larger company with an array of big-selling  products, rose 2 cents to end at $49.70 on the New York Stock  Exchange, and was slightly lower at $49.67 in after-hours  trading.",
            "output": [
                "Eli Lilly drops inhaled insulin program."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d81893546e81442ba6e74e8103c75445",
            "input": "The announcement by the world’s largest fast-food chain comes as more companies respond to government and consumer pressure to address the global obesity epidemic. McDonald’s, which often bears the brunt of criticism over the restaurant industry’s penchant for tempting diners with indulgent and often high-calorie food, said it would offer the option in all of its 20 major global markets by 2020. McDonald’s also vowed to promote and market only water, milk and juice as the beverages in its popular Happy Meals for children as part of its announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Thursday. Waist sizes around the world are increasing, setting off alarms in public health circles. In recent years, the U.S. food industry has begun yielding to pressure from government, parents and consumers seeking to slim down adults and children. Sugary sodas have been yanked from public schools; sugar, sodium and calorie levels have been reduced in products, and calorie counts have been posted on some restaurant menus. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit that has tangled with McDonald’s over everything from fattening food to the marketing of Happy Meals, approved of the company’s move to add more fruits and vegetables to the menu. Still, it says the company and its rivals have a long way to go in terms of offering healthier options. “McDonald’s slow march toward healthier meals made a major advance today, but a long road lies ahead for the company,” CSPI said in a statement. McDonald’s is seen as something of a trend setter among restaurant chains, but like many of its peers, it has tended to resist external efforts to force change. About one year ago McDonald’s said it would begin listing calorie information on menus in some 14,000 U.S. restaurants and drive-throughs — ahead of a national rule that would require larger restaurant chains to make such disclosures but months after other chains embraced the idea. In July 2011 it tweaked its popular Happy Meals for children - reducing the french fries portion by more than half and adding apples to every order. The move came after pressure from CSPI, parent groups and others. More than one-third of Americans are obese, and about 10 percent of the nation’s healthcare bill is tied to obesity-related illnesses, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and hypertension, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. McDonald’s said its announcement is part of a plan developed with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was founded by the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association, to increase customers’ access to fruit and vegetables and help families and children to make informed eating and lifestyle choices.",
            "output": [
                "Want fruit with your burger? McDonald's expands anti-obesity push."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-370d88da8c9d41678e40ff62e01702ec",
            "input": "The research was released Monday as the state started its first statewide campaign to prevent the disease. The most recent case came out of Hilo, where a resident contracted the disease in late November. Department of Health officials suspect the Big Island patient accidentally ingested an infected slug while drinking from a garden house. People contract the disease by ingesting food contaminated with snails or slugs that carry parasitic larvae from rat droppings. The state’s $300,000 campaign will include a series of television and radio announcements urging people to wash fruits and vegetables before eating them to avoid the potentially debilitating disease, which affects the brain and spinal cord. The Legislature earlier this year granted the Health Department $1 million over the next two years to control the spread of rat lungworm. There were 18 laboratory-confirmed cases in Hawaii this year. The Big Island has seen the most cases at 11, followed by Maui at six. Sue Jarvi, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, said the recent study shed light on how common the disease is in rats. Jarvi said rats near Hilo Harbor and Hilo International Airport are especially worrisome because some end up getting transported to the mainland and other countries, potentially exporting rat lungworm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UH-Hilo and researchers in Thailand are all reviewing parasites that were collected, Jarvi said. “The risk of rat lungworm disease is present on all islands and there are basic steps we can take each day to reduce this risk and help prevent infection,” said Keith Kawaoka, the department’s deputy director of environmental health. “Knowledge is the best defense we can provide people with to collectively protect our communities from rat lungworm disease in Hawaii.”",
            "output": [
                "Hawaii launches campaign to prevent spread of rat lungworm."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b4658b358bd4fe0a771423e34c23e41",
            "input": "On 13 May 2016, the web site Young Conservatives published an article reporting that President Obama had decreed that all American schools must make all bathrooms transgender or face lawsuits and potentially lose federal funding: President Obama decided to yet again defy the constitutional limits placed on his powers and released a directive stating public schools must allow transgenders to use the bathroom of their choice. Well, the great state of Texas is saying no thanks and accusing the president of blackmail. Apparently Obama doesn’t understand that transgender restrooms are a 10th Amendment issue, meaning it’s left up to the states to decide how to handle it and the federal government has no jurisdiction in the matter at all. The ensuing media (and social media) flurries ended up obfuscating a number of details of the issue, with most versions holding that President Obama “decreed” that all schools must immediately implement such policies, lest they be dragged into court and lose funding. As usual, however, the truth was much less outrageous than the rumors. On 13 May 2016, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division issued a joint “Dear Colleague” letter [PDF] that included “significant guidance” to schools about civil rights protections for transgender students under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The letter detailed federal guidelines for transgender students and bathroom use and provided definitions for the terms “Gender identity,” “Sex assigned at birth,” “Transgender,” and “Gender transition”: Schools across the country strive to create and sustain inclusive, supportive, safe, and nondiscriminatory communities for all students. In recent years, we have received an increasing number of questions from parents, teachers, principals, and school superintendents about civil rights protections for transgender students. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its implementing regulations prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs and activities operated by recipients of Federal financial assistance. This prohibition encompasses discrimination based on a student’s gender identity, including discrimination based on a student’s transgender status. This letter summarizes a school’s Title IX obligations regarding transgender students and explains how the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) evaluate a school’s compliance with these obligations. ED and DOJ (the Departments) have determined that this letter is significant guidance. This guidance does not add requirements to applicable law, but provides information and examples to inform recipients about how the Departments evaluate whether covered entities are complying with their legal obligations. If you have questions or are interested in commenting on this guidance, please contact ED[.] Accompanying this letter is a separate document from ED’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting Transgender Students. The examples in that document are taken from policies that school districts, state education agencies, and high school athletics associations around the country have adopted to help ensure that transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment. Schools are encouraged to consult that document for practical ways to meet Title IX’s requirements. Schools were informed that failure to supply legally entitled students with the necessary accommodations could constitute a violation of the obligations of federally funded schools: As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations. The Departments treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity. The Departments’ interpretation is consistent with courts’ and other agencies’ interpretations of Federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination. The Departments interpret Title IX to require that when a student or the student’s parent or guardian, as appropriate, notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the student’s gender identity. Under Title IX, there is no medical diagnosis or treatment requirement that students must meet as a prerequisite to being treated consistent with their gender identity. Because transgender students often are unable to obtain identification documents that reflect their gender identity (e.g., due to restrictions imposed by state or local law in their place of birth or residence), requiring students to produce such identification documents in order to treat them consistent with their gender identity may violate Title IX when doing so has the practical effect of limiting or denying students equal access to an educational program or activity. The letter also contained a portion about restroom and locker room use. That guidance stated that under Title IX, schools were prohibited from forcing students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity. That directive further stated transgender students could not be “segregated” from others in restrooms and locker rooms: Restrooms and Locker Rooms. A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so. A school may, however, make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy. Critics contended that school policies about bathroom access should be decided by states and local school boards, not the feds, and that the guidelines effectively create new federal regulations that may violate the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.",
            "output": [
                "President Obama ordered all schools to make all bathrooms transgender or face a loss of federal funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-edf8d20b74644f5aa6d0b6fcec2c1c12",
            "input": "The Rhode Island Department of Health and the state Department of Environmental Management earlier this week announced that seasonal cooling and declining daylight have signaled a great reduction in risk. However, officials said there's no guarantee the toxins are absent, warning that a warm spell could trigger an algae bloom during the winter or spring. While the seasonal monitoring of cyanobacteria in 2019 is complete, the public is reminded to avoid contact with any body of water that appears to be bright green or has a dense, floating mass on the surface. Blue-green algae blooms may also look like green paint or thick pea soup and the toxins may still persist in the water even if the bloom is no longer visible. Advisories have been lifted for Paradise Pond in Middletown, Sisson Pond in Portsmouth, Slack Reservoir in Smithfield-Johnston, Carbuncle Pond in Coventry, Almy Pond in Newport, Elm Lake in Providence, JL Curran Resevoir in Cranston, Mashapaug, Pleasure and Roosevelt ponds in Providence, and Melville Pond in Portsmouth. As of earlier this week, an advisory was still in place for Watson Reservoir in Little Compton, where there were still visual signs of a cyanobacteria bloom. People who come into contact with potentially affected waters should rinse their skin and wash their clothes with clean water as soon as possible. Meanwhile, people with pets that exhibit adverse health symptoms after coming in contact with potentially affected waters should contact their veterinarians.",
            "output": [
                "Rhode Island officials lift advisories for blue-green algae."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4208ea99b1504bfdb447ea8bd3df3661",
            "input": "“This is a matter that has divided Irish society now for a great number of years, and I am not going to be rushed into a situation by force of numbers on any side,” Prime Minister Enda Kenny told state broadcaster RTE. The Irish government pledged on Thursday to clarify its abortion laws. A wave of protests have taken place across Ireland in recent days in response to the death of 31-year old Savita Halappanavar who died of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy. Activists in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, which has some of the world’s most restrictive laws on abortion, say the refusal by doctors to terminate the pregnancy earlier may have contributed to her death. “This is something that has to be dealt with rationally, and openly and truthfully and that is what will happen,” said Kenny. A delayed expert report on abortion was submitted to the Health Ministry this week and will be published after being discussed by government, Kenny added. Halappanavar was admitted to hospital in severe pain on October 21 and asked for a termination after doctors told her the baby would not survive, according to her husband Praveen. The fetus was surgically removed when its heartbeat stopped days later, but her family believes the delay contributed to the blood poisoning that killed Halappanavar on October 28.",
            "output": [
                "Irish PM says won't be rushed on abortion issue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-749ef238af8a40b4b93c3daf71cd4b5e",
            "input": "Some of the most memorable scenes in White Wilderness, Disney’s 1958 Academy Award-winning “True-Life Adventure” nature documentary about wildlife in the snowy northern portions of the North American continent, were ones featuring the death of lemmings who drowned after jumping off cliffs and into the sea. But the scenes shown in the documentary were staged by filmmakers in order to replicate supposed real-life behavior of lemmings that could not be captured on film, and thus did Disney perpetuate for generations to come the legend of periodic, inexplicable mass suicides by lemmings who die by hurling themselves off of cliffs. The narration in the film accompanying the lemmings scenes begins as follows: It is said of this tiny animal that it commits mass suicide by rushing into the sea in droves. The story is one of the persistent tales of the Arctic, and as often happens in Man’s nature lore, it is a story both true and false, as we shall see in a moment. What the audience then sees is what appears to be a horde of lemmings entering the Arctic sea by jumping off cliffs and scampering across rock-covered beaches to enter the water from the shore, whereupon they swim out to sea and (we’re told by the narrator) eventually drown — not quite because they’re simply committing suicide, the film states, but because they’ve supposedly mistaken the vast expanse of the Arctic sea for a lake and assumed there’s a reachable shore just across the water. A kind of compulsion seizes each tiny rodent and, carried along by an unreasoning hysteria, each falls into step for a march that will take them to a strange destiny. That destiny is to jump into the ocean. They’ve become victims of an obsession — a one-track thought: ‘Move on! Move on!’ This is the last chance to turn back, yet over they go, casting themselves out bodily into space … and so is acted out the legend of mass suicide. None of what was shown in the film was realistic lemming behavior, however. Disney’s White Wilderness was filmed the Canadian province of Alberta, which is not a native habitat for lemmings and is landlocked with no outlet to the sea. The filmmakers had to import lemmings to Alberta for use in the documentary (reportedly by purchasing them from Inuit children who had caught them in other provinces); through the use of carefully controlled camera angles and tight editing, the filmmakers made no more than a few dozen lemmings look like a much larger number, placing them on turntables to create a frenzied migration effect and then herding them off a cliff and into the water (which was actually the Bow River, not an Arctic sea). Nine different photographers spent three years shooting and assembling footage for the various segments that comprise White Wilderness, and it is not known whether Walt Disney approved or was aware of the activities of James R. Simon, the principal photographer for the lemmings sequence. Certainly nature documentaries are notoriously difficult to film as wild animals are not terribly cooperative, and many nature shows and films of this era (including Disney’s “True-Life Adventure” movies and the Wild Kingdom television series) staged events to capture exciting footage for their audiences. Nonetheless, in this case what was depicted on screen was a complete fabrication, not a recreation of real animal behavior that filmmakers were unable to capture on film. Lemmings do not periodically hurl themselves off cliffs and into the sea. Cyclical explosions in population do occasionally induce lemmings to attempt to migrate to areas of lesser population density, and when such migrations occur, some lemmings do die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers. These deaths are neither acts of “suicide” nor the result of compulsive unreasoning behavior, however; they’re accidental deaths resulting from lemmings’ venturing into unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges or venturing into the water in a quest to reach new territory. As the Alaska Department of Fish and Game noted in an article about this myth: “Disney had to have gotten that idea from somewhere,” said Thomas McDonough, the state wildlife biologist. Disney likely confused dispersal with migration, he added, and embellished a kernel of truth. Lemming populations fluctuate enormously based on predators, food, climate and other factors. Under ideal conditions, in a single year a population of voles can increase by a factor of ten. When they’ve exhausted the local food supply, they disperse, as do moose, beaver and many other animals. Lemmings can swim and will cross bodies of water in their quest for greener pastures. Sometimes they drown. Dispersal and accidental death is a far cry from the instinctive, deliberate mass suicide depicted in “White Wilderness,” but [the White Wilderness narrator] explains that life is tough in the lemmings’ “weird world of frozen chaos.” The voice-over implies that lemmings take the plunge every seven to ten years to alleviate overpopulation. “What people see is essentially mass dispersal,” said zoologist Gordon Jarrell, an expert in small mammals with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “Sometimes it’s pretty directional. The classic example is in the Scandinavian mountains, where (lemmings) have been dramatically observed. They will come to a body of water and be temporarily stopped, and eventually they’ll build up along the shore so dense and they will swim across. If they get wet to the skin, they’re essentially dead.” Jarrell said when people learn that he works with lemmings, the mass suicide issue often comes up.",
            "output": [
                "Filmmakers staged lemming death scenes for the Disney nature documentary White Wilderness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9423ba5728c84f02a7910f610460a7a9",
            "input": "People swim and play in the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York July 21, 2011. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Last year was one of the worst on record in terms of bacterial pollution from human and animal waste, according to the nonprofit Natural Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) 22nd annual survey of water quality at over 3,000 U.S. beaches. State and local beach officials reported the third-highest number of closings and advisory days in over 20 years. The impact of sewage and stormwater runoff on swimmers include diarrhea, pink eye, ear, nose and throat problems, respiratory ailments and several neurological disorders. To make the information easier to access, NRDC debuted a new online tool at www.nrdc.org/beaches that allows the public to search beaches by postal zip code. An application for mobile devices is also in the works. “Having that information when you’re planning the trip is far more important than when you’ve taken the trip,” said Steve Fleischli, Director of NRDC’s Water Program. The report shows how water quality levels vary significantly across the country. Delaware, not usually the first state that jumps to mind for many when thinking of fun in the sun, nonetheless had beaches reporting the lowest water contamination levels in the country, while Louisiana pollution has for consecutive years violated federal beach water standards. In California, the picture was mixed. Five beaches, including Newport and Huntington State Beaches in Orange County, for example, were awarded NRDC’s 5-star rating out of the dozen others, nationally, that received the top honor. However, eight of the state’s beaches appeared on a list of the nation’s 15 worst “Repeat Offenders” for violating public health standards. Evaluation criteria included monitoring frequency, indicators of beach water quality and whether the public was notified of contamination. Small children, senior citizens and people with weak immune systems are most at risk from exposure. NRDC has urged the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to modernize and raise water-quality standards, last set in 1986. The EPA is currently reviewing them. “We know that much of this filth is preventable and we can turn the tide against water pollution,” said NRDC attorney Jon Devine. NRDC also advocates investment in preventive efforts — from green roofs to porous pavement — that allow stormwater to filter back into the ground naturally rather than carrying waste from dirty streets into local beaches. More than 10 trillion gallons of untreated stormwater make their way every year into surface waters, according to EPA estimates. Over the next several months, Congress will debate whether to continue funding The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000. It set national water quality monitoring and reporting standards and authorized $30 million dollars in funding. But lawmakers have only set aside about one-third of that amount in any fiscal year. Earlier this year, citing a “difficult financial climate,” the EPA recommended cuts to the near $10 million in annual grants it gives to states to support their test and monitoring procedures. “People are talking about billions of dollars in the budget and when you’re talking about $10 million dollars, it seems like a rounding error,” NRDC’s Fleischli said. “But if you make this kind of budget cut it’s going to have significant ramifications for the public and the information that the public has.”",
            "output": [
                "Online tool helps beachgoers avoid dirty waters."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d799bcaf7504855a55ac44e29e6fa85",
            "input": "Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ order on Thursday came as new state data suggest Colorado ranks near the bottom for immunization rates among U.S. states. It also comes amid a national resurgence of measles that has affected more than 1,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 87.4% of Colorado kindergarten students had vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella in the 2018-19 school year, down 1.3% from the previous year, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment. For highly-contagious measles, the CDC recommends a 92% threshold to maintain herd immunity. More than 9,400 children were hospitalized or treated at emergency rooms for vaccine-preventable diseases in 2017, the state Department of Public Health and Environment says. The state needs to better inform residents about the benefits of vaccines, make parents aware of low-cost vaccination programs, seek out underserved residents and develop a strategy to confront an anti-vaccination movement that contends some shots are unsafe despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, said Tony Cappello, director of the department’s Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology division. “We need to provide fact-based information to parents so they can make educated, informed decisions,” Cappello told a news conference at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver. “This means dispelling misinformation about vaccinations and having correct information in the hands of parents,” he said. Polis’ order focuses on the education and information front. It calls for state officials to work more closely with local health specialists to promote vaccination; studying the reasons for what the governor calls “vaccine hesitancy” among parents, and developing information strategies to address those concerns; and helping families on Medicaid and residents in rural and other underserved areas gain access to and pay for recommended vaccines. The state allows parents to opt out of required school vaccinations for medical, religious and philosophical reasons. Polis, who’s described himself as a libertarian Democrat, stressed Thursday he won’t change that policy. “We believe that Colorado families should be making their own health care decisions,” he said. “We really view this as the third way between the government forcing people to get shots, which is counterproductive, and simply allowing these rates to go down, which is counterproductive to the public health and results in people dying.” This spring, hundreds of parents, their children in tow, swarmed the state Capitol to oppose a bill that would have made it harder to qualify for religious or personal exemptions. The bill stalled in the Legislature. Lawmakers in Oregon, which has one of the highest rates of unvaccinated kindergartners in the country, also killed a bill this year to make it harder for families to opt out. But next-door Washington state ended most exemptions for the measles vaccine. Maine eliminated religious and philosophical exemptions, and New York legislators were poised Thursday to eliminate a religious exemption.",
            "output": [
                "Polis seeks to boost child vaccinations, respect exemptions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e729a9321833462398f3a7ff8513a46c",
            "input": "Modi, who imposed a three-week long nationwide lockdown on March 25, asked all citizens to turn out their lights for nine minutes at 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, and to display lamps and candles in a show of solidarity. Modi’s call was met with a huge response, with many people lighting up their balconies. Others lit firecrackers, played musical instruments, and sang patriotic songs. Grid data showed India’s national power consumption plunging more than a quarter in a matter of minutes. The show of unity came as the total number of coronavirus cases in India increased to 3,577, while the death toll rose to 83. Some officials have warned that lockdowns could continue beyond April 14 in parts of India where new cases have been detected. With the number of cases continuing to increase daily, India restricted the export of most diagnostic testing kits. The government, which in recent weeks already banned the export of certain medicines, along with ventilators, masks and other protective gear needed by both patients and medical staff, issued the latest directive late on Saturday. The move came even as U.S. President Donald Trump urged Modi in a phone call to release supplies of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which is being tested as a possible treatment for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “The two leaders agreed to remain in touch on the issue of global supply chains for critical pharmaceuticals and medical supplies and to ensure they continue to function as smoothly as possible during the global health crisis,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said on Saturday. In a briefing note on the conversation, India said the two leaders “agreed to deploy the full strength of the India–U.S. partnership to resolutely and effectively combat COVID-19.”  The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Asia, home to roughly 1.9 billion people, topped 7,000 on Sunday, even as the death toll from the respiratory disease rose to 149 in the region. While the figures are relatively low in comparison with the United States, China, Italy and Spain, health experts fear that the spread of the pandemic in South Asia could overwhelm already weak public health systems in the region. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday unveiled a 727.50 billion taka ($8.56 billion) stimulus package to help the economy weather the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The amount is equivalent to 2.52 percent of gross domestic product,” Hasina said in a televised address. Reuters reported earlier this month that Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel producer after China, was set to lose roughly $6 billion in export revenue this financial year amid order cancellations from some of the world’s largest brands and retailers. Bangladesh has recorded 88 cases of the disease, with nine deaths. Following are government figures on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia:  * India has 3,577 cases, including 83 deaths  * Pakistan has 3,059 cases, including 45 deaths  * Afghanistan has 349 cases, including 7 deaths  * Sri Lanka has 175 cases, including 5 deaths  * Bangladesh has 88 cases, including 9 deaths  * Maldives has 19 cases and no deaths  * Nepal has nine cases and no deaths  * Bhutan has five cases and no deaths",
            "output": [
                "Indians light lamps to heed Modi's call for coronavirus comradeship."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-85c9fe5931644427a10df916662e795f",
            "input": "The state Public Health Council on Wednesday endorsed the merger of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Burlington-based Lahey Health System and several other hospitals. If it goes through, it would create a health network to compete with Partners HealthCare, the parent company of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals. The deal also includes New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, and Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport. The merger still needs approval from the state Health Policy Commission and the state attorney general’s office. Proponents say the merger would benefit patients, but opponents worry it would increase costs and reduce access to health care.",
            "output": [
                "Proposed hospital merger gets key state approval."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1cbe734fd2fe43a9bd38dd8bddfde353",
            "input": "The Associated Press has learned that the attorneys general in Illinois and the District of Columbia are examining how Juul’s blockbuster vaping device became so popular with underage teens. The company’s rapid rise to the top of the multi-billion dollar U.S. e-cigarette market has been accompanied by accusations from parents, politicians and public health advocates that Juul fueled a vaping craze among high schoolers. In addition to the ongoing inquiries in Illinois and the district, which had not been publicly disclosed before, four other state attorneys general are probing or suing Juul. Juul’s top executives have disputed allegations that they’ve marketed their products to teens, declaring that they’ve taken unprecedented steps to combat underage use of its e-cigarettes. The company has shut down its Facebook and Instagram pages and pulled several of its flavored products out of retail stores. Juul also backs federal legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21 nationwide. Juul spokesman Ted Kwong declined to answer specific questions about the investigations in an emailed statement but reiterated past company steps to prevent youth use. Juul announced Thursday that 50 retail chains have pledged to adopt the company’s age-verification system, which requires sellers to scan a customer’s ID before selling Juul products. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Friday the Trump administration “will continue using every regulatory and enforcement power we have to stop the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use.” A senior Illinois law enforcement official described to AP a wide-ranging inquiry being conducted by the office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul that is centered on whether Juul violated state consumer fraud laws and other statutes by designing and marketing its products to appeal to underage teens. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Marrisa Geller, a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, confirmed in an emailed statement an investigation of Juul is underway. She said Racine is concerned about “the dramatic increase in the use of vaping products by district youth” as well as the policies and practices employed by e-cigarette manufacturers to prevent minors from using their products. The attorneys general in Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts have announced investigations of Juul related to concerns over underage use of its products. North Carolina’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Juul in May, asking a court to limit the company’s sales and marketing in the state. All six attorneys general are Democrats. The Food and Drug Administration said last October it seized thousands of documents from Juul’s San Francisco headquarters relating to the company’s marketing. The agency has been investigating whether the company targeted youth with the flavors, design and ingredients of its products. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Juul’s early marketing campaign and use of social media to promote its products. The FTC declined to comment. Juul has repeatedly stated that it understands the concerns about youth vaping and has taken “the most aggressive actions” of any company in the industry to combat the problem. It has spent millions of dollars on newspaper, radio and online advertisements pledging to keep its products out of the hands of young people. The company also has denied it ever marketed to anyone underage. Kwong said Juul’s earliest marketing campaign, in 2015, was aimed at adults between 25 and 34. Based on the sales and revenue, he said, “there is no evidence that it drove use, youth or otherwise.” Kwong said the company’s paid social media “influencer” program was as a small, short-lived program that ended in 2018. Electronic cigarettes, which have been available in the U.S. since about 2007 and have grown into a more than $6 billion-a-year industry, are battery-powered devices that typically heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable aerosol. Juul, which launched in 2015, now controls roughly three-quarters of the U.S. retail market for e-cigarettes. Last year, one in five U.S. high school students reported vaping in the previous month, according to government survey figures. Most experts agree the aerosol is less harmful than cigarette smoke since it doesn’t contain most of the cancer-causing byproducts of burning tobacco. But there is virtually no research on the long-term effects of the vaping chemicals, some of which are toxic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that 215 teens and adults in 25 states including Illinois have contracted severe respiratory illnesses after vaping. However, the agency said a clear-cut common cause of the illnesses hasn’t been identified and they are being called “potential cases” that are still under investigation. The CDC said in many of the cases patients had acknowledged they’d recently vaped a substance containing THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana. The agency did not say how many of the patients were teens. Kevin Burns, Juul’s chief executive officer, told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday the illnesses are “worrisome” for the industry and for Juul “if we contributed to it.” He said the company is in close contact with the CDC to get as much information as it can “so if there’s any issue that was ... associated with us, that we can get to the root cause and understand that.” In Illinois, the state’s Department of Public Health has called e-cigarette use among teens an “epidemic” and said there is an alarming lack of understanding about the risk for nicotine addiction. Other areas being investigated by Raoul’s office include: how Juul verifies the ages of people who make online purchases from the company’s website; the amount of nicotine in the flavored solution and how safe those levels are; and whether Juul has improperly advertised its e-cigarette as a smoking-cessation tool. Kwong said the Juul system is designed to help adult smokers switch from combustible cigarettes and is not intended to be used as a cessation product. Neither Juul nor any other e-cigarette has yet been approved by the FDA to help people who smoke traditional paper-and-tobacco cigarettes quit. The Illinois probe began in the spring. Raoul’s office is not coordinating its investigation with other attorneys general, the official said. Geller, the spokeswoman for Racine, declined to discuss the scope of the district’s inquiry. However, a senior official in Racine’s office wrote to a Juul representative in early February and asked for a trove of information about how district residents purchase the company’s products. Among the data sought by Benjamin Wiseman, director of consumer protection, was a list of authorized retail stores and third-party online retailers that failed to comply with Juul’s rules for preventing minors from buying and using its products. Wiseman also asked that the company “describe in detail the nature of the retailer’s failure to comply” and what action Juul took in response. Racine’s office, Wiseman wrote, learned from news reports and conversations with community members and other government officials that use of Juul’s products by young teenagers in the district has increased dramatically in recent years. “Remarkably, one district high school principal estimates that half of the juniors and seniors at her school are using e-cigarettes, many of which we believe are Juul’s products,” Wiseman told Patrick Lynch, a former attorney general of Rhode Island who runs a lobbying and consulting firm that represents Juul. Lynch’s firm arranged for a meeting in the attorney general’s office last November that included himself, Juul chief administrative officer Ashley Gould, Wiseman and Assistant DC Attorney General Brian Caldwell, according to emails obtained through an open records request. Lynch is not registered as a lobbyist in the District of Columbia. The agenda for the meeting isn’t described in the records, although one email from Lynch said they discussed Juul’s efforts “to dramatically diminish youth access to their product.”",
            "output": [
                "Juul Labs facing scrutiny from federal and state officials."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10e12ebdfc21417b959d8354e4513582",
            "input": "“We kept on seeing new cases and we could not understand why,” said Antoine Ruplinger, an executive with the company that runs the home. Since then 36 residents at the home have died of coronavirus-related conditions, according to the local mayor’s office, which registers the deaths. There were 109 residents before the coronavirus crisis broke. Death rates from COVID-19 in old people’s homes around the world have been high, in part because the disease hits the elderly disproportionately and because testing at care homes has been patchy. What happened at La Riviera underlines the potential value of blanket testing at an early stage, some French officials said. “Maybe if we had been able to test from the beginning, everything would have been different,” said Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, an official with the National Union of Private Homes and Facilities for the Elderly (SYNERPA). The response by staff at La Riviera was centred around checking who was showing symptoms of infection and isolating them from the rest of the home. That was in line with national guidelines at the time, which were for only the first three suspected cases to be tested. But for over two weeks after the first case, residents in the home were not tested for COVID-19. That meant people who had the virus yet showed no symptoms were still part of the general population in the home and potentially transmitting infection. “No one had been tested, so we did not know who was infected and who wasn’t,” said Richard Galy, a medical doctor and mayor of the town of Mougins where the home is located. France last week changed its policy, so that all nursing home residents and staff are tested at those homes where a COVID-19 case has been detected, whether or not they are showing symptoms. Twenty days after the first case, systematic testing of residents for COVID-19 began at La Riviera on April 4. Thirty-three residents were found to be carrying the virus, as well as 14 staff, who were sent home. The testing allowed the home to put in place a new virus containment plan, guided by an infectious disease specialist from a nearby hospital. Those who tested positive have been put on the first and second floors of the complex. They are cared for by staff who do not mix with other patients, and who use their own dedicated elevator, changing rooms and break rooms. Engineers have visited to make sure there is negative pressure inside rooms with coronavirus patients, so when a door is opened, air does not stream out, spreading the infection. By the time it became clear that the virus was spreading after the first case of COVID-19 at the home was identified in mid-March, Galy had been in touch for days with staff at the home, public health officials, and regional officials. Galy said he knew about the deaths, and was urging immediate testing. But tests were not available. The company that usually does testing for the Riviera, laboratoire de L’Esperance, only had enough kits to do 80 tests per day and priority was given to hospitals, healthcare workers, and people with symptoms, said the head of the laboratory, Dr Françoise Duhalde-Guignard. “So at the time, we couldn’t test,” she told Reuters. The regional public health authority said it has launched an investigation into why so many people died at the home. The authority has said the home’s managers waited too long to seek help. The home’s operator, Korian SA, said its staff acted in line with official guidance, and sought help when it was necessary. The mayor and four families of La Riviera residents have joined a legal case brought by some of the families against unidentified individuals alleging involuntary homicide, endangerment of life, and failure to assist a person in danger. The mayor said he was joining because he wanted to understand better what happened and where the responsibility for what happened lay. Korian and the public health authority both declined to comment on the legal case. The first case at the home was identified on March 15, when a local hospital treating a resident informed the home that the person had tested positive for COVID-19. Ruplinger, the executive with the home’s operator, received a call about the case just before midnight. The next morning, he arrived at La Riviera. He ordered that staff were to wear protective gear at all times, cleaning was to be stepped up and residents were to be confined to their rooms. Residents suspected of having the virus were moved to an 11-bed unit on a separate floor. Within three days of opening, the segregation unit had run out of beds. Several residents had already died, according to Magali Lamoureux, who runs a local funeral home and was called by the home to collect some of the bodies. She said death certificates listed COVID-19 as the cause of death. By the time testing did happen, it was too late for patients like Odette Noyer, who arrived there around 18 months ago from the town of Romans-sur-Iseres, about 400 km (250 miles) north. On March 24, she marked her 94th birthday and her family, who lived nearby, spoke to her by telephone to congratulate her. Six days later, her grandson rang the home at 5 pm to ask after her, according to a legal complaint filed by the family of Noyer and several other residents, which was seen by Reuters. A member of staff said she was being administered oxygen, but was fine. At 10 pm the same night, she died.",
            "output": [
                "French nursing home learns costly lessons on containing coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-438ee6ed8b994bf89d5fda1177684fb5",
            "input": "Nguyen’s suicide has sparked a contentious legal battle headed to Massachusetts’ highest court over whether schools can be held responsible when students take their own lives. The case is being closely watched by colleges and universities, who say a decision against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would place an unreasonable burden on untrained employees to stop suicides. “It would be groundbreaking,” said Gary Pavela, a consultant on law and policy issues in higher education and author of a book about legal questions surrounding student suicides. “It would cause alarm in higher education,” he said. The student’s family says his death was preventable and that the school had a legal duty to use reasonable care to protect him from harm. Nguyen’s professors and other MIT officials knew he was a suicide risk, but failed to get him the help he needed, an attorney for Nguyen’s family argues. Months before Nguyen’s death, a professor encouraged his colleagues to pass him or they might have “blood on their hands.” Moments before Nguyen jumped, the professor “read him the riot act” over an email Nguyen sent to another MIT official that they deemed inappropriate, court records say. “Academic freedom is not a license to needlessly and recklessly endanger students known to be at risk of death with impunity; and this court should not allow it to become one at institutions that routinely admit students — many with mental health issues — as young as their mid-teens,” attorney Jeffrey Beeler wrote in court documents. Beeler declined to comment and said Nguyen’s family didn’t want to speak to the media. MIT says the school wasn’t aware of the severity of his condition and he was treated by outside professionals and refused on-campus resources. None of the nine professionals who treated Nguyen while he was at MIT believed he was an imminent risk of killing himself, the school says. “Mr. Nguyen’s suicide was a tragedy. That does not warrant a legal conclusion that MIT or any individual associated with MIT had a legal duty to prevent it,” attorneys for the school, two professors and one dean named in the lawsuit say in court documents. MIT, which refused to answer questions about the case, said in a statement it “remains committed to the well-being of its students, offering a robust network of support resources, including comprehensive mental health services.” Nguyen’s family attorney disputes the idea that the man didn’t want help and has accused MIT of blaming the victim. No state supreme court has ever found that colleges and universities have a legal duty to prevent student suicides, MIT’s attorneys say. Courts have generally been reluctant to do so because, among other things, suicide is an impulsive act that’s difficult to predict, Pavela said. A Massachusetts trial court judge ruled in 2005 that an MIT housemaster and dean could be held responsible for the death of a woman who lit herself on fire in her dorm room. But Elizabeth Shin’s case, which was later settled for an undisclosed amount, never reached the state’s highest court. The Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in Nguyen’s case on Tuesday after a lower court judge tossed the lawsuit last year. A group of 18 colleges and universities — including Harvard University and Boston College — is urging the court to reject the case, saying a decision in favor of the family could have devastating consequences. Fear of liability may cause professors and others without mental health expertise to overreact to concerns, which in turn could discourage students from coming forward with their problems, the schools say. Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a psychiatry expert at Columbia University, agrees. “To the extent that you heighten every resident assistant’s sensitivity to the risk of suicidality, with the threat of liability hanging over them, they are far more likely to over predict, over intervene, see it where it’s not,” Appelbaum said. The Nguyen family attorney and their supporters — including the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys — say the schools’ concerns are baseless. Beeler, in his filing, said he merely wants the court to affirm that the duty to provide reasonable care “extends to the ivory tower as it does every other civilized corner of the Commonwealth.” Thomas Murphy, chair of the amicus committee of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, says a jury should get to decide whether MIT was negligent and caused Nguyen’s suicide. “Maybe the school can convince them that they didn’t cause (Nguyen’s suicide) and it was going to happen anyway,” he said. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Read more of her work at http://bit.ly/2hIhzDb",
            "output": [
                "Case stirs question of school liability for student suicides."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0f82ab2acf78461b908c9067d51fae72",
            "input": "Scientists dubbed the startling findings “immune amnesia.” The body can rebuild those defenses — but it could take years. And with measles on the rise, “it should be a scary phenomenon,” said Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard’s school of public health, lead author of research published Thursday in the journal Science. “This goes under the radar” because doctors wouldn’t necessarily connect a child’s pneumonia to measles they suffered a year earlier, Mina explained. “But would they have gotten it if they hadn’t gotten measles?” The Harvard team analyzed blood samples taken from 77 children before and after a measles outbreak in an unvaccinated community in the Netherlands. They looked for antibodies, which remember viruses and bacteria they encounter to guard against a repeat infection. After recovering from measles, the youngsters were left with plenty of antibodies against that virus — but ones they’d previously harbored against other germs had plummeted. In the most severe cases, “they’re just as vulnerable as if they were infants,” said study senior author Stephen Elledge, a Harvard geneticist. Elledge is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP’s Health & Science Department. A separate study, published Thursday in Science Immunology, supported the findings. Researchers from Britain’s Wellcome Sanger Institute used the Dutch blood samples to genetically test antibody-producing cells, and concluded measles is eliminating enough to re-set the immune system to a baby-like state. If protection against the misery — and sometimes life-threatening effects — of measles isn’t enough reason to vaccinate children, specialists said the two studies offer a powerful new rationale. “There really are profound gaps and holes” in someone’s immunity after measles, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the Harvard work. “You ultimately recover but after a year or two or sometimes more.” “It’s doubly important to vaccinate children,” agreed Dr. Mark Mulligan of NYU Langone Health, who wasn’t involved with the new research. “It’s a vaccine that protects against the specific target, measles virus, but also against immune suppression.” Measles is one of the world’s most contagious viruses, able to spread through coughs and sneezes for four days before someone develops the characteristic rash. It sometimes leaves children with brain damage or hearing loss, and while deaths are rare in the U.S., measles killed 110,000 people globally in 2017. The vaccine offers powerful protection but a lack of access means measles remains rampant in many lower-income countries. Even the U.S., where most children are immunized, has seen a resurgence fueled by outbreaks in unvaccinated communities that in turn threaten people too young or sick to be immunized. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has counted more than 1,200 U.S. measles cases, the most since 1992. Doctors have long known that people temporarily experience weakened immunity after measles. Using decades of health records, Mina previously reported that child deaths from other infections jumped after a measles outbreak, increases that lasted two or three years. But no one knew why, until the new study. The Dutch children started out pretty healthy: Technology developed in Elledge’s lab found antibodies in their blood against typical childhood germs. But two months after recovering from measles, the children had lost on average 20 percent of their usual antibody mix. Some lost up to 70 percent of protection against specific bugs, limiting their ability to respond if they encounter that germ again. Importantly, researchers didn’t find loss of antibodies in “control” populations that didn’t get infected with measles — or in children after they received the measles vaccine. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Measles saps kids’ ability to fight other germs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-550189a88ca64f769eb7271736dc2a09",
            "input": "\"The full quote from Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech on her health care plan: \"\"Each year, 18,000 people die in America because they don't have health care. Let me repeat that. Here in America, people are dying because they couldn't get the care they needed when they were sick.\"\" Clinton used the number to dramatize the need for universal coverage. The number comes from a report called \"\"Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late,\"\" produced in 2002 by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Science is a private, nonprofit society of scholars. It was granted a charter by Congress in 1863 and has a mandate to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. The report found that people without health care coverage: • received less frequent or no use of cancer screening tests; • received inconsistent care for the management of chronic disease; • received fewer diagnostic and treatment services for trauma or heart attacks, and had an increased risk of death when in the hospital. The report concluded that \"\"excess deaths among uninsured adults ages 25–64, based on a 25 percent higher mortality risk, can be estimated to be in the range of 18,000 each year.\"\" The report was independently reviewed. Its findings controlled for an individual's health insurance status as an independent variable, ruling out issues of income, for instance.\"",
            "output": [
                "Each year, 18,000 people die in America because they don't have health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-37caf7615b004c528eedf85cde3406af",
            "input": "The findings were culled from a large, ongoing study testing various brain imaging tests and biomarkers that aims to identify which patients with cognitive problems will progress to Alzheimer’s disease. “When you look at them all independently, they are all useful for predicting conversion (to Alzheimer’s disease) and decline,” said Susan Landau of the University of California, Berkeley, whose study appears in the journal Neurology. “The novel thing we did was put them all together in the same statistical model and compared them to see which were the most useful,” she said in a telephone interview. For the study, researchers did memory and brain scan tests on 85 people with mild cognitive impairment who were part of the larger Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative study. The tests included an episodic memory test, in which the patient must correctly remember a list of words. People were also tested to see if they had a variant of the APOE gene linked with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers did magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans to measure brain volume in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. They also measured proteins called tau and beta-amyloid linked with Alzheimer’s disease. And they did an imaging test called positron emission tomography or PET to test for brain function by looking to see how well the brain uses glucose or sugar. When they compared the effectiveness of each test in predicting conversion to Alzheimer’s disease, two emerged as the best predictors. “People who had poorer scores on both of those tests were almost 12 times more likely to convert to Alzheimer’s disease than people who were normal on those two,” Landau said. Patients in the study were between the ages of 55 and 90 and were followed for an average of 1.9 years. During that time, 28 of the 85 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease. Landau, who wants to expand the study to confirm the findings, said she thinks they may be useful in helping doctors pick the best tests to predict which patients are most likely to progress to Alzheimer’s disease within two to three years of testing. Several teams are working on better ways to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease in hopes of developing drugs that can fight it before it causes too much damage. Current treatments cannot reverse the course of Alzheimer’s, a mind-robbing form of dementia that affects more than 26 million people globally.",
            "output": [
                "Study identifies best tests to predict Alzheimer's."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48834aef710b4281b4274e01971ed7c6",
            "input": "This is a sentence spoken by Trump, not a piece of modernist stream-of-consciousness pastiche. pic.twitter.com/vfhdKzg9Uy — Stig Abell (@StigAbell) August 9, 2016  On 19 July 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared at Sun City’s Magnolia Hall in South Carolina to deliver a noontime speech. The event was an otherwise unremarkable campaign stop, save for one portion of Trump’s speech (transcribed below) in which he apparently started out attempting to criticize the nuclear deal that the Obama administration negotiated with Iran but veered into a minute-and-a-half long sentence that spanned his uncle’s academic qualifications, his own education, Democrats’ denying Republicans’ credentials, the power of nuclear technology, the number of American prisoners freed by Iran in conjunction with the nuclear deal, and the adeptness of “Persian” negotiators (particularly women), before circling back to how the Iranians “killed us” in the nuclear deal:   “Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.”  The one thing that puzzles us the most about this sprawling statement is this: Donald Trump’s late uncle, Dr. John Trump, was indeed a renowned professor at MIT, and among his many notable contributions to science were developing methods for treating cancer through radiation and studying how to radiate deep tumors without harming nearby healthy tissue. But what did he reveal to his nephew about “nuclear” 35 years ago that it would have been surprising for anyone to think of?",
            "output": [
                "A tweet reproduces a 90-second long sentence from a Donald Trump speech."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3908e8b4e8a648d9bee5d248d6bf75a4",
            "input": "\"It’s been a big week for Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, chosen by the famous Duggar family of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting to exclusively air their side of the story involving the oldest Duggar son molesting five minors, including his sisters, a decade ago. But to some observers, Fox’s intense promotion of Kelly’s June 3 interview with parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and her later sit-down with two daughters molested by Josh Duggar marked a drastic shift in the network’s coverage of the story. \"\"It’s slightly amusing that Fox News barely covered this scandal until Megyn Kelly was able to secure this interview,\"\" said CNN senior media correspondent and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter on June 2. \"\"Now they’ll be covering it a lot more.\"\" We wanted to double-check Stelter’s analysis. Was Fox News essentially mum about the story until Kelly scored the at-home exclusive? Stelter told PunditFact that he first started thinking about the coverage disparity when he saw a story by liberal site Media Matters for America that compared light coverage by Fox with intensive coverage by MSNBC and CNN. He and CNNMoney media reporter Tom Kludt did their own research and reached a similar conclusion for a story about the interview. \"\"Along with the amount of time spent, we took into account the type of Fox's coverage,\"\" Stelter said. \"\"Early on, the mentions of the controversy were fleeting, not substantive at all.\"\" The controversy went public when In Touch Weekly published the first story May 19 about Josh Duggar being the suspect in a 2005 underage sexual abuse investigation. In Touch and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published more stories May 21 based on a police report that said the father did not go to law enforcement until a year after the fondling incidents took place. After the stories appeared, Josh Duggar resigned his position as executive director of the Family Research Council and apologized in a statement, saying, \"\"Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation.\"\" TLC pulled all episodes of 19 Kids and Counting the next day, May 22. Fox first told its viewers about the situation in a 30-second segment on May 22, followed by a  20-second segment on May 23. On May 26, the Duggars were mentioned on The Five in the context of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee defending the family. \"\"You don’t go around defending the Duggar family when you’ve got bigger issues going on,\"\" said pundit Greg Gutfeld. Fox analyst Howard Kurtz criticized the media’s focus on the Duggar family in a May 24 segment. Those are the only references we could find before May 30, when Kelly’s interview was announced. Needless to say, those mentions of the story were super-brief — especially when you compare how the other networks handled it. CNN and MSNBC anchors devoted considerably more time to the controversy from the start. We used Critical Mention, which searches closed-captioning transcripts, to look for mentions of the Duggars on the three networks from May 19 to noon on May 30, roughly when the interview was announced. This method isn’t perfect — misspellings aren’t captured, for instance — but it does provide a rough snapshot of how often each network discussed the family. Fox News personalities mentioned \"\"Duggar\"\" four times. Within the same timeframe, the family name came up 99 times on CNN and 72 times on MSNBC. On Stelter’s home network of CNN, the story was brought up on five different shows on May 22, with Erin Burnett OutFront and Anderson Cooper 360 devoting substantial chunks of air time to interviews with an In Touch staffer and child psychiatry professionals, as well as going into other TLC shows with stars that fell from grace. CNN Tonight host Don Lemon continued to explore the story in his May 26-28 shows. On MSNBC, nearly every show on May 22 talked about the story, including hosts Alex Wagner, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton and Chris Hayes, often bringing in experts to dissect some of the story’s finer points. The network continued to cover the story on May 26, 27 and 28. Fox began to report the story in more depth on June 1, when Kelly criticized the media’s handling of the story with Fox media analyst Howard Kurtz. She equated the rush to cover the story as feasting on a carcass, going after CNN specifically for bringing up how GOP presidential candidates had taken pictures with Josh Duggar before the scandal broke. Kelly’s coverage of the story has also focused on the release of police records, which she and the Duggars say should have never been made public. Other shows on the network, including The O’Reilly Factor, Outnumbered, Your World and Fox and Friends, started talking about the Duggars in the context of Kelly’s interview. From noon on May 30 to about 5 p.m. on June 5, there have been 134 mentions of \"\"Duggar\"\" on Fox, according to Critical Mention. Fox News spokespersons did not offer comment for the story. Our ruling Stelter said, \"\"Fox News barely covered this scandal until Megyn Kelly was able to secure this interview.\"\" Our review of media mentions of the Duggar story among CNN, MSNBC and Fox supports his statement. Fox News’ coverage was fleeting before Kelly’s interview was announced.\"",
            "output": [
                "Fox News barely covered (the Duggar family) scandal until Megyn Kelly was able to secure this interview."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76edc755ca1c49e490df07066b2240ae",
            "input": "The story clearly points out that brain scans and biomarker tests are not ready for clinical use. Since there are no recommended changes that directly affect readers today, and since it is not known which diagnostic tests may eventually prove useful, it is reasonable to put off discussions of cost. As noted above, the story points out that brain scans and biomarker tests for early signs of Alzheimer’s disease are currently useful to researchers, not doctors in routine clinical practice. The story also reports that, “Current treatments do not alter the course of Alzheimer’s, they just ease symptoms,” thus limiting the benefit of early diagnosis. However, as we mentioned in the section on harms, the story would have been better if it offered more context with the comments of one expert who said that early diagnosis can help patients and families cope with the disease. Since the story reports that the diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s are not ready for clinical use and it points out that diagnosis is of limited value now because the available treatments are only able to ease some symptoms in some patients, not treat the underlying disease, we understand why discussion of potential harms is deferred. However, the story does include comments about perceived benefits of early diagnosis for patients and families. It would have been nice to see comments about why people might reasonably choose to defer diagnosis because of the psychological and social effects of being defined as an Alzheimer’s patient when there may be no medical benefit to early diagnosis. This story is careful to point out the limitations of the brain scans, spinal fluid tests and other diagnostic tools being explored by researchers. It summarizes some of the key challenges that researchers need to address before trying to use scans or lab tests to diagnose patients in routine clinical practice. The story specifies the estimated size of the patient population: “About 5.4 million Americans and more than 26 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.” It does not exaggerate the relevant population. This story summarizes the point of view of the panel of experts that developed these new guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. However, it does not tell readers whether there are dissenting opinions. More importantly, the story fails to report relationships between some of the quoted experts and pharmaceutical or testing companies. For example, the disclosure statements with the journal articles announcing the guidelines state that “Marilyn Albert serves as a consultant to Genentech and Eli Lilly and receives grants to her institution from GE Healthcare” and “Guy McKhann serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Merck.” Readers should have been alerted to these industry ties. The story implicitly recognizes the option of foregoing testing by listing the limitations and uncertainties of not only experimental scans and lab tests, but also the limited utility of clinical diagnosis given the lack of effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The story alerts readers to not expect immediate changes in how doctors diagnose patients with signs of dementia: “Yet the guidelines do not advise doctors to change how they evaluate and treat patients now. Despite the hoopla about new brain scans and blood and spinal fluid tests that claim to show early signs of Alzheimer’s, they are not ready for prime time and should remain just tools for research, the guidelines say.” The story distinguishes between experimental diagnostic tools and the clinical features of dementia that doctors can use today when trying to determine whether a patient’s symptoms indicate Alzheimer’s or some other neurologic disease or injury. The story explains to readers key differences between the new guidelines and those released in 1984. It notes that the scans and lab tests that have been developed in recent years are useful to researchers trying to understand Alzheimer’s disease, especially early in the disease process, and the effects of experimental treatments. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New guidelines define pre-Alzheimer’s disease"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cdfe20cc7f6430e820fee7aa85413b4",
            "input": "The story does not discuss the costs or potential savings associated with the use of this drug. On the cost side, there are the direct costs of the drug itself as well as the diagnostic testing which must be conducted prior to administering the drug. In addition, hospitals incur significant costs to become certified as a primary stroke treatment centers, which is where candidates for tPA therapy are most likely to be taken by ambulance teams. On the savings side, successful treatment with tPA would potentially prevent significant expenditures on the care of disabled stroke patients. The story doesn’t do a good enough job explaining what they observed in the study or the benfits of tPA in general. In discussing the differences between weekday and weekend treatment, the story reports that there was a 20% difference in the likelihood of receiving tPA. In absolute terms, however, the difference between weekdays and weekends is very small (1.1% vs 0.9%). In addition, there is some discussion about why the study did not detect a reduction in deaths among patients treated on the weekend and who were more likely to receive tPA. The study could have noted that tPA has never been shown to reduce mortality in randomized clinical trials. The primary benefit of tPA—which is never explained in the story—is that it may increase the likelihood of a patient’s recovery from stroke without disability. The story was primarily about weekday vs. weekend use of tPA. While it could have mentioned other stroke treatments with proven benefits, such as aspirin, it would probably be unfair to dock points for not including this information. The story explains that the tPA is only used within 3 hours of the onset of stroke symptoms. It also hints at the fact that tPA is effective only for ischemic strokes, and that treatment is more likely to be available at certified stroke treatment centers. While it could have done more to make the limitations on tPA’s use explicit, the reader will probably come away with the sense that tPA is available only for certain patients where it can be used early. This is a satisfactory outcome.",
            "output": [
                "More Aggressive Treatment for Weekend Stroke"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8842c81cd3ee499c8cce2809f344b665",
            "input": "\"The story mentioned that the test carried a $399 price tag. Of course there are larger cost perspectives. If this diagnostic test truly has value, it might lead to more targeted therapy – perhaps decreasing overall medical costs. If it is a poor test, it may increase medical costs beyond the initial $399 for the test itself. The story included discussion about how this test might be of benefit; it did not include quantification of benefit (i.e. :how much faster could it enable a clinician to make a diagnosis?) though one of the points of the story was that the actual benefit of this test was somewhat imprecise. Lastly – the statement that any information is good is a red herring. However, we’ll again give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story discussed problems associated with false positive or false negative results. It mentioned that physicians might not have the appropriate training to understand what to do with the results of the test and could make, what an expert quoted in the story described as \"\"foolish decisions\"\" The story mentioned that this and other genetic test kits prey on individuals’ deepest anxieties. That said – there are many more harms possible. Creating the precedent for direct marketing of lab tests – even if the results go to the doctor carries significant risks. It could prey on peoples’ insecurities, cause financial harm, adversely affect the patient-clinician relationship, and lead to other family members of test positive patients (family members without symptoms) getting a meaningless test due to worry. It was good that the story pointed out that there is little oversight for the accuracy of genetic test kits. Overall the story did a good job; it gave data such as 1% rate of genetic abnormality in unaffected vs. 3% in bipolar patients. It said, \"\"The report that accompanies those results instructs doctors that a positive test means patients are two to three times more likely to have bipolar disorder.\"\" If the reporter had gone the next step, it would have been even better. For example, if someone has no symptoms of bipolar disorder, then the likelhood of current bipolar is 0% – so a 2-3 time increase in risk is still 0. For someone with many symptoms, the risk of bipolar disorder might be 50-60% (rough estimate) and an abnormal test might increase that substantially. Granted, interpreting the quantitative data for readers may be difficult but it would have been helpful to put it into terms that were easier to understand. But in discussing why the test was useful, the company founder said that it was important \"\"even if it just helps a little bit\"\". The story should have noted that this lack of quantification of benefit is problematic. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes not only from the scientist who developed the test discussed, but from several experts in the field. The story did not make clear how diagnosis of bipolar disorder with the test vs. without the test differed. However it would appear that this may have been intentional as it isn’t actually clear how diagnosis of this disorder is dramatically altered in the era where this test is available. The story mentioned that this was a commercially available product. (Though it failed to mention that this test would likely not be covered by insurance, it also did not imply that it would. This, of course, will affect availability.) The story was clear that the test for bipolar disorder it described had been commercially available for about a month. It also mentioned that there about 1000 other test kits (for other genetic traits) which are available. Does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "At-home gene test stirs up debate"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a19f96d5c247437d8002429fcd21ac31",
            "input": "A SurfSET Fitness class in New York in an undated photo. REUTERS/SurfSET Fitness/Handout Group fitness gadflies can rejoice. Indoor surfing is a new workout, born of the sea but carving out a place in the center of town. “It’s actually harder than surfing,” Sarah Ponn, co-founder and fitness director of SurfSET Fitness, said of the class, which claims to squeeze about three hours’ worth of surfing-based movement into the 45-minute indoor workout. “Our primary goal is fitness,” she said. “We burn a lot of calories. There’s a lot of paddling, a lot of standing on an unstable board. It’s very athletic.”   The class revolves around a piece of equipment called the RipSurfer X, which was developed by SurfSET’s CEO Mike Hartwick, as a way to stay fit after he retired from professional hockey in 2010. “A surfboard, a real one, is mounted on an unstable surface of inflatable bladders. It moves based on where you place your weight,” Ponn explained. “It’s like being on water. (In surfing) if you step down with your right foot it will displace the water. Here it’s not water, it’s air.”   The class is sequenced like a surfing session on the sea, even as it draws from many disciplines, from interval training to resistance training to Pilates. “We do what you would do during a surf session,” Ponn said. The warm up is an intense cardio interval that mimics a sea surfer’s paddling out to beyond the break. Then the abdominal work kicks in. “We incorporate a lot of core strength training,” Ponn said. “Then we move into sprint segment.”   Woven into the workout are indoor versions of such surf staples as duck dives, pushing under a wave, and pop ups, going from lying to standing on the board in one jump. Ponn said a session can burn up to 1,000 calories. It also cultivates the traditionally long, lean, well-defined surfer-type body. “It’s not a body builder mentality,” Ponn said. “It’s not about bulking up.”   For months the class has been popping up temporarily in venues around New York City, Los Angeles, Atlantic City, New Jersey and the Hamptons. A flagship studio is set to open in New York in September. Florida-based fitness and wellness expert Shirley Archer thinks SurfSET is particularly suitable for sports enthusiasts, especially surfers, seeking a fun and different total body workout. “It challenges balance, endurance, upper, lower and core body muscles, and co-ordination,” said Archer, who is a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, after observing a session on the company’s website. She cautions that the risk-averse, the beginning exerciser, or the injury-impaired might want to look elsewhere. “The exercises — duck dips, deep squats, etc. — are fairly challenging and may be too difficult for people who need to move more slowly and with smaller ranges of motion,” said Archer, who is impressed by the apparatus and the creativity of the workout. Ponn said the company is developing a class for older people. A home version of the RipSurfer X is also in the works. A SurfSET Fitness class in New York in an undated photo. REUTERS/SurfSET Fitness/Handout “The machine is highly adjustable,” she explained. “You can tighten it down so that it barely moves.”   The only counter-indication she mentioned was pregnancy. “You can’t lie on your stomach and paddle when you’re pregnant,” she said. “It’s kind of sad.”",
            "output": [
                "Surf's up in the fitness studio."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78a4575f05ef4e45aa55a8dcbc0f8a70",
            "input": "John Sirico, of Tafton, Pennsylvania, was charged with multiple drug offenses and one weapons charge after the raid Thursday at Nutrition Zone in Fairfield. He was being detained pending a court hearing. Officials did not know whether he had retained an attorney. Officers seized 61 bottles of “Catnip Cocktail” from the store. They also recovered 29 bottles of human growth hormone, 20 bottles of a mixing agent, and seven high-capacity handgun and rifle magazines. According to police, the drug was hidden from view and no advertisements reflected that the store sold it. Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna said officers first became aware of the drug’s effects last summer when they found a man dancing and yelling near the store and exhibiting mood swings. Last month, a different man was seen driving erratically on a highway near the store. When police stopped him, he appeared confused and unaware of his surroundings. In both instances, officers recovered bottles of “Catnip Cocktail.” “This is a very dangerous product, and it appears its improper use is on the rise,” Manna said in a statement. The drug is not linked to the catnip plant. When the drug is metabolized by humans, police say it is similar to GHB, which is sometime used by partygoers but also known as the “date rape” drug.",
            "output": [
                "Police seize ‘Catnip Cocktail’ during nutrition store raid."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0a97cd8ca93e49cb836817c3202b9451",
            "input": "Tyco Fire Products said this month that it discovered perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, in well samples at its manufacturing plant in Marinette. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had directed Tyco to test for PFCs at the wells, which are part of a separate cleanup of arsenic. Tyco produces specialized firefighting foams that can extinguish gas and oil fires. PFCs are used in products like the firefighting foam and have been linked with increasing cancer risks and development problems in fetuses, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported . Tyco, which is a unit of Johnson Controls International, said it’s investigating the source and extent of the groundwater contamination by testing soil, ditches and surface water. Elevated levels of PFCs appeared in Marinette’s wastewater treatment system during November and May testing, according to records from the city and the Department of Natural Resources. Effluent is released into the river after waste is treated. The leftover sludge has typically been spread on farm fields. The DNR has directed the city to test the sludge samples and officials are waiting for the lab results. It’s uncertain if Tyco is the source of the wastewater contamination and it’s too early to determine the impact of the sludge on soil, crops and livestock, according to DNR officials. Trace amounts of the chemicals have also been found in the city’s municipal drinking water, according to records from the city and the DNR. The levels are low and aren’t considered a danger to public health, city and DNR officials said. Johnson Controls spokesman Fraser Engerman said since PFC compounds are often used in consumer and commercial products, “it is difficult to determine all potential sources of these compounds.” ___ Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin manufacturer finds groundwater pollution at plant."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe58bfbc861145e8947d4901794d1304",
            "input": "The story included an estimate for the cost of an angioplasty. Although mentioning that it may take many office visits to get medical therapy right, the story should have included an estimated cost for this as well. The story reported on the percent of individuals in the two treatment groups who reported relief of chest pain and that by 3 years, there was no difference between the groups. The story mentioned that one of the harms of this report might be that patients may now be given medication without adequate testing to show that angioplasty can be safely delayed. While the story mentioned that currently 1/3 of people receiving an angioplasty may not need it, it failed to mention the harms of angioplasty. Although the story did not adequately describe the type of study the information came from, it did indicate the number of individuals studied and provided results in terms of absolute benefit. It also indicated that individuals in the study were stable and that this contrasts with those who are having a heart attack or experiencing worsening of symptoms. The story also mentioned where the study had been published so that an interested reader could follow-up on the story if they were interested. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from 5 clinicians, one of whom was identified as one of the study co-authors. Ideally, the story would have clearly identified whether or not the remaining 4 clinicians were involved in the study. The story provided readers with the results of the study indicating that enhanced relief of chest pain from coronary heart disease was only temporarily better in people who received angioplasty than in those who received optimal medical therapy. There is no doubt in the story about how widespread both angioplasty and angina medications are in use. The story captured the novelty of a new study’s observation that the size of the benefit of angioplasty was surprisingly not as large as was thought and that even that was transient. It gave appropriate context on the use of both angioplasty and medications for angina. The story does not rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Drugs as good as stents for many heart patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61a0b61dc2d44acd8af0e0dba0d198fe",
            "input": "The cost of hormone replacement therapy is not in question. Of the 34,433 HRT users, 193 were diagnosed with colon cancer during the study period; that compared with 151 cases among the 13,778 women who had never used hormone replacement. HRT — with either estrogen alone or a combination of estrogen and progestin — was linked to a lower colon cancer risk even when the researchers accounted for the women’s age, weight, exercise levels and race.",
            "output": [
                "Hormone replacement tied to lower colon cancer risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af6fda96f48147928ae8eb7107254d52",
            "input": "A rural herder in Siziwang county was diagnosed with the disease in a local hospital, according to a statement released by the Inner Mongolian health commission. Prior to the diagnosis the herder had been active in an area where plague sources had been identified, it said. The person is in a stable condition after treatment at a local hospital and four other people have been quarantined. The bubonic plague, known as “Black Death” in the Middle Ages, is a highly-infectious and often fatal disease that is spread mostly by rodents. It also has a deadlier variant called pneumonic plague. Earlier this month three people from Inner Mongolia were hospitalized for plague in two separate cases that were linked to eating wild animals. Two of the people were diagnosed with pneumonic plague and one with bubonic plague. Authorities previously said the two cases were unrelated. The latest reported case is not in the same region of Inner Mongolia as either of the two earlier cases, and so far there have been no fatalities reported. Plague cases are not uncommon in China, but outbreaks have become increasingly rare. From 2009 to 2018, China reported just 26 cases and 11 deaths. (This story corrects headline from ‘bubonic plague’ to ‘plague’, and clarification of pneumonic v. bubonic plague in story)",
            "output": [
                "China reports fourth case of plague this month."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c788bcc93ef40aa88109ea9473636ff",
            "input": "A photograph popped up on social media in May 2015, described as a picture of a blood clot removed from an 80-year-old patient after he presented with a 2-day-long nosebleed. According to the accompanying text, the patient coded shortly after arrival at an emergency room, and a blood clot that went “from his nose down his airway and into his lungs” was removed via intubation:  80 yr old male with nose bleed for 2 days. Refused to go to ER. Wife finally talked husband to go to ER. He coded shortly after arriving. Medical doctor went to do intubation and found this. Pulled it out in one piece. It a blood clot that goes from his nose down his airway and into his lungs. It an amazingly beautiful blood clot. The photograph was shared by Kevin Kimberlin, an EMT who told us that the patient was treated at a hospital he transports to and that he picture was taken by a friend of his who worked on the patient. In November 2018, the New England Journal of Medicine website posted a similar photograph of “an intact cast of the right bronchial tree” that was “spontaneously expectorated” by a patient “during an extreme bout of coughing”:",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows a large blood clot removed from a patient's lung."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcd6ae6e504044e89363edf1986d3fa9",
            "input": "But what about when the shift, deployment or career ends? Suicide and addiction occur at a staggering rate among first responders and military members, due to post-traumatic stress disorder, coupled with a gaping hole in accessible, appropriate mental health care and a stigma that keeps many of them from seeking help, said Navy veteran Eric Golnick. The “epidemic” is the reason he founded Veteran & First Responder Healthcare, an outpatient clinic with a location in Paramus that recently partnered with the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to offer free mental health services to veterans and first responders. During Golnick’s last deployment as a Navy officer, he said, he had a sailor die by suicide in front of him. Suicide is on the rise among veterans and first responders,statistics show. More police officers and firefighters died last year by suicide than in the line of duty, according to a study by the Ruderman Family Foundation, a nonprofit that works for the rights of people with disabilities. On average, 20 veterans die by suicide every day, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports. “I don’t want to ever have to look another family in the eyes and say, ‘I’m sorry that this happened to your son or daughter,’ ” Golnick said. To him as an officer, enlisted sailors were like his children, Golnick said. Still, it wasn’t until years later that feelings of guilt and shame about what happened surfaced and the PTSD began to take hold. Golnick began drinking to excess. When he tried to get help, he encountered a lack of “cultural understanding” between himself and a psychologist who had never served. “If I hadn’t been self-aware enough or in a place where I was ready to get help, I would have just been like, ‘The heck with this,’ which I think is what happens to many veterans,” he said. That’s why when a close friend asked Golnick to step in as the CEO of Veteran & First Responder Healthcare — part of Strive Healthcare, which serves the general population — he jumped at the chance. “For me, it’s a way to continue to serve,” he said. “I feel like I’m giving back to the folks that I served with.” The program is led and designed by people who understand where first responders and veterans are coming from, often via firsthand experience. They work in concert with the state and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs in an effort to fill in health care gaps. Veteran & First Responder Healthcare will be offered at the Strive Center and Community Health in Paramus. VFR Healthcare in partnership with the NJ Department of Military and Veteran Affairs will offer outpatient, substance-abuse and mental health trauma-informed treatment programs and services designed specifically for Veterans, First Responders, and their families. An open house was held at the Strive center in Paramus on Tuesday, December 11, 2018. Veteran & First Responder Healthcare will be offered at the Strive Center and Community Health in Paramus. VFR Healthcare in partnership with the NJ Department of Military and Veteran Affairs will offer outpatient, substance-abuse and mental health trauma-informed treatment programs and services designed specifically for Veterans, First Responders, and their families. An open house was held at the Strive center in Paramus on Tuesday, December 11, 2018. (Photo: Amy Newman/Northjersey.com) Deborah McKinley, vice president for programming at the clinic, said there’s a misconception among veterans and their loved ones that when they come home, they’re well. “Active military personnel today have to be hyperaware of everything that’s going on around them,” she said. “People think and veterans themselves think that once they’re home, any symptoms they have — PTSD, substance misuse, trauma — will be ameliorated right when they walk in their front door.” That’s not generally the case, McKinley said. Jenn Stivers, clinical outreach coordinator for the clinic, said multiple deployments compound the problem. “If you keep getting deployed, you’re more likely to experience trauma, traumatic brain injury, physical injury,” Stivers said. “Personal lives can be affected, relationships, families. It becomes harder and harder to readjust to civilian life and harder to relate to other people or ask for help.” What’s more, veterans are trained not to talk about their problems, Stivers said. “You pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and that works when you’re in active duty in a combat situation, but when you’re dealing with everyday life, that can get in the way if you’re experiencing problems,” she said. Vets are a “stubborn bunch of folks,” Golnick said. In their minds, they’re the protectors, there to help other people. The stigma surrounding mental illness makes veterans fear that they’re going to lose their job or security clearance, or be seen by peers in a different light. The same holds true for first responders, said Robert Williams, program manager at the Paramus clinic and a former emergency medical services technician in East Orange. Responding to devastating scenes “takes a toll on you mentally and psychologically,” he said. He recalls being particularly touched by incidents involving babies or pregnant women when he was about to become a father himself. Still, the first responder culture doesn’t promote talking about trauma with colleagues, Williams said. “It really affected me — I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “But it’s that culture: You can drink and get high together, but you don’t talk about the experiences you’ve had. It’s really about keeping the pretense of ‘We can handle it.’ ” Golnick said a particular focus of the program is treating the underserved veteran populations, such as women and the LGBTQ community. Many female veterans are affected by military sexual trauma — ranging from harassment to assault — though men are also affected, McKinley said. Women are also not always recognized as veterans by the general population and a have a less robust community of peers to rely on. “Recognizing that this is a population that has a different experience of combat and service and being able to provide for these folks is so important,” McKinley said. Williams said the specialized nature of the program — veterans helping veterans, first responders helping first responders — is key to creating a sense of trust and understanding and an ironclad support system. McKinley agrees. “Our tagline is ‘You served, now let us serve you,’ and that’s something everyone in our organization really stands behind, because we have experienced firsthand what service means,” she said. “We understand how the culture promotes teamwork, understanding, integrity, quality and commitment. We feel we can provide those things in helping someone access care when they come home.” ___ Online: https://njersy.co/2rYfWYc ___ Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com",
            "output": [
                "Clinic helps veterans, first responders with free care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6eaefc90bd54eea88ad537cbe26ec91",
            "input": "Tapering is presumably free in and of itself, since it’s a slow and gradual lessening of opioids (which a person might already be using to begin with), so we’ll mark this N/A. However, it would require medical oversight and perhaps other alternative pain treatments, both of which aren’t free. We’re told that with tapering, based on the literature review, “patients on average saw improved pain, function, and quality of life.” But what do those terms mean, exactly, and how much of an improvement on those criteria — numbers-wise — are we talking about here? Readers aren’t told. Some numbers would have helped readers make more sense of what “improved” means. The harms are addressed right away: Come off opioids too quickly, and patients can suffer by having little recourse to deal with chronic pain. Some even resort to illicit drugs or commit suicide. One of the study’s authors is also quoted as recommending doctors and patients to exercise caution if tapering is being attempted, and another explains that not all patients respond the same way (and do poorly with tapering). This article does a thorough job of laying out the study’s design, discussing what it found, and what its flaws might be. The author, in fact, dedicated several paragraphs to hedging the study’s conclusions by walking readers through its hang-ups, including its reliance on small studies with sometimes poor methodologies. The self-selecting nature of the subjects in those studies is also described— i.e. only those who volunteered to taper off opioids were studied, not people who didn’t want to go off opioids. We didn’t see any gratuitous wording about the opioid epidemic or treating painkiller addiction in this story. A refreshing number of outside experts are quoted or cited in this story, and their remarks weren’t the typical “the study was intriguing” variety. Their quotes added some helpful context, such as how long it can take doctors to wean people off opioids (“months or even years”) and how everyone responds differently to tapering — and how some do poorly with it. This is one of the appreciable strengths of the story. It not only implies going cold-turkey as an option (and the pitfalls of that approach), but also digs into the topic of non-opioid pain-relief treatments to help patients deal with chronic pain as people they taper. We’re also told how such treatments can be too expensive/out of reach for some, even those with health insurance — either due to lacking coverage or nearby access to capable doctors and facilities. The story delivers: It states that tapering is available, yet that it’s to be attempted with caution. Non-opioid pain-relief treatments, which are also noted by the story, are also said to be available, though out of reach for many. While the approach of tapering itself itself isn’t new, this article explains that the review is novel in that it increases confidence in the idea of tapering as an effective — though with many caveats, since the studies used in the review were mostly of “poor” or “fair” quality. We didn’t detect any evidence of copy-and-paste press release quotes or passages in this story.",
            "output": [
                "A new study suggests it’s possible to get people off opioids and improve their pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83b92843cdd944928deed987ea147188",
            "input": "\"State Rep. Dean Kaufert said he was after things like soda and nachos when he proposed to limit how much junk food Wisconsinites could buy with food stamps. \"\"Hopefully, people’s health will get better,\"\" the Neenah Republican said in March 2013. But when the former potato chip salesman’s bill came up May 7, 2013, for a vote, there were signs of indigestion on the Assembly floor in Madison. \"\"The list of foods that you'd be restricted from buying under this is -- I don't know who came up with it. I think it's kind of shocking,\"\" complained Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo. Clark continued by saying \"\"we're going to prevent -- or limit -- the extent to which\"\" food stamps could be used for a long list of foods -- including organic foods. Sure, sugary drinks and melty cheese might sometimes addle our brains. But organic foods are supposed to be better for you, right? So, is Clark correct -- would the junk food bill, approved by the Assembly minutes after his comments, prevent or limit the use of food stamps for organic foods? The program The food stamps program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Federal funds pay for all of the benefits, although the states share the administrative costs with Uncle Sam. Food stamps -- actually, it’s a plastic card you can swipe electronically at the store -- are available to working and non-working people who have a low income. The benefits can generally be used to buy any food or food product, but hot foods cooked in the store, as well as alcoholic beverages, tobacco and pet food, are prohibited. In Wisconsin, the program is called FoodShare. It serves more than 850,000 adults and children, or 15 percent of the state’s residents, at a cost of more than $1 billion per year. Junk-food bill To take effect, Kaufert’s bill would need approval not only from the state Senate and Gov. Scott Walker but also the federal government. That's unlikely (for Wisconsin and South Carolina, which is considering a similar measure), Governing magazine suggests, given the USDA has denied every request like Kaufert’s that's been submitted for a federal \"\"waiver.\"\" But let’s get the bill out on the table, anyway. Kaufert’s measure does not define junk food; rather, it would require FoodShare recipients to spend at least two-thirds of their benefits on a list of foods deemed by the state as healthy. The healthy foods list would have two components. It begins with a roster of foods approved by another federal-state food program -- Women, Infants and Children (WIC); then the bill adds some other food types, as well. So, where does that leave organic foods? Well, since the bill wouldn’t make any changes for one-third of a FoodShare recipient’s benefits, they could be used to buy anything from Funyuns to organic specialty onions. A recipient wouldn’t be prevented from spending all of the one-third on organic foods. But for the two-thirds portion of a person’s FoodShare benefits, there would be limits. The bill explicitly says fresh produce, including white potatoes, as well as beef, pork, chicken, and fish, would be on the healthy foods list. So, using the two-thirds to buy organic versions of those foods would be OK, unless the state at some point specifically prohibited them, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. On the other hand, WIC benefits can’t be used for organic versions of some foods -- such as milk, cereal, bread and canned or dried peas, beans and lentils. (The government wants to encourage cheaper alternatives to stretch the money beneficiaries receive, according to the state Department of Health Services). Likewise, that means a person on FoodShare couldn’t use the two-thirds portion of their benefits toward those organics, if Kaufert's bill takes effect. Got it? FoodShare recipients could still use one-third of their benefits on any kind of organic food (or junk food, for that matter). But they could use the two-thirds portion only for some kinds of organics. Our rating Clark said a bill to limit use of food stamps for junk food would also \"\"prevent -- or limit --  the extent to which\"\" food stamps could be used for organic foods. There would be limits on which types of organic foods a person could buy with two-thirds of their food stamps, but not for the other third. The meat-and-potatoes portion of Clark's statement is accurate, but it needs a garnish or two of clarification -- our definition of .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"A Wisconsin bill to limit use of food stamps for junk food would also \"\"prevent -- or limit --  the extent to which\"\" food stamps could be used for organic foods.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2808bc34b6ba400d984cece1e11f9243",
            "input": "The study commissioned by Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning education watchdog group, found that 25 percent of roughly 1,000 school districts statewide didn’t offer any sex education during the 2015-2016 school year and about 58 percent only taught students to abstain from sex. The remaining 17 percent, including eight of the 10 largest school districts in America’s second most-populous state, stress abstinence, which they are required to do under a 1995 Texas law. But they also teach students about other sexual topics, including birth control. The 17-percent figure is actually a marked increase from a 2009 study, which found that 96 percent of Texas school districts taught abstinence only. The number of districts that offer no sex education rose even more dramatically, from 2 percent in the study eight years ago to a quarter of them today. A major factor in districts dropping their sex education curriculums was a 2009 decision by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature to scrap passing a health course as a high school graduation requirement. Of the districts that still teach sex education, 31 percent of the ones in urban areas offer instruction on more than just abstinence, while only about 5 percent of rural districts do. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2014 ranked Texas tied with New Mexico for fourth nationwide in birth rates for mothers ages 15 to 19. Some studies have found that comprehensive sex education that includes birth control information is more effective than abstinence-only programs at reducing teen pregnancy rates. But 25 other states in addition to Texas require stressing abstinence, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia require students to be taught about contraception. The authors of the new study sent surveys as open records requests to Texas’ 10 largest school districts and to a sample of 148 other districts seen as representative of the rest of the state. A breakdown by student population wasn’t provided, though the eight largest districts that teach more than just abstinence educate a combined 17 percent of the state’s roughly 5.3 million public students. The study found that many districts not offering abstinence only lessons rely on two major sex education programs designed specifically for Texas that incorporate classroom games, discussions and role-playing to help students feel more empowered. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been less vocal preaching abstinence than his predecessor, Rick Perry, who boasted that he knew from his personal life that it worked. Still, the Texas House approved a state budget prohibiting schools from distributing sex education materials produced by abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, which in the past helped devise such materials for some districts, including Austin’s. Meanwhile, Texas’ state-approved health textbooks stress abstinence and haven’t been updated since 2004. Some abstinence-only classroom materials characterize using contraception as “high risk” sexual behavior, while at least one school cautioned students that sexual activity can lead to suicide. State Rep. Mary Gonzalez, a Democrat from Clint, proposed legislation that would guarantee sex education programs provide accurate medical information. It has little chance of passing in the Legislature, but Gonzalez said she’ll appeal to her anti-abortion colleagues, arguing that better sex education could lead to fewer terminated pregnancies. “If you’re truly for limiting abortions, then here’s one way to do it,” Gonzalez said.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Most Texas school districts have scant sex education."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c12b50289e80427c930bee9d4fbe57e3",
            "input": "The Statesman Journal reports they added that Clarno’s rejection of initiative petitions 48 and 49 represents a pattern of her siding against environmental interests. She also rejected three petitions from the group Oregon Wild that proposed adding protections for the state’s forest waters. “There is now a pattern of flagrant abuse of power by this secretary of state, far outside the norms for any Democrat or Republican who has held the office,” Tera Hurst, executive director of Renew Oregon, said in a statement. Clarno’s staff didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Gov. Kate Brown appointed Clarno, a Republican and former state lawmaker, to replace Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, who died of brain cancer in February. According to Renew Oregon, Clarno’s reason for rejection was the inclusion of fair labor standards for clean energy projects. The proposed initiatives would require all retail electricity sold in Oregon to come from carbon-free sources by Jan. 1, 2045, up from about half today. Washington, California and Nevada already have similar targets.",
            "output": [
                "Secretary of state rejects 2 clean-energy initiatives."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc3e1433c7eb414c99ff5324d7f31cec",
            "input": "Staff of the Maubeuge zoo noticed when they arrived for work that the security door of the feline’s pen had been forced open, the officials said. Police are checking footage from the zoo’s video surveillance system. The panther caused panic last week in Armentieres, a town close to the Belgian border, when it was spotted walking on a roof. The feline had been able to slip out after its owner, a private individual who had been keeping the panther in their home, had left a window open. The owner is wanted by police for keeping a dangerous animal in a private residence. After the escape, the fire brigade managed to catch the panther, and it was subsequently transferred to the Maubeuge zoo. The animal is a six-month old female, according to a local animal protection organization.",
            "output": [
                "Rigevidon can cause blood clots, strokes, and burst aneurysms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eaa747f1022a4ff8ad23528b3d8a1c69",
            "input": "Employees of Novartis Pharma K.K. (NPKK) transferred some data from research centers to a Tokyo hospital when that data should have been sent directly without first passing through Novartis hands, according to a report by Japanese broadcaster NHK that was picked up by the Wall Street Journal. “NPKK is currently investigating the allegations,” Novartis said in a statement. The data was from a not yet fully enrolled 55-patient trial testing the Novartis cancer drug Tasigna, the company said. “Novartis Pharma K.K. is aware of the media report regarding a small investigator-initiated clinical study ... conducted to assess side effects in patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia,” Novartis said in a statement. “NPKK has conducted employee trainings on proper protocol related to investigator-initiated clinical studies and believes that any involvement of our medical representatives in investigator-initiated clinical studies is inappropriate.”  The University of Tokyo Hospital said it was re-examining test results it had received but had uncovered no evidence that Novartis employees had manipulated any of the data during the transfers, according to the Wall Street Journal report.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis employees may have violated trial protocol in Japan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c904c94df4134a09a3ccbab62eb817db",
            "input": "\"During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., didn’t hold back in his criticism of Republican efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act: He said such legislative efforts will literally be deadly. \"\"What the Republican proposal (in the House) does is throw 23 million Americans off of health insurance,\"\" Sanders told host Chuck Todd. \"\"What a part of Harvard University -- the scientists there -- determine is when you throw 23 million people off of health insurance, people with cancer, people with heart disease, people with diabetes, thousands of people will die.\"\" Sanders continued, \"\"I wish I didn't have to say it. This is not me. This is study after study making this point. It is common sense.\"\" Even if it seems like common sense that insurance would save lives, would it be on the scale of \"\"thousands,\"\" as Sanders said? And would legitimate studies show that? When we contacted Sanders’ office, spokesman Josh Miller-Lewis cited two sources. One is the \"\"Harvard study\"\" Sanders mentioned -- published on June 22, 2017, by the liberal Center for American Progress. It was co-authored by a Harvard professor of social epidemiology; two medical students who graduated from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and two policy specialists at the Center for American Progress. To come up with their estimates, the authors of the Harvard-Center for American Progress report adapted the results of a peer-reviewed 2014 study of the Massachusetts state health care law -- a law that was a model for the Affordable Care Act. The 2014 study was lead-authored by Harvard professor Benjamin D. Sommers. The Harvard-Center for American Progress study projected that there would be one excess death for every 830 people who lose coverage as a result of the AHCA. Using Congressional Budget Office projections of the impact of the House version of the bill, the authors estimated an additional 217,000 deaths over the next decade, or 21,700 per year. The second piece of evidence Sanders’ office cited was an op-ed by yet more health policy specialists who are affiliated with Harvard -- David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, who are professors of public health at Hunter College-City University of New York as well as lecturers at Harvard Medical School. The op-ed -- published on Jan. 23, 2017, well before either chamber’s Republican health care bill was introduced -- used as its basis a different study lead-authored by Sommers. This 2012 study tracked what happened after states expanded Medicaid. Adapting the findings of the 2012 study to a scenario in which 20 million Americans lost coverage -- which turned out to be lower than what the CBO found for the House bill -- Himmelstein and Woolhandler estimated that there would be 43,956 deaths annually due to the GOP’s health policy changes. It’s worth noting, however, that both of these projections come from the ideological left. As we noted, the Center for American Progress is a liberal think tank. And Himmelstein and Woolhandler are founders of Physicians for a National Health Program, a group that advocates for single-payer national health insurance -- a proposal that is even further to the left than the Affordable Care Act. So can Sanders’ assertion be supported by the peer-reviewed literature alone? In our previous fact-checking of this issue, we found at least seven academic papers that detected a link between securing health insurance and a decline in mortality. Here’s a rundown. • In 2002, a panel of more than a dozen medical specialists convened by the federally chartered Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 Americans had died in 2000 because they were uninsured. In January 2008, Stan Dorn, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, published a paper that sought to update the IOM study with newer data. Replicating the study’s methodology, Dorn concluded that the figure should be increased to 22,000. • A 2009 American Journal of Public Health study concluded that a lack of health insurance \"\"is associated with as many as 44,789 deaths in the United States, more than those caused by kidney disease.\"\" • Three studies looked at state-level expansions of Medicaid and in each case found \"\"significant\"\" improvements in mortality after such expansions of coverage. These include a 2012 New England Journal of Medicine study of New York, Maine, and Arizona by Harvard researchers, and a 2014 study of Massachusetts by researchers from Harvard and the Urban Institute. (These were the two articles that formed the basis of the analyses cited by Sanders’ staff.) • A 2014 study published by the  blog of the health policy publication Health Affairs looked at states that, at the time, had declined to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It estimated that the 25 states studied would have collectively avoided between 7,000 and 17,000 deaths. • A 2014 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found improved survival rates for young adults with cancer after securing insurance under the Affordable Care Act. • A 2017 study in the journal Medical Care looked at a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows young adults to be covered under a parent’s policy. The study found a decline in mortality among this population from diseases amenable to preventive treatment. (Mortality from trauma, such as car accidents, saw no decrease, as would be expected.) We found two papers with results that were more equivocal. • A paper published in April 2009 in HSR: Health Services Research. In it, Richard Kronick of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California (San Diego) School of Medicine, raised questions about the conclusions of the seminal Institute of Medicine study from 2002. Kronick’s study adjusted the data -- as the IOM had not -- for a number of demographic and health factors, including status as a smoker and body mass index, and found that doing so removed the excess number of deaths found in the original study. • A 2013 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by Katherine Baicker of Harvard University compared about 6,000 patients in Oregon who got coverage through a 2008 Medicaid expansion and about 6,000 who didn’t. While the study found improvements in out-of-pocket medical spending and lower rates of depression among those who got coverage, key benchmarks for physical health -- including blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar -- did not improve in such patients. But even the two lead authors of the more equivocal studies have told us that the scholarly record demonstrates that having health insurance saves lives, and that not having insurance can lead to additional deaths. We asked several of the authors of these papers whether they believe Sanders’ assertion of \"\"thousands\"\" of deaths is generally supported by the scholarly evidence. We heard back from three of them. \"\" ‘Thousands’ is completely fair,\"\" Dorn said. Baicker agreed. \"\"It is of course difficult to pin down an exact number of deaths that would be caused by a specific new policy,\"\" she said. \"\"But a number like ‘thousands’ does not seem unreasonable, based on the available evidence.\"\" And Sommers -- whose work formed the indirect basis of the studies cited by Sanders -- concurred. \"\"I agree that it’s challenging to pin down an exact number on this,\"\" Sommers said. But overall, the academic evidence \"\"certainly gets you into the range of thousands of deaths per year.\"\" Sanders said, \"\"When you throw 23 million people off of health insurance -- people with cancer, people with heart disease, people with diabetes -- thousands of people will die. … This is study after study making this point.\"\" Sanders’ statement on Meet the Press was phrased generally enough to be defensible. We found ample evidence in the academic literature to suggest that legislation on the scale of the House bill would produce \"\"thousands’ of additional deaths. That said, we can’t say with any specificity how many deaths will occur. It’s important to note that the studies provide estimates only, and each study found a slightly different result. On balance,\"",
            "output": [
                "When you throw 23 million people off of health insurance -- people with cancer, people with heart disease, people with diabetes -- thousands of people will die. … This is study after study making this point."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c2b701e198a4c0c9c4eddc24b4127cc",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs – not for the individual and not for health planners and society. As we discussed in the “availability” criterion above, this is an important question. The story reported that the test was 90% accurate, but it could have provided more insight to readers about what this  90% means. This study is really just about predicting whether the stroke was in the past 3 hours or not. It would have been helpful to show the net effect size for strokes within 3 hours vs. those > 3 hours – it is not a very big absolute difference, but that is the cut-point that has been used. It also could have included some information about how the rates of complication change when tPA is given to patients beyond this 3 (or 4.5 even) hour window. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. There was no mention of any possible harms associated this application of MRI technology. Although the harms would likely be small, the harm that may arise from incidental findings is worth noting. The more you scan – something being proposed in this study – the more you find, including things you didn’t need to find. That’s worth at least a line. The story mentioned that the study reported on studied MRI scans from 130 patients who had had strokes to examine how well this technology could be used to determine whether the stroke had started with the previous 3 hours or not. It mentioned that the study reported that the test had 90% accuracy in making this retrospective determination. The story mentioned a couple of limitations of the study and what the next research steps may be before deciding whether MRI really is a valuable tool to use as a diagnostic for time of stroke onset. No disease mongering about stroke in this story. The story included quotes from independent experts. The story provided insight about a couple of situations in which it wasn’t possible to determine the time of stroke onset. The study reported on whether MRI could be used in these sorts of situations when the patient isn’t able to provide information about the time of stroke onset. The story could have done a better job raising the question of availability of MRI around the US for urgent use at times like those described in the story or in the study – when there is a question about the 3 hour window. The story alluded to this but was not fully discussed in the context of availability of treatment. Do 80% of hospitals or hospital regions have MRIs ready for this use? 50%? 10%? Availability of the technology in question is a key concern – with huge cost implications. The story was clear about the ‘novelty’ of using MRI technology in this way. The story did not hype MRI as a new technology but rather as a  technology that was not commonly used for the purpose reported on. The story did include a quote from the lead study author that the current study supported results that have been published in the past. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "MRI Images May Pinpoint Time of Stroke"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ecc6c9541c904727a9f7c9df7f47b89a",
            "input": "The company has since mid-March launched three coronavirus tests, including an antibody test crucial in identifying immunity among people and one that can deliver results within minutes, which was heralded as a game changer by President Donald Trump. Shares of the company were up 6% at $96.48 in morning trading. Despite the strong uptake in coronavirus testing, the cancellation of non-essential surgeries and restrictions on people’s movement are expected to severely crimp sales of its medical devices and other lab tests, which contribute to more than half of total quarterly revenue. “(The second quarter) will likely be our toughest quarter in the year, especially for our core lab business, our cardio and neuro businesses,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Ford said on a post-earnings call. The company suspended its full-year forecast due to the uncertainty caused by the health crisis and said it expects to provide an update in the second half of the year. Abbott projected a recovery in elective procedures and testing volumes globally from the third quarter and said it was seeing signs of stabilization in China and areas where the outbreak has begun to abate. “We’re all hoping for a fast recovery here, but if it takes longer, we’ll have strong demand for testing and that will continue to help buffer the impact,” Ford said. Elective procedure declines were at the core of Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) decision to cut 2020 forecasts on Tuesday, with recovery expected in the second half of the year. Abbott beat first-quarter earnings expectations as shelter-in-place restrictions imposed by U.S. states boosted demand for nutrition products for children such as PediaSure, lifting sales in the unit by 6.3% to $1.90 billion. Results were also boosted by a strong flu season before the outbreak that helped minimize testing declines and on softer-than-expected COVID-19 impact across businesses, said J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus. Sales in the diagnostics unit fell nearly 1% to $1.83 billion, while demand for its FreeStyle Libre diabetes monitoring device remained strong fueled by expanded insurance coverage in Japan. Sales of the device surged 60% to over $600 million. Excluding items, the company earned 65 cents per share, beating expectation of 58 cents. Net sales of $7.73 billion also topped estimates of $7.34 billion.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus test ramp-up to help Abbott weather 'toughest quarter'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f62bd9b5600b4056986668b691bd31af",
            "input": "\"Scott Henson of Austin, who writes the Grits for Breakfast blog on criminal justice policy and politics, told the Austin Post, an online community newspaper, that Texas and the nation have \"\"criminalized far too much of public life.\"\" \"\"I think we have somewhere in the range of 2,500 or so felonies on the books in Texas,\"\" Henson said in an interview posted online Feb. 25, 2013. \"\"There are 11 different felonies you can commit with an oyster.\"\" That cracked our interest, partly because the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation likewise said about a month earlier that Texas has 11 felonies (not a dozen, dang it) related to harvesting oysters. Felonies are considered the most serious criminal offenses. By email, the center’s Marc Levin, director of its Center for Effective Justice, pointed out a January 2012 publication, the \"\"Current Offense Severity Rankings List,\"\" written by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Henson told us by email that Levin was his source for the count when he initially wrote about the topic in 2007. He also said he would check his claim against the state’s \"\"offense severity\"\" list. Among the state-listed 2,324 felonies, Levin said, some are rather similar or are enhancements of lesser offenses, though the agency \"\"presumably uses a consistent methodology to delineate each separate offense.\"\" He said the tally of oyster-related felonies aired by the foundation \"\"allows for some that the parole board counts as separate offenses which some might consider to be essentially the same offense.\"\" We spotted 16 oyster-connected felonies on the list but pruned three that appeared to be duplicates. Also, as Levin noted, two felonies appeared distinct from others only because they take into consideration repeat offenses. Theft of oysters from a private bed is a felony, as is theft of oysters from a private bed and having two or more previous convictions. Similarly, harvesting oysters in a restricted area is a felony, as is oystering in a restricted area with a previous conviction. Adjusting for the seeming duplications and near-similar felonies knocked the oyster-tied felonies in state law to 11: theft of oysters placed on a private seabed; interfering with an oyster buoy or marker with two previous convictions; oystering in a restricted area as designated by the state; night dredging of oysters; night dredging in a restricted area with a previous conviction; night dredging in a polluted area; not having an oystering license; harvesting oysters for non-commercial purposes without a license; harvesting oysters without a commercial license; selling sport oysters; and violating oyster regulations. By telephone and email, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department official confirmed the felonies, though Brandi Reeder, the agency’s fisheries law administrator, stressed that a person could be charged with each felony only if they have been convicted of similar misdemeanor violations in the previous five years--sometimes just once, in other cases two or more times, according to the relevant statutes. At our request, Reeder reviewed our identified 11 felonies, later saying by email that she would say there are seven distinct oyster-related offenses or crimes. Broadly, Reeder said, the oyster felonies are in place for a reason, to deter nefarious, potentially risky activities. \"\"An oyster can kill you,\"\" Reeder said, referring to the possible presence of viruses, bacteria and parasites in raw shellfish. \"\"That’s why we take it seriously.\"\" But Texans rarely face oyster felony charges, Reeder said, because nearly all offenders stop after being charged with a misdemeanor. Statewide in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2012, according to the agency, no such felonies were charged. By telephone, neither Henson nor Levin expressed surprise that no oyster felonies were charged in a recent year or that no one can be charged with such a felony without a prior misdemeanor conviction. With a laugh, Henson said: \"\"I guess the laws worked. They stamped out oyster crime in Texas.\"\" Henson and Levin each said, too, the oyster felonies demonstrate regulatory issues--such as having a license or fishing in restricted waters--being placed inappropriately into criminal statutes. Levin said there is an opportunity to shrink the number of state crimes starting from a Texas House proposal to create a commission that would recommend changes in advance of the 2015 legislative session. Our ruling Henson said there are 11 Texas felonies one can commit with an oyster. He could have said 16, according to the state’s breakdown of felony offenses, though Parks & Wildlife suggests such  oyster-related crimes break down to seven distinct offenses. Significantly, too, these felony charges are rare. No one can even face one without having previously been convicted of at least one related misdemeanor.s .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Scott Henson Says Texas has \"\"11 different felonies you can commit with an oyster.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a6a9c0c8ca845f4a2306fe1ec857f94",
            "input": "The delicacy, long a feature on the menu of gourmet restaurants across the globe, is made by force-feeding geese to turn their livers to fat, a process long denounced as cruel by animal rights activists and increasingly viewed with unease by authorities in some western cities. In October, New York City, often considered the U.S. fine dining capital, prohibited the sale of foie gras, following similar bans in Chicago and the state of California. In response, French scientists at research company Aviwell near Toulouse have developed an alternative version of the delicacy that uses bacteria - ingested by the goose as a serum - to stimulate a natural, rather than forced, build-up of fat. “It’s the combination of certain bacteria that is capable of triggering in baby geese the natural composition, and completely biological growth, of fat in the liver,” company co-founder Remy Burcelin said. Aviwell raised 600 geese when it launched its project last year, and Fosserie has now become the first foie gras farmer to adopt the technique, which also doubles the birds’ average lifespan from three to six months. “It’s the future, because we see the animal welfare movement getting bigger and bigger,” she said. This next-generation foie gras will be aimed primarily at the U.S. market and Europe, where Britain, Finland and Poland have banned its production. But the French culinary establishment is taking note too. Toulouse chef Simon Carlier, who has been creating dishes with Aviwell’s foie gras for a month, described it as subtle and with an appealing density. It could be served cold or just with little garnishing. “We see a texture, which is less nauseating, let’s say. We can’t compare it to meat - but in some way, it’s easier to eat,” Carlier said. It will also be more expensive. While high-quality traditional foie gras sells for about 300 to 400 euros  ($330-440) per kilo (2.2 lb), Aviwell’s version could fetch 1,000 euros. A naturally fatty goose liver weighs 300-400 grammas while that of a force-fed goose can weigh around 1 kg.",
            "output": [
                "Force-feeding off menu as France trials 'naturally fatty' foie gras."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-984ee50391544d3f9580cbdf47766e13",
            "input": "\"Republican Rep. Joe Heck’s record on abortion is fast becoming the subject of many salvos in the unending television ad wars in Nevada’s competitive Senate race. Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto has run several ads attacking Heck on the issue, most recently one featuring a Las Vegas-area gynecologic oncologist who opposes Heck because he voted to strip funding for Planned Parenthood. \"\"Joe Heck voted 10 times to defund Planned Parenthood, which thousands of women depend on for cancer screenings,\"\" she says in the ad. \"\"And Heck opposes a woman's right to choose, even when her health is at risk.\"\" Heck is no stranger to ads attacking his stance on abortion, as Democrats have sought to highlight the Republican military doctor’s adamant anti-abortion stance in both his current Senate race and past congressional races. A review of Heck’s voting record and public statements over the past six years shows that Cortez Masto’s ad is largely accurate, though over-simplified. Ten votes? Heck himself freely admits he voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and his voting record since entering Congress in 2010 reflects that position. It’s more difficult to argue that Heck has voted 10 separate times to defund the program, as that number relies on counting several procedural motions that weren’t strict up-or-down votes on funding for Planned Parenthood. For example, the ad cites five votes taken by Heck in September 2015 to \"\"shut down the government over Planned Parenthood,\"\" but not all of them are the same, including: Two procedural votes on Sept. 17 to end debate and adopt rules for floor consideration on a measure defunding Planned Parenthood. A Sept. 18 vote on a bill (Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015) barring federal funding to the organization for one year and redirecting the funding to community health centers. A Sept. 30 procedural vote allowing for floor consideration of continuing resolution to fund the government that would also defund Planned Parenthood, and a subsequent vote on that bill itself. All of the votes mentioned in the ad were taken as part of a legislative attempt to strip funding from the program, but they aren’t all strict up-or-down votes. Of the five votes listed above, two are actual roll call votes on barring federal funding the program, while the other three are procedural votes that certainly moved the legislation forward but, again, aren’t direct votes on the bill. Cortez Masto spokesman Zach Hudson said the campaign referenced every vote listed in Congressional Quarterly that references defunding Planned Parenthood. Heck campaign spokesman Brian Baluta told PolitiFact that counting procedural votes unfairly inflates the number. The other votes mentioned in the ad are a mix of procedural and more straightforward votes to defund the program. The ad cites three votes related to the same piece of 2015 defunding legislation, including the initial House vote, a reconciliation vote agreeing to changes made by the Senate, and a veto override vote. And it cites two votes on amending 2011 spending bills clearly designed to bar federal funding from the organization. Our friends at PolitiFact New Hampshire took similar issue with a claim about endangered Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte voting to defund the group six times, ruling that counting procedural votes is \"\"accurate but needs clarification.\"\" Health exemptions The second part of the ad claims that Heck opposes \"\"a woman's right to choose, even when her health is at risk.\"\" Generally, Heck opposes abortion. His campaign said he supports exemptions in cases of rape, incest and if the pregnancy threatens a mother’s life. The Cortez Masto campaign argues, however, that Heck opposes abortion even when the mother’s health is \"\"at risk.\"\" There is a difference between situations where continuing a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother and pregnancies with serious future health concerns for the mother. Cortez Masto’s campaign pointed PolitiFact to a 2008 Newsweek article detailing the health exemption, in part citing a Supreme Court ruling in Doe v. Bolton that says health can be defined as medical judgment on factors including \"\"physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age.\"\" The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), a pro-abortion rights group, provides several examples in a 2016 fact sheet of women whose pregnancies, while not life-threatening, would endanger their future ability to have children or seriously harm the mother if the pregnancy was brought to term. The ad cites as evidence Heck voting for a measure banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exemptions for abortions necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman \"\"in reasonable medical judgment,\"\" and limited cases of rape and incest. Heck voted against a Democrat-led \"\"motion to recommit\"\" the bill that sought to add an exception to the 20-week ban by allowing abortions that would preserve the health of the mother. Our ruling A Catherine Cortez Masto campaign ad claims Joe Heck \"\"voted 10 times to defund Planned Parenthood,\"\" and \"\"opposes a woman's right to choose, even when her health is at risk.\"\" Heck has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, a fact he publicly admits. The harder question to answer is whether to count procedural votes leading up to formal votes on the defunding measures as votes to defund the group. The ad is mostly accurate, but needs some clarification on the actual number of votes.",
            "output": [
                "\"Catherine Cortez Masto Says \"\"Joe Heck voted 10 times to defund Planned Parenthood ... and Heck opposes a woman's right to choose, even when her health is at risk.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25e8feca66254eb0b0810d65b2f343d1",
            "input": "Ahold Delhaize says its U.S. subsidiaries will work with suppliers to meet standards higher than what is required by law and collaborate to address causes of contaminants. The company operates Food Lion, Giant Food, Giant/Martin’s, Hannaford, Peapod and Stop & Shop. The “chemicals of concern” outlined in the policy include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates. The Portland Press Herald reports these chemicals are still allowed under U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules; environmental health experts say there’s evidence the chemicals can contribute to chronic health issues.",
            "output": [
                "Supermarket chain restricts “chemicals of concern”."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-749e2b605a934826a68adfa0d12d7b6b",
            "input": "The department did studies to identify factors contributing to cancer rates and determine the best approach to prevention and screening. The regions are in Erie, Warren and Suffolk counties and on Staten Island. The meeting schedule is online . Investigators found Warren County had the highest rates of all cancers in the state. Contributing factors were smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and HPV infection. A meeting is scheduled Nov. 7 at Adirondack Community College in Queensbury. The East Buffalo/Cheektowaga area was found to have elevated numbers of colorectal, kidney, prostate, oral, esophageal and lung cancers. Tobacco was noted as a contributing factor. A meeting is set for Oct. 22 at Buffalo Museum of Science.",
            "output": [
                "Meetings set to discuss higher cancer rates in 4 NY regions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01474597507e4605be24624584042abe",
            "input": "But as other Democrats already in the race endorse “Medicare-for-all,” Hickenlooper told a crowd at a New Hampshire college that it was more important now to get behind the general idea rather than argue over a specific approach. “I reject the notion that it should become a litmus test of what it takes to be a good Democrat,” said Hickenlooper, who expanded Medicaid while governor and has teamed with former Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, on a health care overhaul. The onetime Denver mayor, who’s considered a centrist politician, said after holding a town hall that he will not decide for several more weeks whether to join the crowded 2020 contest. He took questions mostly from students and faculty on topics including student debt, the ballooning national debt and relations with American allies around the world. Hickenlooper said he was concerned that the push for “Medicare-for-all” calls for dismantling the current system when less disruptive measures may achieve universal health care. “There are so many different ways to cut the pie and work on the issue that we too often are trying to say, ‘You’re wrong, I’m right,’ and this is even within the Democrat Party,” he said. “It’s more important to be unified and say we want universal coverage. We are not going to stop until we get universal coverage.” With Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts already running, the challenge for Hickenlooper is showing he is liberal enough to compete. He cited liberal policies he enacted as governor dealing with methane emissions and teenage pregnancies and abortion. “In many ways, I’m a lot more progressive than a lot of these other folks,” he asserted. Hickenlooper also insisted he would have no problem going up against President Donald Trump. “I grew up the skinny kid with thick glasses and a funny last name. I’ve dealt with bullies my whole life,” he said. “The way to deal with a bully is you don’t punch back and take them head on. You take what they say to you and ... you reframe it in a way that reveals the foolishness of what they’re saying and the weakness and insecurity that they’re demonstrating.” After his New Hampshire swing, Hickenlooper is scheduled to give an address at the Global Security Conference in Munich this weekend about trade and the trans-Atlantic partnership. The trip would help burnish the former governor’s foreign policy credentials ahead of any possible presidential campaign.",
            "output": [
                "Ex-Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper supports universal health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-644e97ced1194eb7b5aa93b126c0dfb6",
            "input": "The story nicely calls out different questions that readers might have, including whether insurance will pay for the therapy. It answers, “Many will not. Charges for patients can range from $10 to $75 per session, says Edo Zylstra, CEO of KinetaCore, a company that offers intensive three-day weekend courses in dry needling to physical therapists.” This was a tough call, since the story includes a general discussion of the benefits. But what it doesn’t do is report on any quantified benefits, such as how much pain relief people report in the studies, or for how long. It does tell us that the evidence shows the technique “may be useful” and points out other findings, such as the evidence overall shows “mixed results.” We like that the story called out risks specifically, which is something we don’t see often. It says, “Needling can produce minor bleeding and some soreness, but in trained hands, and with the use of sterile needles and gloves, “it’s a very safe procedure,” Briggs says. In rare cases, deep needling can lead to a punctured lung or injuries to nerves and blood vessels, and acupuncturists fear non-specialists will be more likely to make such mistakes, Burgoon says.” The story would have been stronger if it had quoted a source with no vested interest in discussing risks. Also, it’s worth pointing out that these risks are real whether “trained hands” do the procedure or not. The section “What do published studies say?” includes a look at findings from a review and a meta-analysis, and lets us know the findings of these efforts are mixed. From early in the story, there are statements about the lack of evidence supporting this therapy and the need for more research. There is no disease mongering in this piece. The story should be commended for its extensive sourcing. There are many sources packed into this piece and likely more sources who were interviewed and not quoted given the amount of reporting that clearly went into it. At the same time, most of the sources have a potential conflict of interest in some way: All of these potential conflicts are called out in the piece, which is commendable. The one person who brings a fairly down-the-middle view is Matt Briggs, a physical therapist who is studying the technique to see whether it works. But our question about him is whether he also is a practitioner of the technique. We would have liked to have seen more exploration of alternatives — or shall we say the standard of care — for injuries like the one described in the lead, runner’s knee. We’re not given a strong idea of what the evidence says is generally the right path to choose for practitioners and patients. We know the toolkit for pain is quite shallow, but physical therapy, diet, exercise, carefully targeted medication, and, at times, surgical interventions all have long track records. We would have liked to have seen more weight given to the proven techniques along the way. The story essentially lets people know that this is something that is becoming more popular but that not very many physical therapists are trained in it yet. The story establishes what’s new and why it’s being written about with this statement: “And there, Briggs says, is where dry needling is lacking. While some studies have shown promise, he says, “the quality of the evidence is not strong.” That’s why Briggs and his colleagues are starting a study looking at dry needling in “runner’s knee,” the condition that has plagued Pierce. Their goal, and the goal of other researchers now looking at dry needling, is to produce results rigorous enough to show whether it really works.” The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Dry needling' for pain therapy is under scrutiny"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92db41824e9c472d9ea2f5e7264bfe52",
            "input": "Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller last month halted the use of 15 cattle fever tick spray boxes in South Texas for lacking ventilation, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. The boxes spray livestock with a chemical to eliminate ticks that spread bovine babesiosis. The disease kills 90 percent of the animals it infects, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission. But Miller said he’s received reports of cattle dying from the boxes’ poorly ventilated units. Nearly 920 cattle have been exposed to fever ticks in 82 counties since September 2016, the state Animal Health Commission said. “Portable spray boxes have been utilized for decades and have proven very effective in our containment and eradication efforts,” said commission director Andy Schwartz. Cattle raisers need a short-term solution to prevent their livestock from contracting the disease, said Gene Hall, Texas Farm Bureau spokesman. “They need to be spraying right now,” Hall said. “Every day they miss, cattle are being put in jeopardy.” Austin Brown III, director of the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers, has ranched cattle with his family in Bee County for decades. “Without tools to control these ticks, we run the risk of their spreading northward,” Brown said. “I’ve never had any trouble with spray boxes, and without their use, I believe there is a threat to local and state herds, even beyond.” Miller planned to meet this week with representatives of the animal health commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to discuss the issue. But representatives failed to show, said agency spokesman Mark Loeffler. “It’s hard to make a deal with thin air,” Miller wrote. “I’ve got a proposal to get those spray boxes open again, but everyone has to come to the table.” ___ Information from: Waco Tribune-Herald, http://www.wacotrib.com",
            "output": [
                "Texas cattle groups dispute over tick treatment ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5b2c7c6deea42228a142517e18702bc",
            "input": "In March 2020, as the coronavirus continued to spread around the globe, a viral message circulated on social media that was supposedly written by a doctor in Italy about how the new virus had impacted hospitals in the country. Silvia Stringhini, an epidemiologist, shared a translated version of this post on Twitter. A screenshot of Stringhini’s first few tweets appear below. The full thread can be viewed here:  Stringhini’s viral tweets are a translated version of a real Italian-language Facebook post from Dr. Daniele Macchini, an intensive care unit physician at the Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in Bergamo. A screenshot of a portion of Macchini’s post appears below. The full post can be viewed here, and a translated version appears in full at the bottom of this article:  Macchini explained that hospitals in Italy were overwhelmed with new cases, urged people to stop downplaying the disease as just a “bad flu,” and asked those who were “unafraid” of the disease to consider how it will impact older populations. Macchini also complimented the cooperative efforts of medical professionals at the hospital, writing that there were “no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists,” just doctors who “suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.” Here’s Macchini’s message in full (translated via Google): In one of the constant emails that I receive from my health department on a more than daily basis now these days, there was also a paragraph entitled “doing social responsibly”, with some recommendations that can only be supported. After thinking for a long time if and what to write about what is happening to us, I felt that the silence was not at all responsible. I will therefore try to convey to people “not involved in the work” and further away from our reality, what we are experiencing in Bergamo during these pandemic days from Covid-19. I understand the need not to create panic, but when the message of the danger of what is happening does not reach people and I still feel who cares about the recommendations and people who gather together complaining about not being able to go to the gym or to be able to do soccer tournaments I shudder. I also understand the economic damage and I am also worried about that. After the epidemic, the tragedy will start again. However, apart from the fact that we are literally also devastating our NHS from an economic point of view, I allow myself to raise the importance of the health damage that is likely throughout the country and I find it nothing short of “chilling” for example that a red zone already requested by the region has not yet been established for the municipalities of Alzano Lombardo and Nembro (I would like to clarify that this is pure personal opinion). I myself looked with some amazement at the reorganizations of the entire hospital in the previous week, when our current enemy was still in the shadows: the wards slowly “emptied”, the elective activities interrupted, the intensive therapies freed to create as many beds as possible. Containers arriving in front of the emergency room to create diversified routes and avoid any infections. All this rapid transformation brought into the corridors of the hospital an atmosphere of surreal silence and emptiness that we still did not understand, waiting for a war that was yet to begin and that many (including me) were not so sure would never come with such ferocity . (I open a parenthesis: all this in silence and without publicity, while several newspapers had the courage to say that private health care was not doing anything). I still remember my night guard a week ago passed unnecessarily without turning a blind eye, waiting for a call from the microbiology of the Sack. I was waiting for the outcome of a swab on the first suspect patient in our hospital, thinking about what consequences it would have for us and the clinic. If I think about it, my agitation for one possible case seems almost ridiculous and unjustified, now that I have seen what is happening. Well, the situation is now nothing short of dramatic. No other words come to mind. The war has literally exploded and the battles are uninterrupted day and night. One after the other the unfortunate poor people come to the emergency room. They have far from the complications of a flu. Let’s stop saying it’s a bad flu. In these 2 years I have learned that the people of Bergamo do not come to the emergency room at all. They did well this time too. They followed all the indications given: a week or ten days at home with a fever without going out and risking contagion, but now they can’t take it anymore. They don’t breathe enough, they need oxygen. Drug therapies for this virus are few. The course mainly depends on our organism. We can only support it when it can’t take it anymore. It is mainly hoped that our body will eradicate the virus on its own, let’s face it. Antiviral therapies are experimental on this virus and we learn its behavior day after day. Staying at home until the symptoms worsen does not change the prognosis of the disease. Now, however, that need for beds in all its drama has arrived. One after another, the departments that had been emptied are filling up at an impressive rate. The display boards with the names of the sick, of different colors depending on the operating unit they belong to, are now all red and instead of the surgical operation there is the diagnosis, which is always the same cursed: bilateral interstitial pneumonia. Now, tell me which flu virus causes such a rapid tragedy. Because that’s the difference (now I’m going down a bit in the technical field): in the classical flu, apart from infecting much less population over several months, cases can be complicated less frequently, only when the VIRUS destroying the protective barriers of the Our respiratory tract allows BACTERIA normally resident in the upper tract to invade the bronchi and lungs, causing more serious cases. Covid 19 causes a banal influence in many young people, but in many elderly people (and not only) a real SARS because it arrives directly in the alveoli of the lungs and infects them making them unable to perform their function. Sorry, but to me as a doctor it doesn’t reassure you that the most serious are mainly elderly people with other pathologies. The elderly population is the most represented in our country and it is difficult to find someone who, above 65 years of age, does not take at least the tablet for pressure or diabetes. I also assure you that when you see young people who end up in intubated intensive care, pronated or worse in ECMO (a machine for the worst cases, which extracts the blood, re-oxygenates it and returns it to the body, waiting for the organism, hopefully, heal your lungs), all this tranquility for your young age passes there. And while there are still people on social networks who pride themselves on not being afraid by ignoring the indications, protesting that their normal lifestyle habits are “temporarily” in crisis, the epidemiological disaster is taking place. And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us. The cases multiply, we arrive at the rate of 15-20 hospitalizations a day all for the same reason. The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing. Emergency provisions are issued: help is needed in the emergency room. A quick meeting to learn how the first aid management software works and a few minutes later they are already downstairs, next to the warriors on the war front. The PC screen with the reasons for the access is always the same: fever and difficulty breathing, fever and cough, respiratory failure etc … The exams, radiology always with the same sentence: bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia. All to be hospitalized. Someone already to intubate and go to intensive care. For others it is late … Intensive care becomes saturated, and where intensive care ends, more are created. Each fan becomes like gold: those of the operating rooms that have now suspended their non-urgent activity become places for intensive care that did not exist before. I found it incredible, or at least I can speak for the HUMANITAS Gavazzeni (where I work) how it was possible to implement in such a short time a deployment and a reorganization of resources so finely designed to prepare for a disaster of this magnitude. And every reorganization of beds, wards, staff, work shifts and tasks is constantly reviewed day after day to try to give everything and even more. Those wards that previously looked like ghosts are now saturated, ready to try to give their best for the sick, but exhausted. The staff is exhausted. I saw fatigue on faces that didn’t know what it was despite the already grueling workloads they had. I have seen people still stop beyond the times they used to stop already, for overtime that was now habitual. I saw solidarity from all of us, who never failed to go to our internist colleagues to ask “what can I do for you now?” or “leave that hospitalization alone.” Doctors who move beds and transfer patients, who administer therapies instead of nurses. Nurses with tears in their eyes because we are unable to save everyone and the vital signs of several patients at the same time reveal an already marked destiny. There are no more shifts, schedules. Social life is suspended for us. I have been separated for a few months, and I assure you that I have always done my best to constantly see my son even on the day of disassembly at night, without sleeping and postponing sleep until when I am without him, but for almost 2 weeks I have not voluntarily I see neither my son nor my family members for fear of infecting them and in turn infecting an elderly grandmother or relatives with other health problems. I’m happy with some photos of my son that I regard between tears and a few video calls. So be patient too, you can’t go to the theater, museums or gym. Try to have mercy on that myriad of older people you could exterminate. It is not your fault, I know, but of those who put it in your head that you are exaggerating and even this testimony may seem just an exaggeration for those who are far from the epidemic, but please, listen to us, try to leave the house only to indispensable things. Do not go en masse to make stocks in supermarkets: it is the worst thing because you concentrate and the risk of contacts with infected people who do not know they are. You can go there as you usually do. Maybe if you have a normal mask (even those that are used to do certain manual work) put it on. Don’t look for ffp2 or ffp3. Those should serve us and we are beginning to struggle to find them. By now we have had to optimize their use only in certain circumstances, as the WHO recently suggested in view of their almost ubiquitous impoverishment. Oh yes, thanks to the shortage of certain devices, I and many other colleagues are certainly exposed despite all the means of protection we have. Some of us have already become infected despite the protocols. Some infected colleagues have in turn infected family members and some of their family members already struggle between life and death. We are where your fears could make you stay away. Try to make sure you stay away. Tell your elderly or other family members to stay indoors. Bring him the groceries please. We have no alternative. It’s our job. In fact, what I do these days is not really the job I’m used to, but I do it anyway and I will like it as long as it responds to the same principles: try to make some sick people feel better and heal, or even just alleviate the suffering and the pain to those who unfortunately cannot heal.",
            "output": [
                "A doctor in Italy shared numerous details about how hospitals in the country are dealing with COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6b7a15f579b42c4bc4642b2e9de7ad2",
            "input": "As with the HealthDay story we reviewed, there was no discussion of costs of the banding procedure nor for regular office visits for band adjustment. Although these costs were not detailed in the study reported on, this information is readily available. We think that this is unfortunate given the magnitude of the cost of the procedure. We also would have liked to have seen a comment or two about insurance coverage The only benefit reported on in this story was the average loss of excess weight experienced by those who had had the procedure and in those who still had their Lap-Bands at the end of the study period. The story did a good job providing information about the common harms, along with the percentage of individuals affected. The story did not engage in overt disease-mongering. The story included interview comments from a company spokesperson and one of the authors of the study, both of whom were clearly identified. The story also included this important detail about the quoted author, which was missed by the HealthDay story we reviewed. “Himpens reports consultant work for Ethicon Endosurgery, which makes another gastric band, Realize, and for Covidien, a health care products company.” In addition, the story had comments from two surgeons who do not appear to have direct ties with either the manufacturer of the product or the study reported on. We were a little concerned about some of the phrasing in the story. It says, “But some, including the manufacturer of the Lap-Band — used in a technique called laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding — take exception to the study, criticizing the small sample size and the number of patients lost to follow-up.The critics also point out that both the device itself and the expertise of surgeons placing it have improved greatly since the patients in the study had their bands placed, in the years 1994 through 1997.” This leads readers to believe that there are mulitple critics out there pointing out flaws in the study. The story itself, though, only quotes one actual critic: the company spokewoman. The criticisms may be valid, but readers deserved a strong independent analysis of the study’s limitations. While the story did mention at the very end how the pace of weight loss with the product reported on compared with weight loss following gastric bypass surgery, the story ought to have provided better insight about the long-term outcomes in those who have gastric bypass and those who chose not to have surgery to help manage their excess weight. That way, readers could compare the two commonly utilized surgical options and understand the differences between them. The story hints at this by paraphrasing a study author saying that Lap-Band patients, “may have less weight loss and more complications than those who choose other weight loss surgeries.” But it never provides any evidence to back that claim. We also would have liked to have seen some comment about diet and exercise. The story makes it clear that the gastric banding procedure is available and provides a link to information from the National Institutes of Health. The story was clear that it was not reporting on a new or novel treatment but rather was reporting on the long-term outcomes presented in a recent research paper. This story does not appear to be based exclusively on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Poor Results From Lap-Band Surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d7fea9055ee346b5938cfde38be256ef",
            "input": "From his workshop in the Pondok Kelapa cemetery in the east of the capital, he has been putting in 16-hour days. “Usually we sell between five to seven coffins a day, but now it is up to 20 to 30 coffins a day,” said Sahroni, 38, as he applied base coat onto a wooden coffin. The shelves of his workshop were stacked with freshly painted coffins, while out front a row of white crosses dried under the tropical sun. “Our working hours are now from morning to midnight,” said Sahroni, who uses one name. The warehouse where Sahroni works normally specialises in coffins for Indonesia’s Christian minority, but now they are  providing coffins for all denominations, including Muslims who would usually be buried in a shroud. New protocols for victims or suspected victims of COVID-19 call for the use of coffins. As of Wednesday, Indonesia had identified nearly 3,000 cases and recorded 240 deaths. But public health experts and epidemiologists point to the relatively low frequency of testing and high death rate as indications the true infection rate is likely substantially higher. Exclusive data obtained by Reuters revealed there were nearly 4,400 burials in Jakarta this March, a 40% jump from any month in the past two years, and a sign deaths from the virus could be higher than officially reported. Data from the Jakarta governor’s office further showed more than 438 people had been buried according to COVID-19 protocols between March 2 and April 6, despite the national death toll standing at just under half that figure. In some cases, victims suspected of contracting the disease have died before test results were available, seeing them buried according to COVID-19 protocols as a precaution. Whatever the true figures are, those working in the funeral industry in Jakarta, home to more than 10 million people and the epicentre of the outbreak in the world’s fourth most populous nation, are preparing for a mounting toll. Sahroni’s company has reopened an old coffin-making warehouse in West Java, Indonesia’s most populous province, started a new line of cheaper coffins and donated 1,000 coffins to hospitals. Those responsible for transporting coronavirus victims to their burial grounds are also grappling with the devastating fallout of the pandemic. “We have been burying dead bodies non-stop until 10 pm and we continue with the same thing in the morning,” said Sumiyati, a 48-year-old ambulance driver for the city’s department of parks and cemeteries who also uses one name. She added that burials had jumped from 30 to 40 a day in the past week and that a new burial ground had been opened this month. Sumiyati now carries out her job in protective gear – a plastic raincoat, gloves, masks and boots – and her family has also implemented new protocols. “At home, my children have prepared disinfectant spray, which they spray on me. If not, they won’t let me in,” she said. “That is the consequences of this job. We must accept the risk.”",
            "output": [
                "Jakarta coffin maker faces gruelling days as coronavirus death toll climbs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fbadc86043fa4db49f7ed717b99b8fc3",
            "input": "There’s a good reason for that. A devastating 1964 Alaska earthquake — the most powerful on record in the United States — led to stricter building codes that helped structures withstand the shifting earth Friday. “Congratulations to the people of Alaska for being really prepared for this earthquake,” U.S. Geological Survey Geophysicist Paul Caruso said Saturday. “Because a magnitude 7.0 in a city like that, you know, it could have been significantly worse.” Gov. Bill Walker said sometimes people, including himself, grouse about stringent building codes. But he’s “really glad” they were in place as he only had minor water damage at his home. “Building codes mean something,” he said Friday. The quake was centered about 7 miles (12 kilometers) north of Anchorage, which has a population of about 300,000. People ran from their offices or took cover under desks. A 5.7 aftershock arrived within minutes, followed by a series of smaller quakes. The two big back-to-back quakes knocked items off shelves, disrupted power, broke store windows and briefly triggered a tsunami warning for islands and coastal areas south of the city. Walker issued a disaster declaration, and President Donald Trump declared an emergency, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief. There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries. Still, aftershocks Saturday continued to fray nerves, with people worrying about being caught in more massive shakers. “They’re disturbing, and I’m not putting anything away that could fall until they calm down,” Randall Cavanugh, an Anchorage attorney, said following a restless night at home. “I kept waking up.” By mid-morning, there had been about 550 aftershocks, including 11 with magnitudes of 4.5 or greater, Caruso said. The aftershocks should be weaker and less frequent in the coming days, but officials can’t say for sure when they’ll stop, he said. Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said the extent of damage was “relatively small” considering the scale of Friday’s earthquake. He also credited building codes for minimizing structure damage. “In terms of a disaster, I think it says more about who we are than what we suffered,” he said Saturday at a press briefing, adding that Anchorage was prepared for such an emergency. “People pulled together. We followed the plans that were in place. We looked after one another. And when people around the country and around the world look at this, they’re going to say, ’We want to do things in the Anchorage way because Anchorage did this right,” Berkowitz said. After the first earthquake, Alaska’s largest hospital activated its incident command center, but the trickle of patients into the emergency room at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage was more like a normal workday and not a mass casualty event. The injuries were described as minor, and there were no patients with life-threatening conditions. “The flow of patients into the emergency department was similar to a typical Monday,” hospital spokesman Mikal Canfield said Saturday. “It wasn’t a situation where there was a mass rush of people.” Roads didn’t fare so well, as reports of extensive damage came in. The Alaska Department of Transportation counted about 50 sites with damage, including eight considered major. Most of the damage was to highways north of Anchorage. The agency also was planning to conduct bridge inspections Saturday. Transportation officials said in a release that the aftershocks continue to contribute to settling and additional cracking. Rock falls exacerbated by the aftershocks were causing some problems on the Seward Highway south of Anchorage. Normal operations resumed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport after flight operations were suspended Friday, Transportation Department spokesman Meadow Bailey told The Associated Press. The 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) trans Alaska oil pipeline was shut down for hours while crews were sent to inspect it for damage. Michelle Egan with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the pipeline operator, said the line was restarted at 3:30 p.m. Friday. She said there are no obvious signs of damage and no operational impact on the pipeline, whose closest section is 120 miles (193 kilometers) from the epicenter. Anchorage’s school system canceled classes through Tuesday while it examined buildings for damage. Alaska’s 1964 earthquake, with a 9.2 magnitude, was centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Anchorage. It and the tsunami it triggered claimed about 130 lives. The state averages 40,000 earthquakes a year, with more large quakes than the 49 other states combined. Southern Alaska has a high risk of earthquakes because the Earth’s plates slide past each other under the region, but it is rare for major quakes to strike so close heavily populated areas. ___ Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Dan Joling in Anchorage; Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Jennifer Kelleher, Audrey McAvoy and Caleb Jones in Honolulu; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ___ Follow Rachel D’Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro",
            "output": [
                "Alaska quake damage could have been much worse, experts say."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e37b8e2c78341ee9d73944e60d3b3ce",
            "input": "The story does mention that the co-pay of an ED visit is $100 compared to $65 for the teleconference. However, ED co-pays vary widely depending on insurance. The story does not attempt to quantify the benefits. The medical ethics expert points out several potential harms, such as mistaking a major condition for a minor one or ignoring true emergencies. The story does not provide any evidence to support the claim that these centers provide care that is at least as good quality as regular visits. Because this story does not deal with a specific disease, disease mongering is not applicable. The story quotes two sources, the physician who is affiliated with the teleconferencing company and an idependent medical ethicist. The story could have provided some additional perspectives, such as doctors who work in urgent care settings. The balance of the story would have been better if it addressed such issues as the percentage of Americans without insurance, a list of appropriate conditions that would be potentially handled in this manner, and other points of view. The story mentions emergency room and urgent care centers as the alternatives. The story should have provided some more detail about the pros and cons of the different options. The story does not state where these centers are located and how common they are. The story clearly states that this is new technology. Although the network turned to an independent medical ethicist for his perspective, the story still felt, for the most part, like an infomercial for a niche market area that is being introduced. Nonetheless, we can’t be sure if the story relied largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "The Doctor’s Not In: Checkup By Teleconference"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ac764df35824a14bd7cee477e5a0805",
            "input": "In March 2019, United States President Donald Trump made several comments about Sen. John McCain, who died of brain cancer the previous August. Trump’s 2019 comments continued a feud that he had had with McCain before his death:President Donald Trump’s feud with the late Sen. John McCain dates back many years, to long before the real estate magnate launched a campaign for president.Trump, who occasionally re-airs his grievances with the late Arizona Republican, launched a new line of attack during an address in Ohio Wednesday, suggesting the McCain family never thanked him for “the kind of funeral that he wanted.” Trump’s role in the services were limited to allowing McCain’s body to fly on planes used as Air Force Two.On March 18th, Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared the following meme (archived here), contrasting the purported activities of both men in 1973:The text, which was both on top of and beneath a black and white photograph of a young McCain, said:John McCain was released this week in 1973, after more than five years imprisoned by the North Vietnamese.In case you were wondering what Donald Trump was doing in 1973, he was getting sued by the Justice Department for systematically excluding African-Americans and Puerto Ricans from apartments he owned.The meme’s first claim was that in March 1973, McCain was released after he had been held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five years. A March 14 2019 CBS story (“How CBS News covered John McCain’s 1973 release from the Hanoi Hilton”) covered the anniversary of McCain’s release and the length of his imprisonment:[March 14 2019] marked the 46th anniversary of John McCain’s release after being held captive as a prisoner of war at the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. McCain, who died [in 2018] at the age of 81 after a lifetime of service in the military and as a senator, was greeted by a cheering crowd at Clark Airbase in the Philippines on March 14, 1973. […]Then-Navy Lt. Commander John McCain was held captive in North Vietnam for five and a half years, from 1967 to 1973. The injuries he sustained would affect his mobility for the rest of his life.Its second part was not as specific, claiming that in the same year McCain was released, Trump was sued by the Justice Department for discriminatory practices in real estate. In January 2016, the Washington Post reported:In October 1973, the Justice Department filed a civil rights case that accused the Trump firm, whose complexes contained 14,000 apartments, of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968.The case, one of the biggest federal housing discrimination suits to be brought during that time, put a spotlight on the family empire led by its 27-year-old president, Donald Trump, and his father, Fred Trump, the chairman, who had begun building houses and apartments in the 1930s. The younger Trump demonstrated the brash, combative style that would make him famous, holding forth at a news conference in a Manhattan hotel to decry the government’s arguments as “such outrageous lies.” He would also say that the company wanted to avoid renting apartments to welfare recipients of any color but never discriminated based on race.The article included images of the October 1973 suit in which Trump and his father were named as defendants:In September 2016, PolitiFact rated the claim true, and NPR revisited the issue after Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton raised the issue during a presidential debate:The Justice Department sued Donald Trump, his father, Fred, and Trump Management in order to obtain a settlement in which Trump and his father would promise not to discriminate. The case eventually was settled two years later after Trump tried to countersue the Justice Department for $100 million for making false statements. Those allegations were dismissed by the court.“Donald started his career, back in 1973, being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination — because he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans, and he made sure that the people who worked for him understood that was the policy,” Clinton said [during a September 2016 debate].“Yes, when I was very young, I went into my father’s company — had a real estate company in Brooklyn and Queens,” Trump said. “And we, along with many, many other companies throughout the country — it was a federal lawsuit — were sued. We settled the suit with zero, with no admission of guilt.”[…]>“[The settlement] required the Trumps to place ads in newspapers saying that they welcomed black applicants,” [Trump biography author and Washington Post reporter Michael] Kranish says. “It said that the Trumps would familiarize themselves with the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination. So it also specifically said they don’t admit wrongdoing, but they did have to take several measures that the Trumps had fought for two years not to take.”The University of Michigan’s Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse maintained a case summary of the suit:This case was brought against Fred and Donald Trump, and their real estate company, in 1973 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. We are working to obtain the relevant documents … In October 1973, the Justice Department filed this civil rights case in federal court in Brooklyn against Fred Trump, Donald Trump, and their real estate company. The complaint alleged that the firm had committed systemic violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in their many complexes–39 buildings, between them containing over 14,000 apartments. The allegations included evidence from black and white “testers” who had sought to rent apartments; the white testers were told of vacancies; the black testers were not, or were steered to apartment complexes with a higher proportion of racial minorities. The complaint also alleged that Trump employees had placed codes next to housing applicant names to indicate if they were black. […]The Justice Department called the decree “one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated.” Newspaper headlines echoed that assessment. The New York Amsterdam News, for example, titled its article “Minorities win housing suit,” and told readers that “qualified Blacks and Puerto Ricans now have the opportunity to rent apartments owned by Trump Management.”An archived New York Times article published on October 16 1973 (“Major Landlord Accused Of Antiblack Bias in City”) included comments from Trump at the time of the suit:Seeking an injunction to halt alleged discriminatory practises, the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals “because of race and color.” It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.At the corporation’s main office, 600 Avenue Z in Brooklyn, Donald Trump, president, denied the charges.“They are absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “We never have discriminated, and we never would. There have been a number of local actions against us, and we’ve won them all. We were charged with discrimination, and we proved in court that we did not discriminate.”A point of contention for then-candidate Trump in 2016 was his counterclaim that the action was broad and taken against a number of developers. In response to Clinton’s comments, Trump said:“Yes, when I was very young, I went into my father’s company — had a real estate company in Brooklyn and Queens … And we, along with many, many other companies throughout the country — it was a federal lawsuit — were sued. We settled the suit with zero, with no admission of guilt.”But in the 1973 New York Times article — published more than four decades before Trump’s ultimately successful presidential run — the newspaper differentiated between the 1973 action against the Trumps and their organization and an earlier, unrelated action against a different New York City developer in 1971:In Washington, J. Stanley Pottinger, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s civil‐rights division, termed the suit the second major rental discrimination action begun by the department in the last two years.The first involved Samuel J. Lofrak, one of the country’s largest builders. The Justice Department had charged racial discrimination in the renting of 21,000 Lefrak‐controlled apartments in 150 buildings in Brooklyn and Queens.That case was resolved on Jan. 28, 1971, in an agreement between the Justice Department and the Lefrak Organization. Lefrak promised to prohibit discrimination in apartment rentals, and subsequently fifty black families were assisted in moving into predominantly white buildings.In the meme reproduced above, “The Other 98%” claimed that March 2019 marked an anniversary of Sen. John McCain’s release from a Vietnamese prison after five years of captivity. A CBS article reported that McCain had actually been imprisoned for five and a half years, but the claim was essentially accurate.Additionally, the meme claimed that in 1973, Donald Trump was sued by the Justice Department for alleged violation of housing discrimination laws. That claim came to issue when Hillary Clinton raised it during a September 2016 debate, and was rated by fact-checkers examining it at that time. In response, Trump claimed that the action taken against him was broad and included multiple developers. But an October 1973 article reported that the action was in fact specific to Trump and his father, reporting a 1971 suit filed separately against a separate developer in New York City.",
            "output": [
                "John McCain was released after five years of captivity in Vietnam in 1973, the same year Donald Trump was sued by the Justice Department for racial bias in real estate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-492da8981dab4c75bb2acb131efd758c",
            "input": "\"The suspect in the mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport told the FBI in Alaska in November that he was hearing voices. Anchorage police confiscated Esteban Santiago’s handgun and took him for a mental health evaluation. Police returned his gun to him in December when he asked for it. On Jan. 6, he flew to Broward County and is the suspected gunman in a rampage at the airport that left five dead and several others injured. Days later, Democratic state legislators held a press conference in Tallahassee to argue for gun control measures and more mental health funding. Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said that Republican legislators argue that the way to reduce gun violence is not through gun control but mental health care funding. But Florida, he said, has the worst record in the nation in terms of funding mental health care treatment. \"\"We see once again Florida is ranked 50th in the nation for mental health care funding — 50th,\"\" he said. \"\"There is no one that is doing worse than we are when it comes to making sure we that we are providing comprehensive mental health care.\"\" Florida is near the bottom of the pack in mental health funding, and one key ranking cited by many experts places the state at 51st in per capita spending. However, there are some caveats about the ranking. Comparing state mental health funding Smith pointed to news articles about Florida’s low ranking on mental health funding and data from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute. Mental health funding experts said they consider the institute’s data as the best source. The institute collects annual data on expenditures by state mental health agencies from the states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The total amount of expenditures is divided by the state population to compare the amount per capita. The most recent data, for fiscal year 2014, showed Florida ranked 51st out of 52 jurisdictions for total state mental health spending — behind 49 states and Washington, D.C. — at $36.05 per capita. The Sunshine State was only ahead of one jurisdiction: Puerto Rico, at $20.22. Florida has consistently been near the bottom of the rankings for years, said Ted Lutterman, senior director of the institute. In general, states in the northeast and northwest spend more, while southern states spend much less, he said. One key caveat about this data: It is based on money spent through Florida’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Office, managed by the Department of Children and Families, and it doesn’t include services paid from other sources, including Medicaid or local funds, on mental health programs. \"\"Those additional funding sources aren’t reported to DCF, but they’re still used within the local systems of care to treat individuals,\"\" said Jessica Sims, DCF spokeswoman. The national research institute asks the state mental health authority in each state to provide information on all the funds used for its public mental health provider system, including state psychiatric hospitals and community providers. If another state agency uses Medicaid funds to pay for services directly and doesn’t work with the state mental health authority, then the state mental health authority will not have that data, Lutterman said. In most states, the state mental health authority helps manage the Medicaid funds. However Florida administers Medicaid differently, Lutterman said, and therefore isn’t able to report the Medicaid data for this report. The National Alliance on Mental Illness uses the per-capita state expenditures to compare rankings, said the alliance’s spokesman Bob Carolla. \"\"It reflects the relative degree of commitment to mental health by the state,\"\" he said. \"\"Medicaid dollars compared to Medicaid dollars could be a separate indicator, except I believe it’s more problematic because of the differences that exist between the state Medicaid programs.\"\" Florida lags behind the majority of states on Medicaid spending per enrollee and the state Legislature rejected Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act. Another way to examine mental health funding is to look at whether states are increasing the amount each year. The National Alliance on Mental Illness annual survey of state mental health care legislation doesn’t rank states but shows general budgeting trends. The 2015 report shows Florida maintained funding in 2013 and increased it in 2014 and 2015. Our ruling Smith said, \"\"Florida is ranked 50th in the nation for mental health care funding.\"\" A key source of data for ranking states on mental health spending is the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute. That data shows that Florida ranked 51st in 2014. However, it is difficult to compare Florida with other states because it administers its Medicaid program differently than most states.",
            "output": [
                "Florida is ranked 50th in the nation for mental health care funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54454ba285b24dd0b5e5aa0afb5c2397",
            "input": "In August 2018, a number of social media users came across an image offering a purported newspaper clipping of an article entitled “Tech Billionaire Parenting” and wondered if the article, as well as the information contained within it, was genuine:  This image presents a slightly paraphrased version of an article written by Alice Thomson entitled “Help Kids to Kick Social Media Addiction” which was published in The Times of London in March 2018, the original text of which read as follows: The philanthropist Melinda Gates told me the same. Her children don’t have smartphones and only use a computer in the kitchen. Her husband Bill, the Microsoft co-founder, spends hours in his office reading books while everyone else is refreshing their homepage. The most sought-after private school in Silicon Valley, the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, bans technical devices for the under-11s and teaches the children of eBay, Apple, Uber and Google staff to make go-karts, knit and cook. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wants his daughters to read Dr Seuss books and play outside rather than use Messenger Kids. Steve Jobs’s children had strict limits on how much technology they used at home. It’s astonishing if you think about it: the more money you make out of the tech industry, the more you appear to shield your family from its effects. The general theme of this article, that several prominent tech billionaires advocated limiting their children’s use of technology, is accurate and supported by various interviews and articles. Our only quibble is with the claim that Bill and Melinda Gates’ children don’t currently have smartphones. As far as we can tell, the Microsoft moguls didn’t allow their children to possess smartphones of their own until they reached the age of 14, but as of this writing Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe Gates are all now over the age of 14. In a June 2018 interview with The Mirror, Bill Gates explained some of his parental rules when it came to technology use by his children:  “We often set a time after which there is no screen time and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour. “You’re always looking at how it can be used in a great way – homework and staying in touch with friends – and also where it has gotten to excess. “We don’t have cellphones at the table when we are having a meal, we didn’t give our kids cellphones until they were 14 and they complained other kids got them earlier.” Melinda Gates also penned an op-ed for the Washington Post in August 2017 in which she warned about putting a computer in a child’s pocket at too early of an age. Gates seemed to acknowledge that her children had cellphones at the time but said that she “probably would have waited longer” if she had the chance to do it again: Still, as a mother who wants to make sure her children are safe and happy, I worry. And I think back to how I might have done things differently. Parents should decide for themselves what works for their family, but I probably would have waited longer before putting a computer in my children’s pockets. Phones and apps aren’t good or bad by themselves, but for adolescents who don’t yet have the emotional tools to navigate life’s complications and confusions, they can exacerbate the difficulties of growing up: learning how to be kind, coping with feelings of exclusion, taking advantage of freedom while exercising self-control. It’s more important than ever to teach empathy from the very beginning, because our kids are going to need it. As for the remainder of the text at the head of this page, it appears wholly accurate. A number of Silicon Valley parents truly do send their children to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, where an emphasis is placed on pen and paper rather than digital screens. News outlets such as the New York Times and the Guardian have reported on that school’s technology policy in relation to the student body’s connection to Silicon Valley:  The chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard. But the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home. Schools nationwide have rushed to supply their classrooms with computers, and many policy makers say it is foolish to do otherwise. But the contrarian point of view can be found at the epicenter of the tech economy, where some parents and educators have a message: computers and schools don’t mix. This is the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, one of around 160 Waldorf schools in the country that subscribe to a teaching philosophy focused on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks. Those who endorse this approach say computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans. The web site for the Waldorf School of the Peninsula also includes a page in which they describe their “Media & Technology Philosophy”:  Waldorf educators believe it is far more important for students to interact with one another and their teachers, and work with real materials than to interface with electronic media or technology. By exploring the world of ideas, participating in the arts, music, movement and practical activities, children develop healthy, robust bodies, balanced and well-integrated brains, confidence in their real-world practical skills and strong executive-function capabilities. In the high school curriculum, Waldorf embraces technology in ways that enhance the learning process, by using it as a tool, rather than replace the role of the teacher. Students quickly master technology, and many Waldorf graduates have gone on to successful careers in the computer industry. The claim that “Steve Jobs’s children had strict limits on how much technology they used at home” is supported by a 2014 New York Times article which labeled the Apple founder a low-tech parent:  [N]othing shocked me more than something Mr. Jobs said to me in late 2010 after he had finished chewing me out for something I had written about an iPad shortcoming. “So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” I’m sure I responded with a gasp and dumbfounded silence. I had imagined the Jobs’s household was like a nerd’s paradise: that the walls were giant touch screens, the dining table was made from tiles of iPads and that iPods were handed out to guests like chocolates on a pillow. Nope, Mr. Jobs told me, not even close. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s reported desire to have his daughter read Dr. Seuss and play outside comes from an open letter he wrote after the birth of his second daughter in August 2017:  But rather than write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can be a serious place. That’s why it’s important to make time to go outside and play. You will be busy when you’re older, so I hope you take time to smell all the flowers and put all the leaves you want in your bucket now. I hope you read your favorite Dr. Seuss books so many times you start inventing your own stories about the Vipper of Vipp. I hope you ride the carousel with Max until you’ve tamed every color horse. I hope you run as many laps around our living room and yard as you want. And then I hope you take a lot of naps. I hope you’re a great sleeper. And I hope even in your dreams you can feel how much we love you.",
            "output": [
                "Tech billionaires such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs advocated limiting children's use of technology."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f5cb78f66ea449fac13e9376c93c09d",
            "input": "On August 23 2019, Facebook user Steven Pokin shared a photograph along with a lengthy status update, claiming that it shows the bedroom that Medgar Evers’ sons slept in:This is where the two little sons of Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers slept. When he had this house built in Jackson, Mississippi, he had the window you see elevated to make it less likely his children would be shot.He had the house built without a front door for security reasons. The main entrance was at the side of the house, at the end of a car port.His house was the only one on the street that had small stones and gravel on a flat roof. That way, it would not catch fire is someone tossed a lit torch on the roof.He had his children’s mattresses placed directly on the floor to make them less visible targets.He told his wife and children to sit on the floor while watching TV.In 1963, he was the NAACP’s first Mississippi field director. Three times that year, someone had fired into his home.As a boy, he had witnessed the separate lynchings of a black man and a 10-year-old black boy — who had made the mistake of going to the whites-only county fair.On June 10, he was not home when someone tried to enter through the rear door of his home. His wife moved the refrigerator to block entry. They left the refrigerator there.That week, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy spoke to the nation about civil rights, justice and a more perfect union. The President said it was coming and he asked the nation to give him time that, ultimately, he did not have.Medgar Evers gave a speech in Jackson the night of June 11,1963. He returned home — to this home — lugging many T-shirts that he planned to give out at a rally the next day. They said: “Say No to Jim Crow.”He was excited about the President’s speech.He parked behind his wife’s car in the driveway and was almost in the car port when an assassin across the street shot him with a high-powered rifle.No ambulance came.A neighbor took him to the whites-only hospital. Doctors were unsure if they should treat him. They were out of “Negro blood” and feared they could lose their medical licenses if they used white blood to try to save a black man.Then, a white doctor stepped in and said none of that mattered and worked valiantly to try to save the life of Medgar Evers, who had served this country at the invasion of Normandy.He died about 40 minutes after being shot.The bullet entered his back, came out his chest, went through a window, went through an interior wall leading to the kitchen and left a dent in the refrigerator.I touched that dent today. Then, I went into the bedroom and saw the mattresses on the floor with the Teddy Bears on them.I have never before felt history the way I felt it today.Medgar Evers was the first state field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi. As the post describes, Evers was assassinated in the driveway of his Jackson, Mississippi home on June 12 1963 at the age of 37; nine days later, Klansman and white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was arrested — but all-white juries failed to reach a verdict. In 1994, Beckwith was finally convicted of first-degree murder.In May 2018, the House of Representatives passed a bill to establish Medgar Evers’ Jackson, Mississippi home as a national monument with bipartisan support. To that point, the site was managed by Tougaloo College, and its designation as a national monument allocated additional funding to maintain the home.In January 2019, Mississippi lawmakers issued a press release about the designation of Medgar and Myrlie Evers’ home in Jackson, Mississippi as a national monument:Mississippi’s two senators have reintroduced legislation to designate Medgar and Myrlie Evers’ Jackson home as a national monument within the National Park System.“The Medgar and Myrlie Evers home is of great historic significance to the civil rights movement as well as our American history and deserves to be recognized as a national monument,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said in a news release [in January 2019]. “That is why I have continued to work with the members of our Mississippi congressional delegation to bring additional resources to the site. These efforts will help ensure future generations can learn about the life and legacy of the Evers family.”Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith added, that “The preservation of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home as a national monument will help future generations understand this family’s important role in the pursuit of equality and justice as part of the civil rights movement.”A month later, the site was one of four newly-designated national monuments included in a “massive lands bill” passed by Congress. United States President Donald Trump signed the bill establishing the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson in March 2019. NBC News reported plans for the site, enabling visitors to tour it more formally.That article also noted that the home was vacant for three decades and restored with reproduction furnishings after the family donated it to Tougaloo College in 1993:The federal government will take over the modest ranch-style home from Tougaloo College, which supports the change, bringing money for preservation. The Evers family donated the home to historically black Tougaloo in 1993, and it is open by appointment for tours. The three-bedroom home stood vacant for years after the family moved away in the 1960s, and it was restored in the mid-1990s. It is now filled with midcentury furniture, and one of the bedrooms has a display about the family’s history. A bullet hole is visible in a kitchen wall.The National Park Service named the home a national historic landmark in 2016.Ben West of the National Park Service told Mississippi Public Broadcasting on [in March 2019] that the park service was waiting on the president’s signature to begin planning the project, including parking, access and tour sizes, restrooms and other visitor services.The National Parks Service maintains a page about the site, but no information about its interior is included. In March 2019, Smithsonian Magazine described pending updates to the new monument:After Evers was killed and his family moved away, the three-bedroom stood empty for many years. In 1993, the Evers family gifted the property to the historically black Tougaloo College, and tours became available by appointment. In 2016, the National Park Service named the Medgar Evers House Museum a national historic landmark. With the signing of the new bill, the federal government will take over the site, and experts who work there hope the change will enable the museum to make some important upgrades. Minnie White Watson, curator of the museum, tells WBUR’s Peter O’Dowd that the National Park Service can afford “to do things that possibly we could never afford to do,” such as installing a parking lot and restrooms.Multiple tourism-related sites showed the interior of the house (and the boys’ bedroom) in a way that indicaed that the images were accurately identified. TripAdvisor reviewers made mention of the low height of the childrens’ beds in relation to the window, as did people on other tours. Some said the beds lacked frames, while others claimed that the windows were specifically raised for the same reason:“Apparently, when Medgar built the house, he had the foresight to have the windows raised 2 or so extra inches so they could lay on the floor. That would allow them less likely to be seen through the window for a shooter.”“So sad his kids had to sleep on mattresses on the floor rather than in beds so bullets would harm them through windows.”“Amazing to hear and read about all that Medgar Evers endured, the sacrifices he and his family made, like: no front door, for safety reasons, beds were lower than the height of the window sills, for protection from gunshots, the safety drills for the children in case someone starts shooting. Very sobering.”Like TripAdvisor reviewers, it seemed the Facebook post’s author paraphrased the descriptions provided by tour guides. However, those descriptions were not entirely consistent with one another. A Wikipedia page for the site (lacking sources) stated that the Evers family chose the home, but it didn’t go so far as to say they were able to modify its structure. In December 2017, Medgar Evers house museum curator Minnie White Watson discussed the childrens’ beds in a profile of the site:“The first time the house was shot into, Medgar said put the kids beds on the floor,” said Minnie White Watson, Medgar Evers Home museum curatorA database of historical site markers explained the Evers’ family’s efforts to remain safe in the face of increasing violence, as threats to Evers and his family increased greatly in the weeks leading up to his assassination:With success in [civil rights] efforts, however, came increased tension and apprehension. The children were taught precautions, such as dropping to the floor and crawling to safety in the bathtub when they heard loud noises. They avoided sitting in the living room near the large window. One evening a firebomb exploded in the carport, and Myrlie rushed outside to put out the flames with the garden hose. The police dismissed the incident as a prank. A few weeks later, Medgar Evers was murdered in the driveway, shot with a high-powered rifle by an assassin hiding across the street.The claims about Medgar Evers’ home made in the Facebook post were accurate — by all accounts, the Evers family avoided sitting and sleeping near windows because gunshots had been fired and and through their home. An image circulating alongside the post showed the reconstructed bedroom of the Evers’ children, with beds placed low to the floor and away from windows. Evers and his family lived in the house from 1956 to 1963; the increasing safety precautions taken by the family likely occurred in the last year or two of their time in the house.We contacted Tougaloo archivists for additional information, but have not yet received a response.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows the bedroom of the sons of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-99b68997b6bf41ffb3a581e4b4e95a1b",
            "input": "Trump said his order was aimed at “making life better and longer for millions” by increasing the supply of donated kidneys, making it easier for patients to have dialysis in the comfort of their own homes and prioritizing the development of an artificial kidney. The changes won’t happen overnight because some initiatives will require new government regulations. Because a severe organ shortage complicates the call for more transplants, the Trump administration will try to ease the financial hardships for living donors by reimbursing them for expenses such as lost wages and child care. “Those people, I have to say, have never gotten enough credit,” Trump said. “What they do is so incredible.” Another key change: steps to help the groups that collect deceased donations do a better job. Trump said it may be possible to find 17,000 more kidneys and 11,000 other organs from deceased donors for transplant every year. For families like those of 1-year-old Hudson Nash, the lack of organs is frightening. Hudson was born with damaged kidneys, and his parents hope he will be big enough for a transplant in another year. Until then, “to keep him going, he takes numerous medicines, receives multiple shots, blood draws and more doctors’ visits than I can count,” said his mother, Jamie Nash of Santa Barbara, California. Today’s system favors expensive, time-consuming dialysis in large centers — what Trump called so onerous “it’s like a full-time job” — over easier-to-tolerate at-home care or transplants that help patients live longer. More than 30 million American adults have chronic kidney disease, costing Medicare a staggering $113 billion. Careful treatment — including control of diabetes and high blood pressure, the two main culprits — can help prevent further kidney deterioration. But more than 700,000 people have end-stage renal disease, meaning their kidneys have failed, and require either a transplant or dialysis to survive. Only about one-third received specialized kidney care before they got so sick. “My health care providers failed me at the beginning of the dialysis continuum,” said transplant recipient Tunisia Bullock of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Her kidney failure struck while she was being treated for another disease, and she woke up in the hospital attached to a dialysis machine. She told Trump that she hoped the new initiatives help other patients find care “with less confusion and more ease.” More than 94,000 of the 113,000 people on the national organ waiting list need a kidney. Last year, there were 21,167 kidney transplants. Of those, 6,442 were from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation’s transplant system. “The longer you’re on dialysis, the outcomes are worse,” said Dr. Amit Tevar, a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who praised the administration’s initiatives. Too often, transplant centers don’t see a kidney patient until he or she has been on dialysis for years, Tevar said. While any transplant is preferable, one from a living donor is best because those organs “work better, longer and faster,” Tevar said. Among the initiatives that take effect first: —Medicare payment changes that would provide a financial incentive for doctors and clinics to help kidney patients stave off end-stage disease. The goal is to lower the number of new kidney failure cases by 25% by 2030. —a bonus to kidney specialists who help prepare patients for early transplant, with steps that can begin even before they need dialysis. —additional Medicare changes so that dialysis providers can earn as much by helping patients get dialysis at home as in the large centers that predominate today. Patients typically must spend hours three or four times a week hooked to machines that filter waste out of their blood. Home options include portable blood-cleansing machines, or what’s called peritoneal dialysis that works through an abdominal tube, usually while patients are sleeping. Today, about 11% of patients in kidney failure get at-home dialysis and an additional 3 percent get an early transplant. By 2025, the goal is to have 80% of people with newly diagnosed kidney failure getting one of those options, officials said. These changes are being put in place through Medicare’s innovation center, created under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and empowered to seek savings and improved quality. The administration is relying on the innovation center even as it argues in federal court that the law that created it is unconstitutional and should be struck down entirely. Other initiatives will require new regulations, expected to be proposed later this year. Among them: —allowing reimbursement of lost wages and other expenses for living donors, who can give one of their kidneys or a piece of their liver. The transplant recipient’s insurance pays the donor’s medical bills. But donors are out of work for weeks recuperating, and one study found more than one-third of living kidney donors reported lost wages, a median of $2,712, in the year following donation. Details about who pays and who qualifies still have to be worked out. —clearer ways to measure how well the nation’s 58 organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, collect donations from deceased donors. Some do a better job than others, but today’s performance standards are self-reported, varying around the country and making it difficult for government regulators or the OPOs themselves to take steps to improve. “Some OPOs are very aggressive and move forward with getting organs allocated and donors consented, and there are those that are a little more lackadaisical about it,” said Pittsburgh’s Tevar. Unlike the medical advances in transplantation, “we haven’t really made big dents and progress and moves in increasing cadaveric organs or increasing live donor options.” ___ Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump directs government to revamp care for kidney disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aee920d0beda44ab87bdce165e3ed941",
            "input": "\"Of more than 300 men and women who had the surgery, a third stopped playing sports entirely and 68 who were still active said they didn’t play as well as before, researchers reported in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is the ligament inside the knee that helps keep the joint stable. About 150,000 ACL injuries occur each year in the United States. “Less than 50 percent of the study sample had returned to playing sport at their preinjury level or returned to participating in competitive sport when surveyed at 2 to 7 years after ACL reconstruction surgery,” wrote Clare Ardern at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, who led the study. Ardern and her colleagues followed more than 300 men and women for two to seven years. Participants had either played Australian-rules football, basketball, netball or soccer before their surgeries. At 39 months post-surgery, 208 out of the 314 people who had the operation were still playing a sport, the researchers said. Of those 208, 68 said they played at a lower level than before their injury and 140 said they played about the same as before their injury. The remaining 106 participants either were not playing sports or did not complete the entire study. “Although almost all people returned to playing some form of sport, they did not play continuously for many years after their surgery,” Ardern told Reuters Health in an email. She also noted there may be other reasons why people stopped playing sports, such as fear of getting injured again or less confidence in performing. Of the 196 people who played competitive sports before their injury, 91 returned to their competitive sport. “This is a big injury,” said Edward McDevitt, a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, who was not part of the study. “Many athletes who choose surgery have a long and difficult road to face. If you’re not willing to go through it, then you might be better off just getting a brace.”   He added that while knee surgery does allow people to return to their sport, they couldn’t perform as well as doctors might wish. People who tear the ACL can either opt for physical therapy and surgery or just physical therapy alone. “Some people find that they are able to function well without surgery, provided they have adequate leg strength to support the injured knee,” Ardern said. “Other alternatives may be to avoid sports involving direction changes, jumping and landing or activities that make the knee feel unstable, or use knee braces and supports.”   McDevitt speculates that after surgery, some athletes may not have the same range of motion, preventing them from playing as before. \"\"I tell my patients, 'I can't make you like before, I'm not God. But I'll do the best I can to restore you back to the way you were,'\"\" he added. SOURCE: bit.ly/pWId18\"",
            "output": [
                "After knee repair, half can't play sports the same."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-750134c595d74022aff079672022a11b",
            "input": "Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences on Wednesday announced the donation of hydroxychloroquine from Amneal. The pharmaceutical company has announced similar donations to other states, including Texas. Hydroxychloroquine has long been used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Very small preliminary studies have suggested it might help coronavirus patients, and doctors can prescribe it off-label for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. But health experts have said more studies are needed to determine whether it’s safe and effective to use. COVID-19 IN ARKANSAS Arkansas health officials on Wednesday said the number of coronavirus cases in the state has reached at least 1,071. The Health Department reported the increase in cases, up from at least 997 on Tuesday night. Arkansas has had 18 deaths. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and a cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS RISING Arkansas officials expect the number of Arkansans filing unemployment claims during the outbreak to hit 150,000 by the end of the week. Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said more than 110,000 people have filed for unemployment and his department has been reassigning staffers to handle a flood of calls. The state has waived  the requirement to file for unemployment in person. The state will have to build a new system to process claims by independent contractors, freelancers and self-employed workers newly eligible for unemployment benefits under the federal coronavirus aid. Preston said building that system will take three weeks, but that back pay of benefits will be available once the system is set up. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Arkansas gets donation of Trump-promoted anti-malarial drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aafb1282048b40fb9713d6bfc0cfe93c",
            "input": "The story provides no discussion of how much this test might cost if and when it comes to market. The story states that the five key microRNA markers allowed doctors to predict with 85% accuracy which 52 of the children would have prolonged symptoms, compared to 64% accuracy for the standard concussion assessment survey doctors often use now (in conjunction with their own medical evaluations). But it’s not clear what “accuracy” means in this context. As discussed below, it would be more helpful to discuss the test’s false-negative and false-positive rates, since those statistics give readers a better sense as to whether the test results provide meaningful information. And it would be helpful to clarify exactly what benefit someone would derive from the test results, beyond knowing how long the concussion symptoms will endure. Readers might presume that this kind of testing will help avoid longer-term cognitive impairment resulting from concussions, but that would be a misconception. There’s no evidence that more testing leads to less long-term cognitive impairment. The story would have done well to point this out. The story does not directly address potential harms. The harms with screening tests are false-negative results–in this case, concluding a child doesn’t have a concussion when she really does–and false-positive results–concluding a child needs treatment when she doesn’t. The story does a fair job of describing the limitations of the research supporting use of the saliva test. First, the story notes that an editorial published with the study in JAMA Pediatric pointed out the small sample size (52), meaning additional large-scale studies would be required to determine whether the saliva test results would be reliable. The story also discusses the editorial’s warning that individuals with prolonged concussion symptoms are more likely than those with milder concussions to use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, which could influence the presence of the microRNAs and thus confound the findings. One limitation the story didn’t point out was that all these children already had a clinical diagnosis of concussion. In a more real-world setting, where that hasn’t been confirmed, the accuracy of the test may be lowered. The story does not commit disease-mongering. However, one paragraph discussing data from the Centers for Disease Control could be viewed as conflating concussions with all traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The story notes that CDC data showed 2.8 million TBI-related visits to the emergency room, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States in 2013. Following this figure immediately is a reference to two-thirds of concussions occurring in children and adolescents; the structure thus suggests that all 2.8 million TBIs were concussions. The story includes two independent sources: the JAMA Pediatrics editorial and a neurologist, Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, who directs The Sports Neurology Clinic at The CORE Institute in Michigan. In addition, the story explains that Quadrant Biosciences, which is hoping to market a saliva test for concussions, provided part of the funding for the original study. It also notes that Kutcher is consulting for a company working on an alternative approach to testing for concussion severity using electroencephalograms (EEG). As noted earlier, the story explicitly compared accuracy rates for the saliva test versus the survey tool doctors currently use. In addition, the story mentioned that researchers also are testing for concussion-related biomarkers in blood, using EEG records and “exploring functional MRI techniques to look at the metabolic function of different areas of the brain.” The story discusses all of these approaches as preliminary investigations. The story quotes the lead author of the saliva test study as saying that many hospitals and clinics already use the technology that would be needed to assess microRNAs in saliva. This implies that the saliva test could be readily available to patients if further research confirmed the association between specific microRNAs and prolonged concussion symptoms. The story does not provide any specific discussion of how long it could take or how much further study would be needed before the saliva test would be available for use. However, the story does communicate that the saliva test is not yet available. As mentioned earlier, the story quotes the JAMA Pediatrics editorial that accompanied the study as saying that the saliva test “represents an advance in the science of sport-related concussions.” Thus, the test does appear to be a novel approach. The story includes a substantial amount of information not included in the Penn State Health news release about the study.",
            "output": [
                "Spit test may diagnose, predict duration of concussion in kids"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a710f1a091bc46a7a66af000a12baa9f",
            "input": "The new paper, published like the first in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, slams the research for “dubious analyses” and “erroneous methodology” and says it “conjured nonexistent effects out of thin air.”  In the 2013 study, researchers had adults answer a 14-item questionnaire meant to sort them into two groups: interested in hedonic well-being (fun and selfish pleasure) or eudaimonic well-being (leading a meaningful life). The two groups, researchers led by psychologist Barbara Frederickson of the University of North Carolina reported, had different patterns of activity in 53 genes. Hedonists had DNA activity akin to people suffering from chronic, illness-inducing stress. Stress-related genes including those involved in inflammation were overactive; genes involved in making antibodies that fight infection were underactive. Hedonists, it seemed, were headed for a disease-ridden existence and an early grave, as media reports warned in stories with headlines like “Meaning is healthier than happiness.”  The claim caught the eye of Nick Brown, a British information technology worker who has become a persistent amateur critic of what he sees as shoddy statistical analysis in psychology research. As he and colleagues scrutinized the 2013 paper, they saw numerous problems, he said. For one thing, the authors failed to rule out that people with specific gene-activity patterns in the immune system might be under the weather when tested. More crucially, Brown said, the happiness questionnaire was flawed. People who scored high on three items meant to identify hedonists scored equally highly on 11 items meant to identify people who seek eudaimonic well-being. “The two constructs are essentially measuring the same thing,” Brown said, so putting people in one category rather than another was “meaningless.”  Most devastating was what happened when Brown grouped the items randomly, calling those who scored high on questions 1, 7  and 8 (or any of 8,191 other combinations) one kind of person and those who scored high on others a second type. Even with such meaningless groupings, there were patterns of gene activity seemingly characteristic of each group. Statistics professor Andrew Gelman of Columbia University, who was not involved in either study, called Brown’s critique “reasonable.”   Flawed statistics have become such a serious problem for journals that many of the world’s top titles are adding extra levels of statistical checks in the peer-review process. Deputy executive editor Daniel Salsbury said PNAS was not changing its longstanding practice, which is “to work within our review process to ensure the work is sound in all aspects.”   In a reply to Brown, Frederickson and coauthor Steven Cole of the University of California, Los Angeles, reject the criticism and say they have replicated their 2013 findings in a new sample of 122 people.",
            "output": [
                "Happiness study draws frowns from critics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fecb17d306d3418bac18e8c1d3dae942",
            "input": "The traffic-clogged city has more than 10 million residents, but about three times that number live in surrounding towns, swelling emissions from vehicles, factories and power stations. In the current dry season, Jakarta has consistently ranked among the world’s most polluted cities, based on data from Air Visual, a Swiss-based group that monitors air quality. In 2016, the municipal government ordered curbs on private cars governed by whether their license-plate numbers were odd or even, to reduce traffic jams on main thoroughfares. That effort was widened last year, ahead of the Asian Games. On Wednesday, it said this policy would be extended again to cover smaller roads. This move comes after an instruction last week by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan to levy congestion charges for cars from 2020, set an age limit of 10 years on vehicles on the road by 2025, tighten emission tests and rein in industrial discharges. However, experts said the governor needed to do more. “All the steps taken will in themselves improve the air quality, but the overall impact will not be big because they are not addressing the main problem,” said Almo Pradana, senior manager for energy and climate at the World Resources Institute Indonesia. Pradana added that Jakarta did not have enough monitoring devices to pinpoint the cause of the pollution spikes. “If we look at air quality issues, what you have to do is you have to find what makes the air quality worsen, how much in percentages comes from transportation, and when, and how much comes from coal power plants and factories,” he said. A strategic plan to cut pollution based on an inventory of emissions would be a better solution, he said, adding that this week’s massive power outage had made the city’s air cleaner. But ending the city’s love affair with cars appears likely to be difficult. Jakarta residents took to social media on Wednesday to figure out how to get around the restrictions, including strategies such as changing car plates and buying more cars. “It’s a burden for people, not effective!” one of them, Tito Pangesti, said on Twitter. “Make better regulations, like banning old minibus with black exhaust smoke on the street ... if you want to reduce pollution, odd-even is not a solution.”  Environmental groups have sued President Joko Widodo and several government officials over Jakarta’s worsening air quality, trying to force the government to investigate the source of emissions.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia's capital curbs private cars in bid to cut choking pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e1bdd03c9f24450bb89c4711e844cf8",
            "input": "In January 2018, social media users began pondering a photograph seemingly showing a variety pack of Gatorade brand sports drink offered for sale at a Costco warehouse store in Seattle, priced at $26.33. What threw viewers for a loop was that the price of the drink itself was only $15.99, with another $10.34 (a markup of 65%) being added to the cost for something identified as “”City of Seattle Sweetened Beverage Recovery Fee”:  The photograph was real, and it referenced a Sweetened Beverage Tax imposed on the distribution of sweetened beverages in the city of Seattle beginning 1 January 2018, at a rate of is 1.75 cents per fluid ounce:  The excise tax includes sodas, energy and sports drinks, fruit drinks, sweetened teas, and ready-to-drink coffee drinks. Other sweet(ened) potables such as infant formula, 100% fruit juice, medications, weight reduction products, milk-based beverages, and alcohol are exempt from the tax:  “Sweetened beverage” includes all drinks and beverages commonly referred to as soda, pop, cola, soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened ice teas and coffees, and other products with added caloric sweeteners, including but not limited to juice with added caloric sweetener, flavored water with added caloric sweetener, and non-alcoholic mix beverages that may or may not be mixed with alcohol. Excluded beverages: Any beverage in which natural milk is the primary ingredient. “Milk” is defined as a natural fluid milk, regardless of animal sources or butterfat content. Plant-based milk substitutes that are marketed as milk, such as but not limited to, soy milk, coconut milk, rice milk, and almond milk, are considered natural milk. Any beverage consisting of 100 percent natural fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweetener. Any beverage that contains fewer than 40 calories per 12-ounce serving. Alcoholic beverages. This exclusion does not apply to bar mixers that sweeten alcoholic drinks.",
            "output": [
                "Seattle has imposed an excise tax on the distributors of sweetened drinks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-587ad376859e4324b1497b589a1f9424",
            "input": "\"Among the nooks and crannies of the internet lurk new generations of paranormal stories, rumors of alternate universes, and shared institutional memories that are presented as proof of parallel timelines bleeding into one another in a broader theory popularly called the “Mandela Effect.”In one such shared (but inaccurate) memory, fans of the 2000 film Scary Movie have pointed out a line they remember from initial viewings (“I see white people”) has “changed” to “I see dead people” in recurring posts on social media, citing the phenomenon as a prime example.A page maintained by aerospace firm Northrup Grumman notes that the Mandela Effect nomenclature was coined by self-identified paranormal expert Fiona Broome. Grumman adds that the Mandela Effect is described as “false memory” by those skeptical of it and an example of a multiverse by others, and defines the term:The Mandela Effect is named for South African statesman and civil rights activist Nelson Mandela. When he died in 2013, news of his death stirred up some surprising — and mysterious — memories. People around the world reported that they remembered hearing of his death decades earlier, in the 1980s. Some even vividly recalled watching his funeral on television … Thus, people who remember seeing Mandela’s funeral in the 1980s may not be simply misremembering. They might have somehow slipped across from an alternate history where Nelson Mandela did die in the 1980s. In our world, he was imprisoned for many years. Likewise, people who recall “The Berenstein Bears” may have grown up in a parallel world where the bears’ name really did end in -stein.Threads about the claim regularly appear on Reddit subs such as r/retconned (devoted to what it calls “the retcon effect” in reality), r/MandelaEffect, and metaphysics-related subreddits in general:Scary Movie – Shorty’s Line \"\"I see Dead People\"\" from RetconnedSome posters share their commentary with “residue,” trace examples of the alternate-reality version they recall:The \"\"I see white people\"\" ME from Scary Movie, with decade old residue from MandelaEffectOn Twitter, users frequently tweeted as they happened upon their own alternate memory:I've seen the theory about the Hadron super collider causing us to shift dimensions and that this one isnt 'right'. Its interesting. So many Mandela effects bother me. The scary movie quote- I see white people which is now apparently dead people. Actual Mandela's death etc— Carla Reynolds (@carla_mmkw) November 12, 2019there's a lot of Mandela Effects that I find compellingSinbad's Shazaamscarecrow with a gunKit Kat with a dashScary Movie, \"\"I see white people\"\"Tinkerbell on the Disney Castle logoit scares me LOL— Miss Gypsy Annette (@MissyAntoinett2) November 17, 2019THE NEWEST MANDELA EFFECT THAT'S CAME OUT IS IN SCARY MOVIE AND IT'S WHEN SHORTY SAY I SEE WHITE PEOPLE, IT'S NOW I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!! WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT TIME LINE— Murdermaine (@Murdermaine_) October 17, 2019It was not uncommon for users to tag Wayans brothers in an effort to confirm whether their recollection was accurate:MARLON have you heard of the Mandela effect from Scary Movie. Please tell what YOU remember saying? \"\"I see WHITE people or I see DEAD people?\"\" This is blowing my mind..— Brianna (@babedaaze) February 15, 2018The earliest mention of Scary Movie‘s “I see white people” Mandela Effect we found was from November 2017. In that iteration, the writer surmised the line appeared in the trailer but was later removed for reasons of “political correctness”:[Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect or MMDE]: I see white peopleCurrent: I see dead peopleSome claim that the scene in the original Scary Movie, which lampooned The 6th Sense, had the line “I see white people”, whereas now it’s seen as “I see dead people”. Is this a false memory, or was it really this way originally?It must be said, “I see dead people” just doesn’t make sense. Not only is it the exact line from the film it is parodying, but the black dude saying it just isn’t funny the way “white people” is, or would be … Many people definitely recall this being in the trailer but suspect it was dropped from the main movie. These days, anything remotely racist will come under increased scrutiny – even obvious comedy such as this.But before Mandela died, a comment on a decade-old Yahoo Answers thread responded to the original post about Scary Movie and “I see dead people,” claiming the quote was in actuality “I see white people”:no Scary movie quotes ” I see white people” the Sixth Sense is the movie that quotes thatA commenter responded:All you have to do is read his lips! You can definitely see him say white, and they put smoke to try and cover it up.On February 12 2018, a YouTube video about the Scary Movie “I see white people” Mandela Effect appeared. In its description, the uploader said:In Scary Movie There is a funny line where Shorty does a spoof on the movie Sixth Sense and says” I see white people” instead of dead people. Well guess what I never said that in this reality.More than one commenter described the discrepancy as the “freakiest” one yet, and others referenced it as a pop culture touchstone among their friends:Oh HELL NO!! I have a friend that lives by us and him and his family are the only black family in the area, he says “I see white people” all the time when he walks our door. The freakiest one yet! !Other commenters blamed CERN, an aspect of the conspiracy discussed in broader detail on our page “Did the World End in 2012?” One sub-theory around the Mandela Effect is that European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) experiments with particle physics in 2012 managed to alter reality in minor ways:Mandela Effects like this is why I believe someone (most likely CERN) is doing this intentionally.However, there are non-conspiracy theory answers to many of these questions. One response in objection to this particular claim involves the 2002 movie Undercover Brother. In a March 22 2019 r/MandelaEffect thread, a commenter claimed that the exact line appeared in a portion of Undercover Brother:I see white people: SOLVED from MandelaEffectAn embedded YouTube clip uploaded on March 22 2009 (approximately around the time the Yahoo Answers thread appeared, but several years before Mandela’s death coined the term and popularized the theory and ten years to the date of the thread citing it) was cued to a part where the main character says “I see white people.”The line also appeared in a similar clip uploaded in July 2014. Comments on that thread were divisive, with some users positing Undercover Brother‘s trailer contained the line and caused Mandela Effect proponents to conflate their memories, a theory vociferously rejected by fellow commenters:haha,so you are suggesting to people who NEVER saw the undercover brother movie and vividly feel as if they heard the line in scary movie that they instead had their memories contaminated by “possibly” seeing the trailer for a completely different movie perhaps once or a few times? ?….bahahaha….oooooooookay then….and they say believers have some out-there theories.Scary Movie was released in July 2000, and preceded by trailers; one of the lines the film parodied was from The Sixth Sense, released in August 1999. The Sixth Sense was a breakout hit, which is why the very next year it was parodied in Scary Movie. Another hugely well-received 1999 film was novella adaptation The Green Mile, by Stephen King; it was another runaway hit, and both were widely viewed by moviegoers.Both of these films were large presences at the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony in March 2000, honoring film efforts from the previous year, 1999. Of note is while the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000 was not the most viewed (viewership peaked in 1998), an estimated 46 million Americans watched the ceremony — a number which dropped each year, clocking in at 29 million in 2019.People who have watched the Oscars are likely aware the program’s host typically intersperses announcement and distribution of the awards with entertainment segments, featuring musical numbers and comedy sketches. Comedian Billy Crystal hosted the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000, and one of his comedy bits was a segment panning various celebrities in the audience, musing about what they might be thinking.That segment was uploaded to YouTube in October 2010 (prior to the death of Mandela and the ensuing “Mandela Effect” theory). One joke in particular was well-received by both ceremony attendees as well as YouTube commenters commenting — often before the Mandela Effect Scary Movie rumor took root. At around the 1:15 mark, the camera panned to The Green Mile‘s Michael Clarke Duncan, who died in 2012. As Duncan’s face appeared on the screen, Crystal quipped:I see white people.On a side note, Crystal’s joke was incidentally prescient; the 88th Academy Awards in 2016 (for films released in 2015) led to controversy and boycotts due to the snubbing of nominees of color. In response, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was used to voice frustration in the entertainment industry, ushering in changes in the coming years.Regarding the Scary Movie “I see white people” Mandela Effect rumor, it is impossible to assign a truth value to a claim hinging on the possible existence of multiple parallel universes. It is, however, true that a large number of people recall the line and feel the “I see dead people” joke didn’t “work” on the same level as the other did. In discourse, some have speculated that “Mandela Effected” people conflated that line with another in 2002’s Undercover Brother.It also seems possible that some of the 46 million viewers of the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000 remembered Duncan reacting to Crystal’s “I see white people” quip, the two films, and later conflated the joke with Scary Movie.But since it’s impossible to prove a negative, we also can’t really rule out the possibility the line truly was spoken as it is commonly remembered — but in an alternate timeline.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Many people remember a line saying, \"\"I see white people\"\" in the film 'Scary Movie', which parodied, among other things, 'The Sixth Sense' — but that line is not actually in 'Scary Movie.'\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6f30880ccb04d3b9d99ff85ee13e11b",
            "input": "Modi’s office has proposed waiving the carbon tax of 400 rupees ($5.61) per tonne that was levied on the production and import of coal, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters. The documents say the savings would improve the financial health of utilities and distribution companies, and help the power producers to install pollution-curbing equipment. The prime minister’s office and the power ministry did not respond to requests seeking comment on the proposals and when a decision was likely to be made. Despite struggling with some of the world’s worst air pollution levels, India has already pushed back a deadline to cut emission levels to up to 2022. Over half of India’s coal-fired plants are already set to miss a phased deadline starting Dec. 2019 to cut emissions of  sulfur oxides, which have been proven to contribute to lung disease. The proposal is a big win for India’s coal industry, which has lobbied for government help, citing high debt levels and burgeoning payment dues from government-owned power distribution companies. Distribution companies owed power producers more than $11 billion in dues as of October, according to government data. Hardik Shah, deputy secretary at Modi’s office, advocated waiving the carbon tax on coal in an October note to the top bureaucrat at India’s power ministry, seen by Reuters. “A possible solution is to waive the goods and services tax (GST) compensation cess..on coal,” Shah said in the note on the installation of equipment to cut emissions of sulfur oxides. Shah argued for a waiver saying even if India ensured adequate financing to power plant operators to install the equipment, it would lead to higher electricity tariffs that would further burden distribution companies which buy power from utilities. The proposal comes at a time when India is set to open up coal mining to global mining companies for the first time. An implementation of the proposal would provide a fillip to state-run Coal India, whose stock has lost a fifth of its value over the last 12 months. Thermal power companies, in addition to emitting greenhouse gases, account for 80 percent of all industrial emissions of particulate matter, sulfur and nitrous oxides in India. The average rate at which coal-fired power is sold to distribution companies stands at about 3.50 rupees per unit, according to a Reuters analysis of data provided to the power ministry by many Indian utilities in October. That compares with an average cost of 2.50 rupees to 3.00 rupees for renewable energy projects. The current carbon tax on coal contributes to 0.25 rupees per unit, according to industry estimates. If implemented, the move would reduce the price gap between coal-fired power and renewable, and potentially impact Modi’s plan to increase adoption of green energy. “Cutting taxes on coal would impact growth of renewable energy as well as the transition away from coal,” said Nandikesh Sivalingam, Director at Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The prime minister’s office says installation of pollution cutting equipment would cost companies 0.30-0.35 rupees per unit and hence removal of the carbon tax would help companies meet emissions targets while ensuring electricity costs do not rise. But it will be a one-time cost and going forward, coal-fired utilities would be able to compete better with renewable energy. The proposal, if implemented, would cost India over 3% of its total indirect tax collection, which has been falling due to a broader economic slowdown. An abolition of the cess could also subject the federal government to further criticism from state governments, since they received the realized revenue from the government to compensate for shortfalls due to the implementation of a new tax structure in 2017. Modi’s office says if no waiver is given, some form of government subsidy would have to be given by states to keep the power producers functioning and the carbon tax abolition would make up for some shortfalls.",
            "output": [
                "Clinical trial examines safety, effectiveness of drug to treat binge eating disorder"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6de55a15fab94b5fa29a03a848cabc8b",
            "input": "\"During his widely watched monologue about his newborn son’s recent medical emergency, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel offered a bit of praise for one group of Americans that doesn’t receive much love these days: members of Congress. \"\"President Trump last month proposed a $6 billion cut in funding to the National Institutes of Health. And thank God our congressmen made a deal last night to not go along with that. They actually increased funding by $2 billion.\"\" Is that what happened? Basically, yes. Kimmel has a point that by approving the increase, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress rebuked Trump’s proposal and made clear a distaste for cutting NIH. Budget experts, however, may quibble that Kimmel oversimplified a bit on the numbers. First, some background. NIH conducts and disseminates research into the causes, diagnosis, prevention and cure of human diseases. It is a collection of 27 separate institutes and centers, such as the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Explaining Kimmel’s comment starts with the release earlier this year of the Trump White House’s budget blueprint. While this proposal did not offer significant detail, it did include a cut for NIH. Specifically, the proposal would reduce spending for fiscal year 2018 by $5.8 billion compared to the fiscal 2017 level, through a range of reorganizations, consolidations and other changes. That’s short of a $6 billion cut, as Kimmel described it, but it’s pretty close. Fast-forward a few weeks to congressional negotiations over a bill to keep the government funded and avoid a government shutdown. Under the agreement reached by lawmakers, NIH would see a $2 billion increase in its budget over the five-month period of extended federal spending. (That's on top of the funding that was already expected.) According to news reports, the agreement provides an additional $400 million for Alzheimer’s disease and an additional $476 million for the National Cancer Institute, $120 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative, and an additional $110 million for the BRAIN Initiative, which aims to map the human brain. Where Kimmel oversimplified matters is on the numbers. Specifically, the $2 billion increase did not directly replace Trump’s $5.8 billion proposed cut -- the two actions are distinct, since they targeted two different fiscal years. It would have been more accurate to say that the $2 billion increase directly rejected a separate Trump proposal to cut $1.2 billion from NIH for the remainder of fiscal 2017, which concludes at the end of September. (Remember, the $5.8 billion cut was to be for the 2018 fiscal year, not for the rest of 2017.) Indeed, the Trump proposal to cut NIH by $5.8 billion in 2018 is still officially on the table since Congress hasn’t yet acted on spending for 2018. The agreement Kimmel cited only addresses a five-month extension of federal spending. That said, Kimmel’s overarching point -- that Congress effectively rejected Trump’s proposal to cut NIH -- is on target, experts say. Steve Ellis, vice president of the group Taxpayers for Common Sense, agreed that while Kimmel oversimplified the numbers, he added that the talk show host’s \"\"overall message is accurate. The administration sought cuts and Congress boosted the funding.\"\" And the decision to protect NIH in the budget has been supported not just by Democrats but also by key Republicans, including the chairmen of the two chambers’ health appropriations subcommittees, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., as well as Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. \"\"There is no appetite on the Hill for cutting NIH,\"\" Stan Collender, a budget expert at the consulting firm Qorvis MSLGROUP, told PolitiFact. Our ruling Kimmel said, \"\"President Trump last month proposed a $6 billion cut in funding to the National Institutes of Health. And thank God our congressmen made a deal last night to not go along with that. They actually increased funding by $2 billion.\"\" Technically, the two funding changes Kimmel referenced are for different fiscal years, so Congress didn’t precisely exchange the increase for Trump’s proposed cut. But Kimmel’s broader point is solid: The move by Congress to increase, rather than decrease, NIH’s funding for the rest of the 2017 fiscal year is a signal that lawmakers are in no mood to cut NIH’s budget by $5.8 billion once the 2018 spending bills are taken up.\"",
            "output": [
                "President Trump last month proposed a $6 billion cut in funding to the National Institutes of Health. And thank God our congressmen made a deal last night to not go along with that. They actually increased funding by $2 billion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dee6d781d8e3405ba36a454d2ff1bc00",
            "input": "Outbreak response experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) and at the vaccines alliance GAVI are already talking to the leading Ebola vaccine manufacturer, Merck, to reassess just how much larger global stocks need to be. “We’re actively engaged with the World Health Organization and with groups like GAVI, the U.S. government and others to try to understand what will be an appropriate sized stockpile in the future,” Merck’s head of vaccines clinical research, Beth-Ann Coller, said in a telephone interview. Supply of the Merck shot, which is currently being used to fight a large and spreading outbreak of Ebola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is not a problem right now, according to the WHO’s deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, Peter Salama. But the nature of Ebola outbreaks is changing, he told Reuters. As the virus finds its way out of rural villages into populous urban settings, plans for how to contain it in future must change too. “What I’m concerned about is the medium- to long-term stockpile. The figure of 300,000 was very much based on previous Ebola outbreaks where you never really had huge numbers of cases because they were in isolated, rural, populations. But now, we increasingly see Ebola in mega-cities and towns.”   “We need to view it now as an urban disease as well as a rural one - and therefore one requiring a different order of magnitude of preparations, including vaccines,” he said. Merck’s experimental Ebola vaccine, known as rVSV-ZEBOV, is the furthest ahead in development. Another potential vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson could also eventually become part of the stockpile, global health officials say. Congo’s two Ebola outbreaks this year illustrate the shifting nature of the threat. The first was relatively contained, infecting up to 54 people and killing 33 of them in an area of DRC’s Equateur Province that is remote and sparsely populated. Several of the eight outbreaks before this one in Congo - including one in 2014 and another in 2017 both also in Equateur - were also quickly contained and limited in size. But this year’s second outbreak in Congo - and the country’s tenth since the virus was first identified there in 1976 - is concentrated not in rural villages but in urban areas of the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. It has already infected more than 450 people, killed more than 270, and last month spread to Butembo, a densely populated city of about one million. This kind of prospect means global health emergency responders must “review our assumptions around Ebola”, Salama said. “If it were to take off in Butembo, or Goma, or, even worse, Kinshasa, we’d be talking about a totally different issue in terms of ... vaccine supplies required.”  Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance which has an agreement with Merck to ensure a current stockpile of 300,000 rVSV-ZEBOV doses, told Reuters that around 40,000 doses had been used so far in the Congo outbreak. The emergency response is based on “ring vaccination” which aims to control an outbreak by identifying and offering the vaccine to contacts of anyone likely to be infected. This method uses relatively small numbers of vaccine doses and forms a human buffer of immunity to try to prevent spread of the disease. For now in Congo, Berkley said, there is no immediate need to boost the stockpile. But looking towards future inevitable outbreaks, the numbers would likely need to change. “The challenge we would have - and this has been under discussion - is if we started to do community-based vaccination in urban and semi-urban areas. That’s when the numbers would start to get quite big quite quickly,” he told Reuters. Merck’s shot has proven safe and effective in trials in West Africa but has yet to be approved for a license by U.S. and European regulators, so is being used in the Congo outbreak under special emergency rules for experimental products. When it gets approval, which Coller hopes would be in 2019, it will be made at a newly built manufacturing plant in Germany. Coller said Merck is not yet clear how many doses a year, or a month, the German facility could churn out once it is in production, but she stressed the company would “work collaboratively with the public health agencies to do our best to support their needs”.",
            "output": [
                "As Ebola threatens mega-cities, vaccine stockpile needs grow."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45eed95831524eef8d7a9e156a6b2e4d",
            "input": "The story addresses cost in multiple places. One dentist notes that using SDF “comes out to pennies per tooth.” Elsewhere, the story refers to the overall treatment as costing $25 — and notes that getting a cavity filled at the same dentist’s office costs $151. We were glad to see the cost of a traditional filling included, since it gives readers useful context. The story also notes that Oregon is, so far, the only state to reimburse Medicaid providers for treating cavities with SDF. One factor not noted is that some cavities may need to be repeatedly treated, raising the cost. In many ways, the story does a very nice job of explaining the benefits of SDF. It addresses cost, the ability to avoid anesthesia, and the ease with which it can be applied. It even discusses the limits of those benefits, noting that patients with mouth sores or a silver allergy can’t use SDF — and that patients with “severe” cavities still need fillings. The story also includes links to supporting materials, which we like to see. However, this criterion is very specifically focused on whether a story quantifies benefits, and this story does not do that–we’re given little information on the status of the medical evidence for this procedure overall. A 2009 paper, linked to from this story, looked at two clinical trials of SDF and found that it “arrested” at least 96.1 percent of cavities (i.e., prevented them from getting worse). If the story had noted that, it would have gotten an enthusiastic thumbs up here. The story clearly discusses what is, by far, the most common side effect of SDF treatment — which is that the area of the tooth affected by the cavity becomes darkened after treatment. There are, however, other potential harms. A 2016 paper noted that 3 out of 1,493 patients in studies they reviewed developed “a small, mildly painful white lesion in the mucosa,” which disappeared after 48 hours. However, that’s such a small effect size, that it’s not clear whether the lesions were caused by SDF, so we don’t fault this story for not mentioning it. There can be more significant adverse health effects if SDF is inhaled or swallowed — including respiratory problems, vomiting and diarrhea. But those effects are only relevant if SDF is not handled properly, so, again, we don’t fault the story for not mentioning it. The story includes links to supporting material — which is great — but offers little discussion of the quality of evidence in the text of the story itself. For people who are reading this story in the printed newspaper, for example, this means that there is no immediate way to determine what evidence there is for the claims being made in the story. From what we can tell, there are very few solid trials on this intervention, and think this should have been discussed in the story. No disease mongering here. This is a real strong point. The story draws on input from a variety of experts, and clearly marks their relevant affiliations. What’s missing, though, is commentary from an expert on the research behind the method. The story is effectively a comparison between the use of SDF and the use of drilling and filling to treat cavities. The story does not address the use of laser technology, in lieu of drilling, but that technique still requires the use of fillings — and would still require the patient to be still during potentially lengthy treatment (which is one reason for the use of general anesthesia in young patients). Alternatives of using nitrous oxide in the office or procedural sedation with the proper safeguards were not discussed, either. The story makes clear that the use of SDF is not widespread in the U.S., but that it is becoming increasingly available. The story makes clear that SDF is not new, focusing instead on the fact that it is increasing in popularity (and why). The story doesn’t appear to be based on a news release. And even if it were, its use of independent sources goes well beyond what would have appeared in any news release.",
            "output": [
                "A Cavity-Fighting Liquid Lets Kids Avoid Dentists’ Drills"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0a48e7a9ad5c42ad9cb03a5e895fa92b",
            "input": "Licenses for hemp cultivation topped a half-million acres (200,000 hectares) last year, more than 450% above 2018 levels, so there’s intense interest in the rules the U.S. government is creating. Critical comments on the draft have poured in from hemp farmers, processors, retailers and state governments. Growers are concerned the government wants to use a heavy hand that could result in many crops failing required tests and being destroyed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency writing the rules, estimates 20% of hemp lots would fail under the proposed regulations. “Their business is to support farmers — and not punish farmers — and the rules as they’re written right now punish farmers,” said Dove Oldham, who last year grew an acre (0.40 hectares) of hemp on her family farm in Grants Pass. “There’s just a lot of confusion, and people are just looking for leadership.” The USDA did not respond to the criticism but has taken the unusual step of extending the public comment period by a month, until Jan. 29. The agency told The Associated Press it will analyze information from this year’s growing season before releasing its final rules, which would take effect in 2021. Agricultural officials in states that run pilot hemp cultivation programs under an earlier federal provision are weighing in with formal letters to the USDA. “There are 46 states where hemp is legal, and I’m going to say that every single state has raised concerns to us about something within the rule. They might be coming from different perspectives, but every state has raised concerns,” said Aline DeLucia, director of public policy for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Most of the anxiety involves how the federal government plans to test for THC, the high-inducing compound found in marijuana and hemp, both cannabis plants. The federal government and most states consider plants with tiny amounts — 0.3% or less — to be hemp. Anything above that is marijuana and illegal under federal law. Yet another cannabis compound has fueled the explosion in hemp cultivation. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is marketed as a health and wellness aid and infused in everything from food and drinks to lotions, toothpaste and pet treats. Many have credited CBD with helping ease pain, increase sleep and reduce anxiety. But scientists caution not enough is known about its health effects, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year targeted nearly two dozen companies for making CBD health claims. Still, the CBD market is increasing at a triple-digit rate and could have $20 billion in sales by 2024, according to a recent study by BDS Analytics, a marketing analysis firm that tracks cannabis industry trends. About 80% of the 18,000 farmers licensed for hemp cultivation are in the CBD market, said Eric Steenstra, president of the advocacy group Vote Hemp. The remaining 20% grow hemp for its fiber, used in everything from fabric to construction materials, or its grain, which is added to health foods. But hemp is a notoriously fickle crop. Conditions such as sunlight, moisture and soil composition determine its ratio of THC to CBD. Choosing the right harvesting window is critical to ensuring it stays within acceptable THC levels. Under the draft USDA rules, farmers have no wiggle room. They must harvest within 15 days of testing their crop for THC, and the samples must be sent to a lab certified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Samples must be from the top of the plant, where THC levels are highest, and the final measurement must include not just THC, but also THCA, a nonpsychoactive component. Crops that test above 0.3% for the two combined must be destroyed. Growers with crops above 0.5% would be considered in “negligent violation,” and those with repeated violations could be suspended from farming hemp. In addition, a pilot program for federal crop insurance that would be available to hemp growers in some states specifies that crops lost because of high THC levels won’t be covered. Those provisions are causing alarm among growers and states with pilot hemp programs allowed under the 2014 Farm Bill. Some states allow THC levels above 0.3%, and not all include THCA in that calculation. Many permit more harvesting time for growers after THC testing. Farmers are lobbying for a 1% THC limit and a 30-day harvest window to give them more flexibility while remaining well under THC levels that can get people high. The draft regulations don’t “seem to be informed by the reality of the crop,” said Jesse Richardson, who with his brother sells CBD-infused teas and capsules under the brand The Brothers Apothecary. “If no one can produce (federally) compliant hemp flower, then there will be no CBD oil on the market.” Growers are also worried about the proposed rule requiring that all THC testing be done in a DEA-certified lab because there are so few of them. Some states have only one, which would serve hundreds of growers in a short harvest window. Samantha Ford, a third-generation farmer in North Carolina, waited two weeks to get back THC results from a lab last fall and then spent 45 days harvesting her 1 acre (0.40 hectares) of hemp by hand. “The 15-day window — that’s not feasible, and that was on a small scale,” she said. “I can’t imagine farmers who have acres and acres and acres of it.” Concerns also have emerged about the workload the draft rules would place on states. Many do random sampling for THC levels, but the USDA would require five samples from every hemp lot — a burden for state agricultural departments, said DeLucia, of the national ag agencies group. If federal rules are too onerous and expensive, some states might drop their hemp programs. In those cases, farmers would have to apply for licenses with the USDA, and at this stage it’s unclear how U.S. officials would manage or pay for a nationwide licensing program, DeLucia said. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, the USDA must approve state plans for hemp programs. Louisiana, Ohio and New Jersey last month were the first to get the green light — but those plans might need to be reworked after final rules are written. “What we don’t want to see is states having to write their rules and then have to change the rules again and rewrite them” after 2021, said Steenstra, of Vote Hemp.",
            "output": [
                "High anxiety: Proposed US hemp rules worry industry ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-546f2af57ba242a3919a13e806eec7af",
            "input": "The film, which follows former Vice President Al Gore on his continued quest to educate and inform the public and world leaders on climate change, is the first in a series of 14 environmentally focused documentaries scheduled to play at the annual film festival in their newly anointed “New Climate” section. The films include looks at coral (“Chasing Coral”), the Mexico City sewer system (“The Diver”), Greenland’s ice sheet (“Melting Ice”), and the industry of big-game hunting (“Trophy”). Sundance founder and longtime environmentalist Robert Redford said in a statement that “independent perspectives are adding the depth and dimension needed for us to find common ground and real solutions.” It’s fitting then that the festival begins with a sobering look at just what has happened since “An Inconvenient Truth” helped made climate change part of the popular consciousness. That film, directed by Davis Guggenheim, won the Academy Award for best documentary feature (Guggenheim’s role in the new film is as executive producer). “It’s more overwhelming and more horrible and bleak than you ever thought, but also you realize that we’re closer than ever to a turning point where things can really change. It’s really intense,” Shenk said recently. “People have gotten used to and almost numb to the climate crisis and this feeling of, ‘What can we do?’ This film will elucidate both what has happened and what is possible.” That the film is premiering the day before Donald Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax, assumes the presidency is not lost on the filmmakers, who call this moment “a cold shower.” And yet they’re still hopeful. “We’re at a very different place in terms of the solutions now,” Cohen said. “It is kind of an exciting time from Al Gore’s perspective, not only to put the dire message out but to offer to people solutions.” Filmmaker Marina Zenovich also notes the poignant and urgent political moment in which these films are debuting. Her film, called “Water and Power: A California Heist,” has been described as ”‘Chinatown’ the documentary.” “We didn’t time this, but this is how it happened,” Zenovich said. “We have this valuable, precious resource that is like gold, it’s like a treasure and it’s being privatized and commodified and it’s kind of like the time has come for us to all come together and pay attention to it.” While urgency looms in the New Climate section and documentaries on subjects like Syria and domestic police practices fill out the schedule, festival interest might rest elsewhere, according to Tatiana Siegel, a senior film writer for The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s interesting because a lot of the docs are very issue oriented,” Siegel said. “But when you talk to buyers, the ones that they’re most interested in are a little bit more escapist.” Sundance has launched films like “Whiplash,” ″Beasts of the Southern Wild,” and “Manchester by the Sea” in recent years. Buzzy titles premiering over the two weeks include the Gulf War drama “The Yellow Birds,” starring Jennifer Aniston and future Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich; director Dee Rees’ WWII-era racial drama “Mudbound” with Mary J. Blige and Carey Mulligan; and “The Incredible Jessica James” starring comedian Jessica Williams. Also hotly anticipated is the Roxane Shante biopic “Roxanne Roxanne” starring Nia Long and “Moonlight’s” Mahershala Ali. There’s also films like “78/52,” which dissects the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” the 235-minute long Grateful Dead documentary “Long Strange Trip,” which recently sold to Amazon, and  “Step,” about a group of high school girls in inner-city Baltimore. “Step” director Amanda Lipitz, also a Broadway producer, had been making shorts about kids from her hometown of Baltimore who were the first in their family to go to college when she stumbled upon stepping,  a style of dancing punctuated by hand claps and foot stomps popularized by black fraternities and sororities, through a group of girls she’d been documenting. “They were doing this handclap thing and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and they said, ‘We’re stepping! You’ve got to come, you’ve got to film this step team,’” she said. “I went and brought cameras and walked in to the gym and my heart stopped beating and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is what happens in a great musical! When characters can’t speak anymore so they sing to express their hopes and their dreams.’ That’s what these girls were doing with step.” The Sundance Film Festival runs through January 29. ___ Online:  www.sundance.org  ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr",
            "output": [
                "‘An Inconvenient Sequel’ kicks off climate-focused Sundance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d33dc061802e4f6cb6bce235e094ec06",
            "input": "The governor in neighboring Tennessee planned to let businesses in most of his state begin reopening as soon as next week. Georgia’s timetable, one of the most aggressive in the nation, would allow gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors to reopen as long as owners follow strict social-distancing and hygiene requirements. Elective medical procedures would also resume. By Monday, movie theaters may resume selling tickets, and restaurants limited to takeout orders could return to limited dine-in service. Such a swift reopening runs counter to the advice of many experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top authority on infectious diseases, who warned again Monday that resuming business too soon risked a fresh spike in infections. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said it was important to allow businesses that had been shut down a chance to get some revenue flowing. But he emphasized businesses would still be operating under restrictions including monitoring employee health, enhancing sanitation and separating workers. “I think this is the right approach at the right time,” Kemp said. “We’re not just throwing the keys back to these business owners. We’re talking about people (who had) the government shut down their business.” Bars, live performance venues and amusement parks will remain closed. Kemp’s order overrides any attempt to impose stricter local decisions, but some local officials including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the governor is moving too quickly. “It appears the governor’s order supersedes anything I can do as mayor, but I still have my voice and what I will continue to do is ask Atlantans to please stay at home,” Bottoms told ABC News. “Reopen? Dangerously incompetent” is how Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who narrowly lost the 2018 governor’s race to Kemp, characterized the action on Twitter. The governor’s actions line up with the phase one of reopening seen in the guidelines issued last week by President Donald Trump’s administration. Those guidelines call for 14 days of declining COVID-19 cases. Georgia on Monday had recorded six days of declining new infections according to a rolling seven-day average of state Department of Public Health figures. If that continued through Friday, it would be 10 days. Kemp said he delayed the reopening of sit-down service in restaurants and theaters until next Monday in part because, “I also think that gives us more time to continue to flatten the curve.”  But new infections and deaths are likely to continue to mount, even if at a reduced rate. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggests Georgia shouldn’t loosen social distancing until June 15. Kemp argues he’s still mandating social distancing even as businesses reopen. Kemp’s action comes a month after he closed many businesses and not quite three weeks after he issued a shelter-at-home order that will remain in place until April 30. Kemp said elderly and medically fragile people should continue to stay at home until May 13. Kemp’s shelter-at-home order followed days of pressure from local officials, and even after he issued the order, there were clashes over keeping open beaches, lakes and state parks. Kemp says keeping those outdoor spaces open has been a success. The governor Monday said a decline in emergency room visits by people with flu-like symptoms indicates that infections are coming down. “The bottom line is, social distancing worked,” state Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey told a handful of reporters after Kemp’s news conference. Widespread testing is considered one cornerstone of reopening strategies. Kemp acknowledged Georgia has lagged when it comes to COVID-19 testing and announced new initiatives to ramp it up. The state had administered more than 84,000 tests though Monday, but its per-capita testing rate is in the bottom 10 of states and lower than neighbors Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. He said the state medical college in Augusta will begin producing thousands of swabs each day for collecting test samples. The school will also offer an online app statewide that would let people with symptoms consult with a clinician and be referred for testing if warranted. Meanwhile, the Georgia National Guard has been deploying teams capable of administering at least 1,500 tests per day to nursing home residents, emergency personnel and others. Adjutant General Thomas Carden couldn’t say exactly how much his efforts would push up testing by, saying there could be constraints on how many test kits are available or how many kits labs could process. “What I’ve charged General Carden to do is to take every test we got, and use it every single day,” Kemp said. “And when we run out, then we’ll figure out how to get more tests.” In downtown Savannah, Patrick Godley’s restaurant 17 Hundred 90 has been closed for a month. His fine-dining menu doesn’t suit itself to takeout, so he just locked the doors. His cooks, waiters and dishwashers were furloughed, allowing them to draw partial unemployment benefits. Godley said Monday he fears it’s too early to reopen for business and that doing so might trigger a new spike in infections. “I’d rather stay closed an extra week and wipe this thing out than to open prematurely, have a second wave and have to shut down again,” he said. Even if he did reopen next week, Godley said, he doubts he would have many customers. “I don’t think people are going to be going out and celebrating a lot right now.” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, said his mandatory safer-at-home order will expire April 30, which will pave the way for 89 of the state’s 95 counties to begin opening businesses. Lee’s announcement did not apply to counties with the largest cities — areas that are not overseen by Tennessee’s Department of Health but have their own public health districts. Lee said officials were “working directly with our major metropolitan areas to ensure they are in a position to reopen as soon and safely as possible.” Some businesses will be allowed to reopen as early as April 27, but it was unclear exactly which ones. Lee told reporters that details would be finalized later this week. Georgia’s death toll from COVID-19 hit 775 late Monday. Infections have been confirmed in more than 19,000 people. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause severe illness such as pneumonia or death. ___ Associated Press Writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Georgia to reopen some businesses as early as Friday."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f6c2a3edd3c6496d8d92c43f6ba64125",
            "input": "\"Amid thousands of protesters at the Texas Capitol, Sarah Ponder of Austin carried a sign with a financial comparison: \"\"$800,000: 1.6 million condoms, 90K months of the pill, 20 full-time sexual health educators or 1 medically unnecessary & hypocritical special session,\"\" it read. The July 1, 2013, rally took place the first day of the 2013 Legislature’s second special session, called by Gov. Rick Perry after a filibuster and demonstrators kept legislation restricting abortions from winning final Senate approval. Ponder, who works for an education technology company, said she wanted to show that the money likely to be spent on the special session could instead pay for measures she said would be more effective at reducing abortions: providing substantial contraception aids or paying 20 educators’ salaries for a year. We shopped around, comparing the costs of a special session to Ponder’s alternatives. In a June 26, 2013, news story Ponder sent us, Waco ABC affiliate WXXV-TV said, \"\"Each special session could cost taxpayers more than $800,000,\"\" based on per-diem payments to legislators to cover their food and expenses. Other news stories we found typically gave either a per diem cost of $800,000, a per diems-plus-overhead cost of $1 million or both. Per diems are the biggest cost of Texas special sessions, which can last up to 30 days. At the current per diem rate of $150, with 182 lawmakers eligible (31 senators, 150 representatives and the lieutenant governor), 30 days of payments would equal $819,000. Not all lawmakers take the payments, though. June 18, 2013, news stories from the Dallas Morning News and Houston Chronicle indicated that during the year’s first special session, six or eight senators and 26 House members declined some or all of the payments. Dewhurst spokesman Travis Considine told us by phone that Dewhurst turned down all per diem payments for both special sessions. If 33 lawmakers rejected the payment on days their chambers did not convene, the state might have shelled out $716,100 on per diems during the session. Other costs bring the total up. Legislative Budget Board staff spokesman John Barton told us by email that, wrapping in overhead costs such as utilities, security, printing and staff support, a 30-day special session could cost $1 million to $1.2 million. Ponder emailed us a March 12, 2012, news story from The Week, a news magazine, that said generic-drug versions of birth control pills cost $9 a month and brand-name pills cost $90 a month. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy offers information at bedsider.org on the availability and costs of contraceptive options. The group is a nonprofit that produces research frequently used by teen pregnancy prevention organizations. The campaign’s site gives the same $9-$90 range cited in The Week’s article, with explanatory details. Oral contraception pills, containing hormones that prevent egg production or fertilization, are usually taken once a day. \"\"A woman without insurance using generic birth control pills will typically pay about $25 a month,\"\" according to the site. The group’s chief program officer, Bill Albert, told us by phone that information on the site is updated and current. With Medicaid or private insurance, according to the site, women can get the pill free or for just the cost of their co-pay (the fixed amount an insured patient pays out-of-pocket each time he or she gets a medical service). \"\"For most people,\"\" the Bedsider article said, the co-pay \"\"ranges from $5 to $35.\"\" Federal funding makes free or low-cost pills available to many, the site said. Without insurance, generic pills at pharmacies can cost $10-$20 a month, the site says, or $20-$30 a month from Planned Parenthood, with name-brand pills selling for $60-$90 a month at pharmacies. The site says its information came from a survey of Planned Parenthood clinics and birth control manufacturers. Ponder told us she chose an average cost per condom of 50 cents by looking at items for sale on Amazon.com. Bedsider.org gives prices from a survey of online retailers: 30 cents to $1.54 apiece for male condoms at national chain pharmacies and 18 cents to 60 cents apiece at Walmart. As with the pill, the site said, condoms can be obtained for free or at reduced costs at clinics. But also as with the pill, there are more expensive options available. In a December 2009 article, Consumer Reports rated 22 types of condoms on strength, reliability and whether holes were present in the material; the best seven ranged from 71 cents to $1.10 each. To check options that are widely available, we visited a CVS pharmacy on South Congress Avenue and found prices from 79 cents to $4.35 apiece. Ponder said she estimated from personal knowledge that the annual salary of an entry-level sexual health educator at a nonprofit organization might be about $35,000 to $40,000. Francine Gertz, human resources manager for the City of Austin’s health and human services department, told us by phone that the city employs health educators in programs such as its adolescent health initiative, which according to its website provides education and presentations for students, parents and others. The entry-level salary for a first-level public health educator -- a job that requires a four-year degree and two years of experience -- is $40,000, Gertz said, and a second-level public health educator with 13 years of experience might earn $54,000. Texas Workforce Commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens suggested by email that we look at a couple of the federal government’s occupation categories. One was \"\"health educators,\"\" which encompassed broad job titles such as community health worker and narrow ones such as early breastfeeding care specialist. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website, most people employed in this category nationwide earned about $53,000 a year as of May 2012. Job search website Indeed.com, whose data has been cited by Forbes and U.S. News and World Report magazines, says the average annual salary for a \"\"sexual health educator\"\" in Texas is $50,000 (compared with $52,000 nationally). Such averages are based, the site says, on \"\"salary information extracted from over 50 million job postings from thousands of unique sources over the last 12 months.\"\" Now, let’s take another look at that sign. A 30-day special session might cost $716,100 to $819,000 in per diems alone; Ponder assumed an $800,000 cost. And how do the alternative expenditures on her sign price out? Like Ponder, we found estimates saying a month of oral contraceptive pills could cost $9 to $90, but we also read that a typical cost would be $25. Ponder went with the $9 figure and said $800,000 would buy 90,000 months of pills. We calculate that $800,000 would pay for 88,900 months of pills at $9 or 32,000 months at $25. That’s a difference of 4,700 years. To phrase it another way, $800,000 would buy 32,000 women a month’s worth of pills at $25 or 88,900 women’s pills for a month at $9. Condoms, Ponder estimated, would cost about 50 cents on average. With $800,000, we calculate, you could indeed provide 1.6 million 50-cent condoms. Using Bedsider.org’s range, we figure $800,000 would buy 2.7 million condoms at 30 cents each or 520,000 condoms at $1.54 each. To predict that $800,000 would pay for 20 full-time sexual health educators, Ponder said she estimated an annual salary for an entry-level position at a nonprofit at $35,000 to $40,000. That doesn’t contradict what we found, because the salaries we gathered covered a spectrum, from $40,000 for a city job requiring two years’ experience to $54,000 for veteran educators. We calculate that $800,000 would pay 20 educators at $40,000 or 16 educators at the Texas average salary of $50,000 listed by Indeed.com. Our ruling Ponder used a conservative estimate for the cost of the second special session, presuming it runs for the full 30 days. She used the lowest price we found for the pill, a mid-range price for condoms and a salary that doesn’t seem out of line for an entry-level sexual health educator position, so it’s probably true that under certain circumstances, you could pay for the items on her sign with $800,000 apiece. Then again, it might be fairer to estimate the pill at $25 a month instead of $9, which means you could only pay for 32,000 months of contraception, not the 90,000 months she cited. And unless you only wanted to hire newly-graduated sexual health educators, you might have to pay them more like $52,000 per year, which would cover 16 instead of 20 educators. So an adjusted version of the sign might read: \"\"$800,000: 1.6 million condoms, 32,000 months of the pill, 16 full-time sexual health educators\"\" instead of \"\"$800,000: 1.6 million condoms, 90K months of the pill, 20 full-time sexual health educators.\"\".\"",
            "output": [
                "Sarah Ponder Says $800,000 cost of Texas special legislative session would pay for 1.6 million condoms, 90,000 months of the pill or 20 full-time sexual health educators."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b4f5fed4169b424a898d683759e74bf9",
            "input": "We don’t think that cost is relevant here. Like the story in Newsweek, which we also reviewed, this story does not provide an adequate sense of the size of the potential benefits, stating: In the study, those who met the physical activity target by exercising through the week had a 35% lower risk of death than the inactive adults, with cardiovascular deaths down 41% and a 21% lower risk of cancer death. Using only relative risk rates such as these doesn’t tell the full story. Read more on why absolute risk rates should also be included in news stories. It also makes the study sound like it was experimental in fashion, conflating association with causation. “People who cram all their exercise into one or two sessions at the weekend benefit nearly as much as those who work out more frequently, researchers say. A study of more than 60,000 adults in England and Scotland found that “weekend warriors” lowered their risk of death by a similar margin to those who spread the same amount of exercise over the whole week.” See more on the importance of not overstating observational findings. Although not explicit the story does provide some information on the potential harms before embarking on a “weekend warrior” status. The lead author of the paper recommended, “… to start with moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, and then to set realistic, incremental goals to boost confidence without running the risk of setbacks due to injury. “A middle aged or older person should do as much as 12 weeks of moderate exercise before introducing vigorous exercise.” The story provides some information about the study design, but is silent on the limitations, and they are significant. For example, the inactive population studied was 7 years older, had more current smokers, and suffered more from unspecified “long standing illness” than the participants who were active. Physical activity was only recorded at baseline. Also, more than 90% of the participants were white. No evidence of disease mongering here. The sources don’t appear to have any conflicts of interest, and there was one additional source included beyond the lead researcher. The story discusses the impact of different activity levels on early death risk. The ability to exercise is generally available, so this is N/A. Unlike the Newsweek story, the Guardian does discuss what’s novel: “The novel finding is that it appears the duration, and possibly the intensity, of leisure time physical activity is more important than the frequency,” Ekelund said. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Weekend workouts can benefit health as much as a week of exercise, say researchers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16135f34381c44fbbe40486f10d95d30",
            "input": "Henry Schein Animal Health announced in a news release Monday that it will begin operations in a 50,000-square-foot facility in Southaven in December. Henry Schein Animal Health offers products and solutions to more than 29,000 veterinary professionals. Gov. Phil Bryant said northern Mississippi’s transportation network and location is advantageous to companies with distribution needs. Henry Schein Animal Health’s North America president, Fran Dirksmeier, says the new distribution center is the result of extensive planning and collaboration with the Mississippi Development Authority. The development authority is providing assistance through the Jobs Tax Credit program, and DeSoto County is providing ad valorem and Free Port Warehouse tax exemptions.",
            "output": [
                "Animal health care company to open Mississippi facility."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66a4256f58e144b2bb5c01150f7e0670",
            "input": "The vaccine protects against HPV, a virus that is commonly spread through sex and can cause certain cancers and genital warts. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ vote in Atlanta raises the recommended vaccination age for men from 21 to 26, making it the same as the existing recommendation for women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention almost always accepts the panel’s recommendations and uses them as guidance for U.S. doctors. The HPV vaccine is usually given to 11- and 12-year olds, to protect them before their first exposure to sexually transmitted viruses. Women as old as 26 had been recommended to get a “catch-up” vaccination if they missed the shots in pre-adolescence. For men, the catch-up recommendation had applied only up to age 21, because research indicates males tend to be exposed to sexually-transmitted viruses earlier. The panel decided Wednesday to equalize the age recommendations to make it easier for doctors. The CDC estimates that roughly half of Americans ages 18 to 59 had some form of genital HPV. Vaccinations against it first became available in 2006 and each dose now costs $216. The vaccine is approved for people up to age 45, but the same panel declined a proposal to recommend it for people older than 26. Instead, it settled on a weak endorsement for adults between 26 and age 45, meaning patients and doctors can make the decision together. It’s not clear how many cancers would be prevented in that age group or whether the cost is worth the public health benefit, experts at the meeting said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Vaccine panel gives nod to HPV shots for men up to age 26."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-65c85c293f5d42c098ea76831df03dc0",
            "input": "Call 911 immediately if you or someone you know may be suffering from an overdose. In Summer 2020, the so-named “Benadryl Challenge” dared social media users — generally teenagers — to overdose on the common allergy medication Benadryl to elicit a hallucinatory effect, record a video of the user’s reaction, and share the video on the social media platform TikTok. In an email to Snopes, a TikTok spokesperson confirmed that the platform had first learned of the challenge in May 2020, at which point its moderators removed the “very small” amount of content that was found at the time. In the months following, an unknown number of teenagers across the U.S. continued to participate in the digital dare, which is allegedly connected to the death of at least one teen and the hospitalization of three others, prompting warnings from health experts about the potential risk of overdose death. These warnings in turn prompted coverage by mainstream news media, which described teens’ participation in the challenge — perhaps hyperbolically — as a “trend”:  Internet challenges refer to social media prompts that convince users to participate in some form of (oftentimes) dangerous activity, like biting into Tide brand laundry pods (“Tide Pod Challenge”) or convincing children to disappear for 72 hours (“Momo Challenge”). Although some have been well-intended, like raising money for charitable causes, and others have been downright silly, many are a masquerade for some forms of cyberbullying. Others are potentially deadly. “The Benadryl challenge is something that as parents, we need to be aware of these challenges and bring attention to how to properly use these products and make sure they are not accessible to teens. Those conversations need to explain the seriousness and long-lasting consequences of abusing products,” Julie Weber, director of the Missouri Poison Center, told Snopes in an interview. Weber added that her facility saw an uptick in inquiries and online searches regarding Benadryl and diphenhydramine since the challenge was first initiated online. A majority of those who participate in the challenge are thought to be teenagers and young adults. Benadryl is an over-the-counter (OTC) antihistamine drug commonly used to treat allergies. Its key ingredient is diphenhydramine, which can be harmful in large amounts. It is also found in other OTC drugs like Nytol, Sominex, and Tylenol PM. Diphenhydramine works by blocking the histamine response in the body that causes an allergic reaction. In recommended doses, the chemical is not fatal and can cause subtle side effects like drowsiness or dry mouth, but when taken in excess, the drug can cause more serious symptoms like slurred speech and dystonic reaction that creates a stiff, rigid movement in the body. Diphenhydramine can also cause long-term harm or death when misused and abused. That’s because an overdose can affect different parts of the body, according to the Mt. Sinai Health System in New York. Symptoms of overdose can include the inability to urinate, blurred vision, agitation and confusion, as well as hallucinations, seizures, depression, or nervousness, among others. “We really have a whole, wide range of toxicity,” said Weber, adding that diphenhydramine overdose can also cause a person to have a dry mouth, feel flushed, and see increased body temperature. Diphenhydramine is considered an anticholinergic drug, which means that it works by blocking the action of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that sends chemical messages between certain cells in the body. The urinary system is one that can be impacted by diphenhydramine overdose, resulting in urinary retention. This can slow down the intestines so that the body is not able to properly metabolize the drug, leading to further toxicity. At its most extreme, diphenhydramine overdose can disrupt the cardiac system and create an abnormal heart rhythm, which may lead to cardiac arrest. Jamie Favazza with the TikTok communications team told Snopes that the platform continued to remove “extremely small numbers” of new content related to the Benadryl challenge at least through September 2020. In an email, Favazza referred Snopes to the safety controls in the app as well as educational resources located in its safety center, and sent the following statement: The safety and well-being of our users is TikTok’s top priority. As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury. Though we have not seen this content trend on our platform, we actively remove content that violates our guidelines and block related hashtags to further discourage participation. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off.",
            "output": [
                "The so-called “Benadryl Challenge” went viral on TikTok in 2020, challenging teenagers to overdose on the allergy medication to elicit hallucinatory effects, prompting warnings from medical experts over the potential risk of overdose death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa7ef2d3d9764a5a8705809dd092a16b",
            "input": "The article did not include information about the cost of this medication. According to recent Consumer Reports data, Lexapro at the dosages studied here would cost about $110 a month. This significant cost is something to bear in mind considering the modest benefit the drug confers compared to a sugar pill. The story quantifies the benefits of treatment in appropriate absolute terms. It explains that women taking the antidepressant went from about 10 hot flashes per day to 5.26 hot flashes a day, a decline of 47% or about 4.5 fewer hot flashes a day. By comparison, women taking the placebo reported 6.43 hot flashes a day after treatment, a decline of 33% or about 3 fewer a day. The story also quantifies the severity of the hot flashes in terms that are useful to the reader. The story perhaps could have provided some context regarding the size of the benefit compared with placebo, which was relatively small. It also could have noted noted that symptom reductions were much more modest than those seen with hormone treatment. The story wasn’t thorough enough in its exploration of potential harms. The only adverse effect noted is the potential loss of libido discussed in the last line of the story. At one point, the story seems to dismiss the potential for harm by noting that  “no serious adverse events were reported” in the study. However, minor adverse effects take on greater importance when a drug provides only a modest benefit over placebo — which is the case with this medication. The study should have provided more detail on what harms were observed (even “minor” ones), and how frequently. Lexapro, when used for depression, commonly results in gastrointestinal disturbance such as nausea, vomiting, loose stools, and indigestion. A variety of other adverse effects are possible, including include difficulty sleeping and headaches. It is quite conceivable that an increase in these problems might outweigh the small benefit associated with the reduction in hot flashes, so the story should have provided this information. Another issue not addressed by the story is the potential for uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when stopping this medication. This point is particularly relevant to make here because Lexapro hasn’t been extensively studied in women who are healthy and don’t have symptoms of depression. We know that some people with depression experience withdrawal symptoms after they stop taking the drug, but we don’t have much evidence on what happens to healthy non-depressed people when they stop taking it. The risk of a discontinuation syndrome increases the longer antidepressant therapy lasts, so an 8-week study may not capture the problems that women may experience with longer-term use of Lexapro for relief of hot flash symptoms. The story could have mentioned that women should never abruptly stop taking an antidepressant medication like Lexapro, as this can increase the risk of more severe withdrawal symptoms. The story includes enough details about how the study was conducted and what the researchers observed to earn a satisfactory. It notes that this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study — the “gold standard” of medical evidence. It explains that outcomes were based on women’s records of how often and how severe their hot flashes were — a relevant clinical endpoint. Although the story notes that women in the study took the drug for 8 weeks, it could have explained that 8 weeks isn’t long to meet FDA criteria for a hot flash treatment; the FDA requires that benefits be maintained for 12-weeks. The study also should have explained that we have no idea how well these drugs will work over the longer term (menopause symptoms can last for years) or whether problems might occur with longer use (more on this in the Harms criterion). Lastly, it would have been useful to have some discussion of how the treatment affected general health-related quality of life; this would have helped readers understand the importance of the observed benefit on hot flashes when considering overall health/function. Menopause has been the subject of considerable disease mongering over the years — see here for some examples. This story, though, confines the discussion to women whose symptoms are severe enough to disrupt their lives and quality of life. That seems to be a fair basis upon which to identify women who might be candidates for some kind of medical treatment of menopause symptoms. The story could have provided data on how many women suffer from moderate to severe hot flash symptoms, to give a better idea of how widespread the problem is. The story quotes an independent expert who seems generally supportive of antidepressant therapy for hot flashes. While we don’t think it would have been difficult to find someone with a more skeptical take on the results, which would have added value for readers, the story did enough to satisfy this aspect of the criterion. (UPDATED COMMENT INSERTED ON 2/24/11:  We originally but erroneously wrote that this story failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest. But it actually did, when it stated: “The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and other sources. Freeman reports having received research support from Forest Laboratories Inc., and other pharmaceutical companies that make antidepressants. For this study, Forest, which makes escitalopram, provided the drug and placebo pills but no funding.”) The story mentions that hormone therapy is another treatment option for hot flashes, but it doesn’t provide enough information to allow the reader to compare the two approaches. The story should have mentioned that hormone therapy seems to be more effective than antidepressants at reducing hot flash symptoms, although the risks may also be greater. It also could have mentioned that complementary and alternative medicine approaches are often used for hot flashes.",
            "output": [
                "Antidepressant May Help Ease Hot Flashes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ce1bda81d734619a9650e5cf3191cec",
            "input": "The Democratic Senate Majority plans to pass a ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and also smokeless flavored tobacco products as soon as next week, a Democratic Senate spokesman said Monday. Senate Democrats also plan to move ahead on seven other bills including a study on the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use and laws preventing tobacco ads and new tobacco stores from popping up near schools. It’s less clear how lawmakers will act on Democratic Sen. Brad Hoylman’s bill to ban all flavored tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes. The exclusion of menthol flavorings from tobacco restrictions at the state and federal levels has long drawn criticism from public health and civil rights groups who say the tobacco industry has marketed menthol cigarettes to African Americans for decades. “It always seemed very normal and accessible so I never really questioned it,” Albany high school senior Hassani Hamilton, 17, said. “What I’ve come to realize is these products are deadly and their rampant use in my community is no accident.” New York state health officials issued a ban on most flavored e-cigarettes last fall in response to worries that vaping may cause illnesses and that its use is growing among teenagers who say they’re attracted by flavorings. But the ban’s exclusion of menthol and tobacco flavorings drew scrutiny from a state judge in her decision to continue to block it Friday. The ban was initially blocked last fall after the vaping industry sued to stop New York from enforcing emergency regulations banning the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes. Acting Supreme Court Justice Catherine Cholakis said state health regulators went beyond their authority when they passed the ban, which she said touched on policy issues that lawmakers should decide. Judge Cholakis said it’s a “natural question” why the regulations excluded tobacco and menthol e-liquid flavors when she hasn’t seen evidence that supports continued use of those flavors. Hamilton and representatives of public health and civil rights groups urged lawmakers Monday to ban all flavored cigarette products, and not just e-cigarettes. Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year and 93% of adult African American smokers began smoking by using menthol cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It is the direct result of a targeted and well-funded effort by the tobacco companies over the last several decades to addict communities like mine to nicotine and tobacco,” Hamilton said. But it’s unclear whether there’s broad support to ban all flavored cigarettes in New York. Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker last year signed a bill to allow the nation’s first ban of menthol cigarettes starting in June. New York’s governor has said he’ll propose legislation this year to prohibit the sale of “all” flavored e-cigarettes and ban vaping ads targeted to youth. It’s unclear whether Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legislation would include menthol and tobacco flavorings, which the state’s health commissioner has recommended. Cuomo has expressed concern that a New York ban on menthol cigarettes could run into legal issues because they’re allowed on the federal level. A proposed federal ban on menthol cigarettes has stalled. And President Donald Trump’s vaping ban excludes menthol flavoring. The vaping industry praised the judge’s Friday decision and said bans don’t work. “With this important ruling, the court has prevented the state from creating a huge new black market and ushering in a new public health crisis along with it — something that may still come to pass if the New York Legislature bans flavors,” Vapor Technology Association Executive Director Tony Abboud said.",
            "output": [
                "New York called to include menthol in flavored tobacco ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-84f748bfa4f848f9adb0cf379c1aa9cd",
            "input": "After a blast of Siberian cold dubbed “the beast from the east”, southern Britain and Ireland were battered by Storm Emma that arrived from the south and blocked roads, grounded planes and stopped trains. Overnight blizzards left snow drifts up to three feet (90 cm) deep across Ireland and Scotland. The storm knocked out Ireland’s entire public transport network, closing its airports and leaving roads “extremely dangerous,” the government said. At the peak of the storm, over 100,000 homes and businesses were left without power. On Friday the Irish stock exchange was shut, as were all schools and most government offices as a status Red weather alert remained across most of Ireland. “The country needs to more or less stay in hibernation today,” deputy prime minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE. “Hopefully we can continue to get through these freak weather conditions without tragedy.”   In Britain, a seven-year-old girl was killed in the far southwestern county of Cornwall after a car crashed into a house in icy conditions, the BBC reported. Dozens of passengers were stranded on trains overnight in southern England. The army was summoned to help rescue hundreds of drivers stuck in the snow and to transport National Health Service workers. Roads and schools were closed and many flights canceled across Britain. Weather conditions in Scotland, which initially bore the brunt of the Siberian cold front, improved slightly, but the authorities warned people not to travel on Friday and during the weekend. Around 30 vehicles were stuck on a road near Aberdeen, the local council said, with many other roads closed due to snow drifts. Residents of the Scottish border area were asked to help dig out roads where a number of motorists were stranded. Care workers in rural areas were moving around in tractors. “In the current bad weather, I want to say thank you to everyone going the extra mile to keep our country moving - and to keep us safe,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said. Airbus said its Filton plant in Bristol, which helps make wings for passenger jets, was closed on Friday due to the heavy weather. Audit firm PwC estimated that the cost of insurance claims by consumers and businesses in United Kingdom to date as a result of the severe weather was at least 15 million pounds, though it was too early to forecast the final bill. “We have already had over 8,000 road accidents in the past three days and this could increase significantly with more snow set to fall today,” said Mohammad Khan, head of PwC’s general insurance business in Britain. Social media across the British Isles was dominated by the weather, as some mocked the authorities’ struggles to manage the snowfall while others showed near misses on slippery roads and people abandoning their cars. In Dublin, which last saw a major snowfall in 2010, videos posted on social media showed people used bathtubs and baking trays as improvised sleds. Panic-buying of bread left shelves empty across the capital. Snow and icy conditions continued to cause disruption in southern Europe too. In the Liguria and Emilia-Romagna regions of northern Italy, the weather forced the closure of key sections of major highways and paralyzed rail traffic. Train service between major cities such as Genoa and Milan and Genoa and Turin, the three points in Italy’s north known as the industrial triangle, was either suspended or suffered from long delays because of ice. Traffic on secondary, regional roads was backed up after vehicles were diverted onto them from closed highways.",
            "output": [
                "Snowstorms shut down Ireland, Britain calls in army for hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de0fb90caff34b5ca183defc2e07899c",
            "input": "The first-year Democratic governor announced Friday her recruitment of health, legal and fiscal policy experts to serve in a new discussion group that provides recommendations on state legalization. Members of the group include Democratic and Republican legislators who sponsored unsuccessful legislation this year to authorize and tax recreational marijuana sales at state run stores. That proposal passed a House vote but stalled in the state Senate. Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis is leading the so-called cannabis legalization task force. Other participants represent a labor union, sheriff’s department, health care business, Native American tribe, medical cannabis business, county government association, commercial bank and hospital company.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico governor seeks ideas for recreational pot law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0b868eae8d042abaae535fec1ef2da9",
            "input": "\"A hot-button topic in Missouri this year has been the state budget, a large part of which goes to social services, primarily Medicaid. With more budget cuts looming, funding these services may be hard to maintain. That’s what state Sen. Caleb Rowden suggested in mid-January before Gov. Eric Greitens unveiled his proposed state budget. At a legislative breakfast Jan. 20, Rowden said, \"\"This would be the first year, if everything holds true, we will spend over $10 billion of our state budget on Medicaid out of the $28 billion budget.\"\" Rowden then said maintaining this current level of spending for social services is not an option given the revenue shortfalls officials expect. Ten billion dollars is a massive amount of money, and the figure piqued our interest. We wanted to know if this level of Medicaid spending could be correct. Where does the state gets its money for Medicaid? Before diving deeper into Rowden’s claim, it’s important to get some background on the Medicaid program. Medicaid is designed to provide health coverage for lower-income families, people with disabilities, senior citizens, pregnant women and newborns, blind and visually impaired, uninsured women, families, kids, and women with breast or cervical cancer. As of November 2016, 69 million people nationwide were covered through Medicaid. Missouri disperses Medicaid to participating residents through its MO HealthNet program under the Department of Social Services. A document by the Missouri Budget Project explains how Missouri funds Medicaid. The majority of funding for Medicaid — 83 percent — comes from the federal government through two programs. One program called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP, matches federal government dollars to state dollars spent on health care services based on a percentage rate. Missouri's FMAP rate for fiscal year 2018 is 63.21 percent, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. This means that for every dollar Missouri spends on health care — not just Medicaid — the federal government gives $1.72. Of the total money Missouri receives from the FMAP program, only a certain amount goes to Medicaid. The rest goes toward other health care services the state provides. Fifty-one percent of Missouri's Medicaid spending is funded through FMAP. The other program — Federal Reimbursement Allowance — along with other capital reserves, covers another 32 percent of Missouri’s spending on Medicaid. Missouri has been participating in this program for 25 years. So this leaves Missouri picking up only 17 percent of its own Medicaid bill. This money comes from collected state revenue. Dan Haug, acting budget director for the state, told us in a phone call that he expects Medicaid to cost the state $10.21 billion in the coming fiscal year. This would make Rowden’s statement true, but we wanted to check the budget to see where all the Medicaid money went. Figuring out Medicaid Finding Medicaid spending in the state budget is complicated. The bulk of Medicaid spending falls under the Department of Social Services. In the last fiscal year, the state approved $9.2 billion for the DSS, $7.7 billion of which went toward Medicaid. At first glance, this seems like this is the total budget for Medicaid in the state. There are really no other places in the budget where Medicaid is clearly defined as an expense. So Rowden’s claim about the Medicaid budget is false, right? Not so fast. In fact, Medicaid money is spent by more agencies than just the DSS. It is used for other services spread throughout the state budget, most notably in the Department of Mental Health. Traci Gleason, the director of communications and public engagement at the Missouri Budget Project, confirmed that nearly 20 percent, or $2 billion, of the Medicaid budget goes toward mental health services, driving the total budget of Medicaid closer to that $10 billion figure. Where does the rest of Medicaid spending go? Even an expert such as Gleason said that’s very tricky to determine. Part of the reason for this is because portions of the Medicaid budget are listed as MO HealthNet, which is the health care system Missouri switched to in 2007. Through the MO HealthNet name, a series of supplemental appropriations sections are added at the bottom of the state budget document. Some of the services funded through supplemental appropriations, such as pharmacies, physicians and premium services, fall under the Medicaid budget. When you add all the supplemental appropriations together for services that fall under Medicaid, it comes out to $10,023,904,918. While this falls short of Haug’s estimate, it does make Rowden’s statement about the Medicaid budget correct. \"\"It’s really hard to drill down (the Medicaid spending) because it’s spread over all sorts of different departments and programs,\"\" Gleason said. \"\"Overall, though, Sen. Rowden is correct with his totals.\"\" Nevertheless, because the state is responsible for funding only 17 percent of the total on Medicaid, the total amount Missouri will spend is $1.7 billion from state revenue. Our ruling Rowden was trying to illustrate that Medicaid spending has reached out-of-control levels. According to Greitens' budget recommendations for fiscal year 2018, the budget for Medicaid has gone up over $1 billion in the last three years and now takes up approximately 37 percent of the state budget. Despite the growing concern from Republicans on the cost of Medicaid spending, Greitens has recommended $10.7 billion for the service for fiscal year 2018, an increase of over $500 million from fiscal year 2017. However, it’s important to note that \"\"we\"\" — as in the state of Missouri — don’t directly fund the entire $10 billion. Because of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage and the Federal Reimbursement Allowance programs, the state only has to spend approximately $1.7 billion of state revenue on Medicaid. So while Medicaid spending will exceed $10 billion of the nearly $28 billion budget, not all of the money is coming directly from the state. Rowden’s statement is accurate but needs clarification. Supervising editor is Mike Jenner.\"",
            "output": [
                "And this would be the first year, if everything holds true, we will spend over $10 billion of our state budget on Medicaid out of the $28 billion budget."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ebdce896dbb415082aac02d8c4fe647",
            "input": "With restrictive abortion laws either being proposed or passed in multiple states in May 2019, Snopes.com readers have inquired about years-old reports about U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, an anti-abortion Republican legislator from Tennessee who had testified almost two decades earlier during his divorce proceedings that he encouraged two women to seek abortions. Laws dictating near-total bans on abortion in states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio were widely viewed as potential legal challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and drew nationwide protests. Because DesJarlais touted an anti-abortion agenda in his role as a public official, his story, while not new, was being viewed by critics as an example of political hypocrisy on the issue: Congressman Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) did—three times. https://t.co/yCXHyjzuA3 — Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) May 17, 2019  The story about DesJarlais is a multi-layered one and stems from both an acrimonious divorce finalized in 2001 and a 2010 political election filled with mudslinging. Although DesJarlais, a physician, has won multiple re-election bids since the story surfaced, it resulted in his being reprimanded by the Tennessee medical licensing board over revelations that he slept with two patients, something he admitted to under oath during his divorce hearings. In 2010, DesJarlais unseated Democratic incumbent Lincoln Davis to represent Tennessee Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives — but in the days leading up to the election, Davis’ campaign launched attack ads centered on accusations that had been levied against DesJarlais a decade earlier. In the course of divorcing him, DesJarlais’ now-ex-wife had accused him of “dry-firing” (i.e., pulling the trigger of an unloaded gun) outside her locked bedroom door to intimidate her, holding a gun in his mouth for three hours, as well as engaging in “an incident of physical intimidation at the hospital; and previous threatening behavior … i.e. shoving, tripping, pushing down, etc.” At the time, his campaign called those accusations “baseless”. Those same divorce records were raised again in 2012 when DesJarlais was up for re-election. But unlike in 2010, hundreds of pages of hearings transcripts from 2001 were made public in 2012. (Snopes.com is not linking to the transcript because it contains the names of numerous private citizens.) The transcripts revealed that DesJarlais admitted to the incident with the gun, saying: “It was never a loaded gun. It was never a suicide attempt. It was an attention-seeking act and I’ve testified to that.” He added that he thought his actions were “very shameful.” During those same hearings, DesJarlais testified under oath that his wife at the time had one abortion before the two met. After the two entered into a relationship, he subsequently supported her decisions to undergo two abortions before the couple married in 1995. “The second two [abortions], one she was on [an] experimental drug called Lupron and was not supposed to have gotten pregnant,” DesJarlais testified. “There were potential risks. It was a therapeutic. One was after she had gotten back from Desert Storm and things were not going well between us and it was a mutual decision.” He added, “I don’t think that it was easy for either one of us. I think it was a very difficult and poor choice and I think that there are probably regrets both ways.” DesJarlais also testified that he had a sexual relationship with a then-24-year-old patient, and that the woman had claimed he got her pregnant. According to the transcript, as part of a reconciliation attempt the couple orchestrated a recorded phone call in an effort to find out whether the young woman was telling the truth. In the call, DesJarlais pressured the young woman to seek an abortion and offered to drive her to Atlanta for her to do so — although he stated during his testimony he never believed her to be pregnant in the first place. DesJarlais’ then-wife’s attorney, L. Thomas Austin, asked him if the young woman was one of “the kind of women you prey on, Doctor,” to which DesJarlais responded, “No. Obviously it was a huge mistake.” During the same hearing, DesJarlais admitted to having an affair with a second patient while writing her prescriptions, lavishing her with an $875 watch and buying her a plane ticket to Las Vegas. He also admitted to flings with a representative from a drug firm and with co-workers. Media reports prompted Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government-accountability advocacy organization, to file a complaint about DesJarlais’ conduct with the Tennessee Department of Health, who fined him $500 for unprofessional conduct over his affairs with the two patients. DesJarlais responded to the controversy on a radio show in December 2012, saying that he believed “God gave me a second chance,” adding: “And I think unless some people see some sort of political advantage to grace and redemption … they don’t want to practice it on their own. I don’t know what the reason is behind that, but I know God’s forgiven me. … I simply ask my fellow Christians and constituents to consider doing the same for me.” (Our attempts to reach DesJarlais’ current spokesman, Brendan Thomas, were unsuccessful.) The story has continued to haunt Desjarlais. It came up in 2015 when he voted for a bill that would have banned most abortions after the 20th week, and again in 2017 in stories about Tim Murphy, an anti-abortion Pennsylvania Republican who retired after his mistress revealed he had asked her to get an abortion. Nevertheless, DesJarlais has won every bid for re-election since the story broke.",
            "output": [
                "Anti-abortion Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais testified that he encouraged some women to have abortions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7dc7e09dbbfc4c18bd6361be0b6916e5",
            "input": "\"Sen. Jeff Merkley appeared at the new Children’s Center in Clackamas County to raise awareness about an increase in child abuse and, according to his news release, to highlight \"\"the correlation to the economic downturn.\"\" \"\"Even one case of child abuse or neglect is too many, and with the ongoing economic downturn, the numbers of Oregon children suffering from abuse is on the rise,\"\" said Merkley. \"\"We must do everything in our power to reduce the number of children being abused and help provide sanctuary to those in need.\"\" The Children’s Center received some federal money last year. And the visit was a good photo op for a freshman senator during a congressional break. But at Politifact Oregon, we wondered if child abuse really is on the rise and if there is actually a cause-and-effect connection between child abuse and dismal economic times. Merkley is correct about the increase: More Oregon children are suffering abuse and neglect. The Oregon Department of Human Services reports that 11,090 children were victims of abuse or neglect last year, a 6.4 percent increase from 2008. Population growth isn’t the only culprit behind the higher numbers. The state reports that the rate of abuse increased from 11.8 victims per 1,000 children to 12.5 per 1,000. A check with the agency’s number-crunchers indicates the trend holds this year, with abuse reports up between 6 percent and 7 percent between July 2009 and July 2010. Though reports don’t always turn out to be confirmed cases, officials say they expect the number of child victims will rise again for 2010. But is the increase because of high unemployment? Merkley’s spokeswoman, Courtney Warner Crowell, said she hadn’t seen any research linking a rise in abuse to an economic downturn. But she said several people she’d talked to blamed the increase in child abuse on the economy. But there isn’t any statistical evidence drawing a direct link between increased child abuse and a bad economy. \"\"We can’t say that factually and we can’t prove it,\"\" says Katharine Cahn, executive director of the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University. The number of child abuse victims can rise, even in good times, Cahn says, simply because more people are reporting the abuse. State stats do show alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and parental run-ins with police among the common stress factors that contribute to child abuse. Cahn concedes that people do feel stressed and depressed when the economy goes bust and may drink or use drugs in an attempt to cope. And that, she says, may be the indirect tie to Oregon’s rising numbers. So, it appears that while Oregon’s junior senator was right about the numbers of kids abused, the sour economy may not be deserve all the blame.\"",
            "output": [
                "Jeff Merkley Says with the ongoing economic downturn, child abuse is on the rise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78f6b6ddecdb4feda2d695e995d58acc",
            "input": "\"The sight of the moon’s shadow passing directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the halo-like solar corona, may draw the largest live audience for a celestial event in human history. When those watching via broadcast and online media are factored into the mix, the spectacle will likely smash records. “It will certainly be the most observed total eclipse in history,” astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) said last week. The eclipse begins its cross-country trajectory over the Pacific Coast of Oregon in late morning. It will reach South Carolina’s Atlantic shore some 90 minutes later. The total eclipse of the sun is considered one of the most spell-binding phenomena in nature but it rarely occurs over a wide swath of land, let alone one of the world’s most heavily populated countries at the height of summer. In terms of audience potential, it is hard to top the United States, with its mobile and affluent population, even though the direct path is mostly over rural areas, towns and small cities. The largest is Nashville, Tennessee, a city of 660,000 residents. Even so the advent of social media and inexpensive high-tech optics have boosted public awareness, assuring what many U.S. experts predict will be unprecedented viewership for the so-called “Great American Eclipse.”   Some might take issue with that prediction, citing a solar eclipse visible over parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and central China in July 2009. National Geographic estimated 30 million people in Shanghai and Hangzhou alone were in its path that day. On Monday, the deepest part of the shadow, or umbra, cast by the moon will fall over a 70-mile-wide (113-km-wide), 2,500-mile-long (4,000-km-long) \"\"path of totality\"\" traversing 14 states. The 12 million people who live there can view the eclipse at its fullest merely by walking outside and looking up, weather permitting. (tmsnrt.rs/2fNQHFb)  LIVESTREAMING AND PRICE-GOUGING  Some 200 million Americans reside within a day’s drive of the totality zone, and as many as 7 million, experts say, are expected to converge on towns and campgrounds along the narrow corridor for the event. Many are attending multiday festivals featuring music, yoga and astronomy lectures. Millions more could potentially watch in real time as the eclipse is captured by video cameras mounted on 50 high-altitude balloons and streamed online in a joint project between NASA and Montana State University. A partial eclipse will appear throughout North America. Adding further to the excitement is the wide availability of affordable solar-safe sunglasses produced by the millions and selling so fast that suppliers were running out of stock. The owner of one leading manufacturer reported price gouging by second-hand dealers who were buying up large supplies and reselling them over the internet at a huge mark-up. Not all the hoopla will unfold on dry land. Welsh pop singer Bonnie Tyler is slated to perform her 1983s hit single “Total Eclipse of the Heart” aboard a cruise liner as the vessel sails into the path of totality from Florida on Monday. Back on the ground, forest rangers, police and city managers in the total eclipse zone are bracing for a crush of travelers they fear will cause epic traffic jams and heighten wildfire hazards. “Imagine 20 Woodstock festivals occurring simultaneously across the nation,” Michael Zeiler, an AAS advisory panel member wrote on his website, GreatAmericanEclipse.com, referring to the famously chaotic 1969 outdoor rock extravaganza in upstate New York. Hundreds of residents in a prime-viewing area in Oregon had to evacuate on Saturday under threat from a wildfire raging in the Deschutes National Forest, according to InciWeb fire-tracking website. The so-called Milli Fire, which has scorched more than 7,8OO acres (3,162 hectare), is one of seven burning in Oregon, Montana and Idaho, three of the states crossed by the totality path. Zeiler, an avowed “eclipse chaser” who made the 650-mile (1,046-km) drive from his New Mexico home to Wyoming for a choice view, said South Carolina is likely to see the greatest influx as the destination state closest to the entire U.S. Eastern seaboard. Monday’s event will be the first total solar eclipse spanning the entire continental United States since 1918 and the first visible anywhere in the Lower 48 states in 38 years. The next one over North America is due in just seven years, in April 2024.\"",
            "output": [
                "Millions of Americans to gaze upon Monday's once-in-a-lifetime eclipse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d68a7691ef04e1d93c8dd8fd501ed9d",
            "input": "\"The term \"\"Obamacare\"\" is used by critics to describe the health care overhaul that President Barack Obama signed into law last year. And some conservatives derisively use the phrase \"\"Romneycare\"\" to slight Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the changes he approved to Massachusetts’ health care system when he was governor there. How about \"\"Perrycare\"\"? That’s Georgia anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King’s term for what he contends was an effort by Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry to impose a binational health care plan between his state and Mexico. King even has a website dedicated to highlight Perry’s stance on immigration issues. King is one of the most vocal voices in Georgia’s ongoing debate over illegal immigration. \"\"Granting instate tuition to illegals is only a small part of Perry’s problematic record,\"\" King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, which is opposed to open borders between the U.S. and Mexico, wrote in a recent op-ed to the Marietta Daily Journal. \"\"We noted that Perry had dismissed any consideration of a state immigration enforcement law such as Arizona, Georgia and other states struggled to put in place; had proposed a binational health insurance program with Mexico (Perrycare? ); has expressed his support for legalizing the fugitive illegals who have escaped capture at American borders (it’s not amnesty, it’s a guest worker plan! ); and refused to use the power of his office for any E-Verify legislation in Texas. So what if that state has one of the highest number of illegals in the country?\"\" King made a number of points, but we decided to look at the Perrycare charge because the presidential candidate’s immigration policy has come up in a number of other forums. Some Perry critics describe him as being soft on illegal immigration because of his position on allowing students who are illegal immigrants to pay instate tuition at colleges in Texas. The criticism has hurt Perry’s standing among some Republicans. So we wondered if King had found another case in which Perry could be criticized as soft on illegal immigrants. Our colleagues at PolitiFact Texas recently examined this issue when another GOP presidential candidate, Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, said Perry supported binational health insurance. King dismissed the PolitiFact Texas ruling, forwarding us an e-mail with a widely circulated speech by Perry on the issue. The Texas governor urged lawmakers there to pass a telemedicine program that allows \"\"individuals living on the Mexican side of the border\"\" to get care from a specialist hundreds of miles away. Telemedicine is using forms of communication such as video conferences to provide health care, according to the American Telemedicine Association. Perry also mentioned a study to look at the feasibility of binational insurance. \"\"This study recognizes that the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border compose one region, and we must address health care problems throughout that region,\"\" Perry said. Those comments were made in August 2001, two weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The study guidelines were outlined in House Bill 2498, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2001. It begins by stating the interest of the state to deliver affordable health care services to citizens \"\"on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border.\"\" The 141-page report, released in 2003, found some legal problems with the idea and logistical challenges, such as there are no laws in Mexico preventing a doctor from performing the duties of a specialist. The report found other problems. Some Texas health care providers were concerned that medical care in Mexico did not meet their standards, the medical equipment in Mexico was not as advanced and some medicine approved in Mexico may not meet Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The report offered several options if Texas wanted to move forward with the idea. Perry and state lawmakers didn’t act. A spokeswoman for Perry noted to PolitiFact Texas that the Legislature took no further action on the topic. Still, some websites have bashed conservative media for not being more critical of Perry. \"\"However, in spite of the Legislature’s failure to act, Perry made clear his willingness to funnel Texas’s assets to Mexico,\"\" an item in the New American website said. It then had excerpts from Perry’s August 2001 speech. The website failed to note that the speech was made two years before the study. By signing the bill that allowed the study, and through his 2001 speech, we can see how some find seeds for Perry’s support of a binational health insurance program with Mexico. But the governor never acted on the study, and he hasn’t appeared to talk much about the subject since 2001. Still, Perry pushed for the study, which implies his interest in the idea.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"D.A. King Says Rick Perry \"\"proposed a binational health insurance program with Mexico.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f0a118ecd554b9a8620e85be3cf0786",
            "input": "A defiant Evers held a news conference with Democratic lawmakers to urge the public to call Republicans and tell them to approve Medicaid expansion. They cited public opinion polls that showed a wide majority of support for Medicaid expansion. “We’re not giving up,” Evers said. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, surrounded by GOP lawmakers at a hastily called news conference in response, accused Evers of being full of “heated rhetoric” while pushing a “massive welfare expansion.” “There are definite downsides, but the Democrats and Gov. Evers decide to only talk about half of the equation and frankly it’s misleading,” Vos said. Evers made expanding Medicaid a centerpiece of his successful campaign last year against Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a longtime opponent of Medicaid expansion. Evers took his victory as a sign that voters want Wisconsin to join a majority of other states that have accepted the federal money. Medicaid expansion is a centerpiece of Evers’ two-year budget proposal. Taking the money would make $1.6 billion available in federal money to pay for a host of other health care priorities, while also making Medicaid available to about 82,000 additional poor childless adults and parents. About half of them don’t have insurance, while the other half have private market plans that are subsidized heavily by the federal government and sold on the exchange. It doesn’t make sense to shift those people to state-funded Medicaid plans when they are already covered, Vos said. That would upset the private insurance market and put taxpayers at risk, he said. “None of us ran on an expansion of welfare,” Vos said of Republicans. “Tony Evers did, so we’ve got a conflict.” Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said Vos should be ashamed of himself. “Robin Vos’s will is not the will of the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said. Republican co-chairs of the Legislature’s budget committee said Wednesday they would vote next week to remove Medicaid expansion from Evers’ spending plan, along with a host of his other top priorities including legalizing medical marijuana, raising the minimum wage, capping voucher school enrollment and all but ending a manufacturing tax credit program. While Republican leaders have long opposed Medicaid expansion, some GOP lawmakers have publicly called for a compromise. “I’m going to fight like hell for Medicaid expansion and I’m going to need your help to get it done,” Evers said Thursday. “I need you to call your legislators and tell them you support Medicaid expansion.” Evers dodged a question about whether he would sign a budget that doesn’t expand Medicaid. “We’re not ceding anything, we’re not negotiating against ourselves,” he said. “We have to have this.” Democratic state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, of Milwaukee, said Republicans were “thumbing their nose” at Wisconsin families. “Republicans have shown they do not stand with Wisconsin’s women,” she said. “They do not stand with the children of Wisconsin. They do not stand with Wisconsin families.” The most recent Marquette University Law School poll released in April showed 70% support for Medicaid expansion. Accepting the Medicaid expansion as envisioned in Evers’ budget would bring in $324 million in federal funding that could be invested in other programs to tap even more federal dollars and result in a $1.6 billion investment in health care priorities. That includes increasing reimbursement rates for doctors and other health care providers, raising county aid for crisis mental health services and spending more on women’s health care initiatives. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP",
            "output": [
                "Evers vows to ‘fight like hell’ for Medicaid expansion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9cb9da44449344f38f2766b604140398",
            "input": "Despite struggling with some of the world’s worst air pollution levels, India has already pushed back a deadline to cut emission levels to up to 2022, after extensive lobbying by power producers who cited high costs and technical difficulties. The rejection of the foreign technology comes at a time when over half of coal-fired plants in India are already set to miss a phased deadline starting Dec. 2019 to cut emissions of lung diseases-causing sulphur oxides. State-run NTPC, which generates a quarter of India’s electricity, held talks with foreign firms including General Electric Co, Norway-based Yara International and Japan-based Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems over the potential purchase of filters that lower emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxide. However, none of the pilot tests it conducted met key emissions parameters, NTPC said in a presentation submitted last month to the Central Pollution Control Board. “The pilot tests concluded that both selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technologies currently available are not suitable for installation at power plants in India,” it said in the presentation reviewed by Reuters, referring to technologies used to cut emissions of nitrogen oxides. Thermal power companies produce three-quarters of the country’s electricity and account for some 80% of India’s industrial emissions of sulphur oxides that cause lung diseases and smog-creating nitrogen oxides. NTPC had presented cost estimates in 2016 for the installation of the technology to cut nitrogen oxides throughout its network of power plants. According to Reuters calculations based on those estimates, the cost would total $2.4 billion, although industry consultants said recently that those costs could now be 25% lower. The utility wants a dilution in nitrogen oxide emissions standards and claimed in last month’s presentation that the lowered standards can be achieved with minor retrofits, without the need to install new equipment. The pollution board held a stakeholder meeting on Nov. 7, an audio recording of which was reviewed by Reuters. In the meeting, GE and Yara representatives rejected NTPC’s views, saying their technologies were proven worldwide, according to the recording and two sources present at the meeting. NTPC did not attend the meeting. NTPC, and the Indian units of GE and Yara did not respond to detailed Reuters questionnaires seeking comment. Mitsubishi Hitachi did not immediately respond to a request for comment made on its website. NTPC said in the earlier presentation to the pollution board that high ash content in Indian coal posed challenges to installing SCR technology and that SNCR did not meet key parameters. The foreign companies responded, saying pilot tests were run in a constrained environment and that commercial use of the equipment, which requires some changes to the plant, would cut emissions to the required levels. “The conditions for the (pilot) test was that we can’t touch special parts at all, we can’t touch furnace tubes. NTPC did not allow us,” Senthilvel Rangasamy, a GE representative, said in the meeting. Premchand Talreja, the managing director of the Indian unit of Yara, said the pilot tests achieved the desired results. “There should not be doubt on the technology itself,” Talreja said in the meeting. Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and previously a member of a European Union technical working group on emissions by coal-fired utilities, said India has failed to curtail emissions due to “delay and misinformation tactics by the power industry”. “The power industry managed to build a myth that Indian coal is so special that technologies proven on a wide range of coal types elsewhere need to be tested and validated again in India before the standards can be implemented,” Myllyvirta told Reuters.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: India's NTPC snubs foreign emissions tech, shuts out GE, others from $2 billion orders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23c19d847d5c44fdb4a62d444b2be38b",
            "input": "Archaeologist Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem gestures near an archaeological site known as the City of David during an interview with Reuters in Jerusalem's Old City March 4, 2010. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen But critics say some of “finds” are really just bending science to prove a “Biblical heritage” that is open to dispute. “Archaeologists have given up many of their best practices in order to answer the continuing demands of mainly political actors,” says Raphael Greenberg, an Israeli archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, who has worked in Jerusalem. With generous funding, including from religious groups intent on expanding Jewish settlement, archaeologists are digging up possible Biblical sites in occupied East Jerusalem and its surrounding West Bank suburbs at record pace. So fast, say critics, that there are cave-ins at some sites, heightening tensions with the 250,000 Palestinians who live in the holy city, which Israel has controlled fully since 1967. Archaeology in Jerusalem dates back well over a century — British enthusiasts began digging below the Old City 150 years ago, revealing remains that many say are those of a walled settlement ruled by the biblical Jewish king David. That City of David site, still an active dig, is now also a tourist attraction, with around 400,000 visitors a year. It is funded by Elad, a group which also supports Jewish settlement. As visitors eye the cracked stone walls, a stout 60-year-old man dons a skullcap, stops the group and flips open a Bible. “This is where archaeologists found a clay seal with the name Gedaliah Ben Paschur, mentioned in verse 38:1 in the Book of Jeremiah,” whispers the volunteer, who gives his as Mordechai. “I can’t tell you what to think. But what else could this place be, if not the ancient Biblical city?”   Greenberg is not persuaded by fixation on the holy book. “Archaeology cannot prove or disprove the Bible,” he says “A name that matches that of a person in the Bible can only be taken so far — it’s just a name.”   He says some archaeologists cater to financial donors like Elad, which seeks to establish Biblical roots and develop tourism, thereby strengthening Jewish claims on the area. “Over time, when you’re funded by these people in huge sums, and we’re talking millions of dollars, you become part of the machine,” argued Greenberg, who has been speaking out for some time over his doubts about archaeology in the holy city. Jerusalem archaeologists feel pressured on all sides. “I’m being looked at by religious extremists on all sides, the municipality, and the Antiquities Authority. Everybody is pushing his side,” says Ronny Reich, an archaeologist from the University of Haifa in northern Israel. Walking atop the massive stone steps of the Silwan Pool — or the Pool of Siloam — which he excavated in 2004, Reich dodges crowds of tourists. According to scripture, Jesus healed a blind man here. Reich insists that his Elad funders do not influence him and he is “not in accordance” with everything Elad does. He says his work is unfairly attacked: The critics “can’t fight Elad in court, so they use my dig,” he said, to attack it by proxy. Bringing an outsider’s eye to the arguments, British writer Simon Goldhill, in his 2008 book “Jerusalem: City of Longing,” speaks of the thrill of the digs that are rewriting text books, almost by the year, but also of the bitter, personal arguments:   “The vitriolic dispute over the status of the Bible for archaeology is a classic Jerusalem row,” the Cambridge professor writes, “touched as it is with so many personal issues within the small community of professional archaeologists, and laced as it is with the political charge of early history in this country.”   Critics like Hani Nur al-Din from the Palestinian Al Quds University in Jersualem accuses some Holy Land archaeologists of caring more about publicity than scholarly peer review. He names Eilat Mazar, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who drew attention last month after excavating a wall she says was built by the biblical King Solomon in the 10th century BC. “She doesn’t give any archaeological context to her findings other than dating pottery shards,” Nur al-Din charged. “The Bible should be put aside. It’s not a history book.”   But Mazar, scion of an illustrious Israeli archaeology dynasty, disputes that: “Excavating Jerusalem without knowing the Bible is impossible,” she says. She said she would write a scientific report of her find following laboratory study. Pointing out the freshly excavated wall, Mazar says the Bible offers a “core of reality”: “We’ve got a fantastic 10th century fortification line that indicates a central, powerful regime,” she said. “The Bible tells us there was such a king at this time, and his name was Solomon. Why ignore it? An archaeological site known as the City of David is seen in Jerusalem's Old City March 4, 2010. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen “The question is if we can trace that core and prove it existed. Well, here it is.”   Greenberg complains that the focus on the specific histories of the peoples on the land around Jerusalem can obscure the fact that finds here can have greater importance than proving, or disproving, the ancestral ties of one group or another. “Israeli archaeology has a lot to contribute to very basic history about the development of the earliest human civilizations,” he said. “If all we deal with is who were the Jews or the Palestinians, then this remains a very anachronistic and parochial archaeology with little to say to the world.”",
            "output": [
                "Researchers dig up controversy in Jerusalem."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff2cc57504404768ab5ac83b28a1d540",
            "input": "The dead include a basketball coach from the Seychelles who was participating in a tournament in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo. Five people have died of plague in the capital, reported L’Express de Madagascar, a daily newspaper. The government has begun a campaign to disinfect school classrooms in the city, compelling students to stay at home in the coming days. Many people have bought surgical masks and other medical supplies in large quantities, raising concerns about a shortage of medicine. “Once everybody hears that this is a major thing, everyone runs out and buys everything at the pharmacy,” said Joshua Poole, the Madagascar representative for Catholic Relief Services, an aid group based in Baltimore, Maryland. “Access to those essential items is a challenge.” Poole said the death of the basketball coach from the Seychelles had attracted more international attention to this year’s outbreak of plague, which is endemic to Madagascar. The coach, 49-year-old Alix Allisop, died in a hospital on Wednesday after experiencing breathing problems, according to the Seychelles News Agency. A jazz festival, Madajazzcar, canceled its opening concert in Antananarivo this week and suspended other events until further notice. Plague has also been reported in the port city of Toamasina in eastern Madagascar and other cities. At least 114 people have been infected with plague and the disease is affecting large urban areas unlike like past outbreaks, increasing the risk of transmission, the World Health Organization said Sunday. WHO, which is sending more staff and supplies, including antibiotics, to Madagascar, said about 400 case of plague, mostly bubonic, are reported every year in the country. The last reported outbreak in Madagascar occurred in a remote area in December 2016 and was mostly bubonic plague, the United Nations health agency said. “Bubonic plague is spread by infected rats via flea bite, pneumonic by person-to-person transmission. The current outbreak includes both forms of plague,” the agency said. It described plague as a “disease of poverty” that can kill quickly if untreated but can be cured if antibiotics are administered early. ___ Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris",
            "output": [
                "Plague in Madagascar hits urban areas, kills 2 dozen people."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ad0a859851a44958f2a739ece47b0e4",
            "input": "The Federal Research Institute for Animal Health said scientists examined brain samples from 56 people who died in Bavaria between 1999 and 2019. They found evidence of Borna disease virus in eight samples. Along with six previously known cases since the mid-1990s, this brings to 14 the number of encephalitis deaths in Bavaria linked to the Borna virus over that period. The study published in the latest issue of medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases was conducted together with researchers from four German universities and Germany’s Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. Borna disease virus 1, or BoDV-1, is normally found in horses, sheep and other mammals. It was first identified as the cause of severe human encephalitis in 2018. The virus is harbored by the bicolored white-toothed shrew and researchers suspect that infections are caused by contact with the animal’s excrement. While natural human-to-human transmission has been ruled out, some cases resulted from organ transplants. Symptoms of encephalitis include fever, severe headaches, speech and gait disorders that can lead to coma within days or a few weeks. The researchers noted that while BoDV-1 has a very high death rate, “the absolute number of infections and hence the risk of infection is estimated to be very low.” They said the main risk areas in Germany are the states of Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and parts of neighboring adjoining states. Germany will require compulsory notification of BoDV-1 infections from March.",
            "output": [
                "Germany: Rare virus linked to more fatal encephalitis cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f9dc1a99f1024f1899888f3a65b7ba73",
            "input": "The lack of any cost information is one flaw to this article. Reminding the readers of the costs of PSA screening programs–in terms of the huge volume of medical services that it can catalyze (including the costs of the test itself, the drugs, surgeries, urology consultations, hospital and operating time, as well as the lost income for men who are recovering from treatment)–is a necessary part of the story. There is good depth here discussing the benefits. Early in the story it indicates that “for a man in the U.S., the risk of dying of prostate cancer is about 2.5 percent. A mortality reduction of 30 percent would lower the death rate to 1.75 percent.”  Later this is described in relative terms, saying that more frequent PSA screening “moved some prostate cancers from too-advanced-to-treat to treatable, reducing prostate cancer mortality by 27 percent to 32 percent over 11 years.” Drawing from information produced by the USPSTF, the article concluded that the gains in prostate cancer detection “come at some cost to health, though: For every life saved, five men will be told they have cancer when in fact their abnormal cells would never grow, spread, or harm them. In other estimates, such “overdiagnoses” outnumber lives saved by 50-to-1.” The one harm that is often overlooked in widely-promoted screening programs is the psychological harm that perfectly healthy people may experience when they have had a “cancer scare,” and that even though their life is unlikely to be saved, the worry, anxiety, depression and angst do exact a substantial life-altering toll that goes unmeasured. This story superbly describes the quality of the evidence, emphasizing that this is not new research but it is new (and controversial) mathematical modeling and that there are a number of biases that can affect the interpretation of the results. This was a much stronger discussion of the evidence compared to the LA Times story we also reviewed. There are no signs of the common type of disease mongering we sometimes encounter in commentary about PSA testing, where some will take data from one age cohort as proof to suggest that other age cohorts (ie: younger men) would also benefit from PSA testing. A wide range of outside voices give this article depth and heft. The inclusion of voices of researchers who chose to remain anonymous reminds us of the very controversial and potentially career-altering aspects of this research. However, as with the Los Angeles Times story, this story didn’t note the financial disclosures of the study authors, including the senior author, Ruth Etzioni, who disclosed she owns equity in a company developing medical imaging technology that it says could be applied in prostate cancer patients. Dr. Etzioni stated that she does not consider the equity ownership to be a conflict of interest, but considering that an increase in PSA screening would boost demand for more precise and less invasive follow-up testing, it appears that her company would benefit. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute. While that source does not raise any red flags, and the study stated that the funder had no role in the study, news stories are more informative when they note study funding. This research is specifically about comparing the value of screening for prostate cancer vs not screening. New biomarkers and variations on the PSA test itself, along with other screening modalities, such as digital rectal exam, are not mentioned and were not addressed in the studies that are described. It’s clear from the article that PSA testing is ubiquitous in America. Mentioning that it is covered by most insurers, and for those on Medicaid/Medicare, still would have been helpful, however. The report of this study establishes, correctly, how it might expand our view of the value of PSA testing and reminds us that what is “novel” here is the interpretation of previous research. This article clearly goes beyond what would have likely been the contents of a news release, particularly in deeply re-examining the findings from multiple perspectives.",
            "output": [
                "A new study claims prostate cancer screenings significantly reduce deaths. Not everyone agrees"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-788dcc9d0e904a6e9703c3e5dd383b64",
            "input": "In a study of nearly half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers had a slightly lower risk of death over 10 years than abstainers. The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It’s the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine. Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal. The results don’t prove your coffee pot is a fountain of youth nor are they a reason for abstainers to start drinking coffee, said Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition expert who was not involved in the research. But she said the results reinforce previous research and add additional reassurance for coffee drinkers. “It’s hard to believe that something we enjoy so much could be good for us. Or at least not be bad,” Lichtenstein said. The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. It’s not clear exactly how drinking coffee might affect longevity. Lead author Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said coffee contains more than 1,000 chemical compounds including antioxidants, which help protect cells from damage. Other studies have suggested that substances in coffee may reduce inflammation and improve how the body uses insulin, which can reduce chances for developing diabetes. Loftfield said efforts to explain the potential longevity benefit are continuing. Adam Taylor, fetching two iced coffees for friends Monday in downtown Chicago, said the study results make sense. “Coffee makes you happy, it gives you something to look forward to in the morning,” said Taylor, a sound engineer from Las Vegas. “I try to have just one cup daily,” Taylor said. “Otherwise I get a little hyper.” For the study, researchers invited 9 million British adults to take part; 498,134 women and men aged 40 to 69 agreed. The low participation rate means those involved may have been healthier than the general U.K. population, the researchers said. Participants filled out questionnaires about daily coffee consumption, exercise and other habits, and received physical exams including blood tests. Most were coffee drinkers; 154,000 or almost one-third drank two to three cups daily and 10,000 drank at least eight cups daily. During the next decade, 14,225 participants died, mostly of cancer or heart disease. Caffeine can cause short-term increases in blood pressure, and some smaller studies have suggested that it might be linked with high blood pressure, especially in people with a genetic variation that causes them to metabolize caffeine slowly. But coffee drinkers in the U.K. study didn’t have higher risks than nondrinkers of dying from heart disease and other blood pressure-related causes. And when all causes of death were combined, even slow caffeine metabolizers had a longevity boost. As in previous studies, coffee drinkers were more likely than abstainers to drink alcohol and smoke, but the researchers took those factors into account, and coffee drinking seemed to cancel them out. The research didn’t include whether participants drank coffee black or with cream and sugar. But Lichtenstein said loading coffee with extra fat and calories isn’t healthy. ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner on Twitter: @LindseyTanner . ____ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Fresh grounds for coffee: Study shows it may boost longevity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d8a2c337e5cd4ad5aa2cb627bdd84851",
            "input": "The study tracked about 20,000 severely obese patients with Type 2 diabetes. Those who had weight loss surgery had a 40 percent lower chance of developing a heart attack or stroke in the five years following surgery compared to those who got usual care with diabetes medicines or insulin. For every 1,000 patients in the study who had surgery there were roughly 20 heart attacks or strokes compared to 40 such events per 1,000 who got regular care. More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, mostly Type 2 where the body loses the ability to produce or use insulin to turn food into energy. Other research has shown obesity surgery can reverse and even prevent diabetes. Taken together, it means doctors should discuss weight loss surgery more often, said study co-author Dr. David Arterburn of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Doctors usually mention insulin and pills, “but it’s not always brought up that weight loss surgery is another available treatment option,” Arterburn said. Researchers analyzed records from four U.S. health care systems: HealthPartners in Minnesota and Kaiser Permanente in Washington state, Northern California and Southern California. Results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study can’t prove cause and effect because patients weren’t randomly assigned to get surgery. The researchers tried to match patients for gender, age, blood sugar levels and other factors. But other things they didn’t account for could have contributed to the surgery patients’ better results. Everyone in the study had a BMI, or body mass index, of at least 35. For instance, someone who is 5-foot-8-inches and weighs 230 pounds has a BMI of 35. Of the more than 5,300 who had surgery, most had gastric bypass, the most common type of stomach-shrinking operation. Some had gastric sleeve or gastric band procedures. The rest, nearly 15,000 people, had usual care. Obesity surgery can cost $20,000 to $25,000. Insurers are increasingly covering it, but some impose strict limits. The new findings suggest insurance coverage should be expanded for the right patients, Dr. Sayeed Ikramuddin of the University of Minnesota wrote in an accompanying editorial. Surgery is thought to help by affecting hormones, gut bacteria and other substances that affect how the body handles insulin and blood sugar. Weight loss without surgery also helps, but is difficult for many people to achieve. Most weight loss surgery today is done through small incisions. The dangers are similar to other surgeries, including a small chance of life-threatening complications, and some people need to have their surgeries repeated. ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson on Twitter: @CarlaKJohnson ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Obesity surgery may lower heart attack danger in diabetics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-69271535b1cc4c54b1fb97847fdaef83",
            "input": "France has been on alert for African swine fever since the virus was confirmed in September among wild boar in Belgium, not far from the French border. African swine fever, harmless for humans, is often deadly for pigs, and outbreaks in eastern Europe and China have disrupted the pork industry there. “The confirmation of two cases of African swine fever on Jan. 9, 2019, in Belgium at about 1 km from the border, leaves our country more exposed than ever to this major risk for pig farming,” a ministry statement said. “We are now at a maximum risk level.”  France would create a boar-free zone spanning several km (miles) its side of the border by culling all wild boar in the coming weeks and erecting a perimeter fence in the next few days, the ministry said. Poland, one of the eastern European countries to have faced cases of African swine fever in recent years, is planning to cull 185,000 wild boar across the country, drawing protests from hunters that the measure was excessive. The disease can be carried by wild boars but experts also stress that human factors such as transport, clothing and food waste can play a role in spreading the disease. No vaccination or treatment exist for the highly contagious virus. Outbreaks often lead to export restrictions on pigmeat. Last year’s outbreak of African swine fever among wild boar in Belgium marked a sudden westward spread of the virus in Europe, raising the risk it would reach large pork-production countries like Germany, France and Spain. The authorities in Belgium’s French-speaking region of Wallonia have also stepped up surveillance measures since last week, extending a restriction zone on its side of the French border.",
            "output": [
                "France to cull wild boar at Belgium border in swine fever alert."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae51998bb1f84d4e87d02854e8ef7929",
            "input": "Two rural water systems in Sandoval County say the crop may be depleting local water supplies, and they say they have been left powerless to stop it, the Albuquerque Journal reports. The Peña Blanca Water and Sanitation District and Sile Mutual Domestic Water and Sewer Association sent a letter last month to state agencies and legislators describing their concerns over their disappearing water resources. The water system representatives say New Mexico’s patchwork of medical marijuana regulations has not kept up with the increased strain on rural water supplies. “The (cannabis) companies may think that the water rights were already taken care of when they purchased the property,” Peña Blanca district president John Gurule said. “We see the potential for these farms to bring economic growth to a rural community, so how do we support that growth while bringing water to our residents?” The groups are asking that all producers applying for a medical cannabis license prove a valid water right for commercial agriculture with the Office of the State Engineer. The Sile water system serves 154 people west of the Rio Grande between Cochiti and Kewa pueblos. The Peña Blanca system is responsible for delivering water to 448 people on the east side of the river between the same pueblos. An average household in the Peña Blanca system uses about 3,000 gallons of water a month, president John Gurule said. A cannabis farm with greenhouses in Peña Blanca that began operating last year is logging 20,000 gallons of domestic water use per month. The board members say the increases could point to treated drinking water being used for cannabis irrigation. New Mexico legalized medical cannabis in 2007. Domestic well water may not be used for agriculture in the state. Farmers must irrigate cannabis or other crops with another water source by acquiring a valid water right. John Romero, director of the Water Rights Division and the Resources Allocation Program for the Office of the State Engineer, said the affected mutual domestic water systems have a history of poor infrastructure, limited revenue, too many connections, and water overuse. The increase in cannabis production and alleged improper water use may be exacerbating those issues. “Cannabis hasn’t helped this situation. It is illegal to use domestic well water for agriculture, but it is up to (Sile and Peña Blanca) to enforce that,” Romero said. “We can’t police every mutual domestic water association, but we will work with them and help to see if these properties have a valid water right for what they want to do.”",
            "output": [
                "Marijuana farms may be straining New Mexico water supplies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-80cde3145a044f8192e1efffe916c8de",
            "input": "WMUR-TV reports the New Hampshire Bureau of Infections Disease Control has raised the risk level in Fremont high, where a batch positive for Eastern equine encephalitis in September. Batches for the virus also have tested positive for the disease in Pelham, Manchester, Candia, Sandown, Hampstead and Newton. There have been no human cases of the virus. It was found in a horse in Northwood in August.",
            "output": [
                "Eastern equine encephalitis detected in 2 more communities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-63c9e47f87ba498c9a82f5c0b85ed58d",
            "input": "A paper published last week by researchers at the University of Colorado concluded that the wastewater caused a big enough increase in underground pressure to make rock formations slip along fault lines. “You find that the pressure changes at a given depth are enough to trigger earthquakes,” said Jenny Nakai, the paper’s lead author and a doctoral student at the university. The paper, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, is the latest to link wastewater injection wells to earthquakes. Most oil and gas wells produce at least some wastewater that is too salty to use, so regulators allow energy companies to pump it back underground to get rid of it. Researchers have linked earthquakes in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas to wastewater injection. Oklahoma had only a few dozen earthquakes of magnitude-3.0 or greater in 2012 but had more than 900 in 2015. The number dropped to closer to 600 last year after state regulators directed energy companies to close some injection wells or reduce the volume of water they inject. In the Raton Basin of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, earthquakes began to increase in 2001, about two years after large-scale wastewater injection began, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The wastewater comes from wells that extract natural gas from underground coal beds. The biggest quake in the basin since 2001 was magnitude-5.3 in 2011. It caused minor damage to buildings in Trinidad, Colorado, about 15 miles from the epicenter. A 2014 paper by the Geological Survey blamed injection wells for the area’s quakes. The new University of Colorado study went further, using computer models and records of wastewater injection to conclude that enough pressure built up to cause the quakes. Justin Rubinstein, a geophysicist with the Geological Survey who was the lead author of the 2014 paper, said the computer models have been used in other locations but not in the Raton Basin before now. Rubinstein was not involved in the University of Colorado study and said he was not familiar with all its details but that the general conclusions made sense. “It’s consistent with what my research has shown,” he said. The University of Colorado study also found that the Raton Basin earthquakes were more widespread than previously thought, said Nakai, the lead author. Earlier studies focused on the Colorado portion of the basin because that was the site of a 2001 swarm of 12 quakes — the strongest was magnitude-4.6 — as well as the 5.3 quake in 2011. But seismometers recorded 1,881 quakes in the area between 2008 and 2010, and 1,442 of them were in New Mexico, Nakai said. The strongest was magnitude-3.8. The 2008-2010 data came from a temporary deployment of seismometers as part of two other research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, Nakai said. ___ Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/dan%20elliott . ___ This story has been corrected to show that the U.S. Geological Survey was misidentified as the U.S. Geological Service.",
            "output": [
                "Study: More evidence links earthquakes to energy waste wells."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-38a57162ffe44c6ba2cdb7f05c9a1047",
            "input": "The article does not include any information on the cost of acupuncture or on whether insurers cover this for any indications. The story notes how many women in the acupuncture and sham treatment groups were still having hot flashes at the end of the active treatment part of the trial. The story states that women in the study reported no adverse effects. The story clearly describes how the study was done, and how researchers attempted to ensure that women did not know whether they were getting the ‘real’ treatment or the placebo. The article does a commendable, well-balanced job of explaining that hot flashes can vary widely in both how severe and how bothersome they are. Article cites an author of the study, another expert, and a National Institutes of Health consensus document. Other options for dealing with menopausal hot flashes are reviewed, along with their shortcomings. However, this section was brief and could have discussed many other options which have known benefit. The story notes that acupuncture is used worldwide. Article notes that acupuncture has been used for more than 2,000 years. There is no evidence that this story relied on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Flash: No Needles. Acupuncture No Better Than Placebo for Hot Flashes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cb4b5a791d604b2cb7ab0c0d4a6eccb6",
            "input": "\"In a show of Republican muscle, Florida lawmakers passed several bills relating to abortion during this year’s legislative session. One proposal awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Scott requires young women who want a judge to waive the parental-notification requirement to obtain the waiver in a circuit court closer to their home rather than a wider-reaching appeals court. Opponents insist HB 1247 violates the privacy of young women who live in small communities and know most people in their area, including people who work at the courthouse. But supporters say it prevents teens from crossing the state to find a sympathetic judge in order to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge. Sen. Steve Oelrich, a Republican from Gainesville and cosponsor of the Senate version, had an interesting take during a May 5, 2011, debate on the Senate floor. \"\"You can’t give a child an aspirin in school without permission,\"\" he said. \"\"You can’t do any kind of medication, but we can secretly take the child off and have an abortion. We should support it (HB 1247) with all our hearts and souls if parental responsibility means anything to us.\"\" Oelrich’s claim left us wondering: Is it really that hard for students to get over-the-counter medication at school? We should explain that we're not ruling on Oelrich's statement that young women can \"\"secretly\"\" have abortions. We already know this is legal in certain cases under Florida law. Implementation of HB 1247 would limit which courts can make the decisions for women who seek waivers of the parental notification law, not strip their ability to have secret procedures. Florida law The Florida Statutes have straightforward directions for handling prescription medication at school. The law requires a student’s parent to submit a written statement with the medicine that permits a trained school official to administer a dose. The note must also explain why the medicine must be taken during the school day. The prescription medicine must be administered at school by a qualified official and then be counted, stored in the original container, and kept in a secured place. Beyond that, the law does not address the use of over-the-counter medication. The statutes leave that decision up to local school districts. We set out to check each one to learn if Oelrich's claim is . We tracked down policies for 62 of 67 counties. Most were available online. It took time to be sure, but Oelrich is right. Every district requires parental consent for non-prescription medication, sometimes in writing and sometimes by phone. Notifying a parent is the minimum step for many other districts, including Charlotte, Baker and Miami-Dade. These districts require a physician's note, too. \"\"We don’t administer anything in Charlotte County without doctors' orders,\"\" said Gail Buck, supervisor of the county’s school health services. \"\"No cough drops, no Tylenol.\"\" Aspirin warnings There's another part to this claim: Oelrich specifically invoked aspirin on the Senate floor. Some of the school nurses we interviewed practically shuddered at the word. The reason? Aspirin use among children is linked to the development of Reye's Syndrome, a lethal disease that sets in after a viral infection and affects all organs of the body, according to the National Reye's Syndrome Foundation. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are among entities that recommend not using aspirin, or combination medicine containing aspirin, for children under 19 during fever-causing illnesses. \"\"We stay away from all aspirin products and stuff,\"\" said Catherine Reckenwald, student health specialist for Citrus County Schools. \"\"You don’t know if a child has an allergy, so you need to have very specific instructions for each student.\"\" Reckenwald said Tylenol is more appropriate for children, but she does not keep a supply in her clinic. This is standard practice at most of the school health centers we contacted. \"\"We do not have what is called 'standing orders,' \"\" said Janice Karst, St. Lucie County School Board director of communications. In case you were wondering, students are allowed to self-administer epinephrine auto-injectors, metered dose inhalers, pancreatic enzyme supplements and diabetic supplies if they have a doctor's note and parental consent. Our ruling The thrust of Oelrich's point is correct: You can’t give a child an aspirin in school without permission. To administer any non-prescription medication, school officials must have approval from the parent. And in some cases, the schools also need a note from a doctor -- even for cough drops. While Oelrich is right about the permission part, he specifically mentioned aspirin so we should add that giving aspirin to children is considered risky because of the medicine's connection to a deadly disease. But that wasn't exactly Oelrich's point in a debate over abortion and a minor's right to privacy.\"",
            "output": [
                "You can't give a child an aspirin in school without permission. You can't do any kind of medication, but we can secretly take the child off and have an abortion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec848489cd734b5fbe0e01097bda85d7",
            "input": "The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control learned of an equipment failure at the Lewes Wastewater Treatment Plant on Dec. 18, the Delaware News Journal reported on Wednesday. Because the problems couldn’t be fixed quickly, the plant had to bypass stages of treatment and discharge partially treated effluent the next day, according to DNREC. The department also said in a news release on Wednesday that it is monitoring the plant and working with its owner, Tidewater Utilities, to expedite repairs. The equipment necessary to return the plant to its typical operations is expected to arrive on Dec. 27 for immediate installation, DNREC said. Until the repairs are made, at DNREC’s direction, Tidewater Utilities will continue to sample partially-treated effluent discharge for fecal bacteria count at locations after it leaves the plant.",
            "output": [
                "Agency: Partially treated sewage enters Delaware Bay."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-114c16c61d31463e8cfb93c138ec495d",
            "input": "\"India has reported 471 cases of the coronavirus but health experts have warned that a big jump could be imminent, which would overwhelm the underfunded and crumbling public health infrastructure. On Monday, India confirmed two more deaths, bringing the total to nine. One was a 54-year-old man with no history of foreign travel, suggesting the start of community transmission of the virus, officials said. Streets were deserted in the national capital New Delhi and offices shut at the start of a lockdown to run till the end of the month. The government ordered commercial airlines to shut down domestic operations from midnight on Tuesday on top of a ban on international flights to try and contain the coronavirus. About 144 million people traveled on domestic flights last year. Rail travel, the lifeline of India, has already been suspended after thousands of people, mostly migrant workers, swarmed train stations to go home as businesses shut down and jobs dried up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said many Indians were not taking the lockdown seriously. “Please save yourself, save your family, follow the instructions seriously,” he said on Twitter. The chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, which has had the highest number of cases in India, ordered a curfew from Tuesday to force people indoors. “Despite multiple requests, people are not following rules. This compelled the government to impose the curfew,” Uddhav Thackeray said. The country’s main stock exchange located in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, will however remain open, an official said. On Monday night, the Indian government said 30 states and union territories, or 548 districts, were under “complete lockdown.”   Newspapers canceled print runs in Mumbai after vendors refused to distribute them due to worries about the coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year and has spread around the world. Globally, cases exceed 325,000 with deaths topping 14,000. The Pakistani army said on Monday night it would help to impose nationwide restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus following a request from the government. Major General Babar Iftikhar said schools, malls, restaurants, cinemas, marriage halls, swimming pools and markets would be shut as of Monday with only eateries, pharmaceutical companies and medical stores allowed to remain open. Prime Minister Imran Khan had previously said he opposed such stringent measures because of the economic consequences for the poor. A spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nepal ordered all land border crossings with India and China shut until March 29, saying thousands of people, most of them Nepali migrant workers, had crossed into Nepal in recent days from India, believing their homeland to be safer. Nepal reported its second case of the coronavirus on Monday, a citizen who had recently returned from France. “The closing of the border crossings is meant to ensure that no one infected with the virus crosses over to Nepal from India and China,” said Surya Thapa, an aide to Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Asia:  *Pakistan   -   875  *India      -   471  *Sri Lanka  -    91   *Afghanistan  -    42  *Bangladesh  -    33  *Maldives     -    13   *Nepal       -     2  *Bhutan      -     2    ———————————-  TOTAL         - 1,529  https://www.mohfw.gov.in  hpb.health.gov.lk/en  http://covid.gov.pk  covid19.health.gov.mv/en\"",
            "output": [
                "India shuts down flights, big cities as coronavirus toll rises in region."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18a3085618b147759fbdd7a2eec1562e",
            "input": "The review was requested by the Swedish medicines regulatory agency, which decided in November to amend the product information for Norlevo, which contains levonorgestrel, the European Medicines Agency said. The labeling was changed to say that in clinical trials, contraceptive efficacy was reduced in women weighing 165.34 pounds or more, and levonorgestrel was not effective in women who weighed more than 176.37 pounds. Emergency contraceptives, which contain levonorgestrel or uliprista acetate in the European Union, act by blocking or delaying ovulation. The emergency contraceptives being reviewed include medicines that contain levonorgestrel, such as Norlevo, Levonelle/Postinor and Levodonna, the EMA said. It also includes a centrally-authorised medicine, ellaOne, which contains ulipristal acetate and was granted a marketing authorisation in Europe in 2009. The United States is also reviewing the effect of weight on the efficacy of emergency contraception.",
            "output": [
                "Europe assessing if weight affects 'morning after pill' success."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa4eebf4f8ba445ca6675cf94fcecb11",
            "input": "The Huntsman Mental Health Institute will aim to provide research-based treatment and help fund the University of Utah Health’s psychiatry department, according to a news release. The Huntsmans already have a major cancer research center in Utah that bears the family name. The late Jon Huntsman Sr. was the founder of a company that refines raw materials that go into thousands of products. His adult children said at a news conference that they hope the institute helps change the stigma and misperceptions about mental health. “Every family deals with mental health. We have either held the hand of somebody or had our hand held by somebody dealing with mental health,” said Christena Huntsman Durham, vice chairwoman of the Huntsman Foundation, the Deseret News reported. “We are so excited to put a name and a face to it and start addressing real issues and stop the judgment.” The donation, which will be given over 15 years, is the largest single gift ever given to the university, said University of Utah President Ruth V. Watkins.",
            "output": [
                "Huntsmans give $150M to start mental health institute."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9383a6275d741c3b53effc877c11e73",
            "input": "Although the article notes that current desensitization efforts involving time-consuming immune system drug infusions to stifle rejection antibodies add up to $30,000 to the cost of a transplant, it does not make any estimate of the cost of the enzyme infusion that was the subject of the “novel” approach described in the new study. Based on later comments, it is presumed to cost about $65,000. The story does an adequate job of noting the actual numbers of patients in the study group, the absolute number that were able to have a successful transplant and the absolute number who later had a rejection episode that required standard anti-rejection therapy. Although the article makes clear the patients were “successfully treated” if sensitizing antibodies returned, it does not give any information about side effects, from the enzyme infusion nor the anti-rejection drugs subsequently used. To its credit, the article does emphasize that the long-term value of the new therapy is open to question and that far more work needs to be done to answer questions about quality, safety, efficacy and cost. The article tells us little about the people who participated in the clinical trial, such as type and duration of previous disease treatment, age, gender, race, co-morbidities, insurance status and so on. Nor will the reader get a really clear idea of how healthy–or ill–patients have done on other desensitization protocols overall and in the long term. No mongering here. The article duly discloses that the study was conducted or somehow supported by Hansa Medical, the maker of the enzyme infusion, and quotes at least two experts not involved in the study itself. The story mentions the existence of other desensitization efforts. But it could have done a much better job of comparing such efforts and their likely impact to programs designed to increase the supply of tissue matched organs and to suppress rejection of donor organs. The article makes clear that the only way for patients to receive the experimental therapy at present is through a clinical trial, although it does not say where such trials are taking place or recruiting patients. The article makes it clear that this treatment is novel, but could have been much strengthened if it had explained more of the biology of the enzyme and the way it was developed. One of the experts quoted was clearly astonished enough at the effects of the enzyme that he would consider it a “game changer” if further studies verify its impact. But just why the enzyme works is not clearly explained. Hansa Medical issued a news release pursuant to publication of the study results in the New England Journal of Medicine, but the story clearly goes beyond the release.",
            "output": [
                "Novel Procedure Improves Kidney Transplant Success"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c0fd2b4a78834deeb4d101cc4b6dd00b",
            "input": "\"As the drug reported on is currently not available a precise cost may not yet be known. However – while not providing a precise cost of this treatment, the story indicated that it is likely to cost more than the currently approved and available clopidogrel especially in 2011 when it will be off patent. The story described the benefits of treatment with ticagrelor in terms of the absolute reduction in risk of the composite endpoint of heart attack, stroke, and death from cardiovascular disease as well as the relative risk reduction. The story mentioned the disadvantage that this medication required pills to be taken twice a day (as opposed to the once a day dosing with the currently available medications). It also mentioned that this drug had the potential for resulting in shortness of breath and also that the results of the medication wore off faster than the currently available medication. It could have provided readers with some explanation about why this has the potential to be a problem. Although it included a quote from a doctor indicating that this drug would likely become \"\"the new standard of care,\"\" the story did not adequately highlight the new side effects seen with this new treatment to help readers understand that it may not be an appropriate treatment option for all individuals with acute coronary syndrome. Lastly and perhaps most importantly –  the story included the statement \"\"There was no increase in the risk of dangerous bleeding associated with the new drug.\"\" This statement is misleading as the study reported on found that outside of bleeding related to coronary-artery bypass grafting, ticagrelor was associated with higher rates of major bleeding (4.5% versus 3.8). Nonetheless, overall, the story meets the standard for discussing harms. The story included sufficient information for readers to appreciate that the study involved a large number of patients and it described the main comparison in absolute terms. It could have mentioned that this was a phase III clinical trial designed to examine both the drug’s safety and efficacy. It also could have discussed how the result of the current study differs from the previous large, phase III clinical trials that have been conducted. While mentioning that acute coronary syndrome results in the hospitalization of more than 1.3 million Americans per year, the story did not engage in overt disease mongering. There was only one clinician quoted with respect to the utility of the medication ticagrelor. The story should have included other perspectives. The story mentioned that there were other medications that prevent platelets from forming clumps, mentioning the two prescription medications, clopdogrel and pasugrel by name. The part of the story on the treatment of acute coronary syndrome using the drug ticagrelor ended with a clear sentence indicating that the company is hoping to have FDA approval for this drug by the end of the year and have it commercially available for consumers by early 2010. Placing it here means it could be missed by readers. Further what a company ‘hopes’ may not translate to the drug being available on the timetable outlined. However – a careful read of this story would results in correctly understanding that this drug is currently not FDA approved for sale. The story was about a new medication which is not yet available. does not appear to rely on a press release\"",
            "output": [
                "Two new blood thinners better than Plavix and warfarin, studies say"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2bea76ed421f44a58e4e4a0ceb646517",
            "input": "The Apostles’ Creed is a statement of Christian belief commonly recited during services in a number of Christian denominations. The text of the creed varies with translation and denomination, but the English Language Liturgical Consultation version, for example, reads as follows:  I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The sincerity of President Trump’s religious beliefs was called into question on 5 December 2018 as many viewers noticed that he apparently did not recite the Apostles’ Creed during President George H.W. Bush’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. Columnist John Ziegler, for instance, noted how “weird” it was that President Obama, who was often wrongly identified as Muslim, fully recited all the words of that statement of faith, while President Trump, who courted and won support from the Evangelical community, did not:  Ziegler was hardly the only one to levy this criticism at President Trump:  Similarly, the Washington Post reported on the issue that:  The Apostles’ Creed is one of the prayers most core to Christianity. It states in a few lines the basic narrative of Jesus’s life, is the statement of faith in one God and is said daily by Christians across the globe. [O]ne Christian didn’t say it. And Twitter noticed. Video from the funeral of George H.W. Bush showed a front row of presidents at Washington National Cathedral, standing and reciting it along with the program, as the voice of Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry boomed through the speakers to the thousands of mourners. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and their wives glanced up and down from the programs they held in front of them and spoke the prayer, along with everyone else visible in the video. The program, as is typical, calls for the Creed to be said in unison. President Trump stood, with his hands folded in front of him, waist-high, the program in his left hand, his lips not moving. Melania Trump also did not speak, nor did she hold a program. While we can’t speak the sincerity of President Trump’s faith, we can confirm that these criticisms were backed up by video from George H.W. Bush’s funeral. President Trump only appeared on screen for a short time during the recitation, but when he did he could be seen standing silently with his hands clasped and his program unopened, while other attendees, including former president Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former president Bill Clinton, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, all held their programs open as they recited the Apostles’ Creed from them. Here’s a video from C-SPAN of the relevant portion of George H.W. Bush’s state funeral:  We examined other broadcasts of the funeral to see if they captured President Trump reciting any part of the Apostle’s Creed. While we couldn’t find video capturing President Trump during the entirety of the creed recitation, we did find video from Time magazine showing him in the same posture as above (silently holding his program at his waist) for about 15 seconds while others around him recited the statement of faith:  We can only speak to what the video record shows, however, and not its significance. It’s possible that either or both of the Trumps had religious or other personal reasons for declining to participate in that aspect of the service. Indeed, in a Washington Post opinion piece, Patrick Nugent defended President Trump’s actions, regardless of what might have motivated them:  The Apostles’ Creed is not just a prayer one can or should recite out of courtesy for the sake of show, good manners or good taste. The Creed — or any Christian creed — is a statement of belief and a public commitment to very specific, carefully enumerated theological doctrines. It is not a bland, generic greeting-card prayer addressing an impersonal creator, a “force,” “the universe” or “the spirit of goodness” that could conceivably be uttered by anybody of any religious perspective or none at all. I admit entirely that the Trumps’ abstention could well have been motivated by cluelessness, inattention, bad taste, bad manners, unfamiliarity, distraction or any number of other things. But the bottom line is that they abstained from reciting aloud, in public, a personal commitment to the truth of very specific, classic, ancient Christian doctrines. The president participated in a public ceremony in his capacity as head of state, not as a Presbyterian (which is how he has identified himself). As such, he has no obligation to declare those theological truths, or any others, aloud in public. In fact, I’d suggest, he has an obligation not to do so if he disagrees with any of them, or all of them, or doesn’t especially care, or isn’t sure, or doesn’t understand — or just thinks the president should be theologically neutral in public.",
            "output": [
                "President Trump did not recite the Apostles' Creed as other attendees did during George H.W. Bush's funeral. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8e1b8bc70f19473ca118c3fac3e0ed72",
            "input": "Numbers from the federal government show jobless claims dropped by about 35% from the previous week. In all, New Mexico has processed more than 139,000 claims since mid-March, and more than 96,000 employees — or one in eight eligible workers in the state — were receiving benefits as of early May. The latest numbers come as New Mexico moves into the next phase of reopening. Under a public health order announced earlier this week, most retailers can operate at 25% of their maximum building occupancy. While the governor still is asking people to remain home except for essential outings, people will be required to wear face coverings when out in public. Health officials on Friday confirmed 164 new coronavirus infections, with McKinley and San Juan counties still outpacing all other areas. The state is maintaining its lock-down order in the northwest region where those counties are located. There were 11 new deaths from COVID-19 — with the majority in McKinley County. That brings total confirmed infections to at least 5,662 and deaths to 253 in the state. Early voting locations open in each county starting Saturday. But officials have said there will be fewer voting centers, poll workers and voters allowed inside each location as a result of the public health order. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. State modeling shows Native Americans are among the hardest hit, with a hospitalization rate of nearly 214 per 100,000 people. In other developments: — Officials with New Mexico’s largest Catholic diocese say parishes will be cautiously joining other entities as part of the state’s phased reopening plan. Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester says attendance at Mass will be limited to 10% of a building’s capacity. Masks, social distancing and increased cleaning also will be mandatory. — Transportation officials say the New Mexico Rail Runner commuter train that runs between Belen and Santa Fe will remain offline through May 31. Officials are working on new protocols and practices to ensure safety before resuming passenger service.",
            "output": [
                "Jobless claims decline as New Mexico prepares for reopening."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad933d240e664097b9953406557cb9b6",
            "input": "The message - part of a barrage of texts sent to doctors across the nation - urged him to sign a petition in support of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a potential miracle cure for COVID-19, the contagious and sometimes deadly respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. “Tell Trump to CUT RED TAPE & make hydroxychloroquine available to you and your patients,” the message said. Anderson was disturbed. Despite Trump’s claims that hydroxychloroquine could be among “the biggest game changers in the history of medicine,” the decades-old drug has no proven effect on COVID-19. Anderson said he responded to the text with the words “You’re idiots” and deleted the message. Wednesday’s text message barrage, aimed at medical professionals across the United States, was executed by the Job Creators Network Foundation - one of two related groups founded and funded by billionaire Trump supporters. They include Home Depot Inc. co-founder Bernie Marcus - who set up the group - and tycoon Philip Anschutz, via his eponymous foundation. Andy Puzder, who was briefly Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, was once also a prominent member of the network. Foundation President Elaine Parker said her group was not necessarily endorsing the treatment. “We are not advocating for use of the drug, only access to the drug for doctors who determine that’s the best course of treatment for their patient,” she said in an email. Dr. Jane Orient, the executive director of the conservative Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and one of the petition’s signatories, said that, so long as drugs did no harm, doctors should be allowed to prescribe them based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence. “If it’s safe and might be effective, if I’m the doctor or if I’m the patient, I want to try it,” Orient said. Thomas McGarity, a professor of administrative law at the University of Texas, said the text message campaign was part of a longstanding effort by some on the political right to neuter the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and put more decision-making power into the hands of patients and doctors that drug companies could pitch to directly. McGarity said their philosophy was, “the market can handle this - we don’t need an FDA to be getting in the way.”  Anderson, the New Hampshire doctor, said he found the idea of enlisting physicians in a deregulatory crusade unnerving, especially amid the current coronavirus outbreak. “I’m all for capitalism, but this is not the time” for such a push, he said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. group bombards doctors with coronavirus petition to cut 'red tape'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a78df91b917b49be94f18fec591fd092",
            "input": "The weekend of April 17-19 saw a number of demonstrations take place in cities across the U.S. in protest of continued lockdown orders intended to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. According to the BBC. Those taking to the streets say that the stringent measures restricting movement and businesses are unnecessarily hurting citizens. Protesters say the stay-at-home measures imposed by state governments to control the spread of Covid-19 are an overreaction. Some have also come bearing firearms as gun rights groups have been among the organisers, citing infringements on civil liberties. Some also say keeping these restrictions in place too long will cause long-term damage to local economies. For the most part the anti-lockdown protests were peaceful, although a few unseemly incidents of a non-violent nature did take place. For example, social media posts claimed that a few people in Columbus, Ohio, had taken advantage of the demonstration to display an anti-Semitic message:  Unfortunately, this image was all too real, as Cleveland.com reported: A photo from the stay-at-home protest at the Statehouse is gaining traction on Twitter for its anti-Semitic message. The photograph captured two men in a minivan. One held a sign with an illustration of a rodent with the Star of David on its side and the words “The Real Plague.” The protest movement against coronavirus restrictions has been a mishmash of people. Some adhere to public health officials’ guidance of distancing themselves at least 6 feet apart and wearing masks. They want to return to work. On the more extreme are others who call coronavirus a hoax. But the anti-Semitism might drown out all their messages.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows protesters displaying an anti-Semitic sign during a COVID-19 lockdown protest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3fb7fbac4dc04ae781f52c65055e5b9e",
            "input": "\"The cost of the drug wasn’t mentioned – a big oversight. Other news stories pegged it at about $35,000 a year. Adequate job. The story explained: \"\"But experts stress that Benlysta is not a miracle drug: It only worked in 35 percent of North American patients tested and was not effective for patients with the deadliest form of the disease. Additionally, it did not show positive results in African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by lupus.\"\" There was no discussion of harms. An NPR story, by comparison, pointed out that \"\"There are side effects, of course, and some of them are pretty serious. In clinical tests involving about 2,100 people, 11 taking Benlysta died compared with 4 getting placebo. About 6 percent of people taking Benlysta got serious infections compared with 5.2 percent on placebo.\"\" The story offered an interesting historical perspective on the evidence: \"\"The company originally tested Benlysta, known generically as belimumab, as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. When a mid-stage trial in lupus patients failed to meet researchers’ goals in 2006, many analysts wrote the drug off and downgraded the company’s stock. But when scientists reanalyzed the data they found that the drug helped block the antibodies that cause lupus symptoms in a subset of patients.\"\" No disease mongering of lupus. Two independent sources were quoted. Not applicable. With no other new drug approved for lupus in 56 years, there’s not been much to compare it with. The story did state that some experts thought this \"\"could prompt development of other drugs that are even more effective in treating the debilitating immune system disorder.\"\" The focus of the story is FDA approval of the new drug. The headline explains that the FDA approved the first new drug for lupus in 56 years. It’s clear the story did not rely solely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves first new drug for lupus in 56 years"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50c2745238d243d998fac6b755c685e1",
            "input": "As the COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus disease) continued to spread in March 2020, social media users flashed back to a “pandemic” that unfolded nearly 20 years earlier — but this one took place entirely in the virtual world.According to the Hong Kong-based tech news site AbacusNews.com, more people on the Chinese platform Weibo have begun researching the Corrupted Blood online virus and players’ responses to the bug, which broke out inside the World of Warcraft game platform (known as WOW for short) in September 2005:A Weibo hashtag related to the World of Warcraft epidemic has become one of the most-searched terms, reaching nearly 60 million views. And one Weibo influencer spotted a similarity between their origins: The Wuhan coronavirus and Corrupted Blood both started in animals.“On the fundamental level, Corrupted Blood started with a hunter’s pet, namely an animal, before it transmitted to a person,” the Weibo user wrote.On Twitter, author Rin Chupeco garnered attention by highlighting the incident in a very popular thread and adding, “Epidemiologists actually STUDIED this to see how ppl would react to an epidemic [in real life].”The Warcraft outbreak was an unintended side-effect of an update to the game involving the character Hakkar the Soulflayer, introduced for players in the online multi-player game to take down to complete a raid. One of Hakkar’s attacks siphoned off players’ characters’ “blood,” weakening them to replenish his own strength. The game allowed for players to contaminate (or “corrupt”) their characters’ blood and thus poison Hakkar. But the tactic could also affect characters’ in-game pet.Engineers for the game told PC Magazine in 2019 that the problem originated from a mistake by the design team; if a character’s pet was in play at the time they poisoned Hakkar using that maneuver, the corrupted blood effect — and damage to not only the pet but any other character — would linger even after completing that part of the game.“Every time you’d summon that pet you’d reinfect yourself and all the players around you and it wouldn’t check if you were in a raid so you’d do it while you were in town and the entire town would get corrupted,” said Shane Dabiri, chief of staff for the game’s manufacturer Blizzard Entertainment. The effect was further spread by players who willfully “infected” their characters, and then deliberately took them to other virtual sites on the WOW platform.“Even once we figured out what was going on it made it really, really hard to fix it,” Cash said:Our choices were either to go through every pet in every server in every country in the entire world and check if it had corrupted blood and get rid of it, or get really hacky code in where every time you summoned a pet it would check and see if it had corrupted blood on it and get rid of it.At the time, an estimated 6.5 million players used the game platform. As Reuters would report in 2009, the corrupted blood outbreak, which lasted around a month, affected 4 million of them. But the situation also prompted researchers to take note.In a March 2007 article for the journal Epidemiology, physician Ran D. Balicer from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel called the purposeful spread of corrupted blood by WOW players “the first virtual act of bio-warfare” and drew parallels between that outbreak online and the public spread of other diseases in the real world:The role of an asymptomatic-yet-infective animal reservoir, for instance, is evident in avian influenza. Asymptomatic ducks had an important role in allowing this otherwise relatively lethal avian disease to become endemic in East Asia and spread to other parts of the world. Furthermore, attempts by game administrators to quarantine infected areas proved futile due to the ability of characters to rapidly teleport to distant lands. This is similar to the role of air travel in the rapid global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (ie, SARS).That same year, in a paper for Lancet Infectious Diseases, Tufts University professor Nina Fefferman and co-author Eric Lofgren from the University of North Carolina argued that because WOW players can be so immersed in the game, that their reactions could be used as a gauge for how non-gamers could react in the event of a real-world outbreak:The modern world has two distinct types of pathogens, real and virtual. Real pathogens are, logically, those that infect real organisms, many of which subsequently cause disease and become subject to the attentions of the medical and public-health professions. The second type of pathogen, the virtual virus, infects computers through software. The outbreak we have described marks the first time that a virtual virus has infected a virtual human being in a manner even remotely resembling an actual epidemiological event. As technology and biology become more heavily integrated in daily life, this small step towards the interaction of virtual viruses and human beings could become highly significant.More than a decade later, those respective analyses continued to hold true; Eric Lofgren, who as of March 2020 was working as an infectious disease specialist at the Washington State University veterinary teaching hospital, told the Canadian Broadcast Company that implementing planned outbreaks within virtual settings could provide data for how to combat viral diseases outside of them.“In the real world, we can observe people’s behaviour, but we don’t know everything about the rest of the universe. We don’t know perfectly if you’re sick or not,” he said. “In a game, we can, at least in theory, know all of those things. They’re programmatic; you can record them.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Players in the online \"\"World of Warcraft\"\" game were hit with an in-game virus, one that was later studied by researchers.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be63fdedd76740e3b26a8a4090d2ddb6",
            "input": "Rapid, widespread testing is considered essential to tracking and containing the coronavirus. But 41 of the nation’s 50 states fail to test widely enough to drive their infections below a key benchmark, according to an AP analysis of metrics developed by Harvard’s Global Health Institute. Among the states falling short are  Texas and Georgia, which recently moved aggressively to reopen stores, malls, barbershops and other businesses. Also Friday, Democrats approved a massive $3 trillion coronavirus response bill in the House over Republican opposition. It aims aims to prop up a U.S. economy in free fall and a health care system overwhelmed by a pandemic. But the measure has no chance of passing the GOP-controlled Senate and has already drawn a White House veto threat. As health authorities expand testing to more people, the number of positive results should shrink compared with the total number of people tested. The World Health Organization and other health researchers have said a percentage above 10% indicates inadequate testing. South Korea, a country praised for its rapid response, quickly pushed its positive cases to below 3%. Most governors are moving ahead with unlocking their states, even in cases where they are not meeting broad guidelines recommended by the White House. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has set a goal of 30,000 tests per day as his state launched one of the nation’s most aggressive reopenings on May 1. He never set a firm date on when the state would hit the 30,000 mark, but for most of May, the daily testing numbers fell short of that. Local leaders say tests are still in short supply. El Paso officials have pleaded with the governor to postpone easing up any more business restrictions in light of the COVID-19 cases there surging 60% over the past two weeks. The first stage of Maryland’s reopening began Friday evening, when some retail stores were allowed to reopen and a stay-at-home order was lifted. Some of the hardest-hit parts of the state, including the suburbs of Washington, D.C., extended restrictions for residents and businesses. Maryland averaged 4,265 tests per day this week, compared with about 4,900 the previous week. Nearly 22 percent of people tested positive in Maryland on average over the last seven days. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan made headlines last month when the state acquired 500,000 test kits from a South Korean company in a confidential deal, but Maryland has not had all the components needed for testing — like swabs — to meet demand. Hogan said Maryland just received swabs this week from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “We requested 350,000,” Hogan said Wednesday. “They’ve committed to 225,000, and I think we got 75,000 yesterday with another 125,000 that are supposedly days away, along with the tubes and the stuff that goes with them. So it’s not enough, but it helps us.” Harvard University researchers have calculated that the U.S. needs to test at least 900,000 people daily to safely reopen the economy, based on the 10% positivity rate and other key metrics. That goal is nearly three times the country’s current daily testing tally of about 360,000, according to figures compiled by the COVID Tracking Project website. “The fact that testing has become the Achilles’ heel that has made it hard for us to have a great national response to this pandemic is a tragedy,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute. President Donald Trump insisted again this week that his administration “met the moment” and “prevailed” on testing, even as he continued shifting responsibility for the effort to the governors. Administration officials said they will provide states with enough testing supplies to conduct about 400,000 tests per day in May and June. That’s less than half the total recommended by the Harvard team. Only nine states met the daily rate recommended by Jha and his colleagues, according to the AP analysis. Most of those states are large and rural, such as Montana, Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming. Meanwhile, states with some of the biggest testing shortfalls, including New York and New Jersey, have signaled they will keep stay-at-home orders in place or only partially ease restrictions. “I really do feel there are dangers here to opening up without enough tests, but I don’t feel it’s a uniform danger everywhere in the country,” Jha said. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will allow many smaller cities and rural regions of upstate New York to gradually reopen first, industry by industry, in areas that have been spared the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak. The first wave of businesses includes retail — though only for curbside or in-store pickup — along with construction and manufacturing. Cuomo also announced beaches would be allowed to open in time for the Memorial Day weekend. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will let individual shore towns decide whether to reopen beaches. His long-awaited guidance Thursday directed them to set occupancy limits, require 6 feet (2 meters) of space between beachgoers, except family members or couples, and prohibit groups of 10 or more from congregating on the beach. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state’s testing reached 35,000 daily this week and that more than 1 million tests have been administered. The state remains on lockdown, though Southern California’s beaches are open with restrictions. North Carolina also has made testing progress, reporting on an all-time high of more than 12,000 additional tests completed Friday compared to the previous day. But the state’s seven-day rolling average of just over 6,000 tests is still well below the 11,000 daily tests recommended by the Harvard team. The testing increases over the past few weeks contributed in part to Gov. Roy Cooper and state leaders feeling comfortable with easing his stay-at-home order May 8. Grand Canyon National Park reopened Friday to allow visitors in for day trips but not overnight. By 7:30 a.m., more than two dozen people were enjoying South Rim viewpoints. Signs reminded tourists to keep their distance from one another and stay in groups of less than 10. Volume of testing isn’t the only concern. The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that it was investigating preliminary data suggesting a rapid COVID-19 test used daily to test Trump and key members of his staff can miss infections. Trump expressed confidence in the test from Abbott Laboratories. Worldwide, there have been more than 4.4 million coronavirus infections reported and 300,000 deaths, while nearly 1.6 million people have recovered, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. ___ Witte reported from Annapolis, Maryland. Forster reported from New York City. Associated Press writers Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland; Paul Weber in Austin, Texas; Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; and Matt York at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, also contributed to this report. ___ This version corrects that Texas and Georgia recently moved to reopen businesses, not that both did so last month. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Most US states fall short of recommended testing levels."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96d564c1805445bda2560eee0d4fd752",
            "input": "Richard Ratcliffe said in Britain that his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been moved to the mental health ward of Iman Khomeini hospital under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. “Hopefully her transfer to hospital means that she is getting treatment and care, despite my distrust of just what pressures can happen behind closed doors. It is unnerving when we don’t know what is going on,” he said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, was arrested in Iran while traveling with the couple’s young daughter in April 2016 and has been sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spying, which she and her family vehemently deny. She and her husband recently ended a hunger strike designed to call attention to her plight. British officials have failed to secure her release despite repeated efforts. Her father said he visited the hospital in Tehran Tuesday but was not allowed to see his daughter, who has been out of contact with her family. British officials urged Iranian officials to let her have immediate contact with her family and said her treatment has violated all international norms. Foreign Office minister Andrew Murrison told Parliament the government is worried Zaghari-Ratcliffe may face abuse and be forced to sign a bogus confession. “We are concerned,” he said. “I want to appeal to the better nature of people in Tehran to do what is right for Nazanin.” He conceded, however, that Britain’s options and influence are limited, even though Prime Minister Theresa May has raised it with Iran’s leaders. The Free Nazanin Campaign said in a statement that it does not know what treatment she is receiving or how long she is expected to remain in the hospital.",
            "output": [
                "British-Iranian woman held in Iran moved to psychiatric ward."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cd6f3af92e74966b569c26d495c86b7",
            "input": "Hendrick Motorsports announced Earnhardt’s status Wednesday. Earnhardt was evaluated by doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program. Owner Rick Hendrick said Earnhardt is working hard to get back and will follow doctors’ recommendations for his recovery. Hendrick said the program is fully behind Earnhardt. Alex Bowman, who drove for Earnhardt at New Hampshire, will return to drive the No. 88 Chevrolet at Michigan this weekend. Jeff Gordon will fill in at Darlington, where he has won seven races. Gordon has driven the past four races for Earnhardt.",
            "output": [
                "Dale Earnhardt Jr. to miss at least 2 more races."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-916720d10af54911a7ceb9a475d58b97",
            "input": "The outbreak comes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, when many of China’s 1.4 billion people will be travelling to their home towns or abroad. The World Health Organization and Chinese authorities are taking steps to ensure the disease does not spread further. Thai health authorities said on Wednesday they were stepping up monitoring of passengers arriving at airports with infrared thermal scanners ahead of the holiday, when 800,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit the country. Memories remain fresh in Asia of a 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China and killed nearly 800 people worldwide. WHO has said there may have been limited human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus in China within families. And authorities in Wuhan confirmed on Wednesday that a married couple were among 41 people diagnosed with pneumonia believed to be caused by the new virus. There were no new cases or deaths at the end of Tuesday, the city’s health authority said. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission did not say in the statement whether the couple represented an instance of human-to-human transmission. But it said the husband, who worked at a seafood market suspected of being at the epicentre of the outbreak, was the first to fall ill and that his wife did not have any exposure to the market. Some of the other people diagnosed also denied visiting the market, the commission said. The authorities in Wuhan also confirmed that a Chinese woman quarantined in Thailand, the first case of the mystery strain of coronavirus to be detected outside of China, had come from Wuhan. The State Department’s notice referred to an alert by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging citizens in China travelling to Wuhan to avoid contact with animals, animal markets or animal products, among other precautions. It also asked citizens those who had visited Wuhan and feel sick to seek medical care. The Wuhan health commission said in another statement issued late Wednesday that 7 of the 41 pneumonia patients have been released. The statement also said that 450 of the 763 people put under observation due to their close contact with known patients have been released.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. warns citizens in China about pneumonia outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3e259e2cd0a462aa263f03634d5e4ab",
            "input": "The overdose death rate remained unchanged during 2016 at 24.8 deaths per 1,000 residents, considering slight statewide population growth, the state Department of Health announced Wednesday. The rate of unintentional fatal drug overdoses — those not linked to suicides — showed a slight increase. Nearly three in four overdose deaths statewide involved opioids of some kind, including prescription pain medication and heroin. State Epidemiologist Michael Landen said the plateau in the fatal overdose rate is unsatisfactory but runs counter to a worsening national trend. “This is much more favorable than having continued substantial increases in rates, which is what we’re seeing from around the country,” Landen said. “But that’s not satisfactory. We want our rates to drop and continue dropping.” Overdose deaths in New Mexico have hovered well above the national average, even as the state has implemented pioneering policies to rein in fatalities. The state was the first in 2001 to increase access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, and a few years later, it led the way in releasing people from legal liability when they assist in overdose situations. This year, New Mexico became the first U.S. state to require all local and state law enforcement agencies to provide officers with antidote kits in an effort to curb deaths from opioid overdoses. State health officials are holding out hope that documented decreases in opioid prescriptions in early 2017 will help limit addiction and overdose deaths. New Mexico strengthened its prescription monitoring program in response to a surge in its drug overdose death rate in 2014, when the state ranked second only to West Virginia. In 2015, seven states had higher overdoes death rates. Full state-by-state comparisons for 2016 won’t be released until later in the year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Department Secretary Lynn Gallagher cited a decrease in early 2017 in the amount of prescribed opioids and fewer dangerous overlapping prescriptions for individual patients as encouraging developments, while lamenting the continued loss of life from overdoses. “There’s a lot more work to be done,” she said in a statement. Unintentional overdose deaths in New Mexico increased to 428 in 2016 from 410 in 2015. Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death from injury in New Mexico and nationally, exceeding traffic related deaths. Emily Kaltenbach, state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, said stubbornly high fatalities should prompt new questions about state spending and tactics. Landen said recently approved funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is helping New Mexico study the effectiveness of efforts to stem overdose deaths — “to tease out what policy interventions are more effective and which ones may be less useful.” Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez counts drug overdose prevention as a major priority, including efforts to increase access to medications such as buprenorphine and methadone used to wean addicts off opioid pills or heroin. At the same time, a federal review is underway into the level of access that New Mexico residents have to behavior health services, which include drug-dependency treatment, under Medicaid. The state’s behavior health system was upended in 2013 when Martinez’s administration froze payments to more than a dozen nonprofits based on concerns about possible fraud. An investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office eventually found only regulatory violations and no patterns of fraud.",
            "output": [
                "Drug overdose deaths up slightly in New Mexico."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7deecd9697534d5eaf7e0360b1f42c8c",
            "input": "\"The costs of foods containing vitamin E is not really in question, so we’ll call this one not applicable. The story comes a whisker away from earning a satisfactory on this one. It leads by noting that participants with the highest vitamin E intakes had a 25% lower risk of dementia compared with those who had the lowest intakes, It more precisely quantifies this benefit later in the story, where it explains that 120 people developed dementia in the group with the highest vitamin E intake compared with 164 people in the low- intake group. What would have been most informative, however, is if the story had provided some denominators for this comparison — that is, 120 out of how many people developed dementia in the first group compared with 164 out of how many people in the second? This would given readers a better sense of the absolute risk reduction associated with higher vitamin E intake. We know this sets the bar high, but for good reason, we think. There are no known harms to eating a diet rich in foods containing vitamin E, but this story goes the extra mile and notes that high vitamin E intake from supplements can cause excessive bleeding. The story uses appropriate language and caveats when reporting on the results of this observational study. It notes that the findings \"\"do not prove that vitamin E itself protects the aging brain,\"\" and there is no talk about vitamin E \"\"lowering the risk\"\" of dementia. The story also provides the key details regarding how the researchers conducted the study, including the number of participants; how vitamin E intake was assessed; how long the participants were followed; what confounding factors were included in the analysis; and how much vitamin E participants were getting in the group that had the lowest risk. Had the story sought out a comment from an expert in nutritional epidemiology, they likely would have pointed out some problems with trying to assess dietary intake from a single baseline questionnaire as was used in this study. They also would have provided additional context about the MANY other studies (including other large cohorts) that have looked at associations between antioxidants and dementia/ cognitive decline. Nevertheless, readers can’t miss the take-home message, which is that these findings are not conclusive. There was no disease-mongering of dementia in this story. Although the story is generally well balanced, it could have benefited from the inclusion of an independent comment on the findings. Valuable context about prior studies and the serious limitations of the current study would have been helpful. There is currently no proven method for preventing age-related dementia. We might have wished that this story had mentioned some other diet and lifestyle choices that are associated with reduced risk in observational studies. These include staying physically active, not smoking, eating a Mediterranean-style diet (rich in fruits and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids), and keeping your mind engaged in intellectually challenging pursuits. But since the evidence is kind of squishy for all of this, we rule this satisfactory. The story provides a list of foods that are rich in this micronutrient. The idea that vitamin E and other antioxidants might protect against dementia is not new, and the story doesn’t suggest that it is. While the story doesn’t appear to have lifted anything directly from the press release issued for this study, it also doesn’t seem to have interviewed anyone about the research. Since we can’t be sure to what extent the story relied on a release, we’ll call it not applicable.\"",
            "output": [
                "Higher vitamin E intake tied to lower dementia risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29979d5d3966494784c233a50d416370",
            "input": "The Soil & Water Outcomes Fund, a partnership with the Iowa Soybean Association and third-party verification company Quantified Ventures, will then sell the environmental credits created to polluters such as cities and companies, including Cargill itself, Ryan Sirolli, Director of Row Crop Sustainability at Cargill, told Reuters. The program is a welcome source of farm revenue as the price of crops such as corn and soybeans hovers near the lowest in several years after the bruising trade war between the United States and China and, now, the coronavirus pandemic that has kneecapped the global economy. It also follows rising criticism of intensive farming practices and the companies that rely on them. Environmentalists criticized Cargill last year for delaying a self-stated goal of ridding its supply chain of crops produced on deforested land. Farmers in Iowa have enrolled almost 10,000 acres in a pilot program this spring, but the group is aiming to expand the program next season and broaden it beyond Iowa, Sirolli said. Farmer Lance Lillibridge of Vinton, Iowa, enrolled about 300 acres in the program this season and expects to get at least $35 an acre, which will offset some of his planting costs. “For a farmer, our margins are really small. In fact, right now there’s no margin at all ... This is the first time that we are rewarded for our sustainability efforts,” Lillibridge said. Funded by grants from Cargill and the Walton Family Foundation, the Soil & Water Outcomes Fund will pay farmers $30 to $45 per acre this season, depending on what environmental results are confirmed, said Adam Kiel, director of conservation for the Iowa Soybean Association. “We’ve got ambitions to go more broadly beyond Iowa in future years,” Kiel said. “Farmers view this as another revenue source on their farm that’s not a government payment.”  Cargill estimates the practices would prevent runoff of 100,000 pounds of nitrogen and 10,000 pounds of phosphorus this year and sequester 7,500 tons of carbon in soils, equivalent to taking 1,480 cars off the road. The fund is among the first of its kind to seek to verify and monetize the environmental benefits of farming practices such as no-till farming and planting cover crops like grass to prevent erosion. Historically, conservation schemes have paid farmers for more environmentally friendly practices but have not verified their benefits. “We’re seeing a big shift in terms of the way we look at sustainability and how the industry is looking at it,” Cargill’s Sirolli said.",
            "output": [
                "Cargill-led fund to pay U.S. farmers for carbon capture, exchange credits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4523d9eca3404125a81a56dd45d20e3b",
            "input": "“Every death is heartbreaking,” said Dr. Roy Goldberg, medical director at Kings Harbor Multicare Center, a 720-bed home in the Bronx which reported 45 fatalities. “These have been surreal times.” The state’s accounting of multiple deaths at 68 nursing homes was based on a survey and is substantially incomplete. It accounted for less than half of the 2,690 nursing home deaths that have been reported in the state. It also didn’t include people who got sick in nursing homes, but then died at hospitals. But it was the first time the state provided any information about homes that, according to an Associated Press tally, account for nearly 40% of the nation’s 6,912 deaths in such facilities At the top of the list with 55 deaths was Cobble Hill Health Center, a 300-bed facility in a 19th-century former hospital in a tony section of Brooklyn. Four ambulances arrived within an hour at the facility Friday, underscoring the ongoing crisis. Police showed up to assist with the removal of bodies, including one that was wheeled out the front door. The Cobble Hill home said in a statement that the deaths it reported were “based on the possibility of COVID-19 being a factor,” adding testing in nursing homes remains “extremely difficult to obtain.”  “Although we’ve had an increase in deaths during the past few weeks, we have not been able to confirm that the deaths are specifically related to COVID-19,” the statement said. A total of 19 homes in New York’s report listed 20 deaths or more. The survey’s release came a day after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration reversed course and promised transparency about the worst outbreaks, after previously saying residents at the hardest-hit homes deserved privacy. Few states have released such information. Cuomo did not respond directly when asked at his daily coronavirus briefing why his administration had not alerted the public about the outbreaks sooner. “We’ve been talking about nursing homes every day for the past 30 days,” Cuomo said. “We’ve said 157 times the most vulnerable population are seniors, the most vulnerable places are nursing homes. ... I think we’ve been talking about it all along.” The state’s list omitted homes with fewer than five deaths. Connecticut released a similar list Thursday, reporting that eight nursing homes had at least 10 residents die. In Connecticut, nursing home residents account for 375 of the state’s 971 virus deaths. Officials at several of the nursing homes on the list said they were doing their best, and attributed the high number of deaths to the fragility of their patients and difficulty in keeping the virus out, rather than substandard care. “We have had our share of sadness,” Lina Scacco, an assistant vice president at Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation in New Hyde Park, where 38 people have died. “We’re all grieving here.” Scacco said the facility, whose residents include war veterans and Holocaust survivors was ravaged despite having infection control practices that exceed CDC and health department regulations and guidelines. Now, she said, they’re planning virtual memorials for residents who’ve died and grief counseling for staff members. “This has been devastating to our families,” Scacco said. Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association and the New York State Center for Assisted Living, said the figures reflect the fact that those facilities are dealing with extremely vulnerable patients. “Outbreaks are not the result of inattentiveness or a shortcoming in our facilities,” he wrote in a statement. “The very nature of long-term care is a high touch environment where social distancing is not an option. Staff are helping residents with bathing, dressing, eating and other personal daily needs.” He also blamed the state health department for worsening the situation by barring nursing homes from denying admission to patients with COVID-19 if they were medically stable. Nursing homes have been known since the earliest days of the outbreak as a likely trouble spot. A home in Washington state lost 43 residents early in the virus’s spread into the country. Italy, which was hit before the U.S., is also in the midst of a nursing home crisis, with health officials there estimating Friday that thousands of patients there have been killed by the virus. Yet even with that early warning, many nursing homes remained without adequate supplies of personal protective equipment. Testing for residents and staff remains spotty, at best. Federal officials in mid-March banned visitors, halted group activities and ordered mandatory screening of workers for respiratory symptoms, but by then the virus had quietly spread widely. Kings Harbor’s medical director, Goldberg, said staff members there created two dedicated COVID-19 units to treat infected patients and followed “every department of health and CDC recommendation and regulation.” “Obtaining PPE has always been a struggle,” he added, “but we’ve always stayed one step ahead.” New York state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, said the state is providing enough personal protective equipment for nursing homes and helping with staffing. “We’re working with each individual nursing home to address that. We contact them and if there’s a need for PPE ... we have stockpiles.” Many nursing home administrators also previously declined to release information, leading Cuomo to say this week that the state would begin requiring homes to inform patients and their families within 24 hours if a resident got the virus or died. Chris Laxton, executive director of the The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, applauded the state for releasing the data. But he said facilities still desperately need the state’s help. “We continue to be in urgent need of PPE, especially gowns, test kits, and surge staff, to limit staff from traveling between buildings and risking additional spread,′ Laxton said. Some nursing homes have disclosed information voluntarily that differed from the numbers put out by the state Friday. The state survey listed 10 deaths at the Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, about 50 miles north of New York City, but facility Vice President Vincent Maniscalco said 21 residents have died recently. Eight of those patients, he said, had symptoms consistent with the virus but died prior to being tested. “It’s been a very trying time for the staff, to lose residents they care for day in and day out,” Maniscalco said. Outbreaks killed 46 at a nursing home in suburban Richmond, Virginia, and 22 at a home in central Indiana. County officials in northern New Jersey said Thursday that at least 26 patients had died at a nursing home in Andover. An Associated Press report  found infections were continuing to find their way into nursing homes because screening staff for a fever or questioning them about symptoms didn’t catch people who were infected but asymptomatic. — Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and David R. Martin and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "‘Heartbreaking’ report shows virus ravaging NY nursing homes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b338c63b74b41f79476a33d11a9c049",
            "input": "The Office of Inspector General on Friday released two reports that look into the longstanding challenges of the 28 hospitals directly operated by the federal Indian Health Service. The OIG, which acknowledged that reports of inadequate health care services for Native Americans have been of concern to the federal government for almost a century, criticized the agency’s limited oversight regarding compliance with federal regulations and quality of care, detailing how the agency’s regional administrators have few sources of information to assess the services provided at the facilities. The Indian Health Service, commonly referred to as IHS, is responsible for providing health care services to enrolled tribal members as part of the government’s treaty obligations to Native American tribes. But the agency has faced challenges for decades, and within the past year it has been under increased scrutiny from Congress after inspections of hospitals in the Great Plains uncovered severe deficiencies. The OIG says IHS’s eight regional offices conduct activities to monitor the quality of the facilities, but those efforts are minimal in some areas. One of the reports states that the primary source of information that the regional offices use to detect quality problems is a small number of complaints and patient harm reports. “However, according to hospital administrators, most patient complaints relate to customer service and wait times, rather than medical care,” according to the report. “Further, most hospitals (20 of 28) receive fewer than 100 complaints per year for inpatient and outpatient visits combined, averaging about 1 complaint per 1,000 patient visits. ... Considering the quantity and subject matter of complaints and patient harm reports, they are unlikely to provide hospital staff with the breadth of information needed to identify and diagnose systemic quality or compliance breakdowns.” The OIG, which gathered the information for the reports between April and October 2014, also said that only half of the regional offices conducted mock inspection surveys that could provide insight regarding the facilities’ quality practices. The watchdog also faulted the IHS for staggering findings of outdated facilities and the weekslong process that job applicants must follow, even when the physician vacancy rate was 33 percent at the time the information for the reports was gathered. According to the report, in 15 of the 28 hospitals, administrators reported that aging or inadequate physical environments affected their ability to give quality care. Corroded pipes in one hospital caused sewage to leak into the operating room. The IHS has now been under scrutiny for more than a year after inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS, found several quality-of-care deficiencies at hospitals in South Dakota and Nebraska. At one facility, the alarming conditions of its emergency room led officials to close it for seven months. The OIG on Friday recommended that CMS inspectors survey IHS facilities more frequently. The IHS in a statement Friday concurred with recommendations made by the OIG, including the need for more training for staffers and new ways to monitor hospital quality. The IHS also said it began a mock survey initiative at 26 hospitals in May 2016 to assess compliance with the standards that facilities must meet to be able to participate in the Medicare program. The IHS’s statement also highlighted a team that was formed in February 2016 “to ensure that dependable, quality care is delivered consistently across IHS facilities.” ___ Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO ___ Associated Press writer James Nord contributed to this report from Pierre, South Dakota.",
            "output": [
                "Watchdog: Staff issues affect care at reservation hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e2b6b22a0d54022a619acecb70ccd04",
            "input": "Although this story does not specifically report the cost of Vitamin D supplements, it does note that Americans spent $425 million on Vitamin D supplements in 2009 and that the spending had increased 10-fold since 2001. Simply reporting the list price of Vitamin D pills, which are just a few pennies each, might lead readers to dismiss the cost implications of this sort of recommendation; so reporting the national spending is more informative. Despite the clashing headline and lead sentence that appear to imply that Americans would benefit from increasing their vitamin D consumption, the body of the story clearly reports the conclusion of the Institute of Medicine committee that almost all Americans already consume enough vitamin D and calcium to maintain their bones… and that evidence is lacking to conclude there are other health benefits. Readers are also shown comments from individual researchers who believe their studies point to other benefits. Some of the comments appear to misstate what the Institute of Medicine actually concluded, for example, that the committee “appreciated that everyone needs more Vitamin D.” Nevertheless, on balance readers should be able to distinguish between the recommendations of the IOM committee and the opinions of individual scientists. The story doesn’t define precisely what is meant by “bone health” or “skeletal health;” however, since the IOM report made its recommendation based on a broad review of the evidence, rather that a single experiment, it does not seem necessary for this story to try to include detailed numbers about bone health or other outcomes. Although the story mentions that the Institute of Medicine committee defined upper limits of vitamin D and calcium consumption, below which harms are unlikely, it does not tell readers that the report highlighted the potential harms of excessive consumption of calcium has been associated with kidney stones and that very high levels of vitamin D are known to cause kidney and tissue damage. Increased rates of bone fractures and overall mortality have also been reported in some studies that the IOM committee looked at. (The New York Times story, by comparison, touched on most of these harms.) The story is clear that the Institute of Medicine report is based on a review of the available evidence on vitamin D and calcium. It notes that the committee found many of the studies were not able to demonstrate cause-and-effect and that the results were often contradictory, except for consistent evidence of benefits for bone health. The story also includes comments from dissenting researchers. These comments help readers understand that while this report represents a consensus of experts, there is still active debate about key aspects of the role of vitamin D and calcium in health. The story clearly reports that the Institute of Medicine committee concluded most Americans already consume adequate amounts of vitamin D. The headline, however, could lead casual readers to believe that the report urges a tripling of vitamin D consumption, the opposite of the actual intent of the Institute of Medicine committee. A mixed bag on this. The story includes comments from multiple independent sources. However, the story can be criticized for not clearly stating some potential conflicts of interest. For instance, one of the critics of the Institute of Medicine committee’s conclusions, Bruce W. Hollis, has been a consultant to a company that sells diagnostic tests for vitamin D blood levels and he was awarded at least one patent for a vitamin D assay. Reference:  Inventor: Hollis, Bruce Warren (Charleston, SC) 1998 Vitamin D assay Assignee: Nhh, Biologics (East Amherst, NY) patent number: 5821020 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5821020.html That’s worth at least a nod in the story. The story explains that there are alternatives to supplements; that vitamin D is included in foods (natural and fortified) and that vitamin D is produced in our skin when exposed to sunlight. The story reports that Vitamin D is present in certain foods, as a fortified element in many foods, as a common pill and as a byproduct of exposure to sunlight. There is no claim of novelty. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. panel triples Vitamin D intake guideline"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2672108706fa44dca7590e44df5933a8",
            "input": "Minnesota Board of Animal Health officials say the virus was confirmed in seven deer on a Goodhue County farm and six have died. The virus, called epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, is carried by biting flies and causes rapid death from internal bleeding. No vaccine is available for infected animals. State wildlife officials say there’s no indication the virus is present in the wild deer population. And, although it’s the first time the virus has been detected in deer in Minnesota, it has been present in the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa. The Star Tribune reports there are no known health risks to humans. ___ Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Deadly deer virus found in Minnesota for the first time."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3abab224242e4697ac15d556c9d9c544",
            "input": "Amid a scarcity of doctors and public hospitals, India is relying on its mobile telephone network, the second largest in the world with 950 million connections, to reach places where health workers rarely go. “It’s a huge priority for us,” health ministry official Manoj Jhalani told Reuters, adding that the service, advising on vaccinations and vitamin supplements, will launch in eight of the country’s Hindi-speaking states by Aug. 15.”These are the most cost-effective health interventions,” said Jhalani, the supervisor of the project, named ‘Kilkari,’ or “Baby’s Gurgle”, which will tailor its recorded messages to individual stages of pregnancy or the age of a newborn. Poor sanitary conditions and stark poverty prevail in many villages in India, which recorded 50,000 maternal deaths in 2013, when 1.3 million children died before turning five. Preventable hazards such as pneumonia, or poor nutrition, cause most deaths of mothers and babies. Many women give birth at home without access to clean water and toilets, while public medical clinics remain dilapidated and overcrowded. Over the last 18 months, almost 100,000 rural families have signed up for the voice message project, first piloted by the government of the impoverished, but resource-rich, eastern state of Bihar. With India’s health services starved for funds, the mobile phone messages are a cheaper way to spread basic tips on health. Payment delays have led to months of disruption in the traditional system of home visits by health workers to encourage pregnant women to take medicine and follow safety measures. The new project, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the charity arm of British broadcaster BBC, will make use of a national database to track pregnant women. Another service, Mobile Academy, will also use recorded messages to help train India’s millions of health workers. Health experts welcome the initiatives, but warn such mobile phone campaigns will not be enough to cut mortality rates unless India ramps up health services, particularly in rural areas. “This (mobile services) will have a very marginal effect,” said Dileep Mavalankar, director of the Indian Institute of Public Health in the western state of Gujarat, adding that the health system needed to be strengthened in remote areas.",
            "output": [
                "India bets on mobiles in battle on maternal, child deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a699668fedce47f8b9613bddaf068e69",
            "input": "But the drugmakers and industry analysts said some data in the trial were encouraging and that the medicine could still prove effective in preventing dangerous blood clots in other large trials. “Not good news, but not a death knell either,” said Michael Castor, a portfolio manager with health-care fund Sio Capital Management. He noted that the drug remains in development, including for other uses, and did show effectiveness despite missing the trial’s main goal. The stocks of both drugmakers were little changed in after-hours trading. Bristol-Myers closed unchanged at $21.98, while Pfizer fell 23 cents to $19.28, both on the New York Stock Exchange in regular trading. The Phase III trial was designed to show whether twice-daily apixaban was at least as effective as twice-daily injections of Sanofi-Aventis’ Lovenox in preventing dangerous blood clots among patients undergoing knee-replacement surgery. The failure represents another setback for two companies that had hoped apixaban would become a big seller and bolster their earnings in the face of looming generic competition within three years for their best-selling drugs. “Not to say that apixaban is buried, but this initial poor result is another in a string of poor partnering decisions that Pfizer has recently made,” said Damien Conover, an analyst with Morningstar. The drugmakers said 9 percent of knee-surgery patients receiving apixaban developed dangerous clots, versus 8.9 percent of those receiving Lovenox. The new drug, therefore, was not deemed statistically as effective as Lovenox. Bristol-Myers said this was surprising because about 16 percent of patients taking Lovenox had developed dangerous clots in earlier studies. Patients had statistically similar incidents of major bleeding, although the combined incidence of major and non-major bleeding was significantly less in patients given apixaban, the company said. Apixaban has generated excitement because it works through a new mechanism of action, by blocking a protein called Factor Xa that is instrumental in the clotting process. A similar drug, called rivaroxaban, is being co-developed by Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson and considered slightly farther along in testing. “This would seem to benefit Johnson & Johnson and Bayer,” said Mike Krensavage, a principal of Krensavage Asset Management. “It’s another setback for Pfizer as well,” he said, referring to its string of drug failures in recent years that has driven the company’s stock to 10-year lows. Just weeks ago, Bristol-Myers described apixaban as the most promising of its medicines in late-stage studies. Analysts have said it could become a blockbuster drug, especially if it proves effective in preventing strokes among patients with atrial fibrillation, a form of irregular heartbeat. Despite the setback, the drugmakers said they remain confident in apixaban and will continue other large studies of the medicine. “This is the first of eight Phase III trials for a broad range of indications, including atrial fibrillation, and we view all of them as very significant opportunities,” said Jack Lawrence, a Bristol-Myers research official who heads the apixaban program.",
            "output": [
                "Bristol, Pfizer to delay clot drug after setback."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c224bbdc2a94a0e970e499b19b1eaf2",
            "input": "There is broad scientific consensus that the effects of climate change have devastated the world’s reefs, recently ravaging large swaths of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, one of the natural wonders of the world. The carbon dioxide that humans pump into the atmosphere spikes the temperature and acidity of seawater, which both poisons the marine invertebrates and hampers their growth at alarming rates, according to studies published last year in the journal Science. Experts estimate that half of the corals that existed in the early 20th century have died. But the corals at the northernmost tip of the Red Sea are exhibiting remarkable resistance to the rising water temperatures and acidification, according to recent research conducted by the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences based in Eilat. Experts hope the lessons learned in the Red Sea can help coral reefs elsewhere in the world. “Corals worldwide are dying and suffering at a rapid pace, but we have not witnessed a single bleaching event in the Gulf of Aqaba,” said Maoz Fine, an expert on coral reefs at Bar-Ilan University and director of the research. Warmer water causes corals to eject the brightly colored plants that serve as their primary food and oxygen source. This causes reefs to “bleach,” or take on a bone-white pallor that often portends mass mortality. While other hardy coral species can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, “there’s nowhere else in the world that reefs are this far away from their bleaching thresholds,” said Fine. Plenty of other refuges remain unknown, but “this is the only spot we know of with a warranty ensuring these reefs stay safe for the next several decades,” he said. On a recent day at the lab, Fine examined coral fragments in water treated to simulate future global warming scenarios, pointing to their ruddy color as a sign of good health. The Gulf of Aqaba has become a refuge for tough corals that are projected to outlast far worse future conditions. Fine’s latest study, published this month in the Journal of Experimental Biology, found further cause for optimism: The coral species’ thermal resistance carries over to their offspring, indicating that future generations will also remain immune to bleaching, with implications that could extend beyond this spot of the Red Sea. Fine’s research credits northern Red Sea coral resilience to a giant natural selection event that occurred some 18,000 years ago. As glaciers retreated at the end of the ice age, reefs moved in to recolonize the southern part of the sea, where temperatures ran exceedingly high. Only corals that could bear the heat managed to reach maturity and migrate north, where they resettled in conditions several degrees cooler than their thermal threshold. Further research is underway to determine how existing in temperatures below their tolerance levels may lend corals physiological benefits. “All corals were obliterated except for the best genotypes, the winners of the climate change lottery,” said Fine. Today, these hardy corals continue to survive as Red Sea waters warm, only showing signs of heat stress at six degrees above the summer maximum sea temperature. “Not only does this give us an incentive to protect this special refuge as much as possible, but also allows us to find hints as to the most important genes for thermal resistance,” he added. Picking out winning genes can contribute to an urgent worldwide push to restore and repopulate dead reefs. Some cutting-edge labs in Hawaii and Australia have even started crossbreeding the corals that survived or recovered from the mass bleaching of their reefs to create gene banks of “super-corals” that they hope can survive future elevated temperatures. “If corals are surviving and reproducing in the Gulf of Aqaba under stressful conditions, and in the central and southern Red Sea they’re not, we can reseed the hardy corals in nearby bleached areas,” said Jacqueline De La Cour, operations manager for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, who was not a part of the study. “Entirely new ecosystems that can withstand climate change would be established.” The U.S. agency has honed such restoration techniques in Florida, where reefs play a critical role in softening the blow of hurricanes. Jessica Bellworthy, a doctoral student in Fine’s lab, said that while it’s too soon to tell whether Gulf of Aqaba corals would retain their resilience if multiplied and transplanted to other environments, it’s a “direction we could eventually take our data.” Fine likened transplanting corals to “playing God,” saying that although such human intervention has become well-established, it carries ecological risks and raises ethical questions. For instance, should humans be introducing new species where there are natives? But some scientists contend that only a hands-on response can address accelerating reef mortality rates. From 2014-2017, corals experienced the most widespread and damaging “bleaching event” in global history, said De La Cour. Experts often compare reefs to rainforests when trying to convey their stunning diversity of life. “If you lose reefs, you lose everything that depends on them,” said Michael Webster, executive director of Coral Reef Alliance, a San Francisco conservation group. Reef death not only carries dire consequences for wildlife, but also for the homes, health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people: those who fish, work in tourism, dwell on islands made of coral or rely on reef protection from coastal erosion. “The survivors in the Gulf of Aqaba are only going to become even more essential to us over the next 100 years,” said De La Cour. “Coral refuges show us that species can adapt. It gives us hope.”",
            "output": [
                "Northern Red Sea coral reefs may survive a hot, grim future."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-691a5236302d4630b517ae427a345e2b",
            "input": "One of the most important parts of any successful television series is its theme music. Whether the theme is a song with lyrics that provide necessary exposition to explain the show’s premise (as in the case of Gilligan’s Island) or an instrumental that offers a catchy thematic hook (like Hill Street Blues), a series’ theme music is familiar, easily recognizable beacon that signals to regular viewers week after week. Star Trek was no exception. Although the series never ranked high in the ratings during its original 1966-69 run, its theme music — a pinging, four-note opening to William Shatner’s famous “where no man has gone before” narration, followed by a melody overlaid with a quavering soprano wail — was, like The Twilight Zone‘s, recognized even by people who never watched the show itself:  But even most regular viewers were unfamiliar with the theme’s lyrics, or were even aware that the Star Trek theme had lyrics, because they were never used in the show. When Desilu studios produced their Star Trek pilot , they despaired of finding a top-notch composer to score the theme music. Film and TV composers earn most of their money from residuals paid for repeat performances of their compositions, so few of them want to spend their time scoring pilots that have little chance of becoming series, or movies that will disappear without a trace. The combination of Desilu (a small studio with a history of unsuccessful pilots) and an unusual “serious” science fiction series (rare in television at the time) did not offer an promising opportunity for composers. Fortunately for Desilu (and Star Trek), their musical director recommended a talented and experienced arranger from Twentieth Century Fox by the name of Alexander Courage. Courage created the memorable Star Trek theme, as well as a number of other key pieces of incidental music and sound effects. Once the Star Trek pilot was bought by NBC, Courage was in an enviable position: he would receive royalties every time an episode of Star Trek was run (or re-run), and even more royalties if the show lasted long enough to be sold into syndication after its network run was finished. Courage’s windfall lasted only a year, until Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry suddenly laid claim to half the royalties. How? Pressured by Roddenberry, Courage had made a “handshake deal” a couple of years earlier that gave Roddenberry the option of composing lyrics for Courage’s Star Trek music (and Courage signed a contract — unknowingly, he later claimed — to that effect). Roddenberry exercised that option, writing lyrics for the main theme and then asserting his right to half the performance royalties as a co-composer. It made no difference that the lyrics were not intended to be used in the show itself and had never been recorded or released. As the lyricist, Roddenberry was entitled to an equal share of the royalties, whether or not the lyrics were ever used. Courage protested in vain that although the arrangement may have been legal, it was unethical: Roddenberry’s lyrics added nothing to the value of the music and were created for no reason other than to usurp half the composer’s performance royalties. An unsympathetic Roddenberry proclaimed, “Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I’m sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek.”   And what were these lyrics? Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand’ring in star-flight I know He’ll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me. Some viewers think they recall actress Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura character having sung these words during a Star Trek episode, but they’re actually remembering her performing a song called “Beyond Antares” to troubled young Charlie Evans in the first-season episode “Charlie X.” (Nichols did record a [disco!] version of the Star Trek theme with different lyrics some years later.) Roddenberry’s gain was Star Trek‘s loss. Courage scored only a few episodes of the series’ first season before commencing work on the feature film Doctor Dolittle. Afterwards, associate producer Robert Justman was unable to secure Courage’s composing services for Star Trek‘s second season, something Justman attributed to Courage’s lingering disappointment over the royalty issue.",
            "output": [
                "The theme to the original 'Star Trek' television includes never-used lyrics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d6050bddd974738860a3c7b8fb1e7bc",
            "input": "At the last minute, he changed his mind when his young daughter grabbed his arm and begged him: “Daddy, don’t die.”  Unlike Jang, many people do not pull back from the brink in South Korea, which has had the highest suicide rate in the developed world for nine straight years, often drinking pesticide as their way out. But a decade after Jang’s brush with death, a ban on fatal pesticides is credited with cutting the number of suicides by 11 percent last year, the first drop in six years. The government restricted production of Gramoxone, a herbicide linked to suicides, in 2011 and outlawed its sale and storage last year. “The number of suicides by poisoning including Gramoxone fell by 477, which accounts for about 27 percent of the total decrease in the number of people committing suicide,” Lee Jae-won, an official at Statistics Korea, said last week after the government released the latest figures. Pesticide was the method of choice for almost a quarter of the South Koreans who killed themselves between 2006 and 2010, according to a government report to parliament. In the highly competitive society of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, experts say people who end up alone battling pressure for good school grades or from financial burdens have little in the way of a safety net. Despite the improvement in the suicide rate, more than 14,000 South Koreans killed themselves last year. Elderly people living in rural areas are a particularly high-risk group. Since the 1950s, older generations have been fixated on South Korea becoming more competitive and productive, a side effect of rapid industrialisation that turned a war-damaged country into one of the richest in the world. Kim Hyun-chung, a psychiatrist at the Korean Association for Suicide Prevention, sees social stigmas as a major reason for the high suicide rate. Many South Koreans who are depressed or under heavy stress are reluctant to bring up issues like mental illness or an inability to cope, he said. “The ban on toxic pesticides obviously led to the decline in the suicide rate because that is the easiest means of suicide for elderly people in rural towns,” Kim said. “But we still have bridges and charcoal briquettes.”  To help limit access to lethal chemicals, the Life Insurance Philanthropy Foundation launched a campaign to provide pesticide lockers to farming towns with high rates of depression. The foundation, set up by private insurance firms, says no one from the villages with the lockers has committed suicide over the past three years, compared with one or two people from each village who had killed themselves in past years. “The lockers help reduce the impulse to get hold of pesticides because they have to find keys to open them,” Chung Bong-eun, an official at the foundation, told Reuters. The 2012 figures may offer a glimmer of hope, but the latest comparisons by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed South Korea was by far the most suicidal society, followed by Hungary, Russia and Japan. For Jang, working two jobs is still tough, but he regrets trying to kill himself and is happy to have his life to share with his two daughters. While he sees the ban on pesticides as a positive step, he feels for others who are under duress. “Old and young people have their own pain from either quick economic development or unemployment,” he said. “I hope the government will care more about people’s health.”",
            "output": [
                "Pesticide ban cuts South Korea's high suicide rate - a bit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f05618fb1fb04bdeaf916d4a6dc00bce",
            "input": "That— and some TLC — usually does the job. At a recent meeting, the Janesville School Board received the annual school nursing report. The report showed that while Band-Aids and ice packs are applied by the hundreds, school nurses are dealing with more serious concerns. Between the 2014-15 school year and the 2018-19 school year, the number of students requiring health plans, daily medication, inhalers and emergency medication has slowly crept up. Nurses, with the help of health aides, hand out daily medication; set up medical kits for field trips; work with doctors, nurses and parents to serve students with medically complex needs; give eye exams; and provide education and support to parents on everything from bed bugs to seizures and toilet training to allergies, The Janesville Gazette reported. That’s the short list. By the numbers In the 2018-19 school year, the Janesville School District had five nurses serving 10,049 students at 21 district schools and 13 private or nonprofit four-year-old kindergartens. That’s a ratio of one nurse to 2,010 students. Student numbers will remain about the same for the 2019-20 school year. “While the Department of Public Instruction does not mandate a specific ratio to school districts, the average ratio of school nurses to pupils in Wisconsin school districts is 1 to 1,625,” district Director of Pupil Services Kimberli Peerenboom wrote in her report to the board. State law does not require schools to have nurses but does say “emergency nursing services shall be available during the regular school day and during all school sponsored activities of students.” Along with the five nurses, the district also uses health aides. Each elementary school has four hours a day the principal can designate as health aide hours, according to Peerenboom’s report. In the upper grades, principals don’t have hours to designate, but they can assign health-aide duties to office staff, the report stated. Some health aides are also secretaries or serve in other paraprofessional roles that involve working with students. Apart from the general cuts and scrapes, 1,715 students had a documented health condition. Asthma, allergies and attention deficit disorder make up the majority of those cases. Other conditions include Crohn’s disease, diabetes, migraines, cerebral palsy, depression, anxiety and autism spectrum disorders. In addition, 227 students take a daily medication at school, that’s up from 183 students in the 2016-17 school year. The number of students who need emergency medication has gone from 134 students in the 2014-15 school year to 231 in the 2018-19 school year. Nurses aren’t in charge of figuring out why those numbers have increased, they just have to deal with the results. In the 2018-19 school year, nurses and health aides reported 161,089 visits from students, according to Peerenboom’s report. A visit counted as anything from needing a Band-Aid to taking daily medication, the report said. With 21 schools, that’s an estimated 43 visits per day. The numbers in action Based on a recent morning spent with school nurse Heidi Bakke, 43 students a day seemed like a reliable count. An hour before the 8:20 a.m. bell at Wilson Elementary, Bakke was updating a health plan. Such plans are for students with chronic conditions who might need monitoring or intervention during the school day. Creating a plan involves a complex back and forth among the school nurse, parents, and physicians and their nurses. It can be a complicated process. ″(The nurses) are probably not going to be in the building when the emergency happens, so we train medical emergency response teams at each school,” Bakke said. The nursing team recently implemented “grab-and-go bags.” The bags contain all the emergency supplies for children with medical needs and a copy of each child’s health plan. Nurses also must prepare a similar kit when a student with a health plan goes on a field trip. And the nurses also have to let teachers know what to look for. “The kiddos who have diabetes — those are the hardest ones to train teachers on because they have frequent blood sugar checks.” Bakke said. “If the kid is out hiking at the Janesville Schools Outdoor Lab, their blood sugar might drop, so you have to have snacks available.” The morning we visited, Bakke was mentoring a new nurse, Holly Cavey. Also in the small office was Cheri Diehls, the school’s part-time health aide. Once Cavey is trained, she will have five schools to cover, while Bakke has six. That’s another change. Nurses used to travel to all schools, now they’re assigned to five or six. “It’s a better model,” Bakke said. “It provides better continuity of care. I want the kids to get to know nurse Heidi.” While the nurses worked on reports, responded to emails and took calls from physicians’ offices and parents, kids needing immediate attention trooped in and out of the office. There were general owies, issues with hearing or sight, a bloody nose, a student needing their daily medication, another needing help with an inhaler, and a half dozen other issues traditionally associated with a trip to the nurse’s office. Cavey and Bakke then headed to Franklin Middle School, where there seemed to be a lunch rush in the nurse’s office. Health aide Angela Basurto-Bonilla was keeping things calm, explaining to students that if their temperature was normal and they weren’t throwing up, it would be best for them to stay in school. The nurse’s office is across from the main office, and sometimes the new students got them mixed up. The proximity works well since sometimes the office secretaries worked as health aides. “Do you feel sick? Well, you’re in the right place,” Basurto-Bonilla told a student. Bakke said the health aides were crucial to the success of the district’s nursing program. Their skills, demeanor and their day-to-day knowledge of students are crucial to the nurse’s work. Despite the number of reports she writes and the amount of training she does, it’s the interaction with students that’s the most important to her. ___ Information from: The Janesville Gazette, http://www.gazetteextra.com",
            "output": [
                "School nurses serve many needs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-55437f9bf80b435ab45fb6b8024ab7dd",
            "input": "The case, published in The Lancet medical journal, involved connecting veins from the donor uterus with the recipient’s veins, as well as linking arteries, ligaments and vaginal canals. It comes after 10 previously known cases of uterus transplants from deceased donors - in the United States, the Czech Republic and Turkey - failed to produce a live birth. The girl born in the Brazilian case was delivered via caesarean section at 35 weeks and three days, and weighed 2,550 grams (nearly 6 lbs), the case study said. Dani Ejzenberg, a doctor at Brazil’s Sao Paulo University hospital who led the research, said the transplant - carried out in September 2016 when the recipient was 32 - shows the technique is feasible and could offer women with uterine infertility access to a larger pool of potential donors. The current norm for receiving a womb transplant is that the organ would come from a live family member willing to donate it. “The numbers of people willing and committed to donate organs upon their own deaths are far larger than those of live donors, offering a much wider potential donor population,” Ejzenberg said in a statement about the results. She added, however, that the outcomes and effects of womb donations from live and deceased donors have yet to be compared, and said the technique could still be refined and optimized. The first baby born after a live donor womb transplant was in Sweden in 2013. Scientists have so far reported a total of 39 procedures of this kind, resulting in 11 live births. Experts estimate that infertility affects around 10 to 15 percent of couples of reproductive age worldwide. Of this group, around one in 500 women have uterine problems. Before uterus transplants became possible, the only options to have a child were adoption or surrogacy. In the Brazilian case, the recipient had been born without a uterus due to a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. The donor was 45 and died of a stroke. Five months after the transplant, Ejzenberg’s team wrote, the uterus showed no signs of rejection, ultrasound scans were normal, and the recipient was having regular menstruation. The woman’s previously fertilized and frozen eggs were implanted after seven months and 10 days later she was confirmed pregnant. At seven months and 20 days - when the case study report was submitted to The Lancet - the baby girl was continuing to breastfeed and weighed 7.2 kg (16 lb).",
            "output": [
                "World's first baby born via womb transplant from dead donor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-89fefcfb4bf6422eb0d5f39fa566903f",
            "input": "The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Wednesday it is partnering with Count the Kicks, a stillbirth prevention public health campaign. Kansas officials say the state records an average of 232 stillborn deaths each year. The campaign seeks to save 60 babies every year by decreasing Kansas’ stillbirth rate by 26 percent. The effort achieved that reduction in Iowa. Count the Kicks encourages expectant moms to track their baby’s movements once a day in the third trimester to determine how long it normally takes their child to get to 10 movements. If moms notice a change in the baby’s normal pattern, they are encouraged to call their doctors.",
            "output": [
                "Kansas launches campaign to reduce stillbirth rate in state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72b95031b9f94c83b6d303cb59310820",
            "input": "The story notes how the PulsePoint Foundation’s app is available for free download for both iOS and Android. We think that it would have been useful to put the URLs in the story, though, as well as note that CPR training is available for free in most locations. The story puts the benefits of the PulsePoint app into perspective: “It’s not clear how many lives have been saved,” it states, further hedging: “Patient confidentiality laws often prevent hospitals from disclosing a patient’s outcome.” This is enough to merit a Satisfactory rating–but with several caveats: Harms and downsides weren’t discussed. But with this app being used so widely and in so many cities, isn’t data available? One simple harm is the app simply failing to work. Another harm could be untrained or inexperienced people trying to help and causing harm from not knowing what they’re doing. Do people who sign up to use the app have to prove any sort of competency? Also, could bystanders who respond become hurt? For example, are 911 operators first establishing if the situation is safe for others to intervene before issuing an alert? As mentioned above, no one is sure how well it works to save lives, and the story makes this clear. But it should have gone a step further and clarified: Has any research at all been done? On the same note: Why do more cities keep adopting it? What evidence is being used to convince them to sign up? No disease mongering here. The reader is provided with quotes from Mr. DeMont and his wife, the developer of the app and two of the responders as well as information from unnamed Seattle officials. However, we wanted to hear from an outside emergency medicine expert to weigh in and respond to the story’s information/claims. We don’t think that the direct alternative (no access to PulsePoint linkage to a locale’s 911 system) needed to be discussed. It is clear that the app is now available and for free. It’s clear that this is a feature story about a readily available app and how more people are finding out about it and using it, so we’ll rate this N/A. However, it would have been useful to mention if there are any other apps that work in this way, or not. There is no evidence that the story relies on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "APP HELPS SAVE SEATTLE CARDIAC PATIENT"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b5de315e6794b339e12cb46bacd9ef6",
            "input": "The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a news conference in Brussels that a week-long round of talks had been “disappointing, very disappointing.”  Barnier said there was no progress on all the most difficult issues and insisted Britain would have to show more realism. “I am not optimistic in the face of British incomprehension,” he said. The British side echoed the glum assessment, calling the mood of the talks “tetchy.” U.K. negotiator David Frost said the talks had “made very little progress towards agreement on the most significant outstanding issues.” In a statement, Frost accused the EU of insisting on “an ideological approach which makes it more difficult to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”  The two sides remain at odds over a range of key issues including fishing and the role of high courts in settling future disputes. EU leaders and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson are scheduled to have a summit at the end of June, likely by video, to take stock of the talks’ progress. Britain officially left the 27-nation bloc on Jan. 31, but remains within the EU’s economic and regulatory orbit until the end of the year. The two sides have until then to work out a new relationship covering trade, security and a host of other issues — or face a chaotic split that would be economically disruptive for both sides, but especially for the U.K. The U.K.-EU divorce agreement allows for the deadline to be extended by two years, but Johnson’s government insists it won’t lengthen the transition period beyond Dec. 31. Most trade deals take years to negotiate, so finishing something as fundamental as this in 11 months would be a Herculean task at the best of times. Many politicians, experts and diplomats believe it is impossible during a coronavirus pandemic that has focused governments’ resources on preserving public health and averting economic collapse. Both Barnier and Frost fell sick with COVID-19, though both have recovered. While the two men say they have a good personal relationship, the two sides accuse the other of seeking the impossible. Britain wants a a “Canada-style” free-trade deal that would involve the elimination of tariffs and quotas on most, if not all, goods, along with agreements on services and a range of other issues. The EU says Britain can’t have that without signing up to a swath of the bloc’s regulations on environmental standards, workers’ rights and state aid. Otherwise, they say, there wouldn’t be a level playing field. “We will not trade off our European values for the benefit of the British economy. Our economic and commercial fair play is not for sale,” Barnier said. But the U.K. government says that signing up to EU rules and standards amounts to an unacceptable undermining of the country’s independence. Frost said that to make progress, “we very much need a change in EU approach” for the next round of talks, due to start June 1. If no deal on their future relationship is agreed by the end of the year, a cliff-edge economic departure would loom again for Britain, with uncertainly over customs rules, airline slots, financial regulation and other standards. Both sides are already facing a serious recession because of the pandemic and a chaotic split on Dec. 31 wouldn’t help. ___ Jill Lawless reported from London.",
            "output": [
                "UK-EU deadlocked in Brexit talks as clock ticks down."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe48cc2742874a068307a37816fba0ae",
            "input": "The story didn’t describe the costs of depression screening nor did it mention reimbursement issues as a barrier to providing the screening. The story does not attempt to quantify the benefits of depression screening. The story does not mention any possible downsides of depression screening. While there are few risks, some of the harms could include: missing cases of mild depression, stigma, mislabeling situational stress as an illness, not to mention barriers and difficulties involved in getting the appropriate follow-up care once diagnosed. The story does mention that there is no direct evidence that screening for depression can improve outcomes. The story could have done more to describe the indirect evidence that support its use in heart patients. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of depression. The story rightly points out that depression is more prevalent in people with heart disease. The story quotes multiple experts. The story mentions antidepressants, psychotherapy and excercise as possible treatments for depression. Clearly depression screening is available but not as widely used as it should be in the context of heart disease patients. Clearly depression screening is not new but it is increasingly being advocated in the context of heart patients. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Screen heart patients for depression, AHA urges"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac72014747f74bd88c10978ae94b253e",
            "input": "The 36-count indictment made public Wednesday said Seattle Barrel and Cooperage used a hidden drain to pump caustic wastewater directly into the King County sewer system. Seattle Barrel refurbishes used industrial and commercial barrels and drums. Part of that process involves washing the barrels in a corrosive solution. In a written statement provided by its attorney, Harold Malkin, Seattle Barrel blamed a former employee who was fired nine months ago. The company said it did not encourage or permit that worker’s actions and that it will contest any criminal liability for them. The former employee has not been charged. The indictment names Seattle Barrel owner Louie Sanft, whose grandfather founded the company in 1916. It also names its plant manager, John Sanft, who is Louie Sanft’s cousin. They are due to appear in court Jan. 9. The charges they face include conspiracy, which carries up to five years in prison; lying to Environmental Protection Agency investigators, which carries up to five years; and violating the Clean Water Act, which carries up to three years per count. “At a time when we are searching for strategies to protect Puget Sound and improve water quality for fish and wildlife, we need companies to do their share — not scheme for ways to pollute in private,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran said in a news release. Federal prosecutors said dumping caustic, high-pH solutions into the sewer system can corrode it and the treatment plant and that the waste can wind up in Puget Sound, home to protected salmon, orcas and other species. Since at least 2009, the company’s permit from King County has prohibited such discharges. In 2012, an employee from the King County Industrial Waste Program reported seeing John Sanft dump oily waste. Over the next several months, the program conducted secret monitoring and discovered that Seattle Barrel was repeatedly dumping high-pH wastewater into the sewer. The county fined the company $55,000, an amount that was reduced to about $17,000 when the company agreed to install an expensive wastewater treatment system. Louie Sanft claimed that the system made Seattle Barrel a “zero discharge” company. That treatment system was not designed or used to handle waste from the 300-gallon (1,136-liter) tank where barrels are washed, however. The tank was supposed to be cleaned by evaporating the water from it, wiping out the remaining residue, sealing the residue in drums and then shipping it to another company for disposal. Prosecutors said the company lied about doing that. Instead, the indictment said, Louie Sanft directed employees to pump the wastewater down an a hidden drain that led to the sewer. An inspection in 2017 revealed irregularities in the company’s handling of wastewater, and covert monitoring showed that the company continued to dump it down the sewer in 2018 and 2019, the indictment said. Meanwhile, Seattle Barrel filed reports with the county certifying that it had not dumped any wastewater. The indictment says Louie Sanft directed the conduct, advising employees to look out for regulators, and that John Sanft sometimes helped. Louie Sanft’s attorney, Angelo Calfo, denied that. He said his client knew King County monitored the sewer line, so it would make no sense for him to direct an employee to dump the tank water there. Further, Calfo said, Louie Sanft paid the employee overtime to properly handle the wastewater because it was a daylong process to evaporate all the water. The only person who stood to benefit from using the sewer was the employee who got fired, the attorney said. “This case is about a former employee who cut corners for his own gain and in violation of company policy,” Calfo said. “Louie had no involvement and did not approve of what the employee was doing.”",
            "output": [
                "Feds: Seattle barrel company used hidden drain to pollute."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f6f6199326514d21876142ea77916ed0",
            "input": "In August 2019, as many people took to the Internet to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote on paper, a piece of text started to circulate on social media that supposedly listed “9 things that women couldn’t do until 1971” (:  The following list is of NINE things a woman couldn’t do in 1971 – yes the date is correct, 1971. In 1971 a woman could not: 1. Get a Credit Card in her own name – it wasn’t until 1974 that a law forced credit card companies to issue cards to women without their husband’s signature. 2. Be guaranteed that they wouldn’t be unceremoniously fired for the offense of getting pregnant – that changed with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of *1978*! 3. Serve on a jury – It varied by state (Utah deemed women fit for jury duty way back in 1879), but the main reason women were kept out of jury pools was that they were considered the center of the home, which was their primary responsibility as caregivers. They were also thought to be too fragile to hear the grisly details of crimes and too sympathetic by nature to be able to remain objective about those accused of offenses. In 1961, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Florida law that exempted women from serving on juries. It wasn’t until 1973 that women could serve on juries in all 50 states. 4. Fight on the front lines – admitted into military academies in 1976 it wasn’t until 2013 that the military ban on women in combat was lifted. Prior to 1973 women were only allowed in the military as nurses or support staff. 5. Get an Ivy League education – Yale and Princeton didn’t accept female students until 1969. Harvard didn’t admit women until 1977 (when it merged with the all-female Radcliffe College). Brown (which merged with women’s college Pembroke), Dartmouth and Columbia did not offer admission to women until 1971, 1972 and 1981, respectively. Other case-specific instances allowed some women to take certain classes at Ivy League institutions (such as Barnard women taking classes at Columbia), but, by and large, women in the ’60s who harbored Ivy League dreams had to put them on hold. 6. Take legal action against workplace sexual harassment. Indeed the first time a court recognized office sexual harassment as grounds for any legal action was in 1977! 7. Decide not to have sex if their husband wanted to – spousal rape wasn’t criminalized in all 50 states until 1993. Read that again … 1993. 8. Obtain health insurance at the same monetary rate as a man. Sex discrimination wasn’t outlawed in health insurance until 2010 and today many, including sitting elected officials at the Federal level, feel women don’t mind paying a little more. Again, that date was 2010. 9. The birth control pill: Issues like reproductive freedom and a woman’s right to decide when and whether to have children were only just beginning to be openly discussed in the 1960s. In 1957, the FDA approved of the birth control pill but only for “severe menstrual distress.” In 1960, the pill was approved for use as a contraceptive. Even so, the pill was illegal in some states and could be prescribed only to married women for purposes of family planning, and not all pharmacies stocked it. Some of those opposed said oral contraceptives were “immoral, promoted prostitution and were tantamount to abortion.” It wasn’t until several years later that birth control was approved for use by all women, regardless of marital status. In short, birth control meant a woman could complete her education, enter the work force and plan her own life. Oh, and one more thing, prior to 1880 which is just a few years before the photo of this very proud lady was taken, the age of consent for sex was set at 10 or 12 in more states, with the exception of our neighbor Delaware – where it was 7 YEARS OLD! Feminism is NOT just for other women. KNOW your HERstory. A similar post on Facebook with tens of thousands of shares reported much the same in 2016 from user Lisa Bialac-Jehle. In general, the list above accurately reports nine things that women couldn’t do in 1971. We’ll take a closer look at each item below: Get a credit card in her own name As this post explains, banks were able to discriminate against women applying for credit cards until the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in October 1974. The Smithsonian noted that prior to this bill, women were asked a barrage of personal questions and were often required to be accompanied by a man to co-sign for a credit card. Even then, women often received cards with lower limits or higher rates:  Forty years ago, any woman applying for a credit card could be asked a barrage of questions: Was she married? Did she plan to have children? Many banks required single, divorced or widowed women to bring a man along with them to cosign for a credit card, and some discounted the wages of women by as much as 50 percent when calculating their credit card limits. As women and minorities pushed for equal civil rights in various arenas, credit cards became the focus of a series of hearings in which women documented the discrimination they faced. And, finally, in 1974 — forty years ago this year — the Senate passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which made it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their gender, race, religion and national origin. Be guaranteed that they wouldn’t be unceremoniously fired for getting pregnant  Women faced a number of work-related consequences for getting pregnant prior to the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. On the 40th anniversary of this law, the ACLU posted a statement explaining how pregnancy often resulted in pink slips for working women: Forty years ago, working women in the United States won the legal protection to become working mothers. On Oct. 31, 1978, Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, making it illegal for employers to deny a woman a job — or promotion, or higher pay, or any other opportunity — because she is pregnant. The statute had an immediate, dramatic impact on women’s ability to fully participate in the workforce. Although on-the-job sex discrimination had been outlawed more than a decade earlier, pregnancy wasn’t legally recognized as a type of sex discrimination. As a result, a pregnancy often resulted in a pink slip. Some employers even imposed formal policies prohibiting pregnancy outright because their female employees were expected to project a certain image — for example, flight attendants, who were expected by airlines to convey sexual availability to their businessman customers, and teachers, who were expected by school districts to project chasteness to their young pupils. Serve on a jury Women’s road to the jury box was a long one. While the state of Utah deemed women qualified for jury duty back in 1898, it took the other 49 states several decades to reach the same conclusion. The ACLU noted that women were excluded from jury duties for a number of reasons: Aside from the “defect of sex,” women were excluded from juries for a variety of reasons: their primary obligation was to their families and children; they should be shielded from hearing the details of criminal cases, particularly those involving sex offenses; they would be too sympathetic to persons accused of crimes; and keeping male and female jurors together during long trials could be injurious to women. While this viral posts states that it wasn’t until “1973 that women could serve on juries in all 50 states,” we found that this battle was still being fought for at least another two years. In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that it was constitutionally unacceptable for states to bar women from juries. From a 1975 article in The New York Times: The Supreme Court ruled today that shifting economic and social patterns of the last dozen years have made it constitutionally unacceptable for states to deny women equal opportunity to serve on juries. The 8‐to‐1 decision will have little practical effect on the make‐up of juries. All states, including Louisiana where the case originated, now have laws that do not exempt women from jury service, although women are treated differently from men in some instances involving such service. But the majority broke important philosophical ground by acknowledging for the first time that the role of women is society was changing and that the courts must recognize their growing economic independence in assessing their legal rights. “If it was ever the case that women were unqualified to sit on juries or were so situated that none of them should be required to perform jury service,” Associate Justice Byron R. White wrote for the majority, “that time has long since passed.” Fight on the front lines Women in the United States have been aiding military operations as nurses, cooks, and in other non-combat positions since the Revolutionary War in 1775. However, it wasn’t until 1976 that the United States Military Academy at West Point accepted women to the Corps of Cadets. Still, it would be several more years until women would find their way to the front lines. In 1994, the Pentagon restricted women from serving in “artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles.” This ban wasn’t lifted until 2013: The US military officially lifted a ban on female soldiers serving in combat roles on Thursday and said that anyone qualified should get a chance to fight on the front lines of war regardless of their sex. At a press conference in the Pentagon Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that women had already proved themselves in action on America’s battlefields and the move was simply a way of catching up with reality. “Everyone is entitled to a chance,” said Panetta, who is retiring form his post this year. At the moment women make up about 14% of the military’s 1.4 million active members and more than 280,000 of them have done tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan or overseas bases where they helped support the US war effort in those countries. Indeed, some 152 women have been killed in the conflicts. Get an Ivy League education The Ivy League is comprised of eight universities in the northeastern part of the United States. While women were able to attend Cornell University as early as the 1870s, it wasn’t until 1983 that the final Ivy League school, Columbia College, started to admit women: The last all-male school in the Ivy League became a coeducational one yesterday when Columbia College enrolled women for the first time in its 229-year history. It was a day of celebration at Columbia, with few alumni or students criticizing the change, and with college administrators saying the decision to admit women had resulted in the most talented freshman class ever. Take legal action against workplace sexual harassment. According to Time, the term “sexual harassment” was coined by a group of students at Cornell University in 1975. The term was popularized in a New York Times article published that same year, and in 1977, three court cases confirmed that a woman could take legal action against her employer for sexual harassment: The phrase “sexual harassment” was coined in 1975, by a group of women at Cornell University. A former employee of the university, Carmita Wood, filed a claim for unemployment benefits after she resigned from her job due to unwanted touching from her supervisor. Cornell had refused Wood’s request for a transfer, and denied her the benefits on the grounds that she quit for “personal reasons.” Wood together with activists at the university’s Human Affairs Office, formed a group called Working Women United. At a Speak Out event hosted by the group, secretaries, mailroom clerks, filmmakers, factory workers and waitresses shared their stories, revealing that the problem extended beyond the university setting. The women spoke of masturbatory displays, threats and pressure to trade sexual favors for promotions … … By 1977, three court cases confirmed that a woman could sue her employer for harassment under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, using the EEOC as the vehicle for redress. The Supreme Court upheld these early cases in 1986 with Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, which was based on the complaints of Mechelle Vinson, a bank employee whose boss intimidated her into having sex with him in vaults and basements up to fifty times. Vinson was African American, as were many of the litigants in pioneering sexual harassment cases; some historians suggest that the success of racial discrimination cases during these same years encouraged women of color to vigorously pursue their rights at work. Decide not to have sex if her husband wanted to This item is referring to spousal rape. The first person to be convicted of spousal rape in the U.S. was a Massachusetts bartender who broke into the home of his estranged wife in 1979 and raped her: English common law, the source of much traditional law in the U.S., had long held that it wasn’t legally possible for a man to rape his wife. It was in 1736 that Sir Matthew Hale — the same jurist who said that it was hard to prove a rape accusation from a woman whose personal life wasn’t entirely “innocent,” setting the standard that a woman’s past sexual experiences could be used by the defense in a rape case —explained that marriage constituted permanent consent that could not be retracted. That idea stood for centuries. Then, in 1979, a pair of cases highlighted changing legal attitudes about the concept. Until then, most state criminal codes had rape definitions that explicitly excluded spouses. (In fact, as TIME later pointed out, it wasn’t just the case that saying “no” to one’s husband didn’t make the act that followed rape; in addition, saying “no” to one’s husband was usually grounds for him to get a divorce.) As the year opened, a man in Salem, Ore., was found not guilty of raping his wife, though they both stated that they had fought before having sex. But, even as the verdict was returned, a National Organization for Women spokesperson told TIME that “the very fact that there has been such a case” meant that change was in the air — and she was quickly proved right. The case believed to be the first-ever American conviction for spousal rape came that fall, when a Salem, Mass., bartender drunkenly burst into the home he used to share with his estranged wife and raped her. It’s not hard to see how this case was the one that made the possibility of rape between a married couple clear to the public: they were in the middle of a divorce, and the crime involved house invasion and violence. As TIME noted, several other states had also adopted laws making it possible to pursue such a case, though they had not yet been put to the test. Even though the first conviction for spousal rape occurred during the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1993 that spousal rape was officially illegal in all 50 states. While marital rape has been technically illegal in all 50 states since 1993, advocates argue that there are still legal loopholes in some states that allow for marital rape to be treated differently than rape. Obtain health insurance at the same monetary rate as men This item refers to the practice of “gender rating” by health insurance companies, which typically resulted in higher premiums for women seeking individual health insurance. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) sought to do away with the practice. NPR reported:  Any woman who has bought health insurance on her own probably didn’t find herself humming the old show tune, “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” That’s because more than 90 percent of individual plans charge women higher premiums than men for the same coverage, a practice known as gender rating. Women spend $1 billion more annually on their health insurance premiums than they would if they were men because of gender rating, according to a recent report by the National Women’s Law Center. Under the health care overhaul, the practice is banned starting in 2014. The birth control pill This post correctly states that the FDA first approved an oral contraceptive (a birth-control pill called Enovid) in 1957. However, at the time, the pill was only approved for use as a “treatment of severe menstrual disorders,” and the FDA required that it be labeled with a warning that Enovid will prevent ovulation. A few years later in 1960, the FDA approved Enovid as a contraceptive. Still, the pill was only available to married couples. It wasn’t until 1972 that birth-control pills were available to all women, regardless of marital status:",
            "output": [
                "A viral piece of text accurately lists nine things women couldn't do in 1971. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec32c3250c4141faa06298f72d3d36d3",
            "input": "For the herd of goats grazing there, that foliage is lunch, dinner, breakfast and snacks. The Hungry Herd, owned by Doug Bartels, of Lytton, made its first appearance at the park along the Des Moines River last year. This year, there are 33 goats including nine kids. Last year’s herd was 68 goats including 16 kids. Lori Branderhorst, Fort Dodge’s director of parks, recreation and forestry, said the goats are a great way to get an area cleared out economically and environmentally. “It’s $2.75 per head per day,” she said. “It’s a pretty economical way to get work done. It’s pretty much a non-budget project.” The first year’s goat mowing was paid for by the Fort Dodge Parks Foundation. This year’s project is a partnership with the foundation and the city of Fort Dodge. Clearing areas of forest simply isn’t a city budget item, Branderhorst told The Messenger. “The city has a lot of urban forest,” she said. “It’s not in the city budget to open up areas and clear invasive species. It’s never been. This was a good thing the Parks Foundation started.” It would be expensive to pay city crews to go in and clear the area. In addition to the labor cost, they would also have to use machinery and spray to keep the plants from coming back. This is the third time for the goats on the same area. They munched and dined twice last year. “It takes three times on the same area to get a good clean removal of invasive species,” Branderhorst said. Kevin Lunn, parks and forestry superintendent, has been earning the nickname the “Goat Whisperer.” “We make sure they have water and check the fence,” he said. “As long as the fence stays charged it’s pretty easy.” So far, there’s only been one “escape.” “Some of the babies got out,” he said. Of course, one aspect of the goats on the hillside is that what they eat gets converted into little pellets that fall to the forest floor and keep the nutrients in the forest. “They recycle it,” Lunn said. Branderhorst hopes they can keep coming back. “I hope we can continue doing it,” she said. “It’s nice and green, more sustainable and we try to do things without chemicals.” There’s another bonus: people really like the goats. “The community was pretty excited to have them,” she said. That includes the members of the Fort Dodge Police Department who stop to make sure the goats are OK as they go through the park on their patrols. Some of their self-portraits with the goats can be seen on the department’s Facebook page. ___ Information from: The Messenger, http://www.messengernews.net",
            "output": [
                "Iowa park uses goats to help eradicate invasive species."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-636e8911ae344a4996d554b4871de9ed",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration said that Greenbrier International also did not properly perform its own lab analyses as required before releasing certain products, including an anti-dandruff shampoo and an acne face wash. The products were also mislabeled by the Chinese manufacturers. The FDA told Greenbrier about violations at the Chinese companies as early as 2017. The FDA’s Nov. 6 warning to Greenbrier International says that the company continued to receive products from companies on “import alert,” even after Greenbrier International agreed not to. A spokesman for the Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree said the company is cooperating with the FDA. “We are committed to our customers’ safety and have very robust and rigorous testing programs in place to ensure our third-party manufacturers products are safe,” said Dollar Tree spokesman Randy Guiler. “We plan to meet with the FDA in the near future and expect that our plans will satisfy their requirements in all regards.” The FDA requested a response from the company within 15 days with a plan to ensure it doesn’t import or distribute tainted products. Dollar Tree operates more than 15,000 stores in 48 states and Canada under the names Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Canada.",
            "output": [
                "FDA warns Dollar Tree about flagged Chinese manufacturers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94b1f0006d9d46f1a5ae2ada666b4045",
            "input": "Headline results from a study of 400 patients in Europe and the United States showed the test to detect cancerous cells in the bloodstream correctly identified cancer in up to 95 percent of cases, the company said. The test will enable women with ovarian cancer to be referred to gynaecological surgeons who specialize in the care of women with ovarian cancer, while patients with a benign tumor will not have to travel to specialist centers. Angle founder and chief executive Andrew Newland said the study had demonstrated the ability to correctly detect cancer, and importantly correctly detect the absence of cancer. The test was nearly twice as successful in eliminating false-positives than current tests, he said. It also had the potential to identify targets on the tumor that could be used to inform treatment strategies, he said. “The vision is that a woman who has been diagnosed with having an abnormal pelvic mass will have a simple blood test and from that we will deduce whether or not she has cancer and if she does which drug would be most suitable for her,” he said. The performance of the test would now be validated in another study designed to meet European CE Mark and US FDA regulatory requirements, he said. Shares in Angle, which has a market cap of about 50 million pounds, rose 2.2 percent to 68 pence.",
            "output": [
                "Blood test by Britain's Angle detects ovarian cancer in study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2d6b99e32ac4e7e8bc1dce8c70e723a",
            "input": "In a study on the levy’s health impacts, researchers found the positive effect would be greatest if the drinks industry responds by reformulating products to cut sugar content, rather than keep the same formulations but raise prices to consumers. The planned levy is tiered, starting from no tax on diet and low sugar drinks, a low tax on mid-sugar drinks containing 5 to 8 grams (g) of sugar per 100 millilitres (ml), and a high tax on very sugary drinks containing 8g or more per 100 ml. The government’s health department says sugary drinks are the single biggest source of sugar for children, who can have more than their recommended daily intake just by drinking a can of cola, which has nine teaspoons of sugar. The scientists studied three possible reactions by companies to the levy. They could reformulate drinks to reduce sugar content, pass some of the levy to consumers by raising the price of sugary drinks, or use marketing to encourage consumers to switch to lower sugar drinks. The Lancet Public Health journal published the results. For each scenario, the researchers mapped a realistic better and worse case scenario for health by estimating the likely impact on rates of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. “The good news is that our study suggests that all of the most likely industry responses ... have the potential to improve health,” said Adam Briggs of Oxford University, who led the study. “The extent of the health benefits of the tax will depend on industry’s response.”  In opting for a sugar tax, Britain joins Belgium, France, Hungary and Mexico, all of which have imposed some form of tax on drinks with added sugar. Scandinavian countries have levied similar taxes for many years. According to the study’s modeling, a 30 percent reduction in sugar content of all high-sugar drinks and a 15 percent reduction in mid-sugar drinks could result in 14,400 fewer adults and children with obesity, 19,000 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes a year, and 26,900 fewer decaying teeth annually. Passing on half of the cost of the levy to consumers with a price rise for high and mid-sugar drinks of up to 20 percent could reduce the number of adults and children with obesity by 81,600, result in 10,800 fewer diabetes cases and 14,900 fewer decaying teeth a year. Speaking to reporters at a briefing in London, Briggs and his team said the most likely real-life response from industry would probably involve a combination of the scenarios in the study, which might mean the benefits could increase. “The direction of the effect is clear,” said Susan Jebb, an Oxford professor who co-led the research. “This levy will have a positive impact, especially on children’s health.”",
            "output": [
                "Study finds UK sugar tax could save thousands from obesity, diabetes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45c11f8030cb4aff952ac940d4cbde90",
            "input": "The high pathogenic case was found at an operation in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, marking the first case of the more dangerous strain since one found in a Tennessee chicken flock in 2017. In 2015, an estimated 50 million poultry had to be killed at operations mainly in the Upper Midwest after infections spread throughout the region. “Yes, it’s concerning when we see cases, but we are prepared to respond very quickly and that was done in this case,” said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The USDA has been working in recent months with scientists and farmers in North Carolina and South Carolina, where a low pathogenic — or less severe — strain of bird flu had been detected. Low pathogenic bird flu causes few clinical signs in infected birds. However, two strains of low pathogenic bird flu — the H5 and H7 strains — can mutate into highly pathogenic forms, which are frequently fatal to birds and easily transmissible between susceptible species. Low pathogenic cases were already in an area near the South Carolina and North Carolina state line and USDA was closely monitoring and testing. The case in Chesterfield County, South Carolina was expected to be another low pathogenic case, but it came back from the laboratory high pathogenic which means the less severe virus mutated into the more severe version, Cole said. “Our scientists at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory had looked at the virus characteristics of the low path virus and they had previously indicated that this was one that was probably likely to mutate so they were watching it very closely,” Cole said. A laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the virus with that had been killing turkeys was a high pathogenic H7N3 strain of avian influenza. A report on the outbreak indicates in was discovered on April 6. It has killed 1,583 turkeys and the remainder of the 32,577 birds in the flock were euthanized. State officials quarantined the farm, movement controls were implemented and enhanced surveillance was already in place in the area. “The flock was quickly depopulated and will not enter the marketplace,” said Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation, an industry trade group. “Thorough disinfecting and cleaning procedures have already been initiated on premises as well as surveillance of commercial flocks in the surrounding area. This occurrence poses no threat to public health. Turkey products remain safe and nutritious.” He said poultry farmers implement strict biosecurity measures year-round and routinely test flocks for avian influenza. These measures were implemented after an H5N2 avian influenza outbreak that began in December 2014 swept commercial chicken, egg laying and turkey populations throughout much of 2015 killing 50 million birds and causing as much as $3 billion in economic damage. That outbreak is believed to have originated in wild birds. Nearly 90 percent of the bird losses were on egg-laying chicken farms in Iowa and turkey farms in Minnesota. The bulk of other cases occurred in the adjacent states of Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. Cole said since 2015 significant planning, exercises and coordination has occurred between the federal government, state agencies and the industry. Cole said the coronavirus pandemic has not affected the ability of the government to respond to the bird flu. A highly pathogenic H7N9 bird flu strain was detected in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in a chicken flock of 73,500 birds in early March 2017. Ten days later samples from a commercial flock less than two miles away also tested positive for the same strain. The birds were euthanized and buried and the virus didn’t spread further indicating immediate mitigation action can stop spread.",
            "output": [
                "Industry scrambles to stop fatal bird flu in South Carolina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9738018ac65a406caa081116189f0c0b",
            "input": "At issue are genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. When they’re mutated, the body can’t repair damaged DNA as well, greatly increasing the chances of breast, ovarian and certain other cancers. Gene testing allows affected women to consider steps to lower their risk, such as when actress Angelina Jolie underwent a preventive mastectomy several years ago. Most cancer isn’t caused by BRCA mutations — they account for 5% to 10% of breast cancers and 15% of ovarian cancers — so the gene tests aren’t for everyone. But mutations cluster in families, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has long recommended that doctors screen women who have relatives with BRCA-related cancers and refer those who might benefit from gene testing to a genetic counselor to help them decide. Tuesday, the task force expanded that advice, telling primary care doctors they should also assess women’s risk if: —they previously were treated for breast or other BRCA-related cancers including ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal cancers, and now are considered cancer-free. —their ancestry is prone to BRCA mutations, such as Ashkenazi Jewish women. Why screen breast cancer survivors? After all, they already know there’s a risk of recurrence. Take, for example, someone who had a tumor removed in one breast in their 40s a decade ago, when genetic testing wasn’t as common. Even this many years later, a BRCA test still could reveal if they’re at risk for ovarian cancer — or at higher than usual risk for another tumor in their remaining breast tissue, explained task force member Dr. Carol Mangione of the University of California, Los Angeles. And it could alert their daughters or other relatives to a potential shared risk. “It’s important to test those people now,” Mangione said. “We need to get the word out to primary care doctors to do this assessment and to make the referrals.” Private insurers follow task force recommendations on what preventive care to cover, some at no out-of-pocket cost under rules from former President Barack Obama’s health care law. The recommendations were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Cancer groups have similar recommendations for BRCA testing, and increasingly urge that the newly diagnosed be tested, too, because the inherited risk can impact choices about surgery and other treatment. Identifying BRCA mutation carriers “can be lifesaving, and should be a part of routine medical care,” Drs. Susan Domchek of the University of Pennsylvania and Mark Robson of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who weren’t involved with the new guidelines, wrote in an editorial accompanying them. But too few high-risk women ever learn if they harbor BRCA mutations, they wrote. For example, cancer groups have long recommended that all ovarian cancer patients be tested, but several studies have found testing is done in less than a third. Don’t skip the genetic counseling, said the task force’s Mangione. BRCA testing can cause anxiety and sometimes gives confusing results, finding mutations that might not be dangerous — things the counselors are trained to interpret. There’s a shortage of genetic counselors, particularly in rural areas, and she said counseling by phone can work. There’s a wide array of gene tests, some that search just for BRCA mutations and others that test dozens of additional genes at the same time. There’s even a direct-to-consumer kit sold by 23andMe — but Domchek and Robson warned it only detects the three mutations found most in women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, not dozens of other mutations. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Guidelines say more women may need breast cancer gene test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bf37b403b9b4b3c949e8ff09f7c2951",
            "input": "Merck & Co. voluntarily pulled the blockbuster drug in 2004 amid evidence that it doubled the chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Now tiny Tremeau Pharmaceuticals is working to bring it back, to treat severe joint pain caused by the bleeding disorder hemophilia. That’s for far fewer patients than the millions who took Vioxx pills for arthritis and other chronic pain — but if it’s approved doctors could again legally prescribe it to anyone. Many hemophilia patients rely on opioid painkillers because nearly every other pain reliever increases the risk of internal bleeding. Considerable research shows Vioxx doesn’t do that. “It seemed to me that there was a huge unmet medical need” for these patients, Brad Sippy, Tremeau’s chief executive, told The Associated Press. He put together a plan and co-founded Tremeau last year to develop nonopioid pain treatments for rare diseases. A longtime pharmaceutical marketing executive, Sippy worked at Merck during the Vioxx era and helped with its recall from pharmacy shelves. He also knew the final patent protecting Vioxx’s monopoly was expiring this fall. When it stopped making Vioxx, Merck was facing thousands of lawsuits from people claiming the drug caused their heart attacks or strokes. Merck’s own research showed the drug doubled those risks, but lawyers for patients claimed the company downplayed or concealed that. Merck initially fought the lawsuits but in 2007 agreed to a $4.85 billion settlement. If Tremeau gets approval in a few years to start selling rofecoxib, the chemical name for Vioxx, doctors could prescribe it to other people with garden-variety chronic pain. Tremeau wouldn’t be able to legally promote those unapproved uses, but some patients likely would want it. Vioxx was so effective that some users hoarded it after Merck took it off market. “I know a lot of people who swore by Vioxx,” said analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities. “Repurposing this for the hemophilia community is particularly brilliant.” Dr. Steven Stanos, president of the American Academy of Pain Management, a professional group for pain specialists, said it made sense to try Vioxx for hemophilia joint pain. “Vioxx was very potent,” he said. The drug would still carry a strong warning about heart attack and stroke risks. Doctors would have to balance its pain benefit against each patient’s risks, Stanos said. On Tuesday, Tremeau announced that the Food and Drug Administration recently handed it an endorsement of sorts: an orphan drug designation. That’s for disorders affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans, and comes with benefits, including tax credits on testing costs and a free FDA review. Still, it’s no slam-dunk. Sippy said the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Tremeau must raise $25 million or more to pay for testing in hemophilia patients. Then the results must be good enough for FDA approval. In the U.S., just over 20,000 people have hemophilia, an inherited disorder that leaves them without key proteins in the blood needed for clotting. The slightest injury can trigger uncontrolled internal bleeding. Since the 1990s, most patients have been getting medicine that limits but doesn’t prevent all bleeding episodes. Blood buildup in the joints can damage them and cause pain. “Without other options, opioids are often the next step” after Tylenol, sometimes at high doses, said Dr. Stacy Croteau of the Boston Hemophilia Center, who is a paid consultant for Tremeau. “Rofecoxib would hopefully allow us to reduce use of opioids.” Meanwhile, Tremeau is deciding on the drug’s brand name. Sippy said the Vioxx name, no longer protected by trademark, might scare some people, while others would remember its effectiveness. “We haven’t excluded it,” he said. ___ Follow Linda A. Johnson at @LindaJ_onPharma",
            "output": [
                "Startup wants to bring back Vioxx for hemophilia joint pain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da7876fd8d9c4ff48e2492cc19940f17",
            "input": "\"Congress may have no greater trade-agreement foe than Sherrod Brown, the Democratic U.S. senator from Ohio. It’s not that he says selling cars, soap and widgets to foreign consumers is bad. It’s just that some foreign trading partners use their cheap labor and weak environmental and safety standards to sell cars, toys and widgets to Americans at prices that our domestic industries cannot match while, according to Brown, adopting policies that make it hard to sell America’s goods abroad. So Brown was not saddened when negotiations for a South Korean trade deal went sour in November. After all, he said in a news release, more than 10 years of free trade deals have  \"\"brought a $2 billion per day trade deficit and the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs -- jobs that should go to Ohio's skilled workers.\"\" PolitiFact and The Plain Dealer expended plenty of bytes and ink on the lost-jobs issue during the election season, so there is no need to wade back into it here. Let’s just say that a persuasive case can be made, although the underlying data on jobs is poor. This country can send a man to the moon but it cannot precisely quantify the number of jobs lost or gained to trade. But what about Brown’s other point -- that more than 10 years of trade under the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade relations with China has resulted in a trade deficit of $2 billion a day? Causation of that kind is in dispute, and some experts and data suggest this country’s reliance on oil plays a big role in the trade deficit, with OPEC countries selling $76.4 billion more to the United States than vice versa so far this year. But imbalances with China ($201 billion and counting so far this year) play a bigger role, government statistics show. We will not argue cause and effect here, nor will we tell you not to enjoy low-price consumer goods. We’re merely examining the numbers. They show that the negative balance of trade went from $70.3 billion in 1993, just before NAFTA, to $378.8 billion in 2000, as the United States accepted permanent normalized trade with China, to a record high of $759.2 billion in 2006, according to Commerce Department records. So what of Brown’s precise number, $2 billion a day? Brown is right -- kind of. Or he’s not right, sort of. This drives us nuts too, but as we dug into the subject, we realized that different groups use different measures to describe the size of the trade deficit. You’d think it would be as easy as comparing the value of goods and services exported from the United States with those imported from other countries. So let’s show you some numbers from the Commerce Department using that exact measure. Trade deficit for 2007: $702 billion. For 2008: $698.8 billion. For 2009: $374.9 billion. The recession’s effects were glaring, but even before then the trend was downward, albeit slightly. For January through September 2010, the most recent measurement available, the trade balance was a negative $379.1 billion. Assuming the monthly trends hold through December, this year’s annual trade deficit should reach $500 billion. Divide that by the days of the year and you’d have a daily trade deficit of $1.37 billion a day. That’s 32 percent lower than Brown’s claim of $2 billion a day. But since flush times will return eventually, imports and exports will presumably resume at robust levels, too. So if Brown was referring to the trade deficits that existed before the recession, his statement would be nearly accurate, because the deficit came to an average of $1.91 billion a day in 2008 and $1.92 billion a day in 2007. But it may not be that simple. Trade balances are affected not only by wages, tariffs and the demands of consumers, but also by events beyond the recession such as currency corrections and the value of the dollar. Considering recent currency corrections, annual trade deficits could stay in the range of $500 billion, said William Cline, a senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics. That would make Brown’s $2 billion-a-day figure somewhat high. \"\"It’s a bit of an outdated figure,\"\" Cline said.. Yet there’s another way of viewing the data. Figures from the Commerce Department that we reviewed originated from the U.S. Census Bureau’s economic analysis unit (a bureau within a bureau at Commerce). The figures are the government’s official measure of the trade balance, used by the White House, cited in the news media and accepted broadly by economists. Yet the U.S. International Trade Commission, or ITC, which polices trade matters in the United States, maintains separate data that is used to review tariffs and trade practices. Depending on how one chooses to sort the data, a higher trade deficit can result. Brown’s office told us that his data came from the ITC. So we, too, turned to the ITC, and its staff helped guide us in using its online database. The ITC cautioned that the official figures come from Commerce, but various trade professionals use ITC data to drill down further for other purposes. We drilled. The result: A much higher trade deficit -- as high as $500.9 billion last year, in the depths of the recession, and $800 billion -- averaging $2.19 billion a day -- for 2008. How can one agency have such different figures from another? It’s easy. The ITC, concerned with tariffs, trade laws and trade policy, measures the value of goods -- cars, factory equipment, steel -- but not services. Services represent only a portion of the trade universe, yet they add a sweet spot to the equation. This country had a $132 billion trade surplus in services last year because it exported more in the way of travel, financial services, information services and so forth, than it brought in. Take away those services -- or just look at the ITC numbers -- and the trade balance becomes more bleak. It’s important to remember that when the White House and news reports mention the trade deficit, they are including services as well as goods and relying on the Commerce numbers. Even the ITC stressed this with us. But Brown aides as well as representatives of Public Citizen, a liberal public interest group, and its Global Trade Watch project, say the ITC data can be more relevant in certain circumstances. A state like Ohio exports relatively little in the way of services, for example, so the ITC’s focus on goods may be more pertinent for measuring trade’s impact in Ohio, said Todd Tucker, research director for Global Trade Watch, and Chris Slevin, a Brown aide who previously worked as Global Trade Watch’s deputy director. Even nationally, there is debate as to how much job-creating value can be found in export sectors like financial services and travel, Tucker said. Factories that make things employ a lot more people. Not to complicate this further, but ITC data can be sorted in yet another way, making the trade imbalance appear to be even worse. This occurs when some foreign-made goods are counted as \"\"imports for consumption,\"\" an ITC category with an assumption at the port of entry that the goods will be consumed in the United States. The problem occurs, critics say, when these \"\"imports\"\" wind up being shipped back abroad after being stored here temporarily. That gives them a new category on the way out -- \"\"re-exports\"\" -- which is not the same as a simple export of a product made in the United States. So they were counted as imports on the way in, but not subtracted back out as regular exports on their way out. This kind of counting, which defenders say has merit in certain circumstances, results in a higher trade deficit than when every product shipped in is counted as an import, and every product shipped out is counted as an export. By using these other categories in the ITC database, we calculated a trade deficit of $612 billion last year and a stunning $920.6 billion in 2008. These are close to the numbers Brown’s office supplied to us initially, and they support his claim -- and then some. So which figure is right? It’s a matter of legitimate dispute. Global Trade Watch says the larger numbers are more revealing and pertinent in a number of cases, especially when comparing U.S. trade relations with individual countries rather than the entire universe of global trade. The National Association of Manufacturers says that’s nonsense. From \"\"time immemorial,\"\" the Commerce/Census data have been used, measuring the total value of goods and services in and the total value of goods and services out,  and that’s the only valid way to count a deficit or surplus, said Frank Vargo, the association’s vice president for international economic affairs. \"\"Inside U.S. Trade,\"\" a publication for trade policy wonks and attorneys, discussed this at length in a Nov. 12 article. It said that \"\"these different approaches result in widely different numbers when applied to both the global and bilateral deficits, and they have helped fuel and confuse a debate among stakeholders.\"\" Global Trade Watch is sticking to its guns, but so is the National Association of Manufacturers. So back to Brown’s $2-billion-a-day claim: Is it accurate? Brown, who has authored a book on what he calls the \"\"myths of free trade,\"\" derives his figure from the ITC, and while the ITC cautioned us that the official balance-of-trade measure actually comes from Commerce, it is true that some authorities regard even the outlying ITC numbers as perfectly fine to use in certain circumstances. Yet even if we were to put those numbers aside and only use the Commerce Department numbers, Brown’s figures were close to the mark before the recession. This year is not the best year to measure the normal effects of trade, and no one can predict the future; perhaps the trade deficit will stabilize at a lower number such as $500 billion a year, or $1.36 billion a day. Perhaps it won’t. But based on the historical trends, regardless of which data source is used, we say Brown’s claim is .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"More than 10 years of free trade \"\"has brought a $2 billion per day trade deficit.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5629926996e349988fc00f0030e9346e",
            "input": "The story mentioned that apixabane would cost more than warafarin, and included a quote from a company spokesperson to indicate that the exact price is uncertain as the medication has not yet been approved. The story also presented a reasoned examination of total costs for the use of warafin that accounted not just for per pill costs but also the expenses associated with the routine blood draws to examine warafarin levels. The story provided the absolute decrease in the number of strokes or clots, major bleeding events and hemorrhagic stroke as compared to the people in the study taking warafarin. The story provided good insight about possible problems associated with apixabane in patients with coronary artery disease who were simultaneously taking two blood thinners in addition to apixabane. The story provided a clear explanation about the nature of the patients, the size of the study, and the fact that it was a randomized clinical trial. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story quoted a study researcher, a company spokesperson, and a cardiologist who did not appear to have ties to the study reported on. The story compared the outcome measure of apixabane to warafarin; in addition, it indicated that there is another medication in the same category that has been recently approved by the FDA. The story was clear that apixabane, the medication reported on, was experimental. The story was clear that there is already a similar type of drug that has recently been approved for use by the FDA. While the story referenced a news release, it does not appear to be its sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "New Blood Thinner May Outperform Warfarin for Irregular Heartbeat"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1672787c11a43d6957b6cfaaa66d4c0",
            "input": "The articles said that they were based on a spike in total mortality rates reported by officials in Moscow, who said the capital registered about 1,800 deaths more in April 2020 than the monthly average. The New York Times reported that total is far higher than the official COVID-19 death count of 642, which the newspaper said was an indication of significant underreporting by the authorities. It quoted Tatiana N. Mikhailova, a senior researcher at the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow, as saying that the number who died from the virus is “possibly almost three times higher than the official toll.” The Financial Times pointed to a similar surge in deaths reported by authorities in St. Petersburg, and it concluded that nationwide, Russia could have 70% more coronavirus deaths than it reports. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova complained about what she called “disinformation” by the two newspapers and said letters demanding a retraction would be passed on to both on Thursday. Danielle Ha, vice president for communications for The New York Times, told Russian news agencies the report was accurate because it was based on data released by an official state agency. The Financial Times didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Russia has reported over 250,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday and 2,305 deaths. The comparatively low death toll raised questions in the West, with some critics suggesting it could be much higher. The New York Times reported that Russia’s mortality rate of only about 13 deaths per million was far below the world average of 36. Russian health officials insisted that the relatively low coronavirus death toll is due to its instituting a quick ban on travel from neighboring China earlier this year, an early introduction of restrictions and tracing of the infected contacts. U.S. President Donald Trump has cited a similar travel ban for his efforts to combat the virus. Russian officials also have said the scope of testing has been significantly increased in recent weeks, allowing for officials to spot the infections quickly and prevent patients from developing life-threatening complications. Following the Foreign Ministry statement, lawmaker Vasily Piskaryov demanded that reporters from the newspapers be stripped of their accreditation, effectively banning them from working in the country. Zakharova said measures against the media organizations “will depend on whether they run the retraction.” Last month, Russian lawmakers approved fines of up to $25,000 and prison terms of up to five years for anyone who spreads what is deemed to be false information during the outbreak. Under the measure, media outlets could be fined up to $127,000 for disseminating disinformation about the virus. On Wednesday, Moscow’s health department rejected the allegations of undercounting coronavirus deaths. Officials said autopsies are being conducted in all suspected coronavirus deaths. “That’s why post-mortem diagnoses in Moscow and causes of death, in the end, are exceedingly accurate, and the mortality data absolutely transparent,” the statement said. More than 60% of deaths of people with coronavirus in Moscow were ascribed to other causes, such as cardiovascular ailments, cancer, diseases involving organ failures and other illnesses, according to the statement. Guidelines on reporting coronavirus deaths, issued by the World Health Organization in mid-April, state that “deaths due to COVID-19” should be considered as such “unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID disease.”  ___ Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Russia slams New York Times, Financial Times on virus deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4a01b6a068a4b9e97f752064d856ec3",
            "input": "A heart surgeon and his team performs a complex mitral valve reconstruction at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge July 5, 2007. REUTERS/Ben Edwards Among patients admitted to the hospital for a heart attack, women were far less likely than men to get angiography in which blood vessels are injected with dye so that blockages are visible on an X-ray, or angioplasty to clear blockages, a study found. Women were about twice as likely as men to die within a month of a heart attack, the study said. “This suggests that we could reduce mortality in female patients by using more invasive procedures,” said Dr. Francois Schiele, chief cardiologist at the University Hospital of Besancon, France. Schiele, who presented the research at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta, said women should be treated with all recommended strategies, including invasive ones. Some earlier studies have also suggested that women have a higher risk of death after a heart attack than men, but it is unclear why. Biological differences might explain it, researchers said, but there were also substantial differences in the treatment regimens women received. Researchers analyzed data from a registry that included more than 3,500 patients who were treated for heart attacks between January 2006 and December 2007. The women, who made up almost one-third of the patients, were nine years older than the men on average and had more health problems. In most major heart studies, the majority of patients have been men, leaving women an understudied population. The French study, sponsored by European drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, found women received fewer effective treatments for heart attack. Women were almost twice as likely to die during the initial hospital stay and during the following month. Dr. Marcelo Di Carli, director of Cardiovascular Imaging at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, noted that the risk of death is higher in women with heart disease than in men and the women in this study were older and sicker in the first place. Carli, who was not involved in this study, said he was not surprised by the findings, but noted that there is a growing awareness that women’s heart attack symptoms are different from men’s symptoms. “Just about every major hospital in the United States has a program on women’s health. Things are changing in a positive way because there’s so much research,” he said, adding that there is a recognition that women have different symptoms then men and sometimes no symptoms. One important difference, he said, is that women tend to have problems in smaller blood vessels, rather than the main coronary arteries. “This disease looks different in women,” Carli added.",
            "output": [
                "Women more likely to die after heart attack: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20ce2a9218ff4803a03d2e828e96ac7d",
            "input": "They agreed to amend the Basel Convention to make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, while also ensuring that its management is safer for human health and the environment. “I’m proud that this week in Geneva, parties to the Basel Convention have reached agreement on a legally-binding, globally-reaching mechanism for managing plastic waste,” Rolph Payet, executive secretary at U.N. Environment for the Basel, Rotterdam & Stockholm Conventions, said in a statement. “Pollution from plastic waste, acknowledged as a major environmental problem of global concern, has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic now found in the oceans, 80-90% of which comes from land-based sources,” the statement said. Payet said the negotiations, which began 11 days ago and brought together 1,400 delegates, had gone much further than anticipated. Officials attributed the progress partly to growing public awareness worldwide - reinforced by documentary films by British naturalist David Attenborough and others - of the dangers of plastic pollution to marine life. Marco Lambertini, director general of environmental charity WWF International, said that for too long wealthy countries had abdicated responsibility for enormous quantities of plastic waste and that the new accord was a highly welcome step towards redressing the imbalance and restoring some accountability. “However, it only goes part of the way. What we - and the planet - need is a comprehensive treaty to tackle the global plastic crisis,” he added. Payet said the new rules should have a significant impact on ocean pollution and ensure that plastics “do not end up where they should not end up”. Paul Rose, expedition leader for the National Geographic Pristine Seas Expeditions, said he believed changing public opinion worldwide about plastic pollution had played a positive role in the negotiations. “It was those iconic images of the dead albatross chicks on the Pacific Islands with their stomachs open and all recognizable plastic items inside it, and most recently, it’s been when we discovered the nano-particles do cross the blood-brain barrier, and we were able to prove that plastic is in us,” Rose said. An online petition entitled “Stop dumping plastic in paradise!” has attracted almost a million signatures in the past week. The new rules will take a year to come into force. But Payet said the signatory countries had said they did not want any delay, adding that the plan was to “hit the ground running”.",
            "output": [
                "U.N. clinches deal to stop plastic waste ending up in the sea."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-474dc41f030c43b9b2f0cb32303f3bbb",
            "input": "The number of new deaths on Sunday rose 97, the NHC said in a statement on its website, another daily record increase. The central Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, earlier on Monday reported 91 deaths on Sunday, while in the provincial capital, Wuhan, 73 people had died. The number of new confirmed infections on mainland China on Sunday increased, after declining on Saturday below 3,000 cases for the first time since Feb. 2. Across mainland China, there were 3,062 new confirmed infections on Sunday, bringing the total number so far to 40,171. (This story corrects milestone of Saturday’s decline)",
            "output": [
                "China reports 97 new coronavirus deaths on mainland on Sunday, toll rises to 908."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de0967a495174e2ab8f555bd367d436c",
            "input": "The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) had previously said members could not treat male patients except in specific circumstances, such as circumcising babies, treating transgendered patients, and helping couples overcome infertility. However, opposition had mounted from gynecologists and others who said the policy interfered with medical research and prevented them treating male patients with chronic pelvic pain. Some obstetricians and gynecologists had also been treating men for cancer, problems such as low testosterone, and cosmetic procedures including liposuction. “This change recognizes that in a few rare instances board certified diplomats were being called upon to treat men for certain conditions and to participate in research,” Dr. Larry Gilstrap, ABOG’s executive director, said in a statement Thursday. “This issue became a distraction from our mission to ensure that women receive high quality and safe health care.”  The Dallas-based board eliminated requirements that said certified members treat only women and must devote at least 75 percent of their practice to obstetrics and gynecology, saying instead a majority would suffice. The policy change matters because board certification, while not legally mandated, is viewed as a paragon of safety by many hospitals, patients, and insurers. It was intended to protect patients when some gynecologists who were board-certified by the group were practicing in areas outside the board’s expertise, such as plastic surgery, ABOG spokesman David Margulies said. First adopted in the 1930s, the policy had been ignored or opposed by doctors in some corners over the years, and the board had built a list of complicated exceptions over the past months, Margulies said. “The whole thing became a distraction from the idea that we are here to certify people, to make sure that they have the training they need,” Margulies said. ABOG says on its website it is an independent, non-profit organization that certifies obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States. It examines and certifies more than 1,700 obstetricians and gynecologists and sub-specialists in maternal-fetal medicine, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, gynecologic oncology and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery each year.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. board allows gynecologists to treat more men."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5bed6223fe054f86bd1c111e84101607",
            "input": "Chaiya, under pressure from health activists and doctors who campaigned to have him sacked, said declaring compulsory licenses on the drugs would save Thailand more than 3 billion baht ($100 million) over the next five years. “The findings have convinced me to go ahead with the CLs since the ministry’s policy is to give patients good access to quality drugs at cheap prices,” Chaiya said of the review by a panel of Health Ministry officials. The decision is a blow to major pharmaceutical companies which had lobbied hard to reverse the CL policy launched by the previous government appointed after a bloodless 2006 coup. The three drugs are Letrozole, a breast cancer medicine made by Novartis AG, the breast and lung cancer drug Docetaxel by Sanofi-Aventis, and Roche’s Erlotinib, used for treating lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancer. A license issued on a leukemia drug, Glivec, was cancelled last month after its maker, Novartis, agreed to supply it free to hundreds of Thai patients. Shortly after a democratically-elected government took power in February, Chaiya ordered the review of a policy he said was a “politically correct decision, but not legally correct”. At the time he said the government could afford the full cost of the drugs, if it meant avoiding trade retaliation by the United States, home to some of the world’s biggest drug firms. U.S. officials denied there were any plans to impose sanctions on Bangkok, although Thailand was placed on a watch list, meaning Washington believed its respect for patents had weakened. When Chaiya, a businessman with no medical training, fired the Health Ministry’s top official negotiating cheaper prices from foreign drug firms, outraged health activists and doctors launched a campaign to remove him. Chaiya said on Monday the ministry would buy cheaper versions of the cancer drugs from generic producers, such as Indian firms which already supply copy-cat HIV-AIDS medicines to Thailand. Under World Trade Organisation rules, countries can issue a compulsory license to make or buy generic versions of patented drugs deemed critical to public health as long as the medicines are meant for domestic use. Former Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla overrode Merck’s AIDS drug Efavirenz in late 2006, arguing that Thailand could not afford patented drugs for a national health plan that covers about 80 percent of the country’s 63 million people. A few months later he did the same on a Sanofi-Aventis heart medicine and an AIDS drug made by Abbott Laboratories, which refused to register several new medicines in Thailand. Mongkol, who targeted the four cancer drugs weeks before he left office, has defended the CL policy against major drug firms which accused him of stealing their intellectual property rights. ($1= 30 Baht)",
            "output": [
                "Thailand will override cancer drug patents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5430003cbe0c4117b92962c5d1b3926b",
            "input": "\"The story does not discuss the costs of annual mammography screening, or even provide a range of costs. The story does not discuss any health care policy cost repercussions of breast cancer screening recommendations. The story does not discuss the cost of unnecessary biopsies or other treatments for women who have a false positive diagnosis via mammography (greater in women 40-49). The story highlights the 26 percent difference in breast cancer death rates, but fails to include any information about the overall risk. The researchers reported that based on their results you would have to screen 1252 women for a decade in order to prevent one breast cancer death. In other words, for the remaining 1251 women, a decade of mammograms did not alter their breast cancer mortality. Although this story does not go into detail about the potential harms of screening mammography, it does include comments from independent experts who point out that the scans do lead to the diagnosis and treatment of women whose tumors would never have become life-threatening. This story briefly explains key features of this study. It also includes critiques from independent experts who note limitations of the study design and analysis – although the statement that the researchers \"\"did not compare the broader breast cancer death rates\"\" in the counties\"\" is unclear. Overall, there is much more the Times could have done to analyze methodological questions surrounding the Swedish study. (For example, read our blog on this matter.) Interviews with Peter Gotzsche and with Donald Berry saved the story. But so much more could have been done – another reason why more than 471 words should have been devoted to the reporting. The story does not discuss the prevalence of breast cancer among women in their 40s. That omission would not usually be considered disease mongering, but since surveys indicate most people overestimate the risk of breast cancer among women in their 40s, failing to mention the actual rates leaves those misconceptions intact. The story does include comments from experts who raise concerns about overdiagnosis; that is, the number of breast tumors discovered that are not actually life-threatening. A strong point of this story is the inclusion of comments from several independent experts with a variety of perspectives on the meaning of the latest study results. The story does not mention any potential conflicts of interest, but the researchers did not list any in their journal article. Although not discussed in detail, the story does mention that the United States Preventive Services Task Force has questioned the value of screening mammograms for women younger than 50, thus implying that not being screened is an option to consider. The availability of mammography was not explicitly addressed, but we can’t criticize the story for that. Instead, we give a Not Applicable score for this criterion. This story could have done a better job explaining how this study – and its methods – are different from earlier research on the topic.But two things lead us to give it a barely satisfactory score. First, there was a brief attempt to mention the unique \"\"circumstances\"\" of the Swedish study. Second, the story also pointed out that there’s a historical ideological pattern in the study authors’ work – noting that they \"\"have long been advocates of mammography screening.\"\" It’s clear that the story was not based on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Mammogram Benefit Seen for Women in Their 40s"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-979eaac9146244bdad701bb66ea787f3",
            "input": "The state will hire at least 1,000 people, creating a Community Contact Tracing Corps and supplementing the roughly 800 to 900 mostly county health officials who are tracing the people with whom coronavirus-positive residents have had contact, the first-term Democrat said. The news came as Murphy announced the state’s COVID-19 data is trending in the right direction, though he stopped short of specifying dates when the state might reopen its economy. Newly hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are down 44% since late April; the number of people in the hospital is down 34%; and patients in intensive care and on ventilators are down by an average of 27%, the governor said. “The road back is paved with five words: Public health creates economic health,” Murphy said. “We will move as quickly as we can but as safely as we must.” But while that data is headed in the right direction, Murphy said, New Jersey still leads the nation in positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths per 100,000 people. The state added about 900 new positive cases since Monday, bringing the total to about 141,000. It’s the first time since March 25 that the number of new cases has been below 1,000, Murphy pointed out. There were 198 deaths reported since Monday, bringing the death toll to 9,508. The state’s more than 500 long-term care facilities must also test all their residents for the virus by May 26 under a new health department order, Murphy said. There must also be a follow-up test a week later, and facilities must update their outbreak prevention plans by May 19, he added. Murphy unveiled a six-part plan last month aimed at reopening. Increasing testing and contact tracing were initial components of the plan. Despite calls from some protesters calling  for reopening the state immediately, Murphy’s job approval ratings have been high, according to polls. Murphy repeated his calls for doubling testing to about 20,000 a day by the end of the month. He said expanding testing to first responders was an easy call and argued that expanding to people without symptoms would boost confidence that the state is ready to reopen. “(It gives) everybody out there the confidence that we have the infrastructure in place and that they know we’re on it, that we can spot a community spread or flareup with very short notice. That gives everybody in the state a kick in their step, a confidence to say, ‘You know what, I’m good on going to the county parks,’” he said. The contact tracing jobs would pay $20 to $25 an hour, and the testing and tracing program would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, Murphy said. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness or death. ___ CASINOS A state Senate panel on Tuesday advanced a pair of bills that would have the state Health Department set standards for Atlantic City’s nine casinos to meet before they can reopen. They also would apply to hotels across the state. The Democratic-sponsored bills would have the department set standards on disinfection of rooms, elevators, surfaces, kitchens, gambling floors and other high-traffic areas, as well as training of workers on safe practices. They would also require the continuation of social distancing standards, including a prohibition of gatherings of more than 10 people. The Casino Association of New Jersey has already contracted with the AtlantiCare hospital system to do the same thing for the casinos, including developing recommendations on best operating and cleaning practices. No date has yet been given for reopening the casinos, which Murphy ordered closed on March 16. ___ Associated Press writer Wayne Parry in Atlantic City contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Murphy: State doubling coronavirus ‘contact tracers’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f5c7d29852074da58981536a53765a46",
            "input": "\"Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has faced growing threats to his safety, and the government will step up his security, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Asked on NBC’s “Today” show if he felt safe, Fauci said, “I do.”   “I’ve chosen this life - I know what it is. There are things about it that sometimes are disturbing,” Fauci said. “But you just focus on the job you have to do and you put all that other stuff aside and try as best as possible not to pay attention to it.”   \"\"We have a really, really very difficult situation ahead of us,\"\" he said, referring to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic that threatens hundreds of thousands here of lives around the world. \"\"All of that other stuff in secondary.\"\" The Justice Department has approved a U.S. Marshals Service recommendation for more than half a dozen special agents to provide protective services to Fauci, a Justice official told ABC News. Fauci, a strong advocate of emergency measures including stay-at-home orders to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, has become a target for criticism by the far right and online conspiracy theorists, media reports have said, after he corrected several of President Donald Trump’s statements relating to the outbreak. For many others, the calm, focused health professional has been a steady voice of expertise and reassurance in a time of crisis. In addition to the threats, the security concerns include “unwelcome communications from fervent admirers,” the Washington Post reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter at the Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. In another interview on Thursday, Fauci, who is 79 and has led his agency since 1984, acknowledged some stress. “I mean, obviously there’s a lot of pressure. I would be foolish to deny that,” he told CBS’ “This Morning.”   “It’s a job to do, and we’ve just got to do it.”\"",
            "output": [
                "Fauci says threats to his personal security 'secondary' to curbing coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13d0a6d54b8f43c5b14fea5becbc5da5",
            "input": "Carcasses have reportedly been found in rivers and on streets as owners discarded them out of fear of contagion, though the agency head M. Azhar Harahap stressed the virus is only infectious to pigs, not humans. “The number of deaths is hovering around 4,000,” Harahap said by telephone. Classical swine fever (CSF) virus, also known as hog cholera, was first detected in September in the province’s Dairi district, he said, noting the agency would open monitoring posts in 38 districts. According to preliminary estimates by Indonesia’s statistic bureau, Indonesia produced 327,215 tonnes of pork meat last year, with the Hindu enclave of Bali producing the most. North Sumatra produced 43,308 tonnes last year. Asia has seen a number of recent outbreaks of CSF virus and African swine fever, with the latter decimating China’s pig herd, the world’s biggest. A year-long pig epidemic has slashed China’s pig herd by more than 40%, and has pushed prices of the country’s favorite meat to record levels.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia swine fever outbreak kills more than 4,000 pigs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d99d7525ed8449ab9a511213d265d898",
            "input": "The National Health Commission on Sunday also issued a notice asking for improvement in testing capacity and quality nationwide. Nine of the new cases were imported infections, data from commission showed. Authorities reported that total confirmed cases across mainland China had risen to 82,735 with 4,632 deaths as of April 18. The northeastern province of Heilongjiang has seen a rise in infected travellers arriving from Russia in recent weeks, and is now battling to contain a flare-up in local cases. Heilongjiang has reported 39 new local cases in the past 10 days, or more than 50% of all new 73 locally transmitted cases reported in the mainland during the same period. Most were related to one imported case in the provincial capital, Harbin. On Friday, 18 officials in Harbin, including a vice mayor, were punished. To help contain the outbreak, the Heilongjiang government is cautioning against family gatherings, cross infections at hospitals, and slow reporting in epidemic investigations, it said on the provincial government’s website. “The biggest political task at present is to stop the rebound and spread of the epidemic,” Wang Yongkang, vice governor of Heilongjiang, was quoted as saying. Elsewhere in mainland China, all areas in central Hubei province including Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, are now considered low risk. However, a Beijing central district is seen as high-risk, according to a social media post by the State Council, or Cabinet. On April 15, the Chinese capital reported three local cases, all of which were linked to an imported infection. Areas that are considered of medium-risk in China include two districts in Harbin, the city of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang, two districts in the southern city of Guangzhou and Jiaozhou city in eastern Shandong province. Separately, authorities reported 44 new asymptomatic cases of coronavirus, including three which were imported. Such cases, where patients test positive but show no clinical symptoms such as a cough or fever, are excluded from China’s tally of confirmed cases. In urging better testing, the National Health Commission said all large general hospitals need to set up laboratories that meet certain requirements and can conduct coronavirus testing independently. Since March, an average 54,000 tests have been conducted a day in Hubei province and that rose to 89,000 tests on April 17, Liu Dongru, a Hubei health commission official, told a news conference on Sunday. In Beijing, the number of institutions able to conduct nucleic acid testing has risen to 50 from 17 in early February, a municipal health commission official said on Sunday. In areas under great pressure, especially at land borders, local governments should help county-level medical institutions obtain nucleic acid testing capability, the commission said. Testing should be conducted by qualified medical institutions and independent medical laboratories, it said, adding that training for medical staff should be stepped up and testing operations standardised to reduce problems with the accuracy of testing.",
            "output": [
                "China's new coronavirus cases fall, eyes on northeastern province."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1389ed2406e648fbaa0d73e26d50acc9",
            "input": "Republicans on the GOP-majority Senate Environment and Public Works Committee mostly had praise for Andrew Wheeler, who has served as the agency’s acting head since Scott Pruitt’s resignation in July amid ethics scandals. The committee chairman, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., called Wheeler “very well-qualified” to take the job. But Democrats pressed Wheeler about his work as a lobbyist helping an influential coal magnate meet with Trump administration officials before his nomination to the EPA and his moves on deregulation and on what they said was his inattention to the growing dangers of climate change. “You seem to be consistently doing things that undermine the health and safety of this nation,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told Wheeler. Markey asked him why he was pulling back on regulations that proponents say protect human health and the environment. “I believe we are moving forward” on protections, Wheeler responded. Wheeler cited changes he had initiated to roll back future mileage standards for cars and autos and to ease Obama-era clampdowns on dirtier-burning coal-fired power plants. He said EPA staff, whom he did not identify, had concluded that those rollbacks would ultimately lead to health gains. Environmental groups and formal assessments from the EPA and other agencies have contested that, saying the changes would increase pollution and increase harm to people and the climate. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the rollbacks in car mileage standards and toxic mercury emissions under Wheeler were examples of unsafe deregulation and went beyond what industries themselves wanted. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., noted Wheeler had failed to mention climate change in his initial remarks to lawmakers. “Do you agree that climate change is a global crisis?” Sanders asked, shouting at times. “I would not call it the greatest crisis,” Wheeler said. “I would call it a huge issue that has to be addressed globally.” Wheeler told lawmakers that he had yet to read a massive government climate change report released late last year that emphasized man-made climate change was already underway. Wheeler said he had received one staff briefing so far on the climate change report. The work of the EPA and other government agencies, the report stresses the massive economic toll expected from increasingly severe wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather under climate change. Wheeler said the news media had seized upon “worst-case scenarios” of the climate report. “You are a former coal industry lobbyist that is sitting here,” Markey responded. “That’s the worst-case scenario, what you are proposing here” for easing Obama-era rules meant to clamp down on climate-changing fossil fuel emissions. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and other Republican lawmakers, by contrast, praised Wheeler for a move to remove federal protections for millions of miles of wetlands and waterways and other proposals. Republican lawmakers said the protections had burdened farmers and others. The grandson of a coal miner, Wheeler worked for the EPA in the 1990s and later as a longtime Republican Senate staffer. Democrats pressed Wheeler about his lobbying before joining the EPA, saying his work for coal companies should disqualify him from leading an agency that regulates coal. Wheeler’s lobbying clients included coal magnate Bob Murray, who pushed hard on the Trump administration after the 2016 elections to grant a series of breaks for the sagging domestic coal industry. Wheeler accompanied Murray to a March 2017 meeting to pitch Murray’s list of desired rule rollbacks and other breaks for coal to Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Wheeler told senators that his main work for Murray had been on health benefits and pensions. “I did not work on the plan. I do not have a copy of it. I saw it briefly,” Wheeler said, referring to Murray’s wish list. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., displayed a blown-up version of a photo taken of the meeting with Perry, showing Wheeler at Murray’s side. A second photo showed Murray’s rollback plan in Wheeler’s hands. Murray had sought some of the coal breaks that the EPA under Wheeler has since acted on. That included Wheeler signing a rule easing federal regulation of toxic coal ash, redoing an Obama rule that pushed electricity providers to move away from dirtier-burning coal plants and targeting an Obama rule limiting emissions of toxic mercury from coal plants. A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed an ethics complaint Tuesday with the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General alleging that Wheeler’s oversight of those and other rollback proposals at EPA may have violated his government ethics pledge to abstain from regulatory decisions affecting his former lobbying client for at least two years. EPA spokesman John Konkus called the accusation “baseless” and “wrong” and said Wheeler works with EPA ethics officials and follows their guidance.",
            "output": [
                "Democrats hit Trump EPA nominee on coal lobbying, rollbacks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0fa1e61930945b2befa75ac2158d8b4",
            "input": "The cost differences between aspirin and anticoagulant drugs are listed and the potential savings by using aspirin are highlighted. The release lists the percentages of patients who had a blood clot within three months of their knee replacement and emphasized that there was no statistical difference between those who took only aspirin and those who took anticoagulants. However, the release is remiss in not pointing out that the majority of patients were also treated with pneumatic compression boots. “Good old aspirin” implies that aspirin is benign and without potential harms, which is not accurate, even if the harms of aspirin are typically less than those of anticoagulants. There are two potential harms that were examined: bleeding and formation of clot. While the report notes that aspirin was “not inferior” to other anticoagulants, it was silent on the incidence of bleeding. In several places, the release mischaracterizes the study design and muddles distinctions between the results of this study and information from other sources. It neglects to point out key limitations noted by the study authors, including that the results seen in this network of Michigan hospitals may not reflect the experiences of patients elsewhere and that “this is an observational study and can only demonstrate association and not causation.” The study variable was the choice of a clot-prevention drug prescribed to patients the day before surgery, the day of surgery and the day after. The release muddles things by stating, “it’s routine for patients to take clot-preventing drugs for some time afterward.” The headline, subhead and lead sentence all refer to patients taking aspirin “after” or “following” a knee replacement. Readers are likely to mistakenly believe that the study looked at long-term use of clot-preventing drugs, rather than what it actually tracked: the choice of drug for the brief 3-day period around the procedure. The release also quotes a researcher saying, “This study is truly a real-world experience of what happened in Michigan when the majority of surgeons switched to aspirin,” Hallstrom says. “The incidence of blood clots, pulmonary embolus and death did not increase despite this dramatic change in practice.” However, this study was not set up to compare outcomes before and after a change in practice, so this prominent description of the study is not faithful to the actual study design. The release refers to “the two-year study period,” which readers could misinterpret to mean patients were followed for two-years, not just 90 days; though elsewhere the release does refer to the percentage of blood clots “over three months.” The release does not push knee replacement or clot-preventing drugs, though it does somewhat overstate the number of total knee replacements. The release cites a figure of “nearly 1 million Americans” each year, while other sources estimate the rate is closer to 700,000 per year. The disclosure statements included with the journal article reporting on this study note that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan support the quality improvement group that did this study and pay some of the salaries of key researchers. Even though the disclosure statements say Blue Cross and Blue Shield did not specifically fund the work on this study, the release should have noted the funding relationship. The release highlights the comparison between alternatives for minimizing blood clot risk due to knee replacement surgery. The release notes that many knee replacements surgeries are performed every year. The release notes that the question of the best clot-prevention strategy for knee replacement patients has been debated for years. It cites an advantage over one recent study. Comparing the language of the release to the more-specific description in the journal article, it does seem that the release appropriately portrays this study as adding to the evidence that surgeons can use when prescribing drugs. Although the release paints a rather rosy and benign image of “good old aspirin,” the release is clear that this study found that there was no statistical difference in outcomes between patients taking aspirin versus anticoagulant drugs…and it pointed out that doctors need to consider a patient’s history of blood clots, obesity and other factors.",
            "output": [
                "Aspirin alone a good clot buster after knee surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a97a7d05acbe49779c41ac5bb599ce80",
            "input": "Surging deaths in New York City and New Orleans showed that a wave of lethal coronavirus infections expected to overwhelm hospitals, even in relatively affluent, urban areas with extensive healthcare systems, has begun to crash down on the United States. Governors, mayors and physicians have voiced alarm for weeks over crippling scarcities of personal protective gear for first-responders and front-line healthcare workers, as well as ventilators and other medical supplies. With the federal government’s national strategic stockpile of such equipment nearly depleted, states have been forced essentially to compete against each other on the open market for vital resources. Cities across the country have also scrambled to expand hospital capacity and recruit healthcare professionals out of retirement to meet looming shortages of sick beds and personnel. New York City, the pandemic’s U.S. epicenter, has mere days to prepare for the worst of the outbreak, said Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city has suffered more than a quarter of the 7,000-plus coronavirus deaths to date nationwide. New York is in an “extraordinary race against time,” de Blasio told a news briefing on Friday, renewing his call for the federal government to mobilize the U.S. military. “We’re dealing with an enemy that is killing thousands of Americans, and a lot of people are dying who don’t need to die,” he said. “You can’t say, every state for themselves, every city for themselves. That is not America.”  Americans, almost all of them under orders to stay home except for essential outings such as grocery shopping or seeing a doctor, have heard conflicting guidance in recent days about the need for wearing face masks in public. At the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump seemed to muddy the waters further when he announced that federal health authorities are now recommending individuals wear cloth face coverings to stem transmission of the virus. But he stressed the advisory was purely voluntary, and that he would not be heeding the recommendation himself. “With the masks, it’s going to be a really voluntary thing. You can do it, you don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it,” he said. Doctors and nurses, many lacking adequate supplies of medical-grade face masks and other protective gear, were already confronting an onslaught from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the highly contagious coronavirus. One physician at a New York City hospital recounted arriving at work on Friday to learn that three of his COVID-19 patients had died that morning. A few hours later, he had intubated two others. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never even heard of something like this in the developed world,” he told Reuters on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak with the media. Another hot spot, Louisiana, reported a sharp jump in deaths, climbing 20% to 370 on Friday, marking the highest day-to-day increase in fatal cases yet for the Gulf Coast state. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards pleaded for residents to abide by his state-at-home order as the number of infections statewide surpassed 10,000. “For those of you who are not taking the crisis seriously, I am asking you to do a better job,” he told a news conference. Louisiana’s largest city, New Orleans, where Mardi Gras celebrations in late February are believed to have spread the virus before social distancing orders were imposed, has become a focal point of the crisis. The outbreak there has proven far more lethal than elsewhere in the United States, with a per-capita death rate twice that of New York City. Doctors, public health officials and available data suggest the Big Easy’s high levels of obesity and related ailments may be part of the problem. In New York, the U.S. state hardest hit by the coronavirus in sheer numbers of infections and lives lost, the cumulative number of fatalities rose above 2,900 - on par with the death toll from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. “Personally, it’s hard to go through this all day, and then it’s hard to stay up all night watching those numbers come in,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. New York City alone accounted for more than a quarter of the 7,077 U.S. coronavirus deaths tallied by Johns Hopkins University on Friday. Known U.S. infections, approaching 275,000 cases, made up about 25% of the more than 1 million cases reported worldwide. Many of the most gravely ill patients were dying alone as medical staff forbade relatives to be with them in their final hours for fear of a further spread of infection. Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York’s Columbia University Medical Center, described the scene inside tents set up outside hospitals to help contain an increasing influx of patients. “In those same tents, I saw too much pain, loneliness, and death. People dying alone,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday night. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy ordered all flags lowered to half-staff for as long as the emergency lasts, saying his state was the first to take such a measure. Fresh data on Friday highlighted the economic consequences of the public health crisis, confirming that hundreds of thousands of Americans had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Economists said actual job losses will prove far greater but had yet to be reflected in employment figures as much of the economy had only begun to shut down last month.",
            "output": [
                "New York in 'race against time' as Trump stresses face masks are voluntary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-645990173932440da36688f2a02e752a",
            "input": "\"Politicians and national media once again have turned their attention to Chicago’s violence. The city’s nearly 800 murders in 2016 prompted President Donald Trump to repeatedly liken parts of Chicago to sections of the Middle East. Trump also has said he will \"\"send in the feds\"\" to \"\"fix the horrible carnage,\"\" but no signs of federal intervention have been seen so far. Trump’s focus on Chicago, combined with the recent murders of 2-year-old Lavontay White Jr., 11-year-old Takiya Holmes and 12-year-old Kanari Bowers, has only heightened interest in what is happening in Chicago. The subject came up as MSNBC’s Willie Geist interviewed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Feb. 15. Geist asked Durbin why Chicago is so violent, especially in comparison to other major cities like New York, which saw a historically low murder rate in 2016. (The Chicago violence segment starts at 3:54)  Durbin made the argument that Chicago, as a whole, doesn’t suffer from constant violence. He said the gun violence only occurs in a few areas. \"\"You can almost pinpoint half of the gun violence deaths to two or three specific sections in the city,\"\" Durbin said. \"\"They are just areas of devastation, economically and otherwise.\"\" Is Chicago’s violence actually that concentrated? Murder across neighborhoods We reached out to Durbin’s office to see where he found this data. His press secretary, John Normoyle, pointed to a Chicago Tribune article published on Feb. 1 titled, \"\"Violence in Chicago still stubbornly high; Trump reacts again.\"\" The story cites Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson who, during a press conference, said half of Chicago’s homicides in January occurred in three police districts: Englewood on the South Side and the West Side districts of Harrison and Austin. We followed up with the Police Department’s News Affairs Office to verify that statement. The department’s director of communication, Frank Giancamilli, sent back a press release from Feb. 1 that says the Englewood, Austin and Harrison police districts approximately made up half of Chicago’s 51 murders in January. The distinction is important. Data from each police district crime map shows a total of 22 of the 51 January murders can be attributed to the Englewood, Austin and Harrison districts. It’s a significant chunk — 43 percent — but not exactly half. ‘It’s a tale of two cities’ Loyola University criminology professor Arthur Lurigio said violence in these areas is hardly news. Violence has been rampant in the Englewood, Austin and Harrison areas since the 1960s, Lurigio said. \"\"Without even seeing the data, I would have picked those three districts,\"\" Lurigio said. \"\"These communities haven’t changed, and I expect them to continue being this violent if they experience the same conditions.\"\" This brings us to the second part of Durbin’s statement: The areas in which gun violence is concentrated are plagued by other problems that feed the violence. \"\"Homicide doesn’t occur in a vacuum,\"\" Lurigio said. \"\"Violence is a public health problem, but people only view it in a criminal aspect. People in these areas are plagued by other social, economic and health problems. Things like housing foreclosures, high unemployment and school closures. So a lot of young men devalue their own life because they don’t see a future. There’s no compunction about pulling the trigger.\"\" There’s data backing up Durbin and Lurigio’s claims. According to U.S. Census data compiled by the Chicago Tribune, both Austin and Englewood have an unemployment rate of 21 percent compared to an 11.1 percent rate in Chicago overall. East Garfield Park and West Garfield Park both make up parts of the Harrison Police District and have unemployment rates of 15 and 25 percent, respectively. Likewise, those neighborhoods have considerably lower individual incomes and higher percentages of households in poverty than Chicago as a whole. \"\"Chicago is like a tale of two cities,\"\" Lurigio said \"\"It’s a city that’s been utterly neglected in some parts. Give the city money to repair infrastructure where its needs it most. Fix the primary school systems in these areas. Don’t call murder a crime problem when the answers lie in investing in these blighted areas.\"\" Our ruling In a recent interview with MSNBC, Durbin spoke about gun violence in Chicago. Durbin said of Chicago, \"\"You can almost pinpoint half of the gun violence deaths to two or three specific sections in the city. They are just areas of devastation economically and otherwise.\"\" Durbin’s office cited a news article that used statistics from the Chicago Police Department. A press release from CPD News Affairs Office confirms this. It read: \"\"Three districts (7, 11, 15) are responsible for approximately 50% of murders in January 2017.\"\" We confirmed these statistics by looking at data available on crime maps posted on the CPD Harrison, Englewood and Austin district websites. Durbin’s assessment of Chicago’s homicides is accurate. He did say you can \"\"almost\"\" attribute half of deaths to a few communities and 43 percent are in certain west and south side neighborhoods. A crime expert told us these trends have been consistent over the last five decades. Finally, we found data that shows there is a correlation between areas with high violence and economic hardship.",
            "output": [
                "You can almost pinpoint half of the gun violence deaths to two or three specific sections in the city. They are just areas of devastation, economically and otherwise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4dd140a55cfb4f9781b80e19f986f993",
            "input": "\"Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson stuck to his story about being offered a scholarship to West Point after a Politico article blasted him for \"\"fabricating\"\" the account. Carson has highlighted the offer to the prestigious military academy — allegedly made by Gen. William Westmoreland in 1969 when Carson was a ROTC student leader in Detroit — in his books and comments throughout the years. But Carson never applied to West Point nor does Westmoreland’s schedule place him in Detroit at the time Carson said he was, according to Politico. What’s more, there’s no such thing as a \"\"full scholarship\"\" to West Point, as everyone accepted to the five federal service academies receives free tuition in exchange for their service. When asked about discrepancy on ABC’s This Week by host George Stephanopoulos, Carson said the academy itself uses the terminology. \"\"Wait a minute George, go look on the West Point website, and you’ll see those specific words, ‘full scholarship to West Point,’ \"\" Carson said Nov. 8. \"\"So even though it is, you know, given as a grant for anybody who gets in, those words are used. And if a recruiter or somebody who’s trying to get you to come there or trying to get you to do that, those are the very words they will use. It’s on their website.\"\" We wondered if the words really are advertised on West Point’s website. We could not reach the military academy. Searching for the \"\"specific words ‘full scholarship to West Point’\"\" turned up no results on West Point’s own website or on Google. The official admissions page also makes no mention of a scholarship of any kind. Instead, it simply notes that  tuition, room and board, and expenses are fully paid for those who are selected to attend West Point. The academy’s diversity page, however, states that \"\"this four-year college experience is a fully funded scholarship.\"\" Carson’s spokesperson told us that West Point has referred to their benefits as a full scholarship in publications, a point Carson made in a Nov. 8 Facebook post. He uploaded two West Point recruitment ads targeted at African-Americans that contain the word \"\"scholarship,\"\" including one from the 1960s, when he was a student. We also found examples of the words \"\"full scholarship\"\" used in publications that are linked on West Point’s website, as well as some old recruiting advertisements: • A dataset from 2014: \"\"At the United States Military Academy all students receive a full scholarship, including room & board and medical- and dental-care are provided by the U.S. Army.\"\" • A prospectus from 2012: \"\"As a cadet, you are a member of the U.S. Army and receive a full scholarship and an annual salary of more than $10,000 from which you pay for your uniforms, textbooks, a laptop computer, and incidents.\"\" • An ad in a 1991 issue of Black Enterprise magazine: \"\"Each year about 1,400 young men and women take advantage of the opportunity to attend West Point on a full government scholarship, which includes tuition, room and board and medical care. • An ad that appeared in a few issues of Ebony magazine in 1990: \"\"You receive a full scholarship, earn a degree from one of the country’s finest colleges, and build a foundation for a challenging career of service to the nation.\"\" The financial benefits to attending military academies have been essentially described as scholarship-like or equivalent to a scholarship by USA Today, a West Point spokesperson in Forbes, and the Naval Academy. But the term \"\"full scholarship\"\" is an inaccurate description, experts told us. The phrase typically refers to a college providing financial aid to allow a candidate to attend a college free of charge, but that doesn’t really apply to West Point’s across-the-board zero-tuition policy, said Antonio Buehler, a West Point alumnus who founded the admissions coaching service Abrome. \"\"No such scholarship is named, every cadet is treated the same and there is an eight-year military commitment after graduation. Hence, not free,\"\" Buehler said. The proper terminology is \"\"appointment,\"\" said Vu Tran, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy who runs the Denver-based admissions consulting firm Service Academy Coach. But because that’s not apparent from the get-go, Tran says he can’t fault Carson for using the term loosely, albeit incorrectly. \"\"I can definitely see where parents and students who are beginning the process can misconstrue it to be a scholarship,\"\" he said. \"\"But for those who have gone through the admission process and through the nomination process, they would never call it a scholarship.\"\" Carson’s use of the words \"\"full scholarship\"\" is even more inaccurate if he’s describing his own experience, experts agreed. Tran told us it’s conceivable a ROTC commander or even a general would encourage a student to apply to West Point, touting the free tuition, but noted that anyone familiar with the process understands that that’s contingent upon nomination and acceptance. \"\"(Carson) would not have been ‘offered’ the opportunity to attend West Point at no cost, like all other cadets, until he applied and received an appointment, which he never did,\"\" Buehler said. Our ruling Carson defended his use of the word scholarship in discussing his recruitment to West Point, saying, \"\"Go look on the West Point website and you’ll see those specific words, ‘full scholarship to West Point.’\"\" The military academy has used the words \"\"full scholarship\"\" a few times in admissions literature and advertisements and in one place on its website. However, experts say Carson’s use of the word scholarship doesn’t properly explain the application and appointment process to West Point. Carson’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That meets our definition of . Correction: After this story was published, we found an additional instance of the words \"\"full scholarship\"\" on West Point’s website. The article has been updated to reflect that. The ruling remains .\"",
            "output": [
                "Go look on the West Point website and you’ll see those specific words, ‘full scholarship to West Point.’ So even though it is, you know, given as a grant for anybody who gets in, those words are used."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec65f72394944da088d7769ea086c5a2",
            "input": "Tegu lizards, which currently live in two large colonies in Florida, could expand into an area from the Carolinas to Central Texas, according to the scientific report published in July on the website for the journal Nature. “They are voracious, omnivorous predatory lizards that can live in a variety of habitats, but we can’t know what is going to happen or how intense this invasion is going to become until the effects are upon us,” said Lee Fitzgerald, a professor at Texas A&M University and curator of its Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections. Fitzgerald, a co-author of the study, said in an interview this week it could take years for the tegu lizards to reach their potential range, but new hot spots pop up as more pet lizards escape or are dumped in the wild by owners. There are no current estimates of wild populations of tegus in the United States. In South America, the large-bodied lizards range widely east of the Andes and include species such as the Argentine black and white tegu. Armed with strong jaws and tails that they can wield as thumping weapons, the lizards in Florida devour the eggs of American alligators and ground-nesting birds, wildlife officials said. The reptiles also have a taste for insects, fruit and birds. “As far as being a damaging invasive species, it really depends on what the threatened resources are in the areas where you might get tegus,” said Robert Reed, chief of the Invasive Species Science Branch at the U.S. Geological Survey, and another report co-author. Tegu owners describe their pets as big, calm and occasionally affectionate lizards that like sunning themselves and are not picky about what they eat. But they can also be ornery and tough to handle. In Florida, local wild populations of breeding tegu lizards are found in at least two counties, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, home to Tampa, while there have been sightings in other parts of the state, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. On private lands, Florida hunters without a license are allowed to kill tegu lizards if it is done humanely. On public lands, the state is trying to get rid of the lizards through traps. “The most important thing that the public can do to stop the spread of nonnative species like tegus is to NEVER release nonnative animals into the wild,” commission specialist Jamie Rager said in an email. “Don’t let it loose.”",
            "output": [
                "Invasion of big, voracious lizards threatens U.S. South: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf4f0ce49af447269febd1c739ff5270",
            "input": "The story describes the cost of the drug-coated stents compared to the older version, the bare metal stents. The story does report the risk of clotting with the drug-coated stents, however the comparison of coated and bare metal stents is the key piece of information that is missing in this story. This information should also be presented in absolute rather than relative terms. The story adequately describes the risk of clotting with drug-coated stents and of bleeding with Plavix. The story does a good job of describing the strength of the available evidence, particularly the limitations of using hospital registries as a source of data. By accurately describing the prevalence of restenosis, or narrowing of the artery after stenting, the story avoids disease mongering. The story quotes multiple experts who have differing perspectives on how the new information changes clinical practice. The story does mention alternatives such as bare metal stents, bypass surgery and medications. The story clearly states that drug-coated stents are common. The story clearly states that the drug-coated stents are new but have been widely used since they were introduced. Because the story quotes multiple independent sources the reader can assume that the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "FDA Probes Safety of Popular Heart Stent"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d08bb9d030847779bd009d882334b3a",
            "input": "Although the story suggests that the therapy can be expensive, this is not sufficient information on costs. The story does provide quantification of benefits in absolute terms for the 10-week and 4-week psychotherapy groups compared to no treatment. The story does not provide detail on the hypnotherapy studies. The story states that psychotherapies are “without side effects.” While that may reflect the existing data, it would have been preferable for the story to comment on potential side effects or harms without dismissing them. The story provides sufficient details about the design of the recent studies. The story could have provided additional details on the hypnotherapy studies cited. We are told that “just over half” of patients in the hypnotherapy group improved, while no patients in the control groups improved, but we are not given numbers or definition of “improved.” By accurately describing the prevalence of IBS, the story avoids disease mongering. The story quotes multiple sources. The story mentions drug treatment as the alternative. The story could have provided more information on lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. The story clearly states that cognitive behavioral therapy is available, but it is not clear how widely available it is and how difficult it may be to find a practitioner. The story clearly states that psychotherapy has been around for a while, but that it is a new approach for treating IBS. Because the story quotes multiple sources, the reader can assume that the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information. Although there was a press release issued from the meeting, the story does not lift text from it and the story also quotes researchers who were not included in the press release.",
            "output": [
                "The mind as a path to comfort"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4c7d621ff7943ab883fa9766064cdac",
            "input": "New Mexico cut the uninsured rate roughly in half since expanding Medicaid in 2014 to more people on the cusp of poverty. Enrollment leveled off in recent years with about 10% of the population still uninsured. The new fiscal study was funded this year by the Legislature amid repeatedly stalled proposals to develop a system for near-universal health care coverage. The policy arm of the Legislature has awarded a roughly $390,000 contract for studying the issue to Maryland-based KNG Health Consulting, IHS Markit of London and Albuquerque-based researcher Lee Reynis. Architects of the study are collecting public comments Wednesday at a meeting in Albuquerque. The study is expected to outline a variety financial models for expanding health care coverage. The reform advocacy group Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign is calling for a new system that shifts private insurance to a supplemental role in a way that resembles Medicare. The Legislature this year shunned a proposal to open the state’s Medicaid program to paying customers who aren’t eligible for federal subsidies but may struggle with premiums and out-of-pocket health care costs. The administration of first-year New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is separately proceeding with its own efforts to better identify the uninsured population and extend affordable care without running afoul of federal law. A recent state-commissioned study from the Urban Institute found about 187,000 uninsured residents under age 65 in New Mexico. State Medicaid Director Nicole Comeaux said just over half of those uninsured residents are eligible for federally subsidized Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or subsidized coverage on the state-run health insurance exchange. She said the state is turning to new technology to facilitate Medicaid enrollment, offering “real time” eligibility checks through mobile devices such as smart phones. A pilot version of the program has been tested in four counties. Abuko Estrada, coverage innovation officer at the state’s medical assistance division, says New Mexico will evaluate several approaches to more affordable care implemented by other states. Those include the “basic health plan” system utilized by New York and Minnesota to provide lower-cost insurance coverage and continuous care to people whose income fluctuates above and below the eligibility line for Medicaid.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico looks for paths to universal health insurance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75837a2ced1348949bf4b05f587a6660",
            "input": "\"It’s true that dimethylpolysiloxane is used in household silicon   products and as a food ingredient by restaurants like McDonalds. But  studies have shown that dimethylpolysiloxane (also called   polymethylsiloxane) is safe for human consumption in limited amounts. Dimethylpolysiloxane is used as an anti-foaming agent that’s added to   deep fried foods like French fries and chicken nuggets at restaurants   like  McDonald’s,  Wendy’s,  Taco Bell,  KFC,  Chick-fil-A and  Five Guys. McDonald’s  explained:  “The oil we use for our fried menu items, like our chicken McNuggets, world famous fries and crispy chicken sandwiches, does contain a small amount of dimethylpolysiloxane. This is an FDA-approved ingredient that helps prevent the splattering of oil as foods are cooked.”  The FDA last  approved dimethylpolysiloxane as a food additive in 1998. The   move was requested by the Dow Corning Corporation, which  describes itself as a “global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation.” The FDA placed a number of  limitations on the use of dimethylpolysiloxane as a “secondary direct food additive” for human consumption:  “Limitations: 10 parts per million in food, or at such level in a  concentrated food that when prepared as directed on the labels, the food in its ready-for-consumption state will have not more than 10 parts per million except as follows: Zero in milk; 110 parts per million in dry gelatin dessert mixes labeled for use whereby no more than 16 parts per million is present in the ready-to-serve dessert; 250 parts per million in salt labeled for cooking purposes, whereby no more than 10 parts per million is present in the cooked food.”  A number of health agencies have reviewed the use dimethylpolysiloxane as a food additive over the years, and those studies haven’t linked it to any harmful side effects. The European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals carried out a review in 2011 that found it had no adverse affect on the   immune system and was “rapidly excreted unchanged in the feces” when ingested by humans. The World Health Organization also explored potential long-term consequences of dimethylpolysiloxane exposure in lab rats. It concluded:  “Studies have been carried out on silicone fluids with and without the addition of silica. The presence of silica did not raise any toxicological problems nor did it affect the results of the experiment in a significant way. Short-term studies have been carried out in several species, including one study on an emulsion of dimethylpolysiloxane. An adequate long-term study with dimethylpolysiloxane has been carried out in the rat. None of these studies has revealed any significant toxicity.”  Dimethylpolysiloxane is also used as an inactive ingredient in over-the-counter drugs, lotions and hygiene products. It can be  found in makeup, nail polish, contact lens solution, sunscreen, deodorant and shampoo.\"",
            "output": [
                " Dimethylpolysiloxane is used in silicone caulks and adhesives — as well   as in McDonald’s fries and other menu options at chain restaurants   across the country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a986b6bc736a43ac8f76ce9289a2f227",
            "input": "The study evaluated the combined effect of six lifestyle habits on prostate cancer mortality. Those six factors were, as described in the journal article: “not currently smoking or quit 10 or more years ago, body mass index under 30 kg/m2, high vigorous physical activity, high intake of tomatoes and fatty fish, and low intake of processed meat.” It’s tough to put a price tag on those lifestyle choices. How much does “high vigorous physical activity” cost? How much does it cost to avoid eating processed meat? It would be easy to say this category doesn’t apply. But the release does address the issue, saying the study findings underscore “the ongoing need for more effective prevention measures and policies to increase exercise, improve diet quality and reduce tobacco use in our population….It takes co-operation and effort from multiple areas, like insurance companies, employers, policy makers and city planners, to figure out how to creatively support and encourage more exercise into most busy adults’ working day.” Recognizing the need for policies that support these lifestyle changes is important — and addresses the cost issue in a meaningful way. This is where things get a little tricky. The research described in this journal article looked at data from two different studies: the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) and the Physicians’ Health Study (PHS). The HPFS tracked 42,701 men from 1986-2010. The PHS tracked 20,324 men from 1982-2010. The release (and journal article) explain that the researchers used the HPFS data to develop a “healthy lifestyle score,” and then applied that score to the men in the PHS to see if it predicted whether someone would contract a lethal form of prostate cancer. The researchers identified the number of lethal cases of prostate cancer in each group to calculate benefits. The release states: “Participants with 5 to 6 points [the highest scores] in the HPFS had a 68 percent decreased risk of lethal prostate cancer[,] and a 38 percent decreased risk was observed in the [PHS] for the same comparison.” Several points to make here. First, the ‘healthy’ group appeared to have been compared to the ‘least healthy’ group (score 0-1) and not all the other groups combined. This was noted in the published results but not mentioned in the release. That’s important. Second, the release does not note (but the journal article does) that the 38 percent decreased risk seen in the PHS was not found to be statistically significant. That’s also an important distinction. Third, this is the relative reduced risk, and doesn’t tell readers what the actual, absolute reduction of risk is. The release doesn’t address harms. But the lifestyle choices at issue here are (for the most part) so broadly defined that it would be difficult to say what the harms would be. What harms are associated with eating tomatoes, avoiding processed meats, or not smoking? We’ll rate this one not applicable. The release does a good job of explaining what is a somewhat complicated study design. The study is basically an analysis of data drawn from two large, previous studies — and the release describes the overall sample size, age range, and length of those two studies. But the language used to describe the results is inappropriate. Since this was an analysis of observational study data that’s unable to prove cause and effect, it’s misleading to use active verbs to describe the results. The release does this in several places: It’s more appropriate to state that these habits were “associated with” reduced risk — not that the habits “save lives” or “cut” risk. Another thing that’s not clearly explained to readers (as noted above) is what it means to develop a lifestyle scoring system based on one study’s data set, and then apply that scoring system to a second data set, when the results section is provided for both data sets. It’s confusing. We’d encourage public affairs specialists preparing news releases and reporters using them as their initial sources to focus more on the limitations of this type of research. Sometimes referred to as “data dredging,” it’s basically finding statistically significant results only by chance. In this case it’s a statistic of a statistic (up to 47% of cancer cases could be prevented with these lifestyle interventions). No disease mongering here. Funding sources were clearly identified, and there are no clear conflicts of interest. Things get tricky again here. As the release notes, most prostate cancers don’t metastasize and aren’t life threatening. But some do metastasize and can be fatal. Are there different types of prostate cancer, just like there are different types of flu? Are there genetic factors that affect risk? Readers would have benefited from that information. And we suppose that the release could have also mentioned other dietary or lifestyle factors that might help reduce risk that were not considered in the paper. However, the range of healthy behaviors discussed here is pretty broad, and it seems excessive to expect the release to address an entire laundry list of possibilities. We’ll give this a Satisfactory rating. The study was limited to a relatively high level income group and the interventions may not be attainable for all men, in all socioeconomic groups. Does partaking of vigorous physical exercise on a regular basis require access to a gym or just a high degree of motivation? Are tomatoes and fish attainable year round for all socioeconomic groups? The study addresses this to some extent when it says, “It takes co-operation and effort from multiple areas, like insurance companies, employers, policy makers and city planners, to figure out how to creatively support and encourage more exercise into most busy adults’ working day.” We’ll award a Satisfactory here. There are a lot — a lot — of papers out there on lifestyle choices and prostate cancer. In fact, the opening sentences in the abstract for the journal article says as much, while articulating what sets this research apart: “Several lifestyle factors have been associated with risk of lethal prostate cancer, but little is known about their combined effect. Our objective was to develop and apply a lifestyle score for prevention of lethal prostate cancer.” However, the release does not acknowledge all of the existing work on lifestyle and prostate cancer, and therefore fails to highlight how this paper fits into that broad body of work. Apart from the cause-and-effect statements addressed above, there is no unjustifiable language used here.",
            "output": [
                "Working up a sweat may protect men from lethal prostate cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c15843a0ce34929a316060036937192",
            "input": "The documents were filed in support of Trever Dalton’s request for treatment in a mental health diversion program rather than criminal prosecution for the Dec. 5, 2017 shooting, the Ventura County Star reported Thursday. Dalton, who resigned from the CHP last year, has pleaded not guilty to several charges including assault with a firearm. The victim, Sorin Popescu, testified at a 2018 preliminary hearing that Dalton appeared to be drunk and threw an empty can of beer at him during a confrontation in their Ventura neighborhood. Dalton went home but a short time later Popescu was struck in the back by a single bullet. Another neighbor testified he saw Dalton with a gun before the shooting. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Nancy Ayers has yet to rule on Dalton’s application, a request that Popescu opposes, the newspaper said. Dalton claims years of witnessing horrific scenes in his duties as a peace officer coupled with substance abuse influenced his conduct the night of the shooting, records show.",
            "output": [
                "Ex-officer accused of shooting neighbor claims PTSD."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41ebdeec734041d3bdd6da113d7cd975",
            "input": "\"Newly minted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the incoming administration for already abandoning campaign pledges in an interview on MSNBC. For example, he pointed to Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, an orthopedic surgeon and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. \"\"Price, the guy from HHS, Donald Trump said when he campaigned he wouldn't cut Medicare and Social Security, but he turns around nominates as his HHS secretary, guy who made his career on cutting Medicare and Medicaid,\"\" Schumer said on Jan. 3’s Rachel Maddow Show (around the 14:10 mark). \"\"We’re going to slam him on these things.\"\" Trump certainly promised to keep health care programs for seniors (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid) intact and to protect Social Security (which doesn’t fall under HHS’ jurisdiction). But what about Schumer’s characterization of Price’s record on the health care programs? Price has supported reducing the government’s role in Medicare and Medicaid and reducing spending on the programs. That would be a major change of course from how the programs ran under the Obama administration. Trump’s pledges Throughout the course of the 2016 election, Trump largely promised to protect or save Social Security and Medicare and instead to crack down on waste and fraud, with a few detours. Trump tweeted that he would leave all three safety nets intact in May 2015, a month before he made his official presidential announcement (in which he said the same thing). During the election, Trump continued to promise to protect Social Security and Medicare during debates, numerous campaign events, multiple interviews and campaign ads. He even seemed to suggest expanding Medicare or Medicaid in some instances and (falsely) accused Hillary Clinton of wanting to cut them. Post-election, Trump’s incoming chief of staff said Trump intends to keep those promises. Trump’s health care plan, released in March 2016, proposed to turn Medicaid into a \"\"block grant\"\" program but didn’t specify what that would look like. (Typically, block grants set a cap on the amount of federal funding to states for Medicaid instead of the current structure of the federal government matching state spending.) Price’s career A doctor and staunchly conservative policy wonk, Price has made health care one of his legislative priorities in his 20-year stint as a public servant. Price, who had his own orthopedic clinic in northern Atlanta, first ran for state office in 1996. During his time in the Georgia State Senate from 1997 to 2005, he sponsored legislation \"\"to increase patient choice, enact Medical Savings Accounts, and reform the Medicaid system,\"\" according to his Georgia legislature biography. In 2006, he ran for and won former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s old seat, spurred at least in part from outrage over the rising cost of malpractice insurance (tort reform is another pet issue of Price’s). Price has focused on reducing government oversight of health care and shifting to more private insurance. The first piece of legislation he introduced was a resolution \"\"recognizing the need to move the nation's current health care delivery system toward a defined contribution system,\"\" which would be a move away from employer-provided coverage as it exists today. He also sponsored bills to increase Medicare payments to doctors, allow doctors to enter into private contracts with Medicare beneficiaries and charge the program for their services,  and called for implementing cost-saving measures in Medicare and Medicaid. After Obama’s election, Price emerged as one of the leading opponents of the president’s signature Affordable Care Act. \"\"While the stated goal (of health care reform) remains noble, as a physician, I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare,\"\" Price wrote in a 2009 column in Politico that advocated for \"\"a third way that puts patients in charge.\"\" He has introduced a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare every legislative session since 2009. Price’s Empowering Patients First Act instead provides tax credits to help pay for private insurance plans and expands health savings accounts. The Price plan also allows for people to opt out of Medicare and Medicaid (and other government-run health programs) and choose the tax credits to purchase private plans instead. It folds in his previous advocacy of private contracting between Medicare beneficiaries and doctors. Beyond his own proposals, Price supported Paul Ryan’s 2011 budget plan, which would have eventually moved Medicare toward private insurance by giving people under 55 voucher-like tax credits to purchase plans. This is also called premium support. When he became chairman of the House budget committee, Price was the primary author of a budget for fiscal year 2016  that included $900 billion in spending reductions to Medicaid (through block granting) and $148 billion to Medicare (by leaving the Obama administration’s cost-saving measures intact), according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Price’s budget for fiscal year 2017 similarly sought: $1 trillion from Medicaid and $449 billion from Medicare. After Trump’s election, Price expressed optimism that lawmakers could overhaul Medicare in 2017. Did Price cut Medicare, Medicaid? For all of Price’s efforts to change Medicare and Medicaid and reduce spending, nothing actually came to fruition. Whether Price’s supported policies amount to \"\"cutting\"\" the health program or making it more market-oriented is a matter of debate, though he clearly wants to reduce the government’s role in Medicare. Schumer’s office pointed to Price’s comment on Medicare being government intrusion and his support for Medicare overhaul as evidence for Schumer’s claim. But a Trump transition team spokesman told us Price \"\"has long been a champion for strengthening Medicare for both current and future beneficiaries\"\" and believes that \"\"Medicaid provides a crucial safety-net for millions of Americans.\"\" Experts, meanwhile, were divided over whether Price’s proposals amounted to \"\"cutting\"\" Medicare and Medicaid. The Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonpartisan health care advocacy group, typically doesn’t weigh in on cabinet appointments but opposes Price’s nomination precisely because of his position on Medicare, said David Lipschutz, the group’s senior policy attorney. \"\"The policies he has advocated would significantly cut and alter Medicare,\"\" Lipschutz told us, listing Price’s support for a premium support model, opposition to allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and advocating for private contracting between Medicare beneficiaries with physicians with Medicare footing the bill. Gail Wilensky, the former director at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush, called Price’s comment on Medicare as government intrusion a \"\"gross exaggeration.\"\" But Wilensky preferred to characterize Price as a supporter of Medicare reform. She added that like Price, she supports premium support as a model for Medicare reform, as do prominent Democrats Alice Rivlin, a health care policy expert who served under President Bill Clinton, and Bob Reischauer, a fellow at the left-leaning Urban Institute. Our ruling Schumer said, \"\"Donald Trump said when he campaigned he wouldn't cut Medicare and Social Security\"\" but his nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services \"\"made his career on cutting Medicare and Medicaid.\"\" Price, Trump’s HHS pick, has supported reducing the government’s role in Medicare and block granting Medicaid, which would amount to spending reductions to both programs. While it’s clear these proposals would reduce federal spending on the health safety nets, experts say it’s not the same thing as gutting the programs entirely. Trump did pledge to leave Medicare and Social Security alone, and Price’s positions seem at odds with that. (It’s worth noting that Social Security isn’t administered by HHS).\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Charles Schumer Says Donald Trump campaigned on not cutting Medicare and Social Security, but his nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, \"\"made his career on cutting Medicare and Medicaid.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bb1f012caaa04db0a3ab347952d2a597",
            "input": "Tokyo’s nightlife districts of Shibuya, Akasaka and Ginza areas were much quieter than usual overnight as the state of emergency took effect, but cities have not shut down and many workers are still commuting to offices by day. The central bank warned that the coronavirus pandemic had created an “extremely high” level of uncertainty for the world’s third-largest economy, with regional economies facing their worst conditions since the global financial crisis a decade ago. Japanese authorities are hoping to contain the outbreak without imposing a mandatory lockdown that could deal a major blow to an economy already struggling to cope. The state of emergency gives local governors stronger legal authority to urge people to stay home and businesses to close. In contrast to lockdowns in some countries enforced by fines and arrests for non-compliance, Japan is relying more on peer pressure and a tradition of respect for authority. Japan, where a cruise ship offshore was once the biggest source of infections outside China, had early success in limiting the coronavirus. But authorities have become more alarmed in recent weeks by a surge in local transmission. The number of infections rose by 384 on Thursday to 5,356, while the death toll edged up by 1 to 106, according to NHK. During a daily live YouTube broadcast, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said the capital had 181 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily jump. “I am asking for your cooperation to protect your life, protect your family, protect your colleagues and society” she said. While Tokyo and the central government have been discussing what kind of businesses they will ask to close, Koike is considering making her own decision if they fail to reach an agreement, Kyodo news agency reported. Hideaki Omura, governor of Aichi prefecture, which includes the city of Nagoya and hosts Toyota Motor Corp, said he would declare a state of emergency on Friday even if the central government did not add it to the national list. “If we watch what’s happened in the last week it doesn’t look good and so we’re making preparations,” he said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in an afternoon press briefing that there was no need now to add Aichi and other areas to the national list. Even with less stringent restrictions compared with other countries, analysts polled by Reuters expect Japan to slip into a deep recession this year. While aggressive central bank actions across the globe have eased financial market tensions somewhat, corporate funding strains were worsening, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told a quarterly meeting of regional branch managers. “The spread of the coronavirus is having a severe impact on Japan’s economy through declines in exports, output, demand from overseas tourists and private consumption,” he said. “For the time being, we won’t hesitate to take additional monetary easing steps if needed, with a close eye on developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak.”  The BOJ cut its assessment on all of Japan’s nine regions for the first time in 11 years, saying their economies were weakening or under strong downward pressure. “The situation is quite severe. Business sentiment is souring. Firms dealing with inbound tourism and consumption are seeing sharp declines in sales,” Yasuhiro Yamada, the BOJ’s Osaka branch manager overseeing the Kinki western Japan region, told a news conference. Orders for machine tools in March dropped 40.8% from a year earlier, preliminary data from the Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA) showed on Thursday. The orders, regarded as a leading indicator on future spending on factory equipment, were especially dragged down by overseas demand, which fell 43.8% from a year earlier. Overseas orders hit their lowest level since January 2010, a JMTBA spokesman told Reuters. Shares of Oriental Land Co fell on Thursday after the operator of Tokyo Disneyland said it would keep the amusement park shut until mid-May. Entertainment facility operator Uchiyama Holdings  said it was closing 43 karaoke shops and 11 restaurants until May 6. Fast Retailing said sales at its Uniqlo outlets were down 27% in March from a year earlier. But retail group Seven & i Holdings Co reported a 3% rise in annual operating profit, thanks to robust sales of food and other daily necessities. At its policy meeting later this month, the BOJ is likely to make a rare projection that the economy will shrink this year, sources have told Reuters. The BOJ eased monetary policy in March by pledging to boost purchases of assets ranging from government bonds to commercial paper, corporate bonds and funds investing in stocks. The government rolled out a nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.",
            "output": [
                "Japan state of emergency mutes nightlife but cities still open as infections rise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0bdddcd7c2114d07aea652c210d00f2b",
            "input": "\"First, Gov. Rick Scott scared the bejesus out of seniors with an online ad claiming that Medicare rate cuts would lead them to lose access to their doctors, hospitals and preventive care. Then, the Florida Democratic Party fired back at Scott, issuing a press release that called Scott \"\"the ultimate Medicare thief.\"\" The Democrats were referring to Scott’s prior tenure as CEO of Columbia/HCA about a decade ago, when the hospital company was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. \"\"Rick Scott is saying Democrats are committing Medicare robbery, when in fact he's the ultimate Medicare thief. He lost the right to accuse Democrats of raiding Medicare when he oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation's history. Rick Scott's company stole money that should have gone to health care for seniors,\"\" said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Joshua Karp in the Feb. 25 press release. Separately, we have fact-checked Scott’s claim \"\"we are seeing dramatic rate cuts\"\" to Medicare that will affect people's choice of doctor, hospital and preventive care. We concluded that Scott had failed to say that the rate cut only applies to Medicare Advantage, and thus only affects a fraction of all Medicare beneficiaries. Also, it could be several months before we know the actual impact of the cut which could vary county by county. Here, we’ll fact-check the Democratic counter-attack that Scott \"\"oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.\"\" Scott’s tenure at Columbia/HCA During Scott’s 2010 race for governor, PolitiFact fact-checked multiple claims related to his tenure at Columbia/HCA. Now, we’ll recap some of our earlier discussion of the investigation and fine. Scott started what was first Columbia in 1987, purchasing two El Paso, Texas, hospitals. Over the next decade he would add hundreds of hospitals, surgery centers and home health locations. In 1994, Scott’s Columbia purchased Tennessee-headquartered HCA and its 100 hospitals, and merged the companies. In 1997, federal agents went public with an investigation into the company, first seizing records from four El Paso-area hospitals and then expanding across the country. The investigation focused on whether Columbia/HCA had committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Scott resigned as CEO in July 1997, less than four months after the inquiry became public. Company executives said had Scott remained CEO, the entire chain could have been in jeopardy. During his 2010 race, the Miami Herald reported that Scott had said he would have immediately stopped his company from committing fraud -- if only \"\"somebody told me something was wrong.\"\" But there were such warnings in the company’s annual public reports to stockholders -- which Scott had to sign as president and CEO. Scott wanted to fight the accusations, but the corporate board of the publicly traded company wanted to settle. In December 2000, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines, civil damages and penalties. Among the revelations from the 2000 settlement: • Columbia billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or had not been ordered by physicians; • The company attached false diagnosis codes to patient records to increase reimbursement to the hospitals; • The company illegally claimed non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education; • Columbia billed the government for home health care visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them. The government settled a second series of similar claims with Columbia/HCA in 2002 for an additional $881 million. The total for the two fines was $1.7 billion. On Scott’s 2010 campaign website, he admitted to the $1.7 billion fine, though the link is no longer on the site. What type of record was that fine? The fine clearly set a record, though the Justice Department (and media reports at the time) were not always consistent in their terminology, sometimes describing it as the \"\"largest government fraud settlement in U.S. History\"\" and other times more specifically as the \"\"largest health care fraud case in U.S. History.\"\" A Justice Department spokeswoman said that officials refer to Columbia/HCA as \"\"largest health care fraud\"\" rather than the more narrow term \"\"Medicare fraud\"\" because it involved defrauding other government programs such as Medicaid rather than Medicare exclusively. The Justice Department described in detail the various ways the company defrauded Medicare and other government health programs here. Here’s a key point, though: While the Columbia/HCA settlement was a record at the time for health care fraud, it has since been surpassed. In cases related to the improper promotion of certain drugs, Johnson & Johnson agreed to a a $2.2 billion settlement in 2013, Pfizer settled for $2.3 billion in 2009, and GlaxoSmithKline settled for $3 billion in 2012. \"\"HCA was the record health care fraud at the time. It’s now Glaxo,\"\" Justice Department spokeswoman Linda Mansour told PolitiFact in an email. That said, these cases were a little different. While the Justice Department’s case against Columbia/HCA repeatedly mentions overbilling and defrauding Medicare and Medicaid specifically, the three newer cases focused on the marketing of drugs, with Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs caught up in the impropriety, rather than being the specific targets of the fraud. Because the Justice Department press releases explaining the settlements don’t explicitly break down how much of the misconduct in those more recent cases defrauded Medicare explicitly, it’s difficult to make comparisons. The Pfizer case includes violations relating to misbranding and kickbacks, \"\"so there may be a distinction to be made for that reason when thinking about whether it all should be classified under the very general category of ‘Medicare fraud,’ \"\" said Asha Scielzo, who practices health care law at the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. The Columbia/HCA case \"\"still is the largest fraud settlement for a hospital corporation in U.S. history,\"\" since all the others involved pharmaceutical firms, added Zack Buck, a health care law professor at Mercer. \"\"So I guess, the quote (by the Florida Democratic Party) is a little loose.\"\" The Scott campaign did not respond to an inquiry for this fact-check. However in 2010, Scott told the Tampa Bay Times, \"\"There's no question that mistakes were made and as CEO, I have to accept responsibility for those mistakes. I was focused on lowering costs and making the hospitals more efficient. I could have had more internal and external controls. I learned hard lessons, and I've taken that lesson and it's helped me become a better business person and a better leader.\"\" Our ruling The Florida Democratic Party said Scott \"\"oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.\"\" The Columbia/HCA settlement has since been surpassed in dollar value, though the bigger cases involved Medicare somewhat less directly. Because the Democratic Party could have been a bit more specific in its wording -- by saying that Scott oversaw the largest Medicare fraud at the time.",
            "output": [
                "\"Florida Democratic Party Says Rick Scott \"\"oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed1a5fdfc602489c8e38316b47154744",
            "input": "The Hoosier Environmental Council and Improving Kids’ Environment announced their merger Thursday. Both Indianapolis-based nonprofits will come under the banner of the Hoosier Environmental Council, which has been Indiana’s leading environmental health advocate for more than 36 years. Improving Kids’ Environment worked for two decades to reduce toxic risks to Indiana children from lead, pesticides and other sources. Jesse Kharbanda is the council’s executive director. He says the merger “enables our combined organization to better tackle remaining challenges.” He says their focus will now be on three children’s health initiatives, including reducing childhood lead poisoning and decreasing bacterial pollution so kids have clean drinking water and streams to play in.",
            "output": [
                "2 Indiana environmental groups merge, plan kids’ health push."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a8782174bfb4ab3a478eb4182d46701",
            "input": "The purpose of the fund is to assist developing countries with weak health systems in addressing the crisis as well as to tackle the long-term consequences. The United Nations could make a formal announcement this week, the ministry said. Norway, which suggested the fund, has not committed how much money it would put into the initiative, similar to a 2014 United Nations Ebola Response Fund. “We want to make sure that the efforts are as unified as possible and as early as possible so that we can answer up to the demands that countries will have, especially the poorest countries,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters. Almost 340,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and more than 14,500 have died, with deaths in Italy surpassing the toll in China, where the outbreak began, according to a Reuters tally. In Africa, Angola, Eritrea and Uganda have confirmed their first cases, while Mauritius recorded its first death as the virus spreads across the continent despite efforts by governments to hold it back. In the Middle East, the first two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the densely populated Gaza Strip on Sunday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on wealthy countries to not just think about their citizens but help less-prepared nations tackle the crisis. “A wealthy country must not be convinced that it has only to deal with its own citizens. It’s in the interests of a wealthy country to contribute to a global response because the crisis can come from wherever, at any moment,” he told reporters.",
            "output": [
                "U.N. to create global coronavirus fund, Norway says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d1f58da9b2424dddb3fe6ae80fa78091",
            "input": "In May 2010, 16 of the nation’s biggest food and beverage companies, from Coca-Cola Co to Kraft Foods Group, pledged to remove 1 trillion calories from the U.S. marketplace by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015, compared with a 2007 baseline. In fact, as of 2012 they sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories, found an analysis by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). “Reports like this, and the fact that they exceeded their commitment by four-fold, really shows that you can make progress in giving American families more healthy options,” said Larry Soler, president of the Partnership for a Healthier America, a non-profit chaired by first lady Michelle Obama. The group was formed in 2010 to work with the private sector on anti-obesity strategies. At the time, critics said the Partnership relied too heavily on the good will of the industry and could not replace the role of tighter regulation on how food is manufactured and marketed. Such voluntary efforts by industry “are not a magic bullet,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, a non-profit policy group. “Particularly with kids, there is a role for regulation” in reducing demand for unhealthy, high-calorie fare. It is not clear yet how the companies accomplished the dramatic calorie reduction, said UNC public health researcher Barry Popkin, who led the analysis funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest public health philanthropy. Some of the decline may have come from the recession, as financially-strapped families cut back on junk food. When the pledge was announced, companies said they would substitute lower-calorie products, re-engineer existing products to cut their calories, and reduce portion size, such as with the popular 100-calorie packs of cookies and other snacks. Popkin and his team have found that beverage companies are producing more drinks that have both sugar and artificial sweeteners and, therefore, fewer calories than sugar-only drinks. They are also “shifting advertising to lower-calorie beverages,” he said, as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo both did. The biggest reduction in calories sold was to households with young children. “It seems to be parents who are driving the calorie reductions,” Popkin said. It is also not clear whether the reduction can move the needle for more than two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese. The 6.4 trillion fewer calories works out to 78 fewer calories per person per day, if spread equally across the 2012 U.S. population. By comparison, Americans consume an average of 300 more calories a day now than in 1985 and 600 more than in 1970, according to a 2012 report by Trust for America’s Health. Other companies that made the calorie-reduction pledge are Bumble Bee Foods, Campbell Soup Co, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Hillshire Brands, Kellogg Co, Mars, McCormick & Company, Nestlé USA, Post Foods, the Hershey Company, J.M. Smucker and Unilever. They are part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a chief-executive-led organization formed in 2009 that aims to reduce obesity. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 percent of U.S. adults are obese (having a body mass index above 30, such as 175 pounds on a 5 foot, 4 inch frame). So are 14.9 percent of children, which is down from 15.2 percent in 2003. The 16 companies sold 60.4 trillion calories in 2007, which was 36 percent of total calories in packaged foods and beverages — cereals, chips, canned soup, juices, sodas, candy and more — sold that year. In 2012 they sold 54 trillion calories. To calculate the calories sold, the UNC researchers combined data on foods and beverages sold (from grocery-store scanners and other sources) with nutritional information for the products.",
            "output": [
                "Food, beverage companies slash calories in obesity fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc909081b7f8406fa82e94937ebcbbcf",
            "input": "Stewart, who visited the Ebola zone earlier this month, told a U.N. meeting that Britain had donated $45 million towards a previous Ebola outbreak and the current one, and that he had authorized a further $63 million of British spending. “We are going to have to put a lot more money into this on a ‘no regrets’ basis,” he told the meeting, adding that governments must stop using security concerns as an excuse not to send staff to the Ebola front line, where armed groups have frequently attacked aid workers. The United States, Britain and Germany had all donated generously, but other members of the G7 group of countries needed to do more, Stewart said. “We would be hugely grateful if our dear friends from the other G7 countries really stepped up,” he added. Money was the priority, but French language expertise was also valuable, and francophone France and Canada could make a special contribution. “It would be wonderful if some francophone countries could provide more staff on the ground. We desperately need more French speakers deployed in the field,” he said. Stewart told BBC radio that he would be asking the French and Canadian governments to make more generous contributions. The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Mike Ryan, said Canada had contributed $750,000 directly to the WHO effort, but had also donated to other agencies. It was also Canadian government money that funded the development of the Ebola vaccine that has saved many lives. “With regard to the government of France, we rely on the government of France for a lot of technical cooperation, but as of this moment WHO has not received any financial contributions from the government of France,” Ryan said. Stewart said some donors at the packed U.N. meeting believed the response was well funded. “The World Bank has been making very positive comments about how they’ve got it all under control. They haven’t,” he said, adding that money was needed to double the number of WHO staff helping Congo’s neighbors, such as Burundi and South Sudan, prepare for a potential outbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Britain tells Canada and France to pull their weight on Ebola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f14b20f85ab44a598ffd506167f8339",
            "input": "The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the third death to news outlets Monday. The department says 140 cases of Legionnaires’ have been confirmed in 19 North Carolina counties and “multiple states.” It says in addition to the three deaths, 94 people have been hospitalized. The agency says the cases are connected to people who attended the Mountain State Fair last month in Fletcher. It says testing found Legionalla bacteria in one water sample at the fair and those who were diagnosed with the disease may have walked by the hot tub displays. The department says they won’t release any information on the victims.",
            "output": [
                "NC officials confirm 3rd death from Legionnaires’ disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45d0ffef60d34206b23f97f4ec7b633d",
            "input": "The state Department of Public Health says they notified the school this week of plans to investigate and ensure that students and employees will be screened quickly to see if they were infected. On Wednesday, the state and university began identifying students enrolled in classes, as well as faculty and staff, who might have been in close contact with the student. Symptoms can include chest pain, chronic coughing, coughing with blood, chills, fever and loss of appetite. Testing is scheduled to begin on Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "Alabama to test Auburn students, employees for TB."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bda8db77916e4dbe9eabd905fda3c847",
            "input": "“People call me and say, ‘I was on my terrace having lunch and we had to rush inside, the kids were in the swimming pool,’” says the Bordeaux vineyard worker who turned anti-pesticide campaigner after her brother died from liver cancer, a death she suspects was linked to agro-chemicals he sprayed as a wine-industry worker. Amid rising concerns in France over the widespread use by its powerful farming industry of legal toxins, President Emmanuel Macron’s government is planning the enforced creation of small buffer zones to separate sprayed crops from the people who live and work around them. People like Corinne Despreaux, a childcare worker who looks after babies and toddlers at her home in the Medoc wine town of Listrac, with vineyards that butt up against her garden. She calls the tractors that rumble amid the vines “mosquitoes,” because of their long arms pockmarked with nozzles that spray chemical mists to keep the plants and their valuable grapes healthy and pest-free. “I close all the windows and all the doors. I bring the washing in. I put the kids’ games away,” Despreaux said in a phone interview, as one of her four young charges, ranging in age from 6 months to 2 ½ years, mewed in the background. “It’s terrible.” The government this week opened a three-week window of public consultation about its planned regulations that will take effect Jan. 1. It is proposing that crops treated with “the most dangerous substances” be separated from homes, schools and other workplaces by no-spray zones at least 10 meters (33 feet) across. For other chemicals, there would also be 10-meter zones around high-growing crops, including vines and fruit orchards, and five meters across for cereals and other shorter crops. The buffers could be shrunk further, to three meters for vineyards and short crops and five meters for tall crops, if farmers use cutting-edge spraying techniques, the government says. It invited public comment online, and said the distances could be modified as a result. A final government decision on their size is due by December. While some environmental campaigners welcome the zones’ introduction, many said the proposed distances were ridiculously small. “It’s to give the impression that something is being done,” Bibeyran said. “They won’t protect anybody.” She spent 14 years working for a Listrac vineyard that sprayed with industrial chemicals, watching with growing alarm as flora and fauna disappeared. She now works in a vineyard in Margaux that farms organically, proudly declaring: “We have loads of insects.” “The difference over 14 years was stunning,” she said. “It became rare to see a rabbit cross the vineyards or to see swallows.” Agricultural groups complain the proposed buffers unfairly target farmers for using perfectly legal products. Some warned zoning will backfire, with insects and diseases preying on crops’ untreated edges. Jean-Marie Fabre, president of the Independent Winemakers of France, said no-spray zones risked becoming “sources of contamination that will spread diseases to the rest of the vineyard.” “It would be the same as putting someone with the plague among people who have been vaccinated,” he said. The policy could force farmers to rip out untreated vines and other crops, shrinking planted acreages and hurting their bottom-line, Fabre said. If the zones contaminate treatable areas, farmers may have to spray more than they do now, he added. Urban creep into agricultural areas has exacerbated the conflict between farmers and their neighbors. Around Bordeaux, for example, families seeking space have moved in droves onto what used to be farmed lands, building homes amid vineyards. Despreaux and her husband moved from Paris in 2002. She says they were unaware they’d be living cheek-by-jowl with farmers who spray. “We were naïve,” she said. “If we had known there’d be these risks, we would never have come here. I regret it.” Although agro-chemicals are officially certified, she doesn’t believe they’re safe and doesn’t trust government officials to stand up to the influence of agricultural lobbies. Tractors spray vines behind her house every two weeks, and sometimes every week, from April when the grapes form to September when they’re harvested, she said. “It’s frustrating because the best period of the year, when it’s nice outside, is when we have to stay inside,” she said. “I don’t walk in the vines with the kids because it’s not possible. It puts them in danger. We live in the countryside but we don’t have the advantages of living in the countryside.” Fabre said the onus should be on property developers to set up buffer zones around new buildings. “The farmers didn’t move closer to houses, the houses moved closer to them,” he said. He fears the consultation launched Monday will stoke public concerns about chemicals he insists are risk-free if correctly used, giving voice to “disinformation and even demagogy that will trump science.” Despreaux said she’s braced for a long battle. Campaigning with Bibeyran and others in a region where wine-producing chateaux underpin local economies and jobs, she says she’s treated “as a tree-hugger and a bit mad.” “We’re not understood,” she said. “The chateaux have so much power. But we won’t give up and allow ourselves to be poisoned.”",
            "output": [
                "No-spray zones divide French farmers from anxious neighbors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a70dab08cb1d4688a0300f37e16621e6",
            "input": "Doctors and investors alike have been anxious to see how the experimental combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine, also known as 3TC, would stack up against highly effective triple drugs championed by arch-rival Gilead Sciences. GSK’s majority-owned ViiV Healthcare unit, which is responsible for HIV medicine, had reported success from the two so-called GEMINI studies last month but details were only unveiled at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. Pedro Cahn, a veteran HIV researcher from Argentina who led the GEMINI studies, said the results showed it was possible get the efficacy of three drugs in a two-drug regimen. After studying 1,400 patients for 48 weeks, researchers found 91 percent of patients taking dolutegravir and lamivudine had high levels of viral control versus 93 percent of those on three drugs. The difference was not statistically significant. Rates of virologic failure, or inability to control HIV, were consistent at no more than 1 percent across all groups and no patients developed drug resistance. Importantly, the results were also broadly consistent whether individuals had higher or lower starting levels of HIV in their blood, reassuring those who had worried the two-drug regimen might work less well in people with more virus. “This is a new option for treatment,” Cahn said. “The main reason for doing this is to reduce the amount of drug burden when patients are on life-long treatment.”  GSK is betting that a shift to using two drugs rather than three will boost its sales by offering patients a therapy with fewer potentially toxic side effects. A two-drug regimen should also be cheaper, since lamivudine is an off-patent generic. ViiV has set itself a goal of overtaking Gilead in the $26 billion-a-year HIV market by the mid-2020s - an ambitious target, since Gilead currently has a market share of 52 percent against GSK’s 22 percent. Linda-Gail Bekker, an HIV expert at the University of Cape Town, who was not involved in the studies, said two-drug treatment was attractive in principle. “Simplification of treatment is what people want to see, both to reduce costs and to reduce side effects,” she told Reuters. Nearly half of all HIV patients in the profitable markets of North America and Europe are now over 50 and are vulnerable to side effects from the drugs that keep them alive, making tolerability more important than in the past. But a key question remains the durability of the treatment, given that many patients will be on HIV medication for decades. So while some doctors will be assured by the 48-week data, others may want to see two- or three-year results. The central worry is the emergence of drug resistance. While no resistance was seen in the 48-week trials, there was a case in an earlier study, although GSK believes this was likely down to failure to take the drugs properly. Regulators are also investigating if dolutegravir might be linked to birth defects, although there is no evidence proving a connection at this stage. ViiV, in which Pfizer and Shionogi have small stakes, plans regulatory submissions for the two-drug combination later this year. If approved, the new combination is expected to be much more widely used than another GSK two-drug regimen called Juluca.",
            "output": [
                "GSK's two-drug HIV treatment proves itself in key tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39f68b8cece241debcb8556a6365030d",
            "input": "The Boehringer Ingelheim drug Micardis, or telmisartan, is  typically used in patients with heart failure, but the study  found it worked as well as the ACE inhibitor ramipril, marketed  in the United States as Altace by King Pharmaceuticals Inc.    “We have one more alternative to use,” said Dr. Salim Yusuf  of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “This is probably  key for the 20 to 30 percent of people who don’t tolerate an  ACE inhibitor,” said Yusuf, who presented the study at a  meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago. Telmisartan is an angiotensin receptor blocker, or ARB. Ramipril is an angiotensin converting enzyme, or ACE,  inhibitor. Both act on a compound called angiotensin in  different ways to regulate blood pressure. A team of international researchers compared the drugs in a  study of more than 25,620 patients with heart disease or  diabetes and other heart risk factors, but not heart failure. Telmisartan and ramipril alone worked equally well to  reduce cardiovascular death, stroke, heart attack or  hospitalization for heart failure, but telmisartan was easier  to tolerate than ramipril, with fewer patients experiencing  cough or other side effects. Micardis is the first ARB to be shown to have heart  benefits in patients who do not have heart disease. But since  the drug is more costly than the typical ACE inhibitor, the  study may not change practice, doctors said. “The newer drug is certainly not better,” said Dr. Steven  Nissen, a cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic. “The drugs were equivalent in the trial, which means that  the same results can be achieved with an ACE inhibitor,” Nissen  said in an interview. “I think most physicians will choose the  drugs that are generically available,” he said. The study, published online in the New England Journal of  Medicine, also tested to see if Micardis combined with an ACE  inhibitor might work even better. But the researchers found the  combination caused a number of negative side-effects in  patients who do not have heart failure. Yusuf said the findings mean doctors need to be careful not  to use both drugs in patients. “What was even more important  was adding the two together could cause harm,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Blood pressure drug Micardis cuts heart risk: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ade86a8806634b958e26d2f948f63051",
            "input": "More high-quality sapphires have been found in the biodiverse area known as Corridor Ankeniheny-Zahamena in the past six months than were found in the entire country over the past 20 years, according to Vincent Pardieu, a French gemologist who has been visiting mines there for more than a decade and was in the area last month. “I can tell you this is big,” Pardieu said. Gem trade shows around the world now have “nice, big, super-clean sapphires” from the region. “It’s the most important discovery in Madagascar for the past 20 or 30 years.” Tens of thousands of miners and gem traders have poured into the rainforests around the village of Bemainty, said local officials. The miners have cut down thousands of acres of forest in the protected area, which environmental group Conservation International helps to manage, said the officials. This island nation is renowned for its biodiversity and the protected forests in the eastern corridor area are “one of Madagascar’s most precious resources,” according to the World Bank. The corridor is home to more than 2,000 plant species found nowhere else on earth and 14 endangered species of lemur, according to the Ministry of Environment, Ecology, and Forests. With local officials unable to control the situation, Conservation International has called for a military intervention. “We have made many requests to the government to call the army,” said Bruno Rajaspera, the group’s director of projects. “But there are too many influential people that are involved in the trade of the stones. The government doesn’t dare take concrete action.” The prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Madagascar produces about half of the world’s high-end sapphires, according to Michael Arnstein, president of The Natural Sapphire Company, a U.S.-based gemstone business. Arnstein, who has been visiting the country for two decades, said about 70 percent of its sapphire market is controlled by Sri Lankans, who smuggle the gems back to their country to be cut and exported for sale. About $150 million worth of sapphires might leave Madagascar every year, though the exact figure is impossible to know as the industry is not well regulated, he said. “You have all these small-scale, Wild West operations,” he said. “Everything’s pretty much illegal. There’s no oversight, no taxes. It’s chaos.” The latest rush for sapphires began about six months ago, leading Madagascar’s government to hold meetings in November and declare the corridor’s protection a national priority. Environmentalists hoped the government would send in the army, as it did during a smaller rush in 2012 after the gems were first discovered in the area. At the time, the government arrested and deported several Sri Lankan gem traders. The gem traders bring laborers from other parts of Madagascar to the corridor, Rajaspera said. The workers carry in food and equipment by hand, trekking at least five hours through the jungle to reach the mining sites, which are inaccessible by car or motorcycle. As more and more miners entered the area, Conservation International tried to help maintain security by paying police forces, but the it said the situation remained out of control. By October, the population at the main mining site was growing by about 1,500 to 2,000 people a day, according to Rosey Perkins, a British gemologist who was there at the time. The jungle paths saw a heavy flow of traffic, with people carrying rice, chickens and even goats out to the mining sites. The main site “looked quite wild,” Perkins said. “It was a real surprise to see a whole field of humanity out in the wilderness.” Many residents of the Didy area that includes Bemainty and surrounding villages also want the national government to take action, according to Didy’s mayor, Davidson Radoka. Only a small percentage of locals profit from the mines, he said. Some schools have staffing issues as teachers leave to try their hand at mining. And with so many new mouths to feed, demand for goods has increased, sending the prices of staples such as rice up 50 percent or more. Above all, people worry about their safety. “Security is a very, very, very serious problem right now,” Radoka said. Bandits are often out at night, and eight people have been murdered in the Didy area since Dec. 21, he said. The conditions at mining sites, with tens of thousands of people living in close quarters without sanitation facilities, can cause diseases that spread to local villages. Recently there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in the Didy area, Radoka said. Despite the living conditions, aspiring miners keep coming to the corridor. Two years of drought in many parts of Madagascar have led farmers to seek out alternative means of income. The mines are attractive to the newcomers because most of the sapphires are found within six feet (two meters) of the surface. “You have a lot of people who are employed. Without this discovery, they would be in serious trouble,” Pardieu said. “That’s why the authorities are not doing anything. They are letting people mine. They don’t want to have 20,000 people starving in town, with no money.” Local officials believe the number of miners in the Bemainty area is far higher, perhaps as many as 200,000. Officials say they worry that if the mining remains uncontrolled, it could spread. In November, a group of about 500 miners went deeper into the protected area to search for gemstones. “They arrived suddenly, and we saw that this could be a big problem for our area,” said Nestor Rafenonirina, the director of the northernmost park in the corridor. His agency, Madagascar National Parks, used a police brigade to remove the miners. But if their numbers grow, such action would be harder to take, he said. Pardieu said he expects many more sapphire and ruby mines to be discovered in the protected area over the next five to 10 years: “There is just one deposit after another.”",
            "output": [
                "Madagascar forest overwhelmed by thousands seeking sapphires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd875ccaf7c34f1f879486a1fe63c2a8",
            "input": "Not applicable. Costs were not discussed, which is understandable at this early stage of research which the story emphasized. Adequate explanation of the results from a tiny study. There was no discussion of potential harms. The story could have at least emphasized that not much can be known about potential harms after such a small, short-term study. The human trial was under-powered to detect harm. At the same time BCG vaccine has been around for a long time and has been widely used throughout the world, so there is data on the known side effects and complications of the vaccine. At the same time, this is a new use and larger trials and post marketing surveillance will be needed before the potential harms are known. The story did an excellent job evaluating the quality of the evidence and providing readers with an explanation of  how “the findings contradict an essential paradigm of diabetes therapy.” No disease-mongering of Type I diabetes. Good sourcing, with two independent expert comments. The philanthropic funding source for the work was also mentioned. The story offered this solid context: “The findings contradict an essential paradigm of diabetes therapy — that once the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas have been destroyed, they are gone forever. Because of that belief, most research today focuses on using vaccines to prevent the cells’ destruction in the first place, or on using beta cell transplants to replace the destroyed cells. The new findings, however, hint that even in patients with long-standing diabetes, the body retains the potential to restore pancreas function if clinicians can only block the parts of the immune system that are killing the beta cells.” The story clearly explained the experimental nature of the research. The story did a good job on this criterion, estabiishing the relative novelty of the work while explaining that there has been related animal research. It’s clear the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Research shows promise in reversing Type 1 diabetes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79316ee5ad6e411cbe3e7d0dab26ae19",
            "input": "The bill passed both houses of the New Jersey legislature with strong bipartisan support and was sitting on Chistie’s desk on Friday but the Republican presidential hopeful would not indicate his intentions. The legislation would completely prohibit smoking inside all state, county and municipal parks. Public beaches would also be smoke-free, though local officials can opt to save 15 percent of beach land as a designated smoking section. “This is definitely groundbreaking,” said Karen Blumenfeld, the executive director of Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, a proponent of the New Jersey bill. “We would be the first state to impose such a wide ban in all public outdoor spaces and the legislation will continue the trend of New Jersey being a model for other jurisdictions’ anti-smoking policies,” she said. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and second-hand smoke exposure has been linked to asthma, lung cancer, and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Supporters say the ban will allow New Jersey residents and visitors to enjoy parks and beaches without the distraction of wafting cigarette smoke and would drastically reduce litter, fire risks and children’s exposure to smoking. “No one needs to sit in an ashtray when ‎enjoying the beach,” state Senator Joseph Vitale, a sponsor of the bill, told local media. Blumenfeld said the measure has a “critical mass” of support in the state. But some residents said the measure would trample on personal liberties. “I don’t think the government needs to be involved,” said Bryan Adamson, 32, of Blairstown. “As a smoker I use common sense and respect for the environment and those around me,” he said. Others said it was time to put an end to the outdoors as a  last sanctuary for those who choose to light up. “Even when I smoked and was on the beach next to a smoker I would be frustrated because frankly I don’t want to be stuck around it if I don’t have to be,” said Lauren DiGenova, 26, of Waldwick. New Jersey has some of the strictest anti-smoking policies in the country. It was the first state to prohibit smoking in college dormitories in 2005, Blumenfeld said. A year later, Trenton banned indoor smoking in bars and restaurants. More than 200 New Jersey cities, towns and boroughs have already passed their own restrictions on cigarette and tobacco use in parks and beaches. The legislation would cover outdoor public spaces across the state. Offenders would face a $250 fine for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for each additional citation. Christie’s office would not say where the governor stood on the bill.",
            "output": [
                "New Jersey may be first state to ban smoking on beaches, in parks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56890ae8c0a94c4da838d730e50ebf31",
            "input": "During a debate between presidential candidates on 16 October 2012, President Barack Obama mentioned Planned Parenthood several times, on one occasion stating women “rely on Planned Parenthood for … mammograms, for cervical cancer screenings.”  That statement drew criticism asserting that President Obama had falsely implied that Planned Parenthood health centers themselves conduct mammogram procedures:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012: Schedule your imaginary mammogram at Planned Parenthood! We all know Planned Parenthood DOES NOT PERFORM MAMMOGRAMS. However, President Obama, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, celebrities in Hollywood and countless Planned Parenthood supporters claim over and over that they do. They absolutely refuse to admit that the largest abortion organization in the country does NOT PERFORM MAMMOGRAMS. It is true in a literal sense that Planned Parenthood health centers do not themselves conduct mammograms (a procedure which requires specialized equipment and the expertise to use it). Planned Parenthood offers comprehensive breast health care management, which includes manual breast exams as well as patient education on breast health, but not mammograms.",
            "output": [
                "Planned Parenthood health centers do not perform mammograms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d4ca4144a6254904a2a1dba19b69480c",
            "input": "The use of eDNA sampling is already well established as a tool for monitoring marine life like whales and sharks. Whenever a creature moves through its environment, it leaves behind tiny fragments of DNA from skin, scales, feathers, fur, faeces and urine. “This DNA can be captured, sequenced and then used to identify that creature by comparing the sequence obtained to large databases of known genetic sequences from hundreds of thousands of different organisms,” said team spokesman Professor Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago in New Zealand. The first written record of a monster relates to the Irish monk St Columba, who is said to have banished a “water beast” to the depths of the River Ness in the 6th century. The most famous picture of Nessie, known as the “surgeon’s photo”, was taken in 1934 and showed a head on a long neck emerging from the water. It was revealed 60 years later to have been a hoax that used a sea monster model attached to a toy submarine. Countless unsuccessful attempts to track down the monster have been made in the years since, notably in 2003 when the BBC funded an extensive scientific search that used 600 sonar beams and satellite tracking to sweep the full length of the loch. The most recent attempt was two years ago when a high-tech marine drone found a monster - but not the one it was looking for. The discovery turned out to be replica used in the 1970 film “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”, which sank nearly 50 years ago. Gemmell’s team, which comprises scientists from Britain, Denmark, the United States, Australia and France, is keen to stress the expedition is more than just a monster hunt. “While the prospect of looking for evidence of the Loch Ness monster is the hook to this project, there is an extraordinary amount of new knowledge that we will gain from the work about organisms that inhabit Loch Ness,” Gemmell said on his university website. He predicts they will document new species of life, particularly bacteria, and will provide important data on the extent of several new invasive species recently seen in the loch, such as Pacific pink salmon. Their findings are expected to be presented in January 2019.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists plan DNA hunt for Loch Ness monster next month."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74a46e08e51a4490ac4b8b27a64bc208",
            "input": "The coronavirus is now moving into parts of the world that may be the least prepared. Some countries in Africa and Latin America lack the equipment or even trained health workers to respond. Many of their nations are slamming shut borders and banning large gatherings in the hope of avoiding the scenes in wealthier countries such as Italy and the U.S., but local transmission of the virus has begun. Containing that spread is the new challenge. Africa has more than 900 confirmed cases and Latin America more than 2,500, but an early response is crucial as fragile health systems could be quickly overwhelmed. With such limited resources, experts say identifying cases, tracing and testing are key. “We have seen how the virus actually accelerates that after a certain ... tipping point. So the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. “We have different and significant barriers to health care in Africa, which could be a real challenge,” said Dr. Ngozi Erondu, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House Center for Global Health Security. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa do not have the isolation wards or large number of health care workers to respond to a surge of COVID-19 patients, she said. Liberia and Burkina Faso only have a few ventilators for their millions of people. Dr. Bernard Olayo, founder of the Kenya-based Center for Public Health and Development, said most countries in Africa can’t afford ventilators. Even if ventilators were provided by other countries, it’s not sufficient because of the lack of qualified people to use them. “It’s complex, it’s very very complex because the patients that end up on ventilators require round the clock care by larger teams,” he said. Many patients could do well with just oxygen, he said, but close to half of health facilities in African countries don’t have reliable oxygen supplies. Oxygen concentrators can be used, but given the frequent electricity cuts in many countries, oxygen generators and pressure cylinders are needed because they can function while power is out. The WHO regional Africa director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said the lack of ICU facilities and ventilators is one of the biggest challenges facing the continent. “We have been able to identify importing a field hospital-type of facility that can be set up and equipped with some of the key items needed, such as ventilators,” she said. Training has begun in Republic of Congo and Senegal so health care workers will be ready to operate it, and World Bank funding is being made available, she said. It’s not all grim. Elsie Kanza, head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, said many countries are deploying lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016 that killed well over 10,000 people. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was created to respond to that Ebola outbreak. As of Thursday, 43 countries can test for the coronavirus, it said. In addition, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma this week pledged to donate 1.1 million testing kits, 6 million masks and 60,000 protective suits and face shields to share among all African countries. Meanwhile, Senegal is helping to develop a fast COVID-19 test that is expected in June. But some including Adama Dempster, a human rights advocate in Liberia, warned that support for African nations’ efforts might dry up if cases soar. “It’s something that is worrisome because other countries that are so powerful and have the sophistication to deal with things like this are themselves concerned about their own situation,” she said. Africa isn’t the only continent worried about what’s to come. Several countries in Latin America are among the least prepared in the world for a pandemic, with healthcare systems already stretched thin. Peruvian Minister of Defense Walter Martos told local America TV on Monday that the nation has less than 400 respirators available. “It’s not a lot,” he said. “Really, we don’t have the infrastructure that developed nations do.” Peru and other nations in Latin America are looking to the experience in Europe as a cautionary tale and hoping to curtail the spread of coronavirus cases before they overwhelm hospitals. Epidemiologist Cristian Díaz Vélez said those measures could potentially create a slower rise in cases that is more manageable for Peru’s medical system. He said the country has around 300 to 350 beds in intensive care units, half of which are now in use. “It will overwhelm our healthcare system,” he said, if cases skyrocket. Other countries in Latin America could fare far worse. Venezuela ranks 176th of 195 nations worldwide in preparedness for a health crisis, according to the Global Health Security Index, a project of the John Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The nation’s healthcare system has been crippled by years of economic contraction, political chaos and a humanitarian crisis, with rising infant mortality rates and critical shortages of water and medicine. A migration crisis in which over 4.5 million people have fled – one of the largest exoduses in the world today – could exacerbate the spread of the virus throughout the region. That is of particular concern in Colombia, where nearly 2 million Venezuelans now live. Hospitals along the border have seen their capacity stretched. The coronavirus pandemic could tip them further over the edge. “The health system obviously has a capacity that could be clearly surpassed, in Colombia and in any country in Latin America,” said Dr. Alfonso Rodríguez-Morales, vice president of the Colombian Association for Infectious Diseases. __ AP reporters Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia, Babacar Dione in Dakar, Senegal, Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia, and Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Africa, Latin America fragile targets for coronavirus spread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b2fdafbac1f74aeeb10c98d5fc242b24",
            "input": "\"Florida’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate has turned into mutual finger-pointing over which candidate is possibly more like former Republican Charlie Crist. A super PAC called the Florida First Project released an ad July 14 calling Sen. Marco Rubio’s primary opponent Carlos Beruff a \"\"Charlie Crist Republican,\"\" a major insult among the Florida GOP faithful. The PAC supports Rubio’s re-election bid and is managed by several staffers from Conservative Solutions PAC, which backed Rubio’s presidential run. \"\"Beruff supported Crist even after he switched parties, and stabbed Republicans in the back,\"\" the ad says. The line refers specifically to the Bradenton developer’s support for Crist’s 2010 Senate campaign against Rubio. Former Gov. Crist switched from Republican to having no party affiliation as Rubio’s campaign gained steam. After losing that race, Crist lost a 2014 re-election bid for governor as a Democrat, and currently is running as a Democrat for a U.S. House seat held by Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores. Beruff has released his own ad counterattacking Rubio, accusing him of being a \"\"political opportunist\"\" like Crist. We wondered whether Rubio’s challenge of Beruff’s Republican bona fides was correct. Did Beruff still support Crist after Crist became an independent candidate? His actions at the time don't indicate Beruff shunned Crist entirely, despite what he says now. Grist about Crist Beruff likes to claim that he is a political outsider, but he has long been involved in Florida politics. Crist as governor appointed Beruff to three political boards: the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport Authority, the State College of Florida Board of Trustees, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Beruff also has donated thousands to Republican candidates over the years, including to Crist’s Senate campaign. Crist announced his Senate candidacy in May 2009. Federal Election Commission reports from June 2009 showed Beruff gave Crist the maximum allowed for individuals — $2,400 for the primary and $2,400 for the general elections. (Beruff’s companies also had donated to Crist when he ran for governor in 2006.) As Rubio gained traction, Crist toyed with the idea of switching his registration. An April 2010 story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune listed Beruff as a donor who would continue to support Crist if he made such a move. The story also listed other Republicans as faithful to Crist, including former Sarasota Republican Party chairmen Bob Waechter and Eric Robinson, and prominent chiropractor Gary Kompothecras. By the end of April 2010, down 20 points to Rubio in the polls, Crist announced he would cede the Republican nomination for Senate by switching to no party affiliation. Several weeks later, in June 2010, Beruff attended a fundraiser for Crist (with several Democrats) at Kompothecras’ Siesta Key home. It seems peculiar that Beruff would have gone to any Crist event during the politically charged atmosphere of the 2010 Senate race had he disagreed with Crist’s decision. At the time, Republicans faced a bitter rift in their party over Crist's defection, and choosing sides was a very public issue. To give you an idea of how contentious Crist's decision was, state Rep. David Rivera of Miami called it \"\"one of the biggest betrayals in American history since Benedict Arnold.\"\" Beruff’s political opponents have made hay of his attendance at the fundraiser, repeatedly. U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who faced Beruff in the primary before dropping out, made the same accusation back in February, starting a website called CharlieCristRepublican.com. Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera dropped out of the Senate race and also lobbed the attack at Beruff earlier this summer. But Beruff has recently denied supporting Crist, despite going to the fundraiser, and said he gave up on Crist after he \"\"got stupid\"\" and left the Republican Party. A Crist spokesman declined to say whether Beruff threw support to Crist at the fundraiser. We couldn’t find any other reports from six years ago listing Beruff as a vocal Crist advocate when he turned NPA. We also didn't find an instance of Beruff speaking out against Crist. Through campaign spokesman Chris Hartline, Beruff told PolitiFact Florida he voted for Rubio over Crist, but was \"\"disappointed\"\" in Rubio’s performance. The Washington Free Beacon asked Beruff about the 2010 fundraiser after Lopez-Cantera’s comments. Beruff admitted he was there, but said he was no longer supporting Crist at the time. There’s no record of Beruff donating to Rubio. \"\"If Dr. Gary (Kompothecras) invites me to something at his house, I go, unless I am out of town,\"\" Beruff told the Free Beacon. \"\"He’s a good friend, even though we don’t share political roadways all the time.\"\" Beruff also said he had not donated to Crist after the party affiliation switch, saying \"\"follow the money.\"\" Hartline echoed the sentiment when we asked him about it. \"\"It's a lie, and Marco Rubio knows it,\"\" Hartline told us in a statement. \"\"Carlos never supported Charlie Crist after he left the Republican Party. His last donation to Crist was June 1, 2009, almost 11 months before he became an independent.\"\" Of course, there’s good reason why Beruff didn’t donate any more money, even if he wanted to. He had reached the $4,800 legal limit and was prohibited from giving further. \"\"Beruff could not have given more in the 2010 cycle, but he gave at a time when Crist was running for the Republican nomination,\"\" Douglas Weber, senior researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, told PolitiFact Florida via email. There is no evidence of Beruff giving Crist money since. Furthermore, news reports at the time said some donors demanded refunds after Crist’s party switch. Beruff did not. Hartline said it was because Beruff \"\"turned his focus to helping Rick Scott in his run for governor.\"\" Our ruling Florida First Project said Beruff \"\"supported Crist even after he switched parties.\"\" Beruff had supported Crist’s 2010 Senate run when Crist ran as a Republican, giving the maximum legal amount in donations. After Crist switched to an independent run, Beruff also attended a Crist fundraiser, although he denied supporting Crist in any way at that event. The Bradenton developer was listed as dependable Crist supporter in a news report prior to the switch, and didn’t ask for a refund of his donations. We found nary a mention of Beruff beyond that. But the bottom line is, even if Beruff denies it now, there's evidence that he didn't give Crist the same cold shoulder other Republicans immediately did.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Florida First Project Says Carlos Beruff \"\"supported (Charlie) Crist even after he switched parties.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4922c00b1b8a4a998aaae7c5aa2aa14d",
            "input": "A group of researchers reported in October 2014 that the Triatomine bug, a reduviid bug living in the United States, can carry a parasite that causes Chagas disease. Examples: Is the barber beetle dangerous even causing fatality with its bite while you sleep? Looking for info on a bug named the Barber Beetle. The Pink Penguin website states that this bug can infect one with a parasite and the parasite carries the Chagas disease. Website states you must kill the bug and if you don’t you need to call an exterminator immediately. Sound like an African bug if nothing else. Have several friends who never check out what they are sharing, rely on your site a lot. Thank you. Read an article about a bug that sounds to be the new insect of the plague. Aids is the similar disease this “Insect” supposedly spreads through its bite. Chagas and Trypanosome were the diseases also known to be spread. Is this real? Gross Bugs with a Cute Name Moving North: Kissing Bugs & Chagas Disease https://t.co/OSP8aSHcjc pic.twitter.com/OAPUPGgyKV — InfectionControl (@PreventionTips) March 13, 2017  Melissa Nolan Garcia, a research associate at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, presented two studies at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. For one study, Garcia and her team collected 40 triatomine bugs in Texas and discovered nearly 75% of the bugs were carrying the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. For the second study, Garcia’s team examined 17 blood donors who had symptoms consistent with Chagas disease: “We are finding new evidence that locally acquired human transmission is occurring in Texas. We were surprised to find that 36 percent (of the blood donors) had evidence of being a locally acquired case. Additionally, 41 percent of this presumably healthy blood donor population had heart abnormalities consistent with Chagas cardiac disease.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes nearly 300,000 people may be infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. Garcia believes this number may be higher, however, since many people infected with the disease are asymptomatic and undiagnosed: “It’s a silent killer. People don’t feel sick, so they don’t seek care, but it causes heart disease in about 30 percent of those who get infected. Physicians should consider Chagas when patients have swelling and enlargement of the heart not caused by high blood pressure, diabetes or other causes, even if they do not have a history of travel.” The CDC has classified Chagas Disease as one of five Neglected Parasitic Infections in the United States. Chagas, as well as cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichomoniasis, are considered NPIs in the United States since little attention has been dedicated to their surveillance, prevention, and treatment. A CDC factsheet about NPIs in the United States reads: Most people think of parasitic diseases occurring in poor and developing countries, something they might pick up on an overseas trip. However, parasitic infections still occur in the United States, and in some cases, affect millions of people. Often they can go unnoticed, with few symptoms. But many times these infections cause serious illnesses, including seizures, blindness, heart failure, and even death.Anyone, regardless of race or economic status, can become infected, although minorities, immigrants, and people living in poor or disadvantaged communities appear to be most at risk. The good news is that most of these infections can be prevented, and many are treatable. However, these infections are often undetected and untreated. Why? Most people do not know they are infected or at risk, or don’t have access to appropriate care. And often, health care providers are unfamiliar with these parasitic infections, and may not diagnose or treat them appropriately. We have limited understanding about how many people are infected, or who is most at risk.” Triatomine bugs (also called reduviid bugs, kissing bugs, assassin bugs, cone-nosed bugs, and blood suckers) have been found in the Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America:  The parasite that causes the disease is in the bug feces. The bug generally defecates on or near a person while it is feeding on his or her blood, generally when the person is sleeping. Transmission occurs when fecal material gets rubbed into the bite wound or into a mucous membrane (for example, the eye or mouth), and the parasite enters the body. Shortly after Garcia reported her findings, several publications ran sensational headlines claiming Chagas disease was the “new AIDS.” Although the threat is real, it is unlikely for someone in the United States to be infected by a kissing bug: “There have been a few reports of people becoming infected with these bugs here in the United States. We don’t know how often that is happening because there may be cases that are undiagnosed, since many doctors would not think to test their patients for this disease. However, we believe the risk of infection is very low.” Chagas Disease can be fatal, but many people infected by Trypanosoma cruzi never develop the disease and remain asymptomatic for life. According to the CDC, only about 30% of infected people will “develop debilitating and sometimes life-threatening medical problems over the course of their lives.” A November 2015 report on the discovery of kissing bugs in Georgia noted that there had not been a reported case of Chagas in that state since 1855: The “kissing bug,” which can carry a parasite in its feces that can cause a deadly disease, has been found in Georgia, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.However, according to Dr. Susan Montgomery of the CDC, the bugs have been around Georgia since 1855 and there has never been a reported case of the disease via the bug in the state. There’s a low chance in the United States of getting Chagas from a triatomine bug, according to the CDC. The species of bug in the U.S. is more often found in wooded areas than in people’s homes, Montgomery said. It often feeds on wildlife. Nationwide, there have been less than 30 total reported cases of Chagas acquired through the bugs, Montgomery said.",
            "output": [
                "Kissing bugs in the U.S. carry a disease-causing parasite."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de885b95f1ca4fa0b53d0d59bce66ab7",
            "input": "Three of the other five patients are in either a serious or a critical condition in hospital, while the remaining two have mild symptoms, the United Nations health agency said in a disease outbreak update. H7N9 bird flu emerged last year in China and has infected around 150 people so far there and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing at least 46 of them. The latest death was a 38-year-old man from China’s Fujian Province who became ill with H7N9 on January 3, was admitted to hospital on January 8 but died 2 days later. He had underlying illnesses, including tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported another death from H7N9 in the southwestern Guizhou province on Monday, but this has yet to be confirmed by the WHO. A 65-year-old man infected with H7N9 also died in Hong Kong, the government said on Monday. The WHO reiterated there is no evidence as yet of any easy or sustained person-to-person transmission of the strain, and that the source of the human infections is still under investigation. Researchers in the United States said last month that while it is not impossible that H7N9 could become easily transmissible between people, it would need to undergo multiple mutations to do that. Scientists around the world are keeping a watchful eye, on alert for any sign the virus might develop that potential and start to spread rapidly.",
            "output": [
                "Death toll from new China bird flu rises: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ba596bb41684a2592eeca7affb1806f",
            "input": "Officials had warned that the United Kingdom was highly likely to have cases of the new coronavirus, which first emerged in China’s central province of Hubei and has killed 213 people so far. “The patients are receiving specialist National Health Service (NHS) care and we are using tried and tested infection-control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus,” said England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. He said the two infected patients, who local media said had been staying at a hotel in the city of York, had been transferred to a specialist infectious disease unit in Newcastle, northeast England. Whitty said it could turn out to be a relatively minor infection as there was only a 2% mortality rate. Staff, other patients and the general public would not be at risk, he said, and health officials were tracing those who had been in close contact with the pair. Whitty also said they were extending their advice so that anyone who had returned from China should “self-isolate” if they developed symptoms of any kind. On Thursday, Britain raised the perceived risk level to the country to moderate from low after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency. A plane transported 83 British nationals from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, to Britain on Friday before flying on to Madrid to deposit another 27 European Union (EU) citizens, mostly Spaniards. The Spanish passengers will be quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid, while four Danish citizens and one Norwegian will be flown back to their home countries, according to Spain’s Health Ministry. The returning Britons will be quarantined for 14 days at an NHS facility in northwest England. One of those on board, Ben Williams, told BBC TV he had just got married in China and had been on his honeymoon. He said he had been forced to leave behind his wife, a Chinese national, because they had not had time to arrange for her to come. “Hopefully it’s only a few months,” he said. “It’s good to be back but I also miss China as well.”  Whitty said the intention was to keep those who had returned close to medical services in case they needed them. “What we hope is that all these people will have 14 days isolated from the general public, but not in the sense of solitary confinement, and then they will be able to be released without any symptoms at all,” he said. Senior British minister Michael Gove said Britain would send another plane to Wuhan if necessary.",
            "output": [
                "Britain reports two cases of coronavirus, evacuation flight from China lands."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-155fd7db3c4c432faedef27555485cbd",
            "input": "The burials, found underneath the cremated remains of an Ice Age toddler, date to about 11,500 years ago and provide new insights into mortuary practices of the people who lived in the area of the Upward Sun River site at the time. The largely complete skeletons were found in a circular pit with associated “grave goods” that included four antler rods and two stone projectile points, all decorated with red ochre, according to research carried out last year by a team led by University of Alaska anthropologist Ben Potter. In a paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team said skeletal and dental analyses indicate one of the skeletons was of an infant that died shortly after birth, while the other was of a late-term fetus. The site represents the youngest-aged late Pleistocene individuals known in the Americas, it said, as well as the continent’s only known prenatal burial dating from the period. The pair, both tentatively believed to have been female, were found buried about 16 inches (40 cm) beneath the cremated remains of a 3-year-old child that was previously excavated by the team during work at the site in 2010. “Two interred infants with associated grave goods and a third cremated child represent the earliest known human remains from the North American subarctic, and they provide evidence for novel mortuary behaviors at the end of the last Ice Age,” the authors wrote. The team, which included Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University, said the site shares characteristics with other burials from the same periods, including interment in pits, red ochre, and grave goods consisting of functional tools, as opposed to ornaments or trinkets. The archaeologists believe the stone projectile points were once attached to the antler rods to make tools or weapons, and could reflect the importance of hunting implements in the burial ceremony. But they said they also noted the predominance of fish and small game remains at the site.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists find rare burial site of Ice Age infant in Alaska."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21ea0c02e02e4ac5a2653f7c0a74449b",
            "input": "Almost three years after he received bone marrow stem cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection - and more than 18 months after he came off antiretroviral drugs - highly sensitive tests still show no trace of the man’s previous HIV infection. “There is no virus there that we can measure. We can’t detect anything,” said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV biologist who co-led a team of doctors treating the man. AIDS experts said the case is a proof of the concept that scientists will one day be able to end AIDS, and marks a “critical moment” in the search for an HIV cure, but does not mean that cure has already been found. Gupta described his patient as “functionally cured” and “in remission”, but cautioned: “It’s too early to say he’s cured.”  The man is being called “the London patient”, in part because his case is similar to the first known case of a functional cure of HIV - in an American man, Timothy Brown, who became known as the Berlin patient when he underwent similar treatment in Germany in 2007 which also cleared his HIV. Brown, who had been living in Berlin, has since moved to the United States and, according to HIV experts, is still HIV-free. Some 37 million people worldwide are currently infected with HIV and the AIDS pandemic has killed about 35 million people worldwide since it began in the 1980s. Scientific research into the complex virus has in recent years led to the development of drug combinations that can keep it at bay in most patients. Gupta, now at Cambridge University, treated the London patient when he was working at University College London. The man had contracted HIV in 2003, Gupta said, and in 2012 was also diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In 2016, when he was very sick with cancer, doctors decided to seek a transplant match for him. “This was really his last chance of survival,” Gupta told Reuters. The donor - who was unrelated - had a genetic mutation known as ‘CCR5 delta 32’, which confers resistance to HIV. The transplant went relatively smoothly, Gupta said, but there were some side effects, including the patient suffering a period of “graft-versus-host” disease - a condition in which donor immune cells attack the recipient’s immune cells. Most experts say it is inconceivable such treatments could be a way of curing all patients. The procedure is expensive, complex and risky. To do this in others, exact match donors would have to be found in the tiny proportion of people — most of them of northern European descent — who have the CCR5 mutation that makes them resistant to the virus. “Although this is not a viable large-scale strategy for a cure, it does represent a critical moment,” said Anton Pozniak, president of the International AIDS Society. “The hope is that this will eventually lead to a safe, cost-effective and easy strategy...using gene technology or antibody techniques.”  Specialists said it is also not yet clear whether the CCR5 resistance is the only key - or whether the graft-versus-host disease may have been just as important. Both the Berlin and London patients had this complication, which may have played a role in the loss of HIV-infected cells, Gupta said. His team plans to use these findings to explore potential new HIV treatment strategies. “We need to understand if we could knock out this (CCR5) receptor in people with HIV, which may be possible with gene therapy,” he said. The London patient, whose case was set to be reported in the journal Nature and presented at a medical conference in Seattle on Tuesday, has asked his medical team not to reveal his name, age, nationality or other details.",
            "output": [
                "London HIV patient becomes world's second AIDS cure hope."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d23aa7316bbe4c2e9a044318d86c8b19",
            "input": "Collins, a Republican, introduced the proposal with Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith. It’s also designed to beef up prevention, diagnostics and treatment for tick-borne diseases, and it’s headed to the full Senate next. The proposal’s named the Kay Hagan Tick Act in honor of former Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina who died in October of complications from Powassan virus, a tick-borne infection. Cases of Lyme disease nearly doubled in Maine from 2010 to 2018. Collins describes the surge of tick-borne diseases as a “burgeoning public health crisis.” The proposal would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy about the diseases.",
            "output": [
                "Collins bill to combat Lyme and other tick diseases moves on."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7007b921badd49ad91345b7e96c53a1c",
            "input": "Twenty years and more than 12,380 shipments later, tons of Cold War-era waste from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research across the U.S. have been stashed in the salt caverns that make up the underground facility . Each week, several shipments of special boxes and barrels packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements are trucked to the site. But the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has not been without issues. A 2014 radiation leak forced an expensive, nearly three-year closure, delayed the federal government’s cleanup program and prompted policy changes at national laboratories and defense-related sites across the U.S. More recently, the U.S. Department of Energy said it would investigate reports that workers may have been exposed last year to hazardous chemicals. Still, supporters consider the repository a success, saying it provides a viable option for dealing with a multibillion-dollar mess that stretches from a decommissioned nuclear weapons production site in Washington state to one of the nation’s top nuclear research labs, in Idaho, and locations as far east as South Carolina. If it weren’t for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, many containers of plutonium-contaminated waste would be outside, exposed to the weather and susceptible to natural disasters, said J.R. Stroble, head of business operations at the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees the contractor that operates the repository. “The whole purpose of WIPP is to isolate this long-lived radioactive, hazardous waste from the accessible environment, from people and the things people need in order to live life on Earth,” he told The Associated Press. Stroble and others in the communities surrounding the repository are steadfast in their conviction that the facility is a success. They point to 22 sites around the nation that have been cleaned up as a result of having somewhere to put the waste — including Rocky Flats, a former nuclear weapons plant outside Denver that had a history of leaks, spills and other violations. For critics, that success is checkered at best since the repository is far from fulfilling its mission. “It’s 80 percent through its lifetime, and it has disposed of less than 40 percent of the waste and has cost more than twice as much as it was supposed to,” said Don Hancock with the watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center. “How great of a success is that?” Officials initially thought the facility would operate for about 25 years. Rather than wrapping up in the next few years, managers have bumped the timeline to 2050. The repository was carved out of an ancient salt formation about a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) below the surface, with the idea that the shifting salt would eventually entomb the radioactive waste. It was the National Academy of Sciences in the 1950s that first recommended disposing of atomic waste in deep geologic formations. Scientists began taking a hard look at the New Mexico site about two decades later. The scientists had to convince themselves and then federal regulators that it was safe. One of their tasks was determining that the ancient seawater trapped between the salt crystals and bound up in thin bands of clay within the salt deposit would pose no problems thousands of years later. “It was exciting to be working on what was then going to be the world’s first deep-geologic repository for that class of waste,” said Peter Swift, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. “Nothing that radioactive had been put that deep underground before. And that’s still true 20 years later.” While the real test will be what happens generations from now, Swift is confident in the science behind the project. But the wild card in whether the repository is ultimately deemed a success will be the human factor. After all, missteps by management were blamed for the 2014 radiation release. With some areas permanently sealed off due to contamination, more mining will have to be done to expand capacity. The federal government also is spending more than a half-billion dollars to install a new ventilation system, sink more shafts and make other upgrades aimed at returning to “normal business.” Hancock and some former elected leaders involved in early discussions about the facility worry about the subterranean landfill becoming a dumping ground for high-level waste or commercial nuclear waste. But it would take an act of Congress to expand the repository’s mission, and getting consent from New Mexico’s delegates would be a tall order since the federal government still has no long-term plan for dealing with such waste. Nevada’s proposed Yucca Mountain project is mothballed, and no other permanent disposal proposals are on the table. Toney Anaya, who served as New Mexico governor in the 1980s, remembers the heated debates about bringing more radioactive waste to the state. He said there were concerns about safety, but the promise of jobs was attractive. Some also argued New Mexico had a moral obligation given its legacy of uranium mining and its role in the development of the atomic bomb. Another former governor, Bill Richardson, was on both sides of the tug of war — first as a young Democratic congressman who wanted to impose environmental standards and keep 18-wheelers loaded with waste from passing through the heart of Santa Fe. Then, he became U.S. energy secretary during the Clinton administration and pressured the state to clear the way for the repository to open. “For New Mexico, we’ve done our share of storing waste, and we’ve done it safely and effectively,” Richardson said. “It’s provided jobs, but I just think the future of the state is not nuclear.” Southeastern New Mexico’s ties to nuclear run deep and will continue for at least the next 30 years under the plans being charted now. Robust state regulation will be key in ensuring responsible management going forward, said Hancock, with the watchdog group. The problem, he said, is that besides the Cold War-era waste that has yet to be dealt with, the federal government and nuclear power plants keep generating more. “We need to decide what our capacities are actually going to be — how much nuclear power waste are we going to create, how much nuclear weapons waste are we going to create — so that we can then put our arms around the problem,” Hancock said.",
            "output": [
                "First-of-its-kind US nuclear waste dump marks 20 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-444813573f36473facdb9ac892a697c4",
            "input": "\"With the coronavirus pandemic sending automobile miles plummeting — and with it, demand for gasoline — Americans are finding prices at the pump to be lower than they’ve been in years. But New York state remains on the higher end of that range. That’s what WKBW-TV, Buffalo’s ABC affiliate, reported on April 27, citing the American Automobile Association. \"\"New York is one of only 12 states where the average gallon of gas costs more than $2.00, according to numbers provided by the AAA of Western and Central New York,\"\" the report said. Is that correct? Yes. We asked AAA for the gas price data for April 27, and they provided us with the full list of 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The data comes from surveys of up to 120,000 gas stations across the country. We looked at the price per gallon for unleaded regular. Here’s the list of states, from most expensive to least expensive:  According to this list, New York, at $2.18 a gallon, was the seventh most expensive state for gasoline, trailing Hawaii, California, Washington state, Oregon, Nevada, and the District of Columbia. (D.C. isn’t a state, but we’ll grant some leeway.) The other five states with gas prices above $2.00 were Arizona, Pennsylvania, Utah, Alaska, and New Jersey. That adds up to 12 states above $2.00, as the statement said, as long as you include D.C. as a state. Three states had gas below $1.40 a gallon: Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. AAA isn’t the only source of this data. We also looked at data from the wesbite GasBuddy. GasBuddy sent us their own state-by-state prices from April 27 and it shows a similar pattern, but slightly different due to data sampling. New York, at $2.13, was one of eight states with gas prices above $2.00. In descending order, they were Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington state, Nevada, New York, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. That’s fewer than the 12 states that AAA found with $2.00-plus gasoline, but four additional states on the GasBuddy list had prices just under $2.00. Utah, Alaska, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey all had gas prices at between $1.95 and $1.95. One reason why gas prices are relatively high in New York is the tax burden, according to an interactive map produced by the American Petroleum Institute. In 2018, New Yorkers paid more than 45 cents a gallon in state taxes and 18 cents a gallon in federal taxes, for a total of 63 cents a gallon. That’s nearly twice what Ohio motorists pay in taxes. New York is one of just a handful of states where motorists pay more than 49 cents a gallon in gasoline taxes. Since the article appeared, the situation hasn’t changed much. By the following week, only 10 states had average gas prices above $2.00 per gallon, and New York remained one of them. With some states beginning to re-open portions of their economies, gasoline prices have increased slightly in some states, according to AAA and GasBuddy data. But the average price per gallon in the United States had only risen a couple of cents per gallon, In New York, the changes were also minimal. AAA had New York’s average price per gallon at $2.15, while GasBuddy had a slightly lower price, $2.12. A news report cited the American Automobile Association in saying that \"\"New York is one of only 12 states where the average gallon of gas costs more than $2.00.\"\" AAA provided us the full data, confirming that the statement is correct, as long as the District of Columbia is counted as a state. Among the 50 states and D.C., New York ranked seventh highest in per-gallon prices for regular unleaded. Another gasoline price metric, from GasBuddy, had eight states above $2.00, with four additional states between $1.95 and $1.99.\"",
            "output": [
                "“New York is one of only 12 states where the average gallon of gas costs more than $2.00.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86be712a78e04849af4ee408aefa11e4",
            "input": "If there was anything more remarkable about Michael Jackson than his transformation from a singing and dancing wunderkind fronting the Jackson 5 into the world’s most popular entertainer (his 1982 Thriller album remains one of the two best-selling albums of all time), it was his metamorphosis from a dark-skinned, broad-nosed, Afro-haired adolescent into a pasty, slender-nosed, long-haired, dimpled adult whose chiseled facial features have long since crossed the boundary of the grotesque. So unreal had his physical appearance become that many people questioned whether genuine photographs of him (such as the one shown above, taken during Jackson’s 13 November 2002 appearance in Santa Maria Superior Court) had been doctored, amidst rumors that multiple cosmetic surgeries had taken such a toll on his face that he was sporting a prosthetic nose:  This is an actual photo — not doctored — of Michael Jackson in a court appearance this week defending himself against charges that he backed out of concert appearances. The judge made him take his surgical mask off. “What’s up with Michael Jackson’s nose?” rumors floated anew when he showed up to testify as a defendant in a breach of contract case in Santa Maria with a swollen face, a seemingly scarred and discolored nose, and an upper lip that appeared to be covered with scabs. Press photos made it appear that the pop star’s face bore a pointed, collapsed proboscis, and within the next few days several prominent plastic surgeons assessed the possible causes of the unusual appearance of Jackson’s nose for the press:  “In his zeal to have this sharply defined nose, he’s had so many things done, the tissue is no longer able to withstand it. The skin is so thin from operations that the bone or cartilage or silicone implant is pushing through,” said Dr. Les Bolton, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. “If what is protruding is artificial material such as an implant, the treatment of choice would be to remove the implant, let the nose heal and reconstruct it later with some of his own tissue, such as cartilage from the ear or bone from the rib.”  “What he’s done is to go from a Negroid or black nose, which is round and broad and flat, to a Caucasian nose that’s narrow and projecting,” said Dr. Harvey Zarem, a former chief of plastic surgery at UCLA who practices in Santa Monica. “To do that, you have to put cartilage or silicone or bone in the nose like a tent stake to make the nose stick out. But when you do that enough, the cartilage or silicone or bone pokes through.” “Clearly, he had some sort of nasal-tip disaster,” said Dr. Gerald Imber, a celebrity plastic surgeon based in Manhattan. “What probably happened is that he had some sort of support put in there and the tissue broke down. Now, it looks like he has skin grafts or something to close it up. A collapsed nose is very unusual — I’ve never seen one, and I’ve done 15,000 rhinoplasties.”  Dermatologists also suggested that Jackson had probably undergone Botox injections in his forehead, had plastic surgery on his eyes, had his chin squared off, lightened his skin using a hydroquinone compound (not legal in the U.S.), and had tattooed eyebrows and eyeliner. Unfortunately, as Dr. Edward Domanskis, a Newport Beach plastic surgeon, said, drawing a line with some cosmetic surgery patients is particularly difficult:  “He probably should have stopped three or four noses ago. But it becomes very difficult with a person who is powerful and wants his way. There are enough plastic surgeons out there who are going to feel special if he comes to them that he is probably always going to find someone willing to operate.”  Jackson testified for three days. The first day he appeared in court wearing a surgical mask which the judge ordered him to remove, revealing a bandage over his nose. The second day Jackson showed up without the mask, but he had switched to a skin-colored bandage. On the third day the singer testified wearing neither mask nor bandage. Viewers who did not look closely at the photographs taken the second day (such as the one shown above) and failed to realize Jackson was wearing bandage matching the color of his skin might have concluded that the wrinkled, irregular surface of his nose and the fleshy substance dangling from it were his natural appearance, rather than the texture of the bandage covering it. Possibly some of the surgeons who commented on the state of Jackson’s nose were similarly misled by these pictures.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph of Michael Jackson's face taken during a court trial is real and undoctored."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6e5492cd1f641aeb40aa85a0e06226c",
            "input": "\"Because we deal with lots of loose rhetoric at PolitiFact Ohio, we’re attracted like a magnet to any claim that tries to actually quantify a political or ideological point. Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman delivered such a tidbit during a conference call with Ohio reporters on May 23. Portman was explaining a bill he co-introduced that could require additional cost-benefit analysis and allow more business flexibility before new federal regulations and rules could be issued. Portman says too many government regulations are imposed without a commonsense assessment of their burden on businesses and jobs. And he said that President Barack Obama’s administration has put out \"\"more of these major rules than the Clinton administration or the Bush administration during comparable times.\"\" We won’t attempt to assess whether current and pending regulation of the environment, worker and food safety,  healthcare, wildlife or fuel efficiency are good or government overkill. But has the Obama administration finalized more of these \"\"major\"\" rules than other recent presidents? That part of the claim is measurable and has, in fact, been examined by groups of all political stripes, all using the same sources of government data. If all regulations were counted, Obama’s record would be nowhere near Portman’s description, especially considering a sizeable flurry of rulemaking during Bill Clinton’s first two years, as the liberal group OMB Watch, now known as the Center for Effective Government, said in a report last September. In fact, when 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed that federal regulations quadrupled under Obama, PolitiFact ruled it False. But Portman said \"\"major\"\" rules.\"\" \"\"Major\"\" has a specific meaning when used by the government in this context. It means any rule with an economic impact of at least $100 million. And the White House Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, keeps track of these very rules, as does the Government Accountability Office. OMB calls them \"\"economically significant\"\" rules, which also has a distinct definition but is so close to \"\"major\"\" that there is no need to split hairs here. We looked at three analyses of major or economically significant rules, all broken down by year and presidency and all using OMB data. One was provided by Portman’s Senate staff, which is familiar with the data because Portman used to run OMB. Another was from the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University, headed by Susan Dudley, a former regulatory affairs administrator at OMB. A third was from the Center for Effective Government. Portman’s office compared rules that were finalized in the first three years of Obama’s tenure with the first three of Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s. To guard against counting rules finalized by one administration but published by another, it excluded those that were published in the first few weeks of an incoming president’s term. Portman’s staff counted only executive branch departments and agencies and not those of independent agencies that do not report to the president. It found 162 major rules for Obama, 115 for the same period under Bush, and 135 for the same period under Clinton. A similar analysis by George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center had a similar conclusion, though the raw numbers were slightly different from Portman’s because of a technical variation in the timeframes counted. Among other things, the analysis counted every year the presidents served, allowing for comparisons of first and second terms for Clinton and Bush and the full four years of Obama’s first term. This made no substantive difference in terms of Portman’s claim. It showed that Obama still had more economically significant rules -- 217 in his first four years, compared with the next highest, 190, in Bush’s second term. Finally, there was the data from the Center for Effective Government, nee OMB Watch. Last September, it examined new regulations since 1992, and found the level fairly constant across presidencies, save for Clinton’s first years. But when it came to regulations labeled as economically significant, Obama’s record for the first 42 months of his presidency was 38 percent higher than the comparable period of Bush’s first term and 36 percent higher than the comparable period in Clinton’s. In an interview and in her report, Randy Rabinowitz, director of regulatory policy at the Center for Effective Government, cautioned that some of these comparisons can be misleading because the \"\"major\"\" rule threshold of $100 million has not changed since 1978, despite inflation. A rule costing $100 million in 1993, the first year of Clinton’s presidency, would cost $161 million today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ online inflation calculator. We know of no analysis of regulations that has taken this into account. Rabinowitz also noted that many regulations grow directly out of laws passed by Congress or ordered by courts, so presidents are not merely riding roughshod over the will of lawmakers or the public. Some of Obama’s biggest rules resulted from court rulings dating to Bush, with courts requiring environmental regulation after Bush balked. But Obama’s share of these or similar statutory or judicially required rules -- 48 percent of all the rules his administration finalized -- was not much different from the share Clinton had to deal with in his first term, nor the share Bush had in his second term. This doesn’t change the facts or statistics as stated by Portman: The Obama administration has put out \"\"more of these major rules than the Clinton administration or the Bush administration during comparable times.\"\"\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Obama administration has put out \"\"more of these major rules than the Clinton administration or the Bush administration during comparable times.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c13e9f1e00c7496781599aa8ff93f4d0",
            "input": "But the number of people in intensive care units fell to 6,730 from 6,821 over 24 hours - declining for a sixth consecutive day, suggesting the national lockdown put in place on March 17 is having some success in containing the disease. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron announced a second extension of this lockdown until May 11, saying that progress had been made but also that the country had not been sufficiently prepared early on to surmount the challenges posed by the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Jerome Salomon, head of the public health authority, told a news conference that the number of COVID-19 deaths in French hospitals and nursing homes had risen by 5% in a day to a cumulative total of 15,729, versus 4% on Monday and Sunday. He added that the total number of confirmed infections had climbed by 5.3% to 103,573, compared to a rate of increase of 2.8% on Monday and of 1.7% on Sunday. There were also 26,680 suspected coronavirus cases in nursing homes, taking the total to more than 130,000 confirmed and possible cases, the fifth highest in the world. According to various running simulations, Salomon said that, depending on calculations for different regions, 5%-10% of the French population had probably contracted the disease.",
            "output": [
                "France's rate of coronavirus infections, deaths accelerating again."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a7e06ad48824697ae7336859c9aa054",
            "input": "The virus was discovered among a flock of 2,600 ducks on a farm in the village of Marolle-en-Sologne in the Loir-et-Cher administrative department, the report posted on the OIE’s website showed. The birds, which were free-ranging and bred for hunting, are to be culled. The disease was detected as part of planned surveillance and the ducks had shown no clinical signs, the report added. France reinforced bio-security measures after outbreaks of more severe forms of bird flu in recent years decimated duck and goose flocks notably bred to produce foie gras.",
            "output": [
                "France detects mild bird flu virus on duck farm: OIE."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0eb2a1e3c32447b7827035f924812bf1",
            "input": "Unfortunately, like the earlier Times story, the WSJ story doesn’t mention costs, either those associated with taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs to treat insomnia or those associated with cognitive behavioral therapy. The closest the story comes to mentioning cost is when it notes that one problem with the use of prescription sleep aids is that insurance may not cover long-term use; this would have been an obvious point at which to note how expensive these drugs can be. The story suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective after as few as two sessions, but it doesn’t say how many sessions the average patient requires, how expensive those sessions are likely to be nor how likely it is that insurance would cover this type of therapy. The story notes that one study of cognitive behavioral therapy showed that it reduced chronic insomnia and helped patients function more effectively during the daytime for up to two years. However, it does not specify whether the relief from chronic insomnia meant that patients had no bouts of insomnia or simply had less prolonged instances of insomnia, nor does it quantify how much improvement patients experienced in daytime functioning. In its discussion of chemical sleep aids, the article provides no specifics about effectiveness; rather, it focuses on the mechanisms by which the prescription drugs encourage sleep. (For an example of how to provide more specifics, see this criterion in our review of the Times’ story on this same data.) The article focuses on why many doctors now recommend cognitive behavioral therapy rather than drugs as the first-line treatment for insomnia. As such, it does an excellent job of laying out all the negative potential side effects of anti-insomnia drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter. Given the seriousness of these potential harms – including fatigue, sleep-walking and -eating, impaired balance and increased risks of falls and motor vehicle accidents and possibly even dementia – this careful discussion of harms provides a valuable public service. Cognitive behavioral therapy does not appear to cause any harm, a point the story might have made more clearly, especially given that it describes the benefits as lasting for “up to two years,” which could lead some readers to assume that CBT stops working after a relatively short time. Nonetheless, overall, the article is more than adequate in its discussion of the harms of the two approaches. This story is not focused on one specific study, but it notes that the American College of Physicians reviewed 15 years’ worth of scientific evidence before issuing guidelines recommending that drugs should be used to treat insomnia only if cognitive behavioral therapy has failed. More could have been said about how thorough the review was that contributed to the guidelines, and if there were any notable gaps in research that limit the findings. The story does not exaggerate either the frequency or the severity of insomnia. The story had several independent sources and we detected no conflicts of interest. The primary focus of this story is explaining why cognitive behavioral therapy is the better alternative for treating insomnia due to the negative side effects of insomnia drugs. The story also includes a great deal of practical information about “sleep hygiene,” as well. The story notes that CBT can be provided by any trained therapist or nurse. The story could have been more helpful if it had specified how common this training is and how a patient seeking CBT could go about finding a health care professional trained in the technique. The article also might have mentioned that systematic analysis of studies has shown that even web-based versions of cognitive behavioral therapy can effectively treat insomnia, making it even more widely available. The story does not suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy is new. It does, however, refer to the relatively new (as of May 2016) American College of Physicians guidelines recommending cognitive behavioral therapy over drug treatment for insomnia. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Can’t Get to Sleep? Lay Off the Drugs"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e931bef4fa641b4929bbec14ae6493e",
            "input": "With many unaware that half the population of 107 million had been told to stay home for a month, stranded workers crowded  checkpoints on the edges of Manila as vehicles tried to duck suspensions and police impounded taxis that were still running. “I need to make a living for my family,” said Albert Santos, 42, the driver of a passenger jeep, adding that he would try to make as much money before being forced to stop. “I can’t stop or they have nothing to eat.”  The Philippines is the first regional nation to take such drastic steps against the virus, which President Rodrigo Duterte described as “the fight of our lives”, after deeming existing curbs on movement and gatherings insufficient. In just 10 days, virus infections in the Philippines climbed to 142 from three, with 12 deaths. Malaysia will follow suit from Wednesday, closing borders, schools and most businesses, while restricting internal movement, after a daily jump of 125 cases to 553, nearly two-thirds of them linked to a major event at a mosque. Cambodia’s infections doubled to 24 on Tuesday and Thailand reported 30 new ones, taking its tally to 177, for a nearly threefold jump in a week. The regional trend casts more doubt on the view that warmer weather might stem the spread. Thailand’s cabinet agreed on Tuesday to close schools, cinemas, bars and entertainment centers, and postpone next month’s festivities for New Year in the mainly Buddhist nation. Manila’s usually busy business areas were almost deserted on the first morning of home quarantine, with only delivery trucks, police patrols and occasional private vehicles on the roads. City workers in protective suits disinfected public areas, security guards sat outside banks and convenience stores and workers trickled home after night shifts at call centers and medical clinics, among the few exemptions to Duterte’s curbs. Many shift workers were stranded after transport was suspended. Police pulled over dozens of taxis, with drivers - and many commuters - unaware of the new quarantine measures, announced on Monday afternoon and only clarified late at night. “I need to work. I don’t get paid if I don’t show up,” said Sheila Reyes, 24, as she waited hopefully for a ride to a factory, some of which are allowed to operate. “If I have to, I’ll walk to work.”  The measures widen a lockdown since Friday that brought immigration limits, curfews, closures of schools and malls, bans on gatherings, social distancing, and restrictions on movement for the capital. The Philippines suspended financial markets on Tuesday, the first trading shutdown in a world struggling to rein in the virus. Malaysia postponed a meeting this week of APEC finance officials. Philippine authorities said international airports in Manila and Clark would be closed to citizens, amid an expected exodus of foreigners before the expiry of a 72-hour deadline to leave. Teething troubles from the quarantine were inevitable and stranded people would receive help to get home and stay there, said Jonathan Malaya, an interior ministry official. “As expected, there still are people uninformed on last night’s announcement,” he said. “We have some kinks to fix ... it will normalize once people understand that they really need to stay home.”  In Bangkok’s Patpong area, famed for racy nightlife and counterfeit handbags, bar owners and workers said they were already suffering from the virus effect, and mandatory closures were probably for the best. “We have to follow the government’s measures,” said one bar worker, Kornpisit Kutakorn. “We have to do this for the common interest.”",
            "output": [
                "Confusion, concern as locked-down Philippines starts coronavirus quarantine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-100a158083004402a67df04318e59f67",
            "input": "\"Accusations about the responsible party behind the United States’ struggle to accelerate coronavirus testing have come from every which way and the blame has fallen, often inaccurately, on the shoulders of different public officials. In a March 13 tweet, President Donald Trump said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied its testing system for decades but wasn’t prepared for a large scale pandemic, an issue that was complicated by policy changes made by former President Barack Obama. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., retweeted Trump’s remark and added his own comment: \"\"Trump is once again trying to blame the previous administration for the number of tests available. This is his #DailyLie.\"\" U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, retweeted Schumer’s remark and said: \"\"It’s not Obama’s fault and it’s not Trump’s fault. We have stringent FDA regulations, long in place, that created barriers to the private industry creating a test quickly.\"\" PolitiFact looked at a different Trump claim blaming Obama for a lack of testing. We also looked at a claim from Democrat Joe Biden about the Trump administration rejecting tests from the World Health Organization (they were never offered). Trump also inaccurately stated that any individual who wants to be tested for the coronavirus can get a test. We wanted to dig deeper into Crenshaw’s claim, which attributes the delays in the availability of widespread testing to Food and Drug Administration regulations. Justin Discigil, spokesman for Crenshaw, pointed to articles from ProPublica, the New Yorker, The Atlantic and the Washington Post, all of which highlighted the role FDA regulations played here. He added: \"\"Just to be clear – nowhere did we say that these regulations were the sole/only reason for the testing issue, we said that they created barriers.\"\" A timeline of events The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States came at the end of January, when a man in Washington state developed symptoms after returning from a trip to Wuhan. One month later, federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was inevitable that the U.S. would experience a spread of the virus and urged people to take precautions. In these early days of the virus, tests were not widely distributed to local and state laboratories. Instead, testing for the new coronavirus was conducted almost entirely by the CDC — samples collected at the local level were sent to the agency. Initial test kits developed by the CDC for use in local and state labs were flawed and produced inaccurate results in some labs, meaning they couldn’t be distributed. As the agency worked to correct the tests, health officials turned to the FDA. The U.S. Association of Public Health Laboratories submitted a letter asking the agency to use \"\"enforcement discretion\"\" and authorize local and state labs to develop and use their own tests. During a public health emergency, labs and drug manufacturers must seek an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA to use diagnostic tests and medical treatments that have not gone through the typical clearance process — to share them faster in the emergency. (These authorizations were begun in 2004 under President George W. Bush.) For laboratory-developed tests, like the ones in question, FDA policy has stated that they cannot be used in clinical diagnoses without the FDA’s approval during an emergency. Although the goal of these regulations is to ensure only accurate lab tests are conducted, health officials have said they prevented them from quickly responding to the virus. One doctor in a Seattle lab described the process for getting an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA and said the agency asked for a level of testing that didn’t make sense in the context of an emergency, according to a GQ profile. A doctor in North Carolina told NBC News that she had developed a test using the World Health Organization’s protocol but had yet to receive the use authorization from the FDA, putting the state \"\"way behind\"\" in its ability to test patients. On Feb. 29, the FDA announced a change in the process: Labs would still need to seek the agency’s approval for their tests, but the labs could begin testing while waiting for the official green light. On March 16, (three days after Crenshaw made his claim) the FDA announced another change to its policies and put state officials in charge of coronavirus tests developed by laboratories in their states, meaning labs would engage with state officials and not the FDA. It also removes the requirement for these labs to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization for their tests. The changes also expand which labs and manufacturers are included in FDA guidelines and which kinds of tests can be developed. \"\"We believe the unprecedented policy set forth in today’s updated guidance, which addresses laboratories and commercial manufacturers, will help address these urgent public health concerns by helping to expand the number and variety of diagnostic tests, as well as available testing capabilities in health care settings, and reference and commercial laboratories,\"\" reads a release from the agency. After the changes After the FDA announced changes to its policies, Labcorps and Quest Diagnostics both announced plans to start testing for the new coronavirus, crediting changes in federal policy with their ability to do so. \"\"We applaud the FDA for providing the flexibility for innovative, quality lab developed tests to be brought to patients and providers quickly to advance effective response to the coronavirus outbreak,\"\" said Steve Rusckowski, chairman and chief executive officer of Quest Diagnostics, in a statement. But even as state and local authorities move to ramp up testing, the number of available tests is still lacking. In Austin, for example, there is still a gap between available test kids and demand for testing, as officials prioritize testing for health care workers, people living in nursing homes and people at high risk for complications from the virus. Our Ruling Crenshaw said in a tweet that longstanding FDA regulations \"\"created barriers to the private industry creating a test quickly\"\" for the coronavirus. Crenshaw’s statement is accurate. FDA procedures adopted in 2004 meant laboratories had to seek the agency’s approval before developing and using tests in communities, a policy many health care officials have said prevented the country from taking early action in response to the novel coronavirus. It is important to keep in mind that other factors have contributed to the low levels of testing for the virus, beyond the FDA regulations. But Crenshaw’s statement is accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "Dan Crenshaw Says longstanding Food and Drug Administration regulations “created barriers to the private industry creating a test quickly” for the coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-35591d350eab417597526d1a116338f1",
            "input": "\"Donald Trump and his allies have seized upon a statistic that they believe reflects poorly on Hillary Clinton -- and they’re hammering it home on a daily basis. On Aug. 30, 2016, the Trump campaign blasted out an email titled, \"\"HIDING HILLARY: DAY 269,\"\" going on to explain that \"\"it has been 269 days since (Hillary) Clinton has held a press conference.\"\" Among other things, the email pressed Clinton to take reporters’ questions on aspects of her relationship to the Clinton Foundation. The Trump campaign was joined in this call by the Republican National Committee, which sent its own email headlined, \"\"269 days since Hillary Clinton held a press conference.\"\" \"\"Today and every day until Hillary Clinton holds a formal press conference, the Republican National Committee (RNC) will issue a reminder of the number of days since Hillary Clinton has faced members of the media in an environment not carefully controlled by her campaign.\"\" Is the Trump campaign correct that, as of Aug. 30, \"\"it has been 269 days since Clinton has held a press conference\"\"? (On our publication day, the number would have risen to 270 — an email from Trump's campaign on publication day declared \"\"HIDING HILLARY: DAY 270.\"\") Much depends on the definition of \"\"press conference,\"\" which is to some extent in the eye of the beholder. Many independent media outlets have supported Trump’s point. The Washington Post even created a real-time widget showing how long it has been since Clinton last held a press conference:  For context, Post political writer Chris Cillizza has written, \"\"The last time Clinton held a press conference was Dec. 5, 2015. That was before: 1. A single state had cast a vote in either a presidential primary or caucus. 2. Major terrorist attacks in Nice, Brussels and Orlando. 3. FBI Director James Comey issued his scathing report on Clinton's email practices while at the State Department. 4. The Bernie Sanders phenomenon. 5. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was run out of the Democratic National Committee in the wake of a massive email hack/leak. 6. This whole Ryan Lochte international gas station incident.\"\" And we should note that the Trump campaign has some bona fides for calling Clinton out in this regard: A tally by NBC News counted 17 Trump press conferences in 2016. The Clinton campaign has argued that Clinton has regularly made herself available to the press in ways that are equivalent to press conferences. But with one debatable exception, Trump can make a strong case that Clinton hasn’t given a press conference. The Fort Dodge press conference Clinton’s Dec. 5, 2015 event -- which is the consensus date of her last press conference among reporters and media outlets covering the Clinton campaign -- was held in Fort Dodge, Iowa. (And yes, we counted to make sure Trump's email blast came 269 days later.) The Clinton campaign provided us with a transcript of the exchange, which we’ve posted in full here. Clinton answered eight questions. They were heavily focused on substantive topics, including gun control, terrorism, mental health policy, visa waiver rules, and civil liberties. Given the serious tone of the exchanges and the mix of unfiltered questions by members of the traveling press corps, we think the Fort Dodge event qualifies as a genuine press conference, albeit a fairly brief one by standards of a sitting president. And at least one reporter, CNN’s Dan Merica, referred to the exchange as a \"\"press conference.\"\" While stopping short of labeling them press conferences, the Clinton campaign did offer PolitiFact transcripts of four subsequent events for possible comparison to the Fort Dodge exchange. The Queens press availability On April 4, Clinton visited the Jackson Diner, an Indian buffet in the immigrant-heavy Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, N.Y. The transcript provided by the Clinton campaign is here. This time, the number of questions Clinton took was slightly smaller -- six -- and several were about substantive topics of local interest, including immigration reform and policy toward Wall Street. Other questions, however, were more about campaign tactics and the horse race between Clinton and Sanders. One was on debate preparations, another on incivility among Sanders supporters, and a third was about whether she thought she and her supporters could eventually unify with Sanders and his backers. Notably, none of the articles about the event that we found referred to this as a \"\"press conference.\"\" One dispatch, in amNewYork, wrote that Clinton \"\"stopped to take questions from reporters before heading out\"\" from the restaurant. And the Guardian blogged that Clinton \"\"has just taken questions from reporters.\"\" The Compton press availability The next event highlighted by the Clinton campaign took place on June 6 in Compton, Calif., a predominantly African-American jurisdiction near Los Angeles. It came one day before the California presidential primary, the last major contest of the Democratic nominating season. Clinton took eight questions, with very little about policy matters. Rather, the questions revolved around her electoral prospects in the primary, her battle with Sanders and when President Barack Obama would begin campaigning for her. Many dispatches cited a more formal news conference by Sanders on the same day, but most didn’t use the term \"\"press conference\"\" for the media’s exchange with Clinton. The Associated Press and the Orlando Sentinel used the phrase \"\"speaking to reporters,\"\" while the Guardian used \"\"told reporters.\"\" CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin and Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin referred to it as a \"\"gaggle,\"\" a term for an impromptu -- and typically brief -- question-and-answer opportunity, often with the politician finishing one event and moving on to another. Griffin referred to it as taking \"\"a few last-minute questions\"\" in Compton. Indeed, by the time of Clinton’s Compton visit, some journalists had begun to specifically question the campaign why she hadn’t taken questions for so long. As Fox News reported, reporters covering the campaign rejected Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon’s assertion on CNN that she often \"\"comes out after an event has concluded\"\" and \"\"she'll literally stand there for 15, 20 minutes and answer questions from her traveling press corps.\"\" Washington Post media reporter Callum Borchers called Fallon’s comments \"\"not true.\"\" \"\"Talking to reporters in a scrum isn't particularly conducive to live television -- and the comparison here is to Trump's regularly scheduled news conferences, which cable channels often air live -- but at least Clinton would be submitting herself to a similar level of questioning,\"\" Borchers wrote. (A \"\"scrum\"\" is essentially the same thing as a \"\"gaggle.\"\") Borchers cited calculations by Liz Kreutz of ABC News, who counted \"\"only nine\"\" such availabilities, \"\"none lasting as long as Fallon claimed. In fact, the total duration of all nine was less than 50 minutes, a length that Trump has eclipsed at one single news conference.\"\" For the Compton event, Kreutz reported that it lasted \"\"about eight minutes -- still well shy of the 15-20 that Fallon said was customary,\"\" Borchers reported. The Ashland press availability The Clinton campaign also pointed to a joint exchange between Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and the media on July 31 in Ashland, Ohio. Here’s the transcript. Reporters got to ask a small number of questions of the running mates, mainly focusing on Trump’s controversial comments about the parents of a fallen soldier, Capt. Humayun Khan, and whether the four fall debates would go off as planned. The opening segment of the exchange is dominated by discussion of the milkshakes they were ordering. We didn’t find any examples of journalists at the time calling this a \"\"press conference.\"\" The NABJ-NAHJ conference Finally, on Aug. 5, Clinton gave a speech to a joint convention of African-American and Hispanic journalists and followed up with a question-and-answer session. Here is the full transcript. The Clinton campaign pointed to a remark by the NABJ's president, Sarah Glover, who called the event the \"\"largest press conference with any presidential candidate before a room filled with journalists of color\"\" when introducing Clinton. NAHJ president Mekahlo Medina also called it a \"\"press event\"\" to the Huffington Post. In addition, this was the longest of these events, at roughly 30 minutes. Kristen Welker of NBC and and Lori Montenegro of Telemundo, the moderators, represented the two journalism organizations; they asked multi-part questions. Three other reporters -- Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times, Ed O’Keefe of the Washington Post and Kevin Merida of ESPN -- asked a question each. They had been pre-selected by the moderators because they had participated in a preliminary panel. However, the fact that the moderators chose the questioners from a limited pool of convention participants (and were convention participants themselves) cast doubt for many in the press corps on whether this fit the full definition of a press conference. Politico’s Jennifer Epstein, the Associated Press’ Lisa Lerer, CNN’s Merica, and the Post’s Chris Cillizza and Abby Phillip were among those making that argument on Twitter. After months of complaints from the traveling press corps that they were not getting a press conference in which they would all have an equal opportunity to ask a question, many were not satisfied that this setup met their demands. Other arguments from the Clinton camp Beyond pointing to these four examples, Clinton campaign officials have noted that Clinton has made herself available for many interviews. For instance, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, campaign manager Robby Mook said, \"\"She's done over 300 interviews this year, and she takes questions in a variety of formats.\"\" When NPR looked at the campaign’s documentation on Aug. 25, they confirmed that Clinton had indeed done 350 interviews this year. The analysis also counted nine town-hall sessions from Jan. 1 to July 31, though these question-and-answer sessions were geared more towards members of the public than the media. However, the analysis noted that about one-fifth of the \"\"interviews\"\" were conducted by supporters, rather than journalists, or were done in settings not typically considered journalistic. In addition, NPR reported, \"\"a spot-check of interviews found most hovered between about three and eight minutes in duration, enough time to be seen on television screens and heard on the air, but short enough time to limit how deeply an interviewer could drill down.\"\" \"\"Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill, who provided the database to NPR, did not take issue with the network's conclusions when they were shared with him,\"\" NPR reported. Cillizza, writing in the Post, found even a large number of interviews insufficient. \"\"Sitdown, one-on-one interviews aren't the same thing as a free-wheeling press conference,\"\" he wrote. \"\"There are lots and lots of ground rules that govern sit-downs — most notably a typically strict time limit that makes pursuing any particular line of questioning in any real depth almost impossible. And then there is the fact that an interview with, say, Jimmy Kimmel, isn't the same thing as a press conference with reporters from the Washington Post, New York Times and the TV networks. Kimmel is a comedian, not a reporter.\"\" Our ruling Trump’s email said, \"\"It has been 269 days since Clinton has held a press conference.\"\" Only one event in the past 269 days -- Clinton’s appearance before the minority journalists’ convention -- could reasonably be considered a press conference, and there are good arguments for why it isn’t. The questioners were limited to a small pool of convention participants, leaving most of the Clinton campaign press corps  -- the dozens of journalists who know the campaign the best and who had complained the most about lack of access -- without an equal shot at asking a question. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so",
            "output": [
                "It has been 269 days since (Hillary) Clinton has held a press conference."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-008fa88083b34d1da8bf055d4fe87bef",
            "input": "A small Swiss study released on Monday showed that walking up and down stairs for three months, without recourse to the lift, increased levels of fitness dramatically. In fact, the improvement in aerobic capacity was equivalent to a 15 percent fall in the risk of dying prematurely from any cause. Subjects also saw marked reduction in waist size, body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol — all of which are known risk factors for heart disease. Philippe Meyer of the University Hospital in Geneva studied 69 employees of the university with a sedentary lifestyle, defined as less than two hours of exercise a week and fewer than 10 flights of stairs climbed a day. After not using elevators for 12 weeks, they increased their use of stairs to an average of 23 stories ascended or descended a day from five before, with a resulting sharp increase in fitness levels. “This suggests that stair climbing at work may have major public health implications,” Meyer told the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. “However, the results of the pilot study need to be confirmed in a larger randomized controlled trial.”",
            "output": [
                "Take the stairs for a healthy heart."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1ff09a7a3104238becd31c8e3d68706",
            "input": "Kentucky’s Medicaid enrollment is down “probably around 41,000” over the last five months, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Adam Meier told state lawmakers Tuesday. The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy says the decline is steeper than that, with enrollment falling by more than 96,000 from January to September. A decline is also happening in other assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. “We’re seeing the No. 1 reason people are not enrolling is they are making too much income,” Meier said. The decline comes as the Trump administration has approved new rules — tentatively set to begin April 1 — for some of Kentucky’s Medicaid population that would require them to get a job, go to school or volunteer at least 80 hours per month to keep their coverage. Critics say the new rules will prevent people from getting health care, noting official estimates show it will decrease Kentucky’s Medicaid enrollment by 95,000 people over the next five years. Similar rules have been applied to Kentucky food stamp recipients this year, with about 10,000 people losing benefits because they did not comply. “The 95,000 prospective citizens that are going to lose health care coverage is problematic. I think we have to be concerned with what happens with them,” Democratic state Rep. George Brown said. But Meier said Tuesday it is a “misconception” that people will be losing coverage. He said many of those 95,000 people will likely lose eligibility because they make too much money or get a job with a company that provides health insurance. He noted the state has exemptions for people with drug and alcohol addictions, primary care responsibilities for children or the elderly and for victims of domestic violence. “If we can move more people to private market insurance coverage, that’s a good thing. And that’s what this (program) is designed to do,” Meier said. Traditionally, Medicaid has covered poor adults with children or a disability. But Kentucky, under former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, was one of 37 states that expanded its eligibility requirements under former President Barack Obama’s health care law to include childless adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is just over $12,000 a year for single people. Kentucky’s Medicaid population exploded, adding more than 400,000 people. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin said the expansion was too expensive and does not do enough to make Kentucky’s citizens healthier. He sought permission to impose new eligibility rules on the state’s expanded Medicaid population. In January, Kentucky was the first state in the country to get approval for the new rules. But a federal judge in June blocked the rules from taking effect. The Trump administration re-approved those rules last week. But advocacy groups, including the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, say they will continue to challenge the rules in court. Meanwhile, Arkansas was the first state to implement the new rules for Medicaid. In the first three months, Arkansas officials reported 12,000 people lost coverage. Meier said he did not know how many people would initially lose access to Medicaid in Kentucky because of the new rules. But he said state officials have worked hard to “mitigate any unnecessary interference with people’s ability to have access to care.” “The same people who have access today will have access post implementation,” Meier said.",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky’s Medicaid enrollment dips ahead of new rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e4f408e661054556a1110653c2125fb4",
            "input": "Bar Manager Nicolas de Soto mixes a Calvados-based cocktail at ECC in Chinatown, London December 3, 2010. REUTERS/Toby Melville In an analysis of 14 studies, a team led by Satoru Kodama at the University of Tsukuba Institute of Clinical Medicine in Japan found that the heaviest drinkers were more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than people who drank little to no alcohol. Though definitions of “heavy” drinking varied, it meant at least two or more drinks per day for men, and one or more per day for women. In some studies, heavy drinkers downed at least six drinks per day. While doctors have long known that a drinking binge can trigger an episode of atrial fibrillation (AF), the findings — reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology — suggest that usual drinking habits may also matter. “What we revealed in the current (study) is that not only episodic but habitual heavy drinking is associated with higher risk of AF,” said Hirohito Sone, a colleague of Kodama’s, told Reuters Health by email. Atrial fibrillation is the most common abnormal heart rhythm and is not in itself life-threatening, but patients with it are at significantly higher risk of strokes. It may also result in palpitations, fainting, chest pain or congestive heart failure. When all the study results were combined, heavy drinkers were 51 percent more likely to suffer atrial fibrillation than either non-drinkers or occasional drinkers. Overall, the risk edged up 8 percent for every increase of 10 grams in participants’ daily alcohol intake. More than 2.6 million U.S. citizens will suffer from atrial fibrillation this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition becomes more common with age and additional risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Since coronary heart disease is much more common cause of death than atrial fibrillation, Sone said moderate drinking — up to one or two drinks per day — is probably still a heart-healthy habit for most people. A better way to show a connection is with studies that measure people’s drinking habits, then follow them over time to see who develops atrial fibrillation, said Kenneth Mukamal of Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who led two of the studies included in the analysis. One of Mukamal’s studies found a connection only between heavy drinking, with men who had five or more drinks a day having a higher risk of developing the condition over time than occasional drinkers. Mukamal said that, based on longer-term studies, “there’s little risk from chronic drinking in moderation, but heavier drinking — even rarely — acutely increases risk.”   SOURCE: bit.ly/guQxql",
            "output": [
                "Heavy drinking may raise abnormal heart rhythm risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-214552dea3d8472da7053e42074d171b",
            "input": "Janet Murnaghan wrote on Facebook that her daughter Sarah Murnaghan was recovering in the intensive care unit after the six-hour procedure that began at 11 a.m. local time at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Her doctors are very pleased with both her progress during the procedure and her prognosis for recovery,” Murnaghan said in the posting on Wednesday night. Surgeons had no challenges resizing and transplanting the adult donor lungs, Murnaghan said, adding that the “surgery went smoothly and Sarah did extremely well.”  The girl’s family, who lives in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square, sued to prevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing a policy that prevents children under age 12 from getting adult lung transplants, even if they are extremely ill.  U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson granted the family a 10-day temporary restraining order on June 5. No details were released about the identity of the donor or circumstances of the organ donation. A spokeswoman for Children’s Hospital said the hospital was not releasing any details in order to protect patient privacy. Murnaghan said that while the family was “elated” that the day of the transplant had come, it also knew “our good news is another family’s tragedy. That family made the decision to give Sarah the gift of life - and they are the true heroes today.”  U.S. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who has championed the girl’s cause, said in a statement earlier in the day that he was deeply grateful to the unidentified organ donor and his or her family. “Now that a suitable donor has been found, a prayer would help, too - a prayer Sarah’s body accepts the new organ the way doctors believe it can,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Mother says Pennsylvania girl's lung transplant a success."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07a5cddf1aa84f53aabfb3cc9e138141",
            "input": "The U.N. agency is seeking to balance the need to ensure China continues to share information about the virus while also giving sound scientific advice to the international community on the risks, according to several public health experts and a Western diplomat who tracks the WHO’s work. The WHO has declared five global emergencies in the past decade, including the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Doing so can hurt host countries because it may lead to flight cancellations and travel or trade restrictions, dragging on the economy. In the latest case, the WHO declined to declare China’s coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern(PHEIC) twice last week, although its Emergency Committee was split “50-50” over whether to do so. “What was lacking for them to declare an international emergency were deaths abroad and human-to-human transmission outside of China,” said the Geneva-based diplomat following the agency. “If there was proof of human-to-human spread among the ‘imported’ cases, the panel would lean toward another finding.”  WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier declined to comment beyond what he told a news briefing earlier on Tuesday. He restated that the WHO’s criteria for a global emergency include a “serious or unusual” health situation that affects other countries and may require a coordinated international response. In reply to a question, he added: “It is not ‘wildly spreading’ outside of China.”  While the vast majority of the 4,500 or so confirmed cases and all 106 deaths so far have been in China, cases in Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan where the virus has spread person-to-person have heightened concerns. “As information is coming in, it seems to be confirming our worst fears,” Lawrence Gostin, university professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, DC, told Reuters. “So I do believe that the WHO is going to have to declare an emergency and is going to have to take the lead ... You can’t leave this to China.”  The WHO’s 16-member expert panel is being “kept in the loop” and could be reconvened at any time to reassess the outbreak. “Just because of rising numbers in China now this would not automatically trigger an Emergency Committee,” Lindmeier told the briefing. A declaration would lead to boosting public health measures, funding and resources to prevent and reduce global spread. It could include recommendations on trade and travel, although the WHO generally tries to avoid disruptive trade restrictions. The Emergency Committee deliberations are secret and its members have been told not to speak about their debate, several WHO officials told Reuters. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss how to protect Chinese citizens and foreigners in areas affected by the virus and “possible” evacuation alternatives, Lindmeier said. China has agreed that the WHO can send international experts there as soon as possible to increase understanding of the new coronavirus and guide the global response to the outbreak, the WHO said at the end of Tedros’ two-day visit. Some experts believe the Geneva-based health agency is in a difficult position, having drawn fire in the past for acting either too quickly or too slowly. “Essentially the WHO is between a rock and a hard place,” said Jeremy Farrar, an expert in infectious disease epidemics and director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity. Farrar noted that the organization was criticised for having called an early emergency in 2009 for the H1N1 flu pandemic, which proved mild, and then for being too late in declaring the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014.",
            "output": [
                "WHO weighs science and politics in global virus emergency decision."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2da7e6f1e4c44cba818db9336e22ef2",
            "input": "Greece was swift in implementing measures of social distancing after its first case of COVID-19 surfaced in late February, imposing a nationwide lockdown days later which is being respected with few exceptions across the country. “We showed our best self and this ... fills us with pride, it arms us with more courage to keep fighting,” Mitsotakis said, in a televised statement. “The war has not been won yet,” he added. Greece reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total in the country to 2,145. Ninety-nine people have died. A week before Orthodox Easter, the conservative premier urged Greeks to stay home and not be tempted to go to church as any complacency could easily reverse the country’s successful efforts to contain the disease so far. Greeks risk stiff fines if they break the ban, and movement is allowed only with permits. Easter is the highlight of the religious calendar for many Greeks, who overwhelmingly belong to the Eastern Orthodox communion. Many normally pack churches from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. “It’s not our health which is at risk ... but the health of the faithful,” he said. “Only a thread separates victory from defeat.”  Mitsotakis said the economic recession will be deep in 2020 for a country which emerged from bailouts only two years ago, but added that growth could be strong in 2021. He said the state was ready to spend up to 14 billion euros to support businesses and protect jobs from the impact of the virus along with 10 billion euros in European funds. Greece’s finance minister said earlier on Monday that coronavirus-hit countries in Europe may expect a 5-10 percent recession this year. But during the unprecedented health crisis the state was forced to push forward with reforms pending for years, and Greeks have also changed, Mitsotakis said. “It’s certain, that when the crisis is over we’ll look at the people who stack supermarket shelves differently. We will care if the man on the bike is wearing a helmet. We’ll be saying good morning to the women and men emptying our neighborhoods garbage containers,” he said. “They will no longer be invisible.”",
            "output": [
                "Greece has won a battle against COVID-19 but war is not over: PM."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a646c84261804c2aa392d44b11a22970",
            "input": "On 24 December 2017, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration was scaling back an Obama-era policy that ramped up the use of fines on skilled nursing facilities for actions that endangered vulnerable patients: The Trump administration is scaling back the use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury, part of a broader relaxation of regulations under the president. The shift in the Medicare program’s penalty protocols was requested by the nursing home industry. The American Health Care Association, the industry’s main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve. As would be expected, the Times report (which was published on Christmas Eve) resulted in a number of aggregated stories crafted to play up the outrage angle with sensational headlines reporting, essentially, that the president was going to kill Grandma on Christmas. Over-the-top wording as in this headline, “Trump Will Permit Abuse Of Elderly In Nursing Homes,” prompted readers to inquire whether the story was true. Elder abuse is a crime, and that has not changed. However, the Trump administration did begin the process of rolling back an Obama administration policy that uses hefty fines as leverage against facilities that cause serious harm to patients. The Trump administration issued two Notices of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRMs) in May and June of 2017 which will reverse rules requiring the presence of a designated facility grievance officer to handle allegations of wrongdoing, and prohibiting nursing homes from requiring patients to sign pre-dispute arbitration agreements as a condition of admission. These changes do not mean that rampant, unchecked abuse will be allowed to take place, as some headlines have suggested however. In November 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also issued a moratorium on a requirement that nursing homes develop a baseline care plan for new patients within 48 hours of admission, along with seven other requirements on things like behavioral health care, psychotropic medication and facility assessments. The effects of the rollbacks are not yet known, but Toby Edelman, senior attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, told the Times, “They’ve pretty much emasculated enforcement, which was already weak.” According to federal records reviewed by the Times, four in every ten nursing homes have been cited at least once since 2013 for a serious violations such as neglect, mistreatment and failing to protect residents from accidents and bed sores. CMS put an 18-month moratorium on a requirement that nursing homes develop a basic care plan for new patients within 48 hours. This rule was put in place after the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found in a study published in 2014 that one in five Medicare patients experienced medical complications within an average 15 days of admission to nursing facilities, most of which were serious, preventable and resulted in millions in additional medical expenses billed to Medicare. However in a memo to state health departments, CMS noted that the moratorium does not mean violation of requirements will result in no enforcement. Requirements that fall under the purview of the moratorium, like the baseline care plan, will simply be handled differently until the end of the moratorium period. In a statement, Center for Medicare Advocacy policy attorney Dara Valanejad told us: The Center for Medicare Advocacy is greatly concerned by the Administration’s actions rolling back the minimum standards of care set out in the Medicare and Medicaid Requirements of Participation. CMS should be protecting the rights of residents, who should be its primary focus, not referring to the nursing home industry as its “customer.” The minimum nursing home standards were implemented because there was an unmet need for urgent resident protections. For example, the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported in 2014 that one in five residents experienced harm within the first month of admission (the average was 15.5 days) to a skilled nursing facility, 20 percent of these cases resulted in life-sustaining interventions or death, and 59 percent of these adverse events were “clearly or likely preventable.” The Baseline Care Plan, one of the Phase 2 Requirements that CMS placed an 18-month moratorium on, requires nursing homes to develop a basic care plan within 48 hours to address the type of problems that the OIG found. How can nursing home residents and their families feel safe knowing that such vital requirements, meant to protect them from harm, injury, or death, will not be properly enforced? Per the Times report, the American Health Care Association sent a letter to then-President Elect Trump in December 2016 asking for “relief” from regulations and complained to CMS: Rather than spending quality time with their patients, the providers are spending time complying with regulations that get in the way of caring for their patients and doesn’t increase the quality of care they provide.",
            "output": [
                "President Trump rolled back rules protecting residents of nursing homes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4db612cb96e0494aad8ba7445e51550d",
            "input": "You cannot catch Covid-19 from touching surfaces. Viruses are dead material expelled from healing cells. Everyone has thousands of viruses inside their body. There is debate about whether viruses are technically alive. The human body does contain a number of viruses that don’t do harm. Covid-19 is caused by a virus that is potentially very harmful though. Masks decrease oxygen intake, increase carbon dioxide intake, increase toxin intake, increase stress levels which directly impacts the immune system in a negative way making us more susceptible to illness. Claim 1 of 4",
            "output": [
                "You cannot catch Covid-19 person to person."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f8e672a1b09c495dab9ed2718c661c9a",
            "input": "The Kearney Hub reports that Mayor Stan Clouse made the request at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. He mentioned Grand Island’s ban on vaping in public places and Kearney Public Schools barring vaping devices from school property. He told the Kearney Hub after the meeting that he’s not a fan of “too much government,” but said: “If the schools are worried about vaping, maybe we should be too.” Public health experts have been trying to determine what’s causing a mysterious and sometimes fatal lung disease among people who use e-cigarettes. The ailment has sickened at least 530 people and killed nine. ___ Information from: Kearney Hub, http://www.kearneyhub.com/",
            "output": [
                "Kearney to study ban on vaping in public places."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e2ca89faff84c3cbc9ea61c9eef416e",
            "input": "\"The pressure is building for Congress to pass a fourth coronavirus relief bill, beyond the roughly $2.2 trillion already approved to keep people and businesses viable during an unprecedented viral attack. And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is making his case for what a supplemental rescue package should include ― guaranteed universal sick leave for all workers. \"\"It has been estimated that only 12% of workers in businesses that are likely to stay open during this crisis are receiving paid sick leave benefits as a result of the second coronavirus relief package,\"\" Sanders argued in an op-ed published April 8 in The Guardian, just hours before he suspended his presidential campaign. Paid sick leave emerged as a sticky issue on Capitol Hill as lawmakers worked to develop a federal relief package. The Families First Coronavirus Emergency Response Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law on March 18, included a guarantee of paid sick leave for some workers, which supporters say is crucial to make sure those who contract the virus are, in fact, able to stay home. The law requires companies that employ fewer than 500 people to provide two weeks of emergency sick leave if an employee develops COVID-19 symptoms, is isolating per the advice of a medical professional or is caring for a family member with a potential case of COVID-19. These employers also must provide paid family leave for people who may need to care for children during coronavirus school closures. But the law exempts bigger companies, a category that includes often-\"\"essential\"\" retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target and supermarket chains. That concession was made to satisfy the White House and congressional Republicans, many of whom have argued that most big companies already offer sick leave packages, and a federal requirement would create unnecessary red tape. Sanders’ argument is that their employees are still vulnerable. Many of the firms exempted by the law remain open during the crisis. Employees who may become ill will not be protected by the federal guarantee of sick leave. Sanders argues that many will fall through the cracks because, while their employers can choose to provide paid time off, those benefits would not fall under the federal directive and could prove less generous than what smaller firms, which must comply with the law, will provide. We contacted Sanders’ congressional office for more information but never heard back. Our research suggests that he has the big picture right, though the precise calculations are tricky. Nuances in the law make it difficult to quantify the number of people who would benefit from the relief package’s paid sick leave requirement. Sanders’ figure appears to come from an analysis conducted by The Washington Post, which suggests that \"\"only 12 percent of workers in businesses that are likely to stay open will be affected.\"\" The analysis used Philadelphia’s shelter-in-place order to determine which private-sector businesses would likely stay open because it offered a clear and publicly available list of workplaces excluded from the order. Other experts validated this approach, noting that this list was a good proxy — though not a perfect one — for locations across the country. Then, the Post used data from the Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses (the most recent figures come from 2017) to determine how often those excluded businesses ― such as grocery stores, pharmacies, big-box stores, hardware stores, banks and dry cleaners — employed enough people to qualify for an exemption from the paid sick leave mandate. It arrived at the rate of 12%. So, first and foremost: Sanders is correct that someone had estimated this percentage. But there’s more to consider. Because of the law’s exemptions for large companies, many of the workers Americans are counting on now may not have protection. \"\"The workers who are on the front lines, on the grocery chains, pharmacies and warehouses, aren’t covered,\"\" said Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow for paid leave policy and strategy at New America, a centrist think tank. \"\"The businesses that continue to operate are very likely to be those that are bigger, that have the cash flows to keep their sales going and that provide essential services.\"\" Per the Post’s analysis, those large companies employ about 7.4 million people who would likely be deemed essential workers. The law provides other exemptions, too. In interpreting the law, the Labor Department has issued regulations saying that a company with fewer than 50 employees can exempt itself from the paid family leave element of the mandate if it burdens business operations. But the new law still requires those small businesses to provide paid medical leave to their employees, a total workforce of about 2.2 million ― a factor, some policy researchers pointed out, the Post did not include in its analysis. If you redo the math counting those workers, the measure’s sick leave promise holds up a bit better — encompassing about a third of all essential workers. But there’s another catch. The law also does not guarantee paid sick leave to health care providers and emergency responders ― another category of workers typically deemed essential during a pandemic. The Labor Department defines these categories broadly. For instance, health care providers include \"\"workers who are needed to keep hospitals and similar health care facilities well supplied and operational,\"\" not only clinicians. Back-of-the-envelope math suggests that by factoring these various exemptions into the number of likely essential employees guaranteed paid sick leave under the relief package — dividing the number of essential workers who qualify for guaranteed leave by the full count of essential workers — the true percentage of people covered hovers closer to the teens. Bottom line: \"\"We need people to understand just how broad the exemptions ended up being,\"\" said Kathleen Romig, a senior analyst at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The numerous carve-outs in the federal mandate — and the benefits it requires from eligible companies ― together illuminate a larger point. Historically, American sick leave policies haven’t been uniform across industries or organizations. The new law does build on policies some businesses already had in place, Shabo said. For instance, private-sector workers who had sick leave, on average, received seven paid days a year guaranteed. The law bumps that up to 10 days (so, two workweeks for most people) and allows those days to be used to care for someone else. That’s a big change. Even so, the majority of front-line workers are not covered by the federal promise of paid leave if they fall ill during the pandemic. Many get some kind of paid sick leave. Dillon Clair, a public policy associate at the ERISA Industry Committee — which represents large employers ― said, typically the companies his organization represents offer at least 40 hours of paid sick leave, and that medical leave is accompanied by other benefits (like vacation time) that employees can use if they fall ill after exhausting their sick leave. Meanwhile, companies like Walmart and McDonald’s have rolled out emergency coronavirus programs, offering two weeks of paid time off for people the company deems sufficiently at risk. But the issue of who is deemed at risk gets dicey. Other employers, like Burger King, Dunkin’ and Marriott International, have not instituted any emergency coronavirus policies for their workers, according to New America. And the lack of standardization means that many of the voluntary leave policies have substantial holes, Shabo said. For instance, McDonald’s and Walmart both require employees to get an official quarantine recommendation or a confirmed medical diagnosis of COVID-19 to access the sick leave benefit. Those operational barriers mean people who have developed the virus are less likely to stay home — especially because coronavirus tests are sometimes difficult to come by. That influences both individual and public health. \"\"They’re more likely to get sick than someone like me, who is self-isolating and working from home. They are literally putting themselves at risk every time they go to work,\"\" Romig said. Without a guarantee of paid leave, she added, individual workers may have to choose between taking a day off to recover from illness and earning money for groceries. And there are the public implications, too. \"\"We really don’t want people who have contracted this virus to be in public. We don’t want them at the grocery store where everyone has to go to get food,\"\" she said. \"\"We want them out of circulation. We want them to have the income they need to sustain that.\"\" In his op-ed, Sanders argued that \"\"it has been estimated that only 12% of workers in businesses that are likely to stay open during this crisis are receiving paid sick leave benefits as a result of the second coronavirus relief package.\"\" This is true. There are different takes on the math, but when you factor in the impact of the law’s exemptions to this requirement, it still appears that the number of essential workers guaranteed paid sick leave because of this law is in the range of 12% to the low teens. More important, Sanders is correct about the big picture: Congress’ paid sick leave guarantee exempts the vast majority of front-line workers during the pandemic, which could make containing the virus harder. Sanders’ claim could use some more context, but it is generally a fair assessment.\"",
            "output": [
                "“It has been estimated that only 12% of workers in businesses that are likely to stay open during this crisis are receiving paid sick leave benefits as a result of the second coronavirus relief package."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d5ab08953f064c3b95f393fe60491882",
            "input": "Chile’s Escudero base on King George Island acts as a research hub for a frozen expanse that extends to the South Pole, with more than 300 international scientists taking turns to brave the bitter Antarctic temperatures. The Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) has supported research into a biomolecule called “Antartina,” derived from a plant native to the region, which has shown positive early results in diminishing colorectal, liver and gastric cancers in mice. Scientists there also look at lichens that could treat Alzheimer’s disease, enzymes to remove lactose from milk and others to improve lettuce crops. This month a multinational team embarked on a research trip to investigate what causes the break-up of ice shelves, a phenomenon associated with climate change. In 2017, an iceberg the size of Trinidad and Tobago broke off a shelf in Antarctica, sparking widespread alarm, fears of shipping accidents and a further rise in sea levels. “There are different theories related to changes in sea temperatures eating the platforms, and another that has to do with the behavior of water and its drainage,” New Zealand glaciologist Shelley MacDonell, the team leader, as she prepared to travel to one of the icebergs affected. MacDonell’s team wants to be able to predict where and when ice shelves might rupture in future. The scientists hope their research will help the mapping of the shape of world’s southernmost continent in the decades to come, and allow island and coastal nations to plan for rising sea levels. “There is a whole dynamic (of the Antarctic ecosystem) that needs to be studied quickly, like the upcoming scenarios of climate change,” said INACH’s director, Marcelo Leppe. Ice shelves act as a retaining wall that prevent Antarctic ice from spilling more quickly into the ocean. Icebergs have historically broken off over centuries but their break-up has accelerated in recent years. The loss of ice from the “white continent” rose to an annual net figure of 252,000 million tonnes between 2009 and 2017 from the average of 40,000 million tonnes from 1979 to 1990, according to a study released in January. “Large platforms have collapsed in the past. What is not known if the collapses were gradual or instantaneous, like the ones we are seeing today,” MacDonell said. The Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the continent and site of the Chilean base, is the focus as one of the areas most affected by melting ice - scientists believe because it had more exposure to the ocean. “We have a long-term trend that is pointing to this process of warming and collapse of these platforms,” ​​said Chilean glaciologist Francisco Fernandoy, part of MacDonell’s team. The Netherlands and several island territories are eager for the results of the study. Were the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctic to melt entirely, a 10-meter rise in sea level expected to result would inundate them, according to INACH data. MacDonell and her team have embarked on a lengthy journey by plane, boat, helicopter and on skis to reach a camp on the Müller ice shelf, which itself lost a 1.6-km long iceberg at the end of last year. They will have to brave blizzards and the sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic summer to conduct two weeks of sampling before winter descends in the coming month. The team will use radar waves to take measurements of the icebergs and extract ice cores, columns that allow researchers to effectively look back in time. The cores will be transported to specialist labs in central Chile for analysis in chilled chambers that keep the temperature at -20 degrees Celsius. The scientists hope the models for future melts they will be able to build will serve as a basis for agreements among nations to tackle climate change. “We cannot make these political decisions but we can say what the scenarios are: if the temperature increases, stays the same or drops, this or that will happen,” glaciologist Fernandoy said. “That’s what we can contribute. The decisions themselves are in another sphere.”",
            "output": [
                "Antarctic ice shelves: Searching for clues on climate change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-676bc019828c4fa487ea64b0e2d6f327",
            "input": "KTWO-AM reports Carbon County School District No. 2 canceled classes Thursday at the elementary schools in Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow, as well as the high school in Hanna. Classes will resume Monday after the campuses are disinfected. Kim Deti, a spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Health, says meningitis has not yet been confirmed and there is no public health threat. Superintendent Jim Copeland says student involved attends Hanna Elementary, and the other schools were closed as a precaution. The child has since been hospitalized. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. ___ This story has been updated to correct that meningitis has not been confirmed. ___ Information from: KTWO-AM, http://www.k2radio.com/",
            "output": [
                "4 Wyoming schools close after possible meningitis case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9afafb08728847e797592bbe4cbb075c",
            "input": "The Emmy- and Tony-award-winning actress is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this week for a gathering designed to bring awareness to efforts aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. “I’m excited about every aspect of this event. I think for those of us who are coming in to participate it’s very exciting, because I really look forward to talking to the students and learning about what they’re dealing with,” Close told The Associated Press during an interview Thursday at the University of Michigan. “There’s a lot of anxiety, depression, and stigma on campuses. I think kids are really, really open and ready to talk about it.” Close, NFL player Brandon Marshall, rapper/singer Logic and others are visiting the campus to show support for the Steven Schwartzberg Foundation, which is launching a campaign to empower students to address issues of mental health by encouraging conversations. The campaign is called “Who Can Relate?” It takes its name from a line in Logic’s hit song “1-800-273-8255,” named for the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Lyrics from Logic’s song include: “I don’t wanna be alive/I just wanna die today,” and “I want you to be alive/You don’t got to die today.” Logic is scheduled to perform Friday night with profits going to organizations that share the same goal of de-stigmatizing mental illness, including Close’s Bring Change to Mind, which she co-founded after her sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew with schizoaffective disorder. Also benefiting from the show will be Project375, which was founded by Marshall and his wife, Michi Marshall, after the star wide receiver was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Michi Marshall spent much of Thursday leading a mental health first-aid training session. Close stopped in to check out the training and also attended a lecture by artist and social activist Peter Tunney. The event was created by Harris Schwartzberg, who sits on the board of Bring Change to Mind and is an advisory board member of the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Depression Center. The Steven Schwartzberg Foundation is named for Harris Schwartzberg’s brother, who died after a long struggle with bipolar disorder. “Glenn is a person and Brandon’s a person, and they struggle and their families struggle. And it should set a great example for people to come out and speak. And that’s really the most inspiring is that they’re willing to risk their public platform to spread the message it’s that important,” Schwartzberg said.",
            "output": [
                "Actress Glenn Close aims to reduce mental health stigma."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64a3f8d480f34ae0bcfe4937a0fe04b4",
            "input": "Since the De Queen Medical Center Inc. closed, residents have had to travel at least 30 miles (50 kilometers) for medical care at hospitals in Howard and Little River counties or McCurtain County in Oklahoma. Dr. Steve Cole, the county’s Rural Development Authority chairman, said Thursday that building a hospital would ensure the community has access to health care, the Texarkana Gazette reported. “We want a hospital to be run by people who care,” said Cole. “We want to make sure people receive proper health care.” De Queen Mayor Jeff Brown said that he backs the proposed sale tax increase. It remains uncertain how much the sales tax would need to be hiked or when it would be put on the ballot, according to the county’s officials. An online sales tax handbook guide shows that the current sales tax rate in De Queen, Arkansas, is 9.625%, with Sevier County receiving slightly more than 2%. The De Queen Medical Center was recently put into receivership to prevent owners Jorge Perez and Ricardo Perez from spending or transferring the facility’s assets. Sevier County Circuit Judge Tom Cooper chose director of nursing Rachel Matheson as the medical center’s receiver. “DMCI is insolvent and unable to pay its debts as they become due. Employees of DMCI have either been laid off or have quit their employment because they have not been paid. Further, health care professionals essential to the operation of DMCI and to continued licensure of the hospital have discontinued providing medical services,” according to an order that Cooper signed last month. Cole said he admires the hospital’s 34 employees who worked without being compensated prior to the facility closing. “They were the 34 heroes. Few people would do what they did and not get paid,” said Cole. ___ Information from: Texarkana Gazette, http://www.texarkanagazette.com",
            "output": [
                "Sevier County may consider sales tax hike to build hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d3cd49d828b4c95926080577cf44f01",
            "input": "Most of those emergency room trips are due to coin-shaped batteries that have become ubiquitous in toys, remote controls and hearing aids and represent a shiny temptation to curious toddlers, according to a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Button” batteries carry extra risks, experts said, because they can send an electrical current through esophageal tissue, eventually even burning a hole in the trachea or the esophagus - without children showing any signs of immediate injury. “If a child swallows a button battery, the parent might not see it happen and the child might not have symptoms initially - and the clock is ticking,” said Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, one of the authors of the study. “We’ve seen children in less than two hours have severe, severe injuries from button batteries getting caught in the esophagus.”   Using a nationally-representative sample of about 100 U.S. hospitals with 24-hour emergency rooms, Smith and his colleagues calculated that more than 65,000 children under age 18 had a battery-related emergency visit between 1990 and 2009. The rate of those injuries almost doubled during the study period, from about four children for every 100,000, to between seven and eight per 100,000. That’s probably due to more and more household electronics, hearing aids and toys using button batteries, rather than the previous cylindrical batteries, with more than 80 percent of all emergency room visits involving button batteries. “They’re shiny, they’re small and children explore things developmentally with their mouth - if they don’t know what something is, they put it in their mouth,” said Nicholas Slamon, a pediatrician who has treated battery-related injuries at Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. There are a few ways button batteries can cause injury, he added. They can lodge or wedge in the esophagus and push on its walls, or they can leak acid if the casing around the battery is eroded. But the most common fear is that they can create an electrical current flowing through tissue, even if they don’t have enough juice to power a remote control anymore. Slamon and colleagues see several children a year who need emergency surgery to retrieve a battery from the throat, nose or ear. But only a small number of visits, about eight percent, require such serious intervention. Experts agreed that parents should make sure all compartments on battery cases are screwed in or taped shut and dead batteries should be thrown into the bottom of the trash where children are unlikely to find them, Slamon added. “The real way to prevent these (emergencies) is to prevent the event from happening in the first place,” Smith said. “If (parents) suspect something, they need to get to the hospital and get an X-ray done immediately.”   SOURCE: bit.ly/jsoh2P",
            "output": [
                "\"Children at risk as \"\"button\"\" battery use grows: study.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28f54211ca614601a49cb6ff31deb254",
            "input": "U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the funding Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding will be split between FMRS Health Systems and Westbrook Health Services. FMRS serves residents in Fayette, Monroe, Raleigh and Summers counties. Westbrook serves Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood counties. Manchin says the funding is vital to the state’s battle against the opioid epidemic. West Virginia has by far the nation’s highest death rate from prescription drug overdoses.",
            "output": [
                "WVa providers to get substance abuse, mental health funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9357fca2da6c4a6f86644fc021001bbc",
            "input": "“It’s very effective. It’s inspired some members of our congregation to install panels on their homes,” Reverend David Lowry said of the “solar cross” mounted in 2009 on the Caloundra Uniting Church, which groups three Protestant denominations. Many religions have been wary of moving to install renewable energy sources on their places of worship, from cathedrals to mosques - or of taking a strong stand on climate change in general - despite teachings that people should be custodians of nature. But slowly, that may be changing, thanks to new religious leaders including Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Francis’s stress on environmental protection since he was elected in March and his choice of the name of a 13th century nature lover - Saint Francis of Assisi - may make a difference for all religions trying to work out how to safeguard the planet from threats including climate change. Under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican took green steps such as installing solar panels on the roof of the Papal Audience Hall in 2008. It says it wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but has no formal target. “Religious environmentalism is slowly increasing,” said John Grim, a coordinator of the forum on religion and ecology at Yale University in the United States. “It’s very uneven. Religions tend to be very conservative in their practice and doctrine.”  Grim said the pope’s influence was significant since few other religions recognize a single earthly leader - and there are 1.2 billion Catholics, amounting to a sixth of humanity, according to the Vatican. In his inaugural homily, Pope Francis stressed that people should safeguard the Earth. “Let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!” he said. In a 2010 book “On Heaven and Earth”, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he said mankind sometimes lost respect for nature. “Then ecological problems arise, like global warming.”  Some religions have been reluctant to be associated with climate change policies because of divisions among believers. A 2012 Pew Research Center poll showed that only 42 percent of Americans agree global warming is mainly man-made, a view overwhelmingly held by climate scientists, for example. The Church of England says it aims to cut its carbon emissions by 42 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 across widely varying energy use in 16,000 buildings, but it is an exception. “Some churches are used all week and others used very occasionally, with only one light bulb,” said David Shreeve, environmental advisor to the Archbishops’ Council. He said other religions were now asking for advice on emissions cuts. Irrespective of climate change, big savings can be made by plugging draughts and improving heating and lighting. Some believers object that solar panels can damage or disfigure fragile historic buildings. Some cathedrals, like the Catholic Saint Stephens in Vienna, have elaborate patterns on the roof. Bradford Cathedral, where the oldest parts of the Nave date from 1458, installed solar panels in 2011 and said it was the first cathedral in England - and perhaps in the world - to generate its own power. Among other examples, a planned mosque in Bursa, west Turkey, aims to use solar panels and install a vertical axis wind turbine - without big revolving blades - on a minaret. “Mosques ... can be covered with photovoltaic panels,” the mosque’s architect Çelik Erengezgin said. Green initiatives by religious leaders and groups are not new. The Jewish Temple Emanuel in Lowell, Mass., installed solar panels in 1978 in what is believed to be the first such system on a religious building in North America, the Lowell Green Building Commission says. And Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, has long been called the “Green Patriarch” for seeking to protect the environment, from organizing conferences about fresh water to writing an encyclical in 2012 urging repentance for “our sinfulness in destroying the world”. Saint Francis has long been a green inspiration. In what are known as the Assisi Declarations from 1986, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Islamic leaders called for people to live in harmony with nature. Baha’i, Jainism and Sikhism later added their own declarations. In the United States, many evangelical Christians stress a broad need for “stewardship of creation”, rather than man-made climate change, as a spur to action. Many evangelical Christians are Republicans who are more likely than Democrats to doubt that climate change is mostly caused by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. “Americans allow their politics to inform their faith,” said Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian and climate scientist at Texas Tech University. In Australia, Lowry said the solar panels were saving money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions for the Uniting Church, which brings together Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians. “The solar cross ... doesn’t bring hordes of people into the church,” he said. “But it helps people understand that God is a presence in the world in which we live.”  The Vatican has an observer seat at U.N. talks among 200 nations who have agreed to work out, by the end of 2015, a climate deal to avert more floods, droughts and rising sea levels. Pope Francis himself has focused on environmental protection without yet spelling out clear solutions. Raising awareness of the environment could be a step to modernize the Church, besieged by scandal for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests and whose strict moral traditions are often at odds with a increasingly secular society. “With Pope Francis there is new hope,” said Reverend Henrik Grape of the Church of Sweden, who is also a member of the World Council of Churches’ climate change group.",
            "output": [
                "Religions seen slow to go green; Pope has chance to inspire."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9387e073b27f47d68a418a5e3bb6a288",
            "input": "The 34-year-old from Costa Rica who lives in New York opted for plastic surgery on her nose and now feels ready for prime time on social media. “I definitely feel more comfortable right now with my looks,” Reynolds explained. “If I need to take a selfie, without a doubt, I would have no problem.”  Reynolds is one of a growing number of people who have turned to plastic surgeons to enhance their image. Others are  hiring specialized make-up artists in what may be an emerging selfie economy. Selfies, or self portraits, rose in popularity along with smartphones and social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Instagram as a mostly young adult crowd posted images of themselves. Now everyone from Hollywood stars to prime ministers takes selfies. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres posted a selfie with Hollywood A-listers at the Academy Awards on Twitter that became the most retweeted of all time. When Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s snapped a selfie with President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service it caused a media sensation. For mere mortals, going under the scalpel to create a better selfie may not seem so extreme. Plastic surgeons in United States have seen a surge in demand for procedures ranging from eye-lid lifts to rhinoplasty, popularly known as a nose job, from patients seeking to improve their image in selfies and on social media. A poll by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) of 2,700 of its members showed that one in three had seen an increase in requests for procedures due to patients being more aware of their image in social media. They noted a 10 percent rise in rhinoplasty in 2013 over 2012, a 7 percent jump in hair transplants and 6 percent increase in eyelid surgery. “There has been a 25 percent increase over the past year and a half to two years. That is very significant,” Dr. Sam Rizk,  a plastic surgeon, said about his Manhattan practice. “They come in with their iPhones and show me pictures,” Rizk, 47, added. “Selfies are just getting to be so crazy. Rizk, who specializes in rhinoplasty, said not everyone who requests surgery needs it because a selfie produces a distorted image that does not represent how a person really looks. “We all will have something wrong with us on a selfie image,” he explained. “I refuse a significant proportion of patients with selfies because I believe it is not a real image of what they actually look like in person.”  Some patients get upset when Rizk tells them surgery is not necessary, and he knows they will simply go to another surgeon. “Too many selfies indicate a self obsession and a certain level of insecurity that most teenagers have. It just makes it worse,” he said. “Now they can see themselves in 100 images a day on Facebook and Instagram.”  New York make-up artist Ramy Gafni, who has worked with clients on selfies and online dating profile photos, suggests using clean makeup, well-defined eyebrows and a bit color on the lips to produce the best selfies. “You want to enhance your features, perfect your features but not necessarily change your features into something they are not,” he said. Dan Ackerman, senior editor with CNET which tests and reviews products, said the Internet is full of tips and advice on selfies. “There are apps that apply filters to your face that smooth out wrinkles ... or put artificial makeup.... There is a sub economy of tools and advice that have built up around this,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "Nip, tuck, click: Demand for U.S. plastic surgery rises in selfie era."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f36ec6271e454ec48c7fc81f2ad21712",
            "input": "Officials tell the Post Register that tests last week found a lead level of 35 parts per billion at some sources at Bonneville High School. The level that’s considered safe is 15 parts per billion. Merrill Hemming is environmental health specialist with Eastern Idaho Public Health. He says tests are being done to determine the reason for the high lead levels. John Pymm is director of maintenance and operations for Bonneville Joint School District 93. He says the toilets and sinks at the school still work. ___ Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com",
            "output": [
                "Eastern Idaho high school finds lead in water."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ee3d25c5e8248f5ab2c2205b7e49e37",
            "input": "\"When U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) was honored by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, she issued a statement saying \"\"we have a real crisis on our hands.\"\" In Wisconsin, her Oct. 7, 2010, statement read, \"\"deaths from domestic violence are at the highest in 10 years.\"\" Indeed, eight days earlier, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence released a report that made that claim. According to her spokesman, Moore based her statement on a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about the report. The article said domestic violence \"\"claimed 67 lives\"\" in 2009. We wondered: Does that mean domestic abusers killed 67 people? And is that number, as Moore claimed, a 10-year high? The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, like the national organization that honored Moore, is an advocacy group committed to ending domestic violence. It has produced a \"\"domestic violence homicide report\"\" each year since 2000, using data from crime report summaries from local police agencies and from various news articles. The coalition defines homicide as \"\"the killing of one human being by another.\"\" But its annual homicide reports actually count more than that. As in previous years, the 67 deaths in the 2009 report included homicides in commonly understood domestic violence cases -- such as when the victims and perpetrators were spouses or partners, former spouses or partners, or adults with children in common. Homicides of other people are counted if, for example, a woman’s current boyfriend kills the woman’s former boyfriend; if a third person trying to protect a domestic violence victim kills the perpetrator; or if the domestic violence victim kills the perpetrator in self-defense. But the Wisconsin coalition -- as it clearly notes in its report -- also adds suicides committed by domestic violence perpetrators. For example, it counts the January 2009 death of a Fond du Lac County man who took his own life after shooting his wife to death outside their home. All told, the coalition says that in 2009, \"\"there were 47 domestic violence homicide incidents resulting in 67 deaths -- 52 homicides and 15 perpetrator suicides.\"\" Many people would not consider a domestic violence perpetrator who committed suicide to be a domestic violence victim. The coalition says it has always included perpetrator suicides in its annual tallies because they occurred as a result of a domestic violence incident, said spokesman Tony Gibart. By the coalition’s count, the 67 total deaths in 2009 was the highest in 10 years, exceeding the previous high of 61 in 2003. Excluding the suicides, the 52 other domestic violence homicides also were the highest in 10 years, exceeding the previous high of 45 in 2003. So, Moore accurately quoted the group’s statistics, and those statistics have been consistently handled -- even though including the suicides increases the number. We checked a few other states for how they tally domestic violence deaths:   \"\"There’s no national standard way of reporting\"\" domestic violence deaths, but counting perpetrator suicides is not common, said Shellene Johnson, the Minnesota coalition’s program manager. We also asked a state agency, the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance, if there are official statistics on domestic violence deaths. The answer is, not exactly. Homicides tracked by the office are not identified in terms of whether they were the result of domestic violence, and suicides are not tracked at all. The office can infer which homicides were domestic, based on the relationship between the offender and the victim as recorded in police reports, said spokeswoman Tami Jackson. But unlike the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the office does not look more closely into the circumstances of the deaths, she said. That brings us back to Moore’s claim. The Milwaukee congresswoman said deaths in Wisconsin from domestic violence \"\"are at the highest in 10 years.\"\" Moore accurately quoted statistics compiled by an advocacy group for 2009. It’s important to note the group includes suicides committed by domestic violence perpetrators, which makes the death tally higher than it would otherwise be. Even so, either way you track it, the 2009 numbers were at a 10-year high.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In Wisconsin, \"\"deaths from domestic violence are at the highest in 10 years.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9e99e39b0cca4d5f9a32051ec3819f81",
            "input": "The Department of Public Health said Wednesday that EEE was detected in mosquito samples collected Monday in Easton and New Bedford. No human or animal cases of EEE have been found in the state so far this year and there is no elevated risk level associated with the finding. The virus is generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The last human case of EEE in Massachusetts was in 2013. Last year, a horse and a turkey, both in Worcester County, were diagnosed with EEE. Another mosquito-borne disease, West Nile virus, was detected in Massachusetts for the first this year last week.",
            "output": [
                "EEE detected in Massachusetts for the first time this year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5d980b1d8b5403ca6c416159dca0128",
            "input": "\"As a matter of course, stories about the increased use of drugs should report the drugs’ prices. A change in guidelines based on the study would increase the number of patients eligible for treatment by several hundred thousand in the US. The annualized cost of drug treatment is $12,000-$24,000 depending on the regimen, leading to potential new expenditures of $24 to $48 billion. While there are significant offsets, the potential for this level of additional costs should have been included in the story The story states that delaying treatment \"\"nearly doubles the risk of dying over the next several years\"\" and yields a \"\"70 percent improvement in survival.\"\" This reporting is vague. The story should have compared absolute risks, not relative risks. See our primer on this issue. The story should have included the time span studied. These numbers should have stated the two death rates directly so readers can understand the magnitude of the benefit–whether the risk of death went from [say] 2 percent to 1 percent or from 30 percent to 15 percent. The story places the recommended treatment of earlier drug intervention in the context of the treatments’ known side effects, which can be very serious. The story should have described the severity of those side effects. We give this a satisfactory score, but barely. The report is based on a study presented at a major medical meeting. The story should have mentioned the fact that it has not been published or peer-reviewed. It should also have pointed out that it was a retrospective cohort study, which is considered to be less conclusive than prospective, double-blind studies. It should also have pointed out, as the NIH press release does, that a clinical trial is needed to validate the results in a way that would call for changing the current guidelines. These failures to provide caveats and context earn the story an \"\"unsatisfactory\"\" rating under this criterion. The story does not exaggerate the gravity or prevalance of AIDS. The story quotes Anthony Fauci, one of the best-known and -respected experts in the field of HIV/AIDS. The story also quotes the study’s lead investigator, and the author of AIDS treatment guidelines. That source’s link to companies that make AIDS drugs is properly noted. The story also quotes an independent clinician familiar with the guidelines and the current research. The story plainly compares the current guidelines with the regimen tested. The story explains that the drug combinations used by AIDS patients have been widely used since the mid-1990s. No claims are made for the novelty of the drug treatment. The recommendation to treat earlier is presented not as novel, but as a plan under consideration and study for quite some time. The story does not draw excessively on the NIH press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "AIDS treatment should be started sooner, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2a8546f70444886bd049543c2f97c67",
            "input": "In the United States, one of the most controversial issues surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic of early 2020 was a debate over whether the Trump administration failed at adequately preparing the country for such an outbreak, and in responding to it in a timely and effective manner once it hit the U.S.: President Donald Trump’s failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic didn’t begin with the administration’s inability to send out the millions of test kits and the protective medical gear for health care workers that experts say are needed to tackle the crisis. It didn’t start with Trump’s bungled messaging downplaying the crisis even as it’s worsened, nor with his mid-March insistence that social distancing measures could be lifted by Easter (he later backpedaled). It began in April 2018 — more than a year and a half before the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, Covid-19, sickened enough people in China that authorities realized they were dealing with a new disease. The Trump administration, with John Bolton newly at the helm of the White House National Security Council, began dismantling the team in charge of pandemic response, firing its leadership and disbanding the team in spring 2018. The cuts, coupled with the administration’s repeated calls to cut the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health agencies, made it clear that the Trump administration wasn’t prioritizing the federal government’s ability to respond to disease outbreaks. That lack of attention to preparedness, experts say, helps explain why the Trump administration has consistently botched its response to the coronavirus pandemic. In response to such criticisms, U.S. President Donald Trump sought to affix blame on other people and entities, including his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama: For decades the @CDCgov looked at, and studied,  its testing system, but did nothing about it. It would always be inadequate and slow for a large scale pandemic, but a pandemic would never happen, they hoped. President Obama made changes that only complicated things further….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2020  Trump’s critics countered his excuses by, among other means, producing a video clip said to date from 2014 (a full five years before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic) and seemingly showing Obama strongly urging that the U.S. invest in creating an infrastructure for dealing with an “airborne disease that is deadly” that would “allow us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly”:   This is indeed a correctly identified video clip which captured Obama’s remarks when he paid a Dec. 2, 2014, visit to campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, to call for more funding for Ebola research: President Barack Obama visited the NIH campus on Dec. 2 to see firsthand the progress that biomedical research is making against Ebola virus disease. The President toured the NIH Vaccine Research Center and met with scientists who are working hard to develop ways to combat this deadly virus that continues to devastate West Africa. And, in a speech before a packed auditorium at the NIH Clinical Center, the President praised the contributions of NIH staff. He also emphasized the need for emergency Congressional authorization of resources to ensure that the nation’s research and public health efforts against Ebola will lead as quickly as possible to an end to this devastating outbreak.",
            "output": [
                "A video clip shows former President Barack Obama stressing the need for U.S. pandemic preparedness in 2014."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-43f3e99617744b01b7aa1d8b1341bde5",
            "input": "A team at Britain’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is developing a new catalogue of so-called “loss-of-function” (LoF) gene variants to help identify new disease-causing mutations, and say their work will help scientists better understand the normal function of human genes. Working as part of larger study called the 1000 Genomes Project, the team developed a series of filters to identify common errors in the human genome, which maps the entire genetic code. “The key questions we focused on for this study were how many of these LoF variants were real and how large a role might they play in human disease,” said Daniel MacArthur of the Sanger Institute, who worked on the team. The researchers looked at nearly 3,000 possible LoF variants in the genomes of 185 people from Europe, East Asia and West Africa. Their findings were published in the journal Science on Thursday. Loss of function variants are genetic changes that are predicted to severely disrupt the function of genes. Some are known to cause severe human diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. Previous genome sequencing projects have suggested there are hundreds of these variants in the DNA of even perfectly healthy individuals, but researchers were not able to tell exactly how many. In this study, the filters revealed that 56 percent of the 3,000 possible LoFs analyzed were unlikely to seriously affect gene function. But of the true LoF variants, 100 are typically found in the genome of each European, the researchers said, and 20 affect both copies of the gene - meaning they are likely to result in complete loss of gene function. “This shows that at least 1 percent of human genes can be shut down without causing serious disease,” said Mark Gerstein, a professor of biomedical informatics from Yale University in the United States, who also worked on the study. “We were able to use the differences between such ‘LoF-tolerant’ genes and known human disease genes to develop a way of predicting whether or not a newly discovered change in a gene is likely to be severely disease-causing.”   Chris Tyler-Smith, who led the team at the Sanger Institute, said the findings would prove immediately useful for current DNA sequencing studies in patients with particular diseases. The results produced a list of more than 1,000 LoF variants, he said, “and in most cases little or nothing is known about how these genes work or what they do. “By studying the people carrying them in detail, we should get new insights into the function of many poorly known human genes.”",
            "output": [
                "Study finds one percent of human genes switched off."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16c019ecdfbe48e3bb75a9a80ce2b5ef",
            "input": "Plaintiffs Russell Geissler, Bernard Bagley and Willie James Jackson filed a lawsuit in 2017 against the Department of Corrections over a lack of treatment for hepatitis C. A proposed class-action settlement was submitted after the lawsuit was filed. “This is a major step toward eliminating a point source for hepatitis C,” class counsel Reuben Guttman, with the law firm Guttman, Buschner & Brooks, said in a press release. Judge Margaret Seymour gave the proposed settlement the preliminary approval, news outlets reported. Identifying and treating inmates with hepatitis C will cost between $4,000 and $15,000 per person, depending on the individual’s health. The agency began testing current and former inmates in 2018. The department also received $10 million in its 2019-2020 budget to cover drugs, staffing, equipment and other expenses related to the testing and treatment for hepatitis C.  Testing for all 18,125 South Carolina inmates is on schedule to be completed by June. The agency’s director, Bryan Stirling, said this a big step toward providing inmates with a safe environment. “We know that about 85% of inmates return to society within five years, and this will save medical treatment costs for taxpayers in the long run,” Stirling said. Hepatitis C is a viral infection that is spread through exposure to blood or blood products, commonly through sharing needles during intravenous drug use.",
            "output": [
                "Mandated hep C treatment for SC inmates gets initial consent."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b99c960cd7c94840ab51e5e928982e2c",
            "input": "\"Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, campaigning for re-election, tweeted a parody of President Barack Obama promoting his signature health-care law. Around midday Dec. 12, 2013, the official White House Twitter account posted a photo of Obama holding a sign urging Americans to get health coverage because \"\"nobody should go broke just because they get sick.\"\" Social media denizens started creating versions that rewrote the sign’s text; Dewhurst’s had Obama saying, \"\"I want more of Texans’ private data.\"\" Some perspective: Texas in 2012 had approximately 19.5 million insured residents and 5.2 million legal residents without insurance according to a March 18, 2013, report by the state Health and Human Services Commission. Does the Obamacare law demand private data on them that wasn't known to the government before? PolitiFact reporters have checked out several claims about how the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces will handle personal information. Many of the concerns addressed are about how government agencies will share information they already collect -- and how secure that information will be. As part of a May 2013 fact-check, PolitiFact in Washington, D.C., reported that a federal \"\"data hub\"\" resulting from the 2010 law would pull information from government agencies, but not expand federal data collection. For example, the Social Security Administration is asked to verify a person's Social Security number, and the IRS confirms financial data to see if a person is eligible for a subsidy. PolitiFact in D.C. gave a False rating Sept. 19, 2013, to a claim by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey that \"\"Obamacare will question your sex life,\"\" finding that nothing in the health care law required such questions. So what information does the government collect under the Obamacare law? If you apply to shop in the federal online insurance marketplace or the marketplace for your state, you’ll supply information on yourself and perhaps family members, some of which the government already has. Healthcare.gov offers a checklist for people preparing to fill out applications, whether online or printed: Social Security number, employer, income, current insurance policy numbers and information about your employer’s insurance plans (if any). Such answers will help determine whether you’re eligible to buy insurance through the marketplaces and if you can get free- or reduced-cost coverage via tax credits, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. The standardized family application asks for information on you and everyone who lives with you, including whether you are pregnant and how many babies you’re expecting, whether you have a health condition that limits daily activities, whether you live in a nursing home and whether you were in foster care after age 18. Other questions concern employment, military service, sources of income, tax deductions taken and whether you are American Indian or Alaska Native. A Sept. 18, 2013, fact sheet from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said, \"\"Personal health information (PHI) will be requested only when it is needed to complete the application and make an eligibility determination for health coverage options.\"\" Health privacy expert Deven McGraw told us by email that the applications do collect some information the government did not already have, but said it’s the same type of information gathered when people apply for public coverage such as Medicaid. \"\"They are questions that are specifically designed to match eligibility criteria. So none of it is extraneous,\"\" said McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for Internet freedom. And, she said, the data can’t be used for any purposes other than the marketplaces’ functions. More information about you could come, the fact sheet says, from \"\"common federal data sources including the Social Security Administration (SSA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).\"\" Wait -- Homeland Security? According to the National Immigration Law Center’s website, applicants who are not U.S. citizens will have their status verified through a Homeland/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service database. Agencies already use the web service, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), to determine immigrants’ eligibility for benefits including Medicaid, housing loans and unemployment. Via email, Social Security spokeswoman Kia Anderson told us her agency can, when CMS needs the information to determine eligibility, provide applicants’ ID numbers, citizenship data, death or disability indicators and Social Security income and coverage earned. So the application process puts together some information the government already had with some it didn’t have. People who aren’t applying to shop in the marketplaces but are subject to the Obamacare law’s mandate will also be sharing some new information with Uncle Sam. The mandate to have or get insurance applies, according to the immigration law center, to all U.S. citizens, naturalized citizens and legal immigrants. Via email, IRS spokeswoman Lea Crusberg said 2014 tax returns will ask whether you have health coverage that meets the new standards or an exemption, whether you got coverage through an Obamacare marketplace and whether you got a tax credit to help defray the cost. The law’s new tax payments and credits will also be on returns, of course. In 2015, Crusberg said, the IRS will start collecting coverage information from insurance providers. Employers who insure their own workers in-house will report which employees are enrolled and give enough information so the IRS can tell if those workers are due a tax credit. Self-insuring employers will also put the cost of the plan they’re providing on W-2 forms so workers can see it. Is the new data \"\"private\"\" information? Per the CMS fact sheet, Obamacare applicants could be asked to cough up some personal health information. But the fact sheet also says the marketplaces’ systems \"\"will not store this information\"\" -- which casts some doubt on whether the government is really \"\"collecting\"\" it, but serves as an indication that it’s considered sensitive. How about when the IRS asks where your insurance comes from, whether you got a tax credit for it and whether it meets the Obamacare law’s standards? Generally, the IRS regards what you put on your tax return as private. For example, tax preparers who disclose such information without your consent can face criminal charges. Final IRS regulations governing who can disclose what tax return information to HHS under the Obamacare law were issued Aug. 13, 2013. An FAQ posted by the IRS that day said that \"\"officers and employees of the IRS will disclose to HHS, the Marketplace, and state agencies only, upon written request and subject to strict privacy and security rules, certain return information ... for the purpose of determining eligibility for certain health care affordability programs.\"\" Our ruling Dewhurst said Obama wants \"\"more of Texans’ private data.\"\" The subset of Texans shopping for coverage through the online marketplace are providing additional private data for a reason: to ensure they’re qualified. Dewhurst's statement overlooks these aspects. Regardless, many more Texans will be asked to give the IRS information about their health coverage that was previously not requested. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In altered photo, says Barack Obama wants \"\"more of Texans’ private data\"\" via health care.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d918e3cb8fe2469bb4ffcf6a86aa0630",
            "input": "\"The story includes the cost of this test $1,625 and mentions that insurance companies currently don’t cover the cost of the new genetic test for breast cancer. The test manufacturer CEO’s speculation that insurance companies will eventually cover the test because it’s easy to perform and \"\"any doctor can order the test\"\" is an inappropriate rationale for any screening, especially when such screening may place a woman at risk for unnecessary surgery or other treatments. It is not clear how this test improves on these current practice as there was no evidence presented about it. The story appropriately expresses caution when presenting the value of this new test to predict a woman’s lifetime risk of developing cancer. There is a wide range of experts interviewed, all of whom express concern about the current available evidence for the predictive value of this test. Most experts advise against women taking this test, and the American Cancer Society does not promote the test. The story provides appropriate caveats for women who are considering this test. Namely, a lower than average score might suggest a woman could forgo screening. Women with a higher than average risk score could experience unnecessary anxiety and possibly choose treatments they do not need (such as prophylactic mastectomy). The story does not provide any evidence about the test itself (despite alluding to it). The story does mention that this test has not been validated in an external review, so any evidence would be from company-sponsored studies. Additionally, peer-reviewed studies need to be done to determine the best course of prevention if a woman chooses to take the test and discovers she is at higher risk of developing breast cancer. Because the story raised appropriate questions about the quality of the evidence, we give this a satisfactory score. The story lists the annual incidence of new breast cancers and mortality rate. The story is tempered in reporting about a new genetic test which may or may not be another option for women looking to assess their risk. The story mentions that knowing individual risk may inform a woman’s decision whether to increase surveillance and/or take chemoprevention medication, such as tamoxifen. Several leading breast cancer researchers, a member of the American Cancer Society and a spokesperson for the FDA are interviewed for this story. These interviewees do not have a vested interest in this test–unlike Decode’s chief executive, who is also interviewed, mainly promoting his company’s product. Researchers help educate the reader about a new test may have many more cons than pros. The story does note, via a patient advocate, that some women may still go ahead with the test if they feel it may help guide them in future breast cancer prevention efforts. The story mentions current prevention guidelines for women who are considered at higher than average risk of developing breast cancer. This includes additional surveillance with MRI and mammography, chemoprevention and adopting a healthier lifestyle, namely reducing alcohol consumption and lowering body fat. However, the evidence of survival benefit for lifestyle and screening is fairly limited. Most of recent decrease in breast cancer  mortality is attributed to advances in treatment not necessarily screening. Currently, breast cancer risk for women who do not carry the BRAC1/2 genes is determined via population-based calculators such as the Gail Risk Model. This tool provides an estimated 5-year risk and is only validated for Caucasian women, so a well-validated, individualized predictive test would, in theory, be useful for some women. The test discussed in this story has not been studied long enough, nor have results of company studies been subjected to an external review. The focus of the story is a new, widely available genetic test. The story says that any doctor can order this test to assess a woman’s risk of developing of developing one of the more common forms of breast cancer. The story notes that the FDA does not regulate this or similar types of predictive genetic tests, and there are questions about the validity of tests that have not been subjected to external review. The story notes that there are other genetic tests, but this is one of the first for breast cancer for women who do not carry the BRCA1/2 gene. The story does not mention that there are several other risk calculators to estimate a women’s risk. The story does not rely on the Decode Genetics press release. There is independent reporting and a balanced review of this new genetic test.\"",
            "output": [
                "Firm says test judges risk for common breast cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da7d8da6bf734193b76c83db158b417e",
            "input": "Cannabis store managers say they have lines longer than local grocery shops and waiting room only. Most staff at a dozen stores reached Tuesday evening said they were too busy to talk to Reuters. “Oh man, we’re flooded. As soon as people heard we were still open, they started lining up,” said Anthony Barajas, the general manager of Cana Culture in San Jose. “Once all the toilet paper got sold out, they knew they needed some relief,” he said. Bars, clubs, gyms and other businesses all closed Monday under one of the strictest orders made so far in the United States aimed at stemming the coronavirus pandemic. Around 7 million people reside in the area affected by the orders. Cannabis stores and vendors join the short list of “essential” places that can stay open along with grocery stores, pharmacies and doctors offices, the San Jose Mercury News and other media reported, citing the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control and local officials. California has more than 500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 12 people have died. Cana Culture is following strict rules, such as no more than 10 people in the facility at a time, either shopping or relaxing in a smoking area. Outside, the store’s security officers enforce a store rule that everyone has to stand about an arm’s length away from each other. “We’re a necessary service,” said Barajas. “People need this for medical purposes and recreation. The public still needs access to lab-tested medicine.”  “It’s been steady from the time we open right up until we close, with people still waiting outside,” Barajas said. “And we’re still allowed to do curb-side service.”  He added: “I guess the state still needs some tax revenue while everything else is closed.”",
            "output": [
                "Long lines at San Francisco area cannabis stores exempt from coronavirus lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2df6a465b78649089e8fec37d60d8829",
            "input": "A man leaves the polling booth during the second-round of parliamentary election in Budapest April 25, 2010. REUTERS/Karoly Arvai A study of nearly 300 people in Pittsburgh who kept track of how much they walked each week showed that those who walked at least six miles had less age-related brain shrinkage than people who walked less. “Brain size shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems. Our results should encourage well-designed trials of physical exercise in older adults as a promising approach for preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Kirk Erickson of the University of Pittsburgh, whose study appears in the journal Neurology. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, slowly kills off brain cells, and activities like walking have been shown to build brain volume. Erickson and colleagues tested to see if people who walk a lot might be better positioned to fight off the disease. They studied 299 volunteers who were free of dementia and who kept track of how much they walked. Nine years later, scientists took brain scans to measure their brain volume. After four more years, they tested to see if anyone in the study had cognitive impairment or dementia. They found that people who walked roughly six to nine miles a week halved their risk of developing memory problems. “Our results are in line with data that aerobic activity induces a host of cellular cascades that could conceivably increase gray matter volume,” the team wrote. They said more studies need to be done on the effects of exercise on dementia, but in the absence of any effective treatments for Alzheimer’s, walking may be one thing people can do that may help down the road. “If regular exercise in midlife could improve brain health and improve thinking and memory in later life, it would be one more reason to make regular exercise in people of all ages a public health imperative,” Erickson said. No current drugs can alter the progression of Alzheimer’s, which affects more than 26 million people globally.",
            "output": [
                "Walking may keep brain from shrinking in old age."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9621ffa65424f888f998a1642a77b37",
            "input": "\"In the Florida governor’s race, both Republicans and Democrats have highlighted an issue facing the Sunshine State: a shortage of nurses. For months now, Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has highlighted a surprising factoid about Florida’s nursing workforce, often while emphasizing the importance of trade education and career training outside of a four-year bachelor’s degree. \"\"The No. 1 job vacancy in Florida every month for seven years has been nursing,\"\" Putnam said Oct. 31 during a campaign stop at Whitey's Fish Camp in Fleming Island. Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (and Putnam’s possible opponent) has also mentioned a nursing shortage in the state, so we wanted to take a look at it. We found that Putnam’s claim is backed up by state data, and experts in Florida agreed that the shortage of nurses has been a problem since the 1990s. Data from the Department of Economic Opportunity shows that registered nurses have consistently topped the lists of monthly online job advertisements and annual job openings. Department spokeswoman Karen Smith told PolitiFact Florida the top online job advertisement in Florida has been registered nurses every month for the past seven years. We asked for a sample of that data and got a year’s worth of monthly reports for Help Wanted OnLine, a tool used by the Department to measure real-time labor demand. These reports are posted on the DEO’s site and updated monthly. The most recent month of data (October 2017) shows there were 13,619 online ads placed for registered nurses. The second-most popular ads sought retail salespersons at 7,207 postings, followed by \"\"first-line supervisors\"\" for retail sales workers with 6,467 ads. Putnam has also talked about the need for truck drivers, which place fourth for online job ads. In addition, Florida's Statewide Demand Occupations List shows that registered nurses have consistently ranked as the most in-demand occupation since at least 2011. Mary Lou Brunell is the executive director of the Florida Center for Nursing, which was set up in 2001 by the Florida Legislature to address the nursing shortages in the state. In recent years, she said the problem has been exacerbated by a lack of students studying to become nurses, a shortage of faculty teaching future students, and an aging workforce and state population. \"\"You put all those pieces together, and it’s just not getting better,\"\" said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, the former dean at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. The nursing workforce is also aging. According to a 2017 report from the Florida Center for Nursing, 44 percent of registered nurses are over the age of 50 and expected to retire in the next 5 to 10 years. The economic turnaround in the late 2000s also decreased the number of nurses in the workforce. When the economy plummeted in 2008, many people trained in nursing but not working returned to their job or delayed retirement. As the economy improved, there were once again more vacancies because those nurses returned home or retired. Brunell also said she’s also concerned about the need for licensed practical nurses, which work under the guidance of registered nurses or physicians. She said there’s been an increase in home care facilities, which is why she predicts more licensed practical nurses (LPNs) will be needed in the future. Morrison-Beedy said that in order to fix the problem, the focus has to be on the how to develop faculty and support for people who want to become nurses. In Florida, becoming a registered nurse requires either a two-year associate degree or a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing. \"\"We need more students in the baccalaureate program, we need to provide financial support for students to go to school, and in order to do that we have to have enough faculty to teach those students,\"\" she said. \"\"We want the best educated and the best kind of nurses because that’s where we’ll see better outcomes.\"\" Putnam said the No. 1 job vacancy in Florida every month for seven years has been nursing. He’s right. The top online job advertisement in Florida has been registered nurses every month for the past seven years. Experts agreed that the shortage has been an issue for awhile in Florida.\"",
            "output": [
                "The No. 1 job vacancy in Florida every month for seven years has been nursing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f4a6986bb06434788ceedee917c3b88",
            "input": "The story mentioned the cost of the test, but the competing Bloomberg story gave a more detailed breakdown of costs. There was no mention of insurance coverage, or of total costs of work ups of positive tests and the need for continual testing. The story cites a company figure stating that the test “is more than 99 percent accurate in detecting mutations in blood samples that contain at least nine copies of a tested mutation.” It then knocks down that figure with a quote from a researcher who says the statistic represents the test’s “technical ability to detect DNA in the blood.” It goes on to state that a large clinical trial would be needed to determine the test’s true accuracy, including false positive and false negative results. But such a study hasn’t yet been done. The competing Bloomberg story gave a nod to false positives and false negatives, but Reuters really explained why these tests could lead to harms. The story says, for example, “Patients might be attracted to a less-invasive test for colon cancer, but if it is less effective, it might result in more cases of colon cancer, not fewer. Another concern is that the tests may pick up on markers that are never destined to be cancer, something already known to occur in blood tests for prostate cancer”. The story nicely explained the lack of evidence for this particular test. There was no disease mongering in this story. Quite the opposite. It turned a light onto this growing industry and questioned whether tests of biomarkers would actually lead to better clinical outcomes. The story quoted more independent sources than the competing Bloomberg story, and it also did a good job of identifying where people had conflicts. For example, the last expert quoted says that the test should undergo a large clinical trial, a point of agreement among multiple experts quoted in the press. But then the story says that this expert, “is advising two companies developing liquid biopsy tests for cancer screening: Sysmex and Personal Genome Diagnostics.” The true alternative to these tests is routine cancer screening using proven screening methods recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force. In fact, the whole name “liquid biopsies” is wrong. These are not biopsies at all, they are screening tests for healthy people that look for biomarkers of cancer in the blood. But we don’t know what kind of clinical significance they have or if they will lead to better outcomes. Neither story gave a full explanation of the alternative screening approaches, although this story did mention colonoscopies (which are one such screening method) as well as screening tests for prostate cancer. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt. The story says that “The tests must be ordered by a doctor, based on a patient’s risk profile.” However, it’s not clear that this fully describes the process. While the tests can be ordered through the patient’s physician, the Pathway website also suggests that patients can order them autonomously online through Pathway’s “online physician network.” Here’s the text: Patients can also order CancerIntercept™ Detect online through Pathway Genomics’ online physician network. After speaking with a client services representative, the patient must create a personal account with Pathway Genomics Member Site (members.pathway.com) and enter all personal health information into the website for physician review. It will take up to 1-2 business days for physician review, at which time a sample collection kit will be sent to the patient’s provided shipping address if the test is approved. This process seems essentially to be a direct consumer purchase with the involvement of an online physician middleman — something which is not fully conveyed by the text. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt since it’s debatable whether the story is technically wrong on this point or not. But we wish more detail had been provided. The story establishes what’s novel about the test compared with existing tests. The story went beyond any news release that may have been issued.",
            "output": [
                "Pathway launches 'liquid biopsy' to find cancer in healthy people"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-187abda252f9457e81b2e8f31f648a17",
            "input": "Researchers studied the medical records of more than 1 million children and young adults aged 2 to 24 who were taking or had taken stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall and found no sign of increased risk of heart problems. “We don’t see any evidence of increased risk,” said Dr. William Cooper of Vanderbilt University, whose study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study in children is the first of three commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration to understand the potential heart risks of the drugs after U.S. and Canadian regulators received a number of reports in 2006 of heart attacks, strokes and sudden cardiac arrest in children taking the medications. The reports prompted several FDA advisory committee hearings on heart problems, and Health Canada temporarily suspended marketing of ADHD drugs. The concerns also prompted the American Heart Association to issue guidelines suggesting that children who were just starting to take the drugs should be tested for potential underlying heart problems. “There was a lot of concern and confusion among families and providers about what the best approach would be to treating kids who had ADHD and who might benefit from these medicines,” Cooper said by phone. ADHD is one of the most common child mental disorders, affecting around 3 to 5 percent of children globally. Children with ADHD are excessively restless, impulsive and easily distracted, and often have trouble at home and in school. There is no cure, but the symptoms can be kept in check by a combination of behavioral therapy and medication. In the United States, some 2.7 million children have prescriptions for ADHD drugs including Novartis’ Ritalin or methylphenidate and Focalin; Johnson & Johnson’s Concerta, Shire’s Adderall and Vyvanse and Eli Lilly’s Strattera. For the study, Cooper’s team used prescription data from four large, geographically and demographically diverse health plans on 1,200,438 children and youth, including both current and past users of the drugs. They checked health records for evidence of heart problems, including heart attacks, strokes and sudden cardiac deaths, in children who were currently taking the drugs or who had taken them. The team found no increased risk of heart problems for either current or past users of the drugs. Yet because there were so few cases of serious heart problems — just 81 — the study may not have been large enough to detect it. But even if there were a risk of heart problems, it is extremely slight, Cooper said. In a guidance document issued on Tuesday, the FDA said it continues to recommend that the drugs not be used in patients with serious heart problems. It added that patients should be monitored for changes in heart rate or blood pressure. Jefferies analyst Peter Welford said the findings will likely reassure investors in Shire, maker of Adderall and Vyvanse. But because there were so few heart problems, the study was underpowered and cannot conclusively dispel concerns about cardiovascular risks. Shire’s shares were flat on Tuesday, outperforming a sharply lower market.",
            "output": [
                "ADHD drugs do not increase heart problems in kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8eb55dc68419465ca03e4eea533328f6",
            "input": "One such patient is self-employed attorney Dan Hobart, who struggled to find insurance because of his pre-existing conditions. Even after Affordable Care Act went into effect, doctor visits were still too costly for him to get the care he needed. After learning about direct primary care from a friend, Hobart signed up immediately. “It’s really like a blessing,” Hobart said. “I just wanted a doctor and couldn’t believe that I could afford one.” In the Kansas City region, 26 direct primary care, or DPC, clinics have formed the Midwest Direct Primary Care Alliance. It consists of doctors who are opting to leave the traditional fee-for-service practice for a private practice offering patients membership-based health care services. Hobart told KCUR-FM that he hadn’t had regular doctor since he was a child until signing up with Allison Edwards, a doctor at Kansas City Direct Primary Care, last fall. Edwards’ office charges $65 a month for the average adult; a family plan for $140 a month includes unlimited routine visits, phone and email availability directly with her. Now, Hobart said, he enjoys direct access and the ability to have a personal relationship with his doctor. “I can email her directly and if there’s a big issue she can address that quickly,” Hobart said. The alliance is still “playing the insurance game,” Edwards said. But the alliance has the ability to negotiate prices with independent companies that offer services such as labs and radiology at wholesale prices. “We’re using it to democratize things,” she said of the group’s collective power. Through the DPC independent partnerships, a patient would pay approximately $40 for a chest X-ray, $10 for a diabetes screening and $9 for a thyroid check of the thyroid, with no hidden fees, copay or insurance. Insurance was meant to be a financial protection product, Edwards explained, but the health care industry has strayed from that concept and uses it for all services, even though some can be paid out of pocket. Patients aren’t the only ones rejecting the industry’s red tape. After paying off her medical-school loans, Jennifer Smith was ready to quit practicing medicine because she had grown so fed up with insurance companies who prioritized patient volume over patient care. On average, she said, she was only able to spend seven minutes on each patient. This wasn’t enough time to address their needs. “I just felt like this wasn’t appropriate care and I wanted to do something that was going to allow me to spend that time with my patients,” Smith said. A colleague told her about DPC and it wasn’t long before she opened Accomplished Health and Wellness in Lawrence. With the freedom to practice medicine in a more personalized way that best serves her patients’ needs, Smith said she is happier now that she’s no longer regulated by the pressure of the insurance industry. Both Smith and Edwards said they recommend that their patients have some form of insurance to cover more costly incidents such as cancer or other critical-care needs. But their practices do not accept insurance. Edwards, too, said she’s “1,000 times happier” since transitioning away from the bureaucracy of the insurance agencies, even though she’s making less money. “It doesn’t matter how much you pay somebody for a job that’s ultimately soul-sucking and meaningless,” Edwards said, “which is what primary care is becoming with its checking boxes and all that.” ___ Information from: KCUR-FM, http://www.kcur.org",
            "output": [
                "Some Kansas City-area patients ditch fee-for-service doctors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c606effbff6949309b9edbe28275f198",
            "input": "Israel-based BrainStorm said on Monday a case report is being published in the February issue of “Muscle & Nerve” by the principal investigator and his colleagues at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and a professor from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The report is already available online. A 75 year-old-man diagnosed with both MG and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, was treated with BrainStorm’s NurOwn cells. Both are neurodegenerative diseases. One month after receiving injections of the cells, the patient and his family reported significant improvement in cognition, speech, and muscle power. After six months, due to progression of weakness and deterioration in cognition, a repeat injection of NurOwn was performed. Again, improvements in the ALS functional rating scale were observed, the report said, adding that treatment with NurOwn appeared safe and well tolerated. “The results suggest that repeated therapy may maintain and enhance the clinical benefits of NurOwn cell therapy in neurological diseases,” it said. Chaim Lebovits, president of BrainStorm, said the report in “Muscle & Nerve” was very promising. “This publication is an important milestone for BrainStorm as this is the first human data on NurOwn to be published in a prestigious scientific journal,” he said. He said the company expects to finalize its Phase IIa clinical trial in the first half of 2014. According to the ALS Association, 5,600 people in the United States are diagnosed each year with the disease, which has severely disabled British physicist Stephen Hawking.",
            "output": [
                "BrainStorm says stem cells helped patient with ALS and MG."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0bbd3f57fcc747cfa11cbc791059f7a1",
            "input": "In real life, finance professionals are rarely so open about seeking psychological help. On Wall Street and in the City of London, hyperambition and an ‘always on’ attitude are richly rewarded and people are often wary of revealing something that could be perceived as a weakness. Two out of three people working in financial services have experienced mental health issues as a result of work or where work was a related factor, according to a 2018 survey, broadly in line with the wider workforce. The Mental Health at Work poll questioned over 4,600 British employees from a range of industries. Many don’t tell their bosses for fear of damaging their careers. “Stigma definitely still exists,” said Beth Robotham, an executive director at Goldman Sachs in London. “Legislation is supposed to protect people from that kind of discrimination and employers are trying much, much harder but it would be naïve of me to say that that wasn’t an issue any more.”   Robotham experienced anxiety attacks when she was in charge of recruiting bankers focused on the healthcare sector for Goldman in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in 2010. It took her months to tell her managers and seek help. “I just assumed that people like me must just fall out of ‘the system’, and therefore I should just keep quiet or else I will be pushed out,” she said. Robotham, deputy chair of the City Mental Health Alliance, which promotes good mental health among London’s financial workforce, is one of a growing group of executives choosing to speak publicly about their problems to reassure others they are not alone. People can experience anxiety, depression and other mental health issues regardless of their job. But punishing schedules can pile on extra pressure. All-nighters and 100-hour work weeks are not unusual in investment banking, particularly when working on deals or public offerings of debt or equity. Some 44 percent of banking employees said they felt under excessive pressure to perform in their work, according to a survey of over 70,000 people carried out by Britain’s Banking Standards Board last year. A quarter said that working at their firm was bad for their health. In recent years, banks have tried to lighten workloads, relax dress codes and give staff more time to focus on life outside the office to retain talent and avoid costly burnout. But bankers with mental health problems, especially those still early in their careers, are often reluctant to flag them in case their bosses think they can’t hack the pace. Matt Evans, global head of investment bank recruiting and head of firmwide recruiting for EMEA at JPMorgan, said he spent nearly 20 years concealing his struggle with depression until the bank’s ‘This Is Me’ campaign in 2017 prompted him to share his experiences. “There’s been no downside for me in telling my story. The support I’ve had has been significant,” he said. “I got promoted to MD after disclosing my condition.”  Evans was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and took three months off last year. He was phased back into work in December and says he is “100 percent convinced” the break will have no impact on his professional prospects. But not everyone shares his confidence around attitudes to mental health. While it is illegal for employers to discriminate against people for having mental health problems, more than half of 2,000 UK workers surveyed by health-tech firm Mynurva feared telling their manager would hinder their chances of promotion, while 57% believed disclosure would harm relationships with colleagues. Mynurva, which provides online counseling, also reported a surge in demand from financial executives who are bypassing their employers’ services because they fear the consequences. “The findings show the fear and embarrassment employees have when disclosing their condition to their employer. And it explains why professionals would rather suffer in silence than seek the necessary help,” said Dr Zain Sikafi, CEO of Mynurva. One in four people will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives and the annual cost to the global economy is estimated at $1 trillion in lost productivity, according to the World Health Organization. Brian Heyworth, global head of client strategy at HSBC and chairman of the City Mental Health Alliance, wants his bank and others to help employees before they become seriously ill.  “In an organization of 235,000 people, some will be having suicidal thoughts but many more will be sliding along the spectrum towards that point. We want to anticipate and prevent that,” he said. HSBC is considering hiring on-site counselors as part of its ‘Healthiest Human System’ initiative, the brainchild of CEO John Flint. JPMorgan’s first UK-based on-site counselor is due to start work at the bank’s offices in London’s Canary Wharf this summer. The bank already has full-time counselors in nine U.S. locations, including New York, Delaware, Chicago and Texas and also offers a Resilience App providing stress management tips. Goldman Sachs is planning to train dozens of UK staff as mental health first aiders so that they can spot signs that colleagues may be starting to spiral due to stress or anxiety — including changes in appearance, working habits or social patterns, Robotham said. Goldman has also launched a paid internship program in the United States for people who identify as ‘neurodiverse’. Neurodiversity covers a wide range of neurological differences including autism, dyslexia, developmental disorders and mental health conditions. As the public profile of mental health grows, employers in Britain who fail to show adequate mental wellbeing provision for staff could be sued under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Act 1999, which compels employers to assess the nature and scale of health risks at work, including stress. “The harm and detriment to an employer stemming from these kinds of issues are not solely financial, they can inflict greater damage to reputation, public image, productivity and retention,” said Matthew Cole, partner at law firm Prettys. Cole said he had not seen any significant rise in the number of staff seeking damages from employers due to stress-related conditions but said companies were very sensitive to the risk. “If an employee ends up with a psychiatric condition which prevents them from working in an environment where they might have otherwise earned six figures, that can amount to some significant liabilities.”  Prevention is much cheaper. Britain’s Mental Health Foundation estimates that mental health support in the workplace could save UK businesses up to 8 billion pounds a year. The charity puts the cost of providing information and advice on mental health online and via workshops at around 80 pounds per employee per year. Heyworth has grappled with anxiety and depression since childhood and was hired by HSBC after a period of leave from Bank of America. He knows that he is one of the lucky ones, both banks knew of his mental health problems and were supportive. “Make no mistake, we are still in the foothills on this journey,” he said. “The positive thing is that more people are now asking for help, but we also need to accept that there are probably more people who need help too. The next phase of the challenge is creating the conditions where we can reverse that trend.”",
            "output": [
                "Therapy in the office: banks take mental health fight in-house."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3aee96af50ee4449806d21aa85fb800b",
            "input": "In February 2018, the web site Newsner, which produces viral content, recounted the horrifying story of the death of Katie Flynn, a seven-year-old girl who was decapitated in a devastating car crash on Long Island, New York, in 2005. We received several enquiries about the veracity of the article, and a similar one published by Trending Stylist, on 28 February. Unfortunately, it’s true. In the early hours of 3 July 2005, a drunk driver traveling at 70 miles per hour the wrong way down a highway crashed into a limousine carrying several members of Katie’s family, who were returning home after a wedding. The collision caused the instant deaths of the limousine’s driver, 59-year-old Stanley Rabinowitz and seven-year-old Katie Flynn, a niece of the bride. Other passengers suffered serious injuries, including Chris Tangney, the father of the bride, whose leg was broken so badly in the crash that it had to be amputated. As CNN reported in 2008: An off-duty security officer returning home from work was first on the scene. “I approached the limo driver, and I guess I went into shock,” says New York State court officer Michael Lerardi. “It looked like an explosion. The motor, basically, was just sitting on top of him. I knew he was dead.” The limo driver, 59-year-old Stanley Rabinowitz, was killed instantly. Next to arrive was Lt. Michael Tangney, the bride’s uncle, who had attended the wedding just hours before. “I was walking to the rear of the limousine when a gentleman was coming away from it, and he said, ‘Don’t go back there. It’s bad,'” Lt. Tangney says. “I opened the rear door to the limousine and realized it was my family.” Lt. Tangney’s brother — Jennifer’s father, Chris — was lying on the floor, his legs wrapped around the service bar, broken in numerous places. The rest of the family was piled on top of each other. Jennifer’s mother, Denise, was severely injured, as was Jennifer’s husband, Neil, who tried to crawl out of the limo to get help despite his broken back. Five-year-old Grace was also trapped inside the wreckage. Jennifer, whose foot was injured, managed to climb out and was searching for Katie, who had been lying on the side seat before the crash. “We couldn’t find Kate,” Lt. Tangney says. Then, Jennifer made a devastating discovery — Katie had been decapitated by her seat belt. “Then all of a sudden Mrs. Flynn came out of the car with her child’s head in her hand,” says Michael Lerardi, one of the 70 paramedics and police officers who were called to the scene. “I got numb. I thought I was going to collapse,” says Officer Christopher Pandolfo. “I looked into the back of the limousine, and I saw Katie’s remains. She was wearing this dress, and I just started shaking.” This fact check includes links to court testimony that some readers might find disturbing. In February 2007, New York Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof sentenced  25-year-old Martin Heidgen to a minimum of 18 years in prison on two counts of second-degree “depraved indifference” murder, and related charges. Heidgen had been drinking for several hours in Manhattan and Nassau County, before he drove his pick-up truck into the limousine. At the trial, there was some dispute over whether Katie Flynn had been wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision. Dr Michael DeMartino, who conducted Flynn’s autopsy, testified under cross-examination from the defense that his autopsy report had described her as a “rear seat unrestrained passenger,” based on preliminary information provided to DeMartino by some first responders. However, DeMartino agreed with the prosecution that Flynn’s injuries were “consistent with a child who had been lap belted and was lying down on a bench seat and thrown forward during the high-speed crash,” but also said that the injuries “might be” consistent with the girl not wearing a seat belt. Ultimately, DeMartino appeared to lean heavily toward the likelihood that Flynn had been wearing a seat belt at the time of her death, and that the seat belt getting caught around her neck may have led directly to the terrible manner of her death. He noted that had she not been wearing a seat belt, it would have been reasonable to expect much more severe injuries to the rest of her body than were actually observed, namely “very small bruising” to her left knee and elbow and some bruising on her left hand. Furthermore, the family of Katie Flynn, who were present in the limousine with her that night, adamantly insisted that she was wearing a seat belt. At the trial, Jennifer Flynn — Katie’s mother, and the sister of the bride — testified that her husband Neil had placed Katie on a bench seat in the limousine, and “seat belted her in” while she was sleeping. Chris Tangney — a retired Nassau County police officer, father of the bride, and grandfather of Katie Flynn — similarly testified that the girl had been lying down, asleep, on a bench seat in the limousine, with her seat belt buckled, at the time of the collision. In a devastating and scathing victim impact statement read out to the court, Jennifer Flynn said: Drunk driving continues because people aren’t afraid not to. Punishments are not that big of a deal. They are not severe enough because society doesn’t view it as the crime it should… Katie’s head was severed from her body. The entire front end was embedded in Stanley Rabinowitz. To clean it up and water it down so it’s more palatable for the papers and the news, the jury and the defendant is wrong. In 2010, Jennifer and Neil Flynn took part in an anti-drunk driving campaign in New York state, describing the terrible impact of Katie’s death.",
            "output": [
                "Katie Flynn was decapitated while wearing a seat belt, in a 2005 car crash on Long Island, New York."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc5b71ff86ec4ac3930245884b575eb5",
            "input": "J&J’s view on naming of biosimilars contrasts that of Mylan Inc and Novartis AG over the past few months, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to work on drafting regulations for the approval of biosimilars — cheaper versions of expensive biologics, or the original reference drugs. “Assigning names that are similar but not the same will appropriately reflect the legal and scientific reality that biosimilars are similar to but not the same as their reference products or other biosimilars,” J&J’s Chief Biotechnology Officer Jay Siegel said in a statement. Creating copies of biologics is complicated as these products are produced in living cells, bringing inevitable unpredictability. As a result, their copies can only ever be “similar,” not exact replicas. Names of biosimilars are also bound to impact their sales and adoption as substitutes to the original products. Novartis and Mylan have both previously expressed support for a system that requires that a biosimilar share the same international non-proprietary name (INN) as the biologic products to which it refers, saying that same names would avoid frivolous brand tactics and confusion in the marketplace. Mylan in September said it supported a petition filed by the Washington, DC-based Generic Pharmaceutical Association that recommended biosimilars have the same names because by definition they are highly similar to their reference products and have no meaningful differences that require a unique name. Novartis advocated for the same by filing its own petition in October. Biologic medicines, typically administered via an injection, and are used to treat cancers, immunological diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis and other chronic illnesses, but their high price tag can keep them out of reach for many patients. The FDA in February 2012 issued draft guidance on approval pathways for biosimilars, but is yet to finalize that guidance, while European regulators have already cleared cheaper copies of some biotech medicines. The global biosimilars market is expected to be worth about $11 billion to $25 billion in 2020, equivalent to a modest 4 to 10 percent of total biotech drug sales by that time, according to healthcare information firm IMS Health.",
            "output": [
                "J&J petitions FDA to require 'similar' names for biosimilars, biologics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc424576e29542ac91056f43d2320a2d",
            "input": "The confirmation hearing of Ronny Jackson, Trump’s White House doctor and a Navy rear admiral chosen to speed up improvements to the VA, is scheduled for next week. On Tuesday, he met privately with Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, as a part of visits this week to assure lawmakers he could effectively lead the government’s second-largest department. Tester said after the meeting that Jackson had committed to the same stance against privatization as David Shulkin, who pledged before his confirmation as VA secretary last year to continue strong investment in core VA programs and facilities while expanding access to private doctors. Shulkin was fired last month. “We talked extensively about why Shulkin got fired with the issues revolving around privatization and capacity building,” Tester said. He “seems to be somebody who doesn’t want to privatize the VA.” Asked if Jackson had pledged not to privatize VA, Tester said “yes.” “He said basically the same thing Shulkin said--that he wanted to build capacity at the VA,” Tester said. According to Tester, Jackson had not yet informed Trump of his views but would be doing so. Both Tester and Sen. Johnny Isakson, the Republican chairman of the veterans committee who met with Jackson Monday, have declined to endorse Jackson in advance of his confirmation hearing on April 25, saying they need to hear more about his plans to fix VA. Jackson is “certainly not an expert on VA,” Tester said. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a Senate committee member who also met Tuesday with Jackson, said she needed more assurances that Jackson would resist undue White House pressure to aggressively expand private care. Major veterans groups view VA medical centers as best suited to treat complex battlefield injuries, such as traumatic brain injury. “In our meeting today, I appreciated how strongly Dr. Jackson spoke against privatizing the VA, but I still need to know more about how he will stand up to ideological opponents of VA and remain fully committed to putting the needs of veterans first,” Murray said. The issue of privatizing VA has been a political hot button since the 2016 campaign, when Trump pledged to aggressively expand veterans’ access to private doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayers’ expense via the Veterans Choice program. Trump’s comments came in the wake of a 2014 scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center in which some veterans died while waiting months for medical appointments. After he was fired as VA secretary, Shulkin blamed “political forces” in the Trump administration that he says are bent on privatizing the agency and prioritizing “companies with profits” over the care of veterans. On Tuesday, the White House reiterated that there were “no discussions” about privatizing VA. “This administration has taken several unprecedented steps to transform and modernize the VA,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our work with Congress to reform and strengthen the VA Choice program to provide our veterans with more choice in their health care.” Several Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, have vowed to oppose Jackson’s nomination if it leads to greater privatization at the agency. Before he was confirmed last year as VA secretary, Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration, declared in advance that he wouldn’t “privatize” VA. “VA is a unique national resource that is worth saving, and I am committed to doing just that,” Shulkin said in February 2017. “There will be far greater accountability, dramatically improved access, responsiveness and expanded care options, but the Department of Veterans Affairs will not be privatized under my watch.” ___ Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1",
            "output": [
                "Dem senator: Trump VA pick vows not to privatize vets care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5280ec768b6444c89ae7414cce4b5e7f",
            "input": "In the middle of the Depression, Sylvan Goldman, an Oklahoma grocer, acquired several Humpty Dumpty stores (a bankrupt chain of retail grocers in the South) and tried to make them profitable. His 1934 acquisition didn’t originally look to have been a wise decision — the economy was shot, and although it’s true that even in bad times people have to eat, what they choose to buy is influenced by the economic climate. During downturns, folks gravitate towards cheaper, more basic foodstuffs that have smaller markups built into the price. Lowered markups can mean the difference between an outlet’s thriving or failing, because the profit margin in the grocery business is razor-thin. Even a busy grocery store can be losing money if the markup on what it is selling is too small to cover the expenses of running the business. Goldman’s chain was in trouble. He studied his shoppers, looking for clues in their actions that would help him restore profitability to his enterprise. He began to notice they generally terminated their activity when their hand-carried baskets became uncomfortably heavy and would then head for the checker rather than start a new basket. This observation led to his 1936 instructions to employee Fred Young to affix an undercarriage (made from a folding chair with wheels added to it) to pairs of metal, over-the-arm baskets. If weight were taken out of the equation, would customers buy more? Would they shop longer? The answer was a resounding no — folks preferred to stick with what they knew rather than play around with an unusual-looking contraption, and customers continued to use the heavy arm-borne baskets to carry all their goods to the checkers. Goldman did not give up — he hired decoy shoppers to wheel the new carts through the store, so providing a visual demonstration of what this innovation could do. He also stationed someone at the front door to greet patrons and offer them carts as they entered. The strategy paid off. Folks began using the wheeled baskets, and they quickly established a lasting preference for them. Shopping carts became an ordinary part of the shopping experience in other retail outlets. The shopping cart thus rolled its way into marketing history. Upon his death in 1984, Goldman left behind an estate worth more than $400 million, a lot of it earned thanks to a wheeled folding chair affixed to the underside of two baskets. The invention of a once-struggling businessman revolutionized the shopping experience in terms of how shoppers make their purchasing decisions. The average shopper, pushing a cart, goes into a store with a list, but also leisurely perambulates down aisles and past displays, filling the cart not only with intended buys but also impulse items whose displays or prices strike his fancy. The maneuverability and ease of shopping with a cart freed the consumer to roam the length of the store, thus putting him in the way of retail temptation that the heavy arm-borne basket cocooned him from.",
            "output": [
                "The shopping cart was not a resounding success when first introduced."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a82b142febc48c28edfe584737a7aa2",
            "input": "Seasoned explorer Robert Swan and his 23-year-old son Barney will begin their eight week, 600-mile expedition on Wednesday, hoping to show renewable energy can work in extreme conditions and prove a viable alternative to fossil fuels. “For the first time in history we will be surviving only on renewable energy. It’s never been done,” 61-year-old polar veteran Swan, the first person to walk to both the North and South poles, told Reuters. The Swans’ 5,000 daily calorie intake will come from sustainable and energy-giving foods, such as grains and almond bars, to help them overcome temperatures of -40 degrees Celsius and the obvious risks of frostbite, altitude sickness and snow blindness. Perpetual sunlight will charge the solar panels, which will power a NASA-designed ice melter to provide them with enough water for drinking and cooking. “Water is gold down in Antarctica, without it you’re going to be dying pretty quickly, as dad always reminds me,” said Barney Swan. While their aim is to complete the trek using just solar energy, under extreme weather conditions they’ll turn to an advanced biofuel made out of wood chip waste. “The fuels have been tested to minus 60 degrees Celsius...it won’t get as cold as minus 60. We may get minus 40 which is, trust me, cold enough,” the elder Swan said.",
            "output": [
                "Father-son team plans Antarctic trek powered by renewable energy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10cafe3116694a78a35b2e966b7e084b",
            "input": "\"President Barack Obama drew harsh criticism for comparing the terrorist group Islamic State to a \"\"JV team\"\" — and then again for claiming that’s not what he said (PolitiFact rated that statement False). On Sunday, another one of his characterizations of the situation in the Middle East came under fire as the political talk shows debated his plan for dealing with instability there. Former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden was asked about Obama’s decision to arm local rebel groups in Syria to help fight the Islamic State there. He wondered why Obama was suddenly interested in arming opposition forces there. \"\"The president referred to the Syrian opposition just a few months ago as pharmacists and doctors, and so on,\"\" Hayden said. \"\"We've turned on the dime in terms of our expectation for them, so if we're going to get them to this force that he said it was fantasy to rely on to the force that's going to be, as (White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough) said, the anvil in a combined arms operation, they're going to need an awful lot of help.\"\" In this case, we're checking whether Obama described the Syrian rebels as \"\"pharmacists and doctors.\"\" We're not checking whether the rebels actually are pharmacists or doctors, as we'll explain in a bit. We tried to reach Hayden but were unsuccessful. McDonough, though, was asked about Obama’s comment during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. \"\"I think that the question that the president was responding to at the time was looking back a couple of years,\"\" McDonough said. \"\"We have had a relationship with these fighters now for a couple of years. They're getting better and more capable.\"\" If that’s the case, then maybe Hayden was embellishing Obama’s comments. Keep in mind, the debate over arming the Syrian opposition forces in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al Assad has been ongoing for years. PolitiFact noted in a fact-check last week that several key members of Obama’s national security team favored the move in August 2012. Let’s take a look at exactly what Obama said. We found four instances of Obama describing the Syrian opposition forces in recent months. May 29 Obama discussed his foreign policy during an interview with NPR. He was asked if conditions were more \"\"robust\"\" for aiding the rebels than in the past. \"\"I wouldn't say the conditions are better,\"\" Obama said. \"\"In many ways, the conditions are worse. \"\"When you talk about the moderate opposition, many of these people were farmers or dentists or maybe some radio reporters who didn't have a lot of experience fighting,\"\" he added. \"\"But creating a capacity for them to hold ground, to be able to rebuff vicious attacks, for them to be able to also organize themselves in ways that are cohesive — all that takes, unfortunately, more time than I think many people would like.\"\" For what it’s worth, the Washington Post fact-checked Obama’s claim about the makeup of Syrian rebels as farmer, dentists and radio reporters and found it to be dubious. June 19 In mid June, a few days before Obama asked Congress for $500 million to train and equip some of the Syrian opposition, he discussed the makeup of those forces on a couple occasions. In a June 19 press conference, a reporter asked Obama if \"\"the expansion of the Syria war into Iraq changed your mind about the type of weapons and training we’re now willing to give the opposition there?\"\" Obama responded: \"\"The question has always been, is there the capacity of moderate opposition on the ground to absorb and counteract extremists that might have been pouring in, as well as an Assad regime supported by Iran and Russia that outmanned them and was ruthless. \"\"And so we have consistently provided that opposition with support,\"\" Obama said. \"\"Oftentimes, the challenge is if you have former farmers or teachers or pharmacists who now are taking up opposition against a battle-hardened regime, with support from external actors that have a lot at stake, how quickly can you get them trained; how effective are you able to mobilize them. And that continues to be a challenge.\"\" The next morning, he made a similar comment to CBS' This Morning. \"\"When you get farmers, dentists and folks who have never fought before going up against a ruthless opposition in Assad, the notion that they were in a position suddenly to overturn not only Assad but also ruthless, highly trained jihadists if we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.\"\" Aug. 8 In a sitdown with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Obama again was asked about why he chose not to arm the Syrian rebels. \"\"This idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth, and that they were going to be able to battle not only a well-armed state but also a well-armed state backed by Russia, backed by Iran, a battle-hardened Hezbollah, that was never in the cards,\"\" Obama said. Counter to what McDonough said Sept. 14, Obama very much seems to be talking about the Syrian opposition in the present and the challenges in providing them with assistance and arms. This continued up until August. The one caveat that Hayden does not mention is the conversation was largely in the context of the opposition’s capacity to go up against Assad and the Syrian regime, not their ability to fight a rogue terrorist organization like the Islamic State. Still, it is a noticeable about-face that as recently as August, Obama told Friedman he believed \"\"there’s not as much capacity as you would hope\"\" for providing these individuals training. Our ruling In discussing Obama’s decision to arm opposition forces in Syria, Hayden said, \"\"The president referred to the Syrian opposition just a few months ago as pharmacists and doctors, and so on.\"\" We found several examples of Obama, as recently as June and August, characterizing the Syrian rebels as pharmacists and doctors, as well as dentists, radio reporters and teachers. Usually he was describing their capacity to fight Assad, but that doesn’t make Hayden’s point any less accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "The president referred to the Syrian opposition just a few months ago as pharmacists and doctors, and so on."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64ef72187f9d48f594b5303f0f23709c",
            "input": "\"The cost of the drugs was not mentioned. And the possible cost-effectiveness ramifications of the research were not mentioned. As is often the case with 70% of the stories we review, cost just doesn’t seem to matter. But we all know it does. The benefits are given only in relative, not absolute terms. See our primer on this topic. So when the story says \"\"24 percent lower incidence of dementia\"\" or \"\"The risk was 19 percent lower\"\" or \"\"The risk was nearly halved\"\" – readers need to know 24% of what? 19% of what? Half of what? One harm was mentioned – \"\"There are potential hazards, such as too-low blood pressure that can lead to damaging falls.\"\" That’s an incomplete listing, but we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt in at least nodding in the direction of potential harms. The story did state:  \"\"The new report describes an observational study, one that lacks the strict controls that are needed for convincing proof.\"\" And it further quoted the lead researcher saying, \"\"Any study like this is hypothesis-generating. You only know for sure when you have done clinical prospective trials.\"\" So we’ll give it a satisfactory grade. But we do with mixed feelings. That’s because we’re troubled when the story talks about \"\"a small but protective effect \"\" and uses active verbs to say the drugs \"\"may stave off dementia.\"\" That is terribly misleading to the reader. \"\"Protective effect\"\" when you state in the story this is not convincing proof of cause and effect? Blogger Emlly DeVoto wrote about the problem with causal language used in a Guardian article on the same study. There is no overt disease-mongering of dementia in the story. The story did quote one independent expert who injected a cautionary note – in addition to the lead researcher. The story did note other observational studies that have \"\"implicated various molecules\"\" in dementia. We’ll again give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. Although never explicity stated, the widespread availability of angiotensin inhibiting drugs can be inferred from the story. The story doesn’t frame the new study into the context of past research linking high blood pressure to dementia. There’s no evidence that the story relied on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Some Blood Pressure Drugs May Stave Off Dementia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6514edfd1d0b4162a6ac69b30e8a687f",
            "input": "There will be 50,000 more nurses going into the NHS. The government has committed to do this by 2024/25. Not all of these nurses will be ‘new’. The government have announced the end of hospital parking charges for patients. In December it was announced that hospitals in England will have to provide free car parking to frequent hospital visitors, blue badge holders and at certain times to staff and parents of child patients. The government will build 40 new hospitals. Six hospitals in England are getting the money to upgrade their buildings within the next five years. Up to 38 hospitals are getting money to develop plans for their hospitals between 2025 and 2030, but not to actually begin any building work. The government is putting 20,000 more police on the streets. The government has committed to do this. If this happens it will take the number of police in England and Wales to almost, but not quite the same level as it was at in 2010. The government gave the police much more use of Tasers to help deal with street crime. The Home Office announced police in England and Wales can bid for part of a fund to equip their force with more Tasers. Final funding allocations will be announced in February. The government are lifting the living wage by the biggest ever amount, up to £8.72, and it will go up to £10.50. The national living wage set by the government is set to rise to £8.72 in April, the largest rise since it was put in place in 2016. It was also announced at last year’s Conservative party conference that it would rise to £10.50 within the next five years. Claim 1 of 7",
            "output": [
                "The government gave the police much more use of Tasers to help deal with street crime.",
                "The government are lifting the living wage by the biggest ever amount, up to £8.72, and it will go up to £10.50.",
                "There will be 50,000 more nurses going into the NHS.",
                "The government is putting 20,000 more police on the streets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4614409b00ee46398a2b957b8e5c1b74",
            "input": "\"Democrats are pleading for patience as they try to reassure the country that the online insurance marketplaces critical to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul can be fixed. Big programs have seen rocky rollouts only to achieve success later, they say. Their top example: the 2005 launch of Medicare Part D, President George W. Bush’s prescription drug benefit plan. \"\"Things went wrong with the Medicare prescription D plan that George Bush rolled out,\"\" Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., told MSNBC on Nov. 6. \"\"When things go wrong, there are two things we can do as a country. We can spend all our time figuring out who to blame, or we can spend all our time figuring out how to fix it.\"\" Eight years after it went live, Medicare Part D is now widely popular among the seniors who use it. Were there major problems with the rollout of Medicare Part D? And were they comparable to the challenges facing Obamacare? We decided to take a more a detailed look at its implementation. Strangely similar Let’s play a quick game: who made this statement? \"\"This is a huge undertaking and there are going to be glitches. My goal is the same as yours: Get rid of the glitches.\"\" A Democrat in 2013? Wrong! Actually, it was Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, about Medicare Part D in 2006. The similarities between the two health care programs, both heralded as the signature domestic achievements of the presidents who signed them into law, are at times eerie. Supporters of the laws asked for time and promised a quick fix. Critics did not mince their words. Even the lingo -- words like \"\"glitches\"\" -- has been recycled. A report documenting the history of Medicare Part D was released earlier this year by a group of health policy experts at the Center on Health Insurance Reform at Georgetown University. It highlighted several areas where Medicare Part D struggled in its implementation that sound extremely familiar. For one thing, the Bush administration faced a difficult political battle to get the bill passed in 2003. That damaged public opinion of the law, making it a challenge to educate 43 million seniors on its nuances. Enrollment in the law was set to begin in late 2005. In April of that year, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that only 27 percent of respondents understood the law, while only 21 percent favored it. (In a comparable Kaiser poll in April 2013, 35 percent viewed the Affordable Care Act favorably and less than half felt they were well-informed of its details.) The Medicare site, meant to help seniors pick benefit plans, was supposed to debut Oct. 13, 2005, but it didn’t go live until weeks later in November. Even then, \"\"the tool itself appeared to be in need of fixing,\"\" the Washington Post reported at the time. \"\"Visitors to the site could not access it for most of the first two hours. When it finally did come up around 5 p.m., it operated awfully slowly,\"\" the Post reported. (Sensing a pattern?) Once seniors began to enroll, problems persisted. According to the report, the online tools had \"\"accuracy problems,\"\" and local organizations designated with assisting seniors \"\"reported problems getting necessary and accurate information.\"\" Call centers provided by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services underestimated \"\"the needed capacity to ensure that reliable answers could be provided\"\" and \"\"service representatives were not knowledgeable or failed to provide accurate information.\"\" The Georgetown experts anticipated similar hiccups with the Affordable Care Act, noting that the country’s experience with Medicare Part D suggested \"\"the experience will be far from perfect\"\" and \"\"problems were not always addressed as quickly or as thoroughly as critics would have liked, but fixes were usually found.\"\" These days, nine in 10 seniors who utilize the program report they are satisfied with it. \"\"There’s really a striking amount of similarity even though this time it’s a far larger and daunting task. It’s a fair comparison,\"\" said Jack Hoadley at the Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and one of the authors of the study. \"\"Once something works its way through the problems, you forget the problems.\"\" Still different But there are important differences between Medicare Part D and the Affordable Care Act that make the challenges facing the exchanges different. Because it was aimed at seniors and e-commerce was still relatively young, Medicare.gov was not intended to be the main hub for people to purchase and review plans, said David Brailer, the first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology under Bush. \"\"The issue with Medicare Part D is there were choices of 70 to 100 plans,\"\" Brailer said. \"\"People were overwhelmed with the choices, with the options available and didn't know how to navigate and pick one. I don’t remember a conversation at all blaming any IT people. This was about how do you really navigate through all these choices.\"\" Meanwhile, most people who logged on to healthcare.gov in the opening weeks couldn’t even get far enough to review what options were available. Also, prescription drugs are a relatively small and easy-to-understand part of health care. Shopping for an insurance plan is more complicated. \"\"For those who did choose to enroll (in Medicare Part D) online, they checked out their options by typing in drugs they used, and once you did, you got an estimated out-of-pocket cost to make your comparisons. In the exchange world you have a full health care benefit to buy,\"\" Hoadley said. \"\"The drug cost is relatively predictable, certainly a lot more predictable than overall health costs. The challenge for this website is a lot greater, probably by a significant amount of magnitude.\"\" And there’s the political climate as well. When Medicare Part D passed, Democrats were not happy with the final bill and were critical of its botched rollout. But even then, they were generally supportive of its intended outcome and worked with constituents who had difficulty signing up or utilizing their new benefits. When Medicare Part D faced early troubles, many blue states came to its rescue. The New York Times reported in 2006 that \"\"about 20 states, including California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all of New England, have announced that they will help low-income people by paying drug claims that should have been paid by the federal Medicare program.\"\" By contrast, not a single Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act, and in the years since it passed, the party has made its repeal a top priority. In the states, many Republican governors have bucked the Medicaid expansion and rejected offers to build their own insurance marketplaces, putting greater pressure on the federal government. Henry Aaron, a health policy expert at the Brookings Institute, said the opposition from Republicans has forced the Obama administration into a \"\"two-front war\"\" Bush did not have to fight. \"\"On the one hand, one must and should address the administrative problems that no one denies is plaguing the problem,\"\" he said. \"\"But you’re also waging a war of public opinion against the hysterics of its critics.\"\" Our ruling Israel said, \"\"Things went wrong with the Medicare prescription D plan that George Bush rolled out.\"\" There definitely were problems, and in some cases, the parallels between the prescription benefit program’s introduction and the Obamacare marketplaces are strikingly similar. While we also found some serious differences in the laws, we can’t find fault with Israel’s fairly general statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "Things went wrong with the Medicare prescription D plan that George Bush rolled out."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-275171b4abff47de82892458a07b236a",
            "input": "On July 29 2020, an apparent CNN screen capture featuring a chyron quoting United States President Donald Trump as saying “nobody likes me” circulated on sites like Reddit:Does this count? from facepalmTrump: ‘Nobody likes me’ from politicsThe ChyronIn the first of the two Reddit posts above, shared to r/facepalm, a “Breaking News” chyron timestamped at 4:06 PM Pacific read:TRUMP AS U.S. NEARS 150,000 DEATHS: “NOBODY LIKES ME”However, the image didn’t link to any additional information about whether Trump said “nobody likes me,” or in which context he might have done so.C-SPAN Video and Trump’s Response to a ReporterC-SPAN published video on July 28 2020 with the description, “President Trump Coronavirus News Conference.”In the 26-minute and 36-second clip below, Trump took questions from reporters about COVID-19 and sub-topics (such as controversy over a Facebook video touting the disputed safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine). After praising the controversial video, Trump calls on a reporter to take a question. The reporter asks about a statement by Trump made about Dr. Anthony Fauci and hydroxycloroquine, in the form of retweeting material later flagged by Twitter:… last night [on July 27 2020] in tweets that were deleted by Twitter, you said Dr. Fauci misled the country on hydroxychloroquine … how so?In response, Trump rambles at length about Fauci, hydroxychloroquine, Dr. Deborah Birx, his belief that the drug failed to catch on as a COVID-19 treatment due to his support of it, and generalized approval ratings:No, not at all. I think … I don’t even know what [Fauci’s] stance is on it. I … was just – you know, he was at the … he was at the task force meeting a little while ago.I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. You know, it’s sort of interesting — we’ve listened to Dr. Fauci … I haven’t always agreed with him, and it’s … I think, pretty standard. That’s okay. He did not want us to ban [stammers] put up the ban to China, when China was heavily infected – very badly, Wuhan. He didn’t want to do that, and I did and other things.And [Fauci] told me I was right, and he told me I saved tens of thousands of lives, which was generous, but it’s – you know, I think it’s fact that I banned — I did the ban on Europe. But I get along with him very well and I agree with a lot of what he’s said … so, you know, it’s interesting. He’s got a very good approval rating, and I like that. It’s good. Because remember, he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us, John. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci. He’s working with our administration, and for the most part, we’ve done pretty much what he and others — Dr. Birx and others, who are terrific – recommended.And he’s got this high approval rating, so why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect – and the administration, with respect to the virus? We should have a very high — because what we’ve done in terms of — we’re just reading off about the masks and the gowns and the ventilators and numbers that nobody has seen, and the testing at 55 million tests, we tested more than anybody in the world. I have a graph that I’d love to show you … perhaps you’ve seen it … where we’re up here [gestures] and the rest of the world is down at a level that’s just a tiny fraction of what we’ve done in terms of testing.So it sort of is curious … A man works for us, with us very closely — Dr. Fauci, and Dr. [Deborah] Birx, also highly thought of … and yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all. Go ahead.In the broader context of the video, Trump addressed myriad topics in response to a reporter’s question about whether he believed Dr. Fauci “misled the country on hydroxychloroquine.” Trump maintained he had “a very good relationship” with Fauci, that Fauci said Trump “saved tens of thousands of lives,” and added that he has not “always agreed” with Fauci.Subsequently, Trump mused that Fauci (and Birx) had a “very good approval rating,” asking, apparently rhetorically, why he and his administration did not appear to enjoy the same level of approval — referencing “the masks and the gowns and the ventilators and numbers that nobody has seen.”As he wrapped up his response, Trump described it as “curious ” that Fauci and Birx were “highly thought of,” and added that “nobody likes me.”TL;DRA chyron reading “TRUMP AS U.S. NEARS 150,000 DEATHS: “NOBODY LIKES ME” circulated on social media, often without much context about the veracity or substance of the quote. On July 28 2020, Trump provided a response at length to a reporter during a coronavirus news conference, covering a range of topics before addressing the popularity of Fauci. At the end of the answer, Trump made the remark before moving on.According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on public and national health issues throughout the United States, the official American death toll due to COVID-19 as of the end of July 28 2020 was 149,033.Comments",
            "output": [
                "\"On July 28 2020, United States President Donald Trump lamented that doctors Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx were popular for their coronavirus response, but \"\"nobody likes me.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1af2a423274546dabd707a32339244fb",
            "input": "The state Agriculture Department said in a news release that tests confirmed the presence of the H7 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, at a facility in Lincoln County. The facility alerted the state veterinarian’s office on Friday about an increase in chicken deaths. The statement did not name the facility. The facility and about 30 other poultry farms within about a six-mile radius of the site are under quarantine. “Animal health is our top priority,” said Dr. Charles Hatcher, the state veterinarian. “With this HPAI detection, we are moving quickly and aggressively to prevent the virus from spreading.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture said 73,500 chickens are in the facility’s flock. Officials said HPAI poses no risk to the food supply, and no affected chickens entered the food chain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPAI can cause up to 100 percent mortality in flocks, often within 48 hours. “Many Tennessee families rely on the poultry industry for their livelihoods, and the state is working closely with local, county and federal partners and the poultry industry to control the situation and protect the flocks that are critical to our state’s economy,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said. According to the Tennessee Poultry Association, there are more than 1,650 commercial broiler and breeder houses on more than 550 family farms in the state. The state ranks 13th nationally in broiler production and processing with more than 6 million birds per week at five plants. The statement said the most recent U.S. detection of HPAI was in January 2016 in a commercial turkey flock in Indiana. More than 414,000 turkeys and chickens were euthanized to contain the outbreak. In 2015, U.S. poultry producers, primarily in the upper Midwest, lost more than 48 million birds to bird flu. Minnesota, the country’s top turkey producer, and Iowa, the top chicken-egg producer, were the hardest-hit states.",
            "output": [
                "Bird flu detected in chicken breeding facility in Tennessee."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d10cee1a1714645b8a2c1dec298a4e7",
            "input": "The Indiana State Department of Health said Thursday that chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are of particular concern in the state. Indiana has nearly 31,000 cases of chlamydia, 9,500 cases of gonorrhea and 800 cases of primary and secondary syphilis reported in 2016. State Health Commissioner Kris Box warns that STDs could cause serious health problems, including brain and nervous system damage, infertility and babies born prematurely. People with such diseases also are more likely to transmit HIV. Most STDs can be treated but are hard to find out as they often have no symptoms. Box urges anyone who is sexually active to get tested annually.",
            "output": [
                "Indiana health agency urges residents to get tested for STDs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-815286a5a6de4b148b003e91a937a3d0",
            "input": "Voters in both Western states approved ballot initiatives in 2012 allowing personal possession and use of marijuana by anyone aged 21 and or older for purposes of just getting high, though public consumption of pot remains illegal. In January the world’s first state-licensed retail marijuana outlets opened for business in Colorado, and stores in Washington are set to follow suit later this year. Both states are among 20 that have already removed criminal sanctions for medical use of marijuana. The federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal narcotic, but the Obama administration has given states new leeway to experiment with legalized cannabis. In Denver’s Civic Center Park near the state capitol, revelers on Sunday gathered to hear music and listened to speakers during a weekend event that organizers billed as the “world’s largest 4/20 rally.”  The date of April 20, or 4/20, corresponds to the numerical code widely recognized within the cannabis subculture as a symbol for all things marijuana. Police officers standing by on the fringes of the Denver festival issued 63 citations on Sunday, most for smoking pot in public - a ticket that carries a fine of $150. About half as many were cited on Saturday, police said. At least eight individuals were taken to a detoxification facility for treatment during the two days, police said. Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said officers have refrained from wading into the crowd to arrest violators, but instead were citing people who openly defied the public consumption ban. “Those ticketed were blatantly in violation of state law and city ordinances,” Jackson said. Organizers of the rally and city officials beefed up security at the event after three people were wounded by gunfire at last year’s rally. Separately, the Cannabis Cup, a trade show sponsored by High Times magazine, drew sold-out crowds over the weekend at a Denver convention venue. The two-day event featured marijuana sampling and workshops, such as how to open a pot shop, cultivation tips, and how to talk to children about weed, according to the event’s website. Rachel O’Bryan, spokeswoman for Smart Colorado, an organization that advocates for stricter enforcement of marijuana laws, said the cannabis industry needs to do more to police its own. “People are flouting the law by openly consuming,” she said. “We’re concerned about the message that sends to our kids.”  In Seattle, several hundred people who paid $15 a head crowded the cavernous interior of a former brewery where Rainier Beer was made for decades to attend a 4/20 gathering organized by sponsors of the city’s annual Hempfest rally. Reggae music played over loudspeakers and the air inside was thick with the sweet, skunky odor of cannabis. But no police were visible at the event, which organizers deliberately held on private space leased from the brewery owners in an industrial section of the city south of downtown. The gathering featured a workshop on how to roll a joint with an entire ounce (28 grams) of marijuana - the legal limit for personal possession in the state - as well as vendors selling pipes and other paraphernalia, and a blind-toke test in which participants tried to distinguish between different strains of pot by sampling them. Attendees ranged from middle-aged baby boomers to a younger crowd from the so-called millennial generation. A cheer from the crowd went up at precisely 4:20 p.m. local time, as many attendees milling about outside lit joints and pipes simultaneously, sending puffs of smoke into the air followed by raucous fits of coughing. One woman in the crowd accepted a joint handed her from a bearded bystander. “You look just like Jesus,” she exclaimed in an apparent reference to the event coinciding with Easter Sunday. “How does it feel to be risen?”  Doug Medina, 54, said he traveled hundreds of miles with his wife and daughter from Billings, Montana, to Seattle for the 4/20 weekend celebrations there. “It feels a little more open than it did five or 10 years ago,” he said while smoking a joint outside the brewery.",
            "output": [
                "Marijuana fans pack 4/20 events in Colorado, Washington state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae4b151b0c5947edba720ae38ae41446",
            "input": "Parliament’s influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was “surprised and concerned” to discover that information on methods and results of clinical trials of such prescribed drugs “is routinely withheld”, and said there was a “lack of consensus over how well Tamiflu ... actually works”. “The case for stockpiling antiviral medicines at the current level is based on judgment rather than on evidence of their effectiveness during an influenza pandemic,” said Richard Bacon, a leading member of the committee. He added that as well as spending more than 420 million pounds on stockpiling Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine, the Department of Health was forced to write off 74 million pounds of that as a result of poor record-keeping by the National Health Service. “Before spending money in future to maintain the stockpile the (health) department needs to review what level of coverage is appropriate,” he said. Tamiflu has been approved by regulators worldwide and is stockpiled by many governments in case of a global flu outbreak. Sales of the drug hit close to $3 billion in 2009, due to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, although they have since declined. But some researchers claim there is little evidence Tamiflu works and have lobbied since 2009 for Swiss drugmaker Roche to hand over all its data from clinical trials of the medicine. After a lengthy fight, Roche agreed last year that it would hand over the data to outside researchers at the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit group that reviews trial data to assess the value of drugs. The PAC said it was “extremely concerning that there has been a five-year delay and that there continues to be a lack of clarity” over whether medicines regulators and safety authorities had access to full trial results. Beyond the Tamiflu situation, the committee said it was concerned that information on methods and results of clinical trials is routinely and legally withheld. “This longstanding regulatory and cultural failure impacts on all of medicine, and undermines the ability of clinicians, researchers and patients to make informed decisions about which treatment is best,” it said in its report. The PAC report forms part of a wider debate about access to data from clinical trials conducted by the pharmaceutical industry to test the efficacy of and win marketing approval for new drugs. Critics say drugmakers routinely hide or bury trial data which is unfavorable. Tracey Brown, director of a group called Sense About Science, which a year ago launched AllTrials - a campaign fighting for all data from all trials of all prescribed drugs to be made available - said the PAC report “adds to the clamor of voices” calling for more transparency in the drug industry. “There is no excuse for not publishing results, but a huge public benefit to having a complete picture of what was found in trials conducted on treatments currently available to patients,” she said. ($1 = 0.6038 British pounds)",
            "output": [
                "UK lawmakers criticize govt's stockpiling of Roche drug Tamiflu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-417cbff0c55742d793f32ab512c47977",
            "input": "Calyxt said it can’t reveal its first customer for competitive reasons, but CEO Jim Blome said the oil is “in use and being eaten.” The Minnesota-based company is hoping the announcement will encourage the food industry’s interest in the oil, which it says has no trans fats and a longer shelf life than other soybean oils. Whether demand builds remains to be seen, but the oil’s transition into the food supply signals gene editing’s potential to alter foods without the controversy of conventional GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. Among the other gene-edited crops being explored: Mushrooms that don’t brown, wheat with more fiber, better-producing tomatoes, herbicide-tolerant canola and rice that doesn’t absorb soil pollution as it grows. Unlike conventional GMOs, which are made by injecting DNA from other organisms, gene editing lets scientists alter traits by snipping out or adding specific genes in a lab. Startups including Calyxt say their crops do not qualify as GMOs because what they’re doing could theoretically be achieved with traditional crossbreeding. So far, U.S. regulators have agreed and said several gene-edited crops in development do not require special oversight. It’s partly why companies see big potential for gene-edited crops. “They’ve been spurred on by the regulatory decisions by this administration,” said Greg Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health watchdog group. But given the many ways gene editing can be used, Jaydee Hanson of the Center for Food Safety said regulators should consider the potential implications of each new crop. He cited the example of produce gene-edited to not brown. “You’ve designed it to sit around longer. Are there problems with that?” he said. Already, most corn and soy grown in the U.S. are herbicide-tolerant GMOs. Just last week, regulators cleared a hurdle for salmon genetically modified to grow faster. The fish is the first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption in the U.S. Though regulators say GMOs are safe, health and environmental worries have persisted, and companies will soon have to disclose when products have “bioengineered” ingredients. Calyxt says its oil does not qualify as a GMO. The oil is made from soybeans with two inactivated genes to produce more heart-healthy fats and no trans fats. The company says the oil also has a longer shelf life, which could reduce costs for food makers or result in longer-lasting products. Soybean oils took a hit when regulators moved to ban oils with trans fats. Other trans fat-free soybean oils have become available in the years since, but the industry has found it difficult to win back food makers that already switched to different oils, said John Motter, former chair of the United Soybean Board. Calyxt said the first customer is a company in the Midwest with multiple restaurant and foodservice locations, such as building cafeterias. It said the customer is using it in dressings and sauces and for frying, but didn’t specify if the oil’s benefits are being communicated to diners. Calyxt is working on other gene-edited crops that it says are faster to develop than conventional GMOs, which require regulatory studies. But Tom Adams, CEO of biotech company Pairwise, said oversight of gene-edited foods could become stricter if public attitude changes. “You should never think of regulation as settled,” Adams said. Pairwise is partnering with Monsanto-parent Bayer on developing gene-edited crops. Views on gene-editing vary too. The National Organic Standards Board said foods made with gene editing cannot qualify as organic . And last year, Europe’s highest court said gene-edited foods should be subject to the same rules as conventional GMOs. ____ Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Gene-edited food quietly arrives in restaurant cooking oil."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d0345f9c9e5a441394a79921fee29022",
            "input": "“This used to be my land,” said the 51-year-old farmer, frowning at the murky waves. All but six of the 24 acres where he used to grow rice and vegetables have slipped into the water in recent years, he said. Another farmer, Than Tun, said he had lost 15 acres of his land to erosion. While official records were not available, other villagers backed their accounts. Farmers and politicians in Chaungzon township, just outside the southern town of Moulmein, worry that erosion in the area is being exacerbated by the ships that dredge its bed for sand each night. The sand is mainly bound for Singapore, the world’s biggest importer, for use in reclamation and construction projects. Both the Myanmar government and the company whose ships do the dredging in Chaungzon deny the dredging is causing the erosion. But the dispute highlights the fractious issue of sand-mining in Southeast Asia as Singapore is forced to look farther afield to slake its thirst for the mineral following bans on the trade in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia over environmental concerns. Sand mining has been blamed by scientists for damaging sensitive ecosystems around the world, accelerating coastal and riverine erosion, and exacerbating the frequency and severity of floods and droughts, according to a 2019 report by the U.N Environment Programme. Malaysia, formerly the biggest source of sand for Singapore, in 2018 introduced an outright ban on the export of sea sand, used for land reclamation, and imposed tighter controls on river sand, used mostly in construction. Cambodia made a similar move in 2017, while Indonesia banned exports to Singapore in 2007, causing a “sand crisis” that brought building activity almost to a halt. Singapore, an island state that has grown 25 percent since its independence in 1965 thanks largely to aggressive land reclamation, has since bolstered its stockpiles, according to sand traders. Officials in Myanmar and industry sources in Singapore say the bans have prompted Singapore to seek new supplies from countries like Myanmar. Almost 1 million tonnes of sand went from Myanmar to Singapore in 2018, earning over $6 million, according to the most recent UN data on the trade. That amount is expected to have increased substantially following the Malaysia bans, according to the Myanmar government. “Since the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam almost completely stopped exporting sand to Singapore, the sand from Myanmar has become much more in demand,” said Aye Lwin, joint secretary-general of the Myanmar Port Authority, which grants licenses for sand-mining operations. The benefits of the mining – including tax revenues for the government – outweighed the costs, he said. “I believe it only causes little environmental damage,” Aye Lwin said. “But it generates funds for the government.”  The Singapore-registered company dredging in Chaungzon, Starhigh Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., has extracted hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand since 2013, according to the local member of Parliament, Kyi Kyi Mya. She said at least 150,000 tonnes were extracted in 2018-2019, but did not have the exact number for other years. Starhigh dredges the sand legally through a license with the local government that does not limit the amount of sand the company can extract. Most of the sand Starhigh extracts is sent to Singapore. The company last year bid to supply sand to JTC Corporation, a Singapore government agency for infrastructure development, according to a tender on a government procurement site. Starhigh also supplied sand for a JTC reclamation project in Singapore completed in 2018, according to Starhigh’s managing director, Si Thu Phyo. He said the sand for that project came from Myanmar as well as Vietnam and the Philippines. JTC referred questions from Reuters to Singapore’s Ministry of National Development, which said the country imports sand on a commercial basis and that suppliers are expected to abide by laws and regulations in source countries. The Myanmar government says the environmental impact of the dredging is minimal and necessary to clear waterways of built-up sediment. In 2014, the company paid compensation to local farmers who claimed that mining too close to the shore had led to landslides, according to Kyi Kyi Mya, the MP in Chaungzon. Starhigh did not comment on any compensation paid to farmers but said “whenever it is possible, we will help locals with small landfill work at our own cost.”  Si Thu Phyo, the Starhigh managing director, told Reuters that erosion was present in the area before dredging work started. “Dredging is always an easy target when it comes to environmental complaints,” he said. “People don’t understand and are worried.”  Riverbank erosion along the Salween is not an entirely new phenomenon, with factors including climate change worsening the problem by contributing to higher levels of flooding and siltation, said Vanessa Lamb, a geography lecturer at the University of Melbourne who has studied the river. She said that a lack of baseline data about the river made it difficult to track just how much sand dredging was affecting riverbank erosion. But in a 2019 research paper, Lamb said locals blamed accelerating erosion on the rise in sand-mining. It was not possible to verify those claims from local records or old photographs. Dr Aung Naing Oo, deputy speaker of the Mon state parliament and the author of a parliamentary report on sand extraction in the region, said there was little transparency around the industry. He said that there was no consistent monitoring process and that authorities were not checking how much sand was being extracted or whether companies were taking material only from agreed sites. For now, the government says it does not have plans to end the dredging or compensate farmers for lost land. Than Zaw Oo, the farmer in Chaungzon, said he is now in debt after borrowing more than $2,600 to pay for embankments in an attempt to keep erosion at bay. “I am lost and I don’t know what to do,” he said. “The sadness is just beyond words.”",
            "output": [
                "As Myanmar farmers lose their land, sand mining for Singapore is blamed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3891a17541ac4f8bb5dcf586c31d16f0",
            "input": "The Georgia Department of Public Health said it is still awaiting final confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Floyd County case. The 46-year-old woman went to the emergency care center on Feb. 29, but didn’t meet testing criteria for COVID-19 and was released, Floyd Medical Center said in a statement. She returned, with worsening symptoms, on Tuesday. But she still didn’t quality for testing. “Despite the patient, again, not meeting COVID-19 screening criteria, Floyd clinicians made the determination to admit her to the hospital due to her condition,” the hospital statement said. For a time, testing was limited, in part because CDC guidelines said it should be focused on travelers who had been to mainland China or to patients who had been in close contact with infected people. Last week, the CDC changed its criteria, saying it’s also appropriate to test a patient if flu and other respiratory illnesses have been ruled out and no source of exposure has been identified. The patient was isolated, officials said. Though she still didn’t meet the criteria for coronavirus testing, her doctor and the district health director for the region pushed for it, the hospital said. At the “adamant urging” of the two local health officials, the CDC and the state health agency authorized the testing. The initial testing that returned a positive result was completed Thursday, state health officials said. State officials have requested expedited processing for an official determination from the CDC, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement Friday. Officials haven’t disclosed where the woman went or who she might have been in contact with in the three days between her two visits to the emergency room. However, state health officials are now working to identify any people who might have been exposed, the agency said in statement. Floyd County is about 70 miles (115 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta. If confirmed, it would be the third case of COVID-19 in Georgia. The state’s first case was a 56-year-old Fulton County man who had traveled to Atlanta from Milan, Italy on Feb. 22. He began showing symptoms of the disease a few days later, health officials said earlier this week. The man’s teenage son also tested positive for the disease. ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Woman who went to hospital twice tests positive for virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eb44e3ace1ab4c7e9dc1ec161a3b4237",
            "input": "Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, said the microchips could help tackle so-called colony collapse disorder, a situation where bees mysteriously disappear from hives, and the encroachment of the parasitic varroa mite. Scientists will use tweezers to glue on the sensors, weighing about 5 milligrams and measuring 2.5 millimeters (a little more than 1/16 of an inch) square, after soothing the bees to sleep by refrigeration. Some young bees, which tend to be hairier than older bees, need to be shaved before the sensor can be glued on. Scientists will examine the effectiveness of pesticides in protecting the bees from colony collapse disorder and varroa mite. The study will also enable farmers and fruit growers to understand and manage their crops, given the honey bee’s crucial role in the pollination of crops globally, the CSIRO said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “Honey bees play a vital role in the landscape through a free pollination service for agriculture, which various crops rely on to increase yields,” the CSIRO’s Paulo de Souza, who is leading the project, said in the statement. “Using this technology, we aim to understand the bee’s relationship with its environment.”  Scientists plan to fit sensors on 5,000 bees in the southern island state of Tasmania over the Australian summer. The radio frequency identification sensors work like an electronic tag for cars on a toll road, recording when insects pass a checkpoint. That will allow scientists to build a three-dimensional image of the insects’ movements, a process described as “swarm sensing”. The scientists are working on shrinking the sensor to 1 mm square so they can be attached to smaller insects, including mosquitoes.",
            "output": [
                "Australian scientists microchip bees to map movements, halt diseases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c06342a064fa42638e0caec531d528f1",
            "input": "Studying the DNA of two distant bat species, the scientists discovered how genes dealing with the bats’ immune system had undergone the most rapid change. This may explain why they are relatively free of disease and live exceptionally long lives compared with other mammals of similar size, such as the rat, said Professor Lin-Fa Wang, an infectious disease expert at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore who led the multi-centre study. “We are not saying bats never get sick or never get infections. What we are saying is they handle infections a lot better,” Wang said in a telephone interview. What was missing from both species of bats was a gene segment known to trigger extreme, and potentially fatal, immune reactions to infections, called the cytokine storm. Cytokine storms end up killing not only offending viruses in the body, but the host’s own cells and tissues too. “Viruses rarely kill the host. The killing comes from the host’s immune response. So it looks like what bats are doing is depress the inflammation (cytokine storm). If we can learn that, we can design drugs to minimize the inflammation damage and control viral infection,” Wang said. The study, which saw the participation of researchers from China, Denmark, Australia and the United States, was published on Friday in the journal Science. Compared with other mammals of similar size, bats live a long time, with lifespans of between 20 and 40 years. Rats live between 2 and 3 years, on average. Interestingly, Wang and his colleagues found that the highly evolved genes that give bats their superior immune system also enable them to fly. Out of more than 5,000 types of mammals on the planet, bats are the only one capable of sustained flight and some species can fly more than 1,000 km in a single night. Such intense physical exertion is known to produce toxic “free radicals” that cause tissue damage and it is these same genes that give the bat the ability to repair itself, Wang said. “What we found was the genes that evolved fastest were genes involved in repairing DNA damage. That makes sense ... because when you fly, metabolism goes up and it generates free radicals that are toxic to cells,” Wang said. “Because bats fly, they (would have had) to evolve and adapt ... to get genes that can repair DNA damage.”  Wang said we have much to learn from the bat, which has evolved to avoid disease and live exceptionally long lives. “Cancer, ageing and infectious disease, these are the three major areas of concern for people,” he said. “We have studied rats for 150 years to understand how to do better in these three areas. Now we have a system, the bat, that has done very well in evolution. We can learn from the bat. With modern techniques, we can design new drugs to slow down the ageing process, treat cancer, fight infections.”",
            "output": [
                "Long-lived bats offer clues on diseases, aging."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d83b00858e2d40be97ef00749783bf6b",
            "input": "The release makes no mention of the cost of the drug in question, Tenofovir. A web search found that the cost for a month’s supply of the antiviral drug averages just over $1,000. For some patients, that cost may be prohibitive. The cost is an issue of particular concern for developing countries, but it is also true that the price may be much lower for them than in the United States. Many pharmaceutical companies offer their drugs at steeply discounted rates in poorer countries to expand access to life-saving medicines. The release clearly says that 68 percent of women receiving the drug reduced their viral load while only 2 percent of the women in the control group had that success. It also says that the transmission of hepatitis B from mother to newborn dropped from 18 percent to 5 percent, an important clinical outcome. The release includes a discussion of harms. It states that “tenofovir was well tolerated; only one participant treated with tenofovir voluntarily withdrew from the study due to nausea.”  It also says that researchers “found no significant differences between the tenofovir-treated group and the control group with regard to fetal development and infant growth.”  Lastly, it calls for longer term, observational studies to confirm the safety of fetal exposure to tenofovir treatment. The release provides a good overview of the randomized, placebo-controlled trial which was undertaken to gauge the efficacy of the drug in both reducing the viral load of hepatitis-B-positive mothers and reducing the rate of transmission of the disease from mother to newborn. It offers solid, numerical evidence of both outcomes. It describes the number of patients (200 pregnant women), defined what constituted a “high” viral load, and described the approximate length of treatment. It did omit a mention of whether the trial was blinded. This release does not commit disease mongering. The release notes that the research is funded by Gilead Sciences. It should also have mentioned that a corresponding author disclosed speaking and advising fees from Gilead, according to the published study. The release is comparing the use of an antiviral drug given to pregnant women versus the normal procedure of giving both a vaccine and immune globulin. The release doesn’t mention that tenofovir (marketed as Viread), the drug being tested, is already an FDA approved drug so many readers may not know that it’s available. It was approved by the FDA in 2001 for HIV and in 2008 for chronic hepatitis B. The release just barely implies novelty with this statement which suggests a change in treating infected women who are pregnant: “Based on the findings, the investigators recommend that women be tested for HBV viral load at week 28 of pregnancy. Those with a high viral load should receive tenofovir treatment starting at gestational week 30 until delivery to reduce the risk of transmission to their infants.” While the drug itself isn’t novel, positive outcomes from a controlled trial on pregnant women carrying the virus does seem to introduce a new treatment approach. This release does not use any unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Antiviral Treatment During Pregnancy Reduces Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4ab1c30cfe14df7a1d2942e1f3d2c26",
            "input": "He Jiankui, who was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, was also fined 3 million yuan ($430,000) by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. Two other researchers involved in the project received lesser sentences and fines. The verdict said the three defendants had not obtained qualification as doctors, pursued fame and profits, deliberately violated Chinese regulations on scientific research, and crossed an ethical line in both scientific research and medicine, according to Xinhua. It also said they had fabricated ethical review documents. The court also confirmed a third birth, saying the researchers were involved in the births of three gene-edited babies to two women. It said all three scientists pleaded guilty during the trial, which Xinhua reported was closed to the public because of privacy concerns. He, the lead researcher, shocked the scientific world when he announced in November 2018 that he had altered the embryos of twin girls who had been born the same month. He described his work in  exclusive interviews  with The Associated Press. The announcement sparked a global debate over the ethics of gene editing. He said he had used a tool called CRISPR to try to disable a gene that allows the AIDS virus to enter a cell, in a bid to give the girls the ability to resist the infection. The identity of the children has not been released, and it isn’t clear if the experiment succeeded. The CRISPR tool has been tested elsewhere in adults to treat diseases, but many in the scientific community denounced He’s work as medically unnecessary and unethical, because any genetic changes could be passed down to future generations. The U.S. forbids editing embryos except for lab research. He, who is known as “JK,” told the AP in 2018 that he felt a strong responsibility to make an example, and that society would decide whether to allow the practice to go forward. He disappeared from public view shortly after he announced his research at a conference in Hong Kong 13 months ago, apparently detained by authorities, initially in an apartment in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong province that borders Hong Kong. It wasn’t clear if the three-year prison term includes any of the time he has already spent in Chinese custody. A Chinese scientist said the sentence should have been harsher to deter others. Kehkooi Kee, a Tsinghua University researcher who conducts gene-editing research on stem cells, also said that He should be held responsible for any fallout from the experiment on the lives of the babies and their families. Dr. William Hurlbut, a Stanford University bioethicist whose advice He sought for more than a year before his experiment, said he felt sorry for the scientist, his wife and two young daughters. “I warned him things could end this way, but it was just too late,” Hurlbut wrote in an email addressed to the AP; the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins; and gene-editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna at the University of California, Berkeley. “Sad story — everyone lost in this (JK, his family, his colleagues, and his country), but the one gain is that the world is awakened to the seriousness of our advancing genetic technologies,” Hurlbut wrote. Dr. Eric Topol, who heads the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, noted it’s almost unheard of for a scientist to get imprisoned “but in this case the sheer recklessness and unethical behavior warranted it.” Topol praised China for standing up “for proper medical research conduct.” Doudna told the AP she was concerned about the “mysterious” legal process in China, but she said the sentences are “a step toward bringing this case to closure” and send a strong message to discourage other such work. (Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP’s Health and Science Department.) “As a scientist, one does not like to see scientists going to jail, but this was an unusual case,” Doudna said. He’s work was “clearly wrong in many ways.” Before setting up a lab at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, He studied in the U.S. The verdict accused him of colluding with Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, who worked at medical institutes in the same province. Zhang was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 1 million yuan, Xinhua said. Qin received an 18-month prison sentence, but with a two-year reprieve, and a 500,000 yuan fine. ___ Associated Press Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Baltimore and researchers Shanshan Wang and Yu Bing in Beijing and Fu Ting in Bangkok contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "China convicts 3 researchers involved in gene-edited babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fccade74b8f645a39c252c3684256cfc",
            "input": "The release does not mention cost or whether it’s covered by private insurance or Medicare, and in this case, it’s a pretty big omission. This may be an enormously expensive treatment for patients — and it’s why we have a cost criterion in our reviews. The hopeful psoriasis patient who sees this release without a cost discussion might already have their hand on the phone to call their dermatologist. Here’s a very rough estimate of what that patient might face in terms of cost: Based on a conservative wholesale price of roughly $4,000 per 80 mg injection and following the recommendation (found on the package insert) of two injections every two weeks for 12 weeks, followed by monthly injections, we calculated $48,000 for the first 12 weeks plus $36,000 for the following 9 months or $84,000 total. The release stated that by week 12, “76.4 to 81.8 percent of patients had their psoriasis classified as “clear” or “minimal” compared to 3.2% of patients on the placebo. By the 60th week, 68.7 to 78.3 percent of patients had maintained their improvement.” We also wanted more detail on the measured strength of the response for each patient. For example, what constitutes “minimal”? The release adequately addresses harms and notes that long-term side effects are unknown with this sentence: “Adverse events associated with ixekizumab included slightly higher rates of neutropenia (low white blood cell count), yeast infection and inflammatory bowel disease compared to the placebo. The safety of therapy longer than 60 weeks will need to be monitored in the future.” The release clearly and thoroughly describes the three phase 3 international trials at 21 sites, that they enrolled a large number of patients, and that they were randomized and controlled. There was no disease mongering. The release describes what psoriasis is and its prevalence, and explains that these trials were for moderate to severe psoriasis which covers at least 10 percent of the body. The release is very transparent in stating that the drug manufacturer paid for the research and that the lead researcher is a paid consultant to Eli Lilly. The release did not compare the many different ways that patients treat psoriasis, some with topical agents and some with oral steroids or other medications. The release states that the drug has been approved by the FDA following the completion of the trials. This is a strong indication that the drug is or soon will be available. The release should have noted that the drug is already being marketed under the brand name Taltz. The release makes an understated claim to novelty with this quote from the lead researcher: “Ten years ago, we thought complete clearance of this disease was impossible. It wasn’t something we would even try to do. Now with this drug, we’re obtaining response levels higher than ever seen before.” There was no unjustifiable language in the release.",
            "output": [
                "New drug clears psoriasis in clinical trials"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-55d6d2d750cf41bfa7cca99fce86de2a",
            "input": "The Texas woman’s name is Cathy Flanders and she has been on a crusade to bring the problem of indoor pollution from candles to the forefront. She has filed a lawsuit against the store that sold her candles which she says resulted in toxic levels of lead in her home and with serious medical consequences on her family. Regardless of the merits of her case, it is true that indoor pollution from certain kinds of candles is becoming a focus of research and is one of the hot topics right now among professionals concerned with health issues in the home. Not all the researchers are focused on lead and there are some who say they feel the danger from lead is reduced by the fact that U.S. candle makers have not used lead in candles for more than 25 years. There is increased focus on what researchers say is a significant contribution of candles to soot residue in buildings, more than has previously been realized, and to what extent that soot can contribute to health problems. While that is being studied, pollution experts recommend choosing candles from U.S. manufacturers that are made of hard wax, have low aromatic properties, burn with a low, even flame and with wicks that burn down evenly with the rest of the candle. They also recommend keeping burning candles out of drafts and not allowing an extinguished candle to continue emitting smoke. For more information: CNN Article about Cathy Flanders Article about Black Soot in the Home from the Environmental Illness Society of Canada  Comments",
            "output": [
                " An email is making the rounds that talks about a woman in Texas whose family has experienced a variety of health problems which she says are due to the lead content of some candles.  The email warns that burning candles in the home can lead to health problems.      "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ccdd91c3362749d1a7077245020132b9",
            "input": "\"During debate on the Republican health care bill, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., spoke passionately about the impact it will have on women’s health and especially on Planned Parenthood. \"\"We all know by now that the recent CBO analysis has bad news for millions of Americans, but it has some especially bad news for women,\"\" Maloney said on the House floor on March 16, 2017, the same day that the House Budget Committee approved the bill. \"\"The GOP plan makes Planned Parenthood ineligible for any reimbursement from Medicaid or Medicare for one entire year,\"\" Maloney said. \"\"More than half of Planned Parenthood facilities are in rural or medically underserved areas.\"\" Maloney was right that the bill restricts funds for Planned Parenthood. The American Health Care Act has a provision that won’t allow states to use direct spending of federal funds on prohibited entities. Planned Parenthood is a prohibited entity under the bill because it is a provider that is \"\"primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health and related medical care\"\" or \"\"provides for abortion\"\" in any situation besides saving the life of the mother, incest or rape. We were intrigued, however, by the claim that half of Planned Parenthood facilities are in rural or underserved areas. It’s a tricky thing to measure, but the evidence suggests the claim is sound. Our research Maloney’s spokeswoman Jennifer Bell pointed us to data from Planned Parenthood’s website. Statistics there show that 54% of Planned Parenthood facilities are located in health professional shortage areas, rural or medically underserved areas. This percentage was calculated by the Health Resources & Services Administration Shortage Area Database system. The HRSA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The HRSA's programs help provide health care to people who are geographically isolated, or economically or medically vulnerable. The agency identifies areas where health care is difficult to come by. Planned Parenthood matched up their locations to the HRSA data.\"",
            "output": [
                "More than half of Planned Parenthood facilities are in rural or medically underserved areas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f850189556743b29630a0f40e5009a3",
            "input": "\"In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama brought up the most explosive charge to emerge in the health care debate: the specter of \"\"death panels.\"\" \"\"Some of people’s concerns (about the health care legislation) have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost,\"\" Obama told lawmakers and a national television audience on Sept. 9, 2009. \"\"The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.\"\" The president was referring to a notion most prominently raised by former Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin in a note posted on her Facebook page on Aug. 7, 2009. \"\"And who will suffer the most when they ration care?\"\" Palin wrote. \"\"The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.\"\" We have read all 1,000-plus pages of the Democratic bill and examined versions in various committees. There is no panel in any version of the health care bills in Congress that judges a person's \"\"level of productivity in society\"\" to determine whether someone is \"\"worthy\"\" of health care. When we first  assessed  Palin's claim on Aug. 7, 2009, we gave it our lowest rating — . Palin may have jumped to a conclusion about the Obama administration's efforts to promote comparative effectiveness research. Such research has nothing to do with evaluating patients for \"\"worthiness.\"\" Rather, comparative effectiveness research finds out which treatments work better than others. The health reform bill being considered in the House of Representatives says that a Comparative Effectiveness Research Center shall \"\"conduct, support, and synthesize research\"\" that looks at \"\"outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services and procedures in order to identify the manner in which diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can most effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated, and managed clinically.\"\" The idea here, which Obama and his budget director Peter Orszag have discussed many times, is to make it easier for doctors, health care workers, insurance companies and patients to find out which treatments are the most effective, as determined by clinical studies and other research. The House bill states in the section creating the Comparative Effectiveness Research Center and an oversight commission that \"\"nothing in this section shall be consd to permit the Commission or the Center to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer.\"\" In other words, comparative effectiveness research will tell you whether treatment A is better than treatment B. But the bill as written won't mandate which treatment doctors and patients have to select. Nothing has emerged to suggest to us that the death panels claim is any more  today than it was when Palin first floated it. We still rate it as  today. In our book, that counts as a \"\"lie, plain and simple.\"\" So we find Obama's claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "The claim ... that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to  kill off senior citizens ... is a lie, plain and simple."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-123803f63bef46489f857cc9c96f143b",
            "input": "Not applicable. The cost of such a diet is not in question. The story provided the absolute number of strokes observed in the analysis, and the relative risk reduction observed. With a meta-analysis it is not statistically appropriate to pool absolute risk reductions, so the way the story treated the evidence is as good as can be done (showing the relative risk reduction and an “anchor” in terms of absolute risk.) Harms weren’t discussed, but we’re not sure there any substantial harms of a diet rich in leafy green vegetables, nuts and beans worth mentioning. We appreciate how the story’s second sentence emphasized: “But the authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stopped short of recommending people take a daily magnesium supplement because their analysis focused on magnesium in food — and it may be another aspect of the food that is responsible for their finding.” There was no disease mongering. The story included one independent expert’s perspective. We’ll give the story a satisfactory grade for emphasizing that this study could not address whether other aspects of peoples’ diets affected the findings – and that the results were consistent with dietary recommendations. The story would have been stronger if it had mentioned the importance of hypertension control in stroke reduction – and that it may be the favorable dietary pattern that is working with these people through improved blood pressure control. Not applicable. The availability of this kind of diet is not in question. The story was clear that this study was an analysis of seven studies published in the past 14 years. The story did not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Magnesium-rich diet may lower stroke risk: study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d401241b267a48718f9566d6f3d1e0d7",
            "input": "Boutique fitness studios are keeping track of clients’ progress with methods ranging from videotaping their workouts to measuring their fat, to posting a friendly nudge on their Facebook pages. Gregory Chertok, a sports psychology consultant with the American College of Sports Medicine, said research has shown that even small amounts of social support can produce large and lasting gains in physical activity. In a 2007 study by Stanford University in California, researchers showed that even a simple, computer-generated phone call could be effective in motivating the sedentary to exercise. “These exercisers are being held accountable by their fitness studios to a degree,” he said. AKT InMotion, a New York/Connecticut chain of dance and circuit-based interval training studios, offers a $2,000, personalized, eight-week exercise and nutrition program. It includes periodic body measurements and is supervised by a fitness concierge. Anna Kaiser, founder of AKT, said photographs and measurements are taken every two weeks to track progress. “A client will say ‘I still feel fat’ because you don’t actually see that you’re changing, so it helps,” said Kaiser, who added that measurements were private and optional. Accountability, she explained, is a two-way street. Clients must show up as well as work on nutrition, and if aspects of the program are not producing results, AKT will change it. Videotaping is popular for tracking progress. At Refine Method studio in New York City, which features full-body circuit training and small classes, it is used to give clients a  concrete measure to gauge progress. Clients do a few key assessment moves, such as a squat, and the videotape will show how they have improved over time. Founder Brynn Putnam, a former New York City Ballet dancer, said unlike professional athletes, who can count their wins, most people don’t get clear indications of progress. Regularity is also an important factor for improvement. Barry’s Bootcamp, a national chain of interval cardiovascular treadmill and strength-training studios, clients can sign up for a program called ‘Academy,’ in which they commit to the same classes at the same-time Monday to Friday for four weeks. Trainer Joey Gonzalez said he has used Facebook to reach out to no-shows. “Social media gives us a short cut for clients who have signed up for accountability-based programs,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Fitness studios keep clients on track with photos, social media."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a57b72b43a84149899b45b5ccc4a786",
            "input": "The Alameda County Public Health Department announced on Twitter late Tuesday that the Fremont, California, plant will be able to go beyond basic operations this week and start making vehicles Monday — as long as it delivers on worker safety precautions that it agreed to. It wasn’t clear from a news release whether Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk would face any punishment for reopening last Monday in defiance of county orders. Messages were left early Wednesday seeking comment from health officials and Tesla. The release said Fremont police would verify whether Tesla was holding up its part of the agreement. The deal requires that public health indicators have to remain stable or improve for the factory to stay open. “We will be working with the Fremont PD to verify Tesla is adhering to physical distancing and that agreed upon health and safety measures are in place for the safety of their workers as they prepare for full production,” the release said. Tesla’s factory reopened Monday for pre-production with Musk practically daring local authorities to arrest him, and operations apparently continued into Tuesday. The company met a Monday deadline to submit a site-specific plan to protect worker safety. But the reopening defied orders from the health department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that can’t fully open under restrictions intended to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The health department has said it warned the company was operating in violation of the county health order, and hoped Tesla will “comply without further enforcement measures” until the county approves a site-specific plan required by the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom framed the issue Wednesday as a local dispute, noting that the state guidelines have allowed some manufacturing “for weeks” when counties permit resumption. He said he’s urged local governments to follow the state’s approach in dealing with rogue operators by seeking “not to be punitive at first.” “It sounds like, based upon the progress that’s been made public, with the county and Tesla, that they were able to resolve their issue in fairly short order along those same lines,” he said. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. The plant in Fremont, a city of more than 230,000 people south of San Francisco, was closed March 23. It employs about 10,000 workers. Public health experts have credited stay-at-home orders with slowing the spread of the coronavirus, and helping hospitals handle an influx of cases. The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. But it has killed more than 80,000 people in the U.S., with the death toll rising. Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March. Newsom has repeatedly said that counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders. The order in the Bay Area has been extended until the end of the month, but the counties plan to allow some limited business and manufacturing starting May 18, the same day Detroit automakers plan to reopen auto assembly plants. Some auto parts plants were to restart production this week. The Detroit automakers’ 150,000 U.S. workers are represented by the United Auto Workers union, which has negotiated for added safety precautions. Tesla’s workers do not have a union. Musk, whose company has sued Alameda County seeking to overturn its order, threatened to move Tesla’s manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state. Tesla contends in the lawsuit that Alameda County can’t be more restrictive than orders from Newsom. The lawsuit says the governor’s coronavirus restrictions refer to federal guidelines classifying vehicle manufacturing as essential businesses that are allowed to continue operating. Tesla released a plan to maintain worker safety, including wearing gloves and masks, installing barriers between workers and maintaining social distancing. Local officials said the company initially pushed back on checking employee temperatures before boarding a company bus to get to work. But Tesla relented and agreed to check workers. ___ This story has been changed to clarify that the health department tweet came late Tuesday PST. ___ Associated Press writer Juliet Williams contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Dispute over reopening California Tesla factory may be over ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cff547ca45f4d47bbaca794899214cf",
            "input": "Both groups in this study used smoking cessation products, and so it would have been helpful to know how much they cost, even if it was just a quick approximation or discussion of affordability. At the same time, these aren’t high-dollar items, so cost isn’t as important to discuss as say, when reporting findings about a new cancer drug or surgery. The story gives the absolute number of participants (697) who were enrolled in the trial and then reports the percentages of participants who stopped smoking. While it reported reduced cigarette consumption in relative numbers, it did specify that participants smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day, giving somewhat more meaning to these percentages (e.g. “decrease their smoking by an average of 29%”). It told us quit rates at four weeks and six months, too–so we get some sense of change over time on results. It also placed these results in the greater context of what we know about quit rates among smokers. When quitting, heavy smokers can experience withdrawal symptoms–such as depression, insomnia and decreased heart rate–even if they use nicotine replacement products. The article did refer to “withdrawal” and “urge intensities” and so we’ll considered that sufficient. However, the piece would have been stronger had it specifically discussed the withdrawal symptoms mentioned above. The story sufficiently discusses the quality of evidence here, including that participants were assigned to one of two treatment groups. We’re told how far out the the study lasted, too–an indirect measure of quality, since long-term success rates are important for addictive behaviors. We also liked this frank sentence: “The researchers acknowledge that this is hardly the last word on the best way to quit.” The story does not engage in disease mongering–a smoking habit is unhealthy and harmful, and efforts to improve quit rates are important to study. This story does not include any comments from independent sources–or even from one of the researchers themselves. It only refers to the original journal article. Why does this matter? It’s always a good idea to consult an outside source because it’s likely to yield insights and context that otherwise would be lacking. But overall, this is a case where the story is still fairly strong, regardless of the lack of sourcing or interviews. The study is comparing two alternatives when quitting smoking–either cold turkey or gradually. The story discusses these options, along with the use of nicotine replacement in both scenarios. That’s enough to qualify as Satisfactory. However, another alternative the author didn’t mention was medications that can help with cravings–such as bupropion. What does the research say (if anything) about how those medications might augment quitting? That’s important to discuss. The availability of cigarettes or smoking cessation products is not in question. Although the story uses the word “new” when it means “latest” in the lead paragraph, we feel it did a good enough job referring to other studies to merit a Satisfactory rating. Despite the lack of original comments, this LA Times article does not appear to be based on any news releases we found online.",
            "output": [
                "To quit smoking, it's best to go cold turkey, study finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0604b48c6c2f451e8ea386625b20550b",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration cleared a near-copy of the drug, dubbed Amjevita, developed by Amgen Inc. Regulators approved the drug for more than a half-dozen conditions listed on the original drug’s label, including severe psoriasis and Crohn’s diseases. Humira posted sales of nearly $15 billion in 2015 and was for many years the top-selling prescription drug in the world, according to data from IMS Health. It’s the fourth time that the FDA has formally approved a so-called biosimilar, the industry term for a lower-cost version of a biotech drug. Biosimilar drugs, long available in Europe, are thought to have the potential to generate billions in savings for the U.S. health system. But currently only one biosimilar cleared by the FDA approval pathway is actually on the market in the U.S., Novartis’ Zarxio, an alternative to Amgen’s Neupogen that sells for about 15 percent less than the original product. The drug helps boost red blood cells in cancer patients. Amgen did not discuss plans for the drug’s launch or price in a release issued Friday evening. But Wall Street analysts have noted that AbbVie claims it holds patents protecting Humira until at least 2022. They have previously estimated that Amgen’s version could launch sometime between 2018 and 2022, depending on the outcome of court litigation. First approved in 2002, Humira accounted for 60 percent of AbbVie’s total revenue last year. The injectable drug, which blocks chemicals linked to inflammation, is part of a family of biotech drugs including Enbrel and Remicade, which are also facing pending biosimilar competition. Development of lower-cost anti-inflammatory drugs is considered pivotal in reducing U.S. spending on specialty drugs, which has doubled to $150 billion since 2010, according to IMS Health. Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen is itself a biotech powerhouse, and it too has medications facing competition from cheaper versions. The company is working to hedge those loses by developing lower-cost versions of competitors’ drugs. AbbVie Inc. is based in North Chicago, Illinois.",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves lower-cost alternative to biotech drug Humira."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2e18378309c495e8cc8538221032c19",
            "input": "The three western U.S. cities top the list of the 100 best towns for men in a new ranking compiled by Men’s Health magazine, while Charleston, West Virginia, Philadelphia and Birmingham, Alabama are considered the worst. “Anytime we do a best and worst city ranking and a city comes in at the very top like this, it immediately says to us they were consistently strong across the board in pretty much all of the 38 criteria that we looked at,” Men’s Health Executive Editor Matt Marion said. Boise, which jumped from fifth place last year, scored high marks for the physical and mental health of its residents, its low crime rate and short commuting times - an average of just 18 minutes. “Boise finishing number one was interesting to us because it is a city that would have finished in the top 20, but to come in right at the top is impressive,” Marion said. San Francisco, which consistently ranks high in the annual list, impressed with its small percentage of obese people, low number of smokers and highly educated and generally fit population. San Jose had very low death rates from cancer and heart disease, the lowest percentage of smokers in any of the 100 cities in the ranking, and not much crime. Plano, in Texas and Seattle rounded out the top five, followed by Burlington, Vermont, which dropped from the top spot last year. At the opposite end of the list, high cancer rates, violent crime and poor fitness levels assured Birmingham last place. In addition to Philadelphia and Charleston, West Virginia, the bottom five included Toledo, Ohio and St. Louis, Missouri. New York ranked 33rd and Los Angeles was in the middle of the ranking. The magazine compiled the list, now in its 12th year, by ranking the cities on criteria ranging from the cost of living, number of jobless, obesity, crime and death rates, to air quality and the ratio of men to women. It used data from various sources including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the National Center for Health Statistics, state cancer registries and federal crime statistics. “The things that we do focus on ultimately are the ones that will make a difference in terms of whether or not you will be happy and healthy,” Marion said. The full list can be found here",
            "output": [
                "Idaho, California cities deemed best in U.S. for men."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d18c22605244ebf804a484d91fc760c",
            "input": "The most powerful hurricane on record to hit the Bahamas swept through the islands earlier this week, leveling some neighborhoods, swallowing others with storm surge, and causing what one official described as a “staggering” number of deaths. Hundreds, if not thousands, are still missing in the country of about 400,000 people, but the official death toll stands at only 43, according to news media reports late on Friday, including the Washington Post and NBC. Eight people were confirmed dead from the storm in Grand Bahama and 35 people in the Abaco Islands, the Post reported, citing officials in the Bahamas. That toll is likely to soar as more bodies are discovered in the ruins and floodwaters left behind by the storm. In Freeport, witnesses said thousands crowded the port to try to get on a Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line ship offering free passage to Florida to those with necessary U.S. immigration documentation. Dazed evacuees, some with nothing but the clothes on their backs and plastic shopping bags, sat in the Kendal G. L. Isaacs National Gymnasium in Nassau which has been turned into a shelter. “Nobody can help anybody in Abaco, there’s no place safe, everything is destroyed,” said Firstina Swain, 75, who said she lost her home. “The people of Abaco need to get out, there are too many dead bodies, and I don’t think they finished finding them.”  A boat with 250 evacuees left battered Abaco and arrived in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, which is located on New Providence island to the west and was less affected. Another boat with hundreds aboard was on its way, National Voice of the Bahamas radio reported. Approximately 200 people were also evacuated from Abaco Friday on Bahamasair flights, according to a NEMA spokesperson who declined to be named. “Free air evacuations on Bahamasair from Abaco started (Thursday) and will continue until all Grand Bahama and Abaco residents who want to leave are off the islands,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a tweet. Four survivors told Reuters on Thursday they had been charged $75 for a seat on a Bahamasair flight from Abaco to Nassau. “I thought a relief flight would be free,” said Anthony Thompson, 27, who said he paid the fare for himself, his wife and his sister. “I thought wrong.”  A Bahamasair official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters the airline was collecting its customers whose flights had been canceled during the hurricane. To the extent extra seats were available, it was offering to ferry others off Abaco “at cost,” the official said. Bahamas Health Minister Duane Sands said there had been “a tremendous loss of life” in Abaco’s main city of Marsh Harbor. The medical chief of staff at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau said two refrigerated, 40-foot trucks would be needed to hold the “staggering” number of bodies that were expected to be found. “We’ve ordered lots of body bags,” said Dr. Caroline Burnett-Garraway. Those injured by the storm, which at one point was a Category 5 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, were treated for fractures, head injuries, lacerations, skin rashes and dehydration. Near an area called The Mudd in Marsh Harbour, the commercial hub, a Reuters witness described a devastating scene, with most houses leveled, a man lying dead near a main street and dead dogs in water. Some residents were leaving the area with meager possessions, while others were determined to remain. The U.S. Coast Guard, working with NEMA, has rescued 295 people since Dorian began, the U.S. embassy in Nassau tweeted. Relief groups are focusing on getting doctors, nurses and medical supplies into the hardest-hit areas and helping survivors get food and safe drinking water. The relief effort faces formidable logistical challenges because of the widespread destruction caused by Dorian, which hovered over the Bahamas for nearly two days with torrential rains and fierce winds that whipped up 12- to 18-foot (3.7- to 5.5-meter) storm surges. The risk of outbreaks of diarrhea and waterborne diseases is high because drinking water may be contaminated with sewage, according to the Pan American Health Organization, which described the situation for some people on Abaco as “desperate.”  The United Nations estimated 70,000 people were in “immediate need of life-saving assistance” such as food, water and shelter. The U.N. World Food Programme is airlifting storage units, generators, prefab offices, and satellite equipment as well as 8 metric tonnes of ready-to-eat meals. A Reuters witness saw widespread looting on Abaco, with people breaking into supermarkets and liquor stores. Wendy Hawkes, whose home on Abaco was largely destroyed, described seeing neighbors standing outside their front doors with shotguns to ward off looters. Claudin Loriston, 39, said he and his three young children were among the “lucky ones” to get on a plane out of Abaco. He said he had no documents with him, but he would try to get a job to support his family. “There are too many dead bodies there,” said the Haitian carpenter. “The government needs to remove everyone from the island, the smell is everywhere, it’s in the water.”",
            "output": [
                "Thousands try to flee hurricane-devastated Bahamas islands."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-936c973825b44da192f7e6e459f62d92",
            "input": "\"The story deal with cost very early in the story: \"\"You have one kind of operation that could cost $20,000 and another that could cost $80,000 and there’s not good evidence the expensive one is being used appropriately in the majority of cases\"\"… Add to that the expense for patients whose problems after surgery send them back to the hospital or to a nursing home and \"\"that’s not a trivial amount of money\"\" for Medicare… The cost to Medicare, just for the hospital charges for the three types of back surgery reviewed is about $1.65 billion a year, according to the researchers. The story clearly stated, \"\"The study didn’t address how successful the various types of surgeries were at relieving pain.\"\" Good job using absolute risk data: Nice job emphasizing what’s known and what’s not known. Excerpts:\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Riskier surgeries for back pain raise costs"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48e98b03828f4b61bdd924e3e13aa181",
            "input": "A staple in senior citizen centers and a common dawn sighting in public parks, the practice can offer long-term benefits for all age groups. “In this high-tech world that’s all about speed, greed and instant gratification, tai chi is the antidote to bring us back to balanced health,” according to Arthur Rosenfeld, a tai chi master and the author of a new book called “Tai Chi — The Perfect Exercise: Finding Health, Happiness, Balance, and Strength.”  “It doesn’t mean you can win the marathon or clean and jerk 750 pounds or win a cycle sprint,” said the South Florida resident, 56. “It’s not about getting there sooner.” Tai chi is more about how the body works than how it looks, and is about aging gracefully and “with less drama.”  “The last time I looked, there were some 500 studies about the various physical benefits of tai chi, from improving balance and attention span to boosting the immune system to beating back the symptoms of arthritis, asthma and insomnia,” said Rosenfeld. An estimated 2.3 million U.S. adults have done tai chi in the past 12 months, according to a 2007 National Health Interview Survey. The practice is not perfect. Tai chi “does not supply the cardiovascular component that we’d be looking for in a well-rounded routine,” said Jessica Matthews, a San Diego, California-based exercise physiologist. “The exertion level, while challenging, is not going to increase your heart rate.”  T’ai chi ch’uan, as it is formally known, derives from a form of Chinese martial arts. Explaining the slow, circular movement of the practice, Rosenfeld said tai chi is a philosophical term that means the harmonious interplay of opposing forces. When nature encounters a strong force, the way it answers that force to maintain harmony in the world is with a spiral, he said. “Astronomers see galaxies moving in spirals, water goes down the drain in a spiral, tornados form as a spiral. We spiral in tai chi because the most effective way to move fluid through solid is a spiral.”  Hawaii-based personal and group-fitness trainer Jordan Forth, who has studied tai chi since 2006, said one translation of tai chi is “grand ultimate motion.”  “I recommend it to everybody,” said Forth. “It teaches people to move well in multiple planes of motion with a state of awareness not cultivated in everyday fitness. Most people check out on a treadmill or during high-intensity activity.”  Forth said tai chi improves mobility, movement and flexibility and can be even more dynamic than yoga, which the 35-year-old has studied since he was a teenager. “With tai chi you’re grounded the entire time,” he said. “For me, (it) translates more into functional everyday movement.”  Matthews, who is also a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise, said because tai chi is slow motion and low impact, many assume it’s just for older people or not a viable means of exercise. Not so, she said: Research studies have found that the practice increased mineral bone density, boosted endurance, strengthened the lower body, and eased depression.",
            "output": [
                "Tai chi: getting there more slowly, but gracefully and intact."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54ec7a9dfced465ab5af6dcf930e7a29",
            "input": "\"As President Donald Trump’s negotiators were working with congressional leaders to assemble a coronavirus economic relief package, the president’s re-election campaign didn’t shy away from blasting one key Democratic leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. On March 24, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale shared a video focused on the coronavirus bill Pelosi had released the day before. It named a half-dozen provisions in the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act that the Trump campaign considered outside the scope of the current crisis. On screen, the ad says: \"\"Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats clog their coronavirus relief bill with leftist wishlist. Democrat bill includes: tax credits for solar and wind energy … emissions standards and carbon offset requirements for airlines … policing racial makeup of corporate boards … retirement plans for community newspaper employees … $300 million for PBS … climate change studies for civil aviation and aerospace industries. Democrats don’t care about your health or the economy. They only care about politics\"\" Democratic officials acknowledge that most of those provisions are in the bill, which at the time the ad was launched was taking a back seat to negotiations over a Senate bill. However, one of the provisions cited by the Trump campaign’s ad is not in the bill. A still from a Trump campaign ad targeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's coronavirus relief bill. Pelosi’s bill seeks to shape the behavior of any airlines that accept federal assistance to the benefit of their workers, customers and the environment. Carbon offsets are addressed in section 704 of the bill. Corporate board diversity, in the form of retrospective reporting requirements, is part of section 407, while the climate change study is in section 707. A statement provided by the Democratic leadership said that \"\"the extreme impacts that COVID-19 has had on corporate operations, the workforce, the lack of adequate contingency plans designed to protect worker interests and needs, and the impact this has had on the national economy highlights the need to have worker interests represented on corporate boards.\"\" This language, in section 404, is largely drawn from H.R. 1916, a bill that has been introduced but not advanced. The bill would change rules for community newspapers’ defined-benefit pension plans. The Democratic leadership says this is part of an overall pension package to help cash flow for companies. This would be a supplemental appropriation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and which is facing shortfalls due to the coronavirus, the Democratic leadership says. This is the one provision cited by the ad that is not actually in the House bill, despite pressure from the industry to include it. The campaign ad says that Pelosi’s coronavirus bill included provisions on \"\"tax credits for solar and wind energy … emissions standards and carbon offset requirements for airlines … policing racial makeup of corporate boards … retirement plans for community newspaper employees … $300 million for PBS … climate change studies for civil aviation and aerospace industries.\"\" The ad is correct that five of those six provisions are in the House bill. The remaining provision, on tax credits for solar and wind, is not.\"",
            "output": [
                "Donald Trump Says Nancy Pelosi’s coronavirus bill includes “tax credits for solar and wind energy … retirement plans for community newspaper employees … $300 million for PBS … climate change studies” and more."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4993becc523a4ca39a9b4f2ae6e07967",
            "input": "Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that the state Health Department was sending a cease and desist letter to the Fort Smith venue, TempleLive, to postpone or cancel a concert  Friday night by country rock singer Travis McCready. The event, which is expected to draw more than 200 people, would be held three days before Arkansas allows large indoor entertainment venues to reopen. “You can’t just arbitrarily decide when the restrictions are lifted. That is something that is done based upon a public health requirement,” Hutchinson told reporters. The state is allowing theaters, arenas and other entertainment venues to open Monday, but with a cap of 50 people in the audience. Hutchinson said last weekend that the 50-person limit was being revised to allow venues to fill to one-third capacity if they submit a plan approved by the state. TempleLive did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday afternoon. Organizers have said they planned to reduce capacity at the former Masonic temple from 1,100 people to 229 for the show and to implement other rules, including requiring patrons to wear masks and to have their temperatures checked at the door. TempleLive on Monday said it planned to move forward with the show after Hutchinson called organizers plans “insufficient.”  “We appreciate that the situations faced by the governor and his staff are serious and complex, and much of Arkansas’s COVID-19 approach has been praiseworthy,” Lance Beaty, president Beaty Capital Group Inc., the venue’s parent owner, said Monday. “However, in these complex matters, general policies and directives are not always best as ‘one size fits all.’” Arkansas was one of a handful of states that didn’t issue a stay-at-home order, though the state imposed other restrictions that it began rolling back in recent days. ___ Check out more of the AP’s coronavirus coverage at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Arkansas orders venue not to defy restrictions with concert."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f83c7dc29394f80ad4b7f91d749e402",
            "input": "In a study in the medical journal The Lancet, they said the patients, with strains of TB known as extensively-drug resistant (XDR) and totally drug resistant (TDR) TB, have exhausted all available treatment options and are sent home. “These patients can survive for months or even years and are contributing to the community-based spread of XDR-TB,” said Keertan Dheda, who led the study at the University of Cape Town’s department of medicine. Tuberculosis infects the lungs and can spread through coughing and sneezing. In recent years, drug-resistant strains have spread around the world, batting off standard antibiotics and posing an increasingly urgent public health threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Eastern Europe, Asia and South Africa, 450,000 people have MDR-TB, and around half of these will fail to respond to existing treatments. Dheda’s team followed 107 patients with XDR-TB from three provinces in South Africa between March 2008 and August 2012 to establish their fate. They also took samples from 56 patients and tested them to find out which and how many of 10 first- and second-line anti-TB drugs they were susceptible to. Despite being treated intensively with an average of eight anti-tuberculosis drugs, many of the patients fared poorly, with high rates of treatment failure and death. Five years after treatment initiation, only 12 of the patients had favorable outcomes and 74 percent had died. The researchers found that almost two-thirds of the tested patients had resistance to at least eight drugs, and there was one case of totally drug-resistant TB that was not susceptible to any of the 10 drugs tested. More worrisome, Dheda said, was that of the XDR-TB patients discharged into the general community, some 42 percent had failed to get better on treatment and were testing positive for active TB, and of these almost a third were at high risk of transmitting the disease. The patients also survived in the community for an average of 20 months - plenty of time to infect others. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. Another person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected. “Alarmingly, we have shown for the first time that... treatment failure and discharge of such patients into the wider community is occurring systematically on a country-wide level in South Africa,” Dheda said in a statement about the findings. In one case where the researchers followed a genetic trail of transmission, they found that a patient with XDR-TB who was discharged after failing treatment went on to infect his brother, who also eventually died. Dheda said the reason many TB patients are being sent away from hospitals appeared to be lack of bed space in designated tuberculosis hospitals. “And alternative long-term residential and palliative care facilities are scarce.”  Commenting on the findings in The Lancet, Max O’Donnell from New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the United States said they should serve as an “urgent alarm”. “MDR-TB (multi-drug-resistant TB) in all its forms is an out-of-control problem with potentially vast and devastating consequences for global public health,” he wrote. “The situation regarding MDR and XDR-TB is bleak.”",
            "output": [
                "South Africa risks spreading totally drug-resistant TB: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3bfe60bd4d4493ab80768d25dbe6487",
            "input": "Ottawa said it would spend C$2 billion to help buy supplies amid complaints from some doctors and nurses about shortages of personal protection gear. “The situation is going to get worse before it gets better. That is the unfortunate truth,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told a daily briefing. By 9 a.m. eastern time (1300 GMT,) those diagnosed with the coronavirus had risen by 15% to 7,708. The respective figures at 1200 ET on Monday were 66 deaths and 6,671 positive diagnoses. Chief public health officer Theresa Tam said she was particularly concerned the virus was spreading to enclosed settings where vulnerable people live, such as seniors’ residences, prisons and aboriginal communities. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would invest $2 billion to support testing and to purchase ventilators and protective personal equipment such as masks, face shields, gowns and hand sanitizer. In Quebec, the second-most-populous of the 10 provinces, Premier Francois Legault said “my biggest concern right now is for the medical supplies. Currently, for some equipment, we have only (enough) for three to seven days”. New shipments should arrive “in the next few days,” he told a daily briefing. Ottawa has signed agreements with three Canadian companies to produce the needed supplies, with five other deals pending, said Trudeau. “We know that the demand for critical equipment and supplies will grow in the coming weeks, so we need a sustainable, stable supply,” he told reporters. “That means making them at home and we’re optimistic that they will be available in the coming weeks.”  Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Ottawa had already bought more than 157 million surgical masks. Boosting supplies of medical equipment is part of Ottawa’s response to an outbreak that has forced the closure of many businesses and schools. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said schools in what is the most populous province would be closed until at least May 1. “I’m prepared to extend these closures even further,” he added. Manitoba said it would close schools for the rest of school year. Ottawa has pledged financial help for people and employers hit by the crisis. Finance Minister Bill Morneau will provide details on Wednesday, officials said.",
            "output": [
                "Canada coronavirus deaths jump by 35%, Quebec says equipment running low."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e8234b34b42e45f2a65ec5dac60df278",
            "input": "The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release on Tuesday that it’s working with the Buncombe and Henderson County health departments to track down additional information. Legionella bacteria can become a health concern when they grow and spread in human-made water systems like hot water tanks, air conditioning systems and other sources that are not properly maintained. State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore said it’s not yet known if people attending the fair might have been exposed to Legionella bacteria. Moore says people who attended the fair and are experiencing cough, fever or shortness of breath should call their health care provider right away.",
            "output": [
                "2 health departments investigate Legionnaires’ disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cecc05dd96244b16bb897e1b2aa5d10b",
            "input": "Australia and Japan have joined the list of almost 100 nations now limiting arrivals of people from South Korea, which reported 760 coronavirus cases on Thursday for a total of 6,088. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will suspend existing visas for visitors from China and South Korea and quarantine them for two weeks in response to the widening outbreak of the flu-like virus. The measures will go into effect on March 9. Following the announcement, the South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned a Japanese diplomat to “hear Japan’s explanations regarding its announcement,” Yonhap news agency reported, citing a ministry official. The South Korean government declared a “special care zone” around Gyeongsan, a city of about 275,000 people 250 km (150 miles) southeast of Seoul, promising extra resources such as face masks. Gyeongsan has seen a spike in cases in recent days, many of them linked to a fringe Christian group at the center of South Korea’s outbreak. Similar zones have been declared around the neighboring city of Daegu and Cheongdo County. About 75% of all cases in South Korea are in and around Daegu, its fourth-largest city, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). “Every day is sad and tough like a war. But our Daegu citizens are showing surprise wisdom and courage,” Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin told reporters on Thursday. About 2,120 patients were waiting for hospital beds in Daegu, city officials said. Dozens of newly commissioned military nurses were due to begin work in the city on Thursday, according to the health ministry. The KCDC reported five more deaths from the virus, bringing the total to 37. The virus surfaced in China late last year and has infected more than 95,300 people and killed almost 3,300 worldwide, mostly in China, according to a Reuters tally. South Korea also said it was banning the export of face masks, and would step up their production and ration them to limit individual purchases to two a week, in an attempt to ease shortages and curb hoarding. People have flocked to supermarkets, pharmacies and online distributors to snap up masks and other supplies, with hundreds lining up at some stores every morning. KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Jun-wook advised all South Koreans to stay home and avoid “any gatherings, especially those that take place in enclosed places with many people such as religious events”. He also advised employers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, highlighted by tech giants like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, to allow staff to work from home. U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) reported two new cases, for a total of six among soldiers, employees or people related to the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Despite the new cases, USFK had resumed sending troops to bases in Daegu and surrounding areas, according to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. It said commanders believed the bases were protected from the outside population, and troop rotations were needed to maintain readiness in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea. Australia’s ban on the arrival of foreigners from South Korea is a blow to Seoul’s efforts to prevent the United States from imposing such restrictions. “It is a deeply regrettable step, and we will closely consult Australian authorities for a swift revocation of the measure and to minimize inconvenience for our citizens,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim In-chul told reporters. South Korean officials met the U.S. ambassador in Seoul on Wednesday to urge the United States not to limit travel. Similar talks would be held on Friday with diplomats from other nations, the Foreign Ministry said. According to the U.S. State Department, anyone with a fever of 100.4 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) is already banned from boarding direct flights from South Korea to the United States. Korean Air Lines said it would screen all departing passengers for high temperatures and reject those deemed a risk. South Korea also sent three “rapid response” teams to Vietnam on Thursday to help more than 270 citizens quarantined there over coronavirus concerns, the Foreign Ministry said.",
            "output": [
                "South Korea declares new 'special care zone' as coronavirus spreads."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27248101c7b543a3a7bb9a0c3050ee25",
            "input": "So far, the continent of 1.3 billion people has registered only around 1,100 cases spread across 43 countries, with 39 deaths. While that is a tiny fraction of the more than 305,000 people infected and more than 13,000 deaths worldwide, there are concerns that Africa’s relatively poor health infrastructure means it will not cope if the virus becomes established. “The flight carried 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields,” Ma’s foundation said in a statement. “The faster we move, the earlier we can help.”  It said the supplies would be distributed across Africa, going first to countries that were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted that distribution would start on Monday. Health Minister Lia Tadesse said testing for the virus was one of the most important tools for controlling the outbreak. For several days, governments across the continent have been imposing tough measures to restrict travel and close public spaces. The World Health Organisation is planning to help countries set up pop-up hospitals that could be equipped with oxygen and ventilators. Part of Africa’s battle to stop the virus from taking hold could be fought in the churches when many of its more than 600 million Christians go to pray. Kenya, which has 15 confirmed cases, on Sunday banned all religious and social gatherings, limited the number of mourners at funerals to 15, and ordered all nightclubs and bars to close indefinitely. Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe told a news conference on Sunday that all international passenger flights would be banned from Wednesday. He said a county official who had flouted quarantine rules and tested positive would be charged once his quarantine ended. “Kenyans must treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves,” he said. “In the coming week, you will be witnessing more enforcement measures.”  Mozambique’s health ministry on Sunday confirmed its first case of coronavirus - a 75-year-old man who had recently returned from Britain. Both Madagascar and Liberia declared national health emergencies over the epidemic this weekend. In Burkina Faso, U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young said he had tested positive for coronavirus in a post on Twitter. The country is the worst-affected so far in West Africa, with 75 confirmed cases, including four government ministers. Somalia said on Sunday it had reopened its international airport for two days to allow its citizens to return from 14 countries affected by coronavirus. “We shall quarantine them when they arrive, near the airport. Their shelter, beds and food have been readied,” a government spokesman said.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus supplies donated by Alibaba's Ma arrive in Africa."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60b694cb416149cab9853d6f2317737f",
            "input": "The gist of this account about maps (and other items useful for escape efforts) being smuggled to Allied POWs during World War II by cleverly hiding them in Monopoly game sets is true, although some of the finer details in this particular account may be inaccurate. The general outline of the scheme to smuggle escape aids to POWs through specially manufactured Monopoly kits is recounted (among other places) in The Game Makers, a 2004 history of the Parker Brothers game company:  When allied airmen began to risk their lives flying missions over occupied Europe, Parker Brothers’ English partner found a way to use the Monopoly game to come to the aid of those who were captured by the Germans. The British War Office worked with a select group of Waddington staffers to modify Monopoly boards for insertion in games that the Red Cross would deliver to Allied prisoners of war. These men carved out precise depressions in the unfinished game boards and, before applying their labels, filled them with low-profile compasses, files, and maps that depicted escape routes from the prison camp where each game was to be sent. (The maps were printed on silk because silk did not rustle when opened. Waddington’s had perfected this process to such an extent that virtually all British flyers climbed into their warplanes with a Waddington’s map secreted in the heel of one of their boots.) Hidden among the games’ play money was real currency — German, Italian, or Austrian. It is not known how many airmen escaped thanks to these Monopoly games. Regardless of when it may have been officially declassified, information about the rigged Monopoly kits was openly acknowledged and discussed long before 2007. A 1985 Associated Press article, for example, reported that:  Waddingtons, which received the license to distribute Monopoly in Britain in 1935 from Parker Brothers in the United States, got involved in aiding the prisoners of war because of its printing expertise. It printed maps for the military on durable silk. Thousands of fliers who went on missions over German-occupied Europe had the maps sewn into their uniforms if they were shot down and captured. Victor Watson, chairman of the firm, said Waddingtons had a secret department that put the maps, files and money in shallow recesses on the board under the paper face. Then MI-9, the division of Military Intelligence devoted to helping POWs escape, smuggled the sets into prison camps as recreational equipment. Powell Davies, who was a 19-year-old flier when he was captured, said the prison escape committees would destroy the sets after removing the escape aids to keep the guards from figuring out what was going on. Although the account claims “an estimated one-third [of escaped POWs] were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets,” both the Game Makers excerpt quoted above and Waddington’s chairman said the number of POWs who were actually aided by the smuggled game kits is unknown:  Maps, files and compasses were hidden in Monopoly sets and smuggled into World War II German prison camps to help British prisoners of war escape, the game’s manufacturer, the John Waddington company of Leeds, England, says. Monopoly boards were made with maps hidden in them showing “escape routes from the particular prison to which each game was sent,” chairman Victor Watson said. “Into the other side of the board was inserted a tiny compass and several fine-quality files.” The money piles were real money, with one piece of Monopoly money on the top and bottom of the pack. “We are not sure how many prisoners were able to escape by this method,” Watson said, but the company likes to think a few did. A former archivist with John Waddington also pointed out some discrepancies in the account in response to a 2007 London Times recounting of it:  Sir, I write as the former archivist for John Waddington, the company which made Monopoly during the Second World War. In his article about Monopoly, Ben Macintyre states that the special sets of Monopoly were sent to prison camps via the Red Cross. Waddingtons produced many escape aids which were sent to the Nazi prison camps, but these were always sent via private, often fictitious, organisations like the Licensed Victuallers Prisoner Relief Fund. No escape aids were enclosed in the Red Cross parcels, so that the Germans would have no justification for stopping these much needed parcels from reaching the prisoners. It is untrue that safe houses were shown on the maps, as there was a virtual certainty that some of the maps would fall into German hands — the Germans were not fools when it came to tracking down prisoners’ ruses.",
            "output": [
                "Maps and other escape aids were smuggled to Allied POWs in Monopoly sets during World War II."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-120ebc862e0a42818a195931fb7731be",
            "input": "\"The news was enough to make the AJC PolitiFact Georgia scribe toss her leftover Halloween candy corn to the squirrels. \"\"Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States,\"\" said a recent news release from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, a hospital that specializes in pediatric care. Second? Out of all the states in the union? Are Georgia kids really that hefty? Yes, we felt guilty. One PolitiFact Georgia reporter had spent a recent afternoon dressed as a witch, handing out fistfuls of sweets to trick-or-treaters. Childhood obesity can lead to diabetes, high cholesterol and other potentially deadly problems. It also places more burdens on the health care system. We called a spokeswoman for Children's Healthcare Atlanta, who pointed us to \"\"F as in Fat,\"\" a report issued by the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit group that specializes in disease prevention. Sure enough, there Georgia was, second only to Mississippi in 2007 for obesity rates among 10- to 17-year-olds. In this state, 21.3 percent of children were obese, the report said. Mississippi's rate was 21.9 percent. The report defined an \"\"obese\"\" child as one with a body mass index greater than the 95th percentile for his age group. For instance, a 10-year-old boy with a height of 4 foot 6 inches and weighing 100 pounds would be obese. That's because his body mass index is 24.1, which is in the 97th percentile of his age group. Of the 10 states with the highest childhood obesity rates, nine were in the South, the report said. Children in Western states tended to be far more svelte. Eight of the 10 states with the lowest obesity rates were located in that region. The trust used figures from the National Survey of Children's Health, an effort funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The telephone survey asks parents for their children's ages, races, genders, weights and heights. Almost all the state-by-state rankings we found were based on data from that same survey. Understandably, they came up with similar results. The National Kids Count Program, run by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, used the same data to rank Georgia third in 2007. Its analysis ranked a slightly different group of kids: the number of children age 10-17 who are overweight as well as obese. Those are children whose body mass index is above the 85th percentile for their age and gender. A set of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided different results, but this survey was far from comparable. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System asks high school students in grades nine through 12 to report whether they are obese. The CDC does not rank states by high school obesity rates, but the data show that in 2009, 12.4 percent of Georgia high schoolers said they were obese. That's the 19th-highest of the states. But again, high schoolers report their own weight for this survey, and they might not be as accurate as their parents. The CDC does conduct a survey in which children are measured in person, but it doesn't break down the data by state. Why are Georgia's kids so heavy? We could locate no studies that answer that question, but there are some hints. The children who are at the highest risk for obesity are minorities or from rural areas, and they make up a large proportion of the state's child population, said Marsha Davis, a professor at the University of Georgia who studies childhood obesity. In rural areas, parents have trouble getting to supermarkets that sell fruits and vegetables. They end up feeding children with junk food they find at gas station convenience stores. For instance, the agricultural industry in South Georgia's Colquitt County ships produce across the country but sells very little locally, Davis said. The obesity rate there is extremely high. So while there is some variance in what surveys tell us, there's widespread agreement that Georgia kids are obese. And by one widely respected measure, Georgia's kids are the second-most obese in the nation. Now, that's not to say you need to throw out your kid's stash of Halloween candy. \"\"Halloween is fun,\"\" Davis said. \"\"The problem is we're having Halloween every day.\"\".\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2ae21aa4b054e01bf9ab1ef95c999af",
            "input": "Swedish Thunberg said on Instagram she had now recovered from symptoms milder than her latest cold, and may not have suspected COVID-19 had it not been for her father, who had travelled with her, developing more severe symptoms. “Many (especially young people) might not notice any symptoms at all, or very mild symptoms. Then they don’t know they have the virus and can pass it on to people in risk groups,” she said. “We who don’t belong to a risk group have an enormous responsibility, our actions can be the difference between life and death for many others. Please keep that in mind, follow the advice from experts and your local authorities and #StayAtHome to slow the spread of the virus.”  The founder of the Fridays for Future youth movement said she had not been tested for the virus but given the combined symptoms and circumstances it was very likely she had it. She had self isolated because she had visited countries hit by coronavirus infection. Fridays for Future calls on politicians to listen to climate scientists and take urgent action to against global warming.",
            "output": [
                "Greta Thunberg says probably had COVID-19, urges #StayAtHome."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca562ff3d39d4398ab0a90def96a3890",
            "input": "The release includes the idea of costs, but without using any numbers. The two mentions of cost are here: “However, reports of rare HPV-negative, Pap-test positive cancers are motivating continued use of both tests (cotesting) despite increased testing costs.” and here: “Researchers were searching for realistic performance data to quantify the additional benefit of the Pap test component of cotesting, as the costs of intensive screening of all women using two screening tests are substantial.” The readers are not given any framework in which to judge how much more co-testing may cost than single-testing by either of the methods discussed. We are also not given any society-wide idea of what we all might save if both tests were not routinely administered. The release is comparing two different screening methods, which both have benefits, to using either one of them alone. We were especially pleased that the release included a clear description of the benefit using absolute, rather than just a relative, risk number. “Given the rarity of cancers among screened women, the contribution of the Pap test to screening translated to earlier detection of at most five cases per million women per year. Two-thirds (67%) of women found to have cancer up to 10 years of follow-up at Kaiser Permanente were detected by the first cotest performed.” Besides this number, the release included specific numbers for benefits of each test. “HPV-negative/Pap test-positive results preceded only small fractions of cases of precancer (3.6%) and cancer (5.9%); these cancers were more likely to be regional or distant stage than other cases.” The release doesn’t directly explain the harms of cancer screening. The release addresses the harm of omitting one test, but this wasn’t enough to meet our standard. The release states that HPV is “more sensitive than the Pap test for detecting precancer.” But it doesn’t discuss the flip side, which is that many pre-cancers may not go on to become cancer even though all are treated. The release frames the study done by Kaiser Permanente of Northern California as “the most extensive experience of HPV testing incorporated into routine screening in the world.” More than a million women were tested since 2003. There were 623 cancers and 5,369 pre-cancers. Researchers examined these to judge the relative contribution of the Pap and HPV test to identifying cases. These details give readers plenty of information to judge the quality of evidence. There was no disease mongering. The funder (NIH/National Cancer Institute) is listed on a sidebar of EurekAlert! where the release is hosted. We encourage releases to also include funders in the release itself. There do not appear to be any conflicts. The release is about comparing alternative screenings, either co-testing or HPV alone. The report does not address Pap alone (recommended for women under 30 years old). It is implied that these tests are widely available in the US. The release addresses novelty with this summary of the work: “the most extensive experience of HPV testing incorporated into routine screening in the world.” The long-term study comparing outcomes from two long used screening tests is novel. We found no unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "HPV testing is better than the Pap test at detecting cervical cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31bbf91f35df4682909f5dd0d8548ae3",
            "input": "Unlike tests to diagnose diseases, antibody tests show who has been infected and recovered. The body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses and infections, including other coronaviruses. New blood tests are being developed to identify antibodies unique to SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the new coronavirus. The tests look for two kinds of antibodies: immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG). The body quickly produces IgM antibodies for its initial attack against infections. It makes IgG antibodies more slowly and retains them longer; IgG antibodies suggest possible immunity. Some companies are developing finger-prick tests that get results in minutes. Others are developing far more accurate tests called enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) that require sending blood samples to a lab for analysis. “I would argue that in the present circumstance, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy are more important than convenience,” said Dr. James Zehnder, director of clinical pathology at Stanford Medicine in California. Labs across the country are developing antibody tests that  could be widely available within weeks, said Dr. Elitza Theel, director of the Infectious Diseases Serology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. It is not yet clear how many tests will be needed - but that number could run into the hundreds of millions - or when supplies will be adequate. More than 60 vendors have notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of plans to release antibody tests, Theel said. The FDA will allow release of some tests without standard review if developers determine they are accurate. Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) launched a lab-based IgG antibody test on Wednesday without going through FDA review and is expecting to ship nearly one million tests this week alone. Dozens of manufacturers are also seeking FDA approval for antibody tests under an accelerated emergency review process. Earlier this month, Cellex Inc became the first company to win emergency approval for an ELISA test. BioMedomics Inc and Becton Dickinson and Co (BDX.N) have launched a point-of-care finger-prick test and said they expect to supply more than one million tests over the coming months. As tests flood the market, accuracy will vary, Theel warned. “We have to make sure the test we are using is giving us the most accurate results,” she said. An ELISA test for IgG antibodies being developed at Mayo Clinic correctly identifies who has coronavirus antibodies more than 95% of the time, Theel said. Antibody tests can help calculate what portion of the population has already been infected, as well as whether infections were mild or severe. Governments and companies could use antibody tests to determine who would most likely be safe to return to work and public interactions, and whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders all at once in some regions or in stages based on infection risk. People with negative antibody tests or very low antibody levels would likely have higher risk of infection than people with high antibody levels. While antibodies to many infectious diseases typically confer some level of immunity, whether that is the case with this unique coronavirus is not yet known. And how strong immunity might be, or how long it might last in people previously infected, is not clear. With some diseases like measles the immunity can be lifelong. With others, immunity can wane over time. “We cannot know with certainty that reinfection is not possible until further research is performed,” said Dr. David Reich, president and chief operating officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.",
            "output": [
                "Explainer: What are coronavirus antibody tests?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07f9096079a9464a9628c20b3e629fbf",
            "input": "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued warnings for travelers who passed through Denver International Airport or Los Angeles International Airport on Dec. 11. Colorado’s Tri-County Health Department told KCNC-TV that the incubation period expired Friday. The department’s Dr. Bernadette Albanese says authorities detected a secondary case of measles affecting a passenger on the international flight. She says that individual lives outside Colorado and that Tri-State had no additional information. In Colorado, Tri-County notified 258 people who were at Children’s Hospital Colorado on Dec. 12 while the infected children were being treated there. No new cases were reported. The children who contracted the highly contagious disease did not have the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Measles symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash. The illness can lead to pneumonia and swelling of the brain.",
            "output": [
                "Incubation period ends for possible Denver measles exposure."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9bc5f82b8cb4d2a852e86c9d00b362d",
            "input": "The wealthy family in a motion on Monday argued that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s lawsuit mischaracterized internal records to create the “false impression” they personally directed privately-held Purdue’s marketing of painkillers. Her lawsuit, filed in June in Suffolk County Superior Court and revised earlier this year to include new allegations, was the first by a state to try to hold Sackler family members personally responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic. The case is among roughly 2,000 lawsuits filed mostly by state and local governments seeking to hold Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid crisis. Opioids were involved in a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Healey’s complaint cites records to argue that family members, including Purdue’s former President Richard Sackler, personally directed deceptive opioid marketing while making $4.2 billion from Purdue from 2008 to 2016. They did so even after Purdue and three executives in 2007 pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the misbranding of OxyContin and agreed to pay a total of $634.5 million in penalties, the lawsuit said. But in their motion, the Sacklers said nothing in the complaint supports allegations they personally took part in efforts to mislead doctors and the public about the benefits and addictive risks of opioids. They said their role was limited to that of typical corporate board members who participated in “routine” votes to ratify the management’s staffing and budget proposals. “Not a single document shows an individual director engaging in any unlawful conduct regarding the sale of prescription opioids or ordering anyone else to do so,” the Sacklers’ lawyers wrote. Healey, in a statement, called the motion “an attempt to avoid accountability.”  At least 35 states have cases pending against Purdue. Four  have also named Sackler family members as defendants, including Richard Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Mortimer D.A. Sackler. Last week, Purdue reached its first settlement in the recent wave of lawsuits, agreeing with the Sacklers to a $270 million deal with Oklahoma’s attorney general. Oklahoma’s lawsuit did not name Sacklers as defendants. Purdue had been exploring filing for bankruptcy before the accord’s announcement, Reuters reported in early March.",
            "output": [
                "Purdue's Sackler family fights 'inflammatory' Massachusetts opioid case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-84c14182c6c646c59c0511342f4c7f66",
            "input": "New guidelines mean people should reduce the amount to less than 10 percent of their daily energy intake — or to about 50 grams or 12 teaspoons of sugar for adults, the U.N. agency said. A cut to less than 5 percent would be even better at helping prevent chronic diseases linked to poor diets including heart disease, cancers and diabetes, it added. “The reason we are focusing on sugar is that we really have seen the important association with weight gain and obesity is a major public health concern for many countries, an increasing concern,” the Director of WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, Dr. Francesco Branca, told a briefing. The WHO’s recommendations cover free sugars such as glucose and fructose, and sucrose or table sugar added to processed foods and drinks. They do not cover sugar found naturally in fresh fruit, vegetables and milk. The current average in South America was 130 grams per adult per day, in North and Central America 95 grams, in Western Europe about 101 grams and 90 grams in the Middle East, Branca said. Equatorial and southern Africa has the lowest average of 30 grams. “Where do we find free sugars, in reality we find them in a large number of products, in fact in the majority of products,” he added. One can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of sugar, while orange and apple juices have between 24-26 grams, he said. “Actually it is very easy to exceed the recommendation of 12 teaspoons if you think of having maybe a bowl of breakfast cereals in the morning, then maybe you have a can of soda sometime during the day, then you have for dinner a sweetened yogurt, you are already above the 10 percent. You are already at approximately 15 teaspoons,” Branca said. Global sugar consumption from a daily average of about 58 grams per person in 2003 to 63 grams in 2013, is up about 10 percent, according to the WHO. The Sugar Association, a U.S. trade group, slammed the guideline, saying in a statement it used “weak and inconsistent data” to link sugar intake with chronic diseases.",
            "output": [
                "Slash sugar intake to fight obesity, tooth decay: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f7981a33bff49b4a0a18f61c8d9ef0b",
            "input": "Pre-clinical testing by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), comprising injecting ferrets with two potential vaccines, was underway at its high-containment biosecurity facility near Melbourne. The first phase testing would take around three months, CSIRO’s director of health Rob Grenfell told Reuters, adding that any resulting vaccine would not be available to the public before late next year. “We’re still sticking to the optimistic 18 months for delivery of vaccine to the general consumers,” Grenfell said from Melbourne in an interview over Skype. “Now this, of course, may change. There’s a lot of technical challenges that we’re having to go through.”  Grenfell said scientists were working at a “remarkable” pace, reaching the pre-clinical testing stage in about eight weeks, a process that usually takes up to two years. “So, this is the speed that’s going on at the moment.”  More than 850,000 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus across 207 countries and territories, killing more than 42,000. Australia has reported around 5,200 cases and 24 deaths. Grenfell said he expected human trials of one of the two vaccine candidates being tested to begin later this month or early next month. CSIRO said its testing would cover both efficacy and evaluating the best way to administer the vaccine for better protection, including an intra-muscular injection and a nasal spray. CSIRO was the first research organisation outside of China to successfully develop a lab-grown version of the virus to enable pre-clinical studies on COVID-19. In February, it confirmed ferrets reacted to the coronavirus as they shared with humans a particular receptor on their respiratory cells that the virus binds itself to. “If we can stop that virus binding to the ferret receptors in the respiratory system, there’s a very good chance it (vaccine) will work in humans,” Grenfell said. Moderna Inc is the closest publicly known facility to human testing, announcing plans to start a trial in Seattle last month. The U.S. government has cut deals with both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and is in talks with at least two other companies, to produce massive quantities of vaccines. Israel has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its bio-chemical defense laboratory, a source told Reuters on Tuesday. In Australia, thousands of healthcare workers last week entered a trial to see if a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis can fight off the novel coronavirus.",
            "output": [
                "Australia begins pre-clinical testing for coronavirus vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d4b367542454b10909743054e6e3c1b",
            "input": "Andee Shuster and Ben Urovitch kiss as in front of a heart shaped sculpture outside the Montreal Museum of Arts, February 13, 2005. U.S. researchers said their observational study was the first to show an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease, but stressed that more work was needed before any treatment recommendations could be made. “We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,” Karina Davidson of Columbia University Medical Center wrote in the study in the European Heart Journal. Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women in Europe, the United States and most industrialized countries. Together with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases accounted for 32 percent of all deaths around the world in 2005, according to the World Health Organization. Over 10 years, Davidson and her team followed 1,739 men and women who were taking part in a large health survey in Canada. Trained nurses assessed the participants’ heart disease risk and measured negative emotions like depression, hostility and anxiety, as well as positive emotions like joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm and contentment — collectively known as a “positive affect”. The researchers ranked the “positive affect” across five levels ranging from “none” to “extreme” and found that for each rank the risk of heart disease fell by 22 percent. Davidson, who led the research, said her findings suggested it might be possible to help prevent heart disease by enhancing people’s positive emotions. “Participants with no positive affect were at a 22 percent higher risk of ... heart attack or angina ... than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22 percent higher risk than those with moderate positive affect,” she wrote. “We also found that if someone who was usually positive had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease.”   Smoking, being overweight, a history of heart problems in the family and high blood pressure are traditionally seen as major risk factors for heart disease, but studies have also linked such things as intelligence and income levels to heart risks. Research published last week found intelligence is second only to smoking as a predictor of heart disease. Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) advocacy group said Thursday’s study echoed previous findings which had prompted the BHF to delve deeper. “The BHF is funding science to unravel the biology that underlies this link,” she said. Davidson’s team said one possible reason for the link between happiness and heart risk could be that people who are happier tend to have longer periods of rest or relaxation, and may recover more quickly from stressful events and not spend as much time “re-living” them.",
            "output": [
                "Happiness makes for a healthy heart."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8da1113f00564cf2bc1b32e6f2c68169",
            "input": "A worker injects a duckling with the bird flu vaccine at a duck farm following an outbreak of bird flu, in Panyu district of Guangzhou, September 18, 2007. Vietnam, one of the countries hardest-hit by bird flu, will start a human vaccine trial this month, a military medical official said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Joe Tan The official did not give a specific date but said the Health Ministry had approved testing that would last eight months at the Military Medical Academy in Ha Tay province near Hanoi. “We are going to conduct the tests at the academy, with people joining on a voluntary basis, including students and employees,” said the official, who asked not to be identified in the media. The academy had been licensed by the Ministry of Health to conduct the trial but it still required permission from the Ministry of Defence, the official said. A company run by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said in a statement on its Web site (www.vabiotechvn.com) that it would produce six million doses per year for application on both humans and poultry should the tests be successful. Five people have died of bird flu in Vietnam so far this year out of six reported H5N1 infections. The World Health Organisation has recorded 51 deaths in Vietnam since late 2003 out of 235 people killed among 372 known cases globally. WHO in Vietnam said it was not directly involved in the Communist-run Southeast Asian country’s development of a human vaccine for the H5N1 virus. “Our understanding is that this would be for local issue only and that the Ministry of Health has rigorous guidelines for quality control,” said Dida Connor, WHO spokeswoman in Hanoi. The Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1, known as Vabiotech, said in its statement that the vaccine used for poultry would be 1.5 microgram per dose, or one tenth the dose for humans. On March 2, GlaxoSmithKline company said a vaccine it designed to protect people against H5N1 may be effective in warding off a few different sub-types of the virus. In an Asian clinical trial involving 1,206 adults in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, the vaccine produced antibodies that not only neutralised the H5N1 virus found in Vietnam, but also the variant now dogging Indonesia. A vaccine designed using a current H5N1 strain might not offer protection against other strains and might even be useless against any eventual pandemic strain because viruses mutate all the time. Still, experts say the process of making vaccines will lay down the necessary infrastructure so that the time used to make an eventual pandemic vaccine — anywhere between 4 to 6 months after a pandemic begins — can be shortened.",
            "output": [
                "Vietnam military to test bird flu vaccine on humans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c6a8cdc90bc4c34ae725a7969bf112a",
            "input": "No mention of costs The story quantifies the benefits in terms of survival for both intravenous and intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The story gives us balanced information on harms, including the very serious side effects which led to less than half the study population adhering to the full course of chemo. The story accurately represents the nature of the clinical evidence, that this was a controlled trial with 415 women. It should have been more clear that it was a randomized trial. The story accurately represents the prevalence of ovarian cancer and the survival. Independent source is quoted. The author does mention intravenous chemotherapy as the alternative and explains the advantages and disadvantages of the new approach. Clearly this treatment is available in the U.S., but it’s not clear how widely available it is and how many oncologists have experience using it. The story does not mention if the treatment is new or not.",
            "output": [
                "Treatment brings hope for ovarian cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c376a3130b24731af154d487e2d1f1d",
            "input": "\"Distinguished legal minds of the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments over whether the federal government can compel businesses to cover contraceptives at no cost to women through the Affordable Care Act. It’s a serious issue. And Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is all over it. Correspondent Samantha Bee took viewers into the debate in a segment host Jon Stewart described as the rare intersection of health care, the economy, aging and penises -- \"\"the issues of greatest consequence to you, the American people.\"\" Some conservatives and Catholics argue the contraceptives mandate violates the religious rights of business owners who would have to provide coverage for a medication they do not agree with, and that women who want it should get it on their own. Bee sat down with Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a group that supports birth control and the morning-after pill being made available to everyone. Hogue said women use birth control for a number of reasons, including avoiding unintended pregnancies, regulating menstrual cycles and treating endometriosis. The contraception mandate addresses a disparity with the federal government paying for men’s sexual health treatments, she argued. \"\"The existing system is absolutely a double-standard,\"\" Hogue said. \"\"Medicare has spent $172 million on penis pumps in the last five years at $360 a pop.\"\" Bee considered the information. \"\"Wait, Medicare funds penis pumps?\"\" Truth be told, we were curious too. Can Hogue’s numbers be right, or are they inflated? \"\"Vacuum erection systems\"\" (that’s a more technical term) are one of several ways a man might treat erectile dysfunction, which affects 30 million men, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. We found an inspector general report from the Department of Health and Human Services detailing the issue. (A spokeswoman for NARAL Pro-Choice America later pointed us in the same direction.) The December 2013 report didn’t weigh in on whether it was inappropriate for Medicare to pay for penis pumps. The crux of the review was to find out if Medicare was paying exorbitant rates for them. The devices are among medical supplies eligible for Medicare Part B, which offers supplementary health insurance for medically necessary and preventive services for seniors. The cost of a device like a penis pump is subtracted from a beneficiary’s deductible, and Medicare picks up 80 percent of the cost after that. The auditors’ findings: Medicare payments for vacuum erection systems are more than twice the average payment rate for non-Medicare payers. The difference is \"\"grossly excessive,\"\" the report says. From 2006 to 2011, Medicare paid a total of $172.4 million for 473,629 claims for pumps, or about $364 a pump. That’s almost exactly what Hogue said (though spending was measured over a six-year period ending in 2011, not the last five, as she said). Over those six years, annual claims payouts almost doubled, jumping from $20.6 million in 2006 to $38.6 million in 2011, the report says. Medicare would save $18 million a year, and its beneficiaries would pocket $4.5 million, if the program retooled its fee schedule rate to be more in line with other programs and the private market. The report suggests the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services either establish a payment limit or to seek authority from Congress to include the products in its competitive bidding program. Our ruling Hogue said, \"\"Medicare has spent $172 million on penis pumps in the last five years at $360 a pop.\"\" We’ll stay out of saying whether it’s legitimate for Medicare to cover vacuum erection systems for older men, and whether it’s unfair that many health plans would have to cover contraception. The Daily Show was trying to make a humorous point about tax money paying for some male sexual health products, which hasn’t been a source of controversy. As for Hogue’s statement, she gets the dollars right but misses on the timeframe. An inspector general’s report measured six years ending in 2011, not the most recent five years. That’s a minor point in judging her overall claim.\"",
            "output": [
                "Medicare has spent $172 million on penis pumps in the last five years at $360 a pop."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3771ec55a4564ab99ef3c55b3f220496",
            "input": "\"In a recent Medium post, Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., lamented the toll of addiction in his state and across the country. \"\"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 120 Americans on average die from a drug overdose every day,\"\" Pitts wrote. \"\"Overall, drug overdose deaths now outnumber deaths from firearms.\"\" We wondered whether those numbers were accurate, so we took a closer look. The CDC calculates overdose deaths from prescription drugs separately from overdose deaths from illicit drugs. To get the full number, you have to add both categories together. In 2014, there were 25,760 deaths from prescription-drug overdoses. That same year, there were 17,465 deaths from illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine.\"",
            "output": [
                "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 120 Americans on average die from a drug overdose every day. Overall, drug overdose deaths now outnumber deaths from firearms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4841b1fa98a24466bda8c47e25a113e9",
            "input": "So popular have the street workout routines of Elyse Blemmings become in these times of enforced idleness that some of the neighbours are also meeting new friends amongst all the bending and stretching. “It’s brought back, I suppose, what everyone’s feeling, a big sense of community spirit,” she told Reuters. Blemmings, 31, was used to streaming her workout sessions online, but after neighbours spotted her doing her fitness routine in Chigwell, she decided to share her motivational talents closer to home. Originally from the northern city of Manchester - hence the “Mancunian” name - Blemmings said that as well as the benefits of physical exercise, her sessions in the street helped to build social links in the community in a time of social distancing, and were bringing different generations together. “They know they’re going to get their heart rate lifted, they’re going to have some endorphins and they’re going to go back in their house and say ‘I feel better today’ rather than just going through the same monotonous routine,” she said. Britain has been under lockdown since March 23, and police have been given the power to enforce social distancing rules. On Thursday, the government extended those restrictions for another three weeks at least. But for Blemmings’ neighbours in Chigwell, the fitness sessions have been an unexpected highlight of the lockdown. “It’s just fun and one of the most important things is ... we’ve got to know neighbours that we don’t really know,” said Margaret Lakey, 79, who has lived on the street for 50 years but can no longer play bowls as usual. “We’re waving, aren’t we, to neighbours we’ve never spoken to before.”   After starting out with two sessions last week, Blemmings said she wants to keep them up for as long as they are wanted. Children as young as 5 took part in the session, with older neighbours joining in. “It’s good for everyone’s spirits, old or young. We’re at the older age and the young ones are out as well,” Tony Aiken, 72, told Reuters. Blemmings said that even once the restrictions are lifted, she hoped the community bonds formed in the exercise would remain. “I think it’s going to be very hard to go back to absolutely normal when people have been outside doing jumping jacks in front of each other. Let’s be honest everyone looked ridiculous today,” she said. “So if they go back to just ignoring each other, that’s just weird.”",
            "output": [
                "In lockdown Britain, 'Mancunian Motivator' brings fun and fitness to neighbours."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bf52710a410a4582a7c3fedb8dddec08",
            "input": "Example:   [Collected via e-mail, July 2008] Dear all,I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Some of you already know, but we wanted to make everyone aware of a terrifying experience that we had over the weekend. Thank g-d, everything’s ok now but we thought friends and family would want to be aware and would want to advise others with babies. Zane’s been teething pretty badly for the past few days, and we decided to give him Baby Orajel on Sunday afternoon. We’ve given it to him a few times previously, when his first two teeth cut through, and never had a problem. Scott and I were both sitting with Zane on the floor in his room when I rubbed a dosage on his upper gum. Seconds after I gave it to him, he made a face as if he were crying but no noise came out. I picked Zane up and he immediately went limp in my arms and his face turned blueish. He was not panicking or gasping for air – he was lifeless. This lasted for approximately 15 seconds, but felt like an eternity. Words cannot convey our feelings during that time (or even now, ever) as we attempted to revive our son. No parent should ever experience such a feeling and no person should ever see something like this happen to a loved one. Without a doubt it was the scariest moment of our lives. Ultimately, Zane “came to” and began to cry hysterically. Thank g-d!!!!!!!! We spent the evening at the hospital , where Zane underwent numerous tests, all of which came back normal. We also spoke with Zane’s pediatrician, who stated that she advises against the use of this product because its purpose is to numb and if it gets into an infant’s throat, it may stop them from breathing. Obviously, we wanted to learn more about this product and why this happened so we conducted some internet research. Interestingly, we came across some postings of parents with similar experiences. Further, one website listed a side effect as, “difficulty breathing and grey/blueish face.” Also, when we called Zane’s daycare to let them know what happened, the owner said that she’s heard of this happening before. It’s surprising then that no such warning is on the bottle and that more people do not discuss the negative and possible deadly implications of the use of this product. We don’t want to imagine what could’ve happened if we had given this to him at night, in his crib, as we (and many others) have done in the past, and then walked away (although, of course we monitor him throughout the night). To reiterate, the reason we share the above with you is to strongly advise you to throw away any Baby Orajel products you have at home and please advise your friends and family of the same. Trust us, it’s not worth the possible side effects. Best, Scott and Allison [remainder of signature block elided] In April 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety announcement confirming the account described above, warning that in rare cases the use of benzocaine (commonly found in over-the-counter gels and liquids used for teething pain in infants) can result in a condition known as methemoglobinemia, symptoms of which include shortness of breath and blue skin: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public that the use of benzocaine, the main ingredient in over-the-counter (OTC) gels and liquids applied to the gums or mouth to reduce pain, is associated with a rare, but serious condition. This condition is called methemoglobinemia and results in the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream being greatly reduced. In the most severe cases, methemoglobinemia can result in death.Benzocaine gels and liquids are sold OTC under different brand names such as Anbesol, Hurricaine, Orajel, Baby Orajel, Orabase, and store brands. Benzocaine is also sold in other forms such as lozenges and spray solutions (also see separate Drug Safety Communication on Benzocaine Sprays). These products are used to relieve pain from a variety of conditions, such as teething, canker sores, and irritation of the mouth and gums. Methemoglobinemia has been reported with all strengths of benzocaine gels and liquids, including concentrations as low as 7.5%. The cases occurred mainly in children aged two years or younger who were treated with benzocaine gel for teething. People who develop methemoglobinemia may experience pale, gray or blue colored skin, lips, and nail beds; shortness of breath; fatigue; confusion; headache; lightheadedness; and rapid heart rate. In some cases, symptoms of methemoglobinemia may not always be evident or attributed to the condition. The signs and symptoms usually appear within minutes to hours of applying benzocaine and may occur with the first application of benzocaine or after additional use. If you or your child has any of these symptoms after taking benzocaine, seek medical attention immediately. Benzocaine products should not be used on children less than two years of age, except under the advice and supervision of a healthcare professional. Healthcare professionals and consumers are advised to consider the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations for treating teething pain instead of using the benzocaine teething products: o Give the child a teething ring chilled in the refrigerator. o Gently rub or massage the child’s gums with your finger to relieve the symptoms of teething in children. If these methods do not provide relief from teething pain, consumers should talk to a healthcare professional to identify other treatments. Adult consumers who use benzocaine gels or liquids to relieve pain in the mouth should follow the recommendations in the product label. Consumers should store benzocaine products out of reach of children. FDA encourages consumers to talk to their healthcare professional about using benzocaine. Additional information:",
            "output": [
                "Baby Orajel can cause infants to stop breathing and turn blue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83235d1c30734b55a25ce23e4e8586ca",
            "input": "The 55-year-old woman was admitted to hospital in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, on January 15, complaining of a sore throat and dizziness, Xinhua said late on Saturday. “An investigation showed that she once had exposure to an agricultural market,” the report said. In December, China confirmed its first death from the H10N8 strain, also in Nanchang. China is in the middle of its traditional flu season and has long had a problem with bird flu. Another strain of bird flu, H7N9, emerged in China last year and so far has infected more than 200 people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing at least 52.",
            "output": [
                "China reports second case of new bird flu strain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f54f10e75c444c5596f17c1391ae26e3",
            "input": "Yet nothing prepared residents of its oldest town, Graaff-Reinet, for their worst drought in more than a century. As the dry spell entered its fourth year, tap water turned brown and smelled like rotting fish. When the water behind the Nqweba Dam dried up, depositing tens of thousands of dead fish onto cracked earth, queues began forming at municipal bore holes and farm animals died in their hundreds. The bleak choices facing millions of people in drought-stricken southern Africa - whether to flush toilets or not, or to keep animals alive or let them die - could soon be faced by other places on a warming planet with shrinking water supplies. “This area is dry but our taps have never been completely empty. Never,” said Bukelwa Booysen, who has had to send staff in search of borehole water for her school for disabled children, and send the kids home when they can’t find any. An abnormally hot summer with rainfall 75% below average, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has struck the whole region. The United Nations says 45 million people in southern Africa face hunger. Bushes and trees clinging to the Karoo’s rocky ravines are withered and grey - even hardy acacia thorns are dying. Signs mark rivers that are now dry beds. At one farm, Gerrie Snyman, 65, was feeding grain to sheep and goats that couldn’t find pasture. More than a third of his couple-thousand goats and sheep had either died or been sold this year. His 80 cows were now 15. He loaded a calf that was starving - its mother had stopped producing milk - onto his truck to take home and shoot. A friend had shot himself dead after his animals died of thirst. “We are grateful to the Almighty for our borehole water,” he said. “We don’t know what we’ll do when it runs out.”   When Cape Town’s reservoir nearly ran dry 18 months ago, it made international headlines and authorities rationed water. Yet Karoo is long past water rationing. For Valentia Esho, 45, an unemployed mother of seven in the township of Umazisakhe, it means letting her toilet fill up  instead of flushing, never washing clothes and only washing plates that stink. Water is just for drinking. “The house is really smelling,” she said, inside her one-room brick-and-tin home. “Everyone is paining from stomach aches and diarrhoea.”   In another township, Asherville, where wind kicked up dust devils, school headmaster Basil Vaaltyn was overseeing water distribution from a truck. He’d done everything to cut down on his usage: “I’m down to a minute showering instead of two.” His wife saves dirty dishwater to fill the cistern. A spokesman for the municipality said it was drilling boreholes, installing pipelines and building an 18-million-litre reservoir, adding: “Usage of water is still very high. The community is requested to use water sparingly.”  With municipal authorities overwhelmed, South African charity Gift of the Givers is trucking water to townships and drilling boreholes. Gideon Groenewald, a geohydrologist for the charity, uses science and spirituality to look for groundwater. When he was growing up on a farm, he used to dowse with wet twigs. Nowadays he prefers magnetic detectors. “I open Google maps and look for the lines of trees. I ask God in prayer which lines hold water, then I go down to that GPS location,” he said while a forked stick turned in his hand over an arid patch of shrubs. “You see the stick moving where the magnetic field is? There’s water here,” he continued. “It’s pure science.”  The charity has drilled 1,800 boreholes in the past three years, Groenewald said, only a third of them dry. But Louise Stafford, water director for the Nature Conservancy in South Africa, urged caution with boreholes, because groundwater is a finite resource. Water-intensive agriculture like citrus farms can make droughts worse, she said, and leaky pipes are losing a billion litres a year - problems Water Minister Lindiwe Sisulu pledged to tackle in a new water masterplan she delivered on Thursday. One Sunday, as clouds formed over Graaff-Reinet, its Assembly Church prayed. The clouds spat but didn’t pour. “We pray for God to open heaven and send rain,” Pastor Dolan Cochrane said. The congregation bowed. “Lord,” Cochrane continued. “We know that, in your time, you will come to our rescue.”",
            "output": [
                "South Africa's Karoo drills and prays as taps run dry."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-602529ab192244fc8683d51e4e569420",
            "input": "Researchers who studied 4D scans of 15 healthy fetuses also said they think yawning is a developmental process which could potentially give doctors a new way to check on a baby’s health. While some scientists have previously suggested that fetuses yawn, others disagree and say it is nothing more than a developing baby opening and stretching its mouth. But writing in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday, British researchers said their study was able to clearly distinguish yawning from “non-yawn mouth opening” based on how long the mouth was open. The researchers did this by using 4D video footage to examine all the times when fetuses opened their mouths. Nadja Reissland of Durham University’s department of Psychology, who led the study, said the function and importance of yawning in fetuses is still unknown, but the findings suggest it may be linked to fetal development and could provide a further indication of the health of the unborn baby. “Unlike us, fetuses do not yawn contagiously, nor do they yawn because they are sleepy,” she said. “Instead, the frequency of yawning in the womb may be linked to the maturing of the brain early in gestation.”  The study was carried out on eight female and seven male fetuses from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. The researchers found that yawning declined from 28 weeks and that there was no significant difference in how often boys and girls yawned.",
            "output": [
                "4D scans show fetuses yawn in the womb."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-113cc4d0c8ca43c6b3880466c86a233f",
            "input": "The 734 new diagnoses reported in 2018 among Chicago residents are the lowest number since 1988, health officials said Monday. “A world where we end the HIV epidemic is within our reach, and these latest findings prove that Chicago is on track to end the HIV epidemic by 2030,” Lightfoot said in a release. “Chicagoans will not rest until we achieve functional zero, meaning we will continue to increase access to care and services, expand our work with community partners and strengthen the quality of life for every city resident.”   Chicago Department of Public Health’s 2019 HIV/STI surveillance report shows 23,580 people were living with HIV through the end of 2017, the year for which most current data is available. The health department’s HIV Services Portfolio is awarding more than $40 million annually to over 60 community-based and health care organizations. “Our funding follows the epidemic to ensure resources are allocated to areas and populations with the greatest needs,” health department acting commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. “Through integration of funding and programming, we can reach more people and make sure no one falls through the cracks.” While HIV rates are declining in Chicago, other sexually transmitted infections are rising. More than 30,600 cases of chlamydia, nearly 12,700 cases of gonorrhea and 877 primary and secondary cases of syphilis were reported to the health department in 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: New HIV diagnoses on decline in Chicago."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21faad89c7644cdea616ba600281dd15",
            "input": "Fitness experts say users of the fitness machine, which is a favorite among Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and “The Biggest Loser” television series, reap total body, calorie-busting rewards. “It’s a great and tough cardio piece,” said Neal Pire, an exercise physiologist with the American College of Sports Medicine. “Picture a step mill that combines the lower and upper body, and you have Jacobs Ladder. Except instead of steps, you have rungs.”  Because the user climbs with arms as well as legs more muscles are working and more calories are burned. “As a rule the more muscle mass you utilize during any activity, the greater the oxygen consumed, which is directly correlated to the calories you consumed,” said Pire, president of Inspire Training Systems, in New Jersey. “Unlike stair climbers, you can’t hold on to the sides.”  Jacobs Ladder was invented by Steve Nichols, a fitness champion who injured his knees and back, according to Bob Palka, president of Jacobs Ladder, LLC. “He wanted to come up with a good workout that didn’t impact back and knees.” said Palka, who bought the patent and assets from Nichols in 1994. “Effectively it’s just climbing a ladder,” Palka said. People using the machine are placed at a 40-degree angle to put the spine in a more neutral position, relieve the back of stress and engage core muscles. Palka said on Jacobs Ladder the person’s body weight is lifted over a 12-inch (30.5-centemeter) step for fuller range of motion than the eight-inches of a step mill. “You control the speed,” he said.” The faster you go the faster the runners (on the ladder) come.”  Palka said about 50 to 60 percent of his Jacobs Ladders go to health clubs; some 10 to 15 percent go to the military and physical therapy facilities, respectively. Jacobs Ladder landed a recurring role on the TV show “The Biggest Loser” after trainer Jillian Michaels fell in love with it. “It tends to get your heart rate up,” said Palka, adding that other users, such as the FBI and the Army Rangers, are drawn to the intensity of the workout. John Trail, general manager of a Fitness First health club in Arlington, Virginia, uses Jacobs Ladder in functional circuit and interval training. “You can go for time or you can go for feet,” said Trail. “It’s not a fast-moving piece, but the fact that you’re using every muscle group means you can do 100 feet, rest, jump off, do 10 kettlebell swings, 10 short interval sprints, and burn a lot more calories than you would on an elliptical.”  Trail said a rock climbing buddy likes to climb Jacobs Ladder wearing a back pack for an endurance workout. A self-described competitive person, Trail has even raced with it. “We have two machines side-by-side, so we’ll go for 1,000 feet as fast as possible,” he said. “In under 10 minutes you can get a really good workout.”  He also uses it on clients with joint issues to get their heart rates up quickly. But despite its virtues, Pire said it’s unlikely Jacobs Ladder will supplant the treadmill anytime soon. “The tougher the machine, the more seldom you see it,” he said. “I haven’t seen many seniors hop on. The older population is concerned about balance and falling. And there’s some skill involved in climbing a ladder. But fans are ardent. “Those who use it are almost religious,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Jacobs Ladder climbers reap tough fitness rewards."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd28fe9221da4457a0545448f5c4042e",
            "input": "Residents in some homes in Montreal, a cosmopolitan city an hour north of the U.S.-Canada border, and Regina, in the flat western prairies, are among those drinking and cooking with tap water with lead levels that exceed Canada’s federal guidelines. The investigation found some schools and day care centers had lead levels so high that researchers noted it could impact children’s health. Exacerbating the problem, many water providers aren’t testing at all. It wasn’t the Canadian government that exposed the scope of this public health concern. A yearlong investigation by more than 120 journalists from nine universities and 10 media organizations, including The Associated Press and the Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University in Montreal , collected test results that properly measure exposure to lead in 11 cities across Canada. Out of 12,000 tests since 2014, one-third — 33% — exceeded the national safety guideline of 5 parts per billion; 18% exceeded the U.S. limit of 15 ppb. In a country that touts its clean, natural turquoise lakes, sparkling springs and rushing rivers, there are no national mandates to test drinking water for lead. And even if agencies do take a sample, residents are rarely informed of contamination. “I’m surprised,” said Bruce Lanphear, a leading Canadian water safety researcher who studies the impacts of lead exposure on fetuses and young children. “These are quite high given the kind of attention that has been given to Flint, Michigan, as having such extreme problems. Even when I compare this to some of the other hotspots in the United States, like Newark, like Pittsburgh, the levels here are quite high.” Many Canadians who had allowed journalists to sample their water were troubled when they came back with potentially dangerous lead levels. Some private homeowners said they plan to stop drinking from the tap. “It’s a little bit disturbing to see that there’s that much,” said Andrew Keddie, a retired professor who assumed his water was clean after replacing pipes years ago at his home in Edmonton, a city of almost 1 million in western Canada. What he couldn’t do is replace public service lines delivering water to his house. After learning his water lead levels tested at 28 ppb, Keddie said he was “concerned enough that we won’t be drinking and using this water.” Sarah Rana, 18, was one of tens of thousands of students who weren’t alerted when her brick high school in Oakville, a town on the shores of Lake Ontario, found lead levels above national guidelines in dozens of water samples, the highest at 140 ppb. She found out on her own, looking at reports posted online. “I was getting poisoned for four years and did not know about it,” she said. “As a student, I think I should be told.” Leona Peterson learned of the contamination in her water after journalists found excessively high lead levels in 21 of 25 homes tested in her small, northwest port town of Prince Rupert. Peterson, who lives in subsidized housing for Indigenous people, had water that registered at 15.6 ppb. “I was drinking from the tap, directly from the tap, without any knowledge that there was lead in the water,” said Peterson. Her son was as well. Her response: “Hurt, real hurt.” The town of Prince Rupert, where whales, grizzly bears and bald eagles are common sights, is among more than a dozen communities along Canada’s wild west coast where residents — many Indigenous — are living in homes with aging pipes, drinking corrosive rainwater that is likely to draw lead. But their province of British Columbia doesn’t require municipalities to test tap water for lead. Canadian officials where levels were high said they were aware that lead pipes can contaminate drinking water and that they were working to replace aging infrastructure. And some localities are taking action. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante vowed to test 100,000 homes for lead and speed up replacement of lead-lined pipes immediately after journalists sent her an analysis of the city’s internal data revealing high lead levels across the city. The media consortium filed more than 700 Freedom of Information requests and took hundreds of samples in people’s homes to collect more than 79,000 water test results. But the findings are neither comprehensive nor an indication of overall drinking water quality in Canada. That doesn’t exist. “Because there is no federal oversight, everybody does what they want,” said engineering professor Michèle Prévost, who quit working on a government study of school drinking water in frustration over the lack of lead testing. “Most provinces ignore this very serious problem.” The government’s approach to limiting lead in drinking water in Canada is starkly different from the U.S., where the Environmental Protection Agency sets legal standards under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and every person is supposed to receive an annual Consumer Confidence Report from their water provider by July 1 detailing lead test results. There’s no similar, routine testing or notice in Canada, with the exception of the 14 million-person province of Ontario, bordering the U.S. and the Great Lakes, which post results online. “If that’s not public, that’s a problem,” said Tom Neltner, a chemical engineer at the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based environmental group. “The public is more sensitive to the risks of lead, especially on children’s development. Where you have transparency you have advocacy, and where you have advocacy you have action.” In the U.S., however, even public water quality reports weren’t enough to prevent the Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis, brought on by a 2014 decision to temporarily pull water from a river as a cost saver while installing new pipelines. Some doctors raised concerns in Flint after noticing elevated lead levels in children’s blood tests. Flint’s water problems went well beyond lead: Excessive microbes turned the water reddish brown and led to a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that caused at least 12 deaths and sickened more than 90 people. The Flint crisis sparked congressional hearings, lawsuits and scrutiny of lead testing across the country. Now officials in Newark, New Jersey, are scrambling to replace about 18,000 lead lines after repeated tests found elevated lead levels in drinking water. Other communities are also responding. Nearly 30 million people in the U.S. were supplied drinking water that had excessively high levels of lead, from Portland, Oregon to Providence, Rhode Island between 2015 and 2018, according to an analysis of EPA data by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Hundreds of people in the U.S. are suing local water authorities over the contamination. Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, whose study of the Flint water system helped reveal the dangerous lead levels, reviewed the Canadian media consortium’s findings. “This is a significant health concern, people should be warned,” said Edwards. “Something should be done.” In Canada, where lawsuits are less frequent and provinces — not the federal government — set water safety rules, the main source of lead in drinking water is antiquated pipes. At one government hearing, an expert estimated some 500,000 lead service lines are still delivering water to people in the country. Some cities, like Montreal, are already working to replace them, tearing up streets and sidewalks with massive and expensive construction. But homeowners are almost always responsible for paying the cost of replacing the section of pipe between their property lines to their homes, a cost that can range from about $3,000 to $15,000, according to provincial studies. Several other short-term solutions include having suppliers add anti-corrosives or altering water chemistry so it’s less likely to leach lead from the insides of pipes as it heads for the tap. These are widely used and often mandatory in the U.S., but in Canada only the province of Ontario requires anti-corrosives in communities with older buildings and sewerage. Studies have documented over years that even low levels of lead exposure can affect a child’s IQ and their ability to pay attention. Children who are younger than 7 and pregnant women are most at risk from lead exposure, which can damage brains and kidneys. Yet the consortium’s investigation found day cares and schools are not tested regularly. And when they are tested, those results are also not public. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information laws included a 2017 pilot study of tap water at 150 day cares in the picturesque, lake-laden province of Alberta. It showed 18 had lead levels in drinking water at or above 5 ppb, which the researchers considered risky for the infants and toddlers. The highest was 35.5 ppb. Canada is one of the only developed countries in the world that does not have a nationwide drinking water standard. Even countries that struggle to provide safe drinking water have established acceptable lead levels: India’s is 10 ppb and Mexico and Egypt’s are 5 ppb, according to those country’s government websites. Joe Cotruvo, a D.C.-based environmental and public health consultant active in the World Health Organization’s work on drinking water guidelines, hadn’t realized that some provinces in Canada don’t routinely test tap water for lead. “Really? No kidding,” he said. “In the U.S., if there is a federal regulation, states are required to implicate it. If they don’t, they’re functioning illegally.” Drinking water testing and treatment methods are also inconsistent in Canada. In the U.S., in-home tests are taken first thing in the morning, after water has stagnated in pipes for at least six hours. This provides a worst-case scenario, because after water runs through pipes for a while, lead levels often decline. In Canada, provinces have set their own rules, which range from not testing at all, to requiring a sample to stagnate before testing. Few are treating the drinking water itself to lower lead levels. Maura Allaire, an assistant professor of water economics and policy at University of California, Irvine, was surprised Canada’s major water suppliers aren’t routinely required to add anti-corrosives to drinking water. “Yikes, I could imagine in older cities if they’re not doing corrosion control what can happen when acidic water touches lead pipes in homes,” she said. She recommends Canadian officials start to address the problem by collecting better information. “Once you have better information, there can be targeted efforts, to really try to prevent corrosion,” she said. “The big discussion in the U.S. among politicians is to replace the pipes, but that takes time and is costly. If there’s lead in the water, you’ve got a public health problem that needs to be dealt with now.” ___ The Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University in Montreal members: concordia.ca/watercredits",
            "output": [
                "Investigation: Lead in some Canadian water worse than Flint."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c555cc8dd9b042669de2a44e81aebd6c",
            "input": "In 2004, the Target retail chain announced a new corporate policy that banned Salvation Army bellringers and their collection kettles from Target storefronts, a move that drew immediate criticism and condemnation from many shoppers:  Target has decided to NOT allow the Salvation Army to ring the bell for the holiday season. I love the bell ringers and what they stand for. Each person gives up their time to collect money for the needy. The holiday season is the perfect time to remind us to share our blessings with others. I try to give something to each bell ringer, no matter how small I know the Salvation Army will put it to good use. Target announced this week that Salvation Army bell-ringers will no longer be allowed in front of their stores during the holiday season. The retailer tells Channel 8 Eyewitness News, “…Like many nationwide retailers, Target Corporation has a long standing no solicitation policy that must be applied across all of its stores.” The Lancaster County Salvation Army says there’s no hard feelings, just a rethinking of ways to keep the kettles out and the bells ringing. Nearly a quarter of all donations came from Lincoln’s two Target stores. Last year, the Lincoln/Lancaster County Salvation Army raised more than a 120-thousand dollars during their kettle drive. If you believe in the Salvation Army and want to encourage Target to rethink their decision then go to the link above and send them your comment. And forward this email. The Salvation Army will not be allowed to have their bell-ringers and kettles outside Target stores this Christmas season. I can’t think of a better example of the joy of Christmas than the work of The Salvation Army. Founded in 1865 as a religious and charitable mission, it provided over $2.5 billion in service throughout the U.S. during the past year. Last year they collected about $9 million outside the 1300+ Target stores. Three years ago Wal-Mart restricted soliciting by the Salvation Army & others to 14 days a year. They remain the number 1 collection site for the Salvation Army, with $12 million in donations last year. My response is to make Target a “target” to avoid, and when I see the bell-ringers from the Salvation Army at other stores to drop in a little more and tell them that is my contribution for Target. If you agree, please pass this on. P. S. Target says they give over $67 million per years to various worthy causes — one of them being sending drops to the contestants of the show “Survivor” — a really needy cause!!!! The retailer already had a no-solicitation policy in place at their stores, but they previously had made an exception for the Salvation Army. That exception finally went by the wayside when in a September 2004 statement, Target spokesperson Carolyn Brookter said the chain “determined that if we continue to allow the Salvation Army to solicit, then it opens the door to other groups that wish to solicit our guests.” “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to have an exception to our policy, so we decided we would have no exceptions,” Brookter said. “This year we just said it’s time to … make our solicitation policy consistent.”  A copy of Target’s corporate “No Solicitation Policy,” as found on their web site, now explains:  Based on Target’s commitment to maintaining a distraction-free shopping experience for our guests, we do not allow Salvation Army bell ringers outside our store nationwide. However, Target proudly supports The Salvation Army, which serves more than 30 million people across the United States each year. Some of our year-round efforts include grants to local chapters, volunteerism and in-kind donations to help those who need it most. Target also partners with The Salvation Army to support its disaster relief efforts in communities across the country. Target’s change in policy was undoubtedly detrimental to the Salvation Army’s kettle campaign, which raises up to 70 percent of the Salvation Army’s total annual income for efforts such as funding shelters, offering meal programs, and providing Christmas toys, after-school programs and emergency assistance:  The “miracle” of Christmas is repeated over and over again through the joy of caring and sharing. The traditional red kettle is an integral part of the Christmas scene, with millions of dollars donated each year to aid needy families, seniors, and the homeless, in keeping with the spirit of the season. Donations provide Christmas dinners, clothing, and toys for families in need. Financial assistance also helps with basic necessities, along with seasonal aid. Families of prisoners often are included. Volunteers distribute gifts to shut-ins in hospitals and nursing homes, and shelters are open for sit-down dinners. The Salvation Army endeavors to bring spiritual light and love to those it serves at Christmas so that the real meaning of the season is not forgotten. Many families receive aid over a period of months after the Christmas season as well, people struggling with difficult family, emotional, or employment problems. In November 2006, the Salvation Army announced Target had launched a multi-faceted Christmas partnership with it that would include an online version of The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program and a donation by the retailer of $1 million to get that program up and running. Target also promised to donate 100% of proceeds from the sales of a limited edition Harvey Lewis angel ornament accented with red Swarovski crystals to the Sally Ann. As of 2011, Target proclaimed that they were providing $250,000 in gift cards to Salvation Army chapters as part of their partnership with that organization:  With gift-giving season in full swing, we took a short break to spend some time with longtime Target partner The Salvation Army. During this time of year, people across the country gather together to give the most important kind of gift – helping those in need. For each of the last two years, Target has provided $250,000 in gift cards to 96 Salvation Army Chapters to assist their holiday toy drives and Angel Tree program. But, the holidays aren’t the only time to lend a hand. Year-round, Target proudly supports The Salvation Army as it serves more than 30 million people in the United States. Grants to local chapters, support from team member volunteers, donations and support of disaster relief efforts are just a few of the ways Target helps out. In fact, over the past five years, Target has provided cash and in-kind donations totaling more than $13.6 million to all The Salvation Army locations nationwide.",
            "output": [
                "Target does not allow Salvation Army bellringers to solicit donations on stores premises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3aa161019c9c43808fb120d43c8a6fd9",
            "input": "\"When a federal judge issued a sweeping decision to curb the use of solitary confinement, pepper spray and use of restraints at Wisconsin's teen prison complex, he included a sweeping claim to condemn the conditions at the facility: \"\"Ted Kaczynski has less restrictive confinement than the youth at Lincoln Hills,\"\" James Peterson, chief U.S. district judge for the western district of Wisconsin, said from the bench. Kaczynski, of course, is the Unabomber, the man that killed three and injured two dozen more in letter and bomb attacks. He is serving a life sentence at a federal \"\"supermax\"\" prison in Colorado known as the \"\"Alcatraz of the Rockies.\"\" In issuing his June 23, 2017 ruling, Peterson said the problem with the use of isolation -- that is, solitary confinement -- as a form of punishment at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls is \"\"acute, immediate and enduring.\"\" The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates at the two facilities, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. They house about 170 inmates. In the ongoing lawsuit, the inmates claim abuse by prison officials in the form of excessive use of pepper spray and confining inmates to solitary confinement for weeks or months at a time. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found state officials missed repeated warning signs at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, where lax management, confusion over policies, lack of communication and chronic staff shortages contributed to the problems. Both facilities have been the subject of an FBI criminal investigation involving child abuse and neglect for two years. Prosecutors haven’t said whether or when they might file charges. Kaczynski is serving a life sentence at the ADX-FLORENCE prison for his decades-long letter and bomb attacks. The prison houses the nation’s worst offenders, such as Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. Is Peterson on the mark with his comparison? Lincoln Hills conditions Peterson declined to comment on his statement, since the case is still before him. However, documents in the lawsuit and court proceedings in the days leading up to his ruling shed light on the judge’s comments. For instance, the bulk of the arguments that preceded his comment focused on the use of solitary confinement. The lawsuit itself focuses on three issues separately: use of solitary confinement; use of pepper spray; and use of restraints. Between 15 percent and 20 percent of inmates at Lincoln Hills are housed in solitary confinement at any given time, according to court documents. The cells are 7-by-10 feet and, prior to Peterson’s ruling, inmates spent 20 hours or more -- sometimes an entire day -- inside them. Under Peterson’s ruling, prison officials have to give youth more out-of-cell time, according to the Journal Sentinel. When they are let out of their segregated cells for classes, many of those inmates were handcuffed to a desk, according to the lawsuit. These inmates receive an hour of classroom work a day, compared to the usual four to five hours. The court documents also claim the physical conditions of those cells are dirty and smell like sweat and urine. Meanwhile, pepper spray was used nearly 300 times throughout the prison complex, not just in solitary confinement areas, from January 2016 to April 2017, according to a June 9, 2017 Journal Sentinel report. In May 2017, the state acknowledged some of these claims in court documents, including that some youth have spent more than 180 days in solitary confinement and that staff had used pepper spray on youths who were already restrained. Wisconsin Department of Correction spokesman Tristan Cook said in an email that the department has made changes at the prison and that improvements are ongoing. Ted Kaczynski conditions Court filings regarding inmate treatment in the federal supermax in Colorado and reports by news outlets such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine and The Atlantic paint a bleak picture inside the nation’s most secure prison. Several of the prison’s 400 inmates spend 23 hours a day in a 7-by-12 foot cell that has a slot for food and small window slit, according to The Boston Globe. Inmates at ADX have claimed denial of psychological medical treatment. Todd Chapman, public information officer for ADX, disputed these reports in an email. However, we’re looking specifically at the Unabomber’s prison conditions, since that is the comparison Peterson made. In an email, Chapman said Kaczynski has a minimum of 30 hours a week outside his cell. Chapman also said that Kaczynski and other inmates are housed singularly and generally have a bed, TV, desk, stool, shelf and a storage area. Inmates at Lincoln Hills in solitary confinement had less outside time than Kaczynski before Peterson’s ruling, no access to paper or writing material, their lights are kept on 24 hours a day and they have few of the amenities that Kaczynski has. Those in general population at Lincoln Hills have access to a desk in their room, TV in the dayroom and are outside their cells for significant portions of the day. Our rating Peterson said: \"\"Ted Kaczynski has less restrictive confinement than the youth at Lincoln Hills.\"\" His claim is on target for those Lincoln Hills inmates placed in solitary confinement, which was the issue at hand when the claim was made. The caveat: Those inmates not in solitary confinement would fare differently.\"",
            "output": [
                "Ted Kaczynski has less restrictive confinement than the youth at Lincoln Hills."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97b19f3ecd9c4437884a049b5546790f",
            "input": "The story does a good job of describing the costs of angiopasty compared to a stress test. The story could have discussed out of pocket costs for patients. The story could have quantified the benefit of stress testing in its ability to avoid angiography and angioplasty associated with it. The story mentions missing cases of heart disease and difficulties of performing the test in older patients as potentional harms of stress testing, but there are other harms that the story should have mentioned. The story adequately describes the design of the current study and points out some important caveats inherent in a database-based study. The story does not exagerrate the seriousness or prevalence of stable heart disease. The story quotes multiple sources. The story mentions angiography as the alternative to stress testing. The story could have done more to describe the pros and cons of angiography compared to stress testing. Clearly stress tests are available. Clearly stress testing is not a new idea. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "More stress tests needed before angioplasties, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e16f056baf434eb1af0b8cb3b55d849f",
            "input": "“I was seeing my end,” Antoine Sassine said from his room at Brussels’ Delta Chirec hospital, where he used to work. “I thought I was going to die and would never wake up.”  The 58-year-old and his team were all diagnosed at the hospital and he was admitted to the intensive care unit when his symptoms worsened. Sassine was placed in an induced coma, but says he was aware of his desire to fight the disease and that he also had visions of his late father. Describing the experience as “incredible”, Sassine, who was moved out of intensive care on Tuesday, said: “I saw my father, who died four years ago. I spoke with him.”  “My greatest joy was when I woke up and saw the faces of my friends, it was indescribable.”  Now he is looking forward to hugging his family, who he has not seen since he was diagnosed, and recuperating at home. Belgium has reported 38,496 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 5,683 deaths.",
            "output": [
                "'I thought I would never wake up,' Belgian doctor says after surviving COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea13a250260e4726a001915c7b0d0746",
            "input": "The plane, dubbed the Solar Impulse, departed shortly after 6 a.m. local time from Moffett Field, a joint civil-military airport near the south end of San Francisco, heading first to Phoenix on a slow-speed flight expected to take 15 to 20 hours. The spindly looking plane barely hummed as it took flight in the still northern California morning as the sun was just beginning to peek out over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the east. After additional stops in Dallas, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., with pauses at each destination to wait for favorable weather, the flight team hopes to conclude the plane’s cross-country voyage in about two months at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Swiss pilots and co-founders of the project, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, will take turns flying the plane, built with a single-seat cockpit, with Piccard at the controls for the first flight to Arizona. He is tentatively scheduled to land in Phoenix at 1 a.m. local time on Saturday. The project began in 2003 with a 10-year budget of 90 million euros ($112 million) and has involved engineers from Swiss escalator maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay - backers who want to test new materials and technologies while also gaining brand recognition. Project organizers say the journey is also intended to boost worldwide support for the adoption of clean-energy technologies. “I hope people understand the potential of this technology and use it on the ground,” Borschberg, who flew for the Swiss Air Force for more than 20 years, told reporters as Piccard suited up for the flight nearby. “If we don’t try to fly today using renewable energy, we never will.”  With the wingspan of a jumbo jet and the weight of a small car, the Solar Impulse is a test model for a more advanced aircraft the team plans to build to circumnavigate the globe in 2015. The plane made its first intercontinental flight, from Spain to Morocco, last June. The aircraft runs on about the same power as a motor scooter, propelled by energy collected from 12,000 solar cells built into the wings that simultaneously recharge batteries with a storage capacity equivalent to a Tesla electric car. In that way, the Solar Impulse can fly after dark on solar energy generated during daylight hours, and will become the first solar-powered aircraft capable of operating day and night without fuel to attempt a U.S. coast-to-coast flight. But the plane, which from a distance resembles a giant floating insect in the sky, is unlikely to set any speed or altitude records. It can climb gradually to 28,000 feet and flies at an average pace of just 43 miles per hour (69 km per hour). The current plane was designed for flights of up to 24 hours at a time, but the next model will have to allow for up to five days and five nights of flying by one pilot - a feat not yet accomplished. Meditation and hypnosis were part of the training for the pilots as they prepared to fly on very little sleep. Asked about the downside of solar-powered flight at a news conference in March to unveil the current plane, Piccard acknowledged there was a price paid for the tiny carrying capacity and massive wings. “In that sense, it is not the easiest way to fly,” he said. “But it is the most fabulous way to fly, because the more you fly, the more energy you have on board.”  He added: “We want to inspire as many people as possible to have that same spirit: to dare, to innovate, to invent.”  The plane’s four large batteries, attached to the bottom of the wings along with the plane’s tiny motors, account for a quarter of its overall heft. The aircraft’s lightweight carbon fiber design and wingspan allow it to conserve energy, but also make the plane vulnerable to being tipped over. A ground team of weather specialists, air traffic controllers and engineers track the plane’s speed and battery levels and help the pilot steer clear of turbulence. Solar Impulse cannot fly in strong wind, fog, rain or clouds. Its machinery is not even designed to withstand moisture.",
            "output": [
                "Solar-powered plane takes off for flight across U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8136b7ccbf3b4ba5a463a6f92169ebf8",
            "input": "The proposal, more than a year overdue, also calls for a limit of 200 calories on items sold during the school day at vending machines or other venues outside the school lunch line. The proposed rules are the second step in a larger effort to improve the foods U.S. students have access to during the school day under a 2010 child nutrition law. One-third of U.S. children and teenagers are overweight or obese. The proposed rules would cover some 50 million children attending more than 100,000 schools that are part of the school lunch program. Many U.S. children eat more than half of their calories at school. There was wide agreement by food and beverage companies, consumer advocates and public health experts on the need to offer students healthier choices  “If a student buys a snack from a vending machine or a slice of pizza from the a la carte line, it should be healthy,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, head of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which focuses on health care. “These proposed nutrition standards, the first update in more than 30 years, are long overdue and badly needed.”  Children buy an estimated 400 billion calories of junk food a year at school, the same calorie count that could be found in 2 billion candy bars, said a group of retired military leaders who back the proposed rules. The group, called Mission: Readiness, has warned that one in four young Americans is too heavy for military service. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has described his own struggles with weight as a child, said the higher standards for snack bars, vending machine and cafeterias will mean “the healthy choice is the easy choice for our kids.”  USDA said the rules would not cover items sold at after-hours activities, such as sporting events. They also would allow for “important traditions,” such as parents sending cookies or cupcakes to school for a child’s birthday, or “occasional fundraisers and bake sales.”  In general, foods sold at school could not provide more than 35 percent of their calories through fat or sugar. Salt content also would be limited. For beverages, USDA called for schools to be able to sell water, low-fat and fat-free milk, and 100 percent juices, with smaller 8-ounce (240-ml) portions created for younger students. High school students could buy 20-ounce servings of various calorie-free beverages, and 12-ounce servings of drinks that have 75 calories or less but not during lunch or breakfast. The soft drink industry said it has shifted to lower-calorie drinks in school vending machines and it welcomed USDA’s proposal. The number of calories shipped to schools in beverages is down by 90 percent in six years, it said. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before USDA issues any final ruling. USDA said schools will have at least one full school year after the final rule is issued to implement the changes. Vending machines are in just 13 percent of U.S. elementary schools but are in two thirds of middle schools, where student are 11 to 14 years old, and in 85 percent of high schools. USDA says more than 80 percent of school districts have restricted or banned sugary drinks and more than 75 percent put limits on snack foods or banned them.",
            "output": [
                "Rules call for swing to healthier snacks in schools."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad5212c30ab24ef596a0ca461cd11f2d",
            "input": "\"Severe cold snaps followed by snowstorms and then another blast of cold. For many, this Wisconsin winter can’t end soon enough. So when U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Jan. 16, 2014, a speech about global warming was the last thing many folks wanted to hear. Pocan, a member of the House’s Safe Climate Caucus, spent his one-minute speech ticking off what he said were clear signs of climate change. This claim caught our attention: \"\"Ice fishermen are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.\"\" It feels like Wisconsin has been frozen solid for months, and many folks wouldn’t be surprised to see ice fishermen tromping around on Memorial Day. But Pocan’s claim is about more than this winter. His statement is about long-term trends and what is driving them. Is he right about climate change and fewer days on ice-covered lakes? When we asked Pocan for backup for the claim, his staff pointed us to Climatewisconsin.org, a web site that highlights research and reports prepared by environmental groups. The site includes interactive features that focus on the two largest lakes in Madison -- Mendota and Monona. It includes the amount of time they have been covered by ice in past years. \"\"The records show significant year-to-year variability in the length of the ice-cover season, but there is a clear trend of fewer ice-cover days over time,\"\" the site says. \"\"Overall, the average number of days of ice cover on the Madison lakes has decreased by around 29-35 days over the past 150 years. Significantly, the longest ice seasons on record are all clustered in the first few years of the record, while most of the shortest seasons fall towards the end of the record.\"\" The site also includes this statement, which is pretty similar to that made by Pocan: \"\"With climate change models predicting warmer temperatures, we can expect to see a trend towards fewer days of ice-covered lakes as each year passes. In fact, with the aid of a remarkable dataset from Madison’s lakes, scientists infer that a change in ice duration has already taken place.\"\" Information posted on the site comes, at least in part, from the work of John J. Magnuson, Emeritus Professor of Zoology and Limnology, who has been at UW since the late 1960s and helped found the UW-Madison Center for Limnology in the early 1980s. Limnology is the study of freshwater lakes, and the UW center says it’s the birthplace of the field of study, dating back to the 1870s. Magnuson is an expert on the effects of climate change on freshwater lakes, and has published numerous academic papers on the effect of climate change on lakes and fish. In an interview, Magnuson said researchers around the world, including Canada, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Japan and Madison, have studied lake ice for years. Researchers note the day lakes freeze and the day the ice goes out. It’s a more official version of what is waged in a less academic way by lakefront bars that stage ice-out guessing contests. Madison researchers have records for Mendota and Monona that go back to 1855. The long term trend for Lake Mendota is that, on average since 1855, there are 29 fewer days that the lake is covered with ice, according to Magnuson. Six of the shortest seasons for Mendota have been in the years since 1980. Five have been since 1995, including the two shortest seasons ever -- 21 days in the winter of 2001-02 and 47 days in 1997-98. Lake Monona has seen on average of 35 fewer ice-covered days, and also has seen a cluster of shorter seasons in recent years. \"\"The breakup of the ice is occurring, on average, two weeks earlier. And the freezing of the lakes have come two weeks later, on average,\"\" Magnuson said. \"\"The result is that four months of ice is reduced to about three months.\"\" To be sure, Wisconsin has some 15,000 lakes, and we cannot check each one. \"\"This is highly variable with every water body having different characteristics, and is obviously very weather dependent as well,\"\" said Thomas Van Haren, of the state Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Law Enforcement. But it seems reasonable to focus on Lake Monona and Mendota given their size and because they are in Pocan’s district. So what about this throwback winter? Magnuson said it’s a statistical blip. Some years the ice stays around longer than others, but over time the trend has been toward shorter ice seasons. \"\"The variability is very high\"\" in terms of the length of the seasons, he said. \"\"Not only does lake ice respond to the warming climate, it also responds to local weather.\"\" Lake Mendota iced over Dec. 16, 2013 -- about a month earlier than the previous year and four days earlier than the median date. Lake Monona froze Dec. 10, 2013, compared with Dec. 31 the previous year and a median date of Dec. 15. National Weather Service records from the weather office in Sullivan indicate this was the 9th coldest winter on record, so far, in Madison, and the coldest in 35 years. The average temperature was 15.8 degrees below normal. \"\"This is the sort of winter that’s typical of 50 or 100 years ago,\"\" Magnuson said. Going global So what about the connection Pocan made between shorter ice fishing seasons and climate change? Magnuson said the shorter seasons are a symptom of global warming -- one consistent with many others, such as changed bird and butterfly migration patterns, plants that bloom earlier, and disappearing glaciers. \"\"We can’t take this ice data and say ‘therefore we say greenhouse gas is causing this,’\"\" he said. \"\"That’s a question for the atmospheric physicists. Our data is consistent with what other people are finding, with the kind of things that atmospheric scientists are seeing from C02.\"\" He added: \"\"There’s abundant evidence that it’s getting warmer and that spring is coming sooner.\"\" Unfortunately, he’s talking about long-term trends. Not what is going to happen this year. Our rating It’s been a longer and colder winter than in recent years. But that doesn’t erase a trend that’s been well-established. The number of days that the lakes have ice on them -- making them safe for ice fishing -- has declined.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"As a result of climate change, ice fishermen in Wisconsin \"\"are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-345d2e768d5c4acb9e1569f1f4c88342",
            "input": "A pair of photographs reportedly showing a severely dehydrated homeless veteran named Kent near death on the streets of Los Angeles started making their way around social media in September 2018:  These images were apparently so shocking to some viewers that they suggested the photographs perhaps showed an artwork or a Halloween decoration as opposed to a real human being. Unfortunately, these  pictures are genuine. The photographs were first posted online by Facebook user Nick Spano on 22 September 2018. The original Facebook post contained a lengthy bit of text which was largely concerned with Spano’s view on how the homeless (especially homeless veterans) are treated in the United States, along with a few details about the pictured individual, who was said to be a 68-year-old man named Kent. The man told Spano that he was a veteran and that he was “looking for a place to die” when Spano brought him some water before paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital: This is America: “Kent,” a 68 year old veteran dying under a bush outside million dollar properties in LA. The softball size tumor on the side of his face is now a gaping hole. Dried blood covers his hands and face. Flies swarm around his head, not bothering to wait for him to die before laying their eggs in the open wound that is crawling with hundreds of maggots. He tries to speak, but I can no longer understand him. This is fucking America! “I’m just looking for a place to die,” he said. Those were his first words to me when I first discovered “Kent” about a month a go in shallow bed under the bushes outside my place. Like many people, my initial gut reaction was, not in my backyard! But I know better. I’m aware that homelessness is a symptom of our broken and wasteful system, and the basic lack of decency, and compassion towards one another. We treat people like trash. We want to discard the parts of society we don’t want, but like plastic, it’s never going to go away. All we do is make the problem worse, rather than realizing that our own habits are the problem. The way we treat people is the problem. We speak to one another through our own filters, and judgements before we even get to know them. So, instead I brought “Kent” water, and sat down to talk with him for awhile. He pulled his hoodie aside and showed me the tumor on the side of his face. “I did it to myself,” he said. Years of smoking was the likely cause. He went to the VA for medical care, but he said that he felt like they were just waiting for him to die so he left. I asked if I could get him some help, but he didn’t want it. “I’m just looking for a place to die,” he said. We are all full of shit, guys. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Between the look-at-me-now Instagram selfies, the woke AF Facebook posts, and the heated political rants over which party is more American, we have lost our souls. We’ve sold out. We’ve forgotten that real wealth comes from investing in one another. This isn’t the “Me Too” era, it’s just the “Me” era. We are the wealthiest, and most wasteful consumer culture in the history of humankind, and we buy everything they sell us, even their excuses. “We can’t fix every problem! It’s too big! It’s too expensive! Get a job! I had to work for it, why shouldn’t they? !” Bullshit!!! Each bomb we dropped on Syria costs us $100 million, and we’ve dropped dozens. The Iraq War cost American taxpayers over $2.5 trillion dollars and counting, and it was a lie! We have our own national emergency right here in the City of Dreams, but we don’t have enough money to fix it. Could you imagine what would happen if we took funding for just one of those bombs, and dropped it into social services for American communities; into shelters for the homeless; medical care for our vets; clean water for Flint?!?! Don’t say we can’t fix the problem, because that’s bullshit. We can!!! We are just so god damn brainwashed and complacent that we don’t think we actually have any power to change it. But change starts when we stop ignoring the problem, and realize that we are the ones to fix it. Even the smallest act makes a big difference. There is no one else to call! Tag! You’re fucking it! The irony of the fact that I took a photo of “Kent” as he lie dying outside my house while waiting for paramedics to arrive, and posted it here for all to see, isn’t lost on me. This might appear hypocritical to some, but that won’t change my commitment to people like “Kent” in my community. I will continue to treat these people with dignity and respect, and be of service anyway I can, and if in the process, this post gets at least one of you, the next time you see someone camped out on the street, to stop and talk to them; to put your hand on their shoulder; to call them brother or sister; and to restore even the slightest sense of dignity in them through a simple act of compassion, then it’s worth it. Not everyone can help in the same way, and sometimes people don’t want help, but we all can be human to one another. As they lifted Kent onto the stretcher, he raised his hand, and gave me a peace sign. I don’t know his status at this time, but I will post an update as soon as I can. People over Profits — Compassion over Comfort  Spano updated his post a few days later but he didn’t have much additional information to report: Unfortunately, there isn’t much to share at this time. I finally found the hospital where Kent was taken and being treated, but due to patient privacy laws (HIPPA), and the fact that I don’t know Kent’s full name, they wont not give me any information at this time. I don’t know if he has passed, or if he is still in their care. I have made a request to a supervisor to share my information with Kent so that he can grant me access. I’ve also made it clear that there are many people who want to show their support, so I’m hoping they help us make that happen. Without Kent’s last name, it’s difficult to verify some of the details in this Facebook post, but it doesn’t bear any of the hallmarks that have revealed similar posts to be hoaxes. For instance, we could not find any record of these photographs appearing online prior to Spano’s post, which supports  that Spano truly was the person who took them. This post also doesn’t include a call to action urging users to share it (which is a common tactic for disingenuous clickbait). We contacted Spano for more information about Kent, and he provided us with security camera footage to verify that his photographs were authentic and noted that Kent had told him during previous interactions he was a veteran. Spano never got Kent’s last name, however, and Kent didn’t have any ID on him when he was taken away by paramedics. While we can’t officially verify whether or not Kent was a veteran, his story is, unfortunately, rather plausible. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, approximately 40,000 veterans in the United States are homeless on any given night.",
            "output": [
                "A pair of photographs shows a severely dehydrated homeless veteran on the streets of Los Angeles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af272c8cf7a44dee9fe24dc89631257c",
            "input": "On March 6, 2020, a Facebook post by Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, internal medicine and infectious diseases consultant with Toronto’s University Health Network and an assistant professor at University of Toronto, went viral, garnering over 1.3 million shares at the time of our reporting. The post began with this text: I’m a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria … there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with [the] notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared. I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19. The post, which can be read in full here, implores the public not to succumb to panic in response to the new coronavirus, which is responsible for the disease COVID-19 and first discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Sharkawy’s post continues: Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and “fight for yourself above all else” attitude could prove disastrous.",
            "output": [
                "Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious diseases specialist, penned a viral Facebook post warning about the loss of reason in the face of panic over the new coronavirus in 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b1ab9f1e7af4d66b6cc1964b1c8d1ce",
            "input": "Concerns remain over an influx of infected patients from overseas as well as China’s ability to detect asymptomatic patients, and the government in Wuhan has tried to reassure the public that it remains vigilant. Feng Jing, who runs a group of community workers looking after the Tanhualin neighbourhood in Wuhan, said during a government-run tour for journalists on Friday that they would continue to carry out extensive checks on residents. “We carry out comprehensive health checks everyday and keep detailed records of their health condition,” she said, adding that there is no likelihood of asymptomatic cases in her community. “Currently our neighbourhood is an epidemic-free community - it’s been 45 days so far, so we don’t have this situation,” she said. China reported a fall in new coronavirus cases on Friday after leaders promised to accelerate the country’s economic recovery, boost domestic demand and put more people back to work. The country reported 42 new cases on Thursday, down from 63 a day earlier. Of the daily total, 38 were imported, down from 61 on Wednesday. China’s central government coronavirus taskforce chaired by Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday that they would speed up efforts to revive the economy while at the same time introducing targeted measures aimed at preventing infected people from crossing the country’s border. It said China now needed to “actively create favourable conditions” to restore normality in the economy, though it warned there was still a risk of a rebound in cases. In Shanghai, state media have also been deployed to dispel online rumours that the city has now become “the most dangerous place in the country” as thousands of people flood in from Wuhan, including many asymptomatic and recovered patients. With the government now promising to deploy resources to tackle high-risk areas, much of the focus has shifted to Heilongjiang, which reported 28 new imported cases crossing the border from Russia on Thursday. The province has so far found 154 cases of imported infections. The virus, which first broke out in Wuhan in late 2019, has since spread around the world infecting more than 1.4 million people, killing more than 87,700. Officials in Wuhan said on Friday the city will spend 200 million yuan  ($28.4 million) to upgrade the city’s 425 farmers’ markets, as part of a campaign to improve hygiene. Several of the early cases of Covid-19 were linked to a seafood market in Wuhan that also sold other species, suggesting that the new virus may have jumped from an animal traded there to people. “Once reopened, the farmers markets should ensure no trade in wild animals and no trade in live poultry,” Hong Zhihua, vice director of Hubei’s Patriotic Health Campaign Committee Office, told a press briefing. Liu Qingxiang, vice director at Wuhan’s health commission, said infrastructure in the markets would be improved and become more similar to supermarkets. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy as governments imposed lockdowns to rein in its spread. (This story corrects quote from Hubei official in paragraph 15 to say live poultry, not live animals.)",
            "output": [
                "China's Wuhan to keep testing residents as coronavirus lockdown eases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18f2b249c71b46fe8ba97d1ad6ec67e3",
            "input": "Briefing reporters ahead of Trump’s State of the Union speech, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and senior public health officials said the campaign relies on fresh insights into where about half of new HIV cases occur — 48 out of some 3,000 U.S. counties, and Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and seven states with at-risk rural residents. “We’ve never had that kind of ‘This is the target,’” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s pre-eminent AIDS warrior and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The government has “been trying to address HIV, but never in such a focused way,” he said. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond,” Trump said in his speech. He pledged funding in his upcoming budget, but did not say how much. Trump’s move is being greeted with a mix of skepticism and cautious optimism by anti-AIDS activists. They’re flagging his previous efforts to slash Medicaid health care for low-income people, and his administration’s ongoing drive to roll back newly won acceptance for LGBTQ people. “We stand ready to work with him and his administration if they are serious,” said a statement from AIDS United and other groups. “But to date, this administration’s actions speak louder than words and have moved us in the wrong direction.” AIDS United funds and advocates policies to combat AIDS. The ONE Campaign, the global anti-poverty group co-founded by rock singer Bono, called Trump’s pledge a “welcome sign,” but pointed out that the administration has also proposed deep cuts in U.S. funding for efforts to battle HIV in Africa. “While we might have policy differences with the president and his administration, this initiative, if properly implemented and resourced, can go down in history as one of the most significant achievements of his presidency,” Michael Ruppal, executive director of the AIDS Institute, said in a statement. While Azar said significant new funding would be included in the president’s budget, he also emphasized that the campaign is about making more efficient use of existing programs like the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which provides medical care and support services. “The tools are there,” Azar said. “This is about execution.” Today’s HIV treatments work so well they not only can give people with the AIDS virus a near-normal life expectancy, they offer a double whammy — making those patients less likely to infect other people. At the same time, a longtime HIV medication named Truvada can prevent infection if taken daily by healthy people who are at risk from their infected sexual partners, a strategy known as “pre-exposure prophylaxis” or PreP. The people most at risk include men who have sex with men, minorities, particularly African-Americans, and American Indians/Alaska Natives. Azar said the administration’s campaign would rely on public health workers to identify people at risk for HIV/AIDS, get them tested, and on medication. The 48 counties HHS is focusing on are mainly metro areas. The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Researchers noted that will require working with groups that often shun health services, including injectable drug users. “Trust is a crucial weapon in our fight to eradicate HIV and it’s necessary to encourage people from marginalized groups to get tested,” said Dr. Albert Wu, an HIV researcher at Johns Hopkins University. The initial goal is to reduce new HIV infections by 75 percent in five years. There are about 40,000 new cases of HIV infections a year in the U.S. That’s a dramatic reduction from the crisis years of the AIDS epidemic, but progress has stalled. More than 1 million Americans live with the disease. William McColl of AIDS United said the Trump administration’s goal is “very doable,” based on currently available technology and trends. “I think the HIV community would work with the administration on this issue if they’re serious, but it’s also going to take real action, including possibly regulatory and legislative changes to achieve the goal,” said McColl. Azar said the idea for the new push came from within the ranks of HHS. “There was a recognition that we were facing a unique and historic moment where all the strands were coming together,” said Azar. They took the idea to Trump. “President Trump is personally invested in this,” said Azar. In recent years a number of health organizations, including the United Nations, have called for coordinated steps to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. Trump’s CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, told agency employees last March that it would possible to end the AIDS epidemic in less than seven years. Shortly after taking office in 2010, President Barack Obama outlined a national HIV strategy focused on lowering the infection rate and increasing access to care. The administration renewed the five-year plan in 2015, though it did not set a goal of stopping transmission or ending the epidemic. ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone and Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump plan to stop HIV epidemic targets high-infection areas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fbe466aad2d4918b6c057df0e166e46",
            "input": "Poland, Europe’s largest poultry producer according to data from Eurostat, has not had an outbreak of bird flu since 2017. Andrzej Danielak, president of Polish Association of Breeders and Poultry Producers, said that three farms might be affected, with up to 350,000 birds at risk in a three kilometer radius. “Veterinary services are implementing virus eradication procedures in this situation,” local authorities in Lubartowski county said in a press release issued on Tuesday, adding that the virus was a subtype of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu that can also threaten people  The authorities said crisis meetings had been held, while footage from private broadcaster Polsat showed police cars blocking a road in the area.",
            "output": [
                "Poland hit by bird flu outbreak on turkey farms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed68b7ce811f40ba8b9133e0c370776b",
            "input": "This release earns praise for clearly mentioning the cost savings derived from the use of chest ultrasounds versus chest X-rays in treating patients in the study — $9,700 from 191 patients. The release could have been even even more helpful by adding information showing chest ultrasounds cost about two-and-a-half times less than chest X-rays ($140 versus $370 respectively). The release also might have mentioned that there’s a large initial outlay for ultrasound machines that may make them too expensive in the developing world. Another upfront cost not mentioned is the expense of training emergency medicine physicians (and presumably also internal medicine, pediatric and family medicine physicians) to do this procedure. The release clearly stated that chest ultrasounds effectively diagnosed study patients who had pneumonia as well as chest X-rays. There were 38.8 percent fewer chest X-rays required for a pneumonia diagnosis in the investigational arm of the study compared to the control group of the study. The study also showed that stays in the emergency department by ultrasound-only patients were almost a half-hour shorter than those of the control group. We offer a word of caution, however. The release didn’t explain how the pneumonia cases were actually diagnosed so we cannot determine if the ultrasound really was accurate and effectively diagnosed study patients who had pneumonia. The release points out that there was no increase in adverse events reported during the study, nor were there any cases where pneumonia was not appropriately diagnosed. There is the potential for some harms that aren’t addressed, namely missed diagnosis and the identification of small pneumonias that don’t need to be treated (overdiagnosis). “In the era of precision medicine, lung ultrasound may also be an ideal imaging option in children who are at higher risk for radiation-induced cancers or have received multiple radiographic or CT imaging studies,” according to the lead study author. This benefit in terms of harms reduction might have been stressed even more. Ultrasound screening could be safer in the long run for children than X-ray since repeated exposure to radiation presents a cumulative risk for cancer. Radiation oncology experts and the FDA have long called for reduced reliance on routine X-ray and computerized tomography (CT) screening in children unless the benefits outweigh the risks. More than 100 professional organizations including pediatricians, radiation physicists and oncologists have signed on to the “Image Gently” campaign which urges the use of ultrasound instead of radiation when feasible. The release makes clear that this was a randomized, controlled trial comparing chest ultrasound versus chest X-rays as a diagnostic tool for identifying pneumonia in young patients. Participants either received an ultrasound possibly followed by a chest X-ray, if needed, in the investigational arm, or a chest X-ray followed by a chest ultrasound in the control group. However, as noted above, it isn’t explained how the pneumonia cases were actually diagnosed. This reduces the quality of the study. Ultrasound should correctly diagnose the larger pneumonias without problems, but small ones can be missed or they may be overdiagnosed. The published article briefly discusses the lack of accuracy in its discussion section. It appears to rely heavily on a meta-analysis of previous studies involving ultrasound accuracy. The study states: “Second, we were unable to calculate test performance characteristics adhering to the STARD (Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy studies) statement due to the fact that 38.8% of the subjects in the investigational arm did not receive a CXR [chest x-ray] that would have served as a practical reference standard. By design, our sonologists were not blinded to CXR results in the control arm so that the information could be used to guide treatment. Lack of blinding to a reference standard could be a potential source of bias in calculated test performance characteristics for LUS.” This release doesn’t engage in disease-mongering. The release notes that the study was conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai but doesn’t disclose sponsors or potential conflicts of interest. According to the journal article, one of the researchers has a consulting relationship with an ultrasound company. This should have been included in the release. The release adequately explains that chest X-rays are the diagnostic method of choice for determining cases of pneumonia, according to the World Health Organization. The study’s primary goal was to determine if chest ultrasounds were an adequate alternative to chest X-rays. A non-imaging method used to diagnose pneumonia is a physical examination. The release does make a point that ultrasound technology is widely available in health care facilities around the world. We would have liked for the release to include the fact that in perhaps three-quarters of the world, there is a lack of facilities that can provide even diagnostic X-rays. This fact, attributed to the WHO in the journal article, is absent in the news release. High resolution ultrasound machines would be even further out of reach in these countries. The novelty of a safe and cheaper alternative to expensive radiography that could provide equivalent diagnostic precision is clearly enough to warrant this release. We don’t believe the news release relies on unjustifiable language to summarize the potential benefit of substituting ultrasound over X-Ray in screening for pediatric pneumonia.",
            "output": [
                "Lung ultrasound may be a safe substitute for chest X-ray when diagnosing pneumonia in children"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-019d825473cc4c54ac43a4d64e0241c5",
            "input": "\"The new spate of political ads that have flooded the airwaves seem better suited to Halloween than the Election Day that follows it. With haunting music and ominous narration, they sound more like ads for horror movies than political commercials. One example is a radio advertisement from David Cicilline's campaign that begins with the narrator's somber warning: \"\"State Representative John Loughlin is running for Congress.\"\" A worried-sounding woman chimes in: \"\"I heard his ideas are really out there.\"\" \"\"How extreme is he?\"\" asks a second elderly voice, full of alarm. \"\"So extreme that John Loughlin voted to let people accused of domestic violence keep their guns.\"\" Pause. \"\"Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?\"\" a third frightened voice wants to know. We here at PolitiFact aren't easily spooked; we just like to know the truth. So we tuned out the dramatic flourish and got to work checking out the claim. The vote Cicilline's ad talks about was on a 2005 bill in the Rhode Island General Assembly -- now a law -- that allows judges to require those subject to permanent domestic violence restraining orders to surrender their firearms. Rhode Island was the 41st state to enact this law, as part of a push by domestic violence advocates to protect victims. After multiple amendments that carved out exemptions for police officers and active duty military personnel to keep their service weapons while on duty, the Rhode Island bill made it to the floor in June 2005. Once there, it underwent several more changes, one of them spearheaded by Loughlin, a representative from Tiverton,  who successfully advocated to exempt on-duty National Guard members from the provision as well. The House bill passed in a 46-20 vote on June 22, 2005, with Loughlin voting no. The Senate approved the same legislation days later and the bill was signed into law in early July. The problem with the Cicilline advertisement's claim is that it incorrectly says the bill applies to those \"\"accused of domestic violence.\"\" A restraining order is actually a civil document that can be obtained without accusing the subject of a specific crime. \"\"It may be to prevent something from happening,\"\" explained Deb DeBare, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. \"\"[The victim] may have been threatened or in fear of abuse, but no crime has been committed.\"\" Nowhere does the 2005 bill suggest one must be accused of a crime to have the statute apply. Cicilline overstates the scope of the bill that Loughlin voted against. But he is correct to suggest that if Loughlin's side had prevailed, those subject to domestic violence restraining orders would be allowed to keep their guns. We asked Loughlin's campaign manager to explain why he voted against the 2005 bill. Her answer:  \"\"John is a supporter of the Second Amendment and he voted against this bill because it was too broad and he was concerned that there was no distinction made between handguns and antique collectibles or family heirlooms.\"\" That may be true, but it doesn't change the accuracy of Cicilline's statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"David Cicilline Says \"\"John Loughlin voted to let people accused of domestic violence keep their guns.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0589d1241f214a668aea8c08740e0dba",
            "input": "The challenge looks formidable. When the 2008 financial crisis tipped the world into recession, carbon emissions fell. But as economies grew again, governments proved unable to halt an emissions rebound. The issue now is that at a crucial moment for international negotiations, the latest global economic blow could put paid to costly ideas for slowing climate change from political leaders and the private sector alike. “When things are more difficult then people are really going to be focused on financial performance,” Hester Peirce, a Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Monday as world markets dived. This time around, money managers interviewed by Reuters say a growing recognition of the prospect of massive disruption, underscored by Australia’s bushfires, has permanently shifted the dial and put environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues front and center. “People look at ESG as a luxury and when recession hits it gets thrown out of the window,” said Michael Lewis, who heads research into environmental issues at German asset manager DWS. “There’s still going to be significant pressure on policymakers not to take their eye off the ball, because of the financial materiality of climate change,” he added. The initial stages of the epidemic in China have already had a dramatic impact on the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, as Beijing locked down whole areas, shutting down factories and preventing travel. Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air says Chinese CO2 emissions fell by a quarter, or an estimated 200 million tonnes in the four weeks to March 1. Satellite data also showed a sharp fall in Chinese emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a noxious gas emitted by power plants, cars and factories, starting in Wuhan and then spreading over other cities, including the capital, noticeable over a fortnight in mid-February. “There is evidence that the change is at least partly related to the economic slowdown following the outbreak of coronavirus,” NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said in a report. But China has since began to resume business as usual and globally scientists say it is too early to estimate what the coronavirus outbreak’s economic impact may mean for emissions. In 2009, global carbon emissions fell to 31.5 gigatons from 32 gigatons, the Global Carbon Project said. But as the global economy recovered, emissions jumped to 33.2 Gt in 2010 and to a projected 36.8 Gt in 2019, a record high. Graphic - Global carbon emissions: here  For an interactive version of the graphic, click here  The recession's impact in the United States was particularly marked, with CO2 emissions falling 10% between 2007-2009, due to factors including less consumption of goods and services, a paper here published by science journal Nature Communications said. Steve Davis, an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine and one of the paper’s authors, said the growing U.S. usage of natural gas helped suppress the rebound. “The conclusion that the Great Recession helped decrease emissions is still true,” he said. “But that’s not the way we want to win the war on climate change.”   Coronavirus and the oil price fall come at a fraught time for international talks to avoid catastrophic global warming. Observers fear governments will delay making ambitious pledges at a make-or-break U.N. summit in Glasgow in November. “A recession is likely to complicate the politics of environmental policy, as it will drop in priority relative to the economy,” Ruben Lubowski, chief natural resource economist at the Environmental Defense Fund, a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, said. Others see the drop in oil prices as an opportunity to impose more extensive carbon taxes. “The money raised can be used to support fossil fuel workers and retool the economy,” said Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at financial think-tank Carbon Tracker. The price plunge in oil triggered by a Saudi-Russia price war could also affect the shift away from carbon. With shares in oil majors hit hard this week, some investors question the wisdom of new oil and gas exploration, climate issues aside. At the same time, low oil and gas prices could reduce incentives for big emitters such as the European Union, Japan, China and India to wean themselves off fossil fuels. “A lower oil price will stall the green revolution in the world,” Michel Salden, senior portfolio manager at Vontobel Asset Management, said. But rapid renewable energy cost falls could give decarbonisation more momentum than in past downturns. Steve Young, chief financial officer of Duke Energy Corp, (DUK.N), a major U.S. electric utility, told Reuters the coronavirus so far does not seem to affect progress toward its goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Investors will also watch if any government stimulus packages aim to accelerate decarbonisation or simply encourage more high-emitting projects. Changed social attitudes could make it hard for politicians to dismiss climate concerns, Keith Skeoch, chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen, said. But low oil prices will have some influence. “Cheap oil and cheap petrol probably does make (it), from a consumer’s perspective, potentially a little bit more difficult to decarbonise,” Skeoch said.",
            "output": [
                "For richer or poorer: coronavirus, cheap oil test climate vows."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36dc5f16fc284256854230a375c5f21c",
            "input": "The Gainesville Sun reported Wednesday that the squirrel monkeys are now at the city’s Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary. The nicotine addiction study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started in 2014 and was suspended last year after the agency learned four research monkeys had died. The FDA has said three of the monkeys died from anesthesia-related complications and one death was related to bloat, which can have unclear causes. Goodall wrote to the FDA in September 2017, calling the study “cruel and unnecessary.” “To continue performing nicotine experiments on monkeys when the results of smoking are well-known in humans — whose smoking habits can be studied directly — is shameful,” she wrote. Goodall wrote that the study involved placing devices inside young monkeys that would deliver nicotine directly to their bloodstreams. The animals were then restrained and taught to press levers to receive nicotine, she wrote. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb quickly suspended the study and in January said an investigation found the lab lacked adequate oversight and wasn’t meeting the agency’s animal welfare standards. He then announced the end of the study and said the remaining monkeys would be placed in a sanctuary. The monkeys — along with about $1 million for their care, arrived in November at Jungle Friends, where they are being introduced to different foods, materials and experiences. In the spring, they’ll move into large outdoor enclosures that mimic their natural habitat. For now, they’re being held in indoor cages as they get acclimated to life outside the lab. Jungle Friends founder and director Kari Bagnall said “If they ask for cigarettes, they are not getting any.” ___ Information from: The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun, http://www.gainesvillesun.com",
            "output": [
                "Former nicotine research monkeys now at primate sanctuary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ca841aac67a4120bd8358f7640d78e1",
            "input": "Children watch television in the living room of an apartment that is for sale for $4.5 million in New York in this January 13, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson This type of disguised advertising, including high exposure to sugary soft drinks on prime-time TV, is a major contributing factor to childhood obesity, according to the Yale University study released Tuesday. “It is a very subtle message that kids aren’t likely to get,” said Jennifer Harris, a co-author of the study and director of marketing initiatives at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The Yale study aimed to quantify how many product placements appear on prime-time TV and also determine how many of those that kids actually see. Researchers analyzed Nielsen media data from 2008 and found some 35,000 brand placements had appeared on prime-time television that year. Children tend to see about 14 traditional advertisements for food and beverages each day on television compared to one of these product placements, it said. But children don’t yet have the cognitive ability to understand that the popular soda, candy and snack brands they see on prime-time shows are a means of advertising. “It is even more difficult for younger children to understand this is advertising and that it is persuading them to do something that isn’t the best thing for them,” Harris said. Despite most major food companies pledging not to pay for unhealthy food ads in children’s programing, brand appearances in prime-time shows and sportscasts viewed by a wide audience, including kids, is exposing them to these products anyway, Harris said. Harris said Coca-Cola product placements on popular talent show American Idol was the most viewed brand. Children saw five times as many product placements as they did traditional, paid television commercials for Coca-Cola products. Roughly one-third of children in the United States are overweight or obese, said Harris. Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages puts kids at greater risk for obesity, but also long-term health problems like diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, she said. The study will appear in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.",
            "output": [
                "TV product placements termed junk food ad loophole."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19a79441f8ae491fb114894723713de4",
            "input": "Researchers said on Friday long-term exposure to these rays that permeate space may cause dementia-like cognitive impairments in astronauts during any future round-trip Mars journey, expected to take at least 2-1/2 years. In a NASA-funded study, mice exposed to highly energetic charged particles like those in galactic cosmic rays experienced declines in cognition and changes in the structure and integrity of brain nerve cells and the synapses where nerve impulses are sent and received. The irradiated particles in galactic cosmic rays, remnants of star explosions called supernovas, can penetrate spacecraft and astronauts’ bodies. Earth itself is protected by its magnetosphere. University of California, Irvine radiation oncology professor Charles Limoli said “without a doubt” people would face the same issues as the mice. “Astronauts may incur cognitive impairments that lead to performance decrements, confusion, increased anxiety and longer-term problems with cognitive health,” said Limoli, whose study appears in the journal Science Advances. This could compromise mission critical activities, especially if unanticipated situations arise during deep spaceflight, Limoli said. The mice, genetically altered to have green fluorescent neurons to help structural analysis, were exposed to the rays at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and then analyzed six weeks later. In addition to the brain neuron and synapse changes, the mice exhibited decreased performance on learning and memory tests. They also lacked curiosity and were sluggish in experiments involving objects placed in a box with them. “Previous studies show synaptic impairment or loss of synapses is an early and invariant feature of Alzheimer’s disease, and there is a strong correlation between the extent of synapse loss and the severity of dementia,” said University of California, Irvine neuroscientist Vipan Kumar Parihar. NASA says it is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s. NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz said a Mars mission would take at least 2-1/2 years: a six-month journey there, a stay on Mars of at least 18 months, and a six-month flight back. Limoli said while Mars-bound astronauts cannot fully escape the rays, it may be possible to design spacecraft with areas of increased protective shielding.",
            "output": [
                "A space odyssey: cosmic rays may damage the brains of astronauts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa0ac96dfb15412aa90580da044eb90e",
            "input": "Unions and professional groups for such employees say those jobs often are lower priority when budgets are tight, but their absence can have profound effects on student learning and teachers’ work. They contend support staff is vital to properly address everyday student issues such as physical and mental health problems or homelessness. In Chicago, the nation’s third-largest school district, the teachers who have been out on strike since last Thursday are seeking commitments for support staff hiring alongside other demands including higher pay and affordable housing citywide. The demands are part of the union’s “social justice” agenda. Bridget Nelson, a social sciences teacher at a magnet high school in Chicago, said her school is lucky to have a nurse most days but a social worker still is responsible for more than 2,000 students. “Adolescence is a challenging time, and we worry about depression and stress like a lot of educators,” Nelson said. “Some students have support at home, but others don’t. They should have support at school to help give them what they need.” The support-staff issue has come up elsewhere in spring protests by thousands of educators in North Carolina and South Carolina; in Minnesota, where a state survey recently found an increase in students’ mental and emotional health concerns; and in strikes in California, where teachers won promises for hundreds of additional nurses and more counselors in Los Angeles schools and more psychologists and special education instructors in Oakland. Shortages are causing problems in schools across the country, said Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. While discussing labor unions on a visit this month to a government class in an urban Ohio high school, Cropper said she asked the students what they would want prioritized in negotiations. A girl who had attempted suicide answered first: a counselor. Another student wanted a nurse. “We’ve got kids who are dealing with thinking about committing suicide or coming to school hungry or watched a domestic abuse situation over the weekend,” Cropper said. “We can’t possibly begin to think that we’re going to teach them something that’s going to stick with them until we’ve dealt with these other issues.” Most teachers don’t have specific training to tackle those sorts of concerns, so they’re advocating for schools to add more colleagues who do, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said. The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students but has found the average ratio to be nearly double that. The National School Nurses Association’s most recent estimates, from a study published early last year, indicated less than 40% of schools had a full-time nurse and about a quarter didn’t employ one at all. In those cases, teachers may have to assess and address issues such as gym class injuries, and preventive care can dwindle, said Donna Mazyck, the executive director of the nurses association. At John Tartan Elementary School in North Las Vegas, an assistant trained in basic first aid often handles minor injuries and distributes basic medications because the nurse splits duty at multiple schools, said Marie Neisess, a veteran teacher and reading specialist there. The school of 400-plus students also has a counselor, a social worker and a psychologist, but they struggle to keep up with the needs of the student body, which includes children facing challenges such as severe behavioral problems, foster care or a parent’s incarceration, she said. “We’re all kind of putting Band-Aids on the very big problem that we have here,” Neisess said. In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had campaigned with an education plan that included staffing schools with full-time nurses, social workers and librarians, and enabling students to get mental health services. The district has committed to hiring more nurses, social workers and support staff but objected to making that part of the teachers’ contract. The union also has expressed concern about the various roles counselors are expected to fill, including as substitute teachers and lunchroom help, and asked for contract language that spells out that people will only be asked to do the jobs for which they are hired. Pushing for something enforceable in writing makes sense to Matt Mandel, a middle-school English teacher in the Philadelphia School District, who said the local union there has fought to have a nurse and counselor at each school. “In these urban districts like Philadelphia and Chicago, our kids need more,” Mandel said, “and we always find ways to justify giving them less.” ___ Associated Press reporter Kathleen Foody in Chicago contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Chicago teachers’ strike highlights support staff shortages."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02fa882c1bb54e9d835c72693d18d2d9",
            "input": "To many, it seems that the people protesting — who have been predominantly white — are agitating for reopening because they won’t be the ones to suffer the consequences. So far, the facts are proving them right: The consequences of keeping some businesses open have been falling disproportionately on the shoulders of black people and other marginalized groups. “There has always been a small, white ruling class that has been OK with seeing certain populations as disposable,” said LaTosha Brown, founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, a power-building organization based in the South. The pandemic has highlighted — and often deepened — gaping inequalities in the United States and around the world. Black people are dying in disproportionate numbers from COVID-19 in the United States; people of color are especially exposed because they are more likely to hold many of the jobs that were deemed essential; and, as the reopening starts, they are likely to be among those whose workplaces open first. For instance, in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, black people make up just under 25% of the population, but more than 40% of public transit workers. Delmonte Jefferson, a black public health professional in Atlanta, said African Americans and other people of color want to mitigate the economic damage as much as anyone else — especially since those groups are among the ones who are suffering the most from the downturn. But they don’t want a return at all costs, he said. “Even the thought of opening the country back up shows that African Americans aren’t being valued,” said Jefferson, executive director of the Atlanta-based National African American Tobacco Prevention Network. Some “reopen” protests have included black speakers, and a handful of black people have attended. But images of the rallies and Facebook pages dedicated to the movement indicate the vast majority of supporters are white. Demonstrators from Alabama to Michigan haven’t focused on race. Instead, they advocate preserving constitutional freedoms and talk about the catastrophic toll on small businesses. The protesters have included organized groups like anti-vaccine advocates, gun-rights supporters and even a militia, and many have expressed support for President Donald Trump, reflecting the way the discussion has become partisan. But many African Americans say the fact that protesters are advocating a riskier path reveals a privileged position — as does their ability to flout social-distancing rules and even brandish weapons. The complaints from protesters that their rights are being trampled, for instance, comes across as misinformed and misguided to racial minorities who have been oppressed for generations, said Nadia Richardson, who heads No More Martyrs, a nonprofit focused on the mental health of black women. “It looks like from that perspective (it’s) a group of people who don’t really understand what it is to have your rights violated,” said Richardson. Groups including the NAACP, meanwhile, have called for greater government action to prevent the virus’ spread in response to statistics showing that COVID-19 is killing disproportionate numbers of black people. An Associated Press analysis  of available state and local data shows that nearly one-third of those who have died are African American, with black people representing about 14% of the population in the areas covered in the analysis. The toll in black communities, leaders say, reflects systemic policies that have made many African Americans far more vulnerable to the virus, including unequal access to health care and economic opportunity. That means many will face an untenable choice: go back to work or face unemployment with no benefits, said Antonio Lightfoot, an organizer for the Workers Center for Racial Justice in Chicago. The Rev. William J. Barber, who advocates for groups that often perform front-line jobs, said black people aren’t the only ones being devalued. “The issue is not what these protests are saying to just black people but what they are saying to poor and low-income people who are the most impacted,” said Barber. “Invitations to open up society and encourage people to return to their routines is an invitation to death.” Nearly 70,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States, according to a tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University from official government numbers, although the true figure is likely higher. Most people who get infected suffer only mild or moderate symptoms, but some, especially the elderly and those with other health problems, become seriously ill. As the debate over reopening has become increasingly heated, some have used racist language or symbols. Democratic Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is black and has been an outspoken critic of Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to allow some businesses to reopen, recently tweeted an image of a text message that demanded she reopen Atlanta and called her a racial slur. Confederate flags have been visible at some demonstrations, but far more American flags are evident. Although Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other restrictions, a survey conducted in mid-April from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed a partisan divide. The survey showed that while majorities of Democrats and Republicans thought restrictions where they lived were about right, Republicans were roughly four times as likely to think they went too far — 22% versus 5%. The largely white protest attendance might simply reflect that divide since black voters are more likely to be Democrats. Deanna Reed, who is black, has helped her church set up drive-thru virus testing and has personal reasons for wanting to maintain social distancing: Her mother works in a shipping facility where she has to provide her own masks and gloves. “Just having to see my mom go out is tough,” said Reed. “I pray for her safety daily.” ___ Associated Press writer Aaron Morrison contributed to this report from New York. Morrison and Reeves are members of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow Reeves on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Jay_Reeves. Follow Morrison at http://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.",
            "output": [
                "In clamor to reopen, many black people feel overlooked."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20d0e9a6595a4f66801720a3bd32a53c",
            "input": "The letter, sent by J&J’s Tibotec Therapeutics unit to doctors this month, cited cases of drug-induced hepatitis as well as liver injury and death. “We are issuing a new warning on our labeling,” Tibotec Therapeutics spokeswoman Pam Van Houten told Reuters. The company said in its letter that the problems have not been linked directly to Prezista, a once-daily protease inhibitor that was given in combination with the drug ritonavir. Ritonavir is sold by Abbott Laboratories under the name Norvir. Fifteen cases of liver problems were reported during clinical trials, Van Houten said. She added the company did not provide information on post-marketing cases reported after the drug’s U.S. approval in 2006. Most of the cases occurred in patients with advanced HIV, who were taking multiple medications, as well as those who were also infected with hepatitis B or C, the letter said. The letter and Van Houten did not say how many liver-related deaths occurred. The FDA warning was released on its Web site here",
            "output": [
                "J&J, FDA warn of liver risk with HIV drug patients."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d3c7efae677d4e0bbbc48459aba7e741",
            "input": "A cataract was removed on Dec. 10 from the left eye of a 3-year-old western lowland gorilla who lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the park announced Monday. The gorilla, named Leslie, was given a muscle blocker to keep her still while a team that included vets along with anesthesiologists and an ophthalmology team from UC San Diego Health removed the cloudy lens and replaced it with an artificial lens that should last for life. The operation was performed at the San Diego Zoo Global’s Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center. Cataract surgeon Chris Heichel, who led the team and has performed thousands of operations, said it was his first on a gorilla. “Fortunately, the similarities between the anatomy of human and gorilla eyes are great enough to allow us to safely navigate the procedure without complication,” Heichel said in a statement released by the park. “The remainder of the eye appeared to be in excellent health, indicating exceptional vision potential for the rest of Leslie’s life.” Cataracts can occur naturally with aging. But given that Leslie is a youngster, her problem more likely stemmed from an injury, either from a fall while practicing her climbing or from “an overly rambunctious play sessions with other young gorillas in her troop,” the park said. Leslie will need antibiotics and steroids to prevent infection and inflammation, but she is already back with the troop at the park.",
            "output": [
                "California gorilla treated for cataract."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8825616ef26d49e99aa5f4471eedd5a4",
            "input": "The researchers, from Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, cautioned that their study looked only at a limited range of data, and said follow-up studies of larger data sets were needed to better understand the virus’s evolution. The preliminary study found that a more aggressive strain of the new coronavirus associated with the outbreak in Wuhan accounted for about 70% of analyzed cases, while 30% were linked to a less aggressive type. The prevalence of the more aggressive virus type decreased after early January 2020, they said. “These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),” they wrote in a study published on Tuesday in the National Science Review, the journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Experts not directly involved in the study said its findings were interesting, but cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from such preliminary research. “It’s difficult to confirm studies like this without a direct side-by-side comparison of pathogenicity and spread in, ideally, an animal model, or at least a greatly extended epidemiological study,” said Stephen Griffin, a professor and expert in infection and immunity at Britain’s Leeds University. Also on Wednesday, one of China’s top medical associations said that the median incubation period of the coronavirus is five to seven days and the maximum 14 days. The remarks by Du Bin, chairman of the critical care medical branch of the Chinese Medical Association, mark the most conclusive assessment of the virus’ incubation period by a government-affiliated medical organization to date. The revelations came amid a fall in new coronavirus cases following crippling restrictions imposed on the world’s second largest economy to stop its spread, including transport suspensions and the extension of the Lunar New Year holiday. Mainland China had 119 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, the National Health Commission said, down from 125 the previous day, in a broad trend that has seen numbers of new cases fall from the middle of February. The total number of cases on the mainland has now reached 80,270. The number of deaths rose by 38 to bring the total toll for mainland China to 2,981 by March 3. All but one new death occurred in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. With the number of new daily infections overseas now exceeding new cases in China, Chinese officials have begun to seek ways to control the spread of the virus outside of China and guard against future outbreaks. Authorities have asked overseas Chinese hoping to return home to reconsider their travel plans, while cities across the country have set up quarantine rules for those entering from high-risk places. An infected person is known to have arrived in China from Iran, one of the virus’ new hotspots, last week. China is encouraging domestic producers of medical protective equipment to export protective suits to meet overseas demand as the virus spreads, Cao Xuejun, an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. China’s health authorities are also studying setting up emergency reserves for medical resources and protective materials, Mao Qunan, an official at China’s National Health Commission said at the same briefing.",
            "output": [
                "Researchers identify two coronavirus strains as China cases dwindle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-180191b4f26344faa29eb5c389916f2e",
            "input": "The story focused on costs, including information about the relative cost comparison between what are called “open” surgeries and those done laparoscopically (with a thin flexible tube.) The release summarized how minimally invasive techniques reduced the length of hospital stay and complication rates for patients. “Researchers also found that, on average, the minimally invasive approach reduced length of hospital stay by approximately two days, and open operations were more than $9,000 more expensive than minimally invasive procedures. The researchers also found that laparoscopic procedures were better for patients in terms of fewer complications. Laparoscopic anti-reflux operations were less likely to result in postoperative blood clots, wound complications, surgical site infection, esophageal perforation (which can be life threatening), bleeding, cardiac failure, and death.” We rate this, but just barely, for citing cost differences between the two types of surgery and the average reduction in the number of days a patient must remain hospitalized. We do wish the release had delved more into the specifics of reduced complications. How common were the surgical complications in each surgical method? The release names complications associated with both types of surgery for GERD, while stating that patients undergoing laparoscopic procedures encountered fewer of them: “postoperative blood clots, wound complications, surgical site infection, esophageal perforation (which can be life threatening), bleeding, cardiac failure, and death.” The news release gave details about how the study examined records of about 75,000 patients from 1,000 hospitals to compare outcomes in the records for open vs. the minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries. That’s all to the good. However, the news release didn’t mention any of the study’s limitations. The key one is that this is a retrospective, observational review of records that isn’t capable of supporting cause and effect statements such as the minimally invasive approach “reduced length of hospital stay by approximately two days.” Nor should this kind of evidence be used as the basis for statements such as laparoscopic procedures “were better for patients” and “should be the standard of care.” Patients receiving open vs. laparascopic procedures could differ in unknown ways, which is why the superiority of one approach over the other should ideally be established by a prospective, randomized controlled trial. There were other limitations outlined in the journal article that were not mentioned in the release. Because the NIS database doesn’t link to hospital records, researchers weren’t able to track and measure outcomes “including complications, readmission, and mortality, occurring after the initial hospital discharge.” The researchers were also unable to determine which open surgeries were “re-dos” of previous surgeries. The potential for errors in coding which procedures were used was also cited as a possible limitation. There was no disease mongering. The release also provided useful context on the prevalence of GERD and further specified that smaller group of patients, from the many heartburn suffers, might be candidates for the surgery. Well done. The release does not list any funding source for the research and the published study notes that authors had “nothing to disclose.”  We’ll rate this not applicable since this is an examination of existing data, and there may have been no additional outside funding. The news release does a good job here. It compares different surgical methods and it also names alternatives for treating GERD such as medications and changes in the diet. It also states which group of patients the surgery is aimed at: “Anti-reflux surgery should be considered in patients who do not achieve complete control of their symptoms [regurgitation or cough] with medications; who do not want to take medications for the rest of their lives; or who experience complications of medical therapy.” It’s clear from the release that both methods of surgery have been widely available nationally and the outcomes of 75,000 surgeries were tracked by the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. The release also notes that “urban academic or teaching hospitals” perform laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery more often than “open” procedures, 54.4 percent versus 45.6 percent. And it recommends that anti-reflux surgery should be performed laparoscopically in specialized centers. The news release was not about a novel procedure and made no claim of novelty. However, this isn’t the first study to examine laparoscopic vs. open surgery. For example, the British Journal of Surgery published results of a randomized trial of the two methods and the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology published research on long-term outcomes following laparoscopic and open procedures for GERD. We did not observe any unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Laparoscopic anti-reflux operation for GERD linked to fewer postoperative complications"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c921bf34caaf442883a9e717a3f90bcb",
            "input": "In May 2020, a photograph started to circulate on social media supposedly showing a petri dish that was coughed on by a person not wearing a mask and a petri dish coughed on by the same person wearing a mask:  As the Twitter user noted, this image reportedly was taken by lab technician Katie Corley and shared to her public Facebook page. Corley’s original post was shared on May 6 along with a message to the “conspiracy theorists” who were refusing to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic: Visual experiment for you conspiracy theorists: I coughed on two petri dishes, one while wearing a mask and one not. Shocking! The one on the left with no growth is the one I used a mask for! The one on the right where I didn’t wear a mask is full of bacteria. So yeah, maybe cloth masks don’t give you much protection, but they protect the people around you. Maybe wear one if you insist it’s your constitutional right to eat at Chili’s. We note that many social media users who encountered this photograph made some incorrect assumptions about what it showed. For example, many people seemed to think that the petri dish on the right showed SARS-CoV-2, the strain of coronavirus at the center of the current pandemic, and that this photograph demonstrated just how effective masks were at stopping the spread of COVID-19. This photograph, however, simply shows “normal oral flora.”   In an edit to her post, Corley explained that the petri dish on the right contained “normal oral flora,” such as staph species, neisseria species, and corynebacterium. Corley also noted that viruses are much smaller than the bacterium shown in the petri dish, but noted that this small experiment demonstrated how masks can lessen droplet spread that can carry viruses. Corley added: There’s been a lot of questions regarding this experiment, so here’s some answers: 1. I used a cloth mask I made myself with disposable lab coat material. 2. I used blood agar. 3. The plate on the right looks “old” or “stale” because of the growth. Some of the organisms on this plate are alpha hemolytic, meaning they partially hemolyze blood. The agar itself is made with 5% sheep’s blood, so when it’s partially hemolyzed, it turns a dark green color. 4. As for the growth, it’s mostly viridans strep, staph species (not staph aureus), neisseria species, and corynebacterium. Pretty normal oral flora. 5. I realize that viruses are 1,000 times smaller than bacteria. The point of the masks is to prevent droplet spread, which carry bacteria as well as viruses. Corley, of course, was not the first person to notice how face masks lessened droplet transmission. Similar images showing bacteria from a person’s cough growing in a petri dish can also be seen in this article from the Microbiology Society. Rich Davis, the Clinical Microbiology Lab Directory at Providence Sacred Heart, posted a series of images of a similar demonstration: What does a mask do? Blocks respiratory droplets coming from your mouth and throat. Two simple demos: First, I sneezed, sang, talked & coughed toward an agar culture plate with or without a mask. Bacteria colonies show where droplets landed. A mask blocks virtually all of them. pic.twitter.com/ETUD9DFmgU — Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@richdavisphd) June 26, 2020  Davis, like Corley, emphasized that this was not an experiment showing the efficacy of masks against the spread of COVID-19. Rather, it was a simple demonstration to show how masks lessened the spread of respiratory droplets, which can carry the disease. The British children’s television show “Operation Ouch!” also took a look at how much bacteria gets disseminated when a person coughs. While that episode did not include masks, it did compare a petri dish that was coughed on by a man with no mouth covering and a petri dish that was coughed on by a man who covered his mouth with an elbow. Here’s how the petri dish looked after it was coughed on by the man who covered his mouth (left) and the petri dish coughed on by the man who didn’t (right). As you can see, the results from “Operation Ouch!” are very similar to the results seen in Corley’s post:  Here’s the clip from “Operation Ouch!” (The cough experiment starts around the 50-second mark): A 2005 study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology noted that more than 700 bacterial species have been detected in the oral cavity. Covering your mouth when you cough (either with an elbow or a mask) can reduce droplet transmission and lessen the spread of potentially harmful germs. Professor Lindsay Grayson, director of infectious diseases at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, said as much during a presentation at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco in 2009 concerning research on the effectiveness of masks in slowing the spread of influenza. The New York Times reported: “If you’re wearing a mask to prevent yourself from catching it, they’re not so effective,” said Dr. M. Lindsay Grayson, professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne and one of the study’s co-authors. “But if you’re sick with the flu and coughing and sputtering, those masks do prevent you from spraying those bugs everywhere.” The researchers asked nine study subjects with documented cases of influenza type A or B to test two different types of masks — the standard, disposable surgical masks and a more costly, respirator-style mask. The flu patients coughed into a petri dish while wearing both types of mask as well as without the mask. The dish was then tested for the presence of flu virus. When either type of mask was worn, no virus was detected on the petri dish. But how effective are masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19? While the exact efficacy of masks on the spread of COVID-19 is still undetermined, health officials do recommend that people wear masks in public because these face coverings can prevent droplet transmission.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows one petri dish that was coughed on by a person not wearing a mask and another petri dish coughed on by the same person wearing a mask. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e1e9b39984745f791c126750756d0ef",
            "input": "Lithuania’s new liquor law has increased the legal drinking age from 18 to 20, banned alcohol advertising, and drastically curtailed opening hours for liquor stores. The law, in effect since Jan. 1, has stirred major controversy in this Baltic nation of 2.9 million people. According to the World Health Organization, Lithuanians’ per-capita alcohol consumption jumped more than 22 percent in a decade — from 14.9 liters (15.7 quarts) of pure alcohol annually in 2006 to 18.2 liters (19.2 quarts) in 2016. Authorities felt drastic measures were needed. “We had to do something about it,” said Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, the main proponent of the new legislation. (Alcoholism) “makes Lithuania unattractive to foreign investments and tourism.” “Especially shocking are surveys showing that a third of our 15- and 16-year-olds consume alcohol regularly,” Veryga noted. With 36 per 100,000 people, Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in Europe, and suicide rates among alcoholics are consistently high, according to a study conducted by health specialists at Vilnius University. “These were hard decisions,” Veryga said, noting that opponents of the new law were trying “to make fools” of its supporters, including him. Veryga became minister in late 2016 when his party — Union of Farmers and Greens Union — claimed most seats at the national elections. The party has pushed ahead with several conservative law changes in family policy, despite public protests and disagreements with coalition partners. On a mural covering a wall of a popular Vilnius restaurant, Veryga is depicted as a Taliban fighter holding an AK-47 machine gun under the heading “the party is over,” reflecting concerns that Lithuania is entering a dark era of radical bans and restrictions. Some columnists suggested Lithuania should start censoring classic literature describing the consumption of spirits, while members of the opposition have already filed amendments seeking to repeal the harshest aspects of the law. Even the country’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite, has called for amendments. “It reminds me of the Middle Ages and it causes huge international harm to Lithuania’s image and reputation abroad,” Grybauskaite said, speaking about pages having to be torn out of foreign magazines. Publishers have rushed to remove — or cover with red stickers — liquor ads from foreign publications distributed in the country to avoid fines of 30,000 euros ($37,480) per ad. Analysts point out that the new laws are being pushed through without any dialogue, disregarding unwanted side-effects, international practices or even common sense. “Their political program is a collection of random ideas wrapped in Messianism and shrouded in hypocrisy,” said Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Lithuania Free Market Institute, a Vilnius-based think tank. “But they are very consistently prohibitionist about regulating personal choice and lifestyle.” “The party has no identity except for a crusade against what people put in their mouths,” Silenas added. Restaurants have also been affected. Wine bottles are no longer allowed to be displayed after 8 p.m. as its labels are considered advertising and patrons have a choice of buying wine by the glass or having it served in a decanter. “This is just ridiculous,” said Arunas Starkus, study director at the Sommelier School of Lithuania, calling the new rules “simply irrational and naive.” “It takes decades to change people’s customs and it has to be done by changing the culture, not by implementing restrictions and penalties,” Starkus said. Underage drinkers are still welcome at many downtown bars, with owners highly skeptical about the new regulations. “Of course, we let in everybody, even those who are under 20,” said Raminta Ruibyte, manager of a popular Vilnius bar. “We can offer them non-alcoholic beverages.” Minister Veryga, for his part, was unmoved. “Nobody will solve these problems for us,” Veryga said. “We must ... help the new generation grow up not thinking that alcohol is the main factor that unites and keeps our society together.”",
            "output": [
                "Stricter liquor rules give Lithuanians a severe hangover."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b24d234706a4a83826f7add90a9ee8a",
            "input": "Among those arrested are three men who were caught Monday while trying to clear land to plant crops in Tesso Nilo National Park, which is home to about 140 endangered wild elephants, said Dedi Prasetyo, the national police spokesman. Those arrested could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that provides for a maximum 10-year prison sentence for setting fires to clear land. Indonesia’s fires are an annual problem that strains relations with neighboring countries. The smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand in a noxious haze. Poor visibility caused by smoke has caused delays of flights at several airports in Indonesia and Malaysia and prompted authorities to shut thousands of schools in some parts of the two countries, affecting more than 1.5 million students in Malaysia alone. Malaysian authorities have been conducting cloud seeding operations in an attempt to clear the haze and are considering passage of a law that would penalize Malaysian plantation companies that start fires abroad. Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said Thursday that a more lasting regional solution is needed. Singapore, directly across the Strait of Malacca from Indonesia’s Riau province on the island of Sumatra, experienced air pollution levels ranging between moderate and unhealthy levels on Thursday. Elevated levels of PM2.5, tiny airborne particulates, caused Singaporean authorities to issue health advisories to limit outdoor activities, especially among the elderly, pregnant women and children. PM2.5 particulates are small enough to be sucked deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, and can cause respiratory problems and over time may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancers. Thailand’s southernmost provinces, which are north of Malaysia halfway up the Malay Peninsula, were blanketed with haze from Indonesian fires on Thursday. Thai authorities said the level of air pollution has risen since Sept. 5, reaching a dangerous level in the last few days. The Air Pollution Research Station of Prince of Songkhla University urged residents of the affected areas to refrain from outdoor activities and not leave home without wearing masks. Health officials in Yala province have been giving out free masks to people on the streets while urging motorists to exercise caution when driving on highways because of poor visibility. “We face the problem every year between July and September, the worst was in 2015,” said Kaneungnit Srisamai of the government’s environment quality monitoring center. “We have seen less smoke in the last four years, but this year we may be facing it again due to a reduction in rainfall.” In addition to the arrests, Indonesian authorities have also sealed off land owned by at least 49 plantation companies in the past week for investigation after fires were found there. The Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency detected 4,319 hotspots across the country on Thursday. It said 99% of the hotspots were caused by deliberately set fires. The agency said 44 helicopters had dropped more than 270 million liters (71.3 million gallons) of water and 163 tons of salt for cloud seeding as part of the firefighting efforts. Indonesian authorities have deployed more than 29,000 people to fight the fires, which have razed more than 328,700 hectares (812,000 acres) of land across the nation, with more than half in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan. Indonesia’s annual dry season fires were particularly disastrous in 2015, burning 2.6 million hectares (10,000 square miles) of land. The World Bank estimated the fires cost Indonesia $16 billion, and a Harvard and Columbia study estimated the haze hastened 100,000 deaths in the region. ___ Associated Press writers Busaba Sivasomboon and Grant Peck in Bangkok and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesian police arrest hundreds linked to forest fires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a741dacb2d14dd7a15f83d6f6f89c83",
            "input": "The story does not mention the average cost of these drugs. This is important information, especially for epileptic and bipolar patients who often take medications for most of their life. The drugs under discussion are fairly expensive drugs (approximately. $150-200/month for the newer drugs). There are older, and less expensive medications that might work as well for some people. The story mentions cons of not treating epilepsy with anti-seizure meds. You want to be able to balance the benefits against the potential harms. The story does not note the number needed to treat to prevent a seizure, or similar consumer-friendly data. This information would be useful in light of the FDA review, especially for patients considering stopping these drugs, and for patients thinking about the the long-term benefits. The focus of the story is a potential harm of treatment, namely, an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviors. The story notes the risks are greater for epileptics than for those taking  the same medications for psychiatric conditions or for chronic pain. The story does not note other, less serious harms of these drugs, which can include weight gain, mental confusion and an upset stomach. Discussion of other side effects would be useful information if patients are considering the full risks and benefits of taking this class of medication over the long-term. The story does an excellent job describing the FDA review and explaining both the relative and absolute data. This helps the consumer make a more informed decision when weights the benefits and risks of certain anti-seizure medications. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. The story would have been improved by giving info on how often these medications are prescribed AND/OR how common the illnesses are. The story does a good job citing a range of clinicians, patients and pharmaceutical spokespeople. Regarding the latter, the story notes that findings from pharma-sponsored research were either more positive, or similar to that of the FDA’s review. The interviews in this story provide context for the new information; however, Dr. Nierenberg makes a blanket statement about the risks not outweighing the benefits. For some of these drugs, the benefit in bipolar disorder has not been shown.We are not told if Dr. Nierenberg or Dr. Harden receive pharmaceutical funding. The story notes some pharmacological treatments available for patients with epilepsy. No other treatments are discussed. The story might have been enhanced by giving more info on alternative treatments along with some pros/cons. Other available drug treaments include: phenobarbital, phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproate, gabapentin, lamotrigine, topiramate, levetriacetam, oxcarbazepine, zonisamide, felbamate. The story notes some pharmacological treatments available for epilepsy. The story notes these same medications may also be used to treat chronic pain, mood disorders and headaches. The risks of suicidality are not as great in non-epileptics. The focus is recently published data (http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01786.html) showing a slight increase in the absolute risk of suicide and suicidal symptoms in patients treated with certain anti-seizure medications compared with placebo. The story appropriately provides context for this new information (and educates the health consumer in the process) by presenting this data in both relative and absolute terms, as well as citing a range of sources to provide clinical context. There is independent reporting and no evidence that information in this story is taken directly from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "FDA finds increase in suicide symptoms for patients using seizure medications"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec72a6ae77764efeb74a17f125fda5ed",
            "input": "Given that this is an illegal substance banned by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, cost as a therapeutic would be difficult to ascertain. We liked that the story took pains to explain that approval of this drug faces many hurdles. This is a tough one. While the story tells us what percentage of patients benefited from treatment, it does not, in fact, quantify the extent of those benefits–which is precisely what this category is designed to assess. However, the story does do a good–and thorough–job of describing the benefits in qualitative terms. That said, if the story had only chosen one or two examples of changes in the standardized measures of depression or anxiety, this would have received an enthusiastic “Satisfactory” rating. One strong word of caution though: The story cites one source as saying that psilocybin may one day be used to treat a wide range of mental health issues ranging from drug addiction to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The story offers no evidence to support these claims, which were made by a source associated with an organization that exists specifically to promote research on hallucinogens. Substantial claims require substantial evidence. The story would have been much stronger if it had eliminated the unsubstantiated remarks from the source — particularly since they had no bearing on the subject of the story. The story addresses this issue thoroughly. Well done. The story does a good job of both describing the design of the studies and explaining why the study design is relevant. For example, the story notes: “But both [studies] were considered to be double-blind placebo trials — the gold-standard of medical research in which subjects are left to guess whether they have gotten the active study drug or an inactive lookalike.” This is the sort of thing we like to see. However, we did want to note that in the NYU study, researchers did state in the limitations section that there was “limited blinding” — how did that possibly affect the outcomes? No disease mongering here. However, the story should have been more cautious about claims of benefit for conditions ranging far beyond the scope of the research at hand, which focused on mental health problems among people with advanced cancer. The story clearly states who funded the studies, and what that organization’s long-term goals are. Further, the story clearly identified individuals quoted in the story who have ties to the studies or the funding organization. Lastly, the story incorporates input from an independent expert. However, the story would have been stronger if there had been a skeptical take on the research, which saw in some other coverage, such as this New York Times piece. The story does not address other treatment options for anxiety or depression, such as talk therapy or other pharmaceutical interventions. The story does a good job here. For example, the story notes: “[F]inding drugs like psilocybin effective is by no means the final hurdle to their widespread availability. None are currently in production, and no for-profit pharmaceutical company would likely invest millions of dollars to bring to market a pill intended effectively for one-time use.” Well done. This is a close call. The story does do a good job of placing the work in context in regard to overall research involving hallucinogens. That’s enough to earn it a “Satisfactory” rating. However, the story doesn’t mention any of the work done in the past 10 years on the use of psilocybin specifically to address anxiety in cancer patients, such as this 2007 study, this one from 2011, or this one from 2013. Are the results from the two new studies consistent with these earlier findings? Do they differ in a meaningful way? That would be good to know. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Ingredient in magic mushrooms is shown to ease anxiety and depression in cancer patients in one dose"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5789220739ff4a60bb71e2b492ded592",
            "input": "On March 1 2020, a Facebook user shared a Twitter screenshot about Pablo Picasso having died in 1973, which appeared somewhat in the style of “I was today years old when I learned” memes. On Facebook, the post racked up 40,000 shares and counting within 48 hours. On Twitter, the original February 28 2020 tweet was even more popular:Picasso died in 1973… no one fucking talk to be i thought this man lived in 1500— ells| wrens bitch (@stanscaps) February 28, 2020It read:Picasso died in 1973… no one fucking talk to be i thought this man lived in 1500Although 1973 was not even fifty years before 2020, the claim seemed to resonate wherever it was shared. In fact, a number of “today I learned” and similar Reddit subreddit posts expressed nearly identical sentiments over the years:TIL That Pablo Picasso died in 1973 – for some reason I thought he was alive a really long time ago. from todayilearnedTIL Pablo Picasso lived until 1973, long enough to have a colour photograph taken of him. from todayilearnedTIL Pablo Picasso died in 1973! from todayilearnedCommenters in those threads replied with sentiments similar to the one in the tweet — that they had believed that Picasso was of a far earlier era:I’m ashamed to admit that before reading this factoid on here a couple days ago I would’ve placed his death sometime in the late 19th/early 20th century. I excitedly announced to my wife that “Picasso just died in 1973!” and she called me an idiot. But whatever, she thinks the expression “play it by ear” is play it by year, and sometimes modifies it like “we’ll play it by month.”One of the TIL posts had a title indicating Picasso “lived until 1973, long enough to have a colour photograph taken of him.” A top comment accepted the poster’s point, but pointed out that color photography itself was not very new in 1973:Color photography was around way before 1973, but i see your point, most people don’t realize he lived that far into more modern times.Had to add this bit of info;1973 – Fairchild Semiconductor releases the first large image forming CCD chip: 100 rows and 100 columns of pixels.So in theory Pablo could have had a digital photograph taken of him.In threads like that, comments edged uncomfortably close to unspoken questions about what life was like in the 1970s. And a popular post on r/tumblr again demonstrated disbelief at hearing Picasso died in 1973, also indicating that post on Tumblr had a lot of engagement (due to Tumblr users all apparently believing that the artist wasn’t around during the 20th century):picasso died in 1973? from tumblrAlthough the original Tumblr post was inaccessible, it lived on in reblogs, and read:finding out picasso died in 1973 feels like the fakest thing ive ever heard. everyone talks about him like he lived in a cave with nothing but a torch and paint he made from berries or bear shit or somethin but nah this dude probably sat down watchin looney tunes thinkin “damn i should draw some dude with a nose on his forehead thatd be dope” i feel so lied toOther users shared where they were when they learned Picasso was a relatively modern artist, describing the moment as some “Mandela effect type shit”:This is really like some Mandela effect type shit because I thought the exact same thing until I was watching a show from the 90s and one of the characters claimed to have met Picasso and I was so dumbfounded until I looked him up and realized he lived in the 1900s— bruno (@itsbrunoleon) February 29, 2020Barstool Sports even reported Picasso’s 1973 death as new news in December 2018. Once again, the existence of archival images in color or video of Picasso proved mind-blowing to the author:1973! 1973! 1973! Not 1328. Not 1439. Not 1573. Not 1612. 1973! 1973 was like a couple days ago. Pablo and I missed each other by a mere 16 years. I thought we missed each other by 1,600. If you had walked up to me 45 minutes ago and asked, “Hey what year do you think Pablo Picasso died?” I would’ve guessed something like 1654. Just a complete and total shot in the dark but I know for a fact he died hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Him and Shakespeare surely drank tea together. Nope. 1973. So you’re saying Pablo Picasso was alive at the same time as my parents? Get the fuck outta here. The Godfather came out in 1972. So you’re telling me Pablo Picasso probably saw The Godfather? Pablo saw us walk on the moon! My brain hurts. I’m still not even sure I believe what Google says (despite checking no less than 50 times). […]Not only that but there’s VIDEO OF HIM PAINTINGNot only did Picasso die in 1973, outlets like the New York Times and New York Daily News had accessible obituaries for the artist on their respective sites:PARIS, April 8 [1973] — Pablo Picasso, 91, the most influential and prolific painter of the 20th century, died today at his country home at Mougins on the French Riviera, overlooking the rust-colored hills and the blue Mediterranean which had become his spiritual home.He died of pulmonary edema, an accumulation of water in the lungs. Although he had had several bouts with flu during the winter, his death came as a surprise to his wife, Jacqueline, and to the few friends who had visited him recently, still hard at work in his immense, cluttered atelier.One element of the repeated rediscovery of this fact was ongoing confusion about the era in which Pablo Picasso had lived and died. Commenters routinely stated they believed Picasso was notable several centuries prior, not unlike other relativity of historical events facts which had previously gone viral.It was extremely common for commenters to concur with the misperception, and then chide themselves for being “stupid” or “uneducated.” But art history isn’t something to which most people outside art school are often exposed, and a simple online search suggested that cognitive grouping of well-known names in art might be why readers repeatedly surprised one another with Picasso’s death date.We searched on Google for “who were the greatest painters of all time?”; Google automatically sorts a header to the top of results. Picasso was ranked third by Google, but the ordered list and its range of notability seemed to show where the idea Picasso was from an earlier era might have arisen.Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh were first and second, dying in 1519 and 1890 respectively. Picasso was third, followed by Rembrandt (1669) and Michelangelo (1564):In the next six spots were Monet (1926), Vermeer (1675), Caravaggio (1610), Raphael (1520), Salvador Dali (1989), and Cezanne (1906):Finally, there was Velazquez (1660), Jackson Pollock (1956), Rubens (1640), Klimt (1918), Renoir (1919), and Matisse (1954):When we averaged the first row of dates, it came out to about 1723. Adding the second row brought the average up to 1750, and the inclusions of the 20th century painters of the third row (Pollock, Klimt, Renoir, and Matisse) only brought that average up to 1780. So many of the most well-known artists were from broadly-recognized periods like the early and late Renaissance — if a list cites da Vinci (1590) and Michaelangelo (1564) alongside Picasso (1973), it was probably natural for people to assume that Picasso came after the Renaissance, but not long after.It was fairly easy to verify that Pablo Picasso indeed died in 1973, but that didn’t really seem to be the interesting information revealed in the referenced posts over the years. More interesting to people was how so many users were mistaken about Picasso’s era — which seemed likely down to human tendency to group similar items. It also raises profound questions about groupings and how this very human tendency is exploited in the age of weaponized digital disinformation — questions to which we are only beginning to answer.",
            "output": [
                "Artist Pablo Picasso died in 1973."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b731221440a34973ab365aea684d40c5",
            "input": "The French drugmaker, whose pipeline has disappointed investors in recent years, poached new chief executive Paul Hudson from Swiss pharma group Novartis in September to revitalize the company. Its move to ditch diabetes research - announced alongside cost savings targets - marks a major turning point for a firm whose products dominated the insulin market for nearly two decades, before it was hit by patent losses and a drop in sales. “We recognize it is getting more difficult to get breakthrough innovation and that we have to be efficient and move our resources to areas of opportunity, as tough a choice as that is,” Hudson told reporters. The firm is bulking up elsewhere, as in the lucrative field of cancer drugs. It announced a deal to buy U.S. biotechnology firm Synthorx for about $2.5 billion earlier on Monday. Sanofi, which is due to further detail strategic plans to investors on Tuesday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it was targeting new cost savings of 2 billion euros ($2.20 billion) by 2022, by tightening spending and shaking up its supply chain. It also aims for a core operating margin of 30% by then, up from 25.8% last year. The group emphasized the potential for its eczema treatment Dupixent, recently approved in other therapeutic areas such as asthma, with an aim to expand sales to more than 10 billion euros. Revenue for the drug, developed with U.S. partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, was up 268% in 2018, reaching 788 million euros. Sanofi, currently organized around five global business units, said it would rejig these around three pillars: specialty care, which includes oncology and rare diseases, as well as vaccines and general medicines. Its consumer healthcare unit - known for over-the-counter products such as paracetamol Doliprane, erectile dysfunction drug Cialis and influenza treatment Tamiflu - will be considered as a standalone business, Sanofi said. It would have its own operational dynamic, the firm added, though it did not clarify what this meant in the longer term. Sources told Reuters last month that Sanofi was considering a joint venture or an outright sale among options for the division. “Our objective for the consumer healthcare business is to unlock value and entrepreneurial energy by growing faster than the market over mid-term,” Hudson said.",
            "output": [
                "Accutane Linked Heart, Liver Woes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dedec63b70744af5b02cdf3c036d3d09",
            "input": "“No one is going to dump fuel where these guys did it over populated areas and schools. It’s a pretty outrageous thing,” said Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts and a retired United Airlines pilot. “They should have gone over the ocean or landed heavyweight.” Delta Air Lines said Flight 89 to Shanghai had an engine problem after takeoff Tuesday and needed to quickly return. The Boeing 777-200 landed safely after circling back over Los Angeles while dumping fuel to reach a safe landing weight, the airline said in a statement. Los Angeles County firefighters were called to schools where nearly 60 children and adults were examined for minor skin and lung irritations, but none required hospitalization. Fire Inspector Sky Cornell also said monitoring showed the vapor wasn’t flammable. When a plane is forced to turn back after takeoff, the weight of a full load of fuel carries a risk of damaging the jet during landing. That can be costly for airlines to fix. And even if there isn’t damage, airlines try to avoid overweight landings because they are required to inspect planes, which puts them out of service. When turning back with a full fuel load, pilots have three choices, according to John Cox, a safety consultant and former airline pilot: burn the fuel, which can take hours, dump it or land overweight. In case of a fire, he said, pilots will dump as much fuel as quickly as they can and land. A less dangerous situation tends to lead to using up or dumping fuel. According to recorded radio communications, air traffic control asked the Delta crew if they wanted to return to LAX immediately or linger over the ocean “to hold and burn fuel.”  “We’re going to go ahead,” the pilot or co-pilot responded. “We’ve got it back under control. ... We’re not critical.” “OK, so you don’t need to hold or dump fuel or anything like that?” the controller asked. “Ah, negative,” was the response. But the plane did dump fuel as it headed back. The Delta crew reported a compressor stall in the engine “but they got the engine back under control ... they were not in an immediate threat condition, and they started out over water,” Cox said. “Why they continued to dump fuel at low altitude when they weren’t in a fuel-dumping area, and didn’t advise ATC (air traffic control) that they were dumping fuel — those are questions this crew is going to have to answer.” The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating, citing procedures that “call for fuel to be dumped over designated unpopulated areas, typically at higher altitudes so the fuel atomizes and disperses before it reaches the ground.” Scott Martin, a propulsion expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said a stall puts more pressure on the compressor, and the Delta pilots might have assumed the worst — that they could soon face an engine failure that could cause parts to break off and become shrapnel capable of piercing the fuselage, fuel tanks or hydraulic lines. That might also explain why they were flying at such low altitude — to avoid putting more stress on the troubled engine, he said. “They may have decided, ‘We don’t have time to fly higher and dump the fuel, we need to get the fuel off now and get back down to the runway,’” Martin said. A Delta official spoke at a press conference with school officials Wednesday but offered no further insight into the fuel dumping. “I know that there are a lot of questions about the process that was followed and those kinds of things,” said Dana Debel, Delta’s managing director of government affairs. “There is an ongoing investigation that was opened immediately after the flight landed back.” Little is known about the health effects of exposure to kerosene-type jet fuel, according to the federal Health and Human Services Department. Studies using military personnel suggest it can affect the nervous system, but that research involved people who work around jet fuel all the time. Rats that were fed kerosene showed no increase in tumors, the agency said in a 2017 summary. The Los Angeles County Public Health Department said students that were exposed to the fuel vapor were sent home with instructions on how to clean themselves with soap and water and to thoroughly wash their clothes and to discard them if the odor remained. “Some exposed individuals have experienced mild symptoms such as skin irritation and upper respiratory irritation such as cough,” the department said in a statement. “These symptoms are generally expected to improve on their own.” Delta sent cleaning crews to work with Los Angeles Unified School District crews to clean outside areas of the campuses and all reopened Wednesday. __ Condon reported from New York City. Associated Press reporters David Koenig in Dallas and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Aviation experts puzzled after airliner dumps fuel over city."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f166419034149808af51ca8b5fd51b0",
            "input": "The populist rhetoric appears to be giving way to a more nuanced strategy focused on making the pharmaceutical market more open and competitive, with the aim of lowering costs for consumers. It’s an approach that could avoid a direct confrontation with the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, but it could also underwhelm Americans seeking relief from escalating prescription costs. On Friday, Trump is scheduled to give his first speech on an overarching plan to lower drug prices. Administration officials previewing the speech Thursday touted it as the most comprehensive plan to tackle prescription drug costs that any president has ever proposed, but offered few specifics. Officials said the plan would increase competition, create incentives for drugmakers to lower initial prices and slash federal rules that make it harder for private insurers to negotiate lower prices. The result would be lower pharmacy costs for patients — a key Trump campaign promise. The plan will not include giving the federal Medicare program power to directly negotiate prices with drugmakers, they noted. Trump campaigned on the idea, which is vigorously opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. Public outrage over drug costs has been growing for years, because Americans are being squeezed in a number of ways: New medicines for cancer and other life-threatening diseases often launch with prices exceeding $100,000 per year. Drugs for common ailments like diabetes and asthma routinely see price hikes around 10 percent annually. Meanwhile some companies have been buying up once-cheap older drugs and hiking prices by 1,000 percent or more. Since entering the White House, Trump has backed away from reforms directly targeting drugmakers and staffed his administration with appointees who have deep ties to the industry, including his health secretary, Alex Azar, a former top executive at Eli Lilly. Still, administration officials ratcheted up the rhetoric ahead of Trump’s speech. Azar promised bold action. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb — another Trump appointee with industry connections — hinted at a plan to “dismantle” the convoluted system of discounts and rebates between drugmakers and health care middlemen. On Thursday, administration officials also vowed to address foreign governments that rely on U.S. medicines but pay drastically lower prices due to government controls. The U.S. accounts for 70 percent of the world’s brand-name drug profits, according to a White House report released earlier this year. Here are some of the drivers of U.S. prescription drug prices, proposals for reducing the costs and what’s at stake: LACK OF REGULATION Drugmakers generally can charge as much as the market will bear because the U.S. government doesn’t regulate medicine prices, unlike most other countries. Medicare is the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in the nation, covering 60 million seniors and Americans with disabilities, but it is barred by law from directly negotiating lower prices with drugmakers. Democrats have long favored giving Medicare that power, but Republicans traditionally oppose the idea. The powerful pharmaceutical lobby has repeatedly fended off proposals that could lower prices, such as Medicare negotiations or importing drugs from countries that regulate pricing. With no direct government price regulation, the primary check on prices comes from buyers in bulk — such as insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers, which handle prescription coverage for insurers, employers and other big clients. But because there are so many players in the fragmented system, the discounts achieved in the U.S. are generally far more modest than those in other countries. The result is that the U.S. spends more on medicines than any other nation. In 2015, the U.S. spent $1,162 per person on pharmaceuticals, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That compares with $756 for Canada and $497 for the United Kingdom, both of which have government measures to control drug prices. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY The U.S. system for pricing drugs is notoriously complex, so much that the “real” price for most medicines isn’t clear. Critics contend that this lack of transparency limits competition and drives prices higher. Pharmaceutical companies often launch their drugs with high initial prices. But they argue list prices are merely a starting point for negotiations because they give substantial rebates and discounts to pharmacy benefit managers. Those price concessions are almost never disclosed and it’s unclear what portion actually flows back to consumers. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and others say the lack of transparency in the current system creates perverse incentives in which drugmakers and other health care companies benefit from rising prices — at the expense of patients. Trump officials have suggested requiring Medicare pharmacy benefit managers to share rebate payments with patients. Another proposal would do away with rebates altogether to encourage more upfront discounts in Medicare. But the benefit managers and insurers say that they use rebates to lower health care premiums overall and that doing away with them would drive up costs. PATENTS AND ANTI-COMPETITIVE TACTICS Patents last longer in the U.S. than most countries, typically giving companies a dozen years of competition-free marketing after a drug launches. Most drugmakers increase their prices annually during this monopoly period, and until recently double-digit price hikes were the norm. Drugmakers also have developed a number of techniques to block competitors from launching lower-cost generic drugs. Companies often tweak drug formulations to extend their patents. In other cases, companies directly pay would-be competitors to stay off the market in so-called “pay-to-delay” deals. Gottlieb has promised a crackdown on some of these techniques used to “game the system.” He’s highlighted a practice in which drugmakers use tightly controlled distribution systems to prevent rival manufacturers from purchasing their drug. This effectively blocks the development of generic versions because generic drugmakers must test their products against the original medicine before they can win FDA approval. PUBLIC PERCEPTION A majority of Americans say bringing down prescription drug prices should be a “top priority” for Trump and Congress, according to recent polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And experts who study drug pricing say it’s encouraging that the discussion around the issue has moved from outrage to sophisticated reforms. But some warn there is no guarantee that unraveling the current pricing-setting bureaucracy will lead to lower prices, because it all starts with drugmakers’ prices. “Until we get closer to policy solutions that address the ability of drug manufacturers to set whatever price they want and increase prices year after year we may only be scratching the surface of this problem,” said Juliette Cubanski, a health care expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Dan Mendelson, a health care consultant, said: “If they don’t address the cost that patients see at the pharmacy counter it’s not going to be seen as responsive.” ___ AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "In taking on high drug prices, Trump faces a complex nemesis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da3ec9c7fae5440e9a8130856074bd48",
            "input": "No costs of treatment–any treatment–are described. The study measured how many men with low-risk prostate cancer (who would be appropriate candidates for watchful waiting) had either surgery or radiation. While the aim of the study was to quantify and report an estimated figure for “overtreatment,” the story doesn’t really describe that. Viewers could think that all men reported in the story as having low-risk prostate cancer and who were treated with surgery or radiation were overtreated (half of 25,000 men), when the actual study reports 10% of men were overtreated. Major harms of surgery or radiation are provided–incontinence and sexual problems. On the flip side, the article also points out that some cancers can be life-threatening (a risk of watchful waiting, although not explicitly stated here is that a man could miss a chance to “cure” his cancer). The story explains that researchers collected records of men who had prostate cancer, so an astute viewer could potentially figure out that this was a cohort study (retrospective). It could be clearer. The story describes the natural history of prostate cancer, and specifically, the fact that it is usually slow-growing and that many men may never need treatment, which is true. However, the anecdotal story, which presumably is a shining example of a watchful waiting perspective, is troublesome. This man reports being bothered by the thought of side effects and yet reports having hormone therapy, which itself has many side effects (including loss of sex drive) and it isn’t clear from the story whether this was even indicated for his cancer (so, he could be substituting one harmful treatment for another). The story quotes an expert not related to the research to confirm that prostate cancer is often unnecessary to treat. The story describes four treatment options–surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, and watchful waiting. However, in the example given, a man who chose not to have surgery or radiation opted for hormone therapy, which can also have significant side effects that weren’t discussed. This isn’t a good example of a “watchful waiting” strategy. The story mentions 4 treatment options: surgery, radiation, hormonal therapy and watchful waiting. It states that many men choose either surgery or radiation, implying these treatments are widely available and it also relates an anecdotal story of one man choosing some form of watchful waiting, implying this approach is also available (although the man’s story, and specifically, the addition of hormone treatment to watchful waiting isn’t the traditional view of this approach). The option of watchful waiting, while historically less commonly pursued than other more active treatments, is not new, which the article implies. There’s no evidence the story relied solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Prostate cancer being overtreated, study shows"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a99e1cf1f8b54bfeb8571f78a5620f01",
            "input": "\"A new TV ad by a liberal group uses Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.’s own words to suggest he’s encouraging gun violence by discouraging use of the 911 emergency response system. \"\"I don’t dial 911,\"\" Clarke says in a clip featured in the ad. \"\"I will afterwards, to say ‘Come get this dead guy out of my house, he’s bleeding out and he’s messing up my carpet.’\"\" The ad ends with another excerpt from that interview: \"\"Point that barrel (at) center mass and pull the trigger.\"\" At the top of the spot, a narrator says: \"\"Emergency responders. They risk their lives every day to help save ours. But Sheriff David Clarke says 911 is not our best option.\"\" Does the new ad, paid for by the union-backed Greater Wisconsin Committee, accurately reflect Clarke’s views? Specifically, has Clarke advised citizens to \"\"point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger\"\" because \"\"911 is not our best option?\"\" A familiar controversy Clarke faces Milwaukee Police lieutenant Chris Moews in the Democratic primary for sheriff on Aug. 12, 2014. The new ad resurrects a controversy that began in January 2013 when Clarke’s office paid for a radio announcement in which he said: \"\"With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared?\"\" That prompted a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story with this online headline: \"\"Sheriff David Clarke’s radio ad says 911 not best option, urges residents to take firearms classes.\"\" After Clarke’s radio spot, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett criticized him, saying if there’s an emergency, \"\"I want people to call 911\"\" but Sheriff Clarke is \"\"discouraging people from calling 911, it’s just wrong.\"\" About six weeks later, Clarke sat for a long interview with Project Veritas, a conservative group. that posted it online. The snippets of Clarke speaking in the Greater Wisconsin ad are from this interview. In that interview, Clarke said that Barrett had \"\"contorted\"\" the message in his radio spot by suggesting that he was advising that nobody call 911. The sheriff explained that it’s up to individual citizens to decide for themselves what they will do when confronted with possible harm. At the same time, Clarke made it clear not only what he personally would do, but what he would advise as the best course of action for citizens. He spoke in the context of potentially immediate danger, an example being an intruder breaking into your home. Twice he said the \"\"advice\"\" he would give people was based on what he himself would do: \"\"Use cover, because you don’t know if that clown trying to break into your house is armed. Know who and what your target is. Point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger.\"\" He does not mention calling 911 in that sequence. Then he concludes: \"\"You see, the thing is 911 in that situation is not going to help you and that’s why I said it’s not your best option.\"\" So the ad, notably, gets the \"\"not your best option\"\" context right. The other Clarke quote in the Greater Wisconsin Committee ad is from a section of the Project Veritas interview in which Clarke talks more about what he personally would do in that situation. Clarke tells the interviewer that a sign hangs on his own home picturing the head of a Rottweiler and a semiautomatic handgun with the message: \"\"We don’t dial 911.\"\" \"\"I don’t call 911,\"\" Clarke explained. \"\"I will afterwards, to say ‘Come get this dead guy out of my house, he’s bleeding out and he’s messing up my carpet. And that’s not to sound, you know … that’s just the reality. I’m not going to fool around with that. But that’s the mindset I have but I’ve been a cop for 35 years, so I live with that every day and it becomes second nature...\"\" The sheriff, at that point in the interview, shifts back to what he’d like law abiding residents to consider doing. Government shouldn’t tell them what to do, he said. \"\"I trust them to make those decisions as to what to do,\"\" Clarke said. \"\"If they want to blow a whistle, fine, I don’t tell them not to.\"\" But he made clear that he feels the best option is not waiting around for the police, or hiding under the bed, or running away. \"\"I don’t think that’s going to be very effective in some of these situations,\"\" Clarke said. \"\"So I want people to think about what’s going to be effective. If you want to run out of your house, fine, I’m not running out of my house unless it’s on fire. That’s my house, and I’m not running from it to give the bad guy carte blanche.\"\" Ad vs. reality So how does the Greater Wisconsin ad compare to Clarke’s statements? The ad, despite the length limitations, gets Clarke’s message right and places it in the context -- using Clarke’s own words -- of a home invasion situation. Neither Clarke nor the ad is saying the sheriff suggests that calling 911 is never a good idea. (Clarke, in the interview, at one point seems to suggest he wants average citizens to call 911 if they can -- but then take matters into their own hands rather than wait for police to arrive). The other Clarke quote in the ad -- \"\"point the barrel center mass and pull the trigger\"\" -- is in fact Clarke’s advice to citizens. He says a 911 call isn’t  always possible and by itself isn’t effective because of long wait times for police. When we asked Clarke to respond to the ad, he said he stands behind what he said to Project Veritas and did not intend to watch the Greater Wisconsin ad. Clarke said he suspected the ad twisted his remarks, but he couldn’t recall the specific context of his comments in the interview cited in the ad, and he offered no specific criticisms. \"\"My position is clear,\"\" Clarke said. Our rating A Greater Wisconsin Committee ad said Sheriff David Clarke advised citizens to \"\"point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger\"\" because \"\"911 is not our best option.\"\" Clarke did just that in an interview, and made similar comments in an earlier radio spot and in comments to PolitiFact Wisconsin.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. advised citizens to \"\"point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger\"\" because \"\"911 is not our best option.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8347d424a2ec488aa54c2e8aba6833f8",
            "input": "We give the story high marks here for at least addressing the costs at a couple of centers. It says, “At Memorial Sloan-Kettering, treatment for inpatients is available at no extra charge; outpatients pay $90 to $110 a session. At Norris Cotton, trained volunteers administer treatments free of charge—often while patients are at the hospital receiving intravenous chemotherapy treatments. Insurance typically doesn’t pay for Reiki.” That last sentence is crucial. The reporter might have asked an insurance company for what other sorts of pain relief or anxiety relief treatments insurance does cover and why Reiki didn’t meet the same bar. Another mixed bag. But if we gave a barely satisfactory grade on “evidence,” we must balance the scale here and render this unsatisfactory. Why? One of the selling points of Reiki is how harmless it may be (lack of efficacy notwithstanding). The story could have addressed what might be the greater harm in people choosing Reiki for therapeutic benefit and forgoing other, proven treatment methods. We’ll again give the column the benefit of the doubt. This is a mixed bag. The first reference to the evidence in this story is misleading. It says, “Several studies suggest a benefit to patients, but scientists say more large, rigorous studies are needed.” In fact, as the story goes on later to explain, there is no evidence that Reiki itself has any therapuetic value beyond the simple person-to-person contact that is a necessary part of the experience. But since the story explains that the studies cited have size limitations or produced results that were not statistically significant or were not focused on Reiki – and because one independent expert says one theory is “absurd,” we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. In the future, we suggest that the evidence not be presented to readers in between enthusastic comments such as “How it works is a mystery, but we see anecdotally the amount of delight” it brings patients.”  Our heads were spinning at the “on-again, off-again, yes it does, no it doesn’t” nature of the column. No disease mongering of cancer or of side effects of chemotherapy. The story quoted many experts. Most, however, were used to at least hint at the idea that Reiki has some benefit. We do appreciate some of the candor, though. “Barrie Cassileth, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, calls the energy theory ‘absurd’ but says light-touch therapy can have a ‘great relaxing effect’ on cancer patients ‘who are constantly poked, prodded and given needles. '” The column does not compare Reiki to any other alternatives. It mentions one study that looked at other massage techniques, but doesn’t explain how/if those approaches differ from Reiki. “A 2004 study of 1,290 cancer patients at Memorial Sloan-Kettering found a light-touch massage, standard Swedish massage and foot massage all helped symptoms including pain, depression anxiety, nausea and fatigue; the study didn’t have a control group.” The premise of the story is that this is a treatment that is “increasingly being used.” The story says, “Reiki, a therapy in which hands are placed lightly on the body or just above it, is increasingly being used to reduce cancer-related fatigue, anxiety, nausea and pain.” The story never goes on to prove that this is a method that is increasingly being used. All we are given are a few examples of treatment centers that do offer Reiki and then this: “Other centers don’t offer Reiki, citing insufficient evidence. “There isn’t a good evidence base for its utility in cancer care as of yet,” says Lorenzo Cohen, a professor in the departments of general oncology and behavioral science at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.” Readers across the country may be left wondering just how widespread this practice is. The story explains that Reiki originated in Japan in the early 1900s. The story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "A Touch of Massage Therapy: Reiki Used for Cancer Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9e0c17d036c4633a71d3c177b2cdf7a",
            "input": "South Korea’s agriculture ministry said North Korea reported to the World Organization for Animal Health that 77 of the 99 pigs at a farm in Jagang province died of the disease and another 22 pigs were culled. The outbreak in North Korea comes after the disease in past months ravaged farms in China, where more than a million pigs have been reportedly culled, and also spread to Vietnam, Cambodia and Mongolia. The disease is harmless to humans but for pigs is fatal and highly contagious, and there is no known cure or vaccine. North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Friday published three different articles detailing the spread of the African swine fever across Asia, but none of them mentioned that the disease has reached the North. Oh Soon-min, director of quarantine policies at South Korea’s agriculture ministry, said quarantine measures and blood tests will be stepped up in some 350 pig farms near the inter-Korean border. Fences and traps will also be installed near the farms to prevent the pigs from contacting wild boars that roam in and out of North Korea. “While North Korea’s Jagang province, where the outbreak of the African swine fever was confirmed, is near the border between North Korea and China, we do believe this is a serious situation as there is a possibility that the disease can spread toward the South,” Oh said. He said the South Korean government believes the North raises about 2.6 million pigs in 14 government-run or cooperative farms. The South hopes to discuss the issue with North Korea at an inter-Korean liaison office and find ways to help the North fight the spread, said Eugene Lee, a spokeswoman from Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs. The outbreak comes as the North has significantly slowed its engagement with South Korea following the collapse of a February summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. Lee said the South had told the North “several times” that it could help in case of African swine fever outbreak, but did not confirm how North Korean officials responded.",
            "output": [
                "Seoul: North Korea confirms African swine fever outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ed31f9ccfe84b579e1a7add722e4d52",
            "input": "Eagle, 33, and Jonathan Hall, 36, had just moved out of their Brooklyn apartment when they married on March 2, the third anniversary of the blind date that brought them together. They had talked about the Appalachian Trail in their first conversation and, when it came time to plan a honeymoon, they decided to make the hike. “This was going to be an epic adventure,” Eagle told The Associated Press. The couple spent a year researching, training and saving before setting off on the 2,190-mile (3,525-kilometer) journey seven days after their wedding. They knew about the new coronavirus spreading across the globe but considered themselves lucky to be trading Brooklyn for a tent on the trail, especially as New York fell under restrictions to prevent to the virus’s spread. “We always figured that being out on the trail and seeing a dozen people a day was a fine position to be in,” Hall said. As the pandemic grows, hikers face the difficult decision to postpone their dreams or ignore warnings and forge ahead. Like virtually every other entity in the U.S., the Appalachian Trail Conservancy began issuing COVID-19 safety guidance in March. But social distancing and hand-washing suggestions soon shifted to urging all hikers to leave the trail immediately. Shelters and privies were shut down, and volunteer programs were halted. On Wednesday, the conservancy and 29 other trail-maintaining clubs asked federal officials to close the trail until the end of the month. Though more than 3,000 “thru-hikers” set out to traverse the length of the trail each year, only about 25% successfully make the hike from Georgia to Maine, which typically takes about six months. Eagle and Hall never considered any scenario but finishing. They picked up speed as they moved into the Great Smoky Mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. They woke to sunrise on Clingmans Dome — the trail’s highest point — a view that seemed to sum up exactly what they’d hoped for from their newlywed adventure. At the same time, families across the U.S. braced for lockdowns as COVID-19 spread through cities and towns claiming more lives. Days would pass before Eagle and Hall had enough cellphone service to see just how dire the crisis had become. Fellow thru-hiker Kimberly Selvage was 30 minutes from Hot Springs, North Carolina, when she called a local hostel to confirm her reservation. “He was like, ‘Ma’am, I think you’ve been in the woods too long; the whole world is shutting down,’” she said. That wasn’t exactly the type of solitude Selvage had in mind when she quit her job, rented out her house in Las Vegas and started her hike on Feb. 26. Selvage, 51, said she thrives by herself and set out to hike the trail alone, so when whispers of closures and restrictions started to spread, she wasn’t too concerned and pressed on. With her two kids in college and her parents gone, the Appalachian Trail was home for the time being, and it’s where she believed she was safest. Leaving it would mean a cross-country drive exposing her to far more people than she encounters while hiking, she said. But as more trails closed and communities issued shelter-in-place orders, Selvage decided to throw in the towel for the time being after hiking 470 miles (755 kilometers). “The closures and general virus fear was changing the vibe of my hike,” said Selvage, who started the hike, in part, to experience the culture of trail towns. “I chose to pause to get the full experience when it was less controversial.” Selvage rented an SUV and drove back home to Las Vegas. She slept in the back of the car. Now, she’s renting out a room in a friend’s house until the all-clear is given to hike again. “I still think I was safer on the trail,” Selvage said. For Eagle and Hall, deciding to stay or go was brutal. The couple debated day after day as they hiked over rocks and waterfalls. They hadn’t yet come to terms with their choice when they loaded their backpacks into the trunk of a rental car in Tennessee. “Even right now, I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing,” Eagle said through tears. Their decision came down to the small chance that they might catch and spread the virus, something Eagle said she couldn’t live with. Most people with COVID-19 experience mild to moderate symptoms, but for others it can cause more severe illness or death. For now, they’ll stay with her parents in Louisiana, which has more than 12,000 confirmed cases. “Is that better? That’s hard to say,” she said. They’ll try to stay in shape while they wait for the all-clear. Hall joked about looking into a treadmill sale he saw online. But as the timeline becomes grimmer with each passing day, he thinks they might be saying goodbye to the AT for good. His wife disagrees and sees them starting again in a few months. Until then, she’s trying to keep her disappointment in perspective. “I’m just trying to focus in on the fact that we are in such a better position than most of the world,” she said. ___ Follow Sarah Blake Morgan at www.twitter.com/StorytellerSBM ___ Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus pandemic disrupts Appalachian Trail dreams."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6aa129f2c43b4756b37182f2cf60af6e",
            "input": "Southern California football player Brian Banks was a rising star in 2002 when his career was abruptly derailed by a rape charge that sent him to prison. Banks entered into a plea agreement after a former high school classmate of his told a grueling story about Banks’ having dragged her into a stairwell and raped her — an accusation which she  recanted years later:  Banks still doesn’t know her reasoning for selling him down the river when she knew they never had sex and there was no DNA trace on her underwear. Maybe it was the $1.5 million she collected from the Long Beach school system, claiming it was an unsafe environment (the city is trying to recoup $2.6 million from her now). Banks thinks maybe Gibson was afraid her older sister, who went to the same high school, would find out she made out with him and tell her mother. Or that he would brag to friends. Maybe she thought he would just be suspended. He doesn’t think she was trying to put him in jail. He also thinks perhaps a school security guard saw her leaving the stairwell with him, asked what she was doing and if she wanted to do it. “Oh well, then he raped you,” Banks surmises the guard said. “We don’t really know what the truth really is as to why she lied,” Banks says. “I never really got a clear reason.” The ordeal garnered national attention (and became the subject of a feature film), but a meme circulating online misrepresents several details of the rare circumstances surrounding his wrongful imprisonment for a purported sexual assault:  It is true that Banks was considered a strong football prospect as a student at Long Beach Polytechnic High School before he was arrested and charged in 2002 for allegedly raping a classmate, Wanetta Gibson. Banks was convicted after taking a plea agreement calling for him to serve five years in prison and another five in probation, as well as registering as a sex offender. However, there are discrepancies between his case and the story promoted by the meme; for instance, Gibson did not “confess on Facebook” that she fabricated the allegation. However, she did use the social media platform to contact Banks in 2011. The two met face-to-face with a private investigator present, at which point she admitted to fabricating the accusation against him. Banks — who had by that point already served five years and two months in prison, rather than the “six years” listed in the meme — enlisted the aid of an advocacy group, the California Innocence Project. CIP managing attorney Michael A. Semanchik told us via e-mail that for five months, the group collected evidence, included statements from both Gibson and her friends demonstrating that her allegations had been invented. Semanchik added that Gibson subsequently admitted in person to prosecutors that she had lied, leading to the charges against Banks being dismissed in March 2012. Banks’ status as a sex offender was also rescinded. He went on to play professional football in the United Football League and National Football League before going on to work for the NFL itself. He has also been a visible supporter of the California Innocence Project. In June 2013, Gibson was ordered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to repay the $1.5 million settlement awarded to her from a separate lawsuit against the Long Beach Unified School District, as well as an additional $1.1 million in fees. Gibson had sued the district claiming that it was unsafe for her as a result of being attacked by Banks. While Gibson fabricated her account of being assaulted, research shows that such instances are rare; a 2012 report by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) found that while false reports make up between 2 and 10 percent of total rape reports, 63 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to authorities. NSVRC spokesperson Laura Palumbo told us this can create more issues for those who have been sexually assaulted: The prevalence of false reporting of sexual violence is low, yet still when survivors come forward, many face scrutiny or encounter barriers. When the rare case of a false report is misrepresented as a common occurrence, this creates additional barriers for victims coming forward. Misconceptions about false reporting rates have direct, negative consequences and can contribute to why many victims don’t report sexual assaults. Banks himself has voiced support for sexual assault survivors. In June 2016 he criticized the fact that Stanford University student Brock Turner only received a six-month sentence for rape: I would say it’s a case of privilege. It seems like the judge based his decision on lifestyle. He’s lived such a good life and has never experienced anything serious in his life that would prepare him for prison. He was sheltered so much he wouldn’t be able to survive prison. What about the kid who has nothing, he struggles to eat, struggles to get a fair education? What about the kid who has no choice who he is born to and has drug-addicted parents or a non-parent household? Where is the consideration for them when they commit a crime? In December 2017, he said that assault survivors seeking justice “should have the opportunity to do so.” He also said that had the statue of limitations not expired for Gibson’s perjury, he would have pressed charges against her: Part of my life was taken away because of her. But more importantly, you have to go after people like this because a person such as herself makes it harder for a woman who is raped to come forward confidently and share their story and hope something is done about what happened to them. They should be able to expect to be believed. Banks appeared on the Oxygen network in January 2018 as a co-host for the true crime show Final Appeal. He also co-produced a movie based on his case, slated for release in 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Star football player Brian Banks was convicted of raping a woman who confessed on Facebook that she fabricated her accusation -- after he served six years in prison."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7af9b7b4b2b544529090189fb15999b2",
            "input": "Visiting a mental health center for children in South Wales on Wednesday, the former Kate Middleton spent time talking to children and teens with mental health issues before picking up a pool cue. Kate, who wore a burgundy suit paired with knee-high boots, impressed in the style stakes — but her pool skills left much to be desired. Craig Davies, a 15-year-old teenager at the center, described her pool playing as “dreadful.” The duchess became royal patron of children’s charity Action for Children in December when Queen Elizabeth II passed on some of her responsibilities due to her advancing age.",
            "output": [
                "Duchess of Cambridge pool-playing skills deemed ‘dreadful’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7d014b59a8f475e959366bbacfb9982",
            "input": "Babita Kumari said she wants to know what happened to the 3-year-old girl, whose father has been jailed after telling police that Sherin had choked to death while drinking milk in the middle of the night. Wesley Mathews has told police Sherin needed a special diet involving meals at odd hours because she was malnourished. Those claims puzzle Kumari, who managed the Mother Teresa Orphanage and Children’s Home in the city of Nalanda in eastern India’s Bihar state, where the girl had lived since infancy. “Look at the photos of the child. Does she look malnourished?” Kumari said during a Thursday evening phone interview with The Associated Press. “I have so many questions about what happened to her,” Kumari said. The girl, then named Saraswati, after the Hindu goddess of wisdom, was a happy, cheerful child who made everyone smile at the orphanage. “We loved her laughter,” Kumari said. “She was a smart child.” Wesley Mathews reported his daughter missing Oct. 7, and Sherin’s body was found by cadaver dogs in a culvert under a road in Richardson, Texas, on Sunday. Mathews has been charged with felony injury of a child in Sherin’s death and is being held on $1 million bond. A cause of death hasn’t been determined and autopsy results haven’t been released. Mathews’ attorney, Rafael De La Garza, hasn’t responded to messages seeking comment left Thursday and Friday. Mitch Nolte, an attorney representing the girl’s mother, Sini Mathews, issued a statement this week saying his client won’t submit to further police questioning. He said she wasn’t involved in Sherin’s death or the removal of her body, and requested privacy to mourn her child. Wesley Mathews told police his daughter had developmental disabilities and was malnourished. He described a special diet regimen in which she had to eat whenever she was awake in order to gain weight. According to an arrest affidavit filed by Richardson police, Mathews said he had been trying to get the girl to drink milk in the garage of their home. “Eventually the 3-year-old girl began to drink the milk. Wesley Mathews then physically assisted the 3-year-old girl in drinking the milk,” according to the affidavit. Mathews told police that Sherin choked and coughed and eventually he felt no pulse and believed the child had died. Investigators wrote that he “then admitted to removing the body from the home.” The affidavit does not say whether Mathews administered any medical aid to his daughter. The child was already eating solid food and drinking milk from a cup when she left the orphanage, Kumari remembers. She said Sherin squinted in one eye, but otherwise had nothing wrong with her when Wesley and Sini Mathews adopted her in June 2016. “Why did they have to make her eat or drink anything at that hour? Why was he forcing her?” Kumari asked. “If someone is forcing a drink into the mouth of someone who is crying and sobbing, then even an adult can choke.” India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted Friday that she has asked the Ministry of Women and Child Development, which oversees adoptions, to thoroughly investigate Sherin’s adoption. Swaraj said passports for children adopted from India will now only be issued with the ministry’s approval. Sherin was sent to the orphanage in Nalanda by child welfare authorities when she was only a few months old. It has since shut down. Kumari said that was due to missing paperwork and that the orphanage plans to challenge the shutdown. Adoption is relatively rare in India, even though hundreds of thousands of children are at risk or living in government-run or -mandated centers. Religion and caste remain important social indicators, so it’s not often considered an option by Indian families. The government has tried to promote the idea and it mandates prospective parents to register as a way to prevent trafficking and reduce cumbersome paperwork. Between April 2016 to March this year, 3,210 children were adopted within India and just 578 Indian children were adopted from outside the country. Kumari said the Mathews’ raised no red flags at the orphanage when they adopted Sherin. After their first visit to see the girl, they called regularly from the United States. “They wanted to hear her voice over the phone. They seemed to love her. The follow up reports from America were also good.” A spokeswoman for Holt International, a U.S. adoption agency that facilitates several hundred foreign adoptions each year, said the agency by law cannot discuss specific adoptions or confirm whether it facilitated an adoption for the Mathews. She said the agency follows all national and international guidelines and requirements for adoptions, which are very specific for each country. According to the U.S. State Department, India requires quarterly post-placement reports in the first year a child is adopted and then two reports a year for the second year. Holt International’s website said the agency complies with those requirements but also does a one-month post-placement report. “I will always want to know what happened to this child. What was the real reason she passed away,” Kumari said. “If we had known this would happen to her, we would never have sent her.” ___ Associated Press reporter Claudia Lauer in Dallas contributed to this story. ___ Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv",
            "output": [
                "Caregiver of Indian girl found dead in Texas wants answers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d0960e5aa1444f5bf7993c16e30eccb",
            "input": "Phusion Projects LLC, which is based in Chicago, agreed not to sell caffeinated alcoholic drinks, agreed not to promote binge drinking or other misuses of alcohol, and accepted marketing limits designed to keep people under 21 from buying alcoholic products. Among these limits are a ban on promoting flavored malt beverages on school or college property except at licensed retailers, and not using models or actors under age 25 or who appear to be under age 21 in its advertising. Phusion also agreed to pay $400,000 to the regulators as part of the settlement. The danger of mixing caffeine and alcohol was spotlighted in 2010 when some college students were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning after drinking alcoholic energy drinks. Phusion that year removed the caffeine and other stimulants from beverages, including Four Loko, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned the company and rivals that “blackout in a can” drinks combining alcohol and caffeine were unsafe. “Alcoholic energy drinks are dangerous - especially for the teenagers and young adults they target,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “Today’s agreement ensures that one company will no longer market a dangerous product to youth.”  In the settlement, Phusion denied the regulators’ allegations and that it violated any laws, including state laws governing consumer protection and trade practices. “We consider this agreement a practical way to move forward and an opportunity to highlight our continued commitment to ensuring that our products are consumed safely and responsibly only by adults 21 and over,” President Jim Sloan said in a statement. “Phusion continues to believe, however, as do many people throughout the world, that the combination of alcohol and caffeine can be consumed safely and responsibly.”",
            "output": [
                "Maker of Four Loko flavored malt liquor accepts marketing limits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0870f09b9d9943e8bf3791d2329335f3",
            "input": "News agency dpa reported Thursday that Kristina Haenel was fined 2,500 euros ($2,775) by the state court in the central city of Giessen. Alongside the fine, it made clear that it wasn’t convinced the law is in line with Germany’s constitution. In 2017, Haenel was fined 6,000 euros after stating on her website that she carried out abortions. That violated a German law that bans “advertising” the procedure, and which carries a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years. In July, a Frankfurt court overturned that  conviction and ordered a retrial after the government loosened the rules on the issue. Under a compromise reached earlier this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition left the ban on advertising abortions formally in place but allowed doctors and hospitals for the first time to say  on their websites that they perform abortions. They  were not, however, allowed to give more detailed information. Haenel, who has argued that the change doesn’t go far enough and still amounts to “state censorship,” plans to appeal the latest ruling. The change in the law on advertising didn’t affect Germany’s law on abortion itself. The procedure is allowed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy on condition that a woman undergoes counselling  at least three days beforehand.",
            "output": [
                "German doctor fined again over abortion advertising ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0592b35c493b4c19962c6403bda57832",
            "input": "The material was developed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Italy to fill a gap in the market. A German biotech company has now made enough to spot false negative results in up to 60 million coronavirus tests. “This is a major achievement by our researchers, which will be crucial for our exit strategy when the time comes to start lifting social distancing measures,” European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakidou said in a statement. A survey published in mid-February of laboratories in European Union countries and others such as Britain, Iceland and Norway showed that the greatest challenge for implementing tests was the lack of such control material. The EU executive said 3,000 samples were now ready to be dispatched to testing laboratories in the European Union, as well as Britain, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. One sample tube is enough to check up to 20,000 tests. A positive control is a key part of a test and seen more commonly in pregnancy test kits. The control is designed always to produce a positive result to show that the test is working. It can then catch out a test that produces a false negative result for someone infected by the virus. The charge per sample is 20 euros ($21.87), plus shipping costs, and currently limited to one per laboratory per month. The new material is a synthetic, non-infectious part of the virus and based on the part that has remained stable after the virus has mutated. The Joint Research Centre is the Commission’s science service, with research sites in five countries. ($1 = 0.9146 euros)",
            "output": [
                "European labs to receive control material to spot false negative coronavirus tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-81f6de255b014f378ac2945b46014145",
            "input": "“Independents need to know they can invest their vote in the Democratic Party,” Carter said Tuesday during his annual report at his post-presidential center and library in Atlanta, where he offered caution about the political consequences should Democrats “move to a very liberal program, like universal health care.” That’s delicate — and, Carter admitted, even contradictory — advice coming from the 93-year-old former president, and it underscores the complicated political calculations for Democrats as they prepare for the November midterms and look ahead to the 2020 presidential election. “Rosie and I voted for Bernie Sanders in the past,” Carter noted. He was referring to his wife, Rosalynn, and their support for the Vermont senator, an independent who identifies as a democratic socialist, over establishment favorite Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. At another point, he pointed to California’s environmental policies — limits on carbon emissions, stiffer fuel-efficiency standards — as the model for combating climate change. Still, Carter stressed, Democrats nationally must “appeal to independents” who are souring on the current administration. Trump’s job approval rating, according to Gallup, has dipped to 40 percent, mostly because of declining support among independents. Carter alluded to arguments from self-identified progressives that Democrats will sacrifice votes on the left if they don’t embrace the liberal base: “I don’t think any Democrat is going to vote against a Democratic nominee,” and he insisted that he’s not asking the left to sacrifice its goals, only to see that winning elections is necessary to accomplish any of them. There is some historical irony in Carter’s analysis. He came to the White House in 1976 from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and he clashed with party liberals, drawing a spirited primary challenge in 1980 from Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. Carter prevailed, but he was wounded, abandoned by Kennedy’s most liberal supporters and unable to win over independents who helped deliver a landslide for Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter’s latest handicapping comes near the conclusion of a midterm primary season that has seen Democratic primary voters move the party to the left. In some states and districts, that means nominating full-throated advocates of single-payer health care, a $15 minimum wage and abolishing or at least overhauling the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In other races, it means nominees who back more cautious moves to the left, such as background checks before certain gun purchases, a “public option” health insurance plan to compete alongside private insurance policies, step raises for the minimum wage and an immigration overhaul that offers legal status to some immigrants in the country illegally. Carter did not delve into those distinctions, instead offering a sweeping condemnation of his latest successor to remind Democrats of the stakes. He denounced the administration’s latest environmental policy proposal to make it easier for energy companies to release methane gas that contributes to climate change. He singled out Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border, including those seeking asylum. “America is inherently committed to human rights, and I think in the future we will let that prevail,” Carter said, “but for the next two years, I can’t predict the imprisoned children are going to be any better off — unfortunately.” Carter has previously criticized Trump for his repeated falsehoods, and he’s chided Trump for his hardline support for Israel over Palestinians. Yet Carter has found common ground with Trump on other foreign policy fronts, and did so again Tuesday. While avoiding any mention of the special counsel’s investigation into whether Trump’s presidential campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election, Carter said he has engaged for years with Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the ongoing Syrian civil war. “I have his email address,” Carter said, adding that he and Putin share the same Russian river as their favorite spot for salmon fishing. That friendship, Carter said, means when Russia and other nations hold multilateral talks about the Syrian conflict, “Quite often they invite the Carter Center. ... They do not invite the U.S. government.” Carter also praised Trump for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Carter repeated his frustrations with the last Democratic president, Barack Obama, for not engaging more directly with the insular Asian nation. Carter said he’s not sure Trump has made real progress yet with North Korea, but he endorsed calls for the U.S. to formally declare an end to the Korean War and normalize relations with Pyongyang. “Let them be part of the community of nations,” he said. “I think that would be enough in itself to bring an end to the nuclear program in North Korea.” ___ Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP",
            "output": [
                "Jimmy Carter: To beat Trump, Dems cannot scare off moderates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97b4bb14759044e28b85bba094fdf0e5",
            "input": "Tea is brewed in a traditional Japanese tea pot in Otsuchi March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj “A third of the herbal teas had things in them that are not on the label,” Mark Stoeckle, of the Rockefeller University who helped oversee the project, told Reuters by telephone. The students collected dozens of teas and herbal teas and found extra ingredients in some including ferns, grass, parsley, other weeds and even traces of an ornamental tree, Taiwanese cheesewood, they said. “For me, the most surprising ingredient was the annual bluegrass,” said Catherine Gamble, 18, of Trinity School. “It seems kind of outrageous to have it in a tea.”   “I think nothing was outright poisonous...but things like camomile (found in some samples) have been known to cause allergic reactions to people. To have those in tea and unlabelled could be dangerous,” she told Reuters. The students said that three of 70 tea products tested and 21 of 60 herbal products contained rogue ingredients not on the labels. The tea study, using $5,000 equipment for genetic testing and a technique known as DNA barcoding, could help regulators tighten labeling rules for teabags and make manufacturers improve what they put in the brews, they said. Testing can be done for about $15 a sample and takes about 24 hours. The teas and infusions were from 33 manufacturers in 17 nations, according to the findings, published on Thursday in Nature’s online journal Scientific Reports. “It’s a mystery why ingredients are unlisted,” said Grace Young, 15. “It might just be a weed picked up during harvesting or the residue of a plant used in one product gets passed to the next product in a processing facility.”   Stoeckle said extra ingredients such as camomile or parsley might be added deliberately to provide flavor or color. Or manufacturers may seek to sell full-looking tea bags and so pad them with filler. “This is something that manufacturers and regulators could use,” Stoeckle said of the DNA technique for tea. Importers, for instance, could double check if a shipment of dried leaves is really tea. For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/",
            "output": [
                "Twig tea, anyone? Study says labels often mislead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4654dc9ab66047aa8fac176efc86ab07",
            "input": "The United Nations agency, issuing its first such guidelines, said under-fives should also be physically active and get adequate sleep to help develop good lifelong habits and prevent obesity and other diseases in later life. “What we are cautioning on is over-use of those electronic screen times with young children,” WHO expert Dr. Fiona Bull told a news briefing. In its guidelines to member states, the WHO said children between one and four years old should spend at least three hours in a variety of physical activities spread throughout the day. Infants under one should interact in floor-based play and avoid all screens, it said. Being inactive is fueling a rise in the numbers of obese or overweight people worldwide, the WHO said. Excessive weight can lead to premature death from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancer. “Preventing these deaths needs to start in very early life,” Bull said. One in three adults today are overweight or obese, and one in four adults does not do enough physical activity, she said. “In this age group of under 5s, it is currently 40 million children around the world (who) are overweight. Of that (figure) 50 percent are in Africa and the southeast Asia region,” Bull said. That translates into 5.9 percent of children globally. Early childhood is a period of rapid physical and cognitive development during which habits are formed and family lifestyle routines are adaptable, said the WHO guidelines, drawn from evidence in hundreds of studies, many from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States. “Sedentary behaviors, whether riding motorized transport rather than walking or cycling, sitting at a desk in school, watching TV or playing inactive screen-based games are increasingly prevalent and associated with poor health outcomes,” the WHO said. Chronic insufficient sleep in children has been associated with increased excessive fat accumulation as measured by body mass index (BMI), it said. Shorter sleep duration has been associated with more TV viewing and time spent playing computer games, it added.",
            "output": [
                "With this reform, every insured American gets valuable consumer protections, and every uninsured American can become insured."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b6deee346174061a2d658b0dcf489c2",
            "input": "\"India has recorded 1,251 cases of the coronavirus, with 32 deaths, but health experts say the country of 1.3 billion people could see a major surge in cases that could overwhelm its weak public health system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said it was trying to procure medical gear, including masks and body coveralls, both from domestic firms and from countries like South Korea and China, to meet shortages. “China, definitely we are going to buy ... Because scaling up our domestic production will take time,” said a top Indian policy official aware of the plan, who declined to be identified due to sensitivity of the discussions. The Netherlands has recalled thousands of masks imported from China because of quality issues, while Spain has complained about defective imported test kits supplied by a Chinese manufacturer, media have reported. China’s foreign ministry said several countries had raised doubts about the quality of products imported from China, and acknowledged that there might be some problems. \"\"A large number of Chinese manufacturers are working around the clock to help other countries save lives. Our sincerity and assistance is real. If problems occur in this process, the Chinese side will talk to relevant departments,\"\" China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference on Monday. (bit.ly/2Jr5Mb9)  A second source with direct knowledge of Indian government plans said Chinese manufacturers had shown keen interest in supplying protective health gear to India, lodging queries with Indian diplomatic missions in Shanghai and Beijing. China was emerging as a favorite possible supplier at this stage as new virus infections were slowing there and its factories were being pushed to reopen, the second source said. India needs at least 38 million masks and 6.2 million pieces of personal protective equipment as it confronts the spread of coronavirus, according to a report by its investment agency seen by Reuters. But Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) an influential Hindu nationalist group close to Modi’s party, said India should look at domestic alternatives because of widespread concern over the quality of China’s equipment. “I don’t think we need Chinese support of any kind for our healthcare ... Even if Indian firms produce at a higher cost, it doesn’t matter,” Ashwani Mahajan, a national co-convenor of the SJM, told Reuters.\"",
            "output": [
                "Facing shortages, India bets on China for swift ramp-up of protective health gear: sources."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-003d8761861d46cc9b258318335f055c",
            "input": "Their goal: To protect communities such as Redwood Estates, where giant redwoods loom over the houses of tech workers who live in the wooded community just 20 miles from the heart of Silicon Valley. With California’s increasingly warm, dry and overgrown landscape, wildfire has become a perpetual danger. Among the most important tools the state has against fires is to mimic their effects: thinning trees and brush by hand to reduce the amount of vegetation that would become fuel in a fire, and using controlled burns to keep undergrowth and shrub lands in check. State lawmakers committed more than $200 million annually to fire prevention efforts and Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend even more, motivated by infernos such as one last year that killed 85 people in Paradise, California, some who died in their cars while trying to flee. Yet officials say efforts to make areas such as this road corridor in Northern California more fire safe are undercut by property owners who refuse to let fire crews work on their property. Offered the choice between clearing vegetation-choked areas or retaining greenery that acts as a shield against the din of the nearby highway, a small minority opted for privacy over safety or said they’d do the work themselves. That means patches of low-lying shrubs and some thickets of trees will remain when the job wraps up next year. As a result, future fires will retain potential avenues to spread into residential areas and threaten people and property. “It’s a chink in the armor,” said Ed Orre, division chief with Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting and fire prevention agency. “If that property catches fire, then you get a chain-reaction, domino effect... It compromises the effectiveness of the entire project.”  Climate change and decades of lax land management practices put the U.S. West on a collision course with out-of-control wildfires, and authorities are now rushing to limit the potential damage from blazes that threaten year-round. Since 1970, the amount of land burned each year in California has increased five-fold. Across the 11 western states, acreage burned annually has doubled since 1984. Over the past three years, fires have killed 149 people and destroyed almost 25,000 homes across the state. California is now nearly 3 degrees (1.67 degrees Celsius) warmer than in 1990 due to climate change, with hotter temperatures during the Golden State’s long dry season removing moisture from plants and soils, said Park Williams, a climate scientist at Columbia University. “I see the recent wildfires as a tidal wave — it’s going to be very hard to stop that,” Williams said. Rapid residential development in recent decades boosted populations in high-risk areas. Almost 2 million homes are in flammable areas in western states, said Jennifer Balch, a fire expert at the University of Colorado. Some common but non-native plants — including eucalyptus trees, cheatgrass and pernicious shrubs such as French and Scotch broom — burn more readily than native species. Although it’s not feasible to manually thin all the forests and shrub land in California, targeted efforts to remove flammable vegetation in areas of high human activity can effectively reduce the chance of major fires. “If we’re going to do field treatment, we have to do it where it matters most — where people live and work,” Balch said. The changes in climate and development are on display Redwood Estates, which was conceived in the 1920s as a vacation community, an escape from the city where families could weekend in small cabins in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A promotional film from the community’s early days reveals that much of the surroundings were once bare of trees, due to logging and the use of the land for ranching and vineyards. Today those same views are largely blocked by thick stands of redwoods, oak and eucalyptus. Many of the community’s original cabins are gone, replaced by larger single-family homes that in some cases push right up to the property line. That leaves little space between houses and the forest, meaning embers could easily leap from house to house in a fire. Much of the surrounding land is also private, and real estate development grew unchecked for much of the past century. The area has a long history of large wildfires, yet the land on which Redwood Estates sits has not burned since the 1800s, said Jeff Bates, a lifelong resident of and manager for the local homeowners association. Route 17, which gets about 80,000 vehicles daily and is flanked by hundreds of homes, is the only direct way into or out of the area. Given the highway’s high traffic volume and frequent backups, a quick escape from an approaching fire is unlikely. Bates said a county emergency official told him that in the event of a major fire, “You folks are on your own.”  “They won’t be able to get here — and we won’t be able to leave,” Bates said. While lightning strikes can start wildfires, today more than 95% in California are started by people — mostly accidentally. Fires are sparked by downed power lines, campfires, mechanical equipment such as chainsaws, and even hot vehicle exhaust pipes touching dry grass. Managing the risk of wildfires isn’t only the job of firefighters, say experts. The most important prevention strategy is education — teaching people about what starts accidental fires, and how to minimize them. They recommend avoiding highly flammable materials for roofs and decks, and not planting fire-prone non-native species. Yet these steps won’t entirely keep the flames away. “California is in the fire sweet spot,” said Williams, the climate scientist. “Some big fires are probably inevitable.”  ___  Larson reported from Washington, D.C.  ___  Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP, and Larson on Twitter: @larsonchristina  ___  The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "As California thins forests to limit fire risk, some resist."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bfd19440128547879dc69793edb84b8d",
            "input": "On 15 June 2017, a post circulate claiming via social media asserting that police officer Crystal Griner (who had been wounded during the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise one day earlier) was a lesbian, and she risked her life to save a man who was opposed to her own marriage:   The post maintained that Griner (a lesbian) saved Scalise (an opponent of LGBT rights), and ended with a “that’s right, haters” message. Although elements of the post are accurate, on the whole it left out a lot of context and a complex backstory involving Griner, Bailey, their jobs, and the shooting incident. It is true that Griner is married to another woman, an incidental detail reported by gay publication Washington Blade:  Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner — a lesbian in a same-sex marriage — was among those wounded during a shooting this week in the Virginia suburbs and received a visit from President Trump during his trip to the hospital to see the victims. Griner was among the five people shooter James T. Hodgkinson wounded during an incident at the Republican congressional baseball practice. On the House floor, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) praised her as one of the officers who saved lives during the shooting where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was badly wounded. According to CBS News, Griner and Special Agent David Bailey rushed Hodgkinson despite their own wounds. After being shot in the ankle, she was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center for recovery. Furthermore, both Griner and Bailey are black, and in the days after the shooting a quote attributed to Scalise describing himself as “David Duke without the baggage” re-entered the news cycle. Although that quote, too, was often presented in a facile manner, Scalise had come under fire for his purported links to white supremacist groups:  [Scalise has] admitted to giving a speech to white supremacists. In 2002, Scalise spoke to the European Unity and Rights Organization, a group led by Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK. “He told me he was like David Duke without the baggage,” Stephanie Grace, a long-time political reporter, told The New York Times in 2014 of her first meeting with Scalise. “I think he meant he supported the same policy ideas as David Duke, but he wasn’t David Duke, that he didn’t have the same feelings about certain people as David Duke did.” While Scalise admitted to the speech, he later claimed he didn’t know their cause was white supremacy. Griner and Bailey were rightly hailed for averting what could have been a massacre, nut the pair were not merely responding officers acting in a moment of spontaneity; they were specifically assigned to protect Scalise as part of his security detail:  A mass shooting during a congressional baseball practice could have been a full-blown “massacre,” Congress members say. Instead, two special agents put their lives on the line, potentially saving dozens of others. Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey are special agents on Rep. Steve Scalise’s security detail. Scalise was standing near second base in an Alexandria, Virginia park when the bullets began flying from behind the third base dugout, striking Scalise. While Scalise dragged himself to safety, Griner and Bailey lept into action. In an extended firefight, the two agents took down shooter James Hodgkinson while battling through injuries of their own. Both were taken to the hospital after the gunfight, and are recovering from their injuries, officials say … Most congress members do not have their own security details. But high-ranking officials like Scalise, the House Majority Whip, are assigned security teams. Had Scalise not been present at the early-morning practice, neither Griner and Bailey would have been on the scene to intervene:  If Scalise hadn’t attended with his security detail, lawmakers said, many of their colleagues likely would have been slaughtered by Hodgkinson. “Our lives were saved by the Capitol Police. Had they not been there I think it would have been a massacre,” Sen. Rand Paul said on CNN after the shooting. “The field, I mean, was basically a killing field.” But the Capitol Police officers weren’t the only ones credited with saving lives during the shootout. Despite Rep. Scalise’s reported proximity to white supremacists during his political career (Scalise clarified that he disavowed any such ideology in 2014), friends said Bailey was devoted to his duty of protecting Scalise:  “[Bailey] definitely takes his job very seriously. He works really hard and is committed to keeping the Whip safe and to serving,” [friend Danielle] Carpenter told The Daily Beast. “He is a leader in all ways. He is one of the best guys I’ve ever met—is kind to everyone and always makes sure that everyone feels safe and taken care of. Dave is really proud of his Brazilian and Jamaican heritage and you can tell he would do anything for family. He considers Congressman Scalise and his family as his own, so it is no surprise that he would make any sacrifice necessary to keep Whip Scalise safe.”",
            "output": [
                "Crystal Griner, the officer who saved Steve Scalise, is a lesbian (and the congressman is anti-gay rights)."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e1f1418dd584177898a62a80b3a350d",
            "input": "Roche has filed several lawsuits in U.S. federal court in which it alleges individuals and companies obtained low-priced diabetes test strips meant for mail-order customers, only to re-direct them for sale via pharmacies where higher prices allowed them to profit from the difference. “Defendants caused Roche to wrongfully pay over $87 million in rebates and to lose a similar amount of sales of retail strips,” according to Roche’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey on Tuesday against more than a dozen defendants including Jeffrey C. Smith, chief executive at Utah’s Alliance Medical Holdings until 2017. In Utah, where Alliance Medical filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017 after a raid by federal agents seeking evidence of potential healthcare fraud, Roche contends Smith and others from 2011 to 2017 sought fraudulent reimbursements for 1.84 million 50-count boxes of Roche diabetes test strips. Smith did not immediately return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. For America’s 30 million people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and prick their fingers daily, blood glucose test strips help keep their glucose levels in check, preventing blindness, heart disease or death. These plastic strips are costly, running to $160 for boxes of 100 and creating incentives for a “grey market” away from formal retail channels that strip makers contend is vulnerable to fraud and safety concerns. In a separate U.S. lawsuit in Michigan, Roche alleges executives at another medical supply companies used a similar test-strip flipping scheme to cheat it out of $84 million. (This story has been refiled to switch order of third, fourth paragraphs to provide full first reference to defendant)",
            "output": [
                "Roche sues U.S. executives in fight over diabetes test strips."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cabf92051841490dae3ea5acb65cbd8d",
            "input": "The practice, also known as microbirthing, involves wiping the swab over the baby’s mouth, eyes, face and skin to bring it into contact with bacteria from the birth canal. The hope is this may boost their gut bacteria, and reduce risk of conditions such as allergies or obesity, experts explained in a report in the BMJ British Medical Journal - yet scientific evidence to support it is severely lacking. “Demand for this process has increased among women attending hospitals in the UK – but this has outstripped professional awareness and guidance,” said Aubrey Cunnington, an honorary consultant in paediatric infectious diseases at Imperial College London, who co-wrote the BMJ report. “There is simply no evidence to suggest it has benefits - and it may carry potential risks.”  Some studies suggest that babies born by C-section have a different microbiome  - the collection of millions of bacteria living in the gut - to those born vaginally. Around one in four babies in Britain are born via caesarean section, according to the BMJ report, co-written by Cunningham and five other doctors. Research also shows that C-section babies have slightly increased risk of developing conditions such as obesity, allergies and autoimmune diseases later in life. Cunnington said a theory has developed that this may be because the bacteria the baby is exposed to in the birth canal during a vaginal birth colonise the baby’s gut, so exposing those who miss out on it might help protect them. “People have made a leap of logic that gut bacteria must be the link between caesarean section and risk of these diseases,” Cunningham said. “But we just don’t know this for sure - or whether we can even influence this by transferring bacteria on a swab from mum to baby.”  He added that while there is no evidence of benefits from “vaginal seeding”, the practice has potential risks such as transferring harmful bacteria to the baby. “Doctors, nurses, midwives and parents need to be aware they are doing something with a potential risk that currently doesn’t have any evidence of benefit,” Cunnington said. He added that evidence-based interventions, such as encouraging breast feeding and avoiding unnecessary antibiotics, could be “more important to a baby’s gut bacteria than worrying about transferring vaginal fluid on a swab”.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors warn of demand for 'vaginal seeding' despite thin evidence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1168079f0f44dd0afa33714c37e1c33",
            "input": "Chick-fil-A is a Georgia-based fast food restaurant chain specializing in chicken entrées that opened its first outlet in suburban Atlanta in 1967 and has since grown to encompass over 1,600 restaurants in 39 states. The operations of the chain reflect the religious values of Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer S. Truett Cathy, whose biography notes that he has “built his life and business based on hard work, humility and biblical principles” and that “based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A’s restaurants operate with a ‘Closed-on-Sunday’ policy, without exception.” Chick-fil-A has been the subject of political controversy due to its WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor founded by S. Truett Cathy and his wife, Jeanette, which critics contend has evidenced a bias in the Chick-fil-A company by donating millions of dollars to groups with anti-gay agendas: Let’s all eat at Chick-Fil-A this week. Now the Socialists (AKA Obama Democrats) have targeted Chick-Fil-A, a Southern based company with the below resume. I think, I’ll have a Chick-Fil-A sandwich tomorrow. Chick-fil-A is an American success story. Founded by Georgian entrepreneur Truett Cathy in 1946, the family-owned chicken-sandwich chain is one of the country’s largest fast-food businesses. It employs some 50,000 workers across the country at 1,500 outlets in nearly 40 states and the District of Columbia … The company generates more than $2 billion in revenue and serves millions of happy customers with trademark Southern hospitality. So, what’s the problem? Well, Chick-fil-A is run by devout Christians who believe in strong marriages, devoted families, and the highest standards of character for their workers. The restaurant chain’s official corporate mission is to “glorify God” and “enrich the lives of everyone we touch.” The company’s community-service initiatives, funded through its WinShape Foundation, support foster-care, scholarship, summer-camp, and marriage-enrichment programs. On Sunday, all Chick-fil-A stores close so workers can spend the day at worship and rest. Over the past month, several progressive-activist blogs have waged an ugly war against Chick-fil-A. The company’s alleged atrocity: One of its independent outlets in Pennsylvania donated some sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar run by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which happens to oppose same-sex marriage. In the name of tolerance, the anti-Chick-fil-A hawks sneered at the company’s main product as “Jesus Chicken,” derided its no-Sunday-work policy, and attacked its operators as “anti-gay.” Petition drives on websites are demanding the company change and disavow their standards. Facebook users dutifully organized witch hunts against the company on college campuses. Progressive groups are gloating over Chick-fil-A’s public-relations troubles. This is not because they care about winning hearts and minds over gay rights or marriage policy, but because their core objective is to marginalize political opponents and chill Christian philanthropy and activism. The fearsome “muscle flexing” is being done by the hysterical bullies trying to drive them off of college grounds and out of their neighborhoods in the name of “human rights.” Clearly the Christian business man who lives what he believes deserves our support….Thank God that some people are strong enough to stand up for what they believe even in the face of assault and ridicule from those who have no integrity….Let’s all eat at Chick-fil-A. — Let’s all eat Chick-Fil-A! Truet Cathy founded a wonderful company who hires teenagers and pays their way to college. Not only that, it is delicious. These people are undermining American strongholds in order to weaken us for the enemy within and the enemy without! Please pass this on if you believe companies with Christian principles have a right to freely conduct business in the U.S. As a result, Chick-fil-A has recently faced opposition from students at ten U.S. universities, including New York University (NYU), who have circulated petitions to oppose the opening of new Chick-fil-A franchises on their campuses and lobbied for the removal of existing restaurants. The company has maintained that neither they nor the organizations they donate to through WinShape has an “anti-gay” agenda: The student senate at Northeastern University, in Boston, voted to end negotiations to bring fast-food chain Chick-fil-A to campus after students protested over the company’s affiliation with several Christian organizations the students say have an “anti-gay” agenda.The Atlanta-based company, dogged for months by accusations of homophobia, insists it is “not anti-anybody” but instead simply wants to “graciously serve great food and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” Company president Dan Cathy insists Chick-fil-A is not a Christian company, just one founded on biblical principles. But thanks in part to the company’s affiliation with pro-family groups, its frequent presence at large religious rallies and the praise music reverberating from speakers in its restaurants, both fans and detractors often refer to it as one of the country’s most overtly Christian businesses. Through the WinShape Foundation, started by company founders Truett and Jeannette Cathy, Chick-fil-A donates to several Christian organizations, including The Marriage & Family Legacy Fund, The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Christian Foundation. According to its statement, Chick-fil-A has given the groups $1,714,199. None of the organizations the company supports has an “anti-gay” agenda, although as Christian groups, they do uphold and support heterosexual marriage, Donald A. Perry, the company’s vice president of corporate public relations, said in his statement. “I want to assure you that the historical intent of our Foundation and corporate giving have been toward compassion, principally by serving youth and families,” he said. The company gives millions of dollars every year toward education. Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy’s July 2012 interview with the Baptist Press generated even more controversy over the issue, with critics maintaining he had virtually acknowledged the company supports an anti-gay marriage agenda: Chick-fil-A is “very much supportive of the family,” according to Dan Cathy, president of the popular fast food chain. That is, “the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said. And that doesn’t include Adam and Steve, suggests Cathy, whose father S. Truett Cathy founded the Atlanta-based company. In a new interview with Baptist Press, Cathy puts on the record what critics say his company’s actions have indicated for years. “Well, guilty as charged,” he said in the interview when asked about Chick-fil-A’s backing of families led by a man and a woman. The controversy took flight in mid-July after Cathy gave an interview to the Biblical Recorder, on online journal for Baptists in North Carolina. In the July 2 story — picked up by the Baptist Press on July 16 — Cathy affirmed that his company backs the traditional family unit. “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.” “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,” Cathy also said during an appearance on the Ken Coleman talk show. Proponents of same-sex marriage spread Cathy’s comments, eventually creating a firestorm of criticism on social media, including assertions that his comments and position were bigoted and hateful. The public reaction to Cathy’s remarks prompted Chick-fil-A to issue the following statement: The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena. This controversy prompted readers to ask us about a number of related ancillary issues detailed below: Chick-fil-A had recently joined forces with the Jim Henson Company to offer five customizable puppet toys from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in children’s meals.But after the Atlanta-based family-owned business made headlines when its president, Dan Cathy, told the Baptist Press recently that the company was “guilty as charged” when it came to not supporting marriage equality and standing by biblical family values, the Henson Company decided to end the partnership. The Jim Henson Company announced it would no longer partner with Chick-fil-A in the wake of the fast food company’s acknowledged support of anti-gay organizations. Now, however, Chick-fil-A officials are reportedly telling franchise customers that the kids’ meal toys which were produced as part of the now-severed collaboration have been recalled due to safety issues.Chick-Fil-A spokeswoman Tiffany Greenway [said] that the company had decided to recall the Muppets toys nationwide “for the protection of our customers.” She said it was a decision completely separate from the Jim Henson Company’s announcement. Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from bringing its Southern-fried fast-food empire to Boston — possibly to a popular tourist spot just steps from the Freedom Trail — after the family-owned firm’s president suggested gay marriage is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.””Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Menino [said]. “That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started right here. And we’re not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.” As part of its recent efforts to publicly align itself with fundamentalist Christian values, the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain announced the debut of its new Queer-Hatin’ Cordon Bleu sandwich that would be on sale in all of the company’s 1,600 restaurants.In a press conference to reporters, company representatives said the homophobic new sandwich will include the national fast food chain’s trademark fried chicken filet wrapped in a piece of specially-smoked No Homo ham that would be topped with a slice of Swiss cheese and lathered in a creamy new Thousand Island-based Fag Punching sauce. Responding to Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s recent controversial admission of the company’s donations to antigay groups, a statement from competing fast food chain Wendy’s let consumers know that it has long supported same-sex couples and only harbors strong objections to interracial marriage.”It’s important that Wendy’s customers know our restaurant proudly stands by the right of all Americans to marry whomever they choose, so long as it isn’t someone of a different race,” said spokeswoman Jenna Knox, adding that while Wendy’s has always backed pro-gay legislation, it found miscegenation “an abominable offense to God’s will.” “Just like our founder Dave Thomas, we dream of living in an America where two loving people of the same sex can freely wed, provided of course that both people are also of the same race, and that no black, Asian, Latin American, or other non-European heritage is allowed to de-purify the white racial bloodline.” Following the Wendy’s statement, executives from Jack in the Box confirmed that they too had always supported gay rights and the Holocaust never happened. Some readers asked, “Did Chick-fil-A really spend millions lobbying Congress not to condemn Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ bill”? We found no evidence that Chick-fil-A itself spent money (let alone millions) lobbying Congress to prevent that body from issuing a condemnation of a controversial Ugandan legislative bill which carried the death penalty for some homosexual acts. Some sources reported that the Family Research Council (FRC), one of the organizations to which Chick-fil-A donates through its WinShape corporate charity foundation, filed a report stating that it had spent $25,000 lobbying Congress against H.R. 1064, a resolution seeking to “express the sense of the House of Representatives” that Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill “threatens the protection of fundamental human rights.” However, the FRC said that although they did perform lobbying activities regarding H.R. 1064, they did not support the Uganda bill or the death penalty for homosexuality, and their lobbying efforts were not aimed at killing the Congressional resolution but rather at changing its language “to remove sweeping and inaccurate assertions that homosexual conduct is internationally recognized as a fundamental human right.” In September 2012, the Civil Rights Agenda group reported that Chick-fil-A had pledged not to fund groups that oppose gay marriage: Chick-fil-A has pledged to stop giving money to anti-gay groups and to back off political and social debates after an executive’s comments landed the fast-food chain smack in the middle of the gay marriage debate.The Civil Rights Agenda, which dubs itself the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group in Illinois, said Chick-fil-A agreed in meetings to stop donating to groups such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. Such groups oppose same-sex marriage. Chick-fil-A said that its nonprofit arm, the WinShape Foundation, “is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas[. ]” Shortly afterwards, Chick-fil-A issued an ambiguous statement about whether it had in fact made any such pledge: For many months now, Chick-fil-A’s corporate giving has been mischaracterized, and while our sincere intent has been to remain out of this political and social debate, events from Chicago have once again resulted in questions around our giving. For that reason, we want to provide some context and clarity around who we are, what we believe and our priorities in relation to corporate giving.A part of our corporate commitment is to be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. Because of this commitment, Chick-fil-A’s giving heritage is focused on programs that educate youth, strengthen families and enrich marriages, and support communities. We will continue to focus our giving in those areas. Our intent is not to support political or social agendas.",
            "output": [
                "Chick-fil-A has donated money to organizations that oppose same-sex marriage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71f8ade8784a4d0cb1d153d396a24801",
            "input": "The agency on Friday described licensing the vaccine as “an important step toward relieving the burden of this deadly disease.” The Ebola vaccine was originally developed in Canada and is now marketed by Merck as Ervebo. More than 270,000 people in Africa have received it as officials try to stop Congo’s ongoing outbreak. A second vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, which is not yet licensed, will soon be used in parts of Congo where Ebola is not actively spreading. Also Friday, the World Health Organization is convening a meeting to consider whether the epidemic in Congo should still be designated a global emergency.",
            "output": [
                "European Medicines Agency recommends licensing Ebola vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a8be552546d4e33a9a4e46a2dd5475c",
            "input": "No discussion of costs regarding mammograms. Stories should not assume that every woman in the 40s who chooses to get a mammogram will have this covered by their insurance. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt for presenting lots of numbers – in contrast with the WebMD story that included NONE. However, more critical analysis would have been appreciated. The story did discuss why mammography in younger women is not always beneficial and described several of the harms that the US Preventive Services Task Force discussed. The article never pointed out that this was NOT a randomized controlled trial. The article also should have discussed: No disease mongering. The article did interview the chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). In allowing Dr. Virginia Moyer of the USPSTF to talk about the need for women “to make their own decision,” the story at least implies that declining screening is a choice. It could have been far more overt, but we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt that the alternative choice was at least implied. Not applicable. Availability of mammograms is not in question although access to care is dependent upon many factors including distance to facility with instrument, insurance coverage, etc. The story at least acknowledged some past studies in the ongoing debate about “the best age to start routine mammograms and the best screening interval.” It appears that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Mammograms Can Save Lives of Women in Their 40s: Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c952435eb70b4f8f96afc82114526776",
            "input": "But even “fad” diets can lead to a slimmer, lighter New Year for those whose resolve remains robust, according to doctors and nutritionists analysing them. Gathering for a London conference to review evidence behind popular weight loss diets - at just the time of year when slimming ideas are in peak demand - specialists concluded that food fads such as the hunter-gatherer “Paleo” plan or the 5:2 diet can deliver. But it’s hard work. “If it was easy, our species would have died out years ago. As humans we have a default to eat,” said Gary Frost, a professor and chair of nutrition and dietetics at Imperial College London. The results of that default are looming large in a global “wave of obesity”, he said. According to the World Health Organisation, worldwide obesity - defined as having a body mass index of more than 30 - has nearly doubled since 1980. The latest global figure is that in 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults were overweight. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 36 percent of American adults are obese and almost 70 percent are either obese or overweight. In Britain, a government health study predicts 60 percent of men, 50 percent of women and 25 percent of children will be obese by 2050. Against this background, experts say the search for effective diets must always take account of how easy it is for people to understand and follow, and how likely they are to abide by its restrictions. Michelle Harvie, a research dietician from the Genesis Prevention Centre at Britain’s University Hospital of South Manchester, said that on this front, fasting diets - sometimes called intermittent diets - can be successful. “Energy restriction is difficult to maintain over the long term and people tend to find it easier to follow a diet with intermittent energy restriction,” she said. She said that while a regular weight loss plan might require the dieter to take in 25 percent fewer calories, intermittent diets may suggest two days of a 75 percent calorie cut interspersed with five days of normal healthy eating. But the key to these diets - such as the 5:2 diet in which followers eat as little as 400 calories on two “fasting” days per week - is that dieters won’t succeed if they “pig out” and eat whatever they want on non-fasting days. Harvie’s research shows those who succeed in losing weigh on these diets find the fasting days lead them to also have a lower food intake on normal days - leading to lower calorie intake overall. Mark Berry, head of plant biology and biochemistry at the consumer company Unilever’s research and development unit, says there are also positive signs in data from studies of “Palaeolithic” or stone-age diets - plans designed to mimic the diet of pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers of that era. A sign of its current popularity is that “Paleo diet” was one of the most “Googled” terms of 2013. The idea is based around foods that can be hunted, fished or foraged for - meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Berry said his research showed little impact on glucose response in the body in people eating a Palaeolithic diet, but did find a significant impact on hormones that signal satiety and tell the brain the eater is full. Alexandra Johnstone of the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, who has been looking into high protein and low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet, said these also had a significant impact on fullness feelings - giving them the potential to help dieters control appetite and lose weight. “The high satiety effects of increased protein in the diet seems to be a contributing factor to the success of high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets,” she said. Johnstone cited data showing the amount of weight lost on high-protein diets is around double that lost on a comparable low-fat diet at the six-month mark. But there is little difference in weight loss after one year, as dieters often lose momentum and their resolve to slim down fades. “There’s no magic bullet,” she said. Judy Buttriss, head of the British Nutrition Foundation, said the evidence for popular diets was clearly nuanced. While there are several that can be used as tools for effective weight loss and maintenance, she said “there’s currently no evidence that one is any better than another in the long term”.",
            "output": [
                "Fad diets can work, but experts find no magic slimming bullet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-489c5d54fbb24a988b3acef15bccca90",
            "input": "The young royals released 10 films Thursday as part of their “Heads Together” campaign to change the national conversation about mental health. The videos feature celebrities and members of the public talking about the breakthrough conversations that helped them come to terms with their mental health problems. The former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff and former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, are among those featured speaking about their experiences with anxiety or depression. The royals said they hope the stigma surrounding mental health problems can be lifted. They urged people to talk more openly about these issues. “When you realize that mental health problems affect your friends, neighbors, children and spouses, the walls of judgment and prejudice around these issues begin to fall,” they said in a statement. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said public awareness campaigns are more powerful when the celebrities promoting them have personal experience with the issue being highlighted. “Princes William and Harry speak from their experience of loss and sorrow” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. The support of the young royals is important in raising awareness about mental health, she added. William and Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, when the princes were 15 and 12 years old. The films can be viewed on the Heads Together website and YouTube page and are promoted on Facebook, Twitter and Google.",
            "output": [
                "Britain’s young royals promote conversation on mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a30ab4a663f144ab8a3932c5c197305c",
            "input": "In recent decades, laughter has been touted as a possible cure for many ills, including cancer and heart trouble. But could mirth also be deadly, making the phrase “I just about died laughing” as much about accuracy as it is hyperbole? On 24 March 1975, 50-year-old bricklayer Alex Mitchell of King’s Lynn in Norfolk, England, kicked the bucket while roaring with laughter at one of his favorite television shows, the comedy program The Goodies. The skit that precipitated Mitchell’s fatal fit of glee involved a kilted Scotsman’s flailing away with his bagpipe at a vicious black pudding intent upon attacking him. Mitchell was unable to stop laughing, and after twenty-five minutes of uproar gave one last “tremendous belly laugh, slumped on the settee, and died,” said his widow, who witnessed his passing. While Mitchell had expired from heart failure, what felled him was not a classic heart attack, but rather the result of an unusual inheritable heart rhythm disorder that routinely takes the lives of even apparently robust 20-somethings. Mitchell had Long QT syndrome, an affliction in which the heart is prone to experiencing long pauses between heart beats, especially after instances of excitement or exertion. After such an incident, the heart resets itself after a few beats, but in some cases (such as this) the person is not so fortunate. An odder account of a “dying laughing” incident was reported in Bangkok in 2003:  An ice cream truck driver in Thailand died while laughing in his sleep. Damnoen Saen-um, 52, laughed for about two minutes yesterday and then stopped breathing, The Nation newspaper reported. Damnoen’s wife tried to wake him up but he kept laughing. An autopsy suggested that he might have had a heart attack. “I have never seen a case like this. But it is possible that a person could have heart seizure while laughing or crying too hard in their sleep,” said Dr Somchai Chakrabhand, deputy director-general of the Mental Health Department. On the anecdotal side, Schott’s Original Miscellany attributes the death of Burmese king Nandabayin in 1599 to his having “laughed to death when informed, by a visiting Italian merchant, that Venice was a free state without a king.”  And on the fictional front, one version of the demise of Pecos Bill, the legendary cowboy hero of American folklore, has him dying from laughter after an encounter with a Boston dude:  When Bill was gettin’ on in years, a Boston man came down to New Mexico for a visit. He fancied himself a bit of a cowboy. Got himself one of them mail-order suits, don’t ya know. The ones with the lizard skin boots, a shiny brass belt buckle, a new pair of blue jeans and a huge ten gallon hat with not a speck of dust on it. Well, when Pecos Bill saw him trying to swagger into a bar, he jest lay down on the sidewalk and laughed himself to death! Not enough information was given in the (real) cases cited above to know whether laughter was a coincidental, contributory, or causal element of the deaths, but linguistically we’ve been tossing about “dying laughing” expressions for centuries; the Oxford English Dictionary records a use of this phrase as far back as 1596 (“Went they not quickly, I should die with laughing”). We also employ similar phrases to indicate intense feelings of humiliation (“I almost died of embarrassment”), and in a more generic sense we use ‘dying’ to indicate great longing (“I’m just dying to see you”) or excellence (“It’s to die for”). It therefore comes as a bit of a shocker to realize that there might be at least a smidgen of truth buried deep beneath all this overblown emoting.",
            "output": [
                "People have died laughing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9544e92cfa0349d99db3bf2834b56c58",
            "input": "But their target isn’t corrupt officials or shady political fixers; it’s Rattus Norvegicus, the common Norway Rat. The nation’s capital is facing a spiraling rat infestation, fueled by mild winters and a human population boom. Washington’s government is struggling to keep pace, with the pest control department fielding a record number of calls. On one recent day, Pittman and Cornes, both veteran Health Department employees, are working within sight of the Capitol, shoveling dry ice pellets into suspected rat burrow entrances. On another, they’re summoned about six blocks north of the White House, at 16th Street and M, where residents have complained of an outbreak. “Rats adapt to everything. They can be like geniuses,” Pittman said. On the grounds of a church, Cornes and Pittman poke around, expertly spotting telltale holes and matted dirt trails that signal rat burrows. Cornes uses an instrument like an extra-long Super Soaker to inject poison into the hole, while Pittman watches to see if the white powder puffs up from other holes and then shovels dirt to block those exits. At the office building next door, the crew receives a hearty welcome from the security guard. “The rats would scurry over employees’ feet as they left the building after sunset,” says the guard, who asked that his name not be published so as not to embarrass his employer. “We finally moved all garbage cans away from the door because that’s where they would feed and party.” Cornes assures him, “We’re winning.” The numbers don’t exactly back up Cornes’ confidence. The pest control company Orkin ranks Washington as America’s fourth “Rattiest City,” based on the number of new service calls per year. That’s up one spot from the previous year and just behind Los Angeles and New York; Chicago has been ranked No. 1 for four consecutive years. While Washington doesn’t boast New York’s famous subway monsters, anecdotal evidence is piling up that the rodents are on the march. In September, a viral video showed security camera footage of a rat pulling a fire alarm , forcing the evacuation of an apartment building. Back on M Street, Cornes and Pittman discover a network of burrows in a large planter box in front of an office building. They inject poison, causing bushes to shake with fleeing rodents. A baby rat suddenly emerges from the ground and flees around the corner. Gerard Brown, head of Washington’s rodent control department, says a string of gentle winters has enabled the rodents to breed constantly. The harsh winters don’t necessarily kill off the rats. Most Norway rats live only about eight months, and they stay warm by burrowing underground or chewing their way into basements. But an extended freeze would choke off their food supply, which limits the rodents’ prodigious breeding. A mature female rat can give birth to one litter per month, with an average of 10 babies per litter. Washington is also in the midst of a gentrification-fueled economic and population boom. The district’s population just passed 700,000 — more than Vermont and Wyoming. Brown said the number of restaurants, bars and coffee shops has increased 25 percent in two years. “More people with more money means more restaurants, which means more garbage, which means more rat food,” Brown said. In several ways, Washington is perfectly suited for the critters. It is filled with green space, from the National Mall to the many signature traffic circles; Dupont Circle is apparently a hot spot. Rats also covet the waterfront, and part of Washington’s gentrification boom has focused on the Navy Yards or the new Wharf Marina — presenting the ultimate rodent attraction of a flourishing waterfront restaurant scene. This isn’t even Washington’s first war on rats. Former Mayor Anthony Williams referenced rat problems in his inauguration speech in 1999. Back in 1967, a rat gnawing on power station wires knocked out electricity for about a third of Washington for nearly an hour. This time, Mayor Muriel Bowser has allocated an extra $900,000 to boost rodent control efforts and increase staffing. The government is also offering financial assistance and incentives for restaurants to buy minitrash compactors that fit in urban alleyways and limit the rats’ access to food. At the site near the White House, Pittman and Cornes find the real problem around the back of the office building: a collection of uncovered garbage and compost containers, plus a giant pile of discarded file cabinets — all surrounded by black pellets. “See all these droppings? All this stuff has got to go,” Pittman tells the building manager. He could write up a $500 health code violation ($1,000 for a repeat offender) but instead Pittman tells him: “I’ll give you two weeks to get this cleaned up. Then we’ll be back.” As urban rodentologist Robert Corrigan puts it, “80 percent of any rat control campaign is actually refuse management.” Corrigan has consulted with Washington and other cities on rodent problems and runs free “rat academies” in Washington for both city workers and residents. Corrigan recommends a radical solution that would be logistically difficult for most major cities: picking up most trash at night. “The usual early morning pickup plays right into the hands of the rats, which are active all night long,” he said. Multiple city officials said this would be almost impossible to implement due to staffing issues and late-night noise concerns. Corrigan, not a fan of amateurs handling poisons, says the dry ice method, which suffocates the rodents in their burrows, is safe for homeowners to use. He also recommends that residents spray trash bins with a mix of water and 10 percent bleach. Beyond that, the only real solution is the hardest part of the equation — controlling human behavior. “You’re only as good as your neighbor,” he said. “You can have 10 beautiful houses in a row and if number 11 is a slob, everybody suffers.” ___ Follow Khalil on Twitter at: www.Twitter.com/Ashrafkhalil",
            "output": [
                "Metaphorical Washington ‘swamp’ overrun by actual vermin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a71a1fb68cf6494d8f3214d418241bc3",
            "input": "KDVR-TV reported Monday that three of the cases were diagnosed within the past three weeks. Denver Public Health executive director Dr. Bill Burman says his agency will set up vaccine clinics almost every day in day shelters, syringe access programs, Civic Center Park and other places where people at risk of contracting the disease are found. Hepatitis A can be spread through sharing of drugs and equipment, fecal-oral contamination or intimate contact with a person who has the disease. Health officials say the disease can be prevented with a vaccine that’s been a part of standard childhood immunizations for more than a decade. ___ Information from: KDVR-TV, http://www.kdvr.com",
            "output": [
                "4 hepatitis A cases found in Denver; vaccinations stepped up."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-091ab900a12d42be9c99ff77ff29a69e",
            "input": "The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a series of laws affecting multiple areas of the Federal Code, was first signed into law in 1994. The act provided federal funds for services offered to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, created the Office on Violence Against Women within the Justice Department, enhanced the training of law enforcement officers in the area of sexual and domestic violence, and strengthened penalties for certain sexual crimes (including requiring perpetrators of sexual violence to pay restitution to their victims). VAWA has been reauthorized several times since 1994, often with adjustments or modifications. In December 2018, authorization for the Violence Against Women Act lapsed during negotiations over ending a federal government shutdown, as reported by Washington Post at the time: The Violence Against Women Act expired at midnight as the government shut down and temporarily cut off funding for programs that help victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse and stalking. The blow to the landmark 1994 law came after multiple short-term extensions. The act was due to expire on Sept. 30 and on Dec. 7 but received a last-minute reprieve each time. Its programs are funded under the Justice Department, which is affected by the shutdown. VAWA was briefly reauthorized on a temporary basis as part of a continuing resolution passed on 25 January 2019, but it lapsed once again three weeks later. In April 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation to reauthorize the act with modifications that, among other things, lowered the criminal threshold for barring the purchase of firearms by closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and restricting the sale of guns to individuals convicted of stalking, as described by NPR: The most controversial [modifications to VAWA] are new provisions to lower the criminal threshold to bar someone from buying a gun to include misdemeanor convictions of domestic abuse or stalking charges. Current law applies to felony convictions. It would also close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to expand existing firearm prohibitions to include dating partners convicted of abuse or stalking charges. The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed these putative changes (which we have displayed in full below this fact check) and as a result called on lawmakers to oppose reauthorization of VAWA as proposed in a House bill: The NRA called for a “no” vote and notified Capitol Hill offices this week that the organization was “scoring” how lawmakers vote on the bill to measure future ratings and endorsements in elections … NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said the group supports the underlying VAWA law, just not the new gun restrictions. “The gun control lobby and anti-gun politicians are intentionally politicizing the Violence Against Women Act as a smokescreen to push their gun control agenda,” she told NPR. Gun rights activists say the new provisions are too low of a threshold to deny someone a constitutional right for the rest of their life. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, in a speech delivered on the floor of the House, highlighted a National Coalition Against Domestic Violence statistic showing that presence of a gun increased the risk of homicide in a domestic violence situations by 500%: According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average, nearly 20 people every minute, 20 people every minute, are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. That is a tragedy and a crisis. One-in-four women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, and one-in-seven have been stalked by an intimate partner to the point at which she felt very fearful, or believed that she or someone close to her would be harmed or killed. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk – hear me – increases the risk of homicide by 500%. That is why we aim to close gun loopholes by expanding the definition of intimate partners to include dating or former dating partners. It is also why this bill has language preventing anybody convicted of a misdemeanor crime of stalking from obtaining a gun. On 4 April 2019, the House passed the inclusion of the gun purchase amendments to VAWA in the face of the NRA’s opposition, as reported by the New York Times: The House … rebuffed a furious lobbying campaign by the National Rifle Association and approved a revamped Violence Against Women Act that would expand law enforcement’s ability to restrict gun purchases by convicted domestic abusers. The legislation passed easily, 263-158, but the divided vote came on what was once a broadly bipartisan measure first passed in 1994. In recent years, partisan rancor over efforts to expand the protections of the legislation have clouded efforts to renew it, and this year, the divide came over gun control. This legislation headed to the Senate, where, the Times reported, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republican Senator Joni Ernst would lead an effort to pass their version of VAWA’s reintroduction. Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code (Existing text, Deleted text, Added text): (32) The term “intimate partner” means, with respect to a person, the spouse of the person, a former spouse of the person, an individual who is a parent of a child of the person, and an individual who cohabitates or has cohabited with the person. (A) means, with respect to a person, the spouse of the person, a former spouse of the person, an individual who is a parent of a child of the person, and an individual who cohabitates or has cohabited with the person; and (B) includes— (i) a dating partner or former dating partner (as defined in section 2266); and (ii) any other person similarly situated to a spouse who is protected by the domestic or family violence laws of the State or tribal jurisdiction in which the injury occurred or where the victim resides.”; (33) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), the term “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” means an offense that— (i) is a misdemeanor under Federal, State, municipal, and or Tribal  law; and (ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or former spouse, intimate partner, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, intimate partner, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim. (34) (A) the term ‘misdemeanor crime of stalking’ means an offense that— (i) is a misdemeanor crime of stalking under Federal, State, Tribal, or municipal law; and (ii) is a course of harassment, intimidation, or surveillance of another person that— (I) places that person in reasonable fear of material harm to the health or safety of— (aa) that person; (bb) an immediate family member (as defined in section 115) of that person; (cc) a household member of that person; or (dd) a spouse or intimate partner of that person; or (II) causes, attempts to cause, or would reasonably be expected to cause emotional distress to a person described in item (aa), (bb), (cc), or (dd) of subclause (I). (B) A person shall not be considered to have been convicted of such an offense for purposes of this chapter, unless— (i) the person was represented by counsel in the case, or knowingly and intelligently waived the right to counsel in the case; and (ii) in the case of a prosecution for an offense described in this paragraph for which a person was entitled to a jury trial in the jurisdiction in which the case was tried, either— (I) the case was tried by a jury; or (II) the person knowingly and intelligently waived the right to have the case tried by a jury, by guilty plea or otherwise. (C) A person shall not be considered to have been convicted of such an offense for purposes of this chapter if the conviction has been expunged or set aside, or is an offense for which the person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored (if the law of the applicable jurisdiction provides for the loss of civil rights under such an offense) unless the pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.”. Section 922 of title 18, United States Code (Existing text, Deleted text, Added text) (1) (d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person— (8) is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, except that this paragraph shall only apply to a court order that— (A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had the opportunity to participate; and (B) (i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or described in subsection (g)(8); (9) has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. ; or (10) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of stalking.” […] (g) It shall be unlawful for any person — […] (8) who is subject to a court order that— (A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate; (B) restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and (C) (i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or (9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. (8) who is subject to a court order— (A) that was issued— (i) after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate; or (ii) in the case of an ex parte order, relative to which notice and opportunity to be heard are provided— (I) within the time required by State, tribal, or territorial law; and (II) in any event within a reasonable time after the order is issued, sufficient to protect the due process rights of the person; (B) that restrains such person from— (i) harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; or (ii) intimidating or dissuading a witness from testifying in court; and (C) that— (i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such individual described in subparagraph (B); or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such individual described in subparagraph (B) that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; (9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. ; or",
            "output": [
                "In April 2019, when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, the NRA opposed the move due to the addition of amendments that would lower the criminal threshold required to bar someone from buying a gun."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cdf080c812454f68acd6231dd94c36e4",
            "input": "Sweden on Sunday had 1,906 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease - or 17 per 100,000 citizens - and 21 deaths. “We all now have great individual responsibility,” Lofven said. “There will be a few decisive moments in life when you must make sacrifices, not only for your own sake but also to take responsibility for those around you, for your fellow humans and for our country. That moment is now. That day has come.”  The number of patients in intensive care has risen steeply in Stockholm over the past days and healthcare officials have voiced concerns over staff shortages and said there was a risk of an imminent shortage of some protective gear for staff. “Everyone must do their part and it goes also for you who are above 70 or part of another risk group. I understand it’s frustrating to have to confine your life, your social interactions,” said Lofven, a Social Democrat. “But it is right now necessary - for your own health of course but also to protect others and allow for the health services to cope with the situation.”     Sweden has closed high schools and universities and banned public gatherings of more than 500 people, and authorities recommended that people above 70 limit their contact with others. “I want you to be prepared that more invasive decisions may come, at times with short notice and at times measures that disrupt everyday life even more,” Lofven said. Across the world, more than 305,000 are confirmed infected by the virus and more than 13,000 have died.",
            "output": [
                "Swedish PM tells Swedes to take responsibility in national address on coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0c83f4d9ef54b41b53c90da807f3c46",
            "input": "A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 46 fewer cases of congenital syphilis in Louisiana last year, down 13 from 2017. Nationally, more than 1,300 babies were born with the disease, up from 935 a year earlier. Congenital syphilis can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death and severe lifelong physical and neurological problems. The rate of that disease was one of three areas where Louisiana’s rankings improved a bit compared with other states as the nation’s combined cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia reached an all-time high. Louisiana is still among the top 10 in all four rankings: congenital syphilis, the most infectious stages of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea. But state health officials say the drops show prevention work is paying off. Medicaid expansion, education programs, and individual reviews of each case of congenital syphilis, with an eye to identifying what factors led to each, have helped bring that case total down, said Dr. Alexander Billioux, assistant secretary for the Office of Public Health The state’s congenital syphilis numbers have alternated increasing and decreasing for the past five years. Two programs started this year — home treatment for pregnant women with syphilis and their partners, and doctors getting the form of penicillin used to treat syphilis — should help the drop in cases continue, Billioux said. Both programs were designed in response to the case reviews, he said. Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are the most commonly reported sexually transmitted diseases. There were 1.76 million cases of chlamydia reported to the CDC in 2018, up 50,000; 583,400 of gonorrhea, up 28,000; and 115,000 of all stages of syphilis, up nearly 13,400. The CDC figures show that Louisiana had 1,500 more chlamydia cases in 2018 than in 2017, with fairly stable numbers for gonorrhea and the most infectious stages of syphilis, called primary and secondary syphilis. Chlamydia cases increased about 4.4%. Gonorrhea cases were up 26, or 0.2% and those of the most infectious stages of syphilis down 10, or about 1.5%. “I would say when it comes to syphilis, we are seeing a decrease — a modest decrease. But if you look at a modest downturn while others are going up, it’s a tremendous win,” Billioux said. The last time Louisiana had congenital syphilis numbers this low was 2014. The totals were 54 in 2015 and 48 in 2016. In 2017, Louisiana led the nation in its rate of congenital syphilis cases, with 93.4 cases for every 100,000 live births. This year’s rate of 72.8 per 100,000 live births brought it down to No. 3. Its rates for primary and secondary syphilis, the most infectious stages, dropped Louisiana’s ranking from No. 3 to No. 7 in that category, and the case rates for gonorrhea brought that ranking down from third to fifth. Its chlamydia rate remained the nation’s second-highest.",
            "output": [
                "Fewer babies born with syphilis in Louisiana, more across US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-197bc2937d454bae9a37cb3bb795a908",
            "input": "Analyzing the roll of the foot remains standard practice among fitness and medical professionals in the belief it will lead to a better shoe fit and fewer injuries. “When it comes to shoe choice, the amount of pronation control is extremely important,” said Dr. Jane Andersen, a podiatrist in private practice in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “Some people need more than others. It can cause a lot of problems if you have the wrong one.”  Anderson, a runner herself and past president of the American Association for Women Podiatrists, said the No. 1 cause of the overuse injuries she sees, from stress fractures to tendonitis to Plantar fasciitis (heel pain), is shoes that are worn out or the wrong fit. There are three basic levels of control for standard running shoes: neutral, stability and motion control. “Neutral is generally good for a high-arch foot; it doesn’t provide extra control for pronation,” she said. “The stability shoe works for people who need more support; motion control is for the super flat-footed.”  At Jack Rabbit Sports store in New York City, clients’ arches are observed before they hit the treadmill for runs that are videotaped for slow-motion analysis. “The basic premise is that most people land on their heel (and) overpronate or underpronate,” said Johanna Bjorken, the store’s merchandise director. “This causes running injuries and shoes can address this. This has been the model.”  Bjorken said neutral shoes account for 60 to 63 percent of the running shoes sold in her store; 30 to 35 percent are stability shoes. The mobility category is very small and usually follows on doctor’s advice. “Some rolling in is natural, normal and beneficial,” she explained. “Compared to 20 years ago, running shoes are really much more flexible, lightweight and well designed to work with movements of running.”  American Council on Exercise spokesperson, Dr. Mark Kelly, a runner for 35 years, is a self-described underpronator who believes in heeding an individual’s “biomechanical tendencies.”  “Get a certified trainer to look at the biomechanics of how you’re running,” Kelly said. “How are you turning your foot? Are you a forefoot striker, midfoot striker, heel striker, or extreme heel striker?”  Connecticut-based exercise physiologist Tom Holland, author of “The Marathon Method,” thinks many of the common running-related injuries, such as runner’s knee, shin splints and hip issues are related to and exacerbated by improper footwear. “Once you find a shoe that works for you, stick with it,” he said. Nevertheless, a recent Danish study cast doubt on whether shoes that control pronation do actually cut down on injury. But the scientists said more work is needed to determine if highly pronated feet face a higher risk of injury than neutral feet.",
            "output": [
                "It's all about the roll when choosing running shoes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d894724f348417b9e494dc50f7a2362",
            "input": "\"The pre-Christmas slaughter of 20 elementary school children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school has renewed public debate over how to prevent future mass killings with guns. On Jan. 14, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, now chaired by Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge, weighed in on that question by delivering a series of speeches on the House of Representatives floor that decried a U.S. \"\"culture of violence.\"\" Newly elected Columbus Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty used the opportunity to deliver her first oration on the House of Representatives floor. In it, she lamented that \"\"mass killings have gone from being an extremely rare occurrence to a common occurrence,\"\" and suggested the U.S re-examine its funding for mental health services, place adequate controls on ammunition and  \"\"ensure proper and tighter access to firearms.\"\" \"\"According to Harvard Health Policy Review, each year approximately 30,000 people in the United States die as a result of gunfire, and about 80,000 people are wounded,\"\" the former Ohio state legislator noted, applauding President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for \"\"proactively taking the necessary steps to address this critical issue.\"\" We wondered whether Beatty’s statistics were accurate, so we decided to track them down. We soon found an article in the Fall 2001 issue of Harvard Health Policy Review, titled The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Gun Violence, that begins with the exact wording used by Beatty - \"\"Each year, approximately 30,000 people in the United States die as a result of gunfire and about 80,000 are wounded.\"\" But the date of that article gave us pause. The numbers it cited were more than a decade old. We wanted to find more recent numbers. We turned to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics to verify the information. The latest available version of its data says there were 31,672 firearms deaths in the United States during 2010, a ratio of 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people. That number  is a bit higher than the number Harvard Health Policy Review cited in 2001, although it is certainly in the ballpark. The second set of CDC data we examined tracks non-fatal gun injuries. By the CDC’s reckoning, there were 73,883 non-fatal firearm injuries in 2011, a rate of 23.7 injuries per 100,000 people. That number is a bit lower than the number Beatty cited from the Harvard Health Policy Review, although it isn’t too far off. If the number of non fatal injuries from BB or pellet guns were added into the mix, the number of injuries from 2011 would exceed Harvard’s estimate of 80,000 yearly wounds from gunfire. According to CDC, 16,451 people in the United States were hurt by pellet guns - about 5.3 incidents per 100,000 people. Beatty accurately represented the statistics printed in Harvard Health Policy Review, even though its tally was more than a decade old. More recent data indicates those numbers haven’t changed much over the years.\"",
            "output": [
                "Joyce Beatty Says each year approximately 30,000 people in the United States die as a result of gunfire, and about 80,000 people are wounded."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3cda119e2ee14cc5abda23973ebb607e",
            "input": "The arrest of Stacey Vaillancourt, 53, came after the final autopsy report on the body of Harper Briar, who was found unresponsive Jan. 24, determined the girl had high concentrations of diphenhydramine in her body, Vermont State Police said. The drug is the active sedating ingredient in over-the-counter antihistamines, police said. The autopsy report noted that diphenhydramine is not to be used on infants except if a doctor orders it. There was no such order for the infant, Vermont State Police said. “The state is alleging that the defendant sedated an otherwise beautiful, happy, healthy 6-month-old to the point where that baby could not lift her head and died,” said Rutland County State’s Attorney Rosemary Kennedy. “From the state’s perspective that is about as serious a charge that we see in Vermont.” Vaillancourt’s lawyer entered not guilty pleas as about 40 relatives and supporters of the baby’s family sat in the courtroom wearing pink “Justice for Harper Rose” T-shirts. According to a police affidavit, the infant was found unresponsive on the third day that Vaillancourt had been caring for her. Vaillancourt’s son told police that he and his fiance had become sick the night before and could not help her with the children that day, according to the affidavit. A phone message was left with Vaillancourt’s lawyer after hours seeking comment. Her lawyer Robert McClallen told the judge she has ties to the community, including family, owns a home with her mother, ran a daycare for 25 years, has a different job now and had recently undergone bankruptcy proceedings. The state had sought $50,000 bail and a condition that she not have contact with children under the age of 5. The judge set bail at $25,000 in the form of an unsecured appearance bond and the condition that she not have contact with children under the age of 5, except for her grandchild under the supervision of one of the child’s parents. __ This story has been corrected by removing reference to Vaillancourt’s lawyer not commenting.",
            "output": [
                "Ex-day care worker charged in death of 6-month-old."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3143dba999fd46b592e0fe8d426968d0",
            "input": "It was joined by 22 states, the District of Columbia and two cities in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, building on a similar lawsuit it filed in September a day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration withdrew California’s waiver. The latest lawsuit challenges the EPA’s attempt to revoke part of a waiver it granted California in 2013 permitting the state to impose its greenhouse gas and zero emission vehicle standards. It asks the court to rule that California’s rules are protected under the federal Clean Air Act. The coming court battle will help mold a major aspect of the nation’s climate policy because 13 other states and the District of Columbia have adopted California’s standards. Federal law generally sets the rules for how much vehicles can pollute. But California has been allowed to impose tougher rules since the 1970s because it has the most cars and problems meeting air quality standards. The EPA said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said in September that the stricter rules were making vehicles more expensive and less safe because consumers had difficulty buying newer, safer vehicles. “California’s Clean Car Standards are achievable. They not only work, many other states around the country have chosen to adopt them,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, said Republican President Donald Trump “continues to weaponize federal agencies in his war against public health and clean air.” He noted several major automakers this year voluntarily agreed to the state’s regulations despite the effort the roll them back. The filing also asks the court to review NHTSA’s September decision. Joining California in the lawsuit are attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia; as well as the cities of Los Angeles and New York. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring criticized the administration for not only rolling back federal climate change efforts, but “threatening states’ rights to implement their own efforts to reduce carbon emissions and encourage clean car jobs and technology.” ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that 22 states and the District of Columbia have joined California’s suit, not 23 states.",
            "output": [
                "23 states widen challenge to Trump administration car rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-289ea41cf3a345c9ade80fce09489f38",
            "input": "The weekend “asados” bring together families and friends and are a source of national pride in this South American country, which traditionally battles neighboring Uruguay for world leader in per-capita beef consumption. But this carnivorousness is being threatened by rising support for vegetarianism and veganism among Argentines, particularly the young and millennials, and growing militancy by activists. A recent private online questionnaire found that six of every 10 Argentines are disposed to stop eating beef, a figure that alarmed ranchers who are already struggling through an economic crisis. The cultural divide came to a head several weeks ago when anti-animal cruelty activists interrupted an exhibition of the Buenos Aires Rural Society and were met by ranchers, some dressed in traditional gaucho outfits, who charged at them on horses with whips. The younger generations “have grown up amid the debate over abortion in Congress; inclusion, gender equality ... These collective questions have started to gain weight in decisions about the purchase of foods,” said Adrián Bifaretti, head of marketing at the Institute for the Promotion of Beef and author of the online survey and focus group that found a widespread readiness to give up beef. Bifaretti said the findings are based on doing a survey of 1,100 people every two months in a poll with a margin of error of three percentage points. A July report by Argentina’s Chamber of Commerce for Beef and its Derivatives said Argentines are consuming on average 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of beef a year, what it called the lowest level in the history of this country, where cattle brought by the Spanish centuries ago thrived on vast prairies knows as pampas. “This concern about cruelty and the slaughter is here and is going to be felt,” Bifaretti said, adding that trends seen in other parts of the world are arriving in Argentina. “It is starting to be a challenge.” Much of the anti-beef activism comes from vegans. Lying on the grass, Melisa Lobo stroked the snout of Apollo, a weeks-old black calf about the size of a Labrador dog. Nearby, goats, sheep, chickens and ducks roamed and socialized at “Wild Sanctuary,” two hectares (nearly five acres) of land an hour from Buenos Aires. “In the sanctuary, animals live out their entire lives,” said Lobo, a 28-year-old vegan, who calls each of the 300 animals in the sanctuary by name, except for the chickens “because they are all very similar.” While a plump sheep named Bruno suspiciously approached the visitors interviewing Lobo, a goat tried to get the attention of the humans by displaying its horns. “A person who is in contact with a dog or a cat knows that the animal feels, knows that they like to be pampered, knows when they are hungry, thirsty, cold or what hurts when they get hurt,” Lobo said. “But people not so close to them don’t know or don’t want to know that they are sentient beings.” Veganism, a current that emerged in London during World War II, is based on a diet free of animal products, unlike vegetarians who accept the intake of milk or eggs. Vegans also reject all forms of animal exploitation, whether as labor, or for clothing, cosmetics, transportation, sports or scientific experimentation. “You receive meat on your plate and you don’t think about how it got there,” Lobo said. “I always liked my meat rare and I never imagined that the blood was fluid from the animal’s muscle.” There is no official figure in Argentina, but Bifaretti’s institute estimates vegans and vegetarians represent 7% to 8% of the population. When it is not yet dawn in Buenos Aires’s Mataderos neighborhood, the white uniforms of workers in the refrigerated meat lockers are already stained red from the beef arriving from the nearby slaughterhouses. The district supplies much of the meat for the traditional “asados” that are consumed in restaurants and homes in Argentina’s capital. “Thank God, in Argentina and in these neighborhoods people still eat the asado on weekends but in the future it could get a bit complicated,” said Diego Salvo, who runs The Best Butcher Shop, acknowledging the new trends against meat. Beef is so deeply ingrained in Argentina’s culture that vegan chefs need great ingenuity to adapt typical dishes to their menus. At La Reverde, the first vegan grill in Buenos Aires,, the house specialty resembles the country’s “bife de chorizo,” a popular cut of boneless beef cooked on a grill. But it is really a “seitan steak,” that is made from wheat gluten and ingredients including beet puree and spices that help create a similar tone to beef. “I don’t love eating animals,” said Melissa Aruj, a 25-year-old after she finished a seitan cut accompanied by fries. “Without a doubt, I estimate that in 10 to 15 years a large part (of the population) will be vegetarian.” “I don’t know if they will be vegan,” she added. The change will be “little by little.” To some activists, just eating vegan is not enough. They have stepped up their actions into militancy. A group of young people from the animal liberation group Voicot gathered on a recent Saturday to protest at the entrance to a slaughterhouse in Buenos Aires. “It makes me very sad. Words are not enough for me to apologize to the animals because they have miserable lives. They are born with a date to die,” said one protester, Jazmín Romero, tears in her eyes. She wore a black shirt proclaiming: “We are the species threatening to destroy everything.” On the other side of the divide, many Argentines see eating beef as part of their history and culture. “We aren’t talking about killing the animal for sport. The animal is being transformed into food,” said Bifaretti. “It has been like this throughout the history of humanity.”",
            "output": [
                "Vegetarians gaining ground in carnivorous Argentina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-edd41b82357f497da126ea019b2739d4",
            "input": "Dr. Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator’s vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines to treat COVID-19 might be possible “before the summer,” citing ongoing clinical trials. Recent early results for the drug remdesivir suggested it could help patients recover from the coronavirus faster, although longer-term data is still needed to confirm any benefit. Although it typically takes years to develop a vaccine, Cavaleri said that if some of the shots already being tested prove to be effective, they could be licensed as early as the beginning of next year. Cavaleri cautioned, however, that many experimental vaccines never make it to the end and that there are often delays. “But we can see the possibility that if everything goes as planned, vaccines could be approved a year from now,” he said. More than 140 heads of states and health experts, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz issued an appeal Thursday calling on all countries to unite behind a “people’s vaccine” against COVID-19, to ensure any effective treatments and vaccines be available globally to anyone who needs them, for free. At the moment, there are about a dozen vaccine candidates being tested in China, Britain, Germany and the U.S. The World Health Organization has estimated it could take about 12 to 18 months for an effective vaccine to be found. While some experts have proposed dropping the requirement for large-scale advanced clinical trials altogether, Cavaleri said that wasn’t currently being considered. “Our current thinking is all vaccines under development should undergo large phase 3 trials to establish what is the level of protection,” he said. But he acknowledged that could change if the situation worsened. “Things may evolve as the pandemic will evolve and we will see if we need to do something else,” Cavaleri said. Some officials have warned that a vaccine might never be found; previous attempts to develop a vaccine against related coronaviruses like SARS and MERS have all failed. But Cavleri was optimistic an immunization against COVID-19 would eventually be discovered, as there are various technologies being tried globally. “I think it’s a bit early to say, but we have good reason to be sufficiently optimistic that at the end of the day, some vaccines will make it,” he said. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "EU: Possible virus drug approval ‘before the summer’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1771c77b3fa64b5f975343092ef5eef6",
            "input": "\"Newly born babies rest inside a ward at a hospital on the occasion of \"\"World Population Day\"\" in the northern Indian city Lucknow in this file picture taken July 11, 2009. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar/Files To some demographers the milestone foreshadows turbulent times ahead: nations grappling with rapid urbanization, environmental degradation and skyrocketing demand for healthcare, education, resources and jobs. To others, a shrinking population, not overpopulation, could be the longer-term challenge as fertility rates drop and a shrinking workforce is pushed to support social safety for an aging populace. “There are parts of the world where the population is shrinking and in those parts of the world, they are worried about productivity, about being able to maintain a critical mass of people,” Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, told Reuters. “Then there are parts of the world where the population is growing rapidly. Many of these countries face challenges in terms of migration, poverty, food security, water management and climate change and we need to call attention to it.”   The United Nations says the world’s seven billionth baby will be born on October 31. No-one knows what circumstances the baby will be born into, but India’s Uttar Pradesh — a sugarcane-producing state with a population that combines that of Britain, France and Germany, in a country expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous by 2030 — provides a snapshot of the challenges it could face. Pinky Pawar, 25, is due to give birth in Uttar Pradesh at the end of the month and is hoping her firstborn will not join the estimated 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day, with little hope of an education or a job. “I want my child to be successful in life, so I must do my best to make this possible,” she said, her hands over her swollen belly as she sat outside her mud and brick home in Sunhaida village. In Sunhaida, poverty, illiteracy and social prejudice mark a life dominated by the struggle for survival that mirrors millions of others across the world. With the number of people on earth more than doubling over the last half-century, resources are under more strain than ever before. First among the short-term worries is how to provide basic necessities for the additional 2-3 billion people expected to be added in the next 50 years. Water usage is set to increase by 50 percent between 2007 and 2025 in developing nations and 18 percent in developed ones, with much of the increased use in the poorest countries as rising rural populations move to towns and cities. “The problem is that 97.5 percent of it (water) is salty and ... of the 2.5 percent that’s fresh, two-thirds of that is frozen,” says Rob Renner, executive director of the Colorado-based Water Research Foundation. “So there’s not a lot of fresh water to deal with in the world.”   Nutritious food is in short supply in many parts of the globe. The World Bank says 925 million people are hungry today, partly due to rising food prices since 1995, a succession of economic crises and the lack of access to modern farming techniques and products for poor farmers. To feed the two billion more mouths predicted by 2050, food production will have to increase by 70 percent, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization says. But just as research, development and expansion of agricultural programs are critical, the public dollars pledged to this effort remain a pittance of what is needed, and are in fact in danger of sharp decline, experts say. “We have to raise productivity,” Robert Thompson, who serves on the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council and is former director of rural development for the World Bank. “I think we can do it all if we invest enough in research. But at the moment we aren’t.”   Climate change could be the greatest impediment to meeting the food target as rising temperatures and droughts dry out farmlands which are then inundated by intense floods and storms. The way climate change has been handled offers a window on how tricky it is to tackle global, long-term problems, however. While it’s clear what needs to be done, U.N. climate talks have largely stalled. “There is a reason why these negotiations are relatively slow,” said Wendel Trio, director of Climate Action Network Europe, referring to the economic downturn and arguments between rich and poor nations over carbon cuts. “But if you compare it to the urgency and the fact that many governments clearly understand the urgency, it is a failure of governments that they can’t move forward.”   Experts say demographic imbalances will also place serious strains on towns and cities across the world as mostly middle-class blue-collar migrants move from poorer rural areas to richer urban centers. China’s capital Beijing — with its almost 20 million inhabitants — is now the world’s 13th most populous city, its population almost doubling over the last decade, reflecting a trend mirrored worldwide, particularly in developing nations. Cities in Africa, Asia and South America are bursting at the seams from migrants seeking better jobs or as farmers flee droughts, floods and other environmental disasters. In 1950, about 730 million people lived in cities. By 2009, it was nearly 3.5 billion and in four decades it will be 6.3 billion, the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs said in a March 2010 report. That explosive growth stretches limited resources and infrastructure and places megacities on a collision course with a predicted increase in extreme flooding, storms and rising sea levels from climate change, U.N. Habitat says. Experts say the lack of coordinated planning is exacerbating the problem. “Any kind of plan for decentralizing the population requires a series of policies that work together,” said Wang Jianguo, a senior project officer on urbanization at the Asian Development Bank’s Beijing office. “If you only have a population policy without an employment policy, without an industry development policy, education, medical policy, it won’t work.”   One important policy tool to manage a growing population is to give women access to family planning, experts say, adding that 215 million women worldwide want it but do not get it. Access to education is also important as it motivates women to reduce their fertility and improve their children’s health. A lack of such education has meant that while the overall populations continue to rise in countries such as China and India, the number of women is falling because of a preference for boys leading to deliberate abortions of female babies. The world is also seeing a demographic anomaly: a declining population in some richer countries has led to an imbalance between the working population and retirees who need expensive social safety nets. The global fertility rate — the number of children born per couple — is around 2.5, but in richer countries this number has already nosedived. And while exact predictions vary, most suggest the global population will peak at around 9 billion around 2070 and then start to fall, perhaps very fast. “We thought that overpopulation was going to force humanity to expand outward to the stars,” says Jack Goldstone, professor of social science and a leading demographics expert at Washington’s George Mason University. “That doesn’t look like the problem at all. And the policy framework isn’t set up at all to handle these longer-term issues.”\"",
            "output": [
                "Crowded, stretched world awaits 7 billionth baby."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bddf7a91a0ba47e8a9b37098fed3165e",
            "input": "Health Minister Olivier Veran told a briefing he could not determine at this stage when the lockdown would end. If the government were to follow the scientific council’s advice, France would remain at a virtual standstill until April 28. A statement by the council, which advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, also said the lockdown was the only really efficient strategy at the moment and “needs to be strictly implemented”. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Monday the widespread lockdown in France could last several more weeks and his government was tightening restrictions on daily life even further. Veran also said France would heed World Health Organization recommendations to increase coronavirus testing. Health agency chief Jerome Salomon said later France would soon be able to conduct 10,000 tests a day. Salomon reported 240 new deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday for a total of 1,100, an increase of 28% that made France the fifth nation to cross the 1,000-fatalities threshold after - China, Italy, Iran and Spain. This tally only accounts for people who died in public hospitals, whereas several retirement homes have been reporting deaths in the double digits. Salomon said health authorities would soon be able to tabulate data coming from retirement homes, which will likely trigger a more dramatic increase in registered fatalities. He said the total number of infections in France had risen to 22,300, a 12% jump in 24 hours. Salomon added that 2,516 people were in a serious condition requiring life support, up by 21% from Monday, and that 8,000 hospital beds were now equipped with ventilators.",
            "output": [
                "French coronavirus death toll tops 1,000, lockdown likely to be extended."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-141be3e335174302869ba2a541c454e3",
            "input": "While the story notes that the U.S. price of the Obalon intragastric balloon has yet to be announced, the story could have reported that the device and related care typically cost $2,500 to $4,000 in Europe, where it has been available for almost three years. Costs are also likely markedly higher than working with a behavioral team. The story quantified benefits by stating: Obese patients who swallowed balloon capsules that helped them eat less lost an average of 15 pounds, roughly two times more weight than patients who just dieted and exercised, researchers report. and: People treated with the balloons lost an average of 7 percent of their weight, compared to less than 4 percent for those who received the sham device, the researchers found. Six months after the balloons were removed, nearly 90 percent maintained the weight loss they achieved during treatment, Pryor said. In addition to reporting the weight loss results announced by researchers and that, unlike other balloons, this device doesn’t require patients to be sedated during placement, the story adds important context by including comments from independent sources who are skeptical that many patients will maintain their lower weight long after the device is removed. The story mentions these harms: As for side effects, one patient had a bleeding stomach ulcer while taking high doses of pain pills after a knee replacement. Most patients (91 percent) suffered from stomach cramps and nausea, which nearly 100 percent said were mild or moderate. The story would have been stronger if it had warned readers that a study that puts a device in only a couple of hundred people may miss problems that could appear after the device is placed in hundreds of thousands or even millions of patients. The documentation that the manufacturer will give patients lists several serious, even life-threatening, potential side effects, including intestinal and airway blockages. These potential risks should have been noted. The story reports the key features of the trial. It also notes that, “Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.” The story would have been stronger if it clearly reported that the trial does not provide any evidence about whether the Obalon device is any better or worse than other options, because it did not compare it to similar balloons or to other weight loss interventions, other than the lifestyle counseling offered to all study participants. The researcher quoted in the story notes that this device could be an option for people who are leery of surgery. Independent sources quoted in the story predict a small role for such devices. One of the strongest aspects of this story is the ample use of independent sources to provide context and point out limitations of the device. However, this criterion demands that sponsors of research be identified, and this story does not tell readers that the trial was sponsored by Obalon Therapeutics. The story includes discussion of weight loss surgery and lifestyle interventions. It includes a quote noting that the Obalon device does not require patients to be sedated during insertion, which implies there are other similar balloon devices, though the story would have been better if it specifically noted that there are already two very similar devices available in the U.S. as well as other balloon devices that are for sale in other countries. It also could have pointed out that these results don’t appear more effective than an intensive behavioral program. The story reports that the Obalon balloon was approved by the FDA in September and will be available in January 2017. As noted above, the story reports that the Obalon device does not require patients to be sedated during insertion, which appears to be the main difference between this device and other similar balloons. It would have been better if it had more clearly informed readers that there are other intragastric balloon devices already on the market. The story notes that these study results also were presented back in May. The story includes several quotes from independent sources, as well as important details that were not included in a news release from the organizers of the the medical meeting where these results were presented. (We also reviewed the news release.)",
            "output": [
                "Balloon-in-a-pill helped obese patients lose weight"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54d81cb889104ff2993cef65587cfe64",
            "input": "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that an employee at a Bob Evans restaurant in Washington was infected. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says it is “uncommon” for restaurant patrons to catch hepatitis A from a sick food handler, but urged precautionary vaccinations for those who ate at the restaurant between Aug. 3 and Monday. The health department advised patrons to monitor their health for 50 days after exposure and watch for symptoms that may include yellowing of the skin or eyes, abdominal pain, nausea or diarrhea. The case marked the third time since June that a Franklin County diagnosis prompted a public warning. ___ Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com",
            "output": [
                "Vaccinations offered amid hepatitis worries in Franklin Co."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de32ac51f6394cef90dab0615b14e5d7",
            "input": "\"Reaction was swift and strong after Republican Gov. Scott Walker said the curbs he enacted on the collective-bargaining power of public-employee unions were philosophically in line with principles espoused by President Franklin Roosevelt, the liberal Democratic icon. Walker drew the comparison in a July 29, 2013 speech at the Governmental Research Association policy conference hosted by Milwaukee’s Public Policy Forum. The governor, whose Act 10 law wiped away most subjects of bargaining for most public unions and shifted more pension and health-care costs to workers, argued the changes helped balance government budgets and made merit more important than teacher seniority in schools. \"\"We think it has a dynamic impact going forward on how we perform, and that is putting power in the hands of the people duly elected at the state and at the local level,\"\"  Walker said. \"\"It’s why -- some people are surprised to know this -- the position I pushed is not unlike the principle that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not exactly a conservative, pushed as well when it came to public sector collective bargaining,\"\" Walker added. \"\"He felt that there wasn't a need -- and others like him, (former New York Mayor Fiorello) LaGuardia and others -- felt there wasn’t a need in the public sector to have collective bargaining because the government is the people. We are the people.\"\" Did Roosevelt -- the patron of the post-Depression boost in organizing by industrial unions in the private sector -- really take the position that when it came to federal government employees, there \"\"wasn’t a need\"\" to have collective bargaining? Before we check Walker’s claim, let’s stipulate the obvious: There are dramatic differences between Walker and the architect of the New Deal, from their approaches to governing in times of economic distress to their views on the proper size and role of the state. In the labor realm, when it came to private-sector unions whose cause he championed, FDR called collective bargaining a \"\"fundamental individual right.\"\" Walker, meanwhile, has not ruled out signing \"\"right to work\"\" limits on private-sector unions, though he’s not pushing it now. That’s one reason the comparison so riled Democrats and union leaders. \"\"FDR brought us out of the Great Depression with strong investment in workers and jobs programs that worked,\"\" Wisconsin State AFL-CIO leader Phil Neuenfeldt said. \"\"Scott Walker is drowning in a jobs deficit and to compare himself to FDR is laughably delusional.\"\" But Walker in his speech made a claim on a very specific historical point: FDR’s views on collective bargaining for public employees. And that is the claim we are examining. Where Roosevelt stood Compared to the mountain of evidence on FDR’s sympathetic stance on protections and rights for private laborers, the historical record on his attitude toward public-sector unions is less than a few inches high. Walker cites an on-point and oft-quoted FDR letter that conservatives frequently highlight when arguing for limits on unions in the government sector. That letter, we found, dominates scholarly debate over Roosevelt’s views on this issue. And it’s easy to see why: The president’s Aug. 16, 1937 correspondence with Luther C. Steward,  the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, is bluntly worded -- to say the least. Roosevelt was responding to an invitation to attend the organization’s 20th jubilee convention. In the letter, FDR says groups such as NFFE naturally organize to present their views to supervisors. Government workers, he observed, want fair pay, safe working conditions and review of grievances just like private-industry workers. Organizations of government employees \"\"have a logical place in Government affairs,\"\" he wrote. But Roosevelt then shifted gears, emphasizing that \"\"meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.\"\" Then, the most-famous line and the one directly on point to Walker’s comment: \"\"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,\"\" he wrote. \"\"It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.\"\" Roosevelt didn’t stop there. \"\"The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations,\"\" he wrote. When Walker claimed FDR said \"\"the government is the people,\"\" he had Roosevelt’s next line in mind. \"\"The employer,\"\" Roosevelt’s letter added, \"\"is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.\"\" Roosevelt concluded with a strong stance against strikes by unions representing government workers, noting that NFFE’s bylaws rejected strikes. The letter, the FDR Presidential Library site points out, was released publicly by the Roosevelt White House and became the administration's \"\"official position\"\" on collective bargaining and federal government employees. Roosevelt had previously laid out his views on public-sector unions at a July 9, 1937 news conference. His statements there add more weight to Walker’s claim. A reporter directly asked Roosevelt \"\"whether he favored government employees joining unions to the extent of collective bargaining with the government.\"\" Roosevelt’s response made clear he thought managers should listen to worker concerns, whether raised by union representatives or not. Federal workers are free to join \"\"any union they want,\"\" he said. But he recalled that in 1913, when he was Navy assistant secretary, he told a union official the Navy would not enter into a contract with the union because it had no discretion under federal law. \"\"The pay is fixed by Congress and the workmen are represented by the members of Congress in the fixing of Government pay,\"\" Roosevelt said. His thinking then still applied, Roosevelt told the reporters in 1937. At the end of news conference, Roosevelt was asked, after making the point that Congress sets compensation: \"\"In other words, you would not have the representatives of the majority as the sole bargaining agents?\"\" Roosevelt: \"\"Not in the government, because there is no collective contract. It is a very different case. There isn’t any bargaining, in other words, with the government, therefore the question does not arise.\"\" Taken together, the letter and news conference remarks positioned Roosevelt as deeply skeptical of the need and wisdom of collective bargaining power for unions in the federal system. When he wrote that the unique circumstances would make it \"\"impossible\"\" for government officials to make a binding deal on behalf of the government, that didn’t leave a lot of ambiguity. Same with the phrase \"\"insurmountable limitations.\"\" What the scholars say Perhaps because of the strong wording of his views, the 1937 letter remains -- nearly 75 years later -- the best piece of evidence on this topic. Even scholars and union officials who chafe at Walker linking himself to FDR have acknowledged the letter’s significance. \"\"Roosevelt absolutely did not favor collective bargaining for federal workers and especially did not favor the right to strike,\"\" public-sector labor scholar Joseph McCartin told Salon.com shortly after Walker’s dramatic action in 2011. And the current head of the National Federation of Federal Employees says Roosevelt’s words meant he \"\"believed that there should be no right to federal bargaining over wages and benefits.\"\" The union chief, William Dougan, told us Roosevelt feared that dealing with multiple unions could lead to pay disparities. To be sure, Roosevelt’s views were in part a product of his time. At the time, government unions had no collective bargaining rights, and it was not uncommon for elected officials to stand against union bargaining rights for government employees. Even in the private-sector, labor rights were still developing, their constitutionality still under debate in the courts. The notion of expanding those powers to the government sector had not yet taken hold -- and it would not under FDR. It wasn’t until 1962 that President John F. Kennedy’s executive order allowed bargaining, and then just over working conditions. Federal unions still cannot bargain over pay and benefits. Still, there are prominent scholarly voices who think Roosevelt’s 1937 letter has been misinterpreted, at least in part. One such voice is McCartin, the Georgetown University history professor who told Salon that \"\"Roosevelt absolutely did not favor collective bargaining for federal workers and especially did not favor the right to strike.\"\" When we asked McCartin about that interview, he said he had spoken prematurely. He and other historians note that Roosevelt wrote that collective bargaining, \"\"as usually understood,\"\" cannot be transplanted into the public service. Historians and union officials have parsed the phrase for decades, debating its meaning, and sometimes disagreeing with each other. The phrase, some say, leaves open the possibility that Roosevelt supported a modified form of collective bargaining, different from what private workers had created. They note that in the letter, Roosevelt directed his opposition most specifically at the right to strike. Dougan, the union official, believes Roosevelt appeared open to bargaining over working conditions. Several scholars emphasize that Roosevelt later praised a union contract negotiated between the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority and unions representing workers for the electric utility created by the federal government in 1933. The TVA’s board, appointed by Roosevelt, chose as a matter of policy to recognize the unions and bargain with them. The TVA Act signed by Roosevelt did not direct or discourage such bargaining. The TVA episode is \"\"the only effective rebuttal\"\" offered to the words in FDR’s letter, wrote Wilson R. Hart, a longtime labor relations adviser in the federal government who examined Roosevelt’s thinking on unions. Hart felt that the apparent contradiction between FDR’s TVA comments and his 1937 letter strongly suggested that Roosevelt was not denouncing all elements of collective bargaining in the letter. How Walker’s action compares Scholars, including McCartin, believe FDR’s views might have evolved in favor of public sector bargaining -- and against what Walker did. We won’t judge that for this item, but we’ll end with a few observations regarding the two situations, separated by nearly three-quarters of a century. In substance, Walker’s move dramatically limited, but did not completely end, collective bargaining by most public employees. His Act 10 allowed the state to cut benefits and try to limit pay increases. He argued that unions had become too powerful and that elected representatives of the people should have more control over taxpayer-funded compensation. Roosevelt said in the 1937 press conference that compensation levels for federal employees should be set by Congress and the president, not through bargaining with unions. So both men -- decades apart -- envisioned a limited role for unions in the public sector. But the differences in context make the two men’s views hard to compare. Walker acted after 50 years of collective bargaining between the state and its employees -- in the birthplace of public collective bargaining -- while FDR expressed his views before labor won that toehold into that arena. Our rating Walker said FDR \"\"felt there wasn’t a need in the public sector to have collective bargaining because the government is the people.\"\" The governor relies -- to good effect -- on Roosevelt’s 1937 letter, which, along with other primary evidence, lays out in striking language FDR’s deep reservations about the need for and wisdom of public-sector bargaining. While Roosevelt was open to discussion with represented and unrepresented employees over working conditions, he seemingly had major concerns about a formal, contractual bargaining process. Scholars cite Roosevelt’s positive comments on the Tennessee Valley Authority labor contracts, and debate certain phraseology in FDR's writings, but it’s limited evidence compared to the clear impression left by the letter and press conference remarks. Roosevelt saw a \"\"logical place\"\" for unions in government affairs, but the most compelling evidence suggests he drew the line at collective bargaining with them.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Scott Walker Says President Franklin Delano Roosevelt \"\"felt there wasn’t a need in the public sector to have collective bargaining because the government is the people.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e99c097e20b4701b9727bff7a48738a",
            "input": "A cost for the medications discussed was provided; in addition the story noted that niacin was available in a less expensive, generic version. The story adequately discussed the benefits observed in this study, in a somewhat scattered fashion. It mentioned the difference in heart attacks and other heart problems observed and though they were few, the difference was  statistically significant. The story does note the issues related to the surrogate endpoint and puts the study into context. The use of a spokesperson from the manufacturer of eztimibe in comments on the value of the surrogate endpoint is curious and takes away from the legitimate discussion on its value. This is offset somewhat by the comments of another presumably less conflicted expert. The side effect, flushing, associate with naicin was mentioned in the story as well as an estimate (1/3 of those taking Niaspan) for how many in the study were affected. The story provided information about the study in a piece meal fashion which included the number of individuals studied and that the study was stopped early because one group appeared to be faring better than the other with respect to size of carotid plaque. A comment from a representative of the other drug makers mentioned that the end point (size of plaque buildup in the carotid) needs to followed up on because in and of itself does not have a health impact. Coming from him it almost seemed as though it was sour grapes, but it is a very valid concern for interpreting the results of the study. It would have been better to have a less involved expert comment on the surrogate endpoint/ The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Comments from several expert sources outside of the study investigators or the manufacturer of the drug that appear to provide a better outcome were included in this story. The story discussed several of the available medications that could be used in addition to statins to lower heart attack risk. It might have been useful to include some information about dietary and lifestyle changes that could also be used to lower heart attack risk. The story made it very clear that the medications discussed are all currently commercially available. None of the medicines discussed in this story are new or novel and they were not presented as such. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Niacin shrinks artery plaque; Merck’s Zetia does not and may carry risks, new study finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec4e5029e4c14356baff7f4a9d490187",
            "input": "Environmental activists said on Monday that the fire, near the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 and believed to have been started deliberately, posed a radiation risk. Officials said they registered short-term rises in Caesium-137 particles in the Kiev area to the south of the plant, but radiation levels were within normal limits overall and did not require additional protection measures. They did not say why the particle levels rose. Assisted by rain, emergency services prevented the fire from spreading to either the plant or military facilities in the area, though they will need a few more days to fully extinguish it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement. Separately, the state agency responsible for managing the area around the plant said new fires had broken out to the west and south of the site. Their extent was not immediately clear. The main fire, one of several that followed unusually dry weather, broke out on April 3. Police have accused a 27-year old local of deliberately starting it, and Zelenskiy’s office said officers had detained suspected arsonists near two points where the fire broke out. Parliament voted on Monday to increase fines for arson. The Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine occurred on April 26, 1986. It was caused by a botched safety test in  reactor and sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe. The plant and the abandoned nearby town of Pripyat have become a draw for tourists, especially since a critically acclaimed U.S. television miniseries about the accident was aired last year. The site is currently shut as part of a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Forest fire around Chernobyl plant put out, Ukraine says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d3cdf5e3deba4e7fa3eaf06b36558d88",
            "input": "\"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stepped into the Zika funding debate and chastised Congress for failing to step up to the plate. \"\"Congress should meet President (Barack) Obama’s request for $1.8 billion in emergency appropriations to fight Zika,\"\" Clinton said March 18, 2016 on Medium. \"\"The president asked for this funding over a month ago, but on Saturday, Congress will begin a two-week break without having allocated one penny.\"\" Clinton went on to note that \"\"Congressional Republicans said the administration should use funds left over from fighting Ebola — even though that money is still being used. Why would we lower our defenses against one public health threat in order to meet another one? That’s senseless and dangerous. Congress needs to provide the funds to fight Zika now.\"\" We were curious whether Congress recessed without \"\"allocating a single penny\"\" to deal with the Zika virus. The Zika virus has spread rapidly in South America and is making inroads in the United States, mostly in Puerto Rico, but in many mainland states as well. The mosquito-borne disease has been linked to birth defects and neurological disorders. On Feb. 8, Obama asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to expand mosquito control programs in the states, accelerate vaccine research and take a number of other steps to rein in the disease. By the budget rules in Washington, emergency funding is not controlled by the deficit reduction spending caps that apply to most programs. At first, Republicans sounded receptive. A few days after the administration’s request, House Speaker Paul Ryan said \"\"we do anticipate some kind of bipartisan action on this, because this is something we want to get ahead of.\"\" On Feb. 18, the GOP chair of the House Appropriations Committee, joined by two Republican subcommittee chairs, told the White House Office of Management and Budget that before it asked for new money, it should use dollars left over from the emergency response provided to fight Ebola. \"\"If the aim of the request is to mount as rapid a response as possible, it is clear to us that the most expeditious way to identify the needed funding is to maximize the use of unobligated funds previously provided for Ebola response, prevention, and preparedness.\"\" The House Republicans said they estimated that $2.7 billion remained unused out of the original $5.4 billion emergency appropriation. They noted that under the rules of the emergency appropriation, about $400 million of those funds need to be spent by the end of September. We’ll dig a little deeper into that Ebola money in a moment, but to settle one piece of this fact-check, in terms of committing new dollars explicitly to combat the Zika virus, Congress has not done that. The remaining Ebola money Jennifer Kates, director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s program on global health and HIV policy, tracks Washington spending in this area about as closely as anyone. Kates told us that the Republican number might be a bit high, but by her latest count, about $2.4 billion of Ebola funding remains. So in theory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department’s Agency for International Development (USAID) could redirect some of that money to fight Zika. But there are some issues to unpack. First, Congress appropriated many of those dollars to be spent over a period of five years. For example, the funding bill gave the CDC over $1.7 billion with the broad instruction to \"\"prevent, prepare for, and respond to Ebola domestically and internationally.\"\" \"\"Initially, they recognized that part of the job involved building the health care systems over time,\"\" Kates said. \"\"They wanted the tools to be in place so we could be on top of things when another outbreak took place. And we know there will be other outbreaks, of Ebola or something else.\"\" There are plenty of examples of lawmakers, both Republican and Democratic, talking about the Ebola money as a longer term investment. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a high-ranking subcommittee chair on the appropriations committee, held a hearing in April 2015 to review the impact of the emergency funding. Cole opened the hearing saying he wanted to discuss \"\"the lessons learned from this outbreak and how the funding Congress provided will support longer term public health capacity.\"\" At another appropriations subcommittee hearing in February 2015, Dirk Dijkerman, USAID’s coordinator for its Ebola Task Force described how his agency was using the money as the immediate Ebola threat eased. \"\"We are focusing on building more resilient health and prepared systems in West Africa, in other hot spots in Africa,\"\" Dijkerman said. \"\"Our goal is to detect, prevent and respond to future outbreaks before they become global security threats.\"\" So while one could make the case that the emergency Ebola money was intended to be used for a future outbreak, much of the discussion was not about putting out fires, but about building health care infrastructure. CDC director Thomas Frieden told the House Appropriations Committee on March 23, 2016, that while his agency was working hard to tackle the Zika virus, \"\"we will not be able to do so without the resources requested in the administration's FY 2016 emergency supplemental request.\"\" \"\"If you look at the definition of emergency -- unanticipated, potentially catastrophic, permanent damage -- I can't imagine a situation that meets this more than Zika,\"\" Frieden said. \"\"There has never before been a mosquito borne illness that can cause a birth defect; we've never seen that before.\"\" Frieden said all of the dollars Congress had allocated before were for specific activities. While he could move dollars around, he warned that there would be trade-offs. Kates said a long-running debate in Washington lies behind this current tug-of-war. \"\"We have an episodic response to these things,\"\" Kates said. \"\"There's an interest in having a steady stream of funding to build up the systems we'd need to respond to new outbreaks, but that doesn't seem to be the way things are done.\"\" Our ruling Clinton said that Congress had not \"\"allocated one penny\"\" to fight Zika. In terms of targeting new dollars to deal with the Zika virus, that is correct. House Republicans say that they did provide money through the emergency Ebola appropriation. To the extent that those funds could be redirected, that holds up. But it is also true that when that money was approved there was a bipartisan agreement that it would be used for longer term efforts to build overall health care system capacity. There is a policy disagreement on the best way to deploy federal funds -- and we're not weighing in on that here. But regardless, there is no new money to confront Zika.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Congress will begin its recess \"\"without having allocated one penny\"\" to fight Zika.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7823ee1ba9ff4a389e48cd552d5a11e4",
            "input": "Until the worst happened. At nearly 380 pounds, her health took a dive. She was diagnosed with a blood cancer and multiple uterine fibroids that couldn’t be treated due to her weight. That’s when she decided to have bariatric surgery, a weight loss procedure. She hadn’t yearned to be thinner, but she wanted to live at least long enough for her two children, ages 20 and 16, to make her a grandmother. “For months I talked to my counselor about how I would share my truth with you,” Bigelow told her followers at Phatgirlfresh.com after the weight loss surgery last year. “I was concerned about how you would receive it. I feared the plus-size and body positive communities wouldn’t understand or respect my choice.” Bigelow, a former teacher in Albany, Georgia, with 67,500 monthly unique visitors to her site and nearly 40,000 followers on Instagram, was pleased her fans were resoundingly positive. That’s not a small thing in her corner of the internet. Fat-acceptance and body positive influencers like Bigelow are on the rise on social media and as fashion models as they fight back against the damaging pressures of idealized beauty peddled online and off. But what happens when, as in Bigelow’s case, weight poses a serious health risk, or they decide to shed pounds for other reasons, turning their careers and social channels from fat acceptance to smaller sizes, dieting and fitness? “The people who are having weight loss surgery in our community, they have the surgery, they go about their business and they shut up, for the most part. But it’s important to share. There are women who are struggling with health issues who need this surgery,” Bigelow said in an interview. She’s down to 240 pounds, but she’s struggling to fully accept her future of fewer pounds, both personally and professionally. “I was a bomb ass girl at almost 400 pounds,” Bigelow said. “Some of these influencers, they talk about being fat and how they love their plus-size bodies and how they’re so empowered in the space that they’re in, and they have all of these women who support them, who are cheering them on. Then fast forward, they lose the weight and you see the before and after pictures: Oh, this is when I was 350 pounds. I was so depressed. I felt so ugly. And this is me now. I’m so happy. I’m so free. Wait a minute, girl. Didn’t you say two years ago when you were 350 pounds that you loved your body and that you loved the size that you were? Me, I came into womanhood as a fat woman. I’m not as confident as I was.” Pia Schiavo-Campo, who posts from Los Angeles about style and culture on Instagram and blogs at Mixedfatchick.com, isn’t a fan of dieting, before-and-after pictures or the lack of dialogue from fat-acceptance influencers about weight loss. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder for the better part of 30 years, she’s triggered by diet talk and conflicted about weight turnarounds, especially those not directly addressed. It’s the messaging, she said in an interview, especially when dieting or weight loss surgery transforms the online mission through photos and new collaborations focused on health and weight-loss products. Schiavo-Campo’s concerns are echoed by others in the anti-diet movement. “Diet culture,” she says, has been “basically imposed on us, mostly women. By the same token, I also believe that people should do what’s best for their bodies.” JennyLee Molina in Miami did what’s best for her body by losing 80 pounds in a year, trimming down to a size 8 after being told she was pre-diabetic. She did it without surgery, and lost one of her heroes, body-positive model Tess Holliday, in the process, after documenting her health and weight-loss journey on Instagram, where she has 11,900 followers. Molina’s feed includes before-and-after photos. She said she sought out Holliday through private messaging after realizing Holliday had unfollowed her. “Your weight loss posts are too triggering for me, I’m sure you understand,” Holliday explained in a private reply earlier this year. “It’s not personal.” A representative for Holliday did not respond to requests for comment. Molina recalled how much she loved Holliday’s take-no-prisoners approach to fat acceptance as she gained popularity with a groundbreaking modeling contract and her “effyourbeautystandards” movement on Instagram in 2013. Molina, who has a 9-year-old son, was thrilled when she had a chance to meet Holliday in 2015, at a time when Molina had gained a significant amount of weight after knee surgery. “She was a go-to for inspiration, someone I admired in terms of embracing your curves, embracing where you’re at,” Molina said. “The community is very divided between those who are more about fat pride, which is fine, and the ones who are all about wherever you’re at, be comfortable in your own skin. That’s where I feel like I am. I think everybody should embrace themselves at every step of the journey and we shouldn’t shame people who decide to lose weight to feel better. There’s nothing wrong with it.” Peggy Howell, vice chair and spokeswoman for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, posts on Instagram as FatAcceptanceWarrior. Her organization was founded in 1969 and has a paid membership of more than 11,000. Howell, who lives in Las Vegas, thinks the fat acceptance and body positive movements have become muddled, with dieting and weight loss as a constant hot button. “It seems like hypocrisy,” she said of fat-acceptance influencers who shed weight and attempt to hang on to lucrative careers. “A lot of people clap back within the community. A lot of people get upset. We support people making choices that will help them be healthier, but dieting is a losing battle.”",
            "output": [
                "Weight loss among fat-acceptance influencers a fraught topic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01dce19a9d31441f9401b145b23be610",
            "input": "Humble said Monday that the collapse caused a fracture in his back, along with knee and neck problems. But he said his mental health has caused him to abandon all but one of his classes at Florida International University. The 19-year-old FIU student filed a negligence lawsuit last week against several companies involved in the bridge’s construction, the latest of a series of suits by injured survivors or victims’ families. He said he wouldn’t want anyone to go through what he did. His friend, Alexa Duran, was driving him back from a doctor’s appointment March 15 when he heard a crack and saw the bridge topple on top of them. He shouted Duran’s name and ducked down as fast as he could. She died at the site of the collapse without ever responding to his screams. “She wasn’t saying anything. And I had her blood on me, and I didn’t really know what to do,” he said. “I looked up at her one more time. I saw just her hair, nothing else.” The bridge was well known to FIU students like Humble and Duran. Their university had celebrated its installation five days before the collapse with officials saying they were filled with pride for seeing a 950-ton concrete bridge that was prefabricated and quickly installed over a busy six-lane highway. Angry at engineers, school officials and the government, Humble said more should have been done to protect drivers and pedestrians near the bridge after it was swung into place. “There were human lives at risk. It’s just something you shouldn’t play with at all ... people including myself; from this point on they will be changed,” he said. The teenager’s mother, Lourdes Humble, said she has found her son crying and curled up in a fetal position days after surviving the collapse. “He is a 19-year-old who cannot take a shower without screaming and crying. I have to go in and get him out of the shower. (It has been) very difficult for myself, my husband, my mother,” she said. Companies have not commented on the lawsuits. Stuart Grossman, Humble’s attorney, said his team is looking at the bidding process, the design and whether traffic should have been diverted the days that followed the installation. The construction of the bridge was behind schedule and over budget, partly because of a key change in the design and placement of one of its support towers north to the edge of a canal, documents have shown. The cause of the collapse is not clear. Before the failure, crews were adjusting a tension rod on the north end of the bridge, and authorities continue to investigate whether cracking that was reported on the same side before the span fell contributed to the accident. “The experiment failed, people are dead and Richie is not lucky. You are not lucky to have gone through something like this,” Grossman said. “He is fortunate he survived. But this isn’t winning the lottery.”",
            "output": [
                "After bridge collapse, flashbacks, anxiety for one survivor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a717c96a1bc94a25aac650117bd8f35e",
            "input": "It marks the second year the state agency has proposed such a measure. Connecticut is currently one of about 20 states that do not require all rear-seat occupants to wear a seatbelt. Republican Rep. Mitch Bolinsky of Newtown, testifying Monday before the General Assembly’s Public Health Committee, says people sitting in the backseat can become “human missiles” in a crash. The National Transportation Safety Board says 169 vehicle occupants died in motor vehicle crashes in Connecticut in 2016. NTSB says half of those occupants were not using seat belts. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Connecticut would save an additional 18 lives annually if everyone is required to be restrained.",
            "output": [
                "Connecticut lawmakers considering expanding seatbelt law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f98cb929d6244589929c6068c2b5eeba",
            "input": "Setting himself against the trend in several western countries to allow the use of so-called soft drugs like marijuana, Francis said narcotics were putting more and more young people in danger. “Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise, he said in remarks to a drug enforcement conference in Rome carried on the website of Vatican Radio. The remarks came a day before the pontiff is due to visit Italy’s Calabria, home of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which controls a significant share of the global trade in illegal narcotics. “Here I would reaffirm what I have stated on another occasion: No to every type of drug use. It is as simple as that,” he said. Francis, who has spoken out against drug use several times, said that to ensure young people did not fall prey to drugs, society had to say “‘yes’ to life, ‘yes’ to love, ‘yes’ to others, ‘yes’ to education, ‘yes’ to greater job opportunities”. “If we say ‘yes’ to all these things, there will be no room for illicit drugs, for alcohol abuse, for other forms of addiction,” he said in remarks to a drug enforcement conference in Rome carried on the website of Vatican radio. “The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders,” he said. The comments came as the state of New York prepared on Friday to pass measures that should lead to its becoming the 23rd U.S. state to allow medical use of marijuana. Uruguay, which has already legalized the production and sale of cannabis, also said it would also allow doctors to prescribe the drug to treat certain conditions. “Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the pope said.",
            "output": [
                "Pope Francis warns on 'evil' of drugs, opposes legalization."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b390b18d86b64997aad57612d034e24e",
            "input": "In May 2019, readers questioned whether the federal government pays for erectile dysfunction medications such as Viagra, after the following image was circulated on social media:  Both the image and the dollar amount it cited were dated as of this writing. The image shows a woman at a 2017 International Women’s Day rally, while the $41.6 million figure on her sign was what was spent on Viagra by the Department of Defense in 2014. The image initially made the rounds in relation to a separate controversy in 2017, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a decision to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, claiming the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender [people] in the military would entail.”  At that time, multiple news articles reported the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) was spending far more on erectile dysfunction medication than it would cost to provide medical care to transgender service members. The original sources for all these claims was a February 2015 Military Times article. That Military Times piece presented figures provided by the Defense Health Agency (DHA), a subsidiary of the Department of Defense, which documented that in 2014: We contacted the Department of Defense, which confirmed almost all of these figures were accurate for the year 2014, with some slight corrections: the total number of prescriptions for erectile dysfunction medication was 1,178,423, of which 905,683 were for Viagra; the total spent on Cialis was $22,827,346; and the cost of prescriptions for active duty members was $7.68 million. The DoD also clarified that the number of erectile dysfunction prescriptions given to active-duty members in 2014 was 140,789, not 102,885. According to data posted on the public transparency tool USASpending.gov, the DoD continues to purchase Viagra. Attempts in both 2019 and 2017 to make political points by juxtaposing the controversy du jour with coverage for erectile dysfunction prescriptions for service members and their families don’t serve their causes well. For example, the Department of Defense does provide coverage for such prescriptions, but it also covers birth control. In September 2014, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center published figures showing that the rate of erectile dysfunction diagnoses among active-component service members had doubled between 2004 and 2013, and that 48% of cases were psychogenic, meaning the erectile dysfunction was linked to mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.",
            "output": [
                "\"The U.S. government \"\"subsidizes\"\" medications for erectile dysfunction.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e6af205395242da98ea3d3894845ae6",
            "input": "“Sales are going really well, and getting better every month,” said Jen Osmun, who started the business with her husband, a former plumber, after he was injured in an accident. Most customers at Grassy Plain Vape & Smoke buy electronic cigarettes to help them quit smoking tobacco, but a growing number are referred by medical marijuana commissaries in the neighborhood – the nearest is about five miles away. The Osmuns’ experience is becoming more common as the number of U.S. vape shops soars and shop owners seek to capitalize not only on the vaping trend, but on the more widespread, and legal, use of medical marijuana. Since 2008, the number of U.S. vape shops has grown to about 8,500, and the sale of electronic cigarettes and supplies climbed to $3.5 billion, according to Wells Fargo Securities analyst Bonnie Herzog. She expects U.S. use of e-cigarettes and vaporizers to overtake combustible cigarettes in 10 years. Marijuana represents an additional lucrative market. IBISWorld, a market research firm, projects sales of cannabis for medical use to increase to $13.4 billion in 2020 from $3.6 billion in 2015, largely due to demand from an aging population with conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma. GreenWave Advisors, an industry research firm, estimates marijuana sales could reach $35 billion in 2020 if all 50 states legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational uses. Medical marijuana use is permitted in 23 states and the District of Columbia for a number of conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, severe pain and HIV/AIDS, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Another 15 states allow patients – often with severe seizure disorders - to use a few strains of cannabis for treatment. Recreational use is legal in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. At many vape shops, the new customers are typically older nonsmokers suffering from serious illness, according to vape shop owners, customers and industry experts. Patients and medical marijuana groups say they prefer the vaping device for marijuana rather than smoking because they believe there are lower risks. Some states, including New York and Minnesota, prohibit patients from smoking the cannabis. In a vape device, the cannabis leaves or concentrate are heated to a temperature that’s lower than required for combustion. Vaping devices, which can be as small as a ball point pen, also provide medical marijuana users with more privacy, since the vapor released by the heating device is nearly odorless. “Vaporized cannabis is a really significant trend in both medical and adult use,” said Christie Lunsford, a Colorado-based consultant who focuses on issues involving cannabis. “It’s consistent, it’s almost instantaneous, and it’s appropriate for a wide variety of consumers.”  Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Palm Beach Vapors has opened 14 shops and is in the process of starting another eight, said Chip Paul, CEO and co-owner. He told Reuters that 90 percent of the franchisees eventually hope to capitalize on marijuana-related sales. Individual stores pay a $25,000 franchise fee and $50,000 for initial stocking, while Palm Beach Vapors helps train workers and set up the store. Franchisees are on average grossing about $20,000 a month, Paul said. “We think the cannabis market will mimic and mirror the tobacco market,” he said. “We think they will see this (vapor) as a safer alternative.”      Patients need a doctor’s approval to get the marijuana, which is typically available from state approved dispensaries, private growers, and – in some instances - their own plants if they can’t afford the cannabis, which is not covered by most insurance plans. At the same time, vaping devices have gone mainstream as the industry pushes them as an alternative to tobacco. Marijuana dispensaries in some states also sell the electronic devices. But vape shops, with their larger selection of devices, have seen an uptick in sales especially from consumers who don’t want to shop at tobacco stores or head shops, which cater more to recreational use. “We try to steer our patients to someone who will explain to them the different models and find them the one that is right for them,” said JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition. “You don’t necessarily want to go into a place geared for people who want a tie-dyed T-shirt.”  The process can be daunting for someone who is seriously ill and struggles to even hold a device because of tremors, arthritis or other medical conditions. Leppanen said medical marijuana patients “do not want to be associated with recreational use.” They also want their privacy. Some patients don’t even “want their cars to be seen in a dispensary parking lot,” she said. Most investments in the future of legal marijuana have focused on growing, branding and technology firms, especially those already producing medical marijuana. A subsidiary of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co, for example, purchased General Hydroponics Inc, which is popular with indoor marijuana growers. A small number of private equity and hedge funds have invested in companies that produce and market the cannabis. Billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, for example, has invested in Privateer Holdings, which has raised $82 million. Privateer’s portfolio includes companies like Tilray – a medical cannabis company in Canada – which has applied for a license in New York. Privateer has also invested in Leafly, a tech company that helps consumers find cannabis information, doctors and stores. By contrast, vape shops are still primarily mom-and-pop operations. VaporFi, one of the largest franchises, has grown in two years to 52 stores. Kevin Cintorino opened Elevated to sell vaping equipment and snacks in Providence, Rhode Island, where medical marijuana users can gather to vape. He came up with the business plan during a college class. “Why not open a place where we could get the entire patient community together?” he said. John Avey and his father, Dillard, opened in May a Palm Beach Vapors franchise in rural Council Bluffs, Iowa, to supplement income from their seasonal cement business. Sales have been so good that they’re already planning more stores. “It’s like the cherry on top,” said John Avey, 25, about the equipment sales for cannabis.",
            "output": [
                "In rise of U.S. vape shops, owners eye new marijuana market."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-434a4285c53b4d6ba00c734a306f17c5",
            "input": "Governments around the world are trying to boost the number of available mechanical breathing devices that can supply air and oxygen, crucial for the care of people who suffer lung failure, which can be a complication of COVID-19. The modified version of an existing design by medical devices company Penlon will join a product from Smiths, which is already being built by a consortium of aerospace, engineering, Formula One and automotive firms to fulfil a government order. “We are working closely with our supply chain partners to rapidly scale up production to achieve our target of at least 1,500 units a week,” said Dick Elsy, chief executive of the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium. The government said on Thursday it wanted 15,000 Penlon devices and thousands from Smiths. The initiative comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on industry to help combat the pandemic, with several manufacturers switching from their normal day-to-day activities to contribute to the project. Ford’s Dagenham plant in east London, Britain’s biggest automotive engine factory, is now testing and assembling some components for ventilators. Planemaker Airbus is using its Welsh Broughton site, which makes wings for commercial aircraft, for the sub-assembly of absorbers and flow machines. McLaren’s southern English Woking site is making trolleys on which the medical devices are fixed for use in clinical settings. Over 10,000 mechanical ventilators are available to patients in Britain’s publicly funded health service with more to come from this production run and overseas purchases, the government has said. But whilst new models need approval, it is also taking time to ramp up the output of existing designs and prompting questions about suitability. On Sunday, a source told Reuters that the government had cancelled an order for thousands of units of a simple model, known as BlueSky, because more sophisticated devices are now needed. Separately, vacuum-cleaner firm Dyson is still awaiting approval for its ventilator. “Contracts are under discussion with Dyson and are not yet available,” the Cabinet Office told Reuters on Tuesday in response to a freedom of information request.",
            "output": [
                "Ventilator receives first approval in UK's coronavirus battle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c369d7d3ed644aca95ea4716347ad1b3",
            "input": "The state Air Quality Control Commission, which passed the rule on an 8-1 vote, said the requirement applies to auto manufacturers, not buyers. It’s intended to boost the number of electric vehicles in a state struggling to control ozone pollution in its most heavily populated area. The minimum rises to 6.23% in 2025. Colorado is the 11th state to adopt zero-emission standards, according to Green Car Reports, which tracks developments in low-pollution vehicles. Two auto industry groups, Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, applauded the rule. They said they had been working with Colorado officials on how to structure the requirement. John Bozzella, president of Global Automakers, said Colorado had adopted an innovative policy by collaborating with manufacturers. Environmental groups also welcomed the standards, but the Colorado Freedom to Drive Coalition called them costly and ineffective. “We believe commissioners did a disservice to all Coloradans, but especially Coloradans of modest means,” coalition spokeswoman Sara Almerri said. Regulators said the zero-emission standard is aimed at reducing ozone and greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis directed the Air Quality Control Commission to set a zero-emissions standard shortly after he took office in January. In a statement Friday, he said the new rule was “only the beginning” of the state’s work to reduce air pollution. Excessive ground-level ozone has plagued Colorado’s urban areas for years. Ozone is the main component of smog and can aggravate asthma and contribute to early deaths from respiratory disease. It’s created from pollution emitted by vehicles, the oil and gas industry and other sources. Ozone alerts have frequently flashed on signs over Denver freeways this summer, asking drivers to reduce car trips. Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Denver and the northern Colorado urban corridor failed to meet federal ozone standards and said the state must come up with a new plan to clean up the air. The state is also rewriting air pollution rules for the oil and gas industry. ___ This story has been corrected to say Colorado would be the 11th state to adopt zero-emissions requirements, not the 15th. ___ Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP",
            "output": [
                "Colorado OKs electric car requirement to fight air pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1767f53fa2a24724a83db00e5211e7c2",
            "input": "\"There’s a meaty political campaign going on across the nation with slimy accusations being hurled -- and it has nothing to do with the race for the White House. It began in earnest April 2, when the governor and lieutenant governor of Iowa sent letters to their colleagues in other states to fight against what they said are media misperceptions about a form of ground beef maliciously maligned as \"\"pink slime.\"\" Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black quickly joined the effort to defend this form of beef, holding a news conference two days afterward. \"\"Lean, finely textured beef is the proper name, and it is a safe, widely used product,\"\" Black told reporters. Officials in Kansas and Texas have begun their own public relations campaigns in support of the beef that is a cash cow, pardon the pun, in those states. So, too, has U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor. Proponents say beef prices would rise with less meat on the market. Although the Department of Agriculture maintains the meat is safe, the federal agency announced in March that it would give schools more beef choices in the wake of public concerns about children eating \"\"pink slime.\"\" McDonald’s and some major grocery stores have said they will no longer sell the meat. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver last year showed how the meat is made to horrify a studio audience. \"\"Everything about this process is about no respect for food or people or children,\"\" he said. So is it really safe? First, let’s explain how it is made. The meat is taken from slaughterhouse trimmings with high fat content that are more susceptible to contamination because the meat is often close to the hide, which is highly exposed to fecal matter. The trimmings are warmed to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit  in equipment that looks like a large, high-speed mixing bowl that spins these trimmings to separate meat from the fat that has been liquefied. Ammonium hydroxide is mixed in to destroy bacteria and E. coli that could make someone ill if a raw product is not cooked thoroughly. It is then mixed with regular ground beef. The federal government has approved the practice for slightly more than a decade. The use of this meat gained national attention in recent months when a blogger who writes about kids’ food began an online petition to urge federal officials to remove it from school cafeterias. It may sound disgusting to know that beef contains ammonia, but the companies that produce the beef and experts say ammonia hydroxide is used in other foods such as cheese and chocolate to reduce acidity and kill bacteria. The beef is produced by a handful of companies nationwide. Federal officials inspect the process daily. Because this type of beef is not mentioned in packaging, there’s been little discussion about it or its safety. The New York Times, however, reported in late 2009 that E. coli was detected three times and salmonella 48 times, including back-to-back incidents in August in which two 27,000-pound batches were found to be contaminated. The meat in question, produced by the nation’s largest distributor of the product, Beef Products Inc., was caught before reaching lunchroom trays. BPI told the Times it found E. coli in what was described as a low 0.06 percent of samples that year. The Times also reported that from 2005 to 2009, BPI had a rate of 36 positive results for salmonella per 1,000 tests, compared with a rate of nine positive results per 1,000 tests for the other suppliers, according to statistics from the program. BPI said its testing regime was more likely to detect contamination. Some federal officials were concerned that the beef hadn’t been studied enough before it was approved. The Times reported that one federal microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, called the processed beef \"\"pink slime\"\" in a 2002 email to colleagues. A University of Arkansas student did a study of the beef last year. The student, Courtney Moon, found the beef held up better than regular ground beef. \"\"I was surprised,\"\" Jason Apple, a meat science professor at the school, said in a news release sent by the university. \"\"I just assumed the lean beef trim would negatively impact the quality of the burgers, but it actually made them better in this study.\"\" Researchers at other colleges have come forward in recent days offering similar conclusions. We were curious whether this beef was sold in other parts of the globe. A Canadian government health spokeswoman told PolitiFact Georgia that the country does not allow ammonia to be used in ground beef during production nor does it allow such food to be sold there. Ammonium hydroxide would be considered a food additive and require a safety evaluation, the official said. \"\"Only if a safety evaluation identified no safety concerns would the requested use be considered for approval,\"\" Olivia Caron, a media relations official for Health Canada, said via email. Interestingly, Caron used \"\"pink slime\"\" in the subject line of her email. Several food safety experts we interviewed were well-versed on the beef treating process and didn’t have what one of them called \"\"the ick factor\"\" that many Americans are feeling about it. For the most part, they consider it safe to eat. The main problem, they said, was the lack of information about the beef provided by manufacturers and the federal government, particularly at a time when Americans want fewer chemicals and preservatives in their food. \"\"Right now, we’re in a situation where you don’t know, and that’s why people are so infuriated,\"\" said Michael Batz, executive director of the Food Safety Research Consortium. \"\"The lack of disclosure and the lack of transparency is very troubling.\"\" The USDA recently gave meat processors and supermarkets the option to put labels on ground beef packages identifying it as \"\"lean finely textured beef.\"\" So where does this leave us? It is correct that the meat is called lean, finely textured beef and it has been widely used in fast-food restaurants and school cafeterias, and is sold in stores. But is it safe? The federal government says it’s safe. So do some state officials. Some research has concluded it is safe. Still, there are reasons for concern, such as those listed in the 2009 New York Times report. We also find it interesting that our neighbor to the north, Canada, has not permitted the beef to be sold there.\"",
            "output": [
                "Lean, finely textured beef is the proper name [not pink slime], and it is a safe, widely used product."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c53bfd4a7cc74dc4b6de9100807aba9b",
            "input": "That’s no surprise, perhaps, given Ian Tomlinson headed the next-generation antibody firm Domantis until Glaxo snapped it up for 230 million pounds in 2006. But the fact the world’s second-largest drugmaker has put the technology centre-stage shows how a coming wave of ultra-small antibody products — capable of working in ways impossible for conventional treatments — is gaining attention. “I think the next generation approaches have tremendous applications across the board,” Tomlinson said in an interview. “It’s potentially a big deal; the question is how big.”   Today’s monoclonal antibodies are large proteins that act as footsoldiers for the immune system. They are already the fastest-growing section of the global drugs market, with sales expected to hit $49 billion (30 billion pounds) in 2013 compared with $26 billion in 2007, according to market analysis group Datamonitor. And by the middle of the next decade, Genentech Inc and Roche AG’s cancer drug Avastin is predicted by analysts to be the biggest-selling medicine of any type in the world. But conventional antibodies, which must be injected, are limited in the parts of the body they can reach. Next-generation antibody fragments, which are a fraction of the size, are potentially more flexible, cheaper to make and could lead to the development of drugs that are inhaled, used as eyedrops or given by mouth. Last week, Belgium’s Ablynx, which produces so-called nanobodies derived from llama antibodies, signed its most lucrative deal to date with Germany’s Merck KGaA. It was the latest in a string of alliances with Big Pharma players, including Novartis, Wyeth and Boehringer Ingelheim. Other major drugmakers are pursuing rival approaches. A year ago, Bristol-Myers Squibb bought Adnexus Therapeutics for $430 million to get access to its novel class of drugs called Adnectins, which have similar properties to monoclonal antibodies but are much smaller. And in 2006, Amgen bought Avidia in a $290 million deal to exploit its Avimer platform technology. At the same time, a host of independent biotech companies are developing different technologies to shrink tomorrow’s antibody drugs — among them Switzerland’s ESBATech, U.S.-based Trubion Pharmaceuticals and Denmark’s Genmab. At the moment, the jury is out on how well the new generation of products will work, since even the most advanced are only now starting mid-stage Phase II clinical trials. “The answer is only going to come when we get the clinical data for these things in the next two years or so,” said Sam Fazeli, a biotech analyst at brokerage Piper Jaffray. Nonetheless, Ablynx CEO Edwin Moses is convinced the ability of these smaller molecules to penetrate tissue more effectively will open many new doors in treatment. “There will be areas where we can only do as well as a whole antibody but there are certainly areas where we feel we can do better,” he said. Others are more wary. Genmab CEO Lisa Drakeman, whose company is developing next-generation mini antibodies called Unibodies as an adjunct to its main business in conventional ones, sees the emerging technology as more of a niche. “My personal feeling is that whole antibodies is where most of the products will come from. We think next generation technology will be for special applications,” she said. Glaxo, which was slow to get into antibody treatments in the first place, is hedging its bets by backing both the established and new approaches. “The current market for monoclonal antibodies is very big and is growing rapidly — GSK is aggressively pursuing both avenues,” Tomlinson said.",
            "output": [
                "Mini antibodies: biotech's next big thing?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5e8a5c487fb64f1f85d491fc6d5f0968",
            "input": "The U.S. Forest Service’s draft risk assessment suggests that even in a best-case scenario — with social distancing followed and plenty of tests and protective equipment available — nearly two dozen firefighters could be infected with COVID-19 at a camp with hundreds of people who come in to combat a fire that burns for months. The worst-case scenario? More than 1,000 infections. “The Forest Service is diligently working with partners to assess the risk that COVID-19 presents for the 2020 fire season,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday. “It is important to understand that the figures in this report are not predictions, but rather, model possible scenarios.” The Forest Service said the document was outdated and being redone, and the newest version wasn’t yet ready to share. The AP obtained the draft from an official who has access to it and didn’t want to be named. One of the authors of the risk assessment said Tuesday that in the new version, the infection rates remain the same. But while the draft originally said the death rate among infected firefighters could reach as high as 6%, that is being revised sharply downward, to less than 2%, to reflect newer data, said Jude Bayham, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University. He said the initial death rate was based on data from early in the pandemic, when testing was far more limited. Based on new data, firefighters — who are largely healthy and young — will likely fare far better if they contract COVID-19 than the general population, he said. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially people who are older or have health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. Federal guidelines released last week reimagine how to combat wildfires to reduce the risk of firefighters getting the virus. The guidelines urge fire managers to use small crews that can have the close contact that firefighting and travel often require, while staying away from other groups. The guidelines recommend avoiding the traditional large camps and relying on military-issue ready-to-eat or bagged meals instead of catered buffet-style meals at campsites. Some fire managers also are told to take temperatures with their own touchless thermometers if possible. The guidelines say everyone should wear masks and other protective equipment when around those outside their immediate crew. Good cleaning and sanitation is recommended, as is isolating firefighters and potentially entire crews if COVID-19 is detected. A review of incident reports from wildfires so far this year show the guidelines are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to follow and could actually increase some risks to firefighters. “We have developed pinch-points that cause operational lapses in guidance that may very well get confused with policy and doctrine. This situation could result in injury — or even unwanted death — of our multiagency employees,” Greg Juvan, a fire management officer with the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, wrote in a report from a small wildfire last month. Social distancing was difficult, and firefighters found it unrealistic to meet sanitation standards for truck radios, hand tools and other gear used in the initial attack on the Idaho wildfire, Juvan said. Social distancing guidelines call for more vehicles to transport crews, but that led to congestion on the narrow roads leading to the fire. The guidelines could raise one of the greatest risks to wildland firefighters — traffic wrecks, Juvan said. Even something as basic as sanitizing vehicles proved problematic, with cleaning supplies difficult to find, the report said. In New Mexico, several agencies responded to a small wildfire last month, with some not practicing social distancing and other virus policies appearing to vary greatly, George Allalunis, a Carson National Forest engine captain, wrote in a report. For the Forest Service’s draft risk assessment, researchers created scenarios using three actual fires from 2017 and applied disease modeling. They found testing every firefighter before they started work reduced the coronavirus risk most significantly for short, high-intensity wildfires, said Bayham, the professor. But for longer, drawn-out firefights, initial testing was less important than keeping firefighters spread out in small campsites. The models showed that even with strict pre-work testing and social distancing, about 21 COVID-19 infections could be expected in a large camp like that used for a 2017 fire in Montana. In the worst-case scenario, more than 1,000 firefighters would be infected. The problem could compound as fire crews are sent to new locations over the monthslong fire season, which has largely begun. The risk assessment will be updated throughout the season, the Forest Service said. The American West could see higher-than-normal levels of wildfire this year because of drought.",
            "output": [
                "US report indicates broad risk of COVID-19 at wildfire camps."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d94827ad64a34d5bb933715c6e330612",
            "input": "\"Florida crime rates are at 40-year lows. Forty-year lows? That’s the kind of dramatic statement that makes fact-checkers sit up and say, \"\"Really?\"\" Gov. Rick Scott has made that statement several times when asked about the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Sanford, Fla. His comments seem intended to reassure people that Florida is a safe place to work and live, even while the state investigates the Martin shooting. (See Scott discuss it on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.) \"\"We are at a 40-year low in our crime rate in our state,\"\" he said in an April 13, 2012, report from Reuters. \"\"From a public safety standpoint we are absolutely heading in the right direction.\"\" Martin died after a resident, George Zimmerman, reported him to 911 as acting suspicious. The operator told Zimmerman not to pursue Martin, but Zimmerman shot Martin a short while later. Police didn’t arrest Zimmerman, and that angered Martin’s family and others. It also got people talking about Florida’s \"\"stand your ground\"\" law, which allows people to use deadly force when they believe their lives are at risk. Scott said an official review of the controversial \"\"stand your ground\"\" law will begin after the investigation into the shooting itself is complete. A reader (and Palm Beach Post reporter) on Twitter reported that Scott again said crime rates were at 40-year lows during a forum in West Palm Beach; she asked us to check it out. So we decided to investigate. Our first stop was with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Crime statistics on the website only go back 11 years, so we contacted the department directly. It provided us with crime statistics from 2010 back to 1971, for a total of 40 years. The department uses the number of crimes and the population of Florida to calculate crime rates, so different years can be compared. The crime rate shows how many crimes occurred per 100,000 people. In 1971, the crime rate was 5,668. The rate crept up through the 1970s, peaking in the late 1980s at 8,908. The rate then slowly dropped through the 1990s. In 2000, it dropped below the 1971 mark and continued downward. In 2010, the crime rate reached a new low of 4,105. (See the data for yourself.) As we dug deeper, we saw that Scott has been touting the statistic since it was first announced by the department almost a year ago. Do the numbers reflect reality, though? From time to time, there have been allegations that local police haven’t always reported numbers as accurately as they should. We addressed this point in detail in another fact-check. Overall, though, we found no evidence that isolated cases of cheating undermine the larger trend of declining crime rates. We should also point out that Florida isn’t the only place experiencing historically low crime rates, even during a severe economic recession. Why are rates declining? Nobody can say for sure. \"\"I wish we had some really good answers, but we don’t,\"\" said Ronald L. Akers, a professor of criminology at the University of Florida. \"\"There have been a number of reasonable hypotheses that fit what we know, but nothing we can really pin down with certainty.\"\" The theories are highly diverse, and some are fairly controversial, as we noted in previous fact-checks on crime rates. Here are some of the ideas that have been advanced to explain the lower crime rates: Police are getting better at using technology to prevent crime. More people are in jail and therefore can’t commit crimes. Drug addiction is not as widespread as it once was. Online banking and debit cards mean people don’t have cash at home. Abortions have suppressed the number of poor, unsupervised young men. Low inflation makes stealing non-cash items less attractive. President Barack Obama is setting a positive example for African-American youth. New gun laws establishing the right to carry are deterring criminals. Joblessness means people are at home watching the neighborhood. Extended unemployment benefits and food stamps mean people don’t have to turn to crime. Banning lead paint and leaded gasoline has reduced criminal impulses among young men. In the case of Scott’s comments, he didn’t get into the causes of the crime rates or claim unearned credit for the trend. Rather, he was pointing out that while individual crimes might receive a great deal of media attention, statistics show that crime rates in Florida are at 40-year lows. The official numbers confirm Scott’s statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "We are at a 40-year low in our crime rate in our state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95e8db887c1a46328204bc4f2b7618e5",
            "input": "The Philippines has reported relatively fewer infections than many other countries in Southeast Asia, but medical experts say a lack of testing has meant that the scale of the epidemic has gone undetected. “It’s like wartime,” said Eugenio Ramos, a doctor and head of The Medical City, a Manila private hospital, which was among the first to turn away coronavirus patients. It has attended to more than 1,000 people who feared they had coronavirus and is currently treating more than 100 suspected coronavirus patients, 14 in intensive care. “More and more are coming, a lot of scared people, some of them already in their advanced stage,” Ramos said this week - adding that facilities were so stretched that many who should be in the intensive care unit were just being intubated with breathing tubes to keep them alive. The scenes are akin to those in hospitals in countries that have been overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, but comes less than three weeks since the country of 107 million reported its first case of local transmission. The Philippines has reported 803 cases and 54 deaths. Malaysia, with the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia at 2,161, has had 26 deaths. The situation in the Philippines is similar to that in Indonesia, the region’s most populous country, where there is an even higher ratio of deaths to detected cases - an indicator for doctors that the number of infections may be much higher. Former Health Minister Esperanza Cabral said the reported infection rate was probably just the tip of the iceberg, given the Philippines has so far only tested 2,147 people. “We cannot gauge the extent of the outbreak until we have tested about 10,000 to 20,000 people,” Cabral told Reuters. Testing in the Philippines is to be ramped up with the arrival of 100,000 test kits from China. Modeling from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford suggests the number of infections in the Philippines may already be higher than 11,000. The Philippines took drastic measures to contain the spread after its first domestic case on March 7, becoming the third country after China and Italy to put its people under home quarantine, suspend transport, work and commercial activity. But the health system is weak. The Philippines, which on average sends 19,000 trained nurses overseas each year, has 10 beds and 14 doctors per 10,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organization. Italy has more than 40 doctors and 30 beds per 10,000 people. An emergency ward worker who spoke to Reuters described patients waiting up to six hours to be seen and inexperienced staff treating critical patients due to manpower shortages. Nine medical workers have died, and hundreds more have been quarantined for being close to sufferers. The University of Santo Tomas hospital has 530 staff quarantined. The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center said it had insufficient testing kits and protective gear and could not take more coronavirus patients. Under pressure from 11 private hospitals, the government has now dedicated three public hospitals to serve as special COVID-19 treatment centers - but they themselves are also under strain. “We have every reason to be scared,” the private hospitals said in a letter appealing for help. The head of the emergency department of St. Luke’s Medical Centre, Richard Enecilla, said it had received 120 possible coronavirus-related patients in one day, and made them line up on the hospital driveway to limit exposure. “The way it exploded caught a lot us off-guard,” he told Reuters. “The volume of cases went up and our capacity to serve went down at the same time.”",
            "output": [
                "'Like wartime' - Philippine doctors overwhelmed by coronavirus deluge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee9c5b4cc1be45119ac56462f655bd3a",
            "input": "But months later, when her daughter saw a TV ad for a law firm asking ovarian cancer victims who used talcum powder to come forward, Giannecchini realized a possible link: She had been using Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for most of her life. “I used it for 45 years, from age 15,” Giannecchini, now 63, said Friday. “I was still using it.” On Thursday, a St. Louis jury awarded more than $70 million to Giannecchini, of Modesto, California, wrapping up a monthlong trial. It was the third big verdict awarded by a St. Louis jury against Johnson & Johnson in ovarian cancer lawsuits this year. Combined, the three awards amount to nearly $200 million. Giannecchini said she was happy with the verdict, but it doesn’t make up for the cancer fight and ongoing health problems caused by chemotherapy. “There’s not enough money in the world to pay for fighting the cancer,” she said at a news conference arranged by her lawyers. A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that while the company sympathizes with women and their families impacted by ovarian cancer, it will appeal the latest verdict “because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.” About 2,000 women nationwide have filed similar suits over concerns about health damage caused by extended talcum powder use. Lawyers are reviewing many additional cases, many of them generated by television ads by law firms. In February, a St. Louis jury awarded $72 million to relatives of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer. Another jury awarded $55 million in May to a South Dakota survivor of the disease. But two cases in New Jersey were thrown out by a judge who said there wasn’t reliable evidence that talc leads to ovarian cancer, an often fatal but relatively rare form of cancer. Ovarian cancer accounts for about 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. Factors known to increase a women’s risk of ovarian cancer include age, obesity, use of estrogen therapy after menopause, not having any children, certain genetic mutations and personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Talc is a mineral that is mined from deposits around the world, including the U.S. The softest of minerals, it’s crushed into a white powder. It’s been widely used in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture since at least 1894, when Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder was launched. But it’s mainly used in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics. Much research has found no link or a weak one between ovarian cancer and using baby powder for feminine hygiene, and most major health groups have declared talc harmless. Still, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies genital use of talc as “possibly carcinogenic.” Attorneys with Onder, Shelton, O’Leary & Peterson, the firm that handled all three St. Louis cases, cited other research that began connecting talcum powder to ovarian cancer in the 1970s. They cite case studies showing that women who regularly use talc on their genital area face up to a 40 percent higher risk of developing ovarian cancer. The firm has also accused Johnson & Johnson of marketing toward overweight women, blacks and Hispanics — the very same women most at-risk for ovarian cancer. Wylie Blair, an attorney for Giannecchini, said the firm is working with about 1,700 additional plaintiffs. Another trial is scheduled for February. Blair said there has been no talk with Johnson & Johnson concerning a class-action settlement. “Acknowledging that a seminal product that everybody identifies with the company has been causing a horrible disease for all these years is going to be a tough pill to swallow for them,” Blair said. Giannecchini said that as of now there is no evidence of cancer, but she won’t know for years if she is free of the disease. “One day at a time,” she said. “Just stay hopeful.”",
            "output": [
                "Talc verdict winner: Money can’t make up for lost health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2bcc370c9c6246229be5c5628cdff79d",
            "input": "More than 130 women have died from domestic violence this year alone in France, according to activists who track the deaths. European Union studies show France has a higher rate of domestic violence than most of its European peers. And frustrated activists have drawn national attention to a problem President Emmanuel Macron has called “France’s shame.” Under cover of night, activists have glued posters with the names of the dead and calls to action to French city walls. “Complaints ignored, women killed,” read the black block letters on one such sign. They have also posted anti-violence slogans, tagged with Macron’s name. By the hundreds, women have walked silently through city streets after each new death. Two years after Macron made a campaign pledge to tackle the problem, his centrist French government has begun to act. A Justice Ministry report released earlier this month acknowledged authorities’ systematic failure to intervene to prevent domestic violence slayings. On Monday, the government will announce measures that are expected to include seizing firearms from people suspected of domestic violence, prioritizing police training and formally recognizing “psychological violence” as a form of domestic violence. Women are not the only victims of domestic violence, but French officials say they make up the vast majority. Lawyers and victims’ advocates say women are too often disbelieved or turned away by French law enforcement. But they’re encouraged by the new national conversation, which they say marks a departure from decades of denial. “In France, we always have the impression that we are perfect,” activist Caroline de Haas told The Associated Press. A 2014 EU survey of 42,000 women across all 28 member states found that 26% of French women respondents said they been abused by a partner since age 15, either physically or sexually. That’s below the global average of 30%, according to UN Women. But it’s 4 percentage points above the EU average and the sixth highest among EU countries. Half that number reported experiencing such abuse in Spain, which implemented a series of legal and educational measures in 2004 that slashed its domestic violence rates. Conversations about domestic violence have also ratcheted up in neighboring Germany, where activists are demanding that the term “femicide” be used to describe such killings. In France, victims and advocates say government action is overdue — and that more training is needed for police who are often ill-prepared to protect women in danger. Police inaction made national headlines in France after Macron visited a hotline call center in September and listened in on a call with a 57-year-old woman whose husband had threatened to kill her. He heard a police officer on the other end tell the woman he couldn’t help her. The hotline operator told Macron that such responses weren’t unusual. Police officers across Europe often dismiss domestic violence as a private matter and fail to intervene at crucial moments, an EU study found this year. But France is particularly bad, said EU researcher Albin Dearing, who led a study this year that examined domestic violence in seven European countries, including France. “When it comes to violence against women, it showed actually that police do very little to protect women who turn to them for protection,” he said. It can take between three weeks and two months for authorities to act on a complaint, leaving the victim “in a very fragile situation,” according to Frederique Martz, who runs anti-domestic violence organization Women Safe. The Justice Ministry report this month found that 41% of “conjugal homicide” victims studied had previously reported incidents of domestic violence, and 80% of complaints sent to prosecutors went uninvestigated. “Our system doesn’t work to protect women,” Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet told French TV channel LCI after another French woman was allegedly killed by her husband in Alsace last week. But Maj. Fabienne Boulard of the national police said many officers respond appropriately to reports of domestic violence. Those who don’t — the ones who react “clumsily” or ask the wrong questions — usually don’t mean harm, she added; they just don’t recognize domestic violence or know how to intervene. This is particularly true when women receive threats but not yet physical blows, victims say. Officers “absorb this violence into the category of violence between a couple that is going through a difficult period,” said one woman whose ex-husband repeatedly threatened her and their children. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. The woman divorced him after years of what she describes as psychological abuse that left her “terrified to cross him.” His threats only grew worse from there, she said. She filed multiple complaints, but she said police officers suggested she didn’t seem like a victim or wasn’t able to prove that she was in danger. Earlier this month, Boulard led the first supplementary training on domestic violence for police in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. She emphasized to the eight officers there that among victims, “shame is an extremely strong feeling.” Participants traded stories of issues they had encountered: the surge in complaints on Sundays, the woman who retracts her complaint, the partner who insists everything is fine. “We can’t do anything,” one female police officer complained. Boulard told The AP that the three-hour session aimed to help officers understand the pressures that victims face and “why the victim is not what they imagined, why sometimes they don’t correspond with the criteria they expect to see.” Trainings like Boulard’s take place in some parts of France, but regional authorities can decide whether to hold them. Activists hope they’ll become routine. “A year or two ago, no one used the word ‘femicide’ apart from feminist organizations,” Haas said. “There is very much a change in public consciousness.”",
            "output": [
                "French women demand action amid high domestic violence rate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-870f58d3fb3049728df360b7dab0d080",
            "input": "Heart attacks come with a variety of symptoms, some subtle and seemingly mild, others severe. To further muddy the waters, the symptoms often present in a very different way for women than for men. As a result, there have been various attempts to educate people on the more unusual signs of a cardiac arrest. The e-mail quoted below (which has subsequently begun circulating via other avenues and in somewhat shortened form) first landed in the snopes.com inbox in early March 2007: Women and heart attacks I’ve meant to send this to my women friends to warn them that it’s true that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a heart attack… you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Having had a completely unexpected heart attack about 10:30 p.m. with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might’ve brought it on, it was this past April, ’06, about 1-1/2 hours after I’d spent a pleasant 2 hrs. rehearsing with the Note-a-Belles. I was sitting all snuggly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, “A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.” A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you’ve been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach, which doesn’t do much good, as your esophagus and throat muscles are in spasm and it hurts to swallow. This was my initial sensation — the only trouble was that I hadn’t taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m. After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening. We all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of a heart attack happening, haven’t we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, “Dear God, I think I’m having a heart attack!” I lowered the footrest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, “If this is a heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else…. but, on the other hand, if I don’t, nobody will know that I need help. And if I wait any longer, I may not be able to get up in moment.” I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the paramedics. I guess when one reaches them, your address automatically flashes on a screen, as the operator verified my address immediately and asked my symptoms. I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts, ma’m. She said she was sending the paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in. No, I didn’t take an aspirin, as I’m allergic to it, but I did take a 100 mg magnesium oxide capsule… which bottle I keep handily in reach on the kitchen counter… which is a small detour on my way to the front door…with about a 3/4 glass of water to get it dissolving ASAP into my bloodstream. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels as it dissolves to get them expanded to let blood get through the constriction of the vessels. I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don’t remember the medics coming in… their examination… lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance… or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way. But I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like “Have you taken any medications?”) but I couldn’t make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again… not waking up until the cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed two side-by-side stents to hold open my right coronary artery and now was being taken into the CCU, and looking up at the three anxious faces of Karen, Mark, and Wendy. Since I’d been a patient at St. Jude in 2002 for my TIA treatment, they had my emergency info in their system and had called my kids. I spent two days in CCU and two in general ward, then was discharged. I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents. Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned firsthand, as a Certified Medical Back-Office Assistant in Internal Medicine Clinics, and as one who has lived through a heart attack due to: 1. Being aware that something very different was happening in my body.. not the usual men’s symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act ). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last!) MI because they didn’t know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion… take some Maalox or other anti-“heartburn” preparation… and go to bed… hoping they’ll feel better in the morning when they wake up… which doesn’t happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before. It is better to have a “false alarm” visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be! 2. Note that I said “Call the Paramedics,” Ladies. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER. You’re a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband/friend who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what’s happening with you instead of the road, and so are your kids or friends a hazard as well. As sure as I sit here, they will get the attention of a cop who will pull you over for speeding–more wasted time. Do NOT call your doctor — he doesn’t know where you live and if it’s at night you won’t reach him anyway, and if it’s daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn’t carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do — principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later. 3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count — I did, and do, too. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it’s unbelievably high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI’s are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there (and, of course, family genetics can be a factor. I qualify for the latter, and the years 2005 and 2006 have been the most stressful of my life since Jack died in 1981.) 4. Read on for the e-mail I received today that prompted my above lecture to you: SUBJECT: Drinking ice water at mealtime (which I’ve always done until now.) Noting neither Urban Legions nor Snopes has anything to say about this one, it must be true. Interesting, if you’ve read it before, re-read it. It may save your life. Send it to your friends and family. It may save their lives…. This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about ladies and their heart attacks. This makes sense… the Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals… not cold water… maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose — everything to gain… For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this “sludge” reacts with the stomach’s hydrochloric acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal. (Make it green tea — a great antioxidant!) A serious note about heart attacks: Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line, or even pressure there and under the sternum, or “indigestion” symptoms, especially if you haven’t eaten in several hours. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack, but heaviness /pressure under the sternum is common. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms, but not necessarily in the women. 60% of people who have heart attacks while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this email and sends it to ten people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life. Although in general the missive contains good information about what symptoms to watch out for and what to do if you’re having a heart attack, it jumps the track at two points. Of these two missed points, the most important is the assumption that one kind of heart attack typically afflicts men (i.e., the kind that results in a sudden clutching of the chest and keeling over) while another kind strikes down women (i.e., an attack that manifests itself as a bit of pain or tightness in the chest accompanied by an array of symptoms that could easily be mistaken for other ailments, or even by non-specific symptoms such as a general feeling of fatigue and weakness). Heart attacks don’t discriminate by sex — men and women alike can (and do) experience both sorts. Says the American Heart Association: “Some heart attacks are sudden and intense — the ‘movie heart attack,’ where no one doubts what’s happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren’t sure what’s wrong and wait too long before getting help.” Yet there is some truth to the notion of gender-based differences: Women are more prone to experiencing symptoms beyond the obvious sudden-onset chest pains. As the American Heart Association notes: “As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.” Women are also more likely to experience atypical heart attacks; that is, the sort that don’t present as sudden shooting pains or a feeling of crushing weight in the chest area, followed by a sensation of pain radiating up the arm and into the neck, all accompanied by cold sweats. While 60 percent of female heart attack victims experience the more usual form of attack, 40 percent feel little or no chest pains at all. Yet the atypical heart attack happens to men too, which is why people of both sexes need to remain alert to the onset of more subtle symptoms, such as back and jaw pain, nausea, and indigestion. The second bit of misinformation is present only in the longer form of the e-mail, where it is included as the fourth entry in a numbered list of tips for surviving heart attacks (following three entries about making oneself aware of the variety of symptoms that can signal a heart attack, summoning paramedics rather than attempting to drive oneself to the hospital, and not regarding a normal cholesterol count as something that rules out the possibility of myocardial infarction.) That fourth item advances the claim that ingestion of cold water causes cancer or heart attacks. In a nutshell, no, it doesn’t. For those who prefer the non-nutshell version, our “Cold Comfort” article tells all. Additional information:",
            "output": [
                "Some symptoms of a heart attack are subtle and can be mistaken for indigestion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36523b2fa30f4ccabef8e355444d420a",
            "input": "Dock Phillip Ellis, best remembered as the winningest pitcher on the champion 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club, was also one of his sport’s more colorful personalities, although his exploits were generally overshadowed by those of players (Curt Flood, Richie Allen, Reggie Jackson) more talented and more controversial. Ellis’ intolerance for slights which he perceived to be related to the color of his skin was well-established long before he reached the major leagues (he declined to play on his high school’s baseball team because it was coached by a “racist,” and while in the minor leagues he once took a bat into the stands in pursuit of a racially-motivated heckler), and he was the subject of several headline-grabbing altercations during his prime years in the big leagues:    “I know the orders came from [baseball commissioner] Bowie Kuhn, and I don’t like it. Look around, there are fellows who wear white shoes in practice. Some wear jackets. Others don’t wear hats. I wasn’t going to say anything, but since they seem to be aiming in my direction, I’m going to say things. They didn’t put out any orders about Joe Pepitone when he wore a hairpiece down to his shoulders.”    But, oddly enough, the most notorious aspect of Dock Ellis’ playing days wasn’t disclosed until several years after he had retired, and it involved an accomplishment that is usually the highlight of any pitcher’s career. On 12 June 1970, Ellis hurled the first no-hitter of the 1970 season as he blanked the Padres 2-0 in the opening game of a double-header in San Diego. Ellis’ feat was a bit unusual in that he seemed particularly wild that day, walking eight batters and hitting one, but many pitchers have achieved stellar results despite laboring with obvious control problems. (Yankee hurler Bill Bevens came within one out of throwing a no-hitter against Brooklyn in the fourth game of the 1947 World Series despite issuing the Dodgers an astounding ten bases on balls.) In post-game interviews Ellis said he had been thinking about a no-hitter from the fourth inning onward and attributed his wildness to his efforts to keep the ball away from hitters: “I know guys who don’t want to talk about it, but if you’re going to throw [a no-hitter], you’re going to throw it. The ball I was throwing was moving. I was keeping the ball away from the hitters. That’s why I walked so many.” Fourteen years later, however, Dock Ellis revealed an alternative explanation for his lack of control that day: he was under the influence of LSD at the time. According to accounts he gave the press in April 1984, Ellis had spent the morning of 12 June 1970 relaxing in his home town of Los Angeles, under the mistaken belief that the Pirates had the day off. Ellis said he ingested LSD around noon, but at about 1:00 PM his girlfriend picked up a newspaper and discovered that not only were the Pirates scheduled to play a double-header in San Diego that evening, but Ellis was slated to start the first game for Pittsburgh. Ellis’ companion hustled him off to the airport by 3:30 PM and got him on a flight to San Diego, where arrived at 4:30 PM, in time for the double-header’s 6:05 PM start. Ellis told reporters he remembered little of what took place during the game itself:  “I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the [catcher’s] glove, but I didn’t hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.”  Any assignment of a “True” status to this story must be a guarded one: only Dock Ellis knows whether or not he actually took LSD the day he pitched his no-hitter, and even if he did ingest LSD that day, judging the extent to which the drug (which can affect different people in different ways) was affecting him by the time he took part in that evening’s game is problematic. Baseball is a difficult game to play at the major league level, even for skilled professionals free from the effects of mind-altering substances, yet Ellis managed to pitch a complete game that evening, apparently did not act so unusually that his teammates or manager took notice, and was quite lucid while conducting post-game interviews with the press. (Of course, since it’s a long-standing baseball superstition that players should avoid speaking to a teammate who is in the midst of pitching a no-hitter, the other Pirates likely had little or no interaction with Ellis in the dugout during the latter half of the game.) Although Ellis might correctly be described as having been “under the influence of LSD” during his no-hitter, quite possibly the drug’s primary effects had peaked and were wearing off by game time. Dock Ellis’ recollections are also somewhat questionable. Donald Hall’s 1976 biography, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, initially stated that Ellis had been drinking (vodka) before his no-hitter. Ellis maintained that he never pitched again while under the influence of LSD after his 1970 no-hitter, but he later said he had also taken the drug before the 1974 Cincinnati game in which he intentionally threw at the first several batters. And that admission came after he had previously stated that he took “pep pills,” not LSD, before that 1974 game. Then he said in 1985 that he “never pitched a game in the major leagues I wasn’t high.”",
            "output": [
                "Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis hurled a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e37d247105174ef9a5c96025e7b4a52f",
            "input": "The virus outbreak and government restrictions on all gatherings, intended to curb the spread of the virus, have forced many people in France and around the world to innovate, including the Catholic church in Carquefou, in northwest France. For Wednesday’s mass, the only people taking part in the service in person were Le Floc’h, an IT support person whose job was to make sure the live feed did not go down, and three Catholic nuns from a nearby religious community. “They appreciate being able to connect with their priest and their usual church,” the 43-year-old priest said of his parishioners viewing online, speaking to Reuters before the mass. The Annunciation, one of the holiest dates in the Catholic calendar, marks the moment that, according to Catholic tradition, the Angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary she was expecting a child. Le Floc’h, in a prayer at the start of Wednesday’s mass, made reference to the coronavirus outbreak that has killed some 1,100 people in France to date, with 22,300 people infected. “We think of all the sick, the carers, and the people who are in isolation,” said the priest. “Amen.”  The livestream of the service featured a fixed shot of the church altar, with its 15th century Notre Dame de la Blanche, a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. The livestream peaked at 175 views, according to YouTube data. The live feed was advertised in advance on the parish’s Facebook page. Parishioners were given the option of downloading the order of service and the hymn sheet for the mass. Believers across France, now 9 days into a nationwide lockdown, marked the Annunciation in unfamiliar ways this year. The Catholic church hierarchy encouraged believers to place candles in their windows at 19:30 (1830 GMT), the same time church bells rang to mark the holy day. “This common gesture will mark our coming together in thought and prayer for those who have died, for those who are sick and the people close to them, for the carers and all those who make life in our country possible,” the church said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                "Locked-down French Catholics mark holy mass via YouTube."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-820e70183fc64e39b2d6aaea1421e3b0",
            "input": "Earth Day New York’s managing director Joanne Black said accompanying giant forest images of dense vegetation and nature in the quintessential lit-up, crowded and chaotic urban landscape of Times Square will be “a visual call to action.”   On Saturday, supporters of the environment can text message “tree” to the number 85944, pledging $5 for the United Nations’ Year of Forest. The running tally will play out on large screens supplied by corporate sponsors including CNN, MTV, Reuters and Toshiba. The onetime $5 dollar donation will be debited from cell phone bills to fund the planting of trees in degraded lands as far afield as Mexico, Kenya, India and the Philippines. “It’s rare for so many companies to give up their screens,” Black said of the colossal, often dazzling billboards that hover above the so-called crossroads of the world and are seen by tens of thousands of people daily. “For this, they have.”   “We hope to engage a broad segment of the public and show that even a small contribution can really make a difference,” Earth Day New York Executive Director Pamela Lippe said. Although the Times Square Alliance does not keep a figure on the total amount of electricity used by the billboards - which are run independently of one another - a spokesman said the billboards used today run on considerably less energy than those used in previous years. On Friday, a convoy of more than 30 electric and alternative fuel cars, including an Inizio, the world’s fastest electric sports car, will tour Manhattan, their GPS-tracked progress followed on the Times Square screens. The route will form the letter “E” — for environment, a take on Earth Day New York’s slogan, “Be the E”. Hybrid vehicles from the city Departments of Transportation, Parks, and Sanitation will escort the Inizio, along with a privately owned, completely electric DeLorean similar to the one featured in the “Back to the Future” films. New York’s myriad Earth Day celebrations come as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration moves to make the city, often seen as grimy and polluted, more environmentally friendly and sustainable. On Thursday, Bloomberg announced several additions to his long-term “PlaNYC” campaign to make the city greener, including a “clean heat” campaign to encourage conversion to cleaner fuels in favor of heavy heating oils which pollute the air with fine particular matter known as PM 2.5. Officials say a 10 percent reduction in PM 2.5 could prevent 300 deaths, 200 hospital admissions and 600 emergency department visits from airborne pollution each year. The free rain barrel program for residents of the four boroughs outside Manhattan began last week and is meant to help fight water contamination by minimizing flow to city sewers. Officials hope homeowners will use them to water their lawns and gardens.",
            "output": [
                "\"New York Earth Day celebrates with \"\"virtual\"\" forests.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03d2307382a0405a908609b82728e865",
            "input": "The county’s juvenile court will collaborate with Valparaiso-based Great Lakes Labs to offer self-styled pharmacogenetic tests to youths in the criminal justice system, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. “Mental health for our kids is really, really important for us, because they grow up,” Porter County Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper said. “We need to help them, and we need to help our community, by helping our kids come out as healthy as possible.” Pharmacogenetic tests analyze patients’ genetic codes to decide which medications are more likely to be ineffective or cause damaging side effects. The testing is also done on drugs to treat conditions such as heart disease, pain and erectile dysfunction, but Porter County intends to use the psychiatric screening to address the high rate of mental health disorders among its juvenile offenders. Officials estimate that 70-80% of youths who enter the court system struggle with mental illness. Amy Beier, executive director of the county’s juvenile services, said the testing could be a “game-changer.” The county hopes to start offering the testing Nov. 1. Some in the medical community consider the tests unsubstantiated because of a lack of a research. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cautioned the public that the agency has not evaluated many of these tests and therefore they “may not be supported by clinical evidence.” But Great Lakes Labs officials noted that America’s largest private insurer, United Healthcare, recently announced its plans to begin covering the testing for psychiatric medications. Michelle Volk, president and CEO of Great Lakes Labs, called pharmacogenetics one of the most significant developments she’s seen in her four decades in the testing field. Juvenile justice officials are still deciding how to fund the program. They have secured some county money and are looking into possible state and federal subsidy opportunities. The tests cost roughly $300 apiece, but the price should be deemed an investment, Cox said. Jim Biggs, business development director of Great Lakes Labs and also a Porter County commissioner, said he believes the test results could be profound and receive national attention. “We think we’re onto something here, and we think we’re going to make a difference in some of these kids’ lives,” he said. ___ Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com",
            "output": [
                "Porter County to offer genetic tests for juvenile offenders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ca372286068452fbf40732a3b2d3d2d",
            "input": "Although the story mentions the high upfront cost of proton therapy, it does not describe the cost of treatment compared to other alternatives. The story points out that there have been no controlled treatment trials for proton therapy in prostate cancer–increasingly the targeted use–so there really are no good data on benefits. Since the technology is relatively new there are probably no good long-term survival estimates even from case series. The story mentions side effects of proton therapy, such as incontinence and sexual side effects in men with prostate cancer, and explains that they may be more common than reported in studies. The story mentions that there is a lack of randomized trials comparing proton therapy to conventional radiation. The story does not appear to engage in disease mongering. However, the article doesn’t indicate that many of the 186,320 new prostate cancer cases are early-stage for which the benefit of any treatment–let alone proton beam–remains uncertain. The story quotes multiple experts who provide meaningful perspectives on the value of proton therapy. The story mentions conventional radiation and surgery as the alternatives to proton therapy. The story accurately describes the limited availability of proton therapy. The story accurately describes the novelty of proton therapy. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume that the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "The promise of proton-beam therapy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1f4fc4c9b2b4d48b9d04437b1802c53",
            "input": "McGoldrick said 29,000 Palestinians had been wounded in protests in the past year, and 7,000 of them had gunshot wounds, mostly in the lower legs. “You’ve got 1,700 people who are in need of serious, complicated surgeries for them to be able to walk again,” McGoldrick said. “These are people who have been shot during the demonstrations and who are in need of rehabilitation, and very, very serious and complex bone reconstruction surgery over a two year period before they start to rehabilitate themselves.”  Without those procedures, all these people are at risk of needing an amputation, he said. The U.N. is seeking $20 million to fill the gap in health spending. A lack of funding to the World Food Program and UNRWA, the U.N. humanitarian agency that supports Palestinians displaced by the 1948 war of Israel’s founding, also meant there could be an interruption of food supplies for 1 million people. “If that stops, there is no alternative for people to bring food in from any other sources, because they don’t have purchasing power,” McGoldrick said. WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said a severe lack of funds meant WFP had cut aid for 193,000 people this year in the West Bank and Gaza, with 27,000 getting nothing and the rest getting only $8 per month instead of the usual $10. Some 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza, the economy of which has suffered years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades as well as recent foreign aid cuts and sanctions by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ West Bank-based rival. People’s prospects were “precarious”, McGoldrick said. Gaza families averaged $4,000 of debt, while salaries averaged $400 per month, but 54 percent of the population was unemployed. The health system was impoverished, with unpaid salaries and dilapidated equipment, and many medical professionals had left if they could find opportunities elsewhere. One teaching hospital was now only teaching trauma medicine, McGoldrick said, but the doctors on the ground did not have the technical ability to carry out the treatment required for the people at risk of amputation. There have already been 120 amputations, 20 of them in children, in the past year, he said.",
            "output": [
                "Health funding gap means 1,700 in Gaza may face amputations: U.N."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8919e84f6d744e49153a378081afeec",
            "input": "The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said seven other people were in critical condition among a total of 41 who were suffering from pneumonia caused by a “preliminarily determined new type of coronavirus” as of Friday. That was down from the earlier figure of 59. The others were in stable condition and at least two had been released from a hospital. The patient who died was identified as a 61-year-old man who had been hospitalized after suffering shortness of breath and severe pneumonia. The commission said the man, who died Thursday, also suffered from abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease and had been a frequent customer at a food market on Wuhan’s outskirts linked to the majority of cases. China says the cause of the Wuhan outbreak remains unknown, but has sought to quash speculation that it could be a reappearance of the SARS epidemic, which killed hundreds in 2002 and 2003. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold. Others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved into more severe illnesses. Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronaviruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. China’s transport ministry says it plans additional measures to disinfect trains, planes and buses and prevent transmission of diseases during the 40-day travel rush centered on the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which falls this year on Jan. 25. The period began Friday and runs through Feb. 18. “The emergence of the epidemic may cause panic among people, especially in areas where people are concentrated during the Spring Festival travel period,” the ministry’s chief engineer, Wang Yang, told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “In order to further ensure the health of passengers, our ministry attaches great importance to the arrangements and deployment, and will focus on the disinfection monitoring and protection measures in areas with a large number of passenger travel volume, including transportation hubs, passenger stations and cargo hub plant stations,” Wang said. Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travelers to Wuhan. Health authorities elsewhere in China have yet to announce similar cases, despite the high population density around Wuhan and its role as a travel hub for central China. University of Hong Kong disease expert Yuen Kwok-yung was quoted by the city’s official news agency as saying that the genetic makeup of the novel coronavirus was 80% similar to SARS as it had been found in bats, civet cats and humans. Yuen said that it was unclear whether the virus could further change to become more lethal, as the SARS virus had, but that Hong Kong had a robust system for detecting more severe problems among patients. “So we have to take every measure and closely monitor the situation,” Yuen said, according to Radio Television Hong Kong.",
            "output": [
                "China reports 1st death from new type of coronavirus ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83f9537d9c934b34a955d02037dfe661",
            "input": "People in Mexico’s massive capital city may have to return to those old ways starting Wednesday, when a new law takes effect banning the plastic bags that became ubiquitous over the last 30 years. Some say they are ready and willing, and grocery stores are promising to promote reusable synthetic fiber bags, but others are struggling to get their minds around how the ban will work in practice. “We have a very rich history in ways to wrap things,” said Claudia Hernández, the city’s director of environmental awareness. “We are finding that people are returning to baskets, to cucuruchos,” she said, referring to cone-shaped rolls of paper once used to wrap loose bulk goods like nuts, chips or seeds. Some Mexico City residents still use traditional ayate bags, or tortilla towels or baskets, and many — especially the elderly — pull two-wheeled, folding shopping baskets through grocery stores. Some merchants still use old sardine cans to measure out bulk goods. Under the new law, grocery stores will be fined if they give out plastic bags. Most will offer reusable shopping bags made of thick plastic fiber, usually selling them for around 75 cents. “They are not giving them away, they are selling them, and that is what I don’t agree with,” said city subway worker Ernesto Gallardo Chávez, who wonders what will happen if he goes grocery shopping after Jan. 1 and forgets to bring his reusable bags. “Just imagine, I forget my bag and I buy a lot of stuff,” said Gallardo Chávez. “How do I carry it all, if they don’t give you bags anymore?” Like most city residents, Gallardo Chávez thinks protecting the environment is “very good.” But plastic bags in Mexico City are almost never really single-use: most city residents have bought garbage cans and waste paper baskets just the right size to be lined with supermarket bags. And the bags are commonly used to clean up after dogs on sidewalks. “We use the bags for garbage, to separate it into organic and inorganic, and then take it out to the garbage truck,” he notes. Hernández, the environment official, said people should get out of the habit of putting their garbage in plastic bags. “They can take it out (to the garbage truck) directly in garbage cans.”   But that is complicated given the city’s stubborn water shortages. It’s all very well to tell city residents not to line their trash cans with plastic bags, but washing out a kitchen receptacle every couple of days after use because it doesn’t have a plastic liner will takes its toll on water supplies. Not to mention the widespread habit of tossing used toilet paper into wastepaper baskets to spare the strain on many homes’ aged and insufficient plumbing. Used toilet paper is not the kind of thing you can turn over loose to the trash collector. Data analysis specialist Daniel Loredo says he is planning to hoard his last remaining plastic shopping bags precisely for that purpose. But he and his roommates have already taken steps to build up a supply of reusable bags and make sure whoever goes to the grocery store is carrying a few. But for poorer city residents, forgetting to do so even one day could carry a high price in a country where the 75-cent reusable bag costs the equivalent of an hour’s worth of the minimum wage. “I think this will be a challenge, because these bags represent an additional cost, and maybe not everyone can bear that cost quite as easily,” Loredo said. Aldimir Torres, the leader of the country’s Plastic Industry Chamber, called the new law “cheap populism,” noting that it was drawn up without having clear guidelines about what kind of “compostable” bags would still be allowed. The law leaves the door open to using plastic bags ”for reasons of hygiene,” presumably for items like deli meats or cheese. It also allows for bags that biodegrade very quickly, but sets no specific standards for them. “This was a law that was copied and put together in a rush, without consulting people who really know about this issue,” Torres said. Hernández acknowledged there was still a lot of work to be done on alternatives. For example, Mexico City’s ubiquitous street food stalls often use plastic bags to temporarily cover plastic plates, in areas where they have no taps or sinks to wash each plate after use. While that might seem to be covered under the “hygiene” clause of the new law, Hernandez said somewhat ingeniously that “this could be solved by some device to wash the plates.”  The law, she claimed, had to be rushed into effect. “I don’t know why, but sometimes we need a little more pressure in order to take action,” Hernández said, noting the bag ban “is an invitation, a provocation to rethink they way we consume”. Loredo thinks the law may be imperfect, but worth it. “I think that in some way this is a responsible strategy, to introduce us to some more appropriate method of consumption,” he said. “In the end, they (plastic bags) are something that pollute and hurt the environment.” By 2021, the same law will ban handing out plastic straws, spoons, coffee capsules and other single-use items. ″",
            "output": [
                "Mexico City plastic bag ban to take residents back in time."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cd489be26e84c0ea2ed5ba535b86dd2",
            "input": "“Pets are your loved ones, pets should be your family, pets are not something you keep on a chain in the backyard,” the intensive-care nurse from Somers, Connecticut, said. Lescault, 43, who enrolled Moose in a clinical trial of an experimental drug designed to help his immune system fight his  cancer, represents the type of pet lover that has spurred animal health companies around the globe to invest in developing complex new treatments previously reserved for humans. Biotechnology, which produces medicines from living cells, revolutionized the drug industry more than a quarter century ago with breakthrough medicines at prices that now run as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In recent years, the cost of genetic testing and biotech drug production has fallen sharply, making biotechnology for pets financially viable at much lower prices, industry experts said. For a FACTBOX, click  Sector leader Zoetis (ZTS.N) and others say animal drug development is faster, less expensive and more predictable than drugs for people. “It’s not nearly as common for pivotal studies to fail in animal health as it is in human medicine. Most of them are successful,” said Cheryl London, professor in comparative oncology at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Massachusetts. Biotech drugs for pets, if proven safe and effective, would be a boon to a $44 billion veterinary medicines market currently dominated by vaccines, flea and tick repellents and anti-infectives. A recent product launch has galvanized the industry. Cytopoint for canine itch relief sold by Zoetis reached blockbuster status by animal health standards in its second year on the market. Launched in late 2016, Cytopoint generated 2018 sales of $129 million, and first-quarter 2019 sales jumped 65% from a year earlier. Produced from cloned genetically engineered hamster cells over at least eight bio-processing steps, the monoclonal antibody is no less complex than comparable therapeutic proteins used in human medicine. But the cost to consumers is far less. Like many biotech drugs, dose and cost is determined by weight. Zoetis declined to disclose its prices. But an animal hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, for example, charges $104 for a 40-pound (18 kg) dog. For much smaller dogs, a Cytopoint injection, which lasts about four to eight weeks, costs about $35 to $50. To keep a large dog from scratching itself raw could run $140 per shot. The cost of a highly effective new anti-itch biotech drug to treat severe atopic dermatitis in humans can run about $30,000 a year. “Cytopoint was a turning point that has made it clear that (biotech drugs) can be successful in this space,” London said. “Now there are an estimated five to ten companies developing antibodies for the veterinary market.”  That has created increased business for related services. “It’s a big challenge for us to keep up with the pace of demand growth,” said Klaus Hellmann, managing director at Munich-based Klifovet AG, Europe’s largest contractor for late-stage clinical trials of veterinary drugs. While Cytopoint sparked investment interest in biotech treatments for animals, drug development still comes with inherent risks and uncertainty. Aratana Therapeutics Inc’s canine lymphoma drug, Blontress, was launched in 2015, but later withdrawn after scientific data led the company to determine it was unlikely to be a financial success. Declining costs has mitigated some of the risk. “Over the past several years, human health has been able to advance the technology to improve efficiency of their cell production systems,” said Rob Polzer, head of global therapeutics research for Zoetis. Zoetis can repurpose and optimize existing procedures, mechanisms of action and technologies, it said. The company is seeking approval for a biotech medicine to treat osteoarthritic pain in cats, with plans for a 2021 market launch and a similar product for dogs thereafter. Others have jumped on the bandwagon. German start-up Adivo was spun out of biotech firm Morphosys (MORG.DE) in March 2018 out of frustration by its founders that scientific advances for humans were not translating into better treatment options for their dogs. It has since struck a global collaboration deal with Bayer’s (BAYGn.DE) animal health unit for its early-stage research platform for animal-specific monoclonal antibodies - the backbone of biotechnology. “Over the last few years, the veterinary market has seen an incredibly dynamic development,” said Adivo co-founder Kathrin Ladetzki-Baehs. This could prove a lifesaver for Moose, the bulldog in the oncology drug trial. In early August, Lescault discovered a mass on Moose’s  throat, soon followed by deteriorating health and a diagnosis of canine B-cell lymphoma. Moose was given one to two months to live without treatment or about a year with 25 weeks of punishing chemotherapy. Lescault’s local vet suggested the Tufts trial testing an experimental protein that could help advance the current immuno-oncology craze into the animal health arena. Tufts declined to disclose the compound or the study’s sponsor. But more than three weeks into the trial, Moose’s cough and labored breathing has disappeared and he is back to his playful and boisterous self, Lescault said. While treatment in a clinical trial is free, Lescault said she would not hesitate to pay thousands of dollars for a safe and effective drug to save Moose. “I wouldn’t blink an eye,”  she said. That is exactly what drug companies are banking on.",
            "output": [
                "Biotech is going to the dogs - and big profits await."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7372e9cf895649cdb4f5b4cd9519f0f1",
            "input": "Fauci is among the health experts testifying to a Senate panel. His testimony comes as President Donald Trump is praising states that are reopening after the prolonged lock-down aimed at controlling the virus’ spread. Fauci, a member of the coronavirus task force charged with shaping the response to COVID-19, which has killed tens of thousands of people in the U.S., is testifying via video conference after self-quarantining as a White House staffer tested positive for the virus. With the U.S. economy in free-fall and more than 30 million people unemployed, Trump has been pressuring states to reopen. Fauci, in a statement to The New York Times, warned that officials should adhere to federal guidelines for a phased reopening, including a “downward trajectory” of positive tests or documented cases of coronavirus over two weeks, robust contact tracing and “sentinel surveillance” testing of asymptomatic people in vulnerable populations, such as nursing homes. “If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines...then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country,” Fauci wrote. “This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.” Other senior health officials scheduled to testify before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee will also appear via video link after going into self-quarantine, following their exposure to a White House staffer who tested positive. The chairman of the committee, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, also put himself in quarantine after an aide tested positive. He’ll participate by video, too. Besides Fauci, of the National Institutes of Health, the other experts include FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn and Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus “testing czar” at the Department of Health and Human Services. Even before the gavel drops, the hearing offers two takeaways for the rest of the country, said John Auerbach, president of the nonprofit public health group Trust for America’s Health. “One thing it tells you is that the virus can have an impact in any workplace setting or any community setting,” said Auerbach. “All businesses will find it very challenging to ensure safety when there are cases.” Another lesson is that the public officials involved are taking the virus seriously by not appearing in person. “They are following the guidelines that they are recommending to others,” said Auerbach. “There is not a double standard.” The main questions for the administration experts revolve around the “Three T’s,” or testing, tracing and treatment. Without widespread testing, state and local officials will be basing decisions to reopen businesses and schools on incomplete data with blind spots lurking. Without the ability to do the painstaking work of tracing the contacts of people infected, unwitting transmission will continue. Without effective treatments, hospitals in a given community could be overwhelmed in a COVID-19 rebound. Ultimately, the goal is a vaccine that would offer widespread protection. The health committee hearing offers a very different setting from the White House coronavirus task force briefings the administration witnesses have all participated in. Senators on the panel are knowledgeable and some have working relationships that go back years with the agencies that the panelists are representing. Most significantly, President Donald Trump will not be controlling the agenda. Eyeing the November elections, Trump has been eager to restart the economy, urging on protesters who oppose their state governors’ stay-at-home orders and expressing his own confidence that the coronavrius will fade away as summer advances and Americans return to work and other pursuits. The ranking Democrat on the health panel, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, doesn’t think the Trump administration is doing nearly enough to keep the virus under control as the economy reopens. “President Trump is trying to ignore the facts, and ignore the experts who have been clear we are nowhere close to where we need to be to reopen safely,” she said in a statement. Murray will participate via video, but some senators are expected to attend in person. Alexander is more nuanced about the nation’s readiness. He suggests there’s enough testing to move to reopen the economy, but worries that there won’t be enough to sustain a return to normality. “It’s enough to do what we need to do today to reopen,” he said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday. “But it’s not enough, for example, when 35,000 kids and faculty show up on the University of Tennessee campus in August.” With more types of tests on the market from different manufacturers and providers, testing is an area that’s become particularly difficult for lay people to navigate. Until now there has been only one kind of test to detect active infection. Called a PCR test, it detects the genetic material of the virus, and is still considered the most accurate. Last weekend the FDA approved the first “antigen” test, which looks for protein traces of the virus instead, much like rapid tests for flu or strep throat. Antigen tests aren’t as accurate as PCR tests but promise to be faster and easier to use. A third kind of test detects past infection, by spotting antibodies in people’s blood. But it’s not yet clear if having those antibodies means someone is immune from another bout of COVID-19.",
            "output": [
                "Fauci warns of ‘suffering and death’ if US reopens too soon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-829fe72ae9034f8883536a2d4802ba85",
            "input": "Department CEO Danette Smith made the pronouncement at a Lincoln news conference Monday while discussing her department’s efforts to better serve the teenage girls sent to the Geneva center that she emptied last week. Two dozen female juvenile offenders were moved to the boys center in Kearney after department officials learned the girls’ buildings in Geneva had fire hazards, holes in walls and mold and water damage. Staffers are discussing leasing a 20-bed portion at the Lancaster County Youth Services Center, Smith said. Discussions with the county are still preliminary, but she said the center could house the youths there, providing education, case management, probation and therapeutic recreation and transition services. The department is talking to various groups about addressing the needs of juvenile offenders, Smith said. “The department has an obligation to the youth we serve, and we are committed to making the necessary changes to provide an environment that is safe, supportive and gives youth the opportunity to thrive as they make the transition into adulthood,” she said. Regarding the troubled Geneva center, Smith said work has begun to fix the LaFlesche Cottage, a building that has been awaiting sewer line repairs since spring, and to assess what could be done to the other three residential buildings to make them usable. The campus in rural, central Nebraska serves as a rehabilitation center for girls ages 14-18 who have broken the law and been rejected by other private treatment facilities. The problems came to a head two weeks ago, when one girl damaged the sprinkler system in one of the four residential cottages. The girls moved to the boys center in Kearney have mental health services and case management support available there, as well as physicians who can manage medications, Smith said.",
            "output": [
                "Nebraska eyes county facility to treat juvenile offenders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-072bd64696d24e9d8c5e54e334000f9b",
            "input": "As tensions rose in September 2017 in response to football players’ protesting police brutality and inequality by kneeling during the U.S. national anthem, astronaut and former football player Leland Melvin jumped into the fray with a lengthy open letter to president Donald Trump. During a September speech in Alabama, Trump had called for a boycott of the National Football League (NFL), saying: Wouldn’t you love one of the NFL owners when someone disrespects our flag, ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now’ . . . If you see it, leave the stadium, I guarantee things will stop. Trump’s words heightened emotions on both sides of the issue, but for athletes and team owners, it seemed to heighten solidarity and even spread the protest to as quarterback Tom Brady and National Basketball Association players Steph Curry and Lebron James spoke out against Trump. Amidst all this, a lengthy open letter to the President purportedly penned by astronaut and former NFL Player Leland Melvin came to light: To Donald Trump I believe in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this country even though at the time they were drafted, their tenets of life, liberty justice for all and eventual freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press and petition amendment ratified in Dec 1791, only applied to a select group of people and not ones that looked like me. Donald Trump I listened to your Alabama rally rant and could not believe how easily you say what you say. We have become numb to your outlandish acts, tweets and recent retweet of you knocking down Hillary Clinton with a golf ball that you hit. Donald Trump your boorish and disgusting actions are not funny. They actually promote violence against women especially when your followers act out what you say. I used to walk the grounds of UVA in Charlottesville, VA as a graduate student only to watch in horror as those same grounds became a battlefield being trod by Nazi and anti-Semitic worshippers armed with assault style weapons ready to fight to make America White again. (their words). You actually said there were nice people on both sides. People armed and ready to kill other Americans for the purpose of eradicating Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Mexicans, Asians, Latinas and even the first real Americans, Native Americans to make America Great Again were “nice people”? Verses what you say in condemnation of an unarmed black man peacefully protesting by exercising his constitutional First Amendment rights by silently taking a knee is appalling, unnerving and reprehensible. You called Colin Kaepernick “a son-of-a-bitch.” And said he should be fired. You are basically calling his white mother a bitch. The strong contrast in language for a black man and a Nazi is very telling. Do you have any sense of decency or shame in what you say to the American people that are part of your duty to serve respectfully with dignity, presidentially? The National Anthem that we listen too has been edited to try not to offend because when Francis Scott Key penned the song he watched freed slaves fighting for the British and wrote this stanza: “And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” I guess if I were a slave back then I probably would have done anything to obtain freedom from my American oppressors who were whipping, killing, raping, dismembering, hanging or releasing the dogs on people like me all under our Constitution. In 1814 former slaves fought with the British for their freedom from their American enslavers and Key witnessed a battle from a ship off the Maryland shore at Fort McHenry which inspired him to write what became our National Anthem. I served my country not in the military but as 1 of 362 American Astronauts that have explored the universe to help advance our civilization. Not just Americans but all humans. I also was briefly in the NFL and stood for the National Anthem with my hand over my heart. What makes us great is our differences and respecting that we are all created equally even if not always treated that way. Looking back at our planet from space really helps one get a bigger perspective on how petty and divisive we can be. Donald Trump maybe you should ask your good friend Mr. Putin to give you a ride on a Soyuz rocket to our International Space Station and see what it’s like to work together with people we used to fight against, where your life depends on it. See the world and get a greater sense of what it means to be part of the human race, we call it the Orbital Perspective. Donald Trump please know that you are supposed to be a unifier and a compassionate and empathetic leader. If you can’t do the job then please step down and let someone else try. I pray that you do the right thing. May God bless you. Sincerely, Leland Melvin Former Astronaut and  NFL Player It’s unclear why this particular response was met with skepticism, but several readers wrote in to ask us if the letter was authentic. It’s possible that many were unfamiliar with Melvin. Some may have also questioned the authenticity of the national anthem stanza mentioned by the former NFL Player (it is indeed part of the song). The length of Melvin’s post, which was significantly longer than most of the other responses that circulated on social media, may have also raised some doubts. However, this open letter was truly written by Leland Melvin. It was originally posted to his Facebook page on 23 September 2017:  To @realDonaldTrump I believe in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this country even… https://t.co/FezF6vqZuO pic.twitter.com/VUGdZa7lL0 — Leland Melvin (@Astro_Flow) September 23, 2017",
            "output": [
                "\"Astronaut and former NFL player Leland Melvin wrote an open letter to Donald Trump concerning the President's comments about the \"\"Take a Knee\"\" protest.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a70b4b4f08ac4eecbfc5d2913041b2f1",
            "input": "Officials with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced the deaths Friday, saying they are unusual because most influenza-related deaths occur among older adults. “This flu strain appears to be impacting some children in Idaho heavily, and we want to make sure that Idahoans are taking precautions to stay safe this flu season,” said Dr. Christine Hahn, medical director for the department’s Division of Public Health. Hahn said influenza illness has been increasing in Idaho and nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also seen more reported pediatric flu deaths than usual this time of year, Hahn said. As of Jan. 4, 32 children have died from the flu nationwide this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two confirmed pediatric flu deaths happened in northern and eastern Idaho; the child who likely died of flu-related causes was also in eastern Idaho, according to the Department of Health and Welfare. Hahn said that they don’t believe the children who died in Idaho had any underlying medical conditions. But she said state health officials don’t always have access to the patients’ entire medical history, so it can’t be completely ruled out. “It is pretty unusual in Idaho — we had one child death reported in the last season, but prior to that we had not had any child deaths for several years,” Hahn said. “The fact that we are looking into possibly a third flu-related death is very concerning.” Most of the pediatric flu-related deaths nationwide appear to be from a strain of influenza B, Hahn said, which is less common than influenza A strains. Experts are still trying to figure out what makes this particular influenza B strain harder on kids, she said, but it could be because many children will have had no or low exposure to influenza B strains in the past, so their body doesn’t have any experience fighting the virus to draw on. “That’s one of the theories about why in some years, like in 1918, young people had the highest mortality rate from the flu. Sometimes kids get hit harder because there’s something about the virus that kids haven’t seen but adults have,” Hahn said. People who are sick with flu-like symptoms — which can include coughing, fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, and a runny or stuffy nose — should consider seeking medical attention, according to the Department of Health and Welfare. Some people, especially kids, may also experience diarrhea and vomiting with influenza. “If you know how your child normally handles a cold or virus and they’re worse than that, they’re declining, or if they’re having trouble breathing, then I would take that child in” to the doctor, Hahn said. “If there is any concern above what you think is a normal, mild illness, it doesn’t hurt to get checked out.” Anyone with underlying health conditions, under the age of 2, and pregnant women should contact a healthcare provider if they have flu symptoms, Hahn said. “There are medications that can reduce the severity and duration of the illness,” Hahn said. The flu vaccine protects against four flu strains, two type A and two type B. Of the four strains in this season’s vaccine, one type A and one type B appear to be a strong match, offering high levels of protection against those virusus, Hahn said. The other type A and type B strains in the vaccine appear to be less closely matched to the viruses circulating in the wild, she said, but they still help. “Even when it’s not a perfect match, it still provides some protection,” Hahn said.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: At least 2 Idaho kids have died from flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e4ddeaef69249d6ae85dce89483e049",
            "input": "WHY WEAR A MASK? Health experts say face coverings help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Cloth coverings cannot block the virus itself. However, they can provide some protection from droplets from breath and saliva that can carry the disease. Some people don’t realize they are infected because they have no symptoms. If they wear a mask, it limits the possibility of them unwittingly spreading the disease. HOW IS THE LOS ANGELES MASK REQUIREMENT DIFFERENT? The city of Los Angeles has the strictest requirement of any major city in the state. Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an order this week saying: “All individuals engaging in outdoor activities, except for water activities, must wear a cloth face covering.” That includes everything from walking around the block to skateboarding. The order exempts children under 2 and people with certain disabilities. Even in surrounding Los Angeles County it’s a little less stringent. Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer say masks aren’t needed for solitary walks or jogs. DO I HAVE TO WEAR IT IN THE CAR? Garcetti says no. But he emphasized wearing it other places when away from home and applying social distancing are foundational elements to continuing the progress Los Angeles has made against the virus. ABOUT THE VIRUS As of Friday, 1,755 people have died due to COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, which has a quarter of the state’s nearly 40 million residents but more than half the deaths. Slight decreases in hospitalizations have occurred over the last week and a half and “we are encouraged,” Ferrer said. For the most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms for up to three weeks. The vast majority recover. Some older adults and people with existing health problems can experience severe illness including pneumonia and death.",
            "output": [
                "Things to Know: Face covering rules vary by jurisdiction."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2e148f82ad140a2a37b02bedd11cf1b",
            "input": "Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California have sent a letter with the signatures of 64 colleagues to congressional leaders supporting the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment that prevents federal officials using public funds to enforce federal laws against medical marijuana. “The provision, which first became law in December 2014, has successfully protected patients, providers, and businesses against federal prosecution, so long as they act within the confines of their state’s medical marijuana laws,” they said in the letter that was sent this week. It asked Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to include the provision in any final package as they negotiate a fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill to fund the government beyond Dec. 8. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May told congressional leaders in a letter that it would be “unwise” to renew the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, saying marijuana is harmful and is banned by federal law. Blumenauer, in a message to marijuana stakeholders and supporters, said that despite bipartisan support for the provision, the leadership of the House didn’t allow a vote on it or any other marijuana-related amendments. But the Senate Appropriations Committee included the provision in its bill. “I’m working hard to ensure Rohrabacher-Blumenauer remains in effect to protect individuals in 46 states and thousands of state-legal businesses from federal intervention,” the Oregon congressman said in his message, emailed to The Associated Press by the Oregon Cannabis Business Council. Blumenauer, in a telephone interview with AP last summer, said Sessions is “out of step” with most members of Congress, who have become more supportive “of ending the failed prohibition on marijuana.” ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Continued protection sought for medical-marijuana states."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c039218585c4900b3253f0857f8d08f",
            "input": "Preliminary results found the bacteria in the water supply at a prison medical facility in Stockton and at two neighboring youth correctional facilities, Corrections Department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said. Officials had thought it was isolated to one housing unit where the two inmates lived. They restricted water use throughout the medical facility and neighboring juvenile facility, bringing in bottled water. But they put special filters only on showers in the housing unit where the inmates had been housed in the California Health Care Facility, which treats about 2,670 inmates needing medical or mental health care. The neighboring O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facility houses about 150 youths and N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility about 260 youths. No subsequent illnesses were reported and the source hasn’t been found. But officials now are adding the shower filters in other areas and warning against using unfiltered water throughout the three facilities. “We are responding to preliminary findings and recommendations,” Waters said in an email. “We are still awaiting the final findings and working on a remediation plan.” That includes deciding how they will clean out the bacteria from the facilities’ water system and how much it might cost, she said. The bacteria weren’t detected in the Stockton city water supply, though the city supplies water to the state facilities. An inmate who died last month had Legionnaires’ disease, which is considered a severe form of pneumonia. A second inmate tested positive for the bacteria but is in good condition. Legionella bacteria grow in water and spread through water vapor. They can cause a mild infection known as Pontiac fever or the more serious infection known as Legionnaires’ disease, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease occurs when contaminated water is inhaled into the lungs. It is considered particularly dangerous for older people and those with underlying health issues. Officials tested 28 inmates who suffered from pneumonia in February or March, but only the two inmates tested positive, officials said. Tests are pending on a more recent inmate with pneumonia. No inmates died but nearly 80 were sickened during a 2015 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison, 80 miles to the west. That temporarily forced the state’s oldest prison to cancel visits, hot meals and showers and ship in water and portable toilets.",
            "output": [
                "Legionnaires’ disease found in adjacent California prisons."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df019f6b2a384130824a73d5c04bbfbf",
            "input": "The sun has glowed an eerie red behind a brown shrouded sky for weeks over Australian metropolitan areas that usually rank high in the world’s most livable cities indexes. It’s an unprecedented dilemma for Australians accustomed to blue skies and sunny days that has raised fears for the long-term health consequences if prolonged exposure to choking smoke becomes the new summer norm. Similar concerns over smoke are emerging in other regions of the globe being impacted by more fires tied to climate change, including the Western U.S. “I’m going to give birth any day now, literally, and I’m going to have a newborn baby that I’m going to protect from all this,” said Emma Mauch, a pregnant Canberra mother. Her friend, Sonia Connor, described the struggle of keeping her own energetic 3-year-old daughter contained inside their Canberra house with windows and doors sealed by tape as the outside temperature exceeded 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s a choice between air flow in stifling heat or keeping potentially toxic smoke out. “My daughter hasn’t shown any sort of symptoms, let’s say. For me, I can feel it in my lungs, my throat has felt weird,” Connor said. “It doesn’t seem to be stopping her, but the long-term effects? Who knows? She’s 3. Who knows what’s going to happen?” she added. Slovenian tennis player Dalila Jakupovic fell to her knees in a coughing fit on Wednesday while competing in a qualifying match for the Australian Open in Melbourne. “I’ve never experienced something like this,” Jakupovic told Nine Network television. “We are used to pollution — like, we play in China and more polluted countries — but this smoke is something different that for sure we’re not used to.”  Canberra as well as Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, have at various times in recent weeks rated as the most polluted cities in the world, although some argue the industrial pollutants in places such as New Delhi are more dangerous than wood smoke. The fires have claimed at least 28 l ives since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.3 million hectares (25.5 million acres), mostly in New South Wales state. The area burned is larger than the U.S. state of Indiana. Victoria state increased its official fire death toll by one to five on Wednesday when it reclassified the death of a fire management contractor in a traffic accident in November as a victim of the current wildfire crisis. Hospital admissions have increased in the smoke-affected cities, with some patients suffering asthma for the first time in their lives. The government has responded by distributing 3.5 million free particle-excluding masks. Acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said he was discussing with the government launching a study of the long-term health implications of the wildfire smoke. Bruce Thompson, president of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, is among the respiratory disease experts who predict increases in heart and lung diseases as well as some cancers if climate change makes prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke an annual phenomenon. “We’re breathing in stuff that the lungs don’t like that leads to significant changes, especially people who are predisposed to respiratory conditions,” Thompson said. Thompson, who suffers itchy eyes and a running nose from smoke at home in Melbourne, said comparisons could be drawn between the current crisis and a wildfire that ignited coal in the open-cut Hazelwood mine near the town of Morwell in Victoria state in 2014. The fire burned for 45 days, blanketing Morwell and its 14,000 residents in thick smoke and coal dust. That exposure was still taking tolls on the health of the Morwell community and the wider Latrobe Valley, particularly the young, Thompson said. Brian Oliver, head of the Respiratory Molecular Pathogenesis at University of Technology Sydney, likened prolonged and repeated exposure to such wildfire smoke to smoking cigarettes. Oliver predicted increases in smoker diseases across Australia if the wildfire smoke became more common in a drier and hotter future. NASA says the unprecedented masses of Australian smoke that have drifted east across the Pacific Ocean have returned after circumnavigating the globe. In the U.S., an estimated 20,000 premature deaths now occur annually due to chronic wildfire smoke exposure. That’s expected to double by the end of the century, according to scientists funded by NASA, as tens of millions of people get exposed to massive “smoke waves” emanating from blazes in Western states. Experts say an increase in serious health problems in California may be almost inevitable for vulnerable residents as the disasters become more commonplace. Research suggests children, the elderly and those with existing health problems are most at risk. Short-term exposure to wildfire smoke can worsen existing asthma and lung disease, leading to emergency room treatment or hospitalization, studies have shown. Increases in doctor visits or hospital treatment for respiratory infections, bronchitis and pneumonia in otherwise healthy people also have been found during and after wildfires. Some studies also have found increases in ER visits for heart attacks and strokes in people with existing heart disease on heavy smoke days during previous California wildfires, echoing research on potential risks from urban air pollution. For most healthy people, exposure to wildfire smoke is just an annoyance, causing burning eyes, scratchy throats or chest discomfort that all disappear when the smoke clears. Wood smoke contains some of the same toxic chemicals as urban air pollution, along with tiny particles of vapor and soot 30 times thinner than a human hair. These can infiltrate the bloodstream, potentially causing inflammation and blood vessel damage even in healthy people, research on urban air pollution has shown. Studies have linked heart attacks and cancer with long-term exposure to air pollution. Whether exposure to wildfire smoke carries the same risks is uncertain, and determining harm from smog versus wildfire smoke can be tricky. There is little known about the long-term effects of wildfire smoke because of difficulties in studying populations years after a wildfire. Michael Abramson, professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Melbourne’s Monash University, is a co-author of a report on the ongoing investigation of the health impacts of the Hazelwood blaze. Abramson urges a national study of the health impacts of the latest wildfires, saying his research focused on a much smaller population of 74,000 people in the Latrobe Valley. “We’re now seeing substantial exposure extending over weeks to cities that have millions of inhabitants, so I think it’s very likely that there might be more subtle effects that we haven’t been able to detect,” Abramson said.",
            "output": [
                "Australian wildfire smoke stokes health fears in cities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-69e0ce3ef3a04d2ca7ff73c6d28f5ba2",
            "input": "U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh in Michigan concluded Wednesday it’s in the public interest to deny the preliminary injunction sought by William Husel. The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System fired the intensive care doctor after concluding he ordered excessive painkillers for dozens of patients who died. Husel has pleaded not guilty in the resulting criminal case. His pending lawsuit against Mount Carmel’s parent company, Trinity Health Corporation, and its insurer argues his ability to defend himself is hurt if they won’t cover his legal costs in the criminal case as happened in dozens of related civil cases. The judge concluded the public interest supported denying the preliminary injunction “to protect THC’s Catholic principles on end of life issues, to comport with public policy that liability insurance does not exist to relieve wrongdoers for intentional criminal conduct, and to fulfill the court’s obligation to read the insurance contract by its plain and unambiguous terms.”  A spokeswoman for Mount Carmel said by email that it and Livonia, Michigan-based Trinity Health, are pleased with the decision and focusing on patient care. Husel’s lawyer in the matter called the decision disappointing and accused those health care systems of misleading the public. “Mount Carmel and Trinity both know that Dr. Husel’s care was entirely appropriate and did not cause harm to any patient, and they should be standing up for their employees and defending them against all baseless allegations,” attorney Adam Ford of Ford O’Brien LLP said in an email. In a separate defamation lawsuit against Mount Carmel and Trinity, Husel contends the patients died because of their illnesses, not the drugs he ordered.",
            "output": [
                "Judge won’t compel health system to fund doctor’s defense."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bb7e0154546451a8b6612939f43f07d",
            "input": "The verdict in the lawsuit brought by the California woman, Eva Echeverria, marks the largest sum awarded in a series of talcum powder lawsuit verdicts against Johnson & Johnson in courts around the U.S. Echeverria alleged Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn consumers about talcum powder’s potential cancer risks. She used the company’s baby powder on a daily basis beginning in the 1950s until 2016 and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, according to court papers. Echeverria developed ovarian cancer as a “proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder,” she said in her lawsuit. Echeverria’s attorney, Mark Robinson, said his client is undergoing cancer treatment while hospitalized and told him she hoped the verdict would lead Johnson & Johnson to put additional warnings on its products. “Mrs. Echeverria is dying from this ovarian cancer and she said to me all she wanted to do was to help the other women throughout the whole country who have ovarian cancer for using Johnson & Johnson for 20 and 30 years,” Robinson said. “She really didn’t want sympathy,” he added. “She just wanted to get a message out to help these other women.” The jury’s award included $68 million in compensatory damages and $340 million in punitive damages, Robinson said. The evidence in the case included internal documents from several decades that “showed the jury that Johnson & Johnson knew about the risks of talc and ovarian cancer,” Robinson said. “Johnson & Johnson had many warning bells over a 30 year period but failed to warn the women who were buying its product,” he said. Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in a statement that the company will appeal the jury’s decision. She says while the company sympathizes with women suffering from ovarian cancer that scientific evidence supports the safety of Johnson’s baby powder. The verdict came after a St. Louis, Missouri jury in May awarded $110.5 million to a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. She had blamed her illness on her use of the company’s talcum powder-containing products for more than 40 years. Besides that case, three other trials in St. Louis had similar outcomes last year — with juries awarding damages of $72 million, $70.1 million and $55 million, for a combined total of $307.6 million. Another St. Louis jury in March rejected the claims of a Tennessee woman with ovarian and uterine cancer who blamed talcum powder for her cancers. Two similar cases in New Jersey were thrown out by a judge who said the plaintiffs’ lawyers did not presented reliable evidence linking talc to ovarian cancer. More than 1,000 other people have filed similar lawsuits. Some who won their lawsuits won much lower amounts, illustrating how juries have wide latitude in awarding monetary damages. Johnson & Johnson is preparing to defend itself and its baby powder at upcoming trials in the U.S., Goodrich said. ___ Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers contributed to this report. ___ Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1 .",
            "output": [
                "Record $417M award in lawsuit linking baby powder to cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c368a856a92e429987c1df3d379d668b",
            "input": "\"Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine recently told some disturbing and odd stories about bath salts – an emerging drug that he said is a growing problem in Ohio. The stories were part of DeWine’s announcement last month that his office will target bath salts in its ongoing fight against drugs. Bath salts and other synthetic drugs have a tendency to induce violent and paranoid behavior, said DeWine, the state’s top law enforcement officer. One example DeWine, a Republican, gave involved a man having hallucinations of raccoons in his house. \"\"The Ohio State Highway Patrol confronted a man who after using bath salts reported that raccoons had set fire inside his home and stolen his cell phone. He proceeded to chop up his deck with a hatchet while looking for the fire-setting raccoons,\"\" DeWine said. That got PolitiFact Ohio’s curiosity going, so it decided to look into the facts behind the bizarre tale. Examining the statement might provide useful information to people unfamiliar with the drug and its effects. When we called DeWine’s office for information to back up his account, spokesman Dan Tierney provided an Ohio State Highway Patrol study to educate the law enforcement community about bath salts. Bath salts, which became illegal in Ohio in 2011, are a synthetic drug that can be snorted, injected or mixed with a fluid to drink. Users have said the drug gives an intense high and a rush similar to cocaine, according to the highway patrol study, which was completed in May. Others have described users as violent, unpredictable and paranoid. The study includes a short description of the raccoon event DeWine described – along with five other incidents involving bath salts – but it doesn’t provide any details about the time, place and people involved. We called the highway patrol and were told the incident happened in Reynoldsburg, near Columbus. The police department there provided a report with written accounts from three responding officers. The police report includes a transcript of the 911 call in August 2011 from the 31-year-old Reynoldsburg man who was seeing raccoons:  \"\"I got raccoons in my house that are starting fires. I wonder how the hell they are doing it,\"\" he said. \"\"I keep putting them out but they start another one. I had to drive down here because I couldn’t find my cell phone. I think one of them took it and did something with it.\"\" The report also said the man told police he took bath salts three times that day and could be hallucinating. A local fire department determined there were no fires inside the house. One of the officers noticed the deck at the house was destroyed and there was a hatchet nearby. The man told police he chopped up the deck because he was looking for a dead raccoon. So where does that leave us? DeWine’s account at the press conference last month was backed up by the Reynoldsburg police report. His only misstep was saying state patrolmen confronted the man. The mistake is immaterial because it doesn’t change the circumstances of the incident and the role of bath salts, according to police. The Reynoldsburg man, for what it’s worth, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of making false alarms. DeWine’s statement is accurate and there is nothing significant missing. That rates  on the Truth-O-Meter.\"",
            "output": [
                "A man using bath salts reported that raccoons had set fire inside his home and stolen his cell phone."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44e00c0eb33347908665a793afb82d7f",
            "input": "The Star-Herald in Scottsbluff reports  that many schools are also concerned about retaining qualified teachers, particularly in rural areas. Nebraska State Education Association President Jenni Benson says she hopes to tackle those issues and others in the upcoming legislative session. Benson says she heard the concerns during a statewide tour of Nebraska communities to learn about what support teachers and students need to succeed. Benson says her association recently received a grant from the National Education Association to help. The association plans to visit Nebraska communities in the spring to determine schools’ needs and how best to address them.",
            "output": [
                "Mental health services a concern in rural Nebraska schools."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcfc84d1486c461bb594ee480e14b381",
            "input": "The case has gained attention among journalists and rights groups. The 28-year-old Hajar Raissouni has been jailed since Aug. 31. She denies having had an abortion and claims she was married to her Sudanese fiancé under Islamic law. The fiancé, a gynecologist and two others also were jailed. They appeared in court as dozens of protesters gathered outside the courthouse in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, chanting “freedoms are in danger.” The judge on Monday denied Raissouni’s temporary release request. Abortions are illegal in Morocco as is premarital sex. Raissouni faces up to two years in prison if convicted on all counts. Raissouni claims she was arrested outside a clinic she visited for an “urgent intervention,” not an abortion. “She was not arrested in flagrante delicto. She didn’t confess to any crime. But this is the state of our country ... We’ve reached the level where women’s bodies become the subject of public debate,” said one of Raissouni’s lawyers, Fatiha Chtatou. Raissouni didn’t speak in court Monday, but was expected to when it convenes again over the case on Sept. 16. She works for the Arabic-language paper Akhbar Al Yaoum, a major daily critical of the state. Family members maintain that her arrest was politically motivated and that she was targeted because she is a journalist who covers a grassroots opposition movement. Amnesty International has called for Morocco to drop charges and release her. “Hajar is a victim in all this,” her uncle Soulaimane Raissouni, a columnist at the paper where she works, said in an interview. Police reportedly forced Raissouni into a medical exam at the time of her arrest. “It is a rape of her body. It shows that the state controls the bodies and freedom of a woman,” said Ibtissam Lachgar, spokeswoman for the rights group Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms.",
            "output": [
                "Moroccan journalist denies charges of illegal abortion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3475c7a57778474d9d66a025214d2bf9",
            "input": "The revamped panel at the Swedish Academy who will hand out the Nobel Literature prizes Thursday for both 2018 and 2019 would relish arguments about the winners, rather than intrigue about the #MeToo scandal that forced the institution to suspend the prize last year. And U.S. President Donald Trump has done his part to kindle intrigue about the 2019 Peace Prize winner, by simultaneously seeming to pitch himself for the prize while also slamming the Norwegian panel that awards it. “Controversy is a natural effect of the Literature Prize,” says Mats Malm, the Swedish Academy’s new permanent secretary, appointed to head a reformed 18-person panel after two years of convulsions at the prestigious institution. “We want to contribute to the international discussion about literature and what it is supposed to be.” The literary science professor is leading an overhaul of the body, which was ripped apart in late 2017 and 2018 by sex assaults involving Jean-Claude Arnault , the husband of a former academy member and a once-notable figure on Sweden’s cultural scene. Arnault was convicted last year of two rapes in 2011 but not before accusations of abuse had led to an exodus of academy committee members, the ouster of then-Permanent Secretary Sara Danius and the absence of a Nobel Literature prize for the first time since 1943 at the height of World War II. With a threat hanging from the Nobel Foundation — the body behind the Nobel Prizes — that the Swedish Academy could be stripped of its right to award the prize, the academy brought in five external members to help adjudicate the two literature awards this year. At the same time, it ousted everyone involved in the scandal and it “no longer includes any members who are subject to conflicts of interest or criminal investigations,” according to the foundation. Across the border, the five-person Norwegian Nobel Institute that oversees the Peace Prize usually claims not to enjoy the controversy that accompanies its choices. But Geir Lundestad, the non-voting secretary of the committee from 1990 to 2014, says some members have traditionally thrived on the controversies that the high-profile prize inevitably brings. “I am not sure the differences between the two committees are so big. The literature and peace prizes are more accessible to ordinary people than the prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry,” he says. “Some of the members enjoy the controversy that brings. It varies tremendously between members. But many recognize that some sort of controversy goes with the territory.” The Nobel committees never announce the names of candidates and nominations are not revealed for 50 years. Lundestad was in charge when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former U.S. President Barack Obama within months of his inauguration in 2009 — a prize that has attracted the ire of Trump, his successor. Obama was there “for about 15 seconds” before he was awarded the prize, Trump told a press conference in February. Trump has been nominated for the Peace Prize by U.S congressmen for opening a dialogue with North Korea. “I’ll probably never get it, but that’s OK,” Trump said. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for.” Second-guessing the thinking of the secretive panel is rarely fruitful, but the committee is not immune from the charms of U.S. presidents. As well as Obama, Theodore Roosevelt won it in 1906, Woodrow Wilson took the prize in 1920 and Jimmy Carter was chosen for the award in 2002. However, a better signal for this year’s award might be former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who won the Peace Prize alongside the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Gore at the time was the face of the climate movement, a mantle now sitting on the slender shoulders of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden. The teenage activist bolstered her profile last month, stepping onto the global stage at the U.N. to berate world leaders. “How dare you?” she kept saying to some of the world’s most powerful people, accusing them of ignoring the science behind climate change. “You are failing us.” Last month, Thunberg won the Right Livelihood award, often called the “Alternative Nobel.” British bookmakers have Thunberg as the hot peace prize favorite this year, with Trump listed as a rank outsider behind several other world leaders, including two prime ministers, Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The panel could also choose to acknowledge the joint leadership of Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and North Macedonia’s Zoran Zaev. The two prime ministers put 30 years of acrimony between their neighboring countries behind them when they agreed that the former Yugoslav republic should officially be renamed from Macedonia to North Macedonia and Greece should drop its objections to its neighbor joining NATO. On the literature side, the British website Nicer Odds has solved the dilemma of having two winners announced this year by only taking bets on the 2019 winner. Among the favorites are Canadian poet Anne Carson, novelists Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe and Can Xue of China and Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has been made into a hit TV series. The Nobel week begins Monday with the awards for physiology or medicine. The Physics Prize is handed out Tuesday, chemistry the following day, this year’s double-header Literature Prizes will be awarded Thursday and the Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The economics prize — officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which is the only prize not created by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite — will be awarded on Oct. 14. Nobel’s reason for having an institution in Norway hand out the Peace Prize while others are awarded in Sweden is unclear, but during his lifetime the two Scandinavian countries were in a union, which was dissolved in 1905. Nobel fame this year comes with a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates get them at elegant ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10 — the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896. ___ This story has corrected the spelling of Barack Obama’s first name and Jacinda Ardern’s last name. ___ Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Sheila Norman-Culp in London contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories on the 2019 Nobel Prizes by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes ___ Read more stories on climate issues by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/Climate",
            "output": [
                "Controversy stalks Nobel Peace, Literature prizes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c874440a02043f78feda6796f66e690",
            "input": "Dr. Nelson Teich, an oncologist and health care consultant, took the job April 17 faced with the task of aligning the ministry’s actions with the president’s view that Brazil’s economy must not be destroyed by restrictions to control spread of the virus. Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, also had rejected the use of chloroquine, which also had been touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as a treatment. Four government ministers who spoke after Teich’s resignation defended the idea of patients being allowed to use the drug if they want to, including Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and the Cabinet chief of staff, Gen. Walter Braga Netto. Officials say almost 15,000 people have died in Brazil from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, though some experts say the figure is significantly higher due to insufficient testing. The peak of the crisis has yet to hit Latin America’s largest nation, experts say. Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience until he became the Health Ministry’s No. 2 official in April, will be the interim minister until Bolsonaro chooses a replacement. Brazilian media have said that Teich’s ability to do his job had been weakened by the appointment of dozens of military personnel to jobs in the ministry. “Life is made up of choices and today I decided to leave,” Teich told journalists in capital Brasilia. He did not explain why he left the job and refused to answer questions. Braga Netto, the Cabinet chief, said Teich left the job “for personal reasons.” Bolsonaro did not comment. Teich’s resignation came one day after Bolsonaro told business leaders in a videoconference he would ease rules for using chloroquine to treat people infected with the coronavirus. Teich has frequently called use of the drug “an uncertainty,” and this week warned of its side effects. The Health Ministry previously allowed chloroquine to be used in coronavirus cases only for patients hospitalized in serious condition. At Bolsonaro’s urging, the country’s Army Chemical and Pharmaceutical Laboratory boosted chloroquine production in late March. Researchers last month reported no benefit in a large analysis of the drug or a related substance, hydroxychloroquine, in U.S. hospitals for veterans. Last month, scientists in Brazil stopped part of a study of chloroquine after heart rhythm problems developed in one quarter of people given the higher of two doses being tested. Governors who have recommended quarantine measures and refrained from touting the drug’s unproven potential said Teich’s resignation reflects Bolsonaro’s failure to manage the pandemic. Rio de Janeiro Gov. Wilson Witzel, a former ally of Bolsonaro, said “no one can do serious work with interference in ministries.” “That is why governors and mayors need to lead the pandemic crisis, and not you, Mr. President,” Witzel said on Twitter. The governor of Ceara, one of Brazil’s most hard-hit states, said Teich’s exit “brings enormous insecurity and concern.” “It is unacceptable that in the face of this serious health crisis, the focus of the government is still on political and ideological discussions. That is an affront to the nation,” Camilo Santana said. On April 16, Bolsonaro fired Teich’s predecessor, Mandetta, who had become the embodiment of challenges to the president’s opposition to governors’ quarantine recommendations and restrictions on businesses. Bolsonaro was eager to resume economic activity and warned failure to do so would cause Brazil to descend into “chaos”. Teich took office pledging to balance health care concerns and the president’s economic worries. He did not openly challenge the president’s views, but did defend stay-at-home measures. Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil’s non-profit Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials, said Teich wasn’t able to build his own team, didn’t have Mandetta’s political strength and wasn’t willing to violate the scientific recommendations. “He clearly had limitations,” Lago said. “He would not challenge what has been consensus among the scientific community. He would never accept the chloroquine thing that Bolsonaro wanted him to do, to recommend publicly that chloroquine was a remedy to be used in the public health system.”  Hours after Teich left the job, the Health Ministry began listing figures on chloroquine distribution as part of its main charts about government initiatives against the pandemic, alongside intensive care unit beds, personal protection equipment, tests and flu vaccines. Risk consultancy Eurasia Group analyst Filipe Gruppelli Carvalho said that the Health Ministry’s capacity for ”an effective coordinating role looks to have dropped with Mandetta’s exit,” . “Ultimately, Teich’s dismissal reinforces our view of increasing risks from the government’s poor response to the pandemic, which could contribute to a weaker presidency and decline in support for Bolsonaro in the post-pandemic phase,” he said. The newspaper Folha de S.Paulo published an editorial after Teich’s exit saying Bolsonaro is trying to “put his own survival above state policies and national interest.” “The resignation of another health minister — in less than a month and during the most serious sanitary emergency of contemporary history — exposes the downfall of a president that doesnt’t even pretend to govern the country,” the newspaper said. “As if the economic and sanitary calamities were not enough, he turned himself into a crisis to be faced.” After Teich’s resignation was announced, pot-banging protests were heard in different regions of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. _____ Associated Press writers David Biller and Diane Jeantet in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil’s health minister resigns after one month on the job."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-362344568b414c0eb7a9855410f1ddbc",
            "input": "\"During the first presidential debate at Hofstra University, Hillary Clinton decried gun violence, especially as it impacts young African-Americans. \"\"The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-American men, more than the next nine causes put together,\"\" she said. This is a claim Clinton has made before, and it’s accurate. We found the relevant data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Using this search form, we collected data on the 10 most common causes of death for African-American men and boys between the ages of 15 and 24, for 2014:  There were 2,256 gun-related homicides in 2014, compared to 2,119 deaths in the next nine categories combined. This makes Clinton’s statement correct. If you add in the accidents and suicides related to guns, the gap between gun-related deaths and other types of deaths expands even further. There were 2,533 gun-related deaths in all 10 categories combined, compared to 2,002 deaths in the top 10 categories that had nothing to do with guns. We should note that this statement is dependent on the age range chosen. For instance, the statement is not correct for African-American boys between age 10 and 14. There were 38 gun-related homicides in that age and racial group in 2014, plus 10 gun suicides and three unintentional injuries caused by guns, for a total of 51. By contrast, the top 10 causes of death for that age and racial group included 271 deaths that had nothing to do with guns, such as diseases. That said, we think using the definition of \"\"young\"\" as 15-24 is a reasonable one. Our ruling Clinton said, \"\"The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-American men, more than the next nine causes put together.\"\" As long as you define \"\"young\"\" as being between the ages of 15 and 24, Clinton’s statement is accurate, according to CDC data.\"",
            "output": [
                "The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-American men, more than the next nine causes put together."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3835df6f4c0247e3a302fdaaf32424c8",
            "input": "The methods, currently only at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would for the first time involve implanting genetically modified embryos into women. Critics said the technique was ethically suspect and would eventually lead to a eugenic ‘designer baby’ market. It involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. The methods are designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases - incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells. The potential treatment is known as three-parent in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the offspring would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor. After a national public consultation showed Britons broadly favor the idea, the government’s chief physician said on Friday it should be allowed to go ahead under strict regulation. “Scientists have developed ground-breaking new procedures which could stop these diseases being passed on, bringing hope to many families seeking to prevent their children inheriting them,” Sally Davies, chief medical officer, told reporters. “It’s only right that we look to introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can.”  But David King, director of the Human Genetics Alert campaign group said “the techniques are unnecessary and their use is ethically unsound” and criticized the government for failing to conduct a more comprehensive public consultation. “They cross the ethical line that has been agreed by government around the world that we should not genetically alter human beings,” he said in an emailed statement. Davies said the government’s health department is drafting regulations to cover the new treatments and plans to publish them later this year. The move would make Britain the first country in the world to give patients an option of mitochondrial DNA transfer to avoid passing the diseases on to their children. Scientists are researching several three-parent IVF techniques. One being developed at Britain’s Newcastle University, known as pronuclear transfer, swaps DNA between two fertilized human eggs. Another, called maternal spindle transfer, swaps material between the mother’s egg and a donor egg before fertilization. A British medical ethics panel which reviewed the potential treatments for mitochondrial diseases decided last year they were ethical and should go ahead as long as research shows they are likely to be safe and effective. Because Britain is in the vanguard of this research, ethical concerns, political decisions and scientific advances here are closely watched around the world - particularly in the United States where scientists are also working on DNA swap techniques. Pro-life campaigners have already criticized the scientific research, saying that creating embryonic children in a lab abuses them by subjecting them to unnatural processes. Critics like King also worry that modifying embryos to avoid disease is the first step towards the creation of “designer babies”, whose genetic makeup could be modified as embryos to ensure certain traits such as height or hair color. Asked whether she was “comfortable” with taking such a major step along the way to allowing human genetic modification, Davies said she had debated and considered the ethical implications with many experts over many years and had come to the conclusion the techniques should be allowed. Any final decision on putting the regulations in place to allow the new treatments to be offered will be subject to a vote in parliament, but Davies said she hoped the first patients may be able to get the new treatments within two years.",
            "output": [
                "Britain plans world's first go-ahead for '3-parent' IVF babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e3c3c6ede41b49b9b67f3a4de7c8401a",
            "input": "While one could argue that we should give the release a pass given the early stage of the research, the drugs discussed are commercially available and it would have been easy to provide cost information. The release provides insufficient detail regarding what occurred in this study and the outcomes that were reported. The release states that “both drugs were effective in activating OPCs to enhance myelination and reverse paralysis. As a result, almost all of the animals regained the use of their hind limbs.” But how many animals were studied, and how many of them regained use of their limbs? Was there total resolution of symptoms or only partial resolution, and how was this measured? The release never quantifies these results. Dr. Tesar provides a cautionary note related to the potential harms of this approach; “Off-label use of the current forms of these drugs is more likely to increase other health concerns than alleviate multiple sclerosis symptoms.” Given the stage of research, we think this is sufficient to rate this criterion as satisfactory Our major concern with the description of evidence is that the release waits too long to inform readers that these results were obtained in petri dishes and mice. We have to read more than halfway through the release to learn of this crucial caveat. We also had concerns about the headline as noted above in the Review Summary section. To its credit, the news release does provide an important cautionary statement: “…more research is needed before miconazole and clobetasol can be tested in multiple sclerosis clinical trials.” But this statement, coming late in the release, is too little to counterbalance the enthusiasm generated earlier in the release based on an incomplete and possibly misleading description of the evidence. No disease mongering is evident. We are told up front that the study was funded by a division within the National Institutes of Health, and there is no apparent conflict of interest according to the paper. The news release earns a Satisfactory rating by speaking to the current treatments that are available: “Current therapies for multiple sclerosis include anti-inflammatory drugs, which help prevent the episodic relapses common in multiple sclerosis, but are less effective at preventing long-term disability.” To earn extra credit here, the release could have provided a comment about other research into improving myelin production. This includes ongoing clinical trials being conducted by Biogen and others targeting myelin production in MS. The story makes it clear that the two drugs highlighted (clobetasol and miconazole) are available and adds the important precatuionary note, “…are currently approved for use as creams or powders on the surfaces of the body but their safety administered in other forms, such as injections, in humans is unknown.” This is indeed first of its kind research and that is appropriately noted in the news release. With the possible exception of the headline — an issue we’ve already addressed elsewhere in this review — no hyperbole is evident.",
            "output": [
                "Drugs that activate brain stem cells may reverse multiple sclerosis"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d5cc9cf5fdc4463b54307f9286768f2",
            "input": "On May 12 2020, the following image of small children separated by “chalk squares” on a playground during the COVID-19 pandemic began circulating:In a caption on the above iteration, the user wrote “Their reality …😢🌈,” but did not include any contextual information about the image or the events it showed. In it, five seemingly lonely children were seen in the photograph, each confined to the inside of their own chalk square.One of the five in the upper right corner sat at the edge of her square, her legs outside the boundary. Each chalk square appeared to delineate a solitary play area for every child, and spaces between seemed to ensure the children would not come too close to one another as they engaged in socially distant playground activity.Images of the “chalk square” children circulated concurrently alongside an unrelated viral post by “Americas Mom” on Facebook (archived here), in which a photograph of a crying woman is accompanied by a lengthy rant about the woman’s “quarantine fatigue” and ancillary concerns that her child was becoming lonely and/or irritating her.That post began by outlining the purported social effects of quarantine on children, before devolving into a rant decrying the use of masks and disinfectant:Written by a Mom, thank you 🙏: “I’ve had enough. People need to seriously look around and see what it’s doing to our kids. To kids too young to understand what’s going on. Kids that are by themselves with no siblings to play with, no cousins around, no friends. No secret play dates. No interaction with anyone besides mom or dad. What do you think that’s doing to our kids biologically and psychologically?The answer is we don’t know!But when you’re a parent you can see the hurt that your child is going through every day and you can explain to them why.. Do you know what I’ve been telling her, the truth! People are afraid of getting sick sweetheart. People are dependent on the government to protect them from everything. You might not agree with that and honestly I don’t care. Because I don’t agree with anything that’s going on right now.Every time I get into the car with my child she begs to go someplace, crying. Should I record it for you? Should I make you hear it on the daily like I do? Will that make you change your mind?You say that you care about these kids. You don’t. You fear for these kids, that is a difference. You fear that they’re going to be sick.. but are you fearing that their minds are now going to be ill and stunted in growth with no Social interactions? I hope you know those social interactions are how they build their immune system.So put a new spin on essential employees that are allowed to send their kids to childcare. These kids are allowed the ability to socially interact with one another, and have the ability to build their immune system. Nonessential employees or people that never put their child in daycare and relied on social interaction for play are now being stunted. So you’re telling us our kids are no longer essential? Our kids aren’t essential enough to build their immune system’s or build their social connections?You say you are not wanting to open the playgrounds because you can’t socially distance and you can’t disinfect. Where was your concern with disinfecting prior to coronavirus? Are you telling us that you never sanitized the parks before so they were riddled with viruses and bacteria that our child was going to become ill?Open the playgrounds, stop the social distancing, stop the masks that are POINTLESS. And I swear to god if the medical professional comes on here and says I wear a mask for 12 hours a day, I’m gonna put your ass on blast. Because you do not wear a mask all throughout your 12 hour shift. Stop lying to yourself.If you don’t agree with me that’s fine. But step the f**k out of my way while I try to fix the future for my child. Because I’ll be damned if she cries every day wanting to play with somebody or wanting to go do something and she can’t because you live in fear. Live in fear in your own f**king house.”As for the children playing in chalk squares, that image was originally tweeted by French journalist Lionel Top on May 12 2020:Les enfants font leur rentrée aujourd’hui (un petite partie d’entre-eux plutôt). Ambiance très étrange, voire dérangeante… pic.twitter.com/g91y5hLatJ— Lionel Top (@lioneltop) May 12, 2020That tweet, automatically translated by Twitter, read:The children are coming back today (a small part of them rather). Very strange, even disturbing atmosphere …In a second tweet, Top provided additional detail about the photograph:Contexte :Pour faire respecter les distances, tout en profitant des récrés, l’équipe pédagogique a dessiné des carrés au sol pour les + petits. Les enfants jouent, dansent, sautent, rient ensemble… mais depuis ce carré.De ce qu’on a vu, ils ne le vivent pas comme une punition https://t.co/i98ZltvteN— Lionel Top (@lioneltop) May 12, 2020Ils apprennent à vivre ensemble mais différemment.Les photos sont marquantes et la plupart des réactions sur Twitter témoignent d’une même émotion, celle d’une école qui ne correspond pas à ce que l’on connaît, mais les enfants ce matin n’étaient pas « malheureux »— Lionel Top (@lioneltop) May 12, 2020Twitter translation:Context: To ensure that distances are respected, while taking advantage of recreation, the teaching team has drawn squares on the ground for the little ones. The children play, dance, jump, laugh together … but from this square. From what we’ve seen, they don’t see it as a punishmentThey learn to live together but differently. The photos are striking and most of the reactions on Twitter show the same emotion, that of a school which does not correspond to what we know, but the children this morning were not “unhappy”A viral photograph of children in “chalk squares” after returning to school during the COVID-19 pandemic was real, shared by a French journalist on May 12 2020. Top captured the image at a preschool in Tourcoing, France, and emphasized that the children were not suffering or unhappy.Comments",
            "output": [
                "A photograph appears to show small schoolchildren playing alone in marked-off chalk squares drawn on playground asphalt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f83d8072c0e94ef99cca392f9145618c",
            "input": "On Thursday, the United States laid out its objectives for a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain, seeking to entirely eliminate or reduce barriers for U.S. agricultural products and streamline regulatory differences. Opponents of Brexit have argued that such a U.S. accord would open up Britain’s markets to the likes of chlorine-treated chicken and genetically modified crops, while ministers have said the government would not lower food standards to win trade deals. “You have been presented with a false choice: either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality,” Ambassador Woody Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “Inflammatory and misleading terms like ‘chlorinated chicken’ and ‘hormone beef’ are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light. It is time the myths are called out for what they really are: a smear campaign from people with their own protectionist agenda.”  Johnson said American farmers were using all scientific and technological tools to help meet the challenges of a growing global population and the resulting health and environmental pressures that brought. “It is not sustainable for the whole world to follow the EU’s ‘Museum of Agriculture’ approach. We have to look to the future of farming, not just the past,” he said. Johnson said washing chicken was a “public safety no-brainer” and using growth hormones for cattle allowed more meat to be produced at a lower cost to the consumer and environment while being completely safe to eat. “The fact is that farmers in America have the same priorities as farmers in Britain”, he said. “It would be a genuine missed opportunity to buy into the idea that the EU’s traditionalist approach to agriculture is Britain’s only option for a quality and efficient agriculture sector moving forward.”   In a separate story on Saturday, the Telegraph reported that Britain would follow all EU food and farming regulations for nine months should it exit the bloc without having secured a withdrawal deal to protect British farming. The newspaper said the move sent a signal that the United Kingdom wanted to stay aligned with European and not U.S. agricultural standards.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. ambassador says don't let farming 'smears' stop post-Brexit trade deal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d558aea134045939fdb75212076f5ba",
            "input": "Brian and Kristen Festa, of Bristol, said Saturday they asked the department for a declaratory ruling on their petition because officials plan to release additional data this month. A Superior Court judge dismissed their lawsuit in September. The couple had sought to stop the release of additional immunization information and have school-by-school immunization data from 2017-18 removed online. The judge said they hadn’t exhausted their “administrative remedies” with public health officials. Parents of an unvaccinated son, Brian and Kristen Festa say they’ve suffered mental and emotional distress due to hateful statements from the public since the release of immunization rate data in May.",
            "output": [
                "Couple asks state for quick decision about vaccination data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-545dfb0c2f2a483ba1f84bdc48d21f4c",
            "input": "Clark County Public Health says people who visited PeaceHealth Urgent Care - Memorial in Vancouver in the afternoon Dec. 31 may have been exposed. The Oregon Health Authority said a measles case was confirmed in a person who spent time in The Dalles and Hood River. People in The Dalles may have been exposed Dec. 29 at the Discovery Center or Dec. 31 at Fred Meyer. People in Hood River may have been exposed Dec. 30 if they were at Doppio Cafe, Goodwill or Full Sail Brewery in the early afternoon. People who were at the Oregon Health & Science University Emergency Department Jan. 2 in the morning may have been exposed. Officials advise anyone who may have measles symptoms to call before visiting a medical office. Measles symptoms begin with a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by a rash.",
            "output": [
                "Measles cases confirmed in Vancouver and Portland."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-38b1710527cc4801bade080cbfd1b4ab",
            "input": "\"The coronavirus pandemic has governors grappling with the implications of holding primary elections even as some are insisting everyone stay at home until the public health crisis subsides. Of 23 states that have not yet held primaries, at least eight  are now postponed, according to news reports. Illinois was one of three states that allowed voting to continue as scheduled on March 17, even after Gov. J.B. Pritzker closed schools, barred restaurants from serving dine-in customers and prohibited mass gatherings. Ohio, which was also scheduled to vote that day, shuttered polling places hours before they were set to open by declaring a public health emergency. Following Ohio’s 11th-hour move, Pritzker responded to criticism from Chicago’s city election board over why he did not act to postpone in-person voting in Illinois. At an Election Day news conference, Pritzker said the city’s board had asked him a week before \"\"to do something that is unquestionably not within my legal authority.\"\" \"\"They wanted me unilaterally to cancel in-person voting on March 17, convert Illinois to an all-vote-by-mail state, and extend vote by mail to May 12,\"\" Pritzker continued. \"\"They could not even begin to explain the legal basis for their request.\"\" It’s impossible to say what would have happened had Pritzker’s administration forced a delay like Ohio’s, so calling it \"\"unquestionable\"\" is a bit of an exaggeration. But experts told us the governor’s on firm legal footing to claim he cannot — on his own — interfere with the democratic process. During a state of emergency, which Pritzker declared earlier this month, public officials have broad authority to make drastic changes that may alter people’s daily lives and undercut businesses’ ability to operate. For example, Illinois’ Emergency Management Agency Act allows the governor to control the movement of people within a \"\"disaster area,\"\" which in this case covers the entire state. It also permits him to seize property and suspend the sale of items such as alcohol or firearms. But it says nothing about postponing elections. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine acknowledged he also lacked the authority to delay an election, according to the Columbus Dispatch. So he backed an attempt to get a court to change the date. When a judge denied that request, his public health director ordered all polling places closed. That action prompted a legal challenge, but Ohio’s supreme court dismissed it, declining to stop the state from shuttering the polls. Experts told us Pritzker’s administration may have been able to try something similar, potentially forcing the Illinois General Assembly to sort out a new date, as Ohio’s is now doing. But the experts warned that doing so could have set a troubling precedent for future elections. \"\"You can say that even though the motivations here (in Ohio’s case) were completely pure and even though the decision here was completely reasonable, this is a dynamic that is not particularly healthy to have a situation where a person who is elected himself is deciding not to hold elections,\"\" said Nadav Shoked, a local government expert at Northwestern University’s law school. Indeed, Pritzker made a similar point during his press conference, warning \"\"it is exactly in times like these when the constitutional boundaries of our democracy should be respected above all else.\"\" When we asked his office why the governor’s administration had not tried to close polls like Ohio’s did, spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh responded in an email that \"\"breaking the law and then hoping the Supreme Court agrees with you isn’t how this administration prefers governing.\"\" So who can set a new election date or shift voting entirely to mail-in ballots in Illinois? Abudayyeh told us state lawmakers would have to pass legislation in order to make that happen. The legislature was not in session the week before the election. The state’s election board also said it could not act unilaterally, noting in a March 16 press release that moving the election would require either a court order or legislative action. \"\"The Election Code is silent on the issue of canceling or postponing an election,\"\" spokesman Matt Dietrich told us in an email. \"\"It would require the General Assembly amending the Election Code to give us (or some other official or entity) such authority.\"\" Dietrich said the same goes for mandating election authorities send mail-in ballots to voters. Experts said it stands to reason that state lawmakers must take action in order to alter how elections are conducted. \"\"Who represents the people of the state? It’s the state legislature,\"\" said Jaime Dominguez, an urban politics expert at Northwestern University. \"\"Voters are indirectly involved through their representative in the legislature.\"\" Pritzker said it was \"\"unquestionably\"\" not within his \"\"legal authority\"\" to postpone Illinois’ primary election by changing the date or shifting the election to vote-by-mail. While there are too many hypotheticals to be certain Pritzker’s administration could not have delayed the election in any way, experts told us the governor spoke correctly in describing the limits of his powers under state law. — The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "JB Pritzker Says it was “unquestionably” not within his “legal authority” to postpone Illinois’ primary election by changing the date or shifting to vote-by-mail."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c96d2c6f5ae4e298050d0c227a9fb77",
            "input": "Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement that the prosecution of Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of the River at Tampa Bay Church would not proceed. Warren said Howard-Browne has conducted operations responsibly since his arrest in March. Howard-Browne had been charged with unlawful assembly and violating quarantine orders during a public health emergency. The pastor held services at the church despite local orders to limit gatherings to no more than 10 people, authorities said. “Our office has determined that further prosecution or punishment would not provide increased protections for our community and is not needed to achieve any additional change in Pastor Howard-Browne’s behavior,” Warren said. Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel that represents Howard-Browne, released a statement Friday calling the Howard-Browne’s arrest “politically motivated”and that the case should never have been brought. “Neither the pastor nor The River at Tampa Bay Church did anything wrong,” Staver said. “We are pleased that all the charges have been dropped. It is now time to move forward with healing and restoration.” Shortly after the arrest, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exempted houses of worship from a statewide stay-at-home order.",
            "output": [
                "Charges dropped against Florida pastor over stay-home order."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bcb5d9c48bcc462ab38ea45ef6f7c010",
            "input": "The state Marijuana Regulatory Agency’s emergency rules, which prohibit vitamin E acetate, apply to existing medical marijuana businesses and those in the process of being licensed to sell for recreational use as soon as Dec. 1. Regulators noted that U.S. health officials found the compound in the damaged lungs of 29 patients across the country who were sickened from vaping. “It is absolutely vital that patients and consumers know, with certainty, the ingredients in the products that they are using,” Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said in a written statement. “These rules require stringent testing and will continue to prioritize the health and safety of Michiganders.” Effective immediately, businesses cannot sell previously made marijuana vaping products unless they pass new testing. Processors making new products are barred from using inactive ingredients that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Regulators said they will inspect processing facilities twice a month to ensure compliance. Inactive ingredients added to marijuana products must be clearly listed on the label. Vitamin E acetate is used as an additive, most notably as a thickener in e-cigarette products that contain THC, which gives marijuana its high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though vitamin E is safe as a pill or to use on the skin, inhaling oily droplets of it can be harmful. Fifty-five vaping-related lung injuries have been identified in Michigan, including a 17-year-old boy who needed a life-saving double lung transplant. This is the second time since September that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has taken emergency steps to limit vaping. Her ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes has been blocked by a state judge and is being appealed. An industry group backed the latest rules on Friday. “We’re fully supportive of the governor’s decision,” said Robin Schneider, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association. “Our member’s No. 1 priority is providing safe, tested medicine to medical marijuana patients across the state. We think this will contribute significantly towards that goal.” ___ Follow David Eggert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00",
            "output": [
                "Michigan halts sale of marijuana e-cigs unless re-tested."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-023a092a512a4d4289d8c4efe7f2e8b3",
            "input": "\"“Now it has flipped,” said Bill Colone, CEO of San Clemente-based Spinal Singularity, which hopes to launch a ‘smart’ catheter for men with spinal injuries or disease early next year after squeezing in its application under the old European rules. Colone is part of a chorus of industry voices warning that a switch to stricter European rules governing medical devices, due to come into force a year from now, will slow or even halt the release of products in Europe that could transform patients’ lives. Defenders of the regulations say they will not significantly complicate the process and are vital to prevent problems like rupturing silicone breast implants and debris from all-metal hip implants damaging tissue and bones. Many patient advocates say the new rules do not go far enough to reform a European system in which a top U.S. official suggested in 2011 patients may be \"\"guinea pigs\"\" here The comment drew a sharp response from the European Union, which still firmly rejects that characterization. That transatlantic spat, and the subsequent evolution of medical device certification around the world, are part of a wider global struggle by governments to attract businesses seeking light-touch regulation without scaring off their voters. The new medical devices rules agreed by the European Union in 2017 will tighten control of devices before they come to market, improve transparency and strengthen surveillance by national authorities, a European Commission spokesperson said. The new system changes less than some proposals - which envisaged regulation by a public body, along U.S. lines, replacing the existing practice of certification by profit-making private firms. But players in medical technology - which ranges from surgical implants to scans - say it is too burdensome and is being built too slowly, risking not only hampering innovation but also harming patients by interrupting supplies. “Immediate action is needed now to avoid severe disruption of product supply to patients and hospitals,” seven European Associations said in a joint statement last week. All 55,000 devices certified under the old directives have to be re-certified along with other products such as reusable scalpels, nasal saline sprays and dental imaging software. The industry says there are not enough Notified Bodies - the private firms charged with certifying the safety of devices ranging from bandages to pacemakers, and that manufacturers may have to take products off the market or delay new launches. The situation is further complicated by Brexit, with Britain’s BSI one of just two notified bodies to have got the go-ahead to certify devices under the new Medical Devices Regulation (MDR). If Britain leaves the EU in October without a deal, certificates issued by British bodies would be invalid. Germany, home to Europe’s biggest medtech sector, is pressing the European Commission to smooth the transition, suggesting three solutions to overcome any Brexit-related supply problems in a March 27 letter to the Commission seen by Reuters. These include giving firms 12 more months to sell products in the EU in the case of a disorderly Brexit, as long as they plan how to regain compliance, the letter from German Health Minister Jens Spahn said. Trade groups have suggested delaying implementation of the rules beyond May 2020 or faster designation of notified bodies. The European Commission rejects the need for contingency plans and said it was focusing on a timely implementation of the regulation, which includes requirements for manufacturers to monitor product safety once devices are on the market. More than 20 notified bodies could be accredited by the end of the year, it said. This is around a third of the number of firms currently certified to assess medical products. “That is a massive reduction in capacity when adding a considerable volume of work,” said Gary Slack, senior vice president for global medical devices at the notified body BSI. To hedge against any Brexit risk, BSI has set up a subsidiary in Amsterdam and has transferred most of its clients’ certificates there, but is still waiting for its Dutch body to be certified under the MDR. For Medtech conglomerates with thousands of devices, the bill to meet the new regulations could stretch into the millions of dollars - especially for those that make riskier devices. Smith and Nephew, which manufacturers hip and knee implants, put its MDR compliance costs at $15-$20 million for 2018 and around $60 million this year. As a result of the regulation, more than 55 percent of those surveyed by Germany industry association ZVEI said they would reduce the number of products on offer. The Commission said many products are eligible for a so-called ‘grace period’ which means they can be sold under the old rules until May 2024 at the latest if certificates are reissued, something BSI said many firms are rushing to do. But the other certified body, Germany’s Tuev-Sued, said many manufacturers had yet to catch on to the regulatory changes. “We are definitely expecting chaotic years,” said Bassil Akra, Tuev-Sued’s vice president in charge of medtech. The medical technology industry is worth $129 billion and employs 675,000 people in Europe, according to MedTech Europe. Experts agree that many new devices are invaluable to patients, but the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said in November that faulty ones were linked to 1.7 million injuries and nearly 83,000 deaths over the past decade. A key part of the new regulation is how much access doctors and patients will have to the pan-European Eudamed database, to strengthen surveillance and prevent repeated adverse incidents. A Commission spokesperson said discussions were ongoing with authorities, patient groups and other stakeholders. While medtech giants like Siemens Healthineers and Germany’s Fresenius have the regulatory staff to navigate the new rules, most firms are much smaller and will struggle, said MedTech Europe CEO Serge Bernasconi. Spinal Singularity said it had managed to apply under the old system by hiring contractors to help it submit all the paperwork to a notified body by May 27 - two months before it had planned. It is hoping for certification by the end of the year, but is dreading renewing it in four years’ time because of what he said were many “incredibly burdensome” new requirements. German surgical instrument maker Asanus said it plans to take around five highly-innovative surgical products off the market and will discontinue several hundred minimally-invasive devices, as well as stop new development in this area. “If the paperwork costs for the product are five times the amount you can achieve in sales, you simply won’t do it anymore,” said Chief Executive Armin Schorer, who expects many smaller makers of lower risk devices to shut up shop. Bernasconi and Colone said start-ups are now looking to launch their products in other markets, like the United States or China first, denying European patients access to innovations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal body that approves medical devices, is toughening up its own approval process after faulty medical devices harmed patients there too. But Colone noted that was only for some products. His firm plans to file for U.S. approval this autumn. “Because of the pending new EU MDR, overall the FDA process may even be slightly easier,” he said. Kurt Racke, a medical ethics expert at Bonn University, said he did not think Europe’s new regulations would make it harder to win approvals than in the United States. “I think Europe has the most lax market for medical devices,” he said. “I don’t think so much will change there in principle.”  The European Commission rejects suggestions its rules are not tough enough. “The Commission takes patient safety very seriously,” a spokesperson said, “and has led various regulatory reforms to ensure the highest possible quality, safety and reliability of medical devices on the EU market.”\"",
            "output": [
                "Will Europe's clampdown on faulty medical devices hurt patients?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b107f46261f242ebb4c713233e012512",
            "input": "The cost of the ‘intervention’ (catching up on sleep) is what is at issue here, and that is ‘free’. So we’ll rule this Not Applicable. Benefits are not quantified in a meaningful way. The story says, “insulin sensitivity had fallen by 23 percent and their bodies had started to produce extra insulin. But when researchers checked again after two nights of extended rest, the men’s insulin sensitivity, and the amount of insulin their bodies produced, had returned to normal.”  A 23% drop sounds substantial, but was it clinically important? What were the absolute numbers? We think the story could have done more here to help readers understand what was observed and what it means. Hard to imagine the “harms” of getting more sleep, so we’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story includes some useful qualifiers regarding the quality of the study and what conclusions can be drawn: The study doesn’t prove sleeping late every weekend can counter the ill effects of insufficient rest every other night of the week, Broussard cautioned. And it doesn’t prove that catching up on sleep will prevent diabetes. It also notes: “The results from the present study are unlikely to be fully reflective of what may occur in persons who are older, overweight or obese, or have other potent risk factors for diabetes,” said James Gangwisch, a researcher at Columbia University who wasn’t involved in the study. The story could have provided more detail about the subjects, the relationship between insulin resistance and sleep deprivation vs other lifestyle issues, and previous research showing similar results. None here. Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are important public health problems. The article did a good job, as noted earlier, of highlighting the limitations of the study, and quotes an outside researcher saying as much. Kudos! This article would have been greatly strengthened if it had at least mentioned the lifestyle and other interventions that can indeed reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes or its complications, including weight reduction, good diets, exercise and medications. The issue of detecting and addressing diabetes risk factors such as insulin resistance issues in children and teenagers also could have put this article in better perspective, with respect to the apparent young age of the subjects. The availability of sleep is not in question. The article did point out the calorie control part of the protocol, and the possibly novel notion that two days of non-deprived sleep can reverse the insulin resistance increase observed in the subjects. It is clear what this small study aimed to add to the science. Since the story includes commentary from an independent expert, we can be sure it didn’t rely excessively on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Sleeping in on weekends may help reduce diabetes risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ed800d4a75c4443b60bad7a87cb985c",
            "input": "Medical authorities said late Friday that the young male patient was admitted to an isolated emergency ward at a hospital in Enkoping, northwest of Stockholm, with symptoms including blood in his vomit and stools. Officials said the condition of the man, who had spent several weeks in Burundi, improved over the course of the day. Tests also showed the man isn’t suffering from yellow fever, dengue, Marburg virus or Rift Valley fever either. All major Ebola outbreaks have been in Africa, though isolated cases have been reported outside the continent.",
            "output": [
                "Sweden: No Ebola virus detected in hospital patient."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-945cc5290c9647e2a35f0754b1085093",
            "input": "The Chattanooga police investigation found Shawn Hickey had counseled at least six Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute patients who had been criminally charged by the department, creating a conflict of interest, the Chattanooga Times Free Press  reports, citing an internal affairs report. In January, the 23-year department veteran was spotted arriving late to mandatory in-service trainings and leaving early. He was placed on administrative leave in August pending the internal investigation. When asked about his training attendance, Hickey told investigators that he did leave at least one class early, but he didn’t remember why. He also acknowledged having a second job at the mental health institute where he worked “almost every day except for the weekend.” He was pretty sure he took time off from that job for the training though, he told investigators. Hickey’s captain and assistant chief knew about Hickey’s other job, but were told that it was only part time and wouldn’t interfere with his police responsibilities. The investigation found Hickey was actually working as a full-time social worker, clocking more than 37 hours at the institute during the week of police training. Hickey was fired from the mental health institute this summer after an internal investigation by the state Department of Mental Health found a previously undisclosed conflict of interest with Hickey’s role at the police department. The state alerted the police department to the six cases in which Hickey counseled patients criminally charged by the department. It said he also didn’t disclose his role with the department to those patients. A review of the GPS records for Hickey’s department-issued vehicle found that he would park the vehicle overnight at locations that weren’t his home address. He told investigators that he had been staying with his girlfriend, according to the report, which says he described the relationship as “great friends who travel together” and was trying to hide it from his wife. During a subsequent interview, Hickey told investigators, “OK, you caught me,” according to the report. He was fired last month and declined to comment when contacted by the newspaper on Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "Tennessee officer fired after working 2nd job while on duty."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9426e308eb643a68a11e2ca60d6177e",
            "input": "The cause of the headaches, weakness and pain were trypanosomes, tiny parasites spread by the bite of the tsetste fly — a companion of the elephants. Trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is the result. Local families described the toll the disease can take. “I feel too weak,” said Chiomba Njati, who was still recovering after a week in the hospital. He said he was bitten while farming near the wildlife reserve. “I cannot even carry a hoe and farm. The home is lacking food and other important things because it is my wife doing everything on her own. This is so worrying.” Authorities said the Nkhotakota wildlife reserve has seen a surge in tsetse fly numbers since around 2015 when the elephants and other game animals were reintroduced. The local hospital said it did not have a number of sleeping sickness cases. One community resident, Group Village Ngondo, recalled at least five deaths from the disease. The World Health Organization says sleeping sickness is endemic in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa but cases have been dropping. Last year just under 1,000 cases were recorded, a new low. The majority of cases are reported in Congo. The disease is “notoriously difficult to treat” with drugs and easier to treat when caught early, WHO says. The health agency says it is usually fatal when untreated as the parasite moves into the central nervous system and eventually can cause seizures and coma. Dr. Janelisa Misaya, a Malawi College of Medicine principal investigator, underscored the need to control the tsetse fly population. “One tsetse can actually infect a lot of people at once,” she said. “So we don’t want to take chances.” Some villagers expressed concern about the reintroduction of wildlife and the enlargement of the nearby reserve. The African Parks field operations manager for the reserve, David Robertson, acknowledged that the reintroduction of animals in 2015 led to an increase in tsetse flies. “It is a bit ironic because it is a negative symptom of the success we are having,” he said. “By increasing animal numbers, one of the unfortunate consequences could be an increase in tsetse fly numbers. Even though they are a natural part of the system, they contribute to biodiversity.” The tsetse flies are something the parks workers need to manage differently, Robertson said. “We don’t want to have neighboring communities or tourists to the park having an unpleasant experience or dangerous experience though contact with tsetse flies so we will do our best to manage that in the future.” To address the problem, African Parks in collaboration with Malawi’s government has introduced pesticide-impregnated targets and traps that attract the flies. So far 600 have been placed in the wildlife reserve. They are placed near the edge of thickets in areas that will receive morning and evening light but are shaded from the most intense sunlight during midday hours. The area surrounding each is slashed and cleared with hoes to produce a firebreak to protect it from occasional wildfires. Controlling the flies and animal populations are ways to help fight the disease. More assertive diagnosis and treatment are others. Local medical personnel are receiving more training to screen for and diagnose trypanosomiasis. The community has benefited from African Parks’ support for screening efforts, said Tenson Mkumbwa, deputy lab manager at the Nkhotakota District Hospital. “This leads to early diagnosis and treatment,” he said. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Malawi fights tsetse flies, disease after wildlife relocated."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4220a2261df14e9a8016456af7e9d8f0",
            "input": "The report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General does not say whether patients suffered because of the hospitals’ practices. But all five Indian Health Service hospitals that were reviewed had patients who were given opioids in amounts exceeding federal guidelines, the report said. “There are vulnerabilities with this particular population in the opioid prescribing and dispensing practices,” said Carla Lewis, one of the auditors. The overdose epidemic that has killed more people than any other drug epidemic in U.S. history has hit indigenous communities hard. Native Americans and Alaska Natives had the second-highest rate of opioid overdose out of all U.S. racial and ethnic groups in 2017, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez called the audit’s findings “very concerning” and said the tribe plans to reach out to its congressional members and the Indian Health Service to ensure the recommendations are addressed. New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the report “is a deeply troubling indication that structural issues at the IHS are potentially worsening the opioid crisis in Indian Country.” The report made more than a dozen recommendations to the Indian Health Service to better track patients’ health records and pain management, ensure opioids are stored under tighter security and update its information technology systems. The agency agreed on every point and said changes are coming. The Indian Health Service, the federal agency that administers primary health care for Native Americans, has put an increased focus on opioids lately with a new website and the creation of a committee focused on decreasing overdose deaths, promoting culturally appropriate treatments and ensuring that communities know how to respond. The audit covered five of the 25 hospitals directly run by the Indian Health Service: the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Phoenix; Northern Navajo Medical Center on the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico; the Lawton Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma; the Cass Lake Indian Hospital on the Leech Lake reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota; and the Fort Yates Hospital on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota. Auditors considered the amount of opioids each hospital dispensed and the percentage increase over three years when deciding which ones to review. They looked at 30 patient records at each hospital, visited the facilities and interviewed staff. The auditors found that the hospitals strayed from guidelines in the Indian Health Manual in reviewing treatment for patients and their causes of pain every three months. Patients also must sign a written consent form and an agreement to treat chronic pain with opioids so they know the risks and benefits, as well as the requirement for drug screenings. More than 100 patient records did not include evidence of informed consent, and dozens did not have evidence that providers adequately educated patients. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that patients be prescribed no more than 90 morphine milligram equivalents per day, a measure used to compare an opioid dose with morphine. The audit found that each hospital met or exceeded that amount at times. At the Shiprock hospital, the daily dosage was more than four times as high. The auditors also found some patients were prescribed opioids and benzodiazepines — commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia —at the same time, which “puts patients at a greater risk of a potentially fatal overdose.” The Indian Health Service said all of its facilities now submit that data so the agency’s top leadership can track it. Among the report’s other findings: —More than two dozen records showed no evidence patients were screened for drugs with urine tests when they started opioid treatment and periodically after. Providers did not have an alert system to know when patients were due for the urine tests. The Phoenix hospital has since implemented one. —Pharmacists are supposed to review patients’ files before filling prescriptions from an outside provider, but that was not done at four of the hospitals. In one case, Fort Yates filled a prescription from an outside provider despite the hospital discontinuing treatment because the patient violated a pain management agreement. The Indian Health Service said it would issue a directive in December for prescribers to track that information. —Only the Lawton hospital had opioids secured in a storage cabinet requiring employee authentication for access. One photo attached to the report showed the combination to a safe listed on the safe itself. The Indian Health Service said it has revised its manual to require opioids awaiting pickup to be locked up. —Agreements with their states require that hospitals report daily on opioid prescriptions that are filled so patients do not seek the drugs from multiple providers at the same time. Fort Yates and Phoenix now are complying. The Indian Health Service said the reporting would be automated by June 2020. At all hospitals, auditors noted that providers did not always review the data before seeing new patients or during the time patients were on opioids for pain. “Part of it is to ensure the holistic approach of providing care,” Lewis said. Hospital officials and providers often said they were overwhelmed by the number of patients or could not control how regularly they came in — sometimes due to the long distances between patients’ homes and the hospitals. Lewis said auditors try to be reasonable in their requests. “We try to make recommendations that are going to be actionable and cost-effective for an organization,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Elevated opioid risks found at Native American hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e42bce0516c44d685f9cda897795255",
            "input": "\"The gloves are off. Chris Christie may be more popular than ever, but the Republican isn’t taking any chances with seeking re-election in a majority Democrat state. Witness a new TV ad released Monday by his re-election campaign, Christie for Governor. The ad starts off with pictures of Christie’s Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono, as a narrator introduces her as former Gov. Jon Corzine’s budget chair. Buono chaired the Senate’s Budget and Appropriations Committee for two years during Corzine’s tenure. \"\"Buono voted 154 times to raise our taxes -- like the sales tax, the income tax, health care taxes, even small business taxes,\"\" the narrator states as text in the commercial states she voted to raise taxes and fees. This ad is a variation on a theme mentioned previously by Christie, and it’s also right on target. First, some background about tax increases. During his State of the State address earlier this year Christie noted that New Jersey saw more than 100 increases in taxes and fees in the eight years before he became governor, which is similar to the new TV ad about Buono, the Democratic challenger in the November gubernatorial race. In addition, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) made a similar claim in an Oct. 7, 2011 news release when he tied 115 votes for tax increases to jobs leaving New Jersey. For both previous fact-checks, Republicans provided us with a list that included tax and fee hikes as well as tax policy changes that occurred between fiscal years 2003 and 2010. Now let’s review the 154 increases. The Christie for Governor camp provided us with a list of the 154 increases they claim Buono supported both in the Senate and when she served in the Assembly. We reviewed each vote and found that the list given us mirrors the previous Republican-provided lists, plus additional votes. Although Democrats sponsored most of the bills in question, a few had Republican support. Democrats held legislative majorities in the eight years before Christie became governor. His predecessors during that time were Jim McGreevey, Richard Codey and Corzine. Among the increases were raising the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent and applying the tax to services such as tanning and limousine rides; increases in the cigarette tax; and allowing towns to impose parking taxes and surcharges. Also, the state twice increased the gross income tax on New Jerseyans with six-figure incomes: in 2004 for those with income exceeding $500,000 and again in 2009 for those incomes above $400,000. In addition to tax increases were hikes in dozens of fees, such as a new $1.50 fee on the sale of new vehicle tires; imposing fees on certain realty transfers; on hotel/motel occupancies; increases in the minimum casino hotel parking charge; and raising the fee to file for divorce. Overall, the lists provided by Republicans showed that there were dozens of increases in taxes or fees or other tax policy changes that could result in individuals or businesses paying higher taxes. We calculated the votes and confirmed that Buono did vote 154 times in favor of higher taxes and fees. After we shared the list with Buono for Governor spokesman David Turner, we received a list back pointing out cuts that Christie has made to various tax credit rebates and programs; legislation the governor signed resulting in assessments on ambulatory care facilities and insurers; and other legislation signed by Christie allowing government authorities to charge fees. \"\"Barbara Buono has spent her life in public service fighting for New Jersey's middle class and working people,\"\" Turner said in an e-mail. \"\"Throughout her career she has pushed to make large corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share and reduce the tax burden on New Jersey's working families. And she has consistently voted to hold lawbreakers accountable—if Governor Christie believes it was wrong to stiffen penalties for deadbeat dads, impose tougher fines on tax cheats and force polluters to help pay for damaging our environment and threatening public health, he should say so.\"\" Christie for Governor spokesman Kevin Roberts declined comment. Our ruling A Christie for Governor TV ad claims, \"\"Buono voted 154 times to raise our taxes -- like the sales tax, the income tax, health care taxes, even small business taxes.\"\" Although a narrator only mentions tax increases, scrolling text in the ad also mentions fee increases. And in this case, the ad is accurate: Buono did vote on 154 bills that would increase fees and taxes on things ranging from the purchase of new vehicle tires to those New Jerseyans earning six-figure incomes exceeding $400,000. To comment on this story, go to NJ.com.\"",
            "output": [
                "Buono voted 154 times to raise our taxes -- like the sales tax, the income tax, health care taxes, even small business taxes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-24e575a747064e659bafa9b36a53f54a",
            "input": "The first death came in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 9. It took 83 days for the first 50,000 deaths to be recorded and just eight more for the toll to climb to 100,000. The toll has been accelerating at a daily rate of between 6% and 10% over the past week, and there were almost 7,300 deaths globally reported on Thursday. The death toll now compares with that of London’s Great Plague in the mid-1660s, which killed an estimated 100,000 people, about a third of the city’s population at the time. But it is still far short of the so-called Spanish flu, which began in 1918 and is estimated to have killed more than 20 million people by the time it petered out in 1920. The novel coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a Wuhan market where wild animals were sold late last year. It quickly spread through China and around the world. Much remains to be determined about it, including just how lethal it is. Estimates vary widely. Friday’s figures - 100,000 deaths of out 1.6 million cases - would suggest a fatality rate of 6.25% but many experts believe the actual rate is lower given that many mild and asymptomatic cases, when infected people don’t show symptoms, are not included in case totals. Some countries, including Italy, France, Algeria, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain are reporting that more than 10% of all confirmed cases have been fatal. One of the largest studies of the fatality of the disease, involving 44,000 patients in China, put the rate at about 2.9%. The same study reported that 93% of recorded fatalities were people over the age of 50, and more than half were over 70. Despite that, there are growing numbers of young adults and teenagers included in the global toll. While North America now accounts for more than 30% of cases, Europe has reported a disproportionate number of fatalities, as countries with older populations like Spain and Italy have been severely affected. Southern Europe alone accounts for more than a third of global deaths, despite recording just 20% of cases. In many countries, official data includes only deaths reported in hospitals, not those in homes or nursing homes. Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser",
            "output": [
                "Global coronavirus death toll hits 100,000, cases over 1.6 million."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b3dccd090ee943f59b3947b8bdf432ff",
            "input": "\"Hospital officials from across Virginia flocked to Richmond last week to air concerns about tightening revenues at their facilities. Among them was Mary Mannix, president and CEO of Augusta Health, a rural hospital in Fishersville about 90 miles west of Richmond. Mannix said her facility is on solid financial footing but that many other rural hospitals are not. \"\"Just about half of rural hospitals operate in the red in Virginia,\"\" Mannix said at a news conference organized by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, a lobbying group. \"\"They operate at a loss.\"\" The struggles of rural hospitals across the nation have been well reported in recent years. Facing declining population bases and tightening Medicaid reimbursements, many have struggled to remain open and some have shut down, including Lee Regional Medical Center in Southwest Virginia in 2013. Many hospital officials hoped the General Assembly would ease the stress by expanding the state’s Medicaid program to reduce the medically uninsured. Under provisions of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the federal government would pay all of the costs of expanding the program through 2017 and at least 90 percent in the future. Republican lawmakers have blocked the expansion and say Uncle Sam can’t be trusted to pay his promised share. The debate is sure to continue when the General Assembly convenes in January. The hospital association says it will lobby lawmakers to find solutions to financial problems at hospitals -- although what solutions, the group isn’t saying. In the past, the association has backed Medicaid expansion. So we wondered whether Mannix was correct in saying \"\"just about half\"\" of Virginia’s rural hospitals are running in the red. We reached out to Lisa Schwenk, a spokeswoman for Augusta Health, to find the source for Mannix’s statistic. Schwenk referred us to Julian Walker, the spokesman for the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. Walker sent us a hospital association chart showing that 17 of 37 rural hospitals in Virginia -- or 46 percent --  had operating losses in 2013, the latest year data are available. The chart listed basic \"\"acute care hospitals\"\" - facilities  where people get care for illnesses and injuries. It does not include psychiatric, rehabilitative or other specialized medical centers. The underlying information for the hospital association chart comes from Virginia Health Information, an independent, non-profit group that contracts with the Virginia Department of Health to provide information on the cost and quality of health care in the state. The group releases an annual report looking at the operating margins of all hospitals around the state. Michael Lundberg, executive director at Virginia Health Information, sent us a link to the group’s database showing the fiscal 2013 financial results for the hospitals. It lists 36 rural hospitals, 17 of which had a negative operating margin. That comes to 47 percent. In this database, the hospitals were allowed to determine for themselves whether they should be classified as rural or urban. Lundberg also sent us a second batch of data in which hospitals were sorted as rural or urban based on definitions from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This grouping listed 25 rural hospitals in 2013, 16 of which ran in the red. That comes to 64 percent. By comparison, Lundberg’s figures show that of the 60 urban hospitals in Virginia under the federal definition, 13 had operating losses. That means nearly 22 percent of urban hospitals in the commonwealth had an operating loss in 2013. Our ruling Mannix said about half of the rural hospitals in Virginia are operating at a loss. Figures from the group that tracks hospital finances back her claim and suggest, if anything, her estimate is on the low end.\"",
            "output": [
                "Just about half of rural hospitals operate in the red in Virginia. They operate at a loss."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-49c000d336744769a2bfac1dffd8070d",
            "input": "On January 23 2019, a Facebook user shared what appeared to be a screenshot of an unlinked Facebook post, alleging that a man named Jordan Lee Grinnell assaulted an unnamed black middle school student:Above three images (a handcuffed man sitting on steps, presumably the same man in an unrelated photograph, and what looked to be an injured black teenager) was a caption, which read:This 38-yr-old white “man” beats the hell out of a a black 8th grader over a children’s soccer game. The “man” is Jordan Lee Grinnell, a Navy active duty E7, working in Richmond, VA.Let’s make him famous!In the space of a few weeks, the post was shared more than 100,000 times. A search of Facebook revealed an identical post (not in screenshot form) posted in July 2018. That post did not garner many shares or much engagement. The claim dated back at least that far, and an iteration of it appeared on the message board Democratic Underground along with a tweet. The tweet displayed tens of thousands of engagements in the form of shares and discussion.As it happened, there was extensive news coverage of an incident involving a man named Jordan Lee Grinnell from June 2018. On June 15 2018, The Virginian-Pilot reported about an altercation at a soccer game that month, which apparently began when two boys on opposing teams got into a fight.Witnesses at the event said that a conflict between the boys escalated, and an adult male approached the pair. Although parents believed the man intended to “break up” the fight, he instead allegedly “knocked one of them down, jumped on him and began punching him in the face”:Near the end of a sand soccer game [in June 2018] at the Oceanfront, two boys on opposing teams began pursuing the ball.After it went out of bounds, a brawl broke out between the two.What happened next stunned onlookers, and left some of the players who witnessed it feeling fearful and traumatized. It also led to a hospital visit and stitches for one of the teens, and caused police to arrest the father of the other player.Jordan Lee Grinnell, 38, of Virginia Beach, was charged with misdemeanor assault, police said. He was released on bond afterward.It happened at the annual North American Sand Soccer Championship. More than 10,000 players, age 8 and up, participated this year, said Lauren Bland, executive director of Hampton Roads Soccer Council.Witnesses said they saw Grinnell knock a boy to the ground and punch him in the face.Timothy Vickerie, 14, of Chester, received four stitches above his right eye and suffered a concussion and bloody lip, according to his mother, Nicole Vickerie. When the eighth-grader returned to the tournament the next day to cheer on his teammates, his eye was swollen shut and bruised.Parents who witnessed the incident said it weighed on them for days, telling the paper that they confronted Grinnell:“I still can’t get it out of my mind,” said Jennifer Moss, who was standing just feet away. “I didn’t sleep for two days and I’m still having trouble sleeping. The kids who witnessed it are all shaken.”[…]Nicole Vickerie said it appeared her son was about to grab the other boy’s shirt when Grinnell ran over and punched him, knocking him off his feet.“It was breathtaking to see that and surreal. It still is,” Nicole Vickerie said. “By the time we got there, people had pulled him off and took him away.”Moss said he [sic?] called police and confronted Grinnell.“I yelled at him, ‘You just beat up a 14-year-old kid,’” Moss said. “He said, ‘That’s my son.’ And I said, ‘They were fighting over a ball. That’s what soccer’s about.’”Nicole Vickerie said she also confronted Grinnell. “I asked him did he feel better now. ‘Does that make you feel like a big man?’ ” she said. “He said, ‘No, it doesn’t. I’m sorry.’”On June 17 2018, KIMT3 published an article confirming Grinnell’s rank and including a statement from the North American Sand Soccer Championships about the incident:Police say a soccer player was assaulted while playing at the North American Sand Soccer Championship on June 9 [2018].Jordan Grinnell, 38, was arrested and has been charged with simple assault.A spokesperson with the U.S. Navy Recruiting Command said Grinnell is active duty Navy. He is a Chief Petty Officer assigned to NAVY RECRUITING DISTRICT RICHMOND, the spokesperson said. […]NASSC released a statement below in response to the incident:“For 25 years, the North American Sand Soccer Championships has promoted a safe, fun and family friendly weekend of competition, attracting more than 200,000 participants over that time. We take very seriously any acts of violence and condemn any bystander from entering the field of play. Our hearts go out to the victim in this unfortunate incident, and we want to assure everyone that we will redouble our efforts to make the 2019 tournament and all future ones even more safe and secure for our athletes, coaches, officials, parents and other visitors who attend this world class event.”Navy Times covered the aftermath of Grinnell’s arrest extensively, reporting on June 24 2018:A Navy chief who allegedly charged into a youth soccer game as his teenage son jostled with his opponent is being charged with assault and battery, the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office told Navy Times.Chief Engineman Jordan Lee Grinnell, 38, was arrested by Virginia Beach Police last month after he reportedly knocked Timothy Vickerie, 14, to the ground and began punching him in the face.Vickerie was hospitalized with a concussion and required four stitches, the report said … Grinnell has no prior criminal record, the Pilot reported, and his Navy records show that he’s the recipient of five Good Conduct Medals.The outlet reiterated its reporting three days later. In October 2018, the outlet reported that Grinnell had been convicted and sentenced. The outlet was unable to obtain information regarding whether Grinnell faced additional sanctions from the Navy:A Navy chief who charged into a youth soccer game and beat up a 14-year-old boy made a scheduled court appearance [in October 2018], where he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of assault and battery, the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office told Navy Times.Chief Engineman Jordan Lee Grinnell, 38, was sentenced at the Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court hearing to 12 months in jail, with the entire sentence suspended except for 60 days. He will be allowed to serve out the 60 days in jail over the course of 30 consecutive weekends, starting Oct. 19 [2018]. […]Multiple attempts were made by Navy Times to inquire what punishment, if any, Grinnell received from the Navy but officials would not specify exactly what ramifications he is facing.“The Navy is following our administrative protocols regarding civilian convictions,” Lt. Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, spokesperson for Navy Recruiting Command, told Navy Times.The January 2019 Facebook post claimed that active duty Naval officer Jordan Lee Grinnell “beat the hell out of a black 8th grader at a children’s soccer game.” Grinnell, 38, was found guilty on assault and battery charges stemming from an incident at a June 2018 soccer game in Virginia, resulting in injuries to a 14-year-old boy. However, the incident received extensive news and social media attention when it occurred in June 2018, and Grinnell was arguably already “famous” when the claim was re-shared in early 2019. The story is true.",
            "output": [
                "Active duty Naval officer Jordan Lee Grinnell assaulted a black middle schooler."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c16348d9dae4a4ab3d38cf162bc83e4",
            "input": "Scientists who study the algae say the microscopic organisms are thriving in new conditions brought about by climate change, and displacing the zooplankton that underpin the local food chain, threatening the entire marine ecosystem. Khalid al-Hashmi, a marine biologist at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, wrinkles his nose as the research vessel nears the bloom. “Sea stench,” he says, referring to the algae’s ammonia secretions. “It’s here, you can smell it.” He signals the boat to stop as it speeds beneath a gigantic rock arch off the coast of Muscat, the capital of Oman, an arid sultanate on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. The captain kills the engine and drops anchor into a slick of bright green muck surrounded by crystal-clear blue water. The swarms of microscopic creatures beneath the surface of the Gulf of Oman were all but invisible 30 years ago — now they form giant, murky shapes that can be seen from satellites. Across the planet, blooms have wrecked local ecosystems. Algae can paralyze fish, clog their gills, and absorb enough oxygen to suffocate them. Whales, turtles, dolphins and manatees have died, poisoned by algal toxins, in the Atlantic and Pacific. These toxins have infiltrated whole marine food chains and have, in rare cases, killed people, according to the U.N. science agency. In the Great Lakes of North America, Thailand and the Seychelles, the algae bloom green. In Florida they are red, in the North Atlantic they are chalky white, and in Puget Sound they are orange. The Irish call it the “sea ghost,” and the Taiwanese refer to the blooms as “blue tears.” NASA uses satellites and floating robots to monitor the blooms, said Paula Bontempi, the manager for ocean carbon and biology projects at the U.S. space agency. “It’s like a Van Gogh painting,” she said, referring to satellite images of swirls of chlorophyll spiraling across the world’s oceans. “Absolutely beautiful.” It’s less attractive up close, where it can be “almost guacamole-like” in some lakes. “It smells bad, it looks bad,” she said. The satellite technology has enabled scientists to link the algae to higher levels of air and water pollution in recent decades, but Bontempi said questions remain. “We know that our Earth is changing,” she said. “It may be in a direction we might not like.” Scientists based at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University trace Oman’s blooms to melting ice in the Himalayas. Less ice has raised temperatures in South Asia and strengthened the Indian Ocean’s southwest monsoon. As this weather front moves across the Arabian Sea every year, it churned up oxygen-poor water thick with nutrients that have fueled the rise of a 1.2-billion-year old algae called noctiluca scintillans. For the past 15 years, observatory biogeochemist Joaquim Goes, al-Hashmi and biological oceanographer Helga do Rosario Gomes have tracked blooms in the Arabian Sea using boats, satellites and remote sensors. Goes said the blooms have caused a “short-circuiting of the food chain,” endangering other marine life. “Normally these things happen slowly, usually we talk about tens of hundreds of years. Here it’s happening overnight,” he said. “The transformation is happening before our eyes.” The algae blooms pose a number of threats to Oman, whose fishing and trading ships have plied these waters for centuries. Thick blooms reduce visibility, making it difficult for divers to repair undersea gas infrastructure. It can also clog the intake pipes of the desalinization plants that produce up to 90 percent of the country’s fresh water. Fishermen call Oman’s marine research center when they spot blooms. Marine ecologist Ahmad al-Alawi adds these reports to four decades of observations before comparing them with satellite images of the swirling chlorophyll. He says the blooms are growing bigger and lasting longer, displacing the zooplankton at the bottom of the local food chain. The algae has attracted more whale sharks — a major draw for divers — but many tourists have cancelled their trips at the sight of the green, murky waves, said Ollie Clarke, a dive instructor at the Bandar al-Rowdah marina near Muscat. It also poses a threat to the country’s fisheries. An outbreak of a different kind of algae in 2008 led to the beaching of 50 tons of oxygen-starved fish, which rotted up and down the coast, al-Alawi said. The researchers have found cause for both despair and hope by studying a live noctiluca culture in their lab: The blooms will likely spread as the Indian Ocean continues to absorb greenhouse gas emissions, but could be contained if they are sprayed with fresh water. Goes and Gomes hope to develop an early-warning system for Oman modeled on one operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Florida But Saleh al-Mashari, who learned to sail and fish as a boy in the small coastal village where he still lives, and who now captains a researcher vessel, said the damage is already done. “The fish are migrating,” he said. “They can’t get enough air here.”",
            "output": [
                "Growing algae bloom in Arabian Sea tied to climate change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-367888a5c9e84d91aeac00e8b447f445",
            "input": "The cost of treatment is provided in a side bar: raloxifene is about $75 for a month’s supply, while tamoxifen is about $100. Story notes that medication is taken daily for 5 years. Provides relative risk reduction of chemoprevention with hormone therapy for high-risk women, however, no absolute risk reduction provided. No quantitative risks mentioned for taking hormone therapy for chemoprevention. Incomplete discussion of reduced rate of side effects in raloxifene group. Mentions harms of hormone therapy, such as an increased risk of blood clots and uterine cancers. Notes that there were “fewer side effects” (i.e. blood clots and uterine cancers) in the raloxifene group, but does not mention that the difference in side effects was not statistically significant for uterine cancer and blood clots. This information was not readily available on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) website or in reports of the study, the story presents caveats on the drugs. Mentions reduction in the risk of cataracts with raloxifene, which was statistically significant. Does mention that raloxifene, like tamoxifen, has bothersome side effects such as hot flashes and vaginal discharge, which are reported as comparable and mild to moderate in the NCI press release of the initial results of this trial. The story discusses study design and notes that results have not yet been peer-reviewed in a medical journal. Story also notes that tamoxifen protects women from DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ) better than raloxifene. However, no quantitative evidence is presented on benefits or side effects of either drug, and no mention that the study was unblinded early. Chemoprevention is for a small number of women and tamoxifen should only be offered to women with a 5-year projected risk for breast cancer of 1.6% in order to reduce their risk. The side bar is helpful, providing a clearer understanding of who might be at higher risk. Also, this medication is for women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer. This article does a good job of explaining that this drug is only for postmenopausal women with a greater chance of malignancy and the benefit of the drug must be weighed against the health risks for each woman. This study was partially funded by Eli Lilly and AstraZenaca, makers of Evista and tamoxifen, though this is not mentioned. There is also no mention of whether the breast cancer expert cited from the American Cancer Society has financial ties with these drug companies. The story does mention another chemoprevention hormone drug, tamoxifen. It also mentioned aromatase inhibitors as options being investigated for chemoprevention. Does not mention need for mammograms (screening as early detection shown to improve outcomes) in post-menopausal women at a higher risk of breast cancer. It should be noted that the results presented in this story are initial findings after 4 years of raloxifene. Tamoxifen is usually taken for 5 years and there is much more long-term clinical data on safety and efficacy for this drug. The study was unblinded early due to the improved side effect profile for raloxifene, which was not statistically significant. The story mentions that raloxifene is currently available for use in post-menopausal women to prevent osteoporosis and that use in chemoprevention has only been in clinical trials–more data is needed prior to FDA approval for use as chemoprevention. Use as chemoprevention would be off-label and only women with an increased risk of breast cancer. Notes that use of raloxifene (Evista) as chemoprevention is new. Evista is already approved to prevent osteoporosis. Does not appear to be directly from a press release and there is a link for more information on study at NCI website. Breast cancer experts not affiliated with the NCI trial provide perspective in interpreting the results.",
            "output": [
                "A Better Option? A trial of cancer drugs yields a surprise–and questions"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41bee80f3c3141adbd14f2e19718094d",
            "input": "In 2012, a New York Times Magazine article sparked privacy concerns by describing big box retailer Target’s attempts to use data to find out whether their customers were pregnant. An IKEA ad campaign in January 2018 takes away the need to gather complex data to determine whether customers are pregnant by simply asking women to dab their own urine on the advertisement itself. If the woman is pregnant, the paper shows a coupon for a crib. Swedish ad agency Akestam Holst created the ad, which appears in what IKEA called “a limited edition” of the women’s magazine Amelia and reads, in part, “Peeing on this ad may change your life”:  IKEA – Pee Ad from Ourwork on Vimeo. Why do retailers care when women get pregnant? According to journalist Charles Duhigg, the birth of a child is the most optimal time to recruit customers:  There are, however, some brief periods in a person’s life when old routines fall apart and buying habits are suddenly in flux. One of those moments — the moment, really — is right around the birth of a child, when parents are exhausted and overwhelmed and their shopping patterns and brand loyalties are up for grabs. Akestam Holst told Adweek: The pregnancy test strip was used as a starting point, which relies on antibodies that bind to the pregnancy hormone hCG, resulting in a color change. For scaling up of this technique and adopting it to the physical format of a printed ad, Mercene Labs has used their experience in development of surface active materials for microfluidics and medical diagnostics. Careful selection of materials, together with a controlled capillary flow have been crucial for the success of this project. Technical advancements made during the work with this campaign have the potential to improve medical diagnostics.",
            "output": [
                "IKEA released a magazine ad which includes a pregnancy test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2d7eb8eb856463cb4561b379abbe276",
            "input": "The news release includes information about costs. We would have liked a little more context. The release states: “The costs associated with home infusion were also consistently lower than services provided in a health care facility, with savings ranging between $1,928 and $2,974 per course of treatment.” We need to know what percentage of savings that is per course of treatment. If the whole course costs $100,000, then saving $1,928 is a pretty small percentage. If the whole course is $10,000, than a savings of $1,928 looks more substantial. We found the news release skimmed over giving crucial numbers and metrics for benefits. Separate from the cost benefit to home infusion versus hospital or clinic infusion, the release should have given us some numbers for safety. Here is what the release stated (emphasis ours): “The research showed that patients receiving intravenous therapy at home had as good or better clinical outcomes as those patients who received the same therapy in a traditional health care setting. In addition, patients overwhelmingly preferred receiving their infusion therapies at home, reporting fewer disruptions in personal schedules and responsibilities. We need numbers to demonstrate how “as good” the clinical outcomes were. We need numbers to represent “overwhelmingly preferred.” By what percentage did what number of patients demonstrate preference? This is where the release could have taken some quantitative data from the study. The word “harms” does not appear in the news release. During intravenous infusions there are complications that may arise. The release does not mention harm, even to dismiss the probability as rare. The study being reported is a systematic literature review that only considered 13 prior studies. The release does not address the limitations of a literature review or give us the total number of patients represented by the 13 studies. Only 5 of the 13 studies used in the analysis addressed outcomes. One had no comparison group (“However, no adjustment for confounders was performed, and higher OPAT success rates were likely due to purposeful selection of younger, healthier patients for OPAT therapy,” according to the published study). In another study, “IPAT patients were selected from a time period during which OPAT was not available for any patients, minimizing selection bias by the matching fact.” In any case, less than half of the studies looked at outcome data and those that did involved different diseases from different time periods, some had control groups and some did not. We don’t think the evidence is strong enough to suggest outcomes were improved. The bias inherent in CVS employees culling the studies is also concerning. A better description of the review’s search and selection process may have helped allay any concerns about studies being cherry-picked. There is no disease mongering. The release is clear that the study was done by the CVS Health Research Institute. Since this is a news release from a profit-making company that operates directly to sell services under study, we hope the readers quickly understand there is an inherent conflict. This is the equivalent of a Coca Cola study about the benefits of drinking their product. The release explains the alternatives of clinic or hospital infusion compared to home infusion. Home infusion services are widely available. Their reimbursement is not widely available. The release says “clinical outcomes and quality of care have not previously been systematically evaluated.” The release doesn’t rely on any unreasonable or unjustified language. However, we do not think the news release proves the words used in the headline that say “Home Infusion Care Improves Patient Outcomes and Quality of Life While Reducing Overall Costs.” Based on a literature review, which does not randomize people into apples-to-apples comparison, you cannot claim to show better outcomes. The release does not offer any quantified benefits to support medical outcomes and doesn’t provide quantified information about quality of life improvement. The fact that patients prefer home infusion to travel to a clinic is not by itself a proof that their lives have been improved. As we wrote in the benefits section above — we are not given numbers to prove by what amount patients prefer home infusion.",
            "output": [
                "CVS Health Research Institute Study Shows that Home Infusion Care Improves Patient Outcomes and Quality of Life While Reducing Overall Costs"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-028cf0789faa4b66a39d17477f9c5c7b",
            "input": "The health department says emissions at Diamond Chrome Plating in Howell reveal TCE levels below “health screening values.” TCE stands for trichloroethylene, which is used to remove grease from metal parts. Diamond Chrome turned off the degreaser this week. Earlier tests had revealed TCE levels that were considered a health hazard. A public meeting was held Thursday night. Hugh McDiarmid Jr. of the Michigan Department of Environment says the “recent results are encouraging.” Elevated levels of TCE can cause birth defects and raise the risk of kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.",
            "output": [
                "State finding better air during new tests at Howell factory."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0128312e5c945ef9b5e2f9b75b23e24",
            "input": "Add Serena Williams to the list. The 23-time Grand Slam champion playing in the U.S. Open took to Instagram last month after a loss in San Jose, California, to describe her feelings of inadequacy as a mother since the birth nearly a year ago of her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. “Talking things through with my mom, my sisters, my friends let me know that my feelings are totally normal,” she wrote. Postpartum depression, or PPD, does not have a single cause, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It likely results from a mix of physical and emotional factors. The condition can last up three years after giving birth, with symptoms ranging from feelings of sadness beyond the “baby blues” to thoughts of self-harm or doing harm to the baby. According to the American Psychological Association, up to 1 in 7 women experience the serious mood disorder or worse after giving birth. The World Health Organization says about 20 percent of mothers in developing countries around the globe experience clinical depression after childbirth. Though public discourse on postpartum depression has never been higher, a stigma persists. Friends, co-workers and loved ones who haven’t experienced depression themselves may be at a loss for how to help. “I think people are scared to talk about it, but many people suffer and want to know they are not alone,” said Talya Knable, a Baltimore counselor with friends and clients who struggled. “People need a lot of support.” When it comes to attempting that support, she said, there are sentiments to avoid: “Everyone has a hard time, you will get used to it. I didn’t feel depressed when I had a baby. It can’t be that bad. You don’t need medication to get through this. Don’t you love your baby? This is what you always wanted, you should be happy!” Developing a more positive vocabulary when looking from the outside in is a matter of reassurance, Knable said: “You are a great mother and doing a great job. This part is really hard. It will get better. You are not alone in this. I am here to help if you need me. I know you are trying really hard. You can do this!” Amanda Munday in Toronto suffered from severe postpartum depression and was hospitalized for 18 days following the birth of her first child, a daughter who is now 4. Her list of what not to say includes: “Is the baby healthy, though? Sleep when the baby sleeps” and “It’s just your hormones, it will pass.” She suggests reaching out instead with: “You are a good parent. Those dark thoughts do not define you” and “You are allowed to put yourself first.” Heidi McBain is a Flower Mound, Texas, therapist who specializes in maternal mental health. She struggled with postpartum anxiety herself after a miscarriage and went into therapy for grief and loss when she got pregnant again. The anxiety continued after the birth of her son, who is now 9. Her what-to-say list is short and to the point: “How can I help?” Her do-not-utter list covers some common missteps: “Why would you need medication from your doctor? Are you sure this isn’t all in your head?” Seeing a doctor is precisely what a woman should do if she fears the “baby blues” have crossed into more dangerous territory, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The term “baby blues” is often used to describe “feelings of worry, unhappiness and fatigue that many women experience after having a baby,” the agency said. Up to 80 percent of mothers experience such feelings in a somewhat mild form, lasting a week or two and going away on their own. Postpartum depression is when sadness and anxiety can be extreme and interfere with a woman’s ability to care for herself or her family, the institute said. It usually requires treatment. “Finding a therapist who specialized in postpartum mood disorder and the right medication under supervision of a psychiatrist is what helped me get better. It’s an illness that needs professional treatment,” said Jen Schwartz, co-founder of the blog motherhood-understood.com. Getting out of the house as a new mother suffering severe PPD can be a problem, said Carole Brody Fleet in Orange County, California. She suffered after the birth of her now 29-year-old daughter, at a time when fewer women were willing to speak out. Finding it difficult to leave the house, she received over-the-phone counseling from La Leche League. “The most important step for me in treating PPD was understanding that reaching out for help was not a sign of weakness or failure as a new mother,” she said. Dr. Adeeti Gupta, who founded Walk In GYN Care with two clinics in New York, has one sentence that loved ones should never let slip out: “Are you depressed and unhappy about being a mother?”",
            "output": [
                "Know what to say when postpartum depression hits a loved one."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-278022a78806402bbd8af87cfcb1bc01",
            "input": "The Internet humor piece variously entitled “The L.A. Math Proficiency Test” or “The City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam” has been part of online lore since at least 1993, and some of our readers recall having seen photocopied versions of it as far back as the mid-1980s:   Name:__________________________ Gang:__________________________ 1. Johnny has an AK-47 with an 80-round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots and shoots 13 times at each drive-by shooting, how many drive-by shootings can he attempt before he has to reload? 2. Jose has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells an 8-ball to Jackson for $320 and 2 grams to Billy for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn’t cut it? 3. Rufus is pimping for three girls. If the price is $65 for each trick, how many tricks will each girl have to turn so Rufus can pay for his $800-per-day crack habit? 4. Jarone want to cut his 1/2 pound of heroin to make 20% more profit. How many ounces of cut will he need? 5. Willie gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for a Chevy, and $100 for a 4X4. If he has stolen 2 BMWs, 3 4X4s, how many Chevies will he have to steal to make $800? 6. Raoul is in prison for 6 years for murder. He got $10,000 for the hit. If his common law wife is spending $100 per month, how much money will be left when he gets out of prison and how many years will he get for killing the bitch that spent his money? 7. If the average spray can covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 3 square feet, how many letters can a tagger spray with 3 cans of paint? 8. Hector knocked up 6 girls in his gang. There are 27 girls in the gang. What percentage of the girls in the gang has Hector knocked up? 9. Thelma can cook dinner for her 16 children for $7.50 per night. She gets $234 a month welfare for each child. If her $325 per month rent goes up 15%, how many more children should she have to keep up with her expenses? 10. Salvador was arrested for dealing crack and his bail was set at $25,000. If he pays a bail bondsman 12% and returns to Mexico, how much money will he lose by jumping bail? Over time the “exam” has gone through some changes, notably the inclusion of questions 9 and 10 (which were not part of the earlier versions). Its humor is obvious: it simultaneously deplores the state of education in large urban centers and furthers the myth that teens from such regions are thoroughly steeped in a drugs, guns, gangs, and promiscuity culture by asserting that even the math questions directed towards them have to be framed in that context to be relevant to their lives. None of the Norman Rockwellian “Johnny has three apples; if he sells two to Ben, then Becky gives him five, how many does he now have?” innocence appears here — even the test’s header furthers the jape by asking for the student’s name and gang affiliation, presenting the casual presumption that all the high schoolers being given the test are gang members. Obvious humor or not, the “test” has landed a number of educators into trouble over the years. The Canadian National Post reported that a teacher at the Juniper School in Thompson, Manitoba, was suspended from her duties in June 2002 for distributing this test to students:  A Manitoba school district has barred a Grade 8 instructor from classroom teaching for a year after she distributed a math quiz that used pimps and cocaine trafficking to illustrate questions of arithmetic. The 10-question quiz asked how much Willie would make for stealing a number of luxury cars, the distance a thief could travel on a stolen skateboard before he gets “whacked,” and how many “tricks” a day three prostitutes must turn to support their pimp Rufus’s cocaine habit. The School District of Mystery Lake in Thompson, Man., suspended the veteran Juniper School teacher on June 5, two days after irate parents brought the “joke” test to the district’s attention. This week the district disciplined her further by assigning her to non-classroom teaching until June, 2003. The teacher has not been identified. “I don’t know where she got the idea to give this to kids. We were outraged,” one student’s father, who asked not to be identified, told The Winnipeg Sun. The father saw the “Juniper School Math Proficiency Exam” after his young son brought his copy home from school. (Diana Hiscock, general manager of the Thompson Citizen, said that the controversial quiz wasn’t given out as an official school assignment or test: “The teacher gave it to a few of her grade 8 students to read as a fun thing. They took it home, and one of the parents saw it and complained to the school board.”) In 2007, Will Klundt, a teacher at Moriarty High School in Moriarty, New Mexico, incorporated the following question into the final exam he administered to his fall semester algebra freshman class:  Smoky J. sells meth. Smoky’s source says he has to sell a G’s worth of meth by the end of the month. If Smoky sold $240 the first week and $532 the second week, how much money must Smoky make if he wants to avoid the beat down from his connection? Wayne Marshall, the school’s principal, declined to discuss whether any disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher. In 2008, a Barrie, Ontario, police officer was suspended from duty for forwarding a version of the “L.A. Math Test” to other officers via e-mail:  A Barrie police inspector in charge of professional standards has been relieved of his duties after sending an e-mail containing racially inappropriate material to fellow officers. James Farrell, a 30-year police veteran, admitted to forwarding the inappropriate message to officers under his command. The offensive e-mail with the subject line “Afrocentric MATH for Toronto’s new black only school” was initially addressed to three officers and the entire street crime unit. It was then forwarded and passed along within the organization eventually coming to light when an officer contacted The Toronto Star. The message resembles a school math test with 10 “problems” based on firearms use, drug deals, pimping, theft and other criminal offences. In 2016, an Alabama teacher on the verge of retirement was put on leave after she reportedly gave the test to a middle school math class:  On the eve of retiring from her long career as an educator at Burns Middle School in Mobile, Ala., a teacher gave a math test that students and parents say had racist overtones and references to inappropriate subject matter. Questions included: Tyrone knocked up 4 girls in the gang. There are 20 girls in his gang. What is the exact percentage of girls Tyrone knocked up? Those named in these later examples are far from the first persons to have been disciplined for distributing the “L.A. Math Test.”  In 1997, six teachers at the Elsie Robertson High School in  Lancaster, Texas, and another at the Norte Vista High School in Riverside, California, were suspended for doing the same thing. Likewise, in 1994, a Chicago elementary school teacher who gave a similar test was suspended for thirty days without pay and then resigned. Also in 1994, an Indiana high school teacher who gave the test apologized but was suspended anyway. And in 1993, a similar test was printed on phony school letterhead and passed around at workplaces in Redwood City, California.",
            "output": [
                "Teachers have gotten into trouble over using 'The L.A. Math Test,' a piece of online humor, in the classroom."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d1678a3a879d4604b8e178e31c98ae73",
            "input": "\"PolitiFact Georgia was revving up for the summer driving season when a statement from the head of the Georgia Department of Transportation caught our attention. The state is on pace to see 1,200 people lose their lives on Georgia roads this year, Commissioner Russell McMurry said in news reports. If that happens, it would be a reversal after nine years of declines. Is that possible, even before the busy season of summer? We set aside our packing – we’ll decide on a bikini or one-piece later – and decided to check. As recently as January, PolitiFact Georgia confirmed that road fatalities appeared to be declining again in Georgia. But by April, when five Georgia Southern nursing students died in a pileup crash outside Savannah, scores of single-car crashes had sent the trend line in the other direction. As of Tuesday morning, 465 people had been killed in vehicle crashes in Georgia, state DOT data show. That’s 69 more deaths, or 17 percent more, than during the same period in 2014. That keeps Georgia with an average of 100 deaths a month, which would result in a year-end total of 1,200 deaths for the first time since 2011. It would also be the first year-to-year increase in nine years, as this chart shows: Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Totals 1,505 1,298 1,250 1,236 1,199 1,189 1,169 So the GDOT commissioner is right on the overall numbers – a scary enough prospect. But to compare apples to apples, it’s worth calculating the rates of death as well. That is, would the current pace create the first year deaths don’t decline relative to the number of cars on the road, too? Yes, according to data from the state Department of Revenue. The number of vehicles registered annually is: Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Totals* 8.64 8.57 8.59 8.71 8.92 8.32 8.80 9.12 *In millions, rounded In 2008, there were about 8.6 million registered vehicles in Georgia. That translates into 1.7 deaths for every 10,000 registered car or truck. In 2014, with nearly 8.8 million registered vehicles but fewer fatalities, the rate dropped to .1.3 deaths for every 10,000 vehicles. Should Georgia stay on pace to an even 1,200 deaths – improbable but an exact number to compare against the 9.1 million vehicles registered this year – the rate holds at 1.3 deaths. It’s not an increase, of course. But it’s not the steady decline in rate, as well as overall numbers, that transportation officials had hoped to see continue and that McMurry noted. And, the rate still means that more people are dying in traffic accidents at a time when the state has seen 95 percent compliance in seat belt usage – a large factor in reducing fatalities, said Teri Pope, a spokeswoman for the Northeast DOT region. DOT data shows that 62 percent of people killed in crashes are not wearing the simple safety devices. \"\"A lot of these deaths are preventable, and that’s the heartbreaking part of it,\"\" Pope said. In other words, driver behavior is the, well, driver of the spike in roadway deaths. In an effort to counter that, the DOT has partnered with the Governor’s Office on Highway Safety and the state Department of Public Safety to launch the Drive Alert, Arrive Alive campaign. The effort focuses on education efforts about the dangers of driving drowsy or while using mobile phones – both considered distracted driving – and greater enforcement of seat belt usage and safe driving. In other words, PolitiFact Georgia expects to see lots of safety reminder signs and state troopers on the roads. You should, too. Our ruling Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said in recent news reports that the state is on pace to see 1,200 people die in traffic accidents this year – all before the start of the busy summer driving season. Transportation numbers back up that claim. That data, and figures about the number of registered vehicles in the state, also confirm that would be the first time in nine years that Georgia has not seen a decline in those deaths.\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia is on track for 1,200 traffic fatalities this year, a reversal of nine years of declines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9868173a7bd24df7bd9d9acb1008f177",
            "input": "Police said they had arrested 135 activists from the Extinction Rebellion group by 1130 GMT. The group expects 10,000 people will come to the capital from across Britain to join the two-week protest, which is part of a coordinated international movement. There were similar climate protests on Monday in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid and other cities around the world. Large crowds of protesters blocked some of Westminster’s largest and busiest roads, bridges and squares, carrying banners with slogans such as “Climate change denies our children a future unless we act now”. Banging drums and chanting, they took over the tourist hotspot of Trafalgar Square and marched down the Mall, the broad tree-lined avenue that leads to Buckingham Palace. Some activists glued or chained themselves to cars parked in the middle of roads or to street lamps, making it hard for police officers to detain them. “We’re here because the government is not doing enough on the climate emergency,” said protester Lizzy Mansfield. “We only get one planet and so we’re here to try and defend it.”  Extinction Rebellion rose to prominence in April when it disrupted traffic in central London for 11 days. More than 1,000 activists were arrested, of whom 850 were prosecuted for various public disorder offences. So far, 250 have been convicted. The Metropolitan Police has adopted more proactive tactics this time. Police chiefs said last week they would mobilise thousands of officers to handle the protests and that anyone who broke the law, even as part of non-violent civil disobedience, would be arrested. On Saturday, officers used a battering ram to enter a building in south London where the activists had been storing materials to use during the two-week protest. Eight people were arrested during the raid. Extinction Rebellion said the police response showed that British authorities considered the group a significant movement. Early on Monday, a group of activists locked themselves to a mock nuclear missile outside the Ministry of Defence, calling on the government to redirect funds spent on Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent towards policies to combat climate change. “Climate not Trident” read a banner by the fake missile. Richard Dyer, a retired doctor from Scotland who was taking part in the street protests, said he regarded it as an extension of his medical career because climate change was the biggest threat yet to public health. “People in the environmental movement and climate scientists have been trying to persuade the public and government to take serious action and nothing has happened,” he said. “We want to use any way we can to make people and governments sit up and notice.”",
            "output": [
                "\"When New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer wanted to \"\"provide driver’s licenses to those who are undocumented. (Hillary Clinton) said don’t do it.\"",
                "Climate change protests snarl up central London, 135 arrested."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8211fcf6bc90419195d20a47d6b855e5",
            "input": "The VA hospital said it has proposed that Christel O. Wambi-Kiesse be removed from the hospital but declined to give a reason After the proposal for removal is made, the employee has seven business days to respond. The VA then must make a final removal decision no later than 15 business days from the date the proposed removal was delivered to the employee. The hospital began investigating the 44-year-old urologist after The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri’s Board of Registration for the Healing Arts was seeking to discipline Wambi-Kiesse. The board cited three examples, all during 2013, while he was working for a now-defunct urology clinic associated with Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence. One woman died from an infection two months after Wambi-Kiesse punctured her bladder while performing a biopsy and failed to repair the damage, according to the complaint. In the two other cases, men aged 71 and 68, suffered complications after prostate surgeries that took three times longer than they should have, the board said. The Star reported Wambi-Kiesse declined to comment Monday. Wambi-Kiesse’s medical license is up for renewal at the end of January. The disciplinary complaint that could strip him of his license is pending and no hearing date has been set. ______ This story was first published on December 30, 2019. It was updated on December 31, 2019 to make clear that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Wichita has started the process of removing a doctor under scrutiny for allegedly injuring patients in Missouri but the doctor has not yet been fired.",
            "output": [
                "Wichita VA hospital moves to remove former Missouri doctor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25eb00105d2740df8777bb19529bb65e",
            "input": "The bill’s author, Sen. Richard Pan, negotiated the amendments after Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed reservations about shifting too much power to state bureaucrats. He now says he’ll sign it. Among the changes: — Instead of every medical exemption, state health officials would target their reviews to doctors who issue five or more exemptions in a year, and to exemptions at schools where the vaccination rate dips below 95%. — Instead of limiting exemptions to those used by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it now also allows criteria developed by the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the American Academy of Pediatrics. It also permits consideration of “other contraindications or precautions, including consideration of family medical history” if they are “consistent with the relevant standard of care.” — The amendments require physicians to file the exemptions under oath, which critics fear open doctors to the possibility of prosecution for perjury. — If a child’s medical exemption is revoked, the amendments would allow parents to appeal the decision to a panel of doctors appointed by the secretary of Health and Human Services.",
            "output": [
                "Amendments end California governor’s unease on vaccine bill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e746c05d700d4079b30944e73d0df303",
            "input": "DeSantis said keeping taxes low, improving education and protecting the environment will help Florida continue to grow. He said he wants to build on some of his successes from his first year in office. “In 2019, we took bold steps to expand educational opportunities, protect our environment and natural resources, reform health care, invest in infrastructure and bolster public safety — all while reducing taxes and maintaining healthy budget reserves,” DeSantis said. “While we should look with favor on these bold beginnings, we have much more to do.” The speech marked the opening of the Legislature’s annual 60-day session. He spoke in the House chamber, where lawmakers desks’ were covered in flowers. Members of the Supreme Court and the state’s three Cabinet members also attended the address. While touting a boost in adoption rates, DeSantis told lawmakers he wants them to pass a bill that would require girls under the age of 18 to get their parents’ permission to get an abortion. The state already requires girls’ parents be notified if they have an abortion. DeSantis also said he wants lawmakers to pass a wide-ranging bill to address Florida’s algae problem. The goal is to reduce fertilizers and nutrients flowing into the state’s waterways. “I believe that stewardship of our natural resources is key to our economic well-being — our water is the foundation of our tourism industry, makes Florida the top fishing and boating destination in the world and enhances our property values,” DeSantis said. DeSantis also called for a bill that would require employers to use E-verify, a system that ensures people are legally allowed to work in the United States. “Lower-income workers ... shouldn’t have their wages depressed by cheap foreign labor. Assuring a legal workforce through E-verify will be good for the rule of law, it will protect taxpayers, and it will place an upward pressure on the wages of Floridians who work in blue collar jobs,” DeSantis said. “We need to make sure that our Florida citizens from all walks of life come first.” DeSantis also wants the Legislature to raise the state’s minimum salary for teachers to $47,500, which he says will boost the pay for 100,000 educators. In addition to raises, he wants to make sure students are taught American civics and the U.S. Constitution. “This means understanding the source of our rights, and it means understanding the theory of the Declaration of Independence, understanding the structure of the Constitution and as well as key amendments such as the Bill of Rights, the post-Civil War amendments and the Nineteenth Amendment. This also means developing an appreciation for how these enduring principles animated key points in American history,” DeSantis said. Much of his agenda would build on his policies for education, the environment and immigration. “He’s focused on the vision that he cast last year. This was a ‘We don’t need major course corrections. I understand the direction that we want to take the state. We’re doing many things right. Let’s stay on course’,” said Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes. “Education, the environment, immigration — all of those issues were part of the overall bold vision last year. He’s riding a high after last year.” Democratic Rep. Loranne Ausley said she was pleased the governor spent much of his speech talking about the environment and education. “He is leading on these issues that have strong bipartisan support,” Ausley said. But while she agrees teachers should get raises, she said the governor’s approach doesn’t go far enough. “$600 million is a start, but we need to make a long time commitment to our schools and our teachers,” Ausley said.",
            "output": [
                "Florida governor calls for teacher raises, new abortion law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23e894626bff42bdb2f24fd6358b145b",
            "input": "On July 14 2019, a Facebook user shared a photograph purportedly illustrating the risks posed by grill brushes and the metal they can leave behind attaching to food that is consumed. In an attached status update, the poster warned:I would suggest to anyone that has a metal brush to clean your grill get rid of it. This is the result of eating a bristle off of one. I am looking at a long recovery. — at Pelham Medical Center.In the attached image, an exposed abdomen bears a long and painful-looking scar with more than twenty staples. No other details about the image were included with the post, but the obvious inference was that this was the result of surgery that was required after inadvertently ingesting metal fragments left on a grill by a cleaning brush.No information was included about how the injury manifested or which symptoms people already exposed to grilled foods might exhibit. However, news stories from previous years indicated that even if rare, summer grilling has occasionally led to people accidentally consuming food with grill brush debris attached.In May 2015, CBS reported that a Connecticut woman had been treated for the same injury. Her symptoms were described as a “sharp” and “unusual” pain:[In May 2015], a woman in Connecticut needed emergency surgery to remove a wire barbecue brush bristle from her digestive tract — and doctors say she’s not the first. Cheryl Harrison of Wallingford, Connecticut, was rushed to the hospital by her husband after feeling a sharp and unusual pain in her stomach.That pain was caused by a single stray bristle that had fallen off the metal grill cleaning brush and found its way into the hamburger she ate. She came into the emergency room within a day because of severe abdominal pain. After a CT scan showed the wire, doctors were able to remove it from her stomach through laparoscopic surgery.The article went on to describe a similar case in which the patient was not made aware of the injury as quickly. One doctor stated the injury was difficult to identify because the small size of the bristles meant they were difficult to find:Dr. Aziz Benbrahim, her general surgeon at MidState Medical Center, told CBS News she was lucky because she came in right away. A previous patient of his who had a grill brush wire stuck in his system waited for a couple of weeks. It had punctured his intestine.“I had to open him up completely, ” said Benbrahim. “Then we remove this wire and we found out also why he had chest pain — because he also had pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in his lungs.”“He was just lucky he was still alive,” he added. “All from this wire.”[…]“Nobody knows the statistics, that’s the problem. The only paper published talks about 6 or 7 cases and I believe it’s a much, much more common,” Benbrahim said. “When I was talking to my colleagues at the hospital, I was surprised that all of them had at least one or two patients like this. I didn’t think it was that common. And this isn’t a very big hospital, so I assume that in a bigger hospital they would have more.”The story further noted that in one hospital, at least six patients had similar injuries from ingesting grill brush wire over an 18-month period. One year later, WTSP reported that a man in Florida was injured the same way:A warning if you plan to fire up the grill this holiday weekend. A Lakeland man discovered a hidden health hazard the hard way, and it could be on your grill right now.“This is my little parting gift,” says Clif Hennecy. It’s a souvenir from the doctor’s office that Hennecy never imagined his doctor would find stuck in his stomach during a routine checkup.“It’s just a tiny, little bristle, but it’s stainless steel,” says Hennecy.The Lakeland man says the metal bristle came from the brush he used to use to clean his grill.“It’s a scary proposition having one of those lodged inside your stomach. It can cause abscesses, and cause infections, and it can cause people to die,” Hennecy says.And in July 2017, a boy in Canada was hurt when he swallowed wire fragments:Jenna Kuchik was kicking back after a July 4 [2017] barbecue with her fiance and three children when her 4-year-old son, Oliver Schenn, began to scream in pain.Terrified, Kuchik ran for the EpiPen. Oliver, whom Kuchik and her fiance, Matt Schenn, affectionately call Ollie, has a severe nut allergy. But the boy was not exhibiting any of symptoms of a reaction — only choking, screaming and crying.Twenty-four hours and two hospitals later, Ollie would emerge from surgery after doctors removed two tiny metal fibers from his esophagus. The culprit: the family’s wire barbecue brush.That outlet included some statistics about frequency, noting it was low but acute, and possibly underreported:Barbecue brushes have caused an estimated 1,698 emergency room visits from 2002 to 2014, according to a study published in 2016 in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The rate of injuries is low when compared to similar emergencies, like children ingesting batteries, but the study’s lead, Dr. David Chang, associate professor at the University of Missouri’s department of otolaryngology, believes the data underrepresents the total volume of injuries. Urgent care clinics and primary care doctors likely see many similar cases that aren’t covered by the data in Chang’s study.A 2018 Consumer Reports article provided alternative methods of cleaning a grill without the ubiquitous wire brush:Consider alternative cleaning tools. Depending on what type of grill you have, you might try cleaning warm grill grates with a tool such as a pumice stone or a coil-shaped bristle-free brush. Check your owner’s manual for recommendations … You can also brush loose food particles off a warm grate with a wad of crumpled-up aluminum foil. Make sure grill grates are not hot enough to burn you.The claim about ingesting grill brush wires and requiring hospitalization represents a known but rare risk. Experts advise anyone who experiences symptoms like stomach pain after consuming grilled food to seek medical attention. Instead of using a wire grill brush, consumer safety advocates advise alternative grill cleaning methods, such as aluminum foil.",
            "output": [
                "People sometimes ingest metal fragments from grill brushes and become seriously injured."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0616c30ae9b406294e79af04b3159b8",
            "input": "On May 18 2020, a photograph purportedly from a COVID-19 anti-lockdown protest began circulating, which showed a white woman holding a sign reading “muzzles are for dogs and slaves” alongside an illustration of a black woman wearing a mask or a face covering:Inside the mind of white conservatives. pic.twitter.com/wflisE1mUX— Chad Loder (@chadloder) May 18, 2020In the above tweet, the woman is holding what appeared to be a box top with the image of the black woman on the left, and the “muzzles and slaves” verbiage on the right. The image was the first Google result for “slave mask,” and it led to a Wikimedia Commons page featuring a woman who was called Escrava Anastacia (“Slavewoman Anastacia”):That same image was featured on the full page for Escrava Anastacia, who is an unofficial saint venerated in Brazil:A slave woman of African descent, Anastacia is depicted as possessing incredible beauty, having piercing blue eyes and wearing an oppressive facemask. Although not officially recognized by the Catholic Church, Anastacia is still an important figure in popular Catholic devotion throughout Brazil. She is also venerated by members of the Umbanda and Spiritist traditions. She has also been portrayed in Brazil in books, radio programs and a highly successful television miniseries bearing her name.That page goes on to say that Escrava Anastacia lacks an official history, and that the details of her life story vary but in all versions, “she is enslaved and cruelly treated by her owners” and “Anastacia stoically bears these traumas and treats all people with love.” According to that same Wikipedia page, she eventually died of tetanus:Eventually, she is punished by her owners by being forced to wear a muzzle-like facemask, which prevents her from speaking, and a heavy iron collar. The reasons given for this punishment vary: some stories report her aiding in the escape of other slaves, others claim she resisted the amorous advances of her master, and yet another places the blame on a mistress jealous of Anastacia’s beauty. After a prolonged period of suffering, all the while performing more miracles of healing and peace, Anastacia dies of tetanus from the collar. It is often claimed that she healed the son of her master and mistress, and forgave their cruelty as she died.In a section about the hagiography of Anastacia, the page emphasizes her portrayal wearing a mask:While there are reports of black Brazilians venerating an image of a slave woman wearing a facemask throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, the first wide-scale veneration of the Saint began in 1968 when the curators of the Museum of the Negro, located in the annex of the Church of the Rosary of the Brotherhood of St. Benedict in Rio, erected an exhibition to honor the 80th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. Among the displays was an engraving of a female slave wearing a punishment facemask. The image soon became the object of popular devotion and members of the Brotherhood began collecting Anastacia stories in the early 1970s.As for the sign, it was real and unaltered. It appeared on May 16 2020 in two separate images attached to a post on KymKemp.com, and at :03 in this video. A woman shown in one photograph was identified as Larkin Small, 37:Larkin Small said it was her first time ever coming to a demonstration and that this is what it took to get her out of her house at the age of 37.For the more widely circulating version of a woman in sunglasses holding the sign, a caption read:Gretha Stenger came out to stand with people who were deeply concerned about the Stay-at-Home orders and their repercussions.One of many comments on the post read:The sign that Larkin Small and Gretha Stenger are holding made me nauseous. Although I do not agree with the position of this protest, I do support the right of people to raise their voices for something they believe in, but the blatant ignorance and racism that the sign reflects is outrageous. Equating enslaved African American with dogs, and humans being chained and muzzled with a mandate to wear masks–WTF?? ?The post itself covered a small May 15 2020 protest in Eureka, California, at the Humboldt County Courthouse. Some of the additional signs visible read:Pan-Demic caused entirely by Dem-PanicSocial-ISM DistancingCOVID-19 has a 99% survival rate. Why are we locked up?An image of a woman holding a sign reading “muzzles are for dogs and slaves” at a COVID-19 anti-lockdown rally in Eureka, California was one of many similar signs from weeks of astroturfed and inauthentically organized and promoted demonstrations that have gone viral. Previous iterations included one urging leaders to “sacrifice the weak,” an anti-Semitic “the real plague” sign, Nazi imagery, and myriad iterations with poor spelling.Update, May 19 2020, 1:37 PM: Stenger, one of the women depicted, provided a statement to a local news outlet after her “muzzles are for dogs and slaves” sign went viral, and claimed she did not make the sign herself:“Holding that sign up at the lockdown protest was a grave mistake and I ask forgiveness from all those who I have caused pain. As I had no sign of my own, it was handed to me by another protester and a photographer took the picture before I considered the racist implications. My intent was to take a stand for the freedom of all human persons and I mistakenly held a sign that conveyed the opposite. Please know that I respect the dignity of all people and I sincerely regret any suffering it has caused.”Stenger did not directly address several of the Times-Standard’s questions about the ongoing stay-at-home order or the equivalencies drawn between that and slavery.The outlet was unable to reach Small for comment.Comments",
            "output": [
                "\"A COVID-19 protester held a sign that said \"\"muzzles are for dogs and slaves,\"\" alongside an illustration of a masked woman of color.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1de5559516bb4680bda97a7066641f6c",
            "input": "“There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a Senate committee and the nation as more than two dozen states have begun to lift their lockdowns as a first step toward economic recovery. The advice from Fauci and other key government officials — delivered by dramatic, sometimes awkward teleconference — was at odds with a president who urges on protests of state-ordered restraints and insists that “day after day, we’re making tremendous strides.”  Trump, whose reelection depends to a substantial degree on the economy, talks up his administration’s record with the virus daily. Underscoring the seriousness of the pandemic that has reached Congress and the White House, Fauci and other experts testified from their homes. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander chaired the hearing from the study in his cabin in Tennessee, although several committee members attended in person in an eerily empty Capitol Hill chamber, masked and sitting 6 feet apart. The tension in balancing people’s safety from the virus, which is still surprising doctors with the sneaky ways it can kill, against the severe economic fallout is playing out in many other countries, too. Italy partially lifted lockdown restrictions last week only to see a big jump in confirmed COVID-19 infections in its hardest-hit region. And Lebanon relaxed a national lockdown late last month but said Tuesday the restrictions are being reinstated for the rest of the week after a spike in reported infections. More infections and deaths are inevitable as people again start gathering, but how prepared communities are to stamp out those sparks will determine how bad the rebound is, Fauci told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation you will see some cases appear,” Fauci said.. Move too quickly and “the consequences could be really serious,” he added. It not only would cause “some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery.” With more than 30 million people unemployed in the U.S., Trump has been pressuring states to reopen. A recent Associated Press review determined that 17 states did not meet a key White House benchmark for loosening restrictions — a 14-day downward trajectory in new cases or positive test rates. Yet many of those have begun to reopen or are about to do so, including Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. Of the 33 states that have had a 14-day downward trajectory, 25 are partially opened or moving to reopen within days, the AP analysis found. Other states that have not seen a 14-day decline, remain closed despite meeting some benchmarks. Fauci expressed optimism that eventually vaccines will arrive, along with treatments in addition to the one drug that so far has shown a modest effect in fighting COVID--19. But it would be “a bridge too far” to expect them in time for fall when schools hope to reopen, he said. For now, “all roads back to work and back to school go through testing,” said Alexander, the Republican committee chairman. Although Trump declared this week, “we have met the moment, and we have prevailed” in increasing and improving virus testing, Republican senators on the panel were noticeably less sanguine. A lack of testing has dogged the U.S. response from the beginning, when a test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran into numerous problems. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said the U.S. may finally have outpaced testing leader South Korea but that country has far fewer deaths because it started testing early. “I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever,” Romney said. Trump administration “testing czar” Adm. Brett Giroir said the U.S. could be performing at least 40 million to 50 million tests per month by September. That would work out to between 1.3 million to 1.7 million tests per day. Harvard researchers have said the U.S. must be doing 900,000 by this Friday in order to safely reopen. And a test only tells if someone is infected that day — they could catch the virus the next day. Pushed by Alexander on how the nation’s 100,000 schools and 5,000 colleges could reopen in August, Giroir expressed confidence there would be enough tests for schools to devise safe strategies, perhaps by testing a certain number of students every few days. Worldwide, the virus has infected nearly 4.2 million people and killed over 287,000 — more than 80,000 deaths in U.S. alone, the world’s highest toll. Fauci said U.S. deaths likely are higher than the official count. While Fauci has become the trusted science voice for millions of Americans, Sen. Rand Paul expressed frustration with his cautions. The Kentucky Republican said Fauci was not the “end all” in knowledge about the coronavirus and it’s “kind of ridiculous” to suggest children shouldn’t go back to school -- something Fauci never said. “We don’t know everything about this virus and we really better be pretty careful, particularly when it comes to children,” Fauci said. While children do seem less susceptible, doctors in New York are investigating about 100 youngsters whose COVID-19 may be linked to a rare and dangerous inflammatory reaction. Three have died. COVID-19 is devastating nursing homes as well, with infections and deaths soaring among residents and their caregivers. “If we are able to get masks to everybody in the White House, I hope we can get masks to every nursing home employee who needs it,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who also asked why those vulnerable populations were having a hard time getting tested when employees in contact with Trump get a daily test. The White House recently recommended that states test all nursing home residents and staff within the next two weeks. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., blasted the Trump administration for “criminally vague” guidance on how states can safely reopen their economies. He pressed CDC Director Robert Redfield on why detailed recommendations prepared by agency experts had been shelved, as reported by The Associated Press. Redfield replied that those recommendations should appear on the agency’s website soon. Three of Tuesday’s experts, Fauci, Redfield and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, are in “modified quarantine” after two White House staffers recently became infected but they’re allowed to attend critical administration meetings, masked and keeping their distance. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Fauci warns: More death, econ damage if US reopens too fast."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fa18fd8b5bb432d91acb93ece9f35ac",
            "input": "In a joint statement after a five-day conference in Britain, the international experts said snake bites kill more people than all other so-called Neglected Tropical Diseases combined, yet get little attention or funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) or from governments. Citing new evidence from a study in India and Bangladesh, the experts said around 46,000 people died annually of snake bites in India, plus another 6,000 in Bangladesh. The WHO estimates the annual death toll in India from snake bites is 10,000. “Snake bite ... is almost completely ignored and grossly underestimated,” said Alan Harvey, head of the International Society of Toxinology, who led the meeting. “WHO and governments need to ... rank snake bite where it belongs — as a very real public health and medical concern which needs funding, training and focus.”  Bites from snakes such as cobras, mambas and vipers mainly affect people living in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia with scant health facilities nearby. Antivenom treatment can cost between $250 and $500, the experts said, meaning many victims either seek no treatment at all or go to local witch doctors or herbalists. Despite high death rates, the WHO in 2013 downgraded snake bite to a “neglected condition” with no formal program on how to address it as a health threat, the experts said. The specialists also warned that antivenom stocks are running “dangerously low” in many risk areas and said there is a “real crisis in the quantity and quality of antivenoms in rural areas, where they are needed most”. Even where antivenom stocks are good and of high quality, there is often a shortage of medical staff trained in how to administer them safely or effectively.",
            "output": [
                "Venom experts say global snake bite death tolls 'grossly underestimated'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-294f735ff3a94b7a9853b4822d4da500",
            "input": "The May 13 flight from Alexandria, Louisiana carried 65 adults, according to the country’s immigration institute. More than 100 Guatemalan deportees have tested positive after arriving from the U.S. The Foreign Ministry said that after the infections were detected, the Health Ministry was asked to get in touch with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the protocols and decide what new measures would be necessary. A deportation flight scheduled for Friday was cancelled after President Alejandro Giammattei announced Thursday night that the country would be on round-the-clock lockdown through the weekend because of a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. On April 13, a deportation flight from Alexandria, Louisiana carried at least 71 infected Guatemalans. The CDC sent a team after that flight to confirm Guatemala’s testing. Guatemala suspended flights several times, including after that case, to pressure the U.S. government to better screen deportees. The country’s health officials have complained that the deportees represent a significant portion of Guatemala’s infections. The U.S. had started testing deportees for the virus before their flights, but another deportee tested positive this month even after the U.S. certified he had tested negative before leaving. Guatemala has 1,487 confirmed cases and 31 deaths.",
            "output": [
                "More Guatemalan deportees from US test positive for virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fb7ac0ededb49fd9bc20cb177ae4b09",
            "input": "The findings offer another reason for doctors to limit  their use of the drugs, which are overused in the United  States, the team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention said. “This number is an important reminder for physicians and  patients that antibiotics can have serious side effects and  should only be taken when necessary,” said the CDC’s Dr. Daniel  Budnitz, who led the study. For the first report ever done on adverse reactions to  antibiotics in the United States, the researchers used the  National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative  Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project, a sample of 63 U.S.  hospitals, between 2004 and 2006. They found more than 6,600 emergency visits were due to an  adverse reaction to an antibiotic. They used formulas to  extrapolate this to the whole country and estimated that  142,000 such emergency visits are made every year. “Systemic antibiotics (pills or injections as opposed to  creams) were implicated in 19.3 percent of all emergency  department visits for drug-related adverse events,” they wrote  in the September 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. Penicillin and related antibiotics such as amoxicillin,  widely prescribed and widely seen as safe, accounted for half  the emergency visits. Other classes of antibiotics such as  cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and newer antibiotics  accounted for the rest. “Persons aged 15-44 years accounted for an estimated 41.2  percent of ED visits. Infants accounted for only an estimated  6.3 percent of ED visits,” they wrote. Budnitz and colleagues said 78 percent of the adverse  events in the study were allergic reactions, ranging from rash  to a serious reaction known as anaphylaxis, and the remaining  22 percent were caused by errors and overdoses. Many studies have suggested that half of the estimated 100  million antibiotic prescriptions written for respiratory tract  infections in the United States are unnecessary. Most such  infections are caused by viruses, and antibiotics are useless  against them. But, Budnitz and colleagues said, doctors still often  believe their patients are exceptions to the rule and continue  to write the prescriptions. “Because antibiotics are frequently used, both  appropriately and inappropriately, if doctors would reduce the  number of antibiotics they prescribe to their patients by even  a small percentage, we could significantly reduce the number of  emergency visits for antibiotic adverse events,” Budnitz said  in a statement. “Antibiotics are among the most frequently used medications  in the United States. Annually, antibiotics are prescribed to  an estimated 16 percent of patients during ambulatory care  visits, and pharmaceutical manufacturers spend $1 billion  promoting antibiotics,” Budnitz wrote.",
            "output": [
                "Study finds 140,000 bad reactions to antibiotics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b53ae200a9f541b9964f37b0af746b21",
            "input": "\"Bing West, Marine veteran of Vietnam and an expert on counterinsurgency warfare, was discussing military preparedness with host Gene Valicenti last week on WPRO-AM. They were talking about Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s proposed defense budget, which includes, among other spending cuts, trimming the Army from its current level of 520,000 troops to as low as 440,000 active duty soldiers, the lowest level since before World War II. West opposes the troop reductions, saying such cuts would make it difficult for the United States to respond quickly to future military threats. If those kinds of cuts must be made, he said, it is common sense to have a backup mobilization plan in place to rapidly increase the size of the military. In other words, he said, a draft. Besides the obvious political challenges in reinstituting the draft, which ended in 1973, West said there’s a logistical problem as well: Seventy-five percent of the young adults in this country are not mentally or physically fit to serve, he said. Watch out, Valicenti warned, Politifact might hear you. Well, we did. West’s number sounded high, so we went out to muster the facts. When we called West, he said he got the figure from reports he’d read in newspapers around the country, most recently the Washington Post. We looked for the original research that might have driven those reports, and we found it. The 75 percent unfit figure has been reported for a few years now. It came from a 2009 report called \"\"Ready, Willing and Unable to Serve, 75 Percent of Young Adults Cannot Join the Military.\"\" The report was prepared by Mission Readiness, an organization that includes 89 retired military officials,  including a former navy secretary, and officers from generals to chief petty officers and sergeant majors. The group advocates for improvements in the United States’ education system and the health of the nation’s youth. The report said increasing obesity rates among Americans ages 17 to 24, declining high school graduation rates and criminal backgrounds were severely narrowing the pool of applicants who could meet the armed forces’ academic and physical health standards for recruits. The report noted that one in four young Americans lacks a high school diploma and 30 percent of those who have one and try to enlist fail the military’s math and reading tests. It also estimated that 27 percent of those between 17 and 24 could not hit the armed forces’ weight limits and 32 percent had other health problems, such as asthma, poor eyesight or hearing or attention deficit disorders, that ruled them out for military service. The report also said about 10 percent of the potential military service population was ineligible because of at least one prior felony or serious misdemeanor. Mission:Readiness isn’t the only one sounding that alarm. On March 3, 2009, Curtis Gilroy, then the director of the accession policy office of the undersecretary for defense for personnel and readiness, told the U. S. Congress’ House Armed Services Committee pretty much the same thing. He cited the primary drivers as obesity and low high school graduation rates when he said \"\"we find that only 25 percent of our young people today, aged 17 to 24, are qualified for military service. Not a good situation.\"\" Our ruling Bing West said 75 percent of young adults in the United States were physically or mentally unfit to serve in the military. The Defense Department and a non-governmental organization have both done research that support his claim. We find the statement  . (Comment on this ruling on providencejournal.com. If you have a claim you'd like us to check, send it to [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "Seventy-five percent of the young adults in this country are not mentally or physically fit to serve."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-deb7bfc29d584f73ba435970a1a320d6",
            "input": "The Maine Center for Disease Control says the state has had 51 acute cases in 2019 and is running a rate nearly three times the national average. Director of the Maine CDC, Dr. Nirav Shah, says the cases of hepatitis C in Maine is “an unfortunate outcropping of the substance use crisis.” Executive director of the Health Equity Alliance, Kenney Miller, says the long-term goal’s to have at least one syringe exchange in all 16 counties. The Portland Press Herald reports there are currently exchange programs in Bangor, Ellsworth, Belfast, Machias, Portland, Augusta and Waterville. Shah says increasing the number of exchanges is one of the top priorities of the Mills administration. ___ This story has been corrected to show there are 51 cases of acute hepatitis C diagnosed in Maine this year, not 59.",
            "output": [
                "Maine plans to expand syringe exchange program."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-459d74d481f6452ca947008d06eff9d5",
            "input": "\"The proliferation of pain clinics in Florida has been a growing problem -- particularly in Broward County. Dave Aronberg, a state senator from Palm Beach County running in the Democratic primary for attorney general, has now quantified that problem by comparing it to the availability of Big Macs. \"\"There are more pain clinics in Broward County than there are McDonald's in Broward County,\"\" he told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board July 26. We at PolitiFact Florida wondered, are there really more spots to buy happy meds than Happy Meals in Broward County? Determining the number of pain clinics was more complicated than counting the number of McDonald's restaurants. Aronberg campaign spokesman Allison North Jones cited a grand jury investigation led by Broward State Attorney Mike Satz issued in 2009. That report stated that in 2007, there were four pain clinics in Broward. From August 2008 to November 2009, the number swelled from 47 to 115. A footnote in the report states that the statistic comes from the Broward Sheriff's Office Pharmaceutical Drug Diversion Unit. BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal told us that as of July 28, BSO lists 144 pain clinics in the entire county. But he warned \"\"sometimes it is hard to have an accurate count because these places come and go, they are thrown out of one storefront and move across the street.\"\" Aronberg sent us a March 2 blog in the Broward Palm Beach New Times which also looked at his McDonald's comparison -- that time he had made the comment at a St. Petersburg debate. \"\"After dozens of phone calls and hours of research, it turns out that finding the exact number of pill mills in Broward is impossible,\"\" The New Times wrote. \"\"First, it depends on your definition of a 'pill mill.' The pain management clinics in South Florida range from legitimate medical business targeting specific patients suffering chronic pain to junkie-friendly, low-rent operations. Second, a lot of these clinics open and shut down quickly, only to reopen at a new location. Third, and most important, there is little government regulation of the industry, no agency responsible for tracking the businesses.\"\" The New Times quoted Mike Jachles, a BSO spokesman, as saying there were \"\"at least 80\"\" in areas that BSO oversees. The New Times counted 71 McDonald's for Broward County in the phone book. We also consulted the Florida Department of Health's pain clinic registry. That spreadsheet shows about 343 clinics in Broward, but it lists several with the same addresses multiple times, making it difficult to get an accurate account. We called and e-mailed the health department's communications office in Tallahassee and did not hear back. Two other law enforcement agencies quoted in the past regarding the number of pain clinics -- the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Hollywood Police Department -- referred us to the health department. Next we tried to identify the number of McDonald's restaurants in Broward County. We e-mailed and called McDonald's media relations and after two days of no response, we typed all 31 cities in Broward into the chain's online restaurant locator. We found 73. Aronberg's Senate staff had done the same earlier this year, and found 78. (PolitiFact Florida came up with a different figure than Aronberg's team for Davie, Miramar and Pompano Beach. It's possible that some restaurants have opened and closed since Aronberg's office counted them.) We could not detemine a way to check unincorporated Broward on the McDonald's website. But there is little unincorporated land left so it's unlikely that would change the total significantly, if at all. So how is Aronberg's math? A grand jury report put the number of pain clinics at 115 by late 2009. The Broward Sheriff's Office puts the number at 144 as of July 28. We found the state health department database too confusing to evaluate, and no one to answer our questions. The best number we could determine for McDonald's locations was 73 -- Aronberg's campaign put it at 78 while the New Times said 71. No matter which number you pick, the number of pain clinics in Broward is dozens higher than the number of McDonald's.\"",
            "output": [
                "There are more pain clinics in Broward County than there are McDonald's in Broward County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c3952e549cf4ea9a7d4025aec6fe17d",
            "input": "Scientists said on Wednesday many Tibetans possess a rare variant of a gene involved in carrying oxygen in the blood that they likely inherited from an enigmatic group of extinct humans who interbred with our species tens of thousands of years ago. It enables Tibetans to function well in low oxygen levels at elevations upwards of 15,000 feet (4,500 meters) like the vast high plateau of southwestern China. People without this variant would be apt to develop thick blood, leading to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, low-birth-weight babies and higher infant mortality. This version of the EPAS1 gene is nearly identical to one found in Denisovans, a lineage related to Neanderthals - but is very different from other people today. Denisovans are known from a single finger bone and two teeth found in a Siberian cave. DNA testing on the 41,000-year-old bone indicated Denisovans were distinct from our species and Neanderthals. “Our finding may suggest that the exchange of genes through mating with extinct species may be more important in human evolution than previously thought,” said Rasmus Nielsen, a computational biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen, whose study appears in the journal Nature. Our genome contains residual genetic fragments from other organisms like viruses as well as species like Neanderthals with which early modern humans interbred. The researchers called their study the first to show that a gene from an archaic human species has helped modern humans adjust to different living conditions. “Such exchange of genes with other species may in fact have helped humans adapt to new environments encountered as they spread out of Africa and into the rest of the world,” said  Nielsen. Asan Ciren, a researcher with China’s BGI genomics center, added, “The genetic relationship or blood relationship between modern humans and archaic hominins is a hot topic of the current paleoanthropology.”  The researchers said early modern humans trekking out of Africa interbred with Denisovans in Eurasia en route to China. Their descendants harbor a tiny percentage of Denisovan DNA. Genetic studies show nearly 90 percent of Tibetans have the high-altitude gene variant, along with a small percentage of Han Chinese, who share a common ancestor with Tibetans. It is seen in no other people. The researchers conducted genetic studies on 40 Tibetans and 40 Han Chinese and performed a statistical analysis showing that the gene variant almost certainly was inherited from the Denisovans. The gene regulates production of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. It is turned on when blood oxygen levels drop, stimulating more hemoglobin production. At elevations above 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), the common form of the gene boosts hemoglobin and red blood cell production, causing dangerous side effects. The Tibetans’ variant increases hemoglobin and red blood cell levels only modestly, sparing them these effects.",
            "output": [
                "Gene from extinct human species fortifies high-altitude Tibetans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6a46080d349b4a22bda8c32ad2d1d02f",
            "input": "The results announced Wednesday are from the first human test of gene editing in the body, an attempt to permanently change someone’s DNA to cure a disease — in this case, a genetic disorder called Hunter syndrome that often kills people in their teens. In two patients who got a medium dose of the treatment, urine levels of large sugar compounds that are hallmarks of Hunter syndrome had fallen by half, on average, four months later — a possible sign the treatment is working. Two others who got a low dose have seen little change in these sugars so far. There’s no way to know yet whether the change in the middle-dose patients is due to the gene editing or something else, but the fact their sugars have declined consistently since treatment suggests it might be. “I cannot absolutely say it’s a treatment effect” but the drop is “really encouraging,” said the study leader, Dr. Joseph Muenzer of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The main goal of early treatment studies is to test safety, though researchers also look for hints that the therapy is working. Muenzer gave the results at a conference in Greece and consults for the treatment’s maker, California-based Sangamo Therapeutics. The company’s president, Dr. Sandy Macrae, said tests in about five months will reveal more, but the change in the middle-dose group so far “looks really good.” “The most rational explanation for this is that what we hoped was going to happen has happened,” he said. Several independent experts agreed. “The results are exciting” and suggest that the gene editing is working to some degree, without safety concerns so far, said Dr. Howard Kaufman, a Boston scientist and member of a National Institutes of Health panel that reviewed the study before it began. Dr. Matthew Porteus, a genetics expert at Stanford University who consults for two other companies developing gene therapies, said more time is needed to see how the patients’ immune system continues to react to the treatment and whether the effects last, but added, “I would be excited about continuing to push along” based on these results. HOW IT WORKS Gene editing is intended as a more precise way to do gene therapy, to knock out a bad gene or supply a good one that’s missing. Doctors hope it will give a way to address a host of diseases that can’t be treated well now. In November, a Phoenix-area man with Hunter syndrome, Brian Madeux, became the first person to test this inside the body. He lacks a gene that makes an enzyme that breaks down certain large sugar compounds called GAGs. These build up in cells and cause havoc throughout the body. Through an IV, Madeux received many copies of a corrective gene and a gene-editing tool called zinc finger nucleases to help put it in a precise spot in his DNA. He was one of the two patients given a very low dose of the treatment, because this first-in-human testing called for extreme caution. EARLY RESULTS In Madeux and the other low-dose patient, levels of the tell-tale sugar compounds in urine rose 9 percent on average after four months. Muenzer said it’s hard to know whether this is a significant change; little is known about the biology of these compounds, including whether they fluctuate during the day or before or after meals. A liver biopsy on one patient given a low dose of the therapy found no evidence that the gene editing had occurred, but Sangamo scientists said this dose is far below the level at which such signs had been detected in research on primates. Two other patients were given a middle dose that was twice what the first two patients received. Their GAG levels declined by 51 percent after four months, on average. Two of the main types of these sugars that accumulate in tissues declined 32 percent and 61 percent, respectively. It is not yet known if declines like these can improve patients’ health or slow the progression of the disease. “This is not proof that this is a successful therapy yet, that these patients had enough gene editing to now supply them with the enzyme they need for the rest of their life,” Muenzer said. But he said an important goal was met: the treatment seems safe. There were two serious side effects — one patient was hospitalized for bronchitis and another for an irregular heartbeat — but those were deemed due to their disease and pre-existing conditions, not the gene treatment. Blood tests did not detect the missing enzyme. Company scientists said this could be because any that was being made was rapidly used by cells rather than getting into the bloodstream — an explanation some outside experts agreed with. What counts, they said, was seeing the result of enzyme activity, the drop in sugars. NEXT STEPS Two more patients have been given the highest dose being tested — 10 times the starting dose — for a total of six patients in the study. The next step is to start taking patients off the weekly enzyme treatments they’ve been receiving to see if the gene therapy has changed their bodies so they make enough of the enzyme themselves. More results are expected at a medical meeting in February. “We need to see sustained levels for this to be practical. If this only works for six months, that’s not very beneficial,” Muenzer said. “Time’s going to tell.” In an interview at his home in Arizona last month, Madeux, 45, told The Associated Press he volunteered for the study in hope of being able to stop the weekly, three-hour enzyme infusions, but also to help find a treatment for future generations with the disease. “I’m old and having Hunter’s has done a lot of damage to my body,” Madeux said. “I’m actually pretty lucky I’ve lived this long.” ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP . ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Early results boost hopes for historic gene editing attempt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd3164cbf0ba4a18b49fe485bac447b6",
            "input": "The story didn’t discuss costs. And cost is a significant issue here. The AP story, by comparison, reported that “colonoscopy costs vary widely but typically exceed $1,000.” Adequate. The story said that almost 24% of Medicare enrollees in the study were re-examined within seven years “with no clear indication for the early repeated examination.” One of the weak points in this story – and in many of the stories we saw on this study, frankly – was that, while harms or complications were mentioned, they were not defined nor quantified. What harms? And how often do they occur? This story had a quote that “I don’t think we’ve educated [people] well enough” about the possible risks – but the story itself didn’t do so. The AP story, by comparison, at least mentioned “risks that occur more often with older patients, including complications from sedation, accidental performation of the colon and bleeding.” Adequate job. Nice touch commenting on the geographic variations seen in the Medicare analysis as well. The focus of this story was the opposite of disease-mongering. The story used an American Cancer Society spokesman as an independent source. In the last line, the story at least mentioned other approaches to colon cancer screening. The availability of colonoscopies is not in question. The relative novelty of this study was made clear in the story. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Significant Number of Medicare Patients Getting Too-Frequent Colonoscopies"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2680e60b9d4e4d9580725cbfadd52b78",
            "input": "The 40-year-old woman had traveled nearly 500 kilometers (289 miles) from Beni, despite having been identified by health officials as having been exposed to Ebola and warned not to travel. Her case was confirmed in Ariwara, Congo, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with South Sudan’s Yei River State, according to a report from South Sudan’s health ministry that was viewed Tuesday by The Associated Press. It is the closest confirmed case to South Sudan since the outbreak began in Congo last August, according to an official with close knowledge of the outbreak who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the record. People who have come into contact with Ebola patients are supposed to be monitored for 21 days, the incubation period during which symptoms can emerge after exposure. Long-distance travel, particularly to regions bordering other vulnerable countries, is not recommended. More than 1,500 people have died in Congo since the epidemic began, and two other fatal cases were reported in Uganda after a family sickened in Congo returned home across the border. While no other fatalities have emerged since the scare, fears remain high that Ebola could spread through the impoverished region where people are often mobile and difficult to trace. While authorities in South Sudan have been preparing for possible spread of Ebola case across the border, the country still remains far less prepared than Uganda. A five-year civil war in South Sudan has killed nearly 400,000 people and the health system is weak. Contact tracing is critical to stopping the disease’s spread, but those efforts in South Sudan would be complicated by the fact more than 4 million people have been displaced by the war. Medical facilities, which were already far more basic than those in Congo or Uganda, have been further weakened during the conflict. The outbreak is now the second deadliest in history, surpassed only by the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa that caused more than 11,300 deaths. While there is an experimental vaccine that has shown a high level of protection, efforts to vaccinate people in eastern Congo have been complicated by instability. The region where the outbreak began has been plagued for decades by violence from rebel groups and armed militias. The population remains highly distrustful of the Congolese government and the health authorities now trying to fight the disease. Major international health charities have had to curtail their work following deadly attacks on treatment centers and assaults on health teams in the field. ___ Mednick reported from Bujumbura, Burundi. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Ebola case reported not far from South Sudan border."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0aea7eb87ebf467fb7ca789a9d10a025",
            "input": "Yoga instructor Michael Hayes, owner of Buddha Body Yoga, warms up before teaching his class in New York City May 7, 2011. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly A wicked sprained ankle was the result. Now he practices balancing for a few minutes each day and urges his fellow baby boomers to do the same. “Rocking toes to heels and quadriceps stretches are things anybody can do if they have a floor,” said Sandhaus, a self-described ex-hippie who dispenses fitness tips on his website, BetterCheaperSlower. “If you put yourself in instability it gives you instant awareness of what balance is about,” he explained. Having good balance means being able to control and maintain your body’s position; having poor balance can have dire consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults 65 years and older fall each year. Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths among older adults. Dr. Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, an expert on aging for the American Council on Sports Medicine, said lack of balance among older adults is a huge problem affecting mortality and quality of life. But he cautions against painting all older adults with the same broad brush. “Physiological decline is an inescapable consequence of ageing but the rate and extent varies tremendously,” he said. “Lots of (people) 85 and over are more than capable of functioning.”   Regular walking and resistance training will suffice for many older adults, according to Chodzko-Zajko, who heads the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. “Balance interventions need to occur for those with risk factors,” he said. And the biggest risk factor is falling. “If you can ask only one thing, ask, ‘Have you had a fall in the last six months?’” he said. “ If they say, ‘Yes,’ then follow up with further testing.”   He said vision problems, multiple medications, cognitive changes, and confusion are among other risk factors for imbalance. “From a public health perspective, it’s really expensive to test for all those things,” he said. If you have an ageing parent, Chodzko-Zajko advises, first try to make sure they’re active. Then if they’re at risk, talk to their physician about medication, install non-slip surfaces, get rid of clutter. “Try to be as preventive as makes sense without being overcautious,” he said. “You don’t want people to stay at home.”   Chodzko-Zajko said while he has no objection to tools such as balance boards, foam, obstacle courses, they are not a solution for everyone. As a personal trainer with Equinox, a national chain of fitness centers, Margaret Schwarz routinely assesses the fitness level of new members at the New York club where she works. The screening includes a balance component, but Schwarz says regardless of age, you can’t have balance if you don’t have strength. “I approach it from a strength perspective. I watch them do squats, walk up stairs, pick things off the floor, do regular activities. (Lack of balance) can happen in a 35-year-old who has been sitting at a desk,” she said. “Some women can’t lift a three-pound dumbbell.”   She said too many people can’t feel the ground beneath their feet. “Sometimes I have them take off their shoes to feel the floor,” said Schwarz, who defines balance as being able to right yourself. “It’s about how to use your musculature in space,” she said, “so when you feel yourself falling you can stop yourself from falling.”",
            "output": [
                "Weighing the benefits of balance training."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0398c8c32ebb4a0d90ce40c29aa3039f",
            "input": "Shares of Lexicon jumped 37.8% to $2.37 in after hours trading. Under the terms of the settlement, Sanofi will pay $208 million upfront and the remainder within twelve months to Lexicon, which was eligible to receive up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments under the partnership. The four-year partnership was terminated by Sanofi in July after the results of three late-stage studies of Zynquista, which is being developed as an add-on to insulin for diabetic patients. Lexicon will regain global rights for the development and commercialization of Zynquista in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the company said in a statement. The drug has been approved in the European Union for use in type 1 diabetic patients but failed to win U.S. approval in March, months after a panel of experts raised concerns of the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is a life-threatening condition in which acids called ketones build up when the body starts to use fat instead of glucose as a source of energy.",
            "output": [
                "Sanofi to pay Lexicon $260 million for terminated partnership."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa467bfea01248f28fc2b6202ab0cc5b",
            "input": "Empowerment is a big part of the Vixen workout, a hip-hop dance class with a night club feel that fitness experts say offers a cardio girls’ night out to women who may be keen to channel their inner Beyonce, Ciara or Rihanna, but wouldn’t be caught dead in a gym. “It’s all about wearing your sexiest leggings, putting on your brightest red lipstick and taking your hair down so you can bend over and shake it,” said Jolie Bedini, 40, a single mother who takes a Miami Vixen class up to five times a week. Fueled by the songs from rap stars Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Pitbull, the workout mixes sultry dance moves such as booty battles, kitten stretches and twerks with body lunges and squats. “A bit of sexy dancing and you’re into the zone,” said Bedini, noting that the workout helped her lose weight. Up to 100 women attend the party-lit, hour-long, mostly evening classes, which began in Miami and have spread to New Jersey, Los Angeles and Chicago. The workout is the brainchild of Janet Jones, a former  Miami Heat basketball team dancer and hip-hop performer. Jones said the concept emerged from the invisibility she felt after her pregnancy and taking a nine-to-five job, a time she refers to as her black hole. “Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, they’re all vixens. Beyonce is the ultimate vixen but I think every woman has a vixen inside her,” Jones said. She said encouraging clients to dress for a girls’ night out gets them into the performance spirit. “Most of them have never experienced themselves as performers. All of a sudden they’re focusing on getting the movement, picking up the choreography. They work harder and lose weight,” she explained. “If I have no makeup and I’m in sweats, I don’t feel like a vixen.”  Shirley Archer, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise, said the Vixen workout is effective. “Everyone is getting their heart rates up and moving continuously throughout the routine,” said Archer, author of “The Everything Wedding Workout Book.”  Learning dance moves is also great brain exercise as it challenges the mind-body connection, coordination and memorization. “The best exercise for you is the exercise that you actually do,” she explained. “Making the workout fun, like a girls night out at a dance club, is a great way to motivate women who enjoy dancing to keep on training, which is key to getting results.”  Jones said the women in the classes average 25 to 35 years old but some are in their 70’s. “My mother-in law takes the class,” she said. “All women need a time for themselves to be a little rebellious.”",
            "output": [
                "Vixen workouts fuse foxy cardio fitness with girls’ night out."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83816182be5841ad97cacfff743cd541",
            "input": "Dick Beardsley, Minnesota native known for being runner-up in the 1982 Boston Marathon, spoke with students at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology about mental health and determination. Many can recall the challenges Beardsley took on in trying to beat world record holder, Alberto Salazar, in the momentous race. But it was the subsequent trials he faced after the race that took him to task. “As I was finishing that race, I told myself, ‘I’ll never face anything so difficult as this again.’ But I was so wrong,” Beardsley told the audience. Beardsley endured three subsequent freak accidents post-retirement, according to the Rapid City Journal. Two of the injuries include a truck striking him while on a run in Fargo, North Dakota, and his left leg being mangled by a tractor in his native Minnesota. Beardsley became addicted to pain killers by the early 1990s, at times taking as many as 90 pills a day. It provided him with a front row view of the current opioid epidemic plaguing America. “I was the same as someone in an alleyway shooting up on heroin,” said an energetic Beardsley. “I was a narcotics addict.” He even became addicted to methadone while receiving treatment in a Fargo hospital. It took a late-night bus ride to Minneapolis, spending a distressing week without sleep in a hospital bed and attending therapy sessions, before Beardsley reaching sobriety. “A doctor told me, ‘This will be the hardest thing you ever do. It will be hell.’ And he was right,” Beardsley said to the nearly 100 people on hand. Now sober for 22 years, Beardsley impressed upon his audience to never forget their own hard work. ___ Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com",
            "output": [
                "Retired marathoner addresses addiction and recovery in SD."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c485ac9b9fb4420ea3637769016ef9ae",
            "input": "\"Don't mess with Charlie Crist when it comes to open government. It was Crist, as Florida governor, who created something called the Office for Open Government. And we've heard stories of the governor himself ordering agency heads to hand over public records requested by nosy reporters. Now Crist is taking up the cause of the nation's people in a debate over transparency when it comes to the health care reform bill. \"\"It seems that a bill that was crafted in a closed-door, backroom meeting in the White House will end the same way,\"\" Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate, said in a statement released Jan. 5, 2010. \"\"President Obama has broken his pledge to the American people to be transparent throughout this process, and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi have only aided in the secrecy with sweetheart deals and dead of the night votes.\"\" Crist is claiming that Obama broke a promise when it comes to transparency and health care reform. Lucky for us, we have this thing at PolitiFact called the  Obameter  , where we are tracking Obama's more than 500 campaign promises. If you'll now turn to  Promise No. 517  . To achieve health care reform, Obama said in August 2008, \"\"I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.\"\" If it only happened ... While the Senate and House floor debates have been televised on C-SPAN, negotiations have almost always been away from television cameras. ABC's Jake Tapper put the discrepancy in front of White House press secretary Robert Gibbs this week, to see if the final negotiations between the House, the Senate and the president would be televised. \"\"There have been a countless number of public hearings,\"\" Gibbs said. \"\"The Senate did a lot of their voting at 1 and 2 in the morning on C-SPAN ... I think what the president promised and pledged was so that you could see who was fighting for their constituents and who was fighting for drug and insurance companies.\"\" But, Tapper pressed, the president was talking about negotiations, not votes -- which would hardly be a campaign promise since they would have been televised regardless. \"\"Well, but the bill gets put together on the floor of the Senate,\"\" Gibbs said. \"\"That's where the bill got augmented. And I think if you watched that debate ... you'd have seen quite a bit of public hearing and public airing.\"\" Despite the action on the House and Senate floors, most of the serious negotiations on the health care bill have been done in the same fashion as other major initiatives in the past -- behind closed doors. From negotiations with the drug companies and health care interests to final assembly of the delicate compromise on abortion, the bulk of the big deliberations and discussions have occurred out of the public eye. The debate over the resulting bill may have been on C-SPAN as Gibbs claims, but the real sausagemaking took place in a private kitchen. 517 a Promise Broken. On top of that, C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb  wrote  to House and Senate leaders last week inviting negotiations on the channel. \"\"President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system,\"\" Lamb wrote. \"\"Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American.\"\" Obama promised an end to closed-door negotiations and complete openness for the health care talks. But he has failed to deliver. When Crist says \"\"President Obama has broken his pledge to the American people to be transparent throughout this process,\"\" he's right.\"",
            "output": [
                "President Obama has broken his pledge to the American people to be transparent throughout (health care reform negotiations)."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f5d54f6aed794ed2a32f447afaaf5e65",
            "input": "Adolescents appear to spread SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, as quickly and effectively as some adults, according to a study of more than 65,000 individuals in South Korea conducted during the onset of the 2020 pandemic. In the context of this study, news reports making such claims are mostly accurate. However, there are some important caveats to note when interpreting the broader implications of the findings. After the first case of COVID-19 in South Korea was discovered on Jan. 20, 2020, the nation adopted a “rigorous contact-tracing program” to track its spread throughout the population. Between the first reported case and March 27, researchers with the U.S. and Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracked more than 5,700 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 by analyzing GPS, credit card transactions, and closed-circuit television. More than 59,000 people had come into contact with the original “index patients,” allowing researchers to determine how likely an infected individual was to transmit the virus to those living in their home and beyond. While researchers did not set out to characterize transmission rates specific to age groups, the claim is a byproduct of the work. Children between 10 and 19 years of age were shown to have a higher transmission rate within their households than younger children and were thus able to spread the virus as efficiently as, and in some cases at higher rates than, adults. More specifically, this age group had a transmission rate of over 18% within their own household, which is much higher than adults between the ages of 20 and 59 (ranging 7 and 14.7%). On the other hand, adolescents were much less likely to spread the disease to others outside of their home, and though children under 10 were found to transmit less than adults, they are still believed to contribute to community transmission. It is unclear why teens and tweens appear to be transmitting the disease more than adults, though the researchers speculate that it may be due to how children were socializing during the study period. “We also found the highest COVID-19 rate for household contacts of school-aged children, and the lowest for household contacts of children [up to nine years] in the middle of school closure. Despite [the] closure of their schools, these children might have interacted with each other, although we do not have data to support that hypothesis,” wrote the authors.",
            "output": [
                "Teens and tweens transmit SARS-CoV-2 quicker and more efficiently than adults. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cb1d62a79f4d49b9818e2c6680482f24",
            "input": "Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Olivia applies lipstick prior to the Ravens NFL football game in Baltimore, Maryland October 2, 2011. REUTERS/Larry Downing Lead has been banned in paint since 1978 because of its toxicity at low levels, but it still shows up in small amounts in some of the best-selling lipstick brands. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which did an analysis of a study of lead in lipstick conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, wants consumers to know that most of the 400 different lipsticks tested were positive for the substance (link.reuters.com/caz56s). “Recognizing that there is no safe level of lead exposure, we need to be protecting women and children from all levels of exposure,” said Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the campaign — a non-profit coalition of environmental- and cancer-prevention groups. Malkan’s group wants the FDA to set a limit for how much lead lipstick can contain and to study whether there are any dangers to having the substance applied to human lips, particularly the lips of children and pregnant women. “We know that ingestion of lipstick happens. It gets into our bodies,” she said, noting that lead accumulates in people. The group said that five of the nine lipstick brands with the most lead are sold by L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics maker. L’Oreal’s “Color Sensational” Pink Petal had the most lead of any lipstick tested at 7.19 parts per million. By comparison, children’s products sold in the U.S. are forbidden to have more than 100 parts per million of lead. “The FDA’s independent study, which will be published in the May/June 2012 issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Science, confirms that lipsticks pose no safety concerns for the millions of women who use them daily,” L’Oreal said in a statement sent to Reuters. “The lead levels detected by the FDA in the study are also within the limits recommended by global public health authorities for cosmetics, including lipstick.”   The FDA, for its part, agreed there is no cause for alarm. “The FDA did not find high levels of lead in lipstick,” FDA spokeswoman Tamara Ward said. “We developed and tested a method for measuring lead in lipstick and did not find levels that would raise health concerns.”   Still, Malkan said the government should take some more steps to ensure the safety of those who use lipstick. An advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a position that there is no safe level of lead for children. So, why asked Malkan should it be OK for their to be lead in lipstick? And, in particular, for certain brands to have more than others? “There are no safety standards,” Malkan said. So, if you’re still lead conscious, consider how you’ll handle your lips and those you’ll be sharing them with this Valentine’s Day. (Editing by Beth Pinsker Gladstone and Steve Orlofsky)",
            "output": [
                "Could your Valentine's kiss give you lead poisoning?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7facdb71a31b4fde88d6c9343269afc5",
            "input": "\"Republican Agriculture Commissioner candidate Adam Putnam is sounding the alarm about a critical water shortage he says Florida will soon be facing. \"\"The most important issue facing Florida long term is water -- whether you want to plant an orange grove, build a subdivision, save the Everglades ... it all boils down to water,\"\" Putnam, a congressman from Bartow in Polk County, said on Sept. 9, 2010, during an editorial board interview with the St. Petersburg Times. \"\"We've got to find 2 billion -- find, create, make, obtain through conservation -- 2 billion gallons (of water) between now and 2025. Per day.\"\" Putnam told the editorial board members assembled that the state needs to invest in alternative water supplies like reclaimed water, and create incentives for developers to invest in alternative supplies as well. The state must also advocate for more conservation and efficiency measures, Putnam said, and continue to invest in desalination facilities -- which turn salt water into drinking water. He wrote a policy position paper on the state's water supply issues, which you can read here. In this fact check we're drilling down on Putnam's basic assumption, that Florida needs to somehow develop an additional 2 billion gallons of water per day in the next 15 years. We turned to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the agency tasked to increase the state's available water supplies, for an answer. Florida used an estimated 6.9 billion gallons of fresh water per day in 2005, the DEP said, citing the most recent U.S. Geological Survey report. By 2025, it is projected that the state will use 8.7 billion gallons a day. That's an increase of 1.8 billion gallon per day, or 27 percent. Close to what Putnam said. We should note that the projected is based on the assumption that the state's population will grow to almost 25 million by 2025. Currently, the state's population is estimated to be around 18.77 million. The projection also assumes that the government will be responsible for providing water for everyone in the state. Both those assumptions could, of course, change between now and 2025. \"\"As Florida continues to grow, pressure is put on the water resources of the state and the need to ensure these resources are available for future generations becomes increasingly important,\"\" the state wrote in its 2010 Annual Report on Regional Water Supply Planning. \"\"Floridians have always enjoyed a quality of life that is inextricably linked to the health of our water resources. Tourists come here to enjoy pristine beaches, swim in our freshwater springs, and experience unique fishing opportunities. Florida's water resources also support large agricultural industries. If Florida did not maintain its high quality natural systems, the effects would be felt throughout the entire economy.\"\" To be sure, the DEP and the state's five water management districts have been preparing for the uptick. The water management districts are required by law to develop and update regional water supply plans every five years. And they have already identified, developed or are developing projects to help close the gap. In 2005, the Legislature created the Water Protection and Sustainability Trust Fund and designated $100 million to be used to promote the development of alternative water supplies. The state set aside another $117 million over three years in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Legislature stopped funding the program in 2009, the DEP said. The investment, however, helped water management districts provide funding assistance for 327 water saving projects, which will help create approximately 761 million gallons a day of \"\"new water\"\" available for consumptive use. That's close to 40 percent of the water expected to be needed by 2025. Most of the projects focus on adding reclaimed water capacity or demineralizing brackish groundwater. The work already being done by the state and water management districts is an important caveat when considering Putnam's comments because he makes it sound like the state has to find 2 billion gallons of water a day by 2025. In reality, the state already has projects on the book that get the state a portion of the way there. Yet, Florida has a ways to go. Putnam is right, based on the latest estimates Florida will use about 2 billion more gallons of water a day in 2025 than the state did in 2005. But the state and the five state water management districts have started planning for it, and already have identified water construction projects that will help meet some of the increasing demand.\"",
            "output": [
                "We've got to find 2 billion gallons (of water per day) between now and 2025."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6dee0b8db944c68aca18cd3d2eab376",
            "input": "\"Liquid chocolate is prepared in the workshop of the \"\"Felicitas\"\" chocolate shop in Hornow, south of Berlin, December 2, 2009. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch The study, which combined the results of 42 smaller studies and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found that participants had small improvements in blood vessel function and a dip in their insulin levels. A number of past studies have found that chocolate lovers seem to have lower rates of certain heart risks, such as high blood pressure. “My take-away message would be that if people like dark chocolate, then eating a little in place of other ‘treat’ foods is fine, and may be beneficial,” said study leader Lee Hooper, at Norwich Medical School in the UK. “However, the evidence is not yet good enough to suggest that we should all be doing this.”   She cautioned that the studies involved were neither large enough nor long enough to show whether eating chocolate has any effect on a person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke. In contrast to past studies, which were largely observational and couldn’t prove cause-and-effect — that chocolate itself caused the changes — the current study focused on clinical trials, where researchers assigned people to eat chocolate or not and then watched for changes in blood pressure, cholesterol and other heart risk factors. Hooper and her team pooled data from 42 small clinical trials involving about 1,300 people and found that chocolate eaters had a few points knocked off their blood pressure readings, along with lower insulin levels and other benefits. Though it’s not clear why chocolate has this affect, it’s believed to be due to compounds known as flavonoids, which are also present in foods such as nuts, soy, tea and wine. But researchers acknowledged shortcomings in their study, including differences in the people involved in the trials — some healthy, some with chronic health problems — and different ways of testing chocolate’s effects. Some studies used cocoa drinks, some solid chocolate and some cocoa supplements. They also varied in how long people were “treated,” though most trials lasted less than six weeks. The biggest question may be whether any benefits would be worth the downside of chocolate. Based on the studies they used, Hooper’s team writes, it could take several hundred calories’ worth of chocolate to see effects on insulin and blood vessel function — and that could mean trouble for your waistline. “From a practical perspective it is premature to advise individuals to consume chocolate or cocoa to decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Alice Lichtenstein, director of the cardiovascular nutrition lab at Tufts University in Boston, who was not part of the study. For now, she added, if you enjoy a little chocolate in your life, you can probably keep doing so. Just don’t add it in the hopes of helping your heart.\"",
            "output": [
                "Chocolate may be good for your heart: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-467ec67193a04cd5b17f72b50b9683f9",
            "input": "Here, almost everyone knows someone who became addicted. And the Appalachian town is fighting back by suing some of the biggest U.S. drug distributors, hoping to make them pay for the damage done by addiction. Lawyers say growing pushback by communities, many in West Virginia, could ultimately rival the scope of litigation against tobacco companies over smoking. As coal workers lost jobs and faced few employment options, opioid addiction rose. In 2015, federal figures show, West Virginia had the nation’s highest rate of overdose deaths from opioids, a class of narcotics that includes heroin but also pain relievers such as oxycodone legally available by prescription. In 2015 and 2016, the state had 1,500 drug overdoses — at least 32 of them in McDowell County, whose seat is Welch. “We just feel now is maybe the time to attack these drug companies to make them responsible for what they’re sending out,” said Welch Mayor Reba Honacker, who had retired from her career as a florist before her election. In February, she sued five of the nation’s largest prescription drug distributors on behalf of her city, arguing their opioids saturated the community at a heavy price in added emergency, rehabilitation, police, court and jail services. “Opioids, once a niche drug, are now the most prescribed class of drugs — more than blood pressure, cholesterol or anxiety drugs,” the lawsuit says, noting drug companies’ billions in annual revenue. Honacker’s attorney Harry Bell said a Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation (http://bit.ly/2hfEa9l) last year shows that opioid shipments to West Virginia clearly have exceeded need — more than 400 pills for each of the 1.8 million people in the state over a six-year period. “I suspect there are numerous communities which have drug problems in this country with opioids,” Bell said. “But how many of those communities are ... victims of a true massive dumping of prescription opioids in numbers that have no relation to reality?” Since that report, 11 West Virginia municipalities — including the city of Huntington and Kanawha County, where the capital, Charleston, is located — have filed or announced lawsuits. McDowell County Sheriff Martin West said the attorney general’s office advised criminal charges weren’t possible. The county sued in federal court instead. In a similar case, Everett, Washington, sued Purdue Pharma in January, saying the maker of OxyContin knew some of the pain medication was being funneled by the black market into the city but did nothing to stop that. Purdue argued for dismissal, saying there was no basis in law for a municipality to sue a drug manufacturer. Fulton County, Georgia, filed a similar suit against three distributors in state court in 2015, but dropped it after being briefed on measures to prevent illicit diversion, said Ellen Barry, a spokeswoman for drug distributor Cardinal Health. Bell said he was unaware of other states with similar suits. Welch’s lawsuit in state court seeks unspecified damages from drug distributors McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, Miami-Luken, and H.D. Smith, and from a prescribing physician. All five companies have denied wrongdoing but paid money to settle similar lawsuits by the state attorney general or the Drug Enforcement Administration. So far, the state attorney general has won $47 million in state settlements from 12 opioid distributors. In January, San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. agreed to pay $150 million to settle federal allegations it failed to detect and report suspiciously large pharmacy orders of addictive painkillers, including shipments to West Virginia. In 2006, a pharmacy in nearby Kermit received 3.2 million hydrocodone pills, according to court records. The town had 400 people. The pharmacy owner was sentenced to six months in prison for illegally dispensing painkillers. The owner of a now-closed pain clinic and two doctors there went to prison in 2010 for illegal prescriptions. Kermit recently sued the five distributors. McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Miami-Luken didn’t reply to Associated Press queries. H.D. Smith spokeswoman Sarah Kinkade said the company has the “stringent protection” of the health care supply chain. Cardinal responded: “We believe that these copycat lawsuits do not advance any of the hard work needed to solve the opioid abuse crisis — an epidemic driven by addiction, demand and the diversion of medications for illegitimate use.” McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal all have asked a federal judge to dismiss McDowell County’s suit, arguing it lacks legal standing to bring such claims and that they ship drugs only to federally and state-licensed pharmacies. “Many patients in the United States have a legitimate medical need for opioids, and, for that reason, federal health officials over the past two decades recommended increased treatment of acute and chronic pain and year after year substantially increased the quota for hydrocodone and oxycodone that could be manufactured, distributed, and prescribed,” Cardinal’s attorney wrote. The Drug Enforcement Administration assigns quotas to manufacturers. Ethan Nadelmann, of the nonprofit watchdog Drug Policy Alliance, said that unlike tobacco sold directly to consumers, doctors and pharmacists are supposed to safeguard drug distribution. “Presumably the distributors are sending drugs there because they’re ordered by pharmacies,” said Nadelmann. “Maybe it’s just the distributors are seen as deep pockets.” At a recent town hall meeting in Welch, a few dozen of the 250 people present raised hands when asked if they’d lost a loved one to drugs. “A friend of mine just lost his daughter to that,” said Rob Ofsa, a retired teacher. “The drug companies have ruined us.” If the suit is successful, Honacker would like to use the money to establish a local rehabilitation center to help addicts. “Our people, if they want help, and we have many that do want help, they tend to travel miles and miles,” she said. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation documented opioid shipments over a six-year period, not five years.",
            "output": [
                "Drug epidemic: 1 small-town mayor takes on pill distributors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9cb87adca6e4770aa4e56fc39326ba7",
            "input": "U.S. Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines are silhouetted against the sunset during a joint patrol with Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers along Helmand river near the Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, July 3, 2011. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, analyzed medical records of 307,520 children of active-duty Army personnel, aged 5 to 17 years old. It found almost 17 percent of them exhibited mental health problems. “Children of parents who spent more time deployed between 2003 and 2006 fared worse than children whose parents were deployed for a shorter duration,” the study’s researchers wrote. The lead researcher was Alyssa Mansfield, who was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time the study was conducted. The U.S. Army reported some 562,000 members in active duty and more than 570,000 children of such members in 2010. Just under two-thirds of all active-duty servicemen and women were married and 15 percent were raising children as single parents. The children whose parents deployed at least once, for an average of 11 months, as part of the U.S. Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan were especially likely to suffer from adjustment, behavioral, depressive or stress disorders than those whose parents never went to war, the study found. Boys were more likely to have mental health problems than girls, according to the report, which reviewed records for patients cared for at military medical facilities and at civilian facilities using military medical insurance. “We used to think about deployment as a single experience: I go, I’m away, it’s difficult and then I come back. Well, it’s a way of life in the military that deployments continue to occur and families have to manage the consequences,” said Dr. Stephen Cozza, psychiatry professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Cozza has studied the issue and wrote an editorial accompanying the report. “These are consequences that aren’t necessarily short-term,” he said. The challenges don’t necessarily end with the final return home, he said, as soldiers may bring back their own mental health issues which affect relationships with their children.",
            "output": [
                "Mental problems of soldiers' kids tied to wars."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-893eb9919da14a3aa5effe5ddb07d78d",
            "input": "The Minnesota Board of Animal Health says the mosquito-borne disease was confirmed last week in a 3-year-old miniature horse in Pine City. Officials say it’s the first equine case of West Nile in Minnesota this year. The stallion had no record of being vaccinated against the disease. A mare and a foal also living on the property are currently healthy. Equine program manager Courtney Wheeler says the case is a reminder for owners to have their horses vaccinated against the disease. The last confirmed case of West Nile in a Minnesota horse was November 2017. Infected horses can be anorexic and show neurologic signs or behavior changes. Reducing exposure to mosquitoes also can reduce disease risk.",
            "output": [
                "West Nile virus confirmed in miniature horse in Pine City."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61772dc4b027407da0c27c0e5e6b2073",
            "input": "Aldrin’s lawsuit filed earlier this month in a Florida state court came a week after his children, Andrew and Janice, filed a petition claiming their father was suffering from memory loss, delusions, paranoia and confusion. They asked for the court to name them his legal guardians, saying Aldrin was associating with new friends who were trying to alienate Aldrin from his family and that he had been spending his assets at “an alarming rate.” Court-appointed mental health experts planned to evaluate Aldrin in Florida this week. In April, the 88-year-old Aldrin underwent his own evaluation conducted by a geriatric psychiatrist at UCLA, who said Aldrin scored “superior to normal” for his age on tests. “I also believe that he is perfectly capable of providing for his physical health needs, food, clothing and shelter, and is substantially able to manage his finances and resist fraud and undue influence,” said Dr. James Spar in a letter to Aldrin’s attorney. In Aldrin’s lawsuit, the former astronaut asked a judge to remove Andrew Aldrin from control of his financial affairs, social media accounts and several nonprofit and business enterprises. Andrew Aldrin had been a trustee of his father’s trust. Buzz Aldrin said in the complaint that despite revoking the power of attorney he had given his son, Andrew Aldrin continued making financial decisions for him. “Specifically, defendant Andrew Aldrin, as trustee, does not inform plaintiff of pending or future business transactions, removes large sums of monies from plaintiffs accounts, and continues to represent plaintiff in business and social capacities despite plaintiff’s repeated requests for such representations to be terminated,” the lawsuit said. Aldrin accused his daughter, Janice, in the lawsuit of not acting in his financial interests and conspiracy, and he accused his former manager, Christina Korp, of fraud, exploitation of the elderly and unjust enrichment. Also named in the lawsuit are several businesses and foundations run by the family. Aldrin’s oldest son, James, isn’t involved in the legal fight. In a statement, Andrew and Janice Aldrin said they’re saddened by the “unjustifiable” lawsuit. “If nothing else, our family is resilient and our ability to work together to solve problems and accomplish great things is strong,” the Aldrin children said. “We love and respect our father very much and remain hopeful that we can rise above this situation and recover the strong relationship that built this foundation in the first place.” They said they would have no further comment. In a guardianship evaluation, the mental health experts typically ask questions like, “Who is the president? What day of the week is it? If I gave you this amount of money, how much change would you have,” said Vicki Levy Eskin, an Orlando-area attorney with no connection to the Aldrin case. “His alleging that his children have done all these naughty things is a good defense,” said Eskin, whose work focuses on guardianship, estate planning and elderly law issues. “That’s the job of his attorney to prove this.” Aldrin was a member of the Apollo 11 crew which landed the first two humans on the moon. Aldrin joined Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface in July 1969. Earlier this month, Aldrin was at the White House for President Donald Trump’s announcement directing the Pentagon to create the “Space Force” as a new military branch. ___ Follow Mike Schneider at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP",
            "output": [
                "Buzz Aldrin sues children, alleging misuse of his finances."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a309a52d343549e081785ec5dff03fca",
            "input": "Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant said in his ruling that the county violated state law by terminating coverage for beneficiaries even though they turned in their renewal paperwork on time, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The judge ordered the county to fix the problem. Nearly 4 million people in LA County rely on Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. The program is funded by state and federal government and provides coverage to low-income residents and people who are disabled. From December 2016 to December 2017, about 22,000 people in LA County wrongly lost Medi-Cal benefits, according to evidence cited in the judge’s decision. The problems appear to have resulted from a backlog of applications and a faulty computer system, according to court documents. “We hope that now the county will no longer be yanking Medi-Cal from over 2,000 patients a month, and that patients in our county who desperately need this life-sustaining Medi-Cal coverage will be able to keep it,” said David Kane, an attorney with the nonprofit Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in December 2016 by several Medi-Cal beneficiaries represented by the nonprofit and other firms. Carol Northern, one of the plaintiffs, said she was skeptical yet hopeful that the county would change its practices. Northern, who has a blood disease that requires several medicines, was kicked off Medi-Cal in 2016 even though she completed her renewal packet on time, she said. “I would go in there to file my paperwork, I never knew what was going to happen,” said Northern, who lives in Palmdale. “I think it’s going to affect a lot of people, I’m flying high right now, but I still have the ‘what ifs.’” The judge found that the county had failed to uphold state law. A final judgment that includes a plan for how the county will fix the problem will be rendered in the next few months. Once the judgment is finalized, county lawyers can appeal the decision. “This matter is still before the court, so it would be inappropriate for the county to comment before the judge can rule on a final round of submissions in the case,” a county spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “However, it’s important to note that we are strongly committed to serving the public and making improvements in our processes wherever we can.” ___ Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/",
            "output": [
                "Judge says LA County wrongly booted thousands off Medi-Cal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad7b77c3f2ed42128428b08f09874041",
            "input": "Lawmakers cleared the two-bill package in a set of votes, sending it to President Donald Trump in time to forestall a possible government shutdown this weekend. The White House said Trump would sign it before Friday’s midnight deadline. The first measure, covering domestic programs, passed by a 71-23 vote. A Pentagon and homeland security measure passed hours later in an 81-11 vote that was the last Senate tally for the year. The legislation delivers Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence and gives Democrats long-sought domestic spending increases and a repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health insurance plans. It blends spending increases for both sides — reelection fodder for lawmakers — with tax and benefit add-ons that will mean a roughly $400 billion boost to the deficit over 10 years. The split-their-differences legislation was carrying a large number of unrelated provisions into law, drawing protests from fiscal conservatives. It would put in place an earlier spending deal that reversed unpopular and unworkable automatic spending cuts to defense and domestic programs — at a $1.6 trillion or so cost over the coming decade. “These spending bills are a fiscal dumpster fire,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. “This is embarrassing.” Key provisions include an expensive repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans, help for retired coal miner, and an increase from 18 to 21 in the nationwide legal age to buy tobacco products. The tobacco measure was pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The almost 2,400-page package reflects the reality of divided government and the enduring strength of the Capitol’s appropriations process, which allows lawmakers to go to bat for their states and congressional districts. McConnell emerged as a victor, winning the politically popular $6 billion pension rescue for about 100,000 retired coal miners, along with more parochial items such as help for his state’s legal hemp industry and $410 million to build a new veterans hospital in Louisville. GOP Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, secured many items for his state, includinga $378 million harbor dredging program. It’s expected to deliver the lions share to a Shelby-backed initiative to deepen Mobile Harbor to accommodate larger cargo ships. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was also a driving force, winning permanent repeal of a tax on high-cost “Cadillac” health insurance benefits that is unpopular with Democratic labor allies. After months of negotiation, leading lawmakers cut a deal on Monday that gives Trump a steady stream of money for the border wall. “I would have preferred no funding for the wall,” said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But the Republicans were clear. ... They stood with the president on the wall, as they seem to do time after time.”  The bill also offered business-friendly provisions on export financing, flood insurance and immigrant workers. A tax on medical devices and health insurance plans would be repealed permanently. The core of the spending bill is formed by the 12 annual agency appropriations bills passed by Congress each year. It fills in the details of a bipartisan framework from July that delivered about $100 billion in agency spending increases over the coming two years instead of automatic spending cuts. The bill exceeds Trump’s budget requests in virtually every domestic category, except for Trump’s request for $8 billion-plus for the U.S.-Mexico wall. It was cut back to $1.4 billion, equal to last year’s appropriation. The measure preserves Trump’s ability to use his budget powers to tap other accounts for several times that amount. That’s a blow for liberal opponents of the wall but an acceptable trade-off for Democrats who wanted to gain $27 billion in increases for domestic programs. But the Democratic concession angered some Hispanic lawmakers. They lashed out at the head of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., rather than Pelosi. “I told (Lowey) we don’t appreciate that we’re going to get thrown under the bus so she can pass this omnibus and she did exactly that,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. The trade-off for the wall money was Trump’s signature on the broader package, which increases spending across the almost one-third of the budget that’s passed by Congress each year. Popular bipartisan programs such as health research, veterans medical care, NASA, sewer and water projects, and law enforcement grants to states and local governments would get increases. The $738 billion Pentagon budget is a record, with increases for procurement of expensive weapons systems like the F-35 fighter. The increase in the tobacco purchasing age to 21 also applies to e-cigarettes and vaping devices. Aides familiar with the talks said Pelosi agreed to the tobacco legislation as she also won help for unionized carpenters with lower drug costs under their health plans. Anti-smoking activists were irate at the tobacco provision, saying it doesn’t go far enough because it failed to ban flavored vaping products popular with teenagers. It also threatens to kill momentum for more stringent anti-vaping legislation backed by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who was one of only seven Democrats to oppose the domestic spending half of the two-bill package. Approached in the Capitol on Thursday, a deflated-sounding Pallone declined to comment on his opposition to the bill. For the first time in two decades, the bill would provide money for federal research on gun safety. That’s a major legislative victory for Democrats, gun control supporters and researchers who have pushed to study gun violence in the same way scientists look at opioid overdoses and other public health crises. A law adopted in the 1990s has effectively blocked such research and prohibits federal agencies from engaging in advocacy on gun-related issues. The bill provides $25 million for gun violence research, divided evenly between the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Business groups praised a seven-year extension of the charter of the Export-Import Bank, which helps finance transactions benefiting U.S. exporters, as well as a renewal of the government’s terrorism risk insurance program. The financially troubled government flood insurance program would be extended through September, as would several visa programs for both skilled and seasonal workers. Most provisions enjoyed bipartisan support, including increases for medical research, combating the opioid epidemic, Head Start and child care grants to states. Democrats also secured $425 million for states to upgrade their election systems, and they boosted the U.S. Census budget $1.4 billion above Trump’s request. They won smaller increases for the Environmental Protection Agency, renewable energy programs and affordable housing.",
            "output": [
                "Big spending bill wins Senate OK, has victories all around."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b68722c16194723a802f5341e3d3098",
            "input": "Over 100 residents of the apartment buildings in southeast Colorado Springs have been told to leave in recent weeks, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials. Making matters worse, residents who left said looters broke in and took belongings they left behind. A Colorado Springs Gazette reporter witnessed a person break a window Friday  at the buildings owned by Denver-based Slipstream Properties. Attempts by the newspaper to reach company officials for comment Friday were unsuccessful. Exposure to even minute amounts of asbestos can cause lung cancer and other deadly respiratory conditions. Slipstream Properties bought the buildings in 2018, raising hope that conditions in the apartments would improve after years of disrepair and code violations. The asbestos problem arose during recent renovations. Renovation work can disturb asbestos, which decades ago was used in a variety of building materials including insulation. “We’re trying to understand how widespread this is, how many apartment complexes there are,” said Curtis Burns, field operations unit supervisor for the state health department’s asbestos unit. The building owners could face fines of $25,000 per day of noncompliance with asbestos-handling regulations, Burns said.",
            "output": [
                "Asbestos, looting plague Colorado Springs apartments."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba2c52579f2b49fb84c36e638f2224f0",
            "input": "\"American Hustle -- a movie based on the story of Abscam, the late-1970s FBI sting that ensnared more than a half-dozen politicians for accepting bribes -- got shut out at the Oscars despite snagging 10 nominations. But the movie is living on as an issue in a 2014 U.S. Senate race. Larry Pressler, a former U.S. senator from South Dakota now running as an Independent for another term in the chamber, is airing a campaign ad touting his role in the Abscam scandal. The twist is that Pressler is touting his honesty in the face of illegal offerings. \"\"American Hustle shows the FBI making real-life bribes to Washington politicians,\"\" Pressler says to the camera in the ad. \"\"I know, because as your U.S. senator, I turned them down.\"\" Pressler left office in 1997; since then, he's worked as an attorney and taught at universities. In his current race, he's widely considered an underdog to the Republican frontrunner, former Gov. Mike Rounds. Given all the attention American Hustle has been attracting since its release, we couldn’t resist taking a second look at the decades-old scandal. First, let’s recap what happened in Abscam. The case involved representatives of \"\"Arab sheiks\"\" -- actually, undercover FBI agents -- offering politicians payoffs that were intended to secure them casino licenses in New Jersey. The operation resulted in the convictions of Sen. Harrison Williams, D-N.J., six members of the U.S. House, and a number of local officials. The movie tells the somewhat fictionalized story of how the operation was undertaken on behalf of the FBI by a con man whose name in real life was Mel Weinberg. (Here’s an article about the real-life events that inspired the movie.) So how does Pressler fit in? It turns out that his role was largely happenstance. Pressler, then a first-term Republican who had weighed a run for president in 1980, was \"\"presented to the agents as a sudden substitute for the legislator they expected, who had decided against attending such a meeting,\"\" according to John Good, the FBI supervisor who oversaw the Abscam operation, in a July 23, 1982, New York Times article. Here’s how Pressler recalled what happened, in a first-person article published last year in the Huffington Post. In the fall of 1979, shortly after I concluded my dark-horse candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, a prominent Washington, D.C. socialite, who was serving as one of my volunteer fundraisers, informed me that some wealthy people were eager to meet me and talk about contributing to my campaign deficit. As a relatively unknown first-term senator from South Dakota, I had few deep-pocketed supporters, and so I jumped at the chance to follow up on my fundraiser's promising lead. However, since it was illegal for a member of Congress to discuss fundraising on federal property, I agreed to meet the prospective donors in a home they were renting a short distance from the Capitol. On the appointed day, we arrived at a two-story redbrick colonial home on fashionable W Street. Inside, the house was furnished with exquisite antiques, elegant chandeliers and, as I would later learn, a battery of hidden television cameras and microphones. … One of the FBI imposters I met that day was a swarthy man who appeared to be from the Middle East. He told me that he represented a prominent sheik who was seeking entry to the United States for himself and a number of his associates and who needed special bills passed by Congress to allow them to avoid the usual immigration procedures. He then offered to make an under-the-table payment if I would play ball. \"\"Wait a minute!\"\" I said. \"\"What you are suggesting may be illegal. I would never do anything in exchange for a campaign contribution.\"\" And with that, I stormed out of the house. Ultimately, Pressler was never charged in Abscam, since he was one of the few officials approached who rejected a bribe outright. His actions won him plaudits from Federal District Court Judge George C. Pratt in upholding the convictions of seven Abscam defendants: Neither Pressler nor another target \"\"apparently knew he had been brought before the sheik's representatives to be offered money in return for a promise of favorable legislative action,\"\" Pratt wrote. \"\"However, neither one was overwhelmed by the circumstances, and each declined the offer. Pressler, particularly, acted as citizens have a right to expect their elected representatives to act. He showed a clear awareness of the line between proper and improper conduct, and despite his confessed need for campaign money, and despite the additional attractiveness to him of the payment offered, he nevertheless refused to cross into impropriety.\"\" CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, at the time the epitome of credibility in the media, singled out Pressler’s actions for praise. And U.S. Senate historian Donald Ritchie told PolitiFact that he considered the ad’s claim to be correct. Syndicated cartoonist Jim Berry even drew a cartoon of Pressler being greeted by the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who was known for carrying a lantern in the hopes of finding an honest man somewhere in the world. The caption was, \"\"Senator Pressler? I am Diogenes. I've been looking for you.\"\" Our ruling Pressler said that \"\"American Hustle shows the FBI making real-life bribes to Washington politicians. I know, because as your U.S. senator, I turned them down.\"\" Pressler’s retelling fits with the description of the facts published in the media at the time -- actions that drew praise from a federal judge who wrote that Pressler \"\"showed a clear awareness of the line between proper and improper conduct\"\" and \"\"refused to cross into impropriety.\"\"\"",
            "output": [
                "American Hustle shows the FBI making real-life bribes to Washington politicians. I know, because as your U.S. senator, I turned them down."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3304b5244a224c4bab65539f6edeb712",
            "input": "The death toll increased by 683 on Wednesday. That was lower than a spike of 743 on Tuesday but more than the totals of the previous two days and the third highest daily tally since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on Feb. 21. Italy has seen more fatalities than any other country, with latest figures showing that 7,503 people have died from the infection in barely a month. The northern region of Lombardy, by far the hardest-hit, showed a steep decline in the number of deaths and new infections on Wednesday, raising hopes that the epidemic may be slowing at its original epicentre. However, optimism was tempered by warnings from the south, where contagion and deaths are far less widespread but are rising steadily, and could overwhelm a health service which is much less well equipped than in the rich north. “At this point there is the real prospect that Lombardy’s tragedy is about to become the south’s tragedy,” Vincenzo De Luca, president of the Campania region around Naples, wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “We are on the eve of a major expansion of infections which may not be sustainable,” he said, complaining that the central government had failed to provide Campania with promised ventilators and other life-saving equipment. So far there have been 74 deaths in Campania, the worst affected southern region. The central region of Lazio, around the capital Rome, has registered 95 fatalities. The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose to 74,386 from a previous 69,176, the Civil Protection Agency said. The rise of 7.5% was the lowest since the outbreak began, but only severely ill people are being tested and the head of the agency, Angelo Borrelli, said this week that the true number of infections was probably 10 times those officially recorded. Borrelli was not present at the customary news conference to illustrate the latest figures because he came down with a fever on Wednesday and was himself being tested for coronavirus. With Italy in lockdown for the last two weeks and its economy on its knees, Conte on Wednesday promised a second stimulus package in April worth at least as much as the 25 billion euro ($27.17 billion) one he adopted in March. With his approval ratings at record highs, the prime minister appealed to the opposition to get behind the government’s efforts and halt its attacks on his handling of the crisis until it is over. “There will be a time for everything, but now is the time for action and responsibility,” he told the Chamber of Deputies. One source of potential conflict for Conte was defused on Wednesday when the government reached an agreement with trade unions who had threatened strikes because they wanted more companies shuttered to protect workers’ health. Conte agreed to extend the production sectors that will be  temporarily closed because they are not deemed essential to the country’s supply chain.",
            "output": [
                "Italy coronavirus deaths pass 7,500 amid fears of spread to south."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae0d88c96a0c482699810a04156907f9",
            "input": "The demonstrators opposed to the pipeline and a marine export terminal in Oregon demanded that Gov. Kate Brown publicly oppose the project, which she refused to do. Southern Oregon Rising Tide, which organized the protest, said the 21 arrested by Oregon State Police spent the night in jail and were out by 5 a.m. Friday. In a statement the Oregon State Police said the 21 were arrested on trespassing charges after being asked to leave. The proposed marine terminal, in Coos Bay, would allow export of American liquid natural gas to Asia, and would have a 230-mile (370-kilometer) feeder pipeline from an interstate gas hub in southern Oregon’s Klamath County. A federal agency has issued a final environmental impact statement on the controversial proposal to build the pipeline and it concluded that there would be no significant impact on the state’s waters, wildlife and minimal risk of a pipeline accident. The lengthy report was issued earlier this month by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. On Thursday protesters flooded into the Oregon State Capitol and staged a sit-in at the governor’s office before police arrested 21 of them for trespassing. The protesters, who demanded Brown take a public stand against the pipeline, were jailed overnight and released early Friday. Brown, a Democrat, refused to oppose the project that the protesters say will encourage further use of fossil fuels that leads to global warming, and risk spoiling the land and ocean with spills. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final impact statement said it believes the Canadian company behind the Jordan Cove Project, Pembina Pipeline Corporation, will manage risks. Pembina Pipeline Corporation says the project will bring investments, property tax revenue and jobs. The proposed marine terminal, in Coos Bay, Oregon, would allow export of American liquid natural gas to Asia, and would have a 230-mile (370-kilometer) feeder pipeline from an interstate gas hub in southern Oregon’s Klamath County. The federal agency said that before construction, Jordan Cove should file spill containment system drawings showing containment for all hazardous fluids including all liquids handled above their flashpoint. Over 600 species of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife live in the project area. Constructing and operating the project would temporarily and permanently affect these species, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals, the impact statement said. “Displacement, and impacts on other behaviors as well as the loss of habitat would increase the rates of stress, injury, and mortality experienced by wildlife,” the report said. But mitigation projects proposed by the Jordan Cove and required by the Forest Service means the project would not significantly impact wildlife and aquatic resources, the agency said. Jared Margolis, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the group is concerned about what it called a lack of adequate analysis on several aspects of the project. “Jordan Cove would be a disaster for local streams and rivers that people and wildlife rely on, but regulators appear willing to ignore these impacts to bring dirty fracked gas to market,” Margolis said. In a statement, the company said the final environmental impact statement “represents a significant step forward for this investment in Oregon.” The impact statement represents the final step in the federal environmental review process before an order is issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approving the project, expected in February 2020, Jordan Cove said. People opposed to the project have vowed to keep up protests, and recalled the demonstrations against a pipeline in North Dakota. The project is still undergoing permitting processes by the state. But in August, the Trump Administration in proposed streamlining approval of gas pipelines and other energy projects by limiting states’ certification authorities under the Clean Water Act. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Pipeline protesters at governor’s office arrested, released."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d321c928eae54dc580d59461b48cea3d",
            "input": "U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, is leading an investigation into the proposed 28,000-home development in a small town in southern Arizona. “It’s not clear to me why top Interior officials would weigh in on a local land development unless someone was being done a huge favor,” Grijalva said in a statement Wednesday. The committee sent a letter last week to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt saying recent reports raised questions about whether the permit decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service “was inappropriately reversed.” It set a July 29 deadline for the Interior Department to turn over “all documents and communications” on the hotly contested El Dorado Holdings project developed by Mike Ingram, a co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and a prominent Republican donor. The Interior Department defends the permit as a science-based decision. Described as a 19-square-mile (49-square-kilometer) housing and golf course development that would draw traffic to the city of Benson, the project had been in a holding pattern for more than a decade. It gained traction in 2015 when El Dorado Holdings took over the project and rebranded it Villages at Vigneto. A coalition of conservation groups challenged the permit in a federal lawsuit in January. Environmentalists argue the project’s need for groundwater will threaten the San Pedro River and surrounding wildlife, including birds like the southwestern willow flycatcher and yellow-billed cuckoo as well as the northern Mexican garter snake. They are demanding federal officials conduct a more in-depth environmental review. Steve Spangle, a retired Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor, told the Arizona Daily Star in April that he had similar concerns in 2016 but was pressured a year later to facilitate the permit anyway. He has since told several media outlets that he “got rolled” by politics. “I used that phrase to distinguish it from making a policy call based on fact, as opposed to making a policy call based on politics,” Spangle told the newspaper. He says an attorney with the Interior Department’s solicitor’s office warned him that a “high-level politico” thought he should change his assessment in favor of the development. Emails and calendars show that Bernhardt, as deputy Interior secretary, had an unofficial meeting at a lodge in Billings, Montana, with Ingram, the developer, in August 2017, CNN reported Tuesday. They discussed Villages at Vigneto, the congressional committee said. Lanny Davis, attorney for El Dorado Holdings, said Ingram did not lobby for the project. Then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whom Ingram has known for several years, found out both men would coincidentally be at the same hunting lodge and suggested they meet. “I believe Mr. Ingram presented a legal memo to Mr. Bernhardt,” Davis told The Associated Press. “It’s exactly the opposite of the innuendo that this was about lobbying and political influence.” Two months after the meeting, Ingram donated $10,000 to a fundraising arm of the Trump campaign. That donation was later refunded, as was two $2,700 donations. Davis said Ingram got a refund so he could donate instead to a political action committee that allows contributors to give more money than campaigns do. “This is very common for (political) fundraisers. I’ve done that many times myself,” Davis said. In the wake of Spangle’s allegations, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service asking if its opinion on the permit had changed. Jeff Humphrey, an agency official in Arizona, said Spangle’s comments “do not change our previous determinations.” The Interior Department, which is the parent agency of the Fish and Wildlife Service, reiterated that stance in a statement Tuesday. “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has re-examined the issue at hand and using the best available science as required under the Endangered Species Act issued the same exact conclusion,” Interior spokeswoman Molly Block said. El Dorado Holdings has already shared communications with the House committee, including an email from Ingram to Zinke about the meeting in Montana, Davis said. It was nothing more than a legal memo and summary, the attorney said. “He didn’t say, ‘Hey, you and I have been buddies,’” Davis said. Rep. Grijalva, however, was skeptical. “I have real doubts whether Mr. Ingram sold this project to the Interior Department on merits,” he said. ___ Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Congress probes approval of Trump backer’s housing project."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1d1f383376a469181bd282e8e55709b",
            "input": "A boy suffering from HIV/AIDS smiles as he waits to receive a vaccine 'Pneumovax' during a vaccination program on the outskirts of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri, August 5, 2008. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri The group, known as IAVI, released a blueprint for how to proceed at an international meeting of AIDS experts and activists in Mexico City. Dr. Seth Berkley, president and chief executive officer of IAVI, said the failure last year of a high-profile Merck and Co experimental shot should not mean the end of the quest — even though some experts have been calling for an end to expensive AIDS vaccine trials. “Developing an AIDS vaccine may take more time and innovation than we might have once imagined, but we are confident that science will prevail. The necessary direction for the field is clear,” Berkley said. More than 25 years since the AIDS epidemic started, there is no vaccine against the fatal and incurable virus, although more than 20 drugs are on the market to help control its symptoms. The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS is especially tricky to vaccinate against because it easily evades immune defenses and mutates constantly. Berkley said it is not unexpected for a vaccine to take decades to develop and he thinks HIV can be beaten. “We have got to create this new mechanism to be able to turn the AIDS vaccine into a normal product development initiative so that every time there a failure, it doesn’t raise the question of whether this is the end of the line,” Berkley said in a telephone interview. For instance, the IAVI blueprint notes it took 25 years to create a vaccine against the human papilloma virus or HPV, which causes cervical cancer, and there are still no vaccines against tuberculosis or malaria. “Strong scientific evidence in both humans and animal models suggests that developing an AIDS vaccine is possible,” said IAVI’s Dr. Wayne Koff. If money is steered away from testing vaccines just to see if they work, an expensive proposition, it might free up resources to solve the trickier scientific roadblocks, Berkley said. IAVI’S plan calls for solving the scientific challenges to make an AIDS vaccine, such as finding a way to activate the two arms of the human immune system against the virus. The vaccine must generate neutralizing antibodies — immune system proteins that flag and attack invaders such as viruses, as well as so-called cell-mediated immunity — the T-cells that directly attack invaders. “Before vaccines go into efficacy trials they need to go through a set of screenings to look at evidence they are significantly better,” Berkley said. It might be possible to improve a vaccine’s power by using things like another type of virus to carry the vaccine into the body, Berkley said. “We are pushing a whole new generation of vectors. We have got candidates coming down the pipeline on that,” he said. The approach mirrors one being taken by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the U.S. government’s National Institutes of Health, to funnel spending more to lab work and animal tests rather than expensive large-scale vaccine trials on humans. The nonprofit IAVI is helping to test five vaccines along with the National Institutes of Health, academic research institutions and companies such as Targeted Genetics, Therion Biologics, Crucell NV and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.",
            "output": [
                "New AIDS vaccine blueprint calls for more focus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75d4a407f3bb46d4b5dd6fa72ea3e7c1",
            "input": "The story notes the price “per squat” at various spas and the cost of a do-it-yourself Internet kit. We think the story’s discussion of possible benefits is far too extensive considering the total lack of evidence to support them. We understand the need to identify some of the claims made by boosters of the therapy, but the story devotes some three paragraphs to seemingly every possible ailment the baths (or the herbs used in them) are purported to treat. It also throws in an anecdote from a woman suggesting the baths helped her to conceive at the age of 45. The caveats about chai-yok stand a good chance of getting lost in this avalanche of discussion about benefits. Aside from burns — the potential for which would seem to be obvious — we’re not sure if there are any harms associated with herbal steam baths for the vagina. The procedure seems less invasive than a douche, which is associated with potential health risks. We’ll call this not applicable. The story states that there are no studies that document the effectiveness of chai-yok for any of the conditions it is claimed to treat. It notes that while there is some biological rationale for why heat in the perineal area might be beneficial, it is impossible to say whether these steam baths do any good. The concept behind chai-yok seems vaguely reminiscent of douching, a treatment that has long been promoted as necessary for vaginal health despite a lack of supporting evidence and indications of possible harm. But while the idea may tap into some of the same psychology that makes the normal vagina seem not quite clean or healthy enough, we don’t see any evidence of overt disease-mongering in this particular story. The story quotes two doctors with expertise in gynecology and fertility. It also solicits comments from a practitioner of traditional oriental medicine. We don’t think the story had to mention alternative treatments for all the myriad problems that chai yok can supposedly help with. But since the story suggests in several places that chai yok increases fertility, we think a brief mention of other approaches that are supported by medical evidence would have been appropriate in this case. The story didn’t provide this information. The story identifies several spas in Los Angeles and New York where vaginal steam baths are offered. It notes that the treatments “are not easy to find” across the country. The story acknowledges the roots of chai-yok in Korean medicine.The approach is described as extremely avant garde in the U.S. — a characterization which is probably accurate. Given the variety of sources quoted, we can be sure the story wasn’t based on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Vaginal steam bath finds a place among Southern California spa options"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1bd249a39c25435298f8a153d1a65d7a",
            "input": "A Canadian-American cosmologist and two Swiss scientists split this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for not quite answering those universal questions, but getting closer to the cosmic truths. Canadian-born James Peebles, 84, an emeritus professor at Princeton University, won for his theoretical discoveries in cosmology, about what happened soon after the Big Bang that eventually led to the formation of galaxies and the universe as we know it. Swiss star-gazers Michel Mayor, 77, and Didier Queloz, 53, both of the University of Geneva, were honored for finding an exoplanet — a planet outside our solar system — that orbits a sun-like star. A day of deep astrophysics and talk of extraterrestrial life also included pop humor, with the Nobel Prize committee quoting from the theme song of the American TV sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory,” whose protagonists, Sheldon and Amy, won a physics Nobel in the series finale, and a giggling Peebles referring to singer Bob Dylan. “This year’s Nobel laureates in physics have painted a picture of the universe far stranger and more wonderful than we ever could have imagined,” said Ulf Danielsson of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in announcing the laureates. “Our view of our place in the universe will never be the same again.” Peebles’ work is a deeply theoretical look back in time and space at how the universe came to its current form, mostly filled with dark matter and dark energy we can’t even see. It’s probably the first Nobel for purely theoretical cosmology, instead of something observed, noted CalTech physicist Sean Carroll. Peebles, hailed as one of the most influential cosmologists of his time, who realized the importance of the cosmic radiation background born of the Big Bang, will collect one half of the 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award. “Much of it will go to charity,” Peebles told colleagues at a Princeton news conference. Then after a pause, he changed that to “Some of it will go to charity. Some of it will go to our children.” Mayor, who is an astrophysicist, and Queloz, an astronomer who is also at the University of Cambridge in Britain, will share the other half. Their finding of the first planet outside our solar system circling a star like our own made astronomers look harder for life elsewhere in the universe. “Maybe we can discover some form of life. We don’t know what kind of form,” Mayor said Tuesday as he arrived in Madrid for a scientific speaking engagement. He said scientists “are absolutely certain that a lot of these planets have good conditions for life.” Mayor and Queloz started a revolution in astronomy when they discovered 51 Pegasi B, a gaseous ball comparable with Jupiter, in 1995 — a time when, as Mayor recalled, “no one knew whether exoplanets existed or not.” That was “the first step in our search for, ‘Are we alone?’” said astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University. More than 4,000 exoplanets have since been found in the Milky Way, and scientists think one out of every four or five stars have planets. “We have 200 billion stars out there in our galaxy alone, so I like our chances,” Kaltenegger said. Queloz was meeting Tuesday with other academics interested in finding new planets when the press office at Cambridge University interrupted to tell him the big news: He had won the Nobel. He thought it was joke at first. “I could barely breathe,” Queloz told The Associated Press. “It’s enormous. It’s beyond usual emotions. My hand was shaking for a long time. I’m trying to digest it.” Geoff Marcy, who headed one of the teams that rivaled Mayor and Queloz, praised their work. In the 1990s “we were all trying to carry a search for planets without ever thinking we would succeed,” Marcy said. “None of us imagined even finding one, never mind the thousands we found.” Marcy, who left the University of California Berkeley after accusations of sexual harassment, said he didn’t know if he would have shared in the prize if it weren’t for the scandal. Swedish academy member Mats Larsson said this year’s was “one of the easiest physics prizes for a long time to explain.” That can’t quite be said for Peebles’ theoretical work. “Jim Peebles absolutely was one of the leaders in trying to understand how did we get here, the nature of cosmology, the nature of the universe at large,” said astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, director of Harvard University’s Origins of Life Initiative. Peebles’ work, which began in the mid-1960s, set the stage for a “transformation” of cosmology over the last half-century, using theoretical tools and calculations that helped interpret traces from the infancy of the universe, the Nobel committee said. A clearly delighted Peebles giggled repeatedly during a phone interview with AP, recalling how he answered a 5:30 a.m. phone call from Stockholm thinking that “it’s either something very wonderful or it’s something horrible.” The astrophysicist, who said his life had suddenly turned topsy-turvy, will make sure he picks up his prize. “I’ve always loved Bob Dylan,” he said, referring to the singer-songwriter who won the literature prize in 2016 but refused to participate in the Nobel ceremony. “I can’t forgive him for not showing up to the scene of (his) Nobel prize.” And in a case of life imitating art, Tuesday’s Nobel Prize announcement included the opening lyrics of “The Big Bang Theory” theme song: “Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state, then nearly 14 billion years ago, expansion started.” The sitcom was a “fantastic achievement” that brought the “world of science to laptops and living rooms around the world,” said Goran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. So referencing its theme song seemed fitting, he said. The cash prize comes with a gold medal and a diploma that are received at an elegant ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel in 1896, together with the winners of five other Nobel prizes. The sixth one, the peace prize, is handed out in Oslo, Norway, on the same day. On Monday, Americans William G. Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza and Britain’s Peter J. Ratcliffe won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, for discovering details of how the body’s cells sense and react to low oxygen levels, providing a foothold for developing new treatments for anemia, cancer and other diseases. Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite, decided the physics, chemistry, medicine and literature prizes should be awarded in Stockholm, and the peace prize in Oslo. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry will be announced Wednesday, two Literature Prizes will be awarded on Thursday, and the Peace Prize comes Friday. This year will see two Literature Prizes handed out because the one last year was suspended after a scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. ___ Keyton reported from Stockholm. Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Danica Kirka in London, and Christopher Chester and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories on the 2019 Nobel Prizes by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes",
            "output": [
                "Are we alone? Nobel Prize goes to 3 who tackled cosmic query."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc37059d11144355aead4aaf4772bce0",
            "input": "The procedures, called by names such as lipodissolve, mesotherapy, lipozap, lipotherapy, or injection lipolysis all involve unproven injections of drugs, the FDA said in a statement. “We are concerned that these companies are misleading consumers,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “It is important for anyone who is considering this voluntary procedure to understand that the products used to perform lipodissolve procedures are not approved by the FDA for fat removal.”   The agency issued warning letters to Monarch Medspa in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Spa 35 in Boise, Idaho; Medical Cosmetic Enhancements in Chevy Chase, Maryland; Innovative Directions in Health of Edina, Minnesota; PURE Med Spa in Boca Raton, Florida, and All About You Med Spa in Madison, Indiana. The FDA also warned a Brazilian company that markets so-called lipodissolve products on two Web sites: zipmed.net and mesoone.com. “The FDA will notify regulatory authorities in Brazil of this action,” the FDA said in a statement. “The agency has issued an import alert against the zipmed.net and mesoone.com entities to prevent the importation and distribution of unapproved lipodissolve drug products into the United States.”   The treatments usually consist of injections of two drugs called phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate, the FDA said. “In some cases, other ingredients, including drugs or components of other products like vitamins, minerals and herbal extracts, are added to the mixture,” the agency added. None has been shown to work in credible clinical trials, it said.",
            "output": [
                "\"Fat dissolving\"\" spa treatment no such thing: FDA.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8102bb3a0944fdc92414831e530b441",
            "input": "The European Medicines Agency said in a statement  that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — two medicines embraced by U.S. President Donald Trump and others as a potential COVID-19 treatment — are known to cause heart rhythm problems, especially if combined with other drugs. There is currently no licensed treatment for COVID-19 and dozens of trials are under way globally. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have long been used to treat malaria and anti-inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. In addition to the heart problems, the two drugs can also cause side effects including liver and kidney damage, seizures, and result in low blood sugar. “Clinical data are still very limited and inconclusive, and the beneficial effects of these medicines in COVID-19 have not been demonstrated,” the EMA said. It noted that several clinical trials testing the drugs’ effectiveness against the coronavirus are using higher than recommended doses, which it said could increase the risk of side effects including abnormal electric activity that could disrupt the heart rhythm. Earlier this month, part of a study in Brazil was suspended after doctors found one quarter of patients taking chloroquine developed irregular heart rhythms after taking a higher dose. In the U.S., doctors reported disappointing results this week for a study  investigating the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. Among 368 patients who took the drug with or without the antibiotic azithromycin, there were more deaths among those who took the drug versus those who received standard care. The EMA reminded doctors and patients to report any suspected side effects from hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to national authorities. “These must not be used without a prescription and without supervision from a doctor,” the agency said. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "EU: Malaria drugs used for virus could cause side effects."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60dab627bf95490ea800621e4b06d014",
            "input": "The release makes no mention of the cost of the supplemented diets compared to what might be expected for a normal daily diet. Some brands of extra-virgin olive oil can cost considerably more, comparatively, than other available cooking oils. And you’d have to buy lot of olive oil to match this diet — participants received a whopping 1 L per week per family. Other foods in the Mediterranean diet (e.g. fish and nuts) are also relatively expensive. So the release fails at this category, although it is a minor failure in this case considering the relative strength of the rest of the release. The release points out that the participants following the Mediterranean Diet supplemented by EVOO experienced a 68 percent lower relative risk of breast cancer than did the control group. While that’s one way to report the findings, we always ask that stories also include a measure of the absolute risk, which provides important additional information to help readers gauge the size of the benefit. These absolute risk figures were reported in the study abstract and could have easily been included in the release as well. The researchers found breast cancer rates of 1.1 per thousand people per year in the Med Diet plus EVOO group, 1.8 per thousand people per year in the Med Diet plus nuts group, and 2.9 per thousand people per year in the control group. Consuming both nuts and olive oil have been shown in numerous studies to be a positive asset to the regular diet. And yet these foods are very calorie-dense, and so one wonders if consuming so much of them could increase the risk for weight gain, which is in turn associated with breast cancer risk. But the release’s lack of discussion on that point shouldn’t be enough for a Not Satisfactory rating — we’ll rule it Not Applicable. This release described a large, multi-center, randomized trial where those analyzing the data were blinded to information that might influence their findings. It gave ample information about the study design, it’s relationship to the larger cardiovascular study from which it is derived, and the size, scope, age and body mass of the participants. The release also does a good job following the research paper’s example of delineating the weaknesses of the study. It even quotes the cautionary language included in an accompanying editorial. This release offers no evidence of disease-mongering. The release only offers the following statement as an endnote: “Authors made conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures.”  The paper itself points to numerous connections between the researchers and sponsors which would have an obvious vested interest in the study’s outcome. These include grants as well as free supplies of the foods supplemented in the study. While this doesn’t call the findings into question, disclosing this information in a release of this type provides transparency that readers appreciate and should expect. The release offers no real alternatives to the diets studied but it is reasonable to assume that readers can compare these examples with their own diets and make decisions accordingly. And while there are other approaches to cancer prevention that arguably could have been discussed (screening mammography, for example), we don’t really think a release about a diet study should be expected to address those approaches. It’s clear from the release that the foods in the Mediterranean diet are widely available. However, it might be harder to find certain component foods like fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, and extra virgin olive oil in some places in the U.S. (i.e. “food deserts”). The release could have acknowledged this. The release establishes that the effects of diet on breast cancer risk have been studied previously with this line: “Diet has been extensively studied as a modifiable risk factor in the development of breast cancer but epidemiologic evidence on the effect of specific dietary factors is inconsistent.” There is no unjustifiable language in this release.",
            "output": [
                "Mediterranean diet plus olive oil associated with reduced breast cancer risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da7d120c04804f9a899dfc1de2e46f46",
            "input": "He’s not sure when the second-year starter will be healthy enough to be cleared to play. Allen was placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit by Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones in the opening minute of the fourth quarter of a 16-10 loss to New England on Sunday. Putting aside the three interceptions Allen threw, McDermott’s biggest question was why Jones wasn’t ejected. “There’s no room in football for that,” McDermott said. “I thought he should have been thrown out. But other than that, I’m not going to get into that. That’s for the league to get into.” The hit occurred when Allen scrambled out of the pocket and burst through a hole up the middle while facing third-and-8 at the New England 45. He gained 7 yards before Jones closed in on him, lowered his helmet and struck the quarterback in the crown of his helmet. Jones was flagged for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness. Allen lay on the field for several minutes before hopping up on his own. He was briefly evaluated on the sideline before being escorted up the tunnel. Allen was spotted in the locker room chatting with teammates following the game. NFL officiating chief Al Riveron told a pool reporter the decision to not eject Jones came because the hit did not rise to the level of the league standard for disqualification. “There was a foul called and obviously the penalty stood, but we did not feel this contact rose to that level,” Riveron said, who also noted Jones was turning his head just before hitting Allen. Bills safety Micah Hyde questioned the official’s judgment saying he or any of his teammates would have been ejected for a similar hit on New England’s Tom Brady. “That’s our quarterback. We ride or die with him,” Hyde said. “To see that happen, Josh didn’t slide, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re a running back, you can’t head to the head.” Jones defended the hit saying it was never his intent to hurt Allen. “No malice or intent. Just a part of football,” Jones said. “We’re just running around playing football. I hope he’s OK. I’m going to check on him.” Allen finished going 13 of 28 for 153 yards, and scored on a 1-yard touchdown dive. Allen’s uncertain status leaves Buffalo with veteran backup Matt Barkley the only quarterback on the active roster in preparing to play at Tennessee next weekend. Buffalo then enters its bye week. The loss prevented Buffalo (3-1) from getting off to its first 4-0 start since 2008. Though the Bills defense held Brady in check, their offense was busy coughing up the ball at critical moments for the third time in four games. Allen threw three interceptions, two of which translated into a touchdown and a field goal. Punter Corey Bojorquez also had a punt blocked by J.C. Jackson, which led to Matthew Slater returning it 11 yards for a touchdown to put the Patriots up 13-0 in the first quarter. McDermott was unhappy with Allen’s continuing string of committing turnovers. He’s now thrown six interceptions and lost two fumbles in four starts this season. “He’s a young quarterback and sometimes they have to learn those lessons. Those are hard lessons and we have to continue to coach it up,” McDermott said. The game was decided on Buffalo’s fourth turnover with 1:27 left. Facing third-and-9 on the New England 39, Barkley was pressured by linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who got his hand on the quarterback’s chest. That forced Barkley to throw the ball up into the air, and have it easily picked off by Jamie Collins. The loss spoiled a stout effort by a Bills defense which limited the Patriots to just 11 first downs and 224 yards. Brady finished 18 of 39 for 150 yards and an interception. He was picked off by Hyde in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 2 in the second quarter. Brady’s 45.9 passer rating was the sixth lowest of his career and lowest since finishing with a 34 rating in a 27-20 loss to Indianapolis on Nov. 5, 2006. Barkley lamented how the Bills let the Patriots off the hook. “Especially with the way our defense played and where we had the ball at the end of the game, it’s tough,” Barkley said. “This is a tough one.” ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Bills fall to Pats, and lose QB Josh Allen to head injury."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f6357bc136b4bdfb76a8cf5bd16428f",
            "input": "The story did not discuss the costs of PSA tests or provide estimates of the costs for following up an increase in PSA with a biopsy. These are significant cost issues, which warranted at least a line in the story. The story didn’t quantify the potential reduction in biopsies. The competing AP story was much better on this point, reporting that using rising PSA levels, 1 in 7 men would have a prostate biopsy as compared with 1 in 20 men based solely on high PSA level. This suggests that change in PSA level results in 13/20 unnecessary prostate biopsies. The story could have provided more detail on some of the possible complications resulting from prostate biopsies. It did mention anxiety from tracking PSA levels over time.",
            "output": [
                "Rapid Rise in PSA Levels a Poor Predictor of Prostate Cancer: Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e178a3e3a6024f56b6700fddae8a2f1e",
            "input": "The article comments that Benlysta will be far more expensive than current treatments but doesn’t give an order of magnitude. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The story provided quantitative information about meaningful improvement of symptoms, comparing two doses of the drug with placebo. However – the story gave no insight about what symptoms it was measuring and whether the difference between the two doses significantly differed from one another. It should have provided more detail about the nature of the improvements observed. The story did not include any insight about potential harms or side effects that have been seen to date with the use of this drug. The story was clear that the information about this drug comes from a phase 3 clinical trial and that the results have not yet been published or examined by outside experts. It would have been better for readers if the story had included some insight about the type of symptoms that were monitored and measured as well as the particular subset of patients that were included in the study. No overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from a company spokesperson, a clinician who is a consultant for the company, and a clinician with expertise in lupus who does not appear to have overt ties with the company. The story would have been more informative to readers had several clinicians with expertise in treating people with lupus been interviewed as part of this story. The comments of those involved with drug development or promotion have limited credibility. The story discusses that the medication reported on is used in addition to the typical treatments used for treating lupus. It did not, however, provide any insight about which segment of the lupus patient population might benefit. As such, it did not provide readers with sufficient information about when additional treatment with Benlysta might be considered. The story was clear that the drug Benlysta is currently being studied in clinical trials and is not available for use. The pipeline for effective lupus drugs has indeed been dry for quite a while. The article indicates that this is a novel product of genomic technology. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Trial for New Lupus Treatment Is Called Promising"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-173b5c086bd3478382b06c797a026044",
            "input": "A 34-year-old woman from Loudi city in the central province of Hunan confessed to poisoning the yoghurt drink before delivering to the students, Xinhua said on Saturday. It said the woman was suspected to be suffering from a mental disorder. Three children were in serious condition but their lives were not in danger, Xinhua said. Investigations were going on. There have been several attacks on schools in China in recent years while at the same time, food safety has become a contentious issue with a rising number of food-poisoning cases due in part to lax safety standards at small factories.",
            "output": [
                "Nineteen students sick in China from poisoned yoghurt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ebe6522db41246bf92f351a64290e3ac",
            "input": "It is the fourth time that the 86-year-old justice has announced that she has been treated for cancer over the last two decades and follows lung cancer surgery in December that kept her away from the court for weeks. December’s surgery was her first illness-related absence from the court since being appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and prompted even closer attention to her health. As the court’s oldest member, Ginsburg has been asked questions for years about her health and retirement plans. She has also in recent years attracted particularly enthusiastic fans as the leader of the liberal wing of the court, which includes four members appointed by Democratic presidents and five by Republicans. Both liberals and conservatives watch her health closely because it’s understood the court would shift right for decades if President Donald Trump were to get the ability to nominate someone to replace her. Asked late Friday about Ginsburg, Trump said: “I’m hoping she’s going to be fine. She’s been through a lot. She’s strong. She’s very tough. But we wish her well. Very well.” The court kept Ginsburg’s latest cancer secret for three weeks, until she finished radiation treatment. Yet there is no obligation for justices to disclose details about their health, and Ginsburg has generally made more information available than some of her colleagues. Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, for example, had a stent inserted to open a blocked artery in 2005 but the public only learned about it 10 months later when he returned to the hospital to have it replaced. The Supreme Court said in a statement Friday that a routine blood test led to the detection of Ginsburg’s tumor. A biopsy performed July 31 confirmed a “localized malignant tumor,” and Ginsburg started outpatient radiation therapy Aug. 5. Ginsburg underwent three weeks of radiation therapy and as part of her treatment had a bile duct stent placed, the court said. Ginsburg “tolerated treatment well” and does not need any additional treatment but will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans, the statement said. The tumor was “treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body,” the court said. The statement did not say if the new tumor is a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer Ginsburg was diagnosed with in 2009, or a new cancer that arose. She was also treated for colorectal cancer in 1999. “It’s certainly not unheard of for the cancer to come back,” but it’s a more dire situation if it’s that rather than a new tumor that was found early enough for effective treatment, said Dr. Michael Pishvaian, a pancreatic specialist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who had no firsthand knowledge of Ginsburg’s care. Pancreatic tumors are usually treated with surgery, but she or her doctors may have chosen not to do that for various reasons, and radiation is a standard treatment if surgery is not done, Pishvaian said. Dr. Alan Venook, a University of California, San Francisco, pancreatic cancer specialist who also has no direct knowledge of Ginsburg’s case, said it’s not possible to know much about her outlook without details from her doctors. If it is a recurrence that took a decade to form, “that tells me it’s not a very aggressive cancer,” he said. If the cancer is truly limited to the pancreas, “it could have been managed perfectly well with radiation,” he said. The court said Ginsburg canceled an annual summer visit to Santa Fe but otherwise maintained an active schedule during treatment. She is scheduled to speak in Buffalo next week and at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington at the end of the month. Before Friday’s announcement, Ginsburg’s most recent known health scare was in December, when she had surgery for lung cancer. The cancerous growths were found when Ginsburg underwent medical tests after she fell in her court office and broke three ribs in November. Ginsburg was absent from the court in January as she recovered from surgery and missed six days on which the court heard a total of 11 arguments. But she returned to the bench in February, and participated in the court’s work during her absence. ___ Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione reported from Milwaukee.",
            "output": [
                "Supreme Court: Ginsburg treated for tumor on pancreas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c37a1a0ffe342cdabd7d0b2448e3934",
            "input": "The story doesn’t specifically address costs, but it does discuss some of the most common types of fiber-rich food — such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Given the diversity, and widespread availability, of these foods, we’ll give this a Satisfactory rating. However, it would have been nice to see some acknowledgment that many people — people particularly people with limited financial resources — live in so-called “food deserts,” which have little access to fresh produce, etc. The story discusses a wide range of benefits, ranging from reduced risk of heart disease to weight loss. But the focus of the story was on weight loss, so that’s what we’ll focus on here. The story refers to two studies, only one of which appears to have been published. The first study is an analysis of people who have used the MyFitnessPal app in an attempt to lose weight. In that case, users who came within 5 percent of their weight loss goal consumed an average of 29 percent more fiber than users who did not come close to their weight loss goals. The second study was actually published (in 2015), and compared weight loss across two groups of study participants who had metabolic syndrome. One group followed the American Heart Association’s recommended diet, while the other was told only to eat 30 grams of fiber per day. Both groups ended up eating the same amount of fiber per day (19 grams), and both groups lost weight. At the end of a year, the AHA diet group lost more (an average of 5.6 pounds), but the second group still lost 4.6 pounds. Neither of these studies are in the mold of a conventional intervention/health-benefit paradigm. But then neither is specifically looking at either a precisely-defined intervention (such as a pharmaceutical trial) or a disease — they’re looking loosely defined dietary guidelines and weight loss (and while weight can be a risk factor, it is not an illness). Bearing that in mind, the story does a satisfactory job of quantifying the relevant benefits in each instance. In general, eating more fiber carries few potential harms. The primary risks are, as the Mayo Clinic notes, “adding too much fiber too quickly can promote intestinal gas, abdominal bloating and cramping.” To minimize that risk, the Mayo Clinic urges people to “Increase fiber in your diet gradually over a period of a few weeks. This allows the natural bacteria in your digestive system to adjust to the change. Also, drink plenty of water. Fiber works best when it absorbs water.” This story does not outline these harms specifically, which is too bad. But the story does tell readers that they should “add fiber slowly and with plenty of water.” That’s enough to rate this as Satisfactory (though it’s clearly not ideal). The two studies, mentioned above under benefits, have some problems: It’s not clear where the unpublished MyFitnessPal data come from or how they were analyzed; and the 2015 study was of only 240 volunteers. These limitations were not noted. Also, the story would have been much stronger if it had addressed one key question: Were there any differences between groups (in either study) in regard to their age, sex, or physical activity? Any of those factors could play a key role in differences in weight loss, and the story sheds no light there. A side note: As we mentioned above, this story discusses a wide range of other benefits associated with eating enough fiber, ranging from reduced risk of heart disease to reduced risk of diabetes. We mention this because the story links to relevant research supporting each of those claims. We applaud that. There is no overt disease mongering. But we did want to point out two things. The story states: “fiber may play an important role in that ever-elusive health goal, weight loss.” First, while being obese may be a disease, simply being overweight is not. Second, many people who aspire to lose weight do so for reasons other than health (and aren’t overweight in the first place). Those are important distinctions, and ones that this story doesn’t make. The story quotes from a wide variety of sources, and clearly labels each source’s affiliation. One issue that’s not addressed in the story is the utility of fiber supplements. Are they good? Bad? Beneficial? Useless? The story doesn’t offer any insight here. It would be useful for readers to know whether such supplements may be useful tools for meeting daily fiber intake goals. Foods that contain fiber have been around longer than humans have, so we’ll rate this N/A. Dietary fiber isn’t new, and the story doesn’t claim that it is. We’ll rate this N/A. The story doesn’t appear to be based on a news release. (In fact, given that the story doesn’t seem to draw on any particularly new studies, guidelines or other external drivers, we’re kind of curious as to what spurred this story. We’re suspecting a pitch from MyFitnessPal.)",
            "output": [
                "It’s Comical. It’s Critical. It Might Even Help You Lose Weight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3700ac3c5c684c9d8b3d01a1f4cc5852",
            "input": "Even before a show based on the Chernobyl disaster renewed interest both on and off social media, one of the most vivid online reminders of the April 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown continued to circulate online.A Facebook post that was shared more than 36,000 times on the platform in December 2019 contains a photograph of shows one of the remnants of the meltdown alongside a short description:The photo above is the closest humanity has ever come to creating Medusa. If you were to look at this, you would die instantly.The image is of a reactor core lava formation in the basement of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. It’s called the Elephant’s Foot and weighs hundreds of tons, but is only a couple meters across.Oh, and regarding the Medusa thing, this picture was taken through a mirror around the corner of the hallway. Because the wheeled camera they sent up to take pictures of it was destroyed by the radiation. The Elephant’s Foot is almost as if it is a living creature.The post is a reprinting of a 2012 Tumblr post about the Elephant’s Foot, one that is accurate about the origin of the photograph and not far off from the truth about the consequences of being in the presence of the toxic mix of uranium, silicon dioxide, and other materials — which is still active. Dozens of workers died during the explosion and subsequent cleanup efforts due to acute radiation syndrome.As the science magazine Nautilus reported in 2013:After just 30 seconds of exposure, dizziness and fatigue will find you a week later. Two minutes of exposure and your cells will soon begin to hemorrhage; four minutes: vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. 300 seconds and you have two days to live.Other images of the Elephant’s Foot have also gained notoriety. They are believed to have been taken 10 years after the fatal meltdown by a man identified as Artur Korneyev:In 2014, Korneyev was interviewed by the New York Times for a story on the construction of a $1.5 billion structure that would cap airborne emissions from escaping the site of the former reactor:Artur Korneyev, 65, a radiation specialist, at his home in Slavutich. After the accident, his job was to locate radioactive fuel on site and determine radiation levels to limit the exposure of other workers.These days Mr. Korneyev works in the project management unit, but because of his health — he has cataracts and other problems related to his heavy radiation exposure during his first three years — he is no longer allowed inside the plant. “Soviet radiation,” he joked, “is the best radiation in the world.”The site of the reactor and the neighboring town of Pripyat were made open for tours by the public in 2011. In 2019 the pop culture site Consequence of Sound reported that the success of the HBO show Chernobyl, a dramatization of the fatal disaster, led to a 35 percent increase in tour bookings compared to 2018. But one of the side-effects of that increased attention was an influx of visits from social media “influencers,” who would post “sexy” photographs of themselves in the area.“If you visit, please remember that a terrible tragedy occurred there,” series creator Craig Mazin posted in response. “Comport yourselves with respect for all who suffered and sacrificed.”",
            "output": [
                "\"A photograph spreading online shows the \"\"Elephant's Foot\"\" lava flow at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee7b9b3dcfea4c1b908787251d142d1e",
            "input": "The Nobel Assembly, which awarded the prize of 8 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute on Monday, said the discovery solved a problem that had occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries:  “How does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?”   Ole Kiehn, a Nobel committee member and professor in Karolinska’s neuroscience department, said the three scientists had found “an inner GPS that makes it possible to know where we are and find our way”. O’Keefe, now director at the center in neural circuits and behavior at University College London (UCL), discovered the first element of the positioning system in 1971 when he found that a type of nerve cell in a brain region called the hippocampus was always activated when a rat was in a certain place in a room. Seeing that other nerve cells were activated when the rat was in other positions, O´Keefe concluded that these “place cells” formed a map of the room. Uta Frith, a UCL professor of cognitive development said O’Keefe had shown “it is possible to literally map the mind”. “He has done much more than discovering neuronal mechanisms in the brain: he has discovered cognitive mechanisms that explain how human beings and other animals navigate,” she said. “This beautiful work is heralding a new age of exploration of brain and mind.”  In 1996, Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser, who are married and now based in scientific institutes in the Norwegian town of Trondheim, worked with O’Keefe to learn how to record the activity of cells in the hippocampus. Nearly a decade later, the Moser team discovered cells, in the entorhinal cortex region in brains of rats, which function as a navigation system. These so-called “grid cells”, they discovered, are constantly working to create a map of the outside world and are responsible for animals’ knowing where they are, where they have been, and where they are going. Bill Harris, head of physiology, development and neuroscience at Britain’s University of Cambridge, said the scientists’ work “has not only revolutionized our understanding of this amazing puzzle (the brain), but has also opened the door into problems of place memory and how we learn and remember routes of navigation, and what sleep and dreams may be doing for memory and performance.”  While the findings help explain how the brain works, they have no immediate implications for new medicines or other therapies, since they do not set out a mechanism of action. But knowledge about the brain’s positioning system can also help understanding of what causes loss of spatial awareness in stroke patients or those with devastating brain diseases like dementia, of which Alzheimer’s is the most common form and which affects 44 million people worldwide. O’Keefe told reporters in London he was very surprised to get the Nobel Prize, particularly after what he described as a “checkered youth” jumping from studying classics at school, then aeronautics at college before getting into philosophy and psychology. “I’m still in a state of shock,” he said. May-Britt Moser danced and drank champagne with her colleagues in Trondheim after she was told of the award. “This is so great, this is crazy. I am just jumping, screaming,” Moser told Reuters. “I am so proud of all the support that we have had. People have believed in us, in what we have been doing and now this is the reward.”  Norwegian TV showed her co-workers singing “Happy Nobel to you” to the tune of “Happy Birthday”. Her husband did not immediately learn that he had won the Nobel Prize as he was on a plane bound to Munich. Someone was waiting for him at Munich airport with flowers and gave him the news, he told the Norwegian news agency NTB. The Mosers join a small club of married couples to win a Nobel Prize that includes Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. John Stein, an emeritus professor of physiology at Oxford said that, as with so many Nobel Prize winners, the scientists’ discovery was at first ridiculed and dismissed, only later to get the recognition it warrants  “This is great news and well deserved,” Stein said. “I remember how great was the scoffing in the early 1970s when John first described ‘place cells’. ‘Bound to be an artefact’ and ‘he clearly underestimates rats’ sense of smell’ were typical reactions. Now, like so many ideas that were at first highly controversial, people say: ‘Well that’s obvious’!”      Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were  first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite  inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. (1 US dollar = 7.2230 Swedish crown)",
            "output": [
                "Nobel Prize for medicine goes to discoverers of brain’s 'inner GPS'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13ecc27fb8fe4a30a42f159839791eb7",
            "input": "The study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs found problems even with apps considered to be among the highest-quality offerings on the market. There’s been a proliferation of health apps for mobile phones. According to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, there are more than 165,000 health apps out there. “The state of health apps is even worse than we thought,” said Dr. James Madara, chief executive of the American Medical Association, who was not involved in the study. This wasn’t a survey of step-counting fitness apps. The research team reviewed 137 apps designed for patients with serious ongoing health problems, including asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and depression. The health apps, for example, help those with diabetes track and record every blood sugar reading and insulin injection. One invites users to photograph their moles, and offers analysis on whether they are changing in a way that signals skin cancer. The study suggests that, though some apps are good, there are problems. Perhaps most concerning was what happened when doctor reviewers entered information that should have drawn warnings from the app — like selecting “yes” when the app asked if the user was feeling suicidal, or entering extremely abnormal levels for blood sugar levels. Only 28 of 121 apps responded appropriately to such red-flag information, researchers said. Health apps “should have some common-sense standards” said lead author Dr. Karandeep Singh, a University of Michigan internist. “The vast majority of apps do not have any kind of response.” Another issue is the safeguarding of medical privacy. While patients commonly enter health information into apps, a lot of the information is shared through insecure methods like text message or emailing, the researchers said. The reviewed apps came from Apple iTunes and Google Play app stores — most of them free. Each app was reviewed by a doctor and a tech expert. The researchers named most of the apps but didn’t publish their reviews. Instead, they shared them with the app companies. Singh said they were interested in “identifying gaps that need to be filled” instead of naming winners and losers. Overall, the industry needs to do more work to improve safety and privacy, he said. And patients need to go beyond consumer ratings on websites before depending on apps to make crucial decisions about their health. Health apps face a limited amount of regulation. For example, the Food and Drug Administration does not require premarket review for most apps, though it can require a developer to remove apps under certain circumstances. The AMA’s Madara said the doctors organization has been working with others to form a group to look at health apps and standards. “It’s the Wild West out there,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Many smartphone health apps don’t flag danger, says review."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48b0d90a54b84bc5913cfe872d31c65a",
            "input": "The government told most public and private workers to stay home on Thursday and Friday and shut down roads to nonessential vehicles as teams began going door-to-door to administer vaccines. Families in the Pacific island nation were asked to hang red flags from their houses if they needed to be vaccinated. Most of those who have died from the virus are young, with 54 deaths among children aged 4 or younger. The Samoa Observer newspaper said the normally bustling capital Apia was a ghost town on Thursday, with only birds nesting in the rooftops and stray dogs roaming the streets. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi told reporters the vaccine drive was unprecedented in the nation’s history. He said one challenge was that a lot of people hadn’t considered that measles could be deadly. “They seem to take a kind of lackadaisical attitude to all the warnings that we had issued through the television and also through the radio,” he said. Another challenge, he said, was that others had been seeking help from traditional healers, who had been successfully treating tropical diseases in Samoa for some 4,000 years. “Some of our people pay a visit to traditional healers thinking that measles is a typical tropical disease, which it is not,” the prime minister said. Samoan authorities believe the virus was first spread by a traveler from New Zealand. The nation declared a national emergency last month and mandated that all 200,000 people get vaccinated. The government has also closed all schools and banned children from public gatherings. According to the government, more than 4,000 people have contracted the disease since the outbreak began and 172 people remain in hospitals, including 19 children in critical condition. Figures from the World Health Organization and UNICEF indicate that fewer than 30% of Samoan infants were immunized last year. That low rate was exacerbated by a medical mishap that killed two babies who were administered a vaccine that had been incorrectly mixed, causing wider delays and distrust in the vaccination program.",
            "output": [
                "Samoa’s capital deserted as teams battle measles epidemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcdcdc6cb322493e94f615cb80665432",
            "input": "Workers from the University of Washington campus and UW Medicine’s medical facilities participating in the demonstration accuse the university of failing to implement “basic public health guidance designed to flatten the curve, including proper notification to staff regarding exposure, the installation of sneeze guards to protect staff and the public, and the distribution of personal protective equipment,” according to the Washington Federation of State Employees. The “unity break” demonstration happened as UW Medicine is in protracted contract negotiations with the University of Washington Housestaff Association, a union that represents resident physicians, who are pushing for better working conditions, pay and benefits, The Seattle Times reported. The bargaining has produced tensions exacerbated by COVID-19 and the strain it has put on health care workers. Also on Thursday, anti-tax initiative promoter Tim Eyman rallied with dozens of supporters at the state Capitol campus in Olympia against the state’s COVID-19-related stay-home order. He stood outside the governor’s mansion with a computer, saying he had officially entered his information into the Secretary of State’s website to run for governor as a Republican against Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.",
            "output": [
                "UW staff rally for better protections, Eyman protests order."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97275962ab5e4e5c9a88c2c5e63bec5d",
            "input": "Based on samples from more than 6,000 men treated for infertility, researchers writing in American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found sperm in greater numbers, with faster swimming speeds and fewer abnormalities in semen made during the winter, with a steady decline in quality from spring onward. “The winter and spring semen patterns are compatible with increased fecundability and may be a plausible explanation of the peak number of deliveries during the fall,” wrote lead researcher Eliahu Levitas from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva. If there is a seasonal pattern, they said, that knowledge may “be of paramount importance, especially in couples with male-related infertility struggling with unsuccessful and prolonged fertility treatments.”  For the new study, Levitas and his colleagues collected and analyzed 6.455 semen samples from men at their fertility clinic between January 2006 and July 2009. Of those, 4,960 were found to have normal sperm production, and 1,495 had abnormal production, such as low sperm counts. The World Health Organization defines anything over 16 million sperm per milliliter of semen as a normal sperm count. Taking into account the approximately 70 days it takes for the body to produce a sperm cell, the researchers found that men with normal sperm production had the healthiest sperm in the winter. For example, those men produced about 70 million sperm per milliliter of semen during the winter. About 5 percent of those sperm had “fast” motility, or swimming speed, which improves a couple’s chance of getting pregnant. That compared to the approximately 68 million sperm per milliliter the men produced in the spring, of which only about 3 percent were “fast.”  For men with abnormal sperm production, however, the pattern didn’t hold. Those men showed a slight trend toward better motility during the fall and made the largest percentage of normal shaped sperm - about 7 percent - during the spring. “Based on our results the (normal) semen will perform better in winter, whereas infertility cases related to low sperm counts should be encouraged to choose spring and fall,” the researchers wrote. Previous studies, mostly in animals, have found similar results in line with those species’ breeding seasons, said Edmund Sabanegh, a urologist who was not involved with the new research. “The hard part of this is really sorting out what factor is accounting for this,” said Sabanegh, the chairman of the urology department at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic. In animal studies, seasonal changes in sperm production and fertility have been linked to factors ranging from temperature, to length of daylight exposure and hormone variations. Among people, previous research has found that sperm counts around the world are falling. While no one knows why, theories range from a more sedentary lifestyle to chemicals in the environment that affect sperm health. Sabanegh said he doesn’t think doctors will start telling men with low sperm counts to wait until the winter or spring to try to conceive a child. “We would continue to encourage them to try regardless of the season, and they may benefit from interventions or treatments.”  SOURCE: bit.ly/13JGdnB",
            "output": [
                "Even for sperm, there is a season."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07b221b535314ae99989c9454e841e6c",
            "input": "Those ideas would represent tangible change and they have a realistic chance of being enacted. But it’s not like calling for Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Skeptics say the overall approach is underwhelming, and Trump risks being seen as an ally of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, not its disrupter. The White House Council of Economic Advisers has released a 30-page strategy for reducing drug costs, and it calls current policies “neither wise nor just.” The plan, outlined before Trump releases his new budget proposal Monday, focuses mainly on Medicare and Medicaid changes, along with ideas for speeding drug approvals and fostering competition. “Despite promises to drastically lower prices the mix of proposed changes does not appear likely to do so, even though there are some constructive proposals,” said John Rother, CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, an advocacy group whose members include consumer organizations, medical societies, hospitals and insurers. Polls show the high cost of drugs is a top concern of Americans, regardless of political leanings. In his State of the Union speech, Trump seemed to foreshadow major change, saying “fixing the injustice of high drug prices” is a top priority this year. “And prices will come down substantially,” Trump added. “Watch.” As a candidate, Trump advocated Medicare negotiations and he called for allowing consumers to import lower-priced medicines from abroad. But the White House strategy paper veers away from such dramatic steps. His new health secretary, Alex Azar, was a top executive at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. Medicare negotiations and drug importation are unacceptable to the drug industry, which has spent tens of millions of dollars since Trump’s inauguration to influence the Washington conversation around drug prices, including a high-profile TV advertising campaign portraying its scientists as medical trailblazers. The White House strategy largely sidesteps the question of whether drugmakers set their prices too high to start with. Rather, it recommends changes to policies that the administration believes unwittingly lead to higher prices, and suggests ways to speed drugs to market and increase competition. It takes aim at foreign governments that dictate what drug companies can charge their own citizens. Trump often has noted that the same medications Americans struggle to pay for can be bought for much less abroad. The White House report examined 35 economically advanced countries, and found that U.S. consumers and taxpayers pay for more than 70 percent of drug company profits that fund innovation. “Other nations are free-riding, or taking unfair advantage,” according to the review. The industry defends its pricing by saying companies have to recoup considerable research and drug development costs within the limited window when brand drugs are protected from generic competition. But examples of profit-seeking abound. An investigation by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in 2015 found that the makers of the breakthrough hepatitis C drug Sovaldi decided to charge roughly $1,000 per pill even though the company’s own analysis showed a lower price would allow more patients to be treated. Gilead Sciences disagreed with the senators’ conclusion that it put profits before patients. The White House strategy recommends: —working with states to revise Medicaid rules so manufacturers don’t have an incentive to set artificially high prices due to the rebates they provide the program for low-income people. —changing the way Medicare pays for drugs administered in a doctor’s office so Medicare doesn’t reimburse based on a fixed percentage of a drug’s cost. Critics say the current system creates an incentive for doctors to prescribe more expensive medications. The Obama administration proposed a similar change, but had to back off. —changing a requirement that insurers in Medicare’s prescription program cover at least two different medications in each broad class of drugs. In some cases, that can tie the hands of insurers trying to negotiate lower prices. —requiring insurers to share rebates from drug companies with patients. Drugmakers use the rebates to help gain market share. Insurers say they plow the money into reducing premiums. But patient copayments are usually based on the full price of the drug, before rebates. The issue is a major source of friction between drug companies and insurers. —revising the Food and Drug Administration’s drug review and approval process to promote competition. Many of the ideas can be pursued by the administration through rule-making, which means Trump can drive change without a balky Congress. But whether that translates into a big hit with the public is unclear. There’s no estimate from the White House of the potential impact on prices. Financial analyst and former drug company executive Richard Evans said the administration plan would help bring down costs, but not to the same degree as giving Medicare a direct role in setting prices. “Convincing the average voter who is upset about drug prices that this is the path to righteousness is going to be a hard sell,” Evans said.",
            "output": [
                "On drug costs, modest steps follow Trump’s big promises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13941c393635407dbdd60d7d3e807276",
            "input": "The predominately Catholic country has one of Asia’s fastest-growing populations together with significant levels of chronic poverty. While neighbours have accelerated towards prosperity, the Philippines has lagged. Economists say high population growth is a primary factor for that, but the church disagrees. It says population growth is not a cause of poverty and that people need jobs, not contraception. Aquino, a Catholic like 80 percent of the population, has thrown his support behind a reproductive health bill that will, if passed by the two houses of Congress, guarantee access to free birth control and promote sex education. That’s something that Liza Cabiya-an might have benefited from, if she’d had the opportunity. Cabiya-an, 39, has 14 children. The oldest is 22, the youngest just 11 months. Their home is a hut in a Manila slum. “It’s tough when you have so many children,” said Cabiya-an, a shy smile revealing poor teeth. “I have to count them before I go to sleep to make sure no one’s missing.”  At one time Cabiya-an had access to contraception but Manila mayor Jose Atienza, a devout Catholic, swept contraceptives from the shelves of city-run clinics in 2000. After that, Cabiya-an’s efforts to limit the size of her family were patchy, restricted by her meager resources. She went on and off the pill and resorted to an illegal abortion more than once. With income of about 7,600 pesos ($180) a month from doing laundry and her husband’s pay as a labourer, Cabiya-an has only been able to send five of her children to school. The others would appear doomed to join the quarter of the country’s 95 million people stuck below the poverty line. Contraceptives are generally available in the Philippines although they are not used as much as elsewhere. In the Philippines, 45-50 percent of women of reproductive age, or their partners, are using a contraceptive method at any given time. Indonesia’s rate is 56 percent and Thailand’s 80 percent. Population growth mirrors that. The Philippines population is increasing by 1.9 percent a year, while Indonesia’s is 1.2 percent and Thailand’s is 0.9 percent. China’s population is growing at an annual rate of 0.6 percent. “If you increase access to contraceptives for women ... you will have births averted,” said Josefina Natividad, director of the University of the Philippines’ Population Institute. Though available in most places, the cost of contraceptives is prohibitive for many people. But that should change if the reproductive health bill is passed. Aquino’s government has promised what it calls inclusive growth and it sees slowing population growth as key to that. “The president has already, at the risk of alienating the church, declared that the bill is a priority,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said. “That message is very clear.”  But it’s a message the church doesn’t like. It says artificial contraception is immoral, and the bill will pave the way to legalizing abortion. The bill does not legalize abortion though it seeks to improve care for women suffering from complications after an illegal abortion. The church says people should use natural family planning. It says poverty is a cause, not effect, of a high birth rate. Children are being born into homes without enough food to eat because of the government’s failure to end corruption and provide jobs, the bishops say. “It’s our firm belief that contraceptives will never be the answer,” said Father Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on Family and Life. “They are poor not because they have no access to contraceptives but because they have no work. Give them work and it will be the most effective birth spacing means for them.”  Economists say the church’s persistent opposition has been the most important factor influencing population policy. “The state ... has been immobilized from effectively addressing the issue by the Catholic hierarchy’s hardline position,” a group of 30 economists from the University of the Philippines said in a recent paper. But despite the arguments of the church and political opponents who decry using state funds to finance contraception, a poll last year showed about 70 percent of people support the bill. Its backers want it passed during the term of this congress, which ends in June. Economists say if the Philippines is ever to take advantage of a “demographic dividend”, when a large, young workforce is generating the savings and investment to give the economy a sustained boost, it will have to bring down the fertility rate. The median age in the Philippines is only 22.2 compared with 25 in Malaysia, India’s 25.1 and Indonesia’s 27.8. Unlike aging countries such as Japan, where the elderly put a burden on the working population, in the Philippines it’s the children who command the resources that could otherwise be diverted to savings and investment. There are 58 dependents for every 100 working-age people in the Philippines, according to World Bank data, compared with 40 in Indonesia and 29 in Thailand. “The demographic window will only open if fertility rates are going to go down in such a way that the young-age population will grow at a slower rate than the working-age population,” said Arsenio Balisacan, socio-economic planning secretary. Aquino might seem an unlikely champion of free contraception. His late mother, Corazon Aquino, rose to power at the head of a people power revolution, fostered by the church, that swept away old dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Marcos had made reining in population growth a priority beginning in the 1960s and enshrined family planning in a 1973 constitution. But Corazon Aquino, mindful of the church’s help in the democracy movement, scrapped that clause when the charter was rewritten in 1987. ($1 = 42.0300 pesos)  (The story corrects spelling of names “Arsenio” and “Marcos” in third-to-last and penultimate paragraphs respectively.)",
            "output": [
                "Philippines defies church to push family planning."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b079bf814bd460bb9b28699dd8bd4d6",
            "input": "As the drug is still under development, there was no discussion of costs. This is a humanized monoclonal antibody and the story might have mentioned some of the drugs currently on the market to treat other disorders such as bevacizumab (Avastin) or adalimub (Humira). This could have led to some discussion about costs because these are not inexpensive medications. The story merely mentions that this drug had ‘shown promise’ and that the studies reported are ‘encouraging’ because they indicate that people can tolerate the drug for 2- 4 years without safety concerns. Promise of what? What does the drug do? Although the story mentions amyloid accumulation, it failed to explain that though amyloid accumulation is seen in Alzheimer’s disease, it isn’t clear whether it causes symptoms or is secondary to the disease process. The story would have added valuable context by at least mentioning the results of the placebo-controlled study from which the patients in this extension study were drawn. http://newsroom.elan.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=88326&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1166655 That study found that the drug had no effect on symptoms in the study group overall, although specific subgroups seemed to benefit in an after-the-fact analysis that was not part of the original study design. The story indicated that some patients taking the higher does of the drug experienced headache, memory loss, hallucinations, reduced coordination or other symptoms. From the information in the story, it appeared that 8% (21/262) of patients participating in a second study using the lower dose of the medication had some anomalies on MRI scan but no reported symptoms. At the end of this story, it was reported that the results had only been presented at a meeting and therefore considered only as preliminary until they were reviewed. In addition, the story indicated that the study reported on was an open-label trial. But it doesn’t explain what open-label means – hardly a consumer-friendly term. Wanna do a poll on how many readers know what it means? (In an open-label trial, both the clinician and patient know what it is that they are taking; the potential impact of that on results should be obvious.) Nonethless, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt, largely on the back of one of the expert sources being quoted:  “it is too early to tell from the data from this small Phase 2 safety trial.” (Although, again, do we expect that most readers know what a Phase 2 trial really means?). The story did not engage in overt disease-mongering. The story included a quote from Dr. Ian Murray who did not appear to have a role in the studies reported on as well as comments from Dr. Salloway, lead author of the study. But we’re going to rule it unsatisfactory because the story should have noted that Dr. Salloway, according to previous disclosures available online, has received research funding and has consulting relationships with numerous drug companies, including Pfizer, which makes bapineuzumab. The story failed to explain how patients taking bapineuzumab compared with those who did not take the drug. Without this information, it is impossible to evaluate the value this medication may have to patients. The story also should have put the findings seen with bapineuzumab in context with those of the other approved drugs (Aricept, etc) that have limited efficacy or perhaps mentioned the other drugs that are in testing. The subject of the story is the drug bapineuzumab, which was reported as not yet available to consumers. It would have been useful to include a link to Clinicaltrials.gov so that readers who might be interested could learn about the other trials being conducted. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=Bapineuzumab This story did not overstate the novelty of the drug reported on. But the story also could have mentioned that there are several similar drugs undergoing preliminary testing. This story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Experimental Drug Might Help Fight Alzheimer’s After All"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d281ae8ca95f45f2bb0065c6a1518109",
            "input": "The health director for Ridgefield, Connecticut, says there is no way that he and his staff of two can identify and isolate all the people who have interacted with an infected patient, not at the rate cases are multiplying across the town. “Tracing exposures of exposures of exposures. It’s just impossible,” Briggs said. “The cases are to the point where we can’t possibly trace everybody back now.”  Known as contact tracing, this vital but labor-intensive process is becoming increasingly difficult for stretched health departments in towns and cities across the United States, which has more than 160,000 cases, more than any country in the world. A massive testing campaign, coupled with intensive contact tracing, is credited with helping South Korea slow the spread of coronavirus, whereas the United States has been criticized for a slow response. Epidemiologists say such investigations can mean the difference between nipping an outbreak early and effectively losing control, as has happened in hot spots where contact tracing has given way to lockdowns as the primary tool to prevent spread. Some states outside of the major population centers have taken that advice to heart, as the virus continues its march across the United States. Health officials in those areas acknowledge, however, that it is a race against the clock and that they, too, will be unable to carry out such widespread tracing if the case numbers climb beyond a certain point. Wyoming, for one, has five staff in its state’s infectious diseases unit working to identify all contacts with a person who has tested positive, and then asking or ordering them to self-quarantine, and monitoring their health. “Our numbers are small enough,” said Kim Deti, a spokeswoman for Wyoming’s health department, which has reported 109 cases so far and no deaths. “We’ll maintain it as long as we can.”  West Virginia is tapping its national guard to assist in a similar effort at expansive contact tracing, and coupling that with a stay-at-home order and other distancing steps. On Sunday, the state reported 145 cases and its first coronavirus death. “It’s incredibly important that at the same time as you are doing that rapid contact investigation and tracing and outbreak management, that we do the preventive measures in partnership with that everywhere,” state health officer Cathy Slemp said at a news conference last week. Alabama, which has confirmed nearly 1,000 cases, is attempting to investigate contacts for all of them, a spokeswoman for its health department said, noting that contact tracing has been an “effective tool in reducing the spread” for tuberculosis and other communicable diseases in the state. New York City, which accounts for a quarter of all cases nationwide, is an example of how the lack of testing in January and February handicapped so-called “disease detectives” from identifying initial infections and containing the spread. The city is now limiting its detectives to contact tracing for outbreaks involving health care workers and clusters in assisted living facilities and nursing homes, its health commissioner, Oxiris Barbot, said during a news conference earlier this month. Louisiana, an emerging hot spot with 5,237 cases and 239 deaths, has similarly narrowed its contact tracing in the New Orleans area, the epicenter of the state’s outbreak, to focus on vulnerable populations and high-risk groups. Theresa Sokol, an assistant state epidemiologist in Louisiana, said that by the time the initial patients in the New Orleans area were identified the virus had already taken hold in the community. As cases mounted, she said, social distancing became a more effective tool than contact tracing. But outside New Orleans there is reason to believe that digging deeply into all cases can yield results, especially when combined with the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order, Sokol said: “I believe that there is still time.”  Like other municipalities in the New York area, Ridgefield closed its schools and non-essential businesses. But the virus has continued to spread broadly beyond the cluster at the Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings facility, which has been linked to six of the town’s seven deaths. The town hired an additional employee to process the deluge of coronavirus-related data, but keeping up is a challenge. “It’s overwhelming for a small health department,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said. Looking ahead, experts see aggressive testing and contact tracing as key to handling subsequent waves of the virus. Kenneth Castro, a professor of global health, epidemiology, and infectious diseases at Emory University, said local, state and federal governments should start recruiting an “army” of people to handle contact investigations. “Identify and contain is better than having society shutdown. It’s a balancing act,” said Castro, who oversaw the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tuberculosis effort for two decades through 2013. “We won’t be able to maintain physical distancing forever.”  (This story has been refiled to correct spelling of “stretched” in paragraph four.)",
            "output": [
                "'It's just impossible': tracing contacts takes backseat as virus spreads."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-706b6369c6d5462c80d6802db278391d",
            "input": "Aldrin said he didn’t attend because of objections over the foundation’s current aims and ongoing legal matters associated with the foundation. The former astronaut is locked in a legal battle with family members who say he is suffering from mental decline. The black-tie Apollo Celebration Gala was held Saturday under a Saturn V rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, featured a panel discussion by astronauts, an awards ceremony, and an auction of space memorabilia. Hundreds of people attended the sold-out event, including British physicist Brian Cox, who presented Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson with the ShareSpace Foundation’s Innovation award. Branson, whose company is developing a new generation of commercial spacecraft, said in a recorded video that the Apollo missions influenced his generation. “Space is still hard, really hard. It still really matters,” Branson said. “There would be no Virgin Galactic, no Virgin Orbit and no spaceship company had it not been for Apollo astronauts and the thousands of talented people who made their mission possible.” Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins took part in the historic Apollo 11 mission, landing the first two humans on the moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong was first to walk on the moon, joined soon after by Aldrin while Collins remained in orbit aboard the command module. Dr. Carolyn Williams of the nonprofit From One Hand To AnOTHER received the foundation’s Education award, and former Johnson Space Center director Gerry Griffin, a flight director for all of the crewed Apollo missions, was honored with the Pioneer award. “It’s very humbling, it kind of came out of the blue,” Griffin said. “It is so neat to know that we’ve passed the torch that will let this next generation take us to this next step.” That next step, Griffin said, is a return of Americans to the Moon and, eventually, Mars — something former Apollo astronauts Walt Cunningham, Harrison Schmitt, Rusty Schweickart and Tom Stafford discussed during a conversation with Cox. “We’re sort of going through a second door here. The door isn’t all the way open — we haven’t gone all the way through it — but it’s cracked open,” Schweickart, who flew as the lunar module pilot on Apollo 9, told The Associated Press. “Space is going to be much less expensive to go to, and that’s going to open up not just opportunities for people to fly, but because of the decreased cost, real opportunities for innovators to generate new ideas and to do things that have never been done before.” Aldrin’s ShareSpace Foundation is one of the sponsors of the annual gala, which raises money for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics — or STEAM education — and Astronaut Scholarship Foundation scholarships. Renowned Brazilian pop artist Romero Britto donated artwork from his “Buzz Aldrin Space Series” for the auction, which also included a behind-the-scenes tour of Virgin Galactic in California and autographed space memorabilia. Tickets for the event ranged from $750 to $2,500 per person. Aldrin sued two of his adult children and a former business manager last month, accusing them of misusing his credit cards, transferring money from an account and slandering him by saying he has dementia. Weeks before that, Andrew and Jan Aldrin filed a petition claiming their 88-year-old father was suffering from memory loss, delusions, paranoia and confusion. Andrew and Jan Aldrin and business manager Christina Korp are on the foundation’s board and attended the gala. Aldrin’s oldest son, James, isn’t involved in the legal fight. Buzz Aldrin said in a statement that he didn’t attend “due to the present course of events related to my space initiatives, also current legal matters linked to the ShareSpace Foundation.” “I formed ShareSpace Foundation in 1998 for the promotion of individual space voyagers,” Aldrin added. “The Foundation is, in my view, now being used to promote quite different objectives.” Andrew Aldrin acknowledged his father’s absence during the gala. “We’re sorry dad can’t be here, I know some of you are disappointed,” Aldrin said. “Ultimately, what we’re about is creating the first generation of Martians.” ___ Follow Alex Sanz at https://twitter.com/AlexSanz and Mike Schneider at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP",
            "output": [
                "Gala opens countdown to 50th anniversary of 1st moon landing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9afd61f87ea648faa3cc101d62dd2a36",
            "input": "The CAR T-cell therapy is currently available only in clinical trials, where costs presumably aren’t an issue (a point the story might have made for readers who aren’t familiar with clinical trials). That leaves the question of how much this therapy may cost if it becomes more widely available. And this is where the story offers some valuable insight: “It is also far from clear that such a personalized approach — possibly costing hundreds of thousands of dollars — is economically viable on a large scale.” In other words, to quote the story again: “big questions surround the therapy.” The story provides a broad overview of multiple trials, rather than spending a lot of time on any specific study. That can be dicey, given variability between trial results. However, the story still manages to offer some real numbers — and grounds the benefits with qualifiers. For example, in referring to multiple trials in both adults and children, the story says that some trials have reported “remission rates of up to 90 percent.” The story then notes that “rates in other trials are considerably lower, and many patients relapse.” Elsewhere, the story quotes one researcher as saying “The treatment is great about getting people into remission but not at keeping everyone in remission.” The story then offers some information on one study by the same researcher, stating “39 of 42 patients went into complete remission. By a year, about half had relapsed.” That combination of real numbers, with a sobering qualifier, is important. What we would have liked to have seen: Along with remission discussion, some extra assessment of what the research shows on overall survival rates, and how long people on the drug can be expected to live. The story addresses potential harms. Early on, the it notes that “complications can be lethal,” and refers to a study in which several patients died due to brain swelling. Much lower down, the story refers to one patient’s “intense immune reaction that followed treatment,” involving a fever of 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Those aren’t all the risks, but it’s some of the major ones. The story makes clear that immunotherapies in general, and CAR T-cell therapies in particular, are garnering a great deal of attention in the medical research community. However, while we understand that the story is trying to get its arms around a large and growing number of clinical trials related to the therapy, it doesn’t offer much information about those trials. Readers learn that trials involve adults and children (which is an excellent point, and we’re glad the story makes it). And readers learn a little bit about the number of participants in one particular trial (as noted above, under Quantify Benefits). But readers don’t know how many relevant trials have been completed or how many are underway — much less any real detail about any given trial. The story is focused more on providing human faces to the fight against the disease. That can make for good storytelling, but it makes the story less valuable for those trying to learn more about the treatment itself, and what the limitations are of research like this where children’s lives are at stake. No disease mongering here. This is a tricky one. There are multiple sources in the article who speak to the research itself, and most of them are clearly identified as being involved with the research in some way. There appears to be at least one expert source who is not affiliated with any of the clinical trials, but that is inferred, rather than explicitly stated. What makes this tricky is that the story discusses multiple trials, without clearly identifying most of them. That makes it difficult to provide a judgment call here. When it’s a toss-up, we try to err on the side of the story, so we’ll give this a Satisfactory. The story makes a point of noting that, at present, CAR T-cell therapy is used only when all other courses of action — chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, etc. — have failed. It’s clear from the story that this therapy is experimental, and currently available only in trials. The story is basically all about what makes this particular form of therapy novel. This story definitely involved a great deal of reporting, and does not appear to be based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "This 8-year-old is free of cancer — for now — after a ‘breakthrough’ treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b88786b95a474e6a936b3fc25eec8e08",
            "input": "The jury voted 11-1 to deny damages to Nora Daniels, 55, of Columbia, Tennessee, who said she used Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder from 1978 to 2013, when she was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer. She also sued Imerys Talc, a talcum powder supplier, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/2lF7Q0Z ). The verdict for Johnson & Johnson came after three previous St. Louis juries awarded a total of $197 million to the plaintiffs who made similar claims. About 2,000 state and federal lawsuits are in courts across the country over concerns about health problems caused by prolonged talcum powder use. Daniels’ lawyer, Jim Onder, said he thinks the difference between Friday’s verdict and the three previous St. Louis cases was that this jury didn’t think the talcum powder contributed to Daniels’ specific type of cancer. Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in a statement the company sympathizes with ovarian cancer patients. “The jury’s decision is consistent with the science, research, clinical evidence and decades of studies by medical experts around the world that continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” the statement said, while citing two cases thrown out in New Jersey in September 2016 when a judge found insufficient scientific evidence for the claims against talcum powder. Imerys spokeswoman Gwen Myers said in a statement the jury followed “the science that establishes the safety of talc.” “Imerys sympathizes with women suffering from ovarian cancer and hopes that the scientific community’s efforts will continue to be directed toward finding the true causes of this terrible disease,” the statement said. Juror Luke Wilson, 34, of St. Louis, said the jury did not think evidence linking talcum powder with ovarian cancer was strong enough to require Johnson & Johnson to put warning labels on its products. The only dissenting juror, George Stair, 76, of St. Louis, said he thought there was enough evidence. “I wish we could have sent a message to Johnson & Johnson to put a warning on the product label,” he said. ___ Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com",
            "output": [
                "St. Louis jury rejects lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a23cb0c0480451ca64b7e9af6754205",
            "input": "Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital plans to open a second proton therapy center in 2020, and Mercy Hospital St. Louis expects to open its own proton center two years later, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported . Proton therapy zap cancerous cells with precise beams of radiation while sparing surrounding tissue. Unlike traditional X-rays, the proton beams stop at the tumor instead of traveling through the body. The new $32 million proton system planned at Barnes-Jewish Hospital will provide “pencil-beam” precision to target tumors, said Dr. Jeffrey Bradley, director of Siteman’s S. Lee Kling Proton Therapy Center. It will be built next to a $20 million machine, which opened in late 2013, that uses magnets to scatter proton beams across a tumor. Siteman has treated about 800 patients with the proton therapy, close to its projections of 200 patients a year. The first proton centers built in the 1990s were known for their football-field size and up to $200 million price tag. To offset the costs, the centers marketed heavily to men with prostate cancer, despite a lack of evidence that patients have better outcomes or fewer side effects compared to cheaper treatment alternatives. In 2013, Washington University was the first to open a smaller, less-expensive proton system with one treatment room. “That’s very different from other centers that went all in, borrowed money, and put in four-room centers,” Bradley said. “The one room at a time idea is a very viable idea.” Bradley and other radiation oncologists say a major hurdle is insurance companies’ reluctance to cover proton therapy. That can cost 50 percent to 75 percent more than traditional radiation, according to industry groups. “Where the insurers like to say that proton therapy is not beneficial is often because they do not perform an adequate review of the evidence,” said Scott Warwick, executive director of the National Association for Proton Therapy. “We have notified the payers that they have often either misinterpreted data, reviewed older evidence or omitted key evidence in development of their coverage policies.” ___ Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com",
            "output": [
                "St. Louis medical organizations plan more proton therapy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00f768d8ecbe4c288fac181622c64276",
            "input": "Estimates cost to be $2-3 /day. Provides at least a ball park estimate for people about the amount of weight that might be anticipated to be lost with the use of this medication. The story explains that about 70% of users experience gastrointestinal complications and lists some. While discussion of a particular study is provided, there is no information about the nature of the study (i.e. randomized or not) and no details that would permit the reader to access the reference. Brief mention of medical benefits that can be gained from the amount of weight loss attained with the use of xenical (e.g. lower BP, improved cholesterol levels, reduced risk of diabetes). Provides quotes from drug maker, researchers, and public watchdog organization Article presents information on weight loss results from xenical, diet, and exercise (7% of body weight) compared with diet and exercise (4% of body weight) over a 4 year period. The story did not mention sibutramine, another prescription weight loss drug. Article includes the fact that the switch in status from prescription only to OTC is under FDA consideration. Article is about a medication, xenical, available by prescription that is being considered for sale as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug.",
            "output": [
                "Weighing a Pill For Weight Loss"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15c9de6bfc1e4daa9cba80885d006fc6",
            "input": "Days before the 72-year-old woman is released from prison, looming fears about whether she remains a threat and calls to keep her off the streets bring up deep-rooted questions about mental-health treatment in the nation’s prisons, an expert said. And details of the crime still horrify Barzee’s niece, Tina Mace. “It just makes you ill. How could anyone do that?” she said. Her aunt played the organ at her wedding decades ago, before Barzee joined Mitchell as he acted on his so-called revelations from God. Like Smart, Mace is alarmed by the surprise announcement this week by Utah authorities, who said they had miscalculated her aunt’s sentence and would release her from prison on Sept. 19 “From what I know, no family can take her in or would take her in,” Mace said. Federal agents have found a place for Barzee to live when she starts her five-year supervised release, said Eric Anderson, the deputy chief U.S. Probation Officer for Utah. He declined comment on whether she will be in a private home or a facility, but she “will not be homeless,” he said. Barzee has served the 15-year sentence she got in a plea deal the year she testified against street preacher Brian David Mitchell, her then-husband who kidnapped the girl from her bedroom at knifepoint. During her months in captivity, Smart said the older woman sat nearby and encouraged her husband as he raped the teenager. Smart is now a 30-year-old speaker and activist who said Thursday she’s deeply concerned that Barzee remains a threat, citing her refusal to cooperate with mental-health treatment in prison and reports that she may still harbor Mitchell’s beliefs. Smart called for authorities to consider carefully whether inmates have been successfully treated before they are released. But large-scale changes requiring rehabilitation could pose troubling questions, said Rebecca Weiss, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “We could be incarcerating someone indefinitely who has served their sentence,” she said. Treating the disproportionate number of people with mental illness in U.S. prisons — many of whom are not violent — is among the system’s biggest challenges. While there is a need to protect the public, inmates also have the right to refuse treatment. “The degree to which our prisons succeed in rehabilitation is questionable,” Weiss said. “We’re putting a lot on a system that is overloaded with fairly unclear goals.” Repeat violent sex offenders can be civilly committed in the federal system, but that requires a series of evaluations and a judge’s decision that they pose an imminent risk, Anderson said. Barzee’s lawyer has maintained she’s not a threat. Attorney Scott Williams did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Prison officials declined to discuss her behavior behind bars or relay an interview request. She was treated at the Utah State Hospital for about five years following her arrest. She testified in 2010 against Mitchell. Barzee described a “hellish” first year of marriage that eased after she “learned to be submissive and obedient,” and his later pronouncement that it was “God’s will” they sell their possessions and travel the country wearing long robes. Eventually, Mitchell kidnapped then-14-year-old Smart, forced her into a polygamous “marriage” and raped her almost daily. She was found nine months later, while walking with Barzee and Mitchell on a street in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy. Barzee’s testimony against him seemed like a turning point, but her mental state appears to have changed in her subsequent years in federal and state prisons, Mace said. Mitchell is serving a life sentence. Looking back on the captivity, Smart said Thursday that she believes the older woman who treated her as a “handmaiden” and a “slave” was manipulated by her husband at times. “But she, in her own right, abused me as much as he did.”",
            "output": [
                "Niece: Family won’t take in Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b0aac2bfabe943edb97811cec24fd9b4",
            "input": "The device, known as renal denervation system, is aimed at high blood pressure-patients who are resistant to traditional drug therapies and works by deadening nerves in kidneys. Analysts called the trial results disappointing, even though they did not have very high sales expectations from the device. “The impact of this news on Medtronic should be modest as we only model worldwide revenues (from the device) of ... 1.2 percent of total company sales in 2018,” Wells Fargo Securities analyst Larry Biegelsen wrote in a note. However, despite meeting its main safety goal in the trial, Medtronic said it would halt ongoing trials of the device in the United States, Japan and India. The device was launched in Europe in April 2010, but its adoption was slow as austere governments were reluctant to pay for the unconventional technology. Several other medical device makers, including St Jude Medical Inc and Covidien, are also making devices aimed at treating high blood pressure. These devices work by creating tiny scars along nerves in the kidneys - organs that play a pivotal role in regulating blood pressure by sending signals to the brain that can cause blood vessels to constrict. This scarring process is carried out by threading a catheter through the renal arteries from the groin. It deadens the nerves and decreases blood pressure. Medtronic shares were down 2.5 percent at $59.29 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a low of $57.92 earlier in the session.",
            "output": [
                "Medtronic's novel hypertension device fails in trials."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-146366092d7143a5926fecb9d893e4f1",
            "input": "The story does not address how much fevipiprant might cost and how it might compete with currently available treatments. A 2013 story in the New York Times reported that asthma inhalers ranged from $50 per month for one of the oldest drugs to as much as $350, with prices being buoyed in recent years by patent extensions. The story reported that fevipiprant “reduced a biological marker of asthma nearly five-fold in the 12-week trial involving 61 patients.” It states: “The Novartis pill works in a very precise way to block the action of inflammatory cells called eosinophils.” The story mentions that that no serious adverse events were reported in the trial. It would have been useful to note that 12 weeks is too little time to determine how an asthma drug might affect patients over decades of use. The story acknowledges that this is was a “small” trial and that more research is needed, and it correctly states what was being studied: A biological marker of asthma (and not actual symptoms or respiratory function, which a Medical Daily story we also reviewed got wrong). The story does not engage in disease-mongering. The story doesn’t contain comments from outside experts who could put some perspective on the trial results and explain what this might mean for patients. The story could have let readers know that funding came from Novartis, as well as a European Union grant program, and the Leicester (U.K.) National Institute for Health Research Respiratory Biomedical Research unit. Several researchers involved in the trial reported receiving financial compensation from Novartis and other drug companies. The story does a great job here. It mentions that pills were standard treatment for asthma decades ago, but were replaced with inhalers that deliver drugs directly into the lungs. It also mentions that drugmakers recently launched injectable drugs for severe asthma that also target eosinophils and “are developing improved asthma inhalers, including ‘smart’ devices with sensors that monitor use.” The story could have elaborated on how inhalers might compare to pills in terms of safety and efficacy, and mentioned there are other new drugs (known as leukotrene receptor antagonists) that are also available as pills. We believe the story attempts to give a realistic take, stating more study is needed to show that the drug can reduce severe asthma attacks. It also states Novartis “believes the medicine could be filed for regulatory approval in around 2019.” While this may or may not be accurate, it does let readers know that availability isn’t around the corner. The story says it’s the first asthma pill in decades—-that’s not correct. In recent years, several new drugs known as leukotriene receptor antagonists have come on the market as tablets. (The statement about this being the first pill in decades appears to come from the news release, which we also reviewed.) The story does not appear to rely solely on the news release, which we also reviewed.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis asthma pill shows promise in small trial"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd1d4f9b4adb422483687d52faeb413d",
            "input": "They said drugs that blocked the enzyme glycogen synthase  kinase, or GSK3, helped mice with mixed-lineage leukemia, or  MLL, live far longer than untreated mice. The finding is a surprise because prior studies have found  GSK3 helped suppress unchecked cell growth in other cancers. “GSK3 has never been implicated in promoting cancer,” said  Dr. Michael Cleary of Stanford University in California, whose  research appears in the journal Nature. Cleary’s team found that blocking GSK3 fights leukemias  caused by mutations in the MLL gene, which accounts for 5  percent to 10 percent of child and adult leukemias and more  than three-quarters of leukemias diagnosed in infants. Cleary said only a few hundred people in the United States  get MLL each year, but when babies get leukemia, they tend to  get this form, although it is not clear why. While most leukemias get their start in either lymph nodes  or bone marrow, MLL cancer cells can originate from both. “These patients don’t typically respond well to  chemotherapy. There is a real need for better treatments,”  Cleary said in a telephone interview. His team first got a hint that blocking GSK3 might fight  MLL through routine screening tests in the lab. The researchers gave the mice with MLL lithium, a drug used  to treat bipolar disease in humans. “It is not the best GSK3 inhibitor, but it is one that  could be administered long-term in mice,” Cleary said. Mice treated with the lithium lived significantly longer  than the untreated mice. Cleary’s team also used a different  GSK3 inhibitor in MLL cells and found it stopped them from  growing. “I think where we need to go in the future is to come up  with better inhibitors that can be administered long-term,”  Cleary said. That may come through research of the drug in other  diseases. Cleary said drug companies are developing GSK3  inhibitors as treatments for diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.",
            "output": [
                "Blocking enzyme could help in rare blood cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2da3c3bf77ee4986bf051fe3aa4994b5",
            "input": "It’s the first bill that Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law since succeeding Christie, who vetoed the spending throughout his two terms. “Today we are saying in a clear voice that New Jersey will once again stand for the right things,” Murphy said. “New Jersey will once again stand up for women’s health.” Murphy signed the legislation alongside legislative and Planned Parenthood leaders, including Cecile Richards, the outgoing president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She said Murphy’s signature represents the start of a “new era.” Christie opposed the legislation, saying that it circumvented the regular budget process. The funding for providers like Planned Parenthood is a fraction of the state’s nearly $35 billion budget. Democrats who control the Legislature said funding is needed for preventive care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, and praised the bill’s passage. Murphy said six family planning centers closed over the years since the funding dried up. Republicans questioned the expenditure because Planned Parenthood also makes political expenditures through its political action group. The legislation bars funding from being used for abortions. Planned Parenthood offers a range of health services at clinics nationwide, including birth control, cancer screenings and tests for sexually transmitted diseases. It also is a leading provider of abortions, a role that means it is in regular conflict with conservatives. That was on display Wednesday, with Murphy pointing out that his victory showed that “elections have consequences.” Richards, who has said she’s stepping down but remaining through the midterm elections, said the group will “play offense” on the question of getting funding for family planning. The eight-year wait to restore the funding was a pointed theme. Murphy thanked a host of lawmakers for passing the legislation and focused at one point on sponsor Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who introduced the bill each year of Christie’s term. “If there’s a motto that we can ascribe to you I think it is this: If at first you don’t succeed try, try, try and try, try, try and try and try again,” he said. Marie Tasy, the executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, said the language in the bill banning use of the funds for abortions was “deceptive.” That’s because the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics provide abortions so increased funding would “subsidize” their abortion business, she said. “If anyone is playing politics, it is Governor Murphy, who, boastfully, as his first act as Governor, signs (legislation) that will use our tax dollars to reward a political, partisan organization that helped elect him,” Tasy said in a statement. Richards said after the event the money would go only toward family planning. “We operate just like every other hospital in America. We get reimbursed for services we provide,” she said. Under the bill, public funds don’t go directly to Planned Parenthood but instead go to the state Department of Health for Family Planning Services, which offers grants, though the organization is expected to benefit from the financing. Republican Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi said she would have voted for the bill but changed her mind and abstained after the state Planned Parenthood declined to “open its books” so lawmakers could see how it spends its money. Murphy said on the day he took office that signing the legislation was a top priority, and Wednesday’s bill signing was held at the ornate art deco War Memorial in Trenton, contrasting with the office-like media room in which Murphy has signed executive orders. He also signed a second measure aimed at providing Medicaid coverage for contraception to low-income residents. The governor also announced that he’s loosening a state restriction by New Jersey’s Medicaid provider on long-acting, reversible contraception, such as intrauterine devices. Christie’s budgets didn’t cut all funds for preventive care for women. In his veto statements, for example, Christie pointed to budgeted spending on preventative health measures like the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection Program, which funds mammograms, pap smears, and prostate exams. ___ Follow Catalini at https://twitter.com/mikecatalini ___ This story has been corrected to show the Right to Life executive director was talking about abortion business, not procedures.",
            "output": [
                "Murphy reverses Christie, approves $7.5M for women’s health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a08b15619bed4737bd73af38efbc0d1c",
            "input": "The decision by Dewayne Johnson, who sued Monsanto in 2016, brings the total award to $78 million, down from the jury’s verdict on Aug. 10 of $289 million - $39 million in compensatory and $250 million in punitive damages. Johnson’s law firm said in a statement that he accepted the reduction “to hopefully achieve a final resolution within his lifetime.”   Judge Suzanne Bolanos of San Francisco’s Superior Court of California, who oversaw the trial, earlier this month affirmed the liability portion of the verdict, but ordered punitive damages to be slashed to concur with California and federal law. Bayer denies allegations that glyphosate can cause cancer and said it will appeal the decision as the verdict was not supported by the evidence presented at trial. The verdict, which marked the first such decision against Monsanto, wiped 10 percent off the value of the company and shares have since dropped nearly 30 percent from their pre-verdict value. The company, which faces more than 8,700 U.S. lawsuits over glyphosate, says decades of scientific studies and real-world use have shown glyphosate to be safe for human use. Regulators around the world, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have found glyphosate was not a likely carcinogen to humans and approved the chemical, but the cancer unit of the World Health Organization in 2015 classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”  The jury found the company’s glyphosate-containing RoundUp and Ranger Pro products responsible for causing Johnson’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and said the company had failed to warn him and other consumers of the risks. Johnson could decide whether to accept the reduction or face a new trial on the punitive damages portion. His lawyers on Wednesday said they would challenge the amount of damages during Bayer’s appeal.",
            "output": [
                "Groundskeeper in Bayer in U.S. weed-killer case accepts reduced award."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-68286ea5155f48d995ac55058619e043",
            "input": "Inside, a basic clinic is crowded with young mothers and newborn babies, the latest additions to a population boom that has risen as relentlessly as the sea in a deeply Christian outpost where family planning is still viewed with skepticism. It is a boom that threatens to overwhelm the tiny atoll of South Tarawa as quickly as the rising seas. Some 50,000 people, about half of Kiribati’s total population, are already crammed onto a sand and coral strip measuring 16 sq km (6 sq miles). “Climate change is a definite long-term threat to Kiribati, there’s no doubt whatsoever about that,” says Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia who has been visiting South Tarawa since 2005. “But that doesn’t mean it’s the biggest problem right now ... Any first-time visitor to Tarawa is not struck by the impacts of sea level rise, they’re struck by how crowded it is.”  Low-lying South Pacific island nations such as Kiribati (pronounced Kee-ree-bahs) and Tuvalu, about halfway between northeast Australia and Hawaii, have long been the cause célèbre for climate change and rising sea levels. Straddling the equator and spread over 3.5 million sq km (2 million sq miles) of otherwise empty ocean, Kiribati’s 32 atolls and one raised coral island have an average height above sea level of just two meters (6-1/2 feet). Studies show surrounding sea levels rising at about 2.9 mm a year, well above the global average of 1 - 2 mm a year. Kiribati President Anote Tong has grimly predicted his country will likely become uninhabitable in 30-60 years because of inundation and contamination of its fresh water supplies. While climate change poses a serious longer-term threat, many people, including Tong, recognize that breakneck population growth is a more immediate problem. South Tarawa’ population density of more than 3,000 per sq km is comparable to Los Angeles or parts of London - without the high rises. The government fears South Tarawa’s population could double to more than 100,000 by 2030 unless the birth rate and internal migration slows. Rudimentary huts of little more than timber sleeping platforms and palm thatch roofs line a single dusty road running the length of the atoll. Dotted among them are pig pens, chicken coops, overcrowded grave sites and the blasted relics from one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two. Bwabwa Oten, Kiribati’s director of hospital services, says current annual population growth in Kiribati is close to 6 percent, with overcrowding a major contributor to disease and an infant mortality rate among the highest in the region. The church plays an integral role in the South Pacific and efforts to limit birth rates have run into resistance. Large families are also traditional in the region, which has one of the world’s highest rates of teen pregnancy. Describing the population surge as “a menace”, Tong has called on churches to help curb growth by allowing their members to use birth control. “Religion is incredibly powerful in the Pacific and there is quite an overt suspicion that, when we are talking about family planning, it in fact means family stopping,” said Bronwyn Hale of New Zealand-based Family Planning International, which is working to promote sexual and reproductive health in Kiribati. Progress is being made, with clinic visitor numbers up and a growing acceptance of the threat of over-population. “Right now, population is the major issue, the number one issue we should face,” said Peter Itibita, a member of the Mormon Church in South Tarawa. Many health problems also stem from a lack of clean water as rising salinity and pollution affect underground water, with diarrhea outbreaks caused by contamination from human and animal waste and other pollutants. Nawerewere Hospital also has problems, with new mothers spilling from overcrowded wards onto verandas and into corridors. “Sometimes with the new babies, we don’t have the water to wash them,” says Rina Tabi, a maternity ward nurse. Plans are underway for solar-powered energy and desalination plants but the cost of building and maintaining them is a challenge for cash-strapped Kiribati, which relies on aid and royalties from foreign fishing fleets. The complexities of sea level change are becoming more apparent and there is little doubt that nations like Kiribati will be among the most affected. But it is equally clear that vulnerable states like Kiribati are responsible for less than 0.1 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. According to the United Nations, population growth in the Pacific has consistently exceeded all other regions except Africa for the past 30 years and is likely to remain higher than the global average for the next 40-50 years, even though barely 10 million people are dotted across the world’s biggest ocean. There is also a history of concern about Pacific over-crowding, with dire predictions of population growth outstripping food production dating back to the 1960s. Barry Coates, executive director of Oxfam New Zealand, said populations of fragile atolls had long-developed resilience in dealing with resource shortages, cyclones and other periodic climatic events. “But what is happening now is that the pressures of population growth and climate change are overwhelming the traditional coping mechanisms,” Coates said. The Kiribati government has also been looking at radical options for feeding and housing its people, including negotiating to buy land on nearby Fiji. Larger Pacific neighbors New Zealand and Australia are likely to play a big role if large-scale migration is needed, and Western governments are under pressure to create a new refugee category for those fleeing the effects of climate change. A test case from Kiribati was rejected in New Zealand in 2012 and changes to international law will likely be needed.",
            "output": [
                "Tide of humanity, as well as rising seas, lap at Kiribati's future."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad5c11eccf314474b2c47b001aeddf97",
            "input": "One of the constitutional powers of the President of the United States is to nominate and appoint judges of the Supreme Court, with the qualification that such appointments be undertaken with the “advice and consent of the Senate.”  This procedure — like many others crafted by Founding Fathers who did not anticipate the rise of political parties in America — has long since become enmeshed in partisan posturing. Whichever party holds the White House typically seeks to elevate a Supreme Court nominee who is ideologically aligned with their party, employing varying strategies to push their chosen nominee through the approval process depending upon whether they, the opposition, or neither party controls the Senate. One uncommon (but not unprecedented) circumstance presaging a Supreme Court battle occurred when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia unexpectedly passed away on 13 February 2016, leaving President Barack Obama to nominate a replacement. (Although Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, over the last several decades most court vacancies have been created through the retirement or resignation of sitting justices rather than death, thereby providing Presidents with ample time to consider and nominate their replacements.) Since at the time of Antonin Scalia’s death, President Obama had less than a year remaining in his final office while the Republicans held a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate, the GOP served notice that they could simply delay confirmation of whomever President Obama nominated replace to Scalia until after the upcoming presidential election in the hopes that they might regain the White House and then put forth their own nominee instead. This chain of events, naturally, prompted criticisms about one side’s “playing games” with the Supreme Court confirmation process and the other side’s engaging in hypocrisy for objecting to something they themselves had advocated on previous occasions. This rhetorical battle was reflected in various images circulated by social media that portrayed members of both parties as opportunistic flip-floppers who justified whichever approach suited their side at the time. One such image featured quotes from Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader (and a Republican), advocating (in 2016) that Scalia’s seat remain open until after the next presidential election, while stating (in 2001) that the President “is entitled to tilt the judiciary in the direction that he feels appropriate”: 2016: The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. 2001: My view now is that the President won the election, no matter what the margin, and is entitled to tilt the judiciary in the direction that he feels appropriate. Verifying the accuracy and meaning of the first quote is fairly straightforward: On 13 February 2016 (the day Scalia died), McConnell’s words were widely reported   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate should not confirm a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia until after the 2016 election — an historic rebuke of President Obama’s authority and an extraordinary challenge to the practice of considering each nominee on his or her individual merits. The swiftness of McConnell’s statement — coming about an hour after Scalia’s death in Texas had been confirmed — stunned White House officials who had expected the Kentucky Republican to block their nominee with every tool at his disposal, but didn’t imagine the combative GOP leader would issue an instant, categorical rejection of anyone Obama chose to nominate. “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” McConnell said, at a time when other elected officials, from Sen. Bernie Sanders to future Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, were releasing statements offering condolences to the justice’s family, which includes 26 grandchildren. The second quote stemmed from hearings held in 2001 by a Congressional Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts regarding the judicial nomination and confirmation process (for all federal judicial appointments, not just Supreme Court justices), hearings that “focused on the vital question of what role ideology should play in the selection and confirmation of judges.”   Senator McConnell, as a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, averred (in part) that the role of the Senate should largely be to examine “the competence and the integrity and the fitness of a judge to be on the bench” rather than a nominee’s political ideology, that the Senate should “defer to the President on the question of ideology,” that the President is “entitled for the most part to tilt the judiciary in the direction that he feels appropriate,” and that he (i.e., McConnell) had accordingly approved every one of judicial nominees put forth by President Bill Clinton (a Democrat):  I first began to deal with the Senate’s advise and consent role as a staffer here in 1969 and 1970 to a member of this Committee during the  Haynesworth and Carswell nominations, and subsequently wrote the only law journal article I wrote as a young man on that subject after those contentious nominations were concluded. I believed then and believe now that the appropriate role of the Senate is largely as Senator Kyl suggested, which is to judge the competence and the integrity and the fitness of a judge to be on the bench. I dutifully returned, gagging occasionally, every single one of the blue slips I received during the Clinton years positively. My view then and my view now is that the President won the election, no matter what the margin, and is entitled for the most part to tilt the judiciary in the direction that he feels appropriate. What I fear is going on with the hearing today is trying to establish a new litmus test for the Senate that has not existed in the past. I don’t understand why we are seeking to do that. As Senator Sessions pointed out, and I think Senator Kyl alluded to this as well, 377 of President Clinton’s nominees were approved. During 75 percent of his term, there was a Republican Senate here. During President Reagan’s years, during which he had during 75 percent of his tenure in office a sympathetic Senate, only a few more were confirmed, 382. That is why the safest place to be and the sound place to be and the place where the Senate has been most of the history of our country is largely deferring to the President on the question of ideology and judging the competence and the integrity of the nominee. I doubt if the Founding Fathers were aware that there would be a Judiciary Committee. It probably never occurred to them. When they said “advise and consent,” I think they were talking about the full Senate. Certainly, the Founding Fathers did not envision that there would be a bunch of co-presidents here. They did, after all, give the power to nominate to the President. McConnell concurred with a previous statement offered by Jon Kyl, a Republican senator from Arizona, who said (in part): I find it interesting that the argument that a candidate’s ideology should be a sufficient rationale for rejection is characterized as a bipartisan approach. I would think that bipartisanship would mean quite the opposite. Cooperation with the President on a bipartisan basis I don’t think begins with a threat that we are going to reject your nominees, no matter how competent they might be, if we don’t like their political ideology, as we interpret it to be. I think we should make no mistake that what is being suggested here is a significant departure from the way that nominees have traditionally been treated. Have there been exceptions? Quite assuredly so, but they prove the rule because they are exceptions to that general deference that has always been given to the President’s nominees. From a bipartisan point of view, it concerns me because I do believe it puts us on a very dangerous path of confrontation and contention here within the Congress, as well as in our relationship with the President, and also, as Senator Sessions has said, creates a very bad precedent. I also found it interesting that the Chairman alluded to President Bush’s campaign theme and frankly the reaction to that by his opponent, who made it clear that if President Bush were elected, he would be putting strict constructionists like Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. That, of course, I think was a correct characterization of the tradition that a President does do that. A President has that right when he is elected, and he has been elected, by the way, even though it was a close election. President Bush is the President, and I think the Democrats who campaigned against him on the basis that he would try to appoint people that were consistent with his judicial philosophy were correct in saying that he would do that, that that would be the end result, because the Senate has always confirmed nominees more or less of the President elected, regardless of how close the election was. President Clinton, after all, never had a majority of the citizens of this country vote for him, but we gave significant deference to his nominees. My point is that for us as political figures — and this is our milieu, politics — to try to translate our political views onto a Court’s job and maintain balance by our confirmations, I think, is sheer folly. Instead, we should all revert to what has traditionally been our role, judging the competence of the candidate; the qualifications, including judicial temperament, the background; and also some look at judicial philosophy. Another image featured similar “flip-flopping” statements from Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat who previously served as Senate Majority Leader: The duties of the Senate are set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential appointees a vote. [19 May 2005]  We have that nasty little Constitution, which says they are obligated to hold hearings and they are obligated to vote. [1 March 2016]  As with the McConnell image, the quotes attributed to Reid were contradictory and presumably based on whatever course of action might be politically expedient for his party rather than on a consistent (non-partisan) political position. The provenance of these statements was also not difficult to ascertain: On 1 March 2016, Reid was quoted as follows in an article about Republican opposition to holding nomination hearings for Scalia’s replacement prior to the end of President Obama’s term: Before he traveled along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, [Senator] McConnell told House Republicans at their weekly meeting that he’s standing by his promise not to hold hearing or votes on an Obama nominee. Scalia was the leading conservative voice on the bench, and an Obama replacement could give liberals a five-vote majority. The president “made it very clear” in the meeting that he would consider any nominees recommended by McConnell and Grassley, according to Reid. But the GOP leaders did not offer up a list of names. Asked what leverage Democrats have to force a vote, Reid suggested they would continue to shame Republicans over their stance. “We have that nasty little Constitution, which says they are obligated to hold hearings and they are obligated to vote,” he said. “They swore to uphold the Constitution. They’re not doing that. They are walking away from that.” (Technically, the Constitution simply states that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint … Judges of the supreme Court”; that document is silent on whether the Senate is obligated to hold hearings and vote on such nominations.) Evidence of Sen. Reid’s 2005 statements was equally easy to come by: During a 19 May 2005 Senate session convened in consideration of the appointment of Priscilla Owen as a judge for the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (which had, among other similar nominations, been blocked by filibustering Democrats): The Senate continued consideration of the nomination of Priscilla Owen as a judge for the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She was the first of seven nominations which had been filibustered by the Democrats, the minority party. The Republicans, who held a 55-vote majority, had proposed changing the confirmation process through a ruling from the President of the Senate, upheld by a majority of Senate, that votes on judicial nominees not be subject to a filibuster. This would be a change in the Senate rules which would allow confirmation by a simple majority vote without having to invoke cloture on debate. This was popularly referred to as the “nuclear option” because of its potential impact on the normal procedure of business in the Senate. Debate was evenly divided by time blocks allocated to each party. During those proceedings, Senator Reid maintained the wording of the Constitution did not require that “every nominee receive a vote”: The duties of the Senate are set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give Presidential nominees a vote. It says appointments shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. That is very different than saying every nominee receives a vote.",
            "output": [
                "Images reproduce contradictory statements from U.S. senators Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid about the President's prerogative in appointing Supreme Court justices."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5c604b6a832f4b11936203ee1f219cdf",
            "input": "\"With abortion now a key issue in the debate over health care reform, abortion rights supporters are highlighting President Barack Obama's promise about the issue during the presidential campaign. In an alert to members on Nov. 9, 2009, Planned Parenthood Action Fund said, \"\"President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan.\"\" We'll address that claim here. We'll also be adding it to our Obameter database of campaign promises. The group's claim is virtually identical to one made in September by House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who said in a statement that, \"\"during his quest for the presidency, now-President Obama declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president.\"\" We researched Boehner's claim and concluded he was right about Obama's promise. To explore Obama's promise on abortion coverage in his health care plan, you need to go back to a July 17, 2007, speech he gave to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In that speech, he discussed his commitment to how \"\"reproductive care\"\" -- a term a campaign aide said included abortion coverage -- would fit into his health care reform plan. Obama said, \"\"In my mind, reproductive care is essential care. It is basic care, so it is at the center and at the heart of the plan that I propose. Essentially what we're doing is, we’re going to set up a public plan that all persons and all women can access if they don’t have health insurance. It will be a plan that will provide all essential services, including reproductive services, as well as mental health services and disease management services, because part of our interest is to make sure that we’re putting more money into preventive care.\"\" The words Obama used in that speech mirror those in the Planned Parenthood Action Fund's recent alert even more closely than they did Boehner's formulation. So it's certainly correct, as the group says, that Obama \"\"campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan.\"\" It's worth nothing that since he spoke to that group -- an important constituency for someone seeking the Democratic nomination -- he has chosen his words carefully. Of all the words Obama has spoken and written about health care reform since 2007 -- a voluminous amount, to be sure -- the terms \"\"abortion\"\" and \"\"reproductive health\"\" haven't popped up very often. Indeed, on several of the rare occasions in which Obama or his staff have broached the subject, it's been to assure Americans that his health care proposal would not promote abortions. For instance, in his prime-time address to Congress on Sept. 9, 2009, Obama's only mention of abortion -- which came immediately after he was interrupted by the heckling Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. -- was that \"\"one more misunderstanding I want to clear up: Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.\"\" That's a reflection of the sensitivity surrounding the issue. Obama's promise to the abortion rights group during the primary campaign could now be a liability before a broader audience that includes many people opposed to abortion rights. Still, Planned Parenthood is correct that Obama campaigned on a promise that he would put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan.\"\" After all, he was speaking to . . . Planned Parenthood. So we find the group's claim to be .\"",
            "output": [
                "President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8cac1138a46047cc91cfbc6771591a53",
            "input": "Lawrence Hashish told The Associated Press his client is one of three nurses, in addition to an administrator, expecting to be charged in connection with the deaths after Hurricane Irma, which blew through Florida on Sept. 10 of that year. The storm knocked out a transformer linking the main air-conditioning unit to the power grid at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, sending temperatures soaring . Hashish said the attorneys don’t yet know what specific charges would be, but he expected those would likely entail some form of manslaughter offense. Twelve deaths at the center had been ruled homicides . Police have been investigating the deaths for nearly two years but no charges have been filed thus far. A voice message and email left by the AP for Hollywood Police were not immediately returned Sunday. Hashish said his client and the others are merely scapegoats. “The real crime is that the state is looking to blame selfless caregivers and the evidence will show that no crime was committed,” he said in a telephone interview, His co-counsel, Ilham Soffan, told the AP that their client was turning herself in Monday. The attorneys said they didn’t have any further details about expected charges and planned to negotiate a bond agreement before an expected hearing Monday morning. Patients began dying at the rehabilitation center days after the devastating hurricane struck Florida amid widespread power outages. Investigators said the center did not evacuate patients as temperatures inside began rising, even though a fully functional hospital was across the street. The home’s license was suspended days after the storm and it was later shuttered. Paramedic Craig Wohlitka and other paramedics from Hollywood Fire-Rescue testified last year that he was haunted by the deaths of patients there. Fire Lt. Amy Parrinello said one of the female patients had a temperature of 107.5 degrees (42 Celsius), the highest she had ever seen in his 12-year career. Later that morning, she said, another patient topped that with a temperature so high it couldn’t be measured. Wohlitka further testified that the crew decided to start checking other patients who hadn’t been reported as ill. He said they saw a woman in a room who appeared sick, though a nursing home employee said they had just checked her and she was fine. In the aftermath of Irma, the deaths made national headlines and sparked a political backlash. Months afterward, lawmakers passed a bill requiring backup power sources in Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The legislation requires such facilities to have a generator capable of keeping nursing homes and assisted living facilities at 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) or lower for at least four days. Hashish declined to identify his client by name, but said she was works as a full-time nurse at another facility and was just picking up a shift that day in September 2017. “They called her. They said, ‘can you come and help? We’re short-handed,’ and look what she walked into,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Attorneys: Charges expected in Florida nursing home deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71efe5c6755948db8c9a3fd44f5f4341",
            "input": "A member of a small county commission in Florida became an online laughingstock after video spread of him endorsing a widely-debunked cure for COVID-19 (a.k.a. the “coronavirus”) by a right-wing “news” outlet to his colleagues.During the March 20 2020 meeting, Okeechobee County commissioner Bryant Culpepper reassured his colleagues that his information was legitimate because he saw it on One America News Network (OAN or OANN), which he described as “the new Fox News.”“There’s a lot of baloney out there on social media. You’ve gotta be really careful. But I only brought it up because it came from a pretty reliable source,” Culpepper said.According to a story he saw on the channel, he said, an OAN guest claimed that it was possible to beat COVID-19 by training a hair dryer on one’s face at a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit. (This is not true. )“In this interview with one of the foremost doctors who has studied the coronavirus, [he] said that the nasal passages and the nasal membranes are the coolest part of the body,” Culpepper said. “That’s why the virus tends to go there until it then becomes healthy enough to go into the lungs.” (This is also not true. )But using the hair dryer, he said, would cause the virus to fall apart. “You hold a blow dryer in front of your face and you inhale with your nose, and it kills all the viruses in your nose,” Culpepper claimed, falsely.He also indirectly promoted the “cure” on his own Facebook page, linking to local coverage of the meeting without mentioning that it covered his remarks:The claims that he said OAN and the “foremost doctor” were promoting have been roundly and completely debunked. And in reality, OAN is far from “pretty reliable.” In fact, as the media analysis site Media Bias/Fact Check reported in reviewing the California-based channel, it’s exactly the opposite:We rate One America News Far right biased based on story selection that consistently favors the Right and Mixed for factual reporting due to promotion of conspiracies, lack of sourcing and a few failed fact checks. OAN is one failed fact check away from moving to the Questionable Source list.The review cited an AdWeek story saying that staff members felt that the channel’s billionaire founder, Robert Herring Sr., had become a “de facto news director” who pushed OAN into becoming supportive of United States President Donald Trump’s run for office in 2016:According to internal emails, Herring has directed his channel to push Trump’s candidacy, scuttle stories about police shootings, encourage antiabortion stories, minimize coverage of Russian aggression, and steer away from the new president’s troubles, according to more than a dozen current and former producers, writers and anchors, as well as internal emails from Herring and his top news executives.Besides getting local coverage, Culpepper’s attempt to paint the “blow dryer” cure as legitimate was shared on social media:Okeechobee County Commissioner Bryant Culpepper at emergency meeting says you can kill coronavirus by holding a blow dryer up to your nose after he saw it on “reliable source” OANN, warns “there’s a lot of baloney out there on social media” #BecauseFlorida pic.twitter.com/n9dGDBQ4WW— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) March 22, 2020According to the Friendly Atheist blog, which covers religious affairs, Culpepper reacted angrily at first to the criticism:No one is holding a gun to your head to do anything you do not want to do but for some they don’t have alot [sic] of options. All this wonderful Science you believe in yet Thousands die everyday from Cancer, Lukemia, ALS so why haven’t they been cured with all the Scientist working on for years Go ahead laugh all you want and feel like fools when I am proven Right.However, he apologized on his Facebook page on March 22 2020. “I am Heartfully Sorry for comments I made on Social Media,” he wrote:I was only trying to give comfort to those in Okeechobee who have no insurance to treat there [sic] families. I should have ignored the comments that I perceived as hateful and the embarrassment I caused to my Fellow Commissioners and our Administrator And [sic] her staff. I will not offer anymore suggestions unless they are tried and proven.Given the huge amount of disinformation circulating both on and off social media and the credulity with which certain officials are repeating it, it is probably best to receive health guidance from medical experts, not public figures without expertise who regularly quote ideas from far-right television networks without credibility.",
            "output": [
                "A member of the Okeechobee County Commission in Florida promoted a claim that using a blow dryer could cure people of COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cad087bc08b04515a3b706e9e1a8ba9e",
            "input": "On March 24 2020, journalist Judd Legum published a tweet claiming that as the COVID-19 pandemic began ramping up in the United States, Amazon.com (owned by Jeff Bezos) requested public donations in order to pay for employees’ sick leave:1. Amazon, owned by the richest man in the world, is soliciting PUBLIC DONATIONS to pay sick leave for contract drivers who contract COVID-19This is not a jokehttps://t.co/YAYeLo5Jak— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 24, 2020Alongside a screenshot and a link to a longer claim, Legum began a thread:1. Amazon, owned by the richest man in the world, is soliciting PUBLIC DONATIONS to pay sick leave for contract drivers who contract COVID-19This is not a joke2. Amazon has one of the worst policies for workers who contract COVID-19. Requires a positive test or a formal quarantine order to get paid.But contractors have it even worse. They have to apply for a “grant” from the Amazon Relief Fund.3. Amazon gave $25 million to the Amazon Relief Fund and then solicited donations for more.Apparently someone realized this looked bad so later they added language saying the “aren’t expecting” anyone to donate.4. There is a lot of talk about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY during this crisis. That’s important.But equally important is CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY.That’s the mission of my newsletter, Popular Information.… 5. A broader point: If you are delivering packages for Amazon and contract COVID-19 you should not be forced to APPLY FOR A GRANT to get paid while you recover.It’s ghoulish.6. As a result of the pandemic, Amazon’s business is booming. It is likely to permanently benefit from this crisis. The absolute least it can do is take care of the workers that make its service possible.7. UPDATE: Amazon has responded and they say that it is COMPLETELY NORMAL for a company with $281 billion of revenue last year to require workers who contract a potentially-deadly virus to APPLY FOR A GRANT to get paid while they are quarantined.8. Amazon also claims it has “not asked for donations” despite the fact that it created a public website for this grant fund that solicited donations. The initial version had a way to donate via text!Amazon thinks this is normalThis is not normalLegum’s tweets linked to his website, Popular.info, a newsletter-based news service described by Wired as a “a one-man political newsletter ‘for people who are feeling overwhelmed'” in a 2018 profile on the effort. His commentary stretched across those eight initial tweets:In his seventh tweet, Legum added that Amazon had confirmed the policy he described and added a screenshot with a statement attributed to an Amazon.com spokesperson:That quote contained an assertion that Amazon was effectively not actively soliciting donations to the Amazon Relief Fund — but that the innate, third-party structured platform “required” that it be “open to public contributions”:We are not and have not asked for donations and the Amazon Relief Fund has been funded by Amazon with an initial donation of $25 million. The structure to operate a fund like this, which hundreds of companies do through the same third-party, requires the program to be open to public contributions but we are not soliciting those contributions in any way.The linked Popular.info page was a March 24 2020 article by Legum headlined, “Amazon soliciting public donations to pay workers’ sick leave.” It reported in part:Amazon’s large contract workforce, which delivers packages and performs other critical tasks, is in even worse shape. Amazon is not providing any sick leave at all for these workers, even if they test positive for COVID-19. Instead, these workers must apply to the “Amazon Relief Fund” and apply for a grant to cover their sick leave. The fund is “focused on supporting our U.S.-based Delivery Associates employed by Delivery Service Providers, our Amazon Flex Delivery Partners, and Associates working for Integrity Staffing, Adecco Staffing, and RES Staffing, and drivers and support team members of line haul partners under financial distress due to a COVID-19 diagnosis or quarantine.”Amazon donated $25 million to the fund and is soliciting individual donations to add to the pot. It initially included an option to donate by text.Popular.info had previously reported that the retail giant requested diagnostic criteria (a positive test or being “placed into quarantine”) which made it difficult to employees of the company to use paid sick time during the pandemic. Legum said that Amazon offered “unlimited unpaid leave” for its hourly employees, adding that Amazon’s fleet of contractors were required to apply for a “grant” from the “Amazon Relief Fund” in the event they contracted COVID-19 while on the job or off:Amazon announced that it would offer “unlimited unpaid time off for all hourly employees through the end of March [2020].” This is of little use for most hourly employees, who in most cases can’t afford to take unpaid leave.The company also says, “all Amazon employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine will receive up to two-weeks of pay.” This is similar to Kroger’s [since changed] policy. But testing is still extremely limited, and most employees will not be able to evaluated and be “placed into quarantine.”For contractors, like [an interviewed] driver in Illinois, things are bleaker. Amazon will not guarantee paid leave even for contractors that are diagnosed with COVID-19. Instead, “our independent delivery service partners and their drivers, Amazon Flex participants, and seasonal employees under financial distress” can “apply for grants approximately equal to up to two-weeks of pay if diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine by the government or Amazon.” The company has made an initial contribution of $25 million for this grant program. That’s how much revenue Amazon brought in every 47 minutes in 2019. Contractors are supposed to apply for grants through a website that does not appear to be online yet.A link in the March 17 2020 article went to blog.aboutamazon.com, an official Amazon.com corporate site, and an entry titled, “Amazon’s COVID-19 blog: How we are supporting our employees, customers, and communities.” (A version of the page archived on March 15 2020 is available here.) A March 11 2020 sub-entry on that post read:March 11: Establishing the $25 million Amazon Relief FundThe Amazon Relief Fund is focused on supporting our independent delivery service partners and their drivers, Amazon Flex participants, and seasonal employees under financial distress during this challenging time. We will be offering all of these groups the ability to apply for grants approximately equal to up to two weeks of pay if diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine. Going forward, this fund will support our employees and contractors around the world who face financial hardships. Applicants may apply and receive a personal grant from the fund ranging from $400 to $5,000 per person. Read more.“Read more” linked to a March 11 2020 entry titled “COVID-19 update: More ways Amazon is supporting employees and contractors,” which as of March 25 2020 included the referenced policies (emphasis ours):Effective immediately, all Amazon employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine will receive up to two-weeks of pay. This additional pay while away from work is to ensure employees have the time they need to return to good health without the worry of lost pay. This is in addition to unlimited unpaid time off for all hourly employees through the end of March, which we shared with employees last week.Amazon Relief Fund We are establishing the Amazon Relief Fund with a $25 million initial contribution focused on supporting our independent delivery service partners and their drivers, Amazon Flex participants, and seasonal employees under financial distress during this challenging time. We will be offering all of these groups the ability to apply for grants approximately equal to up to two-weeks of pay if diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine by the government or Amazon.Additionally, this fund will support our employees and contractors around the world who face financial hardships from other qualifying events, such as a natural disaster, federally declared emergency, or unforeseen personal hardship. Applicants can apply and receive a personal grant from the fund ranging from $400 to $5,000 USD per person.We will be publishing a website in the coming days where employees and contractors can apply for grants from the fund.Neither the reporting nor Amazon’s various statement pages made it easy to locate the page. As Amazon stated, the “Amazon Relief Fund” was hosted on a third-party website. When we accessed the page on March 25 2020, it read:The Amazon Relief Fund was created to help individuals who are facing financial hardship immediately after a natural disaster or an unforeseen personal hardship. The Amazon Relief Fund relies primarily on individual donations from individuals and support from Amazon Relief Fund to fund this program. Every contribution helps and when combined with the donations of others, can provide the help a fellow individual needs when they are facing the unexpected.Clarifying their dueling claims based on available information was not straightforward, in part because links weren’t archived and the initiatives described in various stories (such as the Amazon Relief Fund) were difficult to find and hosted on a third-party site.As Amazon said, the Amazon Relief Fund was administrated through an outside party — the Emergency Assistance Foundation (EAF), an organization enabling “corporations make emergency hardship grants for their employees when they face unexpected and unavoidable financial hardships or disasters.”However, Legum quoted Amazon’s spokesperson as explicitly stating that the “structure to operate a fund like this, which hundreds of companies do through the same third-party, requires the program to be open to public contributions but we are not soliciting those contributions in any way.” A screenshot of the Amazon Relief Fund taken on March 25 2020 shows that the fund was indeed soliciting donations via credit card, debit card, or PayPal, with options for people inside and outside the United States:We were unable to determine if any barrier existed for Amazon directly funding sick leave for its range of workers. It did not seem likely using the EAF platform was anything other than optional, and “What We Do” text at the bottom of the page emphasized that the program was primarily for coworkers to donate to one another:The Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc. is a 501c(3) charity created to design and operate multiple employer-sponsored disaster relief and employee hardship funds. These funds allow domestic and international employers and employees to help their coworkers in times of crises.EAF’s FAQ explained that part of EAF’s purpose was to outsource vetting and verifying claims made by employees of any company for financial relief due to hardship:How does an Employee Relief Fund Work? There are a number of distinct processes or steps to establishing and operating an effective Employer-Sponsored Employee Hardship and Disaster Relief Fund Program. Here are the basics:a. An employer creates and names a custom fund within the Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc. Establishing a fund is offered at no cost to the employer and is as simple as signing a simple Field-of-Interest agreement.b. Donations are made by employee contributions (through payroll deduction, credit or debit card, check), by the employer (usually through a donation-matching program or direct contribution), by the employer’s foundation, and sometimes through fundraising events.c. Employees complete applications for assistance, which EAF staff review.d. Each application undergoes a preliminary review to ensure a qualifying emergency or hardship exists and that all required documentation has been received. The applicant will be contacted if additional information is needed.e. Trained EAF personnel conduct final application reviews to determine if they meet the criteria established specifically for the company’s Employee Relief Fund. After the review, the grant requests are either accepted or denied based on the objective criteria. For approvals, the amount of the grant is determined.f. Grants are paid directly to vendors and service providers on behalf of the employee applicant or directly to the employee applicant in accordance with the employer’s guidelines.Per EAF, the burden was placed on employees to provide documentation that “a qualifying emergency” actually existed:A Qualified Disaster is defined as:• Results from terrorist or military actions • Results from an accident involving a common carrier • A presidentially-declared disaster • An event that the secretary of the treasury determines is catastrophic • An Employee Emergency Hardship is defined as:Any other permissible hardship other than a Qualified Disaster, which can range from house fire, serious injury or illness, death or a number of other events[. ]A sixth question addressed how employees feel about being asked to donate to their employers’ various funds. EAF’s response seemed geared more to charity and altruism than the distribution of benefits, such as — for example — paid sick leave during a pandemic:When a company gives employees a chance to donate to a worthy cause it increases their connection to the organization. This may seem counterintuitive, but research shows it’s true. It’s called prosocial motivation, which is the desire to protect and promote the well-being of others, and is distinct from altruism and independent of self-interested motivations. Interestingly, this is also true with Employee Relief Funds where the donor is more connected than the receiver.The Amazon Relief Fund was also accessible at amazonrelieffund.org. As of March 25 2020, text on that page explicitly solicited donations from anyone visiting the page:This fund has an initial donation of $25 million from Amazon. The company will continue to make additional contributions to the fund as it’s needed. While we aren’t expecting anyone to do so, you can make a voluntary donation to the fund if you desire to do so.To make a US Donation using your Credit Card, Debit Card or PayPal click here.All donations to the fund at the Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc. are tax deductible in the U.S. The EIN# for the Emergency Assistance Foundation is 45-1813056.As Legum stated in his tweets, Amazon had indeed changed the language on that page. A version archived on March 19 2020 made no reference to Amazon not “expecting” anyone to donate:Make a Donation You can make a voluntary ongoing gift or one-time gift through our secure site using your credit/debit card or directly donate through your payroll.To make a US Donation using your Credit Card, Debit Card or PayPal click here.To make a donation via Text-to-Give, simply text the unique keyword “ARelief” to 71777.All donations to the fund at the Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc. are tax deductible in the U.S. The EIN# for the Emergency Assistance Foundation is 45-1813056.In addition to the solicitation for visitors to donate money to the Amazon Relief Fund, it appeared a since-deleted line asked for “text-to-give” donations. Users were instructed to text keyword “ARelief” to 71777 to make a donation via text message, which we tested and found it appeared to still be doing as of March 25 2020:We contacted EAF to ask if it requires the program to be open to public contributions as a platform requirement, which was what the Amazon spokesperson was quoted as claiming, and asked:Can you tell us whether it is necessary for companies using EAF to solicit public donations for its respective relief funds? Is there a requirement companies include non-employee donations along with employee donations?We received a response in direct conflict with Amazon’s statement. EAF said that employers and employees were the primary funders of their programs:There is no requirement , most likely the donors will be the company, the company foundation or employees. Sometimes vendors donateBased on Amazon’s own statements, full-time employees were required to have tested positive for COVID-19 or under formal quarantine to access paid time off during the coronavirus pandemic; Amazon established the Amazon Relief Fund to cover sick leave for other classes of employee, such as contract workers and Amazon Flex participants who fell ill due to COVID-19; and Amazon’s contract workers who contracted COVID-19 were required to apply for a grant from a third-party-administered fund, the Amazon Relief Fund. In response to questions about the relief fund as well as their solicitation of public donations to fund it, an Amazon employee stated that the company was both required to solicit public donations and that it was not soliciting those contributions in any way.Archived, earlier versions of the Amazon Relief Fund page not only solicited donations from the public, but also invited donations via texts of “ARelief” sent to 71777. We texted “ARelief” to 71777 the afternoon of March 25 2020, and it appeared donations were still being accepted. (It was unclear how Amazon’s text-to-donate function was set up, but it nevertheless existed and functioned on March 25 2020. )Finally, we asked EAF if it “requires the program to be open to public contributions” in order to operate; a representative indicated that was false, and that the Amazon Relief Fund was neither required to accept public donations, nor was the program innately structured to include such a requirement.",
            "output": [
                "Amazon is soliciting public donations to fund sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f6aa4c1c52d441b7bfc4a9fe476d19ed",
            "input": "Dowell decided last week that strict isolation was the only way to protect herself, her husband and her mother from COVID-19, the virus that has killed more than 10,000 people across the globe and is proving especially deadly for the elderly. Dowell, a retired labor union worker, has rheumatoid arthritis and a compromised immune system. Her husband Donald, 74, suffers from emphysema. Her mother, Margaret Hildebrandt, 93, also has a lung disease and needs oxygen. Dowell took over her mother’s care from a visiting nurse because she worried an outsider could contaminate the home. “If my mom gets this, she’d be gone in a day,” said Dowell, who wears a baby-monitor and answers her mother’s calls for help through the night. “My mom beat cancer nine times. I don’t want her to die from this.”  The elderly are especially vulnerable in the global pandemic and health officials and governments are increasingly calling for extreme measures to safeguard them. Across the globe, many cities have all but shut down as officials issue dire warnings for younger people - who can carry the virus without knowing it - to avoid their parents and grandparents. But this growing isolation of the elderly has spawned its own crisis, as families try to balance the need to care for loved ones with directives to stay away, shifting the burden to overstretched governments and medical facilities. Studies suggest the severity of coronavirus rises with age. In Italy, which now has the world’s highest death count, the average age of those dying is 80, according to a study by the Italian national institute of health. In China, where the pandemic started, people 70 and older accounted for just 12 percent of all infections but more than half of all deaths, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States, people 65 and older  have thus far accounted for 31 percent of cases, 53 percent of intensive care hospitalizations and 80 percent of deaths, according to U.S. government data. Beyond the grim statistics, the pandemic has spawned countless small dramas of isolation and anxiety across the globe. In a village in Lebanon, a grandmother walled herself off in her home, unable to properly grieve her dead husband. In Spain, nursery home workers produced a Facebook video so residents could reassure their loved ones. And in Colombia - where the government on Tuesday ordered citizens 70 and over to stay inside until May 31 - seniors stocked up on supplies for two months of isolation. “They need to take these measures because many people are taking the situation lightly,” said shopper Carlos Manrique, 74, as he loaded up on potatoes, eggs and rice at a supermarket in Bogota. “I’m taking care of myself, as God orders.”  Just as often, older people greeted the epidemic with defiance. “I am not worried about the coronavirus at all,” said Yutaka Kobayashi, 85, who refuses to wear a mask while working in his Tokyo shoe store. “People of my generation were made to wash their hands by their mothers and grandmothers.”  In Italy, where more than 3,400 people have died since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21, local officials fret about the psychological state of elderly people confined to their homes for weeks in a government lockdown. The town of San Casciano in Val di Pesa launched an initiative called “Ciao Nonna, come stai?” or “Hello Gran, how are you?” urging all young people to call elderly relatives – or even older people they don’t know. One nursing home, Nuestra Casa La Grande in Navares de Enmedio, Spain, recorded a video of 24 elderly residents and posted it on Facebook, encouraging each other to blow kisses to the camera for their loved ones. Jonathan Barrios, a 24-year-old student living with his parents in La Parla, Madrid, said he doesn’t dare see his grandparents, who live on the same street. His 80-year-old grandfather has lung cancer. His grandmother, 70, has symptoms of the virus - a fever, cough and difficulty breathing - but can’t get tested because of a shortage of kits. “I feel strange and frustrated,” Barrios said. “All I can do for my grandparents is to call them.”  The forced isolation perhaps cuts deepest for those in mourning. Joey Ayoub, a Lebanese researcher, said his grandfather died this week of problems unrelated to the coronavirus. He worries for his grandmother, who suddenly lives alone. Only six or seven people attended her husband’s funeral, which Ayoub said would otherwise have attracted “dozens and dozens.” They all sat at a distance from one another during a rushed service. “She can’t mourn properly,” he said. “She cannot do it with friends.”  Some families have been hit hard when senior care centers closed, forcing them to take off work to watch over relatives. In the central Japan city of Nagoya, the mayor asked 126 such facilities to shut down for two weeks after a cluster of coronavirus cases was found at one of them. Japan has already weathered serious outbreaks of the virus and has huge numbers of people at risk - more than 28 percent of the nation’s population is 65 or over. But now, some people are venturing out again. “If I get it, I get it,” said Kazuko Mori, 74, a part-time cleaner in suburban Ichikawa, which had clusters of cases originating at a sports gym and an elderly daycare service. “If you get too nervous about it all, that isn’t good, either.”  Many elderly people said they can’t follow government directives to stay home. In Kibera, a settlement of densely packed neighborhoods where few homes have running water in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, volunteers knocked on doors to tell people – especially the elderly – about the coronavirus. In one courtyard filled with children, Fatima Juma listened intently as Zulela Abdul explained the risks to her and handed over a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Juma, who says she’s about 82, had heard of the disease on television but didn’t know its symptoms. She was fine with washing her hands but rejected the idea of social distancing. She takes care of her grandchildren, the youngest one two years old, while their parents worked. She also needed to see her friends, she said. “This government directive is not good for me. I need to go to the market,” she said firmly, bangles flashing in the sunlight. “If there is a death outside, I need to go and console that person.”  In Communist-run Cuba, which has Latin America’s oldest population, many people are forced to work long after retirement age to supplement meager pensions. Even in normal times, they endure long lines at stores and pharmacies. “I am very worried because I have asthma, and if I get it, I will die,” said Maria Torres Hernandez, 75, waiting alongside dozens of others outside a pharmacy in central Havana that had just received its ration of supplies. “I have to look after myself.”  Angel Pupo Osorio, 80, works as a parking attendant in Havana to supplement his $12-a-month pension, and can’t afford to quit. So far, the disease hasn’t hit his neighborhood. “I’m going to continue working as long as I can, out of necessity,” said Pupo, wearing his uniform, a scarlet jacket and cap. Lucy Mayimela, a 68-year-old grandmother, first heard about the coronavirus on Monday when she made a trip to buy spinach for her fruit and vegetable stand in Kliptown, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The farmer selling it to her wore a mask and insisted everyone repeatedly wash their hands before touching anything. Mayimela laughed bitterly at a suggestion she heard on the radio that she should isolate herself at home. “Isolate myself how?” she scoffed. She lives in a small shack with six relatives, in a community with a single wash basin and toilet for dozens of people. The produce stand she has run for 36 years provides her family’s only income. “I’ll end up dying of hunger” if people stay indoors, she said. “If God wants me to die, then it’s my time.”",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus spreads fear, isolation, death to elderly worldwide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad72532d39a44a4dbacf587aa37918a6",
            "input": "“While Bayer is constructively engaged in the mediation process, there is no comprehensive agreement at this time. There also is no certainty or timetable for a comprehensive resolution,” the company said in a statement in reference to the settlement talks. The fourth jury trial in the Roundup litigation was scheduled to begin in St. Louis on Friday morning, but never got underway as lawyers for the company and the cancer patients sat down to discuss a hold of the trial. The lawsuit would have marked the first multi-plaintiff trial over whether glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is carcinogenic, and the first trial outside of California. St. Louis is the hometown of Roundup-maker Monsanto, a unit Bayer acquired in a $63 billion deal in 2018. Three consecutive juries previously found the company liable for causing cancer with damages of tens of millions of dollars awarded to each plaintiff. Bayer is appealing those verdicts. Court-appointed mediator Ken Feinberg, who leads the settlement discussions, has put the number of Roundup cancer claimants at more than 75,000 while Bayer said the claims it has been served with in court were below 50,000. Bayer on Friday said it will continue the mediation process under Feinberg in good faith.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer Roundup cancer trial postponed to continue settlement talks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-993a83b25a474b7d9d837c0b67c1a7a6",
            "input": "The coronavirus death toll in the Philippines rose to 78 on Monday - the second highest in Southeast Asia outside Indonesia - with 1,546 reported infections. “With respect to the high proportion of deaths in the Philippines, that’s essentially because of the way Philippines has chosen to test,” WHO technical advisor Matthew Griffith told a news conference, referring to the focus on testing only the most severe cases until now. “We expect the testing to increase substantially in the coming days.”",
            "output": [
                "Philippines coronavirus testing to be stepped up soon: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0a6fcb3d3e9d4ef5a7d6afb649829ce1",
            "input": "\"As physicians grapple with the best ways to treat patients infected with the coronavirus, one treatment that has gained increasing attention is convalescent plasma therapy. This therapy involves transfusing blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients into a sick patient. The plasma contains a specific antibody that helps the immune system fight the virus. The idea is to help give seriously ill patients an immune-system boost so they can better fight off the virus. COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy is considered as an investigational product by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Jamie N. Nadler, the medical director of quality and patient safety for Buffalo General Medical Center and Gates Vascular Institute in upstate New York, recently told the Buffalo News that there’s some evidence that it could be an effective way to treat COVID-19. \"\"There have been small trials and small attempts around the world that seem to have had some degree of success,\"\" Nadler said. \"\"So it's worth trying as long as it's done correctly.\"\" Nadler is right: We found two studies of convalescent plasma therapy that have shown  at least initial promise with COVID-19 patients, although experts caution that more investigation is needed. (Nadler did not respond to an inquiry for this article.) Convalescent plasma therapy has a long history. It was developed by Paul Ehrlich and Emil von Behring for treatment of diphtheria, a finding that was recognized in 1901 with the first Nobel Prize for medicine, epidemiologist Dr. Ian Lipkin, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told CNBC. More recently, it was used against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, an infection with similarities to COVID-19 that emerged in Asia in the early 2000s. In one study in Hong Kong during a SARS outbreak, a hospital treated 80 patients with convalescent plasma. Among the treated patients, the study showed a higher discharge rate prior to day 14 of the illness: 58.3% became well enough to be discharged, compared with 15.6% of those who did not receive the treatment. However, patients suffering from Ebola — a different kind of virus in the filovirus family — did not experience positive results from convalescent plasma treatment. A Chinese study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, described a study treating five critically ill COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma. All five patients, ranging from 36 to 65 years old, began the study while on ventilators. Following the transfusion, the authors reported, four of the five patients’ body temperatures normalized within three days. Other key metrics, including viral loads, improved within 12 days. The hospital discharged three of the five patients. The remaining two were in stable condition 37 days after the transfusion. The authors concluded that this represented an \"\"improvement,\"\" but cautioned that the limited sample size and study design precluded \"\"a definitive statement about the potential effectiveness of this treatment.\"\" Another Chinese study found similar results. It has not yet been peer reviewed but has been published online. In the study, 10 patients with severe cases received a dose of convalescent plasma. Within three days, the viral load became undetectable in seven patients, with no adverse effects. In addition, fever, cough, shortness of breath and chest pain disappeared or significantly improved in all 10 patients within one to three days of the transfusion. The authors concluded that the therapy was \"\"well tolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes\"\" in severe COVID-19 cases. However, they added, questions on the optimal dose and timing need further investigation. \"\"Just as COVID-19 has taken us back to classic methods for outbreak containment like isolation, through a novel use we are rediscovering the lifesaving potential of a classic strategy like plasma therapy,\"\" Lipkin said. Experts say that convalescent plasma therapy is promising, but much more work is needed. \"\"There have not been any breakthroughs recently,\"\" said Jessica Donington, a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago and chief of the thoracic surgery section. But, she added, \"\"it all has been going on very quickly,\"\" with larger clinical trials in the works. Nadler said that \"\"there have been small trials and small attempts around the world\"\" to test convalescent plasma therapy for coronavirus patients, and they \"\"seem to have had some degree of success.\"\" We found two Chinese studies that have found initial success, though more research is needed to confirm these results more broadly.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Small trials” to test convalescent plasma therapy for coronavirus patients “seem to have had some degree of success.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02f18948b3024b03bb1f38c8de11f101",
            "input": "Stopping transmission of the contagious viral disease that has infected millions is possible within a year, experts say. And full, official, global eradication could be declared by the end of this decade. First, however, the vaccine that has successfully fought polio for more than 30 years needs to be switched for one that  targets the last few areas of risk. It won’t be easy, or cheap, but the World Health Organization’s director of polio eradication, Michel Zaffran, says failure now - when there have only been 12 cases worldwide this year, in Pakistan and Afghanistan - means the virus could spread across borders again. Success would make polio only the second human disease to be eradicated since smallpox was banished in 1980. “Taking our foot off the pedal now could mean polio will within a few years spread straight back into large parts of the world and create 100,000 or 200,000 cases,” Zaffran told Reuters. “The job has not been done and will not be done until we have fully eradicated the virus.”  For the endgame in polio to succeed, a coordinated and complex vaccine switch is crucial. Until now, many countries have been using a shot that protects against the three types of wild polio virus - type 1, type 2 and type 3 - but type 2 polio transmission has been stopped since 1999, meaning immunizing against it now makes no sense. In rare cases it also poses a risk that the weakened type 2 virus in the vaccine can seep into circulation and cause “vaccine-derived” polio infections. So from April 17 to May 1, some 150 countries will engage in a synchronized switch to a bivalent, or two-strain, vaccine that contains no type 2 virus but targets types 1 and 3. It’s a massive undertaking and a major step towards eradication, says Zaffran. “We’re entering into uncharted territory. This has never been done before. But there’s no going back now.”    That’s partly because polio vaccine manufacturers - among them France’s Sanofi Pasteur - have moved production to the bivalent shot and would find it tricky, costly, and time-consuming to reverse that move. Anil Dutta, a vaccine expert at British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, which also makes polio shots, is looking beyond eradication to 2019 or 2020, when all “live” oral polio vaccines need to be discontinued. Then the world will switch again, to “inactivated” polio vaccine, or IPV, to further reduce any risk of causing disease through immunization. Scaling up IPV production to meet the needs of the entire world takes years, he warns, and work must start now to avoid potential supply concerns. But prediction has never been easy in the fight to wipe out polio, and health authorities have missed targets along the way. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, launched in 1988, originally aimed to end all transmission of the disease by 2000. And while there has been a 99 percent reduction in cases worldwide since the GPEI launch, fighting the last 1 percent of polio has been far tougher than expected. In 2013, the GPEI said the global fight against polio would require $5.5 billion in funding, and more will be needed beyond that to keep a lid on the disease. The virus, which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, spreads rapidly among children, especially in unsanitary conditions in war-torn regions, refugee camps and areas where healthcare is limited. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two countries where polio currently remains endemic, conflict and propaganda have hampered progress, and in the past posed risks to others. The campaign to eliminate polio in Pakistan is fraught with risk, with Islamist militants attacking health teams they accuse of being Western spies. A polio worker was shot and wounded in February and in January a suicide bomber killed 15 people outside a polio eradication center in the city of Quetta. In 2011, a polio virus from Pakistan re-infected China, which had been polio free for more than a decade. In 2013, the disease re-emerged in Syria after a 14-year absence, prompting the need for a vast and expensive regional emergency vaccination campaign. And last year, cases of type 2 vaccine-derived polio posed new threats in Ukraine and Mali. David Salisbury, an immunization specialist and associate fellow at Britain’s Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, says the last 1 percent is a “very long tail” on a stubborn epidemic. “The original date for interruption of transmission was 2000. The next target was 2014 and it’s currently 2016,” Salisbury told Reuters, adding that even with case numbers as low as they are now, “2016 may be optimistic”. Liam Donaldson, head of the Independent Monitoring Board of the GPEI, agrees that celebrating the expected extinction of polio virus “would not just be premature, it would be folly”. “Polio is still out there,” he told a meeting in London. “(It) has fought back with a vengeance at every stage of the game. And it’s still fighting.”",
            "output": [
                "Latest battle to wipe out polio begins with vast vaccine switch."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ecbeaad3fa7e47b8bfb945d7dcabc070",
            "input": "Jen Van Allen, a certified running coach and co-author of “The Runner’s World Big Book of Running for Beginners” said the first time outdoors everyone else seems like a real runner. And new runners often fear getting hurt, or that they will find running unpleasant or boring. “Certainly when someone pushes body and mind farther there is going to be some discomfort,” said Van Allen, who has completed 48 marathons. “But a lot of people make the mistake of running as fast as they can and they get hurt.”  She suggests that even if the goal is to run, newbies should  walk and use the first four to six weeks to establish the habit. “If you’re just starting out, focus on rhythm, on finding the most convenient times and the safest routes, and deciding if you’d rather work out alone or with others,” Van Allen said. She added that the correct form for most people means eyes on the horizon, arms moving alongside, not crossing, the torso, shoulders and brows relaxed. “Starting at the top of your head, periodically check in with your body to release areas of tension,” she advised. David Siik, a Los Angeles-based running coach for Equinox, the national chain of upscale fitness centers, said when running for fitness the first goal is consistency. “It’s actually one of the hardest goals, and more immediately important than mileage and calories,” he said. “People fall out of the habit, often afraid that it’s too difficult or too hard on their body.”  If running is physically very demanding, Siik said, the benefits can be extraordinary. “A great indicator of how fit running can actually make you is that you can lose it so quickly,” he said. “People who take long periods of time off from running see their aerobic strength go away very quickly.”  Running takes time, so he suggests taking it slow, keeping a log, and seeing how it goes. “You’ll learn something new about yourself every time you run,” he added. Siik said much improper form is a lack of strength that sometimes, but not always, auto-corrects with practice. “Run with the runner’s tilt, making sure your weight is barely over your hips, never back on your hips, except during a decline,” he said. “That slight tilt forward engages your back muscles.”  Jacque Ratliff , an ‎exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise, said cardiovascular activity (such as running) increases the strength and efficiency of the heart muscle, which is important in warding off heart disease, lowering blood pressure and improving HDL (good) cholesterol. But she said any fitness regime should include strength, flexibility and mind-body components as well. “If somebody is just running all the time, that’s when injuries can occur,” Ratliff cautioned. Whether the goal is marathon glory or losing love handles, Van Allen urges new runners to start at their current level of fitness, not where they were in high school. “Get good shoes, start slow, find your pace,” she said. “It’s great to have dreams but in order to get there you have to start where you are.”",
            "output": [
                "As novice runners hit the open road, experts say take it slow."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-749bb27942e14966b8763b601e41e532",
            "input": "Some 1.8 million people in Mozambique need urgent help after Cyclone Idai, the United Nations said in an emergency appeal for $282 million for the next three months. The death toll in Mozambique from the cyclone has risen to 468, according to Mozambican authorities cited by the Portuguese news agency Lusa. There are also 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 dead in Malawi. Cyclone Idai was “one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in New York. He raised the specter of hunger, saying the storm inundated Mozambique’s breadbasket on the eve of harvest. The death toll remained at least 761 in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and authorities have warned it is “very preliminary.” More bodies will be found as floodwaters drain away. Emergency responders raced to contain deadly diseases such as cholera, which authorities have said will break out as more than a quarter-million displaced people shelter in camps with little or no clear water and sanitation. Many wells were contaminated by the floods. People are living in tent camps, schools, churches, roads and other impromptu places on higher ground. Many have little but their clothes, squatting over cooking fires and picking their way around stretches of increasingly dirty water or simply walking through it, resigned. The World Health Organization said it is expecting a “spike” in malaria cases in Mozambique. The disease-carrying mosquitoes breed in standing water. WHO also said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were expected to arrive later this week. Cholera is caused by eating contaminated food or drinking water and can kill within hours. Cases of diarrhea have been reported. “We must not let these people suffer a second disaster through a serious disease outbreak or inability to access essential health services. They have suffered enough,” Dr. Djamila Cabral, the WHO Representative in Mozambique, told reporters in Geneva. She said people in camps were living in “horrific conditions” and that about 55 health centers had been severely damaged. Residents of the camps expressed growing concern. “Surely when people are in a crowded place they are all vulnerable, they face difficulties such as urination and defecation,” Jose Pedro told The Associated Press in Beira. “So the spreading of diseases such as cholera is easy.” There were similar concerns in southern Malawi. In the Bangula camp in Nsanje district, about 5,000 people have just a few toilets. The toilets “are very shallow and some are already full because the area is still waterlogged,” said Joseph Moyo with the Oxfam aid group. Humanitarian assistance continued to arrive, including much-needed air support. The World Food Program received $280,000 from the European Union to support the deployment of a U.N. Humanitarian Air Service helicopter that will deliver assistance to the two worst-hit districts in Zimbabwe, Chimanimani and Chipinge. The United States said it had donated nearly $3.4 million in emergency food assistance to the World Food Program, whose director was touring Beira on Tuesday. A field hospital was being set up in Beira and another is arriving later this week, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. A sanitation system to serve some 22,000 people has arrived and a water purification unit to serve some 25,000 people is expected to arrive on Wednesday, the organization said. “Honestly I am distressed there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of providing the assistance proportional” to the number of people, former Mozambican first lady Graca Machel said in Beira. Bit by bit, the scale of the destruction became clearer. The cyclone reportedly destroyed all houses in the village of Metuchira, home to nearly 38,000 people, the U.N. humanitarian agency said. Amid the relief efforts, grieving people in Mozambique struggled to bury the dead. “Efforts are underway to improve management of dead bodies, as mortuary facilities were either destroyed and/or lack enough facilities and capacity,” the U.N. humanitarian agency said. ___ Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Cara Anna in Johannesburg contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "‘Second disaster’ warned in Mozambique as cholera a concern."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5068045cff4e48509af7b99772a2b2e9",
            "input": "It’s an understandable query. Producing the Oscars is guaranteed to be a stressful job, but the road to the 91st Academy Awards, which will take place on Sunday, has been unusually bumpy, and public. “We’re good! We’re good!” Gigliotti said while laughing Thursday afternoon. “Did we look like cadavers yesterday?” Both have been working out of the Dolby Theatre, where hundreds of people are making sure everything is ready by Sunday night when the show airs live in more than 225 countries and territories. But beyond the physical preparation, in the months leading up to the renowned show they and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have been under immense scrutiny from the public and even peers for basically everything : The choice of a host, the choice to go host-less, the plan for which songs would be included in the broadcast and which awards categories would be aired live. Even the announcement that Queen and Adam Lambert would open the show was met with snark and sarcasm from some: They were worried about the excess time it would take for the cinematography winner to get to the stage and now there’s going to be a potentially six-plus-minute Queen performance of a song that isn’t even nominated? Oh, and they’re also on the hook to save the show from declining ratings (last year’s hit a record low of 26.5 million people, down 20 percent from the previous year) and keep the ABC broadcast to a trim three hours. No pressure, right? But Gigliotti and Weiss, who is also directing the show, aren’t sweating. “I think that the show is in very good shape,” Gigliotti said. “We feel good about the way it is flowing, looking (and) our presenters.” The film academy has announced a massive roster of celebrity talent that will be joining the show: Barbra Streisand, Michael B. Jordan, Tina Fey, Charlize Theron and Michael Keaton are just a few of the confirmed presenters. They’re also bringing out well-known figures from outside the film world, like Serena Williams, Congressman John Lewis and chef Jose Andres to help present some of the best picture nominees. One thing that’s given them confidence is how successful many of the eight best picture nominees have been this year. Conventional wisdom is that the more popular the nominated films are, the more viewers will tune in (one of the highest-rated years was when “Titanic” won). ″(The nominations) kind of go to the heart of what we were trying to do with this show, which was put a spotlight on films with worldwide success that have had a cultural impact,” Gigliotti said, noting “Black Panther,” ″Bohemian Rhapsody,” ″BlacKkKlansman” and “Green Book.” Getting Queen to perform on the show was also something they said they discussed very early on. “We thought it was an exciting way to open the show with a lot of energy,” Gigliotti said. Also, “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a massive hit worldwide, earning over $100 million in Japan alone. It just made sense for a show hoping to attract a global audience. They aren’t looking to set a host-free Oscars precedent, and say that big picture, not much has changed for their overall vision for the show. “As with any other show, moments change along the way,” Weiss said. “But the big overlying arc of where we’re going is pure to when we first met months ago.” Winners are still going to have a 90-second clock running from the time their name is called to the time the orchestra is signaled to start playing them off, but Gigliotti says that they’ll make judgment calls if something extraordinary is happening on stage that lasts a bit longer. Weiss said there’s a misnomer that they want to cut people off. “Nobody wants to do it,” he said. “Our job, make no mistake about it, is to honor them, not antagonize them. We hope that everybody works toward that same end.” And also to try to let an east coast audience go to bed by 11 p.m. knowing what the best picture winner is. They’ve been aware of the chatter on social media, but say they’re not ruffled by it. “Everybody’s got an opinion,” Gigliotti said. “It’s interesting. You sort of listen to people. But my doorman, I tell you, he’s got an opinion. And he thinks it’s a good thing that we’re going without a host.” As for what a successful show will look like, Weiss confidently said, “Watch Sunday night.” After the show is finished, Gigliotti has offered to help plan Weiss’ honeymoon (the two live three blocks away from one another in New York). Weiss famously proposed to his girlfriend at the Emmys last year while accepting an award — which, incidentally, clocked in at nearly three minutes and was also easily the most memorable moment of the show — but hasn’t had time to focus on much but the Oscars. “You’re not the only woman in my life who thinks that,” Weiss joked. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr ___ For full coverage of the Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/AcademyAwards",
            "output": [
                "Oscars producers say the show is in ‘good shape’ for Sunday."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-173d7bf2946044808efdf1f150dc029b",
            "input": "\"As his campaign revs up, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White is pointing voters to his record as mayor of Houston from 2004 through 2009. On his campaign Web site and in a thank-you letter published Jan. 2 in the Houston Chronicle, he brags about the city’s crime rates. Though White in his public statements has stopped short of claiming he reduced crime in the nation's fourth-largest city, his Web site biography notes that during his tenure as mayor, he \"\"saw Houston’s crime rates drop to the lowest levels in more than 25 years.\"\" White's critics have accused him of being soft on crime, and the issue is likely to emerge in the governor's race. We decided to investigate whether White's statement about the decrease in Houston crime was . Statistics provided by his campaign confirm that the crime rate overall hit a 25-year low during his administration. That measure includes three nonviolent property crimes (such as burglary) as well as four major violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault). The White campaign's numbers, which were generated by the Houston Police Department for the years 1980 through 2008, show that the city’s 2008 total crime rate -- 6,080 offenses per 100,000 residents -- was the lowest of any of those years. In fact, 2006, 2007 and 2008 had the three lowest total crime rates in the 29 years of data offered by the campaign. To double-check the numbers, we compared White’s statistics with those of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which collects data from local law enforcement agencies for the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The DPS numbers for Houston did not perfectly match the police department’s because the agencies use different population estimates in their calculations. However, the discrepancies were small and did not undermine White’s assertion: In the DPS data starting with 1980, 2008 was also the year with the lowest total crime rate: 6,053.7 offenses per 100,000 residents. Looking only at violent crime in Houston, the picture changes somewhat. There was at least one year -- 1998 being the most recent -- when the violent crime rate was lower than any year during White's tenure. And both the White campaign and Clete Snell, chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Houston Downtown, note that Houston experienced an uptick in violent crime in 2005, White’s second year in office, that they attribute to the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. These days, few public officials can legitimately take credit for reducing crime locally. That's because crime rates have been trending down all across the country for years, in some cases to record lows. According to FBI data, the nation's total crime rate in 2008 was down 29 percent from 1983, 25 years earlier. Experts don't agree on the reasons for the persistent trend, but have suggested such factors as rising incarceration rates, the aging of the population and improved police practices. It is important to note that crime trends do not follow straight lines — they can fluctuate year-to-year. Still, according to the DPS data, total crime in Houston has dropped 31 percent since 1983. And the decline was under way before White took office. Nevertheless, when the Houston FBI office gave White the FBI Director’s 2007 Community Leadership Award, his efforts to combat crime were among the reasons cited. \"\"Mayor White is being recognized for his outstanding contributions toward improving the quality of life in the City of Houston through his commitment to law enforcement and the prevention of crime,\"\" a statement from the FBI said. Summing up: Although experts debate the reasons for the downward trend in crime nationwide, White is right that the total crime rate in Houston hit a 25-year low during his time as mayor. We give him a .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"During his tenure as mayor, he \"\"saw Houston’s crime rates drop to the lowest levels in more than 25 years.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0d1e9b5135c4d2d8592dae0c9b29567",
            "input": "Early in the session, Democratic state Rep. Tonya Pfaff, a high school math teacher from Terre Haute, introduced an amendment to a school safety bill that would have allowed school corporations to use safety or security subsidies to provide students with school-based mental health services. A bipartisan group of lawmakers said substantial language involving mental health services was later removed because of criticisms from conservative organizations and parent groups, the Tribune-Star reported. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t put any real money into dealing with mental health issues this session,” Pfaff said. “We continue to talk about school safety, but we can’t talk about it without talking about mental health and social-emotional wellness.” Jennifer McCormick, the Republican state superintendent of public instruction, said financial backing for mental health services didn’t receive the attention it warranted. “We were disappointed to see how the legislation ended up,” McCormick said. “However, I have faith in our local schools that they are going to do what is right for kids” and provide access to needed services. The apprehension of conservative groups related to the mental health legislation “had to do with parental consent,” said state Rep. Bruce Borders, a Republican from Jasonville. He said parents deserve to know what is being asked of their kids. “That’s where most of the battles came in, over parental consent on some of these evaluations,” Borders said. Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, said most of the school safety legislation prioritizes revamping building security and addressing threats, instead of prevention. “They really didn’t do an adequate job on the prevention side, addressing the social-emotional learning and mental health needs of students,” Spradlin said. “We’ve got more work to do in that area. ISBA will continue to be an advocate and bring forth some new ideas in future sessions to address those critical needs.” ___ Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com",
            "output": [
                "Indiana educators disappointed about mental health funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9308bb143f1f43ad8f67255f3e5d1faf",
            "input": "The move isn’t permanent — although Lowry would like to practice medicine in a smaller community one day. The rural Cumberland native spent three weeks in October at a St. Croix County hospital as a resident. She’s part of the nation’s only rural OB-GYN residency, a UW Health program that recently added Western Wisconsin Health in Baldwin to its roster of rural hospital training sites. The program brings young OB-GYNs — doctors who provide women’s reproductive health and care for pregnant women before and after birth — to rural Wisconsin communities for short-term rotations. The long-term goal? Getting young OB-GYNs to come back permanently, the Leader-Telegram reported. “Since 1996, there were about 20% of Wisconsin counties without obstetric care units in their hospitals,” said Dr. Ryan Spencer, director of the UW Health OB-GYN residency programs. “That’s increased to 40% of counties without an OB care unit, most recently in 2016.” One of the biggest issues rural women face during pregnancy is “just sheer distance,” said Dr. David Hirsch, OB-GYN and chief of staff at Marshfield Medical Center-Eau Claire. “Even in a relatively large rural community like Ladysmith (in Rusk County), people might live an hour from there,” Hirsch said. Another problem for mothers: Getting to a hospital that regularly delivers babies. Just over half of rural Wisconsin hospitals — 56% — provide obstetric delivery, but a few hospitals have been discontinuing those services over the last decade, according to a July report from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health. Eleven rural Wisconsin hospitals closed their OB units in the last 10 years, according to the report. In larger cities, mothers have several options for obstetric delivery. Mayo Clinic Health System, Marshfield Clinic Health System and HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital deliver babies in Eau Claire; obstetric delivery is also available in Chippewa Falls, Menomonie, Barron and Rice Lake. Mayo Clinic Health System-Northland in Barron is expanding its birth center, a nearly $1 million project adding four new rooms for labor, delivery and postpartum and building upgrades that are expected to be complete in early 2020. But for women who live far from those cities, delivery is a tricky service, because babies come on their own time, Lowry said. “In some cases . you may still only need to drive 15 to 30 minutes down the road to get to a place,” Lowry said. ”(That’s) not nearly as concerning as people who potentially are driving more than an hour to get to an OB-GYN . I think that’s one of the biggest things that’s a problem at this point.” The good news? Ninety-nine percent of Wisconsin women of childbearing age live within 30 minutes of a hospital with obstetric delivery, according to the report. In smaller communities, hospitals train emergency departments to deliver babies in a pinch. ″(Emergency room delivery) is not optimal, but faced with the resource challenge we’re talking about, it helps provide a safety net,” Hirsch said. Looking ahead Of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, 27 have no OB-GYN, according to UW Health. But some health officials say a lack of OB-GYNs is only part of a larger problem — that running obstetric units in small communities simply isn’t feasible. Spencer began seeing the problem in the early 2000s. But rather than simply cutting services, some rural hospitals are closing altogether. “We started seeing an increase in rural hospital closures across the country,” Spencer said. “We do see a significant worsening of the problem over time, especially related to women’s health and obstetric care.” Some hospitals can’t afford to keep an obstetrics unit, Hirsch said. Delivery is safest at a facility with an intensive care unit, operating room, anesthesiologist, emergency department and experienced nurses, he said. “It’s difficult, the resources you need to have available to run labor and delivery,” Hirsch said. Keeping multiple OB-GYNs on hand is an expensive business. To support a whole community around the clock with an on-call schedule, at least three providers are needed, said Alison Page, CEO of Western Wisconsin Health in Baldwin. For a small hospital an hour away from a large city, three OB-GYNs means “well over $1 million in expenses,” Page said. “It’s not going to support that.” Western Wisconsin Health has two OB-GYNs. The hospital delivers about 250 babies each year, up from about 40 babies per year four years ago, Page said. Midwives and family practice doctors help fill in the gaps. But even in a fully-staffed obstetrics unit, providers can’t keep their competency if there aren’t many babies born in a rural community. “Providers have to have a certain number of births, cesarean sections, things like that so they can demonstrate they’re competent,” Page said. And fewer young women are moving to smaller communities, said Jeff Euclide, chief administrative officer of Marshfield Medical Center-Ladysmith. “I don’t think it’s a secret that rural areas aren’t as attractive to the childbearing population as the city,” Euclid said. Finding a fix Lowry grew up in a “tight-knit community where everybody knows everybody” in rural Cumberland, where doctors knew and cared for their neighbors. “That was the experience I had growing up, and (was what) I pictured I’d do with my future career in medicine,” Lowry said. Plenty of medical students are interested in the OB-GYN field, Spencer said — but new OB-GYNs aren’t getting experience working in rural communities. That’s where Wisconsin’s rural residency program comes in. In the program, newly-graduated OB-GYNs practice at rural sites throughout Wisconsin in rotations. Health organizations in Portage, Waupun, Monroe and most recently Baldwin, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Minnesota border, are the training sites. “We’re beyond pleased, thrilled to be selected as a partner,” Page said. “They had heard we have two OB-GYNs here.” The program started in 2016, and will yield its first graduate in 2021. Lowry plans to graduate in 2022. One of Western Wisconsin Health’s OB-GYNs will likely retire in five years, Page said. For more rural hospitals, she said, this is an obvious answer. “How do I attract an OB-GYN who could be working at United Hospital or in Eau Claire? You start with people that came from rural places, love rural places, and they want to practice here,” Page said. ___ Information from: Leader-Telegram, http://www.leadertelegram.com/",
            "output": [
                "Looking for answers to rural Wisconsin OB-GYN shortage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-58a06a0a063d4296afdf39736254233b",
            "input": "Another seven cases that may also be linked to vaping are being investigated but have not yet been confirmed, health officials said. “We strongly urge people to avoid vaping products and e-cigarettes. Anyone — especially young people who have recently vaped — experiencing unexplained breathing problems should see a doctor,” said Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm. The health department said all the patients they interviewed reported vaping in the weeks and months prior to being hospitalized after experiencing shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, coughing, and weight loss. Officials said the severity of the cases varied and some patients needed assistance breathing. Some of the patients improved with treatment but officials say they’re investigating whether the lung disease will cause long-term damage. The counties with confirmed cases include Racine, Door, Walworth, Dodge, Waukesha, and Winnebago. Investigators are trying to determine what type of vaping products were used in all the cases. The health department said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health providers, and other states to make them aware of the hospitalizations in case they see patients experiencing similar symptoms. Using e-cigarettes, often called vaping, has now overtaken smoking traditional cigarettes in popularity among students, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, one in five U.S. high school students reported vaping the previous month, according to a CDC survey .",
            "output": [
                "11 hospitalizations linked to vaping in Wisconsin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c37ee1f8013463f993503e99cff5237",
            "input": "Co-owner Waylynn Lucas tops donuts with bacon at Fonuts bakery, which offers unfried, gluten-free and vegan donuts, in Los Angeles, California September 19, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Restaurants are printing notes like this in droves, and hosts are now googling phrases like “lacto-ovo” before dinner parties. Dietary restrictions seem to grow more numerous every year, whether it’s a rise of gluten intolerance or a new low-carb low-fat no-sugar raw food diet. Good manners says to eat what you’re served, and it also says to respect the beliefs of others, and especially when you’re a host, to graciously accommodate them. Contradictory? Not if a little tact and understanding are applied. For straight-up dislikes when among friends, it’s fine to refuse a dish you don’t care for with a polite “No, thank you.” At a dinner party where the host has gone to a great deal of trouble, it’s good manners to take at least a little of every dish being offered. Teach the concept of the “no thank you helping” to children, even for family meals-it makes it easier for them when the spotlight is on them as a guest. Allergies are another matter, and can’t be avoided; your health and safety is a priority. A conscientious host will ask first-time guests if they have any particular allergies or dietary restriction. If the host doesn’t ask, it’s especially important for the guest to inform him of allergies, medical conditions, or religious prohibitions. If the gathering is small, the dinner is in your honor, or you’re going to be an overnight houseguest, however, or if you’re severely allergic to certain foods (or pets), it’s a good idea to let your host know up front when you first respond to the invitation and give him or her a chance to adjust the menu if necessary. “I’d love to come, but I should tell you that I’m completely allergic to shellfish”; “I’d love to come to the barbeque, but I should tell you that I’m a vegetarian. Could I bring a tabouleh salad if that’s okay with you?”   Always give the host the option to accommodate you or not. In some cases it may not be possible, so don’t take offense if it doesn’t work out. For a small dinner party, offer to bring a dish to share. Say: “Thanks so much for the invitation. I should let you know that I’m a vegetarian. I’d love to bring a quiche if that’s okay with you.” This way, your host won’t waste time preparing the wrong food for you or have to trouble himself figuring out what type of dish would best suit your preferences. If you’re allergic to a particular food or on a restricted diet and your host urges you to help yourself to food you know you shouldn’t or can’t eat, gently decline, “Shellfish is off-limits for me, but I’m enjoying everything else.”   It’s not necessary to inform the host of a cocktail party, large dinner party, buffet, or reception that you’re a vegetarian, mildly allergic to milk, or diabetic, because there’s bound to be a variety of foods to choose from. At the party, it’s fine to ask about the ingredients in a particular dish. When your dietary restrictions are based on religious tenets, it may not be practical to accept some invitations. If the invitation is for a small gathering, you can explain to your hostess that you’d love to accept, but that you’ll have to bring a dish that you’ve prepared according to your dietary rules-provided that’s acceptable to her. As a large part of entertaining is about being social, many hosts will encourage you to attend and bring your special dish. If you don’t drink alcohol, ask for water or a non-alcoholic beverage (which are fine to toast with should there be toasts). You don’t have to give a reason for abstaining unless you wish to. Never feel you have to drink alcohol, even if pressed. The rudeness in that case is theirs, not yours. The goal as a host is not to call special attention to guests who don’t drink alcohol. Also, be attentive to the seating arrangements. A friend in recovery shouldn’t spend the evening next to a wine aficionado extolling the virtues of every wine served.",
            "output": [
                "Modern Etiquette: No gluten? No fat? Deal gracefully with that."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9dd06bf17bc143658cec8e2a33cbd49f",
            "input": "Since the vaccine is not available, a discussion of costs is not warranted. The piece does a nice job of presenting the results of the initial report in terms of absolute and relative risk reduction; however, absolute data is not provided for the secondary analyses. To its credit, the story clearly and effectively explained statistical significance as it relates to this research. As stated in previous coverage, the story reiterates that the benefits of the vaccine are modest and additional research is needed. Given that this is a follow-up report focused on newly released data, a discussion of the potential harms of the vaccine is not necessary. This story does an excellent job defining the different types of analyses used to evaluate the outcome data. The story also points out the results of the secondary analyses have been published in a peer-reviewed journal, suggesting the calculations have been checked for accuracy. This story does not engage in disease-mongering. This story does not provide commentary from any independent sources. In this case, a single comment from a biostatistical consultant would have provided helpful perspective. Given the nature of this follow-up story, a discussion on the existing alternatives to HIV prevention may not be warranted. This story makes it known that the vaccine is still in the testing phase and is not yet available. The story makes it clear that researchers have been working on an AIDS vaccine for decades. The story does not appear to be based on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "AIDS Vaccine Is of Modest Help, Fuller Research Says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7497e6f9bcac4ae5b3b2191e95b98d42",
            "input": "She says she scheduled a follow-up visit and a geriatric psychiatrist gave her a list with names for local mental-health care providers. “Many of the counselors weren’t even in practice anymore or their numbers didn’t work,” Romeo said. “Not one person mentioned Mind Springs,” a major mental health organization that comprises 12 locations across the Western Slope. Romeo, a 77-year-old Medicare and Medicaid recipient, says she continued to struggle with finding a mental health counselor as well as other affordable services in the area. The former author and Glenwood Springs resident is now working with local government agencies to create a brochure for other seniors who are aging in Western Colorado. She says the booklet will include information on “who to call (and) when.” “When you’re on Medicare and you’re low income, there are services available, right down to toenail clinics, because the elderly can’t reach their feet,” she said. “If my doctor had known to tell me about these programs and these services, I would have been better off,” she said. GOLDEN YEARS Romeo is one of the growing number of senior citizens in Garfield County, a segment of the population that’s expected to grow exponentially in the coming decade or so as the baby boomer generation ages into its late 60s, 70s and 80s. On the one hand, western Colorado’s active lifestyle and healthy environment attracts and retains those entering their senior years, offering numerous outlets to get outdoors, exercise and socialize. Various senior fitness organizations in Garfield County range from Glenwood Springs’ highly-active couples and singles of the “100 Club,” to the more laid back hiking ladies of the “Wednesday Wanderers.” Eighteen years ago, Rochester, New York transplants Ray and Shirley Limoges arrived in Glenwood Springs for a family visit and a little skiing. “My brother said there’s something called the ’100 Club’ here,” Ray Limoges said of the summer hiking and winter skiing group that caters to couples whose ages add up to 100 or more, as well as older singles who’ve maybe lost their spouse or are no longer married. “So on Monday, I went to the chamber and asked the lady if she knew anything about it,” Limoges said. “She said, ‘I know they ski up on Sunlight on Wednesdays.’ So, Shirley and I went up on that very Wednesday. And we still do that — after almost 25 years.” Study after study shows active seniors live longer, and the counties of western Colorado have among the highest life expectancy rates in the United States. But an aging population also brings many challenges for rural mountain communities when it comes to catering to health-care needs, creating and providing access to senior services, coming up with affordable housing options for seniors, and keeping up with the demand for in-home caregivers and nursing care when the time comes. Then there’s the cost-of-living reality in Garfield County and neighboring mountain areas that can make it hard to make ends meet on a fixed income, requiring many seniors to work into their 70s or move to places where it’s more affordable to stay retired. BOOMING POPULATION Colorado’s senior population is expected to grow at an unprecedented rate by 2030, according to state officials. Aging experts and government officials nationwide are experiencing a similar trend with scores of baby boomers turning 65 on a daily basis. Several organizations in Colorado and locally are working to prepare for this seismic shift, which officials say will ultimately affect the state’s economy, health-care system, transportation systems, and the housing market. Organizations including the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) say municipalities must brainstorm ways to promote “livable communities.” These neighborhoods are safe and secure, offer affordable housing, transportation, health care, and other services for seniors, regardless of age, income, physical ability and race. The Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging (SAPGA), based in Denver, advises that each of Colorado’s counties develop a strategic action plan to help with this widespread demographic shift. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper hired a senior adviser on aging in January, to focus solely on planning for an aging population. In a 2016 report, SAPGA’s board members recommended communities rethink policies and regulations that would affect sidewalks, parks, shopping areas, and transportation systems. The need for informal caregivers will become more prevalent and districts may consider building additional independent living communities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, officials say. “Now we live 20 to 40 years longer after we retire,” said Karen Brown, chair of SAPGA. “It requires more planning on where you’re going to live, how you’re going to save, and how will you manage if you become disabled.” According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, 45 percent of households have no retirement savings at all. Half of those households are headed by a person aged 45 to 65, and the site says by that time, a person may have too few years to catch up. “As people age, their medical needs change,” said Dr. Jules Rosen, chief medical officer of Mind Springs Health, which is based in part in Glenwood Springs and has facilities throughout a multi-county region. Cognitive changes are expected, but it’s hard to know what kind of decline is natural for an elderly person and how much is due to other factors like living at high altitude, medical conditions, and possible head traumas, he said. “I think the thing that we see most is we start seeing patients with more chronic conditions or we call it comorbidity, so multiple chronic conditions,” said Sandy Hurley, chief nursing officer at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. CHALLENGES AHEAD Hurley and other staff are preparing for Garfield County’s senior population, those age 65 and older, to increase from about 6,500 currently to around 14,000 people by 2030, according to the state demographer’s office. Hurley says she’s noticed many older adults have trouble with chronic health issues, transportation, understanding medications, and scheduling appointments when they use the hospital’s services. Hospital staff recently expanded by incorporating social workers and care coordinators, who help with the aforementioned tasks, she said. Zona Hays, 84, of Glenwood Springs, says she walks to many of her destinations. It keeps her active, but it can be inconvenient at times, she said. “It’s important to me, because it’s the only way I can get around,” she said. “If I’m riding the city bus I can’t go anywhere in the evening because the bus stops running at 7:30 and I can’t get home after,” she added. Judy Martin, manager of senior programs in Garfield County, said night transportation and income levels remain a major concern for the elderly using her services. She oversees various programs, including a fall prevention course, exercise classes, lunch programs, and more. “We could use more resources but the reality is where do those resources come from,” she asked. “Most people are asking for more hours of service.” Most of Garfield County’s senior services are free or low cost, but 53 percent of the seniors who used services last fiscal year received an annual income of less than $14,000 a year, Martin said. “Often, by the fifth of the month they don’t have any money left,” Martin added. The Area Agency on Aging conducted an elder research survey on July 31 of this year, Martin said. She and other county officials are waiting on the results. The findings will be discussed at the next Garfield County Council on Aging meeting, and Martin says she will use the data to gauge what services are needed most and which can be cut. Garfield County does not currently have a strategic action plan to address elder population growth, but Martin says the aforementioned survey will help her and others plan. “Some regions are doing better than others,” said Elizabeth Garner, Colorado state demographer. “A person aging anywhere in the state probably looks at the same things, it’s just that the scale and scope may be different,” depending on the county, she said. The Area Agency on Aging for Northwest Colorado conducted a community assessment survey for older adults this year and the data suggests most of Garfield County’s seniors are content and plan to remain in their communities. Transportation, cost of living, health care, and affordable housing remain an issue, according to the data. “I feel optimistic that we will, that we are making gradual changes,” Brown, the SAPGA chair, said. “If we give it a little more thought, it will be better for ourselves, for our children, for society as a whole,” she added. The senior population also helps power the state’s economic engine. Coloradans aged 50 plus accounted for 45 percent of the state’s GDP in 2013, and supported 48 percent of the state’s jobs, according to the group. Seniors in Colorado have lower rates of obesity and are more physically active, according to SAPGA, and the state’s demographer says in many mountain communities, the aging population is wealthier. SAPGA’s board members maintain Colorado should capitalize on these trends and improve opportunities for seniors in the state. ___ Information from: Post Independent, http://www.postindependent.com/",
            "output": [
                "Senior citizen wave coming to Garfield County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ec351c210af41b48384585d75c3ce8c",
            "input": "Part of the caution in this story is not linking the research too closely to a potential on-the-shelf treatment. The story says in several ways that a drug therapy would be a good distance away. So we don’t think it appropriate to talk about costs at this point. The story does not break down the actual number of positive findings in either study, and we wish it had. It may be that the way in which the benefits were measured was hard to explain. But we still think the story should try to give readers some specifics. We want to know more than just that the beta cells performed “every bit as good as the body’s own cells.” The story makes a nod in the direction of harms when it notes that there was a minimal immune system response to the transplanted cells. An immune response is currently one of the harms that limits the usefulness of this procedure. But the story should have gone further to describe how the transplantation procedure is performed. This is an invasive approach that is not without risks and adverse effects. The story does a really nice job of quickly summarizing the state of the evidence and then going into more detail. It’s almost a blueprint for how these stories should be written. In just three sentences, it captures nearly all the relevant information about the evidence. It says, “In one of two related studies published Monday, Anderson and his colleagues described in the journal Nature Biotechnology how they had tested 774 variations of alginate in rodents and monkeys and identified a handful that elicited a greatly reduced foreign body response. For the other paper, published in Nature Medicine, the group embedded tiny capsules made from that durable alginate with beta cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. They then transplanted them into mice with a disease akin to type 1 diabetes.” Note: published in a respected journal, tested in animals (the story could have specified how many and acknowledged that these were animal studies higher up in the story), focused on a disease that’s not exactly diabetes but close. This should signal to readers that a cure for diabetes is still a long ways away. There is no disease mongering in the story. In fact, it does a nice job of explaining the disease and the specific problem this research is trying to address. It says, for example, “In people with type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile-onset diabetes, the immune system dismantles the pancreatic cells that normally produce insulin. So researchers have long sought a way to put back healthy insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells, into patients.” Most of the sources are connected to the study, either from the research institutions involved or the funders. But we give the story points for taking the next step and talking to people in the pharmaceutical research world who would be among those actually taking a discovery like this and making it therapeutic. The story quotes someone from Semma and someone from VitaCyte, both of whom provide a good dose of realistic context. While ideally we would’ve heard from someone with no stake at all in this line of research, we think there are enough voices with enough distance from the studies to earn the story a Satisfactory rating. And to the article’s credit, the sources’ affiliations are all clearly stated. The story does contrast this research with other research into treating diabetes. The story might have provided a bit of context about other work on developing an artificial pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes patients (there’s a lot on this). The story at the top makes it clear that the treatment is not available, saying, “Scientists on Monday showed they had overcome some of the major hurdles standing in the way of a long-sought therapeutic fix for patients with type 1 diabetes, outlining an approach that the body’s immune system could tolerate and providing a possible pathway toward clinical trials in the next few years.” Not the qualifier of “possible” in that sentence. News stories often don’t address the novelty of a treatment or research finding. But this story actually uses the word “novel,” which sort of puts a spotlight on the category for us. The story quotes one of the study’s funders calling the protective cell bubbles studied in the research “novel materials.” We think the story actually does establish their novelty with enough context and caveats. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Cell therapy in protective bubble offers hope for diabetes fix"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62b971ab339a4e6b903f806fc6673ca2",
            "input": "No mention of cost – a signficant issue in the context of alleged overdiagnosis. The story succinctly summarized: The story explained: “the blood-thinning drugs used to treat blood clots increase the risk of bleeding in the brain or gastrointestinal tract, for example. According to the new results, such complications rose from three to five per 100,000 people hospitalized with PE per year after doctors began using chest CT scans.” It also reported: “CT scans expose patients to radiation, for example, which can increase the likelihood of developing cancer. And the dyes used to enhance the scan also cause kidney damage in a significant portion of people.” Our medical editor who reviewed this felt strongly that an unsatisfactory grade was warranted for the following reasons. There are important limitations to consider. The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism prior to CT was always fairly uncertain because pulmonary angiography (the true gold standard) was rarely done due to complications of the test. Therefore, the baseline trends for incidence of pulmonary emboli are probably not very reliable. There are also lots of other tests and approaches used for PE diagnosis that could have influenced things in either direction, as well as trends/improvements in treatment of PE. Relying on discharge diagnoses from inpatient samples should always be used with caution. A validation procedure with a subsample of cases could have added more strength in the reliability and validity of the diagnoses. Perhaps if an independent expert’s perspective had been included, some of this may have been addressed. No disease-mongering of pulmonary emboli. No independent source was quoted. It would have been interesting to solicit opinions from radiologists, for example, that might have placed some of this in a different light. The dilemma was framed appropriately at the end: The story states that chest CT scans are “being used in millions of patients every year in the US.” The relative novelty of the new analysis was clear from the story. It stated: “The new findings add to other evidence showing that medical testing is on the rise across the U.S., although in many cases the impact on overall health remains unclear.”  It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Lung scans may lead to overdiagnosis: study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b18a85a9e74d420ba76831589148796c",
            "input": "A 'suicide kit' is seen during a Reuters Interview in London May 7, 2009. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth The state’s House of Representative passed the bill on Monday to ban the products. It must now be considered in the state Senate, which passed similar legislation in May. Sponsors say the bill would in no way impinge on a landmark 1997 state law legalizing physician-assisted suicides for terminally ill individuals in Oregon. Washington is the only other state with such a statute on the books. The newly passed Oregon bill was sparked by notoriety surrounding an elderly California woman who sells self-asphyxiation kits through a mail-order business, and the December suicide of one of her customers from Eugene, Oregon, 29-year-old Nicholas Klonoski. Sharlotte Hydorn, 91, a retired science teacher and great-grandmother who lives near San Diego, says her product is intended to help people with incurable, fatal illnesses end their lives with dignity in their own homes. The kits, which sell for $60 including shipping, consist of a plastic hood that closes around the neck and tubing that connects the hood to a tank of helium or other inert gas the patients supply themselves. Critics, including Klonoski’s brother, have faulted Hydorn for not screening potential buyers of her kits, which they say she peddles indiscriminately to customers who may be emotionally fragile, rather than terminally ill.   Klonoski’s family said he suffered from depression but was otherwise healthy when he used one of Hydorn’s kits to take his own life around Christmas time. “We don’t want somebody coming into Oregon making a profit off this kind of thing,” Representative Jeff Barker, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill, told Reuters. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, a Democrat and former emergency room physician, has taken no position on the bill, a spokeswoman said. The bill would make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a person to sell “any substance or object that is capable of causing death to another person for the purpose of assisting the other person to commit suicide.”   Supporters stressed the measure would leave intact Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, which allows physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients, though the patients must be physically capable of administering the drug to themselves. State records show that 525 Oregonians have ended their lives under the statute since 1997. Hydorn has said sales of her product, which she calls “exit kits,” jumped sharply as a result of media attention stemming from Klonoski’s death and reaction to it in Oregon. She said much of her recent business has come from Oregon. Armed federal agents raided her home last month and seized cartons of documents, computers and sewing machines under a search warrant Hydorn said accused her of conspiracy, mail fraud, tax evasion and the “sale of (an) adulterated or misbranded medical device.”",
            "output": [
                "Oregon votes to outlaw sale of suicide kits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95a39c4a75e34c2f9fb200440602f834",
            "input": "\"The story does not address the cost of estrogen plus progestin treatment, nor the costs added or saved due to complications of or benefits from that therapy. However, the story advocates for selective use of low-dose HRT, and only for use in the short-term if menopausal symptoms are bothersome and negatively affect quality of life. The story provides absolute and relative risks of taking HRT for the short and longer term. The story gives number of cases of breast cancer per 1000 women for those who took hormone therapy v. non-users. The story does an excellent job explaining the return to normal lifetime risk of breast cancer if a woman stops taking HRT. The story does not report the results of the JAMA study accurately. There is misplaced emphasis in the story compared with the study. Statements which appear erroneous: \"\"Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for as little as a couple of years had a greater chance of getting [all types of] cancer.\"\" There is nothing in this study to contradict the earlier WHI report showing that breast cancer risks start to diverge after about 4 years , not \"\"a couple of years\"\". This article reports on all cancers, not just breast. Nowhere in the JAMA article are all cancers plotted over time to support the assertion of a couple of years. Followed by the assertion that \"\"…these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits,\"\" this creates the inaccurate impression that there are new data showing breast cancer risks start earlier on in the course of treatment. A second inaccuracy concerns the statements about the size of the observed risk of breast cancer: \"\"At the peak, the breast cancer risk for pill takers was twice that of the others.\"\" Not accurate: the hazard ratio was 1.26, indicating a 26% higher breast cancer risk, not 100% higher (which would be twice the risk). Finally, a main point of the article–that cancer risk [presumably all cancer, not just breast] returns to normal roughly 2 years after quitting — is not supported by the study results. JAMA article states \"\"The HR for overall risk of all malignancies increased from 1.03…to 1.24…in the postintervention period.\"\" And, \"\"…a downward inflection in the temporal trend in cumulative HRs for breast cancer was observed over time (not shown) but the observed change…is not statistically significant.\"\" The story does an excellent job presenting the latest information from the Women’s Health Initiative on the risk of breast cancer with prolonged use of HRT. The story explains the study design and also interprets the results for the lay reader. Physician interviews put the results of the study in context and reassure women that their risk profile might be different if they are younger or older (women in the study were in their 60’s, typically after menopause is complete), and that their risk should return to normal a few years after stopping a short-term course of HRT. The story does not present menopause as a disease. Based on information on the risks and benefits of HRT for women in their 50’s, the story reiterates the message from the preliminary WHI report, which is that women should make an informed decision with their physician on this treatment option to help manage severe menopausal symptoms. The story reinforces the idea that menopausal symptoms do not require treatment. The story cites several excellent sources, including public health and cancer specialists, who put the results of previous Women’s Health Initiative and this latest information in context. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is cited on the benefit of HRT in the short-term, and their potential conflict as the maker of Prempro is noted. The story lists HRT as one option for treating very bothersome menopausal symptoms. But other non-medication options are also available, as are non-hormonal drugs used \"\"off-label\"\" to ease menopausal symptoms. These are not mentioned. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is currently available for women who wish to alleviate particularly bothersome menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. However, as the story notes, HRT should be used judiciously and only for a short time. The story presents information from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) on the increased risk of breast cancer with HRT. The subsequent decline in HRT use after WHI data was made public in 2002 has been linked to a decline in breast cancer cases. HRT is not a new option for treating bothersome symptoms of menopause. It was originally thought that taking estrogen plus progestin treatment could help reduce a woman’s risk of developing age-related heart disease and bone loss. Data from 2002 WHI showed that HRT increased the risk of health disease and breast cancer, and many women discontinued use of this treatment. WHI data discussed in this story reinforce the message that for many women, the risks of HRT outweigh the benefits. There are also other options for managing hot flashes and bothersome menopausal symptoms, which the story does not mention. But for some women, low-dose HRT may still be the most appropriate short-term solution. The story cites several sources and contains independent reporting.\"",
            "output": [
                "New study firmly ties hormone use to breast cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-badcc246ce4345b89ca8c444d8adee50",
            "input": "Westfield’s Democratic Mayor Brian Sullivan announced the federal lawsuit against the 3M Co., Chemguard Inc. and Tyco Fire Protection Products on Thursday. The manufacturers produce foam used for years at the Barnes Air National Guard Base and the Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport for firefighter training. The city argues the manufacturers knew or should’ve known the foam chemicals are “persistent when released into the environment and harmful.” The lawsuit doesn’t specify how much in damages Westfield seeks, but city solicitor Sue Phillips tells the Westfield News it’s “looking to be made whole.” St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M, Marinette, Wisconsin-based Chemguard and Lansdale, Pennsylvania-based Tyco Fire Protection Products haven’t commented. Westfield is installing filters to treat the contamination. Two public wells have been closed since 2015.",
            "output": [
                "City sues firefighter foam makers over water contamination."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e458b3790c5841ef9e8455044f299a7a",
            "input": "Health officials say cases of the flu-like anaplasmosis are on the rise this year, up to 433 cases this year. The Portland Press Herald reports it is a large increase from five years ago when it was only 52 cases a year. About 25 to 30 percent of all anaplasmosis cases result in hospitalizations, compared to about 5 percent of Lyme cases. The deer tick, which also commonly carries Lyme disease, is also a carrier for anaplasmosis. Lyme disease averages around 1,000 cases a year and is well known in Maine.",
            "output": [
                "Officials: Tick-borne anaplasmosis on the rise in Maine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c03b892462a47e1800f2a870c598482",
            "input": "The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday the beef was produced and packaged at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan on June 21 and shipped to retailers nationwide. The products include 3-, 10- and 20-pound (1.3-, 4.5- and 9-kilogram) packages of ground beef under the Our Certified, Excel, Sterling Silver, Certified and Fire River Farms brands with July 11 use or freeze by dates. Regulators warned that people should also check for the products in their freezers. They advise throwing the products away or returning them to the location of purchase. In a statement on Thursday, Cargill said all of the affected products have been removed from supermarkets. Food safety teams are reviewing the Fort Morgan facility and others “to ensure we continue to deliver safe food,” the statement said. “We were distressed to learn a fatality may be related to an E.coli contamination of one of our products,” it said. “Our hearts go out to the families and individuals affected by this issue.” The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service did not release information about the people who died or became ill, including locations. A spokeswoman referred questions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A representative for the CDC did not immediately return messages seeking more information. The Cargill plant had a smaller recall of Excel ground beef in August, but no illnesses had been reported at that time. Most people infected with E. coli develop diarrhea and vomiting. More severe infections can lead to kidney failure.",
            "output": [
                "Colorado meatpacker recalls ground beef after E. coli death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32cec14bc28f45e1a525156cdc78f1a9",
            "input": "Up to 94 students will get scholarships on campuses in Phoenix and Tucson, the UA Colleges of Medicine said. For each year of tuition waived, they’ll have to commit to working in an underserved area after their residency for one year. The scholarships are funded with $3 million from an $8 million state funding plan approved earlier this year. The rest of that money will allow growth from 80 to 100 medical students at UA’s Phoenix campus. State and federal governments have looked to a wide variety of grants, scholarships, loan forgiveness and other initiatives to seek out doctors willing to work in underserved areas and support them financially. An aging population and projected physician retirements have fueled concerns that the U.S. will face a growing shortage of providers — a problem felt hardest in lower-income areas. Physician groups say high debt burdens discourage new doctors from working in primary care in rural or urban underserved areas, which tend to come with lower salaries than jobs in specialties or wealthy areas. Debt concerns discourage some would-be doctors from even applying to medical school, Dr. Michael Dake, senior vice president of UA Health Sciences, said in a news release. The scholarships will be available only to UA students who qualify as Arizona residents. Eligible post-residency specializations include family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology. Eligible underserved areas are designated by the federal government based on having too few doctors, high infant mortality rates, high poverty or a large elderly population. UA medical school tuition for Arizona residents is about $33,000 per year. Medical school is four years. Arizona’s physician training capacity has grown in recent years with the opening of the UA’s Phoenix campus and schools run by the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, A.T. Still University in Mesa and Midwestern University in Glendale. Nebraska-based Creighton University is building a health sciences campus that will include a medical school in midtown Phoenix.",
            "output": [
                "Scholarships target doctors in Arizona underserved areas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b3a0d070d0440b08155adc8f9bc2129",
            "input": "\"Ever wonder about the accuracy of your milk carton’s expiration date? Or exactly how late is too late to eat that apple? So did comedian John Oliver. He used the July 19 episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight to discuss the issue of food waste, zooming in on little-known regulatory gaps that he argued cause mass confusion over the meaning and purpose of date labels on food. \"\"With the exception of baby formula,\"\" Oliver said, \"\"the federal government does not require any food to carry an expiration date, and state laws vary widely.\"\" And of the 50 states, he went on, nine don’t require any labels at all. The confusing issue has been well documented over several decades, though we doubt it’s ever been the target of an 18-minute monologue in a late-night comedy show. We wanted to see if Oliver had it right. Chaotic laws, confusing labels Oliver was right in saying, with the exception of infant formula, the federal government does not require any food to carry an expiration date. Experts say it would be almost impossible to set up an effective umbrella regulation for labeling foods with expiration dates. The diversity of climates and crops in the United States means it’s hard to judge the pace at which different foods deteriorate in different places. A piece of fruit left out in the hot, humid fields of Georgia might spoil faster than the same piece of fruit left out in the cool, dry mountains of Colorado. In the absence of an overarching federal statute, a jumble of laws at the state level dictate which foods require date labels. The comedian’s research team got the bulk of its data from a 2013 report compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental think tank, and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. The study found that most states have laws that require date labels on some foods. Oliver cites the report’s finding that nine states don’t require any date labels, including New York, Idaho and Alabama. Of those nine, seven states don’t have regulations that govern the labels that manufacturers voluntarily place on products. These inconsistencies can make it hard to do business across state lines, said Emily Broad Leib, the study’s lead author and director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. Laws in Montana and Pennsylvania require milk to be sold 12 and 17 days after pasteurization, respectively, but don’t allow the milk to be donated if it goes unsold in that time. \"\"Without federal guidance,\"\" Leib said, \"\"some state laws require that (unspoiled) food be thrown away.\"\" The Montana law prompted some out-of-state dairy farmers to argue that the law unfairly protects in-state producers. Label it what you want The regulatory gap also leads to confusion about what food labels actually mean. As a news clip in Oliver’s segment illustrates, one might see the same product labeled \"\"sell by\"\" or \"\"use by,\"\" or it may have no label at all. Most retailers and manufacturers use a labeling system referred to as \"\"open dating.\"\" Though it might sound like a relationship status, \"\"open dating\"\" simply means that a calendar date is displayed on a product instead of a code that only makes sense to the producer. Perhaps surprisingly, the dates on these labels aren’t regulated. This means it’s entirely up to the manufacturer to decide what date to print on the labels in all 50 states. (The strictest federal regulation of this kind applies to poultry, but it allows the use of a packing date instead of a sell-by date.) The purpose of manufacturers’ date labels isn’t to ensure safety, but quality, according to the USDA. Oliver suggests that because manufacturers are free to determine their own best-by dates, they may have a financial incentive to falsify them. But one expert said he wasn’t convinced manufacturers try to help out their bottom lines by making it seem like food perishes faster than reality. Quality standards almost always consider safety, said Keith Schneider, a food microbiologist at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Keeping a customer happy means also keeping them safe. \"\"These dates are usually based on lab tests and historical precedents,\"\" he said. Most of all, he said, manufacturers want to build brand loyalty by consistently guaranteeing fresh, safe food, so they are often overly conservative with sell-by and use-by dates. Leib said it would be difficult to prove a producer manipulates its dates to boost profits, \"\"but it would be perfectly easy to falsify that information.\"\" Still, manufacturers have an interest in ensuring quality, and many times smaller companies don’t have the money to test their products and apply accurate sell-by dates. \"\"Sometimes,\"\" she said, \"\"dates are just made up.\"\" Our rating Oliver said, \"\"With the exception of baby formula, the federal government does not require any food to carry an expiration date, and state laws vary widely.\"\" While Oliver’s underlying argument for more regulation can be debated, he’s right to say that the federal government doesn’t require expiration dates on food, and state laws filling in that gap are inconsistent. A previous version of this story misstated the name of the Natural Resources Defense Council.\"",
            "output": [
                "With the exception of baby formula, the federal government does not require any food to carry an expiration date, and state laws vary widely."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28946712963440598e1749261f8b78a4",
            "input": "The country’s strictest abortion bill was previously approved by the Alabama House of Representatives and will now go to Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who has withheld comment on whether she would sign but is generally a strong opponent of abortion. The law, which passed 25-6, would take effect six months after being signed by the governor, but is certain to face legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups which have vowed to sue. Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced this year in 16 states, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected. The Alabama bill goes further, banning abortions at any time. Those performing abortions would be committing a felony, punishable by 10 to 99 years in prison, although a woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable. The Republican-controlled Alabama Senate also defeated a Democratic amendment that would have allowed legal abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape and incest. Anti-abortion advocates know any laws they pass are certain to be challenged, and courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa passed last year. But supporters of the Alabama ban said the right to life of the unborn child transcends other rights, an idea they would like tested. Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss, arguing in favor of the Alabama bill, said the whole point was “so that we can go directly to the Supreme Court to challenge Roe versus Wade.”     The high court, now with a majority of conservative justices after Republican President Donald Trump appointed two, could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision establishing a woman’s right to an abortion. Just this year, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have outlawed abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat. Opponents call the “heartbeat” legislation a virtual ban because embryonic cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks, before a woman may be aware she is pregnant. Democratic state Senator Linda Coleman-Madison called the Republicans hypocritical for advocating small government that ought to stay out of private matters but “now you want in my womb; I want you out.”  All 27 Republican senators are men. The group Physicians for Reproductive Health said the near total ban on abortions would have a disastrous effect on healthcare. “Physicians will be unwilling to help patients in need, even when continuing pregnancy is detrimental to a patient’s health, or potentially fatal, out of fear of being scrutinized by the criminal justice system,” Dr. Yashica Robinson, a board member and ob/gyn, said in a statement. The National Organization for Women (NOW) denounced the ban as unconstitutional. “This is a transparent effort to drum up political support for anti-abortion candidates in upcoming elections and serves as a direct threat to women’s health, autonomy and pursuit of happiness,” NOW said in a statement. Actress and activist Alyssa Milano has called for a sex strike under the social media hashtag #SexStrike in response to the campaigns against abortion rights, urging women to refuse sex with men “until we get bodily autonomy back.”",
            "output": [
                "Alabama Senate bans nearly all abortions, including rape cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-771b817baf674a3595794df6b2e5d7da",
            "input": "The oral drug delivery specialist said its insulin capsule had met all primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase IIa clinical trial and it now plans to launch a larger mid-stage study in the third quarter. Shares in the Nasdaq-listed company opened 10 percent higher at $28.50 on the news. The stock has surged from around $4 since the end of 2012 on rising hopes for its insulin pill. The concept of oral insulin as a way to relieve diabetics of several daily injections has been around since the 1930s, but making it a reality is extremely difficult because insulin is destroyed by enzymes in the digestive system. Oramed believes that it has now found a solution to allow enough insulin to survive the onslaught of digestive juices to still do some good. At least 90 percent of the more than 382 million diabetes sufferers worldwide are in the type 2 category, according to the International Diabetes Foundation, which expects the number of diabetes patients to near 600 million by 2035. Consensus analyst forecasts suggest that the overall diabetes drug market, worth $37 billion a year at present, will reach more than $57 billion by 2018, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma. Oral insulin could make it easier for sufferers to start early treatment, slow progression of the disease and delay the need for injections, Oramed said. Unlike injections, the ingested form passes first into the liver, which regulates the secretion of insulin into the bloodstream. The new year-long Phase IIb study in the United States will study 150 type 2 diabetes patients and mainly test for the drug’s effectiveness, Chief Executive Nadav Kidron told Reuters after the company issued results of the Phase IIa trial. During the Phase IIa trial, conducted under a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug protocol, 30 patients with type 2 diabetes entered an in-patient setting for one week. “The FDA wanted us to show one thing - that it was safe so they will let us do a IIb trial,” Kidron said. While Oramed was not checking for efficacy, Kidron said the IIa trial revealed that it was effective, though the sample size was too small for FDA purposes. Oramed will also need to conduct a final large-scale Phase III trial before the drug is licensed for sale, so the capsule is still years away from hitting the market. The company is, however, ahead of Novo Nordisk, which has yet to start Phase II testing. Oramed is hoping to partner with large pharmaceutical firms for development and sales of the drug. But Kidron said that only preliminary discussions have taken place so far. The company also plans to initiate a Phase IIa FDA study for type 1 diabetes in the near term. The global expense for diabetes is about $500 billion and an oral version could bring a large drop in costs. Oramed noted that the pill would not eliminate the eventual need for injections but could delay the shift to needles by many years.",
            "output": [
                "Israel's Oramed a step closer in race for first insulin pill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04e290fe56944eba87f331d69ec0698b",
            "input": "A study conducted by the University of California, Irvine,  also found that the drug combination was much less toxic than  chemotherapy. “I think we are on track to develop a medical means to  prevent colon cancer,” in people at high risk of developing the  disease, said Dr. Frank Meyskens, director of the university’s  cancer center. He said earlier efforts to develop a preventive  treatment were thwarted by the fact that available therapies  caused too much toxicity. Meyskens lead a study in which 375 patients with at least  one previous colorectal polyp, also known as adenomas, were  treated with either a combination of one-time cancer drug DFMO  (difluoromethylornithine) and sulindac, a non-steroidal  anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), or placebo. The results, presented at a meeting of the American  Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, were so  encouraging that the study was stopped early. After three years, the overall risk of recurrent adenoma  was 12.3 percent in treated patients, compared with 41.1  percent for patients in the placebo group, or a 70 percent risk  reduction. For patients with more than one previous polyp, 0.7 percent  of treated patients had a recurrence, compared with 13.2  percent of placebo patients — a 95 percent reduction. The researchers said an analysis of side effects and  toxicity found no difference between the treatment and placebo  groups. There also was no difference in side effects requiring  overnight hospitalization, gastrointestinal side effects or  cardiovascular side effects between the two groups. DFMO is the basis of the drug eflornithine, which was  initially developed as a cancer medication, but is now used to  treat African sleeping sickness. A cream formulation of  eflornithine is marketed as a hair removal agent under the  brand name Vaniqa. Sulindac is sold by Merck & Co Ltd under the brand name  Clinoril as a treatment for arthritis and other inflammatory  conditions. Meyskens said larger trials will be needed to assess the  risk of cardiovascular and other adverse side effects, as well  as to determine whether the incidence of actual colorectal  cancer can be reduced in either patients with low stage prior  colorectal cancers or in very high risk individuals. Chronic use of other NSAIDs, such as Merck’s Vioxx, has  been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Sulindac is associated with liver toxicity. A separate large study presented at the conference showed  that Pfizer Inc’s Cox-2 inhibitor Celebrex, or celecoxib,  significantly reduced the risk of colon polyps during a trial  that was cut short after too many patients developed  cardiovascular problems. “For patients without major cardiovascular risk factors,  celecoxib at low doses protects against high-risk lesions that  can lead to colon cancer,” said Dr. Monica Bertagnolli,  associate professor of surgery at the Brigham and Women’s  Hospital, and the lead researcher on the Celebrex study. Meyskens said the combination therapy was likely to  eventually be used in people at high risk of colon cancer,  including those discovered to have advanced adenomas, as well  as patients diagnosed with low-stage colon cancer who have had  their disease cured. “About 30 to 35 percent of those patients will develop  another colon cancer,” he said. According to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer will  kill 52,000 people this year in the United States alone.",
            "output": [
                "Drug combination reduces colon cancer risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-159ac8c171724e9aa1c96bbe890606a9",
            "input": "Of the people infected, seven were in critical condition and 18 were in stable condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday on its Weibo social media account. The condition of two other patients had improved to the point where they would be discharged soon, it said. “The cause of the disease is not clear,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said on Weibo, citing unnamed hospital officials. “We cannot confirm it is what’s being spread online, that it is SARS virus. Other severe pneumonia is more likely.”  All of the patients had been isolated and their close contacts are under medical observation, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said. An investigation and cleanup were under way at a seafood market in the city, which is suspected to be connected with the cases, it said. Initial laboratory tests showed that the cases were viral pneumonia. No obvious human-to-human transmission had been found and no medical staff had been infected, the commission said. A team of experts from the National Health Commission is in Wuhan to carry out tests, state broadcaster CCTV said. An official at Wuhan Central Hospital, where local media said some of the cases are being treated, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. In 2003, Chinese officials covered up a SARS outbreak for weeks before a growing death toll and rumors forced the government to reveal the epidemic, apologize and vow full candor in future outbreaks. The disease, which emerged in southern China in late 2002, spread rapidly from south China to other cities and countries in 2003. More than 8,000 people were infected and 775 died.",
            "output": [
                "Chinese officials investigate cause of pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46cddc114c324818ad4996823a59c9cc",
            "input": "\"Libertarian James Carr doesn’t agree that health care requires health insurance. Carr, who is facing Republican Dave Brat and Democrat Jack Trammell in the race for Virginia’s 7th District congressional seat, provided some historic perspective to highlight that point in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. \"\"Before World War II -- with wage freezes, when health care became attached to a job -- very few people actually had health insurance,\"\" said Carr, a community hospital administrator. What caught our attention here is Carr’s statement that \"\"very few\"\" people had health insurance prior to World War II. Currently, most Americans have some form of health insurance, so we wondered whether Carr was correct. So how does Carr justify his statement? His campaign manager, Jill Anderson, pointed us to a half-dozen documents about health care coverage in the U.S. One of them, a 1965 publication by the Social Security Administration, said that in 1930, there were probably 1.5 million to 2 million Americans who had some kind of private health insurance or pre-arranged payment plan for medical care. With a population of 123.2 million people then, that means that less than 2 percent of the population had private coverage. Private coverage was generally the only option. The federal government’s public insurance plans -- Medicare and Medicaid -- were created in the 1960s. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that 12.3 million Americans (9.3 percent) had private health coverage for their hospital stays in 1940, a jump of 10 million from a decade earlier. In 1950, 76.6 million Americans, or 50.7 percent, had health insurance. What led to that jump? Topping the list would be the amazing advances in medicine in the past 75 years. The war itself played a major role in the growth of health insurance, according to a March 2002 history of health insurance benefits from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a think tank that examines employment-based benefits. Wages had been frozen by the National War Labor Board amid a shortage of workers as many potential employees went off to fight in the war. Employers sought to get around the wage controls in order to attract scarce workers. Providing them health insurance was one way to do that, EBRI said. \"\"During this time, employers petitioned, and were granted to have benefits, particularly health benefits, not be considered part of wages,\"\" Stephen Blakely, the director of communications and managing editor at EBRI, told us. \"\"Congress agreed to exempt health insurance benefits from taxation.\"\" Blakely said Carr’s historic look at the prevalence of health insurance is correct. The growth in insurance was also spurred by a growth in surgeries and hospital stays. \"\"(A)s late as the 1920s, hospitals were viewed as dangerous places where people went to die,\"\" Robert Helms, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a February 2008 paper. That perception changed gradually, Helms said, as hospitals improved management, boosted physician professional standards and developed drugs to control infections. Penicillin, an antibiotic, was used increasingly in the 1940s to control infections. This made surgeries and hospital stays safer, which led to increased demand for both surgeries and insurance to cover those procedures, Helms noted. Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health care policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Carr’s statement is generally accurate, but isn’t relevant to today. Back in 1940, medical care was relatively basic, he said. A victim of a heart attack, for example, would have been ordered to rest in bed, Oberlander said. With today’s advanced medical care the treatment would require surgeries and care that’s very expensive to pay for without insurance, he said. \"\"There is not a feasible medical care system without health insurance in 2014,\"\" Oberlander said. Roughly 85 percent of the 310 million people in the U.S. had some form of health care insurance in 2012 either through their job, public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, or individual private plans, according to figures compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That leaves 15 percent of the population -- about 48 million Americans -- who lacked health care coverage. Our ruling Carr said before World War II, very few people had health insurance. While Carr doesn’t take into account the advances in medical care over the past 75 years, he’s right. Only about 10 percent of the U.S. population had private health insurance then, generally from an employer-based system.\"",
            "output": [
                "Before World War II, very few people actually had health insurance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a45277b27e04da5aa1362b810a90fdb",
            "input": "Excellent job here. The costs of treatment are a core aspect of the story. The opening paragraph describes how the blood test in question could help determine whether patients should receive “costly new-generation drugs or rely on much cheaper traditional chemotherapy,” and the specific costs of different therapies are detailed early in the article. Much less information is given about the cost of the blood test itself, though the writer does make it clear that the price is not yet determined. It would have been useful to note the costs of any comparable tests already in clinical use, and to let the reader know how insurance companies deal with new diagnostic tests. The story says “in a study published last month, patients who tested positive for the anomaly—a variant of the androgen receptor called AR-V7—lived substantially longer if they were treated with chemotherapy than those given the two new drugs.” However, the story doesn’t provide specifics on what that means in number terms. The story does not explain harms. However, diagnostic tests are only as good as their sensitivity and reliability, so it would have been good for readers to get an impression of whether the test catches every case of AR-V7, and the likelihood of false positives or false negatives. Even if that information is not yet available, it is important for readers to be made aware of the issue that a false result could lead to the wrong therapy being given. The story lets us known that this was a relatively small study of 161 patients, and it is described as “retrospective.” We’re also told that the blood test needs validation in large randomized controlled trials. While it may be challenging for readers not well-versed in study design to discern what the limitations of a retrospective study is, and what further information a randomized trial would deliver, these details are sufficient enough to rate Satisfactory. We also appreciated these words of caution: “In the study, a positive test for AR-V7 didn’t assure patients would respond to the chemotherapy, nor did a negative test promise a response to the Xtandi or Zytiga.” Advanced stage prostate cancer is a common, life-threatening disease. The article gives an estimate, albeit from the companies behind the test, that 50,000 U.S. men with advanced prostate cancer would be candidates for the test. No independent expert source is quoted throughout the story. This is problematic not least because representatives of both Epic Sciences and Genomic Health are quoted on the clinical utility of the test, and their claims need to be validated or refuted by experts with no skin in the game. It would also be important to get an independent take on the study itself, the strength of the evidence and whether there were any limitations that should be highlighted. Additionally, next to no information is given about conflicts of interest. While the lead author’s affiliation is given as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the majority of co-authors of the study are employees of Epic Sciences. This surely warrants a mention so readers are not given the false impression that the company had no role in the study. Moreover, the lead author Howard Scher has received research funding, personal fees and non-financial support from all the companies behind the prostate cancer drugs in question. Despite the fact that the blood test would theoretically identify patients who would be better off not receiving the drugs, Scher has highly relevant conflicts of interest, thus increasing the need for independent expert sources. The article does not explicitly describe whether there are other methods of detecting AR-V7, though it is implicit that AR-V7 has not been used clinically as a biomarker before, and two other companies developing a similar test are mentioned. The story is based around whether using AR-V7 as a biomarker could lead to better outcomes than current clinical standards, so the comparison to the “status-quo” alternative is thoroughly explored. It is made clear that the blood test is not currently available, and the article gives a prospective date for when the test will be launched. Since AR-V7 is not currently used as a biomarker for treatment of advanced prostate cancer, it is clear enough to the reader that this is a new approach. An important point that is only mentioned in passing is that the test is a “liquid biopsy.” Liquid biopsies have often been hyped as a revolutionary new approach to diagnosing cancer without invasive procedures. However, due to questions over sensitivity and reliability, they have been controversial and are yet to become commonplace in clinical practice, so readers might have benefited from a little more context on this point. The writer has clearly interviewed his sources and included substantially more information than available from news releases by either Epic Sciences or Genomic Health.",
            "output": [
                "Test Aids Prostate Cancer Treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ccdec48d91c44e0793ac9e695bfccd35",
            "input": "The United States now has the most coronavirus cases of any country, with nearly 85,000 infections. Hospitals in cities including New York and New Orleans are struggling to cope with the wave of patients. Trump said China had sent virus data to U.S. scientists and was sending more after he and Xi spoke by telephone. “We talked about the experience that they had in China and all the things that have taken place. And we learned a lot,” Trump told reporters. “They have had a very tough experience. And they are doing well ... President Xi is doing very well. We learned a lot and we have great communication together.”  Xi’s offer of assistance follows a war of words between Beijing and Washington over various issues, including the pandemic. Trump and other U.S. officials have accused Beijing of a lack of transparency over the outbreak, and Trump has referred to coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” because it originated there late last year. According to an account of the conversation published by the Chinese foreign ministry, Xi reiterated to Trump that China had been open and transparent. “We are working closely together,” Trump said on Twitter. “Much respect!”  Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated in a seafood market and which had been on lockdown for more than two months, was open to incoming traffic late on Friday, although cars were not allowed to leave. Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, removed border restrictions on Wednesday for all but Wuhan, which will allow people to leave the city starting on April 8. At a checkpoint entering the city on Friday night, three lanes were open to traffic but there were few cars, with a lone figure in military fatigues standing at each lane checking the mobile phone health codes of arriving passengers. Along the highway entering the city of 11 million, blue and white signs pointed traffic to the now-closed Huoshenshan Hospital, which was built in eight days and opened in early February and came to symbolise China’s aggressive management of the outbreak after a fumbled early effort. Other evidence of the outbreak that devastated the city included posters dated Feb. 16 seeking volunteers to help battle the epidemic. “Exits out of the city are still shut. We respectfully ask for your understanding,” one road sign along the highway said. Numerous people have been trapped inside and outside of Wuhan and Hubei and many of the cars entering the city had Wuhan number plates, indicating they were returning residents. The World Health Organization has said the United States is expected to become the pandemic’s new epicentre. Like U.S. hospitals now, China’s medical system struggled to contain the coronavirus two months ago, but draconian city lockdowns and severe travel restrictions have seen the crisis  ease. Mainland China on Friday reported its first local coronavirus case in three days and 54 new imported cases, as Beijing ordered airlines to sharply cut international flights, for fear travellers could reignite the outbreak. The 55 new cases detected on Thursday were down from 67 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said, taking the tally of infections to 81,340. China’s death toll stood at 3,292 as of Thursday, up by five from a day earlier. Hubei, with a population of about 60 million, reported no new cases on Thursday. China’s commercial capital of Shanghai reported the most new imported cases with 17, followed by 12 in the southern province of Guangdong and four each in the capital Beijing and the nearby city of Tianjin. Shanghai now has 125 patients who arrived from overseas, including 46 from Britain and 27 from the United States. In effect from Sunday, China has ordered its airlines to fly only one route to any country, on just one flight each week. Foreign airlines must comply with similar curbs on flights to China, although many had already halted services. About 90% of current international flights into China will  be suspended, cutting arrivals to 5,000 passengers a day, from 25,000, the civil aviation regulator said late on Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "China's Xi offers Trump help in coronavirus fight as Wuhan reopens to traffic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6c7773a072f044bb8f9e8945d4208bce",
            "input": "The shutdown began in late March in the Pacific nation of about 5 million, and a state of national emergency was declared to stifle local transmissions of the respiratory disease. “No one goes home, everyone goes into a managed facility,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, adding that 14 days spent in a government-approved facility would be a prerequisite for all foreign travellers. “Even one person slipping through the cracks and bringing the virus in can see an explosion in cases, as we have observed with some of our bigger clusters,” she told a media briefing in Wellington on Thursday. Ardern added that her cabinet would decide whether to extend the nationwide curbs on April 20, two days before the lockdown is set to end. The lockdown has reduced domestic transmissions, authorities said, with a steady fall this week in the daily rise in infections. The tally of infections rose by 29 to stand at 1,239 on Thursday, for the lowest daily rise since March 21, a sign the epidemic could be on the retreat since the lockdown began 15 days ago. Overnight, 35 people were declared to have recovered. New Zealand, like neighbouring Australia, has fewer infections than many countries and the pace of infections in both nations has slowed dramatically in the past week. Despite some signs of a plateau in infections, the government said it had no plans to relax the curbs over the Easter weekend and warned of hefty fines for non-essential travel then. Police will step up activity around holiday spots during the Easter holidays, authorities said, with some roadblocks planned. Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.",
            "output": [
                "New Zealand orders quarantine for returning citizens in coronavirus battle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4ef9623f0714df1b09c77c6269721bf",
            "input": "\"Calls to strengthen California’s gun laws intensified this week after the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in history at an Orlando nightclub. State lawmakers described the tragedy as a call to action to strengthen California’s firearm regulations, considered among the toughest in America. In November, voters in the state will likely be asked to make those laws even tougher, by approving the Safety For All Initiative. That measure is led by Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and is pending signature verification. On the initiative’s website, it claims: \"\"More than 32,000 Americans lose their lives to gun violence each year.\"\" The statement is followed by the message: \"\"Gun Violence Is Not Inevitable. The Power To Save Lives Is In Our Hands: Together We Can Keep Our Communities Safe.\"\" We wondered about the eye-popping 32,000 figure and whether any context was missing. A screenshot of SafetyForAll.com's homepage shows the claim about 32,000 Americans losing their lives to gun violence each year. Our research Much of the Safety For All Initiative is designed to make it more difficult for individuals to obtain ammunition for assault-style weapons, such as those used in recent mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando. Here’s what the measure would do, if approved by voters: Require instant background checks for ammunition purchases; strengthen checks for gun purchases and ban the possession of large, detachable military-style magazines; and require the immediate surrender of firearms for people convicted of serious and violent crimes. A spokeswoman for the initiative pointed us to figures from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. They show nearly 33,000 gun deaths, on average, from 2010 through 2014 in the United States. Of those, more than 62 percent resulted from suicides by guns -- something not mentioned on the Safety For All website. There’s no mention of suicide by guns or suicide prevention efforts in the text of the measure, either. About 34 percent of the gun deaths are from homicides. The remaining four percent resulted from accidents, legal intervention or cases where intent was undetermined. We asked the initiative campaign about the large share of gun deaths from suicide. Dan Newman, a campaign strategist for the lieutenant governor, replied that \"\"treating ammo sales like guns and screening for dangerous mental illness, taking guns away from people legally prohibited from owning weapons, reporting lost and stolen guns and ammo – these will all reduce gun violence of all kinds, from suicide to mass murder.\"\" In October 2015, PolitiFact Texas checked a similar claim by Hillary Clinton, that \"\"We lose an average of 90 Americans every day because of guns.\"\" That adds up to the CDC total of more than 32,000. They rated it . PolitiFact Texas pointed out that at least once, Clinton has clarified her figure by mentioning suicides; according to a post on her campaign website, she said: \"\"We lose between 88 and 92 Americans a day from gun violence — homicides, suicides and accidents — and we have to act.\"\" Our ruling The Safety For All Initiative proposes stronger gun and ammunition restrictions in California. On its website, it says \"\"More than 32,000 Americans lose their lives to gun violence each year.\"\" That sad statistic checks out, based on an examination of data from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. While the statement is accurate, it needs a key clarification that more than 60 percent of those gun deaths result from suicides. Much of the Safety For All Initiative is designed to make it more difficult for individuals to obtain ammunition for assault-style weapons, not typically associated with suicides. – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. PolitiFact California is fact-checking claims made by and about the November ballot measure campaigns. Contact us with suggestions for a fact-check at [email protected] or on Twitter @CAPolitiFact",
            "output": [
                "More than 32,000 Americans lose their lives to gun violence each year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7223a8f3dde54d46a939503edbc96444",
            "input": "\"With an increasing number of coronavirus cases across the country, President Donald Trump pointed to a metric that reflects more favorably on his administration’s pandemic response. On June 23, Trump tweeted, \"\"Cases up only because of our big number testing. Mortality rate way down!!!\"\" Cases up only because of our big number testing. Mortality rate way down!!! https://t.co/bKFmgOLEGZ His argument that tests are the only reason for rising cases is not accurate. But on the trend for mortality, Trump has a point. Epidemiologists told PolitiFact that due to wide variations in testing patterns, the data doesn’t offer a clear look at how likely someone is to die from the virus if they are infected with it. Gaps in testing leave too many undiagnosed cases to reliably determine a person’s likelihood of dying from the coronavirus, much less whether the likelihood of dying has risen or fallen over time. Instead, researchers say, the most solid metric for assessing Trump’s statement is the number of new coronavirus deaths reported per day. The number of daily deaths from coronavirus has been falling consistently since peaking in late April. In fact, even as infections have risen since early June, deaths have not. (The orange line in the following chart shows the seven-day rolling average of coronavirus deaths, which smooths out data variations.) At the peak in late April, more than 2,000 were dying from coronavirus on a typical day. In late June, it’s less than 600. That’s still a large number of deaths every day. All told, roughly 115,000 have died from COVID-19 to date. The White House told PolitiFact that the per-capita number of deaths in the United States is also lower than it is in several advanced industrialized countries in Europe that were hard hit by the virus. According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus deaths per 100,000 population is about 37 for the United States, compared with 65 in the United Kingdom, 61 in Spain, and 57 in Italy. But other European countries have lower death rates for COVID-19 than the United States does, including the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. So why are deaths falling? There may be several reasons, and for now, they’re somewhat speculative. One possibility is that the initial wave of infections disproportionately reached more patients with weaker immune systems, including those in nursing homes, or more vulnerable Americans who hadn’t yet taken up effective social distancing. By contrast, more recent waves of infections may be reaching younger and healthier people who are better able to survive an infection. Another possibility is that we’re \"\"getting better at treatment and keeping people alive,\"\" said Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University’s College of Public Health. Still, epidemiologists caution that deaths are a lagging indicator. The disease often takes two to three weeks to run its course, meaning that one day’s crop of new infections tends to drive the deaths that occur two to three weeks later. \"\"We might not expect an increase in the death rate until approximately 21 days from when we started to see an increase in cases,\"\" said Brooke Nichols, an infectious disease modeler at the Boston University School of Public Health. So far, the age breakdown for deaths has been fairly consistent — people older than 65 accounted for 81% of coronavirus deaths at the mortality peak in mid-April, and that age group still accounted for 82% of in mid-July, a time when the total number of deaths had fallen significantly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since we’re about two weeks into the national rise in infections, scientists will be watching to see if deaths start increasing a week from now. Trump said that mortality from coronavirus is \"\"way down.\"\" This is one of the few coronavirus measurements that Trump can point to with optimism. The number of deaths has remained substantial, at a bit below 600 per day by mid-to-late June, but that’s more than two-thirds lower than the peak of about 2,000 daily deaths in late April. The number of coronavirus deaths per day has continued to fall in June even as the number of cases has risen. Trump’s statement is accurate for now, though it’s too soon to know whether the recent rise in new cases will produce an uptick in deaths by early July.\"",
            "output": [
                "As of June 23, the COVID-19 death rate is “way down.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9cca3a59b914b4189222a37055c960c",
            "input": "The invention of the shopping cart during the Dirty Thirties altered how consumers shopped for groceries by removing the weight of accumulated goods from the equation. Thanks to the new wheeled assistance, those looking to reprovision could shop longer and for greater quantities than in the days when prospective purchases were all toted by hand. But the newfangled gadgets also created yet another common field upon which harmful bacteria and viruses could be easily passed from one person to another, because the handles of shopping carts are grasped by a great many people day in and day out. And, of that horde of shoppers, some will undoubtedly be carrying some nasty bugs on their unwashed hands. Yet, just as we rarely think about giving our purses, briefcases, and backpacks a good scrub-down, so do shopping carts fly under our germ awareness radar. The very folks that fuss with disposable toilet seat covers often won’t think twice about manhandling a grocery cart around a store for half an hour, even though the surface they’re hanging onto so fiercely for that interval has likely been coughed on, sneezed on, and grasped by shoppers who’d just finished handling packages of raw chicken and meat, or who just weren’t the sort to wash their hands all that often. As for the fold-out child’s seat found in most carts, even though it is routinely graced by the diapered bottoms of infants, it remains the cart’s transport region of choice for fruits and vegetables, items that are often eaten uncooked or unwashed. According to a four-year study conducted by the University of Arizona’s Environmental Research Lab and sponsored by Clorox, grocery carts are veritable petri dishes teeming with human saliva, mucus, urine, fecal matter, as well as the blood and juices from raw meat. Swabs taken from the handles and child seats of 36 grocery carts in San Francisco, Chicago, Tucson, and Tampa showed these common surfaces to rank third on the list of nastiest public items to touch, with only playground equipment and the armrests on public transportation producing more disgusting results. In terms of playing host to germs and bacteria, the carts are far worse than public bathrooms, which at least are cleaned more often. Bacteria and viruses such as E.coli, staphylococcus, salmonella, and influenza can live on grocery carts, a sorry fact most shoppers are blissfully unaware of. There are efforts afoot to render these surfaces less germ-laden. In March 2007, a bill (A4109) was introduced into the New Jersey State Assembly calling for supermarkets to provide shoppers with sanitary wipes to clean off their carts. In February 2007, Arkansas passed its “Health-Conscious Shopper Act” (HB1040), which encourages businesses in that state to voluntarily provide consumers with sanitation wipes to use on the carts. Nice-Pak Products of Rockland County, New York, the company that enhanced your fried chicken eating experience with Wet-Naps, has devised a wipe specifically for use in sanitizing shopping cart handles and child seats. Its SaniCart is designed to remove salmonella, staphylococcus, and other germs from such surfaces. As of late 2005, more than 6,400 supermarkets were using them. Meanwhile, another system on the market focuses on cleaning the entire cart rather than just parts of it. PureCart is a sort of drive-through washer that sanitizes the whole contraption. It works by coating the carts with a safe mist of a peroxide-based disinfectant, the same solution used to clean dialysis machines and poultry processors. Critics of the various efforts to clean up the carts point out that a great many things routinely used by the public also harbor germs and viruses, therefore targeting the handles and child seats of shopping carts will not render the common world free of contagion. While it is true that which causes illness also lurks upon the latches of bathroom stall doors, elevator buttons, and stairwell handrails (to name just a few bacterial hot spots), those shared surfaces are generally handled relatively fleetingly compared to the interval the average person hangs onto the handle of a shopping cart or the length of time a leaky-diapered baby or a food item is left resting on the cart’s fold-out seat. Those looking for a less technological approach to staving off the nasties ferried about by their shopping buggies should attempt to fall into the habit of always washing their hands as soon as they return home from any retail foray and eschewing touching their faces or blowing their noses in the interim. In April 2007, the truth about the nasty state of shopping carts was bent to a hellish purpose when an e-mailed rumor about Hispanics polluting the wheeled conveyances with staph infections spread through Guntersville, Alabama. In that anonymous note, Dr. John Packard Jr., a local pediatrician, was falsely described as having advised a patient that her baby, along with twelve other children, had picked up the potentially deadly contagion from an infected cart at a local grocery store. The doctor was moreover reported to have said Hispanics had put it there, themselves being immune to that form of bacteria. Hispanics have no special immunity to staphylococcus. All the statements attributed to Dr. Packard were not his; they were the invention of the letter’s anonymous writer. As for the wave of illness that had supposedly felled thirteen children who had come into contact with the sickness-laden carts, Packard assured the community no such infection existed and that the alleged incidents never happened. Additional Information: Shared surfaces most favored by germs:",
            "output": [
                "Handles of shopping carts are laden with germs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bae893d349c74552a71258f621014126",
            "input": "About 93 per cent of about 5,000 people surveyed by WWF in March across three Southeast Asian nations as well as Hong Kong and Japan said unregulated markets selling wildlife should be shuttered to ward off future pandemics. Scientists believe the virus that has upturned the lives of billions across the globe originated in a wildlife market, likely in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where bats, pangolins, and other animals known to transmit coronaviruses are crammed together in fetid conditions. “This is no longer a wildlife problem. It is a global security and human health and economic problem,” Christy Williams, WWF’s Asia Pacific Director, said in a news conference, giving results of the survey. Support for a crackdown on markets was strongest in Myanmar, where wildlife has for years been traded openly in the autonomous regions bordering China, while a third of respondents in Vietnam said the crisis had prompted them to stop consuming wildlife products. “COVID is a wake-up call,” Grace Hwa, Illegal Wildlife Trade Programme Manager at WWF Myanmar, said in a statement. “The rampant unchecked trade in wildlife is a risk not only to health and the economy, but to the entire stability of the region.”  In the wake of the outbreak, which began in Wuhan and has since spanned the globe, China introduced a ban on all farming and consumption of live wildlife, but it does not cover the trade in animals as pets, and for traditional medicine. Vietnam’s prime minister has ordered the agriculture ministry to draft a similar directive, banning wildlife trade and consumption. Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific representative for the U.N office on drugs and crime, said some of the trade had been driven underground. “I’m really concerned about the special regions,” he told Reuters by phone, referring to autonomous zones on the Myanmar-China border controlled by ethnic armed groups which have long been a hub for wildlife trafficking. Two residents of Mong La, a border town known as a hotbed of smuggling, told Reuters by phone the markets remained open but wildlife shops were shut. “It is because the car routes are closed so the trade route cannot be done,” said Ye Min Tun, a 29-year-old construction worker.",
            "output": [
                "After-coronavirus, SE Asia strongly favours crackdown on wildlife trade, says WWF."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8e8613bc66fc42e6adfac8102fb48369",
            "input": "The Council of State ruled that doctors had the right to end the medical support that has kept Vincent Lambert, brain-damaged and in vegetative state, artificially alive since a motorbike accident on the way to work plunged him into a coma in September 2008. The verdict follows a heart-rending battle between Lambert’s  wife Rachel, seeking to let the former psychiatric nurse die, and his parents, who took legal action last year to halt plans by his doctors to do that. Apart from places such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, few countries in the world explicitly permit euthanasia or assisted suicide - sometimes known as mercy killings. But France, where President Francois Hollande promised prior to his 2012 election to introduce new right-to-die legislation, has left grey areas regarding more passive forms of euthanasia in a 2005 law on patient rights and care for the terminally ill. The so-called Leonetti law does not legalize euthanasia but also states, according to government information services, that patient treatment should not involve “excessive obstination”. Lambert’s parents, devoutly religious Catholics, said even  before the Council of State’s Tuesday ruling that they had asked the European Court of Human Rights to issue an emergency ruling on the case should the French judges go against their will to keep their son, now in his late 30s, as he is. The international rights court, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, said in a statement it would respond “as soon as possible”. While Hollande has yet to deliver on his promise of legislation by the end of the year on the rights of the incurably ill, the legal battles over Lambert’s fate and other cases has thrust the euthanasia debate firmly back onto the radar screen. As many as 25,000 people die a year in France after removal of medical support, according to Remi Keller, a member of the Council of State. In a separate case, a hospital doctor in southwest France is on trial on charges that he used lethal injections to hasten the deaths of seven old-aged people in 2010-2011. His lawyers say they intend to turn that trial into a debate about the wider issue of the boundaries of euthanasia.",
            "output": [
                "France reopens euthanasia debate with right-to-die ruling."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-407f88418f5d453d9d1051bcc54168f1",
            "input": "\"There’s plenty of fish in the waters of New Jersey, along with lots of other things: mercury, polychlorobiphenyls and dioxin, among them. And according to a former governor, there could be some danger in eating fish from Garden State waters. \"\"Many types of fish and shellfish from waters across the state are labeled unsafe to eat,\"\" Jim Florio wrote in a Dec. 14 guest column in The Star-Ledger about how new reductions in mercury pollution will protect New Jerseyans from contaminated seafood. It turns out Florio wasn’t exactly telling a fish tale, PolitiFact New Jersey found. \"\"I think that’s a fair and accurate statement actually,\"\" said Kerry Pflugh, manager of Constituent Services for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. \"\"But that doesn’t mean that everything we catch is unsafe to eat. … Advisories are not based on water quality, it’s based on what’s in the fish itself. Fish advisories are set by tissue analysis, not water quality.\"\" Jonathan Scott, communications director for Clean Water Action in Washington, DC said, \"\"We would agree with his assessment.\"\" Florio could not be reached for comment. How are fish consumption advisories formulated? Fish collected from New Jersey waterways are sent to The Academy of Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia. Tissue samples are taken to test for contaminants – mostly mercury, PCBs, DDT and other pesticides, said Richard Horwitz, senior biologist at the academy. A committee decides an acceptable risk for eating a particular fish based on potential health issues for people considered \"\"high risk\"\": children, pregnant women and women of child-bearing age, Horwitz said. They are advised to eat smaller portions of fish and less often. The 2010 Fish Consumption Advisories for all New Jersey waterways is available at the DEP’s Office Of Science website. The 30-page document explains what parts of fish are safe to eat; proper preparation; consumption frequency; and more. \"\"Fish is a very healthy source of protein, vitamins and minerals,\"\" said Dr. Gary Buchanan, manager for the DEP’s Office of Science. \"\"Just be careful about the fish you eat when catching them in local waters.\"\" The state also considers federal recommendations made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. \"\"The EPA provides guidance to assist states, Indian tribes and local governments in developing methods of monitoring, gathering and assessing information about their fish populations,\"\" EPA press officer John Martin said in an email. \"\"Since this information is only guidance, use by states is not mandatory. The States have primary responsibility for monitoring, assessing and making advisory decisions. Thus the basis for each State fish advisory varies.\"\" While a variety of contaminants are found in fish, mercury is the most prevalent, experts told us. The mercury found in New Jersey waters comes from air pollution emitted from power plants, coal plants and incinerators from Pennsylvania and the Midwest, according to Buchanan, Horwitz and Scott. \"\"If those sources from out of state are reduced, that will help speed up the reduction of mercury in our waters and our fish and help allow additional fish consumption,\"\" Buchanan said. \"\"It is a nationwide problem. It’s not just a New Jersey problem. Every state in the country has a fish advisory for some parameter and some species.\"\" Even with the chemicals found in fish, New Jerseyans shouldn’t fear eating fish caught from the state’s waters, said Tom Fote, legislative chairman for the Jersey Coast Anglers Association in Toms River, as long as fish consumption guidelines are followed. \"\"Seafood coming out of New Jersey waters is no different than the seafood coming from out of any other state,\"\" Fote said. Our ruling  Florio said in a recent opinion column in The Star-Ledger that most fish from New Jersey waterways \"\"is labeled unsafe to eat.\"\" Experts told PolitiFact New Jersey that they agree with the former governor’s assessment but also note that fish from New Jersey waters can be eaten safely by following consumption advisories. Also, fish bought in supermarkets or other stores in New Jersey are labeled, but recreationally caught fish are not. To comment on this story, go to NJ.com.\"",
            "output": [
                "Many types of fish and shellfish from waters across the state are labeled unsafe to eat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca71f464a3fa4dd4aa61beebb04ac91a",
            "input": "The American, Walter James Palmer, a Minnesota dentist who paid $50,000 to kill the lion, has left Zimbabwe. He says he did kill the animal but believed the hunt was legal and that the necessary permits had been issued. Local hunter Theo Bronkhorst appeared in a courthouse in Hwange, 800 km (500 miles) west of Harare, and was charged with “failing to supervise, control and take reasonable steps to prevent an unlawful hunt”. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was set free after posting $1,000 bail and depositing his passport with the court. He will return to court on Aug. 5 for trial. Game park owner Honest Ndlovu, who is also accused of assisting Palmer, was not charged on Wednesday and parks officials said he would first testify for the state and be charged later. While Bronkhorst appeared in court in Zimbabwe, Palmer, who is accused of killing Cecil with a bow and arrow, was being pilloried on the Internet, with many people wishing him dead. “This is disgusting. I hope you get thrown in a cage with hungry lions,” Julie Lu wrote on the Facebook page of his dental practice. Palmer said on Tuesday he had hired professional guides who secured hunting permits and deeply regretted taking the lion. He added that he had not been contacted by authorities in Zimbabwe or the United States and would assist in any inquiries. The Zimbabwe police and government have not commented. If found guilty, Bronkhorst could be fined $20,000 and possibly jailed for up to 10 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expressed its concern about the killing. “We are currently gathering facts about the issue and will assist Zimbabwe officials in whatever manner requested,” said Vanessa Kauffman, a spokeswoman for the government agency. “It is up to all of us - not just the people of Africa - to ensure that healthy, wild populations of animals continue to roam the savanna for generations to come.”  Cecil was fitted with a GPS collar for a research project by scientists from Oxford University and was one of the oldest and most famous lions in Zimbabwe. The British university’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit said it had been tracking Cecil since 2008 and was “deeply saddened” by his death. “Insofar as this happened illegally we consider it deeply reprehensible,” it said in a statement. It was working closely with Zimbabwe’s National Parks authorities to support their “meticulous work” in prosecuting the case. The unit also said Cecil’s death would be likely to trigger a power struggle in the pride, resulting in the death of other male lions as well as Cecil’s offspring. “When a male lion is killed, because of the way their society works, a likely consequence is the overthrow and death of other adult male members of his weakened coalition, and the subsequent infanticide of his cubs,” it said. Palmer’s hunting has attracted scrutiny in the past. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to lying to a U.S. wildlife agent about a black bear he killed in Wisconsin two years before. He was accused of killing it 40 miles outside a permitted zone, hauling the carcass back into the approved area and certifying falsely that it was killed there. He was  sentenced to one year probation and fined $2,938. In the Hwange case, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force chairman Johnny Rodrigues said Cecil was lured out of the park with bait before being shot. The incident has triggered fierce debate over the commercial ‘trophy’ hunting of African big game. Like many countries, Zimbabwe issues annual permits that allow foreign hunters to kill wildlife such as elephant, buffalo and lion legally, arguing that the funds raised allow the government to fund conservation efforts. “Sustainable trophy hunting is part of well-managed wildlife conservation. It creates incentives for people to look after wildlife,” said Adri Kitshoff, chief executive of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa. “It’s easy to fall into the trap of emotions and not focus on facts.”  However, Edward Bourke, chairman of the Australia-based Saving The Lion Foundation, said Cecil’s death showed the dangers of legal hunting. “There is enough global pressure to push for change. There is an opportunity to offer alternatives, including international aid for establishing safe haven environments like national parks or eco-tourism zones,” he said. One of the few countries to avoid Cecil hysteria was Zimbabwe, where most people are more preoccupied with putting food on the table and finding work in an economy suffering 80 percent unemployment. To the state-run Herald newspaper, the most remarkable aspect of the case was the lion’s name, which it linked to British imperialist Cecil Rhodes, after whom the former Rhodesia named. “How someone thought it such a good idea to christen a lion after the infamous plunderer and murderer who roamed dangerously across Africa can only be a matter of conjecture,” it said in an editorial.",
            "output": [
                "Zimbabwean charged over killing of Cecil the lion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3db14e5a696349d2be03d67713c473b9",
            "input": "Two doctors and a hospital administrator have died and at least 51 staff members have been infected since the new coronavirus was detected at the IMSS General Hospital in Monclova in the northern state of Coahuila in late March, the state health department said. The hospital became Mexico’s first hot spot for the COVID-19 illness caused by the coronavirus. At least four of the infected workers are currently hospitalized as a result of the outbreak, which has fed concerns that Mexico’s underfunded healthcare system is ill prepared to cope with a major epidemic in the nation of nearly 130 million people. At the beginning of the outbreak, managers “said that protective equipment wasn’t necessary,” said nurse Charly Escobedo Gonzalez who works at the Monclova hospital. Answering questions from Reuters about the reports that hospital management told staff not to wear masks, a senior official at Mexico’s main public health service IMSS which runs the hospital said that the health workers should be believed, but he did not confirm details of the reports. “Specifically, if they are saying that then of course we have to believe it,” said the IMSS official, Raul Pena Viveros. He said there can be misunderstandings inside a hospital about where it is appropriate to wear protective equipment. “Not all of the workers have to wear the same equipment inside the hospital. And when this type of equipment is used badly...it runs out more quickly and they put workers who are in contact with patients at risk,” he said. Mexico has registered 4,661 people with the coronavirus and 296 deaths, a fraction of the figures in the neighboring United States, but the coronavirus arrived weeks later in the Latin American country. The Monclova hospital became a coronavirus focal point in the third week of March, highlighting a lack of masks and even soap and bleach there, staff said. As staff began to fall ill, hospital floor managers instructed healthcare workers not to use facemasks, which some had bought for themselves due to the lack of hospital equipment, seven workers told Reuters. Pena Viveros said the hospital had been short of protective equipment as well as other materials to fight the coronavirus in March. Health officials have not given a detailed explanation of why so many Monclova healthcare workers became infected. Hospital workers are at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus if they do not wear protective equipment like facemasks and gloves. The N95 respiratory masks offer more protection from other people who are infected while more simple surgical masks help the wearer avoid spreading the virus. Due to a lack of proper N95 masks, some staff at the hospital were also wearing inappropriate industrial-style masks that were donated to them, Pena Viveros said. The lack of N95 masks was later resolved, said Pena Viveros, who was sent by the head of the IMSS from Mexico City to investigate the Monclova hospital and spent a week there in early April. Staff say the hospital has more protective equipment now but that they still lack gear such as masks. Three nurses said that while some colleagues chose not to wear facemasks after being told by managers or supervisors that they were not necessary, other staff kept wearing them. On the night of March 22, one of the heads of the nursing staff told a group of doctors and nurses gathered in the emergency room to take off their N95 masks because they were not necessary, according to a nurse who heard the order. Another nurse, surnamed Hernandez Perez, was given a similar order by a deputy head of nursing a few days earlier. “In a morning clinical class, the sub-head told us not to create panic...that we shouldn’t wear facemasks because we were going to create a psychosis,” said Hernandez Perez, who did not want her full name used. She is now at home sick and has tested positive for the COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. A second nurse confirmed Hernandez Perez’s account. Reuters was unable to speak to two of the nursing managers who nurses say spoke at that meeting. After media accusations that the Monclova hospital badly lacked equipment to deal with the virus, the head of the IMSS, Zoe Robledo, announced in early April that the director of the hospital had been temporarily replaced. Neither the suspended hospital manager, Ulises Mendoza, nor the current hospital director answered repeated requests from Reuters for comment. One nurse, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation, said that during the second half of March she was repeatedly told by superiors not to wear a facemask while working in high-risk areas such as on the ground floor of the hospital, where the emergency room is located. As well as the 51 confirmed cases, Pena Viveros said more than 300 other workers were temporarily sent home as the hospital scrambled to contain the outbreak. He said the hospital contracted nurses and doctors from other facilities to address the personnel shortage, nevertheless the hospital’s ability to care for patients has been impeded, some staff said.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: Nurses at Mexico hospital hit by coronavirus say they were told to avoid masks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-109325b90fbb42f59bc96e99f3e65891",
            "input": "The Sentinel & Enterprise reports that the Department of Public Health says more than half of the citations at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley were for repeat violations. The department gave the prison 10 days to come up with a plan to fix the issues. A corrections department spokesman says prison maintenance staff is “working diligently” to address the problems. The prison houses about 1,000 of the state’s most dangerous inmates. It is where former NFL star Aaron Hernandez was being held when he hanged himself last year. ___ Information from: Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Mass. ), http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts prison cited for nearly 600 health violations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de034c14340d4a7dac368f8b069cff85",
            "input": "“The speed at which kids are taking up this behavior is very worrisome,” said Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the federal agency that pays for the large annual teen survey. Electronic cigarettes and other battery-powered vaping devices mostly heat a liquid containing nicotine into a vapor that’s inhaled, In recent years, they have been increasingly used to vaporize THC, the chemical that gives pot its high. The University of Michigan survey asks students in grades 8, 10 and 12 across the country about smoking, drinking and drugs. About two-thirds of this year’s 42,000 participants were asked about vaping marijuana. Vaping nicotine is still more popular: about 1 in 4 high schoolers said they had done it at least once in the previous year. But vaping marijuana grew more quickly: 1 in 5 high schoolers had done it at least once the year before. About 1 in 7 high school seniors this year were considered current users of marijuana vaping — they had vaped in the month before they took the survey. That’s almost doubled from 1 in 13 the year before. Overall, marijuana use — in all its forms — is holding steady. It’s not clear if students are switching to vaping or continuing to use other forms as well, said Richard Miech, who oversees the survey. Daily marijuana use rose in both middle school and high school kids in 2019, and “if you want to be a daily marijuana user, vaping makes it easier,” he said. It’s odorless and slips easily into a pocket. “You can just kind of graze on that all day,” he said. The survey is in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which also published results of a different survey in 2018 that showed an increase in marijuana vaping among middle and high school students. Both have limitations: the surveys rely on what kids say, and it does not include teens who are not in school. Federal and state laws ban minors from using marijuana recreationally, and prohibits sale of vaping products to kids The Michigan survey was conducted earlier this year, before reports of a surge in cases of vaping-related lung damage, mostly in teens and young adults who used black-market THC products. Volkow said the illnesses “may scare some teenagers away” from vaping marijuana. The survey also found most other forms of teen drug use are flat or declining, including alcohol, ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, and meth. An exception was LSD, which has been increasing in 10th and 12th graders. About 3.6% of high school seniors said they’d dropped acid in the previous year. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Survey shows boom in marijuana vaping among school kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0cfad7a94a034cf3b2c10c75eb760d36",
            "input": "The Puerto Rican performer said he studied intensely with professors at Yale University and New York University to read brain patterns in worms, mice, monkeys, fruit flies and even hitmaker Bad Bunny to create his second solo project. ″(The album is) going to be about everything that I have inside of my head ... because of that I kept brainstorming and I said, ‘Oh I have to study my brain, and then I have to study other people’s brains, and then I have to study animals’ brains,’” he said. Daniel Alfonso Colón-Ramos, an associate professor of neuroscience at Yale, said Residente spent days at the school doing research: “We were joking that at that we should give him a diploma.” On campus, they used electroencephalogram (EEG) tests on worms to track and record brain wave patterns. “Without harming the animals we can actually see as the animal is thinking, as it’s moving, as it’s exploring its environment, we can see individual cells talking into each other. It turns out when these cells, when these neurons talk to each other they’re using rhythms to communicate — we call it rhythms of activity. But, at the end of the day, those rhythms can be turned into music,” Colón-Ramos said. The untitled album will be released in November. Residente, born René Juan Pérez Joglar, worked with Suzanne Dikker, a senior research scientist in NYU’s Department of Psychology, to use EEG tests on himself and Bad Bunny to produce the album’s first single, “Bellacoso.” The song is a return to Residente’s reggaeton roots and the collaboration with Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, came as a surprise since the 41-year-old Residente is known to rap about politics, social justice and related topics, and he has been critical of the younger generation of Latin trap stars as well as the popularity of the reggaeton sound. “I wanted to prove to the people that even though we are different in certain ways, we can connect with each other with our brain frequencies,” Residente said. “For my fan base, they are very hardcore fans and I know they don’t understand why I’m collaborating with Benito even though he’s huge. Because of the things that I stand for, and other stuff, the way I write lyrics, I wanted to show them that even though we’re different, we can connect.” “As a human being, I like him,” Residente said of 25-year-old Bad Bunny, who has become a breakout star around the world, launching multiple hit songs, topping the charts and even selling out New York’s Madison Square Garden. “It was like working with a little brother.” Residente said during the EEG test he and Bad Bunny “were watching a woman dance, we were drinking (and) they were capturing those frequencies.” “The song is “Bellacoso” — it is like a fun song. It’s like being better than horny. It’s kind of like you’re horny, but two steps up: super-horny,” he said. Residente is a member the alternative hip-hop band Calle 13 and is the most decorated act in the history of the Latin Grammys with 24 wins. He also has four Grammy Awards. His new song’s release comes after he was part of last month’s massive protests against Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello, who announced his resignation following controversies surrounding his time in office. The colorful music video for “Bellacoso” — which starts with a group of men and women twerking in thongs — includes models of various sizes and skin tones. Residente said diversity in music and film “is always important.” “You have to keep going with that,” he said. “Also it’s cool, you see the butts and ladies, you’re liking it, and it’s a guy,” he continued. “There’s a transgender (model in the video). A nice (butt). Everyone has a nice (butt). I was like ashamed of my (butt).”",
            "output": [
                "Residente worked with scientists to create his new album."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-697b455fe4bd47ad8b0d79c92491d74a",
            "input": "According to statistics through Saturday, there were 3,395 cases — included 63 new cases reported the prior week. To underscore the outbreak, the Panama City News Herald reported the state totaled 1,175 reported cases of hepatitis A in the five previous years combined — with 548 of those cases in 2018, according to state Department of Health data. Hepatitis A can cause liver damage and is spread through such things as fecal matter. That can include transmission by people not properly washing their hands after going to the bathroom and contaminating food or drinks. Health officials urge people to get vaccinated against the disease. As of Saturday, Pasco County had the most cases in the state in 2019, with 414.",
            "output": [
                "Nearly 3,400 Hepatitis A cases reported in Florida in 2019."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04a086870d5b49d0899781445f635784",
            "input": "With state and local governments urging isolation to stem the spread of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly respiratory illness, the 62-year-old Nebraska woman worries she will not be able to provide emotional support for her daughter, whose husband is paralyzed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. If someone were to infect her son-in-law with his weakened immune system, “he’d be dead,” Ostberg said. Chicagoan Mike Wisler was prescribed a sedative to help him sleep when the financial and emotional impact of the pandemic hit the 50-year-old bartender. “My mind won’t shut off,” Wisler said. “As soon as I wake up, it’s like, ‘How am I going to get by this month?’”  With public gatherings banned, his work tending bar at parties and private events has evaporated. In North Carolina, 23-year-old Niko, who asked that his last name not be used, is in recovery for drug addiction, and fears a relapse. The grocery store clerk is suffering nervous ticks and bouts of reticence while trying to put on a brave face to avoid alarming shoppers. “What I’m worrying about in my head, I’m only showing about 20 percent of it,” he said. Psychologists and psychiatrists are beginning to report signs of distress among patients worried about the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic that has infected more than 14,500 nationwide, and over 255,000 globally, killing more than 10,000. Six clinicians interviewed by Reuters say the coronavirus has been the prime focus of virtually all recent therapy sessions. Stress caused by fear of the disease is compounded by isolation, mental health experts say, as governments close schools and restaurants, and recommend that people limit social interaction. Stress-reducing activities like exercise, watching sports and going to movies, are becoming nearly impossible after shutdowns of gyms, professional leagues and theaters. The virus’ invisibility makes it all the harder to reconcile the severity of the response. “We’re all a little disoriented,” said Sharon Greenfield, a clinical psychologist in Concord, Massachusetts. “When we see a bear, we go straight into fight-or-flight, but this is a bear we can’t see or taste. Our brains aren’t quite sure whether we’re being exposed to a traumatic trigger or not.”  A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 48% of Americans feel the pandemic is an “imminent threat” to the United States, up 20 percentage points from previous polling taken March 2-3. Psychiatrists interviewed by Reuters cited surges in requests for new anti-anxiety prescriptions and longer refills on existing ones. For mental health professionals, there is the challenge of  providing much-needed care while following social distancing guidelines. That likely means seeing patients via video services. But remote therapy, known as telehealth, isn’t covered by every insurance plan. Federal legislation enacted this month in response to the coronavirus eases restrictions on telehealth coverage under Medicare. Some states are also requiring private insurers to cover telehealth more broadly. Most therapists, though, have not historically provided it. A 2018 study published in the American Psychological Association (APA) Journal showed nearly 60% of providers do no online counseling, and just 6% do more than five hours per week. Since the outbreak took hold, people are scrambling to figure out how to do telehealth, said psychologist Lynn Bufka, director of practice research and policy at the APA. Greenfield said the mental health impact of the coronavirus should warrant a coordinated response, and that federal and local leaders should have protocols for managing a mental health emergency as they do a physical one. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had no comment when asked if coordinated plans exist. The mental health of hospital and other healthcare workers, who risk increased exposure to the virus, is a rising concern. The Facebook group “Covid19 for Healthcare Workers”, which had 124,000 members as of Friday, circulated online signup sheets for therapists willing to donate a free hour of care to such workers. Volunteers “may be asked to provide some debriefing support, for the healthcare workers’ mental health needs during Covid-19,” the form said. Administrators for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. To manage anxiety, doctors recommend limiting news intake to once or twice a day, to stay abreast of health experts’ recommendations while avoiding over-exposure that can trigger panic. They suggest watching comforting movies, video-chatting with family, and going outside as long as it does not conflict with health experts’ guidance. “Connect more deeply with nature, since that is a safe space many of us have become too busy to enjoy,” said Charles Mobayed, a psychologist in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. They also recommend acknowledging anxious thoughts, rather than repressing them - but then moving on quickly. “Notice yourself starting to go there, and say, ‘I hear you, but I’m not gonna think about that right now,’” said Laura Dalheim, a psychiatrist in New York City, which has seen a big spike in coronavirus cases with increased testing. Therapists who spend hours each day soothing the fears of others say they are not immune to the anxiety all around them. Dalheim says she’s had to fight the urge to mirror her patients’ concern during sessions. Greenfield, after an exhausting week, said she found herself on her couch last Friday night eating cheese puffs - and in bed by 9:30. It’s common for health workers to exhaust themselves in a crisis, and crucial they heed the same stress-management advice they provide, said psychologist Jacqueline Sperling, an instructor at Harvard Medical School. “If you wear down your resources,” she said, “you have only an empty hand to give.”",
            "output": [
                "As coronavirus takes emotional toll, mental health professionals brace for spike in demand."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-141794358d884ce19efd7cb8e9cef784",
            "input": "The health commissioner for Lagos, Africa’s largest city with more than 20 million people, said an Italian citizen who entered Nigeria on Tuesday from Milan on a business trip fell ill the next day. Commissioner Akin Abayomi said the man was clinically stable with no serious symptoms. Abayomi said officials were working to identify all of the man’s contacts in Nigeria. The Italian had traveled on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and then to Lagos, according to health authorities. Lagos state early this month advised people arriving from virus-affected areas to observe 14 days of self-quarantine. “I have seen him this morning, he is in high spirits,” said Dr. Bowale Abimbola, medical director of the hospital where the 44-year-old Italian was brought with body aches and fever. “He is doing well and we expect that he will continue to do well.” Nigerian health authorities urged Lagos residents to take measures such as keeping their distance from people who cough and washing their hands regularly. Cases of the virus also were confirmed in Egypt and Algeria in north Africa in recent days. Until then, some global health experts had expressed surprise that no cases had been reported in Africa. Concerns about the virus spreading to countries with weaker health systems led the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global health emergency last month. WHO officials in Africa have warned that health systems could be overwhelmed. Nigeria is one of 13 African countries classified by the WHO as high priority in this outbreak because of direct links to China or a high number of visitors from there. That Nigeria’s first case came from overseas and wasn’t person-to-person transmission inside Africa “shows that the Nigerian government had the right systems in place to detect and confirm this case,” Trudie Lang, director of The Global Health Network at the Nuffield Department of Medicine and the University of Oxford, said in a statement. But detection of further cases in Africa will be challenging as more inexpensive testing kits are needed for on-the-spot diagnosis, Lang added. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has hurried to train its 54 member countries in testing for the virus. Just two countries had the capability at the beginning of this month. Now more than two dozen have it, including Nigeria. Africa Centers for Disease Control has deployed an epidemiologist to Nigeria and shipped 1,000 additional testing kits, according to Africa CDC director Dr. John Nkengasong. “Nigeria is well capacitated to respond to the outbreak,” he said. “Africa CDC had anticipated that COVID-19 outbreak would inevitably impact Africa and has been working actively with African Union Member States and partners on preparedness and response to the disease in the continent. “ Most African airlines with direct flights to China quickly suspended them, and countries activated surveillance and quarantine measures. Many had experience with trying to prevent the spread of the devastating West Africa Ebola outbreak that ended in 2016. Global health experts point to that as a sign of preparedness in this outbreak. The Africa CDC was created in response to the Ebola outbreak, and many countries established public health institutes. Nigeria was praised for quickly containing cases when the Ebola outbreak reached there in 2014 after an infected man from Liberia landed in Lagos. Nineteen people were infected and seven died, but officials were praised for effective public awareness campaigns. “The Ebola outbreak taught us a lot of lessons,” the director of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, wrote in a commentary for The Conversation last month. As of December, all 36 of Nigeria’s states had a rapid response team in case of a disease outbreak, he wrote, and 22 states had emergency operations centers. Nigeria is also currently dealing with an outbreak of Lassa fever — an indication of the health challenges that many African nations face. With the new virus case announced in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 190 million people and numerous air links around the continent and beyond, other nations warned of possible spread. “Given these recent developments globally and in Africa, it is not unlikely that we will have importation of COVID-19 to South Africa,” that country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases said. Separately, South Africa said two citizens who had been working on the Princess Diamond cruise ship have the virus and will stay in Japan for treatment. South Africa said it was informed by Japanese authorities Tuesday after the quarantine on the ship ended. In a separate statement, South Africa said it planned to evacuate more than 130 citizens from China’s Wuhan city where the outbreak began. It did not say when that would happen. South Africa is the first major country in sub-Saharan Africa to evacuate its citizens, while thousands of African students remain stranded. Several governments have said it’s safer to stay in place and not risk spreading the virus back home. In Kenya, the High Court on Friday ruled that all 239 passengers who arrived Thursday on a China Southern Airlines flight should be found and quarantined at a military facility until declared virus-free. The case was brought by the Law Society of Kenya and others amid a public outcry. The court also suspended all flights from China for 10 days. Separately, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that a national isolation and treatment facility be completed within a week. ___ Anna reported from Johannesburg. AP journalists Danica Kirka in London, Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal and Tom Odula in Nairobi contributed.",
            "output": [
                "Nigeria confirms 1st case of new virus in sub-Saharan Africa."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ff5506604aa4417b7a519b4a0ecd723",
            "input": "Dr. Li Wenliang’s death underlined the dangers health workers have faced in similar epidemics, including SARS and Ebola. On Dec. 3, Li wrote on his social media account that he saw a test sample suggesting the presence of a coronavirus similar to SARS. In early January, the 34-year-old eye doctor was visited by police who forced him to sign a statement admitting to having spread falsehoods. Within days, he developed a cough and fever, began having trouble breathing and was hospitalized. His death was confirmed Friday, prompting a deluge of messages of mourning and outrage at how he was treated. The death was an all-too-familiar occurrence, said Dr. Michael Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program. “We’re very sorry to hear the loss of any health care worker that’s attempted to care for patients,” Ryan said Friday. “We have suffered similar losses like the death of Carlo Urbani during SARS.”  In 2003, Urbani was an Italian doctor at the U.N. health agency’s Hanoi office and investigated the unusual case of a patient suffering respiratory symptoms in a private hospital. Urbani treated patients, took samples and worked to improve infection control policies in Hanoi. Weeks later, he died of the same disease — severe acute respiratory syndrome — in a Bangkok hospital. Doctors working at the early stages of any new outbreak are particularly vulnerable, said Dr. Bharat Pankhania, a University of Exeter infectious disease expert. “At the beginning, doctors are just not aware of what kind of behaviors may be dangerous,” he said. When Li was exposed to the new virus, “he didn’t know an outbreak was already underway and what precautions he should take,” Pankhania said. Doctors and nurses also were infected in the early stages of multiple Ebola outbreaks, before the lethal disease was recognized and proper infection control policies were implemented. “It’s just bad timing,” Pankhania said. “Doctors get infected because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Among people infected in the current outbreak, 82% have suffered only mild disease, WHO estimated. Fatal cases have been most common in people aged over 60 and those with other health problems, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Fewer than 2% have died, according to the latest figures. Li, however, may have been at risk for a more serious illness because he was treating patients before he knew to take any precautions, doctors said. He also may have been exposed to an especially large dose, given that eye doctors tend to work close to patients’ faces. A study published Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association underscored the dangers faced by health care workers. The report detailed illnesses in 138 people treated at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, including 40 hospital workers believed to have become infected on the job. More than 10 of them were presumed to have been infected by a single patient who was admitted to the surgical ward with abdominal symptoms. Patients also apparently infected other patients, the researchers said. The patients were all adults, adding to evidence that suggests cases in children are rare. On Friday, WHO warned that increased demand for masks and other protective equipment might further jeopardize health workers responding to the outbreak. WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that prices have skyrocketed and that there were insufficient quantities of masks and respirators to meet the demands of WHO and its partners. The problem has been exacerbated by inappropriate use of equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns, he said. “We need to make sure we get it to the people who need it the most,” he said. “Our first priority is health workers.” ___ Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support  from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Doctor’s death highlights dangers on front lines of outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d8aaac5a9cf54c6cb577a1c1f8122990",
            "input": "Jahi McMath, 13, was taken by a private ambulance on Sunday night from Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland to a long-term care facility where she will be given a tracheostomy and feeding tube, uncle Omari Sealey said. “The goal is for them (the new center) is to give her treatment to help her get to full recovery,” Sealey said. McMath was admitted to Children’s Hospital on December 9 to have her tonsils removed as well as other procedures performed in an effort to treat her sleep apnea. After the surgery, the girl began to bleed profusely, went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain swelling. The hospital declared her brain dead three days later and made plans to remove her from a ventilator. But her family has fought in state and federal court to keep her on life support. A restraining order barring the hospital from removing that life support had been set to expire on Tuesday. The case has drawn international attention, as well as support from relatives of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who died in 2005 after a 15-year battle over whether to keep her body alive in a persistent vegetative state. An extended-care facility on New York’s Long Island, the New Beginnings Community Center, has offered to care for the child. But it was not immediately clear if McMath’s family had accepted the offer. Sealey said on Monday that the Long Island facility was among dozens willing to admit his niece, but declined to disclose what facility had taken her in, saying the family had received threats of violence since McMath’s story became public. Physicians at the new care center planned to perform surgeries on the girl, including a tracheostomy and gastrostomy for breathing and feeding, Sealey said. McMath has not been fed since the day before she was admitted to Children’s Hospital four weeks ago, and nutrients would be needed for any rehabilitation, he added. McMath’s lungs are continuing to function because of air being forced in and out by a ventilator, without which her breathing and heartbeat would cease, according to medical experts. Unlike a person in a coma, McMath lacks brain activity that would allow her to breathe on her own, doctors have said. Sealey said initial doctors’ exams of McMath since her transfer showed some possible brain activity. “They feel like she is not completely gone,” he said. Children’s Hospital has said that McMath’s brain death was tragic but irreversible. Hospital officials have said the facility and state health officials are investigating how a routine operation led to McMath’s condition.",
            "output": [
                "Brain-dead California girl arrives at extended care facility."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b16bef4593d4a5d9893e95d4834f2db",
            "input": "\"In a discussion on MSNBC's  Hardball  program about whether the government ought to consider prosecuting people involved in enhanced interrogation techniques used on some terror suspects, former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, argued that the issue really comes down to waterboarding. \"\"And,\"\" he said, \"\"waterboarding is not torture.\"\" In fact, said Hunter, a Vietnam veteran and former candidate for president, \"\"We waterboard, incidentally, hundreds of our own military personnel. They waterboard themselves in training to toughen themselves up.\"\" He added, \"\"The Geneva Convention .. .was analyzed by the lawyers in place, and they came to the conclusion, especially about waterboarding, because that's the primary thing, that, since we do it to our own soldiers, by the hundreds, incidentally, and it doesn't hurt them, and they — and it makes them tougher, and it doesn't hurt anybody — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gained weight after he was waterboarded — we decided that, since we do that to our own soldiers in training... we‘re not going to consider that torture. \"\" Hunter later challenged host Chris Matthews saying, \"\"But the point is, if we do it, are we torturing American soldiers? You have to answer yes if you consider waterboarding to be torture.\"\" Matthews said the difference is that U.S. service people know they are in training. They know they aren't going to be killed. \"\"That captured person who is one of our enemies has no idea what we‘re doing when we submit him to water torture.\"\" Said Hunter: \"\"If we use it with our own soldiers in training, as we do waterboarding, then it should be allowed with people who have killed thousands of Americans.\"\" We decided to examine Hunter's claim about waterboarding our service personnel as part of their training and found that he is right. U.S. special operations troops have, in the past, sometimes used a form of waterboarding as part of survival exercises, called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training. The idea is to prepare them in the event they are ever captured and interrogated with such means. According to reports in the  New York Times  and  Vanity Fair,  the CIA adopted some of the interrogation techniques used on terror suspects from that SERE training, including the use of waterboarding. According to the  Vanity Fair  story, three-week SERE training for the U.S. soldiers included waterboarding, forced nudity, extreme temperatures, sexual and religious ridicule, agonizing stress positions, and starvation-level rations. The story quotes Michael Rolince, former section chief of the FBI's International Terrorism Operations: \"\"You're not going to die, but you think you are.\"\" But while the techniques may have been derived from SERE training, a different, more intense brand of waterboarding was used on terror suspects, according to recently released CIA documents. According to a May 7, 2004, CIA Inspector General special report on interrogation techniques used on terror suspects, which has some parts redacted, \"\"OIG’s (Office of the Inspector General's) review of the videotapes revealed that the waterboard technique employed at (redacted) was different from the technique as described in the DoJ (Department of Justice) opinion and used in the SERE training. The difference was in the manner in which the detainee’s breathing was obstructed. At the SERE School and in the DoJ opinion, the subject’s airflow is disrupted by the firm application of a damp cloth over the air passages; the interrogator applies a small amount of water to the cloth in a controlled manner. By contest, the Agency interrogator (redacted) continuously applied large volumes of water to a cloth that covered the detainee’s mouth and nose. One of the psychologists/interrogators acknowledged that the Agency’s use of the technique differed from that used in SERE training and explained that the Agency’s technique is different because it is 'for real' and is more poignant and convincing.\"\" The report also says the CIA's Office of Medical Services has characterized the SERE waterboarding as \"\"so different from the subsequent Agency usage as to make it almost irrelevant.\"\" The office said its frequency and intensity raised questions about whether it was effective or medically safe. So we think Hunter misleads a bit by equating waterboarding in training of military personnel with the technique used on terror suspects. According to the CIA inspector general's report, the technique used on the suspects was more powerful and convincing. And in the case of one terror suspect, it was used 183 times, often in rapid succession. So to argue the technique isn't torture because it is used on American servicemen as part of training ignores that it was not used in the same way. Still, Hunter is correct that the U.S. military has waterboarded servicemen as part of survival training. And so we rule his statement .\"",
            "output": [
                "We waterboard, incidentally, hundreds of our own military personnel. They waterboard themselves in training to toughen themselves up."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-acecc50c19a143f6a5329234e6cc0fcb",
            "input": "\"In a video denouncing the Senate health care bill’s slashing of Medicaid funding, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., emphasized the importance of Medicaid in battling the opioid crisis. Warren called an additional $45 billion introduced in the new Senate health care bill to fight the opioid crisis insufficient if spending on Medicaid is to decrease. \"\"Right now, Medicaid is the principal way we deal with opioid abuse,\"\" Warren said. \"\"One in three people who’s receiving treatment for drug problems gets some help from Medicaid to pay for that.\"\" A reader asked us to check out her claim. Are one in three people receiving treatment for drug problems on Medicaid? When we asked her office to clarify her statement, they said Warren referred specifically to opioid users, rather than all of those who suffer from drug problems. Warren was referencing a study by Richard Frank, a professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School who testified before the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee. Frank calculated the percentage of the non-elderly adult population with opioid use disorder covered by Medicaid, which came to 34.3 percent. He used data from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the latest study from the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. Thirty-four percent effectively comes to 1.029, or one, person for every three. Warren said those people are receiving treatment, but Frank’s research looked at people suffering from opioid use disorder whether or not they are currently in treatment. But other research supports her point. When the Kaiser Family Foundation ran the numbers for us, they found that of the 880,000 nonelderly adults with opioid addiction who received treatment for opioid use disorder in 2015, 39 percent were covered by Medicaid. They looked at the same information as Frank. When we extended the population size to include people of all ages, the number was similar: 38 percent. Breaking down these numbers further, 51 percent of the 880,000 treated adults got outpatient treatment only (which refers to visits that don’t warrant an overnight stay), 6 percent got inpatient treatment only, and 43 percent got both inpatient and outpatient treatment. Julia Zur, a senior policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, explained that outpatient treatment is more popular and that patients who start in inpatient treatment will often go on to receive outpatient treatment. When we asked why the number of those who are receiving treatment and covered by Medicaid is higher than those who are simply covered, Frank explained that Medicaid programs tend to be more generous in covering costs than private programs, and Medicaid plans cover at least some medication-assisted treatment to treat substance use disorders. The Medicaid expansion was particularly helpful in securing coverage, as it reached high-need segments of the low-income population in states that have been hard hit by the opioid crisis. Warren said that one in three people receiving treatment for opioid addiction were covered by Medicaid, basing her estimate on 34 percent of people with opioid use disorder. The number was higher when we looked at only those receiving treatment: 39 percent. So while the numbers differ slightly, one in three is still a fair estimate.\"",
            "output": [
                "One in three people who’s receiving treatment for (opioid) drug problems gets some help from Medicaid to pay for that."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0cf59028df784993861c937dbd0cac53",
            "input": "The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission agreed unanimously to give the bison to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation to further the conservation of the country’s last herd of wild, purebred buffalo. The tribe was chosen instead of a proposal to distribute the iconic, hump-shouldered creatures to six organizations across five states, including New York’s Bronx and Queens zoos. “It would be a great celebration at Fort Peck to make this happen,” said Becky Dockter, chief legal counsel for Montana’s wildlife agency. The bison, now in confinement at a Montana ranch owned by media mogul Ted Turner, were part of a government experiment that quarantined the animals to produce a band free of the cattle disease brucellosis, which is carried by roughly half of Yellowstone’s buffalo. The success of the experiment, documented in a scientific study issued earlier this year, gave Montana assurance that relocating the bison would not pose a risk of transmitting brucellosis to commercial livestock. The ailment can cause cows to miscarry. Commissioners adopted the revised plan after calls by buffalo advocates not to send the animals out of state when Indian lands in Montana were suitable and where tribal biologists have already proven they can manage bison, said Andrea Jones, spokeswoman for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. In 2012, the Fort Peck tribes saw the historic return of 63 Yellowstone buffalo to their reservation under a plan crafted by state, federal and tribal bison managers. Montana Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Lawrence Wetsit said the tribes would be open to working with the state on possibly distributing offspring of the brucellosis-free bison to zoos and other proposed recipients like the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. “I’m sure the tribes would be willing to work closely with the state for a percentage of the offspring to go and replenish other herds,” he said. The New York zoos could not immediately be reached for comment on the plan, which must be approved by the head of the state’s wildlife agency. It is also subject to review for adverse environmental impacts. The agreement with the Turner ranch requires the bison be relocated by the end of the year.",
            "output": [
                "Montana to give bison from Yellowstone to tribes instead of zoos."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bf406cc2203f4eeeb46338504d9a1216",
            "input": "\"A bipartisan push in Albany would classify offenses against first responders and law enforcement officers as hate crimes. The Community Heroes Protection Act would also toughen the sentences for those convicted. State Sen. Martin J. Golden, a Republican from Brooklyn and co-sponsor of the bill, said the number of assaults on police officers in New York state should convince his colleagues to support the effort. \"\"The numbers show this law is definitely needed,\"\" Golden said. \"\"Just last year, alone, 710 police officers - this is just police officers - were assaulted in this state.\"\" Is Golden right? Were that many police officers assaulted last year? Data from the FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported the number of law enforcement officers killed and assaulted in the United States since 1972. The FBI defines a law enforcement officer as a local, state, and federal public authority who ordinarily carries a badge and a firearm. The report does not include attacks on correctional officers or emergency responders, though they are included in the proposed legislation. The bureau reported 710 assaults on New York state law enforcement officers in 2015, the latest data available. That’s the lowest number since 2007, when 656 officers were assaulted. The FBI's New York state number, however, is not a statewide figure. It only includes assaults on law enforcement officers outside New York City. The agency said it does not have data for reported assaults on law enforcement officers in New York City. Data from the NYPD The New York City Police Department reports its own data on police assaults, but it defines officers more broadly. The Police Department tracks assaults on police officers, peace officers, prosecutors, nurses, sanitation workers, firefighters, paramedics, city marshals, school crossing guards, traffic agents and emergency responders. The department said it does not report solely the number of assaults on law enforcement officers. Last year the department reported 1,632  assaults on people within the department's definition. That’s down from 2015, when 1,738 assaults were reported. Our ruling Golden said,  \"\"Just last year alone, 710 police officers … were assaulted in this state.\"\" Golden relied on FBI data that does not include assaults on officers from New York City. Golden undercounted, but his point is not lost: The number of reported assaults on law enforcement officers is significant. His statement needs clarification and additional information.",
            "output": [
                "\"Just last year, alone, 710 police officers\"\" were assaulted in New York state.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e76ca915ba0b4463976f4f5f6d88e8ce",
            "input": "\"On the May 1, 2011, edition of ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour, Arianna Huffington -- founder of the liberal news and opinion website The Huffington Post -- threw some cold water on the recent drop in the unemployment rate. Between October 2010 and March 2011 -- when unemployment measures have declined most consistently recently -- the rate has fallen from 9.7 percent to 8.8 percent. That has cheered the Obama Administration, which argues that the numbers are concrete evidence of an improving economy. But Huffington expressed caution about what these numbers really mean, pointing out a complicating factor in how the unemployment rate is calculated -- one that raises questions about whether the administration’s optimistic interpretation is accurate. Here’s what Huffington said: \"\"What's happening in the country with jobs, basically, despite the fact that supposedly, you know, we have a reduction in unemployment. We know this is really a statistical reason because of the shrinking of the actual labor force, but not any real creation of jobs.\"\" We’ve streamlined what Huffington said for clarity’s sake and will use that for our fact-check: Although the unemployment rate seems to be improving, she indicated, it does not reflect real job creation -- the improvement is actually caused by a shrinking labor force. This gets a bit complicated, so bear with us. We’ll start with the way the government’s official arbiter of employment statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, calculates the unemployment rate. BLS determines how many Americans are looking for work, excluding people who have taken themselves out of the labor force, either temporarily or permanently -- for instance, if they are leaving jobs to return to school full time, taking time off to raise children, retiring, taking time to travel long-term or simply living off their savings for a stretch. BLS takes the number of Americans who are unemployed but still looking for work and divides it by the \"\"workforce\"\" -- working Americans plus those who are jobless but looking for work. The result is the unemployment rate. So, the unemployment rate can be shaped by two distinct factors -- the number of unemployed Americans and the number of Americans working or looking for work. If the number of jobless Americans declines and the size of the work force doesn’t change much, the unemployment rate will fall. But if the size of the workforce falls at a fast enough rate, even a decline in the number of jobless Americans can actually lead to a rising unemployment rate. Enough with the theory -- let’s turn to the actual numbers. Between October 2010 and March 2011, the unemployment level -- the numerator used to determine the unemployment rate -- has declined from 14,876,000 in October to 13,542,000 in March. Meanwhile, the civilian work force -- the denominator -- has declined over the same period from 153,960,000 to 153,406,000. And as we indicated, the unemployment rate has declined during that period from 9.7 percent to 8.8 percent. So, over that period, unemployment fell by 1,334,000 people, but it did so for two separate reasons. On the one hand, 554,000 left the work force and, by the logic of the BLS statistic, were no longer counted as \"\"unemployed.\"\" On the other hand, 780,000 people secured jobs. Comparing those two numbers, then, we can say that about 0.5 of the 0.9 percentage-point decline in the unemployment rate was due to people actually getting jobs, and the remaining 0.4 points was due to people leaving the workforce, either because they gave up on their job search or for other reasons, such as retirement. End of story? Not yet. This calculation assumes that the labor force at least should stay the same size from month to month. In fact, economists say that to keep pace with population growth, the labor force has to grow from month to month -- according to one popular estimate, by 100,000 every month. So when the labor force declined from October to March by 554,000, that actually underestimated the migration away from the labor force. The real hit to the work force over that period was more than 1 million Americans. This gets complicated to calculate, so economists sometimes use a different statistic instead -- the employment-to-population ratio. This shows what percentage of the 16-and-over population has a job. The EPOP (as it’s commonly called) fell significantly during the most recent recession, meaning that a smaller share of the population held jobs. In fact, the last time labor force participation has been this low was in the mid 1980s -- a quarter-century ago. This is the statistic that Huffington cited when we reached her. She first referred us to a blog post by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman that bemoaned the sluggish EPOP. She later followed up with a flurry of other articles and economic blog posts that made this point. So we’re left to decide whether it’s better to trust the traditional BLS statistics or EPOP. It’s a tough call. The advantage of EPOP is that it solves the population growth problem, which is not a trivial factor, particularly when you’re talking about a span of several months. The drawback is that it counts as unemployed people who have chosen that course on a truly voluntary basis -- going back to school, raising kids and so on. That overestimates the genuine unemployment rate. On balance, we think (and experts across the ideological spectrum tell us) that both measures are imperfect, but valid. This leaves us with Huffington’s specific comment. The main shortcoming is in her phrasing. She says that there has \"\"not (been) any real creation of jobs.\"\" There’s a legitimate argument to be made about whether the economy is creating enough jobs to keep the economy humming, but we don’t think it’s accurate to say that there’s been no job creation. Over the period we studied, the economy created 700,000-plus jobs, which is not only an increase in absolute terms but is also a pace that exceeded the amount experts say is necessary to keep up with population growth. It’s been modest job growth, perhaps, but not zero. On the other hand, Huffington’s broader point -- that unemployment statistics can be affected by workers’ departure from the labor market -- is an important one, and one that’s often overlooked outside the world of professional economists. No less an authority than the Federal Reserve Board of Governors took note of this reality during its March meeting. According to the minutes of the meeting, \"\"several participants noted that the drop in unemployment was attributable more to people withdrawing from the labor force and to fewer layoffs than to increased hiring.\"\" \"\"There has been some growth in employment, but not as much as the headline-figure drop in the unemployment rate would initially suggest, and labor-force participation has dropped during the recession,\"\" said James Sherk, a senior policy analyst in labor economics at the conservative Heritage Foundation. \"\"There are caveats you could add to make the statement more complete, but as a one-sentence summary it is not far off the mark.\"\" Ultimately, we agree that Huffington is largely correct that the unemployment rate is affected by people leaving the workforce, not just by job creation, even if she has slightly exaggerated its extent.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Arianna Huffington Says although the unemployment rate seems to be improving, it does not reflect real job creation -- it’s caused by a \"\"shrinking of the actual labor force.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcc0547c1607422093c9fb22ac186206",
            "input": "\"EDITOR'S NOTE: An analysis of this comment by President Barack Obama was published on April 1, 2010. After it appeared, the Heritage Foundation's communications office contacted us to argue that our rating of  was too generous to the president. We did some additional reporting to review our ruling. Our second round of reporting -- primarily talking to conservative policy experts outside of Heritage -- solidified our initial conclusions. Below is the updated version of our story, which retains the rating of , published April 26, 2010.Democrats like to parry Republican criticism of the recently passed health care law by talking about how it includes ideas that originated with conservatives. During an interview on NBC's Today show on March 30, 2010, President Barack Obama offered a specific example.Obama told host Matt Lauer that \"\"when you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas. I mean a lot of commentators have said this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney, the Republican governor and now presidential candidate, passed in Massachusetts. A lot of the ideas in terms of the exchange, just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market, that originated from the Heritage Foundation. ...\"\"We zeroed in on the notion that the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that is no fan of Obama's health care law as a whole, might have \"\"originated\"\" the idea of the health insurance exchange -- a virtual marketplace where individuals can purchase health insurance. Our interest only grew after we received an e-mail from Heritage president Ed Feulner that blasted Obama's claim. \"\"President Obama this morning cited the Heritage Foundation's research in an attempt to sell his health care package as a 'middle-of-the-road, centrist approach,'\"\" Feulner wrote. \"\"We take great exception to this misuse of our work and abuse of our name. This is but the latest act in a campaign to sell this big-government program as a moderate law that incorporates conservative ideas. Americans should not be fooled. \"\"Feulner went on to argue that \"\"the president knows full well — or he ought to learn before he speaks — that the exchanges we and most others support are very different from those in his package. True exchanges are simply a market mechanism to enable families to choose their health insurance. President Obama’s exchanges, by contrast, are a vehicle to introduce sweeping regulation and federal standardization on health insurance. \"\"Heritage continued its campaign against Obama's claim in an April 19, 2010, op-ed column in the Washington Post. The director of Heritage's Center for Health Policy Studies, Robert Moffit, wrote that \"\"the version of the exchange we did develop couldn't be more different than that embodied in this law.\"\" He charged that \"\"the Obama health-care law 'builds' on the Heritage health reform model only in the sense that, say, a double-quarter-pounder with cheese 'builds' on the idea of a garden salad. Both have lettuce and tomato and may be called food, but the similarities end there. \"\"We see two related, but distinct, questions here. The first is whether Heritage did in fact \"\"originate\"\" the idea of health insurance exchanges. The second is whether the exchange prescribed by the new law mirrors the one that Heritage has supported.• Did Heritage originate the idea? Our research suggests that while Heritage has advocated for health insurance exchanges for many years, others did, too. Scholars credit Alain C. Enthoven -- an emeritus professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business who worked in the Defense Department during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations -- with popularizing the idea for an exchange as many as three decades ago.Still, there's little doubt that Heritage has been a consistent and eager promoter of the exchange idea, especially during the effort to design a new health care system for Massachusetts. That effort concluded with the Democratic legislature joining with the Republican governor, Romney, to implement a system that includes a health insurance exchange.On numerous occasions, Heritage scholars wrote approvingly of the exchange system in Massachusetts, known as the Connector. In a paper about the Massachusetts plan published on April 11, 2006, Edmund Haislmaier, a Heritage fellow in health care policy, wrote of the \"\"truly significant and transformative health system changes that the legislation would set in motion. \"\"Specifically, Haislmaier wrote that \"\"this concept of organizing a state's insurance markets around a central clearinghouse represents a dramatic departure from recent state health insurance reform proposals. States have spent the past 15 years trying to expand health care coverage to small-business employees, with virtually no positive results. The Massachusetts legislation represents a bipartisan commitment to move away from the policies that have largely failed to make progress in covering the uninsured for the past 15 years. \"\"In another paper, titled, \"\"The Rationale for a Statewide Health Insurance Exchange,\"\" and published on Oct. 5, 2006, Heritage scholar Robert Moffit wrote that \"\"the best option is a health insurance market exchange.\"\" Comparing it to a farmers' market or the used-car dealer CarMax, Moffit said the exchange \"\"would expand coverage and choice\"\" and would represent \"\"a revolutionary change in the health insurance market. \"\"Journalists seemed to give Heritage credit, as well. During 2006, columns and articles citing Heritage's role in promoting the health exchange idea ran in such publications as the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the National Review.We feel the president is largely right on this point. The idea for exchanges may have \"\"originated\"\" outside Heritage, but in well over a decade leading up to the introduction of the president's health care plan, Heritage clearly took a high-profile role in touting it, culminating in the proposal enacted in Massachusetts. And given that, they can hardly be shocked that the president is noting the think tank's role in developing the overall concept (even if he did so in a self-serving way).• Is it the same idea? After Obama made his comment, we spoke to both Haislmaier and to Stuart Butler, Heritage's vice president for domestic policy. Both argued that the plan now enacted into law is fundamentally different in structure than the one Heritage advocated. \"\"What Obama and Capitol Hill did was to take a mainstream idea and push it toward a much more interventionist, regulatory model, as opposed to the original idea, which was more market-based,\"\" Butler said in an interview.To prevent Heritage scholars from moving the goalposts after the fact, we decided to analyze how similar the proposals are only by referring to policy stances that can be documented in briefing papers published prior to Obama's election. We found at least four papers that spoke directly to the health insurance exchange idea, and in these papers, we noticed several passages that advocated elements of an exchange that differ from how the bill was ultimately written.Here are some of those differences:-- Who can use the exchange? In a 2006 paper, Moffit wrote, \"\"Ideally, an exchange should be open to all state residents and all interested employers, regardless of the size of the firm, who want to arrange health insurance through the exchange. \"\"That's not the case with the exchanges in the new law -- at least not any time soon. When the exchanges go live in 2014, they will only be open to people already buying insurance on the individual market (that is, those buying insurance independent of their employer) and to employees of small businesses with up to 100 employees. A provision does allow employees of businesses with more than 100 employees to purchase coverage from the exchange, but not until 2017, and only if their state decides to allow it. (The exception is that employees who are paying too large a percentage of their income on their employer-based health insurance will be eligible in 2014.) -- How much federal regulation will there be? Heritage scholars have regularly argued that the key regulatory role for the exchanges should be handled by the states, rather than the federal government.In a 2007 paper, Butler wrote that \"\"each state would determine on its own such features as the infrastructure for handling premiums, as well as the regulations and requirements for accepting insurance plans into the exchange. The state also would be responsible for determining pooling, reinsurance, and risk adjustment arrangements and the degree to which firms would, if at all, be required to offer plans available through the exchange to their employees. \"\"It's true that the new health care law will create state-based exchanges. However, they will have to adhere to many federal requirements.For instance, the federal law requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to define an \"\"essential health benefits package\"\" (and update its details every year). This will become the minimum package offered on the exchanges. The law also limits plans sold on the exchange to charging differential premiums only based on age (in a 3-to-1 ratio), geography, family composition and tobacco use (on a 1.5-to-1 ratio). And health plans on the exchange will have to abide by an assortment of other rules governing marketing requirements, provider networks and standards for presenting information to consumers.-- How portable will insurance be? In a 2007 paper published by Heritage, researcher Connie Marshner argued that health insurance exchanges would promote portability of health insurance. \"\"When individuals are able to purchase health insurance for themselves in an (exchange) marketplace, the insurance belongs to them,\"\" Marshner wrote. \"\"Even if they change jobs, move, or quit working and retire, they own the policy and can keep the same health insurance if they so choose. \"\"That should be the case for many people on the health care law's exchange, especially those who bought their insurance individually, as long as states don't erect high barriers that bar people from moving from one state's exchange to another. But full portability will be unlikely for those who purchased insurance on the exchange with the help of their employer. While the exchange should make it easier for those switching jobs to find new insurance, there will most likely be a disruption when that employee switches companies -- and whenever there's a disruption in coverage, there's a likelihood that their plan will have to change to one degree or another.So where does this leave us?Edwin Park, a senior fellow with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, sees significant similarities in approach despite the differences outlined above. Park said the differences involved \"\"rules of the road within the exchange, rather than fundamental differences in the underlying concept or structure. \"\"Henry Aaron, a fellow with the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution, called the new health care law \"\"a close relative\"\" of Heritage's plan -- \"\"not identical to be sure, but a sibling or at least a first cousin. The essence is that you have a government or nonprofit entity that regulates the sale of insurance to individuals or businesses in order to standardize offerings and to control selling methods in order to produce real, head-to-head competition and to provide customers information in forms they can readily understand. ... Yes, they are all different; but they are all of the same family. \"\"We also solicited the views of conservative policy experts beyond Heritage.One -- Tevi Troy, a visiting senior fellow at the Hudson Institute -- thought Heritage had a legitimate gripe. \"\"In the policy world, there is often a vast gulf between theoretical ideas and policies as implemented, and this case is no exception,\"\" Troy said. \"\"While Heritage had been a leading advocate for health insurance exchanges, the law as written creates something so different from what Heritage sought that I understand why they want to remove their name from the list of proponents. \"\"However, we heard from nine people affiliated with conservative policy organizations other than Heritage who thought that the president's statement was reasonably accurate.Seven of them declined to publicly express their differences with Heritage for fear of making waves within the tight-knit conservative policy world. But two did allow their names to be used. One was Dan Miller, executive vice president of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, who acknowledged that Obama's statement was so carefully worded that the president \"\"was able to exploit\"\" the issue \"\"for his own ends. \"\"The other was Daniel McCarthy, senior editor of the American Conservative magazine who has written recently about the conservative origins of the president's health care plan. \"\"Every think tank on the left and right knows that its recommendations will undergo some deformation before they make their way into law, if they ever do,\"\" McCarthy told PolitiFact. \"\"Heritage might prefer state insurance exchanges with greater individual choice, including for workers already covered by their employers. But I don't imagine Ed Feulner would be complaining at all if a Republican president or a Republican Congress had passed a plan that deviated from the Heritage blueprint to the same degree that Obama's bill has. While it's not true that 'lots of' the specifics in the Obama plan were dreamed up by Heritage, the overall approach is similar to policies Heritage has long championed, including the individual mandate as well as the insurance exchanges. This is only controversial because the wrong party happened to pass the law, and it's poison for any conservative to be identified with it. \"\"We agree with Heritage that the differences between its original vision and the version enacted into law are not trivial, and are enough to undercut the president's effort to secure a Heritage Foundation seal of approval for his bill. But the president helped his case by wording his statement with extreme care. Intentionally or not, he gave himself subtle linguistic running room by saying that \"\"a lot of the ideas\"\" for the exchange came from Heritage, including the concept of \"\"just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market.\"\" Even if not all of the ideas in the two plans are identical, we feel that it was fair of him to say that \"\"a lot of the ideas\"\" are in common, including the notion of pooling. So we conclude that the president's statement qualifies as .\"",
            "output": [
                "A lot of the ideas in terms of the (health insurance) exchange, just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market, that originated from the Heritage Foundation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d5bbcb41d1d4a9c80d4c03f24ad94a3",
            "input": "\"Florida leads the nation in deaths from lightning strikes. But State Farm, one of the nation’s major insurers, says it is Georgia residents who file the most claims for lightning strikes in the country, WSB-TV reported Friday, June 5. PolitiFact Georgia was intrigued and decided to dig a little deeper. We began by contacting Justin Tomczak, a State Farm spokesman. He sent us data showing Georgia was No. 1 in 2014 for lightning-related claims both in number (3,709) and total dollar value ($16.3 million). Texas was second, Alabama at third, Louisiana at fourth and Illinois at fifth. STATE Reported Count Paid Indemnity  Georgia 3,709 $16,301,952 Texas 2,201 $14,160,258 Alabama 1,902 $10,930,264 Louisiana 1,707 $10,930,264 Illinois 1,669 $8,030,507 . \"\"This is the third year in a row that Georgia has been ranked No. 1,\"\" Tomczak said. Most of the lightning claims were surge- or power-related, the spokesman said. Damages generally resulted from power surges in electrical wiring, TV cable or phone lines in homes or businesses, he said. As to why Georgia has the most claims, Tomczak said, \"\"there is no simple answer. However, many of the lightning claims are concentrated in the Southeastern United States, and Georgia has one of the highest populations in this area.\"\" John Jensenius, lightning safety specialist with the National Weather Service, said the population density in metro Atlanta may be a factor in Georgia’s high claim rate. The denser the population the more likely lightning will strike a house, Jensenius said. The Insurance Information Institute, in conjunction with State Farm, compiles a list each year of the top 10 states for homeowners insurance lightning losses by number of claims. In 2013, the institute listed Georgia as highest with 11,184 lightning-related insurance claims from homeowners. Its 2014 report is due out within days, a spokeswoman said. (Georgia was No. 1 for 2012 with 3,844 claims totalling $21.5 million and for 2013 with 2,969 claims totalling $14.9 million, according to State Farm). Nationwide, lightning strikes cost about $674 million in homeowners insurance losses in 2013, down 30.5 percent from 2012, according to the institute. From 2007 to 2011, local fire departments across the country responded to an average of 22,600 fires a year that were started by lightning, according to the National Fire Protection Association. These fires caused an average of $451 million in direct property damage and nine civilian deaths a year, an NFPA analysis shows. Lightning deaths  Florida led the nation for lightning deaths in 2014 with six, followed by Wisconsin with three. Georgia, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado and Massachusetts each had two deaths. Seven additional states -- California, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas -- reported one lightning death in the year. The 26 lightning deaths in 2014 followed a record low of 23 set in 2013. The National Weather Service said deaths from lightning strikes averaged 33 a year from 2004 to 2013 and, going back over the last 30 years, an average of 51 people died each year after being hit by lightning. The significant decline in lightning deaths has been attributed to fewer farmers working in the fields, technological advances, improved safety standards and protection. As of the June 1, 2015 there have been six lightning fatalities, two in North Carolina and one each in Iowa, Florida, New Mexico and West Virginia, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). WSB-TV meteorologist Brian Monahan said lightning strikes occur most often in Georgia during the summer months when the high pressure area out in the Atlantic around Bermuda pumps in warm, humid air, creating those all-too-familiar afternoon and evening thunderstorms. A secondary spike of lightning strikes also occurs in the severe weather seasons of March to early May and around October and November, when the air is still warm and humid enough to support storms, Monahan said. Our ruling State Farm says Georgia residents file the most claims for lightning strikes in the country. There’s evidence this has been the case last year and the two previous years.\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia residents file the most insurance claims for lightning strikes in the country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17691b54bf4d47f0bdddbe36c7eeb834",
            "input": "A common variation in the FTO gene affects one in six of the population, making them 70 percent more likely to become obese - but until now experts did not know why. Using a series of tests, a British-led research team said they had found that people with the variation not only had higher levels of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin in their blood but also increased sensitivity to the chemical in their brains. “It’s a double hit,” said Rachel Batterham from University College London, who led the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on Monday. The discovery follows studies of blood samples from people after meals, combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging of volunteers’ brains and cell-based studies looking at ghrelin production at a molecular level. Batterham said the work provided new insights and possible new leads for treatment, since some experimental drugs are known to suppress ghrelin and could be particularly effective if targeted at patients with the obesity-risk variant of the gene. Previous research has also shown that ghrelin can be reduced by eating a high-protein diet. Steve Bloom of Imperial College London, who was not involved in the study, said the FTO gene only explained a small part of the obesity epidemic but the latest discovery was “an important step forward” in unraveling the various factors involved. The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide at an alarming rate and both developed and developing countries are affected. Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese and more than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011, according to the World Health Organization. Developing effective obesity drugs has been a challenge for drugmakers, although some new medicines are now coming through. After a gap of more than a decade, two new obesity drugs - Vivus Inc’s Qsymia and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc’s Belviq - were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year. Belviq’s launch was delayed, however, pending a final classification on its risk of abuse and Qsymia’s sales have been disappointing, triggering fierce criticism from Vivus’s largest shareholder.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists find how 'obesity gene' makes people fat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dba39ade8e7e44c491a6531998db5b80",
            "input": "A man walks his dog through Central Park in New York August 27, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson The ban, which officials hope will prevent problems caused by second-hand smoke, adds to the city’s 2003 ban on cigarettes in bars and restaurants. The new law will not be enforced by police but by some 200 parks personnel who watch over the city’s 29,000 acres of park land and beaches. Violators face a $50 fine but officials say the ban is meant to be largely self-enforcing. “We don’t think that people should be exposed to those chemicals when they go to a park to enjoy the fresh air,” city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told Reuters. Saleswoman Polonia Jourdain, sitting on a park bench with her 8-month-old nephew, said she was happy with the ban. “I don’t want to smell smoke wherever I go,” said Jourdain, 17. “The smell of cigarettes makes me nauseous and gives me headaches.”   New York’s City Council voted in February to broaden the city’s smoking prohibitions to cover its 1,700 parks, beaches, boardwalks and pedestrian plazas, such as Times Square. New York follows Chicago and Los Angeles, which have already enacted similar bans. New Yorkers still can smoke on sidewalks, parking lots, streets and in their homes, although many landlords of rental properties do not allow it. Not everyone was so pleased by the new law. The ban represents “an extreme revocation of civil liberties rather than telling people to just walk away,” said Audrey Silk, a member of New York Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment. “If you held up the evidence up to sunlight, it would disintegrate,” she said. Some New Yorkers said they were confused by the limits. “Can you smoke on the sidewalk next to a park?” asked attorney Alex Roberts, 36, smoking a cigarette in violation of the ban. New York health officials say cigarettes kill more than 7,000 residents a year. In 2002, 21 percent of New York adults smoked and the percentage is now down to 15.8 percent, Farley said. Bloomberg has promoted health measures including a ban on trans fats in restaurant food and a requirement that chain restaurants display calorie counts on menus. He has campaigned nationally for food companies to cut salt levels in their products and for the federal government to ban the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps — federal vouchers used by 42 million low-income Americans to buy food.",
            "output": [
                "Beaches, parks off limits to New York smokers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cdb5c4333e09444ca2dd509c7633f698",
            "input": "Public health officials stressed Tuesday that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another. “We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said. Added Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, “This is a number that we need to anticipate, but we don’t necessarily have to accept it as being inevitable.” Trump called it “a matter of life and death” for Americans to heed his administration’s guidelines and predicted the country would soon see a “light at the end of the tunnel” in a pandemic that in the United States has infected about 190,000 people and killed more than 4,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. “I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Trump said. The White House figures assume that Americans follow the rigorous social-distancing guidelines set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the stricter “stay at home” restrictions set by many governors across the country. Still, the White House was not looking at a nationwide order. “We live in a nation that has a system of federalism, and the governors get to make the decisions,” Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, told NBC’s “Today” on Wednesday. “But we’re gonna give them the best possible guidance we can, and that’s to stay at home and to social distance.” “This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country,” Trump said. “We’re going to lose thousands of people.” The jaw-dropping projections were laid out during a grim, two-hour White House briefing. Officials described a death toll that in a best-case scenario would likely be greater than the more than 53,000 American lives lost during World War I. And the model’s high end neared the realm of possibility that Americans lost to the virus could approach the 291,000 Americans killed on the battlefield during World War II. “There’s no magic bullet,” Birx said. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors. Each of our behaviors, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic.” Fauci called the numbers “sobering” and urged Americans to “step on the accelerator” with their collective mitigation efforts. “We are continuing to see things go up,” Fauci said. “We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.”  Birx said pandemic forecasts initially predicted 1.5 million to 2.2 million deaths in the U.S. But that was a worst-case scenario, without efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing. She added that states that have not yet seen a spike in cases as New York has could take action to flatten the curve of rising hospitalizations and deaths. It’s not only social distancing that could make a difference but also the frantic efforts by hospitals around the country to prepare for an onslaught of seriously ill patients. The better prepared hospitals are, the greater the chances of lives being saved. There’s also a wild card when it comes to treatment: whether the experimental drug combination Trump has touted — a medicine for malaria and an antibiotic — will actually make a difference. That combination is already being used on thousands of patients, and Fauci said he would want to see a rigorous test of its effectiveness. Trump’s comments came after he announced Sunday that he was extending to April 30 the social distancing guidelines that advise Americans to cease large gatherings, work from home, suspend onsite learning at schools and more in a nationwide effort to stem the spread of the virus. Adams said that some areas of the country would likely need to maintain those restrictions into May. “Well, it will be for some places, it won’t be for others, depending on where they are on their curve,” he told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” It was an abrupt reversal for the Republican president, who spent much of last week targeting April 12 as the day he wanted to see Americans “pack the pews” for Easter Sunday services. Trump called the data “very sobering,” saying it was his understanding that 100,000 deaths was a minimum that would be difficult to avoid. He also sought to rewrite his past minimization of the outbreak, saying he rejected those who compared the new coronavirus to the flu when in fact he repeatedly did so publicly. “This could be hell of a bad two weeks,’” Trump said. He added: “You know 100,000 is, according to modeling, a very low number. In fact, when I first saw the number ... they said it was unlikely you’ll be able to attain that. We have to see but I think we’re doing better than that.” Trump played down concerns from New York’s Andrew Cuomo and other governors that their states’ hospitals don’t have enough ventilators to treat an anticipated crush of patients. Trump said the federal government currently has a stockpile of 10,000 ventilators that it plans on distributing as needed. “Now, when the surge occurs, if it occurs fairly evenly, we’ll be able to distribute them very quickly before they need them,” Trump said. “But we want to have a reserve right now. It’s like having oil reserves.” Birx said the experiences of Washington state and California give her hope that other states can keep the coronavirus under control through social distancing. That’s because they moved quickly to contain the early clusters of coronavirus by closing schools, urging people to work from home, banning large gatherings and taking other measures now familiar to most Americans, she noted. Trump said he would also ask Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow the docking of two cruise ships with passengers who have had contact with patients suffering from COVID-19. Passengers are anxious to disembark once they reach Florida, but DeSantis said the state’s health care resources are already stretched too thin to take on a ship’s coronavirus caseload. “They’re dying on the ship,” Trump said. “I’m going to do what’s right, not only for us for but humanity.” Trump also said he planned to curtail his travel for the month ahead and stay close to the White House to safeguard his health. The president hasn’t held one of his signature big-stadium rallies since early March. “I think it’s important that I remain healthy. I really do,” Trump said. “So for the most part we’re staying here.”",
            "output": [
                "Trump says ‘life and death’ at stake in following guidelines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5d615b4d9f749e6a5238033add4dd30",
            "input": "They shake the earth far less than the 7.0 magnitude quake that sent a mirror, TV and dishes crashing to the ground in the Anchorage home where Connor lives with his mother, father and 11-year-old brother. But the seemingly never-ending aftershocks deepen quake anxiety for the second-grader and many other Alaska residents in the wide swath of the state shaken by the Nov. 30 quake. When the big aftershocks hit, Connor fears his home will collapse. “I feel like the house won’t hold up,” he said. Many of the aftershocks are so small that people don’t notice them, like a recent one that Connor didn’t feel at school — but his teacher made all the students dive under their desks to be safe. The latest big aftershock happened last Sunday — a magnitude 5.0 jolt that flared already frayed nerves and prompted panicky posts on social media. That one “reminded people again that it’s not over yet,” said seismologist Natalia Rupert at the Alaska Earthquake Center. There have been more than 7,800 aftershocks since the main earthquake struck 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of Anchorage, the state’s most populous city. Most were too small to feel, but 20 have had magnitudes of 4.5 or greater. Rupert expects the temblors to continue for months, although the frequency has lessened, from about 200 daily to a couple dozen a day. With no end to the seismic action in sight, Laura Dykes said her upcoming vacation trip to Las Vegas will be a huge relief from the stress she now experiences. The Anchorage law firm worker still has vivid memories of her basement office in a building swaying back and forth during the November earthquake. It was built on rollers to protect it from seismic events. “I can’t get out of here fast enough,” Dykes said. “It’ll be five days I can get sleep.” The earthquake buckled roads and some homes and buildings sustained heavy damage, with initial estimates to repair damage and other costs at about $100 million. But most parts of Anchorage and other areas escaped the type of widespread catastrophic damage that happened in a devastating 1964 earthquake because of strict building codes that were put in place after that quake, which had a magnitude of 9.2 and was the second most powerful quake recorded on the planet. No deaths or serious injuries were reported after the quake seven weeks ago, but federal officials soon declared a public health emergency and mental health aid was made available for people traumatized by the event. School counselors were swamped and crisis counselors were brought in from Oregon to help at several Anchorage-area schools. Therapists and other professionals struggled to meet demand from a nervous public. Mental health providers say the rush of new patients has slowed, but they still treat clients rattled by the aftershocks, which strike without warning or any apparent pattern. “It’s overwhelming for people, and they feel emotionally out of control,” said Deborah Gonzales, a licensed clinical social worker in Anchorage. Gonzales said people tell her they can’t stand the shaking and don’t feel safe anywhere. Some are considering moving out of state while others say they feel “crazy” — feelings Gonzales called “100 percent normal.” For Connor, every noticeable shake triggers feelings of vulnerability, said his mother, Tamra Cartwright, adding that many of her friends’ children also struggle with quake-related fears. Tamra Cartwright said her husband was at work when the main quake struck, but she and her sons ran out of the house and hugged each other as they huddled together outside. Along with broken family items, the only damage to their home was an existing hairline wall crack that was made wider. But Connor couldn’t sleep in his own bed for weeks and only just returned to it. His mother said she “totally” hates the aftershocks, but tries to “be strong for my kids.” Lifelong Alaskan Robert Bell was 12 during the 1964 earthquake and remembers it as a rolling action while the recent quake was more of a back-and-forth movement that felt more violent even though it wasn’t as powerful. The recent quake and its aftershocks have been like reliving that youthful experience over and over,  Bell said. Bell, who worked in construction for years, built his own home and says it’s safe and solid. But his heart races when the aftershocks hit. “You don’t know when the next one’s going to hit — that’s been unnerving,” he said. They’re also unsettling for Ethel Sechlera. But the Anchorage supermarket cashier considers them a way for the ground to let out seismic pressures. “I’d rather have the little aftershocks to keep from having the big one hit,” she said. Others shrug off the aftershocks as part of daily life in the most seismically active region of the U.S. “I guess I’m a special kind of case because I don’t really mind it so much,” said Isaiah Sagayo. “I just continue on.” ___ Follow Rachel D’Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro",
            "output": [
                "Anxiety in Alaska as endless aftershocks rattle residents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-874978a9003d473bb9afdf8d421cddd8",
            "input": "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement on Friday citing three such cases newly diagnosed by state public health authorities - one each in California, Oregon and Washington state. If confirmed by the CDC, together with a previous case of unknown origin announced on Wednesday in California, that would bring to four the number of diagnosed individuals in the United States with no history of travel to a country where the virus is circulating and no close contact with an infected person. The three latest patients were diagnosed based on results obtained in their respective states from CDC-supplied test kits and are considered “presumptive positive” cases pending CDC confirmatory testing, the U.S. agency said. A fourth presumptive positive was also announced in Washington state on Friday, but that one is “likely travel-related,” the CDC said. Still, the three latest cases of apparent community transmission, plus the one identified earlier this week in California, are a sign the virus is now spreading within at least four separate locations up and down the U.S. West Coast. They span nearly 900 miles from California’s Silicon Valley region in Santa Clara County north to the Puget Sound near Seattle. “What we know now is that the virus is here, present at some level, but we still don’t know to what degree,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the chief public health officer for Santa Clara County, speaking of the newly diagnosed case there, the latest of three in her county and the 10th statewide. Even as confirmation was pending there, the CDC sent a team to assist local authorities in tracing close contacts the patient had with others in a bid to curb transmission. Until this week, the CDC had counted 15 confirmed cases in six states as having been detected through the U.S. public health system since Jan. 21, none fatal. Most were contracted by individuals while traveling in China, where the outbreak originated. Only two person-to-person transmissions were documented among them, both between married couples. An additional 47 cases have been confirmed among people recently repatriated from abroad, either from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan or from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, according to the CDC. The latest flurry of cases came as the Trump administration said the United States would invoke a federal defense law to boost production of masks, gloves, gowns and other items needed to protect medical personnel from exposure. Around the world, more countries are reporting new infections, companies have curtailed travel and global stock markets have tumbled. President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday the United States will decide “very soon” about whether to bar entry to travelers from countries other than China where community transmission has emerged. At a rally in South Carolina on Friday night, Trump defended his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and accused Democrats of politicizing the disease. “This is their new hoax,” Trump said at the event, held a day before the state’s Democratic presidential primary. The U.S. State Department has issued travel advisories for several nations and on Friday it said Americans should reconsider travel to Italy, where nearly 900 coronavirus cases have been confirmed. A similar warning was issued earlier this week for South Korea, which has hundreds of infections. A government task force appointed by Trump to deal with the threat will meet at the White House on Saturday morning, according to an administration official. Latest figures from China, where the outbreak started late last year, indicated that nearly 80,000 people have been infected, with more than 2,800 deaths. The World Health Organization reported 57 deaths in 46 other countries. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a closed-door briefing in the U.S. House of Representatives that sustained spread of the coronavirus meant there would be many more infections in the United States, according to a source. Fauci warned lawmakers the country lacked enough testing resources, the source said on condition of anonymity. The CDC said it has revised its criteria for who should be tested and is ramping up testing capabilities. “Our goal is to have every state and local health department online and doing their own testing by the end of next week,” CDC official Nancy Messonier told reporters. A vaccine may take up to 18 months to develop, health officials have said. The United States has decided to postpone a meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian countries it had planned to host on March 14 in Las Vegas because of worries about the outbreak. U.S. and global stocks plummeted as rattled investors braced for the prospect that a pandemic could further dent an already slowing world economy. The S&P 500 .SPX fell for the seventh straight day on Friday, suffering its biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis. Stocks cut losses right at the end of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1.4%. Trump this week said the coronavirus risk to Americans remained “very low,” but he has been increasingly alarmed by the reaction of the U.S. stock market, which he considers a barometer of the economy’s health. (GRAPHIC - Tracking the novel coronavirus: here)",
            "output": [
                "Number of U.S. coronavirus cases of unknown origin climbs to four."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19bb7e84d24d400fbb9f7fe7244c933f",
            "input": "With most European leagues likely finishing the season in empty stadiums, clubs have decisions to make regarding fans who paid for tickets but won’t be allowed to attend matches. Though few clubs in Spain have announced options for their ticket holders, Madrid-based club Getafe is taking the forefront by giving fans a free season of league matches in 2020-21. Getafe president Ángel Torres said the more than 13,000 fans who are up to date with their ticket payments won’t have to pay for La Liga games next season. though they will still have to purchase tickets for non-league matches. The club said the move was a way to give back to fans for “the damages caused by the coronavirus health crisis.” “With this measure Getafe wants to compensate the fans and thank them for their support in these difficult times,” the club said. Getafe was in the round of 16 of the Europa League when the competition was suspended because of the pandemic. It was fifth in the Spanish league, just outside the qualification spots for the Champions League. It has five league home games left this season. Belgian club Genk also extended its ticket memberships, making them valid until January of next year for free. The club said the measure could be further extended if fewer than six home matches with fans are played by then. In England, Manchester United offered season ticket holders either a rebate for next year or a cash refund based on the number of games still to be played. Liverpool suspended its ticket renewal process but said prices would be frozen for a fifth consecutive year. Brighton offered a refund but said many fans agreed to donate the money back to the club or to a charity. “It has been humbling to receive so many emails and messages from fans, firstly concerned for our welfare as a club and also as individuals and secondly asking for their ticket or membership payments to be retained by the club or Albion As One fund,” Brighton CEO Paul Barber said. “We fully appreciate not all fans will be in a position to make a donation or some may not wish to do that, but in response to those writing in we wanted to give all our supporters the choice.” Spanish club Valladolid also said many of its fans were giving up their rights for a refund “as a way to help the institution.” Like many other clubs in Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona were yet to announce their plans for season ticket holders. Atlético Madrid said it would give a 20% discount for next season, while Real Sociedad refunded 20% of what fans paid this season regardless of how the league would end. “We do not know if the competition is going to take place and, if it does, we do not know if it will be behind closed doors or with fans, which is what we would like to happen,” the club said last month. “In any case, these measures will be applied even if the competition resumes with matches being played with fans.” Eibar planned to give money back for the games played without fans, and was studying other actions that could include giving fans additional credit at the club’s stores. Osasuna said it would not offer refunds this season but would keep prices unaltered for next season and would add two extra games that normally are not included in the regular season ticket package — usually against Real Madrid and Barcelona. If matches continue to be played without fans next season, the club said it would refund 3% for each match, up to a total of 57% of the total price for the season. Germany’s Bundesliga is set to restart without fans this weekend, but there was no officials dates yet for the resumption of the other top leagues in Europe. The Spanish league plans to restart without fans on June 12. The French league was canceled ___ AP Sports Writers Steve Douglas, Samuel Petrequin and Rob Harris contributed to this report. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports ___ Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni",
            "output": [
                "Soccer clubs contemplating options for season ticket holders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b795fa268d548af9aac2ee4835597c1",
            "input": "\"By day, Stephen Nodine works at a law office in Bay Minette, Ala. By night, he is an inmate at the Baldwin County Jail where he is serving a two-year sentence for perjury. This would be of little interest except Nodine says he might want to run for Congress and represent Alabama’s 1st Congressional District. Nodine notified the media of his interest last week, and in an email to PolitiFact, he said, \"\"I can run, but it seems some party leaders don't want me to.\"\" Nodine is right that Republican officials in Alabama have not embraced his candidacy -- more on that in a bit. But we thought we should take a moment and ask, is Nodine correct when he says he can run for office? Nodine is not the first man behind bars to seek the chance to serve the public while serving time. In 2002, former Rep. James Traficant, I-Ohio, took 15 percent of the vote even though he had just started an eight-year sentence for bribery, racketeering and other crimes. Going farther back in history, Matthew Lyon was successful in 1798. He had been convicted of libel, ran for Congress from prison and won. The Constitution lists three conditions one must meet to be a candidate for the House of Representatives -- you must be at least 25 years old, have been a citizen for at least seven years and live in the state you hope to represent. These are all that are required, and states may not add to them, for example, by prohibiting a felon from running for office. According to a 2002 Congressional Research Service report, these conditions \"\"are fixed and may not be supplemented by Congress nor by any State unilaterally.\"\" States have more leeway when it comes to setting rules for who may hold state level office, but they have none at the federal level. The Supreme Court, in a case involving term limits, made it clear that states may not interfere. In U.S. Term Limits, Inc. vs. Thornton, the court struck down an amendment to the Arkansas constitution that limited those elected to Congress to three terms in the House and two in the Senate. The court explained in its decision that not only states but even Congress itself could not \"\"impose additional qualifications (that) would violate that ‘fundamental principle of our representative democracy . . . that the people should choose whom they please to govern them,’\"\" according to an analysis in the Brigham Young University Law Review. So when Nodine says he can run, he’s right. But getting his name on the ballot is a different matter. The Republican primary hurdle Nodine is no stranger to politics. He was a county commissioner in Mobile County. His emailed announcement of his interest in running came with photos of him and President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Nodine’s fall from grace came in 2010 when he was indicted in connection with the death of a long-time mistress. In a deal with prosecutors, Nodine pleaded guilty to felony perjury, and a charge of criminally negligent homicide was dropped. He now says he had a moral failing but was \"\"wrongfully accused.\"\" (Read an overview of the case from the Mobile Press-Register.) Nodine is an ardent Republican and should he run, he plans to compete in the GOP primary in a special election to fill the seat of Rep. Jo Bonner, R- Ala., who will resign in mid August. Nodine isn't slated for release until more than a year after that. But the Alabama Republican Party chairman, Bill Armistead, vowed that Nodine won’t get very far. \"\"I can tell you that as chair, I see no circumstances where I would support a convicted felon being a candidate for the Republican Party,\"\" Armistead said. The state GOP has its own rules for qualifying candidates. To run as a Republican, a person must affirm, \"\"I have not been convicted of a felony under the laws of the United States or of another state.\"\" Nodine unambiguously falls short. \"\"This would be stopped at the time of an attempt to qualify,\"\" Armistead said. Armistead said he’s confident that the party has the right to determine who may participate in its own primary. He said when Democrats tried to run as Republicans, party leaders blocked them with no challenge. On the other hand, he said he’s never faced this exact situation before. The issue is whether a state party could exclude a person who would otherwise pass muster by federal standards. We asked a few experts in election law for their opinions, and while their views vary, Nodine clearly has his work cut out for him Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News, said Nodine might well prevail should the court find that the party plays a vital role in the electoral process. \"\"I just re-read U.S. Term Limits vs. Thornton,\"\" Winger said, \"\"I now feel confident that the Alabama Republican Party can't exclude the candidate. The U.S. Supreme Court said that indirect attempts (to exclude) are just as unlawful as direct attempts.\"\" But Winger said Nodine can expect a fight. \"\"There is no real clarity in the law, because obviously parties can ban candidates from their primary ballot for Congress if the candidates aren't members of the party. It's possible the Alabama state courts would let the party exclude the person, but if the person appeals to federal court I believe he will win.\"\" David Schultz, a law professor at Hamline University, said this is an area of contested law. \"\"There is a big debate over how far parties can go in terms of governing internal affairs,\"\" Schultz said. \"\"Could they pick their own dates for conventions, how they select their officers? Yes. But once it gets to primaries run by the state and to general elections, then the choices parties make are subject to more regulation.\"\" Schultz’s summary on whether the Alabama GOP has the legal right to block Nodine? \"\"This is a cool issue -- right at the edge of the law.\"\" But Justin Levitt, professor at Loyola Law School, has more discouraging news for Nodine. \"\"Nodine is right that federal law protects his right to run,\"\" Levitt said, \"\"But it doesn't likely protect his right to run as a Republican, or even to run for the right to run as a Republican standard-bearer.\"\" So long as parties don’t discriminate in ways banned by the Constitution -- on the basis of race or religion for example -- then they can do much as they please, Levitt said. To be clear, this dispute centers on the primary, not the general election. For a general election, there are two ways to get on the ballot -- as the nominee of a party or by getting enough Alabama voters to sign a petition. Nothing would prevent Nodine from running as an independent in a general election; nothing except the need to gather the signatures of 5,938 voters who live in the 1st Congressional District, the minimum number required under Alabama law. A final irony The Constitution might affirm Nodine’s right to run for office, but it grants states broad authority over deciding who may vote. Alabama law disenfranchises anyone who is behind bars, on probation or on parole. Nodine is definitely still in jail. This leads to the potentially paradoxical situation that should he get on the ballot, he wouldn’t be able to vote for himself. Interestingly, his inability to vote also further hamstrings any plans for a primary bid. The Alabama GOP requires that a candidate declare that \"\"I am not subject to disqualification from registering and voting.\"\" Our ruling Nodine claimed that he \"\"can run\"\" for office. As a legal matter, he is correct. The Constitution enshrines the idea that the people get to decide who shall represent them, and the only limits are age, citizenship and residency. In terms of federal law, Nodine can indeed run. His desire to run as a Republican puts him in murkier waters. Political parties enjoy a certain independence. The opinions of the legal experts we reached ranged from thumbs up to thumbs down on Nodine’s chances in court. But even on the more optimistic end, the court battles would be decided long after the election Nodine cares about is over. In the broadest sense, Nodine has the legal right to run for office from jail, but significant barriers lie between that right and his name appearing on the ballot.\"",
            "output": [
                "Stephen Nodine Says he can be on the ballot for Congress while serving time in jail."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a9b763901654cdab79d4b1a40bfc0a6",
            "input": "Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine. President Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19. Schumer’s request comes after a whistleblower complaint filed this past week by former Health and Human Services official Rick Bright alleged that the Trump administration, eager for a quick fix to the onslaught of the coronavirus, wanted to “flood” hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug. Major veterans organizations have urged VA to explain under what circumstances VA doctors initiate discussion of hydroxychloroquine with veterans as a treatment option. “There are concerns that they are using this drug when the medical evidence says it doesn’t help and could hurt,” Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said given the fact the malaria drug, despite being untested, had been repeatedly pushed publicly by Trump, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie must address whether anyone at the department was pressured by the White House or the administration to use hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. Schumer said Wilkie also should answer questions about a recent analysis of VA hospital data that showed there were more deaths among patients given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, including how much patients knew about the drug’s risks before taking it. In a statement Sunday, VA spokeswoman Christina Noel called it “preposterous” for anyone to suggest that VA would make treatment decisions based on anything other than “the best medical interests of patients.” “VA only permits use of the drug after ensuring veterans and caretakers are aware of potential risks associated with it, as we do with any other drug or treatment,” she said. Wilkie in recent weeks has denied that veterans were used as test subjects for the drug and that it was instead administered at government-run VA hospitals only when medically appropriate, with mutual consent between doctor and patient. Still, Wilkie and the department have repeatedly declined to say how widely the drug was being used for COVID-19, including how many veterans were given the drug, and whether VA doctors were given guidance by VA headquarters on specific scenarios when it should be used. In a weekly call with veterans’ groups this past week, Wilkie continued to defend VA’s use of hydroxychloroquine. He dismissed the recent analysis of VA hospital data showing no benefits to patients, suggesting the poor outcomes were because the cases involved older, very sick veterans. “Use of this medication for treatment of COVID-19 is considered ‘off label’ — perfectly legal and not rare,” he wrote in an April 29 letter to veterans’ groups. The analysis of hospital data, done by independent researchers at two universities with VA approval, was not a rigorous experiment. Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 older male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at VA medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. About 28% of veterans who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. The VA recently said most of its recent bulk order for hydroxychloroquine was being used for approved uses, such as treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but it didn’t provide breakdowns. Wilkie in recent weeks took advocacy of the drug even further than Trump by claiming without evidence that it has been effective for young and middle-aged veterans in particular. In fact, there is no published evidence showing that. Veterans are “very concerned that we still do not have clarity on the VA’s past and present use of hydroxychloroquine in treating veterans with COVID-19,” Jeremy Butler, chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the AP. “Now that the federal government issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir to treat COVID-19, we need answers to these questions as well as the VA’s plans for administering, or not administering, remdesivir,” he said. That action by the Food and Drug Administration came after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In a tweet Sunday, former VA Secretary David Shulkin urged the department to immediately curtail use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. “With studies showing no benefit, VA should restrict use exclusively to clinical trials,” he wrote. Shulkin was fired by Trump in March 2018, and Wilkie replaced him. Schumer said his main concern is determining whether the VA had conducted any “clandestine studies to determine whether hydroxychloroquine was effective without their permission.” He said there’s also concern that the department won’t address specifically where the drug was sent. “These are people who risked their lives for us,” Schumer said. “They should be treated only with the utmost dignity, respect and high standards of care.” The drug has long been used to treat malaria and other ailments. A few, very small preliminary studies suggested it might help prevent the coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But the FDA last month warned doctors against prescribing the drug for COVID-19 outside hospitals because of the risks of serious side effects and death.",
            "output": [
                "Schumer calls on VA to explain use of unproven drug on vets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1313a48309b43ec9fb763c8a58c9c8d",
            "input": "The property in northern Serbia, located next to farmland and a railway line, stored about 100 tons of likely hazardous waste altogether, the country’s environmental protection ministry said. Authorities found it last month, along with another big batch cemented into the walls of a nearby brick factory. A string of similar discoveries has triggered alarms in Serbia, where masses of poorly secured industrial waste are believed to have been dumped or hidden and could pose long-term environmental and public health dangers. The situation arising from decades of neglect, corruption and economic decay is “dramatic,” Serbian Environmental Protection Minister Goran Trivan said. “People actually buried hazardous waste in their own yards as if it were some kind of hidden treasure,” Trivan said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This has to stop.” The problem has come into focus as Serbia and other Balkan nations move closer to joining the European Union, a step that ultimately will require their environmental protection standards to be in line with those in existing EU member countries. Such reforms could take the EU candidates years to achieve. Hazardous waste must be exported from Serbia to places such as Austria, Romania and Switzerland because the country does not have its own processing facilities. The shipments are costly, so some manufacturers and waste-management companies get rid of production residues improperly. The concern about concealed pollutants results from simple math, Trivan said. The country generates some 130,000 to 220,000 tons of hazardous waste every year, and while part of it is either exported or stored properly inside Serbia, a chunk remains unaccounted for, he said. “So, where is it?” Trivan said. “Figures tell us that we could be dealing with serious quantities, possibly thousands of tons.” The way to handle the problem would be to step up government oversight and to introduce harsher sentences for offenders while encouraging private investments in waste management, Trivan said. The ministry has teamed up with the state security agency, the prosecutor’s office and police to locate as much dumped waste as soon as possible. A public campaign urges citizens to report sites where they suspect toxic materials might be stored. Andjelka Mihajlov, an environmental scientist on the Serbian government team working to revise the country’s laws to be in line with EU membership, said the potential damage that hidden toxic hazards pose to the country’s people and environment cannot be estimated. It depends on factors such as the type of substances and where and how they were stowed. “If not handled properly, hazardous waste poses a serious concern for public health,” said Mihajlov, who served briefly as Serbia’s environment minister. Authorities say that out of the more than a hundred companies registered in Serbia to handle hazardous waste, only about a dozen followed proper labeling, storage and disposal regulations. Instead, many waste management firms pocket the money companies pay them and abandon loads that were supposed to be shipped abroad somewhere in Serbia. Officials suspect that was the case with the barrels and plastic tubs found on the property in the town of Pancevo in mid-March. A business named Eko 21 had been hired to deal with production waste disposed of the containers in an inhabited area without fences or any other safeguards to keep the population safe. Residents of a village near the Serbian capital, Belgrade, were warned not to use their wells after dozens of barrels of toxic waste containing carcinogenic benzene were found buried in Obrenovac. The property owner was arrested and faces a prison term of up to five years if convicted of illegally storing dangerous substances. Trivan said unreported waste could have been seeping into the ground for years at a number of as-yet unknown locations, polluting the surrounding water and land. “I am astonished by the level of negligence toward our own lives,” he lamented. Serbia also has unaddressed environmental problems with its waste water; all Serbian cities and many factories dump it straight into rivers. Air quality, drinking water safety and pollution from mines and power plans are worries as well. Trivan acknowledged that his country is lagging at least 25 to 30 years behind in environmental protection, but is optimistic it will steer its way clear. “Nothing has been done for decades and we are now dealing with the consequences,” he said. “But we should not despair. It can be done.”",
            "output": [
                "Long-hidden toxic waste endangers Serbia’s health, EU status."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abd215495ae44d058f172351659e13ab",
            "input": "\"The story does not discuss costs and should have. If colonscopy is not providing that value that people once thought, it should be examined from a cost basis as well. Since fecal occult blood stool slide testing is so much cheaper (something referenced in the story but without cost estimates given), this is an even more important issue. The story includes a lot of numbers and, for this reason, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion although we would have liked to have seen more numbers in absolute terms. Saying that women had a 30 percent higher chance of having their cancers missed, for example, sounds like cause for a significant health policy overhaul. But what does that mean in hard numbers? How many women were included in this study, for one. And what was the ratio of missed cancers for them? We’re told 1 in 13 overall, but what was the breakdown for men and for women? It also would have been helpful to see the absolute numbers by gastroenterologist versus primary care physician, as the skill set of the person operating the colonscopy also appears to be a factor. The story does not quantify potential harms from colonscopies, such as colon perforation. The story does a good job of evaluating the quality of the evidence. The writer includes sufficient detail about the study, including the ages of people screened, the total number, the years screened, and other important facts. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. Some mention of how often people live with polyps that don’t become cancer or that, in the later stages of life, don’t merit the risk of a procedure. This story includes two independent sources to great effect. Without their commentary, readers might be inclined to doubt the results of their colonscopies or seek repeated screenings beyond the recommended schedule. In a short amount of space, this story was able to bring in some valuable perspective on an important study. The story says, \"\"Another less expensive test is fecal occult blood testing, which involves taking stool specimens at home and mailing them to the doctor’s office or medical lab. The US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of medical experts appointed by the federal government, recommends screening people aged 50 to 75 for the disease, but does not specify which test is best.\"\" There could have been some mention of how effective fecal occult blood testing is and whether similar studies have been done on that type of screening. The story makes it clear that the screening is widely available and is the standard. The story makes it clear that colonoscopy is the dominant screening for colon cancer. This story does not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Colonoscopy may miss more than 7 percent of cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03414911fb5341c1a40073050a2727e2",
            "input": "The move by France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of euros, comes after a similar ban by Israel in 2013, while other countries, like Italy and Spain, rely on voluntary codes of conduct to protect models. The measure is part of a campaign against anorexia by President Francois Hollande’s government. Lawmakers also made it illegal to condone anorexia and said any re-touched photo that alters the bodily appearance of a model for commercial purposes must carry a message stating it had been manipulated. “The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labor,” the legislation says. The lawmaker behind the bill previously said models would have to present a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18, about 55 kg (121 lb) for a height of 1.75 meters (5.7 feet), before being hired for a job and for a few weeks afterwards. The law, voted through the lower house of parliament by Hollande’s Socialist majority despite opposition by conservative parliamentarians, envisages imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000) for any agency contravening it. A second measure means that any website inciting a reader to “seek excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions for a prolonged period of time, resulting in risk of mortality or damage to health” will face up to a year in prison and fines of up to 100,000 euros. Elite and IMG, two big modeling agencies present in France, both declined to comment on the moves. Some 30,000-40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia, most of them teenagers, health experts estimate. In 2010, Isabelle Caro, an anorexic 28-year-old former French fashion model, died after posing for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness.",
            "output": [
                "France bans super-skinny models in anorexia clampdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-782d713a61e34cb390b9fa237cd45e11",
            "input": "The 9-2 vote showed support among lawmakers for a modified version of legislation that has spurred heated debate. But the vote also showed division within the Assembly’s Democratic majority. America’s most populous state allows students exemptions from required vaccinations for medical reasons. But proponents of the bill calling for greater scrutiny of the exemptions argue that parents are shopping for unscrupulous doctors who will write one even if it is not necessary. Sen. Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento and author of the bill, argued that greater oversight of medical exemptions is a matter of protection for children. “California cannot allow a handful of unscrupulous physicians to put our children in danger,” he told the Assembly Health Committee. But hundreds of people at the hearing urged lawmakers to vote against the bill. Critics argue Pan’s legislation amounts to government overreach. “It takes the state government and puts it squarely in the middle of the doctor and patient relationship,” said Leigh Dundas of the group Advocates for Physicians’ Rights, which has recently bought Facebook ads targeting the legislation. Several parents told lawmakers they would not comply with the law. The five-hour hearing came to epitomize the heated debate around the bill. A packed gallery jeered, and some threatened Pan. Under the bill, the public health department would scrutinize doctors who grant more than five medical exemptions in a year and schools with vaccination rates of less than 95%. Officials say that threshold is needed to provide “community immunity,” which protects those who haven’t been vaccinated for medical reasons or because they are too young. The measure, which Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will sign if it reaches his desk, comes as measles cases have reached a 25-year high in the U.S. Lawmakers in other states also have been considering changes to confront the increase. Maine eliminated religious and philosophical exemptions, while New York lawmakers ended a religious exemption. Washington state halted most exemptions for the measles vaccine, though legislators in Oregon defeated a measure that would have made it harder for families to opt out. California’s legislation has received national attention after actor Jessica Biel appeared at the Capitol last week to lobby lawmakers against the measure with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent critic of vaccination. Pan initially proposed requiring state health officials sign off on every exemption from vaccinations. But he dropped that requirement in the version of the bill that advanced Thursday. Among the provisions in the revised California legislation: — Doctors can’t charge for filling out a medical exemption form or conducting a related medical examination. They would have to sign the forms under penalty of perjury. — California Department of Public Health doctors or registered nurses would review exemptions issued by local medical providers who issue five or more a year or at schools with high exemption rates. — The state public health officer, who is a doctor, could revoke any exemptions that don’t meet national guidelines. — Parents could appeal to an independent panel of doctors. — Officials could consider families’ medical histories in allowing exemptions in addition to immunization guidelines issued by federal medical authorities. Supporters said the legislation would permit exemptions for the less than 1% of students who should avoid vaccinations because they would have a severe allergic reaction or have impaired immunity from a liver problem, HIV, chemotherapy or other conditions. Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, praised the bill during Thursday’s hearing as “science-based” while still allowing robust medical exemptions. New figures show the rate of kindergartners with permanent medical exemptions has quadrupled since California banned personal exemptions, and more than 100 schools have medical exemption rates exceeding 10%. Public health officials have said they are stymied in investigating these cases because of a lack of oversight. The bill’s backers argue its additional reporting requirements will help the state curb “doctor shopping” and abuses of the exemption system. Still, critics questioned whether the measure would discourage doctors from writing exemptions at all. Those arguments resonated with some lawmakers. “I want the freedom to make choices for my family,” said Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, a Democrat from Marina Del Rey who voted against the bill.",
            "output": [
                "California Assembly committee backs vaccine exemption law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c76dc1e18ac41c6b0a0acd4d0160c3b",
            "input": "Sweeping testing for the coronavirus among the entire crew of the Roosevelt has already yielded a curious result: The majority of the positive cases so far are among sailors who are asymptomatic. With so many of the crew symptom-free, it is unclear how many of them had been infected and recovered without anyone realizing they had contracted the virus. Many of these infections could have finished their cycle before testing of the crew began. The extent of the infections aboard the vessel should become more clear with results of the new “outbreak investigation” the Navy announced that will use serology testing developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The serology tests look for the presence of specific antibodies that are created by the immune system’s attack response to the presence of the virus and remain in the blood for a period of time. “We are seeking crew member volunteers,” Navy Surgeon General Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham told reporters. The roughly thousand volunteers who are being sought for testing over the next week or so will also be swabbed again for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, as well as asked to answer a short survey, officials said. The U.S. coronavirus death toll - the highest in the world - surged past 35,000 on Friday. It also claimed the life of a sailor from the Theodore Roosevelt this week. The Navy’s testing of the entire 4,800-member crew of the aircraft carrier - which is about 94% complete - was an extraordinary move in a case that already has led to the firing of the ship’s captain and the resignation of the Navy’s top civilian official. It has also given scientific researchers a case study about how the virus spreads asymptomatically in a confined environment among mostly younger adults. That cohort has been somewhat underrepresented in the epidemiological data so far. As of Friday, some 660 sailors - nearly 14% of the crew - had tested positive for the coronavirus. The Navy has said that about 60% of those positive tests were among sailors who were symptom-free. The Navy said medical staff on the island of Guam, where the ship pulled into port, would take the samples and collect questionnaire results. The actual serology tests will be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for analysis. The data could further shed light on how the coronavirus spreads undetected, which could help inform the U.S. national response to the pandemic and efforts to restart the economy. “We will also be sharing that with the White House task force so that that information can be used for the benefit of the nation,” Gillingham said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. to start antibody testing of sailors on coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29500368b68c445a829cb0f991d47e7c",
            "input": "Health officials in Mumbai said that a test to prove the efficacy of the much touted but largely untested drug was still in the cards, but that for now they would follow federal Indian guidelines. India, which reached the grim milestone of over 1,000 deaths from the virus on Wednesday, is one of the few countries that has pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine, as a precautionary measure among high-risk groups such as health care workers or people who have come in close contact with COVID-19 patients. Mumbai, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, has struggled to contain the spread of the virus, and has over 3,000 cases. In Mumbai slums like Dharavi, which is Asia’s largest, social distancing is nearly impossible. In response, the state government had said it would conduct a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine on slum residents. But experts pointed to the scant evidence for the efficacy of the drug and the risks it poses, and questioned the ethics of using hydroxychloroquine on a vulnerable population. Dr. Daksha Shah, Mumbai’s deputy executive health officer, said that officials would now follow guidelines set by India’s top medical research body, and that they were waiting for approval to test the drug. The state government has now said that hydroxychloroquine — which has been touted by President Donald Trump — can be given only after patients consent to taking it while knowing the risks involved. It added that adverse reactions need to be immediately reported to authorities, and that doctors must sign off on giving the drug to those with heart ailments, diabetes or blood disorders. But concerns remain over India’s policy of using the drug as a precautionary measure. India’s National Task Force for COVID-19 issued a statement on March 22 that said its decision to allow the use of the drug was based on “risk-benefit considerations, under exceptional circumstances” and was “derived from available evidence of benefit as treatment and supported by preclinical data.”  After the statement was issued, health workers in Mumbai, like other parts of India, began taking hydroxychloroquine. The drug was also given to healthy police officers in the city. But experts say there is no evidence that the drug is a preventative tool against COVID-19. Even for the treatment of diagnosed patients, hydroxychloroquine has shown no benefit. An analysis of 368 patients in U.S. veterans hospitals published earlier this month reported more deaths among those given the drug versus standard care. “If there is no evidence ... why are scientific bodies pushing this drug and giving the impression to the public that there is a magic bullet, and this is your last hope?” said Dr. Shriprakash Kalantri, an epidemiologist in the west Indian state of Maharashtra.",
            "output": [
                "Plan to use malaria drug in Mumbai slums temporarily shelved."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-398df1ce6efa4443904969ac708c1273",
            "input": "One of Greece’s largest foreign investors, Eldorado operates mines in northern Greece that have faced vehement opposition from parts of local communities on environmental grounds, with protests often turning violent. “This decision is not one that we have taken lightly,” Eldorado President and CEO George Burns told reporters in Athens, noting the company has made a $3 billion-investment in the country. A company announcement said it would continue maintenance and environmental safeguards, but would make no further investment in three mines in the Halkidiki area of northern Greece and two projects in the northeastern province of Thrace. It said the permit delays “have negatively impacted Eldorado’s project schedules and costs, ultimately hindering the company’s ability to effectively advance development and operation of these assets.” Burns said the company’s decision will take effect on Sept. 21 unless Eldorado receives the permits. “Approvals must not be held hostage to political posturing or other agendas put forward by a vocal minority,” he said. “I keep hearing the permits are coming, but they’re not coming in a timely fashion.” But Environment Minister Giorgos Stathakis said European and national law had to be upheld, and that the company had still not completed all necessary procedures, including completing an investment plan detailing production methods. He also said some pending permits were scheduled to be given in mid-September for six months, allowing the company to operate during the arbitration process. “The company’s choices toward the employees are clearly their responsibility,” Stathakis said. “We are witnesses of an extraordinary event, of a company that through its CEO holds press conferences and makes statements judging prime ministers, ministers and political parties in Greece.” Burns said the company was unable to legally continue work without the permits, adding he was open to dialogue and hoped to have the issue resolved in time. This is not the first time Eldorado has suspended operations in Greece. In January 2016, it had threatened to suspend work at one of its sites and lay off 600 workers following protests by local residents and a spat with the government. Work restarted several months later. Burns said he had sent three letters to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during the last five months, since he took over the helm of Eldorado, but had not received any reply. Eldorado employs some 2,400 staff and contractors in Greece through its local subsidiary, Hellas Gold. The company said 90 percent of the workers faced being suspended temporarily from their jobs if the permits don’t come through in time. The company took over old mines in 2012, paying nearly $2 billion. Burns said it had since invested a further $1 billion in Greece, a figure which would double if the company could fully develop its assets in Greece. Monday’s action comes as Greece struggles to emerge from years of a deep financial crisis and attract investment. Interior Minister Panos Skourletis said disagreements would be resolved through arbitration. The company, however, counters it has not been officially informed of what the arbitration would be about. “This might be a move to (exert) political pressure on the government at a crucial time,” Skourletis said. He insisted Greece was friendly toward foreign investments, but that the Canadian project, being a mining operation, was a special case. “Such kinds of investments no longer exist in the rest of Europe. They’re not allowed due to the great environmental cost they have,” he said. “So it’s wrong to connect this particular case with the general picture in the area of investments (in Greece).” The Halkidiki mines have been mired in controversy for decades, with Eldorado’s predecessors also facing protests. Many in the local communities vehemently oppose mining development on environmental grounds, saying it would hurt the area’s tourism industry, destroy forests risk contaminating the groundwater. The company counters it’s carrying out environmental cleanup work even of its predecessors, and rejects accusations of pollution. It noted that Greece’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, had issued 18 decisions in its favor in various permit disputes. Burns said he remained optimistic that a solution could be found. “I’m confident these mines will be built,” he said. When first elected on an anti-bailout platform in 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing government initially favored the suspension of the permits that had previously been granted to the mining company. Greece’s confederation of industries urged Tsipras to personally intervene to rescue the gold mine investment. Nikos Panairlis, head of the workers’ union at one of the mines, described the company’s move as “a catastrophe for us,” adding that workers were looking to organize protests. The mood among opponents of the mine was cautious. Aristotelis municipality mayor Giorgos Zoumbas accused Eldorado of “using the workers and their jobs to blackmail and get the permits.” Local residents, he said, would be happy if the suspension goes ahead, “but they’re still cautious.” ___ Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece contributed to this report. ___ Follow Becatoros http://www.twitter.com/ElenaBec",
            "output": [
                "Canadian mining firm threatens to suspend Greece investment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d5d57031b994dd4a7105705c07a312b",
            "input": "Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have burst onto the national radar in recent years. Originally produced by companies 3M and DuPont, the chemicals are used in everything from Teflon pans to food packaging to water-resistant clothing. Scientists have linked some PFAS chemicals to health effects including ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, reproductive issues and some cancers. Few producers or users of PFAS face potential liabilities as great as the U.S. military, which has already spent more than $200 million over the past half-decade to start investigations of chemical family members perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, at more than 400 military bases across the country. Both chemicals, particularly PFOS, were ingredients in firefighting foams used widely by the military during training and emergencies since the 1970s. There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, but PFOS and PFOA are believed to be among the most harmful, and are the only two for which the Environmental Protection Agency has set an advisory limit for drinking water. To date, the military has focused on filtering drinking water containing PFAS above the EPA’s advised limit of 70 parts per trillion, after finding the chemicals in excess of that limit in more than 560 private and public drinking water supplies around 50 bases. But impacted communities worry continued environmental contamination is impacting wildlife, property values, municipal taxes and even human health. “There’s been very little focus to date on cleanup standards or cleanup guidelines,” said Rob Bilott, an Ohio attorney who has litigated PFAS issues for decades. “Once you’ve stopped the ongoing exposure to people . what do you do with what’s left? And that’s a much, much bigger issue.” Because the EPA has yet to set any formal PFAS regulations, an increasing number of state environmental agencies are taking matters into their own hands, creating their own standards to compel polluters to begin cleaning up the chemicals within their borders. In Pennsylvania, where some of the nation’s highest PFAS levels have been discovered in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, regulators recently announced they would create a state drinking water standard, and lawmakers are mulling legislative solutions. New Jersey is further ahead, with regulators preparing to implement the lowest PFOS and PFOA drinking water standards in the country. But in several cases where states already acted, the military is resisting or even taking the issue to court. Erik Olson, a senior director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, noted the efforts appear to double back on promises made by Maureen Sullivan, a deputy assistant secretary for the environment at the Department of Defense, during a 2018 congressional hearing. Sullivan testified that state standards would be “rolled in” to the military’s cleanup considerations at bases. “The Defense Department is going back on its word . and appears to be arrogantly refusing to comply with state laws,” Olson said. “This is a very worrisome trend.” On March 14, this news organization emailed the Department of Defense a list of questions about its efforts. Department spokeswoman Heather Babb responded Monday with statements that did not address many of the specific questions. “DOD, like any federal agency engaged in certain activities, such as owning or operating a public water system, must comply with all federal, state, interstate, and local safe drinking water requirements, in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Babb wrote. “DOD takes our cleanup responsibility seriously. We work with regulatory agencies and local communities to ensure we can share information in an open and transparent manner.” States of controversy Nowhere is the issue more contentious than in New Mexico, where the state Environment Department and the U.S. Air Force are suing each other over widespread PFAS contamination near two bases. Last July, the state’s Water Quality Control Commission added PFOS and PFOA to a list of regulated substances, after which its environmental department issued violations to Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases. The notice at Cannon said the Air Force failed to sample some nearby water supply wells, was too limited in which PFAS it tested for, and failed to submit a proposal for extended testing of aquifer contamination. At Holloman, the second violation notice added that 137 ppt of PFAS had been detected at the nearby Apache Mesa Golf Course, a violation of the standard, and asked that a contingency plan be submitted. In January, the Air Force submitted a letter to New Mexico saying it could not comply. “Legal constraints limit the Air Force’s authority and ability to investigate and mitigate PFAS compounds under the New Mexico Water Quality Act,” the Air Force wrote. A week later, the Air Force filed a suit seeking relief in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico, calling the state standard “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not supported by substantial evidence.” On March 5, New Mexico filed its own suit in the same court against the Air Force and United States, seeking a declaration the Air Force had violated its law, would have to comply, and would be held liable for applicable fines and penalties. The cases are ongoing. There is similar contention in Michigan, where environmental regulators say the Air Force is violating state standards near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, as PFAS seeps into nearby waterways and marshes. To combat the issue, Michigan created a 12-ppt PFOS standard for groundwater where it enters surface water, and a 70-ppt standard for aquifers that are used for drinking water. Citing the regulations in early 2018, Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality issued a notice of violation to the Air Force for failing to install a water treatment system. After some resistance, the Air Force agreed to construct the unit. But a second violation issued in October received greater resistance. Again citing the water standards, the Michigan department told the Air Force to increase treatment of groundwater, expand the area needing treatment, conduct monthly sampling and stop pumping PFAS-laden water into a pit. In December, the Air Force issued a letter stating it would not comply for various reasons, including that it had not waived sovereign immunity and that the chemicals do not appear on a list of hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law. “That’s their way of fighting back,” Arnie Leriche, a veteran and retired environmental engineer with the EPA who lives near the base, said in a conference call with an environmental organization in March. Scott Dean, a spokesman for the Michigan department, said the agency isn’t backing down. “The slow response by the Air Force to the Wurtsmith contamination is having an increasingly negative impact on the people, wildlife and environment,” Dean said. “Although Michigan seeks to work cooperatively with the Air Force, slow response to PFAS contamination is not acceptable.” New York has faced similar issues. In 2016, the state Department of Environmental Conservation added several PFAS sites, including Stewart Air National Guard Base, to its list of state Superfund sites. It then spent approximately $50 million to provide clean drinking water to the city of Newburgh, located near the base. The conservation department submitted a claim to the Department of Defense for reimbursement, but said it had not received a response as of late February. The state also filed a claim under the Federal Torts Claims Act, a precursor to potential legal action, and demanded the military enter into a robust cleanup program. The Air National Guard declined. “In absence of needed federal action, New York is continuing to ensure aggressive actions are taken to protect the residents of Newburgh,” conservation department spokesperson Jomo Miller said. Alan Knauf, an attorney representing Newburgh in a lawsuit against the military, said residents want the Air National Guard to pay for connection to an aqueduct that carries pure water from the Catskill Mountains to New York City, as opposed to using PFAS-laden water from nearby Washington Lake. “Try telling people on the East Side of Manhattan they have to drink toxic water that goes through a filter that might not catch everything,” Knauf said. “I don’t think so.” Issues also are coming to a head in Colorado, where the Department of Public Health and the Environment last year added PFOS and PFOA to a state listing of hazardous constituents. The state also created a 70-ppt groundwater standard for the aquifer underlying Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs. In a letter, the Air Force warned regulators the water standard “may not qualify as a cleanup standard” because it does not apply across the whole state, and said its legal immunities are only waived “when state regulation is non-discriminatory.” State regulators have not issued any violations or orders under the statutes, but said they expect the Air Force to comply when it does begin cleanup activities. Waiting on the feds Several states hit by PFAS contamination say they want the EPA to create nationwide standards for the chemicals, and environmental attorneys say such measures would boost legal efforts. “Failure to address PFAS at a national level will really put public health at risk,” said Lisa Daniels, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Safe Drinking Water, at a public meeting last year. “EPA must take a leadership role.” In February, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler visited Philadelphia to announce a PFAS Action Plan, which included an “intention” to set a federal drinking water standard for PFOS and PFOA. Wheeler also revealed a proposal to declare the chemicals hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law, and touted a scheduled release of groundwater cleanup recommendations. But the plan received lukewarm reception from several states that felt it lacked hard commitments or deadlines. Immediately following the Feb. 14 announcement, Pennsylvania became the latest state to say it would set its own standards, with a spokesman declaring the state “cannot wait” for the EPA. Several attorneys said listing PFAS as hazardous substances under Superfund, the nation’s primary law governing areas of major chemical contamination, would help most in pursuing cleanup actions. “We have sued under (Superfund). We believe it’s a hazardous substance, but you don’t see it on the list,” Knauf said of his efforts in Newburgh. “If it were put on the federal list that would tremendously help us.” Babb, from the Department of Defense, said the department also supports federal regulation. “DOD supports EPA establishing regulatory standards and a consistent cleanup approach for PFOS/PFOA based on (Superfund),” Babb wrote in an email. “We want a standard risk-based cleanup approach that is based on science and applies to everyone.” Some attorneys say they think the EPA already has authorities it could use more aggressively. Tim Bergére, an environmental attorney with Philadelphia’s Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, pointed out that the EPA previously used an “imminent and substantial” endangerment clause under the Safe Drinking Water Act to compel the military to act on PFAS at the Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster and Horsham Air Guard Station. The EPA has issued eight such orders for PFAS nationwide. Bergére added that many states have laws that are more stringent than federal standards and aren’t limited by sovereign immunity, such as a Clean Steams Law in Pennsylvania that he says could be used to force the cleanup of PFAS around the bases in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. “The Navy’s sovereign immunity . does not extend to discharges once they move off the site,” Bergére said. Other attorneys said states can generally use powers delegated by the EPA to force actions by polluters, including through the issuing of water discharge permits under the federal Clean Water Act and the oversight of hazardous waste removal. “Since the feds are not doing anything, the states have the authority, and we think, frankly, the obligation to step into the vacuum,” the NRDC’s Olson said. But the Department of Defense’s recent actions underscore the pitfalls of states taking the lead. In New Mexico, regulators sought to force the Air Force to take action based on a federally-delegated hazardous waste authority. The Air Force responded by arguing in court that the state incorrectly applied the law. Adam Sowatzka, an attorney with the Atlanta-based firm King & Spalding and a former EPA lawyer, said federal regulations are needed to ensure a strong legal case. Without such standards, even the EPA has to go to great lengths to make an effective argument while using emergency powers, he said. “If you look at what EPA has to do, and all the administrative hurdles, and the case it needs to develop to bring an imminent and substantial endangerment (order), it’s a very, very difficult task,” Sowatzka said. The ability of states to compel action could be tested again soon, with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on track to institute drinking water standards of 13 ppt for PFOS and 14 ppt for PFOA within a year. Those levels would be the strictest in the nation. Under New Jersey law, the levels also would become groundwater standards, and spokesman Larry Hajna said his department believes the military would have to comply while cleaning up sites like the massive Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in the center of the state. However, there are signs of potential issues. In 2018, the U.S. Air Force commented on a state department of environmental protection standard for a chemical cousin, perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA, questioning its legitimacy. “Standards based on poor scientific methodologies are often the subject of litigation because they are arbitrary,” the Air Force wrote. There is no evidence the Air Force acted on the warning, but PFOS and PFOA present much greater liabilities than PFNA, which was not a major ingredient in firefighting foams. New Jersey also recently implemented interim groundwater standards of 10 ppt for PFOS and PFOA, and a spokesman said the state expects the Air Force to comply. An Air Force spokeperson said the agency is still reviewing the standard. Anthony Spaniola, a Michigan attorney who has tracked state PFAS issues, said he thinks states that are expecting automatic compliance with their laws are in for a surprise. “They’re wrong,” Spaniola said. “Those states better get their head out of the sand.” The crawl of cleanup Environmental attorneys said there is also room for legal jousting as the military decides to what extent, and how quickly, it will clean PFAS from the environment. That’s because while EPA typically has broad authority to drive cleanup at contaminated sites, federal law puts the Department of Defense in the driver’s seat at military bases. “Fundamentally, EPA and DOD are part of the ‘unitary executive,’ meaning EPA can’t take DOD to court and so doesn’t have the same leverage as it would at a private site,” Taly Jolish, a recently retired Superfund attorney for EPA in California, said. In several cases where states have created their own environmental standards, the military has said it will consider the limits as “ARARs.” Short for Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements, the acronym refers to a process under the federal Superfund law that determines to what level a polluter must clean up a chemical in water or soil. Several attorneys agreed the EPA or state regulators typically have authority in selecting an ARAR level for an unregulated chemical at a contaminated site. While some experts said regulators still have to sign off on such decisions at military bases, those with experience in the area say disagreements get messy. “It becomes basically a political knife-fight between DOD and EPA,” Olson said. Jolish also said such decisions are “very political determinations.” Tensions between the EPA and military apparently already exist. On March 13, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, authored a letter in which he cited sources saying the military and other federal agencies were pressuring the EPA to relax draft groundwater cleanup recommendations from 70 ppt to 400 ppt. The numbers have not yet been released publicly, and Carper urged the EPA to resist the alleged pressure. “Such levels would, among other consequences, subject fewer sites that were contaminated through the military’s use of PFOA/PFOS from having to be remediated in the first place,” Carper wrote. Further complicating matters is that the EPA has even less authority to control how long it takes the military to make cleanup decisions, experts said. The issue is playing out at bases across the country, where the military has spent years studying the extent of the PFAS contamination but has done far less to actually remove the chemicals. Officials have commonly cited the need to do more studies before they reach the point of selecting an ARAR. “I suspect the cause of delay at the federal level is the concern that the Department of Defense is going to have to spend hundreds of millions, and maybe even billions of dollars responding to these PFOS sites,” said David Engel, an environmental attorney litigating PFAS in New York. The Defense Department’s Sullivan suggested in an early March congressional hearing that the department is holding off on containing PFAS releases until it further studies the issue. She also gave a “back of the envelope” estimate of needing $2 billion for PFAS cleanup. “Right now we’re trying to determine the extent of the presence in the groundwater around our bases, how far it is, where it’s flowing. So we can design the right system to contain it,” Sullivan said. Babb, the department spokeswoman, said “DOD has proactively addressed PFOS and PFOA and follows the federal cleanup law.” “DOD’s priority is to quickly address PFOS and PFOA in drinking water from DOD activities,” she added. The military is also pushing about $60 million into research on methods to better detect, understand and filter PFAS chemicals, with many studies not due until 2021. Jennifer Field, an Oregon State University PFAS expert whose work has been funded by the military, says there are about 50 ongoing projects, many of them looking for novel and cost-effective ways of destroying PFAS. “There are definitely some higher-energy processes that look promising, but the problem is practical aspects have to be worked out,” Field said. “I haven’t heard of the stunning breakthrough that’s going to revolutionize (cleanup). Not yet.” But Engel thinks the military can already act more robustly with current technologies, citing its $700 billion annual budget. “Let’s say it’s a $10 billion (liability). My response is, ‘So what?’” Engel said. “If the purpose of the Department of Defense is to defend the United States and the people living in it, you would think that a good thing for them to do would be to defend the people who are drinking water contaminated by these facilities.“___ ___ Online: https://bit.ly/2FSsHLy ___ Information from: Bucks County Courier Times, http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com",
            "output": [
                "States, military clash on cleanup of toxic chemicals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fbafef39453849fc8410da0018d7788f",
            "input": "There is no mention of costs or insurance coverage for mammograms and if or how this recommendation might affect insurance coverage. The story does not adequately quantify the benefits or harms of mammography. The representative of the American Cancer Society provides the number needed to screen, which is very helpful, but this should have come from a source that is more objective. A reader might also want to know the false-positive rate for mammography. The story adequately describes the harms of mammograms, such as needless procedures and stress and anxiety from false positive results. The story does not discuss the evidence for the new recommendations. Readers would want to know if this is based on new results or just a new look at the same studies. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of breast cancer. The story quotes multiple experts who provide contrasting view points and much needed perspective. It should be noted though, that, in terms of pure quote count, those who oppose the new recommendations outnumber those voices who support them. The story mentions breast self-exams, breast exams by a clinician and no screening as alternatives to regular mammography screening. Clearly mammograms are widely available. Clearly mammograms are not a new idea, but delaying starting screening until age 50 is a relatively new concept in the US. The story could have explained, though, that this idea is not at all novel in other Western countries. Because the story quotes multiple sources, the reader can assume the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Now what do I do? Suddenly women in their 40s must ponder whose mammography advice to follow"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba233ae75a5645ef9a2c1802ddfff345",
            "input": "Researchers in Japan said on Thursday oxytocin, a hormone that among other things helps reinforce bonds between parents and their babies, increases in humans and their dogs when they interact, particularly when looking into one another’s eyes. They described a series of experiments that suggest that people and their canine companions have mutually developed this instinctual bonding mechanism in the thousands of years since dogs were first domesticated. Sometimes called the “love hormone,” oxytocin is made in a brain structure called the hypothalamus and secreted from the pituitary gland. It is involved in emotional bonding, maternal behavior, child birth, breast-feeding, sexual arousal and other functions. “Oxytocin has many positive impacts on human physiology and psychology,” said Takefumi Kikusui, a veterinary medicine professor at Japan’s Azabu University, whose research was published in the journal Science. In one experiment, dogs were put in a room with their owners. The researchers tracked their interaction and measured oxytocin levels through urine samples. People whose dogs had the most eye contact with them - a mutual gaze - registered the largest increases in oxytocin levels. The dogs also had an oxytocin spike correlating with that of their owner. The researchers conducted a similar experiment with wolves, close relatives of dogs, and found that no such thing happened despite the fact that the wolves had been raised by the people. In another experiment, the researchers sprayed oxytocin into dogs’ noses and put them in a room with their owners as well as people the dogs did not know. With the female dogs, and not the males, this increased the mutual gazing between dogs and their owners and also led to an oxytocin increase in the owners. “I personally believe that there is a tight bond between the owner and dogs,” Kikusui said. “I have three standard poodles. I strongly feel the tight bonding with these dogs. Actually, I participated in the experiment, and my oxytocin boosted up after the eye gaze, like 300 percent,” Kikusui added. The study involved dogs of various breeds and ages including the miniature schnauzer, golden retriever, border collie, Labrador retriever, Shiba Inu, standard poodle, beagle and others.",
            "output": [
                "A dog's life: study reveals people's hormonal link with tail-waggers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2dba6c82c6ce43e3b2701269ef8767dc",
            "input": "The company’s shares nearly quadrupled to a life high of $305 on Thursday morning on the Nasdaq, valuing the company at about $6 billion. Intercept said it had stopped the trial after the drug showed statistically significant improvement in patients, compared with a placebo, in a review by an independent safety committee. The trial tested the drug, obeticholic acid, in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a form of liver inflammation. Analysts said the news came as a surprise to investors, who had previously focused on the drug as a treatment for primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease in which bile ducts in the liver are destroyed. The drug is being tested for the condition in a late-stage study. “We didn’t expect this data until the fourth quarter,” Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos said. “It’s a huge opportunity for the company as there are over 10 million patients worldwide.”  Moussatos said Intercept could tie up with Big Pharma companies to conduct a late-stage trial of the drug. Intercept could also conduct a late-stage trial with its partner Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, which is testing the drug in Japan, she said. Obeticholic acid, Intercept’s lead drug, is also being tested in mid-stage studies to treat bile acid diarrhea and portal hypertension, which is high blood pressure in veins that transport blood from the gastrointestinal tract and spleen to the liver. The drug’s structure is similar to that of a naturally occurring human bile acid. Intercept said the safety committee made the recommendation after reviewing liver biopsy data from about half of the 283 patients enrolled in the mid-stage trial. There is currently no specific treatment for NASH, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. To manage the disease, patients are recommended to maintain a healthy weight, follow a balanced diet, increase physical activity and avoid alcohol.",
            "output": [
                "Intercept liver drug meets main goal in study, shares quadruple."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d135db820b84fa8b8d4e9a90cb02ea8",
            "input": "U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 24,000 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally. There were nearly 583,000 confirmed cases, over 200,000 of which were in New York state alone. Treating the large number of patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has challenged hospitals in its U.S. epicenter. They have scrambled to find enough ventilators and other equipment, as well as beds and staff. Northwell, the largest healthcare provider in New York, said it had contracted medical staffing companies to help it buttress efforts to treat patients at 18 hospitals across New York City, Long Island and Westchester county. The “clap-in,” with dozens of staff cheering loudly and holding signs saying “Nurses are the heart of healthcare” and “Welcome, healthcare heroes,” was a surprise for the nurses who arrived on Tuesday afternoon for a half-day training session. Hailing from states including California, South Carolina, and Indiana, they are undergoing training in subjects ranging from operating ventilators to dealing with electronic medical records. “It’s so heartwarming to see so many nurses come from so far away to assist us in our time of need,” said Maureen White, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at Northwell. About 300 nurses from other areas have been enlisted over the past three weeks, said Launette Woolforde, Northwell’s registered nurse and vice president for nursing education. Marybella Cole, who had arrived in New York from Lewiston, Idaho, said community was important to her. “There’s no bigger calling than something like this,” she said. Raymond Woods said he had left kids and grandchildren behind in Indiana so he could help. “I have never been more proud to be a nurse. This is by far the most rewarding career I’ve had in my life,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "With cheers, New York nurses greet reinforcements from across the U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a490cc70273c4aea913bdc938f2c949f",
            "input": "The story does not talk about costs, which was disappointing. The costs of intensive medical therapy can easily be identified. Using an online pharmacy we calculated the costs to be about $1,500 to $2,000 annually for medical therapy, using generic drugs. Using the Health Care Blue Book, we found the average cost of coronary artery bypass sugery and hospitalization to be about $62,000. We think that this is important information for readers that should have been included. The quantification here was presented in such a way to make it clear to readers that there was no significant benefit found to surgical intervention, which is a fair conclusion to draw from the study. The story says, “In the Stich study, 41% of patients assigned to treatment with drugs alone died during the follow-up period, which averaged five years. That compared with a mortality rate of 36% among patients who received bypass surgery plus medication. Although the relative reduction in risk of death was 14%, the result didn’t meet tests for statistical significance, meaning it could have resulted from chance alone.” That’s a great way to describe the lack of statistical significance. It would have been even more powerful to show readers the actual number of patients who died in each group. The story provides great information about the study itself and about the overall state of the evidence supporting heart surgery. “How best to treat these patients has been fraught with uncertainty,” is one of the more notable phrases from the story. It also says, “Many patients aren’t evaluated for heart surgery to treat diseased arteries because they don’t suffer classic chest pain or because doctors worry that hearts weakened by heart failure won’t benefit from the procedure. Other doctors recommend immediate bypass surgery despite a lack of vigorous studies to support that strategy.” The story does not engage in disease-mongering and takes a very careful approach to describing the types of patients who would be affected by this study’s results. We also like the way they provided snapshots of patients who were in both arms of the study — surgery and non-surgery — at the end of the story, making it clear, as the study did, that both routes can be equally successful. The story brings in some strong independent voices who help make sense of this complicated study: James Fang, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, Raymond Gibbons, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, and Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Rarely do you see a story that spends as much time with independent experts as it does with the authors of the study. The story does a great job showing how the standard interventions for heart disease stacked up against each other in this study. We wish that some mention had been made of diet and exercise and that at least a sentence had been included about whether there might be differences in outcomes seen as a result of different medication patterns. The story doesn’t make it clear what exactly the patients were taking. The story makes it clear that the range of treatments studied by the authors are widely available. The story makes it clear that there is a great need for more evidence in this field and that this study will be surprising to many clinicians because of a long-held assumption that surgery is the superior option. tudies published in the early 1990s supported the view that bypass surgery provided a better long term outcome. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "More Options Before Bypass Surgery, Study Finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17775a750b2d4449bbb1e197c0427950",
            "input": "Johnson & Johnson removed formaldehyde-releasing ingredients from its baby products back in 2014. Susan Nettesheim, the vice president of product stewardship and toxicology at Johnson & Johnson, wrote in a 2012 blog post that the company would reformulate its baby products due to consumer concerns over ingredients: Over the past few years, some interest groups have raised questions about the ingredients in personal care products used widely around the world, and they’ve put particular focus on our baby products. At first we were disappointed, because we know that all our products are safe by scientific standards and meet or exceed government regulations. Over time, though, we’ve come to realize that sometimes safety alone isn’t enough. There’s a vigorous public discussion going on around the world about what ingredients should or shouldn’t be in personal care products, and how they should be regulated. We have a point of view that we’ve expressed, based on our considered understanding of the science involved, and that’s always going to be our starting point. But what matters most isn’t what we think, it’s what the people who use our products think. Johnson and Johnson didn’t directly add formaldehyde to its baby products, however. Rather, the company used formaldehyde-releasing ingredients like the ammonia salt quaternium-15 to extend the shelf life of many consumer products, including baby shampoo. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and other consumer groups lauded Johnson & Johnson’s decision to remove these formaldehyde-releasing ingredients from baby products as a “major victory for public health.” However, some toxicology experts have dismissed concerns about formaldehyde-releasing ingredients in baby shampoo as form of hysteria. After all, it’s a naturally-occurring chemical that our own bodies produces, Slate reports: The concern about formaldehyde in personal care products reveals a bit ofchemophobia, which Dartmouth chemistry professor Gordon Gribble defines as “an irrational fear of chemicals based on ignorance of the facts.” He says, “people don’t know how small molecules are, and they believe that single molecules of some chemical pose a health threat.” That’s exactly the concern EWG expressed. “The actual molecule formaldehyde itself is the carcinogen,” says Johanna Congleton, toxicologist and senior scientist at EWG. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in a liquid or if you’re inhaling particles with formaldehyde.” In fact, the only studies that link formaldehyde to cancer are related to humans inhaling it, and inhaling large amounts of it. Funeral industry professionals with more than 34 years of experience or who had performed more than 500 embalmings and factory workers who spent years working around formaldehyde before the 1990s had higher risks for leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The amount of exposure required to cause cancer is so high that other studies of factory workers have been inconclusive. Formaldehyde occurs naturally in common fruits and vegetables (even organic ones). “Unless people calling for removal of quaternium-15 are also keeping their children from eating apples and french fries,” Hartings says, “I think their activism might be misplaced.” Our own bodies create formaldehyde as a normal byproduct during amino acid synthesis and overall metabolism, including breaking down antibiotics and other medications. It’s also in drinking water and the air we breathe. Homer Swei, a scientist at Johnson & Johnson, points out that 90 percent of the formaldehyde around us is naturally occurring, with 60 percent of that coming from plants and trees, yet it’s still perfectly fine to walk through the woods. Further, the formaldehyde in synthetic or manufactured products is no different in terms of chemical structurethan naturally occurring formaldehyde—it’s all CH2O. Nevertheless, Johnson & Johnson elected to remove formaldehyde-releasing ingredients from baby shampoo (and many other products) because of consumer fears. By early 2014, Johnson & Johnson had reformulated many products, the New York Times reports: In doing so, the company is navigating a precarious path, investing tens of millions of dollars to remove the chemicals while at the same time insisting that they are safe. The company is responding, executives said, to a fundamental shift in consumer behavior, as an increasingly informed public demands that companies be more responsive to their concerns, especially when it comes to the ingredients in their products. The complex effort carries both risks and rewards for the health care giant — it requires difficult re-engineering of some of Johnson & Johnson’s most beloved brands, but success in the marketplace could serve as a much-needed boost to a company that has been battered by a series of embarrassing quality lapses and product recalls. In addition to reformulating many of its products, Johnson & Johnson also created a new website to provide consumers with information about its ingredients. Click here for that website. Comments",
            "output": [
                " Johnson & Johnson has removed formaldehyde from baby products like No More Tears shampoo. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-597411274c4d415fa513a0dcd30b6227",
            "input": "Police are bulking up their presence at tourist hot spots and on the roads over the four-day holiday, officials said, urging people to stay home during what is normally a popular time for trips. The appeal came as the Swiss death toll continued to rise and neighbouring Austria prepared to relax its own lockdown. “It is not the moment to drop our guard,” President Simonetta Sommaruga told journalists after visiting Lausanne University Hospital. “We do not have a magic wand to bring back our lives from before, but we are already preparing for after the pandemic,” she added. The Swiss death toll from the new coronavirus rose to 641 from 584 people on Monday. The number of positive tests passed 22,000. Sommaruga said it remained vital that people comply with the emergency measures, which include bans of gatherings of more than five people and shutdowns of schools and many businesses. “It will be difficult, very difficult with the Easter holidays coming up. We are still very far from normal,” she said. The government was working on options to relax its restrictions, she added, without giving details. A decision on how to proceed is due by next week. Daniel Koch from the public health agency said the emergency measures had proved their worth, and great care had to be exercised in how they were phased out. “The challenge now is to hold out until the end, because we are halfway there at best,” Koch told a news conference in Bern. Driven by the shutdown, the Swiss unemployment rate jumped to 2.9% in March and was set to rise further. The Swiss army has conducted its biggest mobilisation since the Second World War to aid the emergency services, although its deployment had not been without hitches. [L8N2BV5BR]  The police called on people to postpone trips to the mountains or the hard-hit southern canton of Ticino on the Italian border so as not to burden the emergency services. “The goal is not to punish but to be effective and to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Stefan Blaettler, head of the association of regional police chiefs. “Better days will come more quickly if we stick to the rules,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "Swiss urge public to stick to anti-virus measures over Easter."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d7c337c070d54bf79fe5ad14c62ac788",
            "input": "The Minnesota Board of Animal Health has been monitoring the farm since December 2016 when two white-tailed deer tested positive for the disease. The Department of Natural Resources is currently in the second year of sampling wild deer for CWD in Crow Wing County as a result of the farm’s earlier infection. The disease has not been found in wild deer since the DNR began its surveillance in Crow Wing County in 2017. Assistant Director Dr. Linda Glaser says the biggest change following this new detection will be to extend their deadline to monitor the herd.",
            "output": [
                "Wasting disease detected in 4 deer on Crow Wing County farm."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4eec13cea31f41768839ac8a108160ed",
            "input": "An FDA rule banned the sale of new e-cigarette products after August 2016 without regulatory approval. In September, Reuters reported that startups and big tobacco firms launched more than a dozen new high-nicotine e-cigarette products mimicking the popular Juul devices after the FDA imposed the deadline reut.rs/2PwFgOX. The agency on Friday sent letters to companies including Reynolds American Inc, a unit of British American Tobacco Plc, which makes the Vuse Alto device, asking for evidence that the products were on the market before the August 2016 cutoff. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency “will not allow the proliferation of e-cigarettes” being sold without proper approval. The agency also sent letters to Fontem Ventures, a unit of Imperial Brands Plc, seeking information about its myblu e-cigarettes, as well as smaller companies including Kandypens, Myle Vapor and VGOD. Shares of British American Tobacco on Friday were down 3.9 percent and Imperial Brands fell 6 percent in London. A spokesman for British American Tobacco said the company will provide to the FDA information to show it is in compliance with the rule. He said the company notified the FDA in May that the product was a “repackaged and re-branded” version of a product that was on the market before August 2016. A spokesman for Imperial Brands said the myblu products are in compliance with FDA rules, adding that the company will provide the requested documentation soon. Representatives for the other companies did not respond to requests for comment. If the FDA determines the e-cigarettes were introduced after the August 2016 deadline, companies could face fines or have their products seized from store shelves. Gottlieb said the agency was concerned about sweet flavors in several of the products, which he said are “one of the principal drivers of the youth appeal of e-cigarettes.”    The FDA has faced increased pressure to act as the sleek Juul e-cigarettes have surged in popularity among U.S. teenagers. Juul Labs Inc’s share of the e-cigarette market rose to more than 70 percent now, up from 13.6 percent in early 2017, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen retail data that does not include online sales. Juul sales grew from 2.2 million devices sold in 2016 to 16.2 million devices last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many high schools have resorted to locking bathrooms – jokingly called “Juul rooms” by students. The Juul design mimics a flash drive - with plug-in cartridges of concentrated nicotine juice. It is far more compact than earlier vaping devices and produces less vapor, making it easy to use without being detected - an attribute some health advocates say attracts teenagers. Juul was on the market before the August 2016 FDA deadline, but other companies have introduced new copycat devices after the cutoff date without regulatory consequences. Anti-smoking advocates including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids complained about the Juul lookalikes in an August letter to the FDA, saying the companies that had “evaded the review process.”  The FDA has recently cracked down on what it calls an “epidemic” of youth e-cigarette use, threatening last month to ban Juul and four other leading e-cigarette products unless their makers take steps to prevent use by minors.",
            "output": [
                "In crackdown, U.S. FDA seeks details on new electronic cigarettes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3a2fc294aa944f49c6169dd985cc6f7",
            "input": "Amusement parks are supposed to be carefree, fun-filled environments folks visit when looking for a thrilling yet safe experience. Attractions are designed to chill and terrify even the most stalwart of souls yet do so with every care having been taken to prevent riders from coming to harm. Or at least that’s the way it should work. But it doesn’t always. Sadly, the basic thrust of the legend — that a child was scalped by an amusement ride — is true. On 14 September 1996, 8-year-old Danielle Foti and her friend, Valentina Espinola, were celebrating their eighth birthdays with a visit to Bonkers 19 indoor amusement park at the Harborlight Mall in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Part of the fun was to be a ride on the Mini-Himalaya, a sled-like carousel ride. Danielle’s hair slipped through a one-inch gap between the back of her seat and the cover on the motor. It wound around a motor shaft spinning at 1,745 revolutions per minute, reeling in her head with such force that it smashed the back of her fiberglass seat. A piece of her scalp was caught in the motor. (A manufacturer of the rides has said the gap should not exist, that the motor cover should be flush with the back of the seat.) Danielle has undergone four bouts of reconstructive surgery, and in 1998 she was awarded $7.5 million in an out-of-court settlement. The amusement park where she was injured closed shortly after the accident, never to reopen. What puts this real-life accident within the realm of lore is how the incident is now remembered. As shown by the examples quoted above, people recall it having happened at a number of different parks and having involved a high-speed, high-drop thrill ride, or at least a ride in which height played a significant factor (such as a ferris wheel). In such scenarios, the horrifying event would not only have been public, but the victim would have been hung in the air for all to see. However, the Mini Himalaya cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered a “thrill ride,” as the following photograph shows. Indeed, it’s classified as a “kiddie ride” by those who operate amusement parks:  A deadly incident (albeit one involving a maintenance worker rather than a passenger) occurred on 16 August 2003, when 40-year-old carnival worker Doug McKay was killed at the Whidbey Island County Fair (about 30 miles northwest of Seattle) after being dragged by a doughnut-shaped Super Loop 2 roller coaster while spraying lubricant on the tracks. The coaster pulled McKay between 25 and 40 feet into the air (reportedly scalping him in the process), and dropped him back-first onto a fence, killing him. We include mention of it here because sheriff’s deputies originally reported McKay’s long hair was caught in the ride. Later reports agreed that he had been trapped by his arm. An 11-year-old girl named Elizabeth Gilreath was critically injured in May 2016, when her long hair was caught in the machinery of a “King’s Crown” ride during a Cinco de Mayo festival in Omaha, Nebraska: “I just wanted to get to my daughter. I wanted to know she was okay and that she was taken care of well” Cooksey said. “I wouldn’t recommend any parent to put their child on a carnival ride.” The carnival told ABC News in a statement, “Thomas D. Thomas Shows values the safety and health of our guests above all else, and we are saddened by this accident.” Elizabeth suffered a skull fracture as well as having her hair ripped out, but doctors are optimistic that she will make a full recovery. Accidents at amusement parks are nothing new. As safe as we want to believe these sites are, they have been the scenes of injury and death. Tragedies like these stay in people’s minds, however, due to the nature of the injury — we view scalping as especially horrific. That such a gruesome event could take place in a venue so strongly associated with fun and happy times is the ultimate in ironic juxtaposition. Barbara “the happiest place unearthed” Mikkelson",
            "output": [
                "A girl on an amusement park ride was scalped when her hair got caught in the attraction's machinery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e7edc1e2acf458a96f16d8d0de8661a",
            "input": "Ebola has left those living in the country’s east weary and fearful, and, just as they were preparing to declare an end to the outbreak, a new case popped up. Now, they will now have to manage both threats at once. The new virus has overwhelmed some of the world’s best hospital systems in Europe and ripped through communities in New York. In Congo, it could spread unchecked in a country that has endured decades of conflict, where corruption has left the the population largely impoverished despite mineral wealth, and where mistrust of authority is so entrenched that health workers have been killed during the Ebola outbreak. It’s also unclear how forthcoming international support will be at a time when the whole world is battling the coronavirus. “It all feels like one big storm,” said Martine Milonde, a Congolese community mobilizer who works with the aid group World Vision in Beni, which has been the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. “Truly, this is a crisis within a crisis within a crisis. The community suffers from insecurity, and suffered under Ebola, and now may have to face COVID-19.” In early March, an Ebola patient whom many hoped would be the last was discharged, and the outbreak was supposed to be officially declared over Sunday. But the World Health Organization on Friday announced a new case in Beni. The outbreak has claimed more than 2,260 lives since August 2018 — the second largest the world has ever seen, after the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa. Still, there is some hope: Many of the tools used to fight Ebola — hand-washing and social distancing chief among them — are also key to combating the coronavirus. In Beni, which has reported two cases of the new coronavirus, “the communities here hold onto some hope that they are going to overcome this pandemic the way they had been working to overcome Ebola,” said Milonde. “They are counting on the caution, vigilance and hygiene practices that they have been performing to save their families.”  Community advocates in Beni — who walk around with megaphones to talk about Ebola — have started to include warnings about the coronavirus. Messages explaining COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and where to go if sick are being spread on radio stations, through text message blasts and by religious leaders. Schools, churches and mosques are already armed with hand-washing kits. Beni’s mayor, Nyonyi Bwanakawa, says many of the measures will be familiar — but the recommendations to stay home are more stringent than what is required for Ebola, and officials are prepared to take “dramatic measures” if people resist. Unlike Ebola, which kills about half of the people it infects, the new coronavirus causes mostly mild or moderate symptoms in about 80% of people. Spreading Ebola typically requires an exchange of bodily fluids, and people have often been infected when caring for loved ones or mourning in traditional funerals that involve close contact with the body. In contrast, the new coronavirus is far more contagious and mostly spread by people coughing or sneezing, including those with only mild flu-like symptoms. That means the task of controlling the virus’ spread in Congo will be massive: The government has only limited control in parts of the vast country, there are also some dense population centers with poor sanitation and infrastructure, and the country’s mineral-rich east is beset by violence from various armed groups. Dr. Michel Yao, program manager for emergency response at the WHO’s Africa office, said implementing robust testing and contact tracing will be key. But getting the community fully involved in fighting the disease might be even more important. That means not just speaking at communities, “but giving them responsibility and roles to play.” Initially, efforts to control Ebola were met with resistance, one of the major contributors to its spread. Amid the insecurity in the country’s east, superstitions arose, and some clinics to treat Ebola patients were attacked and health workers killed. The capital, Kinshasa, a tightly packed city of 14 million located on the country’s western border, remains another major worry, said Yao, who is based at WHO’s African headquarters in the neighboring Republic of Congo. “If it reaches this place, it would be a big disaster,” he said. “Africa is only partly ready,” said Yao. “If we stick to sporadic cases, this can be managed.” But many more developed countries have seen cases surge, and a sizable outbreak in Congo could easily overwhelm its hospital system. Advanced equipment to deal with severe respiratory illness, which the coronavirus can cause, is lacking: The Health Ministry says there are about 65 ventilators — all in Kinshasa — and 20 more on order for a country of more than 80 million people. There have been 215 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Congo, with 20 deaths, the ministry said Friday. And health workers will also need to find a way to continue to treat people infected with the many other diseases that regularly torment the population. Over the past year, for instance, a measles outbreak killed more than 6,000 people in Congo. In addition, because donor countries are themselves dealing with outbreaks, help from abroad could be less forthcoming. The key, Yao said, is training more people locally to care for the ill. The challenge will be rallying again after many months of trying to contain Ebola. “The job wasn’t yet finished, and we have to deal with another emergency,” Yao said. Katungo Methya, 53, who volunteers for the Red Cross in Beni, expressed a weariness many feel. “It’s so upsetting to have this second disease. We lost so many people through Ebola, a lot of deaths, now corona,” she said. “Everyone is really afraid.” ___ Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP medical writer Maria Cheng in London contributed from London.",
            "output": [
                "Congo, weary from Ebola, must also battle the coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19cac9f769dc4cde878a59c8059c75f4",
            "input": "\"Young voters carried Barack Obama to victory in the past two elections and felt the Bern for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Democratic primary. But polls show they’re not exactly transferring their enthusiasm to Hillary Clinton. The 69.2 million millennials — typically defined as adults under age 35 — now make up the second-largest age block in America after the Baby Boomers. While Clinton still leads Donald Trump among young voters, polls show sizable portions of millennials now backing Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson and Green Party’s Jill Stein. (In comparison, third party candidates received about 3 percent of the vote in 2012.) Clinton’s trouble connecting with millennials prompted NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press to ask Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, how the campaign could rebuild the Obama coalition and win swing states without them. Kaine agreed that that young voters are crucial, but laid out \"\"five litmus test issues\"\" that should convince them to get with her. \"\"Do you believe in climate science or don’t you? Millennials do, Hillary Clinton and I do, Donald Trump doesn’t. Do you believe women should be able to make their own health care decisions, or don’t you? Millennials do, Hillary Clinton and I do, Donald Trump doesn’t. Do you believe in immigration reform or don’t you? We do, millennials do, Donald Trump doesn’t. Do you believe in LGBTQ equality? We do, millennials do, Donald Trump doesn’t. And finally, do you have a plan to deal with college affordability? We have one. Millennials need one. And Donald Trump, with Trump University, has ripped off students,\"\" Kaine said. Does Clinton have more in common with the youth than Trump on the five issues Kaine laid out? We asked the Clinton campaign and Trump campaigns for data showing how millennials feel about the various issues. We didn't hear back from the Trump side. A Clinton spokesman sent us a report that surveyed millennials in only 11 swing states. In addition, it used questions phrased to favor Democratic talking points, such as asking about \"\"making the wealthy pay their fair share\"\" and \"\"implementing common sense gun safety rules.\"\" We will not be using those results. But the campaign later sent us other polling data. In addition, we did our own search. Here's what we found. Climate science Kaine’s assertion on climate change is largely accurate. Recently, a 2014 Gallup survey found that 58 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds believe global warming's effects have already begun. About a year later, a national poll conducted in 2015 by Harvard's Institute of Politics found that 55 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds agreed with the scientific consensus that the planet is warming and emissions \"\"from cars and industry facilities\"\" are to blame. But 20 percent said that, although the planet is warming, natural changes in the environment are to blame, which is at odds with the consensus of the experts. Twenty-three percent believe global warming is a \"\"theory that has not yet been proven.\"\" Clinton has called for more pollution controls, investing more in clean energy and cutting \"\"wasteful\"\" tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. Trump's website doesn’t include a position on climate change. However, the site has reposted a PBS Newshour article that says Trump regards climate change as a hoax. And as we reported in June, during a May 26 energy policy speech Trump advocated rescinding \"\"all the job-destroying Obama executive actions, including the Climate Action Plan\"\" and said he would \"\"cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.\"\" Women's health care Kaine said that women should be able to make their own health care decisions. Few people would disagree that women — or men for that matter — should be able to make their own health care decisions. In a political context, Kaine’s comments indicate Clinton’s position in favor of abortion rights. A 2014 poll by the nonpartisan organization PRRI (formerly the Public Religion Research Institute) in Washington found that 55 percent of millennials thought abortion should be legal in most or all cases. The same level of support is seen in people under 68. Only older Americans showed less support for abortion, with 43 percent of people over 67 saying it should be legal. Similarly, when Gallup surveyed abortion attitudes in 2015, it found that 53 percent of people age 18 to 34 identified themselves as \"\"pro choice,\"\" versus 52 percent of 35- to 55-year-olds and 47 percent of people over 55. Once again, that puts millennials in the Democratic camp, but not by an overwhelming amount. Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin subsequently directed us to a Fox News survey taken last week that found 61 percent of registered voters under age 35 reported being pro-choice. Clinton, as with most Democrats, supports the right of a woman to seek an abortion. Trump doesn't address abortion on his website, but he’s said in interviews that he opposes abortion in most cases. In a March interview, he said women who have an abortion after it’s outlawed should received \"\"some form of punishment,\"\" but he backtracked on the idea after widespread criticism. Once again, the Clinton-Kaine team seems to be in synch with at least a bare majority of millennials. Immigration Immigration is another issue where the stances of Trump and Clinton diverge dramatically. Trump has made the removal of illegal immigrants his signature issue. He wants to build a wall across the southern border and change the law that dictates that if you are born in the United States you automatically become as U.S. citizen. Clinton, in contrast, has called for legislation to allow some of those living in the United States illegally to remain, especially young adults brought to the United States as children. Most — criminals are a major exception — would be eligible for an eventual path to citizenship. On the issue of the wall, millennials are firmly against Trump. According to a 2016 PRRI survey, 70 percent oppose it, compared to 52 percent of people age 65 and older. Only 11 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 support identifying and deporting illegal immigrants (it's 23 percent for people age 65 and older), according to a 2015 PRRI poll; and 69 percent of younger voters support a path to citizenship, as do 58 percent of seniors. More recently, a Fox News poll taken in last August found that 87 percent of respondents under 35 favored setting up a system for illegal immigrants to become legal. Only 11 percent supported deporting as many as possible. Also, Trump seems to be out of step with the younger people in his own party, 63 percent of whom support a path to citizenship and only 20 percent want mass deportation. LGBT equality Polls show millennials overwhelmingly support gay rights, which is a plank of Clinton's platform. But Kaine is exaggerating when he suggests Trump is totally against LGBT equality — the Republican nominee has given mixed messages on the issue. An August GenForward survey, conducted by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago and the AP-NORC Center, found that young voters (defined as age 18 to 30) strongly supported LGBT individual rights including equal employment rights (90 percent), HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment (92 percent) and LGBT adoption (80 percent). According to a May 2016 Pew report, 71 percent of Americans born after 1981 favor same-sex marriage (as do 55 percent of all Americans). Clinton’s LGBT promises mirror the attitudes of millennials in the GenForward survey. She calls the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in 2015 as a \"\"landmark victory\"\" for the country. Kaine, for his part, signed an executive order that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in Virginia in 2006, his first year as governor. Equality Virginia, the commonwealth's LGBT organization, called him a friend and major ally in an editorial to the Advocate. Trump, meanwhile, has vowed that he \"\"will do everything in my power to protect LGBT citizens\"\" in his speech at the Republican National Convention. He often criticizes the Clinton Foundation for taking donations from governments that oppress gay men and women. But Trump opposes gay marriage and has said in interviews during the Republican primary that he would appoint judges that would reverse the Supreme Court ruling or allow states to decide. The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights groups that endorsed Clinton, points out that Trump’s running mate is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who passed a 2015 law that allowed businesses to refuse to serve gay and lesbian customers based on religious freedom; the law was modified after an uproar. College affordability Trump isn’t against making colleges more affordable, but polls show millennial attitudes on higher education costs are more closely aligned with Clinton’s than Trump’s. Many millennials say college affordability is a top issue, according to a USA Today/Rock the Vote survey, and the vast majority say higher education should be debt free (77 percent in a poll commissioned by Bankrate Inc., a financial services company). Under Clinton’s college affordability plan — retooled with input from Sanders in June 2016 and seen as a grab for his millennial voters — families with incomes less than $85,000 will pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities, with the income cap increasing to $125,000 by 2021. Clinton’s plan also addresses student debt refinancing. Kaine focused on complaints lodged against Trump University in his Meet the Press interview. We found that Trump University received a D-minus rating from the Better Business Bureau in 2010, the last time the consumer watchdogs gave any rating at all. Trump has been vague about his own college affordability plans. In an Iowa town hall in November 2015, he suggested he would create \"\"some governmental program\"\" to help lower-income families pay for school. He promised to \"\"work with all of our students who are drowning in debt\"\" during the Republican National Convention. His website does not list college affordability as an issue, but Trump’s policy advisor Sam Clovis floated a few ideas in a May interview with Inside Higher Ed. Clovis said the campaign thinks student loans should be \"\"market driven,\"\" and said colleges should \"\"have skin in the game\"\" and share the risks associated with student loans. Clovis rejected proposals for free higher public education. Our ruling Kaine said Hillary Clinton and millennials believe in climate change, abortion rights, immigration reform, gay rights and college affordability but \"\"Donald Trump doesn't.\"\" Reputable polls back Kaine’s claim, though the VP nominee is overstating the extent of Trump’s opposition to gay rights and college affordability. Millennials agree decisively with Clinton’s position on immigration, gay rights and college affordability, and by narrow margins on climate change and abortion rights.",
            "output": [
                "\"Tim Kaine Says Hillary Clinton and millennials have the same positions on climate change, abortion rights, immigration reform, gay rights and college affordability. \"\"Donald Trump doesn't.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3ef59447cee4cf894d0c2361e9cfbc9",
            "input": "Soy supplements are over the counter so the price may vary. Story cites estimate. There was a discussion about the reductions of symptoms among patients in the study in both relative and absolute terms. Would have liked a better idea if the levels in the study among Chinese women are what American women also experience. In most prior studies of hot flashes, the frequency has been much higher in study subjects – more like 5 – 10 per day, not per week. So, as commenter in story notes, these Chinese women were not very symptomatic compared to their American counterparts. There was a brief mention of harms that the National Institutes of Health list for soy supplements, but no mention of side effects experienced by women in the study. The story did highlight the sample size was small and the number of hot flashes reported by the women in the study was low. The story did not commit disease mongering. The journalist interviewed an American researcher who did not agree with the study results and had conducted other studies using soy supplements and did not find any significant effects. Also, it was stated the supplements in the study were provided by Frutarom Netherlands – a private company that sells soy supplements over the counter in the U.S. The story states that “The standard drug treatment for stubborn menopause symptoms is hormone replacement therapy. But doctors and women have become increasingly wary of that option because of serious side effects such as increased risk for heart attack, stroke and breast cancer.” Not applicable. Soy supplements are over-the-counter products sold in most health stores. The story at least establishes that there has been other past research on soy supplements and hot flashes, quoting an American researcher. The journalist sought out another expert in the field who had conducted similar studies in the U.S. without the same findings.",
            "output": [
                "Study clouds evidence on soy and menopause"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5088b6879545499aac29cd92c5d0e32b",
            "input": "\"Residents of some Baltimore neighborhoods are no better off than people living in impoverished North Korea and the violent West Bank, Bernie Sanders said during a campaign rally in Maryland ahead of that state’s primary. \"\"Poverty in Baltimore, and around this country — poverty is a death sentence,\"\" Sanders said April 24. He then laid out some rather unflattering and harsh comparisons: \"\"Fifteen neighborhoods in Baltimore have lower life expectancies than North Korea. Two of them have a higher infant mortality rate than the West Bank in Palestine. Baltimore teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 face poorer health conditions and a worse economic outlook than those in distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa. We are talking about the United States of America in the year 2016 — a country in which the top 1/10th of 1 percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.\"\" While it would be wrong to take Sanders’ claim to mean that conditions overall are worse than Baltimore, we found that his specific comparisons are largely accurate. \"\"The comparisons fairly make the point that there are some parts of this rich country where conditions resemble those in much poorer countries,\"\" said Alan Berube, an expert on urban poverty at the Brookings Institution. \"\"This isn't isolated to Baltimore; there are neighborhoods in nearly every big U.S. city and metropolitan area, and many rural communities, that perform just as poorly on these outcomes.\"\" Let’s take Sanders’ claims one by one. Life expectancy in North Korea The Sanders campaign referred us to a Washington Post article noting that 14 Baltimore neighborhoods had shorter life expectancies than North Korea in 2013. (The article originally said 15 but was corrected.) His number is slightly outdated. In 2014, the latest year where there’s data on both places, the average life expectancy in North Korea was 69.81 years, according to the CIA World Factbook. That placed the impoverished dictatorship at No. 155 in longest lifespans out of 224 countries. The United States overall ranked at No. 42 with 79.56 years. Residents in 12 of Baltimore's 56 neighborhoods lived shorter lives, according to data from the Baltimore City Health Department provided to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. That’s not 15, but it’s close. (For context, just five Baltimore neighborhoods have life expectancies higher than the U.S. national average, and four of them are relatively affluent and white.) Here’s a map from the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service that compares the life expectancies of Baltimore neighborhoods in 2013 to other places in the world:  An important caveat: The city of Baltimore has a total population around 600,000 people while North Korea has a population 40 times that. That means fewer events in Baltimore neighborhood could swing the overall life expectancy of a neighborhood up or down. Infant mortality in the West Bank For this claim, the Sanders campaign referred us to a Vox article that said two neighborhoods in Baltimore — Little Italy and Greenmount East — had a higher rate of infant mortality than the West Bank, Honduras and Venezuela in 2013. But in his speech, Sanders only mentioned the West Bank. In 2014, 13.49 out of 1,000 babies died before their first birthday in the notorious conflict zone, according to the CIA’s World Factbook. The West Bank places in the middle of the pack in infant mortality at No. 117 out of 224 countries. The United States, meanwhile, ranked at No. 169 with a rate of 6.17 deaths per 1,000. In 2014, 11 Baltimore neighborhoods had a higher rate than the West Bank. In Hilltop and Little Italy, at least 20 out of 1,000 infants died before their first birthday. That’s not only higher than the West Bank, Honduras and Venezuela but also war-torn Syria and oppressive Uzbekistan. Teen health in distressed cities in developing countries Sanders claimed that \"\"Baltimore teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 face poorer health conditions and a worse economic outlook than those in distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa.\"\" The Sanders campaign cited a Washington Post article by Johns Hopkins University researchers. \"\"Teenagers in Baltimore face poorer health and more negative outlooks than those in urban centers of Nigeria, India and China,\"\" they write. Contrary to what Sanders said, the work by the Johns Hopkins researchers don’t consider economic outlooks nor do they show Baltimore conditions being worse than South Africa’s. Nonetheless, his broader point is accurate. The researchers published a comprehensive set of studies published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2014 that compared the well-being of teens in impoverished areas in Baltimore; Ibadan, Nigeria; Johannesburg, South Africa; New Delhi, India; and Shanghai, China. Baltimore teens reported the highest rates pregnancy and, after Johannesburg, the second highest rates of substance use, sexual and physical violence, and feeling unsafe in their community:  Our ruling Sanders presented a series of comparisons showing that conditions in some parts of Baltimore rivaled that of \"\"the West Bank in Palestine,\"\" \"\"North Korea,\"\" and \"\"distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa. Some of Sanders’ figures need to be updated, but the gist of his specific comparisons are accurate: 12 Baltimore neighborhoods have a lower life expectancy than North Korea; 11 have a higher infant mortality rate than the West Bank; and research shows health conditions are worse for poor teens than in Baltimore than in Ibadan, New Delhi and Shanghai.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Bernie Sanders Says an array of statistics show that conditions in some parts of Baltimore rival that of \"\"the West Bank in Palestine,\"\" \"\"North Korea,\"\" and \"\"distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c456bcb57a84f4b91684d6a6e7668b9",
            "input": "Sangamo shares jumped as much as 30 percent to a six-year high of $17.73 on the Nasdaq on Thursday morning. Biogen will use Sangamo’s genome-editing technology to develop drugs targeting sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. It will provide Sangamo $20 million upfront and reimburse costs related to research and development. Sangamo will also be eligible for milestone payments of about $300 million, as well as double digit royalties on product sales. The upfront payment and the terms of the milestone payments and the double digit royalties were pretty high, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos said. “The deal terms are very lucrative for a pre-clinical platform. So I think Biogen must have been impressed with the pre-clinical data that Sangamo presented last month.”  Sangamo presented the data last month at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. The company will be responsible for research and development for the first proof-of-concept study for beta-thalassemia, according to Thursday’s deal. Beta-thalassemia impairs the body’s ability to produce hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells (RBC). Sickle cell disease changes the shape RBCs, tending to block blood flow. Moussatos said Sangamo also had a promising HIV program, with a patient to stay with undetectable viral load for six months. “That’s another viable treatment and I won’t be surprised if they announce another partnership for that,” Moussatos said.",
            "output": [
                "Sangamo to develop blood disorder drugs with Biogen."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7840feb090b41549c1aca7b34614b2b",
            "input": "The protests and shifting public opinion have led conservative President Mauricio Macri to call for Congress to launch a debate on a broader legalization of abortion in Argentina, which currently allows the procedure only in cases of rape or risks to the mother’s health. A bill allowing elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy was introduced in Congress earlier this year with the backing of 70 lawmakers from across the political spectrum. The bill needs 129 votes in the 257-seat lower house and then would go to the Senate. The lower house vote is expected in June. Macri has said that even though he remains anti-abortion, he would not veto the bill if passed. Natalia Rodas welcomes this unprecedented opening to greater abortion rights in Argentina. The 31-year-old housemaid recently found herself pregnant and in dire economic straits after the father refused to accept responsibility. Desperate and alone, she went to a pharmacy on the poor outskirts of Buenos Aires and paid twice her monthly salary for the drug misoprostol. Unsure if the drug would harm her without medical supervision, she fearfully took the pills and aborted. “An illegal abortion has made me live through some horrible situations,” Rodas said. “If something goes wrong, who do you call? Who do you fall back on? No, you just die.” Argentina’s health ministry estimates that between 370,000 to 522,000 Argentine women undergo illegal abortions each year and thousands of women, mainly poor, are hospitalized each year for complications. It is the main cause of maternal death. “What point is there in penalizing abortions if they continue to happen?” asked Nelly Minyersky, a 90-year-old lawyer and one of the authors of the bill, who underwent an illegal abortion more than 50 years ago. Although therapeutic abortions to protect the mother are allowed in Argentina, advocates say doctors and judges often continue to block women from carrying them out despite a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that was supposed to remove barriers and take judges out of these decisions. Argentina’s Roman Catholic Church is leading the resistance against the initiative. “When you deny the most elemental right to live, all human rights hang by a thread,” said Gustavo Carrara, who was recently named auxiliary bishop by the pope. “If there’s an excuse to eliminate a human life, there will always be reasons to exclude humans who are a nuisance from this world.” In recent years, Argentina has been at the forefront of social movements in the region. In 2010, it became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. More recently, the Ni Una Menos, or Not One Less, movement that was created in Argentina to fight gender-based violence has grown into a global phenomenon. These days, demonstrators have filled the streets in front of Congress wearing the green handkerchiefs that symbolize the abortion rights movement. Even dozens of lawmakers wore them when the bill was introduced. “The green handkerchiefs will remain as a record of the history of our great struggle,” said Betty Maidana, 48, who heads the Buenos Aires cooperative that makes them. A survey conducted the Buenos Aires-based Tendencias consultancy in March found that 48.5 percent of the 7,600 people questioned were in favor of a broader legalization of abortion, while 35.6 percent opposed it and 16 percent didn’t have an opinion. The survey’s margin for error was 1.2 percentage points. Many women in Argentina use misoprostol to end first-trimester pregnancies. The drug is only sold under prescription, but doctors often fear that prescribing it could expose them to a lawsuit since the pills are usually bought on the black market. Doctors who perform abortions, and women who have illegal abortions, can face from one to four years in prison in Argentina. In Latin America, only Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador prohibit abortion without exceptions. For the poorest women living in the slums, a box with 16 tablets of misoprostol that costs about $170 is out of reach. Rodas says she paid an inflated price of about $300 — she earns $150 a month — to buy the drug without a prescription. For many poor women, the methods used to induce an abortion include using an IV tube with a sharp wire clothes hanger or knitting needle to try to break the amniotic sac inside womb. Others, drink herbs, insert dubious non-abortive pills in the vagina, or pump toxic mixtures, which can cause ulcers, hemorrhage and ultimately severe infections, and death. “When an abortion is safe, it’s less complicated than pulling out a tooth. It’s an easy practice that doesn’t put the women’s health or life at risk,” said Analia Bruno, a physician, who is part of Argentina’s network of health professionals in favor of abortion.",
            "output": [
                "Argentine women see legal abortion closer than ever."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d77fc98f4a74d7aa9427a7ec8c231dd",
            "input": "The device, known as a renal denervation system, belongs to a class of products that take a new approach to treating hypertension and are aimed at patients resistant to traditional drug-based therapies. Covidien’s device is approved in Europe and is being tested in the United States. The adoption of such devices has been slow as austere governments are reluctant to pay for the unconventional technology. These devices work by creating tiny scars along nerves in the kidneys - organs that play a pivotal role in regulating blood pressure by sending signals to the brain that can cause blood vessels to constrict. This scarring process is carried out by threading a catheter through the renal arteries from the groin. It deadens the nerves and decreases blood pressure. Covidien said the decision to exit the business was a result of its regular review of strategic programs. Covidien said it expects to record after-tax charges of $20-$25 million as a result of exiting the program. The company’s shares were unchanged in light premarket trading on Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "Covidien to stop making hypertension devices."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2de5703396614b1a808edb11bfbf2a72",
            "input": "The Nottingham Crown Court jury found Ian Paterson guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and three counts of unlawful wounding. Prosecutors say the 59-year-old doctor lied to patients or exaggerated their risk of cancer to persuade them to have surgery. “Of the 11 victims he was charged with in relation to this case, none had breast cancer, and yet he led them to believe they were at risk. This was cruel and unnecessarily led to many people suffering and living in fear,” West Midlands police Superintendent Mark Payne said. “Paterson was a controlling bully, who played God with people’s lives so he could live a luxurious lifestyle.” Paterson owned a luxury home in Birmingham as well as properties in Cardiff, Manchester and the United States, West Midlands police said. Hundreds of Paterson’s patients were recalled in 2012 after concerns about unnecessary or incomplete operations. Nine women and one man testified about the procedures during his trial, which dealt with surgeries between 1997 and 2011. One patient, Frances Perks, who underwent an unnecessary mastectomy, hopes he “rots in hell.” ″″I think he’s a psychopath,” she said. “Why would anyone in their right mind do operations to people knowing that they didn’t need them?” Another victim, Carole Johnson, who had six surgeries in seven years, said he manipulated his patients into trusting him. “I, for one, trusted him with my life,” she said after the verdicts. “To realize that I was betrayed makes me question my own judgment and I feel like I cannot trust any doctor.” Emma Doughty, a specialist medical lawyer with law firm Slater and Gordon who represents dozens of Paterson’s victims, said many are relieved justice has been done. “Paterson’s barbarous acts of cruelty have hugely impacted many hundreds of people,” she said. “I now hope they can start to rebuild and move on with their lives.” Paterson was granted bail until his sentencing hearing scheduled for May.",
            "output": [
                "UK jury convicts doctor of performing unnecessary surgeries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1dc2ec400ce44977a9345cce2d780e61",
            "input": "The World Health Organisation has urged countries to widen testing to contain the virus. Malaysia’s tally of infections has jumped six-fold in just ten days to more than 1,500, exceeded only by China, South Korea and Japan in Asia. By the end of the week, Malaysia will double daily testing capacity to 7,000, before stepping that up to 16,500 by the first week of April, the official, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said. “We are preparing for the worst scenario, but hope for the best outcomes,” Noor Hisham, the director general of Malaysia’s health ministry, added in a text message late on Monday. “Once we have the capacity ready, we will scale up active case detection, testing, isolation and treatment.”  Ministry data shows Malaysia had done 17,923 tests by Monday, when the biggest daily increase of 212 new infections took the country’s total to 1,518. That works out to about 560 tests per million people, fewer than neighboring Singapore’s 4,500 tests per million, according to the city-state’s most recent data, but well above Indonesia’s  single-digit figures. Malaysia has recorded at least 14 virus deaths. It has linked nearly two-thirds of its infections to a religious gathering last month near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, that the government says drew more than 16,000 people. The event is also linked to more than 100 cases across Southeast Asia. On Monday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia may extend beyond the end of the month travel and movement curbs imposed to contain the spread of the virus. [nL4N2BG1XK]",
            "output": [
                "Malaysia steps up coronavirus tests as it braces for 'worst scenario'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54f7192c793549138b734d2c42e4d761",
            "input": "The flight contained 2.5 million surgical masks, 10 million gloves as well as goggles and thermometers worth more than 3 million Swiss francs ($3.1 million), and made by Sinopharm Group Co Ltd.  Another delivery arrived in Zurich on Sunday evening on a chartered Swiss airline flight from Shanghai carrying protective gowns for dozens of health care facilities. Further flights with additional equipment are planned. Christophe Weber, president of the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce for western Switzerland, who helped organise the Geneva delivery, said that the order was placed in response to appeals from doctors and pharmacists amid serious supply shortages. “I always considered that we, Switzerland, had the quotas necessary for protective medical equipment and it was unfortunately not the case and it became urgent to take action,” he said at Geneva’s Cointrin airport. About a dozen police surrounded the cargo. The equipment was inspected inside an airport warehouse and will be moved to another secret location for redistribution, with police escorts, later on Monday. Weber said the government knew about the delivery and had approved of it. “The competition is extremely lively with the Americans now joining in the bidding and we know about their firepower,” said Vincent Subilia, director general of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, who was also involved with the shipment, referring to masks as “blue gold”. A German official last week said that an order of 200,000 masks bound for Germany had been “confiscated” in Bangkok and diverted to the United States, calling it an “act of modern piracy”. The United States had no knowledge of the shipment, a spokesman said. Switzerland reported 21,652 positive COVID-19 cases on Monday and 584 deaths, with the rate of new confirmed increases slowing. It has mobilised the army to help back up hospitals. Medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres is helping in the University Hospital of Geneva, which is one of the facilities due to receive equipment. It was not immediately clear if the additional supplies would fill the gap in Switzerland’s supplies. Daniel Koch, the federal government’s point man for battling the epidemic, said on Swiss television RTS on Sunday: “There are stocks for hospitals, for professionals, for retirement homes, and the distribution system is working.”  ($1 = 0.9790 Swiss francs)",
            "output": [
                "Chinese masks, or 'blue gold', arrive for Swiss hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c23b32ab1264cfeb12ed74a95be9679",
            "input": "KATU-TV reports Cowlitz County environmental health manager Season Long said Friday a 4-month-old and a 5-month old German shepherd were euthanized because the puppies hadn’t been vaccinated for rabies yet. Cowlitz County Health and Human Services said Thursday that two bats tested positive for rabies in the county and that some people’s pets were exposed to the disease. Officials say the bats are the first to test positive for rabies in the county in nearly a decade. Long says dogs that have been vaccinated for rabies and are exposed to rabid bats would not need to be euthanized. Officials are investigating whether people were exposed to the bats.",
            "output": [
                "2 puppies euthanized after contact with rabid bats."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-831d934b07a34bbb86c9c7e71d3f09ed",
            "input": "Harris’ bill, first introduced in 2018, would create a $25 million program to fight racial bias in maternal care. It would direct grants to medical schools, nursing schools and other training programs to improve care for black women, who are three to four times more likely than white women to die in childbirth . Her revived proposal also would allocate an additional $125 million toward identifying high-risk pregnancies and, according to her Senate office, provide mothers with the “culturally competent care and resources they need.” “Black mothers across the country are facing a health crisis that is driven in part by implicit bias in our health care system,” Harris, of California, said in a statement. “We must take action to address this issue, and we must do it with the sense of urgency it deserves.” Harris and Gillibrand, of New York, are among a number of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination focused on maternal mortality rates. The issue was the first that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was questioned on at a recent candidate forum in Houston focused on issues key to women of color, and she recently penned an op-ed for Essence magazine on the topic. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker earlier this year teamed up with Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and introduced legislation aimed at reducing the country’s maternal mortality rate, particularly among black women. Gillibrand announced a plan for a Family Bill of Rights , which she vowed to implement promptly if elected president. It seeks to improve access to obstetrician-gynecologists in rural areas, while making adoptions or in vitro fertilization more affordable for everyone wanting children, regardless of income, religion or sexual orientation. Her plan would provide government-sponsored “baby bundles” for new parents, with diapers, onesies, a small mattress and other items designed to make newborn nurseries healthier. It further includes beefed-up paid family leave allowing parents to care for their children into infancy, universal prekindergarten programs and expanded child care tax credits. “The Family Bill of Rights will make all families stronger — regardless of who you are or what your zip code is — with a fundamental set of rights that levels the playing field starting at birth,” Gillibrand said in a statement. Gillibrand said she had a “several ideas” to pay for the proposed initiatives, including a 0.1% tax on financial transactions like stock purchases, which she says would generate $777 billion over 10 years. ___ Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Harris, Gillibrand offer plans to bolster maternal care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-91434abcce17475ab4077de17180027e",
            "input": "\"When it comes to health care, state Senate hopeful Dan Gecker says the U.S. is in a dubious league of its own. \"\"Of the 25 wealthiest nations, we’re the only one that doesn’t provide basic health coverage,\"\" Gecker, a Democrat who serves on the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, said during an Aug. 18 candidates’ forum. Gecker is seeking the 10th District Senate seat that long has been held by Republican John Watkins, who is not seeking re-election. Also running is Glen Sturtevant, a Republican who serves on the Richmond School Board; Marleen Durfee, an independent who is a former Chesterfield supervisor; and Carl Loser, a Libertarian from Powhatan County. Gecker, in his comment, was referring to universal coverage, in which all citizens get national help in paying for health costs. We wondered if he was right about about the United States’ exceptional status among the wealthiest nations. Gecker pointed us to a report last year issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 34 nations -- mostly with industrialized economies -- seeking to improve trade. The report says only two OECD countries -- the U.S. and Mexico -- do not offer universal care. A chart in the study shows that all of the other OECD nations provide coverage for more than 90 percent of their people.. The roster of OECD nations, however, does not translate to a list of the 25 wealthiest countries. Gecker also directed us to the World Bank’s ranking of the wealthiest nations based on each country’s gross domestic product divided by its population -- a figure called GDP per capita. About two-thirds of the nations on the World Bank’s 25-richest list belong to the OECD. We sought to compare that ranking with a list of all nations that provide universal health care. We found two organizations that try to keep tabs on nations that provide universal coverage. One is the New York State Department of Health, which compiled a 2011 list to give medical providers guidance on billing practices when they treat foreign patients. The other resource is a 2010 study by researchers in the United Kingdom and the U.S. examining universal health care around the world. Among high GDP-per-capita nations, universal care coverage is the norm. Only three of the 25 wealthiest -- the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- weren’t listed as having universal health care. The embassy for Qatar told us that the country does provide universal health care. Saudi Arabia is listed as providing universal health care in a June 28, 2012, story from The Atlantic magazine. We reached out to the Saudi Arabian embassy several times to confirm that’s the case, but did not hear back. A 1998 study published in the Journal of Family Community Medicine says \"\"Saudi Arabian policy is to provide free, comprehensive and universal health care services to all citizens.\"\" The final source Gecker cited is a 2012 op-ed by David de Ferranti, former vice president of the World Bank, and Julio Frenk, the former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, about universal health care coverage. \"\"Except for the United States, the 25 wealthiest nations have some form of it (universal coverage),\"\" de Ferranti and Frenk wrote in their op-ed. We got a similar take from two other health care analysts we contacted. Andrea Feigl, a visiting scientist at Harvard who co-wrote the 2010 U.K.-U.S. report, told us in an email that \"\"The United States is still on its way towards UHC (Universal Health Coverage), and it is the last developed country to do so.\"\" The World Health Organization said in a September 2014 report that the United States is \"\"currently the only high-income country without nearly universal health-care coverage.\"\" Our ruling Gecker said that \"\"of the 25 wealthiest nations, we’re the only one that doesn’t provide basic health coverage.\"\" Gecker was referring to rich nations that provide coverage to all of their citizens. We can’t say definitively that the U.S. is the only one that doesn’t provide universal coverage, but evidence strongly points that way.\"",
            "output": [
                "Of the 25 wealthiest nations, we're the only one that doesn't provide basic health coverage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f15b8e80fe354def8e7baff73a643b3f",
            "input": "Author Malcolm Gladwell’s latest defense of deceased Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno drew attention on January 29 2020.During a speech at the campus in State College, Pennsylvania, Gladwell once again said that a statue of Paterno — who was fired in 2011 for failing to respond appropriately to an alleged sexual assault by a former subordinate nine years earlier — should be restored. The remark was reported by both the Penn State student newspaper, the Daily Collegian, and the Centre Daily Times. The two publications were billed as the hosts of the event.“That statue is in honor of someone’s integrity, skills as a football coach, and contributions to his community,” Gladwell said. “All of those three things are still intact. None of those things were called into question by the events surrounding the case, so I think the statue deserves to go back up.”In reality, a 2012 report conducted by former Louis Freeh, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, determined that the behavior of not only Paterno, but three other high-ranking university officials — president Graham B. Spanier, senior vice-president of finance and business Gary C. Shultz, and athletic director Timothy M. Curley — was questionable concerning the abuses committed by Paterno’s assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.“These men concealed Sandusky’s activities from the Board of Trustees, the University community and authorities,” the report stated:They exhibited a striking lack of empathy for Sandusky’s victims by failing to inquire as to their safety and well-being, especially by not attempting to determine the identity of [a] child who Sandusky assaulted in the Lasch Building in 2001.According to the report, it was reasonable to conclude that one reason Paterno and his fellow university leaders hid the facts related to Sandusky’s aggression against children was “in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity.” Instead, the four men allowed Sandusky to retire from coaching in 1999 despite being under criminal investigation, a decision that granted him a “license to bring boys to campus facilities for ‘grooming’ as targets for his assaults.”The report also found that Sandusky continued to have unfettered access to university facilities until November 2011, when he was arrested in his home.“Despite their knowledge of [a] criminal investigation of Sandusky, Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley took no action to limit Sandusky’s access to Penn State facilities or took any measures to protect children on their campuses,” it said.Both Paterno and Spanier were fired from the university on November 9 2011. Curley and Schultz later resigned from their own positions. Sandusky was convicted on 45 out of 48 counts of sexual abuse on June 22 2012 after being accused of abusing ten boys over a 15-year period. Exactly a month after Sandusky’s conviction, a statue of Paterno outside the school’s football stadium was removed.Gladwell reportedly devoted a chapter in his most recent book to defending Paterno, an argument he continued to revisit while promoting it in September 2019 podcast appearances.When asked if her news outlet endorsed Gladwell’s views on Paterno, Centre Daily Times executive editor Jessica McAllister said, “As the leading news outlet in the community, we aim to create events where our readers and featured speakers can exchange ideas and discuss issues that are important to the community.”We also contacted the Daily Collegian seeking comment.Update 01/30/2020, 3:35pm: We updated the story with a comment from Centre Daily Times executive editor Jessica McAllister.",
            "output": [
                "Author Malcolm Gladwell said in a January 2020 speech that a statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno should be restored."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1476eb83dd34562937ae7f5d318d77e",
            "input": "In an alert, regulators flagged reports of serious side effects and death among patient s taking hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine. Gov. Kristi Noem has pushed for doctors to be able to use hydroxychloroquine, creating a statewide clinical trial as well as making it available to COVID-19 patients if their doctor advises taking it. South Dakota received 1.2 million doses of the drug from the Strategic National Stockpile after President Donald Trump championed it as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said plans for the trial were moving forward and the drug would still be available to COVID-19 patients if their doctor advises it. The trial, which is planned by Sanford Health, would administer smaller doses of the drug to health care workers and people vulnerable to COVID-19 as a preventive measure. Participation in the trial is voluntary. Susan Hoover, an infectious disease physician at Sanford Health, said its physicians are aware of the potential of both hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, an antibiotic sometimes administered with the malaria medication, to disrupt heart rhythms. The are closely monitoring patients who receive the drugs. Noem has said that the state has enough of the medication to treat 100,000 patients. The state is also pitching in funding for the trial. The governor’s spokeswoman Maggie Seidel said that the final amount of funding from the state has not yet been determined and that it would come out of federal funding for addressing the coronavirus. South Dakota health officials reported one more death from COVID-19 on Friday as the total number of confirmed cases surpassed 2,000. Almost 90% of the confirmed cases were reported in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, which both contain parts of the state’s largest city, Sioux Falls. Noem said on Friday she will extend an executive order for two more weeks, telling people in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties to stay home if they are vulnerable to COVID-19 as cases. A Smithfield pork processing plant was the epicenter of the outbreak in the city, with more than 1,000 cases tied to the plant. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken said on Friday that he has no timeline for the plant’s reopening, according to the  Argus Leader. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has toured the facility and created a list of recommendations for Smithfield to prevent another outbreak. ___ Associated Press writer Amy Forliti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "South Dakota continues malaria drug trial despite FDA alert."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66d65c5b34664e69815b855e10374b69",
            "input": "Despite being locked out of the World Health Organization (WHO) due to the objections of China, which considers the island merely a Chinese province, Taiwan has been keen to demonstrate it is a responsible member of the international community. Taiwan is in the process of donating 16 million masks to countries hardest hit by the virus, including the United States and Europe, under the slogan “Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping”. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday the two million masks for Japan would go to front line medical workers. “Taiwan and Japan share values and are close partners and important friends at all levels,” it said. Taiwan hopes to further strengthen cooperation with Japan, including in the research and development of vaccines and exchanges between medical experts, the ministry added. Japan, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the two have close unofficial relations. Japan ruled Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. Japan has seen an accelerating infection rate in recent weeks, particularly in Tokyo. The government has responded by declaring an emergency in Tokyo and six other areas including Osaka, and a goal to cut interactions between people by 70 percent. Japan, which tests only people with symptoms of the coronavirus, has so far recorded nearly 200 deaths and more than 9,000 infections, including passengers who caught the virus on a cruise ship.",
            "output": [
                "Taiwan says donating 2 million face masks to virus-hit Japan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef573b0df6964069bde769434bbced31",
            "input": "The Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the woman, who was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday following two business trips to China last month, represented the country’s first possible case of the respiratory illness whose cause remains unknown. The unidentified woman, who works for a South Korean company near capital Seoul, has experienced cough and fever since returning from a five-day trip to the Chinese city of Xiamen on Dec. 30, the KCDC said in a press release. She had also visited Wuhan, the mainland Chinese city where the outbreak originated, for five days in mid-December. She told South Korean doctors she made no contact with animals while she was there and didn’t visit a seafood market in Wuhan’s suburbs where most of the cases have been traced to. The KCDC said the woman was in relatively good condition and undergoing tests at a hospital south of Seoul to confirm whether she has the same illness as the Wuhan patients. South Korean officials have tightened monitoring of people entering from China and advised travelers to avoid contact with animals and take extra care in personal hygiene. The disease — an unidentified form of viral pneumonia — has sent 59 people to the hospital in Wuhan in central Hubei province. As of Sunday, seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. In Hong Kong, a total of 15 patients were being treated Sunday for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. It is not clear whether they have the same illness as the Wuhan patients.",
            "output": [
                "South Korea reports 1st possible case of viral pneumonia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76edd3376c5a40b3a05fa0660c33daf7",
            "input": "\"This issue is alluded to obliquely in the quote that ends the article, which suggests that palliative care may help address \"\"critical concerns regarding the use of health care services at the end of life.\"\" This is not specific enough to satisfy the criterion. This story adequately quantifies the survival benefit and at least mentions the improvements in quality of life and depression scores. It also provides some reasonable explanations as to why palliative care may be beneficial when administered early. Although we wish it had been more precise in its characterization of the depression and quality of life benefits (how big was the improvement? on which specific symptoms? ), we feel there’s enough here for a satisfactory. As with the competing coverage, we’ll rule this one not applicable since the harms of palliative care are thought to be minimal. An excellent overview of the study’s methods and outcomes. And we were particularly impressed that the WSJ delved into limitations of the research, which few other outlets attempted to tackle in any detail. This is important, in our view, because even the most well conducted studies have limitations which may cause them to produce incomplete or \"\"wrong\"\" answers to important research questions. In this case, as the WSJ points out, the study was conducted at one of the top institutions in the country under conditions which may not be repeatable elsewhere. In addition, the patients receiving palliative treatment also received more general attention from caregivers, which can have a beneficial effect. It may be that more attention in general — rather than the specific palliative support offered in the study — is the key to making patients feel better and live longer with advanced cancer. No disease-mongering of cancer here. Although it didn’t include the breadth of perspectives included in some of the other stories about this study, this story did include an interview with an expert not affiliated with the study–enough for a satisfactory. Since this source is the past president of American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine– a professional group that obviously supports increased awareness and use of palliative care–we wish it had also included a comment from someone without these industry ties. As noted in the competing reviews, the point of the study was to compare early palliative care with existing standard cancer treatment. We wish, however, that the story had spent more time discussing what standard oncology care (the current \"\"existing alternative\"\") entails. As other stories covering the study pointed out, access to palliative care is limited by complicated reimbursement and lack of skilled providers in some areas. The WSJ didn’t mention these barriers. This story doesn’t do a good enough job explaining what’s newsworthy about the research. Palliative care is widely viewed as synonymous with hospice care provided in the last days of life. But this study suggests that it can be initiated early after diagnosis to improve outcomes — something that hasn’t been demonstrated previously in a rigorously conducted trial. This important distinction isn’t explicitly discussed. Since the story includes an interview with an expert not affiliated with the study, we can be sure that it didn’t rely solely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Advanced Cancer Patients Receiving Early Palliative Care Lived Longer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9dab8d3ace404ce3a4bb9ec837be5137",
            "input": "A federal judge in Maryland dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, finding that Dr. Paul Wheeler had immunity as an expert witness for coal companies under Maryland and federal law. During arguments before a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday, the families’ lawyer, Jonathan Nace, said Wheeler and the Johns Hopkins black lung unit “believed they were above the law” when Wheeler disregarded federal regulations on how to interpret X-rays to diagnose black lung disease. “Now they are asking the court to confirm that for them,” Nace said. Nace said Wheeler failed to follow the regulations outlined in the Black Lung Benefits Act for years, causing two West Virginia coal miners — Michael Day and Junior McCoy Barr — to lose significant amounts of money in compensation. Both men later died of black lung disease. James Mathias, arguing on behalf of Johns Hopkins and Wheeler, said the case “begins and ends” with witness immunity, which shields witnesses from later civil liability. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III said exposing expert witnesses to liability could have a chilling effect. “You need the privilege ... to get people to testify,” Wilkinson said. The three-judge panel did not indicate when it would issue its ruling. The proposed class-action lawsuit filed by the families of Day and Barr cited a 2013 investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News reporting that Wheeler did not apply the required guidelines for evaluating X-rays of patients to determine if they had black lung disease. The series, which won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, found that in at least 280 cases in which Wheeler convinced an administrative law judge to deny benefits, autopsies later showed the miners had the disease and were entitled to benefits. After the report was published, Johns Hopkins suspended and later discontinued its black lung program headed by Wheeler, who retired. A spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit, but released a statement saying  Johns Hopkins “took swift action when we learned of potential issues with the program.” “We extend our deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones to this horrible disease, and we commend all efforts to ensure the Black Lung Benefits claims process is fair and just for all parties involved,” the statement said.",
            "output": [
                "Appeals court hears Johns Hopkins black lung lawsuit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-154e871b022b4ff6a03ebdaa3de0f3a2",
            "input": "While absolute costs of the new drug are not given, the story does tell readers that older, cheaper drugs are less than 20 cents a day, which is 10 times less than the cost of the newer drug. The story provides absolute rates of death, heart attack, or stroke in those taking Actos and in those taking placebo or other diabetes drugs. We applaud the reporter for using absolute -not relative – rates. Not all potential harms associated with Actos are mentioned. Heart failure is one harm and is mentioned. Yet, no absolute data is provided about how often heart failure occurs or how serious it may be. There are also other harms that are not mentioned at all. The article tells readers the findings are based on a review of pooled results from 19 studies that compared the drug to either placebo, or sugar pill, or other diabetes drugs. The article also mentions the study was funded by the drug manufacturer. There is very little information about diabetes given, but one key point is mentioned–that heart attacks are a leading cause of death in people with diabetes. This fact provides context to the discussion of risks and benefits of these newer drugs. Although more background info could have been provided about diabetes itself, there is nothing misstated or embellished. The story obtains multiple sources of information, including from at least one source not connected with the research. The story mentions at least one drug alternative (metformin) to the newer drugs, but fails to mention others. The story also fails to mention lifestyle interventions, such as diet, exercise, and weight loss to help control blood sugar and other risk factors for diabetes complications. The article describes that the diabetes drug studied (Actos or pioglitazone) has been around and used by more than 7 million people since its introduction in 1999. The story tells readers Actos is part of a newer class drugs and tells readers this drug has been on the market since 1999. The story obtains quotes from sources not linked to the research and so it does not appear that this relies solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Analysis weighs benefits, risks of Actos"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0f420e6475f249f696330bd64df71509",
            "input": "No mention of the cost of treatment for women outside clinical trials. Some quantitative benefit mentioned of taking hormone therapy for chemoprevention. Incomplete discussion of reduced rate of side effects in raloxifene group. Mentions harms of hormone therapy, such as an increased risk of blood clots and uterine cancers. Does not mention that raloxifene, like tamoxifen, has bothersome side effects such as hot flashes and vaginal discharge, which are reported as comparable and mild to moderate in the NCI press release of the initial results of this trial. Mentions that the STAR trial was a 5-year trial, but not that is was unblinded early (around year 4) due to positive side effect profile of raloxifene. Mentions that 19,747 women were randomized to either raloxifene or tamoxifen and provides quantitative evidence of improved risk of blood clots or uterine cancers, however, both of those results were just shy of statistical significance, which is not mentioned in the article or in NCI press materials. (Source ACS: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Raloxifene_as_Good_as_Tamoxifen_to_Prevent_Breast_Cancer.asp) In addition, raloxifene did not appear to raise the risk of cataracts, which tamoxifen does appear to do. That difference was statistically significant. The story mentions equivalent comparison with tamoxifen in preventing invasive breast cancer, however, tamoxifen protected women better from non-invasive breast cancer such as DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ). ” No evidence of disease mongering. Mentions that this drug is for post-menopausal women at higher than average lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. This study was partially funded by Eli Lilly. There is a a lot of Eli Lilly promotional information in this story. Of course, Indianapolis is the home of Eli Lilly. No attempt and independent corroboration with other breast cancer researchers. There was not much effort to get opinions on the study from outside sources. A lead investigator of the Eli Lilly-funded study and the president of science and technology at Eli Lilly are not unbiased sources. The story discusses the STAR trial, which compared current hormone treatment, tamoxifen, with raloxifene. It should be noted that the results here are initial findings after 4 years of raloxifene. The story could have done a better job in explaining that tamoxifen is usually taken for 5 years and there is much more long-term clinical data on safety and efficacy for this drug. It’s clear form the story that raloxifene is currently available for use in post-menopausal women to prevent osteoporosis. What isn’t clear is that use in chemoprevention would be an off-label use. This type of hormone therapy should be used in estrogen-receptor positive, post-menopausal women. Notes that use of Raloxifene (Evista) as chemoprevention is still in the clinical trial phase and that there are plans to file for FDA approval for use in preventing and treating breast cancer. Evista is already approved to prevent osteoporosis. We can’t judge if the story relied solely or largely on a news release. However, there is certainly a lot of Eli Lilly promotional information in this story. And Indianapolis is the home of Eli Lilly.",
            "output": [
                "Lilly buoyed by findings on Evista"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08fe13ebae9c46aa92ab38d90fa0f871",
            "input": "On March 31 2019, a Facebook user shared a meme (archived here) about the purported effects of “free birth control” in the state of Colorado:Across an image of mountain scenery, the meme (watermarked by The Other 98%) read:COLORADO HAS OFFERED FREE BIRTH CONTROL FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS AND HAS SEEN:* UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES DROP BY 40% * ABORTION FALL BY 42% * MILLIONS IN PUBLIC HEALTH COVERAGE SAVEDSHARE IF YOU THINK WE NEED TO DO THIS WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRYAlthough the text described “the last 5 years,” the meme dated back to at least 2015, suggesting that it referred to a stretch between 2010 through 2015 or earlier. The meme made four claims about that time period, concluding with an opinion that the initiative ought to be implemented by other states:The source for the claims may have been a July 2015 New York Times article, published just before the earliest iteration of the meme we could find. It largely covered all four statistics mentioned in the meme, with some apparent inference in the meme:Over the past six years, Colorado has conducted one of the largest experiments with long-acting birth control. If teenagers and poor women were offered free intrauterine devices and implants that prevent pregnancy for years, state officials asked, would those women choose them?They did in a big way, and the results were startling. The birthrate among teenagers across the state plunged by 40 percent from 2009 to 2013, while their rate of abortions fell by 42 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. There was a similar decline in births for another group particularly vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies: unmarried women under 25 who have not finished high school. […]Proponents say the program is working. The state health department estimated that every dollar spent on the long-acting birth control initiative saved $5.85 for the state’s Medicaid program, which covers more than three-quarters of teenage pregnancies and births. Enrollment in the federal nutrition program for women with young children declined by nearly a quarter between 2010 and 2013.According to the New York Times article, the birthrate among teenagers dropped 40 percent — presumably the “unplanned” pregnancies mentioned in the meme. The rate of abortions dropped 42 percent in the same cohort, but it didn’t say what the drop in non-teenaged low-income women was by comparison. It also said that for every dollar spent on the program, the state’s Medicaid program saved $5.85 — but not what the overall number of births avoided or expenditures saved might be.However, a July 2014 CNN piece described the program’s effect as of that year, providing a timeframe for the start of the initiative as well as dollar amounts saved in a single year at the beginning of its implementation:Colorado’s teen birth rate dropped 40% between 2009 and 2013, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced this week [in 2014], in part due to a program that provides long-acting contraception to low-income women … In 2010 alone, Colorado saved $42 million on health care costs associated with teen births, thanks to the program, according to a press release from the governor’s office.A since-archived Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment press release from November 2017 reported that the initiative continued past 2015. It continued performing above expectations, and subsequent savings of $66.1 million to $69.6 million were cited for the years between 2009 and 2015:Colorado’s teen birth and abortion rates continue to plummet under a state health department family planning program that averted nearly $70 million in state and federal spending.“This is a good example of a smart and compassionate government program,” said Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “Not only did this initiative improve the health and well-being of thousands of Colorado women, it helped Colorado avoid the social and economic costs of unintended pregnancy.”From 2009 through 2016, the state birth rate fell 54 percent for women ages 15 to 19 and 30 percent for women ages 20 to 24. The state abortion rate declined 64 percent for women ages 15 to 19 and 41 percent for women ages 20 to 24. The number of teens giving birth for the second or third time dropped 63 percent during the same time period.An independent analysis by University of Colorado researchers concluded that the state health department’s family planning program was responsible for as much as two-thirds of the drop in births from 2009 through 2015, averting $66.1 million to $69.6 million in potential costs for four state and federal programs that provide health care, food and other assistance to low-income women and their infants.In other words, the meme’s claims actually understated the effects of Colorado’s free birth control program by 2019. The drop in teen births fell to 54 percent in subsequent years. The abortion rate also fell further, to 64 percent. And the 2017 update from Colorado’s health officials indicated that it estimated that $66.1 million to $69.6 million in expenditures related to unplanned pregnancies and births had been averted.",
            "output": [
                "Colorado introduced a free birth control program, causing unplanned births and abortions to plummet, and saving millions of dollars."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71829463586b4743b252cac2781bfac9",
            "input": "The figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday raised concern among health officials who fear e-cigarettes will create a new generation of nicotine addicts who may eventually smoke conventional cigarettes. Cigarette smoking fell more than 25 percent over the same period. E-cigarette proponents said the data could indicate e-cigarettes are diverting young people away from conventional cigarettes, a view rejected by tobacco control advocates. [ID: nL2N0XD1UH]  The Food and Drug Administration regulates cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco. It proposed extending its authority to e-cigarettes and hookah, among other products, nearly a year ago. FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum said on Friday the agency is “moving forward expeditiously to finalize the rule.” Its goal is to release it in June. But the potential for delay is considerable. The agency received more than 135,000 public comments on the proposal and by law must review them all. The rule must also be reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services and then by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which analyzes the potential economic consequences of proposed regulations. “This puts real pressure on every level of the administration to get this done,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, referring to the CDC data. “It means business as usual won’t solve this rapidly growing public health problem.”  OMB has not yet received the rule, according to its website. Once it does, it has 90 days to review it, though that can be extended. “There is always an opportunity for delay, but I think it will be much harder for the administration to exercise that opportunity now,” said David Dobbins, chief operating officer at the anti-tobacco group Legacy. “It’s up to the White House and HHS to make sure this regulation gets out as quickly as possible.”  The proposed rule would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 18 and require FDA approval of new products. Public health advocates have also been pushing for a ban on flavored products, television advertising and internet sales, which they say attract children. The agency has said the rule would be the foundational first step in a range of potential future regulations. In the meantime, some states are moving to impose restrictions of their own. In February, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer re-introduced proposed legislation that would allow the Federal Trade Commission to determine what constitutes marketing to children and would allow the FTC to work with states’ attorneys general to enforce bans. At least 43 states already have laws that restrict sales of e-cigarettes to minors and some are working to incorporate e-cigarettes into existing clean air acts that prohibit smoking in public places. “As long as the federal government doesn’t take uniform action, I think we will see action on a local level,” Dobbins said. “People can differ about the appropriateness of e-cigarettes for adults but I don’t think anyone disagrees on the appropriateness of giving them to children.”",
            "output": [
                "Youth e-cigarette data prompts new calls to speed regulation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5dba7c30b16b496e8fdcc713517e96d2",
            "input": "On July 26 2020, a post to Reddit’s r/Damnthatsinteresting purportedly showed images from a rugby game in New Zealand on the same day, in a stadium full of fans — because the country has successfully suppressed COVID-19:New Zealand rugby game today as we have no COVID cases. from DamnthatsinterestingIterations and the Original Poster [OP]On r/pics, a similar thread was shared on the same day:New Zealand enjoying their rugby game with no Covid- 19 cases 🙂 from picsThe image originated on r/NewZealand, and it was initially shared by a Redditor apparently present at the match:Feeling lucky we get to do this! 🙂Chiefs vs Blues today from newzealandOn a different thread featuring the image, u/mistyillusions commented:Thanks for reposting without permission lolAnd:Hey! i recognise this photo–because i took it last night! lolWe spotted the image with one of the Reddit titles as a caption on Facebook:The MatchOn July 26 2020, the YouTube channel “SUPER RUGBY” published highlights in a video titled “Super Rugby Aotearoa | Blues v Chiefs – Rd 7 Highlights,” with the following description:Super Rugby Aotearoa | Blues v Chiefs – Rd 7 HighlightsThe Blues snapped their two-game losing streak on Sunday [July 26 2020], but not without a serious challenge from the still-winless Chiefs in Auckland.In those highlights, footage of a crowded stadium full of rugby fans was clearly visible, and regional outlets reported the event. Stills in the clip showed the crowd from numerous vantage points:Although it was difficult to specifically verify the image shared to Reddit by an attendee, footage from the event showed even larger portions of a crowded stadium.New Zealand ‘Has No COVID Cases’After u/mistyillusion’s photograph was crossposted (and apparently without their knowledge or permission) to other threads, titles often claimed that “New Zealand has no COVID cases,” and therefore were able to attend sporting events without masks or anxieties.According to Google’s COVID-19 dashboard, as of July 30 2020, the statement “New Zealand has no COVID cases” wasn’t precisely accurate. In fact, New Zealand appeared to have exactly one new reported case on that date:We moved the ticker back to July 26 2020, and for that date, there were zero new cases of coronavirus:Attempting to derive a percentage change from the zero new cases on July 26 2020 to the one new case on July 30 2020 yielded an interesting (and completely real) figure:We changed the metric from “new cases” to “deaths,” showing that on the deadliest day during the COVID-19 pandemic, four people in New Zealand died. The last COVID-19 death in New Zealand occurred on May 28 2020:We narrowed the results to the seven-day period up to and including July 30 2020:In that week, New Zealand hovered between zero and two new cases. Back on June 8 2020, the BBC reported that New Zealand “lifted almost all of its coronavirus restrictions after reporting no active cases in the country”:At midnight local time (12:00 GMT), all of New Zealand moved to level one, the lowest of a four-tier alert system.Under new rules, social distancing is not required and there are no limits on public gatherings, but borders remain closed to foreigners.New Zealand has reported no new Covid-19 cases for more than two weeks.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters she did “a little dance” when she was told the country no longer had any active virus cases.“While we’re in a safer, stronger position, there’s still no easy path back to pre-Covid life, but the determination and focus we have had on our health response will now be vested in our economic rebuild,” Ms Ardern said.“While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone. So can I finish with a very simple, ‘Thank you, New Zealand’.”Where New Zealand’s One or Two Cases OriginateNew Zealand reported between zero and two new cases the week of the rugby match — so how have they kept their numbers of new cases so low?On July 30 2020, a news outlet in New Zealand explained the source of the infections, and provided important context about the country’s management of the pandemic and case count:There is one new case of COVID-19 in New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine facilities, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced on [July 30 2020]. [July 30 2020]’s case is a woman in her 20s, who arrived in New Zealand from Ireland, via Dubai, on July 24 [2020]. She returned her positive result due to routine testing across the country’s managed isolation facilities. The woman, who was tested at around day three of her mandatory 14-day stay, had been completing her isolation period at the Rydges Hotel in Rotorua. She has since been transferred to Auckland’s quarantine facility.It brings New Zealand’s active case total to 24 and confirmed case total to 1210, the number reported to the World Health Organization. As of [July 30 2020] there have been no additional recoveries, although none of the current cases require hospital-level care.It has been 90 days since the last COVID-19 case was acquired locally from an unknown source, indicating there is no evidence of community transmission.On July 30 2020, New Zealand had few cases, not none. On that date, there were 24 active cases in New Zealand, and the most recent case of community transmission in New Zealand was on May 1 2020.New Zealand’s ‘First Rugby Match’ Since Effectively Eradicating the Novel CoronavirusThe rugby match in the photograph on Reddit was taken and shared on June 26 2020, and in one popular iteration was described as New Zealand’s “first” rugby match since the COVID-19 pandemic caused restrictions on events.That was inaccurate, as New Zealand’s first rugby match was reported by CBS News on June 14 2020:New Zealand welcomes back rugby with packed stadiums after country eradicates coronavirusNew Zealand became one of the first countries to welcome back fans to sporting events [on June 13 and 14 2020]. New Zealand was able to do so because of its success in eradicating the coronavirus.This past weekend [of June 13 and 14 2020], rugby made its return in New Zealand, with full crowds allowed to cheer on their favorite clubs in person. Going forward, fans will be allowed to attend games in an unrestricted fashion in New Zealand.TL;DRA pair of viral Reddit posts — “New Zealand rugby game today as we have no COVID cases” and “New Zealand enjoying their rugby game with no Covid- 19 cases :)” — featured a photograph from an attendee at a June 26 2020 rugby match in Auckland, New Zealand. Overall, the claim is true with some very minor caveats — video highlights demonstrated that the match on that date involved massive crowds. Although New Zealand had at most two new cases the week of the match, the last instance of community transmission occurred in the country on or around May 1 2020. Although it was not true the image was New Zealand’s “first rugby game” (that was on the weekend of June 13 2020), the claim was accurate, and supported by myriad independent sources covering the match.Comments",
            "output": [
                "Rugby fans in New Zealand attended a live match on June 26 2020, because the country has successfully suppressed COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d50447888280411993fd3f8d4736c002",
            "input": "Part of the funding in the spending plan for the legislative session that begins in January would expand Medicaid coverage for new moms and increase home visits from care providers, said Northam, who was surrounded by advocates holding babies and young children as he spoke in Richmond. The plan also would fund access to long-term contraceptives for low-income patients and study the possibility of Medicaid reimbursement for doula services. “It is unacceptable that in this country  and in our Commonwealth maternal mortality rates are on the rise,” he said. “This disparity is greatest among black women, who have a maternal mortality rate two times that of white women, regardless of education or income status.” Northam, a Democrat, established a new initiative in June intended to reduce the maternal mortality rate for black women. He said the budget proposals grew out of that work, which included a series of public input session held around the state. “Our goal is that every mother and every infant survive” to celebrate the baby’s first birthday together, said Northam, a pediatric neurologist. The governor’s budget includes nearly $4 million over two fiscal years to expand Medicaid coverage for women who are eligible only while they are pregnant. Coverage for those women currently extends 60 days from the end of a pregnancy. The additional funding would extend coverage until a year post-pregnancy and cover treatment for substance use disorders. State figures show the majority of pregnancy-associated deaths occurred more than 43 days from the end of the pregnancy and ensuring postpartum care would improve health outcomes, Northam said. The budget plan would allocate another $4 million to the state program that offers long-acting reversible contraception to low-income patients and $12.8 million to make home visit services eligible for Medicaid reimbursement. Northam said the plan also would call for the study of the best way to develop a Medicaid reimbursement model for doulas, who provide support to women and their partners during pregnancy, labor and the postpartum period. Aaliyah Samuel, a mother from northern Virginia who spoke after Northam’s announcement, said she was grateful for the steps he was taking. She said she experienced discrimination from health care professionals during the birth of her first son, who did not survive. “Unfortunately, my story is far too common among black women and women of color, not only here in Virginia but across the U.S.” she said. Governors’ budget proposals generally serve as a starting point for negotiations during the General Assembly session, which starts in January. The budget will be a top priority, and Northam’s plan will likely get a warmer reception than the one he put forward a year ago. During last month’s legislative elections, voters gave Democrats full control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation. The governor is scheduled to make another budget announcement Tuesday at a child development center and is expected to share full details of his spending plan next week during a meeting of the House and Senate money committees.",
            "output": [
                "Northam proposes $22M to improve maternal health outcomes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-737e95ff0e4742fe9c6d3cca4879b81d",
            "input": "Long part of the canon of contemporary lore is the tale of an unfortunate actor who expires on stage, his adoring audience unaware of his sudden deceasement because they think his collapse part of the show — while they clap and cheer at the brilliance of his death scene performance, unknown to them he is gasping his last. What follows is a quick romp through a growing list of those who died in the blaze of the footlights or on camera, or who were rumored to have met the Grim Reaper while treading the boards. At least one thespian death actually does match the legend (see if you can find it). Sports figures are not included in this compilation, even though a great many of them have expired while doing their thing as the public watched. This French playwright and actor-manager collapsed during the fourth performance of his newly penned Le Malade Imaginaire (The Hypochondriac). Overwhelmed by a coughing fit, he was carried to his home in the Rue de Richelieu, Paris, where he died. This Austrian conductor died in Munich at the age of 55 while conducting Act II of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. During a radio show (a round table discussion with four others on Hitlerism), Woolcott suffered a heart attack at 7:15 p.m. and died in hospital four hours later. Hundreds of people tuned into the show were unaware anything was amiss. Indeed, listeners reported that the writer, known for his incisive and sometimes stinging comments, seemed to have taken less than his usual part in the broadcast. Rhythm and blues recording star Johnny Ace died during a show he was giving in Houston, but did so offstage. During a five minute break, the singer was amusing himself with a game of Russian Roulette (one bullet in the chamber). He lost. Tyrone Power suffered a heart attack during the filming of a fencing scene in Solomon and Sheba in Madrid, Spain. He died only minutes after being loaded into an ambulance. As famed comedian Parkyakarkus, Harry Einstein expired while performing at a Friars Club roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. He collapsed onto Milton Berle’s shoulder. Chief conductor at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, van Beinum was taken ill after rehearsing the first two movements of a Brahms symphony, and died immediately after stepping off the podium aged 58. Just after he completed his second-act aria in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny) at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Warren plunged face-forward onto the stage. The curtain was rung down, and it was announced a half hour later the singer had died of a massive stroke. This aviation pioneer and legendary movie stunt pilot died in Yuma, Arizona, during the filming of The Flight Of The Phoenix. As three motion picture cameras ground away, his plane hit a small sand dune, overturned and disintegrated. Though semi-retired from stunt work, Mantz was covering for his partner, Frank Tallman, who’d six weeks earlier broken his leg pushing his son’s go-cart. This famous actor and singer suffered a fatal stroke while performing onstage at the Doral Country Club in Miami at age 65. He died in hospital the next day. This 60-year-old conductor died at the National Theatre in Munich while leading Tristan and Isolde. While playing the lead in Macbeth at the Crawford Livingston Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ostroska dropped dead of a heart attack at the beginning of the second act. He was 32. This 70-year-old actor died onstage of a heart attack during a performance of 70 Girls 70 in Philadelphia. In a New York Times Magazine interview, this 72-year-old longevity guru announced, “I’m going to live to be 100, unless I’m run down by a sugar-crazed taxi driver.” A guest on the Dick Cavett Show the next day, while Cavett was discussing politics with journalist Pete Hamill, Rodale’s head dropped to his chest and he was heard to let out what sounded like a snore. “Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?” asked Cavett. There was no response — Rodale was dead. The show was never broadcast. The lead guitarist of the Glasgow band Stone the Crows died after being electrocuted onstage at Swansea’s Top Rank Ballroom. Best known as “Granny” on TV’s Beverly Hillbillies, this spritely 71-year-old suffered a stroke while performing in the Broadway musical Pippin and died six weeks later. This 59-year-old expired of a heart attack while conducting Bach’s Come, Sweet Death at the Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. It was his first and last performance of that piece. After surprisingly opening her morning community affairs talk show with a newscast, this 30-year-old reporter announced, “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first — attempted suicide.” She then drew a revolver and shot herself in the head. Chubbuck expired 14 hours later in a hospital. Best known for his Carry On roles, the grand old man of dirty laughter collapsed onstage at the Sunderland Empire during a performance of The Mating Game and died in hospital shortly thereafter. He’d suffered a heart attack. This 83-year-old actor suffered a heart attack during a 25 November 1977 performance in Chicago of the musical Side By Side, causing him to slip into a coma from which he never recovered. This famed aerialist died at age 73 while attempting to walk a wire suspended 123 feet in the air between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While attempting to film war destruction in Nicaragua, this ABC television news correspondent and his interpreter, Juan Espinosa, were executed by a National Guard soldier. Surviving members of the ABC crew managed to catch the murder on tape, and the footage was later shown on news broadcasts. This 48-year-old actor suffered a heart attack during a New York City performance of Peter Pan. In Hollywood’s most infamous on-set tragedy, Vic Morrow and two child actors in Twilight Zone, The Movie were killed when struck by a helicopter during the late-night filming of a mock Vietnam battle scene in Valencia, California. All exposed film was immediately seized, but some eventually made its way into the 1992 compilation film Death Scenes 2. Eight years after collapsing on stage during a performance and slipping into a coma, this singer died. He’d been felled in Cherry Hill, N.J. on 25 September 1975 while touring with Dick Clark’s touring rock-‘n’-roll revival. Though Wilson emerged from the coma a year later, treatment in medical facilities failed to restore his health. Known as the fez-wearing magician whose tricks always seemed to go wrong, this British comedian suffered a heart attack during a televised performance. Given the usual nature of his act, the audience took some time to realize that this really wasn’t part of it. He died later in hospital. This half of Britain’s Morecambe and Wise comedy team died in hospital the day after suffering a heart attack during a curtain call of a performance in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. He was 58 years old. Hexum died of a gunshot wound after he accidentally shot himself in the head with a .44-caliber magnum pistol loaded with blanks while on the set of the TV series Cover-Up. Wadding from the blank cartridge had been driven into his skull. Hexum was replaced in the series by Antony Hamilton, but the show didn’t last all that long, running only from 22 September 1984 to 6 July 1985 before being canceled. The Sankai Juku Dance Company of Toyko had been performing The Dance Of Birth And Death on the side of Seattle’s Mutual Life building when Takada’s rope broke and he plunged six stories to his death. The film of his demise was shown on the nightly news. Millions heard the final broadcast of this traffic reporter for WNBC radio in New York City as the helicopter she was in crashed into the Hudson River. She died on the way to the hospital. The pilot survived. This was Dornacker’s second helicopter crash that year. After singing several choruses of “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” during a performance of The Drunkard, this 60-year-old actress collapsed on stage for her scripted death scene and suffered an unscripted fatal heart attack. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. This Cincinnati reporter for radio station WKRC was killed along with the pilot in the crash of the station’s helicopter. She was not broadcasting at the time. This Pennsylvania state treasurer staged the best-known televised suicide. About to be sentenced on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, perjury, and racketeering for taking a $300,000 kickback on a state computer contract, Dwyer convened a press conference in his office. While the film rolled, he handed out a twenty-page press statement, made a few remarks, then placed the barrel of a .357 revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The tape was shown on the nightly news. While giving a comedy performance at the UC San Diego campus, Shawn fell and struck his head on the stage. The comedian lay there for nearly five minutes before the audience realized it was not part of his act and an ambulance was called. He died forty-five minutes later in hospital, apparently of a heart attack. This jazz saxophonist died of heart attack after collapsing onstage while giving a performance at Donte’s in North Hollywood. According to another member of the quartet, Marsh “just slipped off his stool.” He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Thrill seekers on “haunted hayride” in New Jersey got more of a thrill than they’d bargained for when it was discovered the teen playing the part of the hanged man was the real thing. The stunt had gone fatally wrong. This North Carolina 15-year-old who’d been staging a gallows scene at a Halloween party accidentally hanged himself when the noose somehow tightened. An amateur magician and resident of Fresno, California, Burrus came up with an escape stunt that would have done his idol Houdini proud — he’d be bound, confined in a plastic coffin, then buried under seven tons of soil and concrete. Handcuffed and chained, he was lowered into the hole. Assistants shoveled three feet of soil onto the casket, then a truck poured concrete into the hole. As they were topping up the cement, the level suddenly dropped eighteen inches. Fifteen minutes of excavating later, rescuers reached Burrus, but it was too late — he’d been crushed. Actor/comedian Redd Foxx underwent a heart attack on the set of The Royal Family, a new sitcom he was to appear in. Best known for his curmudgeonly role in Sanford and Son, this time it really was the big one, Elizabeth. A stunt gone wrong during the filming of The Crow cost the son of Bruce Lee his life. A blank fired from a .44 magnum revolver felled him. He died hours later in hospital. The metal tip of one of the dummy bullets had somehow pulled loose from its brass casing. When the dummies were unloaded and replaced with blanks, the metal tip remained behind in the gun’s cylinder. As soon as the blank went off, its explosive force propelled the dummy tip through the gun barrel — and into Lee’s body. Rumor to the contrary, footage of Lee’s fatal accident is not included in The Crow. While filming a segment for BBC’s 999 (a show which dramatically reconstructs real-life narrow escapes), this veteran stuntman died when his main parachute and two reserves failed to open. This popular radio host suffered a fatal heart attack while broadcasting popular music on WHLI in Garden City, Long Island. Though he was rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival. The song playing at the time of his heart attack was I’m in the Mood For Love. This drummer for the group Big Sugar died mid-number while performing in Waterloo, Iowa. He was 36. Better known as Country Dick Montana of the underground rock band The Beat Farmers, McLain expired on stage of a heart attack during a sold out performance at the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, B.C. During the filming of a Mountain Dew commercial, this sky surfer’s parachute failed to open and he plunged to his death. Despite rumors to the contrary, though the finished commercial contains some footage of Harris, none comes from his final jump. This 63-year-old tenor died onstage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera immediately after delivering the line: “Too bad you can only live so long” in Janacek’s The Makropulos Case. It was the first performance and Versalle, who was playing the legal clerk Vitek alongside Jessye Norman, climbed a 20 ft ladder to file a legal brief, but had a heart attack and plunged to the ground. Janacek’s opera is about the secret of eternal life. While performing at Yokohama’s Blues Cafe, this 61-year-old rhythm and blues legend suffered a heart attack. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Performing at a Minneapolis fund raiser, Tiny Tim cut short his rendition of “Tiptoe Through The Tulips.” Turning to leave the stage, he was felled by a heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. This 63-year-old British magician died on stage during a charity show in Sheffield, Yorks. Playing Judas in a Greek production of Jesus Christ Superstar, Wheeler’s performance was supposed to conclude with Judas hanging himself, a stunt he’d successfully negotiated 20 previous times. This time he forgot to fasten the rope to his safety harness. During a live show, this Brazilian radio presenter and local politician was shot dead by a gunman who burst into the studio. He was hit by 10 bullets fired from two revolvers. This professional wrestler lost his life when he fell from a height of 90 feet as he was being lowered into the ring for the “Over the Edge” sports entertainment event in Kansas City, Missouri. Lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Morphine, 47-year-old Mark Sandman collapsed on stage during a concert in Rome. He had suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. This jazz saxophonist and composer suffered a heart attack and collapsed after taping four songs that Friday evening for The Saturday Early Show on CBS. He died in hospital in New York City. While putting on a magic show for a group of hospital patients at Tokoroa Hospital in New Zealand, “Uncle Ron the Magician” collapsed and was pronounced dead 45 minutes later. The patients at first believed his crumpling onstage was part of the act. Another actor playing Judas mistakenly hanged himself in Camerata Nuova, a town 45 miles from Rome. Di Paolo’s death was captured on film by someone shooting a video of the outdoor play. This principal trumpet player with the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra collapsed of a heart attack on stage just after performing a solo and died in hospital. This 54-year-old conductor collapsed and died of a heart attack in Berlin while conducting perhaps the most emotionally charged scene in Verdi’s Aida. During the taping of the TV sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, the 54-year-old actor was stricken by a previously undiagnosed heart problem. He died in hospital later that night.",
            "output": [
                "Several actors have kicked the bucket in front of an audience."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f790f49130ac4c7bbd4acf71f0930bc5",
            "input": "The story says the procedure to insert stents costs from $11,000 to $41,000 in the U.S. The story makes clear there was no significant difference between a sham procedure or stent insertion, but it only describes the benefit as “less pain.” We would like to see how the pain was measured, some numbers on how much pain was reduced, and how many patients benefitted in each group. The story briefly mentions there are potential harms, including death. The story describes the study’s methods in some detail — the sham surgery of the control group, for instance — and mentions the size of the study and the characteristics of the subjects. It adds heft to the sense that this was a very good study with multiple reactions from expert sources — “humbling,” “unbelievable,” “impressive” and “very well conducted.” Importantly, it quotes one source describing a few desired measures that the study didn’t address, such as whether stents would be more effective in patients with more severe disease or who were studied for a longer period of time. The story could have done a better job of explicitly calling attention to the relatively small number of participants and the need for confirmatory follow-up studies. Heart disease is very common in our society and opening up blocked arteries is a common almost routine procedure. No disease mongering occurred in the article. We were pleased to see discussion from many experts, however, the story left out two important potential conflicts of interest. The story states that: Dr. William E. Boden, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, called the results “unbelievable.” Readers should have been informed that Boden has received fees from Abbott, a major stent device maker. Also, the story states that: Dr. David Maron, a cardiologist at Stanford University, praised the new study as “very well conducted” but said that it left some questions unanswered. The participants had a profound blockage but only in one artery, he noted, and they were assessed after just six weeks. The story didn’t disclose that Dr. Maron is an “employee of and stockholder in Cardiovascular Services of America, which provides outpatient cardiac catheterization and computed tomography angiography services,” which was disclosed here. The story (and the study) suggest that medication can manage pain from blocked arteries. Stenting procedures are clearly widely available in the U.S. and across the world. What’s less clear, the story says, is whether guidelines or practice for stenting will change in the U.S.: “The idea that stenting relieves chest pain is so ingrained that some experts said they expect most doctors will continue with stenting, reasoning that the new research is just one study.” We thought this was an interesting point and are glad it was included. The many expressions of surprise by practicing cardiologists makes clear that the study offers a novel finding. The story did not rely on the news release.",
            "output": [
                "‘Unbelievable’: Heart Stents Fail to Ease Chest Pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2469c8f096e14210a42de2a0f9108cfe",
            "input": "Smart said Thursday she was shocked to find out about Wanda Barzee’s prison release and she’s deeply concerned because the inmate hasn’t been cooperating with treatment. “She is a woman who had six children yet could co-conspire to kidnap a 14-year-old girl, and not only sit next to her while being raped but encourage her husband to continue to rape me,” Smart said. “So do I believe she’s dangerous? Yes.” Barzee is expected to be freed Wednesday after 15 years in custody, after Utah authorities said in a surprise announcement they had miscalculated the amount of time the 72-year-old woman should serve. Standing on the steps of the Utah state capitol, Smart, now 30, recalled some of the horrors she experienced when she was snatched from her home in 2002. She said Barzee “saw me as her slave. She called me her handmaiden. She never hesitated to let her displeasure with me be known.” The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole set a January 2024 release date in June, but her attorney questioned whether that took into account time she’d served in a federal prison. On Tuesday, the board decided that she had served her full sentence allowed under the law. Attorney Scott Williams has said Barzee has been diagnosed with several mental illnesses, but he’s not concerned about her being a danger to the community. Williams did not immediately return a message seeking comment Thursday. “I only found out shortly before everybody else,” said Smart, who is now a married mother and activist for victims’ rights. “And yes, it was a big shock. Only months ago, I was on my way to a parole hearing and was told she would never be let out before 2024.” Smart said she is taking unspecified steps to protect her family, but that she refuses to live in a “state of fear.” If Barzee had shown more clear signs of rehabilitation, she would likely feel differently about her release, she said. “I do believe in forgiveness. I am a Christian,” Smart said. She also urged authorities to reconsider the process for release decisions to put greater weight on potential threat along with time served. Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom at knifepoint by street preacher Brian David Mitchell, who came in through an open kitchen window. The kidnapping triggered waves of fear around the country. The girl was found while walking with Barzee and Mitchell on a street in the suburb of Sandy, Utah, by people who recognized the couple from media reports. Mitchell is serving a life sentence after being convicted of kidnapping and raping Smart. He and Barzee were married at one point. Barzee was convicted of both state and federal crimes, and transferred to the Utah state prison in April 2016 after finishing a federal sentence in Texas. She will be under federal supervision for five years after her release from prison. If she violates the conditions of her release, which will include mental health treatment and an order not to contact Smart’s family, she could go back to prison, said Elizabeth Smart’s attorney Brett Tolman. He was previously the U.S. Attorney for Utah who prosecuted Mitchell. Barzee’s family could also request a possible civil commitment to a mental-health facility, if that’s warranted, Tolman said.",
            "output": [
                "Elizabeth Smart says kidnapper being released still a threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c48dbce41039496497e61b7f83925a77",
            "input": "The story does not address costs. While the price of a supplement pill is typically just a few cents, this story would have been better if (like another story about this report that we reviewed) it had pointed out that Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on vitamin D supplements. This story reports that the Institute of Medicine committee concluded that typical consumption of vitamin D and calcium is adequate to support bone health, though the story does not define just what the term “bone health” means. The nature of the IOM report does not lend itself to quantifying potential benefits to bone health or other outcomes that were mentioned. The story does provide details about blood levels of vitamin D that are considered adequate by the IOM committee, as well as the higher levels advocated by some individual experts. The story also makes clear that the IOM committee concluded that evidence is lacking to claim that vitamin D or calcium produces other health benefits. This story does a good job of calling attention to kidney damage from excessive vitamin D and kidney stones caused by too much calcium. It also says that some studies have found other harms. This story does not do as good a job as some others in terms of explaining the process of evidence review and deliberation that the Institute of Medicine committee went through before issuing its report. However, readers are given a sense that the report is a consensus statement that attempts to sum up what is known about vitamin D and calcium. The story also refers to other reports and studies that provide context. The inclusion of comments from individual experts who dissent from some aspects of the IOM report accurately portray the active scientific debate on this topic. This story also does a nice job of pointing out recent examples in which hopes of vitamin benefits were dashed by careful experiments, thus helping to put into perspective the claims by individual scientists of hoped-for benefits of higher vitamin D consumption. The story clearly reports the Institute of Medicine committee conclusion that almost all Americans already consume enough vitamin D (and calcium) to support bone health. The comments from those who advocate broader use of supplements are labeled as individual opinions. There are multiple independent sources quoted in this story. This story could have provided readers with more background about the independent sources quoted; there is no mention of whether any of them have any potential conflicts. The story explains that there are alternatives to supplements, that vitamin D is included in foods (natural and fortified) and that vitamin D is produced in our skin when exposed to sunlight. The story refers to the availability of vitamin D in certain foods (natural and fortified), supplements, and that our skin produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. There is no claim of novelty. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Report: A bit more vitamin D is good, not too much"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d58ffdab643447509c6910194f602231",
            "input": "In a filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dated Friday, Bayer said the verdict defied regulatory findings and sound science, adding that the “speculative case” should  never have made it before a jury. Bayer in a statement said it stood behind the safety of Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate and planned to vigorously defend the more than 42,700 U.S. Roundup cancer lawsuits it faces. In its court filing, Bayer said the Hardeman appeal had the potential to shape how every subsequent Roundup case is  litigated. The widely-used weed killer is made by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired last year for $63 billion. Bayer stock has lost about 23% in value since the first Roundup verdict for plaintiffs in August 2018. The case on appeal before the 9th Circuit involved the claims of Edwin Hardeman, which was the third Roundup case to go to trial in a U.S. court. A jury in March ordered Monsanto to pay $80 million in damages, saying Roundup had caused the man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The trial court judge in July reduced that verdict to $25 million. Lawyers for Hardeman on Monday did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bayer’s appeal. The lawyers during the trial argued Monsanto had failed to warn consumers of Roundup’s cancer risk and said the company concealed damaging evidence from public and regulatory view. Bayer rejects those allegations. The German company’s main appeal argument in Hardeman’s case centers on repeated findings by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that glyphosate is not a carcinogen and not a risk to public health when used in accordance with its current label. Bayer argued it would be impossible to comply with the Hardeman verdict, a lawsuit brought under state law, because any warning label would be in conflict with guidance from a federal agency. Some legal experts consider this preemption defense a “silver bullet” because it would stop claims across the board, but said the argument faced big hurdles on appeal. The company also said the trial judge had committed “a host of errors” by allowing jurors to hear unreliable expert testimony.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer asks U.S. appeals court to reverse $25 million Roundup verdict."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46520a2aa5f74f2ab7e57da265a09491",
            "input": "One new study found that heart attack survivors benefited from a medicine long used to treat gout. Several experimental drugs also showed early promise for interfering with heart-harmful genes without modifying the genes themselves — in one case, with treatment just twice a year. The research was featured at an American Heart Association conference ending Monday in Philadelphia. “There’s a lot of excitement” about the new gene-targeting medicines, especially because they seem to last so long, said Dr. Karol Watson, of the University of California, Los Angeles. Scientists have been exploring gene therapy — altering DNA — to attack the root cause of many diseases. The new drugs essentially accomplish the same thing without tampering with genes, said the University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Daniel Rader, who has consulted for some makers of these drugs. The medicines work by silencing or blocking messages that genes give to cells to make proteins that can do harm, such as allowing cholesterol to accumulate. The first few of these “RNA-interference” drugs recently were approved for other conditions, and research is also targeting heart disease. Farthest along is inclisiran, tested in 1,561 people with heart disease from clogged arteries who still had high LDL, the bad form of cholesterol, despite taking standard drugs. They were given a shot of inclisiran or a dummy drug when they joined the study, three months later and then every six months. The drug lowered LDL by 56% without serious side effects. More testing will show whether it also lowers heart attacks and other problems, not just cholesterol. Inclisiran’s maker, The Medicines Company, plans to seek federal approval for it later this year. Two other RNA interference drugs aim at a different target — triglycerides, another fat in the blood that’s elevated in one quarter of Americans. Treatments include very low-fat diets, weight loss, fish oil and drugs, but doctors say more and better therapies are needed. Each RNA interference drug was tested at various doses in 40 people. A single shot lowered triglycerides by 30% to 67%, and the benefit lasted for at least four months. The studies were just intended to show safety; Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is developing both drugs. Other research found new benefits from older drugs. AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, originally developed to treat diabetes, also lowered the risk of heart problems in heart failure patients who did not have diabetes. Among 2,605 of such patients treated for 18 months, about 9% of those on Farxiga had worsening heart failure or heart-related death versus nearly 13% of those not given the drug. That worked out to a 27% lower risk, without extra serious side effects. Surprising benefits also were seen in a Canadian study of the decades-old gout drug. The anti-inflammatory drug colchicine — sold as Colcrys, Mitigare and in generic form — was tested in 4,745 people who recently had a heart attack. After about two years, colchicine users had a 23% lower risk of suffering a new heart attack, heart-related death, stroke, cardiac arrest or urgent need for an artery-opening procedure compared with a group given dummy pills. The benefit came mostly from preventing strokes and artery-opening procedures, and some heart doctors would rather have seen more difference in heart attacks and deaths. Colchicine is being tested in several other studies, and more evidence is needed before using it routinely to lower heart risks, Dr. L. Kristin Newby of Duke University wrote in a commentary published with the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a Northwestern University cardiologist and program chief for the heart conference, was more supportive. “When you have a safe drug that’s easily available, it’s going to be hard to hold this one back,” he said. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "New, old drugs may offer fresh ways to fight heart disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40b5ac2f4c294f118cac47c893f727f0",
            "input": "Most of the nearly 2,300 people who suffered lung damage had vaped liquids that contain THC, the high-inducing part of marijuana. In a report released Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed the products most often cited by patients, noting that some of them said they vaped more than one. Dank Vapes was the brand used by 56% of the hospitalized patients nationwide. Dank is not a licensed product coming from one business, it is empty packaging that can be ordered from Chinese internet sites. Illicit vaping cartridge makers can buy the empty packages and then fill them with whatever they choose. Other product names at the top of the list from CDC were TKO (15%), Smart Cart (13%) and Rove (12%). “It’s not likely that a single brand is responsible for this outbreak,” said Brian King, a senior CDC official on the investigation. Some of the brands cited by the CDC are sold in states with legalized marijuana. But counterfeits of those legitimate brands have flooded the market around the country, forcing some to redesign their packaging. Bill Loucks, co-founder of TKO Products, said his company sells only to licensed dispensaries in California, but the company gets emails asking about TKO-branded cartridges purchased elsewhere. “If you bought them outside of California ... you are the proud owner of fakes,” Loucks said in an email. The CDC also said Friday that the worst of the outbreak may be over. Preliminary data indicates hospitalizations peaked in mid-September and have been declining since, officials said. Investigators want more data until they feel certain the outbreak is waning. If it is, there may be more than one reason, including growing public caution about vaping or perhaps a change in what cartridge makers are putting into them, King said. But cases are still coming in, with 2,291 reported this year — including 176 that joined the tally in late November. Every state has reported cases, and 25 states and the District of Columbia have reported a total of 48 deaths. Symptoms include trouble breathing, chest pain, fatigue and vomiting. About half the patients are people in their teens or early 20s. The outbreak appears to have started in March. CDC officials have gradually come to focus their investigation on black-market THC cartridges. An analysis of about 1,800 of the hospitalized patients found about 80% said they used at least one THC product. Last month, CDC officials said they had narrowed in on a culprit — a chemical compound called vitamin E acetate that has been commonly found in the lungs of sick patients and in the products they vaped. Vitamin E acetate is a thickening agent that’s been added to illicit THC vaping liquids. But it’s possible it also may have been added to vaping liquids containing CBD, another cannabis extract, King said. About 1% of the patients said they had vaped CBD products only. The agency is recommending that people do not use any electronic cigarettes or vaping products that contain THC, especially those obtained from friends, family members or black market dealers. However, 13% of patients said they vaped only nicotine. CDC officials are continuing to look at nicotine-containing vapes, and to advise caution about all types of vaping products until the investigation is concluded, King said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Officials list pot vape brands reported in US outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ef0c798343749da984494f67acd1d30",
            "input": "France’s lockdown to combat the outbreak, which like in Spain, Italy and many other European countries includes restrictions on store openings and people’s movements, will remain in place until at least May 11, President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week. After that, schools and shops are set to reopen, though it is still unclear at what speed France will allow some businesses like hotels or cafes to restart, and whether it plans to lift home confinement recommendations for everyone at the same time. Macron’s latest announcements have sparked a backlash in recent days, after he said on Monday that older people, who are considered more vulnerable to the deadly virus, would be asked to stay at home for longer. Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council advising the government on the epidemic, also fuelled the debate after he proposed that confinement should continue for people aged 65 to 70 and above. “The President has followed the growing debate about the situation for elderly citizens after May 11,” the Elysee palace said in comments sent to Reuters on Saturday. “He does not want there to be any discrimination among citizens after May 11 in the context of a gradual easing of confinement measures, and will appeal to people’s individual responsibility.”     The government is still likely to recommend that some people should stay at home for their own protection, however. “We will ask the most vulnerable people, older people, severely disabled people, and those who suffer from chronic illnesses, to remain in confinement even after May 11, at least in a first instance,” Macron said in his televised address on April 13. “I know it’s a major constraint ... But we’ll have to try to abide by this to protect you, it’s in your interest.”  France’s registered death toll from coronavirus infections neared 19,000 on Friday, but most data provided further indications that the spread of the disease was slowing after the one-month-old national lockdown.",
            "output": [
                "France to shun strict discrimination by age in lockdown exit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-51ad0d707aee461191ed82c53948cbbc",
            "input": "After more than three hours of debate, lawmakers in parliament’s upper house voted on Tuesday for a change in the law to allow the treatments, echoing a positive vote in the lower house earlier this month. The treatment, called mitochondrial transfer, is known as “three-parent” in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor. Although the techniques are still at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, experts say that now legal hurdles have been overcome, Britain’s first 3-parent baby could be born as early as 2016. Mitochondrial transfer involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and around 1 in 6,000 babies around the world are born with serious mitochondrial disorders. Responding to the vote, Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity commended lawmakers for a “considered and compassionate decision”. “Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are the people best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option,” he said. Mark Downs, chief executive of the Society of Biology, hailed “a great day for UK science” and said the landmark decision “will ensure mothers who carry faulty mitochondria can have healthy children free from the devastating conditions.”  But Marcy Darnovsky, director of the campaign group The Center for Genetics and Society, called the move a “historic mistake” which turns children into biological experiments and will “forever alter the human germline”. “The techniques ... are relatively crude and will not in and of themselves create so-called designer babies,” she said. “However, they will result in children with DNA from three different people in every cell of their bodies, which will impact a large range of traits in unknowable ways and introduce genetic changes that will be passed down to future generations.”",
            "output": [
                "Britain becomes first nation to legalize three-parent babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86df823d17134d8c94c2a03b78b69833",
            "input": "In the latest stage of a decade-long legal tussle, the appeals court in Lyon on Thursday found in favor of farmer Paul Francois’ claim that Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller had made him sick and that the product’s labeling had been inadequate. Francois, 55, says he suffered neurological problems, including memory loss, fainting and headaches, after accidentally inhaling Lasso in 2004 while working on his farm. “Mr Francois justifiably concludes that the product, due to its inadequate labeling that did not respect applicable regulations, did not offer the level of safety he could legitimately expect,” the court said in its ruling. The latest verdict, however, did not determine compensation for the farmer, which will now be considered by another court in Lyon. Francois is seeking about 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in damages. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in a $63 billion deal last year, said it was considering its legal options, including an appeal before France’s highest court. The German chemicals group added that crop-protection products “do not pose a risk for human health if they are used according to the terms of use set out in their regulatory approval”. Mr Francois had won rulings against Monsanto in 2012 and 2015 before France’s top court overturned the decisions and ordered the new hearing in Lyon. “We are all happy to have won but it came at a heavy price,” Francois told reporters in Paris. “It’s a big sigh of relief. It’s been 12 years of fighting, 12 years during which I had to put my whole life on hold.”  Lasso was banned in France in 2007 after the product had been withdrawn in some other countries. It used a different active substance to glyphosate, the chemical contained in Monsanto’s best-selling weedkiller Roundup and the target of lawsuits in the United States over alleged cancer links. The company has been found liable in two trials in California brought by cancer sufferers who have been awarded tens of millions of dollars in damages. Bayer is appealing against those rulings. The legal troubles surrounding glyphosate have contributed to Bayer losing about 30 billion euros in market value since last August. The group’s chief executive on Thursday said it was “massively affected” by the litigation. After the announcement of the decision, Bayer’s shares extended a fall to trade about 1.5 percent down before recovering some of the losses. ($1 = 0.8874 euros)",
            "output": [
                "French court finds Bayer's Monsanto liable for farmer's sickness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8e3d7729e3e043f2ae9094b7f22c4ceb",
            "input": "On July 16, 2020, as the U.S. recorded its single highest number of COVID-19 cases since the coronavirus health crisis began, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at an event held on the South Lawn of the White House, ostensibly on the subject of “Rolling Back Regulations to Help All Americans.” During his talk, according to a meme, Trump allegedly tackled the subject of energy-efficiency standards which have supposedly resulted in home appliances that do not function properly due to requirements aimed at conserving the amount of water and power they consume:  This was an accurate reproduction of a portion of Trump’s talk, according to a White House transcript of the event: We’re bringing back consumer choice in home appliances so that you can buy washers and dryers, showerheads and faucets. So showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect. Dishwashers — you didn’t have any water, so you — the people that do the dishes — you press it, and it goes again, and you do it again and again. So you might as well give them the water because you’ll end up using less water. So we made it so dishwashers now have a lot more water. And in many places — in most places of the country, water is not a problem. They don’t know what to do with it. It’s called “rain.” They don’t have a problem. This was far from the first time the president had riffed on poorly functioning appliances. In December 2019, as Trump spoke in the Roosevelt Room of the White House amidst an impeachment inquiry, he digressed into railing about toilets and other bathroom fixtures that allegedly frustrate their users due to the use of low-flow technology. CNN reported: The President claimed Americans are flushing their toilets “10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once” and argued that they are having difficulty with washing their hands in what appeared to be a tangent about low-flow sinks and toilets. “We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on — and in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don’t get any water,” the President said during a roundtable with small business leaders about deregulatory actions. “You turn on the faucet and you don’t get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out. Just dripping out, very quietly dripping out,” the President continued, lowering his voice as he spoke about the drips. “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.” It wasn’t entirely clear what he was talking about, but it appeared to have to do with bathroom fixtures with low-flow appliances. He said the Environmental Protection Agency was looking into the issue on his suggestion. “They end up using more water. So (the) EPA is looking at that very strongly at my suggestion,” Trump said, though he did not give details on what suggestions, if any, he made. NPR quoted the Pacific Institute, a non-profit research institute with a focus on global and regional freshwater issues, as asserting that Trump’s statements did not comport with reality: Peter Gleick with the Pacific Institute in Oakland considers this all to be Trumpian nostalgia for a time when showers were strong, toilets used 4 gallons a flush and lightbulbs burned your hands when you touched them. Gleick said these newer household items are part of an “efficiency revolution,” doing the same tasks with less and halting the upward trajectory of water and energy consumption in America. And, yes, a dishwasher cycle takes longer, and incandescent bulbs are cheaper to buy upfront. But in the long run, “They’re much more expensive, because they use a huge amount of energy, which we pay for over time and they burn out 20 times faster,” Gleick said.",
            "output": [
                "President Trump gave a talk during the COVID-19 pandemic in which he remonstrated about showers and dishwashers not functioning properly due to low-flow standards."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3ae242957c94864b963d73e763356e0",
            "input": "The House voted to add insomnia and opioid use disorder to the list of qualifying conditions, though the latter would carry significant restrictions, including a requirement that certifying providers have specialized knowledge in addiction treatment. An earlier version of one of the bills also sought to add anxiety and Lyme disease to the list, but those provisions were removed. Meanwhile, the Senate voted Wednesday against making medical marijuana available for any condition for which treatment is determined to be necessary by a provider. The Senate also voted to further study a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, and there are several new bills on that topic coming up later this session.",
            "output": [
                "House passes bills to expand medical marijuana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00a06dc3f0ee47b48ace3bd3ffb938cf",
            "input": "Use of such pills, which include Sanofi SA’s Ambien and other similar drugs, was significantly higher for those in their 50s as well as age 80 and older, according to the findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall about 8.6 million people, or 4 percent of U.S. adults reported recently using sleep medication, CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics said in a report. But data showed higher use among middle-aged adults ages 50 to 59 and the elderly. Six percent of those ages 50 to 59 said they had taken a prescription sleep pill in the last 30 days, and 7 percent of those age 80 and older reported such use. In between, the numbers dip slightly below 6 percent for those in their 60s and 70s. In comparison, just 2 percent of those aged 20-39 said they had recently taken a sleep aid. CDC researcher Yinong Chong said people in their 50s could have trouble sleeping because of work and family stress. “It gives the picture of a sandwiched group who has family, not only children but also probably elderly parents but still you’re likely to be in the workforce, so you get squeezed at both ends in terms of family responsibility and job responsibility,” she said. Sleep may improve when people retire before potential chronic health problems kick in and begin interfering with sleep, Chong said, adding more study is needed. The data also showed that 5 percent of women surveyed said they had recently taken a sleep aid compared to about 3 percent of male respondents, according to CDC’s report. Chong said it was not clear why women were more likely to use the drugs. While previous data have tracked prescriptions dispensed for sleep aids, the CDC said its study is the first based on a survey of actual use of such drugs. Researchers for the Atlanta-based health agency’s National Center for Health Statistics questioned a sampling of adults age 20 and older about whether they had used prescription sleep aids within the last 30 days and asked participants to show interviewers the prescription medication. “You get how many people are actually using them,” Chong said in an interview, noting that prescription data could include multiple prescriptions for one patient or prescriptions that are never filled or even used. “This is actual use.”  Prescription sleep aids have become somewhat controversial because their effect can linger even after some patients wake up. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun taking a closer look at sleep drugs, ordering lower-doses for Ambien and similar pills amid concerns that their active ingredient remained in patients’ blood the following morning at levels high enough to make driving and other activities dangerous. And just last month, the FDA rejected an experimental sleep drug from Merck & Co Inc, saying the proposed doses were not safe but that a lower-dose version might be acceptable. Not surprisingly, respondents to CDC’s study who said they slept five hours or less each night or those diagnosed with a sleep disorder were more likely to report using prescription aids. Additionally, more whites and people with higher levels of education also reported greater use, the agency said. Socioeconomic factors are likely behind those numbers, Chong said, since patients must be able to afford a doctor’s care and the medication. According to prescription data from IMS Health, Ambien and other versions of the drug zolpidem was ranked 15th among the most dispensed medications in the United States.",
            "output": [
                "Use of sleeping pills highest among older Americans: CDC."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eebeea7175a04ed98ae190d94fe985f9",
            "input": "The government has tested around 83,000 people so far for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo told reporters. There have been 1,099 confirmed cases. Canada has taken several measures to contain the fast-spreading virus, including closing its border with the United States, which came into effect on Friday night. Trudeau, who is himself in self-isolation after his wife tested positive for COVID-19, told reporters on Saturday the government is ramping up testing to detect as many cases as possible. “The ramping up of testing is increasing at a tremendous pace.... we are getting more equipment for testing. We recognize that broad scale testing is an essential tool in continuing to fight the spread of this disease,” Trudeau told reporters. There are around 5,000 ventilators across the country, Njoo said. He also said Canada is making efforts to bring home stranded citizens, and an Air Canada (AC.TO) plane is in the process of repatriating citizens from Morocco. He named Peru and Spain as two potential countries from which Canada was working with airlines to bring home stranded citizens. But Trudeau said the travel restriction put in place by many countries mean not every Canadian stuck overseas would be able to come home immediately. “We are going to ask people to stay safe, make smart choices and do the best they can in a situation that is unprecedented, exceptional and very difficult,” Trudeau said. Canada’s foreign minister François-Philippe Champagne estimated there are ten of thousands of Canadians overseas. Trudeau’s government has pledged C$27 billion ($18.6 billion) to help the economy amid the virus outbreak, which could blow out the fiscal deficit and lead to higher government borrowing by nearly 40%, according to Reuters calculations. “We have heard a wide range of estimates from economists and  banks about how bad it is going to get. The only thing they seem to agree on is, it is going to get very bad. Fortunately, Canada is in an extremely strong fiscal position... and that gives us room to inject money into people’s pocket,” Trudeau added. Meanwhile, Canada’s decision to turn back asylum seekers who walk over the U.S.-Canada border has been criticized by advocates. “The government’s decision... ignores the recommendations of the World Health Organization and isn’t part of a sound pandemic management plan,” said Nazila Bettache, with the Caring for Social Justice Collective. She said asylum seekers will cross by other means that are less controlled and will not have access to proper safety measures, such as a 14-day quarantine.",
            "output": [
                "Canada's coronavirus death toll rises to 13 as repatriation efforts step up."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20a73618a3bc426d8ecfce82fbb500e5",
            "input": "The blaze erupted early on Wednesday morning in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, and by nightfall had charred 1,300 acres (526 hectares) as crews fought to protect the Reagan library and some 7,000 homes in the path of the flames. The Easy Fire, which forced 26,000 people to flee, broke out some 30 miles (48 km) from a separate conflagration burning in shrub-covered hills near the Getty Center museum that has displaced thousands of residents from some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. The Getty museum houses a collection that includes paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Manet, ancient Greek statues and an expansive array of manuscripts. The Reagan Library, Getty Center and Getty Villa in Malibu were all forced to close due to the flames and thick clouds of smoke, although all three facilities were said to be out of imminent danger by evening. “The dedication of our staff and the professionalism of our region’s first responders has been nothing short of heroic,”  Getty president Jim Cuno said in a statement posted on the center’s website. The Santa Ana winds were blamed for a string of fire outbreaks across Southern California. In Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, a wind-driven brush fire swiftly blackened 250 acres (101 hectares), forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from two mobile home parks and a nursing home, county fire spokesman Rob Roseen said. Weather conditions were at their worst, with fierce winds hurling burning embers through the air across bone-dry brush to ignite spot fires. “The fire outflanked us very rapidly today, pushed by those 40- to 50-mile-per-hour (40- to 80 km per hour) winds,” Ventura County Fire Department assistant chief Chad Cook told reporters. “We did experience gusts up to 65 miles per hour (105 kph) this morning, which made long-range spotting very, very dangerous.”  He said erratic, high winds also forced intermittent grounding of firefighting aircraft through the day. The National Weather Service issued an unprecedented “extreme red flag” warning for wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties ahead of two days of intense, dry wind gusts that were forecast to reach near-hurricane force. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen us use this warning,” forecaster Marc Chenard said. “It’s pretty bad.”   Statewide, the weather service issued alerts for “critical” or “extreme” fire hazards covering more than 34,000 square miles (88,000 square km), encompassing some 21 million people. Power was cut off to nearly 400,000 homes and businesses statewide on Wednesday as a precaution by the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co, a unit of PG&E Corp (PCG.N), and other utilities. The so-called Easy fire in Simi Valley broke out just before dawn off a road named Easy Street, sending a wall of flames racing across scrub-covered slopes at the edge of the hilltop Reagan Library, which houses the late president’s archives and memorabilia. Pre-positioned strike teams of firefighters, backed by water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers dumping payloads of fire retardant, swarmed the area as flames closed in on the library campus. “We’re surrounded. It’s a scary situation. But I’m sure they’ll get on top of it,” John Heubusch, the library’s executive director, said in an interview with KNX radio in Los Angeles during the firefight. “It’s as close as it gets.”  By late morning, emergency crews had largely subdued flames, and the fire moved off in other directions. The blaze prompted public schools and at least five college campuses in the area to cancel classes for the day. Health authorities were handing out disposable air filter masks to members of the public at five cites around the county. On nearby ranches, residents in the protective face masks scrambled to coax nervous horses and other livestock into trailers to drive them to safety. “As long as we get up, get out of here, get the car moving, everything else can be replaced in theory so you know breathing at the end of the day is better than not breathing at the end of the day,” resident David Pollack told Reuters. The Santa Ana winds are a regional weather phenomenon that sends gusts westward off the desert to the east, through mountain passes toward the coast. They were forecast to reach sustained speeds of 50 to 70 mph (80 to 110 kph) on Wednesday and Thursday. Investigators say the Getty fire was likely caused by a broken tree branch blown into power lines during high winds on Monday morning. It spread, consuming 745 acres (300 hectares) by Wednesday morning, with about a quarter contained by firefighters. At least 12 homes have been destroyed. In northern California, firefighters struggled for a sixth day against the 76,000-acre (30,760-hectare) Kincade fire in Sonoma County’s wine country. That blaze has destroyed at least 189 homes and other structures but was listed as 30 percent contained on Wednesday. PG&E acknowledged last week that the Kincade fire started near a damaged transmission tower at about the time a live high-voltage line on that tower malfunctioned. The company filed for bankruptcy in January, citing $30 billion in potential liability from a series of deadly fires sparked by its equipment in 2017 and 2018. As many as 190,000 people were displaced at the height of the Kincade fire, but some evacuations have since been lifted.",
            "output": [
                "Twin Southern California wildfires menace Reagan Library, Getty Museum, homes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e14e8ec59234b37acf723ca7dc92478",
            "input": "The annals of emergency medicine provide numerous accounts of patients who have sought treatment for the removal of sizeable foreign objects from the rectum or urethra, items which sometimes ended up penetrating those openings by accident, but most commonly were deliberately inserted by patients seeking some form of sexual gratification. The list of items which doctors have documented removing from urethras and bladders includes a plethora of common household objects: telephone wire, pencils, toothbrushes, candles, balloons, hairpins, light bulbs, tweezers, thumb tacks, feathers, beans, foam sealant, shoelaces, animal bones, pipe stems, crochet needles, hair, and chewing gum. That list added another entry in August 2013, when the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports published an article entitled “An Unusual Urethral Foreign Body” authored by three Australian doctors from The Canberra Hospital’s Department of Urology. Example:   [Collected on the Internet, August 2013]  Is this real? A 70-year-old Canberra man came to an extraordinarily painful fork in the road when he presented to Canberra Hospital’s Emergency Department with a 10cm fork lodged in his penis. The doctors reported on the removal of a dining fork (“via forceps traction and copious lubrication”) from the urethra of a 70-year-old man, as shown in the x-ray displayed above:  A 70-year-old man presented to the Emergency Department with macroscopic haematuria but no other urinary symptoms. Detailed history taking revealed he had self-inserted a 10cm steel dining fork into his urethra 12 hours prior, for autoerotic stimulation. On examination, the fork was not visible, but palpable within the penile urethra. Extraction of the foreign body via the urethral meatus was successful under general anaesthesia, with the aide of lignocaine gel and Rampley forceps. An open excision was not required. Urethrocystoscopy identified mucosal abrasions in the pendulous and bulbar urethra. A urethral catheter was not placed. The patient voided well and went home post-procedure. The authors also noted that men inserting objects into their urethras is a fairly uncommon phenomenon, and the use of a fork in such a scenario is rather rare:  Self-inserted male urethral foreign bodies are rare emergencies that urological and general surgeons may face. Urethral foreign body insertions are an unusual practice in which any imaginable object is known to be implicated. In a series of 20 adult cases over 9 years, foreign body insertions into the lower urinary tract have a low incidence, with males 1.7 times more likely to commit the act than females. The mean age of individuals is 35.8 +/- 20.0 years. The practice manifests primarily during states of pathological masturbation, substance abuse and intoxication and as a result of psychological compounders. Autoerotic stimulation with the aid of self-inserted urethral foreign bodies has been existent since time immemorial and have presented an unusual but known presentation to Urologists. The presentation is however delayed owing to the fundamental emotion of embarrassment. Of those who seek medical attention, haematuria, dysuria, urinary frequency, strangury and urinary retention are the most common presenting features. Dire consequences such as fulminant sepsis and death ensue such behaviour in the event of delayed medical encounter. Despite the available literature on self-inserted urethral foreign bodies; the case we herein describe of a penile urethral fork is a rarity.",
            "output": [
                "Image shows an x-ray of a man with a fork in his urethra."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78bb378edabd4161a8af57e055d725e7",
            "input": "This line of research is so preliminary that we don’t think it’s necessary that stories report specific cost estimates. This story did include a comment about similar treatments being very expensive. The story is clear that this test was just a preliminary experiment to see if brain stimulation can have any memory effects in people. It notes that while researchers say it is worth exploring as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, there is no evidence yet that it provides such benefits. While this story (unlike the HealthDay story we reviewed) at least mentions that deep brain stimulation is “very invasive,” it should have listed at least some of the major risks of implanting electrodes into the brain connected to stimulation devices under a patient’s skin, including bleeding, strokes and infections. A recent study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) involving 99 Parkinson’s patients concluded that DBS  “has an adverse effect on executive functions with implications for daily life of the patients and their relatives.” Almost 10% of those DBS patients had psychiatric events including a suicide attempt. The story includes several mentions of the preliminary nature of this work. It points out that there may be important differences between the epilepsy patients in this study and typical Alzheimer’s disease patients and that there is no proof this technique will work for patients with dementia. The story mentions the estimated number of people with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States and that their ranks are “swelling,” but it does not exaggerate the prevalence of the disease or the portion of the population that could potentially benefit if this line of research makes progress. The story quotes an independent source and includes a comment from an editorial that appears along with the research report in the New England Journal of Medicine. It does not refer to any conflicts of interest, but the authors reported no conflicts in the disclosure forms posted online by the journal. This story offers a bit more information about existing treatments than the other story we reviewed, but all it says is that available drugs cannot prevent Alzheimer’s disease from progressing. The story would have been better if it had given readers some sense of how the memory-enhancing effects of available drugs compare to the size and duration of the effects seen in this test of brain stimulation. The story describes how brain stimulation is now used to treat some patients with Parkinson’s disease and other disorders, while making clear that more research is needed before anyone will know if it offers any benefits to people with Alzheimer’s disease. As mentioned above, the story points out that this sort of technique is used to treat other problems. This story includes direct quotes from an interview with an author of the researcher report so it’s clear that it did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Tiny electrical shocks to the brain enhance memory: study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a77cc6fb24a4fefb03a513ce8a45d4a",
            "input": "Every day that health workers don’t have full access to Ebola-affected areas is a “tragedy” that prolongs the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter. No one in the city could be vaccinated against Ebola on Monday, WHO said. The U.N. health agency previously could trace more than 90% of contacts of infected people in Beni but now that figure is just 17%, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Almost 50 “non-critical” WHO staffers were evacuated to the city of Goma while 71 remain, spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. He said the violence is not directed at WHO or the Ebola response at large. Instead, Beni residents are outraged that rebels continue to carry out deadly attacks despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese forces. Some demand that the U.N. mission act or leave. The bodies of four young protesters were found near the U.N. base after Monday’s attack, Kumbu Ngoma with Beni’s military court told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Investigations continued into the cause of their deaths. Six Congolese soldiers were wounded by gunfire near the base, Ngoma added. Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi after an emergency meeting Monday decided to allow joint operations between Congolese and U.N. forces in Beni following the protests that also burned the town hall. Congo’s military early this month declared a new offensive against Allied Democratic Forces rebels who have killed hundreds of civilians and security forces over the past few years in the mineral-rich northeast. After the U.N. mission in recent days was accused of inaction, it said it could not carry out operations unilaterally in a region where Congo’s military is already active, and that it cannot participate in Congolese military operations without being invited. Any unrest in the region where numerous rebel groups are active hurts crucial efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak. The number of reported cases has been dropping, with zero cases recorded on several days this month. Congo’s president, heartened by the trend, said earlier this month he hoped that the outbreak could be ended “completely by the end of the year.” However, WHO says 42 days without new Ebola cases must pass since the last possible exposure to a confirmed case for an outbreak to be declared over. More than 3,100 Ebola cases have been confirmed since this outbreak was declared in August 2018, including more than 2,100 deaths. WHO has called the trend in the declining number of cases encouraging but said the recent days of protests in Beni and surrounding areas are of “grave concern.” ___ Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Ebola responders on ‘lockdown’ after Congo city’s unrest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40ede067ea72408ebe3daa9a9174e200",
            "input": "\"The story says that the average copayment for a month’s supply of some of the topical NSAID medications is around $30. It would have been nice to include the cost of comparable oral medications. Although the story explains the available evidence comparing topical NSAIDs to oral pain relievers, highlights the limited number of direct comparisons, and carefully states the general consensus of experts, all of this solid reporting is undermined by a focus on personal anecdotal evidence over quantifiable benefits. Indeed, the reporter claims one medication provided immediate relief, a statement at odds with clinical trials that conclude that it usually takes hours for patients to feel the pain-relief effects of topical NSAIDs. The story summarizes the reported side effects of topical NSAIDS. What’s more, the reporter points out that the potential risks in people who have other health problems or are taking other drugs have not been well studied. That insight is something we see too rarely. The story refers to a number of clinical trials and systematic reviews of the evidence. It highlights areas where evidence is lacking or inconclusive. It would have been helpful to point out that in placebo-controlled trials, almost as many people who received the placebo reported pain relief as did those who got the active medication. The story could have mentioned that the systematic review it referred to was published by the Cochrane Collaboration and also the sources of the other clinical trial reports, so that interested readers could more easily locate the original articles. The story does not exaggerate the common pains these drugs are intended to treat, but the personal anecdotes and opinions highlighted at the beginning and ending of the story are unrepresentative of the typical experiences reported by participants in clinical trials and create a powerful impression that is at odds with the evidence. The story includes quotes from several experts and points out that two of them have accepted consulting fees or research support from pharmaceutical companies. The essence of this story is an attempt to compare topical NSAIDs with pills and other pain treatments. As noted above, though, the story does not mention that most people with minor pains feel better after awhile even if they don’t take any pain relief medication. It also should have mentioned that the difference between placebo and active treatment groups in the clinical trials is often slim. The story reports that only three topical NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are approved for sale with a prescription in the United States, while several brands are sold over the counter in Europe. Part of the focus of the story is that NSAIDS have been around for a long time but only recently are being given a more serious scientific reassessment. As the story says, \"\"But a number of new controlled trials and meta-analyses like Dr. Moore’s suggest that topical Nsaids are as effective as their oral counterparts for treating osteoarthritis in the knee and hand as well as musculoskeletal injuries like soreness and tendinitis.\"\" The story includes several experts and mentions multiple studies.\"",
            "output": [
                "Topical Gel Catches Up With Pills for Relief"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f29e04d649e45e79233031603b22f0a",
            "input": "Thirteen search warrants involving marijuana cultivation were served Monday by Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and state Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel in the unincorporated Aguanga area. In addition to the eradicated plants, 2,356 pounds of processed marijuana and 14 firearms were seized, the Sheriff″s Department said. One of the grows was using an extremely toxic pesticide that is banned in the United States, the department noted. “Marijuana cultivation negatively impacts the environment in many ways including diminishing and poisoning the water table and pesticides adversely affecting the health of neighboring residents,” the department said. Aguanga is about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) north of San Diego.",
            "output": [
                "Search warrants target illegal Southern California pot grows."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e91d4d866fda439885d37433d993adea",
            "input": "Gee and Kasich say Citizens for Effective Opioid Treatment, a 501(c)4 organization announced Thursday, will educate policymakers and the public about the negative impact the opioid epidemic has had on health care infrastructure and advance health-related research solutions to the crisis. “It’s an educational effort,” Gee said. “We want to help people understand that this is a crisis and that the caregivers — the hospitals, in particular — are really leading the charge in order to be able to both give care and solve the problem.” The duo’s plan is the latest move in a tug-of-war over what to do with the potential billions that could flow from a national opioid settlement with drugmakers and distributors, if one is reached. Some individual settlements with counties and states have already been reached and larger pharmaceutical companies could yet cut deals as the clock ticks toward the first trial, which is set for October. Local governments are asking the Cleveland-based federal judge who is overseeing the majority of more than 2,000 lawsuits over the toll of opioids to let them distribute money among themselves. They say being able to negotiate as a group on behalf of all or most local governments would make it possible to reach a deal with the industry. They argue the crisis has hit local governments especially hard as they’ve needed to spend more on police, jails and other programs. Most state attorneys general oppose that plan, saying the states would be in the best position to dole out money to local governments and to create larger scale prevention and treatment programs. Both Gee and Kasich said their nonprofit isn’t intended as an attack on local governments. But Kasich, who was criticized as governor for cuts to the state’s local government fund, said large sums of undedicated money can tend to migrate. “I’m not here to kind of tell the attorney generals what to do. If they can get a settlement and these communities can be reimbursed, good for them,” he said. “But I don’t want the money to go to fill potholes or to fill a budget gap or something like that. I want the money to go to the people who are on the front lines, because they are right up against the wall.” Gee and Kasich developed a relationship when Kasich was Ohio’s governor, beginning in 2011, and Gee was president of Ohio State University. Gee — himself a prolific fundraiser — said he enlisted Kasich’s help with the nonprofit for his political acumen. Gee called Kasich “a rainmaker and a door opener” who “knows everyone.” Under IRS rules, the new tax-exempt nonprofit — which can raise unlimited amounts and not disclose its donors to the public — must “primarily” engage in social welfare and helping the community, meaning at least half its budget has to go to activities such as education rather than to political lobbying. Gee said a companion entity is planned whose collections can be spent more freely. Hospitals in West Virginia, including one system separately chaired by Gee, sued some of the largest makers of the powerful painkillers in April, seeking monetary damages to cover the costs of the crisis. The epidemic has spread to include street drugs, such as heroin and illegal fentanyl. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids were involved in more than 47,000 deaths in both 2017 and 2018. Gee said hospitals have had to cope with front-line health care costs, the space requirements of patients unable to go home, the associated medical needs of children and newborns and added workload and security costs. He said the nonprofit will solicit private donations to spread its message. Kasich said he will speak out publicly, write op-eds and appear in videos. The idea of having a private foundation handle at least some of any money from an opioid settlement isn’t new. A group of public health groups including the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Boston’s Northeastern University filed papers in court in May calling for such an entity. The group said one of the successes from a 1998 national tobacco settlement was the $1.7 billion that went to such a group and helped reduce youth smoking. But this approach makes some people bristle. Earlier this year, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family, which owns it, agreed to a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma. Much of that money went to a research and treatment center at Oklahoma State University. Some lawmakers complained that they, rather than the state attorney general, should have gotten to decide what to do with the settlement. In July, a group of state lawmakers in West Virginia asked their state’s attorney general for control of a $37 million opioid settlement with the drug distributor McKesson, arguing they were the ones best suited to assure the money went to treatment programs rather than administrative costs. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey responded in a statement that it’s important to “attack the drug epidemic holistically.” ___ Associated Press Writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.",
            "output": [
                "Kasich, Gee group to push opioid settlement toward hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e9f94942c4e4689aa22b1bc16cc6c4d",
            "input": "In Michigan, one of the few hospital systems conducting widespread staff testing found that more than 700 workers were infected with the coronavirus - more than a quarter of those tested. More than a month after the pandemic hit the United States, the persistent test shortages mean that health workers are treating patients while experiencing mild symptoms that could signal they are infected themselves, according to Reuters interviews with 13 nurses and 2 doctors who described testing shortages at their hospitals. Many medical centers are testing only the workers with the most severe symptoms, according to the frontline workers and hospital officials. As a result, nurses and doctors risk infecting patients, colleagues and their families without knowing they are carrying the virus, medical experts say. The New York City nurse works at Mount Sinai Hospital, a major institution in the national epicenter of the pandemic. Her nausea, upset stomach and low-grade fever did not qualify her to get a test in late March, she told Reuters on condition of anonymity. She continued to work because her fever - at 100.2 degrees Fahrenheit (37.9 Celsius) - was just below the threshold set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for sending health workers home. But she had the virus, an infection she confirmed when she took it upon herself to get tested at a private clinic, she said. “I knew something wasn’t right,” the nurse said, “but I didn’t really think I had it.”  A hospital spokesman declined to comment on the nurse’s case but said that mildly symptomatic employees could now get tested. Mount Sinai Hospital’s chief medical officer, Vicki LoPachin, told staff on April 4 that the hospital would increase testing of employees with symptoms of the virus starting on Tuesday. New York City is home of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with about 78,000 cases and 3,600 deaths as of Wednesday morning. Nationwide, the number of infections has surpassed 400,000, with nearly 13,000 deaths. (For an interactive graphic tracking the virus, see tmsnrt.rs/2XjOZil )  The continued test shortages - even for the workers most at risk - is “scandalous” and a serious threat to the patients they treat, said Dr. Art Caplan, a professor of bioethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It’s obvious that we should be testing healthcare workers, just as points of infectivity,” Caplan said. On Monday, the U.S. Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Office published a survey of 323 hospitals that found the shortages left the facilities unable to effectively test staff and patients, who frequently waited more than seven days for results because of delays at outside laboratories. In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave states permission to approve their own tests to avoid federal regulatory delays. It also approved the first rapid coronavirus diagnostic test, manufactured by Cepheid, which the company says can detect the virus in about 45 minutes without sending samples to an outside laboratory. The FDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday about federal efforts to further address the persistent national test shortages. While some hospitals have announced plans to test more employees in recent days due to increased capacity, the inconsistency across states has created a patchwork of testing protocols based on the supplies available. NYC Health + Hospitals, the corporation that operates the city’s 11 public hospitals, said last week they would have the capacity to test all employees - regardless of symptoms - by April 22. In Georgia, where the nurse told Reuters she was denied testing after treating a dying patient, the state health department said it is giving priority to healthcare workers at new drive-through test sites. The workers, however, must be evaluated and recommended for testing by a doctor. The CDC advises that healthcare facilities should prioritize giving their limited tests to hospitalized patients and symptomatic healthcare workers, specifically those experiencing fever, cough and shortness of breath. All other healthcare workers should receive tests “as resources allow,” according to the CDC’s website. In Michigan - a leader among states in establishing testing programs that deliver quick results - more than 700 staff in the Henry Ford Health hospital system have tested positive out of some 2,500 employees tested since March 12, chief clinical officer Adnan Munkarah said on April 6. While the infected workers represent just 2% of the system’s overall staff, the high percentage of positive tests in the initial round signals that further testing could reveal many more infections. The Henry Ford system did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Until rapid testing is widely available, hospitals face a dilemma: Do they test staff with mild symptoms and keep them home for days as they await results? Or do they keep mildly ill - but desperately needed - staff at work to treat the rush of patients? “It’s a different kind of triage,” said Caplan, the bioethics professor. “It’s precaution versus, ‘I need staff.’”  Rapid testing of all hospital employees could possibly decimate the workforce by revealing asymptomatic infected workers, several healthcare workers told Reuters. But it would also protect colleagues, patients and family members. “It’s scary to come home and not know if you’re bringing it home to your family,” said Sydnie Boylan, a nurse at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles. She went to work in late March with a headache and sore throat, but no fever, after she had been exposed to a coronavirus patient while not wearing sufficient protective gear. Those symptoms did not qualify for testing at her hospital. Boylan said the hospital told her to quarantine at home for 14 days because of her exposure to the patient. The headache and sore throat persisted for six days, she said. Asked about Boylan’s case, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center’s head of clinical operations Jamie Chang said in a statement the hospital is testing as many staff and patients as possible with limited supplies. He said the hospital follows the Los Angeles County Health Department guidelines for testing, which recommend prioritizing patients with a cough, fever and difficulty breathing. “Despite the severe shortage in testing capacity available to the hospital, Chang said, “all HPMC staff have access to the same COVID-19 testing that we offer to our patients.”  Boylan said she had been tested at a drive-through site. She is still waiting on the results.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. nurses who can't get tested fear they are spreading COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-745b3ee8e9d14f47a6262d272634c6fe",
            "input": "“If we don’t want these measures to reach a further stage, we must abide by the voluntary quarantine rules verbatim. What does this voluntary quarantine mean? It means do not leave your house,” Erdogan told a press conference late on Friday. The rate of infections in Turkey has outstripped most other countries in the last two weeks with 2,069 more cases in the last 24 hours, the country’s health minister said earlier on Friday in calling for wider measures to contain the outbreak. Erdogan also announced an end to all international flights, and said pandemic councils will be formed in Turkey’s 30 biggest cities to take additional precautions if necessary. “By taking care of social distancing at home and at work, by not using public transportation unless necessary, by not leaving the house apart from fundamental shopping needs, by taking care of our cleanliness, it is mandatory that we increase the effectiveness of these measures,” he added. Turkey’s government says it is not disclosing the location of cases to prevent the risk of increasing transmission rates by encouraging people to move from areas with high rates to places where there are no or few cases. Ramping up measures against the outbreak, Turkey also limited intercity bus travel and banned walks and fishing along the seashore and beaches, as well as jogging in forests and parks on weekends. Local governors could decide to extend the decision to week days, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told an interview on NTV news channel. One town and four villages in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Rize have been quarantined over the coronavirus outbreak, the local mayor said on Friday, marking the country’s first case of a lockdown.",
            "output": [
                "Turkey adopts 'voluntary' stay-at-home quarantine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8aed5ba9b15146f9b41bc2d1366835ae",
            "input": "The updated legislation unveiled by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would lower the standard copay to 20% from the current 25% for seniors enrolled in Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit. It also introduces a feature that would let Medicare enrollees spread out their copays in monthly installments. Because of the current design of the system, seniors taking very expensive drugs can face unmanageable out-of-pocket costs in the first couple of months of any year. The bipartisan Senate bill has the support of President Donald Trump, but it’s unclear if any significant drug pricing legislation can pass a Congress polarized by impeachment. In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to bring her own, more ambitious bill to a floor vote next week. The California Democrat’s legislation would empower Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and plow the savings back into expanded dental, vision and hearing benefits for seniors. But congressional Republicans are opposed to the government negotiating drug prices. Trump, who supported the idea as a candidate, has since dropped it. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, is reluctant to bring the bipartisan Grassley-Wyden bill to the floor. It could trigger Democratic amendments designed to create political headaches for Republicans on other issues, such as protecting people with pre-existing medical conditions. In terms of policy ideas, there’s considerable overlap between the Senate bill and parts of Pelosi’s plan. Both would cap out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries and require drugmakers to pay rebates to the government if they hike prices above inflation. But the political challenges may be impossible to overcome. The Grassley-Wyden bill would limit out-of-pocket medication costs faced by seniors to $3,100, starting in 2022. Currently there is no limit, and some Medicare recipients dealing with serious illness face copays rivaling a mortgage payment. In a statement late Friday, the White House said “President Donald J. Trump applauds the work of Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Wyden to lower prescription drug costs and further improve their bipartisan legislation, such as adding a provision to limit monthly out-of-pocket spending for seniors with chronic high costs. The White House called on Congress “to act now to give Americans the relief they need by sending bipartisan drug pricing reform to the President’s desk this year.” Supporters of the Senate bill are hoping a deal can still be had, and that major prescription drug legislation can be incorporated in a budget bill expected early next year. The pharmaceutical industry opposes both the Senate and House bills and has poured millions of dollars into a lobbying battle to block them.",
            "output": [
                "\"Bipartisan Medicare drug bill gets makeover to lower copays.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cbb32ee5fe0a4947a579f46201cba9be",
            "input": "But Michel Yao, head of emergency operations for WHO Africa, said that was a tentative projection which could change and noted worst-case predictions for the Ebola outbreak had not come true because people changed behaviour in time. “This is still to be fine-tuned,” he told a media teleconference. “It’s difficult to make a long-term estimation because the context changes too much and also public health measures when they are fully implemented, they can actually have an impact.”   The world’s poorest continent has seen more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease and about 900 deaths so far - relatively little compared to some other regions. But there are fears that could balloon and overwhelm shaky health services. “We are concerned that the virus continues to spread geographically, within countries,” said Matshidiso Moeti, director for WHO’s Africa region, which comprises 46 sub-Saharan nations and Algeria. “The numbers continue to increase every day.”  Infections in South Africa, which has the highest number of cases, have slowed after it began a strict lockdown, but other nations - like Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Algeria - have seen higher than average fatalities. The WHO is working with authorities there to improve patient care and reduce fatalities, Moeti said. She warned that President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. funding for the WHO could harm both the fight against against other killers like polio, HIV and malaria. “The impact, potentially, of this decision will be quite significant on areas such as polio eradication,” said Moeti, just when Africa was close to being declared polio-free. Trump accused the Geneva-based WHO on Tuesday of promoting Chinese “disinformation” about the new coronavirus, saying this had probably worsened the outbreak and that he would stop its funding even as he defended his own handling of the crisis. More than 2 million people have been infected globally, with the largest number in the United States. Washington is the biggest donor to the WHO, which tackles specific diseases and also strengthens national health systems. The United States contributed more than $400 million to the WHO in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget. “We are very much hoping (suspension of funding) will be re-thought because the U.S. government is an important partner not only in financial terms but also it is an important strategic partner,” Moeti said. She also told the media teleconference that the organisation requires $300 million to help African governments respond to the pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Africa may see millions of coronavirus cases, tentative WHO forecast shows."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e342d8a3168448ebc0bee08a6728e8e",
            "input": "The clarification, which some moral theologians called “groundbreaking,” was the latest step in what is already seen as a significant shift in Catholic Church policy. It came at a news conference to launch the pope’s new book, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Sign of the Times.”   In the book, a long interview with German Catholic journalist Peter Seewald, the pope made clear he was not changing the Catholic ban on contraception, but, using the example of a male prostitute, said there were cases where using a condom to avoid transmitting the HIV virus could be justified. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi made the clarification because the German, English and French versions of the book used the male article when referring to a prostitute, but the Italian version used the female form. “I asked the pope personally if there was a serious distinction in the choice of male instead of female and he said ‘No’,” Lombardi said. “The point is it (condom use) should be a first step toward responsibility in being aware of the risk of the life of the other person one has relations with,” he said. “If it is a man, a woman or a transsexual who does it, we are always at the same point, which is the first step in responsibly avoiding passing on a grave risk to the other.”   Theologians, AIDS activists and liberal Catholics said the latest developments marked a highly significant, perhaps even historic, change in the Church’s attitude to condoms. “The pope’s statement ... is a startling and welcome shift by the Vatican that has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives,” said Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Washington-based Global AIDS Alliance (GAA). “The pope has created the possibility of rapid change in the way the Catholic Church views HIV/AIDS and how it can preserve the sanctity of human life,” Zeitz said. Lombardi appeared to take the debate beyond the confines of prostitution in the context of fighting the transmission of AIDS, although the church prefers measures such as abstinence. “The fact that an official Vatican spokesperson seems to be extending the possibility of use clearly is groundbreaking,” said Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, a professor of social ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. “The real question is whether this papal statement will impact pastoral activity on the ground, particularly in AIDS-affected regions of the world,” he told Reuters. The church had been saying for decades that condoms were not even part of the solution to fighting AIDS, even though no formal policy on this existed in a Vatican document. The late Cardinal John O’Connor of New York famously branded the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as “The Big Lie.”   “The Vatican’s acknowledgement that Pope Benedict’s acceptance of condom use to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections relates to everybody shows how significant the pope’s comments are,” said Jon O’Brien, president of the U.S.-based Catholics for Choice group. In the book, the pope says the use of condoms could be seen as “a first step toward moralization,” even though condoms are “not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection.”   Through the book and Lombardi’s comments, the pope seemed to be giving a cautious, qualified endorsement of the “ABC principle” (Abstinence-Be faithful-Condom) espoused by many governments and health organizations in preventing AIDS. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, a Vatican official who presented the book, said Catholics had to “respect” the pope’s words even though they were not made in an official papal pronouncement. “For the first time, the use of condoms in special circumstances was endorsed by the Vatican, and this is good news and a good beginning for us,” said Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization.",
            "output": [
                "Vatican broadens case for condoms to fight AIDS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fe0d3b7ec5e44e49d7be9412947b1be",
            "input": "The European Medicine Agency (EMA) also backed a new drug from Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma called Latuda, for the treatment of schizophrenia, and Bemfola, a new biosimilar medicine for the treatment of infertility. But the regulator decided against recommending Teva’s new multiple sclerosis (MS) pill Nerventra, or laquinimod, which the Israeli firm is developing with Swedish partner Active Biotech, and recommended rejecting an application from Swiss drugmaker Novartis to market its heart failure drug serelaxin. Recommendations for marketing approval by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months. The prospects for laquinimod were already viewed by analysts as uncertain, since the drug missed its main goal in a late-stage trial in 2011 and U.S. regulators have asked for another Phase III study before considering it. Analysts at Jefferies in London said the rejection of Teva’s MS drug was as they had expected and was driven by three major concerns - about the possible link to risk of cancers and pregnancy dangers, and its modest effect on relapse rates which suggested an unfavorable risk-benefit balance for the drug. On Bayer’s Adempas, the EMA said the key benefits of the drug were “its ability to provide significant improvement in exercise capacity and pulmonary haemodynamics in two specific conditions known as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial hypertension.”  Adempas, which belongs to a class of drugs known as soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators that help arteries relax to increase blood flow and decrease blood pressure, got backing from drugs regulators in United States in October last year, and in Japan earlier this month. The EMA also issued negative opinions for two so-called orphan medicines - Masiviera from France’s AB Science, intended for certain types of advanced pancreatic cancer, and Translarna, from PTC Therapeutics, designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. GSK’s once-weekly diabetes drug albiglutide won the EMA’s recommendation and will be sold under the brand name Eperzan. It belongs to the same class of injectable GLP-1 drugs as Victoza, from Novo Nordisk, as well as Byetta and Bydureon, from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca. Last year regulators in the United States pushed back an approval decision on the drug until April 15.",
            "output": [
                "EU regulator backs Bayer, GSK drugs, knocks back Novartis, Teva."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0fc9f7fa261a434c9113859b1eb96d5e",
            "input": "There is no discussion of the cost of N-acetylcysteine although it is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines, is available over-the-counter and is not very expensive. An online search reveals prices ranging from about $6 for 100 capsules containing 600 mg to around $12 for 50 high-dose capsules containing 700 mg. The intent of the pilot study was to determine the effect of N-acetylcysteine on PTSD symptoms, cravings and substance use. All three endpoints are described in the news release albeit in relative terms. We are told that the 8-week trial randomized 35 veterans with PTSD and substance use disorder. Some received N-acetylcysteine and others a placebo, but all of the participants received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The release reported that “Veterans in the NAC-treated group showed a 46% reduction in PTSD symptoms, compared with a 25% reduction in the placebo group on the Clinical-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), which assesses trauma history and symptom severity. The threshold CAPS score for diagnosis of PTSD is 50.” The release quotes the lead author: “As a group, the NAC-treated veterans were below diagnostic level for PTSD at the end of treatment.” This establishes that the benefit was clinically meaningful. But we prefer to see absolute rather than relative numbers as used here. For example, the actual before and after scores on the PTSD scale would have better illustrated how large the benefit was. The release explains that the drug used “does not cause side effects at the doses used in the study, but it degrades quickly when stored, is contraindicated in patients with asthma, and can cause nausea at higher doses and so should always be obtained and administered under a physician’s supervision.” However, the published study notes a higher incidence of adverse events in the N-acetylcysteine treated group that in those treated with placebo (66.7% vs. 47.1%). N-acetylcysteine can cause “nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea or constipation. Rarely, it can cause rashes, fever, headache, drowsiness, low blood pressure, and liver problems,” according to WebMD. This news release does not exaggerate the benefits found in the study, and added helpful caveats about the limitations of the study, its applicability to the general population and its small size. We’d have preferred to see some specific language cautioning about the short duration of the study (just 8 weeks) and the fact that the results might not hold up over time. There is no obvious disease-mongering here. However, when the release notes that 7-8 percent of Americans have experienced PTSD at some point in their lives it could have been noted that the PTSD experienced by military veterans — leaving them ‘difficult-to-treat’ — is in a different category than what civilians might experience. The release clearly states the funding sources and it would be very unlikely that these researchers would have a financial interest in the product under study since it is off-patent and generically available without a prescription. The news release mentions other treatments for PTSD (such as SSRI antidepressants) even though we don’t learn how effective those treatments are compared to N-acetylcysteine. The lead researcher very helpfully mentions that the drug should not be used without cognitive behavioral therapy or other forms of psychological counseling. The news release places the results of the study in a positive light noting, “Currently, there are no well-explored pharmacological treatments for patients with co-occurring PTSD/SUD. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been approved by the FDA for treatment of PTSD, pharmacological treatments for co-occurring PTSD/SUD have yielded suboptimal results.” While SSRI’s have been the most studied to date, other drugs that have been studied in preliminary trials could have been mentioned, including prozosin, prazosin, guanfacine, atomoxetine, topiramate, memantine, acamprosate, and ketamine. A 2014 article in Addictive Behaviors journal describes some of these: “Pharmacological treatment of comorbid PTSD and substance use disorder: recent progress.” (Addictive behaviors 39.2 (2014): 428-433.) We learn it is sold over-the-counter and available everywhere. The release claims novelty with these statements: “This trial is the first to use NAC as a pharmacotherapy for PTSD and a broad range of SUDs” and “NAC treatment with CBT would be a novel approach to treat co-occurring PTSD and SUD.” This does appear to be the first such clinical trial of the supplement to address this combination of disorders. There is no use of unjustifiable language. In fact, we were pleased to see the consistent use of “substance use disorder” or SUD to describe the inappropriate use of illegal and legal drugs. Our recent post on ways to put people first when talking about addiction shows how careful terminology improves accuracy and reduces stigma.",
            "output": [
                "A potential pharmaceutical intervention for co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16dc104e83484bb284b8edd1a7518eba",
            "input": "According to the Maine Center for Disease Control, the number of syphilis cases reported in the state increased from 48 in 2016 to 84 last year. The number of national syphilis cases increased by 18 percent in between 2015 and 2016. Maine Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman tells the Bangor Daily News the department isn’t sure why syphilis has increased in recent years. Portland Public Health Center medical director Dr. Christina DeMatteo believes opioid use and waning concerns about HIV have contributed to attitudes about having unprotected sex. Public health advocates say budget cuts resulting in changes in prevention and treatment have also affected rates in the state. ___ Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangordailynews.com",
            "output": [
                "Maine sees increase in reported syphilis cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01cf623a93514e5eb40e31ae321608a4",
            "input": "While the story included a calculation that suggested that the intervention was as cost effective as strategies screening for elevated LDL, the story failed to indicate the actual cost to the consumer. Although the story mentioned the number of people in the two study groups who had heart-related death, heart attacks and other serious cardiac problems during the course of the study, it could have a done a better job at clarifying that this represented a small percentage of affected individuals. A more direct statement an juxtaposition of absolute versus relative risk reduction would have been helpful. The story indicated that there was an increased number of people taking Crestor who developed diabetes during the study. The story mentioned that the results of the study were presented at a recent meeting and that the results of the study had been published. It described that the study population was a group of 17,802 individuals, all of whom had elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and that it was a randomized study of individuals given 20 mg of rosuvastin (Crestor) compared with a placebo group. The story did temper the enthusiasm for more testing and more treatment by including skeptical comments from editorial writer Hlatky. The story included comments from several individuals who were not involved in the study and provided some cautionary perspective about the implications of the study. And while this piece relied heavily on comments from Dr. Ridker, the story did mention that he was an inventor of the test for CRP was also the recipient of funding from the manufacturer of the study drug. The two main issues in the study reported on was the use of CRP to identify candidates who could benefit from lipid lowering  and then the use of Crestor to lower lipids in these individuals to lower cardiovascular disease risk. In terms of treatment options,the story indicated the uncertainty about whether the outcomes observed were the result of the specific drug study or could be obtained with the use of any in the statin class of drugs. It also mentioned that the reduction in CRP was not associated with the decrease in LDL levels seen in the study participants. There was no discussion, however, about what, if any, other means for lowering CRP were available. The story did mention that there was little known about what the long term impact of maintaining very low levels of LDL cholesterol. From the story, it was clear that Crestor, the medication reported on, was currently available. In addition, the story indicated that it did not have FDA approval for use in the way it was employed in the study. The story reported that the study indicated a new target population for a medication that was currently approved for use. However, the story failed to note that other studies (e.g. AFCAPS) have found benefit from lipid lowering in patients with no history of heart disease and non-elevated LDL levels, using the statin lovastatin, a drug with is now available as generic. The reductions reported were somewhat smaller, but not radically different. Does not rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Cholesterol Drug Cuts Heart Risk in Healthy Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-49f3844ded5845e4b8437d2742bc0b83",
            "input": "DASH, which was developed to lower blood pressure without medication, was also chosen by a panel of health experts as the top diabetes diet and the best plan for healthy eating. Weight Watchers retained the No. 1 spot as the best diet for weight loss, followed by the HMR (Healthy Management Resources) low-calorie, meal-replacement plan; and Jenny Craig, which offers prepared meals to drop excess pounds. “The DASH diet has been our top diet overall for five years now and this is the fifth year we are evaluating and ranking diets,” said Angela Haupt, senior health and wellness editor at U.S. News & World Report. “Our experts, who rate these diets for us, say it will end up being very good for your waistline, in addition to your high blood pressure, because it is such a common-sense, balanced diet,” she added in an interview. The TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet, which is designed to lower levels of cholesterol, came in second in the best overall category, followed by the Mediterranean diet, Weight Watchers and the Mayo Clinic Diet, which each tied for third place. At the opposite end of the scale is the Paleo Diet, which focuses on meat, fish and vegetables, and the four-phase Dukan Diet, tied for last place. Weight Watchers, based on a point system assigned to foods, Jenny Craig and the Mediterranean Diet, with its emphasis on vegetables and olive oil, were deemed the easiest diets to follow. In addition to DASH, the TLC and the Mediterranean diets were selected the best for healthy eating. A panel of two dozen experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and food psychology ranked 35 eating plans to compile the annual list. They looked at sample menus and published medical studies to rate of top diets overall as well as the best for weight loss, diabetes, heart disease and the easiest to follow. “We provide people with all the facts, comprehensively, in the hope that they can make the best decision for themselves,” said Haupt. The panel selected the Ornish Diet, which is focused on fruits, vegetables and grains, as the top heart-healthy diet, along with TLC and DASH. The full ranking can be found at health.usnews.com/best-diet",
            "output": [
                "DASH named best overall diet for fifth year: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36abfca0ad20498db6a265fb286b400e",
            "input": "\"State lawmakers have left Albany for the year without taking up a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims. Current law allows those victims to bring criminal charges against their alleged abuser until the age of 23. The Child Victims Act would extend the age to 28 and create a one-year revival period for past cases regardless of when they happened. Victims could also bring civil cases until age 50. The bill passed in the State Assembly with the support of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, but was blocked by Republicans in the State Senate. Comedian Samantha Bee took aim at the Senate on her weekly late-night talk show last week. \"\"I don't want you to think the New York Senate is anti-child,\"\" Bee said. \"\"This session they passed legislation allowing minors to race snowmobiles, get their own hunting licenses, and not be employed gathering or picking rags, cigar stumps, or collecting bones.\"\" Anyone who does not follow New York state politics closely may be surprised by the claim. Those inside what’s known as the ‘Albany bubble’ were most likely not. But Bee is known for comedy. Some may have seen her claim as satirical. Were those bills a joke, or was Bee talking about legislation that actually passed the Senate? Snowmobile racing The Senate passed a bill in March that would allow people under the age of 18 to compete in organized snowmobile racing events without a safety certificate from the state. Current law requires anyone under the age of 18 to take a state-approved safety course before they ride a snowmobile. Anyone under 14 has to also be supervised by an adult when riding. The regulations do not apply if the minor rides on land owned by their parent or guardian. The bill would throw out those rules as long as the minor is participating in a snowmobile racing event. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Betty Little of the North Country, passed the 63-member Senate with 49 votes. The Assembly did not take up the bill. Looser hunting restrictions Another bill, passed by the Senate in June, would allow 12-year-olds to get a universal hunting license by lowering the age for some hunting activities. You can start hunting when you are 12 in New York, but certain restrictions remain until the hunter is 14. The bill would drop the age from 14 to 12 for someone to participate in muzzle-loading season, obtain muzzle-loading privileges, hunt with a crossbow, and hunt big game. The child would have to be supervised by a parent or youth mentor. The sponsor, Republican Joseph Griffo, says in the bill’s memo it’s intended to give parents the opportunity to teach children about hunting at a younger age. The bill passed the Senate with 53 votes. The Assembly did not take it up. Begging for money The third bill targets people who use children to panhandle on the street. It’s already illegal for someone to use a child to beg for money but the crime is under the state’s arts and cultural affairs law instead of the penal law. This bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx, would transfer the crime to the penal law and strengthen the penalty for repeat offenders. The bill says someone cannot ask or allow a child under 16 to beg for money or receive payment for \"\"picking rags, or collecting cigar stumps, or collecting bones.\"\" That provision has actually been in state law since 1971. It’s part of a broader law that bans children from doing several things for money. Among the more interesting: children cannot be employed as tightrope walkers and cannot receive money for displaying a physical deformity. The Klein bill to move the crime to the penal law passed the Senate in June with 55 votes. The bill was not taken up in the Assembly. Our ruling Comedian Samantha Bee said the New York State Senate \"\"passed legislation allowing minors to race snowmobiles, get their own hunting licenses, and not be employed gathering or picking rags, cigar stumps, or collecting bones.\"\" Each of the bills is real and passed the Senate this year. Her claim is .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The New York State Senate \"\"passed legislation allowing minors to race snowmobiles, get their own hunting licenses, and not be employed gathering or picking rags, cigar stumps, or collecting bones.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba2c2e372e0e4030addf89e16b4e616b",
            "input": "A patient watches TV at the activity room at a mental hospital of Changzhi, north China's Shanxi province May 18, 2007. REUTERS/Stringer Leading mental health experts gave a briefing on Tuesday to warn that a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is being revised now for publication in 2013, could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost everyone as having some kind of disorder. Citing examples of new additions like “mild anxiety depression,” “psychosis risk syndrome,” and “temper dysregulation disorder,” they said many people previously seen as perfectly healthy could in future be told they are ill.   “It’s leaking into normality. It is shrinking the pool of what is normal to a puddle,” said Til Wykes of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London. The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders. It is seen as the global diagnostic bible for the field of mental health medicine. The criteria are designed to provide clear definitions for professionals who treat patients with mental disorders, and for researchers and pharmaceutical drug companies seeking to develop new ways of treating them. Wykes and colleagues Felicity Callard, also of Kings’ Institute of Psychiatry, and Nick Craddock of Cardiff University’s department of psychological medicine and neurology, said many in the psychiatric community are worried that the further the guidelines are expanded, the more likely it will become that nobody will be classed as normal any more. “Technically, with the classification of so many new disorders, we will all have disorders,” they said in a joint statement. “This may lead to the belief that many more of us ‘need’ drugs to treat our ‘conditions’ — (and) many of these drugs will have unpleasant or dangerous side effects.”   The scientists said “psychosis risk syndrome” diagnosis was particularly worrying, since it could falsely label young people who may only have a small risk of developing an illness. “It’s a bit like telling 10 people with a common cold that they are “at risk for pneumonia syndrome” when only one is likely to get the disorder,” Wykes told the briefing. The American Psychiatric Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The scientists gave examples from the previous revision to the DSM, which was called DSM 4 and included broader diagnoses and categories for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and childhood bipolar disorders. This, they said, had “contributed to three false epidemics” of these conditions, particularly in the United States. “During the last decade, how many doctors were harangued by worried parents into giving drugs like Ritalin to children who didn’t really need it?,” their statement asked. Millions of people across the world, many of them children, take ADHD drugs including Novartis’ Ritalin, which is known generically as methylphenidate, and similar drugs such as Shire Plc’s Adderall and Vyvanse. In the United States alone, sales of these drugs was about $4.8 billion in 2008. Wykes and Callard published a comment in The Journal of Mental Health expressing their concern about the upcoming DSM revision and highlighting another 10 or more papers in the same journal from other scientists who were also worried. DSM 5 is due to be published in May 2013.",
            "output": [
                "Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34adab720efc462aaaaae8b4f775d521",
            "input": "Although it is not known how much abaloparatide will cost at this stage, the article does discuss the cost of its would-be competitor, Forteo, which costs about $2,500 a month for those without insurance. The story does a good job discussing the quantitative evidence from the study. (The few missteps, which are actually quite critical in their nature, were related to a not-entirely-adequate grasp of the study design. This we discuss in detail in a separate criterion, Quality of Evidence, below.) The story discusses several measures by which the effectiveness of abaloparatide was compared to the placebo (and Forteo), including the number of spine fractures, the number of other types of fractures, and the number of cases of hypercalcemia. And it does so using actual numbers. For example: “Fewer women on the injectable drug abaloparatide had spine fractures (0.58 percent) than women receiving a placebo (4.22 percent)…” The story lists nausea and heart palpitations among the serious side effects of both abaloparatide and Forteo. The story contains a subtle misunderstanding of the study design that leads it to misinterpret the quantitative evidence for abaloparatide and Forteo. The study’s presentation of the quantitative results suggest that the figures can be directly juxtaposed for the two drugs, when this is not actually the case. Toward the end of the research article on which the story is based, we have the following statement: “Comparison of abaloparatide vs teriparatide [Forteo] for the primary efficacy end point [cases of spine fractures] was not part of the study objectives because the study would have required a sample size of approximately 22,000 per treatment group to provide 90% power to detect the treatment difference between abaloparatide (observed rate, 0.58%) and teriparatide (observed rate, 0.84%) based on our study results.” This effectively means that comparing the 0.58% observed rate of spine fractures under abaloparatide and the 0.84% rate under Forteo, is, quite simply put, rather meaningless. The clinical trial study was never powered to discover a significant difference between the two, i.e. the study was not designed to be able to detect any meaningful difference. Indeed, the statements by Dr. Caroline Messer, interviewed in the story, and the research article’s accompanying editorial, partly reprinted at the end of the story, both emphasize that this research study does not in fact compare abaloparatide directly to Forteo. Another minor point is that Forteo had to be injected via its trademarked injection pen in the study, rather than subcutaneously as was done with abaloparatide and the placebo. This obviously has implications for the blinded nature of the study. While an ideal clinical trial is double-blinded, in this case both patients and doctors knew when Forteo was being administered. The story shares the fact that “A study based on 2010 U.S. Census data estimated that more than 3 million women between the ages of 50 and 69 have osteoporosis. A 60-year-old woman has a 44 percent lifetime risk of fracture due to low bone density.” An explanation of the term “lifetime risk” would be helpful to the reader. (In this setting, it means the probability of experiencing a fracture during the remaining years of life. In fact, the figure reported is really a “residual lifetime risk.”) Now for a slight tangent: It is great that the story chose to report an absolute risk here rather than a relative risk. This is a point we at HealthNewsReview.org try to hammer home. In a 2007 article in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Nguyen et. al. in their article titled “Residual lifetime risk of fractures in women and men” had the following comment on relative versus absolute risk: Communication of risk in the osteoporosis field has traditionally relied on the concept of relative risk. However, relative risk can be misleading to patients and clinicians,(42) because the interpretation of a relative risk or its change is highly dependent on the baseline risk. For instance, doubling a minor risk is still minor, but doubling a common risk is alarming. It is therefore desirable that individuals who have BMD measurements be informed about their fracture probability risk category instead of their relative scores. (4) The lifetime risk estimates from this study provide such a means for communication of risk to an individual patient. Dr. Caroline Messer of the Center for Pituitary and Neuroendocrine Disorders at Lenox Hill Hospital was interviewed as an independent source. She correctly pointed out that a head-to-head trial directly comparing Forteo and abaloparatide is needed in the next step of research. The story also discloses that the research study was funded by the maker of abaloparatide, Radius Health. However, the story doesn’t point out that the study author (whom they quote extensively) also serves on a Radius Health Advisory Board. The story describes Forteo, the current dominant drug on the market for treating low bone mineral density. But see Quality of Evidence section above for how this could have been done better. The story states that abaloparatide is currently in a Phase 3 trial stage. The story does not make clear the novelty of abaloparatide, and seems to focus rather on the similarities between it and Forteo. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Injected Drug May Help Fight Osteoporosis in Women"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b64dace4f0243abb954428ce1c2ad9c",
            "input": "In November 2019, the Facebook page “Weird History” shared the following meme, which claimed that a four-megaton atomic bomb remained missing near Georgia — and that it might be live:Under an image of a Cold War-style bomb or missile (which was incidentally published to Wikipedia in 2008), text read:There’s been a four-megaton atomic bomb lost off the coast of Georgia since 1958 and no one really knows whether or not it’s active.The meme was shared a day ahead of the release of the fourth and final season of Man in the High Castle. A streaming and expanded adaptation of the 1962 Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, Man in the High Castle portrays an alternate history of Cold War-era America in which the Allies lost World War II.In the meme, the bomb is described as a “four-megaton atomic bomb.” Megatons are a unit of measurement used to express the force of hydrogen bombs; atomic bombs are typically quantified in kilotons:Thermonuclear bombs can be hundreds or even thousands of times more powerful than atomic bombs. The explosive yield of atomic bombs is measured in kilotons, each unit of which equals the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT. The explosive power of hydrogen bombs, by contrast, is frequently expressed in megatons, each unit of which equals the explosive force of 1,000,000 tons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs of more than 50 megatons have been detonated, but the explosive power of the weapons mounted on strategic missiles usually ranges from 100 kilotons to 1.5 megatons.To their credit, “Weird History” did include a status update along with a Facebook-formatted link:A Routine Training Mission Went Incredibly Wrong And Resulted In The Loss Of A Nuclear Weapon — rnkr.co/TybeeIslandThat link pointed to an entry on the listicle-heavy site Ranker, with a title similar to the text of the meme: “The US Air Force Lost A Nuclear Bomb Off The Coast Of Georgia In 1958 — And They Still Haven’t Found It.” It claimed:At around 1 am on February 5, 1958, Major Howard Richardson was piloting a B-47 Stratojet back to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The Major was cruising along at 38,000 feet following what he thought was a successful top-secret training mission – a simulated bombing in Virginia. Then, the situation went underwater – in every sense of the word.Unbeknownst to Richardson, the simulation was to feature one more pretend attack — from an F-86 Sabre jet fighter piloted by Lieutenant Clarence Stewart. That’s when disaster struck. […]The device is believed to have landed somewhere near Tybee Island – and the incident has since come to be known as the Tybee Island mid-air collision.One source cited by Ranker was a 2009 BBC article about the collision and its aftermath:More than 50 years after a 7,600lb (3,500kg) nuclear bomb was dropped in US waters following a mid-air military collision, the question of whether the missing weapon still poses a threat remains. […]Shortly after midnight on 5 February 1958, Howard Richardson was on a top-secret training flight for the US Strategic Air Command. It was the height of the Cold War and the young Major Richardson’s mission was to practise long-distance flights in his B-47 bomber in case he was ordered to fly from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to any one of the targets the US had identified in Russia.Colonel Howard Richardson We thought maybe it was something from outer space, but it could only be another plane Colonel Howard Richardson The training was to be as realistic as possible, so on board was a single massive H-bomb – the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III.As he cruised at 38,000 feet over North Carolina and Georgia, his plane was hit by another military aircraft, gouging a huge hole in the wing and knocking an engine almost off its mountings, leaving it hanging at a perilous angle … Colonel Richardson told me that the decision was instantaneous – and he still has no doubt it was the right thing to do.They would ditch their nuclear payload as soon as possible in order to lighten the aircraft for an emergency landing and also to eliminate the danger of an enormous explosion when they made their unsteady arrival at the nearest available runway.A May 2004 CBS article described the lost munition as an “H-bomb,” reporting on the area in which nuclear weapons enthusiast Derek Duke believed it sat in the waters off Savannah. Duke’s decades-dormant interest in the story was reinvigorated by internet chatter in the late 1990s, and he went looking with Geiger counters and a boat:There seems to be nothing special out here. But beneath the ocean floor off Savannah, an aluminum cylinder lies entombed in silt. It’s like an 11-foot-long bullet with a snub nose and four stubby fins. Written on it, its name: “No. 47782.” Enclosed in its metal skin: 400 pounds of conventional explosives and a quantity of bomb-grade uranium.No. 47782 is an H-bomb.A Mark 15, Mod 0 to be exact, one of the earliest thermonuclear devices developed by the United States. This is the kind whose mushroom clouds boiled in South Pacific tests. It was designed to be 100 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.No. 47782 has rested off Savannah since Feb. 5, 1958.In some pieces the missing weapon was described as an atomic bomb or A-bomb, and in others, a hydrogen bomb or H-bomb. The explosive in question was the “first relatively light (3450 kg) thermonuclear bomb,” a Mark 15, in service from 1955 to 1965.CBS went on to describe conflicting information on whether the device posed a threat in its purported “watery grave”:Four months after Richardson’s [1958] accident, the Atomic Energy Commission changed [a] policy, banning the use of nuclear bombs during training exercises.As Duke was learning all of this, he turned up a copy of the Atomic Energy Commission receipt Richardson had signed. Written in ink near the top of the document was the word “simulated.” That, according to the Air Force, meant the bomb, containing 400 pounds of conventional explosives and an undisclosed amount of uranium, did not have a detonation capsule. Without it, there was no risk of a nuclear explosion.That was reassuring. And it might have been the end of the story if not for another document Duke soon acquired.This one was a letter, written in 1966 to the chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, recounting the testimony of Assistant Defense Secretary Jack Howard before a 1966 congressional committee investigating the country’s missing and lost nuclear weapons.Howard, the letter says, testified there were four complete nuclear weapons, including detonation capsules, that were missing or lost. Among them: the bomb Richardson had dropped off the coast of Georgia.Reporters also contacted Richardson, the pilot, who maintained the sunken bomb was not active, and that if it was he would have known. In October 2004, the New York Times reported that the United States military began its first search for the missing bomb, but maintained it was “incapable” of detonation:It is the first time the military has sought signs of the 7,600-pound hydrogen bomb in the murky waters of Wassaw Sound since a crippled B-47 bomber dumped the Mark-15 bomb into the sea near Savannah in 1958.A team of 20 experts in nuclear weapons, gamma spectroscopy and underwater salvage confined their search to an area roughly the size of a football field, marked by buoys floating on the surface … The Air Force says the bomb is incapable of a nuclear explosion because it lacks the plutonium capsule needed to trigger one. Still, it contains about 400 pounds of conventional explosives and an undisclosed amount of uranium.The bomb was dropped into Wassaw Sound in February 1958 during a training flight when the bomber carrying it collided with a fighter jet.Four years later, a February 2009 NPR piece about the mystery of the missing nuke off Tybee Island began with the following clarification:Clarification: In the broadcast version of this report, NPR said that there was general agreement that the lost Savannah nuclear bomb contains significant quantities of uranium and plutonium. A 1966 Congressional document indicates that the bomb was a complete weapon containing both uranium and plutonium. But the Air Force and the former pilot of the plane, retired Col. Howard Richardson, deny the bomb contains plutonium.NPR reported that the Navy initially spent two months looking for the weapon, finally deciding that leaving it in its place was a better course of action than a recovery attempt:The Navy searched for the bomb for more than two months, but never found it, and today recommends it should remain in its resting place. In a 2001 report on the search and recovery of the bomb, the Air Force said that if the bomb is still intact, the risk associated with the spread of heavy metals is low. If [it is] left undisturbed, the explosive in the bomb poses no hazard, the report said. It went on to say that an “intact explosive would pose a serious explosion hazard to personnel and the environment if disturbed by a recovery attempt.”The original meme claimed that a “four-megaton atomic bomb” was “lost off the coast of Georgia” in 1958, and that “no one really knows whether or not it’s active.” On February 5 1958, an F-86 collided with the B-47 carrying a Mark 15 thermonuclear weapon, causing an emergency landing — during which the bomb was jettisoned, landing in the waters near Tybee Island, Georgia.Initial Naval searches for it were unsuccessful, and the missing nuke remained a subject of interest for more than half a decade; as the meme indicated, some dispute still surrounds its level of risk. Documents from the Cold War regarding whether the sunken munition contained both uranium and plutonium and whether it could be detonated contain conflicting information.",
            "output": [
                "Since 1958, a four-megaton atomic bomb has been missing off the coast of Georgia, and we don't know if it's active."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3449ff4eec4456eaab700dc7656584e",
            "input": "It marks the final deadline for most Americans to sign up for health insurance under President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, if they want coverage starting on January 1. If enough people - and the right mix of young and old - do not enroll, the ambitious program designed to provide health benefits to millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans risks eventually unraveling. The deadline caps a turbulent roll-out this year for Obamacare and the HealthCare.gov website that is key to enrolling millions of people in the initiative. The website crashed upon its launch on October 1, frustrating users trying to shop for insurance plans. It now is functioning much better, but is still not at 100 percent. Despite the continuing problems, the administration is expressing confidence that Obamacare is getting back on track after enrollment accelerated in December, with more than 1 million people signing up for private insurance. Here is a look at some notable moments in the months leading up to Obamacare’s troubled launch. In June 2012, Margaret Tavenner was worried. As acting director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), she was responsible for orchestrating the launch of the most sweeping U.S. domestic legislation in more than four decades. With uncertainty surrounding how the new law would work, most states were undecided whether to establish their own insurance marketplaces or rely instead on a federally run exchange. “What keeps me up at night is knowing around December, there are going to be like 30 states who want to come in and be state-based exchanges,” Tavenner told a Washington healthcare conference, according to the Modern Healthcare newsletter. Tavenner’s anxiety - more than a year ahead of the planned launch of the exchanges - spurred concerns among industry and advocacy groups, which publicly questioned whether the multiple government agencies involved in the effort would be able to pull it off. The White House was closely briefed on the issues. Tavenner was cleared to visit White House officials involved in the project 425 times from December 2009 to June 2013, including several meetings with Obama, visitor logs show. The White House said later that Obama knew only the broad picture, not details of the effort. The administration also sought industry feedback, but some groups complained their warnings fell on deaf ears. On a video of a February 2013 conference of health insurance brokers and agents in Washington, attendees could be heard grumbling when CMS official Chiquita Brooks-Lasure asked for feedback by the next day on a “streamlined” insurance application form. The 21-page packet was jammed with questions on income and insurance status. For insurance brokers who had learned to keep it simple for customers, it was a harbinger of trouble. “It was ridiculous,” said Tom Harte, president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, which sponsored the conference. He said the group had been making suggestions to the administration on Obamacare enrollment for months. “The image I always had (of the administration’s efforts) was of a horse with blinders on, just plowing ahead and ignoring everything else,” he said. Added to technical and administrative issues, CMS had run into political problems on Capitol Hill with Tavenner’s permanent appointment as director. A former head of Virginia’s state health system, Tavenner had been acting director of CMS since December 2011 while her confirmation was delayed by partisan clashes in the Senate over Obamacare. Finally, a Senate hearing was set for April 9, 2013, and she and others on the CMS staff had to prepare her for tough questions about the healthcare program’s roll out. Tavenner assured the panel that software development and testing for HealthCare.gov would be done by September 2013. A week later, on April 18, Tavenner’s boss, Katherine Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, delivered a similar message to a House budget panel. She said work on the insurance exchanges was “up and running, and we are on track.”  These confident public displays masked a different reality. Earlier that month, Tavenner and Sebelius had been briefed by an outside consultant about a broad array of risks threatening the October 1 launch of HealthCare.gov. The report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co depicted a tangled, leaderless bureaucracy managing the effort and warned of possible system failures that materialized barely six months later. It blamed tight deadlines, insufficient testing and the absence of a “single, empowered decision-making authority.”  The report sounded the alarm. Attendees at high-level briefings that followed included Todd Park, the White House chief technology officer, and Brian Sivak, the HHS technology whiz brought in to jumpstart health technology systems. The consultants met with Tavenner and Jeanne Lambrew, Obama’s healthcare adviser who, two decades earlier, had worked on a failed healthcare overhaul spearheaded by then-first lady Hillary Clinton. Obama also was briefed on McKinsey’s findings, White House press secretary Jay Carney later acknowledged. White House logs show two McKinsey consultants arriving for a meeting on April 8, but the company would not comment on the visit. The first public hints of official concern about possible problem’s with Obamacare’s technology actually came on March 22 - before Tavenner and Sebelius had expressed their confidence to Congress and just as McKinsey’s findings began to make their way through the administration. At a forum sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans, the national trade association representing the health insurance industry, CMS chief technology officer Henry Chao noted that the launch of HealthCare.gov was about 200 days away. “I’m pretty nervous — I don’t know about you,” Chao told the group, according to Congressional Quarterly. “The time for debating about the size of the text on the screen, or the color, or is it a world-class user experience, that’s what we used to talk about two years ago,” Chao said. “Let’s just make sure it’s not a third-world experience.”  By July, Chao’s concerns had escalated. A former Navy avionics technician once billed as a rising federal tech star, his reputation was tied up in the success of a website that was partially built and not yet fully tested. His agency already had paid the website’s prime contractor, CGI Federal Inc, nearly $88 million by March 2013. And costs were climbing. Chao wrote to colleagues on July 16 to say that he feared CGI could “crash the plane at takeoff,” according to e-mails released by Republican congressional investigators. CGI has declined to comment. Alarming assessments streamed in from CMS technical advisers. “We believe that our entire build is in jeopardy,” wrote one, referring to the elaborate website construction. E-mails flew back and forth between Chao and the contractors until a CGI vice president assured Chao, “I am on top of this.”  For Chao, meeting the October 1 deadline to have the website functioning well had become a matter of personal honor. Along with Tavenner, he had given sworn testimony to a congressional committee and assured skeptical members that the agency was on track. On July 20, Chao urged his staff to redouble its effort and sent a link to his testimony. “I wanted to share this with you so you can see and hear that both Marilyn and I, under oath, stated we are going to make October 1,” Chao wrote. He urged them to “put yourself in my shoes” and help him make those words the truth. As October 1 approached, bleak assessments about the website surfaced everywhere - except from the Obama administration. Brett Graham, a partner at the healthcare consultant Leavitt Partners, predicted a rocky enrollment period. “The lack of testing and short timelines increases the probability of exchanges experiencing unexpected problems,” he told a House subcommittee on September 10. At CMS, system tests during the third week of September were “not good and not consistent at all,” one employee told Chao in an e-mail. At a time when the website should have been able to accommodate 10,000 simultaneous users, it was crashing with 500 simulated users on it - about a week before the site’s scheduled launch. Contractor CGI called the glitches “part of the tuning exercise.”  Chao shot off an all-caps message to his staff, ordering that tests continue, just five days before the deadline. At the White House, technology officer Park questioned Chao about the website’s progress. If Park sensed disaster, he gave no hint. “Massive kudos again for the incredible progress the team is making!” Park wrote in an e-mail. HealthCare.gov went live on October 1 amid a sea of error messages, blank pages and crashed applications. “We are making improvements as we speak,” Tavenner told reporters on a conference call that afternoon. The site’s meltdown continued, however. A frustrating month of up-and-down performance prevented many Americans from purchasing insurance. The administration brought in technical advisers to help with an upgrade. After a few weeks of stumbling explanations from top officials, Sebelius took responsibility during an October 30 congressional hearing. “No one indicated it could possibly go this wrong,” she said. “Hold me accountable for the debacle.”  Obama apologized on November 14. Compounding the technical problems, Obama’s repeated promise that Americans could keep their existing insurance if they wished proved to be inaccurate. Millions of people with bare-bones policies that did not meet the minimum standards set in the Affordable Care Act lost them. Republican critics of Obamacare accused the administration of a lack of transparency. “The administration was on track - on track for disaster,” Rep. Fred Upton, the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said on November 19. “But stubbornly, they stayed the course.”  The political damage flowing from the website’s troubles is likely to continue through the 2014 elections. Control of Congress will be at stake, and Republicans have vowed to make Obamacare’s troubled roll out, as symbolized by the botched debut of Healthcare.gov, part of an assault on the healthcare program that they say is too costly and robs Americans of coverage choices. The website eventually found its footing. As of late Sunday, more than 1 million people had signed up for private coverage through HealthCare.gov, and hundreds of thousands more were expected to do so Monday and Tuesday, just before a deadline to get coverage that starts January 1. Even so, the administration’s initial goal of signing up 3.3 million people by the end of December seems out of reach.",
            "output": [
                "The painful path to Obamacare deadline."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f200db187ad54708afde30f4c6e850be",
            "input": "Under the agreement, the “Yale Open Data Access Project,” will independently review and make final decisions regarding all requests for information on the company’s drug clinical trials, including anonymous patient data. The action comes amid growing pressure from outside scientists for access to raw data from clinical trials, reflecting general concerns that too many studies cannot be independently confirmed and may well be wrong. J&J, which sells drugs including blood thinner Xarelto and prostate cancer treatment Zytiga, said it is in the process of determining how best to share trial data from its other two areas of operation: medical devices and consumer products. “This is a multi-year effort on our part to try to contribute to advancing medical knowledge and science,” Joanne Waldstreicher, J&J’s chief medical officer, said in a telephone interview. Others drugmakers have made similar moves. Britain’s GlaxoSmithkline Plc has set up an online system to provide researchers with access to anonymous patient-level data about its medicines. Pfizer Inc said in December it would broaden access to information from its clinical trials to independent researchers and to patients who take part in the studies. Pfizer also set up an independent review panel of academic scientists to decide which researcher requests it would answer.",
            "output": [
                "J&J chooses Yale to review requests for clinical drug data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0f67e61e26c84e7783bac3fba90a5a30",
            "input": "Note: As of 2016, Hyland’s has stopped distributing their teething products in the United States. In October 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified consumers that Hyland’s Teething Tablets, a homeopathic product, intended to provide temporary relief of teething symptoms in children, was being recalled after that agency received “reports of serious adverse events in children.” The FDA stated the tablets contained “inconsistent amounts of belladonna” that could pose a serious risk of harm to children (potentially including seizures) and warned consumers to stop using and discard the product: The tablets are manufactured to contain a small amount of belladonna, a substance that can cause serious harm at larger doses. For such a product, it is important that the amount of belladonna be carefully controlled. FDA laboratory analysis has found that Hyland’s Teething Tablets contain inconsistent amounts of belladonna. FDA has received reports of serious adverse events in children taking this product that are consistent with belladonna toxicity. The FDA has also received reports of children who consumed more tablets than recommended, because the containers do not have child resistant caps. The FDA has not evaluated Hyland’s Teething Tablets for safety or efficacy, and is not aware of any proven clinical benefit offered by the product. FDA recommends that consumers not use this product and dispose of any in their possession. FDA advises consumers to consult their health care professional if their child experiences symptoms such as seizures, difficulty breathing, lethargy, excessive sleepiness, muscle weakness, skin flushing, constipation, difficulty urinating, or agitation after using Hyland’s Teething Tablets. Nine months later, in July 2011, Hyland’s announced the imminent return to market of their teething tablets product, stating they had modified the manufacturing process to ensure uniformity in dosage and had added child-resistant caps to the packaging: Hyland’s voluntarily took Teething Tablets off the market in October 2010. We chose to exercise an abundance of caution by making this decision. Hyland’s and the FDA conducted a thorough review of all of our manufacturing processes and reports. Together, we identified manufacturing processes of Teething Tablets that could be improved to ensure uniformity in dosage. We also used this opportunity to refine the production, packaging and testing protocols on this product. We’ve added a child-resistant cap and updated the packaging and are introducing new strengths of the same ingredients that have calmed teething babies and their moms for more than 85 years. We have made significant changes in our manufacturing process and introduced rigorous testing protocols. We have kept all of the same ingredients that have made Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets effective and safe and improved effectiveness by increasing the homeopathic potency of each active ingredient. As homeopathic potency increases, raw drug concentration decreases, providing an even wider margin of safety than before. Following an FDA warning issued in September 2016 stating that “homeopathic teething tablets and gels may pose a risk to infants and children,” Hyland’s announced they would discontinue manufacture of the product (although some may remain on store shelves or available for purchase online): For generations, we at Hyland’s have been proud to offer safe, effective and natural health solutions to families like yours. In fact, for over 90 years, parents have trusted Hyland’s teething medicines to ease the pain of teething in infants. We thank you for that longstanding trust. It is therefore with much sadness that we share with you that we have chosen to discontinue the distribution of our Hyland’s teething medicines in the United States. This decision was made in light of the recent warning issued by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) against the use of homeopathic teething tablets and gels. This warning has created confusion among parents and limited access to the medicines. A February 2017 report suggested that hundreds of cases in which children had been taken ill (or even died) after the use of Hyland’s homeopathic teething products had been relayed to the FDA over the years: Babies who were given Hyland’s teething products turned blue and died. Babies had repeated seizures. Babies became delirious. Babies were airlifted to the hospital, where emergency room staff tried to figure out what had caused their legs and arms to start twitching.",
            "output": [
                "\"Hyland's Teething Tablets have been discontinued for causing \"\"adverse events\"\" in children.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62380e73f3bd4af99a1119339fd25e1f",
            "input": "\"Illinois’ record budget standoff ended July 6 with legislative Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, approving a $36 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1, which is underpinned by a 32 percent hike in the state income tax rate. Enactment came July 6 over the objections of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who two days earlier had vetoed the budget. \"\"Even with the (House Speaker Michael) Madigan permanent 32% income tax increase, this budget remains $2 billion out of balance for fiscal year 2018,\"\" Rauner wrote in his July 4 veto statement. More than two months later -- after a summer in which tension over school funding made the budget debate seem a faint and distant memory -- Rauner has revived his claim that the Legislature has placed the state on a path to fiscal doom. \"\"Even with a permanent income tax increase costing the average Illinois household more than $1,000 a year, the budget is more than $1 billion out of balance…,\"\" Rauner said in a Sept. 7 press release. However, his office cautions not to read too much into the downward revision of the unbalanced budget claim from $2 billion in July to $1 billion now. The difference, the administration says, is due to technical reasons and doesn’t mean the budget is in better shape than the governor originally asserted. The not-so-subtle subtext of Rauner’s claims in both his July veto message and his renewed criticism is that Democrats significantly jacked up taxes to impose a woefully deficient budget. Unpacking the governor’s argument requires a trip into the weeds of budget minutia, not to mention a detour into political hypocrisy. When it comes to budgeting, Rauner has been clearly guilty of some of the same sins he is now complaining about. But being inconsistent and being wrong aren’t necessarily the same thing. Is Rauner correct that the General Assembly has produced a budget deeply in the red? We took a look at the numbers. The Illinois Constitution defines a budget as balanced when spending doesn’t exceed \"\"funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year.\"\" But \"\"estimated\"\" has given politicians license to stretch or shrink their definition of \"\"balanced\"\" to suit their needs. The Civic Federation, a Chicago-based government fiscal watchdog, noted in a Sept. 7 analysis that the budget as passed on July 6 -- which contained a $360 million operating surplus -- met the textbook definition of \"\"balanced.\"\" \"\"On paper, the budget enacted by the General Assembly on July 7 — in an override of another gubernatorial veto — has a modest surplus,\"\" noted the federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability. But the budget is \"\"built on assumptions\"\" and making it work will depend on whether Rauner and the General Assembly can \"\"make those assumptions hold up,\"\" said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. Governor and ILGA should work together to create credibility of State’s FY2018 surplus for borrowing plan to proceed https://t.co/thNHqFGLBK Two of those assumptions form the bulk of Rauner’s claim that the budget is in the red by more than $1 billion. The first involves a Rauner-driven change in state pension options that Democrats came to embrace. Referred to as \"\"Tier 3,\"\" it gives state workers a choice to divert some of their traditional benefits into a 401(k) style savings plan. The budget enacted over Rauner’s veto projects Tier 3 will save $500 million this fiscal year. But Rauner spokesman Jason Schaumburg said savings from this plan won’t happen during this budget year. And Illinois Teachers Retirement System Executive Director Dick Ingram told the Better Government Association that TRS anticipates an effective date of July 1, 2019, for the new plan. That means savings won’t show up until FY 2020. This validates a significant part of Rauner’s \"\"out of balance\"\" claim, but the irony here can’t go unmentioned. The $500 million savings figure in the current budget came from an estimate originally presented in Rauner’s ill-fated budget proposal from last February. That budget also contained $4.6 billion in phantom money identified only as \"\"Working together on ‘grand bargain.’\"\" And it was hardly the only time Rauner has pushed a budget full of the same sort of holes he now condemns. The first budget Rauner proposed in 2015 anticipated $2.2 billion in savings from a sweeping overhaul of pensions that at the time was of questionable constitutionality and was soon rendered invalid by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Sept. 7 press release in which Rauner made his claim about the budget imbalance also announced that the state would issue $6 billion in bonds to pay down part of the $16 billion bill backlog that accrued during the budget impasse of 2015-2017. The Illinois Comptroller’s Office said at the end of FY 2017 that the state was paying late payment penalties of 9 and 12 percent on $5.5 billion contained in the backlog. This costs the state about $2 million a day, according to the comptroller. By borrowing, the state can lower that rate by up to half while also getting payment quickly to creditors. Thus, the budget enacted in July contained a provision empowering the governor’s office to borrow up to $6 billion for this purpose. But as the Civic Federation noted, \"\"the small projected budget surplus was estimated to support only $3 billion in borrowing capacity.\"\" Rauner was more pointed in his press release: \"\"(A) $6 billion issuance would require 12 annual principal payments of $500 million, plus interest payments depending on the interest rate. The legislature-passed budget did not account for the increase in debt service costs to cover the bill backlog bond issuance.\"\" Schaumburg put the total figure at $600 million annually, which roughly squares with the Civic Federation’s statement. \"\"The governor's office is identifying several hundred million dollars in possible spending reductions to address this budgetary shortfall,\"\" Rauner’s press release said. \"\"The governor also would like the General Assembly to return to Springfield this fall to work with him to balance the budget and enact structural reforms that could save much more.\"\" But one of the budget’s chief architects, Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said Rauner is trying to make a crisis from what should be a source of fiscal relief. Though the budget gives the governor’s budget office the authority to borrow up to $6 billion, Rauner need not do it all at once. If the administration borrows $3 billion and uses it to pay down outstanding Medicaid bills, it will get $3 billion in matching funds from the federal government that can go toward paying down the backlog, Harris said. \"\"A huge portion of the bills are Medicaid,\"\" Harris said. \"\"That’s money that’s just sitting there.\"\" Medicaid bills make up $4.1 billion of the $16 billion backlog, according to the Illinois Comptroller’s Office. But an even bigger chunk of the backlog comes from bills owed to providers in the State Employee Group Insurance Program. In its May monthly report, the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability said the state owed $4.65 billion in group health insurance payments plus $462 million in late fees. The comptroller’s office now estimates group health insurance costs make up $5.1 billion of the total backlog. The Civic Federation report also emphasizes that the $360 million surplus claimed in the budget (and disputed by Rauner) is fragile at best. It is built in large part on proceeds of $240 million from the sale of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. The sale of the 17-story behemoth in the heart of Chicago’s Loop has been stymied by political fighting ever since Rauner first proposed it in October 2015. \"\"The (budget) surplus could be reduced if it takes longer than expected to find a buyer or if the structure is sold for less than the projected price,\"\" the report says. Rauner’s office also complains that new revenue projections provided in August by the Illinois Department of Revenue to the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget show more trouble ahead. \"\"The General Assembly’s budget was based on an earlier revenue projection from April, but FY17 revenues continued to underperform for the remainder of FY17,\"\" Schaumburg said. \"\"As a result, the GOMB estimate is $500 million lower than the General Assembly’s FY18 revenue estimate.\"\" This argument, however, ignores the budget-making calendar in the Illinois Constitution, which puts a May 31 deadline on passing a budget with a simple majority in the Legislature. The tone of Rauner’s news release makes clear that there will be tension in Springfield in the months to come as lawmakers work to, as Msall puts it, make the budget’s assumptions hold up. This is not an unfamiliar position for Rauner and the Legislature, even though for the entirety of Rauner’s term they have yet to agree on a full budget. In March 2015, state government faced the prospect of running out of money unless the governor and lawmakers closed a gap of $1.6 billion. Working together, Rauner and the Legislature hammered out a solution that appeared, briefly, to signal good things for future bipartisan cooperation. Then as now, the effort involved salvaging an existing budget. That’s a departure from the two fiscal years in between, when government operating without any budget controls ran up the $16 billion bill backlog. Gov. Bruce Rauner said Illinois’ current operating budget is \"\"is more than $1 billion out of balance…\"\" The head of the Illinois Teachers Retirement System confirms Rauner’s claim that the new pension plan expected to generate $500 million in anticipated savings won’t be enacted during the current fiscal year (or even the next one). The Civic Federation reports that the small surplus in the budget will finance only $3 billion of the $6 billion Rauner plans to borrow. But putting $3 billion toward past-due Medicaid bills would generate $3 billion in federal matching funds -- something Rauner has not discussed. Failure to sell or get the expected price for the Thompson Center are possible scenarios that could further imperil the budget. Some of the assumptions identified as sources of the trouble originated in Rauner’s own budget, a fact that Rauner does not acknowledge and that needs to be considered here. Whether or not the imbalance reaches more than $1 billion is debatable, but Rauner is correct that there remains much work to do.\"",
            "output": [
                "Even with a permanent income tax increase... the budget is more than $1 billion out of balance…"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79cf40300bc14745b2487b27b729955a",
            "input": "The company’s forecast implies a potential $3 billion upgrade to the consensus estimate from analysts and marks an attempt to call a bottom to a sales decline driven by the loss of exclusivity on several top-selling medicines. Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker is already suffering from generic competition to its antipsychotic Seroquel, while its Nexium treatment for excess stomach acid loses U.S. patent cover this year. Top-selling Crestor, for high cholesterol, faces competition from cheap copycat drugs in 2016. The patent expiries leave AstraZeneca’s sales on a near-term downward spiral at a time when most of its rivals have put their biggest patent losses behind them. Shares in the group rose 1.6 percent by 1215 GMT on the more upbeat outlook, against a 0.3 percent decline for the European healthcare sector. Chief Executive Pascal Soriot, who has been leading the company for a little more than a year, will set out the new revenue guidance in a presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco later on Tuesday. The company will then give a more detailed update on its progress in full-year results on February 6. The consensus of analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters is for 2017 revenue of $22.5 billion, down from the $25.8 billion estimated for 2013. However, a number of the 2017 forecasts pre-date the diabetes drug deal struck last month that is already expected to add some $1 billion to $2 billion to annual revenue. Citigroup analyst Andrew Baum said the positive medium-term outlook reinforced his “more constructive thesis” for the stock, adding that he expects Soriot to strike more earnings-boosting deals this year. Panmure Gordon’s Savvas Neophytou remains more wary, pointing out that Soriot’s predecessor, David Brennan, had made a similar attempt to talk up AstraZeneca’s longer-term prospects. “In our view, management is stepping onto thin ice with this same sort of guidance,” Neophytou said, pointing out the previous management’s failure to hit its forecasts. AstraZeneca has become more confident about its revenue outlook after the $4 billion deal last month to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb’s share of a diabetes joint venture. The acquisition is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2014 and will boost sales immediately. Mark Clark of Deutsche Bank said this was set to lift analysts’ revenue forecasts significantly, suggesting that a more realistic “adjusted consensus” for 2017 was around $24.3 billion rather than $22.5 billion. Soriot has been striking a number of bolt-on deals to refill the company’s thin pipeline of new medicines and accelerating in-house research programs. The group now has 11 new-drug programs in late-stage Phase III testing, almost double the number a year ago, and 27 in Phase II. Hopes are particularly high for its cancer research, where it has started trials for immunotherapy combination treatments for which the first results are anticipated in 2014/15. AstraZeneca is behind the likes of Bristol-Myers, Roche and Merck & Co in the race to develop immunotherapies - a hot new area of cancer research - but it is betting on combination treatments to help it to catch up. Immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, has shown great promise in clinical trials and analysts believe that the treatments may extend patients’ lives significantly and generate tens of billions of dollars in annual sales.",
            "output": [
                "Drugmaker AstraZeneca forecasts faster return to growth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cbbf35b6befd47a8ab7ec3b00afbeb2f",
            "input": "Pfizer shares were up nearly 4 percent on positive findings for the oral treatment, called palbociclib, one of the company’s most important experimental drugs that some analysts believe could eventually claim annual sales of more than $5 billion, if approved. The trial tested the pill in post-menopausal patients with locally advanced or newly diagnosed breast cancer that had spread to other parts of the body. “We are delighted with the final data,” Pfizer said in a release, adding the company will discuss the successful data on progression-free survival with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “to determine next steps” for palbociclib. A secondary goal of the study is to determine whether palbociclib can prolong overall survival. But Pfizer spokeswoman Sally Beatty said the company does not yet have such data, because it takes longer periods to follow patients and gauge survival trends. Although Pfizer is conducting two larger late-stage trials of palbociclib, ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum noted the company has previously said it might discuss with the FDA the potential to seek approval of the medicine based upon mid-stage trial data, if the data warranted. Palbociclib, which blocks enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 4 and 6, was taken in combination with a standard treatment called letrozole among women who were estrogen receptor positive - meaning tumors grow in response to estrogen - and HER2-negative, meaning that the HER2 protein is not causing the cancer. Such patients make up about 60 percent of advanced breast cancer cases. Letrozole is the chemical name of Femara, a Novartis AG drug that belongs to a class of treatments called aromatase inhibitors that block production of estrogen. Pfizer on Monday did not present detailed data from the trial results, saying they would be presented at a scientific meeting in San Diego in April. The success of the trial, called Paloma-1, follows highly favorable interim data that Pfizer unveiled in December 2012. At that point in the study, those taking both palbociclib and letrozole went an average of 26.1 months before tumors worsened. That compared with 7.5 months for those taking letrozole, but not palbociclib. The 18.6-month difference was considered statistically significant. Side effects from palbociclib were similar to those previously reported, Pfizer said on Monday. The earlier interim results had shown that patients taking the drug combination experienced anemia, fatigue and neutropenia - a decline in white blood cells called neutrophils that can put patients at higher risk of infection. Palbociclib was designated a “breakthrough” drug by the FDA last April based on initial data from the trial. The FDA grants “breakthrough” status to drugs that may offer substantial improvement over existing treatments for serious or life-threatening diseases. The status helps to speed up the approval process. Pfizer has started two late-stage trials of the drug - Paloma-2 and Paloma-3 - in patients with advanced breast cancer. Paloma-2 will test the same drug combination, palbociclib and letrozole, as an initial treatment for breast cancer. Paloma-3 will evaluate palbociclib in combination with another hormone therapy, fulvestrant, in women whose cancer has progressed after hormonal therapy. The drug, sold under the brand name Faslodex by AstraZeneca Plc, is called an estrogen receptor antagonist. Companies trying to develop treatments similar to palbociclib include Novartis and Eli Lilly & Co. Breast cancer killed more than 508,000 women worldwide in 2011, according to the World Health Organization. Pfizer shares were up 3.7 percent at $31.53 on Monday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.",
            "output": [
                "Pfizer breast cancer drug succeeds in mid-stage trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae78561b614c41da9c8354423290fa81",
            "input": "Measles has killed nearly three times as many people in Congo than an Ebola outbreak in the country that has garnered far more international attention, particularly after health teams came under attack from armed militias operating in the area. “Lack of funding remains a huge impediment to successfully curbing the outbreak,” WHO said in announcing its appeal. While $27.6 million already has been mobilized to curb the measles epidemic, WHO said that $40 million is needed for a special six-month plan to vaccinate older children between the ages of 6 and 14. A vaccine against measles has existed for decades but some 310,000 cases have been reported in Congo since the beginning of 2019. Health workers in Congo struggle to access remote parts of the vast country, and vaccination rates remain low in areas where armed groups operate. Many health resources in Congo this year also have been devoted to the simultaneous outbreak of Ebola, which has become the second worst in history after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic. At least 2,231 people have died of Ebola since that outbreak was first identified in August 2018.",
            "output": [
                "WHO: Death toll from measles outbreak in Congo hits 6,000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abd33f2d67a549c5a2561c78e5b11fdd",
            "input": "As criticism spread against United States President Donald Trump’s administration for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020, one graphic disseminated on social media listed his multiple attempts to downplay the disease:In this case, the graphic is completely accurate. The various statements are correctly attributed to Trump, and each has been verified in independent timelines compiled by news outlets.“We’re ordering a lot of supplies. We’re ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering unless it was something like this. But we’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.” — Trump on the coronavirus pic.twitter.com/id6YLzbmRE— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 28, 2020A video with similar content, posted by writer Lindsay Holst and featuring audio of several of Trump’s remarks alongside a graph showing the spread of the disease, has been shared thousands of times on Twitter:57 days later. pic.twitter.com/umsfZHyBuo— Lindsay Holst (@LindsayLHolst) March 17, 2020On March 17 2020, journalists asked Trump why his tone had shifted so quickly and dramatically regarding the epidemic. He told reporters, “I’ve always known this is a real — this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. I’ve always viewed it as very serious.”",
            "output": [
                "United States President Donald Trump made several statements downplaying the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd7ce29452f84148bcf0764292806b22",
            "input": "Save the Children said in a report released Tuesday saying that U.N. statistics show at least 280 million children are better off today. But it said a quarter of the world’s children are still denied the right to a safe and healthy childhood, with youngsters fleeing or caught in conflict the most disadvantaged. Singapore tops the rankings as the country that best protects and provides for its children, followed by Sweden, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Korea and Belgium. At the bottom were Central African Republic, Niger despite recent progress, Chad, Mali and South Sudan. The Global Childhood Report 2019 said the most dramatic progress since 2000 was among some of the world’s poorest countries. Sierra Leone made the biggest improvements, followed by Rwanda, Ethiopia and Niger. The United States ranks 36th in the 2019 report, tied with China. It ranks just above Bahrain, Belarus and Kuwait and ahead of Bosnia and Russia, tied at 38. Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, said the report looked at eight indicators of a good childhood including child survival, education, child labor and early marriage and compared the year 2000 with 2018. “There has been remarkable progress if you look across the world,” she said at a recent briefing on the report’s finding. “It’s an amazing statistic” that the indicators overall got better in 173 of 176 countries. Compared with 2000, Miles said there was a 49% drop in deaths of children under age 5, a 40% drop in child labor, a 33% drop in chronic malnutrition and stunting, and a 25% drop in child marriage. She said only one of the indicators rose — the number of children living in conflict or affected by violence — and it increased “very significantly.” There was an 80% rise in children living in or fleeing conflict zones in the 2000-2018 period, Miles said, “and today’s conflicts last much, much longer.” According to the report, an estimated 420 million children are living in conflict zones, more than double the number in 1995, and nearly 31 million children today have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Launched ahead of International Children’s Day on June 1, the report said that in 2000, an estimated 970 million children were robbed of their childhood by events such as exclusion from education, malnutrition, sickness, violent death, child marriage and early pregnancy. That number today has been reduced to 690 million, it said, meaning at least 280 million children are better off today than they would have been in 2000. The report said this means that today there are 4.4 million fewer child deaths every year, 49 million fewer stunted children, 130 million more children in school, 94 million fewer children working, 11 million fewer child marriages and 3 million fewer teen births.",
            "output": [
                "Child advocacy group: Kids in 173 countries better off now."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33dd26963aaa4e419647f226cecb32f0",
            "input": "On 31 January 2013, Canadian student Elisa Lam was last seen alive by an employee of the Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles. Lam disappeared on that day, and she remained missing for several weeks after she failed to check out of the property as scheduled in February 2013. On 6 February 2013, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released information about the disappearance of Elisa Lam in the hopes of finding her alive, and on the following day held a press conference on the case that was covered in local and national news. On 14 February 2013, surveillance video from the Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles was released by police; in those lengthy clips, Lam was seen lingering in an elevator and behaving in an unusual fashion. Many viewers of the unsettling clips inferred Lam was interacting with an unknown person or persons off camera, while others suspected the young woman was experiencing an episode of acute mental illness or was under the influence of drugs  Five days after the release of the videos, the hotel began to investigate guest complaints of low water pressure and an odd taste in the water supply, and maintenance workers located a body, later identified as that of Elisa Lam, in one of four large water tanks on the roof of the Hotel Cecil. The next day, public health officials issued a “do not drink” advisory to hotel guests pending testing of the water to determine whether it was safe to use. In June 2013, Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office investigations division confirmed Elisa Lam’s cause of death was accidental, with bipolar disorder as a significant condition. The location of Lam’s body (inside a hard-to-access water tank) and her odd behavior were among mysteries not resolved when the forensic investigation was completed:  Those test results were initially expected to take six to eight weeks to complete, but coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said in response to queries that the office was still awaiting complete testing results. Corral said no other information on the cause of death or condition of the woman’s body was being released. Authorities including police and the coroner have not stated how they believe Lam got into the tank. Law enforcement officials had been careful to say that the death could be accidental, despite widespread public suspicions of foul play. In the time since Elisa Lam’s mysterious death, the enduring questions she left behind have been the source of speculation. Adding to the uneasiness many have about Lam’s demise is the checkered history of the Hotel Cecil, where a woman leapt to her death from the roof in the 1960s and serial killer Richard Ramirez (the “Night Stalker”) lived for a time in the mid-1980s. One of the aspects of the Elisa Lam’s disappearance and death that has fed continuing interest in the case is its trajectory and unresolved aspects. Given that Lam was initially one of a number of missing students at the time, her disappearance didn’t draw much attention until the release of surveillance video by the LAPD in February 2013. Even then, it wasn’t until the unusual circumstances of her death by drowning were revealed that media interest in Lam’s case surged. Contrary to later retellings, Lam’s death made headlines both locally and internationally. Another matter of interest to the public was that even police were stumped as to how Lam’s body came to end up in a water tank that is difficult to access. Foul play was initially investigated as a possibility, but the coroner’s office ruled Lam’s death to be an accidental one:  The mysterious death of the young woman whose body was found in a water tank on the roof of a cheap downtown hotel has been ruled accidental. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office issued the ruling in the case of Elisa Lam, Lt. Fred Corral of the coroner’s investigations division said. The cause of death was listed as accidental due to drowning, with bipolar disorder listed as a significant condition, he said.",
            "output": [
                "A young woman named Elisa Lam disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Los Angeles, her body later found in a hotel's water tank."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b64f29b280ec4b1ca51d36cbabb1f03a",
            "input": "Scientists are quick to note that local protection of reefs can help damaged coral recover from the stress of rising ocean temperatures. But the new research shows that such efforts are ultimately futile when it comes to stopping bleaching in the first place. “We don’t have any tools to climate-proof corals,” said Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia and lead author of the study being published on Thursday in the journal Nature. “That’s a bit sobering. We can’t stop bleaching locally. We actually have to do something about climate change.” Across the world, scores of brilliantly colored coral reefs once teeming with life have in recent years become desolate, white graveyards. Their deaths due to coral bleaching have grown more frequent as ocean temperatures rise, mainly due to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The hot water stresses corals, forcing them to expel the colorful algae living inside them, which leaves the corals vulnerable to disease and death. Given enough time, bleached coral can recover if the water cools, but if the temperature stays too high for too long, the coral will die. Preserving coral reefs is crucial, given that human depend on them for everything from food to medical research to protection from damaging coastal storms. Scientists and policymakers have thus been scrambling to find ways to prevent bleaching. Last year, for example, Hawaiian officials proposed several measures they hoped would fight bleaching on the state’s reefs, such as limiting fishing, establishing new marine protected areas and controlling polluted runoff from land. The question was whether such efforts could provide the corals any resistance to bleaching, or just help them recover. The researchers conducted aerial and underwater surveys of the Great Barrier Reef, which has experienced three major bleaching events, the worst of which occurred last year. The scientists found that the severity of bleaching was tightly linked to how warm the water was. In the north, which experienced the hottest temperatures, hundreds of individual reefs suffered severe bleaching in 2016, regardless of whether the water quality was good or bad, or whether fishing had been banned. That means even the most pristine parts of the reef are just as prone to heat stress as those that are less protected. Prior exposure to bleaching also did not appear to provide any protective benefit to the coral. The scientists found that the reefs that were highly bleached during the first two events, in 1998 and 2002, did not experience less severe bleaching last year. Ultimately, the study concluded, saving reefs from the ravages of bleaching requires urgent action to reduce global warming. “I think it’s a wake-up call,” Hughes said. “We’ve been hoping that local interventions with water quality and fishing would improve the resistance of the corals to bleaching. We found no evidence that that’s actually true, at least during a very severe event.” The study shows that older ways of thinking about reef management, such as reducing river runoff, are now moot points when it comes to preventing bleaching, said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist and coral researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “It all seems so quaint now, really,” said Cobb, who wasn’t part of the study. “A future that we thought was decades coming is basically here.” The research also illustrated the gravity of the situation facing the 2,300-kilometer (1,400-mile) Great Barrier Reef. The team found 91 percent of the reef has been bleached at least once during the three bleaching events. Even more alarming, Hughes said, is that a fourth bleaching event is already underway. Corals need years to recover from bleaching, so back-to-back events increase the possibility that the bleached coral will die. The study shows that very intense coral bleaching events are no longer isolated and are happening more regularly, said coral reef scientist Julia Baum of Canada’s University of Victoria. That assertion has been further bolstered by the Great Barrier Reef’s latest bleaching event, which began a few weeks ago and which Baum says has stunned scientists. “None of us were expecting the water to be heating up again right now,” Baum said. “I think it’s beyond what any of us could have imagined. It’s our worst nightmare.”",
            "output": [
                "Study: Stopping global warming only way to save coral reefs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f27489b437341b6a180cd6b441fdf81",
            "input": "Novacyt said the FDA’s approval meant that hospitals and laboratories in the United States would be able to use the test for clinical diagnosis of the coronavirus, and that the test was now available for immediate distribution in the U.S. market. “The U.S. FDA EUA authorization is another important endorsement of the performance and quality of our COVID-19 test and demonstrates once again Novacyt’s growing role in tackling this pandemic,” said Novacyt CEO Graham Mullis.",
            "output": [
                "Healthcare group Novacyt wins U.S. approval for coronavirus test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d6d92ac7a2b4aee98a327b5a9cd1296",
            "input": "They said the Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltddrug Actos, known  generically as pioglitazone, is the first diabetes therapy  shown to reduce the progression of atherosclerosis. “The results are very striking. In my view, this is really  a breakthrough study,” Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland  Clinic, who led the study, said in an interview. “No one has ever shown any diabetes therapy could slow the  progression of disease. Keep in mind the leading cause of death  for diabetics is cardiovascular disease,” said Nissen, whose  findings were published online in the Journal of the American  Medical Association and presented at a meeting of the American  College of Cardiology in Chicago. Diabetics are especially prone to atherosclerosis, which  involves the build-up of fat, calcium and other deposits in the  arteries. The study, known as PERISCOPE, compared two types of  medications to treat type 2 diabetes — Actos and glimepiride,  an older sulfonylurea drug that is among the most commonly used  classes of diabetes therapies. Actos is in a class of drugs known as thiazolidinediones, a  relatively new group of antidiabetic agents that are known to  raise the risk of heart failure and bone fractures. In the current study, Nissen and colleagues compared the  two drugs to see how well they reduced progression of  atherosclerosis in 543 patients with type 2 diabetes and  coronary disease. The trial took place from 2003-2006 in 97 hospitals in  North and South America. The team used intravascular ultrasound  to measure fatty deposits inside the arteries. Patients took glimepiride or pioglitazone for 18 months and  their arteries were measured again for plaque build-up. While plaque increased 0.73 percent in the glimepiride  group, it fell 0.16 percent in the pioglitazone group. The researchers also looked at maximum plaque thickness and  saw it increased in the glimepiride group and decreased in the  pioglitazone group. “Evidence for a slowing of disease progression has proven a  very challenging end point in recent years with the prominent  failure of several promising approaches,” Nissen and colleagues  wrote in JAMA. Nissen said a single study is not enough to change medical  practice, but it does signal the need for more research on how  different diabetes drugs stack up. Dr. Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada,  however, noted that patients in the study who took Actos did  have a significant number of fractures. “We need proper studies in diabetes. This suggests there  may be differences in drugs. We need to test that,” Yusuf told  reporters.",
            "output": [
                "Actos arrests heart disease in diabetics: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eac706f72cb94ed0ab0a49e3fb620b5e",
            "input": "But to the psychiatrist who shepherded the tortuous creation of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” perhaps the single most important number is the “5” in its title: This is the DSM-5, not the DSM-V.  That may seem like a cosmetic change, but the American Psychiatric Association, which will release the book on Saturday at its annual meeting, decided to use Arabic instead of Roman numerals because “we want it to be a living document,” said Dr David Kupfer of the University of Pittsburgh, the chairman of the task force that produced the DSM-5. Rather than waiting another generation to revise the manual - the DSM-IV was published in 1994 - psychiatrists will regularly update it with, for example, findings from genetics and neuroscience, labeling the revisions DSM-5.1 and DSM-5.2 and so on. “We used ‘5’ because V.0 and V.1 just don’t look good,” said Kupfer. The fact that the world’s most powerful psychiatrists (their decisions determine what counts as a mental disorder, and thus what insurers cover and which children receive special services in school) are already building in ways to change the manual is commendable, even its critics say. But it is also emblematic of the DSM-5’s failures, they argue, which include turning normal human behavior and feelings into mental illnesses, and expanding the criteria for disorders until an astonishing one in four U.S. adults has a diagnosable mental illness every year - and even more do over a lifetime. The latest revision began in 1999 with high hopes for putting mental illness on a scientific footing, using neuroscience in particular to tell the difference between, say, normal sadness and major depression. That reflected persistent criticism that “drawing a line between sickness and disease is a special problem in psychiatry,” said psychotherapist Gary Greenberg, who participated in the “field trials” that tested the DSM-5’s proposed diagnostic criteria before they made the final cut. “We don’t have blood tests or other objective criteria to distinguish mental sickness from health. So you have a set of criteria that are very common, which means the potential for many people being diagnosed as mentally ill when they’re not.”  The 1,500 experts who contributed to the DSM-5 would have liked nothing better than to base diagnoses on genetics or neuroscience, rather than on subjective judgment and lists of mostly self-reported symptoms such as fear of acting “in a way that will be negatively evaluated” (social anxiety disorder) or approaching and interacting “with unfamiliar adults” (disinhibited social engagement disorder in children). “It would be great if we had been able to have a paradigmatic shift” by basing the diagnosis of mental illness on biology, as the APA hoped to when it began the DSM-5 process, said Dr Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University and president-elect of the APA. But the science did not arrive in time. “The DSM can only reflect the research we have,” said Lieberman.” With rare exceptions such as narcolepsy, which can be diagnosed by testing cerebrospinal fluid, there are no objective biological measures for mental illness. This lack of scientific rigor led the nation’s leading mental health official to attack the DSM-5 for a “lack of validity,” as Dr Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said in a blog post late last month. The manual bases diagnoses on symptoms, he noted, but “symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment.” Allergies and flu share some symptoms, for instance, but no doctor would try to treat flu with an antihistamine. “Patients with mental disorders deserve better,” said Insel, who announced that “NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories.”  Pittsburgh’s Kupfer shrugged off this attack. “NIMH expressed that a couple of years ago,” he said. “It would be a mistake to reify the DSM for research purposes.”  “Reification” has become a buzzword among the DSM’s critics. In this context, it means “taking a concept and turning it into a reality,” said Greenberg, whose new book, “The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry” argues that the manual and the process behind it are hopelessly and dangerously flawed. “The categories are not reliable in a biological sense.”  That can cause harm to people who are labeled “mentally ill” when all they have is a variation of normal human behavior, said Greenberg. “The sphere of normality has to have room for some distress, which is part of being human.”  On a practical level, “once you have a diagnosis in your medical record you can have trouble getting insurance or a security clearance, and it changes how you think of yourself,” said Greenberg. BLACK-BOX WARNING  Changes that make it easier to qualify as mentally ill - fewer symptoms, lasting for a shorter time - have drawn the most impassioned criticism of the DSM-5. Dr Allen Frances, the psychiatrist who led the development of the last DSM and who has emerged as the new one’s fiercest and most eminent critic, warns of a “hyperinflation” of diagnoses and calls for “a black-box warning” in the dozen or so most controversial changes, much like the black-box warning that regulators require on the labels of potentially dangerous drugs. The black box, he said in a 2012 essay, would indicate the risks of calling people who engage in binge eating, for instance, or who grieve a dead child mentally ill, and would serve as “an admission that the change is a hypothesis,” not a scientific fact. The new DSM does not include more disorders than its predecessor, said Lieberman, “and it shouldn’t increase the number of people who warrant a diagnosis of mental illness.”  The changes it does make, however, could have far-reaching consequences. It classifies compulsive gambling as an addiction, the first behavior to be so categorized. That could make it easier for pathological gamblers to get help, said Jeff Beck of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling and a recovering gambling addict. The new manual also breaks out compulsive hoarding from obsessive-compulsive disorder and makes it a stand-alone disorder. That should tell clinicians that treatments that work in OCD are not the best way to treat hoarders, said psychologist Randy Frost of Smith College, who has developed a unique therapy for hoarding. One of the more controversial changes was to eliminate the previous DSM’s “bereavement exclusion” for depression. Now, if a father grieves for a murdered child for more than a couple of weeks, he is mentally ill. A footnote in the DSM-5 explains that “the inability to anticipate happiness or pleasure” in such a situation is a diagnostic criterion for the mental disorder of depression. To some, this smacks of pathologizing a normal, understandable human reaction. “This completely leaves the person out of the equation and turns people into patients,” said psychotherapist Eric Maisel, a critic of the DSM. “The DSM claims that an unwanted, distressing feeling is a sign of a disorder rather than being just a feeling, and it isn’t at all interested in whether your circumstances could have caused those feelings.”  It is important to consider circumstances, he said, because if someone experiences deep anxiety as a result of losing her job, becoming ill or facing foreclosure, “the remedy shouldn’t be a pill,” the usual outcome of a diagnosis of “generalized anxiety disorder.”  The DSM-5 will likely reduce diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It eliminated Asperger’s syndrome and tightened the ASD criteria. While no one wants to see children incorrectly labeled, said Katie Weisman of the patient advocacy group Safe Minds, “children who were borderline cases under the previous DSM now won’t get a diagnosis, which means they won’t be eligible” for early, intensive behavior therapy - or won’t have it paid for by insurance. A mother of triplets on the autism spectrum, Weisman says “I’m not sure my boys would be where they are today” - in regular school classrooms, not special education - “without these services.”  Whether the critics’ fears come true will become clear only once psychiatrists, psychologists and even primary-care providers - who write the majority of prescriptions for drugs to treat mental illness - begin using the new DSM. “We’re trying to establish accurate and reliable guidelines, and you can’t completely control how they’re applied,” said Columbia’s Lieberman. “The problem is not with the instrument but with the way it’s used.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Psychiatrists unveil their long-awaited diagnostic \"\"bible\"\".\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0409ad1f64984bc8a01369b5074f1442",
            "input": "The article did not discuss costs. Screening mammograms impose a significant cost on the U.S. health care system and insurers, particularly Medicare. The story detailed the relative harms of earlier mammograms, but did not translate those percentages into absolute numbers. For instance, women who were diagnosed with breast cancer 25 months or more after their last mammogram were “50 percent more likely” to need chemotherapy, “32 percent more likely” to need mastectomy, and “66 percent more likely” to need lymph nodes removed. However, relative risk can be misleading, sometimes inflating numbers to sound scarier than when absolute numbers are used. Also, we don’t know what kind of risk these women had at baseline, so it’s hard to know if they were higher risk. The story made no mention of the harms of earlier or more frequent screening, which have been documented time and time again. More screening can mean more false positives or more finding of breast changes that lead to more testing, such as biopsies, more costs, and more worry. The story did make clear some of the weaknesses of the study: The study found an association but did not prove causality and the study population was limited to a single health care institution. The story also mentions that the findings were presented at a meeting, which means they have not undergone peer-review. The story does not directly engage in fear-mongering. However, some of the quotes advocating for earlier and more frequent screening play into a scenario that breast cancer is lurking in every woman. A discussion of what a woman’s average lifetime risk is would have been helpful. The story quotes the study author and an outside source. The story makes clear that different advisory groups have differing guidelines for what age to start getting mammograms (40 or 50 years old). It would have been nice if the story had included examples of what makes someone higher risk or not (personal cancer history, family history, history of radiation), but we think this was satisfactory. We believe that mammograms are well-known to be widely available. And the earlier and more frequent screening described here is not earlier or more frequent than what many guidelines recommend, so would not be expected to be denied by health insurers. The story makes clear the distinctive aspects of this study —using avoidance of more aggressive treatment regimens as a deciding factor, as opposed to the more extreme avoidance of cancer death. The story goes beyond what was contained in a news release on the presentation at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting.",
            "output": [
                "Earlier Mammograms May Mean Less Need for Aggressive Treatments"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39f1f3e8c0f6424c977cb3db21ba2483",
            "input": "Such an amendment would have been unprecedented among U.S. states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Democratic-controlled state House approved the measure 35-25 on Feb. 13, but it never reached the floor of the Democratic-controlled Senate for a vote. Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, chairwoman of the Senate Health Care Committee, said it was never brought to a vote in committee because it did not appear likely to pass by the entire Senate. “I firmly believe that health care is a right,” Monnes Anderson, a Democrat from the Portland suburb of Gresham, said in an email. “As a retired public health nurse I see how no access to health care affects your ability to keep a job and children to learn.” The amendment to the 160-year-old Constitution would have obliged the state “to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, medically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.” Opponents had said there was no plan to fund making health care access a right, and warned that doing so would make the state vulnerable to lawsuits. The League of Women Voters was among the opponents. “The State of Oregon has insufficient income to support its current responsibilities and cannot provide the added cost of health care coverage for all its residents at this time,” it said in written testimony. Lawmakers have wrestled over the issue as the Trump administration has tried to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s health care law. “There were general concerns that there might be a lawsuit or something similar that might force the issue on what is now being touted as an aspirational thing,” said Rick Osborn, spokesman for the Senate Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, a Democrat from Portland, said there just wasn’t enough time during the current five-week legislative session to gain critical mass on the measure. “The bill would have needed extensive amendments for it to get the support it needs in the Senate,” Burdick said. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Oregon effort to declare health care a right falters."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-721ea8867d1c4625995fd1e1fc539988",
            "input": "At no point in the release was cost mentioned. Psychotherapy and counseling can be costly, especially for the elderly on fixed incomes. Readers would be well-served with some estimate of the costs of the services provided through this trial. Also, a mention of a comparison between the costs of office visits for such therapy versus that delivered via telephone would be useful to give readers a fuller picture of the practical potential for this approach. Medicare requires in person contact for payment. That’s why the cost issue is important in this case. We think news releases can and should address these matters. The release fails to give readers any indication of the degree of differences between the two approaches tested, and falls back on simply saying that X “was superior to” Y and “resulted in a greater reduction of symptoms.”  Without any numerical values being offered, readers can’t gauge for themselves the value of one approach over the other. It’s difficult to gauge the clinical effectiveness versus the statistical differences. It would have been helpful to compare the degree of reduction of symptoms with office-based therapy, and drug treatment. Journal news releases can help educate journalists and all readers by quantifying potential benefits – and by reinforcing the expectation in readers that such information should be provided The release mentioned no possible harms from this approach, although in fairness, supportive telephone conversations are unlikely to carry much risk. However, we wonder about situations where the telephone therapy sessions may not detect some problems that might surface during a face-to-face consultation. The study itself used accepted psychological assays to gauge participants’ degree of GAD, and relied on self-reports by participants to determine any improvements following therapies. All of these are subjective by nature, rather than empirical and some reference to that would have been useful. Rather than saying, “there was greater decline in worry severity,” the release more accurately could have said “participants reported” a greater decline to remind reads of the caveats to the findings. The authors of the journal article also made the point that their results could be regression to the mean. Nonetheless, we’ll rate this satisfactory because of the details that were provided. The release does not demonstrate disease mongering. An end note points out that this study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. There was no indication of any conflicts of interest. The release points out that the study focuses on older adults living in rural settings where psychotherapy may be unavailable. It also points out that older adults may prefer psychotherapy over medications. We wonder about other approaches to address loneliness in the elderly, especially in rural areas, that could improve a person’s quality of life. Since the telephone is ubiquitous in modern life, one assumes that such a program as explained in this clinical trial could be available in short notice, assuming financial support for the project. Telephone-based support programs are not new and the release makes no claims that the approach is necessarily novel. It specifically says that it “is one way to overcome some barriers to mental health treatment.” The release does not appear to use any unjustifiable language. But, on a side note about language, the release never defined “non directive supportive therapy,” which is what the comparison group received. Many journalists – and general public readers – might not know what that means and would benefit from a one line definition.",
            "output": [
                "Telephone-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety in Rural Older Adults"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d540ca2e0a22424d9e715735980c06ee",
            "input": "\"There was no cost information provided, but the story was about the results of a study that demonstrated that more dialysis did not provide additional benefit. The clinician quote near the end suggested that more dialysis may have benefit for certain patients but did not provide data. However – the story said that the study reported on did not find additional dialysis to provide benefit, thereby quantifying the benefit as \"\"none\"\" The story qualified the information about additional dialysis not being beneficial by having a quote from a clinician indicating that there are some specific situations where additional dialysis is warranted. In so doing, the story was able to present a harm of not allowing for additional dialysis. The evidence presented in this story comes from a study which has not yet been published, though it is available online. The story mentioned the number of people studied as well as the fact that they were randomly assigned to the different treatment groups. It included both the percentage of people in each group that died as well as the fact that the difference between the groups was found not to differ. The story did not appear to engage in disease mongering apart from the fact that it seemed to conflate chronic and acute kidney disease. The story included quotes from several clinicians with expertise in dialysis. No other treatment options were mentioned, though other than refusal of treatment, there usually aren’t any. The story is about two commonly used approaches to dialysis in acutely ill patients. Decision-making is largely physician based; the over-arching decision then is dialysis or no dialysis (which because of the seriousness of the patient condition would likely be fatal). It’s clear from the story that more versus less frequent dialysis would be based in normal clinical practice on a variety of clinical indicators (as mentioned by one of the physicians). The story described the results of a soon-to-be published study and described this clearly. That said, it also mentioned that there had been previous studies, which were smaller and were based on outcomes from individual institutions with different outcomes from the study reported on. This provides a context for the reader to understand that the study reported on was not done in a complete vacuum of information. Does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Dialysis more often doesn’t help patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-85f264e0c09c43d28aaa47f638fefeb1",
            "input": "Tuesday is the final day of Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month, and the state CDC says it’s recommending prevention, screening and treatment. The agency says Maine has seen “dramatic increases” in gonorrhea and syphilis in the last five years. Gonorrhea cases increased nearly 200 percent, to 686, from 2014 to 2018. Syphilis cases have risen by almost 600 percent, to 104, in that same timeframe. Acting Maine CDC Director Nancy Beardsley says the health consequences of sexually transmitted infections are serious enough that residents “know the facts about STDs and get tested if they believe they are at risk.”",
            "output": [
                "Maine stresses test as sexually transmitted infections surge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a4bf716aefe4fd9807051e1e9e2f415",
            "input": "\"The article states that the costs are “generally … close to $45,000.” The news story notes in a sentence that hip replacement has a success rate of more than 90%, and defines “success” as “relatively pain-free mobility.” The article also clearly states why this new device was developed — to provide longer lifetime use prior to device failure. It quantifies this benefit vaguely, saying the device is \"\"much more durable\"\" and lasts \"\"much longer.\"\" The news story focuses on one main harm—squeaking in hip implants made of ceramic—and provides estimates of its prevalence. A spokesperson for the hip maker points out that hip replacement has other potential risks as well, including infection, dislocation, and leg-length discrepancy. The news story makes it fairly clear that the research it is citing is from cohort studies. The first mention of the prevalence of squeaking in ceramic hip implants appears to cite the highest known estimate—7% of ceramic implants in one study of 143 patients. Only later do readers discover that other studies suggest the prevalence of the problem may be much smaller, from 3% (in a study of 1500 people) to less than 1%. This is not disease mongering, but it could cause some people to fear ceramic hip implants more than may be justified. In addition, the Times article says no squeaking occurred in patients with metal and plastic implants. But a recent 2007 review in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) reported that squeaking in similar implants made out of metal and plastic occurred in 4% of patients. (JBJS 2007;89:1874-85) If the JBJS review is accurate, the news story would be misleading. Unfortunately, the JBJS failed to support its own contention with a complete reference. The story cites 4 patients, 4 surgeons, a spokesperson for implant maker Stryker, and a lawyer representing aggrieved patients. All in all, they provide a balance of viewpoints. The story mentions a conflict of interest for one surgeon. It appears that 2 of the patients are clients of the lawyer. The story points out that the alternatives to a ceramic total hip replacement include hip replacements with implants made from metal and plastic. It doesn’t mention whether there are nonsurgical alternatives to hip replacement, but this is beyond the scope of the story. The story does not explicitly state that ceramic hip replacements are approved by the FDA, but with “tens of thousands” implanted, it’s clear that surgeons’ adoption of the devices is widespread. The FDA’s warning to implant maker Stryker about squeaking suggests the devices may not be perfect, but are approved. The story notes that Stryker introduced ceramic hip implants into the U.S. in 2003. The story cites several sources and does not appear to rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "That Must Be Bob. I Hear His New Hip Squeaking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23657cc214694e2a8b2b54dc48ad2c66",
            "input": "New Jersey’s East Point Lighthouse has been lighting up Delaware Bay for the better part of two centuries. But those same waters that the lighthouse helped illuminate might bring about its demise. With even a moderate-term fix likely to cost $3 million or more, New Jersey officials are considering what to do to save the lighthouse. Nancy Patterson, president of the Maurice River Historical Society, says something needs to be done now. State and local governments routinely shore up the perimeter of the lighthouse property with 3,000-pound (1360-kilogram) sand bags and hastily bulldozed earthen walls. During normal conditions, the bay is about 40 yards (37 meters) from the lighthouse; aerial photos from 1940 show at least four times as much beach between the lighthouse and the bay as there is now. And during storms, the surf pounds against an earthen wall just 10 yards (9 meters) from the lighthouse’s front steps. “This lighthouse is in incredible danger; it’s getting worse and worse and worse,” Patterson said. “The water is right there, often within feet of the lighthouse.” She recently led a save-the-lighthouse rally to call attention to its plight and push the state Department of Environmental Protection to do something to save it before it falls into the bay. It’s a threat affecting lighthouses around the country and the world, including those in low-lying areas being inundated by water, as well as those on bluffs or cliffs being eroded by storms and rising sea levels. “It’s happening faster than anybody had predicted,” said Jeff Gales, executive director of the U.S. Lighthouse Society in Hansville, Washington. While some of the lighthouses continue to be relied upon for navigation, others have been supplanted more modern technology, and are treasured more for historical and tourism purposes. Climate change hastened by manmade greenhouse gases is not only melting polar ice, adding to sea levels, but the warmer waters are expanding and some land formations sinking. Globally, sea levels have been rising over the past century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the rate has increased in recent decades. In New Jersey, seas have risen by 1.3 feet (0.4 meters) over the past 100 years, said Benjamin Horton, a Rutgers University professor and leading expert on climate change and sea level rise. That is a faster pace than for the past 2,000 years combined, he said. Horton and other Rutgers researchers project that by 2050, seas off New Jersey will rise by an additional 1.4 feet (0.4 meters). Tim Harrison is the editor of Lighthouse Digest, a Maine-based publication that maintains a “Doomsday List” of 53 lighthouses around the U.S. deemed to be in danger of being lost due to storms, erosion or other causes. “Lighthouses were built for one purpose: to save lives,” he said. “Now it’s our turn to step up save these lighthouses.” Rising seas have already forced the relocation of several lighthouses. In 1999, the National Park Service moved the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, North Carolina, 2,900 feet inland, at a cost of $11.8 million. In 1993, the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island, Rhode Island, was moved 300 feet inland. In 2014 the Cape San Blas Lighthouse was moved from the edge of a storm-prone peninsula on Florida’s Gulf Coast to a park in Port St. Joe. A year later, the Gay Head Lighthouse on Massachusetts’ Martha’s Vineyard was moved 129 feet back from an eroding cliff. Others were not so lucky. The Galveston Jetty Lighthouse in Texas and the Sabine Bank Lighthouse in Louisiana were lost to storms or rising seas, and the Kauhola Point Lighthouse on Hawaii’s Big Island was demolished after erosion nearby was deemed too severe to save it, Harrison said. Lighthouses around the country considered to be in danger from rising seas include the Sand Island Lighthouse at the mouth of Mobile Bay in Alabama, the Morris Island Lighthouse near Charleston, South Carolina, and the New Point Comfort Lighthouse in Virginia. Around the world, encroaching seas are drawing nearer to the Orfordness Lighthouse in Suffolk, England; the Troubridge Island Lighthouse in South Australia; and the Kiipsaar Lighthouse in Estonia. In 2010, the Half Moon Caye Lighthouse in Belize was destroyed by a storm. There are few easy answers, financially or scientifically. The East Point Lighthouse is already on the highest spit of land around, which is only a few inches above sea level, so moving it is not an option. Nor is constantly dumping and plowing more sand in front of it. Patterson wants some sort of bulkhead or barrier erected between the bay and the lighthouse to blunt the force of the waves. Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, acknowledges the lighthouse has been “very vulnerable to storms due to erosion” for years. And he realizes the sandbags the state and local governments keep plopping on the shoreline are a stop-gap measure at best. But while affirming the state’s interest in saving the lighthouse, he notes that moving or protecting it with rock-filled cages could cost several million dollars. Because of the high cost of moving or protecting the lighthouses, volunteer preservation groups often partner with governments to maintain them; one has spent at least $5 million on the Morris Island Lighthouse in South Carolina. And cash-strapped governments often can’t spare funds to save lighthouses. Patterson, the New Jersey lighthouse advocate, says a barrier needs to be built near the East Point Lighthouse immediately. “This history matters,” she said. “We need to do something — now — while there’s still something to save.” ___ Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC ___ This story has been updated to correct that photos from 1940 were aerial photos, not satellite photos.",
            "output": [
                "Rising sea levels threatening historic lighthouses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffc9e41d225b4b7eb5ecaf4f0096c2fc",
            "input": "The company earned $728 million, or 67 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That compared with $827 million, or 74 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter, when Lilly took charges for asset impairments and restructuring. “Company sales were stronger than thought, but a lot of that upside came from drugs that are already off patent or about to lose patent protection,” said Edward Jones analyst Judson Clark. Excluding special items, Lilly earned 74 cents per share, matching analysts’ average forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Shares in the company dropped 1.4 percent to 53.21, after earlier reaching their lowest in two weeks at $53.05. Lilly’s global sales fell 2 percent to $5.81 billion, but topped Wall Street forecasts of $5.46 billion. Sales would have been flat if not for the stronger dollar, which lowers the value of sales in overseas markets. Sales of Cymbalta, which lost U.S. patent protection last month, fell 38 percent to $883 million. But they came in about $100 million higher than Wall Street expected, analysts said. Lilly’s sales, earnings, and its share price, have been badly hurt since late 2011, when its Zyprexa schizophrenia drug lost U.S. patent protection. Once Lilly’s biggest product, with annual sales of $5 billion, it now has sales of only $1.5 billion. The situation worsened last month, when Cymbalta - which also had $5 billion in annual sales at its peak - began facing cheaper generics in the United States. The company’s “patent cliff” will become more daunting in March, when $1 billion-a-year osteoporosis drug Evista faces U.S. generics. “We haven’t wasted the crisis,” Chief Executive John Lechleiter said Thursday in a conference call with industry analysts. “We’re more agile, we’re leaner and I believe we’re better operators today.”  Lilly has cut more than 5,000 employees from its workforce in order to reduce annual costs by $1 billion over the last three years to deal with patent expirations on its drugs. It has also restructured itself to focus on cancer and diabetes - lucrative specialties that are two of the company’s longstanding strengths. Clark said sales of Cymbalta could eventually decline 80 percent, which has been the case for many other blockbuster medicines in recent years. He questioned whether gains for other products seen in the fourth quarter will be sustainable. Sales of many products over the quarter showed double-digit sales increases, including Lilly’s Humalog insulin, Cialis anti-impotence treatment, Forteo and Evista osteoporosis drugs, and Straterra for attention deficit disorder. But price increases in the United States accounted for much of those sales gains. The Indianapolis drugmaker is expecting a return to company sales growth next year, from increased sales of drugs that still have patent protection and from launches of new treatments for cancer and diabetes. It hopes to launch three new drugs this year: ramucirumab for stomach cancer, and dulaglutide and empagliflozin for type 2 diabetes - the most common form of the disease, which is closely linked to obesity. Although analysts have forecast annual sales of more than $650 million for ramucirumab, they are concerned the new diabetes drugs may have a hard time competing with similar drugs already on the market. The company has introduced no new products in recent years. In a recent interview, Lechleiter said it was time for Lilly “to go back on offense”, helped by a pipeline of nearly 40 medicines in mid- and late-stage studies, compared with only seven in those stages of development a decade ago.",
            "output": [
                "Lilly's quarterly sales largely offset Cymbalta slide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f63ea094dfa42259fef5f75eaaec66b",
            "input": "\"While making a case for abstinence-only sex education, the right-leaning Texas Eagle Forum recently declared that sex isn't a mandated topic in Texas schools. The group states in its March 11 \"\"News & Notes\"\" e-mail blast: \"\"In Texas, schools do not even have to teach sex education.\"\" Teaching the birds and bees, optional? \"\"In my understanding, it's a local level decision,\"\" said Pat Carlson of Fort Worth, the forum's Texas president. She pointed us to the state's education code, which requires each school district's board of trustees to establish a local school health advisory council, with at least five members, including parents, clergy and law enforcement officials. The council makes recommendations on the health curriculum taught in the district's schools. An excerpt from the law: \"\"Any course materials and instruction relating to human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome shall be selected by the board of trustees with the advice of the local school health advisory council.\"\" The law further states that \"\"before each school year, a school district shall provide written notice to a parent of each student enrolled in the district of the board of trustees' decision regarding whether the district will provide human sexuality instruction to district students.\"\" Whether the district will provide human sexuality instruction? That doesn't sound like a requirement. However, schools do have to follow the state board of education's curriculum standards — Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills — according to a spokeswoman at the Texas Education Agency, which oversees primary and secondary public education. And that curriculum requires health teachers to teach sex education at appropriate grade levels. The state's guidelines for health classes state that in grades 9-10, for example, \"\"the student analyzes the relationship between unsafe behaviors and personal health and develops strategies to promote resiliency throughout the life span.\"\" The student is expected to explore \"\"the relationship between the use of refusal skills and the avoidance of unsafe situations such as sexual abstinence... the importance and benefits of abstinence as it relate to emotional health and the prevention of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases... discuss abstinence from sexual activity as the only method that is 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy,\"\" and so forth. On the one hand, it sounds like local school districts can opt out of teaching sex ed. On the other, it sounds like they're required to spell out the particulars. There's another wrinkle. Last year, state lawmakers voted to no longer require high-school students to take a health course to graduate. But a TEA spokeswoman told us schools are still required to offer the course. Confused? Apparently, so is the state education agency. \"\"It's clear as mud, \"\" said David Anderson, the agency's legal counsel. \"\"There is some ambiguity that a school district has to teach parts of the state curriculum about human sexuality.\"\" Anderson explained the history of this issue this way: \"\"When the curriculum was first written in 1995 — foundation curriculum and enrichment curriculum — and districts had to teach all of the foundation curriculum, like algebra, they did not have to teach every part of the enrichment curriculum. That's where health was.\"\" Anderson noted that Attorney General Dan Morales issued an advisory opinion in 1998 stating that local school districts control the teaching of human sexuality in any enrichment curriculum (fine arts, foreign languages, technology, and health and physical education) — meaning school districts could choose not to teach sex ed. Anderson said lawmakers later amended state law to require districts to teach everything spelled out in state curriculum standards. Despite that change, Anderson said, local districts still control what — if anything — is taught about human sexuality. \"\"It's at least an open question if a school board is required to teach some part of the health curriculum which some people might regard as sex education,\"\" Anderson said. \"\"My guess is districts are making their (sex education) decisions locally and people are happy with that.\"\" The only unquestioned mandate that school districts must meet, said Anderson, is the parenting and paternity awareness program taught as part of high-school health classes. He added, \"\"But I'm not sure everyone would think that means sex ed.\"\" We asked the attorney general's office to weigh in. Its spokesman, Jerry Strickland, declined, saying: \"\"We don't provide legal opinions lightly; because of that, this would truly be an issue for TEA.\"\" When we asked Anderson plainly if schools are required to teach sex education, he said: \"\"It's not a yes or no answer.\"\" How's this for clarity? If the responsible state agency cannot answer \"\"yes,\"\" there is no requirement.\"",
            "output": [
                "In Texas, schools do not even have to teach sex education."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e8e5136690a40679f4a1bfa8ef076e4",
            "input": "In late June and early July 2020, Snopes readers asked whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost immunologist, had stated that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was told to cancel funding for research into how coronavirus infections emerge in humans. Fauci, who leads the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the statement when responding to a question while testifying, along with other coronavirus task force leaders, on June 23, 2020, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The testimony came as the U.S. experienced a spike in reported COVID-19 cases. Although scientists believe that the novel coronavirus, the virus causing the COVID-19 disease pandemic, had animal origins before it infected humans, the Trump administration has promoted an unfounded conspiracy theory that the disease originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, where it was originally detected in the winter of 2019. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey asked Fauci about the grant, stating it didn’t make any sense to him that funding for research on the coronavirus had been canceled “while we are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic,” asking Fauci if he knew why the decision had been made. “Why was it canceled? It was canceled because the NIH was told to cancel it,” Fauci replied. “I don’t know the reason, but we were told to cancel it.”",
            "output": [
                "Dr. Anthony Fauci said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was told to cancel a grant funding research for a study investigating how coronaviruses jump from bats to humans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7394ed9fa68b470eae53d5422b270022",
            "input": "\"There was no discussion of price, but coffee is a widely available beverage with a generally known price range. The story did not provide absolute risk reduction numbers for the benefit that one might hope to gain from drinking coffee. The real take home from the study was that coffee consumption did not appear to be harmful in terms of the risk a person would die. The story did at least mention anxiety and insomnia as two harms that might be associated with coffee consumption.It would have been more informative to provide some insight as to how commonly these symptoms are associated with coffee use as opposed to other causes. The story did not clearly explain that nature of the study reported on or the conclusions which could or could not be drawn from it because of the study design. While readers were provided with numbers of study subjects and the length of time they were followed, both of which are helpful for understanding how to consider the information, when it came to providing information about the results of the study, only a relative risk reduction was mentioned. Further, the ‘news’, i.e. the findings from a recently published study, was muddled with comments from credentialed individuals who provided their opinions on subject matter that was not supported by the study reported on. Although one researcher said, \"\"If you want the best of both worlds, drink decaf – avoid the caffeine and get the good stuff,\"\" the published data demonstrated a strong relationship between caffeine intake and the number of cups of coffee consumed. So while this may be his opinion and may even be supported by other research he has knowledge about, it is not consistent with the study reported on. Another expert interviewed for the study mentioned that it says the key to coffee’s health benefits is its antioxidants. Coffee is a complex entity containing hundreds of different components. It is not possible from a study of this kind to make any sort of conclusion about what is responsible for any particular effect observed. No overt disease-mongering. The lead study author was interviewed for this story. In addition, the story contained quotes from two individuals that were not connected with the study but who had some background related to coffee. The story did not contain any information about other means of lowering the risk of premature death or of dying from a heart attack. The availability of coffee is not in question. Drinking coffee was appropriately not portrayed as something new or innovative. Does not appear to be derived exclusively from a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Coffee may have perks for longer living"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86ae86503cf74746b5230f72001b0589",
            "input": "\"The health departments in Fulton and Dekalb counties are hosting a week of free HIV screenings that ends on National HIV Testing Day, June 27. The immediate goal of the Test Atlanta campaign, which starts Sunday, is to encourage people from age 13 to 64 to know their HIV status by getting tested, officials with Fulton County Health and Wellness said in a press release on June 16, 2015. \"\"Finding out whether you are infected with HIV is the first step to getting connected to life-saving care,\"\" the release states. \"\" It’s estimated almost 40 percent of people with HIV are not diagnosed until they have developed AIDS. That can be up to 10 years after they first became infected.\"\" Those statistics got our attention. PolitiFact Georgia decided to check further. We contacted Lyn Vaughn, risk communicator with Fulton County Health and Wellness, to ask the source of those statistics. She provided with us links to, and excerpts from, two statements, one from the Centers for Disease Control and one she said was from the National Association of People Living with AIDS, the group credited with starting the national testing day. The report from the CDC, issued in 2010, said nationally, the proportion of patients diagnosed with AIDS at or within 12 months of their HIV diagnosis in 2007 was 32 percent. We tried to contact officials with the association to ask about the source of their statistics but were unsuccessful. We later learned from the group’s web site that the association filed bankruptcy and closed its doors after 30 years in February 2013. The CDC, which supported National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) from its founding, continues to promote the annual event and advocate for routine HIV testing. According to the CDC, more than 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV, and almost one in seven or 14 percent are unaware of their infection. In the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, but the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable -- at about 50,000 a year, the CDC reports. So what about that statistic? Vaughn later sent us additional information, including a recent news report on ongoing HIV testing available to patients who come through the emergency room at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital. Not all of the patients agree to be tested. But among those who were diagnosed as HIV infected between July 2013 and February of this year, nearly half had AIDS, according to data we received from Grady. The physician in charge of Grady’s program said many of the patients in the group that was subject of the report had been HIV positive for several years. The other data we looked at came from the state Department of Public Health. In Georgia, 24 percent of all newly diagnosed HIV patients in 2012 already had AIDS, the agency reported. That percentage also held true for 2013 as well, DPH reports show. We also circled back to the CDC, where the most recent data available is for 2012. Nationally, also, 24 percent of patients who were initially diagnosed with HIV infection were simultaneously diagnosed with AIDS, the CDC reported in 2012. Most of those people were likely infected for many years without knowing it, the CDC said. Our ruling  The press release from Fulton County Health and Wellness promoting the week of testing for HIV states that almost 40 percent of people with the virus are not diagnosed until they already have developed AIDS. And that can be up to 10 years after they first are infected. That specific statistic reportedly came from a national organization that is no longer in operation and appears high compared to the 24 percent figure reported t by the state and CDC. But that still supports the health department’s overarching point about the need for early testing and treatment. For that reason.\"",
            "output": [
                "Currently, almost 40 percent of people with HIV are not diagnosed until they already have developed AIDS. And that can be up to 10 years after they first are infected with HIV."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc7e68d1d04c4e0c9d3aab637e665928",
            "input": "In 2009, there were 119.45 male newborns for every 100 females, down from 120.56 in 2008 and the first decline in years, said Li Bin, head of the State Population and Family Planning Commission. The natural ratio should be about 105 males per 100 females at birth, but the gap has widened in China since it introduced a one-child policy three decades ago to curb population growth — a restriction that bolstered a traditional preference for boys. Wider use of ultrasound and abortions has caused the imbalance to increase significantly in recent years, shocking ordinary Chinese and alarming leaders who worry violence and instability could plague a society full of unmarried young men. “Looked at from a comprehensive perspective, the lopsided sex ratio at birth has started to be contained,” Li said in comments reported on the government’s main website (www.gov.cn). She said it would take many more years to consolidate the trend, calling for more vigilance in rooting out pre-birth gender scans and abortions that do not serve a medical purpose. More than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses in 2020, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said last year. The government research institution named the imbalance as the most serious demographic problem faced by the country’s 1.3 billion population.",
            "output": [
                "China takes baby steps in narrowing gender imbalance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9d6e35c97484a67a45ee23ce8709343",
            "input": "The first full week of state legislative sessions and swearings-in for governors saw a flurry of proposals. In his initial actions, newly elected California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to expand Medicaid to those in the country illegally up to age 26, implement a mandate that everyone buy insurance or face a fine, and consolidate the state’s prescription drug purchases in the hope that it will dramatically lower costs. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed a public health insurance option for people who are not covered by Medicaid or private employers and have trouble affording policies on the private market. Democrats in several states where they now control the legislature and governor’s office, including New Mexico, are considering ways that people who are uninsured but make too much to qualify for Medicaid or other subsidized coverage can buy Medicaid policies. And in the nation’s most populous city, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a publicly run plan to link the uninsured, who already receive treatment in city hospitals, with primary care. It’s all in keeping with the main theme Democratic candidates promoted on the campaign trail in 2018. They touted the benefits of former President Barack Obama’s health overhaul — such as protections for people with pre-existing conditions, allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies and expanded coverage options for lower-income Americans. At the same time, they painted Republicans as seeking to eliminate or greatly reduce health care options and protections. “Once you give something to somebody, it’s pretty hard to take it away, and I think we see that with how the support for the (Affordable Care Act) has grown over the last two years,” said Washington House Rep. Eileen Cody, who is leading the state’s public option proposal. The actions also represent a pushback to steps taken by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to undermine the Affordable Care Act. The GOP tax law stripped away the individual mandate, which was intended to stabilize insurance markets by encouraging younger and healthier people to buy policies. And last summer, the Trump administration said it would freeze payments under an “Obamacare” program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses. That move is expected to contribute to higher premiums. The Democratic proposals fall short of providing universal health care, a goal of many Democrats but also an elusive one because of its cost. In recent years, California, Colorado and Vermont have all considered and then abandoned attempts to create state-run health care systems. Still, many Democrats are eager to take steps that get them closer to that. “This is not just a moral right,” Inslee said in announcing his public option proposal this past week. “It is an economic wisdom, and this is very possible.” Some lawmakers in Colorado, where Democrats now control the legislature and the governor’s office, are proposing a state-run health insurance plan similar to that announced by Inlsee. It would reach those who don’t qualify for federal assistance or who live in rural areas with few health care choices. Both states plan to rely on their agencies that administer Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for roughly one-in-five Americans. Republicans are skeptical about whether the states can afford it, since they already pick up a portion of Medicaid costs. “This is about having the government competing in the private market. Medicare-for-all will be priced out,” Washington state Rep. Joe Schmick said. Taking incremental steps to increase coverage options and make health care more affordable may be a smarter strategy than pursuing a costly and complicated all-or-nothing proposal for universal coverage, said Katherine Hempstead, senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Everybody wants to pay less for health care,” she said. Democrats now have more leverage to experiment. Campaign messaging around health care helped them flip seven governor’s seats to bolster their numbers to 23 across the country and win back several state legislative chambers. They gained full control of state government in several states, including New York and Nevada. That power will allow them to consider health care expansions that Republicans have resisted. In Nevada, for example, the state’s Democratically controlled legislature passed a bill in 2017 that would have let anyone in the state buy into a Medicaid insurance plan, similar to the option being pushed in New Mexico. But former Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, vetoed it. The new governor, Democrat Steve Sisolak, is forming a committee to look at health care options, including the possibility of requiring everyone to have insurance. In addition to the California proposal, that mandate already is in place in Massachusetts and New Jersey, with Vermont following in 2020. It’s a similar dynamic in New Mexico, where Democratic lawmakers have talked for years about allowing people, including non-citizens, to buy into Medicaid if they cannot afford insurance any other way. Colin Baillio, policy director for the advocacy group Health Action New Mexico, said a bill is being drafted with the goal of getting it adopted this year and implemented for 2020. The optimism comes because the new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, is a Democrat. “Folks are going to need to have health care one way or another,” he said. “We think health coverage is a good investment for our state.” ___ Follow Sally Ho at https://twitter.com/_sallyho and Geoff Mulvihill at https://twitter.com/geoffmulvihill",
            "output": [
                "Democrats roll out big health care proposals in the states."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ecbbfdacf68b49378ece673882091e0c",
            "input": "“Johnny carries a lot of clout in our league when you hear the other coaches,” Brey said as he prepares for his 20th season at Notre Dame. “We take him for granted - he just rolls out of bed and goes 15 (points) and 12 (rebounds) like it’s nothing.” The 6-foot-9 senior Mooney averaged team highs of 14.1 points and 11.2 rebounds last season for the Fighting Irish, who lost 63 games to injuries and illnesses during a 14-19 campaign that included just three wins and a last-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference. “They had their back sides handed to them . we’re older, we’re healthier, we’re better,” Brey said. The return to health of guards Robby Carmody, Rex Pflueger, Nikola Djogo and forward Juwan Durham, the maturation of sophomores Prentiss Hubb, Dane Goodwin, Nate Laszewski and Chris Doherty, and senior T.J. Gibbs making amends for his junior slump have created excitement for the season opener Nov. 6 at North Carolina. “The guys are playing at a higher level, sharing the basketball and feeding off each other,” Mooney said. “Coming off last year, no one’s giving us a shot. So we have to play with a chip on our shoulder to get the job done and prove these people wrong.” Hubb, who started 29 games at point guard, thinks Mooney’s leadership is just fine, even if his coach would like more confidence from his standout. “He’s a role model for everyone on this team,” said Hubb, who averaged 8.1 points and nearly four assists last season. RALLYING AROUND REX Things went south quickly for the Irish after Pflueger, averaging 8.1 points and 4.7 rebounds at the time, tore left knee ligaments last December. The injury came at the same time his mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. She died early in September and the team attended her memorial service in California. “Some of the stuff they’ve gone through with Rex and his mother’s situation — that’s kind of done some things to our team’s dynamic,” Brey said. “It speaks highly of our coaching staff and players,” said Pflueger, now a grad student working on his MBA who is not being rushed to be ready for the opener. “It’s an act of kindness you don’t see often.” MEDIC In addition to Pflueger missing the final 23 games following knee surgery, Carmody missed his final 24 and Djogo his final six with torn labrums that were surgically repaired. The 6-foot-11 Durham, who missed six games with leg issues, averaged 2.3 blocks when healthy in 27 games. THE HUBB Brey likes what he sees in the 6-foot-3 Hubb at the point. “He moves more confidently and is more vocal,” Brey said. “He and T.J. (Gibbs) have been pretty good.” BEAT THE CLOCK Instead of the usual 30-second shot clock, Brey used a 20-second version during the preseason. “That way we have to play quick and you can’t think too much. You’ve got to make a decision,” he said. SCHEDULE Besides North Carolina, the Irish host Boston College on Dec. 7 in the pre-holiday portion of the 20-game ACC schedule. Notre Dame also has non-conference games with Maryland, UCLA and Indiana before starting the final 18 games of league play at Syracuse Jan. 4. Brey said he and Orange coach Jim Boeheim talked about the league’s big three — North Carolina, Duke and defending champion Virginia — on the summer scouting trail. “He said, ‘You know, we’re all playing for fourth,’” chuckled Brey, whose team is picked seventh. “He never minces words, obviously.” __ More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25",
            "output": [
                "Mooney and healthy teammates have Brey, Irish encouraged."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b6b6e444796246ebac01ff83defd0f44",
            "input": "The three have been speaking out this week as part of a high-profile “Heads Together” campaign, which aims to break stigmas around mental health issues and encourage people to speak openly about their emotions. In a six-minute film recorded at Kensington Palace in central London on Wednesday, the trio discussed the stress of becoming new parents, dealing with trauma at work, and the death of the princes’ mother, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997. “When you have children, it really does put your own emotions and your own life into perspective and it has been very, very interesting understanding why I get so upset about some things, why some things effect me,” William said in the clip released by his office on Friday. “I thought I was fairly straight down the line, but I feel quite a lot more than I used to.”  William, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and second in line to the throne, said he had taken home some of the cases he had encountered when working as an air ambulance helicopter pilot. He and Kate also spoke of the pressure of parenthood following the birth of son George in 2013. “... You have no idea what you’re doing no matter how many books you read - nothing can prepare you for it,” Kate said. The first few weeks after they returned to their former home in Wales, she said, “were a steep learning curve, massively”. Earlier this week, William talked about how the shock of losing his mother still lingered 20 years after her death. Harry said he had sought counseling to help deal with the grief. William warned the British virtue of the stiff upper lip could damage mental health - a departure from the royal family’s traditional stoic attitude amid crises ranging from the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII to the death of Princess Diana. “We have been brought closer because of the circumstances. You are uniquely bonded because of what we’ve been through. But even Harry and I over the years have not talked enough about our mother,” William said. Harry added: “Never enough”. “I always thought to myself, ‘what’s the point in bringing up the past?’,” Harry said. “What’s the point in bringing up something that’s only going to make you sad, it ain’t going to change it, it ain’t going to bring her back. When you start thinking like that, it can be really damaging.”  A Kensington Palace spokesman said the royals had been overwhelmed by the response to their campaign. “Having asked others to start conversations on mental health with their friends and families, they wanted to show that they are taking part as well,” the spokesman said.",
            "output": [
                "UK's William, Harry and Kate open up about emotional struggles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c38572eb7104bfbb45edcbb72c0e971",
            "input": "The furor, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready meals being pulled from supermarket shelves and damaged people’s confidence in the food on their plate. It also raised concerns over food labeling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, putting pressure on governments to explain lapses in quality control. A fifth of adults said they had started buying less meat after traces of horse DNA were found in some products, according to the poll conducted by Consumer Intelligence research company. “Our findings show that this scandal has really hit consumers hard, be it through having to change their shopping habits or altering the fundamentals of their diet,” David Black, a spokesman for Consumer Intelligence, said. The online poll, conducted on February 14-15, questioned more than 2,200 adults on their spending habits following the horsemeat scandal. It gave no specific figures on how much meat people were buying, focusing only on broader trends. More than 65 percent of respondents said they trusted food labels less as a result. “(Brands) will have to put in place really stringent ways of checking that what’s being delivered and what’s on the label is indeed what’s in there,” Black said. In the month since horsemeat was first identified in Irish beefburgers, no one is yet reported to have fallen ill from eating horse but many supermarkets and fast food chains are already struggling to save their reputations. Governments across Europe have stressed that horsemeat poses little or no health risk, although some carcasses have been found tainted with a painkiller given to racehorses but banned for human consumption. Environment secretary Owen Paterson, who met British retailers earlier in the day for talks on how to restore consumer confidence, said Britain was closely cooperating with European countries to investigate what happened. “Looking ahead, there was absolute determination in the industry to restore confidence in their products,” he said in televised remarks. “We look forward to meeting on a regular basis to absolutely make it clear that when consumers buy a product they get what they bought.”  British retailers now expect the vast majority of tests on processed beef products to be completed by February 22, according to the British Retail Consortium. More than 60 percent of adults surveyed said they would now buy meat from their local butchers, the poll said, while a quarter of adults said they would now buy more joints, chops or steaks instead of processed meat. Michael Suleyman, who owns a family-run butchers’ shop in Brixton, London, said more customers appeared concerned although for now there had not been any difference in sales figures. “We have seen people panicking and asking us lots of questions like ‘where do you get your meat from?’,” Suleyman, 51, told Reuters. “We assure our customers by showing them the meat and mincing it for them in front of their eyes.”  But with inflation running above central bank targets and an uncertain job market, the spending power of British consumers has been eroded in recent years and, for some, buying more expensive meat is not an option. Nearly a fifth of respondents said they wanted buy less processed meat such as ready-meals, but could not afford to. At a London branch of Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, which found horse DNA in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals last week, consumers were still buying meat products. “I’ve got nothing against horse meat,” said Sean Cosgrove, 39, a local government employee. “I think you’re being ambitious if you expect top quality meat in those products anyway.”",
            "output": [
                "British shoppers saying nay to meat after horse scandal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8db81cb37e054a1a8925659b23f9e9a1",
            "input": "The story doesn’t address costs for any of the treatment options discussed. Is MBSR comparable to CBT? Does insurance cover either treatment option? The story tells readers what percentage of study participants who got MBSR treatment reported improvement in pain, as well as what percentage of MBSR participants “reported improvement in the activities they could do.” It also offered the same numbers for participants who received CBT and for the control group, which received typical medical care for this condition. These details deserve a Satisfactory rating. But: The story notes: “The study did caution that 30 of the 103, or about one-third, of the participants in the meditation group reported an ‘adverse event,’ most often an increase in pain due to yoga.” It’s good to see that included. Since the story is effectively comparing MBSR to CBT and conventional treatment, it would also have been worth noting “adverse events” for those groups in the study. According to the study, 10 percent of the CBT group also experienced “adverse events,” and no adverse events were mentioned for the control group. Defining “adverse events” would also have been good, since it’s not clear whether they mean momentary pain or a debilitating flare-up of long-term pain. According to the study, the pain–for both MBSR and CBT groups–was “mostly temporary” and no “serious” adverse events were reported. Those things are worth mentioning. (It’s also worth finding out what “mostly” and “serious” mean.) The story describes the study in detail, explicitly stating the study size and the absolute percentages in each arm that had benefit. It also acknowledged the study was randomized. We’ll count this as sufficient for Satisfactory, keeping in mind the following: As explained in the summary above, the story doesn’t make clear MBSR and CBT were used in addition to conventional medical treatment, rather than instead of medical treatment. The story didn’t mention that the study excluded participants with what the study authors term “a specific diagnosis (eg, spinal stenosis).” In other words, the study did not address treatments for back pain caused by issues like a herniated disc or rheumatoid arthritis. Many readers have these conditions, and should be informed that these study results may not be applicable to their situation. Lastly, we would have welcomed a discussion of the high rates of success within the control group. Forty-four percent in that group experienced a gain in functionality, for example. That seems pretty good! What do the researchers have to say about that? No disease mongering here. However, we did want to point out that the story “fear mongers” in a sense, by stating back pain is “one reason why more and more people are addicted to painkillers.” The story insinuates that these other treatment methods–especially meditation–could help with that. And maybe they could. But the study itself says “No overall differences in treatment effects were observed for…self-reported use of medications for back pain.” So why the mention of painkiller addiction? Conflicts of interest don’t appear to be an issue here, and the story includes statements from an accompanying editorial in JAMA, which was written by experts unaffiliated with the research. This squeaks by as Satisfactory, though it should be noted that most of this material was available via news releases (see below). The story is effectively all about comparing alternatives, though–again–it should have made clear that MBSR and CBT were used in conjunction with conventional medical treatment, and it left out discussion of other well-known non-medication treatment methods, such as exercise. It’s not clear from the story whether MBSR is widely available, is available in mainly metropolitan areas, or is a relatively new field that is still uncommon. The story does quote from a separate editorial in JAMA that says health care systems “should provide access to affordable mind-body therapies,” implying that it’s not widely available. Is this the case, or can it be easily accessed? Given the constraints of a brief news story, the piece does a nice job of articulating the differences between MBSR and CBT. It would have been even more helpful for the story to mention previous studies on the impact of MBSR and CBT on low back pain, to help us understand how novel this new study is. There is little in the story that is not found in the two news releases issued on this study. (Those releases can be found here and here.)",
            "output": [
                "Mindful meditation may be the answer to relieving chronic back pain, study suggests"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef1d0fbf4c9a4d158a0d176b13495c45",
            "input": "WTOP-FM reports that the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is partnering with the National Fire Protection Association Research Foundation on a four-phase study. Part of the focus of the study will be on how chemicals can cling to breathing equipment used by firefighters. Firefighters are exposed to toxic chemicals released into the air by burning buildings and vehicles. According to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study, firefighters are twice as likely to get skin and testicular cancer and mesothelioma. ___ Information from: WTOP-FM, http://www.wtop.com",
            "output": [
                "Firefighters study carcinogen exposure."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bd7fbf547174e78b3c168c2785bb377",
            "input": "Since this story doesn’t make claims about efficacy, costs don’t seem applicable. We give this story a satisfactory score, but the story could have helped readers understand why measuring surrogate markers such as homocysteine levels can be different than tracking true outcomes such as heart attack or stroke. Here, the surrogate endpoint (homocysteine levels) “improved,” but the real endpoint – heart attack and stroke – did not. There is no discussion of any harms associated with consumption of vitamin B supplements, although such harms would occur from vitamin B intake unlike that studied, so this gets a satisfactory grade. Two of the three studies referred to in the journal article are detailed; a brief reference is given for the third. In addition to the discussion of the studies, a quote was pulled from an editorial in the journal that published the studies. No other treatment options for lowering risk of heart attacks or strokes are mentioned. It’s clear from the story that B vitamins have been in use for some time by many people for these purposes. It’s clear from the story that B vitamins have been in use for some time by many people for these purposes. We can’t be sure if the story relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Heart attacks not cut by B vitamins"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a814ba7340d14c9599eb5cb0061ab042",
            "input": "A total of 17,127 people have died from the virus in Italy, the most anywhere in the world, with Lombardy accounting for 55% of the tally. The region also accounts for 39% of the country’s 135,586 confirmed cases. The particularly large death toll in Lombardy, the wealthiest region in Italy, has raised eyebrows, with local officials suggesting that both the high urban density and considerable elderly population might have played a part. However, a damning letter by senior doctors, including the heads of 11 provincial health authorities within Lombardy, said failures in the region’s health system had exacerbated the greatest emergency Italy has faced since World War Two. Amongst the failings they highlighted was a lack of protective clothing for medical staff - a regular source of anger since the outbreak emerged on Feb. 21. “This determined the death of many colleagues, the illness of many of them and the probable and involuntary spread of the contagion, especially in the early stages of the epidemic,” said the letter, which was posted on the website of the national federation of doctors, surgeons and orthodontists. The federation says 94 medics have died in the outbreak, many in Lombardy, which is run by the far-right League party. There was no immediate comment from Lombardy officials. The medics bemoaned an “absence of strategies” in tackling the crisis, a lack of good data and limited testing as the virus spread. This “greatly underestimated the number of patients and, to a lesser extent, the number of dead”, they wrote. While the neighbouring region of Veneto engaged in widespread testing in a known coronavirus hotspot, Lombardy only tested the seriously ill arriving for treatment in hospital, saying they did not have the capacity for wider checks. The letter took aim at the management of nursing homes, where hundreds of people have died without ever being tested. The doctors said in the province of Bergamo alone, 600 of the 6,000 pensioners under care had died. Italy’s health ministry announced on Tuesday it was sending inspectors to Milan’s largest nursing home, Pio Albergo Trivulzio, where more than 100 people have died since March. A photograph of nine bodies in the home’s mortuary was published on the front page of La Repubblica newspaper on Tuesday, with another showing its chapel full of coffins. Lombardy’s top health official, Giulio Gallera, rejected media allegations that the region had allowed hospitals to send infected patients to local care homes without proper protection in an effort to free up badly needed space in packed wards. “We always acted for the good of everyone in an extraordinary emergency and we will not let anyone cast aspersions on the serious, rigorous work we have carried out,” he said on Facebook. He did not refer to the doctors’ letter. Italy’s healthcare system is decentralized with regions having control over the money that goes to hospitals within their own borders. Lombardy has focused on developing a dual private-public network of high-performing hospitals, but critics say this was done at the expense of grassroots medical care. “Public health and on-the-ground medicine have been neglected and weakened in our region for many years,” the doctors said. “It is going to be difficult to recover from this situation at the moment,” they wrote, adding that as a starting point, the region should undertake large scale testing of health workers.",
            "output": [
                "Italian doctors slam failings in Lombardy coronavirus response."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2145ec463f0427fbbaf072708423f2c",
            "input": "A developmental biologist and tissue engineer, Dr. Mironov, 56, is one of only a few scientists worldwide involved in bioengineering “cultured” meat. It’s a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts of land available for growing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the hoof. Growth of “in-vitro” or cultured meat is also under way in the Netherlands, Mironov told Reuters in an interview, but in the United States, it is science in search of funding and demand. The new National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, won’t fund it, the National Institutes of Health won’t fund it, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded it only briefly, Mironov said. “It’s classic disruptive technology,” Mironov said. “Bringing any new technology on the market, average, costs $1 billion. We don’t even have $1 million.”   Director of the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at the medical university, Mironov now primarily conducts research on tissue engineering, or growing, of human organs. “There’s a yuck factor when people find out meat is grown in a lab. They don’t like to associate technology with food,” said Nicholas Genovese, 32, a visiting scholar in cancer cell biology working under a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals three-year grant to run Dr. Mironov’s meat-growing lab. “But there are a lot of products that we eat today that are considered natural that are produced in a similar manner,” Genovese said. “There’s yogurt, which is cultured yeast. You have wine production and beer production. These were not produced in laboratories. Society has accepted these products.”   If wine is produced in winery, beer in a brewery and bread in a bakery, where are you going to grow cultured meat? In a “carnery,” if Mironov has his way. That is the name he has given future production facilities. He envisions football field-sized buildings filled with large bioreactors, or bioreactors the size of a coffee machine in grocery stores, to manufacture what he calls “charlem” — “Charleston engineered meat.”   “It will be functional, natural, designed food,” Mironov said. “How do you want it to taste? You want a little bit of fat, you want pork, you want lamb? We design exactly what you want. We can design texture. “I believe we can do it without genes. But there is no evidence that if you add genes the quality of food will somehow suffer. Genetically modified food is already normal practice and nobody dies.”   Dr. Mironov has taken myoblasts — embryonic cells that develop into muscle tissue — from turkey and bathed them in a nutrient bath of bovine serum on a scaffold made of chitosan (a common polymer found in nature) to grow animal skeletal muscle tissue. But how do you get that juicy, meaty quality? Genovese said scientists want to add fat. And adding a vascular system so that interior cells can receive oxygen will enable the growth of steak, say, instead of just thin strips of muscle tissue. Cultured meat could eventually become cheaper than what Genovese called the heavily subsidized production of farm meat, he said, and if the public accepts cultured meat, the future holds benefits. “Thirty percent of the earth’s land surface area is associated with producing animal protein on farms,” Genovese said. “Animals require between 3 and 8 pounds of nutrient to make 1 pound of meat. It’s fairly inefficient. Animals consume food and produce waste. Cultured meat doesn’t have a digestive system. “Further out, if we have interplanetary exploration, people will need to produce food in space and you can’t take a cow with you. “We have to look to these ideas in order to progress. Otherwise, we stay static. I mean, 15 years ago who could have imagined the iPhone?”",
            "output": [
                "South Carolina scientist works to grow meat in lab."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6727cac36864c268889f4040e7744c7",
            "input": "Scientists on Wednesday said a fossilized skull discovered deep inside a Spanish cave shows telltale signs of homicide: two fractures inflicted by the same weapon. The skull, belonging to a primitive member of the Neanderthal lineage, was found in an apparent funerary site down a shaft in the appropriately bleak-sounding Sima de los Huesos, Spanish for “Pit of the Bones,” in the Atapuerca mountains. The skull shows that our species, Homo sapiens, cannot claim a monopoly on murder. “This individual was killed in an act of lethal interpersonal violence, providing a window into an often-invisible aspect of the social life of our human ancestors,” said paleontologist Nohemi Sala of Madrid’s Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano. This oldest-known example of murder occurred 230,000 years before our species first appeared in Africa. “Based on the similarities in shape and size of both the wounds, we believe they are the result of repeated blows with the same object and inflicted by another individual, perhaps in a face-to-face encounter,” Sala added. Remains of nearly 30 individuals were found at the bottom of the 43-foot (13-meter) shaft. The murder victim suffered two penetrating fractures on the forehead’s left side, above the eye. Using forensic methods like those employed by police, the researchers interpreted the wounds, each nearly an inch (2 cm) wide, as evidence of blunt-force trauma occurring around the time of death. “We have examined the bone microscopically and used CT scans,” added paleontologist Juan Luis Arsuaga of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Sala said the weapon may have been a wooden spear, stone spear tip or stone hand-axe. The presence of a notch at a similar location in the outlines of both fractures indicates they were caused by the same object. “Since either of these wounds would likely have been lethal, penetrating the brain, the presence of multiple wounds implies an intention to kill,” Sala said. Arsuaga said the victim was a young adult. Whether it was a man or woman is not clear. The motive and perpetrator are unlikely ever to be known. “Unfortunately, the intentions do not fossilize, so it is impossible to interpret the motivation of the killing,” Sala said. “Not even Sherlock Holmes could help us in that.”  The research appears in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.",
            "output": [
                "Cold case: scientists encounter prehistoric murder mystery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d6b41f84fc44a64b8d0bc1020740d85",
            "input": "On 25 March 2010, Australian mother Kate Ogg gave birth to twins Jamie and Emily just 27 weeks into her pregnancy. Although Emily survived the birthing process, Jamie was born in distress and was not breathing. After doctors spent 20 minutes trying to resuscitate Jamie and failed, they told Kate and her husband David that Jamie had died, and nurses placed Jamie’s unmoving body onto his mother’s chest so she could say her goodbyes. But then the couple experienced a seeming miracle. As Kate and David thought they were extending a farewell to their deceased child, a remarkable thing occurred: after about five minutes or so, Jamie began moving, and his movements became more and more pronounced. Nonetheless, the doctor present at the scene informed the parents such movements were simply  reflex actions and were not indicative of life. So Kate and David steeled themselves to spending an extra minute or two with the child they believed they would never know for more than just those few moments: “I wanted to meet him and to hold him and for him to know us,” Kate said. “If he was on his way out of the world, we wanted for him to know who his parents were and to know that we loved him before he died. We’d resigned ourselves to the fact we were going to lose him; we were just trying to make the most of those last precious moments.”  That “extra minute or two” ended up stretching out to more than two hours. And then something even more remarkable than Jamie’s previous movements took place: the supposedly dead child opened his eyes. “We thought, ‘What a blessing, we get to see his eyes before he passes away,'” Kate said. “But they stayed open!” As most of us probably would, at that point the couple began to considered the possibility their child wasn’t dead at all. “I think half of us said [then], ‘What if he actually makes it? '” David said. “If he does, this would just be a miracle. The other half was saying, ‘No, he’s been declared dead, this is purely instinct. '” As noted in news accounts, David and Kate were practicing what Australians call “kangaroo care”:  Actually, it is widely practiced throughout the world, especially in poorer countries where incubators may not be available for premature babies. An infant is held skin-to-skin to their mother or father, generating heat for the newborn much like a baby kangaroo receives in its mother’s pouch. Kate had heard of kangaroo care before. “[The baby] comes out of you, and all of a sudden there isn’t the warmth or smell of the mother or the sound of their heartbeat. And so putting him back on my chest was as close to him being inside me where he was safe.” Jamie continued to come around as he lay across Kate’s chest. He began grabbing at his mother’s finger, as well as his father’s. And when Kate put a dab of breast milk on her finger, Jamie eagerly accepted it. At this point Kate truly began believing her baby was actually alive: “We thought, ‘He’s getting stronger — he’s not dead,'” she said. She and David tried inducing the doctor to come take another look at Jamie. “We kept saying, ‘He’s doing things dead babies don’t do, you might want to come and see this,'” she said. But the couple were told again by other hospital personnel what they were seeing was simply reflex actions of a child who had already been declared dead. Eventually, they had to resort to a little white lie to get the doctor to pay a visit to their room. “David said, ‘Go and tell him we’ve come to terms with the baby’s death, can he just come and explain it.’ That made him come back.” Kate Ogg said the doctor was in disbelief when he arrived back at the bedside. “He got a stethoscope, listened to Jamie’s chest and just kept shaking his head. He said, ‘I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it. '” Dr. Lisa Eiland of the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City said there may actually be a solid scientific grounding for what seemed like a miracle. “What’s important is the warmth that the mother provides and the stimulation that the baby may have received from hearing the mother’s heartbeat,” Eiland said. “So those are all things that may have helped the baby in terms of going down the path to living as opposed to the path of death.” David Ogg gave all the credit to his “very strong, very smart wife” for Jamie’s survival. “She instinctively did what she did,” he said. “If she hadn’t have done that, then Jamie probably wouldn’t be here.”",
            "output": [
                "A newborn child declared dead revived after being placed on his mother's chest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f61a0c8dd3c9416ebd6c13f6348034dc",
            "input": "Officials from the Capital Area Public Health Network and the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative of New Hampshire said Tuesday they will be distributing the boxes and bags at community events and recovery-friendly workplaces in Concord and two dozen surrounding towns. Parents can request them directly from the organizations, said Annika Stanley-Smith, the network’s director of substance misuse prevention. She said prevention is an important part of addressing the state’s opioid crisis, and the new initiative builds on other programs, such as the periodic drug take-back days when police departments collect prescription medication. “Prevention can’t just be one event at one time. Prevention needs to happen every day and everywhere. We need to stack up protective factors,” she said. “We want to meet people where they’re at.” A study published in July involving more than 18,000 high school seniors found that about 11 percent reported misusing prescription medication in the past year. Within that group, nearly half said they had multiple sources for the drugs, including family members, friends with prescriptions and other sources that led back to prescription drugs in the home, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. A second study published in the same journal examined the source of prescription drugs misused by nearly 104,000 adolescents ages 12 to 17. The most common sources were family members, friends and prescriptions written for previous conditions. About 30 percent of those misusing the drugs took them from their home medicine cabinets. Sean Esteban McCabe, the studies’ author, said Tuesday more than 90% of American households that contain controlled substances are easily accessible to youth. Evidence is building that offering families cost-effective ways of safe prescription drug disposal methods is an effective in reducing the amount of leftover medications, he said in an email. “New Hampshire is taking an important step in educating families about the importance of proper storage and disposal of controlled substances,” said McCabe, a professor at the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health. In New Hampshire, which has been among the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis, a recent survey by the public health network found that more than 80 percent of youth in the Concord region had easy access to prescription drugs. The initiative announced Tuesday was one of many efforts to address the crisis, along with a new hub-and-spoke model called “The Doorway-NH” in which hospitals and others work with local providers to ensure that help is less than an hour away anywhere in the state. Multiple fire departments also have created “Safe Stations” to direct people to treatment and services. In Nashua, Fire Chief Brian Rhodes said Tuesday that as of last week, the city had seen a 3 percent decrease in fatal overdoses in the last year, compared to the previous year. “I think we are seeing some successes, but I don’t know if we can pinpoint any one thing,” he said. He said he may be difficult to measure the success of efforts like distributing the lock boxes, but said he absolutely thinks such an approach is worth it. “We did not get into this crisis overnight, and we’re not going to get over it overnight, but I think educating our youth to the dangers of prescription drugs is critical for their survival,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Parents to get prescription lock boxes, disposal bags."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-531897bfd8214c94b1a48a432ef02a03",
            "input": "By 7:30 a.m., more than two dozen people were enjoying viewpoints along the South Rim. Among them was Matthias Zutter, 35, who was traveling through Arizona with his wife in a camper van as part of a final adventure before moving back to their hometown of Stans, Switzerland. The couple have been living in the U.S. for the past five years. They had visited the Grand Canyon once already but not the South Rim, which they’ve always wanted to hike. “We got to see it one more time but not experience it the way we’d like to,” Zutter said. “At least it opened up today for us to stop and enjoy the views. We’ve got to look at the positive side.” The couple, who were carrying masks, also never felt at risk of getting sick while they were there. “I’d say you could clearly see that people took precautions and were keeping their distance and not touching things if it was not necessary,” Zutter said. The Grand Canyon had been closed since April 1, one of the last big national parks to shut down completely to visitors. At the time, health officials in Coconino County said keeping the park open put employees, residents and tourists at risk. Liz Archuleta, chairwoman of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, reiterated that visitors must do their part as well. “Everyone should be wearing face coverings while in public areas, washing hands frequently, maintaining social distancing, avoiding large gatherings and staying aware of current public health recommendations,” she said. Park officials said the South Rim entrance will only open from 6-10 a.m. through Monday. Commercial services within the park remain closed. Those include hiking trails, visitors centers, hotels and restaurants — the places people tend to congregate. Visitors were told to bring food, water and hand sanitizer. There are no overnight accommodations available. Some restrooms along with portable ones were available. Meanwhile, the residential area where more than 2,000 people live year-round was cordoned off with cones and barrels to keep visitors away from the housing areas. About 20 miles (32 kilometers) of roadway were accessible to tourists that allow them to walk along the rim of the canyon and stand at a number of viewpoints. “We saw this route as a good option to reopen,” Grand Canyon spokeswoman Lily Daniels said. “We’re kind of mirroring how the operational stance was prior to us closing, that was a phased closure.” It reopened Friday, in line with the expiration of Gov. Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home order. Signs went up reminding tourists to keep their distance from another and stay in groups of less than 10. Park employees also were giving friendly reminders, Daniels said. “It’s mostly self-awareness, but we are still encouraging the same guidelines that the CDC is putting out,” she said. The National Park Service says it is working with federal, state and local public health authorities to closely monitor the pandemic and using a phased approach to increase access on a park-by-park basis. “This initial reopening phase will increase access to our public lands in a responsible way by offering the main feature of the park for the public, the view of the canyon, while reducing the potential exposure of COVID-19 to our nearly 2,500 residents,” Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Ed Keable said. The Grand Canyon will also be open from Friday to Monday of Memorial Day weekend with increased access and extended hours. The parks gets about 6 million visitors a year, most of whom go to the South Rim. Those entrance gates were open Friday, and tourists were allowed in free. Visitors were blocked from entering at the East Rim entrance to limit travel through the Navajo Nation, where coronavirus has hit residents hard. However, officials on the Navajo Nation, which stretches into northern Arizona, expressed disappointment at the reopening. There have been at least 3,740 positive cases and 127 deaths on the reservation, which also includes parts of New Mexico and Utah. “We welcome the economic benefits that tourists bring, but we are also fearful of the potential negative impacts and had hoped that when the Grand Canyon closed on April 1, the park would remain closed until our positive COVID-19 numbers have flattened,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said. The Sierra Club also cited the Navajo Nation in its criticism of the reopening. Alicyn Gitlin of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter said it could result in a “patrolling and enforcement nightmare.” “Cases in Coconino County where Grand Canyon’s South Rim is located are still rising,” Gitlin said. “The large population that lives at Grand Canyon and all nearby communities are put at risk by this move.”  For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. ____ Fonseca reported from Flagstaff. Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Tourists enter reopened Grand Canyon despite virus concerns."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-441ddce7898d44c199f6d5b7a60e85e1",
            "input": "The one present Roy Collette wasn’t looking forward to getting for Christmas 1988 was those damned pants. Yet he knew he was in trouble as soon as the flatbed truck bearing a concrete-filled tank off a truck used to deliver ready-mix rolled up. Sure as God made little green apples, those pants had to be in there. And he was going to have to fish them out, else declare his brother-in-law the winner of a rivalry that had then spanned 20 years. Being the sport he is, brother-in-law Larry Kunkel thoughtfully supplied the services of a crane to hoist the concrete-filled tank off the flatbed. What’s this game, you ask? What was the significance of these pants, and why were two grown men going to such efforts year after year to retrieve them, only to send them off again? It all began in 1964 when Larry Kunkel’s mom gave him a pair of moleskin pants. After wearing them a few times, he found they froze stiff in Minnesota winters and thus wouldn’t do. That next Christmas, he wrapped the garment in pretty paper and presented it to his brother-in-law. Brother-in-law Roy Collette discovered he didn’t want them either. He bided his time until the Christmas after, then packaged them up and gave them back to Kunkel. This yearly exchange proceeded amicably until one year Collette twisted the pants tightly and stuffed them into a 3-foot-long, 1-inch wide pipe. And so the game began. Year after year, as the pants were shuffled back and forth, the brothers strove to make unwrapping them more difficult, perhaps in the hope of ending  the tradition. In retaliation for the pipe, Kunkel compressed the pants into a 7-inch square, wrapped them with wire and gave the “bale” to Collette. Not to be outdone, Collette put the pants into a 2-foot-square crate filled with stones, nailed it shut, banded it with steel and gave the trusty trousers back to Kunkel. The brothers agreed to end the caper if the trousers were damaged. But they were as careful as they were clever. As the game evolved, so did the rules. Only “legal and moral” methods of wrapping were permitted. Wrapping expenses were kept to a minimum with only junk parts used. Kunkel next had the pants mounted inside an insulated window that had a 20-year guarantee and shipped them off to Collette. Collette broke the glass, recovered the trousers, stuffed them into a 5-inch coffee can, which he soldered shut. The can was put in a 5-gallon container filled with concrete and reinforcing rods and given to Kunkel the following Christmas. Kunkel installed the pants in a 225-pound homemade steel ashtray made from 8-inch steel casings and etched Collette’s name on the side. Collette had trouble retrieving the treasured trousers, but succeeded without burning them with a cutting torch. Collette found a 600-pound safe and hauled it to Viracon Inc. in Owatonna, where the shipping department decorated it with red and green stripes, put the pants inside and welded the safe shut. The safe was then shipped to Kunkel, who was the plant manager for Viracon’s outlet in Bensenville. The pants next turned up in a drab green, 3-foot cube that once was a 1974 Gremlin. A note attached to the 2,000-pound scrunched car advised Collette that the pants were inside the glove compartment. In 1982 Kunkel faced the problem of retrieving the pants from a tire 8 feet high and 2 feet wide and filled with 6,000 pounds of concrete. On the outside Collette had written, “Have a Goodyear.”  In 1983 the pants came back to Collette in a 17.5-foot red rocket ship filled with concrete and weighing 6 tons. Five feet in diameter, with pipes 6 inches in diameter outside running the length of the ship and a launching pad attached to its bottom, the rocket sported a picture of the pants fluttering atop it. Inside the rocket were 15 concrete-filled canisters, one of which housed the pants. Collette’s revenge for the rocket ship was delivered to Kunkel in the form of a 4-ton Rubik’s Cube in 1985. The cube was made of concrete that had been baked in a kiln and covered with 2,000 board feet of lumber. Kunkel “solved the cube,” and for 1986 gift-giving repackaged the pants into a station wagon filled with 170 steel generators all welded together. Because the pants have to be retrieved undamaged, Collette was faced with carefully taking apart each component. News accounts didn’t record the form in which the pants were passed in 1987, and their 1988 packaging (concrete-filled tank) was mentioned at the beginning of this page. Sadly, 1989’s packaging scheme brought the demise of the much-abused garment. Collette was inspired to encase the pantaloons in 10,000 pounds of jagged glass that he would then deposit in Kunkel’s front yard. “It would have been a great one — really messy,” Kunkel ruefully admitted. The pants were shipped to a friend in Tennessee who managed a glass manufacturing company. While molten glass was being poured over the insulated container that held them, an oversized chunk fractured, transforming the pants into a pile of ashes. The ashes were deposited into a brass urn and delivered to Kunkel along with this epitaph: “Sorry, Old Man Here lies the Pants … An attempt to cast the pants in glass brought about the demise of the pants at last.”",
            "output": [
                "For twenty-five years, two brothers-in-law traded the same pants back and forth between them as a Christmas gift, each time finding more inventive ways to wrap them."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18783ba2e68c442ea810314178b9e30b",
            "input": "A pharmacist in a file photo. The issue of prescription drug abuse shot to prominence with January's death of 28-year-old Hollywood actor Heath Ledger after he took six different prescriptions. REUTERS/File But that’s where her trouble with addiction began. By age 14, the teen from an upper middle-class Philadelphia suburb led a dangerous double life. Editor of her school paper, strong student and popular athlete, Roisman was also hooked on painkillers and other drugs in an addiction that illustrates the rapid expansion in prescription drug abuse in America. “My friends and I would take a bunch of different pills and break them up and put them all together and call it confetti. It could be any combination of anything. We could learn from it, and continue to take it,” said Roisman, who is now 17. The issue of prescription drug abuse shot to prominence with January’s death of 28-year-old Hollywood actor Heath Ledger after he took six different prescriptions. The death of Ledger, who plays the Joker in the new Batman film “The Dark Night,” adds to a growing list of prescription drug overdoses that includes Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith in 2007. Other deaths are less celebrated. In the 45-54 age group, overdose deaths fueled by prescription drugs now surpass motor vehicle deaths as the nation’s No. 1 cause of accidental death, federal data show. The federal data also show nearly 7 million Americans abused prescription drugs in 2007 — more than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants such as marijuana combined. The figure is up 80 percent since 2000. Definitions of abuse vary but refer typically to nonmedical use of prescription drugs. The number of Americans treated for abuse of painkillers surged 321 percent from 1995 to 2005, federal statistics show — a trend some health experts link to another stunning figure: the 180 million prescriptions dispensed legally by U.S. pharmacies each year for pain medication. In Florida, whose reputation for cocaine and other hard drugs was burnished in movies such as “Scarface” and “Miami Vice,” the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of death caused by all illicit drugs combined, according to an analysis of 2007 autopsies by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission released in June. “What you have among over the counter and prescription drug use is a very low perception of risk,” said Stephen Pasierb, president and chief executive of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a nonprofit advocacy group. “There’s very low social disapproval. In fact, there are parents who almost relieved that their kid is using Vicodin and not smoking marijuana,” he said. Len Paulozzi, an epidemiologist with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, testified recently in Congress that he believed physicians were improperly trained in the long-term dangers of therapy involving opioid painkillers, or drugs containing opium. “There are guidelines out there, but we don’t think that they’re being routinely followed,” he said. Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, proposed to make August 2008 “National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month” in a resolution now before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying the Internet had become “an information superhighway” for abuse of medicine in the United States. But containing the abuse is notoriously difficult. Thirty-eight states have passed legislation for prescription drug monitoring programs to trace the source of drugs, and police in some states have had success in reducing pharmacy break-ins. A University of Maine program provides pre-addressed, postage-paid pouches to the elderly so they can mail their surplus prescription drugs to state authorities for disposal in a bid to reduce the amount that get into the wrong hands. None of the measures has stopped the growth nationwide, and experts point to several stubborn problems, including the phenomenon of “doctor shopping,” in which patients go to multiple doctors to get several prescriptions. Hundreds of online pharmacies also offer drugs that include generic versions of opiates like Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin, methadone and Abbott Laboratories Inc’s Vicodin, which are legitimately prescribed as painkillers, along with stimulants like Ritalin made by Novartis, and benzodiazepines like Pfizer’s Xanax. It is as easy in the United States to buy opiates or other abusable prescription drugs online as it is to purchase a book, said David Festinger, a scientist who has studied online drug sales at the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Regulating such trade is tough, he said. “These Internet enterprises set up a bank account in one country, buy their drugs from another country, and do their merchandising and sales from another country,” he said. “Everything is spread all over the globe. And in an instant, if anybody’s on their tail, they can switch everything around.”   For many children, getting the drugs is simple. In Philadelphia, Roisman and her friends raided family medicine cabinets for the big prizes — OxyContin, a kind of synthetic morphine also known as “hillbilly heroin,” along with Ritalin and Vicodin — until she eventually passed out one day in school. A drug test showed she had seven drugs in her system. “People think that it’s OK because it’s a prescribed pill. It comes from a credible source. Even if a doctor has not told you it’s OK, they’ve told someone else it’s OK,” said Roisman, who became sober two years ago after treatment at a rehab center run by the nonprofit Caron organization. She blames doctors for failing to “watch what they are prescribing” and parents for failing to understand “just how hard people will work to get what they want when they are an addict,” adding many teens use the drugs to help study. On college campuses, popping Adderall, Ritalin and other prescribed amphetamine-like psychostimulant drugs is a popular way to help cram for tests and cope with academic pressure. Some are legitimately prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, helping sufferers increase alertness, attention and energy. But many use it without prescriptions. Almost 60 percent of students have been offered an opportunity to try prescription stimulants by their junior (third) year of college in the United States, said Amelia Arria, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland’s Center for Drug Abuse Research, which surveyed 1,253 students on drug usage. Health insurers are also feeling the effects. Some face mounting pressure to expand coverage to include substance-abuse disorders. Others are grappling with swindlers who obtain illicit prescription narcotics through fraudulent insurance claims for bogus prescriptions, treating phantom injuries. Such fraud costs health insurers up to $72.5 billion (36.6 billion pounds) a year, according to a 2008 report by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, an advocacy group based in Washington.",
            "output": [
                "U.S grapples with rising prescription drug addiction."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e559f334a25b46a5a776d771c4060c98",
            "input": "“The situation in Ticino is very tense,” said Daniel Koch, head of the Federal Office of Health’s communicable diseases division. The latest count nationwide is up more than 1,200 cases in a day, while the deaths increased 13 from Friday. The local government in Ticino, with so far 918 reported coronavirus cases and 28 deaths, ordered people aged 65 and over to stay home and only leave if they needed to visit the doctor or for work, Swiss radio SRF reported. The government said that family members or specially organized municipal services should deliver food to older citizens while they are restricted to their homes, newspaper Corriere del Ticino said. Seniors and those with health problems have been vulnerable to the virus that causes COVID-19. Italy, just across the border from Ticino, is the epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus crisis, as deaths in that country surged by 793 in a day, lifting the total death toll to 4,825 of 53,578 infected. Speaking at a press conference in Bern, Koch said he had been in touch with Ticino’s top doctor, who had told him the arrival of patients was taxing hospital resources but that there were still sufficient beds to accommodate the critically ill, for now. The Swiss military took delivery of 50 additional ventilators and deployed them in Ticino on Friday, amid a global race by countries to add more potentially life-saving breathing devices needed by critically ill patients to give them a fighting chance of survival. Koch said the 25% rise in Swiss cases in 24 hours did not come as a surprise, given Switzerland only this week heightened restrictions on events and gatherings, including limits on groups in public to five people, with each keeping a 2-meter (6.6-ft) distance, under threat of a 100 Swiss franc ($101.37) fine. The end of the crisis cannot yet be forecast, Koch said, but he expects at least the rate of increase in new cases to begin flattening out in a week or so, as the new limits on freedom of movement temper spread of the disease that has sickened nearly 280,000 globally and killed more than 11,000 people so far.",
            "output": [
                "Swiss coronavirus cases surge, canton orders seniors to stay home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e32decfa57554d1e8fa1ed202beca102",
            "input": "\"Leaders of the U.S. Army need to take more active steps to prevent a growing number of soldiers from committing suicide, according to a major study released by the Army. Gen. Peter Chiarelli discussed the study on This Week with Christiane Amanpour. The study documented complex pressures -- including overly long deployments, more tolerance for high-risk behavior among soldiers and lax standards for leaders keeping tabs on their soldiers. Another complicating factor: increased use of prescription antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and pain medications. \"\"We know that we had over 106,000 soldiers last year who had a prescription of three weeks or more for some kind of antidepressant, anti-anxiety medicine,\"\" said Chiarelli. A few moments later, he added, \"\"A portion of those 106,000 soldiers that I told you are on some kind of pain medication, it has nothing to do with a behavior health issue. There are soldiers who have been on two, three, four deployments, hucking a rucksack filled with equipment that may weigh 70 to 80 pounds at 8,000 feet, and they've got a knee injury or a leg injury that is painful. Probably should stay home and get operated on, but they go back for the second deployment, and they're on some kind of a pain medication. We have soldiers who suck it up all the time and hide from their leaders when they're hurt.\"\" Chiarelli was referring to information in the Army's Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention Report, released Aug. 5, 2010. This seemed like an important issue to explore further. The report explains that historically, the Army's suicide rate has been much lower than the civilian population's. But the Army's rate began increasing in 2004 and surpassed the national average in 2008. That year, the suicide rate in the Army was 20.2 per 100,000, compared with a typical civilian rate of 19.2. This increase prompted the study. \"\"In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, 160 active duty Soldiers took their lives, making suicide the third leading cause of death among the Army population,\"\" the study states. \"\"If we include accidental death, which frequently is the result of high risk behavior (drinking and driving, drug overdose, etc. ), we find that less young men and women die in combat than die by their own actions. Simply stated, we are often more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy.\"\" The report affirms the 106,000 number that Chiarelli uses. \"\"Latest accounts estimate that approximately 106,000 Soldiers are prescribed some form of pain, depression or anxiety medications. The potential for abuse is obvious,\"\" it states. The report also discusses whether these and other prescription drugs are being abused by members of the military:  \"\"There is concern that potential prescription drug abuse is masked in our current system. This is the result of the increase in prescriptions which expands the population authorized to use pharmaceuticals. For example, the growing population who has obtained prescriptions for amphetamines has resulted in an increased rate of authorized use. Unfortunately, there is no definitive method to ascertain if the use was authorized or illicit. As a result, we have masked a subset of that population who are either dependent or illicitly use drugs. Ultimately, if left unchecked, this gap facilitates a population of drug addicts and distributors.\"\" The report also notes that many soldiers are aged 18 to 29, and there are continuing questions about the use of antidepressants -- specifically, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) -- among young people, and whether these medications sometimes increase the risk of suicide. \"\"The Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is cognizant of this issue and is investigating the use of these and other medications to better manage care,\"\" the report states. The report makes additional observations about prescription drug users in the military. Pain medications seem to be more common than antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs; \"\"14% of the force is taking some form of opiate medication,\"\" according to the report. The percentage for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications appear somewhat lower, with between 3 and 6 percent of the deployed force receiving such medication, according to evidence the report cites. Anecdotal evidence in the report indicates some soldiers receive multiple prescriptions for pain and depression. We should emphasize the study draws no hard conclusions about the role that prescription drugs play in military suicides. \"\"The impact of increased use of antidepressant, psychiatric and narcotic pain management medications has not been comprehensively studied in a military population,\"\" the report states. In the interview with Amanpour, Chiarelli rejected the idea that soldiers were overly medicated. \"\"We know that the drugs that we're talking about are cleared by the CENTCOM surgeon for soldiers to be taking when they're downrange. So we're not sending any soldier into harm's way who is taking a drug that we feel would somehow endanger him or others,\"\" he said. Finally, we should note that the report links policing potential drug addiction to military leadership in a section titled \"\"The Lost Art of Leadership in Garrison.\"\" The Army has been transformed in recent years, the report states, so that combat readiness has been emphasized more than \"\"good order and discipline practices.\"\" Unannounced health and welfare checks and inspections \"\"have been lost\"\" as part of that transition. \"\"There are instances where a leader’s lack of Soldier accountability resulted in suicide victims not being found until they had been dead for three or four weeks,\"\" the report noted. While the report raises a host of issues, we're only ruling on what the general said about the rate of medication among soldiers. The Army report and other testimony that we found support Chiarelli's statement that approximately 106,000 soldiers had \"\"a prescription of three weeks or more\"\" for pain, depression or anxiety medication.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"About 106,000 soldiers had \"\"a prescription of three weeks or more\"\" for pain, depression or anxiety medication.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32dca5a5ea3245edab8d7632fa8b4af2",
            "input": "After hearing about a few more episodes Breckenridge had, Berger suggested she get a gate for the top of the stairs, in case Breckenridge were to fall. She then asked Breckenridge if she had set up Alexa, the virtual assistant developed by Amazon, which she had. They then discussed different exercises they had gone over in the past. Berger asked the patient about her arm mobility — asking her to lift her arm — and stability, prompting her to stand up without holding on to anything. After about a 30-minute session, they said their goodbyes and logged off their computers. Berger, a physical therapist, certified dementia specialist and owner of Rehab Smarter, conducted the entire session online. Rehab Smarter is a local telehealth business that provides comprehensive rehabilitation services to patients over the internet. “This has been a saving grace for me,” Breckenridge said. “It’s not because I don’t want to go to the doctor’s office. It’s because I can’t get to them. If I could, I would be there.” The Brunswick resident turned to telehealth services due to her decreased mobility. She is, for the most part, homebound due to having multiple seizures a day. While she has online sessions with doctors, they still recommend that she come into the office at times to run certain tests and other functions that physicians are not yet capable of completing online. She works with Berger through online sessions about twice a week. Working with her is “completely the same” as if she were sitting with Berger face to-face. “Just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean that you can’t get the help that you need,” she said. “People just need to find the help that they need, and sometimes it’s on the internet.” Berger started Rehab Smarter about 18 months ago. She conducts sessions with her patients through an online portal where she can email with them directly, upload videos and add notes for their benefit. Everything is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, compliant. She typically doesn’t do a face-to-face assessment with the patient, but she has gone in-home to see the setup and suggested any modifications to help the patient with mobility. She may also do an initial assessment and meet with the caregiver, if there is one, and ask what the patient’s goals are. “Most of what clinicians do is educate and teach the client how to take care of themselves,” she said. She demonstrates different exercises with her patients online and, with her expertise, can detect muscle strength and functionality by just observing them perform simple tasks. “You can test cognition over the internet, you can test sensation,” she said. “You can’t listen to the heart without special equipment, but that exists.” Her average client has COPD, heart failure, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis, high blood pressure and other conditions, all at once. They turn to telehealth because it’s difficult for them to get out of the home and go to a doctor’s office, although they sometimes do so. “It’s not really home care,” she said. “It’s not really outpatient. It’s a platform for clients that either have maxed out their benefits through traditional means or have prevention and wellness issues that will not be covered. It’s another opportunity for people.” Telehealth can be beneficial to the healthcare provider as well. When Berger provides home care through a company she works for, she can see up to six clients a day and then has hours of paperwork to complete, for insurance purposes. Through virtual care, she can see up to 12 patients with minimal paperwork. Her telehealth service is not covered under insurance, which cuts out a lot of the paperwork. A session can range from $80 to $200. With telehealth, a patient is not limited to one doctor. If Berger finds that a patient needs care in an area in which she’s not an expert, she can consult with a doctor across the country to get the patient the care they need. “So you can now get care by anybody who’s appropriate, wherever you are, at least to a point that you could not have gotten before,” she said. But even with the internet playing such a vital role in the future of medicine, there are still many limitations to telehealth. “You can’t touch a patient,” Berger said. “If you have an abdominal problem and your physician is palpitating your stomach to feel for tension and different things, you can’t do that (over the internet). Blood tests and physical surgeries also can’t be done, at this point in time at least.” Frederick Memorial Hospital is also making headway in telehealth services. The Chronic Care Management Program gives patients tablets, blood pressure monitors, a pulse oximeter and a scale to detect their vitals in the comfort of their own home. They consult with a nurse on the team once a week by phone. By the end of the summer, they plan to have video conferencing, according to Lisa Hogan, a nurse at FMH and the team lead for both the Chronic Care Management and telemonitoring programs. The program took off in 2017 and started with 30 monitors for in-home patients. Today it has 203 in the community. Up to 200 more monitors will be added in 2020. There is already a waiting list to be a part of the program. This past winter, the hospital also launched a separate Virtual Visit Program through Monocacy Health Partners, the hospital’s own physician group. The program is for employees and primary care patients of MHP, according to Alex Nason, director of IT innovation at FMH. Through a series of questions, primary care providers can assess ailments such as upper respiratory infections, flu, cold, rash and pink eye. Although physicians can make diagnoses and write prescriptions after conducting a telehealth session, about 20 percent of the time the provider decides that they would like to see the patient in person. Through these efforts, FMH saw an 84 percent reduction in readmission rates and a 56 percent reduction in emergency room visits in 2018, according to Hogan. “Telehealth as technology has become easier to use, less expensive and more accepted. And the clinical validation is there as more and more parts of health care are embracing it,” Nason said. “I think as the technology advances, the research continues to accrue validation and the economics of healthcare continue to evolve, we’re seeing more and more movement, acceptance and options of telehealth because the stars are starting to align.” ___ Information from: The Frederick (Md.) News-Post, http://www.fredericknewspost.com",
            "output": [
                "Telehealth rises as medium increases in validity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6838e668d1b48baadb84a5503129b67",
            "input": "Five hours later, Soni was dead, one of more than 100 children to die this month from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), or ‘brain fever’, in one district of eastern Bihar state. “I still see her in my dreams,” said Sahana Khatun, Soni’s mother. “I can’t accept she is gone.”  The deaths were preventable, doctors say, if poor families had access to good food, clean water and better medical care in Muzaffarpur district, 80 km (50 miles) from the state capital Patna. The epidemic has sparked a debate over growing inequality in India and focused attention on a free healthcare scheme for the poor - known as “Modicare” after Prime Minister Narendra Modi - eight months after it was launched. The precise causes of AES, which killed more than 350 in Bihar in 2014, are not known, though a majority of medical professionals say it is linked to a ferocious heat-wave that has gripped Bihar for the last month. Some studies have blamed toxins in lychees, a fruit grown in abundance in orchards around Muzaffarpur, though many families told Reuters their children had not eaten them in recent weeks. The victims come from poor families who often suffer from malnutrition and dehydration, doctors in Muzaffarpur said. If caught quickly, AES patients can often recover with simple rehydration treatment, doctors said, but delayed care can lead to convulsions and eventual death. “It is a preventable disease,” said Dr. Chaitanya Kumar at the district’s Kejriwal Maternity Hospital, one of two treating young AES patients. “Glucose and providing meals to some of the poorest districts – these are not expensive things.”   India has world-class hospitals in major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, but rural facilities like those in Muzaffarpur are overstretched, doctors say. The 600-bed Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital in Muzaffarpur has more than 900 patients, a third of them children with AES. Ninety-three AES patients have died at the facility since the outbreak began. Stray goats roam over rubbish and rubble on the hospital grounds. The building has frequent power cuts and the stench of urine lingers in the hallways. The hospital evicted a group of sick inmates from a ward to accommodate the surge in AES patients, but at times there are still two or three children assigned to one bed. “It is incredibly difficult to be a doctor in a place like this,” said Ravikant Singh, a volunteer doctor from Mumbai who was giving rehydration solutions to patients at the hospital. Other doctors said they felt powerless. “I can’t do anything. It is the social conditions that have to change,” said Rajkumar Goenka, secretary of the trust that operates Kejriwal hospital. “The government – state and national – has to do something,” he added. Nearly half of all children in Muzaffarpur are underweight, and a similar number are stunted, or too short for their age, according to government data. In Marwan, a village of thatched huts where many residents belong to one of the lowest rungs in India’s caste system, some children have swollen stomachs – a common sign of malnutrition. Residents interviewed by Reuters said they were unaware of Ayushman Bharat, the program known as ‘Modicare’ launched in 2018 to give India’s poorest free access to private healthcare. Nand Lal Mandhji, 61, whose four-year-old granddaughter died from AES, said the family was given a flyer about the scheme during a hospital visit in May. The family is illiterate and the program was not explained to them, he said. “They gave us something but we didn’t understand what it meant,” he said, clutching the flyer with Modi’s image. Eight families in Marwan with sick relatives said they had never heard of Modicare, and did not receive warnings from authorities about the dangers of AES. “No one comes here. Not politicians, health workers, no one,” said Sahana Khatun, Soni’s mother. ($1 = 69.6350 Indian rupees)",
            "output": [
                "'Brain fever' blamed for India child deaths preventable: doctors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75c8b98fc04a4dd18f0785abdb179fc8",
            "input": "Costs are not discussed, as this is an investigational procedure. The article provides n values and quantifies the results from the first stage of the study. The potential benefits of the test have to do with its ability to rule out malignancy based on X-ray results; thus, the specificity and sensitivity data are particularly relevant. We wish the paragraph on subjects with stage I disease would have quantified the results. It provides no sensitivity or specificity rates to justify the conclusion of the technique’s potential application in early stage disease. Quantified harms are not as pertinent since this a blood test. However, one could infer indirect harms, the false positives and false negatives, from the data provided. The story is up-front about these results being preliminary and from a conference. Ideally, the story should have further described the preliminary nature of these findings, in a way that would have made sense to a lay audience. The results have not been peer-reviewed, and the technique is only being developed based on these data. In other words, the study didn’t assess a technique, they built one to match the data. The strategy hasn’t been tested in a realistic population.As this report was all about a new diagnostic test, is it particularly important to define the groups clearly and the sensitivity/ specificity (and positive predictive value/ negative predictive value). This is where independent expert assessment of these results would have helped clarify their significance and early status. Regarding SomaDX, mentioned offhand, this evidence and its 90% sensitivity isn’t evaluated at all. At the time of this article, the report hadn’t even been officially released by the company, and not independently vetted. The article does not exaggerate the burden of lung cancer, accurately citing ACS statistics and the enormous importance of the disease. It also does not overstate the problem of false positives. An independent source was cited, a meeting attendant, and the SomaLogic quotes were added for context. The latter were good for illustrating that the Dubinett group is not the only game in town working on this type of blood test. Ideally, the article would have had more independent analysis of the specific results. No independent source was used to assess the SomaLogic employee’s claims of their experimental test’s sensitivity. Although the MedPage Today coverage of the study is aimed at a professional medical audience, it provides a good example of some of the critical points outside sources can provide about these type of very early results. Although the article does not identify conflicts of interest, from the MedPage Today article it’s not clear that the investigators disclosed any conflicts of interest in their abstract.",
            "output": [
                "Blood Test for Lung Cancer in the Works"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6c8d252b836d4a6bacf53ea31f202ca9",
            "input": "Hemorrhagic disease is a common infectious disease of white-tailed deer. Outbreaks occur annually in the Southeast. Virginia officials said they’ve received reports from 38 counties involving 180 deer. The worst hit area is in and around Bedford and Franklin counties. Outbreaks are characterized by otherwise healthy-looking deer being found dead or dying near or in the water during late summer and early fall. There is no vaccine or medication to combat the disease. The best predictor of the disease activity is drought. The disease does not pose a threat to humans or domestic pets. Outbreaks typically continue until the first frost kills insects that carry the disease.",
            "output": [
                "Virginia officials say deer deaths caused by viral outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ff81d8967ed43e28283c09eaeb1c744",
            "input": "There is no discussion of cost in this release. The journal article says several institutions refused to provide their prices. Nevertheless, the high cost of robotic surgery is an important issue. The researchers wrote they were unable to say whether those high costs might be offset [or not] by certain potential benefits (such as shorter hospital stays), but the release should have at least acknowledged the cost issues. The release does report the percentage of patients in the robot-assisted and open surgery groups that were still alive with no signs of disease progression two years after their procedures: 72.3 percent of patients in the robotic surgery group compared with 71.6 percent in the open surgery group… and it notes the difference was not statistically significant. It also reports that the robot-assisted surgery patients checked out of the hospital after six days on average, compared to 7 days for those in the open surgery group. The release reports only half as much blood loss in the robot surgery group, but does not report the amounts, which averaged 300 mL in the robot-assisted group vs. 700 mL in the open surgery group… that’s a difference of less than one pint. The release reports that patients who had robot-assisted surgery spent more time in the operating room than those having open procedures (seven hours vs. six hours). It also reports overall rates of adverse effects (67 percent in the robot group vs. 69 percent in the open group), along with listing the most common problems: urinary tract infections and intestinal obstructions. It would have helped if the release had pointed out that these complication rates were not statistically different. In a way, the release is satisfactory and yet maddeningly unsatisfactory. It tells readers that the study was a randomly controlled trial with 350 patients, but it buries the most important point: that the ability of these researchers to do this sort of rigorous trial comparing robot-assisted surgery with open techniques highlights how few such trials are done. Deep in the release, the researchers are quoted as saying the findings “underscore the need for further high-quality trials to assess surgical innovation before this surgical technique is widely adopted in clinical practice” and further that “It is important to conduct these trials before widespread adoption of technology, as has been the case with robotic prostatectomy (removal of the prostate).” The quality of the evidence should have been the lead. The release does not exaggerate the prevalence of bladder cancer. It does not push treatment on those who are unlikely to benefit. The release could be interpreted as promoting a newer more expensive form of therapy that doesn’t provide any advantages over the standard therapy. Although the release reports that the study was supported by the National Cancer Institute, it fails to note the financial disclosures several researchers made about money they have received from companies relevant to this study. The comparison of robot-assisted to open surgery was the main point of the release. The release makes clear that both techniques are available… including at the institution that issued the release. The release could have informed readers that, according to the published paper, that all of the operators in this study had done at least 10 robot-assisted cystectomies before being allowed to participate in the study. When widespread adoption of the robot-assisted procedure occurs, it would be possible that many surgeons would not have completed that many robotic cystectomies. While the release does tell readers that what is really new here is the use of randomization to compare robot-assisted surgery to open surgery for bladder cancer, it manages to bury that lead so deep under the poorly worded description of the results of this non-inferiority trial that the thrust of the release is unsatisfactory. The release doesn’t employ unjustified, sensational language.",
            "output": [
                "Robotic surgery as effective as open surgery for bladder cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96295706d0a247d792b914a41639e5e4",
            "input": "\"There was no discussion of costs of vegetable consumption. Although this could be considered general knowledge, mention of typical costs for vegetables would have been a nice addition. The research on which this story was based compared increasing amounts of vegetable (or fruit and vegetable, or fruit) intake with intake of 0 – 1.1 servings per day. The study actually only found a statistically significant improvement in the rate of decline for individuals eating 2.5 or more servings of vegetables per day. The story said the effect came with “more than two servings of vegetables per day\"\" – which is too imprecise. In addition, the benefit to be obtained through increased vegetable consumption was characterized as people appearing 5 years younger at the end of the six-years or having 40 percent less mental decline   It would have been helpful to provide some idea of the difference this actually represents. The five-year appearance change estimate comes directly from the discussion section of the research paper though the authors of that paper did not provide details on how they arrived at the estimate. This story was not actually about a treatment per se but rather about the possible association between an eating pattern and age-related decline in function. This story reported on a prospective study of cognitive decline in older individuals. Although it did not explicitly mention the nature of the study design, the story included the caveat that the findings don’t prove that vegetables reduce mental decline, but add to mounting evidence pointing in that direction. The story would have been stronger if it had included information on the methodology for assessing dietary intake. No obvious elements of disease-mongering The story used several different sources. This story did not discuss other means to delay or diminish the rate of cognitive decline with age. This story reported on a study of vegetable and fruit consumption in older adults in the Chicago area – vegetables and fruits that are clearly widely available. The story begins, \"\"New research on vegetables and aging gives mothers another reason to say 'I told you so.' \"\"  Clearly, this is not a new idea, but the story is about new evidence. Because the story used multiple sources, it does not appear to have relied solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Vegetables may keep brains young"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba33f85bbffe48778afbc7031af86688",
            "input": "The letters from different parts of Afghanistan express a tangled mix of confusion, resignation and fear. “I live in grief but I smile. People think I am brave but I have no choice,” wrote one unidentified person. The letters, part of a project called Dard-e-Dil (a painful heart) are addressed to U.S. diplomats, the Taliban and government officials. They are being written as high-level talks are underway to find a political settlement to end a war that has raged on for 18 years. “I am writing with a hope that we have a better life in Kabul, we live amidst so much tension, I can do nothing to change the situation but I am still writing,” wrote another person from the Afghan capital. The Dard-e-Dil project aims to give ordinary people an outlet to express their feelings at a time when the peace talks among top officials dominate politics, even though the fighting has not subsided. “The prevailing political uncertainty is clearly the most nerve-racking phase for Afghans, most of us are already battling depression and mental health issues,” said artist Omaid Sharifi, who organized the project. Sharifi’s interest in expressing the feelings aroused by the conflict goes back to his work with ArtLords, an art collective he co-founded that has become famous for the dramatic murals it has painted on grim concrete blast walls around Kabul. His team has installed special letter boxes outside cafes, educational centers, hospitals and government offices, encouraging people to try to deal with their anxieties and voice their opinions about the peace talks in letters. The letters are sorted at the ArtLords studio with the aim of sending them on to government authorities, diplomats and the leaders of the insurgency. More important, though, is the need to help people tell their stories, a basic requirement for mental health, said Sharifi, who struggled with anxiety for years. “Everyone has a right to narrate their story. Some of these stories will highlight and reveal human rights abuses and some will offer hope and solidarity,” he said. Afghanistan has been devastated by decades of war, stretching back to the conflict with the former Soviet Union from late 1979. Violence, instability and poverty have touched virtually every family and many Afghans suffer from mental health problems. However, facilities for treating such illnesses are scarce. Wahid Mayar, a spokesman for the public health ministry, estimated that about half of the population will experience mental stress during their lifetime, a consequence of war often overshadowed by daily struggles. “The suffering of mental illness in Afghanistan is a silent war. If peace comes then we will have to accept the new normal, but currently we are in a phase of tremendous uncertainty,” Mayar said. “The prospect of peace brings hope and anxiety. We wonder can peace ever come to embrace us, to calm our minds,” he said. Accurate data on mental health is not available in Afghanistan but the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates more than a million Afghans suffer from depressive disorders and more than 1.2 million from anxiety disorders. The WHO says the actual numbers are likely much higher. Nobody expects the letter-writing campaign to heal the wounds of more than four decades of conflict but it may allow at least some people to start working through their fears and prepare for an uncertain future. “There are times when I want to run away from my country and then I think I should wait for peace and plan my life here,” wrote one person. “Kabul is always the best place to be.”",
            "output": [
                "Letterbox campaign helps Afghans cope with silent war of mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dbf5a6e8682348afb2da45009076d757",
            "input": "All forms of marijuana were previously prohibited in carry-on bags and checked luggage. On Sunday, TSA updated its “What Can I bring?” guidance under medical marijuana. The FDA in June legalized a drug called Epidiolex, which is used to treat epilepsy in children. The TSA said in a statement that it was recently made aware of the drug and updated the regulations to avoid confusion on whether families can bring it when traveling. The new policy also includes some CBD oil, “as long as it is produced within the regulations defined by the law” under the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp and hemp derivatives. Hemp-derived CBD is low in or has no THC, the chemical that produces a high found in marijuana. The TSA’s new rules still ban other forms of marijuana, including CBD oils that have THC, and cannabis-infused products that are still illegal under federal law. It’s not clear how agents will determine the difference. But while agents screen for potential threats to planes and passengers, they do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs. If they come across anything suspect, they refer it to law enforcement. The change in TSA’s cannabis policy was first reported by Marijuana Moment.",
            "output": [
                "TSA allows flyers to travel with drug derived from marijuana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f15b6d87277c4eacad035b295ebcd675",
            "input": "In the spring of 2019, video footage recorded at the Muslim American Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania engendered a degree of concern, particularly among right-leaning observers who claimed it showed young children singing songs whose lyrics contained violent imagery. The Daily Caller reported that the videos showed “Philly Muslim children chanting about chopping off heads,” the “Behind the News” web site claimed the footage showed the children ‘calling for Jewish genocide,” Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze” web site reported that the children sang about “beheading Jews,” and Fox News wrote: “Disturbing footage of Muslim kids saying they would sacrifice themselves and kill for the ‘army of Allah’ surfaced from an Islamic center in Philadelphia…In the video, translated by MEMRI [the Middle East Media Research Institute], kids can be heard singing: ‘The land of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey is calling us. Our Palestine must return to us.’ “One girl talks about martyrs sacrificing their lives without hesitation to conquer Jerusalem. ‘We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation,’ a second girl says. ‘We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture. '” On 3 May, MEMRI posted portions of the edited video footage along with English subtitles. According to MEMRI, the footage was first published on the Facebook page of the Muslim American Society (MAS) in Philadelphia on 22 April, but that Facebook page was no longer available on 7 May, so we were unable to access the original video footage. However, in a press release on 3 May, MAS said the performance was the result of an oversight, and that it “rejects a statement” made in the video, though the press release did not specify which one: “The Muslim American Society rejects a statement made at an event held in April at a local community center in Philadelphia. The center celebrated ‘Ummah Day’ where children sang songs from their cultural traditions. While we celebrate the coming together of different cultures and languages, not all songs were properly vetted. This was an unintended mistake and an oversight in which the center and the students are remorseful. MAS will conduct an internal investigation to ensure this does not occur again.” The following day, MAS updated its statement to clarify that while the video was recorded at the organization’s building in Philadelphia, the Islamic school responsible for the performance was a separate entity renting the space: The Muslim American Society was alerted yesterday to a disturbing video that came out of Philadelphia. MAS immediately issued a preliminary statement on our website, condemning the words used in the video as we swiftly investigated the matter. MAS’ deep commitment to values of peace, justice, freedom and sanctity of life are clear. As a faith-based organization committed to building a just and virtuous society, we stand strong in our condemnation of hate and violence anywhere, even in the lyrics of a song. Our investigation revealed that the school that organized the event on April 17, 2019 is a separate entity renting space from MAS Philadelphia. The school board has informed us that it has taken immediate actions and dismissed the person in charge of the program. In addition, they will form a local commission to aid in sensitivity training and proper supervision for future programs. Unfortunately, the video from the school was uploaded to the chapter’s Facebook page without verifying the content of the video for appropriateness and making sure it conforms to our hate-free policy and values. The chapter will take further steps in assuring strict adherence to publishing and posting policies. MAS is committed to condemning hate speech everywhere. We reaffirm our commitment to MAS’ core values of justice, peace and protecting the sanctity of human life. We asked MAS several questions about the performance, including whether it regarded the English translation published by MEMRI as fair and accurate, but we did not receive a response to our questions in time for publication. The controversial video footage shows children singing a song and reading something akin to a speech. Snopes engaged a professional Arabic-to-English translator, whose own independent translation vindicated the subtitles published by MEMRI, which were as follows: [Song] Those who accept humiliation – what is the point in their existence? Those who reject oppression are the ones who assert their existence, and they eliminate the injustice from the land of the Arabs. Rebels! Rebels! Rebels! Glorious steeds call us and lead us onto paths leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The blood of martyrs protects us. Paradise needs real men! The land of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey is calling us. Our Palestine must return to us. Oh Saladdin, your men are among us – shame will be washed away! [You need] force and the Quran, oh free people! We must persevere no matter what happens, and with the help of the Omnipotent Lord, day will follow night. Take us, oh ships, until we liberate our lands – until we reach our shores and crush the treacherous ones! Blow, oh winds of Paradise – flow, oh rivers of martyrs! My Islam is calling, who is going to heeds its call? Rise, oh righteous ones! [Speech] Our martyrs sacrificed their lives without hesitation. They attained paradise, and the scent of musk emanates from their bodies. They compete with one another to reach paradise. Will Jerusalem be their capital city? Or will it be a hotbed for cowards? We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation. We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque. And we will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture. Omar Suleiman, professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University, told Snopes that there was no justification for the lyrics of the song, or the content of the speech recited by the children in the footage published by MEMRI, and described the violent imagery as “horrible.” He explained that the song, entitled “Thuwar” (“Rebels”), has its origins in the Palestinian resistance movement and the First Intifada of the late 1980s. Suleiman emphasized that the performance should not be used to “delegitimize [the Muslim American Society] and the work they have done.” He added: “I can say confidently that those song lyrics and the speech, in particular, don’t represent the views of the broader Muslim community.” Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, outreach and education director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Philadelphia, told Snopes that the violent imagery in the lyrics of the song was “not appropriate in an American setting or any setting” and had the potential to “create cross-community discord.”  In the first week of May 2019, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that several local mosques had received threatening phone calls in response to the nationwide coverage of the controversial video footage, and Muslim community leaders had been advised to increase security measures at places of worship. Popular songs with violent lyrics can be found in many different cultures, especially among countries and peoples with a history of armed revolution, uprising and warfare. For example, the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” contains the following lyrics: Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Mugir ces féroces soldats ? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes ! Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons ! Qu’un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons ! These lyrics translate into English as: Do you hear in the countryside The roaring of those fierce soldiers? They’re coming into your arms  To cut the throats of your sons and women. To arms, citizens, Form your battalions, Let’s march, let’s march Let an impure blood water our furrows.",
            "output": [
                "Video footage shows children at a Muslim school in Philadlephia singing a song whose lyrics contained violent imagery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef38af54df6e4596818964f70466992c",
            "input": "Panama’s health minister said the Central American country registered 443 cases of the virus, up from 345 the day before, and there were a total of eight deaths. President Laurentino Cortizo did not specify how long the curfew would be in place, but added there would be “logical exceptions,” including for health workers and certain businesses such as banks and supermarkets. In Guatemala, lawmakers voted on Tuesday to extend the state of emergency due to the coronavirus for another 30 days. The country now has 21 confirmed cases of the infection, the government said.",
            "output": [
                "Panama imposes full-day curfew, Guatemala extends state of emergency."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-894b780f74584bd18dde5677db5c9d3d",
            "input": "Wearing an army cap and saluting from his wheelchair, Piveta left the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia to an ovation from medical staff and a soldier’s trumpet homage. “Winning this battle was for me bigger than winning the war,” he said of his fight against an invisible enemy. “In war you kill or live. Here you have to fight to live,” he added. Piveta was a second lieutenant in the Brazilian Army forces during World War Two and served in Africa. He tested positive for the coronavirus two weeks ago and spent two days in the hospital’s intensive care ward after he developed pneumonia. But he never needed a ventilator and recovered due to his good physical shape derived from life in the military and longevity that runs in his family, the hospital’s director said. Piveta’s release from hospital was a bright moment in an otherwise darkening scenario as the epidemic hit Brazil with force this week. The coronavirus has infected 25,262 people and killed 1,532 people, the health ministry said on Tuesday, with 204 deaths just in the last 24 hours.",
            "output": [
                "'Bigger than winning the war': WWII vet, aged 99, survives coronavirus in Brazil."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d76b2999ae7e42a58ae6a55c2a6ecb85",
            "input": "The study will look at the potential effects of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday announced nearly $900,000 in funding to support a New York state health study of the chemicals. Drinking water in Hoosick Falls, Newburgh and Suffolk County has been contaminated by the toxic chemicals. Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be used to expand a biomonitoring program to assess the impact of PFAS exposure.",
            "output": [
                "New York to get federal funds for PFAS health study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-034cb032c85b418b9ef163b6ba83dee3",
            "input": "The 60-year-old sports fan, a surgeon who started and sold two pharmaceutical companies for a combined $8.6 billion, told Reuters in an interview this week that he wants to use Anschutz concert tours and sports events, and his NFL team’s players, to encourage L.A. school children to adopt healthier lifestyles. “The NFL can do so much for this city,” said Soon-Shiong in an interview at his west Los Angeles office. “Kids really rally around sports and entertainment and it could be a major catalyst to demonstrate what you can do in life by living better.”  Soon-Shiong grew up in South Africa, where he became a doctor in his early 20s and treated tuberculosis victims. After moving to the United States and becoming a surgeon at UCLA, he developed innovative methods to treat diabetes and cancer patients. The sale of his two companies for $8.6 billion made him the wealthiest person in Los Angeles, according to Forbes magazine, although he still is not a household name in the city. Under his plan, players would serve as mentors, encouraging students to eat better and exercise more. The most sophisticated methods used to deal with sports injuries could be shared with local doctors. “It’s important to motivate students in middle and high school. That’s when you can help reduce diabetes and obesity that cause illness,” he said. “Maybe we can turn that illness to wellness.”  If he’s successful in L.A., Soon-Shiong said he intends to make it a national program. Sources say the billionaire is assembling a group of other Los Angeles business and civic leaders to buy AEG. Soon-Shiong did not discuss details of his bid. Sources also said his buyer group includes private equity firm Guggenheim Partners, which this spring led a group that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for $2 billion. AEG, which is owned by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, said on September 19 it had hired Blackstone Advisory Partners to sell the company. It is expected to fetch $6 billion to $8 billion, according to investment bankers with knowledge of its assets. Separately, Los Angeles for years has wanted to bring back a professional football team, and Soon-Shiong acknowledged that he has met with the NFL to lay out his plan to buy a team. AEG owns the Los Angeles Kings pro hockey franchise, the L.A. Galaxy soccer club and a 20 percent stake in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. It owns or operates sports and entertainment arenas worldwide, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and promotes concerts and other live action events. Soon-Shiong’s family foundation has committed $1 billion to transform healthcare and intends to create a national health superhighway by which doctors can share biotech information and other data to improve diagnosis and care. His foundation gave $135 million to the Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica and $100 million to reopen Martin Luther King Hospital, which serves lower income patients in south Los Angeles. A basketball fan who played in pickup games until tearing his Achilles tendon three years ago, Soon-Shiong owns a 5 percent stake in the Lakers, and he said he has become friends with superstar Kobe Bryant and other players, whom he sees as role models for young fans. In March, he and his actress wife, Michelle Chan, endowed the Chan Soon-Shiong Center for Sports Science at Saint John’s, which will focus on sports medicine, physical therapy and stem cell research to help heal injuries. It works with sports medicine doctors, including the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic that treats the Kings, Lakers and L.A. Dodgers. Saint John’s announced the sports science center at a dinner honoring AEG president Tim Leiweke in March, six months before Soon-Shiong showed his interest in the conglomerate.",
            "output": [
                "LA billionaire covets sports teams to promote health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47df7410634a46178a4e36ef78094c44",
            "input": "Tuesday’s unanimous jury decision in San Francisco federal court was not a finding of Bayer’s liability for the cancer of plaintiff Edwin Hardeman. Liability and damages will be decided by the same jury in a second trial phase beginning on Wednesday. Bayer, which denies allegations that glyphosate or Roundup cause cancer, said it was disappointed with the jury’s initial decision. Bayer acquired Monsanto, the longtime maker of Roundup, for $63 billion last year. Bayer shares were 12.5 percent lower at 1110 GMT, the biggest intraday loss in 16 years, wiping some 8 billion euros ($9.1 billion) off its valuation. “This looks like 2-0 plaintiffs, and clearly not helpful for the overall payout calculus and resolution of the litigation,” said Bernstein analyst Gunther Zechmann. Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used weed killer. Monsanto’s Roundup was the first glyphosate-based weed killer but is no longer patent-protected and many other versions are now available. Bayer does not provide sales figures for the product. “We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsanto’s conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardeman’s cancer,” the company said. The case was only the second of some 11,200 Roundup lawsuits to go to trial in the United States. Another California man was awarded $289 million in August after a state court jury found Roundup caused his cancer. That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal. Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer noted that Bayer management announced ambitious targets in December. “(It) is now under pressure to deliver and trying to avoid becoming a target for activist or strategic buyers.”  Activist investor Elliott already holds a stake of less than 3 percent in Bayer, Reuters disclosed last year. Brokerage Warburg lowered its recommendation to “Hold” from “Buy”, arguing that the with the renewed setback upcoming glyphosate court cases would remain a drag on the share price. Bayer had claimed that jury was overly influenced by plaintiffs’ lawyers allegations of corporate misconduct and did not focus on the science. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria called such evidence “a distraction” from the scientific question of whether glyphosate causes cancer. He split the Hardeman case into two phases: one to decide causation, the other to determine Bayer’s potential liability and damages. Under Chhabria’s order, the second phase would only take place if the jury found Roundup to be a substantial factor in causing Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The jury found that it was on Tuesday. Union Investment fund manager Markus Manns cautioned that it was too early to read anything into individual rulings in courts of first instance. “What will be important for Bayer is the outcome of the appeals hearings,” he told Reuters, adding that Bayer should not yet engage in settlement talks. Chhabria has scheduled another bellwether trial for May and a third trial is likely to take place this year. All three cases will be split into causation and liability phases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators have found that glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic to humans. But the World Health Organization’s cancer arm in 2015 reached a different conclusion, classifying glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”",
            "output": [
                "Bayer shares slide after latest Roundup cancer ruling."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2183f88b8b204be9996b8e0b94dc0844",
            "input": "Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of a hospital in eastern Congo that has treated tens of thousands of victims of the country’s conflicts for two decades, and Iraqi activist Nadia Murad received the prize at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. They split the 9-million-kronor ($1 million) amount. In an address interrupted by frequent applause, Mukwege criticized the international community for allowing Congolese to be “humiliated, abused and massacred for more than two decades in plain sight.” “I insist on reparations, measures that give survivors compensation and satisfaction and enable them to start a new life,” he said. “I call on states to support the initiative to create a global fund for reparations for victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts.” He said countries should take a stand against “leaders who have tolerated, or worse, used sexual violence to take power. ... This red line would consist of imposing economic and political sanctions on these leaders and taking them to court.” Dozens of armed groups in Congo profit from mining the country’s trillions of dollars’ worth of mineral resources, many of which are crucial to popular electronic products such as smartphones. “As consumers, let us at least insist that these products are manufactured with respect for human dignity. Turning a blind eye to this tragedy is being complicit,” Mukwege said. An outspoken critic of Congo’s government, he added: “My country is being systematically looted with the complicity of people claiming to be our leaders.” Murad, a member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, was kidnapped and sexually abused by Islamic State militants in 2014. She became an activist after escaping and finding refuge in Germany. She told the ceremony that she wants world leaders to translate sympathy for victims into action against the abusers. “The fact remains that the only prize in the world that can restore our dignity is justice and the prosecution of criminals,” Murad said. “Young girls at the prime of life are sold, bought, held captive and raped every day. It is inconceivable that the conscience of the leaders of 195 countries around the world is not mobilized to liberate these girls,” she said. “What if they were a commercial deal, an oil field or a shipment of weapons? Most certainly, no efforts would be spared to liberate them,” she said. Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that chooses the peace laureates, also said action was necessary. “This award obligates Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad to continue their vital work. But the award obligates us to stand side by side with them in the struggle to end wartime sexual violence,” she said. Back in Iraq, Murad’s sister and brother who live in a camp for displaced Yazidi people in Dohuk in northern Iraq expressed their happiness for their sibling’s Nobel Prize. “We are very happy, because on this date, Daesh was defeated in Iraq, on the same day Nadia is receiving her award ... This is like a tumor in the chest of Daesh. We are very glad, and very proud,” her sister Khayriya Murad told The Associated Press at the family’s caravan where a photo of Nadia hung on the wall. She was busy receiving congratulations from friends and camp management staff. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. The winners of the medicine, physics, chemistry and economics Nobels received their awards Monday in Stockholm; no winner of the literature prize was named this year. In comments at the awards banquet, William Nordhaus, an American who shared the economics prize for his work studying the consequences of climate change and proposing carbon taxes, took a swipe at those who are unwilling to address global warming. “Some obstacles are unnecessary and manmade, such as those posed by the financial interests of polluters or the ludicrous arguments of some of our politicians,” he said. He shared the prize with Paul Romer, also of the United States, who was honored for studying how economies can encourage innovation. The chemistry prize went to Americans Frances Arnold and George Smith and Britain’s Gregory Winter for work that speeds up the evolution of proteins and enzymes. James Allison of the United States and Japan’s Tasuku Honjo shared the medicine prize for discoveries in activating the body’s immune system to fight cancer. The physics prize was awarded to Donna Strickland of Canada, Gerard Mourou of France and Arthur Ashkin of the U.S. for developments in laser technology. ___ Associated Press writer David Keyton reported in Stockholm and AP writer Jim Heintz reported from Moscow. AP writer Rashid Yahya in Dohuk, Iraq, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Nobel Peace winners urge global action vs. sexual violence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4364335571a4972bae70d3becc7d066",
            "input": "The government-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences also found that the Mexican gray wolf of New Mexico and Arizona is a subspecies, which advocates say should support conservation efforts. Another wolf species, the Western gray wolf, is thriving in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes and could lose federal protections under a proposal released earlier this month. For red wolves, the affirmation of their genetic uniqueness comes after some North Carolina officials and a small but vocal group of landowners pushed the government to abandon recovery efforts, arguing the animal is a coyote hybrid. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Laury Parramore declined to comment on the agency-funded study beyond a statement saying it was under review. Red wolves once occupied much of the Eastern U.S. but were driven to near extinction by trapping, hunting and habitat loss. Some of the last red wolves in the wild were removed from portions of Louisiana and Texas in 1980 and used in a captive breeding program. Their descendants were later reintroduced to a wildlife refuge along North Carolina’s coast. An estimated 35 wild red wolves remained as of late 2018, down from about 120 a decade ago. Their range is currently limited to five North Carolina counties. Another 200 live in captive breeding programs. Acknowledging longstanding questions among some scientists about red wolf ancestry, federal wildlife officials said last year they would treat it as a distinct species while awaiting Thursday’s report. The nine-member national academy panel found that the red wolf is unique based on its DNA, its behavior and its size, which is larger than a coyote and smaller than a gray wolf. While the red wolf appears more closely related to coyotes than gray wolves, red wolves diverged as their own species long ago, said Joseph Travis, chair of the national academy panel and a biology professor at Florida State University. “There’s clearly been introduction of coyote genes and gray wolf genes into red wolves. But they also have genes not seen in coyotes and gray wolves,” Travis said in an interview. “They must have continuity with some ancestor which was not a gray wolf or coyote.” Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the nonprofit Wildlands Network, said he had been waiting on “pins and needles” to see what the panel decided. “That should be a kick in the butt for the Fish and Wildlife Service to stop the quiet negligence of letting the species go extinct in the wild,” he said. A government plan to further shrink the territory where red wolves roam stalled last year when a judge ruled officials were neglecting their duty to protect the animals under the Endangered Species Act. That same plan would have allowed landowners to kill any wolves that strayed from the proposed smaller territory consisting of federal land in two counties. Conservationists accused the federal agency of neglecting the animals under political pressure and abandoning proven conservation techniques, such as releasing captive bred pups. In 2015, North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission passed a resolution urging an end to the federal program, saying “the purity of the red wolf genome is questionable” after hybridization with coyotes. Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis has also urged its end. The study released Thursday had been ordered by Congress as part of a 2018 appropriations bill. ___ Brown reported from Billings, Montana.",
            "output": [
                "Government-funded study says red wolves are distinct species."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28644b11f1124b2a907b3f83e0b48a1e",
            "input": "The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) rejected Lemtrada for launch in the world’s biggest drug market on the grounds that Genzyme had not shown its benefits outweighed its “serious adverse effects”, Sanofi said on Monday. The FDA also demanded Sanofi carry out further clinical trials using different designs and methods prior to approval, Sanofi said. The company said it strongly disagreed with the decision and planned to appeal. The FDA ruling could impact the value of Sanofi’s Genzyme takeover, since the latter’s shareholders had received so-called contingent value rights (CVRs) entitling them to future payments of up to $14 a share if certain goals were met. The CVRs, which are traded in the United States under their own stock market quote, slumped 63 percent to an all-time low of 30 cents. They were worth $2.10 in October, but tumbled the following month after a review by an advisory panel to the FDA raised questions over the design of the clinical trial and Lemtrada’s potential to cause cancer and other conditions. Shares in Sanofi were down 0.9 percent at 75.88 euros at 1522 GMT, the biggest losers in a flat CAC 40. Germany’s Bayer, which has an option to co-promote Lemtrada in the United States, saw its shares fall 1 percent. Sanofi said on Monday it did not expect to meet the CVR milestone of U.S. approval for Lemtrada by the end of March. Other milestones are related to the drug’s sales and would likely be hard to reach without the U.S. market. Analysts on average had expected Lemtrada to generate annual sales of $707 million by 2018, according to forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters. “Genzyme’s takeover was about catching up in biologics, having a greater footprint in the United States, and also largely for Lemtrada,” said Eric Le Berrigaud, analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. “This is unquestionably a setback, as without a U.S. market such a product doesn’t have the same potential.”  The brokerage, which had forecast peak Lemtrada sales of $400 million in the United States, said it was scrapping the U.S. market from its forecasts. It argued it would take Sanofi at least three years to conduct the studies demanded by the FDA, and that, given an increasingly crowded market for MS drugs, it could opt out of what could be a lengthy and costly process. But Renaud Murail, a fund manager at Barclays Bourse, said Monday’s development was no big surprise for investors who had already factored in the risk of U.S. rejection. “Genzyme remains Sanofi’s gem and this is only a half-defeat,” he said. A U.S. law firm acting on behalf of purchasers of the CVRs has launched a class action alleging Sanofi misled investors over Lemtrada’s efficacy, safety and prospects. A Sanofi spokesman said it was reviewing the FDA letter and evaluating its next steps, including the appeal timeline. Genzyme chief David Meeker said: “We strongly believe that the clinical development program, which was designed to demonstrate how Lemtrada compares against an active comparator as opposed to placebo, provides robust evidence of efficacy and a favorable benefit-risk profile.”  Lemtrada is designed to treat relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease. It was approved in September by European regulators in a market dominated by rivals Biogen Idec, Novartis and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, autoimmune condition which affects more than 2 million people worldwide and up to 500,000 in the U.S. It attacks the central nervous system and can cause muscle weakness, pain and cognitive difficulties. Lemtrada is given via an intravenous drip and designed to reprogram the immune system, but can make the body more vulnerable to other diseases. The multiple sclerosis market is increasingly moving away from injectable treatments in favor of pills such as Novartis’ Gilenya and Biogen Idec’s Tecfidera. Some analysts expect that Lemtrada, partly handicapped by its risk profile and injectable form, will be reserved for patients for whom other treatments are ineffective. Sanofi also has an oral treatment, Aubagio, developed by Genzyme and which has already been approved in the U.S. and Europe. Analysts on average expect Aubagio sales to reach $854 million by 2018, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1 = 0.7258 euros)",
            "output": [
                "Sanofi MS drug suffers setback in key U.S. market."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-81c0b49d68b84175a2d135f690f0a6d3",
            "input": "The Idaho State Journal reports that last year there were nearly 6,600 STD cases, including HIV, up from fewer than 6,300 in 2016. Cases are also up nationally, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing last week that nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were diagnosed in the United States in 2017. Kimberly Matulonis-Edgar of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says experts in the state and across the country are struggling to understand what’s driving the increase. The most prevalent STDs reported nationally and in Idaho are gonorrhea and chlamydia. State health officials say that the rate of reported gonorrhea cases in Southeast Idaho fell about 14 percent from a year ago, but jumped more than 200 percent in south-central Idaho. ___ Information from: Idaho State Journal, http://www.journalnet.com",
            "output": [
                "Health experts alarmed by jump in STDs in Idaho."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be2db42888f44212b28e66e5419bfca6",
            "input": "\"The story says gum costs \"\"a few pennies.\"\" The study itself puts the cost at 4 cents per stick. The report does a good job of handling the statistics, with proper caveats. The story reports: The story does include a comment from a physician who warns that someone chewing gum after surgery may swallow air, which can create problems. The story explains that the findings come from an analysis of five studies, alluding to the fact that this was a meta-analysis. The story could have given a line about the quality of such evidence. The story does not exaggerate the complications following colon surgery. The story is based on a credible meta-analysis published in a top-shelf journal. The report includes comments from both a study co-author and a skeptical independent expert. The independent expert interviewed offers an alternative to chewing gum to speed recovery–introducing liquids and then foods after surgery. He also recommends avoiding the use of pain killers to speed recovery time. The availability of sugarless chewing gum is not in dispute. The story makes no claims for the novelty of the treatment. By indicating the meta-analysis is based on five previous studies, the article implies it’s been used before. The story does not draw excessively from the press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: You can chew gum and get well at same time"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de327fa1dd904782b173a8948a0fd426",
            "input": "We would have liked to have seen a little more information on costs, but we are glad that costs are mentioned up high. In the third sentence, the story says, “The surgery necessary to allow deep brain stimulation is extremely expensive” Later it says, “The cost of the surgery is about $50,000”. It would have been interesting to note whether deep brain stimulation is covered by Medicare or any insurance companies for treatment of any disorders, including Parkinson’s. The story attempts to quantify the benefits in both relative and absolute terms, but it leaves readers confused because of the shifting nature of the study cohort. It looks as if the study started with 17 patients but then later it says that the study looked at 14 patients. It says, “The researchers found that 18 percent of patients went into remission after 24 weeks, 36 percent (of 14 patients) after one year. After two years, of the 12 patients still in the study, seven patients (58 percent) were in remission.” The change in the number appears to be because the researchers stopped doing the deep brain stimulation on three patients, a fact that is not fully explored in the story. This all would have been more easily explained and less confusing if the story had just stuck with the absolute numbers. If you try to do the math on 18 percent of 14 patients, for example, you get 2.52 patients. Was it two patients? Was it three? Why not just tell readers x number out of x number? There’s just one line in the story about harms: “Patients didn’t suffer from side effects, she noted.” The story also says, “The workings of deep brain stimulation as a whole are a mystery, although Mayberg said it may work by changing the brain’s rhythms.” If how it works is a mystery, we think a little more space should have been devoted to potential harms. There were a total of 8 adverse events related to either the surgery or the device, two of which were deemed serious (infection). The story misses these events entirely. The story cautiously explains the evidence and the reasons for the optimism around the evidence. It shows that the study is in a very small group of people — just 17. But it also shows that the study followed them for two years. However, while providing some of the important caveats, it fails to note that there were no control subjects. While the results may appear encouraging, they are by no means definitive without a control group. Nonetheless, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this one. The story does not engage in disease mongering and makes it clear that it is “too early to know for sure if the treatment is appropriate to be used for any kind of depression.” The story says that the St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation company “provided consulting fees to Mayberg and some of the other study authors” and “is currently recruiting patients for a study that could pave the way for its approval as a treatment for depression.” The story also quotes Samuel James Collier, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Austin, who provides a welcome dose of skepticism to the story, saying “Medications and ECT — electroconvulsive therapy — are clearly safer, better tolerated, and do not embody a large surgical risk. …I can’t think of a scenario where deep brain stimulation would be considered even remotely before medications and ECT were exhausted.”  The story alludes to other treatment options, including medications and electroconvulsive therapy, and it quotes an outside expert saying that these are preferable. The story makes it clear that the treatment is widely available, saying, “Deep brain stimulation has been around for more than 20 years…and is commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease.” There are no claims of novelty made in the story. The story does not rely on this press release from Emory University.",
            "output": [
                "Study Looks at Deep Brain Stimulation in Bipolar Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29686fde7c4142159119da16d969c615",
            "input": "They include the first female physics prize winner in 55 years. Canada’s Donna Strickland, of the University of Waterloo, becomes only the third woman to win a Nobel for physics, after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories in the United States won half of the 2018 prize for inventing “optical tweezers”, while Strickland shared the remainder with Frenchman Gerard Mourou, who also has U.S. citizenship, for work on high-intensity lasers. “Obviously we need to celebrate women physicists,” Strickland said shortly after learning of the prize. The Nobel prizes have long been dominated by male scientists, and none more so than physics. Strickland is the first female Nobel laureate in any field in three years. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said last year it would seek to more actively encourage nominations of women researchers to begin addressing the imbalance. Strickland later spoke of how her predecessor, Goeppert Mayer, had been “allowed to follow her husband from job to job while he ... went up the ranks as a professor”, while she was only allowed to teach or do unpaid research. “Women have come a long way,” she told a news conference in Canada. Her win comes a day after Europe’s physics research center CERN suspended an Italian scientist, Alessandro Strumia, for telling a seminar at the organization’s Swiss headquarters last week that physics was “invented and built by men” and that women were now being favored in hiring for research positions. Jessica Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who was at the CERN event and unhappy about Strumia’s comments, said having a female Nobel winner was also important given the current fight over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is facing sexual misconduct allegations. “This news could not come at a better time,” Wade told Reuters. “After a week where a woman has been forced to describe her sexual assault to a live television audience of billions, and an academic at a prestigious university has said that women are unfairly promoted into senior positions in physics, even I – the eternal optimist – was starting to lose hope.”  The inventions by the three scientists awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics date back to the mid-1980s and over the years they have revolutionized laser physics. “Advanced precision instruments are opening up unexplored areas of research and a multitude of industrial and medical applications,” the academy said on awarding the nine million Swedish crown ($1 million) prize. Ashkin’s work was based on the realization that the pressure of a beam of light could push microscopic objects and trap them in position. A breakthrough came in 1987, when he used the new optical tweezers to grab living bacteria without harming them. At 96, Ashkin is the oldest ever Nobel prize winner, but he is still busy with fresh research. “I am busy working right now, writing an important paper on solar energy,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I’m surprised,” Ashkin said about winning the prize. “A guy called me up on the phone and woke me up.”  Mourou and Strickland’s research centered on developing the most intense laser pulses ever created by humans, paving the way for the precision instruments used today in corrective eye surgery and industrial applications. The prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace have been awarded since 1901 in accordance with the will of Swedish business tycoon Alfred Nobel, whose discovery of dynamite generated a vast fortune used to fund the prize. Physics is the second of this year’s crop of prizes and comes after the medicine prize was awarded on Monday for  discoveries about how to harness and manipulate the immune system to fight cancer. However, for the first time in decades no Nobel Prize for literature will be given this year after a scandal over sexual misconduct allegations saw a string of members leave the board of the Swedish Academy that awards it. Nobel laureates graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2y6ATVW  ($1 = 9.0113 Swedish crowns)",
            "output": [
                "Physics Nobel for laser pioneers includes first woman in 55 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8436c85c4a5b46dea007a9ef86c2d6f2",
            "input": "Even though it’s “early days” for this strategy we’d like to see some mention of costs, if not for the proposed therapy then a related one, or the societal costs of combating MRSA. The release didn’t shy away from forecasting potential treatment benefits based on this early research — so we’d like to see the same approach applied to costs. The news release accurately reports the benefits of the SecA inhibitors over antibiotics. The study considered three traits to be desirable in an antimicrobial. Numerical evidence that SecA inhibitors are preferable over existing antibiotics is reported for two of the traits: potency and inhibiting virulence factor production. However, the news release fails to quantify the advantages of the proposed SecA inhibitors in overcoming the negative effect of efflux pumps on potency. Any new drug developed from this research would have side effects. But whereas the release is optimistic in forecasting that such drugs would be effective treatments for MRSA, it doesn’t also caution that such drugs might cause harm. At the very least, a statement about the fact that potential harms are unknown would have been helpful. The news release makes no attempt to summarize the design of the study nor does it state that the research is based on work in cell cultures and not in patients. In cases where the news value of a release is hinged on the risk the public will perceive of a disease or malady, it is incumbent on the release to point out if this is a cell culture study or a clinical one. And although it is mentioned that the SecA inhibitors are more potent than existing antibiotics on the market, the news release does not seem to grasp that the study is comparing the efficacy in three arenas simultaneously: 1) potency, 2) capability of inhibiting virulence factor production, and 3) overcoming the negative effect of efflux pumps on potency. The release relates to the public’s concern over antibiotic-resistant infections like those caused by MRSA but it doesn’t reach the level of disease-mongering. The release notes the study’s funding sources are the National Institutes of Health and Georgia State’s Center for Biotechnology and Drug Design and Molecular Basis of Diseases Program. No conflicts of interest are disclosed in the release or published study results. The release mentions that there are antibiotics currently used to treat MRSA infections. More detail regarding the effectiveness of these antibiotics and rates of antibiotic resistance would have been welcome. We’ll rate this Satisfactory, since we think most readers will come away understanding that there are no currently available treatments based on this approach. But the release doesn’t explicitly establish the lack of availability of such treatments. Nor does it say how far we might be from having such treatments. Had there been some acknowledgment of the fact that this study was done in cell culture and not people, it would have been clearer that such treatments are not available and won’t be any time soon. The news release does an admirable job framing the context of the study. We are made to understand that the researchers of the study have previously published results on a similar antimicrobial strategy inhibiting SecA for different types of bacteria. The current study examines the efficacy of this strategy for MRSA. The news release concludes with a reference to the most recent study by this same team of researchers, confirming SecA inhibitors are broad-spectrum antimicrobials. We’re rating this Satisfactory for balance and having an objective voice but we think readers would appreciate more explanation of technical terms and concepts.",
            "output": [
                "Promising new antimicrobials could fight drug-resistant MRSA infection, study finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad4473b6364147e1b2300d310da2218e",
            "input": "Gregory Ferraro was elected Thursday during the board’s meeting at Del Mar racetrack north of San Diego. He was appointed to the governing body five months ago by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Ferraro noted the board has a mandate from Newsom’s office to focus on the health and safety of horses in the wake of 37 horse deaths at Santa Anita since last December. “We have made several important new regulations and changes. There are many more to come,” Ferraro said. “We will gradually eliminate medication. We expect opposition to many of these, but we are determined to carry them out.” Ferraro served as director of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Center for Equine Health from 1997 to 2014. He owned his veterinary practice from 1972 to 1997. He earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from UC Davis and is a member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Ferraro of San Francisco succeeds Chuck Winner, who ended his tenure as board chairman in October. Oscar Gonzales was elected as vice chairman, succeeding Madeline Auerbach, who retired earlier this month.",
            "output": [
                "California Horse Racing Board elects vet as new chairman."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1f65521cddc45bbaccbd885f0c6842e",
            "input": "\"As gun policy takes a central role in New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race, Democrat Maggie Hassan is warning that terrorists are trying to exploit federal laws to obtain firearms. Hassan brought up the point in the first televised debate against Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte. \"\"With her solution, terrorists can still today — and by the way ISIS knows it, they have been advertising it — buy guns online and at gun shows in the United States of America,\"\" Hassan said on the debate stage at New England College. Is it really a point terrorists are spreading? Let’s look. PolitiFact has already looked into Hassan’s claim that Ayotte voted against a proposal to expand background checks and found it . Here we are going to look at what ISIS says about buying guns in America. Hassan’s camp pointed us to a series of news articles in which members of various terrorist groups talk about the ease of getting guns in the U.S. A former Islamic State recruit told the New York Times in August that the terrorist group tries to draw its recruits from within the U.S. because they can buy guns without a middleman. \"\"For America and Canada, it’s much easier for them to get them over the social network, because they say the Americans are dumb — they have open gun policies,\"\" Harry Sarfo told the Times from a German prison, when explaining attitudes within the terror group. \"\"They say we can radicalize them easily, and if they have no prior record, they can buy guns, so we don’t need to have a contact man who has to provide guns for them.\"\" Hassan’s camp also directed us to a 2011 video featuring American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn in which he talked about lax gun laws in the U.S. and urged followers to take advantage of them. \"\"America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms,\"\" Gadahn said, according to CNN. \"\"You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?\"\" Gadahn was with al-Qaeda, not ISIS. Still, he urged terrorists to buy guns in the United States and use them against Western governments. Those two examples are enough to show that terrorists have advertised the U.S. gun laws, and \"\"it is something they think about internally,\"\" said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Still, it’s difficult to determine if these are part of a widespread advertising campaign, or just isolated examples. A lof of ISIS communication is never circulated on the internet, Gartenstein-Ross cautioned. On other occasions, PolitiFact has examined whether people can buy guns without background checks. Currently federal law requires prospective gun buyers undergo background checks when they buy guns from federally licensed dealers -- but there are notable exceptions. Anyone who repeatedly buys and sells firearms \"\"with the principal motive of making a profit\"\" has to get a dealer’s license, whether they deal out of a brick-and-mortar store, at a flea market, or online, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Licensed firearm dealers must run background checks on non-licensed buyers before selling them a gun. But the law does not require a dealer’s license for private hobbyists and others who occasionally buy and sell guns for the purpose of enhancing or liquidating a collection. So if an individual buys a gun from a hobbyist over the Internet, or at a gun show, he or she would not be subject to a background check. It’s worth noting that private sales, online or otherwise, cannot take place across state lines, so the buyer and seller must be in the same state. And there are many restrictions on shipping guns, so the actual transfer of the gun is likely to take place in person. Second, it is illegal for private sellers to transfer a gun to someone they either know or reasonably believe is prohibited from owning a gun, for example, if the seller knows the buyer is a felon. But online sellers \"\"can give themselves plausible deniability by not asking the necessary questions,\"\" Garen Wintemute, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of California Davis, has previously told PolitiFact. Additionally, several states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington — and the District of Columbia require background checks for all private gun sales. There is a sizeable online market for private, background check-free gun sales, according to a 2013 study by Third Way, a center-left think tank. Focusing on the website Armslist.com, a sort of Craigslist for firearms and accessories, in 10 states, Third Way found 2,000 ads from individuals looking to purchase guns from private sellers specifically. Congressional efforts to expand background checks for purchases made at gun shows or online have failed. A recent review by the New York Times found the majority of guns used in 16 recent mass shootings were obtained legally, including the attack in Orlando that left nearly 50 people dead. The shooter in that incident, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before he gunned down patrons at the Pulse nightclub. Our ruling Hassan said the Islamic State knows its followers can buy firearms \"\"online and at gun shows\"\" and is \"\"advertising it.\"\" An interview in the New York Times with a former Islamic State recruit shows group members acknowledge American recruits can buy guns, so long as they don’t have a record. And a 2011 video from an al Qaeda spokesman urges terrorists to buy guns in the United States and use them against Western governments. There is little evidence to suggest a widespread advertising campaign, but it’s hard to tell, because not all ISIS communication is on the Internet, either.\"",
            "output": [
                "With her solution, terrorists can still today — and by the way ISIS knows it, they have been advertising it — buy guns online and at gun shows in the United States of America."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c96ca4d3f17340528144e0274c092e9f",
            "input": "On April 23, 2020, social media users encountered numerous comments that claimed U.S. President Donald Trump had suggested injecting disinfectants as a cure for COVID-19 during a White House press briefing. As many of these comments included jokes instead of a link to Trump’s alleged remarks, some people were left wondering what Trump actually said about disinfectants, injections, and COVID-19. The comment in question came shortly after a presentation by William N. Bryan, the acting undersecretary for science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about how heat and humidity could impact the spread of COVID-19 during the summer months. Bryan mentioned a recent, non-peer-reviewed study that showed how disinfectants and sunlight could kill the coronavirus on non-porous surfaces such as counters or door handles. Bryan’s presentation focused on how light and disinfectants affected the coronavirus on surfaces. But when Trump took the podium, he started talking about what would happen if light and disinfectants were “brought inside the body” to fight the virus. Here’s the official White House transcript of Trump’s remarks (emphasis added): THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting. ACTING UNDER SECRETARY BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could. THE PRESIDENT: Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me. So we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful. Trump made this comment following a presentation on how sunlight and disinfectant affect the coronavirus. This presentation prompted Trump to discuss a question he said “probably some of you are thinking of” concerning what would happen if you “brought the light inside the body.” As Trump continued, he also offered his thoughts on how disinfectants could be brought inside the body “by injection.” While Trump noted that this method would have to be checked by doctors, he said it sounded interesting to him. The remarks spurred widespread condemnation from health officials, who issued statements urging people not to inject or ingest cleaning products. Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert and NBC News contributor, said: “This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible, and it’s dangerous. It’s a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves.” Reckitt Benckiser, the British company that manufacturers Lysol and Dettol, published a statement on its website saying that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body”: Due to recent speculation and social media activity, RB (the makers of Lysol and Dettol) has been asked whether internal administration of disinfectants may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information. While medical experts and cleaning-supply companies feared Trump’s suggestion that disinfectants could be injected as a treatment for COVID-19 could result in people poisoning themselves by ingesting or injecting cleaning products, some of the president’s supporters claimed his remarks were taken out of context. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany noted that Trump also told Americans to consult with their doctors regarding coronavirus treatments. “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines,” she said. Other Trump defenders noted that Trump clarified later in the briefing that disinfectants would not, in fact, be administered “through injections,” but the “clarification” itself was less than clear.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. President Donald Trump suggested during a White House briefing that injecting disinfectants could treat COVID-19. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72f74482e0e8441facc79db667b37069",
            "input": "\"On one of the biggest issues in the 2016 Republican primary -- immigration -- Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was nothing if not consistent during the second GOP presidential debate. Cruz, angling to be the primary field’s most hard-line candidate against illegal immigration, said at the CNN Reagan Library debate, \"\"A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty.\"\" That was similar to something he said at the first debate, held in Cleveland and aired by Fox News in August -- that \"\"a majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty.\"\" We checked that claim and gave it a rating of . The stages were similar for the two debates, with the addition of former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the second debate. Does Cruz’s claim hold up? As we noted in our previous fact-check, the tough part of checking this claim is that \"\"amnesty\"\" is a vague term. Some consider amnesty to be anything less than deporting all illegal immigrants, while others think of amnesty as letting immigrants stay with no punishment or additional requirements. Cruz has been adamantly opposed to a pathway to citizenship, but he’s been quiet on whether he would support some other legal status for illegal immigrants. We’ve previously found that in modern politics, the standard for amnesty is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, supported and signed by President Ronald Reagan. The law allowed illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents if they met certain standards, such as proving they had been in the country for several years and paying back taxes and a fine. After meeting other requirements, the legal permanent residents could apply for a green card and eventually make their way toward citizenship. The law was widely described as an amnesty program. We do know Cruz considered the 2013 bipartisan Senate immigration proposal to be a form of amnesty and opposed the bill. The failed bill was similar to the Reagan law in that immigrants had to meet certain requirements before gaining legal status that put them on a path to citizenship, though the requirements are more stringent than the previous law. So we’ve used that bill as a rough standard for evaluating the positions of those who shared the debate stage with Cruz. We’ll also note that since Cruz used the past tense -- \"\"previously and publicly embraced amnesty\"\" -- we’re only interested in whether the candidates have taken this position in the past, not whether they do now, or whether they have gone back and forth on the policy. Three members of the debate field have expressed outright support for the Gang of Eight bill, so called after the bipartisan group of eight senators who proposed it in 2013. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., by Cruz’s standards, has been a clear supporter of amnesty, as he was a member of the Gang of Eight. At the time, he said the bill was \"\"not amnesty,\"\" and we rated that claim Half True because of the vague nature of the term \"\"amnesty.\"\" Since then, Rubio has softened his support for a path to citizenship and emphasized border security, but he still supports passing immigration legislation. Fellow Floridian Jeb Bush, the former governor, said in March 2015 that he would put his support behind a Gang of Eight-style immigration bill that included a path to citizenship. Like Rubio, though, Bush insisted at the debate that his position is not amnesty, because his ideal plan requires illegal immigrants to meet certain requirements before gaining legal status. Recently, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has avoided saying whether he would support a path to citizenship, though he has suggested he would not blanket deport all illegal immigrants. But in 2013, asked by Fox if he would side with Cruz or the Gang of Eight, Huckabee said he would choose the latter -- though he emphasized an eventual immigration bill had to emphasize border security. He has also previously endorsed a path to citizenship. Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., did not support the Gang of Eight bill because he said it did not include strong enough provisions for ensuring reduced illegal immigration in the future. But in a March 2015 speech, Paul walked a fine line, supporting a path to some sort of normative legal status, though without using the word \"\"citizenship.\"\" For the remaining candidates, we could not find their opinions on the Gang of Eight bill specifically, but all four have at some point said they supported a path either to citizenship or legal status, even if their position has since changed. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker no longer supports a path to citizenship, but he said in 2013 that \"\"it makes sense\"\" people could not only stay in the United States but get citizenship after overcoming penalties, waiting periods and other requirements. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has declined to comment on the Gang of Eight bill. He has said that the solution for illegal immigrants currently in the United States is for them to go back to their home country, where they can apply for a visa and return legally. In Carson’s 2012 book, America the Beautiful, he said a path to citizenship is a moral choice. In 2010, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he supported a \"\"common-sense path to citizenship.\"\" But this year, he said he’s changed his mind and no longer supports such a path. Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in 2014 and 2015 that he isn’t keen on a path to citizenship, but he’s open to the possibility -- especially because you can’t deport everyone who is already here, and it would help get lawmakers to a point of compromise on immigration legislation. Despite his fiery rhetoric regarding Mexican immigrants, real estate mogul Donald Trump hasn’t said many specifics about what he’d do regarding the illegal immigrants already here. He has said this year that he would support a \"\"merit-based\"\" system for some illegal immigrants earning their right to stay, echoing comments he made in 2011. Finally, the newcomer to the main debate stage -- Fiorina -- has also stated publicly that she is open to a path to legal status for at least some undocumented immigrants. In a June 2015 appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, she said, \"\"I think legal status is a possibility for sure. I think their children maybe can become citizens.\"\" Our ruling Cruz said at the second Republican debate, \"\"A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty.\"\" We’ll reiterate that many of these candidates have changed their position on what to do about undocumented immigrants already in the United States, and we’ll note once again that the definition of \"\"amnesty\"\" isn’t hard and fast. So what Cruz may consider amnesty might not be what any of these candidates considers to be amnesty. Still, as far as we can tell, Cruz is the only one on the CNN debate stage who has never plainly supported something like a path to citizenship or some other form of legal status.\"",
            "output": [
                "A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88ede81481644aad8376dbcb8bffe7a4",
            "input": "The green light for the combined use of Tafinlar, also known as dabrafenib, and Mekinist, or trametinib, from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the first of its kind for a form of the disease with a specific genetic profile. Both drugs are already approved for separate use but GSK believes they will have a longer-lasting effect if given together. Industry analysts also see a combination offering the greatest commercial potential. Tafinlar, which is similar to Roche’s rival medicine Zelboraf, is designed to work in patients with a mutation of a gene known as BRAF. So-called BRAF inhibitors have been remarkably effective in shrinking melanoma tumors but most patients eventually develop resistance to the drugs. By combining Tafinlar with Mekinist, which works in a different way, the hope is that the cancer will be held at bay for longer. The FDA approval, which was announced late on Wednesday, covers the treatment of melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery or which has spread to other organs. Melanoma is diagnosed in nearly 160,000 people worldwide each year. It can spread quickly to internal organs and average survival is six to nine months.",
            "output": [
                "GSK melanoma drug combination wins accelerated U.S. approval."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab69e3b593b54f3aa7637ff679fae9b6",
            "input": "The findings, in a study by the Weizmann Institute of Science and Wolfson Hospital near Tel Aviv on the role tears play in non-verbal communication, suggest that a chemical in women’s tears lowers men’s testosterone levels. Looking beyond any impact on sexual drive, the researchers hope their findings might one day be used in cancer treatment. “There are a number of illnesses that are treated by lowering the levels of testosterone, the most prominent is prostate cancer,” said Professor Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute. He said the current methods of testosterone reduction cause side effects, and his research team hoped that the use of tears could eliminate them. Men who took part in the study, published in Science Express, were asked to sniff the tears of women who had cried while watching sad films. Sobel said researchers had expected the tears would boost the men’s sense of empathy. Instead, their heart and respiratory rates, salivary testosterone and a brain scan all pointed to a reduction of sexual arousal. The chemo-signal in women’s tears, he said, was one way of saying “no, I am not interested.”   “Communication is key to survival. Humans, like all mammals, use smell in their communication. It is very efficient if you have a chemical signal which transmits what you want — or clearly don’t want — in a sexual situation,” Sobel added. He said the researchers had set out to study the tears of both men and women, but only one man had responded to a notice put up on Israeli college campuses asking for volunteers who thought they could cry easily.",
            "output": [
                "\"Women's tears send \"\"no sex\"\" message to men: study.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b84cddd7d0d417d95ba045697348406",
            "input": "Bolstered by Trump’s appointment of two conservative justices, the nine-member court could soon begin to pare back abortion rights, starting with a major case from Louisiana that is one of several similar pending appeals. The addition of Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch could alter the conservative-majority court’s approach to abortion. Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who backed abortion rights in key rulings in 1992 and 2016. Jennifer Popik, director of federal legislation for the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee, said her group hopes Kavanaugh and Gorsuch will “interpret the Constitution more narrowly” on abortion rights. In Congress, legislation backed by Trump’s fellow Republicans already has been introduced to restrict late-term abortions along the lines discussed by Trump, but there are not enough votes to pass it given Democratic opposition. Abortion is one of the most contentious issues in U.S. politics. Trump, whose abortion views have been fluid over the years, has emerged as an advocate of more restrictions, a position that appeals to his conservative voter base. His address on Tuesday night in some ways kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign. His call for new limits on late-term abortions was welcomed by anti-abortion activists. When he ran for president in 2016, Trump said he would appoint anti-abortion judges who would vote to overturn the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to abortion and legalized the procedure nationwide. In his State of the Union address, Trump criticized a New York law and legislation in Virginia that would in limited circumstances allow for late-term abortions when the mother’s health is endangered. “To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb,” Trump said during the speech, without specifying details. A White House spokeswoman said Trump backs legislation pending in Congress that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. Jennifer Dalven, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which backs abortion rights, called Trump’s comments “smoke and mirrors.”   “This is really just a distraction. The goal is not to end a certain class of abortion. His goal is to end all abortions,” Dalven added. There is no nationwide law setting a specific limit on when in a pregnancy abortions can be performed. Each state has its own laws, with conservative states imposing restrictions and liberal states more broadly backing abortion rights. Republicans have embraced the federal legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks. But past bills have failed to overcome Democratic opposition, even when Republicans controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate. With the House now led by Democrats and the Senate by Republicans, there is even less chance of such legislation passing, though Republicans said on Wednesday they would press for a vote. As of the end of last year, 17 states had laws banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports abortion rights. No states categorically ban all late-term abortions in all circumstances and 43 states have laws that impose at least some restrictions, it said. The Roe v. Wade ruling, reaffirmed by the high court in 1992, concluded that abortion could not be banned before the fetus is viable, but gave states leeway to impose greater restrictions on it toward the end of a pregnancy. In 2007, the court upheld a federal restriction on “partial-birth abortions” that involve a physician removing most of the fetus intact rather than dismembering it. In its most recent major abortion ruling, the Supreme Court - with Kennedy joining the court’s four liberals in the majority - in 2016 struck down regulations in Texas that abortion rights advocates said would shutter many clinics. The Louisiana case pending before the justices resembles the Texas case. It involves a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have a difficult-to-obtain arrangement called “admitting privileges” at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the clinic. The provision was challenged by abortion rights advocates. If the court rejects their request, it would represent a shift away from the 2016 ruling following Kennedy’s retirement. The court will also decide soon whether to hear Indiana’s bid to revive a state ban on abortions performed due to the sex or race of the fetus or evidence of disability. Indiana this week asked the Supreme Court to hear another abortion case concerning a law to require fetal ultrasounds before abortions take place.",
            "output": [
                "On abortion, Trump agenda likely leads to Supreme Court, not Congress."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4b0c04617214730b75d322df4335f1e",
            "input": "Grown in-vitro from cattle stem cells at a cost of 250,000 euros ($332,000), the burger was cooked and eaten in front of television cameras to gain the greatest media coverage for the culmination of a five-year science experiment. Resembling a standard circular-shaped red meat patty, it was created by knitting together 20,000 strands of laboratory-grown protein, combined with other ingredients normally used in burgers, such as salt, breadcrumbs and egg powder. Red beet juice and saffron were added to give it colour. The two food tasters were reserved in their judgement, perhaps keen not to offend their host at the London event, noting the burger’s “absence of fat”. Pressed for a more detailed description of the flavour, food writer Josh Schonwald said the cultured beef had an “animal protein cake” like quality to it, adding that he would like to try it with some of the extras often served with traditional burgers - salt, pepper, ketchup and jalepenos. Even the scientist behind the burger’s creation, vascular biologist Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, was relatively muted in his praise of its flavour. “It’s a very good start,” he told the hundreds of reporters who had gathered to watch the meat being cooked and served. The Dutch scientist’s aim was to show the world that in the future meat will not necessarily have to come from the environmentally and economically costly rearing and slaughtering of millions of animals. “Current meat production is at its maximum - we need to come up with an alternative,” he said. The World Health Organization (WHO) says meat production is projected to rise to 376 million tonnes by 2030 from 218 million tonnes annually in 1997-1999, and demand from a growing world population is expected to rise beyond that. According to a 2006 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), industrialised agriculture contributes on a “massive scale” to climate change, air pollution, land degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity decline. The meat industry contributes about 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, a proportion expected to grow as consumers in fast-developing countries such as China and India eat more meat, the report said. Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, who was not involved in the research, said it was “great pioneering science” with the potential to ease environmental, health and animal welfare problems. But, he added: “whilst the science looks achievable, the scalable manufacturing will require new game-changing innovation”. Post said he was confident his concept can be scaled up to offer a viable alternative to animal meat production, but said it may be another 20 years before lab-grown meat appears on supermarket shelves. He also conceded that the flavour of his meat must be improved if it is to become a popular choice. Post resisted requests from journalists from all over the world eager to try a morsel of the world’s first cultured beef burger, saying there was not enough to go around. Instead, he said, his children would be offered the leftovers. ($1 = 0.7528 euros)",
            "output": [
                "First taste of test-tube burger declared 'close to meat'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9f5bf56e500407cae12b249cca648ac",
            "input": "There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010. This is in the right ballpark, but it doesn’t seem to be the best comparison. It seems to compare the number of beds at different times of the year, but the number available fluctuates seasonally. Comparing July-September in 2010 and 2017, the decrease in beds available overnight in England is closer to 13,200. 66 A&E and maternity wards have been closed. We don’t know, as this information isn’t collected nationally. In 2014, there were reportedly plans to close or downgrade 66 in England, but while some have been, others have stayed open. 103 NHS walk-in centres have closed or been downgraded since 2010. We don’t know exactly, as this information isn’t collected centrally. Research from an NHS regulator and from campaign group 38 Degrees suggests more than 90 have been closed or downgraded. 60 ambulance stations have closed since 2010. We don’t know how many ambulance stations have closed since 2010 as national figures on this aren’t regularly published. 1,000 GP practices have closed since 2010. There are around 1,000 fewer GP practices in England in 2017 than in 2010. Some practices may have merged together, rather than closing completely, but we don’t know how many have done so. A&E four hour targets have been missed more than 10 million times since 2010. Correct. Between 2010/11 and 2017/18, around 12 million A&E attendances in England took over four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E is up 2,700% since 2010. Correct (although not all patients will necessarily have been waiting in A&E). In 2011/12, 120 patients in England waited 12 hours between the decision to admit them to emergency admissions and their actual admission, compared to 3,500 in 2017/18. Spending on social care is down 8% since 2010. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies last year said that between 2009/10 and 2016/17, councils’ spending on adult social care in England fell 8% in real terms. Newer analysis says that it fell by 6% over the same period. We’ve asked it for more information. There are 5,240 fewer mental health nurses since 2010. This seems to be looking at different months in 2010 and 2017, which isn’t the best comparison. Comparing the number of full-time equivalent mental health nurses between January 2010 and January 2018 (the latest figures), the drop is closer to 4,500. The number of operations classed as urgent that have been cancelled twice have doubled since 2010. Correct. The number of urgent operations in England cancelled for the second time or more for non-medical reasons more than doubled between 2011/12 and 2017/18. There has been a 22% drop in ambulances meeting their 15 minute transfer target since 2010. The decrease is actually greater—28%. In 2010/11 in England 80% of ambulance transfers were done in 15 minutes, in 2015/16 it was 58%. Claim 1 of 12",
            "output": [
                "Spending on social care is down 8% since 2010.",
                "There has been a 22% drop in ambulances meeting their 15 minute transfer target since 2010.",
                "There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010.",
                "The number of operations classed as urgent that have been cancelled twice have doubled since 2010.",
                "The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E is up 2,700% since 2010."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a33d9b5c3cd457790f4319f7472416c",
            "input": "Today’s fit-focused travelers want to pair exercise with escapades and fitness with fun, whether it’s yoga among the sea turtles, bootcamp on the beach or a zumba cruise. “Fitness retreat used to mean go away and lose weight,” said Melisse Gelula, co-founder of the wellness media company Well+Good. “Now it’s just working fitness into a schedule that might also include lavish dinners, beach time, cocktail hours, nights out dancing.”  Wellness tourism, which includes travel paired with activities such as yoga retreats, fitness centers, boot camps, cycling, gyms and other activities, is about a $500 billion global market, according to The Global Wellness Tourism Economy report of 2013. The report said wellness tourism represents 14 percent of total global tourism revenues overall and is projected to rise to 16 percent by 2017. In January, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd will launch its first ever Zumba Cruise, offering all-day classes in the popular Latin American dance-based aerobic program during a  cruise that will leave from Fort Lauderdale in Florida and make stops in Jamaica and Haiti. Daily classes will be led by 130 zumba instructors. “Our focus is more fun,” said Allison Robins of the global lifestyle brand Zumba Fitness, which is working with the cruise line. “You’ll never see us talking about weight loss, although that just happens.”  Maria Walker, founder of Getaway Fitness in Florida which offers workout vacations in Florida and California, refers to the growing industry as fitness adventure. “When I started, there were spa resorts and fat camps but not much in  the middle,” said Walker, whose clients are mostly  people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Now activities range from boot camp and rock climbing to kayaking, and discussions focus more on exercise and nutrition than weight loss. YogaWorks, the national chain of yoga studios, offers 10 to 15 retreats a year and plans to scale up offerings in 2016. “It’s definitely a growing part of the business,” said spokesperson Kim Allardyce, adding it is not just about perfecting one’s yoga postures. Although the emphasis is on yoga, depending on where the tour is, local sites are also included. In Costa Rica vacationers might help release sea turtles and in Italy go on wine-tasting excursions. The goal, she said, is to marry fitness with an experience specific to the location.",
            "output": [
                "Fitness vacations favor fun, adventure over weight loss."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e55d132263ad4c35908e59c8533f1d96",
            "input": "Since erupting in China late last year, the epidemic has spread to other parts of the world with cases recently mounting in Europe and North America. “It is starting to look like a global pandemic,” said Lawrence Wong, who co-heads Singapore’s virus fighting taskforce. “It’s not going to be possible to shut ourselves out.”  The WHO has not categorized the current situation as a pandemic, saying that such a term may amplify fear and signal that the virus cannot be contained. It has said it would use the term if it became necessary. Singapore was one of the worst hit countries outside China in the early stages of the outbreak. But more than two months since its first case, it has kept infections to just over 100 people, most of whom have been discharged, and had no deaths. But officials have warned that its rigid travel restrictions and containment measures may be less effective the further the virus spreads. “It is inevitable that at some point in time we will see fatalities from COVID-19 as we have seen all around the world,” health minister Gan Kim Yong said. Of the countries with more than 100 cases, Singapore is one of only two not to have recorded fatalities. The other is Germany, although the surge in cases there is more recent and almost all of its patients are in care. The WHO has praised wealthy Singapore’s virus fight as having left “no stone unturned”. Leong Hoe Nam, a disease expert, said early diagnosis and medical support for patients had helped prevent fatalities so far. “We catch them early and treat them with good supportive care early and it helps,” Leong said. Treatment was the same as in other countries, but Singapore has been “fortunate” that many of its cases were mild, said Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s top medical official. Mak said seven of its current patients were critical and that many of them needed ventilators for breathing support. Significantly, only eight of 117 virus patients have been aged over 65 years, said Singapore-based infectious diseases expert Dale Fisher, noting age can be a determining factor in the severity of the illness.",
            "output": [
                "Deaths in Singapore 'inevitable' as coronavirus spreads globally - minister."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c607e29f8ab4743a955c3ee2593af6b",
            "input": "Airbus (AIR.PA), Smiths (SMIN.L), Ford (F.N) and McLaren are among firms involved in the process, and some degree of output, whether making components or complete ventilators, should ideally begin next week. “It will be upscaling, on more of an industrial scale, existing ventilator designs,” one of the sources said. Companies will provide expertise including 3D printing, parts manufacturing, assembly and business planning. An announcement is due on Wednesday, the sources said. Britain, like many other nations, is trying to boost the number of ventilators available to its publicly funded health service by using some from private hospitals and manufacturing more domestically if possible. Vacuum cleaner company Dyson said on Monday it was testing a ventilator and scaling up for volume production. It had been working around the clock with medical technology and development company, TTP – The Technology Partnership. Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked businesses to help make the devices over a week ago when he spoke to more than 60 manufacturing firms and organizations, including aerospace and automotive companies. A spokesman for Johnson said the government had been in discussions with more than 3,000 businesses and was focused on supporting established British manufacturers to increase production of already approved machines. “We’ve made the necessary specifications available online, and have also been evaluating concepts and designs from businesses to understand other viable options for alternative models that we can progress,” the spokesman told reporters. “We’re testing proof of concept from a number of suppliers with the support of a team of expert clinicians.”  The pandemic has forced doctors in some countries to either ration or plan limiting access to critical care beds and ventilators, with many nations scrambling to make or buy more. Ventilators, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, are mechanical breathing devices that can blow air and oxygen into the lungs. They are crucial for the care of people with lung failure, which can be one of the complications suffered by patients with severe COVID-19, the disease coronavirus causes. But they don’t necessarily save people.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: UK industry expects ventilator production go-ahead on Wednesday."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b198732e2484fe195dd113c1e70574a",
            "input": "While governments in at least 20 other states obtained more than 30 million doses of the drug through donations from the federal reserve or private companies, Oklahoma and Utah instead bought them from private pharmaceutical companies. Top officials in both states chalked up the decisions to “the fog of war.”  Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday defended the state’s $2 million purchase, saying the drug was showing some promise. His health secretary attributed buying the 1.2 million hydroxychloroquine pills to something that happens in the “fog of war.”  Utah Gov. Gary Herbert at first defended the state’s $800,000 purchase of 20,000 packets of hydroxychloroquine compounded with zinc, but has since ordered an investigation of a no-bid contract with a local company that had been promoting the drugs. Herbert, a Republican, also canceled an additional plan to spend $8 million more to buy 200,000 additional treatments from the same company. A left-leaning nonprofit group in Utah filed a price gouging complaint Tuesday with state regulators, arguing the $40 per pack drug was grossly overpriced. Oklahoma’s attorney general requested an investigative audit on Tuesday of its Department of Health over spending and warned the agency about retaliating against employees who report wrongful government activities under the state’s Whistleblower Act. A spokesman for Attorney General Mike Hunter declined to comment on whether the request was related to the $2 million spent on the drug. Doctors can already prescribe the malaria drug to patients with COVID-19, a practice known as off-label prescribing, and many do. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned doctors against prescribing hydroxychloroquine for treating the coronavirus outside of hospitals or research settings because of reports of serious side effects, including irregular heart rhythms and death among patients. Preliminary results from a recent study done on coronavirus patients at U.S. veterans hospitals showed no benefit, casting more doubt on the drug’s efficacy during the pandemic. Those were the latest admonitions against the drug that Trump has regularly promoted in public appearances, touting its potential despite his own health advisors telling him it is unproven. Oklahoma acquired 1.2 million pills, or about 100,000 doses, on April 4 from FFF Enterprises, a California-based medical supply wholesaler, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahoma state Rep. Melissa Provenzano, a Democrat from Tulsa, said the state’s purchase shows that Gov. Stitt’s actions don’t follow his claim that he relies on data to drive his decisions. “Two million dollars is a lot of money to waste, especially when we have unemployment claims approved yet going unpaid, health care professionals without proper protective equipment, and diagnosed cases and deaths continuing to rise,” Provenzano said. Stitt, a first-term Republican, said hydroxychloroquine was showing some promise as a treatment in early March, and he didn’t want Oklahoma to miss out on an opportunity to acquire it. “Now there’s some evidence the chloroquine may not be as effective, but I was being proactive to try and protect Oklahomans,” Stitt said Tuesday when asked about the purchase. “That’s always going to be my first instinct, to get the equipment and things we need that I’m seeing in the future would help Oklahomans.” Oklahoma’s Secretary of Health Jerome Loughridge said several physicians, including some in Oklahoma, were previously optimistic about the drug’s promise in treating COVID-19. He added that the drug is also useful for treating lupus and some other auto-immune diseases, so the state’s supply “will not have gone to waste.” “When we were battling sort of the fog of war at that point, we certainly acquired it on the potential that it would have utility,” Loughridge said. Jeff Burton, a former adjutant general of the Utah National Guard chosen to lead the state health department’s coronavirus task force, offered a similar explanation for why the state made its purchase. He said the state never received the pills and is trying to get its money back. “I chalk it up to fog of war,” Burton told the state’s pharmacy board. “There was a lot going on. It’s easy to judge it from (an) easy chair.. . . Since then we’ve decided that was not a wise purchase.”  Doctors in Oklahoma have been using the drug to treat patients with COVID-19, often in conjunction with a second drug, azithromiocin, but the results “just are not that promising,” said Dr. Douglas Drevets, chief of infectious diseases at University of Oklahoma Medicine. FFF Enterprises said it’s the company’s policy not to comment on transactions with customers. Utah gave a local company called Meds in Motion the $800,000 contract without taking bids from other companies under emergency procurement rules, said Christopher Hughes, director of Utah’s division of purchasing. State officials haven’t explained why they didn’t seek to get the drugs for free. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Saturday it has sent out 28.6 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine sulfate free of cost to states around the country. Several states including New York, Connecticut and Texas received donations of the medication from a private company based in New Jersey called Amneal Pharmaceutical, according to information compiled by The Associated Press. Utah taxpayers deserve to know what happened to allow a purchase that seems like a company taking advantage of the early, chaotic days of the pandemic, said Chase Thomas, executive director of the group called Alliance for a Better Utah that submitted the price gouging complaint. The complaint alleges Utah paid at least double the common price for the medication. “Whether they were buying drugs we didn’t need or paying too much for it when they could have gotten them for free, there just needed to be a lot more thought going into this,” Thomas said. Meds in Motion didn’t answer an email seeking comment about the allegations. Herbert declined to provide an update Tuesday about the investigation of the purchase. He said Friday the state’s legal counsel would aim to find out what, how and why it happened. He said he believed state officials acted in good faith as they scrambled to slow the spread of coronavirus, but acknowledged a mistake may have been made. “I have some questions about how it came about,” Herbert said Friday. “Bottom line is, we’re not purchasing any more of this drug.”  ___ McCombs and Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma, Utah face scrutiny over malaria drug purchases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fd259770bb8414a9974fb1b826ace89",
            "input": "Having had no children, the 71-year-old had to do something to occupy her time. She remembered how hospice volunteers helped her and her husband toward the end of his life and decided that’s what she wanted to do, too. She is one of about 70 3HC (Home Health and Hospice Care) in-home hospice volunteers, who give of their time to help families of patients, and the patients themselves when the end draws near. Cyndi Shimer, 3HC volunteer coordinator, said hospice is more about quality of life. “We’re not about dying,” she said. The purpose of an in-home hospice volunteer is to give the caregiver a break. “The caregiver is typically in there 24/7, and just knowing they (caregivers) have that window of opportunity, they may want to take a nap, work in the yard or run errands,” Shimer said. “It gives them a couple hours once a week that they know somebody is going to be there and be a loving companion to their loved one.” Not only does it help the caregiver, but it also helps the patient. Shimer said the volunteers bond with their patients. They get very connected and even come to love their patients. Volunteers are companions for the patients. They may listen to music together, watch TV together or just sit and talk about their childhood. And an in-home volunteer also helps the patient by giving them another outlet with somebody outside the family. “Usually, when a patient is in hospice, the whole family is going through emotions because they are so close to the situation,” Shimer said. “When a hospice volunteer comes in, they’re just meeting that patient where they are right then. And they are able to develop that relationship based on where they are right then.” After her husband died in 2014, Waters decided to become a hospice volunteer. She started out doing menial tasks at Kitty Askins, then one day was asked to become an in-home hospice volunteer. “I had no clue what an in-home hospice volunteer did,” Waters said. “But I sat with this lady in Mount Olive, and we became very good friends. I was with her about a year before she passed away. We’d just sit there and talk and talk and talk. If she was not up to talking, I would read something to her.” Waters was asked to take another patient after that. And that’s when she became a sister in Christ with 72-year-old Joy Beth Whitfield. “God sent me to this house,” Waters said. “I love that woman. She is a special person.” When Waters first began visiting Whitfield, she would use sign language to say “I love you” and Whitfield learned to sign it back. Then Waters found a ceramic hand signing “I love you” and gave it to Whitfield, where it sits on a tiny shelf in her living room. Waters currently has three in-home hospice patients she visits with anywhere from a couple to a few hours every Thursday. “If I can do something that makes someone feel better, that’s what it’s all about,” she said. “I’ve been blessed. I felt like people were so good to me that I had to give back.” When one of her patients dies, Waters grieves, too. Don Nobers is into his 21st year of being an in-home hospice volunteer. Because there are so few men who volunteer, he takes only male patients, especially military veterans. It’s perfect for the 82-year-old, who was in the United States Navy in the psychiatric unit. “I’m using my talents to share with people who are in the final stages of their life,” he said. “I know how to listen very well. I build relationships with them.” One of his patients fought throughout Europe in World War II, survived, came home and put it all behind him. “He told me he’d been through hell once being in the war and that his cancer was a second hell,” Nobers said. “He did die in peace, though. “I sat with another gentleman about five years. He served in the occupation forces in Japan and had no realization that he’d been exposed to the bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. When he came home, he had a brain tumor. It was removed. He had a lung that had to be removed. But he was a fighter. He lasted to age 82 in spite of all the medical problems.” Nobers likes to think he’s making a difference in his patients’ lives, like with a retired Air Force veteran who was in bad shape. “I asked him what was keeping him around,” Nobers said. “He said he hadn’t talked to his mother in seven years or his brother in 10 years. I told him to get on the telephone and call his mother and brother. He did, and two days later, he passed. “The real thing with veterans in particular is you have to build a relationship and they begin to trust you, and they will tell you things that are weighing heavily on their mind, and they want to go out in peace.” Nobers has seen a lot of death during his years as a hospice volunteer, but he knows it’s just a part of life and that it’s going to happen to everyone. Shimer said 3HC needs more in-home hospice volunteers all over Wayne County. “The only requirements is that you have to be living, breathing and really have a heart for people and a desire to help people,” she said. “They fill out an application and we do a background check then provide training.” Volunteers usually go into a home once a week for two hours. Shimer said all the 3HC in-home hospice volunteers also get a lot out of the experience. “We had a 1-year-old who needed an in-home hospice volunteer because the baby needed eyes on 24/7,” she said. “You can imagine what that did to the parents. The volunteer went in and just sat and loved on that baby. “Volunteers focus on the positive, not the negative. We’re more about quality of life. We’re not about dying.” ___ Information from: Goldsboro News-Argus, http://www.newsargus.com",
            "output": [
                "In-home hospice volunteers focus on quality of life."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a27e3ebb70b1445fb66d26fc25b008c5",
            "input": "\"The story mentions that 30 capsules of OSR#1 cost $60. It would have been nice had the story also included information about the amount of active ingredient per capsule and the manufacturer’s recommended dosage. This would have allowed readers to make a better calculation as to the financial impact of treatment. This is critical information considering these costs will be borne out of pocket by anyone using OSR #1. The story juxtaposes a light-hearted \"\"success story\"\" with information about the industrial uses of OSR #1 for removing toxic heavy metals from contaminated soil. This is a clever way of way of emphasizing that the use of this product is based entirely on anecdote. The story clearly states that there is no credible evidence supporting the efficacy of the product. The harms of this product are impossible to quantify, given that it doesn’t seem to have been studied in humans or in animals. The story notes that other chelating drugs carry \"\"significant risks\"\" and \"\"can strip the body of metals necessary for health.\"\" It would have been nice to see more specifics about what chelators can do, but the story satisfies the critierion. The story states that medical searches turned up no papers about OSR#1, and that the company which makes the product provided no published studies about its use. The story rightly suggests that this total lack of evidence should be deeply troubling. The story doesn’t exaggerate the prevalence or severity of autism, or of the potentially toxic compounds sometimes used to treat it. The story quotes multiple experts on pharmacology and an FDA spokesperson. It also quotes from an interview with Boyd Haley, president of the company which makes OSR #1. It attempted to get a reaction from Kim Stagliano, an OSR #1 proponent, but this effort was not successful. While the story mentions that there other are chelation drugs out there, it could have mentioned that there are educational strategies which can be helpful for children with autism and which have better evidence to support their use. The story states that OSR#1 is, according to the manufacturer’s website, available only through dentists’ or doctors’ offices. It notes, however, that the Tribune was able to buy 30 capsules of the product directly from a compounding pharmacy listed on the site. We are impressed that the Tribune went to these lengths to establish the product’s availability. The story provides a fairly detailed pedigree for OSR #1 and discusses its similarity to other chelation therapies used in the treatment of autism. It also gives credit to blogger Kathleen Seidel for being the first to raise concerns about OSR #1 in her blog, Neurodiversity.com The story is well sourced and is not based on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Industrial chemical OSR#1 used as autism treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16870123c52d435e9e7d700ac8d688ed",
            "input": "\"For weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has been using floor speeches to target Charles and David Koch, the industrialist brothers with libertarian political views who have spent generously -- and gotten others to spend generously -- to support conservative candidates and issues. In an April 2, 2014, floor speech, Reid criticized a House budget proposal drawn up by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., saying it reflected the principles of the Koch brothers and would lower taxes on the wealthy. \"\"Is $80 billion of personal wealth for the Koch brothers enough?\"\" Reid asked. \"\"I think most everyone would say yes, it's enough. But not the Koch brothers. They want more. They're the richest people in the world. Individually they're only fifth. Put them together they're the richest in the world.\"\" We wondered: Is that correct? Reid’s office didn’t respond to an inquiry for this story, but we were able to find some answers. It’s tricky to say definitively who is richer than who, because of privacy issues and fluctuations in market values. But the longstanding yardstick for measuring the world’s richest people comes from Forbes magazine, which publishes both the Forbes 400 (a list of the 400 richest Americans) and the World’s Billionaires (which tracks more than 1,600 billionaires across the globe). Currently, Charles and David Koch, when measured as individuals, are tied for sixth place on the international list, with $40.7 billion each. Combined, their net worth is $81.4 billion, which is higher than the highest-ranking individual on the list -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates, at $77.8 billion. (A third brother, William, has long been estranged from Charles and David, and media accounts about the brothers’ giving patterns generally do not consider him to be part of the \"\"Koch brothers.\"\" William is worth an additional $4 billion.) So are Charles and David Koch No. 1 in the world? They’re close--but not quite. Reid ignored one other family that, collectively, has greater net worth than the Kochs: the Waltons, the heirs to the Walmart fortune. Here’s the rundown, in descending order of their ranking on the Forbes international list: 9. Christy Walton and family: $38 billion 10. Jim Walton: $35.6 billion 11. Alice Walton: $35.1 billion 12. S. Robson Walton: $35.1 billion 305. Ann Walton Kroenke: $5.0 billion 367. Nancy Walton Laurie: $4.2 billion Together, the six Waltons have a net worth of $153 billion -- a little less than double the holdings of Charles and David Koch. So if Reid is going to put together the Koch brothers, it makes sense to combine the wealth of the Walton family as well. And the Walton family’s wealth is bigger. Our ruling Reid said the Koch brothers are \"\"the richest people in the world. Individually they're only fifth. Put them together they're the richest in the world.\"\" If you look at families -- which is what Reid is essentially doing -- then Charles and David Koch rank second internationally to six members of the Walton family, at least according to Forbes. That’s still pretty close to the top of the list.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Koch brothers are \"\"the richest people in the world. Individually, they're only fifth. Put them together they're the richest in the world.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-731b776c79bb43b297d3e0122f8f53ac",
            "input": "With up to 90 cm of snow and temperatures as low as minus 10.3 Celsius in Scotland, Britain and Ireland issued their most severe red warnings which advise people to stay at home as travel is too dangerous. Dozens of people were trapped in their cars on the M80 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with several hundred having been standed on the road overnight. Flights and trains were canceled across both Britain and Ireland - with similar transport problems in continental Europe. More freezing snowy weather was forecast as Storm Emma approaches from Portugal and France, with warnings of treacherous weather across southern England and Ireland. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said people should remain indoors from 1600 GMT on Thursday until the storm, with winds forecast to reach 100 kph (60 mph), has passed. “The risk to life and limb presented by the severe weather conditions should not be underestimated by anyone,” he said following a meeting of the National Emergency Coordination Group. “It is not safe to be outside in such conditions.”  All flights will cease from Dublin airport by 1600 GMT and the two carriers that use the airport, Aer Lingus and Ryanair, said they do not plan to fly from the airport at all on Friday. Trains and planes were canceled across Britain and Ireland. Emergency services also struggled on what many consider to be the first day of the Northern Hemisphere’s Spring. One doctor told Reuters that staff were snowed in at a hospital near Glasgow, and another doctor told the BBC of a surgeon colleague who walked almost three hours in the snow to the town of Paisley to perform a cancer operation. Wholesale gas prices soared to their highest in at least 10 years on Thursday and the British power network regular, the National Grid, warned of a deficit in the market and sought to buy gas from market players to unblock bottlenecks. The cold spell, dubbed the “the Beast from the East”, has been caused by a jump in temperatures high over the Arctic which has weakened the jet stream that brings warm air in from the Atlantic to Ireland and Britain. Britain’s two busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, both said that flights would be canceled. Police in Lincolnshire, eastern England, said that all roads were impassable. Britain’s Met Office warned that freezing rain was likely across southern England as Storm Emma pushes northwards from Portugal and France, adding that it looked set to be the coldest spell in Britain since 1991. In Scotland, there were widespread road closures and no trains running on the two main lines to and from England. Police were rescuing stranding motorists, and found a vulnerable man in what they described as “life threatening weather conditions”. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports were closed. Some places in southern Scotland were under such heavy of snow, it affected funeral services in Hawick, near the border with England. “The issue for digging the grave is getting into the burial ground, and we’ve had about 3 feet (90 cm) of snow here,” Ross Walsh of Robson’s Funeral Directors told Reuters. Ireland was bracing for the biggest snow fall since 1982 with public transport halted and schools across the republic closed. The Irish stock market said it would close from midday on Thursday and remain closed all day Friday. In Switzerland, Geneva airport closed for several hours and dozens of flights were canceled. Snow also disrupted road and rail traffic. France had its share of snow too, even on the beaches of the Riviera coast in the southeast. The worst was in the south where hundreds of cars and trucks were stranded on the A9 motorway, a strip that links southern France and Spain. The airport in Montpelier was closed for a period overnight but partially reopened on Thursday. Upwards of 15,000 homes along the Mediterranean were without power on Thursday morning, power network company Enedis said. It also snowed across much of northern Italy overnight, bringing fresh disruption to a rail network already hard hit by heavy snow across the south at the start of the week. Schools in Florence were ordered to shut, while heavy goods vehicles were banned from the roads in the north. In the Netherlands, strong winds caused problems. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, only two of the six landing strips could be used on Thursday morning. Authorities had to close sea barriers south of Rotterdam to protect shipping.",
            "output": [
                "Siberian blizzards blast Britain and Ireland as Storm Emma approaches."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9a941cd3f0f4ffa83cf3dfe73e64981",
            "input": "Hussle, who was killed Sunday in Los Angeles, was reportedly working on a documentary about Dr. Sebi, who in 1985 beat New York allegations of practicing medicine without a license after his healing center ran newspaper advertisements claiming his diet of low alkaline foods cured patients with AIDS. Sebi, born Alfredo Bowman, died in a Honduran jail cell in 2016 after his arrest for carrying large sums of cash into his native country. He was 82. The official cause was pneumonia. Some think Hussle’s death is connected to the Sebi documentary because of a belief that there were forces trying to silence Sebi’s health message, though there is no direct evidence of that. Nick Cannon posted on Instagram that he’d like to carry on Hussle’s work, not directly referencing the film. He has since posted photos and videos of Sebi along with mentions of Hussle. A Cannon representative said Tuesday that Cannon had not yet reached out to Hussle’s loved ones about the film project, wanting to give them time to grieve. Police have said they believe the man suspected of shooting Hussle outside his clothing store had a personal dispute with the rapper. As for Sebi, one Twitter user, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, summed it up this way: “The real tragedy about Dr Sebi is that white scientists, including medical doctors, have experimented so much on Black people that a lot of Black people don’t trust medicine or any other science. So be judgmental ... but judge how we got here: whiteness.”",
            "output": [
                "Social media sleuths take on mysterious herbalist Dr. Sebi."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c2c93a58d1d4cfb837601b65c34c2a1",
            "input": "\"The coronavirus is now a pandemic, so far infecting nearly 120,000 people worldwide and killing more than 4,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that travelers avoid visiting Italy, among several other countries, unless it's absolutely necessary. Italy, meanwhile, is taking its own precautions as COVID-19 spreads widely there. A recent blog post claims those precautions include putting the entire country \"\"into quarantine.\"\" \"\"Italian prime minister has announced that the entire country goes into quarantine, as part of emergency measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus,\"\" the undated post says. \"\"The government’s extraordinary measures, announced at Palazzo Chigi late on 9 March, comes amid a worsening of the coronavirus outbreak. The new stringent measures, covering the entire country, and would take effect tomorrow morning.\"\" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) But this post is essentially : On March 9, Italian Prime Minister declared all of Italy a \"\"red zone,\"\" which means people should stay home except for work and emergencies, according to NPR. The emergency quarantine measure had already been in place in northern Italy, where most of the COVID-19 cases are. Italians must now also seek permission for essential travel, according to the BBC — and permission will only be granted for people with valid work or family reasons that can’t be postponed. People are forbidden from gathering in public and all sporting events are suspended. Schools and universities are closed until April 3. There are other rules that indicate the nation is allowing some movement, however restricted, including a 6 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants, a ban on jail visits, and an embargo on unnecessary shopping. Shopping centers, except for pharmacies and food markets, must close on weekends, according to ABC News. People are being asked to stand at least a meter apart from one another in supermarket lines. But as the New York Times reports, the exact restrictions of the quarantine aren’t clear to some Italians. \"\"We are hearing too many things and people don’t really get what’s going on,\"\" the newspaper quoted one woman as saying. She said she thought it was fine to take a walk around Milan, where she lives, but said the government’s explanations \"\"aren’t clear at all.\"\" It’s worth noting that the word \"\"quarantine\"\" also has several definitions. According to Merriam Webster, it can mean \"\"a state of forced isolation.\"\" Clearly not everyone in the country is being forced into isolation. But it can also mean \"\"a restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or transport of goods designed to prevent the spread of disease or pests,\"\" a definition that fits what we are seeing in Italy. The country’s lockdown also seems well within the definition of quarantine used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: \"\"to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill.\"\"\"",
            "output": [
                "“Whole of Italy goes into quarantine.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-913b950bfa614bb8886a0e8da5b11636",
            "input": "The story includes the cost of some of the products in question. The story makes it clear that benefits of the lice control products have not been established. With its clear questioning of the evidence for lice control products, the story infers the harm of spending money on unproven products. The story includes some things parents may not have known: “Some public-health experts and school nursing groups are skeptical about the lice-prevention products, citing a lack of formal evidence. The National Association of School Nurses says in a position paper to its members that, based on several research pediatric, dermatology and nursing journal articles, the preventive products have presented “little scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness.” “There are lots of things that work in the lab, but not in the field,” says John Clark, a University of Massachusetts professor of veterinary and animal sciences. No disease-mongering. To the contrary, it shoots down some of the estimates of the size of the problem: “Richard Pollack, an entomology instructor and insect expert at the Harvard School of Public Health, estimates that only about 200,000 elementary-school students actually get head lice each year, rather than the six to 12 million children from the CDC’s 1997 estimates. In an email, a CDC spokeswoman said its figures were based on sales of head-lice treatments, noting a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics published last year that said the totals were most likely an overestimation.” Excellent sourcing. The story includes the question of whether the lice control products are any more effective than regular shampoos and conditioners. It also mentions that girls can keep wear their hair “up and tight.” The story includes the staggering sales figures of prescription and over the counter lice control products – totaling more than $151 million last year – making availability quite clear. No claims of novelty were made. It’s clear that this story involved independent enterprise reporting.",
            "output": [
                "Parents’ Latest Pick: Herbal Shampoos to Keep Away Lice"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a42fb69f44474e9ca650b42a70c4c6f8",
            "input": "Cuomo also extended an order closing businesses and schools by two weeks until at least May 15 in coordination with other states in the region, and added details to face-mask requirements, saying New Yorkers should wear them on buses, taxis and trains. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, speaking at a separate news briefing, ordered a review of long-term care facilities across the state after learning that one nursing home had piled up dead bodies in a makeshift morgue. Cuomo, who has emerged as a leading national voice on the pandemic, said the improvement in key metrics reflected social distancing efforts that had brought the infection rate in his state low enough to control the outbreak. A total of 17,735 people were hospitalized across New York because of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, down from 18,335 a day earlier and the lowest since April 6, Cuomo said. Intubations and admissions to intensive care units also declined, he said. “The good news is it means we can control the virus. We can control the spread,” Cuomo told a daily briefing. “And we did not know for sure that we could do that.”  But Cuomo noted that about 2,000 infected people were newly admitted to hospitals on Wednesday, and that while deaths declined to 606, marking the lowest daily count in more than a week, the toll on his state was still significant. “That is still continuing at a really, really tragic rate,” Cuomo said of the death tally, adding that there were 29 fatalities at nursing homes, which he called “ground zero” in the fight against the virus. Cuomo said there was room for optimism in how social distancing had lowered the infection rate to 0.9 across New York, meaning one infected person was causing less than one new infection. Reflecting that confidence, Cuomo said New York would send 100 ventilators to New Jersey, a day after pledging to send 100 to Michigan and 50 to Maryland. Just a few weeks ago, Cuomo had been warning that a shortage of the breathing machines would cause deaths and was scrambling to secure more. Murphy said he had asked his attorney general to investigate long-term care facilities after being “outraged that bodies of the dead” had been stacked in a provisional morgue at an overwhelmed nursing home in Andover, a northern New Jersey town. “Last Saturday, we were notified that the facility was in need of body bags for deceased residents. And it was also reported that there were 28 bodies being stored in that facility,” Judy Persichilli, the health commissioner, said. While New York appears to have passed the worst of the crisis, New Jersey has yet to call a peak. New Jersey reported an additional 362 deaths for a total of 3,518, now exceeding the number of residents who died in World War 1, Murphy said. New Jersey has joined New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in a pact to coordinate the reopening of their economies. Murphy extended the closure of New Jersey public schools until May 15, conforming in part with the plan laid out by Cuomo, who said he would be looking at the infection rate and other metrics to decide when to end the shutdowns in New York. “One month is a long time,” Cuomo said. “What happens after that, I don’t know - we will see, depending on what the data says.”",
            "output": [
                "New York coronavirus hospitalizations fall, New Jersey launches nursing home probe."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-26133a75ba6543919abc93dfc4c55aa9",
            "input": "Hundreds of experts will gather in Geneva next week, on Feb. 11-12, in an attempt to find a way to fight back against the outbreak by speeding research into drugs and vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. A multinational WHO-led team would go to China “very soon”, it added. It stressed no known effective treatment existed to combat the virus, dismissing various reports of “drug breakthroughs”. China said another 65 people had died in the previous 24 hours, in the highest daily total yet, taking the overall toll on the mainland to 490, most in and around the locked-down central city of Wuhan, where the new virus emerged late last year. There have been two deaths outside mainland China - in the Philippines and Hong Kong - both following visits to Wuhan. The virus had disrupted air travel, with more than two dozen airlines suspending or restricting flights to China and several countries, including the United States, banning the entry of anyone who has been in China over the previous two weeks. Hong Kong said all visitors from mainland China would be quarantined for two weeks, while Taiwan banned the entry of mainland residents from Thursday. The disruption spread to cruise ships this week, with about 3,700 people facing at least two weeks cut off aboard a liner anchored off Japan after health officials confirmed 10 passengers had tested positive for the virus. Passengers on the Diamond Princess posted pictures online of officials in masks and gowns conducting health checks and an empty deck. “This is not a good situation,” British passenger David Abel said in a video shot in his cabin and posted to Facebook. In Hong Kong, 3,600 passengers and crew were confined to their ship docked in the city for tests after three people on board had tested positive earlier. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave, saying conditions were as grave now as during the 2009 financial crisis. American Airlines Group (AAL.O) and United Airlines (UAL.O) said they would suspend flights to and from Hong Kong after this week, a step that would leave no U.S. carriers flying passengers to the Asian financial hub. About half of the air cargo carried globally is in the belly of passenger jets rather than dedicated freighters. Nearly $700 billion was wiped off mainland Chinese stocks on Monday with many factories shut, cities cut off and travel links constricted, fuelling worries about global supply chains. Asian stocks steadied on Wednesday. Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) will suspend production in South Korea because of a disruption to the supply of parts, it said, becoming the first major carmaker to do so outside of China. Global carmakers have already extended factory closures in China in line with government guidelines. These include Hyundai, Tesla (TSLA.O), Ford (F.N), PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA), Nissan (7201.T) and Honda Motor 7267.T. Planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA) has prolonged a planned closure of its final assembly plant in Tianjin, China, it said. Taiwan’s Foxconn (2317.TW), which makes phones for global vendors including Apple (AAPL.O), aims to gradually restart factories in China next week but could take at least a week or two more to resume full production, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. German sportswear company Adidas (ADSGn.DE) said it was temporarily shutting a “considerable” number of its stores in China. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the epidemic would delay a surge in U.S. exports to China expected from a Phase 1 trade deal set to take effect this month. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the virus was adding to economic doubts. “While the threat of a trade war between the United States and China appears to have receded, the coronavirus adds a new layer of uncertainty,” she said in Paris. HUMAN-TO-HUMAN SPREAD  Evidence of human-to-human spread outside China surfaced after an international business gathering in Singapore in January was linked to virus cases reported in Malaysia and South Korea, but authorities did not comment on its nature or the industry involved. Singapore - one of the worst hit countries outside China in the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - has reported 28 cases of the new coronavirus. Across mainland China, there were a total of 24,363 coronavirus infections, according to the WHO. Nearly 230 cases have been reported in some 27 countries and regions outside mainland China, a Reuters tally based on official statements shows. “The relatively small number of cases outside China gives us a window of opportunity to prevent this outbreak from becoming a broader global crisis,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. The WHO has declared the flu-like virus a global emergency and says face masks are important in curbing transmission if someone is showing symptoms. Pregnant women may be able to pass it to their unborn children, according to Chinese state media. Asked about various reports of “drug breakthroughs”, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said: “There are no known effective therapeutics against this 2019-nCoV.”  Russia said it would take between eight and 10 months to develop a vaccine, Interfax reported. Scores of Russians began two weeks of quarantine in Siberia on Wednesday after being flown from Wuhan. Beijing has criticised as an overreaction U.S. travel curbs that bar foreign nationals who have visited China. About 350 Americans, the latest to be evacuated from Wuhan, landed in California on Wednesday. For more on the Coronavirus outbreak, click here. here  GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus - tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7  GRAPHIC: Comparing new coronavirus to SARS and MERS - tmsnrt.rs/2GK6YVK",
            "output": [
                "China virus hits cruise ships, carmakers, airlines and Airbus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20cdad81c6d0464690dc1748285b95ed",
            "input": "Genetic testing for dogs has surged in recent years, fueled by companies that echo popular at-home tests for humans, offering a deep dive into a pet’s genes with the swab of a canine cheek. More than a million dogs have been tested in little over a decade. The tests’ rise has stirred debate about standards, interpretation and limitations. But to many dog owners, DNA is a way to get to know their companions better. “It put some pieces of the puzzle together,” says Lisa Topol, who recently tested her mixed-breed dogs Plop and Schmutzy. Plop was the top-scoring mixed-breed, and Schmutzy also competed, in Saturday’s agility contest at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show . Judging toward the coveted best in show prize began Monday. A test by Embark — which this fall became Westminster’s first DNA-testing partner — confirmed Topol’s guess that her high-octane pets are more Australian cattle dog than anything else. But Schmutzy’s genetic pie chart had surprise ingredients, including generous amounts of Labrador retriever and Doberman pinscher. Huh? Topol thought at first. And then: Maybe Schmutzy’s love of water and fetching is her inner Lab coming out. And doesn’t she walk a bit like a Doberman? “They are the dogs that they are ... They’re unique, and they’re special,” said Topol, a New York advertising executive. But the testing “makes me understand them better.” Canine DNA testing for certain conditions and purposes goes back over two decades, but the industry took off after scientists mapped a full set of dog genes and published the results in 2005. Wisdom Health, part of pet care and candy giant Mars Inc., launched a breed-identification test in 2007, added a health-screening option a few years later and says it has now tested over 1.1 million dogs worldwide. Numerous other brands are also available. Mass-market tests have fueled research and helped animal shelters attract adopters by providing more information about prospective pets. DNA can back up purebred dogs’ parentage and help breeders try to eliminate certain diseases. The technology has been used to identify dogs whose owners don’t pick up their droppings, to pursue accused biters and to free a Belgian Malinois from dog death row after he was accused of killing a Pomeranian in Michigan. And some veterinarians feel DNA testing enhances care. “I want to know as much about my patients as possible,” says Dr. Ernie Ward, a veterinarian and TV personality in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. He recommends testing all puppies. But qualms about the dog DNA boom spilled into the prestigious science journal Nature last year. “Pet genetics must be reined in,” a Boston veterinarian and two other scientists wrote. Their commentary opened with a troubling story: a pug being euthanized because her owners interpreted DNA results to mean she had a rare, degenerative neurological disorder, when in fact her ailment might have been something more treatable. “These (tests) should be used in a limited way until we get a lot more information,” says co-author and vet Dr. Lisa Moses. One concern is that tests can show genetic mutations that are linked to disease in some breeds but have unknown effects in the breed being tested. It also may be unclear how often dogs with the mutation ultimately get sick. That means tests, in themselves, can’t necessarily tell pet owners how much they should worry. Or tell breeders whether a dog shouldn’t reproduce. Some in dogdom fear that DNA test results could keep animals from passing on otherwise good genes because of an ambiguous possibility of disease. “The risk for overinterpretation is great,” but DNA testing can be useful along with other tools, says veterinarian Dr. Diane Brown, the CEO of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. It has invested almost $20 million in genomic and molecular research and supports an international effort to promote standardization for dog DNA tests. The initiative, led by the nonprofit International Partnership for Dogs, provides searchable data on test labs’ procedures and breed-specific health test information. Test companies say their work can help researchers address the unknowns and provides immediately useful information, such as whether a dog’s genes suggest bad reactions to certain medications. Companies including Embark and Wisdom have veterinarians assigned to help people understand worrisome results. “We’re here to help you care better for your dog,” says Embark Veterinary Inc. CEO Ryan Boyko, whose company has breed-and-health-tested nearly 100,000 canines in its 3½ years. The alliance with Westminster — for which Embark is paying an amount neither would disclose — stands to give the company exposure, particularly to breeders. Longtime Belgian sheepdog breeder Lorra Miller, who has had dogs compete at Westminster, was initially skeptical about consumer-oriented canine DNA tests. They struck her as a novelty for mixed-breed pets. Now she hopes they can help Belgian sheepdog fanciers build up a body of genetic data to spark more research on the protective herders. “Even if I don’t get immediate benefit ... it’s for the future of the breed,” says Miller, who lives near Monroe, Washington. For Rennie Pasquinelli, the benefit is a new perspective on her dog, Murray. He was pegged as a border collie-Boston terrier mix when she adopted him. But an Embark test last month detected just a smidgen of border collie mixed with six other breeds, mainly American pit bull terrier. And no Boston terrier at all. “Obviously, I don’t love him more, or less,” said Pasquinelli, a graduate student in cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “It’s like when you know something new about someone. That doesn’t negatively or positively change your opinion on them, but you still look at them in a different way.” ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Dog DNA testing takes off, and generates debate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52587b9eaf04471ab3a1bb4eb74806d1",
            "input": "The death toll from the virus rose to 14 after an elderly woman died in an aged-care facility in New South Wales (NSW) state where several residents and employees have tested positive for the virus, according to NSW health officials. The country’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped by 469 to 3,635 on Saturday, the federal health ministry said, from less than 100 at the start of March. The case number has leapt about 30% since Thursday, with most infections in NSW and Victoria states. As of midnight on Saturday, all returning citizens from abroad will be put into compulsory quarantine in hotels for two weeks at the government’s expense. Military personnel will help ensure travelers comply with the new rules. “There’s so many parts of the world where this (coronavirus) is running rampant and I think every returned traveler is a significant risk,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a televised briefing. Two-thirds of the cases in Australia have been traced to contact with people returning from overseas, government health officials said, although community transmission has been growing. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said harsher enforcement of social distancing could be necessary if community transmission began to rise “at a rate that we are not comfortable with”. Australia’s state and federal governments have sent some mixed messages about social distancing and other containment measures, leading to widespread confusion. While there is no national order to stay home, entertainment and other mass-gathering venues have been shut and authorities have urged people to cancel house parties and other social gatherings. Victorian police closed beaches on Saturday after hundreds of people flocked to the waterside a day earlier in a repeat of scenes the previous weekend at Sydney’s Bondi beach. Police said they had attended a backpacker hostel at Bondi on Friday night to prevent a “free sausage sizzle” that had been advertised at the venue, amid concerns that young people in particular are not taking social distancing seriously. Victoria and South Australia states implemented on-the-spot fines for people and businesses breaking social distancing rules, following similar measures introduced by NSW. While beaches and some parks were closed in various parts of the country, department stores were allowed to remain open under rules requiring shoppers to stay 1.5-metre (5 feet) apart. That has not helped the major retailers much, with Myer Holdings shutting all its stores for four weeks from Sunday amid a slump in consumer spending. Woolworths Holdings, which owns David Jones and Country Road Group in Australia, also said it would close 280 small-format fashion stores for at least four weeks from Sunday, with 5,000 staff to be stood down. In Queensland state, more than one million people were required to visit polling stations to vote in council elections on Saturday. The state government asked them to bring their own pens and practice social distancing.",
            "output": [
                "Australia tightens social distancing rules to fight coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90da5932d6d34ee2bdab8f438c0082d8",
            "input": "Proceeds will support the work of the new Tim Bergling Foundation, named for the musician who killed himself in April 2018. His songs “Wake Me Up!,” ″Addicted to You” and the posthumous “SOS” topped the dance music charts. The concert will feature many of the singers, including Adam Lambert and Rita Ora, who were on Avicii’s recordings and will be the first time many of them have been performed live. David Guetta and Kygo are among the electronic dance music stars that will perform opening sets. Organizers said tickets go on sale Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "Tribute concert of Avicii’s music to benefit mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2999c69fc3c547af8ff75cf59b712d6c",
            "input": "Not applicable. The story didn’t discuss cost, but the story was clear that is a drug that has been slowed in its path to marketing approval so that is understandable. The story adequately reported on the potential benefits. It just didn’t provide the context we applauded in the LA Times story. But it did state: This story – while not quantifying harms – did a better job in discussing harms than the LA Times story, so we’ll give it a satisfactory score. It reported: You have to read the LA Times’ story in order to see how much better a job it did than this CNN.com story in evaluating the evidence. The Times stated: By comparison, CNN.com called it “significant promise” and “a new report.”  We think the Times’ analysis was far more helpful for readers. No disease mongering in the story. The story turned to “Dr. Melina Jampolis,  CNNHealth’s physician nutrition expert, who is not connected with the study.”  We wish the story had given us some background on her expertise. It also stated that “The study was funded by the pharmaceutical company Vivus.” Adequate. The story stated: The story stated that Qnexa was not approved: “The Food and Drug Administration denied the request, asking for more safety data from the company before moving forward.” Again, in comparison with the LA Times’ reporting, we must give the CNN.com story an unsatisfactory score because of how it treated as “new” something that really wasn’t. The story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Weight-loss combo pill shows promise"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-156fe97a2ee74c2b844d6903686c615f",
            "input": "\"House Speaker Dean Cannon thinks the Florida court system overstepped its authority last year when it removed three Constitutional amendment questions from the statewide ballot. So, in 2011, he's talking about \"\"comprehensive court reform.\"\" Addressing a group of nearly 50 reporters and editors at the annual pre-session meeting organized by the Associated Press, Cannon again made his case that the court system should not have removed constitutional amendments that, if approved by voters, would have granted tax breaks for first-time home buyers and affected state redistricting. A third amendment was drafted in response to the new federal health care law to prohibit Florida from participating in any health insurance exchange that compels people to buy insurance. All three amendments were stripped from the ballot after judges ruled that the attached ballot language was either flawed or misleading. Cannon said he will propose legislative changes to effectively remove or diminish judicial review of ballot questions. But that's not all. \"\"Florida's judicial system has the authority to take away not only a person's liberty, but also a person's life. Understanding the severity and irreversible nature of that penalty, we have a responsibility to ensure that justice is administered not only fairly, but also efficiently,\"\" Cannon said. \"\"Criminal cases are complex in nature and in recent years we've seen cases overturned, and there have been errors. The number of inmates since 2000 on death row dying of natural causes has now surpassed the number of inmates executed. Significant and unreasonable delays plague the current process of conducting state post-conviction review in these cases and it appears that there is little the Supreme Court can do to improve or streamline the process.\"\" Cannon said that is where the Legislature can step in. \"\"I believe the Legislature can and should work with the judicial branch to significantly improve the administration of justice in death penalty cases,\"\" he said. \"\"I am hopeful that reform could lead to a more equitable judicial system for all Floridians, and as we move forward toward the 2011 legislative session, we will continue to explore this issue to determine when and what the right course of action for Florida may be.\"\" Cannon hasn't specified what court reform legislation might look like, though by his comments it sure sounds like he wants the appeals process in death row cases hastened. In that vein, we decided to check his facts about Florida's death row, focusing on this claim: \"\"The number of inmates since 2000 on death row dying of natural causes has now surpassed the number of inmates executed.\"\" Of the 392 people now on Florida's death row, House records indicate that 145 inmates have been there for 20 years or longer and 34 have been there for 30 years or more, according to Cannon spokeswoman Katie Betta. Gary Alvord has been on Florida's death row since April 1974, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Alvord escaped a Michigan mental hospital and wound up in Tampa, where he killed three women. Alvord, who turned 64 on Jan. 10, 2011, has been on death row for more than 13,400 days. This April, he will have been awaiting execution for 37 years. John Vining, who was sentenced to death in 1990, is the oldest person on death row. On March 13, 2011, he will turn 80. Vining was convicted of shooting and killing a woman who was trying to sell him a $60,000 diamond. Since Florida reinstated the death penalty in 1976 (and began carrying out sentences in 1979), 69 people have been executed -- a rate of a little over two per year. One reason, for starters, is a lengthy and costly appeals process. But politics plays a role as well. The governor must sign a death warrant for an execution to proceed. And sometimes other complicating factors are cited. Alvord, for instance, has a long history of mental illness and has been declared mentally incompetent by several courts. The last person to be executed in Florida was Martin Grossman in February 2010. Grossman was convicted of shooting a Pinellas County wildlife officer who happened upon Grossman shooting a stolen handgun in a wooded area. Gov. Charlie Crist signed the death warrant of David Eugene Johnston in 2010 as well, but Johnston died while awaiting his sentence. He was convicted of stabbing an 84-year-old Orlando woman to death in 1983. That transitions naturally to Cannon's claim. The Florida Department of Corrections provided PolitiFact Florida with a list of 55 inmates who died on death row starting Jan. 1, 2000. Thirty of the 55 somehow died while awaiting their sentence (the state does not describe the nature of a person's death), and 25 were executed. For example, Eddie Lee Sexton Sr. died on Dec. 29, 2010, while living on death row. Sexton was convicted of murder after a jury found that he ordered his mentally impaired son to strangle Sexton's son-in-law at a Florida park. Sexton feared that the son-in-law was going to report family abuses to local authorities, prosecutors said. Sexton was sentenced to death in 1998. Robert Power died on Dec. 3, 2010, while awaiting sentence for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old Orange County girl. Power had been on death row for 20 years. The waiting and appeals process certainly comes with additional cost. The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington policy group that does not advocate for or against the death penalty, published a 2009 report discussing the cost of enforcing the death penalty. The group cited a 2000 Palm Beach Post analysis, which said that the state spends $51 million a year enforcing the death penalty. That's $51 million a year more than it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison instead. The figure has been repeated by several other news publications as well as Rex Dimmig, chief assistant public defender of the 10th Judicial Circuit, in testimony before a state Senate committee discussing the death penalty. Make no mistake, the death penalty is a controversial and complex policy issue. But here, we're focusing on Cannon's call for reforms based on death row inmate data. He said: \"\"The number of inmates since 2000 on death row dying of natural causes has now surpassed the number of inmates executed.\"\" He's right. Of the 55 death row inmates to die since Jan. 1, 2000, only 25 actually were executed.\"",
            "output": [
                "The number of inmates since 2000 on death row dying of natural causes has now surpassed the number of inmates executed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01a199ddae4245d08654383447dceb34",
            "input": "News outlets report 49-year-old Cameo Garrett died July 9 of coronary artery disease aggravated by Legionella. DeKalb County Medical Examiner Pat Bailey said Tuesday that Garrett had Legionnaires’ disease when she died. Garrett stayed at Sheraton Atlanta for a conference. Health officials say Garrett’s was one of 12 lab-confirmed Legionnaires’ cases and there are 61 probable cases. The source hasn’t been determined. The respiratory disease is caused by inhaling Legionella bacteria, which is found in soil and grows in water, such as air-conditioning ducts, storage tanks and rivers. Symptoms include fever, fatigue and coughing. The hotel has been closed since mid-July.",
            "output": [
                "Official: 1 death linked to Legionnaires’ disease in Atlanta."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b6e8d199b9a4a52b2639a8865b4a2cc",
            "input": "Distressed travelers who were trapped in capital Bogota during an obligatory isolation drill over the long weekend were unsuccessfully looking for seats on buses out of the city so they could spend the quarantine at home. “I’m scared because I need to get home,” said Fernando Lopez, 50-year-old disabled man who traveled to Bogota from his home in Palmira for a medical appointment. “I don’t know anyone, what will happen to me if we can’t travel? My family is waiting for me.”  The quarantine will run until April 13. So far the country has reported 306 cases of the disease and three deaths. The government of President Ivan Duque has ordered Colombians to stay in their homes, blocked international and national flights and restricted the use of long-distance public transport. People are allowed out under 34 exceptions which include travel for medical staff and delivery workers. One person per household is allowed to go buy food and medicine. Violation of the measures can mean up to eight years in prison and large fines. “I have to look for a way to get out because everything I do is for them,” said 22-year-old Venezuelan migrant Gabriela Martinez, gesturing at her two young children. Martinez, who fled her country two years ago, recently lost her job in Bogota and was evicted from her home. She was searching for a bus to Tocancipa, where she has family. She had the equivalent of $8 in her pocket. Some have already begun to protest the measures. In the central Plaza Bolivar, hundreds of street sellers, migrants and some homeless people gathered to demand the government honor promises to help the most needy. Duque has promised to make extra payments to welfare programs this week. The military is ready to help patrol streets in large cities to ensure compliance with the quarantine, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said. Operations against leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs will continue, he said. Outside a Bogota bank dozens of people waited in a drizzle to withdraw money. “I came out to get a bank card so I can withdraw cash,” said a visibly annoyed Jose Romero, 57. “What I’ve actually probably got is the disease.”",
            "output": [
                "Colombians scramble to get ready for coronavirus quarantine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ad59aff936e49d79d6601c154943ab8",
            "input": "People will be chosen at random for testing and asked to volunteer in a partnership with Oregon Health & Science University. The governor also said some rural counties where there are almost no cases could begin reopening slowly starting May 15. “This program is a game-changer,” Brown said. “It will give us a more accurate understanding of the true rate of infections in Oregon and to have ongoing precision monitoring of any new outbreaks.” Officials have said Oregon needs the ability to conduct 12,250 tests a week, for a rate of 29 per 10,000 people. That level would have to increase as stay-home orders are eased. In recent weeks. COVID-19 testing has increased to more than 9,000 tests  Health officials warned that opening up the state will inevitably cost lives but standing still forever is not an option. “The challenge for us is to make sure that we’re managing that risk and mitigating it as effectively as we possibly can,” Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said. “The flip side of the coin is staying where we are today also has risk. We can’t keep everything shut down, including health care and important sectors of the economy, essentially forever.” The number of reported COVID-19 cases in the state increased by 69 Friday, with one additional death. More than 58,000 tests have been administered in the state, with at least 2,579 positive results, though the number of those infected is believed to be much higher. So far, 103 people are known to have died from the virus in Oregon. The governors of Oregon, Washington state, California, Colorado and Nevada have agreed to coordinate the reopening of their states. However, Brown told reporters that she and Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee are not in lockstep. “I would say that we are marching on a similar path, but we’re taking different trails off of that path,” Brown said. “I do know that Gov. Inslee was quite frustrated that he closed down construction and manufacturing and wished he’d taken the approach that Oregon took.” Under the Oregon testing plan, a request for 100,000 volunteers will go out mid-May. When any develop COVID-19 symptoms, they will be tested. A few other states have started similar testing. Oregon also plans to step up contact tracing, so anyone who was in contact with someone who gets the coronavirus can be contacted and monitored. For aggressive contact tracing, Oregon needs about one person for every 10,000 Oregonians, state health officer Dean Sidelinger said. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. But it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death for some people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Oregon seeks volunteers for random testing for COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-70b1963d460847acbf7b75067c5a5353",
            "input": "Why does one sibling get sick but not another? Why does a drug cure one patient but only cause nasty side effects in the next? Finding out is a tall order. Today, diseases typically are treated based on what worked best in short studies of a few hundred or thousand patients. “We depend on the average, the one-size-fits-all approach because it’s the best we’ve got,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. That’s changing: The NIH’s massive “All Of Us” project will push what’s called precision medicine, using traits that make us unique in learning to forecast health and treat disease. Partly it’s genetics. What genes do you harbor that raise your risk of, say, heart disease or Type 2 diabetes or various cancers? But other factors affect that genetic risk: what you eat, how you sleep, if you grew up in smog or fresh air, if you sit at a desk all day or bike around town, if your blood pressure is fine at a check-up but soars on the job, what medications you take. Not to mention differences based on age, gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomics. Layering all that information in what’s expected to be the largest database of its kind could help scientists spot patterns, combinations of factors that drive or prevent certain diseases — and eventually, researchers hope, lead to better care. “The DNA is almost the easiest part,” Collins said. “It’s challenging to figure out how to put all that together to allow somebody to have a more precise sense of future risk of illness and what they might do about it.” Pilot testing is under way, with more than 2,500 people who already have enrolled and given blood samples. More than 50 sites around the country — large medical centers, community health centers and other providers like the San Diego Blood Bank and, soon, select Walgreens pharmacies — are enrolling patients or customers in this invitation-only pilot phase. If the pilot goes well, NIH plans to open the study next spring to just about any U.S. adult who’s interested, with sign-up as easy as going online . It’s a commitment. The study aims to run for at least 10 years. The goal is to enroll a highly diverse population, people from all walks of life — specifically recruiting minorities who have been under-represented in scientific research. And unusual for observational research, volunteers will get receive results of their genetic and other tests, information they can share with their own doctors. “Anything to get more information I can pass on to my children, I’m all for it,” said Erricka Hager, 29, as she signed up last month at the University of Pittsburgh, the project’s first pilot site. A usually healthy mother of two, she hopes the study can reveal why she experienced high blood pressure and gestational diabetes during pregnancy. _____ Heading the giant All Of Us project is a former Intel Corp. executive who brings a special passion: How to widen access to the precision medicine that saved his life. In college, Eric Dishman developed a form of kidney cancer so rare that doctors had no idea how to treat him, and predicted he had months to live. Only two studies of that particular cancer had ever been done, on people in their 70s and 80s. “They didn’t know anything about me because they’d never seen a 19-year-old with this disease,” said Dishman. Yet he survived for two decades, trying one treatment after another. Then, as he was running out of options, a chance encounter with a genetics researcher led to mapping Dishman’s DNA — and the stunning discovery that his kidney cancer was genetically more like pancreatic cancer. A pancreatic cancer drug attacked his tumors so he could get a kidney transplant. “I’m healthier now at 49 than I was at 19,” said Dishman. “I was lucky twice over really,” to be offered an uncommon kind of testing and that it found something treatable. Precision medicine is used most widely in cancer, as more drugs are developed that target tumors with specific molecular characteristics. Beyond cancer, one of the University of Pittsburgh’s hospitals tests every patient receiving a heart stent — looking for a genetic variant that tells if they’ll respond well to a particular blood thinner or will need an alternative. The aim is to expand precision medicine. “Why me?” is the question cancer patients always ask — why they got sick and not someone else with similar health risks, said Dr. Mounzer Agha, an oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Unfortunately I don’t have answers for them today,” said Agha, who says it will take the million-person study to finally get some answers. “It’s going to help them understand what are the factors that led to their disease, and it’s going to help us understand how to treat it better.” And NIH’s Collins expects surprises. Maybe, he speculates, Type 2 diabetes will turn out to be a collection of genetic subtypes that require varied treatments. “This looks at individual responses to treatment in a way we couldn’t do previously with smaller studies.” _____ The study starts simply: Volunteers get some standard health checks — weight, blood pressure and heart rate. They answer periodic questionnaires about their health, background and habits, and turn over electronic health records. They give a blood sample that, if they agree, will undergo DNA testing sometime next year. Eventually, researchers will ask some participants to wear sensors that may go beyond today’s Fitbit-style health trackers, such as devices that measure blood pressure while people move around all day, or measure environmental exposures, Collins said. In Pittsburgh, the Rev. Paul Abernathy made a health change after signing up for the pilot study: Surprised to learn his BMI was too high despite regular weightlifting, he began running. “I’m praying I have the discipline to continue that, certainly in midst of a busy schedule,” said Abernathy, who directs the nonprofit Focus Pittsburgh that aids the poor and trauma victims. “We have a chance really to influence history, to influence the future of our children and our children’s children,” added Abernathy, who hopes the study will help explain racial disparities such as lower life expectancies between African-Americans and whites who live in the same areas. At NIH, Collins plans to enroll, too. He’s had his DNA mapped before but can’t pass up what he’s calling a one-in-a-million experience to be part of a monumental study rather than the scientist on the other side. “I’m curious about what this might teach me about myself. I’m pretty healthy right now. I’d like to stay that way.” ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Wanted: 1 million people to study genes, habits and health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ee9a1e8a4ae4b3eb8886c1fb5bde24d",
            "input": "The locked entrance of French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) building is seen in La Seyne-sur-Mer near Toulon December 27, 2011. France's health minister tried to calm women's fears over potentially dangerous breast implants on Tuesday, saying there was no medical need to remove them immediately. The implants at the center of the global scandal were made by now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) and appear to have an unusually high rupture rate. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent an investigator to inspect a plant run by the manufacturer, Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), at La Seyne Sur Mer in southeastern France in May 2000. Shortly afterward, the FDA sent the company’s founder, Jean-Claude Mas, a warning letter saying the implants were “adulterated” and citing at least 11 deviations from good manufacturing practices. The problems had to do with PIP’s saline implants, a different line from the silicone implants that French authorities ordered off the market in 2010 for using industrial-grade silicone instead of medical-grade silicone, leading to the French company’s bankruptcy. Still, the plant inspected by the FDA was used to manufacture the silicone implants for PIP. The French government last week recommended that women in France who have PIP’s silicone gel-filled implants get them removed by their surgeons after the implants appeared to have an unusually high rupture rate. Other countries, including Britain and Brazil, said women should visit their surgeons for checks. A critical question is why the FDA’s warning did not trigger greater scrutiny of PIP’s activities by regulators in France and elsewhere. France’s drug and medical device regulator, AFSSAPS, told Reuters on Tuesday that it had not found evidence that the FDA had informed them of the 2000 letter sent to PIP. “The FDA wouldn’t be obliged to send it to us if there wasn’t a health risk,” said a spokeswoman. “Therefore there doesn’t seem to be a reason why we would have been informed.”   The FDA warning letter was made public in 2000. The agency said it also routinely exchanges non-public information with foreign regulators with whom it has confidentiality commitments, including France. But the FDA could not immediately comment on whether it had shared information with France in 2000. No one has been charged in the PIP case. Sources said a Marseilles court could soon announce fraud charges against four to six ex-PIP employees. There is also an investigation into involuntary homicide by French authorities, following the death from cancer of a woman last year. She had received PIP implants. The French government has not presented any evidence of an increased cancer risk from the product. Mas’ lawyer Yves Haddad told Reuters on Monday that his 72-year-old client was in poor health but ready to respond to any court summons. Haddad denied that Mas was in hiding, reiterating that he was still in southern France’s Var region. “He’s currently in very bad health because he has just undergone a difficult surgery that prevents him from walking,” Haddad said. “He is worried by the importance this matter is taking on. He is angry at those who pointlessly add to people’s suffering,” the lawyer added. Haddad said on Tuesday he did not have details about the FDA inspection as he had only worked for PIP for four or five years. The U.S. concerns about PIP’s saline implants more than 11 years ago could mean that there are safety issues for more women than the 300,000 worldwide who received the company’s silicone implants. The number of women with PIP saline implants worldwide and the safety record of the device could not be immediately verified. The FDA’s letter was cited in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of U.S. patients who received the saline implants in the late 1990s, and one who received them as recently as 2001. The plaintiffs said that the implants deflated several years later. Deflation can be a problem with breast implants. The key issue is whether the incidence suffered by a particular product is higher than health authorities deem to be acceptable. The FDA’s letter is available on the agency’s website. Reuters could not ascertain the outcome of the lawsuit, and the lead lawyer, Charles Houssiere, could not be reached for a comment. The FDA’s warning letter, dated June 22, 2000, cited PIP’s failure to investigate the deflation of its saline implants and a failure to report more than 120 complaints in France and elsewhere to the FDA. The letter said the plant also did not have a process in place to make sure the implants it produced met design specifications. PIP began selling its saline implants in the United States in September 1996, under a 510(k) accelerated review application that did not require the company to submit clinical trials to show an implant’s safety and effectiveness, as long as it was “substantially equivalent” to devices already on the market. The French company could not sell its silicone-gel implants in the United States at the time because the FDA had prohibited the sale of all such implants from 1992 until 2006 for most women because of safety concerns. However, for many years, the FDA allowed manufacturers to sell saline implants without formal safety trials, because many were sold before the agency received the authority to regulate medical devices. The agency assumed they were safe unless proven otherwise. In 2000, due to concerns about possible complications such as infections and rupturing, the agency finally required all implant companies to submit a formal application, known as pre-market approval, to continue selling their products. PIP was one of three companies that submitted an application, which came under review of a panel of outside advisors to the FDA in March 2000. At the time, PIP said it had already sold 35,000 of its pre-filled saline implants in the United States, and that it was the third-largest manufacturer of breast implants in the world. It said it only had reports of 521 complaints with its devices, a rate of 1.5 percent. But the panel recommended that the FDA reject PIP’s application. It recommended the implants from the other two companies, Inamed Inc, now part of Allergan Inc and Mentor, now a unit of Johnson & Johnson. Panelists said at the time they were not reassured by PIP’s data, and that the company’s clinical trials did not include enough patients that were followed for an adequate time to truly evaluate the device’s risks. One panel member, Boyd Burkhardt, a plastic surgeon from Arizona, said the company’s data was incomplete, and he found it difficult to understand why the company was “as ill prepared as you appear to be” to meet regulatory standards. “Like it or not, we have a regulatory threshold which is probably higher or at least different than it is elsewhere in the world, and I think in order to get your product approved, you’re just going to have to bite your tongue and meet that threshold,” Burkhardt told the company, according to a transcript from the panel’s meeting available on the FDA’s website. Plastic surgeon Denis Boucq displays a silicone gel breast implant manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) in a clinic in Nice December 26, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard Asked to comment on the PIP controversy, Burkhardt, in a brief interview, said that he stands by the prior comments he made to the FDA. It was not immediately clear why after the panel’s rejection the FDA then carried out an inspection of the PIP plant in May 2000. PIP said it stopped selling its saline implants in the United States that same month, according to an SEC filing.",
            "output": [
                "Insight: FDA warned PIP on breast implant safety in 2000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af1f0e18d1274f90ae997d2a6dde6cb9",
            "input": "Fifty shades of worry —about climate change, mental health and of course Brexit — dominated the Hay Festival this year. The event is an annual carnival of ideas held amid sheep-studded green hills in Hay-on-Wye, a tiny Welsh town with about 2,000 residents and close to 20 bookshops. With Britain’s departure from the European Union in limbo, its population split, its politicians deadlocked — and divisive U.S. President Donald Trump in Britain on Monday for a state visit — many of the 600 authors and 100,000 audience members were asking where things went wrong, and what can be done about it. “I used to think ‘the Brits are so calm when they talk about politics. They don’t get angry,’” Turkish-British novelist Elif Shafak told an audience in Hay, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of London. “I no longer think that way. Brexit literally broke the political narrative here and brought to the surface a much more toxic form of politics.” The festival, which ended Sunday, draws novelists, poets, scientists and politicians, and was famously dubbed the “Woodstock of the mind” by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. It’s an annual indicator of what’s on the mind of a large and largely liberal chunk of Britain. This year, the best-selling book in the onsite bookshop was “Heroic Failure,” an evisceration of Brexit failures by Irish journalist Fintan O’Toole. Britain’s 2016 decision to quit the European Union created a deep fault-line between the 48% of voters who wanted remain in the European Union and the 52% who voted to leave. Three years on, Britain’s politicians have failed to agree on exit terms, the country is still in the bloc, and voters on both sides are angry. The words “traitor” and “betrayal” are shouted and shared on social media in what often feels like a bad-tempered dialogue. “We have half the country who think the other half are idiots,” said British historian Peter Frankopan, whose book “The New Silk Roads” charts the growing power of Asia. “One of the challenges is how you blend those perspectives. How do you sit in the middle?” The depth of the political chaos has come as a surprise, even to the experts. American historian Jared Diamond, whose latest book examines nations under pressure in his latest book “Upheaval - How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change,” told his audience at Hay that he originally planned to include a chapter on Britain, a country long regarded as a stable leading democracy. “It was going to be a happy-ending chapter,” he said, about how Britain in the late 20th century overcame a crisis over its loss of empire “by finding a new identity in joining the European Union.” The 2016 Brexit referendum made him reconsider that thesis. Diamond said that at the moment, he’d hesitate to write about Britain at all. “Things are changing so fast with Brexit anything I wrote a week ago would be out of date,” he said. As it stands, Britain is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, the delayed departure date set by the bloc amid political deadlock in London. Prime Minister Theresa May has given up trying to get her unpopular divorce deal approved by Parliament and will step down as Conservative Party leader on Friday. Most of the more than a dozen contenders to replace her have vowed to take Britain out of the bloc, even without a deal. Pro-EU Britons — along with most economists — say that would plunge the country into recession. But many Brexit supporters believe the only alternative is being stuck in the EU indefinitely. The deep division over Brexit looks to be transforming British politics. Last month’s European Parliament elections saw voters desert the Conservatives and main opposition Labour — the two parties that tried and failed to find a compromise EU divorce deal — for the newly formed Brexit Party and the fervently pro-EU Liberal Democrats. Several speakers searched for antidotes for the poison tainting Britain’s body politic. David Lammy, a lawmaker with the left-of-center opposition Labour Party, lamented “this civil conflict in Britain that is making us navel-gaze at ourselves and not look outward into the world.” His solutions included people’s assemblies to find a way forward on Brexit, and a written constitution — something Britain famously lacks — “to get serious about who we are.” Shafak said people should ignore their Brexit fatigue and start listening to one another. “I don’t have to agree with Brexit, but I need to understand why people voted Brexit,” she said. ___ Follow Jill Lawless on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JillLawless",
            "output": [
                "UK’s anxiety takes center stage at Hay ideas festival."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d338ceb655014e39afab970986055650",
            "input": "The Center for Biological Diversity notified state pesticide regulators of its intent to file suit for what the group calls a failure to adequately safeguard the San Joaquin kit fox and 11 other animals protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Harm to wildlife from highly toxic “rodenticides” is most pronounced for predator and scavenger species, including mountain lions, bobcats, owls and condors, which can feed on poisoned rodents, the group said. More than 70% of wild animals tested in California in recent years showed exposure to the rat poisons in question - so-called second-generation anticoagulants widely used by licensed pest control operators, the group’s notice said. The products are typically used in bait boxes and work by causing the animal ingesting it to hemorrhage internally over a matter of days. The slow-acting nature of the substances then poses a secondary threat to other animals that prey on those that were poisoned. California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation outlawed consumer sales of the chemicals in 2014, restricting their use to professional exterminators and agricultural purposes. But the Biological Diversity Center said exposure in the wild remained high. Populations of endangered kit foxes near Bakersfield have been especially hard hit, with 87% of those examined testing positive for the super toxins, and state wildlife officials attributing at least five kit fox deaths to the chemicals, the group said. The group also cited a 2018 state analysis documenting those rat poisons in over 85% of tested mountain lions, bobcats and Pacific fishers, a federally protected member of the weasel family. Other protected species at stake include the northern spotted owl, the California condor, the Alameda whipsnake and four types of kangaroo rats. A pesticide department spokeswoman, Charlotte Fadipe, said the agency was “actively looking into this issue.”  “We also acknowledge it is essential to have tools available to control rat populations in order to protect the public health,” she said. The agency encourages “integrated pest management” combining the use of traps, removal of refuse and water sources that attract rodents, managing vegetation that can harbor vermin and sealing holes in buildings that allow pests to enter. Jonathan Evans, senior attorney for the environmental group, said 175 less toxic rat poisons also remained on the market that are far safer to wildlife.",
            "output": [
                "Environmental group seeks California ban on 'super-toxic' rat poisons."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-73fcec95d64347cdbea5645bb8786c8a",
            "input": "The unveiling of former President Barack Obama’s official portrait on 12 February 2018 also introduced many Americans to artist Kehinde Wiley for the first time as well, as opening the door to late-breaking controversy over some of Wiley’s earlier work. Wiley, who has described his own visual style as “bombastic, syrupy, and garish,” is celebrated in the contemporary art world for his large-scale portraits of black and brown men and women striking heroic poses modeled on those of aristocrats in classic European paintings. Two portraits in particular, both of them modern takes on the biblical story of Judith beheading Holofernes and featuring elegantly-dressed black women brandishing the severed heads of white women, suddenly turned controversial in the context of Wiley’s new role as a presidential portraitist. Images of the paintings were shared on social media with comments stating or implying that their content is racist: This what is confusing to me … you can’t have Confederate flags … you take down historical statues because they are racist but the 44th POTUS picks the guy who painted these pictures to paint his presidential portrait and that’s just fine? Maybe I’m missing something? #tcot pic.twitter.com/9RhYCGPQK7 — Jeannie-ology (@jeanniology) February 12, 2018  So a racist ex-President selects a racist artist to paint his picture. Anyone surprised? Artist Who Painted Obama’s Official Portrait Known For Painting Blacks Beheading Whites https://t.co/JarXVYUQ27 — American Real News (@USArealnews) February 13, 2018  In a post on right-wing blog TheGatewayPundit.com, Kehinde Wiley was described as being “known for” and “having a great fondness for” painting black people beheading white people: Both beheading pieces are titled “Judith beheading Holofernes”, referencing a story in the Book of Judith, which involves a beautiful woman who seduces an invading general before he is able to destroy their land, gets him drunk, and then decapitates him. Typical artists from the Rennaissance [sic] era have placed Judith in the role of a scriptural savior, “a type of the praying Virgin or the church or as a figure who tramples Satan and harrows Hell.” Given the historical context and how Wiley recreated it in his works, is hard to interpret his use of this theme as anything other than a blatant statement of racism; black women are the powerful angels of the earth, conquering the white devils. Can you imagine for a second if George W. Bush, or any other former president, decided on a painter who was famous for depicting white people killing black people to paint his official portrait? It’s hard to imagine, right? Yea, that’s because it’s disgusting and backward. It is not the case, however, that Wiley was “famous for depicting black people killing white people” before politically motivated commentators chose to make it so. Far from it. Of the scores of paintings the artist has produced, only the two based on the biblical beheading story depict such a scene. They generated very little controversy before Wiley’s portrait of Obama was publicly unveiled. That the strong, couture-clad black females in the paintings are depicted in the immediate aftermath of decapitating white women is not incidental. As with many works of art, this was meant to be provocative (“I think at its best what art is doing is setting up a set of provocations,” Wiley said in a 2015 interview). A 2012 article on the web site of the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) supplies some needed context: Known for his monumental portraits of young black men, placed in historical poses and settings appropriated from Old Master paintings, Kehinde Wiley critiques the racism of art history while also commenting on contemporary street culture and masculine identity. Reinventing classical portraiture and questioning who is represented in the portraits found in museums worldwide, Wiley states, “The whole conversation of my work has to do with power and who has it.” Judith and Holofernes is from Wiley’s most recent body of work and his first series of paintings to feature female subjects. Wiley uses “street casting” to find his models — walking city streets and asking ordinary people if they would pose for a portrait. He met the model for this painting, Treisha Lowe, at Fulton Mall, a pedestrian shopping street in downtown Brooklyn. This painting references a specific art-historical work, a 17th-century painting by Giovanni Baglione, Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1608). The subject is taken from the apocryphal Old Testament Book of Judith, in which a Jewish town is under attack by the Assyrian army led by the general Holofernes. Judith, a widow from the town, goes to Holofernes under the pretense of helping him defeat the Jews. After he falls asleep, she cuts his head off with his own sword, and the town defeats the army. Wiley translates this image of a courageous, powerful woman into a contemporary version that resonates with fury and righteousness. “It’s sort of a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing,” Wiley said in a 2012 interview with New York Magazine. The operative word is “play.”  What is all too easy to miss on a cursory glance is the deeply conceptual nature of these works. We turn again to the NCMA’s commentary: Wiley takes obvious artistic license with the story — Holofernes is represented by a woman’s head, and Judith wears a gown designed by Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy. This new rendition can be interpreted on many different levels, including racial and gender identity and inequity, the representation of women throughout art history, and society’s ideals for beauty. In Wiley’s words, “I am painting women in order to come to terms with the depictions of gender within the context of art history. One has to broaden the conversation . . . This series of works attempts to reconcile the presence of black female stereotypes that surrounds their presence and/or absence in art history, and the notions of beauty, spectacle, and the ‘grand’ in painting.” In contrast to the blunt literalism of those who prefer to interpret these paintings as a celebration of racial violence, art critic Walter Robinson writes that Wiley’s take on Judith and Holofernes “suggests, with a jovial brutality, that Judith would prefer to be done with white standards of beauty.” If, as Wiley has said, his intent as an artist is to be provocative, he can consider himself successful.",
            "output": [
                "Kehinde Wiley, the artist who painted former President Barack Obama's official portrait, also produced a pair of paintings depicting black women decapitating white people."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92dc8b57a3744c37b8b00469e78ec91d",
            "input": "Virtually unknown just months ago, New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrived in Los Angeles as a rising political star, about a month after her improbable upset of 10-term U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley in a New York City Democratic primary. On Thursday, she intentionally avoided politicians and Hollywood celebrities, instead choosing to share the stage at the low-dollar fundraiser with activists pushing for broader rent-control laws in California and a public-backed banking system in the city. In her speech, she warned of a broken economy in which luxury apartments stand vacant while homeless crowd the streets, and talked of a Democratic Party in which the working class and marginalized are ascendant. Bursts of applause followed her calls for universal health care and a cost-free education through college. She swiped repeatedly, if indirectly, at President Donald Trump. “It is not us who are crazy, not with that man in the White House,” the former Bernie Sanders organizer said to cheers. Ocasio-Cortez was lauded by those who paid $27, or $10 for students, to see the candidate seen as the new face of the emerging democratic socialist movement. “She really inspires me, because she’s so young and she’s getting so far,” said Melainey Jane Foerster, 16, a high-school student from suburban Santa Clarita. Salesman Jon Pelzer, 65, said he’s “impressed by and energized by what she was able to do in New York.” “We share all the same values,” added Pelzer, a Democrat who ran on a similar platform in California’s 30th Congressional District but didn’t advance to November. The surprise victory by the political novice in a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Queens came after a low-budget campaign that she built around liberal and social causes, not the traditional Democratic Party machine. Crowley had been expected to win easily. Her platform includes expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Her trip to California comes at a time when state and national Democrats have been contending with friction between their establishment and liberal wings. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is being challenged in November by a fellow Democrat, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, who has positioned himself as a liberal alternative to the long-serving centrist. She warned of the influence of “coastal elites” in politics, and she recalled that her candidacy was largely dismissed. Ocasio-Cortez said she didn’t receive an endorsement from any incumbent “but we won anyway.” She urged the crowd to “engage in the fights that you know that are right.”",
            "output": [
                "Rising liberal Democrat star on West Coast fundraising swing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c083277e710a4dceb7d00ae1304eb63d",
            "input": "A month after the first death from the highly infectious virus was registered in Italy, the government also issued an order freezing all business activity deemed non-essential in an effort to keep ever more people at home and off the streets. Amongst the sectors targeted were the car, clothing and furniture industries. They have until Wednesday to wind down operations and will have to remain shuttered until April 3. The interior and health ministries issued a separate statement, telling people they had to stay where they were, unless urgent business or health reasons forced them to move to another town or region. Italy has registered more deaths than any other country in the world, while the number of confirmed cases is second only to China, with the tally rising by 5,560 to 59,138 on Sunday, the Civil Protection Agency said. However, offering a ray of hope, the latest figures represented an improvement on Saturday, when the death toll rose by 793 and new cases increased by 6,557. “We don’t want to get over enthusiastic or overestimate a trend, but compared to yesterday there is a slight drop in the figures,” said Franco Locatelli, the head of Italy’s top health council, which advises the government. “We must not lower our guard, we must continue with the measures taken and respect the government’s instructions,” he told a news conference. Regional leaders having been pushing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for days to tighten the screws as infections have spiralled, but some business leaders and financiers expressed alarm at his decision to shutter more companies. “The closure of production activity is devastating. Our companies will lose market share and won’t be able to reopen for lack of liquidity,” Alberto Forchielli, head of Mandarin Capital Partners private equity fund, wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “This is the end of Italy’s industrial system.”  Amongst the companies that said they were halting production in Italy were the world’s largest eyewear company, Luxottica. However, union leaders accused Conte of not going far enough with his closure order, noting that dozens of sectors had won exemptions. They threatened to call a general strike if they thought too many workers were exposed to health risks. In a video posted late Saturday night on Facebook, Conte said Italy was facing its most serious crisis since World War Two, with the health system in the wealthy north at breaking point and almost every intensive care bed now filled. China has already sent medical equipment and doctors to help Italy, while more than 50 Cuban doctors arrived in Milan on Sunday to provide assistance to the stretched hospitals. The Russian military said it would also start sending aid to Italy on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. Domenico Arcuri, head of the government’s coronavirus relief effort, told state broadcaster RAI that Italy was “at war”. “All wars are won in two ways, with one’s own army and with the help of ones’ own allies,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Italy bans internal travel as a further 651 die from coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08e3ee85677a4eb6863d2391b4e3139a",
            "input": "The case against Suchanee Cloitre, then working for Voice TV, is one of 20 lawsuits launched by Thammakaset Co. against 25 workers, activists and journalists. Critics such as Human Rights Watch say these types of libel cases are meant to deter lawsuits filed in the public interest, such as by labor activists and environmentalists. They decry criminal libel laws as especially open to abuse. So-called “strategic litigation against public participation” lawsuits are meant to intimidate, since they often pit corporations with strong financial and legal resources against individuals and groups operating on shoestring budgets. The Lopburi provincial court in central Thailand freed Suchanee on 75,000 baht ($2,490) bail after sentencing her. She will appeal the verdict, said her lawyer, Waraporn Uthairangsee. “I am so shocked. I never thought that it would be such a very harsh verdict,” Suchanee, who now works for a Thai television station, told The Associated Press. “I was doing my duty as a journalist in reporting what has happened, I didn’t intend to harm anyone.”  “I think the verdict will have an effect on Thai media. They have to be much more careful when reporting any story,” she said. The case began in 2016, when workers at the Thammakaset farm filed a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. It charged that they had been forced to work up to 20 hours per day without a day off for 40 or more days in a row. It also charged that they had been paid less than the minimum wage, were provided with no overtime compensation, and had their freedom of movement restricted and their identity documents confiscated. Thammakaset sued the workers for defamation, alleging that their complaint had damaged the interests of the company, which was a supplier of poultry to Thai agribusiness giant Betagro. It later sued two workers and a labor activist for theft for taking their time cards to document their allegations of labor law violations. Thammakaset lost both cases. In August 2016, Thailand’s Department of Labor Protection and Welfare ordered Thammakaset to pay the workers a total of 1.7 million baht ($56,000) in compensation and damages, though the money was handed over only this year. Suchanee tweeted about that decision, saying the court had ordered compensation in a case involving slave labor. Reports of the labor protection department’s ruling and its aftermath triggered the flurry of lawsuits by Thammakaset. The latest lawsuit was launched by Thammakaset in October, when it charged Angkhana Neelapaijit, a Magsaysay Award winner and former Thailand Human Rights Commissioner, with criminal defamation. It claimed that she defamed the company with two posts on Twitter offering support for other human rights defenders facing lawsuits by the company. If found guilty, Angkhana could face up to three years in prison. A Bangkok court has scheduled a mediation session for the case in February.",
            "output": [
                "Thai reporter gets jail in libel case filed by poultry farm."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d2fbe6f3aca4798bf7844bdbd45841b",
            "input": "The FBI immediately disputed that idea, calling it a “myth” that its agents didn’t fatally shoot Dillinger outside a Chicago theater more than 85 years ago. The agency said in a statement that “a wealth of information supports Dillinger’s demise” including fingerprint matches. But in affidavits released by the Indiana State Department of Health, two relatives of the famed criminal say they’re seeking to have “a body purported to be John H. Dillinger” exhumed from Crown Hill Cemetery for a forensic analysis and possible DNA testing. The planned exhumation will be part of a documentary on Dillinger for The History Channel, a spokesman for A&E Networks confirmed earlier this week. Mike Thompson and Carol Thompson Griffith, who say Dillinger was their uncle, wrote in affidavits supporting an exhumation and reburial permit the state agency approved in July that they have received “evidence that demonstrates that the individual who was shot and killed at the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934 may not in fact have been my uncle, John H. Dillinger.” In their affidavits, both say that “evidence” includes that the eye color of the man killed outside that theater didn’t match Dillinger’s eye color, his ears were shaped differently, the fingerprints weren’t a match and that he had a heart condition. The document doesn’t elaborate on why the heart condition supports their theory that the man wasn’t Dillinger. But both say they want the body exhumed and subjected to a forensic analysis and possibly DNA testing “in order to make a positive identification.” “It is my belief and opinion that it is critical to learn whether Dillinger lived beyond his reported date of death of July 22, 1934. If he was not killed on that date, I am interested in discovering what happened to him, where he lived, whether he had children, and whether any such children or grandchildren are living today,” both say in the documents. The Chicago Sun-Times and WLS-TV in Chicago first reported on the affidavits supporting the exhumation permit. A&E Networks spokesman Dan Silberman said Thursday that he only learned this week about the relatives’ affidavits and their belief that Dillinger might not be buried in the grave. He said he can’t comment on the planned documentary or what the film’s focus will be because the project hasn’t gone into production yet. “It’s really early in the process,” Silberman said. “In documentaries, it’s not like there’s a script, so it’s hard to say at this point.” He said no date has been scheduled for the exhumation and approvals are still needed from other government entities. Silberman said he did not know if Dillinger’s relatives would be paid by the network as part of the documentary. The FBI took the unusual step of issuing a statement late Wednesday insisting that its agents had in fact shot and killed Dillinger “as he reached for a pistol from his trouser pocket” outside the theater. The FBI said Dillinger was pronounced dead at a Chicago hospital. The agency also said that it’s a “common myth” that “a stand-in” and not Dillinger was the man killed, saying that such claims “have been advanced with only circumstantial evidence.” Another Dillinger relative said he considers the planned exhumation to be disrespectful. Great-nephew Jeff Scalf tells WTHR-TV that he’s certain the late gangster is buried in the concrete-encased grave that’s marked with his name at the cemetery. “I don’t believe in desecrating the dead. I think it’s been 85 years. It doesn’t matter,” Scalf told the Indianapolis station. “Unless somebody was successful in robbing the grave, that’s John. I know that that’s John,” added Scalf, who’s a cousin of Mike Thompson, one of the relatives who sought the state permit. The Indianapolis-born Dillinger, who was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2009 movie “Public Enemies,” was one of America’s most notorious criminals. The FBI says Dillinger’s gang killed 10 people as they pulled off a bloody string of bank robberies across the Midwest in the 1930s. Dillinger was considered a folk hero by some during the Great Depression, when banks foreclosed on homes and farms amid the economic crisis, said Susan Sutton, a historian with the Indiana Historical Society. Dillinger was awaiting trial in the slaying of an East Chicago police officer when he escaped from jail in Crown Point, Indiana, in March 1934 with a gun carved out of wood. While on the run, he underwent plastic surgery to alter his face and was said to have tried to remove his fingerprints with acid. Months later, Dillinger was fatally shot outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater after he was betrayed by a woman who became known in newspapers as the “Lady in Red.” Dillinger’s family feared that vandals might dig up his body, Sutton said, citing a 2013 book the historical society published about the Indianapolis cemetery’s history, “Crown Hill: History, Spirit, and Sanctuary.” Days after his funeral, Dillinger’s father had his son’s casket reburied under a protective cap of concrete and scrap iron topped by four reinforced-concrete slabs. “The Dillingers had actually been offered money to ‘lend out’ his body for exhibits, so they were concerned,” Sutton said Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "2 Dillinger relatives doubt body in grave is the gangster."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d5f59c349934bc6ab2b7fbee34807e1",
            "input": "There is no discussion of cost in this release. Perhaps the cost of medical treatment is moot as both groups received that, but it’s useful context for the reader. CABG is major surgery and consequently expensive. Some estimates of cost for uninsured patients range from $70,000 to $200,000. Even with medical insurance coverage, deductibles can be very large. It’s also possible that the high cost of surgery could be offset by less need for downstream care among surgical patients who appeared to fare better in the study — e.g. less need for hospitalizations and other costly care. Discussion of any or all of these points would have earned the release a Satisfactory rating. The benefits of this approach are discussed in the release and quantified. “The bypass surgery was associated with an overall 1.4-year increase in median survival time (7.7 vs. 6.3 years),” according to the release. Overall, the release did a nice job of presenting absolute rates of death in each group of study participants, but there was no mention of statistical significance which would have been helpful to include for more savvy readers. The potential harms of a major surgery like CABG should have been mentioned as they must be considered and weighed against the benefits of 1.4 years of additional survival. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute says the risks of CABG include “wound infection and bleeding, reactions to anesthesia, fever, pain, stroke, heart attack, or even death.” The release does a good job of characterizing the quality of the evidence, but we’re always open to even more details, such as how the study was blinded to prevent bias. The researchers managed to track nearly all of the subjects in the initial study. It is unclear how they accounted for those patients who later received CABG, left ventricular assist devices or heart transplants, but the 10 follow-up data appear well done. There is no disease mongering here. Coronary artery disease is widespread among the older American population. The funding sources are clearly stated in the paper. As this is part of a clinical trial, there appears to be no conflict of interest. The study itself compared alternatives, with half the patients randomized for medical treatment only and the other half for medical treatment and CABG. No comparison was made to the alternatives of heart transplant or left ventricular assist devices, but these do seem to be unusual treatments in this population. The release doesn’t talk about how often or widely CABG is used but it is well known that CABG is available and has been in use for many years. It would have been helpful to mention that CABG is performed on sicker patients in some specialty hospitals. The release claims novelty through this statement by a lead investigator: “The current 10-year follow-up provides new important insights about patient subgroups that are more likely to benefit from CABG as compared to medical therapy alone.” The procedure itself is not novel but this appears to be new information concerning patient outcomes in a specific subgroup. There is no unjustifiable language here.",
            "output": [
                "Heart bypass surgery brings long-term benefits"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fab548f8d96847a3bdcea624628f2caa",
            "input": "The EPA finalized the move Monday, lowering the ozone status of Denver and eight other northern Colorado counties from “moderate” to “serious.” That will force the state to work harder to reduce harmful pollution but also bring tougher and costly regulations for businesses. Gov. Jared Polis took the unusual step of inviting the EPA to downgrade the rating, saying in March that Colorado would no longer ask for an exemption from standards by claiming some of the pollution was drifting into the state from elsewhere. He said in August it was time to stop “sugar-coating” Colorado’s air problems. The reclassification requires the state to revise its plan to reduce ozone-forming emissions, which can aggravate asthma and contribute to early deaths from respiratory disease. Ground-level ozone is the main component of smog, and it’s created from pollution emitted by vehicles, industries, solvents and other sources. Denver and the northern Colorado urban corridor have struggled to meet EPA ozone standards for 15 years. In addition to Denver, counties affected by the change are Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld.",
            "output": [
                "EPA lowers Denver area’s air quality rating to ‘serious’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee12d7addbc54da0ac783f8211dd2566",
            "input": "Mustapha Redouane happily accepted the arrangement. He knew his mother’s idea would silence the school’s worries about his condition, a rare genetic disorder called xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP, which can make sun rays and other sources of ultraviolet light extremely damaging to the skin and eyes. The disorder is more common in North Africa than much of the world. “I hate the sun anyways. It gives me blisters,” he said, sitting on his mother’s lap, his face covered with the dark brown freckles that the school director considered a distraction to other students. Now 8, Mustapha has already had 11 operations to remove cancerous growths on his skin. His family is among thousands around the world struggling with XP, and increasingly sharing advice and seeking new treatments. In Morocco, families are also fighting for recognition, government help — and the simple right to go to school. The disorder affects about 1 in 10,000 people in North Africa — more than 10 times the rate in Europe and about 100 times the rate in the United States, according to Dr. Kenneth Kraemer, who researches XP at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Because the disorder is inherited, XP is more common in populations where marriage between relatives is high, Kraemer said. Affected children inherit two copies of a mutated gene, one from each parent. A 2016 Moroccan government study estimates about 15% of marriages are between family members. Living in a country where the sun shines year-round makes them more susceptible to skin cancers that can be caused by the disorder, said Fatima El Fatouikai, pediatric dermatology specialist at the Ibn Rochd University Hospital in Casablanca. Without protection, few XP patients in Morocco live beyond their teenage years, El Fatouikai said. It is particularly challenging in developing countries, where an awareness of the disorder and access to treatments are scarce, and in poor, rural communities where people spend more time outside. Outside of El Fatoikai’s office, families coming from all around Morocco sit in a waiting room eager for their names to be called. There is a rumor about a new XP treatment. The truth is, she says, “We only have prevention as a possible treatment. These children ... have to avoid even minimum sun exposure.” The main prevention measures: avoiding the sun and wearing protective clothing, face shields and sunscreen. Fatimazehra Belloucy, 25, has dealt with skin cancer and other problems because of XP. “If only people made it easier. Their words hurt. I feel entirely alienated,” she said, describing how she faces scared looks and hateful comments as she passes by. Her family limits interactions with her, fearful that the disease is contagious. “No one would take care of me, so I had to do it myself,” said Belloucy, who received her high school diploma and is now enrolled in university. She hopes to land work helping with the disease. Most Moroccan children with XP don’t continue their education. While U.S. schools install window filters for XP pupils and otherwise adapt to their needs, such accommodations are rare in Morocco. “It hurts me that I have to see little kids suffer because of lack of awareness,” says Habib El Ghazaoui, who quit his veterinary job and made it his life’s mission to raise awareness and help children with XP after learning that his daughter Fatimazehra had the disorder. His daughter, now a young adult raising awareness on social media, has had 50 operations for cancerous growths on her tongue, eyelids and elsewhere. She stays indoors and mostly sleeps during the day but, as the sun sets, she goes to parks and cafes, determined to lead a normal life. Ghazaoui leads the Association for Solidarity with Children of the Moon from his house in the town of Mohammedia. He juggles his time between visiting families, distributing donations of creams and masks, providing the Casablanca hospital with data and pressuring the government to take action. XP support groups are increasingly sharing advice online. They held an exceptional meeting in London last year to share “hundreds of practical hints” about hoods, window protections or meters to measure light — and even a French-designed face shield with a fan in it, said NIH researcher Deborah Tamura. The donations from Ghazaoui’s group reach families like those of Said El Mohamadi, a tailor in the city of Salé, whose 6-year-old daughter has the condition. His family is still debating the topic of school. “She’s sad, but I can’t risk taking her to school where there isn’t any kind of protection,” he said. “But she needs an education,” her mother Maria El Maroufi pleads. ___ Nadine Achoui-Lesage and Mosa’ab Elshamy in Casablanca and Mohammedia contributed.",
            "output": [
                "When light is lethal: Moroccans struggle with skin disorder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e85c7b80ead48ebafc9015f9f3253fe",
            "input": "Benjamin Reed’s longtime friend and housemate Joe Ribich told the Idaho Statesman that Reed had a neurological disease and was under the care of a home care aide when the burns occurred. The 38-year-old was in the hospital for 11 days — much of that time at a burn unit in Salt Lake City — before he died of his injuries on May 27, Ribich said. “I kept him alive for a week and had him brought out of a coma (to tell him that) he’s too broken, and they can’t fix him,” Ribich said. Boise Police Department spokeswoman Haley Williams said the police have been investigating the death of a vulnerable adult since the adult was taken to the hospital, though she did not name the victim. “The victim is a vulnerable adult with physical impairments,” Williams said, and no charges had been filed as of Monday. Ribich confirmed police were investigating Reed’s death. He said the two had been friends for 21 years and shared a house for seven years. Ribich cared for Reed until he took a job outside the home. That’s when a local Boise-based agency, A Caring Hand, was hired to care for Reed, who couldn’t walk unassisted because he had Huntington’s disease. Ribich said he was at work when the care worker took Reed for a bath, reportedly placing him in the bathtub, turning on the faucet and then leaving the room for a time. Ribich told the newspaper that the worker apparently went back into the room and removed Reed from the bath before calling Ribich and asking “what he should do” about the situation. On the other end of the line, Ribich could hear Reed crying, he said. “All I could hear is him crying. I could hear him screaming,” Ribich said. “The only time I heard him crying like that was at his sister’s funeral.” Ribich called 911 and drove home immediately, he said. He said the care worker didn’t perform first aid or call emergency services. Reed was flown by air ambulance to a burn unit in Salt Lake City, where he was treated for third-degree burns up to his shoulder blades, Ribich said. Ribich said the men deliberately kept their water heater set at a higher-than-recommended temperature, but he couldn’t understand how Reed was so badly injured. “I’ve bathed him (up to) five times a day for four years. How does this happen? How?” he said. “You check the water and don’t put him in if it’s too hot.” Jennifer Flowers, an administrator for A Caring Hand, said the agency is conducting an internal investigation and described it as “a tragic accident.” She declined to comment further. The agency has been a Medicaid provider since 2008 and currently has 189 patients on Medicaid, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The department said the agency also takes patients on private insurance. In Idaho, home health and personal care aides do not need a license or formal education in health care, though they must have some training and certification and pass a criminal background check if they work for an agency that takes Medicaid or Medicare. Their jobs are among the lowest paid in the Boise area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with workers averaging around $11 an hour. ___ This story has been corrected to remove a reference to an unrelated Twin Falls business. ___ Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com",
            "output": [
                "Police investigating death of disabled man burned from bath."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e0155186a3d49849d54b35ac57cac4e",
            "input": "The number of EU nurses coming to the UK has fallen by 90% since the Brexit vote. The number of nurses and midwives from the EEA joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s register fell by 91% from 2015/16 to 2017/18. The number of EU nationals leaving the NHS jumped by 14% in 2017. EU nationals have fallen as a percentage of those joining the NHS. EU nationals made up 8% of new staff (whose nationality was known) joining the NHS in England in the year to June 2018. That compares to 11% in the year to June 2016. It’s possible that the number in June 2016 was unusually high. Claim 1 of 4",
            "output": [
                "EU nationals have fallen as a percentage of those joining the NHS.",
                "The number of EU nationals leaving the NHS jumped by 14% in 2017.",
                "The number of EU nurses coming to the UK has fallen by 90% since the Brexit vote.",
                "There’s been an increase in the number of EU staff in the NHS since the referendum."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-790bdc5744ee4134823f272d10159083",
            "input": "\"The story reports that harvesting enough stem cells for infusion is difficult and costly, though it fails to cite specific costs. For research in Phase I, any comment on cost might be purely speculative. Since the study is designed to prove safety, there are no credible benefits data to report. The report does allow sources to make general claims of benefit based on that preliminary data, but the reporter shows restraint by not plucking benefits data points from the study. On a close call, the story earns a satisfactory rating. While the story briefly mentions the potential for rejection, it fails otherwise to specify the potential side effects of the stem cell harvesting or infusion. This is surprising, given the fact that the Phase I trial is designed to prove safety. The story makes plain that the evidence from the published study can only prove safety, not efficacy. It does a good job educating readers about the three phases of FDA trials and what each is designed to establish. The story does nothing to exaggerate the prevalence or severity of the damage to the heart muscle by heart attacks. The story uses two sources: One stem cell expert who is not involved with the research, and the lead author of the published paper. While that’s thin sourcing for a story of this length, it’s sufficient to earn a satisfactory rating. The story compares this process, which involves infusing the patient with a donor’s bone marrow stem cells, with both use of the patient’s own stem cells and with surgical introduction of the cells. The story does not specify conventional treatments for heart failure, which would have provided useful context. Still, the story earns a satsifactory rating. Most of the story makes it clear that the technique is in early trials and not in clinical use. Only the opening line is troubling – \"\"If you’ve just had your first heart attack, doctors may one day be able to reverse the damage done with stem cell therapy.\"\" Due to clumsy wording,  this suggests that if you had your first  heart attack in late 2009, doctors may someday be able to reverse today’s damage from it – which is not  at all the case. But this misstep is remedied by a later statement that it would take a best-case scenario to have such an approach approved even in five years. The story does not make false claims for the procedure’s novelty. See he criterion – \"\"Compare the new approach with existing alternatives\"\" – below. There’s no evidence that the story relied on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Stem cell therapies for hearts inching closer to wide use"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9faaf796a1b54bab893390beedf1b405",
            "input": "Fine particulate matter from burning fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal and oil is the clearest offender, the group said. “Particulate matter appears to directly increase risk by triggering events in susceptible individuals within hours to days of an increased level of exposure, even among those who otherwise may have been healthy for years,” said Dr. Robert Brook of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who headed the group writing the report. A review of six year’s worth of medical research also showed strong evidence that pollution can help clog arteries, and a “small yet consistent” association between short-term exposure to air pollution and premature death. “The foremost message for these high-risk groups remains that they should work to control their modifiable traditional risk factors — blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking,” Brook said. The American Heart Association said fine particulates could work in several ways, including by causing inflammation. “It’s possible that certain very small particles, or chemicals that travel with them, may reach the circulation and cause direct harm,” Brook said. “These responses can increase blood clotting and thrombosis, impair vascular function and blood flow, elevate blood pressure, and disrupt proper cardiac electrical activity which may ultimately provoke heart attacks, strokes, or even death.”   The group recommends that the elderly or anyone with heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes should pay attention to air pollution and air quality index warnings. “People can limit their exposure as much as possible by decreasing their time outside when particle levels are high and reducing time spent in traffic — a common source of exposure in today’s world,” Brook said.",
            "output": [
                "Stronger evidence pollution damages heart: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1525716be30b42f1b0b69b9cb71da70a",
            "input": "The suggestions come from 23andme, one of the companies offering to point you toward the optimal eating and exercise habits for your genetics. As with most dieting schemes, the idea is appealing because it implies there’s an elusive reason why you can’t get in shape — in this case, your genes. But Isaac Kohane, a biomedical researcher at Harvard, said research in the field is still limited and that there’s little evidence any small effects from genetic variations can be translated into meaningful dietary advice. “By and large, these are not giving a lot of value to the people who are purchasing them,” he said, adding that other factors play a far bigger role on health, such as how much we eat. Still, it’s tempting to think your DNA holds clues to your ideal diet. To see what my genes might reveal, I tried two services, 23andMe and DNAFit. 23andMe If you pay $99 for a 23andMe ancestry report, you can spend $125 more for its health reports based on the same saliva sample. Among the extras you get are several wellness reports, including one that predicts your “genetic weight” and offers other dietary insights. These findings are based on comparisons to data from other 23andMe customers. After adjusting the default setting from European to East Asian descent, my report said I’m predisposed to weigh “about average.” For a 40-year-old, 5-foot-6 woman, the company defined average as 138 pounds. 23andMe notes that most its customers are of European descent, and that its data for other ethnicities is more limited. The report then lists 10 habits associated with healthy weights for your DNA profile. For me, that included limiting red meat, avoiding fast food and exercising at least twice a week. Given how formulaic that sounded, I wondered how much results vary for others. It turns out everyone gets the same 10 habits, since those are the ones 23andMe decided to survey people about. But the order in which they’re listed varies to indicate the magnitude of their supposed effect for you. Alisa Lehman, senior product scientist for 23andMe, said the top two habits for most people are limiting red meat and avoiding fast food, as they were for me. Like many other nutrition studies, the findings do not establish cause-and-effect relationships, but are links the company makes between customers’ genes and the survey results. Other wellness reports said I’m more likely to be lactose intolerant (check), to flush when drinking alcohol (check) and to consume less caffeine (check). They were more interesting because of their specificity, but didn’t reveal anything surprising. Another report said my weight isn’t likely to be affected by my intake of saturated fat, which is commonly found in meat. The only surprise was learning I have a genetic variant “common in elite power athletes.” When I followed the link, however, I saw about half of customers have the same variant. DNAFit For $99.99, you get a saliva collection to produce reports on a variety of fitness and dietary traits. If you already have your DNA file from 23andMe, you can upload it to get instant results for $79. DNAFit says its reports are based on the broader universe of scientific research about genes and diet. Given the general fear of carbs among many dieters, I started with the “carbohydrate sensitivity” report. It started with an overview explaining the difference between complex carbs like brown rice and refined carbs like sugar that are digested more quickly. After scrolling down, the report said I have a “very low” sensitivity, meaning I’m less susceptible than others to sugar highs and diabetes. Despite this carb tolerance, it suggested I limit refined carbs to 10 percent of daily calories. Again, this sounded like fairly generic advice and made me wonder how much the recommendations vary for others. Andrew Steele, head of product at DNAFit, said that depending on people’s sensitivity, the recommended limit for refined carbs ranges from 6 to 10 percent of total calories. For someone who eats 2,500 calories a day, that’s a range from 150 calories to 250 calories. While that may not seem like a big difference, DNAFit notes cutting back from 10 to 6 percent would mean a 40 percent reduction. Still, the relatively tight range reinforces the idea that dietary advice would be largely consistent regardless of your genes. Another report said my sensitivity to saturated fat is low, and suggested limiting it to 10 percent of calories. DNAFit said the range for that recommendation is also 6 to 10 percent. Other reports were more nutrient specific. One said I have a raised need for omega-3, the cholesterol-lowering fatty acid. Another said I have a raised risk for DNA damage from chargrilled meats and should limit them. (This advice was provided over an image of candle-lit steak.) On the fitness side, the reports said I’m more prone to endurance activities than high intensity activities. I don’t know if I’ll take this into consideration if I start exercising. Others have questioned the accuracy of the fitness reports, which rated one Olympic runner’s aerobic potential as “medium.” DNAFit and 23andMe say knowing your genetic predisposition can motivate you to stick with diet or exercise routines. You may also have specific reasons for wanting to try the services, particularly 23andMe, which most get for the ancestry tests and provides many other reports. But for me, the findings from both felt too broad to influence my habits. One small note: DNAFit is based in the United Kingdom, so if you decide to try it, you may notice a small currency exchange fee on your credit card statement. ____ Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "What my DNA told me: Avoid fast food, eat vegetables."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fec1ab5a63f94c9bb633246645ba6ead",
            "input": "“Bayer has not proposed paying $8 billion to settle all the U.S. Roundup cancer claims. Such a statement is pure fiction,” Feinberg said in an email on Friday. “Compensation has not even been discussed in the global mediation discussions.”  Bayer shares, which had shed some of their gains before Feinberg’s statement, retreated further and closed up 1.7% at 64.63 euros. Bayer, which acquired Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers as part of its $63 billion takeover of Monsanto last year, declined comment on the initial Bloomberg news report and on Feinberg’s response. Bayer Chief Executive Werner Baumann last week said the company would consider settling with U.S. plaintiffs only on reasonable terms, and if it “achieves finality of the overall litigation”. He added at the time the group was “constructively engaging” in a court-ordered process with mediator Feinberg on the cases heard in federal court. Most of the pending cases, however, have been filed with U.S. state courts. Feinberg added that any efforts by Bayer toward a comprehensive settlement were tied in with the mediation proceedings overseen by him. “These are all part of the same mediation process.”   Bayer shares have lost more than a third of their value, or roughly 30 billion euros ($34 billion), since last August when a California jury in the first such lawsuit found Monsanto should have warned of the alleged cancer risks from Roundup. The German drugs and pesticides company has engaged in negotiations with plaintiffs’ lawyers, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. “The problem is, how do you get the plaintiffs to climb down from their very high expectations? None of the jury verdicts so far have been favorable for Bayer,” one of the sources said, adding that talks were focused on basic questions such as how to handle potential future claims. Bayer said on Friday that the next U.S. glyphosate lawsuit initially scheduled to be heard in St. Louis, Missouri, this month would be postponed to Jan. 27, 2020, and that a following St. Louis case slated for September had also been postponed. The German company may benefit from having cases heard in the city where Monsanto was headquartered and where Bayer  manages its global seeds business. But Missouri is also known for juries that often hit companies with huge damages. Bloomberg said the delays had been pursued by Bayer to allow for undisturbed settlement talks. The initial unfavorable court rulings in the first three glyphosate cases, heard in California, have at times dragged Bayer’s market value below what it paid for Monsanto, although the shares are now trading above that level. The company, which says regulators and extensive research have found glyphosate to be safe, has previously said it was banking on U.S. appeals courts to reverse or tone down three initial court rulings that have so far awarded tens of millions of dollars to each plaintiff. Bloomberg cited three sources familiar with the discussions as saying Bayer’s lawyers were seeking an accord to resolve all current and future cases. Talks over cases that have yet to be filed were particularly tricky, the report added. While Bayer has indicated it could pay $6-$8 billion, plaintiffs’ lawyers want more than $10 billion to drop their claims, the report said. An estimate of a $20 billion hit from the litigation has previously been reflected in the share price, while a likely litigation settlement liability was in the mid single-digit billion dollar range, Bank of America analysts said in note. They kept a “neutral” rating on the stock, citing uncertainty over Bayer’s fortunes in the appeals process - with the first appeals verdict expected by the end of the year - and whether a settlement could be achieved before that. The number of U.S. plaintiffs blaming Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers for cancer had continued to rise by 5,000 to 18,400, Bayer said last week.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer mediator dismisses report of $8 billion Roundup settlement."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f87dd59d048f47e994136ceac70de479",
            "input": "An electron micrograph of a negatively stained human papilloma virus. REUTERS/National Cancer Institute/Handout Despite an overall slight decline in head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world. This growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), scientists said in a report in the British Medical Journal. Two vaccines — Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Gardasil, made by Merck & Co — can prevent HPV, which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Many rich nations have launched HPV immunisation programs for girls to try to protect them from the common sexually transmitted virus before they become sexually active. The scientists, led by Hisham Mehanna of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies at University Hospital Coventry, said while including boys in immunisation plans has been seen as too expensive, it may be time to look again. “We need to look at the evidence again to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of male children in light of this new and rapidly rising incidence,” he said in an interview. Analyst Savvas Neophytou at Panmure Gordon in London said such studies would dispel worries about sales prospects for HPV vaccines, and repeated his ‘buy’ recommendation for Glaxo stock. “The emergence of new data such as this may increase motivation amongst national vaccination authorities worldwide to re-double efforts to vaccinate children before they become sexually active,” he said in an equity research note. Glaxo shares were slightly lower, in line with a weaker European pharmaceutical sector and down 0.4 percent by 0905 GMT. More than 500,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in women and it kills around 200,000 a year. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer among men and women, with about 640,000 new cases each year worldwide. A recent study found the risk of developing oropharyngeal carcinoma was linked to a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners, four or more lifetime oral sex partners, and, for men, an earlier age at first sexual intercourse. “Sexual transmission of HPV — primarily through orogenital intercourse — might be the reason for the increase in incidence of HPV related oropharyngeal carcinoma,” wrote Mehanna. The scientists pointed to recent studies which showed a 70 percent increase in the detection of HPV in biopsies taken to diagnose oropharyngeal carcinoma in Stockholm since the 1970s. HPV-related cancer was also reported in 60-80 percent of recent biopsy samples in studies in the United States, compared with 40 percent in the previous decade, they wrote. Mehanna said the findings had other important health implications. Patients with HPV-related head and neck cancers were typically younger and employed, he said, and because their tumors appeared to be less deadly than those caused by factors like smoking and drinking, patients may also live longer with the physical and psychological effects of treatment. “This means they would need prolonged support from health, social, and other services, and may require help in returning to work,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Sex virus blamed for rise in head and neck cancers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1832abb5e02459fa367261c078aabde",
            "input": "Besides holding a rare special session, the full Legislature will meet in a way unlike ever before. A small number of lawmakers will meet in the state Capitol in Cheyenne and the rest will take part by video conference. Lawmakers have drafted five bills, four of which have mirror versions so the House and Senate can consider them simultaneously, and plan to wrap up no later than Saturday. The bills would: — Give Gov. Mark Gordon guidance in allocating $1.25 billion in federal Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. Legislators propose putting the money toward emergency public health costs, aid for families and businesses, economic development programs including infrastructure projects and, to the extent federal law allows, replacing public revenue lost during the pandemic. — Help ensure that people who fall ill from the coronavirus can collect unemployment benefits and not be evicted for missing rent payments. — Alter state funding calculations for school districts and authorize Gordon to make certain emergency funding transfers between state agencies. — Allocate up to $275 million in interest-free loans and other aid for businesses affected by the coronavirus. — Give legal immunity to businesses whose customers contract the coronavirus, a proposal to be initially taken up by the Senate only. The public can monitor the proceedings online. Journalists will keep an eye on things from the House and Senate galleries. Wyoming’s previous special session in 2004 involved an ultimately unsuccessful constitutional amendment to limit payouts in medical malpractice cases.",
            "output": [
                "Rare Wyoming Legislature special session to take on COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ec21488f3db41ae94c37b02e3b4f0a0",
            "input": "India is the world’s largest producer of hydroxychloroquine, sales of which have soared across the world including in the United States, especially after President Donald Trump touted it as a potential weapon against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. New Delhi had last month put a hold on exports of hydroxychloroquine to secure supplies for itself, before agreeing this month to supply it to some of its neighbours as well as “nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic”. “On 14 April, India has given permission for Malaysia to import 89,100 tablets,” Malaysia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar told Reuters. “We will try to get more hydroxychloroquine tablets from India, which is also subject to stock availability.”  India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. Malaysia has been using hydroxychloroquine for mild to severe COVID-19 cases along with other drugs, according to its treatment protocol seen by Reuters. Doctors and pharmacists from more than half a dozen large healthcare systems in New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington and California have also told Reuters they are routinely using hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalised with COVID-19. At the same time, several said they have seen no evidence that the drug had any effect on the virus. In one small French study, some COVID-19 patients showed improvements but there was no way to know if the drug was the reason. Results published in April from another study in France and one in China found no benefit in patients treated with the drug. Dozens more clinical studies are under way around the world. Malaysia’s Health Ministry told Reuters it had “faced challenges” in securing the drug, which it said may be able to reduce the progression of the disease and lung inflammation. It said the drug has been used in Malaysia for the treatment of COVID-19 since January. Malaysia had asked India for more than 1 million hydroxychloroquine tablets, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak with the media. “I am not sure if that much can be given,” one of the sources said. “India is also giving hydroxychloroquine to some less developed countries. In Africa.”  Malaysia has the third highest number of infections of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia with more than 5,000 cases, 83 of whom have died. India’s decision to sell the sought-after drug to Malaysia signals a turnaround in relations between the countries that had soured because of repeated criticism of some Indian policies by Mahathir Mohamad, before he resigned as Malaysia’s prime minister in February. The tension had also affected palm oil trade between the countries. “Broadly, nations will need each other to fight this pandemic,” said an Indian source with direct knowledge of the discussions with Malaysia. “Globally, there will be a new alignment of relationships.”  Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, IPCA Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare are among India’s leading suppliers of hydroxychloroquine. Cadila said last week it had increased production tenfold to 30 tonnes per month and was ready to produce more if needed.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: India agrees to sell hydroxychloroquine to Malaysia to help fight COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a995088e2faa496286ae48004b96ffb2",
            "input": "Aita Gurung was charged with murder in his wife’s death, but the charges were dropped by the county prosecutor who said evidence showed he was legally insane at the time. The attorney general refiled the charges in September after Republican Gov. Phil Scott asked him to review the case. Last month, Gurung was found incompetent for trial. On Monday, Gurung was ordered back to a mental health facility after one of his former doctors said he is at “high risk of suicide.” Gurung’s defense attorney Sandra Lee told Mynbc5.com that she was frustrated by the process. “I’m relieved for Mr. Gurung, but I’m also incredibly saddened that we’re actually here,” she said. Police allege that in October 2017 Gurung attacked and killed his wife, Yogeswari Khadka, 32, in Burlington and injured his mother-in-law hours after he had sought mental health treatment at a local hospital.",
            "output": [
                "Suspect in cleaver killing ordered to mental health facility."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45d8ea5545dd4a8b8fd9469562a465a0",
            "input": "Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed early on Wednesday that a Turkish man had been isolated after being diagnosed with the virus following high fever and a cough. “This is the first case confirmed in our country. The findings show the diagnosis of coronavirus was made early and if the virus has spread it is limited,” he told a news conference. “Our country is prepared for this. All measures to prevent the spread (of the virus) have been taken,” he said, referring to comprehensive screening and testing programs. Until the announcement, Turkey - a member of the Group of 20 biggest global economies and a major transit hub between Europe, Asia and Africa - had officially managed to avoid an outbreak, though all its neighbors except war-ravaged Syria had reported cases. Iran has an especially high number of cases. In an interview hours before the announcement of the first case, Irshad Shaikh, the WHO Health Security Program Leader in Turkey, praised Ankara’s preventative measures and good organization, saying it had been “very lucky, vigilant and cautious”. Turkey’s tourism sector, which accounts for about 13% of its economy, stepped up calls on the government for financial help to deal with the expected negative impact of the outbreak. Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said a support package for the sector would be announced within the week. He added Turkey would move to reduce tourist demand until the end of April, and hotels had been advised to postpone summer openings. The Tourism Evaluation Council said it suggested financial support for tour operators and airlines, reductions in utilities costs, and measures to increase bookings. It added the sector is “starting to be negatively impacted”. Medical firms have been told to prioritize local demand, the government said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in parliament with an aide using a thermal camera to scan people he met for a fever, said: “No virus is stronger than our measures.”  The WHO has given guidance globally, and is in contact with health officials in Turkey on legislation, risk management, testing and screening practices, among other issues, Shaikh said. “In all those areas...Turkey has taken that to heart.”  “Turkey is an advanced country, and most of the systems were already there. What was needed was to make sure they are quick to this outbreak,” Shaikh told Reuters. Ankara has said that all 81 of its provinces are geared up to handle a potential outbreak and that it has set up seven test centers across the country. Turkey says it has developed its own testing kit, which it is also exporting to other countries, to get faster results. On Wednesday, Koca said Turkey used a combination of its own kit and the global PRC method for testing. State media also reported that Turkish authorities launched investigations of 29 people who are accused of spreading false information about the virus on social media. Shaikh said the spread of misinformation hindered efforts to convey accurate information, adding the “infodemic” was one of the main concerns for the WHO and Turkish officials.",
            "output": [
                "Turkey confirms first coronavirus case, wins WHO praise for vigilance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6128ba1a8be948ffaff9f7b7b8066a4a",
            "input": "The story doesn’t mention costs. However, the piece is clear that this is early-stage research that might not pan out, so we think it’s acceptable that there’s no cost discussion. The story suggests that treatment with aducanumab results in “striking,” “dramatic” and “remarkable” reductions in amyloid plaques in the brain. But it doesn’t quantify what that means. How many patients saw their plaque levels go down? By how much? Is the reduction bigger than what has been seen with other experimental Alzheimer’s drugs? These details would’ve been helpful. The story is clear that the drug’s effects on amyloid plaque are accompanied by potential harms: But there’s a downside. The process of removing plaque sometimes causes fluid to build up in the brain. In rare cases, it can also cause bleeding. These side effects are known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, or ARIA. We’re also told that about 20 participants dropped out of because of adverse effects. The story cautions that these results are from small, early studies and that plaque reduction is a proxy for outcomes that really matter to patients. But it will take much larger studies to show for sure whether aducanumab really does slow down Alzheimer’s disease, Reiman says. And unlike many stories we’ve seen that discuss therapies to reduce amyloid, this piece acknowledges that we don’t whether amyloid is actually a cause of Alzheimer’s symptoms or perhaps an effect of the disease. If aducanumab works in larger studies, it could help settle a long-running debate about whether amyloid is really the root cause of Alzheimer’s. This idea is known as the amyloid hypothesis. And large studies showing that removing amyloid can preserve memory and thinking “would go a long way toward validating the amyloid hypothesis,” Sandrock says. We do wish the story had noted that about one third of patients in all groups dropped out before completion of the study, which could impact the quality of the overall findings. The story doesn’t disease monger, but it also doesn’t explain what Alzheimer’s is or give any sense as to the impact of the disease. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story quotes an official from Biogen (which makes the experimental drug) and the author of an accompanying editorial. But we don’t hear from any truly independent sources in the story. The editorialist, Dr. Eric Reiman, is said to be the executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix. It doesn’t explain that the Banner Institute is leading Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative, an effort to postpone and prevent the disease before it starts. The initiative partners with a number of drug companies, including Roche, Amgen, Genentech, Novartis, on its studies. These relationships merited a mention in the story. The story is clear that there are no drugs that treat the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s. It links to a story about a competing amyloid-reducing drug that failed to produce any benefit in a large clinical trial. We did want to know: Are there any older drugs that have been tried for this? Were they equally optimistic when they were first introduced? Putting them into perspective would help as it seems there were prior drugs that were hyped to prevent or slow the progression of AD–but subsequently didn’t pan out. The story calls the drug experimental and says that it will take several years for larger studies to report results. It’s apparent that the drug won’t be available outside of a research study any time soon. The story establishes what appears to be novel about this drug compared with others that reduce amyloid plaques. One is that the drug appears to ignore benign forms of amyloid protein while attacking the toxic forms thought to damage brain cells. Another is that aducanumab seems to enhance the ability of existing immune cells in the brain to devour toxins, including amyloid. But while the story is clear that the new paper is presenting details of research first reported last year, it doesn’t explain why the results are now “remarkable” whereas last year they were considered “disappointing,” “mixed” and a “setback.” We’ll rate this a borderline Satisfactory. The story includes original reporting and clearly goes beyond any news release.",
            "output": [
                "Test Of Experimental Alzheimer's Drug Finds Progress Against Brain Plaques"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-689dad1446d04e0cb45a81003be21ece",
            "input": "On March 6 2020, an Imgur post with the title “Thank god for unions, but damn” appeared, purportedly showing a statement “by a quarantined nurse from a northern California Kaiser facility”:The statement was dated March 5 2020, and the text in the image read:As a nurse, I’m very concerned that not enough is being done to stop the spread of the coronavirus. I know because I am currently sick and in quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive. I’m awaiting “permission” from the federal government to allow for my testing, even after my physician and county health professional ordered it.I volunteered to be on the care team for this patient, who we knew was positive. I did this because I had all the recommended protective gear and training from my employer. I did this assuming that if something happened to me, of course I too would be cared for. Then, what was a small concern after a few days of caring for this patient, became my reality:I started getting sick.When employee health told me that my fever and other symptoms fit the criteria for potential coronavirus, I was put on a 14-day self-quarantine. Since the criteria was met, the testing would be done. My doctor ordered the test through the county.The public county officer called me and verified my symptoms and agreed with testing. But the National CDC would not initiate testing. They said they would not test me because if I were wearing the recommended protective equipment, then I wouldn’t have the coronavirus.What kind of science-based answer is that? What a ridiculous and uneducated response from the department that is in charge of our health in this country.Later, they called back, and now it’s an issue with something called the “identifier number.” They claim they prioritize running samples by illness severity and that there are only so many to give out each day. So I have to wait in line to find out the results.This is not the ticket dispenser at the deli counter; it’s a public health emergency! I am a registered nurse, and I need to know if I am positive before going back to caring for patients.I am appalled at the level of bureaucracy that’s preventing nurses from getting tested. That is a health care decision my doctor and my county health department agree with. Delaying this test puts the whole community at risk.I have the backing of my union. Nurses aren’t going to stand by and let this testing delay continue; we are going to stand together to make sure we can protect our patients—by being protected ourselves.Claims made in the letter were not uncommon in late February and early March 2020 reporting on the novel coronavirus strain (COVID-19), the public health response protocols, and a shortage of tests. On March 6 2020, NPR reported limited ability to test for COVID-19 in at least six states:More laboratories around the U.S. are finally gaining the ability to test for the coronavirus disease, after what Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, calls “missteps” in the federal government’s plan to create, produce and distribute tests.Six U.S. states — Alabama, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming — currently have no labs with the verified ability to run COVID-19 diagnostic tests, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday afternoon.“We’re not there yet, but soon,” Fauci said of the effort to make testing more widely available.As NPR’s Allison Aubrey reports, “Some academic hospitals are developing their own tests and commercial options are expanding really quickly.” The results, she adds, “can take three or four days” before they’re reported to local health officials and the CDC … Vice President Pence acknowledged a shortage of tests on [March 5 2020], saying, “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.”A March 6 2020 article published by The Atlantic also focused on insufficient availability of tests for COVID-19 across the United States. Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden compared the CDC’s testing response to COVID-19 with that of previous outbreaks:On [March 2 2020], Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, estimated that “by [March 6 2020], close to a million tests will be able to be performed” in the United States. On [March 4 2020], Vice President Mike Pence promised that “roughly 1.5 million tests” would be available [that] week.But the number of tests performed across the country has fallen far short of those projections, despite extraordinarily high demand, The Atlantic has found.“The CDC got this right with H1N1 and Zika, and produced huge quantities of test kits that went around the country,” Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC from 2009 to 2017, told us. “I don’t know what went wrong this time.”Testing-related coronavirus news and rumors were themselves endemic in the first week of March 2020, with one thread on Twitter about the subject of COVID-19 tests in Seattle spreading virally. We also examined claims that the CDC removed figures to do with testing from their website between March 1 and 2 2020 — which the agency did.According to The Atlantic, discerning how many Americans had been tested for the novel coronavirus strain was not a straightforward undertaking. However, the report managed to verify that only a few thousand Americans had been tested for coronavirus. At the time the information was removed from the CDC’s site, that number was just under 500:Through interviews with dozens of public-health officials and a survey of local data from across the country, The Atlantic could only verify that 1,895 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the United States, about 10 percent of whom have tested positive. And while the American capacity to test for the coronavirus has ramped up significantly over the past few days, local officials can still test only several thousand people a day, not the tens or hundreds of thousands indicated by the White House’s promises.To arrive at our estimate, we contacted the public-health departments of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We gathered data on websites, and we corresponded with dozens of state officials. All 50 states and D.C. have made some information available, though the quality and timeliness of the data varied widely. Some states have only committed to releasing their numbers once or three times a week. Most are focused on the number of confirmed cases; only a few have publicized the number of people they are capable of testing.By and large, news stories about COVID-19 testing strongly suggested that states were profoundly underprepared to test individuals exposed to or exhibiting symptoms of the novel coronavirus strain, a claim echoed in the statement reproduced above.As for the statement purportedly made by a quarantined California nurse exposed to and exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, it was correctly attributed. A March 4 2020 press release on NationalNursesUnited.org announced a press conference the following day, March 5 2020. The document was available verbatim on their site as a PDF, also titled “Statement by a quarantined nurse from a northern California Kaiser facility.” In the release, the organization urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to step in, asserting that data showed that “hospitals are unprepared [and] confirm little planning, poor communication, and shortage of equipment” around the COVID-19 outbreak.",
            "output": [
                "A statement issued by a quarantined nurse in California describes what they believe are insufficient testing protocols."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f313be00f47643c49491d3920edc239a",
            "input": "The cost of anti-depressant medications are not mentioned. Cost of generic prozac is about $16/month. Branded versions are about $80-120/month   The story does provide absolute data on the positive benefit of these medication for several mood disorders. The story also presents the number needed to harm. The story presents an adequate risk to benefit comparison by providing the data. The story focuses on only one potential harm of treatment, i.e. suicide and suicidal ideation. The story does not list the side effects of these medications (stomach problems, insomnia, irritability, and mania in some children). While these medications are considered safe – even with the FDA warning – there is little long-term data on their safety in these groups. The story gives an overview of the meta-analysis and explains why the results of this new study may differ from earlier studies on which an FDA warning of increased suicidal behavior in children taking anti-depressants were based. The story provides the number needed to harm as well as other quantitative information on the benefits and risks of anti-depressants as they relate to improved mood and risk of suicidal thoughts and feelings. The story simply reports the results of a review of many studies looking at suicidal behavior in children and adults who were prescribed anti-depressant medications. The story would be improved by giving information on frequency of the conditions discussed, but there is NO disease mongering The story interviews one of the lead authors of the study. However we are not told if he has financial ties with the pharmaceutical makers of anti-depressant medications. The JAMA article gives conflict of interest info and there are potential conflicts that are not reported in the news story. The version of the story we reviewed was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This version does not provide other treatment options for children and teenagers who have anxiety disorders and/or depression such as psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. But the original AP story did include an interview with a Duke expert, unconnected with the JAMA study, who commented on cognitive behavioral therapy. The story does not provide information about the availability of anti-depressant medications for young children and teenagers. However, since this story deals with possible risks from these drugs, this criterion seems less important in this story. Anti-depressant medication treatment is children is a relatively new phenomenon. The story does not mention this. However, the focus of the story was to provide a more up-to-date report of the risk of suicidal ideation and behavior in children taking these medications. Data from this recent systemic review suggest the risk is still there, but not as great as previously thought. The original AP story had interviews with two experts, one of them not connected with the research. So it's safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release. But the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in which we picked up the story, cut out the quotes from this independent source.",
            "output": [
                "Antidepressants’ risks to children slim, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-68b8b4be4cf74d2584f0fad8f37152d3",
            "input": "The analysis suggests the potentially harmful effect of Celebrex dosage is most pronounced in higher-risk patients, researchers said at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting. “Patients at low cardiovascular risk should take some level of comfort,” said Dr. Scott Solomon, lead researcher of the National Cancer Institute-sponsored analysis. “That wasn’t so clear previously.”   Doctors should exercise caution in prescribing the drug, generally known as celecoxib, in high-risk patients, said Solomon, whose analysis was also published online in the journal Circulation. Celebrex belongs to a class of pain drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors and is the only such drug still on the market in the United States. Merck and Co Inc withdrew its widely used cox-2 drug, Vioxx, from the market in 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in long- term users. Another cox-2 inhibitor from Pfizer called Bextra was also pulled from the U.S. market due to safety concerns. While the analysis sheds light on how the drug should be used, Solomon said he could not judge whether the data lift the cloud over this class of drugs. The six trials involving a total of 7,950 patients all studied Celebrex against a placebo for uses other than arthritis. Patients received either 400 milligrams once a day, 200 mg twice a day, or 400 mg twice a day. The primary goal of the pooled analysis was an assessment of the combined risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, heart failure or events involving blood clots. Researchers found the heart risk was lowest at the 400 mg daily dose. They found nearly a two-fold risk of adverse heart events with the 200 mg twice daily dose and that jumped to about a three-fold risk at the 400 mg twice daily dose. “Even 400 mg once a day showed elevated risk” in the high-risk population, Solomon said, adding he could not extrapolate whether doses lower than 400 mg cut risk further. The increased risk was not affected by aspirin use, researchers said. “Most of the data used in this pooled analysis have previously been published and are consistent with what we already know about the cardiovascular risks of Celebrex and other prescription arthritis pain relievers,” said Gail Cawkwell, Pfizer’s executive medical director. “The analysis doesn’t provide any new conclusions on the FDA-approved doses of Celebrex, including the most commonly prescribed dose of 200 mg daily,” she said. Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who has a study on lower doses underway, added: “There aren’t long-term randomized placebo-controlled trials for that dose, The only way we’re ever going to answer these questions is with good randomized prospective data,” he said. “We’ll tell it like it is when the data is in.”",
            "output": [
                "Celebrex risky in high-risk patients, study finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d52e517d8e514b319636d7b0a1f875b8",
            "input": "George W. Bush stood with a bullhorn on a pile of rubble after the 9/11 attacks on lower Manhattan and promised that the people who were responsible “will hear all of us soon.” Barack Obama was in office for just a few months when the first reports came in about the H1N1 virus, which would eventually be declared a pandemic  like today’s new coronavirus. Most American presidents will confront a crisis — or crises — before they leave office, whether it is a natural disaster, war, economic downturn, public health threat or terrorism. What matters is how they respond, historians say. “The number one thing a president can do in a moment like this is try to calm the nation,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. It’s what Franklin D. Roosevelt did during an extraordinary 12 years in office, guiding the nation through a bleak period of Depression-era unemployment, a severe Midwest drought known as the Dust Bowl and battle against the Nazis and Japanese in World War II. During the influenza of Wilson’s time, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including about 675,000 in America, presidents were not involved in public health issues in the same way that President Donald Trump has become engrossed in the U.S. effort against the new coronavirus. Such issues were left for public health professionals at the state and local level. “Wilson never issued any public statement whatsoever,” said John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza,” a book about the 1918 flu. “He was entirely focused on the war. Period.” In fact, Wilson was so focused on the post-war peace talks he was participating in in Paris that he, too, ended up stricken with the flu. He recovered. Trump, on the other hand, seems intent on being the public face of the effort against what has become his most serious challenge in this reelection year. Trump, who has no scientific or medical training, now leads a daily White House briefing on coronavirus efforts by a task force he tapped the vice president to lead. Trump styles himself as a “wartime president” fighting an “invisible enemy” responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of infections in the U.S. - numbers that will continue to rise as the virus spreads — and a dramatic upheaval of everyday life. Millions of people have been ordered or urged to stay home for the foreseeable future, cut off from simple pleasures like going to restaurants, shopping malls or movies in a bid to slow the virus. But Trump’s crisis management has earned mixed reviews, with praise from many supporters and criticism from detractors, including mayors and governors who are desperate for Trump to more robustly use his authority to help them get much-needed protective gear and supplies for doctors and nurses. The president’s early attempts to minimize the severity of the situation, and to suggest that it was under control, have been panned, though he recently adopted a more urgent tone. But the damage has been done, said Steve Morrison, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, citing lack of public trust due to Trump’s early handling of the situation. “Not having trust and confidence is a huge liability heading into something this catastrophic,” said Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS. Obama was a few months into his first term in 2009 term when reports started coming in that April about the H1N1 flu. He addressed the situation that month, assembled a team and ultimately declared both a public health emergency and a national emergency to deal with the threat. “This is obviously a very serious situation, and every American should know that their entire government is taking the utmost precautions and preparations,” Obama said as he opened a White House news conference that month. He said public health officials had recommended that schools with confirmed cases consider temporarily closing, and that he had asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funding to help monitor and track the virus, and to build a supply of antiviral drugs and other equipment. “Everyone should rest assured that this government is prepared to do whatever it takes to control the impact of this virus,” Obama said. Dr. Howard Markel, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for the History of Medicine, said Obama was “very hands on” during H1N1 — but not as visibly as Trump. Obama’s director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted daily briefings from Atlanta. “He took a step back because he allowed his experts to run the show,” Markel said of Obama. “He didn’t have to be in front of the podium, but you knew he was there.”  Nearly 12,500 deaths due to the H1N1 flu were reported in the U.S. between April 2009 and April 2010, when the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic. Obama spent nearly $1 billion and sent U.S. military personnel to West Africa to help with the response to an outbreak of Ebola  in 2014. Still feeling his way through his first year in office, Bush became a wartime president the instant hijackers recruited by the al-Qaida militant network flew commercial airliners with passengers into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001. Days later, Bush stood atop the rubble and memorably spoke for the nation. “I can hear you!” Bush blared through the bullhorn as emergency responders cheered. “The rest of the world hears you! And the people – and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”  Weeks after that appearance, Bush authorized military airstrikes against Taliban military installations and al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan. U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan continues to this day. ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that Morrison’s first name is Steve, not Scott. ___ Bev Banks contributed to this report. Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Presidents in health crises: Trump more hands-on than many ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-699379d471de4f85ac7cf665620854b0",
            "input": "Tom Holland, running coach and author of “The Marathon Method,” tells his clients that running for 3 miles was horrible for him too, but farther down the road things changed. “It happens for different people at different times and different distances: that runner’s high,” he said in an interview. Holland calls it a cardiovascular turning point where the run becomes exponentially easier. “There’s a point where the run becomes enjoyable,” he said. “Whether this happens at 8 or 10 or 12 miles down the road, it will happen,” he said. A veteran of 60 marathons, Holland was set to run his ninth New York City Marathon earlier this month, until the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) race was canceled in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. “Over 100,000 people apply to the New York City Marathon each year,” he said. “There must be something there that people want.”  Gregory Chertok, a sports psychologist with the American College of Sports Medicine, said many people are drawn to running because it’s an uncomplicated activity. “Put one foot in front of the other and when you work hard, you improve,” Chertok said. “Not everything in life is so simple. You could spend 10 years in a ballet studio and not become a ballerina.”  Few runners enter a marathon to win it, he said. “It’s so rare in sporting culture for those who aren’t physically or aerobically gifted to feel included in something that’s competitive but not exclusive.”  While it’s tough to categorize athletes, Chertok said, long-distance running seems to be appreciated by those who enjoy solitude - or periods of solitude - and are OK with monotony. Chertok differentiates external from internal motivation and said studies show that people who set goals based on intrinsic motivation are more successful. “People run with the initial goal of losing weight or getting fit, which are external goals, but during training they realize they love running, so they end up running for internal reasons,” he said. Qualitative evidence for the runner’s high suggests that for those prone to its euphoria, it probably contributes to running’s addictive quality. “Those that have it swear by it,” he said. Most sports medicine practitioners would agree that people are born to be mobile, he said, but not necessarily to run long distances. “Physicians will deter people from running marathon distances, but it’s such a powerful allure that it becomes greater than risk of hamstring injury,” he said. Richard Finn, spokesman for New York Road Runners, organizers of the New York City Marathon, agrees that long distances do not suit everyone. “Running 26.2 miles is a big, bold brash undertaking,” he said. “You’ve got to put heart, soul, mind, body in it for months. It’s like climbing Mount Everest. Not everybody should be doing it.”  He said a runner is a runner whether you’re doing a marathon or a five0kilometer (3.1-mile) race. “We do running 365 days a year, since 1959,” Finn said of the New York Road Runners. “Get those sneakers on and run, even on a treadmill. We’re not elitist. We think running is good for you.”  Holland believes running also exposes our weakest link so he urges novices to start slow. “Running is an amazing cheap thing that can make us feel great about ourselves,” he said. “But the secret to running is balance. We’re born to run but we’re not born to run six days a week at the start.”",
            "output": [
                "Long-distance runners lap up miles for the love of it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e115993d89594012bfda729e101f19a1",
            "input": "Gov. Tom Wolf thanked both health systems in an announcement on Thursday. Wolf, a Democrat, praised the rival companies for reaching the agreement following their 2014 contract. In-network access to UPMC facilities for Highmark patients was set to expire in 2019. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, UPMC Altoona, UPMC Bedford and multiple other hospitals and specialty facilities will remain open to Highmark patients. The locations include centers that specialize in transplant services, cancer treatment and psychiatric health. “This is medical care that simply is not available anywhere else in the region, and denying affordable access to this vital care is just not acceptable,” Wolf said in a release. UPMC executive vice president David Farner praised the agreement. The pact helps preserve community-based care for patients across the state, Highmark president Deborah Rice-Johnson said. The health system agreement doesn’t address a dispute between Williamsport-based PMF Industries Inc. and UPMC, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. UPMC disagreed on PMF’s use of reimbursement estimates that are based on Medicare rates. Evangelical Community Hospital has sided with UPMC in rejecting its reimbursement system.",
            "output": [
                "New deal between UPMC, Highmark extends in-network access."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1e5d1232f4d41659db7d2be1efe74fd",
            "input": "True, the news hit hard last month that the so-called “Boston patients” - two men who received bone marrow transplants that appeared to rid them completely of the AIDS-causing virus - had relapsed and gone back onto antiretroviral treatment. But experts say the disappointment could lay the basis for important leaps forward in the search for a cure. “It’s a setback for the patients, of course, but an advance for the field because the field has now gained a lot more knowledge,” said Steven Deeks, a professor and HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco. He and other experts say the primary practical message is that current tests designed to detect even very low levels of HIV present in the body are simply not sensitive enough. As well as having the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Boston patients both also had a type of blood cancer called lymphoma, for which they were treated using bone marrow transplants - one man in 2008 and the other in 2010. They continued taking the antiretroviral AIDS drugs, but eight months after each patient’s transplant, doctors found they could not detect any sign of HIV in their blood. In the early part of 2013, both patients decided to stop taking their AIDS drugs and both appeared to remain HIV-free - prompting their doctors, Timothy Henrich and Daniel Kuritzkes from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to announce at a conference in July that they may have been cured. Yet in December came news that one of the men had begun to show signs of an HIV rebound by August, while the second patient had a relapse in November. Henrich said the virus’ comeback underlined how ingenious HIV can be in finding hiding places in the body to evade attack efforts by the immune system and by drug treatment. “Through this research we have discovered the HIV reservoir is deeper and more persistent than previously known and that our current standards of probing for HIV may not be sufficient,” he said, adding that both patients were “currently in good health” and back on antiretroviral therapy. Barely a decade ago, few HIV scientists would have dared put the words HIV and cure in the same sentence. Yet some intriguing and inspiring cases in recent years mean many now believe it is just a question of time before a cure is found. First was the now famous case of Timothy Ray Brown, the so-called “Berlin patient,” whose HIV was eradicated by a complex treatment for leukemia in 2007 involving the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection. Such an elaborate, expensive and life-threatening procedure could never be used as a broad-spectrum approach for the world’s 34 million HIV patients. But the results in Brown focused scientific attention on a genetic mutation known as ‘CCR5 delta 32’ as a target for possible gene therapy treatment. Then last March, French scientists who followed 14 HIV-positive people known as the “Visconti patients”, who were treated very swiftly with HIV drugs but then stopped treatment, said that even after seven years off therapy, they were still showing no signs of the virus rebounding. That announcement came only weeks after news of the “functional cure” of an HIV-positive baby in Mississippi who received antiretroviral treatment for 18 months from the day she was born. By the time she was two this appeared to have stopped the virus replicating and spreading. A “functional cure” is when HIV is reduced to such low levels that it is kept at bay even without treatment, though the virus can still be detected in the body. Sharon Lewin, an HIV expert at Monash University in Australia, said all these developments, as well as the setback suffered by the Boston patients, inspired scientists to investigate many different approaches in the search for a cure. “We’ve learnt many things here - and one of the most important is that a tiny, tiny amount of virus can get the whole thing going again,” she told Reuters. “It’s a clear message that we need better ways to pick up the virus.”  Scientists are now more convinced than ever that a two-pronged approach which aims to firmly suppress the virus while bolstering the immune system provides the best way forward. “We need to attack in two ways - reduce the virus to very low levels and also to boost the immune response. We can’t do one without the other,” said Lewin. “So we still have to think of other creative ways to control HIV. And it’s still early days... before we can say which approach is likely to be the winner.”",
            "output": [
                "Relapse of 'cured' HIV patients spurs AIDS science on."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab9078368d154d2abcc1664de2b020e9",
            "input": "The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says it’s working with the Macomb County Health Department to investigate the illnesses at McLaren Macomb Hospital in Mount Clemens. The departments say six of the seven Legionnaires’ cases have been reported at the hospital since mid-September. Both agencies are investigating the source of the disease and whether there are more infected people. The hospital is cooperating with the investigation and plans to increase water testing to look for any signs of the Legionella bacteria that causes the illness. Legionnaire’s is a flu-like illness contracted when infected water vapor is inhaled. The elderly and people with weakened immune systems can be particularly susceptible.",
            "output": [
                "Michigan probes Detroit-area hospital’s 7 Legionnaires cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df681f0135c540b2ab1fed48d8b0b1f4",
            "input": "\"Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo says women in New York state don’t have to worry about new Trump administration rules ending a federal requirement that employers must include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. The new rules exempt employers from the Obama-era mandate if they have religious or moral reservations to the coverage. But Cuomo said contraception will still be covered in New York state. \"\"This year, we ensured that whatever happens at the federal level, women in our state will continue to have cost-free access to reproductive health care,\"\" Cuomo said in a statement. States can set certain insurance standards beyond what the federal government requires. New York state told insurance companies in January they are required to cover birth control and abortion services. That condition still stands, but is Cuomo right that women in New York state are not affected by Trump’s decision? Limits to state regulation State regulations, like the one from January, do not apply to all plans. The state Department of Financial Services regulates everything sold on the state health exchange, called New York State of Health. That includes plans sold to individuals and companies with 100 or fewer employees. The agency says the state’s birth control mandate covers 1.35 million residents in those plans. Health care offered through companies with more than 100 employees is more complicated. Companies that go the traditional route of buying health coverage through an insurance carrier must adhere to the rules. About 2.5 million people in that category are covered by the state’s birth control mandate. But companies that are self-insured, where the employer assumes a large part of the costs, are not regulated by the state, meaning they need not adhere to the state's birth control mandate. About 60 percent of private sector workers in the U.S. who get their health coverage through an employer were enrolled in a self-insured plan in 2015. That’s up from 46 percent in 1996, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. In New York state, about 54 percent of private sector employees who get health insurance through their employer had a self-insured plan last year, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The option is most popular for companies with at least 1,000 employees. Eighty percent of private sector employees at companies that size in New York state are enrolled in a self-insured plan. What about public health insurance? The federal government sets the baseline for what services are covered under Medicaid. Government workers are covered under state regulation, but Medicaid and Medicare enrollees are not.States can add to that list. The list of services covered by Medicaid in New York state goes well beyond the federal standard. New York is one of multiple states where Medicaid covers birth control and abortion services. About a third of the state’s population alone is on Medicaid. Our ruling Cuomo said women in New York state \"\"will continue to have cost-free access to reproductive health care\"\" because of an action the state took earlier this year. But not every woman is in an insurance plan regulated by the state. It’s possible a self-insured large employer in New York state could apply for an exemption from the federal birth control mandate. If granted the exemption, the company would not have to provide health coverage for birth control to its employees. Those exemptions are not expected to be widespread, but they are possible. Cuomo’s statement needs clarification.\"",
            "output": [
                "Women in our state will continue to have cost-free access to reproductive health care"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed38b62736204f0c8e7ec7073d6b26f0",
            "input": "The poor and elderly are most threatened by worsening climate change, but there remains “glimmers of progress” especially after the 2015 Paris agreement to limit heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new big study published Monday in the British medical journal Lancet. Comparing the report to a health checkup, four researchers and several outside experts described Earth’s prognosis as “guarded.” “There are some very severe warning signs, but there are some hopeful indicators too,” said co-author Dr. Howard Frumkin, a professor of environmental health at the University of Washington. “Given the right treatment and aggressive efforts to prevent things from getting worse, I think there’s hope.” The report highlighted health problems stemming from more frequent heat waves, disease spread by insects, air pollution and other woes. While the disasters have been costly, deaths haven’t been increasing because society is doing a better but more expensive job adjusting to the changing conditions, the researchers noted. A team of 63 doctors, public health officials and scientists from around the world wrote what they considered the first of a regular monitoring of the health of the planet, similar to having a “finger on the pulse of the patient,” said Dr. Hugh Montgomery, an intensive care specialist and director of the University College of London’s Institute for Health and Performance. Based on 40 indicators, the study said “the human symptoms of climate change are unequivocal and potentially irreversible.” While other disease rates are dropping, cases of dengue fever — a mosquito-borne disease — has doubled every decade since 1990 with 58.4 million cases and 10,000 deaths in 2013. Frumkin, a former environmental health director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said climate change, which allows mosquitoes to live in more places and stay active longer with shorter freeze seasons, is part but not all of the reason. The same goes for the increase in tick-borne Lyme disease in the United States, Frumkin said, adding “the ticks do better with warmer weather.” Between 2000 and last year, the number of vulnerable people — those over 65 or with chronic disease — exposed to heat waves increased by about 125 million, the study said. It also highlighted the increasing likelihood of food shortages as climate change worsens. Columbia University’s Madeline Thomson, who wasn’t part of the study team, praised the work, saying “climate is a stress multiplier” so it is important to monitor this way. Acting on climate can have side benefits, Frumkin said. Cutting coal takes smog and soot out of the air,  while eating less meat and bicycling and walking more to use less electricity means fewer accidents and reduced obesity, he said. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears. His work can be found here.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors: Global warming is taking a toll on people’s health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6b80d8319af47bda6079e9d8e05ce44",
            "input": "Thanks to virtual reality, Golliver actually never left Tucson. “This technology can take us to any memory in our life that we want to visit,” she said. Golliver lives at the Fountains, one of two Tucson retirement communities serving as the launching pad for a program to see how virtual reality technology helps seniors. With a headset, residents have been able to ride a roller coaster and visit the Egyptian pyramids, Eiffel Tower and places they used to live. Some researchers say virtual reality can aid seniors with cognition, dementia and loneliness. Besides traveling, Golliver is using the technology to help write her memoirs. The program, Engage VR, was developed for Watermark Retirement Communities specifically. It uses a cordless headset system called Oculus Quest. Zoe Katleman, a project manager with Watermark, said they will eventually make the technology available at dozens of facilities nationwide, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Watermark also wants to allow residents across its communities to be able to meet up virtually. Grayson Barnes, 20, spent two years developing the Engage VR program for Watermark while studying at Rochester Institute of Technology. He said most research suggests that dementia patients are more like themselves after experiencing virtual reality. Also, one group of researchers has “turned to virtual reality as a potential method to screen for early signs of dementia,” Barnes said in an email. Dr. Marvin Slepian, a professor of medicine and director of the Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation, said doctors are using virtual reality more often for diagnosing and therapy. “Advances in wearable technology, virtual reality and integrative imaging hold the promise of revolutionizing how we monitor, control and prevent disease,” Slepian said. ___ Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.tucson.com",
            "output": [
                "Seniors can use virtual reality for travel, health issues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19feabbcb15b47f2adb9bdfcea528d82",
            "input": "Not applicable. The story presented the outcome of 472 obese individuals and examined in more detail those who were able, on average, to loss 14 pounds over a period of 26 weeks. The story did not provide any insight as to whether this amount of weight loss resulted in any health improvement in the obese individuals who were studied. So the true benefit – the true significance of the potential benefit – was not explained. Further – while the study found that those who got an adequate amount of sleep were among the cohort of individuals who were found to lose the most weight, the story did not explicitly point out that the study does not inform us about whether enforced hours of sleep would impact weight loss and weight loss management. So, again, the headline, the story’s first sentence, and the call to action by the researcher were not balanced. The story was reporting on the impact of getting adequate amounts of sleep on weight loss. While there was no overt discussion of the harm of obtaining adequate amounts of sleep, there doesn’t appear to be any harm involved in adequate sleep. Similar to the LA Times story we reviewed on the same study, this story did not challenge researchers’ comments that went too far in promoting a call to action based on one observational study – a study that can’t prove cause and effect. Its opening sentence is an example of that flaw:  “If you’re looking to lose those extra pounds, you should probably add reducing stress and getting the right amount of sleep to the list…” Later, it didn’t challenge a researcher when he said, “If you want to lose weight, things that will help you include reducing stress and getting the right amount of sleep.”  That’s pushing the limits of what one can conclude based on one observational study and the story should have explained that limitation. Toward the end, in describing another study, it started in a good direction by explaining that conclusions “should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.”  Actually, they should be considered preliminary because they were based on analysis of just 26 people. They should be considered to have evaded full scrutiny by expert colleagues until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Just because work has not been peer-reviewed does not make it preliminary. The intent, we think, was correct. But the explanation – the limitation – was not defined appropriately. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. This story included expert quotes and also some insight from the results of a recently presented study. One of the strengths of this story in comparison with its shorter LA Times competition is the context it provided, much of it from an independent expert who said: “People who are healthy and vital tend to be healthy and vital not because of any one factor, but because of many. And the factors that promote health — eating well, being active, not smoking, sleeping enough, controlling stress, to name a few –promote all aspects of health. …The important message is that weight loss should not be looked at with tunnel vision. … This study encourages weight loss in a more holistic context.” Not applicable. The story was framed as taking a broader perspective when contemplating weight loss and including other lifestyle factors which can affect food intake and exercise. Better than its LA Times competition, at least this story nodded in the direction of one other recent study on sleep and weight, thereby conveying that the newer study is not the only research on this topic. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Less Stress, Better Sleep May Help You Lose Weight"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d9ad19eb792404db57b8d3c80366fe1",
            "input": "The government confirmed that the highly virulent H5 strain was detected in birds at a chicken farm in Niigata, where about 40 of them were found dead Monday. Dead ducks at a farm in another prefecture of Aomori also tested H5 positive. Culling of about 310,000 birds began Tuesday at the Niigata farm and will continue through Friday. Workers in hazmat suits dug holes and dumped dead birds in them to contain the spread of virus. About 165,000 ducks in Aomori were also being culled. Officials restricted the movements of poultry and eggs within 3 kilometers (5 miles) of the infected farms. About 60 chicken farms operate in the neighborhood of the affected farm in Niigata, where about half a million chickens are raised. The farm in Aomori and two other neighborhood operators are specializing in French duck known as “Barbarie.” Suspected bird flu cases have been found in wild birds in those areas since early November. Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto told reporters that his ministry is sending experts to the areas for investigation, while raising the caution level to the highest level. The Agricultural Ministry has also dispatched an investigative team to both prefectures.",
            "output": [
                "Highly-contagious bird flu found in Japan, culling start."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-86f11185a0d24f8dacfa4b5605b83238",
            "input": "As concerns over novel coronavirus strain COVID-19 crested in mid-March 2020, comparisons between the effects of the strain versus that of H1N1 (or “swine flu”) more than a decade before triggered a flurry of fact checks, a Facebook flag on the memes, and exacerbated distrust in the efficacy of Facebook’s fact-checking program.Although several memes circulated, the two-level nature of the claims unwittingly exposed the limitations of Facebook fact-check flags. We collected several, which all contained roughly the same information and claims. We’ve broken them down into statistic-related facts versus unverifiable opinion:We examined the first two claims above. Although an argument could be made that the third was verifiable or otherwise form the basis of a fact-check, reception of subsequent fact-checks on the claims informed our decision to separate the two.A March 13 2020 tweet showed one iteration of the claims:pic.twitter.com/2EZDTcPlPu— FactRage (@FactRage) March 13, 2020That user tweeted an image, which read:President Trump Corona Virus US cases: 164 US deaths: 11 Panic Level: Mass hysteriaPresident Obama H1N1 Virus US Cases: 60.8 million US Deaths: 12,469 Panic Level: Totally chillDo you all see how the media can manipulate your life?The secondary claim we are not addressing here held that the media was responsible for grossly overemphasizing the risks posed by COVID-19, especially when comparing it to the H1N1 epidemic during United States President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009.It is important to bear in mind that novel coronavirus or COVID-19 is not exclusive to the United States. The World Health Organization declared the strain a pandemic in March 2020. “The media” as described in the tweet could not possibly influence the decisions of public health officials in every affected country.When that was put aside, we were left with four relevant figures, two of which had to do with COVID-19. If the numbers were ever accurate, they were certainly outdated by March 13 2020. Given that  fact-checks of the meme dated back several days, we excluded that claim from this fact check and were left with two statistics:Another version we saw appeared with an image of right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh and was shared on March 12 2020. The post was flagged with a Facebook warning for users who clicked through:Underneath the flag and alongside a status update (“Tell me the Hysteria isn’t political!”), the post read:[“]60 million Americans were infected with Swine Flu resulting in 274,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths. No media panic, no trashing of President Barack Obama and no travel ban. You don’t even remember it.” – Rush LimbaughAgain, several statements were subjective or pure opinion, such as:Obviously, the latter was immediately disproved by the memes’ circulation — all memes referenced H1N1, and clearly people remembered the outbreak. We might even hazard a guess that people — perhaps even Rush Limbaugh — “trashed” Obama during the outbreak, but there were other figures speaking to the meme’s credibility:That meme was flagged, which looked like this:A fact-check from LeadStories.com was appended under the flag. That was also the case for yet another version of the meme posted on the same day (March 12 2020) to a Facebook group for fans of both Disney parks and President Trump.In that iteration, the flaws in Facebook’s use of the flag became clearer. The original post was a share of the following meme (which was labeled “partly false” via flag) alongside a link to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) page on H1N1 with the following commentary:This is all facts. But it’s blocking it! How scary. Here are the facts from CDC. This is scary how they try to hide the truth.Further complicating matters was the fact that clicking through to the LeadStories.com page did not work. Several commenters also reported being unable to click through. We visited the LeadStories site and located the page, but not every user would do that — further undermining the credibility of such flags.We uncovered the meme in this screenshot for visibility:Across an image of United States President Barack Obama with a finger to his lips, text read:12000 DIED OF H1N1 IN 2009 UNDER OBAMA WITH 275000 HOSPITALIZEDDO YOU RECALL THE MEDIA BLAMING OBAMA AS THEY ARE PRESIDENT TRUMP ABOUT 26 DEATHS FROM CORONA VIRUS?Commenters were clearly confused by the “partly false” flag “blocking” the content, but juxtaposed with a link to the CDC matching the numbers:Commenters objected to the numbers in the meme being marked false, writing:“And FB fact checkers strike again. Thank you for posting the link to the CDC. Now we know FB is biased.”“The left is all in on this. Everyone who is closing/cancelling are either never Trumpers or straight up Trump haters…. They’ve been trying to tank the economy for the past two+ years… problem for them…. in 6 months the only thing anyone will remember, how much god damn toilet paper they still have… lol”In additional comments, users speculated the non-working LeadStories.com link was to conceal the content of fact-checking related to the meme:“When I tried to follow the fact check link, it wasn’t available. I’m sure they really just disagreeing with a minor statement.”“Checked by independent fact checkers under the Obama administration.”Once again, the meme made a combination of subjective or opinion claims and verifiable statistics. Like the others, this meme maintained:As noted above, we managed to access LeadStories.com’s fact check, which was published on March 12 2020. That post included a similar, but not identical, version of the iteration linked above from Twitter, and it linked to a since-deleted Facebook post. That deleted Facebook post was followed by an archived link, which did not work. A screenshot was mentioned, but we were unable to see a screenshot.That quoted material involved a slightly different figure for US deaths of H1N1.President Trump Corona Virus US cases: 164 US deaths: 11 Panic Level: Mass hysteriaPresident Obama H1N1 Virus US Cases: 60.8 million US Deaths: 22,469 Panic Level: Totally chill NBC News February 12, 2010: “Swine flu sickened 57 million Americans”.We searched Twitter for the number “22,469,” and it did frequently appear in similar tweets. However, since the iterations we found exclusively cited the 12,000 or 12,469 number of deaths, that is the number we are including in our own fact-check here. And again, whether or not the media treated Obama better than Trump or vice versa was largely subjective in the scope of these memes and this fact-check. Clearly, grouping the claims together only led to confusion among Facebook users, some of whom saw fact-check flags with “partly false” ratings juxtaposed with what appeared to be official statistics.The third meme from the Disney/Trump group claimed that 12,000 Americans died and 275,000 were hospitalized due to H1N1. The user linked a CDC page on H1N1 with final statistics from 2011, which reported:During the pandemic, CDC provided estimates of the numbers of 2009 H1N1 cases, hospitalizations and deaths on seven different occasions. Final estimates were published in 2011. These final estimates were that from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010 approximately 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (8868-18,306) occurred in the United States due to pH1N1.In 2010, the CDC was still estimating the number of deaths, hospitalizations, and infections. Several revisions and ranges were included, among them:Updated Estimates from April 2009 – February 13, 2010Using the same methodology CDC has again updated the estimates to include the time period from April 2009 through February 13, 2010 on March 12, 2010.CDC estimates that between 42 million and 86 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April 2009 and February 13, 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 59 million people infected with 2009 H1N1. CDC estimates that between 188,000 and 389,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April 2009 and February 13, 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 265,000 2009 H1N1-related hospitalizations. CDC estimates that between 8,520 and 17,620 2009 H1N1-related deaths occurred between April 2009 and February 13, 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 12,000 2009 H1N1-related deaths.In 2013, NBC News reported:CDC says H1N1 infected 61 million Americans during the pandemic and killed around 12,000. H1N1 is now part of the annual seasonal flu mix.Estimates compiled as of 2013 were down slightly from earlier estimates of as many as 17 million H1N1 deaths during the flu season of late 2009 and early 2010. A more recent CDC page on the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic (updated in June 2019) included the revised statistics:From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus.Again, memes were marked partly false based on two-level claims. One claim was that U.S. President Donald Trump was scrutinized more strongly than his predecessor, President Barack Obama, during respective pandemics — H1N1/swine flu in 2009, and COVID-19/coronavirus in 2020. That element of the claim was arguably subjective, but more importantly, the more math-based element of the claim caused broad confusion over fact-checks related to it.The second part of the claim held that 12,000 or 12,469 Americans died of H1N1 during a 2009-2010 pandemic, that 60.8 million or 60 million Americans were sickened, and that 247,000 to 275,000 were hospitalized. All three claims appeared on all three memes in some form, and all three were accurate whether rounded or exact. In 2013, the CDC revised figures to the more precise and unrounded ones, and the memes accurately stated those figures as they appeared on CDC resources. Separating out only the figures, all three memes contained accurate figures for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and 2010, but had the unforeseen effect of showing where Facebook’s methodology for utilizing fact-checkers was weakest.",
            "output": [
                "More than 12,000 Americans died of H1N1 (swine flu) in the United States in 2009, and 275,000 Americans were hospitalized."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32e45952cca447f48757420fd1276357",
            "input": "Cost information is not provided, but the cost of a bright light is presumably reasonable. The story is specific about the number of sleep-deprived participants who crashed their simulated cars after exposure to dim light (5) compared to those whose simulated drive home was preceded by 45 minutes of bright light (0). Exposure to light in this way isn’t harmful, so we’ll rate this N/A. However, such a therapy could encourage people to skip on an intervention that would be more effective such as sleep. Or it could inure a false sense of security. The writer devotes an entire paragraph to the limits of the study, which include a small number of participants (19) and the generalizability problems that stem from experiments in lab settings. Sleepy drivers are dangerous drivers, so this study focuses on a real risk. A strong point of this story is how sources in the story are clearly identified as aligned with or independent of the study, and there were several of them. We could find no potential conflicts of interest with the researcher who was interviewed. An independent source notes that the only “proven” way to avoid the effects of drowsiness when driving is “to consistently get enough sleep.”  Other strategies for remaining alert behind the wheel are also mentioned. Light sources are readily available. One can find many studies of the role of bright light in reducing symptoms of sleepiness, but none of that context finds its way into this story. A release relevant to this story did not emerge from our search efforts. The addition of independent sources bolsters the idea that enterprise reporting undergirds this text.",
            "output": [
                "Driving home from night shift may be safer with light therapy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-881b3a392c3c4337bd3f446907b174f1",
            "input": "Macron visited a Paris hospital where a 60-year-old Frenchman this week became the second person to die from the coronavirus in France, and sought to reassure a medical profession angry over healthcare spending that it had his support. “We have a crisis before us. An epidemic is on its way,” Macron, dressed in a suit and without any protective gear, told a group of doctors. The coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people and killed nearly 2,800, the majority in China. Its rapid spread elsewhere in recent days has met the definition for a pandemic. France is on high alert after neighboring Italy became a new front in the global fight to contain the outbreak. France has registered 18 confirmed cases. The French government has instructed anyone returning from China, Singapore, South Korea or the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto to take their temperature twice a day, wear a mask and avoid all contact with weak and elderly people for 14 days. School children who have traveled to those zones have been told to stay at home for two weeks. Macron’s visit to the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital was kept secret in advance. One doctor confronted Macron, saying the coronavirus underlined the need to shore up France’s public health sector with more money. “When the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral needed saving, many people were emotionally moved,” neurologist François Salachas said. “Now, we must save public hospitals.”  Macron, a former investment banker who became president in 2017, replied that he had inherited a health service neglected by past leaders. “I am counting on you and you can count on me,” said Macron, whose government announced billions of euros of debt relief for the country’s hospitals and extra cash in November to end doctors’ strikes. Two people have died from the coronavirus so far in France - an elderly Chinese tourist and the 60-year-old teacher. “We are only at the beginning,” Macron said.",
            "output": [
                "Macron warns France that coronavirus epidemic is coming."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e8955278ab24e57b5dce18e1ddc6f2c",
            "input": "Three American scientists — including one who initially flunked out of MIT — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday that launched a whole new way to observe the cosmos. Sweden’s Royal Academy of Sciences cited the combination of highly advanced theory and ingenious equipment design in awarding Rainer Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Barry Barish and Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology. “It’s a win for the human race as a whole. These gravitational waves will be powerful ways for the human race to explore the universe,” Thorne told The Associated Press in a phone interview. The trio were part of a team of more than 1,000 astronomers who first observed gravitational waves in September 2015. When the discovery was announced several months later, it was a sensation not only among scientists but the general public. These are waves that go through everything — including us — but carry information on them that astronomers could not get otherwise. “The best comparison is when Galileo discovered the telescope, which allowed us to see that Jupiter had moons. And all of a sudden, we discovered that the universe was much vaster than we used to think about,” Ariel Goobar of the Swedish academy said. Weiss said he hopes that eventually gravitational waves will help science learn about “the very moment when the universe came out of nothingness.” Gravitational waves were first theorized a century ago by Einstein, but he didn’t think technology would ever be able to detect the tiny wobbles, smaller than a piece of an atom. The waves are like “a storm in the fabric of space-time that is produced when two black holes collide,” Thorne said. The first detection came from a crash 1.3 billion light-years away. A light-year is about 5.88 trillion miles. The prize is “a win for Einstein, and a very big one,” Barish told the AP. The waves are detected by a laser device, called an interferometer, which must be both exquisitely precise and extremely stable in a project that cost $1.1 billion dollars. The first observation involved two of the devices about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) apart — in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. They came about 7 milliseconds apart, consistent with the speed of light. A new detector in Italy went online and helped in the discovery of the fourth wave. With the technology that the three developed “we may even see entirely new objects that we haven’t even imagined yet,” said Patrick Sutton, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales. The German-born Weiss, 85, who initially spearheaded the research effort, was awarded half of the 9-million-kronor ($1.1 million) prize amount. Thorne, 77, a theorist, and Barish, 81, who was a project director, will split the other half. For decades, the scientists pushed for money to start the massive LIGO project, getting their first National Science Foundation grant in 1992. The first version of the detector went through six long runs looking for gravitational waves, but didn’t find them because it wasn’t technologically precise enough, Barish said. And computer programs needed to solve Einstein’s equations weren’t quite right and “the quest was foundering,” said Thorne, who peeled away from the detector work to form another collaboration to get better computing for detection. Two decades after construction “we finally struck gold,” Barish said. Weiss also overcame failure. After flunking out of MIT, he didn’t have anything to do so he offered himself as an electronics technician to a lab at MIT and learned how to solder and deal with people. He returned to school, got his bachelor’s and doctorate at MIT and ended up as a professor there. “There was a person who thought I was OK. I wasn’t a complete dope,” Weiss said. “I got some confidence out of that.” In a moment of poetry aimed at making the distant and infinitesimal phenomenon understandable to non-experts, the academy announcement said gravitational waves “are always created when a mass accelerates, like when an ice-skater pirouettes or a pair of black holes rotate around each other.” Professor Alberto Vecchio, from the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy, said this discovery will produce results for decades to come. “They have taken me, as well as hundreds of my colleagues, through such an intellectually rewarding and recently adrenaline-packed journey that we could not have even remotely imagined,” he said. “The best part is that this is just the beginning of a new roller-coaster exploration of the universe.” For the past 25 years, the Nobel physics prize has been shared among multiple winners. Last year’s prize went to three British-born researchers who applied the mathematical discipline of topology to help understand the workings of exotic matter such as superconductors and superfluids. The 2017 Nobel prizes kicked off Monday with the medicine prize being awarded to three Americans studying circadian rhythms — better known as body clocks: Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young. The chemistry prize will be announced Wednesday, the Nobel literature prize on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize, which is not technically a Nobel, will be awarded on Monday. ___ Heintz reported from Stockholm. David Keyton in Stockholm, Christopher Weber in Pasadena, California, Rodrigue Ngowi in Newtonville, Massachusetts, Collin Binkley in Boston, Massachusetts,  Bob Lentz in Philadelphia, Michelle Monroe in Phoenix and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this story. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage on the Nobels here: https://apnews.com/tag/NobelPrizes",
            "output": [
                "Einstein proof: Nobel winners find ripples in the universe."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bfa04e2b35a04a24b1ff4b812b0b3556",
            "input": "Bottles of Corona beer speed past a worker in the bottling line of Mexico City's Modelo brewery, May 19, 2004. REUTERS/Andrew Winning He may be in for worse than a surprise: a nasty skin reaction that one doctor is calling “Mexican beer dermatitis.”   A substance in lime juice, if left on the skin in the sun, can cause the skin to become discolored, as if by poison ivy or a jellyfish sting — and the marks can last for months, reports Scott Flugman in the Archives of Dermatology. Mexican beers, particularly Corona, are typically served with a lime slice wedged in the top of the bottle. The drinker shoves the lime into the bottle and holds his or her thumb over the bottle’s mouth while turning the bottle over to mix in the juice. But if the drinker is not careful, the beer’s carbonation can spray lime juice and beer all over his or her skin — “especially in a patient who is shirtless by a beach or pool,” wrote Flugman, a dermatologist in New York. The resulting reaction is due to a substance called psoralen, used to make the skin more sensitive to a wavelength of ultraviolet light, UV-A, used to treat certain skin conditions. Lemons contain psoralens too, but not as strong. “It’s just a cosmetic issue,” Flugman told Reuters Health, though he said the discoloration — most frequently in people like bartenders who work outdoors with limes — may take an emotional toll. “People are worried that it’s something serious. You might have some brown spots you’re been looking at for a few months,” he said. Olive-skinned Caucasians may be especially susceptible. No ties have been shown between the reaction and skin cancer, said Flugman, who added that he sees two or three cases a year. They are often mystified why a dermatologist is asking them if they’ve recently drunk Mexican beer. His advice? “If you do this and you spritz the beer or the lime, just wash it off. Don’t leave it on there and sit out in the sun,” he said. Or, if you are disinclined to get up for a while, “throw a towel over it.”",
            "output": [
                "Hold the lime with Corona, may cause skin reaction."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b23dc6e153342978222f17ba62c6ea9",
            "input": "Ever since the mid-1950s, generations of children in North America (and, since the advent of the Internet, children from all over the world) have eagerly turned to an annual service provided by the U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to help them track the progress of Santa Claus every Christmas Eve as he departs the North Pole and traverses the globe in his reindeer-driven sleigh, delivering presents to good little boys and girls around the world. NORAD’s engaging well over a thousand people to provide a yearly Santa-tracking program seems to many like a rather whimsical venture for a staid defense-based agency to be engaging in. And, in fact, NORAD didn’t set out to be in the business of providing real-time Santa updates every Christmas Eve: that service came about strictly by accident, the result of a misdialed number published in a local department store newspaper advertisement. Back in 1955, NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At Christmastime of that year, a Sears department store advertisement placed in a Colorado Springs newspaper featured a picture of Santa urging children to “Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.”  Unfortunately, the phone number included in the ad was either misprinted or misdialed, and a child who called ended up not on the phone with St. Nick but rather with one Colonel Harry Shoup, the officer on duty that day at CONAD. Rather than informing his juvenile caller they had reached a wrong number and  brusquely instructing them to get off the line, Col. Shoup opted to play along and asked his staff to accommodate the inquisitive youngster by providing them with updates on Santa’s Christmas Eve progress. The story of the accidental origins of NORAD’s Santa-tracking program has been told and re-told many times over the decades. Here’s how Col. Shoup’s daughter related it back in 2009:   One morning that December, U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, the director of operations at CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command — NORAD’s predecessor — got a phone call at his Colorado Springs, Colo., office. This was no laughing matter. The call had come in on one of the top secret lines inside CONAD that only rang in the case of a crisis. Grabbing the phone, Shoup must have expected the worst. Instead, a tiny voice asked, “Is this Santa Claus?” “Dad’s pretty annoyed,” said Terri Van Keuren, Shoup’s daughter, recalling the legend of that day in 1955. “He barks into the phone,” demanding to know who’s calling. “The little voice is now crying,” Van Keuren continued. “‘Is this one of Santa’s elves, then? '” The Santa questions were only beginning. That day, the local newspaper had run a Sears Roebuck ad with a big picture of St. Nick and text that urged, “Hey,  Kiddies! Call me direct … Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.” But the phone number in the ad was off by a digit. Instead of connecting with Santa, callers were dialing in on the line that would ring if the Russians were attacking. Before long, the phone was ringing off the hook, and, softening up, Shoup grabbed a nearby airman and told him to answer the calls and, Van Keuren said, “‘just pretend you’re Santa. '” Indeed, rather than having the newspaper pull the Sears ad, Shoup decided to offer the countless kids calling in something useful: information about Santa’s progress from the North Pole. To quote the official NORAD Santa site, “a tradition was born.” From that point on, first CONAD and then, in 1958, when NORAD was formed, Shoup’s organization offered annual Santa tracking as a service to the global community. A phone number was publicized and anyone was invited to call up, especially on December 24, and find out where Santa was. Manning those phones over the years have been countless numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel and their families, and for many people, turning to NORAD to find out where Santa is became something to look forward to each year. Grabbing the phone, Shoup must have expected the worst. Instead, a tiny voice asked, “Is this Santa Claus?” “Dad’s pretty annoyed,” said Terri Van Keuren, Shoup’s daughter, recalling the legend of that day in 1955. “He barks into the phone,” demanding to know who’s calling. “The little voice is now crying,” Van Keuren continued. “‘Is this one of Santa’s elves, then? '” The Santa questions were only beginning. That day, the local newspaper had run a Sears Roebuck ad with a big picture of St. Nick and text that urged, “Hey,  Kiddies! Call me direct … Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.” But the phone number in the ad was off by a digit. Instead of connecting with Santa, callers were dialing in on the line that would ring if the Russians were attacking. Before long, the phone was ringing off the hook, and, softening up, Shoup grabbed a nearby airman and told him to answer the calls and, Van Keuren said, “‘just pretend you’re Santa. '” Indeed, rather than having the newspaper pull the Sears ad, Shoup decided to offer the countless kids calling in something useful: information about Santa’s progress from the North Pole. To quote the official NORAD Santa site, “a tradition was born.” From that point on, first CONAD and then, in 1958, when NORAD was formed, Shoup’s organization offered annual Santa tracking as a service to the global community. A phone number was publicized and anyone was invited to call up, especially on December 24, and find out where Santa was. Manning those phones over the years have been countless numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel and their families, and for many people, turning to NORAD to find out where Santa is became something to look forward to each year. A number of recent accounts have pointed out the inconsistencies that crept into Col. Shoup’s story over the years (i.e., was it a newspaper misprint or a randomly misdialed number the led a child to call; did NORAD receive misdirected calls from multiple children or a single child) and have intimated that the whole tale was a concocted work of fiction. But the basic elements of Shoup’s story (if not the finer details) remained consistent across time, and no disproof or plausible alternate version of events has been offered to contradict them.",
            "output": [
                "NORAD annually tracks Santa's progress because a child trying to reach Santa via a newspaper advertisement called the wrong phone number."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef799afde7974833a6432355509f4164",
            "input": "The governor, a Democrat, noted that hospitalizations are in the third week of a downward progression and the state is on pace to “blow through” a projected 42,000 tests per week beginning next week, ramping up to more than 100,000 by June. “I appreciate the ongoing concern that people have, but I think we’ve got the right balance going forward right now,” Lamont said during his daily media briefing. “I think you have a sense that we put public health and public safety first and foremost. Whatever we do, we’re doing very cautiously. ” In one of two letters, lawmakers noted how some parts of the state are still seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. The latest data show cases climbed by 609 from Wednesday, to nearly 35,500. But that comes as the state is ramping up testing. Meanwhile, the number of deaths spiked by 94 since Wednesday, for a total of 3,219. More than half of those are nursing home residents. “Reopening is essential — but to do it while the first wave of the pandemic is still raging will not lead to a second wave, it will simply add fuel to the first wave, delaying our eventual recovery,” the senators wrote to Lamont. Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano said he supports the first reopening date — Wednesday, May 20 — noting the state has the medical capacity to deal with an uptick in cases of the coronavirus. In the meantime, he said, the state is suffering in other ways because of current restrictions, noting an increase in domestic violence, drug abuse and mental health problems. “Those are all huge health care concerns,” he said. “Huge.” For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. In other coronavirus-related developments around Connecticut: ___ NURSING HOMES Representatives of nursing home and assisted living facilities in Connecticut said new data released Thursday evening show the coronavirus “still has a hold” on the state’s nursing homes. In a joint statement, the presidents of LeadingAge Connecticut, the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities and the CT Assisted Living Association, said the latest numbers also reveal “the pernicious character of the highly contagious virus, now known to be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers” and is “no way a reflection of the quality” of the facilities and the care they provide. The state’s figures show 163 nursing homes and 75 assisted living facilities in the state have had at least one positive case of COVID-19. In nursing homes, there have been 6,947 positive cases, 1,487 laboratory-confirmed COVID-associated deaths and 440 probable COVID-associated deaths. In assisted living facilities, there have been 874 positive cases, 207 laboratory-confirmed COVID-associated deaths and 69 probable COVID-associated deaths. ____ CASINO TOWNS A bipartisan group of eastern Connecticut state lawmakers on Thursday urged Lamont to to personally engage with Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal leaders to determine how the state can help them reopen Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino as soon as possible and support the roughly 10,000 workers who are currently out of work, as well as the hundreds of impacted local vendors. The lawmakers also called on Lamont to authorize the tribes to operate internet gambling and sports betting, a revenue source they argue is needed to help restart “two economic powerhouses” in the region. “The continued closure of the casinos is untenable,” they wrote, noting how the situation warrants the governor’s personal involvement. Both casinos have been shuttered since March 17. It remains unclear when they might reopen. “I really do care about the people. I care about getting those people back to work safely,” Lamont said. “I do worry a lot about the nature of a big gathering place like a casino. It does bring in people from all over the region, all over the Northeast region ... It can be a place that’s a source of high risk.” Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff, said the governor and his administration have been in constant contact with the tribes, with more discussions planned Friday. Meanwhile, Lamont said he’s not inclined to authorize internet gambling and sports betting in an executive order, but said he is open to further discussions. Also, he said he plans to ask his economic advisor to see if there’s a way to help target some federal assistance to the businesses impacted by the casino closures. ___ PRISON VIDEO VISITS The state Department of Correction says it has begun allowing 30-minute video calls between juvenile offenders and family members. The “video visits” are being conducted over the Zoom Cloud Meetings application from the York Correctional Institution for women and the Manson Youth Institution. The department says the visits can only be made to people on the offenders approved visitation list. Three authorized adult visitors may participate. Visitors under 18 may only participate if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. In person visitation has been suspended during the pandemic and previously inmates had been limited to telephone calls with their loved ones. ___ HOSPITAL FLYOVERS The Connecticut Air National Guard conductED a statewide flyover Thursday to salute the state’s health care workers. The guard’s C-130H aircraft flew above hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the state. Numerous people posted photos of the four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft on social media as it flew overhead. Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, the adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard, said it’s a way to show “appreciation to the thousands of heroes at the front line battling COVID-19.” ____ EDUCATION FUNDING Connecticut is receiving $111 million in federal coronavirus relief aid to help school districts during the global pandemic. The Connecticut State Department of Education is developing an application process for school districts, who can use the money for things like computer and software purchases, mental heath services and summer learning.",
            "output": [
                "Lamont moving ahead with May 20 reopening despite concerns."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-06b677f9dfaa4761a740f317049aa1fa",
            "input": "The story mentions that the Internet-based program is a “low-cost” option for treating insomnia; however, nothing more specific regarding cost is provided. It is presumed that the site will be proprietary; if so, what are the expected usage fees? The story states that compared to the control group, the treatment group woke up fewer times, spent fewer minutes awake, and had an improved score; however, the reader is not given any quantitative data or context to determine if these improvements are really meaningful in a person’s life. The story does not mention any possible harms that may be associated with managing insomnia via an Internet-based program. For example, might people develop worsening insomnia because of reinforcement of bad habits? A comment regarding the lack of identifiable harms would have been sufficient. The story accurately described the methodology and the participants; although this could have been further improved by providing more information about the control group, namely, that they did receive any type of treatment for insomnia. Additionally, the story effectively conveyed that this was a small study with a fairly homogenous population. This story does not directly address the prevalence of insomnia, but the overall tone does not suggest disease-mongering. This story includes comments from two independent experts, as well as a study co-author. The writer also mentions that the study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. This story includes information on the benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy and working with a therapist for treating insomnia and briefly mentions sleep medications. The story states that this Internet-based program “could one day” be an option for treating insomnia, which suggests that it is not yet ready for prime time. The story conveyed that this is a novel treatment modality for insomnia. The story does not appear to rely on a press release and quotes multiple sources that appear to be from interviews.",
            "output": [
                "Internet-based therapy shows promise for insomnia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-946ef7910b534d07b15a19d23522d9d5",
            "input": "\"The company behind the product undoubtedly has done market research about how much of this product it might sell and at what price. At a minimum, that information should have been included here. It presents the benefits in both relative and absolute terms in the second paragraph of the story. It would be nice to have a NNT or number needed to treat in here. It also would be nice to see the range of performance after using the drug. Did some of the men on placebo have gains in ejaculation time that were unusually high? Did some on the drug have no gain or even a loss of time? It’s also not clear how the researchers knew what the \"\"no drug\"\" ejaculation time was, how they were chosen for the research or whether they fell into a particular age bracket. The story did a \"\"satisfactory\"\" job quantifying the benefits, not a perfect job. And in an imperfect world of health stories, this part of the story was actually above average. It talks about the potential side effects, but it limits that discussion to what the study found in a very small group of men. Are there long term effects from lidocaine exposure that have been found in other studies? Does the body build up resistance to lidocaine? This isn’t a short term problem that can be solved with a few weeks of therapy. It is usually a life long problem, and the story should be framed that way both in discussing the benefits and the harms. By using an outside expert to say in the third graph that the findings are \"\"clinically significant,\"\" the story makes it sound as if the case for this drug has already been made. Perhaps Tom Lue gave some context around this comment, but that context is not included. Instead, we are told that patients will be \"\"much happier.\"\" If you have this problem, you are looking up the company’s website to get on their mailing list. But both groups experienced a gain in ejaculation time. Why would that be? And, given that these sexual encounters were self timed, how confident can we be in the results? Another thing that the story never addresses is the idea of optimal time for sex. It also treats this particular sexual dysfunction as a purely single male problem instead of a larger issue of an unsatisfying sexual relationship between a man and his partner. The drug was tested with two people having sex, but the person who did not receive the spray is never taken into account. The men \"\"rated their sexual experiences significantly higher\"\" than those who got placebos. The only reference to the partners is literally the second to the last sentence, \"\"Also, 0.6% of the men’s female partners reported at least some loss of sensation.\"\" We don’t hear anything about the limitations of the study design. It appears to be a quasi-synthesis of 2 clinical trials. There isn’t any caution about the limited or nonexistent peer-review which takes place for an \"\"abstract\"\" at a meeting. Regarding study design, all we know is that researchers took 2 previous trials already made public (would have been helpful to include what the primary findings were) and \"\"combined them with added new data.\"\" This study design is highly suspect. We do not know anything about whether the 2 trials were similar enough to combine, and in what manner they were combined. The section describing premature ejaculation does a better than average job attempting to define the scope of the problem while describing the limitations of the research that has been done in this area. One line could be a model for other journalists to learn from: \"\"Surveys have suggested that as many as 20% to 30% of men may suffer from premature ejaculation, though these figures are often drawn from broadly worded survey questions and may overstate the number of men with significant problems.\"\" The reporter clearly read a lot about the problem and the potential treatments and does a fairly good job synthesizing this information. The story makes it clear that the two outside sources were not involved in this research. It is unclear whether these doctors are involved in any competing research or research into a similar product. There are three full graphs in a 12 graph story about the standard treatments and off-label treatments. I felt like I knew more about the state of premature ejaculation medicine after reading this story than I did about the actual success of these two trials. The story makes it clear, even in the headline, that these are the results of a trial and that there currently is no product even in the FDA pipeline. It also talks about a drug therapy from Johnson & Johnson and where it is being sold. It says at one point in the story that the \"\"findings of both trials had previously been made public.\"\" It would have been nice to know where, how and why. Presumably at previous conferences, and, if so, why is this treatment not already in the FDA pipeline. Reporters should always be wary of scientists, especially corporate ones, who are using the trade show circuit to build momentum for their product instead of following a rigorous peer review process. This story really is all about the novelty, and it does a good job of exploring some of the other treatments available. Clearly, there is no published study. The company involved in the drug did issue this press release (http://www.renalandurologynews.com/novel-treatment-for-premature-ejaculation-shows-promising-results/article/171435/)There are some differences between the numbers used in the story and the numbers in the press release, but it’s not clear how much of this is because of different caveats. (The number of men who actually completed the study, for example, versus all of those who were involved.) The story goes well beyond the release and was finished before the press conference at the AUA meeting.\"",
            "output": [
                "Trial Help for Sex Problems"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4826113473a54f0293c8ba53fe0e913c",
            "input": "The article does not include information about the psychological and financial costs of biopsies for women with a false positive diagnosis of breast cancer. Among women with a personal history of breast cancer, 1.7 % were referred for biopsies that determined there was no second breast cancer while 1% of the women without breast cancer had false positive determinations. The article does point out that 18% of women with a personal history of breast cancer were called back for additional imaging or biopsies compared with 8.3% of those without breast cancer but there is no discussion of the psychological or financial costs connected with the additional imaging. By quantifying the benefits of screening mammography for women with a personal history of breast cancer in absolute numbers, the story presents this information accurately and in a useful, understandable way for women with breast cancer. The story discusses false positives & interval cancers & provides explanations of both of these problems associated with screening mammography. The story does not explain that the study was a retrospective study based on mammograms performed from 1996-2007 in five states at facilities affiliated with the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. There is no mention in the story of the possible confounding factors such as the biological factors associated with treatment of the first cancers that were noted by the study authors. The story also fails to include information about the subgroups of women with the highest observed cancer rates for whom the study authors note that alternate screening might be considered. The headline of this story misleads the reader by stating that “Mammograms May Not Be Fool-Proof at Catching Second Cancers.”  No type of screening for breast cancer is fool-proof whether it is for an initial diagnosis or for a second breast cancer. Regarding the accuracy of screening mammography for an initial breast cancer diagnosis, the Komen for the Cure website states that in women age 50 and older “…between six and 27 percent of breast cancers may be missed by mammography alone.”  Mammography is most effective in women 50 and older. Quotes from two independent sources are included in the article. Dr. William Audeh, director of the Wasserman Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, presents possible explanations for some of the higher false positives among women with a personal history of breast cancer. Quotes from both Dr. Audeh and Dr. Robert Smith, director of cancer screening for the American Cancer Society, point out that screening mammography may not have been as effective among women with a personal history of breast cancer as it was in those without a breast cancer diagnosis but that most of the cancers detected were stage I or ductal carcinoma in situ, a non-invasive breast cancer. The article could have noted that study authors declared no conflicts of interest and  that the study was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Satisfactory mostly because of the inclusion of the comments by Dr Audeh about MRI, which is really the only acceptable alternative to mammography for followup of breast cancer survivors, and it is still unclear how MRI and mammography should be used in concert. Not applicable. Mammography is widely available and recommendations for annual mammography screening after a breast cancer diagnosis are standard. So the story didn’t need to specifically discuss the availability. Satisfactory. The novelty of mammography is not in question, and the whole point of the story was the new study about mammography’s performance in breast cancer survivors vs. controls. It may have been helpful for readers to know that the study was the first to examine the accuracy of screening mammography for women with a personal history of breast cancer. The article does not rely solely on a news release. It includes several explanatory quotes from Dr. Diana Miglioretti, one of the co-authors of the study as well as quotes from two doctors not connected with the study.",
            "output": [
                "Mammograms May Not Be Fool-Proof at Catching Second Cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-881faf46ba64448c86fa342a27cb7a0e",
            "input": "Bayer acquired Monsanto this year for $63 billion. “If we can settle nuisances at some point where the defense costs in preparing cases are higher than potential settlement amounts, we will of course consider it from an economic standpoint,” CEO Werner Baumann told reporters when asked whether there was any scenario in which Bayer would consider settling. He added: “We will resolutely and with all means defend ourselves in this (glyphosate) litigation.”  Baumann was speaking on Monday to German media invited to visit Bayer’s new operations in the former research and development facilities of Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri. The remarks, made on Monday, were embargoed to the end of the week to allow media to return home. Shares in Bayer have lost 25 percent in value since Aug. 10, when a San Francisco jury awarded $289 million to Dewayne Johnson on grounds Monsanto failed to warn the school groundskeeper and other consumers of the cancer risks posed by glyphosate-based RoundUp and Ranger Pro. Johnson has terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that he alleges was caused by the herbicides. A judge later reduced the award to $78 million. Bayer denies that glyphosate causes cancer and says decades of scientific studies and real-world use have shown the chemical to be safe for human use. The company is appealing the findings. The number of glyphosate cases that Bayer faces across the United States has jumped to more than 8,700, prompting concerns among investors about the impact of litigation costs on Bayer’s bottom line. Baumann expressed confidence that Bayer could handle the litigation, and cited its “inexpensive” $12 million settlement of 4,000 lawsuits over its contraceptive Mirena device. Bayer also won five of six trials over its best-selling bloodthinner Xarelto, over which it faces 24,000 U.S. lawsuits. The sixth jury found in favor of a plaintiff, but a judge later overturned the decision. “Due to our exposure as a pharmaceutical company, we have the experience to defend those (glyphosate) cases,” he said. Baumann said the company’s legal strategy had been revised following the integration of Bayer and Monsanto in mid-August. He declined to provide details, but recent court filings reveal some of the steps the company has taken. Last week, Bayer added the attorneys from law firm Arnold & Portner who won the Xarelto cases for the company to its glyphosate defense team. It is also trying to change the juror selection process for upcoming trials. In filings last week in San Francisco federal court, where a new glyphosate trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 25, 2019, Bayer said the “jury pool likely has grown more hostile” due to negative media coverage following the Johnson verdict. Michael Miller, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, said the company’s claims were “hypocritical beyond belief” given its own efforts to control the message on glyphosate, most recently in a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post. Bayer has asked U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who is overseeing the San Francisco case and some 580 others, to significantly expand the jury pool and question prospective jurors about their knowledge of the media coverage of the cases. Chhabria is expected to decide on the requests in December.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer CEO says would consider glyphosate settlement depending on costs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-624cdb5e36174f2d8ed88f267ec7b479",
            "input": "This story informs the reader of the cost range for some generic and brand name drugs. It states that a 3-month supply of alendronate, a generic version of Fosamax, costs about $100 and that biannual infusions of the Novartis drug Zometa costs up to $1,200. Although it is not stated, these are estimated retail costs. This story does a good job of presenting potential benefits in detail, including the number of women in each study, the study design and factors that need to be taken into account when considering the results. Results are presented in both relative and absolute terms. For example, one of the studies reported about a 30% decreased incidence of developing invasive breast cancer over about 8 years in women who took oral bisphosphonates compared to those who did not. The story explains that in absolute terms, for every 1,000 women taking bisphosphonates for one year there would be one less case of invasive breast cancer. The story mentions some of the potentially severe side effects of bisphosphonates including bone, joint or muscle pain and, in rare cases, jawbone decay. The story also mentioned that one of the studies showed a slight increased risk of noninvasive tumors in women who took bisphosphonates compared to those who did not. It could have also mentioned that gastrointestinal distress is another potential side effect, but did confirm that bisphosphonates are generally well-tolerated. The story should have emphasized that this was an observational study and  that the association is just that — an association, not cause and effect. Women who develop osteoporosis tend to be women who may have lower breast cancer risk to begin with, perhaps due to lower circulating estrogen levels. This concern was addressed in a New York Times story the same studies:",
            "output": [
                "Studies: Bone drugs may help prevent breast cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-273bd5cf2e9940cea1c59644b0dd1667",
            "input": "Kirsty Hartley was sentenced Thursday. The sentence includes 18 months of house arrest. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister says Hartley’s husband, Dalton Hartley, was given the same sentence because he received the drugs from her. Kirsty Hartley pleaded guilty to distributing a prescription painkiller outside the usual course of professional practice. Dalton Hartley pleaded guilty acquiring controlled substances through fraud. Kirsty Hartley worked at a CVS pharmacy. She admitted she gave more than 21,000 tablets of hydrocodone with acetaminophen to her husband. He consumed or traded them for marijuana. As part of her plea, Kirsty Hartley surrendered her pharmacist’s license.",
            "output": [
                "Salina pharmacist, husband sentenced in opioid diversion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d198243d5af843e598a6c859e09aa48c",
            "input": "A still image provided by KPIX TV and taken from the broadcaster's video footage shows Timothy Ray Brown during an interview at his home in San Francisco. Timothy Ray Brown, was a young HIV-positive American living and working in Berlin who had developed leukaemia and suffered a relapse after initial treatment. REUTERS/Courtesy KPIX TV/Handout Dramatic scientific advances since HIV was first discovered 30 years ago this week mean the virus is no longer a death sentence. Thanks to tests that detect HIV early, new antiretroviral AIDS drugs that can control the virus for decades, and a range of ways to stop it being spread, 33.3 million people around the world are learning to live with HIV. People like Vuyiseka Dubula, an HIV-positive AIDS activist and mother in Cape Town, South Africa, can expect relatively normal, full lives. “I’m not thinking about death at all,” she says. “I’m taking my treatment and I’m living my life.”   Nonetheless, on the 30th birthday of HIV, the global scientific community is setting out with renewed vigor to try to kill it. The drive is partly about science, and partly about money. Treating HIV patients with lifelong courses of sophisticated drugs is becoming unaffordable. Caring for HIV patients in developing countries alone already costs around $13 billion a year and that could treble over the next 20 years. In tough economic times, the need to find a cure has become even more urgent, says Francoise Barre Sinoussi, who won a Nobel prize for her work in identifying Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). “We have to think about the long term, including a strategy to find a cure,” she says. “We have to keep on searching until we find one.”   The Berlin patient is proof they could. His case has injected new energy into a field where people for years believed talk of a cure was irresponsible. Timothy Ray Brown was living in Berlin when besides being HIV-positive, he had a relapse of leukemia. He was dying. In 2007, his doctor, Gero Huetter, made a radical suggestion: a bone marrow transplant using cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation, known as CCR5 delta 32. Scientists had known for a few years that people with this gene mutation had proved resistant to HIV. “We really didn’t know when we started this project what would happen,” Huetter, an oncologist and haematologist who now works at the University of Heidelberg in southern Germany, told Reuters. The treatment could well have finished Brown off. Instead he remains the only human ever to be cured of AIDS. “He has no replicating virus and he isn’t taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV,” says Huetter. Brown has since moved to San Francisco. Most experts say it is inconceivable Brown’s treatment could be a way of curing all patients. The procedure was expensive, complex and risky. To do this in others, exact match donors would have to be found in the tiny proportion of people — most of them of northern European descent — who have the mutation that makes them resistant to the virus. Dr Robert Gallo, of the Institute of Virology at the University of Maryland, puts it bluntly. “It’s not practical and it can kill people,” he said last year. Sinoussi is more expansive. “It’s clearly unrealistic to think that this medically heavy, extremely costly, barely reproducible approach could be replicated and scaled-up ... but from a scientist’s point of view, it has shown at least that a cure is possible,” she says. The International AIDS Society will this month formally add the aim of finding a cure to its HIV strategy of prevention, treatment and care. A group of scientist-activists is also launching a global working group to draw up a scientific plan of attack and persuade governments and research institutions to commit more funds. Money is starting to flow. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is asking for proposals for an $8.5 million collaborative research grant to search for a cure, and the Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, has just announced its first round of four grants to research groups “to develop strategies for eradicating HIV infection.”   Until recently, people in HIV and AIDS circles feared that to direct funds toward the search for a cure risked detracting from the fight to get HIV-positive people treated. Even today, only just over five million of the 12 million or so people who need the drugs actually get them. HIV first surfaced in 1981, when scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered it was the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). An article in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of that June referred to “five young men, all active homosexuals” from Los Angeles as the first documented cases. “That was the summer of ‘81. For the world it was the beginning of the era of HIV/AIDS, even though we didn’t know it was HIV then,” says Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has made AIDS research his life’s work. In the subsequent three decades, the disease ignorantly branded “the gay plague” has become one of the most vicious pandemics in human history. Transmitted in semen, blood and breast milk, HIV has devastated poorer regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of HIV-positive people live. As more tests and treatment have become available, the number of new infections has been falling. But for every two with HIV who get a chance to start on AIDS drugs, five more join the “newly infected” list. United Nations data show that despite an array of potential prevention measures — from male circumcision to sophisticated vaginal or anal microbicide gels — more than 7,100 new people catch the virus every day. Treatment costs per patient can range from around $150 a year in poor countries, where drugs are available as cheap generics, to more than $20,000 a year in the United States. The overall sums are huge. A recent study as part of a non-governmental campaign called AIDS2031 suggests that low and middle-income countries will need $35 billion a year to properly address the pandemic by 2031. That’s almost three times the current level of around $13 billion a year. Add in the costs of treatment in rich countries and experts estimate the costs of HIV 20 years from now will reach $50 to $60 billion a year. “It’s clear that we have to look at another possible way of managing of the epidemic beyond just treating everyone forever,” says Sharon Lewin, a leading HIV doctor and researcher from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In some ways, we have been here before. Early AIDS drugs such as AZT came to market in the late 1980s, but within a decade they were overtaken by powerful cocktail treatments known as HAART, or highly active antiretroviral treatment. HAART had a dramatic effect — rapidly driving the virus out of patients’ blood and prompting some to say a cure was just around the corner. But then scientists discovered HIV could lie low in pools or reservoirs of latent infection that even powerful drugs could not reach. Talk of a cure all but died out. “Scientifically we had no means to say we were on the way to finding a cure,” says Bertrand Audoin, executive director of the Geneva-based International AIDS Society. “Scientists ... don’t want to make any more false promises. They didn’t want to talk about a cure again because it really wasn’t anywhere on the horizon.”   The ultimate goal would allow patients to stop taking AIDS drugs, knocking a hole in a $12 billion-a-year market dominated by Californian drugmaker Gilead and the likes of Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck. It’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, but Brown’s case has opened the door to new ideas. “What it proved was that if you make someone’s cells resistant to HIV...then all the last bits of HIV, that hang around for a long time in patients on treatment, did in fact decay and disappear,” says Lewin. Now scientists working on mimicking the effect of the Berlin patient’s transplant have had some success. One experimental technique uses gene therapy to take out certain cells, make them resistant to HIV and then put them back into patients in the hope they will survive and spread. At an HIV conference in Boston earlier this year, American researchers presented data on six patients who had large numbers of white blood cells known as CD4 cells removed, manipulated to knock out the existing CCR5 gene, and then replaced. “It works like scissors and cuts a piece of genetic information out of the DNA, and then closes the gap,” says Huetter. “Then every cell arising from this mother cell has this same mutation.”   Early results showed the mutated cells managed to survive inside the bodies of the patients at low levels, remaining present for more than three months in five. “This was a proof of concept,” says Lewin. Another potential avenue is a small group of patients known as “elite controllers”, who despite being infected with HIV are able to keep it under control simply with their own immune systems. Researchers hope these patients could one day be the clue to developing a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine or functional cure. Scientists are also exploring ways to “wake up” HIV cells and kill them. As discovered in the late 1990s, HIV has a way of getting deep into the immune system itself — into what are known as resting memory T-cells — and going to sleep there. Hidden away, it effectively avoids drugs and the body’s own immune response. “Once it goes to sleep in a cell it can stay there forever, which is really the main reason why we can’t cure HIV with current drugs,” says Lewin. Her team in Melbourne and another group in the United States are about to start the first human trials using a drug called SAHA or vorinostat, made by Merck and currently used in cancer treatment, which has shown promise in being able to wake up dormant HIV. As scientists begin to talk up a cure, the old question of whether that’s the right goal has re-emerged. Seth Berkley, a medical epidemiologist and head of the U.S.-based International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is concerned. An HIV-positive person holds a placard during a programme organized to mark World AIDS Day in Kathmandu December 1, 2010. To match Special Report AIDS/ REUTERS/Deepa Shrestha “From a science point of view, it’s a fabulous thing to do. It’s a great target and a lot of science will be learned. But from a public health point of view, the primary thing you need to do is stop the flow of new infections,” says Berkley. “We need a prevention revolution. That is absolutely critical.”   Vuyiseka Dubula agrees. The South African activist finds talk of a cure for HIV distracting, almost disconcerting. “This research might not yield results soon, and even when it does, access to that cure is still going to be a big issue,” she says. “So in the meantime, while we don’t have the answer on whether HIV can be cured or not, we need to save lives.”",
            "output": [
                "Special Report: An end to AIDS?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-743a8523dc96475cac7ef7049c7b6826",
            "input": "On December 5 2019 — after law enforcement officers in south Florida shot and killed a hostage, a bystander, and two suspected thieves during a daytime shootout in a busy intersection during rush hour — a number of popular tweets claimed that UPS had publicly thanked police for killing the hostage, who was one of their drivers:When the cops shoot you dead in the street your boss will thank the cops https://t.co/mHR0EBjGfl— Dennis Hogan (@dennismhogan) December 6, 2019The tweet above — sent a day after UPS driver Frank Ordonez, bystander Richard Cutshaw, and robbery suspects Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill were shot dead in the rush-hour police chase turned gun battle, mused:When the cops shoot you dead in the street your boss will thank the copsTwitter was alight with tweets excoriating the parcel service for “thanking” police after the shootout:While UPS management bends over backwards to thank the cops for killing a worker, the Teamsters don’t mince words: “murdered while delivering packages” #1u https://t.co/IrwI2cJWjT— Aaron Freedman🌹 (@freedaaron) December 6, 2019cops went fucking buck wild lighting up the ups truck killed the driver AND another innocent bystander and ups tweets out a thank you to the cops what the fuck pic.twitter.com/fcnnRAzMMm— jordan (@JordanUhl) December 6, 2019You don’t have to thank the cops for murdering somebody— Branson Reese (@bransonreese) December 6, 2019Their first tweet included a thank you to the murderous cops that killed Frank. UPS is a despicable company with great package handlers and drivers but horrible management. Upper management doesn’t give a rats ass that an employee was murdered and their 1st statement proves that pic.twitter.com/TnHto339Pv— SocMediaIsSometimesOk (@socmediaisdumb) December 7, 2019Dear Cops,Thank you for your service. Please don't come over here and kill the rest of us.We love you,UPS— Troy (@MetalOriginal) December 6, 2019Yeah i too would thank the cops for killing my employee yes thank you— srko (@tayoIor) December 6, 2019However, no such tweet was visible on the verified @UPS Twitter account. A tweet sent at 3:20 PM Eastern time on December 6 2019 mentioned Ordonez by name and alluded to a “senseless act of violence”:pic.twitter.com/RgWb94o3C6— UPS (@UPS) December 6, 2019A CBS News article published three hours later maintained that the deaths of Ordonez and Cutshaw were being “questioned” due to an “overwhelming use of force” by police:The overwhelming use of force is being questioned after a chase in Florida ended in a deadly shootout with police. It started when two men, who the FBI said were already wanted for two similar heists near Miami, robbed a jewelry store and hijacked a UPS van.After a 23-mile chase, the officers opened fire when the gunmen shot at them, leaving drivers in rush-hour traffic panicked and scrambling.The two men who police said robbed the jewelry store were killed. But so was 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw, who was waiting in his car at the intersection. The UPS driver who was taken hostage, Frank Ordonez, was also killed.Ordonez’s stepfather Joe Merino told reporters that his family was beyond “devastated” by his stepson’s death:For this to happen, I think, it was just unnecessary … Other tactics should have been applied, and they weren’t, so when I say the word devastated, it’s an understatement.Although @UPS appeared to have deleted their original tweet, it was archived on a third-party website. It was sent at 6:38 PM on December 5 2019, and it read:We are deeply saddened to learn a UPS service provider was a victim of this senseless act of violence. We extend our condolences to the family and friends of our employee and the other innocent victims involved in this incident. We appreciate law enforcement’s service and will cooperate with the authorities as they continue the investigation.Although the tweet did not say “thank you” specifically, it is true that UPS initially tweeted and deleted an initial statement thanking law enforcement for their “service,” service which resulted in the deaths of their driver Frank Ordonez, bystander Richard Cutshaw, and two robbery suspects, cousins Ronnie Jerome Hill and Lamar Alexander.",
            "output": [
                "\"The @UPS Twitter account sent a tweet \"\"thanking\"\" law enforcement for their service just after an innocent UPS driver who had been taken hostage by robbery suspects was shot and killed in a police shootout.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9367c8b001314bfcad1b358db63cf439",
            "input": "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick raised some eyebrows in March 2020 when he seemingly suggested during an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that exposing vulnerable, older members of the U.S. population to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was a reasonable trade-off for getting the U.S. “back to work” and “back to living”: Texas’ lieutenant governor said that the U.S. should get back to work in the face of the global pandemic and that people over the age of 70, who the Centers for Disease Control says are at higher risk for the coronavirus, will “take care of ourselves.” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the comments while appearing on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Patrick, 69, went on the program after President Donald Trump said that he wanted the country getting back to business in weeks, not months. “Let’s get back to work. Let’s get back to living. Let’s be smart about it,” Patrick said. “And those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country.” Patrick raised even more eyebrows the following month when, according to social media postings, he declared (in reference to the lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak) that “there are more important things than living”:  Indeed, on April 20, 2020, Patrick again appeared as a guest on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and echoed his earlier remarks on that program in questioning whether the threat posed by the coronavirus disease was exaggerated and worth the trade-off of shutting down businesses for a prolonged period of time: At the end of January, Dr. Fauci, who I have great respect for, said this wasn’t a big issue. Three weeks later, we were gonna lose two million people. Another few weeks later, it was one- to two-hundred thousand. Now it’s under 60,000, and we’ve had the wrong numbers, the wrong science. And I don’t blame them, but let’s face [the] reality of where we are. In Texas, we have 29 million people, [and] we’ve lost 495. Every life is valuable, but 500 people out of 29 million and we’re locked down. And we’re crushing the average worker, we’re crushing small business, we’re crushing the markets, we’re crushing this country. And what I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living, and that’s saving this country for my children, and my grandchildren, and saving this country for all of us. And I don’t wanna die. Nobody wants to die. But we gotta take some risks, and get back in the game, and get this country back up and running. As NBC News reported of Patrick’s controversial remarks, he is not alone in expressing the viewpoint that the importance of maintaining a functioning economy outweighed the dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic:",
            "output": [
                "\"Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions should be eased because \"\"there are more important things than living.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae1128883b1147c4a90d397aa5f7d4a7",
            "input": "The 6.6 magnitude quake hit early on Tuesday, damaging buildings, toppling power lines and triggering landslides in the central area of the Philippines’ southern island. A seven-year-old child and his 44-year old father were among those who were killed in the North Cotabato province after they were struck by a boulder, disaster officials said. Authorities said the death toll could rise further because many injured were not immediately brought to hospitals. “It was depressing to see the damage left by the earthquake,” Abril Espadera, a disaster official in North Cotabato, told Reuters, as he recalled seeing collapsed homes and demolished buildings in the province, including schools. Smaller tremors rattled nervous residents throughout the day and those who were afraid to return to their homes set up tents to shelter near school yards, Espadera said. In Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur province, rescuers were trying to recover three bodies after landslides in two separate towns swallowed parts of agricultural areas, police said. The quake, whose magnitude was initially put at 6.7 by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, was the second powerful quake to strike Mindanao in two weeks. Authorities had flagged the risk of landslides after the 6.3 quake on Oct. 16 in central Mindanao that killed seven and injured more than 200. Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire. Power cables swayed in Davao city, the home town of President Rodrigo Duterte, where people rushed to open spaces, and some fainted out of fear. The quake also triggered power cuts in nearby General Santos city, media said. Some schools in the area have suspended classes. Duterte’s office has called for calm as it mobilized all government agencies to undertake damage assessment and to coordinate rescue and relief operations.",
            "output": [
                "Death toll in southern Philippines earthquake rises to seven."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d0cc35531b14f8185c7b42570f892ad",
            "input": "Onondaga County Health Department officials say the infected person is affiliated with Fowler High School’s Public Service Leadership. Officials did not disclose if the person was a student, faculty member or staff member. The district is working with the health department to identify individuals who may have been exposed. County health commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta says although tuberculosis is less common now, it is still a public health concern. Gupta says anyone can contract the disease after being exposed to an active case.",
            "output": [
                "Tuberculosis case reported in Syracuse school district."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-caff6006e8a24b09916a44a9a7b40d70",
            "input": "Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages said Tuesday the bill she submitted last month would prohibit medical professionals from performing or supervising such examinations, though it’s unclear how common they are in the U.S. New York would also consider it sexual assault when such tests are performed outside of a medical setting. “It’s medically unnecessary,” the Democrat said. “It’s often painful, humiliating, traumatic. All in all, it’s a form of violence against women.”    Her bill has attracted support from three Democratic lawmakers, and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration officials called the practice “disturbing.” Solages said no other states have such bans. The World Health Organization, U.N. Women and the U.N. Human Rights office called for the end of the tests worldwide last year. They said the testing often involves inspecting the hymen or inserting fingers into the vagina. T.I., also known as Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr., drew criticism when he said in a November episode of the podcast “Ladies like Us” that he asked a gynecologist to check his teenage daughter’s hymen shortly after her birthday each year. She is now 18. “I put a sticky note on the door: ‘Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30,’” Harris said. After his comments prompted backlash on social media, he told Jada Pinkett Smith on the Facebook interview show Red Table Talk he’d been exaggerating and that “he was never in any exam room.” Phone and email messages were left with Harris’ publicist Tuesday. Experts say such testing is painful and that there’s no evidence such testing shows whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse. “There is no test that can tell you whether someone had intercourse, whether consensually or non-consensually,” Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and senior medical adviser for Physicians for Human Rights. Mishori said there’s a mistaken belief that you can tell whether someone’s had vaginal intercourse from a tear in a hymen, which can also tear from tampons or physical activity. Some women lack a hymen, a membrane that partly covers vaginas and can also change as a girl matures due to hormonal change. “It’s of course not only impossible to tell for sure, but also a violation of woman’s rights,” said retired obstetrician-gynecologist Jaana Rehnstorm, who is the founder and president of gender equality non-profit The Kota Alliance. Such testing stems from cultural concerns about a woman’s “purity” or “marriageability,” Mishori said. “If a women is not a ‘virgin,’ her prospects of being married, her prospects of securing a family, her prospects of being thought of as an upstanding citizen can go down the drain,” she said. ”But these are very sexist ideas about women and sexuality.” But criminalizing the practice is “misguided,” Mishori said. “I think the solution is we have to think about education, we have to think about changing social norms,” she said. “We have to think about breaking down stigma and educating not only the patients in front of us but the family members and community members.” “I think unfortunately, if you ban it or if you criminalize it, it will drive it underground,” she said. Such examinations have been documented in at least 20 countries. The extent of whether they are performed in the U.S. is unclear, though Mishori said that physicians have shared anecdotes of patients and parents requesting such testing. “This happens in different communities — not just migrant or immigrant communities, but also maybe very, very religious communities,” she said. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists President Ted Anderson has said the organization does not have guidance on so-called virginity testing. “As a medical organization, ACOG releases guidance on medically indicated and valid procedures,” he said in a statement. Solages called the practice “barbaric” and based on the idea that women are men’s property. She said just one instance, such as T.I.’s, of such an examination happening is enough for a ban. “Whether he was being serious or he was being sarcastic, he brought to the limelight that this is happening in the U.S.,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Rapper T.I.’s remarks spark NY bill to end virginity tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7d85dbe9559434496c6c523bf36f940",
            "input": "\"Fox started its wall-to-wall coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII on Fox News Sunday, with host Chris Wallace interviewing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell live from MetLife Stadium. Goodell talked about the weather, and how it appears conditions will be fine for the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. He addressed a proposal to eliminate extra points, saying they’re almost automatic (as we previously reported, they are). And he discussed the health of NFL players amid concern that the sport is too violent. Goodell offered a defense that we hadn’t heard before. \"\"Our players are living, on average, longer than the average male,\"\" Goodell said. After serious talk about concussions in the NFL and some prominent suicides in the sport, we wondered about Goodell’s claim. It’s accurate, it turns out, but requires some additional explanation. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a government research agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studied the mortality rates of former NFL football players in a report released in 2012. The study included nearly all NFL players who played in the league for five or more years from 1959 to 1988 -- a pool of 3,439 men. Researchers said based on current mortality rates, they expected 625 players to be deceased. But by the end of 2007, only 334 were. \"\"We found the players in our study had a much lower rate of death overall compared to men in the general population,\"\" researchers wrote to the NFL players in a March 2012 letter. \"\"This means that, on average, NFL players are actually living longer than men in the general  population.\"\" The former NFL players also had lower rates of heart disease and cancer compared to average males, the report found. There are a few important caveats to point out. NFL players aren't like your average male in a number of ways. They are professional athletes, many of whom might be wealthy, and they are likely to have access to quality health care. The report also raised red flags. Researchers found that men who were considered obese, those with a Body Mass Index of 30 or more when they played, had twice the risk of death from heart disease than other players. African-American players also had a higher heart disease risk than Caucasian players, the report found. Another important note: Because the study excludes modern-day players, it fails to account for the changing physique of today’s football player. Of the 3,439 men in the NIOSH study, only 1 percent had a Body Mass Index of 35 or more when they played, and 33 percent had a Body Mass Index between 30 and 35. Today’s NFL players are much bigger. To create an example, we looked at the current 53-man roster of the Denver Broncos and calculated each player’s Body Mass Index using a calculator from the National Institutes of Health. Of 53 Broncos players, 13 have a Body Index above 35 (24.5 percent) and another 14 have a Body Mass Index between 30 and 35 (26.4 percent). That’s an important distinction that may affect the results of future studies. Our ruling Goodell said that NFL \"\"players are living, on average, longer than the average male.\"\" His claim is backed up by a government study that examined former NFL players who played from 1959 to 1988. But the study, which was released in 2012, did conclude that bigger players had an increased risk of dying from heart disease and did not evaluate more modern-day players. Modern-day players are bigger.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"NFL \"\"players are living, on average, longer than the average male.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc8afd34924f4617898322423acd6901",
            "input": "From January to May, 42 cases of syphilis, a reportable sexually transmitted disease, were identified. That’s an increase compared with the past five years, when an average of 20 cases were reported during those months. Health officials say between 2012 and 2016, there were on average about 80 total cases per year of the disease reported in New Hampshire, with 2016 having the highest number of 104 cases reported for the entire year. They say the outbreak in New Hampshire is consistent with national trends. Approximately 60 percent of cases have been in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties. Dr. Benjamin Chan, state epidemiologist, says it can be cured when a person is given the right antibiotics.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: Number of syphilis cases have doubled."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92f686baab9243d3a8007f2ba6989ef2",
            "input": "The article doesn’t mention costs of “active surveillance” or any other treatment strategy. There is a cost associated with any of these choices. Because of the uncertainty over treatment benefit, quantification of benefits, such as how much longer can one expect to live or how many lives are saved can’t be known. However, the article could have been more explicit about the issue of uncertain benefits with aggressive treatment for early prostate cancer. The article does a good job of discussing harms of treatment, including risk of losing an opportunity to cure one’s disease by waiting, risk of sexual problems and leaking urine with treatment, and risk of having treatment and subsequent side effects and still having prostate cancer threaten your life. The story is an informational piece about prostate cancer treament in general, making this a difficult criterion to evalaute. However, one overarching message is that there is a great deal of uncertainty around treating early prostate cancer. With that in mind, the article does describe that there are no direct head to head trials comparing surgery and radiation treatments, which accounts for much of the uncertainty. It remains controversial whether any aggressive treatment of early prostate cancer is effective. The article does a terrific job of discussing early prostate cancer, includuing the fact that many prostate cancers are slow-growing, that many men will die of something else, and that many men may never need treatment. It also does a good job of comparing and contrasting what a man might have to gain and lose with and without treatment. Calling surgeons “medical artists” is a bit dramatic, but this term is attributed to patient support groups. The story used several independent sources of information and for that we give it a satisfactory score. However, one concern is reporting that “researchers–and a few doctors–are beginning to agree” about waiting for treatment. Many of the researchers are themselves doctors, so this is clumsily confusing. The article does a nice job of comparing and contrasting treatment options, including active surveillance, surgery, and radiation. It also talks about hormone therapy, but appropriately cautions readers about what is and isn’t known about the timing of this option as well. The article describes several available treatment choices currently being used for prostate cancer. This story refers to “active surveillance” as the “newest thinking in the disease.” However, this really isn’t a new treatment option and is widely used in other countries. It’s probably more accurate to describe this as a treatment that is chosen less commonly rather than a new treatment. There is no evidence that this story relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Fighting prostate cancer by doing nothing"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e56e51a4dd3e438593f769118edbaabd",
            "input": "A March 5 2020 r/SandersForPresident (and r/all) thread featured a title maintaining that Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden “passed the bill” making student loans “ineligible for financial relief,” and an attached ten-second clip featured fellow presidential Bernie Sanders making a similar statement:Joe Biden passed the bill that made student loans ineligible for financial relief. Joe Biden is the reason so many of us don’t have families yet. Joe Biden is why we can’t afford houses. Joe Biden is why we’re working longer hours for lower wages. from SandersForPresidentThat thread had a long title: “Joe Biden passed the bill that made student loans ineligible for financial relief. Joe Biden is the reason so many of us don’t have families yet. Joe Biden is why we can’t afford houses. Joe Biden is why we’re working longer hours for lower wages.”By contrast, in the ten-second video, Sanders said:Joe Biden voted for a bankruptcy bill, on behalf of the credit card companies, and that bill has done a lot of harm to working families all over this country … I voted against it.A difference in wording between the title and the clip was important — the original poster stated Biden “passed the bill,” while Sanders stated that Biden had “voted for a bankruptcy bill.” Here, we are examining whether Biden voted for a bankruptcy bill with the described features, as Biden himself was not empowered to “pass” a bill — presumably the submitter was echoing Sanders’ claims in the clip.The snippet originated from a longer interview with Sanders conducted by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on March 4 2020. Although MSNBC curated short clips from the interview, none was specifically labeled as having to do with Sanders’ claim about Biden and the bankruptcy bill. (We were unable to find a transcript. )In the clip we transcribed above, Sanders didn’t mention a specific bill. However, it wasn’t difficult to narrow down specific legislation due to the prominence of student debt as an issue in the 2020 primary.In December 2019, The Guardian published an article with a headline (“How Biden helped create the student debt problem he now promises to fix”) making claims similar to those made by Sanders in the brief video shared to Reddit. With a subheading claiming that the “former vice-president and 2020 presidential hopeful backed a 2005 bill that stripped students of bankruptcy protections and left millions in financial stress,” it reported in part:In [February 2020] Joe Biden will lay “Joe’s vision for America” at the feet of Iowa’s caucus-goers in the hope that the first voters in the Democratic presidential race will put him on the road to the White House.Among his promises is that he will fix the student loan crisis saddling 45 million Americans with crippling debt now totalling a staggering $1.5tn … [Biden’s] pledge is one of the most striking policies on offer from Democratic candidates in the 2020 race, given how the problem Biden now proposes to resolve came about in the first place. Private student loans were largely stripped of bankruptcy protections in 2005 in a congressional move that had the devastating impact of tripling such debt over a decade and locking in millions of Americans to years of grueling repayments.The Republican-led bill tightened the bankruptcy code, unleashing a huge giveaway to lenders at the expense of indebted student borrowers. At the time it faced vociferous opposition from 25 Democrats in the US Senate.But it passed anyway, with 18 Democratic senators breaking ranks and casting their vote in favor of the bill. Of those 18, one politician stood out as an especially enthusiastic champion of the credit companies who, as it happens, had given him hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions – Joe Biden.The Guardian quoted University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor Melissa Jacoby on Biden’s role in the bill’s passage:Biden was one of the most powerful people who could have said no, who could have changed this. Instead he used his leadership role to limit the ability of other Democrats who had concerns and who wanted the bill softened[. ]In January 2020, TheIntercept.com covered the origins and progression of student loan debt in the United States, up to and including its prevalence in Democratic primary debates and platforms.… as a senator from Delaware, Biden was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the disastrous 2005 bankruptcy bill that made it nearly impossible for borrowers to reduce their student loan debt. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act raised the bar for families to pursue Chapter 7 bankruptcy protections. It overwhelmingly passed in the Senate at the end of the Clinton administration, over the objections of [Elizabeth] Warren, then a bankruptcy expert who had tangled for years with Biden over the issue. She lobbied first lady Hillary Clinton, who herself persuaded Bill Clinton to veto it.Biden came back to the legislation under the Bush administration; it passed the Senate in 2005 on a 74-25 vote, with most Democratic lawmakers, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, voting against it. ([Hillary] Clinton, by then a senator from New York, voted for it.) George W. Bush signed it into law, and private student loan debt skyrocketed in the wake of its passage. The total amount of private student loan debt more than doubled between 2005 and 2011, growing from $55.9 billion to $140.2 billion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.In February 2020, RealClearPolitics examined Biden’s 2020 campaign stance on student debt, and contrasted it with his support in the early 2000s for more restrictions on student borrowers:Biden’s student-loan plan represents a radical departure from positions he held during bankruptcy-law negotiations in the early 2000s. Then a senator from Delaware, he forcefully backed measures that made it much harder for private student-loan borrowers filing for bankruptcy to shed that debt. Representing many of the big financial institutions based in his home state, Biden was such a reliable advocate for the financial services industry that he was often referred to as “the senator from MBNA,” the credit-card company that regularly doled out contributions to his campaigns.In promoting a 2005 bankruptcy reform measure, Biden argued that too many people were skipping out of their debts too easily and sticking other borrowers with the bill while interest rates rose as a result… A bankruptcy court judge also testifying [the same day as Biden] took issue with Biden’s stance, arguing that government-backed student loans aren’t dischargeable – something that has remained the case since then, as well.“You would never be able to [discharge government-backed student loans like] that,” Judge Randall Newsome said.“Like heck you can’t,” Biden countered. “…You are full of malarkey, judge.”Newsome was just one of the many opponents of the bill whom Biden sparred with at the time. Elizabeth Warren, then a Harvard law professor, opposed the bankruptcy bill so aggressively that she says it inspired her to run for the Senate.“I got in that fight because [families] just didn’t have anyone, and Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies,” Warren said at an April rally in Iowa. “It’s all a matter of public record.”As Newsome noted, discharging government-backed student loans is, and has always been, nearly impossible. However, the 2005 bill was described as involving private student loan debt, not debt held by the federal government.In January 2020,  the American Prospect reported that Biden had voted several times against “softening” the effects of that bill (abbreviated as BAPCPA) on myriad demographics hardest hit by its provisions:Biden also consistently voted against efforts to soften BAPCPA’s blow on vulnerable populations. He voted against three amendments to ease bankruptcy requirements for consumers whose financial troubles stem from medical expenses. He voted against an amendment that would have helped seniors keep their homes. He voted against exempting servicemembers and widows of servicemembers killed in action from the law’s eligibility restrictions. He voted against an amendment to exempt women whose financial troubles stemmed from deadbeat husbands’ failure to pay child support or alimony. And Biden even voted against an amendment that would have ensured that children of debtors could still be given birthday and Christmas presents. Biden also voted against allowing debtors to pay their union dues during bankruptcy, potentially imperiling their employment and ability to achieve financial rehabilitation.In excerpts above, the bill Biden was often accused of supporting was referenced by its name — the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Text of the bill was available on Congress.gov, and Section 220 of the bill declared both private and federal student debt exempt from being discharged in bankruptcy. A summary of all of the bill’s points can be viewed here.In the clip, Sanders made two claims about voting on the bill, stating that Biden voted for it, and that he — Sanders — had voted against it. According to Senate.gov, Biden voted in favor of the bill in the Senate on March 10 2005. Per GovTrack.us, Sanders (then in the House of Representatives) did vote against the same bill on April 14 2005.On Reddit, a post to r/SandersForPresident misstated Sanders’ statement on the 2005 bankruptcy bill making it virtually impossible to discharge private student debt. Sanders said that Biden “voted for a bankruptcy bill, on behalf of the credit card companies, and that bill has done a lot of harm to working families all over this country … I voted against it.” Sanders was correct — Biden was among the few Democrats voting in favor of that 2005 bill in the Senate, and when it came around to the House the following month, Sanders voted against it.",
            "output": [
                "Joe Biden voted for a bill which made it difficult or impossible to discharge student loans during bankruptcy; Bernie Sanders voted against it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eec0a9334ba043818e03537ca6f54e93",
            "input": "Dr. Chris Baumert, a family physician at RiverStone Health, told the Billings Gazette there’s been a steep increase in the number of cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled the threat of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea one of the nation’s most urgent public health threats. The rate of gonorrhea cases in the United States has increased 75.2 percent since the historic low in 2009. Montana officials are projecting more than 1,000 cases of gonorrhea in the state this year, compared to 867 in 2017. ___ Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com",
            "output": [
                "STD cases increase in Montana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45465422e5ab456e977ad666f58feb75",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of mammography (or of follow up tests and treatments) to the individual, or, collectively, to society. Based on the results of this study, 2,500 women would have to be screened every other year for a decade in order to prevent one death from breast cancer. As the story points out, during that same time 1,000 of those women would have at least one false alarm and 500 would undergo an unnecessary biopsy, thus adding to the price tag. The story reports both the 10 percent reduction in breast cancer deaths that the researchers attributed to screening, as well as the calculation that 2,500 women would have to be screened for a decade to prevent one breast cancer death. The story points out that there are many false alarms among women who are screened with mammography and that most of the cancers that are found and treated would not have been lethal. It notes calculations from an editorial accompanying the study that for every breast cancer death prevented five or more women are treated for tumors that would never have become lethal. The story accurately describes the study and highlights some of the advantages of the methods used in this study compared to earlier studies. We wish it had mentioned some of the limitations of the observational methods used. For instance, the researchers mentioned that a longer study may have found a larger benefit to screening. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story does not exaggerate the threat of breast cancer and emphasizes that this study and others indicate that the effect of mammography screening is more modest than most women believe. The story includes more than one independent source. However, the story does not tell readers the sources of funding, which were the Cancer Registry of Norway and the Research Council of Norway. The story highlights experts talking about the decision about whether or not to get screening mammograms, and therefore addresses even the option of foregoing mammograms. Although the availability of mammography is not at issue in this story, it could have pointed out that the researchers attributed most of the decrease in breast cancer deaths to multidisciplinary breast cancer management teams. While all the women screened by mammography in Norway had access to these expert teams, women in the U.S. who get mammography may not have access to this sort of treatment support. In this case, the novelty of the approach is the study method. The story reports that Norway provided researchers with a unique opportunity, since mammography screening was phased in over a nine year period, thus allowing researchers to compare the outcomes of women who were screened to similar women who were not. The story includes interviews and other information that does not appear to come from a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New study widens debate on the value of mammograms"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b4096e04d254bdaa22b5e037a80bf38",
            "input": "The recall brings into question the safety of European supplies of the drug, which become the target of a U.S. investigation after a spike in fatalities and severe reactions in some patients taking heparin sold by Baxter International Inc.   “What is significant about the German recall is that the heparin active ingredient in their product was not obtained from SPL,” or Scientific Protein Labs, Baxter’s supplier, FDA Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock said. “We’re concerned about worldwide, this contaminant, in heparin and making sure it is safe, (and) out of the heparin supply,” Woodcock said. German authorities do not expect a shortage of the drug, FDA said. The FDA began probing Baxter’s heparin several weeks ago after it was linked with to four deaths and hundreds of severe reactions, such as breathing problems and rapid drops in blood pressure. On Wednesday it said it identified a contaminant that may be linked with the drug’s problems. Some 19 fatalities have now been associated with use of the drug in the United States, the FDA said on Wednesday. However, all the deaths have not been linked to a specific drug maker. The other major U.S. heparin supplier, APP Pharmaceuticals Inc, has ramped up production to avoid a drug shortage. Tests on APP’s heparin have not found any contamination, Woodcock said on Wednesday. No fatalities were seen in Germany, and “less than 100” severe reactions led to the recall, the FDA said. The German product manufacturer, Rotexmedica GmbH, could not be immediately reached for comment. Heparin is derived from pig intestines. It is used in dialysis and heart procedures, among other surgeries, to avoid blood clots. FDA officials also advised companies and countries to begin using a sophisticated testing technique the agency used to find the potential contaminant, to test all heparin on the market. “With this testing method, there will be a way to protect the heparin supply,” Woodcock said. Baxter’s main supplier is Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC (SPL), which has a major facility in China, a main subject of FDA’s investigation. About 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients come from foreign sources, according to U.S. government investigators. Most of the world’s heparin supply is from China, according to Baxter. The FDA inspects only about 7 percent of foreign manufacturing facilities annually, according to the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency. China’s reputation has been tainted after health scares with pigs and massive recalls of pet food and children’s toys containing lead paint. Sidney Wolfe, head of health research at the consumer group Public Citizen, said the FDA has poorly allocated its resources for inspections. “China has a tiny fraction of plants being inspected as opposed to India, which is dangerous considering that China is a country far less advanced,” Wolfe said. The FDA conducted about 13 inspections at Chinese plants in 2007, versus 65 at plants in India. China has 714 facilities against India’s 410, according to the GAO report. Baxter has recalled most of its U.S. supplies of the drug. It sells the product in other European countries but not in Germany. But Baxter does not sell the specific vial-based product linked to the four U.S. deaths in European markets, company spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said.",
            "output": [
                "FDA says Germany recalls blood-thinner heparin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9502d604445458daf282e820858e5fd",
            "input": "A man jogs under a canopy of cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Washington, March 25, 2010. REUTERS/Jim Young High rates of physical activity helped to propel Minneapolis-St. Paul to the top of the list of the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2012 American Fitness Index (AFI) for the second year in a row, while raised obesity levels and smoking pushed Oklahoma City to the bottom. “When I say Minneapolis ranked No. 1, people give me an ‘are you kidding me’ kind of look,” said Walter Thompson, the chairman of the AFI Advisory Board. “Between November 1 and April 1 they have cold and snow, but they’ve addressed that.”   Thompson said the solution was a proliferation of exercise studios that dot main streets, and a local government that has invested resources in park lands. When people in Minneapolis were asked if they had any physical activity in last 30 days, he said 82.9 percent said they had. The index, which considered factors ranging from the number of tennis courts to the percentage of smokers, relied on information from federal government data, such as Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Census reports, as well as information from the 50 cities. Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, and Hartford in Connecticut were the five fittest, healthiest metro areas, while Birmingham, Dallas, Texas, Louisville, Detroit, Michigan and Oklahoma City fared the poorest. “A couple of cities have made significant improvements,” said Thompson about the rankings, which began in 2008. “A policy decision can dramatically impact environmental indicators, like smoking bans or bicycle lane ordinances.”   New York City, ranked 22, climbed eight spots since 2011, while Nashville, at 27, gained 10 and Las Vegas climbed four spots to 39. Shirley Archer, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise, said studies show that many environmental factors affect how physically active people are in their communities. “The more available green spaces, the more likely kids and adults are to enjoy that outdoor space, so simply having more parks and playgrounds makes a huge difference,” said Archer. “If you add walking, jogging or biking paths, people will use them.”   Connecticut-based exercise physiologist and running coach Tom Holland also believes that if you build it, they will come. He said last year his home town of New Canaan, in Connecticut, filled holes and covered up tree roots and rocks on a popular public park trail to make it safer for running. “Stimulus money that went to fixing/repaving roads has made running and biking on them much safer and more fun,” he said. With an obesity rate of over 31 percent and almost 23 percent of residents still smoking, according to the index, Louisville’s 48th place ranking does not surprise Kathy Harrison, communications director for Louisville Metro Public Health & Wellness. But she’s optimistic about the future. “I really feel like we mirror a lot of the country. We have quite a few problems when it comes to health,” Harrison said. “But since 2004 we’ve been making quite few changes.”   Initiatives include bringing farmers markets into so-called food deserts, which Harrison defines as low-income areas saturated with fast-food options but short on public transportation choices. “We’re also working with convenience stores to become healthier,” she said. “We’ll assist them if they meet certain criteria.”   Projects are also under way to dramatically increase the biking/hiking trails around Louisville. “We’re a working on a ‘road diet,’ taking highways from four lanes to three,” Harrison said about the project to accommodate and encourage more foot and bicycle traffic. “We’ve created some fun events to promote fitness. We have natural amenities,” Harrison said. “Promoting a sense of fun brings people to them.”",
            "output": [
                "Cities' efforts to make exercise easier pays off."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fc2f0f6c7934a4894d2b68d03ec9a91",
            "input": "Activists in Arkansas accused Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of sending constituents “cease-and-desist” letters. But while it’s true that at least one member of the group received one, it is unclear how many constituents at large have as well. A spokesperson for Cotton’s office, Caroline Rabbitt Tabler, confirmed the existence of the letters, saying that they were issued “under extreme circumstances.” She also said that it was rare to send any constituent such a letter. There has been no confirmed tally of how many times it has happened. The letters began getting attention when the liberal group Ozark Indivisible posted a picture of one on Twitter on 17 January 2018, along with a message taunting the senator: #TraitorTommy @TomCottonAR scared of his constituents calling so he’s sending out cease and desist letters. You’re too [chicken] to lead CIA if you can’t even listen to constituents! #arpx #TraitorTommy @TomCottonAR scared of his constituents calling so he’s sending out cease and desist letters. You’re too 🐔 to lead CIA if you can’t even listen to constituents! #arpx pic.twitter.com/N1HAGCmbW6 — Ozark Indivisible (@OZRKIndivisible) January 18, 2018  The letter stated: This letter is immediate notification that all communication must cease and desist immediately with all offices of US Senator Tom Cotton. All other contact will be deemed harassment and will be reported to the United States Capitol Police. The letters themselves, however, are not recent; the one posted by Ozark Indivisible was dated 17 October 2017. A Fayetteville resident, Stacey Lane, identified herself as the recipient of the letter posted online. Rabbitt Tabler said Cotton’s office did not accuse her of saying anything threatening but did not go into detail on why it sent her the letter. Ozark Indivisible confirmed to us on 19 January 2018 that Lane is a member of their organization. They also disputed reports that Lane threatened anyone or called a staffer a “cunt.” The group added: There have been others who have received the letters, but they do not want to come forward. They are not OI members. According to reports, “an unspecified number of individuals” received letters that month. Rabbitt Tabler said in a statement that they are “only used under extreme circumstances”: Senator Cotton is always happy to hear from Arkansans and encourages everyone to contact his offices to express their thoughts, concerns, and opinions. In order to maintain a safe work environment, if an employee of Senator Cotton receives repeated communications that are harassing and vulgar, or any communication that contains a threat, our policy is to notify the U.S. Capitol Police’s Threat Assessment Section and, in accordance with their guidance, send a cease and desist letter to the individual making the harassing or threatening communication. Another person, who did not identify themselves, told the Arkansas Times that they received a similar letter. They said: I believe if Tom Cotton’s office were to respond as to why they sent this letter, I think they just honestly don’t want to listen to any citizen’s opposing view or hear the numerous grave concerns U.S. citizens have about the serious & ongoing attack on our Democracy and past election cycle in which a foreign, hostile Russian government interfered, they don’t want U.S. citizens to call and speak their mind and truth in a very direct manner and they obviously don’t want to be held accountable for their words and actions while serving all the people in this nation. I may have used unprofessional and unbecoming language at times as the anxiety and stress of what I’m witnessing is at times too great a burden to control and I have vehemently expressed my righteous anger at Senator Cotton’s complicitness with this harmful regime. Cotton, whose current term in office runs through 2020, has come under criticism from his constituents in the past. During February and April 2017 town hall events, he was pelted with questions regarding various issues and hit with chants that included, “Do your job.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Sen. Tom Cotton's office has sent \"\"cease-and-desist\"\" letters to constituents ordering them not to contact him.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c62096cb09b2476088bb137f7750a789",
            "input": "A man smokes a cigarette in front of a pub in Bensheim early July 30, 2008. REUTERS/Alex Grimm As might be expected, lung and bronchial cancer accounted for nearly half the cases but cancers of the larynx, mouth and pharynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, as well as acute myelogenous leukemia are also caused by tobacco, the CDC found. “The data in this report provides additional, strong evidence of the serious harm related to tobacco,” said Sherri Stewart of the CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, who led the study. Stewart’s team looked at cancer surveys and registries covering 92 percent of the U.S. population. Kentucky had the highest rates of lung cancer among men and women, while Western states with low rates of smoking also had low rates of cancer. Tobacco-related cancers were more common among blacks, non-Hispanic whites and men, reflecting the groups that use tobacco more, the CDC found. “Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States and the most prominent cause of cancer,” said the CDC’s Dr. Matthew McKenna. “The tobacco-use epidemic causes a third of the cancers in America.”   Tobacco use kills 438,000 people prematurely every year, including 38,000 people who breathe only secondhand smoke, the CDC said. “Tobacco use causes more deaths each year than alcohol use, car crashes, suicide, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), homicide, and illegal drug use combined,” the report reads. “In addition, smoking accounts for $167 billion annually in health care expenditures and productivity losses.”   The report is available here",
            "output": [
                "Tobacco caused 2.4 million U.S. cancers: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ddab89bcc4d14e5398513cb7baef7a33",
            "input": "George Luber, who ran the climate and health program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an expert on the health impacts of climate change including risks to hospitals and public health infrastructure and of diseases borne by mosquitoes and ticks as they increasingly move into northern regions as temperatures rise. Luber has been a contributor to U.S. government reports including the National Climate Assessment, which last year warned that climate change could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars. The administration of President Donald Trump, who rejects mainstream climate science, has a policy of rolling back regulations limiting emissions scientists link to climate change and has ordered cuts to climate science advisory panels. Luber’s office of about 18 people was rolled into a bigger asthma program, which initially was set to include the word climate in its title, but was ultimately named asthma and community health. Ken Archer, a deputy of the climate office, was moved into unrelated work. The CDC offered Luber the top job at the merged program, but he attracted attention for complaining that the combination of the offices would result in an illegal blending of $10 million the U.S. Congress had set aside specifically for climate work. The CDC then filed papers charging Luber with misconduct including that he had failed to renew ethics clearance paperwork five years earlier, and that he wrote a book in 2013 without agency authorization, moves his lawyers said were retaliation for complaining. Although those were the first charges against Luber, who has worked at CDC for 16 years, the agency stripped him of his badge and keys. He now works from home reviewing CDC science papers unrelated to climate, must be accompanied by an armed guard to visit his old office and is prohibited from contacting former colleagues who did climate work, his lawyers said. “As our climate spins out of control, bureaucrats eager to please the Trump administration have worked feverishly to destroy the reputations of climate scientists who stand in its way,” said Kevin Bell, a lawyer for Luber at the watchdog group the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, who is filing the complaint. The CDC does not comment on personnel matters, a spokeswoman said. She added that the combined office allows climate, asthma and air pollution experts to work on a range of shared health impacts. Last month Luber was served with CDC papers that propose to suspend him from the agency for 120 days without pay, which renewed an earlier proposal that the agency later retracted after media reports about Luber’s situation. Luber hopes the whistleblower complaint will result in a ruling that will allow him to return to climate work at the CDC, his lawyers said. Bell added that the complaint seeks to restore Luber’s reputation as a scientist, which is at risk from the agency’s retaliatory actions. The Office of Special Counsel does not have independent investigatory powers on whistleblower cases but can order agencies to undertake investigations and disclose details of them.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. scientist to file whistleblower complaint after agency halts his climate work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c260f7a4d21c4e168c35fe37225417a3",
            "input": "\"The story states that US sales for the product hit $99 million in 2008. But it never explained the cost to the individual. The study \"\"found no effect,\"\" the story states succinctly. The story said the researchers found the product to be safe. But it could have mentioned that the National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine states \"\"Side effects of ginkgo may include headache, nausea, gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, dizziness, or allergic skin reactions. More severe allergic reactions have occasionally been reported.\"\" Although the discussion was brief, it did refer to the study as \"\"properly designed\"\" and \"\"placebo controlled.\"\" There was no disease-mongering of dementia or cognitive decline. 3 short quotes with different perspectives, presented in balance. In a story based on a study that pokes holes in some peoples’ beliefs about a product to prevent cognitive decline, there could have been at least one line about other research into cognitive decline. The widespread use of the product is clear in the story. The story states that the product has been in use for more than 500 years. We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story was influenced by a news release. it apparently did lift one quote from a news release/statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Ginkgo biloba has no effect on Alzheimer’s, dementia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ac35b0067bd4cc59aaf7992d867a118",
            "input": "In London, police arrested 276 activists from the Extinction Rebellion group as they blocked bridges and roads in the city center, and glued themselves to cars, while protesters in Berlin halted traffic at the Victory Column roundabout. Dutch police stepped in to arrest more than 100 climate activists blocking a street in front of the country’s national museum and there were similar protests in Austria, Australia, France, Spain and New Zealand. “SORRY that we blocked the road, but this is an emergency,” declared placards held by activists in Amsterdam. In New York’s financial district, protesters spattered the Wall Street Bull and themselves with fake blood and lay prone around the sculpture to evoke their fears of a deadly environmental catastrophe. The protests are the latest stage in an global campaign for tougher and swifter steps against climate change coordinated by Extinction Rebellion, which rose to prominence in April when it snarled traffic in central London for 11 days. Last month, millions of young people flooded onto the streets of cities around the world, inspired to take action by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Extinction Rebellion says it expects peaceful protests over the next two weeks in more than 60 cities from New Delhi to New York calling on governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 and halt a loss of biodiversity. Banging drums and chanting, protesters in London took over Trafalgar Square and marched down the Mall, the avenue that leads to Buckingham Palace. They carried banners with slogans including “Climate change denies our children a future unless we act now”. “We’re here because the government is not doing enough on the climate emergency,” protester Lizzy Mansfield said. “We only get one planet and so we’re here to try and defend it.”  Police chiefs said last week they would mobilize thousands of officers to handle the protests in London and that anyone who broke the law, even as part of non-violent civil disobedience, would be arrested. On Saturday, officers used a battering ram to enter a building in south London where activists had been storing materials to use during the protests. Eight people were arrested during the raid. Defying almost freezing temperatures in Berlin, activists singing “Solid as a rock, rooted as a tree” gathered at dawn at the Victory Column roundabout near Tiergarten park. At sunrise, some were sleeping in insulated bags in the middle of the roundabout as police on motorbikes drove by. No arrests were made and the protest remained peaceful. Police blocked the five avenues that converge on the roundabout to stop cars and buses reaching the demonstration, as this would have resulted in traffic chaos during rush hour. By midday, the protest had swelled to 4,000 people, a policeman said, and a second main roundabout was also blocked by activists sitting in the middle of the road. Police began removing chanting protesters from Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz later in the day after they had occupied the central artery for much of the day, singing, making speeches and fashioning a makeshift camp out of salvaged armchairs and tents. The rallies came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended climate protection measures her government is due to approve on Wednesday but which critics have condemned as unambitious. In Amsterdam, police were lining up empty city buses to take the arrested demonstrators away as they tried to clear a major thoroughfare in the afternoon. “The climate crisis is not being taken seriously enough by politics, and also not by the companies. That’s why I joined,” said one demonstrator, who gave his name as Christiaan. Meanwhile activists in London, some wearing yellow safety helmets with “Rebel at Work” painted on the side, glued or chained themselves to cars parked in the middle of roads or to street lamps, making it hard for police officers to detain them. “We are out of time, there is none left, we have to act now,” said a protester called Benjamin. In central Paris, dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists blocked a street and bridge in the Chatelet district. They also built temporary shelters or held impromptu concerts and workshops in a good-natured atmosphere. “This is clearly non-violent, it is human, we are not here with guns, we are here as human beings,” protester Francoise Loiseau said. With events like extreme weather, thawing permafrost and a sea-level rise unfolding much faster than expected, scientists say the urgency of the climate crisis has intensified since the signing in 2015 of the Paris accord on curbing global warming. Nearly 70 countries announced plans at a U.N. climate action summit last month to beef up their Paris pledges, but most major economies including the United States and China failed to announce stronger new measures.",
            "output": [
                "'Sorry, this is an emergency': Climate protesters block streets around the world."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00afed9cc2a74befb7811128bd34d142",
            "input": "On March 25, 2020, the “CBS This Morning” news program aired a segment described in a teaser as “Desperation in New York as coronavirus cases there continue to skyrocket”: That segment, which aired above a chyron reading “AMERICA’S EPICENTER — New York Now Accounts for More than Half of New U.S. Cases,” featured a brief clip of Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, declaring that, “We remain deeply concerned about New York City and the New York metro area.” Then a narrator related the following information while scenes showing hospital personnel, equipment, and patients played on the screen: NARRATOR: That is because more than half of the nation’s new coronavirus cases are being found right here. Crowded subway cars may have accelerated the spread. New York’s governor says FEMA gave the state 400 ventilators. To that he said this: GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: “What am I going to do with 400 ventilators when I need 30,000? You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators.” NARRATOR: The governor now projects that the state will need up to 140,000 beds, with an additional 40,000 ICU beds. Across the river from New York, at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey, the chief infectious disease specialists says his hospital has just ten ventilators. Barely enough for now. However, some sharp-eyed viewers noticed that one of the brief hospital scenes used in the “CBS This Morning” report on New York coronavirus cases was identical to footage that had been aired by Sky News three days earlier and shot at a hospital in Bergamo, Italy: During a Pandemic it is essential that the Media gives us real and accurate information. It’s completely irresponsible for @CBSNews to use footage from an Italian Hospital when talking about the outbreak in New York City. This is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/Essp4uEHle — ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) March 30, 2020  CBS News acknowledged the error. A spokesperson said, “It was an editing mistake. We took immediate steps to remove it from all platforms and shows.” A week later, however, CBS News apparently used a very brief bit of that Italian footage again while referencing coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania:",
            "output": [
                "A CBS News program used a brief clip from an Italian hospital in a segment about the coronavirus crisis in New York City."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b404c33dfd914d04b8910fe86a3f076a",
            "input": "The story does not provide the cost of varenciline (which must be taken twice daily), or cost comparison with existing treatments. The story frames the data appropriately. The story avoids the use of only relative risk that the company emphasizes in its press release. The drug was given priority status and fast-tracked for approval due to the “significant improvement” over existing therapies for smoking cessation, which weren’t all that signficant. Nausea is the only harm discussed, though there is no mention of the rate or severity of nausea in the treatment and placebo groups, or if participants dropped out of the study due to this side effect. Other side effects of the medication included headaches, insomnia and stomach problems, which are also not mentioned in the story. The story only briefly mentions clinical evidence, and provides an incomplete discussion of the design of the Chantix trials. The numbers were from two fairly well-designed, randomized, double-blind trials (2000 participants), which the story fails to note. Abstinence rates were evaluated between varenicline (Chantix), bupropion (Zyban) and placebo groups at 12 weeks, then continuous abstinence for another 40 weeks. Incidence of nausea, the most common side effect, is not mentioned. There is acknowledgment in the story that the long-term success rate for smoking cessation may be due to a number of combined therapies, including non-drug behavioral treatment. The drug was given priority status and fast-tracked for approval due to the “significant improvement” over existing therapies for smoking cessation, which weren’t all that signficant. There does not seem to be evidence of disease mongering. The story uses federal agency data to describe prevalence of smoking and numbers desiring to quit. The study was funded by Pfizer, which is noted in the story. The story mentions that the inventor of the drug is an employee of Pfizer, so his testimonial on its effectiveness may be somewhat biased. The story mentions other drug treatments such as nicotine replacement therapies and bupropion. There is some discussion of non-drug methods of smoking cessation (e.g. behavioral counseling ) with regards to long-term abstinence. The story mentions recent FDA approval of varenicline for smoking cessation, however, we don’t know if it is available (presumably not as there is no price yet) or when it will become available. The story explains how this drug differs from nicotine replacement, and that it is different from bupropion. Varenicline binds to the nicotine receptor and only partially activates it so there is less stimulation than by nicotine itself. One of the downstream events from nicotine receptor binding is dopamine release in the parts of the brain wired for reward. There is no evidence that the story relied solely on a press release. The author cites, responsibly, multiple national experts who put the drug in perspective.",
            "output": [
                "FDA OKs Pfizer Anti-Smoking Pill"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b356e561d85544dc874f643b0343fcff",
            "input": "The committee is also seeking the indictment of Vale and dam stability auditor TÜV SÜD for environmental damages and corporate responsibility for actions of their employees in the late-January disaster that killed nearly 250 people. The 400-page report recommended that a total of 15 individuals, including the two executives, be indicted for murder, wrongful bodily injury, environmental damages and pollution. Fabio Schvartsman stepped down as Vale’s CEO under pressure from prosecutors in March. Luciano Siani, also targeted by the committee, continues to serve as CFO. The committee’s initial report recommended manslaughter charges but at a hearing it approved an amendment to upgrade the charges to murder and add a 15th individual to its list for recommended indictments. Vale, a formerly state-owned Brazilian “national champion” which is a leading exporter and employer, said it “respectfully disagrees” with the indictment recommendations. A “forensic, technical and scientific conclusion about the causes of the dam burst” should be arrived at before holding certain people responsible, the company asserted in a statement. TÜV SÜD said it was cooperating in full but declined to comment further, citing ongoing investigations. Vale shares, which early in the session touched their highest since before the Brumadinho disaster, closed down 4.2%. The nonbinding recommendations could influence prosecutors in their ongoing probe of Vale and its executives for negligence regarding the disaster. “Vale’s tragedy is a series of tragedies,” the committee said in its report. “The immeasurable human loss; the countless dead animals; the environment destroyed for years, perhaps decades; the dreams and heritage of a lifetime buried by the carelessness, neglect, greed, usury, irresponsibility, indifference and sloppiness of a company that used to be a role model.”  Brazil must take action to ensure that “never again” will such a disaster occur, it said, recommending three laws that would require congressional approval. One would outlaw all tailings dams for mining and industrial waste. That would go far beyond a ban instituted in February on the specific type of “upstream” dam that ruptured. It would allow for 10 years to decommission the hundreds of existing tailings dams around the country, a costly move for miners. A separate bill would hike taxes calculated on mineral production, with a tax of up to 40% on more profitable or larger scale mines. The investment banking unit of Brazil’s Bradesco said such a tax is unlikely to be implemented given that comparable taxes in Australia and Mexico are up to 7.5%. But the bank said the rate is likely to rise for Brazilian miners from the current 3.5%. A third proposed law would expand the list of environmental crimes. Barclays analyst Amos Fletcher said he doubted that Congress would follow through on shutting down all types of tailings dams, a move that would halt a significant amount of mineral production, which Brazil counts on for a large portion of its GDP, he said. The recommendations may be depressing Vale’s stock price more than the indictments because of worries that such changes “would lead to more supply being squeezed,” he said. Vale’s tailings dam ruptured in the city of Brumadinho in the mining state of Minas Gerais in late January, releasing a torrent of mud that buried hundreds of people, including a cafeteria full of workers at lunchtime. In the following months, investigators and regulators pointed toward a risky “upstream” style of dam construction, improper maintenance and negligence. TÜV SÜD certified the dam as stable in 2018 despite pointing out concerns about drainage and monitoring systems. Vale has argued that it followed all the required safety measures. While authorities have yet to conclude the cause of the rupture, a Minas Gerais state official and other experts suspect liquefaction, in which solid materials such as sand lose strength and become more like liquid. That was the same cause of a 2015 rupture of another upstream Vale dam that killed 19.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil Senate panel says Vale CFO, ex-CEO should be indicted for murder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-daee6e7c39ce40128e9f9bd8ef304480",
            "input": "In late February 2020, as a new coronavirus spread worldwide, a letter providing advice on avoiding a viral infection was shared and memed heavily. The letter is attributed to pathologist James Robb who described himself as “one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses.” The letter itself provides common-sense solutions to preventing disease transmission: 1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc. 2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove. 3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip – do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors. 4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts. 5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been. 6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home’s entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can’t immediately wash your hands. 7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more! The portion of the missive that garnered the most attention, however, was the pathologist’s recommendation of zinc lozenges: Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY “cold-like” symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available. This portion of the letter apparently resulted in memes suggesting the product Cold-Eeze was a “silver bullet” that would “kill coronavirus”:  We reached out to Robb to ask if he was the author of this letter. Via email, he told us that he did indeed write it, but that it was never meant to be for anyone besides family and close friends, and that it was not intended to be an advertisement for any specific product: It was my email to my family and close friends ONLY. Someone put it on their Facebook page. It was intended to be a monologue – not a dialogue. I do not use any social media and may have been too naive about what “sharing” means today.",
            "output": [
                "A letter providing tips on how to protect against the new coronavirus was authored by pathologist James Robb."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87c3f108204e41daad5eee10b5a9f278",
            "input": "As researchers learn more about Homo sapiens’ closest living genetic relatives, they are also discovering more about the diversity of behaviors within chimpanzee groups —  activities learned, at least in part socially, and passed from generation to generation. These patterns are referred to as “traditions” — or even animal “culture.” In a new study , scientists argue that this diversity of behaviors should be protected as species themselves are safeguarded, and that they are now under threat from human disturbance. “What we mean by ‘culture’ is something you learn socially from your group members that you may not learn if you were born into a different chimpanzee group,” said Ammie Kalan, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “As chimpanzee populations decline and their habitats become fragmented, we can see a stark decline in chimpanzee behavioral diversity,” said Kalan, co-author of the sweeping new study published Thursday in the journal Science. The 10-year study, led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute and the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, examines data on 144 chimpanzee communities in Africa and the occurrence of 31 specific behaviors, such as tool usage or rock throwing. The regions with the least human impact showed the greatest variety in chimp behaviors. But areas greatly altered by logging, road-building, climate change and other human activities showed markedly less behavioral diversity — an 88 percent lower probability of exhibiting all behaviors. Multiple factors drive the loss, the authors say. “With the increase of human disturbance, chimps may not be able to live in such large groups anymore — and it has been shown that group size is connected with social learning,” said Hjalmar Kühl, also a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute and a co-author. For example, researchers studying chimpanzee groups in parts of West Africa encountered mysterious piles of stones alongside battered tree trunks. The rocks had been thrown against the trees by chimpanzees for reasons still unclear to the scientists who first documented the behavior in 2016. Perhaps the purpose was to mark territory, or proclaim dominance within a group, or start a game, or something else, the biologists surmised. But not all chimpanzees are stone-throwers. Some groups use stones to crack open tree nuts. Researchers recently discovered an archaeological site in West Africa that showed chimpanzees had used stones there for nut-cracking for more than 4,000 years. Elsewhere in West Africa, sticks were the tools of choice, with young chimps in Guinea learning from their elders to use them to “fish” in lakes for long strands of algae to eat. Or, in Nigeria, to poke termite mounds to gather the insects for food. Sixty years ago, scientists had limited knowledge of chimpanzees in the wild, until researcher Jane Goodall first recorded behaviors like tool usage, which previously were associated only with humans. In 1999, Goodall and other scientists popularized the phrase “chimpanzee cultures” in an article in the journal Science. The use of the term has ignited debate ever since — including resistance from some anthropologists— but also launched further research. Most likely genetics and socially learned behavior interact to form animal “culture” in chimpanzees and other species, said Carl Safina, an ecologist and author of several books on animal behavior who was not involved in the study. This has implications for conservation. “We have come to understand that behavioral diversity matters for protecting species,” said Andrew Whiten, an evolutionary psychologist and zoologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who was not involved in the study. “The greater the diversity of behavior, the more likely a species will be able to deal with future changes and challenges in their environment,” he said. “It’s not good news when their options are limited.” Last month, Whiten co-authored a “Policy Forum” article in Science, entitled “Animal cultures matter for conservation,” arguing that policy-makers should include behavioral diversity alongside other measures of biodiversity. “Culture is not the tip of the iceberg for these great apes — some kind of nice luxury — but an intrinsic and essential part of their local adaptation,” Carel van Schaik, an anthropologist at the University of Zurich who was not involved in the new study, wrote in an email. Lydia Luncz, a primatologist at the University of Oxford, agrees. “We are far from understanding yet what is the cultural repertoire of chimps,” said Luncz, who also was not involved in the study. “It would be a tragedy to lose more of the cultural heritage of our closest living relatives.” ___ Follow Christina Larson on Twitter at @larsonchristina ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all conten",
            "output": [
                "Chimps varied ‘culture’ matters for conservation, study says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-43159e1c4a9f416c9790469348e3d084",
            "input": "We’re told a 12-week regimen costs $54,600. However, we’re not clued in as to how much a 16-week treatment costs and that’s important since some of the trials lasted 16 weeks. Generally, according to the NIH, treatments take anywhere from 24 to 48 weeks. It’s unclear if this is true of Zepatier, although the results seem to indicate one round of treatment is all you need. There’s also a notable addition in this release in regard to cost: Financial assistance that brings the cost down to “as little as $5 for each prescription” for private insurance plans that aren’t generous when it comes to drugs. As the recent HealthNewsReview.org post by Lieberman might suggest, this is part of a growing trend to conceal the true cost of expensive drugs to the consumer, forcing those with more substantial insurance plans to foot the bill. “Do we want the health system to work for a few or for everyone?” Lieberman wrote. “That should guide our reporting when the next news release touting the newest specialty drug shows up.” After 12 to 16 weeks of treatment, Merck claims its drug can cure two types of hepatitis C in 94% of people. This includes people who had cirrhosis, HIV or kidney impairment. However, it should have been explained that the response or “cure” refers only to the reduction of viral load, which does not address long-term effects or adverse effects of the drug. The benefits are given in absolute terms, but viral loads are not reported and the response or viral loads in the placebo group are not reported at all in the release. This would be a critical element to be adequately reported in describing the results of studies on the efficacy of a particular drug. Finally, since some of the patients already had cirrhosis, there is no way the drug can prevent this outcome, and the needed study outcome should be reduction in the rate of liver or other GI cancers. The discussion on harms includes a long list of drugs to avoid mixing with Zepatier as well as common side effects and adverse reactions including headaches, fatigue, nausea, and anemia in about 5% of people who took the drug. Although we wouldn’t expect harms from placebo to be severe, we expected to see at least a mention of them since the drug was compared against placebo. And, since the minor harms were listed so extensively, we would have liked to see a mention of the risks for more rare but serious side effects due to the drug. In its news release on the approval, the FDA writes, “Zepatier carries a warning alerting patients and health care providers that elevations of liver enzymes to greater than five times the upper limit of normal occurred in approximately 1 percent of clinical trial participants, generally at or after treatment week eight.” Drugs must pass high bars to achieve FDA approval, and here we’re given the detailed results in five randomized, double-blind clinical trials for one form of hepatitis C (GT1 HCV) and one trial for another — GT4 HCV. Each of the trials used a few different populations with different pre-existing conditions. Despite the exhaustive accounting of study results, we’ll ding the release here for not acknowledging that the studies were all designed to find the “disease oriented” and not “patient oriented” outcomes. This means that the trial looked at the reduction in viral load, not the prevention of specific conditions like cirrhosis, an outcome that is supposed to be prevented by the use of these drugs. Patients care most about conditions that affect them and not how many virus particles are in their blood, so this was an important omission. There are no harrowing, overly dramatic details here. Merck is clearly labeled as the sponsor of the release. In the clinical trials section, some alternative treatments are named, including “IFN or PegIFN ± RBV” and “boceprevir, simeprevir, or telaprevir in combination with PegIFN + RBV.”  We’ll award a Satisfactory on that basis, although the trials mentioned are all compared against placebo and not these drugs. It would have helped to know what those treatments are, and their effectiveness. We will note, however, that highly successful curative hepatitis C treatments are very new — basically, within the past few years. The alternatives prior to that were liver transplants, which can cost $300,000, and viral interferon treatments, which were less than 50% effective. Merck’s release states the drug will start shipping to wholesalers within 7 days of Jan. 28, 2016. This is the second one-pill, once-a-day option for hepatitis C. We don’t think the release demonstrates novelty. “Multiple therapeutic tools” to treat hepatitis C are mentioned in a quote by the executive director of the Hepatitis Education Project, but we’re not clued in to what those are or where Zepatier fits in. Alternative drugs have similar, albeit slightly lower, cure rates in the high-80% to low-90% range. We see the word “cure” four times in the release. The release defines its use of the term cure early on in the release as “Sustained virologic response is defined as HCV RNA levels measuring less than the lower limit of quantification at 12 weeks after the cessation of treatment (SVR12), indicating that a patient’s HCV infection has been cured.”  We disagree because there’s no indication that these “sustained” responses are prolonged for a long period after the drug is discontinued.",
            "output": [
                "Merck Receives FDA Approval of ZEPATIER™ (elbasvir and grazoprevir) for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1 or 4 Infection in Adults Following Priority Review"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5077d9f5ef2d4efe8f0eaa21b6a9c252",
            "input": "“You want to get clean so bad. You know something’s killing you and you can’t stop,” said the 33-year-old who used heroin for 10 years. This spring was different. While in a jail work-release program, she took a medication called buprenorphine. It quieted a voice in her brain that told her to keep using. When she got out of jail, she headed for an Olympia clinic where a doctor is working to spread a philosophy called “medication first.” The surprising approach scraps requirements for counseling, abstinence or even a commitment to recovery. Instead, it starts with fast access to prescribed medicine that prevents withdrawal sickness. After patients start feeling better, they choose their next steps. In St. Louis, Seattle and San Francisco, people with opioid addictions can start medication on their first day of treatment. Early research suggests the approach can change lives. But it will be a tough sell elsewhere: Nearly two-thirds of U.S. treatment centers don’t offer anti-addiction drugs and there’s resistance to easy access. Within two weeks of walking into the Olympia clinic, Cline had a job at a millwork shop. Now, nine months later, she has received a promotion and a raise, rebuilt relationships, found a room in a sober house and is proud to display a chain of “Clean & Serene” key fobs she earned from Narcotics Anonymous. She takes buprenorphine twice daily. “I’ve got my life back,” she said. The opioid crisis now kills more Americans than car crashes and is estimated to cost more than $500 billion a year. The epidemic is driving new treatment strategies for the 2 million Americans addicted to opioids. Bupe, as it’s known, isn’t new. Approved to treat opioid addiction in 2002, it blocks the effect of other opioids and eases withdrawal. It’s an opioid, but an imperfect fit for the brain’s receptors, so its effect is mild and it doesn’t cause a high. It also lowers the danger of overdose and raises the likelihood a person will stay in treatment. But finding a prescriber without a waiting list is difficult. Guidelines say bupe should be used alongside counseling, which some doctors don’t feel equipped to provide. Success stories have convinced some experts that buprenorphine should be available in homeless camps, syringe exchanges and anywhere people use drugs. “This is an obvious thing to do,” said University of Washington researcher Caleb Banta-Green. STABILIZING INFLUENCE OR FALSE PROMISE? Martyn is a 57-year-old former heroin user who goes by one name. He was living in a Seattle homeless camp known as the Jungle, running errands for drug dealers. “Toward the end, you’re not trying to get high anymore,” he said. “You’re just trying to not be sick.” He got his first bupe prescription at Neighborcare Health, a free downtown clinic. Once stabilized, he found a spot in a sober home with help from a caseworker. “Now I’ve got a little room in a house I share with seven other guys.” On bupe, Martyn said, “I don’t get that high feeling. And that’s OK.” Critics worry medication-first clinics will add to the flood of opioids on the street. The tactic could also lead to a false understanding of addiction, said Atlanta-based counselor Samson Teklemariam, who directs training for NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. “You’re promising the public a cure,” Teklemariam said. “There’s not a pill that you can take to alleviate symptoms of true addiction.” In Missouri, some treatment programs had shunned buprenorphine, particularly long-term, in favor of abstinence-based counseling and support groups. Some didn’t have doctors or nurses who could prescribe it. Some believed medications were a crutch that prevented true recovery. In 2017, with overdose deaths rising, Missouri tied federal grant money to a medication-first philosophy. Programs would get money only if they started clients on meds rapidly and if they dropped rules about medication time limits and attending counseling. The result? Medication treatment increased and more patients stayed in treatment longer, said Rachel Winograd of University of Missouri-St. Louis who studied the implementation. There’s pushback in Missouri from those who see the idea as at odds with “full and thriving recovery,” Winograd said. “The state is saying, we can do both.” MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS Research is beginning on the idea. In New York, 250 drug users will be enrolled at syringe exchanges. Some will be randomly assigned to get same-day bupe prescriptions and others will get standard care. “If the older treatment philosophies were working, we wouldn’t have the problems we’re having today,” said Dr. Aaron Fox, who is leading the study. In Washington state, health officials are encouraging jails and drug courts to embrace bupe. Many are changing their policies. Not everyone approves. In Skagit County, Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich calls bupe “low-grade heroin.” He bristles at requirements tying drug court money to medication assisted treatment. “There are lots of things happening in the big cities that I don’t agree with,” Weyrich said. Sixty miles away in Seattle, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has tried to convince other prosecutors of bupe’s value. His sister, Shelley, used heroin for years. In 2015, after starting treatment with bupe, she got clean. “I saw firsthand the difference it made in her life,” Satterberg said. “We became a family.” Years of drug use had worn down Shelley’s health. She died in March 2018 of an infection at age 51. Bupe should be “as easy to get as heroin,” Satterberg said. To those in law enforcement who worry about it trading on the street, he said: “At least they’re not buying fentanyl and supporting the Mexican cartels. At least they’re not going to overdose. And they might find out buprenorphine actually makes them feel better.” A pilot study in Seattle treated 147 patients in one year, most of them homeless. The program reached capacity within three months and kept people in treatment at rates similar to other programs. That drew financial support from a foundation, resulting in four new sites. They are expected to serve 1,250 patients over two years. To treat one patient for one year at the Olympia Bupe Clinic costs $3,000 in public money, said its medical director, Dr. Lucinda Grande. She said the money will prevent steeper hospital costs down the road. A ‘GODSEND’ On a recent evening, Grande spent more than three hours helping people start or maintain treatment with bupe. She met with patients in a cluster of donated furniture, a floral-pattern sofa and chairs. Two new patients wanted to start bupe for the first time. Former patient Jamie Cline proudly told Grande of recent accomplishments at her workplace. “You’re getting used to being successful,” Grande observed, smiling with encouragement. Later, pharmacist Brad Livingstone arrived. At the front desk, he opened a clear plastic bin with 14 pill bottles inside. He called out a name. Jon Combes, 36, of Lacey, Washington, stepped up to get his pills, a “godsend” that has helped him sleep. “They don’t care what your past is,” Combes said of the clinic’s staff. “They just want to get your future going.” Combes had been coming to the clinic for three weeks. He took home a 12-day supply of medication. That evening, 31 people picked up medications. Young men with tattoos and ballcaps. A middle-aged woman with stylish hair and smart clothes. A man in a wheelchair. A woman with a school-age child. Some nights there are as many as 45 picking up meds. Cline scrolled through her phone to find photos of herself when she was in the depths of heroin addiction. The pictures remind her of where she’s been, a time she does not want to forget. “I’m always going to be an addict,” she said. “I’ve got to be very careful where I step.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support  from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Walk-in clinics for opioid addiction offer meds first, fast."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6b0f5d56162437eb2b4837ccc0cf930",
            "input": "\"U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking in Austin, bemoaned widening income differences between the country’s very rich and the rest of us. And in his remarks at a South Austin union hall, the Vermont independent mulling a run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination also warned about American failures to save money. \"\"Here’s something not talked about, something that can make us all very, very nervous,\"\" Sanders said. \"\"Half of all Americans have less than $10,000 in their savings account. \"\"And you know what that means and you know why people are so stressed out? If you have less than $10,000,\"\" he said, \"\"that means an automobile accident, a divorce, a serious illness, a crisis of one kind or another can drive you into bankruptcy and financial disaster.\"\" Is he right that half of us have less than $10K in savings? Sanders’ backup To our inquiry, a Sanders spokesman, Jeff Franks, said by email that Sanders relied on an April 2014 USA Today news story quoting a survey indicating 52 percent of U.S. workers had said they had less than $10,000 in total savings and investments, such as a 401(k) or IRA, that could be used for retirement. It did not include their homes or defined benefit plans, such as traditional pensions that could be used for retirement Specifically, the story said, 36 percent of workers said they had less than $1,000 in such savings and investments with another 16 percent of workers reporting $1,000 to $9,999 in such savings and investments. Those results came from a telephone survey of 1,000 workers and 501 retirees by the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates. Next, we spotted a chart on the institute’s website drawn from the same 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey. The 52 percent of workers reporting less than $10,000 in savings and investments in 2014 is up from 39 percent in 2009, the chart shows. Of course, \"\"workers\"\" isn’t all of us. We called the Washington, D.C.-based institute, which says it was founded in 1978 to deliver unbiased information on employee benefit plans \"\"so that decisions affecting the system may be made based on verifiable facts.\"\" By phone, researcher Craig Copeland told us that overall, 51 percent of survey respondents, meaning retirees and others, had less than $10,000 in financial savings. Also by phone, Ruth Helman of Greenwald and Associates, which helped do the survey, paused at the senator’s wording. \"\"Strictly speaking, ‘their savings account’ isn’t correct. It’s total savings wherever it may be, under the mattress or wherever,\"\" Helman said. Federal Reserve Bank We wondered if there were other ways of looking at savings. Several experts urged us to contact the Federal Reserve Bank, which conducts a survey focused on consumer finances every three years. Its latest survey, drawing on data collected in 2013, resulted in a chart pointed out by Copeland indicating that the median value of financial savings outside of a pension or home reported by the nearly 95 percent of families who had bank accounts or stocks, bonds and other financial assets that year was $21,200, down from $23,000 in the board’s 2010 survey.\"",
            "output": [
                "Half of all Americans have less than $10,000 in their savings account."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-58812bc1592240c395d93d527886764b",
            "input": "In its latest “report card,” the American College of Emergency Physicians said such reduced access earned the nation a “D+” — that’s down from the overall “C-“ grade from the group’s last report in 2009. Shortages and reduced hospital capacity make it more difficult to access emergency care, the group said. It also warned about the impact on disaster preparedness. While the report does not measure the actual quality of care provided, it does offer a snapshot of national and state policies affecting emergency medicine as seen by providers. Washington, D.C., was ranked the highest in the report, earning a “B-“ grade, while Wyoming ranked last and was the only state to earn an overall failing grade of “F.”  The group’s task force looked at scores of measure in five major categories — access to care, quality and patient safety, liability, injury prevention and disaster preparedness — and relied on data from the Centers for Disease Control and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, among others. The report comes just as the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, comes into full effect this year. The 2010 law aims to expand access to health insurance and reduce the nation’s healthcare costs, but it has become a political flashpoint amid a troubled rollout of the federal insurance exchange website. While the physician’s report does not factor in all of the effects of the law — its grades are based on data from early 2013 — emergency rooms could be used even more as more Americans gain insurance coverage under Obamacare, it said. Some health experts have predicted that increasing the number of insured patients should reduce pressure on hospital emergency rooms because access to regular doctor care will improve, something that is hoped would prevent chronic conditions from spiraling out of control or help catch other problems before they worsen. But insurance coverage could also lead those who might have held off going to the emergency room to seek care, said Jon Mark Hirshon, an emergency medicine doctor and researcher at the University of Maryland who oversaw the group’s report card. Newly insured people also may have a hard time finding a regular doctor who accepts their plan, he said. “On top of that, emergency departments are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If I have a primary care provider but it’s 9 o’clock at night on a Friday and they’re closed, then people come to the emergency department,” Hirshon told Reuters. The group is asking for congressional hearings to probe whether the law puts “additional strains” on emergency rooms. Already, beds for patients have fallen from a rate of 358 per 100,000 people four years ago to about 330 beds per 100,000 people now, the report said. Wait times have increased to a median of 4.5 hours compared to four hours in 2009. Despite the dismal U.S. grade given by the group, it noted that policies and infrastructure varied widely by state. States with the best emergency care include Massachusetts, Maine, Nebraska and Colorado, while Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona rounded out the bottom, just above Wyoming. States are also still grappling with the uninsured. By law, hospitals must provide emergency care regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Under Obamacare, states can expand access to Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance plan for the poor. Data shows that Medicaid patients use emergency rooms as much as other insured patients, but several recent studies have shown that Medicaid patients utilize them more than the uninsured. One study this month showed Oregon patients given Medicaid through a lottery increased their emergency room use by 40 percent compared to those not offered Medicaid. “We have to be leaner and more efficient, but it just becomes more and more challenging,” Hirshon said.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors say pressure on ERs may rise, give U.S. failing grade."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e0cf4e39c08848abb45fe227162d6b9e",
            "input": "On 5 December 2018, the Seattle Times published an article whose terrifying headline ensured its own virality: “Rare brain-eating amoebas killed Seattle woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water. Doctor warns this could happen again.” Sadly for those who visited this page hoping to find that the reporting was exaggerated or made-up, this really happened. Though her anonymity was maintained, the story of a 69-year-old Seattle woman who used tap water in her Neti pot for over a year and then died from a Balamuthia mandrillaris brain infection was documented in a 20 September 2018 case study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases: We report the case of a 69-year-old female who presented with a chronic nasal skin rash, new onset focal seizure, and a cerebral ring-enhancing lesion after a year of improper nasal irrigation. Despite aggressive and novel anti-amoebic treatment, she died as a result of a Balamuthia mandrillaris brain infection. One year before developing the brain infection, the authors reported, the woman developed a chronic sinus infection whose symptoms were not relieved by medication. She turned to using a Neti pot to rinse her sinuses, but instead of using sterile or saline water as directed, she used tap water filtered with a Brita system. After a month of this practice, and without any relief of her sinus symptoms, “she developed a quarter-sized, red raised rash on the right side of the bridge of her nose and raw red skin at the nasal opening.” Though several misdiagnoses followed, no doctor correctly recognized the rash as a symptom of an amoebic infection. The report stated that a year after that initial rash developed, the woman developed a seizure that required hospitalization. At that time, the doctors identified a lesion on the right side of the brain which they decided to biopsy. Some 19 days later, after a continued decline in the patient’s health, scientists from Johns Hopkins University suggested the possibility that the cause of her malady was an amoebic infection, and the Centers for Disease Control rushed a novel drug for her treatment. Unfortunately, they were unable to halt the progression of the disease, and the patient’s family made the decision to remove her from life support. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be Granulomatous Amebic Encephalitis (GAE), which the CDC defines as “a serious infection of the brain and spinal cord that typically occurs in persons with a compromised immune system.” In this case, the causative agent was an extremely rare amoeba named Balamuthia mandrillaris, one of three forms of amoeba known to be capable of infecting and consuming the human brain. Amoebas are a broad group of taxonomically mixed unicellular organisms that consume surrounding cellular material through absorption, and that express an ability to take on a variety of shapes. Several different species are associated with disease, most notably Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as the “brain-eating amoeba” that can cause a different kind of brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Balamuthia mandrillaris was discovered in 1986 in the brain of a mandrill monkey during an autopsy at the San Diego Zoo and is now recognized to be a cause of GAE in both humans, several primates, and other animals, with an estimated 200 cases of human infection ever documented. The amoebae are ubiquitous in soil and groundwater although their presence is not expected in city-treated water, according to Liz Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Public Health division of Washington State’s Department of Health, quoted in the Seattle Times’ reporting. Merely ingesting the thing will not lead to health problems, but in rare cases (usually instances involving people with weakened immune systems, or those who are young or old), the organisms can infect a host through skin breakage or via the respiratory system. If they infect the central nervous system, they “ingest bits and pieces of host tissue [and produce] enzymes that degrade the tissue.” Nasal irrigation involves rinsing one’s sinus cavity with distilled or sterile water (or water that has been filtered to remove potentially infectious organisms), and one such method of water delivery is a Neti pot. The need for sterility is explicitly stated due to the (extremely small) risk posed by another amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, and it is the reason the FDA requires (in the absence of sterile water) a specific kind of filter capable of removing the amoeba and similarly-sized organisms from water before it is pushed through fragile sinus tissue. While the authors of this case report could not state with absolute certainty that the Neti pot was to blame, it is far and away the most likely explanation given the fact that the patient had been rinsing her sinuses with tap water regularly for an extended period of time: While it is recommended that only sterile water or saline be used … the patient used tap water that was filtered with a Brita Water Purifier … Improper nasal irrigation has been reported as a method of infection for the comparably insidious amoeba, N. fowleri. This precedent led us to suspect the same route of entry for the Balamuthia amoeba in our case. Although this hypothesis is consistent with the patient’s history and ultimate diagnosis, the water supply to the patient’s home was not tested, hence our ability to definitively trace the patient’s infection to improper nasal lavage is limited. Other routes of exposure are possible, according to a 2013 review of amoebic infections: Epidemiology of Balamuthia GAE is not well understood. However, based on several case reports it can be hypothesized that gardening, playing with dirt, or exposure to dust while motorcycling may play significant roles in the acquisition of Balamuthia infection. It has been shown that Balamuthia is found in the soil and dust in air and the route of infection is probably via inhalation of Balamuthia either present in soil or carried by the wind or the amebae entering the body through a cut or puncture. Once it gains entry into the body it is likely to spread hematogenously to the brain. Additionally, there is some indication that water may serve as a vehicle for acquiring the infection. Although the water used in the Neti pot likely caused this infection, Dr. Cynthia Maree, a co-author of the report and a member of the team that treated the woman in question, told the Seattle Times that “the risk of infection to the brain is extremely low,” adding that “people who use neti pots or other nasal-irrigation devices can nearly eliminate [that risk] by following directions printed on the devices, including using only saline or sterilized water.”",
            "output": [
                "A woman who rinsed her nasal passages using a neti pot filled with tap water contracted a fatal “brain-eating” amoeba infection."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07e3ae185eaf4441b68b5e94ccb46894",
            "input": "Best Buy Co. said Wednesday that in five years it hopes to provide 5 million seniors with health monitoring services, which can range from sensors placed throughout a home to a pendant worn around the neck. It currently provides the service to 1 million. It’s part of the chain’s deeper push into the $3.5 trillion U.S. health care market and essential to its goal of reaching $50 billion in annual revenue by 2025. The Minneapolis-based chain is tapping into an aging U.S. population, noting that two out of three seniors live with two or more chronic conditions and many want to stay at home. Best Buy is also looking to dig deeper into health care at a time when it, like other retailers, face uncertainty regarding an escalating trade war with China. Some of its core businesses, like TVs and phones sales, have been sluggish, although it says the consumer electronics business is stable. The strategy comes as Best Buy has succeeded in holding off increasing competition from Amazon and other players by speeding up deliveries and adding more services to deepen its relationship with customers. “This is an environment driven by constant innovation and people who need help with technology,” CEO Corie Barry said at an investor conference Wednesday where executives unveiled a five-year growth plan. Best Buy has been on buying spree of its own to boost the health care business. In May, it acquired Critical Signal Technologies, a provider of personal emergency response systems and telehealth monitoring services for at-home seniors. In August, it acquired the predictive health care technology business of BioSensics, including the hiring of the company’s data science and engineering team. Last year, it bought GreatCall, which provides emergency response devices for the aging. It also hired its own chief medical officer to push those efforts: Daniel Grossman, a physician, will report to Asheesh Saksena, head of Best Buy Health. Insurers have been paying more for remote monitoring technology to help track issues like chronic conditions and keep patients healthy and out of hospitals. That technology can include special wireless scales to monitor patients with congestive heart failure. Saksena told investors that pendants using certain algorithms can track how a senior is walking and predict the risk of falling. He also noted that sensors on refrigerators detect how often it’s being used. That can trigger a call by GreatCall agent to see whether that person has been eating. ___ AP Health Writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report. ___ Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio",
            "output": [
                "Best Buy sees growth in health care technology for elderly."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bad45eb0e40c4d558dd350f9ac3dd287",
            "input": "Scientists have wondered what makes these fish sing only at night. A study published on Thursday provides the answer. Laboratory experiments showed that the fish’s vocalization, a low-frequency hum like a foghorn, is controlled by a light-driven internal clock and the hormone melatonin, known to govern sleep and wake cycles, researchers said. “They are among the vocal champions of the marine environment along with whales and dolphins,” said Cornell University professor of neurobiology and behavior Andrew Bass. “The production and hearing of vocal signals plays a central role in their social interactions and reproductive behavior.”  The plainfin midshipman, up to 15 inches (38 cm) long, generally has an olive-brown color. Its name comes from rows of bioluminescent organs on its underside that reminded early observers of the buttons on a midshipman’s uniform. Males migrate during the late spring and summer from deep offshore sites into shallow intertidal waters, where they build nests beneath rocky shelters. Throughout the night, they produce hums by vibrating a gas-filled bladder within their abdomen to attract females to their nests to spawn. One hum can last almost two hours. Neighboring males often hum together in a chorus. Ni Feng, who led the study in Bass’ lab at Cornell and now is a Yale University postdoctoral researcher, said the study, published in the journal Current Biology, involved wild-caught fish kept in rooms where lighting could be controlled. In constant darkness, the fish hummed pretty much on schedule, thanks to their internal clock, or circadian rhythm. In constant brightness, a condition that lowers melatonin production, humming was suppressed. When kept in constant light but given a melatonin-like substitute, they continued to hum, though at random times of the day. Melatonin keeps day-active birds quiet at night and helps humans fall asleep but has the reverse effect in the midshipman fish. People have not always known what to make of the midshipman’s humming. “In the early 1980s, a mysterious sound caused concern for houseboat residents of Sausalito Bay, California, who suspected the source might be the pumps of a nearby sewage plant, an underwater power line, some secret experiment by the Navy or maybe even extraterrestrials,” Bass said. “It turned out their houseboats were merely resonating with the ‘love songs’ of male midshipman fish.”",
            "output": [
                "Moonlight sonata: fish's nocturnal 'singing' secrets revealed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9c1d5e302344409beca120bac842fb9",
            "input": "LGBT advocates praised the new recommendations for giving attention to a community that is often left out of sex education policies. But some parents and conservative groups assailed the more than 700-page document as an assault on parental rights, arguing it exposes children to ideas about sexuality and gender that should be taught at home. The guidance approved Wednesday by the California State Board of Education does not require educators to teach anything. It is designed as a guide for teachers to meet state standards on health education, such as nutrition, physical activity and combating alcohol and drug abuse. But it’s the parts about sex that got the most attention during a public hearing on Wednesday. The framework tells teachers that students in kindergarten can identify as transgender and offers tips for how to talk about that, adding “the goal is not to cause confusion about the gender of the child but to develop an awareness that other expressions exist.” It gives tips for discussing masturbation with middle-schoolers, including telling them it is not physically harmful, and for discussing puberty with transgender teens that creates “an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.” “As the parent of three kids, we’re on a careful trajectory here not to be introducing things as though they are endorsed in some way,” board president Linda Darling-Hammond said. But Patricia Reyes, a 45-year-old mother of six, doesn’t believe that. She traveled more than 400 miles (about 644 kilometers) from her home in Southern California to attend Wednesday’s hearing, bringing along her 4-year-old daughter, Angeline, who held a sign that read: “Protect my innocence and childhood.” “It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” she said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.” Much of the pushback focused not on the framework, but on the books it recommends students read. An earlier draft of the document suggested high schoolers read the book: “S.E.X. : The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties.” It includes descriptions of anal sex, bondage and other sexual activity. Several parents read from the book and held it up so board members could see the pictures, which many described as “obscene.” The board responded by removing the book, plus a few others, from the guidance. “It’s important to know the board is not trying to ban books. We’re not saying that the books are bad,” board member Feliza I. Ortiz-Licon said. “But the removal will help avoid the misunderstanding that California is mandating the use of these books.” More than 200 people signed up to speak during a public hearing on Wednesday that lasted for several hours. Supporters and opponents mingled together in the lobby of the California Department of Education, where parents handed out snacks to appease their young children while waiting for their number to appear on dry-erase board telling them it was their turn to get one minute of time at the microphone. Speakers included 16-year-old Phoenix Ali Rajah, a transgender boy who said he is rarely taught information for people like him during sex education classes at his Los Angeles area high school. “I’m never taught about how to be in a relationship with gay men,” he said, adding that the “conversation with sex starts from a different place.” Michele McNutt, 49, focused on the framework’s attention to healthy relationships and consent, something she said is never too soon to teach her two daughters in public school, ages 11 and 9. “Withholding medically accurate, scientific information from them actually causes more harm and does not actually protect innocence,” she said while wearing a purple T-shirt that read “protect trans students. “If you don’t give kids accurate information about their own body ... how are they able to make good choices?” The guidance was developed with input from teachers across the state, and several spoke in favor of the recommendations on Wednesday. But not Tatyana Dzyubak, an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento area. “I shouldn’t be teaching that stuff,” she said. “That’s for parents to do.”",
            "output": [
                "California overhauls sex education guidance for teachers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f1566ae6dd1a498698b79000cd72bdfe",
            "input": "We think it’s too early to guess at what any therapy based on this technique would cost, so we won’t flag the story for not mentioning costs. The story says that the therapy resulted in “increased platelet counts” and “improvement of some immune-system cells.” The story should have provided quantitative data and tried to explain what these changes might mean for patients. Another problem is that the story didn’t tell us how long the patients were followed and how long the benefits lasted. The effects of some gene therapies fade with time because the cells injected with DNA by viruses ultimately die and stop producing the therapeutic protein. The story acknowledged early on and prominently that one of the study participants developed leukemia, which may have been related to the new treatment. The story probably should have mentioned that other harms might become apparent as these patients are followed further or as more patients are studied. However, we think the study went far enough to earn a satisfactory. Although the story was not grossly imbalanced and did feature some restraining quotes about the early stage of the research, we don’t think it went far enough in explaining just how preliminary this research, and the report upon which the story is based, are. Here’s where we think the story fell short: Again, while the story’s coverage was not overtly misleading, we think discussion of these issues would have put additional (and appropriate) emphasis on the need for caution when interpreting the results. The story didn’t exaggerate the consequences of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. The story included interviews with two independent experts who weren’t involved with the study. The story discusses one of the primary existing treatments for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: bone marrow transplants. The story’s muddled overview of this treatment is likely to leave readers confused, however. The story starts off its description by saying that such transplants, if they succeed, “basically cure the disease.” It then goes on to list a number of serious complications that can plague even apparently successful transplants. So the children treated via transplant sound like they probably aren’t “cured” as the story initially states. We’ll call it satisfactory, but we wish the story was a bit clearer on this point. The story never explicitly addresses the availability of this new technique or how close it may be to approval. However, it does note that the research represents just a “first step” and “proof of concept” for the new approach. Although we would like to have seen a more direct comment about the many years of testing that lie ahead for any therapy based on this technique, we think most readers will understand that this is preliminary research and not something they’re likely to have access to anytime soon. The story never mentioned that gene therapy using viral vectors is being studied for the treatment of a variety of other hereditary diseases as well as cancer. Importantly, this research has shown that it is extremely difficult to develop effective therapies based on viral vectors — context that would have been valuable in this story. This story doesn’t appear to be based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Gene Therapy Corrected Rare Bleeding Disorder: Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b18b9638c8b47b2b47ad7a2b047a369",
            "input": "As the new coronavirus spreads from China, travel guidelines being issued by governments across the world all express notes of growing caution. But they contain subtle differences on where to avoid, how to behave and what to do after a trip. With few exceptions, the prevailing advice of national authorities is to avoid Hubei province - epicenter of an outbreak that has now infected 80,000 people worldwide - and to reduce Chinese travel to the bare minimum. Once inside China, Swiss travelers for example are urged by their government to avoid large gatherings and “cough or sneeze into a tissue, or use the crook of your arm”. France tells its nationals not to eat raw meat or visit animal markets. The Spanish Foreign Ministry also urges against contact with animals in China and suggests making sure that you stay at least one meter away from the next person. For travelers to Italy - the country most badly hit by the virus in Europe - the Dutch government recommends that its citizens avoid areas already locked down by local authorities and only travel to parts of the wider Lombardy region around the closed-off towns if necessary. The Finnish Foreign Ministry advice on Italy is simply to “take special care”. Differences also emerge in the advice to travelers on their return from an affected area. Germany’s main authority for infectious diseases tells those returning with symptoms from outbreak regions in Italy to see a doctor and call prior to their visit. But France asks such people not to visit the doctor but to call emergency services. Britain urges its nationals to “self-isolate” at home if they have been to the areas quarantined by Italy whether or not they have symptoms. The Danish Health Authority currently stipulates no routine quarantine or isolation of people who have traveled to China or other places hit by the outbreak. Countries outside Europe take different stances. Turkey advises against all but essential travel to China but has not yet issued travel advice on Italy. Nigeria has a voluntary two-week self-quarantine in place for all passengers arriving from China or any country with “a major outbreak”. Guidance for returning air passengers says “try to avoid” going out but wear a mask if you do.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus travel: national advice not all of a piece."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c7d13eeee4949cb9f0729034ed9be66",
            "input": "And now: 2019-nCoV? “Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?” said Trevor Hoppe, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who has studied the history of disease names. The name, which stands for 2019 novel coronavirus, has been assigned to the virus behind the outbreak of flu-like illnesses that started in China late last year. Scientists are still learning about the new virus, so it’s hard to come up with a good name, Hoppe said. The current one is likely temporary, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Once people have a chance to catch their breath, it might be changed,” Messonnier said. Many media outlets have been skipping the clunky 2019-nCoV and just calling it the new virus or new coronavirus, which isn’t very specific. Coronavirus is the umbrella term for a large group of viruses, including ones that can cause the common cold. Since the outbreak is centered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, others have been using Wuhan virus or Wuhan coronavirus or even Wuhan flu — even though flu is an entirely different virus. It’s consistent with a centuries-old tradition of naming new ailments after cities, countries or regions of the world where they first popped up. West Nile was first detected in the West Nile district of Uganda; Lyme disease in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and Ebola in a village near Africa’s Ebola River. But that can sometimes be wrong or misleading. The 1918 pandemic was called Spanish flu, though researchers don’t think Spain is where it actually started. “Now we have a much different sensibility and tolerance about how we refer to things,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan. In 2015, the World Health Organization issued guidelines that discouraged the use of geographic locations (like Zika virus), animals (swine flu) or groups of people (Legionnaires’ disease). Hoppe noted that AIDS, when it first emerged in the early 1980s, was called “gay-related immune deficiency.” That was dropped as it became clear that heterosexuals were also spreading the virus. AIDS stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. With the guidelines, WHO was trying to bring an end to unnecessary stigma that could ostracize people and damage business. Demand for pork plunged in 2009 with so-called swine flu, first identified in a boy who lived on a pig farm in Mexico — even though it wasn’t spread through eating pork. Markel said he liked when diseases were named after the scientists who first described them. (Think Alzheimer, Parkinson and Tourette.) That’s problematic today with many scientists across the world working on a new ailment at the same time. SARS was used for severe acute respiratory syndrome when another coronavirus caused a 2002-2003 outbreak. So maybe this one could be called CARS, Markel said. “I can see why they want to name it something generic but it has to be something people use,” he said. “Otherwise the easier name will take over, and it’s naive to think otherwise.”  In the end, the WHO may have little control over what it’s called, he added. “Wuhan virus is very catchy — no pun intended,” Markel said. “It’s a very contagious name.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "In virus outbreak, fretting over a name that might go viral."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba7ec7c4ed914bab96e9321e7005c289",
            "input": "The story does not provide the cost of vitamin D supplements. It would have been helpful to mention the amount of vitamin D provided in vitamin supplements that children might already be taking. Most consumers are aware of the costs of other sources: milk, fortified cereal, and fish, thus, these did not need to be mentioned. Neither the news release issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the scientific paper on which the new guidelines were based provided absolute or relative reduction of the risk of rickets that would result from the new vitamin D recommendation. This is understandable due to ethical considerations that would preclude this type of study from being done. As a result, this information was not available for this story. The story did mention potential benefits of vitamin D in reducing the risk other diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, and, it also could have also mentioned the potential for reducing the risk of developing osteoporosis in adulthood, as noted by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The story correctly states potential harms of excess vitamin D are very rare. In their press release announcing new guidelines that double the recommended amount of vitamin D (www.aap.org/pressroom/nce/nce08vitamind.htm) the American College of Pediatrics indicates that this change is a result of reviewing new clinical trials. The College guidelines did not provide other detailed scientific information which could have informed this story. The story was consistent with this approach and referenced ‘new research’. However, they could have provided other relevant facts related to vitamin D deficiency and rickets to add context. In addition, the doctor interviewed for the story incorrectly defines osteomalacia. For reference, osteomalacia is a softening of the bones due to vitamin D deficiency, not ‘a weakness of the muscles of the bones’. (Muscle weakness can be a symptom of osteomalcia.) The story presents new health information about vitamin D that would be of general interest. It does not commercialize or ‘over-sell’ the topic. It would have been even better to include a comment indicating that the potential benefit of vitamin D in fighting diabetes, heart disease, and cancer is based upon research that has been in adults. The story did indicate the source of the information but left out other important facts. The physician interviewed does not appear to be an expert on childhood nutrition. Instead he is known for helping celebrities lose weight and is the author of diet books including Extreme Fat Smash Diet (St. Martin’s Press). Conflict of interest of the funding source was not mentioned, nor was independent corroboration or medical opinion presented. The story does indicate common food sources and vitamin D supplements are options for obtaining vitamin D. (See Availability of Treatment comments.) The story does correctly indicate that most children (and adults of all ages) do not get enough vitamin D through diet alone and will need to take supplements to met daily requirements. To illustrate this point, the story provides an example that children would have to drink 1 quart of milk each day to get the recommended amount of vitamin D, 400 IU per day. It does provide examples of good dietary sources of vitamin D: fortified cereal, milk, and oily fish. On the other hand, this story only makes brief mention of sunlight and fails to explain that sunlight is the best source of vitamin D. (Also see Harms of Treatment comments.) This story properly indicates that the news being reported is an update of a previous guideline issued in 2003. We can’t be sure if the segment relied solely or largely on a news release. It interviewed only one guest and we don’t know why he was chosen. (See Sources below.)",
            "output": [
                "Kids & Vitamin D: New recommendation: Double the dose"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-65055a364d274c7a9d272dc1151a9695",
            "input": "The article states that acupuncture costs $45 to $100 per session. It does not say how this compares to other treatments and whether the cost of care is the same, more or less than alternatives. The story states the proportion of patients who successfully responded to each therapy, and clearly explains that “real” acupuncture was no better than sham needling. But it does not define success or otherwise quantify how much people improved clinically in either relative or absolute terms. For a treatment to be considered successful, a patient must have reported either a 33% improvement in pain or as little as a 12% improvement in function during an interview conducted over the telephone 6 months after enrollment. Nonethless we’ll grade this criterion as satisfactory. The story did not mention harms from any of the treatments patients received. Previous research suggests that acupuncture poses few risks when performed with sterile, disposable needles. The article describes the largest randomized controlled trial to date investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating chronic low back pain, and reports its published results. It discusses the three treatment groups studied and potential reasons for the outcomes observed. There are no obvious elements of disease mongering. The story explains that the study participants were people with chronic low back pain. These results wouldn’t apply to other back pain conditions. The article cites one of the study’s coauthors and two physicians who appear to be users and/or proponents of complementary therapies. It would have been interesting to hear from a skeptical observer. The story lists the therapies received by patients assigned to the conventional medicine group. The literature suggests that these treatments generally provide very modest benefits. The article does not mention other therapies that may be effective for managing chronic pain and improving flexibility and strength. These include cognitive therapy alone or in combination with intensive exercise and strengthening. Acupuncture is estimated to be the third most popular complementary therapy for chronic low back pain. Though the article does not say much about its availability, readers are likely to be familiar with it. The story notes that this is the largest study yet of acupuncture for chronic back pain, suggesting that the treatment is not new. There is no obvious use of text from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Acupuncture, real or fake, called best for lower back pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cd1084556a647ceabb40686b97a3426",
            "input": "Yet official documents seen by The Associated Press show that Brazil’s government has begun legal procedures to transfer all employees out of three of the state’s four federal environmental protection offices, which are in charge of defending the rainforest from deforestation, land grabbing and illegal fires. It’s part of a broader erosion of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, known by its Portuguese initials as Ibama, whose field operations appear to have declined sharply since the early part of this year. The agency’s funding for discretionary spending and enforcement operations this year faces a 24% cut, a significant blow to what two experts described as an already small budget. The budget decrease came as part of a wider austerity push by President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office Jan. 1 and is seeking to rein in spending by Brazil’s financially strapped government. But critics note that he has also complained that environmental regulations hinder development in the Amazon. Ibama staffers say the regional offices are critical to their jobs, giving them closer knowledge of problem areas and faster response times in the country’s most extensive state. larger than Texas, California and Montana combined. Ibama agents often plunge deep into the jungle aboard helicopters or boats, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying arms to confront illegal loggers or ranchers who cut away the forest and then set fires to clear the land. The sharp increase in fires this year has roused global concern because the Amazon rainforest acts as a bulwark against climate change. Its lush vegetation absorbs heat-trapping carbon dioxide and the moisture given off by its trees affects rainfall patterns and climate across South America and beyond. Boslonaro told reporters he would attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in September to deliver a speech expected to focus on the Amazon, which he says was “ignored” by previous administrations. His administration argues that the lack of economic opportunities and cumbersome red tape in the Amazon region contributes to rampant illegal deforestation. It says the region can be protected while allowing far more development than conservationists believe is safe. Bolsonaro has sent troops to aid in fighting the blazes and banned fires to clear land in the Amazon for 60 days. But the president has fiercely resisted efforts to treat the Amazon as a global issue, notably clashing with French President Emmanuel Macron, who told his Brazilian counterpart during the peak of the fires: “We cannot allow you to destroy everything.” Bolsonaro has also accused non-governmental groups of inefficiency and trying to stifle Brazil’s economy by preventing development in the region. The president also is no big fan of Ibama and its enforcement actions, complaining that an “industry of fines” has slowed economic development in Latin America’s largest nation. “I will no longer allow Ibama to distribute fines right, left and center,” Bolsonaro said before taking office. There is a personal edge to the issue: He was fined by the agency years ago for fishing in a protected area. Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles have also talked of ending Ibama’s legal authority to burn heavy equipment being used by illegal loggers. Critics say the top-level skepticism and budget cuts are having an impact in the field. On-the-ground operations carried out by Ibama agents from January through April declined 58% from the same period last year, according to official data obtained by the Brazilian group Climate Observatory. The decline began under the previous government in 2018, when operations were down 23% but accelerated this year. Prosecutors in the northeastern state of Para, which borders Amazonas, are investigating the link between the decline in Ibama’s activities and the rise in fires this year, which have broken out at a pace not seen since 2010. Federal prosecutor Ricardo Negrini said authorities failed to act when his office warned of reports that farmers in Para had called for “a day of fire” to ignite multiple blazes Aug. 10. Ibama told prosecutors it wasn’t able to intervene because police forces in the state had been refusing to offer security. Ibama agents have sometimes been met with gunfire when confronting illegal loggers and miners. Negrini said he found that state police had declined to escort Ibama agents for months despite a longstanding tradition of cooperation between the two bodies. Documents seen by AP show that police forces denied six requests from Ibama in June and July. In the documents, police say the lack of an official cooperation agreement prevented them from joining such operations, though Negrini said that had not been an issue in the past. Ibama and the environment ministry did not reply to several requests for comments. But in the past months, hundreds of workers from Ibama and another public agency, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, have signed letters denouncing what they contend is government neglect of the environment. Ten employees of environmental agencies interviewed by AP complained of a growing sense of censorship, intimidation and retaliations from superiors. “This is not a problem of difficult transition (from one administration to the other), because people are trying to understand how to do their jobs,” said André Barbosa, president of an association of federal environmental employees in Rio de Janeiro. “This is a project to break the system down, so that people no longer have the capacity to work.” In response to such complaints from public workers, federal prosecutors issued a statement this month asking government officials to strengthen environmental protection and to refrain from encouraging law-breaking or delegitimizing the work of Ibama agents. They also gave officials 30 days to present information that proves they had used “technical criteria” to appoint new supervisors, many of whom have a military background.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil’s environmental workers tell of decline before fires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae5db4e5016243f7924cc6eb569c88dd",
            "input": "UIC says in a news release that the money will allow it to continue to serve as the Chicago field office for a study that began in 2008 with the collection of health information from thousands of Hispanics around the United States. The release says participants who have been examined and filled out questionnaires have given researchers a better understanding of health risk factors as well as chronic diseases prevalent in Hispanic communities. Over the next seven years, researchers will re-examine participants in the hopes of identifying associations between lifestyle and cardiovascular disease and other health issues.",
            "output": [
                "U of Illinois at Chicago gets $12M for Hispanic health study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e73b04e90af84504b94a66c6446e205e",
            "input": "Calquence (acalabrutinib) belongs to a class of drugs called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors which can suppress autoimmune diseases. The drug, which is currently used to treat certain types of blood cancers, has already been approved for the treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in the U.S. and several other countries. Calquence competes with AbbVie Inc (ABBV.N) and Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) established treatment Imbruvica as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. The British drugmaker’s shares rose as much as 7.3% to 7642 pence by 0855 BST. AstraZeneca’s announcement comes as drugmakers are having to pause clinical trials for other disease areas as they focus on testing potential treatments for the fast-spreading coronavirus. Patients with severe symptoms including pneumonia are believed to suffer from an over reaction of the immune system known as cytokine storm and AstraZeneca aims to test whether Calquence, which suppresses certain elements of the immune system, can help control this immune response. “Given the well documented role of the protein BTK in regulating inflammation, it is possible that inhibiting BTK with acalabrutinib could provide clinical benefit in patients with advanced COVID-19 lung disease,” said Louis Staudt, chief of the lymphoid malignancies branch at the National Cancer Institute. The trial will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of adding the drug to best supportive care to reduce mortality and the need for assisted ventilation in patients with life-threatening COVID-19 symptoms, the drugmaker said. It is expected to open for enrolment in the coming days in the U.S. and several countries in Europe, AstraZeneca said. Earlier this month, AstraZeneca and its domestic rival GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L) agreed to set up a testing laboratory to aid in COVID-19 testing with Cambridge University.",
            "output": [
                "AstraZeneca to test impact of cancer drug Calquence on coronavirus patients."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5106bda22cf9419eaa0680aa44324a10",
            "input": "McDonald’s USA has been buying more than 13 million cage-free eggs annually since 2011. The long-awaited switch is happening as North American egg suppliers are slowly starting to rebuild flocks after the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history. The move comes as McDonald’s, the world’s biggest restaurant chain, is preparing to serve breakfast all day at U.S. outlets in October. McDonald’s USA, which is fighting sagging sales, made waves in March by announcing a two-year plan to phase out meat from chickens raised with antibiotics used to fight human infections. McDonald’s buys about 2 billion eggs annually for its U.S. restaurants and 120 million for Canada to serve breakfast items such as Egg McMuffin and Egg White Delight. Fast-food rival Burger King already has committed to using only cage-free eggs by 2017. Other large companies such as Starbucks Corp, General Mills Inc, Nestle, Sodexo Inc and Aramark also are in the process of switching. Groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Mercy for Animals and World Animal Protection have successfully lobbied many companies to adopt animal welfare practices. Such groups also have won commitments from nearly 100 major companies to phase out so-called gestation crates, which are small cages for breeding sows. Celebrities such as film star Ryan Gosling have teamed up with HSUS to pressure Costco Wholesale Corp to eliminate cage-confined chickens from the company’s egg supply chain. HSUS said Costco has committed to going cage free, but has not set a timeline for its full transition. HSUS said Costco rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc also has not set a timeline. U.S. companies, led by burrito seller Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc and other popular brands, increasingly are sourcing their ingredients from suppliers who vow to use humane and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. California voters in 2008 passed a law mandating that all eggs sold in the state come from chickens given more spacious living quarters. That law went into effect on Jan. 1 and other states and countries since have followed Calfornia’s lead. So far this year, the price of a dozen eggs has averaged 67 cents more in California than in the Midwest, said Brian Moscogiuri, market reporter for shell eggs and egg products at Urner Barry.",
            "output": [
                "McDonald's in U.S., Canada to use only cage-free eggs by 2025."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-503fbaa00dae43ee9eada32b3fcd881f",
            "input": "Basra’s prison system is clogged up and creaking. On a recent day in one police station, Reuters reporters saw about 150 men, their heads shaved, squatting in two small, cramped  holding cells. Arrests of drug users and dealers have shot up in the past  year, further stretching prison services and police in a sign that the problems with municipal resources that prompted protests in Basra last summer have not gone away. “Drugs spread because the youth are lost, they have no money, they are sick of life. It’s escapism,” Major Shaker Aziz, a senior member of Basra police narcotics unit, told Reuters. “Prison authorities tell us: ‘Ninety percent of inmates are convicted on drug charges, stop sending them.’ So we keep them here,” Aziz said of the holding cells. The situation in prisons, worsened by a lack of treatment centers for recovering addicts, highlights the contrast between the wealth Basra province produces - its oil contributes over 90  percent of state revenues - and its poor living conditions. Once known as the Venice of the East, Basra city, which has a population of 4 million, lacks clean water and does not have enough electricity to power air conditioners in the scorching summer heat. Unemployment is widespread, especially among youth. Thousands protested against the conditions, unemployment and corruption last summer, when searing heat made matters worse and hundreds were treated in hospital after drinking unclean water. Protesters set ablaze government buildings and political groups’ headquarters, and clashed with police. Officials fear a repeat of the violence this year, and while the drug problem is a concern in several areas of Iraq, Basra suffers from it the most. Basra is struggling even though Iraq declared victory in the four-year war against Islamic State in 2017, and the city never fell to the militant Sunni Islamist group. The number of drug arrests has risen year-on-year since 2015, Aziz said. By March, police had picked up 15 kilograms (33 lb) of illegal drugs this year, half of 2018’s entire haul. Some 50 to 60 people are arrested each week on drugs-related offences, compared to more than 1,000 all last year, he said. Methamphetamine, known popularly as crystal meth, is the most widespread drug, said a police spokesman, Colonel Bassem Ghanem. Opium, cannabis and pill abuse are also common. Basra’s police department says 97 percent of drug users arrested in 2018 were unemployed, and more than two thirds were 25 or younger. All the drugs come from abroad, said Colonel Ismail al-Maliki, who heads the Basra police narcotics unit. Basra Police Chief Rashid Fleih said in November that 80 percent of drugs entering the city come from Iran. Tehran denied this but officials still point the finger indirectly at Iran, using euphemisms such as “neighboring countries”. Preventing drug trafficking is a serious challenge for Iran which borders Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, and Pakistan, a major transit country for drugs. Iraq once had the death penalty for users and dealers but passed new legislation in 2017 under which judges can order rehabilitation for users or sentence them to jail for up to three years. In the absence of rehab centers, they are jailed. Under the new law, the health ministry was given two years to provide rehab centers. Local health officials pledged to reopen and upgrade a 44-bed rehabilitation center this month but the police say 44 beds is not enough. “All of Basra’s oil and we can’t afford rehab?” said Aziz. Asked about the situation, the state-owned Basra Oil Company said it has pledged $5 million for a rehab center. Inside a training complex on the edge of Basra province, police have re-purposed a building as a makeshift rehab center for users nearing release. About 40 men live in comparatively comfortable conditions, sleeping six per room with access to television, a gym and books. Clerics, officers and teachers lecture on the sinfulness and dangers of drug use. Experts say recovering users need treatment and rehabilitation when they first stop using, not towards the end of sentences. Prisoners say they suffer the worst withdrawal symptoms during the first 20 days, unable to eat or sleep. “This is just a model, to get the health ministry to build real centers,” said Ghanem, the spokesman. Prisoners interviewed by Reuters were chosen by police, who sat in on interviews. Some were handcuffed. One user-turned-dealer said he was recruited a year after he started buying, wooed by the idea of free crystal meth. “I paid 50,000 dinars ($40) per gram as a user. I only paid 20,000 ($16) as a dealer. I would sell some and smoke some. I was smoking for free,” he said. He described a network of dealers that went up to a “big boss” whom he would not identify to police out of fear for his life. He faces a minimum of five years in jail. Some said they were falsely arrested. Asked if the police offered suspects lighter sentences if the provided them with information, one police officer said they rarely needed to. “They always cooperate,” he said, asking not to be named as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.",
            "output": [
                "Crystal meth and crowded jails: problems mount in Iraqi oil city."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f14aa735db544b15abd49412dcfdeb58",
            "input": "\"President Barack Obama is expected to take another stab at raising the minimum wage when he delivers his State of the Union speech this week. But Republicans appear ready to stymie that proposal once again. The topic came up Jan. 26, 2014, on Fox News Sunday during a discussion between host Chris Wallace and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. \"\"Isn't it reasonable that somebody who's working full time, 40 hours a week, should be able to live above the poverty line?\"\" Wallace asked McConnell, referring to Obama’s calls to hike the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. \"\"Yeah. But of course, the minimum wage is mostly an entry-level wage for young people,\"\" McConnell replied. \"\"We have a crisis in employment among young people right now.\"\" McConnell went on to say that he believes raising the minimum wage will hurt employment and \"\"we ought to be doing things that create more jobs.\"\" But what about McConnell’s characterization of minimum wage workers? Is it a workforce mostly made up of young folks? We’ll stick to the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25, since that’s the topic up for debate. As it stands, 21 states and the District of Columbia have set their minimum wage higher than the federal level. A spokesman for McConnell pointed us to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, \"\"Characterizations of Minimum Wage Workers,\"\" released in February of last year. We’re familiar with it, having written a couple of fact-checks recently on the minimum wage. According to the report, of the 75 million people making hourly wages in 2012, about 1.6 million earned the minimum wage while another 2 million earned less than $7.25 an hour. (How does one earn less than the minimum wage? Certain exceptions are carved out for \"\"vocational education students,\"\" \"\"full-time students employed by retail or service establishments, agriculture, or institutions of higher education,\"\" and those \"\"impaired by a physical or mental disability.\"\") The underlying data in the report largely backs up McConnell’s claim. In fact, the report even says \"\"Minimum wage workers tend to be young.\"\" How young? Only 20 percent of individuals earning hourly wages are ages 16-24, but that demographic makes up half of all individuals earning at or below the minimum wage. About a quarter of those individuals are teenagers ages 16-19 and another 25 percent are 20 to 24 years old. Broadened to include 25-29 year olds, and nearly two-thirds of all workers making at or below the minimum wage are younger than 30. The older you get, the more likely you’re making more than $7.25. But McConnell also described minimum wage jobs as \"\"entry-level.\"\" That’s a characterization with which some may take an issue. Entry-level jobs typically indicate positions that, while at the bottom of the totem pole, have potential for growth. Young adults take entry-level jobs at companies hoping to climb the career ladder. And while wages are lower, there is potential to see considerable salary increases and/or career advancement. A majority of minimum-wage jobs don’t really fit that description. According to the report, two-thirds are part-time, and half of all minimum wage jobs are in the leisure or hospitality industry. This includes food service jobs like waiters and cooks, hotel employees or movie theater workers, among other jobs. While many of those jobs are traditionally held by young people, they don’t typically lead to careers in those industries. The same can be said for retail jobs, which make up another 16 percent of all minimum wage-or-less positions. Our ruling McConnell said \"\"the minimum wage is mostly an entry-level wage for young people.\"\" The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that indeed half of all workers making a minimum wage are 16 to 24, and another 20 percent are in their late 20s or early 30s. That’s a large chunk of the minimum wage workforce, though about 30 percent of people making the minimum wage are 35 and older. McConnell also goes a bit too far in calling these jobs \"\"entry-level.\"\" For most young people, these are part-time jobs in the food or retail businesses or similar industries with little hope for career advancement.\"",
            "output": [
                "The minimum wage is mostly an entry-level wage for young people."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56f8b8f8577242078be0a53daa81e833",
            "input": "People participate in a YogaWorks class in Santa Monica, California in this handout picture taken early 2009. REUTERS/Handout A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday found that middle-aged women need to get at least an hour a day of moderate exercise if they hope to ward off the creep of extra pounds that comes with aging. “Time is a four-letter word,” said Eva Lazarra, 48, a pharmacist at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, who was taking a break from work to lift weights at the facility’s fitness center. “In a realistic world of a working mom with a family, it can be difficult. I’ve done my best,” said Lazarra. “I have done marathons. I have done triathlons. Unfortunately, we have to start looking at prevention, and that being part of our daily life.”   President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are already waging a war on childhood obesity. It may take a similar push in adults to help them avoid the health consequences of obesity such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. Already, two-thirds of U.S. adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese — a condition that increases their risk for diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses. The United States spends nearly $150 billion a year on obesity and related complications — twice what it cost in 1998 and more than every cancer cost put together. Many experts, including the independent and influential Institute of Medicine, have said it will take policy changes at all levels of government to help Americans exercise more — by creating bicycle paths, reducing crime in rough neighborhoods and building more public transport. Dr. Mary Tillema, 42, a neonatologist at the medical center, said an hour a day of moderate exercise will be tough. “I think that’s a lot to ask of the typical person. If I don’t watch what I eat, I gain, even though I try to consistently exercise.”   Tillema works out three to four days a week, with a routine that includes 35 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and about a half hour of weight training. “I’d like to think that I can get away with less, but I can’t because I see the weight start to creep up and I don’t feel as good. But I certainly don’t get an hour a day,” she said. Sheila Anderson, 50, of Berwyn, Illinois, works out at the fitness center three to four times a week, doing 45 minutes of cardiovascular training and a couple of hours a week of weight training. “Does it strike me as too much?” she said of the finding. “Maybe. It sure is hard to fit in an hour each day. I could not come to the gym seven days a week,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Hour of exercise may be too much for busy U.S. women."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18f2a8cbd6554c6cb1222e8d8ea6f087",
            "input": "It’s a marvel of ecology as shorebirds migrating from South America to the Arctic time a stop critical to their survival to this mass crab spawning. It’s also one of the world’s hot spots for bird flu — a bonanza for scientists seeking clues about how influenza evolves so they just might better protect people. “Eventually, we would like to be able to predict which would be the next pandemic,” said flu pioneer Robert Webster of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. These humble beaches turn into a mixing bowl for influenza between mid-May and early June, as thousands of shorebirds and gulls crowd together and swap viruses. Researchers carefully step around the nesting crabs to scoop up the evidence — potentially flu-infected bird droppings. “We have trained our eyes for this, that’s for sure,” said St. Jude researcher Pamela McKenzie as she bent over damp sand last month in search of the freshest samples to go on ice for later testing. Not just any splat will do. Too dry, and tests might not be able to detect virus. Too big, and it’s likely not from the species that carries the most flu here, the calico-patterned ruddy turnstone. Why test birds? “That’s where all flu viruses come from,” said Richard Webby, who directs St. Jude’s Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health. Aquatic birds, including wild ducks and migrating shorebirds, are considered nature’s main reservoir for influenza. Whether it’s the typical winter misery or a pandemic, every strain that infects humans “started off somewhere along the family tree in the aquatic bird reservoirs,” Webby said. Usually wild birds don’t get sick, simply trading flu viruses they carry in the gut. But every so often strains from wild birds kill domesticated chickens and turkeys, and threaten pigs or even people, too. St. Jude’s annual study at Delaware Bay offers a glimpse into little-known efforts around the world — including testing migrating ducks in China and Canada, and live poultry markets in Bangladesh — to track how bird flu circulates and changes, information that can help determine what vaccines to make for animals and people. And nowhere else in the world have scientists found so many shorebirds carrying diverse flu strains as when red knots, ruddy turnstones and other species make their migratory stopover at this bay nestled between New Jersey and Delaware. Most bird flu isn’t easily spread to people, stressed McKenzie, who doesn’t even wear gloves as she pooper-scoops along a beach before the tide washes back. Still, “it’s amazing how the virus can change so rapidly, what genes they inherit,” added McKenzie, who oversees St. Jude’s global bird flu surveillance. The U.S. stockpiles just-in-case vaccines against worrisome strains. “It only has to happen once,” Webby said. “The right virus comes and gets into the right population which happens to fly over the right farm of turkeys which happens at the right time of year where the right farmer picks up the wrong bird — and we’re in trouble.” _____ Webster, now an emeritus virologist at St. Jude, made the connection between bird and human flu decades ago when he found some seabirds in Australia carrying antibodies against the strain that caused the 1957 pandemic. In 1985, his continuing hunt for bird flu took him to Delaware Bay. Today, scientists know that if two different types of flu infect a single animal at the same time — say a pig catches both a chicken strain and a human strain — the genes can shuffle to produce a totally new virus. But worry about bird flu as a threat to both poultry farms and humans has grown since a strain named H5N1 spread directly to people in the late 1990s in Hong Kong’s crowded live-poultry markets. Cousins of that virus have cropped up, as has another flu named H7N9 that since 2013 has infected more than 1,500 people in China through close contact with infected chickens. Those are very different viruses than what St. Jude finds in shorebirds passing through Delaware Bay, Webby said. For some reason, viruses carried by Asian and European birds rarely make it to the Americas, he said, but it’s important to look — and to understand the normal ebb and flow of different strains so it’s more obvious when something new crops up. The research is “one way to stay a little bit ahead of the virus,” said Marciela DeGrace of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Understanding how this virus can change and how much it can change in a quick amount of time is going to be critical for us to make countermeasures like vaccines.” _____ Why flu erupts during the Delaware Bay stopover remains a mystery. But the longest travelers arrive wasted, and must double their weight in two weeks. “You can hold a bird and say, ‘This bird just got here.’ They’re here to do work,” said Alinde Fojtik of the University of Georgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, a longtime flu researcher who this year volunteered her vacation to help count and tag shorebirds. So the birds can feast uninterrupted, only scientists and conservation workers are allowed on their preferred beaches, carefully catching and counting them, testing their overall health and tagging them for tracking as the migration continues. For the flu hunters, finding the right spot is a trick. St. Jude researcher Patrick Seiler pulls out binoculars: Nope, mostly gulls on one beach. Down the road, he spots a better target, a crowd of ruddy turnstones with their distinctive black, white and brown plumage. The skittish birds take flight as the team approaches. Each dropping gets whisked up on a cotton swab, put into a small vial of preservative and stored in a cooler. The team carried more than 600 samples back to St. Jude’s labs in Memphis, Tennessee, where researchers are beginning the monthslong process to test how many droppings harbor flu and what kind. The viral library is used for further experiments to test how well strains spread, said NIH’s DeGrace. “I would love to be able to look at the sequence of virus we find in Delaware Bay this year say, ‘Uh-oh, that’s the guy that’s coming.’ We’re not at that point yet,” Webby cautioned. “That’s our end goal, to be able to say, ‘Uh-oh, here’s something we have to worry about.’” __ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Bird flu hot spot: Scientists track virus in huge migration."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f54bcb320334a8b96acf0f7d6d2dc99",
            "input": "“The measures which have just been taken, the earliest we’d expect to see an effect on the growth of the epidemic is about two to three weeks time,” said Professor Neil Ferguson, an expert on the spread of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. “I think we’re still behind the epidemic seen in other European countries,” he told BBC radio. “I overall think we’ve got the timing about right.”  “Certainly there wasn’t any time to lose,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Top epidemiologist: UK had no time to lose on coronavirus battle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b0f9b578f2e46b3b5b98e751598763f",
            "input": "The Journal Sentinel says figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 1,215 cases of measles this year across the nation, the highest number since 1992. Wisconsin health officials have investigated 382 suspected measles cases since last November and not one case has been confirmed. Immunization rates of 92% to 95% are considered necessary to prevent the virus from spreading to those who are vulnerable, including children with weakened immune systems. Wisconsin’s county-by-county immunization rates show that none of the state’s 72 counties came close to the 92% threshold in 2018. In fact, 40 counties had immunization rates below 80%. ___ Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Nearly 50,000 students unvaccinated in Wisconsin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a4e929642264dba90d00ab22456dc5c",
            "input": "Top doctors fighting Ebola quickly used the case on Tuesday to press the message that people can recover from the potentially deadly disease if they seek proper care. Ebola is dangerous but it is also curable with correct treatment, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research. “Ebola kills quickly and Ebola heals quickly. That’s the message,” said Muyembe, at a press conference in Goma. “These cases were detected very quickly. The husband was infected, he was at home for 10 days and his wife and son were infected,” said Muyembe. “As soon as the response teams detected these cases, they brought them here to the treatment center. We gave them treatment that is effective and here in a short time both are cured.” Muyembe said two new drugs “are now be used to treat Ebola patients because, according to the studies and the results we obtained in the lab, these are the two drugs that are effective.” Muyembe and other scientists announced this week that preliminary results from two trials in Congo found two drugs — made by Regeneron and the U.S. National Institutes of Health — seem to be saving lives. Researchers said more study is needed to nail down how well those two compounds work. The drugs are antibodies that block Ebola. In the trial, significantly fewer people died among those given the Regeneron drug or the NIH’s, about 30%, compared to those who received another treatment. Esperance Nabintu rejoiced that she and her young son had survived Ebola. “May the Lord be praised, I thank the Lord very much. I and my child were sick with Ebola, but God has just healed us. “My brothers, we must not doubt. Ebola exists, “said Nabintu, whose husband was the second Ebola victim to die in Goma. No other Ebola death has been detected since then. After a public announcement that Nabintu and her son, Ebenezer Fataki, 1, had recovered from Ebola, the response team accompanied the two former patients their home in the Kiziba area, where the medical team educated the residents about proper Ebola treatment. There is less danger that Ebola will spread through Goma, the capital of North Kivu province with more than 2 million inhabitants, because about 200 contacts and suspected cases have been identified and have received proper medication, said Muyembe. He said people arriving in Goma are being monitored at the city’s entry points. “People who come from Beni and Butembo (nearby cities where there are many Ebola cases) must be carefully examined, “said Muyembe. “All of the 200 contacts we are following are doing well. We are waiting until the end of the 21-day surveillance period. We are at day 13, so there are still 8 days to go before we can say that Goma has won against Ebola.” Health officials have also vaccinated tens of thousands of people in Congo and surrounding countries in an attempt to stop the outbreak, but the virus has now continued to spread for more than a year. Response efforts have been repeatedly hampered by attacks on health workers and continuing mistrust among the affected communities; many people in the region don’t believe the virus is real and choose to stay at home when they fall ill, infecting those who care for them. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "2 Ebola patients in Congo “cured” with drugs, say doctors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04c3232b70fe4d9b968f89cc514428d0",
            "input": "The FDA said it was still evaluating the data on Glaxo’s Ziagen and Bristol-Myers’ Videx, and that the review “may result in the need to revise labeling for the products.”    “Until this evaluation is complete, health-care providers should evaluate the potential risks and benefits” of each HIV drug their patients are taking, the FDA said in a notice on its Web site. Glaxo and Bristol-Myers said their own evaluations had not found that the drugs raised the chances of a heart attack. The concern arose from a study of more than 33,000 patients called the D:A:D Study, which is examining the short- and long- term effects of various HIV drugs. Researchers examined heart attack risk among patients taking certain medicines from the class of AIDS drugs known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, or NRTIs. Patients taking either Ziagen or Videx “had a greater chance of developing a heart attack than patients taking other medications,” the FDA said. The risk did not appear to increase over time and seemed reversible after the drugs were stopped, the agency said. “The effect was not seen six months after stopping the drugs,” the FDA said. The FDA said it currently believed analyses of the D:A:D study were incomplete and noted that researchers had not evaluated heart-attack risk when patients were taking two other NRTIs, Gilead Sciences Inc’s (GILD.O) Viread and Emtriva. Glaxo spokesman Marc Meachem said the data had been presented at a medical conference in February. Glaxo analyzed its own databases and “did not see any sign of an increased risk of heart attack” with Ziagen, he said. Ziagen, which is known generically as abacavir, had 2007 global sales of $218 million. The drug also is a component of Glaxo’s Trizivir, Epzicom and Kivexa AIDS drugs, which had more than $1 billion in combined 2007 sales. Bristol-Myers spokeswoman Sonia Choi said “we haven’t seen an increase of cardiovascular events in our studies of Videx or in our (company) safety database.”    Videx is sold generically and, therefore, is not one of the company’s top products. The drug’s generic name is didanosine. The FDA said the results from Glaxo and Bristol-Myers analyses were inconclusive. Bear Stearns analyst Mark Schoenebaum said in a research note he believed safety concerns with Ziagen “will drive increased switching to Gilead-based regimens.”    Viread is known generically as tenofovir, and Emtriva is known as emtricitabine. The FDA notice was issued as part of an effort to notify the public about early signs of potential safety concerns before officials have reached a final conclusion.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. reviewing safety of Glaxo, Bristol AIDS drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b022e986d9d94fa789fbf6b43bb9057a",
            "input": "Members of the New York delegation, joined by first responders, survivors and family members, lamented an announcement by the Justice Department that the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is running low on money and future payments may be cut by up to 70 percent. Comedian Jon Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, called the Feb. 15 announcement by the fund’s special master “unconscionable” and said Congress has a moral obligation to step in. At a news conference at the Capitol, Stewart said it was “nonsense” that first responders and their families again have to “beg” Congress for money nearly 18 years after the attacks. “This is nonsense. This is theater. You know it and I know it,” Stewart said. “If the American people in their busy lives had any sense that these shenanigans were going on, they would be outraged.” He and other speakers urged Congress to act quickly to restore the fund and ensure it has enough money to pay benefits for the next 70 years — or as long as victims need it. Anything less than full and permanent funding is “shameful,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., adding the death toll from the 2001 attacks “is still growing.” “It should not be a fight to pass this bill again,” Gillibrand said. The collapse of the World Trade Center in September 2001 sent a cloud of thick dust billowing over Lower Manhattan. Fires burned for weeks. Thousands of construction workers, police officers, firefighters and others spent time working in the soot, often without proper respiratory protection. In the years since, many have seen their health decline, some with respiratory or digestive-system ailments that appeared almost immediately, others with illnesses that developed as they aged, including cancer. Nearly 40,000 people have applied to the federal fund for people with illnesses potentially related to being at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the attacks. About 19,000 claims are pending. Nearly $5 billion in benefits have been awarded out of the $7.3 billion fund. Rupa Bhattacharyya, special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, said she was “painfully aware of the inequity” of the potential cuts, but said awarding some funds for every valid claim would be preferable to sending some legitimate claimants away empty-handed. Fund officials estimate it would take another $5 billion to pay pending claims and claims that officials anticipate will be submitted before the fund’s December 2020 deadline. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the cost of restoring the program is minimal compared to the cruelty of failing to do so. “A great nation cannot nickel-and-dime people that have sacrificed their health on our behalf,” he said. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said the 9/11 attacks “were not just a New York event” or an East Coast event, but were an attack on all Americans. “This is a sea-to-shining-sea moment, a sea-to-shining sea promise, a sea-to-shining-sea obligation,” Gardner said. The victims’ fund should “not be extended for a moment but for a lifetime,” he added. Stewart, reverting to comic form, said the victims’ fund was “like a Starbucks card. We’re just asking to get a little more money.”",
            "output": [
                "Lawmakers, first responders sound alarm on 9/11 fund."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f09ee0590f8245e998fdd69c826e2c20",
            "input": "On June 21 2020, the Facebook page “The Runic Witch” shared the following meme, which described a garden in England “dedicated entirely to plants that … can kill you”:At the bottom of the meme was a photograph of a black gate, the archway of which read “The Poison Garden.” Both doors featured a skull and crossbones symbol and the words “these plants can kill.” Text at the top read:There’s a garden in England dedicated entirely to plants that are deadly and can kill you. It’s the most dangerous garden in the world. It holds over 100 killers [such as hemlock], strychnine, and nightshade.The Alnwick Garden is a “complex of formal gardens” not far from the Scottish border. It contains a number of sub-sections, including a massive treehouse, a cherry orchard, a bamboo labyrinth, and water features:Number nine on the above “Map Key” is marked to the left of the center fountain, and a rendering of the iron gates seen in the meme is visible.The Poison Garden was added in 2005, and a page on the Garden’s visitor site says of the deadlier plant section:The Alnwick Garden plays host to the small but deadly Poison Garden—filled exclusively with around 100 toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic plants. The boundaries of the Poison Garden are kept behind black iron gates, only open on guided tours.Visitors are strictly prohibited from smelling, touching, or tasting any plants, although some people still occasionally faint from inhaling toxic fumes while walking in the garden.An archived version of the page shed a bit more light onto the garden’s creation:It’s not often that the Home Office becomes involved with plants in the setting of a public garden, but in this instance a number of the ‘inmates’ have to have their very own license in order to be there at all.Many of the plants are already well-known for their medicinal properties, but as its creator, the Duchess of Northumberland said:‘I wondered why so many gardens around the world focused on the healing power of plants rather than their ability to kill… I felt that most children I knew would be more interested in hearing how a plant killed, how long it would take you to die if you ate it and how gruesome and painful the death might be.’Another since updated section, titled “Intoxicating inhabitants,” described some of the plants growing in the garden as the ones mentioned in the meme:There are over 100 plants of varying deadliness grown in the Poison Garden. Some of the plants are beautiful despite being deadly, and other look so harmless it is hard to imagine their dangerous, even fatal, qualities.Nux vomica’s Latin name implies much, but it perhaps rings more bells as strychnine. Interestingly, hemlock, a poison in its own right, can be used as an antidote to Strychnine, but don’t tell Socrates, who was sent to his death with a cup of hemlock.Those of a certain age will be familiar with Castor Oil, which is made from the plant Ricinus communis, but a single seed from the same plant will kill an adult in the most horrible way. Ricin causes nausea, severe vomiting, convulsions and subsequent disintegration of the kidneys, liver and spleen…In 2014, Smithsonian Magazine profiled the Poison Garden and spoke to Jane Percy, the Duchess of Northumberland about the macabre project’s inspiration:The duchess thought she might want to include an apothecary garden, but a trip to Italy set her on a slightly different course. After visiting the infamous Medici poison garden, the duchess became enthralled with the idea of creating a garden of plants that could kill instead of heal. Another trip—this one to the archeological site of the largest hospital in medieval Scotland, where the duchess learned about soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium and hemlock used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries—reinforced her interest in creating a garden of lethal plants.“I thought, ‘This is a way to interest children,'” she says. “Children don’t care that aspirin comes from a bark of a tree. What’s really interesting is to know how a plant kills you, and how the patient dies, and what you feel like before you die.”[…]“What’s extraordinary about the plants is that it’s the most common ones that people don’t know are killers,” the duchess says. Visitors are often surprised to learn that the laurel hedge, nearly ubiquitous in English gardens, can be highly toxic. But some visitors have had experience with laurel’s sinister side—the duchess has heard a few talk about how, after loading up their cars with pruned laurel leaves to take to the dump, drivers have fallen asleep behind the wheel of their car from the toxic fumes the branches emit.In the meme, plants in the nightshade family (which also contains potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant) were mentioned. In the article, a more specific explanation appeared alongside a detail about the garden’s other interesting inhabitants:As part of the Poison Garden’s educational mission, the duchess grows a variety of drugs, from cannabis to cocaine (derived from the leaves of the coca plant), which she and garden guides use as a jumping-off point for drug education. “It’s a way of educating children without having them realize they’re being educated,” she says.Other poisonous plants might be less well-known to visitors, but are no less potent. One of the duchess’s favorite plants is Brugmansia, or angel’s trumpet, a member of the Solanaceae family (which includes deadly nightshade) that grows in the wild in South America. “It’s an amazing aphrodisiac before it kills you,” she says, explaining that Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables and add small amounts of its pollen to their tea to incite an LSD-like trip. “[Angel’s trumpet] is an amazing way to die because it’s quite pain-free,” the duchess says. “A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac.”As such, the “Poison Garden” meme was both popular and largely accurate. The Poison Garden is a sub-attraction as part of the larger Alnwick Garden, and it is grown behind the depicted, imposing iron gates. Among the deadly plants in it are hemlock, Nux vomica (strychnine), and Ricinus communis (ricin).Comments",
            "output": [
                "There's a garden in England dedicated entirely to plants that are deadly and can kill you. It's the most dangerous garden in the world. It holds over 100 killers [such as hemlock], strychnine, and nightshade."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76f7257b11424235b5571a9f78b17555",
            "input": "\"The story notes that TXA is cheap, but we wish it had put a dollar amount on it the way competing coverage did. The cost of the medication was cited in the press release put out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and could easily have been included. \"\"Cheap\"\" is relative. And, pertinent to this issue, what’s \"\"cheap\"\" in the West may not be so cheap in developing countries. Unlike some competing coverage, this story describes the benefits of TXA in both relative and absolute terms, providing readers with an accurate view of the magnitude of the effect observed in the study. Unfortunately, the story loses this balance when it unquestioningly passes along the claim that TXA could save 100,000 lives in a year if it were used around the globe. While a back-of-the-envelope calculation may suggest that this is possible, many hurdles stand in the way of this drug being universally dispensed for trauma cases worldwide. It’s also far from clear that the findings of this study can be replicated under everyday conditions in emergency departments around the globe. The story should have tapped an expert to help put this pie-in-the-sky figure in a more appropriate context for readers. The story correctly states that the researchers observed no increase in clots in the patients receiving TXA, earning enough for a satisfactory. However, we wish it had included, as the AP did, a caveat regarding the difficulty of identifying clots in trauma patients who subsequently die. Similar to the competing coverage from the AP and NPR, this story provided the essentials but lacked sufficient discussion of limitations. To wit: Can a study that includes data from India, China, Nigeria and many other developing countries be generalized to emergency department patients in the United States? No disease-mongering here. The story quotes the author of an accompanying editorial who was not affiliated with the study and does not appear to have conflicts regarding the research. Unlike the competing coverage from the AP and NPR, this story mentions the fact that there are other drugs which help promote clotting and might be useful for trauma patients. The story correctly warns that the benefits of TXA can’t be generalized to other drugs without additional research. The story notes that TXA is widely available around the world and easily administered. The story quotes an expert who says that using TXA in trauma patients is a new idea. The approach does appear to be novel. The story quotes two expert sources, one of whom was not mentioned in the press release issued to promote the study. This is enough to rule out the possibility that the story was based entirely on a release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Drug That Stops Bleeding Could Save Lives"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15d2d0cfc7b14f77897a30d610211336",
            "input": "Extinction Rebellion, which uses civil disobedience to highlight the risks posed by climate change and the accelerating loss of plant and animal species, is midway through a new two-week wave of actions in cities around the world. Activists thronged the financial heart of London on Monday, unfurling banners, addressing passersby by megaphone or blocking streets around locations including BlackRock, the Bank of England, Bank of China and Barclays. At BlackRock, volunteers glued themselves to the doors while others staged a mock dinner party with rolled-up banknotes on their plates. Police said they arrested more than 90 people. The arrestees included Rabbi Jeffrey Newman of the Finchley Reform Synagogue, who was arrested near the Bank of England praying, singing and wearing a prayer shawl for the first day of the Jewish festival Sukkot, Extinction Rebellion said. “The City of London is a preeminent nexus of power in the global system that is killing our world,” said Carolina Rosa, spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. BlackRock declined to comment. Police later ordered a halt to all assembly linked to   Extinction Rebellion in London. At Trafalgar Square in the heart of the city, where demonstrators have pitched camp for the past week amid fountains at the base of Nelson’s Column, protesters began removing tents. Police made no immediate move to shut down another main protest camp in the district of Vauxhall. “Officers have begun the process of clearing Trafalgar Square and getting things back to normal,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor. Extinction Rebellion said it had left Trafalgar Square but would continue actions in London and cities around the world. “The Climate and Ecological Emergency isn’t going away and we remain resolute in facing it. We urge the Government and the authorities to join us in doing the same,” the group said in a statement. “This is bigger than all of us.”   Extinction Rebellion wants to cause enough disruption to force governments to rapidly cut carbon emissions and reverse the collapse of ecosystems to avert the worst of the devastation scientists project if business as usual continues. Critics say the group is proposing what amounts to the overthrow of capitalism without any clear idea of what would follow, and that the world needs fossil fuels. Extinction Rebellion said that more than 1,400 people had been arrested in London since it launched its latest actions a week ago. A similar number has in total been arrested in 20 cities in countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. While activists have long targeted fossil fuel companies, a growing global climate protest movement is increasingly scrutinizing the role fund managers, banks and insurance companies play in enabling oil and gas extraction. Emily Grossman, a British science broadcaster who has a PhD in molecular biology, who joined the protest outside BlackRock, said that financing fossil fuel projects was undermining the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming. “This is criminal damage that they are doing to our lives and to the lives of our children and it has to stop,” said Grossman, who was later led away by police. Major oil companies have approved $50 billion of projects since last year that run contrary to the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to an analysis published last month by financial think-tank Carbon Tracker. Fossil fuel companies say they need to invest in new projects to meet future demand for energy, particularly in fast-growing regions such as Asia. Climate protesters want to pressure index fund firms such as BlackRock because the sector, which now controls half the U.S. stock mutual fund market, has enormous power to influence companies in which they invest trillions of dollars. The leading U.S. index fund firms, BlackRock, Vanguard Group and State Street Corp, rarely use that clout, a Reuters analysis of their shareholder-voting records found this month.",
            "output": [
                "Climate change activists target BlackRock in London."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14ebdc3fcae8484d8089f82e7a03f0d9",
            "input": "The decision comes less than two weeks after Medtronic Inc said it was halting clinical trials for its high blood pressure device after the treatment, known as renal denervation, failed to prove effective in a key U.S. study. Medtronic’s move surprised many observers. The devices, which are not available in the United States, take a new approach to treating hypertension and are aimed at patients resistant to traditional drug-based therapies. Some analysts had predicted the technology, which works by deadening nerves in the kidneys, could evolve into a $2 billion market by providing an alternative to drug therapy. Covidien said the decision to exit the business was a result of its regular review of strategic programs. “The company took a close look at the renal denervation market and realized it really is growing much slower than expected,” said Covidien spokesman Peter Lucht. He declined to comment on whether Medtronic’s study outcome played a role in his company’s decision. S&P Capital analyst Phillip Seligman said the failed clinical trial of Medtronic’s product likely influenced Covidien’s decision but noted sales of the device were modest. He maintained a “strong buy” rating on Covidien shares. Covidien’s device, called OneShot, was sold in Europe and the Middle East. In Europe, where the product was approved in February 2012, adoption of such devices has run into reimbursement hurdles as governments have been reluctant to pay for the new technology. The devices work by creating tiny scars along nerves in the kidneys - organs that play a pivotal role in regulating blood pressure by sending signals to the brain that can cause blood vessels to constrict. Following its decision to halt clinical studies of its renal denervation system, Medtronic said it would form an independent panel of experts to make recommendations on the future of the product, called Symplicity. Medtronic continues to sell the product in 85 countries. It has been approved in Europe since April 2010. St Jude Medical Inc and Boston Scientific Corp also sell renal denervation products in Europe and other markets. Boston Scientific acquired its system through the purchase of Vessix Vascular Inc in November 2012. A Medtronic spokeswoman said it was too soon to determine the next steps for Symplicity. “We don’t know if we would consider another clinical trial. We don’t know anything yet,” said spokeswoman Wendy Dougherty. Covidien said it expects to record after-tax charges of $20-$25 million as a result of exiting the program. The company’s shares fell 1 cent to $68.19 on Tuesday. (This January 21 story was corrected to fix name of Medtronic hypertension product to Symplicity, not Ardian, paragraphs 9, 12)",
            "output": [
                "Covidien to stop selling hypertension device."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47bd3f0b35444fc2b23a4fd4366c7740",
            "input": "Luke Miels, who joined GSK in September 2017 after a contract dispute with his former employer AstraZeneca, said picking the most promising projects and developing them quickly now takes precedence over spreading the risk of failure. “In the past, 10 programs were chosen, a budget for eight was allocated. Usually what happened was that time was the trade off that was made,” he said in an interview. “Now what we do is we pick five or six programs, and concentrate investment there.”   GSK, like rivals, was in the habit of testing new drugs first on patients who had run out of other treatment options. If successful, it would try patients at an earlier stage of their disease, replacing older, established treatments. In today’s market, where rivals in the United States and China catch up fast if a new class of drug shows promise, GSK has to run costly drug tests on humans in several settings at the same time, even if it means dropping other drug candidates. “Rather than do things sequentially, you do them in parallel, or as close to parallel as possible,” Miels said. GSK, which is battling to return to profit growth, has taken this approach for instance with an experimental drug that for now goes by the code name of GSK’916 against multiple myeloma, a common and incurable type of blood cancer. Likewise, GSK doubled down on its quest to bring a drug known as GSK’165 to market as a rheumatoid arthritis treatment, even after initial results in a mid-stage drug trial did not show a clear enough reading. “This drug has very interesting effects on pain. That could potentially reduce the use of opioids and pain meds,” Miels said. More trials will be run to make the pain argument more clearly, he added. GSK expects a decline of 5%-9% in adjusted earnings per share this year, excluding exchange rate moves, as it suffers from generic competition to its inhalable lung drug Advair and pressure from rival Gilead in HIV treatments. Miels said a tougher stance on drug prices by U.S. lawmakers and medical insurers was one of the reasons for the need for speed in bringing drugs to market - to try to remain ahead of competitors for as long as possible. At the same time, rapid growth in the Chinese market was spurring a more sophisticated healthcare system there, with local biotech groups quick to catch up with Western pioneers in drug development, producing similar drugs for their home market.",
            "output": [
                "GSK pharma head flags need for speed in high-pressure drug market."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-26f02e80443540d6928c7939861fdcdc",
            "input": "Jean-Claude Shako suffered head and other injuries in the June 25, 2018, collision while he and four other immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo were headed to work at a meatpacking plant in Tama. The collision with a construction vehicle also injured both drivers and a fifth person in the car carrying Shako, according to The Gazette. Shako’s severe brain trauma has impaired his mobility, speech and memory. He’s well enough to be discharged from the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, doctors have said, but he has no family to move in with, no money for a rehabilitation center and isn’t yet eligible for assistance through Medicaid. “I’m getting stronger,” Shako told the newspaper through an interpreter last week. “If my family would take me, I would go. But I don’t have family here.” He has been granted permanent U.S. residency. He carries in his wallet pictures of his wife and five children, who remain in Congo. Hospital officials cite privacy rules in declining to answer questions about Shako and about why the hospital hadn’t subsidized a move to a lower-cost skilled nursing facility. In fiscal 2018, the hospital provided free care for 14,548 patients and absorbing costs of $14.2 million, according to Iowa Hospital Association figures. Shako’s friend and co-legal guardian Peter Nkumu, of Iowa City, has been scrambling to find help for him, including asking lawmakers to consider waiving a wait rule for legal immigrants wanting access to Medicaid. State Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Ottumwa Republican, said she plans to inquire about Shako’s case and said lawmakers might be willing — in extreme circumstances — to consider exceptions to the five-year wait rule. But Miller-Meeks also said she wants to make sure other avenues and options are considered, such as stringent insurance requirements for legal immigrants. Nkumu and other immigrants have explored trying to bring someone from Congo to support Shako, but visas are tough to come by. Shako received one of 2,664 permanent visas issued to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017, according to the U.S. State Department. They fear sending Shako back to Congo, saying the poor conditions there could be prove fatal to him. Geoffrey Lauer, executive director of the Iowa Brain Injury Alliance based in Iowa City, said getting Shako out of the hospital and into a more appropriate setting not only would save state resources, it could accelerate his rehabilitation. And, Lauer said, Shako now is an Iowan, making him “part of our mission.”",
            "output": [
                "Immigrant still hospitalized in Iowa, 18 months after crash."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56ceb026a61a4133aaa9e8bbd5595d52",
            "input": "Fracking, or hydraulically fracturing, involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure. Operations at the first well at the Preston New road site in Lancashire where halted several times last year because of minor seismic events. British regulations demand work be suspended if seismic activity of magnitude 0.5 or more is detected. Cuadrilla CEO Francis Egan said he hoped the use of a thicker fracking liquid would help to cut down on seismic events at the second well. “We have in effect increased the concentration of the fluid so essentially there is more sand and less water,” he said in an interview with Reuters. “We may still have events reaching the 0.5 limit but hopefully not as many.”  Egan said the fluid alterations had been approved by Britain’s Environment Agency. Cuadrilla and chemical firm Ineos, which has the largest shale gas license acreage in Britain, have called on the government to change seismicity regulations which the companies say have threatened to stall the industry’s development. The government has said it has no plans to change the rules. Fracking is opposed by environmentalists who say extracting more fossil fuel is at odds with Britain’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “At a time when the government has declared a climate emergency, the last thing we should be doing is starting an industry that extracts gas,” said Jamie Peters, a Friends of the Earth campaigner. Britain last month became the first G7 country to adopt an ambitious law to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The move will require much less gas-fired power generation and a move away from domestic natural gas, currently used to heat around 80% of the country’s homes. But Egan said the fracked gas could become a feedstock to create hydrogen and help the country meet its climate target. “The CCC (committee on climate change) report was clear hydrogen will be needed for net zero and surely it’s better to use domestically produced gas for this than imports of LNG (liquefied natural gas),” he said. Britain’s climate advisers, the CCC, said in a May report Britain will need to begin using low-carbon hydrogen in industry and for home heating to help cut its emissions and meet the target. Subject to regulatory approvals Cuadrilla said it would complete the program of fracking and testing equipment at the second well by the end of November.",
            "output": [
                "Cuadrilla to restart fracking at British site."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb33ad4c6fc945648216fe17a6307bb1",
            "input": "The former Montana congressman also said he quit President Donald Trump’s cabinet on his own terms, despite indications he was pressured by the White House to resign effective Wednesday. During almost two years overseeing an agency responsible for managing 500 million acres of public lands, Zinke’s broad rollbacks of restrictions on oil and gas drilling were cheered by industry. But they brought a scathing backlash from environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers who accused him of putting corporate profits ahead of preservation. In his first interview since stepping down, Zinke said the changes he instituted meshed with Roosevelt’s belief in balance between nature and industry. He added that they were needed in part to unfetter energy companies bound by unreasonable curbs on drilling that were largely imposed under former President Barack Obama. “Teddy Roosevelt said conservation is as much development as it is preservation,” Zinke said, referencing a 1910 speech by the Republican president. “Much of our work returned the American conservation ethic to best science, best practices ... rather than an elitist view of non-management that lets nature take its course.” Zinke mentioned Roosevelt often during his almost two-year tenure, and historian Patricia Limerick said it’s accurate that the former president talked of development as a component of conservation. But Limerick noted Zinke’s recommendations to Trump to reduce the size of national monuments in the West and elsewhere was in direct contrast to Roosevelt’s embrace of the law that allowed their creation, the Antiquities Act of 1906. “You don’t get to call yourself a follower of Roosevelt if you’re really chiseling away at one of his principal heritages,” said Limerick, who chairs the board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, where she’s a history professor. House Democrats plan to put Zinke’s policies under the spotlight with oversight hearings beginning next month, said Adam Sarvana, a spokesman for Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the Democrat in line to lead the House Natural Resources Committee. The hearings initially will focus on policy changes such as “giveaways” to the oil and gas industry under the leadership of Zinke, Sarvana said. He added they later could be expanded to include the various ethics investigations pending against Zinke, a former Navy SEAL and avowed Trump loyalist. The investigations have ranged from a probe into a land deal involving Zinke and the chairman of energy services giant Halliburton, to questions about his decision to reject a casino in Connecticut sought by two tribes. During his interview with the AP, Zinke denied a Washington Post report that Interior Department investigators believe he may have lied to them, which has reportedly prompted an examination of potential criminal violations by the U.S. Justice Department’s public integrity section. Several other investigations into Zinke concluded with no findings of wrongdoing. In one case he was faulted by investigators for violating a department policy by allowing his wife to ride in government vehicles with him. That report also said the Interior Department spent more than $25,000 to provide security for the couple during a vacation to Turkey and Greece. For the energy industry, Zinke brought relief from rules imposed under Obama that were meant to limit drilling in sensitive wildlife habitat, curb emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon monoxide and protect water supplies. Despite the Democrats’ newfound power in Washington after taking control of the House of Representatives, industry representatives said Zinke’s impact will be lasting. That’s because they involved agency regulations rather than congressional action and came at the order of Trump, said Dan Naatz, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. “Although Secretary Zinke was effective at what he was doing, the policy really came from the president,” Naatz said. Until Trump nominates and the Senate confirms a permanent replacement, Zinke’s shoes will be filled on an acting basis by his deputy, David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. Left-leaning groups that campaigned against Zinke already have turned their attention to Bernhardt with claims that his prior work leaves him compromised. “David Bernhardt is too conflicted to serve him in any position, whether it’s deputy, acting or full Interior secretary,” said Aaron Weiss with the Center for Western Priorities. Weiss also suggested the pending investigations against Zinke are likely to continue and said the former secretary “can’t make his trouble go away by simply walking away.” Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Zinke worked closely with western states and respected their priorities. Barrasso said it was important for the next secretary to likewise pursue Trump’s American “energy dominance” agenda while following sound environmental practices. In his resignation letter, Zinke said he was compelled to stop down because the political attacks against him had created a distraction from Trump’s drive to boost U.S. energy production. He told the AP that the allegations fit into a “playbook” used by the administration’s critics to stifle Trump’s energy agenda, smear Zinke’s name and undercut any future bid he might make for public office. He said he won’t run for Montana governor in 2020, but did not rule out a future run. In the weeks leading up to his resignation, the White House concluded Zinke was likely the Cabinet member most vulnerable to investigations led by newly empowered Democrats in Congress, according to an administration official not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Zinke’s telling of events, Trump remained fully supportive to the end and it was the secretary himself who made the decision to go. His departure comes amid a partial government shutdown in which Zinke ordered many national parks to stay open, saying visitors shouldn’t be penalized for the political feud centered on Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico. With reports of overflowing trash bins spurring calls for the parks to be closed until the shutdown ends, Zinke offered some parting advice as he prepared to head back to his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, just outside Glacier National Park: “I would encourage everyone that visits their parks to help pitch in, grab a trash bag and take some trash out with you,” he said. “Pack it in, pack it out.” ___ Follow Matthew Brown at https://twitter.com/matthewbrownap .",
            "output": [
                "Outgoing US Interior secretary defends legacy as he leaves."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-272992a9f245420eba80feca5679c26a",
            "input": "The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said cancer was growing “at an alarming pace” worldwide and new strategies were needed to curb the sometimes fatal and often costly disease. “It’s untenable to think we can treat our way out of the cancer problem. That alone will not be a sufficient response,” Christopher Wild, IARC’s director and co-editor of its World Cancer Report 2014, told reporters at a London briefing. “More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed... to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally.”  The World Cancer Report, which is only produced roughly once every five years, involved a collaboration of around 250 scientists from more than 40 countries. It said access to effective and relatively inexpensive cancer drugs would significantly cut death rates, even in places where health-care services are less well developed. The spiraling costs of cancer are hurting the economies of even the richest countries and are often way beyond the reach of poorer nations. In 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer was estimated at around $1.16 trillion. Yet around half of all cancers could be avoided if current knowledge about cancer prevention was properly implemented, Wild told reporters. The report said that in 2012 - the latest year for which data are available - new cancer cases rose to an estimated 14 million a year, a figure expected to grow to 22 million within the next two decades. Over the same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2 million a year to 13 million per year. The data mean that at current rates, one in five men and one in six women worldwide will develop cancer before they reach 75 years old, while one in eight men and one in 12 women will die from the disease. In 2012, the most common cancers diagnosed were lung, breast and colon or bowel cancers, while the most common causes of cancer death were lung, liver and stomach cancers. As populations across the world are both growing and ageing, IARC said developing countries were disproportionately affected by the increasing numbers of cancers. “Behind each one of these numbers, there’s an individual and a family faced with a tragic situation,” Wild said. More than 60 percent of the world’s total cases occur in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, and these regions account for about 70 percent of the world’s cancer deaths, it said. The situation is made worse in poorer countries by the lack of early detection and access to treatment. “Governments must show political commitment to progressively step up the implementation of high-quality screening and early detection programs, which are an investment rather than a cost,” said Bernard Stewart, another co-editor of the report. The experts highlighted efforts to curb rates of smoking, the use of vaccines to prevent infections that cause cervical and liver cancers and policies aimed at bringing down rates of obesity as key areas in which more should be done. “Adequate legislation can encourage healthier behavior,” said Stewart.",
            "output": [
                "We can't beat cancer with drugs alone; prevention crucial: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-882867e13b744329833406c37f909543",
            "input": "Then Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, strewing mold-producing wreckage across the island and forcing many to use fume-spewing generators for power. The boy, now 8, started having twice-monthly attacks and needing nearly four times the amount of medicine he used to take. His mother said weekly power outages in their coastal town of Aguadilla also feed his anxiety, which can make symptoms worse. He panics about not being able to turn on the plug-in nebulizer that helps control his attacks. “The lights go out and he breaks down,” said Johana Hernandez. “He cries out, ‘The power is gone, mom! The power is gone! I’m going to have an asthma attack!’” Doctors in Puerto Rico say they are seeing an alarming rise in the number and severity of asthma cases that they attribute to destruction caused by the deadly hurricane that walloped the island in September. The chronic lung disease is caused by such things as pollution, airborne mold and pollen, all of which have increased post-Maria. “It has increased so, so, so much after the hurricane,” said Dr. Ivette Bonet, who treats low-income patients at a clinic in the working-class neighborhood of Santurce. Bonet says she has dozens of new patients who never had asthma before the Category 4 storm hit. “Now they have this cough that they can never get rid of,” she said. Puerto Rico had high rates of asthma even before the hurricane. An estimated 435,000 people on the island of 3.3 million, or 13 percent, had asthma before Maria pummeled the territory on Sept. 20, according to Puerto Rico’s Health Department. That compares to 8.3 percent who suffered from asthma on the U.S. mainland in 2016, according to the latest available figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. There are no figures for Puerto Rico in the months after Maria, though new accountings are under way. Experts say the high rates may be partly due to the relatively high humidity in the Caribbean and the poor state of housing and infrastructure because of Puerto Rico’s high poverty rate and bankrupt government. Now, towering piles of building and plant debris from the hurricane remain in many neighborhoods. Puerto Rico recorded the highest levels of mold spores in more than a decade in May, said Benjamin Bolanos, director of the San Juan Aeroallergens Station of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Heavy seasonal rains are contributing to the problem, he said. “We have never seen something like this,” Bolanos said. Generators powered by diesel or gasoline once used only in emergencies belch fumes daily at hospitals, schools and water treatment plants because the power grid remains fragile and plagued by blackouts. Many are older models that don’t meet current pollution standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waved those rules because of the power emergency, the first time it has made such an allowance, agency spokesman David Kluesner said. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration alone has more than 1,200 generators still operating on the island. FEMA spokeswoman Dasha Castillo said all generators run by the agency meet current federal environmental laws. Meanwhile, mold has invaded homes, especially the tens of thousands that still don’t have a proper roof. And there’s a problem with rats, mice and cockroaches, all of which can trigger an asthma attack. “There are a lot of factors that are still affecting people,” said the Health Department’s Ibis Montalvo, who heads a program that sends health workers to the homes of asthma patients. Melissa Pesante says fumes from generators worsened her 5-year-old son’s asthma and he spent nearly two weeks in a San Juan hospital. The family lives on the second floor above a home that runs a generator and across from an abandoned house where people keep dumping hurricane debris. Since the hurricane, her son has been prescribed additional medication and has attacks and trouble breathing several times a month, compared with hardly any attacks before the storm, she said. “He’s supposed to use a face mask, but he tells me, ‘I don’t like it, mom,’” and takes it off, Pesante said of the surgical mask her son is supposed to use whenever he goes outside. She’d like to eventually join relatives in Orlando or Miami in hopes that her son’s health and her finances will improve. Some asthma patients actually need generators to power their asthma treatment nebulizers, said Dr. Jorge Rosado, a pediatrician who volunteers at a clinic in the northern town of Toa Baja. That’s sometimes the case for Yadriel, whose mother has to turn on a generator if he needs treatment during a blackout. The situation is particularly bad on the islands of Vieques and Culebra, just east of Puerto Rico, that are still completely dependent on generators. Dr. Juan Manuel Roman travels to Culebra weekly and said that in addition to new patients, his regular patients are seeking treatment far more often. Roman said it’s hard to escape the fumes from all the generators that keep the tiny island energized. “They’re always going to inhale them,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Puerto Rico struggles with jump in asthma cases post-Maria."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5043ae006ec94a78a9a2f8fd2e1d3686",
            "input": "Both stories we reviewed discussed costs, but the LA Times provided more details. “They can be lifesaving in appropriate patients. The devices cost $20,000 to $30,000, and normal hospitalization expenses can bring the total cost to $40,000 or more.” A bit more information would have provided a more complete picture. While the cost per patient is high, the true economic picture is more complicated. In reality, the cost of ICD in appropriate patients rivals those of the treatment of high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol in terms of life years saved. The story quantifies the potential benefits of following the guidelines for implants in a couple of different ways. “Deaths in the hospital among patients receiving defibrillators outside the guidelines were 0.57%, compared with 0.18% among those who received them within the guidelines. About 3.23% of those receiving the devices outside guidelines had complications, compared with 2.41% of those within guidelines. The median length of a hospital stay was three days for those outside the guidelines, compared with one day for those within them.” High in the story, the LA Times explains that unnecessary defibrillators increased the risk of harm, but it also put in some important context. “Although the absolute risk of dying is still low — less than 1% — such patients also endure longer hospitalizations and other complications and add substantially to the nation’s healthcare costs, researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C., reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.” The story also quantifies harms later in the piece. The story does a good job examining the evidence with the help of some outside experts. One of the best parts of the story, in comparison with the Wall Street Journal blog, is how this story explains why certain patients didn’t meet the guidelines for the implants. The story does so in clear terms, unlike the Journal. “The team found that 25,145 of the implants were for causes that were not covered by the guidelines. Of those, 9,257 were in patients who had had a heart attack within 40 days and 15,604 were in patients with newly diagnosed heart failure. These problems fall outside the guidelines because they have not been studied in clinical trials of the devices or because clinical trials have shown that the devices are not effective in treating them.” We wish the story had taken advantage of the accompanying editorial. In reality, only one of the criteria (severe heart failure) is an absolute and only includes about 2.5% of the ICD implanted patients. The other patients who did not meet criteria did so because of the timing of the implant. Not all patients who have a heart attack or who undergo coronary artery surgery will eventually need an ICD. Many however are left with a sufficiently damaged heart to meet criteria. So, while the story does a good job reporting on the study, it really does not go as far as we would have liked in its interpretation. The story does not engage in disease-mongering, far from it. The story provides good insights and context from outside sources, including Dr. Shephal Doshi and Dr. Robert Ruelaz. We wish the story had pointed out, as the Wall Street Journal blog did, that the study was funded by Medtronic, which makes one of these devices. That is important context for readers. Without it, we feel this story does not meet this criteria. And, as already noted above, we often wonder, as we did in this case, why the accompanying journal editorial wasn’t cited. The story does not offer a comparison of the implants to other treatments. Even a line about other approaches may have satisfied this criterion. Unlike the WSJ blog post we reviewed, this story pointed out the massive scope of this study and, thus, the widespread use of these implants. “The researchers examined a registry of implants maintained by the American College of Cardiology that covers an estimated 95% of all U.S. implants. The team studied 111,707 implants for what is called primary prevention, performed between January 2006 and June 2009. Primary prevention is for patients who had not had a recent heart attack or a problem with the bottom chambers of the heart.” This story points out, as the WSJ blog story failed to do, that this same team of researchers had previously studied the underuse of these implants. “In previous studies, Al-Khatib and her colleagues have examined underuse of the devices and found that many patients who could benefit from the defibrillators did not get them. This time, she said, “we decided to look at the flip side.”” This speaks to the novelty and the importance of the devices in the population of patients who meet the guidelines. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study finds overuse of implanted defibrillators"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bf2f262a12e24de18db7f746e86e5542",
            "input": "Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland, both 68, found ways to manipulate the very smallest particles of matter and light to observe strange behavior that previously could only be imagined in equations and thought experiments. Wineland once described his own work as a “parlor trick” that performed the seemingly magical feat of putting an object in two places at once. Other scientists praised the achievements as bringing to life the wildest dreams of science fiction. “The Nobel laureates have opened the door to a new era of experimentation with quantum physics by demonstrating the direct observation of individual quantum particles without destroying them,” said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awarded them the 8 million crown ($1.2 million) prize. “Perhaps the quantum computer will change our everyday lives in this century in the same radical way as the classical computer did in the last century.”  Haroche said he was walking in the street with his wife when he recognized the Swedish country code on the incoming call to inform him of the award. “I saw the area code 46, then I sat down,” he told reporters in Sweden by telephone. “First I called my children, then I called my closest colleagues, without whom I would never have won this prize,” he said. Asked how he would celebrate, he said: “I will have champagne, of course.”  He told Reuters he hoped the prize would give him a platform “that will allow me to communicate ideas, not just in this field of research but for research in general, fundamental research”. Wineland was asleep at home in Boulder, Colorado, when the phone call from Stockholm arrived before dawn on Tuesday morning, he said at a press conference. (His wife answered.) Physics is the second of this year’s crop of awards; scientists from Britain and Japan shared the first prize on Monday, in medicine, for adult stem cell research. The prizes, which reward achievements in science, literature and peace, were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of Swedish dynamite millionaire Alfred Nobel. “This year’s Nobel Prize recognizes some of the most incredible experimental tests of the weirder aspects of quantum mechanics,” said Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics at the University of Surrey in Britain. “Until the last decade or two, some of these results were nothing more than ideas in science fiction or, at best, the wilder imaginations of quantum physicists. Wineland and Haroche and their teams have shown just how strange the quantum world really is and opened up the potential for new technologies undreamt of not so long ago.”  Quantum physics studies the behavior of the fundamental building blocks of the universe at a scale smaller than atoms, when tiny particles act in strange ways that can only be described with advanced mathematics. Researchers have long dreamt of building “quantum computers” that would operate using that mathematics - able to conduct far more complicated calculations and hold vastly more data than classical computers. But they could only be built if the behavior of individual particles could be observed. “Single particles are not easily isolated from their surrounding environment, and they lose their mysterious quantum properties as soon as they interact with the outside world,” the Nobel committee explained. “Through their ingenious laboratory methods Haroche and Wineland, together with their research groups, have managed to measure and control very fragile quantum states, which were previously thought inaccessible for direct observation. The new methods allow them to examine, control and count the particles.”  Both scientists work in the field of quantum optics, studying the fundamental interactions between light and matter. The Nobel committee said they used opposite approaches to the same problem: Wineland uses light particles - or photons - to measure and control particles of matter - electrons - while Haroche uses electrons to control and measure photons. In one of the strange properties of quantum mechanics, tiny particles act as if they are simultaneously in two locations, based on the likelihood that they would be found at either, known as a “superposition.”  It was long thought that it would be impossible to demonstrate this in a lab. But Wineland’s “parlor trick” was to hit an atom with laser light, which according to quantum theory had a 50 percent chance of moving it, and observe the atom at two different locations, 80 billionths of a meter apart. In a normal computer, a switch must either be on or off. A quantum computer would work with switches that, like the particles in Wineland’s experiment, behaved as if they were in more than one position at the same time. An example is a computer trying to work out the shortest route around town for a travelling salesman. A traditional computer might try every possible route and then choose the shortest. A quantum computer could do the calculation in one step, as if the salesman travelled each route simultaneously. Wineland is a dedicated experimentalist, not bothered by the bizarre philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, such as the notion that reality does not exist until an observer measures it. “You can find debate on this, but I’m not sure we’re so special in the universe” as to have the power to bring reality into being, he told Reuters. His realism extends to applications of his work. “I wouldn’t recommend anybody buy stock in a quantum computing company,” Wineland told reporters, but he said he was optimistic that it might be possible to build one eventually. He plans to be part of the quest. Asked if his science career was nearing an end, he said he had no plans to retire “until they drag me out of here for being too old”. ($1 = 6.6125 Swedish crowns)",
            "output": [
                "\"Nobel for quantum \"\"parlor trick\"\" that could make super computers.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2346ff5ca064d25840463b9113fdb7f",
            "input": "Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2011] I don’t know who wrote the article, but have a friend who is a pro golfer. He confirmed that Ping indeed does do this. What a great gesture… and they don’t even use it as a promo gimmick. Now that’s class. This isn’t a joke or cartoon; just something interesting to know… you may want to forward this on to others.On Monday, I played the Disney, Lake Buena Vista course. As usual the starters matched me with three other players. After a few holes we began to get to know each other a bit. One fellow was rather young and had his wife riding along in the golf cart with him. I noticed that his golf bag had his name on it and after closer inspection, it also said “wounded war veterans”. When I had my first chance to chat with him I asked him about the bag. His response was simply that it was a gift. I then asked if he was wounded and he said yes. When I asked more about his injury, his response was “I’d rather not talk about it, sir”. Over a few holes I learned that he had spent the last 15 months in an army rehabilitation hospital in San Antonio Texas . His wife moved there to be with him and he was released from the hospital in September. He was a rather quiet fellow; however, he did say that he wanted to get good at golf. We had a nice round and as we became a bit more familiar I asked him about the a brand new set of Ping woods and irons he was playing. Some looked like they had never been hit. His response was simple. He said that this round was the first full round he had played with these clubs. Later in the round he told me the following. As part of the discharge process from the rehabilitation hospital, Ping comes in and provides three days of golf instruction, followed by club fitting. Upon discharge from the hospital, Ping gives each of the discharged veterans, generally about 40 soldiers, a brand new set of custom fitted clubs along with the impressive golf bags. The fellow I met was named Ben Woods and he looked me in the eye and said that being fitted for those clubs was one of the best things that ever happened to him and he was determined to learn to play golf well enough to deserve the gift Ping had given him. Ben is now out of the service, medically discharged just a month ago. He is as fine a young man as you would ever want to meet. Ping has the good judgment not to advertise this program. God Bless America and the game of golf. The item quoted above refers to PING’s being one of the Gold Sponsors of Disabled Sports USA’s (DS/USA) Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project (WWDSP): Through this program, service men and women severely wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will participate in a summer-long sports rehabilitation program offered by Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA) in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project and 29 DS/USA chapters across the country. The program includes a series of more than 60 “learn-to” clinics in cycling, golf, sailing, outrigger canoeing, kayaking, scuba, rock climbing, camping, water skiing, rafting, wake boarding, track and field, fishing, equestrian, ropes courses and other sports.The WWDSP also provides advanced level training and competitions to help wounded warriors remain active throughout their lives with some participants going on to compete at the Paralympic level or becoming active mentors in DS/USA chapter activities when they return to civilian life. The Wounded Warrior Project leads funding of the WWDSP which enables Disabled Sports USA to provide all programs free of cost for severely wounded service members and their families. This includes the cost of transportation, special adaptive sports equipment, training from qualified adaptive sports instructors, lodging, meals and other expenses. In addition, Gold Sponsors include: Ariel Corporation; Bank of America; The Chart Group; Trijicon; Non Commissioned Officers Association; Tee It Up For The Troops; Robert Trent Jones Golf Club Charitable Foundation; PING; US Association of Former Members of Congress; The Darby Foundation. Silver Sponsors include: Battelle; HUB Financial Charities; Fournier Family Foundation; Moore Capital Management; Miami International Holdings; Phoenix Beverages; PGA of America. In response to our inquiry, PING told us that: PING is proud to be involved with the Wounded Warriors Sports Project. The Project is currently partnering with PGA of America to offer golf lessons at five of the major military medical centers in the U.S. The format involves running an eight week long course where Warriors receive instruction from PGA professionals that have been trained in adaptive teaching techniques. Those wounded warriors who attend at least six of the training sessions and have a permanent severe disability receive a full bag of custom-fit and custom-built PING golf clubs. If you would like additional information on the Wounded Warrior Sports Project, please feel free to contact that organization at (904) 296-7350 or visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.",
            "output": [
                "PING provides wounded veterans with free lessons and golf clubs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05c653abdfa342c38ddf27073581fe62",
            "input": "Since Dolly’s birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo ponies, and have also created human embryos with this method. But until now, they have been unable to make babies this way in primates, the category that includes monkeys, apes and people. “The barrier of cloning primate species is now overcome,” declared Muming Poo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. In a paper released Wednesday by the journal Cell, he and his colleagues announced that they successfully created two macaques. The female baby monkeys, about 7 and 8 weeks old, are named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua. “It’s been a long road,” said one scientist who tried and failed to make monkeys and was not involved in the new research, Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University. “Finally, they did it.” The Vatican’s top bioethics official said Thursday that it was an important scientific development, but one that requires urgent ethical debate. Archbishop Vincenzio Paglia, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said scientific progress must have as its goal prioritizing human life, and said this could allow cloned animals to be designed for medical experimentation. But he warned that many animal lives were lost in reaching the milestone and that “we must always consider the effect of our interference in the ecosystem and evaluate the risks.” Poo said the feat shows that the cloning of humans is theoretically possible. But he said his team has no intention of doing that. Mainstream scientists generally oppose making human babies by cloning, and Poo said society would ban it for ethical reasons. Instead, he said, the goal is to create lots of genetically identical monkeys for use in medical research, where they would be particularly valuable because they are more like humans than other lab animals such as mice or rats. The process is still very inefficient — it took 127 eggs to get the two babies — and so far it has succeeded only by starting with a monkey fetus. The scientists failed to produce healthy babies from an adult monkey, though they are still trying and are awaiting the outcome of some pregnancies. Dolly caused a sensation because she was the first mammal cloned from an adult. The procedure was technically challenging. Essentially, the Chinese scientists removed the DNA-containing nucleus from monkey eggs and replaced it with DNA from the monkey fetus. These reconstituted eggs grew and divided, finally becoming an early embryo, which was then placed into female monkeys to grow to birth. The scientists implanted 79 embryos to produce the two babies. Still, the approach succeeded where others had failed. Poo said that was because of improvements in lab techniques and because researchers added two substances that helped reprogram the DNA from the fetus. That let the DNA abandon its job in the fetus, which involves things like helping to make collagen, and take on the new task of creating an entire monkey. The Chinese researchers said cloning of fetal cells could be combined with gene editing techniques to produce large numbers of monkeys with certain genetic defects that cause disease in people. The animals could then be used to study such diseases and test treatments. The researchers said their initial targets will be Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Mitalipov, noting the Chinese failed to produce healthy babies from adult cells, said he suspects attempts to clone babies from a human adult would also fail. “I don’t think it would be advisable to anyone to even think about it,” he said. Jose Cibelli, a scientist at Michigan State University, said it might be technically possible someday, but “criminal” to try now because of the suffering caused by the many lost pregnancies the process entails. If the procedure became efficient enough in monkeys, he said, society could face “a big ethical dilemma” over whether to adapt it for humans. The key step of transferring DNA might be combined with gene editing to correct genetic disorders in embryos, allowing healthy babies to be born, he said. Of course, the familiar image of human cloning involves making a copy of someone already born. That might be possible someday, but “I don’t think it should be pursued,” said researcher Dieter Egli of Columbia University. “I can’t think of a strong benefit.” Henry Greely, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in the implications of biomedical technologies, said the strongest argument he can think of would be the desire of grieving parents to produce a genetic duplicate of a dead child. But he doubts that’s a compelling enough reason to undertake the extensive and costly effort needed to get such a procedure approved, at least for “decades and decades.” Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, California, called it unethical to subject that new child to “the psychological and emotional risks of living under the shadow of its genetic predecessor.” Human cloning could also require many women to donate eggs and to serve as surrogates, she said. At the moment, because of safety concerns, federal regulators in the U.S. would not allow making a human baby by cloning, and international scientific groups also oppose it, said biomedical ethics expert Insoo Hyun of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned the monkey-cloning experiments. “Cloning is a horror show: a waste of lives, time and money — and the suffering that such experiments cause is unimaginable,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a statement. ___ Associated Press reporters Dake Kang in Beijing and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story. ___ Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter His recent work can be found at http://tinyurl.com/RitterAP ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists successfully clone monkeys; are humans up next?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2948dc98f33b40e4ae202502c4565c77",
            "input": "It’s widely known that languages evolve as societies develop and change, but the sounds we utter are also shaped, literally, by the placement of our jaw — and that is influenced by how we chew our food, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. Language study often focuses on cultural factors, “but our work shows that language is also a biological phenomenon — you can’t fully separate culture and biology,” said Balthasar Bickel, a linguist at the University of Zurich and co-author of the new study. The researchers analyzed Stone Age and modern skulls and created simulations of how different jaw placements allow our mouths to make different sounds. They analyzed a database of roughly 2,000 languages — more than a quarter of languages in existence today — to identify which sounds were more and less frequently used, and where. Languages spoken by groups with hunter-gatherer societies in their more recent past are far less likely to use consonants used by longtime farming societies, the study found. “Our anatomy actually changed the types of sounds being incorporated into languages,” Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Buffalo who was not involved in the study, wrote in an email. Before societies cultivated crops and learned to cook food, early humans chewed tough raw meat — which was hard work on our jaws and teeth. Stone Age adult skulls don’t look like modern skulls. These older skulls have upper and lower teeth closing directly on top of each other — whereas today most people have some degree of overbite, with the front teeth extending in front of bottom teeth when the mouth is closed. “If you are raised on softer foods, you don’t have the same kind of wear and tear on your bite that your ancestors had, so you keep an overbite,” said Bickel. Eating softer foods not only sets the jaw in a different fashion, but also changes which sounds are easily pronounced. In particular, it becomes much easier to say “f″ and “v,” which linguists call “labiodental” sounds. (Try it. Put your upper and lower incisors — or “front teeth” — directly on top of each other and try say “favor.” It’s difficult.) The researchers looked closely at 52 languages from what is called the Indo-European language group — including dialects spoken from Iceland to India — and charted how the “f″ and “v″ sounds appeared in a rising number of languages over time. As more societies developed agriculture and traded in raw meat for softer fare — whether it’s cooked meat and potatoes, or rice and stewed vegetables — these sounds became more common, the researchers found. “New sounds get introduced into languages, and then are more widely adopted,” said Steven Moran, also a linguist at the University of Zurich and co-author of the paper. The notion that agriculture shaped language was first suggested decades ago by American linguist Charles Hockett, but he did not attempt to prove it. Elan Dresher, a linguist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study, commended testing Hockett’s theory, but said the research could be fine-tuned by looking at historical reconstructions of languages, rather than using language databases to make comparisons. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "The way you speak now was shaped by what your ancestors ate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33aaa562f78c4e008324a10195181fa4",
            "input": "“This is our freedom on the line,” Haley said. “If they make it Schedule I, technically they’ll be treating it the same as heroin. And that could have me locked up in jail for life.” Less than a week after the DEA’s notice of intent to temporarily place kratom — a product made from the leaves of a southeast Asian tree — on the most restrictive tier of the Controlled Substances Act, the State Department of Environmental Health was at Rocky Mountain Kratom’s door. Haley’s supply was put on a hold order. As a result, his business, which is one of the only kratom storefronts in the nation, was forced to close shop that same day, reported Colorado Public Radio (http://bit.ly/2cUmD3r). “Given the fact that (the DEA) is framing this as pressing public health concern, and given our roles and responsibilities here as a local public health authority, we felt that it was our responsibility to address kratom products in the Denver markets,” said Danica Lee, the director of public health inspections division for the DEH in Denver. Holds have now been placed on the kratom stock of 15 Denver stores. The DEA says the reason behind the emergency scheduling is due to signs that kratom abuse is on the rise. The dried leaves are most commonly crushed into a powder, which can then be mixed with other liquids and drunk. It can also be brewed as a tea, or swallowed in capsule form. Across the U.S. there were 15 kratom-related deaths between 2014 and 2016, including one in Colorado. The Centers for Disease Control reports receiving 660 calls related to kratom exposure between 2010 and 2015. Dr. Jeffrey Brent, a distinguished clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, says those numbers don’t seem overly concerning. “Frankly, if they were unambiguous kratom-caused deaths, I’d be a little bit more concerned than these kind of mixed drug overdoses, or mix-drug usage where kratom might not have even been a particularity big player,” Brent said. “And it can be very hard to sort out with people with multiple substances.” He adds that the anecdotal accounts of users, who say it’s helpful for chronic pain management, overcoming depression and anxiety, and even weaning off opioids and alcohol, are just that — not necessarily reliable, since little research has been done. For comparison, the National Center for Health Statistics reports 18,893 deaths from opioid pain relievers in 2014 alone. ″(Kratom) is quite weak though, it doesn’t cause a huge number of problems in most people,” Brent said. “But like anything else, all exposures to anything no matter what we’re talking about is dose-dependent. And if you take enough, anything can make you sick and certainly that is true of kratom.” The DEA’s announcement to officially ban kratom has not been made. Barbara Carreno, a spokesperson with the DEA, acknowledged the hundreds of calls and comments coming from users, adding that the response has been unexpected. The outcry from the community includes a letter from Congress, with the signatures of 51 representatives  ? including 22 Republicans ? addressed to acting DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg and asking the federal government to delay the scheduling of kratom until further research can be done. Colorado Democratic Rep. Jared Polis helped compose the letter. “It is absolutely ridiculous,” Polis said. “The DEA to add kratom to Schedule I, along with marijuana, and say that both of them need to be controlled even more than opioids is ridiculous —  when opioids are the devastating health crisis that so many families have faced and is causing so many deaths.” He adds that banning kratom could make the opioid crisis worse, and that this decision would be “counterproductive.” “I really worry that if it’s allowed to go to Schedule I, some of those people might turn to opioids or harder drugs,” Polis said. The letter was sent to the DEA on Sept. 28 and Congress has not yet received a response. But the DEA’s silence doesn’t mean there is any change in plans to ban kratom. It simply means it hasn’t happened yet. Until they make the formal announcement, kratom remains legal. Where does that leave Rocky Mountain Kratom? According to Danica Lee with the Department of Environmental Health, most likely right where they are now. “If there was a change in the decision, we would certainly want to evaluate that before making a decision on action,” Lee said. “If the time frame is extended, but the result seems as though it will be the same, we would likely leave those hold orders in place.” For Jeremy Haley, the actions against kratom have only encouraged him to fight for the plant he says saves lives. ‘Kratom Kingpin’ Haley first heard of Kratom while listening to a podcast. The guest of the show briefly mentioned his use of it for pain management. Haley started doing research and tried it for himself, and quickly found his anxiety and depression diminished, along with his cravings for alcohol. “My life has been a 180 since then,” Haley said. “I was working in oil and gas at the time actually, and now I’m advocating for botanicals.” He says it helped him work the 16-hour days in the field, and helped him excel at his job. But in 2012, he was arrested for a DUI after a night of light drinking, and was caught with MDMA ? commonly known as ecstasy ? in his pocket. He lost his job and his right to drive, and moved back to Colorado where he is originally from. “It’s one of my biggest regrets in life, but it did lead me down this road,” Haley said. “And it pushed me towards seriously looking for better ways to live.” He continued to use kratom, and he says it kept away the urges to drink while on probation. That’s when he got the idea to start selling it. “I had a feeling inside that people needed to know about this, and I needed to be the one to at least introduce it to people,” he said. “And to counteract the head shops that were selling it at the time, because a lot of the head shops are also giving kratom a bad name.” He applied for his peddler permit, and was allowed to sell kratom on the street. He set up a website and engineered it to be a top result after searching “opioid withdrawal help in Denver.” “I’d walk out there with my big, goofy peddler’s badge, and there’d be such a diverse group of clientele,” Haley said. “There’d be like, soccer moms and the elderly. I was really shocked by it actually at first. I kind of had my own personal stigma and idea of what kratom users, what the demographic would be.” He admits he looked sketchy, with his brown paper bags and meeting people on corners. But he had to start somewhere. “People were coming to me desperate, in really really rough situations. It was the only way I could figure out to make it work,” Haley said. He was even the subject of an undercover investigation by CBS4, and called a “street dealer.” He was worried what his probation officer might think. “It was just kind of me flying solo there for a bit,” Haley said. “Which was a really cool experience, because it really let me dive in deep and meet a lot of the people and learn their stories and learn how much it’s changed their lives in so many different ways and for so many different conditions, from multiple sclerosis to lupus, you can go on and on.” He continued selling this way for two years when he eventually saved up enough to rent out a space on Broadway. “Things would start looking good, and then you would tell people what you’re selling, Kratom, and then they’d Google it, and that CBS story would come up: ‘Denver Street Dealer.’ And then before you know it, no return phone calls or messages,” he said. But after a year and a half, business was pouring in. “We were about ready to blow up,” Haley said. “We were on the verge of becoming a major business and opening many shops. Especially getting into wholesale was a huge goal of mine, and getting our product as accessible as possible in as many outlets as possible across the country for people to use it.” He said it probably would have taken off even faster if it wasn’t for the legal troubles his business has encountered. “We were on the brink of getting shut down, and that’s with amazing profits,” Haley said. “The profits didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s all the other loopholes, it really felt like playing some weird, twisted game.” Banks would close down his accounts because of what he was selling, and his product started being seized at customs after the FDA put out a notice saying that kratom was a substance of concern. “The customs agencies felt like they needed to take some sort of action, in order to enforce that,” Haley said “And they seized hundreds of kilograms from several different vendors, not just us. And it’s just thousands of dollars down the drain.” Haley had to get creative to keep the kratom coming in; he switched over to a Chinese shipping carrier, and had a lab perform tests on his product before it entered the U.S., to guarantee purity for the FDA. And all of it was labeled “not for human consumption,” something Haley had been doing since he started his business. “It’s pretty unfair, and it’s always felt very gross having to put those disclaimers on there,” Haley said. “Because we obviously all know the deal. We were making like, kratom candles even. Just so we could keep our customers, you know, provide them the relief that they need. Because we’ve had so many that have been depending on this stuff.” He says that with all the troubles he’d already experienced, that he knew the DEA’s announcement was inevitable. “I just didn’t expect it to be this soon, or to happen the way that it did,” Haley said. He now sits in his yet-to-be-open shop on Broadway and Alameda, called Artisans Apothecary. It will focus on natural foods and supplements, and was supposed to be his new spot to sell kratom. It was scheduled to be up and running by Sept. 26, but he and his staff decided to focus their efforts on stopping the ban instead. They flew to Washington to join the protest march on the capital Sept. 13, and they were inspired to put together their own event at the Denver capitol building. About 100 supporters showed up on Sept. 23, holding handmade signs, shouting “Kratom saves lives” and sharing their stories. Many of the speakers at the event were customers of Haley’s, including Jason Delapp ? a veteran from Colorado who was diagnosed with MS in 2005. Delapp found kratom and Haley after suffering from opioid dependency for 10 years. “My wife and I had lost a daughter, 9 years ago,” Delapp said. “After that, we both used that pain even more than just physical pain and really abused prescription opiates.” He admitted that when it was tough to get the pills, it was easier to get meth and heroine, and he did both. “That was probably self-esteem wise, the lowest point of my life ever,” Delapp said. “I drank when I was younger a little bit, teenager stuff. But I never did drugs. That wasn’t me.” He says his wife got tired of their addiction, and found kratom as an option during her search for help. Delapp says he immediately saw a difference in her, and it convinced him to start using kratom himself. He’s now entirely off his medications. ″(Kratom) enables me to be in a good mood, and to think clearly, and to make good decisions with my MS to where I know if I’ve done too much,” Delapp said. “The energy and mood alone makes it possible for me to be part of my family’s life again, and I can remember it.” It’s people like Delapp that keeps Haley in the fight. “I pray that we can all ban together and make our voices heard,” Haley said. “Even if it does get outlawed or made Schedule I, that we keep harping on (the DEA) and we do it the right way. Not angry phone calls or letters, or trying to tear anybody down. Because these guys are just trying to do their jobs too and most of them are good guys. But we really need to make it heard that we’re united, as a people. And we’re not going to let our personal freedoms get taken away unless there’s valid explanation at least for why they’re doing this, and they have yet to do that so far.” ___ Information from: KCFR-FM, http://www.cpr.org/news",
            "output": [
                "Business owner ready to fight looming federal ban on Kratom."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a6a24d5c00940dfb3816dd40bc20dc3",
            "input": "Scientists analyzed more than 10,000 wastewater injection wells where 96 billion gallons of fluid — leftover from hydraulic fracturing — are pumped yearly. The amount of wastewater injected and the depth are key to understanding the quake outbreak since 2009, they reported in Thursday’s journal Science . The quakes included a damaging magnitude 5.8 in 2016, the strongest in state history. State regulators could cut about in half the number of man-made quakes by restricting deep injections in the ground, said lead author Thea Hincks, an earth scientist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Companies drilling for oil and gas should not inject waste within 600 to 1500 feet (200 to 500 meters) of the geologic basement. That’s the stable harder rock deep underground usually made of metamorphic and igneous rocks. That region is usually crisscrossed with earthquake faults. The closer you get to the faults, the more likely you are to trigger them, said Stanford University geophysicist Matthew Weingarten, who wasn’t part of the study. Lab experiments show basement rocks are more susceptible to earthquakes because “having fluids in a rock is going to weaken the rock,” said co-author Thomas Gernon, a geologist at the University of Southampton. Previous studies had pinpointed the amount of fluids injected into wells as an issue. Gernon said volume does trigger earthquakes, but when volume levels were reduced the number of quakes didn’t drop as much as had been expected. That’s because where the stuff is put matters slightly more, he said. The findings only apply to quakes in Oklahoma, researchers said. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here .",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma quakes tied to how deep wastewater is injected."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ecbf87a7b8f4b809c6937dfe7ba033b",
            "input": "The story does a good job of pointing out one advantage of the pill approach compared to delivery via colonoscopy–the reduced cost. “There was a significant difference in cost. Though the procedures were done in a Canadian hospital, the FMTs delivered by colonoscopy cost nearly $500 USD more than the capsules, which cost about $300.” This was a close call. Early on, it says the pill was 90% effective for treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections. Later on, the story explains that both were equally successful in treating the Clostridium difficile infections. It would take a bit of deduction to figure out that the 90% treatment rate applies to both the pills and colonoscopies. And the study puts this figure close to 96%. But we’ll give the benefit of the doubt and rate it satisfactory. The story gets a satisfactory here for including the differences between the two methods of delivery: One source is quoted saying, “colonoscopies and the anesthesia required for the procedure can put a lot of stress on a person’s body and can be complicated for the people most at risk for C. difficile infections.”  It could have gone a step further and reminded readers that a colonoscopy is an invasive procedure with the inherent risks of infection and perforation that obviously aren’t there when taking a pill. The story did not mention the other adverse events described in the paper such as nausea and vomiting, though. The story comments on the size of the study and quotes a researcher about strengths (a randomized, controlled trial) and limitations (selection bias) of the study. Selection bias, in this case, means many people were excluded from the clinical trial if they had any number of issues (patients with severe or complicated cases were excluded, for example), potentially biasing the results. In a more real-world setting, the effectiveness rate may drop once it’s tried on a wider range of people. No disease mongering here. The story does include comments from an independent source unaffiliated with the research. But, it doesn’t specify that the source has received research money from a drug company that’s developing microbiome drugs. Standard treatment for C. diff is antibiotics. This should have been mentioned. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t spell out whether the pill form FMT is now, or soon will be, available to the public. The story does mention that numerous other clinical trials are using FMT as a possible treatment for various diseases but it is unclear whether the pill form is an option for physicians at this point. What’s new here is that a pill form for delivery of a fecal transplant is being tested against a colonoscopy. The story established this. It does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Fecal transplant via a pill? Newsweek’s coverage points out possible selection bias of study participants"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b12cad2f972742268da6c83c7a5955f0",
            "input": "The giant Asian insect, with a sting that could be fatal to some people, is just now starting to emerge from winter hibernation. “They’re like something out of a monster cartoon with this huge yellow-orange face,” said Susan Cobey, a bee breeder at Washington State University. “It’s a shockingly large hornet,” said Todd Murray, a WSU Extension entomologist and invasive species specialist. “It’s a health hazard, and more importantly, a significant predator of honey bees.” The hornet was sighted for the first time in the U.S. last December, when the state Department of Agriculture verified two reports near Blaine, Washington, close to the Canadian border. It also received two probable, but unconfirmed reports from sites in Custer, Washington, south of Blaine. The hornet can sting through most beekeeper suits, deliver nearly seven times the amount of venom as a honey bee, and sting multiple times, the department said, adding that it ordered special reinforced suits from China. The university said it isn’t known how or where the hornets arrived in North America. It normally lives in the forests and low mountains of eastern and southeast Asia and feeds on large insects, including wasps and bees. It was dubbed the “Murder Hornet” in Japan, where it is known to kill people. The hornet’s life cycle begins in April, when queens emerge from hibernation, feed on plant sap and fruit, and look for underground dens to build their nests. Hornets are most destructive in the late summer and early fall. Like a marauding army, they attack honey bee hives, killing adult bees and devouring larvae and pupae, WSU said. Their stings are big and painful, with a potent neurotoxin. Multiple stings can kill humans, even if they are not allergic, the university said. Farmers depend on honey bees to pollinate many important northwest crops such as apples, blueberries and cherries. With the threat from giant hornets, “beekeepers may be reluctant to bring their hives here,” said Island County Extension scientist Tim Lawrence. An invasive species can dramatically change growing conditions, Murray said, adding that now is the time to deal with the predators. “We need to teach people how to recognize and identify this hornet while populations are small, so that we can eradicate it while we still have a chance,″ Murray said. The state Department of Agriculture will begin trapping queens this spring, with a focus on Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties. Hunting the hornets is no job for ordinary people. “Don’t try to take them out yourself if you see them,” Looney said. “If you get into them, run away, then call us!″",
            "output": [
                "‘Murder Hornets,’ with sting that can kill, land in US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9cc3ad9e53f74f3a979b3123b22b07a4",
            "input": "\"In his August Facebook Live video, Gov. Eric Greitens encouraged viewers to submit their questions. One viewer asked, \"\"What do we do for our veterans except use them as our reason to get mad when it fits our agenda?\"\" In response, Greitens touched on providing jobs for veterans, in addition to citing the rate of veterans graduating from treatment courts in Missouri. \"\"Our veterans in our veterans court, are graduating — 73 percent of our veterans are graduating from drug courts,\"\" Greitens said. \"\"By contrast, I think most of the people in the very good drug court program — the graduation rate’s like 53, 55 percent. The point of that is that drug courts are working for veterans.\"\" We were wondering: Are 73 percent of veterans graduating from treatment courts? While we never heard back from Greitens’ spokesman, a Supreme Court of Missouri spokeswoman pointed us in the direction of where those numbers came from. According to the Missouri Courts website, treatment courts began as a way to battle increasing substance abuse problems. Treatment courts have existed in Missouri for nearly 25 years. The first treatment court was started in 1993 in Jackson County. Legislation in 2013 established the first veterans treatment courts programs, which \"\"are hybrid drug and mental health court dockets that use the treatment court model to serve veterans struggling with addiction, serious mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders,\"\" according to a treatment courts fact sheet. As of August 2017, there were 147 treatment court programs throughout the state. Of those, 12 are veterans treatment courts, with the remaining being adult, juvenile, family and DWI courts. Veterans can be accepted into treatment courts for drug-involved offenses and DWI offenses, Beth Riggert, communications counsel for the Supreme Court of Missouri, wrote in an email. According to the treatment courts fact sheet, \"\"The graduation rate for all programs in fiscal 2017 exceeds 61 percent.\"\" However, the most recent data on veterans treatment courts is from calendar year 2016, Riggert said. In that time frame, there were a total of 247 veterans participating in veterans treatment courts in the state, Riggert said. However, because the program is rolling, only a total of 82 veterans exited the program in 2016. Of those, 60 successfully graduated the program and 22 did not. That translates to a success rate of 73.17 percent, or just about what Greitens said. Since 2011, the graduation rate from veterans treatment courts has steadily been increasing as more veterans have gone through the program. Greitens also said, \"\"By contrast, I think most of the people in the very good drug court program — the graduation rate’s like 53, 55 percent.\"\" Because we were unable to reach Greitens’ spokesman for comment, we are unsure which specific treatment courts program Greitens was referring to when he said \"\"the very good drug court program.\"\" However, Riggert elaborated on the graduation for other treatment court programs. In the same period, the graduation rate from adult drug courts was 52 percent, and the graduation rate from DWI courts was 90 percent, Riggert said. While Greitens is correct that the veterans treatment courts’ graduation rate was higher than some, such as the adult drug court’s rate, it is still not as high as the DWI court’s graduation rate of 90 percent. However, Riggert said it may not be accurate to compare graduation rates between treatment courts to prove one program’s success. \"\"The various types of treatment court programs are distinct, and so it is not helpful to try to make a side-by-side comparison,\"\" Riggert said. While 73 percent of veterans exiting the program did graduate in 2016, it is unclear how many veterans who graduate from the program have to return for additional treatment. \"\"Because veterans treatment courts are relatively new, we do not yet have sufficient quantifiable data from which to determine recidivism rates for these programs,\"\" Riggert said. Greitens said, \"\"73 percent of our veterans are graduating from drug courts. By contrast, I think most of the people in the very good drug court program — the graduation rate’s like 53, 55 percent. The point of that is that drug courts are working for veterans.\"\" While the overall numbers are small, Greitens is correct that in 2016, 73 percent of veterans successfully completed treatment court. Over the same time period, the overall graduation rate from adult treatment court was 52 percent, officials say. However, officials also pointed out that the two programs are not identical, which makes comparing them imprecise. In addition, while graduation rate is one measurement of success, it’s not the only one, and as Riggert noted, veteran treatment courts are so new that no data on recidivism rates have been collected.\"",
            "output": [
                "Seventy-three percent of our veterans are graduating from drug courts. By contrast, I think most of the people in the very good drug court program — the graduation rate’s like 53, 55 percent. The point of that is that drug courts are working for veterans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-513e42d4a2254ebcb2b4fa8c18b28b76",
            "input": "The highly complex surgery involved multiple operations on Safa and Marwa Ullah, who were born in Pakistan in January 2017 with a condition known as “craniopagus” in which the girls’ skulls and parts of their brains were joined and intertwined. “Craniopagus is an exceptionally rare and complex condition,” said David J. Dunaway, who co-led the surgical team that treated the twins. The operation, conducted in February, was the most complex such separation his team had performed to date, he said. Having twins joined at the head with fused skulls and separate bodies occurs in less than one in a million births, while having the connection extend into the brain tissue is rarer still. Around 50 sets of craniopagus twins are estimated to be born around the world every year, of which only around 15 are thought to survive beyond the first 30 days of life. Dunaway said this separation was helped by state-of-the-art technology including virtual reality, advanced imaging and three-dimensional rapid prototyping - allowing the surgeons to use images of the girls’ brains and blood vessels to plan and practice the surgery in advance to minimize complications. The procedures took place at London’s Great Ormond Street hospital, with the girls well enough to be discharged from hospital four months later on July 1. “These cutting-edge scientific techniques greatly increased the chance of success for Safa and Marwa. Their brains were more intertwined than the previous sets of craniopagus twins making it the most complicated separation to date,” the Great Ormond Street team said in a statement. Five months after their final operation, Safa and Marwa are making slow but steady progress, the doctors said, adding that “a further period of recuperation and rehabilitation is essential to maximize their recovery”.",
            "output": [
                "UK doctors reveal separation of twins joined at the head."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e69759cd0f0b455fbe95a26bd14f6d48",
            "input": "\"March 7 is the last day the U.S. Department of State will hear public comments on Keystone XL, a proposed pipeline that would carry diluted oil sands from Western Canada to Nebraska and then to refineries on the Gulf Coast. With the closing of the 30-day comment period, six years of contentious debate between environmentalists and pipeline supporters is expected to come to a head when President Barack Obama makes a final decision on whether to proceed. In an attempt to sway public opinion, the American Petroleum Institute relaunched an ad campaign backing the pipeline. The 30-second spot, which is airing in the District of Columbia, Montana, New Mexico and North Carolina, claims that in the land of deadlock, the pipeline is one of few projects to win support from both sides of the spectrum. \"\"Washington. It’s gridlock, division, bitter partisanship,\"\" the ad says. \"\"But one jobs plan brings both sides together. Bill Clinton and George (W.) Bush both say build the Keystone XL.\"\" A ringing endorsement of the Keystone pipeline from 42 and 43? That sounds like something worth looking into. Bush backs it The American Petroleum Institute ad clearly identifies sources backing up their claim for viewers. For Bush, the ad references an article from Bloomberg published in March 2012, in which the former Republican president calls the pipeline \"\"a no-brainer,\"\" according to the report. \"\"The clear goal ought to be how to get the private sector to grow,\"\" Bush said. \"\"If you say that, then an issue like the Keystone pipeline becomes an easy issue.\"\" We weren’t surprised Bush supports the plan. Republicans have been overwhelmingly supportive of the proposal and Bush has ties to the oil industry. Heck, he made the aforementioned remarks during the keynote speech of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers conference. But what about Clinton? Clinton’s backing of Keystone did cause us to raise an eyebrow. The ad points to a Feb. 29, 2012, article from Politico. In it, Clinton calls for Americans to \"\"embrace\"\" the pipeline. We tracked down the original speech. It was given at the 2012 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, a conference held by the U.S. Department of Energy. Here’s what Clinton had to say: \"\"One of the most amazing things to me about this Keystone Pipeline deal is that they ever filed that route in the first place since they could've gone around the Nebraska Sandhills and avoided most of the danger, no matter how imagined, to the Ogallala (aquifer) with a different route, which I presume we'll get now, because the extra cost of running it is infinitesimal compared to the revenues that will be generated over a long period of time. \"\"So, I think we should embrace it and develop a stakeholder-driven system of high standards for doing the work modeled on what was done with auto mileage agreement.\"\" Clinton’s remarks are somewhat hard to follow. But he seems to say that Americans should \"\"embrace\"\" the Keystone pipeline and the government should work with the oil industry and environmentalists to develop standards for implementing and overseeing the project, similar to how all the stakeholders got together to develop higher standards for gas mileage in new vehicles. That’s how media reports characterized his comments, and Clinton made no attempt to correct them in the two years since. Within a year, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approved a new route for the pipeline that largely avoided the Nebraska Sandhills, as Clinton predicted. If he was not placated by the route change, Clinton never said so publicly. In fact, we couldn’t find any more public statements by Clinton regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. Several environmental groups we contacted said they had no recollection of Clinton speaking on the issue since 2012. We reached out to Clinton through the Clinton Global Initiative to see if his position had changed or could be affirmed for us. We didn’t hear back. Putting Clinton’s speech in context So we’re left with one public comment made two years ago. But we can deduce a few things based off what he said. First, in his remarks, Clinton was largely endorsing an all-of-the-above energy approach that focused on greener and sustainable methods. And while he expressed support for the Keystone project, he also said that tapping into homegrown natural resources was not a panacea. \"\"There are some hazards to the innovation project, right now,\"\" Clinton said. \"\"We have massive new recovery technologies in oil and gas which could lead us down the primrose path of thinking we don't have to keep using less energy and developing clean energy and technologies.\"\" But Clinton’s call to \"\"embrace\"\" the pipeline also came as the U.S. State Department was deciding whether to recommend the project’s approval. The State Department, at that time, was headed by his wife. Indeed, not hours after Clinton gave his speech in 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where she fielded questions about the State Department’s oversight of the pipeline proposal. In the hearing, Secretary Clinton was even asked about her husband’s comments from earlier that day. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., noted, \"\"Even the former President, Bill Clinton, says, ‘Embrace it and we need to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline.’ \"\" Clinton respond, \"\"He is a very smart man,\"\" inciting laughter. She then added, \"\"But unfortunately he is not bound by the laws and regulations and longer of the United States to make decisions that follow a certain procedure. And that is what we have to do.\"\" \"\"So is it a mistake for the former president to say, ‘embrace it’?\"\" Mack then asked. \"\"Of course not,\"\" Clinton replied. \"\"This is America. People say they embrace it, people say they hate it. Our job is to take a very clear-eyed look at what the facts are.\"\" So not only did Bill Clinton come out in favor of the pipeline in 2012, he did so during a public speech hosted by the U.S. Energy Department just hours before his wife, who oversaw the administration’s review of the pipeline, was set to testify in front of a Republican-controlled House committee. For her part, Hillary Clinton has gone back and forth on the pipeline. In 2010 she said she was \"\"inclined\"\" to approve the project. But under her command, the State Department also recommended Obama deny approval of the pipeline in 2012 after congressional Republicans forced a decision from the White House within 60 days. At the time, Clinton said the window was too short to review the environmental impact of the project. Our ruling The American Petroleum Institute ad says, \"\"Bill Clinton and George Bush both say build the Keystone XL\"\" pipeline. While their evidence is two years old, it’s not fabricated. Since voicing support of the pipeline in 2012, Clinton has not publicly weighed in on the controversy. But his backing of the project was not an offhand comment. It came during a publicized energy speech on the same day his wife was testifying before Congress. It seems unlikely he would endorse the proposal on such an occasion if he did not mean it.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"American Petroleum Institute Says \"\"Bill Clinton and George Bush both say build the Keystone XL.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fde2a6c0b8a64a2183eac0a758830c78",
            "input": "After a spate of mass shootings in early August 2019 in the United States, gun violence once again became a major topic of political debate in the country, and many expressed their views on potential solutions to the problem. The left-leaning Facebook page Occupy Democrats suggested that tighter gun-ownership regulations could help to reduce levels of firearms-related fatalities. On Aug. 7, the page posted a meme that claimed: “In Massachusetts, to buy a gun you have to take a four-hour gun safety course, get character references from two people, and have a one-on-one interview with a police officer. Oh, and it has the lowest gun death rate in America. Let’s do this everywhere.”    We received inquiries from readers about the accuracy of that two-part claim. On the whole, the Occupy Democrats meme had a high degree of accuracy. Elements of the meme appeared to have been copied from a Facebook post earlier on Aug. 7 by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. The meme itself was accompanied by text that read:  “‘Adjusted for age and population, the gun fatality rate in Massachusetts for 2016 was the lowest in the U.S. And that’s how it’s been for most of the last 30 years, although sometimes another state, like Hawaii, which also has very strict gun laws, ends up with a slightly lower rate. '” That text is actually a quotation taken from a May 6, 2018, article published by the Huffington Post, which went on to provide the following disclaimer: “Just how much that low rate has to do with the state’s gun laws is a matter of ongoing debate, even among experts. Pretty much any legitimate study is going to rely on assumptions that will be open to valid criticism; separating out cause and effect can be virtually impossible. But the available research provides a good reason to think Massachusetts laws in general and the permit system in particular have made violence less likely.” This fact check won’t attempt to rule on the validity of any claim that relatively strict gun regulations in Massachusetts are the primary or exclusive cause of that state’s purportedly low rate of firearms-related deaths, merely whether both factors are present there. Massachusetts state law certainly contains comparatively stringent requirements for obtaining and renewing firearms licenses, as well as purchasing and carrying firearms, and the claims made in the Occupy Democrats meme were largely accurate. In Massachusetts, anyone who wishes to purchase or carry a firearm must obtain a firearms license, of which there are two kinds: a license to carry and a firearms identification card (FID), the latter of which relates to rifles and shotguns. Applications for firearms licenses are processed by local police forces, and a 2014 state law gave law-enforcement agencies relatively wide authority and discretion to deny license applications, through a court process, where a license applicant poses a demonstrable risk to public safety. All first-time applicants for a license to carry or an FID must complete a one-day MA Certified Firearms Safety Course or a Basic Hunter Education Course, as part of the application. So the meme’s claim is accurate as regards first-time license applicants, but not for those who already have one, who are not required to undergo training every time they wish to purchase a new gun, for example. Furthermore, all applicants (whether first-time applicants or those applying to renew their firearms license) must provide two character references, as outlined in the state-issued “LTC/FID/Machine gun application,” which can be viewed here. The meme is accurate in this regard. Finally, Massachusetts state law does not oblige a “licensing authority” (typically a police force) to require an in-person interview with license applicants, but many police forces, including the largest in the state, Boston’s, do require such an interview. So that obligation is not prescribed in law, but is a practical necessity for many firearms-license applicants, which partially vindicates the meme’s claim in this regard. This was true in 2016, as the Huffington Post article (which Occupy Democrats indirectly cited as its source) outlined, though not quite accurate in 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks gun deaths (along with many other cause of death) in each state every year. The CDC also calculates gun death rates in each state every year — that is, the number of firearms-related deaths per 100,000 people living in the state, after taking into account and standardizing age distributions across states. In its standard measure of gun deaths, the CDC counts all forms of firearms fatalities including homicides, suicides and accidental discharges. In 2016, Massachusetts had the lowest age-adjusted gun death rate in the country, with 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 people. Rhode Island, New York, Hawaii and Connecticut had the next-lowest death rates, while Alaska, Alabama and Louisiana had the highest rates of gun deaths in the U.S., with 23.3, 21.5 and 21.3 fatalities per 100,000 people, respectively:  Along with New York, Massachusetts had the joint second-lowest gun death rate in 2017, with 3.7 per 100,000 people, behind Hawaii, which had 2.5 such fatalities per 100,000 people:  As the Huffington Post article pointed out, Massachusetts regularly has among the lowest annual rates of gun deaths in the United States. As well as in 2016, it also had the lowest rate in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012 and 2015,  The chart below shows the age-adjusted gun death rate of every state, taking into account all gun deaths between 1999 and 2017. Massachusetts had the second-lowest gun death rate over that 19-year period, behind Hawaii. Louisiana, Alaska, the District of Columbia and Mississippi had the highest:  Although the Occupy Democrats Facebook post clearly specified that the basis of the claim in the meme were the figures for 2016, a year in which Massachusetts did indeed have the lowest gun death rate in the country, the meme itself did not make that clear. Taken on its face, the meme was claiming that Massachusetts had the lowest rate of gun deaths in either 2019 (the year in which it was posted) or 2018 (the most recent full year). The state may well ultimately be shown to have the lowest rate of gun deaths in the country during those years, but CDC data for 2019 and 2018 will not be available until 2021 and 2020, respectively. On the whole, the Occupy Democrats meme was highly accurate, though not perfectly so.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts has certain strict gun-ownership requirements and the lowest rate of gun deaths in the United States. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d25ae6953c74c0a8325d541d45ecf44",
            "input": "“It seems like a huge invasion of privacy,” said owner Cathy Lipincott, who is nonetheless trying to comply with Austin’s local public health guidelines by asking, but not requiring, customers to give their information. Few states are rebooting quicker than Texas, where stay-at-home orders expired May 1. With cases still rising — including single-day highs of 1,458 new cases and 58 deaths Thursday and only slightly lower Friday with 1,347 new cases and 56 new deaths reported, bringing the state’s total to more than 45,000 — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has defended the pace by emphasizing that hospitalization and infection rates are steady, and pointing out that Texas’ 1,200 deaths still lag similarly big states, including California and Florida. The true number of cases and deaths is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. Even so, on the cusp of even more restrictions ending Monday, including gyms being cleared to reopen, a political confrontation is growing over attempts by big cities to keep some guardrails in place. The dispute underscores the gulf between Democrats who run city halls and GOP leaders who call the shots in the capital in Texas, one of a number of states where local officials and governors have clashed over restrictions during the pandemic. The renewed tensions come at a moment when Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned Congress this week of “needless suffering and death” if the U.S. moves too quickly. Nevertheless, Wisconsin’s courts tossed out the state’s stay-at-home orders, throwing communities into chaos as some bars opened immediately while strict local restrictions were kept elsewhere. In Georgia, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has also expressed unease at the speed that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has reopened the state. Oklahoma lawmakers, irritated by local officials who imposed stricter measures during this health crisis, passed a House bill Thursday that would weaken the power of cities during the next one. And in Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton this week lashed out at the cities of Dallas, Austin and San Antonio over what he called “unlawful” local orders that are tougher than restrictions prescribed by Abbott, and threatened lawsuits if the cities don’t back off. The warning came one day after El Paso pleaded to postpone easing up on any more lockdown measures in light of the number of COVID-19 cases there surging 60% over the past two weeks. “Unfortunately, a few Texas counties and cities seem to have confused recommendations with requirements and have grossly exceeded state law to impose their own will on private citizens and businesses,” Paxton said. City leaders said their local orders, which include more stringent emphasis on face coverings in public and restaurant protocols that aren’t strictly enforced, don’t conflict. El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the county’s top elected official, said he made his case to the governor during a phone call and asked for a few more weeks to assess data and reduce cases before more restrictions are lifted. But he doesn’t think he’ll get an answer before Abbott’s public announcement Monday. “I’m not fighting his plan, I’m fighting his timing,” Samaniego said. “It looks like it would work for us months from now.” The spat is a reversal from the early days of the outbreak in Texas, when Abbott gave cities and counties wide latitude to issue restrictions as they saw fit. But Abbott has since taken the reins over how quickly Texas will reboot, which last week included moving up the reopening of hair salons following complaints from conservatives. Testing for most of May has fallen well short of Abbott’s stated goal of 30,000 per day, although testing numbers have surged in recent days, according to state health officials. Overflow hospitals set up in Dallas and Houston were dismantled without ever being used, and the rate of new cases in Texas has dropped since April even as testing has expanded, down to a seven-day average of 5.3% as of Thursday, according to data from Abbott’s office. But experts still worry. “They see the decline going in and they pat themselves on the back and say, ‘Look at the good work we’ve done, now we can let this happen and open up things,’” said Dennis Perrotta, a retired state epidemiologist in Texas. “And then we get slammed with a second peak.”  In Austin, restaurants have grumbled over recommendations to log dine-in customers for the purposes of contact tracing, coupled with a warning that health officials otherwise might have to publicly out eateries if outbreaks spread. Some restaurateurs saw that as a threat, but at The Peached Tortilla, owner Eric Silverstein says his industry has to do what it takes to reopen. “We have no choice,” he said. “You kind of have to going back to doing some form of business.” A few blocks away at Brentwood Social House, a neighborhood coffee shop, owner Suzanne Daniels isn’t so sure. Though her competitors have reopened, her indoor seating remains closed, and she doesn’t know when she’ll feel safe to follow them. “It feels early,” Daniels said. “In my gut, it doesn’t feel right or good.” ___ Associated Press writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Cedar Attanasio in El Paso and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Tensions rise as Texas governor readies to lift more rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02452998e7be465e8ded86be62785542",
            "input": "Nice job on this. The story states: “For uncomplicated cases of appendicitis, in which the appendix is still intact, the tabs for the two surgeries came out about the same, at just over $7,800. …When the appendix had burst, however, the open surgery racked up a considerably higher bill. On average, it cost $17,594, compared to $12,125 for the laparoscopic surgery.”  As already noted, the story did a good job comparing death rate, readmission rate and hospital stays between the two procedures. Good job comparing death rate, readmission rate and hospital stays between the two procedures. The story quotes the lead researcher’s own caveats about limitations of the research: “he acknowledged that the study has major limitations. First, it looks only at academic medical centers. And second, it’s not a randomized controlled trial, which means the patients being compared could be different in important ways, explaining at least part of the outcomes of the two types of surgery.Indeed, those who had laparoscopy were younger and usually had less severe disease, which could have biased the results in favor of the minimally invasive procedure.” No disease mongering at play here. There was no independent perspective offered. So, even though the lead researcher offered his own caveats about the limitations of the research, we always wish for an independent expert’s voice to be heard in such stories. The focus of the story was the comparison between two surgical approaches. The widespread use of laparascopic appendectomy was clear in the story. The story offered this helpful context: “…experiments comparing the two kinds of procedure have yielded mixed outcomes, and some experts remain unconvinced that laparoscopy is worth its higher upfront cost.The new study, in the Annals of Surgery, doesn’t settle that question. But it does suggest that laparoscopy could actually save thousands of dollars for some patients, when all costs — including physician fees, hospital fees and readmissions — are considered.” It’s clear that the story didn’t rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Less-invasive appendix surgery shines in new study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-181e53da8b634ac19d78f4ec3c608042",
            "input": "Health officials will conduct tests to determine whether the latest case is related to the previous seven that have been identified since March. Officials at the New Jersey school could not provide the current health status of the student. The latest case comes shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed the university to use an imported vaccine to help control the disease’s spread. The past cases at the Ivy League school were caused by the meningococcal bacteria known as serogroup B. State law requires all Princeton students living in dormitories to receive a meningitis vaccine that protects against most strains but not the serogroup B variety, Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua said in an email. The outbreak of serogroup B meningitis is rare but not the first of its kind in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bexsero, made by Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, will be provided to all undergraduate students, graduate students who live in university housing on or off campus, and students and faculty with certain illnesses, such as sickle cell disease, Princeton officials said earlier this week. The FDA has allowed the use of the vaccine at Princeton under an Investigational New Drug application. The federal CDC considers the drug to be safe. “Everyone involved is working hard to organize a potential serogroup B meningococcal disease vaccine campaign as quickly as possible that fits into Princeton University’s academic calendar,” said CDC spokeswoman Sharon Hoskins. The Princeton inoculation campaign is set to be voluntary for students and is expected to begin in early December, with another event in February, according to the school’s website. Federal and New Jersey state health officials have not advised visitors or students to avoid the campus, Mbugua said. Meningitis is a serious disease that is spread through coughing and exchanges of saliva, and people living in dormitories or other crowded living quarters are especially at risk. The most severe cases can result in death, hearing loss, brain damage, kidney disease or amputation of limbs. Symptoms include fever, headaches and stiff neck.",
            "output": [
                "Eighth Princeton student diagnosed with meningitis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c481e3086f2a448aac9f567dc62a3520",
            "input": "\"Twenty-three years into his Senate tenure, Wisconsin’s Herb Kohl hasn’t announced whether he will seek another six-year term in 2012. But as Republicans step up their criticism of him, Kohl is making crystal clear his disdain for the kind of rough-and-tumble campaign environment that almost surely would be part of another campaign. Compared to his last couple races when Kohl used his massive personal fortune to vanquish underfunded opponents with soft-sell TV ads, it would be a new environment for the senator who owns the Milwaukee Bucks and built the Kohl’s department and grocery store chains. In remarks to reporters in Madison on April 28, 2011, Kohl ruminated about the state of today’s campaigns. He said \"\"people don’t like anybody in public life\"\" because of \"\"venomous\"\" attacks and sniping among congressional members, something he said he engages in \"\"hardly at all.\"\" Then he got specific: \"\"I’ve been through four campaigns and have not done any negative campaigning. And I don’t get into any personal jousts with other people in public life. But that’s just my style.\"\" So has Kohl really avoided any negative campaigning? That’s quite a claim in this age of mud-slinging and aggressive campaign tactics. We decided to check it out. Of course, it would be impossible to track down every campaign statement Kohl made since 1988 and copies of decades-old TV ads. So we focused our look-back to media descriptions of TV ads, debates and the candidates’ strategies in his four races. We also talked to the people who should know best: several of his former opponents or their aides, Kohl’s campaign staff, and a longtime political reporter. Kohl has of course benefited from negative attacks launched by groups supporting his campaigns, but he spoke only of his own campaigns’ conduct, so we’ll limit our review to that. One more note before we begin: Because there is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes \"\"negative\"\" campaigning, we asked Team Kohl what exactly he meant by his claim. \"\"Sen. Kohl has said that he believes campaigning is about telling the people of Wisconsin what he’s done and what he plans to do, not tearing down his opponent or telling people not to vote for them,\"\" Kohl press secretary Lynn Becker said. \"\"He has not been deliberately malicious or factually dishonest in his campaigns or while serving in public office.\"\" Indeed, his two most recent opponents said there was no negative campaigning in their contests -- and had high praise for Kohl. \"\"He never did anything negative in his campaign. He’ll have the job as long as he wants the job,\"\" said John Gillespie, founder of Rawhide Boys Ranch, who lost to Kohl in 2000. \"\"Say hi to Herb if you talk to him. Tell him I owe him a dinner,\"\" said Robert Lorge, Kohl’s 2006 rival. Fair enough. Those were landslide wins. What about the earlier contests? 1988: Kohl was a surprise entrant in the Democratic primary, winning the nomination comfortably over former Gov. Tony Earl, Ed Garvey and Doug La Follette. He frustrated his rivalsby limiting his debate participation and spending millions on TV ads. At the time, Earl’s media consultant David Axelrod charged that Kohl’s popular slogan -- \"\"Nobody’s Senator But Yours\"\" -- was an implicit negative attack. It implied that candidates who -- unlike Kohl -- have to raise most of their campaign money are beholden to donors, said Axelrod, who later went on to help a guy named Barack Obama get elected president. Earl attacked Kohl as uninformed and error-prone, prompting Kohl campaign aide Bill Christofferson to call Earl \"\"desperate\"\" and guilty of misrepresentation. Insiders on both sides agree that Kohl ran no attack ads in the primary -- and none in the very tight general election that saw Republican state legislator Susan Engeleiter close the gap to just a few pointswith a series of ads targeting Kohl in the closing weeks. Engeleiter herself told us she has \"\"nothing but positive recollections\"\" of a \"\"pretty cordial campaign.\"\" She also praised Kohl’s dealing with her when she later was confirmed as administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. La Follette and Garvey say today that they wouldn’t call Kohl’s primary race negative. Regarding Kohl’s slogan, La Follette agreed with Kohl aide Christofferson, who said:  \"\"Herb Kohl was talking about himself, not anyone else, when he promised to be 'nobody's senator but yours.'\"\" Indeed, Kohl explicitly used his positive campaign ads as a selling point, and called his victory a blow against negative campaigning. 1994: In his first re-election campaign, Kohl wasted little time aggressively portraying Republican opponent Robert Welch, a state lawmaker from Redgranite, as an \"\"extreme conservative\"\" and flip-flopper. At an early debate, he cited Welch’s no-exceptions stance against abortion and his vow never to vote for a tax hike as \"\"extreme.\"\" According to media accounts, he did not explain the flip-flop charge. Afterwards, Welch told reporters Kohl was \"\"nastier than I expected.\"\" Later, after Welch attempted to tie Kohl to President Clinton, Kohl launched a rare TV ad that focused on an opponent by name. Another followed. The ads accused Welch of distorting Kohl’s record. One said that \"\"fellow Republicans\"\" had criticized Welch’s tactics -- something deemed misleading in a Milwaukee Journal fact check. The exchange led Welch to accuse Kohl of running a \"\"multimillion dollar mudslinging campaign.\"\" Kohl said it was Welch who went negative. The rhetoric heated up. At one point in the race, after Welch accused Kohl of \"\"religion bashing,\"\" Kohl spokesman Jeffrey Gillis said that \"\" Welch's attack again shows that he'll say or do anything to get elected.\"\" So, that seems like quite a bit of snarling. Looking back, though, Welch’s campaign manager Mike Maxwell doesn’t have strong opinions about the back and forth. \"\"I don’t know that Kohl was particularly negative through that election,\"\" he told us. He didn’t recall the \"\"distort\"\" ad that Kohl ran. He did say that some might consider the \"\"extreme\"\" charge a negative attack. Kohl, Maxwell recalled, \"\"just had overwhelming resources and then he signed (Bucks first round draft choice Glenn Robinson) six days before the election.\"\" (We could not reach Welch for comment). Kenneth Lamke, a Milwaukee Sentinel reporter who covered the 1994 race, offered the strongest opinion we heard on whether Kohl went negative against Welch. He says yes. Lamke said the \"\"extreme\"\" charge by Kohl was \"\"within bounds but uncharacteristic of Herb.\"\" Lamke viewed the attack as unprovoked and an exaggeration; Gillis, the Kohl aide, said it was a response to the drumbeat of criticism of Kohl during the Republican primary. Lamke, we should note, asked us to describe his personal politics as \"\"leans Republican.\"\" We asked several political scientists to characterize the language of the Kohl ad. They reacted cautiously because we could not provide the ad itself, just direct quotes from it in media accounts. That makes it impossible to fully judge the tone. Vanderbilt professor John Geer, an author of a much-cited book on negative campaigning, said it sounded like a \"\"tame\"\" response ad -- \"\"not the kind of classic negative ad the public doesn’t like.\"\" Darrell West, of the Brookings Institution, agreed. UW-Madison’s Ken Goldstein said Kohl’s ad met the academic research definition of \"\"negative\"\" because it focused on Welch, not Kohl. The test of whether it was unfair is whether it was accurate, he said. So Kohl’s campaigns have been remarkably low-confrontation affairs, with the most notable exception being 1994, the first -- and perhaps only -- time Kohl aired TV spots going after an opponent. So how does Kohl fare on his statement that he has never campaigned negatively? Clearly, Kohl has spent the vast bulk of his time and money on upbeat, positive ads. Even his opponents agree strongly with that -- one even wants to buy him dinner. The only ad that pops up as arguably negative is the 1994 \"\"distort\"\" spot against Welch. It drew some critical attention, but is viewed as a pretty tame response ad. Beyond that, Kohl’s campaigns have engaged in some labeling and name calling. And Kohl’s aggressive 1994 portrayal of Welch as an \"\"extremist\"\" was arguably negative. Kohl is mostly on target here, with some minor exceptions. .\"",
            "output": [
                "I’ve been through four campaigns and have not done any negative campaigning."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab062c14d27d40618d7feb408b2a6408",
            "input": "There is no direct cost to bystander CPR, so this category is not applicable. The story does a good job of giving exact numbers of survivors who did and didn’t receive CPR in the study. It provides exact survival times for ambulance arrivals at 5, 10, and 13 minutes. These statistics are provided both in terms of percentages and ratios. The intervention studied here involves a last-ditch emergency effort to revive a person who is dying. There are some potential harms if the resuscitated person survives, and the story didn’t mention those, but given the measured approach of this story and the nature of the research, we feel this one is N/A. In this story, important limitations of study findings are explained to some degree, enough to be satisfactory. An author of the study is cited explaining that the findings do not definitely establish that CPR is actually the direct cause of the higher survival rates reported. The reason for that, unstated, is that this study reports the correlation between cases in which bystander CPR was administered and patient survival rates. It wasn’t an experiment that could prove one caused the other–that could have been made clearer. Granted, at the end of the story we learn “the study is observational and doesn’t prove bystander CPR increases survival odds, the authors note in Circulation. Researchers also lacked data on how quickly bystanders intervened after the start of cardiac arrest, which could influence outcomes, the authors note.” But since some readers may not know what “observational” means, this could have been spelled out more. There is no disease mongering in the story. The story quotes two independent experts whose specific credentials are clearly presented. These sources are cited on the general mechanism of CPR and the importance of starting CPR early. Ideally, they’d also speak to the research itself, providing context on what the general public should know. But given that the story presents the research accurately, and included a discussion of limitations, this is a minor concern here. In a way this story is all about the alternative to bystander CPR: doing nothing until the ambulance arrives. There really isn’t another alternative that could have been discussed. The story doesn’t outright state that pretty much anybody is capable of performing CPR. However, it does imply that CPR is widely available by explaining that the biggest barrier to bystander CPR is that too few people know how to do it. More explanation about how easy it is to learn the procedure (training can be done in just a few minutes) would have improved that aspect of the article. While the story doesn’t make it explicitly clear what’s novel, it does provide enough context for the reader to understand that this study builds upon past research that was more general. That’s done via this quote: “We know from previous research that 1 in 8 people survive after a cardiac arrest if a bystander initiates CPR before the arrival of the emergency medical services,” Rajan said by email. “In contrast, if CPR is not initiated before the arrival of the emergency medical services, only 1 in 30 people survive a cardiac arrest.” The story does not appear to be based solely on a press release. It quotes two experts who were not involved in the study.",
            "output": [
                "Bystander CPR may boost survival odds when ambulance delayed"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bdae3ef1c1d47a4bfd8de02dcf0672a",
            "input": "“What the president is doing is affecting people’s access and the cost of health care right now,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has cast pivotal votes on health care in the narrowly divided Senate. “This is not a bailout of the insurers. What this money is used for is to help low-income people afford their deductibles and their co-pays.” “Congress needs to step in and I hope that the president will take a look at what we’re doing,” she added. Her comments reflected an increasing focus Sunday on the bipartisan Senate effort led by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., to at least temporarily reinstate the payments to avoid immediate turmoil in the insurance market, even as Trump signaled he wouldn’t back a deal without getting something he wants in return. The payments will be stopped beginning this week, with sign-up season for subsidized private insurance set to start Nov. 1. “The president is not going to continue to throw good money after bad, give $7 billion to insurance companies unless something changes about Obamacare that would justify it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who golfed with Trump Saturday at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. “It’s got to be a good deal,” Graham said. In his decision last week, Trump derided the $7 billion in subsidies as bailouts to insurers and suggested he was trying to get Democrats to negotiate and agree to a broader effort to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law, a bid that repeatedly crashed in the GOP-run Senate this summer. The payments seek to lower out-of-pocket costs for insurers, which are required under Obama’s law to reduce poorer people’s expenses — about 6 million people. To recoup the lost money, carriers are likely to raise 2018 premiums for people buying their own health insurance policies. Alexander and Murray have been seeking a deal that the Tennessee Republican has said would reinstate the payments for two years. In exchange, Alexander said, Republicans want “meaningful flexibility for states” to offer lower-cost insurance policies with less coverage than Obama’s law mandates. Still, congressional Republicans are divided over that effort. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney has suggested that Trump may oppose any agreement unless he gets something he wants — such as a repeal of Obamacare or funding of Trump’s promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. On Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described Trump’s demand for a sit-down with congressional Democratic leaders as “a little far down the road.” She noted the bipartisan effort in the Senate and said ultimately it will be up to a Republican-controlled Congress and executive branch whether the federal government can avert a shutdown by year’s end. The government faces a Dec. 8 deadline on the debt limit and government spending. “We’re not about closing down government. The Republicans have the majority,” Pelosi said. “In terms of the health care, we’re saying ’Let’s follow what Sen. Murray and Alexander are doing.” Collins praised the Senate effort so far, which included public hearings by the Senate health and education committee. Still, she acknowledged a potentially tough road in reaching broader agreement. “I hope we can proceed, but Democrats will have to step up to the plate and assist us,” said Collins, who is a member of the committee. “It’s a two-way street.” The scrapping of subsidies would affect millions more consumers in states won by Trump last year, including Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, than in states won by Democrat Hillary Clinton. Nearly 70 percent of the 6 million who benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies are in states that voted for the Republican. Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said Sunday his state had anticipated that the insurer payments would be halted but not so quickly. He called for the payments to be reinstated right away, describing a hit to Ohio — a state also won by Trump last November — for at least the “first two or three months.” “Over time, this is going to have a dramatic impact,” Kasich said. “Who gets hurt? People. And it’s just outrageous.” Nineteen Democratic state attorneys general have announced plans to sue Trump over the stoppage. Attorneys generals from California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York were among those saying they will file the lawsuit in federal court in California to stop Trump’s attempt “to gut the health and well-being of our country.” Collins appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” Pelosi also spoke on ABC, Graham appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and Kasich was on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”",
            "output": [
                "Collins urges Trump to back effort to restore health subsidy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2121ab786824476a352ae4f189a51f0",
            "input": "According to the story, brand-name aromatase inhibitors cost between $340 and $420 a month, but the story also points out that lower-costing, generic versions are available in the U.S. It would have been useful had the story also provided cost information for the other preventive drug options, tamoxifen and raloxifene. A particular strength of this story is its presentation of data. Dr. Winer, an independent source included in the story, translates a 65% risk reduction to mean that exemestane may reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer from 3% to 1%. Not only does the story provide absolute risk, but it also presents the number needed to treat. According to the study authors, 26 women would need to take exemestane for five years to prevent a single case of breast cancer. It should be noted, however, that few women in the study completed five years of therapy. Since this is being used as a preventive measure in healthy women, side effects are very important and data should have been provided. The story indicates that “slightly” more women taking exemastane experienced hot flashes, fatigue, sweating, insomnia, and joint pain, compared to those taking placebo pills. It would have been helpful to note, for example, that 40% in the exemestane group experienced a hot flash versus 32% in the placebo group. Citing older research, the story indicates that that joint pain, muscle aches, problems having sex, and vaginal dryness may be more evident with a longer duration of use. The story makes it clear that the study was a large-scale, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, which enrolled over 4500 women in North America and Europe. The women included had at least one risk factor for breast cancer. It also notes that given the significant risk reduction associated with exemestane, the study was stopped after 3 years to give women in the control arm the option of taking exemestane to prevent possible breast cancers. More information regarding participants’ characteristics, including age and race would have been helpful. This story did not engage in disease-mongering. In addition to including experts not affiliated with the exemestane study, the story also notes that the it was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, the Avon Foundation, and Pfizer. In addition, the writer points out that the study lead and a few other authors have received speaking fees from Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies that make cancer drugs. This story compares the benefits and harms of exemestane with tamoxifen; however, a mention of how these compare with raloxifene, would have been useful. The availability of aromatase inhibitors is not in question. It’s clear from the story that aromatase inhibitors are currently used to prevent breast cancer recurrences. It’s also clear that this is the first study evaluating its utility for preventing the first instance of breast cancer in healthy women with a higher risk of developing the disease. The story does not appear to be based on the press release.",
            "output": [
                "Hormone-blocking drug reduces breast cancer risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74a1624f18ab4195be12c779601ea3a1",
            "input": "This article discussed the potential implications of a case that was, at the time of writing, undecided by the Supreme Court. On 17 June 2019 the Supreme Court decided that case, rejecting arguments that could have resulted in a stronger presidential pardon. Far from Kavanaugh’s being a deciding vote on the case, the court ruled 7-2 against the notion that Federal and State prosecution for the same crime violates the so-called “double jeopardy clause” of the Constitution. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented. On 29 November 2015, a motorist named Terance Gamble, who had been convicted of second degree robbery seven years earlier, was pulled over by an Alabama police officer because of a faulty headlight on his vehicle. Upon searching the car, the officer found a handgun, among other items. It is illegal under both Alabama law and United States law for convicted felons to possess firearms, and Gamble was eventually sentenced to one year in prison on that charge by the state of Alabama. During Gamble’s prosecution under Alabama law for possession of a firearm as a felon, the Federal Government also charged him with the same crime. Gamble’s lawyers argued that this second conviction was a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “double jeopardy,” which is intended to protect people from being prosecuted for the same crime more than once. The double jeopardy clause is found in Fifth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which states (in part) that “No person shall … be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” Specifically, the clause has been interpreted to be a prohibition on: Gamble has been in federal prison since entering a guilty plea on 18 October 2016 that allowed him to appeal his case. In June 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to hear his argument that he has been unconstitutionally punished multiple times for the same crime. While the case is about the constitutionality of a man being charged twice for the same gun possession incident in a narrow sense, the case more broadly has the potential to significantly alter 150 years of Supreme Court precedent. Since the 1850s, the Supreme Court has allowed for one explicit exception to the Constitution’s double jeopardy protections: cases of dual sovereignty (or “separate sovereigns”) which stem from view that the federal government and state governments are distinct entities with occasionally overlapping jurisdictions. (Exceptions to this exception exist which seek to limit double prosecutions at the federal level, but as this case shows they do not always have that effect.) This ”separate sovereigns” exception to double jeopardy, though built on several previous rulings, was made most explicit in a 1920s bootlegging case, United States v. Lanza, which allowed a man to be charged with bootlegging crimes by both the state of Washington and the federal government. With respect to that case, Chief Justice William Howard Taft argued: We have here two sovereignties, deriving power from different sources, capable of dealing with the same subject matter within the same territory. Each may, without interference by the other, enact laws to secure prohibition, with the limitation that no legislation can give validity to acts prohibited by the amendment. Each government, in determining what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity, is exercising its own sovereignty, not that of the other. The separate sovereigns exemption has for much of its history been a controversial precedent which critics maintain is not rooted in the original text of the Constitution but is instead cobbled together from different partially relevant Supreme Court decisions — decisions rooted in a time when the federal government was less powerful and whose questions never directly sought to address the explicit matter of double punishment for the same crime in state and federal jurisdictions. This argument is reflected in Gamble’s filing. The government argues in this case that the precedent is well-established through myriad Supreme Court cases and consistent with the Founding Fathers’ vision of state and federal government duality: The dual-sovereignty principle has been “long held”, and “consistently endorsed” by this Court, which has recognized its soundness as a matter of “[p]recedent, experience, and reason alike,” The Court explained the roots of the principle more than 150 years ago. And in 1959, the Court described a challenge to the dual-sovereignty doctrine as “not a new question,” having been “invoked and rejected in over twenty cases” … Each sovereign is entitled to “exercis[e] its own sovereignty” to “determin[e] what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity” and prosecute the offender “without interference by the other.” Under petitioner’s interpretation of the Double Jeopardy Clause, one sovereign’s efforts (successful or not) to enforce its own laws would vitiate the other sovereign’s similar law-enforcement prerogatives. But that cannot be squared with the Constitution’s bedrock structure of governance. In this case, Gamble has explicitly asked the Supreme Court to rule on a single specific question: “Whether the Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause.” The reason Gamble v. United States is generating buzz from people other than constitutional law scholars is that the separate sovereigns exception also prevents President Trump from pardoning people for state crimes. Under current Supreme Court precedent, a presidential pardon of an individual does not prevent that individual from being prosecuted for the same or similar crimes under state law. “Under the dual sovereignty doctrine,” Adam J. Adler wrote in the Yale Law Review, “as long as two offenses are defined by different jurisdictions, they cannot constitute the ‘same offense.’” The Congressional Research Service issued an August 2018 report on the potential ramifications of the case, and this report included a discussion of its possible effect on the presidential pardon power: The Gamble case may nevertheless have significant collateral legal effects … A win for Gamble could also indirectly strengthen the President’s pardon power, by precluding a state from prosecuting an already-pardoned defendant who has gone to trial on an overlapping offense. Some pundits have speculated that the reason why certain politicians seem to be in a rush to seat Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is that is that he has a notably strong view of presidential powers and therefore would be a vote in favor of Gamble and for an expansion of presidential pardon powers — and the Supreme Court announced they would be hearing this case the day after Justice Kennedy’s retirement. This temporal proximity has prompted some commenters to opine that the rush might be motivated by a desire to limit the president’s legal liability in the Russia probe and other investigations:  While we cannot speculate on the motives of politicians who are supporting Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, The Atlantic reported that prominent political legal scholars agree in a general sense with the view of this case’s having importance with regard to President Trump’s pardon power: Within the context of the Mueller probe, legal observers have seen the dual-sovereignty doctrine as a check on President Donald Trump’s power: It could discourage him from trying to shut down the Mueller investigation or pardon anyone caught up in the probe, because the pardon wouldn’t be applied to state charges. Under settled law, if Trump were to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example — he was convicted in federal court on eight counts of tax and bank fraud — both New York and Virginia state prosecutors could still charge him for any crimes that violated their respective laws … If the dual-sovereignty doctrine were tossed … then Trump’s pardon could theoretically protect Manafort from state action. If Trump were to shut down the investigation or pardon his associates, “the escape hatch, then, is for cases to be farmed out or picked up by state-level attorneys general, who cannot be shut down by Trump and who generally — but with some existing limits –can charge state crimes even after a federal pardon,” explained Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey. The Atlantic also reported that at least one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who approved Kavanaugh for a floor vote before the full Senate, Orrin Hatch, has publicly weighed in on the topic (unmotivated, he says, by the implications for the pardon power), filing an Amicus Curiae brief in favor of Gamble which argued that “the pervasive federalization of criminal law to cover conduct that traditionally was prosecuted and punished by the states, and that falls within the states’ core legislative interests, threatens to undermine the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause unless the dual sovereignty doctrine is overruled in this context.”",
            "output": [
                "Judge Kavanaugh, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, could be a deciding vote on a case that has the potential to dramatically increase the power of the presidential pardon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-626feb9a8dcc4b75bc8d4d5f3726ee28",
            "input": "We give the story credit for at least citing a $30,000 cost for the “surgeries” but wish it had explained what that included and what it might not. Surgery to change the battery every two years certainly adds to cost. Undoubtedly patients require more intensive expensive followup and perhaps specialized checks to ensure the device is working. With broad strokes across discussion of three different uses for three different conditions, the story did an adequate job quantifiying benefits. As stated in the “Evidence” criterion above, this is where a control group and reporting response rates for treated versus control groups would be very informative. Instead, we only get a qualitative description of benefits which is useful but which might leave careful readers asking for more. This is one area where the story could have been improved. There was no detailed discussion of what can go wrong with deep brain stimulation. There was a brief mention of “if” the electrodes cause neurological side effects. But how often does that happen? And the story noted that the surgery does “sometimes” cause dangerous brain bleeding or infections. How often is “sometimes”? At a very high, overview level, the story explained the current state of the evidence. But more information would have been better. Current evidence for depression/OCD is based on case series. These studies don’t have a control group, making the results more subject to bias. No disease mongering of any of the conditions discussed. The story was repeatedly clear about deep brain stimulation being used when standard medications or behavior therapy had not worked. But it would be helpful to give estimates of the proportion of patients with depression or OCD who aren’t helped by available treatments. Several sources were cited. Dr. Mayberg’s connection to St. Jude Medical was mentioned. The story could have mentioned that Dr. Okun’s center and Dr. Greenberg have received funding from Medtronic. Greenberg’s current funding from the National Institute of Mental Health was noted. We think the sourcing and disclosure was adequate. A strong point of the story was that it repeatedly provided the context for the use of deep brain stimulation — “when standard medications fail…worst-case patients…doesn’t mean patients can abandon traditional therapy…people with intractable (problems)…(people who) failed behavior therapy.” This story already attempted to accomplish a lot, but to be complete, it could have offered explicit description of currently approved options: antidepressant medications (multiple classes); psychotherapy (multiple options); combinations of medications or medications and therapy; transcranial magnetic stimulation (limited availabilty), vagal nerve stimulation, ECT – and estimate of the proportion of patients who fail these treatments. Nonethless, we feel it met the criteria for a satisfactory score. The story states that 70,000 have had deep brian stimulation for Parkinson’s or other movement disorders, and that studies are underway on at least 60 people with intractable obsessive-compulsive disorder and 100 with severe depression. The experimental nature of these approaches is clear from the story. A nice touch would be to give a link to clinicaltrials.gov to allow readers the option of looking up more information on the studies in progress and finding out if recruitment is open and how to access the study. The story did a good job putting the new uses of deep brain stimulation into the context of other research and other therapeutic approaches. It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Trying brain pacemakers to zap psychiatric disease"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62c66541af1b4217821aba2196387366",
            "input": "\"Gail Collins loves telling the story of how Mitt Romney drove his family to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car -- and telling it, and telling it, and telling it. The liberal New York Times columnist has mentioned the incident in print 19 times, by our count. She devoted a column to the incident in 2007 when Romney first ran for president. In another column, she suggested John McCain pick Romney for his running mate \"\"so I can repeatedly revisit the time Mitt drove to Canada with the family dog on the station-wagon roof.\"\" And when Sarah Palin was picked instead, and Collins opined that \"\"unlike Mitt Romney, she has never gone on vacation with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car.\"\" Collins regularly includes the incident in jocular news quizzes she writes. (A typical question: Which Republican hopeful \"\"continued to fail to explain why he drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car?\"\" Mitt Romney.) She complained that his 2010 campaign book No Apology didn't mention it, calling it \"\"a critical oversight.\"\" Last year, just in time for the holidays, she suggested someone make \"\"a tasteful Mitt Romney Christmas Ornament\"\" depicting the scene of the dog on the roof. And just last week, she noted that the issue wasn't discussed during the Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Romney's top rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, reportedly shot a coyote that was threatening his daughter's dog, which made the Romney anecdote relevant. \"\"His puppy-rescue is a stirring picture, especially considering that Perry's chief competitor is the man who drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car.\"\" Aside from wondering why Collins is so obsessed with the story, we also wondered: Is it true? We reached Collins to ask her why she liked the story so much, but she said she'd rather let her columns speak for themselves. (See a picture of Seamus here.) The story of Seamus the Irish setter is not an Internet rumor. It first appeared in the august pages of the Boston Globe in 2007, when the paper published a seven-part profile of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who had just launched a presidential run. The story of Seamus kicked off Day Four, a story about Romney's family life, written by Globe reporters Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert. It begins in 1983 with a 36-year-old Mitt Romney carefully packing up his five sons and luggage into the family station wagon for a 12-hour trip from Boston to Ontario, where his parents had a cottage on Lake Huron. At the time, Romney was a successful young consultant with Bain & Company, but he hadn't yet started buying and selling companies with Bain Capital in the private equity field. \"\"As with most ventures in his life, he had left little to chance, mapping out the route and planning each stop. ... Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. \"\" Cruel? It's not presented that way in the story, which noted Romney built a special windshield for the carrier, \"\"to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.\"\" But Seamus must not have been all that comfortable, because he began to experience, um, gastric distress. From the story:   As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours. As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. As the story quickly made its way around the Internet, Romney loathers -- and dog lovers -- had a field day. The liberal blog Wonkette said it showed Romney would be a great commander-in-chief for the notorious Iraq prison Abu Ghraib. David Kravitz of the liberal blog Blue Mass Group called it \"\"nuts\"\" and \"\"classic Romney: it solves a problem efficiently, in a business-like manner, and with no regard whatsoever for the suffering that the solution may cause.\"\" Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told Time's Ana Marie Cox that Romney was giving his children \"\"a lesson in cruelty\"\" and that dogs under extreme stress might lose control of their bowels. \"\"That alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured,\"\" she said. Cox explored whether Romney's actions might have been illegal under animal cruelty laws. (A moot point, because the statute of limitations has long expired.) As to the accuracy of the story, the Globe learned of the incident from friends of the family and confirmed the details with the Romney family. And the candidate himself didn't dispute the report. In fact, in the days following, he defended it. Seamus loved riding in the carrier, Romney told reporters on the campaign trail in 2007. \"\"He scrambled up there every time we went on trips,\"\" Romney said. \"\"He got (up) all by himself and enjoyed it.\"\" He also said PETA had targeted him because there was a rodeo at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, and because he went quail hunting in Georgia. \"\"And they're not happy that my dog likes fresh air,\"\" he added. Actually, Seamus had been dead -- of natural, non-station wagon-related causes -- for years when the story appeared. (He had retired to California to live with Romney's sister, who had more space.) We didn't get answers about Seamus from the Romney campaign, but from Neil Swidey, the Boston Globe reporter who unearthed the story. Swidey said he chose the incident to begin his story because he thought it would resonate with readers as an illustration of Romney's approach to solving problems -- trip is interrupted by dog poop, so Romney pulls over, borrows a hose, takes care of the problem, and is back on his way. \"\"I certainly didn't write it to make it the basis on which you judge a presidential candidate. The fact that some people appear to be doing that is a little bit crazy. But I can understand why it resonates with people,\"\" Swidey said. \"\"It's a window into how this guy operates.\"\" Swidey said some people see it as evidence of Romney's heartlessness, while others see him as logical man and a problem solver. He confirmed the impression we got from reading the story, that the incident was amusing family lore, and that none of the Romney family was upset or disturbed by the dog riding on the roof. In fact, some of the Romneys said they thought the dog actually liked riding on the roof. (Finally, lest we be accused of utter frivolousness, we asked Swidey what aspects of Romney's biography might be more relevant to voters considering Romney for president. He pointed us toward the Globe's coverage of Romney's business career in private equity, his time as governor and Romney's relationship with his father George, who ran for president himself back in 1968.) Here, we're ruling on Collins' statement that Romney \"\"drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car.\"\" It's important to note that the dog was not literally strapped to the car, as in tied around its midsection. Rather, Seamus was in a carrier with a protective windscreen that Romney had built. The dog's diarrhea might indicate that something was amiss, but Romney's family didn't seem bothered by it. The anecdote is presented in the Globe as funny family story, not as evidence of Romney's barbaric cruelty.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Mitt Romney \"\"drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41e4bca7332e4d3e92af87e33570f772",
            "input": "Wiping her face with a cotton pad after a Botox injection, the 49-year-old supermarket worker said she has cut down on petrol and entertainment to afford the treatments, which make the skin appear smoother by temporarily paralyzing muscles. “I want to look at myself in the mirror and feel good. I’m afraid of aging,” Vorlioti said. “Work, the crisis, they push you down and you want something uplifting.”  She is not the only one seeking solace in beauty treatments amid a financial crisis that cut hundreds of thousands of jobs cut, slashed salaries and caused a sharp decline in life satisfaction among Greeks. In fact, it seems Greece is undergoing what has been dubbed the “lipstick effect”, where consumers turn to low cost beauty to boost their mood during economic depressions. Non-surgical procedures in Greece soared to more than 220,000 in 2016 compared to around 61,000 in 2010, the biggest jump in Europe in the six-year period, according to data by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS). At between 80 and 150 euros a pop, it doesn’t come cheap for Greeks, who earn an average net monthly income of about 780 euros. Some, like Vorlioti, need to save up for months in order to be able to afford a treatment and yet more are choosing to have them, doctors say. “The crisis has brought new people to the doctor’s doorstep, people who wouldn’t come before, both men and women who are struggling and want to improve their looks to feel better,” said Lia Papadavid, a dermatologist. “It’s like giving themselves a present,” she told Reuters shortly after giving a middle-aged female a filler injection around her eyes. The rise in Greece follows a world-wide upward trend in non-surgical procedures. It ranked 14th in the world among the top 24 countries in terms of volume of non surgical treatments in 2016, behind countries such as Italy and Germany but above Belgium, according to ISAPS. Surgical treatments, which can cost thousands of euros, are up only 10 percent since 2010. Waiting her turn at the Athens Aurum medical center, 43-year-old Eleni says she turned to injectables in 2013 and has not stopped despite the crisis. “No one has money to spare, everyone is being pressured right now with the crisis, some less, some more. I think it needs a bit of planning, and to love yourself.”  Investment in the beauty industry doubled between 2009-2015, said the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises in a July report. New nail bars and beauty centers have popped up in central Athens and in the central Syntagma square, young men and women are seen handing out flyers advertising discounts on cosmetic services to passers-by. Chairman of the ISAPS Education Council Paraskevas Kontoes  said the surge in non invasive treatments could be explained by their low cost, better results thanks to new technology and people needing to boost their self-esteem battered by years of crisis. Non surgical beauty treatments are fast enough to have in a lunch break, but their effects are only temporary. Results can last eight months or longer depending on the product, Dr Stefanos Stathakis said. He also said most people choose treatments for the face, tying in with other doctors’ reports that their clients believe they can help them score better in a job interview, particularly as competition for jobs in Greece is fierce. “They believe it will become easier for them to get a job,” said Vorlioti’s dermatologist Froso Saksioni. “People struggle and come here for a change. If you charge them a fortune for a treatment it’s like giving them a slap instead.”  As Saksioni prepares for “a vampire lift”, where the doctor withdraws and then reinjects a patient’s blood to erase wrinkles, Vorlioti books her next appointment. “I’ve decided to cut down on everything else to do this”, she said. “When I feel good about myself, I think it shows.”",
            "output": [
                "The lipstick effect: Greeks discover need to pamper in crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc99eef03fbc4d46be0c481dbdc1ba22",
            "input": "\"The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism’s celebration of Passover. In an effort dubbed \"\"A Billion Acts of Green,\"\" organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health -- from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. “Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change,” said Chad Chitwood, a spokesman for the umbrella group coordinating efforts. There will be hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events around the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries. In the United States the activities range from the premiere of the new film from the director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (it’s called “Revenge of the Electric Car”) at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York to a discussion about creating a green economy in 12 cities along the Gulf Coast, where this time last year residents were reeling from the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In the years since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 the environmentalist movement made great strides with passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other groundbreaking laws. But the bipartisanship that marked the birth of Earth Day — it was sponsored in Congress by a Wisconsin Democrat named Gaylord Nelson and a California Republican named Pete McCloskey — is often missing in discussions about environmental policy today. Efforts to fight climate change by regulating greenhouse gases, for instance, face fierce resistance from many Republicans and members of the business community, who dispute the science supporting global warming and warn new rules to regulate emissions will kill jobs and raise energy costs.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Earth Day organizers call for \"\"a billion acts of green\"\".\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3721194004d54ca39a525642c1993baf",
            "input": "\"Even before Donald Trump’s Republican rivals bowed out, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted a video warning about a potential Trump presidency. The video opens with a clip of Trump at an event saying, \"\"Everything I say I’m going to do folks, I do.\"\" It then lists eight steps Trump has said he will take. As the text of each one appears on the screen, audio of Trump plays in the background. We’ll go through in order and assess whether Trump really has made each promise. We asked the Trump campaign if any of these promises were misstated, or if they weren’t actually promises. We did not hear back. ‘Get rid of gun-free zones on schools on his first day’ At a campaign event in Burlington, Vt., on Jan. 7, 2016, Trump said that the number of victims in San Bernardino, Calif., and in Paris would have been much lower if the people in those places had been armed. He lamented the deaths of five soldiers in a shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tenn. \"\"I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools, and — you have to — and on military bases,\"\" Trump said. \"\"My first day, it gets signed, okay? My first day. There's no more gun-free zones.\"\" The Clinton campaign also cited an interview with Trump on the Outdoor Channel Jan. 21, 2016, in which he said, \"\"I'm going to get rid of gun-free zones on military bases. I'm also going to do it in schools.\"\" Trump has said little recently about gun-free zones, but the issue resurfaced when a petition emerged that would allow delegates to the Republican National Convention to carry guns. On March 28, 2016, ABC reporter Jonathan Karl asked Trump if he would support that. Trump said he would consider the petition, but the Secret Service ruled out allowing guns at the conventions as a security risk. ‘Defund Planned Parenthood’ Trump’s stance on funding Planned Parenthood has shifted somewhat over time. In August 2015, he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that it would be worth shutting down the government to cut off tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood. But he has also praised the organization for providing regular care to women of limited means. In March, Trump said, \"\"Millions of women have been helped by Planned Parenthood,\"\" and then continued \"\"but we're not going to allow, and we're not going to fund, as long as you have the abortion going on at Planned Parenthood.\"\" Trump’s overarching position on taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood is that he supports defunding Planned Parenthood so long as the organization continues to perform abortions. ‘Repeal Obamacare’ There doesn’t seem to be any ambiguity on this one. On his campaign website, Trump says \"\"On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.\"\" ‘Build a great great wall’ Trump has made building a wall along the border with Mexico his signature initiative, and he hasn’t wavered. He has said it many times. In the course of interviews with the New York Times published May 4, 2016, he said within his first 100 days the wall would be designed, and there would be bilateral talks with Mexico, presumably on how they would pay for it -- another promise Trump has made. Establish ‘a deportation force’ There is no question that Trump called for teams to remove an estimated 11 million people who are in the country without authorization. The term itself goes back to an interview Trump gave on MSNBC in November 2015 when he said \"\"You’re going to have a deportation force. And you’re going to do it humanely.\"\" We couldn’t find Trump promoting this again, although in the Feb. 25, 2016, Republican debate, he didn’t back away from the phrase. CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer teed up a question saying, \"\"Mr. Trump, you've called for a deportation force to remove the 11 million undocumented immigrants from the United States.\"\" Trump prefaced his answer with a cut at his rivals for supporting amnesty and then said, \"\"We either have a country, or we don't have a country. We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out.\"\" Trump has definitely committed to expanding the number of immigration and border control agents and to removing 11 million people. He hasn’t said if he would create a new deportation unit. While he might not be touting the same phrase, the result remains the same. ‘Ban Muslims from entering the country’ Immediately after the shootings by Muslim fundamentalists in San Bernardino in December 2015, the Trump campaign issued a statement saying, \"\"Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.\"\" Within a few days, Trump said certain people would be exempted, including American citizens who are Muslim, foreign leaders, and athletes headed to competitions. However, according to the New York Times, within his first 100 days \"\"the immigration ban on Muslims would be in place.\"\" That puts the ban firmly in the promise zone. ‘Kill the spouses and children of our enemies’ Trump said this during an interview on Fox and Friends, Dec. 2, 2015. \"\"The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,\"\" Trump said. In an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Trump seemed to dial down this threat. O’Reilly asked him if he would have killed members of the bin Laden family. Trump said \"\"I don't want to be so bold. I want to tell you they would suffer.\"\" Trump was pressed on this at the Republican debate in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015. Asked how this policy would set the United States apart from ISIS, Trump said, \"\"We have to be much tougher.\"\" Trump finished his answer with, \"\"I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families’ lives.\"\" While this could be a death threat, it isn’t quite as clear as his original statement. Clearly, he wants to make family members suffer, but he doesn’t say how much. Restore waterboarding and ‘go further’ In the Republican debate right before the New Hampshire primary, Trump said, \"\"I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.\"\" Trump stood by his waterboarding policy on March 22, 2016, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he would \"\"go further.\"\" Trump has also said that \"\"torture works.\"\" The only caveat that Trump offered during his CNN interview is that he would listen to military officials’ advice on the use of interrogation methods. Whether a Trump administration would ever use waterboarding, he has promised to keep it on the table. Our ruling A Clinton campaign video listed eight steps Trump has promised to take as president. Five of those are firmly on the Trump agenda. That includes repealing Obamacare, building a wall along the Mexican border, deporting illegal immigrants, banning Muslims at the border, and restoring waterboarding and other torture techniques. On eliminating gun-free zones on school grounds, he hasn’t repeated it recently, but we saw no evidence he had changed his stance. There might be some debate over his plan to defund Planned Parenthood, because he links that to continued abortions. However, there is no indication that the group plans to stop providing that service, so a President Trump would need to cut funding if he wanted to keep his promise. The one exaggeration in the video is his threat to kill the families of terrorists. Trump seems to have backed off that promise. He has said he would make them suffer, not necessarily kill them. The video might miss a couple of nuances, but it is generally accurate.",
            "output": [
                "Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump promised to repeal Obamacare, build a wall, ban Muslims, and more."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a47d24b378d472dbe44f57fbb7a5d3b",
            "input": "In May 2020, as demonstrators in various parts of the U.S. continued to advocate for the lessening of social-distancing measures and forced business closures enacted to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, social media users circulated the following photograph, said to have been taken at an “end the lockdown” protest:  Many viewers found the protester’s sign equating the mandatory wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks to muzzles worn by dogs or slaves to be insulting, and they questioned whether this image was authentic or whether the wording of the sign had been digitally altered.",
            "output": [
                "\"A photograph shows a protester against pandemic stay-at-home orders holding a sign declaring that \"\"muzzles are for dogs and slaves.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-91faebf0dcbe47b3b972209b64c1cc29",
            "input": "Berina Hamidovic was the first victim of politicking over identity numbers, which has united Bosnians in protests against the institutional paralysis that has blocked post-conflict reforms and the country’s path towards the European Union. The somber gathering followed days of protests in Sarajevo and other towns over lawmakers’ failure to agree new legislation on citizens’ identity numbers. The row has left babies born since February unregistered, and therefore denied passports or medical cards. The protesters this time did not carry banners or posters, but encircled parliament with a ring of candles placed on the ground, and stood or walked in silence. The baby’s parents said the time they had wasted persuading Serbian border police to let her in without a passport to go to a hospital in Belgrade for surgery had cost her her chance of life. The baby was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula - a hole between her gullet and windpipe - and had already had an unsuccessful operation in Sarajevo. “We practically had to take the child across the border illegally, although she was legally allowed to travel for urgent health reasons,” the baby’s father Emir Hamidovic said. When the baby was finally admitted to hospital in Belgrade, Bosnian authorities refused to pay for the surgery. Though the Serbian doctors agreed to carry out the procedure, the baby contracted an infection and died. “She perhaps had a chance to stay alive, but this is an obvious example how the state does not take care of its citizens,” said Hamidovic, 31, who is unemployed. The protests over ID numbers started two weeks ago after another 3-month-old baby was unable to leave for urgent surgery abroad because lawmakers could not agree how to redraw the districts that determine the 13-digit identification number assigned to each citizen. Similar ethnic wrangles have plagued Bosnia since the end of its 1992-95 war, which left it divided along ethnic lines with a weak central government and a system of ethnic quotas that has stifled development. The Serbs are pressing for a new registration arrangement along territorial lines. Muslims, known as Bosniaks, say that would only cement the ethnic divide.",
            "output": [
                "Bosnians mourn baby who died for lack of ID number."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4e8403a8aae44a8b2dcc040f3f5bd0d",
            "input": "The company announced $4 million in grants and said it would support “drive through” testing at 22 hospitals. Hyundai said it would provide the tests, which have been developed by South Korea-based diagnostics company Seegene, to hospitals in cities including New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the global auto industry into the worst tailspin since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, with consumer demand collapsing as governments have enforced lockdowns in China, Europe and the United States. Hyundai’s U.S. sales fell 43% in March due to the pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Hyundai to provide COVID 19 tests, 'drive through' testing support in U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12311463ef764f18872008b5ad01b78c",
            "input": "On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people’s social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes (“How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce ‘Happy’ Disabled People”) and the Daily Kos website (“Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets”). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people’s posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary’s symptoms when there is a CDI unit’s Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant’s case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to “investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA’s Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.”) In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of “other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications” but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are “too happy” their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS — Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019  In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling “fine” in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said “This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.” They reversed that shit so fast. — Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019  The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn’t yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a “fundamental misunderstanding” of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. “Disabled people don’t all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,” Barbarin wrote. “Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.” Perusing people’s social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that’s already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year — or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it’s also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo.",
            "output": [
                "The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cadc5f2d6bc84e13824f6621994ac930",
            "input": "Scientists said on Monday an analysis of well-preserved ancient peach pits traces the domestication of this sweet fruit back at least 7,500 years to China’s lower Yangtze River Valley in the vicinity of Shanghai. Indeed, peaches were among the first tree fruits to be domesticated as early human societies embraced horticulture, the study indicates. “There is a long history of peach cultivation in China,” said one of the researchers, Yunfei Zheng of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Relics and Archaeology in Hangzhou, China, noting that China still leads the world in peach production. The researchers compared peach pits, also called stones, from six Chinese locations, covering a period of roughly 5,000 years. An analysis of pit size from each location showed that peaches were growing steadily larger as time passed in the Yangtze valley, illustrating that people there had been domesticating this fruit. It took perhaps 3,000 years before the domesticated peaches came to look like peaches grown now. Peach pits, almost indistinguishable from today’s, date back about 4,300 to 5,300 years, the researchers said. Gary Crawford, a University of Toronto Mississauga anthropology professor who took part in the study published in the journal PLOS ONE, said there were many reasons why the peach tree was a good candidate for domestication. It is relatively quick maturing - producing fruit in just two to three years - as well as being responsive to breeding for size and sweetness, among other qualities. “It’s also tasty and produces a lot of fruit. They are rich in vitamins A and C and have a lot of energy - calories - per fruit,” Crawford added. “The flavor is amazing. I like eating them raw mostly, but peach pies and peach crumble are right up there.”   Radiocarbon dating of the pits showed peaches split from their wild ancestors as long as 7,500 years ago. Peaches went from being small with very little flesh to a robust fruit like we see today. Crawford said the wild ancestor of the peach apparently is extinct. “In China, the peach is a symbol of long life and has a significant role to play in Chinese culture,” said Crawford, adding that conventional wisdom had been that the peach originated somewhere else in China. It was a capable Chinese culture called the Kuahuqiao that seems to have begun peach domestication. Rice domestication was already under way in the area. “They were settled in small towns, had a broad spectrum of foods and other resources, had dugout canoes and were burning areas of the landscape for managing the local ecosystems,” Crawford said. They also raised pigs, kept domesticated dogs, stored large amounts of acorns, used wooden tools and made high-quality wheel-turned pottery, Crawford said.",
            "output": [
                "Peachy keen: ancient pits reveal origin of peach domestication."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-467773e348ef400fae678ec487b6a302",
            "input": "The EPA issued a certificate to Boston-based GE saying that it has completed its remedial action under the federal Superfund program. Critics of the cleanup wanted the EPA to withhold the certificate and to demand further dredging. EPA Regional Administrator Peter Lopez said more time and testing are needed to fully assess the $1.7 billion cleanup that GE has done, and he stressed that the company can still be compelled in the coming decades to do more work, including additional dredging. “GE is not off the hook,” Lopez told reporters during a conference call. “If new information comes in that causes EPA to conclude that more work is needed to protect public health and the environment, we can and will require GE to take that action.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, promptly announced they intend to sue the EPA over its decision. They claim levels of the contaminating polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, remain unacceptably high in the river sediment and in fish. Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper, two environmental groups lobbying for additional dredging, said they would support litigation. “Since the EPA has failed to hold GE accountable for fulfilling its obligation to restore the river, New York state will take any action necessary to protect our waterways and that includes suing the EPA to demand a full and complete remediation,’” Cuomo said in a written news release. “Anything less is unacceptable.” Cuomo accused the Republican Trump Administration of putting corporations’ interests ahead of public health and the environment. EPA officials said their decision was guided by Superfund law and science. The EPA said in a “five-year review” of the river released Friday that there is not enough testing data on fish, water and sediment yet to determine if the cleanup will succeed in its goal of protecting human health and the environment. Lopez said that will take more time and monitoring before a conclusion could be reached. The review found some signs of progress in removing highly contaminated sediment, though it found three spots in the upper river with slightly elevated levels of PCBs. Until the mid-1970s, GE factories discharged more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of PCBs into the river. The probable carcinogen, used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment, was banned in 1977. GE said the EPA’s decision confirms the success of the project. “GE will continue to collect environmental data to assess ongoing improvements in river conditions and to work closely with EPA, New York State, and local communities on other Hudson environmental projects,” the company said in a written statement.",
            "output": [
                "EPA won’t make GE restart Hudson dredging for now."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df8c98005afb407e954b03f9c6d14c2b",
            "input": "The Alabama Department of Public Health said Friday that here has been a pneumococcal disease outbreak at the Ventress Correctional Facility in Barbour County. Three inmates were hospitalized and one inmate died after developing meningitis. Health officials said the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria can cause illnesses ranging from ear and sinus infections to pneumonia and meningitis. The Alabama Department of Corrections is giving antibiotics to inmates and staff who have had close contact with inmates who have been ill. The health department has ordered vaccine doses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.",
            "output": [
                "Illness outbreak reported at state prison, 1 inmate dead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1697ca87fb07479c9d7d7558dc314829",
            "input": "Most lawmakers will spend the week in their home districts but a select few will gather in New York City for a hearing on what experts say is a looming crisis in home health care services. When the full Legislature returns Feb. 28, lawmakers can look forward to a month of backroom negotiations over the state budget. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a $152 billion spending plan. Lawmakers hope to agree on a final budget before April 1, the start of a new fiscal year. Another unresolved issue is Uber’s request to expand upstate. Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft are both prohibited from operating outside of New York City. ___ This story has been corrected to show the home health care services hearing in in New York City, not Albany.",
            "output": [
                "This Week from Albany: Break before budget work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-afca316d27b340e193f007fbb76d61d4",
            "input": "In February 2020, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. While U.S. President Donald Trump honored the controversial commentator with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, some social media users noted that Limbaugh had a history of making demeaning comments on his program. For instance, one widely shared video clip supposedly showed Limbaugh mocking actor Michael J. Fox and claiming that he was “exaggerating” symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease. Just A Quick Reminder Of The Time Rush Limbaugh Mocked Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's By Pretending To Shake Uncontrollably. pic.twitter.com/dX3L0jtnUv — Austin (@austin63867) February 3, 2020  This is a genuine clip of Limbaugh describing Fox on his program. Media Matters archived the full audio of this segment, which originally aired during an Oct. 23, 2006, episode of Limbaugh’s radio show. Here’s a partial transcript of the segment: In this commercial he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act. This is the only time I’ve ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. He can control himself to keep himself in the frame of the picture. And he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. This is really shameless, folks. This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting. Fox, who is probably best known for playing young conservative Alex P. Keaton on the show “Family Ties” and the time-traveling high school student Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” series, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991. In 2006, he filmed a 30-second ad for former Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and her support of stem cell research: Limbaugh was commenting on this advertisement in the above-displayed clip. The segment stirred considerable controversy at the time and even drew an apology from Limbaugh. The Guardian reported: “Hours later the talkshow host was forced to retract. ‘I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong. '” While Limbaugh initially apologized, he would later say on his show that he never made fun of Fox and that this controversy was created by the “drive-by” media. Limbaugh also renewed attacks on Fox and said that the actor was “allowing his illness to be exploited” and was “shilling for a Democratic politician.” The Washington Post reported: After his apology, Limbaugh shifted his ground and renewed his attack on Fox. “Now people are telling me they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial,” Limbaugh said, according to a transcript on his Web site. “All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Radio host Rush Limbaugh once claimed that actor Michael J. Fox was \"\"exaggerating\"\" his Parkinson's disease symptoms in a political ad.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-629ad1cd7b514adbaaacb1f3fca41c1e",
            "input": "The drug fully eradicated medulloblastoma tumors in mice in 2004. But further testing showed it caused permanent bone damage in immature mice, Tom Curran of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues found. Writing in the journal Cancer Cell, they said the drug, known by its experimental name HhAntag, will need to be developed with caution. And, they said, similar drugs will need careful testing. HhAntag, made by California-based Genentech, affects a gene called Hedgehog, involved in both normal development and in cancer. It is a so-called signal transduction inhibitor, designed to interrupt Hedgehog’s cancer-causing effects. Several such drugs are currently in pediatric clinical trials. “While it is not clear that the bone defects we observed in mice would also occur in children, and while signal transduction inhibitors may still represent a highly promising approach to treating pediatric cancer, it may be important to perform preclinical testing in young animals before moving ahead to clinical trials,” Curran said in a statement. Medulloblastomas account for about one in five childhood brain tumors. “Current therapy, involving a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, is relatively successful with a five year survival rate of 78 percent,” Curran’s team wrote. “However, the prognosis is much worse for patients younger than 3 and in older patients with metastatic disease.”    The Hedgehog-inhibiting drugs had been considered a promising new approach for these young patients. But even brief use of the drug in 10- to 14-day-old mice caused permanent damage, Curran found. “We already knew that the same biological pathway involved in the growth of tumors was also involved in bone development but we did not expect temporary inhibition to cause an irreversible change in bone growth,” Curran said. It may be possible to find a way to protect the growing bones of children and still use the drug, Curran said. “Thus, although the impact of a brief suppression of Hedgehog pathway on bone development in mice is quite striking, this should not preclude attempts to develop a highly promising anti-cancer treatment for pediatric medulloblastoma,” his team concluded.",
            "output": [
                "Promising Cancer Drug May Endanger Child's Bones."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-901d74d67c8d4c15b2c4d77640a08d6d",
            "input": "That morning of March 20, 2017, the family learned Ezykowsky had a record-sized meningioma tumor — a noncancerous mass that will impact more than 32,000 people this year. The grapefruit-sized tumor had grown so large that it pushed Ezykowsky’s brain to the side until she could no longer function. Rushing to Excela Health Latrobe Hospital, Michelle Kuba pleaded with doctors that her daughter wasn’t high or drunk. She eventually persuaded them to perform a CT scan, which provided a clear picture of the tumor. “The doctor came in and said, ‘I’m so sorry, but your daughter has a massive brain tumor. We cannot help her. It’s taking her life,’ ” Kuba recalled. “And he said, ‘I cannot stay with you. I have to go find somebody to take her case.’ ” At that moment, Kuba prayed — to God and to her late husband, Ryan Ezykowsky, thinking of it as a custody battle. “I kind of was, like, arguing with him down the hallway,” Kuba said. “Because I thought, ‘Who wins custody?’ I was just begging, just begging God and begging Ryan, just please let us keep her.” ‘Tina’ Strapped into a helicopter with her mom sitting next to the pilot, the then-19-year-old Ezykowsky was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. There, she endured hours of tests that ended when doctors needed time to plan for the surgery on the tumor Ezykowsky named “Tina,” for reasons unknown to the family. Finally, she was wheeled to the operating room for what was supposed to be a surgery that lasted six to eight hours. Michele was left in a waiting room with her second husband, Joe Kuba, and her 17-year-old daughter Ryssa Ezykowsky. During that time, Michele took a trimmer to her head, cutting off her hair, knowing her daughter would be bald the next time she saw her, but having no idea what else to expect. She cleaned the waiting room, she passed out snacks, emptied garbage cans and ran the sweeper, waiting for the every-few-hours phone call from a nurse who would tell them everything was OK. “The eighth hour passed, and the ninth hour and the 10th hour and the 11th hour,” Michele said. “And in those hours, I was literally losing my mind.” When Ezykowsky’s doctor came out of surgery 15 hours later, all Kuba could do was grab hold of him. She was told the entire tumor could not be removed without killing her daughter. About 20% is left and it will grow in the future — doctors just aren’t sure when, Kuba said. After, she was led down the neurological intensive care hallway — walking past patients in vegetative states or who were ventilated — to her daughter’s room at the end, not knowing what to expect. “I get to her room and they had just removed her breathing tube, and all she had was oxygen and she was talking,” Kuba said. “And that does not happen. And right then and there she got named Miracle Meah by everyone at Presby.” Green Day A week after surgery, Ezykowsky once again found herself in an unexpected situation — at a Green Day concert. Ezykowsky and her mom were in a courtyard when a woman approached them, offering free tickets to see the rock band, playing across the street from the hospital. “Pretty much as soon as I said, ‘Yeah, sure, we’ll go see them,’ I was like, ‘Why did I say yes to that?’ ” Ezykowsky said, laughing. By then, Ezykowsky learned she had only a pinpoint of vision out of her right eye and had lost any memory prior to junior high school. But what she wasn’t expecting was a personality change. The formerly quiet student studying social work with a focus on substance abuse was now “a party,” Kuba said. Through high school, Ezykowsky advocated for Students Against Destructive Decisions, speaking on state and national levels. “My dad was actually killed by a drunk driver,” Ezykowsky said. “So I wanted to do what I could to prevent it from happening to other families, so that’s why I started speaking about it and telling my story.” But “Tina” quickly changed her path. The 21-year-old is now an outgoing artist, photographer and musician, with slightly different goals. Recently finishing mobility training with a cane, she is setting her focus on getting a guide dog, which she hopes to use to educate kids about being blind. “It seems like leaving the house, people just look at you like, ‘What’s her deal?’ Like they don’t understand it, and there’s so many misconceptions about being blind,” Ezykowsky said. Kuba agreed, adding, “That’s the hardest part is people will say, ‘Well, she’s back at school, right?’ or ‘She has a job?’ That’s kind of where we’re at a loss because . she’s not just blind, so it’s, like, if that was just one aspect that would be one thing. But it’s like how do you go back to something when you don’t have a memory?” Recovery Released from the hospital March 27, 2017, Ezykowsky was forced to relearn skills — “second firsts,” her mother calls them — such as walking, cooking and doing basic chores. But the 19-year-old found herself back in the hospital a week later being treated for hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain. The morning of surgery, Ezykowsky woke up with a fever of 104 degrees, forcing doctors to apply a temporary stent to remove fluid from her brain until they could complete the surgery. Finally, doctors were able to add a tube that runs from her brain into her belly, where the fluid is absorbed by the lining, Kuba said. At the same time, doctors worked on her eyes, providing the only way Ezykowsky has any vision at all. Over two years later, Ezykowsky and Kuba are still working to master basic skills, filling their days solving TV mysteries, attending art classes and keeping anxiety and post-traumatic stress low. While the future is still uncertain, Ezykowsky is positive about one thing. “I know I’ll be helping other people somehow with whatever I do, because I’m not happy if I’m focusing on me,” she said. “I like to be focusing on somebody else.” Through it all, Ezykowsky stuck to that philosophy. When their dad died, Kuba told her daughters, “It’s your story that made you stronger. I said, ‘You have the choice to make that happen. You can choose to let it wreck you or you can choose to let it help you and help other people.’ ” And not once has Ezykowsky asked, “Why me?” Each time Kuba wishes she could take that pain from her daughter, Ezykowsky says, “This is for me. This is for me for whatever reason.” ___ Online: https://bit.ly/2IykhM0 ___ Information from: Tribune-Review, http://triblive.com",
            "output": [
                "Woman pushes on 2 years after brain tumor changed her life."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3116a739c48242dbb0cd4aaccfcf4e5d",
            "input": "In January 2018, Rep. Joe Kennedy III attracted scrutiny from both left-wing and right-wing observers, after he was designated to give the official Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address in January 2018. On 28 January 2018, this meme appeared, making claims about the Massachusetts Congressman’s purported links to the pharmaceutical industry, and his record on several major issues:  This is Joe. Pharmaceutical companies have given Joe $348K since 2011. Joe has $434K of stock in a company charging $1,000 per pill for a live-saving drug. Joe opposes legal marijuana and universal healthcare legislation. Don’t be like Joe. Pharmaceutical industry donations An article from GritPost.com elaborated on these claims: Rep. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) might be pharma’s favorite Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, given that he’s received more than $57,000 from the pharmaceutical/health products industry in this current election cycle alone. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, that’s approximately four times more than pharma’s average contribution to House Democrats. Over the course of his short Congressional career, Kennedy has received more than $348,000 since 2011. The source of these claims about contributions to Kennedy is the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, DC-based non-profit that tracks political donations on the web site Open Secrets. The figures in the article are accurate; the industry’s contributions to Kennedy total $348,077 over the course of his six-year career as a politician. Investments in pharmaceuticals The Grit Post article and the meme also allege Kennedy had personal investments in a controversial pharmaceutical company. Grit Post writes: As the Boston Globe reported last year, Rep. Kennedy has more than $434,000 invested in Gilead Sciences, Inc. Gilead is the manufacturer of life-saving hepatitis C drug Sovaldi — which Gilead recently increased to $1,000 per pill, or $84,000 for a treatment. While it’s true Kennedy has investments in Gilead, this claim is slightly misleading and out of date. In May 2016, the Boston Globe reported that the Congressman had “earned stock value of up to $434,999 from investments in Gilead Sciences Inc” and furthermore: His holdings in Gilead, as of the end of 2015, totaled between $180,004 and $450,000, according to financial disclosures. So actually, Kennedy’s investments in Gilead could have been as low as $180,004 at the time of the Boston Globe article in May 2016. The Globe was careful to point out that members of Congress are not required to provide exact figures for their personal investments and assets, but rather ranges. Grit Post left out this detail. In any event, Kennedy provided a more up-to-date financial disclosure at the end of 2016, which showed his investments in Gilead by then totalled between $80,003 and $200,000. Financial disclosures for 2017 have not yet been published. Whatever the exact amounts involved, Kennedy’s investment in Gilead has been controversial largely because the company sells Solvadi, its brand name for the drug sofosbuvir, which is used to treat Hepatitis C. As Grit Post points out, Gilead Sciences has attracted criticism for the high price of Solvadi which is $1,000 per pill or $84,000 for a course of treatment. Kennedy’s investment is part of a trust fund managed by a financial adviser. Craig Holman, from the advocacy group Public Citizen, told the Globe in 2016 that the profits Kennedy and the company were making were “harming many of the citizens of Massachusetts.” According to Open Secrets, 19 members of Congress (as well as Donald Trump) held shares in Gilead Sciences in 2015. Stance on marijuana The Grit Post meme’s claim that Kennedy opposes marijuana legalization is accurate. While the national conversation has shifted to discuss recreational marijuana’s legalization, over the years many leaders have come to voice support for the medical uses for marijuana. However, Kennedy not only opposes recreational use, but he has a record of voting against measures to protect and enhance access to medical marijuana. In 2015, Kennedy was one of 10 Democrats who sided with a Republican majority to pass a bill that would—among many other things—restrict funding for states that wanted to legalize marijuana. The bill died in Senate. Grit Post also correctly pointed out that Kennedy, in a 2016 interview, said “I don’t think marijuana should be legalized.” Stance on universal healthcare The meme’s claim that Kennedy opposes “universal healthcare legislation” requires closer examination. In September 2017, Kennedy expressed tentative support for a single-payer healthcare system, but hesitated to support bills then before the House of Representatives and Senate that would have expanded Medicare. At the time, Kennedy told Boston Public Radio the bills were “100 percent right on the value that they’re trying to enshrine into federal law — that healthcare is a right in this country, not a privilege to be enjoyed by the few…” However, he said there were “details” in the House bill (introduced by Democratic Rep. John Conyers) with which he was ‘struggling.’ When pressed, Kennedy said he supported universal healthcare, but said a single-payer system (funded by taxes and administered by the government) was “a way that we could get there, and that’s great, but I think that the critical piece to this is ensuring that everybody gets access to quality, affordable, accessible healthcare…”",
            "output": [
                "Over the course of his career, Democratic Congressman Joe Kennedy has received $348,000 in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-89077307fe254bde838253ae7be9200c",
            "input": "“We are all horrified. The idea of one of my friends having to go into this situation without having any protective gear, I just can’t imagine,” said Paul. “If we can do one little thing, we’re going to do it.”  Paul is among a growing number eager to answer desperate calls from healthcare workers on social media and community forums asking for assistance in acquiring masks, gloves and other equipment needed to protect them against the pandemic that has killed at least 660 people in the United States and sickened more than 50,000. Craig Enis, 50, works as a registered subacute nurse at Generations Healthcare in Walnut Creek, California. He said the facility is running low on surgical masks, gowns for isolation rooms, and hand sanitizer. “N95-masks are just nonexistent right now,” he said. Enis is afraid for himself as a healthcare worker and for his vulnerable patients, but nothing scares him more than possibly bringing home the virus to his two children. “It’s incredibly scary because I’m a single father, and they have no choice but to be with me, so whatever I come home with, they’re exposed to,” Enis said. A Google spreadsheet circulating online showed informal requests for almost three dozen medical facilities in the Bay Area, including the University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF), Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health. Each request described items the facilities would accept and how to deliver them. With California under a stay-at-home order, Paul rallied volunteer sewers to help. She has posted an instructional video on YouTube, provided kits with materials, and coordinated deliveries. “We’re all volunteering, and it just shows what a group of concerned citizens can do. We’ll probably get 100 masks out today,” said Paul, whose company, Indigo Handloom, is partnering with community members, including City College of San Francisco’s fashion department, to increase mask production. Anne Cocquyt, 36, in San Francisco, spent the weekend collecting unused and unopened boxes of N95-masks for nurses at Kaiser. She said she felt compelled to help after hearing reports on social media that nurses were cutting up plastic bottles to use as face shields. “That’s when we said ‘OK, we need to do something right now,’” Cocquyt said. “This is a drop in the bucket but at the same time this might be one day’s worth of supplies for the nurses in the ER.”  In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it was working to increase its supply of protective gear as quickly as possible and develop “a process to efficiently collect, inventory, inspect, and distribute these donations.”  UCSF, meanwhile, set up three donation sites that opened on Monday. A statement called the donations critical for frontline employees.",
            "output": [
                "Sewing machines become latest weapon against coronavirus as California volunteers swing into action."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-435d3db097d049b9a14a5dc71daa2869",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention the costs of zinc products. The story does a good job of describing how many studies showed no effect of the zinc products. In the one study showing a benefit of zinc nasal gel, the story provides quantification of benefits in natural frequencies (days of duration of the cold) rather than in terms of relative reduction. The story discusses unpleasant taste, upset stomatch, stinging sensation and, potentially, loss of smell as harms or side effects of zinc products. The story does a great job of describing the design of the current study, which is a special kind of literature review. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of colds. In fact the writer could have emphasized that colds are expensive, resulting in lost productivity and sick days due to illness in workers and their children. The story quotes an independent expert as well as the lead author on the current study and the representative of the manufacturer. The story mentions over-the-counter antihistamines, decongestants, and pain releivers as alternatives, appropriately pointing out that there is no \"\"cure\"\" for the common cold. The story clearly states that zinc products are available over the counter in drugstores. The story clearly states that zinc products are not a new idea. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume that the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "An element of mystery in zinc cold treatments"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0eb31a508c8846268d2ea7e8811c6839",
            "input": "The law goes beyond Dutch legislation that set a minimum age of 12 for children judged mature enough to decide to end their lives. It has popular support in Belgium, where adult euthanasia became legal in 2002. In the Chamber of Representatives, 86 lawmakers voted in favor, 44 against and 12 abstained. Most opposition parties supported it, as well as the governing socialists and liberals. One man in the public gallery shouted “murderers” in French when the vote was passed. The Christian Democrats, although members of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo’s coalition, voted against. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders denounced the law ahead of the vote in a rare joint declaration and Catholic bishops have led days of prayer and fasting against it. “This is not about lethal injections for children. This is about terminally ill children, whose death is imminent and who suffer greatly,” said Carina Van Cauter, a lawmaker for the Flemish Liberal Democrats who back the law. “There are clear checks and balances in the law to prevent abuse,” she said of the legislation, which now has to pass the largely symbolic stage of being signed by the country’s monarch. The vote has attracted more attention abroad than in Belgium, where none of the major newspapers carried the news of Thursday’s vote on their front pages, and television news concentrated on Belgium being in the international spotlight. Children seeking to end their lives must be “capable of discernment”, the law says, and psychologists must test them to confirm they understand what they are doing. Parents must also approve of their child’s decision. Supporters of the law say these safeguards would rule out the very young and teenagers not mature enough to decide. Opponents have dismissed these rules as arbitrary and warned the new law will lead to a slippery slope of ever wider interpretation and a “banalization” of euthanasia. Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, asked at a prayer vigil last week why the state wanted to give minors such responsibility when they had to wait until 18 for many other legal rights. “The law says adolescents cannot make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, but suddenly they’ve become able to decide that someone should make them die,” he said. Belgium’s rules on euthanasia have come under international scrutiny in the past year after it granted the right to die to deaf twin brothers who were about to turn blind [ID:nL6N0AJBLI] and to a transgender person after an unsuccessful sex change operation. The new law specifies that children seeking euthanasia must be terminally ill rather than just in a state of unbearable suffering, which is the qualification for adults. Belgian nurse Sonja Develter, who has cared for some 200 children in the final stages of their lives since 1992, said she opposed the law. “In my experience as a nurse, I never had a child asking to end their life,” Develter told Reuters before the vote. But requests for euthanasia did often come from parents who were emotionally exhausted after seeing their children fight for their lives for so long, she added. In practice, supporters of child euthanasia say, there are likely to be few minors who will be allowed to die. The Netherlands has had five cases of child euthanasia since the law went into effect there in 2002. The total number of Dutch euthanasia cases has been 2,000 to 4,000 a year. Between 2006 and 2012, there was just one case of a Belgian under the age of 20 requesting euthanasia. Over 1,000 people opt for euthanasia in Belgium annually. Apart from Belgium and the Netherlands, euthanasia is also legal in neighboring Luxembourg, and France is considering legalizing it later this year. Switzerland allows assisted suicide if the person concerned takes an active role. In the United States, assisted suicide is legal in Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington states.",
            "output": [
                "\"Belgium extends \"\"right-to-die\"\" to terminally ill children.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db92ffe853624255ad0d1f4198f00baa",
            "input": "The Board of Animal Health issued its request last Wednesday for the state’s 330 deer farms to voluntarily stop moving deer until Jan. 15, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The board considered putting the state on mandatory lockdown, but opponents argued that would negatively impact breeding. “That designation would have a long-lasting impact on every farm in the state, even if they had nothing to do with any case of CWD,” said Tim Spreck, a lobbyist for the the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association. Spreck and others warned the board that if they adopted a state lockdown, other states could block Minnesota deer imports, and this would hinder farmers’ ability to participate in the breeding business. “It felt like we needed to tap the brakes, rather than having deer continuing to move here and there,” said Dean Compart, chairman of the Board. He initially thought that the statewide lock down was probably the right course of action, but he changed his mind. “You have to do what you can to stop the disease, but you don’t want to damage an industry,” Compart noted. Rep. Rick Hansen, a Democratic Farmer Labor Party member, said the board’s decision could present a threat to wild deer. “This is an example of an agency unable to respond to the facts,” Hansen, who has called for stricter rules on deer farms, said. “This is protecting the status quo.” The board’s request came after a doe tested positive for CWD in Douglas County. Dr. Beth Thompson, the state veterinarian who serves as executive director of the board, said the 8-year-old doe wasn’t born there, raising concerns that it became infected at another farm. Thompson said that herd is connected to multiple herds outside the county. All of those farms have been placed on lockdown. The infected deer has been killed and an epidemiologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken samples from deer at the other farms, Thompson added. Thompson said she hopes to have some test results within weeks, but that the investigation will likely last at least a month.",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota restricts movement of farmed deer to curb disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c4a8c13d4bd416db043751078924b51",
            "input": "The “Breathing for the Soul” choir, which was formed this spring, gave its second performance on Thursday in the ball room of a Budapest Hotel. Its members, many seriously ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and drawn from hospitals across Hungary, say the singing has improved the quality of their lives. “I’ve never thought in my life that I would ever sing,” Maria Aranyi, 74, who has been suffering from serious asthma for a decade. “After the grey days, there is a place where I feel good ... after singing I noticed that I could also breathe more easily.”   Many lung disease patients become inhibited in their daily lives and get increasingly isolated. Singing in a choir has brought them new friends. Doctor Katalin Vardi came up with the idea of forming the choir after learning that similar patients in other countries had found singing beneficial. She said introducing concerts had given a new sense of purpose to people who have to cope with the thought that their symptoms could get worse as the disease progresses. “We upped the stakes for them, in order to change their own image of themselves,” Vardi said. “With this community ... they can show their talent to the world and the fact that they work together for this, is a hugely positive feeling for them.”  The songs were chosen to showcase the patients’ abilities by conductor Gyorgy Philipp, who said the concert was a huge challenge for people who had never been on stage. “We select songs that make it possible for patients to be able to perform longer lines, more difficult tunes and they can develop through that system,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Therapy through song: Choir helps Hungarian lung patients breathe more easily."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ba4ae6295f144b9a87f865a57052a3b",
            "input": "Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin — a hallucinogen with effects similar to LSD — were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo. Patients seemed somewhat less anxious, they reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The pilot study of 12 cancer patients was designed to prove that hallucinogenic drugs could be studied safely as a way to relieve the distress of advanced cancer. It revives a promising field of study lasting from the 1950s to the early 1970s that suggested some patients experienced powerful and sustained improvement in mood and anxiety from hallucinogens. Researchers said the studies were abandoned in the early 1970s when  hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD — lysergic acid diethylamide — became widely used on the streets, leading to strict federal laws regulating their use. “Forty to 45 years ago, the culture was going through tremendous upheaval. These compounds were associated with a very politically active counterculture,” said Dr. Charles Grob of Harbor-University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. “It was something of a public health crisis. Everything had to be shut down,” Grob said in a telephone interview. Federal law prohibits the use of the magic mushroom compound for any purpose. If it proves effective among late-stage cancer patients, U.S. regulators would need to make special accommodation for its use, Grob said. Grob’s study looked to see whether psilocybin could help ease some of the anxiety of dying cancer patients. During the treatment phase of the study, patients were given a moderate dose of psilocybin and watched closely for six hours. They were told to lie still with their eyes closed as they wore headphones and listened to soothing music. During the placebo phase, each of the 12 patients received a dose of niacin — a vitamin that raises levels of good cholesterol — and given the same instructions. The treatments were given in random order and neither the doctors nor the patients were told which compound was administered. All the volunteers tolerated the treatment sessions well, with no signs of severe anxiety or a “bad trip.” Most patients showed a trend of improvement in their symptoms of anxiety and at six months, and there was a statistically significant improvement on one depression scale. Grob said the pilot study proved the drug could be studied safely in cancer patients. He said two other academic research institutions in the United States — Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and New York University — were doing similar studies using a slightly higher dose. “Times have changed and it’s now possible to pick up this research model again,” he said. As many as 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and California voters in November will vote on whether to legalize pot. “I think that is an indication that there has been a very strong shift within society to move away from the old cultural bias and politics of the process many years ago. I think there is a greater capacity to be open-minded and let science dictate our conclusion, not politics,” Grob said.",
            "output": [
                "Magic mushrooms may ease anxiety of cancer: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d7a077bdba5c47c7bcf709d1fba504e3",
            "input": "Ceyhan says he, like many others in Turkey, has been driven to brewing his own beer by the high price of commercially produced alcoholic drinks and the hefty taxes imposed by Turkey’s ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party. “I might never have started this if beer wasn’t so expensive,” the 25-year old university student said. Under President Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim known for his dislike of alcohol, taxes on booze have increased steadily and now account for two thirds of the cost of some alcoholic drinks. From early 2003, when Erdogan came to power, to October 2017, prices of raki - a traditional aniseed-flavored spirit - have jumped by 665 percent and beer prices by 580 percent, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK). “What surprised me when I got into this was the cost. If I can make it this cheaply, it’s strange that commercial beers are so expensive,” said Ceyhan. He makes beer from an online kit, while others brew cider, lagers and wine. Some also dilute shop-bought ethanol to make their version of vodka or raki. While only a small portion of Turkey’s 80 million people drink alcohol regularly, many of those who do are determined not to be denied their tipple by the rising prices - even though drinking home-brewed alcohol is not without its risks. Following the latest 10 percent increase in alcohol duty, which came into effect in December, the number of people producing their own drinks has grown, distributors say. “It’s like a hidden reflex, a desire to be self-sufficient. We don’t know what will be restricted or what they will allow tomorrow,” said a 58-year old brewer, who asked to remain anonymous fearing a potential backlash. “It’s as easy as making coffee, but it’s ready in about a month,” said the civil servant from Ankara, who makes wines and beers of different flavors, including raspberry and coffee. He said a bottle of his homemade beer costs around a quarter of the price in the shops. Erdogan’s distaste for alcohol stands in contrast to modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who championed secularism and was often pictured with a glass of raki. The president has criticized alcohol consumption as morally harmful to society, insisting that Turkey’s national beverage is not raki but the non-alcoholic yoghurt drink ayran. As of 2013, all advertisements, promotions and sponsorships of alcohol and tobacco products have been banned in Turkey. Such products are frequently blurred out in television shows. The surging taxes have reduced the volume of commercial alcoholic drinks sold in Turkey, with beer sales falling 10 percent between 2012 and 2016, and raki sales dropping by nearly a quarter, according to data from Turkey’s tobacco and alcohol watchdog (TAPDK). Cagatay Mekiker, marketing director for Turkey’s second- largest producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages, Antalya Alkollu Icecekler, said sales of ethanol had risen as part of a “rebellion” against the tax rises. He did not give a figure for the increased ethanol sales but Arda Gurdal, marketing director at drinks company AFS Icecekler said sales rose by up to 5 or 6 percent in the past year. Since the December hike, tax now constitutes nearly two-thirds of the 93 lira ($24) price of a standard 70 centiliter bottle of raki at the supermarket. One bottle costs more than 6 percent of the minimum monthly wage in Turkey. A bottle of Antalya Alkollu Icecekler’s ethanol sells for half that price at one of Turkey’s main supermarket chains, and can make up to 4 liters of drink, brewers say. Mekiker said the final product from some mixtures was not “real raki”. Even advocates of the home-mixed drinks admit that diluting ethanol with water and aniseed flavoring is not the same as making an authentic drink - and admit there are dangers. In 2015, several people in Turkey died of alcohol poisoning, predominantly from bootleg alcohol used in the mixing of raki, while others went blind from improperly mixing alcohols, which can have a purity level of up to 95 percent. For some, though, the over-riding factor is cost. “Am I crazy? Why would I bother making drinks of poor quality at home instead of drinking the fine ones if it wasn’t for prices?” said 23-year old Memet Yucekaya, who uses ethanol.",
            "output": [
                "Steep alcohol taxes drive Turkey's drinkers to home-brew."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64329d17fafc41edb83aab4608e6fd9b",
            "input": "More than 100 deer in Iowa County were euthanized last month after about 20 tested positive for the disease, The La Crosse Tribune reported . Veterinarians and animal health technicians from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sedated the animals before euthanizing them. The deer had been quarantined since October, when the DATCP confirmed a deer shot on a Waupaca County hunting ranch tested positive for the disease. The deer was traced back to the Iowa County farm. Nearly 80 deer in the county that were 16 months old or older were tested for the disease. Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disorder found in deer, elk and moose. It’s caused by an infectious protein that affects the animal’s brain. State and federal indemnity programs will compensate the deer farm, though an amount has yet to be determined. ___ Information from: La Crosse Tribune, http://www.lacrossetribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Officials: Wisconsin deer herd put down due to disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b5a9975d87f493da86b37ec3c8ea993",
            "input": "While the story only touches on the costs of flu shots in passing, saying that they’re relatively cheap, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this category. At least at two points in the story, the issue of costs are raised. We would have liked it even better had the story mentioned the actual range of possible costs for the flu vaccine. A quick web search shows the prices ranging from $10 to $30, based on information from the CDC. And free shots are regularly available at public health centers as well. The story does a good job of explaining what the actual benefits of the influenza vaccine really are. Just as a recent HealthNewsReview.org blog post did, the story goes way beyond the typical media version touting claims of X-percent effectiveness and explains what that means in terms of individual people escaping flu symptoms. This accuracy of interpretation does carry with it, however, one risk:  For a public so used to hearing that vaccines are, say, 60 percent effective, actually finding out that they’d only prevent one person from getting symptoms for every 33 people vaccinated may not sound good enough for the lay person. The story does mention that the risks of negative reactions to getting a flu shot usually center on inflammation at the site of the injection, a comparatively minor side effect. It emphasizes that given such a minimal risk, there are very few harms for getting this protection, minimal though it may be in some years. The story gives readers the results of numerous meta-studies that compile partial answers on the vaccine’s effectiveness. It also rightly points out the limitations of those studies, and the research they’re based on, in that ethics forbids the kind of control versus placebo trials that could show cause and effect. Nevertheless, the story is clear in pointing out the limitations of the data it presents, giving readers enough information to make their own decisions. The annual influenza outbreaks offer the possibility for disease-mongering but we feel that’s not the case with this story. The author of this story compiles ample evidence from reliable and respected independent sources concerning influenza. It does not, however, offer any information concerning conflicts of interest, but with this type of story, we’re hard pressed to see how there would be a conflict. The story does mention the meager alternatives to influenza vaccination — that is, proper hand washing hygiene and the isolation of flu patients from those free of the disease. The story offers answers to basic questions about the value of getting an annual flu shot. Those questions are obviously based on the fact that flu vaccines are usually readily available for those who want them. While some years present a possible shortage of vaccine, for most years, vaccination is determined by personal choice, rather than availability. The story appropriately explains that this vaccine has been around for decades. The story is taking a second look at the vaccine’s effectiveness, which as it explains varies from year to year and may not be as high as most people think. The story shows no indications that it was based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "How well do flu shots work? Here’s what the science says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2923215e664e4021a83ee59458e74cd0",
            "input": "Multiple sclerosis is a chronic illness requiring ongoing treatment. So, cost of treatment is an important consideration. This story did not include cost information,in part because the drug in question is not on the market. Acccording to this Bloomberg story, it costs $4,000 a month, and searches on Drugstore.com and other sites back this up. Tip:  we’ve added a new resource for journalists to help them track down costs of medical interventions.",
            "output": [
                "New Pill for MS Shows Promise in Clinical Trial"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6abcc25f71594e40867fad4557e15bf7",
            "input": "Kennedy, the 36-year-old grandson of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and great-nephew of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, has been a low-key presence in the House since he was first elected in his Boston-area district in 2012. But he emerged last week as a major Democratic voice against the Republican health care bill, delivering several speeches in a committee’s all-night session that have been viewed millions of times on the internet. While the technology may be new, his support for the Obama-era health care law and more services for the poor are familiar Kennedy territory. Sen. Ted Kennedy spent decades pushing for comprehensive health care before his death from brain cancer in August 2009. Now his great-nephew is fighting Republicans who are trying to unravel the 2010 law. They say the system is failing as premiums have risen and insurers have pulled out. Kennedy challenged House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who had called the GOP replacement bill an “act of mercy.” “With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different scripture,” Kennedy said during the debate. “The one that I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. It reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful, but how we care for the least among us.” He added: “This is not an act of mercy. It’s an act of malice.” His office posted the video on Facebook, and as of Monday, it had almost 10 million views and more than 225,000 shares. Kennedy acknowledged his family legacy but stressed that he can’t allow it to overwhelm his actions. “I obviously am very proud of what my family has accomplished and what they have done,” he said in an interview, but “if you try to do this job and carry that weight around, you’re never going to be able to do anything.” When talking about his grandfather’s speeches, he is emotional, putting his hand on his heart. “God, have you read some of his speeches?” he asks, and notes that a one-minute viral clip is an easier task. It’s clear that he’d rather be talking about the details of his opposition to the health bill. During the committee debate, he criticized the bill for its one-year freeze in Planned Parenthood funding, and the resulting decrease in health services for women, and the repeal of a requirement that state Medicaid plans must provide “essential health benefits,” including mental health care. A separate Facebook video of him talking about mental health care has more than 4 million views. That issue is important in his family — mainly to his cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who left Congress in 2011 and has since been open about his own battles with substance abuse and mental health. Now an advocate for increased mental health services, Patrick Kennedy says his cousin “managed to capture a moment when all eyes were on health care, and focus it with laser precision.” He says Joe is the right person to carry on the family legacy. “Most members have to be around for a long time and pay their dues before they garner the kind of credibility he’ll have,” Patrick said of Joe. “The fact is, is he going to use that to good purpose? As he demonstrated this week, he is not only prepared but is using to good purpose that incredible family legacy he was given by birth.” One of Kennedy’s good friends in Congress is Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a 39-year-old Oklahoma Republican who entered Congress with Kennedy four years ago and says he disagrees with the Massachusetts Democrat on almost everything. Mullin says they joke a lot, but they rarely joke about health care. They both sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where they took opposite sides on the bill last week. “He doesn’t speak out very often. He’s not someone that is front and center,” Mullin said. “But health care is something that is very important to him.” The internet took notice, with retweets and Twitter shout-outs from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who tweeted: “Wow. This is a Kennedy who could be President. A must watch.” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi cited his “passion and his leadership.” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee and a lawmaker who worked with both Ted Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy before Joe came to Congress, says his party needs more young people talking about the benefits of the health care law, since many don’t think it helps them. Joe Kennedy says millennials are engaged, apolitical, want the system to work and want solutions. “Trying to get to some of the solutions here is difficult,” Kennedy said. “But we need to find a way to get there.”",
            "output": [
                "A familiar name: Democrat Kennedy fights GOP on health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3f84e9703fb49c5966f20363d62cf7c",
            "input": "\"The story states that the drug will cost $4.86, but there is no indication of how this cost compares to existing therapies. Furthermore, it is likely that often the drug will need to be combined with another drug, adding to the costs. Also the article cites what is likely to be the average wholesale price and not the price to the consumer. The story does not quantify the benefits of treatment. The story does state that the effects of the drug were \"\"modest,\"\" but this is not adequate information on the benefits of treatment. The story mentions the side effects of the drug. The story also comments on the uncertainty around the long-term safety of the drug. Although the story indicates that further research is needed, it does not adequately describe the nature of the existing evidence. By accurately describing the prevalence and seriousness of diabetes, the story does not engage in disease mongering. The story quotes multiple sources. The story aso points out that an expert was paid by the drug company. The story does mention alternative treatments, such as diet and exercise, metformin, and insulin, however the story could have done more to explain how this new drug will fit in with existing therapies. Furthermore, the story should have compared the side effects of the new drug to some of the newer drugs on the market, such as Byetta, and not to some of the older drugs. The story clearly states that the drug was recently approved and will soon be on the market. The story clearly states that this drug is the first in its class, representing a novel approach to the treatment of diabetes, however there are several others that are in the pipeline that will likely be available by the end of the year. Because the story quotes multiple independent sources, the reader can assume the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "One-a-day pill OK’d for Type 2 diabetes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-752f26e611c54cc7b447cbec6b7c16cd",
            "input": "In July 2020, media outlets reported that a squirrel in Colorado tested positive for bubonic plague, making it the first case of plague in Jefferson County. This claim is true, though experts caution that the incident is not cause for immediate concern. “On Saturday, July 11, 2020, a squirrel found in the Town of Morrison tested positive for bubonic plague. The squirrel is the first case of plague in the county,” wrote the Jefferson County Public Health Department in a press release. It is not immediately clear what prompted the investigation into the dead squirrel and no further incidents of other animal or human infection were reported at the time of publication. NOTICE: On Saturday, July 11, a squirrel found in the Town of Morrison tested positive for bubonic plague. The squirrel is the first case of plague in the county. Read more: https://t.co/Ernd8QYrgA — Jefferson County Public Health (@JeffcoPH) July 12, 2020",
            "output": [
                "A squirrel in a rural Colorado town tested positive for bubonic plague in July 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d36c40d102144650bb4d3856946c2a3b",
            "input": "The Alabama Department of Public Health announced the 2018 infant mortality rate was the lowest in Alabama history with 7.0 deaths per 1,000 live births It is an improvement over the 2017 rate of 7.4 and the 2016 rate of 9.1. “I am committed to improving the health of mothers and babies, and I am glad to see the infant mortality rates in 2017 and 2018 have improved from the rates earlier in this decade,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. However, Alabama’s mortality rate remains higher than the provisional U.S. rate of 5.7. “The continuing decline in Alabama’s infant mortality is a start to closing the historically large gap between the state and national rates,” Alabama Center for Health Statistics Director Nicole Rushing said. A total of 405 infants born in 2018 in Alabama died before reaching their first birthday. There also remains a racial disparity in infant mortality rates. The infant mortality rate for black infants in Alabama was 11.0 in 2018, more than twice the infant mortality rate for white infants at 5.1. State Health Officer Scott Harris said the the reduction in infant mortality is encouraging, but the state must continue to address Alabama’s racial disparities in birth outcomes, increase access to prenatal care and getting treatment for women for drug use disorders. Jim Carnes is the policy director for Alabama Arise, which advocates for low-income families. He said the state also needs to examine barriers to health care. “Of course we celebrate the improvements in Alabama’s rate, but there are some disturbing trends,” Carnes said, noting the persistent racial disparity and the number of births without prenatal care. While low-income women gain Medicaid coverage during pregnancy, they often don’t have care before or between pregnancies that could address chronic conditions or problems before they are pregnant, Carnes said. “That is something we could impact in a huge way with Medicaid expansion,” Carnes said. The Health Department said the leading causes of infant deaths in 2018 were congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities; disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight; sudden infant death syndrome and bacterial sepsis of newborns. These causes accounted for 50% of Alabama infant deaths.",
            "output": [
                "Alabama infant mortality rate hits record low ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c0d5e0d0e8041abbbf06603199ea0a5",
            "input": "While abortion was decriminalised last year, the British region’s health ministry missed an April 1 deadline to begin providing wider access to terminations, blaming the pressure the coronavirus has placed on services. That left the British government’s Northern Ireland Office advising women to travel to England for an abortion even though the pandemic has closed air traffic, leaving women facing an 8-hour ferry journey from Belfast to Liverpool. In a statement on Thursday, the health ministry said medical professionals “may now terminate pregnancies lawfully on health and social care premises,” but the ministry did not provide details on where and how women could access abortion services. Former director of the Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland Breedagh Hughes told Reuters that her understanding was that teams of medics were ready to run the services from Friday, but women would need to contact local health organisations or support groups for details. The Northern Ireland committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists welcomed the move. “We are aware of women seeking an abortion in very difficult circumstances, including those with an underlying medical condition who cannot travel and others in extremely vulnerable situations,” committee chair Carolyn Bailie said in a statement. “We welcome the advice that those women can now be cared for within Northern Ireland.”  The Alliance For Choice advocacy group said the new advice was a huge development but noted that women unable to leave their homes due to the coronavirus restrictions would struggle to access services as regulations state a first course of abortion pills must be taken in a clinic. The delay in rolling out services prompted Britain’s leading provider of abortions to step in earlier on Thursday and say it will offer abortion pills to women in Northern Ireland by post. Some local charities have been trying to source abortion pills and offering telephone consultations with doctors abroad. But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which books abortions for Northern Irish women in England, has far more resources to offer the service. BPAS said it had been informed about two women attempting suicide because they could not access abortion care in Northern Ireland. Doctors can prescribe pills via telephone in the rest of the United Kingdom, a measure introduced in response to coronavirus lockdown. Socially conservative Christian members of the Belfast regional assembly voted down a similar proposal on Monday. The British parliament bypassed a years-long veto from  those politicians in Belfast last July to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, where abortion has been legal for decades. Some lawmakers remained sceptical about Thursday’s changes and demanded clear information on how women access services. “Today’s announcement further muddies the waters,” Green Party leader and long-time abortion rights advocate Clare Bailey told Reuters. “There is a maze for women to get through. The executive have acknowledged the legal change but have not implemented services properly. The fight for abortion rights in Northern Ireland has not ended.”",
            "output": [
                "Northern Ireland authorities give green light to abortion services."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74cd0360f8b54300be475bc848dc75cb",
            "input": "The smallest of the coffins, designed for the bodies of babies, are decorated with felt butterflies, daisies, stars and hearts. Volunteers have placed a teddy bear in each of the infant-sized caskets. “It’s not easy. No-one is prepared to lose that many children,” said Tagaloa Tusani, a New Zealand-based volunteer who is organizing the coffin transport. “No funeral home is prepared for that.”  The highly infectious disease has attacked Samoa’s most vulnerable, with 61 out of the 70 casualties aged four and under, the government said on Monday. After causing devastation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Ukraine, among others, measles cases started appearing en masse earlier this year in the New Zealand city of Auckland, a hub for travel to and from small Pacific islands. The virus then took hold in Samoa which had the lowest vaccination rates in the region. There are now almost 4,700 reported cases of measles in Samoa’s island population of only 200,000. The World Health Organization (WHO) last week described the global epidemic as “an outrage” given most deaths have been in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated. “The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus. Supported by foreign governments and international aid agencies, Samoa has been conducting a vaccination drive that the government said has now covered nearly 90% of eligible people. There are currently 16 critically ill children in intensive care in Samoa, and two pregnant women are also in hospital. International groups have been sending medical supplies to Samoa, and providing doctors and nurses, to help combat the  disease. The volunteers in Rotorua, located south-east of Auckland, usually make coffins for New Zealand families who can’t afford them. Volunteer coffin-maker Ron Wattam said he never imagined they’d be catering for an epidemic of this magnitude. “The caskets are white, and white-lined inside, all made up to very suitable undertaker standards,” said Wattam. “It’s the least we can do.”",
            "output": [
                "Decorated with butterflies, infant-sized coffins sent to measles-ravaged Samoa."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-166f12f29b714e32b780d51bc2f28edc",
            "input": "His wife beat a more formidable challenger. Molly Crosby, a 32-year-old mother of five, had been dealing with bouts of coughing and congestion all summer. Some preliminary exams in Green Bay showed a spot on her right lung. That led the Crosbys to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for additional tests. A carcinoid endocrine tumor was found. The tumor isn’t as dangerous as other forms of cancer but was disconcerting for an otherwise healthy, nonsmoker. “We found out the day before we reported to camp,” Crosby said on Wednesday. “We were at Mayo the two or three days leading up to training camp, when they did all their scans and got the final prognosis.” Crosby flew back to Green Bay for the start of training camp. After a subpar 2018 season, Crosby had to beat out Sam Ficken. Crosby managed to keep his focus and retained the job for a 13th season. “I’ve trained a long time in compartmentalizing different situations,” Crosby said. “Whenever I was home, I was fully home. The organization was unbelievable through training camp, just giving me time to be with Molly and be with the family and help where I could throughout the day and evening. I just tried to be fully in on both things. I have felt a lot of freedom in this. “I love doing what I’m doing but the importance of taking care of family and being there for Molly and the kids, when I look back on it, it was a special camp. I was able to really fully immerse in both things. It was nerve-wracking, too. Day in and day out, it was coming in, having to work and compete at a high level, and then going home and flowing back into a normal routine. Then, we’d sit down at night and you’d remember that surgery was coming and Molly had cancer. Those things were heavy.” That surgery was at the end of the preseason, with part of Molly’s right lung removed. While she will go back to Mayo for a scan in mid-October, Crosby said the doctors are positive they got rid of the tumor and she will not require radiation or chemotherapy. Since 2009, the NFL has held its annual “Crucial Catch” campaign to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It was a campaign that had already hit home for Crosby. A grandmother died of breast cancer and a sister-in-law is in her third year battling ovarian cancer. Now with his wife’s diagnosis, the fight against cancer has grown more meaningful. “That’s what it’s about is early detection,” he said. “It’s getting routine checkups. Don’t take it for granted. The numbers, with our technology, are amazing with prevention but treating it if you catch it early enough. That’s one of the big things is pushing that. Let’s try to get earlier detection so we can fight this thing. “With Molly’s cancer, it’s always been really important to me but I’m going to continue to push the charge forward and make sure that everybody gets the care. We feel so fortunate with the care that we got. Hopefully, everybody gets the same care and the same prognosis that we got.” The Packers (3-1) will play at the Dallas Cowboys (3-1) on Sunday. Some of Crosby’s finest professional moments have happened at AT&T Stadium. In the 2010 season, the Packers won the Super Bowl in Arlington. A playoff game in the 2016 season against the Cowboys marked the highlight of his career. His 56-yard field goal with 1:33 to play gave the Packers a 31-28 lead. Dallas tied the score, but Crosby booted a 51-yarder on the final play for a 34-31 victory. “The two minutes in that game were the most exciting two minutes I think I’ve ever had in a game,” he said. “To be able to execute it twice in that situation was awesome.” ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Wife’s cancer diagnosis hits home for Packers’ Crosby."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f3ff5a0755e4afdbb8d326e0911a7f1",
            "input": "People with high genetic risk and poor health habits were about three times more likely to develop dementia versus those with low genetic risk and good habits, researchers reported Sunday. Regardless of how much genetic risk someone had, a good diet, adequate exercise, limiting alcohol and not smoking made dementia less likely. “I consider that good news,” said John Haaga of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, one of the study’s many sponsors. “No one can guarantee you’ll escape this awful disease” but you can tip the odds in your favor with clean living, he said. Results were discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles and published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. About 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type. Genes and lifestyle contribute to many diseases, but researchers only recently have had the tools and information to do large studies to see how much each factor matters. One such study a few years ago found that healthy living could help overcome genetic risk for heart disease. Now researchers have shown the same to be true for dementia. Dr. Elzbieta Kuzma and colleagues at the University of Exeter Medical School in England used the UK Biobank to study nearly 200,000 people 60 or older with no signs or symptoms of dementia at the start. Their genetic risk was classified as high, medium or low based on dozens of mutations known to affect dementia. They also were grouped by lifestyle factors. After about eight years of study, 1.8% of those with high genetic risk and poor lifestyles had developed dementia versus 0.6% of folks with low genetic risk and healthy habits. Among those with the highest genetic risk, just over 1% of those with favorable lifestyles developed dementia compared to nearly 2% of those with poor lifestyles. One limitation: Researchers only had information on mutations affecting people of European ancestry, so it’s not known whether the same is true for other racial or ethnic groups. The results should give encouragement to people who fear that gene mutations alone determine their destiny, said Dr. Rudy Tanzi, a genetics expert at Massachusetts General Hospital. Less than 5% of the ones tied to Alzheimer’s are “fully penetrant,” meaning that they guarantee you’ll get the disease, he said. “That means that with 95% of the mutations, your lifestyle will make a difference,” Tanzi said. “Don’t be too worried about your genetics. Spend more time being mindful of living a healthy life.” One previous study in Sweden and Finland rigorously tested the effect of a healthy lifestyle by assigning one group to follow one and included a comparison group that did not. It concluded that healthy habits could help prevent mental decline. The Alzheimer’s Association is sponsoring a similar study underway now in the United States. Healthy living also is the focus of new dementia prevention guidelines that the World Health Organization released in February. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed at: @MMarchioneAP ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "A healthy lifestyle may offset genetic risk for Alzheimer’s."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83ed69e6ca214988aa80523eb7b1c3a1",
            "input": "The lawsuit is one of several the groups have filed or are preparing to file against states that recently passed strict anti-abortion measures in an effort to prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that guarantees a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. On Friday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, signed a bill into law that bans abortion beginning in the eighth week of pregnancy. In Mississippi, a federal judge blocked a law that would ban abortions once an embryonic heartbeat is detected, which can occur at six weeks after conception. “This dangerous, immoral, and unconstitutional ban threatens people’s lives and well-being and we are suing to protect our patients’ rights,” Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a women’s healthcare and abortion provider, said in a statement. The ACLU’s Alabama chapter and Planned Parenthood of America filed their complaint in federal court in Alabama on behalf of the Southern state’s three abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood Southeast. Anti-abortion advocates expected legal challenges to Alabama’s new law, which will be the most restrictive in the nation when it takes effect in November, and say they welcome the chance to have a court test their conviction that a fetus’ right to life is paramount. Mississippi joined Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio earlier this year in outlawing abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat. In granting the preliminary injunction on Friday, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that the Mississippi law, which was scheduled to take effect on July 1, would prevent a woman’s free choice “which is central to personal dignity and autonomy.”   The measure was challenged in court on behalf of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s lone abortion facility. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood obtained an injunction from a judge in March blocking Kentucky’s abortion ban. The two organizations have filed lawsuits in Ohio and are preparing a legal fight in Georgia, they said in a statement on Friday. The wave of anti-abortion legislation reflects a boost of confidence among anti-abortion advocates after Republican President Donald Trump nominated two conservative judges, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, to the Supreme Court, tilting the court’s political balance to the right.",
            "output": [
                "Groups sue over Alabama abortion law; judge blocks Mississippi ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b8f020032fb4fecb90b7b4296b52c9f",
            "input": "The sprawling Southeast Asian country of more than 260 million people has not recorded any cases though some of its citizens overseas have contracted the virus, including eight crew on the Diamond Princess cruise liner off Japan’s Yokohama. Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said 134 test samples taken from people suspected of having the coronavirus had  turned out negative. “If until this second all came out negative, then it’s a blessing from the Almighty,” he told reporters. Putranto said tests on two patients who died this week after suffering symptoms associated with contracting the virus had been negative. On Feb. 23, a Singaporean man died after reportedly suffering fever and shortness of breath in the city of Batam, but the head of the local health agency said this was due to another unspecified disease. The death of a 37-year-old man in Semarang in Central Java who was suffering pneumonia after returning from overseas was not caused by the coronavirus, but by H1N1 flu, he said. Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in the United States, said in a study this month that Indonesia should strengthen outbreak surveillance and control - especially as it had direct flights from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The Harvard team said Indonesia’s lack of confirmed cases “may suggest the potential for undetected cases” as air travel may contribute to cases being exported from China. Indonesia has barred entry to visitors who have been in China for 14 days and stopped all flights to and from there. Indonesia has tested relatively few people in comparison to some neighbors and its population, but Putranto said tests were conducted when “doctors determine they have symptoms that point to that direction.”   “Imagine if everybody who had a cough or flu was checked, then millions would be checked,” he said. Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, the World Health Organization’s Indonesia representative, has said the WHO was “quite confident that Indonesia is ready to be able to respond to this situation.”  Separately, Indonesia will send a Garuda Indonesia (GIAA.JK) plane in the next few days to Japan to pick up 68 of its citizens working aboard the coronavirus-affected Diamond Princess, officials said. The crew could be quarantined for up to 28 days on Sebaru island in the Java Sea north off Jakarta, where 188 crew members from another cruise ship are also being held in quarantine. The coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally and killed nearly 2,800, the majority in China.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia says lack of coronavirus cases a blessing from God."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c65a80b4bda47368b6329f9a7d7b62c",
            "input": "Trump had said that hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, could be among “the biggest game changers in the history of medicine” for its potential effects against COVID-19. “The efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients has to date not been proved,” a spokesman for the European Commission said on Tuesday, relaying an internal opinion from the European Medicine Agency. The spokesman said there was also no evidence either of the positive effects of chloroquine, another malaria drug, which is also being tested for its possible use against COVID-19. The U.S. Health and Human Services on Thursday listed hydroxychloroquine as a protected medical resource after Trump signed an executive order to prevent its hoarding and price gouging. Hungary, a European Union member, last week banned the commercial export of hydroxychloroquine. “As Hungary is one of the world’s largest exporters of this ingredient, the protection and medical supply of the Hungarian population is now a priority,” the government said..",
            "output": [
                "No proof drug touted by Trump is effective against coronavirus: EU."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-027cf5c8c72b4f9399ee7a7fd82f5f1e",
            "input": "The alert urged Americans to seek medical help in the event they suffered any “unusual, unexplained physical symptoms or events, auditory or sensory phenomena, or other health concerns.” The alert comes as a U.S. medical team is screening more Americans who work at the Guangzhou consulate. A previous case in Guangzhou, disclosed last month, prompted the tests. The incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded to other countries. China says it has uncovered no information that could point to a cause. The most recent evacuations followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “a number of individuals” had been brought to the U.S. but didn’t say how many were affected or evacuated. Friday’s alert called for people to be attentive of symptoms including “dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping.” It urged them “not to attempt to locate the source of any unidentified auditory sensation. Instead, move to a different location.” The U.S. government has deemed the Cuba incidents “specific attacks” on American workers but hasn’t publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led U.S. investigators to suspect a sonic attack. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday that the U.S. had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. “If the U.S. makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations in an earnest and responsible manner and maintain close communication and cooperation with the U.S.,” Hua said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China earlier said it had looked into the case announced last month but came up with no clues about the cause of the symptoms. A U.S. official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, said the evacuated American government workers were being brought from China for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. That’s where doctors have been treating and studying patients previously evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The preliminary findings of the medical reports on the 24 personnel affected in Cuba showed they had sensory and memory problems similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions. The Penn team said the patients from Cuba experienced persistent disability though rehabilitation therapy customized for them seemed to help. Canada in April also ordered families of diplomatic staff in Cuba to return home after mysterious health symptoms were detected in 10 Canadians stationed on the island. Canada said the 10 continued to show unexplained brain symptoms and that “medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury.” In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month about the first case in China, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had “said all the right things and have demonstrated their willingness to help us identify the vector which led to this medical incident.” The China incidents affect one of the most important of the seven U.S. diplomatic outposts in the country. The Guangzhou consulate opened months after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979 and moved to its new purpose-built facility in 2013. It serves four southern provinces with a combined population of more than 204 million and processes more than 1 million visa applications of all types annually. It is also the only U.S. diplomatic installation in China authorized to process immigrant visas and handle adoptions. People working in The Canton Place complex, a few kilometers (miles) from the consulate, said Thursday they were just hearing about the incidents, reflecting a lack of coverage in China’s entirely state-controlled media. Aled Williams, a British teacher at a kindergarten said Thursday that the reports sounded “sci-fi-ish.” “Hard to get my head around how it works,” he said. “Better watch myself.” Linda Chen, who runs a coffee shop in the area, said she was mystified as to why only certain people seemed to have been affected in an area known for its comfort and safety. “For me I feel it’s very strange. But I don’t feel that there’s something to be very afraid of because it’s probably a very special case,” Chen said. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "US Embassy in China sends new alert for mystery health issue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2029121bdd514df9b302323edb1066bc",
            "input": "On September 27 2020, a number of Facebook posts claiming that Amy Coney Barrett had been a judge for “2 years 10 months [and] 23 days” began circulating:All three of the posts above read:2 years, 10 months, 23 days.The length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge.Occasionally, a person sharing the post added to the text:All of the examples we found utilized Facebook’s text-based status update image generator, creating a colorful and highly shareable post without the ability to easily add a citation. Commenters frequently opined that Amy Coney Barrett’s time on the bench was insufficient, but none appeared to be verifying the accuracy of the viral posts.BackgroundAt 7:28 PM EST on September 18 2020, NPR reported that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died of metastatic pancreatic cancer; the Supreme Court issued a press release:Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening [of September 18 2020] surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. She was 87 years old. Justice Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993. She was the second woman appointed to the Court and served more than 27 years.At 8:15 PM EST on September 18 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was named in articles about who might be Ginsburg’s possible replacement on the bench:The line to succeed the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court likely starts with these federal appeals court judges:Amy Coney BarrettA finalist for Trump’s second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett, 48, is a favorite of religious conservatives.Barrett rocketed to the top of Trump’s list of potential nominees after her 2017 confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, when Democrats cited her deep Catholic faith not as an advantage but an obstacle. She was confirmed, 55-43.By September 19 2020, Coney Barrett was described as a front-runner in ongoing coverage of Ginsburg’s death. Politico reported:President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, setting in motion a likely sharp shift toward a more conservative court.If confirmed, Barrett would take the seat vacated after the death of the liberal-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Trump indicated that he intended to nominate Barrett on September 19 2020:Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate judge and Notre Dame law professor, is a proven conservative with a compelling personal story who has long been atop President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court short list.Trump announced Saturday [September 19 2020] he is nominating Barrett to be the new high court justice during a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin confirmation hearings on Barrett’s nomination on October 12 [2020].Barrett, the mother of seven children and a former law clerk to the late right-wing beacon Justice Antonin Scalia, Barrett, now 48, was a finalist for the Supreme Court spot that went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.She met with Trump to discuss the nomination on Monday [September 21 2020], sources close to the process told CNN.Amy Coney Barrett’s Resume and Time on the BenchOn September 21 2020, SCOTUSBlog.com profiled Amy Coney Barrett’s career, detailing her “prolific” academic career and adding:Barrett spent a year as a law and economics fellow at George Washington University before heading to her alma mater, Notre Dame, in 2002 to teach federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation. Barrett was named a professor of law at the school in 2010; four years later, she became the Diane and M.O. Research Chair of Law. Barrett was named “distinguished professor of the year” three times. […]During her 15 years as a full-time law professor, Barrett’s academic scholarship was prolific. Several of her articles, however, drew fire at Barrett’s confirmation hearing, with Democratic senators suggesting that they indicate that Barrett would be influenced by her Catholic faith, particularly on the question of abortion.On the University of Notre Dame’s website, a biography page described Barrett’s career in academia further. A subsequent section on SCOTUSBlog.com read in part:Trump nominated Barrett to the 7th Circuit on May 8, 2017. Despite some criticism from Democrats, she garnered bipartisan support at her confirmation hearing … On Oct. 31, 2017, Barrett was confirmed to the 7th Circuit by a vote of 55 to 43.On September 26 2020, the White House published a briefing (“Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Exceptional Legal Experience, Expertise, and Judicial Record Make Her the Right Choice to Serve on the Supreme Court”) and addressed Barrett’s qualifications. That section noted she had served as a judge since 2017:EXCEPTIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:Judge Amy Coney Barrett brings a wealth of experience from her time in private practice, academia, and public service.As noted, Amy Coney Barrett received her commission on November 2 2017:Federal Judicial Service: Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh CircuitNominated by Donald J. Trump on May 8, 2017, to a seat vacated by John Daniel Tinder. Confirmed by the Senate on October 31, 2017, and received commission on November 2, 2017.2 Years, 10 Months, and 23 DaysThe “2 Years, 10 Months, and 23 Days” posts appeared around September 27 2020, but they were later shared in screenshots on later dates.Two years, ten months, and 23 days after November 2 2017 was either September 25 or 26 2020, according to a “time between dates” calculator.TL;DRSeveral Facebook posts (and tweets) simply read “2 years, 10 months, 23 days, the length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge”; we found no variation of the claim that included a citation. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on October 31 2017, and received commission on November 2 2017. Although the calculation was oddly specific and therefore slightly inaccurate, Barrett took the bench roughly two years, ten months, and 23 days before the posts began circulating.Comments",
            "output": [
                "2 years, 10 months, 23 days. The length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0010bdbea6d14c91ac14b9900e3572f1",
            "input": "\"As the 2014 New Hampshire Senate race veers toward a conclusion, the state’s next senator needs the support of women voters. Incumbent Jeanne Shaheen underscored that point when she targeted Republican challenger Scott Brown’s record supporting women’s reproductive rights during his tenure as a state senator from Massachusetts. Her aim was to undercut Brown’s assertion that he is a pro-choice politician. An ad with a female narrator released on Oct. 7 said, \"\"In Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses.\"\" The ad, titled \"\"Force,\"\" drew a swift response from Brown. He held a press conference the same day the ad was released, calling it a lie and adding that it was \"\"not only insensitive, it is also deeply offensive.\"\" \"\"I have always been a pro-choice, independent Republican and have a strong record of supporting women’s health care,\"\" Brown said in Derry, N.H., with his wife Gail by his side. Brown demanded that Shaheen pull the ad, and the next day he launched his own ad calling Shaheen’s commercial a \"\"smear campaign.\"\" More than ever in this hotly contested Senate race, this seemed like a job for PolitiFact. For support, the ad, and Shaheen’s campaign, pointed to Massachusetts Senate Bill 979, \"\"An Act Relative to a Woman’s Right to Know,\"\" filed in 2005. While the bill co-sponsored by Brown and Republican Michael R. Knapik eventually failed, it would have given any woman seeking an abortion information and mandated 24 hours to consider the consequences of that decision. (Exceptions would only be given in the case of a medical emergency.) \"\"The purpose of the Woman's Right to Know Act is to ensure that every woman considering an abortion receives complete information on the procedure, the risks, the status of her unborn child, and her alternatives, and sufficient reflection time, thereby reducing the possibility of serious, lasting, or life threatening consequences of a medical, emotional and psychological nature,\"\" the bill states. Similar laws have been proposed and enacted in other states following a 1992 Supreme Court decision allowing the state of Pennsylvania under its \"\"Abortion Control Act\"\" to require a woman seeking an abortion to give her informed consent prior to the procedure, receive a host of information about abortion and adoption, and wait 24 hours before having an abortion. The introduction to the Massachusetts bill cites that Supreme Court decision, saying the state \"\"has an important interest in ensuring that women seeking abortions are provided a fully informed choice and a sufficient period of time to reflect on the information provided, ‘to reduce the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.’ Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 882 (1992).\"\" So how about those photographs of fetuses that women would be \"\"forced\"\" to look at? Like similar laws proposed and passed elsewhere, the proposed Massachusetts law would have required doctors or their representatives to provide women with lots of information at least 24 hours before an abortion was scheduled, including the names of adoption agencies and contact information for public and private agencies that offer financial and medical support to women throughout a pregnancy and after childbirth. It also required women to receive descriptions of the \"\"anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two week gestational increments from fertilization to full term, including color photographs.\"\" If photos were unavailable \"\"realistic drawings\"\" were considered acceptable. The bill made clear that photos of fetuses must be provided to women seeking abortions, but didn’t stop there. It also called for descriptions of the different methods of abortion and \"\"the physical, psychological and emotional risks or medical complications commonly associated with each method; a description of the physical, psychological and emotional risks or medical complications of pregnancy and delivery; a description of the support obligations of the father of a child born alive.\"\" Before performing an abortion, the doctor or a representative would have to ask the woman if she had \"\"seen\"\" the information and \"\"provide the woman with an opportunity to contact abortion alternative agencies at this time should she so desire.\"\" In addition, a woman’s signature was required before the abortion was performed to give her consent and \"\"indicate that she has been offered the information described in this section.\"\" Brown says the bill was intended to give adoption a chance and \"\"did not force women to do anything. I would never force women to do anything.\"\" He’s got a point. Nowhere in the bill is the word \"\"force\"\" used. Still, the language of the bill certainly ensures women would be given the information, asks them if they had \"\"seen it,\"\" and provided at least 24 hours to review it before having an abortion. Our ruling Shaheen’s ad says that \"\"in Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses.\"\" The measure backed by Brown nine years ago made sure that women were provided photos of developing fetuses, along with a lot more information. It certainly forced doctors and their representatives to provide this information to women seeking abortions -- except in cases of emergency -- and it ensured women received the information both through verbal questions and a signed consent form. Brown has a point that the bill wouldn't have \"\"forced\"\" them to look at color photographs -- but it did just about everything else it could possibly do up to that line. This statement is accurate but needs clarification.\"",
            "output": [
                "In Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eed7da38cb6b4281960f286033a0ff33",
            "input": "They found several creams caused skin cancer in the specially bred mice, which had been pre-treated with ultraviolet radiation. The cancers are not melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, they stressed in their report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, but another type called squamous cell carcinoma. Such tumours are slow growing, highly treatable and only fatal if patients fail to have them removed. Allan Conney and colleagues at Rutgers University in New Jersey said they discovered the risk while testing a theory that caffeine could prevent skin cancer. “We sort of got into this by accident,” Conney said in a telephone interview. “We wanted a safe cream that we could put the caffeine into.”   They were testing specially bred albino mice, which are prone to develop skin cancer. The mice are pre-treated with ultraviolet radiation to simulate the effects of a human who has had heavy sun exposure in the past but then stopped — something that may be happening in the population as people realize the risks of getting a tan. Conney’s team decided to test the creams first and found that all four they tested caused tumours to grow on the mice. He said he does not know why, but suspects two ingredients — mineral oil and sodium laurel sulphate. “We’d like to understand the mechanism. What is most important is to see whether these moisturizing creams are tumorigenic in people,” Conney said. He said his lab is not equipped to do this but someone should. But he added, “I don’t think that people should be scared because this is a mouse study and we don’t know whether or not it applies to humans.”   Other experts were sceptical about the study. “This is a pretty artificial situation with the mouse skin primed by a lot of UV light to develop cancer,” Karol Sikora, Medical Director of Cancer Partners U.K. in Britain, said in a statement. Dr. Jonathan Rees, an expert in dermatology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said squamous cell carcinoma was not a big health worry. “Non-melanoma skin cancer in man is very, very common and is almost 100 percent curable with an operation usually simpler than a tooth filling,” Rees said in a statement. Conney said the mouse was a commonly used model in skin cancer but said he agreed that it does not perfectly replicate human skin and human behaviour. He said his team approached Johnson & Johnson to create a cream without the suspect products and they developed one using other readily available ingredients. “They are things that are commonly used in many moisturizing creams,” he said. This cream did not cause the tumours in the mice, they said. He said Rutgers and Johnson & Johnson had patented the new cream jointly but did not know whether it would be commercially developed. A spokesman at the company was not immediately available for comment.",
            "output": [
                "Skin creams seen to cause tumours on mice."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc34819a69ee4a3da630dc71350ad038",
            "input": "Prosecution spokesman Andrzej Kukawski said Wednesday that dozens of participants, including a pregnant woman, were denied information about potential health hazards in what he called a medical experiment. Last year, three doctors and six nurses were given suspended prison terms for misleading some 200 people, mostly homeless, in the town of Grudziadz, into taking part in the new vaccine tests. They had described the shots as free vaccination against regular flu, and falsified documents to conceal some facts about the test’s participants. Acting for almost 40 participants, prosecutors are now suing the private firm that commissioned the medics to carry out the vaccine tests.",
            "output": [
                "Polish firm sued over tricking homeless into vaccine test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41740e4d4b2248b4a268c8195ab4dda4",
            "input": "The medical device maker said no deaths have been  associated with the problem and the recall classification does  not change recommendations made to physicians in January. The Food and Drug Administration defines a Class I recall  as a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that  use of the product will cause injury or death. According to the FDA Web site, a medical device recall does  not always mean that patients or doctors must stop using the  product or return it to the company. A recall sometimes means  the medical device needs to be checked, adjusted or fixed. Medtronic said in a statement that it sent an update on  January 16 to inform clinicians of an increase in the rate of  inflammatory mass cases reported in patients using its  SynchroMed and IsoMed infusion systems. The masses developed  near the tip of the catheter attached to the pumps, which are  typically used to dispense opioids for pain. Medtronic said the risk of an inflammatory mass has been  part of the product labeling since 2001. Medtronic shares, which fell 25 cents to close at $48.09 on  the New York Stock Exchange, were not trading after-hours.",
            "output": [
                "FDA calls Medtronic drug pump warning Class I."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46fba96a0073499799f19b7b3e090559",
            "input": "The city said in a release that it will spend $9.4 million to boost its mobile mental health treatment teams, which were launched in 2016. The city said the new money will be part of a $21 million investment that will lead to the hiring of more social workers, housing specialists and legal assistance employees. The additional workers will be needed to process the 20% increase in mental health referrals the effort is expected to generate, the city said, adding that it will likely reach 900 more people annually. In addition, the city said it plans to spend $11 million to create hospital-based outreach teams to coordinate care for people who frequent emergency rooms and acute care facilities. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the initiative will keep neighborhoods safer. “We have an obligation to address our broken mental health system and do all we can to connect people who are struggling to treatment,” de Blasio said. “That includes the small percentage of those with mental illness that, left untreated, are at risk of committing violence against themselves or others.” The city said its mobile units are in addition to a program that teams up mental health professionals with police officers who engage clients with serious mental health needs and a history of violence. The goal, it said, is to connect those individuals to professional treatment and support systems such as housing or family.",
            "output": [
                "New York City expands mobile program to reach mentally ill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c458535bf5840dea9cf55d3eb4a15e0",
            "input": "By joining forces with General Electric’s (GE.N) healthcare unit and 3M Co (MMM.N), Ford is taking heed of U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for U.S. automakers to work across sectors in producing equipment needed for the pandemic. The rapid outbreak, which has killed more than 16,500 people globally, has strained healthcare systems around the world and led to a shortage of ventilators needed to treat patients suffering from the flu-like illness, which can lead to breathing difficulties and pneumonia in severe cases. “We’ve been in regular dialogue with federal, state and local officials to understand the areas of greatest needs,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett said. Ford said its partnerships were code-named “Project Apollo” after the Apollo 13 launch in 1970 when a lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank failed two days into the mission, forcing the astronauts to improvise a fix. Ford and GE Healthcare will expand the production of GE’s ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by the pathogen. In addition, they are developing a simplified design that Ford could begin making at one of its plants. The plan is to get the new design approved quickly by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Tom Westrick, vice president and chief quality officer at GE Healthcare, said on a conference call. Ford also is evaluating a separate effort not involving GE with the British government to make additional ventilators. Hackett told CNN he believes the industry can produce “hundreds of thousands” of ventilators by early to mid-May. “There’s no higher sense of urgency.”  Ford on Tuesday extended the shutdown of its North American plants beyond March 30 as originally planned, but a spokesman said the healthcare-related efforts are separate and continuing. Separately, Ford will work with 3M to increase manufacturing capacity of its air-purifying respirators by up to a factor of 10 to meet a surge in demand for first responders and healthcare workers, while also similarly developing a simplified design that Ford could build at one of its Michigan plants. Under the simplified design, Ford is looking at using fans from its Ford F-150 pickup’s cooled seats to make parts of the respirators. Additionally, Ford said its U.S. design team, working with the United Auto Workers union, was starting to test transparent full-face shields for first responders, which when paired with N95 respirator masks, could be an effective way of limiting exposure to the coronavirus. The company is targeting making more than 100,000 a week at non-vehicle manufacturing facilities in Michigan, including using 3D printers to help. Ultimately, Ford officials want to create an open-sourced design that others can adopt and use to make their own shields. “The teams are just getting scrappy. How do we use what we’ve got to get to something that’s capable and would meet regulatory requirements,” Jim Baumbick, the Ford vice president in charge of the automaker’s efforts, told Reuters. On Monday, No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N) said it was partnering with medical equipment maker Ventec to build ventilators at GM’s parts plant in Indiana. Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler Automobile NV (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) told employees in an email that the Italian-American automaker would start converting one of its China plants to ultimately make over 1 million masks a month to help combat the coronavirus outbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Ford joins GE, 3M in speeding up ventilator, respirator production."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66e90a1f9e2644af883f8b9c7566705b",
            "input": "A locally made generic version of Efavirenz, one of 17  drugs in the cocktail used by HIV patients, should be approved  and ready for use in Brazil’s widely acclaimed AIDS treatment  program by early next year, the Health Ministry said. “It’s a historical mark for Brazil’s pharmaceutical  industry and Brazil’s public health,” Health Minister Jose  Temporao said at a news conference in Brasilia, the capital. “This could be the basis for future innovative initiatives  by (Brazil) in this field.”    Brazil, which provides free treatment to all AIDS patients,  declared Efavirenz in the public interest in 2007. That allowed  it to invoke a clause in World Trade Organization rules and  sidestep a patent held by U.S. pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co  Inc. Since then, Brazil has been importing a generic version of  the drug made in India, helping it cut costs significantly. Efavirenz now accounts for 4 percent of the Health Ministry’s  AIDS drug budget, down from 11 percent in 2006. The cost of the Brazilian generic still has not been  determined but Temporao said it would be well below Merck’s  price and close to what the ministry pays for Indian generics. About 80,000 of the 200,000 Brazilian HIV patients take  Efavirenz as part of their treatment. Brazil has a long history of butting heads with foreign  pharmaceutical giants, often threatening to break patents if  they refuse to lower prices on AIDS drugs. Earlier this month,  Brazil rejected a patent request for another AIDS drug made by  U.S.-based Gilead Sciences Inc, citing public health concerns. “What we want is that Brazil is treated and seen in a  strategic way by the industry,” Temporao said. After climbing in the 1990s, Brazil’s HIV infection rate  has steadied at around 0.5 percent and the number of new cases  and deaths have been declining. Experts attribute the success  to the government’s promotion of condoms, free treatment, and  the use of generic drugs.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil to make generic version of key AIDS drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48c53ba8c24e43c186bd42ee45abf07b",
            "input": "Roughly half of Yellowstone’s 4,600 bison are estimated to have been exposed to brucellosis, a bacterial infection that can sometimes cause cows and bison to miscarry. Worries that infected bison may endanger cattle in states such as Montana that border Yellowstone had prompted the powerful ranching lobby to endorse biobullets - absorbable projectiles packed with vaccine. They would cut disease rates among bison by as much as 35 percent over 30 years. The proposal was the latest decades-long efforts to ease conflicts between livestock interests and wildlife advocates over management of Yellowstone bison. Park officials said they decided against the remote vaccination program because of its $9 million price tag, questions about its effectiveness and the possible impact on the millions of visitors who flock to the park to view iconic Western wildlife like bison. The measure would have required shooting the animals once a year for three decades, raising questions about how increased human interaction could affect bison within the wild herd. “We have concerns about how that repeated contact might impact bison behavior and their visibility to park visitors,” said Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash. Nash said there was no documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle, which he said signifies the success of existing measures designed to separate the park’s herd from domestic livestock. Those practices include returning bison that leave the park, testing and vaccinating bison that leave Yellowstone, and slaughtering some infected animals. Errol Rice, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said the threats posed by infected bison to Montana’s brucellosis-free certification, which protects the market value of cattle, warranted using biobullets. He said the program would have lessened the public outcry that erupts when wandering bison are corralled and shipped to slaughterhouses. “The capture and removal of bison has been a challenging issue for the park and Montana. Remote vaccination would have helped alleviate the public relations burden we have to deal with when bison migrate out of Yellowstone,” he said. Stephany Seay, spokeswoman for Buffalo Field Campaign, a bison advocacy group, applauded the park’s decision not to shoot bison with vaccine. “It was a mismanagement scheme based on a livestock model. We don’t vaccinate skunks against rabies or mosquitoes against West Nile virus,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Yellowstone managers reject vaccinating bison with biobullets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9011ee952a64ada88a0fd2d5b7f30eb",
            "input": "\"We live in a violent, dangerous world. Most people accept that information as real, though abstract. But when Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., spoke from the House floor May 16 during debate on whether to renew the Violence Against Women Act, she drove the point home. \"\"One in four women and one in seven men have been victims of domestic violence in their lifetime,\"\" she said. That’s not the least bit abstract. In a nation of 311 million people it’s also very large. But is it ? We asked Bonamici’s office for her documentation. Spokeswoman Leah Nelson said the statement was based on information from a Congressional Research Service analysis of the Violence Against Women Act. CRS is the nonpartisan research arm of Congress that provides detailed and rigorous analysis of issues and legislation for members of Congress. Nelson provided a copy of the May 2012 report. To find the answer you have to first understand what the term means. Research by the Justice Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even the Department of Defense define domestic violence in a precise and similar way. It includes sexual violence, stalking, and \"\"intimate partner violence.\"\" According to a landmark 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- whose numbers are also used by the CRS --  sexual violence includes rape and sexual coercion, which is another way of describing a person \"\"pressured in a non-physical way.\"\" In addition to what most people consider sexual violence involving physical acts, the CDC report said, there can also be \"\"non-contact unwanted sexual experience\"\" such as people exposing themselves and \"\"making a victim … look at or participate in sexual photos or movies,\"\" among other acts. CDC researchers considered a wide array of actions to fall within the definition of domestic violence. Stalking was included, as was psychological aggression and control of reproductive or sexual health. The CRS’ definition is similarly broad. With that background, it’s time to turn to Bonamici’s attention-grabbing claim - one-in-four women and one-in-seven men are victims of severe domestic abuse during their lifetime. Her comment focuses on a subset of the larger - and most damaging - behavior defined as domestic abuse. You don’t have to look long. On page 2 of the CDC report’s executive summary is this sentence:  \"\"About 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner (e.g., hit with a fist or something hard, beaten, slammed against something) at some point in their lifetime.\"\" The numbers are repeated on page 43 of the 124-page report. Sprinkled throughout the report are detailed analyses of each segment of the claim. While the broader study includes behavior that many people would not normally associate with domestic abuse, Bonamici’s statistics refer directly to \"\"severe physical violence,\"\" acts that include rape and assault and violent behavior that easily falls within the common understanding of domestic abuse.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Suzanne Bonamici Says \"\"one in four women and one in seven men have been victims of domestic violence in their lifetime.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b12eb51f275f4a2eb97622e6ac2033bf",
            "input": "Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur, speaking on  state television, said the death toll had risen by 92, while the total number of cases of infection reached 77,995. However, a report by the Iranian parliament’s research centre suggested that the coronavirus tolls might be almost twice as many as those announced by the health ministry. “The assessment is that the actual mortality which has not been accounted for is 0.8 times the official figures. The number of infected cases could be 8 to 10 times the official figures,” the report said. The report said that Iran’s official coronavirus figures were only based on the number of deaths in hospitals and those who had already tested positive for the coronavirus. “To narrow the gap between the officially announced figures and the estimated figures, it is necessary to improve the laboratory capacity of the country,” it said. Iranian health ministry officials have not commented on the report, which was published online. The government is worried that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy which has already been battered by sanctions. On Saturday, low-risk business activities resumed across the country, including many shops, factories and workshops, with the exception of Tehran. They will re-open in the capital from Saturday. Health experts have criticised easing of the limitations, warning about the new wave of the disease. Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi called on people to stay at home, saying: “We are expecting the epidemic to pick up in autumn”, state TV reported. On social media, Iranians posted pictures of busy streets, packed branches of banks and crowded buses in Tehran and other cities. Iran is the Middle Eastern country worst-affected by the COVID-19 respiratory disease and has one of the world’s highest death tolls.",
            "output": [
                "Iran coronavirus death toll up as official warns of autumn rise in cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10b949a0088345debff23ac49c1b59ca",
            "input": "The story states that the therapy could cost “thousands of dollars,” so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. However, that’s a broad range and we wish the story had told readers whether that means two or three thousand or ten or twenty. We know it’s an early idea and cost projections are somewhat speculative. The story discussed benefits of the vaccine in relative terms only. It quotes a researcher saying “The magnitude of the effects are really impressive,” but never really quantified the magnitude of the effects. The story accurately describes what is known about the harms of the vaccine at this time. The story should have mentioned that more research is needed to determine how safe the vaccine is. The story adequately describes the design of the current study, rightly pointing out that it was small and preliminary and did not demonstrate effectiveness of the vaccine in an important outcome. The story does not appear to engage in disease mongering. The story quotes two experts – the author of the current study and an allergy expert at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The latter is not exactly an impartial source since NIAID helped fund the study, but he did caution about the signficance of the study, “limited by its small size and the vaccine’s failure to affect the primary immune system response it was designed to look for.” The story does mention alternatives, such as medications, nasal sprays and allergen immunotherapy. The story did state that “a commercial product is still years away.” The story also states that further studies could “eventually lead to drug approval by the FDA.” That’s true, but they could also lead to FDA rejection. It’s almost a meaningless line and could have been deleted without losing anything from the story. The story clearly states that vaccination is a new approach for treating hay fever. There is no way to know if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information, although much of the information apparently came from the principal investigator at Johns Hopkins and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was one of the funders of the study.",
            "output": [
                "DNA allergy vaccine shows promise"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-879b845411dc4a879000010a2761cfde",
            "input": "In a report released Wednesday, the experts said annual cases of Legionnaires’ jumped more than fivefold from 2000 to 2017, and that as many as 70,000 Americans get the disease every year. Legionnaires’ is caused by bacteria that can thrive in buildings with large water systems. About 20 outbreaks are reported each year, including recent ones at an Atlanta hotel and a hospital near Chicago. But there is no single set of widely accepted guidelines for preventing infections. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report pushes for requirements like minimum temperature levels for hot-water heaters, and registration and monitoring of cooling towers.",
            "output": [
                "Experts call for steps to stem increases in Legionnaires’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4033ca67c0384a7cbe56d41d0e7570f9",
            "input": "In Illinois alone, hospitals reported more than 220 cases of frostbite and hypothermia since Tuesday, when the polar vortex moved in and overnight temperatures plunged to minus 30 (minus 34 Celsius) or lower — with wind chills of minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius) or worse in some areas. Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis normally sees around 30 frostbite patients in an entire winter. It admitted 18 in the past week, spokeswoman Christine Hill said Friday. “I definitely saw more frostbite than I’ve ever seen in my entire career just in the last three days,” said Dr. Andrea Rowland-Fischer, an emergency department physician at Hennepin Healthcare. Most of those patients, she said, had underlying problems that made it difficult for them to take care of themselves: the developmentally delayed, the mentally ill, the very young and the very old. They also included people with injuries related to drugs and alcohol — people who passed out or did not realize they were cold or injured. “It’s heartbreaking when there are people who can’t take care of themselves and get exposed, just because they either escape from the care that they’re being given or because they’re not being supervised.” Others got frostbite on their way to work after being exposed to the cold for a short time, often on their hands, feet, ears and face. That included people whose cars would not start or who got stuck outside for other reasons, as well as those who just did not think they could get frostbitten so quickly and went outside without gloves or other protective gear. Several required “maximal treatment,” admission to the hospital’s burn unit for therapies that include drugs to restore circulation to try to avoid amputations. Some of them will probably still require amputations, a decision usually made by burn doctors four to 10 days after the injury. Many people decided to stay home even when they were sick to avoid slippery roads and subzero temperatures. In western Michigan, a health care system’s online service saw a major spike this week. More than 400 people over four days used Spectrum Health’s MedNow to see a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant about non-emergency issues, such as aches, rashes, cold and flu, said Joe Brennan, MedNow senior director. Most used an app on their phone. The usual four-day volume is 250. “We had soreness-and-sickness calls from people who were shoveling 2 ½ feet of snow,” Brennan said. “Instead of going to urgent care or an emergency department, they had an option to stay at home.” Another danger was from carbon monoxide. A family of nine in Wheeling, Illinois, about 30 miles northwest of Chicago, was taken to local hospitals after heating their home with a charcoal grill. In Rockford, Illinois, four people were treated because they had warmed up cars in a closed garage or because a furnace vent became blocked by ice and snow. The snow that accompanied the cold also caused problems. In Raymond, New Hampshire, the driver of a state Department of Transportation vehicle was struck in the head Thursday after ice and snow flew off a truck ahead and broke through the windshield. The driver was hospitalized with a laceration to the head and other possible injuries. In just a two-day period, Tuesday and Wednesday, Mercyhealth in Rockford treated 15 people for broken bones from falling on the ice, 10 people who were in car crashes caused by snow and eight people who complained of chest pain or shortness of breath from shoveling snow, hospital officials said. Rockford set a new record low of minus 31 degrees Thursday, but the hospital only treated two cases of frostbite, emergency physician Dr. John Pakiela said. “It was Antarctica there for a few days ... but I think people listened to professional advice and heeded warnings,” about staying indoors or bundling up, he said. By Friday, the deep freeze had mostly abated, with temperatures climbing as high as the low 20s (minus 5 or 6 Celsius) in Minneapolis and Chicago. In western North Dakota, the temperature in Dickinson climbed above freezing (0 Celsius) by midmorning — a jump of nearly 60 degrees compared with Tuesday’s low of minus 17 degrees (minus 27 Celsius). The weather was thought to be a factor in at least 27 deaths, including a 90-year-old Michigan woman who died of hypothermia after locking herself out of her home while feeding birds — one of at least nine people who were found outdoors. A motorist also died during a snowstorm Friday after striking a salt truck that had pulled off the side of Interstate 70 in central Indiana. Others died after freezing outdoors or in unheated homes or while shoveling snow. ___ Karnowski reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Blake Nicholson in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Ed White in Detroit also contributed to this story.",
            "output": [
                "Human toll of cold: more than 2 dozen dead, hundreds hurt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8db98bd535ab4fd3ac3c302c2d4bbe88",
            "input": "A customer leans against a pharmacy counter in a file photo. The FDA is launching a new effort meant to strengthen its oversight of prescription drugs after they win approval, an agency official said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi  The plan, called “Safety First,” includes creation of a new  database of possible side effects from medicines, plus clear  schedules for following up on concerns about them. The effort was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. FDA spokesman Christopher DiFrancesco confirmed the information  in the Journal’s story. The action is the FDA’s latest move to address charges that  the agency has been slow to respond to potential side effects  that emerge after a medicine reaches the market. The agency was sharply criticized for its handling of Merck  & Co Inc’s arthritis pill Vioxx, which the company withdrew in  2004 after research found it doubled heart attack and stroke  risk. The new plan will grant some new powers to the office that  monitors the safety of medicines after their approval. Critics  have said concerns from the safety office frequently get  overruled by the office that grants approval to new drugs. The pre-market review office may have a bias in favor of a  medicine it previously deemed safe enough to be sold, critics  say. The drug safety office “will be playing an expanded role in  the resolution of certain drug-related safety issues,” FDA  Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock wrote in an e-mail to staff  that was provided to Reuters. The safety group also will take the lead on epidemiological  studies and medication error prevention, Woodcock said. But the effort will not give the post-approval safety  office ultimate power to sign off on new warnings or  recommendations to remove a drug from the market, the Wall  Street Journal said. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told the Journal the  agency was creating a new appeals process for cases of  scientific disagreement that can take a dispute up to the  office of the commissioner. The FDA is expected to testify about the plan at a  congressional hearing on Wednesday.",
            "output": [
                "FDA plans new post-approval drug safety effort."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2fe8aa383a14d428a76cfdc3811e3ef",
            "input": "Whether asbestos in the talc supply in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder caused cancer has been the subject of litigation for years. The lawmakers, Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Suzanne Bonamici, did not mention Johnson & Johnson by name but expressed “deep concern” about Friday’s Reuters report, according to a copy of their letter dated Dec. 19 and reviewed by Reuters. Read the Reuters investigation reut.rs/2rAz2TO  In their letter, the two lawmakers asked the EPA how it was regulating potentially unsafe asbestos-containing products. J&J has disputed the Reuters report, calling it a “misrepresentation.” The company says its talc is safe and has never contained asbestos, adding that decades of studies and regulatory assessments confirm the safety of its product. Representatives for the EPA did not be respond to an email or a telephone call seeking comment on the congressional letter. Asked about the lawmakers’ letter, J&J spokesman Ernie Knewitz declined to comment but said the Reuters report was “one-sided, false and inflammatory.”  According to the Reuters report, documents as well as deposition and trial testimony showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. Most internal J&J asbestos test reports Reuters reviewed did not find asbestos. The company has defended its products in recent days with a series of full-page newspaper advertisements and a television interview with its chief executive. Shares of the company have fallen about 12.5 percent since the Reuters report on Friday. Merkley and Bonamici also asked the EPA to detail what steps it was taking to help prevent vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and infants from being exposed to products containing asbestos, including other products with talc, a mineral. Although baby powder is subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, other talc products sold to consumers would be within the purview of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and thus the responsibility of the EPA, they wrote in the letter. Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey separately called on the FDA to investigate the findings in the Reuters report in a letter on Friday. The FDA could not immediately be reached for comment. “Asbestos is a known carcinogen, and one for which there is no controlled use or safe level of exposure,” Merkley and Bonamici wrote. “Fifty-five countries have already banned asbestos. Unfortunately, the United States still permits the use of asbestos.”",
            "output": [
                "Two lawmakers question EPA on asbestos after Reuters report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c127dc6ee98454e88acb6ec03f1187e",
            "input": "The Central African nation is also battling an Ebola outbreak that has killed about half that number since August 2018. Since January, more than 200,000 cases of measles have been reported across Congo, UNICEF said. More than 140,000 involve children under 5, who also make up nearly 90 percent of deaths. “We’re facing this alarming situation because millions of Congolese children miss out on routine immunization and lack access to health care when they fall sick,” said the UNICEF country representative, Edouard Beigbeder. “On top of that, a weak health system, insecurity, community mistrust of vaccines and vaccinators and logistical challenges all contribute to a huge number of unvaccinated children at risk of contracting the disease.” Health officials are facing many of the same challenges in the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that has killed more than 2,000 people. Multiple armed groups have been fighting over the mineral-rich land for decades and threatening residents. The insecurity has led to mistrust of authorities, including health workers. UNICEF said health workers were rushing additional medical kits to help care for more than 110,000 people infected with the measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus. More than 1.4 million children have been vaccinated this year. The U.N. agency said Congo’s government will launch a vaccination campaign at the end of October to make sure children in every province are vaccinated. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Measles outbreak kills more than 4,000 in Congo this year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62e1eb1f97aa45c9af982a74aae190c8",
            "input": "Experts say it’s only a matter of time before a shift in a major fault line off the Oregon coast causes a massive earthquake that generates a tsunami as much as seven stories tall. Even as work on Oregon State University’s Marine Studies Building was underway in Newport, the Legislature went a step further and repealed a ban on construction of new “critical facilities” in tsunami inundation zones, allowing fire stations, police stations and schools to be built in the potential path of a tsunami. Passage of the bill in June was little noticed during one of the most tumultuous legislative sessions in Oregon history. But it has since been roundly criticized — including by Gov. Kate Brown, who told journalists the bill’s passage was one of her disappointments, even though she signed the measure and previously said it benefited economic development. Chris Goldfinger, an Oregon State University professor and an earthquake geologist, says putting the $60 million oceanography building in the path of a tsunami is “beyond ironic,” and allowing even more construction threatens lives in favor of development. “It’s foolhardy. In every other country in the world, best practice for tsunamis is avoidance, not building in a tsunami zone,” Goldfinger said at a symposium for journalists in Newport that included a tour of the construction project. Proponents of the university facility point out that the building will withstand strong earthquakes and be higher than the biggest tsunami. It will feature a rooftop evacuation site that can accommodate more than 900 people, accessed via an exterior ramp. Two days of supplies, including water, food and first aid, will be kept on the roof, said Cinamon Moffett, research facility coordinator for the marine center. Once the water subsides, survivors would be evacuated to a community college on a nearby hill, she said. An earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone, which extends in the ocean off Northern California to Canada’s Vancouver Island, has a 37 percent probability of happening off Oregon in the next 50 years, with a slightly lower chance of one striking near Washington state, Goldfinger said. Cascadia earthquakes have an average magnitude of around 9, making them among the world’s biggest. Evidence of a Cascadia earthquake’s awesome destructive power is visible 30 miles (50 kilometers) up the coast from Newport. There, a “ghost forest” of Sitka spruces juts up from a beach in the tiny town of Neskowin. An earthquake 2,000 years ago likely caused the ground beneath the trees to plunge, and tsunami debris buried them. The remnants were partially uncovered by storms in 1997. Today, the barnacle-encrusted trees stand like sentinels, facing the Pacific Ocean with vacation homes and a motel nearby. The last time the ocean reared up from a Cascadia earthquake was in 1700. The estimated magnitude 9 quake sent a tsunami across the Pacific into the coast of Japan, where it flooded farm fields, damaged fishermen’s shacks and ascended a castle moat. In the Pacific Northwest and Canada, the impact was far worse, and is described in the folklore of indigenous peoples. One tale describes a struggle between a thunderbird and a whale that caused the earth to shake and the ocean to wash away people and homes. Oregon became a leader in tsunami preparedness when the Legislature, in 1995, banned construction of certain public facilities in inundation zones. Vancouver Island in Canada’s British Columbia province was slammed by the 1700 tsunami. But no law prohibits construction of public buildings in tsunami zones there, according to Emergency Management BC. Washington state requires municipalities and counties to establish rules to limit development in areas that are frequently flooded or could be hit by tsunamis, landslides or other calamities. California has no state-mandated development restrictions in tsunami zones, said Rick Wilson, senior engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey. But the state recently adopted new language in its building code requiring that certain types of buildings be constructed to withstand tsunami forces, Wilson said. Other states are moving to do the same, using standards from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Japan, reacting to a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 dead or presumed dead, passed a law allowing towns to set tsunami warning zones and make evacuation and reconstruction plans. The government is spending 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) to build giant seawalls around the northern coastline. Moving to higher ground is not required, though some coastal communities have done so. “Oregon has gone from sort of a leader in this to full reverse,” said Goldfinger, who was attending a seismology conference in Japan when the 2011 earthquake hit. Oregon lawmakers overwhelmingly repealed the 1995 construction ban in June, as tensions in the Capitol ratcheted up over Republican opposition to a bill addressing global warming. Few people attended hearings at which lawmakers from coastal districts testified in favor of the repeal. Democratic Rep. David Gomberg, one of its sponsors, told members of a House committee to imagine the impacts if the state banned new schools, parking garages and police and fire stations in their communities. “What would be the consequence of that, to your ability to get insurance on your home, your ability to attract a new business into a neighborhood that’s not safe enough for fire departments, your ability to resell your home in a neighborhood not safe enough for police departments?” Gomberg asked. He said the state geology department should “help us rather than to stop ... our communities growing, thriving or continuing.” Gomberg said his bill gives the department responsibility for advising where a new inundation line should be and how risks can be mitigated. He also said he will introduce legislation for Oregon to adopt the American Society of Civil Engineers’ tsunami and earthquake building standards. Republican Sen. Brian Boquist, who was at the center of a Republican walkout over the global warming bill, was the only senator to vote against the repeal. Boquist said in an email that it allows public entities to build, knowing full well the buildings will not survive a tsunami. It is too soon to tell if coastal cities will use the new leeway to build facilities in inundation zones. Some have been doing the opposite. The town of Seaside, 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Portland, is moving schools out of the tsunami zone. Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said his city has no plans to build critical facilities in the inundation zone. But he praised the Marine Studies Building for its rooftop evacuation site, which can fit the population of an entire neighborhood of his fishing town. “We consider it to be a unique solution,” he said. Meanwhile, the Corvallis Gazette-Times noted in an editorial that while it is possible to design a building that can survive an earthquake and tsunami, “that doesn’t answer the question of why we should take the risk in the first place.” The newspaper urged lawmakers to reassess the new law when they convene next year. ___ Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Critics blast Oregon repeal of tsunami-zone building ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abc61ac0d629442282e69acbb45916e7",
            "input": "With Britain set to leave the European Union within weeks, Pinder Sahota at the world’s biggest insulin maker Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi’s Hugo Fry have rebuilt operations to withstand the most turbulent of events. The two companies told Reuters they had spent millions of pounds, which they cannot recoup, stockpiling millions of packets of insulin - used to treat diabetes - inside Britain and building new shipping and air freight routes. Their plans, formulated over three years, show the lengths companies across the continent are having to go to overhaul long-standing supply chains that may not survive Britain’s biggest trade upheaval in half a century. “There is nothing comparable to this,” Novo Nordisk’s UK General Manager Sahota told Reuters of the Danish company’s preparation. “It’s unprecedented from a logistics point of view. We’re preparing for the worst-case scenario, the most extreme.”  With two Brexit deadlines already been and gone, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal by Oct. 31 - increasing the chance of a sudden departure that brings trade tariffs and customs checks with the continent for the first time in decades. The government’s own planning shows that, in a worst-case scenario, lorries seeking to enter Europe at the French port of Calais could face delays of two-and-a-half days, creating supply disruptions that could last for months. That poses a real risk for the pharmaceutical industry which imports 37 million packs of drugs from Europe a month. According to the government, three-quarters come via that route. While Britain’s GSK and AstraZeneca are world leaders in respiratory and cardiovascular treatments, Britain’s insulin is imported. “In the case of pharmaceuticals, you can’t just throw things onto a boat or a lorry, you have to test and validate these routes into the country,” Fry told Reuters in his office to the west of London, adding they had backups to their backup plans. Both Sanofi and Novo Nordisk have reserved space on ferries going the longer route to eastern English ports to avoid the main Calais-Dover crossing if needed, and also air freight if required. “We anticipate that route is going to become congested so what we’ve done is open up other routes,” said Sahota. “So two other routes that we’ve opened up are Denmark to Immingham (in north-east England) and Netherlands to Immingham.”  SKY-HIGH STOCKPILES  Novo Nordisk, Britain’s biggest insulin supplier, has tripled its warehouse capacity to hold 18 weeks’ worth of stock - 3.8 million packs that piled high would stand 12 times the height of the London Shard skyscraper. Eli Lilly of the United States and France’s Sanofi, the country’s second and third-biggest suppliers, have similar stockpiles. Frustration is growing that while they dedicate huge resources to such preparation, they are spending less time on their normal jobs. “When we’re doing this, we’re not doing other stuff,” Fry said. “We’re not working on projects that will bring our most innovative products to the market. “Although we are happy to do it, it is starting to weigh on our balance sheet, on our logistics, keeping all this additional stock in the country. It’s not an ideal situation.”       The companies are confident they will be able to guarantee the British supply of insulin to the around 1 million diabetes patients who need it. But some patients like Georgina from London, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes more than 30 years ago, have become increasingly alarmed as the chances have grown of Britain leaving the EU without a deal to govern their trading relationship. “For me, I can’t tell you how worried I am about that. It’s life-threatening for me,” she said, declining to give her last name. She added that she also worried about older patients she encountered at clinics. The British government is organising a regular freight service reserved just for drugs as part of its preparations alongside industry for Brexit on Oct. 31. “We are doing everything we can to help ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted, including insulin,” said the department of health and social care. The two drug companies did not say how much their Brexit preparations had cost, beyond many millions of pounds. With fixed contracts with Britain’s health service, they cannot raise prices. Both Fry and Sahota have had to delve into arcane areas of transport. As part of their planning, for example, they have had to factor in how many drivers are needed to avoid breaking legally mandated rest laws, how long refrigerated lorries can operate in one stretch, and what happens in the event of fuel shortages. “We’re doing everything we can,” said Fry. “I know more about ferry crossings now than I ever thought I would.”",
            "output": [
                "With a backup to the backup, insulin makers say they're primed for Brexit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9a6975ab880446aab4f7f9c03bd1e3b",
            "input": "\"The Clinton Foundation might be committed to doing good around the world, but Hillary Clinton’s critics see it as a ripe target to bring down the presumptive Democratic nominee. Republican Donald Trump recently charged that some countries who gave money to the foundation received favorable treatment in return. For anyone who hasn’t heard about the Clinton Foundation, it’s the signature project to reduce poverty and improve global health created by former President Bill Clinton. It is part matchmaker, helping wealthy donors connect with doers, and part active participant, directly running programs, especially in health care. In an interview with Hillary Clinton, CNN’s Anderson Cooper quoted Trump and asked if her husband would break all ties with the foundation, should she become president. Clinton said she would cross that bridge \"\"if we come to it,\"\" and proceeded to give a full-throated defense of the foundation. \"\"I'm proud of the work that it has done,\"\" Clinton said in the June 8, 2016, interview. \"\"Nine million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine because of the work of the Clinton Foundation and my husband. We have women across the country, from Latin America and Africa -- across the world, I mean -- getting good jobs, and being able to support themselves for the first time.\"\" We’ll focus on the first part of that statement and explore if the Clinton Foundation actually had a hand in making HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable for 9 million people? The foundation’s work on HIV/AIDS treatment dates back to 2002 with the creation of the Clinton Health Access Initiative. That was a time when some countries were paying $1,000 or more to treat each AIDS patient. The basic goal was to bring in bulk-buying to lower costs. The program consolidated both the supply of raw materials to make the drugs and the bidding to supply the finished product. The result was lower production costs and lower drug prices. Today, the initiative tracks the going price for a menu of treatments and posts them to help health departments around the world as they negotiate with drug companies. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported that by the end of 2013, more than 11.7 million people were on antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries. While the kinds of drugs have changed, the WHO said \"\"in the past decade the price of individual antiretroviral formulations has decreased considerably.\"\" The treatments used in the early days have fallen from a median cost of about $600 in 2003 to about $100 a decade later. A more advanced drug combination introduced in 2005 saw a similar decline. Importantly, the WHO listed the Clinton Health Access Initiative as one of a handful of organizations collaborating on ensuring a steady supply of drugs. The partners in that effort include the biggest players, including several United Nations agencies, PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and UNITAID, a project created by  Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom. UNAIDS announced at the end of May that the number of people under treatment is now closer to 17 million. Technically, the Clinton Health Access Initiative has been a separate nonprofit since 2010, but it is still integrated within the Clinton Foundation and the foundation press office still offers comments on its behalf. Clinton Health Access Initiative spokeswoman Maura Daley told us that Clinton used an old figure for the people being served by the initiative. \"\"The total number of patients benefitting is 11.8 million,\"\" she told us. Not everyone getting treatment is counted as benefiting from the initiative’s efforts. Beyond working to reduce drug costs, it also coordinates with nongovernmental organizations inside countries to distribute the drugs once they arrive. Clearly, the Clinton Health Access Initiative did not accomplish all of this on its own, but Clinton didn’t say that. Two experts in HIV/AIDS treatment, Jennifer Kates at the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Ellen ‘t Hoen call the initiative an important player. ‘t Hoen was the first executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, a group that streamlines the production of generic antiretroviral drugs. \"\"Without the work of the MPP it would have been much harder for organizations like CHAI to access generic antiretrovirals,\"\" she said. The initiative has been faulted for failing to fully report donations from foreign governments and has filed amended returns for 2012 and 2013. Our ruling Clinton said 9 million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine thanks to the efforts of the Clinton Foundation and her husband. Bill Clinton started the foundation and its first big project was the Clinton Health Access Initiative. The program focused on using market mechanisms to reduce treatment costs. Costs have fallen dramatically and the initiative remains a key global player in maintaining a steady supply of affordable drugs. If anything, Clinton understated the number of people who have benefited from the program.",
            "output": [
                "Nine million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine because of the work of the Clinton Foundation and my husband."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc0d4d8510fb40d1826257e4b89145bb",
            "input": "“He’s not one of those owners who wants to be seen everywhere. He’s just one of the fans,” said Bryant. The NBA star gives his owner a hug before every game for luck “and maybe some of the success” of the slender Los Angles surgeon who built a fortune exceeding $7 billion as a biotechnology entrepreneur. For all Soon-Shiong’s success, the South African emigre and son of a Chinese herbal doctor remains relatively unknown in Los Angeles, a city that thrives on status and celebrity. That’s likely to change soon. In recent weeks, he emerged as a likely bidder for fellow billionaire Philip Anschutz’s sports and entertainment unit AEG, owner of 100 venues worldwide and sports teams like the Los Angeles Kings hockey franchise and the L.A. Galaxy soccer team, not to mention a 20 percent stake in the Lakers. And on Wednesday in Washington DC, Soon-Shiong and his L.A.-based NantHealth will unveil a joint venture with Verizon, Intel, Blue Shield of California and others to create a nationwide system for doctors to share DNA and other data on cancer patients. It will enable doctors to do genetic analysis of a patient’s tumor in less than a minute — a job that now can take from eight to 10 weeks. “This is something the federal government should have done, but we waited and waited for them,” Soon-Shiong told Reuters in an interview. “It’s unconscionable that cancer patients get the wrong diagnosis 30 percent of the time and that it takes so long to treat them with appropriate drugs for their cancer.”  Soon-Shiong emigrated to the United States more than three decades ago with his wife Michele Chan, an actress who had a starring role in 80’s show “Danger Bay” that aired on CBS and the Disney Channel and guest roles on “ MacGyver.” Since then, he has methodically climbed the ladder of success by adroitly mixing science and business. He created drugs to fight diabetes and breast cancer and then sold the companies that produced them for a combined $8.6 billion. In the four years since selling those companies, he quietly spent more than $400 million of his own money to build a national fiber optic network that would link cancer clinics throughout the country — the groundwork for the health superhighway. Soon-Shiong’s philanthropy was in evidence at his West Los Angeles office. The new superhighway was illustrated on a flow chart in a conference room where staffers edited a video of it on a nearby TV set. In the lobby was a model of the campus surrounding the Saint John’s Health Center, to which he has given $135 million to build a biotech research center and sports medicine clinic. “There are few Patrick Soon-Shiongs in this world,” said retired General Wesley Clark, who has served with him on non-profit boards. “A brilliant doctor, a great businessman and someone who is very patriotic. He understands what it means to give back to his country.”  Elsewhere, Los Angeles bears the mark of Soon-Shiong’s largesse and his fixation on healthcare. He and his wife operate the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, which last year endowed a chair at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering to support research in engineering and medicine. In 2009, after watching TV footage of a woman dying on the emergency room floor because doctors didn’t notice her, he guaranteed $100 million to underwrite efforts to reopen Martin Luther King Hospital. The hospital, which has since reopened, serves the city’s low-income population. The coming months may mark the public convergence of his private passions: health, sports, philanthropy and his adopted city. He wants to buy AEG in large part because he plans to build a $1.2 billion football stadium to return pro football to the nation’s second largest city. Owning a National Football League team, he said, would give him a platform to promote wellness by having players mentor younger fans on exercise and healthy eating, and sharing training and medical techniques with local doctors. Until recently, Soon-Shiong kept a low profile. He and his wife did not want their name in a press release when they first donated $23 million to Saint John’s in 2007 to build a biomedical facility, recalled medical center president Lou Lazatin. “Finally, they agreed when I told them it would help my marketing,” Lazatin said. Soon-Shiong’s business career started in the early 1980s with the help of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which gave him $2 million for stem cell research that could one day help treat injuries during space travel. At the time, he was a surgeon at a hospital affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles. With the money, he opened a small lab near a veteran’s hospital, where he developed treatments to reduce diabetes in pancreatic transplant patients and a cancer-fighting drug that doubled the response rate for the treatment of breast cancer. His climb was not without bumps. In 1999, his brother Terrence filed a complex suit claiming Patrick Soon-Shiong neglected work on a diabetes drug being developed by a startup in which Terrence had invested. But an arbitrator found in Patrick Soon-Shiong’s favor, and he declined to answer questions about the matter. By 2008, Patrick Soon-Shiong controlled 82 percent of APP Pharmaceuticals, the company he started to develop injectable drugs to treat cancer and other illnesses. Soon-Shiong sold the company for $5.6 billion to Germany’s Fresenuis Kabi Pharmaceuticals, netting him $4.6 billion. In 2010, he sold Abraxis BioScience, which he had spun off from APP in 2007, to pharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. for $2.9 billion. His 82 percent stake was worth $2.4 billion. Soon-Shiong paid Celgene $135 million for NantWorks, where he had begun the work of creating his planned high-tech health delivery network. He contacted potential partners for the venture, including meeting AEG owner Anschutz, with whom he spent a day in the Denver suburb of Aurora touring the Anshutz Medical Campus. Soon-Shiong also bought or provided seed money to small technology companies to aid in that effort. He paid $20 million to buy a controlling interest in KeyOn Communications, which provides wireless broadband service for rural markets, and another $10 million to a stake in Raptor Networks Technology, which makes switching equipment for high speed networks. “He watches every detail. I get emails from him at 2:30 in the morning, said Stephen Berman, CEO of toy maker JAAKS Pacific, which is licensing technology from one of Soon-Shiong’s companies to make interactive toys. He gives more than just money, says songwriter Burt Bacharach, whose son went to private school with Soon-Shiong’s daughter. Soon-Shiong showed up unannounced at Cedars Sinai Hospital one day, says Bacharach, to help doctors find the right combination of drugs to treat the musician’s son, who had a persistent staph infection. For L.A.’s richest man, that patient visit was a brief return to the role of physician that he insists he one day will resume.",
            "output": [
                "L.A.'s richest man ups the ante for city, cancer fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de448b7fa358489ab4dc667f9884a574",
            "input": "\"Even in a city repeatedly scarred by senseless fatal shootings -- a 10-year-old girl caught in the crossfire at a playground, a toddler struck by a bullet aimed at the wrong house -- this case stood out: A man driving his van in Milwaukee late on a Sunday afternoon struck and killed a 2-year-old boy who had darted into the street. He jumped out of the vehicle immediately and was grieving as he stood over the body. Moments later, a gunman, apparently enraged about the accident, shot the 40-year-old driver to death. But he also fatally wounded a 15-year-old, the toddler’s brother, who had rushed to the scene. Reacting to the incident, Mayor Tom Barrett linked increases in fatal and non-fatal shootings in Milwaukee with gun laws. In turn, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. criticized the mayor, saying Barrett was blaming concealed carry permit holders for more guns being on the street. Then, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, while speaking to reporters on April 14, 2015, two days after the accident and double-shooting, responded to the sheriff. \"\"We're the only place I know,\"\" Flynn said, referring to Wisconsin, \"\"where it's a misdemeanor to carry a gun illegally, but a felony for a second rap for carrying pot. Would you tell me how that makes sense? \"\"Second arrest for carrying pot is a felony. Second, third, fourth, 10th arrest for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor. Is it any wonder these knuckleheads out there with guns aren't learning a lesson from getting locked up by us? \"\"​ Is Flynn right about the Wisconsin laws? Except for some clarification, yes. Marijuana Carrying marijuana -- for a second offense and subsequent offenses -- is, in fact, a felony crime. But that doesn't necessarily mean a felony charge will be filed. Prosecutors generally have discretion in charging. So, while someone with a clean criminal record who is caught a second time carrying a marijuana joint technically has committed a felony offense, a prosecutor might decide to only issue a ticket. It’s also worth noting that carrying marijuana can be a felony on a first offense -- if you’re carrying with the intent to deliver, for instance. (Coincidentally, the day before Flynn made his claim, state Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, announced she would introduce a bill to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin. With Republicans controlling both houses of the Legislature, the measure has virtually no chance of passing.) Guns Wisconsin legalized the concealed carry of guns and other weapons in 2011. Carrying a concealed gun without a state-issued concealed carry license is a misdemeanor, for the first offense and for any subsequent offenses. It’s worth noting that someone convicted of any misdemeanor on three separate occasions within five years can be sentenced to more time behind bars. So, someone convicted of carrying a concealed gun illegally could be punished more if they are also convicted of two other misdemeanors, whether gun-related or not, within five years. In addition, for certain people, carrying a gun is a felony on the first offense. That includes convicted felons and people who are subject to an injunction such as a domestic violence restraining order. Our rating Flynn said that in Wisconsin, a \"\"second arrest for carrying pot is a felony,\"\" but a second or subsequent arrest \"\"for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor.\"\" A second arrest for carrying marijuana is classified as a felony offense, although depending on the circumstances, only a ticket might be issued. And generally a first or subsequent offense for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor -- although for some people, such as convicted felons, a first offense is a felony. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In Wisconsin, a \"\"second arrest for carrying pot is a felony,\"\" but a second or subsequent arrest \"\"for carrying a gun illegally is a misdemeanor.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d29b34b920c14c708114d38e38f7d699",
            "input": "\"Democrat Alex Sink is airing a new ad that whacks Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott for alleged fraud at Columbia/HCA, and in particular, for refusing to answer questions about his role in any wrongdoing. The ad, which will air Oct. 13, 2010, is two minutes long and crafted to look like a TV news magazine segment. It's called \"\"Fraud Files,\"\" and pieces together the voice of a narrator with video news clips. \"\"Is Columbia/HCA putting profits ahead of patients?\"\" NBC's Brian Williams asks near the beginning of the ad. \"\"Did Columbia treat a patient for a mild disease, then bill Medicare for something more expensive?\"\" another reporter asks. A narrator and a Palm Beach County prosecutor help fill in the details. \"\"A whistleblower revealed that Scott's company was cooking the books. Refusing to cooperate, Rick Scott gave a deposition in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times,\"\" the narrator says. \"\"Which means a truthful answer to the questions that he was asked would incriminate him,\"\" adds Michael McAuliffe, Palm Beach County's Democratic state attorney, finishing the thought. The ad then cuts quickly to another news reporter ... \"\"The Medicare fraud that cost his former company, Columbia/HCA $1.7 billion in fines ...\"\" And then back to the narrator. \"\"The fine was the largest in the history of the United States. Rick Scott resigned in disgrace with a $300 million golden parachute.\"\" We're dealing with McAuliffe's claim in another item. In this fact-check, we wanted to learn more about that deposition, and Scott's use of the Fifth Amendment. Columbia/HCA background  First, a little bit of back story on Scott and Columbia/HCA. Scott started what was first called Columbia in the spring of 1987 by purchasing two El Paso, Texas, hospitals. He quickly grew the company into one of the country's largest publicly traded hospital chains, and in 1994, merged Columbia with Tennessee-headquartered HCA and its 100 hospitals. In early 1997, federal agents revealed they were investigating the Columbia/HCA chain for, among other things, Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Allegations included that Columbia/HCA billed Medicare and Medicaid for tests that were not necessary or ordered by physicians, and that the hospital chain would perform one type of medical test but bill the federal government for a more expensive test or procedure. Agents seized records from Columbia facilities across the country in Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah and Florida. Scott resigned in the middle of the federal investigation in July 1997. Scott said he wanted to fight the federal government accusations; the corporate board of Columbia/HCA wanted to settle, and did. In 2000, the company pleaded guilty to at least 14 corporate felonies and agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages and penalties. The company agreed to further settlements in 2002, paying an additional $881 million in fines. Scott's deposition  Scott indeed did give a deposition in 2000 in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 75 times. The amendment reads in part that no one \"\"shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.\"\" Scott's deposition, however, was not part of the criminal fraud case being pursued by the federal government. In fact, Scott was never officially questioned during the federal criminal investigation. Instead, the case in question was a civil case involving Columbia/HCA and Nevada Communications Corp. Nevada Communications alleged that Columbia/HCA breached the terms of a communications contract. Scott's lawyer interjected after an opposing lawyer began the deposition by asking if Scott was employed. \"\"Under normal circumstances, Mr. Scott would be pleased to answer that question and other questions that you pose today,\"\" Scott's lawyer, Steven Steinbach, said. \"\"Unfortunately because of the pendency of a number of criminal investigations relating to Columbia around the country, he's going to follow my advice, out of prudence, to assert his constitutional privilege against giving testimony against himself. Scott then went on to read the same answer to every question Nevada Communications lawyers asked, even when asked if Scott is a current or former employee of Columbia/HCA -- \"\"Upon advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the questions by asserting my rights and privileges under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.\"\" The ad never clarifies, or tries to distinguish the deposition as being part of a civil case unconnected to the criminal investigation. It simply adds the claim into the middle of a series of claims about the criminal fraud case. On the other hand, Scott's reason for invoking the Fifth Amendment privilege was because of the criminal investigations surrounding Columbia/HCA, his lawyer said. During the Univision debate on Oct. 8, 2010, Scott said he pleaded the Fifth so many times because the opposing lawyers were on a \"\"fishing expedition.\"\" But that's not what the Fifth Amendment should be used for, legal experts say. The Fifth Amendment is a way to protect yourself from prosecution, regardless of whether you committed the crime. \"\"The Fifth Amendment is not a shield against fishing expeditions,\"\" said Nancy Dowd, a UF Levin College of Law professor. \"\"If you want to cloak yourself in the protection of the Fifth Amendment, it has to be for the reason that your answer could result in criminal liability.\"\" Added Bruce Jacob, a law professor at Stetson: \"\"You should not use the Fifth Amendment privilege if you don't think there's possible criminal liability.\"\" Ruling  Scott did give a deposition in 2000 where he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege not to be a witness against himself 75 times (we counted). But that alone doesn't make the claim right. We think it's fair to look at the context of how the number's used, and what an average viewer will take away upon seeing the ad. The inference here is clear -- that Scott gave a deposition in the federal criminal investigation of Columbia/HCA and pleaded the Fifth Amendment 75 times. That's not true. Scott invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times in an unrelated civil suit over a communications contract.\"",
            "output": [
                "Florida Democratic Party Says Rick Scott gave a deposition in which he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times about his dealings as head of Columbia/HCA hospital chain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04ac6b60e02c44a49ebf80a63498340d",
            "input": "Since Nov. 1, South Carolina has recorded 86 reported cases of the contagious disease. State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said Monday that’s more than four times what state officials normally expect to see. Over the last 10 years, South Carolina averaged 19 reported cases of hepatitis A annually. Most of the new cases have occurred in Aiken County, and almost half of all cases involve individuals who reported drug use, Bell said. Still, the general population needn’t be overly concerned, she said. “But we are seeing cases higher that what we expect to see,” Bell said. “And so it’s important for us to do our prevention efforts early to reach those high-risk groups, get them vaccinated ... so that we can prevent” a severe outbreak. The State reports the Department of Health and Environmental Control is offering no-cost vaccines to high risk groups including drug users, homeless, formerly incarcerated and sexually-active gay men. Additionally, health officials recommend all children get two doses of the vaccine as part of their immunization schedule. Of the 86 reported cases in South Carolina, 59 have led to hospitalization and one resulted in death, the DHEC said. Hepatitis is a disease characterized by inflammation of the liver. It comes in many forms, including hepatitis A, B and C. As a result, individuals with chronic liver disease, like cirrhosis, are at increased risk of complications if infected and should be vaccinated. The virus-borne infection can be prevented by vaccination and is usually transmitted person-to-person through consumption of contaminated food or water, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibodies produced in response to hepatitis A infection last for life and protect against reinfection. Infection usually results in sickness in two to six weeks after exposure. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, stomach pain, nausea, and yellowing of the eyes and skin. Symptoms usually resolve within two months of infection, according to the CDC. State public health officials in February declared an outbreak in Aiken County after an employee at a second restaurant in Aiken tested positive for the virus, the DHEC said. Bell, though, stressed transmission by food or beverage is uncommon. “Most transmission in the United States is through person-to-person contact,” Bell said. “Good hygiene - diligently washing your hands - is a good way to prevent hepatitis A, as well as not sharing personal items,” including drug equipment, she said, adding the state has received reports of hepatitis A from people using various drugs, “everything from marijuana to meth.” Residents can schedule an appointment for a vaccination at their local health department by calling 855-472-3432 or going to http://bit.ly/2HhEsM8 . ___ Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com",
            "output": [
                "South Carolina declares hepatitis outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-088e61e4ca114ac39dd027ff1b21d127",
            "input": "\"The news story does not mention costs, but a discussion of cost is relatively unimportant in the context of this story. The article says that CPR in any form \"\"may double the rate of survival from cardiac rest.\"\" According to a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, this means that “we can save tens of thousands of lives.”  Later in the story the spokesperson is reported as saying that when more people use CPR in cities such as Seattle, survival rates have jumped to as high as 30%. An AHA scientific statement says cities such as Seattle have reported survival of “more than 15%.” It adds that hands-only CPR and other changes (e.g. dispatcher-assisted \"\"telephone\"\" CPR) could save \"\"thousands of additional lives\"\" every year.\"\" This mix of relative and absolute estimates suggest there is surely some real benefit to increasing the use of CPR, but the precise amount of that benefit remains a bit fuzzy. The news article explains that when CPR is performed with chest compressions only (without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation) the main harm is rib fractures induced by energetic chest thumping. Although the story mentions that \"\"3 major studies published last year\"\" provide evidence to support the new AHA recommendations on CPR, it fails to discuss the quality of this evidence. The studies comparing survival after bystanders’ use of hand-only vs. standard CPR are necessarily observational. The story could have explained the possible limitation of such studies. The article explains that a tiny minority of people who need CPR actually receive it. It also reassures readers that untrained bystanders can perform CPR and potentially save lives. The story does not exaggerate the problem of untreated cardiac arrest. The article cites three sources, two of them associated with the American Heart Association (which developed the new guidelines) and one an apparently independent expert who supports the guidelines. The article discusses hands-only and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and explains that these are used while bystanders await other options—usually treatment by emergency medical personnel and/or automated external defibrillator and, ultimately, hospital medical staff. The news article makes it clear that virtually anyone can perform hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It requires no devices or drugs. The major barrier to treatment appears to be fear–of harm to the victim or rescuer, and/or and fear of failing to perform CPR correctly. The article points out that CPR has been taught in first-aid classes for more than 40 years. There is no evidence that the story relied solely or largely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Hands-only CPR greatly increases survival odds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14e5e309f57f413687e22b329faaaacd",
            "input": "Italy has registered more deaths than anywhere else in the world and accounts for more than a third of all global fatalities from the virus. In Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus emerged in December and which is now reopening after two months of lockdown, authorities have maintained physical distancing measures and continue to search for cases, Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said. “What we are likely to see, if you imagine the lockdown and stringent measures in Italy are now in place 2-3 weeks ... we should start to see stabilization because the cases we see today really reflect exposures two weeks ago,” he told journalists at a virtual briefing in Geneva. The death toll from the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy climbed by 812 to 11,591, the Civil Protection Agency said on Monday, reversing two days of declines in the daily rate. However, the number of new cases rose by just 4,050, the lowest amount since March 17, hitting a total 101,739 from a previous 97,689. Spain overtook China in the number of those infected with coronavirus on Monday, as the government tightened restrictions on a population entering its third week under one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe. But the daily increase in infections began to slow. “So we do hope that Italy and Spain are nearly there on that ... And going down (on case numbers) isn’t just about a lockdown and let go,” Ryan said. Regarding the use of masks by the public - amid a global shortage of supplies for health care workers - Ryan said: “In general WHO recommends that the wearing of a mask by a member of the public is to prevent that individual giving the disease to somebody else. “We don’t generally recommend wearing of masks in public by otherwise well individuals because it has not been up to now associated with any particular benefit.”",
            "output": [
                "Italy's epidemic should stabilize soon, but vigilance needed: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00ca71baf4ac4e73a3eaaad9e08923b1",
            "input": "\"An Austin legislator talking up her proposal to exempt feminine hygiene products from the state sales tax asserted that condoms were sold tax-free in Texas for a spell. Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard, speaking to reporters for the Dallas Morning News during a Facebook Live presentation, brought up condom tax history just after suggesting that ever-costly diapers also should not be subject to the state sales tax of 6.25 percent; local governments are allowed to levy up to 2 percent more of sales tax. Condoms, Howard went on, \"\"used to be tax-exempt here in Texas until we changed something in the statute; the wording was such that it ... put them back out there where they were taxed.\"\" We wondered about that, ultimately finding changes in law against a governor’s wishes resulted in a type of condom not being subject to sales tax for more than seven years--though no longer. To gauge this claim, we mostly relied on the Texas state comptroller’s office, which oversees state tax collections. By email, spokeswoman Lauren Willis pointed out that a tax-cut package signed into law by Gov. George W. Bush in 1999 included language exempting condoms from the Texas sales tax. Bush’s desire, comptroller’s ruling That’s what was reported at the time, we confirmed, though the tax details rest on a medical angle. Willis emailed us a web link to a March 2000 news story stating that contrary to Bush’s campaign-trail intentions, condoms would soon rank among products not subject to the state sales tax. Starting April 1, 2000, the Morris News Service story said, \"\"Texans won't have to pay sales tax on non-prescription medications, ointments to treat sunburns, laxatives or condoms.\"\" Before his re-election in 1998, the story said, Bush had proposed a $400 million tax-cut package including a sales tax break on over-the-counter health items although Bush, an advocate of abstinence education for teenagers, had said the cut wouldn’t apply to condoms. Seeking re-election, Bush said in September 1998 that his proposed tax cut would not extend to nonprescription contraceptives, including condoms, the Morning News reported. \"\"The governor is being touted by some in the GOP has a potential presidential candidate in 2000,\"\" the story said, \"\"and some social conservatives have taken a strong stand against promiscuity and premarital sex.\"\" But in March 2000, State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander announced she had no choice but to include condoms among items made tax-exempt in the tax-cut measure passed into law the year before. Calling her decision a \"\"matter of law,\"\" Rylander pointed out the new law required a drug, medicine or health care product to be exempt from taxes if it has a drug code number issued pursuant to FDA regulations. National drug codes, or NDCs, are three-digit segments that serve as universal product identifiers, the FDA says. Condoms as medicinal A March 2000 Houston Chronicle news story said the legislated tax exemption would apply to all 100,000 nonprescription products carrying an NDC. That story noted that the original legislation, Senate Bill 441 by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, would have exempted only children’s nonprescription medicines from the sales tax but was expanded in Senate-House negotiations to include adult over-the-counter medicines--with the FDA code limitation intended to preclude tax breaks for herbal and folk remedies not sanction by that agency. We confirmed, from SB 441 signed into law by Bush, the inclusion of language exempting from the sales tax any drug or medicine with an FDA-issued \"\"national drug code.\"\" We suspect, though, that not all condoms had the codes. When we checked with the FDA about condoms having NDCs, spokeswoman Deborah Kotz replied by email that the agency considers condoms to be \"\"devices\"\" that don’t need NDCs, unlike medicines. Kotz later emailed that regardless, some condom manufacturers have put NDCs on condoms sold over the counter, \"\"often for reimbursement purposes.\"\" Some condoms, Kotz said, still have the numbers. Meantime, Willis shared a December 2000 letter from Rylander to a Victoria resident outlining another reason condoms became tax-exempt. Rylander wrote that as agency staff pinned down what would be exempt from the sales tax due to the 1999 law, they recognized that some drugs and medicines didn’t have NDCs. So in building the list of exempt items, Rylander advised, agency staff relied on an FDA list of drugs and medicines and also included items, such as condoms, that fit the state’s statutory definition of a drug or medicine as \"\"an article or substance applied to, ingested, or inhaled by humans marketed for the use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, illness, injury, or pain.\"\" Rylander’s conclusion: The \"\"medicated prophylactic devices, which aid in the prevention of disease, qualify for the exemption. However,\"\" she wrote, \"\"prophylactic devices that are not medicated are not exempt.\"\" Willis confirmed, when we asked, that only condoms containing medication ended up being tax-exempt. No longer Lawmakers didn't immediately restore taxation of all condoms. Willis said, and we confirmed, that the NDC language was removed by a 2001 law yet Senate Bill 1125 left spermicidal condoms tax-exempt by simultaneously adding language exempting products \"\"labeled or required to be labeled with a ‘Drug Facts’ panel in accord\"\" with FDA regulations. By email, Klot separately told us condoms, mostly regulated as devices and not medicines, might have \"\"facts\"\" panels, but the FDA hasn’t required as much. A 2007 change in law limited items exempt from the sales tax to products required to have the \"\"Drug Facts\"\" panels, Willis told us by email, which ended the condom tax exemption as of September 2007. In the fiscal year through August 2016, Willis said, the state sales tax on condoms yielded an estimated $7 million in revenue. Our ruling Howard said condoms \"\"used to be tax-exempt here in Texas.\"\" Under a tax-cut measure approved by lawmakers and Bush in 1999, condoms containing spermicide were exempt from the state sales tax starting in April 2000. Another change in law ended that exemption as of September 2007. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.",
            "output": [
                "\"Donna Howard Says condoms \"\"used to be tax-exempt here in Texas.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b5338e5d8c44028a76f68553659ad63",
            "input": "That finding is in a report released Wednesday by Michigan’s auditor general. The Department of Environmental Quality says it could save a lot of money with an IT upgrade. The DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance works with health departments, which inspect campgrounds, pools and septage waste haulers. But the audit says there’s no shared database. The state must manually scan inspections, and paper copies can be lost during delivery. The audit says three IT systems “are in jeopardy of failing.” DEQ has proposed a $6.5 million IT improvement that could save $9.4 million over six years, including $350,000 just in mail handling.",
            "output": [
                "Audit: A state environmental office has ‘failing’ IT systems."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4d725a86250466e980d037a769142af",
            "input": "The costs of antidepressants weren’t discussed, but perhaps that is understandable in this kind of broad overview of a meta-analysis. Fluoxetine (prozac) and venalfaxine (effexor) are now both generic. So costs are pretty low. The story gave detailed breakdowns of percent improvement in scores on depression tests and provided an estimate of the number needed to treat in order for one to benefit. The difference in benefits between older and younger patients was highlighted. There was at least the acknowledgement that these drugs do carry side effects – but none was specified nor quantified. Several of the limitations of the meta-analysis were mentioned in the story. Of course, one key limitation in such cases is how they selected studies for the analyses (ones already available to them from the National Institute of Mental Health and from drug companies). This may not bias the results but may bias the interpretation (the authors say they only know these effects for prozac/effexor and can’t comment on other drugs; that could possibly lead a reader to incorrectly conclude that only prozac/effexor are shown to be effective.) No disease mongering about depression here. The story interviewed Irving Kirsch, frequently cited/quoted on antidepressant research issues. It also did a good job of noting potential conflicts of interest. The story at least noted alternatives including psychotherapy and exercise, but didn’t give information about the effects, pros/cons of these options. The availability of antidepressants was not in question. The story didn’t analyze the novelty claim that the researchers made: “To our knowledge, this is the first research synthesis in this area to use complete longitudinal person-level data from a large set of published and unpublished studies. The results do not support previous findings that antidepressants show little benefit except for severe depression.” The second point was made in the story, but perhaps the story should have explained a bit more about the methodological reasons for why this analysis was – or what made it – different or important. As to the first (questionable) part of the claim, what’s novel is this: more studies than the previous analysis, adolescents/adults/older adults included and analyzed by these groups. The story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study suggests overall benefit from antidepressants"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52e8b2cad0d24d7e97bfee0e0e0747d4",
            "input": "The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help. “It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”  Zhu and the other sources said the American expert, Dr. Linda Quick, was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases. As an American CDC employee, they said, Quick was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak, and might have alerted them to the growing threat weeks earlier. No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Quick left in July, according to the sources. Zhu said an embedded expert can often get word of outbreaks early, after forming close relationships with Chinese counterparts. Zhu and the other sources said Quick could have provided real-time information to U.S. and other officials around the world during the first weeks of the outbreak, when they said the Chinese government tamped down on the release of information and provided erroneous assessments. Quick left amid a bitter U.S. trade dispute with China when she learned her federally funded post, officially known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, would be discontinued as of September, the sources said. The U.S. CDC said it first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31. Since then, the outbreak of the disease known as COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, killing more than 13,600 people, infecting more than 317,000. The epidemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems in some countries, including Italy, and threatens to do so in the United States and elsewhere. During a press briefing on Sunday shortly after this story was first published, President Donald Trump dismissed the Reuters report as similar to other stories regarding the CDC that he described as “100 percent wrong,” without addressing whether the role had been eliminated. U.S. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield maintained the agency’s presence in China “is actually being augmented as we speak,” without elaborating. In a statement to Reuters before the report was published, the CDC said the elimination of the adviser position did not hinder Washington’s ability to get information and “had absolutely nothing to do with CDC not learning of cases in China earlier.”  The agency said its decision not to have a resident adviser “started well before last summer and was due to China’s excellent technical capability and maturity of the program.”  The CDC said it has assigned two of its Chinese employees as “mentors” to help with the training program. The agency did not respond to questions about the mentors’ specific role or expertise. The CDC would not make Quick, who still works for the agency, available for comment. Asked for comment on Chinese transparency and responsiveness to the outbreak, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Reuters to remarks by spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday. Geng said the country “has adopted the strictest, most comprehensive, and most thorough prevention and control measures in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and informed the (World Health Organization) and relevant countries and regions of the latest situation in a timely manner.”  One disease expert told Reuters he was skeptical that the U.S. resident adviser would have been able to get earlier or better information to the Trump administration, given the Chinese government’s suppression of information. “In the end, based on circumstances in China, it probably wouldn’t have made a big difference,” Scott McNabb, who was a CDC epidemiologist for 20 years and is now a research professor at Emory University. “The problem was how the Chinese handled it. What should have changed was the Chinese should have acknowledged it earlier and didn’t.”  Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Friday that his agency learned of the coronavirus in early January, based on Redfield’s conversations with “Chinese colleagues.”  Redfield learned that “this looks to be a novel coronavirus” from Dr. Gao Fu, the head of the China CDC, according to an HHS administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Dr. Redfield always talked to Dr. Gao,” the official said. HHS and CDC did not make Azar or Redfield available for comment. Zhu and other sources said U.S. leaders should not have been relying on the China CDC director for alerts and updates. In general, they said, officials in China downplayed the severity of the outbreak in the early weeks and did not acknowledge evidence of person-to-person transmission until Jan. 20. After the epidemic exploded and China had imposed strict quarantines, Trump administration officials complained that the Chinese had censored information about the outbreak and that the United States had been unable to get American disease experts into the country to help contain the spread. Azar told CNN on Feb. 14 that he and CDC director Redfield officially offered to send a CDC team into China on Jan. 6 but still had not received permission for them to enter the country. HHS oversees the CDC. “Dr. Redfield and I made the offer on January 6th - 36 days ago, 60,000 cases and 1,300 deaths ago,” Azar said. “We made the offer to send the CDC experts in to assist their Chinese colleagues to get to the bottom of key scientific questions like, how transmissible is this disease? What is the severity? What is the incubation period and can there be asymptomatic transmission?”  Days later, the World Health Organization secured permission to send a team that included two U.S. experts. The team visited between Feb. 16th and 24th. By then, China had reported more than 75,000 cases. On Feb. 25, the first day the CDC told the American public to prepare for an outbreak at home, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of mishandling the epidemic through its “censorship” of medical professionals and media. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then, as Trump has labeled the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” - a description the Chinese have condemned as stigmatizing. Last week, the Chinese government announced that Americans from three U.S. news organizations, The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, would be expelled from China. The decision to eliminate Quick’s job came as the CDC has scaled back the number of U.S. staffers in China over the last two years, the sources told Reuters. “We had already withdrawn many technical public health experts,” the same expert said. The CDC, however, disputed that staffing was a problem or that its information had been limited by the move. “It was not the staffing shortage that limited our ability” it said. The U.S. CDC team in Beijing now includes three American citizens in permanent roles, an additional American who is temporary and around 10 Chinese nationals, the agency said. Of the Americans, one is an influenza expert with expertise in respiratory disease. COVID-19 is not influenza, though it can cause severe respiratory illness. The CDC team, aside from Quick, was housed at U.S. Embassy facilities. No American CDC staffer besides Quick was embedded with China’s disease control agency, the sources said. China in recent weeks has reported a dramatic slowdown in new cases, the result of drastic containment measures including the lockdown of Hubei province, home to 60 million people. Nevertheless, the infectious disease experts who spoke with Reuters said, the United States could use people like Quick with contacts on the ground, especially if fears of a second wave of infections materializes. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the CDC, said that if the U.S. resident adviser had still been in China, “it is possible that we would know more today about how this coronavirus is spreading and what works best to stop it.”  Dr. George Conway, a medical epidemiologist who knows Quick and had served as resident advisor between 2012 and 2015, said funding for the position had been tenuous for years because of a perennial debate among U.S health officials over whether China should be paying for funding its own training program. Yet since the training program was launched in 2001, the sources familiar with it say, it has not only strengthened the ranks of Chinese epidemiologists in the field, but also fostered collegial relationships between public health officials in the two countries. “We go there as credentialed diplomats and return home as close colleagues and often as friends,” Conway said. In 2007, Dr. Robert Fontaine, a CDC epidemiologist  and one of the longest serving U.S. officials in the adviser’s position, received China’s highest honor for outstanding contributions to public health due to his contribution as a foreigner in helping to detect and investigate clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause. But since last year, Frieden and others said, growing tensions between the Trump administration and China’s leadership have apparently damaged the collaboration. “The message from the administration was, ‘Don’t work with China, they’re our rival,’” Frieden said. Trump’s re-election campaign sent out a statement Sunday evening dismissing controversy about the CDC’S cut as a matter of politics. “Democrats are eager to politicize the coronavirus crisis and weaponize it against President Trump, the statement said. “In so doing, they’re siding with the Chinese and providing cover for Beijing’s cover-up.”",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79a23e7289a34cfca273dc03897a1cf5",
            "input": "The Air Visual API website, which compiles data from ground sensors worldwide, ranked the Serbian capital temporarily at the top of its global index of cities with the worst air pollution. Belgrade’s pollution level later fell to fourth, behind Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Zagreb in Croatia, and Chiang Mai in Thailand. Local researchers say that domestic heating and industry, including decades-old coal-fired power plants which provide most of Serbia’s energy, emit almost three-quarters of the country’s polluting air particles. In January hundreds of protesters took to Belgrade’s streets    demanding the government tackle severe air pollution throughout the European Union candidate country. In a statement, Ne Davimo Beograd (Let’s Not Drown Belgrade), a local rights and environment watchdog, said that the main cause of the latest pollution could be a smouldering fire at the sprawling Vinca landfill, about 20 km (12 miles) east of the city center. Radomir Lazovic, one of the organization’s leading activists, said that air pollution could aggravate the condition of people with pulmonary diseases, which are particularly susceptible to coronavirus infection. “According to estimates ... (by doctors), there are around 1 million of these people in Serbia,” Lazovic told Reuters. In a statement, the ministry for environmental protection said that along with small heating plants and domestic heating, dust was the main contributor to most recent pollution. “After melting of snow and drying of the surface (soil), a strong wind led to re-emission of the (dust) particles into ... the lower layers of atmosphere,” the ministry said. So far, the coronavirus infection in Serbia has sickened 528 and killed eight people. Officials from Belgrade’s waste disposal company and city hall who are responsible for the landfill could not immediately be reached for comment.",
            "output": [
                "World's worst air adds to Serbian capital's coronavirus woes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da4e8c2d47094e9694a9c1534bb15cac",
            "input": "A deadly fungal disease devastated amphibians in Central America more than a decade ago, quieting some mountain streams. But new research shows evolution may have saved the day — and the frogs. In El Cope, Panama, at least four species disappeared including the red-striped Rio San Juan robber frog. Four other species lost at least 88 percent of their population from a disease-causing fungus that hit Panama hard from 2004 to 2007. The fungus has also been blamed for wiping out amphibian populations in California’s Sierra Nevada and parts of Australia. In the last few years, croaks have been heard in once quiet Panama streams. The critters are by no means recovered since they are still infected with the fungus, but they are alive and growing in numbers, according to a new study in Thursday’s journal Science . “It’s so easy to lose hope when you’ve walked the same stretch of stream year after year, hoping to see a hint of the amazing diversity you once saw there,” study co-author Corinne Richards-Zawacki, a University of Pittsburgh biologist, said in an email. “So you can imagine how good it feels to be able to report some good news from the field.” The recovery is not everywhere and it’s at best modest, cautioned lead author Jamie Voyles, a disease ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. One of the frogs making the most noticeable comeback is the hard-to-catch rocket frog, named because it is so quick, she said. Voyles and Richards-Zawacki wanted to find out why the amphibians survived. They initially figured the disease weakened. But after testing old and new disease samples on frogs, they found the disease was as dangerous as ever. To their surprise, the frogs and toads were fighting back better. The fungal disease attacks their skin secretions and recently the frogs showed a two- to five-fold improvement in the amphibians’ ability to limit the fungus’ growth. The disease is still there, but it does less damage, Voyles said. While this research is important, the findings aren’t too surprising because past studies have shown that as bad as disease outbreaks get, they play a tiny role in species extinction, said Andrew Blaustein at Oregon State University, who wasn’t part of the study. Evolution allows species to resist completely succumbing to the nastiest diseases. “So, yes there is hope,” Blaustein said in an email. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "A ribbit of hope: Panama frogs hop back after nasty disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f08f3998a47430d93d210ed2c6ea7fa",
            "input": "Since this article is about a treatment whose benefits are disputed, it should tell readers how much it costs. This would let them do a rough cost-vs.-benefit calculation as they consider whether to use echinacea. The reporter says the study showed a 58 percent reduction in cold risk, and some unspecified ability to shorten duration. It would be useful to know how likely an average adult or child is to get a cold each year, and how long it lasts. This would also help people understand the possible payoff of taking echinacea–and compare it to the costs. The article points out that the herb has some side effects, and quotes a physician mentioning the most common one (a rash, especially in children) and the most important contraindication (pregnancy). It also points out that the study did not take potential harms into account, alerting readers to the possiblity of others not mentioned here. The reporter does an excellent job of describing the technique of meta-analysis, the details of this study, and the benefits and limits of this research approach. He also provides context by describing earlier research into the same question. The article does not exaggerate the effects of colds or the value of the treatment. The reporter does an excellent job describing the rigor of the study and getting the author, an interested party, and a disinterested party to provide perspective. The article fails to mention other options for treating and preventing colds. Again, due to the disputed nature of the findings, this is a significant oversight. The reader will want to know: If echinacea doesn’t work, what else can I try? The article fails to say how widely the herb is used and where it’s available. But it’s probably safe to assume that most Americans know how to find it. The article makes very clear that this treatment has been studied many times before, with contradictory results. The reporter did a significant amount of original reporting.",
            "output": [
                "Echinacea helps colds, major review shows"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40519a4b006e44c1a1f50a763fca1b10",
            "input": "\"No mention of costs, but given the comparison with other medications and acknowledgement of multiple sources to obtain the product, this is a relatively minor concern. The story clearly describes the impact of the therapies on a tangible outcome: the difference in the number of hot flashes or night sweats women in each group had each day. There is no mention of the possible harms of any of the herbal treatments; the statement by a researcher who led the study that they are 'safe' goes unchallenged. Story does a reasonable job of explaining the study that was done, but does not mention whether women knew which group they were in (that is, were they randomly assigned and blinded as to which therapy they received). None noted. The story identifies both the source of funding for the study and the two investigators who are quoted. An expert who was not involved in the study also commented on the findings. Other options for managing hot flashes and night sweats are mentioned, as well as how the role of traditional hormone therapies has shifted in recent years. The story says black cohosh is \"\"available in pill or liquid form and is sold over the counter in many health food stores and over the Internet.\"\" It's clear from the context that the herbal remedies are not novel approaches. The story does not appear to have relied solely or largely on an a news release, and included input from an independent researcher.\"",
            "output": [
                "Menopause Study Disputes Herb Treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5bb745b0030f4b789c813affc2afdfc8",
            "input": "Kashmiri people buy pastries and spices ahead of Eid al-Fitr festival in Srinagar September 20, 2009. REUTERS/Danish Ismail But health experts warn that the festivities, coupled with genetic predisposition and lifestyle changes brought about by the increasing prosperity of the middle class, is contributing to the country being called the world’s “diabetes capital,” with the highest number of diabetics in any nation. The string of festivals, starting with Durga Puja and Dussehra and ending with Diwali, take place in accordance with the Hindu calendar and the dates change every year. The first two were on Oct 6 and Diwali falls on Oct 26 this year. “For the next one month or so, it is all either festivals or outings,” says Anoop Misra, chairman at New Delhi’s Fortis-C-DOC, Center of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology. “During this time, the rate of obesity goes up, sugar control of established diabetics goes down and those who are predisposed to develop diabetes also show diabetes.”   Festivals in India are synonymous with eating and gifting sweets, and most food and confectionery shops are decked with an assortment of goodies in colorful wrappings meant for traditional presents. Two all-time favorites are rasgullas, a soft, spongy ball made from cottage cheese, and the conch-shaped samdesh, made from jaggery. A popular holiday treat is milk-based kaju barfi. But experts warn the festival fun — and, not least, the culture of sweet-eating that peaks then — can help trigger long-term health problems, with diabetes only the start. The disease is characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood and can lead to more serious complications such as heart disease and stroke, damage to the kidneys or nerves, and blindness. But the culture of consuming sweets is hard to shake off, especially during festivals. “Everybody (in India) has a sweet tooth, including me,” said Ramachandran, a man in his 50s polishing off a plate of sweets at a New Delhi restaurant. “(Diabetes) is not because of sweets. It’s because people are too lazy (to exercise),” he added. The majority of those with diabetes have Type 2, which is linked to obesity and lack of exercise. India, with 62.4 million cases, has the world’s highest number of diabetics. Misra said numbers are rising at an alarming rate because of a newly rich middle class that increasingly consumes junk food while adopting more sedentary lifestyles. “Their awareness about healthy eating is very low,” he said. Recent studies have shown the numbers of diabetics is also rising fast in villages, where people are traditionally more active and have not previously been exposed to fast food restaurants and refined snacks. Nutritionist Uma Gupta attributes it to increasing stress and people adopting city culture, among other causes. A recent study commissioned by the Indian Council for Medical Research found that in the last one year, the number of diabetics in India increased by 11.6 million, while another 77.2 million are pre-diabetics — a precursor to Type 2 diabetes where a person’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal. Experts warn that the country’s health infrastructure could soon be unable to deal with the burden. “(Diabetes) is a forerunner of multiple diseases including heart disease and cancer ... I don’t think our present health system can counter this pressure,” Misra said. The situation is made worse by a tendency for people to wait until they have a real health problem before doing anything, said Gupta. “Take measures now, improve your lifestyle. Otherwise, hospitals will not have space for you, doctors will not have time to treat you,” she added. “Treatment should start from your plate itself.”",
            "output": [
                "Festival cheer rings diabetes alarm for Indians."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c146c1420dee4f299a3e33a9c914c494",
            "input": "On October 26 2019, a Facebook user shared a PSA involving the popular meme often called “woman yelling at a cat,” stating that the image’s ubiquity led them to research the origins of the image:After seeing this image on many different memes, I decided to research it. I had hoped there was some humor or ridiculousness behind it. Instead there is nothing but very serious tragedy. This is a woman named Taylor Armstrong from the show Beverly Hills Housewives defending herself against her “friends” about coming forward on the physical abuse she endured from her husband Russell. Her friends were claiming she lied. This transition happened soon after he committed suicide and while she was having a nervous breakdown. Until recently her hospital records were kept private, including the reconstructive surgery she had to have on her eye from an injury she sustained by him. Her friends attacked her honesty because he said he didn’t do it. Don’t they all. So an abused woman and a dead abuser, … and a child left fatherless. Sometimes we should be more careful of what we’re laughing at.According to KnowYourMeme, the image of the two women and the image of the cat came together to form one meme around May 2019. Prior to that, the image of the woman yelling circulated as a meme in its own right, as seen in a March 2016 Instagram post:A post shared by Betches Media (@betches) on Mar 24, 2016 at 2:29pm PDTThat same year — 2016 — the image of the women appeared in an USMagazine.com ranking of fights on various Real Housewives shows, identifying the image’s origin as an episode in the second season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The magazine identified the blonde woman in the image as Taylor Armstrong:In season 2 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the ladies conducted an intervention for [Taylor] Armstrong over her allegedly abusive late husband, Russell. After the meeting didn’t go over so well, things got even worse at a Malibu bash, where Armstrong completely lost it.Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season two episode “Malibu Beach Party from Hell” originally aired in December 2011. Vulture recapped the episode, focusing more on the behavior of an ancillary character during the argument seen in all the memes. On YouTube, footage of the entire segment as it originally aired was uploaded in August 2019.Vulture‘s recap included Armstrong’s explanation for her dispute with castmate Camille Grammer, from the episode’s subsequent Watch What Happened Live. The clip was filmed after Armstrong disclosed her pending divorce from husband Russell Armstrong, and the argument in question was over Grammer’s risky gossiping about the events leading up to the filing for divorce.Before the argument and prior to Armstrong’s arrival, Grammer admitted her unease at facing Armstrong under those circumstances. That recap coupled the events of the show with the additional background provided by cast members:Camille … expressed her concerns about seeing Taylor, who had been dodging her calls since Camille said out loud to a group of their peers that her husband was beating her. And since Taylor has appeared on WWHL to clarify and spin the events accordingly, we now know that her official statement is that what she was angry at Camille about had more to do with Camille saying that Russell had abused her on-camera than anything else. And being as the women are not allowed to allude to the fact that they are being filmed throughout the course of the series, it’s a fair point of Taylor’s to have made. [Taylor] claimed, when talking to Andy Cohen, that when Camille said what she had about Russell she put Taylor in danger, because Taylor feared that her husband would see the footage and beat her up or kill her. And those claims are so terrifying and believable, despite what you may think of Taylor’s pathologies, that her meshugganah antics on last night’s episode actually seemed less despicable and more justifiable than her prior lashings-out.Immediately after “Malibu Beach House from Hell” aired, Taylor Armstrong confirmed to Watch What Happened Live‘s Andy Cohen that Grammer’s gossiping led her to fear that her husband “would see the footage and beat her up or kill her.” And once again, the episode aired on December 5 2011.On August 16 2011, E! News published a “timeline” of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills happenings after news that Russell Armstrong had died by suicide the day before:May 11, 2011: Taylor’s rep denies reports that she and Russell have split up, saying they are “both really committed to making their marriage work.”July 15, 2011: Taylor announces that she has filed for divorce, calling it a “difficult decision,” but one that’s in her family’s best interests. In her petition, she cites their date of separation as July 1, requests primary physical custody and joint legal custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, and asks that her maiden name be restored.Aug. 15, 2011: Bravo sends out a RHOBH press release noting that one of Taylor’s plot points this season will be her continuing struggles with “a loveless marriage.” Taylor had told E! News that the coming season would include, for her, “a lot more tears and a lot more pain.”Aug. 15, 2011: Russell Armstrong commits suicide by hanging. He is survived by his wife, their daughter and two sons from previous relationships. An autopsy is expected to take place[. ]In a December 2011 People item on the episode, Taylor Armstrong was quoted reiterating her fears that the decisions of others to disclose the abuse endangered both Armstrong and her young daughter, Kennedy:Taylor explained that she was upset that her abusive relationship, which she had divulged to her costars off camera, had become a plotline on the show.“Admitting that I was being abused on national television was a step that I never though any of my friends would take,” she said. “I was so stunned and I felt so betrayed that I couldn’t get past it. And I was scared.”A November 2011 People item that only available in archived form quoted Grammer’s commentary from previous episodes in the season, specifically portions about Armstrong’s injuries:When Taylor returned [to a scene], she found her costars talking once again about her marriage to Russell. She suggested they should all start being completely honest and stop talking about each other behind their backs. […]“We don’t say that he hit you,” Camille said, as a mortified Kyle hid her face in her hands. “We don’t say that he broke your jaw, or that he beat you up, and he hit you.”In March 2019, Taylor Armstrong told BravoTV’s Daily Dish that the decision to file for divorce from her husband came after he fractured bones in her face to such an extent that she needed reconstructive surgery:The RHOBH alum said that she finally decided to file for divorce from Russell after he fractured her orbital floor and she had to undergo reconstructive surgery on her right eye. Kennedy was 5 years old at the time.It was on one of the days when Taylor was supposed to meet with Russell to discuss the custody of their child that she discovered his body after he died by suicide. “I went to go meet him one day, and his office was dark and he wasn’t there and he was a workaholic, so it was completely unusual for that to be the case. And I just had this sinking feeling that something terrible had happened,” she said. “And it had never crossed my mind in the past. He was very narcissistic and not someone you would ever think would take their life. But ultimately, I had found him hanging in the house that he had moved into.”Dedra Whitt, the redhead seen in the argument scene, told a different blog in 2012 that the events as they happened juxtaposed with the filming and airing schedule made re-watching the scene difficult:I really liked Taylor, and I really felt for Taylor. I could feel that she was in pain. I didn’t know to what extent. I didn’t know how truthful a lot of it was, because when someone tells you something that’s going on, you can’t even believe it. I was completely shocked. Completely shocked when Russell killed himself. I didn’t know him, I’d met him a couple of times. It definitely came as a shock to me. I knew they were separated, and I knew she was doing okay with the separation. I think it was probably a good thing for her to separate from him and to try and get her life together. I didn’t know anything that was going on with their financial situation. I just knew that she was having a hard time, and she got a separation from her husband. I thought that was a really good thing. And then when I found out that he killed himself, it floored me, and any feeling that I had negative about her at that moment completely went away. I felt really, really bad for her. You just don’t want anybody to have to go through that. That’s horrible. Just because she was separated doesn’t mean she didn’t love him. She obviously loved him. He was her husband, and she has a young child with him … Unfortunately, the problem with a reality show is now you’ve got to go back and watch all this crap you filmed six months ago. We’re all in a different place now. Every single person on that show is in a different place. But you have to go back and re-live it. It’s agony. I don’t feel that way now.Taylor Armstrong remarried in 2014. On October 27 2019 (right after the Facebook post was published), a Twitter user asked Armstrong if seeing the meme was upsetting to her:Genuinely curious if that photo is hard to see circulate so much? I remember how upset you were during that scene.— MarioKiki (@mariokiki) October 27, 2019Armstrong replied, telling social media users it was “ok to laugh” at the meme:Thank you – that is my past and I have moved on and am in a really healthy, happy marriage. It doesn’t seem like my life any longer. I work w domestic violence shelters and support victims. It’s ok to laugh at the images that have been created. https://t.co/Zup8szsDNb— Taylor Armstrong (@TaylorArmstrong) October 27, 2019A Facebook post shared in October 2019 focused on the “woman yelling at a cat” meme, which was a mashup of two previously unrelated memes, one of which featured a crying former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong. The post was broadly accurate, explaining that Armstrong was confronting her friends (namely Camille Grammer) over their handling of abuse she suffered at the hands of her then-estranged husband Russell Armstrong. At some point not long after the party (before the show aired), Russell Armstrong died by suicide.After the post appeared, Armstrong said on Twitter that it was “ok to laugh” at the meme, but acknowledged that it depicted a very painful part of her life.",
            "output": [
                "\"Part of a meme known as \"\"woman yelling at a cat\"\" has a tragic backstory.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5147da12b54c4e68b198d6911d6e12a5",
            "input": "The accord announced on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice resolves allegations that CareFusion violated the federal False Claims Act by paying $11.6 million to a doctor to promote its ChloraPrep product to healthcare providers. That doctor, Charles Denham, received the kickbacks while serving as co-chair of the safe practices committee of the nonprofit National Quality Forum, which makes recommendations on healthcare practices, the Justice Department said. “Corrupting the standard-setting process through kickbacks can affect the healthcare treatment choices that doctors and hospitals may make for patients,” Stuart Delery, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. The lawsuit also claimed that CareFusion promoted ChloraPrep from September 2009 through August 2011 for unapproved uses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved ChloraPrep to prepare patients’ skin for surgery or injections. CareFusion said on Thursday that it set aside funds for the settlement in the first quarter of 2013. Chief Executive Officer Kieran Gallahue said the San Diego-based company is pleased to settle, and has made “significant investments” to improve its quality and compliance practices, including in sales and marketing. Denham could not immediately be reached for comment. The accord resolved a whistleblower lawsuit first brought in September 2010 by Cynthia Kirk, a former vice president of regulatory affairs at a CareFusion infection prevention unit. She will receive $3.26 million through the settlement, which along with the lawsuit was unsealed this week by the federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. In afternoon trading, CareFusion shares were up 81 cents at $41.12. The case is U.S. ex rel. Kirk v. CareFusion Corp et al, U.S. District Court, District of Kansas, No. 10-02492.",
            "output": [
                "CareFusion to pay $40 million to settle U.S. kickbacks lawsuit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6589aa70f9434059b83ee66df1814ec3",
            "input": "In January, China approved imports of a new genetically modified soybean variety — Enlist E3 soybeans jointly made by Corteva Agriscience, a division of DowDupont and seed company MS Technologies — that can withstand the herbicide 2,4-D. “This is great news for U.S. soybean growers,” said Joseph Merschman, president of MS Technologies in a February press release. “This announcement clears the way for even more soybean growers to experience the high-yielding elite genetics and exceptional weed control offered by the Enlist E3 soybean system.” DowAgrosciences declined to comment for this story. ___ The nonprofit news outlet Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting provided this article to The Associated Press through a collaboration with Institute for Nonprofit News. ___ The herbicide — 2,4-D — was one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange and has been shown to drift miles away from where it’s applied. The U.S. used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to eliminate crops and forest covers for enemy troops. The International Agency for Research on Cancer named the weed killer a possible human carcinogen. Studies have also linked 2,4-D to endocrine disruption, disturbing estrogen, androgen and thyroid hormones. Over the past two decades, a growing number of weeds have become resistant to glyphosate, the most popular weed killer in the world, sold as Monsanto’s Roundup. In response, agribusiness companies, like Dow and Monsanto, have introduced new genetically modified varieties of soybeans that can be sprayed with other herbicides that kill glyphosate-resistant weeds. The United States exports $14 billion worth of soybeans to China, or one of every four rows of soybeans, annually, according to the American Soybean Association, an organization of soybean producers. Trade tensions with China and higher import taxes on U.S. soybeans have thwarted imports recently. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected that increased 2,4-D use due to the Enlist system would likely increase the amount of the weed killer sprayed between 200 and 600 percent by 2020. Already, it’s one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States, used in conventional agriculture including corn and is one of the most commonly used home and garden herbicides. In 2016, the USDA estimated that farmers used 44.4 million pounds of 2,4-D on crops across the U.S. “This is just going to absolutely be a disaster,” said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that works to protect endangered species. The Enlist approval gives farmers looking to manage glyphosate-resistant weeds a new tool at a time when the dominant soybean system — Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans — has caused widespread issues in the Midwest and South. Those soybeans are genetically engineered to withstand being sprayed by dicamba, a volatile herbicide that has drifted off target and damaged millions of acres of non-resistant soybeans, other crops and natural areas since the Environmental Protection Agency approved new versions of the weed killer for use on soybeans in November 2016. More than 90 percent of soybeans grown in the United States are genetically modified, but there are only three major systems that are commonly used to combat glyphosate-resistant weeds: Monsanto’s Xtend, DowDupont’s Enlist and BASF’s LibertyLink soybeans, which are resistant to glufosinate, another herbicide. Enlist soybeans can also be sprayed with glufosinate. The extent to which 2,4-d-resistant soybeans will be planted is unknown, largely because of the widespread market penetration by dicamba-resistant soybeans. Company officials estimated the product will have at least 10 percent market share by 2020, which would be about 9 million acres in the United States. In two years, dicamba went from being sprayed on zero acres of soybeans to more than 40 million acres. Aaron Hager, an associate professor at the University of Illinois, said many farmers have adopted Monsanto’s Xtend soybeans as a protection measure against drift from dicamba. “It’s going to be difficult for (Enlist) to gain market penetration partially because of how well entrenched dicamba already is,” Hager said. The main question for farmers considering Enlist is whether drift from dicamba will damage Enlist soybeans, said Charles Benbrook, a visiting professor at the University of Newcastle who has spent decades studying pesticides at various institutions. “One of the huge questions is, is there any cross resistance? Will they be any less vulnerable to damage from drifting dicamba and vice versa?” Benbrook said. Benbrook said they may be able to coexist. Though 2,4-D and dicamba are different pesticides, their similarities might allow some cross-resistance in genetically modified soybeans, Benbrook said. Both dicamba and 2,4-D have been used for decades on other crops but at a smaller scale. Both are broadleaf herbicides that kill plants in similar ways, mimicking natural plant hormones called auxins and causing abnormal growth. Like the new version of dicamba, the new 2,4-D strain approved for usage on soybeans is designed to be less volatile than past versions. If there is no cross-resistance, Benbrook projected that Corteva, a division of DowDupont, and Bayer, which owns Monsanto, will likely have to come up with a deal to put the resistant genes in both company’s systems, increasing the price for farmers. Donley said both herbicides, having similar modes of actions and a propensity to drift, will insert an element of doubt on what caused drift damage. States across the Midwest and South have received a record number of pesticide misuse complaints from farmers since dicamba was allowed on soybeans. Already, some scientists have speculated that 2,4-D is causing some of the alleged dicamba damage. “Industry is going to use this to say, ‘how do you know it’s our product?’” Donley said. “It’s going to enable the industry to do what they do best, which is sow doubt in the public.” Environmental groups argue the transition to 2,4-D-resistant soybeans, and the increased spraying that goes along with it, is indicative of the problems with industrial agriculture. Jennifer Sass, senior scientist at the Natural Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, has researched the human health effects of 2,4-D, and said that the herbicide can cause disruptions in the endocrine system. She said that the link to cancer isn’t quite as established. Though 2,4-D is considered a “possible carcinogen,” the research isn’t quite as strong, but that’s because of the difficulties in collecting data, she said. “Those are all data and red flags, but there’s so many reasons to get off this treadmill. Waiting for more confidence in the cancers means waiting for more farmers and pesticide applicators to get cancer, and I don’t think anyone wants to collect our data that way,” Sass said. In some places, some types of glyphosate-resistant weeds, like Palmer amaranth, are already becoming resistant to 2,4-D and dicamba. Bill Freese, a senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety, which is a nonprofit group focused on the environmental effects of food production, said, in addition to human health issues, more spraying will lead to environmental issues, like the killing of pollinators and wild plants, he said. Donley, at the Center for Biological Diversity, has documented those problems with glyphosate and dicamba, especially when it comes to monarch butterflies and milkweed. He said more spraying will lead to more resistance and new herbicides. “It’s a poor answer to a complex situation, and it’s going to be getting worse,” Donley said. “In five-to-10 years, we’re going to be looking for the next herbicide. History tells us what’s going to happen in this case. It’s kind of crazy we’re even considering going here.”",
            "output": [
                "Last year it was dicamba, this year it’s 2,4-D."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6dfd034f4b4d44faabdb5779bb7d079e",
            "input": "The idea that the domestic dog descended from the grey wolf was originally established in 1993 using comparisons of wolf and dog mitochondrial DNA. This investigation showed that no other living animal was more closely related to the domestic dog than the grey wolf: “The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the grey wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of [mitochondrial DNA].” Mitochondrial DNA is passed down by the mother (without any genetic contribution from the father) and changes only through random mutations that occur from generation to generation. Scientists use this much smaller and separate DNA sequence to estimate when populations of animals first diverged and to estimate the evolutionary relationships between organisms. By the mid-2000s, new technology allowed scientists to map the much longer DNA sequence found on the chromosomes of wolves and dogs — the genes that actually code for physical traits and behaviors. These studies demonstrated a 99.9% similarity (technically 99.96%) between dog and grey wolf, as covered in a 2007 review paper on the topic: In general, the domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the grey wolf, from which it differs by only ~0.04% in nuclear coding-DNA sequence, and no dog [mitochondrial DNA] sequences have been found that show closer kinship to other canid species. This similarity is so profound that hybridization often occurs between dogs and wolves. By the biological definition of species, this would mean that the domestic dog is a subspecies of the grey wolf (canis lupus familiaris). There remains some debate, however, as to what the appropriate classification for the domestic dog would be, with some arguing that the domestic dog should be its own distinct species (canis familiaris).",
            "output": [
                "Dogs and wolves are genetically 99.9% identical."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03d4f0cb485b44638795026d16bab949",
            "input": "The man who died was in his late 20s, said Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Angela Dearinger. The Centers for Disease Control website said as of Tuesday, 57 vaping-related deaths had been confirmed in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Kentucky has had 48 reports of possible vaping-related illness, including 13 probable cases, seven confirmed and 15 pending, the state said. Eleven were determined to be not related to vaping, and two were residents of other states treated in Kentucky. “We are saddened to announce the death associated with this outbreak,” Eric Friedlander, acting secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in a news release. “To protect public health, we urge Kentuckians – especially young people -- to stop using all vaping products.” The state Department for Public Health has been investigating reports of vaping-related illness since September, the release said. A probable case means the person has a lung injury believed to be caused by vaping but may have other health issues, such as flu or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the department said. In a confirmed case, there is no other possible cause than vaping for the lung disease. The agency offers assistance to people who want to quit using tobacco products, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes.",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky officials report probable vaping-related death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8604d4a1fe5445bbca0eb85d0cd3ee4",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of adult male circumcision outside of a clinical trail. It is also not clear whether this is a reimbursible procedure for adult males in the USA when no acute problem exists. The story appropriately describes the design of the two similar studies and provides both absolute and relative evidence that male circumcision reduces a man's risk of acquiring HIV via heterosexual sex. The story also mentions that the trials were stopped early because the benefit of male circumcision so significantly reduced the risk of acquiring HIV that it would be unethical to continue a trial in which uncircumcised men were not offered this protection. What is not mentioned is that the absolute number of avoided infections will be low in lower prevalence populations, so the risks of complications may outweigh the potential benefits for an individual of low risk. The story mentions potential harms of male circumcision such as mild infections. These are treatable and rare, especially when the procedure is performed by a trained medical professional. However, it is difficult to assess the negative consequences of surgery as no publication of adverse events is reviewable. It is also possible that side effects or negative consequences in the real-world (rather than a clinical trial) would be more common. The story doesn't explain whether there was a placebo arm of the study. Was there a sham operation? If so, were patients and evaluators blinded regarding treatment? This is a key indicator of study quality that is not commented upon. (One could posit that there is a reduced frequency of sexual encounters after this surgery, and this is the critical predictor of reduced acquisition of HIV, not the surgery itself.) The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story quotes an NIH official for perspective on the results of these studies. But since the NIH sponsored the study, he does have an interest in its outcome. It also quoted representatives of the World Health Organization and the Global AIDS Alliance. There are experts who would disagree with public health-related mass circumcision programs, for reasons both cultural and related to quality of life. The story mentions male circumcision as one method of reducing the transmission of HIV. But the story also mentions safer sex practices such as using condoms for better protection against HIV. The story reports on two large studies of male circumcision and reduced HIV in African heterosexual men. We are not told if these studies have been reviewed in a peer-reviewed journal or where they will be published. The results of these studies may be applicable regardless of geography: While more male infants are routinely circumcised in the U.S. than in Africa,  this surgery is available for uncircumcised adult men in the U.S. who wish to reduce their risk of HIV transmission from heterosexual sex. Other protection against the HIV is still necessary. The story does note that this is a routine surgical procedure with few compilcations. What is stressed in the press release, but not the article, is that this procedure should only be performed by a medical professional who can also provide appropriate post-operative care during the healing period. Availability of safe circumcision and safe postoperative care is far from certain around the world. It is clear from the story that the link between male circumcision and HIV prevention was noted as long ago as the late 1980s. The story used several independent experts for comment, so it appears unlikely that it relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Two studies in Africa link male circumcision to lower risk of HIV"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44bf7f8357da4751a7b9db6ee61b571e",
            "input": "Although not discussed in the study precipitating the story, the costs for gastric banding and appropriate follow-up care are readily available. The story reported the average long term loss of excess weight that was observed in the study along with an insight from a clinician indicating that there is some variability observed among practices. The story provided quantitative information about the harms observed in the study population who had had gastric banding surgery. It says, “However, 39 percent of the patients had experienced serious complications, including abnormal pouch expansion (9), band erosion (23) and band infection (1). Another 22 percent experienced relatively minor complications. Almost 50 percent had to have the bands entirely removed, while 60 percent needed to undergo subsequent surgery. The procedure “appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes,” the researchers concluded.” The story provided only hints about the study on which it was reporting. It should have provided better context and asked tougher questions about the study. The timeline in the story also may confuse readers. It says that gastric banding has been an alternative to gastric bypass since 2001, but then it says the study followed patients who received operations from 1994 to 1997. This appears to be before the band was approved. The story should have said that the 2001 date was when the FDA approved banding for use in the US and that the study population was in Belgium. It also should have mentioned that the pool of patients studied were treated at a single clinic. The story did not engage in overt disease-mongering. The story quoted an author of the study, the author of a critique on that study, and a surgeon who did not appear to have ties with the study. But the story missed a key fact that WebMD found in the study and reported, which is the conflicts of interest for the study’s lead author, who, as WebMD pointed out, “reports consultant work for Ethicon Endosurgery, which makes another gastric band, Realize, and for Covidien, a health care products company.” Not pointing out that the author has worked for a competing gastric band maker is a significant drawback to the story. The story relied on a critique published alongside the study from Dr. Clifford W. Deveney, a professor of surgery in the department of surgery at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, to provide readers some good comparison information between  gastric bypass surgery and gastric banding. We would have liked to have seen a more detailed discussion of the evidence for both and also at lesat some mention of diet and exercise. The gastric banding procedure was appropriately described as an available treatment. It is clear from the story that the procedure is not new. The story does not appear to rely solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "40% of Gastric Banding Patients Have Complications"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b1267e3019649218d1eaa7e8333d2f0",
            "input": "In 1990, Congress passed and President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which extended federal civil rights protections to people with mental or physical impairments: The ADA is one of America’s most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life — to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services. Modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin – and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — the ADA is an “equal opportunity” law for people with disabilities. More than a quarter-century on, and despite further work to be done, the ADA has so positively affected how people with disabilities are treated and perceived in America that the notion that laws once existed to keep physically and cognitively challenged people indoors and out of sight seems scarcely believable. But it was the case — and not so long ago. Beginning in the late 1800s, statutes known as “unsightly beggar ordinances,” aka “ugly laws,” were enacted in some American cities to rid public spaces of what Chicago Alderman James Peevey euphemistically referred to as “street obstructions”: By street obstructions, Peevey didn’t mean food carts, construction materials, roadblocks or potholes. He meant beggars, such as the ones described in the Tribune as “the one-legged individual who, with drooping eye and painfully lugubrious countenance, holds forth his hat for pennies” or “the fellows who yell ‘ba-na-naas'” and “the woman with two sick children who was drawn through the carding-machine in a woolen mill, and who grinds ‘Mollie Darling’ incessantly on a hurdy-gurdy on a street corner.” Following the example of San Francisco, which had pioneered the legislation in 1867, Peevey helped pass a law in 1881 imposing fines (or stints in the poorhouse) on all who were “diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object,” yet dared beg, panhandle, or otherwise make nuisances of themselves in public. Among other cities, Omaha, Columbus, Cleveland, and Portland, Oregon followed suit, all passing ugly laws using virtually identical language. In a discussion of Susan M. Schweik’s The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public (2009), reviewer Shannon Sommer encapsulates the social and economic developments leading up to these measures: Schweik discusses in detail several factors which combined to create the perfect storm for the emergence of ugly law in America at this time. These include: the formation of Charity Organization Societies, the rise or eugenics and state institutions, an increasing focus on using urban planning to create beautiful cities, increasing immigration at a time when there were few restrictions placed on immigration, the large number of soldiers injured in the Civil War which had ended just a few years earlier, temperance and prohibition, and the increasing industrialization of society with resulting industrial-related injuries. Schweik notes that though the passage of new ugly laws ceased by the beginning of World War I and enforcement of existing statutes dwindled thereafter, they remained on the books until well into the latter half of the 20th century: Schweik found that the last known arrest under an ugly law occurred in Omaha, NE in 1974 when a policeman wanted to arrest a homeless man but had no basis for arrest. After searching the city code and finding that Omaha’s Ugly Law was still on the books he was able to take the man into custody on the basis that the man had “marks and scars on his body.” Prosecutors refused to press charges in this case. Schweik recounts one prosecutor pointing out that “criminal prosecution under this law would require the impossible: courtroom proof “that someone is ugly.”",
            "output": [
                "\"During the 19th and 20th centuries, some U.S. cities enacted so-called \"\"ugly laws\"\" banning people deemed \"\"diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person\"\" from public spaces.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-781664959344409ea2c77482040728c9",
            "input": "There was no information about the respective financial costs of the treatments for prostate cancer discussed. Costs would include treating the double digit rates of incontinence and erectile dysfunction in these younger men who do have surgery. The surgery may help them live longer, but many, especially since younger at time of surgery, live decades with these potential harms and folllowup costs of the surgical choice. This should get at least a line in such stories. The story did a good job of identifying those men (i.e. those younger than 65 at the time of symptomatic prostate cancer ) who reduced their chance of dying by having surgery to remove their prostate. Good use of absolute numbers. The story provided readers with insight that for men younger than 65 years of age at the time of diagnosis, there was a significantly greater chance of dying in the men who did not have immediate surgery to remove their prostate gland. The story also described that a substantial proportion of men who did have surgery to remove their prostate gland experienced sexual and/or urinary problems. Best job of the three stories we reviewed in quantifying harms. The story did a fine job providing information about where the study reported on had been published,  the number of men and the length of time they had been studied, their age,  the two treatments the men were randomly assigned to, as well as background information on the first indication that the men had prostate cancer. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from the clinician who wrote the editorial which accompanied the study reported on as well as another clinician without direct ties to the study detailed in the story. The story provided some of the comparative information from the study reported on about surgery to remove the prostate and waiting to see if prostate cancer would progress before undergoing active treatment. In addition, the story included a list of the common utilized approaches to active treatment of prostate cancer. The story was clear about the fact that the overwhelming majority of men in the study had had their prostate cancer first detected because of symptoms which is means that they were in a different place in the prostate cancer timeline than men whose first inkling about prostate cancer is that they have an elevated PSA level in their blood. So it describes practices in Europe many years ago which are different than current care in the US. The story was clear the the men in the study reported on had been part of the investigation which started in 1989. The story did not rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Prostate cancer surgery helps younger men"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f3aedf166684d8ca5ff6c857b86d490",
            "input": "News outlets report the state health department is urging residents to stop vaping as cases of lung disease possibly linked to e-cigarettes pop up across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been 450 possible cases of lung disease related to vaping reported in 33 states. As many as five cases have ended in death. The agency says no evidence of infectious diseases have been identified, meaning the illnesses are likely associated with chemical exposure. It says no specific substance or product has been linked to all cases, though many cases involve people who reported vaping THC, marijuana’s high-inducing chemical.",
            "output": [
                "Delaware probes 3 possible cases of vape-related lung issues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-def58be14dd94e46a6f77cba3c643844",
            "input": "The story makes it clear that cost of the test is currently speculative (“could cost about $500”) and goes even further to caution that: “Johns Hopkins holds the patent and has not licensed it as yet to a company that would ultimately set the price.” The story makes the two key results of the test quite clear. First, that the 1,005 people tested already had been diagnosed with one of eight common cancers, and the blood test was able to detect cancer in about 70 percent of them. Second, the test was also given to 812 people without cancer and only a false reading for cancer less than 1 percent of the time. Including the additional finding that the test was only able to detect cancer in about 40 percent of the patients with early cancer (ie. stage I) was a thoughtful way of introducing the relevant issue of falsely negative tests. The story does an excellent job of finding an independent source who explains that one of the potential risks of cancer screening tests is either identifying cancers that are not there, or are benign, and can lead to “pointless and potentially dangerous treatments.” The opposite harm is also mentioned; that is, a screening test that erroneously gives a negative result, leading providers to falsely reassure a patient that cancer is not there. Cautious language is used at many points in the story and it does three things quite well. First, it lists the most important limitation of the study: The screening test studied was unable to identify the type of cancer. Second, the implications of both falsely positive and falsely negative tests were explained succinctly and placed in a clinical context that would matter to those undergoing screening. Finally, we were very encouraged by the inclusion of this sentence: “… the researchers will still have to demonstrate that the test improves and extends the lives of cancer patients.” There is no disease mongering in this story. The two independent sources cited provide important context for understanding the strengths, limitations, and clinical context of the screening test. This was a tough call, but ultimately we felt the story would have been stronger had it mentioned the performance of current screening methods for some of the cancer types, such as Cologuard for colon cancer. That said, we were glad the story included some of the pitfalls of screening for prostate and breast cancer, as well as the long struggle to develop more blood tests for cancer. It’s mentioned the authors of the study are “hoping their idea would eventually lead to a $500 test … but they have a long way to go.” Future studies of the screening test are also discussed, so it seems clear this test is not currently available. It’s made clear that “there have been many attempts over the decades to develop blood tests to screen for cancers … but these methods don’t give reliable results.” It’s also pointed out that what makes this screening test unique is that it combines two previously used methods (screening for proteins and for DNA) into one test. This story does not appear to rely upon a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect Cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f9e982ca726a45088846a6d70f8561aa",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration approved Medtronic’s CoreValve system based on U.S. clinical trials in which it was shown to be safe and effective while demonstrating low rates of stroke and valve leakage, the company said. CoreValve, in which the replacement valve is threaded into place through an artery using a catheter, spares patients chest-cracking surgery. The system has been available since 2007 in Europe, where it is not uncommon for medical devices to win approval several years ahead of the United States.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. FDA approves Medtronic heart valve replacement system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b048d7d054b40e18ea161b899ba45f0",
            "input": "The tests are the latest effort by J&J to prove the safety of its widely used consumer product after a test by the FDA prompted J&J to undertake a nationwide recall of one lot of its Johnson’s Baby Powder. FDA officials, in an interview with Reuters, said the agency continues to support the company’s voluntary recall. “They would say the product is free of asbestos based on their testing, and we would say the opposite for that sample,” said Steve Musser, deputy director for scientific operations in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition. Earlier this month, J&J recalled around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after the FDA found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online. “Rigorous and third-party testing confirms there is no asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder. We stand by the safety of our product,” J&J said in a statement. The company did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on the FDA standing by its test result. The different test outcomes could have resulted from the fact that contaminants are not uniformly dispersed throughout talc and there is no standard test for asbestos in talc, FDA officials said. The voluntary recall was limited to one lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder produced and shipped in the United States in 2018, the company said at the time. That move marked the first time the company recalled its iconic baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. J&J will not reverse the recall of those 22-ounce containers, but its baby powder remains available to consumers in stores, a company spokesman told Reuters. The recall had been the latest blow to the more than 130-year-old U.S. healthcare conglomerate that is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, including baby powder, opioids, medical devices and the antipsychotic Risperdal. J&J faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from consumers claiming its talc products, including Johnson’s Baby Powder, caused their cancer. (This version corrects spelling of powder in headline)",
            "output": [
                "J&J says new tests find no asbestos in same baby powder bottle that sparked recall."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-258bca372c8b40a7b5af1cc7ed927c40",
            "input": "The release notes that casting instead of surgery as an initial treatment would result in “reduced intervention costs” but that’s not very helpful if you’re unsure of the base cost of surgery. Estimates of a cost differential would have been helpful. Close contact casting would be much cheaper than open surgery for these fractures. The release includes a list of benefits of the modified casting method, with some quantification, mostly in terms of reduced complications. It says, “At 6 months, casting resulted in measures of ankle function equivalent to that with surgery. Infection and wound breakdown were more common with surgery (10 percent vs 1 percent), as were additional operating room procedures (6 percent vs 1 percent).” A release devotes a fair amount of space to harms from casting as compared with surgery: “Radiologic malunion (abnormal healing of a fracture) was more common in the casting group (15 percent vs 3 percent for surgery). Casting required less operating room time compared with surgery. There were no significant differences in other secondary outcomes: quality of life, pain, ankle motion, mobility, and patient satisfaction.” This large randomized study with high rates of completion suggests a high quality of evidence, all noted in the news release. The release would have been better if it had noted that the outcome was blinded, a very important marker of quality as it is likely to reduce the risk of bias. No signs of disease mongering. These fractures are actually quite common, especially in the elderly, so it would have been appropriate to discuss the high disease burden from these fractures. No funding sources and conflicts are mentioned in the news release. Instead, readers are referred to the published study for details on “financial disclosures, funding and support.” However, the study is only available to JAMA subscribers. The release aptly compares this new treatment with traditional surgery, which has largely been abandoned due to high rates of malunion resulting in functional deficits in displaced ankle fractures. The release also briefly mentions traditional “hard” casting. The release quotes an accompanying editorial stating that “close contact casting may be unfamiliar to some orthopedic surgeons.” Although that’s a vague statement, we can assume it’s not in widespread use. In the U.S., most orthopedists are not trained in close contact casting nor do they feel comfortable using it. Most patients will not be offered this treatment as an option for their fracture care. This treatment is not novel, but the results of this study are new. It appears to be the first to compare these treatments and show the results in a well done randomized study. The release does not rely on sensational or exaggerated language.",
            "output": [
                "Modified cast instead of surgery results in similar functional outcomes for ankle fracture in older adults"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c6ef5ad22174f84940f51d6e417f7df",
            "input": "The country has largely managed to bring under control Asia’s largest epidemic outside China with around 100 or fewer new daily cases. But smaller outbreaks in churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as infections among travelers, continue to emerge. This week, the government has been gauging whether it should extend a 15-day intensive social distancing policy it implemented on March 21, under which high-risk facilities were urged to close and religious, sports and entertainment gatherings were banned. But it is “too early to be at ease,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said, citing a recent spike in imported cases and small cluster infections which also prompted the government to cancel the re-opening of schools next week. “Our goal is to be able to control infections in a way that our health and medical system, including personnel and sickbeds, can handle them at usual levels,” Park told a briefing after an government meeting on the coronavirus. “If the number goes down to 50 or lower, stable treatment of the patients including the critically ill will be possible without much pressure on the system.”   The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 94 new cases on Saturday, taking the national tally to 10,156. The death toll rose by nine to 183, while more than 300 recovered from the virus for a total of 6,325. Of the new, 32 were repatriated cases, mostly Koreans, while 31 were from the greater Seoul area and 26 from the hardest-hit city of Daegu, KCDC data showed. Social distancing played a role in restraining domestic group transmissions by some 70% during the first 11 days compared with the last 11 days before it took effect, Park said. But there are signs that people restarted going out and socializing as fatigue about isolation grew and the weather improved, he said. “We are well aware that many citizens are feeling exhausted and lethargic under continued social distancing,” Park said. “But if we get loose, the strenuous efforts that the government and the people have made so far might come to nothing.”",
            "output": [
                "South Korea extends intensive social distancing to reach 50 daily coronavirus cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0cfb92d4926b432dab9f7ae909428b12",
            "input": "Bonnethead sharks not only eat grass while chomping fish and squid — they also digest the plant and gain nutrition from it, scientists at the University of California, Irvine announced Wednesday. It turns out bonnetheads have high levels of enzymes that break down fiber and carbohydrates, compared with the low amount carnivores typically have. That makes the bonnethead the first known omnivorous shark, researchers said. Laboratory video posted online shows a small bonnethead devouring a meal of 90 percent seagrass and 10 percent squid. It was previously believed that bonnetheads unintentionally consumed the grass in shallow areas where the species lives along some coastlines in the U.S., Central and South America. The smallest of the ten hammerhead species, bonnetheads are typically about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) long. Samantha Leigh, who headed the four-year study at UCI’s School of Biological Sciences, said she hopes the discovery will help protect seagrass ecosystems that are at risk from climate change. “The fact a highly abundant kind of shark feeds on the grasses is yet another indication of why we need to preserve this vegetation,” she said. Dr. Sandy Trautwein of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach called the findings “unique, but not surprising, given bonnetheads’ niche in tropical ecosystems.” She said she hopes the study “opens up the door for additional research” about seagrass communities and sharks in general.",
            "output": [
                "Side of seagrass please: Scientists find omnivorous shark."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-308ae63515de4c32b92cc3d2fb316aa0",
            "input": "\"More than a decade after being told they had the disease, nearly four out of 10 cancer survivors said they were still plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, said lead researcher Sophia Smith from the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina. Those symptoms included being extra jumpy, having disturbing thoughts about the cancer and its treatment, or feeling emotionally numb toward friends and family. One in 10 patients also said they avoided thinking about their cancer and one in 20 said they steered clear of situations or activities that reminded them of the disease, a situation that could potentially become a medical problem. “You worry if the patient is avoiding medical care, you worry they might not be getting follow-ups,” Smith told Reuters Health. “We don’t have data to support that, but we worry about it.”   The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is based on a survey of 566 patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a relatively common kind of cancer. Smith’s team had surveyed these patients for PTSD symptoms once before, estimating that about one in 12 had full-blown PTSD. The diagnosis involved a trio of symptoms, including avoidance, arousal and flashbacks. Many more had one or more PTSD symptoms, however. The newest survey also showed they often persist. Overall, half of the patients had no PTSD symptoms 13 years after their diagnosis. The problems had disappeared in 12 percent, but had remained or worsened in 37 percent. “This study found that people seemed to have worse PTSD later on,” said Bonnie Green, a trauma expert at Georgetown University who pioneered the study of PTSD in breast cancer survivors, but was not linked to the latest study. “It’s just very stressful for people to be told that they have cancer. You can’t just assume that they feel bad now, but it will go away.”   She stressed that it’s only a minority of patients who develop full-blown PTSD, but added that depression is common after a cancer diagnosis. The new survey shows that low-income people are extra vulnerable to the psychological impact of living with cancer. “I am particularly concerned about the patients who are poor or have less resources, said Smith, adding that doctors have to be better at recognizing distress in patients. \"\"Each time they come in you are asking not only if they're having pain, but also if they are having stress.\"\" SOURCE: bit.ly/n1pJMg\"",
            "output": [
                "Many cancer survivors struggle with trauma stress: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8cb3ee94c2f545d0bed07ab6058f6dd6",
            "input": "The documentary builds on Harry’s work on mental health issues, which included work with brother Prince William and his wife Kate in their Heads Together campaign. Harry says the series will share “global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places” and the “opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better.” Earlier this year, Apple enlisted Winfrey, together with Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg, to try to overcome the TV and movie streaming service business dominated by Netflix and Amazon. The service, dubbed Apple TV Plus, will feature Apple’s original shows and movies.",
            "output": [
                "Prince Harry, Oprah work on mental health program for Apple."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f80642f515fa4ec098a080d1306b68d3",
            "input": "As he did following last month’s Las Vegas massacre of 58 people, Trump resisted any discussion of gun control during a news conference in Tokyo, where he was beginning his first presidential trip to Asia. Instead, Trump characterized the shooting as a “mental health problem at the highest level.” Yet White House officials said Trump is unlikely to call for a specific policy response, as he did after last week’s Islamic State group-inspired truck attack, which killed eight people in New York City. Devin Kelley, the Texas gunman, was discharged from the Air Force several years ago for assaulting his spouse and a child, the Air Force said. “This was a very — based on preliminary reports — a very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time,” Trump said when asked about the shooting as he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a joint news conference. Trump’s more muted response to gun violence contrasts with his swift call for legislative and military action following the Oct. 31 truck attack in New York City. Within hours of a rental truck ramming through a crowded bicycle path and into a school bus, Trump called for Congress to “immediately” repeal the diversity visa lottery program that suspect Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbekistan citizen, used to enter the country in 2010. Trump also claimed that the U.S. had already stepped up its retaliation against the Islamic State group after the attack. “We are hitting them 10 times harder,” he said Friday. After the Las Vegas shooting, Trump and aides said it was inappropriate to consider a policy response while people were still grieving. Despite days later suggesting openness to outlawing the bump stock device that allowed Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock to fire at near-automatic rates, the Trump administration has shown no signs of urgency. “He has asked that that process be reviewed, and we’re waiting on some of the details of that to take place,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Oct. 27 when asked about bump stocks. “But a decision hasn’t been finalized on that. ” Trump, who supported gun control before reversing his position to enter the Republican presidential primary, courted the National Rifle Association’s endorsement in 2016, and earlier this year became the first president in three decades to speak at the gun group’s annual convention. In February, Trump signed legislation reversing an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for Americans with mental illnesses to buy a gun. Under the Obama rule, the Social Security Administration would have been required to send in the names of beneficiaries with mental impairments who needed a third party to manage their financial affairs. The rule would have affected an estimated 75,000 beneficiaries who would have been added to the national background check database. The attack happened in South Texas on Sunday morning when a man dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire inside a Baptist church in a small community, killing 26 people and wounding 20 others in the deadliest mass shooting in state history. As Kelley left the scene, authorities said, he was confronted by an armed resident. Kelley later was found dead in his vehicle. Trump said, “Fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction, otherwise it (wouldn’t) have been as bad as it was. It would have been much worse.” Investigators believe Kelley shot himself. ___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Catherine Lucey and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump: Texas mass shooting is about mental health, not guns."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-687897836db5497d80cc1d0183c300a5",
            "input": "On February 11 2020, tweets and social media posts alluded to “an actual bill” in the state of Tennessee, aimed at labeling CNN and the Washington Post as “fake news”:This is an ACTUAL Bill being debated by the Tennessee State Legislature Today.Yes, this is, in fact, Real.SMDH. pic.twitter.com/BGYIAz31Oj— Allan Creasy (@ServeThe901) February 11, 2020Verifying the existence of the legislation was fairly straightforward; Tennessee House Joint Resolution 779 or HJR0779 was available to view on the official Tennessee General Assembly website. An asterisk next to the bill’s sponsor, Micah Van Huss, led to a state government profile page.A summary of Van Huss’ legislation was available in the form of a February 4 2020 [PDF] “fiscal note,” observing that the proposal would have no financial effects on the public. Its summary read:SUMMARY OF BILL: Resolves to recognize CNN and The Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party, and further resolves to condemn such media outlets for denigrating our citizens and implying that they are weak-minded followers instead of people exercising their rights that our veterans paid for with their blood.A longer version was available via capitol.tn.gov [PDF], available to review in full. The House Joint Resolution’s final two lines were of key importance.It is clear that Van Huss filed the bill and sent it along a legislative track in Tennessee, along with a fleshed-out list of grievances against CNN and Washington Post for perceived characterizations made by both outlets of either United States President Donald Trump and/or his base of support.However, the final two lines following the list of Van Huss’ grievances sought only to label said outlets “as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party” and “condemn them for denigrating our citizens and implying that they are weak-minded followers” rather than actively censoring them from being distributed in the state:A RESOLUTION to recognize CNN and The Washington Post as fake news and condemn them for denigrating our citizens.WHEREAS, on October 3, 2019, an editor for The Washington Post wrote that President Donald J. Trump has cast a spell on the Republican Party and suggested that Trumpism is cultlike; andWHEREAS, on November 24, 2019, a CNN host suggested that Trump supporters belong to a cult and that our president is using mind control; andWHEREAS, we recognize that fake news outlets suggest ideas without directly making accusations so that they can claim innocence from their ivory towers; andWHEREAS, it is fascinating to see this latest “cult-of-Trump” meme coming from the left, because they are the true masters of deploying mobs to demand total conformity and compliance with their agenda; andWHEREAS, any thoughtful observer can see the cult-of-Trump meme as a classic case of psychological projection; after all, accusing someone’s perceived opponent of exactly what one intends to do is a very old tactic; andWHEREAS, the mainstream media is in a panic because President Trump has opened the eyes of many average Americans who are tired of politics as usual. They are tired of being politicians’ political pawns, and they are tired of every other country’s needs being put before their own; andWHEREAS, suggestions of cult-like behavior by President Trump’s supporters substitute a value judgment in place of a sorely needed argumentative analysis of how voters generate their own political views; andWHEREAS, to describe the entire Republican Party as a cult led by President Trump is problematic: If journalists are going to refer to the party as a cult and its supporters as cultists, they must define what “cult” means; otherwise, they are assuming that a cult is some obvious phenomenon and everyone knows what the word means; andWHEREAS, this cult diagnosis isn’t a reasoned argument, or even an objective description; andWHEREAS, the cult diagnosis draws a line between Trump opponents and Trump supporters, and it oversimplifies the way people think and feel about their own beliefs and those on the other side of that line; andWHEREAS, President Trump understood their frustration when he ran for office; he has taken a stand on behalf of the middle class and everyday people, and that is the reason he has growing support; andWHEREAS, suggestions that supporters of President Trump are exhibiting cult-like behavior isn’t helpful in an era of significant political polarization; now, therefore,BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, that the State of Tennessee recognizes CNN and The Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we condemn them for denigrating our citizens and implying that they are weak-minded followers instead of people exercising their rights that our veterans paid for with their blood.Neither proposed resolution appeared to meaningfully affect either the two named news outlets or residents of the state of Tennessee, even if passed. Van Huss did not seek to limit their distribution or reach, or attach any penalties to their reporting.One of Van Huss’ fellow Republican lawmakers answered a media query about HJR0779 on January 31 2020, citing legislative efforts such as healthcare and education as a more appropriate focus for state funds and man hours:Asked whether the resolution was a good use of taxpayer money, state Sen. Rusty Crowe of Johnson City, who is also mulling a run for Congress, said: “I don’t think so. It’s a personal message from Van Huss to his constituents.“I’ve got so many things that I’m working on as chairman of the Health Committee, on the Education Committee and on the Government Operations Committee that are so important. I just don’t… I don’t have time for that. I’ve got other things to do,” he said.In 2018, Van Huss cited the satirical website “The Onion” during a Criminal Justice Committee meeting.“I’m reading right here on The Onion a report about Kentucky seniors who haze freshmen basketball players,” Van Huss said.While careful to criticize Van Huss outright, Northeast Tennessee Republicans told News 5 that they have different priorities.Other Tennessee Republicans concurred, referencing constituents’ needs on issues they deemed more pressing:Asked if a fake news resolution is what Tennesseans want taxpayer-funded lawyers working on, state Sen. Jon Lundberg of Bristol said: “I think our voters determine that. Voters in each of our districts.”State Rep. David Hawk of Greeneville said he doesn’t believe the General Assembly should be addressing the topic.“We have a lot of work to do outside of that,” Hawk said. “That’s not the first issue that comes from my constituents’ mouths when I have a discussion with them. They’re worried about workforce development; they’re worried about health care; they’re worried about mental health and substance abuse, that’s about 15 to 20 down the list of concerns that they’ve got.“Really, as a state government, I don’t think that we should be dipping our toe in that.”No final action had been taken on it as of February 13 2020. As of that date, HJR0779’s next scheduled action was for February 18 2020.It is true that Van Huss sponsored House Joint Resolution 779, which was riddled with disinformation and jingoistic language, aiming for the “State of Tennessee [to recognize] CNN and The Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party,” and to “condemn [those outlets] for denigrating our citizens and implying that they are weak-minded followers instead of people exercising their rights that our veterans paid for with their blood.”However, the resolution was not final as of February 13 2020, and it carried no measurable effects on either news outlet or on Tennessee citizens should it pass a vote.",
            "output": [
                "\"A real piece of legislation filed in Tennessee sought to officially label CNN and the Washington Post as \"\"fake news.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61c62001086c4ada86154234c420096f",
            "input": "The cost of the drug is not particularly relevant in this case. This story points out the potential benefits of Dimebon based upon preliminary research, but didn’t quantify those benefits. These include improved cognition, memory and ability to perform activities of daily living. These potential benefits should have been placed in the context of existing medications which have shown a very modest effect in these outcomes, in only one-third of people, and for a short-period of time. Little is know about the long-term use of these medications. The story references general concerns of experimental drugs which do not have proven effectiveness or safety. Potential harms of Dimebon were not mentioned. However, the research study about the Dimebon published in The Lancet reported that dry mouth was the most common side effect. For reference, there can be gastrointestinal side effects from currently approved medications. These are usually dose related and can be minimised by taking the medications with food and gradually increasing the dose overtime. This story takes a point-by-point approach to evaluate the medical issues related to Alzheimer’s disease raised in the TV episode. The Premise section provides a good, basic description of PET scan brain imaging and symptoms of mild to moderate memory loss. The story should have clearly noted that PET scans do not provide a definitive diagnosis and that tests to evaluate memory such as questionnaires and neurological examinations, are routinely performed as the first line of evaluation. The piece does provide an appropriate level of depth in its discussion of the experimental nature of Dimebon, results of research conducted in Russia, and the stages of the FDA approval process. Basics facts about the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease were not provided, but would have helped readers to understand how many people are affected (about 15% over 70 years old). Given that, Alzheimer’s disease was accurately characterized in the story. The story includes interviews from an independent medical expert and the chief medical officer for the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org). This story could have been enhanced by adding that there are currently no cures for Alzheimer’s disease. It should have noted that available medications can help a small number of people but only for a limited amount of time. This story clearly indicates that the experimental drug Dimebon is not available in the U.S. It also notes that the drug won’t be available for at least three years, pending FDA approval. The story indicates that Dimebon is a new and experimental drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. This story does not rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "‘Boston Legal’ lawyer makes his case for Alzheimer’s drug"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4cbefb8d2cf442d914ad27a47956742",
            "input": "China’s Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical (600521.SS), which produces bulk ingredients for drugmakers, told its customers in late June it had found NDMA in its valsartan, an off-patent blood pressure drug originally developed by Novartis (NOVN.S). The discovery means that some of the 10 billion pills containing valsartan sold worldwide last year to prevent heart attacks and strokes had traces of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), classified as a probable human carcinogen. No one has been reported as sickened by the toxin, once used in the production of liquid rocket fuel. Regulators and industry experts say the toxin almost certainly was introduced when Huahai changed the way it produced valsartan in 2012 - a modification that was signed off on by the European body that sets standards. Subsequent inspections by European, U.S. and Chinese regulators also found no problem. “Everyone failed – the company, the inspectors, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), the Europeans, the Chinese,” said Philippe André, an independent pharmaceutical auditor who inspected two Huahai facilities last August and found no critical concerns. “It’s a system failure.”  Reuters was unable to determine how Huahai first discovered the problem. In a July 7 statement released through the Shanghai Stock Exchange, it said it detected the toxin during the “optimization and evaluation” of its manufacturing process. A Novartis spokesman told Reuters that its generic drugs arm, Sandoz, spotted the NDMA in the course of intensive testing to prepare for expanding its purchases of valsartan. He declined to comment further, including on the identity of the manufacturer or when the tests took place. Two other smaller bulk suppliers - Zhejiang Tianyu Pharmaceutical 300702.SZ and a unit of India’s Hetero Drugs - have since also discovered traces of NDMA in some of their valsartan. The three companies declined to comment to comment about the case. For a graphic on heart drug widely used, click tmsnrt.rs/2KnaxAx  Huahai said in a document released through the Shanghai Stock Exchange it changed the production process to reduce waste and improve yields. “The NDMA impurity was produced in trace amounts during the normal manufacturing process according to the company’s current registered process,” it said in a statement on July 24. “All changes in the company’s valsartan manufacturing process have been approved by each country’s drug regulator, and the company manufactures in compliance with legal and regulatory standards.”  The European Medicines Agency (EMA) regulator, which first publicly raised the alarm in a statement on July 5, told valsartan suppliers in a subsequent memo dated July 16 that the NDMA may have been connected to the combined use of the solvent dimethylformamide and sodium nitrite. The FDA is also going on that hypothesis, said Janet Woodcock, director of its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She stressed the investigation was still going on. “This (NDMA) was not what you look for in an inspection,” Woodcock said in an interview. “If you don’t test for this you’re not going to have an idea that it’s in there, and you’re not going to see it on an inspection.”  The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM), responsible for setting manufacturing standards, told Reuters it was aware the solvent was being used when it approved the changed process, but that NDMA as a by-product was unexpected and not tested for. Detecting NDMA would have required gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, a very sensitive level of testing, an EDQM spokeswoman said. “These techniques are not normally used routinely to test pharmaceutical products,” she said. Built by Novartis into the $6 billion-a-year brand Diovan, valsartan’s European and U.S. patents expired in 2011 and 2012. Global sales totaled 10.4 billion pills last year, including combination products, healthcare data consultancy IQVIA estimates. People with high blood pressure typically take one pill daily and heart failure patients two. More than 50 companies around the world making finished tablets from the tainted valsartan have recalled products in recent weeks, according a Reuters analysis of national medicines agencies’ records. They include major generic drug manufacturers such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA.TA), Ranbaxy Laboratories and Sandoz. Based on the average NDMA impurity detected at Huahai of 60 parts per million (ppm), the EMA says there could be one additional case of cancer in every 5,000 people taking the highest dose for seven years. The contamination puts a spotlight on manufacturers in China and India, which supply more than two-thirds of all active pharmaceutical ingredients used in medicines, industry executives estimate. China accounts for the lion’s share. Huahai, founded in 1989 and listed in Shanghai in 2003, was one of the first Chinese companies to get drugs approved in the U.S. market. The FDA has inspected the site that made the contaminated valsartan three times since 2010, its records show. European inspectors also visited regularly. The provincial branch of the Chinese FDA (CFDA) also inspected Huahai facilities 10 times in connection with new drug applications between January 2016 and June 2018, the national online database shows. U.S. and European regulators have increased scrutiny of  Chinese and Indian drug factories after the adulteration of the blood thinner heparin sickened hundreds and caused the deaths of at least 81 Americans in 2007 and 2008. The CFDA is also on alert. Last month, it revealed that Changsheng Bio-technology 002680.SZ, a vaccine maker, had fabricated data and sold ineffective vaccines for children. It also found that a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine sold by the state-owned Wuhan Institute of Biological Products was substandard. The fact that international inspections do not appear to have detected the NDMA contamination alarms Anders Fuglsang, a former European medicines regulator who runs a pharmaceutical consultancy in Denmark. “We need to ask ourselves how it is possible - despite  pharmacopoeias and agency guidelines, inspection programs with coordination across continents, a system of public quality control, and companies complying with all rules - that a nasty carcinogen can find its way into our drugs and be there for years without anyone noticing,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Toxin at heart of drug recall shows holes in medical safety net."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2ee98657fb54cc3b4897d752affc064",
            "input": "\"Georgia opened the door to private school vouchers in 2007, with a law aimed at parents who felt their disabled children weren’t being adequately served in public school. In the 2013-2014 school year, the families of about 3,400 disabled students received taxpayer-funded vouchers to help pay their children’s tuition to private schools. The vouchers, or scholarships, vary in amount based on the severity of the disability. The maximum last year was $12,803, just shy of what’s reported as the average tuition at private schools dedicated to teaching special needs students. Public school groups have been generally opposed to this program and the much costlier private-school tax credit. They argue that both programs undercut public education, a claim that supporters deny. The special needs scholarships are for students with disabilities, such as autism, blindness or a behavioral disorder. But an observant PolitiFact reader ealier this week saw House Bill 296, called PolitiFact and asked if it meant a major change to the special needs scholarship program was afoot. \"\"It looks like the program is no longer just about helping handicapped kids,\"\" she said. \"\"It looks like they want to give out scholarships so immigrant children who can’t speak English can attend private school. Can that be right?\"\" PolitiFact Georgia decided to investigate. We found a five-paragraph story about the bill by The Associated Press. We also reached out to the authors of House Bill 296, which is pending in the Georgia General Assembly and would amend the special needs scholarship law. We heard back from the bill’s chief sponsor, state Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, who told us an estimated 700 school-age legal refugees could qualify under the legislation for scholarships to attend private school. \"\"They are legal, and Georgia is obligated to educate them,\"\" Nix said. The highest concentrations of these students are in metro Atlanta, mainly in the Clarkston area of DeKalb County, he said. These students \"\"create a significant problem for their schools,\"\" Nix said. \"\"This bill is good for those schools that are struggling to deal with these students,\"\" he said. \"\"It will be better for all concerned for them to attend a school which creates a learning environment more geared and welcoming to their unique needs.\"\" To qualify for a scholarship, a student will have to meet the definition of legal refugee under Title I of the Immigration and Nationalization Act, said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. The student will be required to have an I-94 clearance, with a refugee admission stamp, and be \"\"limited-English proficient as defined in 20 U.S.C. Section 7801.\"\" Unlike other students in the special needs scholarship program, qualifying refugees will not be required to have individual education plans (IEPs) nor will they be required to attend public school in the prior school year. The original champions of the special needs scholarship program expressed surprise about the new bill when contacted Thursday by PolitiFact. \"\"There is no school choice program in the country related to refugees,\"\" the Friedman Foundation for Education Choice, the legacy foundation of Nobel economist and school choice founder Milton Friedman, said in a statement. \"\"We instead believe the one-year requirement to enroll in a public school to earn a scholarship should be removed for special needs students,\"\" said Susan Meyers, a spokeswoman for the organization. \"\"This effort argues in favor of a voucher for all children. If a child needs a different school, he or she should be able to choose no matter what their personal circumstances.\"\" The bill overwhelmingly passed the Georgia House on Monday and moves to the state Senate for consideration. The measure, which also would require approval of the governor to become law, \"\"pays attention to some often-overlooked children – exceptional education students who are either children of immigrants or those learning to speak English,\"\" said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). \"\"That by itself is a positive since our legislators do not often look kindly on such students,\"\" Callahan said. He said the current group of political leaders are championing these students as \"\"part of their not-very-hidden efforts to splinter the public schools via defunding and diversion of funding, ie. vouchers posing as ‘scholarships.\"\" \"\"The irony is that across the nation schools of choice -- charters, magnets, etc. -- are frequently criticized for either not accepting these types of students because they are labor intensive and more costly to educate … or for accepting them but forcing them out eventually. So I guess it is a mixed blessing.\"\" Angela Palm, policy director for the Georgia School Boards Association, said she isn't sure of the goal. \"\"From a state policy statement, it makes little sense to single out one group of limited English proficient as being eligible for this unless they are trying to make sure a public benefit is not being given to an illegal immigrant,\"\" Palm said. Currently, K-12 schools don't check a student's immigration status. But this bill requires that scholarship candidates prove they meet the definition of legal refugee under Title i provision. School boards generally oppose vouchers because they allow public money to go to private schools without the same transparency and accountability required when public money goes to public schools, Palm said. Gov. Nathan Deal has taken issue with the number of refugees in Georgia. Last July, he fired off a blistering letter to President Barack Obama, saying he was shocked to learn that federal authorities had transferred 1,154 unaccompanied immigrant children to the care of sponsors living in Georgia. The children were placed in Georgia early in the year by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement as the Obama administration grappled with a surge of Central American children illegally crossing the southwest border. Our conclusion: Legislation has cleared the Georgia House that would expand the list of students eligible for a private school scholarship program created in 2007. The scholarships are now offered in varying amounts to students with disabilities. The bill would open the program to about 700 legal refugees who are not proficient in English.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Under legislation that has cleared the Georgia House, some children who are \"\"legal refugees\"\" could obtain state scholarships to attend private schools.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d8ce19e2a3d641be804f650d2ef2591a",
            "input": "\"Not applicable. No discussion of costs, but we think it’s common knowledge that these supplements are inexpensive. We have problems with the way this was handled. The subhead said, \"\"32 percent reduced odds seen in postmenopausal women.\"\" But readers need to know 32% of what? It also explained that the study surveyed \"\"women who were between the ages of 50 and 76 and all past menopause.\"\" But risk rises with age. So baseline risk in a 50 year-old is different than that in a 76-year old. So we would have preferred seeing absolute numbers for those in their 50s, 60s and 70s to make the message more meaningful. Not applicable. No discussion of harms, but this is not a serious issue in this case. We’re very pleased to see HealthDay include the line: \"\"we should not draw any conclusions about a causal relationship.\"\" The study was \"\"observational\"\" only, and not a randomized trial that compared the use of fish oil with a group not using fish oil and the effect on cancer rates.\"\" And the independent expert saying, \"\"The lower risk of breast cancer among women taking fish oil supplements could be due to chance.\"\" (For comparison, an ABC News headline read, \"\"Breast Cancer Risk Lowered by Fish Oil.\"\" That is far too definitive, and, thus, inaccurate. The story also touched on how squishy was the evidence when it quoted the researcher: \"\"She could not quantify the amount of fish oil supplements consumed, because \"\"current use\"\" was defined as any amount taken by a woman. \"\"Most women used it four to seven days a week. We don’t know how much,\"\" she noted\"\" No overt disease mongering. An important comment was made by an independent expert from the American Cancer Society: \"\"The lower risk of breast cancer among women taking fish oil supplements could be due to chance.\"\" There could have been at least one line about other research looking at lowering the risk of breast cancer. The availability of fish oil supplements is not in question. The story quoted the researcher saying \"\"while studies examining the link between consuming fish or omega-3 fatty acids and breast cancer risk have produced inconsistent results, this is the first study that suggested a connection between fish oil supplements and reduced breast cancer risk.\"\" It does not appear  that the story relied solely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Fish Oil Supplements Linked to Lower Risk of Breast Cancer: Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b84ded426e2546fb87972b3d58ea7654",
            "input": "“Every day there are 30-50 cases, no fewer. Suddenly it became like this,” she said in the 15-bed diarrhea treatment center. Yemen is suffering its third major cholera outbreak since 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to try to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government after it was ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. The conflict has put 10 million people at risk of famine in the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis. Cholera causes profuse diarrhea and fluid loss which can kill within hours. Children, the elderly and those weakened by years of poor nutrition are most at risk. The World Health Organization said last week that Yemen had seen more than 724,000 suspected cholera cases and 1,135 deaths this year, but that case numbers had stabilized in recent weeks. In the clinic, limp children’s faces are covered with flies and their chests heave as they breathe while receiving intravenous fluid tubes in their feet and wrists. The recent influx means some patients are forced to lie on the floor and the center has run out of some medicines. Cholera is spread through dirty water, which more and more Yemenis are forced to drink as water resources are scarce in the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation. Pumps are needed in many parts of the country of 30 million people to bring water to the surface. Fuel shortages have dramatically increased clean water prices. “We rely on wells which are uncovered and very dirty ... We and livestock drink from these wells, as do children,” said Qassem Massoud, a young man standing at a rural well where people haul water up using plastic containers on string. Others fill containers from a muddy pool as donkeys drink alongside. Dr Abdelwahab al-Moayad said Yemen’s internally displaced were particularly at risk. “The number of cases are increasing by the day and if it continues we would consider it a humanitarian disaster,” he said. A breakthrough in U.N.-led peace efforts last December, the first in more than two years, had sparked hope for improved humanitarian and aid access. But implementation of a ceasefire and a troop withdrawal initiative in the main port of Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions, has dragged on for six months. Violence has continued in other parts of Yemen. Since the deal, more than 255,000 people have been displaced, U.N. migration agency figures show. The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption, control the biggest population centers. The Saudi-backed government is based in the southern port of Aden.",
            "output": [
                "Cholera surge stalks Yemen's hungry and displaced."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16cc883adf2b4aae92e9dd0076563114",
            "input": "Major European stock markets dived more than 7%, Japanese indexes fell over 5% and U.S. markets sank over 7% after Saudi Arabia launched an oil price war with Russia that sent investors already spooked by the coronavirus epidemic running for the exits. In Italy, scene of Europe’s worst outbreak with infections and deaths still soaring, the government took its most drastic steps yet to contain the outbreak, affecting some 60 million people. It ordered everyone across the country not to move around other than for work and emergencies, banned all public gatherings and suspended sporting events, including soccer matches. Deaths in Milan’s Lombardy region - which had already been on lockdown with cinemas, theaters and museums closed and restaurant hours restricted - jumped 25% in a day to 333, while the national death toll soared by 97 to 463, the highest in the world after China. Over 9,000 people have become infected in Italy in little over two weeks, out of a global total of more than 113,000 in over 100 countries. Nearly 4,000 people have died across the world, the vast majority in mainland China. “Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. But he welcomed Italy’s tough measures, noting that just four countries - China, South Korea, Italy and Iran - accounted for 93% of cases worldwide. Israel ordered anyone entering the country to self-quarantine for 14 days on Monday. “It would be the first pandemic that could be controlled,” Tedros added. “The bottom line is we are not at the mercy of the virus.”  In the United States, which has reported over 600 cases and 26 deaths, the administration scrambled on Monday to assure Americans it was responding to the outbreak as stock markets plunged and top health officials urged some people to avoid cruise ships, air travel and big public gatherings. U.S. President Donald Trump, who continued to play down the threat posed by the flu-like virus, said he would announce economic measures on Tuesday and would discuss a payroll tax cut with Congress to bolster the economy. Trump recently spent time with two members of Congress, including one who rode on Air Force One, who are self-quarantining over concerns about exposure to the virus. Vice President Michael Pence said he did not know if Trump had been tested for coronavirus. Around the world, flights have been canceled, communities and cruise liners isolated, and concerts and trade fairs postponed. While some countries, such as China and Italy, have turned to drastic measures to try to delay the spread of the virus, others remain in a “containment” phase, where individual cases can still be tracked. Britain, with five deaths from almost 300 confirmed cases, said it would remain in that phase for now, allowing major gatherings and sporting events to continue, while making extensive preparations to move to the “delay phase.”  In neighboring Ireland, acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) coronavirus package had been agreed. Funds set aside for a potential sudden rupture in trade ties with Britain, which has left the European Union, were to be diverted to coronavirus mitigation. Perhaps just as dramatically, Varadkar announced  cancellation of all parades planned for the national St. Patrick’s Day festival on March 17, including one in Dublin that draws more than 500,000 people from all over the world. In Spain, schools were closed across the Madrid region and the Basque capital Vitoria for two weeks as cases topped 1,200 nationwide. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said an emergency economic plan had been prepared. In the Gulf region, where most cases stem from travel from Iran, the emphasis has been on border control. Saudi Arabia said it would fine people who did not disclose health information and travel details at entry up to $133,000. Iran, with 7,161 cases and 237 deaths, said it was temporarily releasing about 70,000 prisoners because of the coronavirus. China and South Korea both reported a slowdown in new infections. Mainland China, outside the outbreak center of Hubei province, recorded no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases for the second day. South Korea reported 165 new cases, bringing the national tally to 7,478, while the death toll rose by one to 51. With the rate of increase in new infections at its lowest  in 11 days, President Moon Jae-in said South Korea could enter the “phase of stability” soon. In Italy, that phase still seems far off. Authorities said seven prisoners died as riots spread through more than 25 jails across the country over measures imposed to contain the coronavirus. Police and fire trucks massed outside the main prison in the northern town of Modena, the site of some of the worst violence. Barkeepers in Rome and Milan said police had visited them to warn that they risked closure if they let customers huddle together. “We went into the cafe together but were told to stand far apart. It was really odd because we are friends,” said Ilaria Frezza, a 21-year-old student. But the bar she was in was, in fact, almost deserted. “I wish I was having problems keeping people apart, but that’s the least of my worries,” said Franco Giovinazzo, who runs the Spazio Caffe in Rome. “The real problem is there’s no-one here.”  (Graphic: Coronavirus spreads in China and beyond, here)  (Graphic: Tracking the novel coronavirus, here)  (Online package of coronavirus news, here)",
            "output": [
                "Stocks savaged, Italy on lockdown, Trump seeks to reassure as coronavirus spreads."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-726d6502abbf47b69ee5c153ff258c68",
            "input": "DeSantis announced a bold plan to address environmental issues, including an acknowledgement that the state needs to address rising sea levels; posthumously pardoned four black men accused of raping a white teenager nearly 70 years ago; named a Democrat to a top position in his administration; and demanded that the Republican-led Legislature rewrite a restrictive law so medical marijuana can be more accessible to patients. While Trump continues to divide the country, DeSantis is beginning his term with actions that can unite people across political affiliations. “This new governor is a great governor. I’m more encouraged by Ron DeSantis’ first two weeks than anything I’ve seen in years,” trial lawyer John Morgan said recently in a Facebook video. Morgan has raised millions of dollars over the years for Democratic candidates, including Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton. Morgan also led the effort to put legal use of medical marijuana in the state constitution and sued when the Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott banned smokable use of the plant. DeSantis is now on Morgan’s side on the medical marijuana issue, prompting Morgan to declare, “DeSantisclause came to town!” DeSantis campaigned on building off the economic accomplishments of Scott, who was elected to the U.S. Senate after two terms as governor, but he’s proving to be neither a Scott clone nor a divisive figure like Trump. Scott had a reputation for being partisan, and DeSantis is starting his term by appealing to a broader political base. In doing so, he’s taking action on issues Scott failed to address. In 2017, the Legislature unanimously approved a resolution apologizing to the families of the Groveland Four, the men accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in 1949. One of the four was tracked down by a posse and shot 400 times. The other three were convicted with dubious evidence. The case is now seen as a racially unjust blight on Florida’s history. The Legislature asked Scott to pardon the men, but he took no action. DeSantis and the state’s Cabinet granted the pardons on his first Friday in office. “I don’t know why it took this long to do it. I don’t know why Gov. Scott didn’t (pardon them). He didn’t have the guts,” said Wade Greenlee, the brother of one of the Groveland Four. “But I thank God for the governor that we have now. He didn’t waste no time.” Although Scott was criticized by environmentalists for denying climate sea level rise, DeSantis plans to create a chief science officer position and said on his second day in office that the state needs to protect wildlife and communities from sea level rise. The new governor has also strengthened the commitment to addressing red tide off the state’s coast and pollutants in Lake Okeechobee that cause algae blooms downstream by promising to spend a billion more dollars on the issues and create new state offices dedicated to environmental threats. DeSantis is also reaching out to people who opposed him politically — most notably by appointing former Democratic state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, one of the Legislature’s most vocal opponents of the Republican agenda, as the state’s emergency management director. Of course, DeSantis’s first impression is only two weeks old, and the remaining three years and 50 weeks of his term will be the test of whether he continues to govern for a broad spectrum of Floridians. But for now, he’s even caught the attention of some Democrats. “He’s taken a pretty proactive Florida stand, and it’s a distinct contrast with Scott,” Democratic pollster David Beattie said. “It’s almost like he’s giving the finger to Scott.” Beattie was among those who thought DeSantis would have a hard time getting elected because he ran almost entirely on his and Trump’s mutual admiration. Trump backed DeSantis in the primary, tweeting his praise and holding a Florida rally. Beattie said at the time that the extreme partisan nature of the campaign would make it difficult for DeSantis to build off his base. But Beattie now admits DeSantis as governor appears to be different than DeSantis the candidate, saying there’s no doubt he’s appealing to a broad base rather than a narrow ideology. “I’m surprised. It’s not what I anticipated,” he said, predicting that DeSantis’ first approval ratings will be higher than Scott’s ever were in his eight years in office. DeSantis said he’s not trying to create a distinction between himself and Scott. “We all come in under different circumstances. Gov. Scott came in when the economy was in the tank. He had run based on being a jobs guy and he focused on that,” DeSantis said. He said issues like the environment are more of a priority for voters now than they were 10 years ago. “Some of these other things like the Groveland Four, the Legislature led on that ... ,” he said. “I was like, ‘These guys got railroaded. We’ve got to do what’s right.’ So I’m just calling them as I’ve seen them.”",
            "output": [
                "Florida’s new Trump-backed governor seeks to broaden appeal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd0e78a75ce242e1a6c8ae85b305a343",
            "input": "A group of volunteers led by husband and wife Niall Barrett and Janneke Diemel set up a catering service last month that provides free meals to hard-pressed medical staff at St George’s Hospital. “Normally we all provide our own food and now we don’t have to think about it, we just come to work and eat,” said critical care sister Anthea Allen as she helped push a trolley to transfer the food from a car to the hospital. “We’ve had halloumi wraps, curry, pizza, shepherd’s pie and we have vegan food, vegetarian food. It’s been amazing,” she added. Allen said she mentioned to local friends that medical staff would appreciate any snacks they could provide, and the idea quickly caught on. “That seemed to escalate in my community, my friends, expanding and expanding to a point where I don’t know who is bringing the food now. “But other things, they’ve given us PPE (personal protective equipment), marker pens, name badges ... radios.”  Allen is one of thousands of frontline medical staff working for Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) who are trying to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The death toll in British hospitals from COVID-19, the disease associated with the virus, rose to more than 12,000 on Tuesday. “It’s hard, what we’re doing,” said Allen. “And food and radios and name badges, all these tiny little things, make such a huge, huge, huge difference.”",
            "output": [
                "Donated meals make 'huge difference', say UK coronavirus medics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-65489e55de1744d9a70b81ec075bd010",
            "input": "Clark County Public Health officials said Wednesday that the child passed through the Portland International Airport and PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver Nov. 14 while contagious. The child also visited Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland from Nov. 16 to Nov. 17. The agency warned that people may have been exposed to the virus. Anyone exposed who is susceptible to the virus could start having symptoms between Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. Officials urge anyone who believes they have symptoms of measles to call their health care provider to make a plan that avoids exposing others. Clark County has had 72 confirmed measles cases this year. Measles is highly contagious. The U.S. has experienced a resurgence of the illness that’s fueled by outbreaks in unvaccinated communities.",
            "output": [
                "New measles case in child who visited Portland airport."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-084f9b5fee214324ba63a9a9ede1b7df",
            "input": "A photograph of beachgoers ignoring social distancing guidelines concerning the COVID-19 pandemic prompted local officials to close their gathering place to the public.The photo, attributed to Clay Archer of Jacksonville Beach, was shared thousands of times on Twitter after being posted there by Travis Akers, a spokesperson for Democratic Party congressional candidate Donna Deegan, on March 28 2020.“You can see exactly where Duval County ends and St. John’s County begins,” Akers wrote. “All beaches in Duval are closed, while St. John’s only blocked parking at the beach. Gov. [Ron] DeSantis needs to order a state-wide closure of all Florida beaches.”The photograph showed a cluster of people on the St. John’s side of the county line on a beach, while the beach was empty on the Duval County side:This picture is from 3pm today.You can see exactly where Duval County ends and St. John’s County begins.All beaches in Duval are closed, while St. John’s only blocked parking at the beach.Gov. DeSantis needs to order a state-wide closure of all Florida beaches. pic.twitter.com/JfKzCGCPLq— Travis Akers (@travisakers) March 28, 2020We contacted the St. John’s County board of commissioners seeking comment about the photograph. But scores of residents were spotted going to beaches in the area, to the point that local officials ordered that they be closed to the public as of March 29 2020.“We have taken as many measures as possible up to this point to preserve our residents’ ability to access their beach,” county administrator Hunter S. Conrad said in a statement:Unfortunately, those visiting the beach continue to ignore CDC guidelines regarding crowd size and personal distancing. In order to maintain public safety and respect the State of Florida’s Executive Order, we had no choice but to close the coastline to public access today.A day after the beaches were closed in St. John’s County, Florida’s governor announced an executive order mandating that residents in four southeast Florida counties — Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach — remain at home until “the middle of May.” According to the Miami Herald, the four counties account for a combined 59 percent of all COVID-19 diagnoses in the state. DeSantis has also ordered that travelers into the state from Louisiana and New York undergo fourteen-day quarantines.DeSantis — a supporter of United States President Donald Trump — has benefited from a comparatively swift federal response to the spread of the disease. As the Washington Post reported:The state submitted a request on March 11 for 430,000 surgical masks, 180,000 N95 respirators, 82,000 face shields and 238,000 gloves, among other supplies — and received a shipment with everything three days later, according to figures from the state’s Division of Emergency Management. It received an identical shipment on March 23, according to the division, and is awaiting a third.By comparison, Trump has insinuated that healthcare workers facing massive equipment shortage in New York City were stealing protective masks. And California’s governor Gavin Newsom said on March 28, 2020 that 170 ventilators that the state received from the Trump administration had to be repaired because they “were not working” when they arrived. Both Newsom and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are Democrats.",
            "output": [
                "Florida residents kept congregating at local beaches in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92355410420a4e1fa142e5550ab23002",
            "input": "Britain and the EU also agreed to cancel face-to-face trade negotiations planned for next week in London due to the outbreak. At a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Thursday, Johnson moved Britain’s response to the outbreak to the so-called “delay phase”, aimed at putting off the peak until the summer months, ending a phase of outright containment. “It’s going to spread further,” Johnson said at a news conference, flanked by the government’s top scientific and medical advisers. “I must level with you, level with the British public - more families, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.”  Rapidly spreading disruptions to business, trade and everyday life around the world have triggered panic on global markets, including in Britain. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 10.9%, its worst one-day performance since 1987. Sterling fell three cents against the dollar, the biggest fall since the 2016 vote to leave the EU. The British government has faced questions over why it is not taking the more far-reaching measures seen in many other countries. Johnson defended his approach, saying the government was following scientific advice and would “do the right thing at the right time”. He said those showing even mild symptoms of having the virus should self-isolate for at least seven days. In the next few weeks that advice would change to entire households being asked to stay at home if one person has symptoms. “This is the worst public health crisis for a generation,” he said. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the United Kingdom rose 29% percent to 590 over the past 24 hours. Ten people with coronavirus have died in the UK. Graphic: UK coronavirus cases - here  “There are currently about 590 cases identified in the UK and there are more than 20 patients on intensive care units,” chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said. “If you calculate what that really means in terms of the total number, it is much more likely that you have somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people infected at the moment.”  Vallance said Britain was currently on a trajectory about four weeks behind Italy, which has reported more than 15,000 cases and 1,000 deaths. He predicted the peak of coronavirus cases in Britain may be at least 10 to 14 weeks away. England’s chief medical adviser Chris Whitty said not all suspected cases of the virus would be formally tested, with the government focusing on those in hospital. The British plan for dealing with the outbreak has three main phases - containment, delay and mitigation. The delay phase includes consideration of so-called social distancing measures such as more home-working, reducing large scale gatherings and closing schools. Johnson said Britain was not cancelling major public events and schools would stay open for now but that advice could change as the virus spreads. Whitty said at some point social interaction for old and vulnerable people would need to be reduced, but not yet. “People start off with the best of intentions but enthusiasm at a certain point starts to flag,” Whitty said. “So we do need to do it at the last point it is reasonable ... to get through what will be quite difficult things to do.”  Meanwhile, Ireland is to shut schools, universities and childcare facilities until March 29 and restrict mass gatherings, acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.",
            "output": [
                "PM Johnson warns Britons: more loved ones are going to die from coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a50c515ded984e6ebac378d39c15b77e",
            "input": "In 2004, a virulent form of canine influenza surfaced at greyhound racing parks in Florida. In that outbreak, it infected 24 greyhounds and killed 8 more. The contagion has since been confirmed in seven states, having killed greyhounds at tracks in Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa. It is highly contagious, spreading through shared items (like toys) or human contact (kennel workers have carried the virus home with them), in addition to dog-to-dog encounters. The virus that has been felling greyhounds is an H3N8 flu closely related to an equine flu strain. It is not related to typical human flus or to the H5N1 avian flu that killed about 100 people in Asia. Several states — including Florida, Minnesota, and Louisiana, among others — reported another rash of cases in late June 2017. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the outbreaks in those states were caused by a strain known as canine H3N2 influenza, which was first reported in Chicago in 2015. An AVMA spokesperson, Sharon Granskog, told us in a phone interview that such outbreaks can be seasonal in nature: There’s a time of year when more dogs are in contact with one another, they’re at dog parks, it’s highly contagious. We suggest that you make sure if your dog is going to a dog park that it’s healthy and talk to a veterinarian about whether or not a vaccine would be right for your dog. The disease was first reported in the U.S. in 2004 after several racing greyhounds in Florida contracted it. The AVMA said that they believed that the dogs became infected by a strain of H3N8 influenza, which is particular to horses. Dr. Ruben Donis, chief of molecular genetics for the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed that the flu jumped from horses to dogs, “a very rare event of considerable scientific interest” and added “at this point, there is no reason to panic.” How that jump occurred is either not known at this point or is not being commented on, so the email’s assertion that the eating of raw meat was to blame should be regarded as speculation rather than as fact. While there is always the possibility the virus might again jump species, this time to humans, this strain of flu has been present in horses for more than 40 years without any documented cases of humans catching it or the related canine flu. But there are vaccines available for both the equine and canine flus. Many readers have been confused (and unnecessarily frightened) by the difference between the terms “morbidity rate” and “mortality rate.” The morbidity rate describes the percentage of animals that will contract the disease after being exposed to the virus, but, despite its name, the term has nothing to do with the death rate associated with the flu. (Nearly 80 percent of dogs exposed to the canine flu virus will contract only a mild form of the disease which mimics kennel cough, a type of canine bronchitis that is rarely serious.) The mortality rate, which describes the percentage of animals that will die after contracting the disease, is in the much lower range of 5 to 8 percent, according to Dr. Cynda Crawford, the veterinary immunologist who first isolated the canine flu virus: The mortality rate is around 5 to 8 percent, says veterinarian Cynda Crawford at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville. “I want to stress that despite the rumors that are out on the Internet and other such sources, this disease is not as deadly as people want to make it,” Crawford said. She says she receives more than 30 calls a day from concerned veterinarians. Dr. Crawford describes the contagion as producing in dogs “a moist, productive cough that ends in a gagging response, that will persist for one to four weeks, despite treatment with antibiotics or cough suppressants. Some dogs develop a thick, yellow discharge from the nose. A very few dogs will spike a high fever, between 105 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. They become lethargic and weak, with rapid, shallow breathing. This is likely to progress to pneumonia.” Other veterinary experts have estimated the potential death rate as between 1 and 10 percent, with the higher percentage applying to very young, very old, or infirm dogs. Presence of the virus in dogs can be confirmed only through blood tests performed at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Results of such blood screens take as long as two weeks. Dr. Crawford recommends keeping dogs showing symptoms of respiratory disease at home and away from other dogs for up to two weeks. The CDC, which is tracking the disease, issued no official recommendations. Because the symptoms of this as yet unnamed virus somewhat mimic bordetella, a less virulent illness commonly known as kennel cough, it is hard to ascertain how widespread the flu has become. On the flipside of that confusion, vets in various parts of the country have been thrown into a panic when encountering run-of-the-mill kennel cough in any of their clients, fearing they are instead confronting cases of the new flu. The Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University inserted a caution against such hair-trigger diagnosis within a larger advisory about the potential for the flu to have spread to the state of New York: “One should not lose sight of the fact that all respiratory infections in dogs are not due to canine influenza virus. Adhering to the ‘band wagon’ approach could result in the failure to appropriately treat dogs with infections previously known to cause respiratory problems in dogs.” We found this good advice for vets and dog owners in our inbox one day: PLEASE DO NOT PANIC, and do NOT assume that every cough is Canine Influenza. Kennel Cough from parainfluenza and Bordetella is more common. However, the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell is interested in receiving samples from dogs that appear to have kennel cough. Clinical Signs: Since this is a new pathogen in dogs, there is currently no natural immunity present in the unexposed canine population. Almost all exposed dogs will become infected, and nearly 80% have clinical signs. In the mild form the dogs will have a cough that persists for 10 to 21 days. The cough may be soft and moist or dry. Many dogs will have a nasal discharge from a secondary bacterial infection and low grade fever. The nasal discharge responds to broad spectrum antibiotics. In the severe form with pneumonia there is a high fever (104-106 F) and respiratory difficulties. X-rays may show consolidation. These dogs often have secondary bacterial infections and have responded to broad-spectrum antibiotics and supportive care including intravenous hydration. The incubation period is two to five days and dogs may shed virus for seven to 10 days. The disease can spread rapidly throughout a boarding kennel. Dogs that are coughing SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT TO SHOWS or Performance EVENTS. In a 1 June 2017 advisory to its members, the AVMA suggested that vaccines against the H3N2 virus strain “might be another prevention option” for dogs who were at least 8 weeks old and also recommended isolating dogs who could be infected, as well as not sharing toys between dogs and disinfecting shelter, veterinary, and boarding facilities.",
            "output": [
                "A virus deadly to dogs has been spreading in the canine population of the U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c10b0fefcff4beab5a44568133d34aa",
            "input": "Veggies given names like “zesty ginger-turmeric sweet potatoes” and “twisted citrus-glazed carrots” were more popular than those prepared exactly the same way but with plainer, more healthful-sounding labels. Diners more often said “no thanks” when the food had labels like “low-fat,” ″reduced-sodium” or “sugar-free.” More diners chose the fancy-named items, and selected larger portions of them too in the experiment last fall at a Stanford University cafeteria. “While it may seem like a good idea to emphasize the healthiness of vegetables, doing so may actually backfire,” said lead author Bradley Turnwald, a graduate student in psychology. Other research has shown that people tend to think of healthful sounding food as less tasty, so the aim was to make it sound as good as more indulgent, fattening fare. Researchers from Stanford’s psychology department tested the idea as a way to improve eating habits and make a dent in the growing obesity epidemic . “This novel, low-cost intervention could easily be implemented in cafeterias, restaurants, and consumer products to increase selection of healthier options,” they said. The results were published Monday JAMA Internal Medicine. The study was done over 46 days last fall. Lunchtime vegetable offerings were given different labels on different days. For example, on one day diners could choose “dynamite chili and tangy lime-seasoned beets.” On other days the same item was labeled “lighter-choice beets with no added sugar,” ″high antioxidant beets,” or simply “beets.” Almost one-third of the nearly 28,000 diners chose a vegetable offering during the study. The tasty-sounding offering was the most popular, selected by about 220 diners on average on days it was offered, compared with about 175 diners who chose the simple-label vegetable. The healthy-sounding labels were the least popular. Diners also served themselves bigger portions of the tasty-sounding vegetables than of the other choices. Turnwald emphasized that “there was no deception” —  all labels accurately described the vegetables, although diners weren’t told that the different-sounding choices were the exact same item. The results illustrate “the interesting advantage to indulgent labeling,” he said. Dr. Stephen Cook, a University of Rochester childhood obesity researcher, called the study encouraging and said some high school cafeterias have also tried different labels to influence healthy eating. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to us because marketing people have been doing this for years,” Cook said. ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner and her work can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kv4uhoh",
            "output": [
                "Sweet sizzlin’ beans! Fancy names may boost healthy  dining."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ee62d77860543138a6af38820dcf7c9",
            "input": "The suspension of aid work came after unknown assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at three aid organizations in the southwestern province of Dhale over the weekend, according to the U.N. Humanitarian Office in Yemen, wounding a security guard and damaging several office buildings. The bombings signaled “an alarming escalation in the risks faced by humanitarian workers” and halted the provision of badly needed aid to 217,000 residents, the U.N. statement said. Yemeni officials blamed Islamic extremist groups, noting that al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has previously attacked aid organizations around Dhale and routinely incites violence against foreign-funded humanitarian programs, accusing them of anti-Islamic activity. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations. The U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock condemned “the continuation of media campaigns in parts of Yemen that spread rumors and incitement against aid operations,” compelling them to cut back on crucial work. The International Rescue Committee, a New York-based nonprofit, reported that grenades exploded in its office and women’s center on Sunday night and expressed “extreme concern” for the safety of its local staff. It said the group would restart programs “as soon as it is deemed safe for our staff to return to work.” Militants also struck the Dhale office of Oxfam, one of Britain’s largest charities. “Aid workers should not be a target,” said Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s director in Yemen. Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has been convulsed by civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country’s north, driving out the internationally-recognized government. Months later, a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight the Iran-backed Houthis and restore the government. In the country’s north, the Houthi-run health ministry declared Tuesday that a bout of fast-spreading swine flu had killed 94 people in October alone. Thousands of reported cases have overwhelmed health care facilities already crippled by constant violence, said Mohammed al-Mansour, a senior Houthi health official, warning the death toll would likely rise. A new outbreak of dengue fever has also swept across the country, killing 68 people, including 16 children under five so far this month, he added. The painful disease has re-emerged due to the deterioration of Yemen’s health and sanitation systems. Fighting in Yemen has killed over 100,000 people and set off the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the country to the brink of famine. ___ DeBre reported from Cairo.",
            "output": [
                "Aid groups halt work in south Yemen after targeted bombings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01c02c47cdf642ed9a7b6385f0e53ad3",
            "input": "The outbreak initially took hold in eastern France, where hospitals have become overwhelmed, and has been spreading west. Doctors in the greater Paris region have said their intensive care units will be full by the end of the weekend. “We are fighting a battle that will take time,” Philippe said at a news conference. “The first two weeks of April will be harder than the two we have just lived through.”  To free up intensive care beds in worst-hit areas, the army and emergency workers were this weekend stepping up the transfer of patients to less-affected regions, using a military helicopter and a specially adapted train. By Saturday, the coronavirus had claimed 2,314 lives in France, with more than 37,575 confirmed cases, according to official figures. The government tally only accounts for those dying in hospital but authorities say they will be able to compile data on deaths in retirement homes from next week, which is likely to result in a marked increase in registered fatalities. In southern France, the Occitanie health authority reported 11 deaths in a nursing home near Montpellier. Dozens more elderly people are known to have died in separate cases. Health Minister Olivier Veran said he would be instructing care homes to isolate every single elderly resident in an effort to curb the virus among the most vulnerable. “We need to go further to protect the vulnerable in nursing homes,” Veran said. As the number of cases balloons and hospitals struggle, doctors, carers and police have complained of an acute shortage of protective gear. Veran said the government had ordered more than 1 billion face masks, most from China, to build up supplies, with the country using some 40 million every week during the crisis. Hospitals have scrambled to add intensive car beds and canceled non-essential operations. There were now 10,000 intensive care beds nationwide, double the capacity when the outbreak began, and another 4,500 were targeted, Veran said. But doctors warned beds alone were insufficient. “We lack manpower,” Djillali Annane, head of intensive care at the Raymond Poincare hospital on the edge of Paris, told BFM TV. Medical students are being drafted in to help ease the staffing crunch. A decision would be taken in a week on a further extension of an unprecedented lockdown beyond April 15, the prime minister said. People in France can only leave their homes to buy groceries, go to work if essential or seek medical care. “We will only be able to see the first signs of what impact the lockdown has had toward the end of next week,” Arnaud Fontanet of the Institut Pasteur told the same news conference.",
            "output": [
                "Toughest weeks ahead in coronavirus fight, warns French PM."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9bd9ae1e45fb4aeb82d2957247a78dbd",
            "input": "\"Months into the coronavirus pandemic, much remains unknown about the virus’ origins, transmission and longevity. But the need for more testing is a point of near unanimous agreement among health officials, scientists and members of both political parties. It’s the pathway to better understanding how far the disease has spread, how common severe cases are and how best to address it. So is the president pushing to limit testing? A new attack ad from Priorities USA targeting Wisconsin and other battleground states makes that claim with a series of quotes from President Donald Trump. Over the mandatory ominous music, the ad plays four Trump quotes asserting testing is making America look bad, so we should slow it down. Ads in this style have been known to pull quotes out of context or rearrange them chronologically to create a more compelling narrative. That didn’t happen here. America has the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the world — with 2.3 million as of June 24, 2020 — and has also done the most testing in the world, in terms of raw numbers. Across the nation we are conducting about 500,000 tests per day now, double where we were in early May, according to covidtracking.com. That said, many countries have done more testing on a per-capita basis, as detailed by Johns Hopkins University. Throughout the pandemic the U.S. has averaged about 56 tests per day per 100,000 people. Germany, Canada, Spain and Australia have all tested at a higher rate, and Russia and Qatar are among a handful of countries that have topped 100 daily tests per 100,000 people. Trump has boasted of the volume of testing in the past, saying America’s testing is the best in the world and that the high number of confirmed cases is a \"\"badge of honor.\"\" But since May, the president has also increasingly pushed back against testing, calling it \"\"overrated\"\" and noting the bad optics associated with the higher case counts. He took that line of reasoning a step farther in his latest comments, as detailed in the ad. Here are the four quotes in context. Trump said this May 6, 2020, during a meeting with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. The quote \"\"The media likes to say we have the most cases, but we do, by far, the most testing. If we did very little testing, we wouldn’t have the most cases. So, in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad.\"\" The context Reynolds — a Republican — responded to Trump by highlighting the importance of testing: \"\"That really provides us the data we need to understand the virus activity better.\"\" Trump, meanwhile, has made numerous similar comments, including a June 19, 2020, Wall Street Journal interview where he called testing \"\"overrated\"\" and said \"\"in many ways, it makes us look bad.\"\" Trump said this May 14, 2020, during an appearance in Pennsylvania. The quote \"\"Don’t forget, we have more cases than anyone in the world, but why? Because we do more testing. When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.\"\" The context Trump asserts there would be fewer cases if there were less testing. Of course, less testing would simply mean officials are aware of less cases, or there would be fewer identified cases — it wouldn’t mean fewer cases exist. But this line of thinking is consistent with other comments from the president, including a May 15, 2020, event where Trump said, \"\"If we didn't do any testing, we would have very few cases,\"\" and \"\"Maybe it (testing) is overrated.\"\" These statements, used separately in the ad, are both from a June 20, 2020, rally in Oklahoma. The quote \"\"You know, testing is a double-edged sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else. German’s done a lot. South Korea’s done a lot. They called me, they said the job you’re doing (trails off). Here’s the bad part. When you’re testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’\"\" (Note: The U.S. has conducted more tests than any other country in terms of raw numbers, but the \"\"20 million … more than anybody else\"\" is wrong. Russia has conducted more than 17 million tests, according to tallies from Our World in Data) The context Various White House officials claimed Trump was speaking in \"\"jest\"\", was \"\"obviously kidding\"\" or was speaking \"\"tongue in cheek\"\" about slowing down testing. Trump himself has responded to this assertion multiple ways. On June 23, 2020, he was asked specifically if he was kidding about slowing down testing. He responded, \"\"I don’t kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear,\"\" then went on to talk about America having \"\"the greatest testing program anywhere.\"\" But in an interview that day with FOX News, Trump responded to a question  — \"\"But you don’t mean, do you mean slow down testing?\"\" —  by backing away from the statement and reiterating the idea that the U.S. would look better if it tested less. \"\"No I don’t mean slow down, but if we did slow down … let’s say instead of 25 million tests we did 5 million tests, we’d be very low in cases right now, and everyone would say, ‘Isn’t that wonderful,’\"\" Trump told \"\"Fox & Friends.\"\" Dr. Anthony Fauci — part of the national coronavirus task force — said that day in testimony before Congress the federal government is trying to expand coronavirus testing, not slow it down. Fauci told the House Energy and Commerce Committee, \"\"None of us have ever been told to slow down on testing.\"\" An attack ad targeting various battleground states quotes Trump as saying testing makes the U.S. look bad, \"\"so I said to my people slow the testing down.\"\" Video recordings show he did indeed say these lines, and in the order presented. And the overall impression created by the ad is consistent with Trump’s messaging over the preceding month and a half. As health officials and politicians alike have pushed for more testing, Trump has expressed increasing doubts as to its importance, progressing from calling it \"\"overrated\"\" to calling for the slow down. Though White House officials defended that as a joke, Trump at one point contradicted that, while at another saying he didn’t mean it.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Priorities USA Action Says President Trump said coronavirus testing makes the U.S. look bad, \"\"so I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down.’\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33d2419e0c244672beb45fc8f952cb05",
            "input": "The University Hospital in the second-largest Czech city of Brno said Tuesday the 2.1-kilogram (4.6-pound) baby was born by cesarean section when the mother was 34 weeks pregnant. The hospital statement did not provide details on the baby’s health, but Czech public television said the girl — born earlier this month — is now with her father. The 27-year-old mother was declared brain-dead in early June after suffering a brain hemorrhage a few weeks into her pregnancy. At the time, the hospital said doctors would keep the mother alive on mechanical support until the baby was developed enough to be delivered.",
            "output": [
                "Czech hospital says baby girl born to brain-dead mother."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4af4b55f64b04ea48c19f2b4d49774aa",
            "input": "This story does a good job of providing the cost of the XTag respiratory panel, $300-400, and cost-related information. The test is relatively expensive but is also covered by insurance. The story presents several benefits of the xTag test. It is 1) more sensitive and more comprehensive than currently available tests and diagnostic procedures, 2) it can address the problem of under-diagnosis of the flu in vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly, 3) it can inform treatment decisions by potentially reducing the inappropriate use of antibiotics while indicating when they might be beneficial. An important caveat is that it is not known whether diagnosing these viruses improves outcomes, i.e. decreased use of antibiotics, fewer hospitalizations, fewer deaths. The two main drawbacks of the xTag test, that it is expensive and can take up to a day or two to get the results, are presented. Expense is an important issue given the volume of acute febrile illnesses in children, particularly if this test were given routinely in an outpatient setting. In addition, if the processing time at the specific location is is too long, the test may not have any practical benefit in the treatment decision window. This article provides comprehensive information in an easily understandable way. For example, it provides the context/relevance of the xTag test by summarizing results published in a prestigious medical journal, describing how the test is administered to a patient and the laboratory process used to analyze the sample. It also explains the key pieces of a diagnostic test, sensitivity and specificity. This article is topical because the winter flu season is arriving. However, clarification of the type of patient and situation where this test would be most beneficial was missing. This test would be beneficial for children seen in emergency rooms or hospitalized with acute respiratory illnesses, where making the correct diagnosis as rapidly as possible is essential. The test is generally not needed for most children in the primary care setting who present with symptoms of a short-term flu. In these cases, good physician judgement will determine whether an acute illness is viral in most instances, precluding the need for antibiotics. Although the example of influenza treatment (as a ‘missed opportunity’) was given, this treatment would only decrease symptoms by 1-2 days, which would not be significant for most healthy children. This story draws information from a variety of credible sources, including the FDA, a researcher who published results indicating that the flu is under-diagnosed in children, and an independent emergency room physician. Information from the manufacturer is also given. This article covers all of the bases on treatment diagnosis and treatment option. The flu can be diagnosed based upon clinical observations of signs and symptoms or by other available flu tests. Treatment options, flu medicine, antibiotics or no treatment, are clearly indicated. This story provides good information about availability. The Xtag test is mainly used in hospitals and emergency rooms but can also be done in the primary care setting. Other important information on variability of the length of time needed to process the test, from hours to 1-2 days, was also provided. The xTag test is novel and the article handles this nicely. It is the only FDA approved product that can detect multiple viral strains that can cause acute respiratory diseases. Because an independent source was quoted, it appears the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "A single test to detect many winter ailments"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d536202515924bb7b3ad419f0b960e7f",
            "input": "The event, held at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, drew much of New York’s filmmaking elite and many of the faces likely to be seen throughout the coming season, including actors Constance Wu (“Hustlers”), Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”) and Meg Ryan; producers Christine Vachon (“Dark Waters”) and Jane Rosenthal (“The Irishman”); documentarians Barbara Kopple and Laura Poitras; and “Honey Boy” director Alma Har’el. Gerwig, actor Laura Dern and producer Amy Pascal _ all collaborators on “Little Women” _discussed the hardships and joys of getting a female-led production made in an industry that has made improvements in gender parity but still lags woefully behind in equality. Pascal, the former Sony Pictures chief, noted that today there are just as many women running studios (one, Universal’s Donna Langley) as there were when she took over Sony two decades ago. “Nothing’s ever any different,” said Pascal. “So how do you get a movie made like this? Everybody says no. You ask everyone else again and they say no. Then you just beg someone and make it impossible for them to say no because you have a script that is so spectacular and is so accessible and is so different and modern, and a director who just made the most amazing first film.” Gerwig’s acclaimed first solo writing-directing effort, 2017’s “Lady Bird,” ultimately led to her becoming just the fifth woman ever nominated for best director at the Academy Awards. But none of that had happened when Gerwig first met with Pascal on “Little Women.” “Greta came to us and said ’I’m the only one who can do this,” recalled Pascal. “She said, ‘It’s all about money and women and freedom.’ That’s it.’ “I just imagine when I go meet with people who have the power to get things done, I say, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? They say no,’” said Gerwig. “So I tell them I’m the best.” Wednesday’s event, part of a women’s initiative by the academy begun last year, was a moment, amid the sparkling heights of the Rainbow Room, for encouragement, inspiration and female solidarity. “I look around and I think: We are unstoppable,” said Dawn Hudson, chief executive of the academy. Since 2015, the academy has grown its female membership from 25% to 32%. Earlier this year, its new class of inductees reached gender parity for the first time. In 10 of the 17 branches _ including directing, writing and producing _ more women were invited than men. But studies have also shown the industry isn’t changing so much. Last year, just 8% of the top 250 films at the domestic box office were directed by women, a decrease of 3% from the year before, and below even the levels of 1998. To help urge on a new generation of filmmakers, the academy has been giving fellowships to young women aspiring to Hollywood. On Wednesday, Hudson awarded the fourth such fellowship, which includes a $35,000 grant, to Eliana Pipes, a Columbia University graduate currently studying theater at Boston University. In London on Friday, she will hand out a fifth fellowship. Researching “Little Women,” Gerwig said, made her realize that the difficulties of being a woman getting a film made today aren’t so different than those Louisa May Alcott faced publishing her novel in 19th century New England. “What was astonishing to me was how parallel Louisa May Alcott’s experience was to the experience of trying to get a film about women off the ground today. Her publisher didn’t know that it was any good. And she didn’t really think it was any good,” said Gerwig. “It took other women saying they were interested in it, and I think that happens today in all offices.” Dern was still buzzing from seeing “Little Women” (to be released Dec. 25) just the day before. She said the production was plainly different than most. “As we’re longing for change in all these areas, to show up on set, to show up in rehearsals and see that the space you created was not only incredibly embracing and collaborative and safe, but I saw women everywhere,” said Dern, who plays Marmee March. “I saw the choices you were making each day to lift up and support other female artists, collaborators, crew.” Gerwig said those cast and crew decisions weren’t based on anything but talent. “Female filmmakers, female storytellers, female collaborators, you hire them because they’re the best ones,” said Gerwig. “That’s why you hire them.” The male perspective of the industry, they collectively agreed, has given rise to some absurd myths about women, among them the “difficult” actress, the “emotional” director or “infighting”-prone females. “Have you ever been on a movie set with a bunch of men? They’re fighting all the time,” said Gerwig to laughter and applause. “But when women display any emotion at anything at all, they’re like, ‘She’s crazy.’ If women have an argument on the film set, it’s no different than men having an argument on a film set.” The Oscar-winning filmmaker and journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy concluded the afternoon with rousing remarks drawing on her hard-fought experiences in her native Pakistan. “I see every single day that young women are changing the way they see themselves,” said Obaid-Chinoy. “And film is empowering them to do that.” ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP",
            "output": [
                "Gerwig talks ‘Little Women’ for academy’s women initiative."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-424142edbd394c67833cfdcd98e2da76",
            "input": "“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” Fauci said in an interview with The Associated Press. Fauci’s comments come as President Donald Trump and others in the administration weigh how quickly businesses can reopen and Americans can get back to work weeks after the fast-spreading coronavirus  essentially halted the U.S. economy. Trump has floated the possibility of reopening some areas by May 1 and said he could announce recommendations as soon as this week. Fauci said a May 1 target is “a bit overly optimistic” for many areas of the country. Any easing off the strict social-distancing rules in place in much of the country would have to occur on a “rolling” basis, not all at once, he said, reflecting the ways COVID-19 struck different parts of the country at different times. Among Fauci’s top concerns: that there will be new outbreaks in locations where social distancing has eased, but public health officials don’t yet have the capabilities to rapidly test for the virus, isolate any new cases and track down everyone that an infected person came into contact with. “I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going count,” Fauci told the AP. Key is “getting people out of circulation if they get infected, because once you start getting clusters, then you’re really in trouble,” he added. At the same time Fauci is directing critical government research, he’s also one of the administration’s leading spokespeople on the virus, spending hours each week by Trump’s side during his lengthy, daily White House briefings. Fauci said his public role is important but conceded that the duration of those briefings — Monday’s  ran for nearly two-and-a-half hours — was “really draining” and that doesn’t even count preparation and waiting for it to start. “If I had been able to just make a few comments and then go to work, that would have really been much better,” he said. “It isn’t the idea of being there and answering questions, which I really think is important for the American public. It’s the amount of time.” Much of Fauci’s time outside of the White House briefing room is focused on analyzing progress on blood tests that aim to tell who was exposed to the coronavirus -- whether they knew they were sick or not -- by spotting antibodies their immune system formed to fight back. Those tests will be crucial in determining when and how people can go back to work. The problem: Most of the tests have not yet been proven to work well, Fauci cautioned. He noted that some countries bought millions of antibody tests only to learn they didn’t work. Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, said his staff is working with the Food and Drug Administration to validate those tests. That means proving what level of antibodies it takes to really be immune; if particular types of antibodies are key rather than an overall level; and how long that protection lasts. “We’re going to have to find out the answer to all of those questions,” Fauci stressed. “I know people are anxious to say, ‘Well, we’ll give you a passport that says you’re antibody-positive, you can go to work and you’re protected.’ The worst possibility that would happen is if we’re actually wrong about that” and those people get infected. Another complication is that scientists still don’t have a solid understanding of how often people who show either no obvious symptoms or very few symptoms are spreading the virus. It’s “purely a guesstimate” but no less than 25% and no more than half of overall cases may be from the relatively asymptomatic, he said. Looking ahead, Fauci said a second wave of infection isn’t inevitable. But he added: “if you mean it goes way down and then come September, October, November, we have another peak, I have to say I would not be surprised. I would hope that if and when that occurs, that we jump all over it in a much, much more effective way than we have in these past few months.”",
            "output": [
                "Fauci: ‘We’re not there yet’ on key steps to reopen economy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d6e843859a542819e44101271b9f72c",
            "input": "Since 2011, Pugh received $500,000 selling her illustrated books to the University of Maryland Medical System, a $4 billion hospital network that’s one of the largest private employers in the state. Since the arrangement was exposed by The Baltimore Sun earlier this month, she’s stepped down from the volunteer board and returned her most recent payment of $100,000 for the hard-to-find books. She also defended her actions and portrayed press inquiries as a “witch hunt.” A Democrat who became mayor in 2016 and represented some of Baltimore’s poorest areas in the state’s Senate before that, Pugh is the public face of the still-unfolding debacle. But the Baltimore mayor — who served on the UMMS board since 2001 and once sat on a state Senate committee that funded the major health network — is hardly the only influential Marylander connected to the board or the medical system facing questions. One-third of the UMMS board members received compensation through the medical system’s arrangements with their businesses, a revelation that Gov. Larry Hogan has called “appalling.” Two other members of the board also resigned, and four others went on voluntary leave while the system reviews governance practices. The president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System has recently been sent on a temporary leave of absence. Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said Tuesday that an independent audit is urgent to understand how many “self-dealing” arrangements there have been over the years. In Pugh’s case, there needs to be a thorough examination of whether a product was actually delivered, he said. “I describe it as juvenile, this arrangement where she was providing or not providing books — no receipts, no contracts, no procurement. It was simply a $500,000 gift to her from the University of Maryland Medical System,” Franchot asserted in a phone interview. The slim “Healthy Holly” books, sharing tips on nutrition and exercise, were meant to be distributed to schools and daycares. However, the Sun has reported that 50,000 copies are unaccounted for, leading to widespread speculation that a good chunk were never printed in the first place. In recent days, fewer than 9,000 copies were tracked down collecting dust in a warehouse of Baltimore’s school district, which has described Pugh’s children’s books as “unsolicited” donations. The city library system, daycare programs and booksellers can’t find copies. “Healthy Holly: Exercising is Fun” is unavailable on Amazon, where the only reviews for the book are entries of people savaging Pugh’s ties with UMMS. In a written statement, Pugh has defended her lucrative book deal with UMMS, saying it started as a passion project. “I recall passing the time by thumbing through the first book before an UMMS meeting. One my colleagues loved it and thought it would help advance children’s health,” she said in a recent statement. Pugh has since cancelled all public appearances and her spokespeople say she was hospitalized over the weekend with pneumonia. They say she will address the matter more once her health improves. Criticism of UMMS and of Pugh — who faces a 2020 Democratic primary for re-election in a city dominated by a single party’s political machine — has been intense. The Washington Post’s editorial board asserted the UMMS had a “get-rich-quick program” for many of its board members, with Pugh’s involvement painted as an egregious case of “political sleaze.” Meanwhile, UMMS and Pugh have not provided clarity on the whereabouts of the 100,000 copies of the “Healthy Holly” series books or definitive proof they were published and distributed. A spokeswoman for the university-based health network says their communications team was “working hard on all of the inquiries.” The medical system had classified the “Healthy Holly” purchases as grants in federal filings. Some critics say the various statements made by Pugh and others regarding the arrangements with UMMS board members are absurd on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to begin. “Whatever Pugh does, she is going to be operating under a very, very big cloud for a long time,” said Donald Norris, professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “This is an unethical lapse of humongous proportions — $500,000 worth.” ___ Follow McFadden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmcfadd",
            "output": [
                "Baltimore mayor’s $500K book deal draws intense criticism."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d6c03e7b0f0404faee1ef5466fb954e",
            "input": "\"Editor’s note, July 8, 2016: We originally published this fact check on June 13 and rated the statement False. After that, experts pointed out we left out a step in our calculation of Harris County’s incarceration rate. We have updated our story and the rating has changed. You may read an archived version of the original article here. Equal Justice Under Law, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against Harris County’s bail system alleging that hundreds of offenders are jailed for minor offenses every day because they cannot afford to make bail. The group says that since 2015, it has filed 10 class action challenges to money bail systems in eight states. The May 2016 suit led state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to issue a press release on May 19, 2016, sharing his support of the legal action, saying, \"\"Harris County’s overreliance on the inefficient and ineffective use of mass incarceration as a means of dealing with low-level and nonviolent offenses continues to result in some of the highest jailing and incarceration rates in the U.S. and the world.\"\" We’re familiar with incarceration rates. In August 2015, PolitiFact Virginia found  a claim the U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate -- meaning the greatest share of the population behind bars. In March 2016, we rated  a claim that Texas has a higher incarceration rate than Russia or Iran. So, does Harris County, the third most populous in the nation, also have one of the highest incarceration rates in the country and world? The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics defines an incarceration rate as the number of inmates per 100,000 residents held in state or federal prisons or local jails. To our request for the senator’s factual backup, Ellis aide David Edmonson emailed a spreadsheet listing incarceration rates for the five most populous counties in the state, based on data from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Harris County had a rate of 234 inmates per 100,000, while the four less-populous counties had rates between 152 and 233 people per 100,000. Edmonson also included a link to a Washington Post fact-check stating the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and a link to the website of The Sentencing Project listing Texas as having the seventh highest incarceration rate in the country. Harris County, he said, has the highest prison and state jail rate of the five largest counties in the state, as determined by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. \"\"In other words,\"\" Edmonson wrote, \"\"Harris County sends the most people to prison and state jail -- in the state with the seventh-highest incarceration -- in the country with the highest incarceration rate.\"\" Checking with TDCJ With Edmonson’s reply in our pocket, we looked to verify figures on our own. First, we checked with TDCJ to see how Harris County’s incarceration rate compares nationally and with other counties in Texas, focusing on the agency’s 2014 annual statistical report tallying newly incarcerated people (receives) and each facility’s on-hand population, which provides a closer look at the incarcerated population on Aug. 31, 2014, all by county of conviction. The data reflect populations in state prisons, state jails and substance abuse felony punishment facilities. By phone, we asked Jason Clark, the director of TDCJ, what the different charts represented in the agency’s report, and which would be most accurate for reflecting each county’s incarcerated population in state facilities. Clark described the on-hand population as the best overall measure, as \"\"new receives,\"\" only show the newly admitted population. He added one caveat — the counties listed show where a person was convicted, not necessarily where that person lived before or where that person is being detained. So, according to TDCJ, Harris County’s incarceration rate in state facilities in 2014, the most recent year published, was 599 inmates per 100,000 residents, or 26,647 inmates. By rate alone, that ranked Harris County 134th out of Texas’ 254 counties. However, there are many other prisoners held in local jailhouses. So we turned to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which regulates county jails and municipal lockups. The commission’s monthly incarceration rate report reflects the average daily population of county jail inmates, based on a 12-month average of one-day snapshots, taken the first day of each month. According to the commission’s September 2014 report, Harris County in 2014 had a rate of 196.6 inmates per 100,000 residents, or 8,731 inmates in county and municipal lockups. Looking strictly at incarceration rates, regardless of the relative population of different counties, Harris County placed 169th in the state. By adding figures from both sources of data, we get a fuller picture of the number of people behind bars in Harris County, regardless of whether they are in a county jail or state prison. That gives Harris County a 2014 incarceration rate of 796 inmates per 100,000 residents, or 35,378 people who were in county jail, state jail, prison or substance abuse facilities. If we include federal prison inmates, the overall rate increases to 816 per 100,000 residents, or 36,234 people. U.S., world incarceration rates For the same year, the total United States’ incarceration rate was 716 per 100,000, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that advocates against what it calls mass criminalization policies. Worldwide, the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, a London-based nonprofit that conducts research on crime and criminal justice issues, calculated an incarceration rate of 144 per 100,000, based on United Nations data. That is, Harris County had a total incarceration rate exceeding both the world and U.S. rates. There are some Texas-centric wrinkles, however. Out of the five most populous Texas counties, Harris County’s rate came in second place for 2014. Dallas County had an overall incarceration rate of 913 inmates per 100,000, or 23,006 inmates. And far less populous counties had even higher rates. Notably, Kenedy County in South Texas ranked first in the state with an overall rate of 5,000 people per 100,000 residents, though the county accounted for a grand total of 20 inmates. At the time, Kenedy County was home to 400 residents; Harris County’s population was 4.4 million. Experts comment For guidance, we checked with two independent criminal justice experts. Peter Wagner directs the Prison Policy Initiative, which studies incarceration rates closely and often is called upon to explain such figures. Michele Dietch, a senior lecturer in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, has worked on criminal justice issues since the late 1980s. Wagner said the initiative’s global report, which folds in U.S. states with other countries to make state-to-country incarceration rate comparisons, leaves out countries with populations of less than 500,000. Smaller countries could prove distracting in discussing how the United States differs from its peers, he said. According to the report, Texas had a 2014 incarceration rate of 1,063 per 100,000, which was the fifth highest in the world. Louisiana ranked No. 1 internationally; its rate was 1,341 inmates per 100,000 residents. Louisiana’s population of 4.6 million, according to 2015 Census figures, is comparable to Harris County’s population of 4.5 million for the same time period. The report includes federal prison populations in state incarceration rate calculations, since \"\"state politics certainly influence whether and where federal prisons are built.\"\" Mississippi, Oklahoma and Georgia also topped Texas, with rates ranging from 1,074 to 1,155 inmates per 100,000 residents. Among countries, the U.S. had the highest rate, 716 prisoners per 100,000 residents. Since we began our research, the PPI came out with a new 2016 global incarceration rate report. While rates have changed (Texas went from a rate of 1,063 inmates per 100,000 to 890), rankings have more or less remained the same. Texas ranks eighth in the world, Louisiana is now second after Washington, D.C. and the United States is still the first country to appear on the list with a rate of 693 per 100,000. Dietch told us by phone that she sees value in both per capita rates and raw counts. Per capita rates, she said, are the best way to make comparisons because they adjust for what can be vast differences in population. \"\"Per capita rates equalize comparisons across jurisdictions of different sizes,\"\" she wrote in a follow-up email. \"\"Otherwise, big jurisdictions will always look worse in terms of absolute numbers.\"\" But, she said, there’s value in looking at absolute numbers, since jurisdictions contributing the largest numbers of inmates will have \"\"by far the biggest impact on the system.\"\" That is, rural Kenedy County may have the state’s highest incarceration rate and may be sending a higher share of its residents into the criminal justice system, Dietch said, yet its share of all state prisoners remains negligible. \"\"Those absolute numbers — not the rates — are one of the key drivers of the size of the incarcerated population,\"\" she said via email. \"\"And none of this even begins to take into account issues such as the length of sentences, another key driver of incarceration trends in Texas.\"\" \"\"You need to look at both to understand,\"\" she said. She explained one of the main reasons a smaller county may have a higher incarceration rate lies in the lack of local sentencing alternatives including support programs, substance abuse treatment or electronic monitoring. People end up in prison or jail, Dietch said, because there isn’t much else as an alternative. In contrast, she said, urban communities like Harris County have more options to keep people out of jail and prison, she said. Our ruling Ellis said Harris County has some of the highest jailing and incarceration rates in the U.S. and the world. Harris County's rate -- calculated as the number of inmates per 100,000 residents -- exceeds the rates for the United States and world though we found jurisdictions including Dallas County with higher rates. To be fair, though, Ellis didn’t say Harris County’s rate is the highest, only that it’s among the highest. – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.",
            "output": [
                "\"Harris County, Texas has \"\"some of the highest jailing and incarceration rates in the U.S. and the world.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac18ff2fe062447ab8b4469fbbd0c3f2",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of PSA testing or the costs of prostate cancer treatment. Overtesting that leads to overtreatment has significant cost implications and should be part of the story. The story provides percentages of the cases that are thought to be overdiagnosis, that is cancers that were found by PSA testing that would never have gone on to be detected or cause a problem if they had not been found by screening. The story mentions several harms of PSA testing, including false positive results and overdiagnosis, both of which could lead to unnecessary treatments associated with significant side effects. The story adequately describes the current study and the uncertainty about the use of PSA testing. The story accurately describes the seriousness and prevalence of prostate cancer, highlighting that not all prostate cancers need to be treated, and is careful to explain what a high PSA test means. The story quotes more than one expert who is not associated with the current study. The story discusses the benefits and risks related to undergoing a PSA test–implying that no testing is an option and that this would decrease over-diagnosis. The story could have described more of the tradeoffs involved in this choice. Clearly PSA testing is available. Clearly PSA testing is not a new idea. Because the story quotes several sources, it’s safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "More evidence prostate tests overdiagnose cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f83a2981304e46639342fe8771335f5e",
            "input": "Mount Carmel Health System said Thursday it has lifted water restrictions after installing new filters on the patient floors at Mount Carmel Grove City. More than a dozen people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease since April 29, the day after the hospital opened. One patient died last Sunday. Mount Carmel says it’s continuing to search for a source of the bacteria while also looking at adding ways to prevent another outbreak. Hospital officials say the water supply had been disinfected. But they expect more people will be diagnosed with the severe form of pneumonia because the incubation can last two weeks.",
            "output": [
                "Hospital’s water now OK to use after Legionnaires’ outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f272d89bbbe145469c5356dd30255159",
            "input": "Saying he’s not dwelling on the past, Okposo was eager to rejoin the Sabres after skating with numerous teammates for practice a little more than a week before the team opens training camp. Though he’s has been skating for much of the summer, Tuesday marked his first time on the ice in Buffalo since being hospitalized late last season. “It was obviously a tough situation, a tough road,” Okposo said. “I’m just happy to be back and happy to be able to play again, and play at a high level.” He acknowledged questioning if he would ever get better before he started feeling “clear” in May. “It was definitely a scary thing,” Okposo said. “Your mind starts to question a lot of things.” In a letter posted on the Sabres website in July, Okposo wrote he began losing weight and had difficulty sleeping after what he described as “a routine hit” in practice. He played one game before the symptoms worsened. Okposo then spent nearly a week in Buffalo General Hospital’s Neuro Surgical ICU to be stabilized in April. The 29-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, had 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points in 65 games during his first season with Buffalo. Okposo signed a $42 million, seven-year contract with the Sabres in free agency last year. ___ For more AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey",
            "output": [
                "Sabres’ Okposo eager to look forward now that he’s healthy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b2a7bc81b634e449ea4a92c3783a172",
            "input": "The story notes that the average cost of weight loss surgery is about $30,000. It would have been helpful to include a comparison of the different procedures discussed in the story, but this is good enough. A little bit better job with the numbers than the LA Times. The same weight loss data are provided in absolute terms, but this story also attaches a figure to the number of patients whose diabetes resolved after bypass compared with the band procedure. The LA Times called the results here “far better” for gastric bypass, but HealthDay notes that improvement or resolutions was seen in three-fourths of bypass patients and half of band patients — a more precise characterization. Unlike the LA Times, this story attached a number to the risk of complications observed during the study. It would have been interesting to see some discussion of the seriousness of these problems, as some data suggest that short-term complications with gastric bypass are more grave than those with the band, while longer-term complications with the band may be more frequent and serious. This story mentioned that there were no deaths in either group in the bypass vs. band study, but as with the competing coverage, it didn’t explain that there are well established differences in mortality risk associated with each procedure. We’ll award a passing grade, but the story could have done better here. There were some differences between this story and the competing LA Times piece on this criterion. Notably, this story injected some caution into the discussion in the second paragraph, where it noted that bypass outcomes are better with more experienced surgeons like the ones who conducted the study comparing bypass to the gastric band. Patients with different surgeons at a different institution might not fare as well with bypass as the patients in this study. It also included comments from an expert who noted that the band may be a better choice for certain patients, such as those with a lower BMI or who don’t have related medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Although it included a closing caveat about the relatively short-term follow-up of these patients, which is an important limitation to point out, it could have done a bit better job of explaining why this is important. Previous studies suggest that some band patients continue to lose weight for years and may approach the weight loss seen with bypass patients, whereas bypass patients may gain back some of the weight they lose initially. There may also be differences in the risk of very long-term complications (e.g. neurological disorders resulting from nutritional deficiencies after 5-10 years in bypass patients, versus failure of the device and need for reoperation with the band). No disease-mongering here. The story quotes an independent expert source and weaves his comments into the coverage nicely. Remarks from a second source would have been even better. As with the LA Times, there was no mention of the effectiveness of diet or lifestyle interventions for weight loss. Even a line would have helped. This story did not fully explain who might be a candidate for these procedures – which is a matter of availability. A brief explanation of the criteria for weight loss surgery would have dispelled any confusion. The story didn’t mention that many other studies have examined these procedures or establish what, if anything, is novel about these new findings. It should have. The reporter seems to have contacted two expert sources, although only one is quoted directly. There’s no evidence that anything was taken directly from a press release. A close call, but we’re fairly confident in the level of independent reporting done here, so we’ll award a satisfactory.",
            "output": [
                "Gastric Bypass Best for Weight Loss, Study Finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e6fc491fba04636ba8ebedd25a6aa17",
            "input": "Exposure to essential oils can be fatal for cats and small animals. But there’s not much scientific evidence about how risky essential oils are for cats, and what levels are safe. First, we’ll take a look at what essential oils are. They’re high concentrations of oils that occur naturally in plants. When mixed with solvents, essential oils can be diluted and defused throughout a room. They’re used for aromatherapy and for medicinal purposes. Warnings that essential oils are harmful to cats have been circulating for years. And for good reason. One version that we found on social media warns that “all citrus” varieties of essential oils are toxic to cats. Among those listed is tea tree essential oil. Studies indicate that the warning is valid, but only when cats are exposed to the oils in large doses. The Science Behind Claims That Essential Oils Are Harmful to Cats The Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory published a study in 1998 that described how three purebred cats were poisoned by Australian tea tree oil. The cats’ owner applied a topical ointment containing the oil directly to the cats to treat fleas. All three became sick within hours. Ultimately, two of the cats survived and one died. Tea tree oil is toxic to cats because of how they metabolize terpenes, the organic compounds that give essential oils their scents. And other essential oils, like eucalyptus oil, are very similar in composition . They can be toxic to cats for the same reason. Most cases of poisoning result from misuse (like applying the oil directly to the cat’s fur). But cats can also be especially susceptible to high concentrations of defused tea tree essential oil because of cats’ grooming habits, the study found: The terpenes in tea tree oil are rapidly absorbed through the skin and digestive tract because of their highly lipophilic nature. Toxicity from dermal exposure has not been produced in rabbits but may be possible. Cats may be more susceptible to tea tree oil toxicosis after topical application than are other species because of their grooming behavior. In this case, the cats had been shaved, so that tea tree oil was applied directly to the skin, enhancing dermal absorption. The flea bite lesions may have also increased dermal absorption somewhat. Further, grooming efficiency was probably augmented due to shaving, allowing cats to ingest a large amount of the oil applied To summarize essential oils like tea tree oil can be toxic to cats if they lick it from their fur, or even if it’s absorbed through their skin. Some argue that highly defused, high-quality essential oil in a well-ventilated room is perfectly safe for pets. However, we weren’t able to find any studies indicating that that’s true, or at what levels essential oils are safe for cats. For those reasons, we’re calling claims that some essential oils are toxic for cats “true.” Comments",
            "output": [
                " Essential oils can kill cats and mall animals.  Social media posts warn those with cats to avoid certain essential oils. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d2dd832c70640a89538e8479c90d1aa",
            "input": "A nurse extracts a vaccine in a file photo. Federal health officials said on Thursday the government has not conceded that vaccines cause autism even after a Georgia girl won federal compensation in a case arguing a vaccine led to her brain damage. REUTERS/Phil Klein  Hannah Poling, 9, had a rare mitochondrial disorder and a  federal court ruling said regular childhood vaccinations may  have contributed to some of her autism-like symptoms. She was  awarded compensation under the National Vaccine Injury  Compensation Program in a case that became public this week. Some activists who argue vaccines can trigger autism jumped  on the case as vindication of their cause. But Dr. Julie  Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control  and Prevention, denied this. “Let me be very clear that (the) government has made  absolutely no statement about indicating that vaccines are a  cause of autism,” Gerberding told reporters in a telephone  briefing. “That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of  the case, and a complete mischaracterization of any of the  science that we have at our disposal today. So I think we need  to set the record straight on that.”    The vaccine injury program is a no-fault system that has a  $2.5 billion fund built up from a 75-cent-per-dose tax on  vaccines. It was set up to ensure companies would not be afraid  to make vaccines, and to provide injured children an easier way  to seek compensation. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by parents who argue  their children have autism caused by vaccines. The Institute of Medicine, an independent organization set  up to inform U.S. policy, has found there is no evidence that  vaccines can cause autism. Many recent studies have come to the  same conclusion. Some autism advocacy groups argue that a mercury-containing  preservative in vaccines called thimerosal can cause autism. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain entered  the debate last week, saying there is “strong evidence” linking  autism to a thimerosal. Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the CDC’s National Center  on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said the  Poling case did not demonstrate any link between vaccines and  autism. “I think it’s also worth noting that most children with  autism do not seem to have a mitochondrial problem,” he told  the briefing. “So this association between mitochondrial disorders and  autism is actually probably relatively rare. But the  association between mitochondrial disorders and severe brain  damage and dysfunction is one that is not as rare and is  actually quite important.”    Trevathan said it is not clear whether a fever caused by a  vaccine might further stress a child with such a condition,  causing autism-like symptoms. Autism can have relatively mild symptoms or can severely  disable a child by interfering with speech and behavior. No one  knows what causes it. The CDC estimates that about one in every 150 children has  autism or a related disorder such as Asperger’s syndrome —  560,000 people up to age 21 in the United States. “Our message to parents is that immunization is  life-saving. There’s absolutely nothing changed in the adamant  recommendations that we are making to get children vaccinated,”  Gerberding said.",
            "output": [
                "Still no autism-vaccine link, say health officials."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56a3991190c84468ba983d71e9c8178e",
            "input": "Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former junta leader who heads a civilian government following March elections, is due to set out the policies for debate in the national assembly on Thursday. The policy document was released on Sunday. Developing the medical cannabis industry was a key demand of the Bhumjaithai party, one of the biggest parties in Prayuth’s 19-party coalition. “The study and technological development of marijuana, hemp, and other medicinal herbs should be sped up for the medical industry to create economic opportunity and income for the people,” the policy document said. Thailand, which had a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalized marijuana for medical use and research last year. Bhumjaithai party leader Anutin Charnvirakul, now a deputy prime minister and health minister, said his goal was to enable all Thais to grow marijuana to make money. Anutin told local media it was important to remove hemp with a high level of cannabidiol (CBD) from the list of banned drugs for cultivation and then to free up hospitals to prescribe drugs containing the chemical compound. Among other urgent government priorities were addressing drought, labor and economic problems. Also on the list was a study to amend a new constitution that critics say preserves the hold of the military indefinitely. This study had been a demand of another coalition partner, the Democrat Party. However, any constitutional changes would require the support of the Senate - which is entirely made up of appointees of the previous junta.",
            "output": [
                "Cannabis among top priorities for new Thai government."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21132cd901c048968c9f8dc66d4cbb5e",
            "input": "Washington’s governor banned large public events in three counties on Wednesday, a strategy guided by the work of Trevor Bedford and his colleagues, who have estimated there are currently 1,100 active cases in the state, most of them undiscovered by testing. Like a detective studying fingerprints, Bedford uses the genetic code the virus leaves behind. The dots he connects are mutations in the genetic alphabet of the virus, a 30,000-letter string that changes at the rate of one letter every 15 days. Those tiny mutations don’t change the virus’ effect on people, but they do allow scientists to draw conclusions about how it spreads from person to person. After a person gets tested for the virus with nasal and throat swabs, a small bit of the specimen can be used to rapidly sequence the virus’ genome. That work has been happening, not just in Seattle, but in other labs around the world. Scientists are sharing their results on a public platform where they’ve been sharing influenza genome data since 2008. This week, Bedford’s lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center worked with California researchers to find links between a cluster of cases in the Seattle area and the outbreak on the Grand Princess cruise ship in California. “They all are very similar genetically,” Bedford told The Associated Press. “It seems very possible” that virus from the Washington outbreak made it onto the Grand Princess. Dr. Charles Chiu at the University of California, San Francisco, agreed. He provided genome sequencing of seven samples from infected passengers who got off the Grand Princess this week. An eighth sample from an earlier Grand Princess cruise to Mexico had ties to Washington state, Chiu said, and that person likely seeded the outbreak among passengers on board as the ship left for Hawaii. “The simplest explanation,” Chiu said, is that the earlier Grand Princess passenger had been in Washington state and then seeded the cruise ship outbreak. There’s an alternative explanation, Chiu said. A cruise passenger or crew member was infected in another country, coincidentally by a virus with the same mutations as the Washington state cases. “Common sense tells you it more likely came from Washington,” Chiu said. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover within a few weeks. Based on genome sequencing of 18 Washington state cases, Bedford believes the state outbreak began with one person, perhaps the 35-year-old man who was the first known U.S. case. The coronavirus infection rate in the Seattle Flu Study, a project mapping seasonal flu, indicates there could be 1,100 active COVID-19 infections in the state, although because of limitations in the modeling that number could range from as low as 210 to as high as 2,800 active infections. Health authorities tried to trace all the people who had contact with the first U.S. case, a resident of Snohomish County, north of Seattle, who had visited Wuhan, the Chinese city that was the initial epicenter of the outbreak. He landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Jan. 15 and started feeling sick the next day. On Jan. 19, he visited a clinic in and was hospitalized on Jan. 20. “They did very aggressive contact tracing looking to identify anybody who had had contact with that initial case and sort of concentric circles outward,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. She called Bedford’s work “an interesting hypothesis,” but said the outbreak could have been caused by “a secondary seeding.” Kristian Andersen, a genetic epidemiologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, agreed that the virus was introduced to Washington state by one person and suggested that the active cases probably exceed 1,100. Neither of the conclusions Bedford described is a surprise, he said in an email. “The United States has completely failed to prepare for the pandemic — despite having adequate time — and we currently have one of the lowest capacity for COVID-19 testing,” he wrote. “This continues to be an enormous problem and it is highly likely that we are currently be missing the vast majority of cases occurring across the country.” “Unless our ability to detect cases is transformed within days and aggressive strategies for responses are put in place, within a couple of weeks, we are going to find ourselves in a situation that is very similar to the one currently unfolding in Italy,” Andersen wrote. ___ Associated Press Science Writer Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support  from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Scientist links 2 state outbreaks with genetic fingerprints."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0bd6e5d56ba34d03b6a6e057a4f38bc5",
            "input": "Coaches around the league are taking preventive measures to help deal with the grind and stresses of a long NBA season. That hasn’t always been the case. Now, the NBA Coaches Association provides guidance to its members on everything from diet and exercise to sleep and mental health. “Well, we’re trying. We all are trying, we all are conscious of it,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t think we’re very good at it, honestly. I know I’ve tried. It’s still very hard to accomplish. The game consumes us. It consumes me at least, and it should, if you love it. And it’s just hard to turn off. It’s important. We have to do it. We should have been doing it.” After a late arrival in Bay Area last month, it was after 10 p.m. when Rivers had the team tissue therapist work on his body, including knees and ankle — “and my brain.” He has consulted a sleep doctor, too. In Los Angeles, Walton is being proactive by encouraging every staff member to stay physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. The advice is to recharge when necessary, in whatever way is best. “It’s a priority,” Lakers assistant Mark Madsen said. “It’s important because think about all the late nights. We’ll get into cities at 4 in the morning sometimes. You have to stay on top of it.” As a youngster, J.B. Bickerstaff knew there were a couple of hours in the afternoon on game days his father needed for himself. Bernie Bickerstaff took a power nap that allowed him to be fresh for a long night on the NBA bench. J.B. Bickerstaff now does it the same exact way as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. The coaches’ association is providing support and guidance like never before, and many coaches are making a point to openly discuss wellness strategies and share ideas. There’s also a close-knit support system within this crop of NBA coaches that Dallas’ Rick Carlisle, the coaches’ association president, considers special. “We also have a unique group of head coaches right now, guys that are extremely competitive but have great respect for one another and provide a high level of support for each other,” Carlisle said. “Guys who are going through tough times with health and even things like losing streaks. We’ve got a very high character group.” For example, Clifford so appreciated a call he got last season from Kerr, each having gone through his own challenging health ordeal that kept him from the bench for an extensive stretch. Clifford, then coaching the Charlotte Hornets, missed more than five weeks dealing with agonizing headaches that after a battery of tests were deemed to be caused by sleep deprivation. Kerr has endured some of the most high-profile absences. He missed the initial 43 games of the 2015-16 season — including a record 24-0 start — dealing with painful and confounding symptoms following a pair of back surgeries. Kerr was sidelined again for 11 games during the Warriors’ 16-1 postseason in 2017 before returning to the bench for Game 2 of the NBA Finals the Warriors wound up winning in five games against LeBron James and Cleveland. Kerr had undergone a procedure to repair a spinal fluid leak on May 5, 2017, at Duke University but was not well enough to return until June 4. He made it through last year’s repeat run to a title. “My advice to coaches who are coming into the league: Don’t get back surgery,” Kerr quipped. “That’s my main advice. Sorry, bad joke. Luke Walton, when he took the Laker job, we talked a lot about that. He told me his whole staff is really on a conditioning program and a health-wellness program. I think it’s really smart, something that every staff should try to do is just make sure you’ve got people looking after you and looking after each other.” Kerr practices regular yoga and can often be seen on the elliptical machine after practice in a corner of the gym, getting loose on a foam roller or stretching with the assistance of an athletic trainer. Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts appreciates the points of emphasis and information provided by the coaches’ association “whether it’s diet or things to alleviate stress.” He watches what he eats and works in exercise whenever he can, saying those two things are “the remedy for everybody.” “A lot of it is just common sense that everybody has to deal with to take care of yourself,” Stotts said. “It’s not just coaches, obviously, it’s everybody, a lot of middle-aged men need to be doing the same, and some like me, beyond-middle-aged men. The fact that our lifestyle, if you give in to it, it can be a detriment, and everybody needs to be aware of it.” Clifford is in Orlando now, and he understands better than ever the importance of taking care of himself and monitoring his own health in a business where keeping your job depends largely on winning. He took significant steps to improve his sleep patterns and overall health, this after a previous heart scare as well. The 57-year-old Clifford deeply appreciated Kerr’s call. “It was great,” Clifford said. “He was one of the guys who reached out and obviously we had the health issue in common. It was a terrific gesture.” Last season, former Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue dealt with anxiety and needed a mental and physical break. “Wellness isn’t just physical. It’s mental as well,” Portland guard Damian Lillard said. “I think the position we’re in as professional athletes and with coaches in the social media age, it’s a little more difficult. That takes it to a much higher level from physical and mental ... when you’ve got people talking about you all the time, on Twitter bashing you. People just have so much more access to you. It becomes a more stressful job, much more pressure on your job and so many more eyes.” Coaches are also realizing they can’t always do it alone, relying on experts to stay healthy. Golden State hired Rick Celebrini this past offseason as director of sports medicine and performance. “If you can find some help, somebody to give you a little guidance,” Kerr said, “like we have here with Rick and Drew Yoder, I think it’s a big help.” The coaches’ association sends a regular newsletter with guidance from nutrition consultant Stacy Goldberg, who also is always available for 1-on-1 conversations. She attends coach association meetings, too, offering healthy food and snack choices. “Often, coaches are so focused on taking care of the players that they are not always focused on taking care of themselves,” said Goldberg, founder and CEO of Savorfull. “This is especially true when it comes to their nutrition.” Added Carlisle: “We view this as important as anything else we do with the NBA coaches association.” ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "NBA coaches’ new play: tending to health to cope with grind."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-158fa6e206444a5ba5d4d60f6f936ce3",
            "input": "The company said the trial will continue unchanged as per the recommendation of a data monitoring committee. The trial was testing Bristol-Myers’ drugs Opdivo and Yervoy, against Opdivo alone, in patients with advanced melanoma. The combination failed to show a statistically significant benefit in patients whose tumors had 1% or lower levels of the PD-L1 protein being targeted, the company said. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 96,480 melanoma cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Bristol-Myers shares were trading at $55.99 before the bell.",
            "output": [
                "Bristol-Myers misses main goal of late-stage skin cancer trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27914da3824a46d4bcc86940555c4fea",
            "input": "“I’d love to be in the bush, but I get more cases here,” said veterinary rehabilitation specialist Nicci Wright. Wright founded the hospital two years ago with veterinarian Dr. Karin Lourens and since then has treated about 4,000 animals. With the expansion of Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa’s capital city and its economic center, the animals indigenous to the region are being squeezed out by the rapid urbanization. The wildlife hospital mainly treats small mammals and raptors that are injured. There are about 160 animals on the small premises now, including half a dozen leopard tortoises, a toothless 12-foot python and an otter that was taken far from her natural habitat when someone tried to domesticate her as a pet. A Johannesburg resident arrives at the hospital, carrying a gray lourie in a cage made for much smaller domesticated bird. He found the large bird in the garden, attacked by his dogs, unable to fly after its tail and wing feathers were plucked out. Like in any hospital, nurse Alicia Abbott opens a file and transfers the new patient to a more comfortable setting so its treatment may begin. Most of the cages in the hospital are covered with towels to block the electric light from disturbing the animals. Along with physical injuries, many of them also suffer from trauma. Some species, like the endangered pangolin, show visible signs of post-traumatic stress disorder when they hear a male human voice or smell cigarettes smoke, a reminder of the poachers who hunt them, said Wright. “Everything is terrifying for them,” she said. In a wooden crate on the hospital floor, a juvenile pangolin begins to stir, scratching against the box. It is feeding time and a volunteer will walk him on a nearby hill where the pangolin, which is a scaly anteater, animal to search for ants. Pangolins are one of the world’s most heavily trafficked mammals because of demand for their scales in Asia. Another pangolin was recently sedated and checked by a sonogram scan to find that she was pregnant. Along with five staffers, the hospital relies on volunteers like Lauren Beckley, who lives nearby. Beckley cares for young primates like baboons and vervet monkeys, who cling to her after their own mothers have been shot or run over by humans. Other wildlife at the hospital include two newly born bush babies which are small nocturnal primates. One had been attacked by a cat and the other had fallen out of its nest. Once the animals are ready to return to the bush, Wright and her team work with nature reserves around the country to slowly introduce the animals into a new, safer, habitat.",
            "output": [
                "Johannesburg wildlife clinic saves animals hurt in city."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-240a92a4b2104eb1b2f09de22f54594c",
            "input": "Without using McCain’s name, Trump spoke of his move in December that effectively defeated the overhaul in a close vote. The president told the Conservative Political Action Conference that “except for one Senator, who came into a room at three o’clock in the morning and went like that,” Trump gave a thumbs-down, “we would have had health care (reform), too.” The crowd booed. Trump added, “I won’t use his name.” McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer and is in Arizona battling the disease. His daughter, Meghan McCain, said Friday on ABC’s “The View,” that she’d address Trump’s remarks with her mother, Cindy, next week.",
            "output": [
                "Trump again criticizes ailing McCain over health care vote."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17e287f02273451987573f10a16d6e0a",
            "input": "The truck, which was stolen earlier this month while en route from a distribution center in Kentucky to a specialty distributor, was carrying the anemia treatment Procrit, the rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade and the cancer medicine Doxil. The theft was reported to local and federal law enforcement offices, as well as to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the transport trailer and products have not been recovered, the company said. J&J units Centocor and Ortho Biotech have recalled just the products with lot numbers that match those that were on the stolen truck. “If the stolen product were to be reintroduced into distribution channels, the companies cannot guarantee that products were stored at appropriate temperatures, nor can the companies guarantee the products were not damaged,” J&J said in a statement. “A voluntary withdrawal of products with lot numbers corresponding to that of the stolen product minimizes the possibility of inadvertent use of stolen product by physicians and, therefore, the overall risk to patients,” it said. The amount of stolen and withdrawn product represents a very small proportion of the total product within the distribution channel, J&J said, adding that it does not expect a disruption in product availability for patients. The companies discontinued shipment of products with lot numbers matching the stolen products on May 7. Health-care providers and patients who received those drugs from an authorized distributor on or before May 7 should consider the product safe for use, J&J said.",
            "output": [
                "J&J recalling certain lots of drugs after theft."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7cc6f4813ed43a6865dc59fcb7a7f61",
            "input": "Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro championed hydroxychloroquine in television interviews Monday, a day after the president publicly put his faith in the medication to lessen the toll of the coronavirus pandemic. “What do I know, I’m not a doctor,” Trump said Sunday. “But I have common sense.” In promoting the drug’s possibilities, the president has often stated, ”What have you got to lose?” Trump held out promise for the drug as he grasps for ways to sound hopeful in the face of a mounting death toll and with the worst weeks yet to come for the U.S. The virus has killed more than 10,000 in the U.S., and measures meant to contain its spread have taken a painful economic toll and all but frozen life in large swaths of the country. But medical officials warn that it’s dangerous to be hawking unproven remedies, and even Trump’s own experts have cautioned against it. The American Medical Association’s president, Dr. Patrice Harris, said she personally would not prescribe the drug for a coronavirus patient, saying the risks of severe side effects were “great and too significant to downplay” without large studies showing the drug is safe and effective for such use. Harris pointed to the drug’s high risk of causing heart rhythm problems. “People have their health to lose,” she said. “Your heart could stop.” In a heated Situation Room meeting of the White House’s coronavirus task force Saturday, Navarro challenged the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, over his concerns about recommending the drug based only on unscientific anecdotal evidence. Navarro, who has no formal medical training, erupted at Fauci, raising his voice and claiming the reports of studies he had collected were enough to recommend the drug widely, according to a person familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the blow-up. Fauci has repeatedly said current studies provide only anecdotal findings that the drug works. In response, Navarro told CNN on Monday, “I would have two words for you: ‘second opinion.’” Hydroxychloroquine is officially approved for treating malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, not COVID-19. Small, preliminary studies have suggested it might help prevent the new coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But those have shown mixed results. Doctors are already prescribing the malaria drug to patients with COVID-19, a practice known as off-label prescribing. Research studies are now beginning to test if the drugs truly help COVID-19 patients, and the Food and Drug Administration has allowed the medication into the national stockpile as an option for doctors to consider for patients who cannot get into one of the studies. But the drug has major potential side effects, especially for the heart, and Fauci has said more testing is needed before it’s clear that the drug works against the virus and is safe for such use. Navarro told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that doctors in New York hospitals are already distributing the drug to COVID-19 patients and that health care workers are taking it in hopes of being protected from infection. Asked about his credentials for pushing the drug, Navarro cited his doctorate in social science and said that “in the fog of war, we might take more risks than we otherwise would.” He added, “I’d bet on President Trump’s intuition on this one.” Administration officials say Trump’s embrace of the drug stems from  his desire to provide “hope” for the American people as the death toll mounts and he looks to avoid political consequences from the outbreak. Some limited studies have been conducted on the use of hydroxychloroquine and antibiotic azithromycin in concert to treat COVID-19, but they have not included critical control groups that scientists use to validate the conclusions. Researchers in China, for instance, reported that cough, pneumonia and fever seemed to improve sooner among 31 patients given hydroxychloroquine compared with 31 others who did not get the drug, but fewer people in the comparison group had cough or fevers to start with. Many questions have been raised about another study in France. Some of the 26 people given hydroxychloroquine in that test were not counted in the final results, including three who worsened and were sent to intensive care, one who died a day after later testing negative for the virus and one who stopped treatment because of nausea. The French study was published in an International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy journal. The society’s president wrote on its website that the report “does not meet the society’s expected standard.” At least one other world leader has also promoted the drugs. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, saying he’s heard reports of 100% effectiveness when administered in the correct dosages. Trump’s interest in the drug was piqued in part by coverage on conservative media. On March 16, Fox News ran a segment on a small French study promoting the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating the coronavirus. Hours later, attorney Gregory Rigano appeared on a prime-time show and said evidence suggested it could rid the body “completely” of the virus. Almost instantly, just as the projections of the virus’ impact on the nation grew more dire, the drug’s promise bounced around the echo chamber of the conservative media. Just three days later, Trump himself made the first mention of the drug. Among the loudest voices in the president’s ear has been Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, who has spoken to Trump about the drug and advocated it in interviews and his new podcast. He has had, as guests, several experts touting the drug and made a few late-night phone calls to the White House residence. “I discussed it with the president after he talked about it,” Giuliani said. “I told him what I had on the drugs. Others around him believe it too.” The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., on Friday tweeted a link to an article about the drugs’ possible success and added: “Waiting for others to write this up. The Democrats and the media must be really upset because they tried to destroy @realdonaldtrump for being hopeful that this would be the case.” Across Europe, there has also been a recent spike in demand for the drugs even as regulators caution against their unlicensed use. Last week, the European Medicines Agency warned doctors that since there is no proof yet of the drugs’ effectiveness, they should be used only in clinical trials or under emergency use provisions. The jump in demand for the drugs has meant in some instances that patients who rely on hydroxychloroquine for lupus or other conditions are seeing their supplies diverted for COVID-19. If hydroxychloroquine is proven to work well against COVID-19, its sales would jump, but pharmaceutical analysts say they don’t know of any company or individual that stands to make a windfall. That’s because there’s so much competition and the vast majority of prescriptions filled are for generics. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. ___ Associated Press writers Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee, Linda A. Johnson in Trenton, N.J., Jonathan Lemire in New York, Maria Cheng in London, Amanda Seitz in Chicago, David Biller in Rio de Janeiro and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "White House pushes unproven drug for virus, but doctors wary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ddc3f3ae47aa46a48efe36ff1483098e",
            "input": "President and CEO James R. Downing told doctors and media that the St. Jude Global program’s goal is ambitious — to influence the care of as much as 30 percent of children with cancer worldwide in the next decade. He said he hopes the investment will improve access and quality of medical care for many children who might otherwise die. More than 80 percent of children with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, where they lack access to adequate diagnosis and treatment, St. Jude said. The majority of those children will die, said Dr. Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, director of St. Jude Global. In developed nations, survival rates for pediatric cancers exceed 80 percent. “We must address this gap,” Downing said. Founded by actor Danny Thomas, St. Jude is considered a leading researcher of cancer and other life-threatening diseases that affect children. It shares its research with hospitals, doctors and health programs worldwide. Families with children being cared for at the hospital never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing and food. St. Jude is expanding its International Outreach Program, which was founded in 1993 and presently includes 24 hospitals in 17 countries. The hospital’s Department of Global Pediatric Medicine, formed in 2016, accelerated the hospital’s global outreach. The department has created St. Jude Global, which aims to improve access to care and quality of treatment by focusing on education of medical workers and research. The global program will seek to strengthen health systems that are treating children with cancer and establish standards and guidelines to improve patient care. Hospital officials plan to form what they describe as a global alliance to help transfer knowledge across regions. “We have set a very bold goal,” Rodriguez-Galindo said. The hospital said that among several other nations, it is building relations in Russia, Myanmar, Cambodia and sub-Saharan Africa. Its research has already influenced medical care in the Philippines, where Dr. Mae Dolendo treats children with cancer in Davao City on the island of Mindanao. Dolendo said doctors from her cancer treatment facility have communicated regularly with St. Jude experts for the past 12 years. These experts have guided Dolendo on programs in leukemia treatment and nursing infectious diseases. Her cancer institute has increased from four beds to 50 beds with the help of St. Jude. “Children from all over Mindanao come to us, some being carried in hammocks, some taking outrigger boats, some traveling for eight hours by bus, just to get pediatric cancer treatment,” Dolendo said. The overall survival rate was less than 10 percent in 2004, Dolendo said. It is now 50 percent. “This is the impact of St. Jude to us,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "St. Jude: $100M for children with cancer global outreach."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b8c62609c9b45a7935dab56a2a27514",
            "input": "With global warming widely expected to slash snowfall, especially at lower levels, the Swiss tourism industry is looking for ways to preserve a lucrative business brutally exposed to the weather. Enter Napa, Serbia’s last circus bear. The Arosa ski resort in eastern Switzerland has created a $6.5 million refuge hosting Napa and two other bears rescued from cages at restaurants in Albania to help draw summer visitors and reduce its reliance on skiers and snowboarders. School classes, families and a group of army veterans celebrating an 80th birthday were visiting one recent summer day, helping the park toward what Arosa tourism director Pascal Jenny said was a target of 50,000 visitors this year. Arosa has reinvented itself before - moving to winter tourism in the 1930s after decades as a health resort for tuberculosis patients. But with nearly 620,000 overnight stays in winter last year, more than three times the summer total — it will not be easy. Jenny, who fears a sharp decline in snowfall over the next 20 or 30 years, is hedging his bets. “What gives us some hope is that artificial snow is making strong technical advances. I can make snow now at 5 degrees above freezing,” he said, standing on an observation platform beside the Weisshorn cable car which gives a sweeping view of the snow-capped Alpine valley. His two-pronged approach highlights the dilemma faced by mountain resorts — how to retain profits as they embark on what the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) says needs to be a global rethink of tourism. “The consequences of climate change will be felt across the travel and tourism sector over the coming decades,” the OECD, whose member countries represent 80% of the world’s trade and investment, said in a 2018 study of megatrends in tourism. Storms, flooding and tidal surges will threaten coastal regions, southern destinations face extreme heatwaves and northern ones will see shorter periods of snowfall, it said. Mountain resorts tend to be higher in Switzerland than in Austria or France, giving them better chances as snow becomes scarcer. But even at 3,000 meters, pistes could see snow depths more than halved by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, a report in The Cryosphere, a peer-reviewed geosciences journal named after the frozen water parts of the Earth, said. Resorts below 1,200 meters - as about a quarter of Alpine ones are - might get almost no snow, said the 2017 report, whose title starts “How much can we save?”. Snow levels will gradually stabilize if global temperature rises are contained, it says. Arosa is 1,775 meters up but Jenny worries that a loss of snow in the lowlands will cost it visitors because people will lose their emotional connection with snow. “That is almost more dangerous for the sector,” he said. Hence his interest in an industrial estate in Denmark, where Arosa is cooperating on a project to make artificial snow so that urban dwellers can learn to ski and then, he hopes, go on to hone their skills in the Alps. The economics are clear: a daily lift pass for skiers in Arosa costs 79 Swiss francs ($80.27), while a summer hiker or mountain biker typically pays 18 francs for a pass that lets them use a rope park, a swimming area and paddle boats on the town’s lake. Hotels and restaurants charge more in winter too, but the strong Swiss franc has priced many people out. Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and the Swiss government says the long-term outlook for tourism is healthy. “Mountain summers can position themselves as an alternative to the Mediterranean regions,” a 2017 report said. Summer tourism already accounts for 60% of overnight stays across Switzerland, but the season brings in only 18% of revenue, said Therese Lehmann, an economist at the University of Bern’s Centre for Regional Development. Government data already shows a 24% drop in skiers in the decade to 2016, with other factors as well as climate change. “The decline of ski tourism — a powerful economic engine — will have more of an impact than the additional revenue in summer,” said Dominik Siegrist, director of the Institute for Landscape and Open Space at Switzerland’s University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil. Europe’s population is aging and younger people are less interested in skiing. Snowshoeing, winter hiking, sledding and ski touring — in which people hike up mountains, are on the increase, industry lobby Swiss Tourism says. Consolidation of winter tourism is on the horizon, with overnight stays in bigger Swiss resorts up 1 percent in the decade to 2015, but down 17 percent in smaller ones. “Lots of smaller ones are grasping at straws, trying to survive as long as they can because the valleys depend on this tourism,” Siegrist said. Large resorts in the Swiss cantons of the Grisons and Valais, Austria’s Tyrol province and France’s Savoie region have the marketing pull to survive, Siegrist said, listing high- altitude Andermatt, Zermatt and St Moritz in Switzerland. The Andermatt Swiss Alps resort, in central Switzerland, is targeting cyclists in summer, and has also built new lifts to lure winter sports fans. It covers a nearby glacier with strips of artificial fleece in spring to help reduce melting and creates piles of snow higher than houses to deploy on ski pistes as early as November to avoid having to use expensive artificial snow. The strong Swiss franc has hit ski lifts focused on winter business from European visitors hard in the past 10 years, the government says, but the minority of lifts with strong summer business are booming thanks to visitors from overseas. Many smaller lift firms get cheap loans and, increasingly, state subsidies to help balance the books, said Lehmann. Roughly a third are debt-free, but depend on long-haul tourism, which she said was not ideal from an environmental point of view, because flights are a major contributor to holiday carbon emissions. “Maybe we have to get away from focusing solely on growth, and promote Alpine areas as good habitats for living, not just for tourism,” she said. Listed cable car companies Bergbahnen Engelberg Truebsee Titlis Bet AG (TIBN.S) and Jungfraubahn Holding AG (JFN.S), cite year-round visitors from Asia - especially China and India - as important sources of income. Asked about sustainability, Titlis marketing director Peter Reinle said the firm’s prospects were good for the next 50 years. “We as a single entity can not solve the whole climate problem. Politicians have to provide framework conditions.”  Jungfraubahn’s Corporate Secretary Christoph Schlaeppi said it employed 800 local people, helping to make life in the mountains economically sustainable for a new generation. The government says it is up to individual resorts to decide how much they want to attract Asian groups, but focuses its own promotion efforts on individual travelers and sustainability, noting Japanese tourists now come independently and stay longer. “We have to see that guests from Asia making the long flight to Europe or Switzerland stay as long as possible,” Richard Kaempf, head of tourism policy at the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs, told Reuters. While the government encourages year-round use of mountain infrastructure, he said it is not giving up on winter sports, a deep cultural touchstone for the Swiss. But he acknowledged the growing challenge of lowlanders losing the “winter feeling”.",
            "output": [
                "High and dry: Alpine resorts grapple with climate change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02ebeb9c027c432cb6582444ceac55b7",
            "input": "Calyxt Inc, an eight-year-old firm co-founded by a genetics professor, altered the genes of a soybean plant to produce healthier oil using the cutting-edge editing technique rather than conventional genetic modification. Seventy-eight farmers planted those soybeans this spring across 17,000 acres in South Dakota and Minnesota, a crop expected to be the first gene-edited crop to sell commercially, beating out Fortune 500 companies. Seed development giants such as Monsanto, Syngenta AG and DowDuPont Inc have dominated genetically modified crop technology that emerged in the 1990s. But they face a wider field of competition from start-ups and other smaller competitors because gene-edited crops have drastically lower development costs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has decided not to regulate them. Relatively unknown firms including Calyxt, Cibus, and Benson Hill Biosystems are already advancing their own gene-edited projects in a race against Big Ag for dominance of the potentially transformational technology. “It’s a very exciting time for such a young company,” said Calyxt CEO Federico Tripodi, who oversees 45 people. “The fact a company so small and nimble can accomplish those things has picked up interest in the industry.”  Gene-editing technology involves targeting specific genes in a single organism and disrupting those linked to undesirable characteristics or altering them to make a positive change. Traditional genetic modification, by contrast, involves transferring a gene from one kind of organism to another, a process that still does not have full consumer acceptance. Gene-editing could mean bigger harvests of crops with a wide array of desirable traits - better-tasting tomatoes, low-gluten wheat, apples that don’t turn brown, drought-resistant soybeans or potatoes better suited for cold storage. The advances could also double the $15 billion global biotechnology seed market within a decade, said analyst Nick Anderson of investment bank Berenberg. The USDA has fielded 23 inquiries about whether gene-edited crops need regulation and decided that none meet its criteria for oversight. That saves their developers years of time and untold amounts of money compared to traditional genetically modified crops. Of those 23 organisms, just three were being developed by major agriculture firms. The newly competitive landscape could foster more partnerships and licensing deals between big and small firms, along with universities or other public research institutions, said Monsanto spokeswoman Camille Lynne Scott. Monsanto - which was recently acquired by Bayer AG - invested $100 million in startup Pairwise Plants this year to accelerate development of gene-edited plants. North Carolina-based Benson Hill, founded in 2012 and named after two scientists, mainly licenses crop technology to other companies. But it decided to produce its own higher-yielding corn plant because of the low development costs, said Chief Executive Matt Crisp. Calyxt plans to sell the oil from its gene-edited soybeans to food companies and has a dozen more gene-edited crops in the pipeline, including high-fiber wheat and potatoes that stay fresh longer. Developing and marketing a traditional genetically modified crop might easily cost $150 million, which only a few large companies can afford, Crisp said. With gene-editing, that cost might fall as much as 90 percent, he said. “We’re seeing a huge number of organizations interested in gene-editing,” Crisp said, referring to traditional crop-breeding companies, along with technology firms and food companies. “That speaks to the power of the technology and how we’re at a pivotal point in time to modernize the food system.”  Supporters of gene-editing say it allows a higher level of precision than traditional modification. With CRISPR, one popular type of gene-editing technology used by Syngenta, scientists transfer an RNA molecule and an enzyme into a crop cell. When the RNA encounters a targeted strand of DNA inside the cell, it binds to it and the enzyme creates a break in the cell’s DNA. Then, the cell repairs the broken DNA in ways that disrupt or improve the gene. (For a graphic on how the Syngenta process works, see: tmsnrt.rs/2KJmtxr )  Biotech firms hope the technology can avoid the “Frankenfood” label that critics have pinned on traditional genetically modified crops. But acceptance by regulators and the public globally remains uncertain. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on July 25 that gene-editing techniques are subject to regulations governing genetically modified crops. The ruling will limit gene-editing in Europe to research and make it illegal to grow commercial crops. The German chemical industry association called the decision “hostile to progress.”   U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue blasted the ruling for enacting unnecessary barriers to innovation and stigmatizing gene-editing technology by subjecting it to the EU’s “regressive and outdated” regulations governing genetically modified crops. The USDA also has no current plans to regulate gene-editing in animal products, according to a document provided by the agency. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, plans to regulate gene-editing in both plants and animals, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote in a June blog post. The agency is developing an “innovative and nimble” approach to regulating gene-editing, he wrote, that will aim to ensure its safety for both humans and animals while allowing companies to bring beneficial products to market. The USDA, by contrast, chose not to regulate gene-edited crops because the process typically introduces characteristics that are “indistinguishable” from those created through traditional plant breeding, which take much longer, USDA Secretary Perdue said in a March statement. Although there has been no widespread consumer resistance to gene-editing, activists who have long opposed genetically modified crops remain suspicious of any sort of tinkering with DNA. The new technique raises risks of creating undesired changes in the food supply and warrants increased regulation, said Lucy Sharratt, coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. That kind of opposition is why agribusiness giant Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] is pursuing gene-edited technology with caution, said Randal Giroux, the firm’s vice-president of food safety, quality and regulatory affairs. Cargill announced in February that it would collaborate with Precision BioSciences to develop healthier canola oil, but is proceeding slowly on agreements to store and transport other companies’ gene-edited crops pending clarity from regulators, Giroux said. “We really do want to see gene-editing evolve in the marketplace,” Giroux said. “We’re watching to see how consumers adopt these products and react to these products.”  SECRET FIELD-TESTING  Other major agriculture biotech firms are moving more aggressively, hoping to take advantage of lighter regulation to speed development. A gene-edited crop may take five years to move from development to commercialization in the United States, compared with a genetically modified crop that could take 12 years, said Dan Dyer, head of seeds development at Syngenta. The firm is working on better-tasting tomatoes that take longer to spoil and hopes to launch a gene-edited crop in the mid-2020s, said Jeff Rowe, Syngenta’s president of global seeds. DowDuPont - at a secret location in the U.S. Midwest - is field-testing waxy corn, a variety grown for industrial purposes that has been edited for higher yields. The company plans a commercial launch next spring. Smaller firms will be nipping at the heels of these massive companies in the race to bring the next generation of genetically engineered foods to market, said Robert Wager, a biology faculty member at Vancouver Island University. “The lack of USDA-regulated status is a huge game-changer,” he said, “for universities and small startups to enter the market.”",
            "output": [
                "Gene-editing startups ignite the next 'Frankenfood' fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d081e5606f204f4b891d04a1f7e47bc5",
            "input": "\"When President Trump announced a plan to suspend immigration to the United States, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted the news with her own assessment of the decision: \"\"Immigrants make up a majority of essential workers in places like New York City,\"\" the Democrat wrote April 21. \"\"They're on the front lines of the battle against this pandemic. I stand with our immigrant communities now and always.\"\" With so much dependent on the group of people that have become known as \"\"essential workers,\"\" we wanted to look closer at Gillibrand’s statement to see if the numbers support it. Immigrants make up a majority of essential workers in places like New York City—they're on the front lines of the battle against this pandemic. I stand with our immigrant communities now and always. https://t.co/3KvPLoztko We found that while the statistics on this question are a little murky, one credible study does reinforce her assertion. Gillibrand’s communication’s director, Evan Lukaske, told PolitiFact that the senator was defining essential worker based on the way the New York City comptroller's office defined \"\"frontline workers\"\" in its March 26 report, \"\"New York City’s Frontline Workers.\"\" The comptroller’s report defined New York City’s COVID-19 \"\"frontline workers\"\" as grocery, convenience, and drug store workers; public transit workers; trucking, warehouse, and U.S. Postal Service workers; health care workers; child care, homeless, food, and family services workers; and cleaning service workers. On March 20, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and the New York State Department of Economic Development issued a guidance on the term \"\"essential worker,\"\" and it listed several categories of worker who would not be covered under the categories used in the comptroller’s report, including those working at airports, certain types of manufacturing enterprises, hardware stores, funeral homes, animal shelters, and banks. Notably, the comptroller report’s \"\"frontline worker\"\" category includes only \"\"direct-service, mostly non-governmental employees,\"\" meaning that it doesn’t count most types of public employees. As a result, the report does not take into account police officers, firefighters, and other first responders. So while Lukaske said that Gillibrand \"\"is using ‘frontline’ and ‘essential’ as synonymous, there is a discrepancy between the two terms, and an alternate definition could end up changing the demographic profile. That said, the comptroller’s report provides one reasonable definition. So what does the report’s analysis show? According to the comptroller’s study, more than 53% of frontline workers are foreign-born, meaning they’re immigrants. Of the sectors studied, building cleaning services employs the highest share of immigrants at 70%. It is followed by health care and food and drug store workers, both at 53%. Other studies have backed up the broader proposition that immigrants make up a significant portion of essential workers. The Center for Migration Studies of New York, a think tank on international migration, has estimated that 1.8 million immigrants in New York state work in jobs the state considers \"\"essential businesses.\"\" The think tank found that foreign-born workers make up 31.5% of workers in essential businesses in New York state, despite only representing 28% of the state’s overall labor force. (It is logical that New York City’s percentage would be higher, since immigrants represent a higher share of the population in the city than in the rest of the state.) Nationally, immigrants make up a \"\"sizable\"\" share of essential workers in the fight against the pandemic, said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications for the Migration Policy Institute. The group estimates that 6 million immigrants are working frontline jobs in health care, food production, and transportation, and another 6 million immigrants work in industries such as food services and domestic household services. \"\"You can assume that an immigrant-rich area like New York City might have higher shares of immigrants than the U.S. average in particular occupations,\"\" she said. Meanwhile, U.S. Census Bureau data shows that immigrants represent about 45% of the total workforce in New York City. That’s in line with Gillibrand’s assertion, said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer with the Pew Research Center. Gillibrand said that \"\"immigrants make up a majority of essential workers in places like New York City.\"\" This number is backed up by a New York City comptroller’s office study that found that 53% of all \"\"frontline\"\" workers in the city are immigrants. However, the comptroller office’s definition, which doesn’t include government workers such as first responders and which differs from the state’s definition of \"\"essential workers,\"\" is only one way of analyzing the data, and other methods might produce a lower percentage.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Immigrants make up a majority of essential workers in places like New York City.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a556ecd9e3944cfca1ba153eab8b6154",
            "input": "Most Americans are familiar with the exploits of John Glenn, a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot who, as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, was transformed into a national hero after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth on 20 February 1962. Later in life he represented Ohio in the United States Senate for twenty-four years, and in 1998 he became the oldest person to go into space when he flew on a Space Shuttle Discovery mission in 1998. Much less well known is John Glenn’s wife, the former Annie Castor, whom Glenn had known since childhood and married when he was a 21-year-old combat pilot during World War II. In February 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of Glenn’s orbital flight prompted CNN contributor Bob Greene to pen the article referenced above about the Glenns’ lengthy marriage (currently 68 years) and Annie’s long battle to overcome a terrible stuttering problem which had she had struggled with since she was a little girl, an affliction she finally managed to overcome at the age of 53. Annie Glenn began speaking out publicly about her lifelong struggle with her speech impediment in the early 1980s, discussing the subject on national television and in the press, crowning her achievement by making speeches on behalf of her husband as he campaigned for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. A 1982 Los Angeles Times article on the subject of Annie Glenn’s speaking out about her disability reported that: Annie Glenn is one of the country’s estimated 2 million people who suffer what may be the most misunderstood disability: stuttering. Until she underwent a new form of intensive, live-in treatment three years ago at the Communications Research Institute at Hollins College in Roanoke, Va., Mrs. Glenn could not speak well enough to call the plumber, order a meal in a restaurant or go by herself with her injured child to a hospital emergency room, much less give a campaign speech for her husband. Although she still stutters slightly and speaks haltingly, Mrs. Glenn can perform all those once impossible tasks. She even gives campaign speeches, maybe not with as much polish as other wives, but certainly with more pluck. At a private athletic club in Cleveland, 150 people attending the annual meeting of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center sat in silent attention at their dinner tables as their speaker told them something really quite remarkable. “For the first time in my life,” said Annie Glenn, age 62, “I can carry on a conversation.” It wasn’t so long ago that Mrs. Glenn, classified as an 85% stutterer, would have found it impossible, even, to travel by airplane from Washington to Cleveland by herself unless she wrote down what she wanted for the airline employee at the ticket counter. She told the audience of such an experience and how the men wrote notes back, thinking she was deaf. During the slow, agonizing process in which stutterers try to force out sounds, often with their hearts beating at an accelerated rate, their palms sweating, their cheeks blushing and their heads bobbing, Mrs. Glenn has been laughed at. Store clerks have reacted by pointing an index finger at the head and moving it in circles (the “crazy” sign), or by asking if she were cold when her jaw would quiver, or saying quite simply, “Lady, I haven’t got all day.” Sometimes Mrs. Glenn would walk away rather than continue the ordeal of shopping. Her husband had to make all the telephone calls to repairmen and friends. Her neighbors had to call the doctor when her children became ill and go to the hospital with her to talk with the doctors. Mrs. Glenn had undergone several traditional speech therapies but experienced little or no improvement until she enrolled herself for two different sessions at the Hollins Institute, most recently in September of 1978. The therapy lasts 11 hours a day for three weeks. After taking the therapy twice, Mrs. Glenn still sees a therapist twice a month at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, and she practices every day — on the telephone. She makes several calls every morning. There is a sign next to her phone at home that says “Take a full breath, relax your throat, keep the sound moving.” “She talks to her buddies all over the world,” John Glenn said, pretending to resent the phone bills. “This is a dramatic, new life for her.” A 1983 Associated Press article on the same subject read (in part): For 53 of her 63 years, Annie Glenn was a prisoner of her own tongue, a stutterer who tripped over eight out of every 10 words, relying on facial expressions to make a point. She disciplined her two children, she recalls, “with my eyes and my hand.” Today, the wife of Ohio Sen. John Glenn has broken through a sound barrier. “Being able to talk to people is something I could never do,” she says. “My life is like a dream.” In numerous conversations [on the campaign trail] throughout a day that started before dawn and ended long after sunset, [the couple] talked about Mrs. Glenn’s newly acquired ability to speak fluently and the impact of her lifetime of stuttering on their marriage, children and career. “John would make all my telephone calls,” Mrs. Glenn says, shooting a stern look at her husband as he reached for a third chocolate bar. “I would try to go shopping but couldn’t ask the clerk what I wanted, so I would hunt and hunt. A lot of the time I’d go out of the store empty-handed because I couldn’t find what I wanted.” It was in 1974, after Mrs. Glenn enrolled in a speech program at Hollins College near Roanoke, Va., that her speech improved noticeably. But she didn’t keep up the daily therapy sessions or return for refresher courses, and she regressed. After a second session at Hollins and a program of daily therapy, Mrs. Glenn is making speeches.",
            "output": [
                "Article details efforts of John Glenn's wife to overcome stuttering."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b3b11548c8c245b0ae7ad5002c7e71d6",
            "input": "Most newspaper obituaries adhere to one of a handful of set formulas that incorporate listing the name of the deceased, date of passing, predeceasing and surviving relatives, and where and when services will be held. Some deviate from this standard by providing additional information about the departed, information that is almost always of a laudatory nature. However, every now and again one encounters a written send-off that is far from the expected loving expression of facts about the person who died. Such was the case with the obituary of Dolores Aguilar. The obit for this 79-year-old woman ran on 16 and 17 August 2008 in the Vallejo [California] Times-Herald. It was placed by one of the deceased’s many daughters. According to John Bogert of the Daily Breeze (a newspaper based in the South Bay area of  Los Angeles), Dolores Aguilar’s daughter was moved to place the notice after reviewing the obituary of a co-worker’s father and noting as she read through it how little any of it fit her mother. “What struck me was how my mother was none of the things I was reading. She was never there for us, she was never good and she left no legacy. So how could I say any of the usual things about her?” said the daughter to Bogert. She and her siblings, she maintained, were kept “unfed, poorly clothed and completely terrorized.”  Before agreeing to run the unusual obituary, the Times-Herald took the additional step of requesting a copy of the death certificate, just to ensure that what they were being asked to publish wasn’t a hoax. It wasn’t: the woman being memorialized had passed away on 7 August 2008. On 10 September 2013, the Reno Gazette-Journal published a similar obituary (in both its print and online versions) for Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick, who had passed away at the age of 78 and was described in her obit as having “neglected and abused her small children” and lived an “evil and violent life”:  Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit. On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure. Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgivable, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a “humane society”. Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America. Johnson-Reddick’s unusual obituary quickly garnered national attention, and the Gazette-Journal published a follow-up article explaining its origins:  Katherine Reddick, 57, said she wrote the obituary about her mother, 78, who died at a Reno nursing home. Her mother had bladder cancer and had become a ward of the state when she became sick and was hospitalized. The two were not in contact. Katherine Reddick, who works in education in Texas, described a horrific childhood that she and her brothers and sisters endured. Moved from California to Las Vegas to eventually live in an orphanage in Carson City, she described being abused for years by her mother and in multiple foster homes. Reddick said she slept on the floors of places where her mother ran escort businesses. From 1963 to 1964, six of Johnson-Reddick’s [eight] children were admitted to the Nevada Children’s Home in Carson City, the long-standing orphanage that closed in 1992. The children lived there until they either turned 18, joined the military, got married or were ordered to go back and live with their mother, according to state documents at the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. “We were constantly physically, mentally abused even after being taken away and put in the children’s home,” Patrick Reddick said during testimony in 1987. He said that on weekends, they were sent home to an office in Reno, sometimes lined up and beaten with a steel-tipped belt. Katherine and her brother Patrick said they talked about writing the obituary after learning about their mother’s death. Both are graduates of Carson High School. They said they did not expect the obituary to garner national attention. “People may see this as something we did to shame our mother,” Patrick Reddick, the second oldest of eight children, said in a phone interview. “But this is to bring shame to the issue of child abuse. I want every single person to realize this could be your obituary.”",
            "output": [
                "A daughter expressed her not-so-warm feelings about her deceased mother by running a scathing and caustic obituary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-272eec3066f14a5182955bb7fb029347",
            "input": "\"U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has been one of the most vocal members in Congress in the fight against the growing heroin and opioid epidemic in Illinois and across the country. Durbin has introduced a handful of measures to expand and improve access to treatment programs for heroin addiction, as well as legislation that would curtail the amount of prescription opioid medication on the market. In a July 20 press release discussing new initiatives to combat heroin and prescription opioid addiction, Durbin highlighted some startling statistics to hammer home just how big a problem opioid abuse has become in Illinois: \"\"Illinois suffered 1,652 overdose deaths in 2014... of which 40 percent were associated with heroin. Illinois is ranked number one in the nation for a decline in treatment capacity between 2007 and 2012, and is now ranked the third worst in the country for state-funded treatment capacity.\"\" Those are some pretty shocking numbers and there are a lot of them, so we wanted to take a closer look. Drug overdose deaths in Illinois Durbin’s press secretary John Normoyle said in an email the senator was using overdose statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but that the figures cited came from a provisional report for 2014 and the number of drug overdose deaths were not revised to reflect the most recent count. Data on drug overdose deaths is readily available on the CDC website, which shows there were a total of 1,705 drug overdose deaths in 2014, compared to 1,288 in 2010 -- a 32.4 percent increase over that four-year period. However, the Illinois Department of Public Health, which reports preliminary and final drug overdose deaths to the CDC, puts the 2010 total at 1,284 and 1,700 in 2014 -- a slight discrepancy but not unusual when reporting overdose deaths as they often get revised. For that reason, Divya Little, a public information officer at IDPH, said the state’s finalized data is more accurate, though the difference is negligible with regard to some of the other statistics presented in Durbin’s claim. Of the roughly 1,700 drug overdose deaths, 711 were heroin-related, accounting for nearly 42 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2014. While the percentage of drug overdose deaths associated with heroin would be a little more than 1 percentage point higher using the provisional 1,652 figure, Normoyle said the 40 percent statistic was pulled from a Reboot Illinois article that uses final data for 2014. It’s important to note that prior to 2013, counties did not specifically test for heroin in overdose deaths, so tracking deaths involving heroin cannot be reliably determined, according to IDPH. Durbin’s use of outdated numbers from the CDC neither misleads nor drastically alters the claim. If anything, it helps Durbin in making his point that heroin and prescription opioid abuse and addiction continues to get worse. Dwindling state-funded treatment capacity A report published in August 2015 by the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University, or ICDP, shows state-funded treatment capacity in Illinois fell by 52 percent from 2007-2012, the largest decrease in the nation. Durbin, who used statistics from this study, is correct when he says Illinois led the nation in the decline for state-funded treatment capacity. In 2007, Illinois ranked 28th in state-funded treatment capacity before dropping to No. 44, or third worst in 2012, behind Tennessee and Texas, respectively, according to the report. Kathie Kane-Willis, co-founder and director of the ICDP, told Politifact Illinois the state’s budget woes are making the situation much worse, and Illinois already was in \"\"pretty dire straits\"\" long before the political tug-of-war between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature ensued. Illinois hasn’t had an actual budget for more than a year and the majority of the state’s social service providers that offer drug treatment programs haven’t been funded or received payment since July 1, 2015, leading many to cut programs, turn away people seeking help or shut down entirely. Although a six-month stopgap budget was passed on June 30 that appropriates $667 million for human services, including nonprofits and other social service providers, that only amounts to 65 percent of the cost of those services since last July. \"\"When you look at Illinois, we have a crumbling treatment infrastructure,\"\" Kane-Willis said. \"\"We do not have the capacity to treat the people who need it.\"\" Kane-Willis, a former heroin user, said that in light of these fiscal issues, Illinois probably now is second-worst in the U.S. when it comes to treatment capacity as Tennessee has improved and expanded treatment programs and capacity since the study was released. Treating those in need Durbin notes that as the state's treatment capacity shrinks, the vast majority of Illinoisans who are in need of treatment do not receive it. A report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, \"\"Behavioral Health Barometer: Illinois, 2014,\"\" found \"\"individuals aged 12 or older with illicit drug dependence or abuse, about 32,000 individuals (12.7 percent ) per year in 2009–2013 received treatment for their illicit drug use within the year prior to being surveyed.\"\" Our ruling Durbin said, \"\"Illinois suffered 1,652 overdose deaths in 2014 ... of which 40 percent were associated with heroin. Illinois is ranked number one in the nation for a decline in treatment capacity between 2007 and 2012, and is now ranked the third worst in the country for state-funded treatment capacity.\"\" The drug overdose figure Durbin uses came from provisional data provided to the senator by the CDC. In 2014, drug overdose deaths totaled 1,705, or 1,700 if using statistics from IDPH, which tend to be more accurate. As for the other figures, the percent increase from 2010 is slightly more than 32 percent, and drug overdose deaths in 2014 that were associated with heroin is about 42 percent. But as IDPH notes, tracking overdose deaths involving heroin cannot be reliably determined as counties’ coroners did not specifically test for heroin prior to 2013. We don’t see these discrepancies as an attempt to mislead in making his case for heroin and prescription opioid addiction treatment legislation he is advocating. If anything, it underscores the growing epidemic that’s not only gripping Illinois, but the rest of the country.\"",
            "output": [
                "Illinois suffered 1,652 overdose deaths in 2014 ... of which 40 percent were associated with heroin. Illinois is ranked number one in the nation for a decline in treatment capacity between 2007 and 2012, and is now ranked the third worst in the country for state-funded treatment capacity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba60fbffd9464df7a8f9e71ae562d53a",
            "input": "As this is not an available treatment, the cost was presented as something not yet known. The story suggested that the cost for the pill would likely be something less than $17/month – the cost for its component medications. The story did not provide a rational for why the expected costs would be less than the costs for the individual medications on their own. Nonetheless, it tried to address cost. The benefits of treatment in terms of blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, and anti-clotting were presented However, it is premature to present an estimate for the reduction in heart attack and stroke as the time frame of the study presented is much too short to inform us as to whether this is the case. There was no discussion of harms of treatment beyond a statement that the side effect rates for the polypill were the same as for the medications individually. While this was what was observed in the current 12 week trial, the reader should have been reminded of the short term nature of the study, the limited demographics of the study population, and that conclusions, although informed by the common long-term use of the component medications, still require analysis of the effects these medications may have in individuals who may not have all of the underlying conditions being treated. Although the story did an adequate job of describing the results of the study, it did not confine itself to discussion of the observed outcomes but chose to focus on extrapolating the results to what might be the longer term benefit. Stating that this pill could ‘cut a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke roughly in half, the study concludes’ implies that the pill was tested for its effect on cardiovascular outcomes, when in fact it has only been shown to reduce risk factors levels in a single, short-term study. This is misleading. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Quotes from a number of clinicians involved in the current study, and individuals who were supportive or critical of the current treatment approach were included in this story. While the story failed to mention options other than the use of multiple pharmaceuticals to lower risk of heart attack and stroke,  it did touch on the use of the drugs separately rather than in combined form. The story made clear that the combination pill discussed was experimental, while at the same time indicating that all of its components were available as generic medications. The novelty of such a polypill was appropriately portrayed. Does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Once-a-day heart combo pill shows promise in study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a514d3490ed7480dbeb0fe24c34af012",
            "input": "The two on Thursday toured a Lowndes County neighborhood where residents say the sewage system regularly overflows into their yards and homes. They then held a town hall in Hayneville. Charlie Mae Holcombe, 70, of Hayneville, said heavy rains are always a sign of trouble. Holcombe described the problems she faced as Gore and Barber spoke with her in her driveway. She said the toilets in her house will begin to bubble as a sign the sewage system is about to backup, sometimes filling her yard — including the area around a child’s swing set — and her house with raw sewage. “They have had to come and pump it out of my yard with the pump truck,” Holcombe said. “It’s backing up, even in my bathtub. The sewage has run over all in the house.” Her home in Lowndes County is in an area that has been plagued by sewage problems and concerns about potential illness. “I have heard about it and seen pictures of it for a long time, but it was shocking to see it in person,” Gore said of the conditions he saw. Alabama’s Black Belt region gets its name for the dark rich soil that once gave rise to cotton plantations. But the type of soil makes it difficult for traditional septic tanks, in which wastewater filters through the ground, to function properly, said Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris in an interview with The Associated Press. The region’s intense poverty and inadequate municipal infrastructure contribute to the problem. “Sewage is typically handled at a local level... These counties haven’t always been able to do that,” Harris said. Catherine Coleman Flowers, an activist who has worked on rural environmental issues in the county for years, said wastewater sanitation problems are not limited to Alabama’s Black Belt. “It’s all over the country,” Flowers said, adding that climate change, with heavy rains and rising water tables, will make it worse. Holcombe said she’s not sure what it means, but when a red light flashes at a sewage treatment lagoon across the street, it is a reliable sign that her yard will flood. In addition to overwhelmed septic and sewage systems, some homes in the rural county are on “straight pipe” systems where sewage runs untreated from home to yard. Harris said a May survey of almost 200 Lowndes County households found that two to three percent of the households were on straight pipe systems. Holcombe’s home sits not far from the state highway where voting rights marchers walked from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Barber noted the proximity to the key sites of the civil rights movement and said the environmental issues are about the continued fight for justice. The town hall, held at a community center in Hayneville, focused on a number of environmental issues. Birmingham resident Jimmy Smith described living near a Superfund site in Birmingham. Others described concerns about landfills, straight pipe sewage systems and coal ash disposal in the Black Belt. At the town hall, Gore criticized what he described as the continued resistance from power companies and politicians to switching to renewable forms of energy such as solar energy. “It’s really a disgrace that this far Southern state with abundant sunshine is deprived of the advantages of the solar revolution being enjoyed all over the world,” Gore said.",
            "output": [
                "Environmental justice issues focus of town hall."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c2e49c67c334d2585ba2484c3d217d4",
            "input": "Bar and restaurant tables will need to seat no more than 6 people at a time and be spaced at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart. Staff must wear face coverings and be screened for symptoms of COVID-19 under new state public health orders taking effect Friday. As many as 25 people — up from 10 currently — will be allowed to gather, enabling movie theaters and other performance venues to reopen with limited numbers of customers. On a day when Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks announced plans to begin reopening Monday after an eight-week closure, Gordon urged people to continue to be careful to avoid spreading the virus. “Even as we ease restrictions, the virus is not gone. It is still here, it is still invisible and it is still capable of wreaking havoc,” Gordon said at a news conference. Wyoming had over 10 times more active cases of the coronavirus than the known number in the state when Gordon announced the business and public-gathering restrictions in March. As of Wednesday, Wyoming had 208 active lab-confirmed and suspected cases of the coronavirus. Another 480 people with confirmed and suspected cases had recovered. Yet the number of COVID-19 deaths in Wyoming, seven, had not increased for over three weeks and remained among the lowest of any state. Adjusted for population, only Hawaii had as few deaths. The number of people in Wyoming hospitalized with the coronavirus remained stable at about 10, and the rate of people testing positive, 3.9%, has dropped slightly and remained well below the national average of 9% to 13%, Gordon said. Meanwhile, the Wyoming Department of Health would get $15 million in federal funding to help increase coronavirus testing and contact tracing, or finding out who has been in contact with people with the virus, Gordon announced. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.",
            "output": [
                "Wyoming to loosen COVID-19 restaurant, bar, gathering rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8874bf738d741f0a16696cdcca2dc89",
            "input": "The contaminant, a large complex molecule chemically  similar to heparin, was detected in samples from a Chinese and  a U.S. plant, both owned by Baxter’s supplier, Wisconsin-based  Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC (SPL). “At this point we don’t know how the heparin-like compound  got into the active pharmaceutical ingredient,” Food and Drug  Administration Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock told  reporters on a conference call. “We don’t yet have a direct  causal link between the contaminant and the adverse events.”    Nineteen deaths have been reported in patients taking a  version of heparin that appear related to the drug, though it  is unknown if all of those patients were on Baxter’s heparin or  another product. The other major U.S. heparin supplier, APP Pharmaceuticals  Inc, ramped up production to avoid a drug shortage after Baxter  recalled most of its heparin products last week. Tests on APP’s heparin have not turned up any  contamination, Woodcock said. The FDA’s foreign inspection process has been criticized  for years as inadequate and those complaints were stoked when  FDA officials acknowledged recently the agency never inspected  the Chinese plant in question because of confusion over the  company’s Chinese name. FDA has not yet sifted through the 785 total adverse event  reports in heparin patients to determine which are  drug-related, Woodcock said. She cautioned that increased attention to the problem has  led to an influx of side-effect reporting and that may not be  related to the drug. Heparin is derived from pig intestines and is used in  dialysis and heart procedures, among other surgeries, to avoid  blood clots. Last week, the FDA said it found “objectionable conditions”  at the plant. Facility owner Scientific Protein Labs in a  statement said the contaminant theory is “speculation at this  point” and that it is working with the FDA to determine the  cause of the problems. FDA officials also don’t know whether the contaminant was  added intentionally or if it occurred as part of a natural  biological process. “We still don’t know whether this inadvertently got into  the supply or whether it was actually added” deliberately,  Woodcock said. Severe reactions such as anaphylaxis and low blood pressure  are signs of dangerous allergic reactions related to heparin  use. Earlier on Wednesday, Baxter, which has recalled most of  its heparin blood thinning products, said it narrowed down  possibilities for the root causes. Baxter ruled out its Cherry Hill, New Jersey, facility,  where the drug is manufactured in a later step in the process,  as a source of the problem.",
            "output": [
                "FDA says contaminant in some Baxter heparin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7dc2d8203a9e4e89a762567b79dbf2e8",
            "input": "In reality, it can be a challenging transition for many students, a time of vulnerability and stress. Mental health counseling services in colleges and universities across the nation assist more and more students each year, especially with anxiety and depression, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The cause isn’t clear, though mental health experts point to several possibilities. Perhaps the stigma of counseling has declined or the tidal wave of social media is unsettling. Maybe students have lower anxiety tolerance because of parental coddling. But schools are adjusting with new strategies to help students reduce anxiety, deal with mental illnesses and improve their quality of life. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln soon will roll out a program called Big Red Resilience, in which 20 or 25 students will receive training to assist classmates in need. Two UNL staffers, Connie Boehm and Myrianna Bakou, will launch Big Red Resilience and oversee it. Boehm, who spent 21 years as director of wellness at Ohio State before coming to UNL as director of student resilience, said Big Red Resilience isn’t counseling, it’s coaching. Resilience is the ability to snap back after hardship and defeat. It’s required when students receive disappointing grades, experience breakups, are extremely homesick or run into financial problems. Bakou, a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in counseling psychology, is excited to see the program in action. Among other things, she will develop workshops on perfectionism, healthy relationships, medication use and other topics. Bakou received counseling herself as a UNL undergraduate. Having come to the United States from the small African nation of Togo, she carried her parents’ high hopes with her. After doing well in high school, she wrestled with a boggling calculus class in her first semester. It felt like failure when she dropped the course. Counseling helped her understand her compulsion to seek perfection. Counseling enabled her to accept that the human experience comes with defeat. “I know how to come back from it,” she said. Programs to assist students come in all shapes. At Creighton University, a student support service is called Cocoa. Cocoa is Creighton psychologist Michael Kelley’s chocolate Labrador retriever. If students wish, Cocoa will sit in on their counseling sessions and permit rubs and pats as the student and therapist talk. Kelley said he doesn’t claim that Cocoa provides genuine psychological therapy. But her presence makes the counseling center less foreboding. And Kelley regularly takes her across campus so the general student population benefits from her presence. She’s a fine, furry ambassador for the counseling center. Cocoa, a trained therapy dog, is calm in crowds. Loud noises don’t bother her. Even if toddlers lie on her or yank on her fur, she’s unperturbed. One afternoon last month she loped along next to Kelley. They walked into the campus bookstore. Saige Steffensmeier, a sophomore from Beemer, Nebraska, immediately knelt and put her hands on Cocoa. Steffensmeier has seen Cocoa and Kelley on campus before, and the dog reminds her of her own pup, Louie, back home. Kelley said many of Creighton’s students aren’t used to struggling in class. Life has a way of throwing curveballs. “If we had one word that we could give our kids, it would be resilience,” Kelley said. “Because life is mean.” Two national reports generally confirm that a higher percentage of college students are feeling troubled. And a higher percentage now are seeking help for the two most common concerns — anxiety and depression. The Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State, which receives information from close to 150 college counseling services, said anxiety was the main reason students sought help. About 24 percent of those using counseling services sought help for anxiety in 2016-17, up from about 18 percent in 2013-14. The report said about 18 percent sought help for depression, up from 15 percent in 2013-14. The prevalence of “threat-to-self” episodes “increased for the seventh year in a row among students seeking treatment,” the 2017 report said. A survey of dozens of campuses and thousands of students found rising cases of emotional difficulty from 2008 to 2017. That survey, reported by the American College Health Association, found that anxiety, depression and attempted suicides in the general student population increased during that period. Sixty-one percent had felt “overwhelming anxiety” sometime within the previous 12 months in the fall 2017 study, up from 49 percent in fall 2008. The percentage who felt “so depressed that it was difficult to function” any time in the previous 12 months rose from 30.6 percent to 39.3 percent. And those who said they had attempted suicide in the preceding 12 months went from 1.3 percent in 2008 to 1.9 percent in 2017. Lisa Adams, past president of the American College Counseling Association, said she suspects there are several reasons for greater demand for student counseling services. Adams, director of counseling at the University of West Georgia, said usage at her school has gone up 52 percent in two years. Young people today have more information about mental health, and the stigma of mental difficulty isn’t as great, she said. She doesn’t rule out the notion that parenting changes may have shielded many kids from stress and failure. Some students “seem to experience a bit of anxiety and not know what to do with it,” Adams said. She also said that over the past 20 years, good medications have enabled students to manage symptoms from a broad range of mental illnesses that would have prevented college attendance before. They can do well, she said, with the proper support and medication. Charlene Patterson, University of Nebraska at Omaha counseling center director, said technology and social media have made it tougher to glide through the day. “You’ve just created a faster-paced world for them,” Patterson said. “They’re barraged with constant inquiry, constant response to all kinds of issues.” Patterson and Boehm said they don’t think college students fail the resilience test. “I don’t think they’re softer by any means,” Boehm said. Many colleges in the region have devised new ways, large and small, to combat the mental health problem. UNO therapist Jaisy Kumar holds Tea with Jaisy once a week for international students seeking support and camaraderie. The sessions last an hour to 90 minutes, and tea and snacks are part of the attraction. Kumar started it last year. Hastings College has just made its “transition specialist” a full-time job. That specialist can help a student acquire an emotional support animal, and refer a student to counseling or academic help. Nebraska Wesleyan offers Wellness for P-Wolves, an occasional lunch-hour forum on mental health topics. Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has its own on-site counseling, workshops and biofeedback equipment to gauge stress. Doane University two years ago joined about 450 colleges and high schools with Active Minds chapters. Active Minds is a student-led organization that educates students about mental illness and encourages support and counseling. Connie Boehm at UNL said other universities such as Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA and Wisconsin have started resilience programs. Boehm and Bakou will coach struggling students in the fall while the student coaches train and prepare. Student coaches will step in during the spring, working one-on-one with students in 45-minute sessions to focus on strengths, and to connect them to counseling, academic or financial help. The student coaches will let their fellow students know that there are peers on campus who care and are there to help them bounce back. That, Boehm said, is what resilience is all about. ___ Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com",
            "output": [
                "Nebraska colleges try new ways to help students seeking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd947e2242044c88ba1f18604cfb6174",
            "input": "“We’re expecting twins,” said Delphine Debord, the zoo’s communications director. “An ultrasound today confirmed it.”  Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi came to France on loan from China in 2012, their arrival hailed as a sign of warming diplomatic ties between Paris and Beijing. While an adult female panda can weigh up to 125 kilograms (275 pounds), a baby panda weighs barely 120 grams (4 ounces) at birth. A team of 15 people, including two Chinese carers, vets and an animal behavior specialist will be on hand to assist the delicate birth at the zoo near the city of Tours. The newborns will be placed in an incubator. “In the wild, a panda mom doesn’t raise two babies,” Debord said. “They will be handed to Huan Huan one after the other for feeding.”  Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, whose names translate as “Joy” and “Podgy” respectively, are due to stay in France until 2022 before being returned to China. Their offspring will stay in France until the age of two or three.",
            "output": [
                "Panda in French zoo expecting twins, Chinese experts on hand to help."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2de193154054b27934d5a6ffde217e3",
            "input": "A neighborhood resident brought the mottled brown eaglet to the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Hospital on May 11, after making sure it needed help. Another neighbor has been collecting money for its care and posting health updates outside her home. “Our Eagle is doing well and is flying. ... Thanks to all who donated to her recovery. YEA!” read a handwritten message on a paper grocery bag set over a signpost. The first flights of bald eagles often leave the bird stranded on the ground, but their parents generally keep feeding them until they fly again, according to the Journey North citizen science center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. However, this bird and its sibling began flying in late April. They’d made regular flights to and from other trees and light poles in the neighborhood before a neighbor saw this one walking in the street the evening of May 10, said Susan Miron, whose driveway faces the nest. A driver spotted the eaglet, stopped traffic and shooed the bird to a yard, she said. Coastal consultant and photographer P.J. Hahn, who has been photographing the birds since the parents began building the nest, said he was called for advice when the eaglet was still in the street. “Everyone was afraid to touch it” because of federal laws protecting raptors, Hahn recalled Friday. “I said, ‘Look. Somebody’s going to run over it. We’ve got to get it out of the street.’” He also called the veterinary school, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and others, but it was Friday night and nobody was in. To protect the pedestrian bird from dogs, they put it in a pet transportation crate overnight. When they let it out the next morning, it barely managed to flap to a fence and off again. Then it stayed on the ground, Hahn said. Its nestmate stayed in a tree above the grounded eaglet, calling out loudly, he said. After another round of fruitless calls he tried the veterinarian who treats his cats. The vet got him in touch with the wildlife hospital. Hahn said he had another commitment, and his veterinarian had to convince the woman who eventually took the bird to Baton Rouge that she wouldn’t face prosecution for getting the bird to the wildlife hospital. Veterinarians didn’t find any broken or injured bones, so they think the bird had a muscle injury, veterinary school spokeswoman Ginger Guttner said in a news release Friday. The birds are clumsy when learning to fly, Hahn said. “They fly into a tree and hit it hard. ... I’m sure it probably bruised its shoulder.” The Wildlife Hospital treats about 2,000 wild animals a year and doesn’t charge the Good Samaritans who bring them in. Miron printed flyers asking for donations and put them in the sort of covered box used to hold flyers for houses put up for sale. Next to the box is a big yellow arrow with the words “HELP EAGLE” on it. Some $300 was collected.",
            "output": [
                "Juvenile bald eagle found on ground to be released Tuesday."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d0265078e3f475ca2ed2d9729aba489",
            "input": "In the summer of 2018, the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy implemented by the administration of President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions had far-reaching political and social consequences. The policy — which has caused thousands of migrant parents to be separated from their children, often in uncertain and difficult circumstances — has prompted intense scrutiny and criticism, including from religious leaders up to Pope Francis. This religious opposition stepped up in June 2018, when Sessions invoked a biblical verse to justify the policy, Romans 13: 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. On 19 June, reports emerged that members of the United Methodist Church (to which Sessions belongs) had initiated quasi-judicial proceedings against him, including charges of child abuse:  More than 600 clergy and lay members of the United Methodist Church have signed a letter bringing church charges against fellow member Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the zero tolerance immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of undocumented children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The formal accusation, issued on Monday, charges Sessions with numerous violations of the denomination’s Book of Discipline, including child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and, for his citation of Romans 13 to defend the policy, the dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of the UMC. These reports are accurate. On 18 June 2018, some 640 United Methodist Church members and leaders signed their names to an open letter addressed to Rev. Sterling Boykin, a pastor at Sessions’s home church in Mobile, Alabama, and Rev. Tracy Wines, a pastor at the Arlington, Virginia UMC congregation where Sessions regularly attends. The letter read: We write to you, Mr. Sessions’ pastors…in the hopes that you will, as members of our connectional system, dig deeply into Mr. Sessions’ advocacy and actions that have led to harm against thousands of vulnerable humans. The signatories, led by Rev. David Wright, a UMC pastor from Washington state, wrote that they hoped to avoid a trial against Sessions in the church’s courts system, preferring instead a less formal “reconciling process.” Nonetheless, the group leveled four separate charges against the United States Attorney General: Under UMC rules, any member can bring a complaint against any other member based on their conduct, or an alleged violation of the church’s Book of Discipline. Typically, efforts are made to de-escalate grievances via mediation by church leaders and measures such as “supervision” or “just resolution.” However, occasionally complaints can reach the UMC’s Judicial Council, and pastors can be suspended or removed from their positions. In 2005, the Judicial Council caused controversy by handing down a series of rulings which excluded the LGBTQ community from participation in the church. The council defrocked a Philadelphia-based UMC minister on the grounds that she had publicly declared herself a lesbian and openly carried out a relationship with another woman, and it upheld the right of a pastor in South Hill, Virginia to prevent an openly gay man from joining his congregation. According to Rev. William Lawrence, a theologian, UMC elder and professor emeritus of American church history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, it would be unprecedented for formal charges against a lay member (as opposed to a pastor) to escalate to the level of a church trial, rather than being resolved with mediation at the local or regional level. Lawrence told United Methodist News:  I’m not aware of any circumstance in the 50-year history of The United Methodist Church when a complaint against a lay person moved beyond the stage of its resolution by a district superintendent or a pastor. We asked Rev. Tracy Wines and Rev. Sterling Boykin — Sessions’s pastors and the addressees of the open letter — for their response to the charges, as well as their views on the Attorney General’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy and the separation of children from their parents. We did not receive a response from either pastor, in time for publication. However, a spokesperson for the Alabama-West Florida Conference, in which the Attorney General’s home church is located, directed us to a statement issued on 18 June by the conference’s bishop David Graves, who wrote: …It deeply troubles me and burdens my heart that innocent immigrant children are being separated from their parents. It was difficult to celebrate Father’s Day knowing these unjust acts were ongoing in this country. The 18 June complaint letter is arguably the most significant public UMC criticism to date of Sessions’s immigration policy and the separation of children from their parents, but it is not the first time the Attorney General’s co-religionists have voiced their opposition. On 15 June, Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, who is the General Secretary of the UMC’s General Board of Church and Society and a senior national official in the church, described the zero-tolerance immigration policy in scathing terms, calling Sessions’s Biblical defense a “shocking violation of the spirit of the Gospel”: In early May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy resulting in de facto family separation: children are immediately removed from their parents as they are apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. And three days ago, the Attorney General also announced a policy reversing protections for asylum seekers fleeing domestic abuse and gang violence. Neither threat of violence is now considered grounds for asylum. Furthermore — and in response to the ardent opposition from a wide array of faith communities — the officials responsible for these policies have recently used Christian scripture to justify their actions. To argue that these policies are consistent with Christian teaching is unsound, a flawed interpretation, and a shocking violation of the spirit of the Gospel. She added: “Christian sacred texts should never be used to justify policies that oppress or harm children and families” and urged UMC members to contact Sessions’s Department of Justice directly to register their opposition to the policy, pointedly referring to him as “our fellow United Methodist.”  Former First Lady Laura Bush (a prominent UMC member along with her husband, former President George W. Bush) condemned Sessions’s policy as “cruel” and “immoral” and likened it to the internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II, in a high-profile column in the Washington Post. The Bush family’s Dallas, Texas UMC pastor, Rev. Paul Rasmussen, had harsh words for Sessions’ invocation of the Bible in defense of the immigration policy: The use of Holy Scripture to justify the separation of children from their parents is as ignorant and egregious an affront to God’s word as I’ve seen in ministry. — Paul Rasmussen (@revrasmussen) June 16, 2018",
            "output": [
                "In June 2018, members of the United Methodist Church brought church charges, including child abuse, against Attorney General Jeff Sessions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa5adeccf51542a09db1b77ec3d9ee68",
            "input": "An influenza virus vaccine vial sits on the counter of medical center in Great Neck, New York, October 22, 2004. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton SS  But they said school closings would create significant  hardships for working parents, who might be forced to create  informal daycare arrangements that would undo efforts to  contain the spread of flu. “We find school closings would be less effective than some  studies have suggested,” said Dr. Simon Cauchemez of Imperial  College London, whose study appears in the journal Nature. “The main effect would be to slow and flatten the outbreak  — so the numbers becoming ill in the worst week of the  outbreak might be reduced by up to 40 percent, reducing peak  demand on health-care systems,” Cauchemez said in an e-mail. Health experts almost universally agree that a global  epidemic — a pandemic — of influenza is overdue. The most  likely cause now is H5N1 avian influenza, which could evolve  into a form that passes easily from person to person. Government estimates suggest vaccines and drugs will not be  enough to slow or prevent a flu pandemic. The U.S. pandemic  plan recommends closing schools and implementing strategies to  limit social contact as a way to limit transmission. If done quickly, such widespread measures combined with  drugs and vaccines might reduce transmission in a large city by  as much as 80 percent, by one estimate. But such estimates are often based on widely varying  assumptions, Cauchemez said. He and colleagues instead used  public health data from France that compared flu transmission  when school was in session and during school holidays. They found school holidays prevent 16 to 18 percent of  seasonal influenza cases. When extrapolated to a pandemic, they  said prolonged school closure might reduce the cumulative  number of cases by 13 to 17 percent, and peak attack rates by  39 to 45 percent. But that impact would be reduced if it proved too difficult  to keep children apart. “If we want the policy to have an  impact, children must be kept relatively isolated and not cared  for in groups,” Cauchemez said. U.S. cities that quickly closed schools and discouraged  public gatherings during the great flu pandemic of 1918 —  which killed tens of millions of people globally — had as many  as 50 percent fewer deaths than cities that took less decisive  measures, according to a recent study. Cauchemez said an especially deadly pandemic might provide  strong incentives for people to keep their children at home. “It might nonetheless be difficult for a lot of working parents  to be absent from their work for months to look after their  kids,” he said. Cauchemez said a prolonged outbreak might force working  parents to put their children into informal daycare settings, a  risk governments need to consider when they formulate pandemic  flu plans. “We can’t predict how people will behave, but we need to be  aware that if this happens, school closings might have no  effect at all on flu transmission,” he said. H5N1 bird flu only rarely infects people now. It has killed  239 out of 379 infected, according to the World Health  Organization, but could easily mutate into a form that one  person could pass to another, and governments around the world  are preparing for the possibility.",
            "output": [
                "School closings may be no holiday for flu pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d5ab4a5d0f0146b0a3324e5df69bae00",
            "input": "\"The story lists the costs for screening – \"\"urine and blood tests that cost less than $25.\"\" The story mentions some interventions for people with declining kidney function, but these are not quantified. We are also not told if screening and subsequent monitoring and pharmacological interventions save lives, or how many people would need to be screened in order to makes such programs or practices cost effective. The story focuses on the benefits of detecting disease. They could have talked about the potential harms of mass screening (i.e. the need to draw blood or the possibility of false positives). While the story is not focused on blood pressure management, per se, we are told that ACE (angiotensin II receptor blockers) inhibitors are \"\"good for the heart\"\", but the story does not mention potential side effects of these medications. The story does an adequate job of explaining the evidence. The story does not engage in disease mongering but some of the language used is questionable. The story says chronic kidney disease (CKD)  patients are \"\"terrified\"\" of having to go on dialysis, but no CKD patients are actually interviewed. The story does give an explanation of how kidney function works and how it can become impaired by heart disease, but to say the kidneys \"\"disintegrate\"\" with CKD is not accurate. The story only provides one perspective, that of the study author whose work is highlighted in the story. Interviews with primary care doctors and nephrologists, and possibly patients would be useful for balance and for discussion of the pros and cons of mass screening. The story provides treatment options (medication) for managing early-stage chronic kidney disease and options for people who are making the decision for renal replacement if chronic kidney disease progresses to end-stage kidney disease (dialysis and transplant). It’s fairly clear from the story that the screening tests for kidney disease that are discussed are generally already available, although perhaps not used as much as some think they should be. The story does not talk about the lack of any national guidelines for screening. That might have helped emphasize the novelty of developing a population-based screening approach. Early screening may help doctors and patients stave off some of the effects of cardiovascular disease with medications to reduce blood pressure. Information in this story does not appear to be taken from a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Kidney, Heart Disease Spur Each Other"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25c40b0ae2a14fa185ed4777cbe1a2dd",
            "input": "The World Health Organization said Sunday that Malagasy authorities have confirmed a basketball coach visiting the island from the Seychelles for a sports event died from the disease Wednesday. It says authorities are trying to trace people he may have come into contact with to administer antibiotics against pneumonic plague. WHO says it is deploying further staff and supplies amid concerned the disease could spread further because cases have already been reported in several cities. So far at least 114 people have been infected with the plague since the outbreak was identified in late August. Both pneumonic and bubonic plague are endemic on the island.",
            "output": [
                "UN steps up aid to plague-hit Madagascar after 21 deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46e037c760c3423896de0844dad30f12",
            "input": "Hackensack Meridian Health did not say in its statement how much it paid to regain control over its systems but said it holds insurance coverage for such emergencies. The attack forced hospitals to reschedule nonemergency surgeries and doctors and nurses to deliver care without access to electronic records. The system said it was advised by experts not to disclose until Friday that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack. It said that its network’s primary clinical systems had returned to being operational, and that information technology specialists were working to bring all of its applications back online. Hackensack Meridian said it had no indication that any patient information was subject to unauthorized access or disclosure. It quickly notified the FBI and other authorities and spoke with cybersecurity and forensic experts, it said. Hackensack Meridian operates 17 acute care and specialty hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient centers, and the psychiatric facility Carrier Clinic.",
            "output": [
                "Large hospital system says it was hit by ransomware attack."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bac2eb40824a42808b56f5dc7ef83c41",
            "input": "The jury in a Philadelphia court awarded the $8 billion to a man who previously won $680,000 over his claims that it failed to warn that young men using Risperdal could grow breasts. J&J called the sum “grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award” and said it was confident it would be overturned. Legal experts agreed that the penalty was likely to be slashed. But the verdict, which helped drive J&J’s shares down 2% on Wednesday, is an example of how public outrage at the pharmaceutical industry for high drug prices has contributed to harsher verdicts against drugmakers accused of wrongdoing in recent years, legal experts said. Outsized penalties awarded by some juries highlight risks in a longstanding strategy by drugmakers such as J&J of taking their chances at trial rather then settle product liability lawsuits brought by patients. “Every pharmaceutical company needs to seriously consider if they want to litigate to verdict in the present environment, but with the settlement demands so incredibly high it’s not always clear what their alternative is,” said Barry Thompson, a partner at Baker McKenzie law firm who was not involved in the case. Drugmakers often prefer to litigate rather than settle in hopes of protecting their brands and discouraging future patient lawsuits, Thompson said. Companies also may use a series of early trial verdicts to gauge the size of any settlement it might eventually offer, as Merck & Co (MRK.N) did with its withdrawn Vioxx arthritis pain drug when facing thousands of lawsuits by patients who claimed harm from the drug. A 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision suggests that the upper limit of a fair punitive penalty in the Risperdal case would be about $6 million based on the earlier compensatory award. J&J could still get a favorable ruling on appeal that would give the company leverage in dealing with the remaining cases, said Benjamin McMichael, a professor at the Alabama School of Law who has researched punitive damage awards. “With such a large punitive damages award at issue, appellate courts may be more willing to come down hard on the plaintiffs,” McMichael said. J&J faces more than 13,000 lawsuits tied to Risperdal alleging that it caused a condition called gynecomastia in boys, in which breast tissue becomes enlarged. The company is also facing lawsuits involving its baby powder, opioids, medical devices and other products. “We’re operating within a very litigious environment, and we must at times be willing to go to trial when the science, facts and law are on our side,” J&J spokesman Ernie Knewitz said in an email. “We also have to remain open to resolving cases through settlement when and where that’s appropriate to do. We have a proven track record of being able to successfully and appropriately manage this balance,” Knewitz added. The company has had its share of legal wins, losses and settlements. An Oklahoma judge in August ordered J&J to pay $572.1 million to that state for its part in fueling the opioid crisis by deceptively marketing addictive painkillers, although the sum was substantially less than investors had expected. Johnson & Johnson has said it plans to appeal the ruling. Earlier this month, the company agreed to pay $20.4 million to settle claims by two Ohio counties, avoiding a federal opioid trial. In 2013, J&J paid more than $2.2 billion to resolve civil and criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice into its marketing of Risperdal and other drugs.",
            "output": [
                "Massive jury award against J&J highlights risks of its legal strategy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5aefefaf99f04d8c851e00b915c9d83c",
            "input": "The practice is prevalent in 28 African countries and parts of the Middle East and Asia, notably Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia. There are several types including partial or total removal of the genitalia and narrowing of the vaginal opening. It is usually arranged by other women in the family for girls between infancy and 15, and performed by traditional cutters who use anything from razor blades to scissors or tin can lids. The United Nations passed a resolution in December urging countries to ban the practice that an estimated 100 to 140 million girls worldwide have been subjected to, putting them at risk of serious physical and psychological problems. But participants at an international meeting in Rome said new laws needed to be accompanied by education and discussion in traditional communities to help dispel misleading myths. “Religious leaders have to be involved, primarily Muslims and those from traditional religions. Opinion leaders have to be on board in this fight,” Benin’s Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatouma Amadou Djibril said. “We can uphold traditions but we have to find ways to replace this kind of practice with different rituals,” she said. People often believe the practice is required by religion, but it is not mentioned in the Koran or any other religious text. Speakers at the Rome meeting said it was crucial to inform and educate the women who were perpetuating the practice, often because they worry they will be punished by ancestors in the afterlife for not performing it on relatives. “We need to explain to the women, because they don’t understand how it can be prevented - it has such important societal implications,” Ivory Coast Health Minister Raymonde Coffie Goudou said. “The traditional practitioner who uses the knife has value, she has a reputation, she is a woman with a role in the village - we have to understand her to deal with this,” she said. The practice can cause severe bleeding, pain, shock, recurrent urinary tract infections, cysts and infertility. It increases the risk of labor complications and newborn deaths. The procedure itself can prove fatal. Speakers said cross-border cooperation and enforcement was also crucial for eradicating the practice, because cutters often move to countries where legislation is less strict so they can carry on working unhindered. Female genital mutilation has been banned by 20 of the 28 countries that practice it in Africa as well as many industrialized countries. But enforcement is usually weak and prosecutions are rare.",
            "output": [
                "Ministers urge religious chiefs to oppose genital mutilation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57eb9c5495ff48f1a4d114744e7f4d8a",
            "input": "The World Health Organization on Wednesday made the emergency declaration for the year-old outbreak, a rare move that usually leads to more global attention and aid. More than 1,600 people have died in what has become the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history. Health experts worry about what would happen if Ebola reaches South Sudan as the shattered nation tries to recover from a five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions. Many health facilities were badly damaged or destroyed, and unrest continues in parts of the country despite a fragile peace deal signed in September. Last month a 41-year-old woman was discovered with Ebola in northeastern Congo, just 70 kilometers (43 miles) from South Sudan. She had traveled 500 kilometers from Beni, the epicenter of the outbreak, despite having been exposed to the virus and warned not to travel. South Sudan has sent a health team to strengthen surveillance at one of its busiest border posts, Kaya in Central Equatoria state, near where the woman’s case was confirmed. Hers was the closest confirmed case to South Sudan since this outbreak was declared. “The risk of cases of Ebola coming across the border into South Sudan is very high,” said Sudhir Bunga, South Sudan country director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “A person who comes into contact with a confirmed case of Ebola in (Congo) could travel to South Sudan, or any neighboring country, undetected during the 21-day incubation period and spread the disease once contagious.” That recently happened in neighboring Uganda, a more stable country with a more developed health system and experience with past Ebola outbreaks, as millions of people flow across borders in the densely populated region. Three people died in Uganda before other family members were taken back to Congo for treatment and Ugandan officials quickly declared the country was again free of the disease. Ebola’s spread into South Sudan would pose more of a challenge. Even though Ebola preparedness, including vaccinations for some health workers, began several months ago the current phase of the country’s $12 million response plan is just 36% funded, according to a report this month by the country’s health ministry. Fighting in places such as Central Equatoria has hampered efforts to prepare for Ebola. The United Nations’ migration agency manages 15 screening sites along the border but three others have yet to be established in part because of access challenges. Many South Sudan communities lack the basic resources to respond to one of the world’s most notorious diseases. The phone network in Central Equatoria is limited, meaning most people cannot call the emergency help line. Many hospitals don’t have staff trained to deal with the virus or the isolation wards needed to control its spread. The country is about 60% ready to deal with a potential Ebola outbreak, Richard Lako with South Sudan’s national Ebola task force has told The Associated Press. But he expressed concern about the border: “There are forest areas between communities in South Sudan and the Congo and these people can’t be screened from the other side. It’s a big worry if those people sneak in and we have a case. It’ll take us time to get in and control the issue.” South Sudan’s prevention efforts include educating communities to dispel myths about Ebola that have posed a major challenge for disease responders in Congo. Health workers in South Sudan’s border towns are going door-to-door trying to inform people, with support from WHO and people who responded to West Africa’s devastating outbreak in 2014-2016 that killed more than 11,000 people. At one animated training session earlier this year in an army barracks outside Yei, a major city in western South Sudan near the Congo border, two U.N. staffers playfully bumped elbows, showing how to greet others without shaking hands. Ebola is spread via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected. “Don’t touch each other, don’t play with saliva, yours or someone else’s,” a WHO staffer from Sierra Leone said. This month diplomats and other officials made a special visit to Yei, one of the hardest-hit cities during South Sudan’s civil war, to observe Ebola preparations. “It is really the most important place in South Sudan right now,” U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hushek said, according to the U.N. mission in South Sudan. “This is where we are most worried about what might happen.” ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "War-weakened South Sudan tries to prepare for Ebola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b27b55e3c474f0eafac9217c3fa42d2",
            "input": "At least 1.4 million Americans are using marijuana for their health, according to an Associated Press analysis of states that track medical marijuana patients. The number of medical marijuana cardholders more than tripled in the last five years as more states jumped on the bandwagon. The analysis is based on data from 26 states and the District of Columbia. The total climbs to 2.6 million patients if California, Washington and Maine are included, the AP estimates. States that expanded the use of medical pot for common ailments such as severe pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety saw a boost in enrollment, the AP found. The U.S. government, meanwhile, both considers marijuana an illegal drug and a therapeutic herb worth more study. A look at the health claims and research on medical marijuana: THE EVIDENCE Besides chronic pain, there’s strong evidence marijuana or its ingredients can ease nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and help with symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Several European countries have approved Sativex, a mouth spray containing THC and CBD, for multiple sclerosis symptoms. Last year, U.S. regulators approved Epidiolex, made from CBD, to treat two rare seizure disorders. THC causes marijuana’s mind-altering effect; CBD doesn’t get people high. British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is seeking U.S. approval for Sativex. Other companies are pursuing Food and Drug Administration backing for products based on marijuana ingredients. Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics, which filed for bankruptcy protection Monday as it faced fallout over its marketing of an addictive opioid painkiller, is developing CBD drugs for two types of childhood epilepsy and a rare genetic disorder. Pennsylvania-based Zynerba Pharmaceuticals is working on a CBD skin patch for autism and fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition. Prescription drugs already on the market use synthetic THC to treat weight loss, nausea and vomiting in patients with AIDS or cancer. And researchers continue to study whether marijuana helps with PTSD, back pain and other problems. OPIOID ALTERNATIVE? New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New Mexico allow medical marijuana for opioid addiction despite little evidence it works. But marijuana may be helpful in reducing use of opioid painkillers. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, better known for its research on herbs and yoga, has set aside $3 million for studies to determine which of marijuana’s 400-plus chemicals help with pain. THC was excluded however. Its mood-altering effects and potential for addiction and abuse make it less useful for pain, said Dr. David Shurtleff, the agency’s deputy director. And THC has been studied more than the lesser-known compounds. CURE FOR CANCER? Despite online claims, there’s only weak evidence that marijuana’s ingredients might one day be used to treat cancer. Most studies have been in animals or in the lab. Results have been mixed. In one study, nine patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer had THC injected into their tumors; any effect on their survival was unclear. Another study found worrying evidence that marijuana might interfere with some cancer drugs, making them less effective. RESEARCHING AN OUTLAW MEDICINE The U.S. government grows marijuana for research at a farm in Mississippi and generally bans grant-funded studies of real-world products. But a mobile lab inside a white Dodge van allows University of Colorado Boulder researchers to study the potent strains of marijuana many patients consume without running afoul of the law. Study participants use marijuana in their homes, coming to the van for blood draws and other tests before and after using, said Cinnamon Bidwell who has federal grants to study marijuana’s effects on lower back pain and anxiety. With increased demand for research pot, the Drug Enforcement Administration created an application process for growers, but has not acted on more than two dozen applications. Such challenges are common for scientists studying an outlaw medicine, said Dr. Igor Grant, who directs the oldest marijuana research center in the U.S. at the University of California, San Diego. There, scientists are studying marijuana chemicals for children with autism and adults with a brain disorder that causes uncontrollable shaking. Established by state law in 2000, the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research once relied solely on California for funding. The center now has support from private foundations, a sign of growing public acceptance of the research. TRACKING PATIENTS Minnesota medical marijuana patients must regularly fill out surveys about their symptoms and side effects. That allows researchers to study how people with cancer react to marijuana. In one study, a third of cancer patients made only one purchase and didn’t come back during a four-month period. They may have died, or decided marijuana was too expensive or didn’t work. Of the rest, most reported improvements in vomiting, pain, disturbed sleep, anxiety and depression with few side effects. Marijuana can ease many symptoms “all at one time,” but more study is needed, said study co-author Dr. Dylan Zylla of the health care system HealthPartners. He has no financial ties to cannabis companies. Zylla is studying whether cancer patients can decrease their prescription opioid use while using marijuana. Marijuana “does seem to help patients,” he said, “but so much is unknown about the risks, side effects and drug interactions.” ___ AP data journalist Angeliki Kastanis in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Marijuana health claims lure patients as science catches up."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de91502353574ae2b41a05eec25ca6b5",
            "input": "The experimental vaccine is being tested in an early-stage trial conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Moderna expects to begin mid-stage trial in the second quarter. Depending on the data from these studies and discussions with regulators, the company said a late-stage study could begin as soon as fall of 2020. The drug developer said BARDA funding would support the vaccine’s clinical development program, as well as the scale-up manufacture of the vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, in 2020. Moderna plans to hire up to 150 new team members in the United States this year to support the ramp-up. Moderna’s study has made the most headway among efforts by the pharmaceutical industry to develop coronavirus vaccines as it is the first to be tested in human patients. The vaccine uses synthetic messenger RNA (mRNA) to inoculate against the coronavirus. Such treatments help the body immunize against a virus and can potentially be developed and manufactured more quickly than traditional vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "Moderna receives $483 million BARDA award for COVID-19 vaccine development."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9dd30e29efef4f56b5c26e184743af7d",
            "input": "Families of the victims of Heparin reactions testify during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on Heparin imports from China on Capitol Hill, April 29, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Young Leroy Hubley said his wife, Bonnie, and son, Randy, had undergone kidney dialysis at an Ohio clinic and were given heparin that was later recalled by Baxter International Inc. Both had reactions to the blood thinner and died within one month of each other. “Now I am left to deal not only with the pain of losing my wife and son, but anger that an unsafe drug was permitted to be sold in this country,” Hubley, who frequently choked back tears and wiped his eyes, told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration probe found a contaminant in some batches of Baxter’s heparin. Officials said tests showed the chemical could have caused the reactions reported in 81 deaths of patients treated with some brand of heparin since January 2007. Lawmakers questioned Baxter and its ingredient supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC (SPL), about why they failed to detect the heparin contamination. Both companies said it appeared the chemical was deliberately added before either company received the ingredients. Baxter, which had supplied about half of the U.S. heparin market, recalled most of its heparin products in February. The action followed a string of U.S. recalls linked to China last year, ranging from tainted pet food and toothpaste to excessive lead in paint that swept millions of toys from stores. The heparin contaminant has been detected in 13 countries, FDA officials have said, but only the United States and Germany have seen reports of an increase in allergic reactions. The FDA says all heparin imported into the United States is now tested for contamination and the current supply is safe. Hubley and other relatives of heparin victims urged new steps to keep medicines free of contamination. “I want to know what is going to be done to rectify the matter. I want to know if my daughter, Dawn, and the millions of others who continue to receive dialysis are safe,” Hubley said. Baxter Chief Executive Robert Parkinson said the company was “alarmed that one of our products was used, in what appears to have been a deliberate scheme, to adulterate a life-saving medication, and that people have suffered as a result.”   “We deeply regret that this has happened, and I feel a strong sense of personal responsibility for these circumstances,” he said. Heparin — used in dialysis and some surgeries to prevent blood clots — is derived from pig intestines and often collected from small, mostly unregulated farms in China. FDA tests found the recalled drug contained an altered form of chondroitin sulfate that mimics raw heparin. Chinese officials have said the chemical was present but is not to blame for the reactions or deaths. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said it remained uncertain whether the contamination was intentional or accidental. He said both companies should have done more to assure their products were safe. “Both Baxter and SPL have failed the American public,” said Stupak, chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight and investigations panel. Using the contaminant would be about 100 times cheaper than real heparin, said committee investigator David Nelson. Lawmakers attacked the FDA for failing to inspect SPL’s plant in Changzhou, China, before approving Baxter’s heparin. Agency inspectors found a series of manufacturing problems during a visit in February, after Baxter’S recall. Baxter officials audited the facility five months earlier and said they found acceptable conditions, Nelson said. “I’m really baffled by that. How is it you can have two divergent findings from the same plant?” Stupak asked. Baxter’s Parkinson said the visits happened at different times, and the drug maker’s audit was routine while the FDA visit was in response to a specific problem. Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the agency needed more tools and better technology to hold companies accountable. “FDA needs the help of Congress to make sure that a tragedy like this does not happen again,” Woodcock said. Woodcock said it would cost about $225 million annually for the FDA to inspect, every other year, all pharmaceutical plants around the world that supply the U.S. market. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would charge drug and device makers fees to boost inspections.",
            "output": [
                "Families tell U.S. lawmakers of heparin deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62d2cb19cd6c4ca783c77a574315d5e0",
            "input": "Once in 2002, Hon forgot to remove a nicotine patch from his stomach before bed and had nightmares all night. He traced it to the continuous dose of nicotine and then realized it was precisely that steady release that made patches inadequate for him. Without the sharp nicotine highs he got from smoking, he found there was no relaxation or stress relief. Armed with a background in Oriental medicine, knowledge of mechanics and an interest in electronics, Hon set out to make something that would mimic smoking - without the deadly smoke. His drive was galvanized further when his father, also a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly afterwards. He died in 2004. “I believed that if I could use vapor to simulate cigarette smoke, this could help me,” Hon told Reuters on Tuesday. Thirteen years on from those nightmares, the 59-year-old stopped off in London after participating in a global summit in Warsaw on nicotine as the father of the most disruptive technology the industry has seen. He is also now employed by one of its biggest players, Imperial Tobacco Group, following Imperial’s 2013 purchase of Hon’s business. Imperial, the world’s fourth-largest tobacco company, will become a major e-cigarette player in the United States following its purchase of the Blu brand in a deal expected to close this week. E-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapor, have ignited a global market for “vaping” products that could top $7 billion this year. In the absence of definitive studies about the long-term health effects of vaping, they are the subject of great debate. Tobacco giants including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco are also racing to enter the market as governments race to control it. ‘CLOUD-CHASERS’  Authorities in Wales on Tuesday proposed a new public health law that would ban e-cigarettes in enclosed spaces like offices and restaurants following similar moves in Ireland and elsewhere. Some regulators fear e-cigarettes could lead non-smokers to vape or even smoke, while proponents say bans discourage smokers from switching. “E-cigarettes are a consumer-driven revolution,” Hon said, noting the array of products now on the market that address the needs of various groups, from people wanting to cut back or quit smoking to a new band of recreational “cloud-chasers” who use nicotine-free vapor to blow the biggest and densest clouds. “When automotive manufacturers first started out, they were not thinking about a sport to be called Formula One. You always have groups of people who are looking for excitement,” Hon said of the cloud-chasing phenomenon. Although most e-cigarettes are manufactured in China, the market there is very small and tobacco smoking remains high. China is by far the world’s biggest tobacco market, and is a virtual monopoly dominated by state-owned firm China National Tobacco. Some estimates peg revenue from tobacco sales as making up as much as 10 percent of the government’s coffers. Yet Hon could soon see more people in his home city of Beijing vaping, due to this month’s implementation of strict rules on smoking in public places. Anyone who violates a ban on smoking in restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals and in certain outdoor public places must pay a 200 yuan ($32.25) fine. That is 20 times the current, albeit rarely enforced, penalty. Hon said second and third-tier cities in China could follow Beijing’s lead as governments seek to improve public health. “I understand the market is slowly changing,” said Hon, who now only smokes when his job requires him to compare the flavors of various tobaccos and vapes. “What could happen to the Chinese market could be similar to what’s happening here.”",
            "output": [
                "E-cigs a 'consumer-driven' revolution born from a bad dream."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b67dd402f944679921097f09e04cf6e",
            "input": "Nigeria has reported 317 confirmed cases in two months, more than the total for all of last year. The World Health Organization says there are 20 suspected cases across the border in Benin. Nigeria has reported 72 deaths so far. There is no vaccine for the hemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted through the bodily fluids of sick people. Humans also can contract the disease by coming into contact with food contaminated by rat excrement. Those with the disease initially present with high fever but in extreme cases can later suffer bleeding from the nose and mouth.",
            "output": [
                "Nigeria reports record high Lassa fever cases with 317."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa50bfdaba254ba588dce1a7ef8e333b",
            "input": "Michael Phelps appears in “Angst” to share his story of being bullied and depressed, leading to severe anxiety. The swimmer, winner of 28 Olympic medals, would look in the mirror and not like what he saw. “Once I opened up about that and things that I had kept inside of me for so many years, I then found that life was a lot easier. I got to the point where I understood that it’s OK to not be OK,” he says in the film. “Angst,” an IndieFlix film designed to be screened at schools and community centers, features candid interviews with children and young adults discussing their anxiety, along with advice from mental health experts and resources and tools. Phelps is like a muscular explanation mark for what the filmmakers wanted to show — that even world champions can feel low. “I’m grateful because my mission with this film is to help make the world a better place and I believe he is so additive on that level,” said Scilla Andreen, CEO and co-founder of IndieFlix. “If we can introduce prevention, self-care and well-being to our children — even in the pre-K and kindergarten years — they can have a completely different life.” Andreen hopes the film will reach more than 3 million people around the world from 25,000 community and school screenings. “Angst” was filmed in the U.S. and United Kingdom and is appropriate for children starting at age 10. “Anxiety is totally treatable,” she said. “It can be a precursor to so many things that can then lead to addiction, homelessness, dropping out of school and a host of other mental health challenges.” Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenge in the U.S., impacting 54 percent of females and 46 percent of males, with age 7 being the median age of onset, according to the World Health Organization. The American College Health Association has found that undergraduates reporting “overwhelming anxiety” jumped to 62 percent in 2016 from 50 percent in 2011. “Talking about it is the most effective thing you can do and, of course, the last thing you want to do,” said Andreen. In addition to talking, writing about your feelings or connecting to music can help. “Anything that helps you to take a break from the anxiety and move the energy to the front of the brain.” Andreen, whose distribution streaming service embraces projects that push for social change, was bullied as a child and learned something about herself while working on the film. “Everyone has anxiety. And I learned in making the movie that I have social anxiety. I never even knew that. I just thought I was born less than everyone else and that was my lot in life. I would always have to work harder, try harder, never fit in,” she said. “I don’t feel so alone.” In addition to the documentary, IndieFlix is creating a web-based series on anxiety to dig deeper into the issue and has produced a virtual reality component that allows users to experience a panic attack firsthand. Andreen believes anxiety levels are so high in part because of the pace of modern life and the amount of time people spend with their electronic devices, which takes away from connecting in person and developing empathy. “We need more face time with each other,” said Andreen, a former Emmy-nominated costume designer. “We just stopped doing it. We’re out of practice, that’s all.” ___ Online: Film: http://angstmovie.com See Phelps: https://vimeo.com/234937898 __ Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits",
            "output": [
                "Documentary about anxiety taps a world-class athlete."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74679effc1d04a4fbaf4b8b0020b4ce3",
            "input": "Rather, for the heart. The Little Hats, Big Hearts program, sponsored by the American Heart Association, distributes little, red, handmade hats to babies born in February. The effort aims to spark conversations about congenital heart defects in newborn babies. Recently, Ryan Jerico, development director of AHA, brought 100 hats to donate to the Mon Health Family Birth Center. According to the AHA, congenital heart defects are the top killer of newborns with birth defects. The word “congenital” means the defect existed at birth. This happens when vessels around the heart or the heart itself don’t form properly. Jerico said Little Hats, Big Hearts started in Chicago in 2014. In 2017, The Today Show did a story on the program, and the movement blew up nationwide. “Last year, West Virginia had a little over 1,300 hats donated. We distributed those to hospitals all over the state. Last year here, we had over 100 hats donated specifically to this hospital,” he said. About 1,500 hats are being donated in West Virginia this year. They come from volunteers across the state who take time to knit them. “We want to make awareness of congenital heart defects. One in 100 babies is born with a congenital heart defect. Whether it’s a small hole in their heart all the way to a seriously life-threatening condition,” Jerico said. Jill Buterbaugh, health system director of Women’s Service Line, said the best part about the program is the affiliation with the AHA and getting the word out about the program and heart defects, at birth and throughout life. “I think getting the awareness out, the Red Hat program causes us to talk about it with our patients. It’s always a very nice gesture to be able to give the families a pretty red hat for the month of February and celebrate for Valentine’s, as well,” Buterbaugh said. Baby Anderson Plaski was the recipient of a red hat. Anderson’s mom, Beth Plaski, is a nurse at Mon Health Medical Center, and she was happy to be able to bring awareness to heart defects by participating in the program. “I said absolutely that I would love to participate in this and to bring awareness to anybody that I can about the red hats,” Beth Plaski said. “And now I’m able to do so, not only with my little guy, but through my work.” ___ Information from: The Dominion Post, http://www.dominionpost.com",
            "output": [
                "Babies receive hats with heart through program."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e5e32884a4148388904e7ff942437a0",
            "input": "The results marked the third successful Phase III test of the drug evolocumab reported by Amgen in recent months - this one in a patient population among the most in need of alternative therapies. An estimated five to 20 percent of heart patients are intolerant of statin medications for lowering cholesterol due to side effects such as muscle weakness or fatigue, Amgen said. Evolocumab belongs to a class of medicine called PCSK9 inhibitors that work by blocking a protein that reduces the liver’s ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. Based on dramatic LDL lowering demonstrated by Amgen and other companies in earlier studies, PCSK9 inhibitors could be the most important new heart drugs to come along in several years with multibillion-dollar sales potential. The injected medicines are likely to be used in high risk heart patients unable to lower their LDL levels sufficiently with high doses of widely used statin drugs, such as Pfizer’s Lipitor, and in those unable to take statins. Many patients remain at high risk of heart attack and stroke “despite the use of all available therapies,” Amgen research and development chief Sean Harper said in a telephone interview. “The ability to treat those individuals with a completely distinct mechanism and see this very large effect size of dropping LDL cholesterol by roughly 50 percent, that’s a pretty big deal for those patients,” Harper said. The company expects during the current quarter to have results of its final two Phase III studies - one in patients already taking high doses of statins and one in patients genetically predisposed to dangerously high cholesterol levels. Amgen will provide details of its latest 307-patient Phase III study, called GAUSS-2, which compared evolocumab to Merck & Co’s Zetia (ezetimibe), at an upcoming medical meeting. However, the world’s largest biotech company said the percentage of cholesterol lowering was consistent with those observed in a similar, smaller Phase II trial. In that study, evolocumab led to 51 percent reduction in LDL levels and 63 percent when combined with Zetia versus a 15 percent reduction seen with Zetia alone. “It’s very unusual to have a therapeutic that addresses one of the underlying factors that drive the greatest mortality risk that exists in Western countries, and increasingly in developing countries - cardiovascular disease driven by atherosclerosis,” Harper said. The company anticipates that some of its global filings seeking approval of the drug will occur this year. “We don’t come across therapeutics like this very often in this industry,” Harper said. “It is very exciting, and as we get each data set our confidence slowly builds that we have the efficacy and the safety profile that will make this an important medicine.”  Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, in partnership with Sanofi, is also in Phase III testing of a rival drug. Pfizer is developing its own PCSK9 inhibitor. Amgen shares were down about 0.6 percent at $123.55 on Nasdaq, roughly in line with declines in the broader market.",
            "output": [
                "Amgen cholesterol drug meets goal of 3rd late stage trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b4711e63d5b44ce1a1341a78c925a61c",
            "input": "The panel voted 16 to 1 in favor of the drug, Northera, for patients with neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (NOH), a rare, chronic type of low blood pressure that occurs on standing and is associated with certain neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Chelsea shares more than doubled in after-hours trading. The FDA is not bound to follow the advice of its panels but typically does so. Panelists wrestled with gaps in the clinical data which they said made it difficult to determine whether the drug, which appears effective after one week’s treatment, is effective over the long term. Most suggested the company be required to conduct a follow-up study to prove a durable benefit. Dr. James de Lemos, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said he voted in favor “based on the compelling evidence of suffering and the absence of viable alternatives,” but said the approval should be conditional on further study. Patients and patient advocates testified before the panel about the positive impact the drug has had on their lives. Gail Hershkowitz, 65, a retired music teacher who lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 15 years ago and, later, with NOH. She said in an interview that she became afraid to leave her house after fainting and vomiting multiple times in public. She took Northera as part of a clinical trial and says it has enabled her to lead a relatively normal life. But some panelists expressed frustration that the experience of patients who have benefited from the drug was not clearly backed up by data from the clinical trials. A reviewer for the FDA, Dr. Shari Targum, said in preparatory documents published on Friday that she did not think the data was strong enough to support approval. Chelsea’s shares fell as much as 36 percent following that review. They were halted during the panel meeting on Tuesday, and rose to $5.78 in after-hours trading from a close on Monday of $2.30  Northera, also known as droxidopa, is converted by the body into norepinephrine, a chemical messenger that sends signals to blood vessels and the heart to regulate blood pressure. Insufficient norepinephrine can lead to light-headedness and fainting upon standing. Chelsea originally filed for approval of droxidopa in 2011, based on a study known as 301. In February, 2012, an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of the drug, but the agency rejected it and asked for additional data. The company sought to address the FDA’s concerns using data from a different study known as 306B, but the FDA denied the request and said an additional trial would be needed. Chelsea appealed the decision, and in early 2013 the FDA agreed to accept a resubmission based on data from the 306B study, saying that while short-term data, if convincing, would be adequate for approval, a post-approval study could be required to prove the results were durable. Targum said the results of study 306B did not meet those criteria. Most panelists, however, said that while there was no convincing evidence that the drug provides a durable benefit, there was no convincing evidence to show that it does not show a benefit. “This is a terrible disease and there are no other effective medications,” said Dr. Vasilios Papademetriou, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Georgetown University. Although the studies were not perfect, he said, “the data convinced me there is a long lasting benefit in some patients.”  Chelsea licensed rights to the drug outside Asia from Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma in 2006. It was introduced in Japan in 1989.",
            "output": [
                "FDA advisory panel backs Chelsea Therapeutics drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14222808525041bfbeb95a8469ee1fde",
            "input": "\"Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., supporters and opponents of gun control have thrown out statistics to support their point of view. Here’s one that caught our eye, offered by liberal commentator Mark Shields on the Dec. 21, 2012, edition of the PBS NewsHour. Shields told host Judy Woodruff, \"\"You know, Judy, the reality is -- and it's a terrible reality -- since Robert Kennedy died in the Ambassador Hotel on June 4, 1968, more Americans have died from gunfire than died in … all the wars of this country's history, from the Revolutionary through the Civil War, World War I, World War II, in those 43 years. ... I mean, guns are a problem. And I think they still have to be confronted.\"\" Is the death toll that high? Let's examine each half of his comparison. Deaths from warfare  We found a comprehensive study of war-related deaths published by the Congressional Research Service on Feb. 26, 2010, and we supplemented that with data for deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan using the website icasualties.org. Where possible, we’ve used the broadest definition of \"\"death\"\" -- that is, all war-related deaths, not just those that occurred in combat. Here’s a summary of deaths by major conflict:  4,435 2,260 13,283 525,000 2,446 116,516 405,399 36,574 58,220 383 2,175 4,486 1,171,177 Another 362 deaths resulted from other conflicts since 1980, such as interventions in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Somalia and Haiti, but the number is not large enough to make a difference. Gunfire deaths  The number of deaths from gunfire is a bit more complicated to total. Two Internet-accessible data sets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allow us to pin down the number of deaths from 1981 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2010. We’ve added FBI figures for 2011, and we offer a number for 1968 to 1980 using a conservative estimate of data we found in a graph in this 1994 paper published by the CDC. Here is a summary. The figures below refer to total deaths caused by firearms: We should note that these figures refer to all gun-fire related deaths -- not just homicides, but also suicides and accidental deaths. In 2011, about one-quarter of firearm-related deaths were homicides, according to FBI and CDC data. Using total firearm-related deaths makes the case against guns more dramatic than just using homicides alone. When we rated a previous Facebook post, we lowered an otherwise  claim because it said that \"\"nearly 100,000 people get shot every year.\"\" We found that the number of gun deaths and non-fatal injuries added up to 104,852, but we concluded that the term \"\"get shot\"\" could suggest victims who got shot by someone else rather than by their own hand. We don’t see a similar problem with the way Shields’ comment was phrased -- namely, \"\"died from gunfire.\"\" Our ruling Since Shields’ comparison was otherwise accurate, with about 1.4 million firearm deaths to 1.2 million in war.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Since 1968, \"\"more Americans have died from gunfire than died in … all the wars of this country's history.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d23fe456bb040ecadb03007849663b9",
            "input": "In October 2019, an animated GIF purportedly showing the decapitated head of a wolf eel biting down on a can of Coca-Cola was shared to the “WTF” section of Reddit under the title “the head of a Wolf Eel can still bite and poison you after it’s been decapitated”: The head of a Wolf Eel can still bite and poison you after it’s been decapitated. from r/WTF  This is a genuine piece of footage. However, the title of this post contains at least one error: The wolf eel is not poisonous or venomous. Furthermore, the wolf eel isn’t an actual “eel.” The wolf eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) is a species of wolffish that lives in the North Pacific Ocean. The Seattle Aquarium explains: The eel that’s not an eel Wolf eels aren’t eels at all—they’re fish, and not the same as true eels. One key distinction is that wolf eels have pectoral fins behind their heads, which is characteristic of fish, not marine eels like morays. Put simply, they’re a just a long, skinny fish! The above-displayed GIF comes from a longer video that was posted to YouTube in January 2019. The original video appears to have been taken aboard a commercial fishing ship. Filmmaker Rúni Djurhuus titled the footage “Catfish vs. Coke,” but the marine species in the video is labeled a “wolf eel” and a “catfish wolf eel” in the description:  Don’t stick your hand into the mouth of a dead fish – even after you chop the things head off. Head of a wolf eel that can bite you even after the head is detached from the body. One reason for the confusion may relate to this fish’s nickname, the “ocean catfish.” We compared stills from the GIF with photographs and believe that the marine creature featured in this video is indeed a wolf eel. We’ve reached out to the Marine Conservation Institute to confirm and will update this article when more information becomes available. The original video also provides some insight into how and why this decapitated fish head bit down on a can of Coca-Cola. While some viewers hypothesized that this fish head was still alive when this video was filmed, it’s likely that the footage shows an involuntary muscle reflex. The original video shows that this fish was decapitated just before a Coke can was pushed into its jaws. It’s likely that the fish’s nerve endings were still functioning, and that pressure near its jaw triggered a muscle spasm. In June 2018, after a man in Texas was bitten by a decapitated rattlesnake head, National Geographic and Science Alert penned articles explaining the phenomena: The bodies of snakes often writhe around for some time after they are dead, says Bruce Jayne, a biology professor at the University of Cincinnati. It’s a similar reflex to that of a headless chicken being able to run around for a short time, Jayne says. The mechanism behind this eerie behavior is a nervous system pre-programmed to make certain movements without the brain needing to send a signal. And a decapitated venomous snake head is evidently pre-programmed to bite in response to a stimulus—such as a someone trying to pick it up, he said. Snakes and other cold-blooded animals such as fish and amphibians, on the other hand, don’t thermoregulate internally, instead relying on outside sources for warmth. Because their bodies aren’t generating their own heat, their energy and oxygen requirements are lower. This is how some cold-blooded, or ectothermic, animals are able to survive conditions without oxygen for periods of time. And it’s why snakes (and other reptiles) continue to move after being bisected. As seen in the below video, the body will reflexively writhe for a time after being cut off the brain – but the head itself can remain “alive”, and likely on the defensive because of the pain of being chopped. It will attempt to bite whatever it can – even its own wriggling body. The wolf eel may be scary looking and may have a powerful bite, but these fish aren’t aggressive. In fact, these friendly fish are a favorite among scuba divers. The eel-like fish can grow up to 8 feet in length and subsists on a diet of sea urchins, mussels, and clams, which it can eat thanks to its powerful jaws: The friendly, but fierce looking wolf-eel is a favorite of Pacific Northwest divers. They can often be spotted peering out of the many crevices and holes in popular local dive sites. When lured out of their dens in search of their favorite food (Sea Urchins), this impressive fish is a sight to behold, growing to a maximum length of 8’. While not a true eel (eels have no pectoral fins), wolfies are actually a fish with an elongated body and are referred to by scientists as a “wolf-fish”. Don’t judge a book by its cover with wolf eels. It’s not an eel, but a long, slender fish. It’s not aggressive like its sharp teeth suggest, but generally gentle. Wolf eels also form one of the sweetest pairings in the sea: they mate for life and huddle together in a rocky cave or crevice. They are dedicated parents, with both partners guarding the eggs and their territory. In the cold Pacific waters of their range, that sounds like the perfect way to keep warm!",
            "output": [
                "A video shows the decapitated head of a poisonous wolf eel biting down on a can of coca-cola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52fbf5d65b4c48b38e6f6c38e4773bb9",
            "input": "Public health experts are urging caution as governments ease restrictions on eateries, shops and parks in many countries and roll out measures to restart dormant factories. The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 300,000 people, has slowed in many places but could pick up again if precautions aren’t taken or officials move too quickly to get people back to work. “The message is, yes, appreciate all the efforts, appreciate the opportunity to release some of those measures, but let’s not have a party, let’s not go to town,” said Tony Bartone, president of the Australian Medical Association. Most restaurants are limited to 10 customers at a time, and Bartone said people must maintain social distance, follow coughing etiquette, wash their hands regularly and stay away from others if they are ill. Italy’s tourism industry is focused firmly on June 3, when both regional and international borders reopen, allowing the first prospect of tourists since Europe’s first lockdown went into place in early March. In tourist-reliant Venice, occupancy of the city’s 50,000 hotel beds has hovered around zero ever since. “Venice lives on tourism, period,” said Claudio Scarpa, head of the city’s hotel association. ’’All the economic structures that operate in the city, including the port, are tied to tourism.”  While Venice hopes for some kind of restart, it may have to wait a while yet. Germany — its border about a four-hour drive from Venice — is instructing citizens not to travel abroad for tourism until at least June 15. In Milan, Italy’s financial capital, 3,400 restaurants plan to open Monday, along with 4,800 bars, 2,900 hairdressers, 2,200 clothing stores and 700 shoe shops. “After a long period at home, we will all want to go out and have a good coffee in a bar, eat a pizza in a pizzeria, buy a pair of jeans, or go to the hairdressers,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said in a Facebook video Saturday. Many restaurant owners, however, complained that the new rules for reopening were unclear and that the entire sector — including suppliers and food producers — was suffering. Dozens protested Saturday outside Milan’s main train station in front of signs reading: “I won’t open today to close tomorrow,” and calling for an abolition of taxes and more concrete help. In the United States, an Associated Press analysis found that 41 of the nation’s 50 states fall short of the COVID-19 testing levels that experts say are necessary to avoid another wave of outbreaks, even as some of those states move aggressively to allow businesses to reopen. Rapid, widespread testing is considered essential to tracking and containing the coronavirus. The AP analysis is based on metrics developed by Harvard University’s Global Health Institute. Harvard researchers have calculated that the U.S. needs to test at least 900,000 people daily to reopen the economy safely, nearly three times the current tally of about 360,000, according to figures compiled by the COVID Tracking Project website. Among the states falling short are Texas and Georgia, which have reopened shopping malls, barbershops and other businesses. “I really do feel there are dangers here to opening up without enough tests, but I don’t feel it’s a uniform danger everywhere in the country,” said.Dr. Ashish Jha, director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute. New York state is moving more cautiously. It will allow smaller cities and rural regions spared the brunt of the outbreak to reopen first. The first wave will include retail — though only for curbside or in-store pickup — along with construction and manufacturing. Gov. Andrew Cuomo also said beaches would reopen in time for next weekend’s Memorial Day holiday. In South Korea, which has one of the highest levels of testing, a Health Ministry spokesman said Saturday that the country may have dodged a major outbreak after finding 162 cases linked to clubgoers in Seoul, the densely populated capital. Son Young-rae said 46,000 people have been tested in the club-related outbreak. “It’s notable there were no new transmissions in churches, call centers and gyms where virus carriers went to,” he said, adding it was a sign that facilities and businesses are practicing proper hygiene and enforcing distance between people. India overtook China in the number of confirmed infections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is due to announce this weekend a decision whether to extend the 54-day-old lockdown. India counted 85,940 infections and 2,752 deaths compared to China’s 82,941 confirmed case and 4,633 fatalities. China is shortening its annual legislative session, which begins late next week in Beijing, as small clusters of cases pop up elsewhere in the country. The spread of the disease has largely stopped in the country where the pandemic started, but Jilin province in the northeast has reported 28 cases over nine days, the latest two on Friday. In Mexico, the number of new confirmed cases hit a new daily high Friday, even as the government clarified guidelines for the construction, mining and automotive industries to start returning to work Monday. The country recorded more than 2,000 cases for the second straight day, suggesting its outbreak has yet to peak. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, straddling the issue, said Friday that “we have to be more careful, not relax the discipline.” Meanwhile, efforts to find new and effective testing methods for the new coronavirus now include man’s best friend. British researchers are launching a trial to see whether dogs can use their noses to detect whether humans have COVID-19 before they show symptoms. Britain’s health department said that disease control experts are looking into whether dogs, which have been trained to sniff out certain cancers and malaria, can be potentially be used as a “non-invasive, early warning measure” to identify the coronavirus. Six dogs, including labradors and cocker spaniels, have started basic training for the trial. ___ Passa reported from Brisbane, Australia, and Gorondi from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this story. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Pizzas (and haircuts) back on the menu, but with warnings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bdcebdb067847bf9d38531f9c1fdfbd",
            "input": "The pitch black cattle, blending into their muddy surroundings and stretching as far as the eye can see, are being fattened up for the Japanese market where marbled Angus beef is in high demand. These bulls at the feedlot owned by Japan’s Aeon Co Ltd book an even higher premium, thanks to Tasmania’s  status as the only Australian state that bans genetically modified food crops and animal feed. That moratorium has made Tasmania - an island the size of Ireland separated from Australia’s mainland by 250 km (150 miles) of Bass Strait waters - a model of high-end, value-added agriculture production. Tasmania’s isolation and wilderness once made it a dumping ground for the British Empire’s convicts. But these same qualities, and a small population of just over half a million people, make the island one of the cleanest places on earth. Now, with fewer and fewer places in the world free from genetically modified farming and the innovations it brings, the pristine environment is under threat. The state government says it is planning legislation to extend the ban on genetically modified farming when it expires later this year. But Tasmania’s powerful poppy industry, the world’s largest supplier of pharmaceutical grade opiates for painkillers, is strongly lobbying for the moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMO) to be lifted. Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Tasmanian Alkaloids, GlaxoSmithKline and Australia’s privately-held TPI Enterprises, who share a A$120 million ($113 million) oligopoly, see a major threat looming as Victoria state on the mainland recently indicated it wanted to allow production of genetically modified poppies. That throws open the prospect of tough competition and Tasmanian poppy farms losing out on cost-savings just as global demand for painkillers surges. “There is a threat,” said Tasmanian Alkaloids field operator Rick Rockliff, whose factory in the state’s northwest processes around 80 percent of the world’s thebaine poppies, the main ingredient in slow-release pain medication. “I would hope our government wouldn’t sit on their hands and let that happen.”  The road that Tasmania chooses will be critical as Australia seeks to fulfill lofty ambitions to become a “food bowl” for a rapidly growing middle-class in Asia. Already the world’s third largest exporter of beef and the No.4 wheat exporter, Australia is eyeing agriculture as a key economic driver as a decade-long mining investment boom that brought the country riches wanes. But critics warn that it is in danger of failing at the farm gate due to the country’s harsh, drought-prone climate and a lack of investment in agricultural innovation. In Tasmania, the accent is on high-value crops and cattle for export. The state’s niche producers are supplying everything from off-season wasabi and lavender teddy bears to fresh salmon and live abalone and see this as the future, rather than low value, bulk commodities. Its wine industry is thriving as climate change pressures major producers to move from traditional grape-growing regions on the mainland to Tasmania’s cooler climes. These products attract a premium because of the GMO ban - the state’s honey brings in prices of at least 40 percent more than mainland honey - according to the Safe Food Foundation. Tasmania Feedlot Pty Ltd in Powranna is home to between 6,000 and 11,000 Angus cattle all year round. The animals are beefed up over a period of five to six months before large cuts are shipped frozen to Japan. “They’re looking for a very safe product, and a very consistent product,” said the feedlot’s Managing Director Andrew Thompson of the company’s Japanese buyers. “GM is one of the main factors, along with no use of hormone growth promotants,” he added. “We’ve got this great reputation of being safe and clean and I think we’ve got to enhance that into the future.”  The use of GMOs was outlawed in Tasmania more than a decade ago, after genetically altered canola escaped from crops at secret trials around the state. The state government says it plans to introduce legislation later this year to extend the ban, which expires in November. But it has left the door open a crack, retaining exemptions for scientific trials of GM crops and refusing to rule out lifting the ban in the future. That’s left Tasmania’s organic farmers nervously eyeing a recent landmark court case in Western Australia. Farmer Steve Marsh unsuccessfully sued his neighbor, blaming him for losing his licence as an organic grower after Monsanto GMO canola seed heads blew on to his property. Marsh is appealing the ruling, a process that could take up to a year to be finalised. Tasmania’s fear of contamination is reflected in its strict food importation rules. Visitors arriving from the mainland are required to dispose of any foodstuffs before leaving the airport. The island’s isolation and its small population were the main reasons the federal government granted an exclusive licence to Tasmania to grow opium poppies for legal commercial production half a century ago. The arrangement has proved a boon for growers, with U.N. figures showing demand for pain relief more than tripled between 1993 and 2012 to the equivalent of 14 billion doses. Demand is expected to rise further in coming decades as the middle-class, particularly in Asia, grows. But Tasmania’s efforts to secure a further five-year ban on other states growing poppies for commercial production have fallen on deaf ears as the federal government considers Victoria’s bid. Tasmania’s poppy farmers say expanding production across Australia will leave them at a handicap if the GMO ban in the state remains. “It will make it more attractive to grow in Victoria,” said Tasmanian Alkaloids’ Rockliff. His company developed a trial GMO poppy several years ago that was unaffected by a common herbicide used to kill weeds, a development that would cut growers’ costs and time in the field if able to be used commercially. “From that perspective, GMO is really interesting and it will eventually happen in Tasmania,” he said. Many others are fervently hoping that Rockliff is wrong. “I think the key is that Tasmania will never have the scale to produce enormous crops of grain or fruit for example, so why push for advantages that only work for scale?,” said Tasmania Feedlot’s Thompson. “Perhaps we’re better to push for advantages that work for our particular image, of being grown in this island state and being clean and green and safe.”",
            "output": [
                "Even in isolated, pristine Tasmania, pressure to allow GMO farming."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ac73759c6524a8ca5b21d70aad8801a",
            "input": "The law was passed on Tuesday, a parliamentary spokeswoman said, in response to a resurgence in HIV infections in a country that was once hailed as a success in the global fight against AIDS. Those convicted face up 10 years in prison. But rights activists said the law would deter voluntary testing and further stigmatize infection with HIV, which causes AIDS and is primarily transmitted through unprotected intercourse as well as from mother to child during pregnancy. “Evidence from the Ugandan Ministry of Health shows clearly - criminalization of HIV doesn’t work,” said Asia Russell, Uganda-based director of international policy at Health GAP, an HIV advocacy group. “It drives people away from services, and fuels discrimination and fear.”  Uganda had managed to cut infection rates from 18.5 percent of the population in 1992 to about 5 percent in 2000, according to United Nations figures. But the Ministry of Health puts the current rate at about 7.3 percent. While HIV sufferers in developed countries can have near-normal life expectancy thanks to anti-retroviral drugs, rather than dying within perhaps a decade, this medication is too expensive for many in Africa. According to the United Nations, in 2011 only 54 percent of eligible Ugandan HIV sufferers were receiving anti-retrovirals. The government argues that the “HIV and AIDS prevention and control bill”, first put forward in 2010, is needed to cut infection rates and reinforce other government measures to combat HIV/AIDS. But activists say that, in addition to violating rights to confidentiality, the law will be hard to enforce as it can be very hard to determine which of two HIV-positive people infected the other. They also note that the law does not appear to spell out what constitutes “wilful and intentional” transmission, and whether this would specifically exempt someone who had sex without knowing that they were HIV-positive, or who used a barrier such as a condom. Russell said her group would petition President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill into law unless parliament removed the provision criminalizing transmission of HIV. “This HIV bill is yet another step backward in the fight against AIDS in Uganda, said Maria Burnett, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is founded on stigma and discrimination and based on approaches that have been condemned by international health agencies as ineffective.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Uganda makes \"\"intentional transmission\"\" of HIV a crime.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d61ab32aa84d4980b1989fd59a347413",
            "input": "\"The story does not report how much treatment with Celexa costs, for the drug and medication management. Celexa itself is an expensive, highly marketed drug; it costs between $3 and $4 per daily dose. That’s about $1,300 per year. Generic, citalopram costs about a dollar per day but can be had at $10 for a 90-day supply. Further, the study shows it doesn’t work, which only increases the relevance of costs. Even at pennies per day, the money is wasted. The story does an adequate job quantifying most results. It describes the study’s size, population and duration. It reports that 33 percent of the treatment group and 34 percent of the placebo group had improvements. The report should have said more about how \"\"improvements\"\" were measured and helped readers understand them as concrete behaviors. On balance, however, the story deserves a \"\"satisfactory\"\" rating under this criterion. The story mentions side effects of Celexa but underplays them. The data show that nearly all children in the study who took Celexa had side effects, including increased energy levels, impulsiveness, decreased concentration, hyperactivity, diarrhea, insomnia and dry skin. The side effects also included stereotypy–repetitive behaviors. Which is to say: In some children, the drug caused the very symptoms it was supposed to treat. The story lists only \"\"insomnia and impulsivity\"\" as side effects. It says they were \"\"twice as common\"\" in the group taking Celexa, but it doesn’t say in absolute terms how many of them experienced side effects considered serious. The story does an unusually good job explaining the value of the type of evidence this study produced. It explains why a clinical trial that uses a placebo is so powerful, and why blinded, randomized trials are the gold standard. A reader comes away with a clear sense of why this study is authoritative, in a context where science is often sketchy, false claims are often made and the need for treatments so great. The reporter might have mentioned that with 149 participants, only 73 of them in the treatment group, the study is considered small. Further, the story fails to point out that the research question was very narrowly tailored: Did the drug reduce repetitive behaviors? The findings are silent on the value of Celexa and other SSRIs in treating other symptoms in the same patients. The reporter should have said so. Having said all that: On balance, thanks to its exemplary work illuminating the world of study quality, the story earns a \"\"satisfactory\"\" rating. The article does not exaggerate the prevalence or severity of autism spectrum disorders. For greater precision and public value, the story should have said that the conditions studied and related to autism include Asperger’s syndrome and other developmental disorders. The reporter quotes three sources: This is adequate sourcing. The reporter properly discloses the authors’ financial links to drug companies, including the maker of Celexa. The story mentions that the drug Risperidone is approved for some symptoms of autism. But it fails to say what the standard treatment is for controlling repetitive behaviors and similar behavioral symptoms of kids with autism and Asperger’s. Studies have shown \"\"early intensive behavioral interventions\"\" to have some efficacy. The story states that Celexa is taken by about a third of children diagnosed with autism. The novelty of the treatment is not in question. There is no evidence the reporter has drawn excessively on the press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study finds antidepressant doesn’t help autistic children"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d0c15172591444a7b3ac863d4bff6be5",
            "input": "Department administrator of community health and epidemiology Kendra Findley said water samples from Mercy health system’s center found evidence of a type of Legionella species but not the type two local people had contracted. Findley said Green County has an average of 4.5 Legionella cases a year and health officials are heightening their surveillance for the disease. The department had said in a news release that two cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been reported since late April among individuals who visited Mercy’s outpatient cancer center. People are infected with a severe form of pneumonia by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacterium.",
            "output": [
                "Springfield Legionnaires probably not from cancer center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a27fa37ce6b4913812870bca28f75bf",
            "input": "The latest work, which appears in the journal PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, also suggests that different policy steps might be needed in that case. “My study essentially shows that the methods used and analyses presented in the original research are insufficient to rule out other explanations (for lower IQ),” said Ole Rogeberg, an economist at the Frisch Centre for Economics Research in Oslo, to Reuters. The Dunedin Multi-disciplinary Health and Development Study is an ongoing report produced by New Zealand’s University of Otago, monitoring 1,037 New Zealand children born between April 1972 and March 1973. The study followed them for 40 years. The participants were periodically tested for IQ and other indices including drug taking, and in 2012 clinical psychologist Madeline Meier produced a study saying there was a link between teenage cannabis use and a lower IQ. Researchers in the Meier study compared the IQ trends of people who never smoked cannabis with four groups of those who did: people who smoked, people who scored as dependent in a follow-up survey, those who scored as dependent twice and those who scored as dependent three times. The study found IQ declines increasing “linearly” with cannabis use, Rogeberg wrote in PNAS. The crucial assumption in the Meier study is that cannabis use is the only relevant difference between the groups tested, he said. His use of a simulation model showed that it may be premature to draw a causal inference between marijuana use and falling IQ scores. For one thing, other writing about the Dunedin group on which Meier’s study is based suggest that early cannabis use is more common for people with poor self-control, previous conduct problems, and high scores on risk factors linked to low family socioeconomic status, he wrote. Given these factors, young people from lower status families tended to end up in less intellectually demanding environments, whether by choice or by circumstance, which would increase the difference in IQ levels as they aged. “We know that the researchers have measured the IQ of the participants at various ages in childhood - but we don’t know if the IQ changes were similar for the different cannabis-using groups before their cannabis use,” he told Reuters. “We don’t know how much of the change in IQ we can explain by differences in education, jail time, occupational status, etc and whether this affects the estimates in the paper.”",
            "output": [
                "Study casts doubt on link between cannabis, teen IQ drop."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6c796aed815841a3a55d08efee9b0054",
            "input": "The Supreme Judicial Court said MIT cannot be blamed for the death of 25-year-old Han Nguyen, who jumped from the top of a campus building minutes after a professor confronted him about an offensive email. But it found that schools can be liable if they fail to act after they become aware that a student has attempted suicide while enrolled, or shortly before entering, or learn that the student had threatened to commit suicide. Gary Pavela, a consultant on law and policy issues in higher education, said he’s unaware of another state appellate court that has explicitly found that universities have a duty to prevent suicide in limited cases and defines those circumstances. “This will be very newsworthy to colleges around the country,” said Pavela, who has written a book about the legal questions surrounding student suicides. Jeffrey Beeler, an attorney for Nguyen’s estate, said they were disappointed the court sided with MIT, but believe its ruling will nonetheless “save student lives going forward.” An MIT spokeswoman said in a statement that Nguyen’s death was a tragedy and students’ well-being is of “paramount importance to the school.” Spokeswoman Kimberly Allen said the school already offers a “robust network” of services for students and “continually considers ways to enhance those resources.” The court noted that Nguyen never told anyone at MIT that he planned to kill himself or tried to kill himself while enrolled at the school. Furthermore, he was living off campus instead of a dormitory under “daily observation,” the court said. But the judges said schools must take “reasonable measures” to help students they know have attempted suicide while at the school or have threatened to kill themselves. That would include initiating a suicide prevention protocol, getting the student in the care of a medical professional, or contacting police, fire or emergency medical personnel. “It requires the school to really have a lot of information that the suicide is likely and the reasonable measures that the school needs to take are not extremely onerous,” said Naomi Shatz, an attorney who’s not involved in the case. A group of 18 colleges and universities — including Harvard University and Boston College — told the court that holding MIT responsible for Nguyen’s death would have far-reaching consequences by causing officials with no medical expertise to overreact to concerns out of fear of liability. Nguyen’s professors shared concerns about his mental health in the months leading up to his death, and one encouraged his colleagues to pass him or they might have “blood on their hands.” In a telephone call 11 minutes before he killed himself, a professor “read him the riot act” over an email Nguyen sent to another MIT official that they believed was inappropriate, court records said. The family said that the school should have known that “mishandling this fragile student” would result in his suicide. But MIT said the school wasn’t aware of the severity of his condition, noting that he was treated by outside professionals and refused on-campus resources. None of the professionals who treated Nguyen while he was at MIT believed he was an imminent risk of killing himself, the school said. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://twitter.com/aedurkinricher . Read more of her work at http://bit.ly/2hIhzDb .",
            "output": [
                "Court says schools can be liable for suicides but clears MIT."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-797affda94eb41f4b1690c04100dc81f",
            "input": "On 9 September 2016, a photograph of two adults passed out in the front seat of their car with a small child in the back seat hit social media. The photograph is legitimate and was taken by an East Liverpool, Ohio, police officer who had stopped the car after seeing it being driven erratically. The city of East Liverpool posted pictures showing the driver and an adult passenger, James Acord and Rhonda Pasek respectively, looking extremely pale, limp and unconscious in the front seat of the vehicle. A little blond boy can be seen behind them in the back seat:    Brian Allen, the city’s director of public safety, confirmed to us that the photograph is real. Both adults survived and have been charged with crimes, and the child has been taken into protective custody. Acord has been convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence and Pasek has been charged with child endangerment and drug use, Allen told us. Acord and Pasek were presumed to have been under the influence of heroin, but blood test results are still pending. The city posted the photograph and a copy of the incident report to their official Facebook page with the following cautionary message: We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug. We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can’t speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody. According to the report posted by the city, on 7 September 2016, just after 3 p.m. local time, Kevin Thompson, a police officer for the city of East Liverpool, noticed a dark Ford Explorer driving erratically toward a bus full of schoolchildren. After the car skidded to a stop, it drifted a little before coming to a stop again. Thompson wrote in his report that he had to turn off the engine and take the keys out of the ignition to prevent the driver from continuing on.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph taken by a responding police officer shows a couple passed out in their vehicle from a suspected heroin overdose, with their child in the back seat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f450b55eab847358e12ae717f97feed",
            "input": "Horrifying events like the April 1999 killing of twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, by two of their classmates might have left some believing deadly school shootings were a new ill bestowed upon us by a society only recently gone mad, yet that was not the case. That today’s death tolls are higher and the media coverage surrounding them more intense might serve to encourage belief that this sort of random murder by, and of, young people is a recent phenomenon, but the sad history of such attacks belies that belief. Deadly shooting sprees at schools perpetrated by troubled teens took place at least as much as a generation before Columbine. One of the earliest mass school shootings occurred in 1975 in Ottawa, Canada, when on 27 October of that year, 18-year-old Robert Poulin went on a killing spree at St. Pius X High School, killing one student and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself. Poulin had earlier raped and stabbed a 17-year-old friend to death. Of all the pre-Littleton school shootings, the one most remembered by people at the time was recalled primarily because of its impact on pop culture: it inspired the popular Boomtown Rats song “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Released in October 1979, this song captured the insanity of the moment by working the shooter’s chilling utterance into its lyrics:  Of course fallible memory being what it is, people who now remember the shooting spree behind the song recall it in only the most haphazard of fashions. They recall that a shooting took place at a school, that lives were lost, that the shooter was female, and that by way of explanation for her actions she said “I don’t like Mondays,” but some have her as a high school student gunning down students at her own school, while others remember her as a high school teacher who turned a gun on some of her pupils:  There’s this 80’s song called “I Don’t Like Mondays”. I don’t know who wrote it, but the rumor is that the song was based on a girl. She was a younger girl, I think in High School. She was quiet and was very shy. She didn’t have very many friends. One Monday she went to school with a gun and shot several of her teachers and fellow students. When the cops asked her why she did it she said “I don’t like Mondays”. And that’s what the song was based on. The late 70s/early 80s song “I Don’t Like Mondays” was written to reflect the mindset of a teacher who came to work one day and shot up a schoolyard full of kids. When asked at trial why she did it, the teacher supposedly only gave the reply, “I don’t like Mondays.”  The facts are that on 29 January 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire on children arriving at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego from her house across the street, killing two men and wounding eight students and a police officer. Principal Burton Wragg was attempting to rescue children in the line of fire when he was shot and killed, and custodian Mike Suchar was slain attempting to aid Wragg. Spencer used a rifle her father had given her as a gift. As to what impelled her into this form of murderous madness, she told a reporter, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” The “Mondays” comment was not the only eyebrow-raising declaration to issue from Spencer that day. According to a report written by the police negotiators who spoke with her during the six-hour standoff, she made comments to them such as: “There was no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun”; “It was just like shooting ducks in a pond”; and ” [the children] looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings.” That Spencer failed to kill any of the children she shot at was attributable to luck rather than any reluctance on her part to take their lives. The bullet that struck 9-year-old Charles “Cam” Miller missed his heart by about an inch. Spencer pled guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She has been up for parole four times and has been turned down each time, the last in 2005. At her first parole hearing she expressed doubt that any of the victims was hit by bullets from her rifle and contended they might have been shot by police. She also claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs at the time of the shootings and asserted prosecutors and her attorney had conspired to fabricate test evidence showing there had been no drugs in her system. By her third parole hearing she was admitting guilt and expressing remorse but was still contending she had been drunk and high on marijuana laced with PCP the day of her deadly rampage. She also claimed something new, that she had been beaten and sexually abused by her father, an avowal conspicuously absent from previous records.",
            "output": [
                "\"The 1979 Boomtown Rats song \"\"I Don't Like Mondays\"\" was inspired by a deadly shooting at a school.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a3a28916cc742dd984b9e52fc092cd1",
            "input": "Just days after Chinese scientists shared the genetic map of the culprit coronavirus, researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health had engineered a possible key ingredient for a vaccine they hope to begin testing by April. Scientists from Australia to France, along with a list of biotech and vaccine companies, jumped in the race, pursuing different types of inoculations. And Texas researchers froze an experimental vaccine developed too late to fight an earlier coronavirus — SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome — but are pushing U.S. and Chinese authorities to give it a try this time around. Because the new virus is a close cousin of SARS, it just might protect, said Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. All that work is coming at lightning speed compared to past outbreaks. Yet many experts agree it still may take a year — if every step along the way goes well — for any vaccine to be ready for widespread use. That’s if it’s even needed by then. Globally, more than 31,400 people are infected and the death toll climbed past 630. The overwhelming majority are in China, but more than 310 people with the illness have been reported in over two dozen other countries. For now, health officials are isolating the sick to fight spread of the virus, which causes fever, cough and in severe cases pneumonia. With no specific treatment, some doctors also are experimenting with antiviral medicines developed for other conditions. “Ours is already manufactured and could take off pretty quickly,” said Hotez, who created the earlier SARS vaccine with Texas Children’s colleague Maria Elena Bottazzi. But “there’s still no road map for what you do to make a vaccine in the midst of a devastating public health outbreak.” NIH specialists say rather than chasing outbreaks, it’s time to pursue prototype vaccine designs that could work for entire virus families, ready to be pulled off the shelf at the first sign of a new disease. “We have the technology now. It’s feasible from an engineering and biological standpoint,” said Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center. Without that step, “we’re going to be at risk for new pandemics.” A FASTER VACCINE RECIPE Traditionally, making vaccines required first growing lots of virus in a lab. The NIH team is pursuing a newer and far faster method: Simply use a piece of the virus’ genetic code, called messenger RNA or mRNA, that instructs cells to make a particular protein. “We think of RNA as the software of life,” said Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer of Moderna Inc., which is developing mRNA vaccines for other diseases and working with NIH on the new coronavirus. Inject the right piece and “you’ve taught the body to make its own medicine,” he explained. As cells produce just that protein, the immune system learns to recognize it, primed to attack if the entire virus ever comes along. The target: A protein aptly named “spike” that lets the virus bind to cells. It studs the surface of coronaviruses — the new one as well as its cousins SARS, which erupted in China in 2002 and spread to 26 countries, and MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, which emerged in 2012. Graham’s team zeroed in on the RNA responsible for the new virus’ production of spike and then — because prior research showed the protein can change shape — engineered a more stable version of it. Moderna is manufacturing samples of the synthetic mRNA vaccine for NIH to use in animal studies and, hopefully within three months, first-stage safety tests in people. If further testing proves it really works, the hope is scientists could simply swap in a new spike code if another coronavirus comes along. That’s important because after three such outbreaks in less than 20 years, “this is not the last,” predicted Dr. Mark Denison, a virologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It’s key to find vaccine “strategies that go after these unique things common to every coronavirus.” WHAT ELSE IS IN THE PIPELINE Inovio Pharmaceuticals is pursuing a similar approach with synthetic DNA, and recently reported promising results from first-stage testing of a MERS vaccine. It’s collaborating with a Chinese company, Beijing Advaccine, in hopes of being able to test a new vaccine candidate in China later this year. In France, researchers at the Pasteur Institute are piggybacking on the tried-and-true vaccine against measles. They’ve had some early success mixing genetic material from other viruses into that vaccine, and now hope to put the immune system on alert against this new coronavirus in the same way. “The work we’re doing now involves making a vaccine against measles but re-engineered in the sense that it has antigens from the new coronavirus,” said virologist Frederic Tangy, head of Pasteur’s vaccine innovation department. What about Hotez’s old SARS vaccine? In that case a piece of the spike protein was genetically engineered and grown in a lab, a classic vaccine technology compared to the newer and less proven Moderna and Inovio approaches. The Texas researchers showed the vaccine protected animals but in 2016 ran out of money for further testing and froze what was left. Every six months, Hotez thaws a small sample to make sure it’s still usable. CHASING OUTBREAKS Past outbreaks are full of such missed opportunities: There’s no commercial vaccine for MERS even though illnesses still occur. The birth defect-causing Zika outbreak was ending by the time experimental shots were ready to test. The bright spot: Ebola vaccines. Some candidates began early testing during the massive Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014-2016, although the outbreak waned before scientists had proof they worked. But authorities and vaccine companies kept up the research, and by 2018 shots were ready to help tamp down an outbreak still smoldering in Congo. The World Health Organization will meet next week to identify promising drug and vaccine candidates for the new coronavirus and fast-track their development, much like happened with Ebola. “To put it bluntly, we’re shadow boxing,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We need to bring this shadow out into the light so that we can attack it properly.” ___ Associated Press writers Rodrique Ngowi in Boston, Alex Turnbull in Paris and Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Experts scramble, but new virus vaccine may not come in time."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b81ffb3446f450e912e67186b04cc79",
            "input": "In July 2020, readers asked us about news articles claiming that a couple in Radcliff, Kentucky, had been placed under house arrest for refusing to sign an agreement to self-isolate and quarantine, after one of them tested positive for COVID-19. Elizabeth Linscott told WAVE 3 News that, although she had no symptoms, she got tested for COVID-19 as a precaution before a planned visit to her parents in Michigan in July. According to Linscott, after she tested positive the “health department” sent her a document for her signature, in which she was asked to “agree to comply to call the health department … prior to leaving my house for any reason.” Linscott told WAVE 3 that she refused to sign the document because of a provision that she said required her to notify public health officials in advance of traveling to the hospital for care, but that she was not refusing to self-isolate in principle, adding “I have to go to the ER, if I have to go to the hospital, I’m not going to wait to get the approval to go.”  Linscott’s husband Isaiah said that a few days after his wife refused to sign the agreement, officers from the Hardin County’s Sheriff’s Department and a public health official visited the family’s home and produced three written orders, for the couple and their daughter, effectively forcing each of them to quarantine at home. WAVE 3 reported that the Linscotts were “ordered to wear ankle monitors.” The family’s story was covered by national news outlets including The Associated Press, Fox News, and the New York Post. In response to our inquiries, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed, without naming the Linscotts, that on July 16 its officers had “delivered Notices and Orders to Isolate and Quarantine,” as a result of a court order. In response to our inquiries about the Linscott case, the Hardin County District Court provided Snopes with a copy of the three isolation orders that the Sheriff’s department served upon the Linscott family. The isolation orders, dated July 16 and signed by Hardin Circuit Court Judge Ken Howard, specify that each of the Linscotts were ordered to isolate at home for 14 days, by virtue of a petition from the Lincoln Trail District Health Department, which covers several counties including Hardin County. That petition outlined the following: The “Self-Isolation and Controlled Movement Agreed Order” asks the recipient to agree to several provisions, including: “As long as I do not require hospitalization, I will self-isolate at home, reducing contact with all others as much as is practicable” as well as “I will not leave my house without the approval of the Department for Public Health” and “I will not travel by any public, commercial or healthcare conveyance such as ambulance, bus, taxi…without the prior approval of the Department for Public Health.” On July 15, the district health department filed its petition with Hardin Circuit Court, and the following day Judge Howard issued an injunction ordering the Linscotts to comply with the provisions of the order. The ruling was based in part on the “nature of the disease,” as well as Linscott’s positive diagnosis, of course, but Howard also specified that his decision to grant the isolation order was also partially based on Linscott’s “conduct,” noting that she had “declined to voluntarily agree to isolate… and has conveyed that she will leave her home to get supplies and do errands which she considers necessary.” Howard also ordered the couple to wear ankle monitors, to be installed by a company called Envivo Health, and ordered the district health department to pay for the monitors and ensure the family has “adequate provisions of food, medicine or other necessities during the period of confinement.” The isolation order issued by the district health department, and the injunction signed by Howard, were both based on Kentucky state law. Specifically, Chapter 212, Section 245(6) of the Kentucky Revised Statutes states that: “County, city-county, and district health departments may: […] Issue written orders directed to the owner or occupant of any property, or to any person, firm, or corporation whatever, commanding, within the time and manner specified in the order, compliance with applicable public health laws of this state and all regulations of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the county board of health. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and KRS 212.210, any health officer may institute and maintain mandatory or prohibitory injunction proceedings in the appropriate Circuit Courts of this state to abate nuisances that are or may be a menace to the health of the people of the state or community, and to compel compliance with the public health laws of this state and the rules and regulations of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the county board of health and the orders described in this section or in KRS 212.210.” Title 902, Chapter 2, Section 50 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations further states that: “Whenever any person has been implicated as a possible reservoir or possible source of infection of any communicable disease, the local health department or the Cabinet for Human Resources shall employ such measures as are necessary to secure adequate isolation, restriction of employment or other control procedures that may be necessary to insure cessation of transmission of infection.” Based on the evidence provided to Snopes by the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office and Hardin Circuit Court, it’s true that the Linscotts were indeed ordered to remain confined to their home for 14 days, after Elizabeth Linscott contracted COVID-19 and subsequently refused to sign a “Self-Isolation and Controlled Movement Agreed Order.” Hardin Circuit Court did indeed order the couple to be fitted with ankle monitors to ensure their compliance, and the isolation order papers were given to Isaiah Linscott during a visit from the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office. Most of the basic facts of the case were therefore accurately reported in the news articles mentioned above.",
            "output": [
                "A Kentucky couple were placed under house arrest in July 2020 after a woman diagnosed with COVID-19 refused to agree to self-isolate because it would require her to get prior approval to go to the hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23921d52a2ab4864b77c23308e7a43cd",
            "input": "Imitating a grisly death by hanging is an annual feature of many Halloween “haunt” shows and spooky decorative displays, usually implemented by securing the victim in a harness that supports his weight when he drops from the gallows so that the noose placed over his head doesn’t actually snap his neck or constrict his windpipe and prevent him from breathing. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion such stunts have gone wrong and resulted in actual deaths. One such fatality was reported by the Chicago Tribune in October 1990: A teenager who pretended to hang from a gallows as part of a pre-Halloween hayride died while performing the stunt. Police said that hayride customers found the body of Brian Jewell, 17, hanging from the gallows, his feet touching the ground. The stunt had worked on other nights and there was no indication of foul play, prosecutor James Holzapfel said. The gallows was being checked for flaws, and an autopsy was performed. “He’s supposed to have the noose around his neck, but it’s not a noose that tightens,” said Holzapfel. Jewell would step down about one foot to the ground, making it appear he had been hanged, Holzapfel said. During the ride, about 40 people are driven past several Halloween fright exhibits. The stunt went off without problems earlier [that day]. But the tractor driver became concerned later, when Jewell failed to give a speech he normally made as the wagon passed. A 15-year-old staging a gallows scene at a Halloween party accidentally hanged himself when the noose somehow tightened, authorities said today. William Anthony Odom of Charlotte, N.C., was pronounced dead Friday night amid fake spider webs and plastic bats decorating an aunt’s home. Odom and several of his friends had staged a haunted house in the basement. Other related fatalities involve incidents of Halloween celebrants dying after putting their necks into decorative nooses that had no harnesses or other protective mechanisms to prevent accidental choking. The Associated Press reported such a fatal hanging accident in October 2001, this one involving a 14-year-old boy named Caleb Rebh who was working a “haunted hayride” attraction at Alpine Ridge Farms in Sparta, Michigan. According to reports, Rebh “felt awkward simply jumping out of the woods to scare passers-by” and decided to take the place of a skeleton that was hanging by a noose in a nearby tree:   Caleb put the noose around his neck but when he let go of the rope, he apparently was not heavy enough to prevent the branch from whipping back up and choking him, his mother said. When he started scrambling to get the double-knotted rope off his neck, fellow workers seemed to think he was acting, she said. “I think he thought he was safe because his feet were touching the ground,” Kathy Rebh said. Hayride employees and participants tried to resuscitate Caleb, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. In September 2013, a Kentucky teenager died in similar fashion after prankishly inserting his neck into a decorative noose he had put up in his home’s front yard as part of a  Halloween display:  Jordan Morlan, 16, died after a prank involving his love of Halloween went horribly wrong. Morlan had been hanging Halloween decorations all day and had just returned home from helping his mom do laundry when the tragedy occurred. Jordan’s mom, Ginger Rodriguez, said he was trying to prank his little sister and her by pretending to be hanging from a noose decoration he put up on a tree in their front yard. The coroner said when he placed the noose around his neck, he became disoriented cutting his brain off from oxygen within 20 to 30 seconds. His younger sister discovered him unconscious and Rodriguez rushed to help cut him down, but said she was unable to remove her son. Morlan was taken to the hospital where he was placed on a ventilator because he was in a coma. Rodriguez says her son’s organs started to fail. Jordan died 12 hours after this accident. Rodriguez said her son loved to play pranks and loved Halloween.",
            "output": [
                "Halloween hanging stunt goes wrong and hangs a man for real."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1718b6b5e02548a5805ba5434262c409",
            "input": "The WHO’s Kate O’Brien put the blame on weak health systems and misinformation about vaccines, and called on social media outlets and communities to make sure information about preventing the highly contagious disease was accurate. “We are backsliding, we are on the wrong track,” O’Brien, director of WHO’s department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals, told a news briefing. “We have a worrying trend that all regions are experiencing an increase in measles except for the region of the Americas, which has seen a small decline.”   Nearly three times as many cases were reported from January to July this year than in the same period in 2018, the WHO said. Nearly 365,000 cases have been reported globally this year,  the highest figure since 2006, it said, noting that they represent only a fraction of the 6.7 million suspected cases. Measles caused an estimated 109,000 deaths in 2017, its most recent figures show. The biggest outbreaks are raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (155,460 cases), Madagascar (127,454) and Ukraine (54,246), it said. Europe has also lost ground, with four countries stripped of their “measles-free” status in 2018 - Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and Britain, it said. The WHO figures did not include a specific breakdown of numbers for the Americas region. The United States has recorded 1,215 measles cases across 30 states in its worst outbreak since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday. Health experts say the virus has spread among school-age children whose parents declined to give them the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which confers immunity to the disease. Trust in vaccines - among the world’s most effective and widely used medical products - is highest in poorer countries but weaker in wealthier ones where scepticism has allowed outbreaks of diseases such as measles to persist, a global study found in June. “We do see misinformation as an increasing threat,” O’Brien said. “We are calling on social media providers, communities, leaders, people who speak out, to be sure you are communicating accurate, valid, scientifically credible information.”  In the 53 countries of Europe, 90,000 measles cases were recorded in the first half of this year, already more than that for all of 2018, said Siddhartha Datta, from the WHO’s regional office for Europe. Ukraine, which accounts for more than half of the cases, is implementing a robust response, he said. “The ministry of health is doing targeted immunization campaigns ... They are also doing school-based vaccination, high-risk vaccination of military recruits and health care workers.”  (This story was refiled to fix typo in first paragraph.)",
            "output": [
                "Global measles cases three times higher than last year: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dced1a9d4a464823839e17cd2ec042c4",
            "input": "Hercules and Leo are former research chimpanzees, and it was the first time in their lives they had ever been outside. The pair first made headlines in 2013 when they were named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit demanding they be recognized as persons and released from a laboratory in New York. It would take five years, a series of events that effectively ended biomedical research on chimpanzees, and plenty of tension between animal activists and animal researchers, but Hercules and Leo would eventually move from laboratories to their forever home at a new chimp sanctuary in the mountains of North Georgia. Project Chimps is a 236-acre property in Morganton on the site of the former Dewar Wildlife facility, which housed gorillas until 2015. Under an agreement with University of Louisiana-Lafayette New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), Project Chimps, which is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, will soon be home to more than 200 chimps that have been retired from research. The first chimps began arriving in fall 2016 with the population growing to 40 this spring. ... The first phase of development — a $3 million update of the former gorilla habitat — will be finished in February. The walled habitat includes five villas, a 6-acre open-air enclosure and a revamped kitchen and veterinary center. Phase two is a $10 million undertaking that will be built from the ground up to accommodate more than 170 chimps still waiting at NIRC. In 2017, annual operating costs were $1.5 million, with more than $700,000 going toward chimp care and programs. Once all the chimps have arrived, the goal is to give them, the last generation of research chimps, the opportunity to live the remainder of their lives as they wish. ... Hercules and Leo were born at NIRC in 2006. They were about 3 years old when NIRC loaned them to Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York for a six-year research study funded by the National Science Foundation. Susan Larson, professor and chair of the Department of Anatomical Sciences, was head of the project. The research was designed to compare the movement of chimps to the movement of humans to better understand human evolution, she said. It involved taking video images that tracked Hercules and Leo walking, having them walk over force plates to measure forces and inserting fine wire electrodes into their muscles to see which muscles were being used as they walked. Protocol called for Hercules and Leo to be under anesthesia when the electrodes were inserted, but Larson said it wasn’t a painful process. “You are unaware of them when they are there. I can say this with confidence because I have had the same procedure done to me,” she said. During their time at the lab, Hercules and Leo lived in rooms with climbing ropes and hammocks. A caregiver engaged them in creative and physical play, said Larson, noting that the image people have of labs is outmoded. “They got a lot of attention. They are very social animals. I think they pretty much enjoyed being here,” Larson said. But not everyone agreed. In late 2013, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hercules and Leo to recognize them as legal persons. The court dismissed the case, but pressure was mounting elsewhere. For decades, the U.S. government supported the capture and breeding of chimps for biomedical research. The practice peaked during the AIDS epidemic when more than 1,000 chimps were living in research labs across the country. In 2000, the government established a federal sanctuary to retire chimps no longer used in research. Chimp Haven, a sanctuary in Keithville, La., was awarded the federal contract for all chimps owned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Two years after the Institute of Medicine issued a report in 2011 concluding that chimps were no longer useful animal models for current biomedical research, the NIH announced it would end invasive research and retire to Chimp Haven 300 of the 350 government-owned chimps. In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed the status of captive chimps to endangered. “That is really what has terminated the kind of research I would do on chimps, making it virtually impossible,” said Larson. ... In 2014, a year before the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision, Sarah Baeckler Davis, founder and then-CEO of Project Chimps, and Bruce Wagman, animal lawyer and Project Chimps founding board member, had been in negotiations with NIRC to retire its privately owned chimp population. The center had already planned the transfer of 110 federally owned chimps from NIRC to Chimp Haven, but that left 220 chimps owned by NIRC. When an agreement was reached in 2015, plans for Project Chimps moved forward. They just needed a location. Despite its ambitions, the Dewar Wildlife Facility had never housed more than a few gorillas. When Baeckler Davis approached owner Steuart Dewar about Project Chimps, he agreed to sell the land and donate the facility. The Humane Society of the United States provided almost $2 million in funds to purchase the property and surrounding parcels. Other contributions came from a range of supporters, including board members; the American, New England and National Anti-Vivisection Societies, which oppose surgery on animals for experimentation; and the Animal Legal Defense Fund as well as public donations and grant funding. It also helped to have celebrity supporters. Project Chimps is run by 25 staff members, including five managers. There are 85 active volunteers ... Of the 236 acres, 40 acres are dedicated to chimp care or housing. The 1,500-square-foot chimp villas feature multiple levels and access to heated bedrooms and open-air spaces. Project Chimps is also working with local farmers to convert some of the acreage into a farm with high-yield crops that will lower the cost of feeding the chimps over time. ... NIRC decides which chimp groups are ready to make the transition to Project Chimps and consults with Project Chimps on how to balance the gender mix. The chimps are transferred in their existing gender-separated peer groups of up to 10 chimps. Project Chimps handles the local approvals required for the transfer, but otherwise they do not have ownership until the chimps are on the trailer for the 16-hour trip to Georgia. For the first two sets of chimps who arrived in 2016, part of the daily schedule also includes socialization. The process, overseen by Mike Seres, manager of chimpanzee socialization, is designed to encourage them to establish groupings similar to how they would have grouped themselves in the wild. ... By the time Hercules and Leo made the journey to Project Chimps in March, there were 31 chimps already in residence. After they were unloaded from their individual transport cages and settled into Villa Two, the chimps in their group of nine embraced and kissed to reassure one another. ... The two chimps still have a strong bond — Leo is the only chimp who can get away with stealing food from Hercules — but they have also each formed their own relationships. Leo has developed friendships with Binah and Jacob, while Hercules has become a protector for a young chimp named Kivuli. Once during a thunderstorm, caregivers found Kivuli, 7, tucked under Hercules’ arm, leaning against his chest for comfort. For most days of the year, Project Chimps operates outside the public view, but ... last spring, they began offering Discovery Days twice a year in May and September — a day when the public is invited in for education, tours and more. ... Today, there are about 1,500 chimps in the U.S., and for the first time in decades, more of them live in sanctuaries than laboratories. ... ___ Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com",
            "output": [
                "Former research chimps to get new life at Georgia sanctuary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d0c016dac59a472083486b77fe5410db",
            "input": "The English language, like most living languages, is constantly evolving. As such, dictionary editors frequently update their works in order to keep up with the lexicon as it is being used by modern speakers. One such change occurred in 2007, when the Oxford University Press removed dozens of words from their Oxford Junior Dictionary in order to make room for more modern terms. Example: [Collected via Facebook, September 2015]  While it was noted at the time that dozens of nature words had been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary during its most recent revision, the media primarily mainly focused on the fact that terms related to religion and British history such as “bishop” and “monarchy” had been omitted in order to make room for newer technological words such as “blog” and “broadband”: Oxford University Press has removed words like “aisle”, “bishop”, “chapel”, “empire” and “monarch” from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like “blog”, “broadband” and “celebrity”. Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled. The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society. But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain’s heritage. “We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable,” said Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University. “The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us.” Vineeta Gupta, the head of children’s dictionaries at Oxford University Press, responded to the controversy at the time by explaining how the Oxford Junior Dictionary had limited space, and therefore in order to add new words they had to remove some older words: “We are limited by how big the dictionary can be — little hands must be able to handle it — but we produce 17 children’s dictionaries with different selections and numbers of words. “When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers for instance. That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed. We are also much more multicultural. People don’t go to Church as often as before. Our understanding of religion is within multiculturalism, which is why some words such as “Pentecost” or “Whitsun” would have been in 20 years ago but not now.” These changes, the last of which occurred in 2008, quietly remained in place for several years. But in January 2015, a group of writers led by Margaret Atwood penned a letter to Oxford University Press urging them to reinstate some of the words that had been removed: We the undersigned are profoundly alarmed to learn that the Oxford Junior Dictionary has systematically been stripped of many words associated with nature and the countryside. We write to plead that the next edition sees the reinstatement of words cut since 2007. We base this plea on two considerations. Firstly, the belief that nature and culture have been linked from the beginnings of our history. For the first time ever, that link is in danger of becoming unravelled, to the detriment of society, culture, and the natural environment. Secondly, childhood is undergoing profound change; some of this is negative; and the rapid decline in children’s connections to nature is a major problem. This is not just a romantic desire to reflect the rosy memories of our own childhoods onto today’s youngsters. There is a shocking, proven connection between the decline in natural play and the decline in children’s wellbeing. Compared with a generation ago, when 40% of children regularly played in natural areas, now only 10% do so, while another 40% never play anywhere outdoors. Ever. Obesity, anti-social behaviour, friendlessness and fear are the known consequences. The physical fitness of children is declining by 9% per decade, according to Public Health England. And just as in 2008, Oxford University Press (OUP) released a statement explaining how they decide which words to include and which words to remove from their dictionaries: “Our children’s dictionaries provide a vital tool for helping children to improve their literacy skills and develop a passion for language. “In the last 40 yours our range of children’s dictionaries has incread from two to 17, and as such the total number of words — including those about nature — has significantly increased across the range. The last change to the content of the Oxford Junior Dictionary was in 2008 and it still includes a large number of words focusing on the natural world. Our dictionaries are developed through a rigorous research programme, analyzing how children are currently using language. They also reflect the language thatt children are encourage to use in the classroom, as required by the national curriculum. This ensures they remain relevant and beneficial for children’s education.” OUP offered additional explanation on their web site: Compiling a small dictionary for children is never easy — so many words competing for space in a book with a finite number of pages. Animals and plants, clothing, fruits and vegetables, musical instruments, body parts, animal noises … the list is endless. They can’t all go in. We know that, but it’s still painful to have to exclude some familiar favourites. At the extremes, it’s fairly easy — apple is in and durian fruit is out, piano is in and didgeridoo is out, jumper is in and jeggings is out. It’s always the grey area in between that is difficult: kiwi fruit? French horn? stocking?",
            "output": [
                "Dozens of nature words were removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary in order to make room for modern technology-related words."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed27a1fa9e0146bba2a792b626d167c7",
            "input": "The heavier the infection, the more likely the women were to deliver younger, sicker infants, the team at Stanford University in California found. “If we could prevent these infections in the first place, or detect them sooner, we might one day be able to prevent some of these premature births,” Dr. Dan DiGiulio, who worked on the study, said in a statement. More and more children are being born prematurely in the United States, with 12 percent of births coming before the 37th week of gestation. Premature babies are vulnerable to breathing problems, underdeveloped organs, infections and cerebral palsy. DiGiulio’s team looked for the DNA of germs in amniotic fluid samples collected from 166 women in pre-term labor at the Detroit Medical Center between October 1998 and December 2002. They used this method and standard laboratory cultures to determine that 25 of the 166 samples were infected with either bacteria or fungi. They also found at least one unknown organism that could be a new species. All 25 of the women with infected amniotic fluid went on to deliver their babies pre-term, while 53 of the women with no infections were able to stop their labor. Now the team is working to see if infections can be detected before pre-term labor starts, which could lead to new prevention or treatment approaches.",
            "output": [
                "Infections may cause many premature births: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19226ae11664441189353d9932fe6dbe",
            "input": "All five denied the charges before a Thessaloniki magistrate. The two Georgian nationals are accused of being the ringleaders. The gang allegedly recruited pregnant Bulgarian women who were destitute and willing to give up their newborns for a fee. Authorities say the group sold babies to childless Greek couples. A total of 12 people, including a lawyer, an obstetrician and a midwife, were arrested this week in connection with the alleged illegal adoptions and the alleged sale of human eggs. Another 54 have been charged with complicity. Police say it was one of the biggest and best-organized gangs of its kind in Europe that functioned as a “birth industry.” The gang was active since at least 2016, and its profits exceeded 500,000 euros ($550,000), police said. The investigation, assisted by Europe’s Europol police agency, traced 22 sales of babies for adoption and 24 sales of human eggs. The pregnant women were allegedly offered up to 5,000 euros (around $5,500) to sell their babies and were brought to deliver in Thessaloniki clinics. The gang arranged for the babies to be legally adopted, but charged fees of up to 28,000 euros ($30,000) for the service. Under Greek law, adoptions can’t involve financial transactions. The gang also allegedly sold human eggs from donors recruited in Greece, mainly women from Bulgaria, Georgia and Russia, according to a Europol statement. Europol said the women were then transferred to Thessaloniki for fertility treatments to increase the number of eggs. The police investigation was triggered by an anonymous tip-off in March.",
            "output": [
                "Greece: 5 deny poor women’s babies sold in illegal adoptions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aec6312216994e40a7ae1b453764f34b",
            "input": "There’s no mention of how much this might cost, but we’ll rate this N/A since the story makes it clear that this is early research. The story did a good job of reporting the scope of the observed benefit, stating that 21% of patients “experienced a prolonged survival” and then breaking down that number with more specifics. For example, it reported that after three years, 21% the treated patients survived versus 4% of a historical control group. But in a small study, why not cite the actual numbers – how many out of how many? – rather than make readers do the math in their heads. The story reported “substantial risks” with the treatment, including “dangerous swelling in the brain that can lead to seizures and other complications.” It reported that one patient had a life-threatening blood clot in the brain that required surgery. The story did not explain how many of the patients in the trial experienced the substantial risks. This was something NBC News handled better (see the review). We can look the other way on the benefits criterion, but the story should have given some estimate of how many people experienced harm from the treatment. We applaud cautious framing in both the story and the headline. The lead refrained from overstating the evidence, saying the treatment “may help some patients.” That conservative tone continued in the second paragraph, which said it “seems to have extended survival in a small group of patients.” The story admonished that the research is “at a very early stage” and “much more follow-up” is needed, and also explained that the study’s use of a historical control group of patients “could produce misleading conclusions.” No disease-mongering here. The story said glioblastoma is the “most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor in adults.” The story did have an independent source, but did not mention that seven of the researchers on the study reported financial interests in the company that holds the license for the treatment. The story mentioned standard treatment without getting specifics, and also mentioned plans to combine this treatment with chemotherapy and other drugs. It could have also mentioned other studies that are attempting to find a cure for glioblastoma. The story made clear this is an experimental therapy and thus not yet widely available. The story made it sound like this was a new concept, but this research has been dancing in and out of the sensational spotlight for years. The story drew from a Duke news release but refrained from adopting the news release’s assertion that the poliovirus “significantly improved long-term survival for patients with recurrent glioblastoma.”",
            "output": [
                "Doctors Try Genetically Modified Poliovirus As Experimental Brain Cancer Treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8863900b80cc43ed84a37e5336a35f5f",
            "input": "A total of 155 tests were conducted by two different third-party labs using four different testing methods on samples from the same bottle tested by the FDA’s contracted lab, the company said. The tests are the latest effort by J&J to prove the safety of its widely used consumer product after the test by the FDA prompted J&J to undertake a nationwide recall of one lot of  Johnson’s Baby Powder in October. The FDA was not immediately available for comment. However, in response to an October announcement from J&J that a smaller number of independent tests also found no asbestos, the regulatory agency said it stood by its findings. The different test outcomes could have resulted from the fact that contaminants are not uniformly dispersed throughout talc and there is no standard test for asbestos in talc, FDA officials told Reuters in October. Tests conducted by the third-party labs showed asbestos was not present in the single bottle that the FDA’s contracted lab had tested, nor was it present in retained samples of the finished lot from which the bottle was produced, the company said on Tuesday. The company said its investigation concluded that the most probable root causes for the FDA’s reported results were either test sample contamination or analyst error at the lab, or both. In October, J&J recalled around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after the FDA said it had found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online. The voluntary recall was limited to one lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder produced and shipped in the United States in 2018, the company said at the time. That move marked the first time the company recalled its baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. The recall was the latest blow to the more than 130-year-old U.S. healthcare conglomerate that is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, including baby powder, opioids, medical devices and the antipsychotic Risperdal. J&J faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from consumers claiming its talc products, including Johnson’s Baby Powder, caused their cancer.",
            "output": [
                "Vaccine-like shots help fight cocaine addiction",
                "Johnson & Johnson says new tests show no asbestos in Johnson's Baby Powder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12814b0400bb415e839c8da1360c3ee6",
            "input": "We’ll rule this not applicable because, in general, most people have ballpark knowledge of how much chocolate costs. The story did not mention that dark chocolate is typically more expensive than milk chocolate — especially for the premium brands with very high concentrations of cocoa solids. A brief explanation would have been helpful. The story went the extra mile here, providing the absolute rates of stroke seen in the groups consuming the lowest and highest quantities of chocolate. “Among those with the highest weekly chocolate intake — more than 45 grams — there were 2.5 strokes per 1,000 women per year. That figure was 7.8 per 1,000 among women who ate the least (less than 8.9 grams per week).” These statistics weren’t provided in the study text, suggesting that the writer made the calculations based on data contained in one of the study tables. We applaud the extra effort made to provide meaningful statistics to readers! Close call here, but the story goes a step further than WebMD when discussing the possible adverse effects of consuming too much chocolate. In addition to warning that chocolate has a lot of fat, sugar and calories, it explicitly notes that eating too much of it “could be counterproductive.” WebMD offers no comparable warning and suggests that eating more chocolate than was consumed in this study would result in similar health benefits. This story was much more cautious in its depiction of the findings than the competing WebMD coverage. Most important, it was careful to explain high up that the study found only a correlation between chocolate intake and lower stroke risk. As one of the study authors explains: “Given the observational design of the study, findings from this study cannot prove that it’s chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke.” We also appreciate the story’s more nuanced language regarding which constituents of chocolate might be responsible for possible benefits. Whereas WebMD states unequivocally that flavonoids and antioxidants “deserve the credit” for these benefits, Reuters says more judiciously that  flavonoids “may be responsible for chocolate’s apparent effects on health.” [Emphasis ours.] “Whether that theoretical benefit translates into real-life benefits remains to be proven by rigorous studies, however,” Reuters appropriately adds. There was no disease-mongering. This was the only major shortcoming — no independent perspective. An expert in epidemiology might have pointed out, for example, that the data on chocolate consumption were collected from subject self-reports, and therefore should be viewed cautiously. The availability of chocolate is not in question. The story appropriately notes that there is a stronger statistical association with dark chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate. The story notes that previous research has linked higher levels of chocolate consumption with improved heart health. The story includes comments attributed to a direct email from one of the study authors, so we can confirm our overall impression that this story wasn’t based on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Chocolate lovers have fewer strokes, study finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97d37c574d334e60884eb1104f311d54",
            "input": "\"A claim about Dan Patrick by an organizer for Battleground Texas, the pro-Democratic group, rang a bell. In a June 10, 2014, interview on Bloomberg TV, Jeremy Bird said Patrick, the Houston state senator who dusted incumbent David Dewhurst in the May 2014 primary runoff for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination, has \"\"called immigration into Texas an invasion\"\" and \"\"said immigrants coming into Texas bring ‘third-world diseases.’ \"\" We looked into whether Patrick made these statements and, if so, whether facts backed them up. Patrick: ‘Stop the invasion’ Patrick, championing his desire to secure the Texas-Mexico border, has often called to stop \"\"the invasion,\"\" referring to individuals who cross the border without legal documentation. Spokeswoman Lynda Tran of Battleground Texas noted by email, Patrick has an undated online post in which he asks supporters to donate \"\"if you agree we must stop the illegal invasion!\"\" According to a January 2014 news story in the Dallas Morning News, Patrick and another GOP aspirant blasted Dewhurst in a Jan. 27 debate for not doing more to secure the Texas border from illegal immigration. \"\"The first question is to stop the invasion,\"\" Patrick said. \"\"Until you secure the border, you cannot address any other issues.\"\" It wasn’t a new cry. A Feb. 24, 2006, Texas Observer story described Patrick, then waging his first Senate campaign, as blaming illegal immigrants for a rising crime rate, overcrowded schools, an overburdened health-care system and runaway growth in the state budget. \"\"The number one problem we are facing,\"\" the Observer quoted Patrick as saying, \"\"is the silent invasion of the border. We are being overrun. It is imperiling our safety.\"\" More recently, Patrick shelved such language. A June 7, 2014, Texas Tribune news story said Patrick didn’t use the \"\"invasion\"\" term at that week’s Republican Party of Texas convention. Instead, the story said, he called on Republicans to reach out to Hispanic voters by telling them \"\"that we stand with them for the future of their family\"\" and that only the GOP would work to secure their communities. U.S. Border Patrol figures show its apprehensions of individuals crossing the country’s southern border declined 69 percent from a little over 1 million in the fiscal year running through September 2006 to nearly 328,000 five years later. But such apprehensions bumped up 27 percent, to 414,397,as of  two years later, in fiscal 2013, the agency says. Since 2011, there’s been a surge in people from countries other than Mexico, including many minors from Central America. ‘They are bringing Third World diseases’ The Observer story revealed Patrick’s claims about disease along the border, saying Patrick characterized illegal immigrants as walking pathogens. \"\"They are bringing Third World diseases with them,\"\" Patrick said, citing \"\"tuberculosis, malaria, polio and leprosy.\"\" But the story quoted a physician, identified as Tim Metz, the top epidemiologist at the Texas Department of State Health Services, as saying there wasn’t a known case of polio in the Western Hemisphere when Patrick spoke \"\"and we haven't seen it in decades.\"\" According to the Observer, Metz said malaria, a tropical disease spread by the anopheline mosquito, is easily treated and remains \"\"a rare disease in Texas and not a huge problem.\"\" Leprosy, he said, is known today as Hansen's disease and \"\"we have no more than 50 cases a year that are reported, but it's not on the rise.\"\" As for TB, the physician told the Observer, \"\"we'll have 1,500 or so cases in Texas this year, which might be a slight increase, but we've got very effective TB-control programs in every local health department in the state.\"\" For our part, we didn’t identify anyone by the name of Tim Metz. When we asked the Texas Department of State Health Services for guidance, spokesman Chris Van Deusen said by email that Tom Betz (not Tim Metz) was at one time the manager of the agency’s Infectious Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology branch. Van Deusen didn’t directly speak to what Patrick reportedly said in 2006, but he indicated immigrants aren’t showing up as bringing most of the diseases listed by Patrick. Polio, Van Deusen said,  has been eradicated from the Western hemisphere and \"\"we don’t generally see cases in Texas. Van Deusen said about 100 cases of malaria are annually reported in the state. All are imported, he said, and it’s not spread person to person in Texas. \"\"It’s generally related to travel, either people from here visiting parts of the world where malaria is endemic or people from abroad visiting the U.S., rather than immigration,\"\" he said. Cases of Hansen’s disease -- or what has been called leprosy -- are reported, Van Deusen said, with one third related to armadillos; one third tied to \"\"old European families that have a genetic susceptibility;\"\" and one third \"\"related to immigration from areas of the world where the disease is more common, irrespective of the type of immigration.\"\" In April 2014, Patrick suggested critics distort what he said in 2006. Patrick bridled after San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said to him in an immigration debate aired by Univision and posted online by the Texas Tribune: \"\"You have talked about undocumented immigrants bringing third-world diseases including leprosy and polio to Texas. You have said that we’re seeing an illegal invasion from Mexico.\"\" Patrick shot back that his comment about disease in 2006 was based on information distributed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicating tuberculosis cases were up nationally and in Texas, \"\"particularly along the Texas-Mexico border--and those cases were coming from Latin America,\"\" Patrick said. A 2012 CDC tuberculosis fact sheet states the disease had decreased in prevalence nationally. Some 9,945 TB cases (an average of 3.2 cases per 100,000 persons) were reported, the sheet says, and the 2012 count was the lowest since national reporting of TB commenced in 1953. Still, Texas, California and Florida were among a few states with an average number of cases exceeding the national average, according to a map with the fact sheet. Van Deusen said about half the state’s decreasing number of TB cases show up in residents born abroad. \"\"TB often crops up in immigrant populations because of the nature of the disease where a person can be exposed to the bacteria but not develop active disease for many, many years,\"\" he wrote. \"\"In fact, the vast majority of people who get the tuberculosis bacteria in their body will never go on to develop active TB disease because their immune systems will keep the bacteria in check.\"\" In the Univision debate, Patrick said he’d previously mentioned leprosy because the World Health Organization reported that from 2010 to 2012, cases increased in Mexico and the U.S. An online search led us to a WHO chart indicating U.S. cases of leprosy increased from 169 in 2010 to 168 in 2011 to 173 in 2012 with cases in Mexico going from 211 in 2010 up to 216 in 2011 and down to 215 in 2012. We asked Patrick’s campaign about Battleground Texas’s claim and the reports that Patrick described and didn’t hear back. Our ruling The Battleground Texas activist said Patrick has \"\"called immigration into Texas an invasion\"\" and Patrick has \"\"said immigrants coming into Texas bring ‘third-world diseases.’\"\" This year and earlier, Patrick referred to illegal immigration as an invasion that he wants to stopper. In 2006, he was quoted as saying illegal immigrants bring third-world diseases to the state. Both claims have weaknesses, but we're not judging Patrick's veracity here. The Democratic group's statement is . – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Battleground Texas Says Dan Patrick has \"\"called immigration into Texas an invasion\"\" and \"\"said immigrants coming into Texas bring ‘third-world diseases.’\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c32f707f5ace46889746480e4d7c8f6c",
            "input": "The Board of Regents approved the fiscal year 2020-2021 supplemental operating budget of about $28 million Thursday, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. The request will be submitted to the state Legislature and Democratic Gov. David Ige. The university requested $2.6 million to hire 19 psychologists for the 10-campus system. The University of Hawaii Manoa has eight psychologists, the Hilo campus has three, and the West Oahu campus has 1.75 positions, while each community college has one position, said Allyson Tanouye, who coordinates mental health throughout the university system. “The national standard is one mental health professional per 1,000 to 1,500 students,” Tanouye said. “If we add the 19 positions we will be up to one per 1,500. That’s how low we are.” The mental health funding would also expand programs to prevent suicide, reduce mental health stigma, provide peer education, and alert new students and parents to college transition challenges, officials said. The largest item in the supplemental budget is $17.7 million to expand the Hawaii Promise Program scholarship to four-year state institutions. The university has proposed a flat amount to cover tuition and fees of Hawaii residents qualifying for need-based federal Pell grants. “This is looking to focus on the most needy students going to the four-year campuses,” said Donald Straney, vice president for academic planning and policy. “It would add Hawaii Promise on top of the Pell grants to cover the total tuition costs of students who are receiving those grants.” The request also covered staffing increases including positions for operations and maintenance, security, educational and cultural programming, and student mentors. ___ Information from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, http://www.staradvertiser.com",
            "output": [
                "University of Hawaii seeks mental health, scholarship funds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e751f53f78c8435580ee456f0b82e400",
            "input": "\"While the rest of the nation celebrated Mardi Gras on Feb. 12, official Washington was transfixed by a different spectacle: delivery of President Barack Obama’s yearly State of the Union speech. Newly elected Congressman Dave Joyce watched the hour-long oration on the House of Representatives floor with his House and Senate colleagues and was up the next morning to discuss it with radio talk show host and Plain Dealer columnist Mike McIntyre on WCPN’s \"\"The Sound of Ideas\"\" call-in program. The Russell Township Republican told McIntyre he heard plenty of familiar themes in Obama’s speech, and said many of the president’s solutions to problems \"\"seemed to involve more big government.\"\" But Joyce said he was intrigued by Obama’s call for providing high school students with a more technical education that will help them get better jobs after graduation. During the speech, Obama highlighted a school in Brooklyn, N.Y. that graduates students with both a high school diploma and an associates degree in computers or engineering. \"\"We need to better prepare our workforce for the jobs that we have,\"\" Joyce said. \"\"There are three million jobs that go vacant each month in this country, so the idea of trying to better prepare our children for the workforce by reforming high schools and stressing technical degrees in engineering, that is something that intrigues me. It’s something that people in other districts hear from their people, who said we have difficulty finding competent workers.\"\" PolitiFact was intrigued by Joyce’s assertion that three million U.S. jobs go unfilled every month. Could that be  that a nation with a 7.9 percent unemployment in January, 2013 actually has so many job openings? Joyce’s press secretary referred us to monthly job openings reports produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A Feb. 12 report that covered statistics from December 2012 said there were 3.6 million job openings on the last day of the year, a number that varied little throughout 2012. The report said that during 2012, hires totaled 51.8 million and separations totaled 50.0 million, yielding a net employment gain of 1.8 million. Reports the office issued for previous months in 2012 indicated there were 3.8 million job openings in June, 3.7 million job openings in November, October , July,   May and March,  3.6 million openings in September and August, 3.5 million vacancies in January and February, and 3.4 million unfilled jobs in April,  So why are there so many unfilled jobs? Employers maintain there’s a skills gap, while some labor economists say that skilled workers desire more pay than employers want to provide. A Bloomberg.com article on the subject said U.S. companies have reported more than 3 million job openings every month since February 2011. The article quoted Anthony Carnevale, who heads the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce in Washington, D.C., saying there’s a demand for workers with highly specific skills. The article described a growing skills gap as a global problem, quoting a McKinsey Global Institute study that said employers worldwide could face a shortage of 85 million high- and medium-skilled workers by 2020. It also highlighted a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center program that helps unskilled workers train for better paid, skilled jobs in fields such as nursing. \"\"‘Qualified’ used to mean a high school degree,\"\" Carnevale told Bloomberg. \"\"Now the qualification level has gone up so they’re pressing for better people.\"\" A Nov. 11 segment on CBS News’ \"\"60 Minutes\"\" said that manufacturers nationwide say the lack of skilled workers is the reason for hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs. But it quoted management professor Peter Capelli of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business saying that if companies paid better, they might be able to get the higher skilled workers they say they need. \"\"This is a market. And so, you know, if you're not willing to pay more, don't expect to get better quality people,\"\" Capelli said. \"\"One of the things we know now is wages are not going up. In fact, they've been stagnant and some cases even declining over time. So where is the shortage?\"\" Capelli also noted that a generation ago, companies provided workers with the training they needed. \"\"Companies are now saying, for all kinds of reasons, \"\"We're not going to do it anymore,\"\" Capelli told \"\"60 Minutes.\"\" \"\"And maybe they're right, they can't do it. But what they probably can't do is say, ‘We're not going to do it, and it's your problem. It's your problem to provide us with what we need, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer. You need to pay for this for us.\"\" Alcoa Inc. CEO Klaus Kleinfeld provided a counterpoint to Capelli’s views. Kleinfeld said he believes manufacturing jobs pay \"\"very, very well,\"\" and that Alcoa is making efforts to fill the skills gap as are many other businesses. Asked why there’s still a skills gap if manufacturing is attempting to close it, Kleinfield replied: \"\"This is not a society where you can tell somebody what - where to go, or where to - what education to get, right?’  Joyce’s claim that 3 million jobs go vacant each month is accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "There are 3 million jobs that go vacant each month in this country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c3f73c7ef5e471cae90c9b37c33c5a6",
            "input": "\"Barack Obama, exhorting Dallas Democrats during a March 2016 Texas swing, called Republican claims that the country and planet are in sorry shape a \"\"false narrative.\"\" \"\"America is pretty darn great right now,\"\" the Democratic president said. And among great things, Obama said, Democrats believe in science and that climate change is real -- and that wind is a better bargain in Texas than traditional oil and gas. Come again? \"\"Right now, here in Texas,\"\" Obama said, \"\"wind power is already cheaper than dirty fossil fuels.\"\" Wind power sure has sizzle. In 2015, PolitiFact in Washington, D.C., found Mostly  Obama’s claim that \"\"America is No. 1 in wind power.\"\" China led in overall wind-power capacity but the U.S. was generating more electricity from the wind. Earlier, in 2010, we rated  a declaration that Texas had \"\"installed more wind power than any other state, and all but four countries.\"\" As of 2009, Texas boasted 9,410 megawatts of wind power — enough to power two million homes. More recently, FactCheck.org, based at the University of Pennsylvania, dug into Obama’s claim in his 2016 State of the Union address that \"\"in fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power.\"\" Nationally, average coal and gas prices were running less than average wind power costs. Yet in Iowa and Texas, wind energy proved cheaper, according to an Energy Information Administration analyst. Meantime, an American Wind Energy Association blog post talking up Obama’s Iowa-Texas SOTU claim noted a 2015 study by Lazard LLC, a financial services firm, stating the cost of wind production in Texas, not counting government subsidies, runs from $36 to $51 per megawatt-hour while an average national cost for coal-fired electricity ranges from $65 to $150 per MWh and for gas, depending on the type of plant, from $52/MWh to $218/MWh. White House cites DOE report We asked the White House about the basis of Obama’s statement in Dallas. By email, spokesman Frank Benenati said a federal report shows that in 2014, the \"\"average executed price of wind power purchase agreements\"\" was $23.50 per MWh and according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a non-governmental outfit, \"\"the levelized cost of energy from wind in Iowa and Texas, even without subsidies, is lower than the\"\" levelized cost of energy \"\"of coal at $59/MWh.\"\" Congress in 2015 extended the federal Production Tax Credit for five years. That action, recapped in North American Wind Power, means \"\"wind developers\"\" get a credit of $23 per MWh for electricity generated to the power grid though the credit is set to diminish from 2017 through 2019. The U.S. Department of Energy’s latest annual report on wind technologies, which affirms Texas as the No. 1 wind-power state, states that based on research compiled by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the \"\"national average levelized price of wind PPAs,\"\" or Power Purchase Agreements, \"\"that were signed in 2014 (and that are within the Berkeley Lab sample) fell to around $23.50/MWh nationwide—a new low, but admittedly focused on a sample of projects that largely hail from the lowest-priced Interior region of the country.\"\" Absent from the report: A direct wind-to-fossil-fuel cost comparison, though the report says that based on the agency’s sample, \"\"wind PPA prices are most competitive with wholesale power prices in the Interior region. The average price stream of wind PPAs executed in 2013 or 2014 also compares favorably to a range of projections of the fuel costs of gas-fired generation extending out through 2040.\"\" The Interior region takes in the middle-of-the-country states running north from the Texas-Mexico border to Canada. Levelized costs represent the per-MWh cost (in inflation-adjusted dollars) of building and operating a generating plant over an assumed financial life and duty cycle, the EIA says, counting capital and fuel costs, fixed and variable operations and maintenance costs, financing costs and \"\"an assumed utilization rate for each plant type.\"\" So, Obama’s claim has a basis. Still, the report also cautions against comparing long-time purchase agreement prices for wind with shorter-term fluctuating prices of electricity from fossil fuels like coal. An \"\"important note\"\" says the presented prices don’t reflect \"\"the full social costs of power generation and delivery.\"\" That is, the report says, the cited wind purchase agreement prices are driven down by federal and, sometimes, state tax and financial incentives. Also, the wind prices don’t \"\"fully reflect integration, resource adequacy or transmission costs,\"\" the report says. On the other hand, the note continues, \"\"wholesale electricity prices (or fuel cost projections) do not fully reflect transmission costs, may not fully reflect capital and fixed operating costs and are reduced by virtue of any financial incentives provided to fossil-fueled generation and its fuel production cycle as well as by not fully accounting for the environmental and social costs of that generation.\"\" \"\"In addition, wind PPA prices—once established—are fixed and known, whereas wholesale electricity prices are short term and therefore subject to change over time,\"\" the note says. \"\"Finally, the location of the wholesale electricity nodes and the assumption of a flat block of power are not perfectly consistent with the location and output profile of the sample of wind power projects. In short, comparing levelized long-term wind PPA prices with either yearly wholesale electricity prices or forecasts of the fuel costs of natural gas-fired generation is not appropriate if one’s goal is to account fully for the costs and benefits of wind energy relative to its competition. Nonetheless, these comparisons still provide some sense for the short-term competitive environment facing wind energy, and how that environment has shifted with time.\"\" Energy department cites Bloomberg report Like Benenati, Dawn Selak, an energy department spokeswoman, told us the estimated cost of coal in 2015 was around $59/MWh, a figure she attributed to Bloomberg research. So, Selak said, \"\"the cost of wind (including in Texas) is less than the cost of coal even with the $23/MWh\"\" tax credit factored in. In a February 2016 report prepared for the pro-wind-power Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said: \"\"Wind in Texas is among the cheapest in the country, with an unsubsidized levelized cost of electricity of around $50/MWh, due to high capacity factors (>50%) and low cost to build.\"\" Capacity factor refers to the share of time a turbine (or plant) is actively generating power. A Bloomberg analyst, Stephen Munro, told us by phone and email that Obama was essentially correct per the latest costs of wind power generation in the Texas Panhandle. \"\"Since 2013,\"\" Munro wrote, \"\"we have observed that the cost of new Power Purchase Agreements for wind energy has fallen below the average around-the-clock wholesale prices in the wholesale pool that covers much of the wind power generation in the Panhandle. Average around-the-clock wholesale prices include power generated from fossil fuels, renewable sources and uranium. \"\"As of the second half of 2015,\"\" Munro wrote, \"\"we observed a levelised cost of power of $43/MWh in PPAs for wind in the utility region including much of the Texas Panhandle.\"\" In comparison, Munro said, coal-fired electricity was costing $74.70 per MWh in most of East Texas and the Panhandle as well as Kansas plus parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana. Munro said the wholesale price of wind-fueled power is \"\"notably lower\"\" in the Panhandle and other parts of the region \"\"because that region features an extraordinary wind resource and because the costs of land and construction are lower than elsewhere. Developers have taken advantage of this to install advanced, large capacity turbines.\"\" That is, it’s way windy a lot up over there, we (or maybe someone from Fort Worth) would put it. Texas analysts We also ran Obama’s statement past a staff spokeswoman for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the flow of electricity to most Texans. By email, Robbie Searcy said she’d grant the claim credence. a Mostly  rating. \"\"Within the ERCOT real-time wholesale energy market,\"\" Searcy said, \"\"all generation that is used in any interval technically clears at the same price, which is the highest price of all resources used to serve demand in each load zone at that time. During periods of high wind output,\"\" she said, \"\"wind generation resources are able to offer power into the market at very low, and sometimes negative, prices. This in turn drives down the settlement point prices for all resources operating during those intervals, especially when demand is low.\"\" At our request, Searcy emailed a chart showing wind, coal and natural gas electricity \"\"price offers\"\" in ERCOT’s market at 7 a.m. Jan. 22, 2016. At that time, the chart indicates, coal and gas offers were priced higher than wind. She said the date was the most recent day of available public data when we inquired and agency experts chose the hour to reflect the period when demand, and therefore generation, peaked. Searcy said wholesale market prices at 7 a.m. that day were \"\"about $26.70 per MWh on average among all resources used at the time.\"\" At that time, she said, average offers from gas-fired power producers were $23.37/MWh compared to $14.14 per MWh for coal and a negative $23.89 for wind power. (Perhaps wind power producers could afford that thanks to the federal subsidy.) Searcy said too it’s worth remembering that when \"\"we talk about natural gas-fired resources, that covers a broad range of technologies and efficiency levels, from older steam units to more modern combined-cycle units to quick-start combustion turbines.\"\" The case for coal Even if Texas wind power may be cheaper for electricity than traditional fuels, other authorities told us there’s at least one smart reason to keep the other fuels handy. Winds can die down, keeping turbines from spinning. At the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas producers, Lauren Hamner, spokeswoman for Commissioner Christi Craddick, said by email that it’s worth remembering a coal-fired plant is capable of running longer at all hours than a breeze-dependent wind turbine -- so power capacity, she said, should be folded into any comparison. Similarly, Russ Keene, Austin-based spokesman for the Balanced Energy for Texas Coalition, which says it represents consumers and coal producers, transporters and industrial users, pointed out a June 2015 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Energy Research, a free-market think tank. The study seems an outlier in saying that when \"\"all known costs\"\" are considered, the average U.S. cost of producing electricity from established coal-fired plants is far less than new wind-power generation. Still, we asked its lead author, Tom Stacy, to evaluate Obama’s claim. By email, Stacy said the president didn’t acknowledge that an established plant fueled by coal, gas or nuclear power can be available at all hours and that’s just not so for wind-dependent generators. It stands to reason, he indicated, that wind-generated electricity can’t (or shouldn’t) be price-compared to electricity generated by fossil fuels or nuclear sources. Availability at all times aside, we wondered, is it also so that wind-fueled power is lately cheaper in Texas than power drawn from fossil fuels? \"\"And dog meat in China is cheaper than Kobe beef in NYC,\"\" Stacy wrote, \"\"but it isn't the same thing, is it?\"\" Our ruling Obama, in Dallas, said: \"\"Right now, here in Texas, wind power is already cheaper than dirty fossil fuels.\"\" Wind-generated electricity is offered for sale in Texas at lower prices than power fired by coal or natural gas. Unsaid: wind power, unlike electricity fueled by oil or gas, isn’t always available. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "Right now, here in Texas, wind power is already cheaper than dirty fossil fuels."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e01b40442e1d461abd6a8d99ddde2bf6",
            "input": "The story doesn’t mention cost at all. Since Lucentis can cost $2,000 per injection, that’s a significant oversight. It would also be useful to tell readers how Lucentis injections compare with the cost of laser treatment. The benefits are, for the most part, reasonably well explained. But those explanations lack numbers to back them up and are overstated in at least one place. “One benefit discussed in the release is that study participants who received laser treatment were more likely to suffer peripheral vision loss than participants who were treated solely with Lucentis — although this isn’t quantified. A second benefit was that participants who received laser treatment were more likely to require subsequent surgery to remove blood from the eye — and this was quantified. But the release pushes things a bit when it comes to vision, or visual acuity. The release states: “At two years, vision in the Lucentis group improved by an average of about half a line on an eye chart, compared with virtually no change in the laser group.” But here’s how the journal article puts it: “There was no statistically significant visual acuity difference between the ranibizumab and PRP [laser] groups at 2 years. The language in the journal article itself stresses that what was being evaluated was whether Lucentis was at least as good as laser treatment — and they found that, after two years, the visual acuity of patients who took Lucentis (and had no laser treatment) was as good as patients who had the laser treatment. The release could have simply stated this and avoided confusion. In short, this was a close one — but the lack of numbers on peripheral vision and the overstatement of the visual acuity results make this a “Not Satisfactory.” The release mentions that one study volunteer in the Lucentis group developed an eye infection and stated that “serious systemic adverse events,” namely cardiac arrest and stroke, occurred at similar rates among the two groups undergoing the two different procedures. We’ll rate that satisfactory for the disclosure although the release might have gone even further by mentioning the other side effects named in the study including inflammation and elevated intraocular pressure which occurred in both treatment groups. The release does a good job of describing the study design, the number of participants, and the fact that this was a randomized clinical trial. A few words about the limitations of the study — e.g. the investigators and patients could not be masked to which treatment they were getting, would have be useful as well. No disease mongering here. The release does tell readers that the study was funded by the National Eye Institute. However, it does not make clear that Lloyd Paul Aiello — who is quoted in the release — was also a co-author of the journal article. The release also fails to mention that several co-authors receive research funding or consulting fees from Genentech, which developed ranibizumab and markets it in the U.S., and Novartis, which markets the drug outside the U.S. The release does a good job of comparing Lucentis to conventional laser treatment for PDR and we’ll award a Satisfactory rating on that basis. However, we’d note that these are not necessarily the only two options. Lucentis is classed as an “anti-VEGF” (anti- vascular endothelial growth factor) drug — by blocking a protein called VEGF, the drug can reverse abnormal blood vessel growth and decrease fluid in the retina. Other drugs in this category include Avastin and Eylea. Are those drugs under consideration for trials related to PDR treatment? If so, it’s worth mentioning — particularly since Avastin costs around $60 per dose, as compared to Lucentis’s $2,000 per dose. The release notes that Lucentis is already used to treat other diabetes-related eye problems, and “should be considered a viable treatment option for people with PDR.” The clinical trial at issue here appears to be the first to look at the use of Lucentis as a treatment for PDR, particularly in a randomized study with direct comparison to laser treatment. However, the release doesn’t tell readers that. On the other hand, the release does make clear that this is the first significant advance in clinical treatment for PDR since the 1970s — that’s good context. The release does a good job of avoiding hype and explaining what was a complex study.",
            "output": [
                "Lucentis Proves Effective Against Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d01c6709ef549458d68aadc0195aff4",
            "input": "\"Ohio will begin tracking arsonists this summer through a new registry similar to the one used to track sex offenders. A law passed last year by the General Assembly will require people convicted of arson-related offenses to register at their local sheriff's office each year for at least 10 years. Failing to register will be a felony. Supporters tout the measure as a tool for law enforcement. Critics argue, among other points, that the registry will be a burden for sheriffs already charged with keeping the sex-offender registry. \"\"The sex-offender registry has been around for a long time, and the research that's out there says that it has no positive impact on the public safety,\"\" Amy Borror, spokeswoman for the Ohio Public Defender's Office, told The Plain Dealer. \"\"And, if anything, it might have a negative impact on public safety because it creates this administrative burden.\"\" The registry has been around for almost 20 years and has been public for more than 15. The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children Act, enacted by Congress in 1994, required convicted sex offenders to record their address with local law enforcement. Megan’s Law, added in 1996, allowed the information to be given directly to the public. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), passed in 2006, set registration standards that widened the reach of registration for the entire nation. PolitiFact Ohio knew the subject could be an emotional one. We asked Borror how the claim is supported that the registry does not improve public safety. She referred us first to the website of the Public Defender's Office, which links to a number of reports, and to a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Justice and Behavior, from May 2010, which was dedicated to sex offender issues. Criminal Justice and Behavior published 10 academic studies related to sex offenses, focusing on the question of whether public policies concerning sex offenders enhance the safety of children and communities. The journal found that the subject is consistently one of the leading policy issues on legislative agendas. It concluded, however, that \"\"sex offender policies are often inconsistent with empirical evidence about sex offender risks, recidivism, reintegration and supervision.... \"\"Legislators cite the news media and the views of their constituents -- not research evidence -- as their primary sources of information about sex offenses and offenders,\"\" the journal said. One of the published studies, by criminologists with the University of Massachusetts, Lynn University and the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, focused on Ohio and Oklahoma, two of the first states to meet federal guidelines set by SORNA. Those guidelines classify offenders into one of three categories determined by solely by convicted offense. (Previously, judges determined what risk offenders posed and assigned them to one of three registration categories.) Drawing on data from more than 28,000 cases in Ohio and from other research, the study’s conclusions  \"\"shed doubt on the public safety utility of the SORNA classification system.\"\" It found that a disproportionate number of offenders were classified as high risk, placing greater burdens, perhaps unnecessarily, on law enforcement personnel and budgets. \"\"From a public safety perspective,\"\" the study found, the SORNA classification guidelines hurt the ability of the system \"\"to effectively discriminate between those who pose a substantial risk to society and those who pose minimal risk,\"\" and also contradict evidence about the risk of repeat offenses for both adult sex offenders and juveniles. Another report, from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, studied sexual offenders who were jailed for failing to register with local law enforcement agencies. It found that the failure to register was not a predictor of repeated crime, other than future failure to register. An analysis of adult arrest data from 1990 to 2005 in South Carolina found that sex offender registration laws did have a deterrent effect on first-time adult offenders, but no effect on juveniles and no effect on recidivism. Borror also pointed us to a 2009 study from the state of  New York’s Office of Mental Health that specifically compares a risk-based classification system (which Ohio used to have) to the offense-based registration system, which Ohio has now. It concluded that the current system \"\"falls short of increasing public safety,\"\" citing five earlier studies that found registration and notification laws were \"\"ineffective methods of reducing sexual victimizations.\"\" It also noted there is evidence that such laws actually lead to more criminal behavior by aggravating the factors linked to it -- an unintended consequence of reducing or denying employment, educational, social and housing opportunities. \"\"Although well intended, such laws have done little (if anything) to increase public safety and may in fact be lowering it,\"\" the study said. (A 2007 report by the non-government organization Human Rights Watch detailed the harassment of registered offenders because of online community notification.) We looked further and found a 2008 report funded by the U.S. Justice Department examining the original Megan's Law in New Jersey. \"\"Despite widespread community support for these laws,\"\" it said, \"\"there is virtually no evidence to support their effectiveness in reducing either new first-time sex offenses (through protective measures or general deterrence) or sex re-offenses (through protective measures and specific deterrence). \"\"Given the lack of demonstrated effect of Megan’s Law on sexual offenses, the growing costs may not be justifiable,\"\" it said. Another study, by J.J. Prescott of the University of Michigan Law School and Jonah Rockoff of Columbia Business School and the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined data from 15 states over more than 10 years. They found that registering sex offenders does reduce sex crime, especially among victims with a personal connection to offenders, most likely because of better police monitoring. They also found, however, that making the registry information available to the public has the opposite effect and increases crime. \"\"There is little evidence of a decrease in crimes against strangers,\"\" the study said. \"\"We also find evidence that community notification deters crime, but in a way unanticipated by legislators. Our results suggest that community notification deters first-time sex offenders, but may increase recidivism by registered offenders by increasing the relative attractiveness of criminal behavior. This finding is consistent with work by criminologists showing that notification may contribute to recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and, as a result, making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive. \"\"We regard this latter finding as potentially important, given that the purpose of community notification is the reduction of recidivism,\"\" the authors concluded. The federal Government Accountability Office evaluated the effects of SORNA in a report issued earlier this year. The GAO noted that law’s purpose is to protect the public from sex offenders, but found \"\"analysis of the act’s effect on public safety has been limited.\"\" Positive effects included \"\"improved monitoring of registered sex offenders\"\" and better information sharing between law enforcement agencies. Negative consequences found by the GAO included a lack of consideration of the risk of repeating sexual offenses in classifying offenders; a disproportionate increase in the workload of law enforcement agencies, and increased problems for registered sex offenders to find work or housing. What conclusion can we draw about Borror’s statement for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office,  that research shows the sex offender registry has no positive impact? We found that research has been done generally on the effectiveness of sex offender registration and notification laws. We found that studies indicate the laws have no clear effect on recidivism, or repeat offenses, which is their intended target, and are ineffective in assessing and managing risk. Although there is some indication that registration and community notification may deter first-time adult offenders, the studies find that the deterrence doesn’t extend to juveniles -- and that community notification likely increases repeat sex crimes and other crimes. With that information needed for clarification,\"",
            "output": [
                "The sex-offender registry has been around for a long time, and the research that's out there says that it has no positive impact on the public safety."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2595bd43b064c458fea50ae8960a57a",
            "input": "Washington accuses Beijing of trying to build its own tech champions by stealing or pressuring foreign companies to hand over technology. Here are some of China’s biggest names in telecoms equipment, clean energy and medical equipment: ZTE CORP.: The No. 2 Chinese maker of network gear for phone and internet companies was nearly driven out of business this year after running afoul of Washington over its exports to Iran and North Korea. State-owned ZTE says it spends 13 billion yuan ($2 billion) a year on research and development, but the company still needs U.S. components and technology. The company pleaded guilty in 2017 to violating restrictions on exports of U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea. Washington accused it in April of violating a settlement in that case and imposed a seven-year ban on purchases of U.S. technology — a penalty its chairman said might destroy ZTE. The company was paying American technology suppliers an estimated $1.9 billion annually. To regain access, ZTE agreed to pay a $1 billion fine, replace its executive team and embed a U.S.-chosen compliance team in the company. FOXCONN TECHNOLOGY GROUP: The world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer is an example of U.S technology investment and job creation that President Donald Trump is keen to publicize. Founded in 1975 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Terry Gou, Foxconn employs more than 1 million people in factories in China assembling smartphones, computers and other products for Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Sony Corp. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is expanding abroad. Last week, it broke ground in Wisconsin for its first U.S. facility in a ceremony attended by Trump. Foxconn acquired Japan’s Sharp Corp. in 2016 and announced plans this year to U.S. electronics brand Belkin International Inc. —HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO.: The biggest global supplier of network gear and the No.3 smartphone brand behind Samsung and Apple has faced complaints it improperly copied technology. Founded by a former Chinese military engineer in 1987, Huawei ranks No. 1 among Chinese companies in research and development spending and said its 2017 total rose 17 percent to 89.7 billion yuan ($13.8 billion). Authorities in the United States, Australia and other countries have expressed concern Huawei is a security risk, but the company denies helping Chinese military or spy agencies. In 2003, Cisco Systems accused Huawei of copying source code and infringing patents but dropped the case after the Chinese company removed the contested code and other features. —BYD CO.: The world’s biggest maker of electric cars by number of vehicles sold standards to benefit from Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan to develop its own tech champions. Founded in 1995 to make rechargeable batteries for toys and mobile phones, BYD — short for “Build Your Dreams” — sells battery-powered taxis and buses in Europe and Latin America and has a factory in Lancaster, California, to produce electric buses. It also has expanded into solar power, light rail and other fields. —SINOVEL WIND GROUP CO.: One of China’s biggest makers of wind turbines, Sinovel was convicted in January by a U.S. federal court of stealing software from AMSC, a former supplier in Massachusetts. The company is part of a Chinese wind industry that has boomed due to Beijing’s support for renewable energy to help curb demand for imported oil and gas. In 2013, the company was charged with stealing AMSC software. The same year, Sinovel closed its international units in the United States, Canada, Italy and Belgium, but said that was unrelated to the prosecution. The U.S. Justice Department says Sinovel faces the possibility of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines at its sentencing. —HIKVISION DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD.: The company that says it is the world’s biggest supplier of video surveillance equipment has run into U.S. accusations it is a security risk. State-owned Hikvision says its customers include the Universal Studios theme park in Florida, a London district government, the South Korean city of Daegu and Milan’s Malpensa Airport. People working in the American video surveillance industry have accused Hikvision of including features in its products that transmitted images to its China headquarters without its customers’ knowledge. A military spending bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last month includes a ban on government purchases from Hikvision. —MINDRAY BIO-MEDICAL ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.: China’s biggest manufacturer of ultrasound scanners and other medical equipment — a key category targeted by Washington’s threats of tariff hikes. Founded in 1991, Mindray says its equipment is used by hospitals and other medical and veterinary institutions in 190 countries.",
            "output": [
                "Some of the biggest names in Chinese technology."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-821c85b99ae64e7883578996eaf07491",
            "input": "Relief groups are giving tetanus shots and handing out free meals and cleaning supplies near his farm in the Langdon-Rock Port area, about 100 miles (161 km) northwest of Kansas City. But what Oswald really needs is money. Hit by the worst flooding in living memory, he and thousands of other farmers along the Missouri River will each require hundreds of thousands of dollars in disaster funds or loans to start over. “The typical response on flood relief is groups like the Red Cross show up with paper towels and rubber gloves and scrub buckets,” said Oswald, 69, who does not expect to be able to get to his home or land for weeks. “The biggest thing farmers need is cash, or ways to access funds.”  Slammed by a trade war and low commodity prices, Midwest family farms have been in the red and in decline for the last five years. The number of U.S farms fell by 100,000 between 2010 and 2017, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. Thousands more will now go under without emergency financial support for flooding, pummeling heartland economies almost entirely dependent on agriculture, farmers and aid groups said. It is a call federal and state agencies, as well as non-governmental and faith-based relief groups are answering. President Donald Trump has approved disaster declarations for Nebraska and Iowa, making federal disaster funding available in flood-hit areas. Missouri Governor Mike Parson declared a state of emergency, paving the way for similar actions in his state. “I know we aim for bringing everything back up to where it was,” said Rosalynn Days-Austin, a USDA emergency coordinator helping direct Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) efforts in flood-affected areas. “Sometimes that’s not always possible, for a variety of reasons, but the goal is definitely to help them bounce back from their loss.”   Relief groups like Farm Aid are tending to the immediate needs of farmers, distributing tens of thousands of dollars in “emergency grants” - $500 gifts from cash donations that help families pay for things like groceries. After that, the group and its partners advise farming families on how to access federal disaster funds they hope are coming soon. “What we’re hearing, because of the snowpack and rain and the wet ground, is that farmers are going to be dealing with this throughout the spring. So we’re in it for the long haul,” said Jennifer Fahy, a spokeswoman for the group established by country singer and activist Willie Nelson. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is coordinating a long-term response to get displaced families housed, navigate the red tape of insurance companies and federal agencies and tend to the mental health needs of people who have suffered extreme trauma, said Bishop Brian Maas. “We have national partners and coalitions within the state,” said Maas, who is asking people to hold off donating more material goods, for now. “There will be stresses because we’ve not done anything of this magnitude. “Now we have mountains of cleaning supplies and so forth that can’t be used,” Maas said, appealing to people to get back in touch in a month to see how they can donate then. “Cash is the most flexible way to respond.”  Another immediate need is feed for livestock. Relief organization Farm Rescue is collecting donations of hay in the Dakotas and trucking it to farmers whose cattle are starving after their feed stands were submerged in floodwater. “I don’t know of anything this widespread that has ever affected so many people in our service area,” said Dan Erdmann, a spokesman for the group which helps family farms get through crises ranging from natural disasters to medical emergencies. Farm workers, some of them undocumented and legal migrants, have been hit hard. Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska is looking at housing assistance for displaced people who previously paid around $300 a month rent and now face rents triple that due to a dearth in properties, said Stacy Martin, chief executive of the social services charity. While relief groups tend to urgent needs, farmers like Scott Olson say more federal relief money is needed at a time when low crop prices and high debt levels are limiting farmers’ access to credit. He is counting on a farm relief bill in Congress for extra disaster compensation after he successfully lobbied in Washington for similar funds following 2011 flooding. “Flood insurance isn’t going to cover this worth a darn. FEMA is worthless,” said Olson, who farms 3,000 acres near Tekamah, Nebraska and runs a farm equipment business. “They don’t have any money, nobody has any money.”",
            "output": [
                "After devastating floods, U.S. Midwest farms need more than 'paper towels' to recover."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe9ef2ae11f74364843906190517bc22",
            "input": "\"The story did not mention specific costs of the CMA test; however, it did indicate that not all insurance will cover this test. Since the story stated that  \"\"both Children’s Hospital Boston and Montefiore have offered CMA testing for several years,\"\" some cost estimate could have easily been found. The story adequately presents the efficacy of three different genetic tests in identifying abnormalities that may be associated with autism—karyotype: 2%; fragile X: 0.5%; CMA: 7%. It would have been helpful to let readers know that not all 933 people included in the study were tested with each of the three tests. According to the results, the CMA tests performed best in females with autistic disorder, but this was not reported. There was no discussion regarding the emotional or social ramifications associated with receiving genetic testing results. More information on who was included in this test would have been useful. The majority of the patients were diagnosed with autistic disorder (n=447) and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) (n=454). A small number of participants had Asberger disorder (n=31). This story did not exaggerate the prevalence or seriousness of autism. This story included perspective from a pediatric geneticist unaffiliated with the research. The story provided data comparing the two standard genetic tests to the newer CMA test. The story clearly states that not all hospitals offer the newer chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) test. It could have also mentioned that genetic counseling services are not widely available in some geographic areas. The story clearly points out that genetic tests for autism are often performed, but the CMA test is relatively new.\"",
            "output": [
                "Newer Genetic Test for Autism More Effective"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c0e672cd8824bef906dc1d85f497a0e",
            "input": "The 10,000 or so people who remain on Ambae island have mixed feelings about the plans. Some who are badly affected by the ash are eager to leave while others are resisting losing their land and culture. The island was temporarily evacuated last September when the eruption cycle began. This time, authorities are planning a permanent move. Government spokesman Hilaire Bule told The Associated Press on Thursday that he expects the Council of Ministers to approve a relocation plan by next week. Bule said the islanders would be offered residence on two neighboring islands. “It’s not an easy decision,” Bule said. He said there were many details to work through, including providing schools and facilities to the displaced residents and negotiating land and new homes for them. Many people have close family and spiritual ties to the islands where they’ll be relocated, Maewo and Pentecost, Bule said. Traditional religion even has it that the islands are part of a family — Pentecost being the mother, Maewo the father and Ambae the son. Most people on Ambae live a subsistence lifestyle by farming and fishing. Already hundreds of people have moved to temporary shelters on parts of the island that are not so affected by the ash. Ambae is about 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) and is one of about 65 inhabited islands in Vanuatu, which is home to 280,000 people. Vanuatu sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanoes are common. Brad Scott, a New Zealand volcanologist with GNS Science who has been seconded to help Vanuatu authorities, said more than one-quarter of Ambae has been severely impacted, with many traditional thatch roofs collapsing under the weight of the thick ash. He said traditional gardens have been buried and killed in some places and water supplies have been discolored and the water tastes strange. He said there is lots of fine-grained ash, which can affect people’s breathing and respiratory functioning. Other countries including France, New Zealand and Australia provided aid and financial help for the earlier evacuation. Australia on Thursday announced it was providing 300,000 Australian dollars ($226,000) to help with the island’s permanent evacuation, with a focus on the needs of women, children and people with disabilities. Despite the problems, Scott said, many people want to stay put. “There has been significant pushback in the community,” Scott said. “Some people, suffering from significant ash fall, would love to be anywhere else on the planet. Others have strong cultural associations.” Scott said the Manaro volcano on Ambae island had a large eruption about 400 years ago and has had several smaller eruptions over the past 100 years. There have been three phases in the current eruption, with the most recent phase, which started in March, producing the most ash. He said the volcano has actually quietened down over the past two weeks, although there is no way of predicting if and when the next explosive phase would begin. Asked if there was a chance that the residents might be able to one day move back to the island, Bule, the government spokesman, said that was not a question for him. “We don’t know,” he said. “You’ll have to ask the volcano.”",
            "output": [
                "Vanuatu plans to permanently evacuate entire volcanic island."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2ee624be4c54c8ca9c13f3407977efa",
            "input": "Thousands of people die every year from flu, which peaks in the United States between October and March. The flu is spreading quickly this season, with 25 states already reporting cases, the CDC said. “We are seeing a big uptick in disease in the past couple of weeks. The virus is all around the United States right now,” said Dr. Joe Bresee, chief of Epidemiology and Prevention in the CDC’s Influenza Division. In 2009-2010, the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, spread from Central Mexico to 74 other countries, killing an estimated 284,000 people, according to the CDC. While younger people were more susceptible to H1N1 in 2009, Bresee said it is too early to tell whether the same will be true this year. This season’s virus has killed six children in the United States, according to CDC data. The agency does not track adult deaths, but dozens have been reported around the country. “There is still a lot of season to come. If folks haven’t been vaccinated, we recommend they do it now,” Bresee said. Texas has been one of the harder hits states, where at least 25 people have died this season from the flu, local health officials said. The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an “influenza health alert” on December 20, advising clinicians to consider antiviral treatment, even if an initial rapid-flu test comes back negative. Texas health officials also encouraged people to get a flu vaccination. “The flu is considered widespread in Texas,” Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the state’s health department, said.",
            "output": [
                "Seasonal flu widespread in the United States: CDC."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ecc9fb87549843e0bfd2f4835e45d7bb",
            "input": "Keenly aware of the stakes not just for public health but also his credibility, Trump conducted a lengthy press conference Wednesday evening aimed at reassuring everyone that he has the crisis well in hand. Trump surrounded himself with his administration’s top health experts. And he encouraged Americans to be prepared for the virus’ potential spread. But he continued to minimize the risk, saying the outbreak “may get a little bigger; it may not get bigger at all.” And he continued to distance himself from the stated opinion of public health officials that it’s inevitable the virus will spread within the United States. As businesses, schools and people in general think about preparing, the X-factor may be an unpredictable president who has clashed repeatedly with scientists in his own administration and tends to see any crisis through the lens of his own reelection chances. “I don’t think it’s inevitable,” Trump said at the news conference, where he announced Vice President Mike Pence would lead the administration’s response to the outbreak. “I think it has a chance that it could get worse. There is a chance you can get fairly substantially worse. But nothing’s inevitable.” He also said he had recently learned that thousands die from the flu each year, contrasting that to the coronavirus. After two days of the stock market tumbling, Trump took to Twitter Wednesday morning to blame the media and Democrats for causing undue alarm and harming American financial markets. He singled out MSNBC and CNN for “doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible,” and added that ”incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action.” He blamed part of this week’s stock market slide on people’s reaction to Tuesday night’s Democratic debate and the possibility one of those candidates might replace him. And Trump acknowledged that the outbreak could “have an impact on GDP” but insisted that the U.S. economy is still “doing great.” The setting for Trump’s evening press conference — the White House press briefing room — was meant to offer a sense of calm and assurance by the Republican president. It was only the second time in his presidency that Trump had spoken from the podium in that room, and aides acknowledged he was trying to underscore that he has the situation under control and understands the gravity. In advance, Trump played down the mortality rate for a pathogen that has been confirmed to have killed 2,700 people globally. His top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoed Trump’s outlook, saying Tuesday that the U.S. had “contained” the threat of a domestic outbreak. Trump’s and Kudlow’s comments were at odds with warnings from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who said American communities need to prepare now for when the disease starts spreading domestically. There have been just 60 confirmed cases in the U.S. “The messaging by the White House is unhelpful,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. “What the White House is doing is conveying a sense of overconfidence. ... Of course, we do want to maintain calm with the public, but it flies in the face of facts.” Trump’s public efforts to project calm masked a behind-the-scenes focus. During his 36-hour visit to India, Trump received briefings from staff and periodically checked the impact on Wall Street, tweeting at all hours to try to reassure Americans and the markets about the spread of the virus. Trump expressed deep concern to aides about the effect on the markets, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing. Trump has tied his fortunes to Wall Street more closely than any of his recent predecessors and has made a strong economy his No. 1 argument for reelection. As the media coverage of the virus has increased, Trump has grown concerned that even fears of an outbreak would stagger Wall Street, leading him to wonder aloud if Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was the right person to lead the administration’s response, the officials said. Since the start of the crisis, Trump has been reluctant to blame China, where the virus originated, for fear of upsetting President Xi Jinping or damaging ongoing trade talks. But he is also fearful he could be accused of being unresponsive to the crisis. At the urging of a number of his internal and outside advisers, he directed the White House to adopt a more public presence, leading to a briefing by officials and emails to the press stressing the administration’s response. “Americans want to see their president taking charge and showing leadership, and that is exactly what President Trump is doing,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. Privately, aides said concerns have spiked in recent days inside the Trump reelection campaign. Republicans close to the White House are keenly aware of the political implications of a pandemic scare. In 2014, the GOP aggressively criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the Ebola epidemic, which it later credited with helping the party seize back the majority in the Senate. The most pressing concern, aides said, is not the possibility of widespread outbreak in the U.S. — Trump’s aides do believe existing monitoring and restrictions are working — but the downstream effects of the virus on the global economy and public sentiment. The virus has already shut Chinese factories that are part of the U.S. supply chain. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated Wednesday that U.S. growth could slow to 1.7% this year — roughly the same level as in 2016. He said the situation could become worse if a pandemic emerges. “The U.S. economy is more insulated from the impact of the virus, but it is not immune, and it too would likely suffer a downturn in this scenario,” Zandi said. Trump moved swiftly to severely curtail most travel to China a month ago, a move administration officials believe slowed the spread of the virus to the U.S., even if it drew criticism for being too extreme in the moment. Until now, federal health authorities have been preparing for the coronavirus’ arrival in the U.S. with little if any White House interference. They’re following the playbook: pandemic preparedness plans that were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic, but will work for any respiratory-borne disease. Part of those plans call for educating the public on what to expect if the virus begins spreading in U.S. communities, such as school closures or calls for people to telework. One of the lessons learned in prior crises is not to offer false assurances when scientists have questions about the illness. As Trump plays down the threat of an outbreak, his past attacks on government scientists on everything from hurricane forecasts to climate change and his reputation for straining the truth all factor into the credibility of his message. The flap over Trump’s off-base comments about Hurricane Dorian last fall — when he went so far as to display a weather map that had been altered with a black marker to extend the hurricane’s possible path — demonstrated the pitfalls when a president veers from the message provided by government scientists and career professionals. Trump, who pilloried President Barack Obama over his response to the Ebola epidemic, now finds himself having to fend off a wave of criticism from Democratic presidential rivals who claim he’s discounted science and has inadequate response plans. At Tuesday’s presidential debate, Mike Bloomberg claimed “there’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar criticized Trump for trying to cut back funding of the CDC and the National Institutes of Health. Trump’s budgets have proposed cuts to public health, only to be overruled by Congress, where there’s strong bipartisan support for agencies like the CDC and NIH. Instead, financing has increased. —- Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Lauran Neergaard and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump faces credibility test as he plays down virus threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12411cf1e6a9455fb63d6b3e2a3146de",
            "input": "Among the soda tower, the tables of puzzles and games, and the incongruous cabinet of stuffed penguins — it’s a long story — you’ll find a place for mental health support, not from doctors or professionals but from those who have been through mental illness themselves. The unusual mind running it all is Randy Hoover, who started Freedom Pointe with help from Ken Hays, former Webster County community services director, and Bob Lincoln, CEO of the 22-county mental health region called County Social Services. Hoover was a college graduate with a double major in education and psychology, and was working as a teacher when his own mental illness sent him running from everything he knew in Iowa. “I ran away from home — that’s the only way to put it,” Hoover told The Messenger. “You know the fight or flight syndrome; I picked flight. I ran away from my job, from my wife and a bunch of kids.” Hoover graduated from Prairie Community High School, before it was Prairie Valley, and got his college education at Buena Vista. Hoover ended up in North Carolina; without consciously meaning to, he found his way to within 10 miles of his daughter. “I stayed with her for a while. She convinced me to go to the doctor,” Hoover said. The doctor diagnosed him with borderline personality disorder. “When I asked what that was, she gave me the symptoms of, you feel like you have no value,” Hoover said. “You feel like you don’t belong anywhere. You feel like no one wants you; like everyone will leave you before it’s done. And it has a lot of suicidal ideations connected to it. “I’ll be honest, I usually go through that about three times a day. Thinking, let’s just end it, and not worry about other people. But then you think about, like they say, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” Hoover tried different medications, but the only real treatment for borderline is therapy, he said. This was 15 years ago, and he never lost contact with that doctor. “I talk to her almost every day on the phone yet,” Hoover said. “She says, I understand you, I want to help you. You’re doing good things, and you can’t do that if you’re not in a good place yourself. She has made a big impact in my life.” Hoover had a long road back to recovery. A group at a church raised money to send him back to Fort Dodge, and bought him food. He made it home, got divorced, and lived in his van for some time, eating just a can of green beans every day. Eventually he was convinced to visit the peer support center that was available at the time. He didn’t think it would be for him, but once he was there he changed his mind. “I listened to them talk and I realized — they have the same thoughts I do. So I talked to them, I got a therapist up here. And they helped me through.” Later in life, this experience would inspire him to say yes to starting Freedom Pointe. “I know what it was like out there for me. I was out there and no one was even paying attention. Nobody cared — or that’s what I felt,” he said. “Some of the people in the center just got my attention. Suddenly I had friends again.” Irene Blair, the now-retired director of the Webster County Community Services Department, offered Hoover a job at the center. By this point, he had rented an apartment and was working at the Rabiner Treatment Center. Some years later, Bob Lincoln spoke with Hoover about starting a new program. “I said, ‘I suppose I could give it a try,’” Hoover said. “We spent a lot of time putting things together. We started meeting down at the library, in one of their conference rooms. I think we met three days a week. Then we had to get out of there because you can only use it so many times. “We moved to Snell-Crawford Park, and met in the shelter house. We all became really good at croquet.” After this, Theresa Naughton of Lifeworks asked Hoover if he would like to have his own space, he said. Freedom Pointe isn’t affiliated with Lifeworks, but as of today it has shared a building with the organization for about a year and a half. “I will be honest, I’m not sure if Freedom Pointe would even be where it is if it wasn’t for Theresa Naughton,” he said. “We talk, and she has given me a lot of advice. Sometimes I listen. Sometimes, no I want to do it this way. It’s wrong, but it’s more fun.” Hoover has never been about following the well-worn path. “What is the famous poem, the road less traveled,” he said. “I had someone tell me once the biggest mistake you can make in life is the mistake of omission. Not trying. He said you’ve got to try. At least if you failed, you failed trying.” Freedom Pointe has game nights and activities, and keeps a space for people to meet. Members of the organization get out into the community to give others a helping hand. “The idea that, if you get people together, we all kind of help each other,” he said. “We do one-on-ones. We go out, we listen to them, we help them with forms they need to fill out, we get them to doctor appointments, we help them go to the grocery store to get groceries. “We’re working on a pilot prevention program with Amerigroup. I was told the average hospital stay for a mental health issue costs Amerigroup $28,000. We’re willing to take much less than that to try to prevent people. In the three years we’ve been going, no one connected to us has been committed, and no one has even gone to the emergency room for mental health issues. “We’re not therapists. We help them get to either Berryhill or Community Health. Both those places are really good.” The idea is to make sure people get to the resources that are available. Hoover also keeps track of the group’s successes. There’s a bag full of rocks at the center; each one represents a suicide that was stopped. “It has 18 in it now,” Hoover said. “One of those rocks is me. Theresa was the one who stopped that one.” The center sees about 83 clients, Hoover said. It gets paid for about eight of them. In both funding and finding the best ways to help, mental health work is not easy. Hoover jokes that he wouldn’t have taken it on if he’d known it would be this much work — but the truth, he said, is that he did it because of how much having peer support helped back when he was trying to get back on his feet. “When Bob offered me the chance to open it back up, I jumped at the chance, because I thought we have to do something,” he said. “I think sometimes it’s possible the reason I do this is very selfish; it’s to help me.” Hoover has remarried in the years since returning to Fort Dodge. He still loves walking the trails outdoors, at Dolliver Park, Ledges State Park, or elsewhere around the state. “I enjoy writing short stories,” he said. “I have written I bet close to 500 or 600 short stories. I never had any published, because I don’t even try. I just write them for me.” Although he’s thought of retiring, Hoover said his work keeps him from just sitting at home with nothing to do. And, of course, making a difference is important to him. “It is a lot of work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It is so cool to know you are making a difference in people’s lives. And by doing that, knowing that they’re making a difference in mine.” ___ Information from: The Messenger, http://www.messengernews.net",
            "output": [
                "Man returns to Fort Dodge to help others with mental illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-870365a7af0e45ceaccdde8d8b8e5f75",
            "input": "\"Pitching for a bump in the minimum wage, a labor leader suggested a hike could save all Texans money by elevating low-income workers who’d no longer need government help. We don’t know about that. But we flipped on the Texas Truth-O-Meter after John Patrick, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, said at a January 2017 Capitol press conference: \"\"If you have a family, the current minimum wage easily qualifies you for food stamps.\"\" Really? \"\"Food stamps\"\" is an outdated term referring to food benefits available to income-eligible residents through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Beneficiaries purchase food and groceries using electronic benefit transfer cards. Nationally on average in 2015, about 45.8 million people in 22.5 million households monthly participated in SNAP, according to the federal government, and because benefits are available to most low-income households, participants represent a broad cross-section of the nation's poor. A November 2016 U.S. Department of Agriculture report states that in the year, 55 percent of SNAP households with children included people with jobs. Still, the average gross income of participating households was $786 a month, the report says, which breaks out to $9,432 a year. We asked the Texas AFL-CIO for the basis of Patrick’s claim. By email, spokesman Ed Sills said a full-time minimum-wage Texas worker earns $7.25 an hour (identical to the federal minimum). Multiplied over 2,000 work hours in a year, that’s an annual income of approximately $14,500. The labor group’s use of 2,000 hours in a work year contrasts with the 2,087-hour work year used by the federal government in its data assumptions. Using that figure, a single full-time worker would earn $15,130 in a year. Sills otherwise said that according to maximum monthly income limits posted by the state, a family could easily qualify for SNAP with a single worker earning the minimum wage. He pointed out the relevant chart, posted on a Texas Health and Human Services Commission web page titled  \"\"SNAP Food Benefits.\"\" We proceeded to crunch the figures, which mostly supported Patrick’s claim, though we also noticed Patrick hadn’t said if he was thinking solely of families with one full-time minimum-wage worker; Sills told us by phone that he believed so. A twist Then came a twist causing us to realize the commission-posted figures were out of date. We recognized as much when Christine Mann, a commission press officer, responded to our inquiry about Patrick’s claim by providing SNAP-eligibility household income thresholds lower than the thresholds on the agency’s SNAP food benefits web page--which Mann told us would be updated. Mann later provided a commission web link to the up-to-date income eligibility figures. For our part, we spotted the same income-eligibility numbers on a USDA web page that describes the figures as in effect for the fiscal year running through September 2017. Mann’s response also indicated that qualifying for SNAP is more complicated than simply grossing less than a particular threshold. \"\"Eligibility for SNAP is based on household size, the countable amount of gross and net income for all mandatory household members, and allowed deductions\"\" for items including shelter, utilities, child care and medical expenses, Mann wrote. Agency confirmation Mann otherwise told us that a single minimum-wage full-time worker in a household of two to three people would draw monthly gross income of $1,255.70. In support of Patrick’s claim, that amount runs short of the up-to-date income thresholds to qualify for SNAP of $1,736 a month for a two-person household or $2,184 a month for a three-person household. Bigger households with a single full-time minimum-wage worker would qualify too, we calculated, as would households of four or more with two full-time minimum-wage workers. We identified one exception: A household of three with two full-time minimum-wage workers, which would have a combined gross monthly income of $2,511.40, would earn too much to qualify for SNAP at the qualifying gross-income threshold of $2,184 a month for a household of three. We separately asked the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which says it advocates for conditions enabling every Texan to be healthy, well-educated and financially secure, to assess Patrick’s statement. By email, Oliver Bernstein described calculations like our own; he said the claim holds up. Our ruling Patrick said that in Texas, \"\"if you have a family, the current minimum wage easily qualifies you for food stamps.\"\" Our finding is that a household of two or more residents including a single full-time minimum-wage worker would clearly qualify for SNAP as would a household of four or more with two full-time minimum-wage workers. A three-person household with two such workers would gross too much to qualify. – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.",
            "output": [
                "If you have a family, the current minimum wage easily qualifies you for food stamps."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-26bfc0255786420c8ded36db6e936406",
            "input": "Tropical storm Pabuk approached southern Thailand with winds of up to 65 kph (40 mph), bringing high waves and gusty winds ahead of its expected landfall on Friday. Bangkok Airways canceled all flights to and from popular holiday destination Koh Samui, potentially stranding tourists. Media also reported that ferry services to and from the island were suspended. The Thai Meteorological Department warned of heavy downpours and strong winds in several provinces, including those with popular island destinations such as Samui, Phuket and Krabi. Some hotel operators reported a few early checkouts and said they were prepared. “Since the morning we have prepared sand bunkers and we have barricaded glass windows. We have also prepared first aid kits, torches, water, food and fuel for the hotel’s power generator,” said Ampawan Taopheng, manager of Lub D Koh Samui on Chaweng Beach. She added that other hotel operators had made similar preparations. PTT Exploration and Production Pcl also said it had suspended operations at Bongkot and Erawan, two of the country’s biggest gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand. “Our immediate and urgent task is to do everything in our power to ensure safety and wellbeing of staff,” the company said.",
            "output": [
                "Thailand cancels flights to holiday island as storm threatens."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3f4a4be3ce84004b5c073507c488838",
            "input": "On April 27 2020, a screen capture purportedly of CNN showing anchor Wolf Blitzer with a chyron reading “GLOBAL DEATH TOLL APPROACHES THREE MILLION PEOPLE” circulated on social media, often marked with question marks, circles, and an arrow:On the right side of the screen was a column titled “CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC,” with two sections — “GLOBALLY” and “IN THE UNITED STATES.” Under the top column, “GLOBALLY,” were two figures:Beneath that was “IN THE UNITED STATES,” and the following counts:On first glance, it appeared that if the chyron was unaltered, someone transposed the number of global cases with the number of global deaths — which was in fact 206,055, versus a total case rate globally of 2,964,543.On April 26 2020, an unmarked version of the same image was shared to Reddit’s r/funny, with the additional commentary, “CNN is getting a bit ahead of themselves”:CNN is getting a bit ahead of themselves. from funnyAs a benchmark, we visited Google’s page tracking confirmed cases of and deaths from COVID-19 as of 4:49 PM EST on April 28 2020; those figures were updated very regularly:Between the air date of the segment and when we visited the page, the numbers had changed as follows:We located a non-working link to a transcript on CNN.com, which we were able to view via Google’s temporary cached page:According to the once-visible transcript on CNN.com, the segment aired on April 26 2020, beginning at 6:00 PM EST (3:00 PM PST, as seen in the screenshot). We archived Google’s cache of the CNN transcript here, and the cache contained the specific verbiage of the chyron:THE SITUATION ROOM Global Death Toll Approaches Three Million People; Georgia Reopens Salons, Gyms, Bowling Alleys And Tattoo Parlors As The State Death Toll Rises; Maryland Governor Says, Hundreds Called Asking About Ingesting Disinfectant Following Trump Remarks; Wisconsin To Remain Shut Down Until At Least May 26th; White House Adviser Says U.S. Faces Great-Depression-Era Unemployment; California Eases Social Distancing in Areas As Cases Exceed 42,000. Aired 6-7p ET Aired April 26, 2020 – 18:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.Presumably, the bolded text at the top of the page consisted of transcriptions of the segment’s chyrons between 18:00 and 19:00 on April 26 2020 (“Aired 6-7p ET”):It’s also worth noting that while the transposed figures seen in the chyron were visible on the screen, they did not match the figures as reported by Blitzer during the segment. Arrows, circles, and other markings on one iteration of the image strongly suggested CNN was, whether deliberately or carelessly, misreporting the statistics in the segment in question.However, the transcript began:Aired April 26, 2020 – 18:00 ETTHIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)[18:00:00]WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I’m Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of The Situation Room.Around the world right now, nearly three million people — 3 million people — have been infected by the coronavirus. And more than 205,000 people have died. More than a quarter of those deaths happened right here in the United States. The number of Americans dead from this virus is now more than 54,000. By the way, it was exactly one month ago today that the death toll here in the United States was just over 1,000.At the same time, more states are preparing to crack open the doors to their economies, doors that were slammed shut weeks ago when the pandemic hit. Stay-at-home orders expire tomorrow morning in a few states where restaurants and some stores will be allowed to open under strict safety rules. But officials at the White House tell CNN that social distancing directives are not going away any time soon.Throughout the transcribed segment, the only other mention of millions outside the quoted portion above were unemployment numbers. The words “death” or “deaths” appeared a total of eight times, four of which occurred in the quoted portion; the remaining mentions did not involve global or in the United States’ death counts.A screen capture of a chyron from CNN reading “Global Death Toll Approaches Three Million People” appeared to be authentic and unaltered, as indicated by a cached version of a CNN transcript for “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” on April 26 2020. That transcript was accessible only through Google’s cache and an archive, but the reporting in the segment did not match the chyron, nor  did it match the statistics shown on the side of the screen. Also, if CNN had been attempting to mislead the public deliberately, it was unlikely to include the then-accurate global death count of 206,055 alongside the transposed figure nearing three million.Comments",
            "output": [
                "\"A CNN chyron indicated that COVID-19's global death toll was approaching \"\"three million\"\" people on April 26 2020, transposing the rate of reported cases with the rate of deaths worldwide.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-762e3c74d516454585d074461165fbe1",
            "input": "The movement of the potentially deadly disease to a new province highlights the difficulties that health workers in Congo face in controlling the outbreak. Two new patients tested positive in the Mwenga area of South Kivu, adding to North Kivu and Ituri provinces where there are confirmed cases of the disease, according to the health ministry. The new cases are “a 24-year-old woman and her 7-month-old child,” said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, in a statement released on Friday. The mother and her child had visited Beni, in North Kivu province, which is the center of the outbreak. They returned to South Kivu province where they fell sick with Ebola. The mother died Thursday and her child is being treated by a response team, said Muyembe’s statement. The local Ebola response team has identified more than 120 people who may have been infected with the Ebola virus by contact with the woman and her child. Those people will be vaccinated to reduce the risk that they will get Ebola. The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed 1,808 people out of 2,765 confirmed cases, according to the new report. The current outbreak, which started on Aug. 1 last year, is the second largest in history. The spread of confirmed cases to a third province shows that health workers have struggled to contain the outbreak, despite the use of a vaccine. Many people in eastern Congo do not trust doctors and other medics. An average of 81 new cases of Ebola are confirmed each week, according to the World Health Organization, which issued an update on the outbreak Friday. WHO said that its appeal for $287 million to fund the public health part of its campaign to control this outbreak has only received $15 million so far. Earlier this week, doctors announced positive news that two new drugs appear to be effective at saving lives of those who fall ill with Ebola. Muyembe and other scientists announced that preliminary results from a trial in Congo found two drugs — made by Regeneron and the U.S. National Institutes of Health — seem to be saving lives. Researchers said more study is needed to nail down how well those two compounds work. The drugs are antibodies that block Ebola. In the trial, significantly fewer people died among those given the Regeneron drug or the NIH’s, about 30%, compared to those who received another treatment. There is less danger that Ebola will spread through Goma, the capital of North Kivu province with more than 2 million inhabitants, because about 200 contacts and suspected cases have been identified and have received proper medication, said Muyembe. He said people arriving in Goma are being monitored at the city’s entry points. Health officials have also vaccinated tens of thousands of people in Congo and surrounding countries in an attempt to stop the outbreak, but the virus has now continued to spread for more than a year. Response efforts have been repeatedly hampered by attacks on health workers and continuing mistrust among the affected communities; many people in the region don’t believe the virus is real and choose to stay at home when they fall ill, infecting those who care for them. ___ Maliro contributed to this report from Beni, Congo. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Ebola outbreak spreads to 3rd province in eastern Congo."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d3d770621f1f4e35a9afc24c8a13ed44",
            "input": "\"In his effort to pass a health care overhaul, President Barack Obama has enlisted help from a close ally — his wife, Michelle. On Sept. 18, 2009, the first lady gave a speech about the importance of health care reform to women, and cited several reasons she thinks the current system is gender-biased. This line caught our attention:     \"\"Women are affected because, as we heard, in many states, insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender,\"\" she said. \"\"And this is still shocking to me. These are the kind of facts that still wake me up at night. ... In some states, it is still legal to deny a woman coverage because she's been the victim of domestic violence.\"\" Health reform bills under consideration by Congress would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-exisiting conditions, an issue we've already  explored  ; we've also examined how  pregnancy can sometimes be  a basis to deny coverage, and how pre-exisiting conditions already lead to  health care rationing  by private health insurers. But we'd never heard domestic abuse could count as a pre-existing condition, so we decided to look into the claim. The issue first came to light in 1994, when a Pennsylvania woman was denied health, life and mortgage disability insurance because of domestic violence, according to the Women's Law Project. That group, along with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, began advocating for legislation to expressly prohibit the practice. Since then, most states, including Pennsylvania, have adopted laws prohibiting the practice. But, as Mrs. Obama said in her speech, denying coverage due to a history of domestic abuse is still legal in some states. Those states are Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming, and the District of Columbia, according to the National Women's Law Center. The claim has become a  popular talking point  for groups supporting health care reform such as the Service Employees International Union. (It's been discussed so much recently that Arkansas, which had no prohibition, this year passed a law prohibiting discrimination against domestic violence victims.) A  Huffington Post story  about the laws last week prompted several states and insurance companies to say that the laws have been changed or that the companies don't treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. The North Carolina situation is a matter of some disagreement. Although the Women's Law Center says the practice is still allowed, state officials say they interpret the laws to mean it is not. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told the  Jackson Free Press  that he wanted to explore whether insurance companies were taking advantage of the law:     \"\"I've got to get some of my lawyers to do some research on this, but we have only six mandated (conditions that must be covered) in our state statues, and we have 25 or more optional coverages, but domestic abuse doesn't seem to be one of them. ... The whole situation is bad. Let's say a woman works with a company that had Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and she gets beat up in her house and Blue Cross says 'we're not covering you because getting beat up is your pre-existing condition.' That's terrible.\"\" Meanwhile, Wyoming Department of Insurance staff attorney James Mitchell told the  Huffington Post  that state law does not expressly prohibit insurers from using domestic abuse as grounds to deny coverage, though he'd found no cases of the practice in his state. Mitchell's response raises an important point: Just because it's legal in some states for insurance companies to cite domestic violence as a pre-existing condition, it doesn't mean that insurance companies are actually taking advantage of the loophole. Back in the 1990s there was evidence that the practice was widespread. In 1994, a House Judiciary Committee panel conducted an informal survey and found that eight of the 16 largest insurers in the country used domestic violence as a factor in deciding coverage. And a year later, the Insurance Commission of Pennsylvania reported that a formal survey showed that 24 percent of accident, health and life insurers took domestic violence into account when deciding whether to issue and renew insurance policies. But that data is more than 10 years old, so we asked Lisa Codispoti, senior counsel for the National Women's Law Center, if insurance companies are still denying health care coverage based on domestic violence history. Examples are hard to come by, she said, because people who get coverage through an employer don't usually face exclusions about pre-existing condititions. Only people who apply for individual coverage would, she said. \"\"It's such a small number of people who apply for individual insurance,\"\" she said. \"\"And it's not like insurance companies have to tell you why you're being denied coverage.\"\" Indeed, underwriting standards are private, said Nancy Durborow, health projects coordinator for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, making it difficult for groups such as hers to find out how widespread the practice still is. \"\"This is very secretive stuff,\"\" she said. A spokesman for the association representing insurance companies told us he's not aware of any insurers that deny women coverage based on history of domestic abuse. And the group supports a proposal by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that would fully prohibit the practice. \"\"No one should be denied coverage because they are victims of domestic abuse,\"\" said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans. We find that the first lady is correct that \"\"in some states, it is still legal to deny a woman coverage because she's been the victim of domestic violence.\"\" Putting aside the disputed North Carolina law, there still are several other states — including Mississippi and Wyoming — that have no specific laws prohibiting the practice. It's important to note that we couldn't find this was happening on a widespread basis — or even just a little bit.\"",
            "output": [
                "In some states, it is still legal to deny a woman coverage because she's been the victim of domestic violence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d930b0f874f423890a7d829c302db38",
            "input": "In this very narrow discussion of a small study in mice, the suggestion is that someday maybe walnuts (or some nutritional element of walnuts) could help people by slowing the growth of colon cancer. But while the study doesn’t mention how much (or how little) such a therapy might cost, we think this criterion is Not Applicable here for two reasons: 1. the cost of walnuts is generally well known, and 2. the research is at early enough stage — and the release establishes the preliminary nature of the study — that it’s hard to know what any walnut-related therapy might cost. Furthermore, while the criteria of cost is integral to what we all agree is good reporting about health outcomes, incorporating information about the potential cost of walnuts — or any other foodstuffs — in a release about a study that’s so preliminary might actually reinforce the suggestion of a useful therapy. Including that info wouldn’t improve anyone’s understanding of the importance of the research. The research on a small group of mice showed slowing of the growth of colon cancer tumors. The research proved that tumors in mice fed walnuts had “10 times the amount of total omega-3 fatty acids, including plant-based alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), in the tissue compared to the mice fed the control diet.” Although the quantification here is limited, we’ll give the story credit for accurately reporting the outcomes in broad strokes. The detailed results of what happened in a mouse study have limited use for the average human reader anyway. But while the release does not state that the mouse study could lead to prevention for humans, we’re worried that a normal reader may see the suggested effects of an enhanced walnut diet — increased anti-inflammatory activity, reduced angiogenesis, increased protective lipid content — and assume that these affect actual cancer outcomes. Set aside the major caveat that it is an animal study for a moment — the release says that walnuts “may” slow the growth of colon cancer. It also equally may not. The limited study did not appear to investigate potential harms, and the release didn’t comment on them. For humans, consumption of too many calorie-dense walnuts could precipitate weight gain. But the equivalent of two ounces a day doesn’t sound like it could be very harmful. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. While the main headline was not upfront about the fact that the study involved mice, the body of the release itself was carefully worded and did a fair job of describing the evidence. It’s always helpful to see “animal” in the very first sentence of a study involving mice. microRNAs are a complicated topic, as are changes in gene expression, which is at the root of the questions that the study addressed. The release adequately describes the evidence drawn from the work but does so sparsely. The eight-page paper is reduced to an eight-paragraph release, only three paragraphs of which actually convey an explanation of the work. What the release offers is acceptable by our standards but more information, properly couched, could aid readers in assessing the study’s true value. There was no disease mongering. Funding sources were identified, netting this release a Satisfactory rating, but when a fundor is integrally related to the substance of the research, that mention belongs higher up in the story or release, rather than tagged onto the end, allowing readers to consider the context of the funding early in their reading of the material. The release discusses the chemistry of inflammation and the growth of tumors in the mice. It briefly mentions “diet and lifestyle changes” as means to reduce risk, but does not discuss what specific changes are shown to be helpful. It also does not discuss screening and polyp removal, arguably the best-supported intervention for catching colon cancer before it spreads. We accept that walnuts are widely available. There has already been research on the potential protective influence of omega-3 fatty acids for inflammation. The release clearly explained the novelty of this specific mouse study investigating underlying chemistry and how it may work. While we aren’t happy with the headline, we think this release squeaks by because the main text is accurate and we applaud the first sentence clearly labeling it an “animal study.” The release clearly avoids any sensationalized verbiage, a feat to be lauded in cases like this when an inference of a simple activity — like eating nuts — might lead a reader to jump to wrong conclusions.",
            "output": [
                "New Harvard research finds walnuts may help slow colon cancer growth A walnut-enriched diet may cause beneficial genetic changes in animal cancer cells, affecting inflammation, blood supply and growth of tumors"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc91a93237474cd1be89fd416f41536c",
            "input": "Readers aren’t given information about how much the probiotic might cost. The story states that twice as many people in the probiotic group experienced a decrease in depression scores when compared to the placebo group (64% vs. 32%). However, readers aren’t told the magnitude of the decrease in depression scores (did their depression decrease a little bit or a whole lot?). This is important information to include as it speaks to the efficacy of the probiotic supplement as a potential treatment for depression. We also wanted to know more about how symptoms were measured, and if researchers used a clinically validated tool to do so. For use of probiotics as a potential treatment for IBS, the story does discuss that no significant differences were found in improvement of symptoms between the groups. The story states that no serious side effects of the probiotic were reported, and this is sufficient for Satisfactory rating. Ideally it would have provided additional information about what would constitute a “serious” side effect. With the way the story is worded, it’s possible that other side effects were reported by study participants. This is important information to have in order to compare to other treatments for depression or IBS. The research study was a randomized controlled trial, which is considered the gold standard in study design, and the story does a good job of not overstating the research findings. It notes that the evidence is insufficient to recommend probiotics as a treatment for depression, and that larger independent trials are needed to confirm the findings. There is no disease mongering. There is a discussion early in the story that the research was funded by Nestle. The story also incorporates opinions from a research scientist who was not involved with the study who provides additional insights about the study’s findings. The story does address another type of probiotic, lactobacilli, noting that previous research has found the type of probiotic used in the current research, bifidobacteria, to be better at improving gastrointestinal symptoms. Although it appears close to the end, the story does state that the probiotic used in the study is not commercially available. The story does a good job of establishing where the true novelty of the research lies, which is in the study population used (individuals without IBS and depression or anxiety). By incorporating perspectives from an independent expert, the story does a good job of not relying solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "How Probiotics May Help Depression"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f73379e033034b96acf2955b77e0c918",
            "input": "We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt for again leaning on an independent expert who says the technology is likely prohibitively expensive. While no dollar estimate is given, we think this is good enough for now. As with the harms, the story does quantify the benefits in one way. It says, “It could help avoid up to 98% of these screening procedures, according to the study, which appears in BMJ.” It also says, “The new study included 753 pregnant women who were at high risk for having a child with Down syndrome. Of these, 86 women were determined to be pregnant with a child with Down syndrome.” The story does quantify potential harms in one way by noting, “There were no false-negative results with the new test.” We wish the story also spoke about false positives. False positives are certainly part of the stress and harms from any screening test that need to be considered. In this case, it appears the false positives were low but not negligible. The story adequately describes the study design. The story does avoid disease monitoring, but we wish it had included some of the data from the paper about the frequency of Down syndrome and even some of the other disorders. The LA Times blog piece managed to do this in much less space. The story provides a wealth of outside experts who provide great commentary and context about the study’s findings. We wish more stories about screenings had quotes like these: “In a year or two, this test may be available, but it won’t replace existing technologies, it will nudge its way into our armamentarium of available methodologies,” says Mark I. Evans, MD,  director of Comprehensive Genetics in New York City, and an obstetrician/gynecologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, also in New York City. “The bad news is that prenatal diagnosis is not just about Down syndrome…Down syndrome represents about 50% of what we find, and this new test can help with that, but it may also give women a false sense of reassurance.” The story tries to do a good thing by explaining at the very end that the new test is not a diagnostic test, as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling are. Rather, it’s a screening test. The distinction – and the significance of that – could have been made more clearly, but we give the story the benefit of the doubt. The story leans on an independent expert to say that the test is “not ready for prime time….in a year or two, this test may be available.” The story does not establish the test’s novelty, and this is largely because it does not provide the proper context. The study itself says, “In the past 20 years maternal age has been combined with ultrasonographic examination of the fetus and biochemical measurement of various proteins or hormones in the maternal circulation to improve identification of high risk pregnancies. This combined approach of screening can now identify more than 90% of affected fetuses, but there is still a need for invasive testing in 3–5% of the population.” This means that as many as 95% of all women would not need invasive testing to begin with, so this test is only potentially a breakthrough for a small minority of women. BMJ actually makes the novelty question easy to answer by breaking it down this way:  What is already known on this topic: Non-invasive prenatal detection of fetal trisomy 21 is achievable by massively parallel sequencing of maternal plasma DNA Its diagnostic performance and practical feasibility in the clinical setting has not been tested on a large scale. What this study adds: Among high risk pregnancies clinically indicated for invasive prenatal diagnosis, non-invasive detection of fetal trisomy 21 can be achieved with the use of multiplexed massively parallel sequencing of maternal plasma DNA at 100% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity, giving a 96.6% positive predictive value and 100% negative predictive value. The sequencing test could be used to rule out trisomy 21 among high risk pregnancies before proceeding to invasive diagnostic testing to reduce the number of cases requiring amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.” The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Progress Toward Blood Test for Down Syndrome"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-59724476123c4ab0bde7b6af7ebf6d3d",
            "input": "\"Occasionally a claim comes across our desks here at PolitiFact Georgia that seems to touch all bases -- this one has God, politics and even men landing on the moon. The claim hinted at political ramifications and a possible government cover-up. And it was broadcast as a viral Facebook post. What more could a fact-checker ask for? So let’s go back a bit, to 1969 and man’s first landing on the moon, a feat that seemed almost magical to anyone watching and listening. \"\"Not many people know it but on July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon. The very first meal ever taken on the moon was the blood and body of Christ!\"\" the Facebook post read. We had heard about astronauts partaking of freeze-dried food and dehydrated drinks. And we knew about the Apollo 8 crew on Christmas Eve 1968 reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon, an event heard by millions. But the Holy Communion claim was new to us. We decided to do some exploring of our own. The Facebook post about Aldrin led to a post on the JesusLovesYou.org website, a member of the Greater Good Network of websites. The sites promote numerous nonprofit organizations for contributions. That post references Aldrin’s comments on the experience: \"\"I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this,\"\" Aldrin said. \"\"NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare (sic), the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon Christmas (Eve in 1968). I agreed reluctantly.\"\" So, is that why we hadn’t heard about the moon service? Did NASA, under pressure from an atheist activist, try to keep the Christian observance a secret? Our research on this claim led to several sources about the holy meal, but we wanted to hear directly from Aldrin himself. Aldrin was part of the Apollo 11 space mission that put the first people on the moon on July 20, 1969. He was the second person to walk on the moon, following fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong. The moonwalker is currently on a tour promoting his newest book, \"\"Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration.\"\" We tracked down his tour publicist at National Geographic Books, but unfortunately,we were unable to schedule an interview by press time. Aldrin is now consulting for the U.S. government about the future of the country's space program and how to make space more accessible to everyday people The Communion event was re-enacted during Episode Six of the HBO-television miniseries \"\"From the Earth to the Moon.\"\" The one-season, 12-episode miniseries ran in 1998. It was a dramatized portrayal of the Apollo manned space program’s expeditions to the moon. But in a Guideposts article after the 1969  mission, Aldrin confirmed that the religious meal took place inside the Eagle spacecraft once it landed on the moon. \"\"I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup,\"\" Aldrin said. \"\"It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.\"\" He then recited a Bible verse, John 15:5. NASA history also mentions Aldrin’s Communion service. In his memoirs, Aldrin notes that Armstrong did not participate in the Communion service. Aldrin also expressed second thoughts about his religious observance. \"\"Neil watched respectfully but made no comment to me at the time,\"\" Aldrin wrote. \"\"Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind -- be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists.\"\" Aldrin initially wanted his Communion service broadcast on the air with the rest of his comments and biblical reading. But NASA decided against that idea. It was conducted during \"\"radio silence,\"\" which means that only he and Armstrong witnessed it. There was no communication between the spacecraft and Mission Control in Houston during radio silence. Atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair had already sued NASA over the 1968 Bible reading in space. O’Hair said the reading violated the legal separation of church and state. \"\"Although O’Hair’s ideas did not represent mainstream America at that time, her lawsuit was a nuisance and a distraction that NASA preferred to live without,\"\" Aldrin wrote. (The case was eventually rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.) So during radio silence, Aldrin read his Bible verse and took his Communion. Aldrin kept his on-air comments more general. He asked for a few moments of silence \"\"to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.\"\" To sum up, a Facebook post claimed that NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin took Communion on the moon. Several sources, including NASA records and Aldrin’s memoirs, include accounts of the Communion service. PolitiFact also discovered that Aldrin’s church, outside of Houston, still celebrates the lunar Communion service each year on the Sunday closest to the July 20, 1969, moon landing.\"",
            "output": [
                "The very first meal on the surface of the moon was the Holy Communion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a8c1abb1f6c4b52af57a3c7daf5dac5",
            "input": "\"Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration recently released a report stuffed with the good news that happened during his first year in office. It notes how the DNC was better for local businesses than the pope and contains plenty about the soda tax and the upcoming education initiatives it will fund. But the report first discusses crime, consistently one of the biggest concerns for Philadelphians who flirt with leaving the city. \"\"While many urban areas across the country saw a sharp increase in crime over the last year,\"\" the report reads, \"\"the Philadelphia Police Department successfully lowered part one crimes and increased drug seizures.\"\" So what’s part one crime, and did Philly’s part one crime rate drop? And did other cities have difficulty keeping their overall crimes rates low? We decided to check. And for fun we’ll look into how this year’s change in the crime rate compares to the years of former Mayor Michael Nutter. First, Philly’s crime rate. Part one crimes are defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting Act as forcible rape, homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The mayor’s report states that of part one crimes as of Dec. 11, homicide is down 1 percent, burglaries are down 14 percent, reports of rape down 10 percent and robberies down 8 percent. The administration said it obtained its data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Act. If you look at year-to-date statistics directly from the police department on Dec. 11, they’re slightly different. Homicide, for instance, was up 2 percent. But either way, part one crime was down 1 percent on Dec. 11 and violent part one crime was down about 5 percent, according to statistics from the police. The decrease follows a years-long trend for Philadelphia. Under the Nutter administration, violent crime decreased about 20 percent from when he took office in 2008 to the end of 2015. Most of the decrease took place in his last four years, but Philly experienced a slight decrease in violent crime in his first year before slight increases the next three years. Not every city can tell the same story as Philadelphia about a reduction in crime and violent crime this year. Throughout 2016, national publications have hyped a rise in violent crime, particularly murder rates, for reasons unclear to experts. Among big cities that have experienced a surge in violent crime are Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles. As of last week, Dallas’ part one crime rate had increased .1 percent and Los Angeles’ 5.4 percent. Nearby big cities like New York and Baltimore have seen a decrease in part one crime, like Philadelphia, according to statistics from their police departments. A recent study by the Brennan Center looked at 21 of the 30 largest U.S. cities and compared projections of crime rates from 2016 to 2015, based on numbers it collected in September. It found the projected crime rate up 1.3 percent overall, a projection the Brennan Center described as \"\"nearly unchanged,\"\" the violent crime rate up 5.5 percent and the murder rate up 13.1 percent. The Brennan Center notes most of the fluctuations in the crime rate fall within expected ranges and there has been no national wave of crime. The main reasons for stories about an unclear increase in murder and violent crime nationally are outliers like Chicago and San Antonio, which have seen their murder rates go up about 47 percent and 50 percent, respectively, this year. For overall crime rate, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Antonio, Charlotte and Oklahoma City were the only cities with increases in crime above 4 percent. Philadelphia is one of 13 of the 21 cities to experience a reduction in total crime and one of eight to see a reduction in violent crime.\"",
            "output": [
                "While many urban areas across the country saw a sharp increase in crime over the last year, the Philadelphia Police Department successfully lowered part one crimes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f75e6109066e4559b27b4c0534a5d41f",
            "input": "\"Ohio and several other states across the country this year have passed laws to restrict abortion rights, including legislation to defund Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides health care services, including abortions. Ohio lawmakers, who already have passed a late-term abortion ban and other anti-abortion measures this year, have just begun hearings on Senate Bill 201, which is designed to defund Planned Parenthood and other family planning centers. The day before the first Senate hearing on SB 201, Ohio Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, promoted the proposed law as a key component of its agenda. \"\"Ohio’s Planned Parenthood operations received millions of taxpayer dollars via federal grants in 2010 and 2011,\"\" a Dec. 5 news release from Ohio Right to Life said. Ohio Right to Life went on to say that Planned Parenthood has performed more abortions annually as its federal funding has increased. It lauds the bill as one that will direct funding away from abortion providers and calls the hearings on the bill a step toward making 2012 a \"\"groundbreaking year for Ohio's pro-life movement.\"\" PolitiFact Ohio decided to examine Ohio Right to Life’s claim about public funding of Planned Parenthood, in light of its underlying contention that the funding of the agency supports abortion. We asked Michael Gonidakis, executive director for Ohio Right to Life, for specifics on the taxpayer money Planned Parenthood has received. Gonidakis said state agencies disbursed the federal grants, authorizing more than $1.6 million in 2010 to Planned Parenthood locations in Ohio and more than $1.7 million this year. He also provided a memo the nonpartisan Ohio Legislative Service Commission prepared detailing state agencies’ disbursement of federal grants to Planned Parenthood branches in Ohio. LSC compiled the information for Rep. Kristina Roegner, a Republican from Hudson who is a primary sponsor on companion legislation introduced in the House to defund Planned Parenthood. Roegner’s office confirmed the memo’s authenticity. Tara Broderick, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio, said the organization does receive federal grant money. But none of that money pays for abortions, she said. \"\"A huge myth,\"\" Broderick said. \"\"Absolutely I can say taxpayer money is not used for abortion services,\"\" she said. Planned Parenthood must sign an agreement affirming it will not use taxpayer money to provide, promote or refer abortion services, said a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, which distributes the bulk of federal grant money that Planned Parenthood receives. Additionally, an audit is performed to account for the organization’s use of government dollars, Broderick said. According to Planned Parenthood, the vast majority of its clients receive health care services such as Pap tests, birth control and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Less than 4 percent of Ohio Planned Parenthood clients received an abortion, the organization stated. Nationally, Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortion procedures in 2009, the most recent year data was available. Those procedures made up 3 percent of the organization’s services, according to a Planned Parenthood fact sheet that was last updated in October. Gonidakis, of Ohio Right to Life, acknowledged that the federal Hyde Amendment and state law prohibits tax dollars for paying for abortions. \"\"However, the significant public dollars Planned Parenthood does receive keeps them afloat and pays for pretty much their entire operations,\"\" he said in an e-mail. Not true, said Broderick, of Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio. She said the federal dollars make up 16 percent of the branch’s budget. So where does that leave us? Ohio Right to Life is correct to say that Planned Parenthood locations in Ohio have received millions in federal grants. But the connection between Planned Parenthood’s federal funding and its abortion services is not as direct as Ohio Right to Life’s news release implies. Federal law bars Planned Parenthood from using taxpayer money for abortions, and the agency must certify to the state that it does not do so. The money that would be redirected by S.B. 201 is used to provide other health services. Ohio Right to Life’s claim about funding for Planned Parenthood is accurate. That the money cannot be used for abortions and that abortion procedures make up a small percentage of Planned Parenthood services are additional pieces of information that provide the full picture.\"",
            "output": [
                "Ohio’s Planned Parenthood operations received millions of taxpayer dollars via federal grants in 2010 and 2011."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-864d799b8efe4e238146edf0fa774395",
            "input": "\"Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and his allies, challenged the president’s top health official recently on the administration’s handling of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak. Dobbs criticized Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar over a lack of transparency in the agency’s handling of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 91,000 people globally across 73 countries and led to more than nine American deaths. \"\"There’s a better ratio of testing for the coronavirus in other countries than we maintain here,\"\" Dobbs said during the March 2 interview on his TV show. \"\"We’re actually screening fewer people because we don’t have appropriate testing.\"\" Azar countered that the Trump administration has taken recent steps to roll back regulations and increase the availability of diagnostic test kits to \"\"hundreds and thousands and millions.\"\" The United States is set to significantly expand its testing capabilities in the coming days and weeks, but Dobbs is correct that the country has lagged behind other nations so far. \"\"It is true that diagnostic capacity in the U.S. has been lower than in some other countries, but that is changing,\"\" said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. It’s hard to pinpoint how many people have been tested for the coronavirus, both in the U.S. and around the world. The World Health Organization doesn’t track the number of tests administered in each country, and the numbers that are available are constantly updating. In a statement to PolitiFact, a Fox News spokesperson representing Dobbs cited data from the WorldOMeter, a real-time tool that \"\"shows estimated current numbers based on statistics and projections from the most reputable official organizations,\"\" according to its website. Using estimates derived from official government sources, the WorldOMeter says at least eight countries — South Korea, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Vietnam and Turkey — have given more tests relative to the size of their populations than the United States. That lines up with experts’ analyses and with what multiple news outlets have reported. Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said South Korea \"\"has screened at least thousands, and Guangdong, China, has screened at least hundreds of thousands,\"\" citing a WHO report on the outbreak in China, where the virus was first detected. South Korea ramped up testing by building drive-thru screening clinics for speedy assessments, according to local reports. Other countries, like Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Italy have also conducted thousands of diagnostic tests. \"\"We have done nothing like what other countries have done,\"\" Lipsitch said, noting that the U.S. had, until recently, limited not only the number of labs that were allowed to conduct tests on suspected cases, but also the number of patients that were eligible to be screened. It’s difficult to say just how far behind the U.S. has fallen, due to the murkiness around the number of administered tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped releasing a public count of tests on March 2. The administration’s public statements haven’t cleared it up. On Feb. 29, the CDC reported testing 472 Americans. A day later, Azar told ABC News the U.S. had tested over 3,600 people. And a spokesperson for HHS, Azar’s agency, told us on March 3 that the CDC had tested samples from more than 1,200 patients. \"\"I don't know how to track U.S. tests any more,\"\" Lipsitch said. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks at the White House about the coronavirus on Feb. 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP/Vucci) The CDC stopped posting testing data as more state and local public-health labs have been brought into the fold, said Nancy Messonnier, a top CDC official, said during a March 3 briefing. \"\"With more and more testing done at states, these numbers would not be representative of the testing being done nationally,\"\" she said. An HHS spokesperson told us that the department doesn’t know how many additional tests have been administered by those state and local labs, adding that those labs can now test up to 15,000 people and are expected to be able to test as many as 75,000 people by March 6. The U.S. test count should rise into the millions as IDT, a commercial manufacturer, and other commercial and academic labs begin producing their own tests soon, according to HHS. The government’s initial testing effort was hindered by flaws with the CDC’s early test kits and restrictions that had limited which labs could run the tests and which patients could be tested. When the first U.S. coronavirus was detected, the country brushed aside the WHO test used by other nations and leaned on the CDC to develop and mass produce a more complicated test capable of detecting other viruses in addition to the coronavirus, according to reports. The test kits went out in early February. But some state labs that received them reported that flaws in the tests were triggering inconclusive results. Those states had to ship samples out to the CDC’s offices in Atlanta for results until the CDC fixed the problem weeks later. Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has given labs and hospitals across the country the go-ahead to administer their own tests before the FDA finishes reviewing them, so long as those tests are proven to work. That should lead to more testing, experts said. The CDC also modified its screening criteria to expand testing for some people with severe respiratory symptoms who did not travel to China or come into known contact with a coronavirus patient. Previously, travel to China or exposure to the virus were preconditions for screening. Adequate testing is essential to getting an accurate count of U.S. cases, experts said. Testing is also key for treating patients and identifying people who might be infected but don’t show symptoms, said Richard Watanabe, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. \"\"The latest data suggests the incubation period for COVID-19 can be as long as a couple of weeks,\"\" Watanabe said. Despite the recent acceleration, Lipsitch said U.S. testing is happening \"\"very slowly and at a level that is still paltry\"\" compared with some other countries. Dobbs said that the United States is \"\"actually screening fewer people (for the coronavirus than other countries) because we don’t have appropriate testing.\"\" Experts told us that to date, the United States has lagged behind other countries, though numbers are imprecise. An error with the CDC’s early test kits contributed to the United States’ relatively low screening numbers. The administration has taken steps to make testing more widely available. With that additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "The United States is “actually screening fewer people (for the coronavirus than other countries) because we don't have appropriate testing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-011ec4e229a740af9a1badcfd731c535",
            "input": "The lawmakers demanded that the executive explain why blackouts intended to prevent downed power lines from sparking deadly wildfires caused so much trouble of their own. The explanation CEO Bill Johnson offered the Capitol hearing room: Several smaller outages that PG&E triggered in the year before its debacle began in mid-October went well, giving his company misplaced confidence. “I think we got a little complacent that we had figured it out,” Johnson testified last month. PG&E had not figured it out. An Associated Press review shows widespread problems with the four “public safety power shutoffs” the utility started rolling out in 2018, a year before massive blackouts paralyzed much of California in recent months. Interviews and documents obtained under public records requests reveal persistent failures and broken promises that in some cases compromised public safety. Even as PG&E assured regulators it was fixing the problems, the utility kept making many of the same mistakes, further undermining trust after its outdated equipment and negligence has been blamed for fires that killed nearly 130 people during 2017 and 2018. Communication, a foundation of emergency management, was poor. PG&E’s notifications of impending outages were haphazard at times, with some sent after the power was already out. Telecommunications companies, water providers and emergency managers did not always receive the early word they needed. “We were surprised that PG&E provided no advanced warning to us,” an official with the city of Oroville’s drinking water provider wrote state regulators about a June outage. PG&E made important information hard to get. It was slow to distribute electronic maps showing who would lose power, making it harder for emergency responders to know exactly where to send resources. The utility also balked at providing the addresses of medically needy customers to local officials who planned to check on them in person. Breakdowns afflicted even basic technology. In a region that’s home to Silicon Valley and its thousands of computer programmers and engineers, PG&E had not prepared the website where it posted outage updates for a crush of customers, so it crashed. Tech experts from the state had to intervene. The sound quality of some calls PG&E hosted during shutoffs was so poor that emergency responders and legislators had a hard time understanding updates. Even then, not everyone was invited. “In the future, AT&T requests that it and other communications providers be included on any conference calls providing real time information,” the telecommunications giant protested to regulators after the June shutoff. These and other early failures weren’t widely recognized as harbingers of the issues that would overwhelm PG&E come mid-October, partly because the outages affected rural areas with less political and economic clout. While the headline-making shutoffs affected more than 2 million people across much of PG&E’s 70,000-square-mile service territory, the four initial blackouts affected tens of thousands in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada foothills and famed wine valleys. They hit in October 2018 and then in June, September and early October of this year. Among those who saw trouble building were regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission. The first shutoff was chaotic and the next three were not going according to the guidelines regulators had passed. Commission staff met more frequently with PG&E starting in the spring, using advice and persuasion rather than mandating changes. “We, as the state, never got to the point where we had complete confidence in PG&E’s ability to execute,” said Elizaveta Malashenko, the top California regulator overseeing blackouts. Malashenko, deputy executive director of safety and enforcement policy, told the AP that the commission didn’t act more aggressively because it has to balance punitive intervention with giving utilities a chance to self-correct. “There needs to be some basic operational assumption that you can set up a conference call,” Malashenko said. Some critics faulted regulators for not doing enough. The utilities commission, a sprawling bureaucracy with a complex rule-making process, was “not aggressive enough early in setting clear requirements and standards,” said Melissa Kasnitz, legal director for the Center for Accessible Technology, which advocates for people with disabilities. PG&E promised to fix a range of problems promptly, and an executive said it worked hard to deliver. In many ways, that didn’t happen. Not only did the problems continue throughout the smaller shutoffs, but they were replicated on a huge scale starting with the mid-October shutoffs. The problems galled local officials, who vented deep frustration that a utility they often work closely with kept failing them. After all, they are the ones dealing with a shutoff’s consequences. They must dispatch ambulances, run jails and water plants, direct traffic through darkened intersections, set up community shelters and much more. “It’s almost as if it’s intentional disregard of all the warnings we gave them,” said Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon, whose district north of San Francisco has experienced nearly every shutoff. ___ Sixteen million people — more than the population of nearly any U.S. state — depend on PG&E for power. The shutoffs were an inconvenience for some and extremely costly for others. For society’s most frail, they brought questions of life and death. Those who rely on medical devices in their homes were particularly vulnerable. “PG&E did nothing to help us who depend on electricity to run our life support,” recounted Grace Lin, a polio survivor who needs a ventilator to breathe and uses an electric wheelchair. “It’s not like we could simply grind our teeth and tough it out by holding our breath.”   Lin said she was confused by the notifications PG&E sent ahead of the first shutoff that affected her San Francisco Bay Area home on Oct. 9. The company website they referred to for updates was frozen. Lin considered herself lucky that she had the means to evacuate 20 miles away, to a quadriplegic friend’s house that had electricity. PG&E could identify “medical baseline” customers such as Lin based on billing records. Local officials working to identify everyone who might need help repeatedly asked PG&E to share its list, so no one was overlooked. Regulators said PG&E promised it would release medical baseline addresses during a shutoff. Yet when each of the first four hit, PG&E insisted that locals sign a legal agreement not to disclose the addresses, causing delay and uncertainty that regulators said could risk lives. On the eve of the first massive power outage, Malashenko of the utilities commission was urgently emailing company officials in frustration. “This issue has been discussed many times over the last several months” yet “has once again become an issue with PG&E,” she wrote on Oct. 8. Malashenko said state officials also pushed PG&E to improve in other areas. Starting in April, they met at least weekly with PG&E, pointing out needed improvements and stressing that aspects of the utility’s preparation was inadequate. PG&E argued that the commission’s own privacy rules meant it couldn’t share the addresses without a non-disclosure agreement, spokesman Jeff Smith explained. Resolving the problem took an order that the commission’s executive director sent three hours before the first massive blackouts began. Other groups of vulnerable Californians endured shutoffs without the help they needed. “A lot of them don’t have support, a lot of them don’t have family,” Betty Briggs, 84, said of her elderly neighbors in the well-touristed Napa Valley town of Calistoga. “It makes it very difficult, and it puts them in danger.”   Briggs can get around without help, but her husband requires 24-hour care due to dementia. He lives nearby at Cedars Care Home, where seven residents in their 80s and 90s experienced three shutoffs before mid-October. The outages created anxiety for people reliant on routine, as well as practical problems. Beds and wheelchair lifts require electricity. So does the heat and air conditioning. When the freezer got too warm, staff tossed 30 days of backup food. Owner Irais Lopez still hasn’t restocked fully. “Now, we only buy small quantities,” Lopez said, “because we don’t know what will happen.”  ___   At PG&E’s high-rise headquarters in downtown San Francisco, the emergency operations center springs to life with each shutoff. Employees in different colored vests that distinguish their expertise cluster around banks of computer monitors showing real-time updates. Maps track wind speed and direction, as well as which circuits are down. Conversation hums in the background. This is where decisions are made and answers can be found — and local officials said they felt they had little access to either. Fed up with communication gaps, one hard-hit county requested a presence at PG&E headquarters during the September shutoff. Regulators required that the utility hold seats in its emergency operations center for local representatives, but a lawyer for Sonoma County instead spent her day in a conference room several locked doors away. “There was just a lack of understanding on behalf of PG&E of why local government needs timely information,” said Petra Bruggisser, a deputy county counsel. PG&E already had a shaky reputation in its Northern and central California territory. The company spent three years in bankruptcy starting in 2001, after California’s attempt to deregulate its power market went awry. Maintenance failures led to a natural gas pipeline blast near San Francisco in 2010 that killed eight people. PG&E was found criminally liable and paid a $1.6 billion fine. In late 2017, its equipment was suspected of starting the Tubbs Fire that killed 22 people and destroyed more than 5,600 buildings. The utility revealed in spring 2018 that it would start using power shutoffs when fire danger was high and extreme winds blew. PG&E then began to explain what to expect, sending millions of emails to update its customer contact files, running advertising in multiple languages and holding hundreds of meetings with community leaders, public safety agencies and residents. The California Public Utilities Commission started writing guidelines for how utilities should roll out “de-energization.” The guidelines were published as a 176-page document in June. By that point, PG&E had again filed for bankruptcy protection, crushed by liabilities for fires in 2017 and 2018, including the Camp Fire that nearly wiped out the town of Paradise and killed 85 people. The utility now has a market value of about $6 billion — a drop of $30 billion in just over two years — and is working with the state and a federal judge to emerge from bankruptcy by June 30. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he expects PG&E’s entire 14-member board of directors, including Johnson, its CEO, to step down before the state will approve the utility’s plan to regain its financial footing. “PG&E’s recent management of the public safety power shutoffs did not restore public confidence,” the Democratic governor warned the company in a Dec. 13 letter. “Instead, PG&E caused extreme uncertainty and harm for Californians who rely on power for their health care and their livelihood.” PG&E said Johnson was not available for an interview. The utility’s point man on the shutoffs told AP that he believes Johnson, while testifying before lawmakers last month, was referring to its ability to kill and safely restore power to an extremely complex electrical grid. Sumeet Singh, a vice president who oversees PG&E’s community wildfire safety program, listed a litany of ways the utility is investing in fixes that he said will lessen the need for future shutoffs. Those include trimming more vegetation near power lines and burying some lines in areas most at risk of igniting. Singh also acknowledged that the utility had some struggles during the early shutoffs but that it strove to improve and disputed any characterization that it did not succeed in some ways. He cited how quickly the utility restored power as one improvement, along with the timeliness and accuracy of customer notifications. “Did we hit the mark on every single improvement? No. Do we have more work to do? Yes,” Singh said. Power shutoffs are likely to be a feature of life in California for years to come. PG&E must invest billions in infrastructure upgrades, and communities are spreading into lands once populated by trees and brush. Regulators promise to be watching closely. “If we have an outcome that doesn’t meet the public expectation and what we need to run as a state,” said Malashenko of the utilities commission, “that means that we need to rethink our approach and try something different and drive to a better outcome.” In November, the commission launched an investigation into whether it should sanction PG&E for violating shutoff protocols. PG&E said it will need to improve how it reacts after it shuts off the power. “I think we thought the big event was turning off the power,” Johnson told lawmakers. “And I think we focused on that as the main event instead of the impact of that, right, on the people it affected.” ___ Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Terence Chea and Eric Risberg in Calistoga and Adam Beam in Sacramento contributed to this report. ___ Contact Pritchard at https://twitter.com/lalanewsman.",
            "output": [
                "AP Exclusive: PG&E’s history with blackouts signaled trouble."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c170fa56a44d4d048ec8a28303d7bb88",
            "input": "They found that children and adolescents noticed the calories posted on the menu but the calorie counts made little difference in what they chose to order. The researchers said taste was the most important factor the children and teens gave for their menu selections. The study, published online in the International Journal of Obesity, challenges the notion that calorie labeling affects purchasing behavior of teens or parents buying food for their children. “It means we’re going to have to rethink what other sorts of interventions might be more effective,” Dr. Brian Elbel of NYU, who led the study, said in a telephone interview. Mandating calorie counts on restaurant menus is part of President Barack Obama’s new healthcare law is included in the White House’s push to reduce rates of obesity, which is one of the biggest health challenges facing the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says two-thirds of American adults and 15 percent of children are overweight or obese. In some states, the childhood obesity rate is above 30 percent. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, spearheading an administration initiative on child obesity, has urged food manufacturers to re-package food so that it is healthier for kids. BETTER-INFORMED CONSUMERS   New York became the first U.S. city to try to attack the U.S. obesity epidemic by requiring fast-food restaurants to list the calories of their foods on menus in 2008. The hope was that better-informed consumers would make better food choices. Researchers at New York University wanted to see how effective the city’s law is at getting parents and young people to think twice about ordering high-calorie foods. The team gathered restaurant receipts and surveyed 427 parents and teenagers at fast-food restaurants both before and after mandatory labeling began in July 2008. They focused on four of the largest chains in New York: McDonald’s, privately held Burger King, Wendy’s and Yum Brands Inc’s KFC. They compared this to food purchased at restaurants in nearby Newark, New Jersey, which did not have mandatory labeling. The researchers found that after labeling began, 57 percent of New York teens surveyed said they noticed the calorie information and 9 percent said this information influenced their food choices. “What we didn’t see is any change in the number of calories before and after labeling started,” Elbel said. “We also didn’t see any changes in the number of calories for choices parents were making for their kids.”   The foods teens bought amounted to about 725 calories per meal and the food parents bought for their children were about 600 calories per meal. The study found that most teens underestimated the amount of calories they had purchased, some by up to 466 calories. Elbel said the study was not big enough to predict how food labeling would work as it is rolled out in the new health law.",
            "output": [
                "Calories on menus don't affect kids' food choices."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc8eecd8d6a54cce97b16a70b1de1516",
            "input": "The FDA has set a May 2020 deadline for e-cigarette makers to submit a formal application to keep their products on the market amid its efforts to curb the use of e-cigarette among teens. Reynolds, whose Vuse e-cigarettes deliver nicotine via a cartridge-based vapor system, said it had provided the health regulator with over 150,000 pages of documentation, including information on the composition, design and manufacturing process associated with its product, as well as safety data. The company said it had also worked with a team of more than 100 people to prepare the filing, including multiple regulatory experts and scientists. U.S. regulators are exploring ways to monitor the manufacturing and marketing of e-cigarettes following a rise in use of these products among teens, and a recent outbreak of a mysterious lung illness linked to vaping that has claimed at least 29 lives. Vaping devices such as Juul’s, which vaporize liquid containing nicotine, have borne the brunt of the regulatory crackdown globally. The Trump administration also outlined plans in September to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from store shelves, pointing the finger at sweet flavors that had drawn millions of children into nicotine addiction.",
            "output": [
                "Reynolds American files for FDA review of e-cigarette."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f32711d629444d39e10c10294d23959",
            "input": "Legionnaire’s is a flu-like illness contracted when infected water vapor is inhaled. The elderly and people with weakened immune systems can be particularly susceptible. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 12 cases at Covenant Assisted Living in Batavia through August. The two new cases were reported in recent days. State officials say the retirement home plans to clean its water systems, including cooling towers that release water drops into the air. The agency’s director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, says there could be additional cases, even with corrective measures. Illinois reported over 500 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Officials: 2 new cases of Legionnaires’ in suburban Chicago."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c295856c032842b6887528342723db4a",
            "input": "The Miami-based hurricane center issued a tropical storm warning for islands including hurricane-hit Abacos and Grand Bahama, saying the system could become a tropical depression or storm before making landfall as early as Friday. Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas on Sept. 1 as a Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record to hit land, packing top sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (298 km per hour). The tropical cyclone was not expected to bring anywhere near that level of devastation, but was capable of winds of 30 miles per hour and 2 to 4 inches of rain through Sunday, according to the hurricane center. Aid groups rushed shelter material to residents living in the shells of former homes or whose homes had been stripped of their roofs. “We’re seeing plastic tarps go out all over the islands, and that’s extremely important because now you’ve got another tropical storm coming,” said Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs for U.S. relief organization Samaritan’s Purse. The prime minister of the Bahamas, Hubert Minnis, on Wednesday said the official death toll was 50 but was expected to rise. Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said he believed “hundreds” were dead on Abaco “and significant numbers on Grand Bahama,” the Nassau Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday. Minnis said there were problems coordinating aid due to the level of devastation and he was trying to remove “bureaucratic roadblocks.”  With 1,300 people still missing, according to the Bahamian government, relief services are focused on search and rescue as well as providing life-sustaining food, water and shelter. Officials have erected large tents in Nassau to house those made homeless by Dorian and plan to erect tent cities on Abaco capable of sheltering up to 4,000 people. A flood of aid has caused bottlenecks at docks and airports, creating “a lot of delays” in relief supplies, said Nat Abu-Bonsrah of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, the global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Due to a shortage of functioning vehicles and facilities on Grand Bahama, the group turned to church members to lend their cars and kitchens for its program providing hot meals to over 400 people a day in Freeport. “We’ve not been able to reach them as much as we want,” he said of efforts to get hundreds of hygiene kits to survivors. Groups like Samaritan’s Purse, with their own aircraft or logistics chains, said they had not encountered issues with coordination or government red tape. “I think we’re accomplishing our mission, any roadblocks we have right now are our own,” said Dennis Clancey, a field operations manager for relief group Team Rubicon, which has deployed mobile medical units to treat patients.",
            "output": [
                "Tropical storm warning issued for Bahamas; 1,300 still missing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ef1793a95a541719506d3dfea07aa6f",
            "input": "Lawmakers did away with the exemption in June amid the nation’s worst measles outbreak since 1992. More than 26,000 children in public and private schools and day care centers had previously gone unvaccinated for religious reasons, according to the state Health Department. Now time is running short. Unvaccinated students have 14 days from the start of school to prove they received the first dose of each immunization, and they must make appointments for the next round within a month. Most schools reopen just after Labor Day. Some parents opposed to vaccinations are choosing to pull their kids from school rather than comply. “Those that are choosing to vaccinate, it’s not because their beliefs have changed,” said Jina Gentry, a Buffalo mother of four who will home-school her children rather than have them vaccinated. She said not everyone has the means or time to do the same. At the private Aurora Waldorf School in suburban Buffalo, parents of 21 students said they would not be attending this fall, rather than rush to vaccinate, said administrator Anna Harp, who oversees about 175 students from preschool to eighth grade. “Some families have told us that they plan to home-school, and a few said that they were moving out of New York,” Harp said. “Several families have told us that they plan to return once their children’s immunizations are up to date.” New York became the fourth state, along with California, Mississippi and West Virginia, to eliminate religious and personal-belief exemptions for vaccines. Maine will remove them in 2021. All states allow medical exemptions. More than 1,200 cases of measles have been confirmed in 30 states this year, more than three-quarters of them linked to outbreaks in New York and New York City, the Centers for Disease Control reported. Many of the New York cases have been among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities . Resistance to vaccinations remains, despite scientific evidence that they are both safe and effective. The state Health Department will audit schools to assure compliance with the new law and require unvaccinated students without a valid medical excuse to leave school, spokeswoman Jill Montag said. Schools already submit annual surveys about immunization coverage and are subject to spot checks to confirm their answers. Schools that violate the rules could face fines. “We do not anticipate having any problems securing compliance,” Montag said in an email. Before the statewide law change, the New York City Health Department closed 12 schools that could not prove students were vaccinated following an April emergency order. Like many parents, Gentry’s view on vaccines does not stem from formal religious teachings but rather personal beliefs, including that God created people with natural immunity against diseases. A literacy coach for Buffalo Public Schools, she said her full workday will now be followed by lessons with her kids before and after dinner. “It’s a huge change and it’s definitely life altering,” she said. Among her biggest concerns, she said, is that her kids are now “segregated from people.” Leslie Danesi said her 15-year-old daughter, who was captain of her school’s basketball team and was to be president of the student council, will be home-schooled this year and miss out on those opportunities. “Those are big things for a 15-year-old,” said the mother of six who lives in the town of Greece, near Rochester. She said she views her children as gifts from God, and they should not be subject to forced injections. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce compulsory vaccination laws. Opponents have filed at least two unsuccessful lawsuits. A hearing for one drew more than 1,000 people to the Albany County Courthouse.",
            "output": [
                "Clock is ticking on NY deadline for student vaccinations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a67db795cc054d488e5ca64b1e7b5537",
            "input": "Poor training, a lack of coordination and an overstretched military are also factors, but a new 76-point plan lays out ways to improve this, Colonel John Bradley, chief of psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, told a conference. Bradley said a team of experts spent a year interviewing troops who had attempted suicide, family members and others for the report and plan, presented last month to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is due to report to Congress in 90 days. “They tell us again and again that we are failing,” Bradley told a symposium on military medicine sponsored by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Each branch of the services — the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines — rushed to create a suicide prevention program, but there was no coordination. The report recommends that the defense secretary’s office take over coordination of suicide prevention efforts. On-the-ground prevention training often failed because those running the sessions did not understand their importance, Bradley said. “They are mocked and they are probably harmful,” he said. According to the report, available here 1,100 servicemen and women committed suicide in 2005 to 2009 -- one suicide every day and a half. The Army's suicide rate doubled in that time. About 1.9 million U.S. service men and women have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We have done all the right things but despite all the things we have done, suicide rates have risen, particularly in the Marines and Army,” said Colonel Charles Hoge of Walter Reed. “A large percentage of our servicemen, our veterans, do not come in to get help,” he added. “It is not just the perception that they will be treated differently or somehow that it will affect their career, but it is also distrust in the system and distrust that mental health professionals can help them,” Hoge added. “They don’t trust us. They believe we speak with forked tongues,” Bradley said. Most of the suicides are among young, white males, the experts said. “Marines are young, they are confident, they are aggressive,” said Lieutenant General Richard Zimmer of the U.S. Marine Corps. “They are the last ones to raise their hand and say they have a problem.”   And troops who seek mental health services can lose their security clearances, their weapons and can be taken away from duties vital to their careers, Hoge and Bradley said. When they return home from war, the skills that kept them alive under fire make them dysfunctional in civilian society, Hoge said. “There are messages that the warrior gets when they back here that they are crazy,” he said. In addition, all the services are overstretched, the report said. “The force is out of balance,” Bradley said. “The force is fatigued. Anyone who doesn’t believe that has their eyes closed.”   Hoge said physical demands can also affect the mind. Troops often operate on just 3 or 4 hours a sleep a night for extended periods. “They often have pain, chronic pain,” he said. “They have gone through all these events, including concussions. It is clear there are physical changes that happen.”   Bradley said the report calls for skills-based training for commanders, troops and their families.",
            "output": [
                "Military suicide prevention efforts fail: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c3cc83ccf214823af59989c3fce012c",
            "input": "Regulators are still scrambling to get California’s recreational pot market launched and are racing to issue licenses to growers and sellers by early 2018. Still to be decided is who will receive the first licenses to grow, distribute and sell recreational marijuana. Growers already cleared to sell medical marijuana in California could be the first in line. Analysts say brands already established in legal medical marijuana dispensaries — including celebrities who partner with approved California growers — will have a leg up when the first licenses are issued. Several pot-loving celebrities are in prime positions because of their fame and backstory with the drug, including Marley’s children. The late Jamaican singer was at the vanguard of the global legalization movement. Backed by a Seattle venture capital firm, Marley’s oldest daughter launched Marley Natural in 2014. Cedella Marley says California is now the world’s largest legal cannabis market since voters approved Proposition 64 in November. Marley Natural products already are available in California medical dispensaries. There is enormous opportunity for growth in the state, Cedella Marley said in an email interview. “It also carries enormous cultural significance and influence, so it will be an important place to help people understand the herb the way my dad enjoyed it,” she said. Bob Marley’s youngest son, Damian Marley, runs a competing operation, Stony Hill, and recently joined with another weed company to buy a vacant 77,000-square-foot prison for $4.1 million in Coalinga, in California’s Central Valley. They turned it into a marijuana factory. All uses of pot remain illegal under federal law, keeping most banks and Wall Street companies out of an industry that could grow from $6 billion to $50 billion in the next decade, according to the financial services firm Cowen & Co. Nonetheless, Wall Street has taken notice. Beer and spirit companies have warned investors that legal weed could threaten profits. Boston Beer Co., brewer of Samuel Adams, and Brown-Forman Corp., distiller of Jack Daniels, say they fear consumers will cut down on drinking and start using marijuana more as it becomes legal in more locales. In California, the new marijuana law calls for nearly 20 types of licenses, including permits for farmers; delivery services that will take pot to a buyer’s front door; testing labs; distributors; and dispensary operators at the retail level. But because the drug is still illegal under federal law, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office won’t issue trademarks to protect marijuana brands. So marijuana companies and their advocates have turned to state lawmakers for help. Rob Bonta, a Democratic assemblyman from Alameda, has introduced a bill that would grant cannabis companies state trademarks. It also would ban marijuana billboards near freeways and provide money to develop standards for testing impaired drivers. Law enforcement officials have taken no position on it even though they opposed the legalization of recreational pot. Hezekiah Allen, head of the California Growers Association, a marijuana farmers’ trade group, said California has a mature marijuana marketplace in which consumers expect high-quality pot and have more than price and quality in mind when shopping. “California consumers are interested in how their products were grown, how workers were treated,” Allen said. Celebrities who have associated themselves with social causes that also sell weed will stand out in California, he said. Few stars have invested so publicly — and heavily — in the marijuana industry as Calvin Broadus, better known as rapper Snoop Dogg. He has branded his own line of bud called Leafs by Snoop, created a marijuana news website and launched a $25 million venture capital fund for pot investing called Casa Verde, Spanish for “greenhouse.” In turn, Casa Verde has invested $10 million into Eaze, a marijuana delivery service. Snoop Dogg and other deep-pocketed celebrities investing in the industry are paving the way for broader acceptance, advocates argue. “They’re helping to legitimize marijuana,” said Cheryl Shuman, founder of the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club. “Marijuana is fast becoming cool and glamorous.” Some 26 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the medical use of marijuana, and polls show a majority of Americans support repealing the federal ban on marijuana.",
            "output": [
                "Celebrities launch pot brands as California legalizes drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cb602407c894784be262e180f3da396",
            "input": "Chazz Smith told a rally of over 80 people in the Capitol rotunda that his younger cousin had everything, yet opioids still took his life in 2016 . Authorities blamed counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl that looked like generic Vicodin. Smith said Prince’s death shows the power that addiction can hold on anyone. “We’ve lost legends, we’ve lost potential legends, and that’s a shame,” Smith said. The rally preceded a hearing before a House health and human services committee on a bill to require manufacturers and wholesalers that sell or distribute opioids in Minnesota to pay registration fees ranging as high as $500,000 for the biggest companies. The current fee is just $235. The measure is a different approach from the “penny a pill” tax that passed the Senate last year but stalled out in the House amid industry opposition. It would raise about $20 million annually to fund prevention, treatment and education programs, and to support county child protection agencies that have been swamped by the crisis. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan told the gathering that passing the bill is a priority for Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. Bill sponsors said at a news conference that the industry should pay its fair share for a crisis that it helped create. They pointed out that more than 400 people died of opioid overdoses in Minnesota in 2017, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. “In communities across the state, it appears that this opioid crisis that we’re in really has no end in sight,” said Rep. Liz Olson, a Duluth Democrat. “Without this swift legislative action, there indeed might not be an end. Parents have lost children, teachers have lost students, our first responders are asked to respond to impossible situations, and no other family deserves to go through this.” Other leading sponsors include Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican from Willmar, and Sen. Chris Eaton, a Brooklyn Park Democrat, who have both lost children to opioid overdoses. Baker’s son, Dan, 25, died in 2011 of a heroin overdose after becoming addicted to opiate pain pills for a back injury. Eaton’s daughter, Ariel, was 23 when she died of a heroin overdose in 2007. “I don’t want other families to go through the trauma that I did,” Eaton said. Sen. Julie Rosen, a Republican from Vernon Center, said the manufacturers and distributors have been “kicking and screaming a little bit” but now tell her they want to be part of the solution. “I asked them, ‘What does that look like?’ and I have not received an answer,” she added. “We’re spending billions on an issue you helped create,” Rosen said. “I don’t think we’re asking for a whole lot for the amount that they are shipping and manufacturing for the state of Minnesota, and the amount of deaths that we have.” The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, also known as PhRMA, opposed last year’s bill. While the trade group says it supports ”an extensive set of policy recommendations ,” including measures to curb overprescribing, it opposes this year’s bill as well. “Unfortunately, what’s being proposed — taxing legitimately prescribed medicines that patients rely on for legitimate medical needs to raise revenues for the state — ignores evidence-based solutions, sets a dangerous precedent and ultimately won’t help patients and families,” Nick McGee, the trade group’s director of public affairs, said in an email to The Associated Press.",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota lawmakers: Tax drug makers over opioid crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98082840ab1f4817bb3d413bd22a7c34",
            "input": "More than 300,000 women around the world were fitted over a decade with implants from the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), and the trial includes 5,000 civil plaintiffs and 300 lawyers. PIP’s founder and long-time chief executive, 73-year-old Jean-Claude Mas, has admitted filling the implants with an unapproved homemade recipe made of industrial-grade silicone gel. Mas and four PIP executives, including the chief financial officer, are charged with aggravated fraud and risk maximum prison terms of five years each, plus fines, for selling the implants around the world from 2001 to 2010, when they were ordered off the market. Mas himself was in court an hour before the start of proceedings, which were mostly taken up with opening day legal arguments. “He bears the enormous weight of this trial on his shoulders,” Mas’s lawyer Yves Haddad said. A vast exhibition building close to PIP’s former premises has been set up as a makeshift courtroom to accommodate the huge crowds expected for the trial, due to last until mid-May. Mas arrived at court under police escort and faced a crush of cameras as the trial began in the southern city of Marseille. “Bastard!” shouted someone in the audience of some 300 victims as Mas appeared live on a giant video screen. Of the more than 5,000 individual lawsuits filed against PIP - once the world’s third-largest supplier of breast implants - and its executives, 220 have come from women outside France. A French woman who alleges that one of her PIP implants began to leak four years after its insertion said outside the courtroom that victims were both scared and angry. “We had foreign bodies put inside us that were flawed ... we could have maybe died from it. The anger is because we were tricked,” said Tomassine Catalano. “It’s frightening.”  Leaving court, Mas sought to defend himself against such charges. “For 30 years I made prostheses,” he told journalists. “I did my best to protect them (women).”  The scandal - revealed after inspectors pursuing a tip-off discovered vats of industrial-grade silicone outside the PIP factory in 2010 - sparked worldwide panic when the government recommended removal of the implants due to an abnormally high rupture rate. Health experts say no link has been established between PIP implants and breast cancer, but in the months after the scandal broke, plastic surgeons around the world reported a flood of removal requests from worried patients. Half the French women with PIP implants, or nearly 15,000, have already opted for removal, whether because of rupture or as a precaution, according to the government. Mas was released in October from eight months in detention following a failure to post bail. He told police that 75 percent of PIP’s implants had contained the homemade gel, which was never been approved by regulators, although he denies it was unsafe. He and the other executives deny the charges. Investigators estimate that Mas’s formula allowed PIP to save nearly $1.6 million in one year alone. When Mas told the court he lived on a modest monthly retirement income of 1,800 euros, hoots erupted from the spectators, prompting the judge to warn that the next person to disrupt proceedings would be thrown out. Minutes before the trial began, a court in Paris rejected a defense request to have the case thrown out. Mas and PIP’s former chief financial officer, Claude Couty are separately implicated in a civil case over fiscal fraud that has yet to reach trial. Mas is also under investigation for manslaughter following a complaint from the mother of a French woman with PIP implants who died of cancer in 2010. ($1 = 0.7616 euros)",
            "output": [
                "Makers of fraudulent breast implants on trial in France."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f217494c4c24eafbbc11fbf63f99427",
            "input": "The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner issued a news release Thursday saying that the two infants who lived in McDougald Terrace in Durham had tested negative for the gas. The release said that a determination about the causes of the infants’ deaths are pending an autopsy but that it it was releasing the information about the negative tests because of public health concerns. The deaths of the two babies at McDougald Terrace in November and December have been at the center of concerns about conditions at the complex. The medical examiner’s news release came a day after the authority’s chief executive officer Anthony Scott said at a news conference that Durham officials inspected 70 occupied apartments at McDougald Terrace and identified furnaces, hot water heaters and stoves that were emitting carbon monoxide and needed to be replaced in 28 of those units. The housing authority evacuated about 200 households from the complex and into hotel rooms last week, and it may need to evacuate the remaining 160 units depending on additional results from Wednesday’s inspections, Scott said. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and potentially poisonous gas that can cause illness and in cases of prolonged exposure, death, the Mayo Clinic explains. About a dozen other adults and children at the complex have been treated for exposure to carbon monoxide since mid-November, The News & Observer reported. McDougald Terrace was built in the 1950s and is Durham’s largest public housing community, the newspaper said. It has failed multiple federal inspections, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Scott said the low inspections scores show the housing authority’s properties “are in bad shape.” He added that decades of underfunding have contributed to the situation. The housing authority said it has reached out to local, state and federal partners for help in replacing the appliances, but does not yet have an estimate on how much the repairs will cost or how long they will take.",
            "output": [
                "Tests: No carbon monoxide in baby deaths at housing complex."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9fb76eef62474d4fb5294b58810e5284",
            "input": "The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Trahern W. Jones, a pediatric infectious disease fellow with the University of Utah School of Medicine and Primary Children’s Hospital, said Wednesday that emergency rooms and clinics have been swamped with flu cases. Utah Department of Health spokeswoman Jenny Johnson says the initial flu strain could still be in the community. Health officials would not confirm which strains caused the four pediatric deaths, or when or where they occurred. Northeast Utah has had the highest number of hospitalizations reported so far, with about 50 patients hospitalized this season in Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties. ___ Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com",
            "output": [
                "Flu has killed 4 Utah children since October."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe007a47e9554e04b3c5dc4a262d9aef",
            "input": "All but essential shops must close immediately and people should no longer meet family or friends or risk being fined, Johnson said in a televised address to the nation. Johnson had resisted pressure to impose a full lockdown even as other European countries had done so, but was forced to change tack as projections showed the health system could become overwhelmed. Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped 54 to 335 on Monday as the government said the military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks to healthcare workers who have complained of shortages. “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction -  you must stay at home,” Johnson said in a televised address, replacing his daily news conference. They would only be allowed to leave their homes to shop for basic necessities, exercise, for a medical need, to provide care or traveling to and from work where absolutely necessary. “That’s all - these are the only reasons you should leave your home,” he said, adding that people should not meet friends or family members who do not live in their home. “If you don’t follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings,” he warned. The new measures here would be reviewed in three weeks, and relaxed if possible. “These rules are not optional,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said. The opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said he supported the measures, and police chiefs said the moves were sensible, and that they would be working with the government on how to enforce them. The government will close all shops selling non-essential goods, Johnson said, including clothing stores, as well as other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship. The British Retail Consortium said shop owners understood the gravity of the situation. The tougher tone followed evidence at the weekend that many were ignoring official guidelines about social distancing as they flocked to parks and beauty spots. Under the new measures, the government will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public who do not live together, and stop all social events​, including weddings and baptisms but not funerals. Parks would remain open for exercise but gatherings would be dispersed, Johnson said. Later on Monday, Britain’s lower house of parliament is expected to approve emergency legislation giving authorities sweeping powers to tackle the outbreak, including the right to detain people and put them in isolation to protect public health. “Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses,” Johnson said in his address. Earlier, in a letter pleading with him to increase PPE supplies, more than 6,000 frontline doctors warned they felt like “cannon fodder” and were being asked to put their lives at risk with out-of-date masks, and low stocks of equipment. Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted there had been issues but promised action was being taken. He said the army would drive trucks throughout the day and night to get supplies to medical staff. “It’s like a war effort - it is a war against this virus and so the army have been incredibly helpful in getting those logistics so we can get the supplies to protect people on the front line,” he told the BBC, saying the health service now had 12,000 ventilators, 7,000 more than at the start of the crisis.",
            "output": [
                "UK PM Johnson orders Britons: you must stay at home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18cdff496513421daa66b06d3581dbaa",
            "input": "The death is one more than the previous week. But no child deaths due to influenza have been reported since the flu season began, the department said. According to the Health Department’s weekly flu update , Minnesota hospitals admitted 117 influenza patients last week. So far, more than 500 people have been hospitalized for the flu in Minnesota this season. No school outbreaks were reported in the last full week of 2019 because of the holiday break. Nearly 300 school outbreaks have been reported so far this season. Clinics are reporting a surge of patients with flu-like symptoms, who represented nearly 6% of all clinic visits last week. That level of activity often is seen as the season approaches its peak, the Star Tribune reported. Most of the patients tested were infected with the B strain of the virus which, unlike previous seasons, emerged early in the current season. The B strain is more likely to affect children because fewer of them have been exposed to it in the past and had the chance to develop immunity. Only nine flu outbreaks have been reported in Minnesota in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities so far this season.",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota reports 8th flu death of season."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c75135cca0574067b51af0eb8e497b13",
            "input": "No discussion of costs. Yes, we know that it’s too early to use this in clinical settings, but the story makes the case that this builds on research following patients for as long as 12 years. Any predictive test would hold appeal for many people – so cost ramifications are important to discuss even at this early stage. Both tests are available at the present time so that with a little bit of digging, the costs could have been provided. We’ll give the story a satisfactory grade for providing context for the projected benefits of the test: “A new study suggests that biomarkers found in cerebrospinal fluid (fluid that surrounds the spinal cord and brain and acts as a protective cushion) could predict who would develop Alzheimer’s disease 90% of the time among patients with mild cognitive impairment, a condition characterized by measurable memory problems. … Knowing which patient with mild cognitive impairment patients may go on to develop Alzheimer’s is vital information for researchers, who are looking for treatments for the fatal brain disease. The current thinking is that interventions will be most effective when given to a patient as early as possible.” But the story is quick to note that it’s too early to use this as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings. The story did make several stabs at touching on harms, reporting: “Some of the participants, who were originally found to be stable with mild cognitive impairment after about five years, went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease during the longer follow-up. That suggests that a five-year follow-up period is not long enough to determine how well biomarkers can predict which patients will develop Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say.” And it did end with this: “As scientists gain more insight into predicting Alzheimer’s, aging adults may struggle with the question of whether they want to know their risk,  especially since there’s still no cure. Some people want to enroll in clinical trials as soon as they start showing symptoms; others would rather be ignorant of their status since there is no cure.” We think these could have been framed more clearly as potential harms, but we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this one. The story did an adequate job explaining what the study found, what it might mean, but what it does not yet mean. There was no disease-mongering in the story. In fact, it explained that “not everyone with this condition is a good candidate for an Alzheimer’s trial.” One independent expert’s comments added needed perspective to the findings. That independent expert added this important reminder: “What I tell people is: If they’re worried about their thinking abilities, that they should make an appointment with a neuropsychology or a neurologist to get an evaluation,” Brinkman says. “The way we diagnose Alzheimer’s disease is by evaluating the behavior and the risk factor medical profile, not by looking at biological markers at this point.” Again, the independent expert’s perspective was important: “When these sorts of studies get published, Brickman and other doctors get phone calls from aging adults wondering whether they should be getting spinal taps to assess their risk. But it’s too early to use this as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings, says Brickman. Down the road, the “fantasy” is that asymptomatic people will be able to get a biomarker test to determine whether they’ll one day get Alzheimer’s, but that’s not possible right now, he adds.” The story was clear that: It’s clear that the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Spinal tap may predict Alzheimer’s years ahead"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2207ba00abc34c5db4c44768df659e0d",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention costs, but it is understandable that pricing may not be available with a drug so early in development. The story does a good job of quantifying the benefits of treatment in absolute terms by providing the actual number of months with no new lesions for both the new drug group and the standard treatment group. The story mentions that potential harms of the drug include a drop in white blood cells, back pain and fatigue. The story adequately describes the design of the current study. The story accurately describes the study as \"\"small\"\" and \"\"preliminary.\"\" The story does not overstate the seriousness or prevalence of melanoma. The story quotes one independent expert in addition to a representative of the company. The story does mention that \"\"there are very few drugs available for people with advanced melanoma.\"\" However, the story could have elaborated on the available alternatives and how this new drug may fit in with the existing options. The story clearly states that the drug is in very early stages of development and has not yet been submitted for approval. The story clearly states that the drug is new. There is no way to know if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Skin cancer drug said to show promise"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-726fd528634242328b16bdce784ea0fb",
            "input": "In January 2020, readers asked us about the accuracy of a story that claimed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved a new cocaine nasal spray for use as a local anesthetic. On Jan. 13, the cannabis and drug industry website Merry Jane published an article with the headline “A Cocaine Nasal Spray Just Received FDA Approval.” That article reported that: Medicinal cocaine has always been a thing, but now there’s an FDA-approved nasal spray aptly made with totally legal, pharmaceutical-grade white. On Monday, the pharmaceutical outfit Lannett Company announced that its new cocaine hydrochloride nasal spray product, dubbed Numbrino, cleared two Phase III, randomized, double-blind clinical trials. “The FDA’s approval of our cocaine HCl product, the first NDA approval to include full clinical trials in the company’s history, marks a major milestone in Lannett’s 70+ years of operations,” said Tim Crew, Lannett Company’s CEO, in a press release. “We believe the product has the potential to be an excellent option for the labeled indication. We expect to launch the product shortly …” The pharmaceutical company’s press release, also published on Jan. 13, read as follows: “Lannett Company, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the New Drug Application (NDA), submitted under the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, for Cocaine Hydrochloride (HCl) Nasal Solution 4% (40 mg/mL), the company’s branded local anesthetic product … NUMBRINO® (cocaine hydrochloride) nasal solution is an ester local anesthetic indicated for the introduction of local anesthesia of the mucous membranes for diagnostic procedures and surgeries on or through the nasal cavities of adults.”",
            "output": [
                "In January 2020, the Food and Drug Administration approved a nasal spray containing cocaine. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c9f6d9b478540c1aab754d8226288cb",
            "input": "One student was diagnosed with a variant of the disease on Oct. 24, and a second was diagnosed this past weekend. Both students are in stable condition and health workers are contacting people who may have been in touch with the infected students. Meningitis, which can cause inflammation around the brain and spinal cord, is typically caused by one of five variants — one of which had no vaccine until recently and isn’t covered under standard college vaccinations. UMass is offering the vaccination by appointment. University health officials are advising students to avoid contact with saliva, which can spread the disease.",
            "output": [
                "UMass Amherst officials say 2 students have meningitis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc8484deba4f4f32a76d024c75e14b91",
            "input": "\"In his April 13, 2011, speech on his vision for America’s fiscal future, President Barack Obama quickly went on the offensive against the Republican deficit-cutting budget proposal championed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a plan that passed the House in a partisan vote two days later. Obama was particularly critical of Ryan's controversial proposal to dramatically overhaul Medicare. While Medicare benefits would remain as they are now for people 55 and older, when those younger than 55 reach retirement, the traditional Medicare system would be replaced with \"\"premium support\"\" payments that would subsidize the purchase of private insurance plans. \"\"It’s a vision that says America can’t afford to keep the promise we’ve made to care for our seniors,\"\" Obama said. \"\"It says that 10 years from now, if you’re a 65-year-old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today. It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck – you’re on your own. Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.\"\" This $6,400 figure has become a White House talking point and is sure to be repeated often as the 2012 campaign heats up, so we thought we'd better take a look. We'll begin by explaining how Obama arrived at the number. It's based on an analysis of the Ryan plan by the government's nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which concluded that those who get premium support payments in 10 years will end up paying substantially more for their health care than if Medicare is left as is. According to the CBO analysis (see page 20 -25), under the Ryan plan, the $8,000 premium support voucher in 2022 would cover 39 percent of the cost of the average private plan for a 65-year-old. Which means the plan actually costs about $20,500 and that beneficiaries would be on the hook for about $12,500 of the cost. The CBO also presented estimates for an \"\"alternative fiscal scenario\"\" –- which incorporates \"\"several changes to then-current law that were widely expected to occur or that would modify some provisions of law that might be difficult to sustain for a long period.\"\" Under this scenario, the typical beneficiary who enrolled in traditional Medicare would pay about 30 percent of the cost of the average private plan in 2022, or about $6,150. In other words, the increased amount the 65-year-old would have to pay would be about $6,400. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which did an analysis of the CBO data, came up with the same numbers as Obama. So did the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Republicans don't contest that's what the CBO numbers are. But Obama left out an important fact, said Stephen Spruiell, a spokesman for the Republicans on the Committee on the Budget: \"\"Elsewhere in the letter, CBO makes clear that the comparison is making unrealistic assumptions in order to construct a future for Medicare under the status quo –- a future in which Medicare goes bankrupt, seniors suffer from reduced access to care, and the nation enters a debt crisis.\"\" Indeed, the CBO clearly states that both of its scenarios, by keeping benefits largely as they are, would create \"\"pressures over the long term that would make them difficult to sustain.\"\" Without Medicare reform, the CBO warned \"\"the government’s debt would skyrocket to levels unprecedented in the United States.\"\" That would result in either rising tax rates or \"\"surging federal debt.\"\" And that, in turn, might lead lawmakers to reduce Medicare benefits. Said Spruiell: \"\"Comparing our plan to save Medicare to an unsustainable status quo means comparing a real plan to a false reality. The president’s comparison is not valid, because he ripped the CBO number out of context and omitted the director’s clear warnings about the unsustainability of the status quo.\"\" Gail Wilensky, who ran the Medicare program under President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s, said the CBO also does not take into account the behavioral changes that Ryan's plan would likely encourage. Right now, she said, all the pressure is on the providers. But under the Ryan plan, more of the burden shifts to the consumers. If it is set up as it is for federal employees, there would be a wide range of plans, at a wide range of costs. And people will be able to shop around and change every year, Wilensky said. \"\"This gets people looking and being involved in a way that they haven't been,\"\" she said. Consumers will be highly motivated to migrate to cheaper plans, she said, and there will be more competition among providers. The CBO often gets it wrong when it comes to predicting behavioral change, Wilensky said. For example, she said, the Medicare part D prescription drug program has proven to cost about 40 percent less than government projections. The CBO did not predict the market competition caused by people using private drug plans, she said. \"\"So be cautious of the CBO numbers,\"\" she warned. So where does that leave us with Obama's claim that the Republican plan \"\"says that 10 years from now, if you’re a 65-year-old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today\"\"? That number is based on a CBO analysis of the Republican plan. Republicans rightly point out that the CBO warned that unless major reforms are made to the Medicare program, it could lead to skyrocketing public debt, which might ultimately lead to pressure on legislators to reduce Medicare benefits. In his speech, Obama used the lower of two CBO estimates of costs, one based on some anticipated changes in Medicare. And he did not argue for the status quo on Medicare. \"\"We will change the way we pay for health care -– not by the procedure or the number of days spent in a hospital, but with new incentives for doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries and improve results,\"\" Obama said. \"\"And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services that seniors need. \"\"We believe the reforms we’ve proposed to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid will enable us to keep these commitments to our citizens while saving us $500 billion by 2023, and an additional $1 trillion in the decade after that,\"\" Obama said. \"\"But if we’re wrong, and Medicare costs rise faster than we expect, then this approach will give the independent commission the authority to make additional savings by further improving Medicare.\"\" Whether that approach will succeed is a matter of political debate. Obama has accurately portrayed the consequences of the Republican plan, at least according to the CBO analysis. It's a long-term projection -- which always carries a degree of uncertainty, and some, like Wilensky, argue that the CBO fails to adequately account for the behavioral changes the plan would encourage, which might drive costs substantially lower. (We should note that some Democrats believe the CBO has consistently underestimated health care cost-saving initiatives contained in the controversial health reform law passed last year.) But the bottom line is that under the Republican plan, those who reach 65 in 10 years would pay more out of pocket for private health care. That's the idea, to reduce the cost of the Medicare program to the government. Republicans argue it the most responsible way to make the program fiscally sustainable. Obama argues that cost is too high and that savings can be achieved in other ways. Again, that's a matter of political debate. The CBO compared the Republican plan to the status quo and to a somewhat modified Medicare. The CBO says either scenario would cause crushing debt, and would likely encourage legislators to cut Medicare benefits in the future. Obama too, is proposing reform. Obama's figure is close to what the CBO estimated in one scenario -- the least costly one -- that the Republican plan would cost consumers in 10 years compared to what seniors pay today.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Republican budget plan \"\"says that 10 years from now, if you’re a 65-year-old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5fbc210b9d3242bc9b79aab4f285a574",
            "input": "WisCorps has hired someone with a visual impairment and another person with a physical disability to work on erosion control and planting in neighborhood parks, and building accessible gardens this summer, Wisconsin Public Radio (http://bit.ly/2s8XH2P) reported. WisCorps Executive Director Matthew Brantner said the group is being called the Inclusive Crew. “Whether it’s a physical barrier or just a barrier to entry into the workforce, we want to be able to remove that and get young people into the workforce and have young people of all abilities come in and conserve our state’s natural resources and revitalize our communities,” he said. The goal is to expand the concept to all of the program’s work crews by next summer, he said. More than 40 percent of people with disabilities in the state are unemployed, according to 2016 statistics. Inclusive Crew program coordinator Andrea Frisch says she hopes to make nature available to everyone. “Scientifically, there are studies that say spending time in nature you have better outcomes for stress management,” she said. “Some individuals with different disabilities, for example autism, being outdoors and doing nature activities helps people focus and helps people experience things that they wouldn’t typically experience.” ___ Information from: Wisconsin Public Radio, http://www.wpr.org",
            "output": [
                "Conservation program hopes to help people of all abilities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61c28a6369b546f69bae6dbb7e5bffb3",
            "input": "The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA’s Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos’ Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 3:15 p.m. local time (0915 GMT) about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. All descent maneuvers were performed without any hitches and the crew reported feeling fine as their ship slid off the orbit and headed down to Earth. Helicopters carrying recovery teams were circling the area as the capsule was descending slowly under a massive orange-and-white parachute. Support crew helped the trio get out of the capsule, charred by a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and placed them in reclining chairs for a quick check-up. Squinting at the sun, Peake said he felt “elated,” adding that “the smells of Earth are just so strong.” “I’d love some cool rain right now!” he said with a smile as he sat in scorching heat in his balky spacesuit. After a medical check-up, the crew will change their spacesuits for regular clothing and be flown separately to their respective bases. Maj. Peake, a 44-year-old former army helicopter pilot, has become a hero at home, helping rekindle an interest in space exploration. He was not the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman visited Russia’s Mir space station in 1991 on a privately backed mission and several British-born American citizens flew with NASA’s space shuttle program. But Peake is Britain’s first publicly funded British astronaut and the first Briton to visit the International Space Station. He performed the first British space walk and was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual Birthday Honors List. He excited many at home by joining the 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) London Marathon — from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth, harnessed to a treadmill aboard the ISS with a simulation of the route through London’s streets playing on an iPad. Peake finished the race in 3 hours and 35 minutes, a record for the fastest marathon in orbit, according to Guinness World Records. The trio spent 186 days in space since their launch in December 2015. They have conducted hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. “I’m going to miss the view definitely,” Peake said after landing. NASA said the data received would help in the potential development of vaccines and could be relevant in the treatment of patients suffering from ocular diseases, such as glaucoma. For Malenchenko, it was a sixth mission, and he logged up a total of 828 days in space, the second-longest accumulated time in space after Russian Gennady Padalka. Kopra has logged up 244 days in space on two flights. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams along with Russians Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members.",
            "output": [
                "3 International Space Station astronauts land in Kazakhstan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ebdc9fb3dea544d984f32ff3cf2650f8",
            "input": "‘Tis the season, experts say, to bend your fitness routine so it does not break. “Consider the holidays a time to maintain fitness, not a time to set new goals or be ambitious,” said fitness expert Shirley Archer, author of “Fitness 9 to 5” and “Weight Training for Dummies.”  The average American gains one pound (.45 kilograms) each year during the holiday season, Archer said, but it’s a fate you can avoid by being active when time allows. “Research tells us that you can get an effective strength training routine in as little as 15 minutes,” she said. “This is not ideal to build strength over time, but is sufficient to keep what you have during the holidays.”  A bare-bones cardio workout can be accomplished by fitting short, 10-minute bouts of activity into your holiday plans. Danielle Hopkins, group fitness manager and instructor at an Equinox fitness center in New York City, tells her concerned clients to try to sweat at least 20 minutes a day. “I stress the importance of keeping to your routine. The main thing is putting it on your calendar,” said Hopkins, who said drinking too much makes it harder to make it to the gym. “Always make room. It’s pretty easy to do. If you’re traveling, bring your running shoes, or a jump rope, or look for a gym.”  And rest assured that one night of over-indulgence won’t derail a year of work. “Everyone’s diet has a bit of wiggle room,” she said. “I think it’s good to imbibe a little, but be strategic about what you’ll allow. Have a little bit.”  Constantly avoiding holiday temptation is tiring and in the end unsustainable, according to Gregory Chertok, a sports psychologist with the American College of Sports Medicine. When navigating holiday stresses, from family to poor food choices, Chertok, who is based in New Jersey, said a simple change in attitude can yield powerful results. “Embrace challenge rather than avoid temptation,” he said. “Avoidance over time can be pretty exhausting. Just like our physical muscles, our mental muscles can get exhausted. Will power requires replenishment.”  He said studies show when people try too feverishly to control themselves, their will power wanes. “There are ways to keep your will power at a strong level, such as staying away from overly restrictive diets, planning the occasional indulgence and eating small frequent meals,” he added. Surrounding oneself with people of similar health and wellness inclinations can also facilitate positive choices. “We’re influenced very powerfully by others’ behavior,” Chertok said. He encourages his clients to allow for the occasional slip up. Being self-forgiving and self-compassionate leads to greater success. “People who set strict goals will self-chastise, self-criticize,” he said. “That doesn’t allow for high performance or self esteem. As human beings, we take care of ourselves when we feel worthy of self care.”  Trainer Tracy Anderson, whose fitness DVDs include “Metamorphosis” and “Mini-Trampoline Workout” stresses consistency. “The most important thing is to become a consistent exerciser, where you go and have 30 minutes to one hour daily of focused work,” she said. “That is the number one best thing we can be doing.”  But her advice for people fretting about the holiday season is to feed your soul. “One time a year is not toxic; in fact, it is the opposite,” she said from her New York home. “It feeds your soul so much that it helps your stress. I say eliminate the word diet from your vocabulary for three days before and after a holiday.”  Archer echoes the sentiment and suggests enjoying the pleasures of the seasons. “All too soon, your routine will return and you can hit your fitness program with renewed commitment and enthusiasm,” she added.",
            "output": [
                "To stay fit during holidays bend, don't break routine: experts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-81e04ba0c80c4e7985326d91f8f50f0e",
            "input": "The fatalities were up from 197 on Friday, with the number of confirmed infections increasing from 12,161. The Alpine country of 8.6 million people is deploying army medical units at hospitals to help in regions like Ticino, which borders hard-hit Italy, and has began tapping its strategic stockpile of pharmaceuticals to cover rising demand. The public has been urged to remain home, while gatherings of more than five people have been banned. Even so, officials said that there is additional capacity in intensive care beds and that while resources including strong painkillers are being stretched, the country’s medical system is holding up. “The worst-case forecasts that were made weeks ago have not materialized,” said Daniel Koch, head of the health ministry’s communicable disease division. Speaking at a news conference in Bern, he said currently 280 people are in intensive care. The country has more than 1,000 ventilators, including those deployed by the Swiss military at make-shift medical facilities set up to handle a possible deluge of patients. “That’s 280 people who are fighting for their lives,” Koch said. Still, “no ICU is overwhelmed. All still have capacity. We can ventilate more people, but we’re hoping that the population remains disciplined. That’s the only way to avoid a situation in which a lot more patients need to be ventilated.”  Like other European countries, Switzerland is pumping money into its crisis-hit economy, and state-backed loans worth 20 billion Swiss francs ($21 billion) were made available on Thursday. By Saturday, about 15,930 companies had completed loan applications, the government said, as the jobless figure rose by 13,500 and 757,000 applications for shorter working hours were submitted, representing some 15% of the country’s total workforce. Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said the government was happy to help with loans, but that the money must be paid back and could not cover income losses. “We are not distributing federal money, but taxpayers’ money,” Maurer told SRF radio. “Many of those who pay taxes are now partially unemployed, their jobs are in question, and now we take the money away from them and distribute it somewhere where there are also problems.”  ($1 = 0.9511 Swiss francs)",
            "output": [
                "Swiss virus death toll hits 235 as official says worst case scenario `not yet materialized'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-084dc2ddf23b414a948e3b89f8abc139",
            "input": "In 1976, U.S. President Gerald Ford signed off on the National Emergencies Act (NEA), federal legislation that ended all previous national states of emergency and formalized the process by which the President can declare states of emergencies and undertake special powers during those emergencies. In general, the President may initiate a state of emergency by issuing a declaration (typically via executive order). An existing state of emergency can be terminated by the President himself, or by a joint resolution by Congress. The President can veto such a resolution, however, requiring both houses of Congress to then override the veto by a two-thirds vote. When President Donald Trump hinted in early 2019 his intention to bypass Congress and secure funding for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border by declaring a national emergency — and then followed through on that plan — the subject of “national emergencies” suddenly became a hot topic of public discussion. Since the public tends to associate that term with dire threats such as terrorist attacks, epidemics, or the outbreak of war, many people were surprised to learn that several dozen national emergencies had been declared since the passage of the NEA in 1976 — as reflected in a viral social media post:  According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at the time of President Trump’s declaration of a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States in February 2019, some 58 national emergencies had previously been declared by various presidents since 1979, with 31 of them still in effect as of February 2019. The gist of the social media post displayed above is therefore correct, in that every U.S. president since 1976 (excluding Gerald Ford, whose term ended in January 1977) has declared at least one national emergency, although we came up with some slightly different numbers. (Our tally based on the Brennan Center’s list has Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush each declaring one more emergency than stated above, and President Barack Obama declaring one fewer than stated.) In addition, the majority of those emergency declarations remain in effect as of this writing. The focus of these national emergencies has ranged from President Carter’s blocking Iranian government property after fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were taken hostage in Tehran in 1979 and President Reagan’s barring trade with Nicaragua in 1985, to President Clinton’s prohibiting transactions with terrorists who threatened to disrupt the Middle East peace process in 1995 and President Obama’s declaring an emergency over the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009.",
            "output": [
                "Every U.S. president since 1976 has declared at least one national emergency."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b6b0685d4df48a1b1891b1bc001d279",
            "input": "Holland America Line said in a post on its Facebook page that more than 130 people aboard the Zaandam had reported flu-like symptoms. “Holland America Line can confirm that four older guests have passed away on Zaandam,” the statement said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we are doing everything we can to support them during this difficult time.” It did not identify the cause of death. The ship, which had been turned away from other ports and now is being denied passage through the Panama Canal, was receiving medical supplies and medical personnel from another Holland America ship, the Rotterdam, and the company planned to begin transferring healthy passengers to that ship. “Priority for the first guests to transfer will be given to those on Zaandam with inside staterooms and who are over 70,” the statement said. There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board the Zaandam. Late Friday, the Panama Maritime Authority said in a statement that 401 passengers not showing symptoms of the virus would be transferred to the Rotterdam. It said medical supplies were being delivered to the Zaandam until midnight and then the shipments would resume Saturday. The authority said the bodies of the virus victims would remain on the Zaandam until the liner arrives at its final destination. The Panama Maritime Authority “deeply regrets these deaths, as well as the complex situation the passengers and crew of the Zaandam cruiser go through,” the statement said. The authority’s administrator, Noriel Araúz, said earlier in the day that no one on either ship would be allowed ashore in Panama, which the Health Ministry said had 786 coronavirus cases, with 14 deaths, as of Friday. The Zaandam departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7. The ship was trying to get to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after being denied permission to dock at its original destination of San Antonio, Chile, a week ago. The cruise line said no one had been off the ship since March 14 in Punta Arenas, Chile. On March 22, when a number of passengers began reporting flu-like symptoms, the ship instituted protective measures, including telling everyone to self-isolate in their cabins, the cruise line said. On Thursday, all passengers and crew received masks and instruction on how to use them. Neil Bedford said his parents, Kim and Chris Bedford from Bradford, England, left on March 4 for a flight to Argentina and boarded the ship three days later. “They were enjoying their time,” he told The Associated Press in a Twitter message. But on March 15, it was announced that the cruise was over and they were turned away from several countries. “The meals are delivered to their rooms three times during the day. I’m not sure if they are left outside for them to collect or if someone brings them into the room. The captain is making announcements once a day but everyone seems to be getting frustrated as it’s constantly bad news,” Bedford said. His parents are both in their 60s. “They are just growing increasingly concerned with what will happen to them,” he wrote. “There is a new ship alongside them, the Rotterdam, which the healthy will be evacuated to, but they will need testing first before that can happen. They are becoming terrified of being stuck onboard the ship.” Hayley Pillai Johnson, a medical student at Cambridge University in England, also posted on Twitter, asking questions about her grandfather and his wife. “We just want them home,” she wrote in a message. Her grandfather, Sethy Pillai, is a 90-year-old retired doctor. His wife, Hazel Pillai, is 75 and has diabetes. They are from Oxforshire in England, and she spoke with them Friday via WhatsApp as they were quarantined in their room. “They are scared now they have heard of the 4 deaths and never thought this would happen,” she wrote. “My grandma has a non-dry cough but no temperature, so has been counted in the ‘symptom category’. My grandpa feels tired and scared but is fine.” “Holland America needs to get all guests off this cruise, test them and go from there. We are worried sick about them, especially as the route through Panama Canal has not yet been confirmed and neither has the docking at Port Everglades.” The Zaandam had planned to pass through the Panama Canal en route to Florida, but after being inspected by Panamanian authorities, the request to use the canal was denied, said canal Administrator Ricauter Vásquez. The Health Ministry “did not give permission,” Vásquez told reporters Friday. “The ship is in territorial waters but has to remain isolated.” It was not immediately clear where either ship would go. The Rotterdam had not requested permission to pass through the Panama Canal. There are four doctors and four nurses on the Zaandam, according to cruise line statement, while the Rotterdam had two doctors and four nurses aboard. Holland America Line had announced March 17 that it was voluntarily suspending its cruise operations for 30 days “Due to the continued port closures and travel restrictions surrounding COVID-19 and in an abundance of caution.” At that point, the company said none of its passengers or crew had tested positive for the virus. The Seattle-based cruise line is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp. ___ Associated Press writer Kathia Martínez reported this story in Panama City and AP writer Tamara Lush reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.",
            "output": [
                "4 passengers dead aboard cruise ship anchored off Panama."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db482a65f7184d44a965efc257ba8b9d",
            "input": "\"The story listed the cost per unit for all three creams. The story didn’t provide the numbers from a cited 1994 study on capsaicin benefits. Overall, the message of \"\"no good evidence\"\" was clear. But, confusingly, the story gave the last word to a rheumatologist who said some of these creams \"\"do seem to help some people…it can give you temporary relief.\"\" If you’re going to do that, we think you need to provide numbers. How many people? How long is temporary? To end the story in this way – without numbers to back up this flip-flop of a message – was disappointing. The story was clear about lack of effectiveness overall – and that with the capsaicin cream, \"\"the burning sensation is often intolerable.\"\" The story went right to the point:  \"\"there’s no good evidence that any over-the-counter rub or cream offers real relief for arthritis, Altman says. Very few high-quality studies have ever investigated the products, he says, and the results that do exist have been far from convincing.\"\" There was no disease-mongering of the pain of arthritis. Two expert sources in rheumatology were interviewed. The story danced around the topic of a placebo effect without ever directly addressing it. And it didn’t make any direct comparison with aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or with heating pads or other options. The over-the-counter availability of the creams is clear in the story. The story offered this context:  \"\"Over the centuries, people have been willing to rub all sorts of things into their sore joints. Today, arthritis sufferers can choose from a wide range of over-the-counter creams with different approaches to relief.\"\" By the end of the story it was clear that today’s creams may not offer much advancement over what’s been done with rubs through the centuries. It’s safe to assume that the story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Arthritis creams are probably better than goat tears"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc9ba48e92c94ccba56f18a8902574ea",
            "input": "The Health and Human Services department notified shelters around the country last week that it was not going to reimburse them for teachers’ pay or other costs such as legal services or recreational equipment. The move appears to violate a legal settlement known as the Flores agreement that requires the government to provide education and recreational activities to immigrant children in its care. But the agency says it doesn’t have the funding to provide those services as it deals with a soaring number of children coming to the U.S., largely from Central America. It’s now up to the various nonprofit and private organizations run facilities for the children to cover the cost of teachers, supplies, legal services and even recreational activities and equipment — if they can, or choose to. BCFS, a nonprofit provider in several Texas cities, said in a statement that it would continue providing services because not doing so would violate state licensing standards. It said it will use emergency funding from its parent organization. “The health and well-being of those in our care are of the utmost importance and we hope there is a rapid resolution to this funding issue,” spokeswoman Evy Ramos said. The government says it currently has 13,200 children in its care, and more are coming. The Border Patrol said Wednesday that 11,500 children crossed the border without a parent just last month. The kids are transferred to the care of Health and Human Services after the Border Patrol processes them. Health and Human Services contracts out their care and housing to nonprofits and private companies. “As we have said, we have a humanitarian crisis at the border brought on by a broken immigration system that is putting tremendous strain (on the agency),” spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said. “Additional resources are urgently required to meet the humanitarian needs created by this influx - to both sustain critical child welfare and release operations and increase capacity.” Health and Human Services is seeking nearly $3 million in emergency funding to cover more beds and provide basic care. An official at one of the shelter providers said the government notified them on May 30 that they wouldn’t be reimbursing costs of providing education and other activities. The providers pay for things like teacher salary upfront and are then reimbursed by the government. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said his employer was scrambling to figure out how it would cover the cost of teachers. The provider hasn’t laid anyone off, but worries about children who desperately need to learn English and be intellectually stimulated. Advocates are also worried about the ramifications of cutting recreational activities. Funding cuts may result in physical education coordinators from being let go and in a lack of adults who can supervise children playing outside. “The kids are inside 23 hours, and the hour they spend outside is a real lifeline for them,” said J.J. Mulligan, an attorney at the Immigration Law Clinic at University of California, Davis, who has visited and spoken to many of the children at the facilities. “Most of them come from Latin American countries where soccer is king, so the ability to play with their friends really brings them joy in dark circumstances.” In a memo to staff obtained by The Associated Press, Southwest Key interim CEO Joella Brooks said she was working with the government to figure out why the funding had ended and how it can continue to offer the services. Southwest Key is a nonprofit and the largest provider of shelters for immigrant children. “In the meantime, remember the service, encouragement and compassion you provide to these youth every day matters a great deal. Please continue to stay focused on taking good care of them,” Brooks wrote to her staff. U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, was critical of the cuts. “By eliminating English classes and legal aid that are critical to ensuring children successfully navigate the asylum process, the Trump Administration is essentially condemning children to prison and throwing away the key until their imminent deportation,” Grijalva, who represents a district on the border, said in a statement. ___ Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press journalist John Mone contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Feds: No more education, legal services for immigrant kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40acb5f5d07d4120877aee0e80c735cd",
            "input": "The Wildlife Department in eastern Sabah state on Borneo island said the rhino, named Iman, died of natural causes Saturday due to shock in her system. She had uterine tumors since her capture in March 2014. Department director Augustine Tuuga said in a statement that Iman, who reportedly was 25 years old, was suffering significant pain from growing pressure of the tumors to her bladder but that her death came sooner than expected. It came six months after the death of the country’s only male rhino in Sabah. Another female rhino also died in captivity in 2017 in the state. Efforts to breed them have been futile but Sabah authorities have harvested their cells for possible reproduction. “Despite us knowing that this would happen sooner rather than later, we are so very saddened by this news,” said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew, who is also environment minister. Liew said that Iman had escaped death several times over the past few years due to sudden massive blood loss, but that wildlife officials managed to nurse her back to health and obtained her egg cells for a possible collaboration with Indonesia to reproduce the critically endangered species through artificial insemination. The Sumatran rhino, the smallest of five rhinoceros species, once roamed across Asia as far as India, but its numbers have shrunk drastically due to deforestation and poaching. The WWF conservation group estimates that there are only about 80 left, mostly living in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature identifies the Sumatran as well as the Black and Javan rhinoceros as being critically endangered. Both African and Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the others have a single horn. Only about 24,500 rhinos survive in the wild with another 1,250 in captivity worldwide, the IUCN says. Of these, more than two-thirds are white rhinos. Rhinos are killed for their horns, which consist of keratin similar to human hair and nails and are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia.",
            "output": [
                "Sumatran rhino is extinct in Malaysia as lone survivor dies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd427282b2ea4f16b2fef0b9ec885ce6",
            "input": "Aqua Zumba, boot camp, and synchronized swimming are among the classes experts say put every muscle through a range of motion even the fittest can’t approach on dry land. Lori Rose Benson of the YMCA of Greater New York said seniors populate daytime pool classes, but the evening attracts a younger, party-oriented crowd. Synchronized swimming, a class of elaborate strokes and stunts set to music, has become a favorite among Brooklyn hipsters, she said. Aqua Zumba, also called “pool party,” is popular with the younger crowd throughout the city. “Really, it depends on the time of day,” Benson said. “Aquatic exercise can have all the benefits of a really tough cardiovascular workout. It’s what you put into it.”  Three times a week at an Equinox fitness center in New York City, swim coach Ellis Peters leads Aqua Boot Camp, an hour-long interval workout he said takes aim at every major muscle group. “I try to use every inch of the 25-yard (23-meter) pool,” Peters said of the class, which employs flotation devices in a fast-changing sequence of running, jumping jacks and core exercises. “We usually don’t do any one thing more than a minute,” said Peters. Moving through water is powerful, he added, because the resistance, or drag coefficient, is 12 times what it is in air and works on the body in all directions. “I can’t imagine a machine on land that would be able to duplicate the omni-dimensional resistance of the water,” he said. “It doesn’t exist.”   Rhode Island-based Karen Kent said she plunged into pool workouts after asthma began to hamper her running style. “I couldn’t run much in my 20s,” said Kent, an aquatic expert who wrote the water exercise chapter for the American College of Sports Medicine’s group fitness handbook. She said even the most able-bodied like turning to water to relieve pressure and extend their range of motion. “Even really strong athletes want to come to water to stretch muscles back out,” she said. “Water offers another piece of fitness you can’t get on the ground.”  The level of exertion feels less in the water, she added, so the right instructor can really ramp it up with deep water running and jogging intervals. Kent said the pool temperature for water workouts should be around 83 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (28 to 29 Celsius), with air temperature about two degrees higher. That’s because unlike swimmers, who are comfortable in the high 70s (mid 20s), the exercisers’ heads are above the water line. “Swimming laps is different from doing exercise,” she said. “Every workout has something else to offer and a well-rounded athlete should do all of it.”",
            "output": [
                "New wave of water workouts attract the young and fit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4cf26ab031aa4c3c894eed3e1966c1d5",
            "input": "The test examines more than 2 million spots in a person’s genetic code, seeking variants that individually nudge a person’s obesity risk up by a tiny amount. The researchers drew on previously published data about those variants to create a risk score. A high score didn’t guarantee obesity, nor a low score rule it out. But middle-aged people with scores in the top 10 percent were 25 times as likely to be severely obese as those in the bottom 10 percent, scientists reported in a paper released Thursday by the journal Cell. Those two groups were separated by an average weight difference of about 29 pounds (13 kilograms), researchers said. Analysis showed the genetic propensity to obesity began having an effect on weight around age 3. Up to about age 8, “you might be able to make a difference in the kids who are born susceptible to obesity,” said one author of the study, Dr. Sekar Kathiresan of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. But it will take further research to see whether intervening would work, Kathiresan said. The results for middle age came from a study of about 288,000 people. Overall, the risk-score research included data from more than 300,000 people at various ages. Severe obesity was defined as a body mass index of 40 or more. Results show genetic inheritance “plays a large role in how heavy one gets,” Kathiresan said. The risk score probably takes about half of a person’s genetic propensity into account, he said, and it shows similar accuracy in predicting ordinary obesity, defined as a BMI of 30 or more. Even if one inherits a propensity for obesity, he said, “you still have control over your fate. You’re not fated to be obese, but it’s very clear those individuals who’ve inherited susceptibility have to work that much harder to keep the weight off.” Among study participants with the highest scores, he noted, 17 percent were of normal weight. Other analyses show that people who remain lean despite an inherited propensity for obesity tend to eat better and have more physical activity than others with a high score who got fat. “So you can do something about it,” he said. Ruth Loos, a professor of environmental medicine and public health who did not participate in the study, said the risk score explains more of people’s genetic tendency than previous studies did. But she doubted it would be useful in a doctor’s office. It is “never going to be a good predictor,” said Loos, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York. She noted that in one test of the score’s predictive power, only 58 of the 371 subjects scoring in the top 10 percent ended up severely obese. And many other severely obese people didn’t score in the top 10 percent, she said. Simply asking about family history of obesity would probably work better, she said. The large role of lifestyle in obesity means a purely gene-based predictor will never be perfect, she said. Kathiresan, a cardiologist, said the risk score is best seen as a risk indicator, like high cholesterol. Most people with high cholesterol don’t get heart attacks, he said, but they do run a higher risk than others. Jason Boardman of the University of Colorado Boulder said genetic variants might affect body size indirectly, through an impact on lifestyles or other social and behavioral traits. Other research suggests the effect of genes on size depends on what kind of social and physical environment a person lives in, including such factors as access to unhealthy foods, he said in an email. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Genetic test predicts middle-aged obesity risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96a945ae61ae4153acfdd2d22e22eb68",
            "input": "Trinity Lewis had asked Judge Sandee Bryan Marion to issue an injunction in Tarrant County district court to ensure that Cook Children’s Medical Center doesn’t end her daughter Tinslee Lewis’ life-sustaining treatment. Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that is advocating for Tinslee, said the girl’s mother will appeal the judge’s decision. Doctors at the Fort Worth hospital had planned to remove Tinslee from life support Nov. 10 after invoking Texas’ “10-day rule,” which can be employed when a family disagrees with doctors who say life-sustaining treatment should be stopped. The law stipulates that if the hospital’s ethics committee agrees with doctors, treatment can be withdrawn after 10 days if a new provider can’t be found to take the patient. In a statement issued by Texas Right to Life, which opposes the “10-day rule,” Lewis said she was “heartbroken” over the judge’s decision. “I feel frustrated because anyone in that courtroom would want more time just like I do if Tinslee were their baby,” she said. The hospital said in a statement Thursday that in order to keep Tinslee alive, she’s on a constant stream of painkillers, sedatives and paralytics. She currently has severe sepsis, which isn’t uncommon when patients require deep sedation and chemical paralysis, it said. “Even with the most extraordinary measures the medical team is taking, Tinslee continues to suffer,” the hospital said. Efforts to find another facility to take her have been unsuccessful. The hospital said it has reached out to more than 20 facilities. Texas Right to Life and Protect TX Fragile Kids have also been trying to find a facility to take her. Prior to Thursday’s ruling, both sides agreed that if Marion denied the injunction request, the hospital would wait at least seven days before taking Tinslee off life-support. In her decision, Marion said the seven-day period would give the girl’s mother time to file a notice of appeal and a motion for emergency relief with a state court of appeals. Tinslee has been at Cook Children’s since her premature birth. The hospital said she has a rare heart defect and suffers from chronic lung disease and severe chronic high blood pressure. She hasn’t come off a ventilator since going into respiratory arrest in early July and requires full respiratory and cardiac support. Lewis testified at a hearing last month that despite her daughter’s sedation, she has a sense of the girl’s likes and dislikes, describing her as “sassy.” She said Tinslee likes getting her nails done but doesn’t like having her hair brushed. “I want to be the one to make the decision for her,” Lewis said about removing her daughter from life support. At the hearing last month, Dr. Jay Duncan, one of Tinslee’s physicians, described the girl’s complex conditions and Cook Children’s efforts to treat her, which have included about seven surgeries. The cardiac intensive care doctor said that for the first five months of Tinslee’s life doctors had hope she might one day at least be able to go home. But Duncan said there came a point when doctors determined they had run out of surgical and clinical options, and that treatment was no longer benefiting Tinslee. Duncan said last month that the girl would likely die within half a year, and noted the hospital has made “extraordinary” efforts to find another facility for her. “She is in pain. Changing a diaper causes pain. Suctioning her breathing tube causes pain. Being on the ventilator causes pain,” he said. Duncan said there had been “many, many” conversations with Tinslee’s family about her dire condition. Tarrant County Juvenile Court Judge Alex Kim issued a temporary restraining order to stop the removal of life support on Nov. 10. But Kim was removed from the case after the hospital filed a motion questioning his impartiality and saying he had bypassed case-assignment rules to designate himself as the presiding judge. After his removal, Judge Marion, who is chief justice of Texas’ Fourth Court of Appeals, was assigned to hear the request for an injunction in Tarrant County district court. The case has become a rallying point for Republicans in Texas, with the attorney general stating his opposition to the “10-day rule” and GOP state Rep. Tan Parker saying it “doesn’t fit with Texas values.” The 1999 law that shields from lawsuits doctors who follow the process of going through an ethics committee was crafted by a task force that included lawmakers, attorneys, doctors and anti-abortion groups. Supporters of the law passed when George W. Bush, a Republican, was governor include the Texas Alliance for Life, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops and the Texas Medical Association. Supporters say the law provides a framework for doctors and hospitals to resolve differences and ensures that doctors can’t be forced to perform medical interventions that cause harm or suffering.",
            "output": [
                " Texas judge: Hospital can remove baby from life support."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46cc8eafc6e4412683476e95bd796fc1",
            "input": "Called “biosimilars,” they are near-copies of complex and expensive biologic drugs to treat cancer, rare diseases and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and colitis. But U.S. sales have been so limited that their future is in doubt. Already, one company has scrapped nearly all its biosimilar development projects. Worst-case scenario? Drugmakers could abandon biosimilar development, and makers of original biologic drugs could keep raising their six-figure-a-year prices indefinitely. Two years ago, the independent policy research group RAND Health predicted biosimilars would save the U.S. roughly $54 billion from 2017 through 2026. That’s looking optimistic. “This is a make-or-break period,” said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration until April. “My fear is that some of the biosimilar-makers ... will say, ‘We’ll just go back to doing other things,’” and other drugmakers won’t enter the niche. Leigh Purvis, AARP’s director of health services research, says the original biologic drugmakers “could kill this market before it ever takes off, and we desperately need it.” THE PROMISE Biosimilars are akin to generic drugs, but true generics aren’t possible with biologic drugs. Pills are easily duplicated by mixing chemicals. Getting a generic version of a brand-name pill approved requires spending about $2 million and two years to conduct lab tests and show it’s chemically equivalent to the original medication. Manufacturing costs just pennies a pill. Biologic drugs, on the other hand, are made by manipulating living cells to produce a specific protein. They treat disorders often caused by faulty genes or immune systems, and they must be injected or delivered by infusion. The complex process needed to grow and purify the proteins means a copycat biosimilar will never be identical to the original drug. But it also can’t have “clinically meaningful” differences. Getting approval can take five to nine years of lab and patient testing, and cost over $100 million. A decade ago, Congress passed a law meant to encourage development of cheaper biosimilars. But the makers of the original biologic drugs have fought hard to block the new rivals, with stacks of successive patents, lawsuits and rebates to insurers. The result? Even drugmakers with the expertise and resources to produce biosimilars are mostly thwarted. In the U.S., that is. In Europe, monopoly-protecting patents generally don’t last as long as in the U.S. and government-run health systems have favored biosimilars in exchange for steep discounts. Biosimilars hit Europe in 2006. Now 54 are available at discounts up to 80 percent. In the U.S., the FDA has approved 24 biosimilars, nearly all since 2015. Just 11 of them are actually for sale, generally at 15% to 35% below the original drug’s price. Those discounts are easily matched by original biologic makers who prefer insurers give them a smaller piece of the pie than nothing. Biosimilars have been approved in the U.S. for five biologic best-sellers on the market as long as 22 years: Humira and Enbrel, for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders, and the cancer drugs Herceptin, Rituxan and Avastin. However, their biosimilars can’t be sold in the U.S. due to litigation and multiple, monopoly-extending patents. The brands have monthly list prices of over $5,000 to nearly $13,000. Health plans pay much less, but even well-insured patients must pay a big portion — or the full price until they cover their plan deductible. HOW WE GOT HERE Drugmakers have been harnessing scientific advances to create targeted biologic drugs, many for cancer and rare conditions without good treatments. Their executives predicted insurers wouldn’t balk at high prices because the patient numbers aren’t big. But as more people took biologic drugs and companies increased prices 6% to 20% every year, insurers and middlemen called prescription benefit managers limited patients’ access. They also set high copayments for many patients. Biosimilars were seen as financial salvation. But given their limited sales to date, the FDA is trying to enable faster approval. In May, it issued guidelines to enable biosimilar-makers to show their products are interchangeable with an original biologic drug. Pharmacies then could substitute a biosimilar for a brand-name biologic, as happens routinely with generic pills. Cancer patient David Mitchell, who founded the advocacy group Patients for Affordable Drugs, says biologic drugmakers are exploiting the system, despite having at least 12 years of market exclusivity. “We have patients who say, ‘I’ve been taking this drug for 15 or 20 years and there’s still no generic,’” Mitchell notes. He says the group also hears frequently from patients on biologic drugs “who are struggling or can’t afford them.” Chuck Pope, a former machinist from Derry, Pennsylvania, has had rheumatoid arthritis since 2005 and took Enbrel for seven years. He said it prevented flare-ups of the joint-destroying autoimmune disorder, enabling him to keep working long hours. Then shoulder injuries forced him onto disability and cost Pope his employer’s “excellent insurance.” Pope said he can’t afford the thousands of dollars Enbrel would cost him under his Medicare plan. “My body’s just totally disintegrating because of the RA,” which causes irreversible damage, said Pope, 64. “Wouldn’t it be more logical to lower the price and have more people on the drug?” BIOSIMILAR BARRIERS Last year, the U.S. spent $126 billion on biologic drugs, only 2% of it on biosimilars, according to the health data firm IQVIA. Gottlieb, the recently departed FDA commissioner, blames the slow uptake partly on doctors hesitant to switch patients to unfamiliar alternatives. He also points to barriers erected by the companies behind name-brand biologic drugs. Their tactics include disparaging biosimilars as inferior, luring patients with coupons subsidizing their copayments, getting successive patents to extend their monopolies, and giving rebates to insurance plans which cover their biologic drugs but exclude rival biosimilars. A report released Wednesday by a biosimilars trade group estimated the U.S. health care system lost $7.6 billion in possible savings since 2015 due to patent walls delaying sales of approved biosimilars. Health plans are reluctant to take up biosimilars, because that would instantly end their big rebates, Gottlieb said. Such exclusionary contracts have stifled sales of Inflectra, Pfizer’s biosimilar of Johnson & Johnson’s $5 billion-a-year autoimmune disorder drug, Remicade. Since launching in November 2016, Inflectra’s U.S. sales totaled $438 million, though it’s priced 25% below Remicade’s $2,335-per-month list price. Pfizer is suing J&J for “unlawful conduct” that blocks competition. J&J says it simply offered rebate options health plans requested. In October, biosimilar versions of the world’s most lucrative drug, Humira, hit Europe. Humira, which treats psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders, launched 17 years ago and brought maker AbbVie $20 billion in 2018 sales, two-thirds from the U.S. Seven drugmakers have Humira biosimilars approved or awaiting approval in the U.S., but none are expected soon. AbbVie sued each rival to block sales, claiming they would infringe Humira patents. All seven companies eventually settled, agreeing to pay AbbVie royalties so they can start selling biosimilar versions — in 2023. Boehringer Ingelheim, the last company to settle, had alleged AbbVie “improperly created a ‘patent thicket,’ comprising more than a hundred overlapping and non-inventive patents, for the sole purpose of extending its monopoly far beyond the expiration of its core patent for Humira in 2016.” AbbVie wouldn’t discuss Humira. But at a September conference, Chief Financial Officer William Chase said, “You’ve seen us execute very nicely with our legal strategy” to delay U.S. competition. Meanwhile, AbbVie has raised Humira’s U.S. monthly list price from $1,524 in 2009 to $5,174, according to figures from health data firm Elsevier. Makers of Avastin, Herceptin, Rituxan and Enbrel likewise raised their list prices 50% to 200% over that decade. DIM FUTURE? Drugmakers are obligated to maximize profits for shareholders, and hiking prices in the U.S., where they make the lion’s share of revenue, is a sure way of helping their bottom line. Price experts including Dr. Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York recently proposed scrapping biosimilars, saying they can’t succeed due to biologic drugs’ complexity and the nation’s for-profit health care system. They suggest that after biologic drugs have enjoyed their 12-year monopoly, their makers then sell them at cost plus a reasonable profit, set by an independent agency. Analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities, believes it will take another recession and a surge of unemployed, uninsured patients for the government to enact major changes to boost biosimilar use. Even if biosimilar access improves, few patients will see big savings, predicts Michael Kleinrock, research director at IQVIA. Insurers and prescription benefit managers will get those. “Many people will still have to pay up to their deductible” or out-of-pocket maximum, he says. Kleinrock sees bigger problems: Only about 20 biologic drugs have the billions in annual sales making it worthwhile to develop biosimilar rivals. And biosimilars of drugs created years ago will lose favor as improved, next-generation biologic medicines arrive. “If there’s less reward, there’s less incentive,” he says. ___ Follow Linda A. Johnson at https://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Future is in doubt for cheaper versions of biologic drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04ffb73ba15d484d9eda95e0aceaf6fd",
            "input": "More than 40 percent of girls have received at least one dose of the new vaccine that protects against a virus that causes cervical and other cancers, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half have received a booster shot that protects against tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria, the survey of 20,000 teens aged 13 to 17 said. “We can see that more parents of adolescents are electing to protect their children from serious diseases such as pertussis (whooping cough), meningitis, and cervical cancer but there is clear room for improvement in our system’s ability to reach this age group,” the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat said. She pointed to recent outbreaks of whooping cough, especially in California, where state health officials say seven infants too young to be vaccinated have died and 3,000 cases have been reported. “Young infants are most vulnerable to serious complications from pertussis and can be infected by older siblings, parents or other caretakers,” Schuchat said in a statement. The survey found that 56 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 had at least one dose of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine, known as Tdap, an increase of 15 points since 2008. It found 54 percent of teens got at least one dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine, up 12 points. This vaccine is aimed at teenagers who will go to new high schools or colleges and risk getting infected by the sometimes fatal bacteria in dorms or when they begin dating. The survey showed 44 percent of girls had received at least one dose of human papillomavirus, or HPV vaccine, an increase of seven percentage points. Only 27 percent of girls got all three doses of the vaccine, up nine points from 2008. HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer and also can cause throat, anal and penile cancers. “Completing the three-dose HPV vaccine series is very important to ensure protection against cervical cancer,” Schuchat said. “Visits for immunization can be a great opportunity to address other important preventive issues that all teens need.”   Two HPV vaccines are licensed — Cervarix from GlaxoSmithKline and Gardasil from Merck & Co.   Novartis and Sanofi make vaccines against meningitis and several companies make Tdap vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "More U.S. teens get vaccinated, CDC finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-323d0f6c9047484cb9f35389eb9beb2f",
            "input": "File photo shows the silhouette of an elderly man. Reuters/File  They said people who took drugs that block acetylcholine —  a chemical messenger in the nervous system critical for memory  — functioned less well than their peers. “These results were true even in older adults who have  normal memory and thinking abilities,” said Dr. Kaycee Sink of  Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina,  who led the study of 3,000 people of whom 40 percent were  taking more than one anticholinergic drug. “The effect is essentially that of a three- to four-year  increase in age. So someone who is 75 in our study and taking  at least one moderately anticholinergic medication is at a  similar functional level to a 78 to 79-year-old,” Sink said in  an e-mail. Sink’s findings, presented at American Geriatrics Society  Meeting in Washington, add to a growing body of research that  suggests these so-called anticholinergic medications can hasten  functional and cognitive declines in elderly people. Some of the most common such drugs in the study included  the blood pressure drug nifedipine (sold as Adalat or  Procardia), the stomach antacid ranitidine or Zantac, both with  mild or moderate anticholinergic properties, and Pfizer Inc’s  incontinence drug tolterodine or Detrol, which is highly  anticholinergic. “The tricky part ... is that many useful drugs from many  different classes of medications have anticholinergic  properties,” Sink said. She said in many cases newer drugs are available that do  not have these effects and said doctors should look out for  them for elderly patients. Dr. Jack Tsao, a neurologist with the U.S. Navy, reported  last month at a American Academy of Neurology meeting that  elderly people who took anticholinergic drugs had a 50 percent  greater rate of memory decline than people in a long-term study  who did not take the drugs. Sink studied the effects of taking multiple anticholinergic  drugs on walking speed, basic activities such as dressing,  eating, taking care of personal hygiene, grooming, and harder  activities like shopping, cooking and managing money on her  test subjects whose average age was 78. The researchers found that the more anticholinergic drugs  people had in their systems, the worse their physical function,  based on reports from people in the study and on independent  measures of their performance. In a separate study this month in the Journal of the  American Geriatrics Society, Sink found that older nursing home  residents who took drugs for dementia and incontinence at the  same time had a 50 percent faster decline in function than  those treated only for dementia. “I would encourage patients to bring in a list of  everything they take (even over-the-counter medications) to  their doctor and have them review it at least yearly,” Sink  said. “Physicians should try to decrease anticholinergic burden  whenever possible.”",
            "output": [
                "Common drugs hasten decline in elderly: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce96f7e070f44b2fb2dc9b038eee5666",
            "input": "Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, said its move was spurred by a federal appeals court decision last month clearing the administration’s way to restrict Title X grants under a new policy critics have branded a “gag rule.”  In addition to barring recipients from making abortion referrals, the policy requires financial and physical separation between facilities funded by Title X and those where actual abortions are performed. The rule, imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is part of a broad effort by the Republican president, his allies in Congress and numerous Republican-dominated state legislatures to curtail abortion access in recent years. Planned Parenthood, accounting for about one-fifth of all Title X funds granted, had vowed to cease accepting money from the program months ago, when HHS said it would start enforcing the new restrictions. The group said it would rely instead on private donations and emergency funds to make up the difference as best it could. Monday’s move marked a formal Title X withdrawal, to remain permanent unless Congress acts to overturn the restriction or legal challenges prevail in court. “Due to an unethical and dangerous gag rule, the Trump administration has forced Planned Parenthood grantees out of Title 10,” Alexis McGill, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told journalists on a conference call. Planned Parenthood is not alone. Legislatures in Maryland and Massachusetts preemptively adopted measures to opt out of Title X and provide state funding in its place if the new rule took effect. And governors of five other states - Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Oregon and Washington - have said they would do the same. So has Maine Family Planning, a nonprofit, sole recipient of Title X funds in that state. Congress appropriated $286 million in Title X grants in 2017 to Planned Parenthood and other health centers to provide birth control, disease screening and other reproductive health and counseling services to poor women. That funding already was prohibited from being used to pay for abortions, but abortion opponents have long complained that the money in effect subsidized Planned Parenthood as a whole, including its abortion services. The organization had been providing healthcare to about 40% of the 4 million people who rely on Title X funding annually, with 600 of its clinics receiving money from the program. Critics said Planned Parenthood’s action showed it was primarily focused on abortion. “In withdrawing from Title X, Planned Parenthood has made it crystal clear that abortion is its number one priority,” said Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with the Catholic Association. Abortion has remained one of the most contentious issues in U.S. politics since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision affirming a woman’s constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy. Opponents cite religious beliefs in decrying abortion as immoral, while the other side casts abortion restrictions as infringing on women’s private medical choices and control over their own bodies. Federal judges in Washington state, California and Oregon, among nearly two dozen states challenging the administration’s rule in court, issued preliminary injunctions against its enforcement earlier this year. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 20 lifted those injunctions, and the same court rejected emergency bids to overturn that decision in July. That allowed the restrictions to take effect while court cases proceed. The rule largely restored a restriction created in 1988 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991, only to be suspended by the Clinton administration in 1993.",
            "output": [
                "Planned Parenthood opts out of U.S. subsidies in fight over abortion referrals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f917e04a24db4ff99fbdcee20aa53980",
            "input": "They said reducing stress during breast cancer treatment can keep the immune system strong and improve a woman’s quality of life — and these two factors help women live longer. They found women who took part in a support group where they were taught to cope with their stress through relaxation techniques and problem solving lived an average of six months longer than other women. “If you have someone who can provide effective, research-supported ways to reduce your stress, not only will that affect your mental health. It will likely affect your symptoms and your recovery,” said Barbara Andersen, a psychology professor at Ohio State University in Columbus. The study is rare because while it makes sense that therapy might ease some of the stress of cancer treatment, few studies have shown it can boost a woman’s survival. The findings appear in the journal Cancer Clinical Research. The study included 227 women with newly diagnosed Stage II or III breast cancer. Women in the study got either a psychological assessment or therapy that helped them understand their stress, learn ways to cope with it, stay on their cancer treatment, improve communication with their doctor and generally feel better emotionally during their treatment and recovery. “It was far more than the popular notion of support groups of patients in a room talking about their troubles,” Andersen said in a telephone interview. “Certain patients talked about things that were stressful to them, but they also learned really effective ways to cope with that stress.”   For example, women were taught relaxation techniques that helped lower stress levels. They were counseled on how to assess the individual strengths of people in their support network — knowing which people can be counted on for emotional support and which would be most reliable if the woman needed a ride to therapy. The support group met weekly for four months, than monthly for a total of a year. In prior findings from the study, the team found that women who had taken part in the support group had stronger immune systems and were 45 percent less likely to have their breast cancer come back after 11 years of follow up. The latest phase of the study looked at the group of women whose cancer did return. Of these 62 women, those who had gotten talk therapy were 59 percent less likely to die from their breast cancer during the study period. The survival benefit was above and beyond improvements in drug treatments. Andersen said these results “show enduring benefits” from the support group that had never before been considered or seen. “An intervention that increased survival would be incredibly valuable. It represents a new tool for improving the lives of women with breast cancer,” Sarah Gehlert of Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement. Andersen said most women with breast cancer would not be able to take part in such a support group at the moment, but she hopes the findings will encourage insurance companies to pay for them, and for hospitals to begin offering such services.",
            "output": [
                "Learning to relax, cope extends cancer survival."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d68d9eccdfb4bd19d011a4418dfbd87",
            "input": "According to the website of the             American Stroke Association (ASA) this eRumor is true. The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart             Association. In an article published in February of 2003, the ASA says that a             60-second test can help determine whether someone may be             experiencing a stroke. The three question test has been used by             health care professionals as an initial way of determining whether             someone may be experiencing a stroke. But a research project by North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of             Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. looked into the question of whether             non-medical professionals could administer the short test and             correctly identify the symptoms of a possible stroke. The conclusions was yes, that bystanders could be helpful in             determining whether a person is experiencing a stroke. One of the reasons they looked into it was to see whether bystanders             could be helpful to a 9-1-1 dispatcher in helping narrow down what             is happening to a potential patient. The three questions given to the suspected stroke sufferers were: Can you raise your arms and keep them up?Can you smile?Can you repeat a simple sentence? The study found that when non-medical volunteers were asked by a             telephone dispatcher to administer the test, they correctly             identified the symptoms 96 percent of the time…especially the             raising of the arms and the speaking of a simple sentence. They were less effective in evaluating whether there was facial             weakness in a smile, probably because of not knowing what the             person’s normal smile looked like. Doctors caution that this does not mean that citizens should             try to diagnose stroke symptoms themselves.This study focused on citizens who were being given instruction over             the telephone by emergency dispatchers. Any sign of weakness in the face, slurred speech, or weakness or             numbness in the limbs should be evaluated by medical professionals             immediately. If stroke victims are given proper help within 3 hours of the             stroke, the ability to recover is greatly increased. CLICK             HERE for more information posted on the the American Stroke Association   website. updated 02/02/10    Comments",
            "output": [
                "  The eRumor says that the             American Stroke Associations suggests a simple three question test             to give to someone who may be experiencing the symptoms of a stroke.     "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc16fbab52af4c118b7de5d5c884cf50",
            "input": "Although there was no discussion of costs, the article was clear in stating that vaccines are for the most part in an early stage of development, so this omission is understandable. We wanted to see better coverage of the data here. The story leads with an anecdote about a patient who kicked a pack-a-day smoking habit after treatment with a nicotine vaccine in a study. And later, the story says that smokers who received that vaccine were “about three times as likely to be off cigarettes 44 weeks after vaccination than subjects given a placebo.” The story should have provided the absolute rates of success reported in the study, which were only 16% for the treatment group compared with 6% for the placebo group, according to theheart.org. Elsewhere, the story describes an experimental anticocaine vaccine that was apparently very effective in a mouse study; it could have reported on phase II human data that is available for the TA-CD anticocaine vaccine that was also mentioned in the story. These data again suggest that only a minority of patients may benefit from the use of anti-addiction vaccines. The story states that “clinical trials have so far revealed no significant side effects” from vaccine treatments. However, we think the story should have included an important caveat: that these are early stage trials involving small numbers of patients that can’t provide conclusive evidence of safety. In addition, it should be recognized that addictions are chronic conditions and these vaccine treatments are likely to be long-term as well. Therefore, longer-term adverse effects should be expected, especially for a treatment that interferes with molecules closely related to the body’s natural chemical messengers. The story could have been a bit more circumspect on this point. The promise of this new vaccine technology is counterbalanced by coverage of the uncertainties. The story gives appropriate weight to the disappointing results reported in a number of early clinical studies, noting: “Failures have so far outnumbered successes.” The story adds that even in one of the successful vaccine studies, the benefits were not as robust as those seen with a smoking cessation drug that is already on the market. There also is no prospect for a vaccine to treat alcoholism, according to the story. The article should have been more direct about the limitations of mouse research, and there was not enough detail on the data published in the various studies reported on (a deficiency we address under the “Benefits” criterion). However, since the story was trying to present a broad overview of happenings in the field and wasn’t attempting to summarize any particular study, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt here and award a satisfactory. The story didn’t exaggerate the effects of substance abuse disorders or otherwise engage in disease-mongering. The sourcing of this story was good. We hear from academics, government researchers, and industry executives. Their voices provide balance and give texture to the coverage. It should be noted, however, that most of these experts have a vested interest in the field or the success of a particular treatment, whether because of industry ties or because they are leading experiments on a particular approach. Even the government experts might be biased by their provision of significant financial support for research in this area. It would have been nice to hear a comment about the vaccines from someone who is certifiably free of all potential conflicts. But we can’t justify docking points since there is no voice that is overly enthusiastic about the concept. The story compares the potential of vaccines with the benefits of existing medications for addiction–and notes that the available drugs might work better. We would like to have seen more ink given to the role of behavioral approaches in the management of addiction, which are supported by considerable evidence. However, the story does acknowledge that vaccines “would likely be used alongside psychological therapy.” We’ll call it good enough for a satisfactory. The article helpfully states that “It could be years, if ever, before any vaccines to treat addiction reach the market.” The article does a good job of describing how far along the various experimental vaccines mentioned in the article are in their development. Although the story could have provided more background on the history of anti-addiction vaccines (a heroin vaccine was explored in the 1970s), the treatments being explored now are different from anything currently available. So we don’t think this story overstates the novelty of the research. This story is not based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Quest for Vaccines to Treat Addiction"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae23c91897134885a5ead2b689d8e7c8",
            "input": "Studies have shown that even a 90-year-old can build muscle, so the half-century mark is a good time to retire joint-stressing high jumps and to start lifting dumbbells to build strength. Dr. Wayne Westcott, co-author of the book “Strength Training Past 50,” said maintaining lean body mass becomes harder with ageing. “The average man in good shape is about 85 percent lean weight, organs, blood, bones, muscles and skin, to 15 percent fat. The average healthy woman has a 75/25 ratio,” said Westcott, fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts. “It’s more challenging with age but if you do strength training you can maintain your lean muscle to about age 70,” he said, adding that an older woman who doesn’t resistance train will lose up to 10 pounds of lean mass per decade. Westcott places equal value on cardiovascular training. “We recommend approximately 20 to 30 minutes of resistance exercises two to three times a week. Then try to have an equal amount of aerobic activity four to five days a week,” he explained. Westcott added that older adults, who are hitting the gym in increasing numbers, might want to avoid explosive, high velocity activities, such as high jumps. In 1990 there were 1.9 million health club members aged 55 and above, while in 2012 there were over 10 million, according to a 2014 report by the trade association IHRSA (International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association). Dr. Barbara Bushman of the American College of Sports Medicine said regular physical activity, rather than a sedentary lifestyle, has the potential to minimize the physiological changes that occur with age and inactivity, in addition to limiting the progression of chronic diseases. “Older adults can benefit from exercise, and although absolute improvements may be less than for younger adults, relative increases can be similar,” Bushman said, adding that older adults may take longer to make improvements. At 54, Florida-based fitness trainer and wellness coach Shirley Archer noticed that if she did not weight train she lost lean body muscle at a faster rate. She also found it harder to get it back. Happily for Archer, who has enjoyed running, cycling and hiking, her endurance activities remain unaffected by her aging. “I feel that I have not lost any endurance,” said Archer, author of the book “Fitness 9 to 5: Easy Exercises for the Working Week.”  As people age, she explained, they lose muscle fibers that produce quick powerful bursts before fibers that are engaged in endurance activities such as running or cycling. She said that is why older athletes, who cannot physically compete against younger athletes when it comes to strength and power, can remain competitive in endurance sports. The ageing exerciser also faces longer warm-up and recovery times, as the body is stiffer and slower to heal, Archer said. And the burning of fewer calories means paying even more attention to diet. Staying hydrated is also important. “We need to be sure to hydrate even if we don’t feel particularly thirsty,” she said. “Hydration will keep all systems working much more efficiently — and even help keep our thinking clear.”",
            "output": [
                "Tweaking an exercise routine to stay strong after 50."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d174de952f743cf8b1a5c9a966d3798",
            "input": "\"The story included the costs of a Molesafe screening as well links to organizations offering no cost screening. To be more complete, there are three pieces of information the story could have included: the cost for yearly follow-up at Molesafe, whether or not Molesafe screening would be covered by some, most, or no insurance companies, and the estimated costs of such screening by a dermatologist. The story did not quantify the benefits that might be derived from increasing the number of people being screened for skin cancer. It did not include any discussion about the value of such screening in any of the settings mentioned. But it did provide some discussion around the information that fewer people are screened than recommendations would suggest and that this type of setting had the potential to increase the screening rate. The president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery expressed his concern that \"\"Dermatologists consistently do better than non-dermatologists\"\" which could be interpreted as a suggesting that MoleSafe screening could miss lesions. A false negative is one of the harms of screening. The story should have been more explicit on this. The story could have explained that the other harm of screening is a false positive, which in this case would be where something is diagnosed as a potential cancer and the individual goes for unnecessary follow-up and/or treatment. Although the clinician who is opening this clinic and stands to gain financially from its operation stated that the process \"\"is proven to detect melanomas and save lives,\"\" the story did not contain data supporting this claim. It should be available as this sort of clinic has been in operation for several years in New Zealand and Australia under the name MoleMap. If there is no evidence about the efficacy of this particular screening system, this should have been mentioned. The story did not engage in disease mongering. In fact, it alluded to the fact that not all cancers are dangerous. This is a concept that is not often mentioned. The reporter working on this story did an excellent job of obtaining comments from people with vested interest in the disease but without connection to the clinic at the heart of the story. The comments provided a very interesting perspective on how medical professionals view competition. The story mentioned screening by dermatologists and even included links to groups conducting free screening. In addition, a side bar included information that provided information a reader could use to do a first pass screening on their own. The story explained that the first Molesafe screening center is in the process of being opened in New Jersey. It also offer links to organizations offering free screening. The story was quite clear on this being a newly available clinical setting in the United States but one which has a longer history in New Zealand. Because of the number of sources used, we assume that the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "New scan for skin cancers goes full-body route"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d525778c2f84c0c8b1b18732f94c365",
            "input": "“It’s time to go back on offense,” Lechleiter said in a recent interview. New treatments for diabetes and cancer now awaiting approval and increased sales of animal-health products and drugs in China and Japan are some of the aggressive moves he has in mind. He is also counting on a robust success rate among three dozen other experimental drugs now in mid- and late-stage trials, including a cancer drug called ramucirumab. “We’re on the cusp of launching products in cancer and diabetes, two therapeutic areas where we’re well established and where we have built out the infrastructure we need,” Lechleiter said. “And we believe that’s going to be the beginning of our return to growth.”  Skeptical investors only now appear to be catching on to Lilly’s potential upside. After rising only 3 percent in 2013, badly underperforming a 27 percent average advance for other large drugmakers, the stock is up 6 percent this month. “Instead of having to play defense and manage through this difficult patent cliff, the company will be able to use additional cash flow to invest in its pipeline, to partner with others or make bolt-on acquisitions,” said Atlantic Equities analyst Richard Purkiss. “The outlook is much brighter, and they’ll try to get that message across in coming months.”  Lilly, which reports quarterly and 2013 results on Thursday, has forecast earnings of $2.77 to $2.85 per share this year, the final and worst year of its patent cliff. That’s 41 percent less than 2010. Lilly last year sought U.S. approvals for four drugs, three of which Lechleiter said could be approved in 2014: ramucirumab for stomach cancer, and dulaglutide and empagliflozin for type 2 diabetes - the most common form of diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity. Analysts have forecast annual sales of more than $650 million for ramucirumab, saying sales could be far higher if the drug also wins approval for cancers of the colon, lung or liver. But they caution that the diabetes drugs may have a hard time competing against existing options. Lechleiter said Lilly plans to seek approval of necitumumab for squamous-cell lung cancer this year. The medicine, like ramucirumab, was acquired by Lilly through its $6.5 billion purchase of ImClone Systems in 2008. If approved, necitumumab could capture eventual annual sales of more than $1 billion, analysts say. Such sales could make a big difference for Lilly, whose annual revenue of $20 billion is far lower than Big Pharma rivals like Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co. In the meantime, Lilly is testing nearly 40 medicines in mid- and late stage studies, compared with only 7 in those stages of development a decade ago. They include new treatments for cholesterol, psoriasis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. Animal health unit Elanco, with annual sales of about $2 billion, is thriving as Lilly introduces new products and has expanded the business in China and other fast-growing markets. Many analysts are wary, however, of the company’s ability to win approvals of prescription drugs because it has not launched any major products in recent years and has suffered setbacks in clinical trials, including ramucirumab’s failure to delay progression of breast cancer. Of 20 analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters, 12 have hold or sell ratings on Lilly, versus 8 with buy ratings. Lilly shares trade at 19 times expected 2014 per-share earnings, compared to a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.6 for other large drugmakers. That could be more a reflection of the company’s poor earnings this year than excitement about the stock. “We believe that overall the pipeline will disappoint investors,” said Alex Arfaei of BMO Capital Markets in a research note, citing low sales expectations for ramucirumab and the new diabetes drugs. When Lilly’s Zyprexa was confronted with cheaper generic treatments for schizophrenia in October 2011, it faced one of the industry’s steepest patent cliffs ever, quickly losing 80 percent of its onetime $5 billion in annual sales. Similarly precipitous declines are expected for Cymbalta, Lilly’s $5 billion-a-year antidepressant, which lost U.S. patent protection last month, and for blockbuster osteoporosis treatment Evista, which goes generic in March. Many other large drugmakers, when faced with patent expirations and earnings declines of lesser scope, have resorted to megamergers to cushion the blow from generics and prop up earnings with cost savings. Huge layoffs, sapped morale and poor track records in introducing new drugs are more common results. Pfizer Inc stands out, having snapped up U.S. rivals Warner-Lambert, Pharmacia and Wyeth since 2000. Lechleiter, who began his career at Lilly in 1979 as a senior organic chemist, has steadfastly spurned any suggestion of a big merger: “It’s never entered our minds, and we remain adamantly opposed.”  John Boris, an analyst for Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, said he expects Lilly earnings to grow an average of 10 percent a year between 2015 and 2020, which would make it second to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co in profit growth over that period. Atlantic Equities’ Purkiss said he anticipates Lilly will deliver industry-topping earnings growth in the “mid-teens” percentage range in 2015, 2016 and 2017. “The sentiment has been very negative on Lilly, but it looks like it will go from one of the most growth-starved to the fastest growing of the major U.S. drugmakers and the European players,” Purkiss said. By avoiding a disruptive megamerger, Lilly has allowed itself to press ahead with ambitious research, said Barclays analyst Tony Butler. He said to date the company has met long-term sales and earnings forecasts it provided in 2009 - before patents went over the cliff - while maintaining its generous dividend, with a current yield of 3.6 percent. “At the time, the market was incredibly skeptical about Lilly’s ability to fund its dividend and to have enough remaining cash flow to fund its business,” said Butler. “Lilly proved everybody wrong.”  (This story has been refiled to change second subhead)",
            "output": [
                "Lilly CEO: 'It's time to go back on offense'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7284367d7e814bc19a0594a7554f8c39",
            "input": "The article fails to report how much the drug costs, especially as compared to generic or other alternatives. If it is a relatively expensive drug, this would provide useful context. The article should have made clear the absolute risks of the most severe cardiac outcomes in the Type 2 population in general and in Avandia takers specifically. This is especially important given the data the article focuses on clearly misrepresent prevalence. The author cites a 43 percent increase in heart attacks attributed to Avandia in the original New England Journal of Medicine article, but Nissen’s original NEJM report shows that the numbers of heart attacks and deaths were quite small. The article makes clear the range of side effect severity, properly focusing on the most serious: heart-related hospitalizations and deaths. More information on the benefits of this class of drugs would provide better balance. The article makes clear that the data it is examining are limited by the anecdotal, voluntary nature of the reports to the federal government. But it fails to specify the harms and benefits of the treatment as reflected in previous research. The risks of Type 2 diabetes itself and of taking Avandia are real. Still, the citation of a 43 percent increase in risk to Avandia takers, without context and proportion, creates a potentially misleading impression of the drug’s harm. The article makes clear the affiliations and potential conflicts of interest of key experts interviewed. A small oversight is the failure to mention that the original NEJM piece discloses that author Steve Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic has received research support from a number of diabetes drug makers, none of which is GlaxoSmithKline, Avandia’s maker. That study mentions that consulting fees he gets from various drugmakers (it is not revealed whether that group includes GSK) are donated directly to charity. The article fails to mention that there are cheaper, effective alternatives to Avandia on the market. The article makes clear that Avandia is widely used, and that 1 million Americans take it. Given the intent of the article, however, it would have been useful to include an estimate of the drug’s market share, or at least compare the one million to the national type 2 diabetes population. The author makes clear that the treatment is in widespread use. The reporter has undertaken considerable original research to do this article.",
            "output": [
                "Diabetes drug side effect reports triple"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-705b9ed63f6d4df5a562f8a58258cc90",
            "input": "The zoo said in a statement Tuesday that 12-year-old female Zahara and 13-year-old male Kedar “are both healthy and have beaten the virus. We will continue to monitor the entire herd through frequent blood testing.” The two elephants were diagnosed this spring with elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus. Two others, 6-year-old Nyah and 8-year- old Kalina, died from the virus in March . The zoo has said the virus causes fatal hemorrhagic disease in elephants, mainly Asian elephants.",
            "output": [
                "Indianapolis Zoo says 2 elephants beat deadly virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-763fbdd6ee8d44da8927805fca1c94a4",
            "input": "Malaysia is the world’s second-biggest producer of palm oil, a widely consumed commodity used in everything from chocolate spread to lipstick. Several studies have shown that palm oil is a major contributor to deforestation, along with cattle ranching and soybean production. The European Union passed a law earlier this year to phase out palm oil from renewable fuels by 2030 due to deforestation concerns. “The claims linking palm oil to deforestation is baseless, unfair and unjustified,” Mahathir said at an event on Malaysian forests. “These claims bring negative impact to Malaysia which depends highly on the palm oil industry to raise the socio-economic well-being of our people,” he said. Mahathir also said the palm oil industry in Malaysia has been developed sustainably and responsibly. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a Switzerland-based group of governments, conservation organizations and scientists, has said oil palm expansion is a major driver of deforestation and degradation of natural habitats in parts of tropical Asia and Central and South America. At least 50% of all deforestation between 2005 and 2015 in Borneo - an island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei -   was related to oil palm development, the IUCN has said. Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, supply around 85% of global palm oil, much of which is used in foods. Environmentalists and locals have alleged deforestation continues to this day in Borneo and other parts of Malaysia. Mahathir also said Malaysia was focused on improving productivity and yields of oil palm, rather than expanding land. He said the government would limit oil palm cultivation at 6.55 million hectares (16.2 million acres) by 2023, reaffirming an earlier target set by the minister in charge of palm oil. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Malaysia has launched a global public relations and lobbying effort to protect the reputation of palm oil, especially in Europe. The campaign is centered around small holder farmers, carried out by platforms that say they represent farmers but are created or run by public relations firms hired by a government agency responsible for promoting palm oil.",
            "output": [
                "Malaysia's Mahathir says linking palm oil to deforestation 'baseless'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eb4b60be341f44c1969533f03d75f458",
            "input": "President Obama handed down a series of gun control regulations during his last days in office. One of those regulations aimed to block gun sales to individuals with mental illness through more comprehensive background checks. Congress approved a bill rolling back the regulations in February 2017, and President Trump signed it into law. Rumors about Trump’s action to rollback a law designed to block gun sales to mentally ill people resurfaced in February 2018. That’s when a former student killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida. School officials said the shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, had been previously expelled and suffered from mental illness. In the aftermath, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said officials must keep guns away from individuals struggling with mental illness. And the president himself appeared to blame the shooting on Cruz’s mental health issues—which led to questions about the background check regulations Trump signed into law in 2017. A Closer Look at the Obama Gun Regulations President Obama took executive action on gun control on January 4, 2016. The president announced a series of changes—including more comprehensive background checks, additional ATF agents, and $500 million in funding for mental health treatment. Under the regulations, the Social Security Administration (SSA) would have been required to submit mental health records for beneficiaries to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System: The reporting that SSA, in consultation with the Department of Justice, is expected to require will cover appropriate records of the approximately 75,000 people each year who have a documented mental health issue, receive disability benefits, and are unable to manage those benefits because of their mental impairment, or who have been found by a state or federal court to be legally incompetent. The rulemaking will also provide a mechanism for people to seek relief from the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm for reasons related to mental health. The regulations would have also rolled back legal barriers to states reporting relevant information to background check systems. Why Did Obama’s Background Check Laws Get Repealed? Republicans were almost universally opposed to Obama’s executive action to enhance background checks for gun sales, along with the NRA. That’s probably not a surprise. But the ACLU and 23 national disability groups also came out against the new laws. The ACLU explained in a  statement: This is about more than guns. Adding more innocent Americans to the National Instant Criminal Background database because of a mental disability is a disturbing trend — one that could be applied to voting, parenting or other rights dearer than gun ownership. We opposed it because it would do little to stem gun violence but do much to harm our civil rights. Republicans in Congress agreed. They used the Congressional Review Act, which allows the legislature to overturn executive actions taken in the last months of an administration with a simple majority, to repeal the actions. And President Trump signed it into law in February 2017— a little more than a year after the Parkland school shooting. Based on all that, we’re calling claims that Trump repealed tighter gun control for people with mental illness “truth.” Comments",
            "output": [
                " President Trump ended an Obama-era gun law that required background checks to block the sale of guns to people with mental illnesses. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5c072421c44a4170ba23f7bc1618d786",
            "input": "The news of the laboratory-confirmed case came after a nationwide ceasefire prompted by the virus pandemic began on Thursday. A Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi movement said it would halt military operations for two weeks, though the Houthis have yet to follow suit. A 60-year-old Yemeni man was diagnosed in the southern oil-producing region of Hadhramout, an area controlled by Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, the supreme national emergency committee said. Spokesman Ali al-Walidi told a news conference the man, who works in the small port of Ash Shihr, was in stable condition at a quarantine centre. Authorities have ordered the closure of Ash Shihr port for a week for deep cleaning and instructed workers there to isolate themselves at home for two weeks, according to a directive seen by Reuters. They have also imposed a 12-hour nightly curfew in Hadhramout starting from 6:00 pm on Friday. The governors of neighbouring Shabwa and Al Mahra ordered the sealing of their borders with Hadhramout as of Friday. If the virus spreads in Yemen, the impact would be “catastrophic”, its U.N. humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande had told Reuters, as the health status of at least half the population is “very degraded” and the country does not have sufficient supplies or facilities. “This is one of the biggest threats in the past 100 years to face Yemen,” Grande said in a statement on Friday. “It’s time for the parties to stop fighting each other and start fighting COVID together.”  The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was providing support to Yemen’s health ministry. “We are following the case and its contacts to assess the level of exposure,” Yemen representative Altaf Musani said. WHO recently told Reuters it was working to provide Yemen with the ability to test thousands of patients. It has already provided 500 testing kits. Some 37 health facilities have been dedicated as isolation units. Yemen’s five-year-long war has killed more than 100,000 people and triggered a humanitarian crisis. Only half of its hospitals are fully functional and 18 million people do not have access to proper hygiene, water and sanitation, the International Rescue Committee says. Cholera, dengue and malaria are rife. Around 80% of Yemenis, or 24 million people, rely on humanitarian aid while millions live on the brink of starvation and are vulnerable to disease. Al-Walidi earlier told Reuters that quarantine centres had been set up in Hadhramout, Al Mahra and Aden in the south. He said the government committee was requesting ventilators, oxygen tanks and hospital beds from the WHO in coordination with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center to be divided between areas under control of the Saudi-backed government and those held by the Houthi movement. The Houthis, who ousted the Saudi-backed government from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014, control most big urban areas. They have set up a quarantine centre at a Sanaa hospital and one in Sanaa Airport. The United Nations is trying to set up virtual talks among the warring parties to discuss a permanent truce, a coordinated coronavirus response, humanitarian and economic confidence-building steps and the resumption of peace negotiations. Yemen relies heavily on imported food, fuel and medicines. The World Food Programme said on Thursday it would halve the aid it gives to people in Houthi-controlled areas from mid-April after donors cut funding over concerns that Houthi authorities were hindering aid deliveries. The WFP feeds more than 12 million Yemenis a month, mostly in Houthi areas. Houthi authorities have complained about mismanagement of aid programmes by international bodies. A U.S. State Department official told reporters in a teleconference on Thursday that the onus was on the Houthis. “We encourage them to, one, join the ceasefire; and two, to end their problematic humanitarian practices,” said David Schenker, assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs. (Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.) (This story has been refiled to remove repeated paragraphs at end of first section)",
            "output": [
                "War-ravaged Yemen confirms first coronavirus case, braces for more."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5cf8e160335a48bf979e8a502fb59a10",
            "input": "Austria has closed schools, restaurants, bars, theatres and other gathering places, including non-essential shops. People have been told to stay at home and work from there if possible. The country has reported 108 deaths and more than 9,000 cases, fewer than its neighbours Italy and Switzerland and within its health system’s capacity so far, but Kurz told a news conference its intensive care capacity could be exceeded by mid-April. “Many cannot imagine what is heading our way within weeks, but the truth is that this is the calm before the storm. And to tell how horrific that storm can be, you can look at our neighbour Italy,” Kurz said, referring to hospitals unable to cope with the number of sick people, and hundreds of dead a day. The rate of infection remains “far too high”, Kurz said, adding that less than medical-grade masks would be distributed this week, probably from Wednesday. “As of the moment, these masks are handed out in front of supermarkets it will be compulsory to wear them in supermarkets,” Kurz said, adding that the aim in the medium-term was for people to wear them in public more generally as well. While the masks would not protect the wearer against infection, they would stop them sneezing or coughing on others and potentially infecting them, he added. The World Health Organization has, however, been sceptical about such measures. “There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit,” Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, told a news conference later on Monday while adding that he was not aware  of Austria’s measure specifically. “In fact there is some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse or (not) wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly or taking it off and all the other risks that are otherwise associated with that.”  Austria is also carrying out tests on a representative sample of 2,000 people to get a clearer understanding of how much of the population has been exposed to the virus, Kurz said, adding that Austria was one of the first countries in Europe to do so. The results will be available at the end of the week.",
            "output": [
                "Austria to make basic face masks compulsory in supermarkets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd003c1a107842f29613b9e7635bedb8",
            "input": "The article states the cost of one test, $3,600, meeting the minimum standard for this criterion. But given the tests’ uncertain utility, as well as the obvious economic motivation of the test marketers, more information on costs would have been very useful. Information on insurance coverage should also have been included. The article does not quantify the benefits of treatment with and without genetic testing. Since at least one of the tests mentioned has been approved by the FDA, and the FDA may get a larger role in the pre-market vetting of these tests, some data should be available. All of the reporting in the article on benefits is based on anecdotes and clinicians’ summaries of their knowledge. While none of the genetic tests is harmful, the article states the tests’ limitations: some are costly, their results sometimes of unknown accuracy and difficult to apply to treatment. A clearer statement about the potential harms–including unnecessary treatment and even mortality–of a treatment decision made on faulty results would have been very useful. Since the OncotypDX test is used to help identify people who may reasonably forego chemotherapy, the issue is whether skipping a treatment that may have benefit in order to avoid side effects will produce good outcomes. The article does not report on the amount and quality of evidence about safety and efficacy of the tests. This is the story’s most serious shortcoming. The article does not exaggerate the dangers of cancer although it does make some pretty big claims about what genetic medicine can and might do – claims that are still unsubstantiated. The article quotes a variety of sources: two clinicians who use the tests, two physician skeptics, a government regulator, and two patients whose treatment has been determined partly by genetic tests. The article is focused largely on treatment options facing cancer patients, and the role genetic testing can play in those treatments. It is clear from several examples that using genetic information as part of treatment planning is an option but not fully dependable or universally useful. The article makes clear that some of the genetic tests for cancer are on the market, some are in limited use,  and others are under development. The article does not make any explicit claims of novelty, but it does indicate, correctly, that this is a fast-developing field of medical science that is creating new insights and products regularly. There is no evidence that the article relied solely or largely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Genetic tests help doctors tailor cancer treatments"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7aaea5c4c3b74e8a86077419cc2c84df",
            "input": "The Lynn School Committee voted unanimously on the proposal on Thursday night at a packed meeting divided roughly equally been those who supported the plan, and those opposed to it. Julie Chan, a pediatric nurse practitioner with the Lynn Community Health Center, said last year there were 57 pregnant minors in the Lynn schools. She said there have been 21 chlamydia cases in the district’s schools this year. According to the most recent state Public Health Department figures, Lynn’s teen birth rate was 29.2 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, more than triple the state rate.",
            "output": [
                "School district offer birth control in high schools."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee4033dfd4594579853186265124234c",
            "input": "\"On September 23 2020, “Christlike” appeared on Twitter’s list of trending topics due to a viral tweet objecting to a Catholic organization’s decision to honor Attorney General Bill Barr:The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast will present an award to Attorney General Barr for “Christlike behavior” tomorrow morning. A.G. Barr has ordered the executions of six men with at least one more on the calendar. What is “Christlike” about using discretionary power to kill?— Sister Helen Prejean (@helenprejean) September 23, 2020In her tweet, Dead Man Walking author and anti-death penalty advocate Sister Helen Prejean used the word “Christlike.” Prejean specifically objected to Barr’s direct involvement with application of the death penalty, claiming Barr ordered the executions of six men (a seventh pending):The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast will present an award to Attorney General Barr for “Christlike behavior” tomorrow morning [September 23 2020]. A.G. Barr has ordered the executions of six men with at least one more on the calendar. What is “Christlike” about using discretionary power to kill?As a matter of doctrine, the Catholic Church formally disavowed all instances of the death penalty in August 2018. A contemporaneous update to the Catechism of the Catholic Church was amended to deem executions “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’ and [the Church is] pledging to work for its abolition worldwide.”It appeared that “Christlike” had specifically trended due to Prejean’s invocation of the term in her late-night tweet. News organizations quickly clipped the verbiage for subsequently viral headlines:Nun slams Catholic group for giving Barr award for \"\"Christlike behavior\"\" https://t.co/ajWpD0BHDd pic.twitter.com/nQCq8H1RMK— The Hill (@thehill) September 23, 2020Christifideles Laici, ExplainedOther Catholic organizations present Christifidelis Laici awards to laypeople for works in service to the church.The phrase “Christifidelis Laici” is derived from an apostolic exhortation by Pope John Paul II in 1988:Christifideles Laici[:] Apostolic exhortation of Pope john paul ii, “The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People,” issued Dec. 30, 1988, following the seventh ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Oct. 1–30, 1987) whose theme was the “Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World Twenty Years after the Second Vatican Council.” The text comprises an introduction (nos. 1–7) and five chapters: “The Dignity of the Lay Faithful in the Church as Mystery,” (nos. 8–17), “The Participation of the Lay Faithful in the Life of Church as Communion” (nos. 18–31), “The Coresponsibility of the Lay Faithful in the Church as Mission” (nos. 32–44), “Good Stewards of God’s Varied Grace” (nos. 45–56), and “The Formation of the Lay Faithful in the Lay State” (nos. 57–64). The exhortation ends with an appeal to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Honors Bill BarrOn the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast‘s website, a page (“Christifideles Laici Award”) describes the relatively new honor:One can say the foundation of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, and a host of other Catholic apostolates, rests on an amalgam forged by the fire of the Holy Spirit. The first element being from Pope Saint John Paul II’s exhortation of the New Evangelization to “spread the Gospel in ways that are new in ardor, methods and expression”. The second element is from the charge he gave the laity in his 1988 Post-Synodal Exhortation Christifideles Laici for the lay faithful to answer the Lord’s call for individual missions “on behalf of the Church and the world” and “to stir and promote a deeper awareness among all the faithful of the gift and responsibility they share, both as a group and as individuals, in the communion and mission of the Church.”Over the last generation, consider the launch and explosive growth of thousands of thriving apostolates, ministries, and charities tending to the needs of so many – especially in the areas of education and health care. It is stirring and inspiring to consider how many have answered the call of our Lord to serve in His vineyard.The NCPB created the Christifideles Laici Award in 2019 to help highlight these good works and those who serve the Church so well. The Award reads: “In Honor and Gratitude for Fidelity to the Church, Exemplary Selfless and Steadfast Service in the Lord’s Vineyard.”The Award itself is an original work commissioned by the NCPB and created by talented artist, Isaac Dell.That blurb acknowledged the award’s purpose in honoring laity or laypeople (non-ordained members of the church), noting that the organization initiated the “Christifideles Laici Award in 2019 to help highlight these good works and those who serve the Church so well.” “Christlike behavior” was not explicitly described, but “good works” and people who “serve the church so well” were both mentioned.Atop the description was a photograph of 2019’s inaugural Christifidelis Laici Award, Gerry Giblin. To the left of Giblin was an image of Attorney General Bill Barr, labeled “2020 Honoree”:Overall, the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s website was sparse, and no additional information its decision to bestow the Christifidelis Laici Award upon Barr (or why he was selected) was readily available.On the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s Facebook page, there was no direct announcement about Barr being the award’s recipient in 2020. A September 14 2020 post mentioned Barr by name while addressing confusion about the ceremony:A separate September 22 2020 post indicated that United States President Donald Trump was an anticipated speaker for the 2020 event:As “Christlike” trended on Twitter on September 23 2020, commenters flooded the post:“As a lifelong Catholic whose family has donated tens of thousands of dollars, I find this so against what Catholicism has stood for. The men you are honoring are corrupt, crooked liars. Trump has broken every commandment, and is the pure opposite of Jesus Christ and what he represents. He divides the nation yet you will honor him. He and Barr represent the worst in humans, they are evil, and Jesus Christ would not stand with them. This is shameful and sacrilegious. A man who has committed adultery more than once and even paid off a hooker. Today again, groups like yours make me ashamed to be a catholic. My extremely Catholic parents are rolling over in their graves.”“Hypocrites!! Christ like?!?! Barr should be charged with crimes against HUMANITY!!! SHAME, SHAME, SHAMEFUL and DISGUSTING!! !”“Jesus wept. John 11:35”“I hope you plan to counsel them to change their ways, like putting toddlers in cages or sterilizing their mothers, doing their best NOT to care for the sick and homeless, the widows and orphans, of being anti-life, and anti-God. If they refuse, will you offer a public rebuke and disavow them until they repent and make amends?”Other Objections to Barr’s Nomination for the Christifidelis Laici Award in 2020A petition on FaithfulAmerica.org addressed the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s decision, gathering thousands of signatures, and reading in part:Tell the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Barr’s violent corruption does not deserve a Christian awardThe National Catholic Prayer Breakfast pretends to be non-partisan — yet nearly every year, the event hosts primarily Republican leaders like Rick Santorum, Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, and George W. Bush.At this year’s breakfast, the right-wing Catholic organization plans to give a major award to Attorney General William Barr for “service in the Lord’s vineyard.” This is the same William Barr who provides legal cover for Donald Trump’s efforts to steal the election, cruelly teargassed peaceful protests for the president’s cynical Bible photo-op, and reinstated the federal death penalty.Without even a hint of irony, the award will be given the very same week that Barr’s Justice Department carries out its next two executions. That’s shocking for any Christian organization, but especially a Catholic one: Pope Francis has updated official Church teaching to oppose the death penalty under all circumstances.Given Barr’s record of unjust, corrupt authoritarianism, it’s clear that the NCPB’s award for Barr is simply a political stunt, hijacking the Church to boost Trump’s reelection chances — and that’s something that grassroots Catholics and other Christians cannot allow.Newsweek quoted another nun who opposed Barr being given any award for “good works”:Meanwhile Sister Simone Campbell who is the executive director of NETWORK Catholic Lobby for Social Justice said it was not appropriate for Trump and Barr to appear in such a prominent Catholic forum.“I am horrified that they are giving an award to Attorney General Barr who had reinstituted executions of people on death row, which is shocking and counter to Catholic social teaching. It is abundantly clear, ‘thou shalt not kill’, and he is doing that and he is being given an award,” she told Newsweek.“Then they have President Trump who really doesn’t have a sense of religion or religious values addressing the breakfast. This appears to be a crass political move.“Based on who’s getting the award and based on President Trump’s policy, I don’t think the breakfast will enrich or really create a sense of solidarity of ‘we the people’, because it is too focused on destructive activities,” she added.In a September 22 2020 National Catholic Reporter piece on the 2020 Christifidelis Laici Award and Barr’s scheduled acceptance of it (“National Catholic Prayer Breakfast award for Barr divides Catholics”), other prominent Catholics objected to the move — extensively and strenuously:It is “unconscionable and scandalous that this recognition be given to William Barr who only two months ago [in June 2020] reinstated the Federal death penalty after a 17-year discontinuance,” says the Rev. Michael Bryant, a Catholic priest and former prison chaplain. He notes that five men have already been executed and two more will be killed, one on the day before the breakfast and another on the day after.The Catholic Mobilizing Network, which opposes the death penalty, has a petition that already has over 6,000 signers calling on Barr to “Stop the executions!”The decision to give Barr the award is “shocking, incomprehensible, and scandalous,” according to the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. “Executions are clearly not pro-life,” said the association. “Pope St. John Paul II judged such actions as ‘unnecessary.’ Pope Francis defined them as ‘inadmissible.’ That position of the Magisterium is now affirmed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”They also accused Barr of showing “disrespect for sacred space when he was party to a recent show of force to enable the President to use the grounds and building of an Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square to hold up a bible in front of the church as a prop for a political photo op.”Also tweeting against the award is Stephen Schneck of the Franciscan Action Network: “Barr personally restarted the federal death penalty. Willingly supported the separation of children from parents at the border. Directed the attack on protesters to give Trump a photo op with a Bible. The National CATHOLIC Prayer Breakfast needs to change its name.”Johnny Zokovitch, executive director of the organization Pax Christi USA, referenced Barr’s record outside of executions in 2020, saying that the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast “should be ashamed” of its selection of Barr:There is no overlap between the gospel message and the Attorney General’s support for caging immigrant children, teargassing nonviolent protesters, executing fellow human beings, the sexual assault of women, racist rhetoric and the blatant disrespect for human dignity that runs rampant with this administration … The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast should be ashamed.Barr’s Relationship to Six Executions and a Seventh Scheduled ExecutionOn September 22 2020, the same day Prejean’s tweet was shared, Reuters published an article about federal executions during the Trump administration, reporting:The U.S. government put convicted rapist and murderer William LeCroy to death by lethal injection on [September 22 2020], the sixth execution under the Trump administration this summer after a lengthy hiatus in capital punishment at the federal level. […]It marked the sixth death sentence the U.S. government has carried out during the past three months, more than the total number of federal executions carried out under all of President Donald Trump’s White House predecessors combined going back to 1963.Another execution was planned for Thursday, when Christopher Vialva, a convicted murderer, is set to become the first Black man to face the federal death penalty under Trump.As Prejean noted, six men were executed in 2020, with a seventh scheduled for September 24 2020. A June 15 2020 Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs press release described Barr as having “directed” federal agencies to schedule several executions in 2020:Attorney General William P. Barr today directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to schedule the executions of four federal death-row inmates who were convicted of murdering children in violation of federal law and who, in two cases, raped the children they murdered.In July 2019, Attorney General Barr directed the BOP to revise the Federal Execution Protocol to provide for the use of a single-drug, pentobarbital — similar to protocols used in hundreds of state executions and repeatedly upheld by federal courts, including the Supreme Court, as consistent with the Eighth Amendment. A district court’s preliminary injunction prevented BOP from carrying out executions under the revised protocol, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated that injunction — clearing the way for the federal government to resume capital punishment after a nearly two-decade hiatus.“The American people, acting through Congress and Presidents of both political parties, have long instructed that defendants convicted of the most heinous crimes should be subject to a sentence of death,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “The four murderers whose executions are scheduled today have received full and fair proceedings under our Constitution and laws. We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”The press release concluded:Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date.SummarySister Helen Prejean’s tweet describing the purpose of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s “Christifideles Laici Award” as honoring “Christlike” behavior appeared to be a paraphrase, and as a nun, Prejean was an expert on Catholic Doctrine. It is true the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast chose Attorney General Bill Barr as its second-ever recipient for the “Christifideles Laici Award” in 2020, and it is further true that Barr presided over six executions in 2020, with a seventh scheduled just after the event.Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast planned to give Attorney General Bill Barr its \"\"Christifideles Laici Award\"\" in September 2020.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-061738c9adc044efa7eb8d74dfa550dd",
            "input": "The burn program involved renovations to four hospital departments, including a total overhaul of the trauma ward, and more than 2,000 hours of training for all levels of the hospital staff. More than a dozen burn patients have been treated at EIRMC since the program quietly opened April 1. The $5 million facility is now the primary provider of burn care between Salt Lake City and Seattle, and the only location of its kind in any of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota, the Post Register reports. Hospital CEO Jeff Sollis said that EIRMC and its parent company, HCA Healthcare, had been working for more than two years to establish the new aspect of the hospital’s care. In the past, people who were injured in eastern Idaho or the rest of the Yellowstone region would be air-lifted to either the University of Utah or the University of Colorado, the two closest burn center locations. “We were seeing all the helicopters flying over the building to take patients to Utah. We were talking to the families of patients about the difficulties they faced in getting treatment that far away from their homes,” Sollis said. The lengthy flying times rarely affected patient outcomes as much as they affected the cost to the victims and their family. A 2004 study from the University of Utah found that their average burn patient was flown 246 miles to receive treatment. In 9 percent of cases, the cost for the patient’s flight was more than what they were charged for treatment by the hospital. There are 128 total burn centers in the United States, and EIRMC’s new program will halve the travel time for many patients in the region. The hospital partnered with Doctors Hospital in Georgia, another hospital managed by HCA Healthcare that has the largest burn care center in the United States, and the Burn and Reconstruction Centers of America to create the new program. Dozens of EIRMC nurses and doctors flew out to Augusta, Ga., to study the procedures related to burn care at Doctors Hospital. Georgia doctors also flew to Idaho Falls to advise Sollis and the hospital administration on how the new facilities could best be managed. “We can go out there and see a number of burn surgeries in a week that we might not see around here in a year,” lead trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Lemon said. Between the four renovated departments and the new hospital resources, most types of burns can now be treated at EIRMC. Lemon said the hospital could handle thermal burns from fireworks and electrical wires, radiation burns suffered at Idaho National Laboratory and even frostbite “burns” from hikers in the nearby mountains. The only patients he thought the hospital would have to transfer would be infants with severe burns of the majority of their body. “There is essentially no limit to the burn victims we’ll be able to treat here,” Lemon said. Remodeling the six rooms throughout the hospital and expanding the trauma center cost $3 million, with another $2 million going to the medical devices and technology. The listed cost does not include the staff training, which included 98 days of travel to Augusta and thousands of hours of training that will continue through the summer. Four main parts of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center were renovated to create the new burn care center. Rooms were set aside in the emergency rooms and operating rooms to provide special equipment for burn patients, including rapid heating that can bring the room’s temperature to 85 degrees and make it easier for patient’s injured bodies to regulate their temperature. Burns impair the body’s ability to maintain its temperature and fight off infections. The room in the ER was originally designed to treat contagious viral outbreaks and has a self-contained water system that doesn’t connect to a city line. On the second floor, six rooms in the hospital’s intensive care unit were remodeled to handle long-term care for burn victims. Nurses and visitors must wear scrubs any time they’re in the room with a patient to reduce the risk of infecting them. “We’re still learning a lot. This is all additional stuff that we are learning, and we are excited to learn it,” ICU nurse Rina Grover said. The biggest physical change in the hospital happened to the new Trauma, Burn and Wound Ward. The ward, which focuses on outpatient procedures that take less than an hour, has expanded from five rooms to 13 and installed dozens of new machines to treat burns and other flesh injuries. “This gives us the opportunity to see a more diverse load of patients coming through the hospital,” Trauma Ward Director Traci Maier said. New machines in the outpatient facility include two hyperbaric chambers that can provide pressurized oxygen therapy to patients attached to oxygen machines, a whirlpool tub that can clean fresh or old burns and two specialized procedure rooms. Trauma ward patients can be scheduled by other departments in EIRMC, but many are referred to the facility from other hospitals in the city. Sometimes patients will even be able to walk in and get treatment immediately. According to Maier, the ward has already seen an increase in the number of patients treated. The number of burn patients coming through the outpatient ward has skyrocketed, from four or five patients per week to five or more patients a day. There already have been times when all 13 rooms in the ward were in use at the same time. Over the past few months, EIRMC staff has traveled to regional hospitals and talked to emergency medical teams to let them know that the facility was now able to treat burn victims. Word got out quickly in the Idaho Falls area — more than a dozen local patients have already passed through the ICU and outpatient centers, some of whom showed up before the hospital had planned to officially open the program. No patients from out-of-state have been admitted to the EIRMC burn program yet. Of the 128 burn programs in the country, around half have been verified as high-quality care options by the American Burn Association. EIRMC’s burn center will need to be around for at least three years to potentially earn that verification. “All the plans and estimates we had about the need for this service in our region has been right so far,” Sollis said. ___ Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com",
            "output": [
                "EIRMC opens the first burn care center in Idaho."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b124f06a08634bdcba77543b60f1b6bd",
            "input": "The patient, who was chronically ill prior to contracting COVID-19, died at EvergreenHealth Hospital in Kirkland, near Seattle, and officials are unsure how he was exposed to the virus, said Jeffrey Duchin, head of the Washington health department’s communicable disease unit. The state has recorded two other “presumptive” coronavirus cases at a long-term care facility in Kirkland where more than 50 residents and staff could be showing symptoms, he said. “At this point we do not have widespread community-wide transmission locally. We have transmission that’s associated with an outbreak at this long-term care facility,” Duchin said. The two cases at the Kirkland facility were a health care worker in her 40s who is in satisfactory condition, and a woman in her 70s who lived there and is in serious condition. “It is a sad day as we learn a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19. Our hearts go out to his family and friends,” the state’s governor, Jay Inslee, said in a statement. “We are strengthening our preparedness and response efforts to keep Washingtonians healthy, safe and informed.”  The first U.S. coronavirus death capped a week of stock market upheaval and escalating concern among state and federal health officials as the virus has spread across 46 countries and infected more than 60 people in the United States. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would take up a coronavirus spending bill next week “to advance a strong emergency funding supplemental package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis”. Most of the U.S. cases have occurred in travelers who were repatriated from China, where the virus originated. But public health officials have also identified coronavirus cases in California, Washington and Oregon with no direct ties to the virus’ source in China, signaling a turning point in strategies needed to contain the disease in the United States. U.S. health authorities say it means the respiratory disease that has infected nearly 80,000 people worldwide and killed more than 2,800 in China is no longer an imported phenomenon but has taken up residence in the United States. GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus - here  “We still judge the general risk to the American public to be low and that includes residents of long-term care facilities,” Nancy Messonier, head of the Immunization and Respiratory Disease division at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), told reporters in a call on Saturday. Messonnier said the agency would send teams to support investigations in California and Washington into how patients contracted the virus and help trace who else may have been exposed. Reuters graphics on the new coronavirus: here  PERSON-TO-PERSON TRANSMISSION  Until this week, the CDC had counted just 15 confirmed cases in six states as having been detected through the U.S. public health system since Jan. 21. Most were contracted by individuals while traveling in China. Only two person-to-person transmissions were documented among them, both between married couples. An additional 47 cases have been confirmed among people recently repatriated, either from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan or from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the supposed epicenter of the outbreak, according to the CDC. Health officials said the advent of locally transmitted infections means authorities need to expand their focus from detecting a relatively limited number of cases, identifying close contacts and isolating them, to one that also emphasizes greater prevention among the public at large. In particular, individuals should be more vigilant about basic hygiene measures, such as washing hands often, avoiding touching their faces, covering coughs and sneezes and staying home from school or work whenever ill, health officials say. Coronavirus is spread primarily through tiny droplets coughed or sneezed directly from an infected person into the face of someone nearby, as opposed to the more contagious “airborne” transmission of a virus like measles, which can remain suspended in enclosed spaces and be breathed in hours after being exhaled by sick individuals, experts say. Coronavirus can also survive on surfaces, such as handrails and door knobs, for “a very long period of time,” and be picked up by hand that way, though the virus is “very susceptible” to cleaning products, Dr. Christopher Braden, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said on Friday in Santa Clara County. Still, “It’s mostly a person-to-person transmission that we are concerned about for our communities,” he added. For the online coverage of the coronavirus outbreak click, here",
            "output": [
                "Washington state man becomes first U.S. coronavirus fatality."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee7e078348124bdaa779a035e7af7ac0",
            "input": "Again, no treatment is involved. Speculation about the relative costs of high red meat vs. high white meat diets would not be productive. The reporter does a fair job describing the study and the findings. The article includes such details as size of the study population, the duration of the study and the method of data collection. But, as already discussed, this kind of study can’t establish cause-and-effect or risk. Just statistical associations. However, once it started describing risk, it did that incompletely as well. It compaes the relative risk of death by heart disease and cancer in the highest- vs. lowest-red meat consumption groups for both men and women. But the story suffers because it describes the findings only in terms of relative risk–men who ate the most red meat had a 27 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to those who ate the least, for instance. But the story fails to put these percentages into context. In the example above, about 1.2 percent of the men who ate the most red meat died of heart disease during the 10-year study, compared to .06 percent of those who ate the least red meat Looking at male deaths by all causes, about 4 percent of the red meat group died, compared to about 2 percent of the least-red-meat group. Overall, about 13 percent of study participants died during the 10-year study. This is not to suggest the findings are insignificant. But reporters should always include absolute data to help readers understand the size of the risk an individual faces. (But , as already stated, risk language was risky in this story to begin with.) The story focuses plainly on the death risks of the diets studied. However, risks are stated only in relative terms, not in absolute terms. We won’t penalize the story for that here, but we do under “quantification of benefits.” The report is based on results of a large, prospective epidemiological dietary study. The reporter mentions the important caveats: that the study group may be healthier than the general adult population, and the data is based on self-reports of eating habits, which can be unreliable. We’ve already commented on the “association does not equal causation” issue, so we won’t rule this criterion unsatisfactory for that flaw. Because the story confuses association with causation, it indeed does commit disease-mongering repeatedly. It may frighten readers into thinking that cause-and-effect has been established when, in fact, only a statistical association has been established. For example, the story says: It’s a common pitfall of such stories. Association does not equal causation. It’s not journalists who get it wrong. Scientists and physicians commonly express this incorrectly. But that doesn’t make it acceptable. Most stories we saw on this study stated this incorrectly. The reporter does an excellent job sourcing the story. Sources include The reporter gets extra points for including two industry sources. While their thoughts appear very late in the story, including them both makes the story seem–and actually be–more credible. There are no financial conflicts to report. In several places, the article appropiately indicates that limiting red meat in the diet may improve health. The reporter carefully avoids implications that more extreme options, such as a meatless diet, would cut death risk more. This is a study of subjects’ voluntary diets, so no “treatment” is involved. The story makes no claims for the novelty of this kind of research or this general finding. In the second paragraph the report states that these findings “bolster[s] prior evidence” about the risks of diets high in red meat. Given the number of sources cited, the story does not appear to rely on the Archives of Internal Medicine press release or any other news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Lots of red meat increases mortality risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9badf864baad4b3e9493df6a3fb267b7",
            "input": "\"America, the first lady says, has a pudgy problem. A significant percentage of its youths are too fat to fit in military uniforms. First lady Michelle Obama talked about the issue during her visit Wednesday to the Atlanta area to promote healthy eating. In a speech at Alpharetta’s North Point Community Church to highlight her \"\"Let’s Move\"\" healthy living campaign, Obama relayed a gaudy statistic. \"\"Believe it or not, right now, nearly 27 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds are too overweight to serve in our military,\"\" she said. Perhaps the military needs its own \"\"Biggest Loser\"\" contest for recruits. AJC PolitiFact Georgia had another thought. Should we believe the first lady? Obama’s claim apparently came from a study released last year that was titled -- aptly perhaps -- \"\"Too Fat to Fight.\"\" It was released by more than 100 high-ranking retired military officials and other enlisted leaders who want high-calorie food and sugar-sweetened drinks removed from the nation’s public schools. That doesn’t include sweet tea, does it? The report said: \"\"over 27 percent of all Americans 17 to 24 years of age -- over nine million young men and women -- are too heavy to join the military if they want to do so.\"\" The estimate was based on a 2005 national survey conducted by the Lewin Group. \"\"The estimate uses a weight-for-height cutoff that allows somewhat higher weights than the cutoff used by civilian organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health,\"\" the report said. In 2008, there were 11,472,200 Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 who were obese or overweight, the study reported, citing research by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 29.8 million Americans between those ages, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That equals nearly 39 percent of Americans in that age range who were obese or overweight, an even higher percentage than those found in the \"\"Too Fat to Fight\"\" study who couldn’t serve in the military. Stay away from the cheeseburger, soldier! Military officials say this is serious business. \"\"The United States military stands ready to protect the American people, but if our nation does not help ensure that future generations grow up to be healthy and fit ... the health of our children and our national security are at risk,\"\" the report says. It also affects the federal budget. The military discharges about 1,200 recruits a year because they are not fit enough to serve. The military estimates it costs $50,000 to recruit and train a soldier. Add it up and that’s $60 million a year the federal government loses on enlistees too heavy to fight. The average American man is 5 foot 9 and weighs 195 pounds, according to the CDC. The average American woman is nearly 5 foot 4 and weighs 165 pounds. The mean height and weight for an 18-year-old man is 5 foot 9 and 166 pounds, according to the most recent data we could find. The mean height and weight and BMI for an 18-year-old woman is 5 foot 4 and 143.5 pounds. We couldn’t find data detailing the percentage of 18-year-olds who are overweight or obese. The CDC does report that 18 percent of 12- to 19-year-old Americans are obese. So what constitutes too fat to fight? Each military branch has its own rules. An 18-year-old, 5-foot-9 man who weighs more than 175 pounds would raise eyebrows for the Army, according to Military.com. The Army would be similarly concerned about a 5-foot-4, 18-year-old woman who weighs more than 133 pounds. For 40-year-old women that height, the Army would be worried if they weighed more than 145 pounds. The Air Force and Navy are a little easier on their enlistees. The Navy considers a 5-foot-9 man greater than 186 pounds overweight, and its maximum standard weight for a 5-foot-4 woman is 156 pounds. The Air Force says the maximum weight for a 5-foot-9 recruit is 186 pounds. A New York Times article in August highlighted the problem. One U.S. Army general said 4 percent of male recruits at one training center in 2000 failed the most basic fitness. By 2006, more than 20 percent of male recruits failed the same test. The percentages were higher for women. PolitiFact Georgia has tackled such weighty issues before. Before Thanksgiving, the American holiday of gastronomical gluttony, we checked a claim that Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation. Our finding? . According to the CDC figures, the mean American 18-year-old is close to being considered overweight but would still be accepted in the military in most cases. But about one in five of them is considered obese, the CDC says, and would be at least 15 to 20 pounds too heavy to fight. Based on the CDC study, we believe it’s reasonable to think that at least an additional 7 percent of America’s remaining 17- to 24-year-olds would have trouble meeting the military’s weight guidelines. The \"\"Too Fat to Fight\"\" study supports the theory that 27 percent of America’s youths couldn’t serve in the military.\"",
            "output": [
                "More than one-quarter of America’s young adults are too fat to serve in the U.S. military"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b7ca42864fc43feb6f925cca599fd99",
            "input": "Currently the drug, Vascepa, is approved for a relatively narrow group of patients with extremely high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood linked to heart disease. Irish drugmaker Amarin is seeking approval for a much larger group of patients who have lower fat levels but are still at risk of heart problems, despite taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor. The panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously supported the expansion based on recent study results showing the drug can cut rates of life-threatening heart problems in high-risk patients. “There is no doubt this drug could benefit a substantial portion of the U.S. population and meet an unmet need,” said Dr. Jack Yanovski, a panelist and hormone specialist from the federal National Institutes of Health. The FDA is not required to follow the group’s advice and is expected to make its decision by the end of the year. Financial analysts predict that broader use could translate into billions in sales for Amarin. Vascepa costs around $300 a month. Some panelists urged the FDA to tailor the drug’s label to patients who are most likely to benefit. “I do not want to see this become what I call cardio candy,” said Philip Posner, a patient representative on the panel. FDA-written drug labels guide physician prescribing and often determine which uses are paid for by insurers. Panelists based their decision on a company-funded study showing that Vascepa cut the risk of heart attack, clogged arteries and other cardiovascular problems by about 25%, compared with a dummy treatment. Patients in the study were randomly assigned to take Vascepa or mineral oil capsules as a comparison. Patients in the trial had high triglycerides and other risk factors for heart problems, such as diabetes. The results, published last year, came as a surprise because a string of past studies of fish oil failed to show a positive impact on heart health. The panel noted several potential side effects of the drug, including irregular heartbeats and internal bleeding. But they agreed the drug’s benefits outweighed those risks, which could be monitored and managed by physicians. Millions of Americans take over-the-counter fish oil supplements for their presumed health benefits. These oils, also called omega-3 fatty acids, are known to reduce triglycerides. But several pharmaceutical trials have tried and failed to show that lowering those fats translates into meaningful benefits for patients. If approved, Vascepa would be the first fat-lowering drug endorsed by the FDA to reduce heart problems. Amarin has long tried to differentiate its drug from non-prescription fish oil supplements. Company advertising states that it can take 10 to 40 over-the-counter capsules to equal the daily dose of Vascepa. The drug is taken in four 1-gram capsules per day. Wall Street analysts have high expectations for broader use of the drug, with some projecting annual sales of $3 billion or higher. That compares to total company sales of just $228.4 million in 2018, according to Amarin’s financial reports. Vascepa, first approved in 2012, is Amarin’s only product on the U.S. market. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "US panel backs wider use of fish oil to prevent heart attack."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2bd037f6bf04b2a924931147ab9dce9",
            "input": "In that time, at least 20 residents died and more than 100 suffered injuries after homes failed to provide care as required, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found in examining reports issued by the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), which licenses and inspects long-term care facilities and investigates complaints. The actual death toll may be much higher. In interviews with the newspaper, and in lawsuits, families have tied other deaths and injuries for which there were no state citations to improper care. The newspaper examined thousands of regulatory citations and hundreds of police reports from 2015 through 2018, reviewed lawsuits and interviewed dozens of people. The investigation found breakdowns in care that often were rooted in inadequate staffing, poor training or efforts to cut costs. In some cases, seniors tried to summon staff for help and got no response for hours, wandered away from facilities unnoticed, or languished in unsanitary and hazardous conditions. Others fell repeatedly, suffering bruises, bloody faces and broken bones. Some suffered in pain for days without treatment. In some cases, caregivers physically, verbally and sexually abused residents. Georgians seeking care for aging family members pay thousands of dollars a month to facilities that have popped up across the state in recent years promising luxurious amenities and top-flight attentiveness. Many offer to provide safe, consistent care. But the reality, is that too often thin staffs are overwhelmed, seniors have been treated callously or ineptly, and safeguards have been ignored, the investigation discovered. In a 2016 case, it took an aide at a Savannah facility 26 minutes to respond to an emergency call from a resident who had diabetes and high blood pressure. The resident was unconscious by that time. Another 19 minutes elapsed before anyone called 911. When the ambulance made it to the hospital, the resident was pronounced dead. In October 2018, a 92-year-old woman was repeatedly bitten by ants at a facility in Sandy Springs. The upscale facility failed to eradicate the insects that had been reported in her room a week earlier. Then, over two consecutive days, ants attacked the woman in bed. She died days later. Though abuse is less common than neglect, police and DCH records showed that more than 100 residents reportedly were abused by workers of assisted living and large personal care homes over the four years the newspaper’s investigation covered. Records showed that at home near Athens, a worker in 2017 hit an 86-year-old woman with dementia who tried to leave the facility, bloodying her nose and bruising a cheek. The same worker was accused of pulling an 84-year-old resident’s hair and striking her. A facility in Decatur received a state citation in March 2018 after an aide was accused of abusing a resident late at night. Nine months earlier, a separate allegation of abuse involving two other employees surfaced on the night shift. Will Johnson, the elder abuse prosecutor with the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, told the newspaper that elder abuse and neglect is “not acceptable in our society, in our state, anywhere.” “No one who has lived their life and reached 70, 80, 90 years of age, raised a family, contributed to society — they should never be left to rot in a bed or be bashed in the face or have all of the money that goes to their care squandered,” Johnson  said. State Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, said, “I’m saddened for the people that were injured, and I’m appalled for humanity in general that our elders would be treated this way.” “Certainly, as a state, we need to intervene,” said Cooper, who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee. Top officials at DCH refused repeated requests over several months to meet with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After the newspaper provided its findings to DCH, a spokesman again declined an interview, saying it wasn’t in their “best interest.” The agency would only answer questions submitted in writing. While officials didn’t directly address some questions, DCH Commissioner Frank W. Berry said the agency manages a heavy workload and is always seeking ways to improve and carry out its mission. “The health and well-being of Georgians is always our top priority,” Berry wrote. A 2011 state law paved the way for assisted living communities, expanding choices for families whose only options previously were personal care homes, which serve seniors who need help with meals and medication reminders, or nursing homes for those requiring intense assistance. Assisted living facilities allow a higher level of care from staff who can administer medication and assist residents who need help moving around. The 2011 legislation and the rapid graying of the population have led to facilities’ taking in more residents who in their 80s and 90s who have chronic care needs. While facilities market an active lifestyle, some have residents who can’t push their own wheelchairs or who need assistance to get out of bed, dress or eat. Some residents are unable to speak. The state cited facilities 238 times for admitting residents with conditions and illnesses that staff could not handle. At the same time, the for-profit companies that dominate the industry have incentives to keep their costs low, which translates to minimal staffing, said Catherine Hawes, Regents Professor Emeritus at the Texas A&M Health Science Center and a nationally recognized expert on long-term care. “It’s like - let me sit down and write a prescription for disaster,” she said. “You’re writing a prescription for abuse and neglect.” ___ Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com",
            "output": [
                "Allegations of neglect, abuse at Georgia elder facilities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88fed4ad0b154c12b2ed40516f8cb3b2",
            "input": "They all could be the next Paradise. A McClatchy analysis reveals more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities that exist almost entirely within “very high fire hazard severity zones” — Cal Fire’s designation for places highly vulnerable to devastating wildfires. These designations have proven eerily predictive about some of the state’s most destructive wildfires in recent years, including the Camp Fire, the worst in state history. Nearly all of Paradise is colored in bright red on Cal Fire’s map — practically the entire town was at severe risk before the Camp Fire raged through last November, burning the majority of homes in its path and killing 85 people. Malibu, where the Woolsey Fire burned more than 400 homes last year, also falls within very high hazard zones. As does the small Lake County town of Cobb, much of which was destroyed by the Valley Fire in 2015. “There’s a lot of Paradises out there,” said Max Moritz, a fire specialist at UC Santa Barbara. All told, more than 2.7 million Californians live in very high fire hazard severity zones, from trailers off quiet dirt roads in the forest to mansions in the state’s largest cities, according to the analysis, which is based on 2010 block-level census data. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says its maps show places where wildfires are likely to be extreme due to factors including vegetation and topography. The maps aren’t perfect in their ability to forecast where a fire will be destructive. For instance, the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa isn’t in a very high hazard zone, but powerful winds pushed the Tubbs Fire into that part of the city, largely leveling the neighborhood in October 2017. Coffey Park was built “with zero consideration for fire,” said Chris Dicus, a forestry and fire expert at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “Fire was in the mountains — there was no consideration that fire would cross (Highway) 101.” Cal Fire is making new fire hazard maps — ready in a year or so — that will incorporate regional wind patterns and other climate factors. In the meantime, experts say the current maps, created about a decade ago, still provide an important guide to predict where wildfires could do the most damage , in the same way floodplain maps highlight areas that could be hit hardest during severe storms. The at-risk communities identified by McClatchy also should serve as a starting point for prioritizing how California should spend money on retrofits and other fire-safety programs, Moritz said. California’s state-of-the-art building codes help protect homes from wildfire in the most vulnerable areas, experts say. But the codes only apply to new construction. A bill introduced by Assemblyman Jim Wood would provide cash to help Californians retrofit older homes. “This will go a long way toward these different municipalities (in showing) that they deserve funding,” Moritz said. McClatchy identified more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 percent of residents live within the Cal Fire “very high fire hazard severity zones.” Here are snapshots of 10, and the unique challenges they face: ___ Shingletown: a miniature Paradise Population (2010) — 2,283 ′ In Very High fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,283 Shingletown is less than one-tenth the size of Paradise but probably carries just as much risk. Like Paradise, the unincorporated community sits atop a ridge, and is covered in tall trees and thick brush — ingredients for a major wildfire. Shingletown was originally named Shingle Camp, for the workers who cut roofing slats from timber to supply miners during the Gold Rush era. “We grow trees like nobody’s business up here,” said Tom Twist, a member of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, a volunteer organization. Twist, who’s lived in the community off and on since the 1970s, said that when the weather is warm he’ll walk his property, pulling up seedlings in an almost futile effort to eliminate potential fuels. “I’ll pull 20 or 30 seedlings a day out of the ground,” he said. “It’s almost like when I walk over there, there’s 20 or 30. When I walk back, there’s another 20 or 30.” Just like Paradise, escaping the ridge in a fast-moving fire wouldn’t be easy; Shingletown’s main drag is winding, narrow Highway 44. And, like in Paradise, the presence of an older population would make evacuation more difficult; Shingletown’s median age is 61, according to census figures. It’s little wonder that when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Cal Fire to develop a list of urgent fire-safety projects, a plan to trim 1,124 acres of vegetation along Highway 44 came up as the top priority out of 35 projects around the state. Locals say they’re glad the state is paying attention to a problem they know too well. The community had to evacuate when the Ponderosa Fire, started by a lightning strike, hit in 2012. The fire burned 27,676 acres — 43 square miles — and torched 52 homes in the vicinity. “We’re intimately aware of the dangers up here,” Twist said. ___ Nevada City: picturesque and risky Population (2010) — 3,068 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,064 Since the Camp Fire, Vicky Guyette has looked at the one-acre patch of untrimmed brush behind her mother’s Victorian-era home in Nevada City as more than just an unattractive nuisance. Now, the brush is ominous — an ignition source that could torch the home built in 1859 that her family has lived in for five generations. The same anxiety also applies to the cedars, pines and brush covering the hills around this foothill city of about 3,100 people, many of whom live or work in wooden buildings dating back to the the Gold Rush era. “It’s very scary, especially since it’s such a cute little town I’ve been living in my whole life,” Guyette said recently as she walked down the city’s historic Broad Street, which looks like it fell out of a photo from a museum exhibit. City officials agree that the wooded draws, steep hillsides, narrow residential streets, ancient homes and thick urban tree canopy that define the character of the city also make it particularly at risk if a fire burns through. “Nevada City’s single largest risk for human life and financial loss is fire,” Nevada City’s hazard mitigation plan reads. In recent decades, the city also has had some near misses with fire, including one major close call. In 1988, heavy winds pushed the 49er Fire through 52 square miles of western Nevada County, burning 312 buildings and dozens of cars. “At the time it was considered an anomalous event,” said Billy Spearing of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. “It was not the normal for them then.” With such fires becoming the new normal, Cal Fire is planning to cut a 1,802 acre fire break in southwest Nevada County in terrain that hasn’t burned in a century, helping protect both Nevada City and the adjacent community of Grass Valley, home to more than 12,000. Nevada City also embarked on an online “Goat Fund Me” campaign to raise $25,000 to hire farmers to use their goats to eat dense brush in more than 450 acres of city-owned greenbelt. The goats recently chewed a swath through Pioneer Park near Margaret Rodda’s Victorian home, which sits on a steep draw above a creek. But she’s still worried. “All it takes is a drunk with a cigarette,” she said. The goats inspired Guyette. She said she might spend the $500 to put a herder’s goats to work on the thorny thicket of blackberries behind her mother’s house. “We need to get rid of them,” she said. ___ Colfax: Fire is on everyone’s minds Population (2010) — 1,963 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone —1,963 On his first full day in office, Newsom visited the Cal Fire station in Colfax to announce new initiatives on wildfire safety. As he spoke to reporters, surrounded by first responders, he was standing in a city that could burn any summer. “The people who live here have a true understanding,” said Colfax City Manager Wes Heathcock. “It’s always on the back of people’s minds, especially with the most recent fires, the Camp Fire. We have a similar makeup here.” At night in the summer, Aimee Costa, who lives on a hill above the elementary school, sometimes keeps her window open, the better to hear ominous sounds. “You’re laying in bed . listening for that lick, that smack, that pop sound,” Costa said, describing the sound flames would make if they were chewing pine needles, brush and leaves. A former supply hub for gold mining camps, Colfax sits a few miles from the edge of the Tahoe National Forest in the lower-elevation Sierra. It straddles Interstate 80 and serves as the last major stop between the Sacramento metropolitan area and the Lake Tahoe region. Horses graze beside deer on large ranchettes in the rugged brushy canyons along the outskirts of the city. The terrain poses a major fire risk. In July 2015, the Lowell Fire erupted near Colfax and chewed up thousands of acres along the north side of the freeway, forcing evacuations in adjacent Nevada County. In the years since, Heathcock said the city has been working with state officials on “fuelbreak” projects, including a spot near the high school and elementary school, which has been eyed as an evacuation site. Gene Mapa, who lived in Paradise and escaped the Camp Fire with some family photographs — and nothing else — has relocated to Colfax, where he already owned a second home. But he knows he hasn’t escaped the fire risk; his property just outside the city limits would be threatened by a windy firestorm like the one that engulfed Paradise. “With that wind, there would be no stopping it anywhere,” Mapa said. ___ Kings Beach: Tourists seek fun, bring fire danger Population (2010) — 3,796 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone —3,796 Situated on the pristine north shore of Lake Tahoe, Kings Beach is one of the most heavily visited vacation spots in Northern California. That’s a big part of the problem. Because so much of the population comes and goes, it becomes harder to get people to treat wildfire risk with the respect it deserves, said Erin Holland, a spokeswoman for the North Tahoe Fire Protection District. One of the district’s six stations is in Kings Beach. “It is definitely a challenge because we have so many homes that are vacation homes,” she said. “It’s really a challenge to educate those visitors . They want to have a camp fire.” Tahoe’s vulnerability to major fires was brought home dramatically in recent years. The Angora Fire in 2007, while it was confined to the south shore area, left physical and emotional scars on the entire basin after burning through 3,100 acres. Holland said getting the region’s property owners and visitors to observe “defensible space” regulations is particularly difficult. Those rules call for clearing brush 100 feet around buildings and include stricter rules regarding vegetation immediately adjacent to structures. Violators can be subject to citations, but “the goal is to really educate people, to get people complying,” Holland said. “We go the education route rather than the citation route.” ___ Pollock Pines: Do the transplants get it? Population (2010) — 6,877 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 6,533 Just off Highway 50, a few miles from the tourist haven of Apple Hill, Pollock Pines lures transplants from coastal California, mainly retirees drawn to the lovely stands of trees in the foothill community at the edge of the Eldorado National Forest. Heather Campbell only wishes the newbies had a better understanding of what all that timber represents. Campbell, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who’s lived in Pollock Pines since the 1990s, is the head of the Pollock Pines-Camino Fire Safe Council, a volunteer group. In the past few years her organization has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly from the state’s “cap and trade” carbon trading program, to trim vegetation on the ridgeline south of Highway 50. That’s all well and good, she said, but more needs to be done. And the people of Pollock Pines, including the newcomers, have to realize what’s at stake. “Here, everybody allows all the saplings and brush to grow and they don’t weed it out,” she said. “All these roads are incredibly dangerous, when it’s so easy to take out pruners. Take out your pruners!” She said memories are still vivid of the Sand Fire in 2014. That fire burned 4,200 acres and 20 homes and came dangerously close to forcing a major evacuation in Pollock Pines and surrounding communities. “They were going to evacuate 9,000 people,” she said. “They were predicting the fire to go to 27,000 acres, instead of the 4,000 they stopped it at.” ___ Arnold: Trees are falling in Big Trees country Population (2010) — 3,843 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,843 In the community that serves as gateway to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, residents didn’t always applaud when officials began mapping plans to thin dense stands of trees to reduce fire risk. “Arnold resisted this for a long time because people love their trees,” said Steve Wilensky, a former Calaveras County supervisor who works with nonprofits to improve fire safety in the Sierra. After years of protests, Arnold’s residents got a major wake-up call in 2015. The Butte Fire, caused by power lines, took out 549 homes in nearby communities. Two people died. “If the weather hadn’t changed, they’d be gone,” Wilensky said of Arnold. “You’ve got a real parallel with Paradise in some ways . It’s a place that is really highly threatened.” Arnold sits on a ridge, surrounded by a dense forest of drought- and beetle-killed trees. Powerful wind gusts can funnel fire up rugged brushy canyons. A key difference between Paradise and Arnold is that as many as 45 percent of the dwellings are vacation homes, which can sometimes make it a challenge to get out-of-town homeowners to do brush clearing, local officials said. Wilensky said momentum to reduce fire risk has built since the Butte Fire. More than $15 million in state and federal funds have gone to thinning dangerous overgrowth in the region, Wilensky said. One project includes using bulldozer lines that were cut during the Butte Fire to expand a fire break that stretches to town. “Arnold is the anchor end of this project,” Wilensky said. ___ Wofford Heights: Apathy in a danger zone? Population (2010) — 2,201 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,147 The same powerful desert gusts that attract wind surfers to Kern County’s Lake Isabella make the lakeside community of Wofford Heights particularly at risk for wildfire. So does the adjacent Sequoia National Forest, which has been plagued by drought and tree-killing beetles. Yet some feel that the region isn’t doing nearly enough to combat the threat. “We could do a hell of a lot more than we’re doing,” said Judy Hyatt, who lived in the area for 15 years and served as president of the region’s fire safe council. The volunteer group disbanded in recent years from what she and others described as a lack of interest. In 2016, the Lake Isabella region suffered through the Erskine and Cedar fires, which burned more than 77,000 acres and more than 300 structures. An elderly couple was killed when they were trapped by the Erskine Fire. According to census figures, the median age of those living in Wofford Heights is 62, and many live in places with poor escape routes. “Some of those mobiles up there, honest to God, I think they’ve dropped them out of the sky,” Hyatt said. “The roads are so narrow, and it really just presents an obstacle and the only way to really get to it is by air. That is when people start to die.” Hyatt said the loss of the nonprofit Kern River Fire Safe Council she once headed doesn’t bode well for the community. She said the council organized wood-chipping drives to encourage residents to remove wood debris and sought grants for fuel breaks and other thinning projects. She said too many locals have grown complacent. “Fire prevention is a nebulous thing,” she said. “It’s hard to quantify, until there’s a damned fire that takes out everything.” ___ La Cañada Flintridge: Is aggressive fire prevention enough? Population (2010) — 20,048 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 20,048 Carol Settles and her family evacuated their home in La Cañada Flintridge during the Station Fire in 2009. But she isn’t terribly worried about a repeat performance — even though her home is on a dead-end street below a brushy hillside of the Angeles National Forest. Large electrical transmission lines run along the wooded draw behind her home. “We’ve never seen a spark,” Settles said, referring to the power lines. “We’ve never seen any of that.” Best-known as home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the outskirts of Pasadena, the upper middle-class city has an aggressive fire-prevention program. The Los Angeles County fire department checks properties in Settles’ area once a year to make sure vegetation has been cleared and hazardous landscaping hasn’t been planted. Fines can be issued for non-compliance. Recently, one of Settles’ neighbors had to saw off the top of a pine tree because it was too close to a transmission tower, she said. Los Angeles County’s assistant fire chief, J. Lopez, said La Cañada Flintridge has embraced rigorous fire-safety standards, which include annual landscaping inspections and stringent fire-safe building codes, even for large home remodels. Lopez said La Cañada Flintridge also chose to place the entire city inside a high fire hazard zone, going beyond the recommendation of Cal Fire. That decision translates into citywide enforcement of its fire-resilient building codes. “That’s a very progressive way to look at it,” Lopez said. But since 2008, on average only about a dozen new homes have been built in La Cañada Flintridge each year, meaning most of the housing stock was built before the rigorous fire standards were in place. The city’s hazard mitigation plan notes many of those older homes still have “combustible roofing, open eaves, combustible siding,” and they’re on “steep, narrow, poorly signed” roads that make evacuations dangerous. Thomas Caswell, who’s lived for four decades on a hilly, narrow, dead-end street not far from city hall, said he knows the greenbelt behind his house where he watches possums, birds and other wildlife also makes the community vulnerable to fire. It’s why he says he didn’t mind paying when the city told him he needed to hire a tree service to remove dying trees in his front yard. Still, he knows such efforts probably wouldn’t do much good if the Santa Ana winds pushed a fire into the city. Fire officials said that La Cañada Flintridge could have burned in the Station Fire if the Santa Ana winds hadn’t stopped blowing. The fire burned 89 homes in outlying communities and 160,577 acres of forested lands, the largest fire by land mass in Los Angeles County history. “Once it comes down the hill,” Caswell said, “nobody is going to be safe.” ___ Rancho Palos Verdes: Few fears in an affluent suburb Population (2010) — 41,803 ′ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 40,550 Rancho Palos Verdes holds a dubious honor: It’s the most populated city in California to have 90 percent or more of its population living within a “very high fire hazard severity zone.” But few residents seem to think their suburb is in the same league as Malibu, where hundreds of homes burned last fall just up the Los Angeles County coastline. “It’s not like living in Malibu, definitely,” said Gregory Lash as he strolled through a public access walkway in the Trump National Golf Club with his wife, Vivian, on the way to an oceanside park where a pod of dolphins and whales were breaching. He added, moments later: “Hope that’s not naive.” City officials say it’s not. “This being a coastal community, we don’t get the type of brush and that kind of fire behavior that you might get in somewhere like Paradise,” said Scott Hale, an assistant fire chief for Los Angeles County. The county leads firefighting efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, whose four affluent communities all fall inside a high fire severity zone. Locals point out that over the years, the firefighters at the five stations on the peninsula have quickly knocked down the relatively small fires that popped up. Still, Rancho Palos Verdes’ hazard mitigation plan lists wildfire as a bigger threat to the city than earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides. Powerful winds that blow from the coast could funnel a fire up the greenbelts that cut through the peninsula’s neighborhoods, many of which have opulent homes perched above canyons. Much of that open space has been preserved by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which manages more than 1,600 acres of land in and around the city. Residents such as Lash love the 42 miles of trails on conservancy lands, but all that undeveloped acreage could ignite, said Gabriella Yap, deputy city manager. “You’re trying to preserve that, but it also comes with fire risk,” Yap said. The city’s staff supports Southern California Edison’s plans to trim vegetation from under the lines that run through some of the open space to reduce fire threats, but the land conservancy is bristling at the loss of native habitats. “The environmental impact of that is really significant,” said Adrienne Mohan, the conservancy’s executive director. ___ Harbison Canyon: Will it burn a third time? Population (2010) — 3,841 ′ In Very High Hazard Fire Severity Zone — 3,841 Every 30 years or so, a massive fire blows through Harbison Canyon, 30 miles northeast of San Diego. The 1970 Laguna Fire destroyed much of the unincorporated town that sits inside the canyon and shares its name. Harbison Canyon was rebuilt again after the Cedar Fire burned through in 2003, destroying 287 of the 388 homes. Rick Halsey of the Chaparral Institute said the canyon is a painful example of how development has been allowed to continue practically unchecked for decades into some of California’s most fire-prone places. “You want to create a geographical hotspot for fire, you couldn’t put it in a better place,” said Halsey, whose environmentalist organization was founded to fight calls for clearing hundreds of square miles of wild lands following the Cedar Fire. “It’s like a bowling alley for the Santa Ana winds.” That sort of talk makes longtime resident Mary Manning cringe. She worries that focusing on the canyon’s fire risk creates the impression that the community she loves can’t be saved from the next catastrophe. She said her community could be made more safe if state and local officials would invest in infrastructure and fire prevention that matched the rates of development she’s seen over the years. For instance, the side streets in Harbison Canyon are narrow. Some, like Manning’s, remain unpaved despite decades of building. “There were five houses, now there are 35,” she said of the street she’s lived on since 1975. Manning notes it was only two years ago that the local fire station became staffed 24 hours a day — 14 years after the Cedar Fire. Inside the station, Dave Nissen, the Cal Fire official who oversees firefighting in the area, said there are a number of challenges to fighting a fire in the canyon, including the narrow roads and houses stacked close together. Nissen said firefighters reduce the risks by inspecting lots every year to make sure they’re not overgrown. On that front, Harbison Canyon’s residents don’t seem to need too much prodding, judging from the roar of chain saws and weed trimmers echoing through the canyon on a recent spring weekday afternoon. ___ Associated Press data reporter Angeliki Kastanis contributed to this article.",
            "output": [
                "California races to deter disaster as towns face fire risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-59f85894ccb148db98e09c92d67e37c3",
            "input": "The latest health ministry figures on Sunday show that the death toll from coronavirus in Brazil rose to at least 25 from 18 the day before, a rise of 39%, and the number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,546, up from 1,128. In an interview with CNN Brasil on Saturday night, Bolsonaro also expressed his frustration with several states’ measures to essentially shut down commerce and restrict people’s movement, saying they have gone too far and are damaging the economy. “I think Mandetta was exaggerating,” Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil, referring to health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who said on Friday that Brazil’s fragile healthcare system will collapse under the weight of coronavirus by the end of April. Bolsonaro said “collapse” was the wrong choice of words. “What we’re doing is lengthening the infection curve. I don’t believe in a collapse,” he said. Bolsonaro tweeted on Sunday that the government is distributing around 10 million coronavirus tests, half of which have been dispatched this month. Sao Paulo state, Brazil’s richest and most populous, on Saturday said a statewide quarantine order would take effect on Tuesday and last through April 7, shutting down all but non-essential businesses and services. Retailer Via Varejo said its 1,000-plus stores of white goods chains Casa Bahia and Ponte Frio are closing indefinitely, meaning thousands of brick-and-mortar shops of Brazil’s most recognizable chains now have their shutters down. A Datafolha poll in Sunday’s Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper showed that an overwhelming majority of Brazilians support many of these drastic measures to beat the spread of coronavirus, although opinion is much more divided on business shutting down. Some 82% said they agree with the suspension of church services, a decision Bolsonaro, who was elected into office with massive support from evangelical Christians due to his conservative social agenda, has heavily criticized. Evangelical churches were shut or deserted on Sunday in some of Brazil’s major cities, with many switching to broadcasting services online or via their radio and television channels. The massive doors of the Temple of Solomon, a 10,000-seat place of worship belonging to the Universal Church in Sao Paulo, were closed during what is usually one of their busiest times. Security guards patrolled outside telling visitors that services at the church were suspended for two weeks. Reuters visited five of Sao Paulo’s biggest evangelical churches - all were closed. Ailton Pinheiro, a member of the administrative team at the Assembly of God church in Brasilia, said pastor Hadman Daniel is giving sermons two or three times a week via his Facebook page and that the church will remain closed as long as it is told. “Everybody realizes the situation. Everyone has accepted it calmly,” he said in the church’s deserted car park.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil's Bolsonaro plays down coronavirus risk as cases top 1,500."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-37fe72dc9a6341ed9167f9c1a9f8aeb0",
            "input": "The refugee influx started the day after Sunday’s vote and since then dozens of people have been arriving at a time, said Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Uganda. Some Congolese trying to cross the border were forced back after resisting the efforts of Ugandan health officials screening people for Ebola, she said. Congo’s government cited the Ebola outbreak in the country’s northeast for a contentious decision to bar an estimated 1 million voters from the election. Protests followed, with some people vandalizing Ebola response facilities and some aid groups forced to suspend work for days. The internet has been cut off in Congo this week in an apparent effort by the government to prevent social media speculation about the results, while the opposition and observers have reported multiple problems with the election. The internet outage also has affected Ebola response efforts, with Congo’s health ministry on Wednesday citing “technical problems” for the delay in sending its daily update on the outbreak. More than 600 Ebola cases have been reported, with more than 360 confirmed deaths since August. The outbreak is the second-deadliest in history. The outbreak has been difficult to control amid armed violence and community protests, and the violence has increased “in intensity and frequency,” the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday. And yet “there is reason to be hopeful” the outbreak will be brought under control as soon as possible, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. He spent New Year’s Day in Congo. Amid the election-related protests last week, Tedros warned that “prolonged insecurity” in Congo could lead to a rise in new Ebola cases. Some of the Ebola cases in this outbreak have been reported close to the heavily traveled border with Uganda. For months, Ugandan officials have been subjecting all passing through official border posts to mandatory Ebola screening. The Ebola virus is spread through direct contact with the fluids of an infected person. More than 50,000 people have received an experimental vaccine. Tedros said there were enough doses of the vaccine available “but at the same time we have already requested the supplier to produce more.” ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Congolese flee to Uganda after vote, raising Ebola fears."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1fd7e840a37444019098c4b102208314",
            "input": "The 75-year-old Frenchman is eating normally and spent three hours sitting in a chair in the company of his family on Sunday, the team caring for him at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris said. “The artificial heart is functioning normally, automatically catering to the body’s needs without any manual adjustment necessary,” surgeons Alain Carpentier and Christian Latremouille said in a statement issued by the hospital. Three more patients in France are due to be fitted with the device. In this first series of clinical studies, its success will be judged on whether patients survive with the implant for at least a month. The people selected suffer from terminal heart failure - when the sick heart can no longer pump enough blood to sustain the body - and would otherwise have only a few days or weeks to live. The hospital said it would give another update on the first patient in one week. A spokeswoman for Carmat said the company declined to comment at such an early stage in the trial. Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat’s bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long term, mimicking nature using biological materials and sensors. It aims to extend life for patients suffering from terminal heart failure who cannot hope for a heart transplant, often because they are too old and donors too scarce. Carmat shares were 4.2 percent higher at 112.39 euros at 1308 GMT, trading in volumes more than twice the daily average of the past three months.",
            "output": [
                "Carmat artificial heart patient in good condition: hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13042574038b4fa497ad1e8e98493cf0",
            "input": "Firefighters were battling to control more than 40 wild fires that remained ablaze across NSW, the state’s Rural Fire Service (RFS) said. There were no reports of injuries caused by the fires by mid-afternoon local time, though 45 homes were destroyed. The strong winds have blown the dangerous smoke across large parts of NSW. The RFS said the smoke was unlikely to clear for at least 24 hours, while hot, dry conditions are expected to linger for several days more - exacerbating the threat of more fires as authorities try to access the damage of blazes now extinguished. “Dust may aggravate existing heart and lung conditions and cause symptoms like eye irritation and cough,” said Richard Broome, director of environmental health, NSW Health. “Symptoms can occur for several days after dust is inhaled, so people with the chronic conditions need to be vigilant with their treatment programs.”  One of the biggest fires in recent days was recorded in Lake Cathie, 379 kilometers (235.5 miles) north of Sydney - which has destroyed more than 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of a national park. The fire is now contained, though the area is a prime breeding ground for koalas, stoking fears that hundreds will have been killed by the fires. “Based on our calculations, with a minimum 60% mortality rate about 350 koalas will be lost,” Sue Ashton, president of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital told Reuters. “It’s terrible, it’s absolutely devastating. It’s a national tragedy.”  Ashton said seven rescuers on Thursday attempted to enter the worst affected areas but were advised to leave as strong winds stoked fears of the fires spreading.",
            "output": [
                "Hazardous smoke blankets Sydney as winds fan Australia bushfires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57b918f66dcc4f079b70c5a5092f28ce",
            "input": "There are a number of devices and appliances that have been standard household items in American homes since before most of us were born. Electric irons, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, gas (or electric) stoves and ovens, washing machines, and clothes dryers are but a few of the many labor-saving devices so familiar to many of us that we seldom ponder just how they work. Ask the average person, for example, how a clothes dryer works, and you’ll probably get an “Are you kidding me?” look in return, along with a terse explanation that a dryer makes stuff “hot,” and everybody knows stuff dries faster when it’s hot. That explanation isn’t technically wrong (as far as it goes), but it’s overly simple. Knowing a bit more about the process involved is the key to understanding why the advice to keep your dryer’s lint filter clean can help improve the performance of your clothes dryer. In a standard (gas) dryer, a fan pulls fresh air into the dryer and sends it flowing over a gas burner. The burner heats the air, which is then channeled into a tumbling drum where the wet clothes are held. The heat, air flow, and tumbling motion all contribute to evaporating the moisture held in the fabrics, and that moisture is absorbed by the gas-warmed air. (Warm air is capable of holding more moisture than cold air.) The warm air — and the moisture it now holds — passes through a filter to trap lint and other particulate matter stirred up by its movement and is vented to the outside so that it can be replaced with new, less-moist air. This process repeats until enough moisture has been evaporated and carried away for the clothes to be considered sufficiently “dry.” Of course, if you neglect to clean the lint filter between dryings, or something else occludes the filter, moist air cannot be vented from the dryer as easily. The result will be that your dryer will work less efficiently: you will have to run your dryer longer to dry a load of clothes, which means higher electricity and gas charges for you and a potentially shorter lifespan for your dryer:  I had a wonderful morning, the heating unit went out of my dryer! Why does everything seem to fall apart this time of year!??? The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. We always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes. He told us that he wanted to show him something. He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. Now, this thing is like a mesh — I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like — WELL … the hot water just laid on top of the mesh!!! It didn’t go through it at all!!! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh and that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. He said this is also what causes dryer units to catch fire and potentially burn the house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that? Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, thought I’d share! Note: I went to dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water collected a little but ran though the screen. I dried it off and was ready to put it back in the dryer since the water ran through it but, I thought was the heck it won’t hurt to wash it while I had it out. Warm soap water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. I then ran the water over the screen and what a difference the water just gushed through it with no puddling at all and this time I was running the water at a faster rate. That repairman knew what he was talking about. So, keeping the lint filter clean is one simple way to increase the efficiency  (and decrease the operating costs) of your dryer. Just removing the lint from the filter isn’t always enough:  the fine mesh of most dryer filters can be clogged in ways that aren’t obvious at a casual glance. As suggested by the piece quoted above, softener sheets can cause waxy build-ups on lint screens that require a little extra effort (usually no more than a quick scrub and rinse in warm, soapy water) to remove. Many modern dryers also use moisture sensors rather than ordinary timed cycles, and residue from dryer sheets can coat the sensors and interfere with their ability to function properly. Cleaning the sensor screen with a little detergent and a soft brush, and wiping off the sensor itself with a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol can rectify this problem. Although regular cleaning of the lint trap may help your dryer to work more efficiently, it’s unlikely that the lack of such cleaning will result in your dryer’s motor burning out or, worse, catching on fire and burning your house down. Consumer Reports noted of this claim that:  At Consumer Reports we’ve tested hundreds of clothes dryers for our ongoing dryer Ratings and recommendations. CR’s appliance director, Mark Connelly, says it’s possible that over a long period, fabric sheets, fabric softeners, and laundry detergent ingredients contribute to an unseen film or waxy buildup on the dryer lint screen. But “it’s highly doubtful,” he said, “that any such invisible buildup alone leads to heating-unit burnout or a fire.”",
            "output": [
                "Washing the lint filter in your clothes dryer can help enhance the performance and lifespan of that appliance and avoid fires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71b9d91919294d758891eeb81ab03205",
            "input": "Although the peer-reviewed study on which this story seems to have been based on makes the point that text messages could offer a low-cost strategy for reducing the chances of subsequent heart attacks, the story does not reflect on cost. A clear and readable chart in the story quantifies the apparent benefits of these text messages. But what’s missing here is some nuance: The control group saw a rise in blood pressure, whereas the experimental group remained relatively the same–their blood pressure didn’t actually get lower. So, does that even translate to an actual reduced heart disease risk? And does any of this actually prevent heart attacks? These unanswered questions could have been better emphasized. The concept of “harm” does not appear to be relevant here. Individuals may find text messages to be annoying, of course, but the study itself notes that participants “overwhelmingly” reacted positively to the intervention. That doesn’t make it into the story. The story makes it clear that the study utilized an experimental and a control group, and that this study duration was longer than past studies. Yet the headline suggests that text messages can “prevent” heart attacks. The study offers no evidence for that link: There was no measurement of heart attack rates between groups. Instead, they measured several surrogate markers associated with heart disease, such as lipid levels and blood pressure. This should have been stressed. Repeat heart attacks are relatively common, making continued, at-home treatment of heart attack victims important. The story clearly identifies one source as the leader of the study and includes a second source who appears to be independent of the research. Funding sources are missing from the story, but the study’s declarations of funding do not seem eyebrow-raising. The story does mention some other interventions used to prevent heart attacks, such as typical medications taken to lower blood pressure or cholesterol. The story explains that the study leader is now involved in an effort to replicate her results, which implies that the treatment regimen is not available at present. However, studies of social media and apps used to promote healthy behaviors are ubiquitous, so it might have been useful for the reporter to explore the availability of this strategy compared to others on the market now. The text does a decent job of explaining the novel aspects of the study compared to some similar efforts, though more could have been included on the results of the previous research. Also, since this particular study was actually published nearly a year ago, in September 2015, an effort to update our understanding of message effects would seem to make sense. We weren’t able to locate a news release, but the inclusion of an independent source in the story is a reliable indicator that the story didn’t rely on one.",
            "output": [
                "How to Prevent a Heart Attack: Text Patients on Healthy Habits"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6a11b1f9e89f4ced9f9fa8893a7be070",
            "input": "\"President Donald Trump’s answer to criticism of the U.S. coronavirus response is partly that Joe Biden wouldn’t do any better. Trump points, sometimes wrongly, to Obama-era history, when Joe Biden was the new vice president and the country was dealing with swine flu. On Twitter, an account managed by Trump’s campaign went on the defensive with an attack on Biden’s handling of the H1N1 virus, just hours before Biden announced what he thought the Trump administration should be doing. That March 12 tweet from @TrumpWarRoom says: \"\"Joe Biden will again politicize coronavirus today. But his record on pandemics is one of incompetence. During the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made reckless comments unsupported by science & the experts. The Obama Admin had to clean up his mess & apologize for his ineptitude.\"\" Biden’s statement had to do with the way germs travel through an aircraft. We fact-checked his statement and rated it  back in 2009. We decided to take a fresh look at the Trump team’s tweet in 2020. Joe Biden will again politicize coronavirus today. But his record on pandemics is one of incompetence.During the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made reckless comments unsupported by science & the experts.The Obama Admin had to clean up his mess & apologize for his ineptitude. pic.twitter.com/5TCKZeShkz The swine flu epidemic, or H1N1, was detected in the U.S. in April 2009. The first cases were found in Mexico before rapidly spreading around the world. The U.S. declared a public health emergency on April 26, and President Barack Obama upped that to a national emergency in late October. Biden went on the Today Show on April 30, 2009, to talk about the outbreak. Then-host Matt Lauer asked Biden, \"\"If a member of your family came to you and said, 'Look, I want to go on a commercial airliner to Mexico and back,' within the next week, would you think it's a good idea?\"\" Biden said he would tell them not to be in a confined place, and he gave his reason. \"\"It's not that it's going to Mexico, it's you're in a confined aircraft,\"\" Biden said. \"\"When one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft.\"\" He said he would not suggest taking the subway, either. \"\"If you're out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes, that's one thing; if you're in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it's a different thing.\"\" Biden’s comment drew criticism over fear-mongering, particularly from the travel industry, and experts told us Biden got it wrong. In our 2009 fact-check, we consulted Dr. Tony Overfelt from Auburn University’s National Air Transportation Center, which specializes in studying aircraft environment. At the time, Overfelt said that the air in a commercial jet flows from vents above passengers' heads to vents in the floor at their feet. That airflow sends particles down to the floor and into the aircraft's filtration system. The particles from a sneeze \"\"might travel a row or a couple of rows or something like that,\"\" Overfelt said. \"\"They're really not going to travel up and down the airplane as our vice president said.\"\" The tweet said the Obama administration had to \"\"clean up\"\" Biden’s mess and \"\"apologize for his ineptitude.\"\" There was cleanup, including a half-hearted apology if anyone was \"\"unduly alarmed.\"\" A spokesperson for Biden’s office released a statement hours later to clarify what he said. They said Biden’s advice lined up with the administration’s: that people should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. \"\"If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways,\"\" the statement said. \"\"This is the advice the vice president has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week.\"\" Biden’s presidential campaign declined to comment. As shown in the Trump Warm Room tweet, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded to Biden’s remark in the White House briefing. \"\"I think what the vice president meant to say was the same thing that, again, many members have said in the last few days, and that is, if you feel sick, if you are exhibiting symptoms, flu-like symptoms — coughing, sneezing, runny nose — that you should take precautions, that you should limit your travel,\"\" Gibbs said on April 30. A reporter then says that wasn’t \"\"remotely close\"\" to what Biden said, to which Gibbs responded: \"\"I understand what he said and I'm telling you what he meant to say ... Obviously if anybody was unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we would apologize for that and I hope that my remarks and remarks of the people of the CDC and Secretary Napolitano have appropriately cleared up what he meant to say.\"\" A Twitter account run by the Trump campaign tweeted that, during the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made \"\"reckless comments\"\" unsupported by science and the Obama Administration had to clean up the mess and apologize for it. During a television interview, Biden said he would advise his family not to travel in confined places, and claimed that when one person sneezes \"\"it goes all the way through an aircraft.\"\" His comments were met with backlash for inducing fear, and his spokesperson issued a statement to clarify his words. Experts said the statement on how germs travel was inaccurate. The claim is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "“During the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made reckless comments unsupported by science & the experts. The Obama Admin had to clean up his mess & apologize for his ineptitude.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3759c388de6c484ba8055221a4ebf2a5",
            "input": "The newfound Republican support comes for an idea that Democrats have tried in vain for years to get passed in the GOP-controlled Legislature. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed legalizing medical marijuana earlier this year, but Republicans rejected it. Similar Democratic proposals, as well as efforts to legalize recreational pot and  decriminalize possession, have gone nowhere. But times are changing, said Republican Rep. Mary Felzkowski, co-sponsor of the latest bill. “People are asking for medical marijuana,” said Felzkowski, a cancer survivor. She conceded that the bill won’t pass this session, due largely to opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate. But just getting a public hearing for the first time “would be a huge win,” she said. And then, maybe next session, support will grow to the point it could pass, she said. There’s no doubt public support is strong. In 2018, 16 counties and two Wisconsin cities, representing 52% of the state’s population, approved non-binding referendums in support of legalizing either medical or recreational marijuana. A Marquette University Law School poll in April showed 83% of respondents supported legalizing medical marijuana and 59% backed full legalization. “Each one of us knows someone that has suffered through an illness,” Felzkowski said. “Medical marijuana is just another tool in the toolbox to help our suffering loved ones make it through the day with some semblance of normalcy.” Felzkowski said when she was battling breast cancer in 2014 that she “lived on opioids.” Had marijuana been an option, “oh god yes” she would have taken it, Felzkowski said. “There’s being conservative but there’s being libertarian too,” Felzkowski said. “Having been through what I’ve gone through, I don’t think the government should tell me what I could take.” Senate Republicans have proven to be the biggest roadblock to the idea in Wisconsin. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who is running for Congress, said in September that legalizing medical marijuana won’t pass the Senate because “everyone knows that medical marijuana leads to legalized marijuana.” He reiterated his opposition Wednesday, saying he personally opposes the bill and doesn’t think it has the votes to pass the Senate. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has been generally supportive of medical marijuana, said it was “clear” there wasn’t consensus among Assembly Republicans. “The governor wants to see more bipartisan work and hopes there will at least be a public hearing on the issue of medical marijuana,” said Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff. Introduction of a bill by Republicans signals a further weakening of traditional GOP opposition to the idea in Wisconsin. Neighboring Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois are among the 33 states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes and 11 states, including Michigan and Illinois, have legalized it for recreational purposes. Felzkowski said she remained “very open” to making changes to the measure, which she said was based on input from fellow, more skeptical Republicans and best practices from other states. The latest bill would allow doctors to prescribe certain forms of marijuana under limited circumstances. Marijuana that is smoked and edibles could not be prescribed. It would be permitted in the form of liquid, oil, pill, in a highly concentrated form known as tincture or as a topical application. Patients would need a prescription and they would obtain the marijuana from a licensed dispensary. Only patients with certain conditions would qualify. The qualifying conditions as proposed are cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, ALS, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, seizure disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. A commission created to regulate the program could add additional conditions. In October, three dozen Democrats and just four Republicans introduced a bill to legalize medical marijuana with far fewer limitations. While Evers supported it, the bill has gone nowhere in the Legislature. Felzkowski said that measure was doomed because it was “wide open.” She was hopeful that changing attitudes would lead to a more limited medical marijuana proposal like hers becoming law. “Don’t let excellent get in the way of good,” Felzkowski said. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP",
            "output": [
                "GOP support grows for legal medical marijuana in Wisconsin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75e2a4bd0a9f46b3b5a7d79e862eeb77",
            "input": "An adult vacationing on the northern side of the Big Island contracted the disease in December, marking the state’s ninth case of 2018, health officials said. The disease, also known as angiostrongyliasis, is caused by a parasitic roundworm and can affect a person’s brain and spinal cord. Larvae can be passed to humans who ingest raw freshwater shrimp, land crabs and snails or raw produce that contains infected slugs or snails The person was diagnosed after they left the state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the results. An adult resident of the Big Island’s east side became sick last month. The person was hospitalized earlier this month. The state verified the testing, marking the first case of rat lungworm disease this year. “Our investigators are working diligently to communicate with the patients and learn more about how they may have become infected with rat lungworm disease,” said Bruce Anderson, state health director. “Determining the exact source of infection in any individual is challenging since it requires a deep dive into a person’s food consumption history as well as where they may live, work, travel and recreate.” Anderson added: “We know that most people get sick by accidentally eating infected slugs and snails. Taking precautions such as washing all fresh produce before enjoying and getting rid of slugs and snails around our homes and communities can go a long way toward preventing infection.” ___ Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/",
            "output": [
                "Hawaii health officials confirm 2 rat lungworm disease cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1092016712944a9c8fcb0cf501889d92",
            "input": "None of the stories we reviewed gave readers sufficient information on the cost of the research scans used in the study. This story includes a comment from a researcher saying that increased use of this type of brain scan would bring the “high cost” down, but it doesn’t provide an estimate of the current cost or any comparison to alternative methods of assessing reading ability or other features of dyslexia. We will give this story a satisfactory rating because it portrays this research as providing information for researchers seeking to understand dyslexia, rather than offering important direct benefits to individuals. However, most of the story is about what it is like to live with dyslexia. These anecdotes have little or nothing to do with the research. The list of celebrities who may have or had dyslexia also seems irrelevant and distracting. Then the story tosses in discussion of a study that looked at correlations between dyslexia and spatial skills; again, unrelated to the topic of the primary study reported here. The jumble of extraneous personal tales and other research muddles the point of the story. MRI brain scans are generally considered to present little physical risk, so the issue here is really the potential negative effects of the information the test produces. At least the story raises that issue by including comments from parents who worry that this sort of scanning could further stigmatize children who have trouble reading or writing. This story fails to point out that the “children” studied were not beginning readers, but teenagers who were already identified as having dyslexia and may have been involved in special reading programs for many years. It also fails to mention several of the caveats and limitations that the researchers noted in their journal article, including the possibility that misclassification of the participants based on their initial testing could affect the results. In other words, rather than actually improving during the study, it is possible some of the teens were actually better readers from the beginning, but just scored low on the baseline tests. Nevertheless, the story appropriately describes this study as helping researchers to understand the disease, rather than evaluating the clinical usefulness of brain scans. Also, one paragraph deep in the story highlights the preliminary nature of the research; specifically that the study included only 25 participants with dyslexia, “which is too small a sample size to prove anything.” It also notes that the study did not look at whether different varieties or reading instruction or other interventions might have had some effect and it includes a comment from an independent expert about the lack of data on instruction or other factors that could influence reading ability. The story would have been better if the alert to the preliminary nature of the study had been near the top, rather than buried near the end. The story refers to estimates that between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population has dyslexia. Unlike the Reuters story we also reviewed, this story provides a useful definition of dyslexia as “a condition that, broadly speaking, hinders a person’s ability to interpret language.”  The story does include independent experts. Although it does not discuss conflicts of interest, the authors of the main study declared no conflicts and reported that their study was supported by a number of grants from public agencies and foundations, though the baseline assessment of the participants was supported by a company that markets treatment interventions for people with dyslexia. One troubling point: the story describes one person who claims to have been helped by “training at a learning development center.” If this individual was associated with the company that helped sponsor this research, the story should have disclosed that connection. The study authors wrote that although standardized tests did not accurately predict changes in reading ability during the study period, “it is possible that there are behavioral measures not included here that may predict outcome.” Indeed, their journal article specifically referred to other research into clinical testing that did appear to predict how children with poor reading skills responded to teaching. The story fails to make clear that the study reported here did not attempt to make a comprehensive comparison of the predictive power of scans and other methods of assessing children with reading problems. The story notes that the type of scan used in this study is not widely available. The story implies that this study is the first to suggest young people with dyslexia use a certain area of the right hemisphere of their brains more than average readers. Actually, the study authors pointed out that their research provides some additional data to support the findings of many other studies of differences between the brains of people with dyslexia and those who read normally. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Dyslexia: Scanning the brain for clues"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-11ec3b3391f7494e9442825f91af7d65",
            "input": "The drug is still in early experiments, but it would have been nice to give readers some indication of how the eventual price of this drug might compare to available antidepressants. We will give the story a satisfactory rating because it specifies that 7 of 10 patients given SAGE-547 reported significant improvement in their depression within 60 hours, which persisted for up to 30 days. However, the story did not tell readers that the depression questionnaire used in this study, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), has been criticized as placing greater emphasis on sleep than on suicidal thoughts, so that the scores of some patients may improve even if their thoughts of suicide increase. Readers should have been told that the form of the drug used in this trial is given as an IV solution and that it will not be known if a pill can produce similar results until separate trials are completed. Although the story does report that the company said the only problems reported by patients were dizziness or a sedative effect (in both the treatment and placebo groups), it should have specifically cautioned readers that there could be other potential harms that cannot be identified by a one-month test in which only 10 patients received the active drug–notably, if this drug can pass into breastmilk or affect babies in utero. Also, as noted above, the story fails to tell readers that the form of the drug used in this trial is given as an inpatient IV treatment, which carries risks. The story tells readers the study is small, has not been peer reviewed, and that the results were reported in a press release. However, it should have specifically noted that this sort of small, phase 2 trial is not designed to prove whether or not an experimental drug really is effective. The story did not disease monger. However, because milder symptoms of the “baby blues” are common in pregnant women and new mothers, the story should have been clearer about distinguishing the features of a “Major Depressive Episode” like those experienced by the women in this trial from the more common blues that readers are likely to be familiar with. Although the story notes that the results were released in a news release and a company conference call, and were not peer reviewed (thus making it clear that the source is only the company and that the results have not been independently reviewed), the story should have included comments from independent experts. This is a barely passing satisfactory as the story does briefly acknowledge alternatives. The only reference to conventional antidepressant treatment is that it doesn’t work as quickly as this experimental drug appears to. Talk therapy is mentioned, but there is no mention of its effectiveness. While it is true that antidepressants can take weeks, they and mood stabilizing drugs for women with bipolar disorder do treat postpartum depression. In women with a history of this highly recurrent condition, antidepressant treatment may be started or maintained during pregnancy. The story makes clear that this drug is still being tested and that the company has not applied for FDA approval. The story does not mention other GABA-receptor drugs in development. Indeed, it includes a quote from the company CEO calling the study data a “paradigm shift in how the disease is thought about,” thus giving the incorrect impression that this drug is the only one like it being studied. The story clearly states that the study results were put out in a company news release. The story includes a quote from a company conference call, in addition to the numbers from the news release. However, the reliance on company sources undermines the value of the story.",
            "output": [
                "Experimental drug shows promise for quick treatment of postpartum depression"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d34216a2385440aa9ae341e37506083",
            "input": "The several facets of costs are addressed, including the rationing charge. The story gets a shout out for talking about both sides of this third-rail issue with Avastin. It would have been nice to explain Dr. Sparano’s important comment that doctors will still be able to use Avastin for breast cancer for patients who can afford it. It’s because insurance companies, including Medicare, tend not to pay for drugs when used for reasons the FDA hasn’t approved. So if Avastin does lose its indication for breast cancer, docs can still prescribe it “off-label” for that use, but patients will need to step in and pay for it all. The article meets the standard here by presenting data for progression-free survival and explaining that none of the trials showed a survival benefit for Avastin compared to standard chemo. (The quantity 0 seems implied.) While it’s notoriously difficult to explain the ins and outs of cancer studies in such a short space, we nonethless criticize the article on this criterion because, although most of the messages were generally accurate, readers could’ve benefited from more clarity on one of them and a little help overall in squaring up some potentially contradictory messages. We’ll explain in 3 acts. Act I: Story Highlights. One of these summary bullets states that “Subsequent studies showed no greater survival benefit.” In isolation this statement may be misleading. It seems they mean it to refer to progression-free survival. But that doesn’t jibe with the practical meaning of the term “survival benefit” as actually used in the body of this article: overall survival. And in fact, as we learn, all 4 studies showed no survival benefit compared to standard chemo. Act II: Dr. Sparano’s zinger. In his opposition to the FDA decision, the source notes that one-year survival for Avastin was consistently better in all studies. How is a reader to reconcile that message with the message that survival was not better for Avastin in ANY study? What was needed was not just quantification but qualification. Perhaps it would’ve been as simple as giving us the timeframe for Dr. Woodcock’s conclusion that there was no survival benefit in all studies, or more context about Dr. Sparano’s point. Without some explanation somewhere, we think Dr. Sparano’s line should not have been quoted, since it’s essentially out of context and it somewhat throws the messages up in the air for a reader, perhaps with consequences on the balance of the story. Act III: Mixed messages? The story gives us 2 messages that, taken together, may also seem contradictory for lay readers: 1. Later trials showed that Avastin offers a small increase in progression-free survival compared to standard chemo — but still an increase. 2. The 4 studies together shown no survival benefit. How is a non-clinician to make sense of these messages? How can it slow tumor growth — and lengthen the time people lived without progression — but not lengthen the time people lived? These head-butting messages might’ve been reconciled by clarifying, as the FDA press release starts to, how these data show that Avastin’s effects on tumor growth were temporary enough that people taking Avastin didn’t live any longer, on average. Harms are not quantified, and it would’ve been very helpful to know how frequently these serious side effects occurred in the trials. Were they exceptionally rare? Utterly rampant? The point of our criterion is that without quantifying the harms, readers can’t evaluate the risk/benefit trade-off for themselves. That said, we could almost award the story credit on the spirit of this criterion because it gives the serious harms, and their implications in the FDA decision, a solid amount of time in this article. The point from the ACS medical officer that some women “have not only not benefited, they’ve been harmed,” conveys the big picture. However, true to the definition of this criterion, we must grade this as unsatisfactory. The story takes the time to walk us through the complex story of the preliminary study, E2100, that served as the basis for conditional approval, and the ultimate results of the larger trials, producing an implicitly higher-quality evidence base than E2100 alone. The “larger” is a big part of evaluating the evidence. It also discusses ongoing research into tumor subsets that may respond to Avastin. Ideally it would’ve provided more detail about the 4 studies themselves, such as the numbers of subjects, designs, and lengths of follow-up. While more evidence could’ve been helpful, we think the evaluation of the larger, more relevant arc is clear, that promising preliminary results from a smaller study were not played out in several bigger studies. The article avoids disease-mongering. If you want to be precise, Avastin is only approved for one type of metastatic breast cancer,  HER2-negative. There was some room for improvement here. Two independent sources were used: an interview with a cancer doctor and a statement on the ACS website. The story neglected to point out that the former, Joseph Sparano, has served as a consultant and speaker on Avastin for Genentech, as WebMD acknowledged when they interviewed him for their story. See “Quantifying Benefits” for our request for more information about Dr. Sparano’s quote regarding 1-year survival. On a side note, it may have balanced Dr. Sparano’s quote had the story included a little more of the ACS statement that spoke directly to the FDA decision, such as their conclusion that until we have a better way to determine who will derive the most benefit from Avastin, “giving all women with metastatic breast cancer [bevacizumab] may harm more women than it helps.” The outcomes, both potential benefits and harms, were described relative to standard chemotherapy. A bit more flesh here would’ve helped describe exactly what (and how many) other options are available. The story is clear about Avastin’s availability and the impact of the FDA decision. FYI: it states that the EU has decided to keep Avastin approved for breast cancer only in combination with paclitaxel. Just to be clear, in the US, it’s only approved in combination with paclitaxel , too. N/A It doesn’t appear to have relied solely or largely on the FDA release.",
            "output": [
                "FDA rejects Avastin as breast cancer therapy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e82211c00e04baba41fbeb45c47012a",
            "input": "\"U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic was under heavy scrutiny on Sept. 9, 2020, as excerpts from reporter Bob Woodward’s book “Rage” started to circulate on social media. One of the most arresting passages in that book was highlighted by CNN reporter Daniel Dale, who wrote that Trump continued to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic in public by likening it to the flu even though Trump had acknowledged to Woodward on Feb. 7, 2020, that COVID-19 was deadlier than even the most strenuous strains of influenza:  These are both genuine quotes. The first quote comes from Woodward’s new book “Rage.” Woodward, one of the reporters who broke the “Watergate” scandal story during U.S. President Richard Nixon’s administration, conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump between December 2019 and July 2020. In addition to Woodward’s reporting, there are also audio recordings of these conversations. During the Feb. 7 interview, Trump acknowledged that the virus was airborne and that COVID-19 was deadlier than even the most strenuous strains of the flu. In new tapes, President Trump admits to Bob Woodward he concealed critical details he knew about the coronavirus. \"\"I wanted to always play it down.\"\" https://t.co/eICaAx70mY pic.twitter.com/zXNOZtIBx7 — CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) September 9, 2020  Despite acknowledging that COVID-19 was deadlier than the flu in early February 2020, Trump continued to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic in public by repeatedly likening COVID-19 to the flu. As Dale noted, Trump said that COVID-19 was “like the flu” during a Feb. 27 press conference. The official White House transcript shows that Trump was explaining how COVID-19 was different than Ebola when he made this comment. Here’s the full quote: They listened to a lot. Well, because this is a much different problem than Ebola. Ebola, you disintegrated, especially at the beginning. They’ve made a lot of progress now on Ebola. But with Ebola — we were talking about it before — you disintegrated. If you got Ebola, that was it. This one is different. Much different. This is a flu. This is like a flu. And this is a much different situation than Ebola.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"U.S. President Trump acknowledged that COVID-19 is deadlier than the flu in early February 2020, but continued to downplay the pandemic as \"\"like the flu\"\" in public. \""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0129cb04fc714e4fa30c7ff404a42e17",
            "input": "Rukiya Mohamed, a severely malnourished one-year-old girl refugee from Madaitu Village in Somalia, is wrapped in foil at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders) clinic at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) transit centre in Dolo Ado near the Ethiopia-Somalia border August 11, 2011. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya Dhobley’s buildings are riddled with bullet holes, the scars of battles earlier this year when Somali troops and fighters from the Ras Kamboni militia, allied to the embattled government, routed Islamist militants from the frontier town. Gunmen draped in ammunition belts ride heavily armed 4x4s, maintaining a jumpy peace. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels are now hunkered down just 20 km (12 miles) to the east in the village of Dagalama and 30 km (20 miles) to the south in Hawina. The scene is similar across many parts of southern Somalia where the United Nations declared a famine last month, putting 3.7 million Somalis, the majority of them in southern rebel-controlled regions, at risk of starvation. Abdullahi Abdisalam can only watch as the region’s worst drought in decades decimates his livestock herd and pushes food prices beyond the reach of most, slowly squeezing the life out his small grocery shack. “I had invested everything in those cattle. Most have died, the others are so skinny they’re worthless,” said Abdisalam, running his hand through a large sack of beans. He, however, is among the more fortunate, with a small, albeit ailing, business to fall back on. Dhobley was once a buzzing trading post, the entry point into Kenya, the region’s biggest economy. Now the only people passing through are exhausted families trekking to the world’s biggest refugee camp on the other side of the border. Across Somalia, harvests have failed. Nearly all the food available in Dhobley’s local stores is imported. To bring it to Dhobley from the militant-controlled port of Kismayu, traders are forced to run a gauntlet of road-blocks at which “taxes” are frequently extorted. Many opt to take long detours. The result is the same: higher prices. Mako Mohamud brings in dried grass from the more fertile Juba valley to Dhobley. “Al Shabaab stop us on the road and ask if the grass is to feed cattle in government held areas. I won’t say it’s for Dhobley. I’ll say it’s for Afmadow. That’s not far from here but under their control,” the 32-year-old mother said. Few, however, can afford the fodder. At one of Dhobley’s two boreholes, emaciated cattle, their skin hanging off jutting ribs, trip over the fresh carcass of a calf. Dhobley lies just five km (three miles) from the porous border with Kenya. But it’s one-way traffic across the frontier as tens of thousands of Somalis flee a famine that is tightening its grip on the south of their country. The drought and famine have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last three months in southern Somalia alone, according to U.S. estimates. In a dusty compound on Dhobley’s outskirts, Habiba Mahad Adan swatted flies away from the sunken, cloudy eyes of her severely malnourished four-year-old son, too weak to cry for food. “I’ve received nothing for my child,” Aden said, contemplating the 100 km (60 miles) walk to Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex after already having trekked for three weeks through the scorched landscape. Even in areas now held by Somali troops and government-friendly militia, the sands shift constantly, deterring aid groups from entering. What is more, the border with Kenya is officially closed, complicating the overland delivery of aid. “We’ve made the place safe. We’ve been telling aid agencies that, but so far we’ve received no emergency intervention,” Abdinassir Serar, a local elder, told a high-level delegation from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). While the humanitarian response to the famine in Somalia has focused on emergency food and shelter handouts, FAO has appealed for $70 million to help Somalis buy food, feed their livestock and stay in the country. Cash in return for work as well as seeds for the next harvest, with rains anticipated in October, might hold back the tide of refugees and cut a growing dependency on aid. “There is no alternative other than providing immediate cash relief to people and at the same time engage immediately to protect their resource base (livestock),” said Luca Alinovi, head of FAO’s Somalia program, in a patch of scrub littered with rotting cattle carcasses. A Somali refugee drives his donkeys at Kobe refugee camp, 60km (37 miles) from Dolo Ado, near the Ethiopia-Somalia border August 11, 2011. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya Still waiting for cash commitments from donors, FAO says $70 million could provide seeds to 750,000 people ahead of the rains, help feed and vaccinate 42 million animals at risk of drought-related diseases and support almost 1 million people in return for work that might jump-start local economies. “It’s very clear, we need to move assistance across the border (into southern Somalia),” Cristina Amaral, FAO’s head of emergency operations, told Reuters. If they do not, then it’s only time before shopkeeper Abdisalam and tens of thousands of others like him contemplate the walk across the border, perhaps never to return.",
            "output": [
                "Famine squeezes life out of southern Somalia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2659a09155f244f3a6982fa1b803fbb3",
            "input": "Dr. Ray Morrison, dean of the newEdward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine campus,said Tuesday that he’s working on early admissions agreements with some other schools. Grambling’s agreement would provide early admission for five Grambling sophomores a year to the Edward Via campus at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Morrison said the 100,000-square-foot (9,300-square meter) building is the first private campus at a public university in Louisiana. He added in an interview Tuesday that the arrangements took a lot of effort to work out. The four-year medical college is hiring and expects to have about 150 students and 100 faculty and staff members when classes begin in July. Morrison said about 20 faculty and staff members are already at work. The building was completed in December but some interior fittings, such as desks and auditorium seats, are being installed, he said. Morrison said the precise opening date hasn’t been set because four campuses must be coordinated. The school’s other campuses are at Auburn University in Alabama, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and in South Carolina at a private campus developed with a regional hospital in Spartanburg. The college’s collaborative partnership with Louisiana-Monroe lets medical school students use university resources such as the athletic center and student union, and join athletics and other university activities, Morrison said. The agreement also allows faculty resource sharing and collaboration on education and research. “The need for exceptional doctors in medically under-served and rural communities like North Louisiana has been on a steady increase for many years. That’s a gap that our students can fill,” said Connie Walton, Grambling’s vice president of academic affairs and provost. “This agreement is one of the many ways that Grambling State is equipping our students for the nation’s most in-demand career fields,” her statement continued. The early admission program at the osteopathic medicine college will seek to bring medical training to more people from rural areas and diverse backgrounds. Grambling students would apply and interview for the Rocovich Scholars Early Admission Program during the spring of their sophomore year. They would need to have completed all required pre-medical coursework, have at least a 3.5 GPA, and have completed a required number of community service and health care volunteer hours. Morrison said doctors of osteopathy get the same training as other medical students, along with an additional 200 hours in ways to manipulate the body for diagnosis and treatment. His school will be the fourth four-year medical school in Louisiana. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center has medical schools in New Orleans and Shreveport, and Tulane University has one in New Orleans. In addition, students from Australia’s University of Queensland spend their third and fourth years at UQ’s Ochsner Clinical School just outside New Orleans.",
            "output": [
                "Grambling: early admission agreement with new medical school."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5fc25f953d34fb086d623d9c8e46042",
            "input": "Congo had been due on Sunday to mark an end to the second-deadliest outbreak of the virus on record, until a case was confirmed on Friday in the eastern city of Beni. The outbreak has killed more than 2,200 people since August 2018 in an area of the country where militia violence hobbled efforts to contain it. The latest victim was an 11-month-old girl, who was treated at the same health centre as the previous case, a 26-year-old electrician, said Boubacar Diallo, deputy incident manager for the WHO’s Ebola response. Officials say it is not yet clear how the electrician contracted Ebola. He had no known contacts with other Ebola patients and was not a survivor of the virus who could have relapsed, the government said on Friday. Flare-ups or one-off transmissions are common towards the end of Ebola outbreaks, and a new case does not necessarily mean that the virus will spread out of control again. Ebola causes fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea and spreads among humans through bodily fluids. During this outbreak it killed about two thirds of those it infected. The WHO has identified 215 people who came into contact with the electrician, including 53 health workers at three facilities the man visited before he died, Diallo said. All but one of the health workers had already been vaccinated, he said. Two new vaccines have helped contain the virus, though public mistrust and militia attacks prevented health workers from reaching some hard-hit areas. On Saturday, a group of angry young men threw stones at a team of WHO workers and Beni’s deputy mayor as they attempted to decontaminate the electrician’s home and trace his contacts, Diallo said. “For them Ebola is over,” he told Reuters. “People here have some problems understanding how this case just came two days before the declaration of the end,” Diallo said. The deputy mayor was forced to abandon his car and escape by motorbike taxi, said Kambale Sabuni, head of the police in Beni.",
            "output": [
                "Congo records second Ebola death in days: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da740d59cdcd40a49e4b3fe7bcb84757",
            "input": "This release notes several times that sestamibi SPECT/CT is inexpensive and widely available. It would have been good to include some cost estimates, particularly since reducing unneeded surgeries by the “thousands” presumably would be a huge cost savings. The release states that “The addition of sestamibi SPECT/CT increased the reviewers’ diagnostic certainty in 14 of the 48 patients, or in nearly 30 percent of all cases,” and that “Conventional imaging combined with sestamibi SPECT/CT had a value of 0.85, while conventional imaging alone had a value of 0.60.” The release offers that “a value of 0.50 indicates that a diagnostic test is no better than chance,” to give readers a benchmark for comparison. The release does address harms in terms of reduced harms from adding the imagining technology to standard diagnostic tests: “Even for patients whose tumors were not reclassified, the addition of sestamibi SPECT/CT increased physicians’ ability to more confidently classify malignant tumors, which reduces the risk of misdiagnosis and unnecessary surgery for all patients, the researchers say.” However, the potential harms from the test itself are not mentioned. Like CT, the test involves the use of ionizing radiation known to increase the risk of cancer. Though often minor, the contrast imaging agents (also called tracers or “dye”) injected prior to the test can cause allergic reactions, headaches, chest pain, dizziness, and other reactions. The release clearly states that the radiologists evaluating the imagery were unaware of the results of the surgery, that is, whether the tumors were cancerous or benign. It also states that “similarly ‘blinded’ pathologists analyzed the tumors without knowing the radiologists’ imaging results.”  This blinding of the researchers lends credibility to the findings even though the study itself involved a small number of participants. No evidence of disease mongering here. The release provides a good discussion of why more accurate imaging is needed for kidney tumor diagnosis. The release didn’t mention a funder. The release describes the results of comparing the diagnostic accuracy of regular CT or MRI scans alone or with the addition of sestamibi SPECT/CT imaging. The release also states that the alternative to diagnostic certainty is surgery, even when it is unknown whether the tumor is malignant or non-cancerous. The release notes in several places, including in the first sentence, that the technique is “widely available.” We know that to be true. The release states that radiologists at Johns Hopkins designed the approach of combining sestamibi SPECT/CT with CT or MRI to improve diagnostic accuracy in kidney tumors. Sestamibi SPECT/CT itself is not new. It is the standard imaging choice for assessing problems with the parathyroid glands, which are adjacent to the thyroid gland. The release does not rely on unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Noninvasive Imaging Test Shown Accurate in Ruling Out Kidney Cancers"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e87ec7051b004c48b6a584c166aa6edf",
            "input": "A pharmacist counts pills in a pharmacy in Toronto in this January 31, 2008 file photo. Sales of prescription drugs in the United States grew by just 3.8 percent in 2007, marking the lowest growth rate since 1961, according to data compiled by IMS Health. REUTERS/Mark Blinch Total U.S. prescription drug sales reached $286.5 billion last year with slowing growth blamed on factors including patent expirations of lucrative medicines that opened the door to cheaper generic versions. Other reasons cited by IMS in its annual U.S. Pharmaceutical Market Performance Review were fewer new product approvals, safety concerns, and the leveling of year-over-year growth from the Medicare Part D program. The 3.8 percent growth rate compares to 8 percent growth seen in 2006. “The moderating growth trend that began in 2001 resumed last year following the one-time impact on market growth in 2006 from the implementation of Medicare Part D,” Murray Aitken, IMS’s senior vice president for healthcare insight, said in a statement. Cholesterol drugs, such as Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor, once again led all therapy groups with prescription sales of $18.4 billion in 2007 despite a 15.4 percent decline in sales, primarily due to the availability of cheaper generics. Acid reflux medicines known as proton pump inhibitors, including AstraZeneca’s Nexium, ranked second with prescription sales of $14.1 billion and 2.8 percent growth. Antipsychotics, such as Eli Lilly and Co’s Zyprexa, overtook antidepressants as the third largest therapeutic class with $13.1 billion in sales and a 12.1 percent growth rate, according to IMS, which provides industry data on drug prescriptions and sales. Brand name drugs with some $17 billion in sales lost patent protection in 2007, helping drive prescription volume growth of 10 percent for generic medicines. Generic drugs claimed 67.3 percent of U.S. prescriptions dispensed in 2007, IMS found. IMS is forecasting compound annual U.S. pharmaceutical sales growth of 3 percent to 6 percent through 2012, noting that new biotech medicines and vaccines as well as the expected launch of a handful of drugs with at least $1 billion a year potential will partially offset major patent expirations. Some $13 billion in branded products are likely to start facing generic competition this year, IMS said. “The U.S. pharmaceutical market has entered a new era — one characterized by more modest growth due to the continuing impact of new generics products, fewer and more narrowly indicated novel medications and closer scrutiny of safety issues,” Aitken said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. drug sales grew at slowest rate since 1961: IMS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e05f76f9eaad4cec9d8ff983ecaa257f",
            "input": "Top officials warned the public against traveling to Florida for the May 27 launch of two NASA astronauts aboard a SpaceX rocket to the International Space Station. It will be the first launch of astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in nine years — ever since the last space shuttle flight in 2011. It also will be the first attempt by a private company to fly astronauts to orbit. For space space shuttle launches, hundreds of thousands of spectators would descend on Kennedy Space Center and nearby beaches, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “The challenge that we’re up against right now is we want to keep everybody safe,” he said. “And so we’re asking people not to travel to the Kennedy Space Center, and I will tell you that makes me sad to even say it. Boy, I wish we could make this into something really spectacular.” Bridenstine urged the public to watch the launch online or on TV from home. “We don’t want an outbreak,” of COVID-19, he told reporters during a remote news conference. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell agreed it’s a shame more people won’t be able to enjoy the launch from Florida. But she encouraged people to “be there for the ride with us.” “We’ll be together in spirit more so than in physical space,” she said. Local officials are still mulling whether to allow people on beaches, parks and roadways on launch day. NASA and SpaceX already are limiting the number of employees near astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Anyone coming close must wear masks and gloves, and their temperatures are checked. The astronauts also are staying away from all but the most important training events. Hurley said the two are disappointed their families and friends will have to miss the launch in person, but “Obviously, it’s the right thing to do in the current environment.” Both astronauts said they have already been in quarantine for weeks along with their wives and young sons, so those few family members can join them at Kennedy for the launch. The pair will go into full quarantine two weeks before liftoff, first at Johnson Space Center in Houston and then at Kennedy. In both the NASA and SpaceX flight control rooms, staff will be spaced at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart on launch day and throughout the mission, and plenty of hand sanitizer, masks and gloves will be available. NASA turned to private companies in the wake of the space shuttle program to get cargo to the space station. Next up are the crew deliveries. Russian Soyuz capsules, meanwhile, have been the sole means of crew transportation to the orbiting lab. Boeing also is working to launch astronauts under NASA’s commercial crew program; its first crew flight is still months — if not a year — away. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "NASA begs spectators for astronaut launch: Please stay home!."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-273fc34411b7415cb7b8125cf3190299",
            "input": "“Before I left for Beijing, my daughter was saying, ‘Oh, you should not go,’” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confided to the U.N. health agency’s executive board in a public session on Monday. The account exemplifies the fine line WHO officials are navigating between fear about the new coronavirus and hopes of increasing international preparedness over  an outbreak that has taken more than 360 lives and infected at least 17,238 people in China since late December  — and could become a pandemic. So far, growth has been exponential in China, but elsewhere cases remain under 150, scattered across nearly two dozen countries. “Instead of spending time on fear and panic, we should say this is the time to prepare,” Tedros said. “Because 146 cases, by any standard, is very low.”  As governments clamp down on travel to China, airlines suspend flights and Chinese nationals fret about rising xenophobia and ostracism, WHO is calibrating a message of praise to Chinese officials and trying to focus on the epicenter — Wuhan city and surrounding Hubei province — to keep the virus from spiraling out of control. It also wants to help get weaker health systems ready. Before he left for the meeting with President Xi Jinping last week, Tedros reassured his daughter: “It’s ok, it’s not all over China.” “Even in China, the virus is not evenly spread everywhere, and the risk is not the same,” he recalled. “When I was in Beijing, what we had discussed with the authorities is that our concentrated effort should be in the epicenters, or the sources of the virus.” Pausing on a couple of occasions to cough, clear his throat, and drink some water, Tedros quipped: “Don’t worry: It’s not corona,” prompting laughter. WHO is also battling misinformation, working with Google to ensure that people get facts from the U.N. health agency first when they search for information about the virus. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation and rumors about the outbreak. Chinese officials are increasingly speaking out. At the executive board meeting, Ambassador Li Song, deputy permanent representative for China in Geneva, lashed out at flight cancellations, visa denials and refusals by some countries to admit citizens of Hubei province — saying those moves went against WHO recommendations. Li noted how President Xi, in his meeting with Tedros, had said the coronavirus epidemic “is a devil — we cannot let the devil hide.” “At the same time, the international community needs to treat the new virus objectively, fairly, calmly, and rationally, and not over-interpret it negatively and pessimistically, or deliberately create panic,” Li said. “We need facts, not fear. We need science, not rumors. We need solidarity, not stigma.” Since the outbreak began, a number of misleading claims and hoaxes about the virus have circulated online. They include false conspiracy theories that the virus was created in a lab and that vaccines have already been manufactured, exaggerations about the number of sick and dead, and claims about bogus cures. On Sunday, WHO lamented that the outbreak and response have been accompanied by a massive ‘infodemic’ — an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not — that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it. The report said WHO, the U.N. health agency, was working “24 hours a day to identify the most prevalent rumors that can potentially harm the public’s health, such as false prevention measures or cures.” Tedros also addressed his decision last week to classify the virus outbreak as a global emergency, saying the move was prompted by increased human-to-human spread of the virus to numerous countries and the fear it could have a significant impact on developing countries with weaker health systems. Tedros said recent outbreaks such as the new virus and Ebola demonstrated the shortcomings of the “binary” emergency system, calling it “too restrictive, too simplistic, and not fit for purpose.” “We have a green light, a red light, and nothing in-between,” he said, adding that WHO was considering options to allow for an “intermediate level of alert.” In July, Tedros declared the Ebola outbreak in Congo a global emergency: There have been 3,421 cases and 2,242 deaths from it since the outbreak began 18 months ago. The WHO executive board, which is starting a six-day meeting, plans to hold a special technical session on the virus Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "UN health agency tackles misinformation over virus outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-627b59a6c22d4e76879bf2e34bd58d79",
            "input": "A GlaxoSmithKline logo is seen outside one of its buildings in west London, February 6, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville The GlaxoSmithKline Plc vaccine Rotarix fights infection with the rotavirus, which causes about 55,000 hospitalizations in U.S. children each year and kills more than 600,000 children worldwide, mostly in developing countries. Rotarix already is approved in more than 100 other countries throughout the world. The vaccine competes with Merck & Co Inc’s rotavirus vaccine called RotaTeq. Without vaccination, nearly every child in the United States likely would be infected at least once with rotavirus by age five, the Food and Drug Administration said. In studies of more than 24,000 infants, Rotarix prevented severe and mild cases of rotavirus-caused diarrhea and vomiting during the first two years of life. “This vaccine provides another option to combat and reduce a potentially severe illness that affects so many children,” Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement announcing the Rotarix approval. The most common reactions reported during clinical trials were fussiness, irritability, cough, runny nose, fever, loss of appetite and vomiting, the FDA said. An earlier oral rotavirus vaccine sold by Wyeth was pulled from the market in 1999 after it was linked to a rare, life-threatening type of bowel obstruction known as intussusception. In a Glaxo study of more than 63,000 infants, there was no increase in the problem compared with a placebo. Higher rates of convulsion and pneumonia-related deaths were seen in Rotarix patients in that study but not in other Glaxo trials. “Although the FDA has concluded that the available data do not establish that these events are related to the vaccine, the agency has requested the manufacturer to conduct post-marketing safety studies involving more than 40,000 infants to provide additional safety information,” the FDA said. Glaxo said Rotarix “will offer protection against the most commonly circulating rotavirus types in the U.S. and allow infants to complete the vaccination series by four months of age.”   Rotarix, which is a liquid, is given in two doses to infants from six to 24 weeks of age, the FDA said. Merck’s RotaTeq vaccine is administered in three doses from ages six weeks to 32 weeks. Sales of Rotarix were $182 million in 2007 and are expected to rise with approval in the large U.S. market. The vaccine will be commercially available in the United States in the second half of the year, Glaxo said. Also on Thursday, researchers reported that Rotarix provided protection for up to two years in a study of infants from 10 Latin American countries. The Glaxo-funded trial of more than 15,000 infants found severe diarrhea from rotavirus in 0.4 percent of children given the vaccine, compared with 2.3 percent in the placebo group. Results were published in the Lancet medical journal. The arrival of a new generation of oral vaccines against the disease has been welcomed by health-care workers, but some experts caution against assuming the vaccines will work equally well in all countries. In a commentary in the Lancet, Australian pediatric experts Keith Grimwood and Carl Kirkwood noted Rotarix was more effective in European trials than in middle-income Latin American countries. The World Health Organization “is awaiting efficacy data from low-income countries of Africa and Asia, where much greater strain diversity exists and where 413,000 deaths occur every year compared with 15,000 in Latin America and 200 in Europe,” Grimwood and Kirkwood wrote.",
            "output": [
                "Glaxo wins FDA clearance for rotavirus vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1122853d72494d74b4ff38b6a4f15e65",
            "input": "\"Campaigning for president in the liberal oasis of Madison, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont rose to the defense of marijuana. Critical of the nation’s war on drugs, Sanders said the lives of millions of Americans have been \"\"ruined\"\" because they got a police record for possessing marijuana. \"\"Today, under the federal Controlled Substance Act, marijuana is listed in the same Schedule I as heroin. That is nuts,\"\" Sanders declared March 26, 2016, 10 days before he defeated Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary. \"\"Now people can argue -- although I suspect in this audience there may not be much of an argument -- about the pluses and minuses of marijuana,\"\" he said, drawing cheers from some of the thousands in attendance at the Alliant Energy Center. \"\"But everybody knows marijuana is not a killer drug like heroin.\"\" Sanders then noted he had introduced legislation to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substance Act because possession of it \"\"should not be a federal crime.\"\" We found that Sanders wasn’t smoking anything funny in claiming that both marijuana and heroin are Schedule I drugs, which he has continued to say while campaigning in New York and Pennsylvania. But his claim is somewhat misleading: That classification is based on a drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential, not on criminal statutes. The law The Controlled Substance Act, adopted in 1970, uses five schedules to classify drugs and narcotics by medical use and potential to incite substance abuse. On the low end is Schedule V, which includes substances such as cough medicines with small amounts of the narcotic codeine. At the high end is Schedule I, which lists the \"\"most dangerous\"\" drugs -- those that have \"\"no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.\"\" Marijuana is stronger than when the Controlled Substance Act was adopted (as ex-GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina correctly stated). Nevertheless Schedule II includes some drugs often considered more dangerous than marijuana. Here’s a look at some of the drugs in the two schedules: Schedule I Schedule II Marijuana Cocaine Heroin Methamphetamine LSD Methadone Ecstasy OxyContin Peyote Fentanyl The Huffington Post in April 2016, citing figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the nation recorded no marijuana overdose deaths in 2015. Likewise, there were zero in 2014. It’s possible marijuana might soon be moved off of Schedule I. A week after Sanders’ speech, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it hopes to decide by July 2016 whether to change the federal status of marijuana. Now let’s get to Sanders’ implication that the schedule relates to criminal law enforcement. Marijuana treated differently Distribution, manufacturing or possession of a Schedule I substance is indeed a federal offense. Additionally, marijuana being on Schedule I, drug policy experts told us, makes it more difficult for licensed dealers in states that have legalized marijuana or medical marijuana to get bank accounts and to deduct business expenses on their taxes. And the classification makes it more difficult for researchers to study marijuana in clinical trials. But judges come down harder on heroin possession than marijuana possession. And when it comes to enforcement of criminal statutes, the federal government to some extent has looked the other way when it comes to marijuana. As PolitiFact National stated in a related fact check: Schedule I substances cannot legally be used for medical purposes, however, 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana. In 2009, the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, told federal law enforcement agencies to stop targeting medical marijuana dispensaries, signaling a change from the approach of Obama’s predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush. Similarly, in 2013, the Department of Justice said it would not target new laws in Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational marijuana. While Sanders equates the handling or marijuana and heroin, it’s difficult to imagine the federal government not enforcing the law if states started legalizing heroin. Our rating Criticizing the nation’s war on drugs, Sanders says that under the federal Controlled Substance Act, \"\"marijuana is listed in the same Schedule I as heroin,\"\" even though \"\"marijuana is not a killer drug like heroin.\"\" Like heroin, marijuana is indeed listed as a Schedule I drug, the federal designation given to drugs considered the most dangerous. But at least under the Obama administration, the federal government doesn’t treat it as one under the law. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is .",
            "output": [
                "\"Under the federal Controlled Substance Act, marijuana is listed in the same Schedule I as heroin,\"\" even though \"\"marijuana is not a killer drug like heroin.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e069400312341408e9dddea288ee5fe",
            "input": "Forxiga can now be used along with insulin in patients with Type-1 diabetes and a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 27 or more when insulin alone has not been able to control blood sugar levels, the company said. Type-1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin hormone. Farxiga or Forxiga, as the drug is known outside the United States, is one of AstraZeneca’s top ten drugs by sales. It generated $1.39 billion in 2018, and is key to the company’s future as it turns itself around.",
            "output": [
                "EU approves AstraZeneca's drug for adjunct use in Type-1 diabetes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d026d02b05e4e5fa8aba59bdf317b7f",
            "input": "___ After local Guatemalan officials burned down an environmental activist’s home, he decided to leave his village behind and flee to the United States, hoping he’d be granted asylum and his little boy, whose heart was failing, would receive lifesaving medical care. But after crossing the border into Arizona in May of last year, Border Patrol agents tore the man’s 7-year-old son from his arms and sent the father nearly 2,000 miles (3,220 kilometers) away to a detention center in Georgia. The boy, now 8, went into a U.S.-funded foster home for migrant children in New York. The foster care programs are aimed at providing migrant children with care while authorities work to connect them with parents, relatives or other sponsors. But instead the boy told a counselor he was repeatedly sexually molested by other boys in the foster home. A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press — some of which have never been made public — shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages from parents who said their children were harmed while in government custody. The father and son are among dozens of families — separated at the border as part of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy — who are now preparing to sue the federal government, including several who say their young children were sexually, physically or emotionally abused in federally funded foster care. With more than 3,000 migrant children taken from their parents at the border in recent years, many lawsuits are expected, potentially totaling in the billions. Families who spoke to the AP and FRONTLINE did so on the condition of anonymity over fears about their families’ safety. “How is it possible that my son was suffering these things?” the father said. “My son is little and couldn’t defend himself.” The families — some in the U.S., others already deported to Central America — are represented by grassroots immigration clinics and nonprofit groups, along with some of the country’s most powerful law firms. They’re making claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act as a precursor to filing lawsuits. The FTCA allows individuals who suffer harm as a direct result of federal employees to sue the government. “It’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Erik Walsh, an attorney at Arnold & Porter, which has one of the world’s leading pro bono programs. The firm has so far filed 18 claims on behalf of nine families, totaling $54 million, and Walsh says dozens more are likely coming. The government has six months to settle FTCA claims from the time they’re filed. After that, the claimants are free to file federal lawsuits. The departments of Justice and Homeland Security — both named in claims — did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Health and Human Services — the agency responsible for the care of migrant children — said it does not respond to pending litigation and that it serves children in a compassionate and organized manner through its Office of Refugee Resettlement. “The important work happening in each of the facilities and programs in the ORR network around the country — work ORR has done successfully since 2003 — takes an experienced team of competent, hardworking men and women dedicated to the welfare of the children,” HHS spokesman Mark Weber said. “We treat the children in our care with dignity and respect.” Last year, the Office of Refugee Resettlement cared for nearly 50,000 children who crossed the border by themselves, as well as children who were separated from their families under the zero tolerance policy. The agency housed them in foster programs, residential shelters and detention camps around the country, sometimes making daily placements of as many as 500 new arrivals, from babies to teens. The allegations of abuse and assaults in foster care raise fresh questions about the government’s efforts to place younger children with families in lieu of larger shelters and packed detention facilities. The legal claims, a recent federal court filing and Health and Human Services documents released by Congress earlier this year allege that children have suffered serious emotional trauma after being physically harmed or fondled by other children while in foster care. Six of the claims for damages involve children who were in foster care. And one recent court filing refers to a migrant child being abused in foster care. The records released by Congress show the Office of Refugee Resettlement referred at least seven foster care allegations of sexual abuse to the Justice Department in 2017 and 2018. Because some are anonymous to protect the children’s privacy, it’s unclear if some of the claims are duplicates. Justice has not responded to repeated queries about those cases from members of Congress. Three of the four incidents involving physical harm outlined in legal filings occurred at Cayuga Centers in New York, the largest foster care placement for migrant children, housing up to 900 babies and children at a time. The kids are supposed to be placed with Spanish-speaking families who are paid $1,000 per month per child. In a statement on Friday, Cayuga Centers said it takes the safety of children in its care seriously and reports allegations of abuse to the proper local, state and federal authorities, including the New York State Office of Children Services, the New York Police Department and Office for Refugee Resettlement. “Child protection is our number one priority. If a concern is raised about child safety in a foster home, it is investigated immediately. Our staff are all mandated reporters,” the group said in the statement. “Children are removed from a foster home immediately when an allegation is raised and if necessary, a foster home would be suspended until cleared following a thorough investigation.” In one Cayuga home, a foster parent found a little girl being forced to touch another child’s private parts and kiss her on the lips, according to a memo submitted as part of a federal lawsuit related to family separation. The girl was 3 when immigration officials took her from her father in March, after they’d crossed the border in Texas. As a result of her trauma, the little girl began to regress in foster care, having difficulty eating, drinking and using the toilet, according to her attorney. The girl was sent back to Honduras on Wednesday, a month after her father was deported. One Guatemalan mother whose 5-year-old daughter was placed in Cayuga last year says her little girl still wakes up crying from what she endured at the foster home. “Now she’s scared each time we go out or when she sees a police car or someone in uniform,” said the mother, who has filed a $6 million claim. “She says ‘Mami, don’t let them separate us again.’” Another 5-year-old Guatemalan girl said a boy grabbed her chest and touched her inappropriately, both in her foster home and during daytime classes at a Safe Haven for Children New York foster program, according to a $3 million injury claim. The girl was moved to a new foster home, but there she suffered verbal abuse from her foster parent’s mother, who called her names and locked her alone in rooms as punishment, according to the claim. A spokesman for Lutheran Social Services of New York, which oversees the Safe Haven for Children New York foster program, declined to comment on the allegation. Two claims blame the government for wrongful deaths: one, seeking $20 million, was filed by the wife of a Honduran father who killed himself in a padded cell after officers pulled his 3-year-old son from his arms. “Essentially what this policy does, is it makes examples out of families that get ripped apart to deter others,” said John Escamilla, who is representing the man’s wife and two children. He said he plans to file a federal lawsuit stemming from his FTCA claim as soon as Friday. “The people making these policies intended this level of suffering, and that’s what’s unconscionable.” In another case not involving child separation, a Guatemalan toddler died after a three-week stay in a family detention center. Her mother’s $60 million claim alleges the government failed to give the girl proper medical attention. The government has not settled any family separation cases in the administrative claims stage. But one federal lawsuit is currently in litigation in Massachusetts, and in February, a federal judge in Connecticut approved a $125,000 settlement in a separate case, for a Honduran mom and her son, then 6, who had been detained for four months and threatened with separation under the Obama administration. Aseem Mehta, a law student at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School who worked on the case, said the settlement — the first of its kind — sends a clear message that such claims have legal standing. Mehta added that Trump’s significantly harsher border policies, including family separation, could make for even stronger cases before courts. “Our case is a benchmark,” Mehta said. “The most important takeaway is these claims are viable, and courts will entertain them, and the Department of Homeland Security views them as meritorious; they don’t settle cases unless they think there’s liability they’re exposed to.” Janet Napolitano, who led Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, said she recalled a number of tort claims were filed against the agency at the time, though she said family separations were rare. The delays in reunifying families and children under the Trump administration may have left the agency open to legal challenges, she added. “There very well may be some vulnerability there,” said Napolitano, now the president of the University of California. Lawsuits stemming from family separation policies under the Trump administration are expected to be filed by mid-August. Attorneys for migrant children have aimed several recent legal challenges at larger facilities that are not state-licensed and have held thousands of teens. Some say misconduct is less easily identified in foster care because it requires a child reporting or a foster parent happening to walk in on something occurring in the home. “We may never know the extent to which children suffered particular abuses in foster homes,” said Michelle Lapointe, a senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Guatemalan father, now living in Southern California, is still struggling to soothe his son’s lasting nightmares. He says his once talkative and outgoing third-grader is now withdrawn and frequently says he wants to leave this world. “This can’t happen again because for those of us who live through this, it is terrifying,” he said. ___ Daffodil J. Altan of FRONTLINE contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Claims: Migrant children molested in US-funded foster care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75628cb38c014a25a78d0cae0a64c59c",
            "input": "Last year, more than 5.8 trillion cigarettes were smoked, similar to 2013, as rising tobacco use in China counters declines in other countries, according to a report on Thursday led by WLF. In their global Tobacco Atlas, the WLF and the American Cancer Society said that in 2013, the last year for which detailed figures were available, tobacco industry profits were more than $44 billion. Meanwhile, 6.3 million people died from smoking-related illness, equivalent to a profit of $7,000 for each death caused by tobacco. The report said that, if current trends continue, a billion people will die from smoking and exposure to tobacco this century. Besides causing lung cancer, which is often fatal, tobacco use is also a major risk factor for a range of other illnesses. It is the world’s leading preventable cause of premature death from chronic conditions such as heart disease, strokes and high blood pressure. In China, the world’s most populous country, almost 2,250 cigarettes were smoked per person over age 15 last year, making it one of only around a dozen countries topping 2,000. The average Chinese smoker consumes 50 percent more than in 1980, a symptom of a broader phenomenon, as tobacco use declines or is stable in many wealthy, developed nations but growing in poorer regions such as Africa and parts of Asia. “The significant reductions in smoking rates in the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and other countries that implement increasingly tight tobacco control laws have been offset by the growing consumption in a single nation: China,” the report said. Many countries around the world have introduced some anti-tobacco laws, including curbing advertising and banning smoking in enclosed spaces such as bars, restaurants and offices. But the Tobacco Atlas found that only 10 percent of the world’s population are covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and only 16 percent by comprehensive smoke-free legislation. Low- and middle-income countries now account for more than  80 percent of tobacco users and tobacco-related deaths. The Tobacco Atlas also found that smoking among women is also on the rise, driving up rates of female lung cancer. In an indication of future trends, there are 24 countries where girls smoke more than boys, compared to just two countries where more women smoke than men, it said. “Whether it’s the link between tobacco and increasing rates of lung cancer among women or the ever-increasing number of health conditions and deaths related to tobacco use, the health and economic case for reducing tobacco use has never been clearer,” said John Seffrin, chief executive of the ACS.",
            "output": [
                "Industry makes $7,000 for each tobacco death: health campaigners."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf6cb57fa1b0444c88e7fb67380cc357",
            "input": "This story doesn’t discuss how much the vaccines cost. Therefore, readers can’t compare the affordability of these vaccines to existing treatment options. The story says that four of the six patients had no cancer recurrence after 25 months in the first study, and in the second study, eight of the 13 patients remained tumor free after 23 months. But the studies cited are both phase I clinical trials designed to address safety, not efficacy. Any claims regarding the latter, especially given the limited number of subjects, would be highly speculative. Therefore, the headline is misleading. As noted in the final sentence of the article: “… The next step will be to test these personalized vaccines in larger clinical trials to see if they are better than existing treatments, if they improve survival, and what their long-term side effects could be.” We give the story credit for making an important point that waiting for the vaccine to be made might be detrimental to patients with advanced cancer. It says, “As the vaccine therapies are designed and generated specifically for each individual there is a lag time from enrollment to commencement of treatment—approximately four months—which may be too long from some patients with advanced cancer.” The story also notes that “Both vaccines were deemed safe” but it doesn’t discuss any side effects that may have shown up in the trials. What happened to the five patients who were not tumor free at 25 months? The story does mention that more research is needed to identify potential harms. The story mentions the types of studies that were conducted and the size of the trials. Both of these factors impact the claims that can be made from the research. And that’s important because the claims made seem out-sized compared to the very preliminary nature of the research. Phase I clinical trials are used to look at safety and side effects, not to make conclusions about the future success of personalized medicine. To its credit, the article includes a very important quote from one of the study authors that clarifies that no conclusions should be drawn from these preliminary studies: “It is still unknown whether these vaccines will extend the survival of cancer patients, or whether they are more effective than other recently developed immunotherapies. Additional clinical trials will be required to determine the utility of these individualised neoepitope vaccines.” There is no evidence of disease mongering in this story. The story incorporates insights from a few independent sources. This gives readers additional information about how the findings should be interpreted. However, no information is provided about potential conflicts of interest. The story doesn’t mention any other treatment options for melanoma by name but states that additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of these vaccines in comparison to existing options. The story could have been improved by including information about the prevalence of cancer recurrence among cancer patients using existing treatment options such as surgery and chemotherapy. One of the trials described was conducted in people who had had surgery and no other treatment options. It would have been helpful to include the length of time to tumor recurrence in people who had not received any other interventions. Although not explicitly stated, most readers will understand that the vaccines are not currently available and have to undergo a lot more testing before they are available — if ever. The article discusses what is and isn’t new about the research in this section: “Cancer vaccines that are personalized to the patient—designed to help the immune system identify tumors as foreign bodies and destroy them—have been considered as a potential treatment for a number of years. But working out the unique mutations of each person’s cancer, a time-consuming and complicated process, must first be identified before a vaccine can be developed for them.” The story includes independent sources and does not appear to be reliant on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "CANCER BREAKTHROUGH: PERSONALIZED MELANOMA VACCINES ‘SAFE AND EFFECTIVE’ IN FIRST HUMAN CLINICAL TRIALS"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be6326277cf84df3a248140057b96db9",
            "input": "Health officials have warned that the region, home to a fifth of the world’s population, could be the new frontline against the disease because of millions living in packed slums and fragile public health systems. India’s caseload rose to 13,387, a jump of nearly 700 over the previous day, despite a harsh lockdown now in its fourth week and which will last at least until early May. Authorities have identified a fifth of India’s hundreds of  districts as red zones with the highest number of cases, including the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad. But Lav Agarwal, federal health joint secretary leading the fight against the coronavirus, said the rate of increase of infections was slowing because of the lockdown of 1.3 billion people in the world’s second-most populous country after China. Before the shutdown, the number of cases was doubling every three days, but now it was taking 6.2 days to double, Agarwal said, citing government data. “There is a decline, but we have to remain (in) the fight,” he said. The government has said it will permit farm and industrial activity in parts of the countryside that are least affected by the coronavirus from next week to lessen the pain for millions. Authorities in the resort islands of the Maldives placed the capital Male under a 14-day lockdown after eight people tested positive over the last three days, taking the total to 28. The government had earlier stopped all travel to and from the tropical islands and shut down businesses. But on Friday, the Health Protection Agency issued strict stay-at-home orders for Male, home to 40 percent of the country’s population of 450,000, fearing a big outbreak in the congested city. Maldives, best known for its white sands and palm-fringed atolls, reported its first case at the beginning of March when two employees of an island resort tested positive. Bangladesh also warned its 160 million people that the country was at risk after positive cases were detected in 45 districts out of a total of 64. It warned of strict action against anyone violating stay-at-home orders. “Only social distancing can keep the outbreak under control as no vaccine or treatment is available for the disease,” the directorate general of health services said in a statement. The big worry remains the low level of testing across the region. India has slowly raised the number to a little over 27,000 on Thursday, but in comparison with other countries it remains small given the huge population. India has tested 203 people per million of its population, lower than Brazil (296) and well behind the United States at 9,866 and Italy 18,481, all of which are themselves considered laggards in the race to screen as many people as possible. Here are official government figures on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia:  * India has 13,387 confirmed cases, including 437 deaths  * Pakistan has 5,988 cases, including 107 deaths  * Bangladesh has 1838 cases, including 75 deaths  * Afghanistan has 906 cases, including 30 deaths  * Sri Lanka has 238 cases, including 7 deaths  * Maldives has 28 cases and no deaths  * Nepal has 16 cases and no deaths  * Bhutan has five cases and no deaths  Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser",
            "output": [
                "South Asia coronavirus cases hit 22,000 as Maldives locks down capital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac67685c916a45c1aaf12c23f99622da",
            "input": "In August 2019, many social media users encountered a news story about a young child in India who had 526 teeth removed from his mouth. While these reports came from reputable news outlets, such as NBC News, Time, and The Guardian, many readers were so shocked by the news that they had a hard time believing it was real. The story stemmed from an Aug. 1 news release from the Saveetha Dental College. The college explained that a 7-year-old boy was brought to a nearby hospital at the age of 3 after his parents noticed some swelling on his jaw. The swelling went undiagnosed, however, until he was brought to the Saveetha Dental College four years later:  A little boy of 7 years old was brought to Saveetha Dental College and Hospital by his parents with a complaint of a swelling in the jaw. He had been taken to a nearby hospital, Chennai, at the age of 3 since the parents noticed a small swelling at the right lower jaw, but he refused to co-operate for any investigative procedures as he was very young. Hence the swelling was left undiagnosed for 4 years. He was brought to our institution at the age of 7 years as the swelling was slowly increasing in size. The parents were very apprehensive as they had thought it could be a cancer of the jaw. The initial work up by the surgeons revealed a large lesion with multiple hard structures at a single site within the lower jaw. During the surgery, the operating surgeon noticed a well-defined bag-like mass which was removed in its entirety. The specimen weighed about 200 gms. The specimen was radiographed which revealed multiple tiny radiopaque structures. On further evaluation by the oral pathologists, and to their utmost surprise, the bag revealed 526 tooth like structures. In the pathologists’ own words “it was reminiscent of pearls in an oyster”. It took 5 hours of meticulate searching to remove all the minute teeth from the opened bag like specimen. “This pandora box of miniature teeth is a jewel on our crown” said the postgraduates. The tooth sizes varied from 1mm to 15mm and each resembled a tooth with crown covered by enamel and a root like structure. The 526 teeth removed from this boy’s mouth weren’t full-sized — some were as small as 1mm. The Saveetha Dental College provided an image of all of the tooth-like structures that were removed from the boy’s mouth:  The college also shared a video about this medical oddity. Additional images from the surgery can be glimpsed here:",
            "output": [
                "Doctors removed 526 tooth-like structures from a child's mouth in India. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5704eedeab6f425a8019b91989ac1fd5",
            "input": "On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious respiratory disease. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 47,021 from a previous 41,035, a rise of 14.6%, the Civil Protection Agency said. In its most complete analysis of the outbreak yet published, the national health institute (ISS) said the average age of those who died was 78.5 years, with the youngest victim aged 31 and the oldest 103. The median age was 80. Some 41% of all those who died were aged between 80-89, with the 70-79 age group accounting for a further 35%. Italy has the oldest population in the world after Japan, with some 23% of people aged over age 65. Medical experts say these demographics could explain why the death toll here is so much higher than anywhere else in the world. The ISS report, based on a survey of 3,200 of the dead, said men accounted for 70.6% of the deaths and women 29.4%. The median age for the women who died was 82 against 79 for men. By comparison, the median age of those who tested positive for the illness was 63. A deeper analysis of 481 of the deceased showed that almost 99% of them were suffering from one or more medical condition before catching the virus. Some 48.6% had three or more previous pathologies. A total 73.8% had had high blood pressure, 34% had diabetes and 30.1% had heart disease. On being admitted to hospital, 76% had a fever, 73% had breathing difficulties, 40% had a cough and 8% had diarrhea. The median time between the onset of the first symptoms and subsequent death was eight days, with the median time spent in hospital just four days. Of the 3,200 deaths reviewed in the survey, only nine were aged less than 40, all but one of them men.",
            "output": [
                "Italy's coronavirus deaths surge by 627 in a day, elderly at high risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee47758f374a40bc8a3c484438a2c906",
            "input": "“This fight is not a 100-meter (109.3-yard) race; it is a long marathon,” Health Minister Marta Temido told a news conference, urging citizens to step up their fight against the outbreak as there was still “no light at the end of the tunnel.”  “This is the time to balance fear and courage, courage to stay home, to continue helping others, to ask for help when we need it,” Temido said. Portugal has confirmed 10,524 coronavirus cases and 266 deaths, with health authorities expecting the outbreak to plateau at the end of May. Portugal extended its state of emergency by 15 days on Thursday, and tightened measures to restrict movements, especially during the normally busy Easter holiday period. Portugal’s once-bailed out economy is struggling to cope with the outbreak despite several government measures to help families and businesses, including a multi-billion euro stimulus package. The central bank said last week the country would relapse into recession this year, with gross domestic product dropping between 3.7% and 5.7% in 2020. Last year it grew 2.2%. In a statement on Saturday, the Labour Ministry revealed that 31,914 Portuguese companies, mostly micro and small businesses with a total staff of 552,000, had already applied to be able to lay off their workers since the measure was reviewed a week ago. The measure allows companies to temporarily suspend jobs or reduce working hours but does not let them fire or make workers redundant. According to the ministry, most layoff requests were made by businesses in the hospitality industry, as well manufacturing firms and auto repair businesses. This year, the unemployment rate is set to increase to between 10.1% and 11.7%, compared with 6.5% in 2019, the central bank said. Around 321,000 people were unemployed in March, compared to 293,000 the month before, preliminary data by the Labour Ministry also showed on Saturday. “We still don’t have a significant increase in unemployment,” Labour Minister Ana Mendes Godinho told SIC television. “Many companies are opting for layoffs instead.”",
            "output": [
                "Portugal's coronavirus cases grow, half a million workers at risk of lay off."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f6e68555005a44bdbea87a8ef93d504f",
            "input": "“The best thing the tobacco industry can do to fight COVID-19 is to immediately stop producing, marketing and selling tobacco,” Gan Quan, a public health specialist and a director at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said in a statement. The group, which links international respiratory and lung specialists, officials and health agencies, said it is “deeply concerned” about COVID-19’s impact on the world’s 1.3 billion smokers, in particular those in poorer countries whose health systems are already overburdened. Smoking is known to weaken the immune system, making it less able to respond effectively to infections. Smokers may also already have lung disease or reduced lung capacity which would greatly increase the risk of serious illness. Quan said governments around the world had a “moral imperative” to advise smokers to stop. “This is the absolute best time to quit smoking,” Quan said. The Union’s statement cited emerging evidence from preliminary studies of COVID-19 patients in China and elsewhere that suggest smokers infected with the new coronavirus become more severely ill and suffer more serious complications such as breathing difficulties. It said a study of more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February found that smokers - both past and present - fared poorly, with smokers comprising more than 25% of those that needed mechanical ventilation, admission to an intensive care unit, or who died. The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have also warned that smoking can expose people to serious complications from COVID-19.",
            "output": [
                "Experts urge smokers and tobacco firms to quit for COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28fd5025fafe4b60bbcf11f538280fd6",
            "input": "The Daily Mining Gazette of Houghton reports the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on the proposal by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s application. If approved, the tribe would be allowed to develop and maintain its own water-quality standards for surface waters on its reservation. Concerns about water quality potentially affecting the Upper Peninsula reservation are linked to cattle farming; commercial logging, mining; runoff from road salt; illegal dumping; industrial discharge; septic systems; and lawn chemicals. The newspaper says the public comment period is open until May 23. Officials announced earlier this year that the EPA awarded a $195,000 grant to the tribe to modernize its environmental data reporting system. ___ Information from: The Daily Mining Gazette, http://www.mininggazette.com",
            "output": [
                "Native American tribe seeks to set water quality standards."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec1ae99395ff4a9bb91a450cb8b5c8b9",
            "input": "But these rhesus macaques have paid their dues and are now living in retirement — in larger enclosures that let them venture outside, eat lettuce and carrots, dip their fingers in colorful plastic pools, paint, and hang from pipes and tires — in relative quiet. More research labs are retiring primates to sanctuaries like Primates Inc., a 17-acre (7-hectare) rural compound in central Wisconsin, where they can live their remaining years, according to the sanctuaries and researchers. For some monkeys, it’s their first time hanging out in the fresh air. “Just to see them look around in amazement. You know it was all very calm and peaceful,” said Amy Kerwin, who worked for 15 years to get the Westfield, Wisconsin, sanctuary off the ground after being employed in a University of Wisconsin research lab. There were approximately 110,000 primates in research facilities in 2017, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While most research facilities need primates to be euthanized to examine their tissues, technological advances, such as brain scans, mean fewer monkeys need to be put down. Plus, researchers who become close with the animals are making more efforts to give the ones who can survive a retirement, rather than euthanization. In 2015, a group of researchers, graduate students and an ethicist created the Research Animal Retirement Foundation. It raises funds for labs to pay the sanctuaries to retire them. So far they have given $33,000 in funding for three monkeys who went to the Wisconsin sanctuary. A visit to the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary in Indiana helped convince Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., to author a bill introduced last month, along with Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Penn., that requires federal agencies to develop a policy allowing animals no longer needed for research to be adopted out or put in sanctuaries. Currently, no federal regulations dictate what happens to them. Some are sold to other studies when one study is done. The bill doesn’t address funding, one of the main hurdles to get primates into retirement sanctuaries. Currently, grants through the National Institutes of Health, which is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, don’t include money for retirement. That leaves the labs and sanctuaries to find the tens of thousands of dollars per monkey, per year needed to care for them. Monkeys are finished with studies at different ages and some can live for decades. Some can also leave with lingering issues, like compulsive behaviors caused by boredom. That’s why many sanctuaries require the labs to send some funding, often between $10,000 and $20,000, to help care and create space for monkeys. Since many of the primates have only lived in labs, they don’t have the skills needed to live in the wild. Most primates in accredited sanctuaries are chimpanzees, capuchins, and squirrel monkeys, according to Erika Fleury, program director for the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, or NAPSA, an advocacy group for captive primates. They come from research, the entertainment industry or private homes. Chimpanzees are no longer used in most research. The NIH announced in 2013 it would stop supporting them in research and that they should be moved to sanctuaries, with funding. It pointed to a report from the Institute of Medicine in 2011 that concluded the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research was unnecessary. Cindy Buckmaster, chair of the Americans for Medical Progress, which represents research universities and medical research companies, said that besides funding, researchers are concerned about sanctuaries standards, their financial viability and whether some sanctuaries’ ties to animal rights groups will cause them to badmouth the institution. “We really feel very grateful to them and we want them to have wonderful lives after,” Buckmaster said. “They certainly deserve it. But it has to be done well and it has to be done properly because we’re not going to put our animals in harm’s way.” Some animal rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, don’t support research but do agree with retiring monkeys to sanctuaries rather than having them euthanized. Sanctuaries have been around for decades but, in 2010, more than a half-dozen came together to create NAPSA. Currently, there are eight member sanctuaries, with about 775 primates. Membership requires the sanctuaries be USDA licensed, accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries or certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, among many guidelines. There are 31 other, nonmember sanctuaries in the U.S. and Canada that have primates but have a variety of standards, according to NAPSA. Besides requiring high standards for sanctuaries, NAPSA is also upping efforts with researchers to encourage them to ask for retirement funding upfront. An NIH spokeswoman wouldn’t respond to whether the agency would consider adding money to grants for monkey retirement care, only saying in a statement that the animals’ owners are responsible for ongoing care. Kerwin, who started the Wisconsin sanctuary, said she’s seen monkeys become calmer in retirement. Her goal is to have 100 monkeys over the next 20 years. “Just knowing that these little individual personalities are in the thousands and largely no one knows about them and even the need to help them. That’s why I feel it’s important,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "More research labs are retiring monkeys when studies finish."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c94783c9e7ff4d959421c587595ee28b",
            "input": "The 7:58 a.m. ET (1258 GMT) landing at the White Sands desert capped a turbulent 48 hours for Boeing’s botched milestone test of an astronaut capsule that is designed to help NASA regain its human spaceflight capabilities. A software problem on Friday caused the capsule to fail to attain the orbit needed to rendezvous with the space station, another unwelcome engineering black eye for Boeing in a year that has seen corporate crisis over the grounding of its 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes of the aircraft. Officials from the aerospace company and NASA breathed sighs of relief following the landing, a highly challenging feat. “Today it couldn’t really have gone any better,” Boeing space chief executive Jim Chilton told reporters on Sunday, adding that experts would need weeks to analyze the data from this mission before determining if Boeing could move forward with its plan to send a crewed mission on the craft in 2020. The landing, which tested the capsule’s difficult reentry into the atmosphere and parachute deployment, will yield the mission’s most valuable test data after it failed to meet one of its core objectives of docking to the space station. “We’re going to get I think a lot more data than we would have gotten if the test had gone according to plan,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. After Starliner’s touchdown, teams of engineers in trucks raced to inspect the vehicle, whose six airbags cushioned its impact on the desert surface as planned, a live video feed showed. The spacecraft was in good condition after landing, Chilton said, with little charring and stable air pressure and temperature in the cabin. The CST-100 Starliner’s debut launch to orbit was a milestone test for Boeing. The company is vying with SpaceX, the privately held rocket company of billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, to revive NASA’s human spaceflight capabilities. SpaceX carried out a successful unmanned flight of its Crew Dragon capsule to the space station in March. After the Starliner capsule was launched from Florida on Friday, an automated timer error prevented it from attaining the right orbit to meet and dock with the space station. Chilton said the timer was running 11 hours ahead, which caused the spacecraft to burn fuel too quickly. Starliner’s three main parachutes deployed just over one mile (1,600 meters) from the Earth’s surface on Sunday after enduring intense heat from the violent reentry through the atmosphere, plummeting at 25 times the speed of sound. The parachute deployment, one of the most challenging procedures under the program to develop a commercial manned space capsule, earned Boeing a win after a previous mishap where one parachute failed to deploy during a November test of Starliner’s abort thrusters. That test tossed the capsule miles into the sky to demonstrate its ability to land a crew safely back on the ground in the event of a launch failure. For the current mission, Boeing and NASA officials said they still do not understand why software caused the craft to miss the orbit required. Sunday’s landing marked the first time a U.S. orbital space capsule designed for humans landed on land. All past U.S. capsules, including SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, splashed down in the ocean. Russia’s Soyuz capsules and China’s past crew capsules made land landings. The now-retired Space Shuttle used to glide in like a massive plane. (GRAPHIC: Space missions - here)",
            "output": [
                "'Bull's-eye' landing caps Boeing's faulty astronaut capsule test mission."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8c5ceddf52143318035173516b246a5",
            "input": "The story provided a more thorough discussion of costs than we have seen in many stories about cosmetic products. It says, “It is, however, expensive: a month’s supply of Latisse can cost up to $150, and that is in amounts appropriate for use merely on the eyelashes. Rogaine, which is also available over the counter now, costs about $25 a month, and a month’s supply of Propecia runs about $75.” The story did not quantify any of the benefits of Latisse or the other hair loss products. The story mentioned harms in passing but did not quantify them. We wish it would have. The problem here is that we are talking about off label use, but, at a minimum, some of the harms related to the other, more established products could have been quantified. Instead, the story gives the harms question short shrift, saying, “One advantage of Latisse is that it needs to be applied only once a day (Rogaine needs to be applied twice; Propecia is taken once daily), and does not seem to cause reactions in people who are allergic to minoxidil.” We wish that the story had provided some information about the effectiveness of hair loss products. We only get the one true believer’s comment “that (Latisse) has worked for about 70 percent of his patients.” We also would have liked to have seen a comment about the need for continuing use of the products. The story does a great job avoiding what may be better termed fear-mongering in a case like this. Often stories about cosmetic medicine make people feel like their aging selves are inadequate. This story actually has a little fun with the idea of men being paranoid about their hair loss without minimizing the very real anxiety that hair loss causes. We did think one comment from Dr. Bernstein seemed to medicalize baldness. He said, that “it’s important to remember that baldness is unlike other conditions where you can progress past the point of being helped. …Once we have a cure for hair loss, everyone will be able to benefit.” We think this one is a wobbler. The story did quote two hair loss specialists. We wish it had gone a little broader in scope and talked with someone who is not currently prescribing Latisse and could speak to the safety and efficacy of an uNPRoven product like this. The story discusses a number of alternatives, and even provides price information for some. It says, for example, “For those too impatient to wait, there is also the bold and fashionable solution of shaving one’s head.” We do wish, though, that some comparative effectiveness information had been given. The story makes it clear that Latisse is a prescription product sold for eyelashes but being used off label by some doctors for hair loss. The product definitely appears to be novel, and the story does a good job placing it in the right context. The story went well beyond any news release. In fact, unlike other stories we have seen about emerging cosmetic therapies, this story may not be a big hit with the product’s manufacturer. The man in the lead anecdote, for example, says that he has stopped using the product because it is too expensive.",
            "output": [
                "New Stratagems in the Quest for Hair"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-078537a0b8974986a3d602569a2f3614",
            "input": "\"Every Republican presidential candidate opposes Obamacare, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich stands out for being the only one who took advantage of the program’s Medicaid expansion option. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wasn’t going to let that choice go unnoticed. Bush touted his opposition to expansion in Florida during a debate in South Carolina. \"\"The (Florida) governor was supportive of doing what John did,\"\" Bush said Feb. 13. \"\"So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there.\"\" To which Kasich shot back, \"\"When Jeb was governor -- his first four years as governor -- his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. Okay? It's just a fact.\"\" We can’t resolve which man is more fiscally responsible, but we can compare Medicaid spending trends. A decade and a half separates the periods -- 1999-2003 for Florida and 2011-15 for Ohio -- but with due regard for the vast change in circumstances, the numbers can speak for themselves. Kasich’s campaign provided Medicaid spending numbers for both Ohio and Florida and we confirmed them with independent sources in both states. The spending amounts, in millions of dollars, include both federal and state contributions to Medicaid. Ohio 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Change overall $17,681 $18,401 $18,857 $20,859 $23,467 32.7% Yearly change 4.1% 2.5% 10.6% 12.5% Florida 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 $6,947 $7,764 $8,901 $10,220 $11,437 64.6% Yearly change 11.8% 14.6% 14.8% 11.9% (In millions of dollars) Source: Florida State University; State of Ohio You can’t compare the amounts directly because inflation changes the value of the dollars across the decades. But in terms of growth, Medicaid spending did rise twice as quickly under Bush than it has more recently under Kasich. But we wouldn’t advise drawing simple conclusions from this. The factors behind the numbers Florida’s Medicaid budget did rise rapidly during Bush’s first term, largely due to more spending on long-term care. An Urban Institute report in 2002 said that as Bush took office, Florida had \"\"a full-blown crisis\"\" in nursing homes. \"\"Chronic staffing shortages led to an erosion in quality of care, which in turn led to lawsuits that resulted in extremely large awards for complainants and skyrocketing liability insurance rates for the industry,\"\" the report said. Larry Polivka now heads the Claude Pepper Center, a public policy analysis group at Florida State University. In the early 2000s, he served on an advisory committee set up to suggest ways to fix problems in the long-term care system. Bush adopted many of the recommendations, such as more nursing home staffing, and they were not cheap. \"\"Bush increased funding in the long-term care part of the budget very substantially,\"\" Polivka told us. A 2002 assessment by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department echoed Polivka’s point. \"\"In January 2001, Gov. Jeb Bush partly unveiled his ‘elder-friendly’ initiative, which called for significant increases in funding for nursing homes and nursing home quality of care reform,\"\" according to the report, which noted Bush signed the changes into law in May 2001. Polivka said the state has a higher proportion of senior citizens than other states and anything done with nursing homes and other long-term care services will have a substantial impact on spending. Polivka said it didn’t help that the state also went through a brief recession in 2001. Unemployment rose over 2 percentage points in 2002. When the economy goes down, more people turn to Medicaid. Still, Polivka said the main driver in Florida centered on nursing home care, community-based care and at-home care. In Ohio, 15 years later, the economy helped the state. Unemployment dropped by nearly half, from 9.2 percent down to 4.7 percent. That eased demand on Medicaid. But the state did many things directly to rein in Medicaid spending. Amy Rohling McGee, president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, told us that Kasich focused on chronic illnesses, like asthma, and long-term care. McGee said administration policies played a significant role in trimming the rise in Medicaid costs, but she also noted that other trends were at play. \"\"It’s hard to tease out what reduces health care spending growth,\"\" McGee said. \"\"It’s likely a combination of factors. Experts around the country noted that healthcare spending was rising at a slower pace in recent years. Part of that was a post-recession slow down. Part of it might have been the Affordable Care Act. But changes in Ohio also made a difference here.\"\" Our ruling Kasich said that Florida’s Medicaid spending in the first four years of the Bush administration went up twice as quickly as they did during Kasich’s first four years in Ohio. The spending numbers bear that out. However, comparisons across very different states at very different times should be used with caution. Large national trends in health care inflation and the economy played a significant role in Medicaid spending in both states. Bush in Florida faced higher health care inflation and an economic slump. Ohio saw an easing of health care spending and an improving labor market. Still, budget and policy decisions by the two governors had an impact on Medicaid spending. The statement is accurate but it needs additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "When Jeb (Bush) was governor, his first four years as governor, his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d09badfd296456787373dd7acd6eec6",
            "input": "The price of the drug is not reported. The segment specifies that four suicides, and a higher number of other mental health effects, have been reported to the FDA. It also specifies that 11,000 patients participated in the pre-approval clinical trials and with no reports of similar incidents. But it fails to make clear to viewers the important differences between data from clinical trials and from post-surveillance voluntary reports. The story didn’t quantify potential benefits. The story is fundamentally about alleged harmful side effects of the drug, so this criterion is clearly established. The segment is based on an FDA investigation and labeling changes that follow post-marketing reports of four suicides and mental disorders. This is adequate evidence on which to base this news report. By emphasizing one tragic story about a teenager who took the drug and committed suicide, the segment exaggerates the likelihood that the two are linked. The segment draws on data from pre-approval and post-marketing trials, an interview with the family of a teenager who committed suicide after taking Singulair, and an interview with a clinical specialist in asthma and allergies. It also reports its own observation that information about the side effects is buried on the drugmaker’s website. The perspective of the clinician who prescribes Singulair and other drugs for asthma and allergies provides an adequate, if brief, discussion of treatment options. The segment makes clear that Singulair is widely used. Singulair is widely used, so its novelty is not in question. The report was triggered by the FDA’s action, not a company press release.",
            "output": [
                "Questions about Singulair and suicide"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ec70a5dd09f34fcbb3f9a1f309acb6a2",
            "input": "Driving is one of the most dangerous activities we engage in, and most of us do it every day, little realizing the peril of it. Every year in the U.S. there are approximately 6.5 million traffic accidents, resulting in about 42,000 fatalities. This is the story of one of those accidents. It resulted in the death of someone you’ve never heard of, at the hands of someone you have. In May 2000, a two-page police report pertaining to a fatal accident that had taken place near Midland, Texas, in 1963 was made public. It contained the information that 17-year-old Laura Welch had run a stop sign, causing the death of the sole occupant of the vehicle hers had struck. According to that report, the future First Lady had been driving her Chevrolet sedan to a local drive-in theater on a clear night shortly after 8 p.m. on 6 November 1963 when she entered an intersection without heeding the stop sign and there collided with the Corvair sedan driven by 17-year-old Michael Douglas. Also in the car with Laura Welch was her friend, 17-year-old Judy Dykes. How fast Miss Welch might have been driving is open to question. That part of the police report is illegible, although two biographies of the First Lady refer to her as having been going 50 mph at the time of the collision. The speed limit on that portion of road was 55 mph. According to the police report neither driver had been drinking, but no tests were performed. No charges were filed as a result of the accident. News accounts from 1963 reported the young man as having been thrown from his car and dying of a broken neck; he was pronounced dead on arrival at Midland Memorial Hospital. According to various biographies of Mrs. Bush, the boy’s father had been traveling in a car immediately behind his son’s and witnessed the whole thing. The two teen girls were taken to the same hospital and treated for minor injuries that amounted to bumps and bruises. Michael Douglas, the young man who was killed, had been a member of Laura Welch’s crowd at high school and her friend. He had been a star athlete, excelling in track and football, and was looked up to by his peers not just for his athlete prowess, but for his personality and intelligence too. By all reports, he was likeable, outgoing, and funny. He was nominated as the school’s most popular boy while a junior, an honor that almost always went to a senior. There has always been speculation about the nature of his relationship with Laura Welch. One rumor asserts the two had never dated, but that Laura had been romantically interested in him. Another claims he had been Laura’s boyfriend when he died, and another that he had once been her boyfriend but the couple had subsequently broken up. (The latter theory is advanced in the 2002 biography of the Bushes, George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, which states Laura Welch and Michael Douglas had dated throughout early and mid-1963, but by the fall of that year Michael was going out with Regan Gammon, one of Miss Welch’s closest friends.) The accident is difficult to understand in that it took place on a clear night on dry pavement at a crossroads described as “the middle of nowhere,” where the view was unobstructed and the stop sign that faced Laura Welch was clearly visible. (The intersection was a two-way, not a four-way, stop.) Yet looking to only weather and road conditions to explain what happened is to miss the obvious: there were two teen girls in the car, girls who were on their way to a party and thus who likely would have been bubbling over with chatter about who would be there. Laura Welch, the driver, had turned 17 only two days earlier. She and her passenger were still of an age when they could all too easily shut out everything going on around them, even the approach of another car and the recognition of a stop sign. In her 2010 autobiography, Laura Bush attributed the accident to a combination of a dangerous intersection, the darkness of night, a less than safe car (on the victim’s part), and her own non-optimal eyesight. She acknowledged that the victim, Mike Douglas, was a close friend of hers but stated that he was not her boyfriend:  I left Judy’s house and headed to the loop, which back then was a little country road with no streetlights circling around Midland. We talked as I drove along the pitch-black road. I knew in my mind that somewhere ahead was a right turn for Big Spring Street, where the drive-in theater was, because the loop almost dead-ended at Big Spring. Beyond the turn the asphalt stopped, and there was nothing more than a trail of unpaved dirt and dust. Most drivers turned right, toward town. I knew there was a turn, but where that turn was seemed very far away until suddenly, off in the middle of a field, I glimpsed a stop sign with the corner beam of my headlights. At that moment, I heard Judy’s voice: “There’s a stop sign.” And I just couldn’t stop. I was going along, a little below the speed limit, which was fifty-five miles an hour. The next thing I knew, I was in the intersection, and immediately in front of me was another car. It came rushing out of the darkness, and I was right upon it, with a second to turn the wheel. All I heard was the horrible sound of metal colliding, the catastrophic boom that occurs when two hard pieces of steel make contact. [Mike] was a handsome boy with a beautiful smile, and he was a top athlete at Lee. He was not my boyfriend, although for a decade some in the press have claimed that he was. But for years, he was my very close friend. All through high school, Mike and I were good friends; we talked on the phone for hours, and Mike’s circle of close friends included nearly all of my own. And so it was unbelievable to me that it was his car in that almost always empty intersection. It was a small car, a Corvair Monza, Detroit’s version of a compact, economy car designed to compete with the Volkswagen Beetle. It was sporty and sleek, and it was also the car that Ralph Nader made famous in his book Unsafe at Any Speed. He claimed the car was unstable and prone to rollover accidents. I was driving my dad’s much larger and heavier Chevy Impala. So many lives were wrecked that night at that corner, which was known as a particularly dangerous place. Already that year, two other people had lost their lives in crashes where the loop met Big Spring Street. After Mike’s death, the city did install a much bigger stop sign and posted warnings. But it was too late for us. A dangerous intersection, a less than safe car, and me. I don’t see well, I didn’t ever see well, and maybe that played a part. Or perhaps it was simply dark. Judy and I were talking, and I was an inexperienced driver who got to a corner before I expected it. There are those who want to believe the future First Lady deliberately and with malice aforethought murdered her (ex-)boyfriend over some now forgotten teen tiff and who point to what they view as the suspicious circumstances of the accident and the subsequent lack of prosecution as proofs of their supposition. Yet to entertain such a hypothesis is to believe the young woman would have attempted to kill another by doing away with herself. (As the driver of what was intended to be a murder weapon, she would have had no reason to believe she would survive a collision severe enough to be fatal to her prey — that events turned out that way doesn’t mean that outcome could have been reasonably foreseen.) Then there are the circumstances of the crash. It was 8 p.m. on a November night in Texas on roads far removed from any town, so it was dark. With no stop sign facing him, the doomed young man would have had no reason to slow his vehicle even if he had seen another car approaching the intersection. He therefore would have been traveling at least 50 mph. Laura Welch ran the stop sign facing her, so there is reason to assume she too was going approximately 50 mph, the speed she would have been doing if she’d had the right of way. Consider two cars traveling in the dark at right angles to each other, each going approximately 50 mph. The span of time available in which to form murderous intent would have amounted to mere seconds, given the speed at which the event was unfolding and how close the two vehicles had to be to one another before the ill-intentioned would recognize the vehicle of her target. It doesn’t add up. One e-mailed version of the rumor tries to supply an answer to that inconsistency, saying, “She knew it was her boyfriend’s car driving south, because of the unique headlight configuration of his 1962 Corvair Sedan.”  The vehicles were traveling at right angles to one another, so an unusual headlight array on one wouldn’t necessarily have been easily visible to the other. (According to automotive experts, the headlight array on the 1962 Corvair Monza was typical of the cars of the day; two headlights on each side, as this photograph shows.) So 17-year-old Laura Welch did cause the death of a friend by running a stop sign, but to see more in the story than that is to surrender oneself up to baseless imaginings. Yes, it is always easier to attribute malice to bad outcomes, but that does not mean malice is an integral component of tragedy, especially those involving people Fate later chooses to exalt. According to George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, Laura Welch did not find out that the driver of the other vehicle had died at the scene until later when she and her girlfriend were being treated at the hospital. And she did not learn his identity until later still, when her parents arrived and broke the news to her. It shattered her.",
            "output": [
                "A teenaged Laura Bush caused the death of a classmate in an automobile accident."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-134d51d22e2f4445979177405e5d8091",
            "input": "The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s providing the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine with a $450,000 three-year grant to help with the effort. The university says medical students will learn to use federally-approved medications along with counseling and behavioral therapies. University of New England’s interprofessional education coordinator, Jenifer Van Deusen, says there are an estimated 2.5 million people in need of treatment for opioid use disorder in the country. She says the U.S. needs more medical providers who are trained and willing to provide care to address the problem. The effort will also involve updating the school’s medical and physician assistant curriculums.",
            "output": [
                "Maine’s sole med school to boost opioid disorder training."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-466e0951a3174b4ebe1d612d70e103fd",
            "input": "One could say that the cost of VapoRub is not an important factor, but given how easy it would be to note the price of VapoRub, especially for the amount used in the study, we think the story should have included it. The story does not tell readers how much of a difference there was between the treatment groups. The parents did report improvements, but readers can’t tell from this story just how much. The story would have been better if it pointed out that the parents were asked to rate symptoms on a seven-point scale. For instance, the effect on sleep ranged from 1 or “not at all much” to 7 or “very much” and the VapoRub on average nudged the symptoms just one point more than the petroleum jelly. What does it mean to feel one point better on this scale? The vague description of the relative improvement might lead readers to believe the differences were dramatic. The story reports that almost half of the children who were treated with VapoRub reported side effects including skin irritation or a burning sensation, while none of the children in the other groups reported any side effects. The story briefly describes that the trial had three arms (VapoRub, petroleum jelly, no treatment) and that parents told investigators about their children’s symptoms. But the story failed to report key aspects of the experiment that raise questions about its conclusions.Although parents were instructed to put VapoRub on their upper lips before opening the treatment container (that had VapoRub or petroleum jelly for their child) in order to attempt to mask the treatment, the researchers wrote that the masking effort largely failed. Almost 9 out of 10 parents were able to correctly guess whether their child was treated with VapoRub or petroleum jelly, so the parents’ beliefs about which treatment would be more effective could have influenced their survey responses. For unexplained (and unreported) reasons, the children who got petroleum jelly rubs took more acetaminophen pain reliever, which could suggest that there was some difference in their illnesses. While the story reports that there were differences in responses about sleep, the story does not tell readers that this single question accounted for most of the difference between the treatment groups, indicating that VapoRub may not be superior. The story also does not address the definition of “improvement” used in the statistical analysis, which may be sliced so fine as to be virtually meangingless. The story accurately describes the children in the study as having “symptoms like cough, congestion, runny nose and restless sleep that lasted seven days or more.” The story does include a comment from an independent pediatrician, and the story notes that she works for CNN. It also points out that funding for the trial came from the company that sells VapoRub and that the lead researcher is an advisor to the company. The story points out that there have been growing concerns about other over-the-counter cold remedies for children. It also reports that the children who were not given any treatment also felt better the next day. The availability of VapoRub is well known. Although, there’s nothing new about VapoRub, the story does point out that the product claims have not been tested in this way before. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Topical rub eases kids’ cold symptoms, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f7bae89ae1945b3a247e5102548d3d8",
            "input": "Shares of the company traded marginally down at $132.47, after having closed up 1.7% on Monday. (bit.ly/2ZkZGze)    J&J said that the FTC had issued a “civil investigative demand,” or CID, the equivalent of a subpoena to determine if the contracting practices were legal. Pfizer Inc filed a lawsuit against J&J in 2017, saying its rival’s contracts with health insurers for blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, were anticompetitive and aimed at blocking sales of Pfizer’s biosimilar called Inflectra. Pfizer said in the lawsuit that J&J had contracted with many insurers to give discounts in exchange for giving preference to Remicade, and to only pay for Inflectra in cases where Remicade proved to be ineffective. Inflectra was approved in 2016 while Remicade went on the market in 1998. Remicade is an infused treatment for chronic autoimmune disorders and costs about $4,000 per dose, or $26,000 a year, Pfizer said in the lawsuit. J&J has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting the Pfizer lawsuit. Pfizer said in a statement that it had received a CID in June. “As Pfizer’s complaint alleges, J&J’s unlawful conduct is designed to prevent Inflectra from being able to compete on its primary point of differentiation – price. Today, Inflectra has an average selling price (ASP) that is more than 22% lower than Remicade,” the company said in a statement. “Despite these facts, J&J has not lost substantial volume or share of sales – counter to what should occur in a competitive market.”  Biosimilars are intended to be lower-cost alternatives to expensive biotech medicines. But since they are made from living cells and it is not possible to make an exact copy of the branded medicine, they are not automatically substituted for the existing branded drug the way a generic drug would be. The drugs treat ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.",
            "output": [
                "J&J says FTC probing efforts to protect arthritis drug Remicade."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00d6f6c6515942e19b1c33cdb818bdd3",
            "input": "The new figures bring the state’s death toll to 44 and its confirmed case count to 3,887. Health officials have warned the the actual number of infections is higher because many people may not display symptoms or have not sought testing if their symptoms are mild. The death reported Friday was a woman over 80 who lived in Minnehaha County, the state’s most populated area. About 80% of cases in the state have come from the county. Several other areas experienced a rise in confirmed cases this week, with cities like Aberdeen and Rapid City showing small spikes in confirmed cases. Several Native American tribes also reported a handful of cases, which prompted strict lock downs on two reservations. State epidemiologist Josh Clayton warned that infections will increase as people practice less social distancing. Health officials also said 80 people were hospitalized with the disease as of Friday. About two-thirds of people with confirmed cases have recovered, while 1,269 still have active symptoms.",
            "output": [
                "South Dakota reports 1 more coronavirus death, 95 new cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9dc42039d57d4264905563b760f80aba",
            "input": "\"A student takes part in an \"\"antigravity\"\" yoga class at the Om Factory in New York August 16, 2011. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Experts say if you adhere to the learning curve, going anti-gravity can be just the thing to relieve overused joints and revitalize an earthbound routine. Stephen Csolak, fitness manager at a Manhattan branch of Equinox, the national chain of luxury fitness centers, uses an anti-gravity treadmill, called Alter-G, on a range of clients, from marathoners to the morbidly obese. “You have this bubble around you and you’re floating on top,” he said, describing how the Alter-G, which was developed from NASA technology, uses air pressure to gently lift the user. “If we remove a percentage of someone’s body weight by altering the effect of gravity, we come up with a lot of different benefits for a lot of different populations,” he said. So marathoners can train for speed and endurance with reduced risk of injury, older adults can exercise with reduced pressure on their joints and the obese can work out unencumbered by their extra pounds. “Being on the anti-gravity treadmill allows the obese client to feel their target weight, what they’d feel like if they were 20, 30 or 40 pounds (nine, 14 or 18 kilograms) lighter,” Csolak said. First lessons on the Alter-G are supervised, he said, and clients get hooked easily because it’s such fun. “I don’t believe there’s anything like it, other than swimming,” he said. “Swimming’s also a zero-to-minimal impact cardiovascular workout.”   Jessica Matthews, a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, said she’s seeing more anti-gravity group fitness classes. “I think of anti-gravity as anything where you’re physically suspended,” said Matthews, a California-based exercise physiologist. Offerings range from yoga classes where participants hang from hammocks, to group instruction in executing Cirque du Soleil-style stunts. “There can definitely be a place for this,” she said. “But in a group setting, when you have 30 to 40 people hanging upside down in a room, safety is key.”   Sabrena Merrill, a Kansas City, Missouri-based fitness expert, has developed a fitness program that uses aerial silks suspended from the ceiling. She said her goal is to bridge the gap between the performance and fitness worlds. “Climbing silks, doing foot locks and body wraps twice a week in lieu of resistance or weight training, definitely works the body hard,” Merrill said. The mechanics of being in the air forces your core to work differently, she explained, but the focus of her workout remains on the basic components of strength, flexibility and endurance. “Most women can’t imagine doing a pull up,” she said, “But after this training, they will do a pull up. Upper body strength will change.”   Merrill, who trains fitness professionals in the class, agrees that safety is crucial. Clients are screened for pregnancy, high blood pressure and medication. “We just don’t go very high off the ground, about one foot off the ground for most. And there’s a protective mat underneath,” said Merrill. She doesn’t contend that the aerial silks workout is superior resistance training, but it might be more fun. “It’s not better or worse, just different,” she said. “I can’t stress enough the enjoyment of the play. You feel like you’re a circus performer.”\"",
            "output": [
                "Gravity-defying workouts lift fitness routines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2baae536e9f4dd29572f80ea4402a53",
            "input": "\"U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, is one of California’s most prominent advocates for gun control -- and one of the few members of Congress to personally experience and survive gun violence. Speier was shot five times at point blank range in 1978 on a trip accompanying Rep. Leo Ryan to Jonestown, the remote commune in Guyana where 909 people died from cyanide poisoning and other means. Speier was a legal adviser to Ryan, who along with four others were shot and killed in an ambush near the compound. Speier was rescued a day later. Since then, she’s spent much of her career in politics leading the call for gun safety. It was no surprise Speier spoke out against gun violence on Dec. 14, 2016, the fourth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The shooter killed 20 students, ages six and seven, along with six adult staff members in what’s considered the deadliest mass shooting at a school in U.S. history. On the anniversary, Speier posted an image on Twitter of herself holding a card reading #EndGunViolence. Above the image she claimed: \"\"Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, more than seven children PER DAY have died from gun violence.\"\" We wanted to know whether the startling and somber statistic was true. We set out on a fact check. Our research A spokeswoman for Speier cited the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as the source of the statistic. She said the campaign used information from an online database of fatal injury reports maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We did not hear back from a spokesman for the Brady Campaign. But we found a similar statistic on the organization’s website: \"\"Every day, 7 children and teens die from gun violence.\"\" The website notes that it crunched CDC data for children and young people through age 19. The federal agency is considered a leading authority on mortality and injury statistics. It includes data through 2015. To examine Speier’s claim, we searched the database for the number of young people who died in connection with guns from the start of 2013 through 2015. Those are the most recent available years following the Sandy Hook shooting. We found 7,838 deaths in connection with firearms for people ages 0 through 19. That works out to 7.15 deaths a day during this three-year period -- which matches Speier’s claim of \"\"more than seven\"\" per day. These include all types of gun deaths from accidents to homicides to suicides. About 36 percent resulted from suicides. Some might take issue with Speier lumping in 18 year-olds and 19 year-olds as children. Gun deaths for these two ages accounted for nearly half of the 7,838 young people killed in the two-year period. Here’s a look at the breakdown of deaths by age group: 0-4 years: 247 5-9 years: 218 10-14 years: 847 15-19 years: 6,526 The National Institute of Justice, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, has stated that young people aged 15 to 24 are the group most at risk for gun violence. If considering only elementary school aged children, the total who die in connection with guns would be roughly one every four days -- still a tragic number, but not close to seven per day. We interpreted Speier’s use of the word children, however, to include a broader group of young people, including teenagers. Our ruling California Congresswoman Jackie Speier recently claimed: \"\"Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, more than seven children PER DAY have died from gun violence.\"\" Speier’s claim is backed up by the CDC’s fatal injury report data, which shows an average of 7.15 young people per day, aged 0 to 19, died in connection with firearms between 2013 and 2015. It’s important to note these include all types of gun deaths: accidents, homicides and suicides. All gun deaths are violent, but Speier’s statement could be interpreted as only including homicides or accidents. Finally, Speier’s claim might also lead some to think she’s talking about young school aged children, given that she invokes an elementary school shooting. The data show teenagers and young adults make up the vast majority of deaths due to guns in America, while elementary aged children account for a small fraction. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the source Speier relied on, offers a more complete look at this statistic on its website. It notes that children \"\"and teens\"\" are included in the seven deaths per day. Speier’s statement is on the right track. But it could have used some clarifications. – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.",
            "output": [
                "Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, more than seven children PER DAY have died from gun violence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-372e1220f99b4b8a824a82832a8b80e2",
            "input": "\"A salmonella outbreak traced to California chicken processing plants recently prompted Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., to raise a pet issue on MSNBC: antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The federal shutdown was limiting government’s ability to track infection, she said. But then she pointed to a deeper issue: \"\"the overuse and ruination of antibiotics.\"\" An advocate for tougher requirements for farm use of such drugs, Slaughter told host Joy-Ann Reid that she’s been \"\"trying to save antibiotics for persons — for human beings.\"\" \"\"Eighty percent of the antibiotics in this country are fed to livestock every single day, and it's creating a terrible problem of resistant bacteria,\"\" she said. Eighty percent is an awfully big number, and we were curious: Do livestock consume the bulk of the nation’s antimicrobial drugs? It’s an important question, because according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wide use of antibiotics in food-producing animals \"\"contributes to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in food-producing animals.\"\" Emergence of resistant bacteria means if you get infected with bacteria from the food you eat, it might be harder to fight that infection with antibiotics. Drug resistance may be contributing to higher hospitalization rates in the recent salmonella outbreak, for example, the Los Angeles Times reported. Here’s how it works, according to the CDC: Ranchers give animals antibiotics, which kills off or suppresses susceptible bacteria, but allows antibiotic-resistant bacteria to thrive. Those resistant bacteria may be transmitted to people through the food supply, such as by eating undercooked salmonella-tainted chicken. Since the bacteria are resistant to some antibiotics, the infections may be harder to fight, causing \"\"adverse human health consequences.\"\" So CDC \"\"encourages and supports efforts to minimize inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals.\"\" You’re probably aware of this effort in humans — it’s why doctors are discouraged from giving their patients antibiotics to treat nonbacterial infections such as cold and flu. Widespread use of antibiotics when they’re not required helps bacteria develop defenses to the drugs in a sort of microscopic arms race. It’s also the reason the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked farmers to phase out certain antibiotics important to human medicine when used merely to promote growth in animals. (The industry says this accounts for a small amount of antibiotic use. The FDA says it’s hard to say.) So, back to the 80 percent number. It turns out it has been a popular talking point since 2010 among those who advocate for restricting use of antibiotics on farms. That’s the year the FDA released newly required data on sales of antibiotics by manufacturers for food-producing animals. The FDA didn’t release sales information on antibiotics for human use, but pointed to national projections from IMS Health, a Connecticut company that compiles proprietary health data. The numbers let folks compare the millions of kilograms of drugs sold by manufacturers for use by food-producing animals (13.1 million kilograms) in 2009 with those sold for use by people (3.3 million kilograms). The 13.1 million kilograms of antibiotics sold for animals was 80 percent of the total amount of drugs sold for both humans and animals, which was 16.4 million kilograms. We should note this comparison doesn’t account for all antibiotics sold in the United States. For example, it doesn’t count antibiotics sold for household pets. A researcher with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future first did the math for a 2010 blog post that’s been widely cited. (The most recent reports reveal a similar proportion, as calculated by the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.) Pharmaceutical company lobby groups such as the Animal Health Institute, though, have cried foul. It says the number is \"\"wrong and misleading, for several reasons,\"\" and cites the FDA. The FDA has indeed offered a \"\"caution regarding comparisons of human and animal antibacterial drug sales data.\"\" It repeated some of those cautions in a 2012 letter to Slaughter herself. But while it offers a series of caveats about drawing \"\"definite conclusions\"\" from \"\"direct comparisons\"\" about the drug sales data  —  such as differences in dosages between different drugs and in the sizes of human and animal populations — it confirms both sets of sales data essentially measure the same thing. Both show the volume of antibacterial drugs, by weight, being sold to various outlets from the manufacturer. So, while they don’t offer a direct estimate of human or animal use, they do offer a comparison of sales by manufacturers for both groups. In 2011, the FDA provided the IMS Health sales estimates directly to Slaughter, describing the sales numbers as \"\"a surrogate for human use to compare to antibacterial drug use in animals.\"\" We should note that about a third of the antibiotics used in food-producing animals are ionophores, a type not used in humans. (The agriculture industry argues this means they have nothing to do with antibiotic resistance in humans; Lawrence at Johns Hopkins says they may still contribute.) If you remove ionophores from the sales data comparison, the proportion of antibiotics that go to food-producing animals vs. humans drops to around 70 percent. There are also also plenty of limits, as the FDA points out, on the usefulness of the publicly released sales data to inform public policy on antibiotics on farms. They don’t illuminate the reasons animals get the drugs (to promote growth? to treat infection? both?). They don’t specify how the antibiotics are administered (injection? food?). The FDA’s asking for comments on how it might release more of the information it collects from animal drug companies, and says it will update reports from previous years with that new data. That might include, for example, a detail it confirmed to Slaughter’s office in a 2011 letter — that nearly all antibiotics reported for animal use to the FDA were delivered in food and water, as opposed to by injection. Meanwhile, the industry uses the current lack of detail to downplay the usefulness of the statistic, even as it fights efforts to gather and release more information. Sales data is \"\"not at all useful for understanding the benefits or the risks of using antibiotics to keep animals healthy,\"\" Ron Phillips of the Animal Health Institute told PolitiFact. Others disagree and argue that the data is actually quite revealing. \"\"There is some uncertainty in these data, but not enough to escape the fact that the vast majority of antibiotics in this country are used in food animals, not to treat sick people,\"\" wrote Robert Lawrence, a doctor who directs the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins. Slaughter, meanwhile, is sponsoring two bills, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals Act and the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, to require more detailed monitoring and to limit the use of antibiotics to sick animals. Among those lobbying against both: the Animal Health Institute. Our ruling Slaughter said \"\"80 percent of the antibiotics in this country are fed to livestock.\"\" The statistic comes from a comparison of FDA sales data for food-producing animals and private sales data for humans since 2009 — not all antibiotics sold in the United States. A letter from the FDA to the congresswoman confirms that most of the drugs for livestock are consumed in food and water. That means the percentage \"\"fed\"\" to animals may not be quite as high as 80 percent, though it would be close. Slaughter could have said more clearly that of all the antibiotics sold for use by people and livestock, 80 percent are for animals. But she was close.\"",
            "output": [
                "Eighty percent of the antibiotics in this country are fed to livestock."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62c04cbac3aa4e1eb3ae21dcb8dc9ff0",
            "input": "The order issued late Wednesday in connection with the University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University, Los Angeles, requires that affected people stay home, avoid contact with others and notify authorities if they develop measles symptoms. Los Angeles County public health officials issued quarantines of 24 to 48 hours until proof of immunity is established, according to a statement from UCLA. Some people may need to be quarantined for up to a week. “Please be assured that we have the resources we need for prevention and treatment, and that we are working very closely with local public health officials on the matter,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in the statement. Measles in the United States has climbed to its highest level in 25 years, closing in on 700 cases this year in a resurgence largely attributed to misinformation that is turning parents against vaccines. Roughly three-quarters of this year’s illnesses have been in New York state. A UCLA student who was diagnosed with measles possibly exposed 500 people on campus to measles in early April, according to a statement from the school. As of Thursday afternoon, 79 of those students and faculty members had not provided medical records showing that they are immune to measles, the university said. Meanwhile at Cal State, a person infected with measles visited a library and possibly encountered hundreds of employees, some of whom were students. A total of 156 of them could not provide their immunization records as of Thursday afternoon, according to a statement from the Cal State. Health officials determined that there is “no known current risk related to measles at the library at this time,” Cal State said in its statement. The orders come as a small outbreak of measles occurs in Los Angeles County involving five confirmed cases linked to overseas travel. The state recorded 38 measles cases as of Thursday; there were 11 around the same time last year, said Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health. The state typically sees fewer than two dozen cases a year, she said. This year, California’s cases stretch across 11 counties and affect patients from 5 months old to 55. More than 76% of patients were not vaccinated or did not receive the recommended two doses of vaccine, Smith said. Fourteen of those infected had traveled overseas to countries including Philippines, Thailand, India and Ukraine. Measles in most people causes fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. However, a small fraction of those infected can suffer complications such as pneumonia and a dangerous swelling of the brain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for everyone over a year old, except for people who had the disease as children. Those who have had measles are immune. The vaccine, which became available in the 1960s, is considered safe and effective, and because of it, measles was declared all but eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. ___ Associated Press Writer John Antczak contributed to this report. ___ Follow Weber at https://twitter.com/WeberCM",
            "output": [
                "Quarantines at 2 LA universities amid US measles outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-388810e768444c88a7da87de3c4738f2",
            "input": "A much e-mailed piece about pink-clad prisoners of the Maricopa County Jail was extracted from a July 2003 Associated Press offering about the Summer 2003 heat wave’s effect on the Phoenix area. Those few paragraphs devoted to describing the condition of the inmates held in that jail went on to be widely circulated on the Internet although they formed only the smallest portion of the original piece, an article that described the air’s heat creating turbulence for airplanes overhead, car windshields shattering or falling out, dogs burning their paws on the pavement, and candles melting indoors:  It’s even hotter than usual in Phoenix, the Associated Press reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks. “It feels like you are in a furnace,” said James Zanzo’t, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. “It’s inhumane.” Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, is not sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told the inmates: “It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn’t commit any crimes, so shut your mouths. ” KIND OF PUTS THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE DOESN’T IT? A clue as to the ‘why’ of the selective quoting is contained in the tagline now often part of the forwards: “Kind of puts things in perspective doesn’t it?” Someone was struck by the comparison of the kvetching prisoners to the (presumed uncomplaining) troops serving in Iraq, and was moved to excerpt only that portion of the article to share with others. That the forward has proved as popular as it has shows the comparison resonates with a great many. The U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq may well be bona fide tough-as-nails servicemen, but at least in our mental image of them we also need them to be larger than life. We like to think of them as lantern-jawed heroes coolly dealing with the impossible situation that is Iraq without giving so much as a thought to their personal safety or even letting as little as a complaining word fall from their lips about the miserable conditions they must endure during that tour of duty. The juxtaposition of these brave soldiers to the societal dregs that wash up into a county jail is thus eminently satisfying to contemplate — it’s the comparison of giants to ants, working to exalt the one even as it makes the other look petty and small. Yet if the prisoners housed in Arizona’s Maricopa County tent city jails were complaining, they had some good reasons. At that facility the incarcerated were fed only two meals a day, with green bologna sometimes appearing on the menu. They were quartered in outdoor tents under sweltering conditions, and they slept on cots which lack pillows. They worked on chain gangs. And they wore pink underwear. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of the “It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn’t commit any crimes, so shut your mouths” quote, reveled in the sobriquet ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff.’ He enjoyed a very high voter approval rating for a time and had little trouble being re-elected to his post multiple times. He was a controversial figure, vilified by some and worshipped by others. In June 2004 the e-mailed excerpt from the July 2003 Associated Press article circulated anew on the Internet, this time prefaced as follows:  This is the way he is, and he has been re-elected several times … Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona) is doing it RIGHT!! : He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights. Cut off all but “G” movies. He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects. Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn’t get sued for discrimination. He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again but only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel. When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it’s gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs. He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. When the inmates complained, he told them…. this is a good one……”This isn’t the Ritz/Carlton. If you don’t like it, don’t come back.” He bought Newt Gingrich’ lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place. You have to love this guy!! More on the AZ Sheriff … [at this point, the text quoted above was repeated]  With one exception (which could simply amount to no more than our not having yet found the right supporting articles), the claims made in the 2004 preface checked out. Sheriff Joe Arpaio did ban  smoking, coffee, pornographic magazines, movies, and unrestricted television in all his jails. Those incarcerated in his tent city jail did indeed work on chain gangs, pull weeds for the city and county, clear brush, and the like. In 1996 the Sheriff put the nation’s first female chain gang to work. Although the e-mailed account made it sound as if he did so out of fear of prosecution for discrimination, there was no such threat lurking in the background — he chose that course of action because it suited his beliefs: “I don’t believe in discrimination in my jail system. Crime knows no gender and neither should punishment,” he said. Regarding the claim about his airing a Newt Gingrich lecture series on the jail’s television system, in 1995 the controversial lawman used canteen funds to buy the Republican House speaker’s 10-part, $150 video lecture series with the intent of piping it into the inmates’ cells. When asked if he’d also be providing those in his charge with a lecture series done by a Democrat, he replied in the negative. “For one thing I don’t know of any,” he said. “And some people might say these guys already got enough of those ideas.” He was also proud of having lowered the cost of feeding inmates in his care. Though assorted news articles quoted slightly differing figures, a 40¢ per serving expenditure was the one most often touted. “It costs more to feed our police dogs than our inmates. The dogs never committed a crime, and they’re working for a living,” Arpaio said. In 1998 Arpaio instituted a policy of charging inmates for their meals, levying a dollar-a-day tariff against each of those incarcerated. In 1994 he banned coffee from the Maricopa County Jail, but he did so not because of its lack of nutritional value, but to protect inmates and guards from hot-coffee assaults by other inmates and to lower costs. (By eliminating the estimated 5,000 cups of coffee served daily for 5,400 inmates, it was expected the county would save $94,158 a year.) The one item we have yet to validate is the assertion that Arpaio deprived inmates of cable TV until discovery that such act was in violation of a federal court order. We’ve yet to locate this order or to confirm that television programming was ever denied those in his care. It is on record, however, that inmates in his charge view only selected programming, such as what’s on The Weather Channel. (“I think my chain gang deserves to know how hot it is when they hit the streets,” said Arpaio.) In September 2007 the following e-mail forwards about Sheriff Arpaio began to circulate:   Sheriff Joe is at it again. Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said “Okay.” The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who’d like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them placed in dog shows. The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Now he’s in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn’t doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. Although Sheriff Joe Arpaio did not (as implied above) take over the operations of the entire Maricopa County Animal Care & Control (MCACC) department, he was instrumental in the opening of the Maricopa Animal Safe Hospice (MASH), a no-kill animal shelter operated by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in what was formerly Phoenix’s First Avenue Jail. The MASH is a facility dedicated to caring for rescued animals that have been abused or neglected (as well as temporarily caring for the pets of owners who have checked into domestic violence shelters):  Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s no-kill animal shelter, MASH, was created to house and care for animals that have been abused or neglected by their caretakers and rescued by the Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit. The purpose of the shelter is to provide a safe, healthy and healing shelter for these tragic animals, who must necessarily await the outcome of their owners’ cruelty cases in court. Hopefully, their ultimate outcome will be adoption into loving, permanent homes. The first shelter opened by Sheriff Arpaio is in the First Avenue Jail, located at First Avenue and Madison Street, Phoenix, Arizona. This 30-year-old jail previously held inmates, but was closed for repairs to plumbing in December 1999. Though no longer suitable for housing inmates, the jail looks like paradise to the four-footed victims now housed and recovering there. The MASH location in the First Avenue Jail is air-conditioned, and the cells have been reconditioned to comfortably house animals. In July 2007 Sheriff Arpaio launched a hot line for calling in tips and information about people living and working in Maricopa County illegally. Then in September 2007 he unveiled “moving billboards” in the form of four trucks and eight inmate passenger vans plastered with the hot line number and signs reading “Do Not Illegally Enter” and “Help Sheriff Joe Arpaio Fight Illegal Immigration and Trafficking.”  Critics contend that this move constitutes racial profiling; Sheriff Arpaio maintains that his signs say nothing about ethnic backgrounds: “It says illegal immigration and trafficking. I don’t care where they’re from.” Sheriff Arpaio finally stepped down after losing a re-election bid to Democrat Paul Penzone in 2016.",
            "output": [
                "An Arizona sheriff dismissed prisoners' bellyaching about the heat by pointing out that soldiers serving in Iraq cope with similar conditions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b90d2a74870a4141b18920efee59ab05",
            "input": "Dr. David Hager is a part             of the teaching staff of the University of Kentucky College of             Medicine and has developed a reputation as an expert on gynecologic             infections. This eRumor was circulated before Dr. Hager actually became a member             of the committee. He is now a part of the panel, although he did not become the             chairman of it. He is a conservatively oriented physician and is a speaker and             author in the Christian community who describes himself as pro-life. He objected to this eRumor saying that he does not know who wrote it             and that no one had interviewed him for it and that some of it is             not accurate. He says that he does not refuse to prescribe birth control for             unmarried patients. He is an advocate of abstinence but for patients who do not make             that choice, he is not opposed to birth control prescription. He also says that his opposition to RU-486 was based on his concerns             about the safety of the drug. He says RU-486 was approved under an “Accelerated Approval             Process” reserved exclusively for anti-AIDS and anti-cancer             drugs and an antihypertensive agent. He says that normally the             FDA requires one or more than one randomized, controlled trials             before approving a drug, which was not done for RU-486. He also says that he does not believe that standard birth control             pills are abortifacient and has never written it. He says he co-edited a book that referenced various views about             birth control pills but that not all of those views were his own. Regarding his views of how to deal with stress-related disorders in             women, he says “I have always offered a holistic approach to             therapy. I suggest diet/exercise changes, medications as             needed, counseling when required, and meditation/prayer.” Last updated 11/30/03 Comments",
            "output": [
                "  The eRumor is a protest of             the choice of Dr. David Hager to lead the U.S. Food and Drug             Administration’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.              It says he is a religious pro-life physician who refuses to             prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women and opposes the use of             RU-486, the pill that ends a pregnancy.   "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-42016e10001245e6a53d69af471cebae",
            "input": "The private university in Durham submitted claims for dozens of research grants that contained falsified or fabricated information that unjustly drained taxpayer money from the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies, the U.S. Justice Department said. The school said it is repaying grant money and related penalties. “Taxpayers expect and deserve that federal grant dollars will be used efficiently and honestly,” local U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin said in a statement. “May this serve as a lesson that the use of false or fabricated data in grant applications or reports is completely unacceptable.” The lawsuit was first filed in 2015 by whistleblower and former Duke employee Joseph Thomas. The Justice Department took it over afterward. The suit claims the faked research was conducted by former research technician Erin Potts-Kant, who was supervised by pulmonary medicine researcher William Michael Foster. Foster’s lab experimented with mice, seeking to determine the effects of inhaling diesel exhaust, among other tests. Several research papers by Foster’s team were later retracted. “We expect Duke researchers to adhere always to the highest standards of integrity, and virtually all of them do that with great dedication,” university President Vincent Price said in a statement. “When individuals fail to uphold those standards, and those who are aware of possible wrongdoing fail to report it, as happened in this case, we must accept responsibility, acknowledge that our processes for identifying and preventing misconduct did not work, and take steps to improve.” The settlement was announced on the same day that U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles had scheduled a hearing on why the deal supposedly struck in November hadn’t been finalized by the Justice Department. The government alleged that between 2006 and 2018 Duke knowingly submitted faked data to federal agencies in 30 grants. The university had warning signs that some of the research was fraudulent but didn’t act until discovering in 2013 that Potts-Kant had siphoned off money for spending on clothes and other items, the lawsuit said. Duke University said the technician pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery in state court and paid the school restitution. Foster retired in 2015, university spokesman Michael Schoenfeld said. Thomas, the whistleblower, will get $33.75 million from the settlement, the government said. Duke is still dealing with a different research scandal dating back more than a decade. Duke medical professor Dr. Anil Potti engaged in misconduct while researching treatments in human cancer patients, U.S. Health and Human Services Department investigators said in 2015. Potti’s studies were published in top medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet Oncology between 2006 and 2009. In a settlement reached with the federal health agency, Potti did not acknowledge liability but agreed to have all his research supervised until 2020. Potti left Duke in 2010. Duke settled lawsuits brought by patients and estates of patients who participated in those medical trials. As a result of both cases, the National Institutes of Health last year required Duke University researchers to increase their reporting of how federal grant money was being spent. ____ Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio.",
            "output": [
                "Duke University pays $112M to settle faked-research lawsuit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8e88e941df56454b98c03ce26c7e7bbb",
            "input": "Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou (C) arrives at a news conference at the end of a euro zone summit in Brussels, October 27, 2011. REUTERS/Yves Herman “Some were under such pressure that they needed medical attention. I see George Zanias, thankfully with us. But George Glynos was unable to join us after suffering a heart attack,” Papandreou told a news conference in Brussels after an 11-hour EU summit. Like many of their EU counterparts, Greek officials have worked punishing hours under enormous stress for months. The debt crisis has taken its toll not only on their country and the euro, but on their health. Government officials said Greece’s chief economic adviser, Zanias, developed very high blood pressure during Sunday’s summit and was ordered to stay in his room all day Monday. Papandreou’s aide Glynos suffered a heart attack in Athens after Sunday’s summit and missed Wednesday’s meeting. “Your body revolts. You go from a plane to meeting after meeting with little sleep, you drink too much coffee and you are forced to eat bad food. It’s an unnatural life and there comes a point when we’ll all pay for it,” said a Greek Finance Ministry official who did not want to be named. While leaders dined on giant shrimp with aubergines followed by roast turbot and a trio of sorbets, for the delegations, usually waiting anxiously to be briefed on a different floor, the dining is not as exciting. “The food is terrible. You eat sandwiches and junk food all day. I got really sick from it Sunday,” said one Greek delegate who declined to be named. But even after a meal of roast turbot, the tension is just as high for the leaders meeting in a vast, windowless conference room in the upper reaches of the European Council’s headquarters in Brussels. They entered the building at around 5 p.m. Wednesday, and were still bargaining over a deal to rescue the euro zone from its debt crisis almost 11 hours later. At around 2 a.m., when negotiations were at their peak, a team of around 15 medics gathered in the lobby of the brown marble-fronted Justus Lipsius building, although the reason was not immediately clear. EU officials said the talks were extremely intense, with hard-nosed negotiation over very specific numbers before leaders would agree on the outline of a plan to reduce Greek debt and convince banks to take losses. They knew their decisions had to reassure edgy financial markets, but could also cause big losses for financial institutions and perhaps lead to the nationalization of Greek banks. One senior EU official said the talks progressed extremely slowly. In the early hours of Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the IMF’s Christine Lagarde entered into direct negotiations with representatives of private sector banks and insurers to persuade them voluntarily to accept heavy losses on Greek debt. At one point, euro zone negotiators said it might be necessary to force the banks and insurers to take losses if they didn’t accept at least a 50 percent loss on their investments — a move that would constitute an immediate default on Greek debt, with unpredictable fallout for Greece and the European economy. Such a threat is likely to have caused enormous stress to the Greek team, which repeatedly said ahead of the summit that it wanted to do everything to avoid defaulting on its 210 billion euros of private sector debt. “It is hugely tiring. You have to stay mentally focused, and it helps to be physically fit. You go to bed at maybe two in the morning and are up early. There’s a huge amount of information you have to be able to process,” said Michael Denison, special adviser to David Miliband when he was Britain’s foreign secretary, and now research director for the London-based consultancy Control Risks. EU summits are frequently high-pressure events. The leaders gather on the restricted upper floors of the building and barely move from the negotiating room until agreements are reached. “It’s a very unhealthy room, with no fresh air, and you don’t know if it’s day or night outside,” the Greek delegate said. “During 11 hours of talks, the leaders took two half-hour breaks — and that was not to rest, but to brief delegations.”   The leaders usually sit around a vast oval table in the low-ceilinged wood-paneled room. Behind them is a separate table for aides and advisers, and on one side of the room a wall of glass booths contains the interpreters. Summits are frequently heated and exhausting, with diplomats telling of heads of state who lose their temper or even fall asleep at critical moments. Not infrequently, they may go to change a shirt or freshen up when the strain begins to show. One official half-jokingly said that supplies of fresh bottles of water to the meeting room are sometimes halted in order to add extra pressure on the negotiators to wrap it up. “Part of the trick is to be able to move on from a topic immediately once a decision has been made,” Denison said. “But, however you do it, you need ministers who can keep the pace at these kind of meetings.”",
            "output": [
                "Do EU summits need a health warning?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-53289e7f0c0449f29e7f1d6c015c9fef",
            "input": "Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged a dozen districts in the greater Jakarta area starting Wednesday after extreme torrential rains hit on New Year’s Eve, causing landslides in hilly areas on the outskirts of the capital that buried scores of people. It’s the worst flooding in the area since 2007, when 80 people were killed over 10 days. More than a thousand soldiers and health workers sprayed disinfectant in hard-hit areas on Sunday to anticipate possible diseases spread by flooding, such as dengue and leptospirosis, a potentially fatal disease spread by rat’s urine, said Ridwan Carman, who is in charge of emergency response and recovery for the Indonesian Red Cross. About 11,000 health workers were deployed to provide medical care for people affected by the flooding, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said in a statement. He said there had been no recorded cases of leptospirosis, tetanus or serious waterborne diseases. In Lebak, a district in neighboring Banten province, where flash floods and mudslides swept away more than 1,700 houses and destroyed several villages, rescuers were still searching for a 7-year-old boy reportedly dragged away by flash flooding that killed at least nine people, said Zainal Arifin, a local search and rescue agency chief. He said mudslides that covered much of the area, blackouts and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search efforts. Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday failed to meet survivors in the devastated village of Sukajaya, where the highest number of deaths were reported, as his helicopter was unable to land due to bad weather, the presidential secretariat said in a statement. The village is in the hardest-hit district of Bogor, where 16 people were killed by flash floods and landslides. Waters have receded in most parts of greater Jakarta, allowing many residents to return and clean up, but scores of tightly packed settlements close to rivers that often suffer from floods during the rainy season remained inundated or covered in mud and debris. Tens of thousands of people remained crammed in damp shelters, mostly in western Jakarta and its satellite city of Bekasi. Government data on Sunday showed that some 92,200 people were still unable to return home as the filthy waters submerged their houses up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) high. In a cramped and damp emergency shelter at a sports center in south Jakarta, mothers breast fed their babies near piles of smelly wet garbage. “My baby is not sleeping as the rain comes in, the wind comes in,” Yuyun Yuniarti said while holding her 7-month-old baby in a sling. “It is disgusting here, but we are stuck.” Yuniarti said food and medicine appeared to be sufficient, with most shelters visited in recent days by authorities and private organizations delivering regular supplies of food. A temporary clinic was treating patients close to where Yuniarti was sleeping, including many suffering from respiratory illnesses. Save the Children, an international child rights organization, expressed its concern about the dire situation for children. At least six kids have died from the floods and tens of thousands have had to leave their homes in Jakarta. “We call on all involved to make sure children are kept safe and have a roof over their heads, and food to eat,” Dino Satria, Save the Children’s humanitarian director in Indonesia, said in a statement. He said his organization would provide school kits, tents and hygiene kits to prevent the outbreak of diseases. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that more downpours were forecast for the capital in the coming days, and that the potential for extreme rainfall would continue until next month across the vast archipelago nation. The government on Friday started cloud seeding in an attempt to divert rain clouds from reaching greater Jakarta to prevent possible flooding, the agency said. Indonesia is hit by deadly floods each year, and Jakarta, the capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is not immune. But this year’s floods have been particularly bad, with nearly 400,000 people seeking refuge in some 270 shelters across the greater metropolitan area as floodwaters reached up to 6 meters (19 feet) in some places.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia’s flooded capital disinfected to fend off disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4562054b83bb48e5a452ca474b2e7ae2",
            "input": "\"The cover of \"\"The Male Brain\"\" by psychiatrist Louann Brizendine, known for her bestseller \"\"The Female Brain.\"\" REUTERS/Broadway Books So says the author of the new book “The Male Brain,” psychiatrist Louann Brizendine, known for her bestseller “The Female Brain.”   “The way Mother Nature made us, the man’s job on the planet is to look for, search for and seek out fertile females to mate with,” she told Reuters in an interview. The biggest misunderstanding women have about men is their complaints about men peeking at a woman’s figure or watching an attractive woman walk by, Brizendine said. “She doesn’t understand that this is how he is wired,” she said. “It’s not that he doesn’t love you.”   Just because men ogle women, she said, it does not mean they will have extramarital dalliances like top golfer Tiger Woods or Jesse James, the husband of actress Sandra Bullock. “There is the normal range of behavior and then there is pathological behavior,” Brizendine said. “Clearly Tiger crossed over the line,” she said. “A few men like that give all men a bad name.”   The best indicator to whether a man will be faithful is whether his father was faithful, as genes that cause monogamy are passed from father to son, according to “The Male Brain.”   After making a name for herself as an expert on gender differences with “The Female Brain” in 2006, Brizendine said she wanted to write a bookend to that in hopes it will help couples having trouble talking or understanding each other. She says in the book’s introduction that when she told friends of her plans to write about the male brain, almost everyone replied “That will be a short book!”   Indeed, the book is shorter than her previous one. While “The Female Brain” was 180 pages excluding notes and references, “The Male Brain” is a more concise 135 pages. Still, the book reveals men’s minds to be every bit as complex as women’s, as evidenced by the 124 pages of notes and references. The cover shows a brain made from duct tape — an homage to her claim that men are problem solvers. “The male brain is more of a fix-it brain,” Brizendine said. When a woman tells a man something has upset her, he is likely to tell her what she should do, she said. Instead he should say “Honey, I know how you feel,” Brizendine said. “She wants that resonance of emotional empathy.”   But rather than get annoyed, women should learn the typical response is men’s way of expressing love and care, she said. Even men like Brizendine’s husband, a renowned neuroscientist, fall down in the empathy department but she has trained him well. “I put on my husband’s computer a little yellow sticky that says ‘Honey, I know how you feel,’” she said. “He says the words out loud and even though we know the words are scripted, we laugh and it does feels better.”   Brizendine says she wrote both books to help patients — she runs the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic in San Francisco and teaches at the University of California at San Francisco — and she has been surprised by their commercial success. With both sides of the gender divide now covered, she said she has no ideas yet for another book. Her writing has led to unusual offers that she has rejected — working as a marketing consultant on selling to women, hosting a television show giving advice and endorsing women’s products from clothing to soap. Brizendine is not sure what endorsement offers will emerge after her latest book. “Let’s hope it’s not Viagra,” she said.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Male Brain\"\" book sheds light on how men think.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fbc2eaa161645498fe6515bf6accc60",
            "input": "Natchez aldermen on Tuesday unanimously rejected rezoning property to allow a crisis stabilization unit, a small mental hospital meant to keep people from being sent to faraway state hospitals or jail. Opponents said the facility is inappropriate for a mostly residential neighborhood. Crisis stabilization services were one of the flash points in a recent trial in which a federal judge ruled Mississippi was violating the rights of mentally ill people by relying too much on state hospitals to confine them. Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten testified in that trial that Natchez and surrounding Adams County have few resources to help mentally ill people, saying he padded a jail cell to hold people. Patten testified that he rarely got help from Southwest Mississippi Mental Health because many of its employees were more than an hour away in McComb. Southwest Mississippi Mental Health Executive Director Sherlene Vince told The Natchez Democrat that city documents improperly labeled the unit as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. “It is not a drug treatment program or detox unit and we are not able to treat anyone who has criminal charges,” Vince said. Alderwoman Sarah Carter Smith says Natchez needs the unit, but says “there has to be a better place for it.” “It should not be in a neighborhood,” Smith said. Lawyer Scott Slover, representing Southwest Mississippi Mental Health, said that because the facility is being funded with grants from the state Department of Mental Health, the local mental health board can’t build or buy a building. The requirement to lease limits its options, Slover said. “They would have to find someone who owns a piece of property, would invest anywhere from half a million to $750,000 into the property and then would take some sort of lease payment over time to recoup the cost and make a profit,” he said. “That is easier said than done.” Slover warned that if Natchez couldn’t approve a location, the crisis stabilization unit could also end up in McComb. At least three other Mississippi cities have settled lawsuits alleging illegal discrimination against people with disabilities in recent years after they barred or tried to close facilities serving people with mental illness. ___ Information from: The Natchez Democrat, http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/",
            "output": [
                "Mississippi city rejects mental health facility despite need."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d7e1f4301494d8fa9741279e6ed6e7c",
            "input": "\"In February, amid the heated debate over health care reform, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced legislation to bar insurance companies from implementing \"\"unfair\"\" hikes in health plan premiums. In a March 8, 2010, New York Times story, Feinstein explained why she cares so much about the issue. \"\"We are the only industrialized nation that relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care,\"\" Feinstein said. \"\"I believe, fundamentally, that all medical insurance should be not-for-profit.\"\" We thought it would be worthwhile checking if Feinstein was right that no other nation \"\"relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care.\"\" As it turns out, some other countries do have private, for-profit insurance companies operating in their health care sector, and there are some indications that this sector is growing. But the business, legal and regulatory environment in which they operate is quite different than it is in the United States. A good example is the Netherlands. Dutch plans may be either non-profit or for-profit, as in the U.S. But children are fully covered using public funds, and premiums for adults are set at 50 percent of the expected costs, with the remainder paid through a national \"\"risk equalization fund\"\" -- essentially funds collected from the public at large. As a result, health insurers in the Netherlands aren't really able to compete for adult customers on price. By law, insurers must accept and renew all applicants, and a basic package of services must be offered. By contrast, U.S. insurers are free (for now, at least) to reject applicants on the individual market if they have pre-existing conditions, and insurers offer a panoply of plans with different premium levels and benefit packages. So, in the Netherlands, even the for-profit insurers don't typically make much of a profit on their basic health care lines. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, any profit that insurers make on basic services must be plowed back into reducing premiums. So why even call these companies for-profit? In many of the European countries with a for-profit health insurance sector, the companies make their profits not on basic health care -- the kind that Feinstein specifically referred to -- but by up-selling their health care customers on supplemental health coverage, such as dental care, eyeglasses, cosmetic surgery or more luxurious hospital rooms, or other product lines altogether, such as life or homeowner's insurance. \"\"There's no developed country where insurers can make a profit on basic coverage,\"\" said T.R. Reid, the author of The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. \"\"Their mission is to pay for health care, not to pay investors.\"\" Maggie Mahar, a fellow who specializes in international health care policy at the Century Foundation, agrees. \"\"I usually say that the U.S. is the only country in the developed world that has chosen to turn health care into largely unregulated, for-profit enterprise,\"\" she said. Technically, for-profit companies do provide basic medical care in countries such as the Netherlands, and there's enough of it going on to say that such countries \"\"rely\"\" on those insurers to serve that need. But the profit these companies make -- or at least the vast majority of it -- is made from lines of business other than basic health care. Because there is no official definition of \"\"basic health care\"\" in the U.S. system, it is hard to calculate exactly how much profit American insurers are making off basic services. But whatever it is, most experts expect that it is higher than the margins being made on basic health care by for-profit insurers in other countries. We believe that Feinstein is right that the U.S. for-profit insurance industry's role in basic health care is fundamentally different than what goes on in other countries, and that this outweighs her technical error in saying that no other country relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care.\"",
            "output": [
                "We are the only industrialized nation that relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-396c4eb1d9ae42aca8b8aa8750324a37",
            "input": "The Ontario government is investigating a hog farm in the province’s Middlesex County after a laboratory finding of the virus, Dr. Greg Douglas, chief veterinary officer for Ontario, said at a news conference. Middlesex County is in southern Ontario near the city of London. Separately, one of Canada’s biggest pork processors, Olymel LP, said tests also confirmed the virus at an unloading dock of its Saint-Esprit slaughter facility northeast of Montreal, Quebec. “What they have found in the U.S. is this virus is highly contagious,” Douglas said. “It has been very difficult for producers to absolutely mitigate the threat.”  PEDv - which causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration in hogs - has turned up in 23 of the 50 states since its discovery in the United States last April. The virus, which is already established in Europe and Asia, poses no threat to humans and is not a food safety risk, according to the Canadian Swine Health Board. Canada is the world’s third-largest pork shipper. There are no official figures for pigs lost to the disease, but U.S. hog industry analysts estimate 1 million to 4 million have died. The virus continues to spread in the United States, with a total of 2,394 confirmed cases in 23 states as of the week ended January 18, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). As defined by the USDA, each diagnostic case could represent multiple animals at either a single farm site or several locations. An undisclosed number of pigs have died at the Ontario farm. Douglas said the farm is not under quarantine, but the farmer has agreed not to move pigs off it in the near term. Quebec and Ontario are Canada’s two biggest hog-producing provinces. Canadian hog farmers have been on high alert since the virus reached the United States last year, taking additional biosecurity measures such as washing out trucks returning from south of the border. But the spread to Canada was seen as just a matter of time. The virus can spread through contaminated pig feces on pigs, trucks, boots and clothing. Olymel spokesman Richard Vigneault said that, as a result of extra testing, the PED virus was discovered on Tuesday at the Quebec slaughter plant. The confirmed case did not affect production, he said in an interview with Reuters. PEDv has no known implications for international pork trade, said Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council. In June, however, Mexico restricted imports of live hogs from the United States because of the deadly virus.",
            "output": [
                "Pig-killing PEDv virus moves into Canada."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-820f74b0372541d89b9ab0c2e870a817",
            "input": "Speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Rome from his trip to Asia, Francis renewed a call for a total ban on nuclear weapons, including their possession for the purpose of deterrence. Francis said declarations on the immorality of the use or possession of nuclear weapons would be incorporated in the Church’s universal catechism, a compilation of Catholic teachings and rules. The pope comforted victims of the 2011 Fukushima disaster on Monday in Tokyo and noted a call by Japan’s Catholic bishops to abolish nuclear power outright. Around 18,000 people died or were classified as missing after the so-called Triple Disaster, when a massive earthquake set off a tsunami - in some places 30 meters high - destroying a wide swathe of Japan’s northeastern coast and triggering a nuclear meltdown at the plant. “The use of nuclear energy is at the limit (of safety) because we still have not managed to achieve total security,” Francis said. “In my personal opinion, I would not use nuclear energy until there is total security. There is not enough security to guarantee that there will not be a disaster,” Francis added. Francis said assertions that nuclear accidents were rare were insufficient because effects of radiation are felt for decades on people and the environment, such as in the area around the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine which was crippled by a meltdown in 1986. Francis, who wrote a major encyclical in 2015 on protection of the environment and the effects of global warming, said humanity had gone beyond the limit in violating nature. As examples, he listed the overuse of pesticides and dispensing growth hormones to animals destined for human consumption. “The (need for the) protection of the environment has gotten to the point where it is either now or never,” he said. Without naming countries, Francis accused states of practicing ‘armament hypocrisy’, saying nations of Christian tradition “speak of peace but live off weapons. This is called hypocrisy”. Francis said the United Nations does much good around the world but criticized the system that gives veto power to only a few nations in the Security Council. “Without meaning any offence to anyone, think of the (UN) Security Council: if here is a problem with weapons and everybody votes in favor of avoiding a bellicose action ... and one with veto power votes no, everything stops,” he said. The Security Council has five permanent members with veto power - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China. “I have heard people say that the United Nations should move forward and give up the right of veto of some nations ... It would be beautiful if everyone had the same right,” Francis said.",
            "output": [
                "Nuclear energy needs greater safety guarantees, pope says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b832e8173a94b38a8a7e7bc18f731f8",
            "input": "Researchers who analyzed the situation warned that if nothing was done to reverse the trend, Spain risked spiraling health problems and could see increases in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and the virus that causes AIDS. As part of the analysis, interviews were conducted with 34 doctors and nurses across Catalonia in northern Spain. Many reported feeling “shocked”, “numbed” and “disillusioned” about the cuts, and some expressed fears that “the cuts are going to kill people”, the researchers said. “For five years, policies to address the financial crisis have focused almost entirely on economic indicators,” said Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), who co-led the study. “Our paper sheds light on the burden of human suffering that has followed from these policies.”  The study published in the British medical Journal (BMJ) found that Spain’s national budget cuts of almost 14 percent and regional budget cuts of up to 10 percent in health and social services in 2012 have coincided with increased demands for care, particularly from the elderly, disabled and mentally ill. The researchers also noted increases in depression, alcohol-related disorders and suicides in Spain since the financial crisis hit and unemployment increased. “If no corrective measures are implemented, this could worsen with the risk of increases in HIV and tuberculosis — as we have seen in Greece where healthcare services have had severe cuts — as well as the risk of a rise in drug resistance and spread of disease,” said Helena Legido-Quigley, a lecturer in Global Health at LSHTM who worked with McKee. The findings in Spain chime with other studies in Europe and North America which found budget cuts had a devastating effect on health, driving up suicides, depression and infectious diseases and reducing access to medicines and care. In a book published in April, researchers said around 10,000 suicides and a million cases of depression had been diagnosed during what they called the “Great Recession” and the austerity measures that have come with it across Europe and North America. The BMJ study noted that Spain already had one of the lowest public expenditures on healthcare relative to GDP in the European Union. It said planned further cuts to a dependency fund for the elderly and disabled this year would put these vulnerable people even more at risk. Other changes in health provision include excluding unofficial immigrants from accessing free health services and increasing payments by patients for extra treatments such as drugs, prosthetics and some ambulance trips. In Madrid and Catalonia, regional cuts have led to a move towards privatization of hospitals, longer waiting times, cutbacks in emergency services and fewer surgical procedures, the researchers found.",
            "output": [
                "Spanish austerity cuts put lives at risk, study finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-53d5814c23224240bdb7b6a403d9c2d5",
            "input": "\"We don’t know yet if the Ebola scare will help either party or be an afterthought in the midterm elections, but liberal blogger Doug Muder argued that confronting Ebola shows that it makes sense to vote Democratic. For Muder, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is the poster child for a distinct partisan contrast. \"\"Ebola points out why we need a fully funded government,\"\" Muder wrote. \"\"When there’s no immediate threat of disease, government agencies like the CDC look like bureaucratic waste. When Rand Paul put out a ‘Tea Party budget’ in 2011, it included a big cut in the CDC, and virtually no explanation as to how this would affect its mission.\"\" In this fact-check, we look at whether Paul proposed a \"\"big cut\"\" in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Muder had blogged about Paul’s budget in 2011. Back then, Muder asked how the CDC would be able to fulfill its mission if, as Paul wanted, its budget was cut by $1.165 billion. We went back to Paul’s original budget documents. One posted January 2011 called for the $1.165 billion reduction that Muder mentioned. Paul then assembled a more complete budget plan in May 2011. It would cut the CDC budget by 20 percent from its Fiscal Year 2008 levels. Depending on whether you include special funds to evaluate federal health programs, Congress appropriated between $6.049 billion and $6.375 billion for the CDC in FY 2008. So Rand’s 20 percent reduction amounts to either $1.209 billion or $1.275 billion in cuts. That’s slightly more than Muder described. Paul wrote in his plan, \"\"The center is often mentioned in media reports highlighting their lavish accommodations. For example, in 2005, the CDC built a conference center for $106 million, complete with large-screen plasma TVs. They also spent tens of millions of dollars on state-of-the-art anti-gravity seating for employees, as well as luxury furniture. Taxpayers can no longer afford the luxury working atmosphere of the CDC.\"\" That budget plan remains posted on the website randpaul2016.com, Paul's Senate re-election website. Brian Darling, a Paul spokesman, agreed that the senator has proposed these cuts in the past, but said that funding and the ability to fight Ebola don’t inevitably go hand-in-hand. \"\"If you look closely at the CDC budget, there are funds that have been wasted on projects that have nothing to do with disease prevention,\"\" Darling said. Darling then noted that Congress has been at least as supportive of the CDC as the Obama administration. Darling said that in an omnibus spending bill, Congress appropriated $6.9 billion for the CDC, about $240 million more than the administration requested. Darling highlighted another $88 million for Ebola in a continuing resolution bill approved in September. However, neither action undercuts Muder’s point, and Paul voted against both measures. It’s important to remember that those bills doled out money across many government agencies, not specifically for the CDC alone. Sometimes reasonable people can quibble over whether a cut is \"\"big\"\" or not. In this case, Paul himself called his cuts \"\"serious\"\" in a 2011 op-ed he penned for the Wall Street Journal. \"\"My proposal, not surprisingly, has been greeted skeptically in Washington, where serious spending cuts are a rarity,\"\" Paul wrote. \"\"But it is a modest proposal when measured against the size of our mounting debt.\"\" Our ruling Muder said that in 2011 Sen. Paul proposed cutting the CDC budget by $1.165 billion. Budget documents confirm that. In fact, Paul’s most detailed budget that year would have trimmed CDC spending by slightly more, about $1.2 billion. While the Senate approved two broad spending measures to fund the CDC in 2014, Paul voted against both.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Doug Muder Says Sen. Rand Paul’s 2011 budget \"\"included a big cut in the CDC.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0619313ab0fd481aa683f976fbed08d1",
            "input": "The public gathering at the downtown Seattle Center, like a smaller turnout at a nearby spot hours earlier, defied a key provision of the state’s landmark marijuana law, which allows possession of small amounts of cannabis but forbids users from lighting up outside the privacy of their homes. Police kept their distance from both gatherings, underscoring mixed law enforcement messages about the new statute, known by its ballot designation as Initiative 502. The measure took effect on Thursday. Seattle’s city attorney issued a stern warning on Wednesday that public pot puffing would not be tolerated and that violators faced citations with $100 fines. But the Seattle Police Department said its officers had been directed to limit any enforcement actions related to Initiative 502 to verbal warnings only, at least for now. The new law, passed by voters last month in a move that could set the state up for a showdown with the federal government, removes criminal sanctions for anyone 21 or older possessing 1 ounce (28.5 grams) or less of pot for personal use. Colorado voters likewise chose to legalize pot for personal recreational use, but that measure is not due to take effect until next month. Both states are among 18 that have already removed criminal sanctions for medical use of marijuana. The Washington law also legalizes possession of up to 16 ounces (0.45 kg) of solid cannabis-infused goods - such as brownies - and up to 72 ounces (2.4 kg) of weed in liquid form. But driving under the influence of cannabis or imbibing in public places where the consumption of alcohol is already banned remain illegal. The new law ultimately will permit cannabis to be legally sold and taxed at state-licensed stores in a system to be modeled after those in many states for alcohol sales. The state Liquor Control Board, along with agriculture and public health officials, have until next December to set up such a system. For now, it remains a crime to sell, cultivate or even share one’s own stash, even though the law allows individuals to purchase a limited amount for personal possession. Ironically, the first known court challenge of the law came from a medical marijuana patient in Olympia, who filed suit last week seeking to block enforcement of a new standard for marijuana impairment while driving, similar to the blood-alcohol standard for drunken driving. The plaintiff, Arthur West, says the new legal limit - 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood of THC, pot’s active ingredient - would unfairly subject him to prosecution for a THC level at which he routinely drives without impairment. A hearing on his request for an injunction was set for Friday. Little if any of the law’s fine points seemed to matter to the mellow group of about 300 people - from college-age tokers to middle-aged Baby Boomers - who assembled at the Seattle Center fountain, a short distance from the Space Needle. Convivial laughter, laid-back conversation and occasional coughing filled the air as the pungent smell of marijuana wafted through the crowd, many wearing sweatshirt hoodies to ward off the chill, on a cold, crisp evening. Carrying a sign, “marijuana is safer than alcohol,” Jared Allaway, 30, described the night as “iconic.”  “Seattle’s always been friendly to cannabis,” Allaway said. “Hopefully this will spread to eastern Washington. You get outside of Seattle, it’s a different world.”  Seated in a wheelchair that sported a “Goddess” sticker, medical marijuana patient Penny Simons, 52, said she traveled with friends from Renton, Washington, south of Seattle, to attend the smoke-in. “It’s history,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about the people across the country who are jailed for this. It’s nice to see things change.”  A smaller crowd of about 100 pot-smoking celebrants had assembled about 19 hours earlier nearby for a count-down to the law taking effect at the stroke of midnight, blaring the music of reggae legend Bob Marley from loudspeakers. Both gatherings were peaceful, with no reports of arrests.",
            "output": [
                "Marijuana goes legal in Washington state amid mixed messages."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d22cbb9ed074f9f80f877c00efc4982",
            "input": "The program aims to cut across the “silos” of health initiatives focused on one thing — AIDS, for example, or nutrition — and get broader initiatives into place. “That is in addition to grants that we already make in vaccines, diarrhea, malaria,” Melinda Gates told reporters. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would try to focus the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto later this month on the subject, adding the goal is to raise $15 billion. “We may need an additional $45 billion by 2015,” Ban said. Ban and Gates described a comprehensive approach through 2014 to help women deliver babies safely and plan healthy families with access to contraception, while incorporating current vaccination and nutrition programs. “The women and children are always last in line for health issues,” Ban said. “It’s just morally unacceptable ... This is a real human rights issue.”   Ban said the United Nations would lean on developed nations and non-profits alike. “We need all of the actors,” he said. “Getting strong support from a foundation like Melinda and Bill Gates is a strong political tool for me.”   Ban, in Washington for the international Women Deliver conference, said he hoped the United States would provide money and political push. “I know the current economic situation is quite difficult. But the current economic situation should not give any excuse to pay less attention to this,” he said. Nor are poorer nations off the hook. Developing countries should devote at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health issues, Ban said. “They can make policy changes that make an enormous difference to women and children,” Gates said. “This is a government issue and it is going to take large-scale government funding to make it work.”   She praised the Ethiopian government for opening 15,000 clinics, for instance, and hiring 30,000 visiting health workers. The foundation, set up by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates with his wife Melinda, said it would provide initial grants of $94 million for work in India and $60 million for Ethiopia. Some of the first groups funded include the non-profit Save the Children and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Gates cited recent statistics showing it is possible to make progress. In April, Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington found that deaths of women in and around childbirth have gone down by an average of 35 percent globally. And last month, the same group found that deaths among children under age 5 fell from 11.9 million in 1990 to 7.7 million in 2010. World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped her institution could work with Gates on the program. “The reason why I think this could work is this is one area where we do have solutions,” she told Reuters at the conference. “We do know what works. Some of it has proven to be quite successful.”",
            "output": [
                "Gates Foundation gives $1.5 bln for women's health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d54b4edc8d9946c0ad5e45ff7e10d1f8",
            "input": "The story did not talk about the cost of adding a daily dose of ginger to one’s diet. But since that cost can’t be very significant, we’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story did a good job of sharing the limited results of the rodent study. Mice sneezed less (2.1 rather than 15.2 times) in the group that swallowed ginger, and had lower levels of immunoglobulin E, after exposure to an allergen. It was good to see that story used absolute numbers to quantify the benefits rather than stating the results as a percentage decrease. It seems that harms to the mice were not discussed in the research paper (not surprising as the mice were all killed as part of the study) that’s the basis for the story. A brief search didn’t turn up anything overly concerning regarding the harms of ginger, but then again, it’s not clear what the dosage given to the mice would translate to in human terms. A high-enough dose of anything can be dangerous. But while it might have been helpful to mention harms to humans attributed to powdered ginger, this may also have propagated the questionable notion that the findings are applicable to humans. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. To its credit, the story explains high up that the study involved mice, and it includes a closing caveat that ginger has not been tested in humans. But while many people will likely understand that the results have limited application to humans, other readers may not appreciate just how tenuous the link is between animal and human research. (Here’s some background on that issue if you care to read more.) The story falls short of warning that rodent studies frequently do not correlate well with human health. We’ll rule this close call in favor of the story and rate it Satisfactory. There was no disease mongering. The story does not quote any sources, either independent or connected to the scientific paper. We realize that space and length limitations may make it difficult to include such sources in a brief story such as this one. Nevertheless, we wanted to hear more context for this study. Ginger has already been studied for relationships to cardiovascular disease and cancer. A comment from someone in nutritional biochemistry, or an allergist, might have helped readers take better stock of the findings. The story does not talk about existing ways to reduce symptoms of allergies. One could argue that such discussion would be propagating the idea the study might apply to humans — not necessarily a good thing. But then again, the whole underlying point of the story is that there’s some relevance here to people. On balance, we’d rather see the story include this information, which might be more useful for readers than the sneezing rates of mice anyway. The story mentioned that the study used powdered ginger, which it notes is used in cooking. People can deduce from this that powdered ginger is widely available. As the story says, ginger has never been given to human patients for allergic rhinitis. We couldn’t find any news release related to this study. And since the story doesn’t include any independent perspective — which would indicate that it went beyond any such news release — we can’t be sure whether the story meets our standard here or not. We’ll rate it Not Applicable.",
            "output": [
                "Powdered Ginger May Ease Seasonal Allergy Symptoms"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7af82473538441968a08f1781dba6d01",
            "input": "Established in 2017, the FSFW focuses on eliminating usage of cigarettes and works toward smoking cessation using new technologies and alternative products. It says it works independently, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has said there are “clear conflicts” due to the $80 million in annual funding the foundation receives from Philip Morris. At least three Indian anti-tobacco groups earlier this year wrote to the federal health ministry in New Delhi calling for the rejection of any possible partnerships with FSFW, according to copies of their representations seen by Reuters. India’s federal health ministry has sent a letter, dated June 24, to chief secretaries of all states, saying they should not partner with FSFW and also advise other departments and institutions in their region accordingly. The ministry said Philip Morris was funding FSFW as well as manufacturing and promoting harm-reduction smoking devices. Reuters has previously reported Philip Morris has plans to launch its iQOS smoking device in India which it says is less harmful than conventional cigarettes. “Any collaboration with the Foundation for a Smoke Free World should be avoided in the larger interest of Public Health,” senior health ministry official, Sanjeeva Kumar, wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which is led by former WHO official Dr. Derek Yach, said it “operates with complete independence from Philip Morris” and was committed to full transparency about who its funders were. Philip Morris, which has a stated longer-term vision to replace cigarette sales with products such as its iQOS device, in a statement said FSFW was “an independent body governed by its own independent Board of Directors”. In recent years, the Indian government has intensified its tobacco-control efforts, raising cigarette taxes and ordering companies to print bigger health warnings on cigarette packs. India has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China, and more than 900,000 people die each year in India due to tobacco-related illnesses. A federal health ministry official said on Sunday the letter on FSFW had been sent as a preventive measure to dissuade states from any collaboration with the foundation, and similar instructions were likely to be sent to other federal ministries. The FSFW said there were no projects with any state government institutions in India. “We seek partnerships with all who share our goal to end smoking in the world,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. In May, FSFW said its team was committed to working with others “to accelerate an end to smoking in this generation” in India. It also invited people to study its strategic plan. That same month, Philip Morris in a press statement said it had urged the Indian government to create a regulatory environment for devices such as its iQOS. When the FSFW was launched in 2017, the WHO had said it will not partner with the foundation and asked governments around the world and public health communities to follow the agency’s lead. (Story refiled to fix grammar in paragraph 4)",
            "output": [
                "India asks its states not to partner with Philip Morris-funded foundation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16ca5221c89347f98ad0ac8b764669c0",
            "input": "But during her 16 years as a librarian on New York’s Long Island, Narkiewicz has also faced a man threatening to kill her and a patron screaming while cutting her own hair in the bathroom. For her job, Narkiewicz has been trained in CPR and mental health crisis response and carries the opioid overdose antidote naloxone with her. As libraries nationwide contend with a surge in patrons seeking refuge in the stacks because of poverty, drug addiction or mental illness, a growing number of institutions have social workers on staff. It’s the latest step in an evolution that libraries have been dealing with for years as homelessness and the opioid crisis reach emergency levels and patrons have come to rely on libraries as free, safe spaces open to all. Though homelessness has seen some declines in the U.S. since the recession, it has surged in cities like Seattle, where a homelessness state of emergency and a spike in questions from library patrons about things like housing, transportation and food led the public library system to hire its first full-time social worker in 2018. Other libraries, unable to afford such a step, have trained librarians to handle certain emergencies themselves. That’s caused some debate among library workers about whether they’re being asked to adapt to an evolving job or to do work that goes too far beyond their expertise. “I can get you a phone number, I can get you a book you want ... but when you’re dealing with mental health issues, I don’t feel appropriately trained for it,” Narkiewicz said. A few master’s degree programs for aspiring librarians have classes on mental health, but most don’t. To help fill in the gaps, an estimated 40-plus library systems have full-time social workers on staff, according to Whole Person Librarianship, an organization that tracks such partnerships. At the Queens Public Library in New York City, resident social worker Shantel Johnson oversees a team of library case managers, but she’s also available to help librarians communicate with struggling patrons, connect visitors to services or just listen to people. “They’ll open up to staff, and staff is doing 14 different things,” Johnson said. She says she regularly helps patrons who are homeless, experiencing abuse or having trouble applying for jobs. The Queens Public Library also started stationing New York University social work interns in some branches last year, as does the New York Public Library, which got its first interns two years ago. Library patron Sofia Ciniglio was meeting twice weekly with an intern at a Manhattan branch last year for career advice. But their conversations eventually involved her family, feelings and personal life. The intern introduced Ciniglio to a library where she could learn Braille, which she’d been curious about. “She was very much a good listener, very attentive, and she knew who I was and the nuances of how I go about things,” Ciniglio said. The NYPL’s librarians, meanwhile, are trained to de-escalate conflicts but aren’t asked to do more in-depth mental health crisis training. Spokeswoman Amy Geduldig notes that the library “is not a social services organization, and its staff are not medical or mental health professionals.” The NYPL, the nation’s busiest library system, still hasn’t hired a full-time licensed social worker, though Brooklyn did in 2015 and Queens did in 2018. In some libraries without professional social work help, employees are being asked to take on new tasks. At the San Diego Public Library, a state library grant has funded employee trainings in mental health first aid since 2016. Librarian Joseph Miesner says the training helped him personally when he came across a suicidal patron. In small town Titusville, Pennsylvania, library director Justin Hoenke recently agreed with his library’s board that all staffers should be trained to administer naloxone if needed. “This is a new requirement of the job,” Hoenke said. “If they’re not comfortable with it, they kind of have to reevaluate their life and their job. You have to change with the times.” Fobazi Ettarh doesn’t see it that way. An academic librarian at Rutgers University in Newark, she says too many expectations can distract librarians from their work, and she personally wouldn’t feel comfortable as a first responder to an overdose. “It would just be a lot for my mental health,” she said. Research suggests other librarians feel the same way. A 2018 survey of librarians in Pennsylvania found many reported they already felt stressed from trying to answer questions from patrons about mental health and social services, even without handling acute emergencies in the library. Meanwhile, some librarians, like Amanda Oliver, have begged in vain for more preparation. Oliver said she quit her public library job in Washington when she asked supervisors for more training and “was largely ignored.” District of Columbia Public Library Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan says Oliver’s branch offered at least two trainings related to mental health during her tenure, but the library is also “committed to doing even more” to support staff. Despite fraught encounters with people in crisis, Narkiewicz, who works part time right now, still hopes to find a full-time job in the library field. “Some days are really difficult. Some days are amazing and terrific,” she says. “It’s quite an eye-opening, but an amazing, wonderful career.”",
            "output": [
                "Librarians facing new tasks say crisis isn’t in the catalog."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8dbe3f1cf73f47faa83e6a28cdb01978",
            "input": "KGW-TV reports a woman in her 40s was hospitalized for a lung injury after she reportedly vaped products containing nicotine and THC. The products were purchased at local licensed retailers, Clark County Public Health said. A medical provider reported the illness to health officals. As of Dec. 10, the CDC reports 2,409 hospitalized cases of vaping-associated lung injury and 52 deaths. In Washington, 21 cases have been reported in nine counties. “We still don’t know what is causing this outbreak, and there may be more than one cause,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and Public Health director. “People should not use any vapor products.” In Oregon, two people have died from a vaping-related illness, according to the Oregon Health Authority.",
            "output": [
                "Washington’s Clark County reports 1st vaping-related illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92e3376a57f4468aa0d03eb5156f2a2a",
            "input": "“We can feel frustrated, miss loved ones or get anxious,” William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth, and Kate said in an interview promoting a government Every Mind Matters online platform which gives tips on mental health. “There are things we can all do to look after our mental wellbeing at this time.”  Prince William told the BBC he was especially worried about front-line health workers who were putting their lives on the line on a daily basis to save others, while absorbing the pain of their patients. “The experiences the front-line workers are going through now is like nothing that anyone has ever seen,” William said. “A lot of them are putting their lives and their health on the line for all of us.”   He noted that while health workers had rightly been praised as heroes, the country should be careful not to alienate those nurses, doctors and support staff “who do genuinely worry and are scared going to work every single day”. “We’re not superhuman, any of us. So to be able to manage those emotions and that feeling is going to take some time after all this is over as well.”       The members of Britain’s royal family, who are keeping in touch via online video calls, have experienced COVID-19 first hand, when William’s 71-year-old father, Prince Charles, tested positive and suffered mild symptoms last month. “I have to admit at first I was quite concerned: he fits the profile of somebody at the age he is at which is fairly risky,” said Prince William, adding that the hardest challenge for Charles was to stay at home and not go walking. He also expressed concern for the monarch, his 93-year-old grandmother, and his 98-year-old grandfather, Prince Philip, who are isolating at Windsor. “I think very carefully about my grandparents, who are at the age they’re at and we’re doing everything we can to make sure they’re isolated away and protected from this.”  The couple also discussed the challenges of remaining at home with three young children between the age of 6 and 2, with Kate admitting that they had maintained the home schooling routine through the Easter holiday. “I feel very mean,” she added.",
            "output": [
                "UK's Prince William and Kate say: look after mental health in coronavirus crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3f6792ac32874abbba70f6dc9a8addbe",
            "input": "Although it was mentioned that the largest maker of green tea had profits last year of $14 million, there was no estimate for the cost of green tea for the consumer. This was a report on the lack of evidence to support the contention that green tea consumption provided benefit in terms of heart disease risk. This report revealed that the assumed benefit of green tea for reducing heart disease was not supported by the scientific evidence. It did not, however, discuss the potential adverse effects of green tea, particularly caffeine, on patients with known cardiovascular disease. This story mentioned that the FDA reviewed the results from 105 studies in order to reach its conclusion that there was not sufficient evidence to support the health claim that green tea reduces the risk of heart disease. It ended with mention of the plans by the company marketing green tea to conduct future studies to try and prove the health benefits. This story presents the conflict between what people believe to be true – bits of scientific evidence that drift into public consciousness (i.e. Green tea has antioxidants, therefore it is good for you) – and demonstsration of clinicial benefit. This story contained interviews with several people on the street to support the contention that consumption of green tea is common place; as well as a quote from a marketing manager from what is reported to be the largest maker of green tea. For perspective on why the FDA was petitioned for this health claim, quotes from scientists working in the area of heart disease risk or the biochemistry of antioxidants might have been useful. There was no mention of lifestyle changes or drugs that have been demonstrated to decrease heart disease risk. This story mentions that millions of Americans drink beverages containing green tea. There was no claim made of novelty associated with consumption of green tea. Just the opposite. Though green tea is recently popular in the United States, mention was made of its consumption in Asia for thousands of years. This piece does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "FDA rejects green tea health claims"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2709359068fd4545a6336f3b1c774247",
            "input": "\"The mass shooting in Las Vegas prompted former Democratic Congressman Steve Israel of New York to write that these horrific events have little impact on public policy. In a New York Times op-ed, Israel walked through a list of shootings -- the murder of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, the June 2016 mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, and others -- and noted that despite the hand-wringing after each one, nothing changed. Israel said Democrats were unable to enact reforms, including \"\"our attempts to rescind the infamous Dickey Amendment, which prevents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from even researching the relationship between gun violence and public health.\"\" \"\"The result?\"\" Israel wrote Oct. 2. \"\"The government can’t study gun violence but is spending $400,000 analyzing the effects of Swedish massages on rabbits.\"\" There are two elements to sift through here: Does the Dickey Amendment block government research into gun violence and public health? And is Washington studying Swedish massage on rabbits? In 1996, with strong support from the National Rifle Association, Congress included an amendment by Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., in its omnibus spending bill. The amendment said \"\"none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.\"\" In the same bill, Congress pulled $2.8 million aimed at gun injury research and assigned it elsewhere in the CDC. Ever since, Washington and the CDC have steered clear of funding research that could run afoul of that amendment. Israel said the provision prevents government-funded studies of the ties between guns and public health, but plenty of people say the rule is not binding. Dickey himself joined with the former head of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Mark Rosenberg to challenge that long-held assumption. \"\"We believe strongly that funding for research into gun-violence prevention should be dramatically increased,\"\" they wrote in a 2016 public letter. \"\"We do not see the congressional language against using federal funds ‘to promote or advocate gun control’ as a barrier to this research.\"\" An article on the Harvard Law Petrie-Flom Center blog argued that the amendment bars research aimed at promoting gun control and not all research. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., echoed that point in a letter to the CDC, saying the meaning had been \"\"misconstrued.\"\" But that belief had its own consequences. \"\"As a result, public health researchers at the CDC and other federal agencies have been discouraged from conducting scientific research on gun violence,\"\" Carper wrote March 17, 2016. \"\"Although the CDC self-directs a portion of its nearly $6.2 billion annual budget to a wide variety of intra- and extramural research, the CDC has been reluctant to devote funding to gun violence research without a specific appropriation from Congress.\"\" Carper offered proof that the Dickey Amendment can co-exist with government gun violence studies. He noted that in 2015, the CDC assessed the causes of a rise in gun violence in Wilmington, Del. In general, the impact of the Dickey Amendment is more political than legal. Research could move forward, but without an explicit signoff from Congress, there’s been limited activity. After the 2012 Newtown slayings, President Barack Obama directed the CDC to conduct or fund research into the causes of gun violence. The impact was modest. \"\"As far as I can tell the CDC still correctly believes that gun research, or even mentioning guns, is too hot to handle,\"\" said director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center David Hemenway. Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research director Daniel Webster also said there’s been no new funding from CDC or the National Institutes of Health. Rosenberg told us, \"\"The research scientists at CDC are very anxious to do this research, but the recent directors of CDC have been willing to let this eminently solvable problem fester because they fear that the NRA will prod Congress into cutting public health programs that are viewed as more central and critical to CDC's mission.\"\" As for the $400,000 spent on studying the effects of Swedish massages on rabbits that Israel mentioned, yes, the government did that. (The exact amount was closer to $387,000.) It gave the Ohio State University Sports Medicine Center money to build a small device that mimics the action of Swedish massage to see if the treatment reduced pain and inflammation. Rabbits were the test subjects. The treatment helped, by the way. Researchers found that with the right mix of force, duration and frequency, there was \"\"maximal recovery of muscle and joint function.\"\" However, there’s an issue of timing with Israel’s statement. He said the government is currently spending money on this research. In fact, the study ended in 2014. Israel spokesman Harrison Feuer didn’t argue that detail. \"\"The larger point that Congressman Israel was looking to accurately make is that the government has funded studies into various endeavors that are less impactful than guns on public health,\"\" Feuer said. Israel said the Dickey Amendment prevents the CDC from researching the relationship between gun violence and public health. As a matter of law, it only prevents money going toward research aimed at promoting gun control. But as a matter of politics, that distinction is murky, and as a result, research has been limited. Israel’s point about Swedish massage on rabbits is off on the timing, but right on the substance. Israel’s statement has some technical flaws, but the broader thrust is accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Steve Israel Says the Dickey Amendment \"\"prevents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from even researching the relationship between gun violence and public health. ... The government can’t study gun violence but is spending $400,000 analyzing the effects of Swedish massages on rabbits.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa59a0e4e45441cfa82a1517248732ff",
            "input": "The Michigan Democrat says the expansion will cover about 22,000 square feet and help alleviate crowding at the existing clinic. Plans for the expansion have been in the works for years. Stabenow says former VA Secretary David Shulkin selected the site before his recent departure. The VA clinic in Traverse City provides health care services for thousands of northern Michigan veterans every year. They include primary care, women’s health, disease prevention and telehealth services. A new facility also will offer mental health, physical therapy and home-based primary care services.",
            "output": [
                "Site chosen for veterans’ clinic expansion in Traverse City."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4bad8ada3579412d9fa453fe5ca1f2f6",
            "input": "Wednesday marks one of several dates when large blocks of new laws take effect in Connecticut. Some of the latest new laws: ___ TAX CHANGES A handful of items and services will be subjected to the state’s 6.35% sales tax as of Jan. 1. They include safety apparel, metered and other previously exempt parking, dry cleaning and laundry, other than coin operated. Interior design services for individuals will also become taxable in 2020. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont originally unveiled plans in early 2019 to create a level playing field and expand Connecticut’s sales tax base by repealing various exemptions and imposing the tax on certain tax-free goods and services, from haircuts to child car seats. He told lawmakers that expanding Connecticut’s tax base “helps to make the sales tax more robust, fairer, and raises the revenue we need to get our budget into balance.” But like past governors who tried the same thing, Lamont faced strong opposition and ultimately agreed to this much shorter list of sales tax changes. Lamont and lawmakers did agree to repeal the state’s biannual $250 business entity tax, an unpopular fee charged to most businesses in Connecticut. ___ MENTAL HEALTH Certain health insurance policies will no longer be able to impose more stringent limits on mental health and substance abuse, compared to other illnesses, beginning Jan. 1. Also under the state’s new Mental Health Parity Act, substance abuse services must be covered if they are required by a court. “Diseases of the brain should not be treated any differently than diseases of the body, and Connecticut’s laws should reflect that,” Lamont said when he signed the bill into law in July. Beginning in March 2021, insurance companies will be required to file annual reports with the state, certifying they’re complying with the new parity law. Required coverage under certain policies for breast ultrasounds and hearings aids will also be expanded in the new year. ___ BLIGHTED BUILDINGS A new law authorizes a Superior Court judge to appoint a “receiver,” an entity or a person, to take over rehabilitating or disposing abandoned properties — industrial, residential or commercial — in communities with at least 35,000 inhabitants. Interested parties can petition the court to take over a property that has been abandoned for at least a year. The legislation is considered to be another tool for municipalities to address blight. Among other things, Connecticut’s cities and towns can impose fines and special assessments on owners of blighted properties, and create agencies that can condemn abandoned and blighted buildings and transfer ownership to qualified homesteaders. ___ DRIVER’S LICENSES Connecticut drivers may not have to spend as much time in the Department of Motor Vehicles as they used to. A new law allows the DMV commissioner to renew driver’s licenses up to every eight years, instead of every six years. The legislation also extends the length of time between registration renewals from two years to three years. Fees for an initial license, which is limited to seven years, are $84. For an eight-year license renewal, they will be $96, which is proportionate to the $72 fee for previous initial and renewed six-year licenses. It works out to be $12 a year. Lamont has predicted the changes will lead to shorter wait times for those who need to conduct business in person at the DMV. It is part of the administration’s efforts to streamline interactions residents have with state government. ___ POLICE TRAINING The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection will now be required to expand its free training on juvenile matters for state and local police. Beginning Jan. 1, it must include techniques for handling incidents involving juveniles and adults with autism spectrum disorder, nonverbal learning disorder or cognitive impairment. Emergency medical services personnel, firefighters, police officers and others will also be required to keep a paper or electronic copy of a “communication aid” that describes techniques to serve and interact with juveniles with such impairments.",
            "output": [
                "Tax changes, mental health parity among new Connecticut laws."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6a81ecb04cbf463d9d07cf22da0ce339",
            "input": "The Niagara Falls City School Board voted 8-1 in favor of the overhaul at a meeting Thursday night. Superintendent Mark Laurrie says the new curriculum will include physical, mental and emotional health education. Under the new program, students will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. The Community Health Center will also offer contraceptives and mental health services at Niagara Falls High School. Laurrie says he was concerned with teen pregnancy rates in the city. He says the new program represents a “cultural shift” in the way educators approach teens. Parents can choose to have their children opt out of a course. The district hopes to start the program in February.",
            "output": [
                "Niagara Falls school district adopts new health curriculum."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61aacc9586434f73b65ceecd87942524",
            "input": "Published in the online version of The Lancet Neurology,  the study suggests that cilostazol could be a safer alternative  to aspirin for post-stroke Chinese patients, who seem to be at  higher risk of cerebral hemorrhage, according to previous  studies. Anti-platelet drugs have an “anti-clotting” effect and  long-term, low doses may prevent heart attacks and blood clot  formation in people at high risk for developing blood clots. In the study, 719 patients around the age of 60 were  divided into two groups, with the first given cilostazol and  the second given aspirin for 12 to 18 months. Twelve patients in the cilostazol group suffered subsequent  stroke, compared to 20 people in the aspirin group. Brain bleeding was detected in 1 patient in the cilostazol  group versus 7 in the aspirin group. While the researchers said cilostazol appeared to be more  effective and a safer alternative to aspirin for Chinese  patients, they called for a larger clinical trial. Manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., cilostazol is  known by its brand name Pletal. Stroke is the second leading cause of death in China, with  about 7 million people affected in the country.",
            "output": [
                "Cilostazol found may be safer than aspirin post-stroke."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d5f95c4bbeac436b921d55a6af593943",
            "input": "The agreement on Friday between Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland and the family of Jahi McMath would allow relatives to move the child if they do so before 5 p.m. PT Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday), when a restraining order keeping the hospital from removing her from life support is set to expire, said hospital spokesman Sam Singer. McMath was admitted to Children’s Hospital on December 9 to have her tonsils removed as well as other procedures performed in an effort to treat her sleep apnea. After the surgery, the girl began to bleed profusely, went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain swelling. The hospital declared her brain dead three days later, and made plans to remove her from the ventilator, but her family has fought in state and federal court to keep her on life support. The case has drawn international attention, as well as support from relatives of Terri Schiavo, who died in 2005 after a 15-year battle over whether to keep her body alive in a persistent vegetative state. On Friday, Singer reiterated the hospital’s position that doctors would remove McMath from the ventilator on Tuesday evening, barring a court order to the contrary. To move the girl, her family would need to provide transportation and find a facility willing to take her, both sides said. The agreement came shortly after Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo on Friday denied the family’s request to force the hospital to insert breathing and feeding tubes into McMath. The procedures would likely be needed for an extended care facility to accept the girl, family attorney Christopher Dolan said. Evelio also refused a request by the family to require Children’s Hospital to allow an outside physician to perform the surgeries on its grounds. Dolan said if McMath was not transferred before the new deadline, her family would proceed with a federal lawsuit, filed on Monday, again seeking an order forcing the hospital to insert breathing and feeding tubes into the girl. McMath’s lungs and heart are only continuing to function because of air being forced in and out of her body by the ventilator, without which her breathing and heartbeat would cease, according to medical experts. Unlike a person in a coma or a vegetative state, McMath lacks any brain activity, rendering her unable to breathe on her own, doctors said. Hospital officials have said the facility and state health officials are investigating how a routine operation led to McMath’s death and that they understand the family’s anguish.",
            "output": [
                "Hospital, family agree on moving brain-dead girl."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-978ac226a32d42ada3a853940af2aab8",
            "input": "On August 5 2020, a quote meme was shared to Imgur referencing an Axios interview which August 3 2020, and it quoted United States President Donald Trump as saying that when he “took over … we didn’t even have a test” for COVID-19:Cart Before The HorseThe meme showed Trump sitting on the left and interviewer Jonathan Swan on the right side. Both men had speech bubbles, which read:Trump: When I took over, we didn’t even have a test. Swan: Why would you have a test? The virus didn’t exist.In the body of the Imgur post, the poster added, “This is an actual quote.”The Axios InterviewPortions of an interview of Trump, conducted by Swan and produced by Axios, went viral after it initially aired on August 3 2020. In a description, Axios explained:In this episode of “Axios on HBO”, President Trump discusses his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the upcoming election and much more with National Political Correspondent Jonathan Swan.The interview was filmed on July 28 2020 and clocked in at just under 38 minutes.The TranscriptOn August 3 2020, Rev.com published a full transcript of the Axios interview.According to the transcript’s timestamps, the exchange began just before the 12-minute mark, when Swan says he wants “to talk about the federal intervention.” Leading up to that moment, Trump and Swan discussed coronavirus testing.After Swan brings up “federal intervention,” Trump goes back to the topic of testing, maintaining once again that the United States’ COVID-19 case rate is only high because “we test so much.” In response, Swan says he’s aware Trump has made such claims before:Jonathan Swan: (11:37) Mr. President, I want to talk about the federal intervention.President Donald J. Trump: (11:40) Excuse me. One thing I would say about testing.Jonathan Swan: (11:42) Yeah. Yeah.President Donald J. Trump: (11:43) Because we test so much, we show cases. So, we show many, many cases. We show tremendous number of cases. I know you’re smiling when I say that, but I’m telling you.Jonathan Swan: (11:52) Well, I mean, I’ve heard you say this.President Donald J. Trump: (11:54) I know. Other countries don’t test like we do. So, they don’t show case[s].Jonathan Swan: (11:58) Just a couple points on that. I wasn’t going to continue on the testing, but you said it. So, we’re testing so much because it’s spread so far in America. And, when you-President Donald J. Trump: (12:06) We’re testing so much because we had the ability to test.Jonathan Swan: (12:08) Okay.From there, Trump continues advancing his claims about testing. At that point, the exchange in the meme takes place:President Donald J. Trump: (12:09) Because we came up with test-Jonathan Swan: (12:10) But South Korea-President Donald J. Trump: (12:11) Jonathan, we didn’t even have a test. When I took over, we didn’t even have a test. Now, in all fairness-Jonathan Swan: (12:17) Why would you have a test?President Donald J. Trump: (12:21) There was no test for this-Jonathan Swan: (12:23) The virus didn’t exist.President Donald J. Trump: (12:23) Excuse me. I was going to say-Jonathan Swan: (12:23) Okay.President Donald J. Trump: (12:23) There was no test for this. We didn’t have a test because there was no test.Jonathan Swan: (12:26) Of course.President Donald J. Trump: (12:27) And, in a very short order, we got one test. We got another test.Jonathan Swan: (12:30) It was broken, the first one.President Donald J. Trump: (12:31) We got another. Many of those tests are now obsolete because it’s called science.Jonathan Swan: (12:34) Right.President Donald J. Trump: (12:34) And, all of a sudden, something is better. But, because we tested so many people, 55, 60 million people, very soon, we get cases. You test. Some kid has even just a little runny nose. It’s a case. And then, you report many cases. So, we look like we have more cases than massive countries like China, which by the way, doesn’t report, as you know.Video of the exchange is embedded on Axios’ site; the exchange roughly matches the timestamps in the transcript.‘The Virus Didn’t Exist’In the exchange, Trump references when he “took over” in January 2017, as he refers to his inauguration as president. Swan responds that the virus didn’t exist when Trump “took over,” which is true.The World Health Organization’s COVID-19 timeline begins on December 31 2019, with the identification of “pneumonia of unknown cause” identified in Wuhan, China:Pneumonia of unknown cause reported to WHO China Office31 December 2019At the close of 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of a pneumonia of unknown cause, detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. According to the authorities, some patients were operating dealers or vendors in the Huanan Seafood market.Staying in close contact with national authorities, WHO began monitoring the situation and requested further information on the laboratory tests performed and the different diagnoses considered.#China has reported to WHO a cluster of #pneumonia cases —with no deaths— in Wuhan, Hubei Province 🇨🇳 . Investigations are underway to identify the cause of this illness.— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 4, 2020That information was relayed in a January 5 2020 WHO update:On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. Of the 44 cases reported, 11 are severely ill, while the remaining 33 patients are in stable condition. According to media reports, the concerned market in Wuhan was closed on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection.The causal agent has not yet been identified or confirmed. On 1 January 2020, WHO requested further information from national authorities to assess the risk.National authorities report that all patients are isolated and receiving treatment in Wuhan medical institutions. The clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever, with a few patients having difficulty in breathing, and chest radiographs showing invasive lesions of both lungs.At that point, the WHO’s risk assessment was based on limited information on a small cluster of cases:There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology. The reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate an exposure link to animals. The symptoms reported among the patients are common to several respiratory diseases, and pneumonia is common in the winter season; however, the occurrence of 44 cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization clustered in space and time should be handled prudently.On January 11 and 12 2020, the World Health Organization reported that China shared “the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus, which will be very important for other countries as they develop specific diagnostic kits.” At the time, testing was not yet developed or scaled to a global level.On January 24 2020, research was used to diagnose Malaysia’s first documented case of COVID-19:Scientists from China first released information on the viral genome on 11 January 2020. That day the Malaysian Institute for Medical Research (IMR) produced “primers and probes” specific to a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test. The IMR’s materials were used to diagnose Malaysia’s first patient on 24 January [2020]. BGI Group was one of the first companies to receive emergency use approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration for a nucleic acid test.In short, SARS-CoV-2 was first reported on December 31 2019, China released sequencing information on January 11 2020, and Malaysia documented testing occurred on January 24 2020. All of these events occurred sequentially following Donald Trump assuming office in January 2017, three years before.SummaryA popular Imgur post purporting to be a “real quote” from an Axios interview, in which Trump says “when I took over, we didn’t even have a test” for COVID-19 is accurate, based on the video and transcript of the July 28 2020 segment. Trump turned the discussion back to testing, and claimed that no test existed when he “took over.” Swan responded by asking why such a test would exist if the virus did not.Comments",
            "output": [
                "\"In an interview that aired August 3 2020, President Trump said \"\"when I took over, we didn't even have a test\"\" for COVID-19.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15237be8b6c94192a0befeae2fb8388b",
            "input": "The cost of these hormone injections isn’t mentioned, and there’s no assessment of how the cost might compare with other forms of birth control. It should be noted that people interested in using this injection for birth control would also need to factor in clinic visit costs and potential treatment of side effects. The news release states that hormone shots were effective at reducing sperm count to less than 1 million/mil within 24 weeks in 274 participants and was effective in nearly 96 percent of continuing users, with four pregnancies occurring among the men’s partners during the efficacy phase of the study. It also stated that more than 75 percent of participants reporting being willing to use this method of contraception at the conclusion of the trial. That’s the plus side. One omission from the release was the absence of a control group. Without a control group it’s not possible to accurately calculate the effectiveness. The study reported four pregnancies among the men taking the injection. How many pregnancies would be expected for a similar group not getting the shots? The news release doesn’t say. The news release discusses adverse effects. It says researchers stopped enrolling new participants in 2011 due to the rate of reported side events, particularly depression and other mood disorders. It also mentions that men reported having injection site pain, muscle pain, increased libido and acne, and that 20 men dropped out due to adverse effects. It also says serious adverse events that were assessed as probably or possibly related to the study included one case of depression, one intentional overdose of acetaminophen, and a man who experienced an abnormally fast and irregular heartbeat after he stopped receiving the injections. Further, it quotes a researcher saying that “the combination of hormones needs to be studied more to consider a good balance between efficacy and safety.” Despite the attention to side effects there were a few gaps. The release didn’t quantify the number of men who developed depression. It noted there was one suicide among the study group, but stated it was determined not related to the hormones. How was it determined that the injection did not contribute to the suicide when the hormone shots did contribute to mood disorders? The release doesn’t say. The news release also doesn’t adequately explain the need to cancel the study due to harms. When compared to the side effects of other hormonal contraceptives used by women it appears to be safer. The news release describes study methods in detail. However, it could have pointed out then lack of a control group and the limitations of hormone injections. For example, this study included only men who reported being in monogamous relationships for at least a year. Presumably, these men were open to the idea of taking hormone injections while other men in the general population might not be. Injections require advance planning and access to medical resources, unlike other reversible methods of condom use and withdrawal. In this study, couples were required to use another form of birth control for as long as 26 weeks while the hormone injections took effect. The news release also does not mention that it took eight of the men more than a year to recover their sperm counts, which could be a drawback for some couples. The news release does not appear to be disease-mongering. It states that better birth control options are needed for men, citing data from the Guttmacher Institute that 40 percent of pregnancies worldwide in 2012 were unintended. Of course, expanding contraceptive use would not eliminate all unintended pregnancies. The news release states that the research was co-sponsored and funded by UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Program of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction in Geneva, Switzerland, and CONRAD, using funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also states that the hormones were provided by drugmaker Schering, which has since merged with Bayer. The news release mentions other available birth control methods for men including condoms, vasectomies and withdrawal. However, it should have given readers an idea of how the efficacy rate of injectable hormones compares with other available methods of birth control. According to the study, the efficacy of male injectible hormones is high when compared with other reversible methods available for men, and is comparable with the efficacy of female oral contraceptives. Also, the news release did not mention other approaches to male birth control under study, which include hormone-containing gels applied to the skin and the synthetic hormones that could be formulated into a pill as well as non-hormonal mechanisms to prevent sperm development, according to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The study does not give the impression that injectable hormones for men are readily available. In fact, it quotes a researcher stating that “more research is needed to advance this concept to the point that it can be made widely available to men as a method of contraception.”  However, it could have mentioned that in addition to safety issues, there are other barriers to making male injections widely available. For example, a drug company would have to be willing to make it and sell it at an affordable price. The news release does not overstate the novelty of this research, quoting a researcher who says the findings “confirmed the efficacy of this contraceptive method previously seen in small studies.” The news release does not engage in sensational language.",
            "output": [
                "Male birth control shots prevent pregnancy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8f6beeee6b04b3c9990f58e047edec7",
            "input": "The Lexington Herald-Leader reports immunization rates released Tuesday show about 65% of the 209,904 mandated students have received the shot. The state’s target compliance rate is 85%. Results show seniors had the lowest compliance rate at 46% and kindergartners had the highest with 84.3%. University of Kentucky infectious disease pediatrician Dr. Sean McTigue says the compliance lag is because of general hesitancy regarding vaccines and the need for two shots. McTigue believes it’ll take “at least two years” to get everyone onboard. Kentucky experienced a Hepatitis A outbreak in 2017, prompting the mandated vaccination. As of September, the health department says 4,943 people are infected and 61 people have died. ___ Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com",
            "output": [
                "A third of Kentucky students haven’t had Hepatitis A vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce4f5a26dd28482486a11722a9760a2c",
            "input": "Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, who has been leading the inquiry at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, wants to know where that oil came from. The answer will help explain whether these cells play a key role in the vaping-related outbreak that has killed seven people and sickened 530 so far. It may also reveal whether some of these cases have been occurring all along, undetected. “We’re looking to partner with any lab that can assist in the identification of what those lipids (fats) are,” Meaney-Delman said in a telephone interview. A group of researchers who have been studying the long-term effects of vaping told Reuters they have taken up the challenge. They have begun to re-examine lung cell samples they have collected in recent years for evidence of these oil-filled immune cells in people who vaped but didn’t get sick. One possibility: The deposits are residue from inhaling vaping oils, such as those containing the marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or vitamin E acetate. Both are considered possible contributors to the current illnesses. Some researchers suspect the oils are formed inside the lungs as part of the body’s natural response to chemicals found in many commercial vaping devices. One theory is that vaping these chemicals may impair the immune system, and make people who vape more vulnerable to respiratory distress, they say. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation earlier this month has fueled the latter theory. It found that mice exposed to aerosols of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin - common solvents used in conventional nicotine vaping devices - developed these same fat-clogged immune cells even though they were never exposed to vaping oils. These mice also had impaired immune systems compared to mice exposed to room air. The study set off alarm bells for Thomas Eissenberg, co-director of the Center for Tobacco Products at Virginia Commonwealth University. For years, doctors have reported isolated cases of pneumonia-like illnesses in people who vaped. In many cases, patients also had these fat-filled immune cells - called lipid-laden macrophages. Now, these same abnormalities have been found in mice, and in at least some of the people who have fallen ill recently. “For me, the implication is there may be some underlying level of disease, like what we’re seeing in this cluster, that’s been going on all along,” Eissenberg said in a phone interview. Early last week, Eissenberg joined some 25 vaping experts on a hastily arranged conference call. At least three researchers who have already collected lung cell samples from otherwise healthy vapers told Reuters they would see whether these people also had fat-laden pockets within their immune cells. Other researchers, like Eissenberg, are seeking funding to collect new samples of their own. They want to help determine whether these abnormalities have been present for years, and whether they have made vapers generally more vulnerable to severe disease, possibly triggered by some new vaping substance. The group’s members say they have been in regular contact with officials at the CDC and the National Institutes of Health on how they can best help with the multistate investigation. They include Robert Tarran, a physiologist and vaping expert at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Dr. Peter Shields, a lung cancer specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who has one of the country’s largest sets of lung samples from vapers, smokers and never-smokers. “It could be that we’ll see something in the general, normal population of people who are using e-cigarettes,” Shields said. Investigators at the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have pointed to THC vaping oils or vitamin E, a substance used in some THC products, as a possible cause of these illnesses. But they have not ruled out anything yet, including conventional nicotine liquids. CDC pathologists are examining hundreds of lung cell samples gathered from patients in the outbreak. Meanwhile, forensic chemists at the FDA are testing more than 150 products to determine whether there is a common ingredient that may help explain the illnesses. “We need to parlay what we’re seeing in product samples with what we’re seeing in lung tissue,” Meaney-Delman said. Dr. Laura Crotty Alexander, a lung specialist at the University of California at San Diego, has been studying vaping’s effect on health since 2013. Two years ago, she treated a patient with the same set of symptoms that are now being described across the country, and is now checking her lung cell samples to look for clues. “It’s possible that everybody who is vaping is at risk,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. scientists join effort to solve mysterious vaping-related illnesses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a6e147f4bc9411e9d63e47857fedfd6",
            "input": "“We are declaring a state of alarm,” President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised appearance Friday night, urging Venezuelans to take precautionary measures and asking those over 65 to stay inside. Speaking with a blue mask covering his mouth, he encouraged people to wear face masks - even if it means making their own - and said no one would be allowed to board the metro or take trains without one. Hospitals in Venezuela have lost huge numbers of medical professionals and are so dilapidated that, in some, staff use paint buckets as improvised toilets and reuse surgical gloves. Maduro insisted Venezuela is prepared for a COVID-19 outbreak, but health workers have expressed concern that the country’s health system will be quickly overwhelmed. Maduro said that all restaurants in the country would be permitted to make orders to-go, but would no longer be allowed to serve patrons on-site, along with bars, clubs and movie theaters. He added that he was evaluating whether or not to suspend work. Earlier in the week, he suspended flights from Europe and Colombia and said public gatherings would be canceled. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said earlier Friday that schools will be closed as of Monday. Rodriguez said the two people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 had arrived from Spain and had been placed in quarantine. Maduro added that those who had come on the flight were also in quarentine. Earlier in the day shoppers flocked to pharmacies in search of hygiene products such as alcohol to sanitize hands, which is a struggle due to lack of running water that has resulted from the decay of public services. “People in Venezuela are accustomed to crisis situations, we move quickly in reaction to anything that happens,” said Juan Silva, 23, a chef who shopping at a Caracas pharmacy for soap and hand gel. He said he wasn’t overly worried about the disease due to the low mortality rate, but added “I don’t trust the government as a source of information.”   Maduro says his government has been hindered in fighting the virus because U.S. sanctions, meant to force him from office, have led banks and foreign businesses to refuse services. The Pan American Health Organization said last week it would be prioritizing Haiti, Venezuela and a handful of other Central and South American countries who have “challenges to their health systems.”  Hania Salazar, head of the nurses’ association for the western state of Zulia, said hospitals are not even guaranteeing that employees will have access to face masks. Interior Ministry Nestor Reverol on Friday said the government would provide border control authorities with face masks, gloves and thermometers, without mentioning supplies to for citizens and hospitals. On the street, citizens were already figuring improvised ways to handle the situation. Neima Arocha, 46, managed to buy the last bottle of cough suppressant at a Caracas pharmacy but got there too late to buy alcohol for hand sanitation. As a substitute she planned to buy cocuy, an artesanal cactus liquor similar to tequila. “There’s no (rubbing) alcohol,” said Arocha. But in the liquor stores they still have all kinds of things.”",
            "output": [
                "Venezuela confirms coronavirus cases amid public health concerns."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-270957a7da304fdcb6cf7febcef9086d",
            "input": "The blunt-speaking Fauci also has had to contend with a deluge of online threats and uncomfortable personal encounters with admirers as the pandemic consumes his every waking hour. Nevertheless, the 79-year-old epidemiologist insists he’s doing just fine. “I’ve chosen this life. I mean I know what it is,” Fauci said Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show. “There are things about it that are sometimes disturbing. But you just focus on the job you have to do, and just put all that stuff aside and try as best as possible not to pay attention to it.” Still, concerns about his safety are serious enough that Fauci now has security. The Department of Health and Human Services requested the U.S. Marshals Service authorize special agents from the HHS inspector general’s office as part of Fauci’s protection, according to a person familiar with the arrangements. The Justice Department approved a request to deputize nine agents, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there has been no official announcement. Fauci, who has advised every U.S. president on public health issues dating back to Ronald Reagan, has been put on a pedestal by Trump critics. They see him and, to a lesser degree, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, as the voices of science who used cold data to steer Trump away from opening up the economy by Easter Sunday. At the same time, Fauci has been vilified by some conspiracy peddlers on the far right as a part of the anti-Trump deep state. Conservative media commentators like Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and talk show host Rush Limbaugh have viewed Fauci with suspicion as the plain-speaking Fauci hasn’t shied away from publicly correcting Trump’s erroneous statements about the virus. “President Trump seems to have profound respect for both these people, so that’s fine,” Limbaugh said during his Monday broadcast about Fauci and Birx. “I just can’t, I can’t erase what I’ve seen from the so-called Deep State and the attempt to undermine the entire election of 2016. “ Some have accused Fauci of playing up the threat of COVID-19, while others have pointed to emails in which he praised Democrat Hillary Clinton. Still others have dismissed him as a “deep state” operative because of his 36-year leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Anti-vaccine groups have blasted Fauci’s long support for immunizations and accused him, without evidence, of talking up the value of a coronavirus vaccine to enrich pharmaceutical companies. Asked during Wednesday’s White House briefing about threats, Fauci demurred. But Trump jokingly chimed in that he was not overly concerned about the doctor’s safety. “He doesn’t need security,” Trump said. “Everybody loves him. Besides, they’d be in big trouble if they ever attacked.” Trump has shown an unusual amount of deference to Fauci in public, even as the doctor has repeatedly corrected the president on his faulty science. Last month, as Trump continued to suggest that the virus was under control, Fauci warned Americans that the worst was yet to come. As administration officials repeatedly assured the public that coronavirus tests were rapidly becoming available, Fauci said at a congressional hearing that the lack of widespread testing was “a failing” of the system. And when Trump heralded a French study suggesting that hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin, a common antibiotic, might be an effective treatment for COVID-19, Fauci reminded people that there was only “anecdotal” evidence for the idea. At another briefing, Fauci set off Trump backers on social media when he was caught by cameras looking down and rubbing his forehead after Trump referred to the State Department as the “Deep State Department.” Fauci has acknowledged to reporters that the cadence of the rapidly growing disaster has been exhausting. When Trump named him to the coronavirus task force, Fauci was initially getting three to four hours of sleep. Now he’s trying to get at least five hours a night. In a recent interview for CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s podcast, the doctor acknowledged that his wife, Christine Grady, who heads the bioethics department at the National Institutes of Health, has been giving him sound medical advice while he’s been doling out his own guidance to Trump and Americans during the crisis. Grady’s advice, Fauci acknowledged, was pretty straightforward: Eat, Tony. “I would go a whole day without eating anything just because I was so busy, I just didn’t have time to eat,” Fauci said. “And then I find that at the end of the day, I’m feeling hypoglycemic and I don’t know why. And then my wife goes, ‘Duh, you’re hypoglycemic because you didn’t eat anything.’”  ___ Madhani reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed reporting from Providence, Rhode Island.",
            "output": [
                "Battling exhaustion and trolls, Fauci says he’s OK."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d71c65afef04449eb265cdb63ef29927",
            "input": "It is too early in the development of this experimental technology to begin talking about what the price of such a system might be. But readers would have gotten a clearer idea of the preliminary state of this work if the story had noted that the brain mapping, device implantation, sophisticated equipment and hundreds of hours of training probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This article included important caveats about the limited actions that the patient was able to perform, and made it clear that this device was highly experimental. But most of these details are mentioned only near the end of the story. We might have given the story a Satisfactory rating if the headline and opening paragraphs had matched the tone of these later sections. However, the overly broad claims at the top of the story overwhelm the cautionary details. Also, the story should have more clearly pointed out that (as a Nature news article specifically noted) this approach may not work for people who, unlike this patient, don’t still have at least some ability to move their shoulders and elbows. As a result, the story implies that this experiment is relevant to a far broader group of people than the researchers claim. Even if the technology is experimental and only tested on one patient, the story should have included some discussion of risks of the implantation surgery and the implant itself. We will give the story a Satisfactory rating here because it’s made clear that this is a study of one person. Readers who pay attention all the way to the end are indeed warned about how far this line of work is from producing a useful option for real-world use. However, the story would have been better if–instead of boasting that the patient can play “Guitar Hero”–the headline and opening paragraphs had been clearer that he could produce a limited range of finger and hand motions in painstakingly prepared laboratory conditions that, rather than revealing a useful device, demonstrate that the goal of a useful device is probably not impossible someday. Paralysis from spinal cord injuries is a devastating condition, so the story is not overstating the situation facing patients. The story includes strong context and cautionary statements from two independent sources. However, we cannot give it a Satisfactory rating because it doesn’t tell readers that the researchers have an interest in patents for the hardware and software they are developing. These financial interests were clearly noted in the Nature journal article and should have been included in the story. This experimental device does appear to allow this patient to do things that no other treatment can. However, the main achievement is a proof of concept. Unfortunately, the story makes the difference between his baseline function and his movements in the laboratory appear bigger than it is. The story is clear that this device is in laboratory testing. The comments from independent sources at the very end of the story help describe the long and uncertain road ahead for researchers. The story describes the specific new achievement of this experimental device: sensing electrical patterns in the brain and then translating them to electrical stimuli that trigger appropriate muscle movements. The story includes comments from independent sources and does not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "A Paralysed Man Can Play “Guitar Hero” Using A Computer That Reads His Thoughts"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97afb4e63b954e7bb4b0b366ce17f64c",
            "input": "\"During this election season, Republicans have been hammering Democrats over cuts they say were made to Medicare as part of the health care bill. Now, in a television ad in the Kentucky Senate race, Democrat Jack Conway is turning the tables, attacking Republican Rand Paul over Medicare deductibles. Here's the transcript of the ad, released Sept. 28, 2010:  Narrator: \"\"More from Rand Paul.\"\" Footage of Rand Paul: \"\"The real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible.\"\" Man: \"\"A $2,000 deductible?\"\" Man: \"\"Rand Paul wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare?\"\" Woman: \"\"That's crazy.\"\" Woman: \"\"I can't afford that.\"\" Footage of Rand Paul: \"\"The real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible.\"\" Man: \"\"I don't know what planet he's from.\"\" Woman: \"\"Rand Paul is off the wall with the $2,000 deductible.\"\" Man: \"\"He knows we can't afford that.\"\" Woman: \"\"The more we hear about Rand Paul, the worse it gets.\"\" Conway: \"\"I'm Jack Conway, and I approved this message.\"\" The grainy footage of Paul is real. It comes from a talk that Paul, an ophthalmologist and longtime libertarian, gave to the Center-Right Coalition, a conservative group, in Lexington, Ky., on June 19, 2009. A longer excerpt from Paul's talk has been posted on YouTube. To see whether Conway's ad takes Paul's remarks out of context, we transcribed the portion of his speech in which he talks about Medicare. \"\"What's the problem in medicine?\"\" Paul began. \"\"No price fluctuation. If you're over 65 and go to a doctor in this country, you pay the exact same price with every doctor in the whole country. So when they want to blame ... that on capitalism, we have to be smart enough and say, 'We don't have capitalism. We already have socialism.'\"\" He continued, \"\"Medicare is socialized medicine. People are afraid of that because, 'Oh, you'll say you're against Medicare.' No, I say we have to do something different. We can't just eliminate Medicare. But we have to figure out how to get more to a market-based system. It's counter-intuitive to a lot of people, but you have to pay for things if you want prices to come down. So you really need higher deductibles. And the real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible, but try selling that one in an election. But that's the real answer is, you have to pay for things. And when you do, but you also get rid of price controls. So you raise the deductible, you get rid of price controls, and you allow more competition. And you may have to allow more competition from other parties. Nurse practitioners, we already have some. Pharmacists. There have to be ways to allow medicine to come down.\"\" His comment was no one-time slip of the tongue. The Conway campaign released another ad with footage of at least five other occasions in which Paul spoke publicly about his preference for high deductibles for Medicare, sometimes even invoking the same $2,000 figure. Indeed, Paul has been caught on camera being open about the political hazards of making such a proposal. In the Lexington talk featured in the first ad, Paul immediately followed his mention of the $2,000 figure with the addendum, \"\"but try selling that one in an election.\"\" And in the follow-up ad, a clip shows him acknowledging the political risk with striking frankness. \"\"The hard part,\"\" he said, \"\"is how do you present this on national TV? I mean, what's going to happen to me in a statewide race if I tell people I think the Medicare deductible is going to be higher? Am I going to be booted out of the room? I don't know. I'm willing to take a risk because I think it's the right thing to do, and because the other answer is to become just like Canada.\"\" We did not receive a response from the Paul campaign for this article, but the campaign has responded through TV ads. On Oct. 7, the liberal website Talking Points Memo published a side-by-side comparison of the Paul campaign's two response ads and found subtle but noteworthy differences. In the first, the Paul campaign says that Paul \"\"never supported higher Medicare deductibles.\"\" In the second, the ad was changed to say that Paul \"\"doesn't support higher Medicare deductibles.\"\" Had they stuck with the first ad, it would have been undermined by a half-dozen film clips. Paul refined his policy toward Medicare during an appearance on Fox News on Oct. 6. Paul said that he did not want to impose deductibles on current Medicare beneficiaries but rather on future beneficiaries, possibly starting with those who are currently 55 or younger. So even Paul now acknowledges that he thinks Medicare deductibles are worth considering. But does Conway's ad fairly portray the views Paul had espoused at the time? They come close, but we do offer one caveat. We think that the general impression Conway's ad gives -- and in particular the line where the man says, \"\"Rand Paul wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare?\"\" -- is that what Paul wants to do is slap seniors with a $2,000 deductible, even though his plan is much more comprehensive. Paul's ideas for Medicare may be good or bad, but the ad is somewhat misleading when it reduces them to a simple $2,000 deductible. That said, we see it as a relatively minor exaggeration. Paul has advocated for a $2,000 deductible in multiple settings.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Rand Paul \"\"wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d37b03748d9a407fad964cc69ac25ee2",
            "input": "Thirteen years ago, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended hepatitis A shots for all U.S. children at age 1. On Thursday, the panel said the shots should be given to older children who weren’t vaccinated earlier, including 14- to 18-year-olds who turned 1 before the recommendation was made. The panel also recommended the shots for every person with HIV. About 1.1 million Americans are estimated to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. People with HIV tend to develop more severe hepatitis A illnesses. U.S. hepatitis A infections and deaths have risen in the last two years, spurred by outbreaks among the homeless and drug users.",
            "output": [
                "Health panel: Millions of US kids should get hepatitis shot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ff6bbe041674386a2e5e971a3c1ee11",
            "input": "The Democrat, who will sign the legislation as soon as this week, told The Associated Press she fought to ensure that all motorists buying car insurance have coverage — whether it is through their auto insurer or a private- or government-provided plan. Asked about criticism that severely injured people will no longer have gold-plated treatment because their regular health insurance will impose caps on rehabilitation visits and other services, Whitmer said medical providers may have to deliver care “in different mechanisms but it will still be there, and I think that’s a good thing.” She said the Republican-backed bills as initially proposed and a ballot initiative threatened by Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert “would have been devastating. This is a result where we can shore up the safety net.” Michigan — home to the country’s highest car premiums — is the only state to require unlimited personal injury protection, or PIP, benefits, which on average make up half of auto premiums. They cover medical treatment, rehabilitation expenses, lost wages for three years and up to $20 daily for assistance with things like cooking, cleaning and other services people can no longer carry out due to their injuries. Under the measure, starting in mid-2020 people will be able to forego PIP entirely if they have health insurance such as an employer plan or Medicare. Other options will include sticking with unlimited coverage or choosing either $250,000 or $500,000 worth. Those on Medicaid will have to carry at least $50,000 in PIP. The measure won overwhelmingly bipartisan support from the Republican-led Legislature on Friday. Speaking by phone from the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference, Whitmer said the legislation originally would have been “devastating” to hospitals with trauma centers. It would have cut reimbursements to workers’ compensation levels, while the bill heading to her desk would require that providers be paid at roughly 200 percent of the Medicare fee schedule. “It’s not just emergency rooms for people with auto injuries,” she said. “It’s losing access for any parent who’s got an asthmatic child who has gone to the ER because their child is having a hard time breathing or had a contusion. It would have been a lack of care for people that have a heart attack. When these trauma centers are at risk like this, every single one of us loses that access.” Unlike several other no-fault states, hospitals, doctors and rehab facilities treating crash victims have effectively been able to charge auto insurers far more than they do for patients covered by private or government health plans. Whitmer added that PIP rates will be cut for eight years under the pending law, calling it “real relief for consumers.” She said the new law will require “quite a bit” of public education, because “it’s a very complicated system that we are trying to address in a very thoughtful way.” The landmark deal left Whitmer optimistic about the potential for confronting other major issues such as deteriorating roads, which she has proposed fixing with a 45-cents-a-gallon fuel tax increase. She said she and the four legislative leaders — two Republicans and two Democrats — “got more done in the first five months of this year than has been done on this issue in the last five years.” The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, municipalities and the state’s leading road-construction industry group on Tuesday urged lawmakers to make infrastructure a priority. Whitmer said she will put “110%” emphasis on roads this week at the business conference on Mackinac Island. Asked if she secured commitments from GOP legislative leaders for a long-term road-funding plan as part of the car insurance negotiations, Whitmer said: “I’ll tell you this: The way that we worked together on this first issue is something that every one of us is eager to continue as we pivot into roads and getting the budget done.” ___ Follow David Eggert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00",
            "output": [
                "Whitmer: Care for injured drivers will ‘still be there’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f855379c05214f609fd67e364c590668",
            "input": "The Midwest was the hardest-hit region, as temperatures  plunged below zero Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius). By nightfall the mercury was hovering at 0F in Chicago, 7F (minus 14C) in Detroit and minus 21f (minus 29C) in Minneapolis. Local television pictures showed the Chicago River and Lake Michigan filled with chunks of ice. The brutal blast known as the polar vortex is a stream of cold air that spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole, but whose current has been disrupted and is now pushing south into the United States. Officials warned Chicago residents, accustomed to chilling winters, to expect an unusually deep and dangerous freeze. Even the city’s supply of its signature deep-dish pizza was affected: The Lou Malnati’s chain announced it would stop taking delivery orders at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. “This could possibly be history-making,” said Ricky Castro, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Romeoville, Illinois. As much as two feet (60 cm) of snow was forecast in Wisconsin, and six inches (15 cm) in Illinois. Snow was expected through Wednesday from the Great Lakes region into New England. Some Chicago residents found warmth inside the Harold Washington Library Center, which planned to stay open on Wednesday. Gilbert Rothschild, 79, walked through a corridor wearing three sweaters and an undershirt underneath his parka. “The more layers, the more you’re insulated,” he said. Rothschild, the president of a liquor retailer, said he planned on keeping his stores open on Wednesday, figuring customers who were not working might want to pick up something to keep them feeling warm at home. Many Midwest cities opened warming shelters. Regional governments closed hundreds of schools and airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights, according to the Flightaware flight tracking website. Many had been destined for Atlanta, where the National Football League’s Super Bowl will take place on Sunday. Amy Patterson, a vice president at the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee, said there would still be time for fans to fly to Atlanta for the game, with the National Weather Service forecasting a high of a balmy 58F (14C) on Sunday. A low of minus 10F (minus 23C) was forecast in Chicago and elsewhere in northern Illinois on Wednesday. But with the wind chill factored in, temperatures will feel as low as minus 50F (minus 46C) through Thursday, the National Weather Service reported. Temperatures could reach lows of minus 30F to minus 40F (minus 34C to minus 40C) in parts of the Northern Plains and Great Lakes on Wednesday, the NWS said. The freezing weather may have killed a man in Rochester, Minnesota, who was found dead outside his home on Sunday, according to a report by WCCO, a local CBS affiliate. Rochester police officials did not respond to a request for comment. Jim Hayes, a National Weather Service meteorologist, warned that frostbite was possible within 10 minutes in the intense cold. For many across the region, life ground to a halt. In Chicago, home to the nation’s third-largest school system, officials plan to cancel classes for all 360,000 students on Wednesday due to the weather. Detroit also said all public schools would close, and Michigan State University said it would suspend classes, only the seventh time it has done so because of weather since 1855. The Chicago Zoological Society said it would shut Brookfield Zoo for only the fourth time in its 85-year history on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service, the coldest recorded temperature in Chicago was minus 27 degrees (minus 33C) on Jan. 20, 1985. Officials in Des Moines, Iowa, opened warming shelters, but also suggested residents could stay warm inside shopping malls. In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp shut government offices in 35 counties on Tuesday, and schools across parts of the state were also closed. In Fargo, North Dakota, where the temperature dropped to minus 24F (minus 31C), Dan Hallock, an advertising executive, marveled that people were still working outside as he bought coffee. “The garbage men of Fargo have my utmost respect,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Polar vortex freezes U.S. Midwest with snow, dangerously cold air."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4074e64dcbfc41a29d6f398f833d325a",
            "input": "\"Editor’s note: While researching this fact check, Rep. Bilirakis’ office on July 2, 2015, provided us with its research methodology using data through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Markets Program Data. Using this database, Bilirakis’ aides showed a 21.82 percent change in carbon dioxide tonnage emitted from Florida power plants between 2005 and 2012. PolitiFact was able to reproduce these results on July 2 when we followed their methodology, obtaining the same database numbers directly from the EPA website. We shared results with numerous sources who agreed the methodology was sound and the results illustrated Bilirakis’ point. We published the check with a . Later that day, an EPA contact informed us the 2012 figure used in Bilirakis’ calculation was incorrect. The agency calculated percent change between 2005 and 2012 was 13.87 percent, not 21.82 percent. When we queried the database again, the figure we received was the number the EPA cited. Neither Bilirakis’ aides nor the EPA could explain the discrepancy. An environmental scientist with the EPA said there had not been a revision of the figures since 2013. The 20 percent figure has been used by Bilirakis and other members of the Florida Republican caucus since at least November 2014, although this is the first time PolitiFact has checked it. We are seeking an explanation for this discrepancy and will post findings when we have them. Republicans in Congress recently voted for legislation that would prevent the federal government from implementing new emissions regulations on power plants -- in part, some argue, because utilities are already cutting carbon levels on their own. U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, said that HR 2042, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, would protect states from costly rules that aren’t necessary. The bill would delay the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce nationwide carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. The legislation also would allow states to opt out of the reduced emissions requirement. \"\"The EPA’s proposal on this rule has drawn widespread concern,\"\" Bilirakis said in a speech on June 24, 2015, before the GOP-majority House passed the legislation along party lines. \"\"It placed a heavier burden on Florida than other states, despite the fact that Florida has reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent since 2005.\"\" Congressional fights over regulations are not new, but we did a double take when Bilirakis said carbon emissions were down 20 percent over the last decade. (A reader sent us his comment and asked us to check it.) We decided to check whether the data fuels his claim. Carbon dating the claim We need to make sure one point is clear: Bilirakis was talking specifically about electricity generating power plants here. That’s important to understand, because the context wasn’t immediately clear to us -- or to some of our sources. The EPA’s new emission goals, which won’t be finalized until August, target power plants for that 30 percent reduction, starting at 2005 levels. The guidelines are part of President Barack Obama’s larger Climate Action Plan to enforce lower levels of air and water pollution. Some states and electricity providers have sued the EPA, saying the new rules are unnecessary and expensive for utilities, and therefore consumers. Enter the House’s Ratepayer Protection Act, which would keep the 30 percent reduction guidelines from going into effect for power plants until the justice system rules whether the EPA plan is legal. Obama has vowed to veto the Ratepayer Protection Act if it passes. A Bilirakis spokesman backed up the 20 percent figure by looking at EPA carbon dioxide emissions data for power plants generating more than 25 megawatts of electricity, which are covered by the EPA threshold for the guidelines. That data showed that between 2005 and 2012, the latest year with complete figures, Florida had reduced its power plant carbon dioxide emissions by 21.8 percent. That seems like a small slice of data, but even experts who were for the stronger emissions regulations told us it’s a valid use of the numbers to back up Bilirakis’ point. Power plants in Florida affected by the Clean Power Plan really have cut carbon dioxide by that much, according to the EPA. Of course, our first reaction to this claim was that all sources of carbon dioxide emissions had receded, which also turns out to be the case, although not at as high a rate. Accounting for cars, commercial and residential use, and a whole range of petroleum products, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says Florida’s overall emissions total have dropped about 15.7 percent in the same time span. The agency told us it’s not hard to imagine the number continuing to drop in subsequent years, but the data doesn’t show a 20 percent decrease. A look at the overall data from the EPA, which is recorded and calculated a little differently, puts the decrease from all sources at about 13.4 percent. What’s driving the downward trend for power plants? Environmental groups point out that there are several causes. Part of the change is because of utilities switching from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas (usage is up 67.6 percent between 2005 and 2012 in Florida) as natural gas prices have fallen. Credit also can go to increased efficiency in everything from air conditioners to washing machines to refrigerators. Some of the new product efficiencies are the result of other regulations, like the federal push to switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. And while Florida was the second-highest electricity producing state in the country behind Texas in 2014, it still imports power to meet demand. That means if a power plant in another state burns fuel to generate electricity to sell to Florida, those carbon dioxide emissions don’t go against Florida’s total. That may be skewing the use-to-emissions ratio a bit. Finally, critics of the House legislation point out there’s one more caveat to the data Bilirakis cited: There’s no guarantee the state will maintain that drop in carbon dioxide from power plants. \"\"There is nothing to keep these emissions down to their current levels,\"\" said Susan Glickman, Florida director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which opposes the Ratepayer Protection Act. \"\"If natural gas prices went back up, folks would start running coal plants more and emissions would increase -- absent any CO2 emission regulations.\"\" Our ruling Bilirakis said, \"\"Florida has reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent since 2005.\"\" It may not be immediately clear from Bilirakis’ speech, but he’s only talking about carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that would be affected by the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Those are the guidelines that would be put on hold by the bill passed by the House. EPA data show those Florida electricity generators have cut carbon dioxide emissions by 21.8 percent between 2005 and 2012. Overall carbon dioxide emissions from all sources didn’t decrease quite as much, dropping anywhere from 13.4 to 15.7 percent. Environmental groups also warned that the current reductions aren’t guaranteed. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Florida has reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent since 2005."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b1df051985f54422bdfd7af4ae4748b2",
            "input": "Strong point. The story said, “There’s one other thing, the CDC says. Make sure patients understand that warding off HIV isn’t cheap. Each pill currently costs around $36, which adds up to more than $13,000 a year. Some insurers might pay, but some might balk” The story stated the benefits clearly – albeit only in relative risk reduction terms. We would have preferred absolute numbers. But it did such a good job in telling the updated story about proper use of the drug in question that we give it a satisfactory score. Several clear points were made about harms: The story did a great job of communicating the read-between-the-lines reality of the evidence for the use of this drug. NO disease-mongering here. The story is based on the CDC’s evaluation and warnings about proper use of the drug. We would have liked to have seen a clinician-researcher’s perspective – someone not affiliated with the CDC analysis. Not applicable. Because of the nature of this drug, no comparison is really necessary. As the story stated, “It’s the first time anybody’s shown that taking a pill can prevent HIV – and it was the first new weapon against HIV unveiled in many years.” The story is clear that Truvada is already on the market. The story stated, “It’s the first time anybody’s shown that taking a pill can prevent HIV – and it was the first new weapon against HIV unveiled in many years.” We  have no evidence that the story relied on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "CDC To Doctors: Anti-HIV Pill No Magic Bullet Against Virus"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8edc1310e1e94f38978886ceec902a11",
            "input": "About 6,000 rolled pieces were neatly stacked about 10 feet high, covering more than an acre of private land, according to the mayor of Cleona, Pennsylvania. The green blades of artificial grass peeking through the coiled logs offered the first clue. “This is what it looks like when someone gets rid of a dozen turf fields and there’s nowhere to send them,” said Mayor Larry Minnich. A York Daily Record/York Sunday News investigation has found an unregulated industry that is growing exponentially and dumping several hundred old athletic fields across the U.S. every year. Artificial turf and the projected mountains of waste Used artificial turf is expected to produce 1 million to 4 million tons of waste in the next 10 years, and it has nowhere to go, according to solid waste industry analysts. Minnich, the Cleona mayor, soon learned that the problem in his borough of about 2,100 people was similar to what communities were grappling with across the country — tons of worn-out, artificial school fields that municipal dumps won’t accept and a growing, unregulated, cottage industry of vacant land owners taking the waste. Turf fields installed in waves a decade ago are reaching the end of their lifespan and need to be replaced, according to an industry trade association. Despite being touted as a completely recyclable alternative to grass, there are no companies in the U.S. that can completely recycle them, according to a trade association president. The fields frequently end up in empty lots, backyards, in public spaces and on private land. Sometimes, they are given permission to be there. In some cases, they have been dumped illegally by contractors paid to remove them. An inside look at the turf war Artificial turf fields are largely made of scrap tires and synthetic fibers and are designed to look like natural grass. They’ve been revamped from the AstroTurf in the 1960s, which was largely made of fibers and sand, into the synthetic turf today that’s made of recycled rubber, fibers and sand. There are about 12,000 to 15,000 turf fields in the United States, according to the Synthetic Turf Council. Most of those fields carry an eight-year warranty, which is standard across the industry. But the turf council’s top lobbyist says they can last 10 to 12 years. When those fields reach the end of their lifespan, that waste has to go somewhere. But sending turf to a landfill is not cost effective or an industry best practice. Turf is already piling up on the sides of roads and being stored on private properties because there’s only one recycling facility in the world that can fully separate the parts for reuse, and that facility is in Denmark. Some property owners are getting creative in how they reuse it, but disposed turf is outpacing demand. For now, some of these stacks are eyesores along highways that can last for decades. Turf disposal is not regulated in Pennsylvania. These large piles of waste fall through bureaucratic cracks, leading to unchecked dumping. Though all waste in Pennsylvania requires a permit before being dumped, there are no specific rules on the books for turf. Those storing turf in Pennsylvania aren’t obtaining permits. They are cutting deals with landowners to store their waste, creating makeshift garbage dumps. Without any rules or oversight, disposed turf becomes the burden and responsibility of anyone who lives around it. Obstacles reusing and disposing of turf Recently in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., turf fields have tested positive for lead and toxins that are known to cause cancer, low birth weight in babies and other diseases, according to reports in the Boston Globe and Washington Post. Industry-funded studies found no increased risk of disease to anyone of any age who uses turf fields. There’s been no independent, definitive study on the safety of turf. The Obama Administration started to examine the issue in his second term. The Trump Administration has studied it for three years and on July 25 released the first part of its findings. Some materials used to make turf fields, such as industrial silica sand, can’t be incinerated. Sometimes, college and professional fields can be donated to other facilities, but youth fields are too worn to be donated to another facility. Because stagnant water can pool inside them and attract rodents and mosquitoes, used tires can’t be taken to landfills. But turf, despite being largely made from old tires, can be taken to landfills. However, that’s an expensive option. Pennsylvania law also cites that tires shouldn’t be disposed of in landfills because they take up too much room. It’s $60 to $70 a ton to dispose of turf in a landfill. Each roll of turf is about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. A ton is 2,000 pounds. For the 6,000 rolls of turf in Cleona, the landfill option would cost about $400,000. But none of those rolls are headed to a dump. They’re headed to Denmark. Slowly. ‘We’re running out of room’ The rolls have been sitting in Cleona for two years, and a few months ago, Minnich decided that was long enough. He was getting complaints from people in town, and there were safety concerns about the pile’s flammability and proximity to a fueling station. Property owner Kevin Fox, who operates a transportation business, said he never had any safety concerns, especially because the rolls were stored inside a fenced-in lot. Fox has been storing the turf for an undisclosed property rental fee since a former business associate told him more than a year ago that a turf recycler overseas needed a place to store dismantled fields. But Fox also reached a point where he agreed with the mayor that the turf couldn’t stay on his property. “We were running out of room,” Fox said. Challenges after inheriting abandoned turf At another site, weeds push through rolls of turf that are scattered on a hillside at the intersection of Matthew Bupp’s property at Loucks Mill Road and Route 30 in York, Pennsylvania. People frequently drive by and ask a version of: “What is that?” Bupp knows the feeling. He wondered the same thing when he inherited the problem a couple of years ago. Somebody who leased the land to store the turf defaulted on the rent. He’s not sure of the contractor, but he knows the disposed field was trucked in from Harrisburg or Mechanicsburg, 40 miles away. “It feels like this old football field has been here forever,” he said. “Promising rent and then abandoning the material is a perfect way of making sure you have no disposal costs and then making disposal someone else’s problem.” ___ Matthew Bupp It feels like this old football field has been here forever. ___ Bupp said there were so many subcontractors involved that he couldn’t successfully figure out the right person to hold accountable. The turf is not easy to get rid of. In addition to the high costs involved, it’s physically daunting. Each roll, depending on the size, typically weighs between 900 and 3,000 pounds. “This isn’t something you can put on the back of a pickup truck. You need tractor-trailers and machinery to lift it,” Bupp said. ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ He decided to get creative. He advertised through Craigslist and word of mouth, transferring the turf roll by roll to new homes and businesses. “Some has been given away; some has been sold. But I didn’t plan on or want to go into the turf business,” said Bupp, a property developer. The divvied up turf is now at a community garden in York City, indoor Xtreme Archery in Springettsbury Township, local soccer organizations, a Maryland lacrosse team, batting cages and private lawns for weddings. He’s also sent some of the rubber to a private home to be placed under a water slide. “I’m trying to make the old adage true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Bupp said. “I’m finding waste and putting it to reuse.” He’s an environmentalist at heart. When he bought the property five years ago, he said, he cleaned up 256 tires and two abandoned cars that were dumped and deserted on the bank of the nearby Codorus Creek. “I’ve always said real men recycle, but now I’d say real people recycle,” Bupp said. “I’m not sure how much longer it will take to get rid of it all, but I know it can be recycled and repurposed.” Unregulated, untraced Too often, old turf fields are not recycled and repurposed, according to Kyla Bennett, science and policy director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. She is also the director of the New England office for the watchdog organization, which helps government whistleblowers expose environmental wrongdoing. Bennett said state and federal clients have reported that most turf fields typically go to landfills or are dumped illegally. “They usually show up near wetlands or streams,” she said. That’s a concern because turf fields are largely made of crumb rubber, which is scrap tires. Scrap tires shouldn’t be dumped near or in waterways because they pose two health threats: a safe haven for pests and fire risk, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Prone to heat retention, tires in stockpiles also can ignite, creating tire fires that are difficult to extinguish and can burn for months, generating unhealthy smoke and toxic oils,” according to the EPA. Dan Bond, president of the Synthetic Turf Council, a Fairfax, Virginia-based trade group, said disposal of turf in waterways was a bad practice of the industry’s past. “It used to happen in the ’80s and ’90s before recycling. Yes, that did happen, but our trade group is emphatic about best practices today, and our manufacturers and recyclers adhere to it,” Bond said. But it’s not the manufacturers or recyclers he lobbies for who are removing the fields when they need to be replaced every eight to 10 years. It’s usually a subcontractor who shows up to remove a field and dispose it. Sometimes, two different businesses are hired to remove a field and get rid of it. There’s no chain of custody. There are no regulations at state and federal levels on turf disposal. For example, in Pennsylvania: “There are no waste regulations specific to turf, but the used turf would be considered waste, and should be managed as such. All waste disposal activities in Pennsylvania require a permit,” said Elizabeth Rementer, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. A chain of custody can be difficult to follow because old turf can find multiple new uses, and industry lobbyists discourage regulations, Bond said. “If you put out regulations on what to do at the end of a field’s life, that doesn’t help because there are so many applications. You can use different parts of the field for different applications. There’s not one best way to do this,” he said. The industry can regulate itself by setting guidelines and best practices, Bond said. His trade group recommends giving municipalities and school districts tax breaks for finding beneficial reuses for turf. That’s not good enough for Bennett, who said it’s a scheme that “kicks the can down the road and distributes the problem to someone else.” Concerns about chemicals found in artificial turf Bennett said the best solution is to use natural grass. Turf fields are a creative way for the tire industry to get rid of their waste, she said. The tires are shredded and put into fields, and eight to 10 years later, “a municipality then has to figure out what to do with it,” Bennett said. Even worse, she said, the “consumer and end user have no idea what’s in it.” ___ It’s a problem for everybody. Kyla Bennett, science and policy director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility ___ Whistleblowers who work with PEER have raised concerns about the toxicity of the disposed fields that frequently get dumped on land near community water supplies, she said. “It’s a problem for everybody,” Bennett said. Bond said 110 industry studies found no increased risk of disease to anyone of any age who uses turf fields. He points to the studies on the trade association website. In its first report about crumb-rubber synthetic fields, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said research was “inconclusive” on the safety of crumb-rubber fields. They found a range of metals and chemicals in turf fields. “While chemicals are present as expected in the (tire) crumb rubber, human exposure appears to be limited based on what is released into air or simulated biological fluids,” the report says. The 800-page report looked at what chemicals are present in the fields, but it didn’t study whether those chemicals are safe for the people using them. It is unclear when the second part of the federal study will be released. A study by the Washington State Department of Health in 2017 found no evidence that crumb rubber in turf fields contained enough cancer-causing chemicals to put players at risk. California is conducting its own study on turf fields, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission is studying children’s exposure to chemicals on rubber tire surfaces at playgrounds. ___ Used artificial turf is expected to produce 1 million to 4 million tons of waste in the next 10 years. Solid waste industry analysts ___ Growing cycle of installing, removing of turf fields In the meantime, the number of new turf fields being installed and old ones being removed is growing every year in the multi-billion industry. There are between 12,000 and 15,000 turf fields in the U.S., Bond said, and another 1,200 and 1,500 are opening each year. Meanwhile, the number of disposed fields has grown from 365 in 2013 to 750 in 2018. The number of disposed turf fields is expected to grow by hundreds this year and in the upcoming year, according to the trade association. And something that both the industry and environmentalists agree on is that they need somewhere to put them. An apparent solution, hampered by a lack of oversight The solution to the old turf problem might be found in the pipeline from Cleona to Denmark. Fox, the property owner with thousands of rolls of turf on his property, is shipping dozens of loads at a time to Re-Match, a Scandanavian company that the industry and environmentalists agree is the only true recycling facility in the world. But founder Dennis Anderson said his company is a solution few U.S. companies are using, mainly because there are no regulations that require fields to be recycled. It costs about $20,000 to ship one field overseas and be recycled at Re-Match he said. That’s cheaper than a landfill. But if a contractor can pay a landowner a little bit of money to store turf, they will probably choose that option over shipping to Denmark, Anderson said. Anderson’s company is paying Fox an undisclosed amount to keep the fields on his property until it can open two U.S. recycling facilities in Pennsylvania and California in 2020. He did not disclose specific locations, but he said his company is in position to open the facilities late next year. It would take each recycling facility nine months to become operational. His recycling method is patented in 56 countries and is the only one that completely separates the grass part of the turf from the crumb rubber part, he said. Re-Match is the only company that has the technology to recycle an old turf field into a new one, Anderson said. Anderson has been storing 10 to 15 fields in Cleona while he works on opening a new facility in the Netherlands to serve the growing European market, where there are 4,100 new turf fields per year. The European market also outpaces the U.S. market on regulations and has stricter requirements on recycling. ‘Make it all go away’ Cleona didn’t have any regulations on the books, either, but the mayor pressured Re-Match to remove the turf from the borough. Anderson flew to Pennsylvania to meet with him. “I told them to take it away. Make it all go away,” Minnich said in the summer. “They did a little bit, but not to the level I was happy about. We’re hoping to get all of it out before winter sets in. That’s the plan as of today.” Fox said he’s already shipped 25 loads to Denmark. He’s also shipped two or three loads to Playing Surface Solutions in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where the turf installer can partially recycle some of the materials and repurpose them as putting greens. He was expecting to have more turf hauled away from his property in late November. “To the average person, this is garbage. But for a company that knows how to do it, there’s hundreds of thousands in profit to separate and clean it and resell it. You have to have the right equipment to do it though,” Fox said. Anderson has that equipment at Re-Match, but he doesn’t have enough U.S. business. Bond said: “I think you’ll see more companies like Re-Match coming into the marketplace, and they are needed.” While there are opportunities to recycle turf in creative ways, such as what Bupp is doing in York, the market is saturated with more old turf than there is demand for new putting greens or other alternative uses. And, for now, industry leaders and environmentalists agree the best solution to getting rid of all the turf piling up is still an ocean away. ___ Online: https://bit.ly/34jRhi3 ___ Information from: York Daily Record, http://www.ydr.com",
            "output": [
                "Paper: Old turf fields raise environmental, health concerns."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-89b0dda5e32343e89130f8df9aa4bfcc",
            "input": "Dr. Leana Wen will assume the role Nov. 12, six days after midterm elections in which Planned Parenthood’s political wing plans to spend $20 million on behalf of candidates who support abortion rights. Wen, who has been Baltimore’s health commissioner for since 2015, will be Planned Parenthood’s sixth president over a century of work providing millions of Americans with birth control, sex education and medical screenings. The organization also is the largest provider of abortions in the U.S., making it a perennial target for anti-abortion activists. In recent years, its foes have been striving — thus far unsuccessfully — to halt the flow of federal funds that help Planned Parenthood provide some of its non-abortion services. Wen succeeds Cecile Richards, who had been president since 2006 before resigning earlier this year. Under Richards’ leadership, Planned Parenthood has been at odds with congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump on numerous fronts, most recently joining the intense opposition to Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Abortion-rights advocates fear that Kavanaugh will tilt the high court to the right, possibly opening the way for rulings that would reverse or weaken the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right for women to have abortions. Wen and her family fled from China just before her 8th birthday, were granted political asylum in the U.S. and became U.S. citizens in 2003. Wen graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Los Angeles and earned her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine before becoming a Rhodes Scholar. Early in her tenure as Baltimore’s health commissioner, she provided strong leadership as the city was wracked by violent protests related to disputed police actions. She expanded trauma and mental health services, and secured funding for a program designed to treat gun violence as a contagious disease. Wen said she was proud of her accomplishments in Baltimore — including reducing infant mortality to record lows and providing eyeglasses for all children who needed them. But she said she could not resist the new job offer. “For more than 100 years, no organization has done more for women’s health than Planned Parenthood,” Wen said. “As a doctor, I will ensure we continue to provide high-quality health care, including the full range of reproductive care and will fight with everything I have to protect the access of millions of patients who rely on Planned Parenthood.” Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Baltimore, praised the appointment, saying of Wen, “When it comes to protecting her patients, she doesn’t back down from a fight.” With Wen’s encouragement, Baltimore sued the Trump administration for cutting funds for teen pregnancy prevention. A federal judge subsequently ordered the restoration of $5 million in grant funding to two Baltimore-based prevention programs. ___ This story has been corrected to show Wen began as Baltimore’s health commissioner in 2015, not 2014.",
            "output": [
                "Planned Parenthood picks Chinese-born doctor as new leader."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b6e7fa73927a41219d9414de95f453f3",
            "input": "Like the sub-four minute mile, running a marathon in less than two hours had seemed impossible — until Saturday. But this time there’s an asterisk: Olympic champion Kipchoge performed his feat under conditions so tightly controlled to maximize his success that it won’t appear in the record books. The 34-year-old Kenyan completed the 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 40.2 seconds at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, an event set up for the attempt. Ahead of the event, Kipchoge even compared the feat to being “like the first man on the moon.” Afterward, he drew comparisons to Bannister, the late Briton who 65 years ago became the first athlete to run a mile in under four minutes. “It is a great feeling to make history in sport after Sir Roger Bannister,” Kipchoge said. “I am the happiest man in the world to be the first human to run under two hours and I can tell people that no human is limited. I expect more people all over the world to run under two hours after today.” HE. HAS. DONE. IT. @EliudKipchoge is the first human to run a marathon in less than two hours! His official time of 1:59:40 is now immortal.#INEOS159 #NoHumanIsLimited pic.twitter.com/wD6clIzHM0 With all variables tailored to his advantage, it was still the full marathon distance but it was no regular marathon race, which means his jaw-dropping finishing time will not be ratified by IAAF. Different to an ordinary race, event organizers had set a nine-day window to be flexible and stage the run in the best possible weather conditions. Also, Kipchoge was supported throughout his run by 36 pacemakers who accompanied him in alternating groups, with five athletes running ahead of him in a V-shape and two others closely following. Unlike a normal race, a timing car just in front of the pack also helped keep the scheduled pace, and was equipped with a laser beam, projecting the ideal position on the road, parts of which also had painted stripes to indicate the optimum running line. Furthermore, Kipchoge received drinks handed over by a cyclist to prevent him from having to slow down. Even though his attempt was never meant to set an official world record, Kipchoge was understandably delighted and twice punched his chest in celebration while smiling when he finished. “That was the best moment of my life,” he said, before adding that he trained 4 ½ months for his extraordinary race against the clock. “The pressure was very big on my shoulders. I got a phone call from the president of Kenya.” In a statement, President Uhuru Kenyatta said: “Hearty congratulations, Eliud Kipchoge. You’ve done it, you’ve made history and made Kenya proud. Your win today will inspire future generations to dream big and aspire to greatness.” Kipchoge said his mission went beyond athletics. “We can make this world a beautiful world and a peaceful world,” he said. “The positivity of sport. I want to make it a clean sport and an interesting sport.” Kipchoge was cheered by thousands along the course in Prater Park and there were celebrations in his home country before he had even finished. Hundreds of joyous Kenyans brought traffic to a standstill in the middle of the capital, Nairobi, as they gathered to watch the end of the run on a large screen. People pumped their fists, clapped and fell to their knees as Kipchoge cruised to the finish line. Situation on the ground in Eldoret Uasin Gishu county as @EliudKipchoge approached the finish line🎉🎉💪💪 #Eliud159 #NoHumanIsLimited @MichKatami @iaaforg @INEOS159 @humphkj pic.twitter.com/ac2NbCACzy In Kenya’s running mecca of Eldoret, called the home of champions, hundreds of people burst on to the streets in celebration. “We should line up the entire road from the airport to Nairobi. Receive him like the hero he is,” prominent activist Boniface Mwangi said on Twitter. Running at an average pace of 2 minutes, 50 seconds per kilometer (around 4:33 per mile), Kipchoge was 11 seconds ahead of schedule halfway through his run. He then maintained his tempo until the pacemakers left him for the final 500 meters, where he sped up. “I was really calm, I was just trying to maintain the pace,” said Kipchoge, adding he was never in doubt about breaking the barrier. “For me it was not 50-50, it was 90%.” Jim Ratcliffe, founder of the chemicals company backing the attempt, exchanged high-fives with Kipchoge after the finish. “He even accelerated in the final kilometer, he is a superhuman,” Ratcliffe said. “I can’t believe he’s done it. He did the first half in less than an hour and then he’s just done that again.” Organizers said normal anti-doping regulations were in place and that Kipchoge and all the pacemakers were being tested in and out of competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). The team behind the event “has ensured all athletes involved in the project are undergoing extensive intelligence-led testing that has been pioneered by the partnership between Abbott World Marathon Majors and the AIU,” they said in a statement to The Associated Press. The Prater Park in the Austrian capital offered long straights, protected from the wind by high trees, for most of the 9.6-kilometer course, which Kipchoge completed more than 4 times. It was his second attempt at breaking the two-hour barrier, after missing out by 26 seconds at a similar event on the Formula One track in Monza, Italy, in May 2017. Kipchoge, who took Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and has won 10 of his 11 marathons, holds the official world record of 2:01:39 since shattering the previous best mark by 78 seconds in Berlin last year. In the near-perfect circumstances at the meticulously planned attempt, Kipchoge shaved almost two minutes off that time. Long-time coach and mentor, Patrick Sang, a former Olympic and world steeplechase silver medalist, said it was “really exciting.” “I am happy for him and what he has achieved. He has inspired all of us that we can stretch our limits and that we can do more than we think we can do,” Sang added. Under Sang’s guidance, Kipchoge won gold in the 5,000 meters at the world championship in 2003, the start of a distinguished track career which includes Olympic bronze and silver medals from 2004 and 2008. After missing out on qualification for the 2012 London Olympics on the track, Kipchoge switched to the marathon and has since been pushing the boundaries of the discipline. But he still faces one big challenge — to run under two hours in a regular marathon race. ___ Associated Press writer Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "‘No human is limited’: Kipchoge runs sub-2 hour marathon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0e7a65293ef4a31ba49ef5c649ef555",
            "input": "Her brother, Arun, said the incident a couple of months ago came after Pinki had been upset after receiving zero marks in an exam, and had been arguing with teachers for her paper to be re-marked. But Pinki’s problems ran much deeper. Highly ambitious, she was anxious she wouldn’t fulfill her dreams. At the same time she’d been under pressure from some family members to follow a more traditional route - to marry and settle down. “She didn’t know what else to do,” Arun said. “She put a lot of pressure on herself.”  Pinki’s story is emblematic of problems confronting India’s young, in a society impatient for progress and yet underprepared for the challenges that inevitably accompany modernity. Cultural issues, discrimination, parental pressure and competition for highly paid jobs are combining to create a suicide epidemic among young Indians. Compounding the problem is a system that barely recognizes mental health issues. India has the world’s highest suicide rate among 15 to 29 year olds, ahead of next-placed North Korea, according to a September report by the World Health Organization. For the first time, suicide is the leading cause of death among young Indian women, overtaking deaths during childbirth, the WHO says.In most parts of the world suicides tend to occur among the most disadvantaged groups, but in India they are happening among better educated young adults living in the most prosperous regions. In south India, where literacy rates and incomes are highest in the country, suicide rates are 10 times higher than in northern states, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal in 2012. “Aspirations are at a much higher level and society around them is not always keeping pace, so the disappointment is much greater,” said Vikram Patel, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who carried out the research. MENTAL HEALTH NEGLECT As India’s policymakers strive to put the country on a path to modernity, something akin to China’s transformation of the past two decades, the young are feeling the pressure. In particular, young females. Unlike the rest of the world where younger men are more likely to take their lives than women, in India the opposite is the case. Experts put this down to women’s low status in society. Compounding the issue, little help is at hand for those suffering from mental illness. In India, the condition often goes undiagnozed or untreated, and until a couple of months ago the country did not have national mental health policy. Spending on mental health accounts for 0.06 percent of the government’s health budget, the lowest level in the world after Zimbabwe. For most Indians with mental illnesses “there is literally no care available”, Harsh Vardan, then-health minister, said in October announcing plans to build more mental hospitals and train more psychiatrists.In January, the health ministry launched a nationwide program to provide community support for adolescents suffering from mental illness. TRAPPEDIn the run-up to Chauhan’s suicide, conflict had been building on different fronts. Exam pressure weighed heavily on her mind. There were disputes with her parents. She felt trapped between the competing ideals of old India and new.She lived in a village on the edge of Gurgaon where the timeless India of wheat fields and cattle-drawn carts abuts the frantically rising apartment towers of the budding middle class. Chauhan didn’t want to get married as a teenager, the path for most women in her village. In many families, once a woman gets married there is little chance for education and her primary job is to serve her husband’s family. “She had been arguing with her parents, who wanted her to get married, but she was ambitious, she wanted to prove herself and achieve her dreams,” said her brother, Arun. When she scored zero on a physics paper she was crushed, fearing it would blemish her job chances. Chauhan along with other students pleaded with their teachers for the papers to be reassessed. Her university, Government Girls College, declined comment when contacted by Reuters, saying the case was under police investigation. A teacher at the college, who asked not to be identified, said there was a mismatch between student’s expectations and what they were capable of. “We find many students get a shock when they come here because they have been doing well in school and then they don’t get good marks (here).”  Another teacher said that while the college provided counseling to students, the high student-to-teacher ratio meant some people missed the safety net. Pinki appeared to fall into that category. Tragically, the college later said that what had pushed her to fatally strike a match was the result of an error. Pinki had in fact passed the exam, and was one of the best students performing in her class.",
            "output": [
                "In modernizing India, suicide is on the rise among young."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da149896c01f45579dd0587055f331b9",
            "input": "Five new petitions submitted to the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board seek new qualifying medical conditions for patients in the state’s medical marijuana program. The board meets in December. The Department of Health withheld the names of petition sponsors on Wednesday in response to a request for public records. One petition cites recent studies in veterinary medicine to recommend the authorization of cannabis for animals coping with seizures. The petition uses a YouTube video of an epileptic dog named Tecumseh to illustrate the suffering associated with the condition. Cannabidiol derived from hemp or marijuana already is widely marketed for pets. New York and California have recently considered allowing veterinarians to recommend medical cannabis for pets, said Carly Wolf, a policy coordinator with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. No state appears to explicitly allow that yet. The petitioner in New Mexico says that authorizing cannabis for animals would minimize the danger of animal abuse by regulating the use of medical marijuana with pets and provide new treatment tools to veterinarians. Another petition would allow marijuana for attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome, anxiety disorder and Tourette’s syndrome. New Mexico’s medical cannabis program, initiated in 2007, has served nearly 80,000 patients who cope with conditions from cancer to HIV. A large majority are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or severe chronic pain. A coalition of state legislators is developing a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana after a bill this year stalled in the state Senate. A working group appointed by the governor is seeking to ensure affordable access to medical marijuana if recreational marijuana is approved. That could mean tax-free medical cannabis in the future and possibly subsidized sales for impoverished patients. Several states have seen an exodus of patients from medical marijuana programs and issues of affordability with the authorization of recreational marijuana.",
            "output": [
                "Petition seeks medical marijuana for ailing household pets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-286d8ed75a6b4c4fa92c3fbaafc8cc6b",
            "input": "The baby died in November after being hospitalized for three months, the Department of Health said Wednesday. The last pediatric death related to pertussis, or whooping cough, was in 2013. The department’s preliminary data shows that in 2019 there were 25 cases of pertussis in babies less than 6 months. Of those, eight were hospitalized, and two of the hospitalized cases were severe. Anyone can get pertussis, but it is most severe in infants, according to health officials. They are emphasizing the importance of vaccination, especially during pregnancy, to help prevent pertussis. Kristen Ehresmann, the department’s director of infectious disease, said the tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, or Tdap, vaccine is recommended during the third trimester of each pregnancy. When the Tdap vaccine is given during pregnancy, the mother’s body creates antibodies to fight off the pertussis bacteria, Ehresmann said. Some of those antibodies are passed to the baby before birth and offer short-term protection until the baby can be vaccinated.",
            "output": [
                "Infant death related to whooping cough in Minnesota."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d67316a8aefd4160a95f6f3febcc2af2",
            "input": "In the eastern county of Tulcea, the region worst hit by the disease, an official told The Associated Press on Monday that a state of emergency had been proclaimed. Mihai Pagal, a spokesman for the Tulcea prefect’s office, said 48,000 pigs had been culled since June after they came down with the disease. He said two large commercial farms had been badly hit, as well as many smaller farms. Tulcea alone has seen 471 outbreaks of swine fever, according to Romanian veterinary authorities. They said nationwide, 500 farmers will receive compensation for dead livestock. The World Organization for Animal Health says African swine fever doesn’t affect humans.",
            "output": [
                "Romania reports 500 outbreaks of African swine fever in pigs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10ef2e728d9443648144f302387f1a96",
            "input": "\"In a speech posted on Medium, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offered a striking statistic about gun violence and minority youth. \"\"Gun violence,\"\" she wrote, \"\"is by far the leading cause of death for young African-American men, outstripping the next nine causes of death combined.\"\" We wondered whether this is correct, so we took a closer look. We found the relevant data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Using this search form, we collected data on the 10 most common causes of death for African-American men and boys between the ages of 15 and 24, for 2014. Rank Cause of death Number of deaths Number gun-related 1st Homicide 2,416 2,256 2nd Unintentional injuries 1,135 47 3rd Suicide 448 230 4th Heart disease 172 -- 5th Cancer 161 -- 6th HIV 52 -- 7th Chronic lower respiratory diseases 47 -- 8th Congenital anomalies 38 -- 9th Anemia 33 -- 10th Diabetes 33 -- Total, 2nd through 9th place -- 2,119 -- So even if you look only at gun-related homicides, there were 2,256 of those in 2014, compared to 2,119 deaths in the next nine categories combined. This makes Clinton’s statement correct. If you add in the accidents and suicides related to guns, the gap between gun-related deaths and other types of deaths expands even further. There were 2,533 gun-related deaths in all 10 categories combined, compared to 2,002 deaths in the top 10 categories that had nothing to do with guns. We should note that this statement is dependent on the age range chosen. For instance, the statement is not correct for African-American boys between age 10 and 14. There were 38 gun-related homicides in that age and racial group in 2014, plus 10 gun suicides and three unintentional injuries caused by guns, for a total of 51. By contrast, the top 10 causes of death for that age and racial group included 271 deaths that had nothing to do with guns, such as diseases. That said, we think Clinton’s definition of \"\"young\"\" as 15-24 is a reasonable one. Our ruling Clinton said, \"\"Gun violence is by far the leading cause of death for young African-American men, outstripping the next nine causes of death combined.\"\" As long as you define \"\"young\"\" as being between the ages of 15 and 24, Clinton’s statement is accurate, according to CDC data.\"",
            "output": [
                "Gun violence is by far the leading cause of death for young African American men, outstripping the next nine causes of death combined."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7da5db7ca45441748d8cf1ddcef9b22d",
            "input": "In July 10 2020, a Facebook post appeared about the #FreeBritney movement (evidently aimed at liberating Britney Spears), becoming hugely popular within just a few days:The Text of the PostThe post — which was lengthy and full of details — began with an interpretation of Spears’ purported signals for help:PSA on Britney Spears and the #FreeBritney movement for anyone that needs or wants more information on what is going on with her. It’s a fucking rabbit hole, so buckle up.A little backstory first. Britney was a child star starting at the age of 4 years old on Broadway, and then worked her way to the Mickey Mouse Club, and eventually the solo career we know today. Her career has been on autopilot her entire life. If you look back at her music, she’s been telling everyone for years she’s too controlled and treated as a product if you listen to the lyrics of most of her hits. Examples include: Lucky, Overprotected, My Perogative, Circus, Piece of Me and Gimme More. Her music videos, social media posts, tour props and photoshoots regularly show her in a cage or in chains. If anyone has ever seen videos of her when she was younger, you’d know her REAL singing voice is very similar to Christina Aguilera’s. Her record label didn’t like it, as they were both on the Mickey Mouse Club and about to release their debut albums at the same time. So they had her voice retrained to sing in the baby voice we all know today because they believed it to be more iconic and would create a brand and career for her instead of her real voice. It’s unhealthy, and it’s been destroying her voice over the years, thus why she is known for lip syncing. She wanted to make an acoustic type pop album in 2006 titled Original Doll and reinvent herself using her real voice. The album was shelved and cancelled once her label realized she would be singing in her real voice. She isn’t allowed to sing live because she will either fail terribly, or she’ll have to sing in her deep voice that she isn’t known for. Her entire career she has been treated like a product meant to sell.A subsequent section added the “real tea,” describing the events leading up to “the 2007 meltdown” and the legal quagmire which followed:Leading up the meltdown Britney was going thru a public divorce, had two children under the age of 2 at the time and was VERY much the focus of the public. We all saw her on every magazine cover. We all also saw the photo of her with one of her kids on her lap while driving. Go on YouTube once and look up ‘Britney Spears paparazzi’. You’ll watch her be chased and followed by hundreds of them, even trying to get into a public restroom to photograph her, videotaping her in tears asking them to leave her alone, and even filming her thru the windows of an ambulance while she was naked being taken away for her final mental health hold.After the public meltdown, shaving her head, locking herself in her home with her children, speaking in a british accent on regular basis, wearing the imfamous pink wig everywhere, and shopping naked, she was hospitalized twice. After the hospitalization, her father petitioned the courts to be a TEMPORARY conservator to her until she was mentally stable and for only one years time. 2 months after her hospitalization she did a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother. 6 months after her hospitalization, she drops the Womanizer video and starts to promote her new album Circus with its worldwide tour that grossed $131.8 million. If she’s so unwell, why did she start working right away?Her father after one year petitioned the courts for the conservatorship to become permanent due to her ALLEGEDLY having EARLY ONSET DEMENTIA in her TWENTIES. It passed and has been that way ever since. For 12 years to be exact.Finally, the poster described the purported terms of Spears’ conservatorship, and legally-binding restrictions it placed upon her:Britney Spears is a now 38 year old woman who is not allowed to do the following without her fathers permission or he can legally lock her up in a mental health facility: • drive a car • vote • get married • have children • spend HER OWN MONEY • see how her money is being spent • see her children (she has 30% custody of both of her boys due to her dad assaulting one of her sons) • leave her home • hire her own lawyer • have any control over her career • speak about the conservatorship publicly • do interviews that aren’t scripted and all final cuts are approved by her father as well • use a cell phone without being monitored • use social media unmonitored • contact ANYONE without being monitored or having them extremely vetted. (Iggy Azalea allegedly had her house searched for drugs top to bottom when they collaborated on a song together) • go shopping • go for a walk • get StarbucksAfter several more paragraphs about Spears’ life under the terms of the conservatorship, the post’s author implores readers not to mock Spears:So, when everyone sees her on Instagram walking up and down her hallways like it’s a fashion show. That’s all she is allowed to do. She has NEVER had control over her life. I don’t care if you personally like her or her music, NO ONE DESERVES THIS. All this woman wants is to see her children, make the music she wants to make, and go get a frappuccino in her car. She is a light of sunshine in this world, and we must protect her at all costs. So please, do not make fun of her, support the Free Britney movement, and send good vibes her way. She has a court date this month to review the conservatorship and decide if it is abusive or will continue to be in place. There are so many details to this that i left out that would make this post entirely much longer than it is, but a simple search will show you what else is out there. Spread this far and wide. ❤️ Free BritneyThe ‘2007 Meltdown’ and Subsequent EventsA reverse chronology of Spears’ so-called “meltdown” published by CBS News in February 2007 began on February 6 2006, describing Spears’ visit from child protection officials after paparazzi photographers captured her driving with her son on her lap:DCFS officials visit Spears’ home after publication of photographs showing the 24-year-old singer driving a sport utility vehicle in Malibu, Calif., with then 4-month-old Sean Preston in her lap, rather than in a car seat, as is required by law. She first blamed a “horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi,” but later said it was a “mistake.” No charges were filed.The timeline continued with successive reported visits from the same child welfare officials to Spears, who was pregnant at the time. The gossip column stories culminated in a June 16 2006 interview of Spears with former Today show host Matt Lauer.Spears became emotional, primarily due to the relentless media attention lashed upon her, and Lauer later said he did not regret the exchange:Lauer asked her if she cried about all of the attention paid to her parenting. “Oh, I’ve wept, yeah,” she said. “I’ve definitely wept, with the world — how judgmental they are. But I know what kind of mom I am.” Spears, whose second child is due in September, told Lauer that she’s an emotional wreck.“Not in a bad way,” she said. “Just, you know, I’ll start laughing hysterically, and then I’ll just start crying. It’s my hormones, so it’s nice to have my husband there to keep me company.”The timeline then covered the birth of Spears’ second child, her split from then-husband Kevin Federline, and increasing media attention on her social life. Based on the 2007 timeline, it seemed Spears’ visits to nightclubs prompted additional scrutiny from state child protective services:The New York Post reports [on December 6 2006] that the L.A. Dept. of Children & Family Services has been trying to set up a meeting with Spears. The calls start after a recent bout of bizarre public behavior,” a source told the newspaper. The Post reports that Spears’ family is also worried about her new party lifestyle – and antics with the paparazzi.One day later, Spears was quoted as saying:“Every move I make at this point has been magnified more than I expected, and I probably did take my newfound freedom a little too far. I look forward to a new year, new music and a new me!”On February 17 2007, Spears’ movements again became fodder for a nascent internet gossip industry — resulting in widely-seen images of Spears shaving her head and visiting a tattoo parlor:Spears is seen at a hair salon in Tarzana, Calif., shaving her head. Later, she was seen at a tattoo parlor getting inked on her hip and wrist. The “makeover” came the same day as reports on TV and Web sites that Spears, who has drawn criticism for her recent partying and sloppy behavior, had briefly checked into rehab at a treatment center in Antigua. Hair purportedly clipped from her head is now for sale on eBay.Spears’ divorce from Federline remained acrimonious, and in October 2007, CBS reported:A judge on [October 1 2007] ordered Britney Spears to turn over custody of her two children to ex-husband Kevin Federline [that] week.Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning [October 3 2007] “until further order of the court.”The order stemmed from an unspecified oral motion made by Federline’s attorneys and was handled in a closed-door hearing. The judge’s order did not state the reason for the change in custody and he ordered all transcripts of the proceedings sealed.Spears Is Involuntarily Committed, and the Conservatorship BeginsA Fox News biography of Spears covered the period during which she was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold, and the beginning of the conservatorship at the heart of the #FreeBritney movement:On Jan. 3, 2008, Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by paramedics after police were called to her home because of a dispute involving her two sons. Britney reportedly refused to hand them over to Federline.An officer at the scene said Spears appeared to be “under the influence,” but subsequent reports said Spears is suffering from mental illness, not substance abuse.At an emergency hearing the following day, a court commissioner suspended Spears’ right to visit her sons. The commissioner also gave sole physical and legal custody to Federline.On Jan. 31 [2008], Spears’ parents, psychiatrist and LAPD all reportedly worked together to once again commit Britney to the psychiatric ward at UCLA Medical Center.The following day, Court Commissioner Reva Goetz ruled that Spears needed someone else to take over her personal and financial affairs. Spears’ father, James, and her attorney, Andrew Wallet, were granted conservatorship.In early February [2008], her stay at the hospital was extended for two weeks under a section in state law that allows patients to be kept for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, a person close to the pop star told The Associated Press.Originally, the conservatorship was set to expire in December 2008. But in October of that year, Spears’ father was awarded indefinite or permanent control of nearly all aspects of her life:In the public eye Britney Spears seems to have made a remarkable recovery, but behind-the-scenes it seems she still needs to be under conservatorship – permanently.Lawyers for the pop princess asked that the temporary co-conservatorship (which was due to end on Dec. 31) be made permanent on [October 28 2008] and Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Riva Goetz granted the request.Britney’s father Jamie will now have long-term control over her assets, estate and business affairs and Spears’s mental health will be closely monitored by a team of experts. The order will remain in tact until the 26-year-old has made a full and stable recovery. […]Attorneys for Spears declined to comment on her current condition or how she feels about the status change.The Advent of the ‘Free Britney’ Movement, Through 2019The first mention we located of an effort to liberate Spears from the conservatorship was a December 2009 tabloid article describing Spears’ purported wish to end the restrictive arrangement:… according to US reports Spears wants the courts to end her dad’s ‘conservatorship’ which he gained after she suffered her highly publicised meltdown at the beginning of last year. […]Insiders claim Brit’s legal team have been gathering momentum and are set to have an evaluation of her progress made since her rehab woes.Father Jamie was reportedly planning to release his strangle hold once the star’s touring is over but now he wants it to end ‘when the time is right’.But Britney’s lawyers have been meeting with the LA commissioner in his chambers and the decision of her legal freedom is set to rest in the hands of a psychiatrist – or a ‘capacity expert’ – who is chosen by the court …Spears’ father reportedly holds two ‘conservatorships’ over his famous daughter, 28, including one controlling her personal life and the other controlling her business brand.In April 2013, a popular post shared to Reddit’s r/todayilearned discussed the issue:TIL that Britney Spears is under a conservatorship which is reserved usually for people mentally ill or in vegetative state. Britney has reportedly stated that she wants to quit showbiz but she can’t make any personal or financial decisions of her life and is forced to continue. from todayilearnedThat post linked to an April 2011 blog post about Spears’ heavily restricted life, addressing appearances in which Spears appeared disengaged from her role as a performer:Yeah, we could blame Britney’s disinterest on drugs or nerves or stupidity or just being spoiled, that’d be easy — or you could blame her psychiatric meds (I promise, it’s totally possible to take Seroquel AND dance). But that’s not what seems to be going on here.Britney Spears is over it.The only problem? She’s not allowed to quit or even change her style because Dad’s in charge and Britney’s not legally allowed to make those decisions on her own anymore.Britney is 29 and will turn 30 in December [2011], which makes her about two months younger than me. Maybe that generational bond explains why so many of my peers are obsessed with Britney despite a general overall aversion to celebrity culture/pop music. And at 16, everybody wanted to be Britney Spears at least a little bit, including, hopefully, Britney herself, but now we’re older and wiser and things have changed and people have grown and it kinda seems like, at 29, most of us have lost interest in being Britney Spears, including, it would seem, Britney herself.The post went on to make a case for ending the conservatorship, describing the entire situation in incredulous terms:This is all the doing of Jamie Spears, her (allegedly) emotionally abusive recovered-addict father, who finally succeeded in his wrestle for Brit-Brit Control in February 2008. That was the year Britney’s public trainwreck (detailed poignantly in this Rolling Stone article) bottomed out and, while Britney was in the hospital, Jamie’s lawyers arranged the conservatorship that granted him exclusive rights to Britney’s personal life and financials. It was supposed to be temporary, just ’til she got back on her feet.But when Britney got healthy, Jamie’s lawyers actually pushed for greater authority and, on October 28th of 2008, Jamie secured a permanent conservatorship. PERMANENT! So HE OWNS HER FOREVER!Jenny Eliscu, who wrote Britney’s 2008 Rolling Stone cover story, said it’s “very rare for a young adult who is not extremely ill to have their rights assigned to a conservator.”Many of the linked sources were no longer functional in July 2020, but one led to an October 2010 PsychCentral post questioning how the conservatorship had lasted as long as it had at the time:Does anyone know why Britney Spears is still under conservatorship? I mean, besides Britney, her judge, and her dad?Anyone? […]So, I guess what I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around is why Judge Goetz thinks she still needs the conservatorship? It’s been nearly three years.Of course, we only know what Britney or the media report (but let’s face it – if there’s some wild drama going on, the media’s gonna be on it), so maybe there are enough behind-the-scenes issues going on to make the judge hesitant … For now, all we know is that Britney Spears seems to be doing well and, even though she’s still under conservatorship, I think we can safely assume it won’t be for too much longer.Interest in the terms of Spears’ conservatorship crested and waned over the years, before peaking again in the spring of 2019. At the time, a popular r/OutOfTheLoop post on Reddit addressed the #FreeBritney hashtag and its popularity at the time:What is going on with #FreeBritney? from OutOfTheLoopA top-level answer summarized the ongoing controversy:Allegedly, Britney Spears is being held against her will in a mental health facility since mid-January that has some relations to her conservatorship, which she was put under in 2008 following her mental break. This information has come from the podcast, BritneysGram. More specifically, they had allegedly got a voicemail from someone they say could verify that they worked as a paralegal at a law office connected to Britney’s conservatorship.Britney apparently wasn’t taking her meds any longer, refusing to use them, which then led to her Vegas residency being canceled and her being forced into the facility. Fans started #FreeBritney to try and make her gain freedom again – both in the sense of being free of the facility but also not being under the conservatorship any longer. Under the conservatorship, she wasn’t allowed to drive, date, own a phone, etc. She didn’t even own her own career – this feeds into the “baby voice” conspiracy as well as her Vegas residency being canceled last minute.Here’s a Twitter thread going in-depth about her conservatorship, including sources and stuff so it’s not just hearsay either.Edit: while not an official confirmation, Britney’s mother has been liking comments on both Facebook and Instagram in regards to Britney being forced into a mental health facility, which people are believing is her confirming the allegations.A Twitter thread was linked in the reply, but it was initially inaccessible due to the suspension of the Twitter user. We located an archive of the thread, which alleged the conservatorship was corrupt and “incredibly shady & fraudulent.” It’s not clear why the account was suspended, or if the suspension had anything to do with the claims in the viral thread.May 2019, Spears’ Case is Re-Evaluated and Social Media Interest ContinuesOn May 11 2019, the Associated Press reported on a hearing regarding Spears’ conservatorship — during which “about 20 Spears fans protested with signs that read ‘Free Britney’ and ‘End the conservatorship now. '”That reporting emphasized the secrecy surrounding the hearing:After hearing Britney Spears and her parents speak in a rare and secretive joint court appearance [in May 2019], a judge ordered an expert evaluation in the conservatorship that for 11 years has put control of much of the 37-year-old singer’s life in the control of her father.Only the few left inside know what the three said in the courtroom that was closed to public and media shortly after the hearing began. But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny wrote in an order afterward that all had agreed on a so-called 730 expert evaluation, a process usually used to determine the mental health and competence of a parent in a divorce case. […]For years, Spears has been publicly silent about the severe restrictions on her decisions put in place by the conservatorship established in 2008, when she was having serious personal and psychiatric struggles, many of which played out in public.Conservatorship, known in many states as guardianship, is an involuntary status usually reserved for very elderly or very ill people who are suffering from dementia or otherwise incapacitated and unable to make decisions for themselves.Rarely is it used for people as functional as Spears, who despite further problems — she has said in interviews that she struggles with bipolar disorder — has seen her career continue to thrive.Clearly, Spears was not “freed” during those proceedings. In October 2019, USA Today reported that the situation was still under review and a matter of debate. That reporting heavily framed the conservatorship as not just tolerated by Spears, but desired:“Everybody looks at conservatorship as a terrible thing foisted on her. I look at it as a success story,” [Los Angeles lawyer Troy] Martin says. “Britney was in a downward spiral, there were 5150s (involuntary temporary psychiatric holds) filed on her as a possible danger to herself or others. Her life was a wreck. … By all appearances, things are a heck of lot better now than they were in 2008.”However, Martin was not involved with Spears’ case at any point. A Los Angeles Times piece a month earlier made similar claims, after a podcast about Spears’ conservatorship caused #FreeBritney to trend on Twitter earlier in 2019:“The fact that she’s been under conservatorship for a dozen years should tell you something about the state of her mental impairment and her vulnerability,” said [lawyer Adam] Streisand, who specializes in high-profile wealth disputes. “The courts will do everything they can to ensure that a person is not conserved unless they really, really need to be.”From late 2019 onward, interest in the #FreeBritney hashtag continued, as Spears conservatorship was extended once again on April 22 2020. An anonymous June 18 2020 post to Reddit’s r/legaladvice, since deleted, was interpreted by some fans to be from Spears:Conservatorship + Cosmetic Surgery – Please Help! from legaladviceGiven the prominence of rumors about Spears as of June 2020, it was definitely possible the thread — “Conservatorship + Cosmetic Surgery – Please Help!” — was written by someone other than Spears attempting to draw attention to her alleged plight. An archived version of the post revealed it was submitted by u/uncertainsobelle, and it read:Hi. I’m hoping you guys can help me understand my legal rights in my current situation. I live in the state of California and have been in a legal conservatorship for some time, I have two different conservators assigned to me, one for my personal affairs and the other handles my money and my business. I have had to do what they say in regards to doctors and treatments for a long time but now they are pushing me to get a cosmetic procedure that I do not want. They are telling me I ultimately have no rights or say in this decision and I’m really scared that they are right. Can anybody please tell me what to do or who I can speak to to report this? Thank you so much in advance for your help I am so grateful.TikTok Users Get InvolvedInterest spiked again in June and July 2020 — particularly creating discourse around Spears’ decision to wear a yellow shirt in a video. Purportedly, a commenter on a previous TikTok post by Spears urged her to wear a yellow shirt if she required help:Britney Spears: Recent TikTok, and more details about her life. Does she need help? from conspiracytheoriesOn July 2 2020, Spears posted a TikTok video in which very little occurred other than her wearing of a yellow shirt:A Redditor responding to the thread said of the “yellow shirt” element of the rumor:There was a tik tok video she posted and the comments asked stuff like “wear a yellow shirt if you need help” and then in her most recent video after that one, she pointed out in her caption “… I’m so excited I just had to wear my yellow shirt”. She was talking about something else but yeah something is going on 🙁The comment and video were the subject of a separate and very popular Facebook post on July 7 2020. On July 9 2020, a Facebook user claimed Spears again followed the colored shirt direction, this time with a blue shirt.This was good enough for the internet. A petition started on July 9 2020 and titled “The conservatorship and civil liberties of Britney Spears” received nearly 30,000 signatures, and it read:Since 2008 Britney Spears has been in a conservatorship that gives her conservator full control over her personal life & finances/estate. Conservatorships are typically used for those that are SEVERELY mentally ill. Since ‘08, she has been on 3 world tours with dangerous flying & fire stunts. It’s safe to say she is sane enough to feed and cloth herself. With this conservatorship she is unable to properly fight for her freedom as she isn’t legally allowed to hire her own lawyer. We need this petition so that Britney can hire her own lawyer and live a normal life as a 38 year old woman with two kids.She has tried over the years to fight, attempts were shut down. Please look into this case. Every American deserves civil liberties.On July 11 2020, photographer Andrew Gallery shared five videos to TikTok, purporting to share information about Spears and the conservatorship. The videos were broken up into five parts, all titled “my time with Britney Spears.” The fifth and final video was also titled “the letter”:Gallery shared three blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pages of a letter he attributed to Spears, which we screen captured:TL;DRAlthough the #FreeBritney movement seemed to exist in some form as early as 2010 and 2011, it didn’t really pick up until the spring of 2019, when a podcast caused the hashtag to go viral on Twitter. Fans of Spears maintained that the conservatorship controlling her life in some form or another since 2008 was improper and possibly abusive. The very active user base of TikTok revived interest in the rumors in June and July 2020, primarily after Spears wore a yellow shirt in a July 2020 video and a commenter claimed that they had advised her to wear a yellow shirt if she needed help. As of July 2020, Spears remained under conservatorship.Comments",
            "output": [
                "As of July 2020, Britney Spears is subject to the rigors of a conservatorship, limiting her freedom."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-51ced4d230f943c7a09e16de1124dceb",
            "input": "\"The House of Representatives passed a bill in February that would keep the United States government operating through this fiscal year while making a small dent in the federal debt. Democrats say it's a bad bill that slashes important programs; Republicans say the cuts are necessary. We're not going to pick apart the bill’s merits or shortcomings. PolitiFact Ohio was interested in claims about the bill’s impact made on March 7 by Sen. Sherrod Brown and seconded by Cleveland's mayor, Frank Jackson. Brown and Jackson, in a news release and at a news conference with public safety officials in Cleveland, said the spending cuts could harm public safety and security in Cleveland and across Ohio. Specifically, they spoke of cuts to grants that would affect local law enforcement. \"\"House-passed budget proposal could cut funding for programs that help keep local neighborhoods safe, slash more than $1.7 Million in anti-terror funds for Ohio,\"\" read a headline on Brown's news release. This made us wonder: These cuts would be in grant programs. Many federal grants are awarded competitively, making it impossible for any city to count on getting one every single year. So how could Brown and the city of Cleveland consider the end of a grant to be a \"\"cut?\"\" Put it another way: If you get a bonus sometimes but not every year, can you really say your pay was cut in the years you didn’t get one? In Brown's case, the answer turns out to be yes. Two of three programs he mentioned are funded by a narrow category of safety grants that Cleveland and Ohio have been guaranteed to get historically. These are what Brown was refering to as \"\"programs that keep local neighborhoods safe.\"\" As for the other program and potential cuts, Brown worded his concern cautiously and accurately. Let's take a look. Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS grants  This Justice Department program for keeping neighborhoods safe is competitive. The program helps police departments get federal money to hire and train officers. But it has a stipulation: Cities must pick up the officers' salaries when their grants end. Critics question whether the program is effective. The House was poised to eliminate COPS, but ended up retaining money for officer hiring and training. But the House bill would eliminate other programs under the COPS umbrella, such as those that have helped departments pay for technology and another that helps local police fight methamphetamine distribution. These latter two \"\"could be eliminated entirely,\"\" Brown said. Brown was accurate by saying \"\"could.\"\" And while some news reports left the mistaken impression that Cleveland patrol officers hired with COPS dollars are now at risk -- a fallacy that first caught our attention and prompted this very PolitiFact -- we see no evidence that Brown made that specific linkage. Byrne Justice Assistance Grants  Cleveland has used the money from these grants for regional police dispatching, crime analysis, and task forces to combat violent crime and drugs. Ohio \"\"could\"\" lose more than $4.4 million under House budget cuts, Brown said. The Byrne grants are largely based on a formula that factors in population and crime levels, according to information provided to us by Michelle Person, a spokeswoman in the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs. It is clear from the formula that if the funding for the federal program remained level, Ohio would still qualify. Brown was correct when referring to a possible \"\"loss.\"\" As for quantifying it at $4.4 million, Brown's office referred us to a state-by-state analysis by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, a liberal group that frequently examines the effect of spending cuts. The center's analysis was based on an estimate that the Byrne grants will be cut by about 29 percent. It is impossible to know the precise scope of Byrne cuts, if they occur, because they are part of a larger Justice Department grant pool that would be trimmed; it is unclear whether all grants would be cut equally. Yet the 29 percent estimate is consistent with other estimates, and \"\"it certainly is assumed that Byrne would take its fair share\"\" among other programs, said Elizabeth Pyke, director of government affairs at the National Criminal Justice Association, which represents cities and states. The COPS program and Byrne Justice Assistance grants are the two programs that Cleveland and Ohio historically have been guaranteed to get and both can impact policing in neighborhoods. Urban Areas Security Initiative grants  The Department of Homeland Security gives these grants to help metropolitan areas plan for potential terrorist attacks and mass emergencies. Ohio could \"\"stand to lose more than $1.7 million\"\" if these grants were cut, and \"\"Cleveland alone could lose more than $500,000,\"\" Brown said in his news release. These grants are awarded through a formula that factors in each metro area's population and its potential for a terrorist strike or mass emergency. Sixty-three metro areas now get funding, according to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that believes that the program has expanded too far. The House spending bill would cut the amount of money available to the whole program, and Brown based his figures on a calculation of how that would affect Ohio’s portion, said Meghan Dubyak, Brown’s communications director. However, under an amendment to the House spending bill, only the top 25 metro areas -- measured by their perceived level of threat and related factors -- would qualify for money. No Ohio cities are currently in the top 25, so the loss to Ohio under this circumstance would be higher than Brown calculated. Brown was correct, then, that Cleveland \"\"could\"\" lose \"\"more than\"\" $500,000. All of his claims were based on a House bill that the Senate is expected to change. But the House bill sets the stage for whatever happens next; for now, at least, it is the bill the Senate must work with. And Brown was careful to say it \"\"could,\"\" not \"\"would\"\" when discussing all the proposed cuts.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The \"\"House-passed budget proposal could cut funding for programs that help keep local neighborhoods safe, slash more than $1.7 million in anti-terror funds for Ohio.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2527305e0a9445c5a5e9516b4d79bca5",
            "input": "“I hope that this is the last of it,” Rogers City Superintendent Nick Hein told The Alpena News. Bad weather hasn’t scratched classes this year in Rogers City, which is along Lake Huron, 60 miles southeast of the Mackinac Bridge. But illness is another story. The district has roughly 510 students. A quarter of them were out Friday. “My school nurse has confirmed the majority of it was the flu,” Hein said of students who were absent. District Health Department No. 4 said flu has been widespread for five to six weeks in the northeastern Lower Peninsula.",
            "output": [
                "Snow day? No, it’s illness _ again _ in school district."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-deedcc4ffe494318b0ac923153993aa8",
            "input": "A spokesperson for Brazil’s agriculture ministry said Monday the suspension of exports was implemented automatically after the case was confirmed. Such a step is required under the two countries’ bilateral agreement. Ministry spokesperson Regina Peres said the case detected Friday in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso did not come from contaminated food. She said that eliminated the possibility of large-scale contamination, saying exports are expected to resume “quickly.” The ministry said in a statement that the World Organization for Animal Health closed its investigation into the case Monday without altering Brazil’s sanitary status. The organization was not immediately available to confirm.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil suspends beef exports to China due to ‘mad cow’ case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8054963b8ff24855953ec9273bfd13ab",
            "input": "The plan, revealed by Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries at a legislative hearing in Chicago, comes after a pledge by the Republican governor less than two months ago that he would replace antiquated plumbing which could provide harbor for the bacteria that causes the deadly, pneumonia-like malady. Rauner did say at the time a newly constructed facility could be a long-term option. “The cost and the disruption and the construction that would be involved, not to mention the time it would take to do this (plumbing replacement) would just not be worth the effort when you think about building a brand-new building,” Jeffries said Monday. “We do not want to spend years tearing up 70-year-old buildings to put brand-new piping in when we know that might not be a total solution.” Rauner stayed at the home for a week in January to dramatize his efforts to get to the bottom of the outbreak. He has been pummeled by opponents in his re-election bid who say his administration’s response has mishandled the crisis. Jeffries, who did not cite a potential cost, said several of the buildings on the 130-year-old campus in western Illinois would be razed to make way for “state-of-the-art facilities” during the next three to five years. At another point Jeffries indicated that preliminary recommendations from task forces Rauner appointed would be delivered by March 31 with a final version due May 1. Rauner faces voters in a GOP primary election March 20. Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said late Monday that plumbing replacement hasn’t been ruled out and noted that Rauner’s pronouncement in January included suggesting constructing a “brand-new building here that has the latest technology.” The administration installed a $6.5 million water-treatment plant, adopted rigorous plumbing-fixture flushing protocols, installed filters on fixtures, and treated water with heat and chemicals, among other steps, in its effort to stop the problem. After initially appearing in 2015, Legionnaire’s disease returned to the facility in 2016 and 2017. Four more cases were confirmed last month. Monday’s hearing was called after the administration released an August 2016 report from Belleville-based consulting engineer BRiC Partnership suggesting steps to mitigate the problem, including replacing the underground water-distribution system and plumbing inside 15 campus buildings where the most susceptible residents live for $8 million. Jeffries said in December that plumbing replacement could cost $500 million or more; in January, she told lawmakers the price tag was $25 million to $30 million, but didn’t specify the source of that estimate. She has never explained why she used estimates that at a minimum were more than four times higher than the actual number. BRiC’s 2016 report, which cost $20,000, listed about a dozen ideas for a total of $17 million. The administration paid BRiC another $40,000 to update and expand its 2016 report. That update released last month indicated plumbing replacement for the entire campus would be $11 million; expanded options for the other ideas combined would cost no more than $24 million. Jeffries explained Monday that the August 2016 delivery of the BRiC report was just two months after the June completion of a $6.5 million water-treatment facility and wanted to test its effectiveness before taking any more actions. But Public Health officials had confirmed two more cases of Legionnaires’ in late July, just days before BRiC’s arrival on campus. ___ Contact Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/john%20o’connor ___ Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv",
            "output": [
                "Rauner now plans to raze vet dorms where Legionnaires’ found."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87d37d5af94f446c8d76b7701776207b",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention any costs of the experimental procedure. The story states that the new therapy eliminated the need for injections for months or years in 14 of 15 patients, thereby describing absolute benefits. The story states the new treatment is not without risks and that patients are prone to infection. However, there is no description of how severe this harm might be (could lead to death) or how frequently these occurred in the study. So, although harms are briefly mentioned, they are not adequately developed or appreciated. This is not a minor issue, as stem cell transplant can be associated with very signficant risks of infection, organ failure and even death. As an example of what can be left out in a shortened version, this line about potential harms appeared in the original LA  Times story, but was left out of the Boston Globe version we reviewed: \"\"Burt's research group at Northwestern has performed 170 stem-cell transplants to treat a variety of immune system disorders, and two patients have died from the treatment.\"\" The story does not report the strength of the evidence, namely whether this was a randomized trial or something less robust. Readers also aren't cautioned about the low number of participants or the short length of follow-up which limits the conclusions that can be drawn. The story does not overembellish the nature of the condition or its burden. The article quotes a source associated with the research and also quotes a source not associated with the research. The article discusses the alternate, standard thereapy for type 1 diabetics, which is insulin injections. The article states the treatment is experimental, letting readers know this procedure is not available at your local doctor's office just yet. The story states the research suggests a new avenue of treatment for people with Type I diabetes letting readers know this would be a new treatment (although the story states stem cell transplantation has been used with other conditions). Because the story had input from several sources, including one not involved in the research, it's safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Stem cell treatment used for diabetes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54c909775e944c82872f6c33da1ac26d",
            "input": "Five cases of H7N9 bird flu infections have been diagnosed in central Anhui province since Dec. 8, and two people have died, state media reported. In Shanghai, officials said this week that a man was diagnosed with H7N9 and is being treated in a city hospital. Another case has been reported in Xiamen in coastal Fujian province, where poultry sales have been halted. In rural Jinzhai county in Anhui province, local officials on Thursday announced a two-week closure of a meat market after a shopkeeper was diagnosed with H7N9. The provincial government also issued a warning on social media urging residents to avoid buying and slaughtering live chickens themselves. A major H7N9 bird flu outbreak in humans first struck China in March 2013, killing more than 40 people and devastating the poultry industry. The strain is less virulent than the H5N1 strain that the World Health Organization says has killed more than 370 people.",
            "output": [
                "Bird flu infects 7 people in China this month, killing 2."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b3bcc84ea9b474aa8295d9238b19f96",
            "input": "“It’s simply a continuation of internal political struggle,” Putin said at his end-of-year news conference in Moscow. “The party that lost the (2016) election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results by other means.” He likened Trump’s impeachment to the earlier U.S. probe into collusion with Russia, which Putin played down as groundless. Former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded earlier this year that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion.”   “Now they invented some sort of pressure on Ukraine,” Putin said, referring to the investigation of Trump’s trying to enlist the president of that country to announce investigations of his political rival as he withheld U.S. aid to Kyiv. Trump on Wednesday became only the third American president to be impeached. The historic vote in the House of Representatives split along party lines over a charge of abusing his power. The House also approved a second article that he obstructed Congress in its investigation. Noting the Republicans have a majority in the Senate, where a trial of Trump will be conducted, Putin said “they will be unlikely to remove a representative of their own party from office on what seems to me absolutely far-fetched reasons.” Turning to the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the U.S. that expires in 2021, Putin said that Russia is ready to extend it “even tomorrow,” warning that the demise of the last U.S.-Russian arms control deal will remove the final barrier stemming an arms race. Putin spoke on a variety of issues during the marathon news conference that lasted for more than four hours and was dominated by local issues, such as Russia’s ailing health care system and federal subsidies for the regions. The 67-year-old Russian president, who marks two decades in power later this month, remained coy about his political future. He wouldn’t answer if he could potentially extend his rule by shifting into a new governing position to become the head of a union between Russia and neighboring Belarus. Putin served two four-year terms as president in 2000-2008, then moved into the premier’s position to observe a constitutional limit of two consecutive terms. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2018, and his current six-year terms runs through 2024. He suggested modifying the law to limit a president to two terms altogether, which some observers said could signal his intention to stay at the helm by shifting into another position and reduce the power of presidency. The Russian president left the door open to amending the Russian Constitution to change the distribution of powers of the president, the Cabinet and parliament, but noted that revisions must be made carefully after a broad pubic discussion. Asked about costly business projects reportedly run by his two daughters, whom the Kremlin has carefully kept out of the public eye, Putin praised the initiatives but stopped short of confirming any details about them. Putin opened the news conference by warning about new challenges posed by global climate change, saying that global warming could threaten Russian Arctic cities and towns built on permafrost and trigger more fires and devastating floods. He emphasized that Russia has abided by the Paris agreement intended to slow down global warming. At the same time, he noted that the U.S. and China, which are responsible for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, aren’t part of the deal. Putin also hailed the economic achievements of his rule, pointing that Russia has become the world’s largest grain exporter, surpassing the U.S. and Canada — a dramatic change compared to the Soviet Union that heavily depended on grain imports. The Russian economy had suffered a double blow of a drop in global oil prices and Western sanctions that followed Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. It has seen a slow recovery since 2017 after a two-year stagnation. Russia’s ties with the West have remained at post-Cold War lows, but Putin argued that Russia has recovered and become more resilient to shocks from Western penalties and fluctuations in global energy prices. He deflected Western criticism, saying that he sees his mission in protecting Russia’s national interests and pays little attention to negative diatribes. Noting the continuing strain in relations with Britain, Putin praised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for winning a strong parliament majority in his general election and held the door open for improving ties. “He came out the winner because he had felt the British society’s sentiments more acutely,” he said. Putin voiced hope for further moves to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine following his talks in Paris on Dec. 9 with the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany. He said that the 2015 peace agreement signed in Minsk and brokered by France and Germany must be observed, rejecting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s push for revising it. “If we start revising the Minsk agreement, it will lead to deadlock,” Putin said. The fighting in eastern Ukraine, which flared up in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has killed more than 14,000. Putin, who once lamented the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, had some harsh words to say about Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin. He lambasted Lenin’s policies on ethnic issues, saying that his idea to grant broad autonomy to ethnic-based Soviet republics, including their right to secede, paved way for the Soviet breakup once the Communist Party’s hold on power started to loosen. At the same time, Putin rejected the push for taking Lenin’s embalmed body out of the Red Square tomb and burying it, saying that it would offend older people who still see the Soviet founder as a powerful symbol. He noted that the Soviet demise spawned expectations of a “unipolar world” in which the U.S. dictates terms to others, adding that such “illusions” quickly collapsed. Putin said that China has come to challenge the U.S. as the global economic powerhouse and hailed increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing. Putin dismissed reports of an emerging military alliance between Russia and China, but noted that Moscow was helping Beijing to develop an early warning system to spot ballistic missile launches. Only Russia and the U.S. currently have the system that includes ground-based radar and satellites. “It will allow our strategic partner to boost its defense capability,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Putin says Trump was impeached for ‘far-fetched’ reasons."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13a5ef88ef65413ebe25ff489dd9a761",
            "input": "Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalized marijuana for medical use and research last year to help boost agricultural income. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) delivered  the 5-ml (0.17 fl. oz) bottles to the public health ministry to distribute to hospitals for about 4,000 registered patients, with a further 2,000 bottles to be distributed this month. “This is the outcome of legalizing medical cannabis,” said deputy prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also the public health minister. “There is no hidden agenda. We only want to support every patient.”   Thailand has an “urgent agenda” to distribute 1 million bottles of marijuana extracts within 5 to 6 months, Anutin said, adding that the GPO and other agencies will produce 200,000 bottles of the extract every month from September. The GPO will begin planting its second cannabis crop this month, aiming to expand to greenhouse cultivation by early 2020, so as to boost its oil production to 150,000 to 200,000 bottles.",
            "output": [
                "Thailand unveils first batch of medical marijuana for hospital distribution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41e744e9f579464f9923e10ff9780589",
            "input": "The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality late Friday lifted water contact warnings that were issued Aug. 6. Warnings also were lifted for Pass Christian Harbor, Long Beach Harbor and Bay St. Louis Harbor. All summer long, harmful blue-green algae blooms have plagued the coast. MDEQ says recent results indicated that while the bloom was present and/or in bloom, many of the cells were dying. MDEQ moved to the toxicity testing phase of the protocol this week. Sampling results, officials say, were all below the EPA guidelines set to protect public health.",
            "output": [
                "Mississippi Coast beaches open, contact advisories lifted."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a19490c5644453ea86b6c0f222bd5ce",
            "input": "The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says most residents of the state are at risk for the tick-borne infection every day. Ticks also carry pathogens that can cause other diseases, such as babesiosis. The agency says providers reported more than 1,400 confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease in Maine in 2018. The incidence of the disease has grown over the past several years, and regularly tops 1,000 after never exceeding 800 in the late 2000s. Warm weather means residents will be more likely to encounter ticks. The Maine CDC says residents should use repellant, wear protective clothing and perform daily tick checks.",
            "output": [
                "CDC warns Mainers to beware of Lyme as warm season starts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1e82d1cf93a42bbaf19cf7b66a5cb61",
            "input": "During a June 2, 2020 protest against police brutality and racial injustice in Asheville, North Carolina, police in riot gear destroyed a medic tent operated by an “all-volunteer team of doctors, certified nurses, EMTs, military combat medics, and citizens with CPR and first-aid certifications.” According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the team “had a verbal agreement with APD to be present, even after curfew.” Nevertheless, a scene captured by witnesses minutes after the curfew began showed police forcibly removing volunteers, crushing and emptying water bottles, and destroying the tent: One volunteer said, “We were not protesting. We were not agitating. We had claimed that space. We had set up a triage area in case of any injuries. We had eyewash, sutures, EMT, doctors, EMS workers. They came in full riot gear, hit us with shields, threw several people to the ground. We were grabbed, thrown, shouted at, screamed at, treated as criminals. No one resisted.” Videos of the tent’s destruction went viral, and public outrage followed. The Asheville Police Department’s initial statement from Chief David Zack on June 3, 2020, confirmed that the incident took place, but defended the department’s actions, largely placing blame for the incident on the medical volunteers: As the Chief of Police I understand the concern has been raised over the destruction of water, food, and medical supplies. The Asheville Police Department (APD) would always prefer confiscation over destruction. We apologize for not being able to confiscate these supplies last night. Over the past three days APD has tried to eliminate objects that can be thrown at protesters and law enforcement. Because water bottles, in particular, have been continuously used over the last three nights, officers destroyed them. Officers also searched for potentially dangerous objects, such as explosives. The supply station was not permitted by the City of Asheville and was located on private property, without the permission of the property owner. The actions involving the supply station occurred following multiple warnings, and after the 8 p.m. city-wide curfew. But this statement from the chief only exacerbated tensions in Asheville.",
            "output": [
                "Asheville police officers destroyed a medic tent and its supplies while enforcing a curfew during a protest against police brutality."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64833347c1124c57bc302cb524570bb9",
            "input": "The fragile reefs act both as a protective barrier for coastlines and an attraction for the tourists who keep the country’s economy going. But the reefs are also one of the first victims of rising ocean temperatures. The Seychelles in some areas lost up to 90 percent of its coral reefs in 1998 in an environmental event known as bleaching, where coral in warming waters expel the colorful algae that live within their skeletons and, without their nutrients, starve. Another bleaching event occurred in 2016 after the reefs had partly recovered, said David Rowat, chairman of the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles. With further threats including overfishing and pollution, coral reefs around the world will reach their tipping point before the end of the century, disappearing more quickly than they can restore themselves, according to a study published in the journal Science last month. The Seychelles government this year announced a pioneering deal where it swapped part of its sovereign debt for investment in marine protection areas. Already, conservationists have launched a number of coral reef restoration projects around the nation’s 115 islands. In one, more than 50,000 coral fragments have been nurtured and transplanted by a local charity, Nature Seychelles, in what the organization calls the world’s largest coral restoration program. The Marine Conservation Society has both land- and ocean-based coral nursery sites. On a recent afternoon, an employee at one site in Beau Vallon painstakingly cleaned a nursery tank with a toothbrush. She and project leader Chloe Pozas spent the morning transferring tiny coral fragments, once collected from the sea floor, from the tanks to an underwater “rope nursery,” or improvised skeleton. “When the corals are going to reach a suitable size, when they are big enough, they are going to be outplanted back on the reef,” Pozas said. About 2,800 kilometers (1,700 miles) away off the island of Curieuse, the Seychelles National Park Authority has been moving corals grown in another rope nursery. Divers delicately transfer the tiny corals to a degraded reef in a national marine park, then attach them using non-toxic epoxy resin. After the 2016 bleaching event, experts noticed that some corals were more resilient than others. Those “super corals” were chosen for regrowth and transplanting. “Restoration is really only a tool to try to help the reef to recover faster, especially because coral bleaching is projected to happen annually by 2050,” Pozas said. The Seychelles government is working with Nature Seychelles to secure funding for a proposal to upscale coral farming efforts to a larger operation using new methods. The aim is to commercialize part of the operation so that it can financially sustain reef restoration well into the future, according to Nature Seychelles. Those whose livelihoods rely on tourism are watching the efforts with interest. “Obviously we have divers and snorklers and if we can continue to have healthy reefs and lots of fish, we got happy divers, they do lots of dives, the dive center makes more business, the government gets more tax money and everybody is happy,” said Glynis Rowat, who has managed one of the oldest diving centers in Beau Vallon for over 30 years.",
            "output": [
                "In the Seychelles, coral reefs face climate change threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-970e052a22354f969106e83754d00ab6",
            "input": "While likely to be welcomed by green groups, some do not think it goes far enough to protect remaining forests in the tropical archipelago. The moratorium, which covers around 66 million hectares (254,827 square miles) of primary forest and peatland, was first introduced in 2011 and has been renewed regularly as part of the efforts to reduce emissions from fires caused by deforestation. “The president signed an instruction on stopping new permits and improving primary forest and peatland governance,” Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said in a statement. Bakar said the Aug. 5 presidential instruction mandated that ministers, governors and other officials could not issue new permits within the moratorium area. Indonesia has had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, with more than 74 million hectares (285,700 square miles) of rainforest - an area nearly twice the size of Japan - logged, burned or degraded in the last half century, according to Greenpeace. The moratorium decision comes after authorities declared an emergency in six provinces on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo where smoke from outbreaks of forest fires have started causing acute respiratory infections. The air pollution in Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo was getting worse and had forced authorities to restrict school hours, said Arie Rompas, a Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner. Rompas said the permanent moratorium still did not provide adequate protection for primary forest and peatland in the long run, blaming a lack of punishment and loopholes in regulations. “The policy should not be via a presidential instruction because it is the weakest among legal instruments,” he said. According to the ministry’s data, the area mapped out for the moratorium had been changed from 69.1 million hectares initially to 66.1 million hectares recently. “If it’s a permanent one, changing the map should not be allowed anymore,” he said, adding that Greenpeace had found that  permits for palm-oil, pulp wood, logging and mining had been granted on 1.6 million hectares from the original moratorium.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia president makes moratorium on forest clearance permanent."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96d182dc8ae04e39a84e8063b44862d0",
            "input": "Western tourists kiss during sunset near Kuta beach on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in this May 28, 2005 file photo. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim failed to convince an expert panel that its pill increased sexual desire enough to win approval. “The efficacy was not sufficiently robust to justify the risks,” said Dr. Julia Johnson, the panel’s chairwoman and head of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Women reported depression, fainting, fatigue and other problems in company studies of the drug known chemically as flibanserin. The once-a-day pill, taken at bedtime, is the latest attempt to find a female counterpart to Pfizer Inc’s Viagra, the blockbuster blue pill for men. Drugmakers have been searching for a medicine to improve women’s sex lives since Viagra successfully debuted 12 years ago. The market for a “pink Viagra” could stretch into the billions of dollars. But some doctors and advocates worry that pharmaceutical companies are playing on women’s insecurities to convince them they need a pill to improve their sex lives. “Low sexual desire is not a disease,” said Leonore Tiefer, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York University, reading to the advisers from a petition opposing approval of flibanserin. The Food and Drug Administration will make the final decision on whether to approve the pill and usually follows the advice of its advisory panels. Privately held Boehringer wants clearance to sell its pill by prescription for premenopausal women with a persistent, bothersome and unexplained lack of sex drive. “Women deserve the option to choose a safe and effective pharmacological therapy for this distressing condition,” said Dr. Anita Clayton, a Boehringer consultant and psychiatry professor at the University of Virginia. The drug, originally developed as an antidepressant, is believed to act on brain chemicals thought to play a role in sexual response, the company said. But the advisory committee of seven women and four men voted 11-0 that the drug’s risks and benefits were unacceptable and 10-1 that effectiveness data was lacking. FDA reviewers, speaking before the panel voted, said flibanserin failed to increase sexual desire as measured by women’s daily diary entries in two company studies. Boehringer said another analysis, based on a survey of women’s responses, showed a jump in sex drive and lower distress levels with the drug. Women also reported slightly more satisfying sexual experiences — an average of 4.5 per month compared with 2.8 before taking the medicine. For placebo patients, the rate rose to 3.7 during the six-month studies. Nearly 15 percent of women stopped taking flibanserin before the study ended due to possible side effects. Boehringer said most of the reported problems were mild. Panel members, however, said they were worried women would take the drug for months or years with unknown risks. “Long-term use needs to be better evaluated,” said Dr. Kathleen Hoeger, a panelist and associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The drug’s proposed brand name is Girosa. It is not yet approved anywhere in the world. “We are disappointed with the advisory committee’s recommendations and will work with the FDA to address questions raised,” Dr. Christopher Corsico, Boehringer’s U.S. medical director, said in a statement. While the committee voted against the drug, members encouraged Boehringer and others to continue pursuing sex medications for women. “Indeed this is a significant need for women, and finding a medicine that will benefit women is critical,” Johnson said. Drugmakers have tested various ways to boost female libido, but women’s sex lives have proved difficult to target with medication. Male impotence pills including Viagra work by widening blood vessels to increase the blood flow needed for an erection. Pfizer dropped tests of Viagra in females in 2004 after studies failed to show it helped women. That same year, an FDA advisory panel voted in 2004 against recommending approval for a testosterone patch made by Procter & Gamble Co, citing a lack of evidence for long-term safety. The patch was approved in Europe and has been sold to Warner Chilcott. Another U.S. drugmaker, BioSante, is developing a testosterone skin gel to treat a decline in libido in menopausal women. The company estimates the U.S. market for treating female sexual dysfunction tops $2 billion annually.",
            "output": [
                "Female sex pill flops with U.S. advisers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6980ba5c39243e282e0a25a5e8201fd",
            "input": "An estimate of the treatment cost, $13/month was obtained from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation The absolute benefit, 41% of those using the treatment avoided complications, is compared with the 16% of those not using the salt water treatment. The treatment was noted as having potentially limited benefit because the prospect of adding an additional 30 minutes of treatment to an already extensive treatment regimen could be a burden. No mention was made of the small (5%) number of patients using the treatment that experienced adverse events. The article describing the two studies failed to detail the nature of the studies. They were two randomized clinical trials. The article explains that cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease and a rare disorder. The reporter contacted a clinician from a cystic fibrosis center that did not appear to have ties to either study. She also included commentsfrom an editorial on the two studies. The advantage of this treatment is that it may reduce the incidence of some serious complications of the disease. The article is clear that this treatment does not cure cystic fibrosis and is used in addition to other therapies, not instead of them. The treatment is available at the centers actually involved in the studies; comments from a third clinician directing treatment of individuals with cystic fibrosis but not involved in the studies indicates that use of this treatment has already been picked up by other groups specializing in cystic fibrosis care. While this could suggest that other groups specializing in cystic fibrosis care might also be offering this treatment, the actual availability is not clear. This article reports on the use of a novel adjunct treatment in the management of cystic fibrosis",
            "output": [
                "Saltwater therapy helps ease cystic fibrosis"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-276b0d2532fa4cb2b0fb29870289ca87",
            "input": "The Delta-owned NM Bouboulina vessel was navigating through Brazilian waters at the time and location of the spill, Brazilian police and prosecutors said. Brazil’s government has been striving to investigate the cause of the spill that has hit 286 beaches along the northeast coast and hurt fishing and tourism. Authorities have described the spill as one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. The specific source of the oil has remained unclear since it began appearing in early September. In a search order seen Friday by The Associated Press, Brazilian prosecutors said “there is no indication of another boat” that could have discharged the Venezuelan crude into the sea. Authorities in Rio de Janeiro coordinated a search Friday at a maritime agency that has previously represented Delta, and the office of a crisis management consultancy. Delta did not immediately respond to requests for comment submitted after business hours in Athens. The 13-year-old Suezmax is among Delta’s fleet of 30 tankers controlled by Greek shipping magnate Diamantis Diamantidis. The Brazilian government has said the oil came from Venezuela after state-run oil company Petrobras identified three of the neighboring nation’s fields as the source of the crude. The Bouboulina, named for a 19th century heroine of Greece’s war of independence, docked in Venezuela on July 15 and departed three days later, according to the Brazilian search order. The Venezuelan government has previously denied its country is the source of the spilled crude. From Venezuela, the tanker embarked with around 1 million barrels of Merey 16 crude. It sailed past the northeast corner of Brazil en route to Cape Town, South Africa and the Malacca coast of Malaysia, according to Kpler, a company that tracks seaborne commodities. On Sept. 3, off the coast of Malaysia, the vessel turned off its transponder signal for 10 days as it unloaded cargo, likely via a ship-to-ship transfer to an unknown vessel or vessels, Kpler said. Ships are required to emit transponder signals but sea captains dealing in Venezuelan crude are increasingly turning off the safety device to help evade U.S. sanctions that prohibit companies from buying crude from Venezuela. Successive round of U.S. sanctions have made it illegal for American companies to do business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In August, the Trump administration hardened its stance further, warning foreign entities that they could see their U.S. assets seized unless they cut ties to the socialist leader’s government. A number of European oil companies, as well as Russia, India and China, are major buyers of crude from Venezuela’s state-run oil giant, PDVSA. All the companies rely on the U.S. to process financial payments. The ship responsible for the spill had been held in the United States for four days due to problems “in the system to separate water and oil for discharge into the ocean,” Brazil’s Navy said in a statement. It did not provide more details. A July 29 satellite image showed an oil spill 733 kilometers (455 miles) from northeastern Paraiba state, the Navy said in a statement. Following analysis of maritime traffic, the Navy said it detected that the ship was navigating in the region where the spill appeared and was headed for South Africa. ___ Goodman reported from Miami.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil authorities zero in on ship suspected of oil spill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6060d6f7d293433286dcc028a4559529",
            "input": "U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, announced grants totaling $17.1 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These grants aim to help the state reduce overdose deaths through prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, and help the health department better track overdose deaths so authorities have access to data faster. The number of accidental drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island has continued to decline. According to health officials, there were 314 overdose deaths in 2018, compared with 324 in 2017 and 336 in 2016. Reed says Rhode Island is making progress and the grants will bolster its efforts.",
            "output": [
                "Rhode Island gets $17M to fight opioid addiction, overdoses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b0983b0b9255488497624551c0e764a6",
            "input": "The step was one of a series announced by Chinese drug regulators to improve access to treatments and streamline an approval process that foreign suppliers complain is too slow and complex. The communist government is in the midst of a marathon effort to expand access to health care for China’s 1.4 billion people. At the same time, it faces pressure from trading partners to open its markets for medical technology. Regulators want to improve access to “urgently needed drugs and medical devices,” the CFDA said in a statement. “Regarding drugs and medical devices that already are approved to go on the market abroad, they will be allowed on the market with conditions attached,” the agency said. The agency gave no details of what products might be affected or how the approval process would work. Suppliers of drugs and devices such as X-ray machines have long looked at China as a promising market but complain that a cumbersome approval process that can take up to seven years hampers market access. In 2015, the CFDA promised to simplify drug approvals and clear a backlog of applications. Despite such steps, suppliers say Beijing is backtracking in some areas, such as by excluding foreign products from catalogs used by hospitals to purchase medical equipment. Also Monday, the CFDA said it would streamline the process for approving generic drugs, a step that could undercut potential demand for foreign products.",
            "output": [
                "China to allow some drugs based on foreign approvals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-557159e446ee4b93a90fd2f34dcb96c9",
            "input": "Residents of the coastal town of Gunjur reported chemical residue on their skin after swimming that made them itch. Environmental activists blamed the Chinese-owned company, Golden Lead Import & Export. After activists said the company had failed to remove a pipe accused of spewing toxic waste into the sea, local youth issued an ultimatum: Dig the pipe up, or we will. In March they did, storming the beach. “We’ll be willing to face any charges in defense of our community,” their leader, Amadou Scattred Janneh, told The Associated Press. He is now out on bail facing criminal trespass charges. For more than two decades, few in this tiny West African nation dared to speak out under the dictatorship of President Yahya Jammeh. Opposing voices were silenced by arrests and killings during his dictatorship. A new era began when Jammeh was swept out of power and went into exile early last year. And as new President Adama Barrow’s government has promised wider freedoms, Gambians are now speaking up as part of a nascent environmental movement. After the protest over the fish processing plant, Gambia’s government ultimately allowed the company to reinstate the pipe but required waste water to be treated before being discharged. The company’s general manager, Bakary Darboe, denies causing marine pollution and has accused the activists of damaging property. Janneh’s arrest hasn’t stopped other environmental activists in Gambia from holding regular demonstrations over the depletion of natural reserves along the country’s coastline. Such activism is long overdue, filmmaker and activist Prince Bubacarr Sankanu told The Associated Press. “The pressure on our meager natural resources is getting higher and higher, thus making proactive environmental activism an inevitable tool for good governance,” he said. Another high-profile demonstration earlier this year ended in the deaths of three protesters who had demanded the end of sand mining activities by the Julakay Entreprise company in the village of Faraba Banta. The sand is used in construction but the practice has been accused of damaging Gambia’s coastline and local farming, which is often residents’ only source of income. Inspired in part by such confrontations, Gambia’s president in September set up a land commission to look into the challenges of administering one of the country’s most important resources. Nearly 80 percent of the population relies on agriculture for a living. “As a country, we have been hurt because the foundation of our democracy had been shaken and corrupted,” Barrow said during the commission’s swearing-in ceremony. “The former government abused the rights of the citizens, and many communities lost their land for political or dubious reasons.” ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Gambians embrace new freedoms with environment activism."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9e38bd10ae50481fadc254142a9e3fd1",
            "input": "Mentions cost for one year of Herceptin as $40,000-$50,000. Mentions quantitative benefit of 9 weeks of Herceptin vs. no Herceptin with certain chemotherapy. Also, while no women in the Herceptin group had cardiac failure at 3 years, the follow-up period may not be long-enough to determine the effects of chemotherapy and Herceptin on the heart. Mentions potential harms of Herceptin on the heart, especially when given after certain chemotherapy. The story does not mention that there were side effects with certain chemotherapy drugs and doses needed to be decreased during the course of the trial. One aspect of this trial focused on randomization of women with Her2/neu overexpression to 9 weeks of Herceptin or no Herceptin immediately following breast cancer surgery. The drug was given in conjunction with certain types of chemotherapy, but before radiation and chemotherapy regimens known to damage the heart. The journalist states the Herceptin was given “prior to chemotherapy”, which is not completely accurate. There is an adequate mention of the study design and discussion of disease-free survival at 3 years follow-up. Good job putting the results into context of other trials, and into context of how this may or may not change providers’ practice. The story could have better stated the limitations of analysis for such a small subgroup – 116 in each arm. Appropriately discusses the percentage of women who are eligible for Herceptin due to overexpression of HER2/neu. The story would have been helped by some context for the risk these women face. As Herceptin is used earlier and earlier these women have less to gain because they have less risk to begin with. Relative risk reductions may be very high but the absolute is not as big. Sources in addition to study authors are cited. No mention that this trial was funded in part by pharmaceutical companies. Some study investigators also receive research funding drug companies. Other doctors cited express caution about the early results of Herceptin studies, so there is some balance to the piece. The women in this trial had undergone breast cancer surgery and those with ER+ tumors were taking Tamoxifen. This is not explicitly mentioned, only that treatment took place following surgery. Still OK. Herceptin is only FDA approved to treat advanced breast cancer, but is used in clinical trials in early-stage breast cancer. This is not mentioned in the story. Novel use of Herceptin for short-term treatment prior to anthracycline chemotherapy. No evidence that this story relies on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Short stint of Herceptin holds promise for breast cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8158e8fe85f148f68b490d09f6575335",
            "input": "WCPO-TV reports Hamilton County Health Department spokesman Mike Samet said Friday there are concerns that 41 children, seven day care workers and four other people could have been exposed to tuberculosis through interactions with the former employee who is receiving treatment and recovering. Samet says each household with a family member who had contract with the worker has received hand-delivered letters about TB testing, which will begin Monday. Tuberculosis causes chest pains and coughing and can damage the lungs if not treated. ___ Information from: WCPO-TV, http://www.wcpo.com",
            "output": [
                "41 children to be tested after worked tests positive for TB."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dce81ebd05b14acc9aa95ef020843e86",
            "input": "In March 2020, as global fears about the COVID-19 pandemic continued to grow among a morass of disinformation and state-sponsored propaganda, security experts warned about websites using their fear of the novel coronavirus to infect their machines and subject them to information theft.According to the cybersecurity company Malwarebytes:Cybercriminals targeted users in Japan with an Emotet campaign that included malicious Word documents that allegedly contained information about coronavirus prevention. Malware embedded into PDFs, MP4s, and Docx files circulated online, bearing titles that alluded to protection tips. Phishing emails that allegedly came from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were spotted, too. Malwarebytes also found a novel scam purporting to direct users to a donation page to help support government and medical research.All of these threats rely on the same dangerous intersection of misinformation and panic—a classic and grotesque cybercrime tactic. A great defense to these is, quite simply, the truth.The company also identified one site, “coronavirusmap.com,” that presented itself as a source of information for tracking cases of the epidemic around the globe:But in reality, the site hit users with a variant of the spyware known as AzorUlt, which steals information while also allowing other harmful programs to enter machines.The tech news site SC Magazine further reported that the spyware hidden within the site “can also take unauthorized screenshots, resolved and save a victim’s public IP address, and gather information on infect machines, including the OS system, architecture, hostname and username.”Shai Alfasi, a researcher for another security company, Reason Labs, told the magazine that “coronavirusmap” did not rely on email or phishing tactics to spread. “As the coronavirus continues to spread and more apps and technologies are developed to monitor it, we will likely be seeing an increase in corona malware and corona malware variants well into the foreseeable future,” he added.In his own post detailing the nature of this latest attack, Alfasi said that the AzorUlt spyware is “commonly sold on Russian underground forums.”",
            "output": [
                "\"The website \"\"coronavirusmap.com\"\" contains a type of malware that can steal users' personal information.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c10ba2ec38aa44a4a36dee9dee725282",
            "input": "Speaking at a White House coronavirus briefing, Trump said he would unveil a new advisory group next week that would focus on the process of economic opening. The president, who faced criticism for playing down the threat from the virus in its early stages, has chafed at the devastating economic impact of the strict social distancing measures his administration has recommended. The guidelines are set to stay in place through the end of April. The president will then have to decide whether to extend them or start encouraging people to go back to work and a more normal way of life. “I’m going to have to make a decision, and I ... hope to God that it’s the right decision,” Trump said. “It’s the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”  Trump said the facts would determine the next move, though he reiterated his desire to re-open the economy. Asked what metrics he would use to make his judgment, he pointed at his forehead: “The metrics right here, that’s my metrics.”  Trump suggested the number of new infections was flattening and the death toll would be lower than initial projections of more than 100,000. He said he would announce the members of the new advisory council possibly on Tuesday. Some state governors will be appointed. Trump said the aggressive social distancing and stay-at-home measures taken to combat the coronavirus were showing signs of success, and situations in hot spots such as New Orleans, Louisiana, and Detroit, Michigan, were stabilizing. U.S. deaths from the virus topped 18,100 on Friday, according to a Reuters tally. But administration officials cautioned it was still too early to ease restrictions, and said the faithful should not gather in churches on the Easter Sunday holiday. “We know it’s difficult in this time of year in particular to avoid gatherings of more than 10, but we’re grateful that so many churches, synagogues and places of worship have done just that,” Vice President Mike Pence said, urging worshipers “to continue to heed the guidelines.”  New U.S. government figures show coronavirus infections will spike during the summer if stay-at-home orders are lifted after 30 days as planned, according to projections first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a Department of Homeland Security official. If shelter-in-place orders are lifted after 30 days, the death toll is estimated to reach 200,000, according to the projections, obtained from DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump said at the briefing that he and his advisers have not seen the new projections. Trump said he was getting fewer calls from governors urgently seeking equipment and help. “We’re in great shape with ventilators, we’re in great shape with protective clothing, we have additional planeloads coming in. But we’re not getting any calls from governors at this moment,” he said. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force on the coronavirus, said the United States was starting to flatten the curve the way Italy did, with a lot of the success coming from progress in New York City. Officials have pointed to declining rates of coronavirus hospitalizations and need for intensive care in hard-hit New York as signs that social distancing measures are paying off. “But as encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak. And so every day we need to continue to do what we did yesterday, and the week before and the week before that because that’s what in the end is going to take us across the peak and down the other side,” Birx said.",
            "output": [
                "Using his own 'metrics,' Trump says ending U.S. shutdown is biggest decision yet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a6e4c827e624016b88960c669112854",
            "input": "The companies behind PlayStation, Xbox, Angry Birds, Minecraft, Twitch and other video games and platforms pledged Monday at the U.N. to level up efforts to fight climate change and get their throngs of users involved. The promises range from planting trees to reducing plastic packaging, from making game devices more energy efficient to incorporating environmental themes into the games themselves. “I believe games and gamers can be a force for social change and would love to see our global community unite to help our planet to survive and thrive,” Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders. Ryan said Sony’s plans include outfitting the next-generation PlayStation system with a low-power, suspend-play mode. He said if 1 million players use it, they could save enough electricity to power 1,000 average U.S. homes. Some games already are set in drowning coastal cities, educate children about wildlife or otherwise address environmental issues. Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon anointed the Angry Birds character Red as an “honorary ambassador for green” in 2016. But the idea of gaming green got new visibility with Monday’s commitments from 21 companies, facilitated by the U.N. Environment Program and showcased against the backdrop of Monday’s U.N. climate summit . With an estimate of more than 2 billion video game players globally, “this is the most powerful mobilization channel in the world,” David Paul, the Marshall Islands’ environment minister, told the gaming CEOs. His low-lying Pacific island homeland faces an existential threat from rising seas as the planet warms. The “Playing for the Planet” pledges come from an industry that isn’t always seen as nurturing societal good. Parents and psychologists have fretted for years about games and other digital diversions sucking youths into staring at screens. The U.N.’s World Health Organization this year recommended no more than an hour of screen time a day for children under 5, and none at all for those under 1. Gaming company leaders say that not all screen time is of equal value. They believe their products can engage players on such serious issues as climate change. “We try to provide entertainment with substance,” Clark Stacey, CEO of WildWorks, said in an interview. Among the initiatives: —WildWorks intends to incorporate new materials about habitat restoration and reforestation into its children’s game Animal Jam, and to plant a tree for every new Animal Jam player. —Microsoft plans to make 825,000 Xbox consoles that are carbon-neutral — or don’t cause any net increases in heat-trapping carbon dioxide — and to promote real-life sustainability activities through its massive-selling game Minecraft. —Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment is offsetting carbon emissions generated by each of its daily, active players charging one mobile device per day for a year. —Game streaming giant Twitch, owned by Amazon, intends to spread sustainability messages through its platform. —Google’s upcoming Stadia streaming service is financing research on how people can be inspired to change their behavior through games. “They’re participatory. They require the player to take action. It’s not just absorbing a message from the outside,” said Erin Hoffman-John, Stadia’s lead designer for research and development. Strange Loop Games already has ecological issues at the heart of its simulation game Eco. Players collaborate to build a civilization and confront its impacts on the environment. If they cut down too many trees, for example, they might kill off a species. “For us, it’s less about telling the player about being green or avoiding climate change than letting them have that experience, letting them face that challenge themselves in a world that they care about,” CEO John Krajewski said in an interview. “And then they can bring that to the real world.” ___ Follow Jennifer Peltz on Twitter at @jennpeltz.",
            "output": [
                "Green gaming: Video game firms make climate promises at UN."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-201147e553554e97897eeb16ca77791f",
            "input": "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services awarded a no-bid contract to the Missouri Primary Care Association. The agreement will pay the organization $125,000 a year to focus on getting more adolescents to receive at least five vaccines, including influenza, hepatitis A and HPV. Contract talks began before health officials warned last week that a hepatitis A outbreak in the state could grow worse if it spreads to urban areas. Health officials say the state has recorded 414 cases of the virus since September 2017. In previous years, only about 10 cases were reported annually.",
            "output": [
                "State awards contract to boost hepatitis A vaccination rate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be5e004b9b834f8696b7fccd2dd593cb",
            "input": "After complaints about taste and costs, the Trump administration rolled back a rule that required foods like pasta and bread be made with whole grains. The cafeteria directors who lobbied for the change say they just want greater flexibility to serve foods like white bread — which are more processed and have less fiber — when whole grains don’t work. In Vermont, the relaxed rule means white rice will be served with beans again. In Oregon, macaroni and cheese may return. And in South Dakota, students may notice a change with their soup. “The staff asked right away, ‘Oh my God, can we go back to the other saltines?’” said Gay Anderson, a school lunch director and president of the School Nutrition Association, which represents cafeteria operators and suppliers like Domino’s and Kellogg. The rollback addresses rules on grains, milk and salt championed by former first lady Michelle Obama. Since 2014, schools had been required to serve only whole grain versions of food as part of the national school lunch program, a critical source of free and reduced-price meals for millions of children. The idea is that whole grains would be more nourishing and help cultivate healthy habits amid alarming obesity rates . The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is among the parties suing over the rollback, notes the standards were based on the government’s own dietary guidelines and that most schools were successfully meeting them. But cafeteria operators said costs were higher, cooking was more difficult and students were throwing away more food. The School Nutrition Association said it’s more important that children who rely on the lunches eat something, and that the rule ignored cultural preferences, such as for flour tortillas in the Southwest or for white rice among Asian students. To ease the transition to whole grains, the U.S. Department of Agriculture let schools apply for temporary waivers to serve select dishes that didn’t meet the whole-grain rule. For the last school year, it said about 20 percent of districts asked permission to serve refined grains that are enriched to add back some nutrients. Among the frequently waived foods were pasta , pizza , tortillas and biscuits , which one Georgia lunch official joked affects the ”tests scores of rednecks ,” according to records obtained by The Associated Press from state agencies. Other waived foods included beignets, cinnamon rolls, corn dogs, sugar cookies and Pop Tarts. One district requested a waiver for croissants because it said students don’t like the whole-grain version. “Plus they are 20 cents more per serving,” the district said. Then in December, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the USDA was going back to the old standard: At least half of grain foods must be rich in whole grains. The agency said that does away with the red tape of making schools get waivers, and gives schools more flexibility to offer wholesome meals that also reduce food waste. Whitney Ellersick, a school lunch director in Portland, Oregon, said the change means her district will no longer need a waiver for its lasagna. But she was surprised by the extent of the rollback. “I was a little shocked to see it go to 50 percent,” Ellersick said. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said the USDA’s rollback may be halting progress made by schools, which could be tempted to bring back more refined grains that cost less or are easier to make. Already, the group notes the USDA defines “whole grain rich” as being half whole grain, meaning there’s built-in wiggle room to make bread and pasta students won’t mind. Bettina Elias Siegel of The Lunch Tray website also noted a recent USDA report that found that “plate waste” was comparable before and after the rules were implemented in 2014, undermining arguments they were prompting students to throw away more food. The report also found that students took advantage of lunches more often in schools with healthier lunches. The American Heart Association likewise criticized the decision to relax the rules and called on school districts to stick to the previous standards, which also included stricter rules on salt and milk. Among the districts that plan to do so is Boston, where fifth grader Trinity Wilson likes the brown rice. She said it’s is healthier than white rice. “I know that because my mom told me,” Wilson said. But some school lunch officials say the rollback could help smaller districts that don’t have access to as many products. In Arkansas, students in the Magnet Cove district accepted whole-grain Pop Tarts and other changes, officials say, but still prefer the old noodles, biscuits and rolls. “They’re tastier, softer and fluffier,” said Danny Thomas, the district’s superintendent. In Burlington, Vermont, white rice and beans can return to menus. Doug Davis, the district’s food director and incoming president of the School Nutrition Association, said it’s a healthy dish that students will actually eat. To avoid buying two types of rice, Davis said white rice will likely also be used in stir fries and soups. He plans to stick mostly to whole grains, but he appreciates not having to. Whole-grain pasta isn’t ideal for mac and cheese, Davis noted. “Would we make a change on that? I don’t know,” he said. ____ Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "With Trump rollback, school lunch could get more white bread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0fd8b09a40c240799c994e2fc719e1f4",
            "input": "The charity’s board chair, Carrie Coghill, says the idea is for the award to be seen as similar to a Nobel Prize for women’s health. The Richard King Mellon Foundation is funding the effort. The group’s efforts are built around three goals. The 9-90 program focuses on identifying and curing illnesses originate while a person is in the womb, but which can last for 90 years, or a lifetime. The group also seeks research into gender specific biological and medical problems that affect women only, and for efforts to reduce or eliminate HIV/AIDS globally. The summit will be held Oct. 8-10, 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Pittsburgh-based Magee-Womens institute to offer $1M prize."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b0227fb3644e4890b5a70da7e54bd28d",
            "input": "\"In a September 2011 floor speech, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin spoke of two concerns he said are growing in the Lone Star State: poverty and hunger. Doggett said that in tough times, more families are turning to food banks, creating \"\"immense\"\" demand. Among his examples: The Austin-based Capital Area Food Bank of Texas \"\"this year is delivering 50 percent more food to poor people than it did three years ago.\"\" In his speech, Doggett attributed that figure to John Turner, a food bank official. We wondered if the proclaimed increase was correct, and if so, whether that accurately reflected a surge in hunger in our area. The food bank, founded in 1981, takes in donations of food and money from the government, the food industry and the public, then distributes food to Central Texas residents directly and through more than 350 agencies in its 21-county service area roughly centered on Travis and Williamson counties. (Click to view a map.) The region’s north edge runs from Mills County in the west to Freestone County in the east; its south edge runs from Gillespie and Blanco counties in the west to Fayette County on the east. Doggett spokeswoman Sarah Dohl told us by email that Doggett drew his 50 percent figure from a Sept. 4, 2011, news story in the Guardian, a British newspaper, which quotes Turner saying the food bank was delivering 50 percent more food to the poor than it had done three years ago. In an interview, Turner, the food bank’s senior director for marketing and branding, recently told us he’d given the Guardian a conservative estimate: The pounds of food distributed by the bank had actually increased 64 percent, going from 15.4 million pounds in 2007 to 25.3 million pounds in 2010. Turner noted, too, that the 2010 poundage was inflated by one-time federal stimulus aid enabling the bank to buy an additional 2.3 million pounds for the Summer Food Nutrition Program. Subtract that, and the 2010 figure becomes 23 million pounds -- up 49 percent from what the bank gave out in 2007. So, do the poundage figures mean hunger in the area shot up 49 percent or more over the past few years? J.C. Dwyer of the Texas Food Bank Network, the state association of food banks, told us pounds of food distributed generally isn't the best measure of need in a food bank's region: \"\"It’s more of a metric for how we’re dealing with the needs,\"\" Dwyer said. A better way of gauging needs, he said, is to track the number of residents requesting food assistance. That is, the amount of food distributed doesn't necessarily reflect ups and downs in need. In the holiday season, donations and distributions surge, for instance, but that doesn’t necessarily mean surges in need. Dwyer and Turner each suggested we check on changes in food demands through \"\"Hunger in America,\"\" a report commissioned every four years by Feeding America, a national charity that acts as a clearinghouse connecting food supplies to 200 food banks, including the one in Austin. There was no \"\"Hunger in America\"\" report for 2007, the first year in Doggett’s statement, but the reports based on surveys in 2005 and 2009 were broken down into smaller reports covering the Austin bank’s 21-county region: In 2005, the Capital Area bank fed an estimated 174,900 people. In 2009, the estimated number of people served was 284,900 for the year, up 63 percent from those who were served in 2005. That change outstripped population growth, according to U.S. census estimates. In 2005, the 21 counties had 2,265,981 residents. By 2009, the region’s population was 2,547,559 -- up 12.4 percent. Put another way, the food bank provided sustenance to nearly 8 percent of the region’s residents in 2005 while about 11 percent of a greater total of residents got food in 2009. Finally, we wondered if Doggett was correct in saying the food aid went to the poor alone. Turner told us the bank does not question people who come seeking food as to their income -- if you show up, you are fed, he said, though depending on the lines that form, it could take an hour or two. However, the \"\"Hunger in America\"\" report using 2009 data states that 73 percent of the Capital Area food bank’s clients had incomes below the federal poverty level. Census figures for 2010, drawing on 2009 data, show that poverty in the 21-county region matched the percentage for Texas overall: Seventeen percent of residents had income below the federal poverty level. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Dwyer told us, \"\"food insecurity\"\" across Texas -- the percentage of households at risk of missing meals because of financial pressure -- rose from 14.8 percent in the three-year period 2005-07 to 18.8 percent in 2008-10. Our conclusion: Changes in the amount of food distributed over several years, which Doggett cited, might not be the best way to gauge changes in residents’ needs. That said, the number of Central Texas requestors for food aid over those years outpaced regional population growth. The 63 percent increase in requestors also exceeded the 50-percent increase in food distributed that he stressed, though, contrary to his statement, not all those pounds of food went to \"\"the poor.\"\"\"",
            "output": [
                "Lloyd Doggett Says the main Central Texas food bank is delivering 50 percent more food to the poor than three years ago."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-26a9c3c1f8d74e9886d162c6b096490a",
            "input": "New York joined cities around the world where activists marched to defend science from attacks and reduced federal funding. In Manhattan, scientists and supporters first gathered at a late-morning rally at Central Park West. Participants, including some wearing lab coats, then walked down Broadway to midtown Manhattan, close to Times Square. Broadway was closed to traffic between Times Square and Union Square. Marchers said they’re worried about political involvement in science that rejects, for instance, climate change, environmental concerns and the safety of vaccines. Activists pointed to the immigration policies of the Trump administration they say could keep some valuable foreign scientists from working in the United States. At the site of the rally near the Trump International Hotel & Tower, two words were heard shouted above the crowd: “Dump Trump.” Barbara Wasilausky, a retired high school science teacher and registered nurse from Long Island, warned that “climate change is what is going to be our Armageddon if we don’t do something about it.” Instead of seeking facts that can be proved, she added, “we’ve been too quick to just click on stories, not read them, not think about them, and make our decisions that way.” Nearby, a small girl in a stroller held up a sign that read, “The oceans are rising and so are we.” Another woman’s sign said, “Make America think again.” Other cities staging marches include Washington, Berlin, London and Sidney, along with hundreds of smaller communities. The marches on behalf of science were part of global Earth Day. ____ Associated Press radio correspondent Julie Walker contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "NYC joins cities around the world marching to defend science."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e0c991e2745b470aa5c6d2a81229f7db",
            "input": "The administrative court of Montreuil, a suburb of Paris, ruled the state was responsible for failing to prevent heavy air pollution in and around Paris in the 2012-2016 period, when a local resident contracted bronchitis and her daughter asthma. “The state was deficient in not taking sufficient measures to remedy the situation,” the court ruling read. Paris regularly goes through periods of high pollution, especially during heat waves, but requests by Paris city hall to temporarily ban polluting vehicles from entering the city center often take a long time to be implemented by the government. The court ruled that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient proof to establish a direct link between the Paris air pollution and her and her daughter’s health problems and rejected her claims for compensation. But in the first such ruling in France, the court said the state had repeatedly failed to take sufficient measures to prevent pollution from rising above government-set thresholds. “The state’s responsibility has been established. That is a first in France for victims of air pollution and it opens the door to compensation in the future,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Francois Lafforgue told Reuters. French daily Le Monde reported that the plaintiffs — who now live in the city of Orleans and no longer have respiratory problems — had filed for damages of 160,000 euros ($182,000). Environmental action groups say dozens of similar cases are working their way through courts in several French cities. In recent years, the European Commission has repeatedly criticized France for not respecting EU air quality norms and last year took France to the European Court of Justice. The French court ruling comes as unusually hot weather has led the city of Paris to issue new warnings about air quality and to ban older diesel vehicles from the city on Wednesday.",
            "output": [
                "French court holds state responsible for Paris air pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cb8656ba01474f3292f3ef7b90273136",
            "input": "The child, who was tested last week, doesn’t need treatment yet, the Regional Health Authority said in a statement late Tuesday. Checks are being conducted to determine whether the lead came from the April 15 fire or another source. The child’s school, near the cathedral, was closed in July due to high lead levels found on its grounds. A total of 162 children have been tested for lead in Paris after hundreds of tons of lead in Notre Dame’s spire and roof melted in the blaze. Sixteen of those were deemed to be just short of being “at risk” and will also be monitored as a precaution. The results “show, on the one hand, the need to keep cleaning to limit the risk of exposure of the children to lead and, on the other hand, the importance of extending blood tests,” the health authority said. Authorities in June recommended blood tests for children under 7 and pregnant women who live near Notre Dame as they are especially vulnerable to health problems from lead poisoning and exposure. Critics say authorities didn’t move fast enough to protect workers and residents from lead pollution. Decontamination work at Notre Dame, the square in front of the cathedral and adjacent streets was suspended last month under pressure from labor inspectors concerned about lead risks. The culture minister, who’s in charge of Notre Dame, said work will resume next week with tougher new decontamination measures. One technique involves spreading a gel on the ground to absorb the lead. It will need to dry for at least three days before being removed. Another method will feature high pressure water jets with chemical agents to clean the soil, the culture ministry said. Authorities said last month the main focus was ensuring that the work doesn’t generate any pollution outside the work zone. Levels of lead remain exceptionally high at some spots inside the cathedral and in the soil of the adjacent streets, park and forecourt, according to the regional health agency. Those areas have been closed to the public since April 15. However, no dangerous levels have been registered in other nearby streets, where tourists and residents continue to gather and souvenir shops and restaurants have reopened.",
            "output": [
                "Paris child at risk of lead poisoning after Notre Dame fire."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ee639aaac6b4e448ffe46f1955bd5cf",
            "input": "The mother of Javier Acosta, 11, who suffers from cystic fibrosis and needs a lung transplant, urged policymakers on Saturday to adopt new rules to make a life-saving adult lung more readily available to her gravely ill son. “If Javier does not receive a transplant, he will die,” Milagros Martinez said during a news conference in Philadelphia. “I say that’s unfair because of a policy. It shouldn’t be that way.”  The family of Sarah Murnaghan, 10, who like Javier is suffering from cystic fibrosis, is also publicly calling for a change in transplant list policies administered by the Organ Transplant and Procurement Network. The Murnaghan family efforts have garnered national media attention and scrutiny of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, some of whom have called on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to intervene. Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson granted the two families a temporary court order barring enforcement of a policy that places children under age 12 at the bottom of the adult lung transplant list, regardless of their illness. The Murnaghan and Acosta children are both awaiting lung transplants at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. While each is eligible for donor lungs from children, those are rare. The lawsuits have led some to voice concerns that adding children to adult transplant rosters could end up pushing deserving older patients farther down the list. But Stephen Harvey, a lawyer for both families, said his clients want a policy change based on patients’ relative conditions, not their ages. “We’re seeking that the system allocate a lung to Javier based on the severity of his condition,” Harvey said. “So if there’s an adult who’s more severe than him, that adult gets the lung. We’re not asking to jump to the front of the line.”  The executive committee of the Organ Transplant Network is due to meet on Monday, at which time it could announce a review of the transplant rules. Failing that, a hearing to review the restraining order is scheduled for June 14 before Judge Baylson. It was unclear how many children would be affected by a shift in rules. Harvey said there are 16 children aged from 5 to 10 currently seeking lung transplants, and that 23 such procedures were performed on children in 2011.",
            "output": [
                "Second U.S. family urges change to children's organ transplant policy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9951270f41b34f648ed30cc56597de20",
            "input": "The new measures may include screening air travelers for fever when they arrive in the United States from the worst-stricken countries in West Africa, on direct or indirect flights, Schumer said in a statement. He said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told him the agency might adopt some of the recommendations Schumer had made on Ebola screening over the weekend. Those included having the CDC and Customs and Border Protection conduct intense health screening of workers at U.S. ports of entry. The New York Democrat also urged the Department of Homeland Security to create a database of people flying to and from West Africa, which would be shared with hospitals around the country. “The CDC has been doing a very good job thus far in combating the threat, but you can’t be too careful when it comes to stopping a deadly epidemic,” Schumer said in the statement. The outbreak has killed at least 3,439 people out of 7,492 confirmed, probable and suspected cases since it emerged in Guinea in March, in the worst Ebola epidemic on record. Along with Guinea, the worst-hit countries have been Sierra Leone and Ebola. The disease has also spread to Nigeria and Senegal, but is considered contained there. A man who traveled to Dallas from Liberia last week became the first patient diagnosed with the disease on U.S. soil. In Spain, officials reported on Monday that a nurse had become the first person infected with the hemorrhagic virus in Europe. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration had confidence in the system as it exists but was working on additional safety protocols that would be announced in the coming days. “The president’s team is hard at work on developing additional protocols for additional screening measures,” Earnest told reporters on Air Force One.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. to require tougher Ebola screening at airports: senator."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac8f7128d17340a5a52c6dd94a123bd5",
            "input": "The story made no mention of costs, societal, personal, or otherwise. Benefits, or lack thereof in this case, were not quantified. Instead, the journalist reported that men who were alive were no more likely to be screened for prostate cancer than men who were deceased. But, the actual numbers of men alive and deceased were not provided nor the proportion who indicated they had been screened or not screened. The potential harms of screening are appropriately discussed, namely that screening could be wrong (false positive or false negative), could lead to further testing (biopsy), and that detection could lead to treatment which has serious side effects without knowing for sure whether the cancer would have harmed you in the first place. The observational study design is described to readers (e.g. that two groups were chosen during a particular time period and matched). IThe story also talks about limitations–that this is a small study and that this is not the final word on screening (presumably because study is observational and not a randomized clinical trial). The natural history of prostate cancer is appropriately reflected here — that is, that prostate cancer may not kill you or even cause problems because it is often slow-growing and that screening and early treatment may do more harm than good. It tells readers in the opening lines that there is an on-going debate about screening. The study co-author is quoted, but his relationship to the study is disclosed. Representatives from medical organizations that issue recommendations about prostate cancer screening were quoted as well, namely confirming the uncertainty of screening. A U.S. Preventive Services Task Force review from 2002 is also mentioned, further providing support for uncertainty of screening based on an objective review of the evidence. These sources also highlight that this uncertainty is not new. This story does provide information on the alternative to screening, in other words, not to be screened. Phrases such as “men should decide for themselves whether to get screened” and “for some men, detecting prostate cancer early can do more harm than good” appropriately develop the concept of not being screened compared to being screened. Disadvantages/advantages of screening and not screening are discussed (potential for downstream consequences, may not help men live longer, etc.). The story provides information on how long screening has been available. Likewise, it also states that these screening tests are performed millions of times each year in the U.S. The story states that results from study on prostate cancer screening are based on data from 24 through 129–the “early years of prostate cancer screening.” So, the story does tell us that prostate cancer screening is not new.",
            "output": [
                "Study Questions Prostate Cancer Screening"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-653fc8f6a5dd4ff0a7243432a376ee03",
            "input": "\"The Zika outbreak in Miami has pointed out what Floridians and vacationers have known for years: There is no shortage of mosquitoes in the Sunshine State. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at an Aug. 3 briefing that the region’s experience in fighting the bloodsucking insects will help efforts to prevent the further spread of the virus. At last count, the state had 338 travel-related cases of Zika, but there have been at least 15 locally transmitted instances — 13 in Miami and two in Broward County. \"\"We know the mosquito population in South Florida is larger than it is in many other communities in the country,\"\" Earnest said. He added that prior experience dealing with other mosquito-borne diseases has established the expertise for how to deal with outbreaks like this one. As anyone who has ever attended an outdoor concert or Little League game can confirm, Florida sure does have a lot of winged menaces. But do we really have more than most other communities? PolitiFact Florida didn’t have to go camping in July to quickly learn that the answer is unequivocally yes, for many reasons. A vacation for vectors Zika is a virus named after the Zika Forest in Uganda, where it was first discovered in 1947. Several cases were documented in Africa and Asia over the decades until the disease made it to a couple of Pacific island nations in 2007 and 2013. The current pandemic took off in May 2015, when Brazil reported cases of Zika in connection with an increase in babies being born with abnormally small heads, a condition called microcephaly. With evidence that the disease can be spread both through sexual contact and via mosquito bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are more than 50 countries and territories with active Zika transmissions. The World Health Organization provides periodic updates of cases, and has tracked hundreds of thousands of confirmed and suspected infections in the Americas. Symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and headaches or muscle pain, although almost four out of five infected people don’t show symptoms. There is no treatment or vaccine for the disease, so focus has been on prevention. The CDC has issued a travel warning for pregnant women and their partners to not travel to Wynwood, the neighborhood north of downtown Miami where the new cases appeared. About those mosquitoes A main culprit for the spread of the disease is mosquitoes, especially a species called Aedes aegypti. It is known for carrying tropical maladies like yellow and dengue fevers. Aegypti is not a fan of cold, northern winters. It lives across the southern United States, where it can generally survive all year long. That means the insect is just as fond of Florida as the snowbirds and sunbelters it feasts upon. The White House did not specify to us whether Earnest meant Florida had the most mosquitoes or the most different kinds of mosquitoes, but experts told us that’s largely irrelevant. What Earnest said is that the mosquito population in South Florida is larger than many other places in the United States, and that’s undoubtedly correct. The Sunshine State is a veritable mosquito encyclopedia, with about 80 species found here. American Mosquito Control Association technical adviser Joe Conlon, a retired Navy entomologist, pointed out Texas has 85 species, but \"\"when you’re talking about 80 versus 85, it doesn’t matter; it’s a lot.\"\" Exactly how many individual mosquitoes are in any one place is an uncountable number. There’s no way to take a comprehensive mosquito census, although there are ways to get a rough idea. Various traps can count eggs and larvae in standing water, or the number and species of captured adult mosquitoes and extrapolate from there. Florida’s 61 mosquito control programs regularly conduct such surveys to determine if they need to spray or raise public awareness about preventing mosquito populations from growing. Of course, aegypti is an especially sneaky species that is notoriously difficult to count, Conlon said. Individuals can breed in multiple places, and adults tend to avoid traps. (Note: Only female mosquitoes bite.) If you’re wondering whether Florida is the most popular home for the particular aegypti species, there’s just no way to know that. New Orleans, for example, historically has more aegypti in terms of sheer numbers. That city and Memphis, Tenn., have experienced major mosquito-borne outbreaks in the past. That’s because mosquitoes flourish in hot climates with lots of standing water. Florida’s heat, humidity, rainfall and topography combine to make the state a garden spot for more than just New Yorkers escaping state income taxes. With salt marshes, the Everglades and plenty of man-made pools of water, South Florida faces an even bigger threat. \"\"Indeed, they have some of the worst mosquito problems on Earth there,\"\" Conlon said. Even if there were a way to take a comprehensive count of mosquitoes in an area, that number would never remain constant. \"\"Mosquito populations fluctuate over time and at any given point in time the mosquito population in Newburyport, Mass., may be greater than that in North Miami,\"\" University of Florida Entomologist Jonathan Day, of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, told us in an email. \"\"However, over the long run (for example, an entire year), South Florida mosquito populations are likely consistently higher than those observed in other communities in the country.\"\" Our ruling Earnest said, \"\"The mosquito population in South Florida is larger than it is in many other communities in the country.\"\" There’s little doubt about that. Mosquito populations can go up or down anywhere, but experts said the conditions in South Florida sustain a large and diverse collection of the insects essentially all year long. Be safe out there, and don’t forget the DEET. This may not be a biting revelation, but",
            "output": [
                "The mosquito population in South Florida is larger than it is in many other communities in the country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cef0cc7b9dff423aa90f7d8579ecff6b",
            "input": "The Indiana State Department of Health announced 464 additional cases with the most in Marion County, which had 191. Overall, there have been more than 4,400 cases. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are among those particularly susceptible to more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover. Officials in a Wells County community offered “isolation packets” for elderly residents who fear leaving home during the pandemic and need help. The packets that Ossian officials and police made available contained a colored-coded paper system residents can hang on windows to communicate. Green signals the person is fine, yellow means help is needed for everyday errands like shopping and red means urgent errands like prescription pickup, according to WANE-TV. “We know a lot of our residents are just worried about leaving their homes at all and so we completely understand that,” said Ossian Sergeant Stephanie Tucker. “The isolation communication packet kind of gives them a way to let the community know or friends and neighbors know that they have a need in their home.”",
            "output": [
                "Indiana health officials say 11 more deaths from COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75fa170664bb40e7804d4785f0e0d299",
            "input": "Breeder pigs and piglets from counties without outbreaks of the disease will be allowed to be transported to other provinces, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on its website. Breeder pigs and piglets from infected counties will only be allowed to be moved within the infected province, the statement said. China has reported more than 90 cases of the highly contagious disease since early August.",
            "output": [
                "China loosens pig transport ban to ensure supplies amid African swine fever."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c25b304c79d34814a441f48a49fca309",
            "input": "Starting May 1, customers flying with psychiatric service animals must provide animal health and behavioral documents and a signed document from a medical professional at least 48 hours prior to departure. The airline also will stop allowing amphibians, goats and animals with hooves, tusks or horns. Alaska Airlines spokesman Tim Thompson said there will be an exception for trained miniature horses. Miniature horses are recognized as service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act and are used by a small number of people with disabilities, said airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan in an email. The changes are in response to increasing problems with emotional support animals on planes, Thompson said. There have been incidents where animals have bitten customers and employees, Thompson said. “Most animals cause no problems,” said Ray Prentice, Alaska Airlines director of customer advocacy. “However, over the last few years, we have observed a steady increase in incidents from animals who haven’t been adequately trained to behave in a busy airport setting or on a plane, which has prompted us to strengthen our policy.” Alaska Airlines in recent years has handled about 150 support animals every day. The new policy does not affect certified service animals, which are typically dogs helping owners with physical disabilities. The new restrictions only apply to animals assisting emotional, psychiatric, cognitive or psychological disabilities.",
            "output": [
                "Alaska Airlines tightens emotional support animal policy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ccedc7812fc4be3a343f5e8881589b7",
            "input": "That’s among the findings of the America’s Health Rankings Senior Report released in May by the United Health Foundation. The report ranks the 50 states by assessing data covering individual behavior, the environment and communities where seniors live, local health policy and clinical care. Minnesota took top honors for the second year in a row, ranking high for everything from the rate of annual dental visits, volunteerism, high percentage of quality nursing-home beds and low percentage of food insecurity. This year’s runners-up are Hawaii, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. The researchers base their rankings on 34 measures of health. But here’s one you won’t find in the report: state compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While the health reform law isn’t mainly about seniors, it has one important feature that can boost the health of lower-income older people: the expansion of Medicaid. The ACA aims to expand health insurance coverage for low-income Americans through broadened Medicaid eligibility, with the federal government picking up 100 percent of the tab for the first three years (2014-2016) and no less than 90 percent after that. But when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the ACA’s legality in 2012, it made the Medicaid expansion optional, and 21 states have rejected the expansion for ideological or fiscal reasons. And guess what: Most of the states with the worst senior health report cards also rejected the Medicaid expansion. Nearly all Americans over age 65 are covered by Medicare. But the Medicaid expansion also is a key lever for improving senior health because it extends coverage to older people who haven’t yet become eligible for Medicare. That means otherwise uninsured low-income seniors are able to get medical care in the years leading up to age 65 - and they are healthier when they arrive at Medicare’s doorstep. Two studies from non-partisan reports verify this. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported late last year that seniors who had continuous health insurance coverage in the six years before enrolling in Medicare used fewer and less costly medical services during their first six years in the program; in their first year of Medicare enrollment, they had 35 percent lower average total spending. The GAO study confirmed the findings of a 2009 study report by two researchers at the Harvard Medical School. That study looked at individuals who were continuously or intermittently uninsured between age 51 and 64; these patients cost Medicare an additional $1,000 per person due mainly to complications from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and delayed surgeries for arthritis. Fifty-two percent of Medicaid-rejecting states ranked in the study’s bottom third for senior health, including two very large states, Texas and Florida. Many of these states also can be found in a list of states with the highest rates of poverty among people over 65. What emerges is a north-south divide on senior health. “Many states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are in the South, and there’s a clear link between socioeconomic status and health status,” says Tricia Neuman, senior vice-president at the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation and director of the foundation’s Medicare policy program. “Insurance may not be the only answer, but it certainly is helpful.”  The United Health Foundation - a non-profit funded by the insurer UnitedHealth Group - didn’t consider insurance coverage in its study, but it did consider poverty. Minnesota’s rate was 5.4 percent - well below the 9.3 percent national rate. Mississippi ranked dead last, with a 13.5 percent poverty rate. In states that rejected the Medicaid expansion, we are witnessing a victory of politics over compassion and morality. Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a key architect of health reform in Massachusetts and under the ACA, summed it up in an interview with HealthInsurance.org earlier this year, saying that these states “are willing to sacrifice billions of dollars of injections into their economy in order to punish poor people. It really is just almost awesome in its evilness.”",
            "output": [
                "The state of senior health: It depends on your state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-204de6956a9c4f7c94599efdc3745a06",
            "input": "But fitness experts say even the best-intentioned get-fit efforts can founder before the demands of a corporate culture that is stressful, sedentary and increasingly round-the-clock. “This demand for 24/7 access, this idea that I can always access you and you should intensely, immediately respond, is a stressor, and we know from studies that chronic stress will shorten your life and ultimately kill you,” said Dr. Mary Ellen Rose, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant for workplace health promotion. Rose believes that even the wearable fitness bands and watches meant to keep exercisers on track can be counter-productive. “When you’re happy and healthy, you’re more productive,” she said. “But for people who are high anxiety, monitoring every little thing becomes a stressor.”   Obesity costs employers about $73 billion annually in absenteeism and medical expenses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Patrick Hitchins, co-founder of FitRankings, an Austin, Texas-based fitness tech company that ranks the fitness levels of individuals and companies, notes that most fit people in a company are usually the executives. “For employees to perform at their best they need to be fit, yet workplaces have become anti-fit and increasingly sedentary,” he said. Hitchins believes companies have a long way to go before they see their employees as athletes rather than as cogs in a machine. “(We need) to raise that awareness on the corporate level that its (fitness) is cheaper than a trip to the hospital,” he said. Installing showers at the office and welcoming yoga pants at midday meetings are among the methods that Alexia Brue, co-founder with Melisse Gelula of the wellness media company Well+Good, said corporations can use in the workplace. “One of the challenges is (creating the) acceptance that you can work out at lunch and come back to the desk sweaty,” said New York-based Brue. “Culturally there needs to be a shift, so workers can roll into office from their workout.”   On the hopeful side, Brue cites the rise of “sweatworking,” or entertaining clients in boutique fitness studios rather than bars, as a good sign. “We also need to get out the message that it’s as important to unplug and to, say, meditate as it is to be always and immediately responsive, “ she said.",
            "output": [
                "Workplace workouts can snag on stressful corporate culture."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b40087fd8e134dad8c89cbee4cbb9ec7",
            "input": "The research, described as game-changing by experts in the field, suggests human cells could in future be reprogrammed by the same technique, offering a simpler way to replace damaged cells or grow new organs for sick and injured people. Chris Mason, chair of regenerative medicine bioprocessing at University College London, who was not involved in the work, said its approach in mice was “the most simple, lowest-cost and quickest method” to generate so-called pluripotent cells - able to develop into many different cell types - from mature cells. “If it works in man, this could be the game changer that ultimately makes a wide range of cell therapies available using the patient’s own cells as starting material - the age of personalized medicine would have finally arrived,” he said. The experiments, reported in two papers in the journal Nature on Wednesday, involved scientists from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the United States. The researchers took skin and blood cells, let them multiply, then subjected them to stress “almost to the point of death”, they explained, by exposing them to various events including trauma, low oxygen levels and acidic environments. One of these “stressful” situations was simply to bathe the cells in a weak acid solution for around 30 minutes. Within days, the scientists found that the cells had not only survived but had also recovered by naturally reverting into a state similar to that of an embryonic stem cell. These stem cells - dubbed Stimulus-Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency, or STAP, cells by the researchers - were then able to differentiate and mature into different types of cells and tissue, depending on the environments they were put in. “If we can work out the mechanisms by which differentiation states are maintained and lost, it could open up a wide range of possibilities for new research and applications using living cells,” said Haruko Obokata, who lead the work at RIKEN. Stem cells are the body’s master cells and are able to differentiate into all other types of cells. Scientists say that by helping to regenerate tissue and potentially grow new organs, they could offer ways of tackling diseases for which there are currently only limited treatments. Recent experimental research has seen stem cells used to create a functional human liver and to create beating heart muscle tissue. There are two main types of stem cells: embryonic ones, harvested from embryos, and adult or iPS cells, which are taken from skin or blood and reprogrammed back into stem cells. Because the harvesting of embryonic stem cells requires the destruction of a human embryo, the technique has been the subject of ethical concerns and protests from pro-life campaigners. Dusko Ilic, a reader in stem cell science at Kings College London, said the Nature studies described “a major scientific discovery” and predicted their findings would open “a new era in stem cell biology”. “Whether human cells would respond in a similar way to comparable environmental cues ... remains to be shown,” he said in an emailed comment. “I am sure that the group is working on this and I would not be surprised if they succeed even within this calendar year.”  Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell expert at Britain’s National Institute for Medical Research, said it would be some time before the exact nature and capabilities of the STAP cells would be fully understood by scientists - and only then would their full potential in medicine become clearer. “But the really intriguing thing to discover will be the mechanism underlying how a low pH shock triggers reprogramming,” he said. “And why does it not happen when we eat lemon or vinegar, or drink cola?”",
            "output": [
                "Scientists hail breakthrough in embryonic-like stem cells."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e410f52e8294b4097757260adcfcc0b",
            "input": "\"On April 22 2020, what appeared to be a screen capture of a WKRN-TV segment about a “Reopen TN (Tennessee)” anti-lockdown protest went viral on Twitter, showing a protester with a sign that read, “Sacrifice the weak, re-open TN”:\"\"Sacrifice the Weak\"\" – imagine not just thinking of this but actually writing it out AND taking it out on the street in Nashville, Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/dLPutBoJzG— Conor Blennerhassett (@ConorBlenner) April 22, 2020Verbiage on the sign — and the explicit claim that lawmakers ought to “sacrifice the weak” to the COVID-19 pandemic — seemed too outlandish to be believed. Readers engaged in the discussion with caveats that their comments applied only if the sign hadn’t been “photoshopped,” and “assuming it was real.”In essence, the “sacrifice the weak, re-open TN” sign was seen by some as too cruel to be real, and possibly intended as a bombastic satirical commentary on movements to prematurely end social distancing measures:2. I mean the dipshit with \"\"Sacrifice the weak so TN can re-open\"\" sign. If that's not photo-shopped, and actually real, it has to be astroturfing. It's a rare combination of heartlessness, and total idiocy to openly convey that amoral state to the world. #COVIDIOTS— Socially Distant Paul Maximilian Banks (@PaulMBanks) April 22, 2020In the April 22 2020 tweet above, @PaulMBanks described the sign as “heartless” and “total idiocy to openly convey [an] amoral” position, suggesting the sign “has to be astroturfing.” In that context, “astroturfing” is concealing the origin of an effort or movement “make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants”; efforts to satirize the protests (which were themselves astroturfed) seemed more likely.Mentions of the sign were frequent on social platforms, and reactions ranged from anger to dismay:A hundred bucks says that the guy in Nashville with the \"\"Sacrifice the Weak\"\" sign is also an ardent opponent of abortion.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 22, 2020this is what we’ve becomea world willing to “sacrifice the weak”in the womb, on the streets, in our jails, those who are suffering, those who are elderlyLord, have mercy on us all pic.twitter.com/QLVfWH7DMB— Tommy Tighe (@theghissilent) April 22, 2020The Kansas City Star reported sightings of the sign and ones like it:‘Sacrifice the weak’ and ‘Give me liberty’: Signs at coronavirus protests across US https://t.co/mh3uadcTqK— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) April 22, 2020Although some readers and viewers were skeptical that the “sacrifice the weak” sign was real, an April 20 2020 WZTV Nashville article featured video of the same masked protester holding the widely-shared sign:Although users suspected the “sacrifice the weak … re-open TN” sign was satirical, photoshopped, or “astroturfing,” the sign itself was genuine and unaltered. Images of the sign appeared in an April 20 2020 Nashville-area news organization’s video and reporting of a protest against lockdowns used as an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus strain COVID-19. It is possible that the sign was intended as satire, but it is also implausible that anyone not in favor of ending the lockdowns would risk exposing themselves to COVID-19 simply to make a political joke.Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Photographs and video taken of a COVID-19 anti-lockdown/\"\"Reopen Tennessee\"\" protest shows one participant holding a sign reading \"\"sacrifice the weak.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-301e54ffb72e4a5489d4f4e77ac3e543",
            "input": "The aerial approach to the island showed communities flattened. The overwhelming majority of homes had their roofs peeled away. Contaminated wells have made safe drinking water an immediate health concern. Mozambique’s government on Thursday night reported more than a dozen cases of cholera, a disease caused by contaminated food or water, elsewhere in Cabo Delgado province. Kenneth, northern Mozambique’s first cyclone recorded in the modern age, hit on April 25 with the force of a Category 4 hurricane, killing at least 41 people. Thousands of residents are now trying to piece together shattered lives. It took days for significant aid to reach Ibo as rain lashed the region. Fragile signs of recovery have emerged, but the challenges of finding shelter, food and medicine and rebuilding are immense. People are hungry. Tourist guides had described the island’s scenery as “stunning” and “beautiful.” Ruins from centuries ago used to draw tourists to Ibo, which has a rich history dating back to the slavery trade. Now, even those ruins are gone. Already beset by poverty, most residents have lost everything. The desperation among the roughly 6,000 residents is palpable after days of incessant rains and nights of sleeping in the open or under makeshift shelters. At the tiny, bumpy airstrip, children and adults waited eagerly to welcome the aircraft that have begun to bring supplies. Trucks soon made their way a few kilometers over a dusty road to the heart of the Island. Palm trees have been uprooted, blocking roads and lying on destroyed houses. Many buildings of brick, wooden poles and mud have been razed to ground. “We need help,” said Bonface Mulashe, who teaches French and has lived on the island for a decade. An elderly woman, with the aid of a walking stick, passed by, awe-struck by the damage. One family ate outside, surrounded by a makeshift shelter of metal sheets. Women, faces painted white as part of local tradition, picked through the rubble. On Matemo island, the aid group Save the Children found similar devastation. “The hospital, the mosque and the bank are the only buildings left standing,” Nick Finney, the response team leader, said in a statement. “Residents are in shock. When the cyclone hit, they had to crawl on the ground because if they stood up, they would be blown away.” One mother tripped and crushed her 5-year-old child, Finney said. Three other bodies were reportedly washed away. Of the 4,000 or so residents of Matemo island, about 2,500 are now homeless. With crops destroyed, people are surviving on dried fish, Finney said. Between Cyclone Kenneth and Cyclone Idai, which tore into central Mozambique last month and killed more than 600 people, international aid contributions “haven’t come close to meeting the urgent needs, and time is fast running out,” Finney said. “The world needs to act now.” ___ Associated Press writer Farai Mutsaka in Pemba, Mozambique contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "On cyclone-shattered island in Mozambique, shock and debris."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b882b63d88d74af99bd143a3bce50d83",
            "input": "Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize provided no update on the number of deaths, which a day earlier stood at 27. The total number of tests conducted so far was 87,022. “We still have a long way to go,” he told a news conference at Johannesburg airport. “This is not a sprint, this is a marathon.”  He added that a donation of equipment from China that had just landed would help South Africa “in fighting this invisible enemy called COVID-19”. These included 10,000 N95 masks and disposable gloves, 50,000 surgical disposable masks - enough for about 6-8 weeks - as well as 2,000 medical protective gowns and goggles. At the same news conference, foreign minister Naledi Pandor said she was aware of complaints of allegedly racist treatment of South Africans in China, and that “we believe we can accept the commitment of ... China to address these concerns”. Several African countries have demanded that China address their concerns that Africans, in particular in the southern city of Guangzhou, are being mistreated and harassed. Cases of COVID-19 - the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus - in South Africa are creeping up, but not at the explosive rate that was initially feared. The rate of new infections has slowed significantly since President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 27 and extended it to the end of April. Africa’s most industrialised nation still has the most confirmed coronavirus cases on the continent, which has registered a total of 5,741 so far. In a bid to counteract the economic fallout from the lockdown, South Africa’s central bank slashed its main lending rate by another 100 basis points on Tuesday, to a record-low 4.25%, after moving forward its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for May.",
            "output": [
                "South Africa coronavirus cases rise to 2,415, China donates equipment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fa982866971450d86d3e51716f66647",
            "input": "On 1 June 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics announced a proposed “Significant New Use Rule” (SNUR) for asbestos, a mineral once widely used in the construction of buildings due to its flame-retardant properties but now uncontroversially considered a carcinogen. The necessity for such a rule, in general, stems from the fact that not all uses of asbestos are currently banned; some of them remain unregulated thanks to a 1991 court ruling. The asbestos uses the 2018 SNUR applies to are ones that had not been banned by earlier regulations and remained in active use at the time of the 1991 court ruling, but are no longer in use due to users’ desires to avoid contracting cancer or liability for causing cancer in others. The EPA refers to these uses as “currently unregulated former uses.” SNURs are a mechanism within the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that mandate specific EPA approval when a chemical is used in a significantly new way or in a significantly new mixture that “might create concerns.”: For asbestos, [the] EPA is proposing a SNUR for certain uses of asbestos (including asbestos-containing goods) that would require manufacturers and importers to receive EPA approval before starting or resuming manufacturing, and importing or processing of asbestos. This review process would provide EPA with the opportunity to evaluate the intended use of asbestos and, when necessary, take action to prohibit or limit the use. The TSCA is currently undergoing a major overhaul that began under the Obama administration and was reinterpreted in radically divergent ways under the Trump administration. When former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt (a Trump appointee who resigned amid accusations of misconduct) explained the proposed SNUR for asbestos, he described it as part of an “unprecedented” set of new protections against the dangers of asbestos which require manufacturers “to receive EPA approval before starting or resuming manufacturing, and importing or processing of asbestos”. In their correspondence with us, the EPA stated that the proposed rule serves “to ensure that the manufacture, import, or processing for the currently unregulated former uses of asbestos identified in the rule are prohibited unless reviewed and approved by EPA.” According to critics, the problem with this position is twofold. The first problem concerns the way in which the current EPA has written the SNUR, which EPA staffers have privately worried does not allow for the ban of all currently inactive unregulated uses but instead only concerns 15 specific uses the EPA “believes” to be comprehensive and thus could allow for the continued legality of some now dormant uses. The second problem concerns the way in which the EPA has proposed to evaluate the risk of these “currently unregulated former uses”. In May 2018, the EPA published a document known as the “Problem Formulation of the Risk Evaluation for Asbestos,” which establishes the scientific approach the EPA will take in evaluating these new uses. Significantly, their approach will not include information from existing (or “legacy”) uses of asbestos, despite the significant body of work around health risks stemming from those uses: In the case of asbestos, legacy uses, associated disposals, and legacy disposals will be excluded from the problem formulation and risk evaluation … These include asbestos containing materials that remain in older buildings or are part of older products but for which manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce are not currently intended, known or reasonably foreseen. EPA is excluding these activities because EPA generally interprets the mandates under section TSCA § 6(a)-(b) to conduct risk evaluations and any corresponding risk management to focus on uses for which manufacture, processing or distribution is intended, known to be occurring, or reasonably foreseen, rather than reaching back to evaluate the risks associated with legacy uses, associated disposal, and legacy disposal, and interprets the definition of conditions of use in that context. E&E News reported that this approach may serve to severely limit the types of exposures the EPA will consider when formulating the potential risk of new uses for asbestos: Public health advocates believe EPA is inappropriately limiting its health reviews of chemicals to avoid considering the impacts of those already in the environment. But the agency hasn’t been swayed by their pushback … That means the agency won’t consider the dangers posed by, for example, asbestos-containing tiles, adhesives and piping in millions of homes and commercial buildings nationwide. According to the New York Times, the new rules will serve to narrow the ways in which asbestos itself is defined as well: Other changes identified in the E.P.A. documents narrow the definitions of certain chemicals, including asbestos. Some asbestos-like fibers will not be included in the risk assessments, one agency staff member said, nor will the 8.8 million pounds a year of asbestos deposited in hazardous landfills or the 13.1 million pounds discarded in routine dump sites. Three former EPA officials, including the former supervisor of the toxic chemical program, told the New York Times that such stipulations would necessarily create flawed analyses of the threat posed by any chemical currently being re-evaluated by the EPA: Three former agency officials, including a former supervisor of the toxic chemical program, said that the E.P.A.’s approach would result in a flawed analysis of the threat presented by chemicals. “It is ridiculous,” said Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, who retired last year after nearly four decades at the E.P.A., where she ran the toxic chemical unit during her last year. “You can’t determine if there is an unreasonable risk without doing a comprehensive risk evaluation” … The most likely outcome of the changes will be that the agency finds lower levels of risks associated with many chemicals, and as a result, imposes fewer new restrictions or prohibitions, several current and former agency officials said. Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, argued that former EPA head Scott Pruitt was undermining a bipartisan push to reform the TSCA that began under President Obama. “Congress worked hard in bipartisan fashion to reform our nation’s broken chemical safety laws, but Pruitt’s E.P.A. is failing to put the new law to use as intended,” he said in a statement. President Trump spoke on the topic of asbestos long before his election to the White House. In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, Trump argued that the chemical is actually safe once applied and suggested that the link to health problems was manufactured by mob-connected companies which perform asbestos removal: “I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented.” While it is true that the uses of asbestos discussed in the 2018 SNUR are currently legal, their health and litigation risks have rendered them effectively dead. The current administration has established a process for some of those uses to be granted formal approval by the EPA if they pass a safety review many scientists find flawed. For these reasons, we concur with the leaked opinion of EPA lawyer Mark Seltzer, an attorney advisor to the EPA Chemical Risk and Reporting Enforcement Branch who worked on the SNUR and concluded that: “This new approach allows asbestos-containing products that are not currently used to be used in the future.”",
            "output": [
                "The Environmental Protection Agency will allow new asbestos products to enter the market."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16dce34c3a3e4c45838e29af1dbbb4c4",
            "input": "\"Although it touches on reimbursement, this story never addresses the key issues that most readers will be interested in — how much do palliative care consultations typically cost, does insurance cover it, and does this approach stand to increase or decrease the overall cost burden on our health care system? Like the competing coverage, this story featured prominent discussion of the survival benefit associated with palliative care. We were pleased to see that it also spent some time on the improvement in quality of life and depression scores as well as the reduction in aggressive chemotherapy usage toward the end of life in the palliative care group. We wish the story had been more precise in its quantification of some the benefits — it notes that the palliative care group reported \"\"less depression\"\" and \"\"happier lives\"\" but offers no way to judge the magnitude of the benefit. However, we don’t think these shortcomings were enough to throw the story out of balance. As with the competing coverage, we’ll rule this one not applicable since the harms of palliative care are thought to be minimal. This story deserves praise on a number of fronts: On the downside, there was no cautionary language at all about the limitations of this study. The WSJ, by contrast, explained that the study was conducted at a single site and couldn’t be blinded. It also noted that patients in the palliative care arm got more overall attention from caregivers, which might have affected the results. A close call, but since the evidence always has limitations, we think it’s an important journalistic best practice to always provide some kind of comment about those limitations. This story didn’t meet that standard. No disease-mongering here. A strong effort here. The story quotes one of the study authors, an independent editorialist, a physician-writer knowledgeable about end-of-life care, as well as leaders of professional groups that support hospice and palliative care. As noted in the competing reviews, the point of the study was to compare early palliative care with existing standard cancer treatment. However, this story, like the others, could have provided more information about what standard cancer treatment — the current \"\"existing alternative\"\" — entails. Mixed bag here. The Times noted that Medicare pays for some palliative care services but that billing difficulties may deter physicians from offering it. However, there was no mention of the difficulty patients may have accessing the type of outpatient palliative care services that were offered in this study. Most non-hospice palliative care is currently provided only in the inpatient / acute care hospital setting. A borderline satisfactory. By all accounts, this is the first randomized controlled study to show that providing palliative care early after a diagnosis of advanced cancer improves survival and other outcomes. The story accurately characterizes the significance of this. This story was not based on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Palliative Care Extends Life, Study Finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-996b8da3c7594b3f80131d38abbf90a8",
            "input": "The former CNN host, who is 83, told Us Weekly that a spot on his lung was noticed this summer during a routine check-up. He said he had surgery in July. The tumor was malignant but King said it was found at such an early stage that his doctor told him he was lucky. King has had health issues in the past, including a heart attack and prostate cancer. He was a smoker but gave it up after his heart attack in the 1980s. King keeps working. He told the magazine that his secret wish is to do six months on Broadway, telling stories and taking audience questions.",
            "output": [
                "Larry King says he was operated on for lung cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a221ad75cdf2469d8c96878f69c487c6",
            "input": "\"The world’s fastest man says he’s not scared of Zika since he can always outrun virus-carrying mosquitoes. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who is preparing for this summer’s Olympic games, was asked recently about the Zika epidemic in the host country of Brazil. No worries, he said. \"\"Because I’m fast,\"\" he joked in a May 18 interview on NBC’s Today. \"\"They can’t catch me.\"\" This should be obvious: We are not saying that running is a Zika prevention method. (Here are some actual steps to take to avoid being bitten.) But we were curious whether Bolt really would outpace the mosquito. (People already have tried to figure out if Bolt can beat a cheetah. He can’t.) To the stat sheet! Bolt currently holds both the 100 meter and 200 meter world records at 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds respectively. That corresponds to 23.35 miles per hour for the 100-meter dash, and 23.31 miles per hour for the 200-meter dash. Based on how he’s performed in all past races listed by the International Association of Athletics Federations, Bolt’s average speed is 21.65 miles per hour. Even at his slowest, when he clocked 48.28 seconds at the 400-meter in 2001, he was still running at 18.53 miles per hour. The New York Times did an excellent job breaking down Bolt’s prowess in this video from the 2012 Olympics. So Bolt runs — in short bursts — around 22 miles per hour. How does that stack up against mosquitoes? Many mosquito species in the Aedes genus (africanus, apicoargenteus, luteocephalus, vitattus, furcifer, albopictus, hensilli and polynesiensis) can transmit the Zika virus, but the main vector is Aedes aegypti. Female aegypti mosquitoes (the ones that bite) are estimated to have a cruising speed of 0.5 to 1.5 meters per second. That’s the equivalent of 1.12 to 3.35 miles per hour — a fraction of Bolt’s speed, even at his slowest. In that sense, it’s not a contest. Until you factor in stamina. Bolt runs short distances, while the mosquitoes are in it for the long haul. Researchers have documented lady aegypti flying continuously for two to nine hours, with an average of 2.2 hours. So Bolt, or really anyone, would have to run more than 7.37 miles in that time frame to outpace the mosquito. Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, Bolt’s world record counterpart in the marathon world, ran 26.219 miles in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 57 seconds. He’d leave the mosquito nearly 20 miles behind with that pace. Kimetto. (AP) Bolt and Kimetto would have a lot more to worry about if the Zika vector was a desert locust or earworm, which have respective average air speeds of 21 and 17 miles per hour. But for now, Zika-carrying mosquitoes can’t catch up to either man. Our ruling Bolt said Zika mosquitoes \"\"can’t catch me.\"\" The Olympic champion and world record holder clocks an average speed is 21.65 miles per hour in his races, with 23.35 miles per hour at the high end and 18.53 miles per hour at the low end. Female A. aegypti mosquitoes, the main vector for Zika, cruise between 1.12 and 3.35 miles per hour. That’s a lot slower than Bolt, though the mosquitoes fly for much longer than Bolt sprints. Don’t try this, people. (But if you do, send us a video!)",
            "output": [
                "\"Zika mosquitoes \"\"can’t catch me.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ee09ef991ce469089422fc51e0c14c1",
            "input": "Both warnings are true. On September 18, 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its warning about spinach, telling consumers not to eat any raw spinach, not just pre-packaged spinach as had initially been announced. The FDA also announced that it’s probe into the sources of spinach contaminated with a strain of E.coli bacterium had been expanded to other companies. On September 15, 2006, the FDA had announced that Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista, California was recalling all of its products that contain spinach that have “best if used by” dates of August 17, 2006 through October 1, 2006 The FDA is continuing to investigate whether any other brands are involved. According to an FDA release, “Natural Selection Foods, LLC brands include: Natural Selection Foods, Pride of San Juan, Earthbound Farm, Bellissima, Dole, Rave Spinach, Emeril, Sysco, O Organic, Fresh Point, River Ranch, Superior, Nature’s Basket, Pro-Mark, Compliments, Trader Joe’s, Ready Pac, Jansal Valley, Cheney Brothers, Coastline, D’Arrigo Brothers, Green Harvest, Mann, Mills Family Farm, Pro*Act, Premium Fresh, Snoboy, The Farmer’s Market, Tanimura & Antle, President’s Choice, Cross Valley, and Riverside Farms. These products include spinach and any salad with spinach in a blend, both retail and food service products. Products that do not contain spinach are not part of this recall.” The FDA said that 109 cases of illness had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control including one death and 14 cases of what is called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure. States included in the warning include: California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The FDA said the affected products were also distributed to Canada and Mexico. The other story was focused on Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Dateline show aired in April, 2006. When more than 10 cases of sick people with similar symptoms showed up within three days in September, 2005, a public health investigation was launched. The Minnesota Department of Public Health speculated that the sicknesses were food-related. One of the investigators suspected E.coli because of the symptoms of abdominal cramps and severe, bloody diarrhea. The problem was that E.coli poisoning was more commonly associated with eating contaminated and improperly cooked meat. One of the foods that most of the sick people had eaten was salads made from bagged lettuce. When a public health warning was issued about the salads, one of the victims called investigators from his hospital room and said he still had a partially-eaten bag in his refrigerator. That lettuce was tested and became the first evidence that the E.coli had come from the pre-packaged salads. The odd thing was that the bacterium was found in the lettuce, not just on it. As a result of that 2005 outbreak, the Dole company issued a voluntary recall for the “American Blend” and “Classic Romaine” packaged salads. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also issued a nationwide health alert in October, 2005, about the particular Dole salads implicated in the outbreak. According to Dateline, 26 people from three states got ill, some of them seriously. There were no known deaths and there have not been any repeats of the problem. Updated 9/18/06 Comments",
            "output": [
                " There are a couple of stories about this. One warning says that a documentary on Dateline TV showed that E.coli bacteria were found in pre-packaged bags of salad and that the Dole company has issued a recall on some bags. The other from September of 2006 says the Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert that a strain of E.coli bacterium has been found in several U.S. states and that pre-packaged bags of spinach are suspect.  "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d1b96517f66841f5b74de7723aea3254",
            "input": "The World Health Organization said it expected the nine-month outbreak to continue spreading though the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, and announced plans to expand vaccinations in the coming weeks once a new treatment by Johnson & Johnson is approved. The WHO is already using another experimental vaccine made by Merck. Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said supplies were plentiful but hostility towards medical staff was making it hard to get to affected communities. He told reporters in Geneva that 119 attacks had been documented since January, and as a result, “we are anticipating a scenario of continued intense transmission”. More than 100,000 people have been vaccinated so far, and the treatment has been highly effective, the WHO says. The Merck vaccine will still be used in “ring vaccination” of people exposed to the virus and their contacts, Ryan said, but the WHO is also studying use of a single dose to stretch supplies, an option experts would review on Monday. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be deployed outside the rings in surrounding areas to protect people from infection, “as a way of laying down a barrier to the virus”, Ryan said. Congo’s Health Ministry said on Friday that 14 new Ebola deaths had been recorded, taking the toll to 1,008 deaths from confirmed and probable cases. Only the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa has been deadlier. More than 11,000 people died then out of 28,000 who were infected. Despite significant medical advances since then, including the vaccine and experimental treatments, health officials have struggled to control the current outbreak because of the violence and community mistrust in eastern Congo, where dozens of militias are active. Militiamen attacked a hospital treating Ebola patients two weeks ago, killing a senior WHO epidemiologist and wounding two others. “The numbers are nothing short of terrifying,” said Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist and director of the global health charity the Wellcome Trust. “This epidemic will not be brought under control without a really significant shift in the response,” he said. “Community trust and safety, as well as community engagement and ownership of the response is critical.”  There was an attempted assault on an Ebola treatment facility in the city of Butembo on Thursday, but nobody was injured and the assailants were captured, the WHO’s Ryan said.",
            "output": [
                "Congo Ebola deaths surpass 1,000 as attacks on treatment centers go on."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5964c3c8386143e7b0051757a3442456",
            "input": "Social media sites have been tryingto combat the spread of misinformation about vaccines. Pinterest previously tried blocking all searches for vaccines with mixed results. Now searches for “measles,” ″vaccine safety” and related terms will bring up results from such groups as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the WHO-established Vaccine Safety Net. Pinterest won’t show ads or other users’ posts, as they may contain misinformation. “We’re taking this approach because we believe that showing vaccine misinformation alongside resources from public health experts isn’t responsible,” San Francisco-based Pinterest said in a blog post. Though anti-vaccine sentiments have been around for as long as vaccines have existed, health experts worry that anti-vaccine propaganda can spread more quickly on social media. The misinformation includes soundly debunked notions that vaccines cause autism or that mercury preservatives and other substances in them can harm people. Experts say the spread of such information can push parents who are worried about vaccines toward refusing to inoculate their children, leading to a comeback of various diseases. Measles outbreaks have spiked in the U.S. this year to the highest number in more than 25 years. In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson blamed people “listening to that superstitious mumbo jumbo on the internet” for a rising incidence of measles in that country. The government plans to call a summit of social media companies to discuss what more they can do to fight online misinformation, though plans were still being worked out. Facebook said in March that it would no longer recommend groups and pages that spread hoaxes about vaccines and that it would reject ads that do this. But anti-vax information still slips through. The WHO praised Pinterest’s move and encouraged other social media companies to follow. “Misinformation about vaccination has spread far and fast on social media platforms in many different countries,” the statement said. “We see this as a critical issue and one that needs our collective effort to protect people’s health and lives.” ___ This story has been updated to read that the name of the institution is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not Center for Disease Control and Prevention.",
            "output": [
                "Pinterest to direct vaccine-related searches to health orgs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0f2e2946b644d528a7c4c01fe494896",
            "input": "She’s disappointed not to have been able to claim ultimate victory in the battle against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes the killer disease AIDS, but also proud that in three decades, the virus has been beaten into check. While a cure for AIDS may or may not be found in her lifetime, the 68-year-old says, achieving “remission” - where infected patients control HIV in their bodies and, crucially, can come off treatment for years - is definitely within reach. “I am personally convinced that remission...is achievable. When? I don’t know. But it is feasible,” she told Reuters at her laboratory at Paris’s Pasteur Institute, where she and her mentor Luc Montagnier discovered HIV in 1983. “We have ‘proof of concept’. We have...the famous Visconti patients, treated very early on. Now it is more than 10 years since they stopped their treatment and they are still doing very well, most of them.”   Sinoussi is referring to a study group of 14 French patients known as the Visconti cohort, who started on antiretroviral treatment within 10 weeks of being infected and stayed on it for an average of three years. A decade after stopping the drugs, the majority have levels of HIV so low they are undetectable. These and other isolated cases of remission, or so-called “functional cure”, give hope to the 37 million people worldwide who, due to scientific progress, should now be able to live with, not have their lives cut short by, HIV. In developed countries at least - and in many poorer ones too - an HIV positive diagnosis is no longer an immediate death sentence, since patients can enjoy long, productive lives in decent health by taking antiretroviral drugs to control the virus. It’s a long way from the early 1980s, when Sinoussi remembers sick, dying HIV-positive patients coming to the doors of the Pasteur and pleading with scientists there for answers. “They asked us: ‘What we are going to do to cure us’,” she says. At that time, she says, she knew relatively little about HIV, but what she was sure of was that these patients would never live long enough to see a treatment developed, let alone a cure. “It was very, very hard.”  Yet this interaction with real patients, and with their doctors and later their advocates, gave Sinoussi an important insight into what was needed to make her life in science one with meaning and impact — collaboration. Working across barriers - be they scientific disciplines, cultural, religious and political divides, international borders or gender distinctions, has been and remains Sinoussi’s driving force. In her earliest days, feeling disengaged while working on her PhD and itching for action in a real-life laboratory, she hustled her way in to working at the male-dominated Pasteur Institute for free with a virologist researching links between cancers and retroviruses in mice. While viruses are her thing, she has throughout her career worked with, cajoled and learned from immunologists, cancer specialists, experts in diseases of aging, pharmaceutical companies, AIDS patients, campaigners, and even the pope. “When you work in HIV, it’s not only working in HIV, it’s working far, far beyond,” she said. Freshly armed with her Nobel award and fired up about a lack of support for proven methods of preventing HIV’s spread, Sinoussi wrote an open letter to then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 criticising him for saying that condoms can promote the spread of AIDS. In what was widely seen as a modification of his stance in response to such criticism, Benedict said in a book a year later that use of condoms could sometimes be justified in certain limited cases as a way to fight AIDS. Sinoussi says: “HIV has shown the way to go in the field of science. You can’t be isolated in your laboratory. You need to work with others.”  And this, she adds, is the “all together” spirit with which she advises her successors to continue after she’s gone. Many will be sad to see her leave, but she has faith that her chosen field will deliver for the people who need it. “Of course, I would love to have stopped and to see we had a vaccine against HIV and another treatment that could induce remission – but that’s life. I encourage the new generation of scientists today to continue our work. “Science never stops,” she says. “Just because a scientist stops, the science should not stop.”",
            "output": [
                "Science won't stop until it beats AIDS, says HIV pioneer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-219a816e4324407e8bffebf69938c05d",
            "input": "Researchers at Edinburgh University said their technique, based on chemical analysis, can deliver reliable results without the need for expensive enzymes used in conventional DNA testing. Juan Diaz-Mochon of the university’s School of Chemistry, who led the research, said the chemical method was able to detect genes linked to cystic fibrosis in laboratory experiments using synthetic DNA. With funding from commercial partners and the Scottish Enterprise fund, he said his team planned to market a cystic fibrosis test very soon and then run further research to see if the same method could be used to decode entire human genomes. “We’re hoping to bring the first test for cystic fibrosis to the market within five months,” he told Reuters. “With the scientific data we already have, we believe we can develop this test further and in different ways.”   Tests which identify tiny variations or omissions in DNA code are increasingly being developed and marketed as ways of determining whether or not a person is healthy, susceptible to disease, or has a disease or serious risks of developing one. Cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening inherited disease in which internal organs such as the lungs and digestive system become clogged with thick sticky mucus, is one of a small number of diseases caused by a single, identifiable faulty gene. Companies around the world are racing to develop ever faster and cheaper gene sequencing techniques to offer scientists and drug developers swifter routes mapping whole genomes. U.S. firm Illumina launched its latest genome sequencing tool, HiSeq 2000, in January and challenges rivals at Life Technologies, Roche, Affymetrix, Agilent Technologies and Helicos BioSciences. Experts say the “holy grail” for such firms is to be able to decode a person’s entire genetic sequence for $1,000. Diaz-Mochon said the his chemical method would offer a “speedy, cost-efficient alternative” to existing DNA analysis. “The market for DNA testing is quickly expanding as it becomes more affordable. Our method could help reach the goal of complete genome analysis in a few hours for less than $1,000,” he said in a commentary about the study, which was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie and funded by Scottish Enterprise. Mark Bradley, who also worked on the study, said the team planned to extend their collaborations with researchers and companies working in DNA “and establish our first commercial operations within the next six months.”",
            "output": [
                "UK scientists say find cheap, fast gene test method."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-099dcd8184ed46a0be5d8252cce5d731",
            "input": "Nigeria has 97 confirmed cases, most of which have been in its two main cities. Buhari said the restrictions would begin at 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Monday, March 30. He said the measures would also apply to Ogun State, which neighbors Lagos State. Health experts are concerned about the potential for a widespread outbreak in a country which has around 200 million inhabitants and a poor public health system. The president’s televised speech marked his first major address to the nation since Nigeria’s first confirmed coronavirus case was announced in late February. Buhari said he was “directing the cessation of all movements” in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun for an “initial period” of 14 days. “All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes. Travel to or from other states should be postponed. All businesses and offices within these locations should be fully closed during this period,” Buhari said. The 77-year-old president, whose chief of staff last week tested positive for the highly infectious disease, said the “containment period” would be used to identify, trace and isolate all individuals that have come into contact with confirmed cases. “We will ensure the treatment of confirmed cases while restricting further spread to other states,” he said. Buhari said the restriction would not apply to hospitals and in health care facilities related to manufacturing and distribution. Late on Sunday, long queues started to form at supermarkets in Lagos and Abuja. Buhari acknowledged that the restrictions may make it hard for people to feed themselves in a country where most people live on less than $2 a day. “We are fully aware that such measures will cause much hardship and inconvenience to many citizens. But this is a matter of life and death,” he said. Buhari added that “relief materials” would be distributed to communities around the states affected, but did not give further details. Lagos, the powerhouse of Africa’s biggest economy and the country’s commercial capital of some 20 million people, began a seven-day partial shutdown late last week. The global coronavirus outbreak has already torpedoed Africa’s biggest economy through its impact on major trade partner China, where the pandemic began. Amid low oil prices caused by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, Nigeria earlier this month devalued its currency and said it must cut this year’s budget by $4.9 billion.",
            "output": [
                "Nigeria orders 14-day cessation of movement in Lagos, Abuja to fight coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5310f9b94c54eb591c9a999efbeabee",
            "input": "\"Ohio Sen. Rob Portman has been busy in Washington touting the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act in response to a shocking number of heroin overdoses in Ohio. The bill just passed in the Senate, 94-1. (Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse was the sole \"\"nay,\"\" saying he believes that fighting addiction is a local issue.) Ohio ranks high on the list of states reeling from the national epidemic. In Montgomery County, which encompasses Dayton, Ohio, heroin-related deaths increased 225 percent between 2011 and 2015. Back in the 1970s, the heroin on U.S. streets was the \"\"black tar\"\" variety, and much of it came from southeast Asia. In 2010, 80 percent of the heroin in the world came from poppy fields in Afghanistan, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. So when Portman said that most of the heroin in America comes from Mexico’s border, we were skeptical. Portman, it turns out, has done his homework. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Drug Threat Assessment of 2015 says that Mexico is the primary supplier of heroin to the United States. \"\"Southeast Asia was once the dominant supplier of heroin in the United States, but Southeast Asian heroin is now rarely detected in U.S. markets,\"\" the report state. \"\"Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Colombia dominate the U.S. heroin market, because of their proximity, established transportation and distribution infrastructure, and ability to satisfy U.S. heroin demand.\"\" The report also says that Mexican \"\"transnational criminal organizations,\"\" (the DEA’s term for drug-dealing gangs) \"\"pose the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them.\"\" The National Drug Threat report notes that Colombian gangs were traditionally the suppliers of wholesale cocaine and heroin to Mexican and Dominican groups. But cartels in Mexico are ramping up their roles on the supply side -- opium production in Mexico increased by 50 percent in 2014. Mexican labs also produce fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl is sometimes mixed with heroin or substituted for heroin, and the DEA reports more than 700 overdoses attributed to fentanyl between late 2013 and early 2015. Drugs get past the U.S. borders mostly \"\"by land, not by sea,\"\" said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, in the same March 8 hearing with Portman. And a 2015 Washington Post series on the surge of heroin puts the border detection rate at a scant 1.5 percent. Smugglers’ creativity defies gravity: One successful bust came when agents caught two men flying a drone carrying 28 pounds of heroin from Mexico to California. Our ruling Portman said that heroin is coming to the United States primarily from Mexico. He hasn’t been studying drug facts for nothing.\"",
            "output": [
                "We understand that this heroin is primarily coming from Mexico, over the border."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6b3e62485a74445907305d488873e67",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of stent insertion, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. The story describes the main outcome measure — how long subjects could exercise on a treadmill before experiencing pain — and the change in exercise duration — a 28 second improvement after stent insertion versus 12 second improvement after sham surgery. Readers are told that no statistical difference exists between those averages. The story does not mention harms of the procedure, which should be a factor in weighing the risks and benefits of any intervention. The story describes the study’s size and methods and goes into some depth about how the sham procedure can control for placebo effects. Limitations were discussed, as well. The story also provides some critiques from outside sources, including the fact that study subjects, with only one major blockage, do not represent the majority of patients to whom doctors recommend stents. No disease mongering here. It was good to see the story discuss the concerns around over-use of stents. The story quotes one of the study authors and authors of an accompanying commentary in the journal, The Lancet. The reporter also sought comment from stent makers, who were mostly critical of the study — but these potential conflicts were made clear to readers. The story, in describing the study, makes clear that management of angina pain with medication is equally effective in these kinds of patients. The story makes clear that stent insertion is widely available and frequently done. The story makes clear that what is novel about this research is the use of a placebo group whose participants underwent procedures but didn’t receive a stent. The story goes well beyond what is contained in the news release from the host institution, Imperial College.",
            "output": [
                "Study Raises Questions About Stents in Some Heart Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60370d6277e14eb4a93e56fadd544f6a",
            "input": "Sankey opened the league’s media days Monday with plenty to say about sports gambling and continuing efforts to improve football officiating before yielding the podium to coaches talking about their hopes and concerns for the season. He focused on weighty off-the-field matters instead of whether Alabama, Georgia or some other SEC team might contend for the national title. Those concerns include possibly placing another element of pressure on athletes. “We’re seeing trends in the mental health area that should cause us all to pause before these ideas around specific event betting within college sports are allowed to take place,” he said. “And I’m talking about, for example, whether a field goal is made or missed, whether a 3-point try is successful. Is a pitched ball a strike or a ball? “That pause should happen before any of these types of activities take place.” He said mental health is an issue athletes now bring up in every meeting, replacing such near-universal student issues as limited campus parking. “The perspectives on mental health represent not a ripple of change, but a wave of new reality, which faces all of us in intercollegiate athletics and higher education,” Sankey said. Legalized sports gambling in some states — including in SEC country — also will be a new reality. A Supreme Court ruling in May 2018 cleared all 50 states to offer legal sports betting if they choose to. Sankey’s take remains that “it may be ideal for us not to experience any expansion in sports gambling.” But that’s beyond his control. “The SEC presidents and chancellors have expressed strong support for NCAA national office efforts to seek federal legislation that will regulate sports gambling,” Sankey   said. “Ideally, there would be uniformed practices applicable across states throughout the country governing gambling on college sports, particularly eliminating specific in-game betting and proposition belts on college sports.” That was among the topics Sankey addressed to start the four-day event, which returned to suburban Birmingham after being held in Atlanta last year. It returns to Atlanta next year and moves to Nashville in 2021. Missouri coach Barry Odom — and graduate transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant — Florida’s Dan Mullen and LSU’s Ed Orgeron also addressed the media on Monday. They certainly have a vested interest in another one of Sankey’s primary topics: Football officiating. The SEC hired international accounting firm Deloitte to conduct a review of its football officiating, a reaction to the critical attention placed on officials by fans and media. Not to mention coaches. Sankey said officiating crews are set to make two-day trips to each school’s preseason football camp, sitting in on position meetings and talking rules with coaches and players. The SEC is adding a sideline monitor so that game officials can review a play and talk to the on-site replay officials and those monitoring from the SEC offices. “We also learned something interesting, and that is both our head coaches and our officials want to improve the working relationship,” Sankey said. ___ More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25",
            "output": [
                "Sankey talks link between sports gambling, mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c32e87c77fcd46b0824cc823f2b17baa",
            "input": "The state’s congressional delegation announced the grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It’s meant to increase the treatment capacity of Medicaid providers for substance use disorder treatment and recovery services. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, says the funding will help ensure services are there when needed. Whitehouse, who wrote a 2016 law to guide the federal response to the opioid epidemic, says no patient who wants help should be turned away. Behavioral health providers will receive telemedicine services and technical assistance in billing and administration. The grant will also allow Rhode Island to recruit and train new providers. There were 314 overdose deaths in Rhode Island in 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Rhode Island awarded federal funding for addiction treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b73e58883ceb4f148dbff31241c4b73b",
            "input": "He Jiankui of Southern University of Science and Technology of China said he altered the DNA of twin girls born earlier this month to try to help them resist possible future infection with the AIDS virus — a dubious goal, ethically and scientifically. There is no independent confirmation of what He says he did, and it has not been published in a journal where other experts could review it. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong where a gene editing conference is getting underway, and previously in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press. Reaction to the claim was swift and harsh. More than 100 scientists signed a petition calling for greater oversight on gene editing experiments. The university where He is based said it will hire experts to investigate, saying the work “seriously violated academic ethics and standards.” A spokesman for He said he has been on leave from teaching since early this year but remains on the faculty and has a lab at the university. Authorities in Shenzhen, the city where He’s lab is situated, also launched an investigation. And Rice University in the United States said it will investigate the involvement of physics professor Michael Deem. This sort of gene editing is banned in the U.S., though Deem said he worked with He on the project in China. “Regardless of where it was conducted, this work as described in press reports violates scientific conduct guidelines and is inconsistent with ethical norms of the scientific community and Rice University,” the school said in a statement. Gene editing is a way to rewrite DNA, the code of life, to try to supply a missing gene that is needed or disable one that is causing problems. It has only recently been tried in adults to treat serious diseases. Editing eggs, sperm or embryos is different, because it makes permanent changes that can pass to future generations. Its risks are unknown, and leading scientists have called for a moratorium on its use except in lab studies until more is learned. They include Feng Zhang and Jennifer Doudna, inventors of a powerful but simple new tool called CRISPR-cas9 that reportedly was used on the Chinese babies during fertility treatments when they were conceived. “Not only do I see this as risky, but I am also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency” around the work, Zhang, a scientist at MIT’s Broad Institute, said in a statement. Medical advances need to be openly discussed with patients, doctors, scientists and society, he said. Doudna, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the Hong Kong conference organizers, said that He met with her Monday to tell her of his work, and that she and others plan to let him speak at the conference Wednesday as originally planned. “None of the reported work has gone through the peer review process,” and the conference is aimed at hashing out important issues such as whether and when gene editing is appropriate, she said. Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Zhang receives grant support from the organization, which also supports AP’s Health & Science Department. Another conference leader, Harvard Medical School dean Dr. George Daley, said he worries about other scientists trying this in the absence of regulations or a ban. “I would be concerned if this initial report opened the floodgates to broader practice,” Daley said. Notre Dame Law School professor O. Carter Snead, a former presidential adviser on bioethics, called the report “deeply troubling, if true.” “No matter how well intentioned, this intervention is dangerous, unethical, and represents a perilous new moment in human history,” he wrote in an email. “These children, and their children’s children, have had their futures irrevocably changed without consent, ethical review or meaningful deliberation.” Concerns have been raised about how He says he proceeded, and whether participants truly understood the potential risks and benefits before signing up to attempt pregnancy with edited embryos. He says he began the work in 2017, but he only gave notice of it earlier this month on a Chinese registry of clinical trials. The secrecy concerns have been compounded by lack of proof for his claims. He has said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done. One independent expert even questioned whether the claim could be a hoax. Deem, the Rice scientist who says he took part in the work, called that ridiculous. “Of course the work occurred,” Deem said. “I met the parents. I was there for the informed consent of the parents.” ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed at @MMarchioneAP ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Gene-edited baby claim by Chinese scientist sparks outrage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff42e809f9fc4b1f9c4126a1bc135c6f",
            "input": "It’s true that General Mills voluntarily recalled 10 million pounds of flour across 20 states on May 31, 2016. In a statement, General Mills said it had voluntarily recalled flour sold under its Gold Medal, Gold Medal Wondra and Signature Kitchen brands after 38 cases of illness from E. coli contamination: State and federal authorities have been researching 38 occurrences of illnesses across 20 states related to a specific type of E. coli (E. coli O121), between December 21, 2015, and May 3, 2016. While attempting to track the cause of the illness, CDC found that approximately half of the individuals reported making something homemade with flour at some point prior to becoming ill. Some reported using a General Mills brand of flour. Based on the information that has been shared with General Mills, some of the ill consumers may have also consumed raw dough or batter. Consumers are reminded to not consume any raw products made with flour. Flour is an ingredient that comes from milling wheat, something grown outdoors that carries with it risks of bacteria which are rendered harmless by baking, frying or boiling. Consumers are reminded to wash their hands, work surfaces, and utensils thoroughly after contact with raw dough products or flour, and to never eat raw dough or batter. General Mills recalled 13.5-ounce Gold Medal Wondra flour; 2-pound, 5-pound and 10-pound packages of Gold Medal All Purpose Flour; 5-pound packages of Gold Medal unbleached flour; 5-pound packages of Signature Kitchens All Purpose Flour Enriched Bleach; 5-pound packages of Signature Kitchens Unbleached Flour; and 2-pound packages of Gold Medal self-rising flour. Click here to contact General Mills directly about the flour recall. Comments",
            "output": [
                " General Mills has issued a massive recall for Gold Medal Flour because a suspected E. coli outbreak. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d9e596e0b5e444ea4efd0c04d764e00",
            "input": "So fitness experts and entrepreneurs are thinking outside the box to transform the cubicle from sedentary prison to multitasking work and workout space. “We’ve made Americans fat by putting them in cubicles,” said Steve Bordley, CEO of TrekDesk. His solution is a workstation designed to fit over a treadmill. “There’s an obesity issue in every developed country, including China. Anywhere they’re sitting,” said Bordley, from his treadmill desk during the telephone interview. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Bordley said he developed TrekDesk after a leg injury in 2008 crimped his active lifestyle. “I couldn’t run anymore so I started experimenting with a treadmill,” said Bordley. “An epiphany occurred: Walking is a pretty powerful exercise. My back problems went away, I lost 26 pounds (11.8 kgs) and I slept great.”   The daily goal for healthy adults in a walking program is 10,000 steps, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Most sedentary adults walk less than 5,000. Multitasking work and workout is in our genes, according to Bordley, who said he’s already sold thousands of his product around the world. “We’ve evolved over millions of years to be moving through the wilderness while hunting game. Our body was designed around that movement,” he said. “It’s the people who sit all day who have to fight lethargy.”   When it comes to doing her paperwork, Minneapolis-based personal trainer and group fitness instructor Chris Freytag prefers to stand. “I’m totally in love with my standing workstation,” she said. “The treadmill desk is a great concept, but it’s large. I would probably put mine in my basement and I’m not going to work in the basement.”   As chair of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Freytag is acutely aware of the need to move, even while forced to spend a lot of time at her desk. For her the beauty of the standing workstation lies in its mobility. “You can pull it into the family room or wheel it around the house,” she said. “It’s user-friendly and accessible and it literally changed my life.”   She said just standing keeps her motivated and burns an extra calorie a minute. For those on a tight budget, Dr. Cedric Bryant, ACE’s chief science officer, has another solution. “Invest on a headset,” he said. “I handle all phone calls while standing or pacing.”   He said getting outside the building is a growing corporate trend, and he holds as many standing, walking, or off-site meetings as he can. “Another strategy would be to set your scheduling device to remind you to get out and move for five minutes on the hour,” Bryant said. Personal trainer and wellness expert Shirley Archer, the author of “Fitness 9 to 5,” recommends stashing light dumbbells under your desk, or keeping resistance bands in your drawer. “Anyone who sits at a computer is going to have issues over time,” said Archer, a former Wall Street lawyer. “Life used to be more challenging. We don’t even push doors open anymore.”",
            "output": [
                "Fitting fitness inside the cubicle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef03246cfb47497caedb8efa9570f151",
            "input": "The settlement, the largest by any company related to the U.S. opioid epidemic, resolved long-running probes by the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission into the companies’ marketing and sales of Suboxone Film. The deal came after Indivior in April was indicted and accused of deceiving doctors and healthcare benefit programs into believing Suboxone Film, itself a form of opioid, was safer and less susceptible to abuse than similar drugs. The indictment said Indivior also used an internet and telephone program touted as a resource for opioid-addicted patients to connect them to doctors it knew were prescribing Suboxone and other opioids at high rates and in suspect circumstances. The Justice Department said the scheme began before Indivior spun out of Reckitt in 2014 and resulted in thousands of opioid-addicted patients using the drug. Opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, played a role in a record 47,600 U.S. overdose deaths in 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. Reckitt was not indicted like Indivior, but the department last year joined several whistleblower lawsuits alleging the British company improperly marketed the drug. As part of Thursday’s settlement, Reckitt entered into a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to pay nearly $1.35 billion to resolve the Justice Department’s criminal and civil claims. It will also pay $50 million to resolve FTC claims that it engaged in anticompetitive activities aimed at impeding competition from generic versions of Suboxone. Reckitt said in a statement that it “acted lawfully at all times and expressly denies all allegations that it engaged in any wrongful conduct.” But it said its board had decided the settlement was in the company’s best interests. Slough, England-based Indivior has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges. In a statement, it acknowledged Reckitt’s settlement but said it had no new information on the case. Its trial in federal court in Abingdon, Virginia is set for May. (GRAPHIC - Reckitt gains in value after Indivior spin-off: tmsnrt.rs/2NPlAJJ)  Shares in Reckitt, whose products range from Mucinex cold medicine and Lysol cleaners, closed up 2.5%. While the settlement is significantly higher than the $400 million that the consumer goods group had set aside to cover the cost of the investigations, analysts said it could allow the company’s new chief executive to focus on a turnaround plan. In an effort to regain investor confidence after setbacks including a safety scandal in South Korea, a failed product launch and a cyber attack, Reckitt’s outgoing boss Rakesh Kapoor launched a plan to split the group into two business units – one for health and one for hygiene and home products. Investors had feared the U.S. probes could hinder the transformation. Analysts at JP Morgan wrote in a note that settlement “clarifies the legal environment for RB and should allow the new management to focus on the RB 2.0 transformation.”  While welcoming the settlement, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the cost could limit incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s ability to undertake much-needed investment in Reckitt’s brands. “The danger is that Narasimhan will be operating with one hand tied behind his back,” he said. The company said it would increase its provision related to the investigations to $1.5 billion to cover both the cost of the settlement and “any remaining litigation exposures.” It said the deal would be funded through existing borrowing facilities and cash generation. Separately, Indivior also raised its full-year profit and revenue guidance after Suboxone lost market share at a slower pace than expected. Its shares closed 6.73% higher.",
            "output": [
                "Reckitt to pay $1.4 billion to end U.S. opioid addiction treatment probes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45a70121886a462980bd869883fa35b1",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of mammography (or of follow up tests and treatments) to the individual, or, collectively, to society. And these costs are substantial. Based on the results of this study, 2,500 women would have to be screened every other year for a decade in order to prevent one death from breast cancer. As the story points out, during that same time 1,000 of those women would have at least one false alarm and 500 would undergo an unnecessary biopsy, thus adding to the price tag. On balance, this story does a fair job of describing the benefits of screening mammography as seen in this study. It reports the apparent 10 percent reduction in breast cancer deaths, while also pointing out that because relatively few women in the 50-69 age group die of breast cancer, that reduction can also be described as cutting the 10-year risk of death from 4.4 per 1,000 women to 4 per 1,000. The second statistic helps counteract popular assumptions about how many middle-aged women die from breast cancer. However, the framing of a story – and who gets the last word – sometimes overwhelms evidence-based explanations earlier in the story. That almost happened with this story, which gives the final word to an advocate of annual breast cancer screening for all women beginning by age 40, which is just the sort of blanket recommendation this latest study calls into question. The story includes a comment that because mammograms detect lumps that would not have become life-threatening, five to 15 women may be treated for every one whose life is saved by treatment. The story oversimplifies the methods used by researchers, saying they compared “women who were similar in most ways, except that one group received mammograms and the other didn’t,” without explaining that this was not a randomized trial where some women were assigned to screening and others weren’t, but rather an observational study that looked at data on women during a 9-year period when Norway phased in mammography region by region. The story does alert readers to some of the limitations of the study: one, that a longer follow-up period might have shown more benefit to screening and, two, that the researchers had no information on whether any of the women received mammograms outside of the national screening program. It’s a tossup for us to grade and, as we do in most such cases, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt.",
            "output": [
                "Mammogram benefits more modest than doctors thought"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77eb3bbe957f440d847f04a5e3ffd90a",
            "input": "\"Since this device is experimental, we can accept the fact that the story didn’t put a specific price tag on the technology. The story did note that cost might limit initial use of the device. The story tells us the percentage of asthma patients who were correctly diagnosed by the electronic nose, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, and spirometry. It provided this data in absolute terms and didn’t muddy the waters with relative comparisons of the three techniques. Although the study data by itself might suggest that the new device is superior to the other methods, the comments from the expert sources put the results in the appropriate context. They make it clear that we can’t tell yet whether this technology represents a better option than existing techniques. Although there appears to be little risk of harm from the new testing procedure itself, the story makes no mention of the downside that can accompany a faulty diagnosis–whether a false positive or negative. False positive tests (diagnosing asthma when the patient has another disease) and false negatives (failing to diagnose asthma) can have significant consequences. A brief comment on the potential harms associated with a faulty test would have been helpful. The story did a good job of describing what happened in the study being discussed. It notes that the \"\"electronic nose\"\" device was pitted against other diagnostic techniques to compare their accuracy for confirming physician-diagnosed asthma. Importantly, independent sources emphasized that this was a small study looking at patients with one particular type of asthma. They noted that much more research would be needed to prove that the device is effective in a broad range of patients. No disease-mongering in this story. The story cites two independent sources and identifies their affiliations. The story discusses current methods for diagnosing asthma including the physical exam, spirometry, and nitric oxide tests. Although the story never explicitly states that the device being discussed is experimental, comments from the experts make it pretty clear that the technology is still in development. The story explained in reasonable detail how the device differs from traditional diagnostic methods. The story could have done a bit more to explain that \"\"electronic nose\"\" technology has been in development for quite some time and is already in use in other fields (i.e. explosives detection). However, the story’s description of the device was pretty restrained and it didn’t try to hype the technology as \"\"new.\"\" It’s clear that this story wasn’t based exclusively on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "‘Electronic Nose’ Sniffs Out Asthma"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7eeeaf40d384b2db7df71cf20a525ca",
            "input": "Officials in Dorchester County, South Carolina have issued an apology for aerial insecticide spraying that inadvertently killed millions of honeybees in the area, WCBD-TV reported on 1 September 2016. Beekeepers in the town of Summerville say they lost scores of active hives almost instantly after spraying began early in the morning on 28 August. The insecticide, naled (brand name Trumpet), is recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for the control of the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, which carries the Zika virus. The insecticide is also highly toxic to bees. Administrators in Dorchester County (where there have been four confirmed diagnoses of Zika infection to date) said they followed guidelines for its proper use, including spraying before dawn to reduce exposure of the bee population and notifying local residents in advance. Locals say they weren’t notified in advance of the aerial spraying, however. Beekeeper Juanita Stanley told reporters: That’s true when they sprayed by trucks. But nobody called me about the aerial spraying; nobody told me at all. Stanley estimates she lost more than 3 million bees, and says she’ll have to destroy the contaminated honey and equipment and start over.",
            "output": [
                "Aerial spraying of an insecticide targeting Zika-carrying mosquitoes in South Carolina resulted in the deaths of millions of bees."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1049536d295b4f9cbe7c87f3885a6bcf",
            "input": "Evers told The Associated Press in an interview that he is committed to working with Republicans who control the Legislature to secure additional mental health funding and that he’s optimistic because of the GOP’s past support for such funding. The Legislature this year approved about $25 million for children’s mental health programs over the next two years, which was far short of the $116 million Evers requested. Even so, they were closer on those issues than on gun safety bills. Evers called a special session on a pair of bills, but Republicans refused to debate either measure. One was a universal gun background check bill and the other was a “red flag” proposal that would allow judges to take guns away from people determined to be a risk to themselves or others. Evers said Wednesday that he still sees those as part of any solution to combating violence in schools, but he conceded that because of Republican opposition, “it’s not going to happen in the near future.” The shootings this week at high schools about 90 miles (145 kilometers) apart have shaken the state and caused a renewed debate over how to combat violence in schools. On Tuesday, an Oshkosh Police Department resource officer shot a 16-year-old student after the boy stabbed him at Oshkosh West High School. On Monday, a Waukesha police officer shot a 17-year-old Waukesha South High School student who pointed a pellet gun at another student’s head. Neither of the students who were shot suffered life-threatening injuries. Investigators on Wednesday released the names of the police officers involved. State Department of Justice officials said Oshkosh West High School Resource Officer Mike Wissink shot and wounded a 16-year-old student Tuesday after the boy stabbed him in his office. Wissink has 21 years of experience with the Oshkosh Police Department and has served as a school resource officer since 2017. The officer who shot the student in Waukesha was identified by the local police department as Sgt. Brady Esser, an 11-year veteran. Authorities have not released the names of the students involved. Evers is a former state superintendent of schools who worked as a principal, school superintendent and administrator before he was elected governor in 2018. He said the issue is particularly striking for him, given his background and the fact that has three grown children and nine grandchildren. Two of his children attended the high school in Oshkosh where the shooting occurred. Evers and Republicans have found little common ground during his first year in office. But in the wake of the shootings, Evers said he was optimistic that focusing on mental health services provides them with a path toward consensus. “I’ve heard him talk about mental health issues before, they get it,” Evers said of Republicans. “At the end of the day, if they listen to the school districts that they represent, those districts can tell them that kids are struggling more than ever before. And there is a need for some really specialized help.” Evers did not make a specific proposal and said he had not yet talked with Republican legislative leaders. Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke reacted enthusiastically to Evers’ call for an emphasis on mental health funding, tweeting that it was “Great news!” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said it was good that Evers was focused on what he called the “real problem,” while noting that Republicans have led the way in expanding mental health treatment for schools, including making $100 million available in 2018 for school safety grants following mass shootings elsewhere. All but about $6.8 million of that has been allocated and Evers said it made sense to now prioritize mental health services over further fortifying schools. “Parents don’t want to send their kids to schools that look like prisons,” he said. One Republican lawmaker, state Rep. Barb Dittrich of Oconomowoc, said in a statement that lawmakers had a “mutual goal” of increasing school safety. She referred to past approval for increases in mental health services as an example. “While none of us likes that this is our new reality, we live in a broken world and must treat this no differently than our response to what happened with the September 11th attacks,” she said. Evers said he wasn’t a “defeatist” on school safety. “If we work hard as communities and prioritize our resources, I think we can get to a point where these things don’t happen again,” Evers said. “But until we’re serious about addressing issues that may cause kids to struggle mentally, we will struggle as a state and as a nation.” ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP",
            "output": [
                "Governor: Wisconsin must ‘step up’ after school shootings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea0508c9b5a7425b9ff457c6fe880bb3",
            "input": "\"One of the questions about the state budget proposal that Gov. John Kasich is expected to announce in February is whether the state will follow through with the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid coverage. The federal health care law would expand coverage to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level -- a provision which was made optional under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that otherwise upheld the law. A bipartisan group of 85 health coverage organizations has written to the governor saying anything less than the full 138 percent would cause people to drop or skip coverage, endangering their health. Terry Russell, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, told Gongwer News Service that mentally ill Ohioans struggle to stay employed, and that local mental health agencies have marginal resources to help. \"\"The sad statistic that haunts us every day is that individuals with mental illnesses die an average of 25 years earlier than those without a mental illness,\"\" he said. \"\"Sixty percent of these premature deaths are the result of preventable and treatable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and infections.\"\" PolitiFact Ohio checked into his claim about 25 years, and quickly found his statement was right on the money. A study published in 2006 by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors that was the focus of wide attention and concern in the mental health community looked at data from 16 states, including Ohio. It found that, on average, people with severe mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population. The figure for Ohio was actually worse. People with severe mental illness die 32 years earlier. Calling it \"\"a serious public health problem for the people served by our state mental health systems,\"\" the study said about 60 percent of premature deaths are due to conditions such as cardiovascular, pulmonary and infectious diseases. A number of factors contribute to risk, the study said, including modifiable factors like obesity, poor nutrition and alcohol and tobacco use. People with severe mental illness have poorer access to appropriate health care, and may be additionally vulnerable because of higher rates of homelessness, victimization, unemployment and poverty. Among its recommendations, the report called for better access to physical health care for people with serious mental illnesses to fight what it called an \"\"epidemic of premature death and its contributing causes.\"\" Russell said that people with mental illnesses, on average, die 25 years earlier than those without a mental illness. He accurately cited findings of a major study on the issue. And in Ohio, the average is actually greater than 25 years. On the Truth-O-Meter, his claim rates .\"",
            "output": [
                "Individuals with mental illnesses die an average of 25 years earlier than those without a mental illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd338100eb784d0098d8836ea47af8ac",
            "input": "Lexicon shares, which have lost about 15 percent of their value last year, fell as much as 7.5 percent to $1.85 on the Nasdaq in early trading on Monday. The company said Arthur Sands, CEO since 1995 and a co-founder, intends to develop a succession plan with the board. He will continue in his position until a successor is appointed. Analysts said Sands might have been perceived as more of a scientist who would not be able to lead the company into a commercial launch of the late-stage drugs. “I think Arthur Sands could have easily done the transition to commercial, but possibly the board felt they wanted someone with direct commercial experience”, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos said. Lexicon said it would cut 115 jobs, primarily positions in research and discovery, to reduce costs. The company said it would focus mainly on its drugs to treat diabetes and carcinoid syndrome, a condition which affects some people with a rare cancerous tumor. “Most of the value of the company is wrapped up in these late-stage drugs,” Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen said. “It makes sense to focus on what investors are really looking at.”  Lexicon said it expects to lower expenses by about $14 million, net of severance costs and some other charges, for the rest of 2014. It expects to save about $22 million annually. “This could give them an extra two to three quarters of cash,” Moussatos said. The company had $151.2 million in cash and investments as of September 30 last year. Andersen said Lexicon needed to conserve cash while it looked for a partner to fund the development of its diabetes drug. “In order to do a comprehensive diabetes program, it takes hundreds of millions of dollars, which is more than Lexicon can afford right now,” she said. The company is testing two other drugs in mid-stage trials to treat irritable bowel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. It also has a glaucoma drug in early-stage development. Moussatos said that Lexicon could license the development of the drugs to other pharmaceutical companies. Lexicon has drug discovery agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Roche Holding AG’s unit Genentech and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.  Lexicon shares, which once traded above $40, were down 4.5 percent at $1.91.",
            "output": [
                "Lexicon Pharma to cut 45 percent of workforce, CEO to leave."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-219b2dc52bf34e8aad3c4d10dd516ddf",
            "input": "Here’s what we do and don’t know about what this might mean for the WHO and its programmes around the world:  * Set up in 1948, the U.N. agency has a mandate to improve the standard of health worldwide. It is credited with leading a 10-year campaign to eliminate smallpox in the 1970s and has coordinated the fight against epidemics including Ebola. * The WHO is currently leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, providing countries with advice on how to contain its spread. It is also coordinating global research into potential drugs and vaccines against COVID-19. * The WHO now has more than 7,000 people working in 150 country offices, six regional offices and Geneva headquarters. * The WHO’s budget is biennial, spanning a two-year period. * The United States is the biggest overall donor to the WHO and had contributed more than $800 million by the end of 2019 for the 2018-2019 biennial funding period. The Gates Foundation is the second largest donor, followed by Britain. * The funding comes in two forms:   - so-called “assessed contributions” from member states, which go towards keeping up the WHO’s core functions   - and voluntary contributions, which are targeted at specific programmes such as polio eradication and the fight against AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases. * At this stage, it is not clear whether the United States intends to halt its voluntary contributions, its assessed contributions, or both. * The WHO’s 2020-2021 budget, approved by health ministers last May, amounts to nearly $4.85 billion in total and represents a 9% rise from the previous two-year period. * It is not clear whether the United States has already made all or part of its payments towards the 2020-2021 budget, but its assessed contributions are normally made late in the year. * Almost $1 billion of the 2020-2021 budget is earmarked for WHO operations across Africa, the world’s poorest continent with the highest rates of under-five mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases. * Polio eradication remains a major WHO programme and the United States is a key contributor to this effort. * The WHO’s emergency programme is also seeking to stamp out other deadly infectious disease outbreaks including Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. * Trump has taken an increasingly critical stance towards the WHO, accusing it of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the virus and saying that likely led to a wider outbreak than otherwise would have occurred. * China has said it has been transparent and shared information with the WHO and other countries, including the United States. The WHO says China shared information quickly and is cooperating in research and other areas. “Focus on the epic struggle right now and leave the recriminations until later,” WHO COVID-19 special envoy David Nabarro told an online conference on Wednesday, without naming the United States or Trump. * The agency has faced controversy before. It was accused of overreacting to the 2009-10 H1N1 flu pandemic, and then faced withering criticism for not reacting fast enough to the vast Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 that killed more than 11,000 people.",
            "output": [
                "Explainer: What the U.S. funds freeze could mean for WHO and its work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9a5d1edbad9441c97e5c42a2b815201",
            "input": "The university’s School of Medicine said in a statement Friday that the research is aimed at testing vaccines and conducting controlled studies. The money is coming from the federal government’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It hopes to develop a universal vaccine against new flu strains and to improve existing flu vaccines as well. The university said influenza affected more than 43 million people in the U.S. last flu season. The principal investigator for the research will be Dr. Kathleen Neuzil. She’s a professor of medicine and pediatrics and director of the school’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. Neuzil is considered one of the leading scientists for vaccine development and policy.",
            "output": [
                "University of Maryland gets $200M contract for flu research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4fd1fb4295c640c89461d464628948ac",
            "input": "A common stoner trope (and a well-worn excuse for those teenagers trying to hide their stoner status from their parents) is that of the secondhand high from marijuana smoke. It is not something taken lightly by scientists, either, especially in light of a wave of marijuana legalization across the United States; studies have investigated the effects of secondhand cannabis smoke on nonsmokers for decades. While this work comes with notable limitations, the consensus is that it is, in fact, possible to get high from secondhand cannabis smoke, at least under certain extremely unventilated and confined conditions. A relevant example of such conditions — and actually a model for researchers studying the effects of second hand cannabis smoke — would be “hotboxing,” which in cannabis culture is the process of smoking marijuana with a group of people in an unventilated car or room, potentially increasing the degree to which participants are exposed to cannabis smoke. Early research sought to recreate these conditions primarily to see if people not directly smoking would absorb the active components of cannabis to the point where they could be detected in urine or blood. Though small in sample size, numerous studies conducted in the 1980s have shown that under these extreme conditions passive participants could absorb enough THC and other cannabinoids so that they could be detected in blood or urine (and, as a result, potentially affect drug screening tests for a short period of time following exposure.) A 1986 study also reported that the subjective effects of being exposed indirectly to 16 “marijuana cigarettes” were similar to those produced by directly smoking a single joint, though it bears mentioning that this 1986 marijuana was up to 10 times weaker than modern high-potency medical or recreational marijuana. The question of a second-hand high was most recently investigated in a 2015 study performed at Johns Hopkins University. Researchers confined groups of six smokers (who were each provided with ten joints) and six non-smokers in a chamber under both ventilated and unventilated conditions, letting the smokers toke at their leisure for an hour in the company of the non-smokers. Using a battery of tests following these sessions, the scientists concluded that getting high indirectly (and mildly) is possible, though dependent on how ventilated a space is: Room ventilation has a pronounced effect on exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke. Under extreme, unventilated conditions, secondhand cannabis smoke exposure can produce detectable levels of THC in blood and urine, minor physiological and subjective drug effects, and minor impairment on a task requiring psychomotor ability and working memory. The authors of the study caution that it took specific and “extreme” conditions to produce effects from the second hand high, and that their study design may not accurately reflect the real world: The size of room, amount of cannabis consumed, duration of exposure, and frequency of such exposure are all variables that likely would influence outcomes in the real world. Their results do suggest, however, that secondhand highs are possible but that you would probably have to work pretty hard to get there. That means, if you’re in a position where you’re trying to brazen out a story about how you accidentally got a contact high after a long night, you might have to think up another excuse.",
            "output": [
                "Exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke will get you high and potentially show up in a drug test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b6d5424123074510bef3d794944dfeaf",
            "input": "The story goes into some detail about the cost of Folotyn, which is extraordinarily high. The story also does a great job of comparing the cost of the drug to other expensive cancer drugs. Costs were the main focus of the story. The story adequately quantitifes the benefits of Folotyn, which are not that impressive. The story provides the percentage of patients with reductions in tumor size and the median time that the benefits lasted. The story does not mention any potential harms of Folotyn. Although the primary focus of the story realtes to the drug’s cost, it would have desriable to provide a brief comment on the toxicity of the drug as well. The addition of the information would help the reader place the value of the drug into a better perspective. According to the package insert, 44% of patients treated in the clinical trial suffered from a serious side effect of the drug The story describes the evidence to support Folotyn, which is rather thin. The story mentions one clinical trial that showed a reduction in tumor size in some participants, but that to date, the drug has not been shown to prolong longevity. The quote from a member of the FDA advisory board that recommended approval provides an excellent overview and counterpoint to the comments of the company spokesperson. The story accurately represents the seriousness and prevalence of peripheral T-cell Lymphoma, which is quite rare and serious. The story quotes multiple stakeholders, including experts from the drug manufacturer, a large insurance company, and lymphoma researchers. The provide valuable diversity of perspectives on this controversial issue. The story clearly states that there are no alternatives to Folotyn for this particular indications, but compares the price of the drug to several other expensive cancer drugs. The story should have emphasized that Folotyn was studied in patients who have relapsed and a comparison with currently used regimens is not available. The story clearly states that Folotyn is not currently available but that the manufacturer plans to market the drug in January. The story clearly states that Folotyn is new. It could have stated that a host of older and less expensive treatment options are currently available. Because the story quotes mutliple experts, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Questioning a $30,000-a-Month Cancer Drug"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02f007db528e40eca699a84c8a34c4e6",
            "input": "The Reverend Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister who became a social reformer and a ferocious advocate of healthful living, is the man who put the ‘graham’ into the treat we now know and love as graham crackers. Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) believed physical lust was harmful to the body and caused such dire maladies in the sexually overheated as pulmonary consumption, spinal diseases, epilepsy, and insanity, as well as such lesser ailments as headaches and indigestion. He also thought too much lust could result in the early death of offspring, who would have been conceived from weakened stock. Graham believed a strict vegetarian diet would aid in suppressing carnal urges; to this end, he advocated a regimen devoid of meat and rich in fiber as a way of combating rampant desire. His famed “Graham bread” was fashioned from the coarsely ground wheat flour he espoused and which came to bear his name:  The Reverend Sylvester Graham, an eccentric Presbyterian minister from Connecticut, promoted a strict, abstemious diet that won him countless converts during America’s health craze of the 1820s and 1830s. Convinced that eating meat and fat leads to sinful sexual excess, the good reverend urged total vegetarianism. He also warned that mustard and ketchup cause insanity, urged followers to drink only water, and recommended sleeping with one’s windows open regardless of the weather. More reasonably, he touted the merits of a high-fiber diet and promoted the use of homemade unsifted wheat flour instead of refined white flour.1  Although Graham had his adherents during his lifetime, he was mostly regarded as a bit of a nut. Still, there were those who followed his recommendations and happily incarcerated themselves in “Graham boarding houses” in New York and Boston as part of the health craze he inspired. A high-fiber vegetarian diet wasn’t the only thing he pushed: Graham was also strongly against the use of tobacco or alcohol and advocated fresh air, exercise, and a good night’s sleep as excellent components of a healthy lifestyle. Who actually produced the first ‘graham crackers’ — so named because they were made of the unsifted wheat flour that Sylvester Graham promoted — is the subject of dispute. Some sources assert Graham himself invented the snack in 1829; others claim the graham cracker did not come into being until 1882, 31 years after Graham’s death. (The latter date appears to be based on the year recipes for graham crackers started appearing in cookbooks.) Many bakers tried to market the crackers, but it wasn’t until 1898 that the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) made any real inroads into the market with their Nabisco Graham Crackers product. Nabisco achieved even greater success with their Honey Maid line, introduced in 1925, which boosted the original graham flavor through the addition of honey.",
            "output": [
                "Graham crackers were named for a man who believed unhealthy diet led to sexual excess."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c64e00fc1c334c0db12388a8dae06025",
            "input": "\"What happened to Minnesota nice? Michele Bachmann blasted her fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty after he questioned her experience. The two are competing for the Republican nomination for president. \"\"These are serious times that require serious solutions -- not more of the same. Being right on the issues is critical -- it is what the American people demand. Executive experience is not an asset if it simply means bigger and more intrusive government,\"\" Bachmann said in a prepared statement on July 24, 2011. \"\"Governor Pawlenty said in 2006, 'The era of small government is over... the government has to be more proactive and more aggressive.' That's the same philosophy that, under President Obama, has brought us record deficits, massive unemployment and an unconstitutional health care plan.\"\" We wanted to see if Bachmann was correct about what Pawlenty said about small government, as it seems like a sentiment unlikely to be popular in a Republican primary. We contacted both campaigns for comment but didn't hear back from either one. We were able to easily find the comment; it originated with an August 2006 report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. (We found it in the Nexis newspaper database.) \"\"Pawlenty sees his role as reformer,\"\" says the headline. \"\"The GOP governor has targeted what he calls excessive corporate power. Critics call his election-year 'populism' cosmetic.\"\" The story says that starting in 2006, Pawlenty \"\"repeatedly made himself a nuisance to major industries that frequently back Republicans,\"\" particularly calling on Congress to put new regulations on prescription drug companies and auto makers. The story said he called for a two-year ban on advertising prescription drugs, urged regulators to speed the release of generic insulin products and proposed new regulations to support the use of ethanol. \"\"Those kinds of proposals for government intervention in the free market on the surface might seem unusual coming from a conservative GOP politician. But they are illustrations of the way that Pawlenty, a fiscal and social conservative, also styles himself a kind of latter-day trust buster, a reformer who is unafraid to challenge big business and wield government power to correct imbalances in the marketplace,\"\" the story said. And here's the key section:  \"\"The era of small government is over,\"\" Pawlenty said in an interview with the Star Tribune. \"\"I'm a market person, but there are certain circumstances where you've got to have government put up the guardrails or bust up entrenched interests before they become too powerful ... Government has to be more proactive, more aggressive.\"\" ...  Pawlenty insists his own populist streak is no election-year attempt to steer toward the middle. Peel back the conservative, he said, and you find the boy who grew up near South St. Paul's stockyards and learned what happened when power became too concentrated. When companies gain too much power, he said, they can suppress wages. Drug companies can command high prices for brand-name products long after they could have gone generic. Oil companies can use their muscle to keep out renewable fuels. HMOs can shift costs from their members to the public at large. While he may not fit the DFL [Democratic-Farm-Labor Party] definition of a populist, Pawlenty said, \"\"it's a matter of where you draw the line. ... I know that concentrated power unchecked leads to bad things,\"\" he said. We're not sure what Pawlenty's own reaction to the story was, but his press secretary didn't like it. The next day, the Star Tribune ran a \"\"clarification,\"\" that said the story \"\"quoted Gov. Tim Pawlenty saying 'The era of small government is over,' a comment he made in reference to a point made in a 2004 column by New York Times columnist David Brooks. Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said Monday that Pawlenty's record shows he is not a supporter of 'big government' and that he was 'simply talking about the need for government to be more effective and active.'\"\" The Star Tribune story doesn't mention David Brooks, but we went searching for the relevant story, and it seems likely it was a story Brooks wrote for the New York Times Magazine that took the measure of the conservative movement in 2004, headlined \"\"How to re-invent the G.O.P.\"\" In the story, Brooks noted that historical forces like Islamic extremism and the end of socialism were changing the nature of conservatism, pushing it away from a minimalist vision for government. The new conservatism \"\"understands the paradox that if you don't have a positive vision of government, you won't be able to limit the growth of government. If you can't offer people a vision of what government should do, you won't be able to persuade them about the things it shouldn't do. If the Republican Party is going to evolve into a principled majority party, members of this group are going to have to build a governing philosophy based on this insight,\"\" Brooks wrote. Brooks said George W. Bush typified this new approach. \"\"By the time he began his campaign for president in 1999, Bush understood that the simple government-is-the-problem philosophy of the older Republicans was obsolete. During that campaign, Bush criticized what he called the 'destructive mind-set: the idea that if government would only get out of our way, all our problems would be solved. An approach with no higher goal, no nobler purpose, than \"\"Leave us alone.''' Instead, Bush argued, 'government must be carefully limited but strong and active.'\"\" Pawlenty maintains that he was incorrectly quoted in the Star Tribune story. In May 2011, he went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, and Limbaugh asked him if he had indeed said, \"\"The era of small government is over.\"\" \"\"The other side has pushed that falsely for a number of years,\"\" Pawleny said, according to the show's transcript. \"\"What happened is in the Minnesota Star Tribune -- not exactly a conservative publication -- I made reference to an article that David Brooks wrote which was entitled, 'The Era of Small Government is Over.' I didn't say those words myself; I was referencing his article. \"\"The very next day, the Star Tribune, after a big battle, printed a clarification or a correction in their correction page,\"\" he continued. \"\"Of course, the main article was on page one and the correction was buried in some footnote in page three, but that incorrect quote has haunted me -- and I'm glad I had a chance in this big national forum on your great show to clarify, because if you go to the next day's newspaper you'll see the clarification in the Star Tribune.\"\" We should note that the headline of the Brooks' article we found was not \"\"The Era of Small Government is Over,\"\" but we won't quibble about that. Pawlenty could have seen the article or another one like it somewhere with a modified headline, and the phrase certainly captures the article's sentiment. We also contacted the Star Tribune to see if it still stood by the story. The story's author, Patricia Lopez, is now the newspaper's political editor. Here's what she said: \"\"The governor was quoted correctly, which is why we printed only a clarification. He was quoting a David Brooks column, but as you can see, it was in support of other statements he made about the role of government. He never asked to have any other statement in the article corrected.\"\" But even if Pawlenty was quoting Brooks when he said the phrase \"\"the era of small government is over\"\" during the interview, he seemed to be doing so approvingly. The rest of the article portrays Pawlenty as someone who was willing to use government to intervene in the markets and gives examples to support that. Here's a little more from the story. \"\"Oil companies have played a role in suppressing the development of alternative fuels,\"\" Pawlenty said, with heavy-handed contracts that prevent gasoline stations from providing pumps for renewable fuels such as ethanol. With the nation's economic security at stake, \"\"that is disproportionate power,\"\" he said. \"\"Government has to step in.\"\" Similarly, when he testified before Congress for reimportation of drugs from Canada, where prices are government-regulated, Pawlenty said he got a taste of the pharmaceutical industry's might. \"\"I've seen it firsthand,\"\" he said. \"\"They've got a power that would frighten most citizens.\"\" Pawlenty has changed positions on energy policy; he once supported a cap and trade system but no longer does. We looked for any recent statements he's made about reimporting drugs from Canada, but couldn't find any. We also asked two political watchers in Minnesota if the Star Tribune story was generally reflective of Pawlenty's political views in 2006. They said it was. \"\"In terms of his views on government, I think he can best be described as actively wanting to use the government to achieve certain ends, only with less taxes,\"\" said David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University who studies Minnesota politics. Schultz said Pawlenty's rhetoric became more conservative starting around 2008, when his name was mentioned as a potential running mate for John McCain. \"\"In fairness, Pawlenty did restrain spending by the Democratic Legislature. But he was more moderate on several other issues than he now appears, and the (Star Tribune story) is an example of that,\"\" said Steve Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College. So where does this leave us? Back in 2006, Pawlenty was portraying himself as a conservative who was willing to intervene in markets, and he said that government has to \"\"bust up entrenched interests before they become too powerful.\"\" It appears he's been backing off those positions in 2011, but that doesn't change what his views were years ago. If he was quoting David Brooks when he said \"\"the era of small government is over,\"\" he seemed to be doing so approvingly, though a spokesman said he did not mean to imply that he supported \"\"big government.\"\".\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Michele Bachmann Says Tim Pawlenty said in 2006, \"\"The era of small government is over... the government has to be more proactive and more aggressive.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-330be8d2bb6a4aa39d1e1b75b01ad0f7",
            "input": "\"If there was one success story to emerge from the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, it was that more people are getting treated for HIV/AIDS than ever before -- about 17 million by the latest United Nations estimate. Falling drug prices played a key role in helping providers reach this point. But the international health group Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) warned at a press conference that trade negotiations around the world put future gains at risk. The group said its latest report \"\"examines multiple global threats to access to affordable treatment, including trade deals which threaten India’s role as the ‘pharmacy of the developing world.’\"\" Trade is at the center of the U.S. presidential election for its effect on the American work force. But is there more at play? We wondered if it’s true that the next round of agreements, both those that involve the United States and those that don’t, would undermine some large drug makers in India. Why India India matters because thanks to the country’s patent laws, India and generics go together like toast and jam. The rules there make it easier than other places for companies to churn out generic drugs once the patent on the original version runs out. Generics are cheaper than their brand name cousins and if you want to stretch a dollar, you take the generic option. Doctors Without Borders said 97 percent of the drugs it uses to treat people with HIV are generics made in India. That includes medicines for HIV itself, as well as for diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis that hit people with suppressed immune systems. Doctors Without Borders is worried less about the drugs it uses today and more about the ones it’s counting on in the future. As the number of people coming in for treatment rises, doctors are finding more who don’t respond to the most common, or first-line, medications. Doctors Without Borders is focused on making second-and-third-line drugs more affordable to keep pace with a growing need, and they see India as the place to make that happen. Impact of trade deals Although the Trans-Pacific Partnership gets a lot of attention in the United States, India is not part of it. But it is part of discussions involving the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a mega-regional pact that aims to tie together 16 countries including China, India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and many other Asian nations. The European Union is also seeking a regional trade agreement with India and other Asian countries. Both of those trade negotiations have sought to get India to tighten its patent laws. The United States has too, through a one-on-one process overseen by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The issues that office has raised mirror ones in the big trade deals. The USTR’s latest report criticizes India’s patent laws, saying \"\"the pharmaceutical industry in particular faces a host of challenges related to intellectual property rights.\"\" What do U.S. trade negotiators not like in particular? For one, India is reluctant to grant new patents for a drug or blend of drugs built around medications that already enjoy patent protection. These so-called secondary patents extend the time for the drug maker to enjoy exclusive production rights. That translates into a chance to charge higher prices. American officials also don’t care for India’s rules on clinical trial information. When someone invents a drug, they have to prove it’s safe and effective. That proof is in the trial reports. India lets generic drug makers rely on the original clinical trials. One way to extend the exclusive right to make a drug is to bar generic drug makers from using that data for a number of years. Would these sorts of changes make life easier for the makers of new drugs and harder for the generic manufacturers? We found no dispute that they would. We talked with independent experts who think India should stand its ground and those who thought it ought to bend, but either way, they agreed on who wins and who loses. There are good arguments on both sides for protecting the profits of companies that invent new drugs, versus making drugs more affordable. We take no position on the larger question of where the right balance point falls. We're focused only on the claim that large trading partners want to move Indian law in favor of the inventors of new drugs. Lee Branstetter is a professor and trade specialist at Carnegie Mellon University. He thinks Indian law ought to change at the expense of the generic companies. \"\"In the short run, this will constrain the profit opportunities for the generic producers,\"\" he told us. Srividhya  Ragavan, a professor of law at Texas A&M, thinks India’s laws strike the right balance as they are. She told us she sees the U.S. position as \"\"an effort to weaken India’s generic drug industry.\"\" We found any number of articles that reached the same conclusion. But just because Branstetter and Ragavan see eye to eye on how these policy shifts would undermine generic drug makers, that doesn't mean they agree on what this means for the availability of low-cost drugs. Ragavan told us \"\"the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and EU’s trade negotiations, are all targeting India’s generic drug industry much to the detriment of access to medication to the poor people.\"\" Branstetter said that’s unlikely and highlights an important feature in the overarching trade rules of the World Trade Organization. The escape hatch Branstetter said based on what he’s seen in other countries (he cited Peru as an example) he doubts that would happen. But even if it did, he said, a part of the WTO code -- the Doha Declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement -- gives countries the chance to override a patent that limits a drug’s availability. Branstetter calls it an escape hatch. \"\"Any member state could declare we have a public health emergency,\"\" Branstetter said. \"\"Then, they can force the company that holds the patent to licence the manufacture of that drug to a domestic or foreign drug producer, who would provide it at an agreed price.\"\" Branstetter notes that the Trans-Pacific Partnership specifically requires any country that signs it to accept that Doha declaration. Countries have taken this step before. At the height of the AIDS crisis in the mid 2000s, Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Mozambique and many others issued what are called compulsory licenses to get affordable HIV/AIDS drugs to their citizens. Still, Rohit Malpani, director of policy of the Doctors Without Borders- Access Campaign, told us that in recent years, the number of compulsory licenses has fallen off. \"\"Even if countries have the right to use the safeguard and can use them they do not,\"\" Malpani said. He suggested several reasons, including a lack of political will and pressure from the United States, the EU and the drug companies. Our ruling Doctors Without Borders said that trade deals threaten the capacity of Indian generic drug makers to produce the next round of HIV drugs. We found that trade negotiations, whether part of large regional trade agreements or unilateral discussions between the United States and India, have language that work against India generic drug makers. They push India to be more ready to grant patents for drugs that are extensions of  drugs that already enjoy patent protection. And they want India to bar generic drug makers from relying on the clinical trial data produced by the inventor of the drug. Both measures would make patents last longer and give the drug companies more time to charge higher prices. None of the articles we read or experts we reached doubted this result or that this would undermine the generic drug makers. Our experts disagreed on whether this would reduce access to critical drugs. The trade deals do no favors for India’s generic drug makers.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Trade deals threaten \"\"India’s role as the pharmacy of the developing world\"\" for new HIV medicines.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-06a6ef23f16946febbc9c96f08134b5d",
            "input": "The 78-year-old TV personality tells People magazine he’s responding very well to chemotherapy and the doctors have told him “they hadn’t seen this kind of positive results in their memory.” Trebek says some of the tumors have shrunk by more than 50%. Trebek announced his diagnosis in March, but said he intended to keep working. He said he planned to beat the disease’s low survival rate with the love and support of family and friends and with prayers from viewers. The American Cancer Society estimates 3% of patients with stage 4 pancreatic cancer are alive 5 years after being diagnosed. Trebek says he still has several more rounds of treatment to hopefully get into full remission.",
            "output": [
                "Alex Trebek shares ‘mind-boggling’ pancreatic cancer update."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90eb44da8a824451aae8a67efe704ad6",
            "input": "The young scientist, He Jiankui, saw the power of this tool, called CRISPR, to transform not only genes, but also his own career. In visits to the United States, he sought out CRISPR pioneers such as Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University’s Dr. Matthew Porteus, and big thinkers on its use, like Stanford ethicist Dr. William Hurlbut. Last week, those shocked researchers watched as He hijacked an international conference they helped organize with an astonishing claim: He said he helped make the world’s first gene-edited babies , despite clear scientific consensus that making genetic changes that could be passed to future generations should not be attempted at this point . U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins called He’s experiment “a misadventure of a major sort” — starring “a scientist who apparently believed that he was a hero. In fact, he crossed every line, scientifically and ethically.” But nobody stopped him. How can that be? To be fair, scientists say there’s no certain way to stop someone intent on monkeying with DNA, no matter what laws or standards are in place. CRISPR is cheap and easy to use — which is why scientists began to worry almost as soon as the technology was invented that something like this would happen. And there is a long history in science and medicine of researchers launching experiments prematurely that were met with scorn or horror — some of which led to what are now common practices, such as in-vitro fertilization. Gene-editing for reproductive purposes is effectively banned in the U.S. and most of Europe. In China, ministerial guidelines prohibit embryo research that “violates ethical or moral principles.” It turns out He wasn’t exactly tight-lipped about his goals . He pursued international experts at Stanford and Rice Universities, where he had done graduate studies work, and elsewhere, seeking advice before and during the experiment. Should scientists who knew of He’s plans have spoken up? Could they have dissuaded him? The answers aren’t clear. “It doesn’t fall into the category of legal responsibility, but ethical responsibility,” said Collins. He said that not speaking up “doesn’t seem like a scientist taking responsibility.” China’s National Commission of Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences and He’s own university have said they were in dark and have since condemned him . But three Stanford scientists — Hurlbut, Porteus and He’s former fellowship adviser, Stephen Quake — had extensive contact with him over the last few years. They and other scientists knew or strongly suspected that He intended to try to make genetically edited babies. Some confidantes didn’t think He would follow through; others raised concerns that were never heeded. Stanford has not responded to an interview request. Quake, a bioengineering professor, was one of the first to know about He’s ambition. Quake said he had met with He through the years whenever his former student was in town, and that He confided his interest a few years ago in editing embryos for live births to try to make them resistant to the AIDS virus. Quake said he gave He only general advice and encouraged him to talk with mainstream scientists, to choose situations where there’s consensus that the risks are justified, to meet the highest ethics standards and to publish his results in a peer-reviewed journal. “My advice was very broad,” Quake said. Hurlbut thinks he first met He in early 2017, when he and Doudna, co-inventor of CRISPR, held the first of three meetings with leading scientists and ethicists to discuss the technology. “Somehow, he ended up at our meeting,” Hurlbut said. Since then, He returned several times to Stanford, and Hurlbut said he “spent many hours” talking with He about situations where gene editing might be appropriate. Four or five weeks ago, Hurlbut said He came to see him again and discussed embryo gene editing to try to prevent HIV. Hurlbut said he suspected He had tried to implant a modified embryo in a woman’s womb. “I admonished him,” he said. “I didn’t green-light his work. I challenged him on it. I didn’t approve of what he was doing.” Porteus said he knew that He had been talking with Hurlbut and assumed Hurlbut discouraged the Chinese scientist. In February, He asked to meet with Porteus and told him he had gotten approval from a hospital ethics board to move forward. “I think he was expecting me to be more receptive, and I was very negative,” Porteus said. “I was angry at his naivete, I was angry at his recklessness.” Porteus said he urged He “to go talk to your senior Chinese colleagues.” After that meeting, “I didn’t hear from him and assumed he would not proceed,” Porteus said. “In retrospect, I could have raised a hue and cry.” In a draft article about the gene-edited twin girls, which He planned to submit to journals, he thanked UC Berkeley biophysicist Mark DeWitt for “editing the manuscript.” DeWitt said he tried to dissuade He and disputed that he edited the paper. He said he saw the paper, but the feedback he offered was “pretty general.” He’s claims, including that his work has resulted in a second pregnancy , cannot be independently confirmed and his work has not been published. He defended his actions last week at a gene editing summit in Hong Kong. In contrast, another U.S. scientist said he not only encouraged He but played a large role in the project. Michael Deem, a bioengineering professor at Rice University and He’s doctoral degree adviser, said he had worked with He since the scientist returned to China around 2012, and that he sits on the advisory boards and holds “a small stake” in He’s two genetics companies in Shenzhen. Deem defended He’s actions, saying the research team did earlier experiments on animals. “We have multiple generations of animals that were genetically edited and produced viable offspring,” and a lot of research on unintended effects on other genes, Deem said. Deem also said he was present in China when some study participants gave their consent to try embryo gene editing. Rice said it had no knowledge of Deem’s involvement and is now investigating. So far most of the attention has focused on regulatory gaps in China. But that’s not the whole story, said Rosario Isasi, an expert on genomics law in the U.S. and China at the University of Miami. “Let’s focus on how it happened and why it happened, and the way it happened,” said Isasi. “How can we establish a system that has better transparency?” There’s no international governing body to enforce bioethics rules, but scientific bodies and universities can use other tools. “If someone breaks those rules, scientists can ostracize, journals can refuse to publish, employers can refuse to employ, funders can refuse to fund,” said Hank Greely, a professor of law and genetics at Stanford. Greely expects He’s experiment will have ripple effects in academia, whether or not regulators act. “Universities are going to take a harder look at what’s going on. This incident will put everyone on alert about any related research.” Of course, sometimes bad beginnings can turn into better endings. In 1980, University of California, Los Angeles, professor Martin Cline was sanctioned for performing the first gene therapy on two women in Israel and Italy because he hadn’t gotten approval to try it at UCLA. Cline announced his work rather than publishing it in a scientific journal, and faced criticism for trying “genetic engineering” on people when its safety and effectiveness hadn’t yet been established in animals. Now gene therapy is an established, although still fairly novel, treatment method. Two years earlier, in 1978, Dr. Robert Edwards was similarly denounced when he announced through the press the world’s first “test tube baby,” Louise Brown. The work later earned a Nobel Prize, and IFV has helped millions to have a child. And this year, Louise Brown — mother of two sons, conceived in the old-fashioned way — turned 40. ___ Larson reported from Washington, D.C. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Could anyone have stopped gene-edited babies experiment?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-209df0fba7104d15b3eaa25edf9ce1ec",
            "input": "We received multiple inquiries from readers in September 2019 about news reports that claimed one of former Vice President Joe Biden’s eyes “filled with blood” during a CNN town hall debate on Sept. 4 and about the authenticity of video footage that appeared to show the incident. The Daily Mail wrote:  “Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s left eye appeared to fill up with blood as he answered a question during CNN’s climate town hall on Wednesday night. Biden was answering a question about fracking when the blood suddenly became noticeable. As he turned away from the camera to take a question about China’s role in carbon emissions, the blood in his eye was easy to spot.” The right-leaning Washington Examiner published an article with the headline “Biden’s Eye Fills With Blood During CNN Climate Town Hall” and reported that: “Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to have a blood vessel burst in his left eye while participating in CNN’s town hall on climate change. A broken blood vessel in the eye, also known as a subconjuctival hemorrhage, can be caused by several things, including high blood pressure, bleeding disorders, blood thinners, or even excessive straining.” Similar reports were published by the Daily Express and the right-leaning Townhall website. Many reports were accompanied by footage that appeared to show blood gathering in the corner of Biden’s left eye during the debate:    The video footage was authentic, and blood did indeed gather, internally, in the corner of Biden’s eye during his appearance at the televised town hall. However, it’s not clear what caused that to happen, and much of the reporting that alluded to “health concerns” appeared to have been based on speculation. The incident began around 26 minutes into Biden’s appearance at the debate, which can be viewed on the CNN website. The blood becomes visible around 50 seconds into the following clip, which was posted to Twitter by CNN itself: “We can take millions of vehicles off the road if we have high-speed rail,” former Vice President Joe Biden says. “I’ve been the champion of that for the last 25 years.” #ClimateTownHall https://t.co/B8y4m3SMc5 pic.twitter.com/DNHPKJzDT3 — CNN (@CNN) September 5, 2019   It’s not clear what caused the incident. Some news reports speculated that the footage showed the aftermath of a blood vessel bursting in Biden’s eye, something that is relatively quite common and “usually harmless,” according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Burst blood vessels in the eye can be caused by straining, coughing or sneezing, but can also be linked to underlying health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or the use of blood-thinning medications. Complications from the use of contact lenses can also cause blood vessels in the eye to break.",
            "output": [
                "Blood spots were visible in the left eye of Joe Biden, a 2020 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, during a CNN debate in September 2019. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f33ce7e0da5e4c46ad3aae6e1339210b",
            "input": "On low-fat diets, fruit and oatmeal are fine. With the latest diet trend, no foods at all are allowed for long stretches of time. A diet that forbids eating for hours on end might seem doomed in a culture where food is constantly available, but apps and Facebook groups are popping up for people practicing “intermittent fasting.” Bri Wyatt, a 32-year-old Tennessee resident, tried it this summer. “At first I was like, there’s no way,” she said. But after reading more about it, she thought it might not be that hard. She started by skipping breakfast and night-time snacks, and later moved on to a 60-day challenge of fasting every other day. Melissa Breaux Bankston, a Crossfit instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana, also tried intermittent fasting as a way to curb her snacking. “I wanted to limit the amount of time that I was eating,” she said. Studies on the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting are still limited, including for its effectiveness with weight loss. But heading into the new year, you may be wondering whether it could help you get in better shape. WHEN, NOT WHAT Like other diets, intermittent fasting helps you lose weight by setting boundaries around food. But instead of limiting what you eat, it restricts when you eat. “It’s really another way of fooling your body into eating less calories,” said Krista Varady, who studies intermittent fasting at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Proponents say intermittent fasting helps with weight loss in other ways. For instance, they say it forces your body to start burning its own fat for fuel after depleting the energy it normally gets from food. But any effects would depend on the specific approach you take, and Varady said there isn’t strong evidence yet that intermittent fasting has any unique effects compared with other diets. Regardless, people should consult their doctor before trying it. It’s not advised for children, people on certain medications and people with a history of eating disorders. FASTING MENU One of the more popular approaches to intermittent fasting is to limit eating to an 8-hour window and to fast during the day’s other 16 hours. This is called time-restricted feeding and isn’t as difficult as some other approaches, since the fasting period can include the time you’re asleep. Many people tailor the eating window to be shorter or longer. Some eat just one meal a day, while others fast entire days a couple times a week. On fasting days, people may allow themselves around 600 calories if needed. But Dr. Jason Fung, who has written books on intermittent fasting, says skipping food altogether might actually be easier, since eating small amounts could stimulate appetite. Whatever the method, people aren’t supposed to gorge when they stop fasting. Fung says it’s a myth that fasting leaves you famished. Sumaya Kazi, who posts about her intermittent fasting online and offers coaching services on the diet, says it seems more difficult than it is partly because overeating has become the norm. “Intermittent fasting is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge,” she says. But people react differently to diets, and fasting may be a lot harder for some than for others, says Dr. Fatima Stanford, a Harvard Medical School obesity specialist. “There’s no one size fits all,” she said. FASTING ON TRIAL Obesity experts have become interested in intermittent fasting, but studies on the diet are still emerging. For now, limited research suggests it may not be any better for weight loss than conventional calorie-cutting over the long term. “Unfortunately, intermittent fasting gets a little hyped,” said Courtney Peterson, who studies the diet at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Still, some fasting approaches may be more effective than others. And Peterson notes the difficulty of designing studies that definitively capture a diet’s effects. That’s in part because so many other variables could be at play. For instance, researchers are looking at whether any benefits of intermittent fasting might be tied to when the eating period falls and fluctuations in how well our bodies process food throughout the day. Some health experts say intermittent fasting might be too difficult for many people. They point to a study of 100 people where those placed in the alternate-day fasting group lost around the same amount of weight as those on conventional calorie-restriction diets over time. But the fasting group had a dropout rate of 38%, compared with 29% for the conventional diet group. But intermittent fasting may be easier than other diets for people who already skip meals when they’re too busy, said Varady of the University of Illinois at Chicago. To make weight loss stick, she said people should pick diets that resemble how they already eat. “Different diets do work for different people,” she said. ___  The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "In a 24/7 food culture, periodic fasting gains followers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21b5cf4bb9b541ff81adc7753bedeb51",
            "input": "The story tackles this issue head on, as here: “Novartis has not disclosed the price for its therapy, but analysts are predicting $300,000 to $600,000 for a one-time infusion.” This is satisfactory, but barely. Here’s how the story addresses benefits for the CAR T-cell treatment: “In the pivotal trial testing the therapy in almost a dozen countries, 83 percent of patients went into remission. A year later, two-thirds remained so.” That information would be much more useful if it placed those numbers in context. For example, how many patients were enrolled in the study? 83 percent could be 13 out of 16 patients, or it could be 1,328 patients out of 1,600. And how does 83 percent compare to standard treatment? Similarly, is the story telling us that two-thirds of all patients were still in remission a year later? Or did it mean that two-thirds of the 83 percent were still in remission a year later? Contextual information would have provided some much-needed clarity here. The story notes: “The revved-up immune system [that results from the CAR T-cell treatment] becomes a potent cancer-fighting agent but also a dangerous threat to the patient. Serious side effects abound, raising concerns about broad use.” The story then goes on to discuss those potential harms more thoroughly. Ordinarily, this would be sufficient for a Satisfactory rating. But given the severity and frequency of serious, life-threatening events, the story needed numbers: What percentage of patients in the trial experienced a serious immune reaction? How many died? There are also plenty of unknowns with a new cancer treatment, such as lack of data on long-term prognosis. The story refers to a “pivotal trial testing the therapy in almost a dozen countries,” but offers little additional information. While the story offers an in-depth history of the research that led up to this treatment, readers are given very little information about the trials that provide insight into how well the treatment works and its associated risks. There’s really no disease mongering here, though there is one point that we’d like to single out. The story states that the CAR T-cell treatment “initially would be available only for the small number of children and young adults whose leukemia does not respond to standard care. Those patients typically have a grim prognosis” [emphasis added]. What does it mean to “typically have a grim prognosis”? It’s a fine turn of phrase, but it doesn’t actually convey much information — and it’s scary. In a case like this, it would likely be better to let the numbers speak for themselves. Or, if a story does include this sort of language, to back it up with some numbers. All of the sources in the story are patients, parents of patients, are associated with the pharmaceutical industry, or were involved with the relevant research being discussed. That said, the sources — and their conflicts of interest — were all clearly identified. Still, the story would have benefited from some independent, expert input. First of all, the story makes clear that CAR T-cell treatment — if approved — would be available only to those for whom conventional treatments have not worked. That’s a key point. Second, the story does articulate the difference between this form of immunotherapy (which is customized to the patient) and other immunotherapy techniques, which are so-called “checkpoint inhibitors” and are not individualized. As mentioned earlier, we would have liked to have seen more data on the success rates of standard treatment vs these treatments. The story clearly lays out where this treatment is in the FDA review process, how that process may unfold, and what this may mean for future availability. In addition, the story explains that CAR T-cell treatment would not be rolled out universally, but — if approved — would be available only through designated treatment facilities that have the relevant expertise. The story does a good job here, articulating what makes this treatment novel and how it works relative to other immunotherapy treatments. The story goes well beyond any news release.",
            "output": [
                "First gene therapy — ‘a true living drug’ — on the cusp of FDA approval"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-afc1298f3f9c4a859cd6f156d73a024b",
            "input": "A World Wildlife Fund photograph taken along the western shore of Hudson Bay in November 2010 shows a female polar bear with two cubs near Churchill, Canada, in this image released to Reuters on February 9, 2011. REUTERS/Geoff York/World Wildlife Fund/Handout Conservative Senator Nicole Eaton delivered her damning criticism in the Senate on Thursday, noting that the beavers wreak havoc on the dock at her waterfront cottage every summer. “A country’s symbols are not constant and can change over time,” she said. “The polar bear, with its strength, courage, resourcefulness and dignity is perfect for the part.”   The beaver became Canada’s only official national animal in 1975. Trade in the beaver pelts, used to make fashionable fur hats, drove European expansion in North America in the 1600s and early 1700s. Eaton said the ever-busy dambuilders are now nuisance, but avoided mentioning another gnawing problem with the emblem: In modern times, its name is slang for female genitals. Last year The Beaver, one of Canada’s oldest magazines, re-christened itself Canada’s History, complaining that its emails and newsletters were being blocked by Internet filters. The magazine said market research showed younger Canadians and women were not interested in buying the publication because of its name. As for Eaton’s proposed replacement, Keith Stewart, a climate change campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, was skeptical. “You have a Conservative senator proposing to replace the beaver with the polar bear as the symbol of Canada, yet her government’s climate policy would appear to do everything possible to wipe out polar bears by the end of the century,” he said. Stewart said the debate was a distraction. Eaton went out of her way to praise the country’s treatment of polar bears. “Contrary to unsubstantiated accusations, Canada is a world leader in its exemplary system of polar bear management,” she said in the Senate. “Our approach features co-management involving aboriginal groups and government, and a strict system of quotas and tags.”",
            "output": [
                "Polar bear threatens beaver as Canada national symbol."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-868018ef3ad74ac797e6b23a17b09a4f",
            "input": "Burack died Sunday in hospice care in Jackson, New Hampshire, said his son, Tom Burack, former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Services. His book was first published in 1967. The New England Journal of Medicine likened it to “David standing up to Goliath.” That year, Burack was a witness in a multi-year Congressional investigation into competitive practices in the drug industry. Burack believed that doctors were purchasing agents for their patients and owed them a duty to not impose costs for medicines that they couldn’t afford, and to not prescribe brand-name medicines for conditions for which there were already proven and cost-effective generics available. Burack was chairman of the Massachusetts Drug Formulary Commission, which prepared a list of interchangeable drug products. In New Hampshire, he practiced internal medicine and cardiology at North Conway’s Memorial Hospital. He later was a medical director for Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company’s steel mill in East Chicago, Indiana, and for Allied-Signal/Honeywell Inc. in Morristown, New Jersey. He retired in 1988. His wife of 65 years, Mary, died in June. He’s survived by his five children and 10 grandchildren.",
            "output": [
                "Dick Burack dies, wrote ‘Handbook of Prescription Drugs’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3fbb4ff03cd648afb4f52fa9cb2f0c84",
            "input": "“You could see how healthy and happy she was until she was introduced to that drug,” said Ann Marie Riggi-Hopkins, of Scranton. “As I progressed with the pictures, you could see how things dwindled. It just takes every part of your life away.” Raynor Bloom’s family was unaware of his opioid addiction until they received a call from his roommate. By then, it was too late. “I can’t tell you how long he struggled with addiction,” said his mother, Lynn Bloom, of Dunmore. Ferguson, 25, and Bloom, 29, were two of 69 people to die of drug overdoses in Lackawanna County last year, according to the most recent numbers posted to Overdose Free PA, a website that tracks county overdose information submitted by coroners. The 2017 number is expected to grow once all toxicology tests are completed. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, was the most common drug observed in toxicology tests, appearing in 36 cases. Both Riggi-Hopkins and Lynn Bloom, who suspect fentanyl played roles in their children’s deaths, join a growing number of parents, both locally and nationally, to share their children’s struggles in candid obituaries. Two or three years ago, this kind of openness in obituaries was unheard of, said Jim Hood, co-founder and CEO of Facing Addiction, a Danbury, Connecticut-based advocacy organization. He likened the stigma associated with the opioid epidemic to a time when cancer, HIV and AIDS causes of death were not included in obituaries. That the obituaries are becoming more candid could be a reflection of how prevalent the epidemic is and an understanding that people are starting to look at addiction as an illness, he said. “I think it’s cathartic for parents but also helpful for the people next door, to spread the word that this is a pernicious illness that is stealing our youth,” said Hood, who lost his son to an overdose five years ago. “The more people understand that, the more people might do something about it.” According to Legacy.com, there were hundreds of obituaries published nationwide last year that included information on the struggles and dangers of heroin and opioid addiction. The Sunday Times published about a dozen obituaries last year that included information about a struggle with addiction or named an overdose as the cause of death. Locally, those only started to appear within the last two years or so, said Christopher James, funeral director at Vanston & James Funeral Home in Scranton and James Wilson Funeral Home in Lake Ariel. Some families also are being open about it during viewings or funeral services, he said. “The people who bring it to light are doing it out of genuine concern for other people,” James said. “I think that’s what folks want to do. They want to say, this is ultimately what will happen if you don’t get help.” ‘Not suffering anymore’ Riggi-Hopkins wanted her daughter’s obituary to give strength to those in recovery or family and friends grieving the loss of a loved one to addiction. The family also wanted to send a message that, with drugs like fentanyl on the streets, the problem is getting worse. “The family wants to break the silence of addiction. To anyone reading this obituary, this demon is still out on the streets waiting to kill the next innocent suffering person thinking about using or having reservations. If we can save one or several lives to the sick and suffering and spare their families, we pray that breaking the silence of addiction works,” Ferguson’s obituary reads. The response to the obituary was overwhelming, Riggi-Hopkins said. She said she received many calls of thanks and the outpouring helped her grieve and heal. Her daughter had a good life and was going places, she said. Ferguson was blessed with a strong work ethic and, despite a quiet demeanor, a love of working with people. She got a job when she was a teenager and still in school, first at Gerrity’s on Meadow Avenue in Scranton, and later, at Hobby Lobby in Dickson City. People noticed her strong customer service skills, Riggi-Hopkins said. She started at the Dickson City store putting shelves together around the time it first opened and rose to department manager. There was talk of her managing her own store somewhere, she said. She was a great mother, too, Riggi-Hopkins said. Ferguson gave birth to her daughter, Baylee, in 2011. About two years after Baylee’s birth, something happened. Ferguson made a drastic change in friends and started acting differently, her mother said. Then, the physical changes started. She lost her job. Money went missing, Riggi-Hopkins said. About a year before her death, Ferguson hit “rock bottom,” and came clean about her drug use, her mother said. She wanted help and to change for Baylee, she said. Ferguson entered rehab at Marworth Treatment Center and completed the program, but relapsed a few weeks later. She returned and then spent three months in a sober house in Dallas. Even after her daughter completed a more comprehensive program, Riggi-Hopkins said she never thought she was out of the woods in dealing with addiction. “I do understand the disease, that it’s a one-day-at-a-time disease,” her mother said. On Aug. 24, Riggi-Hopkins went with Ferguson to a job interview. She was hired. They shopped afterward and then Ferguson dropped her mother off at a friend’s house. She didn’t return to pick her up and did not answer phone calls, Riggi-Hopkins said. Riggi-Hopkins had a friend drive her home. She frantically ran upstairs to check on Baylee. Not finding her there, she ran to the basement where she found her daughter dead. Baylee lay on top of her, asleep. Beyond the anguish of losing her daughter, Riggi-Hopkins also had to explain to her granddaughter what happened. She sought help and the advice she received was to be honest. “I told her mommy took a bad drug that stopped her heart and now she’s an angel in heaven,” Riggi-Hopkins said. Baylee is doing well now, her grandmother said. The kindergartner takes piano and dance lessons. Riggi-Hopkins sees a lot of her daughter in Baylee, though the little girl is more outgoing. They talk about what happened and the good memories of Ferguson almost daily, Riggi-Hopkins said. “One thing I think that helps me is she’s not suffering anymore,” Riggi-Hopkins said. ‘Losing a generation’ For their son’s obituary, the Blooms wanted to be honest and straightforward. They included that his cause of death was a heroin overdose. “We felt that if we could make one person more aware or make one parent pay a little closer attention and notice something wrong, speak up, ask about it, do something about it, that will make Raynor give the gift of life,” Lynn Bloom said. The decision drew a mixed response from members of the family, Bloom said. Some applauded the decision and felt it was brave because it went against the norm. Others were upset and felt the obituary aired “dirty laundry,” she said. She doesn’t regret the decision. The drug epidemic affects all parts of the community, regardless of race, class or socioeconomic status, and the only way to further shine a light on it is to be honest, Bloom said. Acknowledging it helps de-stigmatize it. The less stigma there is, the more likely people will seek help, she said. “My husband and I felt that at the time he passed away that his addiction did not define him,” Bloom said. “It is what killed him.” Her son “came in the world fighting” at a mere two pounds, 13 ounces in 1988, she said. He was so small, his father, Larry, was afraid to hold him. As the years went by, he grew into a big man with a heart to match, she said. He grew up on Long Island, New York, and maintained lifelong friendships with elementary school pals made there, his mother said. He was a great brother to his siblings and had a special bond with his youngest brother, Joshua, 17. The family moved to Dunmore in 2007, and Raynor Bloom followed shortly thereafter. He got a job at GoodFellas Pizza on South Main Avenue in West Scranton, first as a delivery driver and, ultimately, as a manager, Bloom said. When the store changed hands in June, and became West Side Food and Beer, the new management kept him. While there, he earned a reputation for generosity, geniality and hard work. It was not uncommon for him to work 70-plus hours a week, Bloom said of her son. His final Facebook post, on Oct. 9, mentions an 87-hour work week. When he had free time, he enjoyed playing video games and going to concerts with friends. He loved heavy metal music, especially Pantera. His taste in tunes proved a sharp juxtaposition to his kind, gentle, giving disposition, his mother said. “He was friendly and smiling and treated everyone the same,” she said. Despite the long hours, he still found time to call home and spend time with family, his mother said. Sometimes he phoned to see what was for dinner, even if he didn’t plan on stopping by, she said with a laugh. He made it to the theater with his father and brother to see the latest “Star Wars” movies. He did not display any physical changes that would denote drug use, she said. On Oct. 17, Raynor’s roommate called the Blooms to tell them their son died of an overdose at his apartment. His parents suspect fentanyl-tinged heroin was responsible. His reasons for starting to take the drugs are a mystery, his mother said. He had some health issues, including sleeping disorders, she said, and it is possible he was self-medicating. “It was something he kept secret from his friends and family,” she said. “The fact he was doing those drugs and working those kind of hours is mind-boggling.” For now, the family is trying to cope with their loss. His death hit Joshua hard and Bloom recently started attending a grief support group. She said she thinks there should be more resources for people — those dealing with addiction, those in recovery, police and first responders and grieving family and friends. “We’re losing a generation to this and I don’t think anyone is realizing that,” she said. ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2E1O0Le ___ Information from: The Times-Tribune, http://thetimes-tribune.com/",
            "output": [
                "Opioid epidemic has addiction revealed in obituaries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-667be54654ea4c4fa92398552fd4a670",
            "input": "Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), which causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration is transmitted orally and through pig faeces. While older pigs have a chance of survival, the virus kills 80 to 100 percent of piglets that contract it. The total number of confirmed cases has increased to 2,692 in 23 states as of the week ended January 25. Nearly 40 percent of the cases, 1,006, were confirmed in Iowa, the top U.S. pork producing state. As defined by the USDA, each diagnostic case could represent multiple animals at either a single farm site or several locations. The USDA's NAHLN released its latest PEDv data on Wednesday. (here)  There are no official figures for pigs lost to the PEDv - which does not affect humans - but up to 4 million pigs may have died from the virus, according to industry analyst estimates. Additionally, the virus was confirmed in Canada last week. PEDv has spread to a fourth farm in the Canadian province of Ontario, the provincial government said on Wednesday, despite the hog industry’s efforts to stop it by disinfecting delivery trucks and clothing used on farms. PEDv has forced the U.S. hog industry to increase its biosecurity measures and has fueled concerns hog supplies will slump in the spring and summer.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. pig virus cases see biggest weekly rise since PEDv found."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c72687c8bd39472c8a9bb980238c91b5",
            "input": "On July 10 2020, a number of Facebook users shared posts like the one below — purportedly screenshots from the profile of a user, Richard Rose, who initially adopted the position of a “COVID denier” before dying from it on July 4 2020:Circulating Posts About Richard Rose’s Posts and DeathIn the post above, four chronological posts attributed to Rose appeared, alongside the following status update from the poster:There’s obviously no shortage of people who believe that following COVID-19 protocols makes you look weak. The insecurity and ignorance that fuels these outspoken acts of bravado are a separate conversation, but If you have a moment, please follow the last three months in the life of Richard Rose: https://www.facebook.com/rickrose2007In a post dated April 28 2020, Rose was quoted as refusing to buy or wear a mask, vowing not to buy into that “damn hype.” On June 12 2020, a post captured Rose’s check-in to “Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island” in Ohio — alongside a remark that it was “not that packed lol.”Two posts attributed to Rose were dated July 1 2020, the first of which was about Rose’s illness in the preceding days. In the second, Rose disclosed he was quarantined for fourteen days after testing positive for COVID-19.A fifth and final screenshot included a smiling photograph of a genial-looking man and the words “Richard Rose, III Obituary.” Visible in that image were the dates of Rose’s birth and death: July 25 1982 and July 4 2020.A similar collection of screenshots shared by the page “Guess what he says next” on July 10 2020 was shared thousands of times in just a few hours. In place of the two July 1 2020 posts, a single July 2 2020 post attributed to Rose was included:On July 7 2020, somebody claiming to be a friend of Rose’s wrote:This was my friend Richard Rose. Rick was diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 1. Rick lost his life 3 days later on July 4th. Rick was healthy as far as we know and was only in his 30’s. Rick was like a lot of my friends, and didn’t feel the need to wear a mask because he was young and healthy. Please know that this virus is real. Just because you don’t personally know someone effected yet doesn’t mean it’s not real.Rick Rose’s Facebook PagePosts seen in the screenshots were available and initially open to comments on public posts. It appeared that Rose’s Facebook page was memorialized at some point on July 10 2020, judging by the amount of activity to that date — a flood of engagement which ceased when the page was memorialized.On April 28 2020, Rose posted the status commonly shared first in the circulating posts, in which he said “I’m not buying a fucking mask,” and “I’ve made it this far by not buying into that damn hype”:On June 13 2020, Rose commented “it’s not that packed lol” on his check-in post:On June 29 2020, Rose expressed concern Halloween might “not happen” in 2020:The posts seen from July 1 and 2 2020 also were visible on Rose’s timeline:Rose’s final post appeared on July 3 2020, a meme that read:When you see me in heaven don’t shit yourselves you judgmental pricks.Comments on the post between July 4 2020 and July 7 2020 appeared to be solely from Rose’s friends, expressing shock and grief at his death. On July 10 2020, a number of new comments — apparently spurred by posts about his comments and death — appeared:Does he still think it’s a hoax though?An Obituary for Richard Rose IIICrosser Funeral Home in Port Clinton, Ohio published an obituary for Rose, archived here. It confirmed the cause of Rose’s death and included details about his life:Richard Donald Rose, III July 25, 1982 – July 4, 2020 Born in Port Clinton, Ohio Resided in Port Clinton, OhioRichard Donald Rose, III, 37, of Port Clinton passed away Saturday, July 4, 2020 due to complications of Covid-19 at his home. He was born July 25, 1982 in Port Clinton. He graduated from Port Clinton High School. He served his country in the United States Army for nine years serving two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He enjoyed social media, online streaming, paranormal and his two cats Dale and Tucker. He was a fan of NASCAR, Dirt Track Racing and Georgia Bulldogs Football. Surviving are his mother and step-father: Tina and Kenny Heschel of Port Clinton; sister: Krystal Campbell of Genoa; brother: K. C. Heschel of Concord, NC; half-sister: Melissa Rose of Port Clinton. He was preceded in death by his grandparents: Carl and Marla Kessler, Cooper and Janice Heschel, Richard Rose, Mildred DeBlase. Funeral services will be conducted 11:00 am Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at Neidecker, Crosser & Priesman Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 1124 Fulton St. Port Clinton, OH where visitation will be held Tuesday from 2:00 – 4:00 and 6:00 – 8:00pm. Interment will be at Riverview Cemetery, Port Clinton, OH. Memorial contributions may be given to the family. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.neideckercrosserpriesman.com[. ]SummaryIt is true that a man named Richard Rose (who appeared to go by “Rick”) published a Facebook post in April 2020, expressing his belief that the use of masks to cut down on COVID-19 transmission was “damn hype.” We did not find extensive posting from Rose about the pandemic. It is further true that Rose posted about his illness on July 1 and 2 2020, and he died of complications from COVID-19 on July 4 2020. His last post referenced “heaven,” but chronologically he appeared to go from viewing his diagnosis as an inconvenience on July 1 2020 to dying three days later. Rose’s page was memorialized on the afternoon of July 10 2020, likely in response to a flood of comments.Comments",
            "output": [
                "Circulating posts by a man named Richard Rose demonstrate his position that COVID-19 was a hoax; Rose died from COVID-19 in July 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28a2ab08acc54d1891489a8e1630dfac",
            "input": "It could well be too little, too late. After years of trying to demolish former President Barack Obama’s prized law, GOP leaders still lack the votes to succeed. Along with the law’s growing popularity and easing premium increases, that’s left top Republicans showing no appetite to quickly refight the repeal battle. “I’m not going to be asking for another vote on that this year,” No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said last week when asked if he favored reopening the issue in a postelection lame duck session. No. 3 House leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said, “We need to win this election and then get more seats next year.” Each is their party’s chief vote counter. That means any serious push to annul the statute would almost certainly hinge on Republicans retaining House control and adding Senate seats in November’s elections, neither of which is assured. If either goal eludes them on Election Day, President Donald Trump’s ability to deliver on one of his top campaign promises would have to wait for a second term, if he gets one. Republicans seemed to gain ground last week when Sen. Jon Kyl replaced McCain, who died in August from brain cancer. Kyl said in a brief interview that he would have backed the measure that McCain opposed, a pivotal vote that would have sustained the repeal drive. “It seems to me that would have been a useful thing to do,” Kyl said. That bill failed 51-49. A “yes” from McCain would have meant a 50-50 tie that Vice President Mike Pence could have broken by casting his own vote. Yet the two other GOP senators who also voted no, Maine’s Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, haven’t relented. With Republicans controlling the Senate 51-49, the GOP remains short of the 50 votes they’d need. “I would still oppose outright repeal,” Collins said in a short interview last week. In a written statement, aides said Murkowski “is not interested in another rushed, partisan process in the absence of a quality, comprehensive replacement” for the law. Republicans have one fewer seat this year because Alabama Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in a December special election. Moore had defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Luther Strange in a party primary. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has ruled out revisiting the health care fight before November’s midterm elections, citing the crush of spending and other bills facing Congress. He’s displayed little desire to revisit the issue, which many Democrats are using in their election campaigns because Obama’s law is widely accepted, especially provisions like requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. Returning to the health care fight is a decision “I don’t have to reach anytime soon and don’t have time to facilitate, even if I was so inclined,” McConnell told reporters last week. He has said he doesn’t want to resume the fight unless he can win, and his House counterpart is also showing his focus is elsewhere. “I haven’t even thought about it,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. A lame-duck session would last barely over a month and likely be absorbed with lingering budget disputes and picking the new Congress’ leaders. That would leave scant time for health care work, such as resolving intractable disputes about what a replacement bill would look like. Then they would need an official cost estimate of any bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which could take weeks. They’d also have to take procedural steps to protect their bill from a Senate Democratic filibuster, which would otherwise essentially kill the measure by requiring Republicans to garner 60 votes to succeed. “There’s still a process that we have to go through, and people have to be aware of it,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who opposes the health care program. “You don’t just drop it from heaven like manna.” Explaining the diminished urgency, Cornyn cited Congress’ repeal last December of the tax penalty on people who don’t buy individual insurance. That requirement, aimed at prodding healthier people to buy coverage and stabilize health markets, was one of the law’s least popular provisions. Cornyn also mentioned Trump administration rules making it easier for people to buy short-term health care policies or association plans offered by groups of small businesses or self-employed people. Such packages could offer lower premiums but cover fewer benefits, and Democrats criticize them as undermining the consumer protections Obama’s law was designed to enshrine. Also easing pressure on Republicans to act are indications that insurance premiums, a major vexation for voters, are growing more slowly. An analysis by the consulting firm Avalere Health and The Associated Press last week found a 3.3 percent average increase in proposed or approved premiums across 47 states and Washington, D.C., for 2019. The average increase nationally this year was about 30 percent. Meanwhile, the House plans to vote this week on a bill easing requirements the law imposed on employers. The measure would make it easier for companies to provide health insurance for fewer workers, refund tax penalties firms paid for not covering employees and postpone a levy on expensive policies companies provide workers. Further underscoring the effort’s lack of traction, that measure seems certain never to emerge from Congress.",
            "output": [
                "Republicans lack votes _ and appetite _ to end ‘Obamacare’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87935bc14eda4dc0b226d108319ae90a",
            "input": "The building design is for a two-story, 16,000 square-foot addition to support current and future outpatient urgent care and mental health services. It also will offer a direct entrance with curbside access to urgent care. The addition will be next to the radiology, pharmacy and phlebotomy departments. The groundbreaking is scheduled for Friday. Construction is scheduled to start in October and is expected to take about two years.",
            "output": [
                "Mental health/urgent care addition planned for VA med center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ffdebe8dc1f4b74a46935a237b1db4e",
            "input": "For Simmers, a retired Hagerstown police officer, that helplessness developed into frustration as he and his then 18 year-old daughter Brooke ran into a series of roadblocks and administrative red tape in seeking treatment for her heroin addiction in late 2013. “We tried all the things that we thought would help,” said Simmers, during a special lecture sponsored by the Shepherd University Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Sport Studies at Erma Ora Byrd auditorium Monday night. However, after multiple tries to get and stay clean, accompanied by a succession of relapses, Brook Simmers, then 19 years-old, died of a heroin overdose in April 2015 when she was found in the back seat of her car in a church parking lot. Simmers’ attitude toward drug addiction was somewhat different in the early1980s after he had graduated high school. “When I finished school, President Ronald Reagan had a big push then for the war on drugs,” Simmers said. “The way we were going to do it is handcuffs and incarceration.” Simmers joined the Air Force where he trained dogs to sniff out narcotics. Discharged four years later, he was hired by the Hagerstown Police Department in the early 1990s where he was assigned to the narcotics unit and eventually became part of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. “I was targeting users and dealers — any type of narcotics,” Simmers said. “My feeling back then was ‘make as many arrests as you possibly can.’ ” Simmers recalled the day his daughter called him in late 2013 to ask for help, telling him she had developed an addiction to the opioid pain killer Percocet. The next year and half would be an in-the-field education for Simmers and his daughter, running into seemingly counter intuitive administrative regulations to securing Brooke immediate addiction treatment. According to Simmers, Brooke was initially refused insurance coverage for treatment because she was deemed a non-critical candidate. “Her addiction had not progressed to the point where she needed in-patient treatment,” Simmers said “It was not serious enough, they said, because she had not been arrested, she had not overdosed, and she had not been hospitalized.” Instead, Brooke was approved for out-patient treatment where she would go to daily classes every night. “I didn’t want to take that as an answer,” Simmers said. “If you are having a heart attack with chest pains, the doctors are not going to say, ‘well you’re still conscious. Let’s not call an ambulance just yet.’” After attending two weeks of out- patient classes, Brooke dropped out, telling her father she had her addiction under control. She returned to work In a few months, Simmers again heard from his daughter. “She had lost her job, and she had started to look unkempt, which was very unlike her,” Simmers said. “You could tell that things were spinning out of control again. She said she was now addicted to heroin and was shooting up every morning.” Now 18 years old, Brooke had to be the one to commit to treatment. Brooke was eventually accepted to an in-patient treatment facility in early 2014. However, Simmers later found out that she had checked herself out against medical advice and had relapsed back to drug use. After a few more attempted recoveries and relapses — including an overdose at a heroin dealer’s house in Baltimore, Maryland. Seeing his daughter’s drug addiction struggles first hand changed Simmers perspective on drug abuse and its unrelenting pull on the user. “An addict is not a weak-minded person,” Simmer said. “I am not of that camp anymore.” In the wake of his daughter’s death, Simmers and his wife Dana decided to start “Brooke’s House,” a public charity whose goals is to build a long-term, residential treatment facility for young women suffering from addiction in Smithsburg, Maryland. The HPERS department presented Simmers with a $300 donation from the Vince Gonino Fund to help with the construction of Brooke’s House. “This is one small way for HPERS faculty and students to give back to community and help fight drug addiction,” said Professor Stacey Kendig, department chair of HPERS. ___ Information from: The Journal, http://journal-news.net/",
            "output": [
                "Daughter’s addiction changed former officer’s perspective."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0537f0e4e4349ebb3dd3f42905f73d8",
            "input": "\"Bounciest Democrat on November's statewide ballot? It might be Hank Gilbert, making his second hard charge for state agriculture commissioner versus Todd Staples, the Republican who topped him four years ago. Gilbert, ever prowling for issues, recently trumpeted that the Texas Department of Agriculture is looking at buying thousands of stress balls -- squeezable toys. He said in a Sept. 24 press release: \"\"Make no mistake, Texans love their balls: footballs, baseballs, basketballs, and soccer balls. But 300,000 stress balls? It seems a little extreme, but that's the quantity of grape, barbell, and book-shaped polyurethane stress balls the Texas Department of Agriculture could be spending taxpayer dollars on...\"\"  Really? To our inquiry, Gilbert's campaign provided Web links to the agriculture agency's June request for bids as well as a September post on a state website indicating that a $99,000 contract to provide promotional materials was awarded to a Massachusetts company, Oceans Promotions. We downloaded the June 29 bid-request package from a site for state requisitions overseen by the state comptroller's office. The package shows the department was seeking bids to provide up to 300,000 stress \"\"relievers,\"\" which we're guessing are not balls because they're not round. Precisely, the package says, the agency sought bids to make \"\"promotional items with logo imprints to follow through on (the) TDA Food and Nutrition Texans Bring It Campaign,\"\" with the items to include grape-shaped stress relievers with \"\"Texans Bring It\"\" written on them or \"\"Eating Right,\"\" which would be made of polyurethane and be two inches high by three inches wide. The package says a second set of stress relievers, each one called \"\"Dumbbell,\"\" would be imprinted \"\"Texans Bring It\"\" and \"\"Exercise\"\" and be five inches high by 1.8 inches in diameter. A third stress reliever would be imprinted \"\"Book\"\" and \"\"Texans Bring It,\"\" according to the bid package, while other promotional items would include pencils, buttons and bumperstickers. The package says the bids were sought for various quantities, starting from 2,500 and topping out at 100,000 each. It electronically links to a Branders.com site showing what the agency wanted the stress relievers to look like (our interpretation: bunches of purple grapes). Is all this a real deal? To our inquiry, Bryan Black, Staples' spokesman, replied via e-mail: \"\"An invitation for bid was issued for these federally funded educational items to reduce the $5.8 billion avoidable health care expenditures, paid by taxpayers, associated with overweight and obesity health problems.\"\" We followed up with Black, asking if it's accurate to conclude that up to 300,000 of the stress relievers are being purchased. We also wondered why the purchase was being made. Black said he'd limit his comment to his e-mailed statement. Surely the agency would pipe up if Gilbert got its purchase plans wrong.\"",
            "output": [
                "Hank Gilbert Says the Texas Department of Agriculture seeks to purchase up to 300,000 promotional stress balls."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08f117911fe64a74bcf0f8bc86cee705",
            "input": "\"The story provided cost estimates for angioplasty. It would have been more complete to include comparable information about the costs of medical therapy. The story discussed the comparable outcomes of the two treatments in terms of heart attacks and death. It also explained that at least initially, angioplasty coupled with medical therapy provided relief of angina to more people (8%) than did medical therapy alone but that this difference between the treatments only lasted for 3 years. The story did not provide an explicit list of harms associated with either treatment. It did mention the increased clotting risks associated with one particular type of stent (drug-coated). The story mentioned several studies that compared people with coronary artery disease who were treated with angioplasty and medical therapy with those that received only medical therapy which found no difference in outcomes such as the numbers who had heart attacks. It also provided quantitative information about how the two treatment approaches compared in terms of symptom reduction For the most part, the story did not engage in overt disease mongering. That said, however, the story opened with a disease mongering vignette that involved medical protocols which were not the subject of the story. And describing angina as \"\"crushing\"\" and \"\"debilitating\"\" makes it seem worse on the average than it really is. However, the balance of the story did not use scare tactics when talking about coronary artery disease, and in using data to tell the story. Several cardiologists were interviewed for this story. The story covered two of the three treatment options for coronary artery disease. It would have been a more complete piece if it had included mention of coronary bypass surgery. The story was about the use of angioplasty (stents) and medical therapy as compared to medical therapy alone as treatment for coronary artery disease. From the discussion, it was clear that both treatments are currently in common use and appear to be widely available. It was clear from that the story was not about a novel form of treatment but rather a recent line of evaluation of two treatment approaches in current practice. It’s clear this story didn’t rely on a news release; it was based on independent analyses.\"",
            "output": [
                "Angioplasty’s golden era may be fading"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9939a971266d47269f95749b394ea977",
            "input": "The news release does not mention costs. While a new therapy may not have an established price, the release could have stated “no price is available for this drug.” What would be even better is some context for what women suffering from postpartum pay typically for counseling and medications. The release notes that  there was a reduction in depressive symptoms of 17 points for those on the drug, and 12.8 for those in the placebo group based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The absolute reduction in the rating scale is given for each group. This information would have been much more helpful if the release also clarified the magnitude of the scale and whether a 4.2-point difference is clinically meaningful. The release contains one somewhat vague sentence on harms. The most common (≥10% of subjects) adverse events following during brexanolone injection administration were headache, dizziness and somnolence. Readers would also be interested in details on whether the drug is safe for nursing infants. That’s not mentioned. The double-blinded randomized trials are described in detail and readers are able to judge the quality of the evidence. The published study includes an important limitation of the research that’s not mentioned in the release: The trials assessed women for only 30 days; the effects of the treatment beyond 30 days are “unknown.” There is no disease mongering. The release explains how common postpartum depression is worldwide. The release notes that Sage Therapeutics funded the research. Sage Therapeutics is the developer of brexanolone injection and sponsor of the trials. A New Drug Application is currently under review by the FDA and brexanolone injection has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation. The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act target date of December 19, 2018. What the release doesn’t tell us is that both quoted researchers disclosed financial ties with Sage Therapeutics. This information was included in the studies published in the Lancet. SM-B reports personal fees from MedScape and grants from Sage Therapeutics, awarded to the University of North Carolina … DRR reports personal fees and has stock options in Sage Therapeutics…. The release mentions that women currently can receive antidepressants for postpartum depression, but that the new drug being studied goes to work relieving symptoms faster than traditional antidepressants — days rather than weeks. The release notes that the drug is currently under FDA review, with a decision on its approval expected by the end of the year. The release notes that the new drug would be a novel treatment for postpartum depression, if approved. There is no unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Newly Published Results Show Investigational Treatment Brexanolone Consistently Reduced Depressive Symptoms Across Three Postpartum Depression Trials, Supporting Submission for FDA Approval"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-711a52a17b594f5899bda26e63d45678",
            "input": "The decision by Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman in Norman, Oklahoma, came in the first case to go to trial out of 2,700 nationally by states, counties and cities seeking to hold drug companies responsible for the deadly epidemic. Balkman reduced the amount he had awarded in August by $107 million after agreeing with New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J that he had made a math error. J&J said it will appeal, and that the award and finding of liability were “neither supported by the facts nor the law.”  A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said that office is reviewing the decision and will formally respond within the next few days. Opioids were involved in almost 400,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Following a non-jury trial, Balkman ruled in August that Oklahoma had proven that J&J engaged in misleading marketing about the benefits of painkillers, and that their addictive risks caused a public nuisance in the form of the opioid crisis. Hunter had sought to have J&J pay $17 billion to help fund addiction treatment and other services to repair damage from the opioid epidemic over the next 30 years. Balkman, however, awarded only enough money for one year of programs, saying Oklahoma failed to support its claims regarding the need to abate the epidemic in future years. Following the August ruling, Oklahoma asked Balkman for permission to return to his courtroom annually to prove those costs, but Balkman on Friday maintained his prior ruling. J&J, meanwhile, argued that it deserved a $355 million credit, reflecting pre-trial settlements by the drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.  Balkman concluded on Friday that state law did not allow such credits. Last month, J&J and four other companies proposed a $48 billion settlement framework to resolve all of the opioid cases they face, with J&J paying $4 billion. Lawyers for the local governments have opposed the proposal. If approved, the settlement would let J&J resolve some of the thousands of product liability lawsuits it faces. The company also faces litigation over whether its baby powder causes cancer, a claim it denies.",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma judge reduces Johnson & Johnson opioid payout to $465 million.",
                "I helped win one of the biggest private lawsuits against Medicare fraud in history. The government declined to pursue the case, so my firm did, and we recovered $324 million for taxpayers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed085c6fd2864d04946b36d4274a566a",
            "input": "\"Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins kicked off the New Year attacking recent side effects of health care overhaul on Flexible Spending Accounts, which allow workers to pay medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. In an e-letter titled \"\"FSA at Work? Jim Webb Just Made It a Lot Less Useful,\"\" Mullins staples Virginia’s senior Senator to new provisions of the health care law that took effect Jan. 1. \"\"Desperate for tax dollars to pay for their $1 trillion health care takeover, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Jim Webb decided to pick the pockets of consumers who opted to take responsibility for their own health care costs and remove the ability of consumers to use FSA and HSA plans to pay for things like aspirin and other non-prescription health needs,\"\" Mullins wrote. He later reiterates the point, writing: \"\"Until this week, consumers could use their accounts to set aside pre-tax money for medical expenses. But thanks to Webb and other tax happy Democrats, over-the-counter drug purchases are now off limits to FSA and HSA accounts.\"\" There’s plenty of confusion about health care reform, so we checked to see if his claim about over-the-counter drugs is correct. As a source, Mullins cited a news report from KSAT 12 out of San Antonio, Texas. The report says, \"\"Over-the-counter medications will no longer be reimbursable through a health care flexible spending account, or FSA, even if the account has a grace period. So, Dec. 31 is the last day to stock up on pain relievers, allergy tablets, antacids and more for people who want to use them to exhaust their use-it-or-lose-it FSA.\"\" Not convinced San Antonio’s KSAT 12 is an end-all source for health care reform, we dug deeper. According to the Internal Revenue Service guidance on flexible spending accounts, a new provision \"\"as added by the Affordable Care Act, provides that...beginning after December 31, 2010, expenses incurred for a medicine or a drug shall be treated as a reimbursement for medical expenses only if such medicine or drug is a prescribed drug (determined without regard to whether such drug is available without a prescription) or is insulin.\"\" In other words, you will no longer be able to use FSAs to pay for your aspirin, antacids and other over-the-counter drugs if they’re not prescribed by a physician. What about HSAs -- tax-advantaged health savings accounts? Pretty much the same. The IRS says that \"\"a distribution from an HSA...for a medicine or drug is a tax-free qualified medical expense only if (1) the medicine or drug requires a prescription, (2) is an over-the-counter medicine or drug and the individual obtains a prescription, or (3) is insulin.\"\" Otherwise, those \"\"non-qualified expenses\"\" will be taxed at 20 percent rather than the current 10 percent for HSA plan participants. So, while the recently enacted portion of the health care law will not stop consumers from being able to buy over-the-counter drugs through their plans, it will require a prescription to do so. On that count, Mullins stays relatively safe by employing the phrase \"\"non-prescription health needs\"\" at the end of his claim. , those items like aspirin can still qualify for reimbursement with a prescription, but then they would not longer be \"\"non-prescription.\"\" But the same phrase also presents a problem for Mullins because other \"\"non-prescription\"\" items such as medical supplies and first-aid items remain eligible for reimbursement without a prescription. \"\"Over-the-counter medications are treated differently than over-the-counter medical items like Band-Aids, which are covered without a prescription,\"\" said Michael Waxman of Save Flexible Spending Plans. If you’re wondering why these changes are taking place, the answer is likely money. \"\"I think [federal officials] were just looking for revenue raisers,\"\" Mike Thompson, a human resource services principal with the PwC recently told the Washington Post. As that story notes, employee contributions to FSAs are made on a pretax basis, reducing earnings and thus the amount workers pay in income tax. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, tightening up the tax break on over-the-counter purchases will generate an estimated $5 billion in federal revenues through 2019. And one last note: Webb, as Mullins said, did vote for the massive health care reform bill that limits the use of flexible spending accounts. Let’s look back. Mullins says health care law provisions that took effect Jan. 1 will \"\"remove the ability of consumers to use FSA and HSA plans to pay for things like aspirin and other non-prescription health needs.\"\" It’s  that as of Jan. 1, FSA and HSA plans no longer offered reimbursements for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription. However, those same items could be covered with a prescription. Mullins misses a caveat by not noting that non-prescription items like crutches, bandages, and health supplies like diagnostic devices and blood sugar test kits remain covered. But his comments seem directed at drugs. We find his claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "New provisions of the health care law bar the use of flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts to pay for aspirin and other non-prescription health needs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6330ee92a3d4bb7a469bc52dd0883e7",
            "input": "Amidst the debate about the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic that began in early 2020, which many critics contended was too slow because the president initially failed to acknowledge the severity of the issue, social media users circulated a meme that supposedly documented a marked contradiction in the U.S. president’s statements on the issue across time:  According to this meme, as late as March 9, 2020, Donald Trump was still criticizing the press for supposedly “inflam[ing] the CoronaVirus situation” and quoting the U.S. surgeon general as asserting that, “The risk is low to the average American.” Yet a mere eight days later, according to the meme, Trump claimed he “felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” However observers might choose to interpret them, both of these statements are accurately dated and attributed to Trump in the meme. Trump tweeted the first statement on March 9: The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “The risk is low to the average American.” — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020  The latter was a statement Trump made during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing from the White House on March 17. As can be seen in the following video (at the 1:05:00 mark), as Trump fielded a question from a reporter about whether his “tone” on the pandemic had suddenly changed the previous day, he declared, “This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do is look at other countries; I think now it’s in almost 120 countries all over the world. No, I’ve always viewed it as very serious. There was no difference yesterday from days before”: The New York Times chronicled this statement from Trump and contrasted it with others he had made in the weeks leading up to it: For weeks, President Trump has minimized the coronavirus, mocked concern about it and treated the risk from it cavalierly. On [March 17] he took to the White House lectern and made a remarkable assertion: He knew it was a pandemic all along. “This is a pandemic,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” This is what Mr. Trump has actually said over the past two months: On Jan. 22, asked by a CNBC reporter whether there were “worries about a pandemic,” the president replied: “No, not at all. We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”",
            "output": [
                "A meme documents U.S. President Donald Trump's statements about the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60ee2f3b126c498cae7500e7ba4b4dd8",
            "input": "In July 2015, a series of photographs purportedly showing a crow landing on and riding atop the back of an eagle in flight were a subject of social media fascination:   The photographs, which followed on the heels of similar animal ride-hitching images such as a weasel riding a woodpecker and a raccoon riding an alligator, left many viewers questioning their authenticity. Although some commenters disclaimed the above-displayed photographs as depicting an aerodynamically impossible activity, according to Kevin McGowan, a biologist who specializes in crow behavior, they are indeed real: “This would be kind of like a dog chasing a car and jumping up” on it, says McGowan. “Dogs always want to catch the car, but they never know what they’d do if they get it.” But why didn’t the eagle react to the crow landing? Since the crow wasn’t pecking, it didn’t warrant the Eagle’s attention. As the largest bird of prey, eagles are harassed nonstop by birds of all species. Sometimes the hecklers are so persistent, it looks like the eagles “are being followed by mosquitoes,” says McGowan. Phoo Chan, the bird photographer who snapped the photographs back in May 2014, offered a similar explanation on his 500px page: Crows are known for aggressively harassing other raptors that are much bigger in size when spotted in their territories and usually these ‘intruders’ simply retreat without much fuss. However, in this frame the crow did not seem to harass the bald eagle at such close proximity and neither did the bald eagle seem to mind the crow’s presence invading its personal space. What made it even more bizarre was that the crow even made a brief stop on the back of the eagle as if it was taking a free scenic ride and the eagle simply obliged. Chan’s photographs may seemingly depict an impossible (or at least one-in-a-million) scene, but other images of crows “riding” eagles abound online. In 2012, for example, Caters News photographer Hyeongchol Kim captured a similar occurrence in South Korea:   I saw the crow flying towards the much bigger eagle, and prepared myself to capture the fight on camera. However, the bird just hovered above the eagle for a few seconds – and then appeared to just latch onto his back. The eagle didn’t seem to mind at all — I think they must have been friends.",
            "output": [
                "Photographs show a crow landing on and riding atop an eagle in flight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d52460cea18746f59ba5e5ffdff8da0e",
            "input": "More than 336,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported last year, as rates of all three STDs continued to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health reported. Officials said they are particularly concerned by the number of congenital syphilis cases, which were 14% higher than the previous year and nearly 900% higher than in 2012. There were 22 stillbirths or neonatal deaths because of syphilis last year, the report said. If left untreated, syphilis can result in blindness, hearing loss and neurological problems. Chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain. Many STDs can be cured with antibiotics. The highest rates of STDs are among young people ages 15 to 24, officials said. The department’s acting director, Dr. Charity Dean, urged sexually active people to use condoms and get tested. “Regular testing and treatment are essential prevention strategies, even for people who have no symptoms,” Dean said in a statement. “Most people infected with an STD do not know it.” State officials are collaborating with local agencies to coordinate efforts to control STDs, the health department said.",
            "output": [
                "Report finds cases of STDs reach 30-year high in California."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61369ea5c5434b36b28323c7980dcec3",
            "input": "The governors of Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania each issued orders or recommendations that residents wear face masks as they emerge from isolation in the coming weeks. “If you are going to be in public and you cannot maintain social distancing, then have a mask, and put that mask on,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. Similar orders were imposed in New Jersey and Los Angeles last week and face coverings were recommended by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly on Tuesday. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said residents across the nation’s most-populous state would likely be wearing masks in public for some time to come. “We are going to be getting back to normal; it will be a new normal,” Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said, echoing a phrase used by at least two of his fellow governors in recent days. U.S. Midwest governors were also making plans together to restart their economies, said Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. In Michigan, hundreds of cars flooded the streets around the state Capitol in Lansing on Wednesday to protest Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders, some of the strictest in the country. Some protesters, in the demonstration organized by conservative and pro-President Donald Trump groups, left their cars to gather on the lawn in front of the Capitol building, many of them not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. As of Wednesday night, 30,885 people in the United States had died of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally. That includes more than 4,000 deaths newly attributed to the disease in New York City after health officials revised their counting methods to include “probable,” but unconfirmed, cases. Healthcare workers have faced unique health threats while working on the front lines trying to tackle the pandemic. Reuters has identified more than 50 nurses, doctors and medical technicians who have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 or showing symptoms of it. At least 16 were in New York state. “The emergency room is like a war zone,” said Raj Aya, whose wife, Madhvi Aya - a physician’s assistant in Brooklyn - was one of the healthcare workers who died in New York. As the outbreak begins to slow, political leaders have bickered over how and when to begin the process of unwinding unprecedented lockdowns that have damaged the economy and largely confined Americans to their homes. Washington state Governor Jay Inslee told an afternoon news conference the largest obstacle to a return to normalcy was a shortage of coronavirus tests. “We simply haven’t had enough test kits – they simply do not exist anywhere in the United States right now,” Inslee said, adding the state had purchased about a million swabs, along with vials and test medium but they were just starting to arrive. At his daily White House briefing hours later, Trump boasted that the United States had “the most expansive testing system anywhere in the world”. But, he said, testing was a problem for the states and not the federal government. “We can’t be thinking about a Walmart parking lot,” where some testing is being done, but the states and cities should do that, he said. Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a $30 billion plan to vastly increase nationwide testing for the coronavirus. Trump, citing data suggesting the peak of new infections had passed, said he would announce guidelines on Thursday for reopening the economy. The sweeping closures of businesses have left millions of Americans unemployed and store owners struggling to pay rent. Government data released on Wednesday showed that retail sales dropped by 8.7% in March, the biggest decline since tracking began in 1992. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. In addition, output at U.S. factories declined by the most since 1946 as the pandemic fractured supply chains. “The economy is almost in free fall,” said Sung Won Sohn, a business economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has now suffered the greatest number of reported fatalities from the coronavirus, ahead of Italy and Spain. Globally, the number of infections has crossed the 2 million mark and over 136,000 people have died, a Reuters tally shows. The pathogen emerged last year in China. Trump said on Wednesday his government was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing “needs to come clean” on what they know. The official death toll released by the Chinese government stands at about 3,600. The source of the virus remains a mystery. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence indicated the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there was no certainty either way.",
            "output": [
                "Face masks may be 'new normal' in post-virus life as U.S. prepares gradual reopening."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64b36f3c5bf649b3abff61e745c2c3c1",
            "input": "The broadcast explains that the cost of implanting a stent runs between “15 to 25 thousand bucks,” and suggests that the procedure is not cost-effective in about half of those currently considered candidates. The broadcast summarizes the trial’s results in general terms but does not report the actual number or percentage of heart attacks and deaths (the trial’s primary outcome). Over the course of follow-up, there were 211 deaths and nonfatal heart attacks in the group receiving stents plus optimal medical therapy, and 202 such events among patients receiving optimal medical therapy alone. After 4.6 years, the cumulative event rates in the two groups were 19% and 18.5%, respectively—nonsignificant differences. The broadcast does not mention potential harms of medical therapy or stenting. This information was also omitted from the trial’s published manuscript. What should a patient know about complications and other side effects associated with these treatments? A sentence summarizing harms reported in previous studies would have been helpful. The broadcast describes a large, randomized, controlled trial in which one group of more than a thousand patients received medical therapy and another group of equal size received medical therapy plus stents. The story does not mention that the new study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine simultaneous with its presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Nor does it mention previous smaller studies that reached much the same conclusion. The story is careful to distinguish between coronary artery disease that is characterized by unstable, potentially dangerous angina and “stable situations” that are less likely to result in heart attacks and death. Rather than stirring up fear about disease, the broadcast is appropriately reassuring, pointing out that millions of people with stable angina can be safely treated with medication alone and do not require stents. The broadcast includes interviews with two experts, though it fails to provide details about their potential conflicts of interest, including the fact that Dr. Boden was the principal investigator of the trial under discussion.",
            "output": [
                "Heart stents found no more effective than drugs in prolonging life"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a0735bdd67c4f7db18aa001ad07f81c",
            "input": "“There have been fights breaking out, heated arguments, with some doctors asking, ‘How come my colleague gets to go and I can’t?’” doctor Adrian Benitez, 46, said on Tuesday just hours before he was due to board a plane for Liberia. Despite a global alarm over the worst Ebola outbreak on record, Cuban doctors are eager to travel to West Africa and start healing the sick. Nicknamed as the “army of white robes” and citing a long history of Cuban medical missions in Africa and elsewhere, they speak of a sense of duty and are willing to assume the risks. “We know that we are fighting against something that we don’t totally understand. We know what can happen. We know we’re going to a hostile environment,” said Leonardo Fernandez, 63. “But it is our duty. That’s how we’ve been educated.”  The Ebola virus has killed more than 4,500 people since March, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The numbers include more than 200 healthcare workers. Some Cuban 165 doctors and nurses have already arrived in Sierra Leone and another 91 were flying on Tuesday for six-month missions, with 53 destined for Liberia and 38 for Guinea. Yet another 205 medical professionals have undergone a  three-week training course in Cuba, with extensive practice in using the protective, full-body suits, but have yet to receive an Ebola assignment. It is the latest example of Cuba’s medical diplomacy. The Caribbean island has dispatched medical brigades to disaster sites around the world since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. The communist government made 11 of the departing doctors available to reporters on Tuesday. All of them have been on previous overseas missions, and they all expressed pride in their mission, saying their families were supportive. There is no proven cure for Ebola, and about half those who contract it die. Several of the doctors repeated an often-cited slogan within Cuba’s medical culture: “We don’t offer what we have left over. We share what we have.”  “This little bit that we have, when people need it, we are capable of sharing. It’s a basic concept,” Fernandez said. When Castro’s rebels took power in 1959, Cuba had 6,000 doctors, and half of them quickly left the country, the government says. With economic aid from the Soviet Union, Cuba built a healthcare system that was the envy of the developing world, though some of those advances have been lost since the communist bloc collapsed. Many Cuban hospitals have fallen into disrepair and Cubans say they have difficulty getting medical appointments or finding medicine. With 83,000 doctors today, Cuba says it has 7.2 physicians per 1,000 people, one of the highest rates in the world. But with about 25,000 doctors working overseas, that ratio falls to about 4.6, even when counting 5,500 recent medical school graduates, according to Health Minister Roberto Morales. While Cuba provides doctors and nurses for disaster relief free of charge, it also exchanges them for cash or goods on more routine missions. The island receives an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil per day from Venezuela, where some 30,000 Cuban medical professionals are posted. In all, there are more than 50,000 health workers in 66 countries. Those recruited for the Ebola missions underwent three weeks of training at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute on the outskirts of Havana, where trainers set up a field hospital of tents to simulate conditions in West Africa. Should any Cuban doctors or nurses contract Ebola in West Africa, they will be treated at a special site for international aid workers until they are cured or die, said Jorge Perez, director of the Pedro Kouri institute. All of them will be held for at least 21 days of observation at the hospital upon returning to Cuba, the same as any visitor coming to the island from the affected countries. Despite the risks and inconvenience, Ivan Rodriguez, 50, said his family was supportive and proud. “I would have felt disappointed and sad if they would have been afraid for me to take this step,” Rodriguez said. “Now, there are 15,000 (volunteers). I’m convinced there could be 15,000 more.”",
            "output": [
                "Cuban doctors proud to risk lives in mission to halt Ebola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3086ba3afe6c43918b70c55e5d9684df",
            "input": "We were surprised to see that a story that covered as much ground as this one did somehow missed costs. The competing story by NBC spelled out the costs. The story nicely explained that while one of the new studies showed, as expected, that following the updated statin guidelines did increase the number of people who would be treated with statins, following the guidelines would apparently not have saved a significant number of people from dying or having a heart attack or stroke. The story said, “Among the people eligible for statins under the old guidelines, 6.9 percent had a heart attack or stroke or died from coronary disease over the ensuing nine years. Among those eligible for statins under the new guidelines, the figure was 6.3 percent, almost as high. That suggests that the new guidelines do not lead to treatment of many more people who do not need statins.” At the same time, the story noted that the new guidelines “over all did a better job in discriminating between those who should and should not get statins.” It said that “only 1 percent of participants deemed ineligible for statins under the new guidelines had a heart attack or stroke over nine years, compared with 2.4 percent of those ineligible under the old guidelines.” While an NBC story also used absolute numbers in talking about the potential benefits in terms of heart attacks, we liked the greater level of context provided in the Times piece. Nevertheless, we think it would have been useful for the Times to include the Number Needed to Treat in its discussion of benefits —  this is an easy-to-understand metric that was reported in the study. In addition, we question the Times’s contention that the new criteria “do not lead to treatment of many more people who do not need statins.” According to the study, approximately 94% of both guideline groups did not have a cardiovascular event, and yet the new criteria now extend the use of statins to much larger number of people. In light of such findings, it’s unclear that the new criteria don’t lead to unnecessary treatment for more people as the Time states. We wish the story had explored this result more thoroughly. We thought that NBC did a better job detailing some of the potential harms from statin use, but we give the Times credit here for framing the story as a discussion of risks vs. benefits and making it clear that experts critical of the new guidelines believe that they “would lead millions of additional people to take statins, exposing them to potential side effects such as muscle pain or damage with little to gain.” Covering two studies in little more than 1,000 words is already a feat. Doing so while bringing in enough context to explain the caveats to the study is an order of magnitude greater. Compared to the NBC piece, the Times did a superior job showing that, despite the enthusiasm in some quarters of the scientific community, the two studies did not settle the debate over whether statins should be more widely prescribed. The story did not engage in disease mongering. The story sought out and made good use of independent sources. It mentions that the guidelines were widely criticized and links to some printed criticisms made at the time. It quotes a variety of supportive and critical researchers regarding their opinions on the new research. The story did not make any reference to dietary changes, lifestyle changes, or exercise. The story made it clear that statins are widely prescribed. One in four Americans take them by some estimates. The story established that the findings of the studies were not novel but rather were in keeping with earlier findings about statins. Because it contains comments from independent experts, we can be sure the story did not rely excessively on any news release.",
            "output": [
                "2 Studies Back Guidelines for Wider Use of Statins"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83aa8a03656d4911815020b77b0d657e",
            "input": "Major U.S. indexes fell about 2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 563 points. On the benchmark S&P 500 index, health care and technology companies absorbed the worst losses. Johnson & Johnson plunged by the most in 16 years after Reuters reported that the company has known since the 1970s that its talc Baby Powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos. The company denied the report. China said industrial output and retail sales both slowed in November. That could be another sign that China’s trade dispute with the U.S. and tighter lending conditions are chilling its economy, which is the second-largest in the world. Meanwhile, purchasing managers in Europe signaled that economic growth was slipping. Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said investors are concerned that weakness will make it way to the U.S. They’re wondering if the U.S. economy is likely to run out of steam sooner than they had thought. “Market consensus has been that the next recession is probably in 2020 or beyond,” he said. Now, he said, the market is “really testing that assumption and trying to figure out whether it’s sooner.” Rising interest rates and tighter credit conditions are adding to investors’ nervousness because they both tend to slow down economic growth. This week the European Central Bank said it is ending a bond-buying program that has pumped trillions into Europe’s economy. The Federal Reserve is expected to increase U.S. rates again on Wednesday, as it’s been doing for the last three years. It may also shed light on whether it plans to raise rates further in 2019. For more than 20 years, China has been one of the biggest contributors to growth in the global economy, and when investors see signs the Chinese economy is weakening, they expect it will affect other countries like the U.S. that sell things to China. In Europe, the index of purchase managers fell in France, which is racked by protests, to a level that points toward economic contraction. Germany’s reading still pointed to growth, but it fell to its lowest level in four years. Those reports canceled out some potential good news on trade: the Chinese government announced a 90-day suspension of tariff increases on U.S. cars, trucks and auto imports. It’s part of a cease-fire that China and the U.S. announced earlier this month to give them time to work on other issues. December is typically the best month of the year for stocks as a “Santa Claus rally” often adds to the year’s gains. With 10 trading days left this month, however, the S&P 500 is down 5.8 percent. That followed a small gain in November and a steep 6.9 percent drop in October. The S&P 500 index lost 50.59 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2,599.95, its lowest close since April 2. The Dow retreated 496.87 points, or 2 percent, to 24,100.51. The Dow has fallen 10 percent from its record high in early October, reaching a mark known on Wall Street as a “correction.” The other major U.S. indexes were already in “corrections.” The Nasdaq composite slid 159.67 points, or 2.3 percent, to 6,910.66. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 21.89 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,410.81. Johnson & Johnson dropped 10 percent to $133 in very heavy trading. Its market value fell by $40 billion. Reuters reported that court documents and test results show Johnson & Johnson has known for decades that its raw talc and finished Baby Powder sometimes contained asbestos, but that the company didn’t inform regulators or the public. The company called the story “false and inflammatory.” In July the company lost a lawsuit from plaintiffs who argued that its products were linked to cases of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. A St. Louis jury awarded plaintiffs $4.7 billion. Johnson & Johnson faces thousands of other lawsuits. Among technology companies, Apple dipped 3.2 percent to $165.48. Adobe skidded 7.3 percent to $230 after its fourth-quarter profit disappointed investors and it also forecast lower-than-expected earnings in the current fiscal year. Industrial companies sank as well. Boeing lost 2.1 percent to $318.75. Oil prices again turned lower, as a slower global economy would weaken demand for oil and other fuels. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 2.6 percent to $51.20 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 1.9 percent to settle at $60.28 a barrel in London. European Union leaders rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request to make changes to their deal covering Britain’s departure from the EU on March 29. British legislators aren’t satisfied with the terms May negotiated, and she canceled a scheduled vote earlier this week because it was clear Parliament wouldn’t approve it. Britain’s economy and financial markets across Europe face severe disruption without an agreement. In other trading: —European bond prices rose and yields fell. Both the British pound and the euro weakened. The pound slipped to $1.2579 from $1.2660 and the euro fell to $1.1303 from $1.1367. —Germany’s DAX declined 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 in France declined 0.8 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent. —Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slid 2 percent and the Kospi in South Korea lost 1.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.6 percent. —Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.89 percent 2.90 percent. —In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline lost 3 percent to $1.43 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.7 percent to $1.85 a gallon and natural gas dropped 7.2 percent to $3.83 per 1,000 cubic feet. —Gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,241.40 an ounce. Silver dipped 1.5 percent to $14.64 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.77 a pound. —The dollar fell to 113.29 yen from 113.60 yen. ____ Associated Press Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington. ___ AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP",
            "output": [
                "Stocks plunge to 8-month lows on growth fears; J&J nosedives."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3b10fe5e97c4a3a8369761bdcda1826",
            "input": "The bee, once widely found in the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States, was listed after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration lifted a hold it had placed on a plan for federal protections proposed last fall by the administration of former President Barack Obama. Bumble bees are key pollinators of crops such as blueberries and cranberries, and are almost the only insect pollinator of tomatoes in the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Conservation groups that had called for the new classification welcomed the move. “The listing helps mediate threats for this species and for all of those other animals out on the landscape that are suffering similar setbacks,” Rich Hatfield, senior biologist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, said by phone on Tuesday. The rusty patched bumble bee, or Bombus affinis, is one of 47 varieties of native bumble bees in the United States and Canada, more than a quarter of which face risk of extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The population and range of the bee, named for the reddish blotch on its abdomen, have declined by more than 90 percent since the late 1990s due to disease, pesticides, climate change and habitat loss, according to wildlife officials. The agency in September proposed safeguarding the bee, but the listing was delayed by Trump’s White House as part of a broader freeze on rules issued by the prior administration. Environmental advocacy group the Natural Resources Defense Council sued last month, arguing that suspending the listing without public notice or comment violated the law. The NRDC said on Tuesday it was evaluating the next steps in its legal fight. Government scientists said the delay, part of a standard review, was not expected to affect the insect’s conservation, Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency “will work with stakeholders to ensure collaborative conservation among landowners, farmers, industry, and developers in the areas where the species is native,” she added. Bumble bees pollinate wildflowers and about a third of U.S. crops, according to the Xerces Society. A recent study by the Center for Biological Diversity found that more than 700 of the 4,000 bee species native to North America and Hawaii may be inching toward extinction.",
            "output": [
                "First U.S. bumble bee added to endangered species list."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b5c05ecf2344a829428d789e5d160a2",
            "input": "\"Crediting conservation in Austin, the Save Our Springs Alliance said in an Aug. 16, 2011, entry in its online newsletter: \"\"Ten years ago the Austin Water Utility used a total of 240.3 million gallons. Every summer since then our peak day of water use has been lower.\"\" After noting that this year’s peak water use in a day was 217 million gallons, the entry continues: \"\"So raise a tall glass of ice water in honor of our success: water conservation gains have outpaced population growth for a decade. Add a ‘Salud!’ to another 10 years of flat or declining water use — easily achieved with cost-effective conservation measures and an emerging ‘culture of conservation,’ one that recognizes that we can thrive and be happy without oversized, overwatered New England-style turf grass lawns.\"\" We can’t check on the next decade, but we can check if peak water usage has been less every year than what it was in 2001. Indeed, the Austin Water Utility sent us figures indicating that on the peak days of water consumption from 2002 through August 2011, customers used less water than the 240.3 million gallons used on Aug. 13, 2001, though that was barely so in one year. The greatest peak use day since 2001 was Aug. 26, 2006, when usage was 240.17 million gallons — about 5/100ths of a percent shy of the amount gulped, flushed and otherwise used in 2001. The lowest peak-use amount in the 10 years after 2001 was 176.98 million gallons on Aug. 13, 2007. Put another way, the average peak water use in a day in the period was about 214 million gallons, 11 percent off the 2001 peak. The utility’s director, Greg Meszaros, told us in an interview that conservation helps explain the lower peak-use amounts, though he said consumption generally bounces around year to year partly due to variations in the weather — rainy summers reduce demand — and the economy. Per-capita water consumption has been relatively flat, Meszaros said, since the utility instituted a conservation program in 2007 that, among features, encourages customers to use low-water appliances and limit lawn watering. According to the utility, customers have used less water per person lately than individuals did in past years. Per-capita daily use has averaged 190 gallons or more four times since 1990, the last time being 2006. Average per-person consumption slid to 151 gallons in 2007, reached 170 gallons in 2008 and then dipped two straight years, reaching less than 140 gallons in 2010. Daryl Slusher, an assistant director for the utility, said the average will approach 160 gallons for the year that ends Sept. 30. Save Our Springs maintains the area’s conservation successes demonstrate that a water treatment plant slated for Northwest Austin won’t be needed for many years. Meszaros told us Austin needs the new plant because two current plants can’t be relied on indefinitely. Also, he said, the new project will include a vital water transmission main easing the delivery of water to the fast-growing northern third of the utility’s service area. \"\"We’re not doing (the new plant) just to meet a peak water demand,\"\" Meszaros said. In an interview, Bill Bunch, SOS’s executive director, expressed skepticism about strains in the existing water delivery system. He also said there’s not sufficient water demand to justify the new one and forwarded an April 2002 recommendation from city staff about preliminary engineering for the new plant. The document states the plant would be needed by 2009 to meet increasing water demands, predicting too that the utility’s peak one-day demand in summer 2009 would be 281 million gallons; the peak amount that year turned out to be 228 million gallons. Utility spokesman Kevin Buchman later told us by email that in 2002, the \"\"main reason for moving forward with the construction of a new plant was to meet the projected demands.\"\" He said, though, the utility’s mid-decade focus on conservation allowed the city to postpone the plant’s completion by more than five years. \"\"Also,\"\" Buchman said, \"\"since 2002 we have had one of our (originally three) plants decommissioned and our other two water plants have been expanded as much as possible.\"\" We won’t try to settle the water plant debate here. But the alliance’s statement about peak water use rates .\"",
            "output": [
                "Ten years ago the Austin Water Utility used a total of 240.3 million gallons. Every summer since then our peak day of water use has been lower."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-434ee06d70cb47a6b32cf57f4c133d08",
            "input": "A waiter carries beer mugs on the opening day of Schweizerhaus beer garden in Vienna March 15, 2010. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol was adopted by consensus at the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO). Its 10 main policy recommendations, drawn up after two years of negotiation, are not binding but serve as guidance to WHO’s 193 member states. “Alcohol contributes to accidents, mental health problems, social problems and harms third parties,” said Bernt Bull, a senior advisor in Norway’s health ministry. Nordic countries, many of which already have tight restrictions on alcohol sales, spearheaded the initiative at the United Nations agency. A relatively high excise tax on alcoholic beverages and regulations limiting their availability was helping to reduce alcohol-related diseases in Norway, he said. The WHO estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and various cancers — 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities worldwide. “Alcohol is usually not perceived as a killer, though it is,” Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, told a news briefing. Despite growing abuse and youth drinking at an earlier age in many countries, half of WHO members do not have a national alcohol policy, according to WHO expert Vladimir Poznyak. “The biggest changes might happen in those countries which have no alcohol control institutions or regulatory framework for alcohol consumption,” he told reporters. SELF-REGULATION   The Global Alcohol Producers Group noted the strategy recognized the importance of self-regulation by industry in helping to address alcohol abuse. Its members recognized “the harmful effects of irresponsible drinking patterns” and would continue efforts to promote self-regulation of advertising as well as curbs on drink driving and illegal underage and excessive drinking, a statement said. Britain’s Diageo, the world’s largest alcoholic drinks group, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, are among its members. In a separate statement, brewing giant SABMiller gave a cautious welcome to the plan, but warned:   “SABMiller is unconvinced there is sufficient evidence to support policy options such as minimum pricing and high excise taxes that may result in unintended, negative public health consequences which stem from the growth of the illicit alcohol market.”   The WTO strategy document says the harmful use of alcohol has a serious effect on public health and is one of the main risk factors for poor health globally. There is strong evidence that a low limit for blood alcohol concentration (0.02 to 0.05 percent) is effective in reducing drink-driving casualties, it says. It underlined the importance of a legal framework for restricting the sale and serving of alcohol, a minimum age for buying drinks and “mandated health warnings” on alcohol labels. Setting a minimum price per unit gram of alcohol has been shown to reduce consumption and alcohol-related harm, it said. But overly tight restrictions on alcohol availability may promote the development of a parallel illicit market, it warned. The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance — a coalition of medical professionals, researchers and non-governmental organizations — welcomed the WHO decision as historic and “long overdue.”   “The strategy highlights the effectiveness of focusing on policies regarding pricing, availability and marketing of alcohol,” it said in statement.",
            "output": [
                "WHO to tackle alcohol misuse, binge drinking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48e2dca770174e51b85847d6af4f19ab",
            "input": "While the flavors may be sinful, the shakes are not. Each protein shake has just 200 calories and only 11 to 15 grams of carbs. As an added bonus, each shake offers 24 grams of protein and 21 vitamins and minerals. “It’s everything you need in a healthy meal,” said Seth McMurry, Nutrition Hub and Nutrition Bar co-owner. This new smoothie bar concept that is spreading across the Memphis area started as a family affair. Seth McMurry and his wife, Cymber, along with Seth’s brother Nathan McMurry and his wife, Katelyn, opened The Nutrition Hub in Germantown in April. It was the first of these smoothie bar and meal replacement shops to open in the area. In September, the couples opened Nutrition Bar in Laurelwood in East Memphis. The names of the two businesses are slightly different, but each offers a similar menu. The focus is on shakes, teas and aloe shots. The shakes are creamy, filling and surprisingly tasty. They taste like a sinful milkshake, not a healthy meal replacement. “Protein shakes have been a big part of our life since we are athletes,” Katelyn said. “These are healthy, not chalky and taste like a dessert.” The protein shakes are made with water and ice as the base. Using water instead of milk helps keep the calories down. Each shake is made with protein powder and Healthy Meal meal-replacement shake mixes from Herbalife Nutrition. “We currently have three different protein powders and 11 healthy meal flavors,” Seth said of how they can make so many shake flavors. The current menu boasts about 40 flavors, and Seth is working on adding approximately 20 more flavors. “These shakes give you everything you need in a full meal without the calories,” Seth said. “Our shakes are a way to get a lot of protein in one meal with low calories,” Katelyn added. “When exercising, you need protein to build your muscles back up.” So what to order? Start with some of the owners’ favorites. Katelyn’s favorite flavors are the Blueberry Muffin and Cinnamon Toast. Nathan goes for the Elvis, a chocolate, peanut butter and banana concoction, or Salted Caramel. At $8 per shake, it’s a quick and affordable fast food. The tea at the Nutrition Bar and Hub is not your traditional Earl Grey or chamomile tea. Instead it’s a fruity-flavored energy tea that can be ordered cold or hot. “It gives you extra energy like a double espresso. But unlike espresso, it is a clean, natural energy, so you will have no jitters,” Seth said of the stevia-based teas that have only 15 calories and no added sugar. Each tea is made from a combination of a tea and an energy supplement. Seth recommends Pomegranate + Pomegranate, Chai + Orange, and Pomegranate + Orange. You can also add a “booster” to your tea. They offer seven different boosters that range from a collagen “Beauty Booster” to an “Immune Booster” with vitamin C and zinc. Teas are $4, with an extra charge for the boosters. When you visit the Nutrition Bar or Hub, Seth recommends you start with an aloe shot. Made from aloe vera, this shot is for gut health. Benefits include soothing the stomach, relieving indigestion and supporting nutrient absorption. The shots come in mango, mandarin and cranberry and are just $1. Unlike aloe water, which can contain jelly-like pieces of aloe plants, these shots are smooth and go down easily. “I have had customers tell me they been able to stop taking acid reflux medication after taking aloe shots daily,” Seth said. Customers can also purchase products to make their own shakes, teas and even aloe shots at home. As part of Herbalife Nutrition’s sales program, business owners like the McMurrys can receive a percentage of sales from other businesses that use their account to get up and running. “As they are more successful, we are more successful,” Katelyn said of this win-win to help others open a similar concept. “Plus, the percentage comes from Herbalife, not directly from their business.” In addition to the health aspect, Seth said a big reason the family started the business was to build community. “Each location has a big bar so folks can sit and talk with each other and us,” he said. “I know most of my customers here in Germantown by name.” Each location has comfortable seating, both at the bar as well as throughout the store. The atmosphere encourages guests to hang out for a bit, as they sip their shake. “All of us are athletes and we have been drinking protein shakes for years,” Seth said. “We have friends in Little Rock who have a similar business, and we wanted to create the same thing here in Memphis.” Katelyn said they also saw a big need in Memphis. “We are trying to make a difference by offering a healthy and fast alternative.” The McMurrys are growing their business by helping others open similar concepts. Last year, the McMurrys partnered with another family to open a third location on Main Street. Downtown Nutrition is co-owned by couple Preston and Jackie Butts and Anthony Hollins, Jackie’s brother. The menu and feel of the new location, which opened in early December, reminds you of the other two locations. Jackie described the business relationship with the McMurrys as “each is independently owned but we all work together.” “I liked the community aspect of the business, the health awareness piece and the impact it can have on a community,” Preston said. “Plus, we live Downtown, and we wanted to give a great product to the underserved health and fitness community in Downtown Memphis.” “We are opening a second location for us in Oxford, Mississippi, within the month,” Preston said. The new location will be much larger than the Downtown location, at more than 2,000 square feet, and is located at 1101 Merchants Drive, across the street from the Dick’s Sporting Goods. Ole Miss students will be happy to know that the shakes will be on the university’s meal plan. ___ Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com",
            "output": [
                "Nutrition Hub starts a nutrition bar craze in Memphis area."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a24f1f564e0450c97f39c32223393fa",
            "input": "\"As public debate across the country has bubbled up in recent months over environmental concerns related to hydraulic fracturing — or fracking as it’s becoming widely known — proponents of oil and gas drilling have come rushing to its defense. The process involves pumping millions of gallons chemical-laced water and sand deep underground into horizontal wells under high pressure to crack open shale,  enabling natural gas extraction. On June 15, 2011, state Sen. Kris Jordan, a Delaware Republican, defended the process in a floor speech on behalf of legislation that would throw open state parkland to oil and gas drilling. During his speech, Jordan portrayed the growing concerns of the public — which have been fanned by \"\"Gasland,\"\" a controversial documentary on the environmental issues related to the fracking process — as overblown as he pointed to a long track record of safe fracking in Ohio. \"\"State agencies have not identified one single instance where groundwater has been damaged due to hydraulic fracking,\"\" Jordan said. With drilling likely coming soon to Eastern Ohio where the Utica and Marcellus shale formations await possible exploration, PolitiFact Ohio decided to check out Jordan’s claim. We started with Jordan, who stood by his statement. \"\"From what I understand, none of the cases has come from fracking itself being involved in contaminating any water,\"\" said Jordan. \"\"Any problems that have happened have been well construction issues.\"\" Jordan said he consulted with several people in Ohio’s oil and gas industry including Tom Stewart, a top official with the Ohio Oil and Gas Association for his information. Stewart and other oil and gas supporters directed us to several recent statements from state and federal EPA officials such as one made recently by Lisa Jackson, President Barack Obama’s top federal Environmental Protection Agency administrator. During a House committee hearing, Jackson said evidence was limited on whether hydraulic fracturing can affect water tables and aquifers. \"\"There is evidence it can certainly affect them. I am not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself impacted water although there are investigations ongoing,\"\" she told lawmakers. The U.S. EPA began a study in January 2011 of possible environmental problems caused by fracking. The first findings from that study aren’t expected until late 2012. ODNR officials also said they haven’t seen water contamination from fracking in Ohio. \"\"ODNR’s Oil and Gas Program has not identified any instances of groundwater contamination related to hydraulic fracturing since the technology was first used here in the early 1950s,\"\" ODNR spokeswoman Heidi Hetzel-Evans said in an email. When considering these statements, however, it’s important to understand exactly what they are saying—and also what they are not saying. What they are saying is that there are no documented cases of groundwater contamination directly from the process of pumping the chemical-laced water and sand into the ground to break the rock apart. They are not talking about the actual drilling of the hole that is fracked or the construction of the drilling well that is used for the fracking process. \"\"There is definitely a lot of misinformation out there,\"\" said Hetzel-Evans. \"\"I don’t think the general public understands that the drilling process isn’t fracking.\"\" And while there aren’t any groundwater problems due directly to fracking in Ohio, the drilling of wells to prepare for the fracking process has lead to water contamination in at least one case in Ohio. Meanwhile, the first study of its kind in the country is turning up similar evidence. In December 2007, a home exploded in a residential neighborhood in Bainbridge Township in Geauga County, Ohio. A panel assembled by ODNR ultimately found that a poorly-constructed well casing — think of it as a cement seal around the drill hole -- allowed gas to migrate upwards along the edge of the casing and up the pipe. Ultimately, this gas seeped into the home in Bainbridge and caused the explosion. Meanwhile, there is new evidence outside of Ohio that poorly constructed drilling wells used for fracking are leading to problems with groundwater. Duke University researchers found that methane levels were 17 times higher in water wells within one kilometer of hydraulic fracking sites in New York and Pennsylvania than in water wells farther away. The methane levels in those wells showed the same characteristics as methane produced from fracking, as opposed to naturally-occurring methane. Robert Jackson, the professor of environmental sciences who headed up the research, said that the \"\"methane migration\"\" was likely caused by problems with the casing around the drill hole rather than from the methane migrating thousands of feet through the rock from the fracking zone. But he wonders whether the new high-pressure water treatment used in fracking could be the cause. \"\"What I haven’t seen anyone address is whether hydraulic fracturing makes it more likely to cause well casings to leak,\"\" he said. \"\"It may be the high pressure involved in fracking makes leaks more common and bigger.\"\" Meanwhile, the gas exploration boom in Pennsylvania has begun turning up evidence that the shale gas exploration involving the fracking process could be contaminating groundwater supplies with methane. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection ordered Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to provide and maintain potable water and gas mitigation for residents in Dimock, Pa., who sued over wells polluted in 2009 with methane gas and other contaminants. Another group, from Lenox Township, Pa., sued Houston-driller Southwestern Energy Co. in 2010  claiming their wells were contaminated with fracking fluids. Both suits are tied up in court. So where does that leave Jordan’s claim that \"\"state agencies have not identified one single instance where groundwater has been damaged due to hydraulic fracking.\"\" That statement squares with ODNR’s records. But regulators in Ohio have linked water contamination problems in at least one incident to other aspects of drilling such as the construction of the drilling wells. That’s additional information that provides clarification. On the Truth-O-Meter, Jordan’s statement grades out at .\"",
            "output": [
                "State agencies have not identified one single instance where groundwater has been damaged due to hydraulic fracking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb6b7b1e9f634f7da39c2b52e2a250e0",
            "input": "The new list price for Praluent will be $5,850 a year, matching the price Amgen set when it lowered the list of its competing drug, Repatha, in October. Sanofi and Regeneron said they expect the lower-priced Praluent to be available for pharmacies to order in early March. They said the new price should improve patient access and result in lower out-of-pocket costs for U.S. consumers. Praluent and Repatha belong a class of injectable biotech drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors that dramatically lower bad LDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks and death. Sales of both have been severely constrained by onerous roadblocks to patient access put up by insurers looking to limit spending on the expensive drugs. They were approved in 2015 with initial list prices of more than $14,000 a year. In March of last year, Regeneron and Sanofi said that they would be willing to charge less for their drug if insurers agreed to reduce barriers for high-risk heart patients. A few months later they struck a deal with Express Scripts, now part of Cigna Corp, to make the drug available to that company’s customers at a price in the range of $4,500 to $6,600 a year. The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than in other developed countries, where governments directly or indirectly control costs. That makes it by far the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers. Congress has been targeting the pharmaceutical industry over the rising cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers, particularly since Democrats took over the House of Representatives in January. Executives from at least six drugmakers plan to testify at a Senate hearing on rising prescription drug prices later this month. Drug pricing is also a top priority of the administration of President Donald Trump, who had made it a central issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.",
            "output": [
                "Sanofi and Regeneron cut list price of cholesterol drug by 60 percent."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c542804a164b44a39851de2cd4942d45",
            "input": "Pubs, clubs and gyms have already closed, but social media on Sunday was awash with pictures of people congregating in parks and food markets, apparently ignoring advice to stay two metres apart. Parks in London are already closing down as authorities struggle to slow the advance of coronavirus through the population, the biggest public health crisis since the influenza pandemic of 1918. So far 281 Britons have died from coronavirus. The spiralling number of infections means Johnson is in a race against time to prevent a repeat of the tragedy in other countries, including Italy where the death toll reached 5,476 on Sunday. Johnson was blunt as he delivered his message to the public. “Stay two metres apart. It’s not such a difficult thing. Do it,” he said. “Otherwise.... there is going to be no doubt that we will have to bring forward further measures and we are certainly keeping that under constant review.”  Johnson said tougher measures such as curfews needed to be timed right for maximum impact. “After all, when the epidemic is hardly spreading at all that’s not the moment to impose curfews and prohibitions on movement and so on and so forth,” he said. “You’ve got to wait until, alas, it’s the right moment to do it and that’s always been how we’ve been guided.”  In another sign of the times, McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) announced on Sunday it will temporary shut all of its more than 1,300 restaurants in Britain and Ireland by Monday evening. “This is not a decision we are taking lightly, but one made with the well-being and safety of our employees in mind as well as the best interests of our customers,” the company said in a statement on Twitter titled “See you soon.”  The latest official statistics show the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain rose to 5,683 on Sunday, up from 5,018 on Saturday. Speaking alongside Johnson, communities minister Robert Jenrick said the government will write to 1.5 million of its most vulnerable citizens to demand they stay at home for the next 12 weeks to shield themselves from the virus. Senior doctors in Britain are already thinking about how they may need to ration critical care beds and ventilators if resources fall short. Johnson, who has asked British manufacturers to produce ventilators for coronavirus sufferers at short notice, said “far, far more” would be needed. Britain said on Friday that engineering companies had come up with an emergency ventilator prototype to treat coronavirus patients that could be approved next week, though one industry source told Reuters full production was several weeks away. Around 12% of adult critical care beds in hospitals in England are occupied by patients with COVID-19, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jenny Harries, said while speaking alongside Johnson. “That will change drastically as we go through the epidemic,” she added.",
            "output": [
                "Johnson tells UK: Stay apart or face tougher coronavirus measures."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88d160cbebc14008a5be90707a5d4240",
            "input": "But global health experts said China has come a long way since 2003, when it was accused of trying to cover up a major outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a previously unknown virus believed to have emerged from the wet markets of Guangdong province before spreading into major cities. As many as 774 people died in an epidemic that reached nearly 30 countries. Now, nearly 17 years later, government officials insist they have learned from past mistakes as they try to contain the latest deadly viral pneumonia strain, which has infected 440 people, mostly in Wuhan city, and killed nine since it was first identified at the end of last month. Liu Heng, an adviser to China’s cabinet said it took the country about four or five months to announce the SARS outbreak to the public, and this time it had taken less than a month. “We are doing much better now... We are paying greater attention to preventing the epidemic,” he told reporters. Li Bin, vice minister at the National Health Commission, told reporters on Wednesday that since 2003, China had established comprehensive new procedures to handle major health threats. “With relatively complete prevention and control systems for sudden and infectious diseases in place since SARS ... and with the support of the broad masses of the public, we are confident of victory,” he said. A key factor watched by experts both at home and overseas has been the rapid disclosure of information about the genetic structure of the virus and the way it has spread through the population. Li said Beijing had learned from its experiences with SARS and was now sharing all relevant data with international stakeholders, including the World Health Organization (WHO). “The speed with which this virus has been identified is testament to changes in public health in China since SARS and strong global coordination through the WHO,” said Jeremy Farrar, a British infectious diseases specialist who also worked on combating SARS. Experts say the failures of SARS were caused by an under-resourced and overcentralised health system with little experience of infectious diseases and no information disclosure mechanisms. Local governments were also reluctant to take responsibility for the rapid spread of infections. Beijing has since established the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention that hooks up hospitals and clinics nationwide and reports outbreaks in real time. It has also set up specific mechanisms for new pneumonia strains. “China... has developed excellent disease surveillance systems since SARS, including real-time emergency department surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections, so this will help with rapid identification of new cases,” said Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity research programme at the Kirby Institute in Sydney. Vice-minister Li said China’s health infrastructure was also now better able to cope, with the country ready to deploy several “back-up” hospitals that could be put into action should the number of infected people spike further. The silence on the part of authorities during the early stages of SARS helped create a rumor mill that sparked panic in several major cities and brought the economy to a standstill. One estimate suggested China’s economy slowed by around 1-2 percentage points in 2003 as a result of SARS. This time, officials have been warned they face public ignominy if they cover up any infections, and the message throughout state media has been about the need for greater transparency. Communist Party-backed tabloid Global Times said on Wednesday that “concealment would be a serious blow to the government’s credibility and might trigger greater social panic”. President Xi Jinping has vowed to curb the spread of the virus, which has erupted just before the nation begins its biggest holiday this week, the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions people travel. Nevertheless, some people said Chinese officials are cracking down on those who spread news about the disease online. Social media is still awash with cover-up claims, and some doubts are still being expressed about the accuracy and timeliness of China’s data. “We can only judge the information we are being provided and have no way to determine if any information is not being disclosed,” said MacIntyre. And the big test of lessons learned could be still to come, when new year travel could create countless new vectors for the potential transmission of the virus. Adam Kamradt-Scott, an infectious diseases expert at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, said China has “come a long way” since the outbreak of SARS. “I’m not sure that we could expect more of them at this stage in the outbreak, particularly when they are understandably focused on responding to the outbreak and trying to contain it ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "The shadow of SARS: China learned the hard way how to handle an epidemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4ebac6380874bbba89bb1f1dfccdb22",
            "input": "\"Opposing a proposal to reduce the amount of money that the state puts toward cancer research, Republican state Rep. Jim Keffer of Eastland focused on the financial impact the disease has on Texans. Addressing the measure’s author, GOP Rep. Rob Orr of Burleson, Keffer said in House debate April 3: \"\"Do you know … that the costs of cancer and all affiliated issues are over $20 billion a year to this state? So that is the reason that this is such a great program. We are having successes, and, really, to tamper with or harm it now … it’d be detrimental.\"\" We wondered whether Keffer was right about cancer costs to Texas. First, some background: In 2007, with the backing of Gov. Rick Perry and bicycling superstar and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, the Legislature voted to ask Texans to approve the sale of $3 billion in bonds over 10 years to finance cancer research grants. Voters gave the OK that fall, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas was created to dole out the money. Orr’s 2011 measure, which the House rejected, would have reduced the annual sale of the cancer bonds by one-third over the next biennium. In response to our inquiry, Keffer’s chief of staff, Ky Ash, told us that the $20 billion cost statistic was a reference to May 2007 testimony by consultant and lobbyist Billy Hamilton, a former deputy state comptroller, before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. During that hearing, which we reviewed online, Hamilton said he was not speaking for any group or agency in addressing \"\"the financial aspects\"\" of cancer in Texas. He pointed to a 2001 study commissioned by the Texas Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition, a public-private group that is now known as the Cancer Alliance of Texas, and conducted by a research team led by David Warner, a professor of health and social policy at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs. The study estimated the total economic impact of cancer on Texas in 1998 as about $14 billion. According to the study, about $5 billion of the total represented \"\"direct costs,\"\" including hospitalization and other treatments, cancer screenings and medications, plus spending on research and other cancer-related programs by state agencies, nonprofit groups and private foundations. The remaining $9 billion reflected \"\"indirect costs\"\" — in this case, the value of the economic activity lost because someone was sick with or died from cancer. For example, the researchers estimated how much income and other economic benefits people who died of cancer in 1998 would have produced had they lived to their age group’s average life expectancy. So, Hamilton testified, the $14 billion total included numerous costs — including to the government, to families, in lost wages and in insurance — \"\"rolled together.\"\" He then told the senators that he had drawn on the study to make a conservative estimate for the cost of cancer in Texas in 2008: \"\"just under $30 billion.\"\" Noted: That’s quite a bit greater than Keffer’s aired figure. In an e-mail, Hamilton told us that he no longer has the original information that supported his analysis, but he said he reached his estimate by updating the 2001 figure using newer data on cancer incidence in Texas, plus demographic and economic figures and information on cancer costs. Hamilton said he believed his estimate was conservative because his price assumptions were closer to the general inflation rate than the increase in the costs of medical care, which is greater. Next, we looked for other research on the costs of cancer in Texas. Christine Mann, an assistant press officer at the Texas Department of State Health Services, pointed us to an analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. It put the 2007 cost number at about $22 billion: $10 billion in direct costs and $12 billion in indirect costs. The March 2009 report, commissioned by the Texas Cancer Registry, says the researchers’ methodology combined an adaptation of a recently published National Cancer Institute approach with methods used by the LBJ School’s Warner in 2001. From 1998 to 2007, the more recent report says, the cost of cancer in Texas increased for several reasons, including an increase in the number of older Texans, rising health care costs and more expensive treatments. For information about cancer trends in Texas, we turned to the Texas Cancer Registry, a collaboration between the Texas Department of State Health Services, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. A February 2010 report says that although cancer rates (the number of new cases per 100,000 people) have been declining in recent years, the number of new cancer cases has been rising because of \"\"the increasing size and aging of the Texas population.\"\" According to the Cancer Registry, there were 95,607 new cancer cases in Texas in 2007, the most recent data available. That’s an increase of 3.6 percent from the year before. Finally, we found an analysis of the 2010 costs of cancer in the state. Done by the Perryman Group, a Waco-based economic analysis firm, the report updates the direct and indirect cost estimate to about $25.3 billion. However, the report, conducted for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, says Perryman  \"\"developed a more comprehensive measure of the cost of cancer in terms of Texas business activity,\"\" including both losses stemming from treatment, illness and death — as the earlier studies measured — and \"\"spillover effects,\"\" which it considers \"\"further reductions in business activity.\"\" Those additional reductions push estimated Texas economic losses to more than $150 billion and nearly 700,000 jobs, the Perryman report says. Finally, we looked for national expertise on the costs of cancer at the state level, finding none. Summing up: Keffer claimed that cancer and its related issues cost Texas upwards of $20 billion a year. Most of that figure is pegged to indirect costs. That said, the most recent research we found consistently pegged the total annual cost at considerably more than $20 billion.\"",
            "output": [
                "The costs of cancer and all affiliated issues are over $20 billion a year to this state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8094602663fe4919a6917f7d04514a99",
            "input": "\"Donald Trump \"\"seems terrified to release his taxes\"\" because they may reveal his  net worth, his donations to liberal causes, or something even seedier, Sen. Ted Cruz suggested on Meet the Press. \"\"There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia,\"\" Cruz said Feb. 28. \"\"Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported.\"\" Pressed by host Chuck Todd to back up his claim, Cruz cited reports by ABC and CNN. A Cruz spokesman forwarded us several other media reports detailing the real estate developer’s alleged ties to organized crime. The Trump campaign did not get back to us. Is Cruz right that the Donald has worked with a few Dons in his career? HELP US RAISE $15,000 TO HIRE AN EXTRA FACT-CHECKER It’s important to note that Trump hasn’t been charged with any illegal activity, and it’s reasonable to argue that he was unaware or even a victim in some cases. But Cruz has a point that the mogul has been linked to the mob for decades. Mob control a ‘fact of life’ Before we detail Trump’s alleged ties, none of this proves that Trump was happy doing business with the mafia or even in cahoots with them at all. La Cosa Nostra had a virtual monopoly on concrete in New York at the time Trump was adding his name to its skyline in the 1980s. And the mafia’s control over building supplies and labor unions meant that the crime families had a hand in most construction projects in Manhattan. Trump and other major developers \"\"had to adapt to that situation\"\" or build elsewhere, said James B. Jacobs, a mafia expert who was part of a state task force on organized crime. \"\"That was the fact of life, that was the way it was,\"\" he told PolitiFact. \"\"The contractors and developers weren’t pure victims. You could bribe the mob-controlled union leaders and get relief from the more arduous conflicts. But we had no information that Trump was any different.\"\" That being said, Trump’s business dealings with the mob or mob-related characters are widely documented. Let’s run through them. Mafia concrete for Trump Plaza Trump was first tied to the mafia in the 1980s, when a $7.8 million subcontract for Trump Plaza was awarded to S&A Concrete, according to Fortune. The company, as Cruz correctly says, was partially owned by Anthony \"\"Fat Tony\"\" Salerno, the boss of the Genovese crime family. Trump himself acknowledged as much in a December 2015 interview with the Wall Street Journal, admitting that S&A Concrete was \"\"supposedly associated with the mob.\"\" \"\"Virtually every building that was built was built with these companies,\"\" he said, adding, \"\"These guys were excellent contractors. They were phenomenal. They could do three floors a week in concrete. Nobody else in the world could do three floors a week. I mean they were unbelievable. Trump Tower, other buildings.\"\" When Salerno was indicted in 1986, the charges specifically mentioned Trump Plaza. Salerno’s 1992 obituary ends with a nod to the luxury highrise and 15 other Manhattan buildings. Trump World Tower, supported by the Quadrozzi Concrete Company, is also tangentially related to La Cosa Nostra. The head of the company, John Quadrozzi Sr., was tied to the Lucchese crime family and indicted for making illegal payoffs to the mob in 1992. TIME and Daily Beast have speculated that Trump Tower was also built with mafia influence, though the evidence is less concrete. Atlantic City partnerships Trump’s alleged mob dealings were not confined to New York. According to reports from the Huffington Post  and Philadelphia Inquirer, Trump made a deal in Atlantic City with Kenneth Shapiro, an associate of mob boss Nicky Scarfo, and mob-connected labor boss Daniel Sullivan. Trump seemed aware of this, calling Shapiro \"\"a third-rate, local real estate mafia\"\" and Sullivan \"\"the guy who killed Jimmy Hoffa.\"\" Nonetheless, in 1981, Trump leased a portion of the land for Trump Plaza and Casino from a company the two men controlled, according a report by New Jersey gaming regulators. The company refused to cooperate with the authorities, and Trump eventually ended the partnership and bought out their shares. Later Trump brought on Sullivan as a labor negotiator at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and introduced the man to his own banker, according to the Los Angeles Times. Through intermediaries Trump bought the property for the casino from the \"\"crown prince\"\" of the Philadelphia mob, Salvatore Testa, for $1.1 million in 1982. Multiple media reports and an unauthorized biography about Trump allege this was more than twice its market value. (Testa purchased the property in 1977 for $195,000.) According to The Federalist, two construction companies controlled by Nicky Scarfo ended up building Trump Plaza and Casino. \"\"You had contractors that were supposedly mob-oriented all over Atlantic City,\"\" Trump said when the Wall Street Journal asked him about it, adding that \"\"every single casino company used the same companies, just I hope you will say that.\"\" A few years later, Trump’s organized crime connections extended overseas. In 1992, a Senate subcommittee named Danny Leung, who was then the vice president for foreign marketing at Trump Taj Mahal, as an associate of the Hong Kong-based organized crime group 14K Triad. \"\"Leung has also given complimentary tickets for hotel rooms and Asian shows to numerous members and associates of Asian organized crime,\"\" reads the report, which also identified three other triad-connected business associates or former employees of Trump’s gambling empire. According to gaming regulators, Leung \"\"flew in 16 Italian organized crime figures from Canada who stole more than $1 million from the casino in a credit scam,\"\" reported the New York Daily News in 1995. \"\"The incident was never reported because Trump never filed charges.\"\" Leung, who had a separate contract to bring gamblers from Toronto to the casino, denied the affiliation to organized crime, and his casino and junket licenses were renewed. (The Trump Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy in 1991, and his other Atlantic City properties folded a decade later.) Mob-linked business adviser And there’s Felix Sater, \"\"a twice-convicted Russian émigré who served prison time and had documented mafia connections\"\" and the subject of the ABC story Cruz referenced. Sater pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering in 1998 and was indicted again in 2000 for taking part in a $40 million stock scheme involving four Mafia families, according to the New York Times report. From 2003 to 2007, Sater traveled the country promoting projects for Trump, and his company was a partner in the Trump SoHo hotel. Trump told the Times he \"\"never knew that.\"\" Three years later, Sater returned to the Trump Organization and had business cards that described him as Trump’s \"\"senior advisor,\"\" the AP reported. Trump told the AP that he’s \"\"not familiar\"\" with Sater. Our ruling Cruz said, \"\"There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia.\"\" While it’s important to note that these connections were not atypical in the real estate and casino businesses in the 1980s, Cruz’s statement is accurate. Media reports have linked Trump to mafia bosses and mob-connected business associates for decades.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"There have been multiple media reports about (Donald Trump's) business dealings with the mob, with the mafia.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8f4355e82b54367bb56f0a4218960c6",
            "input": "The review, posted on the FDA’s website on Monday, comes two days ahead of a meeting of outside medical experts who are expected to recommend whether it should be approved. The FDA usually follows the advice of its advisory panels. The drug, which would be sold under the brand name Zontivity, is designed to prevent heart-related deaths, cardiac arrests and strokes in patients who have had a recent heart attack. It would not be recommended for patients who have previously had a stroke because of an increased risk of bleeding in the brain. Results from a trial known as TRA 2P “are sufficient to establish the effectiveness of vorapaxar for its proposed indication,” the review found. The main safety concern with the drug is bleeding, the review found, though it noted that the rate of fatal bleeding was low in the population for whom the drug is proposed. The FDA did not recommend that the company establish a risk management program, nor did it recommend that the company conduct additional trials following approval. Vorapaxar works by preventing blood cells, known as platelets, from clumping together and forming clots in the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks. Other anti-platelets include aspirin and Plavix, which is made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Merck’s drug works in a different way, by inhibiting a receptor known as PAR-1. Each year about 525,000 Americans have heart attacks and about 190,000 have a second heart-related event, according to Merck. Standard therapy to prevent a second episode often includes treatment with aspirin and Plavix. Voraxapar would be given in addition to standard treatment. During clinical trials, safety monitors found that patients who had previously had a stroke were at higher risk of bleeding in the brain and were instructed to stop taking the drug. Merck then focused its analysis on patients who had had a heart attack but no stroke. Merck’s shares rose 2.7 percent to $51.21 in early trading, helped also by news it had initiated its application to market a drug for patients with advanced melanoma. The company also said it is pursuing strategic options for its animal health and consumer businesses and expects to complete any action this year.",
            "output": [
                "Merck's anti-blood clot drug should be approved: FDA review."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e87a58342c9f4c528af1cd82390b69f4",
            "input": "America’s opioid epidemic, especially damaging in rural areas where Trump is popular, has been a focus for the Republican president. On Tuesday, the government charged drug distributor Rochester Drug Co-operative Inc and company executives for their role in fueling the epidemic. The company agreed to pay $20 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioid pain killers. “We are holding big Pharma accountable,” Trump said at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta. Deaths from opioid overdose in the United States jumped 17 percent in 2017 from a year earlier to more than 49,000 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths from potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl surged 45 percent in that time, according to the CDC. Hundreds of lawsuits by state and local governments accuse drugmakers such as Purdue Pharma of deceptively marketing opioids, and distributors such as AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp of ignoring that they were being diverted for improper uses. Trump said he convinced Chinese President Xi Jinping in a December meeting in Argentina to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance. China last month listed all fentanyl-related substances as controlled narcotics after criticism from Trump, though its government blamed U.S. culture for abuse of the drug and said the amount of fentanyl going from China into the United States was “extremely limited.”  “Almost all fentanyl comes from China,” Trump said on Wednesday. “They are going to make it a major crime.”   Little has come of Trump’s earlier calls for executing drug dealers. But the administration has taken some action to address the crisis on other fronts. Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October 2017. Last week, U.S. health officials said they will spend $350 million in four states to study ways to best deal with the opioid crisis on the local level, with a goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years in selected communities in those states. The Democratic National Committee said in a statement before Trump’s remarks that his proposed Medicaid cuts and efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, could make the opioid problem worse. Trump has used the crisis to support his call for building a wall on the border with Mexico, saying it would help keep out heroin and other illegal drugs and curb the crisis.",
            "output": [
                "Trump says he is holding big Pharma accountable in opioid fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0168ea7abd9f4ea08df2143ea9b05050",
            "input": "Parents testified to lawmakers that their unimmunized children were turned away from daycares and doctors. Republican Rep. Lynn Morris, a pharmacist from southwest Missouri, said parents are being pressured to vaccinate their children. “Parents are getting bullied,” Morris said. “They’re getting bullied by county health departments. They’re getting bullied by schools. They’re getting bullied by their doctors. They’re being intimidated, and I just don’t think that’s right.” The Republican’s bill would ban discrimination against unimmunized children in doctors’ offices, daycares, public schools and colleges if families have legal exemptions. Missouri grants exemptions for religious and medical reasons. The hearing came just days after a judge temporarily blocked a suburban New York county’s emergency order banning children from public places unless they’ve been vaccinated against measles. Lawmakers from other states also are looking to ramp up vaccinations in response to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough . Washington lawmakers in March passed a measure to strip exemptions for measles vaccinations after an outbreak sickened dozens. There’s a push to end non-medical exemptions for vaccines in Maine, where there were 95 cases of whooping cough through February. While overall vaccination rates remain high in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of kids under two who haven’t received any vaccines is growing. The CDC attributes much of this to lack of health insurance — uninsured kids are much more likely to be unvaccinated than children who have health insurance. Janessa Baake, from the city of Peculiar in southwestern Missouri, cited concern over potential medical risks and told lawmakers Monday that her 3-year-old daughter is unvaccinated. She said after being denied by a Missouri doctor, she now takes her daughter to a Kansas pediatrician. Another man said his two children developed autism after being vaccinated as toddlers. “All of the stories and the anecdotes that we heard are very important, but I don’t think that they can be used to refute science,” Ferguson Democrat Rep. Cora Faith Walker said during a break in the hearing. Multiple studies have debunked claims that measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations increase the risk for autism, and the National Institutes of Health says reports of serious reactions are rare: about one every 100,000 vaccinations. In the U.S., more than 90 percent of the population nationally is properly vaccinated. “What we know and what we have in study after study of scientific fact is that vaccines are safe, and they’re effective,” said Jefferson City pediatrician Katie Blount, a member of the Missouri chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Ultimately what it boils down to is it’s one of the best ways that I know how to take care of a kiddo.” A similar bill didn’t make it to the floor last year. The House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee also is considering legislation to require physicians to provide information on the benefits and risks of vaccines, information from CDC and other information before giving vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "Missouri bill would bar discrimination for not vaccinating."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b936525f70e471a8b13d8b51c204f73",
            "input": "Since this is about affordable and widely available cooking oils, this is N/A. The story does not quantify. We are told the 45-year-old data showed a “lowering” of cholesterol for study participants who swapped animal fats for vegetable fats. But we aren’t given any numbers for by how much or even by what percentage. In a similar shortcoming, one of the most counter-intuitive findings was dismissed. “In fact, the study found that the lower the cholesterol, the greater the risk of death. But that’s a misleading association because a variety of illnesses can also cause drop in cholesterol, which is unrelated to diet.” The story should have given us some numbers for that “greater risk.” Even if it is misleading, we are entitled to know the size of the risk found in the study. The intervention in the study (eating more unsaturated fat) is unlikely to cause adverse side effects, risks, or complications, so we’re rating this N/A. The story did point out the surprising association between lower cholesterol levels and increased risk of death, though that could have been explained more clearly. The story gives us information about both the old Minnesota study and the new British Medical Journal publication. We know the old study was randomized and included 9,000 people. At the end of the story, we also learn the study has “many” limitations and some of these are mentioned. Ideally, the story would have specifically pointed out that the study population included only residents of nursing homes and mental health hospitals, which may affect generalization. Also, given that this is decades-old data, we’re wondering how researchers took that into account, and how it might have impacted the quality of evidence. There was no disease mongering. There don’t appear to be any conflicts of interest, and the story includes an independent source. The story does a good job of talking about the complicated recommendations regarding diet, as well as medications, specifically statins. The different oils are widely available; this is N/A. The story explains that the novelty is not with any treatment or discovery but rather a novel statistical examination of old data. The story does not appear to rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Using Vegetable Oils to Lower Cholesterol May Not Improve Longevity"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a60d8acb5e749fbb52c97b47471d84a",
            "input": "That could all change with a controversial Nov. 4 ballot initiative in which voters will get to decide for the first time whether to abolish a 1963 state law designed to protect small businesses. The law requires North Dakota pharmacies to be owned by local pharmacists or run by hospitals with a local pharmacist on staff. Supporters of the initiative argue it will remove an embarrassing anachronism, give consumers more choice and lower prescription drug costs. Opponents say that allowing national chains would destroy North Dakota’s tradition of personalized pharmacy care and be yet another example of how the state’s neighborly way of life is changing too fast. Canada, Germany, France and many other countries, they also note, have similar laws requiring local pharmacy ownership. “Independent pharmacies are more apt to focus on customer service,” said Gabe Gretz, who bought Service Drug Pharmacy in Williston last year with his father. “This is our bread and butter. It’s not just a hobby for us.”  “North Dakota Nice” is a truism here, not an irony, and most retail stores are still prohibited from opening before noon on Sunday - a throwback to laws designed to encourage family time. Yet since the oil boom began around 2010, drawing thousands of new residents to jobs where roughnecks can earn more than $100,000 a year, drug use, assault and other violent crimes have jumped. Recent sex-trafficking charges brought against an oil field worker in Williston, a once quiet town that is now the epicenter of the boom, marked the first charges of that type ever filed in the area and has escalated tension between new and old residents. Many newly arrived oil workers, and even some locals, say they hope the ballot measure passes so that they can use the  same chains they’ve grown accustomed to elsewhere. Rite Aid Corp has no outpost in the state, North Dakota’s Walmarts have no in-store pharmacies and the state’s lone Walgreens, on the Minnesota border, is prohibited from selling prescription drugs. CVS is able to operate only a handful of pharmacies in North Dakota thanks to a 2006 buyout of several Osco Drug stores that operated before the 1963 law. “Honestly, it’s not convenient getting my prescriptions here,” said Jan Anseth, a resident of Williston who spends winters in Arizona where she gets her medications from a national chain. In North Dakota, Anseth says, she runs into problems transferring prescriptions and getting anything more than a 30-day supply. The ballot’s primary sponsor, North Dakotans For Lower Pharmacy Prices, was funded with $168,000 in contributions from Walmart, Walgreens, Kmart and others. In campaign materials, the group cites data the Kaiser Family Foundation compiled in 2009 showing North Dakota has one of the highest per capita costs for prescription drug and medical devices in the country. Walmart says North Dakotans are missing out on its popular $4 prescription program, which makes many generic drugs available at the sharply discounted price. Crying foul, the state’s independent pharmacists say they’re able to often meet or beat prices from national chains, most of whom lose money on pharmacy sales as a way to get customers in the door. A random survey by Reuters of North Dakota’s independent pharmacies showed that a 30-day supply of the generic blood thinning drug clopidogrel ranged in price between $10 and $59.95. A CVS in Bismarck, the state capital, quoted a price of $149.95 for the same dosage. “I get to set the prices here at my pharmacy,” said Jenna Wahlstrom, a pharmacist at Larsen Service Drug, which her grandfather founded in Watford City in 1952. “It’s not a corporate decision.”  Like the big chains, Wahlstrom offers her customers a smartphone app and online refill ordering. Her pharmacy has transferred hundreds of prescriptions from retail chains for workers who have moved to the state, she said. Ahead of the vote, the state’s top politicians are declining to take sides. Governor Jack Dalrymple, a Republican who took office in 2010, says he shops at locally owned Aerohead Plaza Drug while in Bismarck and believes it has been able to compete effectively with the nearby CVS. Yet in the 1990s, as a state legislator, Dalrymple voted to keep the pharmacy law intact. “I don’t know,” he now says, “if that was the right vote.”",
            "output": [
                "Big pharmacies knock on door of oil-rich North Dakota."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-550d9875804b454791be88cfe735cc7b",
            "input": "\"War, needless to say, is fraught with danger — bullets flying, bombs exploding. But one Florida congressman recently targeted a silent killer that attacks soldiers from within. Rep. Cliff Stearns recently sought — and received — House approval to shift $16 million in Pentagon funding to beef up research for prostate cancer for military members. The Ocala Republican pointed out in a press release that prostate cancer was the second-leading cause of cancer-related death among American men. No argument there. After all, according to the American Cancer Society, only skin cancer is more common than prostate cancer among American men. And only lung cancer kills more of those sufferers. What caught our attention, though, was Stearns’ follow-up assertion: \"\"In addition,\"\" he said, \"\"active duty males in the military are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than their civilian counterparts.\"\" Twice as likely? Really? We asked Stearns’ office about the congressman’s sources, and spokesman Paul Flusche provided a trio of publications. One looked at how Agent Orange might have caused a spike in prostate cancer rates among Vietnam War vets. Another focused on prostate cancer rates strictly among Air Force personnel. The third, which Flusche labeled as the \"\"most important\"\" in supporting Stearns’ claim, was conducted by a team of scientists who compared the rates at which a variety of cancers, including prostate cancer, strike soldiers relative to civilians. That study, conducted by the U.S. Military Cancer Institute, or USMCI, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, was led by Dr. Kangmin Zhu. Zhu’s team actually reviewed six types of cancer — breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, testicular and cervical — for soldiers ages 20 to 59. The data they studied covered from 1990 to 2004. For prostate cancer, the study population included 910 soldiers and 42,751 civilians. In some instances, such as with testicular cancer, there were no differences in the rate of occurrence between the military and civilian populations, the report said. But Zhu and his colleagues, based on their analysis of the numbers, concluded: \"\"Prostate cancer rates in the military were twice those in the general population.\"\" So Stearns is citing a verifiable statistic contained in a reputable story. The natural question, of course, is why would military members be more prone to prostate cancer? The Zhu study could only speculate. For instance, researchers found discrepancies between military and civilian healthcare providers in how cancer incidents are reported, which could explain at least part of the difference. Zhu also hypothesized that better and more frequent health screening for soldiers might explain why prostate cancer is more prevalent among U.S. troops. Exposure to depleted uranium also might account for the results. But Zhu ultimately said that he could not determine a reason and suggested further study. We ran the findings by Dr. Jonathan Simons, president and CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based philanthropic organization that has raised roughly $450 million and helped fund 1,500 researchers at 200 institutions in 12 countries. (The foundation was not connected to Zhu’s work.) Simons observed that Zhu’s mission was not to find why military members seemed more likely to get prostate cancer, but to simply crunch the numbers. In that context, Simons said Stearns was \"\"absolutely correct\"\" and justified in stating that military personnel were twice as likely as civilian men to contract prostate cancer. For one thing, Simons noted, \"\"This is not the junior varsity that did the work. These are really top people.\"\" Still, Simons cautioned that the potential for drawing a \"\"false correlation\"\" existed -- namely that military members are more likely to get prostate cancer than non-military members. If military service meant a greater risk of developing cancer, then one would expect soldiers to exhibit higher rates of the disease across the board, Simons said. That was not the case here. Yet he reiterated that much more research into prostate cancer occurrences among soldiers was necessary to determine whether the findings were a \"\"fluke\"\" or if there was a definite connection — and if so, what might cause it. And that, Simons observed, was Stearns’ goal in pushing for more funding. \"\"I actually compliment Representative Stearns for elevating it,\"\" Simons said. \"\"Congressman Stearns did a really important bit of public health policy here.\"\" Back to Stearns’ comment. In pushing for $16 million in Pentagon funding to beef up research for prostate cancer for military members, he said that \"\"active duty males in the military are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than their civilian counterparts.\"\" Stearns is correct that research shows that military members are diagnosed with prostate cancer at twice the rate as non-military members. However, that same research doesn’t conclude that military members are twice as likely to \"\"develop\"\" prostate cancer as Stearns said. The study hypothesizes that one reason for the different diagnosis rate may be because military members are subject to more frequent health screenings. Getting to the bottom of the discrepancy is actually why Stearns requested the money. That’s a needed clarification when considering Stearns’ comment.\"",
            "output": [
                "Active duty males in the military are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than their civilian counterparts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d990ed206f54d94abd686c8cbd596c7",
            "input": "The 52 deaths in 26 states are among the 2,409 hospitalized cases that have been reported across the nation this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Hospitalized cases have been most common in the Midwest, with some of the highest rates in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The median age of the people who died is 52, but most people who suffered lung damage have been much younger, with half in their teens or early 20s. The outbreak appears to have started in March. The bulk of the cases occurred in August and September, but new cases are still being reported, including 118 in the past week, the CDC said. Some of the newly reported illnesses happened more than a month ago but were only recently reported. However, 43 percent of the latest batch of cases were people hospitalized since Nov. 17, the agency said. Most patients have said they vaped products containing THC, the ingredient that produces a high in marijuana. CDC officials have gradually come to focus their investigation on black-market THC cartridges. Last month, CDC officials said they had narrowed in on a culprit — a chemical compound called vitamin E acetate that has been commonly found in the lungs of sick patients and in the products they vaped. It’s a thickening agent that’s been added to illicit THC vaping liquids. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Vaping illness death count surpasses 50 in US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c3ba4f4b6d1481192cad59304451d8e",
            "input": "The company, which abandoned plans for an initial public offering last month after investors questioned its mounting losses and the way it was being run, said in an email to its tenants on Monday that the chemical could pose a cancer-risk if there is long-term exposure. After a tenant complained of odor and eye irritation, WeWork began testing and based on the results took 1,600 phone booths out of service, the company said in the email to tenants, which it calls members. An additional 700 booths are closed while more testing is conducted, it said. All the phone booths closed were installed over the past several months, WeWork said. “The safety and well-being of our members is our top priority and we are working to remedy this situation as quickly as possible,” WeWork said in a statement. More costs are the last thing needed at the company, which some analysts say is fast running out of cash. WeWork declined to comment on the cost of testing and replacing the booths. It is currently in talks for a multi-billion dollar rescue deal that could lead to its largest shareholder, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T), taking control, two people familiar with the matter said. WeWork is also talking to JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) over a possible debt package, they said. WeWork declined to identify the manufacturer of the phone booths. “Long-term exposure to formaldehyde, such as that experienced by workers in jobs who experience high concentrations over many years, has been associated with certain types of cancers,” WeWork told tenants in the email. In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen under conditions of unusually high or prolonged exposure. Some studies since then suggested that formaldehyde exposure is associated with certain types of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. A tenant, who did not wish to be identified, said she was worried about the risk of cancer as she had spent hundreds of hours inside phone booths at a San Francisco WeWork that has the problem. Phone booths are popular in WeWork’s open-plan offices as they provide privacy and noise reduction, the tenant said.",
            "output": [
                "\"Iran’s \"\"regime is responsible for more than 1,000 American casualties during the Iraq war\"\" and \"\"has plotted a terrorist attack here in our nation's capital.\"",
                "In new headache, WeWork says it found cancer-causing chemical in its phone booths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a9bdae8d15444388789d450e5fe9ae9",
            "input": "The FDA’s Wednesday announcement of the visit, planned for February 10-18, comes less than two weeks after the FDA banned products from a fourth facility owned by Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd due to manufacturing violations, effectively shutting the company out of the U.S. market for the foreseeable future. India is the second-largest exporter of drugs to the United States after Canada and the eighth-largest food exporter. Indian companies supply 40 percent of all drugs consumed in the United States, yet quality control problems have been rampant. Hamburg said the purpose of her visit is to “connect with my counterparts in the regulatory agencies as well as have a chance to talk with industry leaders who are important stakeholders in terms of our activities.”  She plans to visit Delhi, Mumbai and Cochin, where she will attend the World Spice Congress which runs from February 16-19. She will also visit a seafood processing facility and a spices facility. India accounted for 16 percent of U.S. spice imports by value in 2010 according to a recent FDA report, more than any other country. However, spice imports have been a source of food contamination. In October the FDA released figures showing that nearly 7 percent of all spice imports examined between 2007 and 2009 were contaminated with salmonella, while 12 percent of imported spices were contaminated with insects, hair and other filth. Mexico and India accounted for the highest percentage of contaminated shipments. Hamburg said she wants to build both professional relationships with her counterparts “and build the personal bonds as well.”  “We plan to sign a fairly broad memorandum of understanding to strengthen the ongoing working relationship,” she said. “It will be a fairly broad umbrella framework but will be important both practically and symbolically.”  She said she will not be visiting individual drug companies, but will have a round-table discussion with drug company chief executives. Part of the discussion will focus on quality control. “We have made it very clear that we have a set of quality standards that we will adhere to,” Hamburg said, adding that the message will be reiterated. “It needs to be a very clear message, but it is a message they will not be surprised by.”  In December Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd received a warning letter from the FDA over manufacturing practices at one of its U.S. facilities. In November the FDA effectively banned products from a second plant operated by Wockhardt Ltd.  “We have a responsibility to ensure quality, whether of drugs manufactured in this country or outside our borders,” Hamburg said.",
            "output": [
                "As quality control violations rise, FDA chief heads to India."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-addafe93ae35417c8699357f91bec460",
            "input": "One of the many trends spawned by the internet is a phenomenon known as Reflectoporn — the deliberate posting of photographs of items with reflective surfaces to online auction sites, with those pictures “accidentally” capturing reflected images of the sellers/photographs in various states of undress. The photograph that is generally credited with kicking off the Reflectoporn trend is an image of a tea kettle, which was posted to sold.com.au, an Australian on-line auction site, in August 2001 and thereafter widely mocked: PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT  This is a quick note to all would-be auctioneers: Folks, if you’re going to be selling something that people are going to be drinking fluids out of, please take some extra time to either put on some clothes before taking a picture, or concentrate on selling the non-reflective items in your kitchen. Thank you. That the posting of the revealing image was unlikely to have been accidental was confirmed by a trace of the seller’s user ID, which showed him to be one of a group of people who were planting similar pictures on various web sites. Other examples of Reflectoporn appeared in an auction for a television on the UK version of eBay in December 2002:  And in an eBay auction for a guitar in April 2003:  We started seeing the following picture of a dining room set in February 2005, although we don’t know if it actually was, as claimed, used in on-line auction posting or other type advertisement:",
            "output": [
                "A seller submitted a photo of a tea kettle with a revealing reflection to an online auction site."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19b3634e4ab94437883a57e2c83fe7ea",
            "input": "\"The drug has only been tested in a phase I trial and a discussion of cost is not applicable at this time. The story indicates that 55% of patients (or 18 out of 33) with advanced basel cell carcinoma responded to the treatment. Only one person with medulloblastoma was enrolled in the study and the story adequately describes this case. One point we wish the story had addressed:  what is meant by \"\"response?\"\" Typically it’s a standard percentage shrinkage on an imaging study. What did it really mean in this case? The story states that the drug is associated with “few significant side effects,” however, the specifics of these side effects are not provided. Six patients in the advanced basel cell carcinoma study experienced 8 grade 3 adverse events, including fatigue, hyponatremia, muscle spasms, and atrial fibrillation. One patient withdrew from the study citing adverse effects. The writer makes it clear that this is a small, experimental study that enrolled only 33 patients with advanced basel cell carcinoma and 1 patient with medullablastoma. This story does not engage in disease-mongering. It clearly states that medullablastoma and advanced basel cell carcinoma are rare forms of cancer, a percentage of which involve the pathway targeted by the new drug. This story provided comments from co-authors of the two studies, as well as the author of the accompanying editorial. This story briefly mentions chemotherapy, surgery and radiation as treatment options for cancer. The story makes it clear that this drug is still in the experimental phase and the FDA has not yet approved it. This is story makes it clear this is a novel drug in the early phase of testing. There does not appear to be a press release associated with this story.\"",
            "output": [
                "Roche Drug Shrinks Tumors in Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3c67d7fa8c744a5b542f4e8bce06075",
            "input": "Maryland lawmakers, state officials and union members gathered in Annapolis to address the shortage during a joint hearing before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. Hogan Administration officials said during the hearing that they are aware of the safety concerns and are working to address them, along with the shortage. Jason Kramer, policy analyst with Legislative Services, said during the hearing that the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services alone had a need for more than 1,000 employees, while agencies like the Department of Juvenile Services and Department of Health were short more than 200 positions each, according to the study. Delegate Marc Korman, D-Montgomery, noted during the hearing that recent safety incidents “triggered” the meeting Tuesday morning, which also included testimony from members of Maryland’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — a public employee trade union. The members, donning green union shirts, filled the seats in the hearing room. In a news conference held shortly before the hearing, Patrick Moran — the president of the union — spoke of what he described as “systematic underfunding and delays” in filling vacancies. He said the union is demanding “immediate action,” but also noted that the members present in Annapolis had “no confidence” in Gov. Larry Hogan as an employer. Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, said in a written statement that once the union, “agrees to the ground rules that require them to bargain in good faith — rules that other unions have agreed to year after year — our administration is ready and willing to move forward with negotiations.” Delegate Shelly Hettleman, D-Baltimore County, attended the news conference and said that state employees are “underpaid and overworked,” and the staffing shortages are “putting people in danger.” Jeremy Jeffers, a resident adviser with the Department of Juvenile Services, testified during the hearing and said he has personally dealt with the “dangers” of understaffing, noting that he has been assaulted “multiple times,” suffered six concussions and even lost part of his finger during an incident. “I would challenge anyone to come and spend a shift,” Jeffers said. Ikeia Cornish, a direct care assistant at Eastern Shore Hospital Center, also testified and said one of her coworkers was “blindsided” and beaten by one of the patients. She referred to staffing shortages as a “crisis,” which leads to “more staff and patient injuries” and an “unsecure environment” Representatives from the Hogan Administration also testified during the hearing and addressed what is being done to alleviate the staffing problem. David Brinkley, secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, said the administration takes the staffing shortage issue “very seriously” and is focused on “hard-to-fill” positions like correctional officers. Nick Pepersack, Brinkley’s deputy chief of staff, later confirmed to Capital News Service that those employees received a nearly 10% salary increase between January and July of this year. Total salary enhancements in the last and current fiscal years, Pepersack said, amounted to approximately $467 million for employees statewide. Robert Neall, secretary of the Department of Health, said there is now an “increase in emphasis” on reporting all incidents at state hospitals and he looks “forward to reporting more progress” in January. Delegate Kirill Reznik, D-Montgomery, addressed Neall during the hearing and said while he has “no doubt” that the secretary is trying, “we have been here before.” “Ever year we hear, ‘these are all the things we are doing’ . and every year, we come back here,” Reznik said. Pressed by Reznik on where the department will be in terms of vacancies next year, Neall repeated that he expects “significant” progress, but could not answer the question “with specificity.” Sen. Andrew Serafini, R-Washington, told Capital News Service after the hearing that with regard to the safety incidents, “we have a more violent community in general.” “It’s not that we don’t care” about state employees, Serafini said, adding that the characterization to the contrary is “problematic.” ___ This story was produced by the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service.",
            "output": [
                "MD lawmakers, officials, union meet on staffing shortages."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31940e6d40af4846b348eb1250009669",
            "input": "The deal provides $81 billion for VA medical care to treat 9.3 million veterans, including the $8.9 billion for private care under a law passed last year expanding the Veterans Choice program. Another $11.3 billion is on tap for private care in 2021. Major veterans groups have cautioned against “cannibalizing” VA programs to pay for Choice, which they worry could lead to privatization of VA. The program gives veterans wider access to private care when they have endured lengthy wait times or the treatment was not what they had expected. The price tag could soar as the expanded program takes hold, putting the VA at risk of future budget shortfalls. Democratic presidential contenders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have urged reinvestment  in the VA over expanded private care options. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, a mayor of South Bend, Indiana, have said they will roll back or change some of the Trump administration’s rules on Choice. “As the increasing need for medical care by wounded, ill and injured veterans and their family caregivers is being forced to fit under tight budget caps, we are concerned necessary resources could be shifted away from the VA healthcare system, which independent research has shown provides higher quality care than the private sector,” said Joy Ilem, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. “While community care programs are vital to fill and supplement VA in many locations, we believe the value to veterans and the taxpayer of every dollar spent in the VA health care system is greater than if it were spent in the community,” she said. House Democrats had pushed for Choice money to be exempt from budget caps, to avoid the risk of cuts to core VA programs as costs grow in the coming years. Ultimately, however, the money was kept under budget caps after the White House resisted. The added money for Choice is part of a 6% increase to the total VA budget for the fiscal year ending next September. It also includes $9.4 billion for mental health care. About 20 veterans die by suicide each day, a rate unchanged during the Trump administration. The spending bill, which still needs Senate approval, also requires the VA to report to Congress within 30 days the reasons for a two-year delay in announcing whether it plans to provide health care coverage for additional Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Former VA secretary David Shulkin in 2017 tried to get additional diseases such as Parkinson’s on a VA list of conditions that are tied to Agent Orange, but the White House opposed that recommendation. A National Academies report in 2016 said there was suggestive evidence to link some of the diseases to herbicide exposure. “The VA and the Office of Management and Budget now have 30 days to deliver a plan detailing how they’ll get veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure the coverage they need,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who pushed the provision.",
            "output": [
                "Budget deal advances VA private care program backed by Trump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1134bedc747c423a83c2d4837b97131d",
            "input": "A study published on Monday found that people are apt to pick friends who are genetically similar to themselves - so much so that friends tend to be as alike at the genetic level as a person’s fourth cousin. The findings were based on an examination of about 1.5 million markers of genetic variations in a group of nearly 2,000 people who had taken part in a long-running health study based in Massachusetts. The researchers compared people identified as friends to those who were not. The study showed people were most similar to their friends in olfactory genes, which involve the sense of smell, and were least similar in relation to immune system genes. “Olfactory genes have a straightforward explanation: People who like the same smells tend to be drawn to similar environments, where they meet others with the same tendencies,” said one of the researchers, James Fowler, a professor of medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego. The study, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, follows research released in May that found that people tended to choose spouses who have similar DNA. Fowler said the new findings made it clear that people have more DNA in common with those who are selected as friends than with strangers in the same population. Fourth cousins are people who have great-great-great grandparents in common. Because the study population was largely homogeneous, mostly whites of European background, the findings “are less likely to be driven by the simple explanation that people of similar ancestry befriend one another,” Fowler said. Fellow researcher Nicholas Christakis, a Yale University professor of sociology, evolutionary biology and medicine, said the mechanism used by people to choose friends with similar genetics remained a mystery. “It could involve the workings of a postulated ‘kin detection system’ in humans,” Christakis said. “Our fates depend not only on our own genes, but also on the genes of others around us, and in particular our friends.”  Christakis said he was interested in finding out why people have friends in the first place. “The making of friends is exceedingly rare in the animal kingdom,” Christakis added. “Certain other primates, elephants and whales are the only other mammals who do this, and this alone aroused our curiosity.”",
            "output": [
                "If your friends feel like family, there's a good reason for it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90ea69190e1d47139bba766118d15196",
            "input": "John Flickner was staying at a Niagara Falls shelter Thursday, after an hourslong eviction ordeal Tuesday that ended with him steering his electric wheelchair in freezing temperatures to a center about a half mile away. “Cold, wet, windy,” Flickner recalled of the trip, which was photographed by The Buffalo News . “All I wanted to do was get out of the wind,” Flickner told The Associated Press  on Thursday inside Community Missions, the facility he transferred to the next day. Niagara Towers, where Flickner lived for two years, is subsidized by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Although New York state has legalized medical marijuana, HUD says it gives landlords discretion on whether to evict residents for using it. Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law. Flickner’s problems with his landlord started in June, when inspectors found marijuana in his apartment and called police. Responding officers declined to charge Flickner — who said he got the marijuana from a doctor in Canada — but advised him that he needed a prescription to possess it. Flickner said he had no trouble quickly getting a doctor’s prescription and had it long before this week’s eviction. “I didn’t know about getting the card. I just knew it was legal,” he said. “I wasn’t hiding anything.” Still, the Tennessee company that owns the complex, LHP Capital, moved forward with ending his lease. “The basis of the eviction was they have a zero-tolerance (policy) and he had marijuana in his apartment and at that time he did not have medical marijuana,” said Niagara Falls attorney Jason Cafarella, who represented LHP at a November hearing in Niagara Falls City Court. “It was a lease violation and the tenant had known what the rules of the property were, had known the rules of the lease and violated those rules.” A judge issued a Nov. 29 eviction order. “What really swayed the judge, the be-all, end-all factor, was a regulation which basically gives management the ability to impose this zero-tolerance rule regardless of medical marijuana or otherwise,” said attorney Kevin Quinn of the Center for Elder Law and Justice, who represented Flickner. “If it’s being used, they have that ability to terminate a lease.” It’s not unusual for people to be evicted from federally subsidized housing for medical marijuana use, though few are as old as Flickner, said David Mangone of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group. “It’s really a clear evidence of discrimination, and medical marijuana should be treated like any other medication when it comes to living in subsidized housing,” said Mangone, the Washington-based group’s director of government affairs. HUD responded to a request for comment by forwarding the agency’s 2014 guidance giving landlords discretion on whether to evict current residents for the use medical marijuana. The memo said landlords are supposed to deny new applicants for subsidized housing if they use medical marijuana. There was no immediate comment from HUD specifically on Flickner’s eviction. LHP did not respond to two telephone messages seeking comment. The company has 55 properties in eight states, according to its website. Flickner on Thursday was waiting for a friend to help him make arrangements for a new place to live. In the meantime, Community Missions spokesman Christian Hoffman said the facility wouldn’t stop him from using the odorless, pen-like vaporizer that delivers his medicine. Flickner, a former tool-and-dye worker, said he injured his back in a skydiving mishap 50 years ago. Medical marijuana relaxes his muscles better and more safely, he said, than addictive opioids. “We’re going along with state guidelines,” Hoffman said. Although Flickner is the first client to arrive at the shelter under these circumstances, Hoffman said he wouldn’t be surprised if others followed. “Hopefully, everyone is able to get on the same page, whatever that looks like,” he said. “But until then, places like ours are going to be picking up some of the pieces.” ___ Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed from Albany.",
            "output": [
                "Medical marijuana user, 78, evicted from subsidized housing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c73fda517be24a818938e82f7b0ab20a",
            "input": "To reduce emissions of toxic sulphur that cause premature deaths, shipowners who have long relied on the dirtiest residues of oil extraction will have to either switch to low-sulphur fuel or install exhaust gas cleaning systems from Jan. 1. Neither option has been fully tested for long, and some problems have already been reported, both with the more expensive new fuels and with devices known as scrubbers which extract the sulphur on board. Interviews with key players in the industry show varying levels of alarm at potential risks, which they say range from unexpected fires or collisions due to engine failure to liability for inadvertently flouting the rules. The container shipping industry alone is having to invest $10 billion to adhere to the new rules, analysts say, and is concerned about extra costs were things to go wrong. If different types of the new, cleaner fuel are mixed, for example, they may produce a residue which could eventually clog up an engine and, in a worst-case scenario, damage or break it. Several large ship owners said handling the new fuels correctly and making sure the scrubbers were properly deployed would minimize danger, but that if care was not taken, problems could arise. “The big guys are going to be serviced by the right people … there is bigger risk for the smaller ships,” Hugo De Stoop, chief executive of leading Belgian tanker operator Euronav (EUAV.BR), told Reuters. Euronav has bought the equivalent of almost six months’ supply of compliant fuel and is storing it in a megatanker off Malaysia. If a ship is too far away and has to buy fuel, it will try to buy a single type, or, if only a blend is available, ask to see the seller’s lab tests. “We don’t always believe that people have done the test, been diligent about it,” he said. Graphic: Global shipping density (here)  Khalid Hashim, managing director of one of Thailand’s largest dry cargo ship owners, Precious Shipping (PSL.BK), said it had not allowed co-mingling of marine fuel, also known as bunker fuel, for over five years and required all of it to be sample tested. “Of course this costs us annually around $100,000, but we prefer that cost than to use untested bunker oil based solely on the Bunker Delivery Receipt and find that we have a massive problem on our ship,” he said. The company had taken measures to reduce its ships’ fuel consumption to offset some of the extra costs and had installed extra compartments for the tanks on board to avoid mixing, he said. “That way we would have future-proofed our ships for the IMO 2020 regime,” Hashim said, referring the U.N. International Maritime Organization’s rules, agreed by more than 90 countries in hopes of saving more than half a million lives by 2025 alone. Around 172 ships have avoided the problem because they are powered by sulphur-free liquefied natural gas (LNG), data from Norwegian risk management and certification company DNV GL showed, but this in an expensive option. Some ship owners have balked at paying for the new 0.5% sulphur fuel, which is quoted at more than twice the price of the 3.5% high-sulphur grade in northern Europe at the moment. <0#HFOFARAA:> <0#LFO05FARA:>  More than 3,000 ships - around 5% of the global fleet - will have scrubbers fitted by 2020 so they can clean the exhaust gas and so continue using existing fuel, the DNV GL data showed. Some ports have banned one type of scrubber, the open-loop version which empties washwater residues into the sea, and insurers have reported cases of fires or corrosion with the devices. Norwegian ship insurer Gard cited a few cases where sparks from welding or cutting fell into a scrubber through uncovered openings: in one case it spread to the engine room through glass reinforced epoxy piping. If corrosion was legally deemed to be inevitable, underwriters might try to deny related claims, said Stephen Harris, senior vice president with insurance broker Marsh. “Whether underwriters adopt this line or not could depend on how frequent and how big the problem becomes next year.”  Roger Strevens, VP of global sustainability with Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WALWIL.OL), said its experience with scrubbers had shown risks could be minimized if done properly. “If you buy cheap, you’ll pay twice,” he said. Nautilus International, a union which represents over 20,000 workers in shipping, said the use of new fuel types would place extra strain on crews, who have reported incidents including power loss when changing fuels, filter problems and leaks. “These are complex requirements,” Nautilus professional and technical officer David Appleton said, calling for comprehensive training and protection in cases of inadvertent infringements. An underlying problem is that oil refineries are not obliged to produce tailor-made shipping fuel, said Neil Roberts, head of marine underwriting at Lloyd’s Market Association, which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in London’s Lloyd’s insurance market. “The ship’s crew has to test it and filter it,” he said. The IMO said it does not have a remit to regulate the fuel industry but that international standards for the new fuel and information about compatibility between types had been issued as part of comprehensive preparations. “IMO is ready, and we are confident IMO member states and the shipping sector are ready for January 1,” an IMO spokesperson said. Protection and Indemnity (P&I) clubs, through which groups of shipping companies cover injury and pollution claims, are in wait-and-see mode. Alvin Forster, deputy director with North P&I club, cited possible engine failure in busy shipping lanes, while Precious Shipping’s Hashim said members investing in expensive low-sulphur fuel should not have to share the loss on any scrubber claims. Harris from Marsh, a broker active in marine insurance including hull and machinery, said assessing cover was still guesswork: for instance, who should pay a fine for a ship using high-sulphur fuel because no alternative was available? “Is it non-compliance?” he said. “The question marks are bigger than the answers.”",
            "output": [
                "Shipping industry sails into unknown with new pollution rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be5aec83fedd4dd89c5e0a72fa567370",
            "input": "Eggs should be limited to fewer than about four a week, the report says. Dairy foods should be about a serving a day, or less. The report from a panel of nutrition, agriculture and environmental experts recommends a plant-based diet, based on previously published studies that have linked red meat to increased risk of health problems. It also comes amid recent studies of how eating habits affect the environment. Producing red meat takes up land and feed to raise cattle, which also emit the greenhouse gas methane. John Ioannidis, chair of disease prevention at Stanford University, said he welcomed the growing attention to how diets affect the environment, but that the report’s recommendations do not reflect the level of scientific uncertainties around nutrition and health. “The evidence is not as strong as it seems to be,” Ioannidis said. The report was organized by EAT, a Stockholm-based nonprofit seeking to improve the food system, and published Wednesday by the medical journal Lancet. The panel of experts who wrote it says a “Great Food Transformation” is urgently needed by 2050, and that the optimal diet they outline is flexible enough to accommodate food cultures around the world. Overall, the diet encourages whole grains, beans, fruits and most vegetables, and says to limit added sugars, refined grains such as white rice and starches like potatoes and cassava. It says red meat consumption on average needs to be slashed by half globally, though the necessary changes vary by region and reductions would need to be more dramatic in richer countries like the United States. Convincing people to limit meat, cheese and eggs won’t be easy, however, particularly in places where those foods are a notable part of culture. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, systems analyst Cleberson Bernardes said as he was leaving a barbecue restaurant that limiting himself to just one serving of red meat a week would be “ridiculous.”  In Berlin, Germany, craftsman Erik Langguth said there are better ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and dismissed the suggestion that the world needs to cut back on meat. “If it hasn’t got meat, it’s not a proper meal,” said Langguth, who is from a region known for its bratwurst sausages. Before even factoring in the environmental implications, the report sought to sketch out what the healthiest diet for people would look like, said Walter Willett, one of its authors and a nutrition researcher at Harvard University. While eggs are no longer thought to increase risk of heart disease, Willett said the report recommends limiting them because studies indicate a breakfast of whole grains, nuts and fruit would be healthier. He said everybody doesn’t need to become a vegan, and that many are already limiting how much meat they eat. “Think of it like lobster — something that I really like, but have a few times a year,” Willett said. Advice to limit red meat is not new, and is tied to its saturated fat content, which is also found in cheese, milk, nuts and packaged foods with coconut and palm kernel oils. The report notes most evidence on diet and health is from Europe and the United States. In Asian countries, a large analysis found eating poultry and red meat (mostly pork) was associated with improved lifespans. That might be in part because people might eat smaller amounts of meat in those countries, the report says. Ioannidis of Stanford noted nutrition research is often based on observational links between diet and health, and that some past associations have not been validated. Dietary cholesterol, for example, is no longer believed to be strongly linked to blood cholesterol. The meat and dairy industries also dispute the report’s recommendations, saying their products deliver important nutrients and can be part of healthy diets. Andrew Mente, a nutrition epidemiology researcher at McMaster University, urged caution before making widespread dietary recommendations, which he said could have unintended consequences. Still, the EAT-Lancet report’s authors say the overall body of evidence strongly supports reducing red meat for optimal health and shifting toward plant-based diets. They note the recommendations are compatible with the U.S. dietary guidelines, which say to limit saturated fat to 10 percent of calories. While people in some poorer counties may benefit from getting more of the nutrients in meat and dairy products, the report says they shouldn’t follow the path of richer countries in how much of those foods they eat in coming years. Though estimates vary, a report by the United Nations said livestock is responsible for about 15 percent of the world’s gas emissions that warm the climate. Robbie Andrew, a senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Norway, said farming practices that make animals grow faster and bigger may help limit emissions. But he said cows and other ruminant animals nevertheless produce a lot of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. “It’s very difficult to get down these natural emissions that are part of their biology,” Andrew said. The environmental benefits of giving up red meat depend on what people eat in its place. Chicken and pork produce far fewer emissions than beef, Andrew said, adding that plants in general have among the smallest carbon footprints. Brent Loken, an author of the EAT-Lancet report, said the report lays out the parameters of an optimal diet, but acknowledged the challenge in figuring out how to work with policy makers, food companies and others in tailoring and implementing it in different regions. ____ AP reporters Frank Jordans in Berlin and Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed to this article. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Less beef, more beans. Experts say world needs a new diet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-468a5d261de14b53ba88762c8455f8fa",
            "input": "The 56-year-old family doctor from Massachusetts was among a handful of Americans treated and cured of Ebola during West Africa’s deadly epidemic in 2014, which was the worst ever outbreak of the virus, claiming more than 11,000 lives over two years, primarily in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Sacra contracted the virus while delivering babies at ELWA, a missionary hospital in the Liberian capital of Monrovia where he’s worked for more than two decades. He was evacuated and treated in Omaha, Nebraska, but within months, Sacra was back at ELWA — which stands for “Eternal Love Winning Africa” — treating patients. The devout Christian, who says he dreamed of becoming a missionary since he was a child, hasn’t stopped going back since. “It’s our adopted home,” Sacra said Wednesday as he and his wife Debbie took a rare break at their home outside Worcester, Massachusetts, where he’s on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “My wife and I have been going to Liberia since 1987. Our kids grew up there. So the idea of not going would be harder for me than the idea of going back.” Sacra was honored Thursday by the African Mission Healthcare Foundation for his work in Liberia, a nation founded as a colony of freed African American slaves in the 19th century. The organization awarded him the L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service at a ceremony in New York City. The annual prize comes with a $500,000 gift. Sacra said the money will be used at ELWA to build an intensive care unit, install solar panels and build out a training program for family physicians that he founded in 2017. The 107-bed hospital was founded in 1965 and is run by SIM, an evangelical Christian organization based in North Carolina. Increasing the ranks of family doctors is a small but critical piece in rebuilding the nation, which had never fully recovered from more than a decade of civil war before Ebola struck, Sacra said. “One of the things the Ebola crisis really highlighted was how weak the health system in Liberia was. The whole system just collapsed because there were too few trained doctors and nurses,” he said. “So one of our goals as a mission is to strengthen that health system. To not just bring over doctors, but to train local physicians and build up their capacity so that something like this won’t happen again.” Ebola has continued to flare up in other parts of Africa, particularly the Congo, where more than 300 have died since last summer. But Sacra believes Liberia is better prepared than it was five years ago. More doctors are graduating from local medical programs, the national government has established a public health monitoring and education system, and an experimental Ebola vaccine is being tested. “Building a health system from scratch is not something you can do in a year or two,” Sacra said. “It’s a generation long project.” With their three sons now in their 20s and beginning their own careers, Sacra says he and his wife are committed to being a part of those efforts for the foreseeable future. “We’re just grateful God gave us a second chance to continue to make an impact,” he said. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Sierra Leone, not Ghana, was among the primary countries affected by the 2014 Ebola epidemic.",
            "output": [
                "US doctor who survived Ebola honored for service in Liberia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f020ee43eaa4a2e9f1bb675cfa994b8",
            "input": "In an open letter to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), a group of 60 scientists and health campaigners from 15 countries said they feared exposure to the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) could damage health, particularly among vulnerable groups such as babies and pregnant women. BPA is a mass produced chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics. It is found in plastic food and drink packaging, such as baby bottles and sports bottles, and as an epoxy resin in canned food and drinks and storage containers. Some recent scientific studies have linked BPA exposure to higher risks of health problems such heart disease, breast cancer and diabetes. The EFSA is expected to publish a new “scientific opinion” on the safety of Bisphenol A in food packaging next month, after it was asked by the European Commission to re-assess the risks. “Over the last decade and a half, a substantive body amounting to several hundred peer reviewed scientific papers, have been published that have highlighted potential adverse health effects associated with BPA exposures,” the letter said. “It is our opinion that any objective and comprehensive review of the scientific literature will lead to the conclusion that action is necessary to reduce the levels of BPA exposure, particularly in groups at highest risk, namely young infants and pregnant mothers.”   Regulators in Canada and the United States are already beginning to take action on BPA exposure, with Canada planning to ban its use in baby bottles, but as yet there has been no similar action at a European Union level. “It is high time that EFSA caught up to the overwhelming science showing genuine reasons for concern about our daily exposure to BPA,” said Lisette van Vliet, an adviser on toxics policy at the Brussels-based Health and Environment Alliance. Some European countries, notably Sweden, Germany, France and Denmark, have made unilateral moves ahead of the EFSA review. Sweden’s environment minister said last month that if the EU would not ban BPA in baby bottles, Stockholm would go ahead with a national prohibition. And Germany’s environment agency issued new guidance this month calling on manufacturers and importers of BPA to use “alternative substances that pose less risk to human health and the environment in all areas of use that significantly contribute to exposure.”   Experts estimate that BPA is detectable in the bodies of more than 90 percent of the U.S. and European population. It is one of the world’s most widely manufactured chemicals, with more than 2.2 million tonnes produced each year. Andrew Watterson of Britain’s Stirling University, one of the signatories to the letter, said hundreds of academic studies had shown the potential risks of BPA and “this should dictate a strong precautionary policy response from European regulators. “If this is not forthcoming, the UK government must intervene as other European countries are already doing so,” he said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                "Experts demand European action on plastics chemical."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95a1c975f5914453b26c5ef37f19d1b3",
            "input": "\"The U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire has been awash in claims about abortion and women’s health issues in recent days. One claim by incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen caught our eye. Shaheen is facing a challenge from former Republican Sen. Scott Brown. In a news release from her campaign, Shaheen said: \"\"I have always supported a woman’s right to choose because I know women should be making health care decisions in consultation with their doctors and their families, not their employer. Scott Brown’s record is clear: When it counts, he doesn’t stand up for women’s reproductive rights and economic security. He co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control or even mammograms. New Hampshire women can’t trust Scott Brown, and his record is move evidence that he is wrong for New Hampshire.\"\" We noticed two claims that are related, but distinct enough to analyze separately. First, would the legislation in question have allowed employers deny women coverage for birth control? And would it have allowed employers to deny coverage for mammograms? We’ll look at the birth control claim here, and mammograms in a separate fact-check. It turns out the two issues differ a good bit. In a different Shaheen campaign news release, the campaign explained its sourcing by writing, \"\"FACT: Scott Brown both co-sponsored and voted for the Blunt Amendment that would let employers deny women access to a range of healthcare services, including contraception and coverage for mammograms.\"\" The amendment in question was proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. It was tabled -- that is, dispensed with -- by a 51-48 vote in which a simple majority was required. Among those who voted \"\"nay\"\" -- that is, those who wanted to keep it under consideration -- was Brown, then representing Massachusetts in the Senate. He also co-sponsored a predecessor measure, S.1467, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011. So Shaheen’s camp is correct that Brown acted in support of this measure. But what did the amendment say? It acted to widen the scope of acceptable actions for opting out of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on religious or moral grounds. It focuses on mandates within the law for preventive services, called the \"\"essential health benefits package.\"\" Specifically, the amendment said employers cannot be required to cover \"\"specific items or services\"\" that are \"\"contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan.\"\" We agree with the Shaheen campaign that the provision is drawn broadly. While it’s not targeted at abortion or birth control per se, it is so expansively written that there’s little doubt it could be invoked on behalf of those who oppose abortion and certain types of birth control. As we explained in our other fact check, we find no evidence that anyone has expressed a religious or moral objection to mammograms. But the case that the Blunt Amendment would have affected access to birth control is stronger. Some opponents of abortion have supported opt-out rights for employers who oppose certain types of birth control that they say work like abortifacients. In fact, this was the issue at the heart of the closely watched 2014 Supreme Court decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby. In that case, a 5-4 majority ruled that a closely held, private corporation, such as the craft retailer Hobby Lobby, could decline on religious grounds to pay for certain kinds of contraceptives otherwise mandated in employee health coverage by the Affordable Care Act. The only quibble we have with the phrasing of Shaheen’s claim is that the Blunt Amendment didn’t single out birth control, which is the impression one could easily get from her statement. But since the amendment was written so broadly -- and since birth control has long been at issue for religious or moral reasons -- we don’t see this as a significant problem. Our ruling Shaheen said Brown \"\"co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control.\"\" The amendment, which Brown supported, was written loosely enough to allow a religious-conscience opt-out for birth control -- an issue about which there has been a longstanding policy debate on religious and moral grounds.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Jeanne Shaheen Says Scott Brown \"\"co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-549bae176f2948258fee8b8f60eb1a72",
            "input": "\"During the Oregon Legislature’s most recent special session, one bill stuck out as an oddity. Four of the five bills dealt solidly with fiscal policy -- taxes and the Public Employees Retirement System. The fifth, though, addressed whether local governments could regulate genetically modified crops. The bill was thrown in as something of a bargaining chip. Gov. John Kitzhaber needed Republican support for his other four endeavors, and the GMO bill was one way to reach a compromise. This deal, however, rubbed environmentalists the wrong way. They began calling the bill the \"\"Oregon Monsanto Protection Act.\"\" One of the bill’s critics was Rick North, the former project director of the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility's Campaign For Safe Food. In a piece he wrote for BlueOregon, a liberal political blog, he called out two of the local -- and wholesome sounding -- groups that were big advocates of the legislation. \"\"Oregonians for Food and Shelter and the Oregon Farm Bureau, biotech puppets who have most state Republican legislators in their back pocket, jumped into action,\"\" he wrote. \"\"OFS proudly features board members from Monsanto and Syngenta and the Farm Bureau also receives funding from biotech companies.\"\" We were curious about the board member and funding claims, so we decided to take a look. The first bit, that Oregonians for Food and Shelter has board members from those two leading biotech firms was easy to check. We simply went to the group’s website and found, listed along with 34 other voting members, these two names: Michael Diamond, the director of government affairs for Monsanto, and Danelle Farmer, who was most recently listed as a senior state government relations manager at Syngenta. The names aren’t difficult to find -- and they’re listed along with their corporate affiliations. Naturally, we reached out to Oregonians for Food and Shelter to see if they had extra information we might consider. Scott Dahlman, the executive director, said it is unabashedly the group’s position to defend \"\"the right to responsibly use pesticides and biotechnology.\"\" Next we checked out the Oregon Farm Bureau funding statement. We started by speaking with the bureau’s spokeswoman, Anne Marie Moss. She said it was probably  because the group has a political action committee that accepts donations from any and all groups. Moss stressed, however, that the Farm Bureau is a largely grassroots organization that takes positions based on what county members -- all of whom are required to be involved in agriculture or ranching -- vote to take up on the state level. \"\"We have members on both sides of that issue as well, but it's like a democracy,\"\" Moss said. \"\"Majority rules.\"\" Generally, she said, the group tries to support all sorts of agriculture, whether organic or genetically modified, but often members come down on the side of fewer restrictions. \"\"We believe in the whole big tent of agriculture, all types are welcome,\"\" she said. There is already \"\"a lot of regulation so, as a whole, we try to push back. We don't want our members regulated out of business.\"\" We took a look at the campaign finance records for ourselves and found that both Monsanto and Syngenta had contributed a significant sum to the group. Since 2006, the Oregon Farm Bureau has reported receiving about $440,000 in cash contributions. Of that, Monsanto has contributed $103,500 and Syngenta has given more than $19,000. That means those two companies represent a combined 28 percent of the total reported cash contributions. This year, Monsanto donated $10,500 -- $4,500 in mid-September. During our conversation, Moss noted that while the money is appreciated, \"\"Monsanto couldn't come in and give us a command directive.\"\" Indeed, we found donations from other sources, including individual farms and nurseries. For our final stab at due diligence, we called North to let him know we’d looked into his claims. We asked him why he thought this information was important given that both groups consider themselves to be grassroots. \"\"I don't know that it's anything more complicated than ‘Follow the money,’\"\" he said. In an opinion piece for BlueOregon, North said Oregonians for Food and Shelter \"\"proudly features board members from Monsanto and Syngenta and the (Oregon) Farm Bureau also receives funding from biotech.\"\" We’ve checked out both claims and found them to be accurate. Tell us what you think, by heading over to Oregonlive and leaving us a comment.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Rick North Says Oregonians for Food and Shelter \"\"proudly features board members from Monsanto and Syngenta and the (Oregon) Farm Bureau also receives funding from biotech companies.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d26a54f6b944296b72e6347da595d5a",
            "input": "The story sidebar estimates that a full course of treatment can cost $3000 or more. It could have added that this treatment is unlikely to be covered by many insurance companies. This was the biggest hole in an otherwise reasonably solid story. The article claims that there is “growing evidence” that neurofeedback can help treat people with ADHD. However, the story never describes any of the results of this purported increase in research that supposedly documents these benefits. The closest we come is the description of a study which hasn’t even been published yet. The story also suggests that neurofeedback’s benefits might last longer than those of medication. Again, however, we are never given any sound basis to believe that neurofeedback works at all — let alone better than other treatments. At the same time, the story leans heavily on testimony from a journalist who has written a book about ADHD and claims neurofeedback worked for her and her son. We are told that the primary improvement she saw with her son was that he was “easier to live with.” Although this kind of anecdotal report can be useful to add context to scientific findings, it is certainly no substitute for reporting on the actual clinical outcomes of research. The story failed to discuss any potential harms of neurofeedback treatment. The most prominent of these is that patients could forego other treatment approaches that have better supporting evidence and are more likely to reduce symptoms. There is also some evidence that neurofeedback can cause seizures or make symptoms worse in some individuals with psychological disorders. In addition, the need for frequent treatments may necessitate taking a child out of school. Readers should come away from this story with a generally accurate feel for where the research on this treatment stands. The story told readers early on that neurofeedback is “scientifically uNPRoved” for the treatment of ADHD. It backs up this contention later in this story by noting that almost all research on this treatment hasn’t involved a placebo control group. And the only study to include such a group apparently hasn’t released its results yet and seems to have involved a very small number of patients. In addition, the story quotes an expert who emphasizes that other forms of treatment (e.g. medication and behavior therapy) have better evidence to support their effectiveness for ADHD. We did think the story focused a bit too much on a single patient anecdote (a deficiency discussed later under the “Benefits” criterion) — an emphasis which makes the treatment sound very promising with little justification. The story could have struck a better balance by toning this section down a bit. No disease-mongering in this story. In addition to extensive comments from the journalist book author who discusses her experience with neurofeedback, the story quotes a Duke University researcher who is an expert on ADHD and offers some counterbalancing perspective. The story quotes a researcher who says that two other approaches — medication and behavior therapy — have a more extensive research base supporting their use for ADHD compared with neurofeedback. It’s clear from the story that this type of treatment is available to the general public. We like that the story cautioned readers to look out for unqualified therapists and gave tips for finding reputable clinicians. The story could have been more specific about how many trained professionals there are and how easy it is to find them outside of large population centers. The story does not oversell the novelty of neurofeedback for the treatment of ADHD. This story does not appear to be based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Train The Brain: Using Neurofeedback To Treat ADHD"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e865b3d56bff4405a4ffb11b620b145e",
            "input": "A nun attends a mass led by Pope Benedict XVI at the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem May 12, 2009, where it is believed Jesus had his final prayer before he was betrayed and arrested. REUTERS/Baz Ratner The vow of chastity taken by the world’s 95,000 Catholic nuns carries with it an increased risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers — all of which are more common in women who do not have children. It is a problem that has been recognized for hundreds of years. In 1713, Italian physician Bernadino Ramazzini reported nuns had extremely high rates of the “accursed pest,” breast cancer. Kara Britt of Monash University and Roger Short of the University of Melbourne, writing in The Lancet medical journal, argued that taking modern contraceptive pills could be one answer. Lack of pregnancy and lactation means childless women have more menstrual cycles, which increases cancer risk, while those who have children further decrease their risk if they have first babies while young, have several children and breastfeed. Overall mortality in women using the contraceptive pill is around 12 percent lower than in those who have never used it and the risk of developing ovarian and endometrial cancers falls by 50 to 60 percent, the authors said. “If the Catholic Church could make the oral contraceptive pill freely available to all its nuns, it would reduce the risk of those accursed pests, cancer of the ovary and uterus, and give nuns’ plight the recognition it deserves,” the doctors said. Although the Catholic Church condemns all forms of contraception, barring abstinence, the doctors argued that using the pill might still be possible under regulations on birth control set out by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae in 1968. This document stated that “the Church in no way regards as unlawful therapeutic means considered necessary to cure organic diseases, even though they also have a contraceptive effect.”   Of course, the pill can also carry its own dangers, such as the risk of blood clots with the combined oestrogen-progestogen version, so the suitability of nuns would have to be assessed according to their individual medical histories, the doctors added.",
            "output": [
                "Vow of chastity and the pill may keep nuns healthy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a46bfa141c24332aa90b255912acf8c",
            "input": "At a hearing in Miami federal court, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said she expects more concrete action and fewer promises from Carnival. “We’re not there. And we should be,” Seitz said. The cruise company is about halfway through a five-year probation sentence for a 2016 criminal pollution conviction. Chairman Micky Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat, and CEO Arnold Donald both insisted the company is doing a lot, but that it takes time to implement real changes at a company with 120,000 employees, more than 100 cruise ships and nine different brands. “We strive to be perfect,” Arison told the judge. “We won’t ever be perfect, but we are going to work toward that.” Earlier this year, Carnival admitted violating probation from the 2016 criminal case as its ships continued to cause environmental harm around the world since then. It was hit with a $20 million penalty, on top of a $40 million fine imposed in the original case. The environmental problems included allowing plastic to be discharged along with food into water; dumping “gray water” in prohibited places such as Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park; and permitting a corporate culture to persist that does not value compliance with environmental laws. Richard Udell, a Justice Department lawyer specializing in environmental enforcement, cited the recent inability of Carnival to detail what happens to the estimated 50 million plastic bottles used on its ships each year. Carnival, he said, simply told the government they don’t keep track of that because they are all supposedly recycled at some of its 700 destinations. Prosecutors want to know if that is really the case, or if often the bottles simply get dumped in the ocean or in landfills by other entities where Carnival ships dock. “If we don’t look, we won’t know, and if we don’t know, we don’t care,” Udell said. “We hope that we can get past this.” Carnival outlined many steps it is taking to phase out use of plastics on its ships, including the bottles, and that it would look deeper into the recycling issue. And Donald, the CEO, said the company’s leadership is making every effort to value environmental compliance just as much as ship safety and guest hospitality. “Compliance, environmental protection, safety _ it’s the first thing,” Donald said. “Without it, we don’t have a business.” Another status hearing is set for December. _____ Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt",
            "output": [
                "Judge: Carnival must fix ocean pollution issues faster."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3380d4abab12425b830428b318cad6c3",
            "input": "\"In recent days we’ve heard a revival of an age-old question that highlights our nation’s shared love of sugar yet calls out our regional differences: Is it pop or is it soda? Or maybe it’s just Coke? While in bubbly debate over what to call soft drinks -- your PolitiFact Oregon staff does not agree on this -- a colleague of ours suggested a potential fact check that anyone might find intriguing, no matter what they call their carbonated beverage of choice. You’ve probably seen the \"\"Sugar Packs\"\" ads around Multnomah County, put there by the Health Department as part of a healthy living and anti-obesity campaign that started in 2010. It’s the one with a pile of packets of white sugar draining into a 20-ounce bottle of generic cola. \"\"Your kid just ate 16 packs of sugar,\"\" the ad states. \"\"All those extra calories can bring on obesity, diabetes and heart disease.\"\" Sixteen packets? Our collective stomachs cramped. Our teeth ached. We swallowed our distaste and started checking. Soda-sleuthing turned out to be quite easy, namely because there’s a lot of pop in a newsroom. In fact, we found more than a dozen empties within spitting distance. A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola regular, we learned, contains 39 grams of sugar, usually from high-fructose corn syrup in the United States. A 20-ounce bottle would then contain 65 grams of sugar. Corn syrup is not the same as white table sugar, but the county is talking equivalents. A packet of table sugar as shown in the ad is equal to about a teaspoon, or about 4 grams of sugar. So, indeed, there are at least 16 packs of sugar in every 20-ounce bottle of regular cola. There’s no arguing that that’s a large chunk of sweet. The American Heart Association recommends no more than nine teaspoons -- nine packets -- of added sugar a day for adult men. For women, it’s six. But just for the fun of it -- no, we’re not on a sugar high -- we wanted to know what else could contain the equivalent of 16 packets of granulated white. And bingo: A 16-ounce Jamba Juice Banana Berry contains 60 grams of sugar. A 12-ounce Chocolate McCafe shake from McDonald’s has 76 grams. A Starbucks Grande non-fat, no-whip Caramel Frappucino Blended Beverage contains 59 grams of sugar, although to be fair, the drink also includes 4 grams of nutritious protein. The iced lemon pound cake contains 46 grams of sugar -- but then, all you adults knew that -- and PolitiFact Oregon has fallen into tangential research. Back to the point. We figure children don’t usually indulge in diet sodas, which are made with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, and not with corn syrup or sugar. We’re told by a beverage trade publication that 12-ounce cans are the top sellers -- but a 20-ounce bottle doesn’t seem out of line in this age of super-sized drinks and Double Big Gulps. \"\"It’s what’s available in our environment,\"\" said Sonia Manhas, who manages the program for the county. After all, McDonald’s markets a 16-ounce soda as a small-sized soft drink and a 12-ounce drink as child-sized. We figure parents are smart enough to figure out the sugar-gram-to-cola-ounce ratio themselves. The smaller the drink, the fewer the sugar packets. All this really means is that we find the county’s statement accurate. And that’s the unsugar-coated truth.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Multnomah County Says \"\"Your kid just ate 16 packs of sugar.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57bed36240464761840bd6c654e25cbf",
            "input": "The organization is a national nonprofit that works to improve rural health care. Program director Shelley Stingley tells the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2veibqx ) that more than $10 million of its contributions in Wyoming has gone to better care in cancer treatment centers. That includes putting eight new digital mammography machines in towns like Torrington and Wheatland. Some of the machines were new equipment to a facility, while others replaced a hospital’s aging machine. Additionally, Stingley says the program sought to provide cancer patients with better radiation treatment. New machines were purchased in Cody, Sheridan and Rock Springs. ___ Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com",
            "output": [
                "Nonprofit has given $25M to Wyoming health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-59de3a766dea478481eca266bed45692",
            "input": "In Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease, one person has died for every 23 infections reported. That number drops to one on 50 nationally, and outside mainland China, one death has been recorded per 114 confirmed cases. Get our full coverage on the coronavirus: here  Experts say the discrepancy is mainly due to under-reporting of milder virus cases in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei province that are grappling with shortages in testing equipment and beds. “In an outbreak your really have to interpret fatality rates with a very skeptical eye, because often it’s only the very severe cases that are coming to people’s attention,” said Amesh Adalja, an expert in pandemic preparedness at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. “It’s very hard to say those numbers represent anything like the true burden of infection” said Adalja, who estimates current fatality rates are likely below 1%. As of Tuesday, 24,551 cases have been confirmed globally. A 1% fatality rate would put total cases at over 49,000, based on the current death toll of 492. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organisation (WHO)  representative for China, told Reuters on Sunday that a “crude calculation” done by dividing total cases by deaths put the rate at 2% and said the rate was generally falling. “Trying to really demystify those fatality numbers by including mildly symptomatic cases will help people to better understand the risk,” said Adalja. In Wuhan, some patients with milder symptoms have been turned away from hospitals in recent weeks because of the strain on resources, several people in the city told Reuters. Others have opted to self-isolate. Wuhan resident Meiping Wang said she and her sister both believe they have mild cases of the virus after their mother tested positive, but have not been tested. “There is no use going to the hospital because there is no treatment,” Wang, 31, said in a telephone interview. Under-reporting mild cases - which increases fatality rates - could have a negative social and economic impact as global health authorities race to contain the disease. “It’s good to remember that when H1N1 influenza came out in 2009, estimates of case fatality were 10 percent,” said David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, who was working in public health at the time. “That turned out to be incredibly wrong.”  “As the denominator is growing in terms of case numbers, and case fatality goes down and down... you start to realize it’s everywhere,” he said. The global response to the coronavirus epidemic has been swift and fierce. Several countries have implemented partial or full travel bans on Chinese travelers. “There are many actions going on all over the world that really are premised on the idea that this is a very severe illness,” said Johns Hopkins’ Adalja. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that the bans were an unnecessary interruption to travel and trade.",
            "output": [
                "Data suggests virus infections under-reported, exaggerating fatality rate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed51f0dd8586467fae8a457fa5680838",
            "input": "Officials in Malaysia, as elsewhere, had initially rejected the use of the serology test kits, which can show the presence of antibodies in people who have been infected. Like other countries, it instead chose polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, laboratory tests, which detect the presence of the novel coronavirus itself and are seen as more reliable. But as the number of suspected cases needing testing has risen, the turnaround time for laboratory test results had increased from around 6 hours to as many as two days or more, the director-general of health Noor Hisham Abdullah told reporters. Malaysia reported 170 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the total to nearly 5,000 infections, the second-highest in Southeast Asia, with 82 deaths. It had done nearly 82,000 PCR tests as of Monday and reported over 8,000 pending lab results earlier this month, before it stopped publishing backlog data. To reduce the testing backlog, the close contacts of people infected will now receive the antibody tests at the end of their 14-day mandatory quarantine period. “On the 13th day, we will use the antibody or serology tests... and if it comes back positive, then we will carry out the PCR test again,” Noor Hisham said. “But if the antibody test comes back negative, then you’re in the clear. This is how we are trying to reduce the number of PCR lab tests.”  A person who tested negative can then be discharged from quarantine, freeing up state resources used to monitor them, but they would still be required to self-isolate under movement curbs imposed by the government until April 28 to limit the virus’ spread. Countries hope antibody tests may one day help them to ease movement curbs by identifying people who may have acquired immunity, but it is not yet clear if that is possible. Some doctors had been calling for Malaysia to use new rapid test kits - both antibody and antigen - to widen testing and reduce the backlog of cases, but like other countries, it has been awaiting trial results. A shortage of laboratory testing supplies and difficulty in procuring them have made it hard to ramp up capacity. Malaysia last week warned of a shortage of reagents, a chemical used in diagnostic tests to detect the presence of the coronavirus. Noor Hisham on Tuesday also warned that the country was running low on personal protective equipment (PPEs) for health workers, with supplies of some items expected to last just another 19 days.",
            "output": [
                "Malaysia turns to coronavirus antibody tests to supplement laboratory checks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cc5bf939b5343dc8ba194cbb361adf7",
            "input": "Malls, restaurants and streets in Daegu, the country’s fourth largest city with a population of 2.5 million, were largely empty in scenes that residents and social media users likened to a disaster movie. “It’s like someone dropped a bomb in the middle of the city. It looks like a zombie apocalypse,” Kim Geun-woo, a 28-year-old resident told Reuters by telephone. “Even Dongseong-ro Street – the most crowded centre of the city – is empty,” he said, adding that he had tried to buy surgical masks but shops were sold out. Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 53 new cases of the virus on Thursday, following 20 a day earlier, taking the total across the country to 104. Of that national tally, 70 patients are from Daegu or nearby and the majority have been traced to an infected 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended a church, a scenario that KCDC described as a “super-spreading event”. South Korea also reported the first death of a coronavirus patient, though the man’s exact cause of death was being investigated. The man was among 13 people at a hospital near Daegu who tested positive for the virus. Health officials said they were investigating whether there were links between the outbreak at the church and the hospital. The hospital would be temporarily shut down and about 600 staff and patients would be tested for the virus, Yonhap news agency reported, citing officials. Several major department stores, including at least one in Seoul, were closed after reports that Patient 31 had visited in recent weeks, Yonhap reported. Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin told residents to stay indoors as he warned of likely further cases. “We are in an unprecedented crisis,” he said at a briefing in the city, about 240 km (150 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul. Kwon cautioned that at least 90 more of the about 1,000 other people who attended services at the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony were also showing symptoms. “We plan to test all believers of that church and have asked them to stay at home isolated from their families,” Kwon said. South Korea’s vice health minister Kim Kang-lip said at a separate briefing in the administrative city of Sejong that the situation was “very grave”. The cases previously reported in South Korea had mostly involved people who had travelled individually to China or come into contact with somebody who had, but it is unclear how Patient 31 contracted the virus. Daegu authorities ordered the shutdown of all kindergartens, while all schools will postpone the beginning of the spring semester scheduled for early March by one week in an unprecedented move, Yonhap said. The Defence Ministry banned troops stationed in Daegu from leaving their barracks and receiving guests, while a soldier who had recently visited his home in Daegu tested positive for the virus. The U.S. military imposed similar restrictions on its army base in the city, which houses thousands of troops, family members and civilian employees, curbing travel and closing schools and child-care centres. Media footage showed the few people on Daegu’s usually bustling downtown streets wore face masks and kept far apart. Topics such as “Daegu lockdown” and “Daegu church” were among the top searches on major South Korean portal Naver as debate heated up online about whether the city should be sealed off from the rest of the country. A KCDC official told Reuters the government was not considering that measure. The church at the centre of the outbreak is a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious movement founded in 1984 by South Korean Lee Man-hee who has about 500,000 followers. Some commentators on social media blamed the custom of churchgoers sitting on the floor close to each other during services as increasing the risk of spreading the virus. Shincheonji said on Wednesday it had closed its Daegu church and instructed that services elsewhere be held online or individually at home.",
            "output": [
                "'Like a zombie apocalypse': Residents on edge as coronavirus cases surge in South Korea."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad09b60cf34d473ebdf29a0edb3947de",
            "input": "The Environmental Law and Policy Center and Hoosier Environmental Council filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court after previously alerting ArcelorMittal of their plans to sue, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. ArcelorMittal’s facility in Burns Harbor discharges pollution into the East Arm of the Little Calumet River, which flows directly into Lake Michigan. The groups allege that the company breached its Clean Water Act permit after releasing impermissible levels of cyanide and ammonia in August. The chemical spill killed fish, forced nearby beaches to shutter and kept visitors away from the newly designated Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. ArcelorMittal’s toxic spill and permit infractions harm the environment, kill fish and endanger safe drinking water, said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy center. The suit “calls for fines and penalties sufficiently large to change ArcelorMittal’s environmental practices and modernize the company’s equipment and operations to better reduce pollution damages going forward,” Lerner said. “ArcelorMittal should be held fully accountable for its pollution that harms local communities, the Lake Michigan shoreline and nearby waters, and the aquatic life and ecosystem of Northwest Indiana,” he said. A spokesman for ArcelorMittal said the company had not yet been served with the lawsuit. Indra Frank, environmental health and water policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the community cannot continue waiting for the state and federal governments to act in the face of “repeated, illegal damage to Lake Michigan.” “The damage has to stop for the sake of everyone who gets their drinking water from the lake; everyone who swims, fishes, or boats in the Lake; and the wildlife that make their home in the Lake,” Frank said. The groups said ArcelorMittal  did not disclose the spill until after the public began discovering thousands of dead fish. ArcelorMittal, one of Porter County’s largest employers, has nearly 3,400 workers on a nearly 2,000-acre (809-hectare) swath along Lake Michigan, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.",
            "output": [
                "Environmental groups sue steel mill over lake chemical spill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b602aae0a7b484e86898601514fd371",
            "input": "The scientists, who treated the monkeys with a neuroprosthetic interface that acted as a wireless bridge between the brain and spine, say they have started small feasibility studies in humans to trial some components. “The link between the decoding of the brain and the stimulation of the spinal cord – to make this communication exist – is completely new,” said Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at the Lausanne University Hospital who surgically placed the brain and spinal cord implants in the monkey experiments. “For the first time, I can imagine a completely paralyzed patient able to move their legs through this brain-spine interface.”  Gregoire Courtine, a neuroscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) which led the work, cautioned that there are major challenges ahead and “it may take several years before this intervention can become a therapy for humans.”  Publishing their results in the journal Nature on Wednesday, the team said the interface works by decoding brain activity linked to walking movements and relaying that to the spinal cord – below the injury – through electrodes that stimulate neural pathways and activate leg muscles. In bypassing the injury and restoring communication between the brain and the relevant part of the spinal cord, the scientists successful treated two rhesus monkeys each with one leg paralyzed by a partial spinal cord lesion. One of the monkeys regained some use of its paralyzed leg within the first week after injury, without training, both on a treadmill and on the ground, while the other took around two weeks to recover to the same point. “We developed an implantable, wireless system that operates in real-time and enabled a primate to behave freely, without the constraint of tethered electronics,” said Courtine. “We understood how to extract brain signals that encode flexion and extension movements of the leg with a mathematical algorithm. We then linked the decoded signals to the stimulation of specific hotspots in the spinal cord that induced the walking movement.”  The brain and spinal cord can adapt and recover from small injuries, but until now that ability has been far too limited to overcome severe damage. Other attempts to repair spinal cords have focused on stem cell therapy and on combinations of electrical and chemical stimulation of the cord. Independent experts not directly involved in this work said it was an important step towards a potential future where paralyzed people may be able to walk again. Simone Di Giovanni, a specialist in restorative neuroscience at Imperial College London, said EPFL’s results were “solid, very promising and exciting” but would need to be tested further in more animals and in larger numbers. “In principle this is reproducible in human patients,” he said. “The issue will be how much this approach will contribute to functional recovery that impacts on the quality of life. This is still very uncertain.”",
            "output": [
                "Paralyzed monkeys walk again with wireless 'brain-spine interface'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e9ebb1a87b844918b7451be5161ac5c",
            "input": "Older adults who underwent a brief course of brain exercises saw improvements in reasoning skills and processing speed that could be detected as long as 10 years after the course ended, according to results from the largest study ever on cognitive training. The findings, published on Monday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, offer welcome news in the search for ways to keep the mind sharp as 76 million baby boomers in the United States advance into old age. The federally sponsored trial of almost 3,000 older adults, called the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study, or ACTIVE, looked at how three brain training programs - focusing on processing speed, memory and reasoning ability - affected cognitively normal adults as they aged. People in the study had an average age of 74 when they started the training, which involved 10 to 12 sessions lasting 60 to 75 minutes each. After five years, researchers found, those with the training performed better than their untrained counterparts in all three measures. Although gains in memory seen at the study’s five-year mark appeared to drop off over the next five years, gains in reasoning ability and processing speed persisted 10 years after the training. “What we found was pretty astounding. Ten years after the training, there was evidence the effects were durable for the reasoning and the speed training,” said George Rebok, an expert on aging and a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the study. Participants in all three training groups also reported that they had an easier time with daily activities such as managing their medications, cooking meals or handling their finances than did participants who did not get the training. But standard tests of these activities showed no differences between the groups. “The speed-of-processing results are very encouraging,” said study co-author Jonathan King, program director for cognitive aging in the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the research. King said the self-reported improvements in daily function were interesting, but added, “We do not yet know whether they would truly allow older people to live independently longer.”  However, researchers said even a small gain would be likely to ease the burden on caregivers and healthcare providers. “If we delay the onset of difficulties in daily activities even by a small amount, that can have major public health implications in terms of helping to curb healthcare costs, delaying entry into institutions and hospitals,” Rebok said. The training course was designed to bolster specific cognitive abilities that begin to slip as people age. It does not aim to prevent dementia caused by underlying disease such as Alzheimer’s. At the start of the study, all 2,832 participants were cognitively normal. The study included four groups: three training groups plus a control group of volunteers who came in for regular testing to see how they were faring with age. People were trained in small groups over a period of several weeks and then were tested immediately after the training and again one, two, three, five and 10 years later. About 60 percent of the volunteers who underwent training also got booster training sessions, which enhanced the initial benefits. At the end of the trial, all groups showed declines compared with their initial baseline tests in memory, reasoning and processing speed, but those who got training in reasoning and processing speed experienced less decline. Among those given training in reasoning strategies, 73.6 percent were still performing above their pre-trial baseline level, compared with 61.7 percent of those who received no training and were only benefiting from practice on the test. The effect was even greater in processing speed. Among the training group, 70.7 percent of participants were performing at or above their baseline level, compared with 48.8 percent of those in the control group. There was no difference in memory performance between the memory group and the control group after 10 years. Two of the three training programs - the memory and the reasoning strategies - were done with paper and pencil, while the processing speed training was done on a computer. The programs, developed by the researchers, were focused largely on teaching strategies to improve cognitive performance. For example, the memory training taught people how to remember word lists, sequences and main ideas, while the reasoning training focused on things like recognizing number patterns. In the processing speed training, people were asked to focus on the main object in a computer screen while also trying to quickly recognize and identify objects on the periphery of the screen. Such training can help older drivers with things like recognizing road signs while driving. A version of the speed training program developed for this trial is now commercially available through the brain fitness company Posit Science, but the researchers are working on making other types of training available as well. Rebok’s team just got a grant from the National Institute on Aging to make a computerized version of the memory test, with the hope that repeated training can improve the results. The study was not designed to explain why cognitive training can have such a lasting effect. Rebok said it may be that people take the strategies they learn and practice them over time. As they age, trained individuals can rely on these strategies to compensate for their declines. Whether this training actually strengthened the brain in the way that exercising builds muscle is not clear, but the government intends to study this, too. Last week, NIA put out a request for proposals that would study whether cognitive training causes physical changes in the brain.",
            "output": [
                "Brain training helped older adults stay sharp for years: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b87c4dfc1b1249489ca96451bc0d9249",
            "input": "\"Major industries in Wisconsin have sustained significant economic losses during the coronavirus pandemic, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the tourism sector. Wisconsin plays host to about 112 million tourists in a year, according to the WorldAtlas website, and 2019 was \"\"a record setting year, and the largest year for Wisconsin in at least a decade\"\" said Wisconsin Secretary of Tourism-designee Sara Meaney. However, the loss of revenue in 2020 is massive, she said. In a May 24, 2020, appearance on the WISN-TV (Channel 12) show \"\"UpFront,\"\" she said, \"\"Unemployment in our state in general is at about a quarter of our population. It’s actually over 50% of travel and tourism-related jobs that are now facing unemployment.\"\" Meaney went on to say that just in the weeks since the pandemic hit, the state has lost more than a billion dollars in tourism dollars. \"\"Since the week ending March 14, Wisconsin actually saw a drop in tourism spending compared to last year of $1.7 billion,\"\" she said. Wisconsin’s tourism industry should come back a bit this summer. Some northern resorts have opened and state campgrounds reopened June 10, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. But that tourism recovery could be an uphill climb if Meaney is correct that year-over-year weekly travel spending in the state has dropped $1.7 billion since March. Let’s take a look. Craig Trost, Wisconsin Department of Tourism communications director, pointed PolitiFact Wisconsin to the U.S. Travel Association, which commissioned a study by Tourism Economics, the firm the department uses for its economic impact data. The U.S. Travel Association is a national, non-profit organization representing the travel industry, with various sectors — including transportation, lodging, retail, recreation, leisure and entertainment and food service, meetings and trade shows. Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin, explained that the analysis is based on a combination of factors: daily hotel data (nights and revenue) from STR, a research company that tracks the hospitality industry; flight data (seats and passengers) from Airline Data Inc. and the Transportation Security Administration; and drive travel data (outside 50 mile radius) from Arrivalist based on mobile device data. Trost said the week ending March 14 was significant because that is when COVID-19 began significantly impacting tourism spending. \"\"Since the beginning of March, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over $176 billion in losses for the U.S. travel economy,\"\" the report states. According to the report, Wisconsin’s  year-over-year net change in weekly travel spending from the week ending March 28 to the week ending May 16 was down about $200 million each week. When going back earlier in March, the report notes losses for the week ending March 14 at $17 million and the week ending March 21 of $50 million. That brings the total to $1.775 billion. Romy Snyder, CEO/President of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, said it will take time to correctly analyze and know the  financial impact of COVID-19 on Wisconsin Dells. \"\"We do know the loss of visitors has been detrimental to the local tourism economy,\"\" Snyder said in an email. \"\"According to 2019 numbers, the spring and summer seasons account for 66% of direct visitor spending in Wisconsin Dells.\"\" Snyder said area businesses are ready to welcome visitors. \"\"Wisconsin Dells’ businesses are working to accommodate current visitors to the area in a safe manner by increasing sanitation procedures and limiting capacities and hours of operation,\"\" Snyder said. \"\"We know Wisconsin Dells has strong brand awareness in the Midwest, which will help our area when people are ready to travel and are looking for an accessible vacation destination with a diversity of activities.\"\" Jon Jarosh of Destination Door County said area businesses have been getting ready and opening up. \"\"Everybody has a little different protocol in terms of what they’re going to allow at their particular business,\"\" Jarosh said on the same \"\"UpFront\"\" program where Meaney appeared via remote. \"\"We’re asking our visitors and residents that are out and about to just respect the individual businesses and what they are asking for. But by and large most businesses are going to be asking that their customers do wear a face covering of some sort and also just practice social distancing guidelines.\"\" A major Dells attraction, Noah’s Ark water park, set its opening date for June 20, the first day of summer. The water park plans a number of precautions in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those precautions include social distancing and limiting capacity not only in the park itself but also on specific attractions and in buildings. The park is requiring guests to RSVP for the day they want to visit, and visitors must buy tickets in advance online. Walk-up tickets will not be sold. Meaney said the state’s tourism losses have topped $1.7 billion since March. Data from weekly studies commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association, an organization with over 1,100 members nationwide, found that beginning the week ending March 14, when the COVID-19 crisis first began to significantly impact tourism spending, Wisconsin was down $17 million compared to a year earlier. The drop in year-over-year travel spending in the state mounted weekly, with the latest available report reporting a drop of $214 million for the week ending May 16. That brings the state tourism sector drop to $1.775 billion since the week ending March 14.",
            "output": [
                "“Since the week ending March 14, Wisconsin actually saw a drop in tourism spending compared to last year of $1.7 billion.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b31580671e28463b8c9471206cf783b8",
            "input": "Gains in life expectancy contrast with Americans’ unhealthy behaviors, which have led to a 28 percent adult obesity rate, a diabetes rate of nearly 10 percent and a high blood pressure rate of more than 30 percent, according to United Health Foundation’s 2012 America’s Health Rankings. All three conditions are considered risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Since 1990, premature deaths have declined by 18 percent, cardiovascular deaths have fallen 35 percent, and cancer deaths have slipped by 8 percent, the report said. Americans’ life expectancy was 78.5 years in 2009, 1.7 years above the level in 2000, the report said. “As a nation, we’ve made extraordinary gains in longevity over the past decades, but as individuals we are regressing in our health,” said Dr. Reed Tuckson, a medical adviser at the United Health Foundation and chief of medical affairs at the UnitedHealth Group. Among the 24 different metrics involved in calculating the nation’s health are a variety of factors such as smoking, violent crime and a lack of health insurance. The report, now in its 23rd year, incorporates data from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Census Bureau as well as the FBI, among other sources. Vermont was found to be the healthiest U.S. state thanks in part to a low incidence of infectious diseases, a low violent crime rate and a high rate of health insurance among its residents. Mississippi and Louisiana were found to be the unhealthiest states because of a high prevalence of obesity, diabetes and a low birth weight among infants, among other factors.",
            "output": [
                "Americans living longer, with unhealthy lifestyles: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b587ab0a422e4e74b8dbf2caf4bdca27",
            "input": "Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect this year’s bloom to rank among the top five since it began measuring their severity in 2002, according to their annual algae forecast for the lake. What’s not known is how toxic it might be or whether it will pose a threat for cities in Ohio and Michigan that draw their drinking water from the lake. Algae blooms that produce toxins and can sicken swimmers and harm fish are becoming an increasing concern nationwide, causing water warnings this year from Vermont to the Gulf Coast. Environmental officials in New Jersey have been telling people to stay out of the state’s largest lake since late June and beaches in Mississippi have been closed in recent weeks by a bloom fueled by polluted Midwest floodwaters pouring from the Mississippi River. Lake Erie, the shallowest and warmest of the Great Lakes, has been hit particularly hard over the past decade. It was five years ago when a toxic bloom caused a two-day shutdown of drinking water in Toledo. Researchers, using a scale for rating the severity of the bloom, expect it to be a 7.5 this year — short of the most severe outbreaks this past decade but still a significant one. Studies have shown that much of the phosphorus that fuels the algae comes from fertilizer runoff from farm fields along with sewage treatment plants and other sources. Unusually heavy rains this spring washed large amounts of nutrients into the lake, but the rain also prevented many farmers from planting corn and applying phosphorus-rich fertilizers on their fields. That may be why the amount of phosphorus found in the lake’s largest tributary, the Maumee River, was much lower than what would be expected, said Laura Johnson, director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University. The forecasters say one thing they’re unsure about is how the record-setting water levels on the lake this year will impact the algae. “Each bloom is different in how they behave,” said Rick Stumpf, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Where the bloom will go on the lake’s western end along Ohio and Michigan will vary based on wind direction, but researchers point out that most of the lake will be fine for boaters and swimmers. Other factors that will determine the size and location of this year’s bloom in the coming weeks include rain amounts and the lake’s water temperature. Although some areas along the Ohio shoreline already have algae starting to form and drift into the lake, researchers don’t expect to see a large outbreak until the end of July.",
            "output": [
                "Expect another huge blob of algae on Lake Erie this summer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ad07a13df0f4b2cb27bdd08ebfa4b56",
            "input": "\"To prevent the spread of coronavirus, one state lawmaker wants to take the \"\"assembly\"\" out of the North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina state Rep. Kelly Alexander, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, suggested on Twitter that legislators should consider video conferencing. The start of the legislature’s session is scheduled for April 28. Alexander posted his tweet on March 11. That same day the World Health Organization labeled the spread of the novel coronavirus as a \"\"pandemic,\"\" prompting a wave of event cancellations and changes across the globe. \"\"With a vaccine a year in the future the General Assembly should use more teleconferences and fewer in person meetings to cut down on potential exposure...after all most of the GA’s members are in the high risk age group,\"\" Alexander tweeted, adding: \"\"besides we need to modernize...just saying.\"\" Is it  that \"\"most\"\" of North Carolina’s legislators are in the \"\"high risk age group?\"\" Alexander never responded to an email from PolitiFact, so we don’t know how he came to his conclusion. Regardless, his tweet is on-point. First, let’s first look at what health experts say about the novel coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) and who’s most at-risk. The virus causes a fever, cough and shortness of breath in people anywhere from two to 14 days after exposure, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says people with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or lung disease are most at-risk. As for age, there’s no specific birth date at which people become more vulnerable. Generally speaking: the older you are, the more likely you are to have complications from the novel coronavirus. That said, top health organizations have defined \"\"older adults\"\" as people who are at least 60 years old. The CDC has previously, in a document unrelated to the coronavirus, defined older adults as those over 60. The World Health Organization specifically mentioned people over 60 in its recent report on the coronavirus outbreak in China. Health experts recently told CNN that the term \"\"older\"\" typically refers to anyone over 60. And US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said 60 is the \"\"average age of people who need medical attention.\"\" It also appears that people older than 60 are more susceptible to complications from the virus. Scientific American reported that patients in China were more at-risk of death if they developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, known as ARDS, after contracting coronavirus. The average age of those who contracted the syndrome was 61. So we know that people who are 60-years-old or older are likely to be more at-risk than other age groups. With this in mind, let’s look at the age of North Carolina’s legislators. The legislature includes 170 members: 120 in the House and 50 in the Senate. In the Senate, 28 members are 60-years-old or older. In the House, 63 members are older than 60. That means 91 members are aged 60 or older -- which is 53% of the General Assembly. Those numbers come from James White, the House principal clerk, and Sarah Holland, the Senate’s principal clerk. So it’s  that a majority of legislators are 60 or older. How does that compare to Congress? In the U.S. House, 197 of its 435 members are 60 or older. In the U.S. Senate, 66 of its 100 members are 60 or older. That means about 49% of Congress is at least 60 years-old. Those numbers come from a report by the Congressional Research Service and Jennifer Manning, the service’s senior research librarian. Rep. Alexander said \"\"most\"\" North Carolina legislators are in the \"\"highest risk age group\"\" for coronavirus. The highest risk age group is generally people who are aged 60 and older. Alexander’s claim is on-point: more than half of legislators are older than that.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Kelly Alexander Says \"\"most\"\" NC legislators are in the \"\"high risk age group\"\" for coronavirus\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d9634e1e06c4ecf867acf4bb4d38657",
            "input": "But Husson University’s Butch Babin is still on the pool deck. Babin, 57, returned to coaching at the Maine college part time in October and then resumed full-time coaching after Thanksgiving, the Bangor Daily News reported. Using a wheelchair while his leg heals doesn’t affect his coaching, he said. “I need to be here for the kids and myself,” Babin said. “It’s very important to let the kids know I wasn’t going to let this beat me.” Swimmers are inspired by his dedication and spirit. Sophomore Kayla Redman, of Waterville, called him “amazing” and “awesome.” Senior Kelsey Poland, of Levant, called him an “inspiration.” “He’s dedicated. To be here means a lot to us,” said sophomore Erin Aucoin, of Brewer. Babin acknowledged that there have been times when he was discouraged by the challenges during several nightmarish years of health problems, which were capped by arterial stents last spring to improve blood flow to his heart and flesh-eating bacteria that led to the amputation last fall. “But here I am, thanks to the good people around me and my positive attitude. All the support has helped me stay positive,” Babin said. Assistant coach Robby MacDonald said Babin is invested in the success of the team and the development of the team members. “Unquestionably, coach Babin has displayed great courage and great resiliency,” MacDonald said. “He has been very inspirational. He always comes in with a healthy, positive frame of mind.”",
            "output": [
                "Maine swim coach on pool deck despite medical setbacks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-284f917a3f6c4378ae97043de51d3906",
            "input": "All three stories at least mentioned the total amount of money being spent on nicotine replacement products or the growth in that spending. None of the stories actually explained how much these products cost or compared them to the costs of cigarettes. The cost of an 8-week regimen of nicotine patches is $160-200. The story was less successful than the other two in quantifying the benefits. It did not put any hard numbers to the findings, saying instead, “At each stage, about one-third of the people trying to quit had relapsed, the study found. The use of replacement products made no difference, whether they were taken for the recommended two-month period (they usually were not), or with the guidance of a cessation counselor. One subgroup, heavy smokers (defined as those who had their first cigarette within a half-hour of waking up) who used replacement products without counseling, was twice as likely to relapse as heavy smokers who did not use them.” While using vague terms like “twice as likely” may make the story a little less daunting for some readers, we think that a story on a scientific study, especially a study as controversial as this one, should provide the actual numbers from the study as much as possible. Also, all three stories failed to make it clear whether the same 30% or so of people continued to relapse throughout the study or whether a total of two-thirds of the participants fell back to smoking. None of the stories mentioned the potential harms from taking nicotine, as opposed to quitting cold turkey. Nor did they mention the additional risks associated with continuing to smoke instead of making use of a more successful smoking cessation program that would actually help a smoker quit. As the leading risk factor for early death, smoking should be stopped as quickly and effectively as possible. As with the other two stories, this one provided the basic outlines of the study protocol, but, unlike the other two, it did not provide more than make a vague mention of a potential flaw in the study’s design. None of the stories, either, made any attempt to discuss whether the previous evidence in favor of nicotine products could have been unduly influenced by the makers of the products. We did appreciate, though, that this story noted that earlier studies had shown “the products have proved effective, making it easier for people to quit, at least in the short term.”  This places the current study into perspective since it looked at long term outcomes at 5 years. We could go either way with this score, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. No disease mongering. This is the only one of the three stories we reviewed that did not quote someone directly connected to GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of some of the best selling tobacco replacement products. Several independent sources were quoted. The story lists a range of alternative factors for successful smoking cessation at the end of the piece: “Motivation matters a lot; so does a person’s social environment, the amount of support from friends and family, and the rules enforced at the workplace. Media campaigns, increased tobacco taxes and tightening of smoking laws have all had an effect as well.” This isn’t quite a comparison with nicotine products, but we give the story credit for covering some of this territory. This story talks about the sales figures for nicotine products as one indication of widespread availability and use. The story does a great job pointing out how this study fits into the recent history of similar research into the topic. The story did not rely on any press release.",
            "output": [
                "Nicotine Gum and Skin Patch Face New Doubt"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f84d223434f7447280101effe9f73187",
            "input": "The tougher regulations, set by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), come into force on Jan 1. Costs will rise for ships towards the end of this year and there will be a knock on effect for trucks and other transporters that move goods around the world. For shipping companies it is the biggest shakeup in decades and adds to the pressures of an economic slowdown and the threat of an escalating trade war between the United States and China. While consumers are not expected to pay more for goods, higher transport bills and disruption to company deliveries could further dent economic growth. Ship owners must cut sulphur emissions to 0.5% from 3.5%. They can do this by using low-sulphur fuel, installing exhaust gas cleaning systems or opting for other, more expensive, clean fuels such as liquefied natural gas or traveling more slowly. Jeff Child, president of Berkshire Hathaway’s RC Willey Home Furnishings, moved the delivery of about 450 containers from September and October to July and August. He wants to avoid any disruption in the peak fourth quarter as ships prepare for the changes, including refitting equipment. “We just don’t want to get caught in a situation where it affects our inventory,” he told Reuters. Analysts say the container industry, which transports consumer goods such as sofas, designer clothes and bananas, will be one of the worst hit with extra costs of about $10 billion. The world’s two biggest container shipping lines - Denmark’s Maersk and Swiss headquartered MSC - say they face annual extra costs of over $2 billion each. Twenty-five logistics company executives told Reuters they would pass along any IMO-related costs, such as ship upgrades or more expensive fuel, to customers. “The sulphur cap will further put pressure on ocean freight rates and we... will have to pass those costs on to remain competitive,” Peder Winther, global head of ocean freight with Swiss transportation company Panalpina Group said. Economists say manufacturers are expected to absorb their part of the cost and are unlikely to raise the price of consumer goods, but the hit to companies could be a drag on the world economy. A Nestle S.A. spokesperson said the food group was talking to transport companies about “fuel adjustment methodology” to reflect the impact of the new rules. “Higher fuel prices would result in higher transport costs,” said Peter Nagle, an economist with the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group. “This would have the potential to lead to slower economic growth and trade.”   Trucking companies will also suffer. The IMO rules do not apply to them but they will face new competition from ships for lower sulfur fuel. This is expected to push up the price of diesel fuel for trucks by as much as 100 percent. Small to mid-sized truckers may find it tough as they lack the clout to negotiate fuel deals or to recoup the costs. “I’m at the whim of the market. All I can do is let the customers know what’s going on,” said Mike Baicher, president and chief executive of New Jersey based West End Express, which runs 90 trucks in New York, New Jersey and along the East Coast. “There is only so much that the trucking company can absorb.”   In a letter sent to top U.S. government officials including National Security Advisor John Bolton, transport associations including trucking groups said there was consensus that U.S. transport industries would be “negatively affected by IMO 2020 pricing pressure”. It said there could be market disruptions. “There’s a storm approaching but we don’t know how bad the storm is going to be,” said Glen Kedzie, energy and environmental counsel for the American Trucking Associations. Shipping and freight forwarding companies, who offer a service overseeing the delivery of goods from beginning to end, expect to feel more cost pressure. Bart de Vries, chief operating officer for air & sea with U.S. headquartered Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, expects to pay more for services as shipping companies pass along the costs. Some companies may overhaul their business plans. “It will undoubtedly force many exporters and importers to review their sourcing strategies and vendors,” said Cas Pouderoyen, senior vice president of ocean freight with global logistics company Agility         Richard Fattal, co-founder of digital freight forwarder and logistics provider Zencargo, said there could be as much as a 10 to 20% rise in overall operating costs next year. Allen Clifford, a U.S.-based executive vice president with MSC, said at a recent forum in California that his company was facing huge expenses. “Who’s going to pay for it? You’re going to pay for it. Because I’m tired of paying for it,” he told industry executives, and port and customs officials.",
            "output": [
                "Education Week rates Ohio schools in the top five in the nation.",
                "'Storm approaching': firms fear for deliveries in shipping shakeup."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60599e171f1e4832bff40c8b51fdae31",
            "input": "The outbreak, the country’s worst, has killed 439 of the 713 people believed to have caught the disease. The fight against Ebola depends on tracing people who may have had contact with the disease and could fall ill and spread it further. But the outbreak in a region of Congo with frequent fighting makes it hard for health workers to move around and monitor potential sufferers and to spread messages about how to avoid becoming sick. Most of the cases since the start of the year have been in Katwa health zone, where the WHO said Ebola workers had faced “pockets of community mistrust” and most people falling ill were not on lists of people suspected of coming into contact with Ebola. “The outbreak has also extended southwards to Kayina health zone, a high security risk area,” the WHO said in its statement late on Thursday. There have been five cases in Kayina, which lies between the main outbreak zone and the major city of Goma, which is close to the Rwandan border. The WHO said that after running an Ebola simulation exercise in Rwanda, it was sending a team to beef up the country’s preparedness and to vaccinate health workers who would be first to come into contact with Ebola if it spread across the border. However, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said there had also been a decline in cases around the previous hotspot Beni. “It is very premature to shout victory, it’s true we had some success in Beni because all the steps we’ve taken have had an impact, but unfortunately we see cases turning up in other areas,” she said. “The country is not only facing Ebola but other health threats, just to name malaria, cholera, vaccine-derived polio, and also a very long humanitarian crisis and a lot of violence in several regions.”  More than 60,000 people have been vaccinated in Congo, as well as 2,500 in Uganda, one of the countries at “very high” risk from the disease. Chaib said there were 4,000 people with potential Ebola contact under surveillance and 156 patients in hospital.",
            "output": [
                "Ebola spreads to high-risk area of Congo: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae883d1bc65144dab6a5b80357553498",
            "input": "The American Civil Liberties Union’s Rhode Island chapter announced Friday it filed a federal class action lawsuit with Disability Rights Rhode Island and the ACLU’s National Prison Project, alleging constitutional violations of the rights of prisoners with serious mental illness. The suit was filed on behalf of inmates. Corrections Department spokesman J.R. Ventura says they’ve trained staff on best practices and partnered across state agencies to guarantee high-quality mental health care. He says they “strongly dispute” the ACLU’s claims. The suit accuses the department of subjecting people with serious and persistent mental illness to prolonged solitary confinement, despite knowing the serious risk of harm these conditions pose. It seeks changes to how inmates are housed.",
            "output": [
                "Lawsuit filed over treatment of inmates with mental illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4263f16f91dc4cd8af4aaced5aae0e0c",
            "input": "William, the Duke of Cambridge, opened the new NHS Nightingale Hospital at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) via video link. The hospital is the second of seven being constructed around England in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak which has killed nearly 13,000 people in Britain so far. It has a 500-bed capacity, which can be increased to 1,500. Over 400 civilian contractors, along with military personnel and about 500 clinical staff, were involved in its building.",
            "output": [
                "Prince William opens new UK emergency COVID-19 hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-35eab33dcf5f428486f8454332ae8ab7",
            "input": "Sedentary lifestyles are linked to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, researchers found, but activity - such as brisk walking - could counter the higher likelihood of early death linked with sitting for eight or more hours a day. Such inactivity is estimated to cause more than 5 million deaths a year - almost as many as smoking, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says kills 6 million a year. Giving details of their findings at a briefing in London, the international team of researchers warned there has been too little progress in tackling a “pandemic of physical inactivity”. Ulf Ekelund, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences and Cambridge University, said that WHO recommendations for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week was probably not enough. A quarter of adults worldwide do not meet even the WHO’s recommendations. “You don’t need to do sport or go to the gym ... but you do need to do at least one hour a day,” he said, giving walking at 5.6 km an hour (km/h) or cycling at 16 km/h as examples of what was needed. People who sat for eight hours a day but were otherwise active had a lower risk of premature death than people who spent fewer hours sitting but were also less active, suggesting that exercise is particularly important, no matter how many hours a day are spent sitting. The greatest risk of premature death was for people who sat for long periods of time and did not exercise, according to the findings, published in The Lancet on Wednesday. In another of the series of four studies, researchers estimated healthcare costs and productivity losses for five major diseases linked to lack of exercise - heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer - cost $67.5 billion globally in 2013. Melody Ding of the University of Sydney, who led this part of the research, said the costs occur largely in wealthier countries, but as poorer countries develop, so too will the economic burden of chronic diseases linked to inactivity.",
            "output": [
                "Lack of exercise costs world $67.5 billion and 5 million lives a year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-22dc854dede34195a034dfc95b25bbef",
            "input": "Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia spoke out Saturday after conservative commentators criticized the inclusion of Oxford University professor Nigel Biggar as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Biggar, a noted Christian ethicist, was quoted as saying in 2011 that he would draw the line for abortion at 18 weeks, since that is “roughly about the earliest time when there is some evidence of brain activity, and therefore of consciousness.” Catholic Church teaching holds that life begins at conception and must be defended until natural death. In an interview with Italy’s La Stampa, Paglia reaffirmed the Vatican’s unwavering opposition to abortion. He said Biggar had been personally recommended by the archbishop of Canterbury, had never written about the issue and wouldn’t engage in abortion debates as a member. Biggar, for his part, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that Paglia’s office had asked him to clarify his position after the ruckus broke out. He said he had provided the Vatican with copies of the few and incidental remarks he had made about abortion over the past 30 years. “Abortion is a very important and, I think, difficult moral issue. But, although I have provisional views about it, it is not one that I have published anything substantial on,” he said in the email. “I have on the other hand written a lot about voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide, spoken about it in the UK, Ireland, France, and Canada, and consistently opposed their legalization. On those two issues, my conclusions align with those of the Roman Catholic Church.” The Pontifical Academy for Life is the Vatican’s bioethics advisory board, founded in 1994 by St. John Paul II to promote Catholic teaching on the defense of life. Under John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI, the academy took a very conservative line on issues surrounding sexual morals, and some of its more hard-line members occasionally made headlines for calling out perceived lapses in upholding church teaching. Francis announced the academy’s new members this past week, leaving off some of its more outspoken members.",
            "output": [
                "Vatican defends membership for theologian over abortion flap."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08b96b408db84616889008a28785c7c9",
            "input": "\"International leaders continue to try and shine a light on the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. But do they get their facts right? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently penned a letter decrying the impact of poverty and disease on young girls in Africa, a group he says make up a disproportionate amount of new HIV infections among young people. Trudeau wrote the letter in response to the One Campaign, which sent out an appeal to global leaders asking them to help combat gender inequality. The One Campaign is a worldwide advocacy program that works to raise awareness about poverty and preventable disease. Included in Trudeau’s message was a claim that young women \"\"account for a shocking 74 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa.\"\" We’ve seen this statistic floating around before. Our partners at Africa Check investigated a nearly identical claim featured in an online article published in April. They concluded that the source of the data was ambiguous, but their independent calculations mostly fell in line with the overall message of the claim. PolitiFact decided to dig into Trudeau’s claim in more detail. Running the numbers Trudeau’s office informed us that the source of his claim is a 2015 reference report authored by UNAIDS and the African Union. The report, titled \"\"Empower young women and adolescent girls,\"\" contains a figure claiming that in 2013, 74 percent of new HIV infections among people between ages 15 and 24 in Africa occurred in adolescent girls. But the report’s footnotes section only lists \"\"2013 UNAIDS data\"\" as its source. Where did this data come from, and is it still accurate today? First, it’s important to note that although Trudeau named the entire continent of Africa in his claim, the majority of AIDS estimates in Africa specifically examine sub-Saharan Africa. Alasdair Reid, deputy director of communications and global advocacy at UNAIDS said that discussion of AIDS in the continent usually focuses on sub-Saharan Africa and treats North Africa as a separate region or as part of the Middle East. Katie Smith, communications associate at the Kaiser Family Foundation, referred us to the 2016 Prevention Gap Report, a collection of HIV data and analysis of infection trends from 146 countries. The press release for the report states, \"\"In eastern and southern Africa three-quarters of all new HIV infections among adolescents aged 10–19 years are among adolescent girls.\"\" The report made no reference to data analyzing sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. We reached out to UNAIDS to obtain the most recent data for the entire region. The agency pointed us to the 2016 Prevention Gap Report as well, but also gave us up-to-date figures taken from aidsinfoonline.org, a database of AIDS-related statistics. According to a spreadsheet provided by UNAIDS, in 2015, 76 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents aged 10-19 in sub-Saharan Africa were among adolescent girls. The age range used in the sheet is lower than the 15-24 group used by Trudeau’s source. The officials we spoke to told us that Trudeau’s claim was basically correct, and was actually slightly lower than more recent numbers because it was based on data from 2013. Why girls are so vulnerable to HIV Trudeau’s sobering statistic made us wonder why African girls are so disproportionately affected by a virus that can infect any human being. The experts we talked to stressed that a wide variety of factors ranging from economic circumstances to societal gender norms were responsible for the gap. Anurita Baines, the HIV/AIDS regional advisor at UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, stressed that the obstacles most girls in poverty face even when healthy make avoiding HIV infection more difficult. \"\"The primary reasons that girls are more vulnerable have to do with gender inequality, including lack of access to education,\"\" she said. \"\"These issues prevent women and girls from negotiating for condoms and safe sex practices.\"\" One particular problem is the phenomenon of intergenerational sex, where poor young girls have sex with men who are often at least a decade older. Reid told us that these \"\"blessers\"\" shower poor girls with gifts and money, who then become dependent on the men to stay in school. The result is often unprotected exposure to an HIV-positive partner. However, in recent years an array of initiatives has been developed and implemented to specifically protect young women from HIV infection. Baines highlighted UNICEF’s social protection programs in countries such as Kenya and Malawi that give small cash grants for households with school-age girls. The purpose of the grants is to keep girls in school longer, which delays their sexual debut and reduces their risk of contracting HIV. Ultimately, Baines is hopeful that increased international attention could further advance efforts to fight the disease. \"\"To have someone at a high political level make a statement like that is very encouraging,\"\" she said of Trudeau’s claim. \"\"What has to come next is the funding and the support for programs that actually reach these girls and help them.\"\" Our ruling Trudeau claimed that young women \"\"account for a shocking 74 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa.\"\" The data from UNAIDS and UNICEF closely matches his numbers, though Trudeau would have been more precise if he said sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence there shows that young girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are significantly more vulnerable to HIV infection than their male peers due to a wide variety of economic and gender-related issues. Trudeau’s claim is accurate with the small caveat about his use of Africa and not sub-Saharan Africa.",
            "output": [
                "\"Young women, \"\"account for a shocking 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-282102414af943ac825c4dd9d4592c3e",
            "input": "The state Department of Health also said it would allow more sites where patients can access medical cannabis. The changes take effect in August, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. Minnesota’s medical marijuana program began in 2014. Originally, only nine conditions were on the list, but now it covers such conditions as obstructive sleep apnea, post-traumatic stress disorder and cancer. Sensible Change Minnesota, a group trying to change marijuana policy in Minnesota, sought the addition of chronic pain. A doctor’s diagnosis of chronic pain will be required. It could be easier to certify than intractable pain, which was added to the program a few years ago. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the added conditions give more people more ways to deal with debilitating illness. “The bottom line is that people suffering from these serious conditions may be helped by participating in the program, and we felt it was important to give them the opportunity to seek that relief,” Malcolm said in a statement. Maren Schroeder, policy director for Sensible Change Minnesota, said doctors have been hesitant to certify intractable pain cases because that carries a specific legal definition by which pain cannot be removed but only managed and other options have failed to achieve results. “This will give doctors a little more comfort in getting their pain patients into this program as well as helping those patients qualify,” Schroeder said. Residents petitioned to include the new conditions this summer. Those requests were reviewed by a citizens panel and Health Department staff. Four conditions were rejected: anxiety, insomnia, psoriasis and traumatic brain injury. As of October, nearly 18,000 patients were certified for the state’s medical marijuana program. Minnesota’s program is considered relatively restrictive because patients are not allowed to get marijuana in leaf form or ingest it through smoking. Pills, vapors, topical ointments and liquid gels had been the only forms people could obtain through licensed manufacturers. Starting next summer, new delivery methods will include water-soluble cannabinoid, such as powders or sprinkles, and products such as lozenges, gums, mints and tablets. In addition, LeafLine Labs and Minnesota Medical Solutions — the two licensed manufacturers — will be allowed to open a combined eight more centers in Minnesota. The Health Department said the proposed centers are in Blaine, Burnsville, Duluth, Golden Valley, Mankato, Rogers, Willmar and Woodbury.",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota OKs medical cannabis for chronic pain, eye disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7063d114305746aa84754c486cffc4f7",
            "input": "It said Thursday that two of the four were patients at Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn within the past two months. The agency says it will visit the hospital this week to test its water and that the hospital is working with it to strengthen its water management. The agency says it has recommended the hospital inform patients and families about Legionella bacteria and work to identify other potential cases of the disease. Water containing naturally occurring Legionella bacteria can be aerosolized through cooling towers, showers, hot tubs, and decorative fountains and, when inhaled, cause Legionnaire’s disease, which is a serious lung infection.",
            "output": [
                "4 cases of Legionnaires’ disease investigated at hospital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4551b704f394104a37a928202ad9e47",
            "input": "Africa had until now largely been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 135,000 people and killed around 5,000 worldwide. Most of Africa’s reported cases were foreigners or people who had traveled abroad. Rapid testing and quarantines have been put in place to limit transmission. But concerns are growing about the continent’s ability to handle the disease. Cases have been reported in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia. Mauritania’s health ministry said late on Friday that its first coronavirus patient is a European man - nationality not specified - who had returned to Nouakchott on March 9 and had since been in quarantine. The numbers of cases in most of the countries are still in single figures. Senegal confirmed 11 new cases on Friday, raising the total in that West African nation to 21. Its health ministry said 16 had been infected by the same man who had returned from Italy. Among those confirming first cases on Friday, Kenya is the richest economy in East Africa and a hub for global companies and the United Nations, while Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous nation, with 109 million people. Addis Ababa and Nairobi are regional transit hubs. In Nairobi, the Kenyan authorities banned all major public events and said they would restrict foreign travel. The mayor of Addis Ababa urged citizens to avoid close personal contact but Ethiopia’s health minister said there were no plans to cancel flights. Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said the country’s first case, a 27-year-old Kenyan, was diagnosed on Thursday after traveling home via London on March 5. He said the government had traced most of the people she had been in contact with, including fellow passengers on her flight, and a government response team would monitor their temperatures for the next two weeks. The Ethiopian case was a 48-year old Japanese national who arrived in Ethiopia on March 4, the health ministry said. Guinea’s first case was an employee of the European Union delegation who had self-isolated after she felt ill upon returning from Europe, the EU delegation said. Sudan’s first confirmed coronavirus case was a man who died on Thursday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the Health Ministry said. He had visited the United Arab Emirates in the first week of March. Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said the government had suspended all public gatherings, sporting events, open-air religious meetings and events “of a huge public nature”. Schools will remain open but inter-school events were suspended. Public transport operators must install hand sanitizers in their vehicles and clean them regularly, Kagwe said, while foreign travel would be restricted. Soon after the announcement, shoppers in one Nairobi supermarket were buying up cart loads of staples such as maize flour and water, as well as hand sanitizers and soap. Kenya Airways suspended flights to China last month and on Thursday added Rome and Geneva to the list of suspended destinations. Kenya, which relies heavily on Asian imports, has seen disruptions to its supply chain and a decline in tourism, an important source of hard currency and jobs. “We are going to be hit badly,” Tourism Minister Najib Balala told journalists. The Nairobi Securities Exchange halted trading in the afternoon after the main NSE 20 share index   dropped by more than 5% following the news. Mauritius, an island nation off the coast of East Africa whose economy depends on tourism and financial services, has yet to report any COVID-19 cases but said it was offering liquidity to banks to support struggling firms hit by the impact of the virus and cutting banks’ cash reserve requirements.",
            "output": [
                "Kenya, Ethiopia join expanding list of African states with coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15d89ace2d1042c5ba02f3f95022ab6e",
            "input": "Costs were not mentioned, but since the story is about an early vaccine trial (one that showed the vaccine to have less than desirable effectiveness), we think cost is not applicable in this case. The benefit of treatment, immune responsiveness to bird flu, was accurately reported as occurring in 54% of those receiving the highest dose of the vaccine administered. In presenting the lack of harms associated with even the high doses of antigen needed to trigger the desired immune response, the article included an important caveat about elderly individuals typically faring worse than the healthy young people tested. This article did a good job of summarizing the results of the current study – that 54% of those getting the highest dose appeared to mount an immune response to this strain of flu as compared with 75-90% of those receiving typical winter-flu vaccine having a similar immune response (and at a dose that is 12 times lower than that needed to attain this level of immunity with bird-flu). In some ways this story avoided a hysterical tone when discussing a possible bird flu pandemic. But it did include a picture of workers in hazmat suits and if offered the calculation that with the current iteration of vaccine it would be possible to fully immunize a mere 1.25% of the population when a portion of that population has never been vaccinated against the flu. This threw off the otherwise well-maintained balance of the report on this potential public health issue. Quotes from an accompanying editorial, a member of the panel monitoring the vaccine’s safety and the head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health augment the information presented in the article in the New England Journal of Medicine upon which the story was based. The article mentions ongoing studies with the goal of improving the vaccine so that protection against bird flu could be accomplished with loser doses. This article reported on what it terms ‘the first human testing’ of vaccine against the bird flu. While mentioning other studies underway, and not explicitly stating that this vaccine is not currently available to the public, a thread throughout the piece made it clear that vaccine against this strain of flu was still a work in progress. This article reported on the efficacy of the first vaccine against the bird flu which has been added to the nation’s vaccine stockpile. Does not appear to rely solely or largely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "1st Bird-Flu Vaccine Only Partly Effective"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8b83ee8e2c24bb09df557af8303bdc9",
            "input": "A debut crop of around 100 kilos (221 lbs) of prime cannabis bud - with a value of $2 million on the street - was harvested this month from the farm in La Florida, a middle-class Santiago neighborhood, and sent to a laboratory for processing. The project is the brainchild of a curious alliance between Rodolfo Carter, a right-wing municipal mayor with progressive tendencies, and a privately-funded foundation ran by Ana Maria Gazmuri, a 1980s TV soap star who is now an advocate for alternative “holistic” medicine. Scientists plan to extract the active ingredients from the cannabis for use in the treatment of 200 cancer patients who signed up via the local healthcare system or through the foundation. “If there is a therapeutic property to cannabis that relieves pain it would be a criminal irresponsibility as a leader not to give it to citizens who need it,” Carter said at the farm, where the strong smell of marijuana lingers and security staff keep a watchful eye. Although Chile has not followed Uruguay’s lead in legalizing marijuana, it allows the cultivation and use of the plant for medicinal purposes. Cannabis-derived treatments have been found to relieve pain and stimulate hunger in cancer patients, as well as help children with epilepsy. Demand in Chile for medicinal marijuana has far outstripped supply, Gazmuri said. Municipalities from Arica in the country’s far north to Punta Arenas in Patagonia have show interest in setting up a larger farm, she said. “We are working with around 20 local governments, looking at a large plantation to optimize resources,” she said. Besides dealing with the logistical issues of growing a crop attractive to drug traffickers and only legal under certain conditions, the project had to overcome a social stigma attached to marijuana. For some years following the 1974-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Chile remained an extremely conservative country, where abortion and divorce were outlawed and illicit drug use heavily punished. But left-wing governments have taken baby steps in recent years towards a more liberal path, legalizing gay and lesbian civil partnerships and proposing a loosening of abortion rules, as well as giving the nod to start up the La Florida project. “I belong to a generation that considered marijuana was linked to people who lived on the margins of the law, but it’s not like that,” said Carter, 43. “It’s a change of mentality that began with me.”",
            "output": [
                "Medical marijuana farm blooms in conservative Chile."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff8f59e890994911aaf2444059c99495",
            "input": "From 2012 to 2017, Montana physicians prescribed fewer and less powerful doses of opioids while the number of people on high doses also declined, according to a report compiled by the state health department and the Montana Board of Pharmacy after analyzing data from the Montana Prescription Drug Registry. The report also says that while Montana’s overall overdose death rate has remained relatively stable, the number of deaths attributed to opioids has been declining. Gov. Steve Bullock said Montana is ahead of the game because it recognized the opioid addiction issue early and acted. Since 2008, the state has implemented a prescription drug registry, prescription drug drop-off locations and increased access to substance abuse treatment, in part through Medicaid expansion. In 2017, the Legislature passed a law allowing anyone to get naloxone _ which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose _ without a prescription. Emergency room physician Bill Gallea said the naloxone law has played a critical role in saving lives. While opioids given in proper amounts can alleviate pain, taken in higher doses or in combination with other medications, opioids can suppress and even stop your breathing, Gallea said. “In our battle to prevent death from overdose, our goal is to have naloxone in every fire truck, every squad car, every clinic and school and to be carried by everyone who is prescribed a high dose of opioids, or is perhaps addicted, and carried by anyone who might encounter a friend or family member who is at risk for an overdose,” he said. “We’ve not yet achieved our goal of universal distribution of naloxone to all the appropriate individuals, but we are making progress,” Gallea said, noting that in the first nine months of this year, naloxone has been used over 500 times by first responders. Another key to reducing opioid abuse is making more medication-assisted treatment available, said Cindy Stergar, CEO of the Montana Primary Care Association. The association has been providing training to primary care providers so they are qualified to prescribe medication that can help ease the withdrawal symptoms of reducing or ending opioid use. Two years ago, Montana had about two dozen such providers. Now there’s 150, she said. Over 600 people are receiving medication-assisted treatment through community health centers and urban Indian Health Service centers, Stergar said. The number is double that across the state. Prescriptions for buprenorphine saw a major increase in 2017, the report said, indicating more people are receiving medication-assisted treatment. Montana’s Substance Use Disorder Task Force has updated its knowyourdosemt.org website with information on identifying and treating opioid use disorder, better ways to manage patients with chronic pain, federal prescribing guidelines and how to taper patients to lower opioid doses. The task force hopes the education will “help find a balance between people who we can help through opiates and those who might be harmed,” said Mark Mentel, a task force member and president of the Montana Medical Association. People picking up prescriptions for opioid pain medication such as hydrocodone or oxycodone have to provide identification under a new law that took effect Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "Montana’s battle against opioid abuse shows progress."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-475cb659497b4d7b977f9f6b63c503c8",
            "input": "To start, the company said Wednesday the Kate Spade New York Foundation is giving $250,000 to the Crisis Text Line , a free, 24-hour confidential text message service for people in crisis. The company also said it will match public donations made to the service from June 20 through June 29, up to an amount of $100,000. Kate Spade New York also says it will host a Global Mental Health Awareness Day for employees as part of its Wellness Program. The 55-year-old fashion designer was found dead by suicide June 5. Her husband says she had depression and anxiety for many years. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Spade was found dead June 5, not last month.",
            "output": [
                "Kate Spade Foundation to donate $1M for suicide prevention."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f08bbe2a4026411c9c973061ad2af739",
            "input": "The new proposals — the latest in a series of regulatory breaks granted by the administration for the sagging U.S. coal industry and for electric utilities using coal-fired power plants — reduces “heavy burdens on electricity producers across the country,” EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. One of the two proposals released by Wheeler on Monday would relax some 2015 requirements on coal-fired power plants for cleaning coal ash and toxic heavy metals — including mercury, arsenic and selenium — from plant wastewater before dumping it into waterways. The other would give some utilities up to several years more to clean up or close the more than 400 unlined coal ash dumps around the country that lie within a few feet of groundwater. The rewrite serves to “insert a grab bag of loopholes into what had been a strong national set of health protections,” Thomas Cmar, attorney for the coal program of the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice. It’s “allowing the power industry to continue dumping toxic contaminants in our waterways at the expense of public health,” Cmar said. President Donald Trump has embraced a series of regulatory breaks and boosts sought by the coal and utility industries, including overturning U.S. support of the Paris climate accord and scrapping a legacy Obama climate program aimed at pushing dirtier-burning coal plants out of the country’s electrical grid. But coal production in the U.S. has continued falling amid a boom for natural gas and some renewable energy, and U.S. coal facilities are closing despite the proposed regulatory relief. Coal magnate Robert Murray, an influential Trump donor and fundraiser who had presented the new administration with a written “action plan” of desired breaks for the coal industry, sought bankruptcy protection for his Murray Energy last week. The Trump EPA says the relaxed wastewater rule will save $175 million annually in compliance costs. It contends that discharge of toxic contaminants into rivers, streams and creeks and ponds would actually go down, owing to what it says will be increased, voluntary wastewater cleanups by utilities. Conservation advocates and EPA regulators from the time of President Barack Obama call that claim unproven and unlikely. Wheeler said his agency was releasing two proposed coal regulatory rollbacks in one day “to provide more certainty to the American public.” “These proposed revisions support the Trump Administration’s commitment to responsible, reasonable regulations by taking a commonsense approach, which also protects public health and the environment,” Wheeler said. The nation’s largest public utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority, had been trying for years to win exemption from the wastewater treatment rules for its largest coal-fired facility, arguing that it would be too expensive to bring the Cumberland Fossil Plant into compliance. The plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee, near the Kentucky border, accounts for up to one-sixth of the wastewater released in the country from cleaning out coal plant flues, millions of gallons per day more than any other plant. The plant releases that water into a section of the Cumberland River designated an Outstanding National Resource Water containing lake sturgeon that the state considers endangered. It’s near the Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge. The river is also a drinking water source for downstream communities. The EPA rejected an exception for TVA in its 2015 wastewater rules when it determined that the benefits to human health and the environment outweighed the costs of compliance. The proposed new rules reverse course, removing any limits on the amount of selenium and nitrate and nitrite the Cumberland plant can discharge into the river. According to EPA statistics, the plant dumped 1,300 pounds of toxic selenium in the river in 2016, the most recent year available. While selenium is an essential nutrient at lower levels of exposure, high levels can disrupt the nervous system and cause kidney and heart failure, and even death. The proposed rule states that the exception is based on cost because compliance “would likely put the facility at a competitive disadvantage with other coal-fired facilities.” The TVA said in a statement Monday that even without the selenium limits, treatment would remove some of the mineral from the wastewater being pumped downstream. On the other proposal, giving utilities more time to shut down leak-prone unlined coal ash pits, a spokeswoman with the industry’s American Public Power Association noted that operators will have to create new dump sites that meet standards. “This will undoubtedly take some time, and EPA acknowledges this reality” with its extended deadlines, spokeswoman Delia Patterson said. The U.S. coal industry, and utilities owning coal-fired power plants, have been hit hard on the market as natural gas and climate-friendly solar and wind power become dramatically cheaper. Other administration coal proposals include easing restrictions on smokestack releases of toxic mercury and on handling of coal plant waste ash. “In order to keep these plants alive they are literally gutting air and water quality protections for everyone in this country,” said Betsy Southerland, a science director in the EPA’s water office, who retired in 2017. “In the end I think it will only add a few years to the lives of these plants,” Southerland said. The administration plans a 60-day period for public comment on the two rule rewrites. ___ Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.",
            "output": [
                "Trump administration eases Obama-era rules on coal pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fa0026420e641cd82837f4f3e3d57d4",
            "input": "“Puzzling,” says the May 2018 exchange between William Happer, now a member of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, and Thomas Wysmuller of the Heartland Institute, which disavows manmade climate change. Their exchange calls scientifically established rises in sea levels and temperatures under climate change “part of the nonsense” and urges the NASA head — who was copied in — to “systematically sidestep it.” It cannot be discerned whether it was Happer or Wysmuller who put that pressure on the new NASA chief. Their exchange is included in emails from 2018 and 2019 that were obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund under the federal Freedom of Information Act and provided to The Associated Press. But the emails show that Happer, who was then advising Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, kept up the pressure after he joined the National Security Council late last year. In February, he emailed NASA deputy administrator James Morhard, relaying a complaint about NASA’s websites from an unidentified rejecter of man-made climate change. “I’m concerned that many children are being indoctrinated by this bad science,” said the email that Happer relayed. (Happer’s own message was redacted from the records obtained by the environmental group.) NASA does not appear to have buckled under such heat. Specific statements targeted in the email still appear on the space agency’s website. A NASA spokesman on Thursday upheld the space agency’s public statements on climate change. “We provide the data that informs policymakers around the world,” spokesman Bob Jacobs said. “Our science information continues to be published publicly as it always has.” Heartland Institute spokesman Jim Lakely said in an email that NASA’s public characterization of climate change as man-made and a global threat “is a disservice to taxpayers and science that it is still pushed by NASA.” The institute is one of the most vocal challengers of mainstream scientific findings that emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are damaging the Earth’s atmosphere. Since joining the National Security Council, Happer tapped two analysts with the institute to help him frame challenges to widely accepted scientific findings on global warming, the emails show. In a March 3 email exchange, Happer and Hal Doiron, another policy adviser to Heartland, discuss Happer’s scientific arguments in a paper attempting to knock down the contributions of fossil fuel emissions in climate disruption, as well as ideas to make the work “more useful to a wider readership.” Happer writes he had already discussed the work with another Heartland adviser, Wysmuller. Academic experts denounced the administration official’s continued involvement with groups and scientists who reject what numerous federal agencies say is the fact of man-made climate change. “These people are endangering all of us by promoting anti-science in service of fossil fuel interests over the American interests,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann. “It’s the equivalent to formulating anti-terrorism policy by consulting with groups that deny terrorism exists,” said Northeastern University’s Matthew Nisbet, a professor of environmental communication and public policy. The National Security Council declined to make Happer available to discuss the emails. The AP and others reported this year that Happer was coordinating a proposed White House panel to challenge the findings from scientists in and out of government that carbon emissions are altering the Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Trump in November rejected the warnings of a national climate change assessment by more than a dozen government agencies. “I don’t believe it,” he said. Happer, a physicist who previously taught at Princeton University, has claimed that carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from the burning of coal, oil and gas, is good for humans and that carbon emissions have been demonized like “the poor Jews under Hitler.” The emails show Happer expressing surprise that Bridenstine, a former Oklahoma congressman, had put his skepticism of global-warming science behind him before becoming NASA chief in April 2018. Bridenstine a year ago told reporters that after reading Defense Department briefings on global warming, he became convinced it is a serious national security problem: “We’re defending territory in the Arctic that we never had to defend. The Russians are doing things in the Arctic that they never used to be able to do.” He said no other agency has NASA’s credibility when it comes to studying climate change and helping policymakers form decisions about it. Two major U.S. science organizations took issue with Happer’s emails. “We have concerns that there appear to be attempts by a member of the National Security Council to influence and interfere with the ability of NASA, a federal science agency, to communicate accurately about research findings on climate science,” said Rush Holt, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advance of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. Hundreds of scientific assessments by leading researchers and institutions the last few decades have looked at all the evidence and been “extremely credible and routinely withstand intense scrutiny,” said Keith Seitter, executive director of the American Meteorological Society. He said efforts to dismiss or discredit such assessments are “an incredible disservice to the public.”",
            "output": [
                "Emails: Trump official pressed NASA on climate science."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-825325f838584bd3b211581445d29952",
            "input": "The child’s death is not related to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the county Health Department said in a statement Wednesday. According to the department, the elementary school-age child got ill and died in late February and that an investigation has determined that the death was cause by a flu infection. “We pay very close attention to pediatric flu deaths,” said Dr. Bob England, county health director. While the current public health focus is on the coronavirus outbreak, the child’s death from the flu “is a somber reminder that other respiratory illnesses cause sad outcomes like this every year,” England said. The department’s statement said health officials recommend immunizations for everyone at least 6 months old and everyday preventive actions. Those include covering coughs and sneezes, staying away from sick people and washing hands often. “If you have not gotten vaccinated against the flu, you still should,” England said. “But next year, please get it early. The risk of influenza among vulnerable groups such as children under five and the adults over 65 remains very real and can have devastating consequences.”",
            "output": [
                "1st child death this year from flu reported in Pima County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-67b497fd024649edba140e25573ac008",
            "input": "The researchers who conducted the review said their findings suggest most people can eat red and processed meat at current average intake, typically three or four times a week for adults in North America and Europe, without significant health risks. “Based on the research, we cannot say with any certainty that eating red or processed meat causes cancer, diabetes or heart disease,” said Bradley Johnston, an associate professor at Dalhousie University in Canada who co-led the review published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal. However, in what amounts to a scientific food fight, experts from Harvard, Yale, Stanford and elsewhere, including one of the review authors, said guidelines that could lead people to eat more red and processed meats were irresponsible. They asked in a letter to the journal that it “pre-emptively retract publication” of the papers pending further review. A statement by the Harvard School of Public Health, shared with Reuters by Frank Hu, a doctor and chair of the nutrition department, said: “From a public health point of view, it is irresponsible and unethical to issue dietary guidelines that are tantamount to promoting meat consumption, even if there is still some uncertainty about the strength of the evidence.”  The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) both say red and processed meat may or can cause cancer. The WCRF advises eating “little, if any” processed meat and only “moderate amounts” of red meat, such as beef, pork and lamb - with a weekly limit of 500 grams (17.6 ounces) cooked weight. Giota Mitrou, the WCRF’s director of research, said people should not misinterpret the review as saying meat is risk-free. “The public could be put at risk if they interpret this new recommendation to mean we can continue eating as much red and processed meat as they like without increasing their risk of cancer,” she said. “This is not the case.”          In the analysis published on Monday, researchers from Canada, Spain and Poland conducted a series of reviews of both randomized controlled trials and observational studies looking at the possible health impact of eating red and processed meat. Among the randomised trials they selected for analysis, which included around 54,000 people, they found no statistically significant link between eating meat and the risk of heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Among the observational studies, which covered millions of people, they did find “a very small reduction in risk” in those who ate three fewer servings of red or processed meat a week, but said this association “was very uncertain.”  “Our bottom line recommendation ... is that for the majority of people, but not everyone, continuing their red and processed meat consumption is the best approach,” Johnston said. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center at the Yale University School of Medicine, said he had “grave concerns” about the potential of the new review “for damage to public understanding, and public health”. But other experts said the work was a comprehensive, well-conducted analysis of the available evidence on eating meat and human health. “This study will, I hope, help to eliminate the incorrect impression ... that some meat products are as carcinogenic as cigarette smoke, and to discourage dramatic media headlines claiming that ‘bacon is killing us’,” said Ian Johnson, a nutrition expert at Britain’s Quadram Institute of bioscience. Christine Laine, editor in chief of Annals of Internal Medicine, noted that nutrition studies are challenging. “To be honest with our patients and the public, we shouldn’t be making recommendations that sound like they’re based on solid evidence,” she said. “There may be lots of reasons to decrease meat in your diet, but if you’re decreasing it to improve your health, we don’t have a lot of strong evidence to support that.”",
            "output": [
                "Steak is back on the menu, if a new red meat risk review is to be believed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d8baaec848f4498b6894a5e5f9b8cfd",
            "input": "Social and religious conservatives praise the administration for promoting “a culture of life.” But women’s-rights activists and some medical experts view the multi-pronged changes as a dangerous ideological shift that could increase unintended pregnancies and abortions. “When I ran for office, I pledged to stand for life,” President Donald Trump said in a recent speech to the Susan B. Anthony List, which backs political candidates who oppose abortion. “And as president, that’s exactly what I’ve done. And I have kept my promise, and I think everybody here understands that fully.” Most of the changes involve rules and regulations under the administration’s direct control, such as a proposal to forbid federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions and separately allowing more employers who cite moral or religious reasons to opt out of no-cost birth control for women workers. Trump also is appointing numerous new federal judges endorsed by anti-abortion groups. Justice Neil Gorsuch, the president’s only appointment to the Supreme Court so far, has a sparse record on abortion, but has drawn praise from anti-abortion groups and criticism from abortion rights supporters. Unlike regulatory changes, judicial appointments cannot be reversed by a future president. Democrats say Trump is changing policy in ways that could disrupt access to family planning for some women. A recently proposed rule would make major changes to Title X, the family-planning program, including banning clinics from sharing physical space and financial resources with abortion providers. Providers like Planned Parenthood could be forced out. “It’s across the spectrum of women’s health services,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Col. “They’re proposing abstinence-only sex education —which study after study has shown doesn’t work— restrictions to family planning, and more and more restrictions to abortion.” Title X serves about 4 million low-income people, mainly women. Disruptions could affect women’s access to long-acting contraceptives, such as implants and IUDs. Those are more effective than daily pills that can be forgotten but also much more expensive up-front. Eight professional groups representing doctors, nurses, midwives and physician assistants say the administration’s Title X proposal “dangerously intrudes” on the patient-provider relationship. “The strange thing about this is that people who want to decrease the number of abortions are taking away access to the very services that help prevent them,” said Dr. Hal Lawrence, CEO of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, one of the eight groups. Among the others are the American College of Nurse-Midwives and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Speaking at a recent rally organized by women’s health advocates in Phoenix, Karina Romero recalled how she had no health insurance and about $20 in her bank account when she sought birth control at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city’s suburbs. The federal program enabled her to get a long-lasting contraceptive implant. “They have allowed me to pursue a higher education without having to worry about how I’m going to pay for my birth control, or how I’m going to pay for just a regular check up every year,” said Romero, who studies online at Northern Arizona University. The administration says it supports family planning and isn’t cutting funding — merely drawing a “bright line” between birth control and abortion. Officials say the doctor-patient relationship is protected because if a woman asks for an abortion referral, Title X doctors could offer a list of pregnancy services providers, including some who perform abortions. Abortion is legal, but under longstanding law and regulations, taxpayer money cannot be used to pay for abortions. Planned Parenthood, a major provider of both kinds of services, can receive federal family-planning grants while separately providing abortions. Trump’s changes come at a time when U.S. rates of births overall, births to teens, and abortions are low. “If we were seeing skyrocketing abortion rates and wildly high numbers on teen births, you could say we have a crisis, but this is just the opposite,” said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama, and a supporter of abortion rights. “This is playing politics and putting people in a very precarious situation.” In addition to the proposed changes to Title X, other regulatory actions include: — Proposing a shift in the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program to emphasize an abstinence-only approach. — Proposing new criteria for federal family-planning grants that would favor applicants who promote “natural family planning” and abstinence. — Expanding a ban on U.S. funding to foreign organizations that promote or provide abortions. Professor Michael New, who teaches economics at Ave Maria University in Florida, agrees there’s a major policy shift. But New, who opposes abortion, dismisses claims of dire consequences as “false and frankly absurd.” “President Trump is decidedly pro-life and it is his administration’s prerogative to use federal funding rules to incrementally build a culture of life,” said New. “The administration is seeking to redirect tax dollars away from entities like Planned Parenthood that treat abortion as a method of family planning and toward entities that affirm life and provide more holistic health care services.” Planned Parenthood, which survived attempts by congressional Republicans to deny it funding, says the administration’s proposed changes to Title X could be another way of achieving the same goal. Planned Parenthood serves 41 percent of program clients, and operates 13 percent of the clinics. Such facilities have become a specialized niche. Research from Texas after that state moved to oust Planned Parenthood showed that other local providers like community health centers were not able to easily fill the gap. Dr. Stephanie Ho works for Planned Parenthood at a clinic in Arkansas that will have to stop offering medication abortions because of a state law that the Supreme Court this week allowed to take effect. The combination of state restrictions and administration actions worries her. “They’re pushing their views on everyone,” she said. “They’re ignoring scientific evidence and expert medical opinion.” Top Planned Parenthood officials say they will fight to remain in Title X, and will consider litigation if necessary to challenge new rules. HHS is expected to announce funding awards for the $260-million program this fall. At a time when social mores on human reproduction continue changing across the world, some see the U.S. in a time warp. “A lot of social conservative activists are still fighting the battles from the ’60s and the sexual revolution,” said Adam Sonfield, policy manager at The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. “That’s their ultimate goal — that some people will just give up and stop having sex.” But Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for Students for Life of America, said one result of the policy changes “may be that American women will find that life goes on without Planned Parenthood.” ___ Crary reported from New York. Melissa Daniels in Phoenix also contributed to this story.",
            "output": [
                "Trump remaking federal policy on women’s reproductive health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7df8f76df1514c809ecdb6d7079bc2a0",
            "input": "\"Electronic cigarettes are devices designed to mimic cigarettes without burning tobacco. Instead, a liquid is rapidly heated, turning it into a gas that users inhale. Often the liquid contains nicotine, the highly addictive substance that keeps smokers hooked. Many smokers say e-cigs have allowed them to stay away from conventional cigarettes and avoid the cancer-causing chemicals they generate. Whether e-cigs should be regulated and banned from public areas the way most tobacco products are, has become contentious here and across the country. The health risks posed to users of e-cigarettes and the people nearby remain uncertain. Some products give off visible smoke, while others don't. Some of the liquids vaporized by the devices contain pleasant flavors, sparking fear that non-cigarette smokers -- particularly teens -- will embrace them and become addicted to nicotine. Complicating the debate: some liquids don't contain any nicotine at all, which avoids the health risk that nicotine is known to pose. Against this backdrop, the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Health & Human Services held a hearing April 16, 2015, on two proposals. The first, S-482, would require vendors to post the same warning signs that go with conventional tobacco products when they sell e-cigarettes. The second, S-489, \"\"prohibits the use of electronic nicotine delivery system products in public places and places of employment,\"\" just as smoking is prohibited. One person to testify against both bills was Dino Baccari, whose North Providence company, White Horse Vapor, makes and sells e-cigarettes. Baccari contended that even though conventional cigarettes and most e-cigs contain nicotine, \"\"vaping\"\" on an e-cigarette is not as addictive. He said he had the evidence to prove it. \"\"Penn State University, Dec. 17 of 2014, found that electronic cigarettes … are far less addictive than cigarettes,\"\" he told the committee. Because nicotine is the driving force in tobacco addiction, and nicotine content in vaping products varies widely, we wondered if Baccari's assessment of the research was correct. He sent us a link to the Penn State website where a Dec. 9, 2014, news release declared: \"\"E-cigarettes less addictive than cigarettes.\"\" The chief author of the study, published in the respected journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, was Jonathan Foulds, professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State's College of Medicine. He told us that former smokers who now use electronic cigarettes indicated that e-cigarettes were far less addicting. The conclusion was based on an online survey with 158 questions, some of which were designed to assess things such as withdrawal, craving and frequency of use. Just over 3,600 e-cigarette users responded. Here are some of the findings in which the e-cigs users were asked comparable questions about their smoking and vaping: * While 86 percent reported \"\"strong,\"\" \"\"very strong\"\" or \"\"extremely strong\"\" urges to smoke a cigarette, the rate was just 12 percent with e-cigarettes. * While 41 percent said their cravings were so strong they had woken up at night to smoke cigarettes, only 7 percent of e-cigarette users said they had done that. * While 92 percent said they were more irritable when they were unable to smoke their cigarettes, only 26 percent reported that type of irritability when they can't use their e-cigarette. * \"\"Over 90 percent reported that they had experienced strong urges to smoke and withdrawal symptoms when a smoker, but only 25 to 35 percent reported experiencing these symptoms of dependence as an e-cig user.\"\" Foulds said it's likely that e-cigarettes are less addictive because they are not as efficient at getting nicotine into the body as cigarettes. \"\"They deliver less nicotine and less quickly,\"\" Foulds said. The highest dependence levels were seen among e-cigarette users whose liquids contained the highest levels of nicotine and among users of newer e-cigarette products that deliver more nicotine to the body faster. But even those customers reported that they felt less addicted than when they smoked tobacco. Such research is not without its potential problems, as Foulds acknowledged. People may not accurately recall their cravings from their days as cigarette smokers. Also, it was an online survey that anyone could take, although the team tried to flag people who might have a financial interest in promoting e-cigarettes. \"\"Maybe in five years, these people will be just as addicted to their e-cigarettes,\"\" Foulds said. \"\"But based on the data that we have in this study, we got a significantly lower dependence score\"\" than for conventional cigarettes. A spokeswoman for the American Lung Association said the study appears to be \"\"legitimate, thorough and balanced.\"\" We also found a second study, published Feb. 1, 2015, in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, led by Jean-Francois Etter of the University of Geneva, which reached a similar conclusion based on survey data. Said the authors, \"\"We found that e-cigarettes users were less addicted to e-cigarettes than smokers were addicted to tobacco cigarettes.\"\" A third survey-based study from 2013, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, found the same thing. Our ruling Dino Baccari said that a Penn State University study found that \"\"electronic cigarettes … are far less addictive than cigarettes.\"\" He's not blowin' smoke. His characterization of the study's conclusion is accurate. But it's important to note that the conclusion is based on an open-to-anyone survey that relied on the recall of e-cigarette users who may have a natural bias toward reporting that the products they've chosen to use are less addicting than the cigarettes they're trying to avoid. Comparable studies support that conclusion. With the limitations in the methodology, we would characterize the statement as accurate, but in need of clarification or additional information, which we classify as . (If you have a claim you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "\"A Penn State University study found that \"\"electronic cigarettes . . . are far less addictive than cigarettes.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-014b66380e9646239625ce9301b41705",
            "input": "The city school systems in Albertville, Boaz and Guntersville have joined the Cullman County and Marshall County system in shutting down until next week. State statistics show Marshall County is the largest system affected by the illness with 5,468 students in kindergarten through the 12th grade. Marshall County plans to resume classes on Tuesday; the others return on Monday. Gov. Kay Ivey declared a flu emergency earlier this month because of an outbreak of the illness. State Health Department officials have said they are investigating more than 50 deaths potentially linked to a flu outbreak statewide, and the agency has been special clinics to vaccinate people against the disease.",
            "output": [
                "5 Alabama school systems closed because of flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33e22237fd6b45c491304d5873dcb607",
            "input": "\"From Republican U.S. Senate candidates, voters are likely to hear about the economy under President Trump. From Democratic Senate candidates, voters are likely to hear about the need for better health care policy. Nowhere is that more true than North Carolina, where a handful of Democrats are vying to knock out incumbent Republican Thom Tillis. One of them is Cal Cunningham, who has support from the Democratic Party establishment. The Cunningham campaign recently released an ad accusing Tillis of voting to \"\"take away\"\" coverage for pre-existing conditions. The Feb. 5 tweet says, \"\"Without coverage for pre-existing conditions, Susie and her family would be bankrupt. Those protections are exactly what Thom Tillis voted to take away.\"\" Included in the tweet is a video that profiles a mother named Susie who says her daughter has a pre-existing condition. \"\"Without pre-existing condition coverage, we would be bankrupt,\"\" Susie says. Cunningham then appears on screen to say, \"\"Those protections for Susie’s children are exactly what Thom Tillis voted to take away.\"\" Then this text appears over a photo of Tillis: \"\"Tillis voted against protections for pre-existing conditions.\"\" Is it true that Tillis voted to take away coverage for people with pre-existing conditions? Yes. Tillis voted to repeal a law, the Affordable Care Act, that provides that coverage. While repeal efforts have been unsuccessful, repealing and replacing the ACA has been part of the Tillis platform for years. He voted to repeal the ACA, and later proposed a different law that aims to address pre-existing conditions. But experts say the Tillis plan, along with other Republican proposals, fall short of offering the coverage in the ACA. First, some background. A pre-existing condition is a health problem that someone has before their health coverage starts. Examples include asthma, cancer, diabetes or lupus. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, insurers could deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or inflate their premiums so much that they dropped coverage, as PolitiFact and its partners have previously reported. The Cunningham ad specifically mentions a vote from July 26, 2015: the roll call for a vote to allow the repeal of the health care law. You can see from the bill’s \"\"statement of purpose\"\" that it was meant to \"\"repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 entirely.\"\" The record shows Tillis voted to repeal it. \"\"Certainly, this provision, if enacted, would have removed coverage of pre-existing conditions because it would have repealed the ACA in its entirety, which would have restored law to what it was prior to 2010, when pre-existing conditions often were not covered in most states, or by federal law,\"\" said Mark Hall, a law and health professor at Wake Forest University. PolitiFact has repeatedly determined that a vote to repeal the ACA in full would have stripped coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Subsequent GOP-written bills to replace the ACA have not ensured the same level of patients with those conditions. When PolitiFact reached out to the Tillis campaign, spokesman Andrew Romeo didn’t dispute Tillis’ vote from 2015. But he claimed Tillis has always supported replacing Obamacare \"\"with a health care law that retains that critical provision, in addition to ensuring Americans under the age of 26 can stay on their family's health plan,\"\" Romeo said. He added that Tillis has \"\"taken steps to ensure that patients with pre-existing conditions maintain those protections regardless of Obamacare's future.\"\" Romeo was referencing a bill Tillis co-sponsored known as \"\"The Protect Act,\"\" which claims to protect people with pre-existing conditions. But experts say that bill falls short. Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow studying health reform and private insurance for the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the bill doesn’t prevent insurance companies from price gouging. The bill includes language prohibiting discrimination based on health status. But, Pollitz said, it doesn’t prohibit insurers from charging women more than men. She paraphrased lines on pages 9 and 10 of the bill, saying \"\"nothing in the nondiscrimination requirement ‘shall be construed to restrict the amount that an employer or individual may be charged for coverage under a group health plan except as provided in paragraph 3 or individual health coverage’.\"\" Pollitz said Tillis may have attempted to include price-gouging protections, \"\"but the language they used is riddled with loopholes that would continue to permit discriminatory rating practices.\"\" To prevent price gouging, health bills should offer subsidies. Tillis’ bill guaranteed the issuance of insurance but didn’t provide funding to make premiums affordable, said David Anderson, research associate at Duke University’s Center for Health Policy. Under Tillis’ bill, Anderson said there was little incentive to keep healthy people in the market pool. So insurers would have two options. \"\"They can either leave the market entirely or dramatically increase premiums to cover a very sick and expensive group of people,\"\" he said. \"\"Since there are no premium subsidies in this bill, insurance will be too expensive for individuals who are in good health to purchase.\"\" PolitiFact reported in 2019 that most of the Republican health care plans fail to fully protect people with pre-existing conditions. A fact-check of White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney singled out the plan proposed by Tillis and other Republican senators. It found that the bill included an option for companies to deny certain coverage if they weren’t able to \"\"adequately\"\" deliver services. That fact-check quote critics of Obamacare, such as health care consultant Bob Laszewski and former Republican Senate health care policy staffer Rodney Whitlock, saying the Republican proposals fall short of the coverage offered by the ACA. Cunningham’s ad says Tillis voted to take away coverage for pre-existing conditions. It’s true that Tillis voted for a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a move that likely would have left Americans with pre-existing conditions vulnerable. Tillis’ campaign is right to point out that he has tried to address the issue. But experts agree that the Tillis proposal left loopholes insurance companies could use against people with pre-existing conditions. Cunningham’s statement overlooks some of Tillis’ efforts. But it’s correct about Tillis’ vote and the fact that other Republican plans fall short of matching the ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. An earlier version of this fact check quoted an expert who said the \"\"Protect Act\"\" introduced by Sen. Tillis would have allowed insurance companies to avoid covering people’s pre-existing conditions. In fact, the bill was written to prevent insurance companies from doing that. The expert has revised her comments. This correction has no bearing on the overall rating. Tillis voted to fully repeal the ACA, and bills proposed by Tillis and other Republicans still fall short of matching the ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Cal Cunningham Says Sen. Thom Tillis voted to \"\"take away\"\" coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f4aca675595457a8fd27838a382379d",
            "input": "\"Several days after the capture of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing, U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., cited a pattern in which the U.S. government looks into suspicious individuals who later are charged with terrorist acts. According to media reports, the FBI has acknowledged interviewing Tamerlan Tsarnaev -- Dzokhar’s older brother, who died while fleeing the police -- at the request of Russian officials in 2011. \"\"After looking at his phone records, websites he visited and associates, the FBI found he had no ties to terror,\"\" ABC News reported. (We should note for the record that Dzokhar Tsarnaev has yet to face trial in the bombing case, so a court has not yet ruled on his guilt or innocence.) In an April 22, 2013, interview on MSNBC, King -- a senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Intelligence Committee -- said that pattern sounded familiar. The Boston Marathon bombing \"\"is the fifth case I'm aware of where a person was brought to the attention of the FBI. ... The FBI examined them and felt they were no threat and they went on to carry out terrorist murders.\"\" We checked with King’s office, and a spokesman confirmed the four previous examples he was referring to: Anwar al-Awlaki, David Headley, Abdulhakim Muhammed and Nidal Hasan. Here’s a summary of their cases. • Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born citizen of Yemeni descent, was hunted by the U.S. and killed in a drone strike in September 2011. He was reportedly a key adviser, and even an instigator, in several terrorist incidents involving U.S. targets, including the 2009 killing of 13 and wounding of more than 30 by a shooter at Fort Hood, Texas; the 2009 plot to explode a plane in Detroit using an \"\"underwear\"\" bomb; and the foiled attempt to plant a bomb in New York City’s Times Square in 2010. By the time of his death, Al-Awlaki \"\"had been under the scrutiny of American officials for more than a decade,\"\" the New York Times reported. \"\"He first came under FBI investigation in 1999 because of associations with militants and was questioned after the 2001 terrorist attacks about his contacts with three of the hijackers at his mosques in San Diego and Virginia.\"\" • David Headley. Headley, a Pakistani-American born as Daood Gilani, is serving a 35-year sentence for helping organize scouting missions for a 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, that left 160 dead. In the late 1990s, Headley had served as a confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency and was sent on one mission to Lahore, Pakistan, in which he infiltrated heroin trafficking networks. But later, his actions raised questions among friends and acquaintances. \"\"A former girlfriend of Headley’s told a bartender named Terry O’Donnell that he wanted to go to Pakistan to fight alongside Islamic militants,\"\" ProPublica reported, adding that O’Donnell subsequently contacted an FBI-led task force that was investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. On Oct. 4, 2001, \"\"two Defense Department agents working for the task force questioned him in front of his DEA handlers at the drug agency’s office.\"\" • Abdulhakim Muhammed. Muhammed, a convert to Islam who was born Carlos Bledsoe, pled guilty to killing Pvt. William Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula outside a U.S. Army recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark., in 2009. He is now serving life in prison. Muhammed had been under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force. \"\"The investigation was in its preliminary stages, authorities said, and was based on the suspect's travel to Yemen and his arrest there for using a Somali passport,\"\" ABC News reported. ABC also reported that his \"\"travel within the United States had also come under scrutiny by the Terrorist Task Force, including travel to Columbus, Ohio – an area of domestic concern for authorities who have observed a number of Somali Americans traveling from there to Somali to wage jihad.\"\" • Nidal Hasan. Hasan, a psychiatrist and major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, is the only suspect in the Fort Hood shootings and is awaiting a military trial that could bring the death penalty. Prior to the shootings, the government intercepted at least 18 emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki. They were \"\"passed along to two Joint Terrorism Task Force cells led by the FBI, but a senior defense official said no one at the Defense Department knew about the messages until after the shootings,\"\" the Associated Press reported. The FBI and military officials offered divergent reasons for the failure to pass along the messages. \"\"FBI officials have said a military investigator on the task force saw the emails and looked up Hasan's record, but finding nothing particularly worrisome, the investigator neither sought nor got permission to pass the emails on to other military officials,\"\" the AP reported. A senior defense official countered that \"\"the rules of the task force prevented that military representative from passing the records on without approval from other members of the task force.\"\" One additional case shares some aspects of the pattern King laid out -- that of Umar Farook Abdulmutallab, the \"\"underwear bomber.\"\" But since his plot was foiled and he did not go on to \"\"carry out terrorist murders,\"\" his case doesn’t make King’s list. (In Abdulmutallab’s case, the National Security Agency had intercepted a discussion in Yemen that referenced the plot, but analysts did not link these intercepts with a separate piece of information, that Adbulmutallab’s father \"\"visited the United States Embassy in Nigeria to express concerns about his son’s radicalization,\"\" according to the New York Times.) We asked Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism expert who is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, for his thoughts on King’s list. He agreed that Hasan’s case qualified as a good example of government officials determining (misguidedly, as it turned out) that an individual was \"\"no threat.\"\" He added that he thought Al-Awlaki and Muhammed fit the pattern to a significant degree, but not entirely. In their cases, while the U.S. government did not immediately step in to arrest either man, it’s not clear that the U.S. government went so far as to determine that they were \"\"no threat,\"\" Gartenstein-Ross said. The weakest example, Gartenstein-Ross said, is Headley, whose case is murky for several reasons, including his role as a U.S. government informant. Seven years elapsed between his interview in 2001 and the Mumbai attack in 2008 -- a long enough time to raise questions about whether he was sufficiently radicalized to have given government officials reason to believe he was on a path to terrorism. Our ruling King said the Boston Marathon bombing \"\"is the fifth case\"\" in which U.S. government officials examined individuals potentially involved in terrorism \"\"and felt they were no threat and they went on to carry out terrorist murders.\"\" It’s clear that there are at least four prior instances -- Anwar al-Awlaki, David Headley, Abdulhakim Muhammed and Nidal Hasan -- that fit the pattern of someone being on the government’s radar screen and later allegedly committing terrorist acts. But in at least one of these cases, and to a lesser extent two others, it’s not clear that the government determined that the individuals \"\"were no threat\"\" based on the initial round of scrutiny.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Boston Marathon bombing \"\"is the fifth case\"\" in which U.S. government officials examined individuals potentially involved in terrorism \"\"and felt they were no threat and they went on to carry out terrorist murders.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b83503045bf8461ca1fe4a00dfa860cb",
            "input": "A crowdfunding initiative by the finance minister amid reports of government spending on new vehicles for Cabinet members has only swelled public anger. Some local non-governmental organizations on Friday blamed the government for the deaths in an outbreak that is spreading beyond the capital and raising fears of a repeat of the 2008 epidemic that killed over 4,000 people. “It is alarming and quite unusual for such a medieval and preventable disease to continue to claim such valuable lives in this day and age,” said the Civil Society Health Emergency Response Coordinating Committee in a statement. It warned that government failure to “guarantee the right to health is a serious violation of both local and international law.” The government, which this week declared an emergency, has said it is committed to ending the outbreak. Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, while visiting a suburb identified as the epicenter of the outbreak on Friday, said it is not time “for a blame game.” United Nations agencies such as the World Health Organization say they have intervened to assist the southern African country whose economy collapsed under former leader Robert Mugabe, who resigned in November under military pressure. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube used Twitter to announce a crowdfunding initiative to help fight the outbreak, infuriating some Zimbabweans long frustrated by the country’s currency crisis and high unemployment rate. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Zimbabwe’s government criticized over cholera outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-984daef075ae4872909e68e6b0fd088b",
            "input": "A hospital guard directed her to a tiny apartment in the poor suburb of Mbare nearby. The midwife: a grandmother with no formal training and claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Thirteen hours later, Kanyoza gave birth to a healthy baby girl. “It was a miracle,” she told The Associated Press with a beaming smile. “I feared for the worst. I didn’t know what to do after finding the hospital closed.” Her baby was one of dozens delivered in the past week alone with the help of 72-year-old Esther Zinyoro Gwena. She has become a local hero as the southern African country’s worst economic crisis in more than a decade is forcing desperate women to seek out traditional birth attendants who often deliver babies using their bare hands with no sterilization or post-natal care. Some worried Zimbabweans say Gwena’s work only highlights the collapse of a health sector once regarded as one of the best in Africa. Doctors have been on strike for more than two months, seeking better pay than the roughly $100 they receive a month, and nurses and midwives in Harare walked off the job two weeks ago. Since then, Gwena said, she has delivered more than 100 babies and no mothers have died. She doesn’t charge for her services and helping stranded pregnant women is her concern. “I never trained as a midwife. I started by befriending pregnant women at the church and then eight years ago I just started delivering babies. It is the holy spirit,” she said. “I have had no rest since the nurses’ strike started. The work is becoming too much for one person. I am even losing weight,” Gwena said. She said she has been delivering up to 20 babies a day in her two-room apartment. When the AP visited on Saturday, four pregnant women writhed in pain while sitting on blankets on the floor in the tiny living room-turned-maternity ward. The bedroom is now the “recovery room” where several women holding newborn babies huddled on Gwena’s small bed. “They need the bed more,” she said. “I rarely get time to sleep, they are always coming in … in the middle of the night.” Neighbors, relatives of the pregnant women and some of Gwena’s children, who help clean the blood, fetch water from a nearby well and cook, sat on a bench. Others stood in the packed room. “Make way, another one is coming,” one woman shouted. A heavily pregnant young woman walked in carrying a small plastic bucket, blanket and bag. Less than two hours later, the number of pregnant women had swelled to 10, their bags piled in a corner. More stood in line in the hallway outside. “I was apprehensive,” said Grace Musariri, one of the women in line. “But I have already seen four women leaving with their babies in the few hours I was here. The fear is gone.” The makeshift maternity ward contained little but boxes of cotton and gloves donated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, who visited on Friday after Gwena’s story made headlines in Zimbabwe’s state media. Before her visit “I used my bare hands,” Gwena said. She asks women to bring their own razor blades, cord clamps and other items. “My biggest challenges are space, water and protective clothing. I need help, and fast,” she told a team of senior health officials who visited on Saturday. She told them she had delivered 15 babies overnight and seven more before lunchtime. One birth caused a brief scare. The baby popped out but seemed lifeless. Some in the room held their breath. Others screamed and the mother began to cry. Gwena splashed water on the baby’s forehead and the child let out a cry. “She is so big,” one woman exclaimed, joining others in cleaning a pool of blood from plastic that would be reused later. The city’s health director, Dr. Prosper Chonzi, said such home childbirth services are becoming rampant. “Throughout Harare there are a lot of traditional birth attendants,” he said. “If you go to our clinics right now they are empty. Where are these women going to? They are now coming to deliver here. There are no follow-ups when these women have delivered. It’s really worrying.” Chonzi said hygienic conditions such as water availability, infection prevention and disposal of placentas were a worry. “There is no proper management of blood and blood products,” he said. “After birth, what happens? There are certain processes that need to happen during labor and after labor both to the mother and to the child. These are now missed opportunities.” Those include helping to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. The health director added, “I am really depressed, to say the least. Something needs to be done. This is not the way to deliver health services in an urban, local authority.” He told Gwena he would put in a word with his bosses to provide her with more gloves, cord clamps, sterile linens and other items. The pregnant women flooding Gwena’s apartment are happy to receive any assistance as state-provided services either become unavailable or sharply deteriorate. “Both my child and I could have died had it not been for Gogo (grandmother),” said Kanyoza, the new mother, making her way home. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "No training, no gloves: Zimbabwe’s desperate childbirths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc88a5beeecc4673b10c387eab749890",
            "input": "The 22-year-old man, who has not been named, is among around 250 South Africans who lose their penises each year in botched traditional circumcisions. The nine-hour transplant operation formed part of a pilot study by Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. The patient was sexually active five weeks later. “To us it means we are ticking most of the boxes where this guy can stand and urinate normally, can have sexual intercourse and his penis function has recovered completely,” Andre van der Merwe, who led the surgical team, told Reuters. “Now to have children is the last thing we wanted.”  He said that independent pregnancy or paternity tests have not been done to verify it was indeed the patient’s child but he had no reason to disbelieve the young man, who was employed and lived in Cape Town. “I know that he can ejaculate normally and there is no reason for him to be infertile. I was expecting a pregnancy at some stage, even though I didn’t expect it this early,” he said. Each year, hundreds of young South African men, mainly from the Xhosa tribe, lose their penises after coming-of-age rituals go wrong. It is hoped Van der Merwe’s pioneering surgery will help them overcome the physical and psychological trauma. Announcing the successful transplant in March, Van der Merwe’s team said the procedure could eventually be offered to men who have lost their penis to cancer or as a last resort for severe erectile dysfunction. Van der Merwe has received requests for penis transplants from as far afield as the United States, Colombia and Russia. “I do believe we will transplant again before the end of the year,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "World's first penis transplant patient to father a child."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5bee330493c04b69bb0fd0c2a0259d04",
            "input": "The Camorra mafia has been dumping and burning toxic waste for decades in the area between Naples and the province of Caserta. Ten million tonnes have been buried there in the last 22 years, according to environmentalist group Legambiente, and the World Health Organisation says that higher congenital abnormalities and deaths from cancer are “positively correlated” to waste exposure in the area. “The environmental disaster... has turned to a real humanitarian tragedy,” the Archbishop of Naples and bishops of local dioceses wrote in an open letter to President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday. “Too many are paying the price for the arrogance, abuse, incivility, greed and stupidity of criminals,” the letter said, adding land had been poisoned causing “tragic and irreparable damage”. Authorities say the waste comes mostly from the industrial north and is dumped by mafia gangs for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. In recent months protesters have taken to the streets of Naples to demand the government do more to clean up the region. Residents have banded together on social media to document the dumping of waste and burning of trash amid growing fears over its impact on health. The government banned the burning of rubbish last month in a decree aimed at tackling the crisis, but the clergymen’s appeal called for a wider response including a clean up, health screening, financial support for those affected, and programs to persuade businesses not to operate illegally.",
            "output": [
                "Church in Italy's 'Triangle of Death' demands cleanup of mafia waste."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b653863577024d57b8cc2e064ec509f8",
            "input": "The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health Services says the four people likely acquired Legionella at the end of July or beginning of August in a localized area of Hampton. Legionnaire’s disease, also called Legionella pneumonia, is a bacterial pneumonia. The public health department says it is investigating for additional cases of the disease, as well as for the source of the infections. The disease is usual spread by inhaling droplets of water contaminated with the bacteria. Many people exposed to Legionella do not get sick. The disease has the ability to cause serious illness and death, however.",
            "output": [
                "4 Legionnaire’s cases originated in New Hampshire beach town."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-795b36b926324e9a9874fa022a2e8d1e",
            "input": "A 38-year-old man from Zunyi city died last Thursday, Xinhua said, citing health authorities in Guizhou. Xinhua said it was the first human case of H7N9 in Guizhou this year. Last Friday, China said a 38-year-old man in eastern Fujian province died from H7N9. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said last week that seven more people in China had been found to be infected with the H7N9 strain of bird flu in the previous week, taking to around 150 the total number of cases so far. The H7N9 bird flu emerged last year in China and has infected around 150 people there and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing at least 45 of them. Experts say there is no evidence as yet of any easy or sustained person-to person transmission of the strain. But an early scientific analysis of probable transmission of the new flu from person to person, published last August, gave the strongest proof yet that it can at times jump between people and so could cause a human pandemic. The WHO said the source of the human infections was still being investigated. It stressed that it does not advise any special screening for people going in and out of China, nor does it recommend any travel or trade curbs.",
            "output": [
                "China reports second H7N9 bird flu death in a week."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-70e9d526dc8445419a31370b21078d69",
            "input": "New York was one of several states, along with the nation as a whole, to post their highest daily loss of life from COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the virus. A staggering 731 fatalities were reported in Cuomo’s state alone. But early statistical signs the crisis might be peaking provided little comfort to weary doctors and nurses on the front lines of the outbreak, as hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units overflowing with COVID-19 patients. “People are just so incredibly sick ... incredibly sick in a way that I’ve never experienced or seen before,” said Jacqueline Callahan, 33, a New York City nurse who spoke to Reuters on condition she not identify the hospital where she works. “So every day is, honestly, the hardest day,” she said. “You just don’t know how it’s going to change, and you just hope it keeps getting better, but - you know - we haven’t turned that corner fully yet.”  In Wisconsin, voters on Tuesday braved the coronavirus outbreak to wait 6 feet (1.8 m) apart in lines for hours and cast ballots in the state’s presidential primary and local elections. For the United States, the tally of known coronavirus infections approached 400,000 on Tuesday, with the number of deaths surpassing 12,700 in a record single-day jump of more than 1,800 nationwide. New York state accounted for more than a third of U.S. confirmed coronavirus cases to date, and nearly half the cumulative death toll - 5,489 as of Tuesday. But Cuomo said the rising number of deaths was a “lagging indicator” coming days or weeks after the onset of infections. He pointed instead to slowing rates of coronavirus hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and ventilator intubations as signs social distancing measures imposed last month were working. The governors of Illinois and Louisiana - two other hot spots in the U.S. pandemic - likewise paired reports of record jumps in COVID-19 deaths with data suggesting the contagion may be reaching a plateau. The messages seemed calibrated to convey a sense of hope while urging the public to abide strictly by stay-at-home orders imposed by governors of 42 states. “Let’s not get complacent,” Cuomo told a news conference. “Social distancing is working. ... That’s why you see those numbers coming down.”    Across the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom said  the infection curve in his state - the first to impose stay-at-home orders - was “bending but it’s also stretching,” with the virus outbreak there expected to peak in mid- to late May. “The curve continues to rise, but now it is slower,” he told a news briefing. In another glimmer of good news, the U.S. surgeon general, Jerome Adams, said on Tuesday the pandemic may end up killing fewer Americans than the range of 100,000 to 240,000 projected earlier by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest research model from the University of Washington - one of several cited by leading health authorities - has forecast U.S. coronavirus deaths totaling fewer than 82,000 by Aug. 4. Adams, who is black, also acknowledged early data showing African Americans more likely to die from COVID-19, highlighting longstanding disparities in health and inequalities in access to medical care. The steps to curb the pandemic have hammered the U.S. economy, closing many businesses while unemployment soars. Trump reiterated at a White House briefing he wanted to reopen the U.S. economy soon. “We want to get it open soon, that’s why I think maybe we’re getting to the very top of the curve,” Trump said. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city is the focal point of the state’s outbreak, said it was too early to declare a corner had been turned but cited encouraging developments. “The number of people showing up in our hospitals who need a ventilator - that situation has improved a bit in recent days,” he said. In the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday ordered workers providing “non-medical” essential services, such as supermarket employees, wear face coverings while on the job. The order, which takes effect on Friday also requires customers of grocery stores and other essential businesses to likewise wear face coverings. That will come as some relief to Tomas Flores, a grocery worker at Northgate Market in Los Angeles, who like many delivery workers, grocery staff and cleaners, doesn’t have a stay-at-home option. “I do worry,” Flores said, hours before Garcetti’s order. “I ask God to watch over me when I leave my home and to take care of me at work, but I feel the need to come because many families depend on us,” he said. “Not only my family depends on me because I must earn money to bring home, but many people depend on the work that I do.”   Graphic: U.S. coronavirus, tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T",
            "output": [
                "'Hardest day': New York's Cuomo sees virus slowing despite record death toll."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcc2711421f04155977f811a921895a0",
            "input": "Actual occurrences can sometimes take on folkloric lives of their own, making the shift from news stories to cautionary tales through emotional responses to elements of those events. That was the case with the 4 June 1999 death of 12-year-old Catherine “Casey” Fish, who did indeed die while playing the marshmallow-stuffing game known as “Chubby Bunny” — descriptions of her death have become part of the cautionary lore spread among parents. The rules of “Chubby Bunny” require competitors to enunciate that phrase with marshmallows stuffed in their mouths. No swallowing or chewing is allowed, and any participant who gags, coughs, or spits is “out” of the game. The winner is whichever child manages to utter the expression through the largest number of marshmallows. Casey Fish choked on four marshmallows and collapsed during the annual Care Fair held at Hoffman Elementary School, a grade school in Chicago’s North Shore area, and died at the Glenbrook Hospital a few hours later. The “Chubby Bunny” competition was to have been part of the day’s activities and would have been supervised by a teacher. However, Casey began playing the game with some of her friends when her teacher momentarily left the area ten minutes before the scheduled start of the “Chubby Bunny” competition to have a word with a janitor. As Casey choked, the teacher was summoned back to the room, but he arrived too late to head off the youngster’s death. Casey’s death was reported by the media at the time of the incident. But, unlike many news stories about the death of a child, the deceased sixth-grader’s story was told and retold in ensuing months, primarily via The Oprah Winfrey Show, which talked about the case (including airing interviews with the distraught parents) in January, March, and June 2000. The tale of how Casey’s life ended continued to surface in the news as her parents pursued a civil suit against the school district, asserting that a failure to properly supervise the children led to the death of their daughter. (In 2005, her parents settled their lawsuit for $2 million.) All of this additional attention served to keep the story in circulation. The folkloric shift this real-life tragedy has taken involves the mode of death. While a very real youngster did indeed lose her life through playing “Chubby Bunny,” she did so through choking on the intact confections in her mouth, not (as developing lore would have it) via the marshmallows’ somehow breaking down to form a windpipe-clogging glue. In the example quoted above, the bonbons were said to have “emulsified” — that is, turned into a liquid mass. Another Internet-spread description of the death says “The marshmallows were heated in the mouth and throat and effectively turned into a sticky enough substance that it could not be removed by conventional attempts at first aid.” Yet another version claims that “The marshmallows, warming-up to body temperature, took on the form of her air passage, and choked her to death.” We know the marshmallows did not eventually turn into a sticky, fatal mass after Casey held them in her mouth for a while because, during the lawsuit brought by Casey’s parents, Casey’s best friend testified seeing her pal’s lips turn purple just a few seconds after she had put the marshmallows into her mouth. While marshmallows can be quickly melted into a thick liquid, goopy substance in a pot on the stove (as anyone who has made Rice Krispies squares will attest), the temperature inside the human mouth is not sufficient to reduce them to that state. Absent chewing or licking, a marshmallow can be held in one’s mouth approximately 15 minutes before it entirely disappears, its bulk gradually dissolving and being swallowed across the span of that quarter hour. At no point in that process does the resultant fluid become thick or gluey — it is thin, watery, and easily swallowed. The danger presented by the game comes not from the marshmallows being rendered into a suffocating goo in the human mouth by the heat of that environment, but from their bulk. In the zeal to best others, a child may stuff more of the confections into his mouth than he can cope with, potentially lodging one in his throat where it will block his windpipe the way a cork would. It is not any special “melting” property inherent to marshmallows that makes the game hazardous, but rather that the marshmallows take up so much space, and their consistency makes them difficult to remove either via the Heimlich maneuver or with medical instruments. On 13 September 2006, another “Chubby Bunny” death occurred when a 32-year-old Janet Rudd choked on a marshmallow and collapsed while participating in the game at a fair in London, Ontario. Emergency crews were unable to remove the blockage from her throat at the scene; she was taken to a hospital where she was revived, but she died later that evening.",
            "output": [
                "\"A child suffocated while playing a \"\"Chubby Bunny\"\" marshmallow-stuffing game.  \""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5e6b534c4eb4480a3745e69b65aada1",
            "input": "\"Aziz Ansari departs from the usual comedian slapstick in his first book, Modern Romance, teaming up with a sociologist and traveling overseas to examine the science of how people date in the Internet-at-your-fingertips age. The academic effort intrigued The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart during his June 16 interview with Ansari. Stewart asked his former Daily Show intern if he learned anything shocking during his time reporting for the book. Ansari zeroed in on how dating culture in Japan wasn’t what he expected. \"\"Well, when we went to Japan, I definitely had this thought of like, ‘Oh, that’s, like, such a technologically advanced culture, they're probably like on the cutting edge of whatever online dating or apps. And then you get there and you realize, I read all these articles, there’s like a crisis there,\"\" he said. \"\"And like there was some insane statistic, like, 46 percent of women between the age of 16 to 24 despise sexual contact. And 25 percent of the guys in that same age. \"\"Despise. Despise. Like, that is like, an aggressive word.\"\" Ansari’s claim about nearly half of Japanese young women not being interested in sex also struck us as incredibly high, so we decided to check it out. What his book says In Modern Romance, Ansari spotlights international cultures in three cities that offer wildly different perspectives on dating: Paris, where relationships are more casual and similar to other European countries; Buenos Aires, which he describes as \"\"romantically aggressive;\"\" and Tokyo, where a lack of romance among young people amid falling marriage rates and birthrates has the government on edge. Japan is going through \"\"a crisis of sorts,\"\" and leaders are trying to intervene by offering subsidies for parents with kids and throwing state-funded dating events. Ansari brings up the figure about young women not being into sex in his book with a host of other scary statistics, writing, \"\"In 2013 a whopping 45 percent of women aged 16 to 24 ‘were not interested in or despised sexual contact,’ and more than a quarter of men felt the same way.\"\" Ansari’s coauthor, New York University sociology professor Eric Klinenberg, showed PunditFact by email that the statistic is also cited in 2013 stories about Japanese young people’s disinterest in sex in the Guardian and Slate. Just one problem for English speakers: The source for the statistic is a survey by the Japan Family Planning Association and written in Japanese. PunditFact doesn’t know Japanese, but Kumiko Endo, a Japanese-American academic, does. Endo helped Ansari and Klinenberg navigate the complex story of Japan’s changing relationship norms for Modern Romance. A 34-year-old single woman born and raised in Japan, she said it makes sense why she chose to focus on the identity of Japanese singles and their role in the economy at The New School for Social Research. What the Japanese research shows The Japanese Family Planning Association has conducted this survey every two years since 2002, sending it to 3,000 people between 16 and 49. About 1,300 people responded in 2012, Endo said. Both men and women were asked to rate how interested they are in having sex from Very Interested, Somewhat Interested, Not Very Interested, Not Interested at All, and I Feel an Aversion to It. The percentage of women who responded they were not interested in sex at all or felt an aversion to it was 60.3 percent for ages 16-19 and 31.6 percent for ages 20-24. Combine the age groups, and the average response was about 46 percent negative — the figure that drove attention-grabbing stories in Western media. The association released its newest survey for 2014 a few months ago. In that survey, 65.8 percent of women 16-19 were not interested in sex or felt an aversion to it, and 39.2 percent of women 20-24 felt the same way. This survey is the only one we could find that asks about specific views of sex. Endo mentioned another survey by the government, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, that asked 4,276 women, of which about 3,400 were 18 to 34, if they had ever had any kind of sexual encounter. The percentage of women ages 18-19 who said they had never had sex was 68.1 percent; for women 20-24, it was 40.1 percent; for women 25-29, it was 29.3 percent; and for women 30-34, 23.8 percent. \"\"So even at age 34, one out of four women are virgins in Japan,\"\" Endo said. \"\"It’s definitely not a religion that’s pushing that number.\"\" (Japan is a secular society.) Endo mentioned a third survey by the NIPSSR that could corroborate the family planning association’s statistic. This one asks men and women if they have any relationships with the opposite sex — even platonic ones. Again, the results speak to a trend of disinterest. In 2010, 49.5 percent of unmarried single Japanese women between the ages of 18-34 said they have no relations with the opposite sex. For men, it was 61.4 percent on average. What changed There’s no simple explanation for what’s going on in Japan. It’s been years in the making, though the drastic change has occurred in a relatively small window of time. First of all, it’s important to understand some cultural differences. Endo says that where westerners might see sex as an act unto itself, in Japan \"\"sex was never an isolated thing.\"\" In addition, the younger generation has never known anything but economic stagnation, which Endo notes could psychologically dampen interest in sex. And Japanese younger than 27 also are the first to come up in a very changed educational system, one that is no longer centered on competition. All of these things, she speculates, might create a \"\"generational identity\"\" that feels differently about sex than the older cohort. The funny thing is, among younger Japanese, it is only attitudes toward sex, not marriage, that have changed. In the corporate-centered society that catapulted Japan into a leading world economy after World War II, men would graduate from college with job offers from corporations that offered employment and benefits for life. They met their wives through family or work, and the women would then leave their jobs to take on the role of primary caregiver for children and the elderly. Family structure and the corporate system effectively constituted Japan’s \"\"welfare society,\"\" where the government indirectly provided for the people through its support of the corporations; in turn, their smooth functioning was based upon the understanding that women would provide child care and elderly care while receiving security and benefits in return as part of their husbands’ and sons’ lifetime employment. But the country’s real estate bubble burst in the 1990s, sending Japan into a long period of economic depression and stagnation. Where there once was job stability and the ability to plan ahead, there is now a system in restructuring mode and uncertainty. On top of the worsened labor market, young people in Japan also have the burden of caring and preparing for the oldest population in the world. It would be reasonable to assume that all of these factors would cut into their interest in marriage, but it really hasn’t. In 2010, 86.3 percent of men and 89.4 percent of women still said they \"\"intend to marry some day.\"\" Japanese women assuming a strong professional role is relatively new, and gender equality in the labor market is decades behind other advanced industrialized nations, Endo said. But even though Japanese women are more and more highly educated and career-oriented, she said women 18- to 24-years-old have been expressing an increasing desire to become full-time housewives. It’s just that many of those same women say they’re not very interested in sex by itself. Our ruling Ansari said, \"\"46 percent of women between the age of 16 to 24 despise sexual contact\"\" in Japan. Despise seems a slightly bold word for it. Still, the surveys on this question all point to a healthy proportion of the young Japanese population having little interest in sex, relationships and dating, and one survey in particular reflects what Ansari said. Experts say Ansari had it right. Update: This item was updated on June 25 with more details about the relationship between marriage and sex in Japan.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"46 percent of women between the age of 16 to 24 despise sexual contact\"\" in Japan.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc17fc6559bb4ef99d1a6e9121e4cc3d",
            "input": "\"An independent analysis says Colorado's proposed universal health care system would have $38 billion in projected revenues -- dwarfing Fortune 500 companies like McDonald's, Nike and American Express. The report, by the Colorado Health Institute, is a primer on the potential benefits and drawbacks of ColoradoCare, a proposed state health care cooperative that would resemble single-payer health care systems like those in Canada and Europe. Coloradans will decide whether to create the giant system when they vote on Amendment 69 in the November election. \"\"Supporters estimate ColoradoCare would have $38 billion in annual revenues,\"\" the report states. \"\"If it were a private company, ColoradoCare would rank about 80th in the Fortune 500, just behind New York Life Insurance and ahead of well­-known companies such as American Express, 21st Century Fox, 3M, Sears, Nike and McDonald's.\"\" Need more perspective? Colorado's annual state budget is $25.7 billion. We examined the statement that ColoradoCare’s projected revenues would be $38 billion and overshadow huge corporates. We found that the number is right in theory, but it depends on the federal government signing off on a first-of-its-kind health system for Colorado. How ColoradoCare would work First, here’s how ColoradoCare would work. If approved by voters, Colorado would be the first state to have a health care system where every resident has coverage financed by taxes instead of private insurance premiums, according to the Colorado Health Institute report. The institute estimates that 83 percent of Colorado’s population -- about 4.4 million people -- would be eligible for primary health insurance coverage through ColoradoCare. The remaining 17 percent of residents would continue to be covered by federal programs, including Medicare and the Veterans Administration. People would still choose their own health care providers, but ColoradoCare would pay the bills. Members would not have to pay an annual deductible, but they would have co-pays. The system would be controlled by a powerful 21-member board, elected by the system’s members in seven districts across the state. The governor and legislature would have no role, except to select an interim board until elections were held. An economic analysis by supporters says ColoradoCare would produce a net savings of $4.5 billion for residents and businesses by eliminating private insurance profits, streamlining paperwork and more efficiently delivering services. Opponents say the proposed amendment will be costly, it won't impact rising health care costs and it will hamper the state’s ability to attract and retain medical providers. The ColoradoCareYes campaign confirmed the proposed nonprofit health system is projected to have $38 billion in annual revenues. About $25 billion would come from state taxes. Employers would pay 6.67 percent in payroll taxes and employees would contribute 3.33 percent, for a total of 10 percent of the payroll. Self-employed people would pay 10 percent of their net income. The projected $25 billion in tax revenues have been independently confirmed by an economist at the Colorado Legislative Council, which provided a revenue impact report to the state board that reviews the language and legality of an initiative's ballot title and summary. For the rest of its annual revenues, supporters say ColoradoCare would apply for waivers from the federal government, so that ColoradoCare takes over the state roles and funding for Medicaid ($10.8 billion) and the Affordable Care Act ($700 million). Out-of-pocket costs for medical care and dental care would each provide an estimated $1 billion. But experts said obtaining the federal waivers is a challenging process -- and there’s no certainty of success. Beginning on Jan. 1, states can apply for a federal waiver to create innovative, alternative health care programs that would take the place of the Affordable Care Act -- while staying true to its goals. ColoradoCare would have to pass a rigorous federal review, showing it would deliver coverage that's at least as comprehensive and affordable as the so-called Obamacare program, while covering the same amount of people. ColoradoCare would have to stay \"\"revenue neutral\"\" and not cost more than the existing federal program. Federal waivers, funding ‘not a sure thing’ What are the chances of obtaining the waivers and the federal funds that go with them? \"\"Definitely, I would say it’s not a sure thing,\"\" said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, who specializes in health care reform, an issue she worked on for both the administrations of President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton. Yet, if approved by voters, ColoradoCare would be among the first states to seek an Affordable Care Act (ACA) waiver and bring \"\"the most far-reaching health care reform in any state since the ACA,\"\" according to the Colorado Health Institute report. \"\"There's advantages for being the first one in the door. It lets you kind of establish the framework for the debate that's going follow,\"\" Pollitz said. Medicaid waivers aren’t automatic, either, though several states, including Colorado, have received the so-called 1115 waivers -- named for a Section 1115 of the Social Security Act \"\"1115 waivers require a lot of work and back-and-forth between the state and the federal government and compliance with a number of criteria, including budget neutrality,\"\" said Elisabeth Arenales, the health care program director for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. The center hasn't reviewed or taken a position on Amendment 69. \"\"States have to be careful in how they negotiate those waivers because they're essentially locked into a spending contract, and they need to be very mindful that they're both not costing the federal government any additional money but also that their projections of state spending are accurate,\"\" Arenales said. The ballot initiative’s language makes it clear that getting the waivers are a do-or-die matter for ColoradoCare. No waivers means no program. Under the heading \"\"Termination of ColoradoCare’s Operations,\"\" the initiative states: \"\"If the board determines that ColoradoCare has not received the waivers, exemptions, and agreements from the federal government sufficient for its fiscally sound operation, the board shall: (a) shut down operations and return unused funds; (b) notify the governor of the State of Colorado of ColoradoCare's inability to function.\"\" ColoradoCareYES campaign spokesman Owen Perkins acknowledged the waivers’ critical importance. \"\"ColoradoCare doesn't move forward without that,\"\" he said. But, at the same time, he said it should be reassuring to Colorado voters that health care system couldn’t launch until it passes a high bar set by the federal government. \"\"I think everybody in Colorado should be thankful that there is that vigorous standard,\"\" Perkins said. \"\"That ensures that we can't go into this willy-nilly. It could pass with a 75-percent vote and everything look perfect, but if it doesn't receive that waiver, it's not going to happen.\"\" He stressed that the architects of ColoradoCare have done their homework. The Colorado Health Institute is accurate in saying, given ColoradoCare’s projected $38 billion in revenues, if it were a private company is would rank about 80th on the Fortune 500 just behind New York Life Insurance ($38.7 billion in revenues). It’s revenues would be larger than American Express  ($35.9 billion), Twenty-First Century Fox ($31.86 billion), 3M ($31.82 billion), Sears ($31.2 billion), Nike ($27.8 billion) and McDonald’s ($27.4 billion). On paper, the ColoradoCareYES campaign’s projected state tax and federal funding revenues add up to $38 billion. Our ruling The Colorado Health Institute analysis said the Colorado universal health care system would have a projected $38 billion in revenues, larger than major corporations. The numbers seem to add up if everything with ColoradoCare goes according to its supporters’ plans. The revenues would be larger than some big companies. However, the health care plan has a make-or-break need to obtain federal waivers that would allow it to assume the roles of state Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs. No waivers means no deal. The statement is accurate but needs additional information.",
            "output": [
                "ColoradoCare would have higher revenues than McDonald’s."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-693f021a0cf247f78bcd9525b0834914",
            "input": "Costs aren’t discussed. The article gives the absolute rates of major adverse cardiac events for each treatment group. Also, while this is likely not a major issue for most readers and not an official strike against the article, as an FYI we point out that there are some interwoven concepts that can be confusing. The article’s headline is that SES won this contest. If you want to get technical, there are two buts. First, while SES did have the fewest cardiac events of the 3 stents, the difference with ZES wasn’t statistically significant. In other words, the apparent superiority of SES may have been do to chance. Or not. We don’t know. Researchers call this a trend but not significant evidence. Second, this contest, the study, wasn’t designed to answer whether SES was the best. The researchers concluded, as quoted in the story, that this study answered two main questions: ZES and SES were similar, and ZES fared better than PES did. Notice it didn’t say SES was the best. There’s overlap between harms and benefits here because stents are designed to prevent harm. However, the study identifies the development of blood clots on the stent as a safety outcome (along with the numbers of heart attacks and death). While the article tells us that the rate of clots was significantly lower with one type of stent, it does not quantify the harms. There are some valuable details about the study in this article, including the number of subjects, the 3 treatment arms, randomization, the follow-up period, a definition of the endpoint—a composite called “major adverse cardiac events”—and what actual events that means. It gets kudos for identifying the key limitation of the one-year follow-up with a nod to important results from a longer ongoing study. There were some aspects of the evidence missing, which is not surprising in a short article about a fantastically complex topic. In a quote the researchers laud their study as a “practical” one. We’re not told what that means. And see our comment under Benefits regarding the explanation of the results. Also, an article of this length doesn’t have the real estate to go into all the nooks and crannies (and limitations) of composite endpoints, like MACE, which are very standard in such trials. But we appreciated that the author unpacked it a bit by noting that rates of death and heart attacks did not differ. We give the article a Satisfactory rating because, in this very focused and balanced review, it doesn’t balloon the target population for drug-coated stents. That said, we would’ve liked to have seen at least some overview of who is a candidate for stents at all, bare or coated. Not everyone with a clogged artery gets stents, or, rather, should get stents based on the evidence. It’s a complex topic, with different guidelines for those having heart attacks and those with stable angina, but it’s also a hot topic these days due to widespread misconceptions about who gets stents and what benefits they actually have. Recent evidence, such as the COURAGE trial, suggests that for most people with stable angina, stents don’t prevent heart attacks or improve survival compared to only taking medicine and leading a heart-healthy lifestyle. One source, Dr. Fonarow, was apparently not affiliated with the study. We appreciated his placing the results in context with prior research and on clinical decision-making. Google tells us that he has a financial relationship with the company that makes zotarolimus-coated stents. But given the fact that his quotes—and the study—are not in favor of zotarolimus, perhaps the lack of this disclosure is excusable. One key conflict of interest, study funding from a stent manufacturer, was identified. However, we fail the article on this criterion because it neglects to mention that the researchers disclosed a web of financial relationships with literally all the stent manufacturers. We count 9 financial relationships with Cordis, who makes the sirolimus-coated stent, which came out “on top” in this article. Taking into account that the article implies availability of the 3 stent types, the study itself was comparing a newer approach with the “old standby.” The article could’ve been more explicit about the availability of these 3 stents, but the last sentence describing the study’s real-world implications, suggests that all 3 are currently available in cath labs. The article explains that the three stents are coated with different drugs, the zotarolimus version is a newer entry, while the sirolimus one is the “old standby”. It would’ve been nice to read how the stent with paclitaxel fits into the big picture.",
            "output": [
                "In Test of Stents, Old Standby Wins Out"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2fedbd0830e41ddad539901c5623795",
            "input": "\"In an April 15, 2014, debate on immigration, Democrat Julián Castro said Republican Dan Patrick filed legislation akin to the 2010 Arizona mandate that police officers ask individuals about their immigration status. \"\"He filed (Senate Bill) 1070-like show-me-your-papers legislation,\"\" the San Antonio mayor said in the debate aired by the Univision network. Castro said this action left Patrick out of step with Texas Democrats and Republicans who, he suggested, are more supportive of immigrants regardless of origin. Patrick, the Houston state senator in a May 27 runoff with incumbent David Dewhurst for the GOP lieutenant governor nomination, replied: \"\"No, mayor. That’s a lie.\"\" Asked to elaborate, Patrick said: \"\"First of all, that bill, which didn’t pass, would have only … come into play had police had suspicions that someone had committed a crime and then\"\" they would \"\"turn it over to\"\" the federal Immigration Customs Enforcement agency, he said, \"\"to try to keep us in line with Secure Communities,\"\" the program enabling fingerprints of arrested individuals to be checked against federal crime and immigration databases. Patrick further said he’d decided, \"\"based on things the federal government has done, that that bill will not pass and will not be effective.\"\" We wondered if indeed Patrick filed an Arizona-type \"\"show-me-your-papers\"\" proposal. Looks like it. Castro's basis By email, Castro spokesman Jaime Castillo quoted Patrick’s measure, which died without a hearing in the 2011 legislative session, and said it was similar to a vital part of Arizona’s law. As recapped by Castillo, Patrick’s legislation specified: \"\"A peace officer shall inquire into the lawful presence of any person who is lawfully stopped, detained, or arrested on other grounds if the officer has a reasonable suspicion to believe the person has violated a criminal provision of the federal immigration laws (sic).\"\" Castillo said Arizona's law \"\"included language authorizing police officers to check immigration status if they have reasonable suspicion to believe that someone is here illegally and, before\"\" court rulings  \"\"to arrest without a warrant, anyone ‘the officer has probable cause to believe … has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.’\"\" Let’s look at both. Arizona law Arizona’s 21-page measure, signed into law in April 2010, included provisions intended to \"\"work together to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present\"\" in the country. A key element of the law--which included state-level restrictions on human smuggling and workers congregating in search of day jobs--directed law officers at all levels to check the status of people stopped for various reasons who might appear to be in the U.S. illegally. Another section said the immigration status of arrested individuals must be checked before their release. The law also provided for officers to transport individuals lacking proof of legal residency to federal authorities. Generally, as noted in a 2010 fact check, the law required legal immigrants to carry papers that confirmed their legal status, though the U.S. Supreme Court later threw out parts of the law that would have made state crimes out of federal immigration violations, as reported by The Associated Press in June 2012. According to the AP’s account, the court rejected the law’s mandate that immigrants obtain or carry immigration registration papers. It also tossed language making it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job, the AP said, and voided a provision permitting police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants. The court let stand the law’s requirement that police officers check the status of people stopped for various reasons who might appear to be in the U.S. illegally. Even then, the AP reported, the justices said the provision could be subject to additional legal challenges. Also, they removed some teeth by prohibiting officers from arresting people on immigration charges. Patrick’s proposal According to a Texas legislative website, Patrick filed his measure, SB 126, on Nov. 8, 2010 in anticipation of the 2011 legislative session. The proposal called for revising the state’s Code of Criminal Procedure by specifying that a \"\"peace officer shall inquire into the lawful presence of any person who is lawfully stopped, detained, or arrested on other grounds if the officer has a reasonable suspicion to believe the person has violated a criminal provision of the federal immigration laws.\"\" If the officer has \"\"probable cause\"\" to believe as much, the officer could arrest the person and \"\"shall identify and report the person to\"\" ICE, the proposal said. Also, Patrick’s measure voided any local ordinance, regulation or policy interfering with an officer carrying out the described duty, furthermore giving legal immunity to an officer, agency or other governmental entity for any cause of action connected to carrying out such duties aside from intentional misconduct, recklessness or gross negligence connected with the intended law. At the time, news stories said Patrick had filed a proposal like the show-your-papers part of the Arizona law, though Patrick stressed in interviews that police officers would be required to ask a person if they were in the state legally only if they reasonably suspected otherwise. A Nov. 13, 2010, news story in the San Antonio Express-News quoted him as saying law agencies wanted the question to be required, instead of being optional, to avoid complaints of profiling. In January 2011, Patrick separately told the Associated Press and an MSNBC host that he’d been to Arizona to see its law in action. Patrick said on MSNBC: \"\"It's workable for our police. And then once a police officer says to someone, are you legally present, because they don't have any identification, we then give the discretion to the officer to take the next step. Is that an arrest, is it detaining that person on suspicion of another possible crime?\"\" Logan Spence, Patrick’s lieutenant governor campaign manager, replied to our query about Patrick’s proposal with an email suggesting Patrick’s proposal was more narrow than the entire Arizona statute. By phone, Castillo said Castro didn’t say in the debate that Patrick filed the entire Arizona law. Our ruling Castro said Patrick \"\"proposed Arizona-style show-me-your-papers legislation.\"\" Patrick’s unsuccessful proposal was similar to, and modeled on, Arizona’s show-your-papers provision.s . – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Julián Castro Says Dan Patrick \"\"proposed Arizona-style show-me-your-papers legislation.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a01f2dc4ba184e65b622bb89c8862d94",
            "input": "A general view shows the headquarters of the drug making company Novartis in Basel January 17, 2008. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said several studies have shown deaths and serious injuries linked to over-the-counter children’s cold remedies. As a result, Novartis “either knew ... or reasonably should have known that their cough and cold products were ineffective and dangerous when used by children under the age of six,” the lawsuit said. A Novartis spokeswoman said the company had not seen the lawsuit and had no comment on it. The company, which recalled Triaminic oral infant cough and cold medicines late last year, said it believed the lawsuit is the first to bring claims involving the drugs. The lawsuit was brought by Kelly Carter, who dosed her 4-year-old son with Triaminic Daytime Cough & Cold in 2007. It was not immediately clear from the lawsuit whether or how the drug harmed Carter’s son. Her attorney could not be reached for comment. Novartis sells a number of products under the Triaminic brand. The lawsuit alleges that Americans spend more than $2 billion annually on over-the counter cough and cold remedies for children. In October, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group representing makers of over-the-counter medicines, said overdoses of oral infant cough and cold medicines have led to death and serious injury in rare instances. The group stressed that the medications are safe when used as directed. U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewers have recommended that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that contain decongestants and antihistamines should come with new instructions saying they are not for very young children. According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over-the-counter cough and cold drugs send an estimated 7,000 U.S. children under the age of 12 to emergency rooms every year, mostly for overdoses.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis sued in Calif. over kids' cough medicine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-293c96be6ee6434fb94a99c21ce230e0",
            "input": "Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s defense of “stop and frisk” police tactics disproportionately targeting young people of color was brought back to light after audio from a 2015 speech found new life on social media five years later:Audio of @MikeBloomberg’s 2015 @AspenInstitute speech where he explains that “you can just Xerox (copy)” the description of male, minorities 16-25 and hand to cops.Bloomberg had video of speech blocked.Perhaps because of the problematic explanation he gives for #StopAndFrisk pic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020The audio was taken from Bloomberg’s February 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute. In it, the former New York City mayor can be heard saying:Ninety-five percent of your murders and murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take the description and Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male minorities 15 to 25. That’s true in New York. That’s true in virtually every city in America. And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of the people that are getting killed. So you want to spend the money on a lot of cops in the streets. Put those cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods.So one of the unintended consequences is people say, “Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.” Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them… And then they start, “Oh I don’t want to get caught.” So they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home.The audio was originally posted on YouTube by journalist Karl Herchenroeder shortly after Bloomberg’s appearance for the institute on February 10 2015. Herchenroeder also reported at the time that the Aspen Institute and GrassRoots TV, the group that filmed Bloomberg’s speech, honored his request not to release the footage of his remarks. NPR reported in February 2020 that the far-right Daily Caller blog also posted audio of the speech.“At this point, I think it’s beyond reasonable to respectfully call on all of the people who endorsed @MikeBloomberg to retract those endorsements,” Dixon later wrote.About 90 minutes after Dixon’s post, another Twitter user posted footage of Bloomberg defending “stop and frisk” — the practice of detaining and questioning people based on “reasonable suspicion” — in a June 2013 interview with WOR-AM in New York City. Bloomberg said at the time:One newspaper and one news service, they just keep saying, “Oh it’s a disproportionate percentage of a particular ethnic group.” That may be, but it’s not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing the [crime]. In that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It’s exactly the reverse of what they’re saying. I don’t know where they went to school, but they certainly didn’t take a math course. Or a logic course.Mike Bloomberg defending Stop-and-Frisk in 2013: “I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” pic.twitter.com/KpdKgUALsL— ً (@upmtn) February 11, 2020At the time, a reported 87 percent of around 5 million police interactions in the city invoking “stop and frisk” involved Black or Latinx people. According to a March 2019 report by the New York Civil Liberties Union, 66 percent of overall stops conducted under the program resulted in the detainee being frisked, but 93 percent of people frisked did not have a weapon. In August 2013, federal Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that “stop and frisk” was unconstitutional and that Bloomberg’s administration “turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner.” At the time, Bloomberg argued that Scheindlin had denied “a fair trial” to the city.But in November 2019, prior to embarking on his presidential campaign, Bloomberg apologized for “stop and frisk” in an appearance at the Christian Cultural Center, a Brooklyn church in which the congregation is primarily Black.“Over time, I’ve come to understand something that I long struggled to admit to myself: I got something important wrong,” Bloomberg said. “I got something important really wrong. I didn’t understand back then the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities. I was totally focused on saving lives, but as we know, good intentions aren’t good enough.”",
            "output": [
                "\"Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said that \"\"95 percent of your murders\"\" are committed by \"\"male minorities 15 to 25.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9243ac78a9ac4f24836b14c3ef7ba3be",
            "input": "The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and the Illinois Department of Public Health are reviewing the case of the resident with the flu-like illness. Officials say the resident of the home 312 miles (500 kilometers) southwest of Chicago has received medical treatment and is recovering. Officials say no other cases of the illness contracted by breathing infected water vapor have been identified. Staff members are monitoring residents for respiratory illnesses. Officials have notified residents, staff members, and relations and representatives of residents. The last case of Legionnaires’ at Quincy was in 2018. An outbreak that began in 2015 caused the deaths of 13 residents and sickened dozens more. Then-Gov. Bruce Rauner faced withering criticism for not doing enough in response to the crisis.",
            "output": [
                "Legionnaires’ case identified at Quincy veterans’ home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2374cdb1fcc046a4873f92789f9ed58e",
            "input": "The event takes place April 20 at the South Burlington High School. The first half of the forum will provide some basic information about heroin and heroin addiction and how it’s affecting South Burlington. The second half will be a question and answer session with a panel of professionals, including a doctor, mental health professional, school superintendent and police and fire department members.",
            "output": [
                "South Burlington police to hold forum on heroin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a126d4d318444168bc69204d98ec7cb",
            "input": "The girl’s body was repatriated to Congo for a funeral upon the request of her father, according to Uganda’s health ministry. The girl, who was traveling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated. Although cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, this case highlights the risk of Ebola spreading across the border into neighboring Uganda and Rwanda. Borders in the region are often porous, and many people traveling at night use bush paths to cross over. In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path. Two of them later died of Ebola, and the others were transferred back to Congo. “It is critical we continue to be on high alert in high-risk areas and empower communities to be prepared in order to contain the virus,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. Uganda has had multiple outbreaks of Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers since 2000. Because the 9-year-old Ebola victim passed through an official entry point this week, Ugandan health authorities believe she had no contact with any Ugandan. But at least five other Congolese, including attendants to patients, who shared an ambulance with the sick girl have been identified by Ugandan officials as Ebola contacts. Four of them have since been taken back to Congo for vaccination and monitoring, said Joyce Moriku Kaducu, Ugandan minister of state in charge of primary health care. Ebola has killed nearly 2,000 people in eastern Congo since August 2018. The disease is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. WHO said Friday that cases have reached 3,000 in Congo, with 1,893 confirmed deaths and about 900 survivors. On average, 80 people per week are sickened by the virus, which has infected most people in Congo’s North Kivu province. The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo hasn’t shown signs of slowing down despite new treatments and vaccines given to more than 200,000 people in the region and the use of two therapeutic treatments being used as part of a clinical trial. Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers. Many people in eastern Congo don’t trust doctors and other medics. “One year into the response, the lack of community acceptance remains the single greatest obstacle to containing the outbreak,” said Bob Kitchen, Vice President of Emergencies at the International Rescue Committee. “Building trust with the community doesn’t just mean dialogue with the affected population. It means working with the community to adapt the response and address the overall needs they are facing inside and outside of the Ebola outbreak.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will travel this weekend to Congo with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior officials, including Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. On Friday, he called on partners to increase their presence in the field. “Our commitment to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is that we will work alongside them to stop the Ebola outbreak,” Ghebreyesus said. “Our commitment also means strengthening the health systems to give them all the other things they need. Building strong systems is what will protect people, communities and the world.” ___ Maliro reported from Beni, Congo. AP writers Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Uganda: 9-year-old girl from Congo dies of Ebola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9906cfafe42f45ce97fa42a61a498165",
            "input": "There is no mention of the cost for the tested drug, cimaglermin, in this story. The costs for regularly prescribed drugs for the medical condition that’s the focus of the study — weakened left ventricular function — are well known and although cimaglermin is an experimental drug, it should be possible to predict whether the new drug would be comparatively priced, cheaper or more expensive. Readers would benefit from that knowledge. While this story discusses that the drug seemed to benefit patients and was effective, it doesn’t say how that was measured, and by how much the measurement improved due to the drug. (By digging into the research paper, via figure 3, we found that the benefits were measured by tracking absolute increases in ejection fraction, which is the amount of blood pumped out the ventricles. It increased 8% in the group receiving a medium or high dose of the medicine.) One issue that might be confusing for readers: The story notes that a “phase 1 trial like this one is designed to see if a new drug is safe, not to test its effectiveness.” If that’s the case, then why is the framing of the story about how effective it was? The story clearly points out that side effects included nausea and headaches, and that one participant did experience abnormal liver function after receiving the highest dose, a side effect that eventually cleared up. This is a strong point of the story: It clearly establishes that this was a small phase one randomized controlled trial, and the story explains what that means for the drug’s development. A phase 1 trial like this one is designed to see if a new drug is safe, not to test its effectiveness. Before cimaglermin could be used to treat patients, it must prove its worth in a series of progressively larger and challenging trials and then be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The process can take several years. Based on these preliminary findings, larger trials are being planned, Lenihan said. But, as noted in quantify benefits criterion above, readers might be confused by why so much of the story focused on the drug’s effectiveness, if this preliminary study wasn’t designed to test that. The story doesn’t commit disease mongering. The story does get credit for quoting a researcher not affiliated with this project, but it neglects to mention some obvious potential conflicts of interest among the members of the research team. According to the research paper, eight of the 13 researchers have some linkage to pharmaceutical firms and seven of them have a connection to the sponsor of the study, Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., either as consultants, employees, or stockholders, and two of them have had research funded by the company. The story does mention alternatives for dealing with weakened left ventricular function, primarily through this paragraph: “People with heart failure often take a combination of drugs, Lenihan said. These include medications to lower blood pressure and diuretics to help remove excess fluid that builds up as a result of the heart’s labored pumping ability. In addition, some people have implanted defibrillators or pacemakers.” We’ll rate this category satisfactory, given that the story admits that it is reporting on a phase one trial, and includes the following information: “Before cimaglermin could be used to treat patients, it must prove its worth in a series of progressively larger and challenging trials and then be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The process can take several years.” The drug is clearly described in terms of its experimental nature at this point. This story doesn’t appear to have relied on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Heart Failure Drug Shows Promise in First Human Trial"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3390c8a7ca94697be03b4504edd798b",
            "input": "It was unclear if anyone ill came in contact with a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who was held at the facility in McAllen, Texas, and died Monday, a day after he was diagnosed and transferred to a smaller station. Carlos Hernandez Vasquez was detained for six days, twice as long as generally allowed by U.S. law. The processing center is a converted warehouse that holds hundreds of parents and children in large, fenced-in pens that gained international attention last year when it held children separated from their parents. The government closed the facility after the flu outbreak, sent in cleaning crews to disinfect the building and plans to reopen it soon. The 32 sick children and adults have been quarantined at a smaller processing center, according to a U.S. Border Patrol official who spoke with reporters on condition of anonymity because there is an ongoing investigation. Their ages were unknown. Since December, five children have died after being apprehended by border agents, putting authorities under growing pressure and scrutiny to care for migrant children. Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland Security secretary, came under withering criticism Wednesday from a Democratic lawmaker who called the administration’s actions with children “inhumane.” The Department of Health and Human Services, which cares for unaccompanied migrant children, said Wednesday that a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador died last year after being detained by border authorities in a previously unreported case. The girl died Sept. 29 at an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital of fever and respiratory distress, officials said. The department began caring for the unidentified girl in March 2018, said spokesman Mark Weber, who described her as “medically fragile,” with a history of congenital heart defects. With the government running out of space to hold migrants, the Trump administration has been taking dramatic steps to keep up with the influx. The Defense Department said Wednesday that it will provide temporary housing for at least 7,500 men and women who are taken into custody by immigration officials along the border. It will loan tents to the Department of Homeland Security, which will manage the camps. The Defense Department will evaluate six potential sites over the next two weeks: Tucson and Yuma in Arizona and Tornillo, Donna, Laredo and Del Rio in Texas. Tornillo, near El Paso, is where unaccompanied children were housed last year. The Pentagon said military personnel will only erect the tents and won’t be involved in operations. The 77,000-square foot (7,155-sq. meter) processing center in McAllen is modeled after a similar facility in Nogales, Arizona, built for an influx of Central Americans in 2014. It has separate pods for boys and girls who came alone and parents with their young children. Some older children are split from their parents to avoid having them mix with much younger children. Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, which includes McAllen, is the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The Border Patrol made 36,681 arrests in the area in April, nearly three of every four coming in family units or as children traveling alone. Border Patrol agents have averaged 69 trips to the hospital a day since Dec. 22 and about 153,000 hours monitoring detained population at hospitals, the official said. Authorities have also cleaned other holding facilities in South Texas, including Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Kingsville and highway checkpoints. Migrants are not being vaccinated at Border Patrol stations, but they may be when hospitalized, the official said. The Border Patrol is offering vaccines to agents working. ___ Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Flu outbreak sickens over 30 migrants at border center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-479d0bd67b874138ab774e9e6f39f9ec",
            "input": "In recent years, many states in the U.S. have responded to multiple incidents of mass shootings by passing “red flag laws” intended to provide a means by which potentially dangerous (and armed) persons could be legally restricted prior to their engaging in harmful acts: They are state laws that authorize courts to issue a special type of protection order, allowing the police to temporarily confiscate firearms from people who are deemed by a judge to be a danger to themselves or to others. Often, the request for the order will come from relatives or friends concerned about a loved one who owns one or more guns and has expressed suicidal thoughts or discussed shooting people. The authorities may also request an order. How long the guns are taken away under these “extreme risk protection orders” depends on the circumstances, and can usually be extended only after another court hearing. The orders also bar the person they cover from purchasing guns In general, red flag laws authorize courts to issue a special type of protection order that allows police to temporarily confiscate firearms from persons deemed by judges to be a danger to themselves or to others. Advocates argue that such laws can help save lives without infringing on civil liberties, while opponents maintain that “red flag” seizures violate constitutional due process guarantees. In February 2018, a few weeks after a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida left 17 people dead, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence Trump met with lawmakers to discuss the subjects of gun laws and school safety. Nikolas Cruz, the suspected shooter, had been able to legally purchase an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle even though local police had previously received multiple calls about his potentially dangerous behavior, a subject that Trump and Pence discussed at that meeting.",
            "output": [
                "\"U.S. President Donald Trump said \"\"We're going to take the firearms first and then go to court.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e4206102cec4ba3b9579855d6d4925f",
            "input": "The English Football Association’s “Heads Up” campaign is spearheaded by Prince William, who is the president of the governing body. Most games in the third round of the cup will start at 3:01 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4. The FA says “during the minute delay, fans will be encouraged to consider the positive impact 60 seconds can have on their own well-being or in supporting a friend or family member.” ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "FA Cup games delayed 1 min for prince’s mental health push."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60c5ce8ecdcf4ada8be6d5747c52b8b4",
            "input": "A supposed reproduction of a medical journal article describing an unusual case of scrotum self-repair using a stapler was a ubiquitous piece of faxlore back in the pre-internet days:  UNUSUAL CASE Scrotum Self-Repair By William A. Morton, Jr, MD One morning I was called to the emergency room by the head ER nurse. She directed me to a patient who had refused to describe his problem other than to say that he “needed a doctor who took care of men’s troubles.” The patient, about 40, was pale, febrile, and obviously uncomfortable, and had little to say as he gingerly opened his trousers to expose a bit of angry red and black-and-blue scrotal skin.After I asked the nurse to leave us, the patient permitted me to remove his trousers, shorts, and two or three yards of foul-smelling stained gauze wrapped about his scrotum, which was swollen to twice the size of a grapefruit and extremely tender. A jagged zig-zag laceration, oozing pus and blood, extended down the left scrotum.Amid the matted hair, edematous skin, and various exudates, I saw some half-buried dark linear objects and asked the patient what they were. Several days earlier, he replied, he had injured himself in the machine shop where he worked, and had closed the laceration himself with a heavy-duty stapling gun. The dark objects were one-inch staples of the type used in putting up wallboard. We x-rayed the patient’s scrotum to locate the staples; admitted him to the hospital; and gave him tetanus antitoxin, broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy, and hexachlorophene sitz baths prior to surgery the next morning. The procedure consisted of exploration and debridement of the left side of the scrotal pouch. Eight rusty staples were retrieved, and the skin edges were trimmed and freshened. The left testis had been avulsed and was missing. The stump of the spermatic cord was recovered at the inguinal canal, debrided, and the vessels ligated properly, though not much of a hematoma was present. Through-and-through Penrose drains were sutured loosely in site, and the skin was loosely closed. Convalescence was uneventful, and before his release from the hospital less than a week later, the patient confided the rest of his story to me. An unmarried loner, he usually didn’t leave the machine shop at lunchtime with his co-workers. Finding himself alone, he had begun the regular practice of masturbating by holding his penis against the canvas drive-belt of a large floor-based piece of running machinery. One day, as he approached orgasm, he lost his concentration and leaned too close to the belt. When his scrotum suddenly became caught between the pulley-wheel and the drive-belt, he was thrown into the air and landed a few feet away. Unaware that he had lost his left testis, and perhaps too stunned to feel much pain, he stapled the wound closed and resumed work. I can only assume he abandoned this method of self-gratification. This article about a machine shop worker who sliced his scrotum open while masturbating with a piece of machinery (causing the loss of a testicle), then simply stapled the sac back together, was popular fodder in text-based Internet discussion groups in the early 1990s. Despite the clinical tone of the article, told from a first-person perspective of the doctor who treated the patient’s resulting injuries and infection, many readers found the scenario described too bizarre to be true and suspected it was a hoax crafted by someone working in the medical field. As a first step towards verifying or debunking this item, we tracked down a copy of the medical journal that had supposedly published the article and ascertained that the article did indeed appear in the July 1991 issue of Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality. Still, some doubters didn’t consider that to be sufficient proof that the events described therein had actually occurred — the journal editors might have been fooled by a doctor who sent in a fictitious case report as a prank, they insisted. So, we tracked down the physician whose name appeared at the head of the article and contacted him to see if he could verify the account and supply any additional information. He replied to us as follows in 1994:   Dear Mr. Mikkelson: I am now retired, but submitted the article; treated the patient about 20-25 years ago and have had phone calls from all corners of the U.S. ever since. A xerox is on the billboard in practically every army post, college dorm, men’s club, etc. I’ve had interviews/phone by talk-show hosts, etc. No Phil Donahue yet! The man actually came to me 3 days post-injury when the fever, swelling, and pain of secondary infection frightened him. Though unlikely, tetanus was even a possibility. He was not that impressed with the pain of the moment of injury — it happened so quickly, like losing your fingertip to a band-saw — and was unaware his left testis was probably propelled up into the rafters of the machine shop where he worked. Every man who questions me imagines the initial pain to have been intense, but should realize that once the testis had been ripped out (gasp!) there was not the continuing discomfort one would experience from a first-class kick in the nuts! I saw him again 5 years later in the hospital for a non-urologic problem. Incidentally, the Navy has left xeroxes in every bar along the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Tel Aviv — my son’s girlfriend saw one in Greece 2 years ago.",
            "output": [
                " A machine-shop worker tore his scrotum in a piece of machinery and then stapled it back together."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64d15589a29d4c48b91a4506d42eca7d",
            "input": "\"Some Republicans have presented the embattled Clinton Foundation as serving one purpose: \"\"lining the pockets of Bill and Hillary Clinton,\"\" as GOP Chair Reince Priebus put it. Responding to such criticisms, Democratic pundit Hilary Rosen said the Clintons \"\"take no personal benefit\"\" from the foundation. She also pointed out the legitimate charitable work the foundation carries out, such as its programs addressing AIDS in Africa and storm recovery in Haiti. \"\"The Clinton Foundation is a charity where President and Secretary Clinton and their daughter, they take no salary, they get no money from it, they take no personal benefit from it,\"\" Rosen said on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show Aug. 24. That’s a pretty wide gulf between the assertion that the foundation is just a front for the Clintons to make oodles of money and claims that they don’t get any personal benefit. It made us wonder: What exactly do the Clintons get out of the foundation? Bill Clinton is currently a member of the foundation’s board of directors, while Chelsea Clinton is vice chair. Hillary Clinton was a board member between leaving the State Department in 2013 through the launch of her presidential campaign in 2015. In the most recent year for which tax forms are available, 2014, the foundation reported that Chelsea Clinton worked 35 hours per week for the foundation and other related organizations, Bill Clinton worked 25 hours per work, and Hillary Clinton worked 20 hours per week. The Clintons don’t take a salary from this work, and they don’t receive any other direct monetary benefit. Other Clinton Foundation leaders take home six-figure salaries, according to tax documents. The Clinton Foundation is a public charity that, as we have reported, allocates about 80-90 percent of its expenditures to charitable programs, while the rest goes to fundraising and overhead. (A quick aside: There’s some confusion over how much the Clinton Foundation spends on charitable programming primarily because the word \"\"foundation\"\" is in the name. Typically, a private foundation’s primary activity is grantmaking, giving money to charities who actually do the work. But the Clinton Foundation operates as a public charity in that they run many of their programs themselves. The Clintons also have a traditional private foundation, the Clinton Family Foundation.) So the Clintons don’t receive compensation from the foundation. However, you can make a case that they have received some indirect personal benefits. This is not to say that any of these benefits are unethical or improper. Experts on nonprofit ethics told us these are pretty standard, and they haven’t seen anything reported about the Clinton Foundation that proves corruption. Still, it’s worth reviewing the limited types of benefits that the Clintons do get. Public relations The most obvious, outward-facing benefit for the Clintons is notoriety and media attention. The organization got off the ground in 2001, the year Bill Clinton left the White House. During the periods when he or Hillary were not in or running for office, the foundation kept the family in the public eye — and more often for good reasons, rather than scandalous ones (at least up until the past year or so, when Clinton launched her 2016 campaign and the foundation faced more intense scrutiny). Throughout its existence, the Clinton Foundation has received attention for its work to make AIDS medication more accessible in Africa, efforts to combat climate change, establishing a business mentoring program, writing school food guidelines, and more. Every fall, Bill Clinton and his family receive a spate of press as the stars of the annual Clinton Global Initiative, a networking conference for wealthy philanthropic donors. Chelsea Clinton has embraced her role as a public face of the organization. \"\"It does continue to draw attention to the work they do as family and individuals throughout the world,\"\" said Ann Skeet, director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. \"\"At a minimum, it is good public relations.\"\" When the Internal Revenue Service evaluates charities applying for tax-exempt status, which the foundation has, it wants to ensure that the organization is set up to provide a public benefit rather than serve private financial desires, Skeet said. There’s nothing improper about the Clintons taking advantage of their public image in this role, as long as it goes toward that public benefit. Another big benefit: The Clintons’ role as high-dollar fundraisers for the foundation also enabled them to maintain relationships with wealthy and powerful individuals, including many who are also involved in the Democratic Party. There are some crossover big money donors, such as Fred Eychaner, Haim Saban and Daniel Abraham. (Republicans have been involved in the foundation, too; Mitt Romney spoke at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative amid his run for the White House.) The Clintons have also received some indirect monetary benefits from their charitable work, though none of this money came from the foundation’s coffers. Bill Clinton wrote a book in 2007 called Giving, for which he received an advance of about $5 million, according to the New York Times. The book was about charitable work and so is, in part, based on his work with the Clinton Foundation. Similarly, he has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars delivering numerous speeches where he talks about his Clinton Foundation work. For example, Samsung Electronics paid Bill Clinton $450,000 to deliver the keynote address at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, during which he talked about how technology has affected his work in the developing world through the Clinton Foundation. Samsung has also donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the foundation. Experts also pointed out that the Clintons have donated to their own charity, and those donations would be tax-deductible. Bill and Hillary Clinton have donated millions to their private philanthropy, the Clinton Family Foundation, which has in turn given between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. Chelsea Clinton herself has donated between $25,000 and $50,000. And foundation tax documents stipulate that the Clintons, \"\"due to extraordinary security and other requirements,\"\" often need to travel first class or via charter plane. A spokesperson said that in some cases, when the Clintons travel on foundation business, the foundation pays for their travel service directly. At least one campaign ad has been made lampooning Hillary Clinton’s travel on private jets. Chicken or the egg? This discussion raises a chicken-or-the-egg question: Do these benefits the Clintons receive really come from the foundation, or do they come from their already sizeable political capital? Before the Clintons started their foundation, they were famous for being the country’s first family. Absent the foundation, it’s quite possible they could command equally sizeable speaking fees and book advances. They would have access to the same members of the global elite. They would have the ability and finances to donate to charitable causes. Buildings would bear their names. Hillary Clinton would still receive hefty donations supporting her presidential campaign. In all likelihood, very little would change in the Clintons’ private lives if the foundation were to close, said Tony Proscio, a researcher at Duke University’s Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society and a consultant to foundations and large nonprofit organizations. \"\"It’s fair to wonder how much of a ‘benefit’ these things would be to Bill and Hillary Clinton, who are already at home in high society, more famous than almost anyone, and probably welcome to associate themselves with whatever good deeds they please,\"\" Proscio said. \"\"Are those ‘benefits’ as valuable to the Clintons as they would be to someone else? It’s debatable.\"\" On the flip side, he said the foundation likely would not be as successful nor as widely known if it didn’t have the Clintons’ name attached. He noted however, \"\"There’s a glamour attached not only to the foundation but to the Clintons' participation in the foundation that seems a little self-serving.\"\" The reason people start charities in their name and donate significant amounts of money often boils down to a desire to feel like they’re contributing to a cause they care about or to increase their standing in the community, Skeet said. These are, however abstract, a form of personal benefit. \"\"All donors to all organizations give for a reason you can tie back to personal benefit,\"\" she said. Our ruling Rosen said, \"\"The Clinton Foundation is a charity where President and Secretary Clinton and their daughter, they take no salary, they get no money from it, they take no personal benefit from it.\"\" Rosen’s claim is correct on its face. The Clintons do not take any sort of paycheck, bonus or fees from the Clinton Foundation. It is possible the foundation has boosted the Clintons’ public image since Bill Clinton left office, and this has helped them command hefty speaker fees and book advances, and it’s also given them extra opportunities to mingle with the global elite. But they may have gotten these benefits even without the Clinton Foundation. Their celebrity primarily comes from their track record in politics.\"",
            "output": [
                "The Clinton Foundation is a charity where President and Secretary Clinton and their daughter, they take no salary, they get no money from it, they take no personal benefit from it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc4ada5d9d034eecbc5d4329f6f3a034",
            "input": "Since the state prosecutor’s office began a criminal investigation into Pugh at the Maryland governor’s request earlier this week, there’s been a growing tide of examinations spurred by revelations that she was paid $700,000 over roughly eight years for her self-published paperback series about the fictional “Healthy Holly.” By Wednesday afternoon, the total grew to $800,000 after a businessman divulged that his financial firm gave Pugh $100,000 after she clinched the 2016 Democratic primary. The first-term mayor went on an indefinite leave of absence amid the accelerating scandal involving the lucrative sales of her obscure children’s books to a $4 billion hospital network she once helped oversee and a major health plan that does business with the city. Al Redmer, Maryland’s insurance commissioner, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his regulatory agency is now looking at Kaiser Permanente, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and a state car insurance fund for possible wrongdoing. “To the extent that any insurance carrier would divert funds away from that mission is something that could be concerning based on the facts,” Redmer said in an interview. “Our role is to make sure that entities that we regulate have in no way violated the law or regulations.” Pressure on Pugh ratcheted up dramatically after the Kaiser Permanente disclosed Monday that it paid her limited liability company about $114,000 between 2015 and 2018 for roughly 20,000 copies of her illustrated books. The company said it “purchased Healthy Holly books because we believe residents would be inspired by a book about health and wellness authored by a member of the Baltimore community.” Another city health provider, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, said it made contributions to Associated Black Charities, a nonprofit that manages the city’s taxpayer-funded Children and Youth Fund, to purchase and distribute books. CareFirst declined to comment, while Kaiser said it would cooperate fully with any investigation. Pugh’s attorney has said she looks forward to cooperating with the state prosecutor’s probe and will provide “as much information as possible to put this matter to rest.” Also Wednesday, Acting Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young, who has taken over Pugh’s day-to-day responsibilities since she went on leave, told reporters he’s directed Baltimore’s law department to pull dozens of the most recently authorized city contracts for review. In a closed-door meeting, Baltimore’s ethics board voted to open a probe into Pugh’s book deals. Johns Hopkins Health System disclosed that Pugh, during her days in the state senate, once approached a senior employee to buy her illustrated books. The employee declined. Hopkins spokeswoman Kim Hoppe said they’ve found no evidence of any Healthy Holly purchases or donations to Pugh’s company. J.P. Grant, the Maryland businessman who revealed his firm’s $100,000 payment Wednesday in an interview with The Baltimore Sun, said Pugh told him his company’s check would help distribute Healthy Holly books to schoolkids. Citing deteriorating health from pneumonia, Pugh abruptly retreated to her home Monday amid multiple calls for investigations of her highly lucrative book deals, including a $500,000 arrangement with the University of Maryland Medical System. There was no contract behind the deal and the hospital network described some of the purchases as “grants” in federal filings. Pugh, who sat on a state Senate committee that funded the regional health network before becoming mayor, began serving on the system’s board in 2001. She stepped down from the volunteer board last month and returned her most recent payment of $100,000. The nonprofit Associated Black Charities said five organizations donated $87,180 to pay for “Healthy Holly” books, of which the charitable group kept $9,552 to use as “general support.” One of those groups was apparently the quasi-public Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund. Its former executive director, M. Kent Krabbe, authorized a $7,500 donation in 2012, shortly before Pugh — then a state senator — successfully sponsored legislation supported by the company. That donation was first reported by the Baltimore Business Journal. Krabbe left his leadership role at the car insurance fund in 2015, eventually becoming a director of Pugh’s inaugural committee in 2016 and then joining the Baltimore Department of Transportation as operations manager for special events, a newly created position that came with a $107,100 salary. He could not be reached for comment. Mark McCurdy, the current director of the state’s car insurer of last resort, said there was nothing in their records to say why Krabbe had the auto insurance carrier write a check to Pugh’s Healthy Holly company for its outreach program with Associated Black Charities. “On the surface, it’s not the kind of donation that fits our philosophy,” said McCurdy, stressing that the car insurance fund never received or distributed any Healthy Holly books. Meanwhile, the University of Maryland Medical System’s acting CEO has announced that the former state Sen. Francis X. Kelly and two of his sons would also take voluntary leaves from boards of six affiliated organizations. Kelly & Associates Insurance Group has done millions of dollars in business with the hospitals. About one-third of UMMS board members received compensation through the medical system’s arrangements with their businesses. Legislation is pending in Maryland’s capital focusing on board governance. ___ Follow McFadden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmcfadd",
            "output": [
                "‘Healthy Holly’, once lucrative, now bane of Baltimore mayor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-278cc9f160804e49852eef82f27d2f11",
            "input": "Peebles, a 30-year-old black man who’s skeptical of what he hears from the news media and government, initially didn’t see the need for alarm over the virus. “I felt it was a complete hoax,” Peebles said. “This thing happens every two or four years. We have an outbreak of a disease that seems to put everybody in a panic.” Peebles is among roughly 40 million black Americans deciding minute by minute whether to put their faith in government and the medical community during the coronavirus pandemic. Historic failures in government responses to disasters and emergencies, medical abuse, neglect and exploitation have jaded generations of black people into a distrust of public institutions. “I’ve just been conditioned not to trust,” said Peebles, who is now obeying the state’s stay home order and keeping his distance from others when he goes out. Some call such skepticism the “Tuskegee effect” — distrust linked to the U.S. government’s once-secret study of black men in Alabama who were left untreated for syphilis. Black people already suffer disproportionately from chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease and are far more likely to be uninsured. How the government and medical community responds to the crisis will be especially crucial for outcomes among black Americans, civil rights advocates and medical experts say. “We are right to be paranoid and to ask tough questions,” said U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts who joined other congressional leaders in asking the government to collect and release information about the race and ethnicity of people who are tested or treated for the virus that causes COVID-19. “History has shown us, when we do not” ask questions, said Pressley, who is black, “the consequences are grave, and in fact life and death.”  NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who hosted a coronavirus tele-town hall with U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams last month, said black and brown communities need reliable information about the crisis. “Now that this has been deemed a pandemic, I am most concerned with inequities in who’s provided tests, who’s provided treatment and how those tests and the treatments are administered, in a way that is open, transparent, and equitable,” Johnson said. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. Cities with large black populations like New York, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and New Orleans have emerged as hot spots for the coronavirus. Figures released by Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services show 40% of those who have died from COVID-19 are black in a state where African-Americans are just 14% of the population. And many Southern states with large black populations have been slow to mandate statewide restrictions shown to slow virus spread. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, black adults are 60% more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes, 40% more likely to have high blood pressure and are less likely to have those conditions under control. Additionally, in 2015, black women were 20% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic whites. Those disparities make the availability of a treatment or vaccine urgent, even as the virus is currently projected to claim tens of thousands of lives. But given history, Peebles said he wouldn’t rush to accept a remedy. “If we got to a place where the government says, ‘OK, now it’s time to take a vaccine,’ then I’m definitely going to be skeptical of their intentions,” he said. Launched in 1932 by the U.S. Public Health Service, the Tuskegee study involved roughly 600 poor black men in Alabama who weren’t treated for the sexually transmitted disease so researchers could track its progress. The program was exposed and ended in 1972, and then-President Bill Clinton formally apologized in 1997. The Tuskegee legacy has helped pollute the black community’s relationship with American medical science. A 2016 paper found the fallout included mistrust of medicine among black men, along with fewer interactions with doctors and higher mortality rates. In Tuskegee, where many families include descendants of victims, many residents don’t trust government health information, said Lucenia Dunn, a former Tuskegee mayor. So volunteers trying to get the word out about coronavirus have gone door-to-door distributing fliers with cartoon-like illustrations that don’t look “too official,” she said. “We have a general distrust in this community,’” Dunn said. “I call it ‘subconscious rejection.’ The attitude is, ‘I’m going to rebel against this. You people have been telling us lies for years. Why should I believe you now?’” In Los Angeles, Jahmil Lacey helped found a public health group for black men and boys, TRAPMedicine, that educates black barbers and organizes workshops to address health disparities among their customers. “People will quote the Tuskegee experiment as the reason why black people don’t trust health care, but there’s so much more than just that one example,” Lacey said. “We don’t trust systems that are connected to white supremacy. So, we have to do the work to repair it.” Indeed, Tuskegee didn’t happen in a vacuum. In the 1950s, doctors at the John Hopkins Hospital used cervical cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks, a black mother of five, to pioneer medical advances and research that continue globally today. Lacks, who died in 1951, never gave her consent and her family has never been compensated. One way to begin healing the mistrust is to increase black representation in the medical field, said Dr. Nicollette Louissaint, executive director of the Washington-based emergency response advocacy group Healthcare Ready. “We have to make sure that ... the message itself and the messengers are being adapted to the appropriate audience,” said Louissaint, who is black. “It’s going to be really important that we get that right.” ___ Reeves reported from Birmingham, Alabama. Both are members of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow Morrison on Twitter at http://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison. Follow Reeves on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Jay_Reeves",
            "output": [
                "Amid coronavirus pandemic, black mistrust of medicine looms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29b8aa68543549fc9e15fcf892243a40",
            "input": "Lawmakers are also expected to address abortion rights, private gun sales and environmental issues such as the rise in sea level. While the budget is the only thing the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass each year, there are already about 3,000 bills filed, including about 1,600 that seek to stuff local projects into the budget. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared 2020 “the year of the teacher.” He’s proposing a $91.4 billion budget that includes $600 million to raise the minimum salary for teachers to $47,500 a year. It also includes $1 million to help eradicate pythons in the Everglades and elsewhere — just one of the environmental initiates he wants the Legislature to approve. But the Legislature doesn’t have to follow the governor’s budget recommendations, and while House Speaker Jose Oliva has been diplomatic, he’s expressed some concern over the teacher pay proposal. “My initial thought is one of gratitude for those who came before us and saw it fit to bind us and all future legislatures to a balanced budget,” Oliva said when DeSantis announced the proposal. While several abortion bills have been filed on both sides of the debate, a bill requiring girls under 18 get their parents consent before having an abortion has a good chance of passing. Sen. Kelli Stargel is sponsoring the legislation and draws from her own experience as a pregnant teenager. “I thought for sure my mother would kill me when I told her that I was pregnant underage,” Stargel told her colleagues when presenting the bill. “She advised me to have an abortion. I chose not to have the abortion, but through that process, we are closer.” Florida already has a law that requires that a girl’s parents be notified if she gets an abortion, but it doesn’t require parents give their permission for the procedure. The parental consent bill would allow girls to ask a judge for a waiver if they are victims of abuse or incest. It’s one of several bills filed on both sides of the abortion issue, though most of the others are less likely to pass. There’s a House bill that would outlaw abortions if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, but Senate President Bill Galvano said that would be tough to get through his chamber. Even more unlikely to pass is a bill to ask voters to change the constitution to require at least 50 percent of the House and Senate be comprised of women before lawmakers can vote on an abortion bill. Democratic Sen. Lauren Book said she sponsored the bill to serve as a talking point after the Alabama Senate sent a heartbeat bill to the governor with only two female senators voting on the legislation. “Having to watch two women, whose backs were certainly against the wall in a chamber like that, having to speak up for millions of women who had no voice and no representation in that chamber,” Book said. “I started drafting it after that.” Lawmakers will once again consider new gun laws two years after the Parkland high school shooting that left 17 dead. Galvano directed Infrastructure and Security Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Lee to come up with gun safety legislation after mass shootings across the country last year. Lee won’t go as far as Democratic proposals to ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines, but he said he’s considering changes to better document private gun sales. “It seems to me like the best thing we can do to enhance public safety is to take a look at the systems that we use or the requirements that we have in law for people to transfer or sell weapons between individuals,” Lee said. The environment will also be a top issue. Lawmakers are considering legislation that addresses the algae blooms that have plagued Florida in recent years. Republicans are also backing bills to create the Statewide Office of Resiliency and the Statewide Sea-Level Rise Task Force. The Department of Environmental Protection would be directed to take action based on the task force’s recommendations. Then there are hundreds of miscellaneous bills that won’t be among the most hotly debated, such as legislation that would ban “pet leasing,” which is essentially rent-to-own contracts some pet stores offer consumers. Then there’s Book’s bill to designate coconut patties as the official state candy. “This is very serious legislation,” Book said with a laugh. “I thought it would be fun and light, and people are very opinionated about it. Why not salt water taffy? Why not pink Starbursts? We feel strongly about Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And I’m like, ‘Guys, but this is created in Florida.’”",
            "output": [
                "From coconut patties to guns, lawmakers ready for session."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3bc30e62529b42fbbcc26042c2304a6c",
            "input": "No one was killed in the incident in Mato Grosso state, ANM said in a statement. The dam is registered under the name of an individual wildcat miner rather than in the name of a mining company. Inspections of the dam had not turned up any problems, and it had been declared as stable on Sept. 25, the agency said. Brazil remains on high alert for dam ruptures after a tailings dam at a Vale SA iron ore mine burst in January, killing at least 250 people in the second major disaster of its kind in four years.",
            "output": [
                "Health tourism costs nearly £300 million on some estimates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bbe55c98a8b049419a797c7c745033d1",
            "input": "\"There’s a new sheriff in charge of the U.S. Senate, and he’s eager to show how he’s shaking up the law of the land. We’re talking, of course, about new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who took over the Senate’s top slot after the midterm elections bounced Democrats from power. And in this new world, Republicans are touting an eye-catching factoid as evidence of a functional Senate, one they say runs on fairness and order under GOP control. \"\"Amazing fact: Senate has already voted on more amendments in 2015 than Reid allowed ALL YEAR last year,\"\" tweeted Phil Kerpen, opinion-writer and president of conservative 501(c)(4) American Commitment, on Jan. 22, 2015. Kerpen, formerly of Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth and the libertarian Cato Institute, told us he heard the statistic from McConnell himself. We wanted to know if it was true that the Senate has already allowed more votes on amendments in less than one month than all of 2014. And why? On Senate stoppage and filled ‘trees’ The simple answer on the number of votes is that Kerpen is correct. But the reason behind it varies depending on your particular political lens. A simple search of Senate roll call votes on amendments in 2014 and 2015 backs up Kerpen’s statement. In 2014, there were 15 roll call votes on amendments. As of Jan. 22, 2015, the date of Kerpen's tweet, there were 16 roll call votes on amendments. There have since been 17 more votes on amendments to the bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which passed a week later but will likely face President Barack Obama’s veto pen. Kerpen came at the tally a different way, counting \"\"real\"\" votes on amendments, a distinction that also includes roll call votes on motions to table amendments, which effectively kills them. By his math, there were 16 votes allowed on amendments in 2014 and 26 so far in 2015. By either count, the numbers work. What changed? In 2014, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., relied on a funny-sounding procedure called \"\"filling the amendment tree.\"\" Basically, Reid filled the docket allowed for amendments by adding amendments with inconsequential changes that no one else could override. The procedural tactic prevented Republican-sponsored amendments from being heard on the floor. \"\"He did that more than any of his predecessors,\"\" Donald Ritchie, Senate historian, told PunditFact. Reid wasn’t doing this just to be a not-so-nice guy. To Democrats, it was to counter Republican tactics. Unlike the House, the Senate does not have strict rules for the substance of amendments that can be attached to bills (i.e., you could add a health care amendment onto a defense spending bill). And that’s exactly what happened in years past. Republicans began introducing off-topic amendments that, for example, cut off U.S. aid to Egypt or, a favorite of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to eliminate health care subsidies for Senate staffers. No matter what the topic of the bill. Sometimes this was in effort to force difficult votes for Democrats back home. To Republicans, Reid’s style of blocking amendments emulated an uncooperative and off-the-rails leadership style -- one that is tremendously well-documented -- that stymied policymaking. To Democrats, it was necessary to get anything accomplished. Republicans were filibustering votes on the underlying bills and not committing to a vote in exchange for allowing some amendments, said Steven S. Smith, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis. \"\"Reid saw they were filibustering everything, bringing the place to a standstill,\"\" Smith told us. \"\"So he wondered why he should give them votes at all.\"\" Reid’s office does not dispute the number of votes on amendments, but they do take issue with what they deem an \"\"empty talking point\"\" that neglects Republican responsibility for the gridlock. His spokesman argues that Republicans blocked their own share of amendments by not compromising on potential amendments to be heard on the floor and refusing to come to an agreement about when a bill should come to a vote. \"\"(Reid) makes no apologies for blocking what we all consider to be extremely pointless political amendments that were just designed not to improve the bills we were working on but to run 30-second political ads against Democratic senators,\"\" said spokesman Adam Jentleson. \"\"Republicans are entirely culpable in that number being what it is.\"\" Reid’s style of blocking amendments irritated Republicans, sure, but it also flared up during the 2014 midterms with Republicans using it to attack Democrats. The GOP pounced on Alaska Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich, for instance, for his lack of roll-call votes on his amendments. McConnell, conversely, said he would allow open amendments on the Keystone XL bill, hence the GOP celebrating its \"\"new management\"\" style. As political experts told us to expect, there have already been clashes with McConnell’s methods a few days after the initial celebration. During the Keystone debate, Democrats objected to McConnell tabling Democratic amendments and not letting Democrats debate their amendments for a minute. Reid, perhaps ironically, tweeted, \"\"I've never seen debate shut down as aggressively as when Sen. McConnell refused to allow Dems to debate their own amendments for just 1 min. ... and that’s saying something.\"\" What the experts tell us Bottom line, experts said, voters shouldn’t take the new tactics as evidence that McConnell’s \"\"return to normal order\"\" will give the Democrats an easy path to voting on the amendments of their choice. \"\"It’s not going to happen,\"\" said Roy Meyers, University of Maryland, Baltimore County affiliate professor of public policy. University of Kansas political science professor Burdett Loomis agreed, saying, \"\"The overall idea isn’t trivial (‘regular order’), but the exact number isn’t very significant, especially if McConnell, as expected, runs the Senate almost completely to the (Republicans’) advantage.\"\" It’s too early to know whether we have a \"\"sea change\"\" of order on our hands in the Senate, said Sarah Binder, George Washington University political science professor. \"\"In other words, the intense partisanship of the Senate that led Sen. Reid to all-but shut down the amendment process last year has not dissipated,\"\" Binder said. \"\"I think the question going forward is whether McConnell can find a way to conduct the Senate such that senators from both parties believe their legislative needs are being met.\"\" Our ruling Kerpen, among others, tweeted, \"\"Amazing fact: Senate has already voted on more amendments in 2015 than (Harry) Reid allowed ALL YEAR last year.\"\" On the numbers, that is right. But experts cautioned us that the claim falls more in the interesting factoid category than a sign of a different or more cooperative Senate leadership. The statement is accurate but needs clarification and additional information. That meets our definition of . Correction: An earlier version of this fact-check incorrectly described Sen. David Vitter's amendment.\"",
            "output": [
                "Amazing fact: Senate has already voted on more amendments in 2015 than Reid allowed ALL YEAR last year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a937a1a2c5cc4cbe85e49a7a5240ed4e",
            "input": "A right lateral view chest x-ray of a healthy lung is seen in an undated handout photo. REUTERS/DCD/Dr. Thomas Hooten/Handout Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States and the world and is on the rise. There is no cure. The researchers found that a master gene called NRF2, which turns on other genes involved in protecting the lungs from pollution and cigarette smoke, was not working properly in smokers with advanced COPD, which affects 210 million people worldwide. And they said a compound found in broccoli might help correct this problem. “This work clearly demonstrates that a decline in our antioxidant system is involved in progression of COPD, which could also be the cause for other environmental disease,” Shyam Biswal of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said in a statement. There are no treatments for COPD, a condition that includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis and some types of serious chronic asthma. Smoking is by far the leading cause of COPD, but environmental factors such as pollution play a role. In earlier studies, Biswal found that mice with poorly working NRF2 genes developed severe emphysema. His current study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine looked at tissue samples of smokers with COPD and those without it. They found that the lungs of people with COPD had decreased levels of antioxidants that were regulated by the NRF2 gene. The sicker the patients, the lower the levels they found. But they also found that sulforaphane, a compound that occurs naturally in broccoli and wasabi, was able to restore the function of the NRF2 gene in human tissue. “These are the keys we are looking for in terms of having a more specific intervention,” Dr. John Heffner, past president of the American Thoracic Society, said in a telephone interview. “If we can discover the primary triggers that induce lung damage in smokers we will be able to slow the progression of this highly lethal condition,” Heffner said. He said the study, which he was not involved in, pointed to a genetic switch that turns off the body’s defenses against cigarette smoke and leads to lung damage. “Compounds that target that switch may be able to turn it back on to prevent the progression of COPD.”   He said it was too early to suggest eating broccoli would cure COPD. Other clinical trials of antioxidants have failed to show a benefit. “We are hoping to initiate human trials with these more specific compounds that target what has been shown to be the most important antioxidant system,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Gene switch malfunctioning in chronic lung disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d4f35b6f61a94746acd24475eb41e306",
            "input": "On 30 April 2019, the Facebook page “Historical Pictures” renewed interest in an old news story involving the movie Titanic, seafood chowder, and the drug PCP (Phencyclidine, or angel dust):  The Facebook page reads: “On the last night of filming Titanic, someone laced the cast and crew’s food with PCP. 80 cast and crew members, including James Cameron and Bill Paxton, started hallucinating and had to be hospitalized.” This Facebook post recounts a genuine news story from the set of Titanic. However, some of the details are misleading or inaccurate. For instance, this incident occurred during the final day of shooting at one specific location but not the final day overall for the film: The location was the Halifax area on the Akademik Msislav Keldysh research vessel that Cameron used to film the underwater sequences, a year earlier. Fifty crew members made the trip to Nova Scotia for what was supposed to be a pit stop to the main event. However, on 9 August 1996, three weeks into filming, all hell broke loose when several people fell violently ill after a dinner break. More importantly, the included image in this Facebook post is misleading, as neither of the movie’s stars, Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet, were on set at the time of the incident. On 26 August 1996, the Canadian press reported that nearly 80 people were taken to the hospital from the set of Titanic for what was initially thought to be food poisoning. However, the Halifax regional police investigated the incident and found that someone had laced the seafood chowder with PCP:  Thu, Aug 29, 1996 – 30 · Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) · Newspapers.com Though the movie’s lead stars were not on set during this incident, other big names attached to the film, such as actor Bill Paxton and director James Cameron, were on set and did eat the PCP-laced chowder. Paxton was quoted by Entertainment Weekly in 1996 saying that he typically didn’t eat the catering on the set but on that night, for whatever reason, he decided to join Cameron for a bowl of the chowder: Exactly who spiked the chowder remains a mystery — and the source of an ongoing criminal investigation — but for actor Bill Paxton (Twister), who plays a modern-day treasure hunter, it was truly a night to remember. After planning to eat Italian food in his trailer, Paxton opted instead to join Cameron for a bowl of lobster chowder. Within 15 minutes after eating, he recalls, ”the crew was all milling about. Some people were laughing, some people were crying, some people were throwing up.” Assuming that bad shellfish had caused the problem, Paxton jumped in a van headed for Dartmouth General Hospital. ”One minute I felt okay,” he says, ”the next minute I felt so goddamn anxious I wanted to breathe in a paper bag. Cameron was feeling the same way.” Paxton also recounted the experience during an interview with Larry King:  Several other people who were on set that day have given their own versions of this story. Marilyn McAvoy, who was a standby painter on the set, spoke with Vice in May 2017: Vice: Hey Marilyn, so tell me, what was that chowder like? Marilyn McAvoy: The chowder was unbelievable. People were going back for second bowls. I really thought about going back because it was so good. And I think that was part of the problem: People ate a lot more than usual because it was so delicious. What else do you remember about that night? There was no indication that there was anything strange happening … until the meal. By the time we got back from eating, after about 30 minutes, that’s when I started noticing something was wrong. Everyone seemed confused. Everyone was having trouble getting their work done. […] How did the rest of the crew react? While I was trying to figure out what was going on, everyone else seemed to be going outside. They were all gathering outside of the giant doors of the building we were working in. I also heard later on that as soon as James Cameron realized something had been put in the chowder, he ran up to his room and forced himself to throw up. This incident is also mentioned in a biography of DiCaprio. In it, actor Lewis Abernathy was quoted describing how Cameron allegedly looked after eating the drug-laced chowder: Actor Lewis Abernathy, who played a cynical sidekick to Bill Paxton’s relic hunter, recalled: “There were people just rolling around, completely out of it. Some of them said they were seeing streaks and psychedelics.” “I thought it was food poisoning,” he continued (luckily he had eaten in his hotel that night). “Really bad seafood can make you hallucinate and this caterer was big on clams. Jim was being loaded into the back of this van – I was just shocked at the way he looked. One eye was completely red, like the Terminator eye – a pupil, no iris, beet red. The other eye looked like he’d been sniffing glue since he was four.” Cameron confirmed that he had eaten the chowder but said that he avoided a trip to the hospital by forcing himself to throw up the contaminated food. While police confirmed that numerous people on the movie set were sickened after eating PCP-laced seafood chowder, investigators never found out who was responsible. Some suspected that the culprit was a disgruntled chef, while others believed that a crew member was attempting to get revenge on Cameron, who has a reputation for being a tyrannical director. As far as we can tell, the person who put drugs in the chowder was never identified and no charges were ever filed over the incident. In 1998, the Calgary Herald published an article entitled “Titanic Mystery: Who Spiked the Chowder?” In it, both Paxton and Cameron expressed their anger (as well as confusion) over the incident, saying that whoever laced the chowder put everyone on set, including elderly people and children, in danger:  Thu, Jan 15, 1998 – 63 · Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com Some disagreement exists over the exact number of people who were sickened or the type of chowder (lobster, clam, or seafood?) that was laced with PCP. However, it is undoubtedly true that dozens of people unknowingly took angel dust on the set of Titanic after an unidentified person spiked the food with it.",
            "output": [
                "\"Dozens of people on the set of the film \"\"Titanic\"\" were sickened after eating seafood chowder that had been spiked with the drug PCP on the final day of shooting.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33d9d530589b40f9a9b036ad2f8fec66",
            "input": "The disease being called “pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome” was identified and treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital, KUOW reported. King County Public Health said the patient was a resident of Snohomish County and there have been no other confirmed cases in the area. It involves a “hyper response” of the child’s immune system to the virus, according to Dr. Michael Portman, who directs pediatric cardiovascular research at Children’s. It can lead to inflammation of the blood vessels, and affect the heart’s arteries, leading to coronary aneurysms. In similar diseases, that can lead to lifelong heart issues, Portman said. The syndrome is rare and most children infected with the virus develop only mild illness. The disease is being linked to COVID-19, Portman said, because almost all of the patients have had confirmed cases of the virus, positive antibody tests, or known exposure. Portman said it is very similar and at times appears almost identical to a disease called “Kawasaki disease,” which was identified in Japan in the 1960s. According to Portman, Kawasaki disease is fairly common at Seattle Children’s. Around 30% patients at Children’s with Kawasaki disease are of Asian descent, Portman said. But the disease “seems to affect Hispanic and black children more severely” due to a “more robust inflammatory response.” Most of the cases of the new syndrome have been in the New York area and a handful have been fatal. Portman’s advice to parents is “not to freak out,” but if a child has a persistent fever, which is a symptom, he recommends getting it checked.",
            "output": [
                "Seattle sees 1st case of childhood disease tied to virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28c6849315db4463bdda6a6371cbfd9e",
            "input": "The finding, made by British and Swedish scientists, could pave the way for the development of a new treatment for the estimated 450,000 people worldwide who have multi drug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB. In a study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on Thursday, researchers said more than half of 30 drug-resistant TB patients treated with a transfusion of their own bone marrow stem cells were cured of the disease after six months. “The results ... show that the current challenges and difficulties of treating MDR-TB are not insurmountable, and they bring a unique opportunity with a fresh solution to treat hundreds of thousands of people who die unnecessarily,” said TB expert Alimuddin Zumla at University College London, who co-led the study. TB, which infects the lungs and can spread from one person to another through coughing and sneezing, is often falsely thought of as a disease of the past. In recent years, drug-resistant strains of the disease have spread around the world, batting off standard antibiotic drug treatments. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Eastern Europe, Asia and South Africa 450,000 people have MDR-TB, and around half of these will fail to respond to existing treatments. TB bacteria trigger an inflammatory response in immune cells and surrounding lung tissue that can cause immune dysfunction and tissue damage. Bone-marrow stem cells are known to migrate to areas of lung injury and inflammation and repair damaged tissue. Since they also modify the body’s immune response and could boost the clearance of TB bacteria, Zumla and his colleague, Markus Maeurer from Stockholm’s Karolinska University Hospital, wanted to test them in patients with the disease. In a phase 1 trial, 30 patients with either MDR or XDR TB aged between 21 and 65 who were receiving standard TB antibiotic treatment were also given an infusion of around 10 million of their own stem cells. The cells were obtained from the patient’s own bone marrow, then grown into large numbers in the laboratory before being re-transfused into the same patient, the researchers explained. During six months of follow-up, the researchers found that the infusion treatment was generally safe and well tolerated, with no serious side effects recorded. The most common non-serious side effects were high cholesterol levels, nausea, low white blood cell counts and diarrhea. Although a phase 1 trial is primarily designed only to test a treatment’s safety, the scientists said further analyses of the results showed that 16 patients treated with stem cells were deemed cured at 18 months compared with only five of 30 TB patients not treated with stem cells. Maeurer stressed that further trials with more patients and longer follow-up were needed to better establish how safe and effective the stem cell treatment was. But if future tests were successful, he said, it could become a viable extra new treatment for patients with MDR-TB who do not respond to conventional drug treatment or those with severe lung damage.",
            "output": [
                "Bone marrow stem cells could defeat drug-resistant tuberculosis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07217549603c45cc87b1a87985c1b9b3",
            "input": "The story mentioned that it was expected that the drug reported on would cost $8/day as compared with <$1/day for warfarin. One aspect of costs that were not considered in this story is the difference in monitoring, which would be less with patients using Eliquis. The competing HealthDay story did a better job on this latter point. The story provided only relative risk reduction figures – “prevented 21 percent more strokes…31 percent fewer incidents of major bleeding…reduced total deaths by 11 percent” – but neglected to present the absolute decrease in adverse events. 21% of what? 31% of what? 11% of what? The story mentioned some of the disadvantages associated with this use of the medication reported on. It did not specifically detail whether there were any harms associated with this medication or how well people in the study were able to stick with the dosing schedule. On this issue, this story was not as complete as its HealthDay competition, which reported: “The new trial comes on the heels of another study on apixaban that was stopped early due to safety concerns. In that trial, published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine, apixaban’s use was associated with raised odds for bleeding — without providing patients with any reduction in heart attack risk.However, “in that case, apixaban was given to patients with coronary artery disease who were also taking two other blood thinners,” Ansell noted. “The three of them together showed that the risk of bleeding was just too high and there was no real benefit in that population. But, that’s an entirely different problem, compared with atrial fibrillation,” he said.” The story included a lot of information about the study it reported on – where the results were presented and published, its design, the number of clinical sites, countries involved, the number of people studied and the length of time they were studied.. No overt disease mongering. The story mentioned that the study reported on had been funded by the drug maker. It included comments from a clinician who had no ties to the study reported on. The story compared the study drug with the long time treatment, warfarin, as well as mentioning a newly approved medication and another medication in the approval process. The story opened by indicating that Eliquis (apixabane) was experimental and closed by indicating the expectation of submission to the FDA for approval. The story was clear that this was a new medication, though there are two other medications (warfarin and Pradax) that are currently available. Did not appear to rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Trial Shows Blockbuster Potential for Blood Clot Pill"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7978c964da2141a6a211a3ac15c876ea",
            "input": "The scientists reached the conclusion in studying the decline in the harvest of four commercially important species of shellfish in coastal areas from Maine to North Carolina — eastern oysters, northern quahogs, softshell clams and northern bay scallops. They reported that their findings came down squarely on the side of a warming ocean environment and a changing climate, and not excessive harvest by fishermen. One of the ways warming has negatively impacted shellfish is by making them more susceptible to predators, said the lead author of the study, Clyde MacKenzie, a shellfish researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is based in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. “Their predation rate is faster in the warmer waters. They begin to prey earlier, and they prey longer into the fall,” MacKenzie said. “These stocks have gone down.” MacKenzie’s findings, the product of a collaboration with Mitchell Tarnowski, a shellfish biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, appeared recently in the journal Marine Fisheries Review. The findings have implications for consumers of shellfish, because a declining domestic harvest means the prices of shellfish such as oysters and clams could rise, or the U.S. could become more dependent on foreign sources. The scientists observed that the harvest of eastern oysters from Connecticut to Virginia fell from around 600,000 bushels in 1960 to less than 100,000 in 2005. The harvest of the four species declined from 1980 to 2010 after enjoying years of stability from 1950 to 1980, they found. The scientists reported that a positive shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation led to the degradation of shellfish habitat. The oscillation is an irregular fluctuation of atmospheric pressure that impacts weather and climate, which in turn affects things like reproduction and food availability for shellfish. The study mirrors what Maine clam harvesters are seeing on the state’s tidal flats, said Chad Coffin, a clammer and the president of the Maine Clammers Association. Maine’s harvest of softshell clams — the clams used to make fried clams and clam chowder — dwindled to its lowest point since 1930 last year. It will take adopting new strategies, such as shellfish farming, for the fisheries to survive, Coffin said. “Clammers aren’t the reason there’s no clams,” he said. “We need to adapt, we need to focus our efforts on adapting to the environment we have.” Some near-shore shellfish harvests in the U.S. remain consistently productive, such as the Maine sea scallop fishery, which takes place in bays and coastal areas in the winter. The state’s scallop fishery bottomed out at about 33,000 pounds in 2005, but has climbed in recent years, and its 2017 total of almost 800,000 pounds was the most since 1997. Many in Maine attribute the health of the fishery to conservative management, said Alex Todd, a scallop fisherman who also works the waters off Massachusetts. “Up and down the coast, there have been good years recently compared to 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. But the scientists’ findings track with others who have studied the impact of warming waters on shellfish, such as Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias. Beal, who was not involved in the study, has said rising seawater temperature could spell “doom and gloom for the clamming industry and probably for other industries as well.” That’s especially true of valuable species that are important food items, like clams and mussels, he said. “None of this can be attributed to overfishing, a term that is used willy-nilly and applied erroneously to these declines in commercially important shellfish,” Beal said.",
            "output": [
                "Warming hurting shellfish, aiding predators, ruining habitat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e08ecbe5c1584d0d8297597e2453a692",
            "input": "\"U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson is continuing his pointed attacks against Republican opponent Daniel Webster, and Webster's stance on women's issues. Only this time, he's ditching the lines about religious fanaticism and the comparisons to the Taliban. Grayson, a Democrat from Orlando, caught flak for airing an ad that compared Webster's beliefs to those of the Taliban, and for distorting Webster's words in a speech Webster gave to a Christian group. Grayson played clips in a 30-second ad called \"\"Taliban Dan Webster\"\" that showed Webster saying wives should submit to their husbands. But an unedited clip of the speech showed that Webster was in fact telling husbands to love their wives. The distortion, which earned a False rating from PolitiFact Florida, gave Webster's campaign national attention (including tweets of support from Sarah Palin) and helped him raise more than $100,000 in 48 hours, his campaign said. In response, Grayson released a toned-down version of the \"\"Taliban Dan\"\" ad on Oct. 6, 2010, called \"\"The Facts.\"\" Gone are the terrorists holding machine guns, the people burning American flags and the women wearing burqas. Also gone are references to religious fanaticism, Iran and the Bible. (Gone, too, we found, is the \"\"Taliban Dan Webster\"\" ad from Grayson's YouTube website. The video is now marked private.) Here's a transcript of the new ad: Daniel Webster's Washington backers are attacking Alan Grayson on women's issues. The facts on Webster's record:  Fact: Webster sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships. Fact: Webster is an advocate for a group that teaches that mothers should not work outside the home. Fact: Webster would force victims of rape and incest to bear their attacker's child. Those are the facts. Don't let Daniel Webster make the laws we will have to live with. In another item, we're analyzing the claim that Webster is an advocate for a group that teaches that mothers should not work outside the home. In this fact check, we'll focus on the first \"\"Fact\"\" -- that Webster sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships. It's a slightly different take on a claim in the first ad when Grayson claimed that Webster \"\"wants to make divorce illegal,\"\" even for abused women. Both claims track back to a piece of legislation Webster introduced as a member of the state House in 1990. That year, Webster authored HB 1585, a bill that \"\"creates a form of marriage known as 'covenant marriage,' which may be dissolved only on grounds of adultery.\"\" Florida law then and now allows married couples to divorce if a court finds that the marriage is \"\"irretrievably broken.\"\" It's a common standard throughout the country, often called no-fault divorce. The term can be interpreted broadly and critics say the standard of proof makes divorce too easy. Webster's legislation sought to make getting a divorce more difficult, at least for couples that voluntarily entered the covenant marriage. Here's what he proposed. Men and women would have the option on their application for a marriage license to elect a covenant marriage. Under terms of the covenant marriage agreement, the husband- and wife-to-be would have to have their parents' permission and attend premarital counseling by a member of the clergy or a marriage counselor before proceeding. As part of their marriage license, the husband and wife would then have to sign notarized documents declaring:  \"\"I, (insert name), do hereby declare my intent to enter in Covenant Marriage. I do so with the full understanding that a Covenant Marriage may not be dissolved except by reason of adultery. I have attended premarital counseling in good faith and understand my responsibilities to the marriage. I promise to seek counsel in times of trouble. I believe that I have chosen my life-mate wisely and have disclosed to him or her all facts that may adversely affect his or her decision to enter in this covenant with me.\"\" Once a couple agreed to a covenant marriage, the only way they could get a divorce is for adultery. That means physical or sexual abuse was not grounds for a divorce. Webster's legislation went nowhere in Florida -- Democrats controlled the state House in 1990, and the bill never came up for a vote -- but it did help launch the movement for covenant marriage nationwide. Three states -- Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona -- adopted a version of Webster's law, though the laws on the books in those states were all less restrictive than what Webster proposed in Florida, said Alan J. Hawkins, a professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University and an expert on covenant marriage. In his first ad, \"\"Taliban Dan Webster,\"\" Grayson said that Webster \"\"wants to make divorce illegal,\"\" even for abused women. But as our research proves, Webster's bill wouldn't make all divorce illegal. Rather it would make divorce more difficult, but not impossible, for couples who chose to form a covenant marriage. Even couples who chose Webster's form of covenant marriage had a small window out for adultery. It appears the Grayson campaign listened. In his new ad, \"\"The Facts,\"\" Grayson says \"\"Webster sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships.\"\" In 1990, Webster sponsored HB 1585, which would create a new form of marriage called covenant marriage. If women agreed to form a covenant marriage, they would not be allowed to divorce because of physical or sexual abuse. The only out under Webster's legislation was adultery.\"",
            "output": [
                "Webster sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb55118b446644a3bbad1cf103a5d50a",
            "input": "Between 60 and 70 percent of the 4,000 medicines on the Irish market either come from or transit through the United Kingdom. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a working group of health officials meeting weekly for the last two years had drawn up the watch list, but advised against stockpiling. “It is a really important message that I want to deliver to people in Ireland today, both to patients and pharmacists, that there is no need to stockpile medicines,” Health Minister Simon Harris said at a news conference, warning that such action could inadvertently disturb the supply chain. The country would have a supply of several weeks’ worth of most medicines if Britain crashed out on March 29 without a deal, he added. The medicines that may be vulnerable due to special storage and transportation needs, short shelf life or single supplier reliance included intravenous foods and some radiotherapy products. Officials are progressing contingency plans, including identifying appropriate alternatives. For its part, Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) last year ordered the country’s main drug industry associations to gather information on the effect of a no-deal Brexit. “For BfArm, the analysis has led to the conclusion that no shortages of medicines that are deemed critical are to be expected,” the watchdog said on its website. More than 2,600 drugs have some stage of manufacture in Britain and 45 million patient packs are supplied from the UK to other European countries each month, while another 37 million flow in the opposite direction, industry figures show. The British government has asked UK drugmakers to build an additional six weeks’ worth of medicine stockpiles to prepare for any no-deal Brexit - a target the industry has said will be challenging. The EU’s drugs regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said last August that it and national regulators had set up a task force to minimize supply disruptions arising over the next two years, adding that Brexit would likely affect the availability of medicines in the EU. The Europe-wide drugs watchdog EMA is moving from London to Amsterdam, prompting many drugmakers to prepare duplicate product testing and licensing arrangements.",
            "output": [
                "European nations weigh impact of Brexit on drug supplies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0567ea68fb9d42abb99bf2f49a0557ea",
            "input": "Big advances in the battles against infectious diseases such as measles, malaria, tuberculosis and polio have continued to extend life expectancy although other factors, such as people’s lifestyles, are constraining longevity, the WHO said in its annual statistics report. The longest life expectancy at birth is for baby girls in Japan, at 87.0 years, and boys in Iceland, at 81.2 years. Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Italy and Luxembourg rank in the top 10 for both sexes. “There are major gains in life expectancy in recent decades and they continue,” said Ties Boerma, chief of statistics and information systems at the WHO. The lowest life expectancy is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nine countries have expectancy of less than 55 for babies of both sexes. Lifestyle changes leading to heart problems and other diseases were curbing life expectancy in some cases. “We’re seeing a health transition from success in infectious diseases to more people dying, including at younger ages, from non-communicable diseases,” said Boerma. However, even in the rich countries where people live longest, there is no sign of life expectancy gains slowing down. “If human life expectancy was capped at population level at around 90 years of life we would expect to see a slowdown as we approach those limits. We’re not seeing that,” said Colin Mathers, coordinator of WHO’s statistics on mortality. For the first time the annual statistics report, the most comprehensive statistical overview of the world’s health, measured “years of life lost”, a number that takes account of the age when people die as well as the number of deaths, to put more focus on the things that kill more people at a younger age. Years of life lost to diarrhea and respiratory infections, the biggest causes of early deaths in 2000, had fallen by 40 percent and 30 percent respectively by 2012, when ischemic heart disease was the biggest factor in early deaths. Years of life lost to road injuries have also increased by 14 percent between 2000 and 2012 as more people driving in developing countries outweighed gains in road safety elsewhere. Life expectancy at birth has increased in almost every country since 1990, and in almost all cases it was higher in 2012 than in 2011, with Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Syria among the exceptions. Another was Pakistan, where life expectancy averaged 65 years in 2012, down from 67 years in last year’s report. Mathers said that reduction reflected improved data, which revealed child mortality was 30 percent higher than previously thought. The global average life expectancy for a 60-year-old has also increased, with hope of another 20 years in 2012 instead of 18 years in 1990. But not everywhere. In Russia and several other former Soviet states, life expectancy for a 60-year-old was lower in 2012 than in 1990. Mathers said death rates rose fast in the early 1990s, due to cardiovascular disease and injury, both influenced by high rates of binge drinking. Although the death rates have since improved, they have not yet dropped to pre-1990 levels. Russia’s experience surprised epidemiologists who had expected chronic diseases would take a long time to take root. Many countries, especially those recovering from conflict, have also shown that it is possible to make big gains fast. “We’ve seen in many countries a catch-up, really fast progress,” said Boerma. “Examples - Liberia, which has been our fastest catch-up country, but also Rwanda, Cambodia. So if they come out of a crisis with good leadership, there’s enormous progress in health.”",
            "output": [
                "Global life expectancy rises again, but new challenges loom."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abd27f3374f6434ca7a1f84e92962799",
            "input": "The story doesn’t mention costs but since these over-the-counter medications have been widely available for a long time it doesn’t seem like an important omission. Because aspirin has been available the longest and is manufactured by literally hundreds of companies, it is by far the cheaper of the three. The article takes a close look at the drawbacks and benefits of each drug. For example, while the experts said acetaminophen is less effective than ibuprofen in treating pain (and carries more risks than the others), it is beneficial in treating fever, especially in children age three and up. Ibuprofen is deemed less toxic for pain relief but it carries the risk of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract and kidney damage. There’s also a reasonable amount of quantification provided by an expert source, Dr. Andrew Moore, who says: “If you’re talking about aspirin in doses of 500 to 1,000 mg or two tablets, 30 percent of people get relief from acute pain. For acetaminophen at doses of 500 to 1,000 mg, about 40 percent have a success. For ibuprofen, in its normal formulation at something around 400 mg or two tablets, about 50 percent have success.” The story would have been even stronger had it provided links or additional details regarding where this expert obtained his estimates. The story comprehensively describes the harms from each drug based on different uses and patient populations. We especially liked this quote: “Don’t believe that just because something is over-the-counter, it’s safe.” The story cites and links to reliable evidence sources, including a systematic review of randomized controlled trials on back pain published in the BMJ. There are no examples of disease mongering in the story. Sourcing is a very strong component of the article. The story quotes three pain experts from three different institutions as sources. No conflicts of interest were apparent. The main premise of the story was comparing which pain medication was the best for different types of pain. The comparisons are covered in depth with perspectives from three sources. It’s obvious from the story that all of the medications profiled have been widely available without a prescription for many decades. Aspirin, a modified version of salicyclic acid, was created by a Bayer chemist in 1897; acetaminophen followed in 1956; and ibuprofen in 1962. The story establishes that it’s responding to a reader question about three well-known and widely used medications. It also notes the gap between public perception about these drugs and what pain researchers think of them. Since this article was prompted by a reader question and includes comments from three expert sources, we are confident it isn’t based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Should you take Tylenol, Advil, or aspirin for pain? Here's what the evidence says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fbba6f4bba9247eab91bef5776a3de45",
            "input": "Coaches and many youth athletes automatically would undergo training to detect signs of a concussion and understand the potential consequences of a brain injury under rules proposed by the New Mexico Department of Health. The agency has scheduled a public hearing later this month on the proposal requiring annual training about concussions not only of coaches but also parents and young athletes themselves — once they turn 11. Agency official were unavailable Friday for comment. Those children would sign a form each year that shows they completed brain-injury prevention training session linked to standards from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010, New Mexico adopted far-reaching prevention and education measures to address concussions and potential brain injuries in school sports, and more recent legislation in 2017 extended training and education to student athletes. State Senator and high school teacher Bill Soules of Las Cruces said he sponsored the 2017 bill after conversations with students who felt left out of decisions about concussions in athletics. He said protocols for non-scholastic youth sports were not fully addressed at the time — and applauded the idea of expanding youth education. “The idea is that students have an awareness as to what the symptoms are of concussions because sometimes they don’t show up until one or two hours afterward, and the coach is long gone,” he said. The newly proposed brain injury rules echo many guidelines already in place at statewide youth sports organizations affiliated with national governing bodies, such as New Mexico Youth Soccer that oversees a long list of clubs and leagues across the state. Gloria Faber, executive director of New Mexico Youth Soccer, said the new state rules may be help independent youth sports groups keep up with evolving research on brain injuries and ensure that athletes take adequate time off after a concussion. She said standards for non-scholastic sports are especially important because many coaches are parent volunteers and competition begins at a young age. New Mexico’s proposed new rules include a standard sit-out period for symptoms of a concussion or brain injury — of at least 10 days. Players would return only with a written medical release. In 2015, a New Mexico judge overruled state concussion protocols to allow a high school football player in Rio Rancho to play in a title game after his parents challenged the school’s diagnosis.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico seeks concussion safeguards for more youth sports."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e966ecdcfb704cfc9283775363262400",
            "input": "Update: Angela Raiola’s family has confirmed her death as of 3:01am on 18 February 2016: This is @vinniemedugno on behalf of the family of Angela Raiola, please see below: pic.twitter.com/wiuPApr9Lw — Angela Raiola (@biggangVH1) February 18, 2016 On 17 February 2016, multiple outlets reported that Mob Wives personality “Big Ang” (Angela Raiola) died of cancer at a Manhattan hospital:  Big Ang, ‘Mob Wives’ reality star, has reportedly died at the age of 55: https://t.co/xF0UwhFoBX pic.twitter.com/fSx97jqRYy — Fuse TV (@fusetv) February 18, 2016 Initial reports, however, were conflicting (despite some big names in entertainment news having carried the story): Entertainment Tonight reporting Big Ang died, but my sources say she’s still alive. So gross to jump the gun for pvs pic.twitter.com/CfHjUnh8rF — Mark Graham (@unclegrambo) February 18, 2016 ETOnline originally reported:  Angela Raiola, known as “Big Ang” on the TV show Mob Wives, died at age 55 in the hospital on Wednesday after a battle with stage 4 cancer, a family source confirmed to ET. In December, ET confirmed that Raiola’s throat cancer had returned. Several months earlier, in March, a lemon-size tumor was previously discovered and removed from her throat in March 2015. Later, in June, she underwent the same procedure for the right side of her throat as well. Later on 17 February 2016, that web site walked back the report, updating with the following statement:  UPDATE: Though a source close to the family confirmed Angela Raiola’s death to ET on Wednesday night, Mob Wives creator and Raiola’s sister Jenn Graziano now says, “At this time that is a false rumor. I am here with the entire family and all her friends and they ask for your continued support and prayers. We will keep everyone updated.” A tweet published late on 17 February 2016 by the account @BigAngOfficial denied the claim:  pic.twitter.com/L8CZyCWTdJ — Angela Raiola (@BigAngOfficial) February 18, 2016 The account also retweeted two tweets lambasting ET for their premature report: Let’s get cable to drop @etnow! TWEET #FIREET & #SUEET NOW! EVERY TWEET IS A PRAYER AND SUPPORT FOR BIG ANG! #FIREET #SUEET — Mob Wives (@MobWivesLS) February 18, 2016  CONFIRMED: @etnow is the source who spread the rumor about Big Ang! #SueET #FireET — Mob Wives (@MobWivesLS) February 18, 2016",
            "output": [
                "'Mob Wives' personality Big Ang died of cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d25168ebe1948ada4493ae8fa6666ed",
            "input": "In April 2017, British tabloid the Daily Mail reported that a woman had developed a life-threatening skin infection after shaving in 2012: Dana Sedgewick, 44, from Sheffield, trimmed her pubic area with a brand new razor but ended up cutting a spot on her groin. Her body almost immediately went into shock, causing a red rash on her legs before they turned black from necrotising fasciitis — a flesh-eating infection. Rushed to intensive care, doctors operated to remove as much of the rotting skin as they could – but she developed sepsis during the procedure. She was placed in a coma as her family were told she had just a 30 percent chance of survival as her kidneys failed and her heart stopped four times. Necrotizing fasciitis is often referred to by the misnomer “flesh-eating bacteria.” It is often caused by common bacteria like Streptococcus, E. coli, and Staphylococcus — but rather than actually consuming flesh, they release a toxin that can destroy skin and other surrounding cells. Necrotizing fasciitis happens when those bacteria infect a layer of connective tissue underneath the skin called fascia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the condition this way: In cases of necrotizing fasciitis, bacteria spread quickly once they enter the body. They infect the fascia, connective tissue that surround muscles, nerves, fat, and blood vessels. The infection also damages the tissues next to the fascia. Sometimes toxins (poisons) made by these bacteria destroy the tissue they infect, causing it to die. When this happens, the infection is very serious and those infected can lose limbs or die. The infection can often begin with an extremely minor cut to the skin — something like a small cut during shaving would certainly count. A 2009 case report described one patient whose infection purportedly developed from the tiny prick of an acupuncture needle. Necrotizing fasciitis is uncommon. That same case report estimated that “most primary care physicians will be involved with managing at least one case during their time in practice, but [it is] infrequent enough for most to be unfamiliar with the disease.” The condition is less rare, however, in people with compromised immune systems, which make them unable to prevent bacteria from breaching into the fascia in the first place. We spoke to Sedgewick via Facebook. She told us that, while she has no personal recollection of the illness because she blacked out, the Daily Mail report appeared to mostly match what had been told to her by her nurses and doctors. However, she said, it also omitted key information. Most significantly, the numerous tabloid stories omitted the fact that her immune system was severely compromised when her infection began. The writer also took liberties with the timeline. While the story lead with the claim that she “almost immediately went into shock” after shaving, the reality is that she first felt ill two days later. Sedgewick, who still requires continued operations twenty-six surgeries later, told us that Daily Mail never interviewed her, but that their story was based on an account she told a UK press agency. She told us she had hoped to raise awareness about sepsis, a life-threatening complication of infections, but that the press agency’s process had led to the omission of information about her immune system and the sensationalization of some details.",
            "output": [
                "After shaving her legs, a woman developed a life-threatening skin infection that required the removal of massive amounts of skin and muscle tissue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0079efc4dd9949d2ab9449ff7ebcec51",
            "input": "We’re rating this one a cautious “Satisfactory.”  The story offers no information about the cost to a patient of a digital therapist, but it does reflect on the cost of creating and maintaining a similar app. This story does a good job of summarizing the benefits that accrued in the course of several studies. Risks are not broached here. This is an issue for a topic such as this, as one could imagine readers expressing concern about the efficacy of a non-human “therapist.” The story actually acknowledges that concern in its second paragraph (“It [the use of technology] might seem surprising, since therapy, more than many other kinds of medicine, is so focused on the relationship between patient and therapist.” But it never digs into the possible debits of wrestling with moderate depression online. We also think the story should have discussed the risk patients being victimized in an open source or relatively open chat room or other online group setting. One important element of psychiatry is privacy and patient confidentiality. Three studies are summarized in this text and, although those summaries are brief, the story allows readers to link to the texts themselves for more details. At least one of those studies, a meta-analysis, gathered the small number of experiments (13) that made explicit comparisons between internet-delivered and face-to-face cognitive behavior therapy. The text makes it clear that internet-based therapies may be more valuable for individuals with mild to moderate depression than for persons with severe depression, who would be more likely to seek face-to-face therapy regimens. But, in a word of caution, does that encourage people to overdiagnose themselves? That’s something to consider. Another cautious “Satisfactory.” One source is clearly identified as someone independent of one of the studies cited. Two others experts are not so identified but are not listed as coauthors on any of the studies. Funding for those studies is not mentioned. It’s worth noting here that two of the sources seem to be heads of institutes that are involved in the development of technological/Internet-based treatment approaches; both could benefit financially from being able to treat many more patients online. The piece discusses several interventions, and offers a graphic representation of recovery rates for individuals in Great Britain across five therapeutic modalities. But, there is no mention of psychiatric medications. Since those are frequently helpful in short-term situations and at least for moderate depression, they should have been included in the comparisons. The story identifies several therapeutic apps and, in a video, shows one individual using a “mobile therapy platform” to text and videochat with a therapist. Several comments in the story about the continuing evolution of these applications suggest that these strategies remain works in progress. A bit of historical information in the story makes it clear that online therapeutic agents have been around—in various stages of development—for more than a decade. This story integrates studies and sources, making reliance on news releases unlikely.",
            "output": [
                "To Treat Depression, Try a Digital Therapist"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-11cd94841a8a4cde83444b5103de9172",
            "input": "\"Liberals are getting nostalgic about the 1950s Republican agenda -- at least judging by the social media meme several readers recently sent us. The meme, created by the group Occupy Democrats, summarized a few planks from the 1956 Republican Party platform, followed by the wistful comment, \"\"Share if you miss the good old days!\"\" Here are the seven planks listed in the meme, which to today’s ear sound more like Democratic talking points: 1. Provide federal assistance to low-income communities; 2. Protect Social Security; 3. Provide asylum for refugees; 4. Extend minimum wage; 5. Improve unemployment benefit system so it covers more people; 6. Strengthen labor laws so workers can more easily join a union; 7. Assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. We wondered whether the meme accurately describes these elements of the 1956 platform, and if so, whether the 1956 document contrasts sharply with the most recent party platform in 2012. So we took a closer look. What the 1956 platform said We located a copy of the official party platform from 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was running (successfully, as it turned out) for his second term as president. All told, the meme is generally accurate in portraying these seven elements of the 1956 platform, with some caveats. On federal assistance to low-income communities, the 1956 platform said the party would \"\"promote fully the Republican-sponsored Rural Development Program to broaden the operation and increase the income of low income farm families and help tenant farmers.\"\" On protecting Social Security, the platform touted the Eisenhower administration’s extension of Social Security to 10 million more workers and benefits hikes for 6.5 million Americans. On refugees, the platform spotlighted the administration’s work in sponsoring the Refugee Relief Act \"\"to provide asylum for thousands of refugees, expellees and displaced persons,\"\" promising its \"\"wholehearted support\"\" for additional efforts. M. Christine Anderson, a Xavier University historian, noted that many refugees were coming from communist countries in Eastern Europe, so this wasn't an especially controversial issue during the Cold War era. On the minimum wage, the platform notes that the Eisenhower administration raised the minimum wage for more than 2 million workers. It urged extending minimum-wage protections \"\"to as many more workers as is possible and practicable.\"\" On improving the unemployment benefit system, the 1956 platform touted the administration’s actions to bring unemployment insurance to 4 million additional workers, and backed efforts to \"\"improve the effectiveness of the unemployment insurance system.\"\" On strengthening unions, the platform says the \"\"protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower Administration.\"\" That’s full-throated rhetoric in support of unions -- but the policy reality is a bit more nuanced, said Jennifer Delton, a Skidmore College historian and author of Rethinking the 1950s. The platform did not support unions’ key agenda item that year -- a repeal of states’ ability to pass \"\"right to work\"\" laws that would ban compulsory union membership. On equal pay for equal work regardless of sex, the platform says the Eisenhower administration will \"\"continue to fight … (to) assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex.\"\" What the 2012 platform says The party’s 2012 platform is pretty different, both in tone and substance. On federal assistance to low-income communities, the 2012 platform takes a much more skeptical view. \"\"The federal government’s entire system of public assistance should be reformed to ensure that it promotes work,\"\" the 2012 platform says, arguing that the system has become overly bureaucratized and discourages work. The 2012 platform also takes a shot at federal low-income housing policy, saying the government \"\"has spent billions more on poorly designed and ineffective housing assistance programs.\"\" On Social Security, the platform says current retirees or those approaching retirement should continue to receive Social Security as currently configured. However, it goes on to say that demographic and financial challenges mean that the program is \"\"long overdue for major change, not just another legislative stopgap that postpones a day of reckoning,\"\" including the possibility of \"\"personal investment accounts as supplements to the system.\"\" The 2012 platform doesn’t address refugees specifically, but it does address immigration. It criticizes President Barack Obama for creating \"\"a backdoor amnesty program unrecognized in law (and) granting worker authorization to illegal aliens.\"\" It also says that \"\"granting amnesty only rewards and encourages more law-breaking,\"\" and it promises to \"\"create humane procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily, while enforcing the law against those who overstay their visas.\"\" The 2012 platform doesn’t mention the minimum wage specifically, but it does place an emphasis on free-market business practices rather than government regulation of labor markets, laying the blame for the nation’s weak economic recovery on \"\"unprecedented uncertainty in the American free enterprise system due to the overreaching policies of the current administration.\"\" Even accounting for the nuances of the 1956 platform, the clearest contrast between the two platforms may be in their approach to labor unions. The 2012 platform offers no rhetorical niceties, accusing the Obama administration of \"\"clinging to antiquated notions of confrontation and concentrating power in the Washington offices of union elites\"\" and of turning the National Labor Relations Board into \"\"a partisan advocate for Big Labor, using threats and coercion outside the law to attack businesses.\"\" The 2012 platform doesn’t mention two of the meme’s seven items from 1956 -- unemployment benefits and equal pay for women. The bottom line, then, is that on most of these issues, the GOP moved to the right between 1956 and 2012, though the degree of that shift has varied somewhat issue by issue. What historians say We asked scholars whether the contrast between the two platforms is noteworthy, and they generally agreed that it was. Delton noted that the Republican Party in the 1950s was divided between moderates (including Eisenhower) and conservatives. She said the moderates controlled the process of platform-writing in 1956, but they threw a few bones to conservatives in certain portions of the document. For instance, the platform said the government wouldn’t sign a treaty or enter into an international agreement in violation of individual rights -- an issue that continues to energize conservatives decades later -- and there’s a plank about a balanced budget, which was seen as a conservative position. The seven items listed in the meme were supported by moderates, Delton said. At the time, she said, \"\"conservatives would have focused, with horror, on the very items the meme highlights.\"\" Eisenhower was facing a Democratic Congress in 1956 and didn’t want to try to reverse the New Deal, Anderson said. \"\"If the point is that Eisenhower was not as extreme as Republicans today, it is accurate.\"\" Our ruling The meme says the 1956 Republican Party platform supported equal pay, the minimum wage, asylum for refugees, protections for unions and more. That’s generally correct. However, it’s worth noting that other elements of the 1956 platform were considered conservative for that era. Also, some of the issues have changed considerably between 1956 and 2012, such as the shift from focusing on post-war refugees to focusing on illegal immigration. The claim is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so\"",
            "output": [
                "Facebook post Says the 1956 Republican Party platform supported equal pay, the minimum wage, asylum for refugees, protections for unions and more."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b97fc47fd2194b4689cb86291fb351e3",
            "input": "Live poultry sales have now been suspended in Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan province, as well as markets across the eastern province of Zhejiang, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, as authorities deal with dozens of new cases of H7N9 bird flu. Nearly 300 markets and slaughterhouses were shut down in the southwestern Chinese city of Suining, where authorities are also cracking down on unauthorized poultry businesses. Xinhua reported that 21 people in Jiangsu province died in January after contracting H7N9. Hunan authorities have reported at least five deaths this year, and an infant girl has died in southwestern Yunnan province. A major H7N9 bird flu outbreak in humans first struck China in March 2013, killing more than 40 people and devastating the poultry industry. H7N9 is considered less virulent than the H5N1 strain, blamed by the World Health Organization for hundreds of deaths worldwide over the last decade. Most people infected with H7N9 are believed to contract it by touching infected poultry or entering contaminated areas, according to a WHO alert published last month. Experts do not believe the virus can be spread widely between humans, the WHO said. In Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, more than 30 percent of the live poultry markets were found to be contaminated with H7N9, state media reported Saturday. Authorities in Guangzhou have announced temporary three-day suspensions of the poultry trade to try to contain the virus.",
            "output": [
                "Some China cities close poultry markets amid bird flu fears."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9be7cef1dc54348bc2f6bbe35911ca7",
            "input": "The Virginia Department of Health said in a news release Saturday that the person visited the Richmond International Airport Tuesday night and a doctor’s office in suburban Richmond on Thursday afternoon. The department posted detailed instructions online about what to do if you were at either of the locations during certain time frames. The directions depend on whether or not you have been vaccinated against measles. Based on the date of exposure, the health department said people infected could develop symptoms as late as January 11, 2020. Measles is a highly contagious illness spread though coughing, sneezing and contact with droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of an infection person. Symptoms include a fever, runny nose, watery red eyes and a cough, followed by a rash that begins on the face and spreads all over the body.",
            "output": [
                "Virginia health officials warn of possible measles exposure."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0704640d1fe849a68e427c2df185aedd",
            "input": "FindTreatment.gov is the latest development in the administration’s effort to address the nation’s opioid crisis. The White House said it believes the site, which went up Wednesday, will enable the tens of millions of Americans with a variety of substance abuse and mental health issues to better access the care they need. Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Donald Trump who is leading the White House response to the drug crisis, said the site is designed to provide “connectivity” between treatment providers and those who need help. FindTreatment.gov modernizes an obscure directory of 13,000 licensed treatment providers maintained by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, adding user-friendly search criteria and tools. For instance, it will now allow users to search based on the type of treatment sought — such as inpatient, detox or telemedicine — by payment option and whether the treatment is medication-assisted. Users also will be able to select between options that focus on youth, veterans and LGBT Americans. The website also is meant to be an educational resource for those needing care and their loved ones with information on how to pay for treatment. “We know that the drug crisis is indiscriminate, so we want the response to be indiscriminate,” Conway said. The website was built in-house by government coders and is managed by the White House. The administration is calling FindTreatment.gov an example of “American-First design” that offers easy access to information without breaking the federal budget. “We designed it with human-centered principles in mind,” Conway said. “We used real words for real people.” The effort included employing a language expert for help with providing “destigmatizing” explanations for treatment options to make them more acceptable to those in need. The site’s design was informed by more than 300 user feedback responses and 60 detailed interviews with those who have sought treatment, their family members and providers, the White House said. The website builds on other efforts by the White House to address the drug crisis, including law enforcement efforts, securing billions of dollars from Congress for treatment and working with the private sector on promoting drug “take back” days. More than 70,000 Americans died in 2017 from drug overdoses, the bulk of them involving opioids. Future developments include plans to more closely integrate the site with the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide more targeted resources to the community of former service members.",
            "output": [
                "White House launches website aimed at addiction treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9197d7d994a942b387244d6e10075a73",
            "input": "The two Massachusetts Democrats this week sent a letter to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the National Institutes of Health seeking the current state of federal research into EEE and whether research into other viruses could help lead to better treatment for the mosquito-borne infection. Two new human cases of EEE were confirmed in Massachusetts this week, bringing the total this season to seven. One of the previously announced cases was fatal. There are now 36 communities statewide at critical risk, 42 at high risk, and 115 at moderate risk. Massachusetts has seen a disproportionately high number of EEE cases since 2009, second only to Florida.",
            "output": [
                "Sens. Markey, Warren press health officials on EEE research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b9963b5eeb8421c8c6d5a6a8ae1f414",
            "input": "“Where is my dad?” read some signs as traditional Catholic groups, far-right activists and other marchers weaved from the Luxembourg Garden to the Montparnasse neighborhood, passing by the French Senate. Police guarded several Paris streets as the protest unfolded, notably to prevent tensions with LGBT activists holding a small counter-demonstration in support of the bill. Both were peaceful. The conservatives’ march was organized by the same groups that held mass demonstrations against France’s legalization of gay marriage in 2013, who are hoping their opposition to the IVF bill provides new fuel for their movement. Some shouting “Liberty, Equality, Paternity” — a play on the national French motto — marchers argued that the bill deprives children of the right to a father. The crowd included parents with children and older people. “I believe we are going too fast and we’re not thinking about the consequences of this law,” said demonstrator Monique Brassier of the eastern city of Nancy. “We are heading toward a commercialization of the human being, a commercialization of procreation, and that scares me.” Proponents say women should have the right to bear children regardless of their marital status or sexual orientation, and say the bill’s opponents are trying to preserve an outdated patriarchal system. President Emmanuel Macron’s government considers such procedures shouldn’t be restricted to infertile, married heterosexual couples as families and society evolve. Several other countries already offer assisted reproduction to lesbians and single women, and French women sometimes travel abroad for fertility procedures. The measure is part of a broader bioethics draft law under debate at the National Assembly, where Macron’s party has a majority. France’s health care system would cover the cost of the procedures for all women under 43. It also would allow children conceived with donated sperm to find out the donor’s identity upon demand when they reach age 18, a change from France’s current strict donor anonymity protections. The new bill doesn’t cover surrogate pregnancies, which are banned in France. “We cannot live without our parents. That’s the human condition,” said Olivier De La Chapelle from the northeastern city of Metz. “They are making legislation so that a person will not have a father anymore. That’s scandalous.” ___ Elaine Ganley contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "French conservatives protest bill allowing IVF for lesbians."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79a213a977004586b53f7177eac55c88",
            "input": "But COVID-19 is shaking her views. The woman who would identify herself only as Stephanie, citing a fear of reprisals from committed anti-vaxxers, says she is now 50:50 on taking a vaccine should one be discovered for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. “I’ve definitely thought about it,” she told Reuters by phone from the United States, also expressing frustration at what she considers the anti-vax community’s downplaying of the pandemic’s seriousness. “We’re all being affected by this virus, schools closing, young people in hospital, and they still say it’s a hoax.”  As the world’s scientists and pharmaceutical companies seek a cure for the coronavirus, other anti-vaxxers are gearing up for a fight against any potential new vaccine. “Refuse, demonstrate,” said a Briton on Facebook in response to a post asking people how they would react if a vaccine was made mandatory. But some virologists say the quest for a vaccine is so widely supported that resistance will be eroded. The latest national surveys by pollster ORB International for the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP), which monitors attitudes to immunisation, appear to support this idea. In France, where a 2018 poll showed one in three people did not view vaccines as safe, just 18% would refuse a coronavirus vaccine now, according to the VCP poll of around 1,000 people on March 18, a day after France locked down. In Australia, the VCP’s figure was also 7%, while Britain, where about 2,000 people were polled, and Austria registered 5% opposition in polls there a week later. “If a vaccine were made available tomorrow, everyone would jump to get it,” said Laurent-Henri Vignaud, who co-authored a history of France’s anti-vax movement. That view was challenged by Mary Holland, vice-chair of American non-profit group Children’s Health Defense, which is critical of vaccination in the United States. “I don’t think this virus fundamentally changes people’s deeply held concerns about vaccines,” she told Reuters. Although the term “anti-vax” is sometimes associated with conspiracy theories, many people are simply concerned about side-effects or industry ethics. Globally, one person in five does not view vaccines as safe or is unsure, according to a 2018 survey by the Wellcome Trust health fund. reut.rs/2JTb27q  In China, where the COVID-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus originated, surveys by VCP researchers show safety is an important cause of concern. Several scandals eroded trust, including in 2018 when a unit of China’s vaccine maker Changsheng Bio-technology Co Ltd was heavily fined for falsifying data for a rabies vaccine. The company said it was “deeply sorry” for the incident. Online discussions tracked by Reuters - including closed Facebook pages with more than 200,000 members, Twitter feeds such as the Children’s Health Defense and YouTube videos totalling over 700,000 views - showed considerable mistrust that a rushed vaccine would be improperly tested. VCP director Heidi Larson said that was also the main reason for concern around the vaccine against the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009. A quickly produced swine flu vaccine in 1976 led to about one in 100,000 people developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralyzing immune-system disorder, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some 115 coronavirus vaccine candidates are being developed by institutes and drugmakers, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, a global alliance financing and coordinating the development of vaccines. “I will not be injected with anything, especially a fast-tracked vaccine,” added American Vicki Barneck, 67, who believes a strong immune system is enough to combat the disease. Holland, of the Children’s Health Defense, said: “Some react fine to vaccines, others are paralysed or killed.”   However, a 2015 paper by CDC epidemiologists said “multiple studies and scientific reviews have found no association between vaccination and deaths except in rare cases.”  The VCP is running an 18-month study tracking conversation online about the coronavirus and conducting global polls to measure attitudes towards social distancing, isolation, hand-washing and anticipating a vaccine. From analysing more than 3 million posts a day between January and mid-March 2020, director Dr Heidi Larson said the vast majority were eager for a treatment, fast. “People are hungry for a vaccine,” she said. In Italy, which has been hit badly by COVID-19, the anti-vax movement has “virtually disappeared” in the discussion on the coronavirus, according to virologist Dr Roberto Burioni. For a coronavirus vaccine to be effective, wide uptake and annual vaccination is likely to be required, said George Kassianos, immunisation lead at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London. There is also the question of how to distribute fast enough to people lining up for the vaccine. “Essential workers will be the priority. Police officers, hospital workers, cleaners. Then at-risk groups,” said Douglas L. Hatch, a physician specialised in pandemic preparedness working on the COVID-19 response in San Francisco. “By the time you get to the anti-vaxxers, they’ll have trouble getting it even if they wanted to.”  (Corrects French poll data in eighth paragraph)",
            "output": [
                "Could the new coronavirus weaken 'anti-vaxxers'?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15103568c65d4de1be119a32695ab6d9",
            "input": "There’s no mention of the cost of these procedures or whether they are covered by insurance. The average cost of gastric bypass surgery is $23,000, the average cost of lap band is $14,500, and the average cost of sleeve gastrectomy surgery $14,900, according to the web site ObesityCoverage. The story states: “Before surgery, only 3 percent of the teens had no cardiac risk factors at all, but three years later, just over half of them (52 percent) had no risk factors. Just 5 percent had all four cardiac risk factors before their surgeries, but none had all of them three years later. In fact, the majority of the participants — 83 percent — had only one or no risk factors three years after their surgeries. The proportion of participants with two or three risk factors also dropped substantially.” This is a useful start, but the story needed to remind readers: Changes in risk factors predicated on lab values are surrogate markers, so they may not actually lead to improved “heart health” as the story states. The story states that the weight-reduction procedures “carry the same risks as any surgical procedure, such as infections, blood clots and bleeding” as well as nutritional and vitamin deficiencies. It also states that gastric banding “has low effectiveness and a risk of the band slipping down the stomach.” Note: The most risky complications (problems arising from general anesthesia) were not mentioned. The story describes how the study was conducted and provides important caveats, stating: “The study’s biggest limitation is its very selective population. Most of the participants were female, most were white, and most received the gastric bypass. Children of color have the greatest risk of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, but it’s not clear if they would see the same improvement with these procedures.” It also mentions that the study included “only teens with the greatest obesity who were also unsuccessful trying other weight loss methods. Further, it points out the need for longer-term data of 10 or 15 years. The story does not mention one inherent weakness of this study: The lack of a comparison group that did not receive surgery. [Editor’s note: We updated the final sentence in this criterion to strike the phrase “observational studies” and replace it with “this study.”] The story does not engage in disease-mongering. It states that an estimated 4 to 7 percent of teens have severe obesity. The story includes two sources who were not part of the study. The story does a good job here, quoting Geetha Raghuveer, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Mercy Kansas City in Missouri who, it reports, was not involved in the study. Raghuveer is quoted saying surgery “would be considered for the highly obese and those not responding to any behavioral modifications, physical activity or calorie restriction.” Further, the story says, Raghuveer endorses public health efforts that “aim for better obesity prevention, including parent education and interventions when children are toddlers and preschoolers.” “The big question is, how do we prevent obese kids from getting to this point where they would need an invasive surgical procedure?” Raghuveer says in the story. The story mentions that 1,600 teens undergo stomach reduction surgeries each year, which suggests that they are widely available. It also mentions the need to seek counseling and “detailed information from well-established bariatric surgery centers that are specifically dedicated to treating adolescents.” However, one big key to availability is insurance coverage–and this was not mentioned. The story mentions that this study includes more patients than some previous studies that looked at the impact of surgery on teens with severe obesity, and it quotes the study’s author saying it “serves to reinforce the benefits of bariatric surgery as a safe and effective treatment strategy that should be considered sooner rather than later.” Also, the the study of cardiac risk factors and how they are affected is novel, as well, and that’s clear in the story. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Bariatric Surgery Helps Teens With Severe Obesity Reduce Heart Disease Risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c8cf4fc38bb4573bcb5a4ee5e13476d",
            "input": "Negotiations are being held with several big drugs makers  as part of a wider drive to bring the cost of so-called  artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) down to the  level of the older, but now ineffective, chloroquinine  treatments. “I am very hopeful that this first stage, the negotiations,  will produce results,” Michel Kazatchkine, executive director  of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria told  reporters in Paris on Tuesday. The negotiations, part of a program called the Affordable  Medicines Facility - Malaria (AMFm), aim to persuade drugs  companies to cut the price of ACTs to all first-time buyers to  $1, the price currently charged to public sector buyers. The AMFm would then subsidize wholesalers 95 percent of the  cost, enabling them to sell the drugs at prices within reach of  people in some of the world’s poorest countries who may be  living on $1 or $2 a day. Malaria, a disease spread by mosquito-borne parasites, is  contracted by up to 500 million people every year, of whom more  than 1 million die, according to figures from the World Health  Organization. Chloroquinine, one of the former standard treatments for  the disease, has become ineffective in many countries as  resistance levels have grown. But its low cost — around 20 cents a dose compared with  $4-5 for ACTs — makes it far more affordable for people living  in poor African, Asian or Latin American countries where the  disease is most dangerous. Kazatchkine said the program would help drugs companies by  increasing the size of the market for ACTs and make it easier  to predict demand. “We are seeing the market a lot more clearly now,” he said. “Some firms were complaining that they had produced too much of  these medicines. We’re hoping an agreement will enable us to  regulate the flow better so that everyone benefits.”    Swiss drugs maker Novartis and France’s Sanofi are among  the Western companies that make the drug but the sector has  been shaken by the arrival of Chinese and Indian companies like  Cipla    and IPCA Laboratories. “The more firms there are producing these medicines, the  greater the level of competition will be and the more prices  will fall,” Kazatchkine said. He said a sharp increase in malaria funding over recent  years had improved prospects for controlling the disease but  said an extra $1 billion a year was needed. “We have the means to control and combat malaria,” he said. “It would be incomprehensible, shocking now that we are so  close to being able to reduce it really significantly if we  didn’t.”",
            "output": [
                "Malaria campaigners hopeful on drugs pricing deal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12a84d3b3baf4a01b4f85e6ea2fec355",
            "input": "California cities pioneered soda taxes as a way to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday bowed to pressure from beverage companies and reluctantly banned local taxes on soda for the next 12 years. It follows similar bans recently passed in Arizona and Michigan. Voters in Oregon will decide on a statewide ban in November. The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others, has backed the moves after several cities passed taxes on sugary drinks in recent years. California’s ban is part of a last-minute maneuver to block a beverage industry-backed ballot measure that would make it much harder for cities and counties to raise taxes of any kind. The ABA said in a statement the legislation is about keeping groceries, including drinks, affordable. Lawmakers approved the proposal despite deep reluctance. “This industry is aiming a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, ‘If you don’t do what we want we are going to pull the trigger and you are not going to be able to fund basic government services,’” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, which has a soda tax. The Legislature’s action drew a strong rebuke from public health advocates who view soda taxes as a crucial front in their efforts to contain obesity and the health complications it causes. But local government officials, terrified by the prospect of having their hands tied on all future tax increases, reluctantly backed the legislation. “I’ve been in politics a long time, and sometimes you have to do what’s necessary to avoid catastrophe,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who is pushing a local sales tax increase that would be at risk if the ballot measure passed. The governor said only a handful of communities are looking to tax soda, but the ballot measure would affect all 482 cities in California. “Mayors from countless cities have called to voice their alarm and to strongly support the compromise which this bill represents,” Brown wrote in a memo explaining his decision. The California measure bans any new taxes on groceries including beverages through 2030, but allows four cities in the San Francisco Bay Area to keep soda levies already on the books. The beverage industry has used aggressive campaigning to beat back soda taxes and other measures. But some soda tax efforts are now receiving better funding. Former New York City Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who unsuccessfully tried to limit the size of sugary drinks sold in the city to 16 ounces, has funded some local efforts. Philadelphia, Seattle and Boulder, Colorado also have taxes on sugary drinks. After Brown signed the legislation, the California Business Roundtable withdrew a ballot measure that would have raised the threshold for any tax increases by local government. Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, asked for a meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown after The Sacramento Bee reported beverage industry lobbyists dined with Brown and his wife Anne Gust Brown at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento this month. A spokesman for Brown, Evan Westrup, said the governor did not negotiate the deal and the dinner was unrelated. Public health officials said taxes are the most effective tool they have to discourage people from drinking soda, sports drinks, sweetened coffee and tea, and other sugary beverages. Beverage companies spend billions promoting their products that public health professional can’t match, said Kristine Madsen, a physician and associate professor of public health at University of California, Berkeley. She led a study that found a 20 percent reduction in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in low-income neighborhoods in the year after the city’s tax took effect. Sales in grocery stores dropped 8 percent — a figure that was not fully offset by higher sales in neighboring towns. ___ The bill is AB1838 . ___ Associated Press food industry writer Candice Choi contributed.",
            "output": [
                "California bows to beverage industry, blocks soda taxes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7131628b0cd346c7b3377c622706be3b",
            "input": "A coalition sent letters this month to universities, asking campuses to join Indiana University and Purdue University in the vaccination requirement, The Wisconsin State Journal reported. The shots are typically covered by insurance and cost about $200. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children age 11 or 12 should be vaccinated against the four common strains of meningococcal bacteria — A, C, W and Y — and get a booster shot at 16. People age 16 to 18 should consider getting the newer vaccine for strain B, the CDC said. UW-Madison won’t be requiring the shot until the CDC upgrades its guidelines, said Dr. William Kinsey, medical director. “We are not convinced that the benefit lasts long enough that we know it’s worth vaccinating everyone for it,” he said. “Each student should have a discussion about the risks and benefits of getting that vaccine with their primary care provider.” About 21,000 UW-Madison students, or 70 percent of undergraduates, received the first dose of meningitis B vaccine in 2016 after three students developed serious cases. At least 9,000 students decided to get the second dose, Kinsey said. College students are at an increased rise of acquiring bacterial meningitis because they tend to share food and drink, health officials said. Gail Bailey’s son, Eddy Bailey, was 20 when he died from the rare but potentially fatal disease in 2002 while he was a student at UW-Madison. Immunizations are worth it even if it saves just one life, she said. “If we can do something about it, why not do something about it?” she said. ___ Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj",
            "output": [
                "Groups ask UW-Madison to require meningitis B vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-49ac987340704c7fac287b38c7bab7f2",
            "input": "\"Although the story mentions the cost of immunosuppressant drugs, the story does not mention the cost of the new transplant technique. Given the preliminary nature of the findings, it is not yet possible to quantify the benefits of the new transplantation technique. The story does not mention any potential harms of the therapy. The story adequately describes the strength of the available evidence. The story describes the studies as \"\"preliminary\"\" and brings attention to the very small sample sizes. However, the story could have made less use of such terms as \"\"groundbreaking\"\" and \"\"breakthrough\"\" to describe the treatment in light of the preliminary nature of the findings. The story does not exaggerate the prevalence or seriousness of kidney disease. The story quotes multiple experts The story mentions immunosuppressants with traditional transplantation as the alternative to the new transplant technique. The story clearly states that the transplant technique is experimental and is only being performed in a handful of medical centers. The story clearly states that the treatment is a new approach. Because the story quotes multiple sources, the reader can assume that the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Some transplant patients OK without years of drug treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79115f4630154f25a1728dc832c700a0",
            "input": "\"\"\"The FDA has tested Johnson's talc since the '70s. Every single time it did not contain asbestos,\"\" the company said in a Dec. 19 tweet. It followed by several days the publication of a Reuters investigation (here) that found the healthcare conglomerate knew for decades that the carcinogen lurked in its Baby Powder and other cosmetic talc products. The tweet, posted under the handle @JNJNews, didn't mention that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of asbestos in the company's Shower to Shower talc in 1973, as revealed in agency documents here reviewed by Reuters. And it is only one of dozens of tweets conveying a similar message about talc safety since the Reuters article appeared Dec. 14. The Reuters article prompted a stock selloff that erased about $40 billion from J&J’s market value in one day and created a public relations crisis as the blue-chip healthcare conglomerate faced widespread questions about the possible health effects of one of its most iconic products. To reassure investors and consumers, J&J has tweeted, posted on Facebook, run a series of full-page newspaper ads across the United States, published a lengthy rebuttal to the Reuters investigation on its website and announced a $5 billion stock buyback. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky has appeared in a company video and on CNBC’s “Mad Money” to reinforce the company’s position. That position has been unwavering. J&J insists that its Baby Powder is safe and has been asbestos-free at least since regular testing began in the 1970s. The message doubles down on the stance the company has taken to defend against lawsuits in which about 11,700 plaintiffs allege that the J&J talc they used in past decades caused their cancer. The company is pursuing this strategy despite the evidence that talc in its raw and finished powders sometimes tested positive for the carcinogen from the 1970s into the early 2000s — test results that the company didn’t disclose to regulators or consumers. In response to a Reuters request for comment, the company said it is committed to defending the talc litigation, “and that same, long-term view is reflected in our ongoing communications that consistently point to the strong scientific evidence that our talc is and always has been safe.”  As for the 1973 Shower to Shower test, J&J noted that the result didn’t “reflect FDA’s final determination about this sample” in a 1976 table summarizing the agency’s early 1970s cosmetic talc testing. However, in that 1976 table, which Reuters examined, the FDA did not indicate any result, positive or negative, for the type of asbestos found in the Shower to Shower sample in 1973. Given the mass of litigation it faces, J&J has little choice but to zealously dispute findings that its products sometimes contained traces of asbestos, said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis-management consultant in Washington, D.C. “If your position in court is that the claims being made are false…you can’t just shrug your shoulders,” he said. Soon after the Reuters article appeared, J&J executives consulted crisis-management experts, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the company’s reasons for deciding to maintain its stance on absolute talc purity, these people said, was a conviction that a company known for putting health and safety first had the facts on its side, a litigation track record that included victories and mistrials, and the expectation that adverse verdicts will be overturned on appeal. Many of J&J’s subsequent messages have mirrored the company’s written responses to questions and findings Reuters presented to the company during its investigation: They deny that the company kept information from regulators and point to the many studies finding that talc is safe and doesn’t cause cancer. Those earlier responses were composed by J&J’s outside litigators, led by Peter Bicks at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and conveyed to Reuters by lawyers at a crisis-management firm co-founded by Lanny Davis, a lawyer who represented U.S. President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former attorney who has pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges. Gorsky, in his appearance on “Mad Money,” invoked J&J’s now legendary response to the Tylenol crisis as evidence that the company can be trusted to address any safety problems linked to its products. In 1982, J&J moved decisively to pull all Tylenol from store shelves after seven people died from taking cyanide-laced pills. “I can’t believe the company that took that dramatic of an action would allow a product that they felt in any way could be harmful to stay on the market,” Gorsky told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. “We unequivocally believe that our talc, our Baby Powder, does not contain asbestos.”  Citing the Tylenol recall provides “some reputational buffer,” said Stephen A. Greyser, the Harvard Business School professor who wrote the first study of the company’s handling of that crisis. “But it is not a total protection” because it won’t shield the company from a loss of trust if consumers or investors conclude the company hasn’t been fully forthcoming in this case, he said. J&J needs to guard against “reputational contagion,” the risk that a loss of confidence in Baby Powder could bleed over into how consumers, shareholders and others view the company more broadly, Greyser added. The key difference between the two crises is that poisoned Tylenol presented a threat to consumers at the time, while the documented asbestos contamination of J&J talc that Reuters investigated spanned from 1971 to the early 2000s. J&J says that if it believed that Baby Powder today presented safety risks, it wouldn’t hesitate to remove it from store shelves, given that the product accounts for less than 0.5% of annual revenue. The company joined its talc supplier, Imerys Talc America, a unit of Paris-based Imerys SA, in requesting that a trial scheduled for January in St. Louis be delayed for, among other things, what they called “negative national and local news coverage” resulting from the Reuters investigation that would inevitably taint prospective jurors. The judge denied the motion. The same judge recently upheld a $4.69 billion jury award in a separate ovarian cancer case, which J&J says it expects to be overturned on appeal. The judge said J&J’s promotion of a product that the evidence showed was contaminated with a known carcinogen was “particularly reprehensible.”  In an emailed statement, Imerys Talc America said it “is committed to the quality and safety of its products,” and that rigorous research “overwhelmingly confirms that talc is safe, and no agency has asserted that talc causes cancer.”  Some of J&J’s messages in its recent campaign omit key details regarding findings on talc and, in certain instances, are undermined by other evidence, according to a Reuters review of the company’s statements. The Dec. 19 tweet claiming that the FDA’s own tests never found asbestos in J&J talc, for example, ignores an agency scientist’s 1973 finding that a Shower to Shower sample contained asbestos fibers, according to a copy of an FDA report titled “Asbestos and Other Contaminants in Talc” and a deposition of a former J&J head toxicologist. The FDA did not respond to questions for this article, citing a partial government shutdown. On CNBC, Gorsky said: “We also not only used the best testing methodologies that were available, but we continued to improve them through the years.”  J&J’s testing methods do exceed the industry standard. But even so, as a geologist and frequent J&J expert witness acknowledged in court this year, only a tiny fraction of the company’s talc sold over the past 40 years has been tested using what is widely recognized as the best method to detect asbestos fibers, known as transmission electron microscopy. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are already homing in on inconsistencies between J&J’s statements and other evidence regarding its talc, and they are planning to depose Gorsky in coming weeks. “There is no flexibility in what they’re saying,” said Leigh O’Dell, one of the lead lawyers representing plaintiffs in thousands of lawsuits against J&J consolidated in a New Jersey federal court. “Taking these statements on behalf of the company and pointing out to juries and judges the misrepresentations contained in those statements — I think you’re going to see that in every case going forward, whether it’s an ovarian cancer case or a mesothelioma case.”  One of J&J’s recent tweets criticized plaintiffs’ lawyers: “Far from a new theory or insight, plaintiffs’ lawyers have resurrected a disproven argument about asbestos in our talc that dates to the 1970s.”  The Reuters investigation found that tests by J&J’s own contract labs and others periodically found small amounts of asbestos in talc from mines that supplied the mineral for Baby Powder as recently as the early 2000s. Some J&J tweets and newspaper ads have adopted a question-and-answer format. “What about the allegation you withheld safety information?” the company said in a full-page ad in USA Today the day after Christmas. “It is false,” the company said. “All safety concerns are taken seriously, and we share all relevant information with regulators.”  Some Twitter users have responded to J&J’s tweets with praise and support. Others have referenced their relatives’ longtime use of J&J talc products and subsequent deaths from ovarian cancer. “We’re very sorry to hear this,” J&J responded to several Twitter users, expressing a desire to speak with them and offering a phone number to call. In response to another recent tweet in which J&J said its talc doesn’t contain asbestos, one Twitter user asked: “Did it USED to?”  “No,” J&J responded. “For decades, J&J’s baby powder has repeatedly been tested for asbestos and found not to contain asbestos.”\"",
            "output": [
                "After damaging Reuters report, J&J doubles down on talc safety message."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab246b48afc54446a3ef3724049110df",
            "input": "Hahnemann University Hospital said Saturday that it notified the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation Friday night that it was “de-designating” as a Level 1 and 2 trauma facility, effective immediately. Hospital chief medical officer Dr. Alexander Trebelev cited “clinical and operational challenges” that prevented the hospital from serving trauma and serious heart attack patients. “After reviewing our plan of closure and in consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, we felt this move is in the best interest of patient safety,” he said. Officials said the emergency department will remain open but won’t accept trauma patients. The 495-bed hospital announced Wednesday it would close in September due to unsustainable financial losses. Ron Dreskin, interim chief executive officer of hospital owner Philadelphia Academic Health System, said in Saturday’s announcement that officials realize the impact the move and the closure would have on the city and surrounding neighborhoods “and most importantly, our staff.” “We wish there could have been a more positive outcome for all,” he said. “In spite of our best efforts and meetings with numerous city, state, union, insurance carrier and university officials, a financial solution could not be achieved.” State health officials on Thursday warned the hospital’s owners against taking the first steps toward closing, saying they must first file a detailed plan that ensures the safety of people who depend on the institution for care. The cease-and-desist order cited special concerns about closure of any part of the facility before July 4 due to the annual holiday celebration, concert and fireworks on the parkway that draws tens of thousands of residents and tourists. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that city officials also cited the July 4 event in an emergency petition to join a suit by Drexel University College of Medicine, which has been affiliated with Hahnemann as a teaching hospital and sought a preliminary injunction to block the closure. “Hahnemann, which is located only six blocks from 21st and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, is by far the closest emergency care facility to the parkway event,” the petition said, citing risk to those attending should Hahnemann’s emergency care facilities not be available.",
            "output": [
                "Hospital says it will be diverting trauma patients elsewhere."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-67f1df5e6ef644d28d3bbc93be0f43e7",
            "input": "Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to add the measure in the form of a referendum on the city’s ballot, drawing cheers of support from residents and health advocates, and vows to fight from the U.S. food and beverage industry. “When we pass this measure in November, Berkeley will be the first in the country where such a measure has been passed,” said  Vicki Alexander, a co-chairwoman of a local campaign to put the measure on the ballot. “We are very excited to see that day happen.”  Public health advocates across the country have clamored for ways to reduce consumption of sugary drinks and junk food, but lawmakers and voters have generally opposed enacting taxes or other regulations. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to limit the sale of large sugary drinks was rejected on June 26 by the state’s highest court. A California bill to require sugary soft drinks to carry labels warning of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay died in the California Legislature on June 17. Two California cities, Richmond and El Monte, failed two years ago in their attempts to become the first in the country to impose taxes of a penny per ounce on businesses that sell sugary drinks. Revenues from Berkeley’s tax, if it passes, would go toward the city’s general fund. “It’s disingenuous because there’s nothing in this measure that’s going to education. This goes right into the general account. It’s a money grab,” said Ted Mundorff, CEO of Landmark Theatres, which has movie theaters in Berkeley. A Berkeley vending machine executive said her company would be forced to pass the tax on to consumers in order to stay in business. A city survey of 500 likely voters showed majority support for the tax in April.",
            "output": [
                "Berkeley residents to vote on soda tax in November."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3fbf5e4b0bf34f368f26c770389ba4e9",
            "input": "Given that the premise of the story is explaining there is no benefit to taking these supplements, we’ll rate this N/A. That said, it would have been interesting to explore the cost-savings for people if they decide to stop buying calcium and vitamin D. The story does a good job of letting readers know that there was no statistically significant benefit to taking calcium and vitamin D, based on the researchers’ systematic review of the evidence. The story cited one instance of harms, saying: “… for people who started out with at least 20 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood, adding more vitamin D through supplements was associated with a greater risk of hip fractures.” We also wanted to see a mention of potential harms of calcium, such as kidney stones. Another common side effect is excess gas and one potential harm of high doses is cardiovascular complications such as heart attack. The story hits some key points including the number of studies reviewed, potential confounding factors accounted for, and details about selection criteria. For instance, women on hormone replacement therapy, for whom there’s evidence for the benefits of supplementation were excluded from the current analysis. That’s a key point for postmenopausal women reading the story. Also the story makes clear that this study examined older adults who live in their own homes and therefore does not apply to older adults who live in nursing homes or similar institutions. Well done. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. It correctly states the risk of broken bones in people over age 50 and the risk of death in older people who break a hip. This story will also help reduce over-treatment and over-medicating of older adults, which is common. The only source quoted for the article is the study itself. There are no quotes from independent expert sources. The story references getting calcium from one’s diet and getting vitamin D from sun exposure. We think it’s safe to presume that readers know that vitamin and mineral supplements are widely available. The story does a good job of making clear previous claims of benefit from calcium and vitamin D supplementation. This large meta-analysis will provide some clarity of the questions surrounding using these supplements for bone health. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Do you take calcium and vitamin D to protect your bones? A new study says it doesn't help"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c64d4e88a4545acbb30872999a67b93",
            "input": "Pingree said she believes consumers will not see any relief from rising drug costs unless both of those steps are taken. President Donald Trump on Friday rolled out a blueprint for lowering prescription drug costs that includes a requirement that drugmakers disclose medication costs in television advertisements. Other proposals include speeding the process of switching prescription drugs to over-the-counter medicines. In the Maine Legislature, Pingree pioneered the Maine Rx program that let state to use its purchasing power to lower prescription prices. She’s also led seniors on trips to Canada to buy prescription drugs.",
            "output": [
                "Pingree critical of Trump’s plan to lower drug prices."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f5434868e04d4e5681a12e7981cb22c7",
            "input": "The company said it will close the plant in Willowbrook, blaming “inaccurate and unfounded claims regarding Sterigenics and the unstable legislative and regulatory landscape in Illinois.” In August, nearly three dozen people sued Sterigenics, claiming fumes from ethylene oxide, used to sterilize medical equipment at the Willowbrook facility, have adversely affected their health. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency closed the plant in February, finding that air sampling by town officials and the federal EPA consistently found high outdoor ambient levels of ethylene oxide. Federal regulators consider the gas a carcinogen. Sterigenics, in the past, has said ethylene oxide is the only process to sterilize medical instruments that is federally approved. “Sterigenics appreciates that the state of Illinois has clearly acknowledged the company’s consistent record of regulatory compliance as well as the safety of the new controls we agreed to implement, and we made every effort to reach a constructive resolution,” the company said in the statement announcing the plant’s closing, adding that Illinois’ political environment makes it unwise to operate the plant. Illinois House Republican leader, Rep. Jim Durkin, has been leading a fight against the company’s effort to continue operations outside Chicago. The Legislature is also considering measures that would phase out use of ethylene oxide except in less populated areas. “Sterigenics got the message that we were never going to let them reopen their doors and poison our communities again,” Durkin said in a statement. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and local officials in July reached an agreement with Sterigenics that would have allowed the plant to reopen after additional emission capture and control equipment was installed. Sterigenics also agreed to fund $300,000 in community projects designed in coordination with the state to benefit the environment and the local community. When that agreement was announced, company President Philip Macnabb said resolution of the matter puts the company a step closer to resuming the work of sterilizing vital medical products and devices for patients in Illinois and beyond. Sterigenics is a division of Ohio-based Sotera Health LLC, which provides safety services to the medical device, pharmaceutical, tissue and food industries.",
            "output": [
                "Chicago-area medical equipment cleaning plant won’t reopen."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-85b704393f19425b8c4b71834f278e59",
            "input": "University of Iowa scientists used pigs to mimic the cascade of cartilage damage that can begin with a broken ankle. Wednesday’s study found using some old medications in a new way — rapidly injecting them into the animals’ joints — interrupted that cycle of cell dysfunction to protect against arthritis. The researchers are seeking funds for human studies, part of a growing effort to understand why an aggressive form of arthritis can develop after some common orthopedic injuries — a torn knee ligament, for example, or a broken bone in a joint — seem to have healed. “It’s very promising,” said regenerative medicine specialist Farshid Guilak of Washington University in St. Louis, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “There are no therapies right now, for any form of osteoarthritis, that have been shown to modify the disease.” Osteoarthritis, the most common kind, usually occurs when joint-cushioning cartilage gradually wears away over decades of use. But about 5.6 million people in the U.S. get a subtype that strikes faster — post-traumatic osteoarthritis that’s sparked by injuries to weight-bearing joints. People who’ve experienced knee injuries, for example, are three to six times more likely to develop arthritis in that joint, and to get it a decade or so earlier, than people who’ve never been injured, according to a report last year in the Journal of Athletic Training. And ankle fractures that crack into the cartilage can trigger post-traumatic osteoarthritis even faster, making it ideal to study in the joints of 200-pound pigs that react a lot like human ankles. With funding from the Defense Department and National Institutes of Health, the Iowa team took a closer look. Only some cartilage cells die immediately upon impact. But over the next 48 hours, additional ones die and others become increasingly dysfunctional. Inside cells are tiny power plants, often introduced in middle-school biology as “the mighty mitochondria.” Somehow, the joint injury triggered the mitochondria inside cartilage cells to become wildly overactive and generate substances called oxidants in a damaging cycle. “What’s compelling,” said University of Iowa lead researcher Mitchell Coleman, “is if you can interrupt that early process, whatever is going on with those mitochondria in the first day, you can have a significant benefit to the tissue itself.” That’s just what his team did, using two old drugs — the sedative amobarbital, known to inhibit cellular energy generation, and an antioxidant named N-acetylcysteine — to aim at different parts of that cycle. To act inside the joint without body-wide side effects, the researchers created, and patented, gel formulas of the drugs that are liquid while being injected but solidify at body temperature. They injected one or the other drug into the pigs’ joint fractures, following the injury and a week later. “It will sit there where you injected it,” Coleman explained. A typical liquid drug “will squish right back out.” Each drug separately helped preserve cartilage, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. A year later, the cartilage in the treated animals showed significantly less deterioration than pigs given sham treatment, and the treated animals displayed no signs of pain. It will take lots of additional research to tell if the approach works in people. For now, people who’ve had risky joint injuries should guard against further damage by getting proper treatment for the injury and keeping up appropriate exercise, said Dr. Lisa Cannada, a trauma specialist speaking for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “Maintain strong muscles to minimize the wear and tear on your joints,” she advised.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists aim at joint injuries that can trigger arthritis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b63092d703c4b1bb5dadb439e2a0fa1",
            "input": "The 2017 case is the first case of pediatric tetanus in Oregon in more than 30 years and alarmed infectious disease experts who said tetanus is almost unheard of in the U.S. since widespread immunization began in the 1940s. The child received an emergency dose of the tetanus vaccine in the hospital, but his parents declined to give him a second dose — or any other childhood shots — after he recovered, the paper said. “When I read that, my jaw dropped. I could not believe it. That’s a tragedy and a misunderstanding, and I’m just flabbergasted,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an expert in infectious diseases and chair at the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “This is an awful disease, but ... we have had a mechanism to completely prevent it, and the reason that we have virtually no cases anymore in the United States is because we vaccinate, literally, everyone.” Doctors in Portland, Oregon, who treated the child declined to provide any further information about the family at a news conference Friday, citing medical privacy laws. It was the first time that Dr. Judith Guzman-Cottrill, the pediatric infectious disease expert who treated the child, had ever seen tetanus because of widespread vaccination against it in the U.S. When the boy arrived at the emergency department, his muscle spasms were so severe he could not talk, could not open his mouth and was struggling to breathe, she said. “We had a hard time taking care of this child — watching him suffer — and it is a preventable disease,” Guzman-Cottrill said. News about the tetanus case comes as lawmakers in Oregon and Washington are considering bills that would end non-medical exemptions for routine childhood vaccines as the Pacific Northwest weathers its third month of a measles outbreak. Seventy people in southwest Washington, most of them unvaccinated children, have been diagnosed with the highly contagious viral illness since Jan. 1, as well as a handful of people in Portland, Oregon. Unlike measles, which is a virus, someone who has survived a case of tetanus is not immune and can get the illness again if they remain unvaccinated. Tetanus also isn’t transmitted person-to-person by sneezing or coughing like the measles, but instead comes from bacterial spores that are found in the environment. Tetanus spores exist everywhere in the soil. When an unvaccinated person gets a deep, penetrating wound, those spores can invade the cut and begin producing the bacteria that causes the illness. The tetanus bacterium secretes a toxin that gets into the bloodstream and latches onto the nervous system. Anywhere from three to 21 days after infection, symptoms appear: muscle spasms, lockjaw, difficulty swallowing and breathing and seizures. The disease can cause death or severe disability in those who survive, Schaffner said. About 30 people contract tetanus each year nationwide, according to the CDC, and 16 people died of it between 2009 and 2015. It’s rare among children; those over 65 are the most vulnerable. In the case in Oregon, the boy cut himself on the forehead while playing, and his family stitched up the wound themselves. Six days later, he began clenching his jaw, arching his neck and back and had uncontrollable muscle spasms. When he began to have trouble breathing, his parents called paramedics and he was transported by air to Oregon Health & Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. When he arrived, he asked for water but could not open his mouth. The child was sedated, put on a ventilator and cared for in a darkened room while wearing ear plugs because any stimulation made his pain and muscle spasms worse. His fever spiked to almost 105 degrees (40.5 Celsius), and he developed high blood pressure and a racing heartbeat. Forty-four days after he was hospitalized, the boy was able to sip clear liquids. Six days later, he was able to walk a short distance with help. After another three weeks of inpatient rehabilitation and a month at home, he could ride a bike and run — a remarkable recovery, experts said. The child’s care — not including the air ambulance and inpatient rehabilitation — cost nearly $1 million, about 72 times the mean for a pediatric hospitalization in the U.S., the paper noted. “The way to treat tetanus is you have to outlast it. You have to support the patient because this poison links on chemically and then it has to be slowly metabolized,” Schaffner said. Cases of tetanus have dropped by 95 percent in the U.S. since widespread childhood vaccination and adult booster shots became routine nearly 80 years ago; deaths have dropped 99 percent. The CDC recommends a five-dose series of tetanus shots for children between the ages of 2 months and 6 years and a booster shot every 10 years for adults. ____ Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus",
            "output": [
                "CDC: Unvaccinated Oregon boy almost dies of tetanus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b3f2331095694432865cd9e57a454066",
            "input": "Viagra pills are seen in a handout photo. REUTERS/PRNewsFoto They found women on antidepressants who took Viagra had fewer sexual side effects than those who took a placebo. Sexual dysfunction can prompt many people to stop taking drugs to treat depression. While other studies have hinted that Viagra might help these women, the latest research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is one of the first scientifically rigorous studies to show this benefit. “By treating this bothersome treatment-associated adverse effect ... patients can remain antidepressant-adherent, reduce the current high rates of premature medication discontinuation, and improve depression disease management outcomes,” Dr. H. George Nurnberg of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and colleagues wrote. The research was funded by Pfizer Inc, maker of Viagra, which is known generically as sildenafil. Nurnberg has been a paid consultant for the company. Sexual dysfunction is linked with most commonly used antidepressants, including selective and nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These drugs represent 90 percent of the 180 million antidepressant prescriptions filled in the United States each year, according to the researchers. The researchers studied 98 women with an average age of 37 who had symptoms of sexual dysfunction, including delay of orgasm or lack of arousal, and whose depression was in remission after treatment with antidepressants. Women took a dose of Viagra or the placebo one to two hours before anticipated sexual activity for eight weeks. While 73 percent of women taking the placebo reported no sexual improvement, only 28 percent of women taking sildenafil failed to benefit. Related drugs such as Eli Lilly and Co.’s Cialis, known generically as tadalafil, and Levitra or vardenafil, sold by GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer AG and Schering-Plough, work in a similar way to Viagra. “These findings are important not only because women experience major depressive disorder at nearly double the rate of men and because they experience greater resulting sexual dysfunction than men, but also because it establishes that (drugs such as sildenafil) are effective in both sexes for this purpose,” they wrote.",
            "output": [
                "Viagra helps depressed women get satisfaction too."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-068d0194967c4e37852df99518022970",
            "input": "Stephens, 54, will replace current Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst, who announced last month she will retire from the high court in January to focus on her health as she fights a third bout of cancer. The chief justice presides over the court’s public hearings, serves as the administrative head of the state’s judicial branch, and is the court’s main spokesperson. Stephens will serve the final year of Fairhurst’s term as chief justice. The next full, four-year term election for chief justice will occur in November 2020. In an emailed statement, Stephens wrote that she was honored by the selection and wrote: “We will all miss Mary greatly.” “She has been an amazing and inspirational leader for so many years, and I hope to continue in her tradition,” Stephens wrote. Fairhurst, 62, was first elected to the court in 2002 and was elected chief justice by her colleagues in 2016. She was first diagnosed with colon cancer in late 2008, and it later spread to a lung. After a final treatment in 2011 and several years of no evidence of disease, Fairhurst said that the cancer returned late last year — appearing in her lungs, liver, thyroid and spleen. Fairhurst continued to work while undergoing chemotherapy. She said her decision to retire became clear after she asked her doctor for her life-expectancy prognosis and learned she had between nine months and two years. “I’m an overachiever, and I believe in miracles so I’m not accepting that as a death sentence. But I am accepting it as the universe telling me I need to focus on my health and spend time with my family and friends and let the good work we’ve been doing here on the court continue with those who have more energy than I have going forward,” she said in an interview last month. Stephens, who previously served as a judge for Division Three of the Court of Appeals, was first appointed to the state Supreme Court in January 2008. She was elected to a six-year term in November 2008, then re-elected in 2014. Early next month, Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to appoint a new justice to fulfill the remaining year of Fairhurst’s term, and the seat will be open for election in 2020. Both the new justice and Stephens as the new chief justice will be sworn in Jan. 6. The other members of the court are: Justices Barbara Madsen, Charles Johnson, Susan Owens, Steven Gonzalez, Sheryl Gordon McCloud, Charles Wiggins and Mary Yu.",
            "output": [
                "Debra Stephens elected as new chief justice of Supreme Court."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52fc4004b1964dd7bfe9fe275e93c61d",
            "input": "If the new coronavirus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through the oesophagus. Once they’re in the stomach, the acid will kill the virus. If you don't drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipes and into the lungs. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold, not Covid-19. These are the symptoms for the common cold, but they don’t rule out Covid-19. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose. Some Covid-19 patients do get pneumonia, and one of the symptoms is a dry cough. A runny nose doesn’t rule out Covid-19. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun. There’s no evidence for this. There’s evidence that similar viruses transmit less well in the heat, but many countries with reported Covid-19 cases are experiencing temperatures higher than this. If someone with the new coronavirus sneezes, it travels about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne. How far the droplets spread from a sneeze depends on environmental factors, but it is likely to be several metres. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap. We don’t know how long the virus survives on surfaces yet—it may be between hours and days. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it. There’s no evidence yet that the virus can survive in clothing and be transmitted this way. Any soiled clothing should be thoroughly washed. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice. There’s no evidence that the temperature of liquids consumed can either protect you from or cure diseases caused by viruses. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes. We don’t know how long the virus can last on the skin, especially not down to the minute. But you should regularly wash your hands. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice. There’s no evidence that this works as a preventative or a cure for the virus. The symptoms of Covid-19 are a sore throat lasting 3 or 4 days. The virus then blends into nasal fluid, enters the trachea and then the lungs causing pneumonia. With pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty breathing. The nasal congestion feels like you're drowning This is a roughly accurate description of the most common symptoms, although not everyone with Covid-19 gets pneumonia, and the symptoms may not come in this exact order or at these times. The NHS does not mention nasal congestion that ‘feels like drowning’ as a specific symptom for Covid-19. Claim 1 of 12",
            "output": [
                "If the new coronavirus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through the oesophagus. Once they’re in the stomach, the acid will kill the virus. If you don't drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipes and into the lungs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5fbb85a6336f4c81bfc316e64b895d5c",
            "input": "There was no mention of the cost of dietary fish oil supplements. This story clearly tells us that after one year, 11 out of 40 people in the placebo group developed a psychotic disorder, compared to 2 of the 41 people in the fish oil group. Additionally, the writer also presents the data in terms of number needed to treat (NNT), which tells the reader that 4 people need to take fish oil supplements for 12 weeks in order for 1 person to benefit. More information on what defines psychosis would have been helpful. As the story indicates, fish oil supplements are not associated with serious side effects, unlike antipsychotic drugs that can lead to weight gain and sexual dysfunction. The story might have noted that some people taking fish oil supplements have reported mild gastrointestinal side effects (e.g. diarrhea). The story did a nice job describing the study methods, specifically pointing out that half the teens and young adults received a placebo pill and half received a fish oil pill. It also mentioned that the results of this small trial should be interpreted with caution and additional studies are needed to determine if the same results can be seen in people with established psychosis, as well as those who are older. The story does not appear to exaggerate the prevalence of psychotic disorders in teens and young adults. The story does not include commentary from any independent sources. Furthermore, the quote provided by the study authors was pulled directly from the discussion section of the article. The story briefly compares the efficacy of fish oil supplements to antipsychotic medications and “other interventions.” However, more specific information on this would have been useful. Additionally, it would have been helpful to know that participants in both groups received psychosocial and psychological interventions. Fish oil pills sold as dietary supplements are widely available; however, supplement formulations can vary widely and some may only be available with a prescription. More information on the specific formulation used in the study, as well as the dosage would have been useful. This story does a nice job of setting the stage by saying that patients with psychriatric disorders have been found to have low levels of omega 3; hence the need for trials to study fish oil pills in these patients. The story also points out that other studies have evaluated the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on depression and other psychiatric disorders; however, the results of these studies have been mixed. There does not appear to be a news release associated with this story.",
            "output": [
                "Fish Oil May Fight Psychosis"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d2bb33ace874becb9869d7f737180cc",
            "input": "Health workers were desperate to persuade him to get vaccinated for Ebola after a friend fell ill with the lethal and highly contagious disease. But within days, Nduhi was dead. His widow and their four young children were given his positive Ebola test result and a chilling warning from a team of health workers: “If you don’t accept vaccination, you can prepare to die.” Deep distrust — along with political instability and deadly violence — has severely undermined efforts by public health authorities in Congo to curb the outbreak by tracing and vaccinating those who may have come into contact with infected people. Health experts agree the experimental Ebola vaccine has saved multitudes in Congo. But after nearly a year and some 171,000 doses given, the epidemic shows few signs of waning. The virus has killed more than 1,700 people and has now arrived in the region’s largest city, Goma. The World Health Organization last week declared the outbreak a global health emergency. During the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which left more than 11,300 people dead, health workers could only dream of a vaccine with a 97.5 percent effectiveness rate that could improve the odds of survival even in those already infected. “We have it now and it’s not the miracle we wanted it to be,” said Dr. Joanne Liu, president of Doctors Without Borders. “The fact that we’ve used so much vaccine, and the epidemic hasn’t stopped, that shows us that contact tracing is not great.” WHO says as many as 90 percent of those eligible for vaccination have accepted it, but that figure only includes those who gave contact tracers enough information to be included on a list. The success rate excludes those who distrusted health workers and fled, or those who couldn’t be found in the first place. Health workers have been using what is known as a ring vaccination strategy: The vaccine is first given to those who were in close contact with a sick person. Then a second so-called ring is created by giving the vaccine to those who were in contact with those people. Because of the difficulties in making that strategy work, some people didn’t get vaccinated until they had already been infected with the virus, and they developed Ebola anyway. That increased doubts about the vaccine in communities where the public health campaigns led by outsiders already were viewed with suspicion and hostility. “The rumors were if you got vaccinated you would die,” said Liboke Kakule Muhingi, a 43-year-old farmer in Mangina, where the epidemic began last August. His mother was among the first to die. Then, one by one, six of his sisters who had cared for their ailing mother were killed by Ebola. Kakule accepted the vaccine and made sure his wife and eight children got it, too. “If I hadn’t, we’d all be dead,” he said. In some cases, health teams have been unable to reach certain areas because of violence or rebel activity. Earlier this month, the head of the Congolese health ministry’s response efforts in Beni was at one point unable to return from a field visit while the military battled ADF rebels, who are linked to the Islamic State. More often, though, contact lists have fallen apart simply because people have deliberately evaded health workers or did not understand they shouldn’t travel after being exposed. A pastor who became the first confirmed case in Goma had apparently put down fake names at health checkpoints to avoid detection. He had been sickened in the town of Butembo and then took a bus while ill. WHO and the Congolese health ministry have now switched tactics and are offering the vaccine to anyone who wants it. With Ebola’s arrival in Goma, a city of more than 2 million people, some wonder whether there will be enough of the vaccine if the outbreak continues. The vaccine’s manufacturer, Merck, said it has 245,000 1-millileter doses on hand and that could rise to 900,000 over the next 18 months. The dose in Congo also has been reduced to 0.5 mL, effectively doubling the supply. “Whether or not the available doses are sufficient to fulfill the demands depends on the evolution of the outbreak, the access to the communities and the successful expansion of the production of additional doses by Merck in early 2020,” WHO said. There is a second experimental vaccine, produced by Johnson & Johnson, but health officials in Congo have said it will not be used because it needs further testing and would cause too much confusion. It requires two doses given one month apart. It’s unclear how long the Merck vaccine will protect people. Scientists know from early studies that it lasts for at least a year, but the epidemic is approaching that limit. The only study to report longer vaccine durability tracked only a small number of healthy volunteers in Geneva for two years. The new strategy of giving shots to anyone who wants them involves setting up “pop-up” sites in the neighborhoods most affected. Last week a vaccination team headed to the neighborhood in Beni where Nduhi’s wife had stayed after he died. Outside the mud-brick home where his children still lived, a pickup truck full of plastic tables and chairs pulled over. Soon a tent was set up, and vaccination teams donned eye protection and yellow surgical gowns. Neighborhood children climbed the trees to watch. Baraka Kathembo Makasi, a 22-year-old motorbike taxi driver, brought his wife and two children with him. “At first I refused,” he said, “but I started seeing people die and decided to go.” ___ Associated Press writers Al-Hadji Kudra Maliro in Beni, Congo; Lauran Neergaard in Washington; Maria Cheng in London; and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Ebola vaccine hampered by deep distrust in eastern Congo."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-065c36a088a34ecdbf5d28d7dc2d98da",
            "input": "The Illinois Department of Labor reproach focused on emails that Illinois Veterans Home administrators sent to state workers, WBEZ Chicago reported Thursday. State labor officials said the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs “failed to effectively notify all employees” about the outbreak. Labor officials also said the veterans’ agency didn’t instruct workers about “proper precautions to avoid or eliminate exposure in a timely manner.” The disease has caused the deaths of 13 residents since 2015 and made dozens more residents and staff members seriously ill. State labor officials became involved after two sickened staffers complained to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. AFSCME, the public union representing some Quincy workers, argued the veterans’ home didn’t do enough to warn employees about the disease threat. Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries, who resigns next week, said Quincy employees were kept informed about the outbreak through emails, meetings and informational material posted at nursing stations. “We communicated effectively to our staff and to our residents and certainly to the family members of each resident that was exhibiting signs and symptoms of pneumonia,” she said in a statement. Her spokesman, Dave MacDonna, said the veterans’ affairs department “has been transparent concerning its response to the outbreak in 2015 and has provided thousands of documents to both members of the media and the General Assembly.” State Department of Labor spokesman Ben Noble said former state Labor Director Hugo Chaviano approved issuing the written reprimand but said there was no citation because no workplace safety standards were violated. Noble said the department hasn’t received any follow-up complaints. Rauner’s administration last week recommended starting fresh at the western Illinois home with a state-of-the-art facility on the 130-year-old campus costing between $190 million and $230 million. ___ Information from: WBEZ-FM.",
            "output": [
                "Documents: Labor agency rebuked Illinois VA on Legionnaires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c0a124f4459f4f36afb22f99d02d033a",
            "input": "Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, is recalling all unexpired stock of Ranitidine Effervescent Tablets in 150 micrograms and 300 micrograms dosages, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said here  Teva did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rantidine, a copycat of GlaxoSmithKline’s Zantac, is being taken off the shelves after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found “unacceptable” levels of a probable cancer-causing impurity in the drug. GSK last week recalled Zantac in all markets. U.S. and European health regulators said last month they were reviewing the safety of Ranitidine, after online pharmacy Valisure warned of possible contamination with an impurity called NDMA, which has carcinogenic potential. Ranitidine is the latest drug in which cancer-causing impurities have been found. Regulators have been recalling some blood pressure and heart failure medicines since last year.",
            "output": [
                "Teva's UK arm recalls some batches of Ranitidine: Medicines watchdog."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9a6dfd925c0a47e3b260bf24bce889c5",
            "input": "\"In hindsight, World Toilet Day came not a moment too soon. With a sputtering economy and high unemployment, Rhode Island has had precious few bright spots to brag about in recent years. But on Nov. 19, the Narragansett Bay Commission, which operates two major sewage-treatment plants, celebrated World Toilet Day by pointing with pride to some of the most dark and foul parts of our state: the sewers. \"\"Think about it,\"\" Narragansett Bay Commission public affairs manager Jamie Samons said. \"\"We were one of the first states in the U.S. to build sewers, to bring the treatment plant on line, and now we’re tackling CSOs (combined sewer overflows). How lucky are we to know that we can flush reliably.\"\" Truth be told, it’s been awhile since we’ve thought about that topic. But with World Toilet Day as our inspiration, we decided to give it some thought. So we set out to prove or disprove the claim that Rhode Island was \"\"one of the first states\"\" to build sewers and a sewage treatment plant. A 1990 Narragansett Bay Commission document, \"\"Reclaiming Our Resources: A History of The Providence Sewage Treatment System,\"\" sets the scene, taking us to the year 1854 when Providence, then the seventh largest U.S. city, faced its second cholera epidemic in five years. The city’s superintendent of health, Dr. Edwin Snow, describes the Moshassuck River as \"\"filthy as any common sewer,\"\" saying \"\"the stench arising from it at times pervades the whole neighborhood\"\" and \"\"at any time, dogs, cats and hogs may be seen in the water in every stage of decomposition.\"\" But there’s good news: \"\"In the 1870s a sewer system was constructed which conveyed the city’s waste to be discharged through a series of 65 combined sewer overflows into the rivers and harbor,\"\" the document states. And in 1884, Providence sent City Engineer Samuel M. Gray to Europe to study the latest methods of treating household and industrial waste. He recommended a system to collect sewage at Field’s Point and treat it with a \"\"chemical precipitation method\"\"  used in England. In 1901, the Providence Sewage Treatment system began operating, and the commission document says, \"\"The chemical precipitation plant, the third of its kind in the United States, was described as ‘The largest of its type ever built.’ \"\"  So did that make us \"\"one of the first\"\"? To begin with, America certainly wasn’t the first country to come up with this sewer idea. In the Mesopotamian empire (3500 to 2500 BC), some homes were connected to a stormwater drain system to carry away waste, and the Romans built the Cloaca Maxima (AKA the central sewer system) in about 800 BC, according to P.F. Cooper’s \"\"Historical Aspects of Wastewater Treatment.\"\" Also, Rhode Island certainly wasn’t the first place in America with sewers. New York, Chicago and Boston battle it out over which had the first sewer system, says Jon Schladweiler, the Arizona Water Association historian who runs the sewerhistory.org website and a traveling exhibit on sewer history. But Providence wasn’t far behind the front runners, he says. Brooklyn began construction in 1857 of \"\"the first effective planned sewerage system in the country designed to remove sanitary wastes and stormwater,\"\" and Chicago began building \"\"the premiere sewer system of the time\"\" in 1859, according to Martin V. Melosi's \"\"The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present.\"\" In \"\"The Impact of Sanitary Reform,\"\" Jon A. Peterson says New York built about 125 miles of sewer lines between 1849 and 1865, and Boston installed about 100 miles of sewer lines between 1849 and 1873. He also mentions sewer projects under way in the 1850s in Chicago and Jersey City, N.J. And he says, \"\"In New England, where urbanization had advanced furthest, engineers devised major systems for Providence in 1869.\"\" Providence also gets some love in a footnote found in \"\"American Sewerage Practice,\"\" a seminal 1914 text by Leonard Metcalf and Harrison P. Eddy. \"\"The sewerage system of Providence was declared in 1881 by Rudolph Hering, after a personal investigation of such work in our cities and in Europe, to be equal to anything abroad and much better than the work elsewhere in this country. The system was designed in 1869 by J. Herbert Shedd, then chief engineer of the water works and later city engineer.\"\" And \"\"Mr. Shedd’s report of 1874 on these sewerage works was long a famous engineering document,\"\" Metcalf and Eddy say. \"\"It is only right to point out that the Providence sewers formed for some years the model American system.\"\" You hear that, Connecticut? \"\"Model American system.\"\" After a shout-out from Metcalf and Eddy, it’s safe to say Rhode Island enjoyed sewer All-Star status. But did we also have one of the first sewage treatment plants? Metcalf and Eddy say, \"\"The first extensive treatment plant utilized chemical precipitation and was built in Worcester, Mass., in 1889-1890.\"\" Sewerhistory.org mentions an East Orange, N.J., treatment plant built in 1888 or 1889. And in \"\"Municipal Wastewater Treatment,\"\" Andrew Stoddard says, \"\"In 1886, the first wastewater treatment plant was constructed to protect beaches at Coney Island.\"\" But, hot dog, Providence wasn’t far behind with its treatment plant starting to hum in 1901. And by 1909, there were still only 19 cities with more than 30,000 people treating their sewage, Joel A. Tarr notes in \"\"Goodbye to the Flush Toilet.\"\" So after reviewing the claim that Rhode Island was \"\"one of the first states\"\" with sewers and a sewage treatment plan -- a phrase that leaves plenty of wiggle room. We should mention that in later years Providence’s sewage treatment became a disgrace. By the 1970s, the deteriorating plant was spewing nearly 65 million gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage each day into Rhode Island’s waters. But in 1980, voters approved an $87.7-million bond issue for improvements, the Narragansett Bay Commission was formed, and by 1995 the Environmental Protection Agency was naming the treatment plant best of its size in the nation. So next time World Toilet Day comes around, don't just sit there. Stand up and cheer.\"",
            "output": [
                "We were one of the first states in the U.S. to build sewers, to bring the treatment plant on line."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7363aa141a7f4610a6792163d3f99dc6",
            "input": "\"The story covers cost in the very last two lines. Adequate quantification of benefits seen in the study. Story says \"\"few eye-related complications\"\" were reported in the Lucentis group, but didn’t say what few means or what they were. We don’t think that’s quite adequate. Adequate job explaining how the study was done and what it means. No disease mongering in the story. One quote from the head of the National Eye Institute. But he didn’t really evaluate evidence – only talked about hope. Meantime, no mention that Genentech funded  the trial (a strength of the NYT story was its discussion of the \"\"pay for play\"\" aspect of the research) – and no mention that Dr. Bressler disclosed financial ties to Genentech. From the Times: Some doctors criticized the organizers of the trial for testing Lucentis rather than another Genentech drug, Avastin, which works in the same way as Lucentis. Although it is a cancer drug, Avastin is often used off-label for eye diseases because it is far cheaper than Lucentis, costing only $20 to $100 a dose, compared with $2,000 for Lucentis. Avastin is undercutting sales of Lucentis, which totaled $1.1 billion in the United States last year. Organizers of the trial conceded that a major reason Lucentis was chosen was that Genentech, which is now owned by Roche, agreed to provide the drug free of charge and to contribute $9 million in additional financing — but only if Lucentis were used. “Obviously you can’t underplay $9 million,” said Dr. Ferris of the eye institute, which is part of the part of the National Institutes of Health. But he said there were other factors as well, like a belief that Lucentis might have been the better drug. Dr. Philip J. Rosenfeld, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Miami, said the decision was “clearly a case of pay to play” since Genentech’s money dictated the choice of drugs. At least the story mentioned the uncertainty about whether Lucentis is any better  than the cheaper Avastin, and mentioned an upcoming trial comparing the two in age-related macular degeneration. The story explains that Lucentis was approved 4 years ago for another cause. Story explains the drug is already approved for another use, and it also – at the very end – mentions that an older and much cheaper drug is also effective. It’s clear the story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Drug Reverses Diabetes-Related Vision Loss"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d37049f338347b5a0daeca145190da6",
            "input": "\"At this early phase of research it’s understandable that cost wouldn’t be discussed. It provided the outcomes in absolute terms – which we appreciate:  \"\"Of 8,197 people who got vaccine, 51 became infected in the three years after their shots. Of the 8,198 who got placebo injections, 74 became infected. While that difference — 23 infections out of more than 16,000 people studied — is significant, it could have occurred by chance.\"\" Were any harms – besides the lack of protection in most trial participants – reported in the Thai trial? We don’t know from the story. This is the strength of the story – by itself and in comparison with many other stories by many other news organizations. Over and over and throughout the story, the evidence was questioned. Excerpts: Other researchers were less sanguine about the study but did not want to be quoted by name as being skeptical when only a few details of the results have been released. \"\"I just think it’s too early really,\"\" said one, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for that reason. \"\"It is in a kind of gray zone, and I think we should really get the data and look at it and see what it all means.\"\" And there was more. You get the picture. No disease-mongering in this story. Interviews with Dr. Fauci of NIH, with one of the investigators, and with an unnamed skeptic. Good job comparing this vaccine approach with other vaccines. The experimental stage of the vaccine research is clear from the story, as when it states: The vaccine is not licensed or being produced in large amounts. It is unlikely — but not impossible — that any country would consider it effective enough to be used as a public health measure against HIV. The story gave lots of detail about the novelty of this approach, but questions: \"\"How a vaccine that induces both a weak antibody response and a poor cell-mediated one can protect some people from HIV infection is the big initial mystery of this study.\"\" It is abundantly clear that this story did not rely on a news release, but, rather, was based on enterprise journalism with context and with a historical perspective.\"",
            "output": [
                "Scientists Puzzle Over Minor Success Of AIDS Vaccine"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d1e41b3b8534f4fa6e6a6fc2c222883",
            "input": "Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS. A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain of coronavirus, Thai authorities said on Monday, the first time the virus has been detected outside China. In all, 41 cases of pneumonia have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which preliminary lab tests cited by state media showed could be from a new type of coronavirus, and one patient has died. There have since been no new cases or deaths, Wuhan health authorities said on Tuesday. “From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of WHO’s emerging diseases unit. The WHO is however preparing for the possibility that there could be a wider outbreak, she told a Geneva news briefing. “It is still early days, we don’t have a clear clinical picture.”  Some types of the virus cause less serious diseases, while others - like the one that causes MERS - are far more severe. The U.N. agency has given guidance to hospitals worldwide about infection prevention and control in case the new virus spreads. There is no specific treatment for the new virus, but anti-virals are being considered and could be “re-purposed”, Van Kerkhove said. With Chinese New Year approaching on Jan. 25, when many  Chinese tourists visit Thailand, the WHO called on Thai authorities, the public and holidaymakers to be on alert. Richard Brow, the agency’s representative in Thailand, said anyone with a fever and cough who had spent time in Wuhan should get checked out by a health worker.",
            "output": [
                "WHO says new China coronavirus could spread, warns hospitals worldwide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94cffd8641604f2a9b484e93ae84e64b",
            "input": "In a “complete response letter” to Amag, the FDA suggested that the company generate additional safety data for the wider patient population and evaluate the dosing or administration of the drug, Feraheme. “The FDA did propose that the company conduct additional trials,” Amag Chief Executive William Heiden told Reuters. “We do have existing safety data from our two large late-stage trials ... certainly we would look to that data to support the safety profile of Feraheme.”  The FDA asked Amag to provide additional safety data related to serious hypersensitivity, cardiovascular events and deaths. Heiden said conducting a new study with safety as the main goal would be easier than conducting an efficacy study, adding that Amag could begin a trial this year, if it came to an agreement with the FDA. “The treatment period is fairly short and there’s a fairly short followup,” he said. “The size of the trial and enrolment would be the determining factor on how long the trial would run.”  This is not the first time Amag has faced problems related to Feraheme, which is marketed as Rienso in Europe. Last May, one of Amag’s partners, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, recalled a batch of Rienso because of a death and several cases of hypersensitivity. In one of the late-stage trials conducted for the drug’s wider approval, Amag reported three deaths, of which two were in the Feraheme-controlled group, but none related to the drug. The regulator said the company had not provided enough information for the FDA to label the drug as safe for use in patients with adult iron deficiency anemia (IDA) who have failed or cannot tolerate oral iron treatment. The drug, Feraheme, is already approved to treat iron deficiency anemia in adult chronic kidney disease patients. Amag’s shares were down about 8 percent at $20.14 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.",
            "output": [
                "FDA rejects wider use of Amag anemia drug; shares slide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e84948255d2144b7b4919332871fd13e",
            "input": "The Southern Environmental Law Center submitted its response Friday to a two-month test run the Army Corps of Engineers conducted to show it could mechanically replace a small loss of dissolved oxygen in the stretch of the Savannah River being deepened to make room for larger cargo ships. “Overall, it appears that the Test Run report shows that the Oxygen Injection System is capable of delivering oxygen to the river,” law center attorney Chris DeScherer said in a letter to the Army Corps. “However, we remain skeptical that the System will effectively work in perpetuity to mitigate for the impacts of the project.” The Army Corps is spending $100 million to build a pair of stations on the river equipped with large machines that suck in water, swirl it with oxygen pulled from the air and inject the mixture back into the river. The agency plans to run the oxygen injectors indefinitely, roughly from June through September each year when summer heat can cause dissolved oxygen levels in the harbor to drop below minimum standards set by Georgia and South Carolina. The agency estimates it will cost $3 million per year to pump extra oxygen into the waterway shared by Georgia and South Carolina, which is home to endangered shortnose sturgeon as well as species including striped bass and blue crabs. A 2013 court settlement required a successful test before the agency can resume dredging of the 27-mile (43-kilometer) shipping channel that links the Savannah port to the Atlantic Ocean. The project has been on hold since reaching its halfway point in March 2018. The Corps declared last month that tests performed between March and May exceeded expectations. It reported the machines pumped roughly 13,300 pounds (6,070 kilograms) of oxygen into the river daily, beating its target of 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms). And it found that on average 95% of the extra oxygen stayed in the water instead of escaping into the air — compared to an 80% target. DeScherer noted the tests were performed during the spring, rather than in summer when dissolved oxygen in the river tends to be lower. And the stretch of river where the machines were tested has yet to be deepened. The legal settlement prohibited deepening that portion of the waterway until after the machines were tested. Conservation groups and South Carolina state agencies had sued the Army Corps in federal court, arguing the harbor expansion would cause irreversible environmental damage. A settlement reached in 2013 stated that the plaintiffs could terminate the deal if the Corps couldn’t prove the oxygen machines worked. DeScherer’s letter said the environmental groups that sued won’t scrap the settlement despite their doubts about the oxygen machines. The deal included other environmental concessions such as $15 million for wetlands protection and $3 million for monitoring endangered fish species in the river. It’s not clear what the South Carolina agencies that were part of the lawsuit will do. A spokesman for the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control did not immediately return an email seeking comment Sunday.",
            "output": [
                "Groups ‘skeptical’ of Savannah harbor oxygen injector test."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-427f8bf6f7a14c00b57d782591a38ce5",
            "input": "On 26 January 2018, a Connecticut woman posted video to her Facebook page that was apparently video from a hidden camera showing California high school teacher Gregory Salcido talking pejoratively about the U.S. military:  Salcido is both a long-time teacher at El Rancho High School and a city councilman in Pico Rivera, a working-class city of roughly 63,000 in southeast Los Angeles County. When we contacted him, he declined to comment. In the videos, which were secretly recorded by senior Victor Quinonez, Salcido’s comments were often met with students’ laughter. He criticizes military recruitment on the high school’s campus and derides the glorification of the military, saying statements made by United States President Donald Trump about the its greatness are overblown. In the quote that drew the most outrage, Salcido said: We got all our freaking night vision goggles, all that kind of stuff, and we can’t freaking control these dudes wearing freaking robes and chanclas. Because we got a bunch of dumb shits over there. Think about the people who you know who are over there, your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whoever, they’re dumb shits. They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people. They’re the freaking lowest of our low. Not morally. I’m not saying they make bad moral decisions. They’re not talented people. […] How come when you go to like the Rose Bowl, Rose Parade, Dodger opening day, why after the national anthem do we have a killing machine fly over the freaking stadium? You know the stealth bomber’s out there and everyone’s like, “Yeah that’s what we kill people with!” Like why would that be something we celebrate? I don’t get it. Anyway, you better not freaking go. The comments drew a rather intense round of what has become a familiar pattern of viral Internet outrage and backlash. In response to the controversy, Salcido has been officially admonished by the Pico Rivera City Council and stripped of his committee assignments. He has been placed on leave by the El Rancho Unified School District while the incident is under scrutiny. Even the United States Department of Defense has weighed in, calling Salcido’s comments “uninformed.” Salcido told the Los Angeles Times he was receiving “vulgar and violent threats” directed against himself and his family. Pico Rivera is a tight-knit, primarily Latino suburb that has a strong tradition of honoring veterans and a large military-serving community, with two Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and two American Legion auxiliaries, said Mayor Gustavo Camacho. Speaking by phone, Camacho told us: I respect the First Amendment and freedom of speech and Mr. Salcido is entitled to his freedom of speech. But I want to remind him that the reason he has that freedom is because of the men and women who lost their lives in order for us to have that freedom of speech. Many folks can listen to an audio and interpret it as they see fit. If you have an opinion about recruitment or a particular college recruiter, why don’t we tell our kids, “These are our options. I think this is a better option and let me help you get there,” rather than saying they’re dumb shits. I and my fellow council members strongly disagree with Mr. Salcido’s statements and viewpoints. Frankly we denounce those statements. But Trinity College sociology professor and U.S. Army veteran Johnny Eric Williams said although Salcido’s comments were delivered clumsily, the teacher shouldn’t be formally punished for making them, calling the response troubling and overblown. Williams himself was the subject of a separate Internet outrage storm in June 2017, when a post on his personal Facebook page intended to criticize structural racism and white supremacy went viral after right-wing web sites interpreted it as racist toward white people. Williams, who is African-American, received death threats and told us that he continues to get them to this day. He added: The classroom is your social space where people can say things they wouldn’t say normally out of the classroom setting so they can seriously interrogate it. It sounds like he was trying to provoke the kids to think about why a student would wear a Marines shirt without thinking about what the Marines do. Clearly it didn’t come across well, but it’s a classroom setting. He’s not doing a major speech, he’s trying to get kids to think about what the role of the military is. It’s not simply to protect freedom, as they say generically. The question is, freedom to do what and whose freedoms? That’s the question that should be asked. Why would a kid record a teacher like that in the first place without him knowing? I think that’s a level of cowardice and of unwillingness to participate that is unfathomable to me. It was done with malice. All education is about integrating people into what it means to be an American. One of the most important things is to be someone who questions, who thinks critically and dissents. That’s the most patriotic thing someone can do. Williams told us that as a veteran, he found Salcido’s comments about the intelligence of service members to be unfounded and an excellent example of intellectual elitism: What happens is the U.S. military is the last option for folks in rural and poverty-stricken areas. There’s no other opportunity for them. But the idea that these folks are not smart, I don’t agree with that at all. That’s how I got through college. I had to do it because I didn’t have money. That’s why you have a voluntary army, because these people have nothing else they can do. Then they go and die while the kids with money go to college and don’t even think about the fact that we’re in eternal war. Nevertheless, Williams cautioned that lacking the freedom to criticize the military is akin to fascism. He added: At this historical moment in time, people are more interested in how something is said, rather than what is said and what it means. Quinonez told local news station KTLA he recorded Salcido because he wants to join the Marine Corps and was tired of the teacher’s negative commentary on the military. Pico Rivera is a thriving community with a growing economy, but it’s no stranger to cut-throat politics and controversy — and neither is Salcido. However, much of the controversy in the city’s past has been contained to the local level. In 2010, he ignited debate when he took the helm in the city’s rotating mayoral position, then removed a Bible from the Council chamber’s dais and put a halt to invocation, saying it was unconstitutional. He was also placed on administrative leave by the school district that year after admonishing a student to be quiet by saying, “Shut up, Kelly, before I kill you.” Salcido said at the time the comment was purposefully over-the-top and intended in jest. The child’s parent, Gerald Kelly, said he was angry because Salcido was talking about marriage equality for LGBTQ people, criticizing organized religion, and (again) speaking critically of the military in class: This is the mayor and he’s out here destroying these kids’ minds. Why allow him to lead this city when he stands for non-religious beliefs and that it’s OK to be against the Bible, [says it’s OK to be] homosexual and defames people in the military? Salcido has clashed with his peers on the city council in the past as well, often as their vocal critic amid allegations of public corruption. Although Salcido has faced widespread criticism for his remarks, he has historically been a popular teacher with students. Some of his current and former students have come to his defense, averring that the teacher also promised to fully support a student if he decided to join the military in spite of Salcido’s discouragement. (This purported gesture of reassurance was not shown in the videos.) More generally, students have described Salcido as “real,” “inspiring” and “loved.” One of Salcido’s current students, a senior at El Rancho High School, spoke to us anonymously. (We have verified the student’s identity.) That student described Salcido as a teacher who “cares greatly about his students’ success” but deliberately provokes debate in his classes and encourages his students to have “deep conversations.” The student also told us that Salcido “sometimes has a very sarcastic sense of humor, and sometimes it may be taken the wrong way,” but offered the opinion that the teacher was expressing his “genuine beliefs” in the video clips: Not a lot of teachers can keep their students captivated as much as he can. He really is one of a kind. He likes to get us thinking and he genuinely cares about what the students think… He’s one of those guys that you would be happy to see every day and a person to always make you laugh. On 20 March 2018, the El Rancho Unified School District Board voted to terminate Salcido’s employment as a teacher at El Rancho High School. As reported by the Whittier Daily News, Salcido has one month in which he can appeal the decision, during which time he will remain on unpaid leave.",
            "output": [
                "\"California schoolteacher Gregory Salcido called members of the United States military \"\"the lowest of our low\"\" during a classroom discussion.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9536dc2c8fe0483d8af7734a2fc1fabe",
            "input": "Bloomberg’s detractors have derided him for trying to impose a “nanny state” in America’s largest city, pointing to his bans on smoking, trans fats and the attempt to limit the sale of large sugary drinks. Public health advocates have applauded those same efforts. Only weeks after New York became the first major city to raise the legal age for buying tobacco to 21, the City Council will vote on a ban that would add electronic cigarettes to the city’s Smoke-Free Air Act. If the bill passes, smoking e-cigarettes - or “vaping” - would be prohibited at public and private venues such as beaches, parks, restaurants and office buildings. “While more research is needed on electronic cigarettes, waiting to act could jeopardize the progress we have made over the last few years,” New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said at a city council hearing on the bill earlier this month. E-cigarettes are slim, reusable metal tubes that contain nicotine-laced liquid in a variety of exotic flavors such as bubble gum and bacon. As a “smoker” puffs on the device, the nicotine is heated and releases a vapor that, unlike cigarette smoke, contains no tar, which is known to cause cancer and other diseases. Critics of the law contend that such a ban would do more harm than good. Richard Carmona, a former U.S. Surgeon General and a current board member at NJOY, one of America’s largest electronic cigarette manufacturers, sent a letter to the council recently to urge rejection of the bill. “I’m extremely concerned that a well-intentioned but scientifically unsupported effort like the current proposal to include electronic cigarettes in New York’s current smoking ban, could constitute a giant step backward in the effort to defeat tobacco smoking,” Carmona wrote. The debate over risks versus benefits of e-cigarettes is far from being settled, but a study published recently in the British medical journal, The Lancet, said they are as effective as nicotine patches for smokers trying to kick the habit. Three states - Utah, North Dakota and New Jersey - and Washington, D.C. have already passed legislation banning e-cigarettes wherever smoking is prohibited.",
            "output": [
                "New York City Council mulls adding e-cigarettes to smoking ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad3500ff41e740b0b53015aab5218614",
            "input": "In his urban legend book The Baby Train, folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand writes that he first heard the “dead body found under hotel bed” legend in 1991. Every version that came to him mentioned a Las Vegas hotel, but the lack of checkable details led him to believe this was an apocryphal tale. Okay, so we can date the appearance of this legend to 1991. Unlike a number of other such gruesome tales, this legend appears to have sprung from a misremembering of any one of a number of actual news items, with the talebearer shifting certain details so that deaths which took place in anonymous little motels along Interstates are said to have happened in Las Vegas, America’s own Sin City, and victims who’d (usually) done little else amiss than be in the wrong place at the wrong time and/or take up with questionable company were transformed through the magic of retelling into prostitutes. Dead bodies get stashed in the box spring or the bed’s pedestal more often than you’d want to believe. What’s more, a fair number of them are only discovered days later … after the new tenant complains about a persistent and disagreeable odor. In each of the following cases not only were bodies discovered under hotel beds, but it was investigations of the smell of decomposition that led to their discoveries. On 10 July 2003, a man checked into the Capri Motel, just east of downtown Kansas City, and began complaining about a foul odor in his room. Management told him nothing could be done about the problem, and he spent three nights in his room before checking out because he could no longer stand the smell. When the cleaning staff came in to make up the room on 13 July, they lifted the mattress and underneath found a man’s body in an advanced stage of decomposition. On 10 June 1999 the rapidly decomposing remains of 64-year-old Saul Hernandez were discovered inside the bed in Room 112 at the Burgundy Motor Inn in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A German couple had spent the night sleeping over Hernandez’s remains, and it was their complaint to the manager about the smell in their room which led to the discovery of the corpse. In July 1996 a woman’s body was found under a mattress in the Colorado Boulevard Travelodge in Pasadena, CA. Apparently the motel’s staff discovered her ten days after her demise and only after guests had complained for several days of a foul odor coming from that room. There were two stashed-and-smelly body cases in Florida in 1994. (Further adding to the confusability of these stories’ taking place in the same year and the same state, in both instances the next tenants those rooms had were German tourists.) In August 1994 in Fort Lauderdale, hotel staff discovered the body of 47-year-old Bryan Gregory tucked under a platform bed. Though the staff had themselves noticed the strange smell for days, they only set about looking for its source after a German couple spent the night in that room and afterwards complained about the odor. In March 1994 the body of 24-year-old Josefina Martinez was found underneath a bed at the Traveler’s Hotel near Miami International Airport. Again, the discovery was prompted by an aggrieved German tourist upset about a foul odor in his room. In Virginia in 1989, Jerry Lee Dunbar disposed of the remains of two victims this way: 27-year-old Deirdre Smith, who was discovered in May under the floor of a motel room on Route 1, and 29-year-old Marilyn Graham, who turned up in June under a bed in the Alexandria Econo Lodge. In Smith’s case, the killer first kept her body partially hidden under his bed for two days, then subsequently placed it in the crawl space under the carpeted floor. Her presence seemingly didn’t bother him, because he didn’t move out of that room until three or four weeks later. Both girls’ bodies were eventually found after other guests complained about the stink. In Mineola, New York, motel in 1988, a body turned up in a box spring. The remains of 29-year-old Mary Jean DeOliviera were found at the Oceanside Motel. Again, the body was discovered days later and only after other patrons complained about the smell. At least two other guests unknowingly cohabited with the body before it was found, and at least one guest refused to stay in that room because of the smell. Here’s a change of pace — not a murder, but a death by misadventure. In Rosedale, Maryland in 1987, an unidentified man died of a drug overdose after one of the thirty-four balloons of heroin he’d swallowed burst. His partner stashed the corpse under their motel bed, then split. Three days later, the family the room was next rented to complained about the odor, and this led to the body’s discovery. One of the oldest “smelly body left under the bed” sightings comes from 1982. Richard Kuklinski, Daniel Deppner, and Gary Smith often teamed together to run auto theft scams. Kuklinski and Deppner decided to kill Smith, and they accomplished this by feeding him a cyanide-laced hamburger in a North Bergen, New Jersey, motel room. Kuklinkski finished off Smith by strangling him when watching Smith die of poisoning proved tiresome. Smith’s body was stuffed under the bed and left there. It was found four days later, on 27 December 1982. During the intervening four days, the room had been rented to others each night. Guests had wrinkled their noses at the smell, but none thought to look under the bed. That case has seemingly been topped by one in which Sony Millbrook of Memphis, Tennessee, was reported missing on 27 January 2010 after she failed to pick up her children from school. Forty-seven days later, on 15 March 2010, homicide investigators were called to the room of a Budget Inn motel where Millbrook had been living just prior to her disappearance, her body having just been discovered inside the frame of the bed there — even though the room had reportedly been cleaned and rented several times since her disappearance almost seven weeks earlier. There are, of course, numerous other cases of dead bodies being left under hotel beds, but I’ve chosen not to report on these because they lack the key element of the legend: complaints about the presence of a horrific smell leading to the corpse’s discovery. What gives this urban legend its chills-down-the-spine gruesomeness is the body’s being found only after an unsuspecting traveler spends the night sleeping above it. That clearly happened in at least some of the cases mentioned here (and perhaps in others where the news reports stated only that hotel guests had complained without specifying which guests). Urban legends tend to localize to where we believe they likely would have happened. It’s easy to understand how in each of the versions Brunvand related that Las Vegas was always named as the city where the corpse reposed, for Vegas is indeed viewed as Sin City, USA. Much easier to believe that the unsuspecting traveler shared his room with a moldering corpse in Las Vegas than it is to (rightly) place that occurrence in small-town New York, Virginia, or Maryland. Especially when dealing with a half-remembered true story, it’s natural for the “obvious” details to replace facts that have been misplaced due to ordinary fuzziness of memory. One, after all, does not let a lack of certainty stand in the way of a good story. Keep in mind that the Deirdre Smith (1989, Virginia), Marilyn Graham (1989, Virginia), Mary Jean DeOliviera (1988, New York), John Doe (1987, Maryland), and Gary Smith (1982, New York) cases antedate 1991. Gruesome finds like those tend to get heavily reported on, and that certainly happened with Smith, Graham and DeOliviera (the cites below don’t begin to do justice to the coverage these discoveries got — they were reported on by a double handful of various papers across the USA). It is because of that widespread coverage that I lean towards this legend’s having sprung to life out of a true story whose location got shifted from Your Town, USA (where only nice people live) to Sin City (where life and room rates are cheap).",
            "output": [
                "A vacationing couple staying in a foul-smelling motel room discovered a body hidden under their bed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ccd4061bc9b64a3492ac1540fd34c237",
            "input": "The Arkansas Department of Health issued the public health directive in a Nov. 22 letter that stated students without at least two doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine either be vaccinated immediately or be barred from classrooms and school activities for at least 26 days. Brothers Shiloh Isaiah and Benjamin Andrew Bemis asked the Washington County Circuit to issue a temporary injunction, arguing “that the University of Arkansas failed to recognize and uphold our philosophical beliefs as enrolled students -- beliefs which include the choice to abstain from vaccinations.”   In a one-sentence order, Judge Doug Martin on Tuesday denied their request to be allowed to return to their classes without getting the vaccinations. Martin’s order didn’t explain the reason for the decision. Shiloh Bemis, 21, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he’s disappointed in the court’s order. “On a larger level, we are taking issue with the fact that we don’t think we’ve quite been given a choice that fully takes into account what we believe our rights to be,” the third-year architecture student from Fayetteville said. Benjamin Bemis didn’t respond to the Democrat-Gazette’s request for comment. State law requires vaccinations for students, but it also allows exemptions for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. But the state Health Department said even exempted students must heed the public health directive. “Even if they have an exemption, they still are supposed to be excluded from class and activities, since they are much more susceptible to getting the infection,” said Dr. Joel Tumlison, a physician specialist in the health department’s outbreak response team. “For any student, whether simply undervaccinated or with an exemption, if they change their mind and get the vaccine, they can then return to class/activities.” University spokesman Mark Rushing said the school will continue to follow the health department’s instructions. The university has had 26 mumps cases since September, according to health officials. As of last week, 168 students lacked the required vaccinations to attend classes, UA spokesman Zac Brown said.",
            "output": [
                "Arkansas judge denies students’ appeal to vaccination policy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2f3c9fc90354ec08b91eef0c60385f0",
            "input": "Pakistan has reported the highest number of coronavirus infections in South Asia, with 1,179 cases and nine deaths, but health experts say there is a lack of public awareness about the virus and the cash-strapped government is ill-prepared to tackle it. The Edhi Foundation has for decades stepped in to help when government services fail communities and it runs the country’s largest ambulance service. Now it has had to train dozens of staff on how to handle suspected coronavirus patients. But providing them with proper protection is a problem given a nationwide shortage of the equipment. “We’ve compromised on certain things and use alternatives,” Faisal Edhi, head of the Edhi Foundation, told Reuters at his office in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, on Thursday. “Full aprons are in short supply in the market.”  He said he was confident the raincoats would work just as well. Doctors in the capital, Islamabad, last week threatened to go on strike over a lack of protective equipment in hospitals. The health ministry has acknowledged some problems with facilities and shortages of equipment to tackle the virus and officials have said they are importing personal protection equipment from China. Edhi said his organisation was getting dozens of calls a day from people worried that they or their relatives were infected with the coronavirus. “We advise them to self-isolate and separate the utensils,” he said. (This refile corrects spelling of first name of head of aid group, paragraph five)",
            "output": [
                "Raincoats and rubber boots for Pakistani aid workers in coronavirus fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9efc84329c5f48b58afbe6638e91f4ab",
            "input": "The Health Department said Wednesday that different variations of the virus are circulating in different parts of the state. The agency says 21 pneumonia and flu deaths have been reported so far this season. Last season, 237 New Mexicans died of pneumonia and/or influenza. Symptoms may include rapid onset of illness with fever, cough, sore throat, headache and/or muscle aches. New Mexico Health Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel says with the holidays approaching, it’s important that people take preventive measures such as getting vaccinated, covering coughs and staying home when sick. Officials say the peak of the flu season is still to come.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: Flu activity widespread in New Mexico."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d0774f5294194e0383c92f467f72403d",
            "input": "More than 1.7 million cases of chlamydia (kluh-MID’-ee-uh) were reported last year. The infection rate rose 3% from 2017. It’s the most ever reported in a year, though the trend is mainly attributed to increased testing. About 580,000 gonorrhea (gah-nuh-REE’-uh) cases were reported. That’s the highest number since 1991. The rate rose 5%. Scientists worry antibiotic resistance may be a factor. And the syphilis rate rose 15%. About 35,000 cases of the most contagious forms of the disease were reported — also the most since 1991. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the numbers Tuesday. The increases coincided with public health funding cuts and clinic closures.",
            "output": [
                "3 sexually transmitted diseases hit new highs again in US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abb36340a7b24a0395507728d60461cd",
            "input": "The four-time Grammy winner, who will turn 70 on Sept. 26, told Australian news program “Sunday Night” doctors found a tumor in her lower back in 2017. Newton-John says she’s “treating it naturally and doing really well.” The “Grease” star says for pain, she is taking cannabis oil, made from marijuana her husband grows in California. She has undergone radiation treatments and has cut sugar out of her diet. She said, “I believe I will win over it.” She said she hopes her native Australia will legalize medical marijuana. Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, undergoing a partial mastectomy and reconstruction. She was diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2013.",
            "output": [
                "Olivia Newton-John diagnosed with cancer for 3rd time."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-961e5c961f9b4cfba3b43d56a5642013",
            "input": "That’s the question a team of students and professors at the University of Alabama is trying to determine. In many parts of the Black Belt, homeowners are resorting to “straight pipe” systems to dispose of wastewater and sewage, rather than sewers or septic tanks because of a type of thick, clay soil and widespread poverty across isolated areas. In those instances, untreated wastewater and sewage are simply flushed out of a plain PVC pipe from the house into the woods, or even the backyard, raising concerns about tropical diseases like hookworm and other public health issues. Al.com reports University of Alabama graduate students and professors, backed by a federal grant, are joining efforts to determine just how widespread these practices are and what can be done about them. The UA team received a $15,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “People, Prosperity and the Planet,” program, a competition for students proposing a yearlong project to address an environmental or public health issue. The students will use computer models to map how widespread sanitation issues are in Alabama’s Black Belt, a region plagued with sewage and wastewater problems and reports of tropical diseases like hookworm that are associated with poor sanitation. The student project will go hand-in-hand with efforts by university researchers and state and federal agencies. University of Alabama civil engineering professor Mark Elliott, a faculty adviser for the project, said the Black Belt is being hampered by a combination of poor soil conditions where traditional septic systems don’t work, high levels of poverty, and people living in relatively isolated areas where connecting to municipal sewer lines is not an option. Elliott said the “shrink-swell clays” that make up about half the soil in the Black Belt don’t allow water to flow through, and make most septic systems “almost impossible to use.” “So in that situation, understandably, many people, especially poor people, have decided not to waste their money on a system that they know is going to fail,” Elliott said. One survey conducted by UA and the Alabama Department of Public Health found that 60 percent of homes surveyed in Wilcox County that weren’t connected to municipal sewer lines had a visible straight pipe. Though disposing of waste through a straight pipe is illegal, most of the people who resort to such methods cannot afford to install a septic system, and in large areas in the Black Belt, most septic systems would not work anyway. The Alabama Department of Public Health has decreased emphasis on fining offenders and instead is focused on finding workable solutions. In recent months, political figures including Cory Booker, Al Gore and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have attempted to draw attention to the area’s struggles, but it’s still not clear just how widespread those problems are. “There’s been publicity around this issue, particularly in Lowndes County, for a long time but the scope of the problem was never really defined,” Elliott said. “It was presented as a series of anecdotes, and that made it hard to define how much it would cost to fix the problem and what solutions would be appropriate.” The students, led by UA graduate student Aaron Blackwell, plan to construct a computer model to estimate how likely a home is to have a straight pipe, based on factors such as soil conditions, existing infrastructure, population density and property values. The students will apply their model to five of the 17 counties traditionally included in Alabama’s Black Belt: Lowndes, Wilcox, Perry, Dallas and Hale Counties. UA’s team is in the first phase of the program, and will attend the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo in Boston in June to showcase its research. The team can then apply for a second-phase grant for funding up to $100,000 to further the project design. Other members of the team include Joseph Weber, UA professor of geological sciences, Sagy Cohen, UA associate professor of geological sciences, and Rebecca Greenberg, a UA graduate student studying geology. The students’ project will be part of a larger collaborative effort involving a group of state and federal health and environmental agencies, universities and elected officials to find solutions to the problems. That group, dubbed the Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management Consortium, continues to meet to discuss which potential solutions might work best and how to pay for those solutions. Elliott said one idea that is frequently discussed among the group is identifying clusters of houses that could be grouped together to use smaller-scale treatment systems that that would be more effective than a typical septic system but less expensive than expanding municipal sewer lines to remote areas.",
            "output": [
                "University of Alabama team look at untreated sewage issue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1bc548864b60434e8ad3a9bcba579b24",
            "input": "\"No cost was discussed. Benefits were described but only in relative terms. Half of what? A third of what? We wish absolute data were provided. Potential  harms were listed but not quantified. How often do they occur? The radio piece didn’t give much information on how the studies were done – and therefore, not much on the quality of the evidence. But the NPR online piece at least offered direct links to both studies and to an editorial – something often overlooked by many news organizations covering studies in journals. For that reason, we give this a satisfactory grade. There was no disease mongering. The story used one independent expert source in addition to interviewing one of the study authors. For a short radio and web piece, the story did a good job of comparing the new drugs with injections (through the story of a patient’s experience) and mentioning the problems with another MS drug Tysbari and mentioning another new oral MS drug that may be approved soon. The story was clear that the drugs in question are not yet on the market and that \"\"federal regulators may go slowly with the two new drugs.\"\" The story appropriately addressed the novelty of the oral drugs – and added something the AP and LA Times stories did not – about approval of another new oral MS drug that may occur soon. The story clearly did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "MS Patients May Soon Bypass Painful Injections"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b0bda0a62c54fb0a03900a6d7571655",
            "input": "\"There was no estimate of the costs associated with obtaining the amounts of vitamin D mentioned in the story. The story did an adequate job quantifying the benefits found in the meta-analysis:  \"\"Over an average of nearly six years, those who took vitamin D had a 7 percent lower risk of death from all causes than those who did not. Some scientists say more years of study would give better clues as to how large a role vitamin D plays in decreasing mortality. Others point out that while there was a statistically significant 7 percent drop in mortality in Autier’s analysis, because of the size of the study that only accounted for a difference of 117 people who died in the control groups as compared with those who took vitamin D supplements.\"\" The story made it appear as though any form of vitamin D were safe to consume in whatever dosage a reader might envisage and this is misleading. It mentioned \"\"there is little evidence of vitamin D toxicity at levels under 10,000 IU a day\"\", and while rare, there are cases of lethal doses of vitamin D that have been documented. The story could have explained that there are definite harms of excess vitamin D. The story did an adequate job explaining the 18-study meta-analysis. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included comments from several researchers involved with investigating the benefits of vitamin D who were not connected to the authors of the highlighted study. The story covered the various means for obtaining sufficient levels of vitamin D (food, sunshine, functional foods, and supplements). It could have explained that the application of high SPF value creams and lotions blocks the body’s ability to convert sunlight into circulating vitamin D. The story mentioned that commercially available vitamin D supplements were available, listed some food sources rich in vitamin D, as well as other foods which are fortified with the vitamin. The story was clear that it was reporting on the results of a recently published meta-analysis of previously published data. Does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Vitamin D might be factor in longer life"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e0a3b43a920049d89a19d31b1b5f4ef8",
            "input": "The department revealed it had contemplated using the drug in a court filing last month, which has not been previously reported. In the end, it decided against adopting the drug for executions. Attorney General William Barr announced in July his department instead would use pentobarbital, a barbiturate, when it resumes federal executions later this year, ending a de facto moratorium on the punishment put in place by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. But the special consideration given to the possibilities of fentanyl, even as federal agents were focused on seizing illegal imports of the synthetic opioid, show how much has changed since the federal government last carried out an execution nearly 20 years ago. Many pharmaceutical companies have since put tight controls on their distribution channels to stop their drugs being used in executions. As old supply chains vanished, many states, and the federal government in turn, have been forced to tinker with their lethal recipes. They have experimented with different drugs, in some cases leading to grisly “botched” executions in which the condemned prisoners have visibly suffered prolonged, excruciating deaths, viewed by some as a breach of the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual” punishments. In 2017, Nebraska and Nevada announced they would use fentanyl, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine, in new multi-drug execution protocols. By 2018, the U.S. Justice Department was also examining the “use of fentanyl as part of a lethal injection protocol,” according to a three-page internal memorandum from March 2018 by the director of the department’s Bureau of Prisons. The Justice Department revealed the memo’s existence in an August court filing after a federal judge ordered it to produce a complete “administrative record” showing how it arrived at the new pentobarbital execution protocol announced in July. The full contents of the memo are not public. It is not known why the department decided to examine fentanyl, what supply channels were considered or why it ultimately rejected fentanyl as a protocol. The government’s court filing shows the only other named drug examined as the subject of a department memo was pentobarbital, the drug it now says it wants to use in December and January to kill five of the 61 prisoners awaiting execution on federal death row. Wyn Hornbuckle, a department spokesman, declined to share a copy of the memo or to answer questions about the government’s execution protocol. Mark Inch, who was the Bureau of Prisons’ director at the time, acknowledged in a brief telephone interview writing the memo. Inch, who abruptly resigned a couple months after writing the memo, declined to answer questions, in part because he said it would be in conflict with his current role running Florida’s Department of Corrections. Doctors can prescribe fentanyl for treating severe pain. In recent years, illegal fentanyl has become a common additive in bootleg pain pills and other street drugs, contributing to the tens of thousands of opioid overdose deaths in the country each year. Even tiny quantities can slow or stop a person’s breathing. Earlier this year, an Ohio lawmaker proposed using some of the illegal fentanyl seized from drug traffickers to execute condemned inmates. Death penalty researchers say that just because a drug is deadly does not mean it is always appropriate as an execution drug. “I don’t think it’d be a surprise that the government would be looking at alternative methods of carrying out lethal injection, and fentanyl has been in the news,” Robert Dunham, the director of the Washington-based non-profit group the Death Penalty Information Center, said in an interview. “But there is just something fundamentally wrong about using a drug implicated in illegal activities as your method of executing prisoners.”   In August 2018, Carey Dean Moore became the first person in the United States to be executed using a protocol that included fentanyl. Nebraska prison officials injected him with fentanyl and three other drugs. Moore took 23 minutes to die. Witnesses said that before succumbing, Moore breathed heavily and coughed and that his face turned red, then purple.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: While battling opioid crisis, U.S. government weighed using fentanyl for executions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d5018cd27825473e9554eaed1abb9e7a",
            "input": "The story provided several estimates for the cost of gastric banding; it also discussed insurance coverage, i.e. that the procedure was not always covered by insurance. While the story mentioned weight loss, health improvement, and longer life, it failed to provide quantitative estimates for these. The story provided quantitative information on the disease reduction obtained with the use of this device in individuals with type II diabetes. Although the story did mention that weight loss is slower with gastric banding than with gastric bypass, it failed to provide quantitative information about the amount or rate of weight loss attained with banding. The story should also have mentioned that long-term followup finds for those whose diabetes resolves following gastric banding, about half re-develop diabetes at 10 years. The story mentioned weight regain as well as some of the side effects that occur with the use of this device. For a more complete discussion, it should have included information about how frequently these occur. When discussing the effect of gastric banding on type II diabetes, the story mentioned the research about the use of this device for this population. It mentioned the evidence about safety and effectiveness and where it had been published. As for the impact of the banding procedure on weight, the story neglected to include information on the average weight loss seen but did include several patient anecdotes. However the story was more focused on the marketing strategies for this device rather than the health claims per se. The story did not engage in disease mongering. The story included primary quotes from clinicians, industry spokespersons, and individuals who had undergone gastric banding. The story included a pretty comprehensive comparison between gastric banding and gastric bypass, another type of weight loss surgery. It only mentioned diet and exercise in passing and failed to mention medication that can be used for weight loss. The story provided a very complete discussion about the various venues at which gastric banding was available. The story provided a pretty complete history of the use of gastric banding. Does not rely on a press release",
            "output": [
                "Industry Giants Push Obesity Surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca324c4c638a44268bdcf0e4d1659662",
            "input": "The filmmaker was flabbergasted when he entered a nursing home on a commission to film a few clips for a website. “I walked into these hallways with hundreds of residents in wheelchairs just sitting on the side of the hallway, and I had felt like I’d entered into Dante’s ‘Inferno,’” he said. That visit, though, eventually sparked “Alive Inside,” an award-winning independent documentary on musical therapy for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological ailments. When Rossato-Bennett started filming three years ago he met Henry. The 94-year-old man was crumpled in his wheelchair with his head down, eyes closed and hands clasped. He had been in a nursing home for a decade and couldn’t recognize his daughter. But when a nurse put headphones over Henry’s ears and played his favorite music, he began to shuffle his feet, move his arms and sing. “It was like a resurrection of life in a person,” Rossato-Bennett, 53, said. “Then when we took the headphones off the guy, and we started talking to him, the being revealed itself. He had this incredible voice and he spoke poetry, like greater poetry than I’m capable of.”  Henry’s story, which went viral a few years ago when the video clip was released online, is a common occurrence in the film that has begun its rollout into U.S. theaters this month after winning the audience award for top U.S. documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary chronicles New York social worker Dan Cohen’s effort to bring such therapy to dementia patients as a way to lessen the use of medication and combat its cost on a strained healthcare system about to absorb aging Baby Boomers. Cohen, the 62-year-old founder of Music & Memory, a program that seeks to make musical therapy a standard part of nursing home care, began using the treatment in 2006. “It was just an instant hit,” Cohen said with a snap of his fingers. His program is now in more than 600 facilities worldwide. Music, which targets areas of the brain not affected by dementia, brings back a sense of identity to dementia patients neurologist and author Oliver Sacks says in the film. “If you give somebody music for an hour, they’re going to be in a better mood for the day, which is really no different if a relative visits,” Cohen added. The film shows patients singing and dancing, seemingly re-animated while listening to music. At one point, Henry sings in the scat style of jazzman Cab Calloway, his favorite singer. “When people see this they get it,” Cohen said. Many of the subjects, which also includes a woman with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, show deep emotional resonance to the music. “Music is a companion to our becoming,” Rossato-Bennett said. “So to enter the desert of soul and bring back something that precious is a great gift.”",
            "output": [
                "Alzheimer's documentary 'Alive Inside' pushes for music therapy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-646e4d07eeae44a88fcaab234fcc7b69",
            "input": "\"A Republican group has launched a racy ad saying Colorado state Sen. Morgan Carroll, a Democratic congressional candidate, voted to allow welfare recipients to use public benefit cards at ATMs in strip clubs and marijuana dispensaries. The National Republican Congressional Committee’s ad shows how down and dirty the race between Carroll and Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman is getting in the final sprint to Election Day. They’re fighting over suburban Denver’s 6th Congressional District, one of the nation’s most competitive swing districts. \"\"Career politicians waste lots of money. Morgan Carroll is one of the worst,\"\" the narrator says at the beginning of the ad, titled \"\"Clubs.\"\" \"\"Carroll voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries,\"\" the narrator continues as the video shifts from Carroll addressing the Legislature to her standing at a podium in front of a red neon silhouette of a nude female figure and the words \"\"STRIPPERS\"\" and \"\"MORGAN CARROLL\"\" on a brick wall. There's a row of marijuana-filled jars beside the senator. \"\"It's enough to make you ask, 'What's Morgan Carroll thinking?' Welfare for lap dances? Morgan Carroll is careless with our money,\"\" the ad concludes. We examined the claim that \"\"Carroll voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries.\"\" The facts are fairly straightforward. Carroll was among a dozen Democratic senators who voted against final passage of a 2015 bill to prohibit welfare recipients from using state-issued electronic benefit transfer (or EBT) cards to obtain cash from ATMs at pot shops and strip clubs. Low-income families use these debit cards to buy \"\"essential goods\"\" such as food and clothing and to help pay for utilities and rent. Senate Bill 65, which became law, expanded on existing state law prohibiting people from using the cards to withdraw ATM cash at liquor stores, casinos and gun shops. Federal law already required states to prevent people receiving public benefits from using EBT cards at liquor stores, gambling and adult entertainment venues. Colorado also has had trouble preventing people from withdrawing ATM cash totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars at casinos and liquor stores, according to Watchdog.org. State officials and lawmakers warned that Colorado would face financial sanctions for failing to comply with federal prohibitions against EBT card use at strip clubs. There were also concerns about a federal crackdown after several reports of people using the benefit cards at shops selling medical or recreational marijuana -- a drug that’s legal under state law but illegal under federal law. \"\"We stand to lose a lot if we don't show we are trying\"\" to prevent the use of tax money for marijuana, Republican Sen. Vicki Marble, a primary sponsor of the bill, told the Associated Press last year. \"\"The growers here put in a lot of time and effort. A raid would be absolutely devastating to our state.\"\" Why did Carroll -- along with many other Democratic senators -- vote against the bill? \"\"The reason she voted against it was because of 'banking deserts,' where many poor people don't have\"\" bank ATMs in their neighborhoods, said Carroll campaign spokesman Drew Godinich. Removing their ability to get cash from ATMs at the many marijuana dispensaries that dot Colorado cities and towns hampers low-income families’ ability to access money to purchase legitimate products elsewhere, he added. According to the Atlantic magazine, a March study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the increase of \"\"banking deserts\"\" found that \"\"lower-income communities and communities of color have historically and disproportionately limited access to mainstream banking services.\"\" This makes it harder for people in these communities to manage their finances and build wealth, the study said. Democratic lawmakers had repeatedly defeated similar legislation, arguing that improper ATM withdrawals at strip clubs, liquor stores, casinos represent a tiny fraction of the total use of cash-assistance cards, the Denver Post reported. Critics also note that the 2015 law doesn't prevent someone on welfare from using their EBT card to make a withdrawal at a supermarket ATM and then go spend the cash at a pot shop or a strip club. Our ruling NRCC says, \"\"Carroll voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries.\"\" There's slightly more to this than the NRCC lets on: Carroll voted, unsuccessfully, to allow welfare recipients to continue withdrawing money from ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries. Carroll’s spokesman said the senator voted against the bill that prohibited people from using public benefit cards for cash withdrawals at strip clubs and marijuana dispensaries because she was concerned about the impact on residents of poor neighborhoods where there are few -- if any -- banking services. State officials and lawmakers warned that Colorado could face financial sanctions for failing to comply with federal prohibitions against the use of benefit cards at adult entertainment venues. With that additional information in mind, we rate the claim .",
            "output": [
                "\"National Republican Congressional Committee Says Colorado congressional candidate Morgan Carroll \"\"voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46111133c7e2456d86742ef95a5365cf",
            "input": "“There’s a little snobbery about running on a treadmill,” said David Siik, a track and field sprinter turned treadmill class fitness instructor at Equinox, the upscale chain of fitness centers. “Most racers are a little ashamed of running indoors.”  Siik, who is now based in Los Angeles, turned reluctantly to treadmill running after a post-college stint in New York City. “I was sick of running into cars trying to get to Central Park,” he explained, “and New York in January is not always the friendliest place to run.”  Now the humble treadmill has him hooked. “I still really enjoy running outside, but there is nothing better than the ability to calculate and monitor your goals on a treadmill,” he said. “You’re running on this computer.”  Siik, 33, believes too many people get on the treadmill without knowing what to do. “They hit ‘on’ and then they’re clueless,” said Siik, who tries to bring the energy of a spin class to his 45-minute treadmill workout class, which includes three runs, each progressively harder, after an initial warm-up. The treadmill is by far the most popular cardio machine, accounting for 58 percent of home fitness sales in 2012, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, a percentage that has stayed consistent over the past years. The elliptical trainer, at eight per cent, is a distant second. Melanie Douglass, a Utah-based dietitian and trainer with ICON Health and Fitness, whose products include cardio equipment, has also taught classes on the treadmill, which she calls her preferred piece of equipment. “People always work more efficiently (on the treadmill), because the motor and belt help you maintain a consistent pace,” said Douglass. She said people err when they go too slow, or do the same thing day after day. “Exercise is not supposed to be comfortable,” she explained. “You have to challenge your body.”  Dr. Michele Olson, professor of exercise physiology at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama, said besides teaching proper running and walking form, classes help the exerciser learn “the bells and whistles” of the modern machine. And unlike outdoor running, training on a treadmill ensures you are running at your intended pace, she said. Simply varying the grade, or incline, every minute will push up the calorie burning. But that’s just the beginning. “We’ve researched and studied walking and running on treadmills in all directions,” Olson said. “You burn more calories moving sideways and backwards, particularly at walking speeds.”  She even likes to see people with their feet on the floor behind the treadmill walking on it with their hands. “After a set of push-ups, treadmill walk with your hands,” she suggests. “Your shoulder girdle will become a beast providing you with both upper body strength and endurance in those under-aerobically used upper body muscles.”  Siik said using a treadmill is the best 30 to 45 minutes of cardio anyone can get inside a gym. “The beautiful thing about a treadmill is that it will never lie to you. It’s a brutally honest machine,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "Treadmill classes mix it up with workhorse of the gym."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab81d60f1bdd4c9a8058c0bbc6ebfb3a",
            "input": "\"Highly anticipated data for a Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) experimental antiviral drug are expected later this month. Analysts are also awaiting results in the near-term for products already approved for other conditions from companies such as Roche Holding (ROG.S) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN.O). While experts estimate an approved vaccine could be at least a year away, progress toward treatments that benefit some COVID-19 patients could help investors gauge when the epidemic could come under control and some economic activity might  resume. “The more we see positive clinical data, the more investors will be comforted in the fact that this is a transitory issue like all epidemics are,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. Early signs of a slowdown in hospitalizations and intensive care needs in coronavirus hotspots in the United States and abroad have fed a stock market turnaround sparked by massive support from the Federal Reserve and a more than $2 trillion government bailout. As of Monday, the S&P 500 .SPX was off about 21% from its Feb. 19 all-time high but had rebounded 19% since March 23. “With each incremental piece of good news, that gets us closer to the end of the epidemic and the economic damage that falls in its wake,” Hogan said. New York is nearing a plateau in the number of coronavirus patients hospitalized, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday, even though the number of the deaths in the state hit a single-day high. Governments around the world have locked down their communities - urging citizens to stay inside and ordering restaurants, stores and other businesses shuttered - to contain the spread of COVID-19 cases, which have exceeded 1.4 million globally with over 80,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins tally. Drugmakers are studying ways to combat the respiratory illness, for which there are no approved treatments, as hospitals face strains from the flood of patients. More than 330 clinical studies related to COVID-19 are listed in clinicaltrials.gov, a database maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, including many seeking to test drugs already approved for other conditions. Gilead's remdesivir, which is administered intravenously, is one experimental treatment that has captured investors' attention. The biotechnology company's chief executive on March 28 said initial data would arrive in the \"\"coming weeks\"\" here and analysts said data could come in mid April. Remdesivir previously failed as a treatment for the Ebola virus. But it helped prevent disease and reduce severity of symptoms in monkeys infected with a virus more closely related to the new coronavirus in a study, raising hopes. Some analysts are cautioning against expecting that remdesivir will show an overwhelming benefit. Initial data are expected to come from studies of patients with relatively severe COVID-19. Because antivirals work best when patients are healthier, those results may show limited effectiveness, said Evan Seigerman, a biotech analyst at Credit Suisse. Even if remdesivir proves effective, the amount of the drug that would be available remains a concern. Gilead said last weekend here its existing supply could equate to more than 140,000 courses of treatment. Data is also anticipated for Regeneron (REGN.O) and Sanofi’s (SASY.PA) Kevzara, perhaps by the end of the month, and for Roche’s (ROG.S) Actemra - two similar rheumatoid arthritis drugs being tested for COVID-19 illness. Studies are also ongoing for hydroxychloroquine, a decades-old malaria drug that has been used by doctors for COVID-19 despite controversy over its effectiveness. “Just knowing that something works means investors can start thinking about the other side of this,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist/SunTrust Advisory Services, in emailed comments to Reuters, “both from a human side and an economic and market perspective.”\"",
            "output": [
                "Investors await data on coronavirus drugs as market rally builds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9ab7d89e2e74acb9f7706d1e0f49491",
            "input": "Authorities have urged South Koreans to stay home and maintain social distancing, as imported cases and new outbreaks around small clusters continued to emerge while an overall tally in new infections has been declining. Restrictions on high-risk events such as religious, sports and entertainment gatherings took effect on Sunday, requiring facilities to ensure space between the attendees and allowing local governments to conduct on-site checks and issue fines. “Our fight against the virus is a three-legged race,” President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday, referring to the need for the community to work in step with the government. “It doesn’t matter even if you are not sick and doing well by yourself.”  Most churches have turned to online services over the past few weeks, but local media said there were several that pushed ahead with physical gatherings on Sunday, prompting scuffles with police and protests by residents calling for disbanding. At the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, several attendees tried to force out a dozen police officers, domestic newswire Yonhap reported. A video uploaded by a purported member of the church on YouTube showed a woman lying on the ground while another was heard shouting “Why are you doing this? Is this North Korea?”  Yonhap quoted a city official as saying the church did not follow rules and ensure sufficient space among the attendees. Reuters was not immediately able to reach the police or the Seoul city government for comment and calls to the church for comment were unanswered. Elsewhere, Yonhap news photos showed a group of residents staging a rally in front of the Yonsei Central Baptist Church in Seoul, holding up a sign calling for a halt to services for the safety of neighbors. More than half of South Korea’s cases were traced to a fringe Christian church in the hard-hit southeastern city of Daegu. This week, some 60 members of a Protestant church in Seongnam, south of Seoul, have also tested positive this week. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 98 new coronavirus cases, bringing national infections to 8,897. The death toll rose by six to 110. The daily tally marked the 11th day in a row the country has posted new infections of around 100, compared with the peak of 909 cases recorded on Feb. 29. The KCDC renewed caution for overseas travelers on Sunday, after the government toughened border checks and imposed a two-week mandatory quarantine for all long-term arrivals from Europe due to a spike in returnee cases. At least 15 travelers tested positive on Saturday, the KCDC said, eight of them from Europe and three from the United States. Most of them were South Koreans. “We’re implementing intensive social distancing over the next 15 days,” KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook said at a briefing. “After that, we will open schools and return to a regular life cycle in the face of the battle on the coronavirus.”",
            "output": [
                "South Korean churchgoers scuffle with police as virus curbs on gatherings kick in."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32516c31ee0d4ad5855a02d263ba4488",
            "input": "The Division of Public Health said on its webpage on Tuesday that both victims lived in Sussex County and had underlying health conditions. The woman was infected with influenza A, while the man had the influenza B strain., according to health officials. As of Dec. 28, there have been 1,083 laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu and 65 hospitalizations in Delaware. The actual number of flu cases in Delaware is higher, officials noted. Last flu season, there were 24 flu-related deaths and 6,387 cases were confirmed by state health officials. The 2017-18 flu season was one of the worst in state history, with 35 flu-related deaths and more than 9,000 confirmed cases.",
            "output": [
                "Delaware health officials report season’s first 2 flu deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87f103a6cb17443293e2ba1d0e5d2f4a",
            "input": "Progressive Rep. Brian Cina says the bill picks up from a previous universal health care bill. The Times Argus reports the bill brings together various stakeholders, asking them to come up with an operational plan and funding mechanics for universal health care by January 2020. The plan would only be implemented if it didn’t increase administrative costs and if it provides reimbursement for primary care costs that attract a sufficient number of primary care providers. ___ Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/",
            "output": [
                "Vermont House members introduce universal health care bill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27d3cd7965aa4055b758bffcaaf8f067",
            "input": "The Southwest Utah Public Health Department said in a Tuesday news release that most of the cases have occurred in residential neighborhoods. Individuals exposed to the deadly virus have been given preventative vaccinations. Rabies can spread to people from the saliva of infected animals including bats, foxes, raccoons and skunks. Officials said most of the rabies cases in southwest Utah occur in bats or animals bitten by bats.",
            "output": [
                "Rabies-carrying bats raising alarm in southwest Utah."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-839af0649a2a40cc93a9c800e014118a",
            "input": "Stephen Paddock’s brain is being sent to Stanford University for a months-long examination after a visual inspection during an autopsy found no abnormalities, Las Vegas authorities said. Doctors will perform multiple forensic analyses, including an exam of the 64-year-old’s brain tissue to find any possible neurological problems. The brain will arrive in California soon, and Stanford has been instructed to spare no expense for the work, The New York Times reported. It will be further dissected to determine if Paddock suffered from health problems such as strokes, blood vessel diseases, tumors, some types of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, degenerative disorders, physical trauma and infections. Dr. Hannes Vogel, Stanford University Medical Center’s director of neuropathology, would not discuss the procedure with The Associated Press and referred questions to officials in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. They also refused to provide details. Vogel told The Times that he will leave nothing overlooked to put to rest much of the speculation on Paddock’s health as investigators struggle to identify a motive for the shooting. The examination will come about a month after Paddock unleashed more than a thousand bullets through the windows of a  32nd floor suite at the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel into a crowd below attending an outdoor country music festival. After killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more, Paddock took his own life with a shot through his mouth, police say. Investigators working around the clock remain frustrated by a lack of clues that would point to his motive. Authorities have resorted to putting up billboards in southern Nevada seeking tips and now the intensive brain study that medical experts say likely won’t yield definitive answers. If a disease is found, experts say it would be false science to conclude it caused or perhaps even contributed to the massacre, even if that explanation would ease the minds of investigators and the world at large. “There’s a difference between association and causality, and just because you have anything, doesn’t mean it does anything,” said Brian Peterson, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and chief coroner of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County. The microscopic study is not a standard practice but is regularly used as needed. Families sometimes request such a detailed examination to better understand their own genetic risks. Peterson said it’s also common in high-profile cases such as Paddock’s, where so much is riding on the results that all forensic options must be exhausted. Douglas Fields, a neuroscientist who studies the rage circuit in brain systems, said horribly violent events, such as mass shootings and terrorism, rarely involve actual brain abnormalities but can be triggered by psychiatric problems. Perpetrators often are suicidal psychopaths who are motivated to commit heinous crimes because they have internalized their isolation and anti-social behavior as an existential threat for themselves, he said. “When police look for motive, it’s kind of misplaced in cases like this because they appear to be crimes of rage. There’s no motive for crimes of rage. It’s a crime of passion,” Fields said. One such case involved the University of Texas shooter Charles Whitman, who fatally shot 13 people in 1966 from a clock tower on the Austin campus. Whitman was found to have a pecan-sized tumor in his brain, though the suggestion that it caused his rampage is still debated decades later. Peterson, who is not involved in the Paddock case, said an initial inspection that is standard for any autopsy would generally include dissecting the brain at one-centimeter intervals to look for issues identifiable to the trained eye — infection, tumor, symmetry, bleeding and blood vessel abnormality. A further study would involve a microscopic focus on the tissue cells, such as using stains to determine different types of dementia and other degenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is sometimes found in people who have suffered repetitive brain trauma. There also would likely be a review of the brain at a molecular level though DNA, Peterson said. Experts say the brain study on Paddock will be a worthy effort for scientific reasons. Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, a psychiatry expert at Columbia University, said that at minimum, it might yield something even tangential that can be passed on to the public, such as awareness for psychological disorders or brain diseases. “Are we ever going to know for certain what caused his brain to do that?” Appelbaum asked. “Probably not from a neuropathological examination, but it’s not unreasonable to ask and see whether it might contribute to our understanding of what occurred.” ___ Follow Sally Ho at https://twitter.com/_sallyho.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors prepare for deep dive into Las Vegas shooter’s brain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9803b236577a4edb87e816eafdc38963",
            "input": "The extraordinary safety measures that will govern the May 20-22 session were delineated in a letter Wednesday from Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan to the House minority leader. Legislators will have to pledge to follow Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and potentially lethal coronavirus. They include pre-session testing of all legislators for COVID-19. Eschewing the traditional Capitol setting, the House will be called to order six blocks away at the Bank of Springfield Center in downtown Springfield, to take advantage of the spacious convention center floor for social distancing. The Senate, whose membership is half the House’s 118 seats, will meet in its regular chamber, Senate President Don Harmon said in a statement. The Oak Park Democrat rallied senators to return to action with the “cooperative spirit of bipartisan achievement” they’ve shown before. “This global pandemic has decimated our state and local economies regardless of political affiliation,” Harmon said. “From far-flung living rooms, kitchen tables and home offices, senators have been working together — while apart — to figure out what we can and need to do now.” Legislators, whom Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared essential workers and not subject to his seven-week-old stay-at-home order scheduled to expire May 30, have nonetheless been absent from the Statehouse since early March to prevent spreading sickness. That period represents the heart of the Illinois General Assembly’s spring-session calendar, ending with a scheduled May 31 adjournment and typically a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Pritzker implored lawmakers to help those left out of initial federal relief deals. “Lots of people fell through the cracks,” Pritzker said at his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago. Relief won’t come from the state treasury. Tax revenue lost because of the pandemic has opened a $7 billion deficit in the current budget and next year’s. Illinois will be dependent on the federal government, Pritzker said. “We need to rely upon federal government and its support for all the states in order for us to provide the services that people need or for us to pay for the education that our kids need, and for us to support our businesses and our families,” Pritzker said. Madigan’s letter to House GOP Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said all state representatives must pledge to abide by public health guidelines for safely congregating. In addition to pre-trip testing, they include agreeing to undergo body temperature checks upon entering the building for sessions, wearing provided face coverings whenever meeting with staff members or colleagues, avoiding outside meetings or social engagements, and undergoing another test upon returning home. It won’t be the first time lawmakers convened outside of the current Statehouse, which welcomed its first session in 1877. In recent history, the legislative chambers were undergoing renovation when then-Gov. George Ryan called a special session in the summer of 2000 to temporarily remove the state sales tax on gasoline during a price spike. Sessions were conducted in the auditorium of the Howlett Building next door to the Capitol. ___ Check out more of the AP’s coronavirus coverage at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ___ Follow Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor",
            "output": [
                "Safety measures to govern Legislature’s return to capital."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3f495095903e495eb666c1ff5b1d9ce6",
            "input": "Democratic Reps. James Langevin and David Cicilline said they feel they have unfinished business in Washington, whether that’s making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure or trying to reduce gun violence. Langevin faces Republican Salvatore Caiozzo on Tuesday, and Cicilline faces Republican Patrick Donovan. Langevin, of Warwick, is seeking a 10th term to represent the 2nd Congressional District in western Rhode Island. “I want to continue the fight on behalf of Rhode Island for a stronger middle class, better jobs with higher wages, affordable health care, quality education, the things that make a difference in people’s lives,” Langevin said in a recent interview. Langevin is particularly proud of a bill he pushed for to strengthen career and technical education, and he would like to remain in Congress to help ensure it’s robustly implemented. He also won support for measures to provide better support for caregivers of veterans, to better protect people with disabilities as they travel, and to ensure climate change is addressed as part of the national security strategy. He has prioritized protecting the national and economic security against cyberthreats as co-chairman of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus. Caiozzo, a retired businessman from West Greenwich, ran for the seat in 2016 as an independent, finishing last. Caiozzo says that Rhode Island “deserves better” and that he wants to go to Washington to help its residents, particularly veterans, the elderly and the disabled. He has told voters that he is neither left nor right, that he’s a moderate and that he could solve problems in Washington. “I want to be the voice of Rhode Island in Washington,” Caiozzo said Wednesday. Caiozzo wants to support the state’s fishing and farming industries, reduce federal intervention in state education policy and reform Social Security to ensure it’s fully funded. Langevin has raised $1 million this election cycle and spent nearly $700,000, according to federal filings. Caiozzo raised $5,000. He thinks Republican donors are focused more on Rhode Island’s gubernatorial race. Cicilline, of Providence, is seeking his fifth term in Congress representing the 1st Congressional District, which covers the easternmost part of the state. He faces Donovan, a stay-at-home father of four grown children who lives in Newport. Cicilline has a rising profile in the national Democratic Party. He plans to run for assistant Democratic leader if he is re-elected and his party retakes the House. He is outspoken in his criticism of the president on topics such as immigration and Russia. Democrats will prioritize addressing the rising cost of health care, particularly prescription drugs, investing in infrastructure and reforming how money is spent in elections, Cicilline said. He is also trying to make college affordable. “I’ve been able to deliver real results for Rhode Island, and I’d love to have the privilege of doing that for two more years,” he said. “I want to make sure Rhode Island’s voice is heard in Washington and continue to get things done for my constituents.” A proposal Cicilline has been working on for years to help manufacturers was signed into law this year. It allows the federal government to designate defense manufacturing communities, to strengthen national security innovation. Cicilline is proud he was able to help name a post office in Bristol after an Army Green Beret who was killed in Afghanistan, 1st Sgt. P. Andrew McKenna, and proud of successfully securing federal funding for local first responders and other groups. Donovan has tried to cast himself as someone who would be more attuned to residents’ needs. He said he would prioritize lowering the cost of energy by using readily available renewable energy, to help working people who are struggling. He wants to pursue purchasing power from Hydro-Quebec. He describes himself as an “environmental Republican” and said he’d change the way prescription drugs are disposed of, both to protect the environment and prevent misuse. He says he would also work to lower the price of prescription drugs. “You’re supposed to be of service to your congressional district, and you’re supposed to do good,” he said Wednesday. “My intention is to do no harm to my constituency.” Cicilline has raised about $1.5 million this election cycle and spent $1.3 million, according to federal filings. Donovan said he hasn’t filed a federal report because he has raised less than $5,000.",
            "output": [
                "Incumbent congressmen face GOP challengers on Election Day."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-485023054a784111a1812413a916b3e8",
            "input": "A significant drop in immunisation over the last few years has made Samoa highly vulnerable to outbreaks of the disease, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying vaccine coverage is just about 31% there. Schools have been shut and a mass vaccination effort launched in the nation of just 200,000 located south of the equator halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, with its government saying 50,068 people have been vaccinated. The health ministry said 3,149 cases of measles have been reported, with 213 during the last 24 hours. Of 197 victims in hospital, 20 are critically ill children and three are pregnant women, it added. Deaths in the outbreak have now reached 42, the majority of them children under the age of four, the government said. Neighbouring New Zealand said it was sending more supplies and personnel, including emergency medical assistance teams, nurse vaccinators, intensive care specialists and Samoan-speaking medical professionals. “The Samoan health system is under serious strain with growing numbers of people, many of whom are very young, needing complex care as a result of the measles outbreak,” said New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters. New Zealand would also fund 100,000 more vaccines for measles and rubella, Peters added in a statement. Britain said a group of British doctors and nurses left on Friday to help Samoa’s efforts to rein in the outbreak, while Australia said it had also sent medical personnel and supplies. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads easily through coughing and sneezing. Other nations in the Pacific, such as Tonga and Fiji, are also grappling with a spike in the number of measles cases. Tonga has said its outbreak followed the return of a squad of its rugby players from New Zealand, where Auckland, the biggest city, is tackling a growing number of cases. Measles cases are rising worldwide, even in wealthy nations such as Germany and the United States, as parents shun immunisation for philosophical or religious reasons, or fears, debunked by doctors, that such vaccines could cause autism.",
            "output": [
                "Samoa measles toll hits 42 as nations dispatch medical teams, supplies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2b56eb914b742ebb61367786d796706",
            "input": "Hooray! Unlike the WebMD story, this story includes cost information. “The price for IBS treatment hasn’t been determined, he said. But the price listed at Drugstore.com suggests it’s not cheap, with a two-week supply of the dosage used in the study costing $910, or about $21 a pill.” By providing the price and actually showing readers (and other reporters) the source for the price, the story puts the antibiotic treatment into perspective and goes part of the way toward helping readers judge how cost-effective this treatment may be. Unlike the WebMD story, which took too long to present any of the data, this story attempts to quantify the benefits in the second sentence. “In two large studies, 41 percent of the patients who took the antibiotic rifaximin said their symptoms substantially improved, compared to 32 percent of those who got fake pills. Their relief lasted for up to 10 weeks.”  The story makes no mention of harms other than antibiotic resistance. Instead, the story says the drug “also been safely used elsewhere for more than two decades.” But readers should be told explicitly what side effects were found in the study. The story adequately addresses the number of patients studied, the duration of study and the study endpoints. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. It says that IBS is “a poorly understood and painful condition that especially afflicts younger women” and says that IBS affect as many as 1 in 5 Americans.”  Better than the WebMD story on this count as well, AP explains that the non-constipation form of IBS is “the most common form.” The only researchers quoted in the story are researchers who do drug-company-funded research on IBS drugs. The lead author is identified this way: “Dr. Mark Pimentel, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,” and only much later does it say, “The studies were paid for by the Salix, based in Raleigh, N.C. Some of the researchers were Salix employees and others had received consulting and other fees from the company. Cedars-Sinai holds a patent on the use of rifaximin for irritable bowel syndrome.” The story should have said clearly, as the WebMD story did, that Pimentel serves as a Salix consultant and sits on its scientific advisory board. The story also quotes Dr. Jan Tack, “of the University of Leuven in Belgium.” It makes no mention of the detail noted in the WebMD story: that Tack has worked as a scientific advisor to companies evaluating IBS treatments. The final quarter of the story is devoted to Amy McMahon, “who developed the disorder about four years ago.” It says, “She tried a variety of treatments, changed her diet, and saw a number of specialists before Pimentel prescribed the antibiotic about a year later. “I felt remarkably better” after one treatment, said McMahon. So here you have a drug-company funded researcher providing a success-story-patient for a quote. The story could have included other patients who saw no relief or no patients at all. This skews the entire perspective of the story. A more representative picture would have been presented by including one of the vast majority who saw no improvement from the antibiotic. Slightly better than the WebMD story. It says, “What causes the disorder has been a mystery; sensitivity to certain foods or stress are among the theories. Patients are typically told to change their diet, reduce stress and take medicines or fiber supplements to ease symptoms.” There is no quantitative statement about relative effectiveness of the existing approaches, but they are mentioned and it is clear that symptom reduction is the best that can be offered. The story explains that: “In the U.S., rifaximin is approved for traveler’s diarrhea and for a complication of liver disease. Salix Pharmaceuticals, which markets rifaximin under the name Xifaxan in the U.S., is seeking to expand its use to IBS. A decision from the Food and Drug Administration is expected in March, said William Forbes, executive vice president and chief development officer for Salix.”  Taking predictions from a company exec about when the FDA might act would not result in a good batting average over time. This story, at least, quoted the author of an accompanying editorial saying that he thought the treatment was novel. The story does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Antibiotic eases common stomach pain, studies find"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf91a017fec04261b896ee645efc689b",
            "input": "The story accurately represents the cost of the scans, which are often not covered by insurance. The story could have mentioned that once a scan finds something suspicious, biopsies and/or follow-up scans are needed at regular intervals, driving up the costs. These additional scans are typically covered by insurance. The evidence doesn’t show a clear estimate of survival benefit, which the story made clear. The story mentions that CT scanning could lead to unnecessary harms and procedures. The story could have specifically mentioned radiation exposure. The story does a good job of describing the current study and the controversy around the results. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of lung cancer. The story quotes multiple experts who provide valuable perspective. The story accurately describes that there aren’t really any alternatives to preventing death from lung cancer other than quitting smoking. Lung CT scans are clearly available. Clearly screening for lung cancer is not a new idea. Because the story quotes multiple experts, it’s clear that the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Shades of gray: Debate continues over diagnostic scans for lung cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0f13117bc86431795a8a3b373785d37",
            "input": "The National Park Service and the U.S. Public Health Service told the San Francisco Chronicle they launched an investigation after employees and visitors reported the problems this month. Federal officials said they haven’t identified the illness or the origin of the outbreak. Park officials said those who had gotten sick are getting better or already recovered. Federal officials were working with Aramark, the concessionaire that operates Yosemite’s restaurants, snack shops and hotels, to clean up and disinfect food service facilities in the park, including the famous Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said. “The park is reminding all employees and visitors to wash their hands frequently and stay home if they experience any symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness,” Gediman said in a statement. A message seeking comment from a spokesman for Aramark has not been returned. Aramark received numerous complaints from visitors about poor food quality, shuttle service and other services since it began managing Yosemite’s concessions four years ago. The Ahwahnee Hotel lost its prestigious four-diamond rating by AAA, a distinction the luxury hotel held since 1991, and is now listed as a three-diamond hotel. Visitors to the hotel at the foot of the iconic Half Dome have included Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. presidents.",
            "output": [
                "Stomach illness outbreak at Yosemite prompts major clean-up."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d913204b4d3f48a7a4a3dcf3ef7cccc6",
            "input": "Scientists say fossils found in Morocco suggest the practice of forming orderly lines may date back 480 million years and could have had evolutionary advantages. Their study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, describes groups of blind trilobites — known as Ampyx — all facing in the same direction, apparently maintaining contact via their long rearward spines. The researchers from France, Switzerland and Morocco analyzed the fossils and concluded that the tiny trilobites, which look similar to modern horseshoe crabs, probably intentionally formed a queue as they swarmed along the prehistoric sea floor. “Given the scale of the patterns seen, this consistent linearity and directionality is unlikely to be the result of passive transportation or accumulation by currents,” they said. Jean Vannier, a researcher at the University of Lyon, France, who co-authored the study, said possible reasons for this group behavior include environmental stresses or reproduction. Similar behavior is also found in modern-day members of the extended family of arthropods that trilobites belonged to, such as caterpillars, ants and lobsters, who band together for protection or to find mates. “Living and moving in groups seems to have rapidly represented an evolutionary advantage among ancient animals,” Vannier said. Lucy McCobb, a paleontologist at the National Museum Wales who wasn’t involved in the study, said that while similar ‘conga lines’ of fossilized Ampyx have been reported before, the researchers behind the study had built “a very strong case for the intentional lining up of the trilobites in response to some cue.” “These fossils give us a wonderfully vivid glimpse into the lives of these very ancient but clearly sophisticated creatures,” she said. Vannier said the findings support the idea that collective behavior like forming lines emerged around the same time or shortly after animals first developed sophisticated nervous systems and sensory organs. He and fellow researchers said re-examining 520 million-year-old fossils of shrimp-like creatures found in China could offer evidence that such behavior began even earlier.",
            "output": [
                "Queuing for eternity: Fossils show lining up is primal urge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d340b5dcfb547f6807b236fbaa7cdb4",
            "input": "Some Americans are so spooked about the harmful effects of sugar they are finding healthier ways to indulge during the holiday, without disappointing children by handing out apples. Sugary chocolates still dominate Halloween candy handed out and provide an annual sales treat for companies like Hershey Co, privately held Mars and Nestle SA. But as more consumers demand healthier candies, manufacturers could see the so-called “War on Sugar” scare away some of the $2.1 billion that the National Retail Federation says Americans will spend on Halloween candy this year. The World Health Organization has linked sugar intake with chronic diseases including diabetes and heart disease, a finding disputed by the Sugar Association, a U.S. trade group. Some companies, like upstart candy maker Unreal, privately owned health products maker Xlear Inc and Kosher Foods producer Kayco, have developed low-sugar candies from unusual concoctions, like puffed quinoa and cabbage, to win over health-conscious, sugar-wary shoppers. The data may give some a fright. Nearly one-fourth of Americans say they are buying healthier candy like dark chocolate or chocolates with added fruits or nuts for seasonal occasions like Halloween than five years ago, National Confectioners Association (NCA) data shows. In addition, one in five say they are more likely to buy chocolates or candies in a smaller portion size. Confectionery makes up about 13 percent of Americans’ 10.8 million tonne-per-year sugar consumption, and the candy industry says that Americans know there is sugar in candy and moderate their intake accordingly. Still some shoppers are trying different brews this year. Kevin Schiffman, a self-described “health freak,” bought a can of Unreal chocolates for $20 during a recent trip to Whole Foods, opting to spend significantly more on the treats he plans to hand out to trick-or-treaters than last year. The treats, which are made from fair trade cocoa and cane sugar, puffed quinoa, and cabbage, carrots and beets for coloring, contain around 5 grams of sugar per serving, compared with over 20 grams for many traditional candy bars. In prior years, he said he handed out assorted chocolates like Reese’s and Kit Kats, wary that health-minded people sometimes draw groans and eye-rolls from trick-or-treaters by giving out apples or toothbrushes. “There wasn’t really much out there that you could choose from unless you’re giving out fruit,” said the 35-year-old Boston-area resident, who works in sales at WikiFoods, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, food company. “We don’t want to get eggs on the house.”  Xlear hopes to win over customers with its Sparx brand of candies that use xylitol, a fibrous sugar found in birch trees and corn cobs that it says is safe for diabetics and lower in calories than cane sugar. At the moment, they are only sold at health food stores and distributed to dental offices to give to kids as part of Halloween candy buyback programs, though the company is planning to expand, said Shad Slaughter, a consultant at Xlear. Kayco has introduced Chocolate Leather, a chewier, lower-sugar chocolate bar. “With the growing awareness of parents who would like their kids to eat less sugar, this is going to grow,” said Glenn Schacher, a research and development specialist in New York who developed the product of Kayco  The Obama administration has pushed for food companies to include added sugar content on their labels, which has drawn sharp rebukes from the sugar lobby. For the moment, most Americans will still hand out candy and chocolates filled with sugar to trick-or-treaters on Saturday and use the holiday as an excuse to indulge. “I can be a pig four times a year,” said Tom Cardamone, a 46-year-old Brooklyn, New York, resident, who said he is not normally much of a candy eater. “Every holiday, I know it’s candy, and I have my addictions.”   Graphic on sugar demand over Halloween link.reuters.com/fux85w",
            "output": [
                "Spooked by sugar, Americans search for healthier Halloween treats."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4647f9f24730483db5f23a790baead4c",
            "input": "That’s the advice to care givers from a consortium of nutritional researchers following a two-year survey of what U.S. cancer patients prefer to eat and drink. The study released on Tuesday by the Cancer Nutrition Consortium aims to improve the lives of cancer patients by helping them get the meals they want while combating the weight loss and fatigue that often comes with aggressive treatment. Researchers surveyed 1,203 patients at seven of the world’s leading cancer centers, including Dana-Farber and the Mayo Clinic, and found 40 percent developed more sensitive palates after starting treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. Some 52 percent of the surveyed patients said they were avoiding greasy or fried foods, 44 percent said they were avoiding spicy foods, and nearly a third said they were avoiding acidic foods like grapefruit. Most patients cited intolerance, while less than half said they were acting on the advice of doctors. Some 69 percent of patients said they preferred fruits and vegetables, around 60 percent favored soups and poultry, and more than half said they liked pasta and fish, according to the research. “Typically the patients ran for the healthier foods. But there were exceptions, and it is important to keep in mind that it is not one size fits all,” said Kathy McManus, director of nutrition at Dana-Farber. The study also showed most patients staying away from beverages like beer, wine and soda, while gravitating toward healthier options like water and fruit juice. “Many of our patients suffer from problems getting adequate nutrition through treatment, and some of them are unsure about what they should be eating,” said Terry Langbaum, chief operating officer for Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, which also participated in the study. “This research study involved the patients and truly helped us to better understand preferences,” he said. The study was underwritten by Jeremy Jacobs, chairman and CEO of global food and hospitality service provider Delaware North Companies, and conducted by marketing firm WHP Research. The research recommends care givers develop recipes, prepared foods and menus that are tailored to the preferences of cancer patients, but is not intended to advance Delaware North’s business, WHP President Wendy Price said. The Cancer Nutrition Consortium said it was launching a website that includes recipes designed by chefs and tailored to the findings of the survey. The bottom line for hospital kitchens putting together their menus in the oncology ward: “Limit greasy and fried food offerings since about one-half of patients are avoiding these types of foods,” according to the study.",
            "output": [
                "Broccoli not burgers: Cancer patients favor healthier foods."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72c44d4a31784ab9a770df928009049f",
            "input": "\"While these studies examined prostate cancer mortality rates and treatment outcomes, monetary costs are an important part of the larger conversation about the value of screening. There are significant financial costs associated with population-wide screenings, along with the follow-up diagnostic procedures and treatments that these studies suggest are of little benefit. The reporter should have referenced costs of screening and treatments at least briefly. There are two studies involved here, each with its own methodology, outcomes and limitations. Under the circumstances the news report describes the findings adequately, using a broad brush. The report states that the U.S. study found no decline in death risk in the screened population, while the European study showed a 20 percent reduced risk of death–yet it also documented considerable overtreatment. The reporter gets points for using the always valuable \"\"number needed to treat\"\" measure to describe the European findings: 48 additional men would need to be treated to prevent one death from prostate cancer. The story focuses in part on the harms of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The story is based on results of two high-quality clinical trials, and it describes the methodologies sufficiently. The story does an excellent job of laying out the caveats very early: that the results won’t end the controversy over the value of prostate cancer screening; and that the studies continue and may provide clearer answers in the future. The reporter gets extra points for mentioning too that the two studies aren’t directly comparable. The report does nothing to exaggerate the effects of prostate cancer or its treatments. The reporter includes comments from the lead authors of the two studies, the author of a related editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, and a physician representing the American Cancer Society. The story adequately explains that screening options include the PSA blood test and the digital rectal exam. The story also refers to the options for treatment after a cancer is identified, indicating that \"\"there’s no agreement on the best treatment approach\"\"–watchful waiting, surgery, hormone therapy or radiation. The wide use of the PSA test is implied throughout the story. No claims are made for the novelty of the screening techniques or the findings of the study. The story does not appear to draw directly from press releases of NIH, the Washington University School of Medicine, or others publicizing the results.\"",
            "output": [
                "Studies don’t end prostate cancer test controversy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-389d2dcc401844e998e3ea82684d96a5",
            "input": "A grimacing young woman rendered in black and white is curled in a fetal position, splashes of crimson staining her bottom. Here she is again, leaning against a bloodied wall, her abdomen nothing but a large oval hole. There’s a self-portrait in charcoal pencil — a close-up of a face pinched by sorrow. In her artist’s mind, this is what miscarriage looks like. And while MacLure’s story seems destined for a happy ending — she and her husband are expecting their first child this summer — the high school visual arts teacher hopes her provocative works will help take away the enduring stigma of pregnancy loss. “It’s my way of shouting into the void,” she says. As many as one in four pregnancies ends prematurely in miscarriage, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says. With miscarriage so commonplace, women increasingly are pressing for society to stop treating it as taboo. Among them is figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who revealed last year during an episode of “Dancing with the Stars” that she had six miscarriages during an eight-year span. Now a mother of three, she told ABC’s “Good Morning America” the losses were rough on her marriage. “We don’t talk about it as fluidly as we should,” says Dr. Jessica Zucker, a Los Angeles psychologist and mother of two who lost a baby and launched a social media campaign — #IHadAMiscarriage — to get people talking openly. “The unfortunate consequences are that a majority of women are reporting shame, self-blame and guilt,” she says. “Loss is devastating, but the women who live these losses are strong. What they have to share is deeply important.” MacLure, 30, who’s had two miscarriages, says other women’s stories can make her feel like an impostor. But her grief and pain — both physical and psychological — are no less real. That’s captured in her art, which is honest and edgy — some might say brutally so. “One moment, you’re elated. And then it’s just over,” says MacLure, who grew up in North Providence, Rhode Island, and moved to Milford, Massachusetts, after earning a degree in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. “It’s very surreal. You’re mentally in a different space, starting to think about the future. And then, suddenly, you’re not.” MacLure, who teaches at Blackstone Valley Technical Regional Vocational High School in Upton, Massachusetts, sought solace in her paints and brushes. She began somewhat jarringly by painting diseased ovaries and uteruses — a cathartic escape as she battled feelings of failure and fears that she might never be a mother. She’s since done a series of paintings on clear glass dinner plates — a fragile domestic item that seemed like the perfect medium for capturing maternal anguish. MacLure’s more whimsical work has been showcased in juried exhibitions, and some has won critical acclaim. Not these paintings. Galleries don’t know what to do with a likeness of her husband holding her as blood flows beneath them, or a plate depicting her naked and curled in a fetal position with a bright red blotch on her belly. “They don’t want to make audiences uncomfortable,” she says. “People want to see flowers and sailboats and landscapes and pretty things. I’m all about making people uncomfortable.” Even so, MacLure is gaining a following. Women she’s never met who have experienced the pain of miscarriage have been connecting with her, posting comments and sharing their own stories of loss and healing. Among them is Lauren Lowen, a fellow illustrator who miscarried. Like MacLure, she’s now expecting her firstborn this summer. “I saw her art flash up on my feed, and I found it poetic and beautiful,” says Lowen, of Nashville, Tennessee. “Her work really moved me. Miscarriage is a unique form of heartbreak.” Men, too, have sought out MacLure. Cambridge entrepreneur Chris Tolles reached out after his wife twice miscarried. The couple now has a 2-year-old daughter, but Tolles still feels a “profound connection” to her art. “Suffering is a real thing, and it’s best shared,” he says. “People talk about miscarriage as though a baby just disappears, but the reality can be really gory and awful. Her work embodies that attitude of, ‘Here’s real life — take it or leave it.’” For MacLure, an only child, fast-approaching motherhood is bittersweet. Six years ago, she lost her own mom. “I’m so grateful that I get to be a mom — to pass on all the positive things my mom taught me, and teach the strength and resilience I’ve learned along the way,” she says. “I’m also excited to know this whole new person.” ___ Follow Bill Kole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/billkole . His work can be found here .",
            "output": [
                "‘Shouting into the void’: Miscarriages color mom-to-be’s art."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-37551ca40e61465d9d77662bee946ab1",
            "input": "The story makes clear the “big unknown” remains the price and “how much people are willing to spend to cut a day or so off of a bout of flu.” The story reports that Genentech, the drug’s manufacturer, said it’s too early to comment on the drug’s U.S. price. The story also notes that in Japan, where the drug was invented, it “sells for the equivalent of about $43.50.” The story uses terms like “a little more than a day” and “nearly a day” and “substantially” to describe the drug’s reduction in flu symptoms, fever, and coughing and sneezing, respectively. It does not explain, as the news release does, that: “Similar efficacy results were seen between baloxavir marboxil and [Tamiflu] in relation to duration of symptoms and fever reduction.” In other words, on the symptom front, both drugs were the same. According to the news release, a difference was seen in the length of time the virus was shed from the body (presumably through coughing and sneezing): 24 hours for baloxavir marboxil verses 72 hours for Tamiflu. The news release also states that there was also a difference seen in the level of virus in the nose and throat, but it provides no precise numbers. It is not known whether this benefit translates into less infection transmission, and the story should have made that clear. The news release issued by Genentech about the FDA’s decision to grant priority review describes baloxavir marboxil’s most common side effects: diarrhea, bronchitis, nausea and sinusitis. The news release also states that overall incidence of adverse events seen in patients taking baloxavir marboxil were lower than those seen in both the placebo group and the group taking Tamiflu. The STAT News story does not mention any potential harms. This evidence comes from the randomized phase III Capstone-1 study the FDA will review, which included 1,436 people in the US and Japan. It excluded people older than 64. The news story does not note this exclusion, nor does it state a key problem with this study: It has never been published in a peer-reviewed journal (instead, a study abstract was released as part of ID Week 2017). This means the full data analysis has never been seen by anyone other than the researchers. We explained why this is important in February 2018, when we discussed news coverage of the drug’s approval in Japan. The 2017-2018 flu season was the worst the US had experienced in nearly a decade. The flu impacted the entire country, and was responsible for 172 pediatric deaths. The news article did not use these or any other flu-related statistics to increase fear about the flu and, in turn, the need for this medication. The article includes two sources: Mark Eisner, Genentech’s VP of product development for immunology, infectious diseases and ophthalmology and Richard Webby, head of the World Health Organization’s influenza collaborating center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Eisner’s affiliation with Genentech, the drug’s manufacturer, is clearly noted. Webby does not appear to have any conflicts of interest. The article would have been stronger if it had included a third source who commented on what–if anything–is known about whether reducing the duration of symptoms leads to reduced levels of transmission that result in fewer people contracting the flu and fewer deaths. The story explains that the only other drug approved to treat the flu is Tamiflu, which is not widely used. The writer explains that both drugs need to be taken within 48 hours of symptom onset and that baloxavir marboxil is a single one-time dose, while Tamiflu must be taken twice daily for five days. It is clear from the story that the FDA is expected to decide by the end of the year whether to approve this new flu medication. The story explains that it’s been more than 20 years since a new class of flu drug has been developed and marketed. (It is available in Japan.) The catalyst for the story was a news release issued by Genentech about the FDA granting priority review of baloxavir marboxil, but the story does not use direct quotes from the news release.",
            "output": [
                "A flu drug — shown to reduce the duration of symptoms — could upend treatment in U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad8e803fd00f431aa4ee92920cd2a590",
            "input": "Sunflower County Corner Heather Burton told The Associated Press a 32-year-old male prisoner died before noon Thursday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Burton said the inmate, whom she declined to identify pending notification of relatives, had multiple stab wounds. Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood said other inmates were injured. Deputies from multiple counties and state agencies responded to the sprawling and isolated Parchman prison, Haywood said. Inmates in a different unit than the one where the stabbing occurred set their cell block on fire, the sheriff said, speaking by cell phone from the prison. Haywood said the fire was put out and the inmates were under control. “Everybody is up here and everything is calm and cool right now,” he said. Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Grace Simmons Fisher later said nobody was hurt by the small fire that was set by an inmate, and no structural damage occurred. She said inmates were evacuated while the fire was extinguished, then moved back in. Earlier in the week, prisons statewide were put under lockdown after what the department called a “major disturbance” Sunday at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Greene County. Inmate Terrandance Dobbins, 40, was killed and two others were hurt. On Tuesday evening at Parchman, 25-year-old inmate Walter Gates died and several others were injured during a fight among prisoners. The fight broke out in one unit and spread to others around the prison, Burton told news outlets. Burton said Gates, who had a 2015 burglary conviction, received multiple stab wounds. Then one inmate was killed and two were injured in a fight early Thursday at Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility, a county-run facility that holds state inmates. “We had it under control in three minutes,” Chickasaw County Sheriff Jim Meyers told The Associated Press. Meyers identified the dead inmate as 26-year-old Gregory Emary,  of Hernando, serving a 16-year sentence for burglary. Another inmate was in intensive care after surgery at a Tupelo hospital, Meyers said, and a third was at another hospital with cuts to the head. The lockdown means inmates can’t go outside, make phone calls or receive visitors. Authorities said the ban on visitors will extend at least through the weekend. “All available resources are being used to address disturbances occurring around the state,” the statement said. The violence came even as U.S. District Judge William Barbour ruled Tuesday that while conditions may have previously been poor at East Mississippi Correctional Facility near Meridian, there’s no longer any evidence that the privately run prison is violating inmates’ rights. A lawsuit suit filed in 2013 alleged that inmates were being systematically denied health care and mental health care, were in danger of violence from guards and other prisoners, and were forced into long stretches in solitary confinement, where cells were often dark and where inmates often set fires. “While plaintiffs and their expert witnesses argue that environment and healthcare services at the prison could and should be better, those arguments do not establish that the conditions under which they are currently housed, as a class, are cruel and unusual,” Barbour wrote in his ruling. The judge wrote that he believed that conditions had improved after former Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps resigned in November 2014. Epps was later convicted of taking more than $1.4 million in bribes. One of those who pleaded guilty to bribing Epps was Dr. Carl Reddix, whose company previously had a contract to provide medical and mental health care at East Mississippi. Barbour said that the bribes “likely affected the quality of care that was being provided to prisoners as well as other conditions at the facility.” The lawsuit was brought on behalf of inmates by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Neither group, nor the state, immediately commented Thursday on the ruling. The Corrections spokeswoman Fisher didn’t comment directly on the ruling but wrote in an email that “linking the ruling to what is going on now is plainly unfair.” Expert witnesses testified that care at the prison, which holds male inmates who mostly have been diagnosed with mental illness, was substandard. But Barbour ruled the experts’ opinions didn’t reach the “very high bar” needed to prove that state officials were deliberately indifferent to inmates’ needs. He wrote the state had improved health care, mental health care, staffing and the physical conditions at the prison during the course of the lawsuit. Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall announced Tuesday that she will resign in mid-January to take a private sector job signaling incoming Gov. Tate Reeves won’t retain her upon taking office Jan. 14. ___ Jeff Amy reported from Atlanta.",
            "output": [
                "4th death in Mississippi prisons; judge says other prison OK."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6abfc4e580624a0497ba3338715dd8fb",
            "input": "President Alberto Fernandez earlier this week ordered all but essential workers to stay home and off the streets. But he was forced to amend the list of exceptions after receiving a message from the mother of a 7-year old boy who had recently lost his first tooth. “Dear @alferdez, I need to ask if the tooth fairy is among those exempted from quarantine? Joaquin has lost his first tooth and we don´t know if we should leave him a letter (we can´t find the tooth). We don´t want to cause the tooth fairy problems or for the police to detain him.”  Fernandez reassured the boy an hour later that the tooth fairy was indeed on the official list of exceptions. “@littlekbz Cecilita! The tooth fairy can leave rewards for fallen teeth because he is not under quarantine. But the rest of us are... Joaquin should leave the tooth beneath his pillow and enjoy the prize,” Fernandez wrote on Twitter. Aside from the tooth fairy, Argentina has also exempted key agricultural and export industry workers from the lockdown, and allows people on the streets to buy groceries and medicine, and for urgent medical needs. The country thus far has confirmed 158 cases of coronavirus and four deaths from the disease. Click here for a GRAPHIC on Argentina coronavirus cases",
            "output": [
                "Tooth fairy in quarantine? Argentina makes exemption in coronavirus lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40dc41420e3946ed9f7e9a729bf34c21",
            "input": "Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he has agreed to urgently issue a license to allow Billy Caldwell, a 12-year-old from Northern Ireland, to be treated with the oil. He said his decision was based on advice from senior doctors who say that Caldwell, who was hospitalized overnight in London, faces a medical emergency. Javid said the British government’s immediate priority was to make sure Caldwell receives “the most effective treatment possible in a safe way.” The case has revived the debate over medical marijuana use in Britain. Cannabis oil is banned in Britain. Border Force agents seized it from Charlotte Caldwell, the boy’s mother, when she tried to bring it into London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday from Canada, where she obtained it legally. She said Billy suffered two severe seizures overnight and that the cannabis oil is the only substance that can prevent life-threatening seizures for him. He began the treatment in the United States legally two years ago. Charlotte Caldwell says the oil has kept Billy seizure-free for more than 300 days. He became the first person in the U.K. with a prescription for cannabis oil when it was recommended to him by a local doctor in Northern Ireland. But the doctor stopped prescribing cannabis oil after being warned by the Home Office. After the government agreed to permit the treatment, Charlotte Caldwell said Saturday that she and her supporters had “achieved the impossible” and called for a rules change to allow other children needing cannabis oil to use it legally. “I truly believe that somewhere in the Home Office there’s someone with a heart and I truly believe that Billy was pulling on their heart strings,” she said. Nonetheless, she said the British government had put her and Billy through a “dreadful, horrific, cruel experience” that has left him in a gravely weakened state. Cannabis oil is not recognized in the U.K. as being effective for the treatment of epilepsy. The National Health Service says on its website that cannabis-based products are being tested for possible use in treatment of several diseases, including epilepsy in children, glaucoma and the loss of appetite experienced by some people with AIDS or HIV infections.",
            "output": [
                "UK changes course, allows epileptic boy to use cannabis oil."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0048db3c71c94e4895c24f22756c16d0",
            "input": "Ravalli County District Judge Jennifer Lint signed a temporary restraining order Friday that prohibits Gov. Steve Bullock and state health officials from enforcing emergency rules on flavored vaping products. They were set to take effect Tuesday. Lint was acting in response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by three vape shops and an industry group. They claim the 120-day ban is an overly restrictive reaction to a national outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths they say is caused by illegal black-market products. Bullock’s press secretary, Erin Loranger, told the Ravalli Republic that officials are reviewing the judge’s ruling. The lawsuit was brought by the Montana Smoke Free Association, Freedom Vapes, Liberty Smoke and uBlaze Vapor said the ban could force more than 20 Montana businesses to close. The business owners said the pulmonary illnesses could be the result of the “illicit addition” of THC or marijuana products into legal vaping products. THC and marijuana are not included as ingredients in any of the products sold by the businesses involved in the lawsuit, according to the plaintiffs. The ban would not only harm the businesses, but also people who use e-cigarettes to quit tobacco products, the lawsuit said. In an affidavit filed in the lawsuit, Freedom Vapes owner Ron Marshall said that flavored vape juices comprise 95% of the products sold in his three stores and his business would not be able to survive without them. On Friday, he said that the lawsuit was about freedom and liberty. “If the governor can take away those liberties with a swipe of a pen, then what’s next? If it’s us today, who will it be tomorrow?” he said. Lint scheduled an Oct. 30 hearing to consider arguments about the future of the temporary ban. ___ Information from: Ravalli Republic , http://www.ravallirepublic.com",
            "output": [
                "Montana judge halts temporary flavored vaping ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-372ea627febc42a594009d0671589945",
            "input": "It’s true that triatomine   bugs, which are often called “kissing bugs,” have been linked to Chagas   disease in the United States. Researchers with the American Society of   Topical Medicine and Hygiene   estimated that there were about 300,000 cases of Chagas disease in the U.S. by   early November 2014. The potentially fatal disease is caused by an   infection by a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi, or T. cruzi, and was   first diagnosed in the U.S. in 2007. Kissing bugs feed on the blood of sleeping humans and animals. After   they feed, infected bugs defecate, and T. cruzi parasites from their   feces are able to enter the body through the eyes, mouth, nose or an   open wound, according to the   Mayo Clinic. The   Mayo Clinic says it’s also possible to become infected by eating   uncooked contaminated food, blood transfusions, infected pets and   spending time in forests where infected animals like raccoons and   opossums live. Symptoms of Chagas disease are often mild or non-existent at first,   which is why it’s called “the silent killer.” As the disease progresses,   patients experience fever, body aches and swelling around the bite mark. More advanced symptoms include irregular heartbeat, an enlarged heart,   problems with digestion and bowel movements and strokes, according to   the   Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC). The   World Health Organization   estimates that 8 million people are infected with Chagas disease, most of them in   Latin America. Researchers from Baylor University collected 40 kissing bugs from 11   counties in south-central Texas and identified 17 patients from Houston   who were diagnosed with Chagas disease, the Washington Posts reported in   November 2014. “We   are astonished to not only find such a high rate of individuals testing   positive for Chagas in their blood, but also high rates of heart disease   that appear to be Chagas-related,” Nolan Garcia, a researcher with the   American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, said. Posted  11/12/14    Comments",
            "output": [
                " The Latin American “kissing   bug” has infected people in the U.S. with Chagas disease, which is also   called “the silent killer.”      "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7d38091a0014cdb8dd50eefe9388699",
            "input": "This infection rate was higher even in the year before the men got their prescriptions filled, which suggests the risky behavior came first, the researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study shows that even middle-aged men need advice about spreading and catching STDs, especially AIDS, which is deadly and incurable, Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues wrote. “Users of ED (erectile dysfunction) drugs had higher rates of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in the 12 months before filling their first ED drug prescription, although only HIV and chlamydia were statistically significant in this period,” Jena’s team wrote. “At a minimum, use of ED drugs seems to correlate with higher-risk sexual behavior, either in the number or type of sexual encounters.”   Jena and colleagues looked at the health insurance records of 33,968 men with at least one prescription for an ED drug and more than 1 million men without a prescription, searching billing codes for STDs. Rates of HIV per 100,000 men in the previous year were 66.5 for men who did not get an ED drug but 147.2 for men who did. Rates of chlamydia where almost triple for men who took an ED drug — 41 per 100,000 compared to 15 per 100,000 for men not using the drugs. Erectile dysfunction drugs are popular and include Pfizer’s Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, vardenafil, sold under the brand name Levitra by GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly and Co’s Cialis, known generically as tadalafil. They all belong to a class called phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and they work by increasing blood flow. As many as 40 percent of men aged 57 to 85 have some degree of erectile dysfunction, editors of the journal wrote in a summary of the findings. Dr. Thomas Fekete of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia said the study “reminds us that men older than 40 years remain sexually active, even if they need chemical assistance to do so.”   “There has been concern that these phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors have become ‘lifestyle’ drugs used to intensify sexual pleasure, even in men without ED,” Fekete wrote in a commentary. The study was unable to document why the men got the drugs and also would not account for men who may have bought such drugs over the Internet. Fekete found something else puzzling. “If the estimated rate of ED in men older than 40 years was 20 percent to 40 percent, it seems surprising that less than 7 percent of these men with insurance coverage received prescriptions for ED drugs,” he wrote. “This implies that despite sexual dysfunction, at least one third of men were either satisfied with their sex lives or obtained ED drugs through other channels (for example, Internet pharmacies),” he added. The study found that in 2006, 3.6 percent of men over 40 used Viagra, 1.7 percent used Cialis and 1 percent Levitra.",
            "output": [
                "Men taking drugs for sex function risk sex diseases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b07a1c3c20c54ecf81fb827aac2189fd",
            "input": "Officials with Dolphinaris Arizona said the voluntary closure will start Friday and there isn’t an immediate timetable for reopening. They said in a statement that an investigative panel that includes veterinarians, pathologists, water quality experts and animal behavior specialists will assess all aspects of the facility and operations and report their findings and any recommendations. “We hope to find a long term solution for the welfare of our dolphins,” said Dolphinaris general manager Christian Schaeffer de Leon. More than 100 protesters demonstrated Saturday outside the facility located on tribal land near Scottsdale, calling for its closure after a 22-year-old dolphin on loan to Dolphinaris Arizona died last Thursday. Dolphinaris hired an external pathologist to determine the cause of death and said it occurred after the dolphin’s condition began deteriorating and he had difficulty swimming, eating and breathing. Dolphin Quest, the company who loaned out the animal, terminated its contract with Dolphinaris Arizona the day after the death. Two of the facility’s four remaining dolphins are being returned to Dolphin Quest while the other two will be moved to another licensed facility while Dolphinaris Arizona is being evaluated. An 11-year-old dolphin died in December from a chronic illness due to a parasite called Sarcocystis that she had for six years. In May 2018, a 10-year-old dolphin at Dolphinaris died from a bacterial infection. And in September 2017, a 7-year-old dolphin died at the facility from a muscle disease. Calls to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s animal and plant health inspection service seeking for comment on the Dolphinaris situation weren’t immediately returned Tuesday. Dolphinaris, part of the OdySea In The Desert complex on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, opened in October 2016. Dolphinaris has additional sites in Mexico. Dolphin Quest operates its own locations in Hawaii and Bermuda.",
            "output": [
                "Arizona facility temporarily closing after 4th dolphin death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ea9cbcd2d654ef7b83af329d8c73777",
            "input": "The case is the first in sub-Saharan Africa. Authorities fear the virus could spread quickly in a region where health systems are already overburdened with cases of malaria, measles, Ebola and other infectious diseases. Lagos, with 20 million people, is the biggest city in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. The West African country, with a population of some 200 million people, has a  shortage of doctors and hospitals are often poorly maintained. The Italian man works for cement company Lafarge Africa Plc  (WAPCO.LG) in the southwestern state of Ogun, the company said in a statement. It said it had identified people who had “direct contact” with him before carrying out “isolation, quarantine and disinfection protocol.”   The Ogun state governor, in a separate media briefing, said 28 people had been placed in quarantine by the company the man worked for, although he did not mention it by name. The case has prompted a scramble by Nigerian authorities to try to “meet and observe” all passengers who arrived on the same flight as the man and to identify the places he visited before being hospitalized. “We have started working to identify all the contacts of the person since he entered Nigeria and even those who were with him on the aircraft,” Health Minister Osagie Ehanire told reporters on Friday in the capital, Abuja. The Italian, whose country has been hit harder hit by the virus than any other in Europe, arrived on Feb. 24 on a Turkish Airlines flight that had a connection in Istanbul, said Lagos state commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi. After spending the night in a hotel near the airport, he went on Feb. 25 to his place of work in neighboring Ogun state, and stayed there until he developed a fever and body aches on the afternoon of Feb. 26, Abayomi told a news conference. He was then transferred to a high containment facility in Yaba, Lagos state. Ehanire said the infection was confirmed on Feb. 27 by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and that the man was now quarantined and doing well. Turkish Airlines did not immediately comment on the case. There are no confirmed cases in Turkey. Nigerian stocks fell 1.63% to their lowest level in two months on Friday following the announcement of the coronavirus case. The spread of the new coronavirus from China has hit global financial markets, and Nigeria’s economy is at risk from the tumbling price of oil, which accounts for 90% of its foreign exchange earnings. The latest World Health Organization figures indicate over 82,000 people have been infected, with over 2,700 deaths in China and 57 deaths in 46 other countries. Officials from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are heading to Lagos to help address the case, and have activated its national Emergency Operations Centre. International health organization said they were working alongside their Nigerian counterparts. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said it is in contact with NCDC and is working with the WHO and other partners to support the Nigerian government’s response. In a statement it said it had deployed one epidemiologist to Nigeria to support assessment and response to the outbreak, and has shipped 1,000 COVID-19 laboratory test kits to the country. And the WHO, which has said it already has experts in Nigeria, has identified Nigeria as one of 13 “high priority” countries in Africa. Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies program, told a Geneva news conference on Friday that Nigeria had “well-tested mechanisms for dangerous pathogens.”  He said Nigeria was able to utilize a laboratory network that had been developed to handle cases of Lassa fever, monkeypox and influenza. Schools and offices in Lagos provided hand sanitizer to people entering buildings on Friday. “There’s a run on suppliers at the moment for hand sanitizer and masks,” said Andrew Garza, chief operating officer of Lifestores Healthcare, a Lagos-based health technology company that provides inventory services to local pharmacies. Garza said some stockists had sold out of hand sanitizer.",
            "output": [
                "Italian with coronavirus in Nigeria was not isolated for almost 48 hours."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a58befd3a3e4a848efff73fea7da6e9",
            "input": "\"It wasn't that long ago that Cranston was facing an overwhelming bill for retirees and potential retirees, a crisis that prompted Mayor Allan Fung to seek concessions from the city's police and fire unions. The city was in trouble because, for years, its elected officials failed to invest enough money to cover the retirement benefits they were promising. So it caught our attention when Fung, who is running for governor as a Republican, sent out a letter with the city's new tax bills reporting that \"\"Our budget funds 100 percent of the local police and fire pension and other retiree benefits costs.\"\" So is Cranston's pension problem fixed and up to speed? We decided to look at the numbers. Cranston actually has several pension plans. Police and fire workers hired over the past two decades, along with municipal employees, are covered by the state-run Municipal Employees' Retirement System. The state sets a percentage of payroll that municipalities in the MERS system must contribute to cover their costs. If the municipalities don’t pay up, the state withholds aid to make up the shortfall. For the current fiscal year, Cranston’s minimum was 13.69 percent of payroll; the city’s budget includes that amount -- about $4.8 million on the non-school side of the ledger. In other words, it’s paying 100 percent of the state-mandated MERS requirement. Then there’s the funding level, the percentage of what the plans need to meet their pension obligations. The city’s MERS plans are not funded exactly at 100 percent, but they're fairly close. According to the latest actuarial report, the city has 95.9 percent of the projected police retiree costs, 107.1 percent of the projected firefighter retiree costs, and 95.1 percent of all other municipal retiree costs. Any plan with a funded ratio below 80 percent is considered to be in trouble. However, the old police and fire pension programs, administered by the city, are a different story because, over the years, Cranston's elected officials neglected to put enough money into those programs to cover future retiree costs. Although they have been closed since 1995, the city would need an additional $231 million to fully fund them. (To put that amount in perspective, the city's entire budget for the current fiscal year is $262 million.) The old police pension is only 18.3 percent funded and the old fire pension program is just 24.1 percent funded, according to information from the city's latest actuarial report. They’re far from 100-percent funded. However, the city is now on a payment plan designed to wipe out that shortfall by 2042. (The date has been 2037, but a recent court settlement with the unions forced the date to be pushed back by five years.) Under that plan, the city should be paying $22,353,591 this year, according to the city's actuarial firm, Buck Consultants. Fung, in an email to PolitiFact Rhode Island, showed where the city's appropriation for this year will actually be $22,518 more than the recommended amount. To cover other benefits, primarily retiree health insurance, Buck recommended that the city budget $5.1 million. The city has set aside $4.6 million and plans to cover the remaining $500,000 by using about a third of its $1.6 million hospital stabilization account, which is savings accumulated because the city self-insures its workers. Fung, in an interview, said he didn't intend to leave the impression in his letter to taxpayers that the city had covered 100 percent of all its pension obligations. \"\"If I had meant that, I would have said it was 100 percent fully funded, which is not true.\"\" Instead, he said his point was that, unlike in past years, the city is paying for 100 percent of its annual required contribution to solve its pension problems. We should note that Fung has not been shy about talking about the unfunded liability of the city's old pension systems, mentioning it in interviews and on other occasions. Our ruling Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said, \"\"Our budget funds 100 percent of the local police and fire pension and other retiree benefit costs.\"\" The city is making the minimum required payments for retirement benefits through the state-run MERS system and to pay down this year's share of the bill for the huge long-term liability incurred by the city's older police and fire pension systems. But his statement could lead a reader to conclude that 100 percent of the city’s $231 million debt for the old plans is covered by this year's budget when, in fact, the only thing the city is paying in full is this year's installment on a plan that won't retire that debt for another 28 years. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, (If you have a claim you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Cranston's 2014-2015 \"\"budget funds 100 percent of the local police and fire pension and other retiree benefit costs.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf0cc08be65144c7829132630b95abd3",
            "input": "A doctor checks a patient's blood pressure in a file photo. Lotrel, a pill combining two blood pressure drugs in one, was so effective at preventing heart attacks and other problems in a clinical trial that the study was stopped early, and its findings may change the way hypertension is treated, U.S. researchers said on Monday. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson The study compared the use of two different combinations of blood pressure drugs to see if combination pills could help patients get better control of their hypertension. While both pills helped control blood pressure, people who took the Novartis AG drug Lotrel — a pill containing an angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE, inhibitor plus a calcium channel blocker — had 20 percent fewer heart events such as heart attacks and strokes than those who took an ACE inhibitor and diuretic, or “water pill,” combination. “For the 73 million patients in America with high blood pressure, we offer a new option to reduce heart attacks, strokes and heart-related death by 20 percent,” said Dr. Kenneth Jamerson of the University of Michigan, who presented his findings at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago. He said the findings challenge current national guidelines for the treatment of high blood pressure, which call for patients who need medication to start out on a single pill, usually a diuretic, and to add other drugs only as needed. “We found a different strategy could reduce cardiovascular risk,” Jamerson said in an interview. In all, 10,700 volunteers took a single tablet that includes two drugs. Both pills contained the ACE inhibitor benazepril, known by the brand name Lotensin. Lotrel combines benazepril with amlodipine besylate, the active ingredient in Pfizer Inc’s calcium channel blocker Norvasc. In the other, benazepril was combined with hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic used to treat high blood pressure and fluid retention. Both combination drugs helped 73 percent of patients reach their blood pressure targets after six months. These results “shake the foundations of current recommendations and define a new standard,” Dr. Eric Velazquez of Duke University Medical Center said in a statement. Millions of Americans take medications for hypertension but do not achieve control of their blood pressure. Reducing blood pressure can cut the risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure and other conditions. The study was funded by Novartis.",
            "output": [
                "Combo pill cuts blood pressure and heart risks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce4d9e9aaa594dd0a4e2658e3f940c9a",
            "input": "Lawyers for the 85-year-old fugitive director petitioned Los Angeles Superior Court to compel the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make him a member in good standing again. In May, the academy made the rare move of expelling Polanski and Bill Cosby, months after ending the membership of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Polanski appealed the decision, and in January the academy rejected his appeal. Friday’s five-page filing states that by not giving Polanski sufficient notice of his expulsion, and not giving he or his lawyer to argue his case in person during the appeal, the academy “failed to comply with its own rules, policies and regulations.” The academy responded with a brief statement saying, “The procedures taken to expel Mr. Polanski were fair and reasonable. The Academy stands behind its decision as appropriate.” The filing also alleges that the expulsion violated a California law that requires corporations to give a fair hearing before removing a member, calling it a “prejudicial abuse of discretion.” Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun said at the time that Polanski was “blindsided” by his removal, and learned of it through media reports. The filing says that the academy’s decision is final and the director has no recourse for reconsideration outside of the courts. Polanski, who won a best director Oscar for “The Pianist” in 2003, remains a fugitive after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the United States the following year. He has been living in Europe since. He had been an academy member for nearly 50 years at the time of his expulsion, and his films had been nominated for 28 Oscars. But he had long been one of the organization’s more divisive members. At the 2003 ceremony, Polanski’s win — his first — received a standing ovation. He was not in attendance. He’d previously been nominated for writing his adaptation of “Rosemary’s Baby,” and directing “Chinatown” and “Tess.” Polanski’s ouster from the group means he can no longer vote for nominees and winners, but he and his films can still win Oscars. After expelling Weinstein, the academy implemented revised standards of conduct for its over 8,400 members. The standards said the organization is no place for “people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates standards of decency.” The code allowed the academy’s board to suspend or expel those who violate the code of conduct or who “compromise the integrity” of the academy. There have been no reports of Weinstein or Cosby appealing their expulsions from the academy. Before Weinstein, only one person is thought to have been expelled from the academy: Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending DVD screeners of films in contention for Oscars. ___ AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report from New York. ___ Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .",
            "output": [
                "Polanski asks court to restore his film academy membership."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e49ff0529e9c48259d9296070178aabd",
            "input": "Continuing questions about the new virus are complicating health authorities’ efforts to curtail its spread around the world. And the United States is taking the first steps to check that cases masquerading as the flu won’t be missed, another safeguard on top of travel restrictions and quarantines. Here’s what you should know about the illness: WHAT IS THE NEW VIRUS? It’s a never-before-seen type of coronavirus, a large family of viruses that affect both animals and people. Some types cause the common cold. But two other types have caused severe disease outbreaks before: SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in late 2002, and MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, which first appeared in 2012. The World Health Organization officially named the new illness COVID-19, reflecting that it’s a new coronavirus that emerged late last year. Common symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. While serious cases can turn into pneumonia, most patients appear to have a fairly mild illness. HOW FAST IS THE OUTBREAK GROWING? There’s some confusion about that. China’s tally reached more than 66,000 cases Saturday, a huge increase from earlier in the week. Why? Chinese health authorities say they changed how they are counting. Instead of waiting for a virus test to confirm someone’s diagnosis — there’s a huge testing backlog — they’re now counting patients on the basis of their symptoms and lung X-rays. The WHO isn’t sure that’s a good idea, and wants to make sure people with flu or some other respiratory infection aren’t getting caught in the mix. Elsewhere, fewer than 600 cases have been reported outside of China — in other parts of Asia, Europe, the U.S. and Canada. The first case in Africa was reported Friday, in Egypt. Most involved travelers from China and people who came into close contact with them. IS QUARANTINE WORKING? China has put 60 million people in its hardest-hit cities under lockdown, an unprecedented response. Without a good count of how many people are sick, and when they got sick, it’s hard to tell if it’s working. That’s different from typical quarantine measures, which try to target people who may be at risk — those who were in China’s hot zone or who came into contact with another patient anywhere else in the world. That’s a way to buy time for health authorities to prepare if the virus starts to spread more widely. But how to quarantine large numbers of people is a difficult question. The Diamond Princess cruise ship, which has the largest cluster of infections outside China, was quarantined in Japan with more than 3,500 passengers and crew. Experts have questioned if the close quarters have contributed to the spread. U.S. officials said Saturday it would evacuate its citizens on board and bring them to quarantine stations on Air Force bases in California and Texas. In the U.S., about 600 people evacuated from hard-hit Hubei province in central China are still in quarantine at several military bases, apart from other people on the base but with some room to roam. For 14 days — what scientists believe to be the incubation period — they are checked for symptoms and tested if they show any. As of Saturday, there were 15 cases in the U.S., including three of the evacuees. COULD THE VIRUS BE SPREADING SILENTLY IN OTHER PLACES? In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is starting a new effort to spot if that happens — by adding coronavirus testing to the network that normally tracks influenza. When a patient sample tests negative for flu, lab workers next will check it for the new virus. The extra tests will start in public health laboratories in five cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York. But the surveillance will be expanded around the country in the coming weeks, said CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier. HOW DOES INFECTION SPREAD? Like typical respiratory viruses, it spreads mostly through droplets from coughs and sneezes. What about surfaces like doorknobs touched by that person blowing his nose? If the next person touches their own mouth, nose or eyes, infection is possible, like with the flu, but specialists don’t think the virus can survive on surfaces for very long. Regular hand washing is a good way to avoid getting sick from any virus. WHAT ABOUT TREATMENTS AND VACCINES? The hunt is on for both. Currently, people who are seriously ill get standard pneumonia care including fluids and oxygen. In China, scientists are testing some medicines developed for other viruses to see if they might tamp down this one. Several research groups are on the trail of possible vaccines, and one being developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health might begin first-step safety tests in people as early as spring. But specialists stress it would take far longer — best case scenario a year — to ready a vaccine for widespread use. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Questions complicate efforts to contain new virus from China."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b67d596169d47f48b8ef565d9dae5fd",
            "input": "\"Charlie Crist’s most recent TV attack labels Republican Gov. Rick Scott as \"\"extreme\"\" on women’s issues. A few days after he snagged the endorsement of Planned Parenthood PAC, Crist issued an ad showing a series of women attacking Scott’s record on abortion, birth control and equal pay for women. One of the claims in the ad is that Scott \"\"thinks employers should be able to deny women coverage for birth control.\"\" PolitiFact Florida has fact-checked multiple claims about Crist’s record on abortion and we gave him a Half Flip for holding various positions on it throughout his career -- even before he switched parties to become a Democrat. Several media reports have also covered bills signed by Scott that limit access to abortion. Here we decided to fact-check Scott’s record on birth control. (Technically the Florida Democratic Party paid for the ad, but the Crist campaign announced the ad and promoted it.) Legal decisions about birth control during Scott’s tenure We reached out to Scott’s office and campaign and Crist’s campaign and searched news archives and found very few statements Scott made related to employers and birth control. Scott, a former health care executive, campaigned for governor on his opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care law in 2010. The law includes access to birth control for women; however, that was not at the root of Scott’s opposition to the law, which was more broadly about the federal government’s role and the individual mandate. We only found a couple of statements Scott made related to whether employers should be forced to provide birth control. The 2010 health care law required that most plans include birth control coverage without out-of-pocket costs. The Obama administration carved out a religious exemption for most churches and some parochial schools, finalized on Jan. 20, 2012. Certain religious entities, including Ave Maria University in Florida, opposed Obama’s rules. On Feb. 10, 2012, the White House announced a compromise: If a religious employer objected to providing birth control in its health plan, the employer would not have to pay for it, but the insurance company would pay. The next day, Newsmax TV asked Scott his thoughts about that decision while he attended the Conservative Political Action Conference. Scott said: \"\"This week what they did with regard to the Catholic Church and the contraceptives, it's an example [of] when government gets more involved in something they take away your rights. And this is, they are telling the Catholic Church what they have to buy. The government should not be telling us what type of insurance we should buy with our own money. The change they made makes no sense -- saying the insurance company is going to pay for it? That makes no sense. Money is going to be coming out of the Catholic institutions’ pocket to buy that insurance, so they are paying for it.\"\" About two weeks later, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi joined six other states in a lawsuit to challenge the birth control mandate arguing that it violated religious institutions' First Amendment rights. (Scott wasn’t a plaintiff.) In July 2012, a federal judge in Nebraska threw out the lawsuit arguing that the states failed to prove they would suffer immediate harm once that part of the law was enacted. The states appealed, but lost in 2013. On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that certain companies like Hobby Lobby that have religious objections can opt out of the birth control mandate. The companies opposed providing certain types of contraception that they believe is equivalent to inducing abortion, including morning-after pills and IUDs, while they didn’t oppose other methods of birth control. We asked a Scott campaign spokesman if Scott made any statements about Bondi’s lawsuit, the Hobby Lobby case, and in general if he thinks employers should be able to deny women birth control coverage. Spokesman Greg Blair pointed to one statement Scott made after the Hobby Lobby ruling, when a radio station reported that Scott said that the Supreme Court \"\"upheld our freedom of religion again this week.\"\" \"\"Gov. Scott believes that people should have access to the contraception and health care they want, and he also believes in religious freedom,\"\" Blair told PolitiFact Florida. Our ruling Crist’s ad states that Scott \"\"thinks employers should be able to deny women coverage for birth control.\"\" We struggled to find statements Scott made about employers and birth control. His spokesman didn't give us a denial when asked. We found a couple of statements which show he is against the federal government dictating to companies that they must provide birth control -- something that certain religious institutions opposed. It’s also worth noting that Scott doesn’t appear to be flat out against birth control but it’s clear that overall, he doesn’t like telling employers what they have to cover.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Charlie Crist Says Rick Scott \"\"thinks employers should be able to deny women coverage for birth control.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45b82f7174d540b38741e7721c4140b9",
            "input": "Arizona voters approved a 2010 law creating the medical marijuana program and Brnovich says providing funding for drug addiction services from medical marijuana program money is legal if the legislative action satisfies conditions required under the Arizona Constitution’s provision protecting voter-approved laws. An opinion released Monday by Brnovich says the legislative action requires approval by a three-quarter voter of each legislative chamber, leave enough money in the marijuana program to cover its costs and  “further the purposes” of the marijuana law. Brnovich issued the opinion Monday to answer questions by state Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican from Snowflake.",
            "output": [
                "Ariz. AG: Marijuana money can be used for addiction services."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-956c8d91e3684c5193deb79d5e9b44f0",
            "input": "\"Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders prompted conservatives to organize protests, but Whitmer said she will base decisions on how and when to relax Michigan’s social distancing guidelines on facts and science. At a press conference April 15, Whitmer said that the protests where people gathered without masks in close proximity \"\"may have just created a need to lengthen it, which is something that we’re trying to avoid at all costs.\"\" Whitmer said she is working with experts in health care and other sectors to create a data-driven approach to reopening the state. \"\"I want to be very clear that our decision to re-engage sectors is going to be based on the best facts and the best science, and what facts and science have told us is that re-engaging our state too soon or too fast will lead to a second wave of COVID-19 in Michigan,\"\" she said. \"\"During the flu pandemic of 1918, some cities lifted social distancing measures too fast, too soon, and created a second wave of pandemic.\"\" Whitmer said that as a result of lifting social distancing measures too fast in 1918, many cities had to revert to quarantines and \"\"suffered a lot of additional deaths.\"\" We will explain the source of her data, which comes from an academic paper in 2007. The influenza pandemic of 1918 spread worldwide and killed at least 50 million people, including about 675,000 in the United States. Since there was no vaccine for the virus and no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections, control efforts were largely limited to social distancing and quarantines, which were applied unevenly. During her press conference, Whitmer pointed to a chart by National Geographic, which displayed the findings of a 2007 study about the death rates in 43 cities during the 1918 pandemic. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and written by researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two of the authors summarized their findings in the Washington Post in April. \"\"The experience of 1918 also reminds us that early, layered (i.e., more than one at the same time) and lengthy mitigation measures are the best strategy. For social distancing to work, it must be sweeping and enforced across a wide swath of the community,\"\" wrote Howard Markel and J. Alexander Navarro. The researchers examined social distancing in 43 cities during about 24 weeks in 1918-19. Public gathering bans typically meant the closure of saloons, public entertainment venues and sporting events. Indoor gatherings were banned or moved outdoors. Researchers found that cities that implemented social distancing in a timely and comprehensive manner and sustained those rules suffered the least. St. Louis, for example, implemented a relatively early, layered strategy that included school closures and the cancellation of public gatherings. It sustained those interventions for about 10 weeks and did not experience nearly as harmful an outbreak as 36 other communities. Conversely, Philadelphia held a massive Liberty Bond Parade to bolster the World War I effort. That led to a spike of thousands of flu cases within days. In Atlanta, the mayor sided with the business community and ended closures after three weeks, despite objections from the board of health. The epidemic raged in Atlanta. Researchers documented public pressure to end social distancing as soon as the flu seemed to peak and ebb. Cities then lifted the measures, and people lined up for movies and packed into dance halls and shopping districts. \"\"The result? Cases and deaths resurged. Most cities closed their schools once again,\"\" the researchers wrote. Researchers noted caveats including that there could be errors in the historical record and the difficulties in interpreting data from 90 years ago. Navarro, one of the study authors, told PolitiFact that the study shows that communities must be very careful about removing social distancing restrictions too soon. Social distancing flattens the curve, but it doesn’t end the epidemic. It ends when a community  reaches hard immunity through vaccine or antibody reaction from infection. A separate paper published in 2007 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined 17 U.S. cities during the flu pandemic. It found that cities in which interventions were implemented early had peak death rates about 50% lower than those that did not. It concluded that social distancing and other measures \"\"can significantly reduce influenza transmission, but that viral spread will be renewed upon relaxation of such measures.\"\" It’s tricky to compare lifting restrictions \"\"too early\"\" with \"\"holding them for longer,\"\" said Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist and one of the co-authors of the National Academy of Sciences paper. In either case, there will be some amount of resurgence once social distancing is let up. A recent paper he co-authored in Science suggested that a single period of distancing could not permanently solve the problem; prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022. \"\"So overall, the problem is that it's not short vs. long, but single vs. repeated (or some other strategy such as a vaccine),\"\" he told PolitiFact. On April 15, President Donald Trump said he thinks some states can open up before May 1. Many scientists have warned that ending the interventions prematurely will lead to more deaths. Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, told the Associated Press on April 14 that the U.S. doesn’t yet have the contact tracing and testing needed to reopen the economy. He said Trump’s goal was a \"\"bit overly optimistic\"\" for parts of the country. \"\"I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going count,\"\" Fauci told the AP. Whitmer said, \"\"During the flu pandemic of 1918, some cities lifted social distancing measures too fast, too soon, and created a second wave of pandemic.\"\" Typically, when social distancing ends, there is a second wave. The goal is to make the second wave as small as possible. Whitmer pointed to research from the University of Michigan in 2007 that found after social distancing rules ended in many cities, cases and deaths surged.\"",
            "output": [
                "“During the flu pandemic of 1918, some cities lifted social distancing measures too fast, too soon, and created a second wave of pandemic.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3756689899be4c7196265240b511b978",
            "input": "Michael Williamson of Springfield sued the federal agency on Jan. 23 in U.S. District Court in Eugene after a VA contract company notified him that his home health care of nearly 20 years would soon end because it couldn’t find caregivers for his round-the-clock assistance. Officials at the Roseburg VA Health Care System told Williamson he would have to move to an out-of-state nursing home, according to the lawsuit. The settlement dismissing the lawsuit was announced by U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams, who said Williamson is an honored veteran deserving of thoughtful and attentive care. Williamson served 14 years in the Air Force and was in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis around the turn of the century. “I’m pleased we were able to achieve a successful outcome that honored our veteran and his family’s wishes while also providing a safe environment for his care,” said David Whitmer, the Roseburg VA’s interim director. “Because of the complex care needed by an ALS patient, this took some time to negotiate and ensure a home-based solution that could meet all of the requirements.” Thomas Stenson, a Disability Rights Oregon lawyer who represented Williamson, told The Oregonian/Oregonian it was important to his client to continue receiving care at home. “It was a challenging situation, and when we filed suit, the VA stepped up and we came to an agreement,” Stenson said. “We’re very happy the VA was able to work with us.”",
            "output": [
                "VA will provide in-home care for vet with Gehrig’s disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d00ec9ce00cb4c33b9013486b991fdc8",
            "input": "\"South Florida has a reputation as a place ripe for fraud and crime -- including bilking the government. State Rep. Ron Saunders, the Democratic minority leader from Key West, has slapped a more specific label on a costly problem in South Florida: Medicaid fraud. \"\"The two worst counties for fraud in the country -- not state -- are Dade and Broward county,\"\" he told a roomful of reporters on Jan. 19, 2011, during an Associated Press preview of Florida's upcoming legislative session. It's easy to find news articles describing South Florida as a mecca for such fraud -- with labels such as \"\"ground zero\"\" or mind-boggling tales of abuse. But the word \"\"worst\"\" caught our eye -- are the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade and Broward truly the \"\"worst\"\" in the country for Medicaid fraud? Medicaid, a health care program for low-income individuals, is administered by the states and receives some federal funding. The Truth-O-Meter has weighed in multiple times on fact-checks related to the high cost and growth of Medicaid, including a claim by Pam Bondi, now Florida's attorney general, and Bill McCollum, Florida's previous attorney general. For more background, check out this website of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We spoke to Saunders directly on Jan. 20, who told us that his statement was in response to a question about how to resolve the state's budget crisis. Saunders said it's a \"\"no-brainer\"\" to cut back on fraud such as in Medicare and Medicaid rather than make more cuts in areas such as education. But after a lot of calls and research, we can say one thing for certain: Nobody tracks county-by-county Medicaid fraud nationally. Even within Florida, a county breakdown is not available. So we're going to rely on expert opinions and documented trends in this ruling. Mark Hollis, spokesperson for the House Democratic caucus, sent us links to newspaper articles and government reports about Medicaid fraud in South Florida. Among the sources Hollis cited was a March 2009 article in Health News Florida, quoting state Sen. Don Gaetz saying: \"\"Since we have the worst problem in the nation, we need the most effective solution.\"\" Hollis also sent us a December 2005 article in HomeCare, an industry publication, quoting FBI agent Michael Clemens, who was in charge of the Miami field office at the time, saying: \"\"South Florida is ground zero for health care fraud.\"\" But neither article provides any documentation to support that \"\"worst\"\" label. Hollis also sent us links to a House bill and recent government reports about Medicaid fraud. House Bill 1487 in 2009, which labeled Miami-Dade an area of \"\"special concern,\"\" was intended to rein in Medicaid fraud. The Senate version, Senate Bill 2658, was signed into law in June 2009. The staff analysis outlined the rampant growth in home health care agencies in Florida: Of the 431 licensure applications in 2007, 58.5 percent were in Miami-Dade. In that county, the number of licensed agencies grew 414 percent between August 1999 and March 6, 2009. The analysis also stated that \"\"While Miami-Dade has about 20 percent of Florida’s Medicaid population and about 33 percent of Florida’s residents over the age of 60, 91 percent of the state reimbursement for certain home health services were going to Miami-Dade.\"\" While the bill analysis doesn't provide data ranking all of Florida's counties, it certainly suggests that Miami-Dade has an overwhelmingly disproportionate share of Medicaid dollars -- and fraud. Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, which administers the Medicaid program, has a report from 2009-10 that also provides some insight. Although the 94-page report does not describe Broward and Miami-Dade as the worst in the nation, it noted:  • \"\"Home health agencies have been an acknowledged area of health care fraud in recent years. For the four fiscal years ending June 30, 2009, approximately 90 percent of Medicaid expenditures for home health aide visits were made to providers in Miami‐Dade County, while only about 20 percent of Medicaid recipients reside in that area. At the end of the fiscal year, there were 339 home health agencies in Miami‐Dade County actively enrolled in the Medicaid program and only 293 in the other 66 counties combined.\"\" (Page 53)  • Statutes were changed in 2008 and 2009 to address home-health fraud. Forty-seven licensure denials for home health agencies were upheld in FY 2009-10 for fraud-related reasons. Thirty-one of the denials (66 percent) were in Miami-Dade County. (Page 65)  We reached out to several agencies that have a role in Medicaid. Both the Florida Attorney General, which has a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and AHCA said they had no nationwide county-by-county information to support or refute Saunders' claim. Don White, spokesman for the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also told us that the federal government has \"\"no statistics on Medicaid fraud.\"\" As for Saunders' claim that Dade and Broward are the \"\"worst\"\" in the country, White said: \"\"Do we have the numbers? No. Is he probably correct? Yes.\"\" We ran Saunders' claim by Alan Levine, a former secretary at AHCA under Gov. Jeb Bush and an expert on Medicaid. \"\"I have absolutely no doubt South Florida is among the highest,\"\" Levine wrote in an e-mail. \"\"Others that likely run in the same circle are New York and New Jersey. But South Florida, from all the experience I have, clearly leads the way.\"\" Levine sent us a 2009 report, \"\"Stop Paying the Crooks,\"\" by the Center for Health Transformation, an organization founded by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It stated that the U.S. Department of Justice labeled \"\"South Florida -- and more specifically, Miami-Dade County --Ground Zero for health care fraud in America.\"\" But no numbers ranking counties nationwide. We sent Saunders' claim to Craig Smith, the attorney who wrote the South Florida chapter, who works at Hogan Lovells law firm in Miami. \"\"Whatever the exact figure is, there can be no question that the bulk of the fraud, waste and abuse is occurring in Miami-Dade and Broward counties,\"\" Smith wrote to us in an e-mail Feb. 1. \"\"Based on the size of Florida's Medicaid program, you can fairly eliminate about 45 states from the comparative discussion.\"\" So let's review: Saunders said that \"\"The two worst counties for (Medicaid) fraud in the country -- not state -- are Dade and Broward county.\"\" We could not find any government office that could point to numbers ranking counties across the nation in terms of Medicaid fraud. But we found four experts -- one from the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, one a former secretary of the state's AHCA, a spokesperson from a national organization that provides information on health care fraud and an attorney who specializes in health care law -- who all agree that Saunders is likely right. At PolitiFact Florida, we dig for data to support claims by politicians -- and Saunders and our experts haven't provided hard numbers to prove him right. But the fact that four experts -- including one appointed by a Republican governor -- generally back up the Democratic minority leader or say that the two counties are at least among the worst in the nation carries weight with us.\"",
            "output": [
                "The two worst counties for (Medicaid) fraud in the country -- not state -- are Dade and Broward county."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f91d53e697e54d29b44102d1958d5ebe",
            "input": "Researchers with the UofA Cooperative Extension are moving forward with a multiyear study of the environment and growing practices in the “winter vegetable capital,” the university announced last week. They will be partnering with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, state agriculture officials and local growers. “It’s really rare to see a project like this, to see all three entities working together to solve a problem,” Channah Rock, an environmental science professor with the UofA Cooperative Extension, told The Associated Press. Seven to 10 scientists will be based in Yuma and collect data year-round. They will gather samples of water, sediment and wildlife feces, Rock said. The study is expected to last one to three years. One of the goals is to come back with recommendations for growers or anyone along the production chain, and perhaps inform future practices, Rock said. “The goal is to look at trends over time to tell us a better story about what is and isn’t going on in the environment,” she said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the spring 2018 outbreak was responsible for five deaths and made 200 others ill. Health officials ultimately traced the romaine lettuce back to Yuma. FDA investigators said water samples from an irrigation canal in eastern Yuma County tested positive for the same genetic type of E. coli. And a cattle feedlot in the area was identified as a potential source of harmful bacteria. However, nothing definitive turned up at 22 farm fields, and subsequent testing didn’t find the outbreak pathogen again in the canal. The FDA and CDC’s assessments were only a snapshot of a few months, Rock said. The scientists hope with more time, they can shed light on how the water became contaminated to begin with. Produce growers in Arizona and California have since adopted new standards based on the information gleaned from the FDA, including additional water quality testing, increased attention to weather and longer distances from feedlot operations.",
            "output": [
                "UofA scientists to study Yuma lettuce outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee33aaf01fce4a9abb0e0771ff657397",
            "input": "Aid groups rushed emergency help to the storm-ravaged islands, and officials warned a death toll of 43 was likely to spike higher as the number of missing among the archipelago nation’s 400,000 residents becomes clear. Even as the aid ships and aircraft headed in, residents  abandoned hard-hit Great Abaco Island to seek safety and food in the capital, Nassau, and others headed to Florida for shelter, supplies and perhaps jobs. Some 90 percent of the homes, buildings and infrastructure in Marsh Harbour of Great Abaco, where Dorian rampaged for almost two full days as one of the strongest Caribbean hurricanes on record, were damaged, the World Food Programme said. The agency noted that thousands of people were living in a government building, a medical center and an Anglican church that survived the storms, but they had little to no access to water, power and sanitary facilities. “The needs remain enormous,” WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said in an email. “Evacuations are slowly taking place by ferry, as hundreds of residents reportedly flee daily.”  A cruise ship with more than 1,000 evacuees arrived in south Florida on Saturday. Some had small children or aging relatives who they hoped to find safe lodging for before returning to try to repair or rebuild their island homes. The risk of outbreaks of diarrhea and waterborne diseases is high as drinking water may be tainted with sewage, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Travis Newton, a 32-year-old carpenter who survived the storm in Marsh Harbour, said he arrived in Nassau on Saturday morning with his family, trying to find a safe place to live. He said residents of the town foraged for food and water in the wreckage of damaged stores after the storm passed. “We had to survive, we had to make it happen, we had to find food, water, where we were aid couldn’t get to us, we had to find what we could from the damaged stores,” Newton said. “Everybody needs to get out of that place.”  The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were shipping in relief supplies and had already rescued some 290 people from isolated areas on the islands. The U.S. Agency for International Development said it raised its allocation of aid to the Bahamas by $1 million, to $2.8 million in total and had moved enough emergency supplies for 44,000 people to the islands. Some 70,000 people were in need of food and shelter, the WFP estimated, and private forecasters estimated that some $3 billion in insured property was destroyed or damaged in the Caribbean. Dorian remained a powerful threat. The storm on Saturday made an unusual third landfall when it slammed into Canada’s Atlantic Coast, knocking down trees, cutting power and blowing over a large construction crane in downtown Halifax, the capital of the province of Nova Scotia. Dorian was reclassified to a very intense post-tropical storm as it lost a defined eye though wind speeds of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) were equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said. The system was racing north-eastward toward Prince Edward Island and was expected to pass over northern Newfoundland and eastern Labrador late Saturday or early Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Local authorities urged anyone who lived close to the seashore to evacuate as a precaution. Dorian, proving to be a long-lived storm, hit the Bahamas on Sunday and Monday with Category 5 winds, with some gusts topping 200 miles per hour (320 kph). The hurricane pounded parts of North Carolina’s Outer Banks Islands on Friday, and Governor Roy Cooper on Saturday reported the death of a 67-year-old man in Pamlico County on the mainland coast, the state’s second fatality in the storm. In the Bahamas, medical chief of staff at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, Dr. Caroline Burnett-Garraway, said two refrigerated, 40-foot trucks would be needed to hold the “staggering” number of bodies that were expected to be found. “Our relief operation is growing, but we are also facing serious challenges in terms of delivering aid,” Red Cross spokeswoman Jennifer Eli said. “Even search-and-rescue choppers haven’t been able to reach some people because there’s no place to land.”  Near an area called The Mudd in Marsh Harbour, a Reuters witness reported most houses leveled, the body of a man lying near a main street and dead dogs floating in water. Among those who fled Abaco was 19-year-old Isaiah Johnson, who was staying in a hotel in Nassau with his mother and three sisters after the storm’s severe winds destroyed their homes. A wealthy friend had paid for a two-week stay, but after that it was unclear where they would go. His mother was already searching for work in the United States, Johnson said, reckoning that jobs would be hard to find in Nassau. “Two weeks might be enough time for me to figure things out,” Johnson said on Saturday. “For my mom, I’m not so sure.”",
            "output": [
                "As desperation rises, thousands in Bahamas flee Dorian's devastation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc3b31334d864d71b4b43349bf30bf38",
            "input": "They’ve stopped companies that quickly launched home-testing kits until they can show their products can accurately detect the virus. For now, the only way Americans can get tested is at hospitals, clinics or drive-thru sites, with a doctor’s order. After a botched rollout, testing in the U.S. has ramped up thanks to high-volume testing machines and new rapid tests. Last week, federal officials said total tests topped 1.4 million, and labs are processing nearly 100,000 tests daily. That’s the threshold many experts say is needed to track the virus. Still, testing continues to be constrained by shortages of medical supplies like gloves, masks and swabs. And the widespread drive-thru testing proposed for parking lots at chains like Walmart, Walgreens and Target has barely gotten off the ground. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is aggressively pushing new options onto the market. FASTER RESULTS Genetic tests are the gold standard for detecting COVID-19 infections. New, quicker ones are replacing the original laboratory tests that have to be manually mixed and developed. The idea behind both tests is the same: chemical solutions are used to isolate the virus from the patient sample, grab its genetic material and then reproduce it millions of times until it’s detectable with a computer. New rapid tests such as the one by Abbott Laboratories automate the process, cutting the time from four to six hours to about 15 minutes. “Essentially all of the reactions are squeezed into a little cartridge, so it’s a very nice, self-contained system.” said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, lab director at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota The cartridges from Abbott and other companies run on small, portable electronic machines found in thousands of U.S. hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices. That’s expected to increase testing beyond large universities, government and commercial labs. Abbott said it plans to begin shipping 50,000 tests per day this month. U.S. officials said they’d go first to remote areas with less access to labs. For now, only a health care professional can order a coronavirus test. Under current guidelines, priority is given to people with COVID-19 symptoms who fall into several high-risk groups, including hospitalized patients, health care workers and the elderly. “If you’re not sick, you don’t need to be tested,” has been the mantra for weeks. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME Accurately testing for coronavirus involves several steps, including carefully swabbing the nose or throat to collect a sample, placing it in a sterile tube, storing it below 46 degrees Fahrenheit and then shipping it to a lab within three days. Health officials warn a number of things could go wrong if consumers try to swab, store and ship their own samples, potentially resulting in testing errors and undetected infections. The FDA is talking to companies working on at-home kits, but they’ll be required to show that their results are comparable to those of people under professional care, agency spokesman Jeremy Kahn said in a statement. Many of the proposed at-home tests aren’t like home pregnancy tests — they won’t provide instant results. The samples still need to go to a lab. After several companies began shipping test kits last month, the FDA quickly intervened. No home tests have been approved and the products sent to U.S. consumers were frauds, regulators said. Several companies were caught off guard including San Francisco startup Nurx, which initially built its business around prescribing birth control drugs via brief online consultations. On March 20, the company announced plans to ship 10,000 testing kits to customers for $181 each. Within 24 hours, the FDA warning went out and Nurx’s plan was off. UPCOMING OPTIONS Simpler, cheaper blood tests could also have a role in tracking the virus — and possibly expanding testing to the home. The FDA is permitting companies  to launch certain types of finger-prick tests that can detect whether people may have recently been infected. Instead of detecting the virus itself, these tests detect proteins called antibodies that the immune system generates to fight COVID-19. Public health experts hope that mass screening with antibody tests could eventually help track how the virus spreads and who might have built up immunity. “We have this massive epidemic on our hands and if we really want to control it through testing we need to have it more readily available and on a repeated basis — potentially every week to know who is truly positive and negative,” said Harvard University’s Dr. Michael Mina. Because the blood test is easy to perform and can be developed in 15 minutes — without laboratory equipment — some companies think it could become a viable home-testing option. Scanwell Health is seeking approval for a home test using one developed by Chinese manufacturer Innovita and deployed by the Chinese government. People who meet criteria through an online questionnaire would receive a test kit in the mail, take a blood sample and scan the test with a smartphone app. Next is an online consultation with a health professional who will deliver and interpret the results. “The entire testing process happens within the home— nothing needs to be shipped back,” said Scanwell executive Dr. Jack Jeng. ___ AP business writers Tom Murphy in Indianapolis and Anne D’innocenzio in New York contributed to this report. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "No COVID-19 testing at home yet but quicker options coming."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-891e16aa9beb43878dcc8edaf51f8425",
            "input": "\"A San Antonio activist tried to make a point about the proposed Texas law affecting bathroom access in public schools and other buildings simply by posing with a presumed leading supporter of the legislation, Gov. Greg Abbott. The photo from Abbott’s July 14, 2017, re-election kickoff rally in the Alamo City shows Abbott grinning next to \"\"Trans-Woman\"\" Ashley Smith. Smith added this comment in a post below the photo placed the next day on her Facebook page: \"\"How will the Potty Police know I'm transgender if the Governor doesn't?\"\" That post went viral though Smith later got our attention when she described the prevalence of Americans who are transgender, telling Chris Quinn of the San Antonio Express-News: \"\"We're about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbors. Some of us are not immediately obvious as trans. And the idea that you are going to be able to enforce a bathroom bill, I mean the enforceability is just not there.\"\" We asked Smith the basis of her 1-in-300 figure. She pointed by email to a report finding that nationally, about 1.4 million residents were \"\"trans,\"\" Smith said, \"\"which if my math is right, would make us 1 in every 231 people.\"\" The June 2016 report, \"\"How Many Adults Identify as Transgender in the United States?.\"\" was issued by the Williams Institute, a UCLA School of Law think tank that says it advances sexual orientation law and public policy through independent research. The authors, making statistical adjustments to Centers for Disease Control 2014 phone survey results, estimated that 0.6 percent of U.S. adults \"\"identify as transgender.\"\" The report went on: \"\"This figure is double the estimate that utilized data from roughly a decade ago and implies that an estimated 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender.\"\" In 2011, an institute researcher, Gary Gates, had estimated based partly on surveys taken in Massachusetts and California that 0.3 percent of U.S. adults identified as transgender. The U. S. Census Bureau hasn’t estimated the number of Americans identifying as transgender. But we turned to its population estimates to gauge the institute’s latest figures. As of July 2014, the bureau says, the U.S. was home to 318,563,456 residents including 244,986,302 adults. Applying the institute’s estimate that 0.6 percent of adults identify as transgender delivers a subtotal of 1,469,917 adults. Summing up, the institute estimated that 1.8-in-300 U.S. adults identify as transgender. Minors identifying as transgender? For an estimate of younger Americans identifying as transgender, Smith told us, she relied on a January 2017 institute report similarly starting from federal surveys. That report says researchers estimate that 0.7 percent of U.S. minors aged 13 to 17, tallied at about 150,000 people, are transgender--which breaks out to about 2.1-in-300 individuals in the age group. The 2017 report includes a chart estimating transgender residents by age groups:       SOURCE: Report, \"\"Age of Individuals Who Identify As Transgender in the United States,\"\" the Williams Institute, January 2017 (accessed July 26-27, 2017) At Smith’s urging, we also queried the policy counsel of the National Center for Transgender Equality, which says it’s the \"\"nation’s leading social justice advocacy organization winning life-saving change for transgender people.\"\" By email, Ma’ayan Anafi replied that the center considers the 2016 institute estimate to be the most reliable available estimate of the U.S. transgender population. Anafi similarly noted the institute’s estimate for people aged 13-17, adding: \"\"Currently, there is no comprehensive national estimate for the number of transgender people under the age of 13.\"\" A Williams Institute researcher Next, we heard back from Andrew Flores, a visiting scholar at the institute involved and familiar with its reports. Flores said that while the research estimates were not independently peer-reviewed prior to publication, both are under consideration by an academic peer-reviewed journal. \"\"We have not seen a methodological challenge or rebuttal,\"\" Flores wrote. Also, he said, \"\"we have seen other estimates proposed using the same or similar data.\"\" In that vein, Flores provided a web link to the abstract of a study published in the February 2017 American Journal of Public Health containing an extrapolation based on 12 U.S. population surveys taken from 2007 to 2015. Its authors estimated that as of 2016, 390 U.S. adults per 100,000, or almost 1 million adults, identified as transgender. That breaks out to 1.17-in-300 adults. \"\"This estimate,\"\" they wrote, \"\"may be more indicative for younger adults, who represented more than 50% of the respondents in our analysis.\"\" State estimates by institute We saw that the 2016 institute report had state-by-state estimates of adults identifying as transgender, ranging from 0.3 percent in North Dakota to 0.8 percent in Hawaii--and 0.66 percent in Texas, or 125,350 residents, the report said. The report specified that its estimates were rooted in data from 19 states that opted in to asking participants in the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2014: \"\"Do you consider yourself to be transgender?\"\" If someone answered affirmatively, he or she was asked: \"\"Do you consider yourself to be male-to-female, female-to-male, or gender non-conforming?\"\" In total, the report says, 0.52 percent of respondents in the 19 states identified as transgender. According to the report, if a respondent asked for a definition of transgender, the person  seeking responses was to reply: \"\"Some people describe themselves as transgender when they experience a different gender identify from their sex at birth. For example, a person born into a male body, but who feels female or who lives as a woman would be transgender. Some transgender people change their physical appearance so that it matches their internal gender identity. Some transgender people take hormones and some have surgery. A transgender person may be of any sexual orientation -- straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.\"\" We asked Flores why the institute reached the 0.66 percentage for the nation when responses to the survey question in the 19 states--Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming--supported a lower 0.52 percent result. Flores replied: \"\"While our underlying dataset only contains 19 states, we wanted to make inferences about every state. We did this by running a model that included all respondents, even those who did not get asked about whether or not they identified as transgender. We then used the model results to impute or fill-in whether an individual would identify as transgender considering their state and demographic profile. Finally, we used these results and generalized them to population statistics provided by the Census Bureau. \"\"The reason why the (19-state) survey estimate is lower than the resultant national estimate,\"\" Flores wrote,  \"\"is mostly due to the demographic composition of the remaining states. As we noted, people of color and younger individuals are more likely to identify as transgender. If a state that was not one of those 19 contains more younger individuals or populations of color, then that would mean then national estimate would be larger as a result.\"\" Texas state demographer Next, we asked Lloyd Potter, the Texas state demographer, to review the institute’s 2016 report. Potter said  by email that his read suggests that from 0.36 percent to 0.95 percent of the population identifies as transgender, so 1-in-300, or 0.3 percent, \"\"is a little low,\"\" he said. Potter explained that institute researchers applied characteristics including race and ethnicity, age cohorts and educational attainment provided by individuals who responded affirmatively to the CDC survey question to produce its estimates of adults in each state who may identify as transgender, with all of the state estimates aggregated to a U.S. estimate.. Potter went on: \"\"It is likely that there is under-reporting among those who do identify as transgender in those 19 states which would suggest the estimate is on the low end.\"\" Our ruling Smith said transgender residents make up \"\"about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbors.\"\" There’s no direct national count of individuals identifying as transgender but recent analyses rooted in federal survey results support estimates of 1.8-in-300 adults and 2.1-in-300 minors. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Ashley Smith Says transgender residents make up \"\"about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbors.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f23a6605e58f4a3bb6178582624f40b3",
            "input": "At some point, costs must enter into this discussion. But this story never got there. The story states: “The data that we have suggests that 1 in a thousand will benefit from mammograms in the 40-49 age,” (the USPSTF chair) said. “There are whole lots of assumptions that are not supported by the data they presented.” We wouid have like to have seen more discussion of the potential harms in 85% of biopsies being non-cancerous. But since the story did actually quantify the number of false positives, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. Better than the competing Denver Post story if only because CNN allows the US Preventive Services Task Force chair to explain their recommendations – something the Denver story didn’t do. But there could have been more scrutiny of the studies reported on. There was not much focus on whether we can really learn much from the single site retrospective study of their biopsies (did they compare to biopsies from patients who did not have screening mammograms? on what basis were they claiming that they were more treatable? and that being more treatable leads to longer life?). No overt disease-mongering. Good sourcing, including – unlike the competing Denver Post story – input from the chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force. There was a far more balanced discussion of harms and benefits in this story, although the use of personal opinion and recommendations, and the ending resulted in an imbalance in the piece. Excerpts that demonstrate this imbalance: Wouldn’t a more balanced way to end the piece – focusing on the shared decision-making element so important in this issue – have been to end with this: Nonethless, all of this was in the piece, so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Not applicable. The availability of mammograms is not in question. Adequate job putting the new studies in context of past research and recommendations. It’s clear the story didn’t rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Fewer mammograms being done, studies show"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d67271180bf442198e9d88bfd935892e",
            "input": "Under the restrictions, American citizens, green card holders and others are still allowed to return home to the U.S., but will be funneled to 13 airports and be subjected to health screenings and quarantine orders, according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity before the official announcement expected Saturday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that she and the Trump administration are close to agreement on a coronavirus aid package to reassure anxious Americans by providing sick pay, free testing and other resources, hoping to calm teetering financial markets amid the mounting crisis. Final details were being worked out, but the top House Democrat, who held daylong talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, expected an announcement Friday. The House could then swiftly vote. “We have — are near — to an agreement,” Pelosi said, emerging from her office at the Capitol shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday. The potential deal between Congress and the White House would cap a tumultuous week in which Washington strained for a comprehensive response to the outbreak that is testing the nation’s political, financial and health care systems. It builds on an emergency $8.3 billion package approved last week and is aimed at providing additional health and financial resources to arrest the sudden spread of the pandemic and the kind of economic fallout unseen in a generation. Pelosi promised in a letter to colleagues that a third package was yet to come. The new sick leave benefit would require businesses to provide up to 14 days of paid leave to workers who are home quarantined with the virus, with the federal government reimbursing them through tax credits. The bill enhances unemployment benefits for the jobless and boosts food and nutrition programs for working families, students and seniors. The late announcement was intended to boost confidence, Democrats said. “We felt that putting together something that the American people can see cooperation on between the two parties in this difficult moment would be a confidence builder,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-N.J., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, joining Pelosi at the Capitol, “and I think that we approached it that way.”  Meanwhile, the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court all declared themselves off limits to the public for now, symbols of a nation hunkering down. Democrat Joe Biden, President Donald Trump’s chief rival, criticized him for playing down the threat for weeks and promised if he becomes president to “always tell you the truth.” Amid a wave of closures and cancellations, the coronavirus question got personal for Trump and some members of Congress. Just days after meeting Trump and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the communications chief for Brazil’s president, Fábio Wajngarten, tested positive for the coronavirus. A photo of the president, the senator and Wajngarten shows the trio shoulder-to-shoulder at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last weekend. It was the first time someone infected with the virus was known to have been in close proximity to the president. Scott said he was isolating himself. Trump, 73, said he was unworried. “We had dinner in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with the entire delegation,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But we did nothing very unusual. We sat next to each other for a period of time.” Asked whether he should be tested, Trump replied, “I am not concerned.” White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said “the White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation‘s visit to Mar-a-Lago last weekend tested positive for COVID-19” though; confirmatory testing is pending. She said: “Both the President and Vice President had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was also at Trump’s club on the weekend, joined a growing list of lawmakers who have chosen to isolate themselves as a precaution. On Wednesday, Trump announced a month-long restriction on travel from most of Europe, set to begin at midnight Friday night. He said Thursday that he was considering other major restrictions, such as limiting travel to domestic hot spots like California and Washington state, without spelling out how he would manage such an extraordinary effort. The State Department issued a global advisory cautioning U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel abroad.” So far, the administration’s haphazard response and the stalemate in Congress have resulted in more uncertainty as the crisis roils the financial markets and rewrites daily life for Americans. Biden and Bernie Sanders, the other main contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, delivered their own speeches the day after Trump’s prime-time address to the nation. Biden called for free virus testing, temporary pop-up hospitals and paid leave for all Americans to help cover paychecks as workers self-quarantine, care for the ill or lose jobs over the virus. “No president can promise to prevent future outbreaks, but I can promise you this, when I’m president we will be better prepared, respond better and recover better,” Biden declared. Sanders also proposed swift federal intervention and money to help people suffering in their health or finances. As talks between Pelosi and Mnuchin continued, lawmakers from both parties expressed alarm after what they called heated and testy briefings with Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, and other public health officials. Lawmakers were particularly frustrated that U.S. officials have tested relatively few patients. “We’re basically, in my opinion, flying blind,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.  As classes, sports events, concerts and conferences were canceled across the nation, Trump said he will halt his signature campaign rallies, telling reporters he needs a “little separation until such time as this goes away.” Biden and Sanders said they would no longer hold large political gatherings and their staffs would work from home as the race for the presidency moved online. The storied Smithsonian said it was canceling all public events and will temporarily close its network of museums and the National Zoo, starting Saturday. And Trump proposed postponing this summer’s Olympics in Japan for a year, too. The financial markets endured another day of alarming slides and the Federal Reserve moved to try to ease the disruptions by announcing that it will sharply increase its purchases of short-term Treasury bonds. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to be over it. While Trump said all European travel except from Britain would be cut off, there were clarifications and criticisms of the cornerstone of his attempt to curtail the crisis. Homeland Security officials said the new travel restrictions would apply only to most foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen Area at any point in the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. The area encompasses most European countries, among them France, Italy, German, Greece, Austria and Belgium. The restrictions don’t apply to legal permanent residents, immediate family of U.S. citizens or others identified in the proclamation signed by Trump. Vice President Mike Pence said the administration is also asking travelers returning to the U.S. from Europe to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days. But some health officials, and even a former high-ranking Trump administration official, suggested Trump’s European travel restriction was futile because the virus is already widespread on U.S. soil. “In two weeks, we will regret wasting time and energy on travel restrictions and wish we focused more on hospital preparation and large scale community mitigation,” Trump’s former homeland security adviser, Thomas Bossert, tweeted Thursday. Trump claimed falsely Thursday that the U.S. is currently screening all Americans and foreigners who are entering the country, saying, “people coming in have to be tested.” And he claimed that those who return are being forced to isolate themselves, adding: “It’s going to be a pretty strong enforcement of quarantine.” No widespread quarantine orders have been announced. ___ Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Lauran Neergaard, Martin Crutsinger, Laurie Kellman and Kevin Freking in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "AP sources: Travel ban to extend to United Kingdom, Ireland."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e12b5b654dec4e7c9a6db4e874c6a76c",
            "input": "\"The story mentioned that CT scans are faster and better at diagnosing certain problems than are other types of imaging. It did not, however, provide information about the costs of various types of imaging or whether there were differences in terms of costs covered by insurance. Since the story focused on the harms of the approach, quantifying the benefits of CT scans is not imperative in this case. The article fails to flesh out the quantification of the effect under study, namely additional risk of cancers. While the source study reports on \"\"attributable risk\"\" of cancer and cancer-deaths due to CT scanning, it would be helpful for the viewer to know what this means in terms of numbers of cancers and risk to the individual. The story mentioned that it was reporting on information in a recently published article in the New England Journal of Medicine. However they did not report on the nature of the study. They did not mention the methods used to estimated the additional risk due to CT radiation exposure. The source article mentions that a more definitive prospective observational study is ongoing. This story should have pointed out the possible limitations of the study. The story reported that the article it discussed estimated that the percentage of cancer caused by CT scans will increase from 0.4% to 2.0%. It did not, however explain that the content was extrapolated from epidemiological data and estimation of radiation doses. It would have been useful to provide a framework to understand the relative significance of the reported on increase in number of cancers. How does it compare, for example to the numbers of cancers due to cigarette smoking? The reporter interviewed two sources in the story. One was the first author of the article being reported on. One appeared not to be involved in the study reported on. It would have been helpful to clearly identify the doctors beyond their names to explain why they were interviewed. Two other scanning methods -MRI and ultrasound – were briefly mentioned. The story did not include information about availability of CT scans (i.e. in hospital setting, in free standing imaging centers). However, the point of the story was that the technology is over used. While not meeting our usual standard of describing availability, the context of the news spot makes this less important. Although the story mentioned that patients ought to make sure that the doctor gives you ‘the least possible dose’, it did not inform the viewer that this option is not available on all CT equipment. The story was clear that it wasn’t reporting on a new approach but rather on the increased use of an existing diagnostic method. While mentioning that ‘many of these CT scans are unnecessary’ the story did little in terms of better enabling a viewer to distinguish between necessary and unnecessary scans. Does not appear to rely solely or largely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "CT scans add to cancer risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aac1d03807c044adac34e1933756ca62",
            "input": "Evolocumab met the main goal of a late-stage trial titled RUTHERFORD-2 by lowering “bad” LDL cholesterol levels when tested against a placebo on 329 patients. Amgen, the world’s biggest biotechnology company, is testing evolocumab widely on a variety of subpopulations. The RUTHERFORD-2 study included patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited condition that causes high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol starting at birth. Specifically, patients in the study had heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, which is one of the most common genetic disorders affecting about one out of every 300 to 500 people worldwide, according to Amgen. The company on Tuesday reported positive results from a fourth late-stage study of evolocumab, for which it plans to begin seeking approvals this year. The drug is intended for people who cannot tolerate widely used statins, or who are unable to get their LDL levels low enough despite using high potency statins, such as AstraZeneca’s Crestor. Amgen’s shares closed at $120.89 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "Amgen's cholesterol fighter succeeds in fifth late-stage study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-560fca3843e64f3580461de6ed685cf2",
            "input": "Late Thursday, a St. Louis jury awarded $70.1 million to Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, who was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2012. Giannecchini, then 59, said she had used Johnson’s Baby Powder for more than 40 years to keep her genital area dry, as many women do. She blamed it for her cancer and accused J&J of negligence. Two other jury trials in St. Louis reached similar outcomes earlier this year, awarding the plaintiffs $72 million and $55 million. But in J&J’s home state of New Jersey a judge recently threw out two other cases, ruling there wasn’t reliable evidence talc causes ovarian cancer, a relatively rare disease. Johnson & Johnson says its product is safe, and it is appealing all three losses. And investors don’t seem worried that J&J is in financial trouble, even though the company faces an estimated 2,000 similar lawsuits. J&J shares fell 0.3 percent Friday, about the same as the broader stock market, to close at $115.33. The next trial is set to start in January, also in St. Louis. Here’s what experts say about talc and cancer. WHAT IS TALC? Talc is a mineral that is mined from deposits around the world, including the U.S. The softest of minerals, it’s crushed into a white powder. It’s been widely used in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture since at least 1894, when Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder was launched. But it’s mainly used in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics. DOES IT CAUSE OVARIAN CANCER? Like many questions in science, there’s no definitive answer. Finding the cause of cancer is difficult. It would be unethical to do the best kind of study, asking a group of women to use talcum powder on their genitals and wait to see if it causes cancer, while comparing them to a group who didn’t use it. While ovarian cancer is often fatal, it’s relatively rare. It accounts for only about 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year. Factors that are known to increase a women’s risk of ovarian cancer include age, obesity, use of estrogen therapy after menopause, not having any children, certain genetic mutations and personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer. WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS The biggest studies have found no link between talcum powder applied to the genitals and ovarian cancer. But about two dozen smaller studies over three decades have mostly found a modest connection — a 20 percent to 40 percent increased risk among talc users. However, that doesn’t mean talc causes cancer. Several factors make that unlikely, and there’s no proof talc, which doesn’t interact with chemicals or cells, can travel up the reproductive tract, enter the ovaries and then trigger cancer. One large study published in June that followed 51,000 sisters of breast cancer patients found genital talc users had a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, 27 percent lower than in nonusers. An analysis of two huge, long-running U.S. studies, the Women’s Health Initiative and the Nurses’ Health Study, showed no increased risk of ovarian cancer in talc users. WHAT EXPERTS SAY If there were a true link, Dr. Hal C. Lawrence III says large studies that tracked women’s health for years would have verified results of the smaller ones. “Lord knows, with the amount of powder that’s been applied to babies’ bottoms, we would’ve seen something,” if talc caused cancer, said Lawrence, vice president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The National Cancer Institute’s Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen says the federal agency’s position is that there’s not a clear connection. “It is very hard to establish causal relationships,” he said, adding, “A lot of ovarian cancers occur in women who have never used talc, and many women have used talc and not gotten ovarian cancer.” Research director Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society says it is unusual to have so much discrepancy between studies. “The risk for any individual woman, if there is one, is probably very small,” Ward said. ___ Follow Linda A. Johnson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lindaj_onpharma .",
            "output": [
                "Does baby powder cause cancer? Another jury says yes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6fecb0d92244083b14bf19579190df2",
            "input": "\"As new coronavirus cases continue to rise across the country, public health officials have advised Americans to consider voting by mail this fall. But funding for the U.S. Postal Service is up in the air, and the USPS has warned states that it can’t guarantee all mail-in ballots will be counted in time for the November election. The White House isn’t helping. In an Aug. 13 interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump said he opposed including additional funding for the Postal Service — which has lost billions of dollars during the pandemic — in new coronavirus bailout legislation. Why? Because Democrats want to expand voting by mail. \"\"They want three and a half billion dollars for the mail-in votes,\"\" Trump said. \"\"They want $25 billion, billion, for the post office. Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.\"\" \"\"But if they don't get those two items that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because you, they're not equipped to have it.\"\" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called lawmakers back early from their August recess to vote on legislation that would block the USPS from making operational changes. Trump has long derided the USPS as a waste of federal dollars. But an Aug. 12 ad from an anti-Trump political action committee claimed there may be ulterior motivations for the administration’s comments. \"\"This is Trump’s new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy,\"\" says a narrator in the ad, which was published by Really American on Twitter. \"\"A longtime Republican donor, DeJoy has given over $400,000 to Republicans just this year. Coincidentally, DeJoy and his wife have between $30 and $75 million in assets of direct competitors to the United States Postal Service.\"\" \"\"That’s right — they own the competition. The man Trump put in charge of our post office has the most to gain from its destruction.\"\" NEW VIDEO: Trump didn't choose Louis Dejoy to run the Post Office. He chose him to destroy it. #TrumpKillsUSPS pic.twitter.com/OOhJNOSnit The ad has more than 4 million views on Twitter, and similar claims have circulated widely on social media, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool. But are they accurate? We reached out to the postmaster general’s office for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. We also haven’t heard back from Really American. So we dug into DeJoy’s financial records ourselves. We found that the postmaster general has donated more than $440,000 to Republican causes in 2020. DeJoy’s investments in USPS competitors are less certain, but government documents suggest he could own more than $75 million in assets. DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in May. Government documents show that he and his wife have tens of millions of dollars invested in companies that provide services similar to the USPS. DeJoy is the former chairman and CEO of New Breed Logistics, a contract logistics firm in North Carolina. The company helped the USPS process mail for more than 25 years. In 2014, DeJoy sold the company to XPO Logistics, Inc., for $615 million. XPO says it’s a \"\"top 10 global provider of transportation and logistics services\"\" and is valued at more than $7.5 billion. As part of the 2014 deal, DeJoy joined the board of XPO and agreed to use $30 million of his proceeds to buy restricted stock in the company. That brings us to the low point of the range mentioned in Really American’s ad. But what about the rest of the purported assets? DeJoy is married to Aldona Wos, a former U.S. ambassador to Estonia who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to Canada. The Washington Post reported in June that DeJoy and Wos hold \"\"between $30.1 million and $75.3 million in assets in USPS competitors or contractors, according to Wos’ financial disclosure paperwork filed with the Office of Government Ethics.\"\" A fact-check from USA Today estimated that the couple may have up to $75.8 million in assets. We requested Wos’ 85-page financial disclosure from the Office of Government Ethics to see for ourselves. Here’s a breakdown of Wos and DeJoy’s assets in logistics companies, as of 2019: XPO: $30.2-$75.5 million United Parcel Service: $115,002-$300,000 J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.: $1,001-$15,000 Forward Air Corp.: $1,001-$15,000 Saia Inc.: $1,001-$15,000 The vast majority of DeJoy and Wos’ holdings are in XPO. However, whether or not XPO is a \"\"direct competitor\"\" to the USPS, as Really American claimed, is up for at least a little debate. A 2019 Securities and Exchange Commission filing indicates that, as of 2018, XPO’s \"\"peer group\"\" companies included UPS and J.B. Hunt. The Postal Service is not mentioned in the filing, but since XPO arranges more than 10 million last-mile deliveries per year, the company could benefit from a weakened USPS. Really American is correct to say that DeJoy has a financial interest in companies that provide services similar to the USPS. But is the postmaster general also a Republican donor, as the PAC claims? In a word: yes. According to the Federal Election Commission, DeJoy has contributed more than $440,000 to Republican causes since January 2020. Those causes include the Trump Victory committee, the North Carolina Republican Party, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the (Rep. Kevin) McCarthy Victory Fund. Congressional Democrats questioned DeJoy’s political and business ties soon after he was appointed in May. CNN reported Aug. 14 that the USPS inspector general is investigating DeJoy for potential ethics conflicts and reviewing some of his policy changes, such as eliminating overtime and slowing some mail delivery. We reached out to the Louis DeJoy and Aldona Wos Family Foundation for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. In an ad, Really American said DeJoy \"\"gave $400,000 to Republicans just this year\"\" and has \"\"between $30 and $75 million in assets of direct competitors to the United States Postal Service.\"\" Data from the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Government Ethics confirms those claims. DeJoy and Wos’ holdings in XPO and UPS alone amount to between $30.3 and $75.8 million, and DeJoy has contributed more than $440,000 to Republican causes since January 2020. Whether XPO is a \"\"direct competitor\"\" to the USPS is up for debate, but the company could benefit from a weaker Postal Service. Meanwhile, the USPS inspector general is investigating DeJoy for potential ethics conflicts. The Really American ad is accurate but needs clarification or additional information..\"",
            "output": [
                "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “gave $400,000 to Republicans just this year” and has “between $30 and $75 million in assets of direct competitors to the United States Postal Service.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0dfa9aa9d7e14692ba4c8567ff1693c9",
            "input": "“The best way to honor him is to try to imitate him,” the Rev. Tony Penna said during the Mass at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Frates died Monday at age 34. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive nerve disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease that eventually results in total paralysis, in 2012. There is no cure. “Peter was aglow with the spirit of God,” Penna, director of campus ministry at Boston College, told hundreds of mourners who packed the church next to campus. Frates and his family did not come up with the idea of the ice bucket challenge, but when they got involved in 2014, it exploded on social media. Participants dump a bucket of ice water over their heads, post a video of it and ask viewers to make a charitable donation. The phenomenon has raised about $220 million worldwide, including $115 million alone for the Washington-based ALS Association. Much of the money has been poured into research and has already led to breakthroughs, the association said. Frates’ father, John, in his eulogy, recalled his son’s big ego — eliciting laughs from the mourners — and his giving nature. He told the story of his son taking the family truck and digging out the entire neighborhood after a snowstorm, even the new family who had just moved in. He refused to accept a penny from anyone. “The currency that Pete worked in was helping others,” his father said. He ended the service by urging people to stop grieving and continue the fight to find a cure for ALS. Frates’ funeral procession started in his hometown of Beverly, north of Boston, and passed his former high school, St. John’s Prep in nearby Danvers. Hundreds of current students at the all-boys Catholic school linked hands along the roadside as the procession passed. Some students wrote the numeral 3 — Frates’ jersey number at Boston College — in the snow on the school’s athletic fields. Frates’ survivors include his wife, Julie; daughter, Lucy; his father and his mother, Nancy; and siblings, Andrew and Jennifer.",
            "output": [
                "Peter Frates, known for ice bucket challenge, laid to rest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea9f7acfb2eb4292a7ce171005208871",
            "input": "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration questioned the differences in size and formulation of the patch used in trials and the to-be-marketed patch. The generic drugs maker, which received a “complete response letter” from the FDA, said it planned to work closely with the agency to address the questions. Such letters typically lay out FDA concerns that need to be addressed before a treatment is approved. Actavis’ contraceptive skin patch is designed to provide continuous delivery of the hormone norethindrone, a type of progestin, during a once-weekly, seven-day dosing regimen. Progestin, the synthetic form of female sex hormone progestogen, inhibits ovulation and thickens the layer of mucus at the cervix so sperm cannot enter the uterus. The treatment will compete with Johnson and Johnson’s Ortho Evra, an estrogen/progestin combination contraceptive patch. Estrogen is another female sex hormone. A progestin-only patch can be safer than combination patches as high levels of estrogen are often linked to blood clotting disorders and an increased risk of cancer. The company also filed on Tuesday an application to market the generic version of Merck & Co Inc’s NuvaRing, a estrogen/progestin combination hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring. Actavis said it may be the first applicant to file the application, which, if approved may entitle it to 180 days of generic market exclusivity. Shares of Dublin, Ireland-based Actavis were down 0.6 percent at $165.16 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "FDA rejects Actavis' contraceptive patch, seeks more data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4ff6e70282b41fcb35534150c712b82",
            "input": "But some experts and Democrats warn that the candidates risk exacerbating a public health crisis if they go too far in politicizing the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness. Former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar all went after Trump during their CNN town halls Wednesday night. A number of the candidates have released their own pandemic policies, and Bloomberg is even airing an ad contrasting Trump’s response to the outbreak to his own handling of the aftermath of Sept. 11. It’s a potent political issue, as it gets at what Democrats see as two major potential weaknesses for Trump: questions about his competence as president and health care issues. “The threat from coronavirus and the chaos of the administration is front and center in everyone’s mind,” said Jesse Ferguson, a longtime Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “Not talking about it means you’re missing voters who are deeply worried about the public health threat and deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s incompetence.” Warren, Klobuchar and Bloomberg have all released public health plans detailing how they’d address and prevent similar outbreaks as president. During their CNN town halls, Warren warned that the economic impact of the new coronavirus could get worse. She and Klobuchar slammed Trump’s decision to put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus response, noting his controversial handling of an HIV outbreak in Indiana when he was governor. Biden has previously slammed Trump for “hysterical xenophobia and fearmongering” rather than respecting science on the issue. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, another 2020 Democratic hopeful, issued a statement Thursday night calling for Trump to allow her state to buy COVID-19 testing kits from Japan. She said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was “failing to provide them.” “As an island state, with responsible leadership, we can keep this virus out. But, we won’t be able to do that without our state and federal leaders taking it much more seriously than they are right now,” she said. But sounding the alarm on the administration’s coronavirus response also holds risks. Florida Rep. Donna Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, had a stark warning for Democrats. “Don’t open your mouth until you know what you’re talking about. This is politics. They need to listen to the scientists as well,” she said. That is a major criticism Democrats have lobbed at Trump — that he has botched his response and fostered more confusion by publicly contradicting the scientists in his administration about the severity of the virus. On Wednesday, the Republican president sought to minimize fears at a White House press conference in which he insisted the U.S. is “very, very ready” for an outbreak and predicted: “This will end … there’s no reason to be panicked.” But standing next to him, the health officials in charge of handling the outbreak predicted more cases are coming in the U.S. Democrats are not immune to the critique themselves, however. During Tuesday night’s primary debate, both Biden and Bloomberg made the erroneous claim that Trump cut funding for the CDC. While Trump proposed cuts to the CDC in his budget blueprint, he was overruled by Congress, and the eventual budget he signed included an increase in funding. Biden corrected his comments during Wednesday night’s CNN town hall but went on to warn that Trump “did not have a plan to deal with how you equip hospitals.” Bloomberg, meanwhile, criticized Trump at a Houston rally on Thursday, accusing him of “burying his head in the sand” and charging that “his failure to prepare is crippling our ability to respond.” But the public health system has a playbook to follow for pandemic preparation — regardless of who’s president or whether specific instructions are coming from the White House. Those plans were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic but are designed to work for any respiratory-borne disease. Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, warned that “any time political ideology starts to dominate the dialogue, it puts the public at risk.” “The history of good public health is that when things become politicized, we risk a good sound response and a response based on science and expertise,” she said. “This is a situation that’s changing by the moment, and that makes it all the more delicate.” Kates warned that there should be some “caution around not stoking panic and not using the partisan environment to steer away from basic public health messaging” — but acknowledged that will be tough “in a very partisan time, during campaign season.” Both parties are guilty of politicizing public health pandemics when they’re not the party in charge of the White House, she noted. During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Republicans routinely slammed the Obama administration for similar critiques Trump is facing from Democrats — namely, that he was too slow to respond and didn’t appoint an adviser to coordinate the government’s response quickly enough. But Kathleen Sebelius, who served as Obama’s secretary of health and human services from 2009 to 2014, said Democrats have a lot more to criticize when it comes to Trump’s response. “We have the components of what could be a perfect storm. Are there ways to deal with it calmly and rationally? You bet. Is the United States well prepared? It seems like there are some gaps,” she said. She pointed to the fact that the initial White House funding request was just a fraction of what had been allocated for past viral outbreaks like Ebola, and Trump himself has largely left it up to Congress to sort out the details. She also noted that a number of key positions set up by Obama to deal with global pandemics have now either been eliminated or left vacant, and she called out Trump for contradicting his own scientists on the severity of the threat. Shalala agreed — but she warned Democrats to be “careful” to focus their critiques on the president and not the experts in the administration who are trying to tackle the crisis. “There are things that they can criticize, like the inadequate funding request and the president muddying the waters” at his press conference, she said, “but they shouldn’t be criticizing the agency heads and the very good scientist physicians that are trying to do their jobs.” But some Democrats say the conversation around the coronavirus is fair game because it gets at a much broader issue for Trump: questions surrounding his leadership. “Electing a president isn’t about a series of issue check boxes on a spreadsheet. It’s about the public’s confidence that you can lead the country, especially in times of crisis,” Ferguson said. “If we can’t demonstrate the fundamental failure of this administration to lead in this crisis, then we are not talking about the thing that people think about when electing a president.” ___ Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, “Ground Game.”",
            "output": [
                "White House hopefuls target Trump on coronavirus response."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d6f620763724ea7a7856445502d8807",
            "input": "\"U.S. Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, R-Missouri , visited ABC 17’s \"\"This Week\"\" on Oct. 9, and was asked about \"\"Take Back The District,\"\" an anti-drug initiative she was launching. Hartzler said drugs posed a significant problem in her district. Employers, she said, tell her they cannot find an employee to fill a position because applicants can’t pass a drug test, while military recruiters say they have to turn away otherwise exceptional recruits because of drug use. Hartzler talked about her years teaching at-risk teenagers and cited a widespread drug problem in the United States and one of its most sobering effects: the displacement of children into foster care. \"\"Twenty-five percent of our kids in foster care are there because their parents are involved in drugs,\"\" Hartzler said. Certainly drug use by parents can lead to state intervention, but is the number of reported cases really this high? Foster care According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, there are 397,122 children living in the foster system without permanent families. Hartzler has long been an advocate for the advancement of foster care, even co-publishing an article on its problems. Kyle Buckles, Hartzler’s communications director, pointed us toward the Green Book. Each year, statistics are compiled into the House of Representative’s Green Book, which is used to provide background material and data on the programs run by the Ways and Means Committee, including foster care. Foster care statistics Without considering alcohol, drug use by the parent was above 25 percent from 2010 through 2013, for which data is available. When alcohol is factored in, this number is more than 30 percent. Drug use is the second largest cause of the removal of children from their parent’s custody. The most prevalent circumstance for removal is neglect, which is present in over half of the cases in the United States — but it is important to remember that more than one factor may be cited in a particular case. For example, a child may be removed from his parents’ custody for neglect, parental drug abuse and child drug abuse. The problem appears to be getting worse. A 2009 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that between the years 2002 and 2007, 12 percent of children between the ages of six to 11 were living with a parent who abused drugs or alcohol. Take Back the District Hartzler’s initiative has since met once to discuss the district’s drug issues. Her goal was to bring together law enforcement, parents, school officials, community leaders and citizens. The program met early on Oct. 19, where Hartzler, speakers and guests discussed the issuesand possible solutions to the problem and then diverted to a \"\"Faith-Based Rehabilitation and Ministry\"\" panel discussion. Our ruling Hartzler claimed that a quarter of children in foster care were there because of their parent’s drug abuse. Her claim is a modest estimation of the issue, according to reliable data kept by Congress. Drug abuse by parents is the second most prevalent reason for a parent losing custody of a child to foster care services.o be .\"",
            "output": [
                "Twenty-five percent of our kids in foster care are there because their parents are involved in drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a024810598094ae9ae2e6974464e54a4",
            "input": "Cost of Plavix is included in the story. The story not only provided good data on benefits, but also a definition of which type of patients benefited. Good, easily-understandable explanation of how the study was done. The opposite of disease mongering, this story explains the study’s questions of preventive benefit from the Plavix-aspirin combination, including one researcher’s quote: “You don’t use this drug for patients without coronary artery disease.” The story includes input from researchers, editorial writer, and from drug maker. However, it is not clear if the story included any input from any independent source not directly tied to the study. Story explains why researchers thought adding clopidogrel to aspirin might be helpful in a broader group of people. Does not appear to have relied on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Doubt Cited on Aspirin-Blood Thinner Combo"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83def282a0504174815dd84734b6c223",
            "input": "Not applicable. Costs not in question in this context. The news of this piece is that, not withstanding the recommendations of many guidelines and experts,  the recently published Cochrane review failed to demonstrate that a small reduction in dietary salt intake decreased the chance of developing heart disease or dying prematurely. Not applicable in this story about reducing salt consumption. The story reported on the conclusion drawn in a Cochrane Review about the failure to demonstrate  health benefit resulting from reduction in dietary salt intake and then provided comments from several experts in the field to refute those conclusions. The story included comments from the lead study author indicating that the data were were limited by the small sample sizes in the studies and because the reductions in salt may have been too small to make a difference. This story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Quotes from several independent sources were included as part of this story. There was no mention in this story about what is known about other means of reducing the risk of developing or dying of heart disease. A brief mention – even one additional sentence – about the importance of smoking cessation, exercise, and other dietary changes would have provided perspective. Not applicable. The availability of salt is not in question. The story reported on the results of a recently published Cochrane review. It indicated that several guidelines included recommendations for reductions in salt intake and while the experts quoted were in agreement that reducing salt intake was beneficial, the results of this most recent review is that the data do not support this claim. Good context provided. This story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Review raises questions over benefits of cutting salt"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47975dd23d2b44df98ab929d7af71255",
            "input": "The Advocate reports national and local politicians, law enforcement, health care experts and social services professionals attended a summit Tuesday in Baton Rouge hosted by Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. They agreed providing mental health services to keep patients out of emergency rooms and jail is vital, but the speakers said it must be a bottom-up effort. Cynthia Kemp says she had worked toward better service in Arlington, Virginia, roughly a decade ago, raising about $800,000 for a jail diversion program and crisis intervention team. She’s now with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Cassidy says communities need to leverage local money to collect federal grant assistance. ___ Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com",
            "output": [
                "Mental health care summit: Local officials must lead effort."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9a934c820ecc4f1e8b7b508bb3bbd49a",
            "input": "Over the weekend of April 17-19, 2020, protesters across the U.S. turned out for rallies urging a loosening of social distancing restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic. At that time, social media users shared a photograph of a flyer for an “End the Lockdown” rally that seemed aimed at achieving the worst possible outcome in encouraging that participants need not wear masks, should bring their children along, and attend even if they were already sick:  The cropping of the image seen above cut off the top portion of the poster, which identified it as referring to a “Liberate Staten Island” rally. We don’t know at this time whether the flyer was on the level or whether it was intended as a spoof of the reckless attitudes of some protesters, but we can verify that at least a few such flyers were posted around Tottenville, a neighborhood on the South Shore of Staten Island, as reported by the Staten Island Advance: Fliers promoting an “End the Lockdown Rally” were spotted at the CVS on Page Avenue, and on the corner of Main Street and Amboy Road. The promotional material said the rally would take place Sunday morning at 11 a.m. on the Conference House lawn in Tottenville. “No mask needed. Bring your children. Non-essential workers. If you’re sick still come, it’s your right!” stated the fliers. The instructions were followed by the phrase “Keep America Great!” and “#MAGA,” which stands for President Donald Trump’s original campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”",
            "output": [
                "\"A photograph shows a flyer posted for an \"\"End the Lockdown Rally\"\" in Staten Island.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db4db4c8e77c4303a6b69333cd587c9f",
            "input": "The workers that included radiology technicians, respiratory therapists and pharmacy workers picketed the medical centers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Irvine and Davis. They rang bells, wore green-shirts and carried signed that said “End Outsourcing.” Another 24,000 other California union workers, ranging from truck drivers to gardeners and cooks, were striking in sympathy, said John de los Angeles, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. Emergency rooms remained open at the hospitals but officials said the strike would still affect thousands of patients. The UC San Francisco hospital rescheduled more than 4,000 appointments at its medical center and two associated clinics and rescheduled 241 surgeries, including “pretty high-risk” gynecological and colorectal operations, said chief operating officer Sheila Antrum. Ten patients, including children, were sent to other hospitals, she said. The hospital had 500 temporary employee replacements on hand, including respiratory therapists, social workers, pharmacists and housekeepers, she said. “My focus here is that we get through everything with the usual great care we have,” she said. The union said some of its workers would keep working despite the strike to ensure patient safety, and it also has a “patient protection task force,” a group of emergency services staffers who are prepared to cross the picket lines if they are needed to work because of a medical crisis, de los Angeles said. Patient care workers have been without a contract since December. Talks and mediation efforts have stalled, and the university plans to impose new employment terms next month, de los Angeles said. The union wants the university to stop outsourcing low-wage work that it claims is fueling widening income, racial and gender gaps for workers at UC’s hospitals, clinics campuses and research facilities. The same issue prompted a three-day walkout by 53,000 UC workers last May, including custodians and cafeteria workers. Nurses and other medical workers walked out then in sympathy. “They’re destroying what were once career pathways to the middle-class for our state’s diverse population and are damaging the quality of service that we provide to students, patients, and everyday Californians,” Monica De Leon, vice president of AFSCME Local 3299′s Patient Care Technical Unit, said in a statement. A University of California statement said union leaders spread false information about outside service contracts and that the number of unionized patient care workers increased nearly 19 percent over the past five years while outsourcing contracts had stayed relatively flat. The employment deal to be implemented next month would grant 3-percent-a-year raises for the next 4 years for patient care and service staff, as well as offering a health plan at the same rates as other UC employees with similar salaries. The union, however, is demanding an “unrealistic and unreasonable” 8 percent annual wage increase that is nearly triple what other UC employees have received, UC Office of the President spokeswoman Claire Doan said in a statement. The statement accused union leaders of “throwing a tantrum ... putting their agenda above the needs of patients, students and the public.” But de los Angeles, the union spokesman, said the new employment terms do nothing to deal with the threat of replacing union jobs with cheaper outside contractors who are ill-paid and lack benefits. “What good is a raise if our job is allowed to be outsourced tomorrow?” he said.",
            "output": [
                "About 15,000 strike at University of California hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4dc85c0e15be498c9c9cbba512aad6da",
            "input": "But before those allegations became public, Brostrom herself and a supervisor were being investigated by U.N. officials for their own sexual and financial misconduct, as revealed in an Associated Press story  in April. Brostrom had previously reported the assault to her family and friends almost immediately after it occurred in May 2015 and to senior UNAIDS officials on several occasions later that year and the following year, according to her lawyer, Edward Flaherty. Internal documents obtained by the AP showed U.N. officials had “evidence” Brostrom and a supervisor had taken part in “fraudulent practices and misuse of travel funds.” Among other charges, the two were reprimanded for “abusing U.N. privileges by requesting special U.N. rates for the purpose of booking hotels for sexual encounters.” UN investigators also wrote that they found evidence suggesting the pair routinely used their work email accounts “to exchange messages with explicit sexual language, profanity and nudity.”    Brostrom said that she was fired from UNAIDS last week in an act of retaliation for reporting that she had been sexually assaulted. “I spoke up about what happened to me and what was happening in UNAIDS. As a consequence, I have suffered tremendously,” she said in a statement. Brostrom’s supervisor was also terminated. Brostrom was credited by some for starting a #MeToo movement at the U.N. and her complaint that she was sexually assaulted led to two inquiries — a U.N. investigation that concluded there was insufficient evidence to support her claims and an independent assessment of the agency’s management that found a culture of impunity and “defective leadership.” In an email on Saturday that did not identify Brostrom by name, agency spokeswoman Sophie Barton-Knott said that “two staff members were dismissed from UNAIDS after an independent investigation concluded beyond reasonable doubt that they had misused UNAIDS corporate funds and resources and had engaged in other misconduct, including sexual misconduct.”     Barton-Knott said the investigation began eight months before one staffer filed allegations of being sexually assaulted. She said any claims the employee was fired as payback for lodging sexual assault claims were “baseless and misleading.” Brostrom’s lawyer, Flaherty, said she will be appealing her dismissal. “She categorically denies the allegations,” he said in an email. The ongoing scandals have been a damaging distraction for UNAIDS, an agency at the center of multibillion-dollar, taxpayer-funded U.N. efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic by 2030. The virus affects more than 37 million people worldwide and kills more than 900,000 people every year.",
            "output": [
                "UN AIDS agency fires whistleblower after misconduct probe."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d84725fb241343fe84f779ae745700c1",
            "input": "\"It's not every state that has two candidates running for president, but this year Minnesota has both Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann competing for the Republican nomination. But the state's \"\"Minnesota nice\"\" reputation doesn't seem to apply to presidential politics. Bachmann, a member of Congress, has been attacking Pawlenty, a former two-term governor, for not being conservative enough. Pawlenty, meanwhile, has said Bachmann has few legislative accomplishments and wasn't known for getting results. We checked part of Bachmann's attack in separate fact-check. She accused Pawlenty of saying in 2006 that \"\"The era of small government is over... the government has to be more proactive and more aggressive.\"\" We looked into the history of Pawlenty's comments and rated her statement . Here, we're looking at Pawlenty's response. He said that while he was \"\"elected twice in a very blue state, Congresswoman Bachmann was giving speeches and offering failed amendments,\"\" among other things. Pawlenty also said in an interview on July 10, 2011, that Bachmann's \"\"record of accomplishment in Congress is nonexistent.\"\" Here, we wanted to check Pawlenty's statement about Bachmann's record of accomplishment. Is it as thin as he suggests? To check, we turned to the federal legislative database THOMAS, media accounts and other public records. We found Pawlenty was largely correct: Bachmann does not have many legislative victories under her belt. Instead, Bachmann seems to prefer offering legislation that makes a bold statement. This year, she proposed making the Bush tax cuts permanent, stripping President Barack Obama's health care law of funding, overturning new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs and repealing the financial regulatory overhaul that passed just last year. None of those bills has received a vote from the full U.S. House of Representatives. Bachmann has served in Congress since 2006, and hasn't sponsored anything that's become law. Her most successful proposals were a 2008 resolution expressing support for agencies that provide services to foster children and a 2009 resolution to designate September as \"\"National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month\"\". (Hydrocephalus is a buildup of fluid inside the skull, leading to brain swelling, which can be fatal.) Both measures were approved by the House but not the Senate. We went looking for other accounts to either confirm or refute Pawlenty's charge. (We contacted Bachmann's campaign for comment and didn't hear back.) We knew from previous reporting that sometimes a legislator's bill is incorporated into other larger legislation with a different sponsor. We wanted to make sure were weren't missing giving Bachmann credit for a case like this. Instead, we found more confirmation that her legislative record is thin. Here's how POLITICO summarized its review of her record: \"\"Now in her third House term, Bachmann has never had a bill or resolution she's sponsored signed into law, and she's never wielded a committee gavel, either at the full or subcommittee level. Bachmann's amendments and bills have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control. In a chamber that rewards substantive policy work and insider maneuvering, Bachmann has shunned the inside game, choosing to be more of a bomb thrower than a legislator.\"\" MinnPost.com, a nonpartisan Minnesota-based news website, concluded: \"\"She has had a few amendments passed, among the most famous of which aimed to prevent groups like ACORN from sitting on a proposed consumer advisory panel on financial protection and making them ineligible for certain federal grants. But most of her legislation, like her health-care reform bill that would make all health care costs tax deductible and allow the purchase of insurance across state lines, has been introduced and referred to committee, never to be heard from again.\"\" In February 2010, the St. Cloud Times newspaper of Minnesota asked Bachmann about her legislative achievements. Here's the question and her response:  St. Cloud Times: \"\"Name three bills or amendments that you have gotten passed that are the most beneficial to the people of the 6th Congressional District.\"\" Bachmann: \"\"I was involved in a foster care amendment to support and encourage people in foster care. It is a very important issue. Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D-La.) and I are working on the Haiti situation. We are trying to put together initiatives so that children can actually go into homes and not stay in institutions their whole life. I was able to pass this resolution honoring people in foster care. I am in the deep minority in Congress and a fairly new freshman, so I don't have substantive bills that I have passed. I would love to. The very first bill I introduced was the Health Care Freedom of Choice Act.\"\" We should note that Bachmann's point about being in the minority has some merit. It's often difficult if not impossible for legislators in the minority to get bills passed. But Republicans did regained the majority this year. Also, she's right that new members of Congress often don't get legislation passed, though Bachmann was in her second term when she made her comments to the St. Cloud Times. But even Bachmann supporters seem to admit that passing legislation isn't really her thing. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told POLITICO that Bachmann has had \"\"a profound effect on the debate,\"\" comparing her with Winston Churchill. \"\"It doesn't mean you always win. In fact, as we know, Churchill lost and lost and was a voice of reason in Great Britain for a long time before people finally realized he was right,\"\" Gohmert said. Finally, we checked in with two political watchers in Minnesota to see if we were missing anything from Bachmann's record. \"\"Pawlenty more or less got it correct in terms of saying her legislative record is insubstantial. She has never been known for doing real legislative work or in really moving legislation. She is better at giving speeches,\"\" said David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University who studies Minnesota politics. And though Bachamnn was in the legislative minority for a time in Congress, Schultz said, she never chose to create a legislative record. \"\"Thus, it did not surprise me that once this year she became part of a majority in the House, she opted to run for president. I do not think she was prepared actually to govern and do real legislative work.\"\" Steve Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College, said that Bachmann \"\"has defined herself during her political career as a public advocate, not an executive or legislator. Her goal has been to draw bright rhetorical lines and marshal support for her purist conservative positions.\"\" In ruling on Pawlenty's statement, he said that Bachmann's record was one of \"\"failed amendments\"\" and \"\"nonexistent.\"\" There's a little bit of exaggeration there. In addition to failed amendments, she had failed bills, and those measures did, in fact, exist, even if they didn't pass. But his larger point that Bachmann hasn't had many legislative accomplishments is correct.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Michele Bachmann's legislative record is \"\"offering failed amendments.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee04f24da5e64f459377dfca83b29cdc",
            "input": "In a study showing how obesity can harm sexual health, French and British researchers also found that obese women are less likely to ask for contraceptive advice or use the pill, and obese men are more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction. With obesity epidemics overwhelming many wealthy nations and threatening increasing numbers of developing countries, experts said the public health impact of the findings was important. In the United States, for example, two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. “In public health terms, the study lends a new slant to a familiar message: that obesity can harm not only health and longevity, but your sex life,” Sandy Goldbeck-Wood, a specialist in psychosexual medicine at Britain’s Ipswich Hospital, wrote in an editorial on the study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The research, led by Professor Nathalie Bajos of France’s National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), is the first major study to investigate the impact of being overweight or obese on sexual activity and other factors such as sexual satisfaction, unintended pregnancy and abortion. The authors surveyed the sexual behavior of 12,364 men and women aged between 18 and 69 years in France in 2006. Around half of them were normal weight, with a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 25, around 2,500 of them were overweight, with a BMI of 25 to 30, and around 750 of them were obese, with a BMI over 30. Compared to normal weight men, obese men were 70 percent less likely to have had more than one sexual partner in the past year and two and half times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction. Obese men under 30 years old were far more likely to have had a sexually transmitted disease. Sexual dysfunction was not linked to BMI in women, but obese women under 30 years old were less likely than women of normal weight to seek contraceptive advice or use oral contraceptives and were also more likely to report an unplanned pregnancy. The study also found that obese women were five times as likely to have met their partner on the internet, more likely to have an obese partner, and less likely to view sex as important for personal life balance. Bajos said social pressure, low self-esteem and concerns about body image may help explain these findings. Goldbeck-Wood said there was evidence that doctors find it difficult to discuss sex and weight issues with patients, but she said they must be more prepared to do so: “We need to understand more about how obese people feel about their sex lives, and what drives the observed behaviors and attitudes.”",
            "output": [
                "Obese have worse sexual health despite less sex."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3876129f1c0416e83854a1e8ab5ee4e",
            "input": "An October 11 2019 Imgur repost of a Bernie Sanders tweet appeared alongside the caption “this is how you know he would fight for the people if he is elected our president”:That tweet read:It’s not coincidental that the top health care CEOs made $1.1 billion last year while 4 in 10 cancer patients lose their life savings due to treatment.Our system is designed to take money from sick people and put it in the pockets of rich executives.We need Medicare for All.The claim was originally tweeted by Sanders on October 10 2019, and it was accurately reflected by the screenshot. However, Sanders did not include a citation.A second portion of the tweet claimed that this was not an accident, but rather was an intentional transfer of wealth from individual Americans to those profiting from cancer treatment. That portion of the tweet was more opinion, making it more difficult to definitively fact-check.However, the first part, about four in ten cancer patients, was verifiable. An October 2018 press release for a study that appeared in the American Journal of Medicine explained:Researchers assessed how patients’ net worth and debt changed two and four years post-diagnosis. The study authors controlled for demographic and clinically related variables, economic factors, mortality, and cancer-specific characteristics. Across the population, the average patient saw a loss of $92,098. Financial insolvency extended to 38.2 percent after four or more years.An October 18 2018 Big Think item with the headline “42% of new cancer patients lose their life savings” reported:Of the 9.5 million cancer diagnoses studied between 2000–2012, researchers discovered that 42.4 percent of patients (median age 68.6±9.4 years) spent all of their money, averaging $92,098. This follows disturbing news from earlier this year that 40 percent of Americans can’t afford to pay $400 in case of an emergency. The math is not adding up.Insider.com reported that almost half of cancer patients went bankrupt due to treatment:After tracking 9.5 million cancer patients from 2000 to 2012, researchers also learned that 62% of all cancer patients are in debt because of their treatment, and 55% of them owe at least $10,000.Overall, the total medical costs for cancer are $80 billion in the US.That article noted that insurance was not a complete failsafe against financial disaster for people diagnosed with cancer:From high deductibles to large copayments, cancer patients can end up with a huge stack of bills.In addition, 40% to 85% of all cancer patients have to quit working while undergoing treatment, which creates a financial burden that can last for six months or longer.In the same month, Advisory.com featured a story with a similar headline: “42% of cancer patients their spent entire life savings in 2 years after diagnosis.” The article went on to note that researchers had estimated that patients’ average net worth “fell by $92,098 after two years and by $51,882 after four years.” The claim was also discussed on YCombinator, where one commenter detailed the experiences of a family member:I recently watched a family member go through this. A few things that were sobering to see:– Three weeks in she was buried in paperwork. One chemo treatment would turn into 4-5 invoices from different subcontractors at a single hospital, some covered by her insurance, others not covered. Her insurer denied claims arbitrarily and made her go through a bunch of invasive and unnecessary procedures to prove her illness.– Her insurer started calling her incessantly, insisting that she join some sort of program where they would “help” her make decisions about her care. It undermined the confidence she had in her doctors and the decisions she was trying to make, which is a terrible feeling for anyone to go through when they are sick with cancer and trying to survive.– There were a series of insurance “land mines” on the horizon – forget to renew this thing on this random date 2 months from now? You’ve lost your insurance.The whole healthcare and insurance system is a dark pattern, even for working adults who are fully covered.Many of the articles referenced the same aforementioned study, which was published in the American Journal of Medicine in October 2018. Titled “Death or Debt? National Estimates of Financial Toxicity in Persons with Newly-Diagnosed Cancer,” the research examined the financial effects on Americans undergoing cancer treatment:Across 9.5 million estimated new diagnoses of cancer from 2000–2012, individuals averaged 68.6±9.4 years with slight majorities being married (54.7%), not retired (51.1%), and Medicare beneficiaries (56.6%). At year+2, 42.4% depleted their entire life’s assets, with higher adjusted odds associated with worsening cancer, requirement of continued treatment, demographic and socioeconomic factors (ie, female, Medicaid, uninsured, retired, increasing age, income, and household size), and clinical characteristics (ie, current smoker, worse self-reported health, hypertension, diabetes, lung disease) (P<.05); average losses were $92,098. At year+4, financial insolvency extended to 38.2%, with several consistent socioeconomic, cancer-related, and clinical characteristics remaining significant predictors of complete asset depletion.That study began by referencing Breaking Bad, a popular drama about a mild-mannered teacher diagnosed with cancer who goes on to become a drug kingpin in order to finance his treatment:Breaking Bad is a critically acclaimed American television show about Walter White, who is diagnosed with lung cancer. Even though Walter worked two jobs and had health insurance, he still could not afford his medical care. To pay for his cancer treatment and to protect his family from financial burden, Walter illegally synthesized and sold methamphetamine. Although this is a fictional story, it highlights the reality of the economic burden of cancer in America.Numerous confounding factors are referenced in the study. Among them was the exclusion of cancer patients who do not recover, in which case the costs of end-of-life care are not tallied:Depending on cancer type and stage, costs range between 20-100k during the first year after diagnosis, but the average cost increases to over 60k at the end of life. This evidence suggests that terminally ill patients experience worse financial toxicity. Notably, [study authors] did not assess the financial toxicity experienced during end of life care because they omitted the ~30% of the cancer patients who died during the study. Consequently, the study does not examine the significant financial toxicity associated with fatal cancers.Differences made by the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (also known as the ACA or Obamacare) did not seem to dramatically affect the findings, despite its passage during the years researchers examined in the study. The law is mentioned once, in the course of referencing various disenfranchised groups, although researchers noted that having insurance had a protective effect:Additionally, by relying on the HRS, Gilligan et al. were not able to comment on financial toxicity in disenfranchised groups, such as homeless or undocumented patients. Undocumented immigrants have the lowest rate of health insurance in America, thus increasing their risk of financial toxicity due to cancer. This is because they are not eligible for Affordable Care Act exchanges or Medicaid benefits. Undocumented immigrants can get health coverage through their employers, however most take low paying jobs that do not offer health insurance. Similarly, 60% of the homeless people in the U.S. are uninsured … Multiple reports, including the Gilligan et al. study, show that private insurance is protective against financial toxicity.Insurance also posed different risks to the insured patients whose data appeared in the study:Among patients enrolled in copayment assistance programs, 20% took less medication than prescribed, 19% filled half of their prescriptions, and 24% did not fill prescriptions. Over 7% of the patients in these programs delayed procedures, testing, chemotherapy or clinic visits.Finally, the study found that costs were increasing and that the myriad difficulties cited were likely to worsen:Unfortunately, direct medical costs are expected to increase by 40% for patients by 2020, thus exacerbating the financial burden of medical care for cancer patients in the United States.The key finding upheld Sanders’ tweet:[Researchers] reported that over 42% of patients fully depleted their assets and over 30% incurred debt (consumer, mortgage or home equity) by the second-year of their diagnosis.That 42 percent of patients in the study represented the four in ten cancer patients that Sanders referenced — although technically it might be more accurate to say 4.2 out of ten patients would “deplete their assets” (in other words, “lose their life savings”) to pay for the necessary treatments. Thirty percent of study participants incurred debt, and the study omitted the 30 percent of patients who did not recover and died — presumably patients who incurred end of life costs and who certainly became unable to financially contribute to their households. Sanders’ claim was based on peer-reviewed research published in a medical journal, not polling or broad estimates, a claim which was thus quite well-supported.",
            "output": [
                "Four in ten cancer patients lose their life savings after starting treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e00b8061e8a4f998fb7bd61b11b0384",
            "input": "\"Just as fans were filing into the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a big television screen by the entrance displayed a pro-pot ad with the headline \"\"A new beer?\"\" The ad, which opens with smiling young adults hoisting their brew mugs, drew outrage from lots of sources, including the St. Petersburg-based Drug Free America Foundation. The TV screen company, Grazie Media, pulled the ad after a few hours. The ad said: \"\"If you’re an adult who enjoys a good beer, there’s a similar product you might want to know about, one without all the calories and serious health problems. Less toxic so it doesn’t cause hangovers or overdose deaths. And it’s not linked to violence or reckless behavior. Marijuana. Less harmful than alcohol and time to treat it that way.\"\" In this fact-check, we decided to focus on the idea that marijuana is \"\"less toxic\"\" than alcohol. \"\"I don’t see how this could be a more open-and-shut case,\"\" Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, which produced the ad, told PolitiFact Florida in an email. \"\"If you consume too much alcohol in a sitting or over the course of your life, you can die. If you consume too much (marijuana) in a sitting or over the course of your life, you do not die. What more could be needed to prove marijuana is ‘less toxic’ than alcohol?\"\" Yet, as a rebuttal, some health professionals say it’s a matter of picking your poison. \"\"It’s like trying to compare different weapons. Both have the potential to cause harm,\"\" said Dr. Scott Teitelbaum, professor and vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine, at University of Florida. \"\"I don’t know that there’s a clear answer.\"\" For starters, the term toxic can be vague. Dr. Cynthia Lewis-Younger, medical director of the Florida Poison Information Center in Tampa, said toxic can be \"\"anything that causes harm. It is possible to drink enough water to poison yourself. It’s more related to the dose than anything else.\"\" The Marijuana Policy Project’s claim that marijuana is \"\"less toxic\"\" rankles some health professionals and anti-drug organizations who criticize the inference that using the drug is okay. Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation, said she wants the public to realize that \"\"these are two drugs that are both addictive and impairing and they both create unsafe situations.\"\" Briefly, here’s a look at how the National Institute on Drug Abuse describes each drug. Alcohol is produced by the fermentation of yeast, sugars and starches and while it may start as a stimulant in small doses, NIDA describes it as a central nervous system depressant that is rapidly absorbed from the stomach and small intestine into the bloodstream. Intoxication can impair brain function and motor skills and heavy use can increase risk of certain cancers, stroke, and liver disease. Marijuana is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of leaves, flowers, stems and seeds from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. When marijuana is smoked, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs. Activists on both sides of the marijuana issue can find studies that back up their claims about the health impact of smoking weed. NIDA states in an email that the effect of marijuana can depend on the person (their biology) who’s using it, the amount and under what circumstances. \"\"Claiming that marijuana is less toxic than alcohol cannot be substantiated since each possess their own unique set of risks and consequences for a given individual,\"\" according to an agency email statement. Statistics certainly paint a grim picture of the lethal impact of alcohol abuse. The Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics reports that there were 41,682 deaths attributed to alcohol in 2010, the last year with the most exact statistics. That breaks down to 15,990 deaths attributed to alcoholic liver disease and 25,692 other alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides. The center doesn’t have any reports of marijuana listed as a cause of death. In 2006, there were more than 1.2 million emergency room visits and 2.7 million physician office visits due to excessive drinking, the CDC reports on its website. \"\"Alcohol in excess is probably the No. 1 cause of toxicities from drugs of abuse in the world simply because it’s most widely used,\"\" Lewis-Younger said. Robert Gable wrote in an American Scientist article in 2006 that \"\"simply tallying the number of people who die or who show up at emergency rooms is, by itself, meaningless,\"\" because that figure is influenced by the number of people using the substance. Yet the Marijuana Policy Project’s Tvert said Gable’s eight-year study on recreational drugs bolsters their assertion. Gable, a retired professor of psychology at Claremont Graduate University in California, compared the toxicity of 20 abused substances using reports of experimental human and animal research and on published data of overdose fatalities. He compared the drugs by developing a safety ratio -- the ratio of an effective dose (eliciting a \"\"relaxed affability\"\") to a lethal dose. \"\"Two drinks makes you buzzy, 20 drinks puts you in the emergency room or the morgue,\"\" Gable said in a phone interview. \"\"Ten is the safety ratio\"\" for alcohol, among the most toxic recreational drugs, he said. The least physiologically toxic substances -- those requiring 100 to 1,000 times the effective dose to cause death -- included marijuana when ingested. He couldn’t find any cases of documented deaths from smoked marijuana \"\"so the actual dose is a mystery.\"\" \"\"No drug is good for teenagers,\"\" he said,  \"\"but when it comes to the chances of immediate death by chemical toxicity, marijuana is about a hundred times less toxic than alcohol or cocaine.\"\" Dr. Ihsan Salloum, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, notes: \"\"People could argue it (marijuana) is a weaker chemical in terms of toxicity, but it does have its consequences. It doesn’t mean marijuana is harmless.\"\" Experts say one concern is the impact of marijuana on the brain, particularly for teens who start smoking early. Teitelbaum says marijuana can \"\"flip\"\" adolescents predisposed to mental problems into having a psychotic disorder. A 2012 study from Duke University, the University of Oregon, King’s College London and the University of Otago (New Zealand) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, \"\"Persistent Cannabis Users Show Neuropsychological Decline from Childhood to Midlife,\"\" examined the potential relationship between the long-term use of marijuana and declines in IQ scores. The study was based on data from more than 1,037 individuals followed from birth until age 38 and determined those who began using cannabis before age 18 and became persistent users (more than once a week) suffered the greatest decline in mental functioning (an average of eight IQ points) that didn’t improve once they stopped. Those who started using marijuana when they were adults didn’t show the same decline. Another concern has come up in recent years. The use of synthetic marijuana, often called Spice, has become a problem, and health professionals caution that it’s vastly different from natural marijuana and more toxic. \"\"Many Spice smokers have experienced agitation, paranoia and mental illness,\"\" JoAnn Chambers-Emerson, certified specialist in poison information/educator at the Florida Poison Information Center in Tampa, wrote in an email. \"\"Some Spice smokers have ended up having a stroke, heart attack, seizures and kidney failure. Synthenetic marijuana, however, is not marijuana. Our ruling An ad from the Marijuana Policy Project claims marijuana is \"\"less toxic\"\" than alcohol. Our job as fact-checkers in this case is not to decide whether marijuana is good or harmful. We're focused on whether the drug in its natural form is \"\"less toxic\"\" than alcohol. In that regard, science and statistics present a strong case.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Marijuana is \"\"less toxic\"\" than alcohol.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4431d84a90d5496cbad96b07842f9146",
            "input": "Washington state’s largest metropolis sweated through its hottest June on record, going fortnights without even a drizzle. Seattleites jokingly refer to the month of “Juneuary” for the wet and cold they usually endure before longer, dryer sunny days arrive in July, typically persisting into September. This summer, however, they have shrugged off the rain gear and flannel and taken to drinking “iced” lattes. Many, including Mayor Ed Murray, find themselves oddly yearning for the cloud cover on which Rain City’s identity was forged. Murray said the heat has kept him up at night in his brick Tudor-style house, which he has nicknamed the “little Dutch oven.”  “Obviously people in Seattle love a little more sun but also nothing is built for it,” Murray said. “I miss my rain.”  With an estimated 662,400 residents, the Emerald City, as the city is nicknamed, lies between the brackish Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains which squeeze moisture out of east-bound fronts moving over the city. It is so dry in the state that a wildfire is burning in a  rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula and Governor Jay Inslee issued a statewide drought emergency in May as the snowpack in the mountains fell to historic lows. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport received just 0.23 inches (0.58 cm) of rain for June, down from the normal 1.57 inches (3.98 cm). To be sure, drought conditions are affecting cities down the U.S. West Coast, which is embroiled in a particularly fierce wildfire season that has prompted water-use and burn restrictions. Seattle’s public utility downgraded the water supply outlook from “good” to “fair” on Wednesday amid higher-than-usual water consumption and record-low stream flows into reservoirs, urging residents to limit plant-watering. Murray said the city had enough water and energy this year but was being pushed to the limit. “A second year with such little snowpack would be a crisis,” he said, referring to the affect on the broader region’s cold, clear salmon rivers and bountiful farms and orchards. While the current situation is “mega extreme in terms of our temperatures,” it is unlikely that it is caused by human-induced global warming because the heat-wave is due to an unusual large-scale air pattern, University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor Clifford Mass said. Relief is forecast heading into the weekend, with a chance of rain on Sunday and cooler temperatures in the week ahead, Mass said. But overall the summer will be warmer than normal as Seattle enters it driest period of the year. Meanwhile, parched lawns have turned beige and the city opened cooling shelters. At local hardware stores, air conditioning units and fans have been flying off the shelves; one Lowes store sold 16 air-conditioning units in a matter of minutes after it opened. “This is Sicily in Seattle, with nearly 16 hours of daylight,” Seattle-born author Timothy Egan wrote in the New York Times on July 3. Some people have embraced the dry skies and sun. “Everybody is a bit nicer. People say ‘Hi’ to each other. It’s not the hanging their head when they walk by each other,” said Nicole Sullivan, a management consultant who has used the heat as an opportunity to take her paddle board on Shilshole Bay on balmy evenings. “How do we re-market ourselves if we are not ‘Rain City’ or the ‘Emerald City,’?” Mayor Murray deadpanned. “If we’re not green anymore, what’s going to be our new color?”",
            "output": [
                "Residents in soggy Seattle rebel against the sun."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f246121e16a94eb7a4d016ca57968f06",
            "input": "In August 2020, amid an ongoing political crisis in the U.S. surrounding the Postal Service and mail-in ballots, readers asked Snopes to examine widespread claims that by texting “USPS” to the number 50409, an individual could send a letter to their local political representatives expressing support for the Postal Service. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic prompted millions of Americans to consider voting by mail, rather than in person, in 2020. But cuts at the Postal Service caused a slowdown in deliveries that meant millions of ballots were at risk of not being counted. U.S. President Donald Trump admitted he was pushing back against a fresh infusion of funding for the Postal Service, on the basis that mail-in ballots would disproportionately favor the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, fueling a partisan battle, with Democrats demanding a properly funded, well-functioning Postal Service. On Aug. 15, 2020, Democratic Congressional candidate Allen Ellison tweeted that “If you text USPS to 50409 they will send letters to your senators and representative in support of the postal service. It literally takes under a minute.” A similar exhortation posted on Facebook read: “Pushback pressure is working. Text USPS to 50409. This one-word text will automatically send a letter to your local representatives using Resistbot and urge them to take action. Thanks.”  The process is not quite as straightforward as described in the meme above, but it is true that texting “USPS” to 50409 does begin a relatively quick process under which, on your behalf, a bot sends letters to your federal political representatives based on the mailing address you provide. We tested the bot on Aug. 18, 2020, using the SMS utility on a cellphone and providing a real name and address in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District. (The creators of “Resistbot” state that the same process works on Apple’s iMessage, Facebook’s Messenger, Twitter, and the encrypted text message app Telegram.) The following is a step-by-step breakdown of how the bot works: First, the user texts “USPS” to 50409. The bot automatically and immediately replies, asking if the user wants to electronically sign a “Support the USPS” letter and send it to the user’s political representatives. It also offers to show a sample of what the letter will look like:  When the user replies with “SAMPLE,” the bot replies with a link to a screenshot of the form letter and asks if the user would like to sign it:  After the user confirms, the bot then asks for a first and last name and a mailing address:  The bot adds the user’s name to the petition and the mailing address allows it to identify the user’s congressional district. The bot then automatically sends the letter via email to the corresponding members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate:",
            "output": [
                "\"Texting \"\"USPS\"\" to 50409 engages a service called \"\"Resistbot\"\" and generates a letter of support for the Postal Service that is sent to a user's political representatives.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e882bf9449e94b758018170ed6a4be40",
            "input": "Lawmakers “should engage, enable and appropriately regulate” the choice of how and when to die for people who are close to death, the 86-year-old Nobel laureate said. He has previously said he would like the option of choosing an assisted death and does not want to be kept alive at whatever cost. “Just as I have argued for compassion and fairness in life, I believe that terminally ill people should be treated with compassion and fairness when it comes to their death,” Tutu said in a statement after the arrest this week of Sean Davison, who founded DignitySA, a right-to-die group. “This should include affording people who have reached the end-stages of life the right to choose how and when to leave Mother Earth.” Davison, who was released on bail, is accused of assisting in the 2013 suicide of friend Anrich Burger, who was left quadriplegic after a car crash. Medically assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia is illegal in South Africa, but in recent years there have been growing calls for it to be legalized. DignitySA said it was awaiting more information about the accusations against Davison. The group does “not assist individuals with dying (assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia) however wrong we believe it is that some people die in conditions of intractable and unbearable suffering,” it said, adding that Davison “has a private and professional life outside DignitySA and, like any good citizen, he takes responsibility for his choices.” Davison is a professor in the biotechnology department and head of the forensic DNA laboratory at the University of the Western Cape, DignitySA says on its website. He served five months under house arrest in New Zealand after pleading guilty to assisted suicide following the death of his terminally ill mother there, according to the group. An earlier charge of attempted murder was dropped. Tutu, an anti-apartheid campaigner who has spoken out on human rights long after the 1994 end of white minority rule in South Africa, has been hospitalized several times in recent years because of infections linked to past treatment for prostate cancer. “I believe in the sanctity of life, and that death is part of life,” he said. “Alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists, the choices available to the terminally ill should include dignified assisted death.” ___ Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris",
            "output": [
                "Tutu urges regulated euthanasia after campaigner’s arrest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8988adf5618249e7979f8770f9f8db8d",
            "input": "A new generation of hoop activists is putting another spin on the hoop, which ancient Greeks fashioned from grapevines and used to exercise the hips. Circus hooper Marawa Ibrahim, known professionally as Marawa the Amazing, lives a nomad’s life performing and teaching hula hooping around the world. “Fitness hooping is what I’m really into. Even at circus school I developed a workout using core muscles to push the hoop,” said Ibrahim, who can spin 133 hoops simultaneously and has appeared on the UK reality show “Britain’s Got Talent.”  The 32-year-old Australian said anyone, regardless of age or fitness level, can keep the hoop spinning but choosing the right size hoop is essential. “You can’t hoop with a kid’s hoop. When you were a kid you were half as tall,” she said, adding that a hoop should reach to the hips, at least. “I used to teach a gym class of overweight women. I made hoops that were almost up to their armpits and they could do it.”  Proper technique also means balance. Even the pros can develop lopsidedness, she said, so spin in both directions in order to tone the body evenly, head to toe. Kelly Strycker is the director of Chicago Hoop Dance, a community-based collection of performers, teachers and students who practice hooping as a form of moving meditation similar to Yoga, or Chi-gong, the Chinese system of exercise and breath control. “There definitely is a circus overlay in hoop dance,” said Strycker, adding toned muscles and weight loss are common benefits. “It tends to be a fitness workout because of the nature of the movement.”  Strycker said hoop dancing, which includes elements of yoga, attracts mainly women between 25 and 60 who want a fitness routine they will do. Her classes, held at venues including parks and beaches around Chicago, include 20 to 25 minutes of yoga moves, lunges and squats, and hooping for the wrists, hands, shoulders, legs, hips and waists. “The meditative aspect is in the rhythm, the rocking movement that stimulates the heartbeat, the back and forth,”  she said. Dr. Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise (ACE), said a 2011 ACE-sponsored study found that hooping could burn up to 600 calories an hour. “We found that just by the nature of movement it did a pretty effective job,” Bryant said. “The only downside is if one had difficulty mastering movement. But larger hoops reduce the learning curve.”  Ibrahim said a hoop, unlike a trapeze, is portable and fun. “Walk up to any kid and they’ll have a go at it,” she said. “Everyone’s happy.”",
            "output": [
                "Hoopsters put circus-inspired spin on cardio workout."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6977856a5e3426ba37731d4502c2b56",
            "input": "The Medicaid to Schools program allows schools to be reimbursed by the federal government for services provided to Medicaid-eligible students. While it once applied only to special education students, the state expanded the program in 2017, and it now covers thousands of students from virtually every district. The program is in jeopardy, however, because under new federal guidance issued in July, those providing the services must be licensed by a medical board, not just credentialed by the state Department of Education. To address that issue, Sununu signed an executive order Wednesday to temporarily speed up the licensing process, and bipartisan legislation is being drafted to create a permanent change. “This is not just a legislative solution, it’s not just a solution through rules, it’s not just a solution at the federal level,” Sununu said. “It’s really just making sure the boards are part of the process, and making sure all the stakeholders have been part of the process.”  The Department of Health and Human Services also has been working with community mental health centers and other providers to determine how they might help schools. Sen. James Gray, R-Rochester, said that in his city, part of the problem was getting medical providers to officially order the services. “It wasn’t that the service couldn’t be provided in the school,” he said. Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes, a Democrat running for governor, called the order a publicity stunt. Ït barely puts a band-aid on the self-inflicted damage caused by the Sununu administration and does nothing to address the root cause of the problem — the governor’s ill-advised, fiscally irresponsible rulemaking that is costing New Hampshire students, schools and property taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said in a written statement.",
            "output": [
                "Legislation, order aim to save Medicaid to Schools funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e16d14e0f64e4de2bcbb05714757294f",
            "input": "Oly Ilunga, who opposed using the vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, resigned as minister on Monday after being bumped off the Ebola response team. The World Health Organization recommended the two-dose shot to complement a vaccine by U.S. drugmaker Merck, which has proved highly protective but is in relatively short supply. Proponents, including medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and the Wellcome Trust, said the new vaccine could be deployed to areas not yet affected by Ebola to create a firewall against the virus, which the WHO declared an international health emergency last week. But Ilunga said the J&J vaccine had not been proven effective and could confuse people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where wild rumours are hampering the response. “Congolese have the right to have the gold standard, the best vaccine,” he told Reuters on Thursday, in his first public comments since resigning. “They don’t need to be the subject of experimentation.”    “You can’t have a group of promoters, producers of the vaccine (and) university researchers wanting to introduce the vaccine without contacting the health authorities,” he said, without elaborating further. Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer, denied there were any efforts to secretly introduce the vaccine and said the company had been in full communication with Congolese authorities. But scepticism about new medicines can resonate strongly on a continent where some pharmaceutical trials have faced accusations in the past of failing to obtain informed consent and providing subpar care to participants. For example, some U.S. government-funded trials of HIV drugs in the 1990s were accused of double standards for giving placebos to women in Africa when effective therapies existed, a practice that is not generally allowed in the United States and other Western nations on ethical grounds. Researchers defended the use of placebos as scientifically necessary. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, an epidemiologist and Ebola expert named to lead Congo’s response team, dismissed Ilunga’s concerns and said authorities would revisit whether to deploy a second vaccine. However, he downplayed the importance of the decision. “I don’t think that a vaccine is what’s holding back the response,” he told Reuters, noting that previous Ebola outbreaks had been contained quickly without a vaccine. “We could use or not use. It won’t change the evolution of the epidemic,” he said. The nearly year-long outbreak has infected more than 2,500 people and killed more than 1,700, numbers topped only by a 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,300. This month, a case was detected in Goma, a city of 2 million on the border with Rwanda, heightening fears about the spread of the haemorrhagic fever. Efforts to contain it have been undermined by mistrust of health workers and violence by armed militias. Treatment centres have been attacked. Local campaigners say people are scared and confused about the various medicines being used. In addition to the vaccine, four experimental treatments are being given to Ebola patients. All are still unlicensed, which means they can only be used in clinical trials overseen by Congo’s health ministry. “We should not introduce a second vaccine when we don’t yet have scientifically-proven conclusions from the one currently being tested,” said Matina Mwanack, the administrator of an advocacy group in the eastern Congo city of Butembo called Families United Against Ebola. “(We) have suffered a lot from the lack of needed information about the vaccines and treatments being tested.”   Omar Kavota, who heads a group of religious and political leaders in eastern Congo, said “introducing a second vaccine would amplify rumours”, including over why some patients got one while others received the second. Muyembe said communicators had been appointed to make the process more transparent. Proponents of a second vaccine argue it can only be tested in a live outbreak, since it would be unethical to deliberately infect trial volunteers. They propose deploying it where the disease has not yet spread, while the Merck vaccine continues to be used to protect contacts of suspected cases. “Both vaccines should work hand in hand,” said Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and one of the scientists who first discovered the Ebola virus. Since the West African outbreak, J&J has tested its vaccine on more than 6,000 volunteers in a dozen trials, confirming its safety and ability to generate an immune response. It requires two injections 56 days apart - another obstacle cited by Ilunga - in an area where fighting causes frequent displacement, but should last longer. “The goal is to give a long-term safe profile for people who may never be exposed to Ebola,” said J&J’s Stoffels, adding that 1.5 million doses were available. Josie Golding, head of epidemics at the Wellcome Trust, said “we could run out of Merck vaccines” if the outbreak extends into a second year. Health authorities have already begun using smaller doses to ration supplies. Congo’s health ministry disputes there is a shortage of the Merck vaccine. The company said it expects to have about 900,000 doses available over the next six to 18 months, in addition to the 195,000 doses it has already donated. The ministry has also considered potential vaccines developed by China’s CanSino Biologics and the Russian research institutes Rospotrebnadzor and Gamaleya, but those discussions are less advanced. (GRAPHIC: In Africa, a virus spreads: tmsnrt.rs/2ReWwZU)",
            "output": [
                "Deployment of second Ebola vaccine would not be quick fix, experts warn."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bdc4764594db4ed7a72e65adfd8cc38d",
            "input": "\"The story provided an estimate for the cost of the treatment as well as the reminder that the costs for the doctor’s visit also needed to be factored in. The story provided some idea of the magnitude of benefit from the use of this drug – significantly more people using this medication were able to abstain from drinking entirely for at least 28 days out of the 98 days of the study. Similarly, there was also a reduction of the average 11  drinks per day to 6 1/2 drinks per day for those using this medication as compared with 7 1/2 for those in the placebo group. The inclusion of the anecdotal report of someone who remained sober years after taking the drug implies a duration of effect well beyond the duration of this study: 3 1/2 months. While there is no formal exaggeration of the effect, a cheery anecdote may falsely raise expectations in the reader. The story did mention some of the unpleasant side effects that people taking the drug experienced; although it did not provide information about how frequently they occurred, it mentioned that 20% of the people dropped out of the study which provides a composite of sorts. The story did a fine job reporting on the results of the study; it is clear from the story that only 15% of the people who took the drug quit drinking during the course of the study but that the difference in the average number of drinks per day though lower in the drug treated group, were really not very different than that of the placebo group. While there is no \"\"disease mongering\"\" in the sense of exaggerating the scope of the problem, there is implication in this report that the drug under study is more widely applicable than the study demonstrates. The study author was quoted as saying you \"\"can come in drinking a bottle of scotch a day and get treatment without detox.\"\" In this study, patients who experienced significant withdrawal symptoms with cessation were excluded, as were those who had multiple unsuccessful attempts in the past to stop drinking in inpatient programs. Experts in the field who were not associated with this study were quoted in the story. In addition, the story clearly indicated that the study was funded by the maker of the drug. Although the story did not name names, it did mention that there were three other medications currently approved for use in the treatment of alcoholism. The story couched one benefit for use of the study drug as something for people who want to see their \"\"own doctors, rather than enter a rehab clinic to dry out.\"\" This is misleading as it makes it seem as though for the other medications currently approved for the treatment of alcoholism, it is necessary to attend a specialized alcohol treatment program. The story did not mention any 12-step programs that some use for treating alcoholism. The story made clear that the drug Topamax is not FDA approved for the treatment of alcoholism but that physicians are free to prescribe it for such use. The story was clear that this is a new use for a prescription medication currently on the market for other uses. Does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Alcoholics see hope in new pill"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de174a9f51d443e6b66e63f729cb7ff4",
            "input": "As the 2016 school year and the election primary cycles wound to a close in California, they inevitably congealed into political brouhahas that entangled even young students. One such controversy involved the case of third-grader Logan Autry and his “Make America Great Again” hat: Third-grader Logan Autry, 9, said officials at Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School in Fresno told him to remove his “Make America Great Again” hat because it could stir “negative emotions” in other children. The red baseball cap with the phrase printed in white capital letters has become almost synonymous with the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “The principal told me to take it off, and I still didn’t take it off,” Autry [said]. “And she said it was against the dress code to wear the hat, but I looked in the dress code and it was not against it.” The Fresno Unified School District’s dress codes for the 2015-2016 school year are fairly easy to track down online, and they haven’t changed much (if at all) from those of previous years: Any apparel, hair style, cosmetic or jewelry, even if not specifically mentioned below, which creates a safety concern, draws undue attention to the wearer, or tends to distract from the educational process is prohibited unless addressed elsewhere in this regulation. Additionally, the following items are specifically prohibited: What many stories didn’t mention was that Logan Autry wore the hat for several days before the school, seeing it as a potential distraction, intervened and told him to remove it: Our job as educators is to facilitate a safe learning environment where we encourage robust conversations of diverse and thoughts. We are proud that in this case, our school achieved that goal by allowing the student to wear his hat for several days. However, it is also our responsibility to take precautions when the discourse begins to impact our school climate and interrupt school operations. Logan told reporters that wearing the hat at school is his First Amendment right. However, the right to free speech is interpreted (by courts and others) somewhat differently in public schools than outside them. The National Coalition Against Censorship has a rundown of how the First Amendment is interpreted within the classroom: Recent Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that the right to free speech and expression can sometimes be subordinated to achieve legitimate educational goals. (See discussions of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, Bethel School District v. Fraser.) A school is not comparable to a public park where anyone can stand on a soapbox, or a bulletin board on which anyone can post a notice. While students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker v. Des Moines), speech is not quite as free inside educational institutions as outside. This does not mean that students and teachers have no First Amendment rights at school. Quite the contrary. But within the educational setting, the right to free speech is implemented in ways that do not interfere with schools’ educational mission. Students cannot claim, for instance, that they have the right to have incorrect answers to an algebra quiz accepted as correct, nor can teachers claim a right to teach anything they choose. Other quotes from Logan present a fuller picture of the third-grader’s political views: He already has the shirt and tie down, and practices speeches about Trump on the playground. “I’ve told them his policies on illegal immigration, and our second amendment, and our first amendment and all of our amendments that need to be protected which are not going to be an amendment at all if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders gets elected,” said Autry.",
            "output": [
                "An elementary school in Fresno, California, forced a third-grader to remove a cap bearing Donald Trump's campaign slogan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea3258585f19479093c2d35cf5f3930c",
            "input": "New Zealand’s cases of the coronavirus crossed the 100 mark this week as the government imposed self-isolation for everyone, with all non-essential services, schools and offices to be shut for a month from midnight on Wednesday. New Zealand has fewer infections than many other countries but Ardern’s government wants to move fast to halt the spread. It was one of the first to force all arriving travellers into self-isolation and to ban indoor and outdoor gatherings. Cases in neighbouring Australia have soared to 1,886 but it has yet to announce a nationwide lockdown. “Simplest thing is to stay at home ... that’s how we will save lives,” Ardern told a news conference at parliament. “The underlying principle of an alert level 4 is to reduce contact between people to the bare minimum,” she said. Parliament will sit on Wednesday to impose the state of emergency and lockdown, she said. The prime minister said the lockdown would give the country of about 5 million people a good chance of beating the virus but it would only work if everyone followed the restrictions. New Zealand has a total of 155 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus, with four local transmission cases. It has had no deaths. Under the lockdown, people can go out for a walk or take their children out but they have to keep a distance of 2 metres from others. They can also go to supermarkets. On Tuesday, office staff were preparing to work from home while students moved out of their hostels and cafes shut down. Domestic airports and other regional transport services were choked as people headed home before the lockdown. In the capital of Wellington, ferry services going from the North Island to the South Island were packed, as were supermarkets with people stocking up with food despite government assurances the country will be well supplied. Retail banks agreed to offer a six-month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and small business customers, the finance minister, Grant Robertson, said. “A six-month mortgage holiday for people whose incomes have been affected by COVID-19 will mean people won’t lose their homes as a result of the economic disruption caused by this virus,” Robertson said. The government and banks would also implement a NZ$6.25 billion ($3.62 billion) business finance guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized businesses, he said. The scheme will include a limit of NZ$500,000 per loan and will apply to firms with a turnover of between NZ$250,000 and NZ$80 million per annum. The government will carry 80% of the credit risk, with the other 20% to be carried by the banks, Robertson said. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) had decided to reduce banks’ core funding ratios to 50% from 75%, further helping banks make credit available.",
            "output": [
                "'Stay at home' New Zealand PM urges ahead of coronavirus lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b013a07a30394d108802960b116bfa3a",
            "input": "Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams made the announcement, with Azar calling marijuana “a dangerous drug.” Officials said President Donald Trump has donated $100,000 — one-quarter of his annual government salary — toward a digital campaign to raise awareness of the risks. Trump has forgone his official salary since taking office. The warning comes as legal marijuana has grown into a $10-billion industry in the U.S. with nearly two-thirds of states legalizing it, mainly for medical uses. Possessing small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The list includes California, Colorado, Michigan and Maine. Federal law still treats it as a controlled substance akin to opioids. Adams said science shows that marijuana is harmful to the developing brains of teenagers and to the human fetus. The drug has also gotten stronger, with a three-fold increase in the concentration of the active ingredient THC in cultivated plants over the last 20 years. “This ain’t your mother’s marijuana,” Adams said. The American Medical Association said it strongly supports the government’s effort, adding that it for some time it has been recommending against marijuana use by teens, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding. The surgeon general said his advisory is a direct result of scientific research that runs counter to changing social mores. “Marijuana use is a risk to the developing brain,” Adams said. “Over time there has been a change in attitudes about marijuana creating a false sense of security.” While the White House has made the opioid epidemic a top policy and political priority, marijuana previously had not gotten such high-level attention. Federal officials say they fear the trend toward legalization may make it more enticing for teenagers to try marijuana. It’s a commonly used drug among youths, they said, along with alcohol and e-cigarettes. No states allow recreational marijuana use by teens. States with medical marijuana programs, Illinois among them, generally allow use by minors with consent from a legal guardian and certification from a doctor. Adams said that for teens it carries a risk of affecting brain development, which continues in the 20s. Frequent marijuana use by teenagers is associated with changes in parts of the brain that are involved with attention, memory, decision-making and motivation. Among pregnant women, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, with about 7% reporting they had used it within the past month in a 2017 study. Some women use it to help with morning sickness. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics advise women not to use marijuana during pregnancy, and to discontinue the drug if they find out they are pregnant. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said pregnant women taking marijuana to relieve morning sickness should stop. “If you have morning sickness, talk to your physician,” said Giroir. “There are FDA-approved drugs to help with morning sickness. Taking marijuana for morning sickness has never been shown to be safe and effective.” The government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse is paying for several studies on marijuana use in pregnancy, including one involving women who have chosen to continue using the drug to treat morning sickness despite warnings. While some studies have suggested that marijuana may be harmful to the developing brain, the evidence isn’t conclusive, explained NIDA Director Nora Volkow, who said she strongly supports the surgeon general’s warning. “We cannot close our eyes and say this is not happening. It’s happening,” said Volkow. It would be a missed opportunity not to continue the research to find conclusive evidence on how the drug affects the fetus, she said. “My view is that the way that you change things is by providing evidence,” she added. ___ Associated Press Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this article.",
            "output": [
                "‘This ain’t your mother’s marijuana,’ surgeon general says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3497934b1ccc4aa290fb9415a7e05079",
            "input": "\"The cost of health care is a huge issue for everyone. If you have health insurance, the chances are excellent that you've seen your costs, along with co-payments and deductibles, go up significantly. If you don't have health insurance, the bill you get from your doctor or hospital is strikingly higher than what people with health insurance are charged. That's because insurance companies negotiate deep discounts that uninsured people never see. And because people who don't have insurance are seven times more likely to skip the care they need, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that typically makes your care more expensive when you do seek it. If, on top of everything else, you can't pay for that care and a hospital provides it for free, as a hospital is obligated to do, those costs are passed on to everyone else. So it caught our attention when Marie Ghazal, chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Free Clinic, the Providence nonprofit organization that treats the uninsured, began an opinion column in The Providence Journal by asserting that \"\"Rhode Island has the highest percentage of uninsured adults of any state in New England.\"\" She stated that between 13.9 percent and 21.4 percent of residents are not insured, which translates to 139,000 to 214,000 Rhode Islanders. We wondered if our ranking was really that poor, and why the range was so large. When we contacted Ghazal, she said she got the information from a story in the Providence Business News. The article gives no specific numbers for Rhode Island or most other states. It was based on a map developed by the CDC that breaks the states into three categories: those having the highest proportion of people with health insurance, those having the lowest and those in between. Rhode Island -- like New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia and most of the states in the Midwest -- is in the in-between category. Ghazal said our rate of uninsured adults was 13.9 percent to 21.4 percent because, as it turns out, that's how the CDC defined the in-between group. We asked if she had specific numbers. She said she didn't. So we went searching. When we contacted CDC, they directed us to state-by-state numbers, as collected by Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey that counts how many people are without health insurance at the time of the call. According to the BRFSS statistics, which served as the basis for the map cited by Ghazal, the 2009 telephone survey of 4,318 Rhode Islands found that the percentage of uninsured adults in Rhode Island was 14.2 percent, below the national average of 16.9 percent. Thirty-two states had a lower rate of health insurance coverage than Rhode Island. The worst rate was in Texas, where 29.1 percent of the population was not covered. In 15 states, at least 20 percent of the adult population younger than 65 was without health insurance. But we found something else while digging into the numbers. The margin of error in the survey was plus or minus 1.9 percentage points. If you ignore the margin of error, it is true that Rhode Island had the highest rate of uninsured adults in New England. Maine, where 13.7 percent were uninsured, was closest to Rhode Island. But that's a difference of only 0.5 percentage points. Massachusetts, in contrast, had the lowest rate of uninsured -- 6.2 percent -- because the Bay State has mandatory health insurance. However, if you consider the margin of error in the poll, we could rank ahead of New Hampshire (where 13.1 were uninsured) and Maine. For additional context, we looked at the percentages going back to 1995 (excluding 2001 and 2002, two years when the survey results are not on the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion website). It turns out that in 2004, the level of uninsured in Rhode Island was a bit higher -- 14.4 percent; 15 years ago it was at about 13 percent. The rate did dip to 11.7 percent in the 1998 survey but, in general, the numbers have stayed consistent. By any measure, that's still a lot of people walking around without health insurance. Ultimately, if you ignore the margin of error, Ghazal is correct about our ranking compared with other New England states. But if you take that into account, its possible that her statement could be inaccurate. More importantly, she's making a selective comparison. When you compare us with the rest of the country, we're better than average. Because of those omissions.\"",
            "output": [
                "Rhode Island has the highest percentage of uninsured adults of any state in New England."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-42abeb581beb4239ae6d6e1981bbe2f0",
            "input": "Since 2000, 34 of Iowa’s 118 community hospitals have closed their birthing units, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. There have been two so far this year, down from eight closures last year — the most in a single year. Most of those closures have happened at smaller facilities than the 49-bed Marshalltown hospital. Iowa’s aging population is a key reason for these closures, Dr. Stephen Hunter, vice chairman of obstetrics at the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics in Iowa City, told Iowa Public Radio . “Some rural counties have lost as many as 40 percent of their population in the last three decades,” Hunter said. “That’s a lot of people gone, unfortunately. That leaves a system that’s not adequate for those that remain in those counties.” Hunter said the state is also facing a severe shortage of OB/GYNs and family practice doctors who practice obstetrics. And, he said, Medicaid reimbursements are so low for obstetrics that hospitals can’t support the service. According to figures from the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Medicaid reimbursed it about one-third of what commercial insurance plans did for services such as ultrasounds and deliveries last year. Competition from bigger hospitals in bigger cities presents a business challenge, too. “There simply aren’t enough women choosing to deliver locally,” UnityPoint Health President Jenni Friedly said. “This is a problem that has been going on for a long time. . There are enough women becoming pregnant, but they are going elsewhere to deliver. It’s clear OB/GYN patients are already selecting Ames and Des Moines for their care.” Stephanie Trusty, a nurse who tracks birthing trends for the state, told the Marshalltown Times-Republican that “some of these birthing units are beautiful. They’re like a four-star hotel.” But does the loss of birthing units at the smaller hospitals and consolidation of birthing services affect health outcomes? A 2017 University of Minnesota study said the loss of labor and delivery units in smaller, more remote counties is linked with a decrease in prenatal care and increase in out-of-hospital and preterm births. The Iowa Public Health Department and the University of Iowa are keeping watch for any such problems, but so far have not seen any sizable incidence, Trusty said. Hansen Family Hospital CEO Doug Morse in Iowa Falls told Iowa Public Radio that hospital officials decided labor and delivery care were too expensive to continue in the aging, rural community with a declining birth rate. After three months of public meetings, Morse said, hospital officials opted to use half the money they would save to turn the unit into a mental health program for seniors. “It really did become fairly clear that people recognize that this wasn’t necessarily ... delivering babies isn’t necessarily a service that matches an elderly population,” he said. The closing of the birth unit at the Iowa Falls hospital forced Jessica Sheridan to change her plans to have her baby born there, just five minutes from her home. She established relationships with doctors in Ames, an hour away, where her daughter was delivered in mid-December. “We were lucky. It was nice weather,” Sheridan said.",
            "output": [
                "Costs forcing some hospitals to stop delivering babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-687da4d176244493a1b85a107cec7c75",
            "input": "The Maine Health Access Foundation says it’s giving $525,000 to seven groups, including the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and Wabanaki Public Health. Foundation president and chief executive officer Barbara Leonard says health metrics such as life expectancy and quality of health care vary significantly within different communities in Maine. Leonard says the grants are designed to help by “strengthening the organizations within the communities that experience the challenges.” That’s why the grants are called Health Equity Capacity Building grants. Others receiving grants include Mabel Wadsworth Center, Survivor Speak USA, Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center, New England Arab American Organization and Somali Bantu Community Association.",
            "output": [
                "Maine health grants seek to boost vulnerable communities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac474aa8e3494dd48f32e5e7a465b48d",
            "input": "Burns tackles the famed Mayo Clinic in his next film, exploring the history of the innovative Rochester, Minnesota-based hospital that has been dubbed “The Miracle in a Cornfield.” It has treated luminaries such as the Dalai Lama — and Burns. The first time Burns went, he was immediately impressed by the level and detail of his medical care, like the patient was at the center, not the doctor. “I began to get curious about why this was so different from any other health care experience I’d had,” he said. The result is the two-hour documentary “The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science,” which starts with the hospital’s birth during a tornado in 1883 and ends with the modern-day Mayo, state-of-the-art facilities over several campuses that treat up to 14,000 patients in 24 hours. “The Mayo is just a quintessentially American story, just as baseball is a quintessentially American subject, as are the national parks, the Civil War,” Burns said. “And this was a story firing on all cylinders, at least as far as I felt. And it was a story that I don’t think had been fully understood.” The documentary — directed by Burns, Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers — features the voices of Tom Hanks, Sam Waterston and Blythe Danner, as well as familiar touches: Peter Coyote narrates, there’s rousing music by Aaron Copeland and Scott Joplin, and evocative slow-scans of old photographs known as “the Ken Burns effect.” The film is part of a documentary film empire Burns has on tap. Upcoming are works on the history of country music, Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali, Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution, as well as deep dives into crime and punishment in America and civil rights during President Lyndon Johnson. “I’m plotted out to 2030 — God and funding willing,” he said with a laugh. “As much as I’d like to believe that I pick projects, in fact I think they pick me. And they pick me because they’re just quintessential American stories, whatever they might be.” Burns has built a reputation for capturing sweeping historic moments with intimate details of peoples’ lives, tackling topics ranging from the Brooklyn Bridge to baseball, from Mark Twain to jazz. His films make the past come alive: Burns was once escorted out of an Alabama church by state troopers from people still upset by the Civil War’s outcome. The Mayo film begins with the unusual collaboration by Dr. W.W. Mayo — “a doctor who worshipped Darwin,” Burns said — and a group of Franciscan nuns who began working with Mayo to help tornado victims in 1883. The hospital adopted a salary-based model of teamwork — not based on ordering tests or a revolving door of patients — that is said to encourage innovation, time with patients and collaboration. In the film, Tom Brokaw and John McCain endorse its methods. So does co-director Erik Ewers, who started the project not as a Mayo patient but ended up one. He had been suffering from intestinal problems for 20 years and had been given seven different diagnoses without finding relief. While he was filming the Mayo documentary, its doctors reached out. “They diagnosed it in two days,” Ewers said. Burns calls Mayo’s formula a “secret sauce” — one that also manages to have poor patients get free care — and hopes it can offer answers to America’s health care problems. “We were making a film about the history the Mayo Clinic, but realized that in their story and in their example might be a way for us all to re-enter a conversation about the essential question: What do we owe each other in terms of taking care of each other?” he said. Burns’ inimitable visual style is sometimes mocked, but the filmmaker isn’t in a rush to embrace flashy special effects, something he calls “all sizzle and no steak.” He admits to dragging his heels on embracing digital cameras and computer editing because he simply liked splicing film stock. But that doesn’t mean he’s inflexible — he used drones in the Mayo film. “There’s a lot of sleek hares out there who are racing past the turtle that we are,” he said. “We make long films. And if you’re going to watch a long film, we have to make sure that we honor the attention you’re giving to us with an equal care in the crafting of it.” The work is painstaking. For the documentary on country music, he estimates his team has pored over 100,000 photographs and scanned 60,000 of them — only to use less than 3,000. “I use the analogy of maple syrup: It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup,” Burns said. By delving into America’s past so much, Burns has learned a lot about human nature, but he dislikes the cliche that history repeats itself. He prefers to quote Mark Twain, who said “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” His work has given him hard-won perspective. When people during the financial crisis in 2007 began evoking the Great Depression, Burns knew his history. He replied that if animals in the zoos were being shot for food, then it was an apt analogy. “That’s what history can do. It’s a kind of an armor or at least a thermal layer that protects you from the chill of the present moment,” he said. ___ Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits",
            "output": [
                "Ken Burns turns his attention to the Mayo Clinic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea6e56c575744cc7aef76ad1d9538117",
            "input": "The lounge, located in Manhattan’s trendy Lower East Side, features plush seating, blaring rock music, and fresh juice and coffee. A sprawling sign on one wall lists all the carcinogens that e-cigarette users avoid by kicking their smoking habits and using the e-devices instead. But the growing popularity of e-cigarettes has not escaped the notice of the industry’s critics, who have stepped up calls for new regulations, including bans on their use in public places, even though the scientific evidence about exposure to their vapors remains inconclusive. Selling for about $30 to $50 each, e-cigarettes are slim, reusable, metal tubes containing nicotine-laced liquids that come in exotic flavors. When users puff on the device, the nicotine is heated and releases a vapor that, unlike cigarette smoke, contains no tar, which causes cancer and other diseases. The product, introduced in China in 2006, has become a worldwide trend at least in part because it may help smokers of regular cigarettes break the habit. “It’s an addiction - not everyone can quit cold turkey,” said Nick Edwards, 34, a Henley employee who says he kicked a 15-year cigarette habit the day he tried his first e-cigarette. “E-cigarettes give you a harm-reduction option.”  That’s one reason why the market for e-cigarettes is expected to surge, reaching $2 billion by the end of 2013 and $10 billion by 2017, according to Bonnie Herzog, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank in New York. Herzog said the U.S. market alone could top $1 billion this year. She predicts that by 2017 e-cigarettes sales will overtake sales of regular cigarettes. That estimate does not take into account the impact of potential government regulations on sales. E-cigarettes may help smokers save money too. Edwards, for one, says he cut his $60 monthly cigarette bill in half when he switched. On top of the cost of the device, the smoking liquids cost around $10 per refill. Despite the perceived benefits, critics worry that the addictive nicotine found in e-cigarettes could lure more people into smoking and discourage others from quitting all together. “Essentially e-cigarette companies are selling nicotine addiction,” said Dr. Neil Schluger, chief scientific officer for the World Lung Foundation, which advocates for tobacco control. “Once you have them addicted to nicotine, you can sell them all sorts of things, including conventional cigarettes,” he said. “This is a giant Trojan horse.”  In the United States, such concerns have led to calls for increased government regulation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently has no regulations on e-cigarettes, but it is expected to release rules this month that would extend its “tobacco product” authority over the devices. New FDA rules could follow. “Further research is needed to assess the potential public health benefits and risks of electronic cigarettes and other novel tobacco products,” said Jenny Haliski, an FDA spokeswoman. To be sure, no one is expecting the federal government to go as far as Brazil, Norway and Singapore, where the devices are banned outright. In the United States, Utah, North Dakota, Arkansas and New Jersey have already passed legislation outlawing e-cigarettes wherever smoking is prohibited. Other jurisdictions are considering new rules of their own. New York City could decide as early as next week whether to prohibit e-cigarette use in public places. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who leaves office January 1, New York was one of the first cities to ban cigarette smoking in public places, and its decision could influence Chicago and other cities that are considering a similar controls. The outcome is crucial for tobacco companies, which are banking on the devices to make up for a sharp decline in sales of regular cigarettes in the United States. Smoking among U.S. adults dropped to 18 percent in 2012 from 24.7 percent in 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reynolds American Inc, which makes Camel cigarettes, began selling its Vuse vapor cigarettes in Colorado retail stores in July and plans on expanding nationwide by mid-2014. Other companies have also dipped into the e-cigarette business, too. Last year Lorillard Inc, maker of Newport cigarettes, acquired the best-selling blu eCigs brand, while Altria Group Inc, best known for the Marlboro brand, followed suit in August with the launch of MarkTen e-cigarettes. “As society is transforming, so must the tobacco industry,” said Reynolds spokesman Richard Smith. “It’s just good business sense.”  The arrival of Big Tobacco could mean fierce competition for small e-cigarette companies that do not have the resources or experience to deal with tight government regulation. But many e-cigarette companies say Big Tobacco is late to the game and has a lot to catch up on. “They are going to need to boost up their game if they want to compete,” said Christina Lopez, a saleswoman at Smokeless Image, an e-cigarette shop that sells smaller brands in Hoboken, New Jersey. To be sure, there is still a dearth of scientific evidence about the safety of e-cigarettes and their effectiveness in helping smokers quit. For regulators, the big question is, are e-cigarettes a treatment for would-be quitters or “gateway” products to nicotine addiction? Supporters say some e-cigarettes allow users to slowly reduce their nicotine intake and wean themselves off nicotine completely. A study published in the September issue in Lancet, the British medical journal, said the e-cigarettes are as effective as nicotine patches for smokers trying to quit. Worldwide, conventional cigarette addictions kill 6 million people a year, in part because of the 250 harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke, which can cause cancer, heart disease and stroke, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But e-cigarettes may not be harmless, either. Nicotine addictions, fed by smoking, chewing tobacco or e-cigarettes, can cause high blood pressure, disrupt heart rhythms and lead to obesity and diabetes. Electronic devices that feature fruit and candy flavors are even more worrying, critics say, because they could introduce children to smoking. E-cigarette vendors say the sweet flavors make the process of quitting smoking less painful. “By taking a sort of ‘Willy Wonka,’ fun approach to a serious matter, it breaks down people’s perceptions of e-cigarettes,” said Talia Eisenberg, owner of the Henley Vaporium, referring to the fictional candy maker. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 10 percent of high school students surveyed reported using e-cigarettes in 2012, up from 4.7 percent in 2011. About 60 percent of current users are over 35 years old, and 43 percent are college-educated, according to Reynolds American. Twelve states, including New York, have passed laws preventing e-cigarette sales to minors. At a hearing on the proposed New York City ban on e-cigarette use in public places, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said allowing it could glamorize all types of smoking and encourage teenagers and children to take up the cigarette habit. “While more research is needed on electronic cigarettes, waiting to act could jeopardize the progress we have made over the last few years,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "E-cigarettes: a burning question for U.S. regulators."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9983b91a63d349a5bfe8976e237b46a4",
            "input": "Don’t quit your shuddering just yet. Live burial is not unheard of; it has always been a real (albeit distant) possibility. Indeed, it’s conceivable the first burials of humans were accidental, live ones: Ill and wounded hunters were left in caves with the entrances sealed off to keep out wild animals while the rest of the hunting parties continued after their prey. It was hoped that once the victims had regained their strength, they would push the barriers out of the way and rejoin the group. Some died in those caves, however Example: [Percy Russell, 1906] PREMATURE BURIAL To die is natural; but the living death Of those who waken into consciousness, Though for a moment only, ay, or less, To find a coffin stifling their last breath, Surpasses every horror underneath The sun of Heaven, and should surely check Haste in the living to remove the wreck Of what was just before, the soul’s fair sheath, How many have been smothered in their shroud! How many have sustained this awful woe! Humanity would shudder could we know How many have cried to God in anguish loud, Accusing those whose haste a wrong had wrought Beyond the worst that ever devil thought. The still-living have been consigned to an eternal dirt nap often enough that fears of premature burial are based on fact as much as on lore. Numerous cases of interments and almost interments dot history. In the first century, the magician Simon Magus, according to one report, buried himself alive, expecting a miracle — a miracle that didn’t happen. On Iona, in the sixth century, one of St. Columba’s monks, Oran, was dug up the day after his burial and found to be alive. Legend has it when he told his fellows he had seen heaven and hell, he was promptly dispatched and re-interred on grounds of heresy. And the 13th-century Thomas a Kempis, the reputed author of the great devotional work The Imitation of Christ, was never made a saint because, it was said, when they dug up his body for the ossuary they found scratch marks on the lid of his coffin and concluded that he was not reconciled to his fate. In the late 16th century, the body of Matthew Wall was being borne to his grave in Braughing, England. One of the pallbearers tripped, causing the others to drop the coffin, thus reviving the dear departed. Wall lived on for several more years, dying in 1595. He celebrated his ‘resurrection’ every year. In the early 17th century, Marjorie Elphinstone died and was buried in Ardtannies, Scotland. When grave robbers attempted to steal the jewelry interred with her, the deceased surprised the heck out of them by groaning. The robbers fled for their lives, and Elphinstone revived, walked home, and outlived her husband by six years. Marjorie Halcrow Erskine of Chirnside, Scotland, died in 1674 and was buried in a shallow grave by a sexton intent upon returning later to steal her jewelry. While the light-fingered sexton was trying to cut off her finger to retrieve a ring, she awoke. In her additional years of life after her first burial, she went on to give birth to and raise two sons. No one knows what happened to the sexton. The 17th century saw a number of premature burials. Collapse and apparent death were not uncommon during epidemics of plague, cholera, and smallpox. From contemporary medical sources, William Tebb compiled 219 instances of narrow escape from premature burial, 149 cases of actual premature burial, 10 cases in which bodies were accidentally dissected before death, and 2 cases in which embalming was started on the not-yet-dead. Some instances were especially heartbreaking. In the 1850s, a young girl visiting Edisto Island, South Carolina, died of diphtheria. She was quickly interred in a local family’s mausoleum because it was feared the disease might otherwise spread. When one of the family’s sons died in the Civil War, the tomb was opened to admit him. A tiny skeleton was found on the floor just behind the door. [British Medical Journal, 1877] A correspondent at Naples states that the Appeals Court has had before it a case not likely to inspire confidence in the minds of those who look forward with horror to the possibility of being buried alive. It appeared from the evidence that some time ago, a woman was interred with all the usual formalities, it being believed that she was dead, while she was only in a trance. Some days afterwards, when the grave in which she had been placed was opened for the reception of another body, it was found that the clothes which covered the unfortunate woman were torn to pieces, and that she had even broken her limbs in attempting to extricate herself from the living tomb. The Court, after hearing the case, sentenced the doctor who had signed the certificate of decease, and the Major who had authorized the interment each to three month’s imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter. A recent “not quite all the way over the line yet” news story comes from 1993: Sipho William Mdletshe might as well be dead, as far as his fiancee is concerned. Declared deceased after a traffic accident in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mdletshe, 24, spent two days in a metal box in a mortuary before his cries alerted workers, who rescued him. But Mdletshe is heartbroken, because his fiancee, who also was hurt in the crash, doesn’t believe his story and refuses to see him. She thinks he’s a zombie who returned from the dead to haunt her. In 1994, 86-year-old Mildred C. Clarke spent ninety minutes in a body bag in the morgue at the Albany Medical Center Hospital before an attendant noticed the bag was breathing. She’d been found sprawled on her living room floor, cold and motionless, with no detectable heartbeat, breath, or other signs of life. She was also as stiff as a board. The coroner didn’t have to think twice about declaring her dead. She apparently did not agree with his verdict, and, with care, lived a week longer. Okay, so it happens. But how common an occurrence is it? In 1896, T.M. Montgomery, who supervised the disinterment and moving of the remains at the Fort Randall Cemetery, reported that “nearly 2% of those exhumed were no doubt victims of suspended animation.” These days, getting accidentally buried alive in the United States or Canada borders on the impossible. Embalming procedures will finish off anyone not quite all the way through the Pearly Gates, and the families of deceased citizens of both those countries overwhelmingly opt to have their loved ones embalmed. (Contrary to popular belief, embalming is not mandatory in the United States. Corpses carry little disease risk — we pose a much greater threat to the public health while we’re still breathing, bleeding, and shedding skin. Proof of this lack of danger is found in the Centers for Disease Control’s study into the risk factors inherent to workers in the funeral business — they found those who deal with cadavers have no greater mortality rate than the general population, nor does their occupation appear to hold special danger of infection. Moreover, despite the claims of the funeral industry, normal embalming does not kill all disease-causing organisms in a cadaver. One study found common pathogens (including the tuberculosis bacillus) still present in 22 of 23 cadavers within 24 to 48 hours of embalming. Other infectious organisms are virtually unaffected by normal embalming, including those that cause anthrax, tetanus and gas gangrene.) There have been deaths by embalming. In 1837, Cardinal Somaglia was taken ill, passed out, and was thought to have died. Preparations were begun immediately to embalm this very important church official. When the surgeon/embalmer cut into the chest to instill embalming materials, he could see the cardinal’s heart still beating. Worse, at this point, the cardinal awoke from his stupor and wisely pushed the knife away from his chest. His effort was to no avail, though — the chest incision killed him. Sometimes the presumed corpse’s ‘still living’ status is only discovered when someone sets about to perform a post-mortem. A 1996 newspaper article reports: In 1984, a post-mortem examination was being conducted in a mortuary in New York. When the pathologist made the first cut the “corpse” leaped up and grabbed him by the throat. The pathologist died of shock.The case of Daphne Banks, who was pronounced dead on New Year’s Eve [1995] but showed signs of life when she got to the mortuary, is by no means unique. From the time of Plato to the present there are many well-documented accounts of the dead coming back to life. The Reverend Schwartz, a missionary, was brought back to life by hearing his favourite hymn played at his funeral. The mourners were surprised to hear his voice from the coffin joining in the singing. Nicephorus Glycas, the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Lesbos, laid in state in his church for two days while mourners filed past his coffin. Suddenly he sat up and demanded to know what everybody was looking at. The discovery that a corpse still has some life left in him isn’t a new phenomenon: [Stowe’s Annals, 1587] The 20 of Februarie [1587], a strange thing happened to a man hanged for felonie at Saint Thomas Waterines, being begged by the Chirugeons of London, to have made of him an anatomie, after he was dead to all men’s thinking, cut downe, throwne into a carre, and so brought from the place of execution through the Borough of Southwarke over the bridge, and through the Citie of London to the Chirugeons Hall nere unto Cripelgate: The chest being opened there, and the weather extreme cold hee was found to be alive, and lived till three and twentie of Februarie, and then died. One of the most famous of such cases is that of Anne Greene who, after being hanged for a felony on 14 December 1650, was sent to the anatomy hall to be used for dissection. She awoke and lived on for many years afterwards. Rapist-murderer William Duell was hanged at Tyburn in November 1740 and taken for dissection. The assistant noted the deceased was breathing and had a faint pulse. Although he was in great pain, two hours later the dead man was sitting in a chair drinking wine. He was sent back to prison and later exiled for life. Around the same time, Professor Junkur of Halle University received a sack with the body of a hanged criminal to be used for dissection. The body was dumped in his house after dark when the professor had already gone to bed. During the night, the professor was awakened by the figure of a naked and shivering man holding an empty sack. The professor decided to help the man escape further punishment and some years later encountered him on the street, a wealthy merchant with a wife and two children. Not every anatomist was so kind-hearted. The Newgate Calendar quoted the surgeon who worked on an eighteenth century German criminal as saying: I am pretty certain, gentlemen, from the warmth of the subject and the flexibility of the limbs, that by a proper degree of attention and care the vital heat would return, and life in consequence take place. But when it is considered what a rascal we should again have among us, that he was hanged for so cruel a murder, and that, should we restore him to life, he would probably kill somebody else. I say, gentlemen, all these things considered, it is my opinion that we had better proceed in the dissection. Okay, so it was (and still is) possible to be buried alive or to meet your maker on a post-mortem table. The prospect is chilling, and numerous people have gone to great lengths to make sure it doesn’t happen to them. The practice of ‘waking’ the dead (having someone sit with the deceased from the time of death until burial in case he ‘wakes up’) began out of this concern. Especially in bygone days when a number of illnesses could cause the sufferer to slip into a coma and thus make it appear all life functions had been snuffed out, the danger of overly hasty interment was real. (Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre short stories, most notably “Premature Burial,” certainly helped increase such fears among the general populace.) Some went so far as to specify in their wills they wanted special tests performed on their bodies to make sure they were actually dead. Surgical incisions, the application of boiling hot liquids, touching red-hot irons to their flesh, stabbing them through the heart, or even decapitating them were all specified at different times as a way of making sure they didn’t wake up six feet under. Some opted for being buried with the means to do themselves in, and guns, knives, and poison were packed into coffins along with the deceased. The screams of a young Belgian girl who came out of a trance-like state as the earth fell on her coffin so upset Count Karnice-Karnicki, Chamberlain to the Czar and Doctor of the Law Faculty of the University of Louvain, that he invented a coffin which allowed a person accidentally buried alive to summon help through a system of flags and bells. Patented in 1897, this hermetically-sealed coffin had a tube, about 3.5 inches in diameter, extending to a box on the surface. The tube was attached to a spring-loaded ball sitting on the corpse’s chest. Any movement of the chest would release the spring, opening the box lid and admitting light and air into the coffin. To signal for help, a flag would spring up, a bell would ring for half an hour, and a lamp would burn after sunset. Similar “life-signaling” coffins were patented in the United States. Those old-fashioned devices might sound quaint and out of place in modern society, but concern over live burial has prompted the redirection of newer technologies to take the place of red flags and whistles:  Evangelist Mary Baker Eddy has long been rumored to have been interred along with a functioning telephone. That bit of popular lore likely grew out of a misremembering of the circumstances of her burial. After she died at her home in Boston, in December 1910, her body was kept at the general receiving vault at Mount Auburn Cemetery in nearby Cambridge for several months while her monument was being constructed. Because she was a world renowned figure and there was some fear of thievery, a guard was hired to stay with the body until it was interred and the tomb sealed, and a telephone was installed at the receiving vault for his use during that period. There was never a phone at the monument, inside or outside. The same rumor is associated with Aimee Semple McPherson, another famous evangelist. She was buried in 1944 in Los Angeles’ Forest Lawn Memorial Park. McPherson used a telephone on the stage of her Angeles Temple to keep in contact with her radio crew during sermons, and this may have contributed to the rumor. More likely, people confused her with Mary Baker Eddy. In 1995 a $5,000 Italian casket equipped with call-for-help ability and survival kit went on sale. Akin to beeping devices which alert relatives to an elderly family member’s being in trouble, this casket is equipped with a beeper which will sound a similar emergency signal. The coffins are also fitted with a two-way microphone/speaker to enable communication between the occupant and someone outside, and a kit which includes a torch, a small oxygen tank, a sensor to detect a person’s heartbeat, and even a heart stimulator. Those worried about premature burial would do well to consider Point #10 of “Short Reasons for Cremation,” a 12-point pamphlet circulated in Australia at the turn of the century:  Cremation eliminates all danger of being buried alive. History does record some instances of deliberate live burial. It was a method of execution employed in Roman times for vestal virgins who broke their vows of chastity, and some medieval monks and nuns were also thus punished for the same crime. Plutarch described the process for vestal virgins: . . . a narrow room is constructed, to which a descent is made by stairs; here they prepare a bed, and light a lamp, and leave a small quantity of victuals, such as bread and water, a pail of milk, and some oil; so that body which had been consecrated and devoted to the most sacred service of religion might not be said to perish by such a death as famine. The culprit herself is put in a litter, which they cover over, and tie her down with cords on it, so that nothing she utters may be heard. They then take her to the Forum… When they come to the place of execution, the officers loose the cords, and then the high priest, lifting his hands to heaven, pronounces certains prayers to himself before the act; then he brings out the prisoner, being still covered, and placing her upon the steps that lead down to the cell, turns away his face … the stairs are drawn up after she has gone down, and a quantity of earth is heaped up over the entrance to the cell … This is the punishment of those who break their vows of virginity. Medieval monks and nuns who broke their vows of chastity were often walled into small niches, just barely large enough for their bodies. They also were given a pittance of food and water, and the grim benediction Vade in Pacem (Depart in Peace).",
            "output": [
                "People have been buried alive by mistake."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ce76fc95ca4423690858a20c0f8f300",
            "input": "On December 20 2018, the Facebook page “Teanderthal Party” posted the following meme about healthcare, “illegal immigration,” terror attacks, and the mortality rate in the United States:It stated:FACT:More Americans die every year from lack of affordable healthcare than from terrorist attacks and illegal immigration combined.Teanderthal Party didn’t share any commentary alongside the meme, nor was it accompanied by any citations, sources, or even references backing the point the page was attempting to convey by sharing the meme. Presumably, its creators singled out “illegal immigration” and “terrorist attacks” as common political fears in the United States, and it aimed to suggest that those concerned about those dangers were possibly likelier to die from lack of access to healthcare services. (But without additional context, that remains a guess as good as any. )Regardless of the page’s editorial intent in sharing the meme, its claims remained fact-checkable — to a degree. However, questions remain: If fact-based resources were consulted to compose the meme, did its creator simply reference 2018 (the year in which it was posted to the page)? Was it created and based upon an earlier year? And how far back should we go to examine the claim’s truthfulness?Further, did the meme intend to reference terrorism-related deaths of Americans within the United States, or did it include Americans killed while visiting other countries? Were combat deaths involving the Islamic State (for example) included in the creation of the meme? And with respect to the number of “Americans [who die] … from illegal immigration,” did it mean people murdered by undocumented immigrants, or something else? With such nebulous benchmarks, answering these questions was a dicey prospect.Finally, the precise meaning of dying “from lack of affordable healthcare” was undefined. Would such a number encompass people who succumbed to illness or injury because they were unable to pay for treatment, people whose health declined because they did not maintain any form of medical insurance, or some other category? Would any other scenario be included in the calculation of deaths due to a lack of affordable healthcare?Although vague, the meme pinpointed three metrics of debatable description with which we will try to approximate a truth rating:The first number might be the easiest of the bunch, due to related research appearing from time to time in the news. Fact checkers PolitiFact and FactCheck.org have both tackled variations of the claim, the latter with no rating, while the former assigned a “” decision to a claim no one died from a lack of access to healthcare.Figures from the American Journal of Public Health [PDF] published in 2009 often serve as a benchmark number for deaths linked specifically to a lack of health insurance in American adults. In their study, “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults,” researchers provided several numbers in different years prior to 2009, estimating that 46 million Americans were uninsured. For the year 2000, researchers estimated 27,424 deaths due to a lack of health insurance among adults in the United States. For 2005, using the same methodology, they calculated between 35,327 deaths in non-elderly people and 44,789 deaths overall.The study was conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, and was based on data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a September 2009 Harvard Gazette article about the findings, researchers said that the larger 44,789 figure was conservative at the time of its publication:Steffie Woolhandler, study co-author, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, noted: “Historically, every other developed nation has achieved universal health care through some form of nonprofit national health insurance. Our failure to do so means that all Americans pay higher health care costs, and 45,000 pay with their lives.”“The Institute of Medicine, using older studies, estimated that one American dies every 30 minutes from lack of health insurance,” remarked David Himmelstein, study co-author, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance.“Even this grim figure is an underestimate — now one dies every 12 minutes.”A major change to policy in the United States took place between the publication of those figures in 2009 and the meme’s circulation in December 2018 — the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (known colloquially as “Obamacare”) in March 2010. At the time the paper quoted above was published, 46 million American citizens lacked health insurance.We were unable to locate a one-to-one comparison of estimated deaths from lack of health insurance after passage of the Affordable Care Act, but research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in September 2017 indicated that 28 million Americans were uninsured at that point. Using the American Journal of Public Health figures of 46 million uninsured Americans and 44,789 deaths for 2005 (published in 2009), we calculated a .097 percent mortality rate. Applying that ratio to the 28 million uninsured Americans referenced in September 2017, 27,160 uninsured Americans could be expected to die of the same general cause.Although figures on deaths due to a lack of health insurance in several given years were relatively easy to find, the other two metrics proved far harder to decisively pin down. Nevertheless, it seemed possible to arrive at a simple “true or false” based on disparity alone.The question of how many Americans are killed annually by undocumented immigrants has come to the forefront of the public discourse, most notably when President Donald Trump referenced a completely unsubstantiated figure of 63,000 American deaths at the hands of undocumented immigrants since September 11, 2001.The Washington Post located the origin of the 63,000 murders figure in June 2018:We traced that number back to its source. On May 5, 2006, [Rep. Steve] King posted an article on his official website in response to national pro-immigration protests held that month. The post is a catalogue of anti-immigrant scaremongering … he explained the math behind his numbers.“The crimes that are committed by those who enter this country illegally are in significantly greater numbers than the crimes that are committed by American citizens,” King said, “to the extent that 28 percent of the inmates in our prisons in the United States are criminal aliens, 28 percent.”That figure he got from a Government Accountability Office report issued in April 2005 …King figured (admitting that [his referenced] number would go up or down a percentage point or two):“That means then that criminal aliens are committing 28 percent of the crimes in the United States. And so that means 28 percent of the murders, 28 percent of the rapes, 28 percent of the violence and the assaults and battery, first- and second-degree murder and also manslaughter attacks are committed by criminal aliens.”In other words, since 28 percent of the prisoners were immigrants in the country illegally, they must also therefore have committed 28 percent of each and every crime! Quod erat demonstratum. Recognizing that this sounded like a lot even at the time, King rationalized it by asserting that for every undocumented immigrant in the country we know about, two or three sneak in without our knowing it. Here’s how we know that’s not true.There is an almost impossibly large number of problems with King’s argument.The first is that, of course, crime is not evenly distributed among populations. If 10 percent of prisoners are named John, that doesn’t mean that people named John commit 10 percent of murders. Many of those undocumented immigrants in federal custody were probably there for a very specific type of crime: felony immigration violations. Very, very few native-born Americans were there for that. In fact, in 2014, half of criminal arrests were for immigration violations. Since the GAO data are only for federal prisoners, that’s significant. (It’s also worth noting, as a reader did, that federal prisoners make up only a small percentage of the entire prison population. )The Post concluded that “King seems to have basically made the number up more than a decade ago,” adding that the Congressman did not even stick with the same figure himself in later reference to the subject:In 2011, King presented a resolution that offered a different calculus.“According to the Government Accountability Office,” it read, “there have been 25,064 homicide arrests of criminal aliens since 1955.”That’s about 1.2 per day.We were unable to locate any trustworthy estimate for the number of Americans killed (intentionally or not) by undocumented immigrants in any given year. And even if that number had been correct instead of specious, 63,000 deaths divided by 17 years equals 3,706 deaths annually — a figure dwarfed by the lowest number of deaths from lack of health insurance by any metric in any year.There is no basis whatsoever to assume the “63,000 since 2001” figure was based in anything at all, but if we apply King’s second formula (1.2 per day) to an annual basis, we get 438 deaths a year, which we can round up to 500 for comparison purposes.Finally, we come to the number of Americans killed annually in terrorist attacks. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) provided figures [PDF] for the number of Americans killed both on and off American soil in terrorist attacks between 1995 and 2016. In that 21-year period, START calculated 3,393 deaths in total in the United States, 3,277 American fatalities on US soil, and 3,658 total American fatalities due to terrorism abroad.Those figures included all deaths during the attacks of September 11, 2001, which totaled 2,902. Averaging the largest number of the three (3,658) per year without adjusting for the outlying events of a single large-scale attack provided a figure of 174 deaths. Subtracting 9/11 from the larger figure and again calculating the number provided an annual average of 36 Americans killed by terrorists each year.In summation, the lowest number of estimated deaths among Americans due to a lack of health insurance in any given year (regardless of the Affordable Care Act’s passage in 2010) totaled more than 27,000. We found no solid figures for the number of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants in any given year, but even the incorrect number of 3,706 annual deaths based on the baseless 63,000 deaths-since-9/11 figure did not approach the number of deaths from lack of access to affordable healthcare. And combining that inaccurately large number with the unadjusted number of terrorism-related deaths (174 deaths per year), the highest comparative total was 4,881 deaths due to undocumented immigrants and terrorism. But once again, the latter two numbers were far likelier under 700 deaths total combined, versus 27,000 deaths on the first count.The meme’s statement that more people die every year from a lack of affordable healthcare than terrorist attacks or “illegal immigration” is true any way you slice it. The latter two numbers in any permutation (even when wildly inflated) come nowhere near matching the very credible figures informing the healthcare deaths estimate, and that remains true regardless of the meme’s extremely poor explanation of its own claims.",
            "output": [
                "More Americans die every year from a lack of affordable healthcare than by terrorism or at the hands of undocumented immigrants."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-453c0311c07f4eebb8a4ba8a29f43307",
            "input": "\"One theme Sen. Bernie Sanders has repeatedly touched on during his run for the Democratic nomination for president has been the high cost of prescription drugs. His comment during the Feb. 11 Democratic debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was typical as he rattled off a list of problems with the U.S. health care system: \"\"In America, we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.\"\" We asked the Sanders campaign for the source of his claim. We didn't get a response. So we searched on our own. One organization that tracks such things is the International Federation of Health Plans, based in London. Their latest price report, from 2013, lists eight common drugs. Compared with England, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Canada, U.S. prices were far higher, sometimes dramatically so. Consider Nexium, the medicine widely used to treat acid reflux. A prescription that would cost $60 or less in other countries costs, on average, $215 in the United States. And that's just the average. Prices vary widely in this country: In 5 percent of the cases, the cost was $395. \"\"What Bernie says is true. There's nowhere that pays the same price as America,\"\" said Tom Sackville, the federation's CEO. In addition, \"\"there is this huge variation in price across America. Anything above the average is quite unjustified. When you get up to the 95th percentile, you're talking grand robbery.\"\" The findings were similar in an April 2013 study published in the journal Health Affairs, which looked at the prices of brand name drugs in the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, France, Canada and Australia. In each of the three years studied -- 2005, 2007 and 2010 -- U.S. prices were consistently higher. The one exception: Switzerland. In addition, researchers found that, between 2005 and 2010, \"\"the gap between the United States and other countries seemed to widen.\"\" And it wasn't just new drugs being embraced first in the United States that was driving up costs. They concluded that \"\"prices for older products rose faster in the United States than in other countries.\"\" But Joel Farley of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Eshelman School of Pharmacy cautioned that the rule doesn't always apply to generic drugs. A 2008 comparison of 19 generic drugs found that some U.S. prices were lower than Canadian prices. \"\"In some cases it has to do with availability,\"\" he said. In other cases, a country may set the drug price low and in that fixed-price market \"\"there's no incentive to go lower.\"\" The Wall Street Journal published an analysis in December that concluded 98 percent of 40 top branded drugs were more expensive in the United States than in England. In Norway, 93 percent of the 40 top branded drugs cost less than in the United States. And in Ontario, a comparison of 30 drugs showed that U.S. prices were also higher for 93 percent of the products. Why are the brand name prices so much lower in other countries, and why is there so much variation in the United States? Big customers can negotiate big discounts. So the countries with socialized medicine have a lot of leverage at the negotiating table, the experts told us. In the United States, hospitals, wholesalers and insurance companies all do their own negotiations. The Veterans Administration can -- and does -- negotiate dramatically lower prices. Under Medicaid, the drug companies are required to provide their medicines at a price that's as low as it is for any of their regular customers. But Medicare has been prohibited by law from negotiating lower prices since 2006, and that's a huge chunk of the U.S. health care industry. (When Barack Obama was first running for president, he promised to repeal that Bush-era restriction, but then backed off in an attempt to get passage of the Affordable Care Act.) The pharmaceutical industry says it needs the extra income to pay for research to keep new, desperately needed drugs coming. But with everyone getting a bargain, Americans are financing that research for the rest of the world, experts told us. Yet there's another way to look at the issue, said Amitava Dasgupta, a clinical toxicologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The tablet that costs a dollar in the United States may only cost 20 cents in India, but that drug is far more expensive to the average person in India because their income is so much lower. \"\"The U.S. subsidizes research for the world,\"\" he said. \"\"But I would look at that as philanthropy.\"\" Our ruling Sanders said, \"\"In America, we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.\"\" When it comes to brand-name drugs, which yield the highest profit for the pharmaceutical industry, studies support Sanders' claim -- although not always on a drug-by-drug basis. In addition, the differences in price can be dramatic because the U.S. health care system is so splintered, and Medicare is prohibited by law from using its market share to bargain for lower prices. We found one study comparing the United States and Canada that found exceptions for generic drugs, where the profit margin is much lower and which make up a much smaller share of prescription drug spending. But on balance,\"",
            "output": [
                "In America, we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2de07eb44d2f4f8399b3e1b87cd9c395",
            "input": "\"North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper eased pandemic restrictions on retail stores before doing so for churches -- a move that prompted pushback from some members of the faith community. Non-essential stores and indoor church services were both initially forbidden to operate under Cooper’s stay-at-home order. When Cooper launched Phase One of reopening North Carolina, he allowed some stores to open but didn’t allow churches to hold services indoors. Experts generally agree that traditional church customs such as singing, passing around bulletins and even sharing food would make worship services especially dangerous during the coronavirus outbreak. But Cooper’s critics argued for a chance to worship while being responsible. During a press conference on May 12, Cooper said his decision was based on science. \"\"We know that inside it is much more likely that you’re going to transmit this virus, particularly when you’re sitting or standing in one place for a long period of time, and this is across the board. And some people are trying to compare this with retail. With retail, people are moving around and you don’t have as much a chance to spread the virus (as you do) when people are sitting or standing indoors.\"\" Since then, a judge’s ruling has enabled indoor church services in North Carolina. A US District Court Judge allowed for a restraining order on Cooper’s rules, and Cooper said he won’t appeal. Still, we wondered which is more dangerous: sitting in a building with the same group of people for a prolonged period, or walking around a building with an ever-changing group of people? The answer isn’t simple. Is it possible that a church could practice social distancing well enough to prevent virus spread? Yes. Is it also possible that one shopper could linger too long around another shopper who’s infected? Also yes. Because of those variables, the country’s top health organizations told us they haven’t compared the two environments enough to say whether one is more dangerous than another. However, experts do believe that sitting in one place for a long time does pose a threat -- while shopping usually allows people the physical freedom to avoid someone who might be infected. For this fact check, we reached out to the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is directed by Dr. Anthony Fauci. None of the groups offered specifics on which scenario is more dangerous. The WHO doesn’t categorize activities by risk because each scenario \"\"depends on a range of factors, from the local transmission scenario that is occurring, to prevention measures adopted by individuals to the IPC procedures in place in these public spaces,\"\" said Ashley Baldwin, a regional spokeswoman. Fauci’s group responded similarly: \"\"I’m not aware that this is anything our researchers have explored,\"\" NIAID spokesman Ken Pekoc said. The CDC hasn’t compared them either, CDC spokeswoman Kate Grusich said. \"\"CDC has not compared locations or settings for COVID-19 transmission, so we can’t comment on these questions at this time,\"\" she said. But the CDC does emphasize the risk of time spent around other people in close proximity. Kelly Haight Connor, communications manager for North Carolina’s health department, responded to PolitiFact questions on Cooper’s behalf. She pointed out several instances where the CDC warns against large gatherings of people. The CDC’s webpage on social distancing says \"\"COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) for a prolonged period.\"\" The CDC, which acknowledges the \"\"risk of gatherings,\"\" also offers guidance for churches hoping to hold services during the pandemic. Recommendations include: scheduling multiple services, with enough time between each to allow for cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces, promoting social distancing, limiting the sharing of materials, considering holding services and gatherings in a large, well-ventilated area or outdoors. The novel coronavirus travels through respiratory droplets expelled when someone coughs, sneezes or talks. Without definitive studies comparing the likelihood of spread in two environments, we turned to experts for their opinion. Karen Hoffmann, the immediate past president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, told PolitiFact that the ability to walk away from someone is key. And if you do pass someone in an aisle at Target, experts believe you’re less at risk than someone sitting still in a confined space. \"\"I would not worry about walking by someone,\"\" Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told Slate. \"\"Even in a health care setting, contact is defined by being near someone for a certain amount of time,\"\" Adalja said. \"\"I would not worry about these fleeting encounters. The virus isn’t airborne—droplets need to get from one person to another.\"\" Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, told us she generally agrees. \"\"Reports from indoor spaces (restaurants, offices) suggest that both physical proximity and duration of exposure are important for transmission,\"\" Rasmussen said in an email. \"\"So sitting still around others in close physical proximity is probably higher risk than incidentally passing by someone in a store, but the risks aren’t quantified because there are a lot of variables that can impact this.\"\" A recent NPR article categorized 14 different activities by their level of risk for infection. Worship services? \"\"High risk.\"\" Going shopping? \"\"Risk varies.\"\" \"\"Crowds with high density lead to substantial increase in risk,\"\" said Dr. William Miller, an epidemiologist at Ohio State University. \"\"The major mitigating factor is that people don't mingle in a single place for long.\"\" While churches may be able to mitigate coronavirus spread, there are multiple examples of churches failing to take precautions -- and thus becoming the source of small outbreaks. A church revival in Hopkins County, Kentucky was linked to at least 30 cases and three deaths, according to The Courier Journal. Officials in California connected 71 cases to one church in a suburb of Sacramento, The Guardian reported. The Washington Post recently listed several examples in a story about the dangers of worship during the pandemic. On its Facebook page, the CDC on May 19 used a rural Arkansas church as an example of how fast coronavirus can spread in group settings. The CDC reported that two people with coronavirus symptoms attended the church in early March. \"\"Of the 92 church members who attended the gatherings, 35 were later confirmed to have COVID-19, which led to three deaths. Through contact tracing, an additional 26 confirmed cases were identified in the community,\"\" the CDC’s Facebook post says. \"\"This outbreak highlights the potential for widespread transmission of COVID-19 during in-person, faith-based events.\"\" The CDC posted a report on the Arkansas outbreak on its website. Cooper said shopping isn’t as likely to spread coronavirus as church services because \"\"people are moving around and you don’t have as much a chance to spread the virus (as you do) when people are sitting or standing indoors.\"\" The world’s leading health organizations have not offered a risk comparison between shopping and attending a worship service in part because there are so many variables. However, generally speaking, experts are definitely less worried about spaces where people can move freely than they are about spaces where people sit near each other for long periods of time.\"",
            "output": [
                "“With retail, people are moving around and you don’t have as much a chance to spread the virus (as you do) when people are sitting or standing indoors” for long periods of time."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa5761cae1a34837aa6af76a36b72ccb",
            "input": "They said the same goes for products like egg salad that contain hard-boiled eggs. Seven people in five states have been reported ill so far, including someone who died in Texas, officials said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said peeled, hard-boiled eggs sold in bulk by Almark Foods are the outbreak’s likely source. The eggs were sold to retailers and food service operators in plastic pails and could be used in products like salads. The CDC said retailers and food service operators should wash and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with the eggs or packaging, since listeria can spread easily. The warning does not apply to Almark’s hard-boiled eggs sold directly to consumers. Nor does it apply to eggs hard-boiled at home or in restaurants and stores. The CDC also said people at higher risk for listeria should confirm whether a store or restaurant is using Almark’s eggs before buying or ordering products with hard-boiled eggs. If the store or restaurant does not know, officials say not to buy the product. Pregnant women and people with cancer are 10 times more likely than others to get a listeria infection, while people on dialysis are 50 times more likely, the agency said. People who are 65 and older are four times more likely. A person who answered the phone at Almark Foods in Gainesville, Georgia, said the company did not have any comment. The company has four manufacturing facilities and delivers nationwide, according to its website. In a letter  to the FDA in August, Almark said it had taken corrective actions after two swabs taken by the agency in February at its facility tested positive for listeria.",
            "output": [
                "Food poisoning linked to hard-boiled eggs in food service."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1fd1aed50be64e67873dfa85e9a37bd2",
            "input": "Engineers at the Mint created the visors after finding a basic design online and developing medically approved prototypes within 48 hours at their production site in Wales. The first visors are already in use at a hospital in Wales and mass production will start on Saturday morning, with several hundred coming on the first day and increasing numbers after that. The Mint says it can produce thousands of visors per day if it can get enough parts and is now appealing to manufacturers across the UK to help it source enough clear plastic, which is currently in short supply. The simple design comprises a clear plastic shield which covers the worker’s face, held in place by a piece of elastic. Britain’s publicly funded national health service, the NHS, has received much public support during the coronavirus outbreak, with government health authorities adopting the slogan “Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives”. People all over the country took to their balconies and doorsteps on Thursday evening to applaud health workers who are battling the spread of the coronavirus. “My sister works for the NHS and it really focuses your mind on the challenges they are facing,” said Leighton John, director of operations at the Royal Mint. “We set our engineers the task of developing essential medical equipment which could be easily made on site – within seven hours they’d created a medical visor, and within 48 hours it was approved for mass manufacture,” John said. As the virus sweeps the country, the Mint is the latest in a number of companies taking on new operations as part of a nationwide effort to support the NHS. Vacuum cleaner company Dyson was recruited to supply hospitals with 10,000 medical ventilators designed at breakneck speed ahead of an expected surge of cases, and outsourcer Capita announced on Friday it was working with the government to provide coronavirus testing sites.",
            "output": [
                "UK's Royal Mint making coronavirus protective gear for health staff."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a7820f3b581342d1b3e34ce59a2f048e",
            "input": "After about a 45-minute outpatient procedure and a bill ranging from $3,500 to $7,500, New York-based Antell’s patients emerge with what he said is a confidence boost: an athletic, youthful look from a more prominent chin. “People want that leading lady, leading man look,” said Antell, who is also an assistant clinical professor of surgery at Columbia University. “If you look at people in the limelight, they all have strong chins and it’s a part of the profile that has long been overlooked,” he said. Chin implants surged by 71 percent in 2011 as more than 20,600 adults went under the knife to sharpen their jaw lines, up from roughly 12,000 the year before, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Strong chins are associated with leadership, confidence and honesty, Antell said, not to mention some powerful men and women. “Romney’s got a great chin,” Antell said of the presidential hopeful. “Obama has a pretty good chin. Bill Clinton has a very good chin.”   Chin implants surgery increased more than breast augmentation, Botox and liposuction combined last year with both men and women opting for the procedure in nearly equal numbers, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Chin augmentation, or actually making the chin protrude more, increased among all patients over the age of 20, with the most significant increases in patients 40 and older, according to the society. Facial aging tends to appear first on the chin and jaw line and surgery provides a quick change, experts said. They also point to video chat and online photo technology as driving forces behind the escalating numbers. Posting pictures on Facebook, online dating sites and the increasingly prevalent use of video chat technology like Skype and FaceTime make it harder to hide a person’s least favorite feature or perceived flaws, said Dr. Malcolm Roth, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the head of plastic surgery at Albany Medical Center in New York. “We tend to not look at what we don’t like,” said Roth. “I think there is a heightened awareness to how we look to the outside world.”   The surgery is even appealing to people out of work, according to Roth, who said the cost hasn’t deterred some who say it gives them more confidence at job interviews. Chin augmentation can be done by putting a semi-solid implant on top of the chin, by moving bone to reconstruct the chin or simply by using a needle and syringe for an injection to enhance the chin, Roth said. The procedure leaves minimal scarring from a very small incision and is sometimes coupled with micro-liposuction to trim a so-called double chin, enhancing the neck and jaw line even further. Recuperation is easy and patients can typically be back to normal routines in a matter of days, Roth said. Despite the chin implant boom, breast augmentation still reigns as the most popular cosmetic procedure. The surgery costs about $10,000 more than 307,000 procedures were performed in 2011, statistics showed. Antell said he expects the chin implants trend to continue, largely because of the quick recovery and low complication rate. He added that other similar, smaller scale procedures at a younger age are also likely to climb. “This is an operation that whispers, it doesn’t shout,” said Antell. “Most people are not looking for huge changes, they are just hoping to look a little better, the best they can.”",
            "output": [
                "Best face forward: chin implants surge in popularity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff607d9cff334b459b5335e727666606",
            "input": "The air quality index, measuring levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter in the air, deteriorated to above 900, way over the 500-level that qualifies as “severe-plus”. Aside from the harm it was doing to the lungs of some 40 million people living in the capital region, the smog was so bad more than 30 flights were diverted from Delhi airport due to poor visibility. Roads looked deserted as large numbers of people stayed home, rather than expose themselves to the noxious atmosphere outside. “Pollution has reached unbearable levels across north India,” Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister said in a message on twitter. The government environment monitoring agency SAFAR warned that no relief was expected for the next one to two days, as humidity resulting from unexpected light rains overnight had exacerbated pollution, already driven by higher the seasonal crop stubble burning by farmers in the surrounding states. “Wind speed is picking up and it could take 24 to 48 hours before the pollution level reduces to a level of around 500,” Mahesh Palawat, vice president of Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said. Anything above 400 on the AQI poses a risk for people with respiratory illness and can also affect even those with healthy lungs. Doctors were reporting a spike in patients with respiratory related issues, according to Sachin Taparia, head of Local Circles, a Delhi-based private consultancy that conducts surveys on government policies and programs. “Delhi has turned into a gas chamber as the pollution levels hit the ‘severe+’ category,” Taparia said. A survey of 17,000 people in the Delhi region by his consultancy found that 40% want to get out of the Delhi region because of the failure to control pollution. Authorities in Delhi on Friday declared a public health emergency and closed schools and all construction activity. From Monday, the city government will also restrict the use of private vehicles on the capital’s roads under an “odd-even” scheme based on license plates. “The temporary restrictions on private vehicles will have a negligible impact as we face the most hazardous situation,” said Skymet’s Palawat. Delhi’s Kejriwal, and the chief ministers from the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana, urged the federal government to do more to combat the pollution. On Monday, according to a lawyer, the Supreme Court is likely to hear a petition on Monday from the environment agency, looking for ways to make state governments to take tougher action against farmers to curb the stubble-burning. Politicians have been reluctant to upset their farming constituencies. According to SAFAR, satellite pictures had captured more than 3,000 incidents of stubble burning last week in neighboring states, contributing to 44% of Delhi’s pollution.",
            "output": [
                "India's smog-bound capital suffers most hazardous air so far this year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e293145d39a247a7b53b2cf5466e7c3e",
            "input": "The Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday did not release any information about the victim, nor when or where the death occurred. According to the department, 187 people in Illinois, ranging from 13 years to 75 years old have experienced lung injuries after e-cigarette use. Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike says it is important that people not use e-cigarettes or vaping products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The highest risk for lung injury associated with the use of e-cigarettes appears to be among those who use THC containing products. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says as of Nov. 20, there have been 2,290 reported cases of lung injuries resulting from e-cigarette use nationwide, with 47 deaths.",
            "output": [
                "Illinois reports its fifth death connected to vaping."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe6b632c17df4de79919117c3f97546b",
            "input": "There is no discussion of the cost of chemotherapy and no mention of potential cost savings for women who might not benefit as much from treatment; however, this is not very relevant to this story, as there is a suggestion that less treatment might be better, with a cost savings implied. Again, Dr. Berry’s subgroup analysis of several large chemotherapy trials, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, was mentioned but the story didn’t give quantified details. The combined absolute benefit of chemotherapy for disease free survival at 5 years was 22.8% for estrogen-receptor-(ER) negative women compared with 7.0 % for estrogen receptor positive women treated with tamoxifen. The 5-year absolute survival benefit of chemotherapy for women with ER-negative tumors was 16.7 % vs. 4.0% for ER-positive women treated with tamoxifen. Nonetheless, the overall quality of the discussion warrants a satisfactory score. The story does not provide enough information on the potential short-term and long-term harms of chemotherapy. There is only anecdotal evidence from one woman who developed nerve damage. Common short-term side effects of chemotherapy can include nausea and vomiting, hair loss, and fatigue. Younger women may also experience early menopause and infertility as a result of certain chemotherapy regimens. Potential, though more rare, long-term side effects are more serious and may include: bone disorders, heart problems, blood clots and nerve problems. No mention of evidence from Dr. Berry’s analyses, however, the story provides an excellent overview of the changes in the field and the role patients and physicians need to play in evaluating individual risks and benefits of chemotherapy, including determining just how much of a survival benefit a potentially toxic treatment will provide. The story discusses two randomized controlled trials currently enrolling patients. These trials should provide more definitive data on chemotherapy regimens and help physicians and patients make more informed choices about whether chemotherapy might benefit them. No evidence of disease mongering. This story discusses the idea of less treatment – not more – since it may not be as beneficial as once thought. The annual incidence of women who currently undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer is provided, as well as estimates of women who may or may not obtain a life-saving benefit from this treatment. Many sources of information are cited and these are from trusted organizations of cancer research and information (e.g. National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society). Dr. Berry, the lead author of the main study discussed, receives funding from several pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Novartis and Bristol-Myers, however, the study was not funded by these companies. Excellent discussion of chemotherapy treatment decision process, including discussion that no treatment is also an option. Certain chemotherapy treatments may carry serious risks and only small benefit for some women. For other women the benefit is greater, though this must still be weighed against the risks of treatment. The story makes it clear that adjuvant chemotherapy is widely used in breast cancer treatment. Established clinical guidelines based on current evidence suggest that most women with invasive breast cancer and lymph node involvement should not forgo chemotherapy. Physicians are cautious about changes in practice at this time, but some are already presenting the new data to patients and suggesting that chemotherapy may be tailored to a patient’s type of breast cancer. The story describes more tailored (often less) chemotherapy as a newer idea for women who may not benefit as much from more aggressive treatment. This idea is based on recent data regarding the benefit of chemotherapy for tumors fueled by estrogen (ER-positive) and those not fueled by estrogen (ER-negative). No evidence this information is taken solely from a press release. There are several sources cited other than the study authors, and these sources provide perspective on the idea of less chemotherapy for women who may not benefit as much from certain regimens.",
            "output": [
                "Shift in Treating Breast Cancer Is Under Debate"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a53c21388fc44eeb616c46abf558bf6",
            "input": "Get used to it. The polar vortex has been wandering more often in recent years. It all started with misplaced Moroccan heat. Last month, the normally super chilly air temperatures 20 miles above the North Pole rapidly rose by about 125 degrees (70 degrees Celsius), thanks to air flowing in from the south. It’s called “sudden stratospheric warming.” That warmth split the polar vortex, leaving the pieces to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial firm outside Boston. “Where the polar vortex goes, so goes the cold air,” Cohen said. By Wednesday morning, one of those pieces will be over the Lower 48 states for the first time in years. The forecast calls for a low of minus 21 degrees (minus 29 Celsius) in Chicago and wind chills flirting with minus 65 degrees (minus 54 Celsius) in parts of Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service. The unusual cold could stick around another eight weeks, Cohen said. “The impacts from this split, we have a ways to go. It’s not the end of the movie yet,” Cohen said. “I think at a minimum, we’re looking at mid-February, possibly through mid-March.” Americans were introduced to the polar vortex five years ago. It was in early January 2014 when temperatures dropped to minus 16 degrees (minus 27 Celsius) in Chicago and meteorologists, who used the term for decades, started talking about it on social media. This outbreak may snap some daily records for cold and is likely to be even more brutal than five years ago, especially with added wind chill, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private weather firm Weather Underground. When warm air invades the polar region, it can split the vortex or displace it, usually toward Siberia, Cohen said. Recently, there have been more splits, which increase the odds of other places getting ultra-cold, he said. Pieces of the polar vortex have chilled Europe, Siberia and North America this time. (It’s not right to call the frigid center of cold air the polar vortex because it is just a piece or a lobe, not the entire vortex, said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado.) When the forces penning the polar vortex in the Arctic are weak, it wanders, more often to Siberia than Michigan. And it’s happening more frequently in the last couple decades, Furtado said. A study a year ago in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society looked at decades of the Arctic system and found the polar vortex has shifted “toward more frequent weak states.” When the polar vortex pieces wander, warmth invades the Arctic, Alaska, Greenland and Canada, Masters said. While the Midwest chills, Australia has been broiling to record-breaking heat. The world as a whole on Monday was 0.7 degrees (0.4 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1979-2000 average, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. Some scientists — but by no means most — see a connection between human-caused climate change and difference in atmospheric pressure that causes slower moving waves in the air. “It’s a complicated story that involves a hefty dose of chaos and an interplay among multiple influences, so extracting a clear signal of the Arctic’s role is challenging,” said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. Several recent papers have made the case for the connection, she noted. “This symptom of global warming is counterintuitive for those in the cross-hairs of these extreme cold spells,” Francis said in an email. “But these events provide an excellent opportunity to help the public understand some of the ‘interesting’ ways that climate change will unfold.” Others, like Furtado, aren’t sold yet on the climate change connection. Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, who has already felt temperatures that seem like 25 degrees below zero, said there’s “a growing body of literature” to support the climate connection. But he says more evidence is needed. “Either way,” Gensini said, “it’s going to be interesting being in the bullseye of the Midwest cold.” ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Science Says: Get used to polar vortex outbreaks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ee3995e7cdc44a79a69f800966f4065",
            "input": "Cuomo’s cautiously upbeat report at a daily briefing came as the daily death toll across the state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, dropped to 540 on April 17, down from 630 a day earlier and the lowest in more than two weeks. The governor said total hospitalizations of patients being treated for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, came to 16,967, a drop of more than 1,300 over the past three days. Intubations and admissions to intensive care units also continued on their downward trend. “If you look at the past three days, you could argue that we are past the plateau and we’re starting to descend which would be very good news,” Cuomo said. He said, however, that about 2,000 infected people were newly admitted to hospitals on Friday, which he characterized as “still an overwhelming number,” and reiterated that he would take a cautious approach to reopening businesses and schools. Cuomo repeated a call for the federal government to help coordinate and provide funding for the mass testing that he and other governors have said is needed to determine when it is safe for people to go back to work. Providing new details on the challenge, Cuomo said a survey of labs in his state revealed an inability to procure the chemical reagents needed to run the tests on machines supplied by private manufacturers like Roche Holding AG. “They bought the machine, they have the machine, they have the test, but they need the reagents to do a higher volume of tests,” Cuomo said, adding that makers like Roche are struggling to get the reagents from China. “That’s the logjam we are in.”  New York disclosed 7,090 new positive cases over the last 24 hours for a total of 236,732 cases, while deaths increased by 540 to 13,362, marking by far the largest number of fatalities of any state. Even with stabilizing numbers, Cuomo said the pandemic was taking a severe emotional and economic toll on people, and estimated the impact on society would prove to be the biggest challenge facing the country since World War Two. “On every level this is a terrible experience, Cuomo said. “It is as tumultuous a time as we have ever seen.”",
            "output": [
                "New York Governor sounds optimistic note as coronavirus numbers improve."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b95df27314f84d419e0dcd149cc89ed6",
            "input": "\"When President Obama announced that Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta would replace Robert Gates as Defense secretary, Rep. Marcy Kaptur took the the pages of \"\"Politico\"\" to offer him advice. In suggesting that the Defense Department needs to cut back on its use of petroleum products, the Toledo Democrat said:  \"\"Even before the oil companies and Wall Street speculators drove up the price of gasoline close to $4 a gallon, the landed cost of a gallon delivered to the front lines for our troops in Afghanistan cost more than $400.\"\" PolitiFact Ohio already thought gas prices in Ohio were outrageous, but the idea of spending $400 per gallon boggles the mind. So we decided to look into the claim by Kaptur, a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Pentagon. We started with Kaptur’s office. Her staff said she gleaned her information from testimony delivered to her subcommittee. A 2009 report in The Hill, a Washington publication, recounted some of that testimony. The Pentagon comptroller’s office gave appropriators that statistic to explain the high cost of keeping troops in Afghanistan. It factors in the transportation and security costs of transporting the fuel into areas with a lack of infrastructure, challenging geography and increased roadside bomb attacks. \"\"It turns out that when you factor in the cost of transportation to a coastal facility in Pakistan, or airlifting it to Kandahar - and then you add the cost of putting it in a truck, guarding it, delivering it to the battlefield, and then transferring that one gallon into a piece of equipment that needs it - in extreme cases that gallon of gasoline could cost up to $400,\"\" Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a 2009 Naval Energy Forumin Virginia. One U.S. Army official has said the \"\"fully burdened\"\" cost of transporting fuel into remote areas can be as high as $1,000 per gallon. \"\"In some places you have to fly it in by plane or by helicopter and drop off bladders of fuel,\"\" Kevin T. Geiss, program director for energy and partnerships in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment told Army News Service. \"\"Those costs can be an additional $20, $40 or even $200 a gallon.\"\" High fuel costs in military battlegrounds predate U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. A May 2001 Defense Science Board report cites the true cost of military fuel at \"\"$17.50 per gallon for USAF worldwide tanker-delivered fuel, and hundreds of dollars per gallon for Army forces deep into the battlespace.\"\" Retired Army Brigadier General Steven M. Anderson, who handled military logistics operations for Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq during 2006 and 2007, offers a slightly different picture -- that the cost of bringing gasoline to troops in Afghanistan actually works out to be at least $30 per gallon, and is possibly as high in the mid-40s. He told a Capitol Hill Briefing on fuel convoys in Afghanistan and Iraq that it cost about $13.88 per gallon to transport a gallon of gas to troops in Iraq when he worked there in 2007, and the amount has risen since then to $17.44 cents per gallon. He explained that it’s more expensive to bring gas to Afghanistan because \"\"Iraq is a land of six lane highways from one end to the other\"\" while \"\"Afghanistan is perhaps the most isolated country in the entire world.\"\" He said the $400 per gallon figure for gas that others have cited for Afghanistan applies only when fuel must be brought by aircraft to the most remote areas. \"\"If we’re flying water up there, it’s $400 per gallon, or toothpaste or whatever,\"\" Anderson said. \"\"Anything that flies is expensive.\"\" Retired Air Force Lt. General Norman R. Seip, who spoke at the same event, described the $400 per gallon cost as a \"\"worst case scenario,\"\" that accounts for a tanker providing airborne refueling to a cargo plane. He said the lower figures are more reasonable. So where does that leave Kaptur’s statement? Numerous sources have said it can cost as much as $400 per gallon to provide gas for troops in Afghanistan. That the statistic seems to be a high end number is a piece of information that provides clarification.\"",
            "output": [
                "A gallon (of gasoline) delivered to the front lines for our troops in Afghanistan cost more than $400."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffe9e4a92b6947b6b078d314a70b24e3",
            "input": "Dutch scientist Mark Post displays samples of in-vitro meat, or cultured meat grown in a laboratory, at the University of Maastricht November 9, 2011. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir “Cultured meat” — burgers or sausages grown in laboratory Petri dishes rather than made from slaughtered livestock — could be the answer that feeds the world, saves the environment and spares the lives of millions of animals, they say. Granted, it may take a while to catch on. And it won’t be cheap. The first lab-grown hamburger will cost around 250,000 euros ($345,000) to produce, according to Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, who hopes to unveil such a delicacy soon. Experts say the meat’s potential for saving animals’ lives, land, water, energy and the planet itself could be enormous. “The first one will be a proof of concept, just to show it’s possible,” Post told Reuters in a telephone interview from his Maastricht lab. “I believe I can do this in the coming year.”   It may sound and look like some kind of imitation, but in-vitro or cultured meat is a real animal flesh product, just one that has never been part of a complete, living animal — quite different from imitation meat or meat substitutes aimed at vegetarians and made from vegetable proteins like soy. Using stem cells harvested from leftover animal material from slaughterhouses, Post nurtures them with a feed concocted of sugars, amino acids, lipids, minerals and all other nutrients they need to grow in the right way. So far he has produced whitish pale muscle-like strips, each of them around 2.5 cm (1 inch) long, less than a centimeter wide and so thin as to be almost see-through. Pack enough of these together — probably around 3,000 of them in layers — throw in a few strips of lab-grown fat, and you have the world’s first “cultured meat” burger, he says. “This first one will be grown in an academic lab, by highly trained academic staff,” he said. “It’s hand-made and it’s time and labor-intensive, that’s why it’s so expensive to produce.”   Not to mention a little unappetizing. Since Post’s in-vitro meat contains no blood, it lacks color. At the moment, it looks a bit like the flesh of scallops, he says. Like all muscle, these lab-grown strips also need to be exercised so they can grow and strengthen rather than waste away. To do this Post exploits the muscles’ natural tendency to contract and stretches them between Velcro tabs in the Petri dish to provide resistance and help them build up strength. Supporters of the idea of man-made meat, such as Stellan Welin, a bioethicist at Linkoping University in Sweden, say this is no less appealing than mass-producing livestock in factory farms where growth hormones and antibiotics are commonly used to boost yields and profits. And conventional meat production is also notoriously inefficient. For every 15 grams of edible meat, you need to feed the animals on around 100 grams of vegetable protein, an increasingly unsustainable equation. All this means finding new ways of producing meat is essential if we are to feed the enormous and ever-growing demand for it across the world, Welin told Reuters in an interview. “Of course you could do it by being vegetarian or eating less meat,” he said. “But the trends don’t seem to be going that way. With cultured meat we can be more conservative — people can still eat meat, but without causing so much damage.”   According to the World Health Organization, annual meat production is projected to increase from 218 million tonnes in 1997-1999 to 376 million tonnes by 2030, and demand from a growing world population is seen rising further beyond that. “Current livestock meat production is just not sustainable,” says Post. “Not from an ecological point of view, and neither from a volume point of view. Right now we are using more than 50 percent of all our agricultural land for livestock. “It’s simple maths. We have to come up with alternatives.”   According to a 2006 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, industrialized agriculture contributes on a “massive scale” to climate change, air pollution, land degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity decline. The report, entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow, said the meat industry contributes about 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and this proportion is expected to grow as consumers in fast-developing countries like China and India eat more meat. Hanna Tuomisto, who conducted a study into the relative environmental impacts of various types of meat, including lamb, pork, beef and cultured meat, said the lab-grown stuff has by far the least impact on the environment. Her analysis, published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal earlier this year, found that growing our favorite meats in-vitro would use 35 to 60 percent less energy, emit 80 to 95 percent less greenhouse gas and use around 98 percent less land than conventionally produced animal meat. “We are not saying that we could, or would necessarily want to, replace conventional meat with its cultured counterpart right now,” Tuomisto, who led the research at Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, said in a telephone interview. But she said cultured meat “could be part of the solution to feeding the world’s growing population and at the same time cutting emissions and saving both energy and water.”   While experts in the field agree that within several years, it may be possible to produce in-vitro meat in a processed form — like sausages or chicken nuggets — producing more animal-like products such as pork chops or steaks could be a lot more complex and may take many more years to develop. Post, who is financed by an anonymous private funder keen to see the Dutch scientist succeed, hopes to hand the world its first man-made hamburger by August or September next year, but for the moment he admits what he has grown is a long way from a mouth-watering meal. He hasn’t yet sampled his own creation, but reviews from others are not great. A Russian TV reporter who came to his lab tried one of the strips and was unimpressed. “It’s not very tasty yet,” Post said. “That’s not a trivial thing and it needs to be worked on.”   But with the right amounts and right types of fat, perhaps a little lab-grown blood to give it color and iron, Post is confident he can make his Petri dish meat look and taste as good as the real thing. He also hopes the ability to tweak and change things will mean scientists will ultimately be able to make meat healthier — with less saturated and more polyunsaturated fat, for example, or more nutrients. “The idea is that since we are now producing it in the lab, we can play with all these variables and we can eventually hopefully turn it in a way that produces healthier meat,” he said. “Whereas in a cow or a pig, you have very limited variables to play with.”   ($1 = 0.727 Euros)",
            "output": [
                "Petri dish to dinner plate, in-vitro meat coming soon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f73d86f3cfd7438690335b01251377a4",
            "input": "Thursday’s vote by a key committee at the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES paves the way for the measure’s likely approval by its plenary next week. The plan would regulate world trade in giraffe parts, including hides, bone carvings and meat, while stopping short of a full ban. It passed 106-21 with seven abstentions. “So many people are so familiar with giraffes that they think they’re abundant,” said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “And in Southern Africa, they may be doing OK, but giraffes are critically endangered.” Lieberman said giraffes were particularly at risk in parts of West, Central and East Africa. The Wildlife Conservation Society said it was concerned about the multiple threats to giraffes that have already resulted in population decline, citing habitat loss, droughts worsened by climate change and the illegal killings and trade in giraffe body parts. The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, hailed the move, noting that giraffes are a vulnerable species facing habitat loss and population decline. A key African conservationist said it could help reverse drops in giraffe populations, as the move would help better track numbers of giraffes. “The giraffe has experienced over 40% decline in the last 30 years, said Maina Philip Muruthi of the African Wildlife Foundation. “If that trend continues, it means that we are headed toward extinction.” Still, not all African countries supported the move. “We see no reason as to why we should support this decision, because Tanzania has a stable and increasing population of giraffes,” said Maurus Msuha, director of wildlife at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. “Over 50% of our giraffe population is within the Serengeti ecosystem, which is well protected. Why should we then go for this?” CITES says the population of wild giraffes is actually much smaller than that of wild African elephants. “We’re talking about a few tens of thousands of giraffes and we’re talking about a few hundreds of thousands of African elephants,” said Tom De Meulenaar, chief of scientific services at CITES. He said the convention was intended to specifically address the international trade in giraffes and their parts. “With fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa, it was a no-brainer to simply regulate giraffe exports,” said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The U.S. is the world’s biggest consumer of giraffe products, conservationists said. Sanerib said it was important for the U.S. to act on its own as well. “It’s still urgent for the Trump administration to protect these imperiled animals under the U.S. Endangered Species Act,” she said in a statement. The meeting in Geneva comes after President Donald Trump’s administration last week announced plans to water down the U.S. Endangered Species Ac — a message that could echo among attendees at the CITES conference, even if the U.S. move is more about domestic policy than international trade.",
            "output": [
                "Giraffes move closer to endangered species protection."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ca5a5e6163e4c61b32d81fc29b2d467",
            "input": "\"In the wake of mass shootings in Wisconsin and around the country, it may have been alarming to hear Gov. Scott Walker explain why he proposed more spending for mental health care in his 2013-2015 budget. \"\"Nationally, serious mental illness costs at least $193 billion a year in lost earnings,\"\" Walker said during his Feb. 20, 2013, budget presentation. \"\"In Wisconsin, only half of all the adults with serious psychological distress received mental health treatment or medication.\"\" In the course of his remarks, Walker used two different terms -- \"\"serious mental illness\"\" and \"\"serious psychological distress.\"\" He used the second to illustrate lack of care. Is he correct that only half of Wisconsin adults with \"\"serious psychological distress\"\" receive care? Backdrop: mass shootings  Walker didn’t mention mass shootings in his budget address, but he alluded to them two weeks earlier when he revealed his plan to boost mental health spending by $29 million over two years. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin praised the spending boost, which would be done from several different pots of money.But the advocacy group said Walker’s rejection of a federal proposal to expand Medicaid \"\"reflects a shallow understanding\"\" of \"\"crucial means to affordable mental health care for Wisconsin residents.\"\" In revealing his plans, the governor stopped short of drawing a clear link between treating mental illness and preventing mass shootings, but indicated his plan took on greater urgency after mass killings in 2012. Those incidents included the shooting deaths of six worshippers at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee and of 26 children and adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.  To be clear, only about 1 percent of people with mental illness considered to be severe are regarded as dangerous. But a 2011 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report found that this group can pose a dilemma for policy-makers, who lack the data to develop a sound system for dealing with it. Walker’s budget, which could be modified by the Legislature, includes $12.6 million to treat more patients who have been committed to mental hospitals, $10.2 million to expand community-based care programs for people with severe mental illness and $3.8 million for more coordination of care for children with behavioral issues. Walker’s evidence When we asked Walker’s office for evidence to back his claim, we were initially referred to a January 2013 report by his Department of Health Services. The report estimated, based on a federal survey of American adults, that in 2011, 49 percent of the 1 million adults in Wisconsin who had \"\"any mental illness\"\" did not get treatment. Any mental illness refers to people who have a \"\"diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder.\"\" The disorder causes impairment -- ranging from mild to moderate to substantial -- in carrying out major life activities. The 49 percent figure cited in the health department’s report might appear to support Walker’s claim. But his claim about Wisconsin didn’t use the term mental illness. It used the phrase \"\"serious psychological distress.\"\" We pointed out the difference to Stephanie Smiley, spokeswoman for the department. She then cited federal survey data showing that over a two-year period -- 2010 to 2011 -- an estimated 51 percent of Wisconsin adults with \"\"serious psychological distress\"\" did not get treatment in the previous year. (She also said that in 2008-2009, 31 percent of state adults with serious mental illness got treatment.) So, the 51 percent figure about serious psychological distress appears to back Walker’s claim. But let’s understand serious psychological distress as compared to serious mental illness, given that mental illness was the focus of Walker’s comments and his proposed spending increase. Other evidence Based on definitions pertaining to adults from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees the surveys Walker cited: there are differences between serious mental illness -- the first term Walker used in his budget speech -- and serious psychological distress, which he mentioned second. Serious mental illness refers to a \"\"diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder\"\" that involves substantial impairment in carrying out major life activities. Serious psychological distress refers to how a person responds to six questions in a federal survey about whether they feel nervous, hopeless, restless or fidgety, sad or depressed, \"\"that everything was an effort\"\" and \"\"no good or worthless.\"\" Experts we consulted said that serious mental illness was a more precise term used to identify a person after thorough diagnosis and that serious psychological distress was an intentionally vague term used by researchers doing surveys. \"\"It kind of casts a wider net,\"\" Annabelle Potvin of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin said of the serious psychological distress term, which she said indicates a need for a person to get a mental health assessment. Serious psychological distress can encompass people anywhere on a scale from mild to serious mental illness, but tends to be lower on the scale. That’s according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Tim Connor, who evaluates mental health programs across the state; and Walter Laux, behavioral health division director of Community Advocates, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit agency. Indeed, the state Department of Health Services, in a 2010 report, also made a distinction. Serious psychological distress is a \"\"non-specific category of distress\"\" characterized by a \"\"mood or anxiety disorder and a lesser degree of functional impairment than serious mental illness.\"\" It is considered to be \"\"an indicator of possible serious mental illness, with similar but less strict inclusion criteria.\"\" In other words, people with serious psychological distress might have mental illness, but that distress is generally regarded as lower on a scale than serious mental illness. Our rating After making a reference to serious mental illness, Walker said: \"\"In Wisconsin, only half of all the adults with serious psychological distress received mental health treatment or medication.\"\" Strictly speaking, Walker’s statistical claim is accurate, at least based on estimates derived from a federal survey. But his statement needs clarification, given that people with serious psychological distress may have mental illness, but have not been diagnosed as being mentally ill.\"",
            "output": [
                "In Wisconsin, only half of all the adults with serious psychological distress received mental health treatment or medication."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-09be204baae049e5a797b6189b05a3a8",
            "input": "\"Washington and the nation were captivated a week ago by the controversy over Shirley Sherrod, a once-obscure U.S. Agriculture Department official who became a villain, and then a victim, over the course of 24 hours. Because the story began and ended so quickly, we were unable to fact-check it at the time, but here's a recap of what happened. Andrew Breitbart, a conservative provocateur, started things off July 19, 2010, when he posted a video on one of his websites, BigGovernment.com, that seemed to show Sherrod, who is black, telling an NAACP audience that she had discriminated against a white farmer. After conservative bloggers raised an outcry about Sherrod's apparent revelation, the NAACP moved to condemn Sherrod, and senior Agriculture Department officials quickly pressured Sherrod to resign. But within hours, it came out that the video had been selectively edited, and the uncut version made clear that Sherrod had actually been telling the story about the white farmer to explain how she had overcome her own prejudices. She ended up helping save the family's farm, and the farmer and his wife took to the airwaves to defend Sherrod. The Agriculture Department then reversed itself, with Secretary Tom Vilsack making a heartfelt apology and asking Sherrod to return to the department. Sherrod also received a personal call from President Barack Obama. This whirlwind of charges and counter-charges prompted a round of soul-searching by most of those involved in the episode, including those in government, advocacy groups, the blogosphere and the media. One question that quickly emerged was how culpable Fox News was. In the past, Fox news commentators have often beaten the drum on stories critical of Democrats, liberals and the Obama Administration, so to some who were sympathetic to Sherrod, Fox seemed like a plausible villain. They took as evidence a July 20, 2010, CNN interview with Sherrod, in which she explained how, while driving through Georgia, she was forced out by Cheryl Cook, the deputy undersecretary. When Cook called her cell phone, Sherrod recalled telling Cook, \"\"'Cheryl, I've got a three-and-a-half-hour ride to get into Athens.' She called me a second time, (saying,) 'Where are you now?' I said, 'I'm just going through Atlanta.' She called me again and I said, 'I'm at least 45 minutes to an hour from Athens. She said, 'Well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it (formally resign), because you're going to be on Glenn Beck tonight.'\"\" Beck, of course, is an outspoken conservative commentator with popular talk show on Fox. The question of Fox's role came up during the July 25, 2010, edition of ABC's This Week. Host Jake Tapper cited a commentary by Josh Marshall of the liberal website Talking Points Memo. \"\"Breitbart got a piece of video he knew nothing about and published it with a central claim that he either made up or made no attempt to verify,\"\" Tapper quoted Marshall as writing. \"\"To use terminology of infectious disease, Fox was the primary vector of this story. And to the best of my knowledge, there's been not only no disciplining of anyone in the newsroom, but as far as I can see, no retraction, apology, or even discussion of their primary role in an obvious smear. This is a journalistic felony, really, the worst kind of thing that journalists can ever do, a reality only compounded by the fact that they refuse to admit not only culpability but even that they did anything wrong.\"\" For a reaction, Tapper turned to Stephen Hayes, a senior writer with the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, who was a member of the show's roundtable that week. \"\"Stephen, do you think that ... liberals are unfairly using this to try to discredit conservative journalists?\"\" Hayes responded, \"\"Yes, of course, they are. Look, the timeline doesn't work. I mean ... Howard Kurtz, at CNN and the Washington Post wrote that the timeline simply doesn't work. She actually resigned before or was forced to retire before anybody on Fox said a word about this.\"\" We thought it would be worthwhile to check the transcripts and see whether it's correct that Sherrod \"\"actually resigned before or was forced to retire before anybody on Fox said a word about this.\"\" The earliest on-air comment we could find came the toward the end of the 8 p.m. hour, during an airing of The O'Reilly Factor, a talk show hosted by pugnaciously conservative host Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly told viewers that \"\"speaking at an NAACP event in March, Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod was caught on tape saying something very disturbing. Seems a white farmer in Georgia had requested government assistance from Ms. Sherrod.\"\" He then showed a clip of Sherrod saying, \"\"I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland. And here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land. So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do.\"\" When the clip ended, O'Reilly said, \"\"Wow. Well, that is simply unacceptable. And Ms. Sherrod must resign immediately. The federal government cannot have skin color deciding any assistance. We are requesting an explanation from the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, and will keep you posted. By the way, the full transcript of Ms. Sherrod's remarks is posted on BigGovernment.com.\"\" While it's safe to assume that O'Reilly was unaware of Sherrod's ouster at the time he aired those comments -- why would he call for her ouster if it had already happened? -- his producers apparently found out as the segment was underway, because as O'Reilly was speaking, Fox aired an on-screen notice that said, \"\"Sec. Vilsack has accepted Sherrod's resignation.\"\" A few minutes later, during the 9 p.m. hour of Fox, O'Reilly's fellow conservative host, Sean Hannity, began his show with an alert that Sherrod had resigned. So, based on the Fox transcripts as well as Sherrod's own account in the CNN interview, Hayes appears to be correct that Sherrod \"\"was forced to resign before anybody on Fox said a word about this.\"\" Indeed, Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post's media critic, reported that \"\"after a news meeting Monday afternoon (July 19), an e-mail directive was sent to the news staff in which Fox Senior Vice President Michael Clemente said, 'Let's take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get confirmation and comments from Sherrod before going on-air. Let's make sure we do this right.'\"\" But we think it's worth mentioning two additional points. First, it's clear from O'Reilly's on-air comment that at least one Fox commentator was preparing to make hay over the Sherrod controversy before she resigned -- it's just that the Agriculture Department beat Fox to the punch by ousting her first. If officials above Sherrod had spent more time reviewing her case instead of forcing her to the side of the road, O'Reilly at least, and possibly other Fox hosts, were ready to take up the call for her to be ousted. Second, Fox's television network may not have discussed Sherrod before she was ousted, but there's evidence that two of its web affiliates did mention the story. Media Matters for America -- a liberal group that tracks alleged media bias and regularly spars with both Fox and Breitbart -- located a FoxNews.com story posted around noon on July 19 that began, \"\"Days after the NAACP clashed with Tea Party members over allegations of racism, a video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy.\"\" Media Matters wrote that FoxNews.com credited BigGovernment.com with posting the video, and added that \"\"FoxNews.com is seeking a response from both the NAACP and the USDA.\"\" While Media Matters said that the article is no longer available on FoxNews.com, it provided a screenshot. Not long after that post went up at FoxNews.com, Media Matters said, Fox Nation -- an online community for news and commentary that's affiliated with Fox News -- posted the link to the Sherrod clip on BigGovernment.com under the headline, \"\"Caught on Tape: Obama Official Discriminates Against White Farmer.\"\" All told, it seems clear to us that the USDA ousted Sherrod in order to forestall the possibility that commentators on Fox's cable channel would start calling for her resignation, not because Fox commentators had actually begun to do so. Still, two Fox web affiliates mentioned the controversy before Sherrod's ouster, and the fact that O'Reilly called for her resignation without knowing that she was already out of a job suggests that Fox was already beginning to pounce. On balance, these two caveats persuade us to drop Hayes' otherwise accurate statement that Shirley Sherrod \"\"was forced to resign before anybody on Fox said a word about this\"\" by a notch to .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Shirley Sherrod \"\"was forced to resign before anybody on Fox said a word about this.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f84259286c841cf9a67e928492338d0",
            "input": "The company’s shares rose about 3 percent to $1.97 in premarket trading on Thursday. Cell Therapeutics said it received the notification from the regulator on December 26. The FDA placed the hold after a patient treated with a combination of the drug, tosedostat, and a chemotherapy drug died of a heart muscle infection. Under the hold, the company could not enroll new patients in any trials of tosedostat. The regulator asked for more information on all heart-related events in patients treated with the drug. Tosedostat is being tested in mid-stage trials in the United States and European Union on elderly patients with two forms of blood cancer - acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.",
            "output": [
                "FDA lifts hold on studies testing Cell Therapeutics' cancer drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2480c1bd93de4d39a91a39dfff2b1404",
            "input": "The state Department of Health said Monday it reported the death of a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The department didn’t identify the woman but said she’s among 121 suspected cases of vaping-related lung injuries reported to the state since last month. The agency says nine of the cases have been confirmed as vaping-associated lung injuries and ten of them are probable cases. At least 39 of the cases have been ruled out. Gov. Charlie Baker declared a public health emergency and imposed four-month statewide ban on sales of vaping products on Sept. 24. That ban is being challenged in federal and state court.",
            "output": [
                "State reports first death from vaping-related lung injury."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e9707bbef1664622b677ab90f7b10b30",
            "input": "Some 100 medical workers are reported to have died from the disease so far, including many nurses, Howard Catton, ceo of the International Council of Nurses, told a news briefing. The world’s 28 million nurses, 59% of all health workers, were overstretched before the crisis began, the WHO, the Nursing Now campaign, and Geneva-based council said in the first “State of the World’s Nursing Report”. Some have become targets out of people’s fear of contagion. “We have picked up reports around the world of abuse, harassment of health workers, we had one case of somebody being spat on as well. It is completely unacceptable, reprehensible,” Catton said. He called for governments to have a “zero tolerance approach” to such abuse and to ensure that public health messages are clear and fact-based. Giorgio Cometto of WHO’s health workforce department said it was a relatively new phenomenon “whereby health workers are seen as a potential risk, as a potential threat as opposed to being a solution to the current crisis”. “This really reinforces the need to have adequate communication for the public as well as specific measures to be put in place to protect health workers particularly in the context of the response to the current pandemic,” he said. Baroness Mary Watkins, chair of Nursing Now, said nurses have been attacked previously during outbreaks of Ebola and the AID-HIV epidemic. Referring to COVID-19, she said: “We have not had active violence that I know of in the UK, but we have had people trying to take nurses’ badges because they have been allowed to go into supermarkets early to buy food before going on their shift... That seems to have had a stop put to it. “But there has been a very very clear directive from the police in many countries that attacking a health care worker is unacceptable. We need to keep pressure up,” Watkins added. There is still a global shortage of nearly 6 million nurses, mainly in low- and lower-middle income countries, where the number of new recruits barely keeps pace with population growth, the report said. Nurses are particularly lacking across Africa, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Venezuela, it added.",
            "output": [
                "Nurses must be protected from abuse during coronavirus pandemic: WHO, nursing groups."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a4544bd1c1bb4ae68957f02ff369d637",
            "input": "The chamber’s top Republican, who said he was making enactment of the bill “one of my highest priorities,” issued his proposal at a time when the use of e-cigarettes is growing and underage vaping has soared, raising concerns by health expert s. The measure would apply to all tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vapor products and was co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state has also been a major tobacco producer. “Kentucky farmers don’t want their children to get hooked on tobacco products while they’re in middle school or high school any more than any parents anywhere want that to happen,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. Fourteen states, including Arkansas, California and Virginia, have enacted laws raising the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21, according to the anti-smoking Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. So have 470 municipalities, including New York City, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. Even so, the use of e-cigarettes and vaping has surged, with much of the increase among teenagers. The CDC says most e-cigarettes contain highly addictive nicotine, which can harm the development of young people’s brains and may them likelier to smoke cigarettes later in life. “Youth vaping is a public health crisis,” McConnell said. “It’s our responsibility as parents and public servants to do everything we can to keep these harmful products out of high schools and out of youth culture.” A government survey found that last year 1 in 5 U.S. high school students reported vaping the previous month. “Today, we are coming together to side with young people’s health,” said Kaine, acknowledging the rarity for bipartisan legislation at a time when the two parties can seldom find middle ground. The bill quickly won the endorsement of the American Cancer Society. Its advocacy organization, the Cancer Action Network, said the measure was a “welcome indication that Congress is taking the alarming crisis of increased youth tobacco use seriously and is committed to taking action.” The group also warned the sponsors to resist amendments that could let the federal government pre-empt stronger measures by states and municipalities, exempt some young people or exclude certain products. A similar bill was introduced last month by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Todd Young, R-Ind., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah. Most experts agree e-cigarettes are less harmful than the paper-and-tobacco variety because they don’t produce all the cancer-causing byproducts found in smoke. But researchers say they are only beginning to understand the risks of e-cigarettes, which they think may damage the lungs and contribute to precancerous growths. McConnell has long been involved in tobacco issues. He helped pass the 2004 tobacco buyout, when the government provided billions of dollars for growers who lost money with the end of federal price supports. Kentucky has the highest cancer mortality rate in the country, with nearly 186 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2017, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As health concerns about tobacco have grown in the U.S., demand and production of the crop have fallen in Kentucky, where it had long been a pillar of the state’s economy. Growers have been relying increasingly on industrial hemp, which McConnell has helped legalize. The CDC calls tobacco products the country’s top cause of preventable disease and death, with almost 40 million adult cigarette smokers. The agency says around 4.7 million middle school and high school students use at least one tobacco product, including e-cigarettes. Treating adults with smoking-related diseases costs the country nearly $170 billion annually for medical care. The country’s biggest tobacco company, Altria Group, has invested in the e-cigarette company Juul and has backed bills raising the minimum age for buying tobacco and vaping products to 21. Critics have suggested that support is aimed at forestalling tougher restrictions such as banning flavored vaping products and menthol cigarettes. ___ AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Senate GOP leader would raise age for buying tobacco to 21."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9bb42f369fae46b5a191bdd57014eddd",
            "input": "Did not mention cost of treatment Mentioned lack of benefit from statins for this purpose; also provided some details of side effects of statins Provided a walk through the various types of clinical evidence. In addition to quoting study authors, a quote from an editorial in the journal in which one of the articles was published was provided. Did not mention other options for reducing cancer risks. Mentioned that statins are widely used and considered safe. Mentioned that use as cancer preventative would be an off-label use (i.e. drugs not approved for this purpose) Examined a new use for a class of medications (statins).",
            "output": [
                "Studies: Statins Don’t Lower Cancer Risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13550ebe6f9340c783cb9af951f44c26",
            "input": "“Independents need to know they can invest their vote in the Democratic Party,” Carter said Tuesday during his annual report at his post-presidential center and library in Atlanta, where he offered caution about the political consequences should Democrats “move to a very liberal program, like universal health care.” That’s delicate — and, Carter acknowledged, even contradictory — advice coming from the 93-year-old former president, and it underscores the complicated political calculations for Democrats as they prepare for the November midterms and look ahead to the 2020 presidential election. “Rosie and I voted for Bernie Sanders in the past,” Carter noted. He was referring to his wife, Rosalynn, and their support for the Vermont senator, an independent who identifies as a democratic socialist, over establishment favorite Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. At another point, he pointed to California’s environmental policies — limits on carbon emissions, stiffer fuel-efficiency standards — as the model for combating climate change. Still, Carter stressed, Democrats nationally must “appeal to independents” who are souring on the current administration. Trump’s job approval rating, according to Gallup, has dipped to 40 percent, mostly because of declining support among independents. Carter alluded to arguments from self-identified progressives that Democrats will sacrifice votes on the left if they don’t embrace the liberal base: “I don’t think any Democrat is going to vote against a Democratic nominee,” and he insisted that he’s not asking the left to sacrifice its goals, only to see that winning elections is necessary to accomplish any of them. There is some historical irony in Carter’s analysis. He came to the White House in 1976 from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and he clashed with party liberals, drawing a spirited primary challenge in 1980 from Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. Carter prevailed, but he was wounded, abandoned by Kennedy’s most liberal supporters and unable to win over independents who helped deliver a landslide for Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter’s latest handicapping comes near the conclusion of a midterm primary season that has seen Democratic primary voters move the party to the left. In some states and districts, that means nominating full-throated advocates of single-payer health care, a $15 minimum wage and abolishing or at least overhauling the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In other races, it means nominees who back more cautious moves to the left, such as background checks before certain gun purchases, a “public option” health insurance plan to compete alongside private insurance policies, step raises for the minimum wage and an immigration overhaul that offers legal status to some immigrants in the country illegally. Carter did not delve into those distinctions, instead offering a sweeping condemnation of his latest successor to remind Democrats of the stakes. He denounced the administration’s latest environmental policy proposal to make it easier for energy companies to release methane gas that contributes to climate change. He singled out Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border, including those seeking asylum. “America is inherently committed to human rights, and I think in the future we will let that prevail,” Carter said, “but for the next two years, I can’t predict the imprisoned children are going to be any better off — unfortunately.” Carter has previously criticized Trump for his repeated falsehoods, and he’s chided Trump for his hardline support for Israel over Palestinians. Yet Carter has found common ground with Trump on other foreign policy fronts, and did so again Tuesday. While avoiding any mention of the special counsel’s investigation into whether Trump’s presidential campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election, Carter said he has engaged for years with Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the ongoing Syrian civil war. “I have his email address,” Carter said, adding that he and Putin share the same Russian river as their favorite spot for salmon fishing. That friendship, Carter said, means when Russia and other nations hold multilateral talks about the Syrian conflict, “Quite often they invite the Carter Center. ... They do not invite the U.S. government.” Carter also praised Trump for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Carter repeated his frustrations with the last Democratic president, Barack Obama, for not engaging more directly with the insular Asian nation. Carter said he’s not sure Trump has made real progress yet with North Korea, but he endorsed calls for the U.S. to formally declare an end to the Korean War and normalize relations with Pyongyang. “Let them be part of the community of nations,” he said. “I think that would be enough in itself to bring an end to the nuclear program in North Korea.” ___ Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP",
            "output": [
                "Jimmy Carter cautions Democrats not to scare off moderates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f78abdf6cb0e497b859d6c6131db6079",
            "input": "The amazing story of teenager Juliane Koepcke has served as the basis of a full-length feature film, a documentary, and a book. Most internet users, however, have probably heard of Koepcke in the form of an internet meme featuring a photograph supposedly showing the 17-year-old plane crash survivor and a short piece of text summarizing her story:  17 year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane in 1971 after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell 2 miles to the ground, strapped to her seat and survived after she endured 10 days in the Amazon Jungle While the story of Koepcke is undoubtedly true, we have a few unanswered questions about this photograph. This image most likely doesn’t show Koepcke, but an actress from the 1974 movie about Koepcke, “Miracles Still Happen.” On Christmas Eve, 1971, Koepcke boarded LANSA Flight 508 (a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop plane) with her mother and 84 other passengers. The flight left from Lima, Peru, and was scheduled to land in Pucallpa, Peru, but was struck by a bolt of lighting. The plane went into a nose dive, broke into pieces, and Koepcke, who was still strapped to her seat, soon found herself outside of the plane plummeting approximately 9,000 feet (about 1.7 miles) into the Amazon jungle. Koepcke talked to the BBC about the ordeal in 2012: When we saw lightning around the plane, I was scared. My mother and I held hands but we were unable to speak. Other passengers began to cry and weep and scream. After about 10 minutes, I saw a very bright light on the outer engine on the left. My mother said very calmly: “That is the end, it’s all over.” Those were the last words I ever heard from her. The plane jumped down and went into a nose-dive. It was pitch black and people were screaming, then the deep roaring of the engines filled my head completely. Suddenly the noise stopped and I was outside the plane. I was in a freefall, strapped to my seat bench and hanging head-over-heels. The whispering of the wind was the only noise I could hear. I felt completely alone. I could see the canopy of the jungle spinning towards me. Then I lost consciousness and remember nothing of the impact. Later I learned that the plane had broken into pieces about two miles above the ground. I woke the next day and looked up into the canopy. The first thought I had was: “I survived an air crash.” Koepcke was seriously injured in the fall. She broke her collar bone, had deep cuts on her arms and legs, and had torn a ligament in her knee that made it difficult for her to walk. If there was one thing Koepcke had on her side, it was the fact that she had some experience in the jungle. Her parents worked at a research station in the Amazon and in the year before the crash where she “learned a lot about life in the rainforest” and found that it wasn’t the “green hell that the world always thinks.” Koepcke spent 10 days alone in the jungle. She traveled down a small stream, thinking that it was her safest option, and eventually came across a boat and a path leading into the rainforest. Koepcke, who said that she was almost too weak to walk by the end of the ordeal, pushed forward into the jungle until she found a small hut. After cleaning her wounds with gasoline, she fell asleep. The next day, she was found by villagers and soon thereafter was rescued:  By the 10th day I couldn’t stand properly and I drifted along the edge of a larger river I had found. I felt so lonely, like I was in a parallel universe far away from any human being. I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a really large boat. When I went to touch it and realised it was real, it was like an adrenaline shot. But [then I saw] there was a small path into the jungle where I found a hut with a palm leaf roof, an outboard motor and a litre of gasoline. I had a wound on my upper right arm. It was infested with maggots about one centimetre long. I remembered our dog had the same infection and my father had put kerosene in it, so I sucked the gasoline out and put it into the wound. The pain was intense as the maggots tried to get further into the wound. I pulled out about 30 maggots and was very proud of myself. I decided to spend the night there. The next day I heard the voices of several men outside. It was like hearing the voices of angels. The crash of Lansa Flight 508 is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the “Highest death toll (91) caused by lightning (in-flight).” While Koepcke was the only person to ultimately survive the ordeal, there’s evidence that some other passengers (including Koepcke’s mother) survived the initial crash. They were unable to seek out help as the teen had, however, and perished before rescue crews arrived. Here’s an article from Dec. 29, 1971, about the crash:  Wed, Dec 29, 1971 – Page 34 · The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana) · Newspapers.com And here’s an article from Jan. 4, 1972, about Koepcke’s rescue:  Tue, Jan 4, 1972 – Page 21 · The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina) · Newspapers.com  Tue, Jan 4, 1972 – Page 22 · The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina) · Newspapers.com The story of Koepcke is undoubtedly true. However, it’s unlikely that the photograph that frequently accompanies this claim truly shows her during this harrowing ordeal. Although we have been unable to definitively determine the origins of this photograph, it most likely shows actress Susan Penhaligon in a promotional image for the 1974 movie “Miracles Still Happen,” a dramatization of Koepcke’s story. Here’s a comparison between the viral image (left) and a still of Penhaligon as Koepcke in the 1974 movie:  We’ve reached out to Penhaligon and will update this article when more information becomes available.",
            "output": [
                "Juliane Koepcke survived 10 days alone in the Amazon rainforest after falling nearly two miles during a plane crash. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-654f2f95f55645cf90193db99a79c9ff",
            "input": "There were 989 new diagnoses in 2018, compared to at least 1,000 every year since 2006, according to the department’s Bureau of Infectious Diseases. There were 964 new cases in 2005 and 982 in 2006, but a state report said those numbers were low because so many people left and testing was disrupted after the hurricanes of August and September 2005. “It is quite possible that the number of new HIV cases reported in Louisiana in 2005 and 2006 were artificially low due to reporting challenges resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” Dr. Alexander Billioux, head of the Office of Public Health, said in the news release. “We know these storms had a big impact on the state’s health services at that time. Since there had not been fewer than 1,000 people with HIV diagnosed each year since 1988, it is quite possible that today’s number is the lowest in a generation.” As of the end of March, 11,125 Louisiana residents were living with AIDS and another 10,994 with HIV, according to the state’s most recent quarterly report . Billioux (bee-yoo) said there’s an encouraging increase in the number of people with HIV who get linked to medical care within 30 days. “With fewer new cases and more people getting care, the trends are very positive for the future,” he said. Treatment can now push the virus to undetectable levels, and routine HIV screening has increased around the state, Billioux said. “This provides even more support for importance of knowing your status and taking control of your infection to suppress the virus in the body,” he said. “As we have said before, undetectable equals untransmittable.”",
            "output": [
                "Louisiana: Fewest new HIV infections in more than 10 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96ea835781b4462baa7af34da2ea4cb9",
            "input": "Japanese cases topped 2,000, and public broadcaster NHK said 78 cases in Tokyo took its tally of infections past 500. Media reports said 7 people in the city had died, five at one hospital. “This is the greatest increase up to now and is certainly of high concern, and I’m worried about what tomorrow’s figures might show,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said. A government spokesman said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told cabinet members he and his second-in-command, Taro Aso, would no longer attend the same meetings to protect the leadership from infection. But the two were later shown at the same gathering - although wearing masks and sitting apart. Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was obliged to switch to running the country from isolation after testing positive for the virus. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan was not yet in a situation that required a state of emergency, triggering a potential lockdown, although the situation was precarious. “We’re just barely holding it together,” Nishimura told reporters. “If we loosen our grip even a little, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a sudden surge.”  Infections have now exceeded 770,000 worldwide, with more than 37,000 deaths, as confirmed cases in the United States, Italy and Spain overtake mainland China, where the virus originated late last year. In Tokyo, there has been intense speculation that a lockdown could come soon, fueled by the rising number of cases. The national total edged past 2,000 infections after a center for disabled people in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, found seven more infections. There have been 66 deaths. With limited testing in Japan, there are questions about how widely the virus has spread. About 7.1% of nearly 64,000 respondents said they had at least one virus symptom, such as high fever or a bad cough, between Friday and Monday, according to a survey of users in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures run by the chat app Line (3938.T) and the health ministry. Such symptoms do not by themselves prove infection. But the 4,500 people who reported symptoms in the survey was markedly higher than Tokyo’s official figure of 443 infections by Monday. Only last Tuesday, with a lockdown already in the offing, Japan and Olympic authorities gave in to pressure from athletes and sporting bodies worldwide to delay Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Games for a year. Some businesses in the capital are moving to curtail operations even ahead of a lockdown. On Tuesday, department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd (3099.T) said it would close six stores in Tokyo on weekends through April 12. Koshidaka Holdings (2157.T), an operator of karaoke and hot spring outlets, said it would close 200 karaoke outlets until April 13. But any lockdown in Japan would look different from mandatory measures in some parts of Europe and the United States. Laws limit local authorities to requesting people to stay at home. Tokyo Governor Koike has asked residents to avoid unnecessary outings, while her counterpart in the second biggest city of Osaka felt the government should declare a state of emergency, media said. The government said it would seek data from wireless carriers, such as statistics on people’s movements, to help gauge the effectiveness of a voluntary request. A director of Japan’s top organization of doctors urged that an emergency be declared before it was too late. Development of medicines and vaccines would be crucial to contain the virus, Abe told Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, in a telephone call on Monday. Japan intends to promote clinical research on an anti-flu medicine called Favipiravir with other countries as a treatment, Abe said. The drug, also known as Avigan, was developed by Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T), shares of which closed up 2.2%, after having risen as much as 6.6% in Tokyo. The company later said in a statement it was starting a Phase III clinical trial in Japan of the drug for the coronavirus. (Graphic: Tracking and explaining the new coronavirus, here)",
            "output": [
                "Tokyo records most new coronavirus cases in a day as pressure for lockdown builds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d6571ac2e4d42dfaf398fbf0bcd1776",
            "input": "A drunk man lies in the hallway of a housing estate outside the Siberian city of Tomsk some 3500 km (2175 miles) east of Moscow June 5, 2008. REUTERS/Thomas Peter A survey by the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (AIPM) and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) found that about 95 percent of Russians think they are in good or fair health, while only 44 percent saw a doctor last year. This could be one of the main reasons why diagnosis of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancers and diabetes is low, the researchers said. Such illnesses are also known as non-communicable diseases, or NCDs, and are the cause of the majority of deaths across the world. “Heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory disease together are responsible for 80 percent of all deaths in Russia,” said Vladimir Shipkov, AIPM’s executive director. “There is a significant gap between what people think is their state of health and the negative impact of their actual behavior.”   The survey also found that most Russians know about links between the incidence of chronic disease and risk factors such as smoking, harmful drinking, unhealthy diets and low levels of physical activity. But respondents to the survey tended to perceive these risks as a part of their regular lifestyle, the researchers said. The survey found that between one and three key risk factors feature in the everyday life of 82 percent of respondents, and only 9 percent could say that they had no risk factors. The survey also found that doctors could be an important factor in changing these unhealthy habits — with more than 50 percent of respondents saying they were ready to give up risk factors if a doctor told them their health was at risk. “This study is very important in terms of preventing NCDs from spreading further, because the fight against non-communicable diseases starts on a personal level. Half of deaths and disability cases caused by NCDs can be prevented,” said Mario Ottiglio of IFPMA. He said the survey showed how it “makes sense to put considerable efforts into prevention programs.”   “The benefits reaped would not limit themselves to improved health for individuals...There would also be relief from the mounting pressure on health care systems and the economic burden of such diseases on society as a whole,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "Unhealthy Russians think they're in good shape."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e2cf163afed432ca71e206364721ddb",
            "input": "The state Task Force on Health Care Coverage For All of Maine has raised about $7,000 of the roughly $9,000 needed for its work. Groups and individuals who donate must state they didn’t give to influence the study or legislative action. Some donors gave $10 while non-profit Maine Community Health Options gave $500. Legislative leaders said the task force needs to raise the remaining money by June 30 to continue its work. The task force is charged with proposing a universal health care system administered by state government or a contracted company. Individuals must be able to choose between the public option and private insurance coverage.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors, Mainers fund universal health care task force."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c746894dae4841509201e60d6dd3d909",
            "input": "\"Veterans groups in Pennsylvania typically prepare for Memorial Day by placing small American flags beside the headstones where fallen service members have been laid to rest. When a state lawmaker from Erie County learned that the coronavirus might scuttle that sacred tradition, he posted about it on Facebook. \"\"Gov. Wolf is not allowing companies that distribute U.S. flags to ship out orders to be placed at veteran’s graves for Memorial Day,\"\" Pa. House Rep. Brad Roae posted on Facebook on May 11. We wondered whether Wolf had really blocked Pennsylvania-based American flag distributors from operating during the pandemic. Roae, a Republican, did not return a call seeking comment on his Facebook post, which has now been shared more than 7,000 times. But it looks like he was right. Not only did Wolf exclude FlagZone, a manufacturer located in Gilbertsville, from his original list of life-sustaining businesses permitted to operate during the pandemic, his administration doubled down and rejected the company’s application for a waiver. FlagZone is one of the only American flag manufacturer in Pennsylvania and one of only a half dozen across the country. The company typically distributes more than six million small stick flags annually. Casey Smith, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, told The Reading Eagle that the Wolf administration’s top priority is protecting the health and well-being of Pennsylvanians, and that flag-making, while patriotic, simply wasn’t \"\"life-sustaining.\"\" \"\"Memorial Day celebrations and ceremonies are a staple in our nation, and many Pennsylvanians will need to adjust their routine this year to accommodate our new normal,\"\" Smith said. \"\"We encourage all Pennsylvanians to honor our nation’s fallen in their own special way.\"\" Turns out the flags had already been manufactured and were sitting in a warehouse. FlagZone President Daniel Ziegler said it would only take a few workers to ship 400,000 flags that had been ordered by 24 different Pennsylvania counties in anticipation of Monday’s federal holiday. Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties were among those waiting to receive their orders. When State Sen. Scott Hutchinson learned about FlagZone’s woes, he also called on Wolf to ease restrictions imposed on the company. \"\"I see no reason why the time-honored and solemn tradition of placing flags at veterans’ graves could not be continued this year,\"\" Hutchinson, a Republican who represents Butler and other Western Pennsylvania counties, said in a statement sent to reporters via email. \"\"Certainly placing the flags in cemeteries could be done while practicing the social distancing Gov. Wolf recommends.\"\" On Monday, FlagZone got some good news. The state cleared the way for the company to ship some flag orders even as it held firm that flag manufacturing is not essential during the pandemic. \"\"We’re just excited to get these flags out after months of being shut down,\"\" Ziegler told The Reading Eagle. \"\"Hopefully, when a family goes to the gravesite of a loved one who was a veteran they will now see that they were not forgotten.\"\" Smith, of the community and economic development department, said in an interview that special approval from the state is not required for limited shipping activities and communicated  that to FlagZone. Roae posted on Facebook that Gov. Wolf had blocked companies that distribute American flags from shipping orders ahead of Memorial Day. Wolf initially blocked FlagZone from operating during the pandemic and then rejected the company’s request for a waiver. A state official later said the company did not need special permission to ship limited numbers of flags. However, the company didn’t understand this until the state said so, especially since the clarification came days after the Wolf administration rejected FlagZone’s application to resume operations.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Gov. Wolf is not allowing companies that distribute U.S. flags to ship out orders to be placed at veteran’s graves for Memorial Day.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9742becac1c4c6dae06363fae0d0bfe",
            "input": "Half of EU states have designated long lists of drugs that cannot be exported during the coronavirus emergency. The lists include medication used to treat COVID-19 patients such as muscle relaxants, painkillers and hydroxychloroquine. “We ask that national governments lift any export ban on medicines. Such restrictions can lead to shortages elsewhere in the EU,” von der Leyen said in a statement. She also called on governments to avoid stockpiling. Bans are usually justified with the need to fulfil national needs, but Europe has so far faced only limited supply problems from the coronavirus crisis. Temporary shortages have been recorded mostly for drugs used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients, such as anaesthetics, antibiotics and muscle relaxants that allow people to receive breathing support from ventilators. But national lists comprise many more drugs, including some that have wider uses such as the painkiller paracetamol and insulin, used by diabetics. The European Commission on Wednesday adopted new guidance on drugs supplies, which calls on governments to refrain from export bans and from requisitioning medicines. “Whilst it is understandable that countries wish to ensure the availability of essential medicines nationally, export bans are detrimental to the availability of medicines for European patients even when they are legally justifiable,” the non-binding document says. France, Poland, Belgium and the Czech Republic are among the EU countries with the longest lists of drugs which are temporarily banned from export. The bans apply mostly to distributors, which cover a large part of the EU market and provide the biggest share of supplies to pharmacies. The new guidelines also called on states to stop excessive stockpiling, which the Commission said could contribute to supply shortages. It warned the worst effects on supplies from stockpiling emerge when countries compete among themselves. The Commission is setting up an EU reserve of critical medicines and medical gear to address future needs.",
            "output": [
                "EU urges states to lift drug export bans to prevent shortages."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd74436d01ca401da58df9e2e97692d2",
            "input": "Experts have long sought to understand the link between mental illness and violence and these findings suggest that the widespread public perception that psychiatric disorders alone make people more prone to violent crime is flawed. Researchers from Britain and Sweden who studied rates of violent crime among people with severe mental disorders said it appeared that the higher risk of substance abuse is the key. They found that while rates of violent crime are higher among people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia than in the general population, they are similar in people with mental illness and those who abuse substances but are not mentally ill. When the results were adjusted to removed the influence of alcohol or illegal drug abuse, rates of violence among psychiatric patients were barely changed from levels in the general population, they said. “Substance abuse is really the key mediator of violent crime. If you take away the substance abuse, the contribution of the illness...is very minimal,” said Seena Fazel of Oxford University’s department of psychiatry, who led a study. “It is probably more dangerous to be walking outside a pub on a late night that it is to be walking outside a hospital where mental health patients are being released.”   Previous studies have shown that around 20 percent of people with bipolar disorder abuse alcohol and drugs, and this compares with around 2 percent of the general population. Around a quarter of people with schizophrenia abuse drugs and alcohol. Fazel said psychiatric patients often use illegal drugs and alcohol to try to counteract their symptoms or the effects of their medicines, which can act as sedatives. In Britain, several high-profile criminal cases have led to the idea that the mentally ill pose a threat to society. Reports earlier this year that the “Yorkshire Ripper” serial killer Peter Sutcliffe was appealing against his sentence because he said he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he murdered 13 women reinforced that perception. Fazel, whose work was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, said public perception that the mentally ill are a threat had led to large numbers of psychiatric patients being put into secure hospitals in recent years. “There has been a sort of re-institutionalization of patients with mental illness... under the guise that they are dangerous,” he told reporters at a briefing. Fazel and colleagues used hospital registers in Sweden to track everyone diagnosed with bipolar disorder and then look for links with violent crime convictions. Since rates of mental illness, as well as rates of violence and of alcohol and drug abuse are similar in Sweden to the rest of Europe and the United States, the findings were likely to be applicable to other countries, the scientists said.",
            "output": [
                "Mental illness alone not linked to violence."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e23fdaf1c8f451dbb10a5cba5ea37ce",
            "input": "A passenger waits for a delayed flight at Heathrow airport's terminal four in London August 12, 2006. REUTERS/Toby Melville  The findings show that bariatric surgery, an increasingly  popular operation, benefits patients’ health and saves money,  according to Pierre-Yves Cremieux of the economic consulting  firm Analysis Group and the University of Quebec at Montreal,  who led the study. Bariatric surgery alters the digestive system’s anatomy,  reducing the volume of food that can be eaten and digested. The  most common form is gastric bypass, which makes the stomach  smaller and permits food to bypass part of the small intestine. Some insurers have been reluctant to cover this surgery. “It demonstrates the fact that this is not cosmetic  surgery,” Cremieux said in a telephone interview. “The reason why you get your money back when you cover  bariatric surgery is because the patients who were morbidly  obese before and had high rates of diabetes and hypertension no  longer do. They don’t go to the doctor as much as they used to,  and they don’t go to the emergency room as much as they used  to. Why? Because they are healthier,” Cremieux added. How quickly an insurer recovered the costs of paying for  bariatric surgery depended on the type performed, Cremieux  reported in the American Journal of Managed Care. Insurers fully recovered the expense of covering minimally  invasive bariatric surgery, which on average cost $17,000,  within about two years, the study showed. They fully recovered the expense of more common bariatric  procedures such as traditional gastric bypass surgery, which on  average cost $26,000, within about four years. After surgery, the obese patients lost weight and incurred  lower costs associated with prescription drugs, doctor visits  and hospital services as they became healthier and less  burdened by chronic disease, the researchers said. The researchers based the findings on insurance claims  filed by 3,651 morbidly obese bariatric surgery patients and  insurance claims filed by an equal number of morbidly obese  people who did not have weight-loss surgery. It spanned six months of pre-surgical evaluation and care,  the operation and up to five years of post-surgical care. Those  who did not have surgery also were tracked for five years. The average age of the surgical patients was 44 and most  were women. They began the study with obesity-related ailments  like high blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea. Previous research has found that obese people who have  weight-loss surgery are less likely to die from heart disease,  diabetes and cancer than obese people who do not have such  surgery. An estimated 205,000 people had bariatric surgery in  the United States last year. The study was funded by Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon  Endo-Surgery division, which makes instruments for bariatric  surgery.",
            "output": [
                "Insurers recoup obesity surgery cost in 2-4 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21024d9cf00e4b6982c651f8b7acb926",
            "input": "Shouting “anti-capitalista” and other chants, the gathering of socialists, environmentalists and others waved banners and signs that read “Davos Stinks” or “Let them eat money” — while braving sub-zero temperatures near the Davos train station. “We want a better world, you’re not deciding for us,” said 20-year-old protester from Geneva, Thomas Bruchez. The demonstration was originally planned in part to protest against President Donald Trump, who had been expected in Davos this week before cancelling his trip over the U.S. government shutdown. The protest went ahead anyway, training some anger at Brazil’s new nationalist President Jair Bolsonaro, who did attend. Divisions have been evident all week at the conference center a mile or two away, notably on trade. On Thursday, Europe’s splits were evident — and they weren’t just related to Brexit. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was particularly pointed, arguing that the generally richer countries in the north of the EU are beginning to feel that the poorer south are getting away with not playing by the rules on an array of issues. Italy’s stand against the single currency bloc’s debt rules was one incident that caught his ire. The populist government in Italy, barely a year in power, has decided to ramp up spending far beyond EU expectations and only backed off slightly after the executive Commission threatened legal action. Though concerns remain that the spending plans will add to Italy’s huge debt load and potentially rekindle financial jitters that have been dormant since 2015, when Greece was bailed out for a final time, the Commission has so far opted against taking action against Rome, such as imposing a fine. Rutte said people in his country are asking him why the Netherlands is implementing measures to abide by the budget rules when others like Italy are not. “We should because we want to have our house in order, not because some European treaty requires this from us but this is creating distrust between north and south and given those dividing lines, I’m not optimistic about whether we can achieve on competitiveness, on reform and on climate change,” he said. Italy has also been involved in a spat with France in recent days over issues including how to handle migrants travelling to Europe by boat. Italy’s interior minister, the head of one of two populist and euroskeptic parties leading the country, this month called the French leader Emmanuel Macron — who is unabashedly pro-EU — “a terrible president.” The diplomatic spats are an unwelcome backdrop for the EU, which is due to lose key member Britain in a little more than two months. Britain’s departure from the EU is laden with uncertainty after British Prime Minister Theresa May saw her Brexit deal voted down by parliament earlier this month and is now struggling to find a solution with Parliament so divided. That is raising the possibility that Britain might fall out of the EU without a deal on March 29, which could have huge repercussions for the economy as tariffs and border checks are re-established. The EU is trying its best to stay out of it but some politicians are starting to talk about extending Britain’s departure date to give the country more time to come to a consensus of what to do, while others are hinting at supporting a second referendum. All are agreed though that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would be damaging to the EU as well as to Britain. “I think the United Kingdom in a ‘no deal’ scenario will face enormous difficulties,” said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. “In a ‘no deal’ scenario the U.K. won’t have any trade deals with anyone and I think it’ll be very difficult for them to conclude any trade deals with the question of the Irish border unresolved. So given we have a solution on the table, let’s ratify that.” That argument stands at odds with one of the main benefits of Brexit that supporters of a ‘no deal’ departure have been positing of late. The Bank of England warned late last year that the British economy could shrink by 8 percent in a matter of months if the country crashes out with no deal and with no transition to any future trading arrangements with the EU. The shock could send house prices plunging by around a third. Still, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said British banks are financially strong enough to survive such a scenario. Ports and borders will still face many logistical problems. For many firms, it’s just too difficult to prepare for a “no deal” eventuality, Carney said. “Businesses are doing what they can but in many cases they can’t do it,” he said. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage of Davos here: https://www.apnews.com/Davos",
            "output": [
                "European divisions beyond Brexit on display in Davos."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6047337e80ba42f2b28a7c1c98535fd8",
            "input": "In the days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to a Ford manufacturer in Michigan on May 21, 2020, the company informed the White House that face masks would be required for all visitors. This request proved somewhat controversial, however, as Trump had thus far refused to wear a mask in public during the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, despite recommendations from health officials. The majority of videos and photographs from the visit showed Trump touring the facility, delivering a speech, and speaking with Ford executives — all without a face covering. So when a photograph emerged supposedly showing Trump wearing a face mask during this visit, some viewers were surprised and skeptical of the sight: Trump does NOT want you to share this picture of him wearing a mask… pic.twitter.com/vCO06D0Ud6",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows U.S. President Donald Trump wearing a protective face mask during a visit to a Ford manufacturing plant in spring 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b5d9e47f7b8465d8f47020ae902534b",
            "input": "The congressionally mandated report, written with the help of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies and departments, outlined the projected impact of global warming on every corner of American society in a dire warning that is at odds with the Trump administration’s pro-fossil-fuels agenda. “With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century - more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. states,” the report, the Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II, said. Global warming would disproportionately hurt the poor, broadly undermine human health, damage infrastructure, limit the availability of water, alter coastlines, and boost costs in industries from farming, to fisheries and energy production, the report said. But it added that projections of further damage could change if greenhouse gas emissions are sharply curbed, even though many of the impacts of climate change - including more frequent and more powerful storms, droughts and flooding - are already under way. “Future risks from climate change depend primarily on decisions made today,” it said. The report supplements a study issued last year that concluded humans are the main driver of global warming and warned of catastrophic effects to the planet. The studies clash with policy under President Donald Trump, who has been rolling back Obama-era environmental and climate protections to maximize production of domestic fossil fuels, including crude oil, already the highest in the world, above Saudi Arabia and Russia. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the new report was “largely based on the most extreme scenario, which contradicts long-established trends by assuming that...there would be limited technology and innovation, and a rapidly expanding population.”  The government’s next update of the National Climate Assessment, she said, “gives us the opportunity to provide for a more transparent and data-driven process that includes fuller information on the range of potential scenarios and outcomes.”  Trump last year announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Deal agreed by nearly 200 nations to combat climate change, arguing the accord would hurt the U.S. economy and provide little tangible environmental benefit. Trump and several members of his cabinet have also repeatedly cast doubt on the science of climate change, arguing that the causes and impacts are not yet settled. Environmental groups said the report reinforced their calls for the United States to take action on climate change. “While President Trump continues to ignore the threat of climate change, his own administration is sounding the alarm,” said Abigail Dillen, president of environmental group Earthjustice. “This report underscores what we are already seeing firsthand: climate change is real, it’s happening here, and it’s happening now.”  Previous research, including from U.S. government scientists, has also concluded that climate change could have severe economic consequences, including damage to infrastructure, water supplies and agriculture. Severe weather and other impacts also increase the risk of disease transmission, decrease air quality, and can increase mental health problems, among other effects. Thirteen government departments and agencies, from the Agriculture Department to NASA, were part of the committee that compiled the new report. The entire report can be viewed at http://www.globalchange.gov",
            "output": [
                "Clashing with Trump, U.S. government report says climate change will batter economy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb896cc9cddc48949655fd4d6ef30207",
            "input": "The story provides the estimated annual cost of hospital visits for chemotherapy-related side effects. The story explains that chemotherapy may be of limited benefit to many women, especially since the incidence of serious side effects is greater than previously estimated. The story provides balance on the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. There is discussion of informed decision making and the importance of weighing the absolute benefit of more treatment with the risks of experiencing serious side effects. The story mentions underreporting of chemotherapy side effects in large clinical trials is due, in part, to the characteristics of participants in clinical trials. Results from clinical trials serve only as a guide and may not provide an accurate estimation of individual risk, especially for younger women or women with co-existing health conditions. The story discusses the study design and the importance of the results for women making decisions about chemotherapy as part of their breast cancer treatment. The story provides evidence of greater incidence of side effects in younger (<63 years), insured women treated with chemotherapy vs. women who did not undergo chemotherapy. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story appropriately does not advocate chemotherapy for all breast cancer patients. The story discusses targeted treatment for those who would benefit most from this therapy. The story discusses the outcomes of the study with study authors and the federal agency that funded this study. A researcher who wrote an editorial in the publishing journal is cited to provide perspective on the results. The story mentions surgery, radiation, hormone therapy and chemotherapy and the option that a woman might choose different combinations of these treatments. Chemotherapy has been a standard treatment for breast cancer for many years. The story mentions that for some women the attempt to prevent a breast cancer recurrence may not include chemotherapy, depending on her risk of recurrence. The idea of individualizing treatment via molecular profiling is new. The idea that some women at low risk of cancer recurrence and higher risk of serious side effects might decide to skip chemotherapy is also a newer approach to treatment. That there is a higher incidence of serious complications in routine care than when treatments are administered in trials is not new, but this study provides a good estimate for the likelihood of complications in routine care using claims data from large population of patients. The article does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Chemo’s toll on breast cancer patients underestimated"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4ffbc60564e1481a8b6f30446c40913b",
            "input": "A look at the top 10 stories of 2019: EDWARDS RE-ELECTION Louisiana voters reelected Edwards to a second term despite President Trump’s efforts  to return the seat to the GOP. The president led three anti-Edwards rallies in Louisiana, but Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support to defeat businessman Eddie Rispone. Edwards said his top priorities for his second term are new money for early childhood education and public colleges, and pay raises for K-12 teachers. HARD ROCK HOTEL COLLAPSE The Hard Rock Hotel under construction at the edge of the historic French Quarter in New Orleans partially collapsed  Oct. 12, killing three workers and crippling nearby businesses. Explosions toppled two cranes that loomed precariously for days. Plans to implode the building were changed to shoring up what is left of the building for further investigation and recovery of two bodies, followed by demolition. SUPER BOWL PROTEST Protests and lawsuits followed one of the most glaring officiating errors in NFL history — the non-call of pass interference and helmet-to-helmet contact penalties committed by a Los Angeles Rams defensive back late in the fourth quarter of an NFC championship game against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints lost the game 26-23 in overtime and with it a chance at winning the Super Bowl. Saints fans responded with lawsuits and Saints-themed walking parades on Super Bowl  day. ACADIANA CHURCH FIRES Arson destroyed three historic black churches  in spring 2019; a 21-year-old man is awaiting trial. All three churches were empty and nobody was injured. The governor called the arson a reminder “of a very dark past of intimidation and fear.” A crowdfunding campaign raised more than $2.1 million to restore St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church and Greater Union Baptist Church, both in Opelousas. ABORTION-LOUISIANA Louisiana joined conservative states across the nation with laws challenging the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationally. One, a so-called “heartbeat law,”  prohibits abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, often before many women realize they are pregnant. Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted similar laws; they all are being challenged. Louisiana’s law would take effect only if a federal appeals court upholds one in neighboring Mississippi. MEDICAL MARIJUANA In August, Louisiana became the first Deep South state — and one of more than 30 states nationwide — to dispense medical marijuana. The only therapeutic cannabis currently available is a flavored liquid. One bottle can range from about $90 to $220, depending on concentration and pharmacy. About 3,500 people have participated so far. NEW ORLEANS’ NEW AIRPORT New Orleans got a new airport in 2019, three years after construction began, replacing one built in 1959. The $1.3 billion Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport terminal features music venues, rooms for parents to bring small children and many charging stations for electronic devices. The airport also offers a limited number of “guest passes” so people without boarding passes may say goodbye, eat, drink and shop in the concourses. More than 40 concessions include two dozen restaurants ranging from Chick-fil-A to Emeril’s Table. HIGH RIVER-SPILLWAY OPENS TWICE The Mississippi River was so high for so long that the Army Corps of Engineers opened a flood control structure above New Orleans for an unprecedented second time in one year. Fed by rains and melting snows in the Midwest, high water poured through the Bonnet Carré Spillway  for 44 days from February into April, and 79 days starting May 10. The fresh water went through normally brackish Lake Pontchartrain into the Mississippi Sound, endangering fisheries and marine life. CYBERSECURITY ATTACKS Ransomware and other cyberattacks  disrupted state agencies, local school districts and the city of New Orleans. One closed Louisiana’s Office of Motor Vehicles for a week, damaging 10% of the state’s computer servers. Gov. Edwards called the attack “largely unsuccessful” because data wasn’t lost and Louisiana didn’t pay a ransom. He declared an emergency in July as four public school districts were attacked and some networks infected with malware or ransomware. In November, a cyberattack triggered a shutdown of New Orleans’ city government computers. No data was held for ransom. Mayor LaToya Cantrell said about 400 servers were hit and 4,000 computers would be scrubbed as a precaution. Louisiana is establishing a cybersecurity center in Baton Rouge to analyze hacking threats and bolster information sharing among state and federal agencies, industry experts and academics. NOTABLE DEATHS The state mourned several notable figures including Louisiana’s first elected female governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who served from 2004 to 2008. She was 76 and died of melanoma. Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty, died at 86. New Orleans chef Leah Chase, who fed generations of New Orleanians and tourists alike at Dooky Chase’s restaurant, died at 96. Art Neville, who performed with his siblings in The Neville Brothers band and founded the groundbreaking funk group The Meters, died at 81. Dave Bartholomew, who with Fats Domino co-wrote and produced such classics as “Ain’t That a Shame” and ”I’m Walkin’” died at 100. New Orleans singer and piano player John Rebennack  Jr. — better known as Dr. John — who blended black and white musical styles with a gravelly bayou drawl died at 77.",
            "output": [
                "Edwards reelected, black churches torched among top stories."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b517121cc3ce4b54a0c1d0d190fd0c58",
            "input": "\"The New England Patriots might wish this entire business of under-inflated footballs would vanish in a puff of smoke, but it’s a boon for physics teachers who have found themselves suddenly relevant in the world of sports. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a self-declared non-scientist, held a pre-Super Bowl news conference where he attempted to explain why a football inflated indoors would lose pressure after being used outside. \"\"When the footballs are delivered to the officials' locker room, the officials were asked to inflate them to 12.5 pounds per square inch. What exactly they did, I don’t know,\"\" Belichick said. \"\"When the footballs go out on to the field into game conditions ...  That’s where the measurements would be different than what they are, possibly different, than what they are in a controlled environment.\"\" Belichick said when Patriot staffers tested this, they found that the balls \"\"were down approximately one-and-a-half pounds per square inch.\"\" There are too many unknowns to resolve Deflategate, as this flap is called. But we couldn't help but give Belichick's main assertion the PunditFact treatment. The question in this case is what physics tells us about Belichick’s point. Could conditions outside (basically temperature and humidity) bring down the pressure of a football by about 1.5 pounds per square inch? A quick recap The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl on Jan. 18, 2015, by defeating the Indianapolis Colts 45-7. But by the next day, the most interesting number wasn’t the point spread, but the inflation pressure of the Patriots’ footballs. Under NFL rules, each team provides 12 balls, and about two hours before the game, an official verifies that they are inflated to the regulation pressure range of 12.5 to 13.5 pounds per square inch. At half-time, the NFL re-checked the Patriots’ footballs -- reportedly at the request of the Colts but there’s a bit of conflicting information on this -- and found 11 of the 12 were under inflated. By how much? That’s unclear. Some reports say by 2 pounds per square inch. Others say while one ball might have measured that low, the rest were only about 1 pound under. One other essential variable: The temperature on game day was around 50 degrees. No one knows the exact inside temperature. Most people assume it was about 70 degrees. Doing the math After Belichick spoke, ABC News turned to Bill Nye, the popular explainer of all things scientific, to assess the coach’s claim. ABC played up Nye's verdict that Belichick's words \"\"didn’t make any sense,\"\" but from the video, it sounds as though Nye was talking about Belichick's claim that rubbing the footballs would change the pressure, not the impact of temperature. CBS Sports relayed a tweet from another science luminary, physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson who also expressed skepticism. \"\"For the Patriots to blame a change in temperature for 15 percent lower-pressures, requires balls to be inflated with 125-degree air,\"\" Tyson wrote. CBS reported that \"\"Every 10 degree drop in temperature (F) results in about .2 PSI loss in a football.\"\" According to CBS, that meant the weather would account for just a 0.4 pound of pressure loss, and tied that conclusion, loosely, to an Ohio State University physicist. We’ll get back to that CBS story (and its flaws) in a bit. On the other side of the ledger, USA Today interviewed Bowdoin College physics professor Dale Syphers who declared that a drop from room temperature in the 70s down to 40 degrees would reduce the pressure in a football by 1.3 pounds per square inch. The Daily Beast turned to the chair of the Physics Department at Boston College who said that with a 30 degree drop in temperature -- 75 down to 45 degrees -- you would expect the ball pressure to fall by by 1.54 pounds per square inch. Finally, the world of physics is divided between the theoretical physicists and the experimentalists. The physicists cited in the news worked with formulas. HeadSmart Labs, a private firm in Pittsburgh, tested actual footballs. It found that footballs inflated at 75 degrees, then cooled to 50 degrees lost 1.1 pounds of pressure. The lab took one more step. Since it was raining on game day, the staff dampened the balls. This led to a drop of an additional 0.7 pounds of pressure for a total of at least 1.8 pounds per square inch. The physics teachers come off the bench Enter Robert Hilborn of the American Association of Physics Teachers. The Harvard-trained physicist showed in detail how a law of physics, the ideal gas law, applied to the Patriots’ footballs. When a gas cools, it contracts. The ideal gas law helps us put numbers to that relationship between pressure and temperature. Math alert: We’re going to show you pretty much everything, so you can do it yourself at home. \"\"As almost every chemistry and physics student knows, the ideal gas law tells us that Pf = Pi (Tf/Ti),\"\" Hilborn wrote. The final pressure Pf equals the initial pressure Pi times the final temperature divided by the initial temperature Tf/Ti. Plugging in the numbers is simple, so long as you keep two things in mind. First, the pressure isn’t the pressure you see on your pressure gauge. It’s that amount plus the pressure of the atmosphere that’s all around you. It might feel counterintuitive, but when a football comes off the assembly line, before it's ever pumped up, it actually has an internal pressure that you wouldn't notice because it's the same as the pressure we always ignore. That's the pressure that comes from all those miles of air in our atmosphere pushing down on us. That pressure averages around 14.7 pounds per square inch. When you pump air into the football, you are adding pressure on top of the 14.7 that are already there. In Hilborn's math, you'll see he's added in the atmospheric pressure. The other key step is to measure the temperature in Celsius and count from absolute zero. That’s the Kelvin scale. Hilborn used a starting temperature of 70 degrees and a final temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a starting pressure of 12.5 pounds per square inch. \"\"Those numbers give us 27.2 psi for Pi, 294 K for Ti, and 283 K for Tf resulting in Pf = 26.2 psi for the total pressure and a corresponding gauge pressure of 11.5 psi, about 1 psi below the NFL lower limit.\"\" In short, taking the balls outside would bring the pressure down 1 pound per square inch. Hilborn then accounted for the rain that day. Cooling the moist air inside the footballs would shed another 0.2 pounds per square inch. \"\"Combining the air temperature change effect with that of water vapor gives us a total of 1.2 psi, not too far from the figure of 1.4 psi given in one of the early NFL statements,\"\" Hilborn wrote. Hilborn’s results are pure math, and they are largely in line with the test results from the lab in Pittsburgh. The results in other news reports We were troubled by the CBS item that came up with a much lower number of 0.4 pounds per square inch due to a lower outdoor temperature. But when we called Prof. Michael Lisa, the Ohio State University physicist quoted in the CBS article, Lisa said, \"\"CBS got it wrong.\"\" Lisa sent us this chart that you can download showing that for each 10 degrees drop in temperature, pressure drops 0.5 pounds. (The chart’s different lines show that the higher the starting pressure, the greater the impact of falling temperature.) We found that news reports that undercut the Patriots’ explanation used a high number for the loss of pressure. CBS said the footballs lost 2 pounds of pressure. Ditto for a Toronto Sun article. If it turns out that there really was a loss that large, then those arguments hold up. For the moment, we are simply assessing whether the physics back up what Belichick said and he used the 1.5 pound figure. Lisa also affirmed Hilborn’s analysis. \"\"That AAPT guy did a nice job,\"\" Lisa said. Nevertheless, Hilborn himself said no one should rush to judgment. \"\"A conservative conclusion is that temperature changes alone can account for much of the under-inflation,\"\" Hilborn wrote. \"\"But until more accurate information is available about the preparation of and measurement of the footballs’ air pressure, we should not assert that conclusion with a great deal of certainty.\"\" The NFL is investigating and at some point, all the numbers might be known. Or not. Hilborn told PunditFact that the accuracy of the pressure gauges is unclear. One number that will be of interest is the starting pressure for the Colts’ footballs. It's possible they may have deflated as well, but stayed within the legal limits. Our ruling Belichick said that moving the footballs from indoors to outdoors could explain the loss of about 1.5 pounds per square inch of pressure. Experimental and mathematical results are in that ballpark. Lab tests said air temperature alone could bring down the pressure by 1.1 pounds. The ideal gas law predicted a 1 pound loss. The rain that day would explain at least another 0.2 pound shift and possibly as much as 0.7. We lack firm numbers on the actual pressure drop in the Patriots footballs, as well as precise information on the starting and ending temperatures. Within the limits of what the physics alone can tell us at this point, the math gets us pretty close to what Belichick said. With allowances for the uncertain data.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Atmospheric conditions could push a football’s pressure \"\"down approximately one-and-a-half pounds per square inch.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1faf5d652ddb4a6d81f89cd748a471c9",
            "input": "The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Friday that the department said in a statement that the East Hawaii child was transported to Oahu for treatment. The infant is the second child from East Hawaii to contract the disease in 2018. The first was diagnosed in early November. Rat lungworm disease, also known as angiostrongyliasis, is caused by a parasitic roundworm and can affect a person’s brain and spinal cord. Larvae can be passed to humans who ingest raw freshwater shrimp, land crabs and snails or raw produce that contains infected slugs or snails and their slime. ___ Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/",
            "output": [
                "Big Island infant diagnosed with brain parasite."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d1e10eee80dd49c5a38ffd4f4c42730b",
            "input": "The story notes that the extensively hydrolyzed formula is more expensive than standard formula; however, the authors should have indicated how much more expensive hydrolyzed formula is compared to regular formula. Monthly cost comparison of two formulas would have been appropriate as this may be a deciding factor for many families who choose not to breastfeed, or who are weaning. We’ve already penalized the story in “evidence” above for not giving the absolute risk reduction, so we won’t do it again here. The story reports on a study which showed about 50% fewer diabetes antibodies in at-risk children who were fed special hydrogized infant formula. But 50% of what? This may or may not translate into fewer cases of childhood diabetes. If there are other side effects or harms associated with using hydrolyzed versus standard formula, they are not described. There are no real “harms” with using formula, either cow’s milk formula or extensively hydrolyzed formula. It appears the latter may be a better choice because there are fewer proteins broken down for digestion. What is missing here for the reader is a clear estimate of the absolute increase in risk of developing these antibodies. For example, if the risk for infants exposed to hydrolyzed is 1% and the risk for standard formula is 2% this may not be worth the cost. Whereas if the risk for those exposed to hydrolyzed is 5% and for those exposed to standard formula is 10% this may be worth it. Both of these represent a 50% increase in risk, but the absolute differences would have substantially different clinical implications The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story carefully explains the results of the study and is conservative about the role a formula may play in the prevention of Type 1 diabetes in susceptible children. it would have been helpful to indicate the prevalence of type 1 diabetes and how much the risk is increased if you have a first degree relative with type 1, which would have provided some perspective on the meaning of the relative increased risk for developing these auto-antibodies if an infant is exposed to standard formula. The story quotes several clinical experts who provide explanation of the results and put these into context with current formula recommendations. Study authors are cited as well as clinical experts who feel the research is noteworthy, but should not change recommendations for a hydrolyzed formula to prevent Type 1 diabetes. Affliations of all sources are listed in the story postscript. There are many options when weaning an infant from breast milk. The story discusses the NEJM study which compared extensively hydrolyzed formula with regular infant formula. While the more expensive hydrolyzed forumula was associated with fewer cases of Type 1 diabetes antibodies in at-risk children, the story notes that there is not definitive evidence that cow’s milk formula will increase the risk of Type 1 Diabetes compared to other types of formular or breast feeding. Various infant formulas are available when weaning infants from breast milk, or when breastfeeding is not an option. The story discusses research that compared regular infant formula with a type of extensively hydrolyzed formula that helps break down proteins during digestion. This formula may not be available to some parents due to greater expense. It is known that breast feeding is preferable to formula, and that it may offer some protection against the development of Type 1 diabetes. Formula is an option, particularly when breast milk is not available, and using formula will not harm an infant. However, formula may somehow trigger the development of autoantibodies as these proteins are broken down for digestion. More research is needed, but this new information from a well-designed double-blinded RCT trial may guide recommendations and parents decisions in choosing a specialized infant formula that does not require breakdown of so many proteins during digestion. There is some thoughtful independent reporting and the story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Special Infant Formula Might Help Shield Babies from Type 1 Diabetes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bbcf982a1c6d467da54a3b86a5fc563d",
            "input": "All bars in Belgium have been shut since the start of the lockdown a month ago, dealing a blow to smaller brewers such as Brasserie de la Senne, en Stoemelings or La Source Beer, whose products are hard to find in supermarkets, which remain open. To keep business alive, half a dozen of the microbreweries are encouraging their fans to buy online, charging around 50 euros for a case of 24 bottles, bicycle delivery included. Some even offer to donate up to 30 euros or a percentage of such direct beer sales to Brussels hospitals to help fight the pandemic. More than 5,500 people are currently in Belgium’s hospitals with COVID-19, the disease casued by the virus. Jeroen Verhoeven, 42, who runs the Bicy KLET beer delivery  service for Brasserie de la Senne, said he has been in business since 2013, but that during the lockdown volumes have soared and he sometimes has to ask friends to help, to meet all the demand. Before the lockdown he would deliver about 40 cases a month but now he is delivering that number in just one day, he said. “It is now really taking off, I sometimes deliver 40 cases a day,” he told Reuters. As soon as he gets money in his account, he hops on the bike and delivers the beer, depositing the crate on the doorstep to avoid direct contact with the buyer. “It is nicer now in the lockdown because there is far less traffic in the streets,” Verhoeven said.",
            "output": [
                "Yearning for a pint? Brussels brewers deliver to homes during coronavirus lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1225f7de8a6439db94840a1e7eabe8d",
            "input": "In responses provided to Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, the VA said it never “encouraged or discouraged” its government-run hospitals to use hydroxychloroquine on patients even as President Donald Trump heavily promoted the drug for months without scientific evidence of its effectiveness. Still, it acknowledged that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie had wrongly asserted publicly without evidence that the drug had been shown to benefit younger veterans. The VA, the nation’s largest hospital system, also agreed more study was needed on the drug and suggested its use was now limited to extenuating circumstances, such as last-ditch efforts to save a coronavirus patient’s life. In the first week of May, 17 patients had received the drug for COVID-19, according to VA data obtained by the AP. The department declined to say how many patients had been treated with hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus since January, but a recent analysis of VA hospital data showed that hundreds of veterans had taken it by early April. “VA has not endorsed nor discouraged the use of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients and has left those decisions to providers and their patients,” the VA said. “While all drugs have the potential for adverse events and some drugs in particular, like hydroxychloroquine, are known to have specific risks, when they are used carefully and judiciously, they can be managed safely.” As of Friday, 11,883 veterans had been confirmed to be infected with the virus and 985 had died, according to VA statistics. Responding to written questions from Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, the department admitted it had no studies or evidence to back up Wilkie’s claim that hydroxychloroquine had shown effectiveness in younger veterans in particular. “The use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID has dropped off dramatically,” the VA said. Trump repeatedly has pushed the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin, but no large, rigorous studies have found them safe or effective for COVID-19, and they can cause heart rhythm problems and other side effects. The Food and Drug Administration has warned against the drug combination and said hydroxychloroquine should only be used for the coronavirus in formal studies. Two large observational studies, each involving around 1,400 patients in New York, recently found no benefit from hydroxychloroquine. Two new ones published Thursday in the journal BMJ, one by French researchers and the other from China, reached the same conclusion. Tester, who received VA’s responses this week, said he remained concerned about the drug’s safety. “Any drug used to treat patients with COVID-19, especially veterans living with debilitating preexisting conditions, must be proven safe and effective before it’s administered,” he said. “Given recent studies from both VA and other hospitals, hydroxychloroquine seems to fall short of those requirements.” Major veterans organizations and Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had called on the VA to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on vets. Last week, a whistleblower complaint by former Health and Human Services official Rick Bright alleged that the Trump administration wanted to “flood” hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug. Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Friday that his group was heartened by the VA’s preliminary explanations and called it imperative that it release additional details. “It remains concerning that it took this long to begin to get answers to basic questions,” he said. The analysis of VA hospital data, done by independent researchers at two universities with VA approval, was not a rigorous experiment. Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 older male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at VA medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. About 28% of veterans who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. In its response to Congress, the department provided copies of some of its guidance issued to VA physicians on hydroxychloroquine from March to May. It made clear that hydroxychloroquine should be considered mostly for use in clinical trials or when medically appropriate after a full discussion with the patient about risks. The VA did not explain the circumstances in which veterans in the recent analysis of hospital data were given the drug, only suggesting that “it is possible” they were prescribed as part of last efforts to save a patient’s life. “Based on the principles of patient-centric care, it would be inappropriate to deny patients access to hydroxychloroquine under these dire circumstances,” VA wrote. It said it had followed the approach of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases by “summarizing the medical literature regarding unapproved treatments for COVID-19 and making that available to VA clinicians in their shared decision-making with patients.” That guidance now includes preliminary studies on remdesivir, which has been federally approved for emergency use to treat COVID-19. One VA document dated March 25 notes a few “very small cohort studies” showing possible “beneficial effects” but adds “these data have NOT been verified in randomized controlled trials and are extremely preliminary.” The VA acknowledged to Congress that it had placed bulk orders for hydroxychloroquine from Feb. 1 to April 23 for 6.3 million tablets worth $208,000 in anticipation of a possible shortage of the drug, but that most of it was being used for approved uses, such as treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It said it did not have breakdowns. The department also said it planned further studies and clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine, including whether it could help prevent infection in veterans who were potentially exposed to COVID-19. It is in discussions with Novartis to have some VA facilities participate in a national clinical trial that will look at the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin in patients with moderate and severe disease. ___ AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "VA says it won’t stop use of unproven drug on vets for now."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76fc0997bf4247cb8fd31609e3745019",
            "input": "Department of Health administrator Michael Hill says McHenry County planned to use the Three Oaks Assisted Living facility in the northern Illinois community of Cary as an early voting place. Those plans were postponed because about 30 elderly residents and staff members became ill. Early voting is scheduled to begin Monday, but Hill said it will not be held at the facility until the outbreak has been contained. Norovirus is sometimes referred to as the “stomach flu,” even though it is not a strain of influenza, which affects the upper respiratory system. It affects the intestinal tract and causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Symptoms usually last 24-48 hours.",
            "output": [
                "Norovirus at assisted living facility affects early voting."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33f7ae40d16743e1a1e8fd9c9041523c",
            "input": "Food and Drug Administration officials said they are trying  to determine whether the chemical — over-sulfated chondroitin  sulfate — was purposely or inadvertently added during  manufacturing in China. “We don’t know whether the contaminant was introduced  intentionally or by accident,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock,  director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Chondroitin sulfate is widely sold as a dietary supplement  to treat joint pain. The over-sulfated version is not known to  occur naturally and therefore likely was chemically modified,  Woodcock told reporters on a conference call. It is still unclear whether the contaminant is the cause of  up to 19 deaths and hundreds of serious breathing problems and  other reactions reported to the FDA, she said. The substance mimics the blood-thinning actions of heparin  but is not FDA-approved for use in medicines, Woodcock said. In  some batches, the contaminant accounted for between 2 percent  and 50 percent of the samples, she said. FDA officials said chemically manipulating chondroitin  sulfate, which is widely available from animal sources, would  be cheaper than getting raw heparin from pig intestines. Last year, the FDA found pet food ingredients imported from  China were tainted, killing more than 200 cats and dogs and  causing widespread alarm. The Chinese maker involved was later  indicted in the United States for fraud over adding the  chemical melamine in an attempt to bolster the value of its  ingredient. The pet food case drew attention to China’s role in the  U.S. food and drug supply and ignited criticism over the FDA’s  lack of oversight — and little cooperation from its Chinese  counterparts. This time around, FDA officials said they are getting  needed help from China. “It’s quite a different scenario than we had a year ago,”  FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs Murray  Lumpkin, told reporters on the phone, while speaking from  China. FDA’s Woodcock said it remains unclear whether the heparin  contamination was intentional. Many scientists are studying  over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate, which could have  accidentally made its way into heparin products, she said. The FDA announced on March 5 it had found a “heparin-like”  contaminant in some of the drug’s active ingredient supplied to  Baxter by a plant in Changzhou, China, owned by Wisconsin-based  Scientific Protein Laboratories. Investigators had been working  since then to determine its precise identity. In a statement, Scientific Protein Laboratories said a  consultant working for the Changzhou plant concluded the  contaminant is not linked to the plant’s production but likely  occurred earlier in the supply chain. Baxter, in a statement, agreed with the FDA’s finding of  over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate but also said the substance  contaminated the product before it reached SPL. FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said the agency was still  investigating at what point the contamination occurred. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers tentatively scheduled hearings on  the issue for April 15 and April 22. “This latest development underscores our concerns that FDA  does not have a robust enough presence overseas in conducting  inspections,” House of Representatives Energy and Commerce  Committee Chairman John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said in a  statement. Last month, Baxter recalled most of its U.S. supplies of  heparin, used in kidney dialysis as well as heart and other  surgeries to prevent blood clots. The FDA has received more than 785 reports of heparin  reactions, including 19 deaths in patients treated with some  brand of heparin. Baxter has said only four fatalities might be  related to its heparin and there is not enough information to  say the drug was the cause. The agency has told border inspectors to stop all shipments  of imported heparin intended for the U.S. market so they can be  tested for the contaminant. Germany also has ordered a recall of heparin made by  Rotexmedica after reports of allergic reactions there.",
            "output": [
                "FDA pinpoints contaminant in Baxter's heparin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a24bf3b5d25b4f42ba9f24ac5790f47c",
            "input": "Bayer had previously disclosed 5,200 such lawsuits against Monsanto, which it acquired in a $63 billion deal completed in June. “The number of plaintiffs in both state and federal litigation is approximately 8,000 as of end-July. These numbers may rise or fall over time but our view is that the number is not indicative of the merits of the plaintiffs’ cases,” Bayer Chief Executive Werner Baumann told analysts in a conference call on Thursday. Bayer shares have lost more than 10 percent since Monsanto was ordered on Aug. 10 to pay $289 million in damages in the first U.S. lawsuit over glyphosate-based weedkillers such as Roundup and Ranger Pro. The legal headache adds to a number of distractions for Bayer, such as falling consumer care product sales and a rebuke on production practices from the U.S. drugs watchdog, as it seeks to strengthen its drug development pipeline and has begun integrating Monsanto into its organisation. “While this is disappointing, it is not surprising. Indeed, in our litigation scenario analysis, we assumed a doubling of cases to 10,400,” said Alistair Campbell, analyst at brokerage Berenberg. Bayer shares were down 1.8 percent at 1600 GMT while the German blue chip index .GDAXI was up 0.2 percent. CEO Baumann reiterated Bayer’s view that the jury’s verdict on Aug. 10 was inconsistent with the science-based conclusions of regulators. Bayer said it will initially petition the judge to reverse the jury’s verdict from Aug. 10, and “if necessary” challenge the ruling with California appellate courts, which will take at least a year. When asked whether Bayer would consider settling cases out of court, he said: “We will vigorously defend this case and all upcoming cases.”  Bayer executives on the call stressed that demand for glyphosate and seeds for crops that tolerate the broad-spectrum herbicide had not been affected by the verdict. “Nothing whatsoever has changed in the regulatory status of the product. There is simply very high demand, and has been for many decades for glyphosate. It is an invaluable tool for growers,” said Liam Condon, the head of Bayer’s newly enlarged Crop Science division. Bayer also said on Thursday that it sees no reason to re-assess the legal risks from Monsanto. Last week Bayer, which is retiring the Monsanto name, launched the integration of Monsanto into its organisation. That is seen as a daunting task even without the litigation, almost two years after it signed the $63 billion deal. Bayer’s second-quarter results, due on Sept. 5, would include provisioning for legal defence costs but no money would at that point be set aside for any possible future damages, finance chief Wolfgang Nickl said.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer's Monsanto faces 8,000 lawsuits on glyphosate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae83e6a553d7478d9f95737bfc402191",
            "input": "London’s Metropolitan Police said the company had been charged with seven counts of supplying a medicinal product which was not of the nature or quality specified in the prescription. It was also accused of failing to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that patients were not infected by contaminants. The north London company said in a statement: “As founders of ITH we have every sympathy for all the families affected, regardless of the cause. However, we are disappointed by the decision to charge the company and will vigorously defend this case.”  The police investigation was launched in September 2014 following the death of a baby three months earlier at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital. The death of a second baby at the same hospital and a third at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge, central England, in June 2014 were then also investigated. The inquiry followed an outbreak of a bacterial infection that affected some babies receiving Total Parental Nutrition (TPN), an intravenous feed. The seven babies involved in the investigation, including the three who died, had all received the feed. The investigation established that the cause of death of the first baby could be linked to TPN, although the deaths of the other two were not found to be linked. Five hospitals in total were involved in the investigation, the other three being Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Lister Hospital in Stevenage, all in central England. ITH Pharma, which was founded in 2008, said it had manufactured more than 1.4-million components of TPN since its launch and was the sole commercial supplier of reactive feeding solutions to the National Health Service. “This product has helped thousands of extremely vulnerable infants survive premature and complex births,” it said. The case is due to start at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Dec. 17.",
            "output": [
                "UK police charge pharmaceutical company over hospital baby deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a322f55700347e8bf253499ffe57449",
            "input": "The story of Munira Abdulla was first published by Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper on Monday. The newspaper reported that in 1991, Abdulla was with her son when a school bus collided with their car. Her son, cradled by his mother before the crash, escaped with a bruise to the head. Abdulla was 32 at the time. That same son, himself now 32, was quoted saying his mother regained consciousness in a German hospital last year. A photo shows her in a wheelchair visiting the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, where she now resides. Friedemann Mueller, the principal consultant at the Schoen Clinic in Bad Aibling, told German news site Spiegel Online that his patient had until recently been in a state of “minimal consciousness,” during which she was able to open her eyes and briefly focus on something, such as her son’s face. Mueller, a neurological specialist, told Spiegel Online that Abdulla’s vegetative state shouldn’t be confused with a coma. “No patient simply wakes up from a coma after 27 years,” he was quoted as saying. “The physical and mental state of the patient increased enormously over a period of a few weeks,” he added. “She can now interact consciously with her environment and participate in family life again.” During her years in hospitals, Abdulla was tube-fed and underwent physiotherapy to prevent her muscles deteriorating. After she was transferred to Germany, Mueller said doctors took a holistic approach to her treatment: controlling her muscle contractions, changing the medication she received for epilepsy and using physiotherapy to allow her to leave her room in a wheelchair, so she could get more stimuli, such as bird song. Mueller said the changes weren’t sudden, but gradual. After a while she was able to open her mouth when asked to, then say her son’s name, greet doctors and recite some verses from the Quran. “The case is very unusual, but not unique,” Spiegel Online quoted Mueller as saying. He cited a patient in West Virginia who began speaking again after 20 years. Mueller said Abdulla’s case offers hope for some patients with similar conditions, but there’s no guarantee of improvement especially for people who have suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen.",
            "output": [
                "Emirati woman wakes up from stupor after 27 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c02910f7fda4eca86a3efb9922db77a",
            "input": "The story offers an estimate of the cost of an acupuncture session at $125. The study participants received nine separate sessions, which would, by this estimate, total $1,125. The story also mentions that some insurance carriers will pay for acupuncture treatments. The story reports an improvement in perceived pain relief by the participants receiving actual acupuncture (41 percent) versus those in the control group getting sham treatments (27 percent). It also reports that the reduction in pain persists for up to a year, although not to the same degree. It’s helpful that the story lists the relative reduction in pain seen in both groups for comparison purposes. However, the story would have been stronger had it indicated how the pain score used in the study works (e.g. What’s the range of the scale?) and what the absolute reduction in pain scores was in both groups (e.g. If pain scores were already low to begin with, a 41 percent reduction might not be very meaningful). We would need that type of information to be able to judge the story Satisfactory on this criterion. This story made no mention of potential harms from the use of acupuncture although the research paper clearly identified some “mild adverse events” affecting participants. These included headaches, pain and bruising at the acupuncture sites, and an aggravation of some fibromyalgia symptoms. While these are far from serious harms, readers deserve to know that they are possible outcomes. The story reports on the findings of a double-blinded, multi-center study comparing real acupuncture to a sham treatment. The description of the study design is solid and includes discussion of limitations and confounding factors. Quoting two different experts, the story suggests that the pain reductions in the acupuncture group might have been due to their increasing use of antidepressants during the study, which “may have artificially boosted the positive results.” This is an interesting observation, although a look at supplemental table 5 in the paper shows that the sham treatment group’s use of antidepressants also increased during the study, and to a greater extent than the acupuncture group. To us, this suggests that the persistent benefit in terms of pain in the acupuncture group is unlikely to be due mainly to the use of these other medications. This story does not appear to commit disease mongering. The story quotes experts other than those conducting the research, as well as providing additional information from other sources. One of the quoted experts appears not to be an acupuncturist, which is good. The story does not mention any potential conflicts of interest but the research paper itself states there were no conflicts. Readers might have benefited, however, from knowing the funding source for this research, which was The Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the Andalusian Public Health System, two public agencies. Acupuncture is considered to be an alternative, or complement, to traditional western medicine. The story mentions that most fibromyalgia patients take medications for pain, depression, and other symptoms, and that they may also receive other alternative therapies, such as massage. Acupuncture is now considered a fairly common alternative therapy for a number of conditions and is usually available in most locales. The story hints as much when it says that 9 out of 10 patients with fibromyalgia report using some form of alternative therapy, including acupuncture. Previous studies of acupuncture among fibromyalgia patients showed conflicting results. In this case, the story identifies that the acupuncture was individualized to the particular patients, as opposed to some general acupuncture approach, and compares an experimental group of participants with a control group, something missing in some earlier studies. There is enough original reporting here that we can be confident the story is not based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Acupuncture May Help Ease Fibromyalgia Pain, Study Finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab8d612e9bb84a24acfdecf2964244f0",
            "input": "Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, unleashing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The aftermath may prove to be even deadlier with 1.85 million people displaced after entire villages were submerged and households swept away. “We’ve now registered one death from cholera. The person came here in a very critical condition. The deceased is the first to die from cholera inside our health facilities,” Mozambique’s National Director for Medical Assistance, Ussene Isse, said on public television channel TVN. Isse said 517 cases of the disease had been reported by Sunday, up from the figure of 271 announced on Saturday. Cholera is endemic to Mozambique, which has had regular outbreaks over the past five years. About 2,000 people were infected in the last outbreak, which ended in February 2018, according to the WHO. The scale of the damage to Beira’s water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with its dense population, have raised fears that another epidemic would be difficult to put down.",
            "output": [
                "First cholera death recorded since cyclone hit Mozambique port, cases double."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05d018d31e6a45dc86b369c7fc639ffe",
            "input": "This summer, she’ll test her rowing talent in a far more challenging environment, where small crews of rowers rarely go: the Pacific Ocean. Dawson is taking part in a 2,400-mile rowing race from Monterey, California, to Honolulu. She and three teammates are aiming to break a world record — 50 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes, set in 2014 — for a women’s rowing team. Dawson and her three teammates will begin rowing across the Pacific Ocean on June 2. She plans to post updates on her personal blog, http://row4climate.com/ and on her team’s blog, http://www.rippleeffectrowing.com/ But they also want to put a spotlight on the far-reaching impacts of humankind on the Earth by rowing across parts of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a vast gyre of pulverized plastic garbage occupying an area roughly four times the size of California. Dawson, who studied atmospheric sciences at the UW and will begin working on her doctorate at Stanford University this fall, plans to send photos and videos of the garbage patch. She hopes to record the journey on her blog and the team’s blog as she goes. “It’s going to be a hard, demanding journey — and that’s what it’s going to take to combat climate change,” said Dawson, 22, who was a member of the UW crew in 2016 and 2017. The four women will alternate two hours of rowing with two hours of sleep, 24 hours a day, for 40 to 50 days. They’ll be rowing a specially designed oceangoing rowboat they’ve named the Ripple Effect. Their journey is part of the third Great Pacific Race, organized by New Ocean Wave, a British company. It involves eight teams of rowers crossing the Pacific. They are the only all-women team in the race. Dargan Frierson, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the UW and one of Dawson’s former professors, described Dawson as “the type of person who tries to do things that seem impossible. “I hope it raises awareness about the types of changes we’re making to the environment,” he said “The oceans are different from when she was born (in 1996). They are a lot hotter, a lot more acidic. And, there’s a lot more plastic.” One day last week, Dawson and her coach, Conal Groom of the Seattle Rowing Center, carried a one-person shell out onto the water east of the Ballard Bridge. Dawson sat on the impossibly small seat and rowed the sleek shell past a line of brawny, battered commercial-fishing boats with names like Determined, Aleutian Challenger, Sea Venture and Botany Bay. Skimming along under a cloudy sky, she scattered a flock of ducks and passed a partly submerged plastic bag floating in the water. In an oceangoing race, “technique is useless,” said Groom, who rowed in the 2000 Summer Olympics. “It’s basically fitness. My job is to make sure she has enough training.” Dawson typically rows up to two hours a day in the morning. In the afternoon, she works out for another two hours, doing a range of fitness activities including cycling and weightlifting. When she’s not training, she’s working to raise $20,000 to help fund the journey. The race will hinge on things that are beyond her team’s control — weather, currents, waves. “And luck,” Groom said. Dawson has only met one of her teammates in person. Two are from Great Britain, and one is from Brazil. They connected over the internet. They’re coordinating the trip via daily Skype calls. They’ll meet in Monterey next month, for the final leg of training. The race begins June 2. “It’s going to be a crazy experience,” she said. Dawson has displayed a seriousness of purpose and fascination with the natural world that impressed adults when she was just a kid, growing up in Port Townsend. When she was 10 years old, she and her sister, Chloe, began volunteering at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, where the girls met Libby Palmer, its co-founder. Palmer was struck by Dawson’s maturity, and her ability to do sustained, concentrated work and to absorb information like a sponge. In 2008, the science center started a four-year project to clean and reassemble the skeleton of an orca whale that had washed up on Dungeness Spit in 2001. Eliza and Chloe volunteered for four years, meticulously cleaning the bones and helping to assemble and position the 24-foot-long skeleton for display. Finding a fully intact orca carcass on a beach is rare — the mammals usually sink in open water when they die. Research revealed that the dead orca was heavily contaminated with toxins. “That was a wake-up call for me,” said Dawson. She’d grown up sailing and rowing in what seemed like the pristine waters around Port Townsend. How could a whale living in those same waters be full of toxins? The orca project sparked a growing interest in how the ocean was being changed by acidification and carbon dioxide. Those interests combined with her love of math and physics. “Climate change is a fact, not a belief,” she said. “It is mathematical equations. It is physics . it is clear the climate is changing, and it will affect everyone.” Frierson, the UW professor, met Dawson when she visited his lab as a high-school student and invited her to join his lab to do research as a freshman. “She has the determination, the intelligence that you don’t see in many students,” he said. He hopes students and faculty in atmospheric sciences will be able to aid Dawson’s journey — giving the team a heads-up about upcoming weather and other details like projections of wave heights. “Even just things like forecasting cloudiness might help her to know how long she can use her electric devices,” which are solar-powered, he said. “I’m hoping we can be useful to her, and get some good experience forecasting a place that’s not forecast that much.” Dawson is also working with EarthGames, a group of researchers, game developers and students who develop video and board games about the natural world, and who plan to release a game about Dawson’s journey shortly before it begins. This fall, she will start a doctorate program at Stanford University, where she plans to study why the Antarctic ice sheets are collapsing and what effect the retreating ice could have on sea-level rise. Dawson is confident in the boat, which has two very small cabins for resting and sleeping, and two seats for the rowers. An emergency vessel will be in the area, and a helicopter could airlift a rower to safety if the worst happened. “They’re going to have the latest technology — she’s such a whiz at everything technological,” Palmer said. “There’s nothing macho about their approach. They’re working with a lot of expert people who are lending her a hand.” The boat will contain all the food needed for the trip, most of it dehydrated, and is equipped with a desalinator to make potable water out of seawater, along with a GPS tracking device and a satellite phone. “I have a lot of trust in her, in knowing what her limits are,” Frierson said. “I just know this, from the academic side, that she’s not a person who tries to pretend she can do things she can’t.” ___ Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com",
            "output": [
                "Woman to row across ocean for environmental awareness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-377368de07a745149838f153d35b1f89",
            "input": "The new estimate of nearly 3,000 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 and knocked out the entire electrical grid was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. “We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access,” Gov. Ricardo Rossello told reporters. “I think the lesson is to anticipate the worst. ... Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, in hindsight, things could’ve been handled differently.” He said he is creating a commission to study the hurricane response, and a registry of people vulnerable to the next hurricane, such as the elderly, the bedridden and kidney dialysis patients. Rossello acknowledged Puerto Rico remains vulnerable to another major storm. He said the government has improved its communication systems and established a network to distribute food and medicine, but he noted that there are still 60,000 homes without a proper roof and that the power grid is still unstable. “A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable,” said Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken institute. Tuesday’s finding is almost twice the government’s previous estimate, included in a recent report to Congress, that there were 1,427 more deaths than normal in the three months after the storm. The George Washington researchers said the official count from the Sept. 20 hurricane was low in part because doctors were not trained in how to classify deaths after a disaster. The number of deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 was 22 percent higher than during the same period in previous years, Goldman said. Donald Berry, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who was not involved in the study, told The Associated Press in an email that he believes the report is more accurate than the one released by Harvard investigators in May that estimated up to 4,600 more deaths than usual occurred. He said the data sources used by George Washington also are better, “but its accuracy is not as great as they advertise.” “If the true number of deaths attributable to Maria turns out to be 2,000 then I would not be surprised,” he said. The number of dead has political implications for the Trump administration, which was accused of responding half-heartedly to the disaster. Shortly after the storm, when the official death toll stood at 16, President Donald Trump marveled over the small loss of life compared to that of “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, was directly responsible for about 1,200 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center. That does not include indirect deaths of the sort the George Washington researchers counted in Puerto Rico. The White House issued a statement on Tuesday noting that it sent 12,000 personnel to Puerto Rico for response and recovery efforts, and said it would continue to support the island’s government and its communities in their recovery for years to come. “The American people, including those grieving the loss of a loved one, deserve no less. The president remains proud of all of the work the federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico,” it said. Yet many remain outraged at both the local and federal governments. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat, said the report shows the U.S. government failed the people of Puerto Rico. “These numbers are only the latest to underscore that the federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate and, as a result, thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives,” she said in a statement. There is no national standard for how to count disaster-related deaths. While the National Hurricane Center reports only direct deaths, such as those caused by flying debris or drowning, some local governments may include indirect deaths from such things as heart attacks and house fires. Researchers with George Washington said they counted deaths over the span of six months — a much longer period than usual — because so many people were without power during that time. “That caused a number of issues,” Goldman said, explaining that people were forced to exert themselves physically or were exposed to intense heat without fans or air conditioning. “It’s fairly striking that you have so many households without electricity for so long. That’s unusual in the U.S. after a disaster.” Power has not yet been fully restored to Puerto Rico nearly a year after the hurricane, and outages remain common. Puerto Rico’s government released data in June showing increases in several illnesses in 2017 that could have been linked to the storm: Cases of sepsis, a serious bloodstream infection usually caused by bacteria, rose from 708 in 2016 to 835 last year. Deaths from diabetes went from 3,151 to 3,250, and deaths from heart illnesses increased from 5,417 to 5,586. Bethzaida Rosado said government and health care officials were not prepared for the storm, and she is still angry her 76-year-old mother died because oxygen tanks were not available on the island after the hurricane. “Do you know what it’s like to see your mother run out of oxygen?” she said. “I don’t wish that on anyone.” Months ago, the Rossello administration stopped updating its official death toll at 64 and ordered the independent investigation amid suspicions the dead were substantially undercounted. The first phase of the study cost $305,000. In the second phase, the researchers plan to focus on the causes of death. The researchers found that the risk of death was 45 percent higher for those living in impoverished communities, and that men over 65 saw a continuous elevated risk of death. They also reported that physicians and others told them that Puerto Rico’s government did not notify them about federal guidelines on how to document deaths related to a major disaster. “Others expressed reluctance to relate deaths to hurricanes due to concern about the subjectivity of this determination and about liability,” the report said. For the study, the researchers reviewed mortality data from July 2010 to February 2018. They also took into account an 8 percent drop in Puerto Rico’s population in the six months after the storm, when tens of thousands fled because of the damage. However, they did not share details of their methodology, saying those will be released if the study is published in a scientific journal. “We did not cherry-pick, I can promise you,” Goldman said. “We used very rigorous methodology.” The study also found that government emergency plans in place when Maria hit were not designed for hurricanes greater than a Category 1. Maria was a Category 4 with 154 mph winds. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billion. The researchers made several recommendations, including more emergency planning and government training for doctors on filling out death certificates. They also said the public health system needs to be strengthened, though Goldman said they don’t know yet whether those weaknesses contributed to storm-related deaths. Rossello pledged to carry out the recommendations, though there are questions about Puerto Rico’s ability to do so. The island is trying to restructure a portion of its more than $70 billion public debt amid a 12-year recession.",
            "output": [
                "Hurricane’s death toll in Puerto Rico put at nearly 3,000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8762b56333d740f4af23e7980cd893de",
            "input": "\"Amid ongoing protests in Ferguson, Mo., the national conversation about racial justice and police force has ignored a critical point that needs to be discussed, said Fox News pundit Juan Williams Civil rights activists and black leaders have failed to address the very thing that’s fueling conservative, white backlash — the high crime rate among the black community, particularly among young black men, Williams said on Aug. 24th’s Fox News Sunday. \"\"I think there’s fear of intimidation, harassment being legitimized by the fact that there is a high rate of crime, especially among young black men,\"\" Williams said. \"\"No. 1 cause of death, young black men 15 to 34 — murder. Who’s committing the murder? Not police. Other black men.\"\" Last year, PolitiFact found that 93 percent of murder victims were killed by someone who shares their race. This time, we want to check out Williams’ claim that homicide is the No. 1 cause of death for black men 15-34 years old. Unnatural causes We looked at numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lists the leading causes of death across all demographics. Experts said that CDC data, compiled from coroner reports, are in line with FBI numbers, sourced from police reports. The CDC does not distinguish between the types of homicide (criminal, justified, etc.) or the types of accidents (auto accidents, falls, firearm discharge, etc.). The numbers for 2011, the most recent CDC findings, are consistent with data from previous years. According to the CDC, homicide was indeed the No. 1 killer of black men between the ages of 15 and 34 in 2011. Accidents ranked second in causes of death, and suicide claimed the third amount of black male lives between 15 and 24 years old, while heart disease ranked third for men 24-34. Leading causes of death among black males 1st 2nd 3rd All ages Diseases of the heart Malignant neoplasms Accidents 1-4 Accidents Homicide Congenital malformations 5-14 Accidents Malignant neoplasms Homicide 15-24 Homicide Accidents Suicide 25-34 Homicide Accidents Diseases of the heart 35-44 Diseases of the heart Accidents Homicide 45-54 Diseases of the heart Malignant neoplasms Accidents 55-84 Malignant neoplasms Diseases of the heart Cerebrovascular diseases 84-older Diseases of the heart Malignant neoplasms Cerebrovascular diseases Source: CDC Compared to other ethnicities, the numbers really stand out. Forty percent of African-American males 15-34 who died were murdered, according to the CDC, compared to just 3.8 percent of white males who died. Overall, 14 percent of all men 15-34 who died in 2011 were murdered. In 2011, black males 15-34 were 10 times more likely to die of murder than whites of the same age group. Sources: CDC, PunditFact calculations For men of all ages, homicide was ranked fifth in leading causes of deaths for blacks (4.6 percent), seventh for Hispanics (2.8 percent), and ninth for American Indians (2.3 percent). Homicide was not one of the top 15 causes of death for whites 15-34. Color lines Why are so many young black males dying from homicide? As the laws of aging go, younger men are less prone to fall victim to natural causes of death, so they are more likely to die of unnatural causes. And the racial disparity between those causes has partially to do with the likelihood of getting into car-related accidents, said James Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University. \"\"Suburban whites drive more than urban blacks, and putting in more miles on highways —  that’s important because not a lot of people are going to get killed in fender benders in neighborhood streets,\"\" Fox said. \"\"There are relatively few auto-accidents in black urban areas.\"\" Beyond driving habits, the criminal homicide rate among young black males is significantly higher than other groups. This, experts agreed, has to do with poverty and geography. The difference in social structures, access to jobs, educational opportunities, and many other factors between impoverished black neighborhoods and others is often a matter of life and death, according to Eli Silverman, professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. \"\"The (homicide) numbers highlight the condition in minority areas, where a lot of violence occurs and the whole way of life is further intensified because police surveillance is always trying to track down people,\"\" he said. \"\"People have heightened survival instincts, will do anything to survive, and they’ll seek retribution for anything...because they don’t trust law enforcement.\"\" Though it is tempting to pinpoint one cause as more impactful than others, Silverman cautions against singling out poverty or drugs or any other factor as the cause, because all of them intermix and interact. Our ruling Williams said that the No. 1 cause of death for black men 15-34 years old is murder. CDC data supports the claim. Out of all causes of death, homicide claimed about 40 percent of black lives between 15 and 34 years. This was significantly higher than the national average for males of that age group, and all other racial groups.\"",
            "output": [
                "The No. 1 cause of death for African-American males 15-34 is murder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2478e259ca8b4b4bb1efef814c717b72",
            "input": "For stent patients, use of Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo Co  Ltd’s prasugrel could offer better protection against heart  attack, stroke and death from cardiovascular events than  standard treatment with Plavix, researchers said in an article  published in the journal Lancet’s online edition. The results of the sub-analysis of data from the  TRITON-TIMI 38 trial were being presented Saturday at the  American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago. Study investigators found that intensive anti-clotting  therapy with prasugrel resulted in fewer serious complications,  including stent-related blood clots known as stent thrombosis,  than with standard Plavix, regardless of the type of stent  used. A 58 percent reduction in stent thrombosis was seen with  prasugrel compared with Plavix. “Stent thrombosis was reduced both early and late after  stent placement in patients randomly assigned prasugrel,” the  researchers said. Stents are small wire mesh tubes inserted into the coronary  arteries that supply blood to the heart to help keep them from  narrowing again after they have been cleared of blockages in an  angioplasty procedure. The researchers, led by Stephen Wiviott of Brigham and  Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, did a sub-analysis  of the TRITON-TIMI data to assess the rate, outcomes and  prevention of coronary events in 12,844 patients with different  types of stents who were treated with prasugrel plus aspirin,  or Plavix, also known as clopidogrel, plus aspirin. Roughly half of the patients received bare metal stents and  half received stents coated with a drug to prevent re-clogging. Drug-eluting stents reduce the need for repeat procedures but  raise the risk of stent thrombosis. Efforts to reduce the risk  of stent-related clots, stroke or heart attack have focused on  anti-clotting therapy. The original TRITON-TIMI study of heart patients, first  unveiled in November, showed prasugrel was 19 percent more  effective than Plavix in preventing cardiovascular death,  nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, but caused a significantly  higher amount of serious bleeding. Plavix, one of the world’s best-selling drugs, is sold by  Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis. Lilly in December asked the U.S. Food and Drug  Administration to approval prasugrel, considered the most  important experimental medicine in its pipeline. If approved,  Lilly said the drug’s brand name would be Effient.",
            "output": [
                "Lilly drug reduces stent clot risks, study finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f43213d3e21f44dc935913a2efea08fd",
            "input": "\"During a March coronavirus briefing, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the state has one of the lowest coronavirus death rates in the country — a trend he said he hopes will continue through April. \"\"If you look at the death rate in Texas, per capita of 29 million people, we're one of the lowest in the country,\"\" he said. \"\"But we need to continue that for the rest of April. And even be better at that.\"\" The first issue here is that Patrick is conflating two calculations in his statement: the death rate for the coronavirus and the number of coronavirus deaths per capita in Texas. The death rate of a particular illness or disease is calculated by dividing the number of fatalities by the number of confirmed cases of the illness. A geography’s total population isn’t a factor. It is possible to look at the number of coronavirus deaths per capita, but it says less about the danger posed by the virus than the death rate. To give Patrick a fair shake, we’ll take a look at both of these figures and how Texas compares to other states. Patrick did not return a request for comment seeking clarification on his statement. \"\"The death rate is generally a function of the number of people infected,\"\" said Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in an email. \"\"We are often unsure of this because this depends on sampling, and the tests deployed.\"\" For this reason, we’ll also look at the number of tests administered by each state. As more tests are administered and more cases are identified, the death rate for the virus will change. Given that the number of cases and fatalities is constantly changing, this fact-check will use data from March 31 — the day Patrick made his statement. Along these lines, it is important to remember that the death rate at this point in time is just a snapshot. \"\"Case fatality rates are not constant. They can change considerably during an epidemic if, for example, it is discovered that there are many more milder cases than originally thought,\"\" according to a statement from the World Health Organization to PolitiFact at the end of March. The WHO also noted that the rate may vary across different geographies due to \"\"demographic factors, for example differences in the age structure of the population.\"\" End of March numbers At the time of Patrick’s remarks, there were 3,266 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Texas and 41 related deaths reported by state health authorities. This puts the approximate death rate for the virus at 1.26%, meaning 1.26% of people who tested positive for the virus died. Looking at all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, Texas is among the areas with the lowest coronavirus death rate. Eleven states had a lower death rate when Patrick made his statement, including several with just one death: Wisconsin (1.18%), Missouri (1.06%), Tennessee (1.03%), South Dakota (0.93%), New Hampshire, (0.82%), West Virginia (0.62%), Utah (0.56%), North Carolina (0.53%), Hawaii (0.47%) and Wyoming, which had reported zero coronavirus deaths on the last day of March. \"\"It appears that Texas is among the states with low coronavirus deaths, but that is still true of large portions of the U.S. at this point,\"\" said Dr. Dhitinut Ratnapradipa, an environmental health professor at Sam Houston State University. At the time of Patrick’s claim, 29 states had a death rate of less than 2%. The state with the highest death rate on March 31 was Louisiana, with about 5,237 confirmed coronavirus cases and 239 deaths, a rate of 4.56%. Patrick’s statement also referenced deaths \"\"per capita of 29 million people\"\" in Texas. Texas is among the states with the fewest deaths per capita, based on March 31 coronavirus data and 2018 1-year population estimates from the Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey. When Patrick spoke, there had been fewer than one coronavirus death for every 100,000 people in Texas. The state with the most deaths per capita at the time was New York, with about eight deaths per 100,000 people. But Texas is also among the states that have administered the fewest number of coronavirus tests per capita. At the time of Patrick’s statement, Texas had administered 42,992 coronavirus tests — about 150 per 100,000 people. New York had administered about 1,050 tests per 100,000 people, or 205,186 tests in total. \"\"The number of confirmed cases is directly related to testing,\"\" Ratnapradipa said in an email. \"\"There is likely widespread community infection of people with no or mild symptoms who are not being tested. This means that we cannot accurately calculate a COVID-19 fatality rate.\"\" Cohen said it is important to remember that the current pandemic is \"\"dynamic and growing, worldwide\"\" and that declaring any kind of victory over the virus \"\"is probably a bad idea at this point in time for most places on the planet.\"\" Since Patrick made this claim, the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state has almost doubled, the state confirmed more than 1,000 additional cases and administered more than 10,000 additional tests. Our ruling Patrick said looking at the coronavirus \"\"death rate in Texas, per capita of 29 million people, we're one of the lowest in the country.\"\" Patrick’s statement equates the death rate for coronavirus and the number of coronavirus deaths per capita in Texas, two different calculations. It is true that, at the time of Patrick’s statement, Texas was among the states with the lowest coronavirus death rate (and those with lowest number of deaths per capita) — but not by much. There were 29 states with a death rate of less than 2%. Experts cautioned that the actual coronavirus death rate cannot be accurately calculated until more people have been tested — and Texas is among the states with the lowest number of tests administered per capita. Patrick’s comparison is accurate based on the information available at the time of his statement, but his claim needs clarification and is missing important context about testing.\"",
            "output": [
                "Dan Patrick Says for the coronavirus, “the death rate in Texas, per capita of 29 million people, we're one of the lowest in the country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2ae35e1a1b66418180bf777d89649492",
            "input": "\"During a recent appearance on The Daily Show, guest host John Oliver and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., engaged in a lively exchange on health insurance. One of the issues they discussed was the high cost of health insurance. Paul, an eye surgeon, is strongly opposed to President Barack Obama’s health care law. During the interview, Oliver pressed him on how to get more Americans signed up for insurance. Paul told Oliver that according to the most recent statistics,  \"\"85 percent of people had insurance, so 15 percent didn't. So what you need to do is look at who are the 15 percent, and why don't they have insurance? Of the 15 percent who didn't have insurance, half of them made more than $50,000 a year. Why didn't they buy insurance? Because of the expense. They were young healthy people.\"\" In this fact-check, we’ll check whether the cost of insurance is the biggest barrier to uninsured Americans. In a separate report, we’ll look at his claim that half of the uninsured made more than $50,000 a year. Survey data consistently shows that cost is the biggest barrier to uninsured Americans obtaining coverage. When the Kaiser Family Foundation’s June 2013 health tracking poll asked uninsured respondents for the main reason they didn’t have health insurance, a plurality of 40 percent cited cost. The second-biggest factor, at 26 percent, was related to employment, such as being unemployed or having a job that doesn’t offer health insurance. These two reasons aren’t mutually exclusive -- someone could have told the pollster that their lack of a job was the biggest reason but also find cost to be a barrier to obtaining insurance. The only answer in the poll that suggests the respondent doesn’t face a cost obstacle is \"\"doesn’t need insurance,\"\" which was the answer of only 11 percent. In another survey, the 2011 National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers asked, \"\"Which of these are reasons you stopped being covered or don’t have health insurance?’’ Respondents were allowed to choose more than one reason. In this survey, too, a plurality -- 42 percent -- cited cost. Three other reasons cited are compatible with cost being an obstacle -- a lost job or a change in employment (26 percent), an employer that didn’t offer insurance (11 percent) and ineligible due to age or leaving school (9 percent). Just 6 percent cited \"\"other,\"\" which included \"\"didn’t want or need coverage,\"\" among other answers. \"\"The cost of insurance is a major reason why people are uninsured -- Sen. Paul is right about that,\"\" said Jonathan Oberlander, a health policy professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. \"\"People without access to employer-sponsored coverage have a hard time affording it on their own, and that accounts for most of the uninsured.\"\" Our ruling Paul asked, \"\"Why didn't (uninsured Americans) buy insurance? Because of the expense.\"\" Survey data supports him. A plurality of respondents in major surveys of the uninsured specifically cite cost as a barrier, and relatively few indicate that going uninsured is a voluntary choice.\"",
            "output": [
                "Why didn't (uninsured Americans) buy insurance? Because of the expense."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fc8d4b27ac54d7aa46563b7090838a1",
            "input": "Three children who were in the airport that day tested positive for the highly contagious disease after traveling to a country where there was an outbreak, officials said. Health officials don’t consider this an outbreak because the children are related, the Tri-County Health Department said in a statement. But they are warning people who were in the airport between 1:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 11 that they may have been exposed. It’s unclear how many people came in contact with the children. About 179,000 people passed through the airport that day, spokeswoman Emily Williams told The Denver Post. Health officials are also notifying people who were at the Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Anschutz Emergency Department between 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12. “We’re doing this investigation for a reason, and that reason is precisely to prevent secondary spread — and having a non-ideal vaccination rate in Colorado isn’t helping matters,” said Dr. Bernadette Albanese, a medical epidemiologist. Colorado’s immunization rate for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination was 87.4% last school year, which is below the threshold needed to protect a community from a measles outbreak. The three children who tested positive had not been vaccinated, officials said. There is no ongoing risk of exposure at the two locations.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials warn of measles exposure at Denver airport."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d221ae960a54dd3b0548e35eede6553",
            "input": "\"On August 3 2020, a Facebook user shared the following status update, which advises readers to submit their mail-in ballots to the Board of Elections directly — based on “an inside tip from a postal worker”:It read:Don’t mail ballots in. Drop at board of elections. This is an inside tip from a postal worker. “Can’t say any more than that.”Other VersionsOn August 12 2020, a post with very similar wording appeared:That post offered an additional method of submitting ballots:Don’t mail ballots in. Drop at board of elections or a polling site.This is an inside tip from a postal worker. “Can’t say any more than that.”That poster credited a Twitter user, @wvjoe911, with the commentary. On August 10 2020, @wvjoe911 tweeted:Don’t mail ballots in. Drop at board of elections or a polling site. This is an inside tip from a postal worker. \"\"Can’t say any more than that. \"\"— 🇺🇸🌊JoeInWV 🌊🇺🇸 (@wvjoe911) August 10, 2020This is an Inside Tip from a Postal Worker. ‘Can’t Say Any More Than That.’All three iterations we located had nearly identical wording, all citing an “inside tip from a postal worker, who can’t say more than that.”It wasn’t clear if all three referenced the same “inside tip from a postal worker” who “can’t say more than that” (one with broad reach on social media), or if that detail was tacked on to lend plausibility to the claims. In any event, the “inside tip from a postal worker” was impossible to verify.United States Postal Service Delays in August 2020All three posts were shared between August 3 and August 12 2020; at the same time, reports of slowdowns involving the United States Postal Service started appearing from all over.On August 7 2020, Vox reported:The United States Postal Service is dealing with crippling backlogs of letters and packages. A postmaster in upstate New York recently told their union that the regular mail was two days behind and, for the first time in their career, Express Priority Mail was not going out on time. Despite a surge in package delivery during the pandemic, postal workers are no longer able to work overtime, and fewer mail trucks are on the road. If your own mail seems delayed or unpredictable, it’s not a one-off problem.On August 12 2020, Reuters covered USPS backlogs and delays:[A USPS] reorganization, introduced in July [2020], has resulted in thousands of delayed letters in southern Maine, as delivery drivers follow a new directive to leave on time, even if the mail has not been loaded, said Scott Adams, who represents about 550 workers as the president of American Postal Worker Union Local 458.Another new directive requires mail carriers to head out on their routes immediately in the morning, carrying only packages and letters that were sorted the night before, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. That is requiring some carriers to double back to pick up a second batch later in the day, said Kimberly Karol, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union.“It is on the ground costing more in manpower and man-hours than it is saving,” Karol said.An August 10 2020 ClickOnDetroit.com indicated Senate Democrats in Michigan demanded answers about slowdowns in USPS service (as did other local outlets in August 2020):US Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan and postal workers are accusing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of forcing workers to leave their work unfinished in order to slow down mail service.Those delays come as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and looks ahead to the presidential election.In a press conference Monday morning [August 10 2020], Peters noted that he has heard from hundreds of Michigan residents who say they have had sudden delays in vital mail service.That same day, a tech-centric site reported the ongoing USPS delays could have a major effect on “Amazon Prime Day” shopping and shipping. On August 11 2020, CNBC reported small businesses were being disproportionately harmed by nationwide USPS slowdowns:This year [2020], small businesses have dealt with COVID-19 related closures and restrictions, and now they’re facing shipping delays.“Things are not right from a shipping perspective, and it’s really, really critical to our business while we can’t have as many clients in the store to be able to ship on time,” said Laurie Molton, founder of House of Lolo, located on El Paseo.With an uncertain retail market, several shops have moved a majority of inventory online.But owners say delays through the United States Postal Service are impacting not only when customers receive their orders, but when stores get their inventory as well.“Being on a website, it’s very important to keep your product fresh and with new things constantly going. So when we have nothing new to put on the website it makes it a little complicated,” said Morgan Rooney, manager of Blonde Clothing Boutique, located on El Paseo.Across the country, regional and national news organizations covered the myriad slowdowns and delays in USPS service in August 2020.‘Don’t Mail Ballots in. Drop at Board of Elections or a Polling Site.’As of August 2020, it was unclear whether the reported USPS delays would persist through November 2020 and the general election.All three posts advised social media users to avoid USPS for submitting mail-in ballots. Two suggested dropping mail ballots off at a polling place, and either suggestion would bypass USPS entirely to ensure that ballots were placed directly in the hands of Board of Elections employees.Is it Possible to Drop Ballots off at the Board of Elections or a Polling Place?Each state had its own guidelines for mail-in voting; many have made provisions for the COVID-19 pandemic. According to USA.gov, voters ought to check in with their local Board of Elections for information about those procedures regardless of advice gleaned from statements and claims made on Twitter:Coronavirus and Voting by Mail-In Absentee Ballot States are making it easier for citizens to vote absentee by mail this year due to the coronavirus. Every state’s election rules are different. And each state has its own rules for mail-in absentee voting. Many are still in the process of deciding how they will handle voting during the pandemic. Visit your state election office website to find out if you can vote by mail. Can I Vote takes you right to your state’s absentee voting page.For voters within the United States, USA.gov explains:Get your absentee ballot from your state or territory.Visit Can I Vote and choose your state from the dropdown menu. It will take you right to your state’s absentee voting page.Your state may require you to have a valid excuse to vote absentee. Acceptable excuses vary by state. Most include:Follow your state’s instructions for requesting an absentee or vote-by-mail ballot.Most of the answers were state-specific. One Arizona voting resource advised voters to mail ballots or drop them off:HOW TO RETURN AN EARLY BALLOTBy Mail: You should always plan to mail back your ballot at least 7 days prior to election day, to ensure it is received by the county in time. The United States Post Office recommends 7 days for returning ballots by mail, which is first class mail. Postage is pre-paid so all you have to do is drop your signed and sealed ballot envelope in the mail.Drop it Off: If you don’t have enough time to mail your ballot back or prefer to return it in person, you have several options:You can drop your ballot off at any in-person early voting locations, including the County Recorder’s Office or Elections Office.Some counties have secured ballot drop boxes. You can drop your ballot off in any ballot drop box in your county.You can drop your ballot off at any voting location in your county on Election Day. No need to wait in line. Just head straight inside the voting location and drop it in the early ballot bin. You can get an I Voted sticker too!However you decide to return your ballot, just remember to SIGN IT and that the county RECEIVES it by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.Vote.org listed some of those state-specific directives. Finally, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission indicated that ballot drop boxes are an option for voters who do not want to mail them in:Ballot Drop Box [PDF] This document outlines things to know and consider when planning for the use of ballot drop boxes including general considerations, recommendations on closing boxes, and security considerations. A drop box is a secure, locked structure operated by election officials where voters may deliver their ballots from the time they receive them in the mail up to the time polls close on Election Day.The linked PDF began:A ballot drop box provides a secure and convenient means for voters to return their mail ballot. A drop box is a secure, locked structure operated by election officials where voters may deliver their ballots from the time they receive them in the mail up to the time polls close on Election Day. Ballot drop boxes can be staffed or unstaffed, temporary or permanent.EAC also explained:Some voters prefer to deliver their mail ballots to a drop box rather than sending them back through the mail. These voters may be motivated by lack of trust in the postal process, fear that their ballot could be tampered with, or concern that their signature will be exposed. Voters may also be concerned about meeting the postmark deadline and ensuring that their ballot is returned in time to be counted.Ballot drop boxes and drop-off locations allow voters to deliver their ballots in person. More importantly, the availability of ballot drop boxes and drop-off locations ensures that even voters who wait until the last minute to vote or who receive their requested ballot in the mail at the last minute will be able to return their ballots in time to be counted.EAC included important information for anyone planning to submit a mail-in ballot via drop box or to their Board of Elections — primarily that not all polling places accept mail-in ballots:Voters who are unable to return a ballot in person or get it to a postal facility in time for it to be counted may, depending on state law, may be able to entrust the voted ballot to someone else to help them deliver it—an agent or designee. […]Many of these last-minute voters drop their ballot off at a voting location (which may not be allowed by state law). Setting up ballot drop boxes and educating voters to use them mitigates a number of COVID-19-related risks associated with in-person voting. It also minimizes the number of people that will need to access voting locations, thereby providing more space for those who are engaged in in-person voting.TL;DRPosts on Facebook and Twitter about an “inside tip from a postal worker” who “can’t say more” advised voters to avoid using USPS to submit mail-in ballots as of August 2020. However, it was no secret that United States Postal Service delays emerged as a major issue in August 2020, and that the heavy anticipated volume of mail-in votes were a growing concern. As the posts described, it is true that voters often have the ability to directly submit ballots to their Board of Elections or polling place. Procedures varied by state, and voters who wished to bypass USPS for mail-in ballots were best advised to obtain jurisdiction-specific information from their local Boards of Elections well before November 2020.Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "If you don't wish to use USPS to mail ballots, you may be able to bring them directly to your local Board of Elections or polling place to ensure their receipt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f5d950d9ac24a6ebe629700dbca0c16",
            "input": "In research looking at how much babies around the world cry in their first three months, psychologists from Britain have created the first universal charts for normal amounts of crying during that period. WATCH: Child-sized robot helps autistic kids learn social skills  “Babies are already very different in how much they cry in the first weeks of life,” said Dieter Wolker, who led the study at Warwick University. “We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying — (including) whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics.”   The highest levels of colic – defined as crying more than three hours a day for at least three days a week – were found in babies in Britain, Canada and Italy, while the lowest colic rates were found in Denmark and Germany. WATCH: Brain implant lets paralysed man feed himself using his thoughts  On average, the study found, babies cry for around two hours a day in the first two weeks. They then cry a little more in the following few weeks until they peak at around two hours 15 minutes a day at six weeks. This then reduces to an average of one hour 10 minutes by the time they are 12 weeks old. But there are wide variations, with some babies crying as little as 30 minutes a day, and others more than five hours. The research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, was a meta-analysis of studies covering some 8,700 babies in countries including Germany, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain. Wolker said the new crying chart would help health workers reassure parents whether their baby is crying within a normal range in the first three months, or may need extra support.",
            "output": [
                "Babies cry more in UK, Canada and Italy, less in Germany, study finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0a4483527c57429ea10cdcbfa146abac",
            "input": "The public-private partnership includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank, among others. The funding announcement was made after a meeting of GAVI’s board. GAVI said the investment, which it called an estimate, will be provided between now and 2025. Since the current outbreak in eastern Congo was identified last August, health officials have immunized more than 255,000 people with a recently licensed vaccine made by Merck. To date there have been nearly 3,200 confirmed Ebola cases, including more than 2,200 deaths, in what has become the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, chair of Gavi’s board, called the creation of the Ebola vaccine stockpile a “historic milestone in humanity’s fight against this horrific disease.” GAVI said “a coordinating mechanism” to decide how and when vaccines will be used will be established with partner organizations. There are similar stockpiles for vaccines against yellow fever, meningitis and cholera. Those limited shots are doled out to developing countries by WHO, UNICEF, the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders after receiving technical advice from others. The Ebola vaccine stockpile will be available to all countries, but only developing countries will be able to get vaccines for free in addition to support for the logistical costs of mounting vaccination campaigns. Jason Nickerson, a humanitarian affairs adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said the new stockpile would change how officials respond to future Ebola outbreaks. “Knowing how many doses of the vaccine exist in the world, and then being able to get a supply of them to high-risk countries in a very quick way, gives us another tool to respond to these outbreaks,” he said. Earlier this year, the medical charity publicly called for an independent committee to oversee Ebola vaccination efforts in Congo, saying WHO sometimes used arbitrary criteria to determine who would get immunized. It said the fact that Ebola was continuing to spread despite the large number of people vaccinated was a damning assessment of the response. Containing this outbreak has been complicated by violence and misunderstandings in a part of Congo that had never reported an Ebola case before. Last week, response activities were suspended after attacks killed four Ebola responders, including a member of a vaccination team. Multiple rebel groups operate in eastern Congo and the region has been described as a war zone. WHO has warned continued attacks on health workers and Ebola clinics could undermine attempts to curb Ebola and prompt a resurgence of the disease.",
            "output": [
                "Vaccine group announces creation of Ebola vaccine stockpile."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9372bfa36bb7493b9b8635ecfd53f0c1",
            "input": "The country’s public health system, the NHS, is ill-equipped to cope with an outbreak that is unprecedented in modern times. Hospitals are now striving to at least quadruple the number of intensive care beds to meet an expected surge in serious virus cases, senior physicians told Reuters, but expressed dismay that preparations had not begun weeks earlier. With serious shortages of ventilators, protective equipment and trained workers, the physicians said senior staff at hospitals were beginning to confront an excruciating debate on intensive care rationing, though Britain may be a long way from potentially having to make such decisions. Rahuldeb Sarkar, a consultant physician in respiratory medicine and critical care in the English county of Kent, said local NHS trusts across the country were reviewing decision-making procedures drawn up, but never needed, during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. They cover how to choose who, in the event of a shortage, would be put on a ventilator and for how long. Decisions would always be based on an individual basis if it got to that point, taking into account the chance of survival, he said. But nevertheless, there would be difficult choices. “It will be tough, and that’s why it’s important that you know, that two or more consultants will make the decisions.”  Sarkar said the choices extended not only to who was given access to a ventilator but how long to continue if there was no sign of recovery. “In normal days, that patient would be given some more days to see which way it goes,” he added. But if the worst predictions about the spread of the virus proved correct, he suspected “it will happen quicker than before”. Britain is by no means the only country that faces having its health system overwhelmed by COVID-19, but the data on critical care beds - a crucial bulwark against the disease - is concerning for UK authorities. Italy, where the coronavirus has driven hospitals to the point of collapse in some areas and thousands have died, had about 12.5 critical care beds per 100,000 of its population before the outbreak. That is above the European average of 11.5, while the figure in Germany is 29.2, according to a widely-quoted academic study here dating back to 2012 which doctors said was still valid. Britain has 6.6. Estimates of the potential death toll in Britain range from a government estimate of around 20,000 to an upper end of over 250,000 predicted by researchers at Imperial College. As of March 19, 64,621 people had been tested, with 3,269 positive. The NHS is preparing for the biggest challenge it has faced since it was founded after the ravages of World War Two, promising cradle-to-grave healthcare for all. It was stretched long before COVID-19, struggling to adapt to the vast increase in healthcare demand in recent years. Some doctors complain that it is underfunded and poorly managed. About a tenth of more than one million staff roles in the health service are vacant while almost nine out of 10 beds are occupied. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked at a media conference on Friday, after Reuters reported the concerns of physicians, whether Britain could get to a stage where NHS workers had to choose who to save because there weren’t enough ventilators. He urged people to follow public safety measures. “The objective of this whole campaign is to ensure we flatten the curve, as we have been saying repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, but also that we lift up the line of NHS resilience and capabilities,” he said. “That means there is a massive effort going on right now to make sure we do have enough ventilators and ICUs to cope.”  So how many life-saving ventilators are needed? Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that hospitals had around 5,000 but that they needed “many times more than that”. The physicians interviewed by Reuters said, if ventilators were secured, the aim was to increase intensive care beds from around 4200 to over 16,000, partly by using beds in other parts of hospitals. Rob Harwood, a consultant anaesthetist in Norfolk who has worked in the health service for almost four decades, said access to critical care could ultimately have to be determined by patient scoring systems for survivability. Systems developed for SARS, another coronavirus that broke out in 2003, could for example be refined, he added. “Once you have exhausted your capacity and exhausted your ability to expand your capacity you probably have to make other decisions about admission into intensive care.”   But he emphasised that, for now, admission criteria would stay unaltered: “We are a country mile from that at the moment.”     While shortages of critical care equipment may be most alarming, the coronavirus has exposed how generally ill-equipped the health system is for a pandemic. The British Medical Association said doctors have been asked to go to hardware stores and building sites to source protective masks. Some doctors are worried about Public Health England’s (PHE) new advice last week which reduces the level of the protective equipment they need to wear. Previously, staff on ward visits were told to wear full protective equipment, comprising high quality FFP3 face masks, visors, surgical gowns and two pairs of gloves. But the new advice recommends only a lower-quality standard paper surgical face mask, short gloves and a plastic apron. PHE referred queries about doctors’ worries to the health department, which did not respond to requests for comment on the matter. A senior NHS epidemiologist, who was not permitted to be named, told Reuters this advice was based on a sensible assessment of the biohazard risk of the virus. “It’s not Ebola,” the doctor said, pointing out the risk to medical staff without underlying medical conditions was low. Matt Mayer, head of the local medical committee covering an area in south of England, said GPs had been sent face masks in boxes that said “best before 2016” and that have been relabelled with new stickers reading “2021”. “If you are going to lead people into a hazardous situation then you need to give them the confidence that they have the kit to do a decent job and they are not just going to become cannon fodder,” said Harwood the anaesthetist. The department of health said that they had tested certain products to see if it is possible to extend their use. “The products that pass these stringent tests are subject to relabelling with a new shelf-life as appropriate and can continue to be used,” a spokesman said. Dr Alison Pittard, dean of the Faculty of Intensive Medicine and a consultant in Leeds, northern England, said there had been chronic underinvestment in critical care in Britain. But she said the country was not yet at the stage where it had to make calls about rationing patient resources. She said, if rationing became necessary, medical ethics should still prevail and guidelines needed to be issued on a national level so that no patient was worse off based on where they lived. The NHS might also need the advice of military leaders, she said, on how to effectively triage. “If we got to a difficult position where we had to exhaust every bit of resource in the country then, yes, we may have to change the way we approach the decision-making.”      Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director of NHS England, said there were plans to issue new guidance to give doctors advice on how to make difficult decisions if there was a surge in coronavirus cases, like in Italy. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said on Friday it would shortly announce a “series of rapid guidelines” on the management of people with suspected and confirmed COVID-19, including in critical care. The guidelines are not, however, expected to be prescriptive but to suggest leaving key decisions to individual doctors. Pittard said patients with pre-existing conditions who already had life-threatening health difficulties should be having conversations with their family about how they wished to spend their last days, in the event of them being infected. “If I get coronavirus now I’ve got a very high chance of dying of it,” she said, putting herself into the shoes of such a patient. “So do I want to die in hospital and when my relatives can’t come in to visit me because it’s too risky, or would I like to die at home? “And if I do want to go into hospital, do I then want to go to intensive care where my chances of surviving are minimal?”",
            "output": [
                "Who gets the ventilator? British doctors contemplate harrowing coronavirus care choices."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0bf4e5f2508c4467b570fa631b39d8e0",
            "input": "The Alaska Section of Epidemiology said in an update this week that it has requested help with response efforts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, KTVA-TV reported Wednesday. The number of cases is the highest reported in the state since at least the 1970s, said Susan Jones, a program manager with the state Division of Public Health. “It actually can be before that but that’s as far back as we have saved data,” Jones said. Out of the 75 cases, 64 occurred in Anchorage and 66 were men, according to the state. Of the nine women, two were pregnant at the time of diagnosis. The ages of people infected ranged from 18 to 76, with 20 cases recorded in the 25 to 29 age group. Health officials also found a probable case of congenital syphilis in an infant born in March whose mother had been diagnosed last year. Symptoms of the sexually transmitted infection in its early stages include genital sores, skin rash, swollen lymph nodes, and fever, according to the CDC. The disease in the tertiary stage can damage internal organs and result in death. According to the CDC, most people with untreated syphilis do not develop symptoms of the last stage, but tertiary syphilis could develop decades after infection. “It’s easy to acquire syphilis by having sex with somebody with infection, it’s easy to have the disease and not be aware of it, and it’s also easy to treat if we catch it early,” Jones said. Syphilis can be treated with an antibiotic injection. ___ Information from: KTVA-TV, http://www.ktva.com",
            "output": [
                "Alaska hit with largest syphilis outbreak in 40 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fca76cafd3b04881b31e9658baaea6e8",
            "input": "The Minnesota Board of Animal Health announced Wednesday that captive deer were killed on a Crow Wing County farm to try to prevent chronic wasting disease from spreading to wild deer in the region, the Star Tribune reported. The board didn’t disclose how much Trophy Woods Ranch in Merrifield was paid or how many deer were euthanized. All carcasses from the pay-to-hunt shooting farm will be tested for the disease, according to the board. Chronic wasting disease hadn’t been detected in wild deer in central or northern Minnesota until February, when state officials announced that an emaciated deer found nearby the Merrifield farm had tested positive for the fatal illness. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was first informed that the farm could be harboring the disease in 2016. Since then, state officials tested more than 8,600 deer harvested by hunters in a zone around the farm. At least seven captive deer at the farm have been confirmed as infected with the disease since 2016. The USDA, which negotiated and funded the deal, will work with the state animal health regulatory board to implement a management plan at the shuttered farm since the prions that cause the disease remain in the soil. The disease, which is transmissible through deer-to-deer contact, has been found concentrated in other parts of the state, such as southeastern Minnesota. The department permitted special deer hunts in December to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease in the area. ___ Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota farm shutters under deal to contain deer disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78f3b5605bdb41a588808f89a9d5dea0",
            "input": "Aegerion shares fell more than 12 percent in extended trading. Juxtapid was approved by U.S. health regulators in December 2012 to treat patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), a rare genetic disease that impairs the function of the receptor responsible for removing LDL-C or “bad” cholesterol from the body. The company said it intended to cooperate fully with the government investigation. Chief Executive Mark Beer had received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November over statements that the regulator said misleadingly suggested Juxtapid was safe and effective in decreasing cardiovascular events and could be used as a standalone therapy. The FDA asked that the company respond with a plan to show it would not use promotional material containing the misleading statements and a strategy to adopt corrective measures in the marketing of the drug. (link.reuters.com/zup85v)  Juxtapid is the sole approved Aegerion product. Aegerion on Thursday also reported preliminary net product sales of between $48 and $49 million, in line with its most recent guidance of between $45 and $50 million. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company now expects net product sales of $190 million to $210 million in 2014. Analysts on average were expecting the company to post revenues of $204 million for the period, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Aegerion’s shares were trading at $64.40 after the bell. They closed at $73.75 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "Aegerion gets DOJ subpeona over marketing of cholesterol drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1d6397ac7bf3436991a8851ec1195aa7",
            "input": "Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto said there had been 106 new confirmed infections, taking the total number of cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,092, with 10 new deaths. “We are still on high alert over infections that are taking place in the community that are caused by positive cases among people who are not showing symptoms,” said Yurianto. Indonesia is relying mainly on social distancing policies to combat the virus since President Joko Widodo has opposed the harsh lockdown measures adopted in many neighboring countries. The country reported its first case of the virus a month ago, but epidemiologists say a relatively low level of testing means the number of cases may be vastly under-reported. Indonesia has almost doubled tests in the past week but has conducted only 7,896 tests in a country of more than 260 million people. According to a Reuters review of statistics from Jakarta’s Department of Parks and Cemeteries, there were nearly 4,400 funerals in the city in March, 40 percent higher than any month since at least January, 2018. The city has been at the epicenter of COVID-19 infections in Indonesia, accounting for 1,028 cases and around 90 deaths, according to central government data, or roughly half the country’s total for both. Jakarta’s governor, Anies Baswedan, and some public health experts suspect the number of infections and deaths in the city has been significantly under-reported due to the low rates of testing. “It is extremely disturbing,” Baswedan told Reuters on Friday, referring to the funeral statistics. “I’m struggling to find another reason than unreported COVID-19 deaths.”  Officials at the health ministry and at the presidential office did not respond to requests for comment. In an interview on Thursday, before Baswedan had made his comments, Yurianto defended the reporting and testing system and said the central government based its data on lab results using the accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia coronavirus cases top 2,000 amid concerns over data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fea5ad36298d4f549933d102ebb37833",
            "input": "\"The story fails to mention the price of the anti-psychotic medications. While this information is not crucial here, as a matter of course the cost of drug regimens under study should be mentioned. In this case, some of the anti-psychotic medications are expensive when taken long-term. The story made a modest attempt to explain the possible benefits of the anti-psychotic drugs for Alzheimer’s patients – effectively painting a picture of doubt about their value. It states that the drugs may help control aggression and hallucinations \"\"for a few months.\"\" And the story included the damning comment from the Alzheimer’s Association spokesman:  \"\"At some point, some people will be better off with no medication.\"\" The story does a commendable job of describing the harms of the drugs in a variety of ways: It also mentions other side effects linked to the drugs, including respiratory problems and stroke. The news report does an excellent job of describing how the study was conducted and what outcomes it measured. It would have been valuable to mention that, as a randomized controlled trial, this is a well-designed, high-quality study. The story does not sensationalize the condition or its treatment. The reporter interviewed three people: the study’s lead author, the head of an advocacy group with no connection to the study, and an independent psychiatrist. The report properly discloses that the study’s author has received grants from companies that make Alzheimer’s drugs. The article uses two quotes suggesting that taking no medication is an option. It also usefully quotes a source who says environmental and behavioral treatments can be used to control some symptoms of dementia. The first sentence states the drugs are \"\"commonly used.\"\" Later on, the story says that up to 60 percent of patients with dementia in the US and UK are given the drugs for one to two years. [This latter detail, unfortunately, is unsourced.] Since the treatment is common, novelty is not an issue. The story does not appear to draw from the medical journal’s press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Alzheimer’s drugs double death risk in elderly"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3fa6dee79daf47f2806e0142e0122ae6",
            "input": "It’s  not that costs are high, it’s just that they weren’t discussed. The costs of Prozac are well known and could have been included in this story. Taking just one pill a day for 30 days would cost $214 through Drugstore.com.Prozac is generic at $10 for 3 months at one big box chain. There are also medical followup costs and possibly costs of managing adverse effects. After explaining that the story was quite small and covered only a few months time, the story provides a quick summation of the benefits found in the study saying, “half of the participants taking Prozac had significant reductions in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, compared with 8% taking placebo.”  But given the very small sample size, natural frequencies would have been more informative and less likely to be misinterpreted. Also, a bit more detail on what a “significant reduction” means in an autistic disorder would have been welcome. The story does say that, “Side effects were mild to moderate and participants taking Prozac did not show increases in suicidal thoughts or ideas.”  It could have noted, though,  that 12 weeks may not be long enough for side effects to emerge. We liked how the story put up high some of the basics of the study, that it was limited to 37 subjects, that they were “high-functioning autistic adults, mainly diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome,” and that they were followed for 12 weeks. Even though it sometimes feels like boilerplate language, it would have been appropriate to emphasize how small and short-term was this study and that it needs to be replicated in a larger, longer-term study. The story does not engage in disease mongering but it could have provided a little more detail about the differences between Asperger’s syndrome and other forms of autism. The story briefly quotes another story in which Yale Child Study Center director Fred Volkmar commented on the study, indicating that more research was needed. We would have liked to have seen more independent voices helping readers understand whether there was anything new here. The story also says, “Hollander has previously received funding from pharmaceutical companies, but the current study was paid for by a grant from the Food and Drug Administration’s “orphan” drug program.”   Here’s where the story both excels and disappoints. It takes note of prior research on antidepressants and notes that the “only drugs approved to treat irritability and repetitive behaviors in autistic children are the atypical antipsychotics Risperdal (risperidone) and Abilify (aripiprazole), which tend to have more severe side effects than Prozac does.” What the story does not explain, though, is that Hollander himself has researched this exact topic and arrived at very similar conclusions, which may bolster his case in some ways and weaken it in others. In 2005, he found in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology that “Liquid fluoxetine in low doses is more effective than placebo in the treatment of repetitive behaviors and that “Limitations include small sample size”. There was also no mention of the possibility of behavioral treatments. The story makes it clear that Prozac is widely available and that other drugs are approved for use in autistic patients. The novelty of the finding is at least implied. This small study increases the number of patients studied in randomized clinical trials by about 15% and it is in adults. With the exception of the earlier RCT published in Archives Gen Psy (N=149) – in children – there are just a handful of small studies on this topic. The story does not rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Prozac May Reduce Symptoms of Autism in Adults"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d57bd608fed459885782ad00fc7b252",
            "input": "Important information about costs is provided here. The story quantifies the benefits of multiple IVF treatments (and the diminishing returns) in two different ways. Here’s the best summation: “Over the five-year period, some 300,000 women had more than half a million IVF cycles that resulted in 171,327 first-time deliveries. The live birth rate was 36 percent on the first IVF try, 48 percent with a second cycle and 53 percent with a third attempt. Among those who tried seven or more times, the chance of success was 56 percent — hardly any better than the 53 percent after three tries.” This story skips over any potential harms. This is problematic because women undergoing fertility treatments are often given high doses of hormones and other drugs that can have side effects and often are experimental. The story does a good job evaluating the quality of the evidence. It also provides some great context about why data about success rates can be misleading. It also presented some of the study’s limitations. The story could have pointed out that these results have not been published and have not been peer reviewed. It does say they were presented at a conference but so are a lot of published results. The findings sound dramatic, so that additional context would be important lest the peer review process take some of the drama out of the results when they are published (one assumes) at a later data. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story clearly draws on a range of sources and research, but we only are allowed to hear from one clinical voice in the the story: the study’s lead author. There is a paraphrase from a fertility advocacy organization at the very end of the story, but what was needed here was some clear eyed analysis of the evidence from an independent perspective. The story at least touches on alternatives to IVF, but it does not make any clear comparisons. It is clear from the story that IVF treatments are widely available. The study encompassed more than 300,000 women nationwide. The story did a good job of covering what is new here: more is not more. The story could have done a better job showing how frequently couples actually go through three cycles of IVF. This is a bit of an omission. Also it’s not clear how often couples with fertility choose IVF over less-invasive treatments. The story does not rely solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "More not always better with in vitro fertilization"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-594c9f3c6d3842bcb96087f7d301c1b7",
            "input": "A “Republicans on Rape” graphic widely circulated online since 2014 collects various comments about that crime supposedly made by GOP politicians in recent years:  The remarks collected in that graphic were indeed all uttered by the persons to whom they have been attributed; below we offer four of the statements on video (also on YouTube), as well as the context in which they were made, and any clarifying remarks subsequently offered by their speakers. “Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” On 24 March 1990, Texas oilman Clayton Williams, the Republican nominee in the Lone Star State’s upcoming gubernatorial election, was preparing for a cattle roundup at his West Texas ranch while undesirable weather conditions threatened to spoil the event. As he sat around a campfire with ranch hands, campaign workers, and reporters, Williams likened that day’s cold, foggy weather to rape, saying, “If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.” Later that day Williams asserted that his comment had been a joke, and a few days later his campaign offered an apologetic statement about it: Mr. Williams said it was merely a joke and apologized “if anyone’s offended.” “That’s not a Republican women’s club that we were having this morning,” he said. “It’s a working cow camp, a tough world where you can get kicked in the testicles if you’re not careful.” Asked if some people might be offended, Mr. Williams said: “I’m not going to give you a serious answer. It wasn’t a serious deal. It wasn’t a serious statement.” But his campaign issued a statement in which Mr. Williams said: “I feel just terrible about this. I had no intention in my heart to hurt anyone, especially those women who have been traumatized by rape. “Looking back, I realize it was insensitive and had no place at the campfire or in any setting.” “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down.” On 19 August 2012, U.S. Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, a Republican who was challenging incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill for her seat in the U.S. Senate, was interviewed by St. Louis television station KTVI. During that interview, Akin was asked whether he believed abortion was justified in cases of rape, and he responded by asserting that “legitimate rapes” rarely resulted in pregnancy: “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” After his words touched off widespread outrage, Akin then issued a statement maintaining that his remarks were “off-the-cuff” and that he “misspoke in this interview”: As a member of Congress, I believe that working to protect the most vulnerable in our society is one of my most important responsibilities, and that includes protecting both the unborn and victims of sexual assault. In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve. I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action. I also recognize that there are those who, like my opponent, support abortion and I understand I may not have their support in this election. Two years later, while appearing in another television interview with MSNBC to promote his new book Firing Back, Akin asserted that “legitimate rape” was a law enforcement term and that his original remark had been “intentionally misunderstood”: “Legitimate rape is a law enforcement term, it’s an abbreviation for ‘legitimate case of rape,’” he told Chuck Todd. “A woman calls a police station, the police investigate, she says ‘I’ve been raped,’ they investigate that. So before any of the facts are in, they call it a legitimate case of rape,” explained Aiken. Akin believes that everyone took what he said out of context. “This was intentionally misunderstood and twisted for political purposes. It doesn’t make any sense to say ‘a conservative is saying that rape is legitimate,’ that doesn’t even add up.” Time magazine noted that they were unable to find a law enforcement official familiar with the term “legitimate rape”: But is “legitimate rape” really a law enforcement term? We asked some experts. “I’ve taught police officers, and worked with police officers on every continent in the world, and that’s something I’ve never heard in my 50 years in law enforcement,” says Dr. James A. Williams, former Chief of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces for the U.S Department of Justice, who also worked in municipal law enforcement in New Jersey. “I’ve never heard of that. Never.” Richard Lichten, a veteran of the LA County Sheriff’s Department and expert on sexual assault investigations agrees: “I have 30 years of experience, I’m qualified to testify in federal court on the way to investigate sexual assault crimes, and I’ve never heard of that,” said Lichten. “In all my life I’ve never heard of that.” “Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.” On 20 January 2012, Rick Santorum, a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who was then campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight program and was asked by that show’s host about his stance on abortion and whether he believed abortion was wrong even in cases of incest and rape. Santorum responded by saying that although a pregnancy resulting from a rape might be “horrible,” it was nonetheless a “gift of human life” and that “we have to make the best out of a bad situation”: MORGAN: On abortion, you did harden your position on that as you got older. Why was that? SANTORUM: Life. You know, when I decided to run for public life, I was informed very quickly people wanted to know what my position on that was. So I went through the process of trying to better understand the facts. It became very clear to me that life begins at conception and persons are covered by the Constitution and since life — people, a human life is the same as a person, to me it was a pretty simple deduction to make. That’s what the Constitution clearly intended to protect. MORGAN: But do you really — do you really — let me ask you this. Do you really believe, in every case, it should be totally wrong, in the sense that — I know that you believe, even in cases of rape and incest — and you’ve got two daughters. You know, if you have a daughter that came to you who had been raped. SANTORUM: Yes. MORGAN: And was pregnant and was begging you to let her have an abortion, would you really be able to look her in the eye and say, no, as her father? SANTORUM: I would do what every father must do, is to try to counsel your daughter to do the right thing. MORGAN: And they are looking at their daughter, saying, how can I deal with this, because if I make her have this baby, isn’t it going to just ruin her life? SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that. As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that. And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you. As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation. “Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.” On 23 October 2012, Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate for one of Indiana’s U.S. Senate seats, was engaged in a debate with his Democratic and Libertarian rivals when he expressed his view that “life begins at conception” and that he would only allow abortions in circumstances in which the mother’s life was in danger: I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen. After the debate, Mourdock explained that when he said “it is something that God intended to happen,” he was referring to the creation of life and not the act of rape itself: Mourdock, seeking to clarify his comments in a press conference following the debate, said he had intended to say that “God creates life,” and that any interpretation of his comments to mean God “pre-ordained rape” were “sick” and “twisted.” “What I said was, in answering the question form my position of faith, I said I believe that God creates life. I believe that as wholly and as fully as I can believe it. That God creates life,” Mourdock said. “Are you trying to suggest that somehow I think that God pre-ordained rape? No, I don’t think that. That’s sick. Twisted. That’s not even close to what I said. What I said is that God creates life.” “In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits, where a woman can get cleaned out.” On 23 June 2013, Jodie Laubenberg, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, was debating a measure she had introduced to the House that included a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. When Rep. Senfronia Thompson proposed an exemption for victims of rape and incest, Laubenberg argued against that exemption, saying that when a victim seeks medical care after a rape, “they have what’s called rape kits, that the woman can get cleaned out, basically like” [a procedure known as D and C that is often performed after a miscarriage]. She also noted that emergency contraception is available. A few days later, after she was mocked over her remark, Laubenberg said she was “confused by Democrats’ questions and misspoke” and meant to say that rape victims could “obtain emergency contraception and other treatment” at medical facilities: Rape kits are used to collect evidence in hopes of prosecuting the perpetrator. They play no role in preventing pregnancy or serving as an abortion. Laubenberg was widely mocked on social media, and opponents of the bill called her comments evidence of the misguided science behind Laubenberg’s proposal. Laubenberg told North Texas talk radio host Mark Davis that she was momentarily confused by Democrats’ questions and misspoke. “What I was trying to say is, when a woman goes to the hospital, that they have the procedures there” to help her obtain emergency contraception and other treatment, she said. “No, rape kits do not cause an abortion.” As for the reaction, Laubenberg added: “If that’s the worst that you can complain about me, go ahead.” “If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.” In February 2014, the Maine Democratic Party called for the resignation of Lawrence Lockman, a Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives, when a liberal activist made a blog post detailing negative public statements about gays, abortion and rape that Lockman had made years earlier: The post by Maine People’s Alliance activist Mike Tipping mined press clippings to unearth several offensive comments. In one, Lockman implied that HIV and AIDS could be spread by bed sheets and mosquitoes. In another, he said that the progressive movement assisted the AIDS epidemic by assuring “the public that the practice of sodomy is a legitimate alternative lifestyle, rather than a perverted and depraved crime against humanity.” In a 1995 letter in the Sun Journal in Lewiston, a reader quoted a press statement by Lockman, then part of the Pro Life Education Association, saying, “If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.” Lockman responded to the controversy by issuing a statement affirming that he regretted his previous remarks: Most of the comments were made during the 1980s and 1990s, but Maine Democratic Party chairman Ben Grant issued a statement calling for Lockman’s resignation. Grant said the comments were “hateful, vicious and offensive” and he called Lockman a “disturbed individual who holds some of the most abhorrent beliefs ever heard from a public official in Maine.” Lockman released a written statement.",
            "output": [
                "A list collects statements about rape made by Republican politicians."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6e30de2bca5d4254ac5b16ea8b309dcc",
            "input": "We gave the release a passing grade on cost for including context on the cost of an infection. “An estimated 1.3 million women in the U.S. delivered their babies by C-section in 2013, with surgical-site infections complicating 5 to 12 percent of those deliveries. The average cost of treating those cesarean-related infections in the hospital is $3,500 and may be much higher for severe infections.” Our wish list for this release might include whether chlorhexidine is any more expensive (or cheaper) than the standard of care and what the cost is for treating an infection outpatient. These are details that would have added to the quality of the release. However, infections are costs that can be prevented, and that is the main issue which the release covers well. The story quantifies the benefits well, explaining that a randomized-controlled trial showed “patients in the chlorhexidine-alcohol group developed significantly fewer infections than patients in the iodine-alcohol group. Those who received the chlorhexidine-alcohol combination had a 4 percent infection rate, which is nearly half that of the patients who received the iodine-alcohol combination — 7.3 percent.” The news release includes both relative and absolute numbers — a big plus. The absolute numbers included the number of women who developed infections after being treated with either chlorhexidine-alcohol (23) or iodine-alcohol (42) and the size of their co-hort (572 vs. 575). The news release doesn’t mention any harms associated with either of the antiseptics used in the study. If there were no skin reactions, or some with one but not the other, it would be good to note that. This is a minor omission. The release did a good job of explaining the quality of the evidence from this randomized controlled trial. Here is one paragraph about that evidence. “The clinical trial included 1,147 patients who underwent cesarean sections at Barnes-Jewish Hospital from 2011 to 2015. Of 572 patients randomly assigned to receive the chlorhexidine-alcohol combination, 23 developed an infection at the site of the surgery within 30 days of the procedure. Of 575 patients who randomly received the iodine-alcohol combination, 42 developed a surgical-site infection.” One thing that was discussed in the study that would have made the release better had it been included was the differentiation between minor and severe infections. There’s no disease mongering here. The release clearly states the funding sources. There were no apparent conflicts. The study compares an alternative method of skin preparation to the current standard and also mentions antibiotics. Soap and water could be another alternative, as could foregoing an elective C-section, but it’s probably too big a digression to mention these when reporting on a head-to-head study on antiseptics. We believe both skin-cleaning agents are widely available. So while the release never explicitly addresses availability, we don’t dock points for this. The release explained that other studies have examined skin-prep, but this one was the first to directly compare dual-element preps for C-sections. Here is an excerpt: “Past trials comparing antiseptics before surgery included relatively few participants and often compared a chlorhexidine-alcohol combination with iodine alone. These studies could not determine whether the worse performance of iodine alone was due to the chlorhexidine, the alcohol or the combination.” The release does not resort to unjustifiable language. It uses a measured tone and acknowledged a potential weakness when pointing out that the study was limited to a single hospital. The call for a change in practice, which in our opinion may be premature based on one single-site study, is offered as an opinion expressed by the senior author: “This study is a tremendous addition to the literature on preventing surgical-site infections after cesarean. There are few circumstances when a single study should change our practice. But based on the biological plausibility and the striking reduction in surgical-site infections with chlorhexidine, this is one of those circumstances.” We think experts can be given latitude to express a range of opinions in a news release.",
            "output": [
                "To Prevent Infection After C-Section, Chlorhexidine Better Than Iodine"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02dec931d77348678e1a68f26c5f8c9e",
            "input": "Mas will not be investigated for the graver charge of manslaughter, as was expected, but does now face criminal charges which carry longer sentences than those he faces in a fraud case expected to go to trial around October. He was released on bail of 100,000 euros ($131,600), banned from leaving the country and from meeting former executives of his now defunct company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP). “We are satisfied that Mr Mas could explain himself to a judge,” his lawyer Yves Haddad said on iTele television. “This is a relief for him.”   “On the charge of involuntary homicide, the judge decided that for now there is no link,” Haddad said. In the first arrests since the two-year-old scandal made headlines worldwide in December, Mas and a second PIP executive were seized at their homes in southern France just after dawn. Women who have been campaigning against PIP since French authorities banned its products nearly two years ago welcomed the move as giving them a sense that the law was now in action:   “It’s been too long,” said Murielle Ajellio, who heads an association for women with implants. Up to now, she said: “You feel like you’re fighting against the wind.”   French authorities have been criticized for being slow to react to a case that has sown fear among tens of thousands of women who carry PIP implants. French inspectors ordered them off the market in March 2010, due to concerns over their quality. But only last month did officials in Paris recommend their surgical removal, drawing attention to the problem for patients worldwide who had been fitted with products from the company, which was at one time the third biggest global supplier. Lawyers for women in France who have filed complaints over PIP implants welcomed the arrests and said there must be no escaping justice for the 72-year-old Mas, who has been quoted as deriding those suing him as being motivated only by money. “This is a comfort for the victims,” said Laurent Gaudon, whose clients are pursuing PIP and surgeons who used its implants for fraud. “It’s the feeling that justice is advancing and they have not been forgotten. It’s the assurance that the guilty are at last going to be held accountable.”   Philippe Courtois, who represents 1,300 people with PIP implants, said Mas should not be freed pending any trial. Mas and PIP’s former chief executive Claude Couty were questioned at home, as police conducted searches. They were then moved to police custody in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, under the orders of prosecutor Jacques Dallest. PIP enjoyed years of success with international sales, but behind the scenes employees, and Mas himself, have admitted to hiding from certification agencies the fact they were using cheap, industrial silicone, not approved for medical use. Health authorities in France and elsewhere have stressed that PIP’s products carry no proven link to cancer, but surgeons report that they have abnormally high rupture rates. Responses to the problem have varied among different foreign authorities. Thursday’s arrests follow an investigation opened in Marseille, close to PIP’s former premises, on December 8 after the death from cancer in 2010 of a woman with PIP implants. Mas and Couty can be held for up to 48 hours while a judge decides whether to open a formal probe and, if so, what bail conditions, if any, to set. A trial date could be years away, given the extent of inquiry required, but the bodily harm case could make it harder for Mas to avoid appearing in court later this year on other charges of fraud and deception. That latter case targets half a dozen former PIP executives and could also carry prison terms for them of several years. It has dragged on as investigators have had to quiz up to 2,700 women who have filed complaints over PIP implants. Mas, who sold some 300,000 implants around the world, has acknowledged that he used unapproved silicone but dismissed fears that it constituted a health risk. Earlier in January, leaks from a police document showed Mas admitting to lying about the quality of PIP’s implants and describing the women filing complaints against him as just seeking money. The comments sparked public anger against him. PIP closed down in March 2010 after regulators discovered it was using a non-approved, industrial silicone gel, and pulled its implants off the market. Last month, the French government advised women with PIP implants to have them removed, and said it would pay for the operations in France, sparking alarm around the world. Officials in several other countries, including Britain and Brazil, have asked women to visit their doctors for checks. France has called for tighter European Union regulations on medical devices in wake of the PIP affair, saying suppliers of prosthetics should require the same sort of authorization as manufacturers of prescription medicines.",
            "output": [
                "French implant boss released, faces bodily harm charge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f90611ad7284e69bcf489cd7421bcc5",
            "input": "No data comparing costs of c-section vs. vaginal birth is provided. This is surprising, given the fact that one reason experts discourage elective c-sections is high cost. The reporter does a diligent job of quantifying the results, using both relative risks and percentage of bad outcomes in the studied population. The story usefully distinguishes among results for c-sections done at 37, 38 and 39 weeks. The risk of harm in elective c-sections is the focus of the study, and the news report explains them well. Overall, good job of describing the size, methods, and implications of the study. The story does nothing to exaggerate the risks or emotional aspects of elective c-sections. The story includes quotes from only two physicians, the lead researcher and the author of a related editorial. That is not sufficient for a story of this importance and length. At minimum, an experienced OB with no connection to the study should have been consulted. The story explains the risks of having an elective c-section at 37, 38 and 39 weeks. This information can help women and their doctors determine when to schedule an elective surgery. The widespread use of c-sections is clear in the story. The report makes clear, with some level of detail, precisely how common c-sections and elective c-sections are. We can’t be sure if the story relied solely or largely on a news release. Only an author and an editorial writer were quoted.",
            "output": [
                "Early C-Section Carries Risks, Study Finds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-356332a6b6b64f5a9682624e569540b7",
            "input": "The government is working on tracking down all the people who had contact with the new cases, it said in a statement. The other countries those infected had traveled to were Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, while two of the patients had transited in Dubai, the government added. While Taiwan has won plaudits from international experts for its early prevention measures to stop the spread of the virus, it has now stepped up measures to stop cases being brought back to the island from other countries. On Saturday the island said it would begin requiring a 14-day quarantine for all people arriving from Europe’s Schengen border-free travel zone as well as Britain and Ireland. Taiwan has only reported one death from the virus, while 20 have recovered and been released from hospital. The other cases are all in stable condition. Taiwan’s health minister has advised people not to travel at all and to stay in Taiwan.",
            "output": [
                "Taiwan reports six new coronavirus cases in largest single-day rise, all imported."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc5969296024429488dc1a99016082bc",
            "input": "It is still rare for babies to get syphilis from their infected mothers, but figures released Tuesday show more than 900 cases were reported last year. That’s more than double the number in 2013. Most cases were in the Southeast and Southwest. The last time the number was that high or higher was in the 1990s. In adults, cases of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases also are rising. Health officials say possible reasons include a wave of illegal drug use. They say women should be tested during pregnancy so they can be treated with antibiotics Syphilis can deform or kill babies. At least 77 of last year’s cases were stillborn or died.",
            "output": [
                "Newborn syphilis cases in US reach highest level in 20 years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-35619e9c14fb40d6bc6376ee59b2a9b3",
            "input": "They met privately Thursday to discuss issues of regional importance. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, hosted Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut for lunch at Rhode Island College in Providence. They said after the meeting that they agreed a consistent regulatory framework for vaping would make sense, given the proximity of the states, though their states’ legislative leaders would have to agree. They also discussed education, health care and transportation. Baker announced a statewide ban in September on the sale of vaping products for four months, a measure that has been challenged in court. Raimondo signed an executive order banning sales of flavored vaping products, also in September, which was challenged in court Wednesday. Lamont is trying to figure out how to regulate vaping, after expressing an interest in banning flavored vaping products. A new law just took effect in Connecticut that increased the age to 21 for someone to purchase vaping products. Going forward, Raimondo said, “we are going to make an effort to try to regionalize our approach.” If the states take drastically different approaches, that creates enforcement issues, Baker added. The governors held their first private meeting with one another in July at Eastern Connecticut State University, an event organized by Lamont. Baker plans to host the group in the next few months. Lamont described it as a “very constructive relationship.” The governors said they’ve made progress since their first meeting on data sharing and transportation issues, with transit officials continuing to discuss an express commuter train route between Providence and Boston. The states are sharing wage and workforce data and the governors discussed sharing educational attainment data as well, to evaluate which strategies are helping students the most. Since the state of Rhode Island is taking over the struggling Providence school district, Baker told Raimondo Thursday about Massachusetts’ experience with Lawrence Public Schools entering into state receivership. Baker also shared his state’s experiences with legalizing recreational marijuana and talked about legislation he introduced Friday aimed at overhauling Massachusetts’ health care system by restricting how hospitals and doctors bill patients and requiring walk-in clinics to treat low-income patients on Medicaid. The governors said they’ve requested proposals so they can purchase information technology software together to save money. “If you can work together on the small things, you can work together on the big things,” Raimondo said. “We have all come from the private sector. We want to fix things. We want to fix problems in our states and we’re looking for practical solutions.”",
            "output": [
                "Governors interested in regional approach for vaping rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b00a6621350a4c76b9b019db269f091f",
            "input": "It was time for his twin daughters to enter the world. A New York Jets trainer had the cornerback’s cellphone and was tasked with letting him know if and when Claiborne’s now-wife Jennifer was heading to the hospital. “I remember I saw the trainer walking on the field and he gave me, like, a look,” Claiborne recalled in an interview with The Associated Press at the family’s home. “I just ran. I took off running. I grabbed my phone from him and I went to Coach (Todd) Bowles and I was like, ‘Coach, it’s time,’ and he was like, ‘All right, congratulations.’ “And I remember just running out of the building and running to the hospital, and when I got up there I just looked at her.” It was July 30, 2017, and Jennifer was 35 weeks along — two weeks before her scheduled cesarean section. But her water broke while she was watching the couple’s two English Bulldogs outside their home. She had to immediately head to Morristown Medical Center, about 2 1/2 miles away. Meanwhile, Morris zipped from the Jets’ training facility in Florham Park to the hospital just over 3 miles away in time to be there to welcome his daughters. “He came and it all happened within the hour,” Jennifer recalled. “It happened so fast, it was scary.” Doctors performed the C-section and first delivered Ma’Kaila, who was quite underweight at 3 pounds, 8 ounces. Ma’Liah came a few moments later, weighing in at a more robust 4 pounds, 13 ounces. Ma’Kaila was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, separated from her sister — and mother — for the first time. “I was asking, ‘Is everything OK?’” Morris said. “They were like, ‘She’s good. Everything’s good. It’s just that she’s underweight — too underweight.’ They wanted to take her back and start feeding her and try to get her to gain some weight.” Ma’Kaila stayed in the NICU for the next two weeks, working up the strength to be sent home to her parents and sister. For Morris, who was entering his first season with the Jets on a one-year, prove-it deal after four years with the Cowboys, it was a whirlwind of anxiety and excitement. Somehow, he needed to keep his mind focused on football, while also wanting to make sure his wife and daughters had everything they needed while he was working. “Oh, man,” he said, shaking his head. “We’d have meetings early in the morning and we had to stay over at the (players’) hotel, but Coach was giving me a little time to come here and stay with (Jennifer and Ma’Liah) instead of going to the hotel. I’d come (home) after meetings. We’d get done around 11 or so and I’d come here, check on her and make sure everything’s OK with her and then I’d head up to the hotel for curfew and we’d FaceTime all night.” Claiborne’s coaches and teammates never knew of the hectic routine he was keeping throughout the summer. Playbooks and Pampers. Meetings and feedings. Football and baby blankets. “I don’t care if it was 10 minutes, I live so close to the facility that I was running home every single break to check on them and see if everything’s OK and then I’d get back to my job,” he said. “It was like that for a while, for the whole training camp. ... It was chaos, but it was fun.” Claiborne was in for the biggest surprise of all on Aug. 15 when he arrived home during a short break. “I was like, ‘Babe, come here, look,’” Jennifer called out to him. “I was like, ‘Can you watch her real fast?’ And I was speaking of Ma’Liah.” But she had brought Ma’Kaila home from the hospital earlier in the day and had both girls in the bed, laying them beside her with a video camera set on record to capture the moment. “I wasn’t expecting to see both of them at all,” a wide-eyed Claiborne recalled. “I wasn’t ready for it at all. When I walked in, I was so used to seeing her (Ma’Liah) in the bed when I’d come in, and when I saw both of them laying there, my heart just dropped. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It really hit me: We’ve got twins at the house. This is real now.” Ma’Liah and Ma’Kaila are now 10 1/2 months old, healthy and full of personality. Ma’Liah, according to Jennifer, is the more demanding of the two, and “she’s a Daddy’s girl.” Ma’Kaila is still slightly smaller than her sister, but is more independent — moving around on her own, playing and feeding herself. “It gave me a sense of what I’m really playing football for, what I’m really doing it for,” said the 28-year-old Claiborne, who re-signed with the Jets on another one-year deal in the offseason. “It’s for my family and bringing these two precious little babies into the world, it opened my eyes to a much bigger picture. “I’ve really learned that it’s not about yourself. Once you have kids, it’s about the kids, but I think I got a re-understanding of that once these two babies were born. I enjoy every moment of it.” The family was planning to fly to its home in Dallas over the weekend to join Claiborne’s son Morris, who turns 9 in November, and daughter Madicyn, who’s 3, for a special Father’s Day. “Having these girls made me understand that I really missed some valuable time with my son, but I was off in college (at LSU) and there was nothing I could really do about that,” Claiborne said. “My mindset was on making a way to feed him at that time. Just having them made me realize how much time at this age that I really missed that I would’ve loved to be there. “I missed that time with him, but God’s given me another chance to experience that and I’m happy for it.” And Morris and Jennifer, who got married in March in Texas, are still growing their family. They’re expecting another daughter in mid-November. “I love being a father,” said Claiborne, who Jennifer rates as “really good” at changing diapers. “I love coming home to these faces. I love after games, these kids don’t know whether you had a good game or not, they don’t know what went on at practice. They don’t understand none of that. But when I come home, it’s all smiles because they light up when I walk into the room. “That puts a smile on my face, just to know they love me unconditionally.” ___ For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Jets’ Claiborne a happy father after newborn’s health scare."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-06f0443bc3d84932ae2e1e188b73ef27",
            "input": "Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin had told Russia’s more than 80 regions to consider ordering people to stay at home after the official tally of coronavirus cases rose by 302 to 1,836. Nine people have died, authorities say. Moscow’s authorities have already ordered residents to stay at home, and Mishustin said he thought the measures now needed to be rolled out nationwide. “I ask the leaders of (Russia’s regions) to pay attention to (Moscow’s) experience and to work out the possibility of introducing such measures in their regions,” he said. President Vladimir Putin said decisive measures had helped Russia win time in its battle to contain the virus and to prevent an explosive infection rate, but that it was vital authorities used that time effectively. “This work must be done in reality, I would like to underline this - in reality and not just on paper or for reports. No exceptions whatsoever,” Putin told regional heads in comments broadcast on state television. At least 14 regions, including Kaliningrad, Tatarstan and the Arctic region of Murmansk, which shares a border with Finland and Norway, heeded the call. Others have implemented different measures. The southern, mainly Muslim region of Chechnya has imposed an entry ban, while several towns run by state nuclear corporation Rosatom that are closed to foreigners have imposed further entry restrictions. Murmansk region has restricted entry to the towns of Kirovsk and Apatity where fertiliser producer Phosagro has plants and to other, small industrial settlements. The northern region of Karelia has prohibited the elderly from using public transport. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a Putin ally, said 20% of residents were ignoring his order to self-isolate, but that he hoped an IT system would be operational by the end of the week that would allow authorities to control the movement of people. Under the new rules, Muscovites are allowed to go out only to buy food or medicines at their nearest shop, get urgent medical treatment, walk the dog, or take out the bins. “This may now seem to some of you like some kind of game, a kind of Hollywood thriller. This is no game...,” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council, said in a video address. “Unfortunately, what is happening now is a real threat to all of us and to all of human civilisation,” said Medvedev, a former president who was prime minister until earlier this year. Some doctors have voiced scepticism about the accuracy of Russia’s coronavirus figures given what they say has been the patchy nature and quality of testing, allegations that the authorities deny.",
            "output": [
                "Russian regions join coronavirus lockdown as toll rises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c571b04a89d42bf8156a51175c24fde",
            "input": "The ruling will likely offer some respite to the healthcare conglomerate as it deals with growing pressure over the safety of its talc products, some defense lawyers said. The company revealed in its annual report on Wednesday that it had received subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to talc litigation. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, played down the impact of the ruling. It was a trial in St. Louis’s 22nd Circuit Court, brought by 21 plaintiffs from outside of the city whose cases were joined to that of a single St. Louis resident, that in July produced a record $4.69 billion talc verdict against J&J. The company is facing several more such lawsuits in St. Louis. However, Missouri’s high court on Feb. 13 ruled in a separate talc case that allowed a non-resident to participate in joined cases was “a clear and direct violation” of state law barring the use of joinder - combining two or more cases - to allow courts to hear cases they otherwise could not. Most state courts can only hear cases involving plaintiffs or defendants from that state or alleging injuries occurring within their jurisdiction. The U.S. Supreme Court strengthened those restrictions in a 2017 decision. But the St. Louis court had allowed out-of-state residents to continue to sue New Jersey-based J&J through liberal use of joinder. In the case that produced the July verdict, 18 of the plaintiffs were from outside Missouri and three were from outside the city of St. Louis. Of the roughly 700 talc cases filed in St. Louis, only 40 involve Missouri residents, according to court filings. If the Feb. 13 ruling closes off the St. Louis court to non-resident claims, J&J may have a stronger hand defending itself in smaller talc cases spread out among other, potentially less plaintiff-friendly state and federal courts. “There’s no real way of reading this decision other than this court clearly saying you can’t join claims if the injury did not occur in the venue,” said Mark Cheffo, a New York-based product liability defense lawyer not involved in talc litigation. J&J in a statement said it was pleased with the decision. “One claim that is properly before a court cannot provide a basis for drawing into a trial other claims that are not. We believe that decision is clearly correct, and we continue to believe that the science doesn’t support plaintiffs’ claims,” the company said, declining further comment. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers said the Feb. 13 ruling was not as definitive as Cheffo suggests. “If defendants are celebrating this ruling as the end of St. Louis mass tort, they have not read the entire Missouri case law,” said Eric Holland, a St. Louis-based plaintiff lawyer involved in the talc litigation. Holland pointed to a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court decision that upheld a $38 million verdict in a pharmaceutical product liability case the defendant claimed had been improperly joined. The court let the result stand, saying that even an improper joinder did not render the trial unfair to defendants. Though the 2016 ruling involved a case already decided, Holland and other plaintiffs’ lawyers said they planned to argue its fairness analysis also applies to out-of-state talc claims in cases yet to go to trial. They said they would also argue joining the cases was the most efficient use of judicial resources. Defense lawyers said the Feb. 13 decision would likely mean dismissal or severing of the out-of-state claims from four upcoming multi-plaintiff cases scheduled for trial in St. Louis. Two of the cases were halted by the Missouri Supreme Court ahead of its ruling. Holland and other plaintiff lawyers said they would challenge J&J requests to sever or dismiss talc cases by arguing the Feb. 13 decision did not overrule the 2016 ruling. Cheffo said the 2016 ruling could make it harder for J&J to overturn the July verdict and its record penalty because the company would have to prove the joinder led to an unfair trial. ‘FORUM SHOPPING’ BY OUT-OF-STATE PLAINTIFFS  The St. Louis court has been a venue for more talc trials and has seen larger verdicts than any other jurisdiction. Outside of St. Louis, the only other significant talc verdicts against J&J to date have come in lawsuits filed by individual plaintiffs in New Jersey and California, where the company is currently facing jury verdicts totaling $142 million. A Los Angeles jury delivered a $417 million talc verdict against J&J in 2017, but the judge threw out the award weeks later as unsupported by the evidence. All talc verdicts against J&J are on appeal. The St. Louis court has a history of issuing large punitive damages against companies and has often been criticized by business groups as allowing “forum-shopping” by out-of-state plaintiffs. While J&J faces some trials brought by individuals in other jurisdictions, the multi-plaintiff St. Louis cases are the largest and have the most potential to produce additional billion-dollar verdicts. Plaintiffs allege that the talc in Johnson’s baby powder and other J&J products causes ovarian cancer, or that asbestos contamination in the talc causes ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Asbestos is a known carcinogen linked to mesothelioma. J&J and its talc supplier, Imerys Talc America, a co-defendant in the litigation, deny the allegations, saying numerous studies and tests by regulators worldwide have shown their talc to be safe and asbestos-free. Reuters on Dec. 14 published a report detailing that J&J knew that the talc in its raw and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos from the 1970s into the early 2000s - test results it did not disclose to regulators or consumers. (reut.rs/2Gh88KO)   J&J is currently facing roughly 13,000 lawsuits over talc, most of which have been consolidated in federal court in New Jersey. Many plaintiff’s lawyers have fought to keep cases out of federal court, which they feel favors corporate defendants. Three juries have rejected claims that Baby Powder was tainted with asbestos or caused plaintiffs’ mesothelioma. Five other juries have failed to reach verdicts, resulting in mistrials. In a statement, Imerys Talc America said the Missouri ruling affirmed legal arguments it has made in litigation for the last four years. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 13, saying it lacked the financial clout to defend against talc lawsuits.",
            "output": [
                "Court ruling could help J&J defeat St. Louis talc lawsuits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-44fe28acb1ad4b15af63f90bc173bfb4",
            "input": "In late May, North Korea reported an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), South Korea’s agriculture ministry said but the North has not made any official comment on its outbreak. North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Wednesday nationwide preventive measures are being carried out to contain the virus, quoting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying “prevention is the key to production in livestock industry”. “Increasing livestock production goes hand in hand with raising farm animals safe from various diseases,” said Kim according to the newspaper. “Once highly contagious diseases like African swine fever are spread .... herds of farm animals could die.”   Preventative measures include disinfecting farms and restricting sales of pork and processed meat, the newspaper said. North Korea raises mainly chicken, ducks and rabbits. Its pig population was 2.6 million as of 2017, according to data from Statistics Korea. In the wake of the North’s outbreak, South Korea has stepped up disinfection measures near the shared border to keep the viral disease spreading to the South. So far, no further cases have been reported in North Korea. African swine fever (ASF) is fatal and highly contagious to pigs and wild boards, but it does not affect humans. Since the first outbreak of ASF in East Asia was reported in China in early August last year, the virus has spread across China including Vietnam.",
            "output": [
                "North Korea steps up measures to prevent spread of African swine fever."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b76ce48ecaf40328462d65157da8279",
            "input": "Plogging mixes fitness with environmentalism, as joggers pick up stray trash and litter during their exercise. The name combines the Swedish word for pick up, “plocka upp,” with jogging. Keep Nebraska Beautiful plans to host activities through June to introduce residents to the sport with its affiliate groups, the Fremont Tribune reported . Activities may include organizing group “plogs” or getting existing running or jogging groups involved, said Jane Polson, the nonprofit’s president. The nonprofit is working with its affiliate groups statewide, such as Keep Fremont Beautiful. “It actually burns more calories than just jogging or walking because you stop and you pick up, and it takes more energy,” said Polson. The organization is partnering with a fitness app Lifesum, which can track ploggers fitness habits. “Plogging is brilliant because it is simple and fun, while empowering everyone to help create cleaner, greener and more beautiful communities,” said Mike Rosen, Keep America Beautiful’s senior vice president of marketing and communications. “All you need is running gear and a bag for trash or recyclables, and you are not only improving your own health, but your local community too.” Leila Hybl, executive director of Keep Fremont Beautiful, hopes the group’s “plogging month” event will demonstrate how residents can make a positive environmental impact on a statewide level by working together. “If we care about the environment, we need to show that,” she said. “We can’t just count on our elected officials to make everything happen.”",
            "output": [
                "Nebraska environmental group dedicates June to ‘plogging’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4aed82f9a88b4e9c8ced45abd37b070d",
            "input": "Scott Wood, white Kansas City Deputy, shot 7x by 3 black men & no mention made of race. Had roles been reversed? PLEASE SHARE! This is deputy Scott Wood of the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office (Kansas City, Kansas). Deputy Wood had finished his shift and stopped at a 7-Eleven before going home. While at the counter, Deputy Wood was attacked from behind by three armed black men. They shot Deputy Wood seven times and robbed him and the store. There is no national media coverage of this brutal attack on an unsuspecting person. There is no news show crying outrage over this or even mentioning it. I think people should know how dangerous it is for Police and how unfair they are treated by the news to boost ratings and sell ads. Deputy Wood is still alive and fighting for his life in stable but critical condition. He is a better man than the three that attacked him. Wishing him a speedy recovery. A fundraising page has been created by the WyCo Sheriff’s office to help the Wood family…  In the very early morning hours of 4 March 2015, off-duty Wyandotte County, Kansas Deputy Scott Wood was shot at a local 7-11 store. On 5 March 2015, WDAF-TV in Kansas City reported that Deputy Wood called in the crime (then in-progress) and subsequently reported he sustained gunshot wounds before he was shot again in the face:  Deputy Wood’s shift had just concluded at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday when he stopped by the 7-Eleven off of Shawnee Drive and I-635 when three men entered the store. Investigators say the men were believed to be involved in two other convenience store robberies and were planning to rob the 7-Eleven when they hit a clerk with a gun and shot the deputy. Deputy Wood fell to the ground, but was able to use a portable radio to call in “officer down” before he was shot once more in the face. Sheriff Ash said the suspects then robbed the store, robbed the deputy and fled the scene, sparking a manhunt. On 9 March 2015, the same station reported that three men in custody were under investigation in relation to the ambush that seriously injured Deputy Wood. In other articles, the suspects were described as “multiple persons of interest” in the incident during which Wood was shot:  All three men, who before the robbery were already convicted felons, have been charged with some very serious crimes stemming from the incident, which police say took place the same night Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wood was shot multiple times, critically injuring him. Charles Bowser was first to face the judge in the courtroom. Next was Dyron King and then King’s cousin, Cecil Meggerson. Each man was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, conspiracy and criminal possession of a firearm. Deputy Scott Wood’s shooting and recovery were reported extensively in the news media, although the coverage was primarily local in nature. According to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) tally, about 50,000 police officers are assaulted in the line of duty each year, with about 250 of them suffering injuries from assaults with firearms. Obviously all of these incidents involving the shooting of police, as unfortunate and tragic as they may be, don’t make the national news. In Deputy Wood’s case, there were no additional reported factors present that served to propel his case into the national sphere: the shooting was not fatal, the assault on him was not premeditated (he was coincidentally present when armed robbers entered a convenience store), and there was no indication that he was targeted due to his race. Thankfully, Deputy Wood was not killed in the assault and recovered from the brutal crime relatively speedily. By 13 March 2015 Wood (who suffered seven gunshot injuries) had made remarkable strides and was breathing and walking on his own, a factor which (sadly, some might reflect) made his shooting a somewhat less noteworthy story outside of Wyandotte County by news media standards:  Another factor that may have played into less extensive news coverage is that Wood’s assailants had not been officially identified at the time the above-reproduced meme began to circulate, and no arrests had been made in the shooting. It wasn’t even clear if police had determined that the men described as persons of interest in early media reports were in fact connected with the crime. By April 2018, however, three men had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced for their part in the attempted killing of Deputy Wood:   Charles Bowser was sentenced to life plus 447 months in prison on [20 April 2018], according to the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office. Bowser, 21, was found guilty by a Wyandotte County jury [in May 2017] for attempting to kill Scott Wood in March 2015. The deputy was inside a Kansas City, Kan., convenience store when three armed robbers burst in. The two others involved, Cecil Meggerson, 36, and Dyron King, 25, were also convicted. They were sentenced to life in prison in 2016 and each received an additional 37 years for other convictions in the case. Wood testified at an earlier trial that he was in uniform when he stopped on his way home from work at a 7-Eleven on Shawnee Drive near Interstate 635. The deputy was talking to the store clerk and had his back to the door when three armed men burst in and forced him to the ground at gunpoint. Both Wood and the clerk were pistol-whipped. One of the gunmen took Wood’s handgun before they began firing shots at him. One bullet shattered his jaw. Another hit him in the shoulder, and five more struck him in the chest and abdomen. “When I look into the mirror at my scars and wounds, I am reminded of what these men tried to take away from me,” Wood said in his statement. “Not only did they try to take my life away from me, they also tried to take away from me the chance to spend one more day with my wife and son.”",
            "output": [
                "Deputy Scott Wood was shot by black convenience store robbers, and the incident was not widely reported in the national media."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dfd8860791954d8aa2e9e80b9a8eb05b",
            "input": "File photo shows a young carer holding the hands of an elderly woman in a residential home for the elderly in Planegg near Munich June 19, 2007. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle The study, reported on Sunday in the journal BioMed Central BMC Neurology, involved 12 patients who had greatly improved language recall shortly after treatment with Enbrel, or etanercept, an anti-inflammatory drug co-marketed by Amgen and Wyeth. “We often see verbal effects within a few minutes of the first dose,” said Dr. Edward Tobinick, director of the Institute for Neurological Research, a private medical group inc., in Los Angeles, who led the study. Tobinick invented and holds several patents on a special method of injecting the drug into the neck. He said he charges anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000 per patient for the treatments. In January, Tobinick’s report on a single patient, and release of a striking video, drew the attention of the Alzheimer’s Association, which released a statement expressing concern. “People with Alzheimer’s and their families may place undue value on this new finding based on the dramatic language used in its description and the apparent immediate effect,” the group said. “We need to see work in other laboratories by scientists without financial interest in the product,” it added. Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of the Alzheimer’s Association’s medical and science council, said the latest study, done at Tobinick’s clinic, does not offer that independent confirmation. “It’s still not a proper trial,” Gandy said. Tobinick believes the drug may work in the brain by blocking an excess of tumor necrosis factor-alpha or TNF-alpha, which may affect communication in the brain. The study looked at language difficulties, such as in finding words, in 12 patients with mild-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease who were administered etanercept weekly for six months. “There was a significant improvement in the majority of the verbal measures that were studied. The remainder showed a tendency toward improvement, which was not significant,” Tobinick said in a telephone interview. He said the study provides evidence that “excess TNF, in the Alzheimer brain, may offer a new way to address this language dysfunction.”   Tobinick acknowledged the study is limited because people knew they were getting the drug. Alzheimer’s patients in such open-label studies often show improvement. “Placebo effect is an enormous problem in open-label studies,” said Dr. Scott Turner, incoming director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. Turner said the true test must come from a more scientifically rigorous double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. In such studies, patients receive either a dummy treatment or an active agent, and neither the doctor nor the patient knows which. Amgen has also expressed concern about the research, claiming there has been insufficient evidence so far. “This off-label, unapproved treatment, administered by Dr. Edward Tobinick, is not supported nor endorsed by Amgen,” the company said in April on its Web site. A video showing one woman's response to the drug in a sister study can be found at : here",
            "output": [
                "Drug restores speech in Alzheimer's; experts worry."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8704b90eefc4dc0ae7bed29e2912644",
            "input": "Chances are low the situation will imperil other cattle herds or people, particularly since the herd in southeastern North Dakota’s Sargent County has been quarantined. But it could delay solving the mystery of how a strain of bovine TB similar to cases associated with cattle south of the U.S. border surfaced in cows near the northern border. “We are the workforce right now in the field, and we have limited staff,” State Veterinarian Susan Keller said Wednesday of the North Dakota Agriculture Department’s Animal Health Division, which has only a handful of workers. She said federal officials wanted to help but couldn’t because of the shutdown tied to a dispute over funding a southern border wall. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders on Friday struck a short-term deal to reopen the government for three weeks, ending a record, 35-day partial shutdown. Two cows from the Sargent County herd tested positive for bovine TB at slaughter plants in South Dakota and Minnesota, and the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa confirmed the diagnosis late last year. The herd was then tested, and five more cows were confirmed to have the infectious disease that can be passed between cattle and people. The source is still unknown. The ranchers have not bought any cattle from Mexico, have no ties to the country and have no workers from south of the border, according to Keller. “It’s a very slow-growing organism. It could have been there (in the herd) for quite a while. We don’t know when it was introduced or where it came from,” she said. “Maybe it’s a strain that has been here (U.S.) for a while but it’s mutated.” Bovine TB is a public health concern worldwide, though the risk to people in developed countries is low given advances in prevention and control measures such as testing, culling of diseased animals and pasteurizing of milk, according to the National Institutes of Health. North Dakota is not alone in recently identifying a new strain of bovine TB — officials in Canada are investigating cattle infections in the province of British Columbia that involve a strain not previously documented in that country, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. “You can have mutations of TB, similar to influenza,” Keller said, stressing that a new strain is not comparable to a new disease — it doesn’t change measures in place to guard against bovine TB. The new case is still a concern to ranchers, according to Julie Ellingson, executive vice president of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. “The livestock industry is concerned about any and all cases of TB, no matter what the strain,” she said. “We have worked hard to maintain a healthy herd in our state, and identifying and addressing the situation as quickly as possible is our highest priority.” Responses to such animal disease cases are a cooperative effort of state and federal agencies, particularly the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and its Veterinary Services and Wildlife Services components. North Dakota’s Animal Health Division has received only limited help so far from those agencies and in particular is waiting on information that will help determine whether the entire herd of about 100 animals is slaughtered or whether the owners can continue managing the rest of the herd with ongoing testing. Officials also are working to determine where all of the animals in the herd originated, and to ensure that none ended up in other herds over the past five years. Keller said the likelihood of that is remote given that the ranchers raise cattle for beef, not to provide seed stock to other ranchers. It wasn’t clear how many APHIS officials have been available to work on the case. Agency spokeswoman Lyndsay Cole, who was herself furloughed but on call, said only that the agency “is assisting with diagnostic testing” and would provide further help “once the lapse in appropriations is over.” The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which represents more than 175,000 cattle ranchers and feeders around the country, did not directly comment on the federal shutdown’s impact on the North Dakota investigation. Chief Veterinarian Kathy Simmons in a statement to The Associated Press expressed confidence that Keller and other North Dakota officials working in conjunction with federal officials “can manage a successful disease response.” Keller said the investigation could stretch out for several months, but she hopes to be able to say definitively by early summer that officials have taken all necessary actions to ensure no spread of the disease. “Neighbors, people in the community, neighboring states, they want to know — do you have things tied up?” she said. ___ Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake",
            "output": [
                "Federal shutdown affected probe into unique bovine TB case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d12b16ddc6640f88ddb6d3357f76ef1",
            "input": "In an analysis from the 2013 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, health researchers said, however, that while life expectancy is rising almost everywhere in the world, one notable exception is southern sub-Saharan Africa, where deaths from HIV/AIDS have erased some five years of life expectancy since 1990. “The progress we are seeing against a variety of illnesses and injuries is good — even remarkable — but we can and must do even better,” said Christopher Murray, a professor of global health at the University of Washington in the United States, who led the study. It was published in The Lancet medical journal. Murray said a huge increase in collective action and funding given to potentially deadly infectious diseases such as diarrhea, measles, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria has had a real impact, reducing death rates and extending life expectancy. But he said some major chronic diseases have been neglected and are rising in importance as threats to life, particularly drug disorders, liver cirrhosis, diabetes and kidney disease. The GBD 2013 gives the most comprehensive and up-to-date estimates of the number of yearly deaths from 240 different causes in 188 countries over 23 years — from 1990 to 2013. Murray’s team’s latest analysis found some poorer countries have made exceptional gains in life expectancy over that time period, with people in Nepal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Niger, Maldives, East Timor and Iran now living on average 12 years longer. Yet despite dramatic drops in child deaths over the last 23 years, malaria, diarrhea and respiratory infections such as pneumonia are still in the top five global causes of death in children under five, killing almost two million children between the ages of one month and 59 months every year. Another mixed success is that, while worldwide deaths from HIV/AIDS have fallen every year since their peak in 2005, HIV/AIDS is still the greatest cause of premature death in 20 out of 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.",
            "output": [
                "Global population living six years longer than in 1990: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d8037bbe1e91467ab49ca99b1749430f",
            "input": "Iran’s death toll from coronavirus rose to 2,517 on Saturday, with 139 fatalities in the past 24 hours, as cases rose 3,076 to 35,408, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on state television. “We are in difficult conditions, in conditions of sanctions but we have allocated 20% of our budget this year to corona, ... and this might be surprising for the world from a country under sanctions,” Rouhani said in comments broadcast on state TV. Shut out of international capital markets and facing a further hit to its finances with the collapse in oil prices coming on top of U.S. sanctions, Iran is struggling to shield its economy from the coronavirus pandemic. Rouhani reassured the public that the country had a strong healthcare system able to cope should there be a rapid progression of the disease. The state health insurance would cover 90% of coronavirus-linked costs of patients, he said. The budget allocation, amounting to about 1,000 trillion rials, would include grants and low-interest loans to those affected by COVID-19, Rouhani said. The allocated amount is worth some $6.3 billion at the rial’s free market exchange rate of about 160,000 rials per dollar. But the government may decide to allocate some of the funds at the official rate of 42,000 which is used to subsidize food and medicine  On Thursday, Rouhani said the government was seeking approval to withdraw $1 billion from Iran’s sovereign wealth fund for the fight against coronavirus. Tapping the sovereign fund requires the agreement of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters. Tensions have risen between Iran and the United States since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Iranian authorities, blaming U.S. sanctions for hampering Tehran’s efforts to curb the outbreak, have urged other countries and the United Nations to call on Washington to lift the sanctions. Washington has rejected easing the sanctions.",
            "output": [
                "Iran to use 20% of state budget to fight coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71ada3a0c8e9429c81898853ac3e5016",
            "input": "Former Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Democrat, proposed a ballot measure on Thursday aimed at providing services to people who commit crimes like defecating in public or using drugs. “When someone breaks the law, it should be enforced. However, certain criminal acts should be treated not as something meriting harsh punishment, but as a ‘cry for help,’” the introductory text to his proposed ballot measure reads. The text still needs approval from the state for Gatto to start gathering signatures, and it would need signatures of roughly 620,000 Californians to make it onto the ballot. As of now, Gatto has no large donors willing to bankroll a signature collection campaign, but he hopes to attract some. His proposal comes as California is in the throes of a worsening homeless crisis, with a growing number of people living on the streets in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Gatto is from. But it met quick criticism from some, who argued it would take away power from counties to decide how best to serve people and would effectively institutionalize people. “The initiative is an embarrassing attempt to make California more visually appealing to those who have no interest or knowledge in addressing the root causes of what is happening to people in our state and country,” the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a nonprofit legal organization, wrote in a statement. Gatto’s proposed measure would require every county with more than 100,000 people to set up a specialized court that can steer people to services. Anyone arrested for committing crimes ranging from indecent exposure to defecating on public transit could be sent through the court if their behavior is determined to be a result of economic hardship, mental health or drug addiction. The courts would then help people access housing, counseling and treatment or mental health services and prescription drug help. Gatto said he views the measure as primarily targeting people who are suffering from mental illness rather than people who are on the streets for other reasons, like economic hardship. He’s proposing taking funding from the “millionaire’s tax” that Californians approved in 2004, which taxes income of more than $1 million at 1%, sending the money toward mental health programs. Twenty percent of that money would go to the county courts under his proposal. The state has faced criticism in part for being slow to deploy money under the Mental Health Services Act, which brings in well over $1 billion annually. The state auditor faulted a commission overseeing the money for inadequately evaluating the effectiveness of county programs. Many California police officers are struggling to enforce laws affecting people living on the streets, he said. “A lot of these police forces are demoralized,” he said. “They want to do something about the problem but it’s a matter of giving them the resources and the place to put those individuals.” Eduardo Vega, a former commissioner on the oversight body, said the idea of diverting homeless people away from the criminal justice system is a good one. “It’s not a crime to be homeless, and it’s not a crime to have a mental health condition,” he said. But he said spending money from the “millionaire’s tax” on county court systems might conflict with the law governing how it can be used. California’s 58 counties are the “front line” providers for mental health services, said Graham Knaus, executive director of the California Association of Counties. The organization is still reviewing and has not taken a position on the proposed ballot measure, but he said counties already work closely with the state and local government to provide services to homeless people with mental health needs. Jonathan Sherin, director of Los Angeles County’s Department of Mental Health, offered a blunter assessment, saying counties need more money, not new requirements on how to spend what they already have. “Tell us the outcomes you want us to achieve with the money and get out of our way or facilitate our success,” he said. “Do not tell us what to do with the money because you’re not down here trying to get it done.”",
            "output": [
                "California voters may be asked to steer homeless to services."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-00bec458be3d420abd2f0c3541291524",
            "input": "The appeal is real, according to a May 7, 2014, ABC News article that said the family of Baylor Fredrickson, a 7-year-old bi-racial boy who is battling Leukemia, are seeking donors who need to be ethnically similar to him. The article said, “Baylor needs a bone marrow transplant and his sister Maddie is not a match. Their parents are Japanese and German, so a mixed race donor — Asian and Caucasian — would be ideal, but so far a worldwide search has come up empty.” Asian American Donor Program spokesperson Jonathan Leong told reporters that trying to encourage more Asian Americans to  register on the national donor list has been his mission for more than two decades. At present, there are about 400,000 mixed race donors listed in the national registry. There are 10 Million donors listed on the national registry. There is special page for Baylor posted on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/amatchforbay Posted 06/04/14 Comments",
            "output": [
                "   Baylor Fredrickson, a 7-year-old boy from Albany, N.Y., is looking for a bone marrow donor.  "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c71d18bc732d47028bf894a9d091efb8",
            "input": "The Indian government had earlier put a hold on exports of hydroxychloroquine as well as on the pain reliever, paracetamol, saying it had to meet its internal demand. But Trump spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend seeking supplies and later hinted that India may face retaliation. “It has been decided that India would licence paracetamol and HCQ in appropriate quantities to all our neighbouring countries who are dependent on our capabilities,” said Indian foreign ministry spokesman, Anurag Srivastava. “We will also be supplying these essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "India will allow some exports of anti-malaria drug after Trump appeal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9e08bbdf4fe4ca5a7dbf48e9acebd65",
            "input": "The zoo said Tuesday that 9-year-old Jiao Qing was examined last week by experts at the city’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research after the discrepancy was picked up on an ultrasound. The 110-kilogram (243-pound) bear underwent the scan while under anesthesia. Doctors confirmed one kidney is smaller. The panda’s urine will be tested to determine whether the smaller kidney is functioning properly. Even if not, animals can live healthy lives with only one kidney. Jiao Qing is the father of twin cubs born Aug. 31. They are doing well.",
            "output": [
                "Grin and bear it: Berlin panda gets CT scan for kidney exam."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-274971313de14ff3bc152dea00af35ab",
            "input": "\"The Road We’ve Traveled -- a 17-minute film from President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign -- touts his achievements in health care, saying that the Affordable Care Act has substantially expanded coverage for millions of Americans. We’re checking several claims from the film, including one that \"\"2.5 million young adults now have coverage.\"\" The law requires insurers to provide dependent coverage for children up to age 26 on all policies. The goal is to prevent young adults from becoming uninsured when their parental or college plans would otherwise run out. This provision took effect in September 2010. We found support for the film’s statistic in a Health and Human Services analysis of data from the National Health Interview Survey, a longstanding survey conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey found an 8.3 percentage point increase in insurance coverage for the 19-to-25 age group between the third quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011 -- from 64.4 percent to 72.7 percent. The analysis then multiplied 8.3 percent by 29.7 million -- the number of people nationally in that age group -- to come up with the number 2.5 million. We’ll note that the original CDC study, using slightly different methodology, found a smaller number. Using annual and semi-annual figures rather than quarterly numbers, the number grew by 1.3 million. The HHS analysis makes the case that, for various technical reasons, its method is superior. We think both estimates are reasonable, and while the 2.5 million figure got more traction in the media, we also think it’s worth noting that the underlying federal study offers an alternative -- and smaller -- number. In essence, the film cherry-picks the higher number. So the statement is accurate but needs clarification, which fits our definition of .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Because of the new health care law, \"\"2.5 million young adults now have coverage.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc6ca69dd1224312b32428df58d7c88f",
            "input": "In a controversial new measure for containing infections, the Health Ministry said it alerted people who had been exposed to coronavirus carriers, based on information it gleaned through “technological means” - an apparent reference to cyber-surveillance on loan from the Shin Bet counter-terrorism agency. “Yesterday we gave clear instructions ... asking people to stay at home as much as they can and to go outside only when it’s vital, for food supplies and other such needs we specified,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 12 TV. But, Netanyahu said, some members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and “part of the minorities” - a reference to its 21-percent Arab minority - have not taken in the message. “If the message is not understood, then I will not hesitate to impose an order.”  He gave no details on the extent of any lockdown and said he would address the issue further in public remarks on Thursday. A lockdown, enforced by police under government order, would put further strain on the Israeli economy, The government has already announced a 15 billion shekel ($4 billion) aid package to help businesses damaged by the crisis and boost health services. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel numbered 433. An earlier tally on Wednesday marked a 40% jump from Tuesday. In the interview, Netanyahu cited instances in which large weddings were held by the ultra-Orthodox community while some religious schools remained open despite a national closure of educational institutions. The Health Ministry has limited gatherings to no more than 10 people. Many businesses have reduced staff. Restaurants have shifted to delivery-only operations and public transport has been cut back. Supermarkets remain open. On Wednesday, Israel imposed a blanket ban on entry by foreigners. The Health Ministry said it sent text messages to around 400 people instructing them to self-isolate because they had been within infection distance of a coronavirus carrier. The Netanyahu government fast-tracked approval for access to Israelis’ communications data. Israel’s Supreme Court was due on Thursday to hear challenges to the Shin Bet’s involvement by civil liberties activists who fear it will open the door to domestic spying. Netanyahu said testing for coronavirus infection would be stepped up, with 3,000 tests administered daily, which will rise to 10,000 a day within two weeks. No fatalities from the coronavirus have been reported in Israel or in the Palestinian territories to date. But Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general, told Army Radio that he expected there would be “many hundreds of new patients each day, and possibly more”. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority announced tighter restrictions on the movements of Palestinians, saying no one could enter or leave the biblical town of Bethlehem and its residents must remain indoors. Palestinian health officials have confirmed 44 cases of coronavirus infection. None has been detected in the Gaza Strip, where Israel and Egypt enforce tight border restrictions.",
            "output": [
                "Netanyahu threatens Israeli lockdown orders in coronavirus crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2aabee8f79fc4069ad430dd48221ab2e",
            "input": "The story did not discuss cost. There are dozens of fish oil supplements on the market and their cost varies widely. The story could have given some sense of the financial impact that this regimen would have. This was a strong point of the story, giving us both absolute and relative risk figures up front in the second paragraph: Among children whose mothers took fish-oil capsules, 16.9 percent had asthma by age 3, compared with 23.7 percent whose mothers were given placebos. The difference, nearly 7 percentage points, translates to a risk reduction of about 31 percent. Too often, even when stories do provide absolute risk figures, they highlight relative risks high up in the story and bury the absolute risk information far down in the text where it’s less likely to be read. The story explains that no adverse events were associated with the intervention. However, the harms assessed by the researchers were things like maternal or infant death, emergency caesarean delivery, and preterm birth. They didn’t assess (and the story didn’t mention) less serious harms like fishy taste, nausea, belching, and heartburn that are commonly associated with fish oil capsules and which might make this regimen burdensome for pregnant women. Moreover, it would have been useful if the story had also noted that the reason researchers want to replicate the results in a larger group of women is to make sure these very high doses of fish oil are indeed safe. The story gives us details of the study–how many women were enrolled, that there was a placebo group, and that the children were followed for seven years. An independent source also explains that the study was “well designed and carefully performed.” The story does not disease monger–childhood asthma is a common and often exasperating condition that many parents grapple with. The story clearly explains who funded the study, and includes an independent source. But it doesn’t note the extensive conflicts of interest reported by the lead author who’s quoted in the piece: Dr. Bisgaard reports receiving consulting fees from Chiesi Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim, and Drs. Bisgaard and Bønnelykke report being named on a pending patent related to the prevention of childhood asthma through FADS genotyping and the assessment of blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in pregnant mothers. The patent filing related to genetic testing is particularly relevant, given that the researcher advocates genetic testing and testing of fish oil levels in pregnant women to determine who might benefit most from supplementation. Aside from avoidance of maternal smoking, there are no known ways to reduce the risk of developing asthma in childhood. The story explains this is why doctors are testing this method, and excited by the findings. The story explains that the “capsules were an over-the-counter product called Incromega TG33/22, a fish extract made by the British chemical company Croda Health Care.” And in regard to whether women should start taking the supplement to lower asthma risk in their babies, the story lets us know researchers “are not ready to recommend that pregnant women routinely take fish oil” due to the very high dose used in this study. Further research is needed first to establish safety and confirm benefit. We learn that previous studies on this topic were inconclusive, and so the inference is that this is the first time more conclusive results were seen, especially regarding the benefit in women who had lower-than-normal levels of the fatty acids in their blood. This story did not rely on the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Taking Fish Oil During Pregnancy Is Found to Lower Child’s Asthma Risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14240bb4fc6d41b39f993c417ac7ad13",
            "input": "There’s no mention of costs. The manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, has been charging $94,500 for a 12-week regimen of this combination therapy, marketed to adults as Harvoni. While government and private payers have balked at the cost, the company says the price tag is justified by its effectiveness in eradicating the virus, which will save the cost of treating serious liver disease down the road. The news release states that 99 percent, or 89 out of 90, children treated with the ledipasvir/sofosbuvir combination had undetectable levels of hepatitis C virus 12 weeks after treatment. We do caution that sustained virological response (SVR) and the reduction in viral load, which is what this study measured, may or may not reflect outcomes that people care about. As discussed in another review on a different hepatitis C drug announcement, “Patients care most about conditions that affect them and not how many virus particles are in their blood.” The news release does an adequate job, stating that the combination therapy “was well-tolerated, and no patients experienced a serious adverse event considered related to the study drug.” It adds: “The most common side effects reported in 10% or more of patients were headache, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, cough, fatigue, sore throat and nausea.” But one important caveat wasn’t mentioned: Often negative effects aren’t apparent until after a drug goes on the market and is used by a large and diverse population of patients. For example, if the drug resulted in a fatal complication in 2 out of 100 children, this small study could easily have missed that. It’s risky to call a drug “safe” until it’s been used in a very large number of patients. This is particularly true when drugs are fast-tracked for approval by the FDA, as Harvoni’s use in children is expected to be. As HealthNewsReview.org reported in January, Harvoni is among the new generation of hepatitis C drugs that are generating serious adverse effects that warrant further scrutiny. Hence, there could be unknown risks in extending this therapy to kids. The news release gives information about the length of the study, the number of participants, and the study population. It states that most were male, white, and had no prior treatment, and had been infected by their mothers at birth. And it states that this is an open-label study, so no standard treatment or placebo was used as a comparison. The release doesn’t engage in disease mongering. It notes the prevalence of hepatitis C among children, which “varies from 0.05%-0.36% in the United States and Europe and up to 1.8%-5.8% in some developing countries.” It would have been even better with specific numbers. The news release says research funding came from the manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, and the National Institutes of Health, and the study authors own stock in Merck. Kudos for transparency. The news release offers a comparison with the current standard of care: “While direct-acting antivirals have been used to treat and cure adult patients with HCV,4-7 until now children have been mainly treated for 24 to 48 weeks with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (RBV), an older treatment which causes severe side effects.” The news release doesn’t explain what hurdles, such as FDA approval, are required to make this therapy available to children. The news release explains the significance of this study via quotes from two researchers: “Direct-acting antivirals have transformed the treatment of adults with chronic HCV (hepatitis C), however, studies of these new therapies in children are required,” said Dr. Karen Murray, University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s, Seattle, United States, and lead author of the study. “These data establish the use of the oral direct-acting antivirals as an important treatment option in HCV-infected children aged six to 11 years old.” “This study is a breakthrough for the management of children aged six to 11 years old with Hepatitis C, demonstrating that the new DAA regimen is highly efficacious and, more importantly, safe in this group of HCV-infected children”, said Prof. Frank Tacke, University Hospital Aachen, Germany, and EASL Governing Board Member. The news release uses two words — “cure” and “breakthrough” — that we advise journalists to avoid because they are imprecise and tend to sensationalize.",
            "output": [
                "Investigational dose of oral interferon-free treatment can cure hepatitis C in children"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5c2b3ed7cb34b87973cdc1c5eed95d0",
            "input": "The United States and neighbors in Latin America have suspended flights, banned public gatherings and closed schools. In Mexico City, however, tens of thousands of music fans rocked out to Guns and Roses at a festival at the weekend. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also went on tour, hugging surging crowds of supporters and kissing babies. The gamble is straightforward: Mexico’s economy was stagnating even before the COVID-19 outbreak shuttered factories worldwide and the government has said it wants to limit economic damage by not over-reacting. Some Mexican scientists, receiving news of Europe’s growing lockdown, South Korea’s widespread testing and global travel bans, are increasingly worried that Mexico’s softly-softly approach could lead to a bigger epidemic down the road. “I am worried that we end up in a situation like Italy, where measures weren’t taken on time, and the number of cases started to get away from them,” said Rosa Maria del Angel, who heads the Department of Infectomics and Molecular Pathogenesis at Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute. In 2009, a new strain of swine flu that emerged in Mexico raised fears of a global pandemic. Authorities acted swiftly, shutting down public life in the densely populated capital, Mexico City, and swathes of the country. The silent streets foreshadowed scenes today in towns under lockdown from China to Europe and the United States. The disease was quickly contained and normal life resumed within weeks, but by some estimates the response shaved a percentage point from that year’s economic activity. The economy, already reeling from the global financial crisis, ended 2009 contracted by more than 5%. The lesson is not lost on the officials running Mexico’s response in 2020, many of whom were also involved in fighting the influenza epidemic. Mexico’s economy last year suffered its first recession since 2009. “The economic loss was directly related, in the most past, to the disruption of tourism, trade and services,” said Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who was a senior official in the epidemiology department during the flu crisis. That is “why it is so important, with very careful precision, not to take pre-emptive actions that do not correspond to the magnitude of the risk,” Lopez-Gatell, who is now the public face of the government’s response, told reporters last week. The finance minister and other senior officials have voiced the same sentiment, while Lopez Obrador has said he will continue public activities until Lopez-Gatell tells him to stop. This week, the government announced initial measures, including more testing. It recommends school closures from next Monday and canceling cultural events with more than 5,000 people. While nations from Canada to Peru have suspended flights or limited free movement, Mexico has yet to propose any restrictions on travel around or in and out of the country. Tourism accounts for about one-sixth of Mexico’s roughly $1.3 trillion economy. Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday countries around the world were repeating Mexico’s mistake in 2009, making decisions based on anxiety and social pressure rather than science. The lesson from the flu epidemic is that acting too soon is counterproductive, he said. “Acting responsibly, we can’t and should not take measures that exhaust our society. Let’s not use up all the interventions too soon. Let’s keep our calm.”",
            "output": [
                "Mexico, former swine flu hub, tests nerves with coronavirus strategy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1e6d190445b3476d823110fbc4214f61",
            "input": "\"The story does not list the cost of bottle formula, which may be a significant issue for some. It would have been easy to note one of the benefits not called into question about this report is that breastfeeding is \"\"free\"\". The story does not provide data showing there is no association between breastfeeding and protection against adult obesity. There is some evidence linking breastfeeding and reduced childhood obesity, but again, the data are not provided. Additionally, there is evidence for both short-term and long-term health benefits of breastfeeding for both mothers and infants. The story doesn't quantify either. The story does mention some of the positives of breastfeeding, but does not mention some of the downsides of bottle-feeding compared to breast feeding. Breast feeding is not associated with reduced risk of obesity in adulthood, but neither is formula-feeding. Babies who are not breastfed are more likely to develop otitis media, gastrointestinal problems, and urinary tract infections. Women who breastfeed more quickly use the body fat stores from pregnancy and may lose pregnancy-related weight more quickly compared to women who do not breastfeed. Thus, they may reduce their risk of conditions related to additional weight (e.g. diabetes, high-blood pressure, etc.). This is alluded to in the article but not emphasized. The story adequately describes the design of the observational cohort study and provides some of the major results of the study. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story does talk about childhood obesity, which has increased in recent years. The story interviews the lead author of the study, an official from the CDC's maternal and child nutrition branch and pediatricians who provide clinical perspective on the results of this latest research regarding breast feeding and obesity. The story reviewed evidence seen in breastfeeding versus bottle-feeding. It's clear from the story how widespread is the practice of breastfeeding. The story reports on recently published data from a cohort study showing no association of breast feeding with reduced BMI in adulthood. Breast feeding was previously thought to act as a prevention against obesity in later life. Therefore, the CDC and other groups who support breastfeeding programs may consider this latest data in an effort to provide up-to-date evidence-based promotional materials. The story used several independent sources, so it's safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Breast-Feeding Won’t Deter Obesity"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fea9df898c2489c9336f5ba764378b6",
            "input": "\"Doctors’ offices, already burdened by federal billing bureaucracy, will soon find themselves pecked to death by new rules, Texas congressman Ted Poe says. New diagnosis codes required for reimbursement are so specific, he told Fox Business Network host John Stossel, there are a set of them just for injuries caused by turkeys. \"\"Whether you run into a turkey or the turkey runs into you, you're pecked by a turkey or you're bitten by a turkey, there's a difference between being pecked and being bitten,\"\" he said in an interview April 25, 2013. \"\"So they have nine codes for turkeys.\"\" Poe, a fifth-term Republican who’s a member of the Tea Party Caucus, argues doctors shouldn’t have to face the expense of complying with new rules or penalties for screwing up. \"\"Do they need to go through this much detail to get information to the federal government? I don’t think they do,\"\" he said. We had to know: Do new Medicare billing guidelines include \"\"nine codes for turkeys\"\"? Outdated codes First, a little background about this code thing. It’s not just a U.S. system — it’s international. (And in case you were wondering, it has nothing to do with Obamacare.) The \"\"new\"\" set of diagnosis codes that Poe talked about is known as ICD-10. \"\"ICD\"\" stands for \"\"International Classification of Diseases.\"\" It’s published by the World Health Organization, then adapted for use in the United States. The United States now uses ICD-9, which is more than three decades old. Doctors’ offices use the codes to fill out Medicare and Medicaid claims, among other things. Their billing and practice management software is based on them. Their employees are trained to use them. The American Medical Association says that depending on the size of the medical practice, it’ll cost $83,290 to more than $2.7 million to switch. Doctors are dealing with so many other expensive regulatory changes, the association has begged since 2011 to delay or give up on the switch altogether. Other countries have charged ahead. They started to adopt the \"\"new\"\" set of codes nearly 20 years ago, and most developed countries now use it, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS will require American doctors, indeed, any organization covered by the 1996 health care law known as HIPAA, to switch by Oct. 1, 2014. The federal government says the United States needs to upgrade partly because ICD-9 has outdated medical terms and not enough detail for accurate claims processing. Claims for two different injuries might seem like duplicate filings if you couldn’t specify right vs. left hand, for example. As Poe suggested, the new system does have far more diagnosis codes than the version developed in the 1970s — 68,000 instead of 13,000. (Poe, in his Stossel interview, said the new system has 140,000 codes, but that’s only if you group both diagnosis and procedure codes — not a direct comparison with 13,000.) How much detail are we talking? The codes allow doctors to specify not just injuries from turkeys, but from parrots, macaws, ducks and geese. There’s a different code for being \"\"struck\"\" vs. \"\"pecked\"\" or suffering from \"\"other contact\"\"— with specification for the first time, an unlucky repeat or even worse, \"\"sequela.\"\" (That would be some \"\"negative afteraffect\"\" resulting from your turkey encounter. Headaches! Panic attacks!) Poe’s office pointed us to this: W61.4 Contact with turkey W61.42 Struck by turkey W61.42XA initial encounter W61.42XD subsequent encounter W61.42XS sequela W61.43 Pecked by turkey W61.43XA initial encounter W61.43XD subsequent encounter W61.43XS sequela W61.49 Other contact with turkey W61.49XA initial encounter W61.49XD subsequent encounter W61.49XS sequela If you’ve seen TV ads about the need to prepare for a bright new career in medical billing and coding — this is part of the reason why. Our ruling Poe said doctors face a new regulatory burden, requiring them to use a system that includes nine different codes for turkey injuries. His office pointed us to the new codes, which will be required for Medicare claims by October 2014. Indeed, if your Thanksgiving tradition takes a tragic turn that year, your doctor will be able to describe it in seven-digit detail. (We hope it’s just W61.42XA and not W61.43XS.)\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Ted Poe Says new Medicare billing guidelines \"\"have nine codes for (injuries by) turkeys.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b16f785897c4b5ca515fca6af9a7209",
            "input": "Officials said the child was under 10 years old and died on the way to a hospital in southeastern Wisconsin. Officials said they don’t know if the child was vaccinated; the child had moved to Wisconsin just a couple months ago. Department of Health Services influenza surveillance coordinator Tom Haupt said 622 people have been hospitalized for the flu and flu-related complications in Wisconsin this season. Of those, 97 were placed in intensive care. He said 60% of the hospital admissions were people under age 65. Health officials say flu season typically peaks in February. According to DHS, the child tested positive for influenza B, the strain that’s been rapidly spreading and has been increasingly problematic nationwide, particularly in younger patients. Haupt said the best way to prevent the flu from spreading is to get vaccinated.",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin child dies of flu; hundreds hospitalized in state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d953a54f14a54bfa907ad7856de6ae00",
            "input": "If, as the former correctional officer fears, the virus spreads to hundreds of people, Griffin is headed to the woods. “I’ll do what the English royalty did to survive the bubonic plague,” Griffin said, referring to King Charles II’s flight to the countryside during the Great Plague of London in 1665-66. “I’m going into the country.”   Griffin, 27, of Huntsville, Texas, is among a growing if loosely-defined segment of Americans, known as “preppers,” who plan, train and stockpile in preparation for a natural calamity or societal breakdown. For many, the three cases of Ebola diagnosed in the United States so far since late September represent a new potential disaster and a reason to run to the store. Preppers are at the extreme edge of concern over Ebola, which has led to a series of false alarms driven by fear. Government efforts to stop the virus spreading from the three worst-hit West African countries, where more than 4,500 have died, include some travel restrictions and enhanced screening at airports. Chad Huddleston, an anthropologist at the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville, who studies preppers and estimates their numbers in the United States in the low hundreds of thousands, said those he has talked to are more concerned with undue public fear than with contracting Ebola. The virus was diagnosed in a Liberian visitor who was infected in his home country and two nurses who treated him at a Dallas, Texas hospital when he was dying and at his most contagious. Both nurses have been moved out of the state for treatment in hospitals equipped to treat Ebola patients. U.S. preppers have their roots in Cold War-era civil defense programs, said Vincent DeNiro, editor of Prepper & Shooter magazine. The movement’s profile rose thanks in part to the National Geographic Channel TV show “Doomsday Preppers,” and includes strains as disparate as off-grid homesteaders in the Great Plains, wilderness experts in the Mountain West and suburbanites across the country with caches of food and guns. For many of them, gearing up for Ebola has meant fortifying their stocks of freeze-dried food, water, filtration devices and hazardous material, or hazmat, suits, which experts say can be useless if not taken off properly. Some are also honing plans to meet teams of fellow survivalists at prearranged locations, or, like Griffin, who has no spouse or children, preparing to go it alone in the wilderness. Stockpiling has led to shortages of a range of survival gear, from food with a shelf-life in excess of 20 years to impermeable medical suits, according to vendors. At Cheaper Than Dirt, a leading online survivalist retailer based in Texas, dozens of varieties of freeze-dried meals are out of stock, from packets of cheesy lasagna to 60-serving buckets of mushroom stroganoff. Supplies such as hazmat suits and protective gloves - sometimes called Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) gear - are running low, said Richard Smith, general manager of The Survival Center, an online retailer in Washington state, about 1,500 miles from Texas. Smith boasted of snagging last week the final wholesale personal protection suits and respirator masks to be had on the West Coast. Using hazmat gear without proper training is of limited benefit, said magazine editor DeNiro, who has encouraged his readers to stock up on at least six months of food. “Buying NBC equipment and not learning how to use it properly is like buying a gun and ammunition and never practicing with it,” he said. Many preppers, who have focused their planning on everything from solar storms and earthquakes to nuclear holocaust, are skeptical of government - a view that dovetails with concerns, voiced by lawmakers and medical experts, that U.S. authorities mishandled the response to the virus when it emerged at a Texas hospital. At a prepper and self-defense school in south Florida, fear over Ebola has meant a rush of students, about 54 in the past two weeks, to take a primer course on how to avoid contracting the virus, said David D’Eugenio, founder of the HomeSafety Academy in Lake Park. “For the past week, I can’t even tell you what our hours are like with all the people coming through,” he said. An avid prepper and retired firefighter in West Palm Beach, Florida, Bob Boike, who attends D’Eugenio’s school, believes that an Ebola outbreak in the United States will likely be averted, but he is taking no chances. Boike, 58, who co-leads of a team of 32 preppers and their families, with multiple secret locations provisioned to last them a year or more, has stocked up on water and canned food, having already socked away an ample supply of masks, gloves and other medical supplies, he said. “This is our insurance for if and when there is societal breakdown,” Boike said.",
            "output": [
                "Ebola gives U.S. 'preppers' another reason to prepare for worst."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34cffaf56a624047b432721b7a4434ce",
            "input": "Israel has seen five deaths and close to 2,400 cases so far. Citizens hoping for a stroll or jog were instructed earlier on Wednesday to stay within 100 metres (110 yards) of their homes for a week under tightened restrictions to curb the contagion. The new restrictions further reduced public transport, required employers to check workers for fever and set sanctions for people who defy rules. Israelis have been instructed to stay home where possible, schools have been shut and many businesses have closed, prompting more than 500,000 lay-offs. “If we do not see an immediate improvement in the trendline there will be no avoiding a full closure,” Netanyahu said in televised remarks. “(The decision) is a matter of a few days (away). And we are making all of the preparations for it.”   The sight of people, out for fresh air, jogging and congregating on city streets has alarmed health authorities. The new 100-metre limit is meant to end such activity. The private sector has had to limit employees at the workplace to 10 people or 30% of the company’s workforce, and most of the public sector has been put on leave. Israelis, though, could still drive themselves to work or to shops for essentials under the new restrictions, and food delivery services were operating. Penalties ranging from fines to a six-month jail term were set for anyone defying the orders. Israel’s central bank on Tuesday projected an economic contraction of 2.5% in 2020 as long as the partial lockdown eases by the end of April. In his remarks, Netanyahu said his caretaker government was setting up an economic plan to help businesses and the self-employed, and that a team was set-up to prepare for the day after the virus ends. The coronavirus crisis comes as Israel is grappling with political deadlock after three inconclusive elections in less than a year. Netanyahu’s centrist political rival, former military chief Benny Gantz, has been tasked with forming a new coalition government. But neither Gantz nor Netanyahu won a stable parliamentary majority in the March 2 election and negotiations to form a unity government comprising both their parties have come to a halt in the past few days.",
            "output": [
                "Israel's Netanyahu says complete lockdown unavoidable unless new infections ebb."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f1ac882f4b4424b83665991f846f457",
            "input": "Irwin posted a wedding snap on social media late Wednesday, saying: “We held a small ceremony and I married by best friend.”  “We’ve planned this beautiful day for nearly a year and had to change everything, as we didn’t have guests at our wedding. This was a very difficult decision but important to keep everyone safe,” Irwin said. Images of a wedding dress glimpsed from under a huddle of umbrellas at the family’s Australia Zoo in northeastern Queensland state were broadcast on TV on Wednesday less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Scott Morrison imposed a limit of just five people at weddings - the couple, a celebrant and two witnesses - from Wednesday midnight, to rein in the spread of a coronavirus. Ahead of her tweets, when images of the wedding first appeared, outraged viewers complained Irwin was setting a bad example amid nationwide coronavirus lockdowns. “How many people will get #COVID-19 from this wedding?” one person asked on Twitter, referring to the disease spread by the virus. Powell said on social media he had met Bindi at the zoo, where he now works, six years ago. “After almost a year of planning, we changed everything so we could have safe & small private ceremony at our home, Australia Zoo,” he said in a post early on Thursday. Bindi Irwin leapt to fame as a child when her quirky conservationist father, whose television programs were popular around the world, died in 2006, after a stingray’s barb pierced his heart while he was filming off the Great Barrier Reef. She won reality show Dancing with the Stars in the United States in 2015, when she was 17.",
            "output": [
                "Bindi Irwin ties knot ahead of Australian clampdown on weddings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1bfc3a8d8274f26b7b3a5daa96427c8",
            "input": "Stafford’s wife, Kelly, announced earlier this month she plans to have surgery to remove a brain tumor . She posted on Instagram two days later, thanking everyone for an outpouring of support . “I’m excited for this journey to come to an end and move on with my life!” Kelly Stafford posted Tuesday night. Lions center Graham Glasgow sent Stafford a text about two weeks ago after Kelly Stafford shared details of her health and spoke to him recently. “It seems like he’s doing well and I think their family is doing well,” Glasgow said. Matthew and Kelly Stafford have three children. They began dating at Georgia, where he was the star of the football team and she was a cheerleader. She had vertigo spells within the last year, and an MRI showed a tumor on cranial nerves. “Him and Kelly are extremely tough people and this is something that is bigger than football,” Glasgow said. Stafford, who has been at the team’s training facility this offseason, was drafted by Detroit No. 1 overall in 2009. He has spent his entire career with the franchise. ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Lions QB Stafford sits out workout as wife has brain tumor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd3d228f183545bfae12fc168cf56804",
            "input": "In April 2018, the right-leaning Turning Point USA posted a Facebook meme which attacked Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for once supporting a proposal to “dump nuclear waste” in a “poor Latino community in Texas”: In the 90’s, Trump supported a bill to dump nuclear waste in Sierra Blanca, a poor Latino community in Texas where the average yearly income was $8,000. When asked if he would visit the site, he said “Absolutely not.”  Oh wait! Never mind, that was Bernie Sanders! And he actually co-sponsored the bill! The meme was re-posted by the “Capitalism” Facebook page:  In 1997 and 1998, Sanders did indeed support a measure that gave Congressional approval to an arrangement that would have allowed the states of Maine and Vermont to transport and dispose of nuclear waste at a proposed site in the sparsely populated town of Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County, close to the Mexican border in West Texas. As the meme suggests, Sierra Blanca was (and is) a predominantly Latino community. U.S. Census Bureau records show that in 2000, two years after the proposal, 73 percent of the town’s 533 residents identified as Hispanic or Latino, and almost all of those as Mexican. In 2016, some 69 percent of Sierra Blanca’s 557 residents identified as Hispanic or Latino. In 1999, the annual per capita income of Sierra Blanca residents was $10,768, which was 45 percent lower than that of Texans at large ($19,617). In 2016, the median household income in Sierra Blanca was estimated to be $41,875 as compared to $54,727 in the state of Texas. As an Independent member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Vermont, Sanders was one of 23 co-sponsors of House Resolution 629, which called for Congress to give its consent to the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact — an agreement between the states of Texas, Maine, and Vermont. Speaking on the floor of the house in October 1997, Sanders said he was in “strong support” of the resolution for environmental reasons, and stressed that he personally was opposed to the use of nuclear power, but that the waste it produces had to be disposed of as safely as possible. It is worth reading a relatively extensive excerpt from his remarks in order to get a good sense of Sanders’ stated reasoning: Let me touch, for a moment, upon the environmental aspects of this issue. And let me address it from the perspective of someone who is an opponent of nuclear power, opposes the construction of nuclear power plants and if he had his way, would shut down the existing nuclear power plants as quickly and as safely as we could. One of the reasons that many of us oppose nuclear power plants is that when this technology was developed, there was not a lot of thought given as to how we dispose of the nuclear waste. But…the reality, as others have already pointed out, is that the waste is here. We can’t wish it away. It exists in power plants in Maine and Vermont, it exists in hospitals, it is here…So the real environmental issue here is not to wish it away, but to make the judgement, the important environmental judgement as to what is the safest way of disposing of the nuclear waste that has been created. …Leaving the radioactive waste at the site where it was produced — despite the fact that that site might be extremely unsafe in terms of long-term isolation of the waste, and was never intended to be a long-term depository of low-level waste  — is horrendous environmental policy…No reputable scientist of environmentalist believes that the geology of Vermont or Maine would be a good place for this waste. In the humid climate of Vermont and Maine, it is more likely that ground water will come in contact with that waste and carry off radioactive elements to the accessible environment. There is widespread scientific evidence to suggest, on the other hand, that locations in Texas — some of which receive less than 12 inches of rainfall a year, a region where the groundwater table is more than 700 feet below the surface — is a far better location for this waste. This is not a political assertion, it is a geological and environmental reality. A video clip of his comments can be viewed here. Congress passed the resolution comfortably by 305 votes to 117, as did the Senate, by 78 votes to 15. The proposal had much stronger support among Republicans than among Democrats. GOP members of the House voted 197-26 in favor, while Democrats were more evenly split, voting 107-91 in favor. In the Senate, not a single Republican opposed H.R. 629, while 51 of them voted for it. Fifteen Democratic Senators opposed the bill, while 27 of them voted in support. At that time, five out six Senators from Texas, Vermont, and Maine were Republicans. All five of them voted in favor of the proposal. Both of Maine’s Representatives voted for the disposal site, as did 10 out of the 13 Republican Congress members from Texas. In the House, the proposal had 23 co-sponsors. Eleven were Republicans, eleven were Democrats, and one was Sanders himself, an Independent. The author of the resolution was Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas. Despite Congressional approval for the agreement, authorities in Texas ultimately rejected the proposal to establish a disposal site at Sierra Blanca. In October 1998, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission voted 3-0 against issuing a permit for the construction of a nuclear waste dump there. According to the Associated Press, commission chairman Barry McBee said the disposal site could have provided a much-needed economic boost to the area, but commission members were sufficiently concerned about safety issues to deny the permit. According to a September 1998 article in the Texas Observer, a group of activists opposed to the Sierra Blanca waste site approached Sanders at an anti-nuclear weapons rally in Vermont that year:  Sanders left the stage, which surprised no one in the small Texas delegation. Earlier, he had told them, “My position is unchanged, and you’re not gonna like it.” When they asked if they would visit the site in Sierra Blanca, he said, “Absolutely not. I’m gonna be running for re-election in the state of Vermont.” We contacted Bill Addison, a leading opponent of the Sierra Blanca proposal, who was identified in the Texas Tribune article as having attended that Springfield rally. He confirmed that he was present and corroborated the article’s account of the activists’ interaction with Sanders. We asked a spokesperson for Sanders whether he agrees that this exchange took place, but we did not receive a response to that specific question. Instead, the spokesperson offered a broader explanation and defense of the Senator’s support of H.R. 629: The only reason Senator Sanders was ever involved is because the constitution requires Congress to approve interstate compacts. Texas Representative Joe Barton introduced such legislation in 1998, and twenty-three members of the Vermont, Texas and Maine congressional delegations cosponsored it. The bill did not endorse a specific site — in fact, it did not mention Sierra Blanca at all. Nor did the bill override the local and state approval process. In the end, the Texas agency in charge of permitting ruled against the Sierra Blanca site, choosing another site in Texas instead. So, the process worked. The compact, much less the site selection were never Sen. Sanders’ idea. He disagrees with the very premise of the 1980 law that led to the Texas-Vermont-Maine compact, since it put the burden of disposing of low-level waste on the states, rather the nuclear energy companies that produced much of the waste. In fact, he has long been an opponent of nuclear power precisely it produces waste for which we still have no solution (the Texas site is just for low-level contamination — there is still no plan for all of the high-level nuclear waste all across the country). Sanders’ spokesperson is right to point out that the text of H.R. 629 did not mention Sierra Blanca, but the town was widely known and discussed as the proposed location of the disposal site throughout the time that Sanders and others supported the bill. For example, in April 1998 (three months before Sanders and others in the House voted in favor of H.R. 629) the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone condemned the proposed Sierra Blanca site from the floor of the Senate: What has troubled me from the very beginning is that this legislation would result in the dumping of low-level radioactive waste in a small, poor, majority-Latino community in rural West Texas — a town called Sierra Blanca. The Texas legislation in 1991 identified the area where the dump will be located. The Texas Waste Authority designated the site near Sierra Blanca in 1992. A draft license was issued in 1996. Whether we like it or not, this knowledge makes us responsible for what happens to Sierra Blanca. The Turning Point USA meme is accurate in claiming that Sanders supported and co-sponsored a proposal that would have seen nuclear waste from Maine, Vermont and (principally) Texas disposed of at a site in Sierra Blanca, and that Sierra Blanca was (and still is) a predominately Latino and relatively poor community. The meme leaves out important and relevant context by failing to mention the key role that Republicans played in crafting and passing that proposal; instead, it singles out Sanders and does not offer the reader any inkling of his environmentalist rationale. Sanders stood to gain politically from supporting a plan that would remove nuclear waste from his constituency, but this does not necessarily mean he wasn’t motivated by a sincere desire to dispose of the waste in a manner and location that he genuinely believed to be safer. However, whether or not you believe his stated rationale was sincere, no proper analysis of a particular politician’s policy position or Congressional vote should leave out the reasons put forward by that politician. Finally, we were not able to corroborate the “Absolutely not” quotation attributed to Sanders, and his spokesperson did not address our question about it.",
            "output": [
                "\"Sen. Bernie Sanders once supported a proposal to \"\"dump nuclear waste\"\" in the \"\"poor Latino community\"\" of Sierra Blanca, Texas.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed6cbed0ef014ef796dbe46df9454b88",
            "input": "Attractions such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum and the Ferrari World theme park will be closed from March 15-31, the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office said, while the country’s civil aviation authority indefinitely suspended flights to and from Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and Iraq from March 17. The UAE, which has reported 85 coronavirus infections but no deaths, and other Gulf Arab states are intensifying measures to halt the virus as the number of cases rises. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have taken the most drastic steps, cancelling all international flights. Dubai, the UAE’s regional business and transit hub, said it was cancelling all events planned in March and asked hotels to stop hosting wedding celebrations. Some shops have voluntarily closed to boost containment efforts. In the capital, Abu Dhabi, cinemas, arcades and entertainment venues have been shuttered, state news agency WAM reported. Seeking to soften the impact of the shutdowns on key sectors such as tourism and transportation, the central bank said its program would help banks and companies weather the crisis. Saudi Arabia also announced $13 billion to support small and medium enterprises. Saudi Arabia, which reported 17 new cases on Saturday bringing its total to 103, said two-week flight suspensions would start on Sunday, while Kuwait did not specify a length for its grounding which began on Saturday. Saudi Arabia has already suspended the Umrah pilgrimage and locked down its eastern Qatif region where many infections are located. On Saturday, it also closed popular family entertainment zones located inside many shopping malls. Health ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali urged the population of 30 million to avoid gathering in public, minimize movements and stay at home as much as possible. “(Such) measures slow the growth of cases so that we can control it, while the countries that take delayed measures experience fast growth which the health systems cannot deal with,” he told reporters. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of six oil-rich Arab monarchies which also includes Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, has reported nearly 900 coronavirus cases, mostly in people who had traveled to Iran or who been infected by visitors to Iran. No deaths have been reported in the GCC, unlike Iran where the toll rose by nearly 100 on Saturday to 611, out of 12,729 total infections. Oman, with the lowest number of infections in the region at 20, said on Saturday all schools and educational institutions would close for a month, a precaution also taken by other GCC states and Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Oman canceled all sporting events until further notice, state media said. The UAE will stop issuing visas, except for foreign diplomats, from March 17, WAM reported, citing immigration authorities. Qatar will halt the issuance of visas upon arrival to a number of European nationalities from Sunday, the government communication office said, while the Qatar Olympic Committee suspended all local sports activities until March 29. Qatar confirmed 17 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 337, the highest in the GCC, followed by Bahrain with 211 and Kuwait with 104. Gulf health authorities have stepped up pleas to avoid gatherings and are sanitizing public places. Police in Kuwait used drones fitted with loudspeakers to urge people on the streets to avoid gathering. Health Minister Basel Al-Sabah said on state television: “I urge you by God to stay at home.”  The competing sides in Yemen’s civil war announced airport closures including in the capital Sana’a, a measure that will affect flights operated by United Nations organizations taking part in humanitarian relief efforts.",
            "output": [
                "UAE cancels events, flights as central bank announces coronavirus fiscal plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c26d22474fc843d19172e77bcab3c0c0",
            "input": "So far, Somalia has reported only three cases. But if the disease is unleashed, it could spread like wildfire through camps housing malnourished families who huddle under makeshift domes built from sticks and rags. Many of the 2.4 million Somalis displaced by conflict and other disasters live in such camps. Out of a total population of 15 million, around six million Somalis may not have enough to eat this year, the United Nations says, weakening their immune systems and ability to survive the pandemic. Islamist al Shabaab insurgents also hold parts of southern Somalia, making it hard for health workers to visit and impossible to do testing there. “I have witnessed wars, cholera, dysentery,” Ahmed, tall and bespectacled, told Reuters. “A doctor who fears for his life cannot save people. I have learned to forget worrying and instead help rescue people.”  A decade ago, al Shabaab seized him as he was trying to stem a cholera epidemic in territory they held. They had seen a cross inside his ambulance and - wrongly assuming it meant he was a foreign spy - arrested him and his team. A phone call from a high-level contact saved their lives, he said. Right now, Somalia only has about 25 intensive care beds, 110 quarantine beds and 100 treatment beds available, Ahmed said. More are being built. In the capital, patients at the old Italian-built maternity Martini Hospital have been moved out to make way for a new coronavirus ward. The sound of hammering echoes through its wide, tree-lined compound as construction workers rush to finish repairs. The health ministry and prime minister’s office have allocated about $11 million for coronavirus preparation, Ahmed said. Expenses are high - all medical equipment is imported and coronavirus tests are sent to Kenya for processing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has trained 500 health workers in Somalia since January, said Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, the organization’s country representative. The WHO also brought in personal protective equipment to handle the first 300 or 400 cases, Malik added. Ahmed’s biggest worry is that the disease may spread very fast. Somalia has a tradition of physical greetings, and even wealthy people are reluctant to quarantine away from family. Many, like Faduma Abdikadir, simply have nowhere to isolate themselves. The 38-year-old mother is sleeping under a tree in a makeshift camp in the capital Mogadishu with her eight children, having fled fighting in the countryside. “Most of the time we use ashes and sand to wash hands. We are hungry. We beg people to buy water to drink and wash our hands,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Somali doctor, veteran of many battles, girds for war with coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07f71f929faa4c0c98592ee42c19becb",
            "input": "The FDA evaluates drugs without considering costs, which is why they are not discussed in this news release. We hope the FDA will also begin commenting on the projected cost of a drug and its cost-effectiveness. In this case, costs are very steep. An NBC.com story on the approval which we also reviewed, predicts the drug will cost $37,000 annually. It’s unknown if Dupixent will be covered by health insurance. In terms of benefits, the release offers the following: “Overall, participants who received Dupixent achieved greater response, defined as clear or almost clear skin, and experienced a reduction in itch after 16 weeks of treatment.” But readers are left to interpret on their own what “greater response” and “a reduction in itch” mean. The release would have been better if it had told readers how the improvement was measured and how many patients experienced improvement rather than using the term “overall.” The release gets an acceptable rating in this category since it mentions that the drug can cause serious allergic reactions and eye problems including conjunctivitis (pinkeye) and keratitis (inflammation of the cornea). It also cautions that people with asthma shouldn’t use the drug since it hasn’t been tested for safety in these patients. The release should also have noted that regulators don’t know if there are any long-term harms associated with Dupixent use. None of the trials exceeded 16 weeks. The release describes who was studied and for how long, and offers a bare-bones description of the types of studies: “The safety and efficacy of Dupixent were established in three placebo-controlled clinical trials with a total of 2,119 adult participants with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis not adequately controlled by topical medication(s).” The FDA doesn’t provide a link to the studies or their titles and where they were published. The release would be more complete had that information been included. It would help journalists and people with eczema and would be a significant improvement to FDA releases. The release does not engage in disease-mongering. Instead it offers a clear description of what eczema is and what causes the condition. There is no mention of who funded the research leading to the FDA approval, although many readers will assume it was supported by the manufacturer Regeneron. The release gets a borderline satisfactory for mentioning topical corticosteroids as an alternative treatment for eczema but neglects to mention that other pharmaceuticals are also now available for treating it. Whether or not this medication will be covered by insurance is a huge concern. Its high cost will affect how many people can access this new drug. Its availability should have been addressed in the release. It’s newsworthy whenever the FDA approves a new drug. This appears to be the first biologic, injectable treatment for eczema. The release does not use any unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves new eczema drug Dupixent"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f0202f4e4df47f98ae0b437d4761cd7",
            "input": "Once an illness is added to the list of approved conditions, the board cannot remove it because state law does not give the board authority to do so, according to board spokeswoman Tessie Pollock. Petitions will be reviewed early next year. AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, are among the 21 current approved illnesses, along with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and Parkinson’s disease. Earlier this year the board rejected petitions seeking to add anxiety and autism spectrum disorders as qualifying conditions. The board will for the first time open up a public comment period, beginning after its Jan. 8 meeting, said executive director Stephanie Louka. Final decisions on new accepting conditions would come after several months. ___ This story was first published on Dec. 25, 2019. It was updated on Dec. 27, 2019, to correct the name of the State Medical Board of Ohio spokeswoman. She is Tessie Pollock, not Tessa Pollock. It was also updated to clarify that the board says state law does not give it the authority to remove conditions from the list of approved conditions for which doctors can recommend medical marijuana to patients.",
            "output": [
                "Board to consider new conditions for medical marijuana use."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-172d7d2af8b246e1b27d67005a1f1769",
            "input": "Trump skipped past his own proposals for Medicare budget cuts, and he ignored the fact that no Democrat is proposing to take coverage or benefits away from seniors. During a visit to The Villages, a bustling community for adults in Central Florida, Trump was trying to turn attention away from House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry and focus on pocket-book issues instead. “That’s why they do the impeachment crap, because they know they can’t beat us fairly,” he told the friendly audience, which included many seniors. That part of Florida voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016. Health care has emerged as a central issue for Democrats competing for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Much of the debate has centered on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan, which would cover everyone under a government-run plan and eliminate most private insurance. Trump said electing a Democrat would jeopardize seniors’ access to health care. “Medicare is under threat like never before,” Trump said. “Almost every major Democrat in Washington has backed a massive government health care takeover that would totally obliterate Medicare.” Far from “obliterating’’ Medicare, Sanders says his plan would lower costs and provide new benefits, including coverage for long-term care. Medicare, which covers about 60 million seniors and disabled people, is the government’s flagship health care program. Trump also signed an executive order directing his administration to pursue changes to Medicare. Much of what he wants to do is geared toward enhancing Medicare Advantage, the private insurance option picked by about one-third of seniors. Medicare Advantage plans offer savings on premiums and an annual limit on out-of-pocket costs. These plans provide one-stop shopping, eliminating the need for separate supplemental insurance. Offered by major insurers, the plans also cover prescription drugs in most cases. But there are trade-offs. People joining a Medicare Advantage plan generally must accept limits on their choice of hospitals and doctors as well as prior insurer approval for certain procedures. If they change their minds and decide to return to traditional Medicare, they’re not always guaranteed supplemental “Medigap” coverage, which is also private. The president’s order is basically a to-do list for the Department of Health and Human Services that will require months of follow-up. Among the other priorities are an expansion of telemedicine and changes to avoid overpaying for procedures just because they get done in a hospital instead of a doctor’s office. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Trump’s order directs his department to examine whether its current policies and practices put traditional Medicare ahead of the private Medicare Advantage option. Some advocates for older people say that it’s the other way around and that the administration is trying to put private plans ahead. The executive order does not involve a major overhaul of Medicare, which would require congressional approval. So far the debate about Medicare for All has mainly been about its projected costs to the government, estimated at $30 trillion to $40 trillion over 10 years. The Sanders plan would eliminate most private health insurance, including the Medicare Advantage option. Sanders, who unexpectedly underwent a heart procedure this week, says Medicare for All would nonetheless offer seniors broader benefits and lower costs. Sanders’ style of single-payer health care has long been popular among liberals. But recent polling has shown that a majority of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic prefer expanding coverage by building on the Affordable Care Act, or the Obama-era health law. Trump is asking federal courts to overturn that law as unconstitutional. As a presidential candidate, Trump promised not to cut Medicare. As president, he has avoided calling for privatization of the program, raising the eligibility age beyond 65 or rolling back benefits. But Trump’s latest budget proposed steep cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals and other service providers, prompting protests from the industry and accusations by Democrats that he was going back on his promises to seniors. The Medicare cuts went nowhere in Congress. ___ Alonso-Zaldivar reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump cites his support for Medicare, slams Medicare for All."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ee41a8aad834d32b8536f0efa4f4564",
            "input": "A photograph supposedly showing the gravestone of a woman named Kate McCormick, who passed away in the 1870s from a fatally botched abortion, has been circulating online for several years. In May 2019, the Facebook page “American News X” revived interest in the image:  This is a genuine photograph of a tombstone marking the grave of a woman who passed away in the 1870s after claiming she took abortion-inducing drugs, and we were able to corroborate many of the details of the inscription via contemporaneous news reports. Our one caveat with this Facebook post is the stated date for when the tombstone was erected. While McCormick passed away in the 1870s, it wasn’t until more than a century after her death, in 1997, that an anonymous donor placed the pictured gravestone on her final resting place. The Story of Kate Simpson (AKA Kate McCormick) McCormick’s story can be gleaned from various articles published by newspapers in Tennessee in 1876 concerning an inquiry into her death, the death of her child, and the doctor who was charged with (and ultimately acquitted of) providing her with abortion-inducing drugs. While these reports contained a fair amount of detail such as eyewitness testimonies, a few facts of the case are still a bit unclear. We have done our best to piece together the events that led to McCormick’s death, the trial of the man who reportedly killed her, and the circumstances of her burial below. Katie’s story starts in Humboldt, Tenn., where she was seduced and impregnated by a shoemaker named George Burgess. After becoming pregnant, Burgess sent McCormick to Memphis to have the child with the promise that he would soon follow to marry her. But Burgess never followed. In late January 1876, a stillborn child was discovered at what news accounts referred to as “Mrs. Widrig’s boarding house.” Police arrived and found that the child’s mother, Kate Simpson (alias Kate McCormick), was also deathly ill. She passed away the following day: Katie McCormick Page 1 Wed, Feb 2, 1876 – Page 3 · Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com The Trial of Dr. D.S. Johnson Dr. D.S. Johnson was arrested and indicted on three charges related to the death of McCormick and her child. The Memphis Public Ledger described the charges against Johnson in a 9 February 1876 article, stating that the doctor was indicted for administrating “large quantities of deadly, dangerous, unwholesome, deleterious and penicious pills, herbs, drugs, potions, teas, liquids powders and mixtures” with the intent of causing an abortion, for causing said abortion, and for “feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditated and with malice aforethought kill[ing] and murder[ing] the said Kate McCormick.” A number of witnesses who were with McCormick in her final days provided testimony to authorities. Widrig, the woman who ran the boarding house where the bodies were discovered, told authorities that McCormick had paid Dr. Johnson $25 to terminate her pregnancy. A woman named Mollie Brown provided similar testimony: Mrs. Widrig was sworn and stated that the girl came to her house some time before Christmas, but only stayed one night that she came back three weeks ago, and on Saturday night, or, rather, Sunday morning, she was delivered of a dead child; that Dr. Johnson had been attending her; that her suspicions were aroused and she asked Katie to tell her the whole truth; on Sunday Dr. Frayser had been sent to see Katie by Chief Athy and told her that the girl would die; this she told to Katie, who seemed much affected and made a confession; she said: “Mrs. Widrig, I think my time is short,” and then she added: “Dr. Johnson gave the medicine to destroy my child; tell Dr. Johnson that I promised not to deceive him or tell any person but the time has come when I can keep the secret no longer; I paid Dr. Johnson twenty-five dollars for the medicine; he gave me the medicine some three weeks ago, and said if it did not do its work in six days it would be a failure; I took the medicine from Dr. Johnson to kill my child and paid him twenty-five dollars for it.” Mollie Brown sworn: Katie told me last night that Dr. Johnson sent her medicine by express; she said to me she was satisfied she was going to die, and that Dr. Johnson was the cause of it. Wed, Feb 2, 1876 – Page 3 · Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com Dr. Johnson’s version of events differed. Johnson, as well as two other doctors who visited McCormick before her death, testified that McCormick had been treated only for diarrhea: Dr. Marable testified as follows: On Sunday morning was called by Dr. Johnson to make a call; he told me about the case, and said he had prescribed for diarrhea; the treatment was correct as stated by Dr. Johnson; he said that he had discovered that she had a baby last night, but that she was in danger of dying from the afterbirth; I attended to her immediately, and gave her the necessary remedies to stop the flooding, and the remedies resulted successfully; the girl appeared very weak; Dr. Johnson and I went to see Chief Athy at once with reference to the dead child, and at my instigation Dr. Johnson called upon coroner Spelman to hold an inquest on the dead infant, which inquest was held on Sunday; I advised Dr. Johnson as to the necessary treatment to place the girl under with a view to her recovery; the girl had diarrhea and I prescribed with Dr. Johnson for its treatment; the girl was nervous and troubled in mind; she said she was out of money and had no friends; trouble of mind and excitement very often cause abortions or miscarriages, and the greatest trouble physicians have in such cases is to keep the patients quiet; I think flooding and mental anxiety was the cause of her death. Johnson testified as follows: Three weeks ago I first saw the deceased; she came to my office and told her story, and wanted to hide her disgrace; I advised her not to commit abortion as it was against the law; I called to see her at Mrs. Widrig’s boardinghouse and prescribed for diarrhea; on Sunday morning I called and found that she had a miscarriage; I then called on Dr. Marable; the prescription given her by me was ascitate of lead and morphine; the girl seemed troubled and said she would sooner die than live; she said this both before and after the abortion had taken place. Johnson was eventually acquitted of the charges against him. The Burial of Kate McCormick The story of McCormick did not end with her death. While McCormick’s mother traveled to Memphis after learning of her daughter’s death, she left the city without making arrangements for burial. Similarly, Burgess, the man who reportedly impregnated McCormick, didn’t undertake a visit to view the body. A particularly depressing passage published by the Public Ledger on 4 February 1876 (which contains some racial language common to the era) noted that McCormick’s body was stored in a “pauper’s coffin” in a stable that served as a morgue for the impoverished in Shelby County:  Fri, Feb 4, 1876 – Page 3 · Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com The reporter who found McCormick’s body sought to remedy the situation by obtaining the help of a Capt. George W. Miller of the Cut Off Saloon. Miller agreed to finance a proper burial, and McCormick’s body was taken to Elmwood Cemetery:  Fri, Feb 4, 1876 – Page 3 · Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com McCormick was interred at Elmwood Cemetery sometime in 1876, but the gravestone shown above was not originally present at her final resting place. This tombstone was erected in 1997 and was paid for by an anonymous person who was apparently moved by McCormick’s sad tale.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows a tombstone from 1875 that marks the resting place of Kate McCormick, who reportedly died after a botched abortion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-524bbf269ded43138394c77e82080884",
            "input": "Vasiliki Kostoula, a Greek breast cancer patient, is framed through a breast x-ray after a radiological medical examination in an Athens hospital October 29, 2008. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis The study shows the benefits of genetic tests that give women with a family history of cancer the chance to take steps to increase their chances of survival, they said. “This is the first study to prove women survive longer with these preventive surgeries and shows the importance of genetic testing when there is a family history of early breast or ovarian cancer,” Dr. Virginia Kaklamani of Northwestern University in Chicago wrote in a commentary about the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have a 56 to 84 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetimes. Those with the BRCA1 mutation also have a 36 to 63 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer and those with the BRCA2 mutation have a 10 to 27 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer. Because of this, many women make the difficult choice to have their breasts or ovaries and fallopian tubes surgically removed to reduce their risk. Dr. Susan M. Domchek of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and colleagues studied the effectiveness of these procedures in 2,482 women with BRCA mutations, including 247 women who had risk-reducing surgery to remove their breasts and 993 who had risk-reducing surgery to remove their ovaries. No woman who had a mastectomy developed breast cancer during the three years of follow-up testing. Seven percent of women who decided against a mastectomy were diagnosed with breast cancer in the same period. “Our results confirm that risk-reducing mastectomy is associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk,” Domchek and colleagues wrote. Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who had their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed had similar results. About 10 to 20 percent of breast and ovarian cancers are due to BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. “Most of these women will die of ovarian cancer, so you can save 20 percent of them with the prophylactic surgery,” Kaklamani said. “And you can save the majority of women who would have died of their breast cancer,” she added. She said primary care physicians, gynecologists and women “need to be more aware that these tests exist.”   Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, a breast cancer expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who counsels women with BRCA mutations, said the study adds more evidence that the surgery can help save lives, but the choice is never easy. “It’s not cookie-cutter medicine,” Pruthi, who was not involved in the study, said in a telephone interview. She said women need to come to terms with the psychological issues involved in having their breasts removed, and younger women who have their ovaries removed must contend with early menopause symptoms. “It’s not a decision made on a single visit,” she said. According to the American Cancer Society and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1.3 million new breast cancer cases are diagnosed around the world every year and it kills 465,000 women annually, making it the leading global cancer killer of women.",
            "output": [
                "Surgery prevents breast cancers in high-risk women."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23bea623c64641c481b508cb17a7e929",
            "input": "But within the holding pattern there is a dramatic rise in “extreme” obesity among adults and children. The annual “F as in Fat” report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the proportion of adults who are extremely obese - at least 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms) overweight - has climbed over the last three decades from 1.4 percent in the late 1970s to 6.3 percent in 2009-2010. That is about a 350 percent increase, researchers for the health nonprofit groups said. About 5 percent of children and teenagers are also now severely obese, they added. Rates of extreme obesity were nearly twice as high for women as for men, and were also particularly high for Hispanic boys and black girls. “As long as we continue to see those increases in extreme obesity, I think we need to be worried,” Trust for America’s Health Executive Director Jeffrey Levi told Reuters. Overall, the report found obesity rates stabilizing across the United States, though at historically high levels with nearly 36 percent of U.S. adults obese as of 2010. Only one state, Arkansas, had an increase in obesity levels. The findings follow this month’s announcement that the obesity rate among low-income children between the ages of 2 and 4 dropped slightly, after 30 years of increases. “After decades of bad news, we’re finally seeing signs of progress,” researchers for the two health groups wrote in Friday’s report that said government efforts to encourage healthier diets and more exercise were paying off. “I’m delighted but not surprised,” said Kelly Brownell, dean of Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. “The collective effect is having an impact and turning things around ... We’ve managed the plateau, we may remain there. We will have to do more to achieve a downturn.”  The analysis, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underscored America’s continuing battle with weight. Obesity rates were highest in the South and Midwest in states including Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. In addition to geographic differences, rates were higher for people with less education and lower incomes, it found. Rates for those ages 45 to 64, the bulk of the so-called Baby Boomer generation, were also a concern as their obesity rates were 30 percent or higher in 41 states. In Alabama and Louisiana, their rate reached 40 percent. Increasingly heavy men also narrowed the obesity gender gap. “Ten years ago, the obesity rate for women was significantly higher than the rate for men,” 33.4 percent compared to 27.5 percent, researchers wrote. Now, their “rates are essentially the same” at nearly 36 percent, they said. Health experts agreed with the report’s conclusion that various government programs making school lunches healthier, mandating calorie counts on menus, discouraging soda consumption, integrating physical activity into the daily life and other weight-conscious changes were adding up to widespread behavior changes. The report recommended strengthening such programs. It said food and beverage companies should market only their healthiest products to children, the nation’s transportation plans should encourage walking and biking, and everyone should be able to buy healthy, affordable foods close to home. Obesity is commonly measured by body mass index (BMI), a measure of one’s height to weight. A BMI score of 30 or more is defined as obese, while extreme obesity is a score of 40 or higher. A score of 25 to 29 is considered overweight.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. obesity leveling off, but at high rate: report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b44b2040d19947b794887c3205801759",
            "input": "Despite being used both recreationally and medicinally for millennia, the mechanisms by which cannabis affects the human body have only recently come to light. The most significant development in this body of work is the discovery of what scientists term the “endocannabinoid system,” a collection of chemical pathways found in mammals whose existence wasn’t demonstrated until the 1990s. The endocannabinoid system is made up of specific receptors that are primarily affected by chemicals already in your body — endocannabinoids. As it turns out, many of the chemicals in cannabis, termed “phytocannabinoids”, are nearly identical to the endocannabinoids already present and can therefore also affect these receptors as well if they make their way into your bloodstream. The most famous of these chemicals is tetrahydrocannabinol (commonly known as THC), which produces the psychoactive “high” people seek when they use the drug recreationally. Later research has yielded the discovery of a plethora of other phytocannabinoids that do not produce a psychoactive effect, but do demonstrate therapeutic potential. The most notable of these “other” chemicals is cannabidiol (referred to as CBD), which studies suggest has strong pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties, and has been shown essentially to halt seizures caused by the neurologic condition Dravet’s Syndrome. A 2008 paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested that CBD acted on a previously undescribed endocannabinoid receptor, GPR55, and that this receptor likely plays a role in the regulation of bone mass by inhibiting the growth of cells — osteoclasts — that promote the resorption of bone minerals: Our observations also suggest that CBD can inhibit bone resorption in vivo via modulation of GPR55 signaling. They go on to suggest, however, that because THC has the opposite effect on this receptor, that this interaction may negate the positive effects on bone density caused by CBD: Our observations suggest that blocking GPR55 also may have direct beneficial effects on bone turnover in arthritic or metabolic bone diseases. Finally, although CBD is a major constituent of cannabis, it remains to be determined whether cannabis smoking may increase bone density, because [THC], another constituent, also is thought to be a GPR55 ligand and may oppose the effects of CBD. In this context, two studies took a closer look at the possible mechanisms by which CBD, specifically, might help bones heal from a fracture. A 2014 study published in Biochemical Pharmacology that utilized isolated cells suggested that CBD may activate a receptor in the endocannabinoid system (CB2) that enhances the migration of mesenchymal stem cells (which play a role in creating calcified bones) to the site of the fracture. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research reaffirmed the possibility that CBD can help with healing fractures: Here we report that the major non-psychoactive cannabis constituent, cannabidiol (CBD), enhances the biomechanical properties of healing rat mid-femoral fractures. The maximal load and work-to-failure, but not the stiffness, of femurs from rats given a mixture of CBD and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for 8 weeks were markedly increased by CBD. They found that, indeed, CBD increased the strength of the healed broken femurs of laboratory rats. The authors noted that CBD, with all other constituents removed, was more effective. They suggest a different mechanism for this effect: CBD increases the expression of a gene that codes for a series of reactions that results in the production of collagen, which is then transformed into harder bone material, a process termed collagen cross-linking. Each of these three mechanisms that link CBD to bone physiology has support in the scientific community, as attested to by their inclusion in a September 2016 review of phytocannabinoid pharmacology in the journal Physiological Reviews. It is important to note, however, that CBD specifically, and not the cannabis plant as a whole, is implicated in the therapeutic effects on bones. As such, consuming just any cannabis would not necessarily be effective. Any treatment would require an effort to isolate or increase the concentration of CBD and remove or reduce THC.",
            "output": [
                "Scientific studies support the conclusion that marijuana can play a role in healing broken bones."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da4dd1dec24b420ba35fbc31cc34ff67",
            "input": "The rate of hospitalizations in New York has slowed in recent days, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, with numbers he called “almost too good to be true.” He also hailed the enlistment of 40,000 retired nurses, physicians and other medical professionals signing up for a “surge health care force,” but warned much remains to be done. In an ominous sign he and other governors are preparing for the worst, the states of New York, North Carolina and Hawaii requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency send special mortuary teams that can be deployed for mass casualties, FEMA said on Wednesday. New Orleans, where large crowds celebrated Mardi Gras a month ago, was on track to become the next U.S. epicenter, as Louisiana’s Gulf Coast metropolis recorded the world’s highest growth rate in coronavirus cases. Cuomo announced new steps aimed at containing the virus. New York City - home to over 8 million people - closed some of its largely empty streets to vehicle traffic to allow more room for pedestrians to walk with greater “social distancing.”    At a news conference, Cuomo said the city also would ban basketball and other contact sports in public parks, while lamenting the challenges posed by dense populations. “Our closeness makes us vulnerable,” he said. Nationwide, nearly 68,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the highly contagious virus, as the U.S. death toll approached 1,000. Only two other nations - China and Italy - have more cases of the virus, which is particularly perilous to elderly people and those with underlying chronic health conditions. At least 30,800 people have tested positive for the virus in New York state and more than 17,800 in New York City alone. By Wednesday night, the number of coronavirus fatalities had climbed to 280, up 81 from the number reported hours earlier when the statewide death toll stood at 285. An updated toll for the state was not immediately available. New York state as a whole, accounting for roughly half the country’s known infections, followed California last week in ordering non-essential businesses to close and to direct residents to stay home as much as possible. As of Wednesday, the governors of at least 21 states, representing more than half the U.S. population of 330 million, have imposed such restrictions, designed to curb transmission of the virus by limiting congregations of people. Even before states began adopting those measures last week, the pandemic paralyzed parts of the U.S. economy and upended daily life as schools and colleges closed and workplaces shuttered voluntarily or under local government orders. The crisis, sparking projections of a global recession amid tumbling stock prices, has put public health authorities at odds with President Donald Trump, who had pointed to a robust economy and stock market in making his case for reelection in November. Trump this week has pushed to reopen commerce by April 12, Easter Sunday, and on Wednesday blamed news outlets for exerting pressure to keep restrictions in place. “The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP.”   Health experts insist reopening businesses and schools too soon would only risk fueling transmission of the virus, overwhelming a hospital system already facing equipment and personnel shortages, and ultimately worsen the economic fallout. Cuomo cited recent coronavirus hospitalization figures in his state as evidence that social distancing was starting to work. While hospitalizations had been doubling every two days as of Sunday, those numbers were doubling every 3.4 days by Monday, and by Tuesday the rate was every 4.7 days, Cuomo said. “This is a very good sign and a positive sign, again not 100% sure it holds ... but the arrows are headed in the right direction,” Cuomo said. Diagnostic testing remained a challenge in New York and around the country. At Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York’s Queens borough, scores of people, most wearing surgical masks, lined up on Wednesday to be tested at a tent outside. Dr. Ashley Bray, 27, a general medicine resident interviewed by the New York Times, described the situation inside the 545-bed hospital as “apocalyptic,” recounting how she performed chest compressions on at least three coronavirus patients, one after the other, all of whom eventually died. The deteriorating situation in New Orleans dashed hopes that less densely populated cities and those in warmer climates might escape the worst of the pandemic. Local authorities have warned that hospitals in the Mississippi River port city could reach the point of collapse by April 4. Trump issued federal disaster declarations for Louisiana and Iowa late on Tuesday and for Texas and Florida on Wednesday, freeing up federal funds to help states cope. The three states hardest hit so far - New York, California and Washington - were given such status previously. Dr. Rebekah Gee, head of Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division, said that Mardi Gras, when 1.4 million tourists descended on New Orleans for celebrations that included tightly packed street parades, fed the city’s outbreak. New Orleans restaurant owner Ronnie Evans said everyone in New Orleans was “freaking out.”  “People don’t know what to expect or how long this will last. Everyone is worried about their jobs,” said Evans, 32, whose restaurant Blue Oak BBQ is a few steps from the renowned Bourbon Street. The restaurant is offering takeout orders only. “This is as bad as Katrina or worse,” he said, referring to the hurricane that devastated the city in 2005.",
            "output": [
                "New York sees glimmer of progress against coronavirus, New Orleans worsens."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3849ee757d254d0a9a9d70258f38683b",
            "input": "Carter still lives in tiny Plains, Georgia, and planned no public celebrations on Tuesday. But he’s had plenty to say recently, warning that re-electing President Donald Trump would be “a disaster” and expressing hopes that his Carter Center will become a more forceful advocate against armed conflicts in the future, including “wars by the United States.” “I just want to keep the whole world at peace,” Carter said as he presented his annual Carter Center report last month. “We have been at war more than 226 years. We have been at peace for about 16 years” since the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he said. And every U.S. military conflict from the Korean War onward has been a war of “choice,” he said. The 39th president survived a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015 and surpassed George H.W. Bush as the longest-lived U.S. president in history this spring. He’s had some trouble walking after a hip replacement in May, but still teaches Sunday School in Plains, and with his wife of 73 years, Rosalynn, now 92, still plans an upcoming trip to help build houses with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. In his latest appearances at the Carter Center and in a town hall at Emory University, Carter blasted money in politics, urged action to combat the climate crisis, and celebrated the Carter Center’s work on public health, election monitoring and conflict resolution. But he said the center can do more to constructively criticize U.S. military engagements. The Carter Center has “never voiced an opinion publicly” on individual wars, he said with some regret, adding: “This is primarily my fault.” “The United States is very deeply inclined to go to war,” Carter said, partly to “implant American policies” in other countries, and partly to “make a hero” out of wartime commanders in chief. This has significant economic consequences, he said: China has “been at peace” since he normalized relations with Beijing in 1979, and while the U.S. has spent trillions on military conflict, China has invested similar amounts in high-speed rail, new college campuses and other infrastructure. Carter talks with the realism of a nonagenarian, born in 1924 when the world population was quarter of what it is today and life expectancy for American males was 58 years. Saying he plans to start spending more time with his extended family, he told the Carter Center audience that “this may be our last conversation with you ... we may or may not have one next year.” Carter has been accepting visits from several 2020 presidential candidate s, but he’s held back on endorsing any of his fellow Democrats, offering only clues to his thinking. Carter said he voted for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton last time, but warns that embracing single-payer, government-run health insurance could cost the Democrats votes among moderates and independents. That could rule out Sanders and another progressive favorite, Elizabeth Warren. But Carter also said he’d like to see a woman as president. He said he couldn’t have managed his presidential duties when he was 80, which would nix not only Sanders, at 78, but former Vice President Joe Biden, who is 76. Warren is 70, meaning she’d be nearly 80 at the end of a two-term presidency. Carter said only that he’ll be “voting Democratic” in the general election. By then, he’ll be 96. --- Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP .",
            "output": [
                "Former President Jimmy Carter celebrates 95th birthday."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6adf248d3cef463fb8fd93d4c0b4d1d0",
            "input": "The study in the journal Health Affairs comes as legislation to curb drug costs for seniors languishes in Congress and the growing financial exposure of patients with insurance is getting more attention in the nation’s health care debates. The survey findings were a surprise to researchers, since Medicare is considered relatively good coverage and most people have supplemental insurance to fill its gaps. After drug costs, the most often cited issues were hospital bills, ambulance rides and emergency visits. “It points to a real issue that has gone under the radar,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation who was not involved with the study and reviewed it for The Associated Press. “Survey after survey shows that people are satisfied with Medicare, but this analysis shows that people with Medicare who have serious health problems can face very high out-of-pocket costs, and that’s an issue that hasn’t gotten much attention.” All told, 53% of seriously ill Medicare patients said they had major trouble paying their medical bills. More than a third reported using all or most of their savings to pay medical bills, 27% said they were contacted by a collection agency and 23% were unable to pay for basics such as food, heat and housing. Nearly half (45 reported emotional or psychological distress, and 1 in 4 said their medical costs had become a major burden on their families. “We did not expect to see this extent of financial hardship in the Medicare population,” said Michael Anne Kyle, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate at Harvard University. She said lawmakers may need to devote more attention to the needs of Medicare beneficiaries with catastrophic costs. “Out-of-pocket costs are very concentrated,” Kyle said. “The sickest population is also getting the biggest bills. Especially if you are sick over time, you are slowly draining your bank account.” The study defined seriously ill people as those with a condition that over the past three years required two or more hospitalizations and visits to three or more doctors. Included in the study were Medicare recipients 65 and older as well as younger beneficiaries who qualified for coverage because of disability. Over half had seen five to nine doctors in the past three years. Among the most prevalent conditions were heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Thirty percent reported that the cost of prescription drugs was their major hardship. Legislation to curb the costs of medicines for seniors has advanced this year in Congress, but it’s unclear if it can pass because the House and Senate remain far apart. House Democrats want Medicare to directly negotiate prices for the costliest drugs — a nonstarter for Senate Republicans. However, there is widespread agreement on putting an annual out-of-pocket limit on drug costs for Medicare enrollees. Although President Donald Trump wants a bill, the House impeachment inquiry has overshadowed efforts to move legislation. As a candidate, Trump had backed Medicare drug price negotiations. It’s uncertain if the White House will try to find a compromise now between the House and Senate positions. A second study out Monday also called attention to seniors’ out-of-pocket costs. Focusing on people with traditional Medicare, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the average enrollee spent $5,460 out of their own pocket for health care in 2016, counting premiums and medical services. That figure also included long-term care costs. The average was lower — $4,519 — for people living in their communities and not in institutions. The Health Affairs study was based on a 2018 national survey of people of any age who suffered from a serious illness. Researchers decided to go back and take a closer at the Medicare group because of the unexpectedly high degree of problems. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.",
            "output": [
                "1 in 2 seriously ill Medicare enrollees struggles with bills."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8de8101e818a4eb187eb0a32212c2ead",
            "input": "The virus killed a further 462 people overnight in Spain, Europe’s second hardest hit country after Italy, bringing the death toll to 2,182. Nurses, doctors and other health workers have echoed the complaints of their counterparts in other countries, saying they lack protective equipment like masks. The national health service is “demonstrating a great capacity to respond in an exceptional situation”, Health Minister Salvador Illa told a news conference. He warned the next week would be difficult, and that the epidemic could reach its peak in Spain in the coming days. Health workers account for nearly 12% of Spain’s total 33,089 registered cases which rose from 28,572 on Sunday. Military personnel have been visiting the nursing homes that have come under increasing pressure as the disease spreads, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told broadcaster Telecinco. “On some of its visits, the army has seen some old people, the elderly, absolutely abandoned if they were not dead in their beds,” Robles said. She did not say what had caused those deaths. Soldiers were also deployed to Barcelona to help build a temporary homeless shelter at the city’s Fira event centre. The shelter, to be managed by the Red Cross, will allow up to 1,000 homeless people to isolate themselves in hygienic conditions, Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau said. In Madrid, struggling with the highest number of cases, the municipal funeral home said it would stop collecting bodies from Tuesday due to a shortage of equipment. Private funeral homes are still operating in the capital. City authorities decided to use an Olympic-sized ice rink as a morgue, near a conference centre which has been kitted out with hospital beds and already received 126 of the 1,300 patients it expects in the coming week. Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo was hospitalized on Sunday with a respiratory infection, the government said on Monday, adding that the minister, who has born in 1957, is awaiting coronavirus test results. Two other ministers and the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have tested positive for the virus over the past weeks. The official in charge of the health emergency, Fernando Simon, said 87% of those who had died were aged 70 or older. Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said a nationwide lockdown, which has kept most Spaniards confined to their homes, was beginning to take a heavy toll on the economy. “Economic activity, which was dynamic until February slowed significantly last week,” she said, adding that the food, electricity and telecoms industries had continued to function normally. Supermarket group Corte Ingles said it had set up a phone number and email address for health workers to do their shopping, with free delivery to their homes.",
            "output": [
                "Spain lauds the medics on the front line of coronavirus crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f28cee1fda0240d3b477077d0bf6549f",
            "input": "Public health officials made the plea to anyone who visited specific Austin locations that the affected resident was in between Dec. 14 and Dec. 17. The Austin American-Statesman created a map of those locations. The resident is currently not in Texas. Measles is a virus that can cause high fever, cough, runny nose and red watery eyes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A rash appears 3 to 5 days after the first symptoms, but other complications include pneumonia and encephalitis. Health officials first alerted people in Austin about the measles case and potential exposure on Sunday, a day after state agencies were informed by Virginia officials, said Dr. Mark Escott, the interim health authority at Austin Public Health. The person traveled to Virginia on Dec. 17. The person, whom officials are not identifying, contracted the disease while traveling in Europe from late November to early December and became sick on Dec. 14, Escott said. He noted that the person developed a rash on Dec. 17, which is the day they boarded United Airlines Flight 790 from Austin to Chicago, with a connecting flight to Virginia. The person’s measles case is the first reported in Travis County since 1999, the Statesman reported. Officials didn’t disclose if the person was vaccinated. As of July 31, Texas has had 21 reported cases of measles in 2019, according to the most recent data available on the Texas Department of State Health Services website.",
            "output": [
                "Austin measles case not a threat, officials warn of fevers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-09542b638d92471f85090bbd49a455af",
            "input": "Disclosed Wednesday by the Human Services Department, the settlement locks in payments to five businesses and turns the page on a bitter confrontation that drove many mental health care providers away or out of business completely. Martinez’s administration froze payments to 15 mental health service providers in 2013 after an audit identified $36 million in Medicaid overpayments. The state attorney general later cleared the providers of any criminal wrongdoing, but 10 filed lawsuits. Medicaid payments were frozen without any credible allegations of fraud, the settlement states. “Some providers were forced to close their doors and discontinue provision of any behavioral health services,” the agreement states. “Other providers were forced to discontinue provision of nearly all behavioral health services. Employees of Providers lost their jobs. Individuals needing behavioral health services in New Mexico were unable to obtain such services.” The largest portion of the settlement — a 29% share — is earmarked for Santa Marta El Mirador of Santa Fe and Alcalde — formerly known as Easter Seals El Mirador. The other beneficiaries are Border Area Mental Health Services, Southwest Counseling Center, Southern New Mexico Human Development and Families and Youth Inc. First-year Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham campaigned on rebuilding mental health and substance abuse treatment services in a state with the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in the nation. Many counties in the sparsely populated state lack licensed providers of mental health services for patients who rely on government assistance, according to a recent study by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general. Patsy Romero, CEO of Santa Marta El Mirador, says her organization employs about 200 people, down from 650 people before the shakeup in 2013. Services were discontinued for children and adolescents with severe emotional issues, including alternative classrooms in Española and Taos. She said it is still unclear whether the organization will restore discontinued behavior health services. Romero said the settlement “represents the money that we spent as an organization over the last six years to defend ourselves and maintain our business.”",
            "output": [
                " State will pay $10M to mental health providers after suit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcdb3083d8ca44849aecd49f8674e4da",
            "input": "The Lewiston Tribune reports health officials and the Nez Perce Tribe have urged people to use caution when spending time in or near the water. A release from Public Health Idaho North Central District states that blue-green algae is a natural part of Idaho’s water bodies. But when temperatures rise, their populations can bloom, and toxic chemical compounds can be released into the water. Those spending time near surface water with a health advisory are urged to avoid swimming, wading or other activities. Health officials say people should not drink or cook with water containing a bloom. ___ Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Advisory in place for Idaho’s Winchester Lake."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a57042f9ac5499392793aeef4dc3c21",
            "input": "In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron had pledged to ban glyphosate in France within three years, rejecting a European Union decision to extend its use for five years after heated debate over whether glyphosate, developed by Bayer-owned Monsanto, can cause cancer. But Macron has since said that a blanket ban is not possible within that time frame. Bayer says regulators and extensive research have found glyphosate to be safe. On Thursday, the administrative tribunal of Rennes, western France, heard the mayor of Langouet, Brittany, who has banned the use of pesticides in his town within 150 meters of people’s homes and workplaces. Mayor Daniel Cueff told the court - which is set to rule next week - the ban was aimed at protecting residents from molecules considered a health risk. About 300 people attended the hearing and nearly 100,000 have signed a petition to support Cueff’s ban. A lawyer for the French state argued that is not in a mayor’s powers to ban phytosanitary products, which are regulated by the agriculture ministry. The ministry declined to comment, but Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said in January France will phase out 80% of its glyphosate usage by 2021. [reut.rs/2PbvrGE]  Farmers’ unions opposed the ban, saying there are no viable alternatives for the chemical and that a transition to organic farming is too costly. Allowing the mayor to override the state over glyphosate “would be the return of the local barons and the reign of the lords over their serfs,” Cedric Henry, head of Brittany farmers union FDSEA-35 said in a statement. Under current legislation, glyphosate application needs to stay five to 10 meters away from housing. Wheat growers’ union AGPB said in a statement that extending the non-treatment zone would withdraw thousands of hectares of land from production. Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday that the government would review pesticides regulation soon. The government is also disputing local glyphosate bans in several other rural communes around France. Glyphosate is widely used in France, the European Union’s largest grain producer, mainly by farmers, gardeners and railway operators who want to get rid of unwanted grasses at low cost. Developed by Monsanto under the brand Roundup, Glyphosate is now off-patent and marketed worldwide by dozens of other firms including Dow Agrosciences and BASF.",
            "output": [
                "French mayors ban glyphosate weedkiller, defying government."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a7f65708afd84c0b9b2f15f766a6a637",
            "input": "Picket lines formed outside hospitals as men and women waved signs including “Safe Staffing Saves Lives,” and “Fair Pay Now.″ Passing ambulances let sirens wail in solidarity. Cars honked horns. “We don’t do this lightly — it is the first time we have gone on strike in 103 years,″ said Donna Kinnair, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing. ”But I am here because I think it is important that care is delivered to our patients in Northern Ireland.”    Some 9,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing went on strike and were supported by other healthcare workers. That forced the cancellation of routine appointments and delays to ambulance services. The situation of the nurses has been complicated by the collapse of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. Since no government has been in place for nearly three years, there are no ministers in place to make spending decisions — such as whether to grant the pay demands of the nurses or use extra cash to reduce Northern Ireland’s long waiting lists for treatment.",
            "output": [
                "Northern Irish nurses strike over pay, staffing levels."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fda23d81911641e7954e89e713a8dc1c",
            "input": "Carol McCain McCain likes to illustrate his moral fiber by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children. But there is another Mrs. McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children. She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news. But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries. When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Today, she stands at just 5′ 4″ in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering. For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later. “My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens … it just does.” In 1979 — while still married to Carol — he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage. Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons. Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: “I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is — deceit.” “When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.” “McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,” he said. “After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.” Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, and a former presidential candidate, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel — even by the standards of modern politics. The text reproduced above is a shortened version of a June 2008 Daily Mail article about Carol McCain, Arizona senator John McCain’s first wife, which was circulated as an e-mail forward at the time. A similar social media version made the rounds when John McCain passed away in August 2018:  Shorn of their vitriolic and subjective comments, these article present factually true frameworks regarding the circumstances surrounding the break-up of John McCain’s first marriage. On 3 July 1965, 28-year-old Naval aviator John Sidney McCain III married 27-year-old Carol Shepp of Philadelphia, whom he had initially met while attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, several years earlier. John McCain adopted Carol’s two sons (Douglas and Andrew) from a previous marriage, and the couple had a daughter (Sidney) together in 1966. In July 1967, Lt. Commander John McCain was taken prisoner after his plane was shot down on a bombing mission over North Vietnam and was held as a POW for over five years. During her husband’s captivity, Carol McCain was involved in a near-fatal automobile accident that left her with permanent injuries, a circumstance that posed some difficult adjustments for the couple after they were finally reunited in March 1973:  One fact was especially difficult to deal with [after McCain’s return to the U.S.]: Carol’s physical condition. At Christmastime in 1969, while McCain was imprisoned in Vietnam, Carol was almost killed in a car crash. “Carol had taken the kids to her parents’ house for the holidays,” McCain later wrote. “After dinner on Christmas Eve, she drove to our friends, the Bookbinders, to exchange gifts. It had begun to snow by the time she started back to her parents, and the roads were icy. She skidded off the road, smashed into a telephone pole, and was thrown from the car. The police found her some time later in shock, both legs fractured in several places, her arm and pelvis broken, and bleeding internally. “Several days passed before she was out of immediate danger. It would be six months and several operations before she was released from the hospital. Over the next two years, she would undergo many more operations to repair her injured legs. By the time the doctors were finished, she would be four inches shorter than she was before the accident. After a year of intense physical therapy, she was able to walk with the aid of crutches.” Carol’s new appearance was one of the more shocking details McCain had to deal with during his period of adjustment; quite simply, Carol was a different person from the one she was when he left. By the end of the 1970s, the McCains’ marriage was strained to the breaking point, even if it was not evident to those who knew them:  Even though friends saw a rosy picture when they looked at John and Carol McCain’s marriage from outside, privately the couple was having difficulty. After years in captivity, McCain was not totally able to return to the life he had led with Carol before he went to Vietnam. As the marriage became rocky, McCain was unfaithful to Carol, or perhaps the marriage became rocky because McCain was unfaithful. Later, there would even be reports that he had, as the Boston Globe put it, “affairs with subordinate female personnel.” The McCains had tried to achieve some semblance of a normal life after McCain’s return home — and, to a great extent, they had accomplished this — but the problems continued nonetheless. Years later, Carol would tell a reporter the main trouble was not complicated: McCain may have been 40, but he was acting like he was 25. In 1979, then 42-year-old John McCain first met Cindy Lou Hensley, a 25-year-old school teacher who was also the daughter (and heir) of James Hensley, the founder of one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributorships in the United States; the two began dating and married the following year. Sources differ as to the timing of McCain’s separation from his first wife, Carol, and the beginning of his relationship with the woman who would become his second wife, Cindy Hensley; whatever the circumstances, McCain remarried five weeks after divorcing his first wife:  McCain has made several statements about how he divorced Carol and married Hensley that conflict with the public record. In his 2002 memoir, “Worth the Fighting For,” McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Hensley. “I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow,” McCain wrote. “I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980.” An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had “cohabited” until Jan. 7 of that year — or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley. Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife. McCain stated in his autobiography that he was solely responsible for the failure of his first marriage: “My marriage’s collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity. The blame was entirely mine.”",
            "output": [
                "An article accurately recounts details of Senator John McCain's divorce from his first wife, Carol."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-41e38c72edb4428dadb890d6497ab702",
            "input": "More than 250 cases of H7N9 have been reported to the National Health and Family Planning Commission from 16 provinces and regions. State media said Thursday that most of the illnesses occurred in and around China’s eastern and southern coast, from Shanghai to Hong Kong. At least six more deaths have been reported thus far in February, raising concerns China faces a public health crisis more severe than the 2013 outbreak that killed at least 40 people and devastated the poultry industry. January’s death toll was the highest for any month since at least November 2013, according to the health commission’s website. Local authorities have ordered temporary shutdowns of some poultry markets and ramped up testing. In Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, more than 30 percent of the live poultry markets were recently found to be contaminated with H7N9. H7N9 is considered to be less virulent than the H5N1 strain that the World Health Organization has linked to hundreds of deaths worldwide over the last decade. H7N9 is not believed to be transmitted between humans, but rather by infected poultry. The WHO issued a Feb. 10 alert linking an increase in cases to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday, with feasts and parties throughout a weeklong celebration. This year’s Lunar New Year was Jan. 28. “As traditionally the consumption of poultry among the general population increases during the Chinese New Year celebrations, the movement, trade and slaughter of poultry during this period may subsequently increase human exposure,” the WHO alert said.",
            "output": [
                "China Jan. bird flu deaths hit 79, most since at least 2013."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0dc4864de4cb4e71bbc376f887000b9f",
            "input": "Made by Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc, Nexavar is  approved in the United States for kidney and liver cancer. Eight out of the first nine patients who took the drug saw  improvements in their ability to exercise, and six out of nine  had significant improvement in their right ventricular ejection  fraction, which measures the heart’s ability to pump blood to  the lungs. Four patients had decreased pressure in their pulmonary  artery, which supplies blood to the lungs. “What patients are telling us is they are able to do more  in their daily lives,” said Dr. Mardi Gomberg-Maitland of the  University of Chicago, who presented her findings at a meeting  of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto. The original  research on the drug was done at the University. She said the surprising thing is that the drug worked so  quickly. Patients saw benefits in only four months. The study is the first human trial to examine the  sorafenib, or Nexavar, in pulmonary hypertension, a disease in  which blood vessels feeding the lungs narrow, forcing the heart  to work harder. Like cancer, pulmonary hypertension is a disease marked by  abnormal cell growth, which narrows the arteries feeding the  lungs, reducing blood flow and taxing the heart. Sorafenib  appears to interfere with this process. The trial enrolled patients with stable disease who  continued to take their primary medications, which included a  continuous infusion of a drug called prostacyclin and Pfizer  Inc’s Viagra or sildenafil. Both relax blood vessels that feed  the lungs. Gomberg-Maitland said this therapy typically slows  progression of the disease, but does not reverse it. They added sorafenib for 16 weeks, but at a lower dose than  cancer patients use. Most patients in the trial increased their exercise  capacity, as measured by time on a treadmill or a six-minute  walk test. They saw an average 8 percent improvement in their  right ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of the heart’s  pumping power. Side effects included mild hair loss and skin reactions. The study was designed to last only 16 weeks, but all of  the patients continue to take the drug, some now for more than  a year. “What is exciting about this is all of the patients feel  better and nobody wants to come off the medication,”  Gomberg-Maitland said in a telephone interview. The study was intended to test the safety and dosing of the  drug. It was funded by The Doris Duke Foundation and the  University of Chicago. The researchers now plan to study the drug in 40 to 60  patients at different research centers.",
            "output": [
                "Nexavar helped in pulmonary hypertension study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eb887007cec4479e82277dbd311e216a",
            "input": "Hahn, a cancer specialist and hospital executive, won confirmation to the role of FDA commissioner with a vote of 72-18. The move comes as key decisions about regulating electronic cigarettes, including how to keep them away from teenagers, remain unresolved. More than three months ago President Donald Trump and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavored e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to children and teens. But that effort has stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape. In his confirmation hearing last month, Hahn repeatedly sidestepped questions about the fate of the flavor ban. When lawmakers tried to pin down his preferred approach to regulating vaping, Hahn said only that he would follow the “science and evidence.”  Still, he won the backing of several key vaping critics in the Senate, including Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who said he hoped Hahn would use his influence to push the Trump administration to crack down on the industry. “Dr. Hahn said to me he doesn’t want to be known in history as the head of the FDA who saw this epidemic grow dramatically,” said Durbin, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, supports legislation that would place new taxes on e-cigarettes and restrict flavors with the aim of discouraging underage use. Anti-vaping groups and health experts argue that flavors like fruit, mint, menthol and others attract underage teens. But vaping proponents say flavors can help adult smokers switch to vaping from cigarettes, which cause cancer, lung disease, stroke and other deadly diseases. Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18. More than a third of U.S. states have already raised their sales age for e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to 21. E-cigarettes typically heat a solution that contains nicotine, which makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive. They are generally considered less harmful than paper-and-tobacco cigarettes, though there is little research on their long-term health effects. Hahn, 59, will succeed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who left the federal agency in April. Gottlieb bucked expectations early in his tenure by announcing an unprecedented effort to curb smoking. Under the plan outlined in July 2017, the FDA would use its authority to cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, encouraging smokers to quit or switch to less harmful products, such as e-cigarettes. The proposal for cutting nicotine was targeted for release in October this year, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda. But it didn’t appear and was dropped last month from the FDA’s updated list of regulatory priorities. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency is continuing to review the policy. But anti-tobacco advocates worry the Trump administration is backing away from its earlier commitment to making cigarettes less addictive. The FDA regulates a broad array of consumer goods and medicine — everything from new drugs and medical devices to packaged food, nutrition labeling, tobacco and cosmetics. As FDA commissioner, Hahn will face a raft of other pressing health issues, including dealing with the prescription opioid epidemic, safety problems with imported drugs and the regulation of CBD, a marijuana derivative that has become a trendy food additive. Hahn, who specializes in treating lung cancer, most recently worked as the top medical executive at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Senate OKs Trump’s FDA nominee despite unclear vaping agenda."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9202ab1bd1e54106af5ecc62ce5b4e7e",
            "input": "Environmental groups strongly oppose the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure. But the government, keen to cut Britain’s reliance on imports as North Sea gas supplies dry up, has tightened regulations and has given Cuadrilla permission to frack two wells at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire. Cuadrilla, 47.4 percent owned by Australia’s AJ Lucas and 45.2 percent owned by a fund managed by Riverstone, said it would spend at least three months fracking two horizontal wells to test flow rates to determine whether full-scale gas extraction would be viable. The British Geological Survey estimates shale gas resources in northern England alone could amount to 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, 10 percent of which could meet the Britain’s demand for almost 40 years. “Shale gas has the potential to be a new domestic energy source, enhancing our energy security and delivering economic benefits, including the creation of well-paid, quality jobs,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said. “We have been clear that any shale developments must be safe and environmentally sound,” the department added in a statement. Attempts to extract the gas have come under fire from local communities and campaigners concerned about the potential effect on the environment and ground water. They say extracting more fossil fuel is at odds with Britain’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “It is morally bankrupt to be heralding the start of a whole new fossil fuel industry,” Craig Bennett, chief executive of environmental group Friends of the Earth said in a statement. “You can deal with climate change or you can have fracking – you can’t do both,” he said. The government asked its climate advisers on Monday to examine whether Britain should toughen its climate targets and set a date to move to a net zero emissions goal. Britain has an existing target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050.",
            "output": [
                "Britain's Cuadrilla starts fracking for gas after seven-year pause."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6166c2e6b55d47d18737b1ea52cb8697",
            "input": "\"The Portland City Council is set to vote early next month on whether to fluoridate the city’s drinking water -- and a ‘yes’ vote looks all but certain. City Commissioner Nick Fish said as much in a statement that started bluntly \"\"I believe it is time to add fluoride to Portland’s drinking water.\"\" Part of his rationale, he explained in the statement, are the potential savings fluoridation offers. \"\"In fact, cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation,\"\" he wrote. We thought the topic was timely enough that we ought to do a quick check on this would-be fact. (Full disclosure: The Oregonian used the same fact in a Page 1 article on the subject of fluoridation.) We called Fish’s office and spoke with Emily York, one of the commissioner’s policy coordinators. She sent us a fact sheet from the Everyone Deserves Healthy Teeth Coalition that laid out the economic case in favor of fluoridation, including the $38 figure that Fish used. The figure, the fact sheet noted, came from a 2001 study published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry by Susan Griffin, Karl Jones and Scott Tomar. It took some time, but we were able to get our hands on a copy of the study. A quick read revealed that the authors had indeed found significant savings from fewer instances of tooth decay and resulting dental care when communities fluoridated their water supplies. (PolitiFact Oregon recognizes that fluoridation has strong opponents who raise other issues -- but our purpose here is simply to examine the possible cost savings.) To get to the $38 figure, you need to do a little math. For a large community like Portland, the study’s authors estimated that fluoridation costs about 50 cents per person. Then it goes on to give a range of possible dental cost savings per person --  from $2.99 to $56.07, with a most likely savings (base case in financial jargon) of $19.12 per person for the 50 cents spent  Just double the $19.12 in savings -- because that’s how much you get for half a dollar -- and you wind up with $38 in savings for each $1 spent. That’s a pretty decent return, to be sure. Now, there are a few caveats here. The study explicitly states that it does not take into account overhead costs of fluoridation or possible health issues that stem from fluoridation, such as dental fluorosis, which the study says \"\"are negligible.\"\" We contacted one of the study’s authors, Scott Tomar, who teaches at the College of Dentistry at the University of Florida. In an e-mail he said the bottom line of the decade-old study was that \"\"that community water fluoridation saves money under almost any scenario. It is actually one of extremely few public health initiatives that can make such a claim. Based on our analyses, an 18 to 1 return on investment is a reasonable estimate for Portland.\"\" We wanted something a little more specific, however, so we took a look at the actual numbers Portland would be facing. The figures are a little different for the Portland area because it’ll cost more than the estimated 50 cents per person to fluoridate. According to early estimates, it’ll cost the city about $5 million to get the project started and then about $575,000 annually from there on to fluoridate water for about 900,000 people. We worked the math and that means in the first year, Portland area residents would save about $3 in dental costs for every $1 invested. After that, it’d cost closer to 64 cents per person to fluoridate the water, meaning a savings of about $30 for each $1 spent. Fish was measured in his comments. He said that \"\"cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation\"\" and, indeed, that was the estimate of one article that appeared in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Furthermore, the findings of this article are highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website on the subject. The savings for Portland, however, are slimmer, and we think that’s important context that is missing. We find this statement .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Nick Fish Says \"\"cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46c3f5e041674fd39f4e3024f7342f2e",
            "input": "Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials recommend people limit outdoor activity Thursday while the advisory is in effect, especially children and adults with respiratory problems. People most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution include children, older adults, adults exercising outdoors and people with heart or lung disease and those suffering from asthma and bronchitis. Exposure can increase the number and severity of asthma attacks, cause or aggravate bronchitis or other lung disease and reduce the body’s ability to fight infection.",
            "output": [
                "High pollution advisory issued for Phoenix metropolitan area."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac28db5e8ce2436e955585e95f169f51",
            "input": "Reynolds said increasing awareness and education on the known risks of vaping will help prevent young people from suffering nicotine addiction and health problems. The campaign will feature videos targeted at teens on SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Hulu and other sites. School nurses, teachers and administrators will be provided information to help educate students and parents    Reynolds said she won’t sign an executive order to ban the sale of flavored vaping products because such moves have been blocked in the courts in other states. The American Medical Association has called for a ban on all flavored  e-cigarettes. The Public Health Law Center said nine states have acted through governor executive orders or emergency administrative rules to limit vaping use. However, legal challenges have temporarily blocked enforcement in at least five states. More than 50 Iowa teenagers and young adults have experienced severe respiratory illness from vaping. Nationally more than 2,200 people have been hospitalized and 48 have died.",
            "output": [
                "Iowa governor launches anti-vaping social media campaign."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2f2ea72a7e440708517d2f57d5e5808",
            "input": "It is rare to see a story include costs of what might be viewed as inexpensive supplements, but this story included the costs – at least – of vitamin D supplements. From a purist’s perspective, we wish the story had quantified the benefit seen from exercise. We’re told that adding supplements to the exercise program didn’t provide any extra benefit. But just what was the degree of benefit from exercise? We’re never told. In a sense, the story was all about a finding that might help people avoid the “harm” of thinking that supplements do more for them than they actually do. The story was very clear on what the study showed and did not show, and what the take-home ramifications were. The story cited clear numbers and broke down categories of older women, white men and black men. The story cites the researchers’ published findings, then turns in large part to an independent expert to evaluate the evidence. At least the story gave some broad contex about other approaches to prevent bone-thinning: “To build bone density, weight-bearing exercise is needed, such as running or weight-lifting, according to the NIH. To reduce the risk of bone weakening, the NIH recommends not smoking, drinking less alcohol and exercising more. Zaidi said that both vitamin D and calcium are extremely important for human health, so people should follow the previous vitamin D and calcium recommendations.” The availability of calciium and vitamin D are not in question. There was room for improvement here. The story could have done a better job of putting the new finding into the context of past research in this field. It’s clear the story didn’t rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Extra calcium, vitamin D no bone booster for men"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5b70db1a1d541cda6a5732f94512f34",
            "input": "\"A University of Texas English professor says a law enabling Texans with state permits to carry concealed guns into classrooms has already caused prospective faculty, students and even speakers not to come to the Austin campus. Lisa Moore said in an NPR interview aired Aug. 7, 2016, six days after the campus-carry mandate took effect: \"\"We already have concrete examples of faculty who have declined to apply for jobs here at the university or who, once offered jobs, have turned them down when they realized that this policy would go into effect, students changing their minds about coming to our graduate and undergraduate programs, and invited speakers declining to come when they realized that we couldn't guarantee that they would give their talk in a gun-free space.\"\" \"\"Concrete examples\"\" is definitive. So, how about details? First it’s worth noting that since 1995, Texas law has allowed any individual with a concealed handgun permit to carry a gun on public college and university sidewalks, streets, parking areas and other grounds. In 2015, state lawmakers widened the law by voting to let permit holders also carry guns in campus buildings, except in areas excluded under rules adopted by each school’s president. UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves has written that he doesn’t believe handguns belong in campus buildings; still, he agreed to allow them in classrooms because, he said, barring them would have the effect of generally excluding guns from campus, which the law prohibits. In February 2016, Fenves also wrote Bill McRaven, the UT System chancellor: \"\"Since this is a new law with an unknown effect on UT Austin, we will monitor implementation and its impact on students, faculty members, and staffers. I have significant concerns about how the law will affect our ability to recruit and retain faculty members and students. Fenves is among state defendants, too, in a lawsuit filed by Moore and two fellow professors seeking to bar civilian handguns from campus. On Aug. 22, 2016, a federal judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed them to ban concealed handguns from their classrooms. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said he found no precedent for the argument that professors have a right of academic freedom under the First Amendment so broad that it overrides decisions of the Legislature and the university that employs them. Moore, Jennifer Lynn Glass and Mia Carter were still free to pursue the merits of their case. But Yeakel’s ruling was a considerable setback for them, as they wanted to ban guns in time for the start of fall classes. Virginia professor declined UT visit Moore, asked for concrete examples, initially responded with an email reminding that an out-of-state candidate for a UT deanship said he bowed out of consideration in 2015 due to the gun law. A February 2016 Austin American-Statesman news blog post quoted Siva Vaidhyanathan, a University of Virginia professor of media studies who’d previously earned UT bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, saying he’d been contacted by a search firm helping the university find a dean for the Moody College of Communication--and, the story said, was later told he was a finalist. But the gun law weighed on him; the story said that if chosen, Vaidhyanathan said, he’d have felt compelled to side with faculty members seeking to bar guns from classrooms. \"\"I would probably be fired immediately,\"\" he said. \"\"I told the search firm I was no longer interested in the position.\"\" To our inquiry, Vaidhyanathan provided a December 2015 email he sent to search firm officials declining their invitation to return to the Texas campus for \"\"an extended visit and a dinner\"\" about the deanship that would have included meetings with Fenves and others. Vaidhyanathan’s email said the prospect of guns being allowed in classrooms meant he couldn’t \"\"pursue this position with enthusiasm.\"\" Vaidhyanathan wrote: \"\"I could not, in good conscience, ask faculty and students to put themselves into an environment in which students, visitors, or even faculty could be armed. My wife is a scientist. I could not ask her to take a job at a university that was forbidden by law to restrict guns from classrooms. The very consideration of that possibility puts a chilling effect on open and relaxed discourse in the classroom. And the fact that the university cannot restrict guns on campus in general means that university police officers are forbidden to do their jobs effectively. They can’t diffuse a threatening situation until it becomes a dangerous one. \"\"Universities are tense enough already. And we all count on our university police forces to confront and (defuse) threatening situations as early as possible. The State of Texas has put every student and professor in Texas in danger. I applaud the chancellor, the president, the faculty, and the students for their strong opposition to campus carry.\"\" So, that’s a candidate for dean confirmed. Next, we followed up with Moore about particular students, other prospective faculty and speakers deciding not to come to UT due to the gun law. A mother’s email Moore forwarded a November 2015 email sent by a parent, Rachel Zucker, to a UT mailbox. The message says: \"\"Dear UT, I want you to know that my son, Moses Goren, is a straight A student at Hunter College High School (in NYC) who has expressed interest in applying to your Plan II program at UT (Austin). He and I have decided, however, that he will not apply to any schools that have campus carry laws. We believe that guns should not be allowed on college campuses and that guns present a serious physical danger for faculty and students. If you were to make UT Austin a safer place by making it illegal to bring a gun on campus, I would eagerly and proudly have Moses apply to your esteemed school. Thank you, Rachel Zucker\"\" To our inquiry, Zucker confirmed her son’s decision. \"\"Both of us feel even clearer about this than we did when wrote that email. The rampant gun violence and lack of commonsense gun control in this country should be a source of unmitigated shame for our leaders and legislators,\"\" Zucker said by email, adding that she hopes UT bans guns on campus. Moore also noted the departures of two UT faculty members by 2016. In each instance -- Architecture Dean Frederick Steiner’s move to the University of Pennsylvania and economist Daniel Hamermesh’s shift to opportunities abroad -- news stories and emails we fielded from the men describe the gun law as a factor, though not the only factor, in the departures. Hamermesh urged us to consult Joan Neuberger, a UT history professor, who responded by emailing a prospective graduate student’s February 2016 email saying she would decline UT’s offer of admission \"\"due to my misgivings with the campus carry guidelines President Fenves released today.\"\" Nora Dolliver went on: \"\"Although I think that UT would be a wonderful place to complete my graduate training, I am unwilling to study or work in an environment where my classmates, professors, students, or patrons are permitted to carry handguns.\"\" Harvard professor’s decision A March 2016 news story in UT’s student newspaper, The Daily Texan, quoted Moore saying a Harvard University professor had withdrawn from a search for a faculty position in the UT Women and Gender Studies department because of the measure letting guns into classrooms. By phone, Moore told us the professor, Robin Bernstein, had been urged by Moore and others to apply in 2015, but Bernstein, citing the gun law, declared she wouldn’t. \"\"She definitely would have been a finalist,\"\" Moore said, adding that faculty were ultimately unable to fill the position. By email, Bernstein told us she was invited to apply for a professorship in women’s and gender studies but declined to do so \"\"in large part because of the changes in Texas law to allow guns in class.\"\" Bernstein shared a portion of her November 2015 email to Moore about deciding not to apply. The email says Bernstein had been \"\"watching the madness with the Texas legislature\"\" and wasn’t more than 50 percent sure she’d accept the UT job if it were offered. Concerned outside speaker Moore, asked about speakers deciding not coming to campus, pointed us to Paloma Diaz, an administrator in UT’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies. Diaz said by phone that a speaker who teaches at the University of Washington cited the gun law in initially resisting the institute’s invitation to give a talk in fall 2016, though she said the speaker subsequently relented. Diaz said she didn’t have permission to identify the speaker. Otherwise, a web search showed the institute has posted a notice that Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, a UW professor, is expected to visit and give talks Sept. 26, 2016. Godoy didn't respond to our query. We couldn’t fairly consider a couple of late-breaking instances of invited speakers deciding not to come to UT because their decisions became public after Moore spoke to NPR. Still: --A Duke University professor, Karla Holloway, wrote Phillip Barrish, a UT English professor, that she was rescinding her acceptance of Barrish’s invitation to speak on the campus in fall 2016. Holloway wrote Aug. 26, 2016: \"\"I believe guns, and especially the vulnerabilities exposed in conceal carry cultures, contribute mightily to our nation’s public health crisis. And with the conceal carry now in full effect there, and after discussion with my family, I just cannot come.\"\" To our inquiry, Holloway forwarded a copy of the emailed March 2016 invitation from Barrish that she and Barrish told us she’d previously accepted. --Neuberger separately alerted us to a Texas Christian University historian, Hanan Hammad, reversing course about speaking at UT, also while citing the gun law (which allows private universities like TCU to opt out of the mandate). To our inquiry, Hammad forwarded her Aug. 26, 2016, email rescinding her agreement to speak in October 2016. Hammad wrote that \"\"with campus carry now in full effect at UT, I just cannot come. I'm always proud to be a UT alumnus and I owe my mentors and teachers great deal, but I'm in full solidarity with all UT faculty, staff, and students whose health and lives are in danger due to campus carry. I believe open or conceal carry on campus is wrong and dangerous.\"\" UT administration suggests claim solid We also asked a university spokesman, Gary Susswein, about the accuracy of Moore’s claim. Susswein responded by emailing a web link to an August 2016 statement by sociologist Harry Edwards, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, in which Edwards said that due to implementation of the gun law, he was rescinding his permission to present UT lectures on sport and society, launched in 2014, in his name. \"\"My decision was an exceedingly difficult one,\"\" Edwards wrote, \"\"but silence is evil's greatest and most consistently dependable ally.\"\" Another campus spokesman, J.B. Bird, said by email the administration could confirm Moore’s claim. Bird didn’t identify resistant individuals by name though he wrote that the university provost’s office \"\"confirmed hearing of a few people who decided not to interview and who stated that it was because of campus carry. Similarly, Bird said, provost officials say \"\"they have heard of a few cases of faculty speakers who have decided not to come to campus to give talks because of the law.\"\" Bird said too that \"\"we know of students changing their minds about coming based on campus carry. Our admissions office said when the law was announced they received about 10 calls and 10-15 emails with applicants saying that they were not coming or would not apply. We assume that we don’t hear from 100 percent of the people who make this decision. \"\"That said,\"\" Bird wrote, \"\"we did just admit the largest incoming freshmen class in UT’s history, with about 8,500 freshman. From what we have seen, though, the assertion is  that some individuals have chosen not to come because of the new state law.\"\" Our ruling Moore told NPR there are \"\"concrete examples\"\" of UT job applicants, prospective students and invited speakers deciding not to come to the university because of conceal-carry permit holders newly being allowed to bring handguns into campus buildings including classrooms. Not naming names, UT’s administration says this is so. We separately identified two out-of-state professors, a prospective graduate student and the mother of a high school student who cited the change in gun law and policy for not continuing to seek a UT position or not applying to come there--plus an outside speaker who reportedly resisted an invitation to speak on campus before relenting. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.",
            "output": [
                "\"Lisa Moore Says there are \"\"concrete examples\"\" of University of Texas job applicants or prospective applicants and students as well as invited speakers changing their minds because of handguns being allowed in campus buildings and classrooms.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34e20f3b83db43498bd8a4f03022ac99",
            "input": "Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said that eventually some 60% to 70% of the global population would have been infected, recovered and acquired immunity, but it was impossible to say how fast that would happen. “Our working assumption is that it will take about two years,” he told a news conference on Tuesday, adding that the timing depended on how long it takes to get a vaccine developed and deployed. “We do not yet know what the death rate will look like in the end,” he told reporters. The institute said the number of confirmed cases in Germany had risen by more than 1,100 to 7,156 with 13 deaths. Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government on Monday announced strict social distancing measures to slow the spread of the virus, urged Germans to avoid panicking about food and money shortages. “I would like to urge the public to stick to the official statements instead of believing the many rumors that are unfortunately circulating around,” Merkel said. “We are doing everything to inform (the public) in a transparent way. Such fears are baseless.”  Wieler said that without the strict measures Germany could end up facing millions of coronavirus cases. “We want to avoid that,” he said, adding the institute was raising the risk level in Germany to “high.” He said hospitals would have to at least double their intensive care capacity as one in five cases was serious.",
            "output": [
                "German institute: Two years for pandemic to run its course."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b6871a93258545b1b0fc2959832377c1",
            "input": "Scientists at Vienna University medical school’s Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology came to the conclusion after analyzing the water quality at 21 “holy” springs and 18 fonts at churches and chapels at various times of year. Only 14 percent of the water samples from holy sources showed no fecal contamination, and none of the springs could be recommended as a source of drinking water, the study presented to a conference in Vienna this week found. The springs held not only fecal contamination - likely the result of poor hygiene - but many also had agricultural nitrates and bugs that can cause inflammatory diarrhoea. “We need to warn people against drinking from these sources,” microbiologist Alexander Kirschner said in the study. Kirschner said the healing effects ascribed to holy sources arose from the hygienic conditions of the Middle Ages, when water quality in urban areas was generally so poor that people constantly contracted diarrhoea or other conditions. “If they then came across a protected spring in the forest that was not as polluted and drank from it for several days, their symptoms would disappear. So although in those days they were drinking healthier water, given the excellent quality of our drinking water today, the situation is now completely reversed.”  The study noted some ways to help address the problem, including regularly replacing holy water in church fonts. One Italian priest has invented a holy water dispenser that dispenses drops of holy water rather than having the faithful dip a hand in, it noted.",
            "output": [
                "Holy water in Austria unsafe to drink: researchers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79c045fd6011422ca2e4c52475aafb8f",
            "input": "José Miguel Cisneros, director of the infectious disease department at Seville’s Virgen del Rocío Hospital, on Tuesday announced the first casualty since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 15. Authorities have closed the pork meat supplier’s plant and recalled all of its products. Cisneros said roughly half of the 114 people affected by the bacteria remain hospitalized. Health Minister María Luisa Carcedo said an investigation is looking into how the meat evaded what she called “strict food safety controls.” Listeria is a bacteria that usually causes mild illness in healthy people but can be dangerous to pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.",
            "output": [
                "Woman dies in Spain as listeria-in-pork outbreak sickens 114."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6a6ba07a15d4ab183709afbc628ff59",
            "input": "The cost of fish is not in question, although a word about the cost of fish oil supplements would not have been inappropriate. Although we think readers will come away with the correct bottom line message on this study, we’re going to rate this criterion unsatisfactory, for two reasons: The harms of eating fish are not in question, although there is some concern that certain species high in mercury can be harmful for pregnant women and children. This is where the HealthDay coverage shined. In addition to cautioning that the study couldn’t prove that omega-3 fatty acids prevent mental decline, the story had a nice discussion of the limitations that apply to this study and other observational studies: The story also mentioned that a clinical trial of high and low omega-3 intake would help prove whether there’s a beneficial effect. There was no disease mongering. The story quotes an independent expert, and there were no conflicts that should have been identified. There was no discussion of other habits or behaviors, such as exercise and mental stimulation, that are associated with maintenance of cognitive function with age. The story also did not mention other potential sources of omega-3 fatty acids, as CNN did. The availability of fish isn’t in question. The story nods to previous research suggesting that fish consumption might have benefits for the aging brain. The story was not based on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Protect the Aging Brain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-551114ad1ef84d43b56183a9eaea8fa8",
            "input": "About 400 patients, many of them with cancer, were given the oil for free at a flagship clinic at the Public Health Ministry in a suburb of Bangkok. The initial four formulations handed out are used for treating conditions such as migraines, insomnia, nausea, numbness and pain. The medicines are touted as being based on traditional remedies. Thailand was previously known for harsh anti-drug laws, but is now eyeing the economic potential of cannabis. A report last year by Prohibition Partners, which claims to be the leading authority on the subject, said Asia’s medical cannabis market would be worth around $5.8 billion by 2024. Around 25 similar clinics have been operating part-time since the legislature agreed in 2018 to amend the country’s drug laws to allow the use and production of medical cannabis. The Health Ministry clinic and another in Bangkok are forerunners of a planned nationwide network, if they show positive results. “Marijuana could be an answer. At least the patients’ quality of life is improved,” said Dr. Prasert Mongkolsiri, the director of a public hospital, who helped advise patients on Monday. “At least it can lessen the side effects of the modern chemical-based medicines that they’ve been taking for 10 or 20 years,” he said, referring to chemotherapy for cancer patients. Chamroen Nakurai, 57, was diagnosed with lymph node cancer two years ago. She said cannabis oil helps lessen the side effects of her chemotherapy, but until now she had been able to get it only through illegal underground suppliers. “The treatment isn’t widely available and the cost is quite high if you visit underground clinics, but this service is free and anyone can access it,” she said. Nuthjutha Ulpathorn, 29, was born with cerebral palsy that makes her unable to walk and garbles her speech. She began to use cannabis oil two months ago after her mother brought her to a government hospital that started to give out cannabis oil. “I sleep better, and (am) less cranky,” Nuthjutha said with a smile. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the chief architect of the new policy drive, toured the suburban clinic on Monday. He expressed hope that the remedies might be soon added into the National List of Essential Medicine, which allows them to be covered by Thailand’s 30-baht ($1) universal health care scheme. Officials say the policy of free cannabis is likely to be changed. Anutin is the leader of the Bhumjai Thai Party, a partner in the country’s coalition government. The party won 50 seats in March’s general election after Anutin campaigned for legalization of the production of marijuana to aid farmers. Moves to allow small-scale private production are moving ahead. The Public Health Ministry, meanwhile, supervises cannabis production at six locations around the country.",
            "output": [
                "Thailand launches full-time clinics dispensing cannabis oil."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e750fafa5056408b82203265f47bfa42",
            "input": "The preliminary settlement announced on Monday, which requires court approval, would resolve many claims arising from tainted steroid injections linked to New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc of Framingham, Massachusetts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 64 people died and 751 were sickened in 20 U.S. states by injections of methylprednisolone acetate, a drug typically used to ease back pain. The outbreak occurred after NECC shipped tainted vials of the steroid to medical facilities throughout the United States. NECC filed for bankruptcy protection December 21, 2012, two months after shutting down as the outbreak began. Thomas Sobol, a partner at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro representing a plaintiffs’ steering committee, called the accord “a big step forward in getting justice for victims.”  Kristen Johnson Parker, another Hagens Berman partner, in a phone interview said, “All victims of the NECC tragedy should be able to share in the funds.”  NECC’s owners, bankruptcy trustee Paul Moore and lawyers for a committee of unsecured NECC creditors also confirmed the settlement in a joint statement. The owners denied liability or wrongdoing. Settlement funds are expected to come from the owners, insurers, tax refunds and proceeds from the sale of a related business. “We are pleased that a significant amount of funds will become available for distribution to victims and their families as compensation for the deaths, injuries and suffering they endured as a result of this tragic meningitis outbreak,” said Moore, a partner at Duane Morris. The accord requires final documentation and does not cover claims against various clinics that sold the tainted steroid or various vendors used by NECC. According to NECC’s bankruptcy filing, the company’s equity shareholders were Carla Conigliaro with a 55 percent stake, Barry Cadden and Lisa Conigliaro Cadden each with a 17.5 percent stake, and Gregory Conigliaro with a 10 percent stake. A lawyer for the owners did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is In re: New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 12-19882.",
            "output": [
                "Settlement reached over deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72b15eb1e39a4b0c99b8bef375e47d05",
            "input": "Eastern Virginia Medical School announced Tuesday that it plans a news conference and will make a written report of the investigation public. The school’s statement included no details about what the investigation found out about Northam’s 1984 yearbook page, which includes a photo of a man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan clothing. Northam’s office declined to comment. The medical school in Norfolk hired the law firm McGuireWoods, which is also a top lobbying firm, to conduct an independent investigation. Virginia politics was turned upside down in a matter of hours in early February after a conservative website posted a picture online of Northam’s medical school yearbook page. The Democratic governor issued two apologies within hours, initially indicating that he was one of the people in the picture. By midnight it appeared his entire political base was gone, with the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, other key Democratic groups and top allies calling on him to resign. Northam reversed course at a news conference the next day, saying he was convinced it was not him in the picture, while revealing that he did in fact wear blackface once decades ago, to look like Michael Jackson for a dance contest. Defying calls to resign, he said he wanted to focus his remaining three years in office on addressing longstanding racial inequities. While he was all but invisible in February and much of March, the governor is making routine public appearances again. And he’s won praise from black lawmakers and others for several recent policy moves. Those include a halt to suspending the suspension of driver’s licenses for motorists with unpaid court fines and costs, and a review into how public schools teach our nation’s racial history. The heat for Northam to resign significantly lessened after scandal enveloped his potential successors. Two women publicly accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, which he denies, and Attorney General Mark Herring announced he’d also worn blackface in college, just days after he too called on Northam to resign. Both Fairfax and Herring also resisted calls to resign. And other politicians around the South soon had their own explaining to do over yearbook images taken long ago. But the incident will forever mark Northam’s time in office, and opponents still use it against him. House Majority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert recently said Northam had chosen to “repair his own racist legacy,” rather than protect victims of domestic abuse after the governor vetoed a bill requiring a mandatory jail term for repeat domestic abusers. The photo on Northam’s yearbook page was one of at least three blackface photos in the 1984 publication, which was reviewed by an Associated Press reporter. One of the others shows a man in blackface who is dressed up as a woman wearing a wig. A caption reads: ”‘Baby Love,’ who ever thought Diana Ross would make it to Medical School!” Calling the photos “shockingly abhorrent,” school leaders commissioned an investigation into past yearbooks and the school’s culture. Thousands of letters and emails were sent to alumni asking for information as part of the investigation. Former students who worked on the 1984 yearbook have disagreed over whether the photo could have been mistakenly placed on Northam’s page. Dr. Giac Chan Nguyen-Tan, a physician practicing in Connecticut, said earlier this year that a page he laid out for the yearbook was changed without his knowledge before publication. But fellow yearbook staffer Dr. William Elwood disagreed that any photos were mixed up and said it was unlikely someone could have pulled a prank, because a limited number of people had keys to the yearbook room. __ Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia.",
            "output": [
                "Virginia gov’s yearbook: Probe of racist photo completed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-63907bcdaa304bf2a7c95b4f40385057",
            "input": "This release doesn’t discuss costs in its comparison of influenza shots versus nasal sprays, although both modes of immunization have been around for a long while and the costs for both are easily known. While flu immunizations are often free through public health clinics and such, some people receive their immunizations from their family physicians and carry a specific cost. Knowing the difference in costs between the two types is useful information both for people and public health officials. The release reports similar rates of vaccine uptake for intranasal vaccine and standard flu shots. But it does not quantify benefits for the main outcome of the study, that is, rates of influenza in communities vaccinated with nasal vs injected vaccine over the course of the study. These rates were statistically no different: 5.2% for the standard vs 5.3% for the nasal vaccine. This release makes no mention of possible harms that my follow the use of either the influenza vaccine injections or nasal spray, even though there are well-known restrictions on whom should and should not receive the nasal spray, and potential negative reactions to the injections among some people. The release points out that the study was the “first blinded randomized controlled trial” done in children within largely closed communities and it found similar efficacy in using the two modes of immunization. However, we do wish the release had addressed limitations, as well as some of the complexity of making these results generalizable to a larger population, as we saw with NPR’s take on the news. While media attention is routinely heightened leading up to and during flu season, this release does not appear to reach the level of disease mongering. The release does identify the chief funder of the study, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, although it offers no information on possible conflicts of interest among any of the researchers. The abstract of the study does state that two of the researchers do have links to pharmaceutical firms, but not in relation this study. Since the study looked a two forms of influenza vaccine administration, it obviously addresses the question of comparing alternatives. Both forms of immunization — shots and nasal spray — have been around for some time, their availability is widely known, earning the release a Satisfactory in this category. The release makes clear that the novelty of this study is its ability to examine both indirect effects of vaccination on the community as well as direct effects for persons receiving the vaccine. The release does not use any unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Flu nasal spray provides similar protection against influenza as flu shot: Study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e01e99edaac743a1b7a245936320f967",
            "input": "Northam said Thursday that the a person in need of a mental health assessment can get one at the state’s Community Services Boards without an appointment instead of waiting days or weeks for an appointment. Last year lawmakers and the governor approved extra funding to make sure every Community Services Board could offer same-day assessments. Virginia has made increased funding for mental health treatment since the suicide of Sen. Creigh Deeds’ son in 2013 exposed gaps in the state’s mental health system.",
            "output": [
                "Northam announces advancements in mental health treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-42e4136cb42a4016b33fe6935ede33a6",
            "input": "A man does chin-ups at a city park in Kiev, March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov Experts say often a professional tweak can go a long way towards firming up your workout. “People usually injure themselves on basic exercises, like a squat or a bench press,” said New York-based personal trainer Tiffany Boucher. But Boucher, who works for the national chain of fitness centers Equinox, said form is relatively easy to fix. “Something is being overused, usually in tandem with some type of muscle imbalance,” she said. “So it’s often about getting people to put their shoulders in a certain place, find their center of gravity, engage their abdominals, or tilt their pelvis in a certain direction.”   She said even a small adjustment can be transformative. Knees are the most common focus of client complaint, according to Boucher. Once form is corrected, relief often comes within weeks. “People don’t have that continued inflammation,” she said. Dr. Daniel Solomon, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, believes in getting the help of a professional trainer before embarking on a new routine. “Most of what we see are strains and really preventable muscle-type injuries,” said Solomon, a California-based physician specializing in sports medicine. “People just do things their bodies aren’t ready to do or capable of sustaining for long.”   Another big mistake is skipping the warm up. “They jump right in instead of spending 15 minutes to do a good cardio warm up and stretching before grabbing the weight,” he said. He said some workouts just require more expertise than others. “I’m a proponent of using free weights,” he said. “But you’ve got to make sure you have the technique correct.”   Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise, said many highly effective workouts, such as kettle bells, medicine balls, and plyometric (jumping) moves, can be dangerous if done incorrectly. “Some workouts are trickier,” said Matthews, who is based in San Diego, California. “I’ve seen a lot of people use free weights incorrectly. There is a much greater margin of error than with machines, which move on a fixed path.”   Before going all-out on the plyometric training that characterizes so many home DVD workouts, she said it’s important to learn to land safely, which means softly and on the mid-foot. “The body is one big kinetic chain. Dysfunction in one area will create dysfunction in another,” she said. “So suddenly your hip is bothering you because of instability in your ankle.”   Before tackling the latest high-intensity, technique-based workout, Matthews advises strengthening your stability and mobility through back-to-basic exercises such as plank, side plank, lunges and squats. “Build that solid foundation first,” she said. “Then progress to more explosive workouts that take more advanced skills.”   If don’t have your own personal trainer, Boucher said, don’t hesitate to ask a fitness professional at your gym to observe your form for a few seconds. Then be open to the feedback. “Do you hunch your shoulders? Hunch your back? “ she said. “Maybe one side of your body is tighter than the other. Or the left hip is more rotated than the right.”   “Sometimes it’s that little thing that you can’t catch on your own,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Checking up on your fitness form."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-82dd22ffc1804bf593a49cc9cf6ac1fa",
            "input": "Amid increasing concern over the United States Postal Service’s efficiency leading up to the 2020 U.S. elections, a CBS News host’s tweet warned voters seeking to take part by mail.“USPS says you should give mail in ballots at least 14 days round trip,” Tony Dokoupil wrote on July 26 2020. “No guarantees. So if you plan to vote by mail, election day isn’t November 3rd. It’s October 20th. Or sooner. Don’t be one of the *tens of thousands* of people whose vote wasn’t counted in 2016.”. @USPS says you should give mail in ballots at least 14 days round trip. No guarantees.So if you plan to vote by mail, election day isn’t November 3rd.It’s October 20th.Or sooner.Don’t be one of the *tens of thousands* of people whose vote wasn’t counted in 2016.— Tony Dokoupil (@tonydokoupil) July 24, 2020The postal service has in fact made that statement to not only Dokoupil but other news organizations and reporters; the advisory appeared in a Washington Post story published on July 15 2020:Local elections offices are hiring temporary workers to process absentee ballots, and some local elections boards are adding options for voters to do curbside drop-offs of their mail ballots on Election Day.The Postal Service is also recommending that voters request their ballots at least 15 days before Election Day and mail their completed ballots at least one week before the due date.The advisory was also mentioned in a story republished on news sites for local Fox TV network affiliates on July 27 2020:“We recommend that jurisdictions immediately communicate and advise voters to request ballots at the earliest point allowable but no later than 15 days prior to election date,” USPS told FOX via email. “The Postal Service also recommends that voters contact local election officials for information about deadlines.”Dokoupil himself reported on the potential problem for mail-in ballots in a story for CBS This Morning; CBS created two batches of 100 mock mail-in ballots apiece from around several zip codes in Philadelphia and sent them to the same local P.O. box, which served as a stand-in for an actual election office.A week after sending his mock ballots from mailboxes around the city, Dokoupil went to retrieve them at the P.O. box to find that most of them were not inside. Postal staff later retrieved several of them, telling him that “they had them somewhere else.”However, Dokoupil did note that official mail-in ballots carry an official logo differentiating them from the regular mail CBS used for its reporting. According to the story:Out of the initial batch mailed a week earlier, 97 out of 100 votes had arrived. Three simulated persons, or 3 percent of voters, were effectively disenfranchised by mail by giving their ballots a week to arrive. In a close election, 3 percent could be pivotal.Four days after mailing the second batch of mock ballots, 21 percent of the votes hadn’t arrived.According to Postal Service recommendations, “voters should mail their return ballots at least one week prior to the due date.”However, nearly half of all states still allow voters to request ballots less than a week before the election.A USPS spokesperson, Martha Johnson, told us that the agency is asking both voters and election officials to be mindful of how long it takes postal workers to transport, process and deliver ballots as well as “the time that it takes for voters to consider and prepare their ballots, and the time that it takes for a ballot to be transported, processed, and delivered back to the election official.” The agency’s delivery standards, she said, have not changed. She also reiterated the agency’s guidance for requesting mail-in ballots:We recommend that customers who opt to vote through the U.S. Mail must understand their local jurisdiction’s requirements for timely submission of absentee ballots, including postmarking requirements. Voters must use First-Class Mail or an expedited level of service to return their completed ballots. In order to allow sufficient time for voters to receive, complete and return ballots via the mail, and to facilitate timely receipt of completed ballots by election officials, we strongly recommend that jurisdictions immediately communicate and advise voters to request ballots at the earliest point allowable but no later than 15 days prior to the election date. The Postal Service recommends that domestic, non-military voters mail their completed ballots back to the election officials at least one week prior to their state’s due date. The Postal Service also recommends that voters contact local election officials for information about deadlines.Tammy Patrick, a senior advisor for the advocacy group Democracy Fund, told CBS that her group estimated that between 80 million and 100 million United States voters would receive their ballots via mail in 2020. Prior to joining the non-profit organization, Patrick served on the Commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Election Administration under Barack Obama’s presidential administration.“States like Ohio, you can request your ballot on Saturday up until noon for Tuesday’s election,” said Patrick, who has also served as a former federal compliance officer for the elections department in Maricopa County, Arizona. “That is the worst possible thing. You are setting up the voters with false expectations, and you’re setting them up to fail.”A separate analysis published by NPR in July 2020 found that 65,000 absentee or mail-in ballots cast in primary elections until that point had been rejected because they arrived after the deadline.“That’s the sort of thing that makes me wary about what’s going to happen in November when we get an even larger influx of people who haven’t voted, or haven’t voted by mail in the past,” said Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Obama himself added to the discussion about mail-in voting on July 28 2020, when he tweeted a graphic supplied by another group, Vote Save America, displaying the state-by-state deadlines for requesting a ballot. According to that graphic, the deadline for every state not exclusively voting by mail falls after the fifteen-day advisory issued by the U.S. Postal Service:The USPS told CBS in a statement:We employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail, including ballots. This includes close coordination and partnerships with election officials at the local and state levels. As we anticipate that many voters may choose to use the mail to participate in the upcoming elections due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are conducting and will continue to proactively conduct outreach with state and local election officials and Secretaries of State so that they can make informed decisions and educate the public about what they can expect when using the mail to vote. As part of these outreach efforts, we will discuss our delivery processes and will consult with election officials about how they can design their mailings in a manner that comports with postal regulations, improves mailpiece visibility, and ensures efficient and cost-effective processing and delivery.Dokoupil’s story also followed reported concerns over the appointment of Louis DeJoy — a businessman and fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump — to oversee the USPS as Postmaster General in June 2020.“On the surface, there’s a real worry about cronyism and patronage and whether someone is being put into place to carry out an agenda,” American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein told the Post. “We hope that’s not the case.”The newspaper also reported:DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes, according to internal USPS documents obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the American Postal Workers Union and three people with knowledge of their contents, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.“If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” according to a document titled, “New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan.” Traditionally, postal workers are trained not to leave letters behind and to make multiple delivery trips to ensure timely distribution of letters and parcels.Trump himself has repeatedly claimed — falsely — that voting by mail is inherently suspect and vulnerable to fraud, to the point that Twitter flagged two of his tweets on the issue in May 2020 for containing “potentially misleading information.”Update, July 29 2020 9:19 a.m. PST: Updated with comment from the US Postal Service.Comments",
            "output": [
                "The U.S. Postal Service has advised people hoping to vote by mail to request the required envelopes by October 20 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4fa94ea2fee64f2f9cf780de7c6d9490",
            "input": "In the Cairo working class neighborhood of Basateen, dozens line up outside a decades-old herbal spice shop with pyramid-shaped stacks of jars on display, filled with everything from honey and ginger to camel’s hay. Apothecaries say there has been a roughly 70-80 percent increase in sales of their wares since a series of harsh economic reforms hit supplies of conventional medicines and increased the cost of some generic and even life-saving drugs. The government said on Thursday those price rises could reach as high as 15 percent for domestically-produced medicines and 20 percent for imports. Store owner Samy al-Attar - whose last name is Arabic for apothecary - says a knowledgeable apothecary can find substitutes for drugs treating almost all non-terminal illnesses. Just like pharmacies, the walls inside al-Attar’s store are lined with drawers and containers. But rather than drugs, they hold herbs, each said to have its own unique healing property. Customers crowd outside the shop window, as staff dash around the tiny interior, choosing from a variety of textures and colors, filling clear plastic bags with orders. Customers explain their symptoms and Al-Attar produces a concoction of spices and herbs - with a more affordable price tag then at the conventional chemists. Local spices and herbs cost between 5 and 10 Egyptian pounds ($0.27-0.54) per kilogram. ($1 = 18.5000 Egyptian pounds)",
            "output": [
                "As drug supplies run short, Egyptians turn to herbal remedies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d5c958b8bf54469889615a5f6601802",
            "input": "It is not the first time drugmakers have clashed with Pretoria. A decade ago the industry was forced to climb down in a bruising battle with South Africa over AIDS drugs patents and access to generics. The latest fight reflects tension between an industry that wants to protect its intellectual property, even as it pushes further into emerging markets, and governments from India to Brazil that are determined to increase patients’ access to life-saving treatments. South Africa is in the final stages of implementing a new law that would allow generic drugmakers to produce cut-price copies of patented medicines and make it harder for firms to register and roll over patents. Global drugmakers have drawn up a $600,000 publicity campaign to mobilize local and overseas opposition to the intellectual property (IP) changes, according to a document written by a drugs industry lobby group and seen by Reuters. Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi on Friday lashed out at drugmakers, saying their campaign was aimed at turning South Africans against the government. “It’s a conspiracy of satanic magnitude,” he said. “This document can sentence many South Africans to death. This is a plan for genocide.”  The ruling African National Congress is looking to cut healthcare costs as it grapples with the world’s heaviest HIV/AIDS caseloads and its biggest treatment program. The new law is expected to reduce medicine prices and open up a fledgling generic drug industry dominated by Aspen Pharmacare and Adcock Ingram. The policy would also close a loophole known as “ever-greening” that allows a drugmaker to make minor changes to an existing drug or discover a new use for it, and then register it as a totally new find. Healthcare activists say South Africa’s track record of approving drug patents - in 2008 it granted more than 2,400 patents compared with fewer than 300 in six years in Brazil - shows the need for reform. The document - prepared by U.S. consultancy Public Affairs Engagement for industry lobby Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA) - outlines a plan to delay the reform at least until after South Africa’s elections in early May by suggesting the new law would be politically damaging. “The world cares that South Africa is proposing to take a wrong turn in economic policy by weakening IP protections. And by cares, we mean both expresses compassionate concern and will take action by reducing investment,” the document reads. IPASA members include drugmakers such as Sanofi, Baxter International, Pfizer and Novartis. IPASA spokeswoman Val Beaumont confirmed the authenticity of the document but said the proposals were still under consideration. “No part of those proposals have been accepted. No part of that document has been implemented,” she told Reuters. The industry could now ditch the campaign - which it dubbed “Almost Political” - because the leaked document has likely weakened its negotiating position. Under current South African IP law, pharmaceutical companies are able to register drugs as new without being checked for their novelty.",
            "output": [
                "South Africa slams Big Pharma in generic drugs row."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7ba3a5b23534de0bc1e7a44d1af779c",
            "input": "A pulled pork and a pulled chicken sandwich are displayed during a media food tour at Yankee Stadium in New York April 15, 2009. REUTERS/Eric Thayer “Limiting variety was helpful for reducing intake for that type of food group, but it appeared that compensation occurred in other parts of the diet,” said Hollie Raynor, a professor at the University of Tennessee and lead author of the study. The results of the study, which appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, offer a cautionary note to dieters who may be limiting their food variety - such as by cutting out carbs - to be watchful of all calories coming in, not just those from the targeted food group. Previous studies have shown that people with less variety in their diets tend to be more successful in losing weight and keeping it off, and Raynor said she wanted to see if restricting options for high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, such as ice cream, cookies and chips, could help people lose weight. Raynor’s team asked 200 overweight and obese adults to make lifestyle changes aimed at losing weight. These included taking part in group meetings that discussed healthy behavior, eating a calorie-reduced diet and increasing physical activity. Half of the people were also told to limit the junk food in their diet to just two options with the idea that monotony in the menu leads to a lack of interest in the food. Over the 18 months of the study, people in the limited junk food group ate fewer types of treats each day - two to three - than the other group, which ate about four. They also ate fewer daily calories from junk food. At six and 12 months into the study, the people in the low-variety group ate about 100 fewer junk food calories each day than the other group. By the end of the study, they were eating 80 fewer junk food calories each day. Both groups ate less total calories over the course of the study, and lost weight. But the overall reduction in calories and weight loss - around 4.5 kilograms (10 lbs.) - was the same in each group. “It makes sense to try and reduce the amount of variety in the diet, but human beings enjoy eating, so they will find other food components to consume than the ones that are being limited,” said Alexandra Johnstone, a researcher at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who was not involved in the research. She added that to make a limited variety diet work, it will be important to also limit the portion sizes. Raynor said that the message to dieters is that if they are trying to lose weight by restricting the variety in their food choices, they should be aware of their other food choices so it doesn't undermine their efforts. SOURCE: bit.ly/JtP1Fn",
            "output": [
                "Fewer food choices don't help weight loss: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25051b5ea17b4f34a67e09ca6c021200",
            "input": "In the summer of 2020, readers asked Snopes to examine the accuracy of claims that, if and when a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine emerges, individual states could, in principle, be authorized to fine or even jail those who refused to take it. The inquiries stemmed from an Aug. 7, 2020, article published by KGTV in San Diego, California, which bore the headline “States Have Authority to Fine or Jail People Who Refuse Coronavirus Vaccine, Attorney Says.” The attorney in question was Dov Fox, a law professor and director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego. The article began: As drugmakers race to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, several legal questions are emerging: could the government require people to get it? Could people who refuse to roll up their sleeves get banned from stores or lose their jobs? The short answer is yes, according to Dov Fox, a law professor and the director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego. “States can compel vaccinations in more or less intrusive ways,” he said in an interview. “They can limit access to schools or services or jobs if people don’t get vaccinated. They could force them to pay a fine or even lock them up in jail.” Fox noted authorities in the United States have never attempted to jail people for refusing to vaccinate, but other countries like France have adopted the aggressive tactic. The legal precedent dates back to 1905. In a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the court ruled Massachusetts had the authority to fine people who refused vaccinations for smallpox. The interview with Fox was republished by WMAR and on the Newsbreak website. Fox’s assessment was accurate. The 1905 Supreme Court decision he highlighted set a precedent for subsequent court rulings that have reaffirmed, over the ensuing century, that state and local authorities can, in principle, impose penalties — including criminal sanctions — upon individuals who refuse to undergo mandatory vaccinations. In February 1902, the Board of Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts, introduced a regulation requiring that any resident who had not been vaccinated against smallpox in the previous five years must be vaccinated or revaccinated. Massachusetts state law imposed a fine of $5 for anyone over the age of 21 years old who was eligible to receive the vaccine but refused. In July of that year, Henning Jacobson, a Swedish immigrant and Lutheran pastor aged in his 40s, refused to be vaccinated and was arrested and charged with violating the state’s compulsory vaccination law. He was tried and convicted and fined $5. Jacobson challenged his conviction, but the Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld it, and he took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1904. According to a contemporary news report, Jacobson’s legal challenges were funded by the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Society. In February 1905, the court issued its decision, upholding the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and ruling that the state law that Jacobson was found to have violated was not in breach of his constitutional rights. His conviction was upheld. In the majority opinion, Justice John Marshall Harlan summarized some of the main issues at stake: […] The defendant [Jacobson] insists that his liberty is invaded when the State subjects him to fine or imprisonment for neglecting or refusing to submit to vaccination; that a compulsory vaccination law is unreasonable, arbitrary and oppressive, and, therefore, hostile to the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best; and that the execution of such a law against one who objects to vaccination, no matter for what reason, is nothing short of an assault upon his person. But the liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States to every person within its jurisdiction does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint. There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis organized society could not exist with safety to its members. Society based on the rule that each one is a law unto himself would soon be confronted with disorder and anarchy…’ ‘Police Power’ The Jacobson decision was based in part on a long-standing principle known as the “police power” doctrine, which gives a state the authority to, in certain circumstances and within certain parameters, limit the individual rights of those living within its jurisdiction in order to protect the common good or preserve safety. It applies particularly to actions or behaviors that would not ordinarily be regarded as criminal or aberrant. For example, peacefully walking down a public street after dark is almost always regarded as acceptable, non-criminal behavior and fully in keeping with a person’s constitutionally enshrined individual liberty. However, in specific circumstances — for example where rioting in a particular city or neighborhood means state or local authorities decide the common good is best served by imposing a curfew — walking down a public street after dark, although not inherently criminal or dangerous to others, can lawfully be prohibited in a specific location for a defined period of time, and those who insist on doing it can lawfully be subjected to criminal penalties. One academic paper summarized the police power principle as follows: “The doctrine of state ‘police power’ was adopted in early colonial America from firmly established English common law principles mandating the limitation of private rights when needed for the preservation of the common good. It was one of the powers reserved by the states with the adoption of the federal Constitution and was limited only by the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause — which mandates preeminence of federal law in matters delegated to the federal government — and the individual rights protected in the subsequent Amendments. The application of police power has traditionally implied a capacity to (1) promote the public health, morals, or safety, and the general well-being of the community; (2) enact and enforce laws for the promotion of the general welfare; (3) regulate private rights in the public interest; and (4) extend measures to all great public needs.” The state police power doctrine is the reason why mandatory quarantine and isolation orders, curfews, and indeed mandatory vaccination programs, are rarely successfully challenged in the courts. Just as the Constitution’s protection of individual liberties is not absolute, limits also exist on the authority of a state to prohibit or compel an individual’s actions. In the case of mandatory vaccination, the Supreme Court outlined some of those issues in its opinion in the Jacobson case, writing: A statute requiring the vaccination of all the inhabitants of a State at a specified time irrespective of the presence of smallpox and without regard to individual conditions of health, or a set of rules and regulations made by the legislature itself, which must necessarily be more or less inelastic, would be far less just than this statute which delegates discretion to local public officials […]. Arbitrary action by the Board of Health, ‘with evil mind,’ might result in a denial of due process of law. If they picked out one class of persons arbitrarily for immediate vaccination, while indefinitely postponing action toward all others, or if they otherwise abused their discretion their action might be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment […] The precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Jacobson ruling persists to the present day. In 2015, almost 110 years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit explicitly cited the case when affirming the constitutionality of a New York state law that makes vaccination mandatory for public school students. The appeals court opinion stated: “Plaintiffs argue that New York’s mandatory vaccination requirement violates substantive due process. This argument is foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts […].” In another landmark decision in 1922, the Supreme Court wrote that the Jacobson ruling had “settled that it is within the police power of a State to provide for compulsory vaccination.”",
            "output": [
                "Individual U.S. states would be legally authorized to impose criminal penalties on individuals who refused to undergo a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e41ec8bd8840446b821ff3e0ab5c3789",
            "input": "We were pleased to see that the story included cost estimates of both soy supplements and of hormone replacement therapy pills. The story explained that “women who took hormones had an average of 24 fewer hot flashes per month, while those who took soy had 12 per month.” Adequate job reminding readers of the risks reported from the 2002 Women’s Health Inititiative study (although we wish it had given the absolute risk data). And it cited what the NIH reports as side effects of soy supplements – but again without numbers. Adequate nonetheless. Adequate job. The story explained that soy hasn’t been studied as much as HRT for hot flashes and that “doctors don’t know exactly how it works.”  It explained that this was a study of studies. The story also includes a link to the study itself, which is always a nice touch. No disease mongering. The story included some interest factoids such as the average number of hot flashes per month reported by women in the studies. One apparently independent expert was quoted in the story. We suppose that in an ideal world. the story could have at least commented on other alternative options that have been explored for hot flashes. But the story adequately discussed the comparison results from the study, and we appreciate that it ended with a comment about “watchful waiting” as well – reminding readers that not everyone chooses to take something for hot flashes. Not applicable. The availability of soy supplements or of hormone replacement therapy is not in question. No inordinate claims of novelty for either approach. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Hormones may be better than soy for hot flashes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2dac3199f504b7d90d95b965164e1a6",
            "input": "Entering a charity run in memory of a loved one or a bicycle ride for a worthy cause has pushed many couch potatoes from their sedentary lifestyle on to the path of fitness. Kelly Flynn, running coach for Team In Training, a charity sports endurance program from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, has been teaching novice runners to tackle the Boson Marathon since 2005. “The people who’ve never run before and have a motivation, like a loved one, are the easiest people to coach,” said Flynn, a 40-year-old Boston-based attorney. “They stick it out. And when they cross the finish line, they’ve become running junkies.”  Flynn, a soccer and softball player in her teenage years, said it was the death of a high school friend from lymphoma that inspired her to become a running coach for charity. “I saw a flyer (from Team in Training) and went, on a lark,” she said. “His death was my catalyst.”  Team in Training, which is 25 years old, has raised more than $1.4 billion, with more than 600,000 people from across the country taking part in different endurance events to raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Flynn, whose 200-strong team soon will start training for 2014, has helped to train more than 800 Boston marathoners and her teams have raised over $4 million. For Sarah Jane Constantine, a self-described recreational runner, marathon running was a bucket-list dream until she started running for charity. “I didn’t think at 39 I was going to start marathoning,” said Constantine, a 41-year-old manager for a pharmaceutical company in Boston who has raised money for cancer research. “That’s what I’m most proud of,” said Constantine, who finds some way to exercise every day, from running to strength training to swimming with her daughter. Constantine dedicated her first marathon to her stepfather, who died of melanoma at 44. Last year it was for her daughter’s school friend’s mother, who died of lung cancer. This year she plans to run for the cancer-stricken daughter of her husband’s co-worker. “You feel helpless,” she said. “I’ll be running for money for research and treatment.”  Charity events are a nationwide staple of Flywheel Sports, a chain of indoor cycling studios founded in 2010. New York-based co-founder and creative director Ruth Zukerman said the fundraising events her company holds throughout the year are beneficial for people new to the sport, for charities and for her business. “A lot of people come to these charity rides who’ve never been to us before. Typically some 80 percent of the people are new,” she said. “They come to us to give, they love it, and they become clients of ours.”  Zukerman said her regulars often approach her with their own pet causes to raise money, which attracts even more newcomers to indoor cycling. “Some of our celebrity riders, such as (actresses) Kyra Sedgwick and Jessica Alba, draw a lot of attention because of their names,” she said. Last spring Alba hosted a class in Los Angeles to raise funds for Baby2Baby, which redistributes baby gear and clothes to the needy. In December, Sedgwick will host a ride for the Food Bank for New York City. Zukerman believes charity fitness is here to stay. “So many typical charity events involve going to speeches with a tedious sit-down dinner,” she said. “People see this as an opportunity to contribute in a newer, fresher, more fun way.”",
            "output": [
                "Charity sporting events offer incentives to get fit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62179e32e5ac435eb709e87208ddadb6",
            "input": "“Even though the majority of strokes and heart attacks occur in people who are 65 and older, studies have found that cholesterol-lowering drugs are not prescribed as often for older people as they are for younger people,” Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, said in a statement. “These results show that using these drugs is just as beneficial for people who are over 65 as they are for younger people.”   In April, British researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that treating high blood pressure in people 80 and older cut their risk of fatal strokes and other heart problems. Statins cut the risk of heart attack or stroke by lowering levels of fatty substances such as low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides. They also raise levels of high-density lipoprotein or “good” cholesterol. They include atorvastatin, made by Pfizer Inc under the brand name Lipitor; pravastatin or Pravachol, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb; fluvastatin, made by Novartis AG under the brand name Lescol, and several others. Seemant and colleagues studied 4,731 people 18 and older who had a recent stroke or a mini-stroke as part of a study sponsored by Pfizer. About half were over 65, with an average age of 72. The other half were under 65 and had an average age of 54. In each age group, about half were taking Lipitor and the other half were on a placebo. The statin worked equally well in both groups, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology. It lowered LDL cholesterol by about 61 points in the group of older patients and by about 59 points in the younger age group. Stroke is the No. 3 killer in the United States behind heart disease and cancer. The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 780,000 Americans will have strokes this year. They will kill 150,000 people and permanently disable 15 percent to 30 percent of survivors.",
            "output": [
                "Statins fight stroke in older people too."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c5c15d12170429e8e3843691375f3ac",
            "input": "\"Something to weigh in advance of your next pile of nachos: \"\"Seventy percent of all Texans are overweight or obese,\"\" the leader of a pro-health nonprofit said. Baker Harrell, chief executive officer of Austin-based It’s Time Texas, which says it focuses on preventing chronic disease, made the claim in an interview posted Aug. 15, 2016. A day later, after we inquired, the Texas Tribune amended its article to reflect what Harrell said he’d meant to say--that nearly 70 percent of Texas adults are overweight or obese. \"\"I misspoke,\"\" Harrell told us by email. In the Tribune interview, Harrell otherwise elaborated: \"\"Obesity is often discussed as the crisis. Obesity is actually a symptom of the crisis. It’s an important symptom, but it’s a symptom of the crisis. The crisis is that we have engineered health out of our daily lives, we’ve engineered it out of our communities, over the last 40 years.\"\" We wondered if someone engineered the 70 percent figure. By phone, Harrell told us he drew his percentage of hefty adults (and again, not children) from the results of a 2009 telephone survey of 10,971 Texas adults. The survey of health risk factors, annually commissioned by the Texas Department of State Health Services, found that 66.8 percent of Texas adults were overweight or obese that year, compared with 63.8 percent of adults nationwide:      Source: 2009 Texas Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System, Center for Health Statistics, Department of State Health Services (accessed Aug. 16, 2016) The survey classified anyone with a body mass index of 25 or greater as overweight. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a BMI of 25 and above to be overweight and a BMI of 30 and above to be obese. BMI can be calculated by plugging a person’s height and weight into a chart like this one or you can run this equation: Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches x Height in inches ) x 703. Generally, the index serves as an easy-to-measure gauge of someone’s risks of chronic disease and early death, the Harvard School of Public Health says on a web page about preventing obesity. Then again, the school says, the calculation doesn’t distinguish between body fat and lean body mass meaning some healthy people might have indexes in overweight territory--a point PolitiFact made in a 2007 fact check. For our part, we also examined up-to-date survey results. To our inquiry, Chris Van Deusen of State Health Services emailed the latest available results, for 2014; they indicate that among 14,058 Texas respondents self-reporting heights and weights, nearly 36 percent would be considered overweight with another nearly 32 percent having BMIs consistent with obesity. The 2014 total of 68 percent adults overweight or obese, Van Deusen said, was up from 66.2 percent of adults in the 2013 survey. Also in 2014, according to that year’s results, 61 percent of adult Texas women fell into the overweight-or-obese category--and a whopping 74 percent of men. According to a 2010 CDC presentation, the share of obese adults in Texas and numerous states has escalated dramatically: From 1989 through 1993, 10 percent to 14 percent of Texas adults had BMIs indicating obesity; from 2004 through 2009, in contrast, 25 percent to 29 percent of adults fit the category. The 32 percent adult obesity rate for Texas in 2014 placed the state 11th nationally among the states, according to an analysis pointed out by Harrell. The Trust for American Health, which says it’s dedicated to making disease prevention a national priority, lists Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi as nearly tied for worst in the nation with about 36 percent of adults having BMIs suggesting they were overweight or obese. And how about overweight and obese kids in Texas? Van Deusen noted that paper surveys taken by Texas high school students indicate that in the latest year of available results, 2013, less than a third of such students had BMIs indicating they were overweight or obese. We checked the agency’s posted results, which indicate 16 percent of students were obese, 16 percent were overweight. The state spokesman also pointed us to research involving younger children. According to results from the 2009-11 version of the School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Survey, undertaken by the University of Texas School of Public Health, some 43 percent of the state’s fourth graders had BMIs indicating they were overweight or obese; so did 37 percent of 8th graders. Our ruling Harrell said 70 percent of all Texans are overweight or obese. Clarification’s needed here because 2014 survey results indicate that 68 percent of Texas adults (not all Texans) had BMIs suggesting they were overweight or obese. Adding in children drives down the percentage. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Seventy percent of all Texans are overweight or obese."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3caaf52e787f4684876c6bc40368c9fe",
            "input": "Why the government is not ordering testing at the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes was unclear. Nor was it clear why it is being recommended now, more than two months after the nation’s first major outbreak at a nursing home outside of Seattle that eventually killed 45 people. Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, told governors on a video conference call that it’s the federal government’s strong recommendation that such testing be done. “We really believe that all 1 million nursing home residents need to be tested within next two weeks as well as the staff,” added Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force coordinator, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Associated Press. President Trump has repeatedly said there have been plenty of testing kits and has shifted blame to governors for reacting too slowly on testing, a charge he repeated in a Rose Garden news conference later Monday. “Frankly, some of the governors were very lax with respect to nursing homes. It was obvious right from the beginning,” Trump said, referring to the Washington state outbreak. Asked why testing was recommended, not ordered, Trump said: “I would certainly consider that. I will mandate it if you’d like.” More than 27,000 residents and staff have died from outbreaks of the virus at the nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities, according to an AP tally based on state health departments and media reports. That is about a third of all 80,000 deaths in the U.S. that have been attributed to the virus. Nursing home operators have said the lack of testing kits has left them nearly powerless to stop the virus from entering their facilities because they haven’t been able to identity silent spreaders not showing symptoms. The American Health Care Association, the main nursing home trade group, welcomed the new testing recommendation but said the federal government needed to do more to make that possible, including allocating billions of additional dollars to the effort. Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus of nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, said nursing homes should have been prioritized from the start given their vulnerable populations and questioned why the testing recommendation is only happening now. “We’re two months into it,” she said. “If they had done that to begin with, we would’ve picked up cases early and we wouldn’t have so many deaths.” Representatives for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services did not immediately respond when asked why the agency wasn’t making testing a requirement. In mid-March, it asked homes to cease group gatherings and visitations, and to screen staff with such measures as temperature checks. A senior administration official said taking a tougher stand is still an option. “If the states aren’t able to come back with plans quickly to do it, then there’s a good chance we will order them to do that, but we believe that right now there are plenty of tests out there,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he lacked authorization to speak to the media. West Virginia and Texas have already mandated testing for all nursing home residents and staff. And just Sunday, New York, the nation’s leader in nursing home deaths, began requiring all staff to be tested twice a week. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said his state was ramping up testing but cast doubt on the feasibility of doing that for everyone in every home. “I don’t know that that’s going to get done,” said DeWine, whose state has reported nearly 500 deaths in long-term care facilities in three weeks. He added, “There’s frankly a lot of people in the medical field who would argue that the testing of everybody in that nursing home might not be the best protocol.” Pence led the White House’s weekly call with governors from an isolated room after his press secretary tested positive Friday. Three of the country’s top health care officials, including infection disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, are quarantining themselves on fears they have been exposed to the virus, too. ___ Condon reported from New York. Candice Choi and Randy Herschaft in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "White House recommends tests for all nursing home residents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-740cbbedba10427a94432d4dad4b117c",
            "input": "\"After San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand during the playing of the national anthem before a game, actor James Woods chided the NFL over a decal that hasn’t been approved for Dallas Cowboys helmets. On Aug. 27, 2016, Woods tweeted: \"\"Kaepernick doesn’t stand for the national anthem, Rams players can walk onto the field with their hands up for the ‘hands up, don’t shoot,’ and other players can wear t-shirts saying I can’t breathe. But the Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed. Way to go NFL….\"\" We wondered if the actor stuck to the facts. Woods posted his tweet after Kaepernick didn’t join others standing during the anthem before his team’s Aug. 26, 2016, preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Afterward, Kaepernick said: \"\"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.\"\" Woods otherwise referred to five Rams players raising their arms in support of protests in Ferguson, Mo., during player introductions before a Nov. 30, 2014, game. The NFL didn’t discipline the players; spokesman Brian McCarthy told CNN: \"\"We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation.\"\" And the decal? After the July 7, 2016, shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers, the Dallas Morning News reported, Cowboys officials led by tight end Jason Witten honored surviving family members at the Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, Calif., in part with players entering the field arm in arm with officers. The newspaper said in a July 30, 2016, news story: \"\"The idea to come out arm-in-arm belonged to Witten. So did the idea to wear a patch on their helmets in this camp that reads Arm in Arm. The Cowboys have asked the NFL if they can wear that patch on their helmets this season. Discussions are ongoing.\"\" Eleven days later, Stephen Jones, the team’s executive vice president, told reporters that NFL officials had told the Cowboys that players couldn’t wear the Arm in Arm decal during preseason or regular-season games--though the decals could remain on helmets during training camp practices, according to an Aug. 11, 2016, News story, which said the Cowboys had placed the decal on the back of each helmet after the ceremony initiated by Witten. Jones said then: \"\"Everyone has to be uniform with the league and the other 31 teams. We respect their decision.\"\" We spotted Section 4, Article 1 of the league rules stating: \"\"All visible items worn on game day by players must be issued by the club or the League, or, if from outside sources, must have approval in advance by the League office.\"\" More directly, Section 8 of the rules states that on game days, items \"\"to celebrate anniversaries or memorable events, or to honor or commemorate individuals, such as helmet decals, and arm bands and jersey patches on players’ uniforms, are prohibited unless approved in advance by the League office.\"\" (The rules also bar any \"\"detachable kicking toe.\"\" Now you know.) And what is allowed? \"\"All such items approved by the League office, if any, must relate to team or League events or personages,\"\" the rule says. \"\"The League will not grant permission for any club or player to wear, display, or otherwise convey messages, through helmet decals, arm bands, jersey patches, or other items affixed to game uniforms or equipment, which relate to political activities or causes, other non-football events, causes or campaigns, or charitable causes or campaigns. Further, any such approved items must be modest in size, tasteful, non-commercial, and non-controversial; must not be worn for more than one football season; and if approved for use by a specific team, must not be worn by players on other teams in the League.\"\" We asked Rich Dalrymple, a Cowboys spokesman, about Woods’ tweet. He didn’t speak to its accuracy other than to share news stories on the decal’s debut and the league decision not to allow the decals to be worn during games. Dalrymple said the request and denial occurred by telephone. Before our clock ran out, our attempts to query the NFL about the decals and Woods’ tweet didn’t draw a whistle--or any response. Our ruling In a tweet, Woods said the \"\"Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed.\"\" NFL rules give the league control over decals on helmets which must relate to team or league \"\"events or personages.\"\" This limit likely explains the league’s disapproval of the decals honoring the felled officers. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.",
            "output": [
                "The Dallas Cowboys can’t put a sticker on their helmets for the 5 police officers who were killed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd622b26968b4d9d94fbf82fcec086d0",
            "input": "Even Hollywood fame could not provide Winter a pass on aquarium politics at a time when live marine animal exhibitions are facing intense public scrutiny. An ambitious proposal to build Winter a new waterfront home was scaled back recently amid concern about expenses and the potential for staged performances like those under fire at SeaWorld’s theme parks. “Winter can’t do those kind of shows, even if we wanted to, which we don’t,” said David Yates, chief executive officer at her home, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “We have never been about big shows. That was a misperception.”  Winter’s latest dilemma started when crowds of camera-toting tourists showed up to meet the chirping star of the 2011 hit, featuring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. “Dolphin Tale” and its sequel, “Dolphin Tale 2,” were filmed at the Clearwater aquarium, a sun-bleached former sewage treatment plant retrofitted as a marine animal hospital. Attendance at the west central Florida attraction soared after the release of the movie, from about 100,000 visitors in typical years prior to 750,000 since. “We are just wildly overcrowded,” Yates said, adding that one-third of the visitors are children with disabilities, or families drawn to Winter’s story after their own hardships. The chance to watch Winter maneuver her amputated tail and exercise with a novel prosthetic tail lured the Main family of Galesburg, Illinois, in planning a Florida vacation. “We both lost our moms, and we both went through something in our lives but didn’t give up,” Destany Main, 17, said during a visit this week, slurping snowcones with her cousin, Macy Main, 8. The attendance surge helped expand a turtle ICU and build a dolphin rehabilitation deck at the aquarium, which did not share in the proceeds from the movie that grossed $72.3 million at domestic box offices. Yet other amenities remain outdated. There is no permanent ticket center by a makeshift food court, and it’s hard to maneuver wheelchairs through narrow hallways to view the dolphins underwater. Winter’s emotional pull could not silence local skepticism over an expansion initially projected to cost $160 million. Incidents at other attractions in which trainers have been injured or even killed are raising questions internationally about staged marine animal performances, which critics say are stressful for sea mammals and often take place in enclosures that are too small. Locally, competition for visitors was another concern about the expansion, with the Florida Aquarium’s larger facilities only 45 minutes away in Tampa. Winter’s keepers last month responded with revised plans calling for a $68 million aquarium. Gone are the proposals for stadium bleachers that raised questions about staged animal performances. As fundraising ramps up around the sequel’s release, the aquarium now has Hope, another rescued dolphin who co-stars as Winter’s companion in “Dolphin Tale 2,” which highlights the aquarium’s motto of “Rescue, Rehab, Release.”  “From a fundraising perspective,” Yates said, “it’s spot on about our mission.”",
            "output": [
                "'Dolphin Tale' hero's new home tangled in aquarium politics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8bb5b6ff50a40adbb210c454fe6e73f",
            "input": "On 23 June 2017, Trucks USA reported that Pinnacle Foods had recalled some frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast due to concerns over potential Listeria contamination. The terrifying headline reads: “ALERT: Largest RECALL in Recent Times ANNOUNCED – EVERYONE Has This in Their Freezer and it can KILL YOU”, but the text is more sober: A New Jersey-based food company is recalling Aunt Jemima frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast because they could be contaminated with Listeria. Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die. The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. Despite the alarmist headline, the article does describe a real product recall which was registered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 5 May 2017. The Trucks USA story republishes most of the FDA recall notice, which reads, in part: Pinnacle Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling all “Best By” dates of Aunt Jemima Frozen Pancakes, Frozen Waffles & Frozen French Toast Slices distributed nationally in the United States and one product into Mexico because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported. The products are being recalled as a precautionary measure given the health and safety of our consumers is our top priority. Pinnacle Foods initiated the recall after testing indicated the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the plant environment. We are working in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on this recall. The products recalled include a range of Aunt Jemima pancakes, mini-pancakes, “Lil’ Griddlers”, waffles and French toast. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also announced the recall of two other Pinnacle Foods products: Aunt Jemima French toast and sausage, and Hungry Man boneless fried chicken and waffles. The Trucks USA article sensationalized the recall in its headline. This is far from being the “largest recall in recent times” — a 2007-2009 salmonella outbreak, for example, led to the recall of hundreds of products containing peanuts, at an estimated cost of $1 billion. And clearly it’s not true to say that “everyone” has these products in their freezer. Furthermore, while it’s technically true that the products “can kill you,” just about every food product on the market can kill you, if they carry certain bacteria. This recall is precautionary, due to potential contamination, and no Listeria infection has yet been linked to the products. However, the Trucks USA article does accurately present some facts about the disease, and includes (without proper attribution) this Centers for Disease Control (CDC) description of it. Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die. The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems.",
            "output": [
                "\"In May 2017, Pinnacle Foods announced the \"\"largest recall in recent times\"\" of several Aunt Jemima products due to possible Listeria contamination.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f4e620ba9864931bbf3638cc310302c",
            "input": "Here are some things to know about the state of avian influenza in the U.S. and worldwide, and how the poultry industry has tried to prepare for a recurrence: THE THREAT The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday that a highly pathogenic form of bird flu was confirmed Saturday in a flock of 73,500 breeding broiler chickens in Lincoln County, Tennessee, after hundreds of birds began dying. It was identified as an H7N9 virus of North American wild bird origin. The USDA stressed that it was not the same H7N9 virus of Chinese lineage that has sickened poultry and people in Asia, nor is it related to the virus that caused the 2015 U.S. outbreak. Officials quickly moved to kill the entire flock to prevent the virus from spreading. The affected farm supplies Tyson Foods Inc. The USDA also said a flock of 84,000 turkeys at a Jennie-O Turkey Store farm near Barron, Wisconsin, had been confirmed with a low pathogenic H5N2 virus. The USDA stressed it was different from the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus that devastated the Midwest chicken egg and turkey industry in 2015. On Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture reported a case of low pathogenic H7N9 at a different chicken breeding farm operated by an unspecified different company, in Giles County. Officials said they didn’t think one farm sickened the other. The birds in the affected flock were killed. THE 2015 OUTBREAK The USDA calls the 2015 outbreak the largest animal health emergency in U.S. history. It cost farmers nearly 50 million birds before it burned out in June 2015. Iowa, the country’s top egg producer, and Minnesota, the No. 1 turkey producer, were by far the hardest hit. Retail turkey prices weren’t noticeably affected, but egg prices soared. Congressional testimony as the dust was starting to settle conservatively estimated the total economic impact at over $3.3 billion. An outbreak of H7N8 in Dubois County, Indiana, in January 2016 remained isolated to 10 farms, but more than 414,000 turkeys and chickens died. Most of those farms had a low pathogenic version, but the USDA said it apparently mutated into highly pathogenic at one farm. HIGH-PATH VERSUS LOW-PATH The first symptom of highly pathogenic bird flu, the kind that’s almost always fatal to domestic poultry, is typically birds dying en masse. Scientists learned in 2015 that it’s crucial to euthanize entire infected flocks immediately. “You want a very rapid response and a very rapid stamping out. ... The faster the birds die, the faster the outbreak stops,” said Dr. Carol Cardona, a poultry disease expert at the University of Minnesota. Low pathogenic is more common. Symptoms are typically mild, if any. Infected birds usually recover. While response plans differ from state to state, a common and effective approach is “controlled marketing.” Infected flocks are not euthanized but are kept quarantined until they recover and test negative for the virus, and then they can be marketed, Cardona said. That’s what’s being done in Wisconsin, according to the USDA. FARMERS’ RESPONSE U.S. producers have stepped up biosecurity in response to the new cases, as well the ongoing outbreaks in Asia, Europe and Africa that have led to the destruction of hundreds of millions of birds and killed dozens of humans. Bird flu viruses don’t usually spread to people except by close contact with infected birds, but health authorities are always alert to the possibility. Since wild waterfowl are considered the main reservoirs of bird flu, farmers and scientists get nervous when birds are migrating. Droppings from infected birds flying north in the spring, or south in the fall, can get tracked into barns or carried in on contaminated equipment. So producers are being more vigilant about keeping people and vehicles from entering their farms unless they absolutely need to be there. “They understand this is a high-risk period with the spring migration period, so they’re watching their flocks closely and doing additional surveillance to make sure that if anything pops up, they’re going to identify it quickly,” said Dr. Shauna Voss, senior veterinarian at the Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory in Willmar. Since 2015, many farmers have built the “Danish entry” system into their barns, said Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. Anyone entering or leaving has to sit on a bench, take their boots off, swing their legs around to the “clean” side of the room, put on new boots and clothing that stay in the barn, and reverse the process when they leave. WHAT ABOUT VACCINES? Bird flu viruses keep evolving, like human influenza viruses, so a vaccine that works against one strain might be ineffective against another. While an H5N2 vaccine was developed in 2015, it was never deployed in the field. Producers are wary of vaccines because many countries refuse poultry products from countries that use vaccines. That is because tests for the disease look for the same antibodies that vaccines trigger an animal to produce. ___ Follow Steve Karnowski on Twitter at https://twitter.com/skarnowski. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/steve-karnowski.",
            "output": [
                "Bird flu cases revive fear of repeat of major 2015 outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba38fbf9c0df45a1bf832d9bfda34404",
            "input": "The Tazewell County Health Department confirmed the rabid bat bite this week. The Journal Star reports it was the second rabid bat bite reported in the Peoria area this fall. Late in September a rabid bat bit a dog in Chillicothe. The dog was quarantined and given another round of rabies shots. The Illinois Department of Public Health reports 81 bats have tested positive for rabies in Illinois in 2018. It has additional information online . Rabies is a virus that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. Humans can get rabies after being bitten or scratched by an infected animal. ___ Information from: Journal Star, http://pjstar.com",
            "output": [
                "Peoria-area woman being treated after bitten by rabid bat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21b4752c80b74e2fb84d037cf4b6d801",
            "input": "The state’s attorney general had filed the lawsuit, seeking $17 billion to address the impact of the drug crisis on Oklahoma. It had been considered a bellwether for other litigation nationwide over the opioid epidemic. “The expectation was this was going to be a $1.5 billion to $2 billion fine,” said Jared Holz, healthcare strategist for Jefferies & Co. “$572 million is a much lower number than had been feared.”  J&J said it would appeal the decision. Shares of J&J were up 2% in extended trading following the decision, after an initial gain of more than 5%. Other drugmakers that sell opioid painkillers and are defending against similar lawsuits also rose after-hours, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) up 2.6%, and Endo International Plc (ENDP.O), up 1.4% higher. Opioids were involved in almost 400,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2000, some 6,000 Oklahomans have died from opioid overdoses, according to the state’s lawyers. Roughly 2,500 lawsuits have been brought by states, counties and municipalities nationally seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for opioid abuse nationwide. Oklahoma’s case was the first to go to trial. Some drugmakers have chosen to settle cases. In holding J&J liable after a seven-week, non-jury trial, Judge Thad Balkman of Cleveland County District Court in Norman, Oklahoma, said the state proved that J&J’s misleading marketing and promotion of its Duragesic and Nucynta painkillers created a public nuisance. “The opioid crisis is an imminent danger and menace to Oklahomans,” Balkman said. Oklahoma wanted J&J to help it address the epidemic for the next 30 years by funding addiction treatment and prevention programs. Balkman said in his written ruling that the award covered only one year of addressing the crisis because Oklahoma did not demonstrate the time and costs needed beyond that. Lance Lang, a 36-year-old recovering user of opioids turned activist in Oklahoma City, said it was “short sighted” for the judge to have only ordered funding for a year. “There’s going to be people struggling with this for years,” he said in an interview. J&J said it will ask that the award be put on hold during an appeal process that could stretch into 2021. The company also said Oklahoma failed to show that its products and activities had created a public nuisance. “You can’t sue your way out of the opioid abuse crisis,” Sabrina Strong, a lawyer for J&J, said at a news conference after the verdict. “Everyone must come together to address this. But J&J did not cause the opioid crisis.”  The case was brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who alleged that J&J’s marketing practices helped fuel the opioid epidemic by flooding the market with painkillers. “Johnson & Johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addictions caused by their actions,” Hunter said. The trial came after Oklahoma had resolved claims against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP in March for $270 million and Teva in May for $85 million, leaving J&J as the lone defendant. The verdict came as two Ohio counties prepare for a scheduled October trial before a federal judge in Cleveland. About 2,000 lawsuits out of some 2,500 filed nationwide are consolidated in the case in Cleveland. Endo International Plc (ENDP.O) and Allergan Plc (AGN.N) last week agreed to pay $15 million to avoid going to trial in October in a case by two Ohio counties, subject to court approval. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers have compared the opioid cases to litigation by states against the tobacco industry that led to a $246 billion settlement in 1998. Joe Rice, a lead plaintiff’s attorney for municipalities in the federal litigation, said if the Oklahoma award were extrapolated to other states, it could mean an annual abatement cost of around $38 billion. “It does indicate that if I’m in the pharmaceutical business, I’ve got to think long and hard about annual payments of my share of that,” he said. The judge overseeing the federal litigation in Ohio has been pushing for a global settlement. J&J, which is among multiple pharmaceutical companies that are defendants in the federal litigation, said it remains “open to viable options” to resolve the Ohio case, including through settlement. During the Oklahoma trial, lawyers for the state argued that J&J carried out a years-long marketing campaign that minimized the painkillers’ addiction risks and promoted their benefits. The lawyers called J&J an opioid “kingpin” and argued that its marketing created a public nuisance as doctors over-prescribed the drugs, leading to a surge in overdose deaths. J&J countered that its marketing claims had scientific support and its painkillers accounted for a tiny fraction of opioids prescribed in Oklahoma. The company said in a statement that since 2008, its painkillers accounted for less than 1% of the U.S. market, including generics. Teva said the ruling supported its rationale for settling the case before trial, and said it was preparing to defend itself in the upcoming trial in Ohio. Purdue, which is also among the defendants in the Ohio litigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.",
            "output": [
                "J&J liable for $572 million in Oklahoma opioid epidemic trial; shares rise.",
                "I still live in the same working-class neighborhood I grew up in."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15c0883c18be4addbdd2300a1e2a18cb",
            "input": "An Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship news release said Friday that the additional exhibition requirements are designed to promote biosecurity and animal health as African swine fever continues to spread across China and other parts of Asia and Europe. All pigs must be individually inspected and identified on a certificate of veterinary inspection that was completed within seven days of the fair, which runs Aug. 8-18 this year. A veterinarian will inspect all pigs as they arrive at the Des Moines fairgrounds before they are unloaded or mixed with other livestock. Biosecurity concerns led organizers to cancel the World Pork Expo scheduled for last month at the fairgrounds. The National Pork Producers Council says African swine fever affects only pigs and presents no human health or food safety risks. There is no vaccine to treat the disease.",
            "output": [
                "New pig inspection rules announced for Iowa State Fair."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8134e7076e614c23bc64471e6db91317",
            "input": "The release, while loaded with information about the research, fails to mention costs related to this new approach at any point. This is in spite of the fact that the paper provides what’s necessary to fulfill this criterion. The study authors wrote: “The easy access to the tumor site, the absence of the need for surgical removal of the tissue containing the T cells, the numbers of cells obtained with the harvest, and the ability to expand products in all patients with a relatively short process at a reasonable cost contrast sharply with several limitations of TIL ACT” (a current therapeutic approach to the disease). The release does a good job of spelling out the results of this phase 1 trial by providing data showing that MILs can target and kill cancer cells. It shows that in more than half of the study’s patients, their cancers had shrunk by at least half. In 15 of the 22 patients, their cancers did not progress for nearly a year after the MILs therapy. This wasn’t a controlled study, so it’s unclear how these patients would have fared without the MILs treatment, and the release could have attempted to provide some insight on that point. But we’re pleased that the release focuses appropriately on the apparent safety of the approach, rather than trying to make claims about survival benefits that aren’t supportable by this kind of small, uncontrolled study. The release also explains that the research provides information suggesting which patients might benefit best from this approach, and that other research at this cancer center is centered on testing this approach on different forms of cancer. We’ll give this criterion a satisfactory rating since the release specifically spells out, “None of the participants had serious side effects from the MILs therapy.” However, the study is really too small, and the time span too short, to comment substantively on the possible harms that might be seen if and when the treatment is more widely used. The research paper actually makes the point that the new procedure doesn’t require the “surgical removal of tissue,” and the procedure can be done at bedside rather than an operating suite. But the removal of cells from the bone marrow is still an invasive procedure that carries its own risk of infection or other problems. The release would have benefited from at least mentioning this aspect. The release makes a very good effort to objectively describe a technically complicated trial. It defines the trial at least twice as being “small” and calls it a “pilot,” suggesting that caution is appropriate when considering the results. It effectively explains the process involved in the treatments, including what was learned regarding the growth of cells in the lab after harvesting. It also points to the fact that while tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) can only be retrieved from a quarter of the patient candidates for this technique, MILs were obtained from all of the patients in this study, suggesting that they may be a better tool for this therapy. Describing multiple myeloma as “the second most common cancer originating in the blood” doesn’t add much to our understanding of this disease. However, other statistics provide context regarding the scope of the problem in the United States. We’ll give it a pass. The funding sources for this research are listed in an end note in the release. No conflict of interest information is provided in the release, although the research paper discloses no conflicts. The release does mention that other forms of this adoptive T cell therapy use different cells, suggesting that other approaches are possible. The release also notes, “Three days before the injections of expanded MILs, patients received high doses of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, standard treatments for multiple myeloma.” The release points out that “several U.S. cancer centers have conducted similar experimental treatments” but adds that Johns Hopkins is the only one using the MIL cells. It also points to several other ongoing clinical trials at Hopkins that build on the findings of this small study. Using the terms “pilot” and “experimental,” the release signals that availability is very limited. We like the fact that the headline itself defines this as a “pilot” clinical trial and that the lede says that it is “what is believed to be the first small clinical trial of its kind.”  Those kinds of qualifiers both declare the specifics of the research and also provide informative caveats, allowing the reader to gauge how much credence to give to the findings. All too many other medical releases fail to provide this measured approach. This release is conservative throughout in its choice of language in describing this research which, based on its findings, might be ripe for exaggeration.",
            "output": [
                "Pilot clinical trial finds injected immune cells safe in multiple myeloma patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d0ddcfabaf8443fb1512aba9661206e",
            "input": "A push from business owners forced two tech companies to modify an unprompted response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Andy McMillan, owner of a bar in Portland, Oregon — where bars and restaurants were ordered to close down as part of efforts to slow the spread of the disease — drew attention to the surprise effort between the business review outlet Yelp and online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe on Twitter on March 26 2020:Uhhh, what the fuck? Without my permission, or even notifying me, Yelp has created a GoFundMe fundraiser for my bar @suckerpunchpdx. pic.twitter.com/qqmn6IUSx5— Andy McMillan (@andymcmillan) March 26, 2020According to McMillan, the two sites automatically generated a fundraiser for his business without notifying him — or even allowing him to deactivate it without a significant effort.“I need to give GoFundMe a scan of my ID, and my [Employer Identification Number],” he wrote, adding “I haven’t registered for an EIN yet” [in order to] claim the page before I can shut it down.”McMillan, who also organizes the XOXO festival in Portland highlighting indepdendent technology and art, also wrote that despite saying they would not take a direct fee, GoFundMe set a default 15 percent “tip” on any donation, enabling that company to draw a fee:Here’s what I see when I go to donate to the fundraiser for my favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. pic.twitter.com/Hx1D0YMyg4— Andy McMillan (@andymcmillan) March 26, 2020According to the technology news site The Verge, the two websites’ joint fundraiser was also criticized by Nick Kokonas, a restaurant magnate who owns popular eateries in Chicago and New York.“If you want to report on the worst behavior in the industry — here you go,” Kokonas wrote on his own Twitter account. “This causes harm to our reputation, is done without consent, and is being done on a mass basis for their own benefit. Unbelievable. I don’t need to deal with this in the middle of a crisis.”In a statement, Yelp admitted to not notifying businesses prior to the creation of the various fundraisers:As such, we have paused the automatic rollout of this feature, and are working with GoFundMe to provide a seamless way for businesses to opt into the program moving forward, as we have received a great deal of interest and support for the program from both consumers and businesses alike.The restaurant news site Eater reported that Yelp has also pledged $25 million in “waived advertising fees and free services” to help independent bars and restaurants during the outbreak. Both Yelp and GoFundMe had already promised to distribute individual $500 matching grants for businesses engaging in their automated fundraisers, up to $1 million in total donations.",
            "output": [
                "Yelp and GoFundMe Created automated online fundraisers for various restaurants without notifiying their owners."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-505cad79207e4ee285aef826d9afd03d",
            "input": "The island state of just 200,000, located south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, declared a measles epidemic late in October after the first deaths. The government has identified 1,644 suspected cases of measles, more than doubling over the past week, with deaths rising to 20 from six, it said on Friday. Children younger than five accounted for all but one of the deaths. Staff of U.N. agency UNICEF have delivered 110,500 doses of measles containing vaccines this week as they fanned out across Samoa to boost its mandatory immunization effort, the agency said in a statement. It has also worked with governments of other tiny Pacific nations to run immunization campaigns and develop preparedness plans to combat a regional outbreak, it added. Australia is sending a specialist team of doctors, nurses and public health experts to Samoa, along with equipment and supplies, the foreign ministry said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                " Rumors that retail giant Costco Wholesale has   told all stores to remove copies of “America: Imagine the World Without   Her” by Dinesh D’Souza.     "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ae0ec121f7549e1b1b537b5d938e23e",
            "input": "The Southeast Asian nation had been the most populous country in the world to say it had no cases, despite sharing a long and porous border with China, where the virus originated in the city of Wuhan. The health ministry said a 36-year-old traveling from the United States and 26-year-old returning from Britain, both Myanmar nationals, had tested positive. “Investigation is ongoing on history of people who have been in contact with these two patients,” it said in a statement late on Monday. The news of the confirmed cases sparked panic buying in the commercial capital of Yangon, with shoppers packing major supermarkets. Myanmar last week closed land borders and banned mass gatherings, including for the upcoming Buddhist New Year. Cinemas have been closed, though bars and restaurants remain open. Government spokesman Zaw Htay told a news conference earlier this month that the “lifestyle and diet of Myanmar citizens” had protected the country against the virus, while others credited the country’s Buddhist religion. Some doctors say they fear a major outbreak though in a country with a health system ranked among the world’s worst after decades of neglect under military rule. Many services are run by volunteers and aid groups. Two doctors told Reuters a likely explanation for the lack of cases in Myanmar was limited testing. Myanmar had carried out around 300 tests as of Monday evening, in a population of 51 million, according to health ministry spokeswoman Khin Khin Gyi. “WHO has said, ‘test, test, test,” she said. “But who should we test? It has said specifically that we should test the suspected cases... We don’t test random people.”  Until recently, each test had to be approved by a central committee based in the capital of Naypyitaw, she said. Thousands of migrant workers have returned to villages across the country in recent days from Thailand, which has confirmed hundreds of cases, raising fears of further spread of the virus. “If these people have the virus, and it spreads widely, the situation will be very bad,” said Kyaw Ko Ko, a community worker from the city of Meiktila. “All we can do is sit and wait to collect all the dead bodies.”",
            "output": [
                "Myanmar reports first cases of coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98127db1e95c4e809eba9ff602d6d941",
            "input": "Today, gene testing mostly focuses on rare mutations in one or a few genes, like those that cause cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, or the BRCA gene responsible for a small fraction of breast cancer. It is less useful for some of the most common diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, because they are influenced by vast numbers of genes-gone-wrong working together in complicated ways. Monday, researchers reported a new way to measure millions of small genetic variations that add up to cause harm, letting them calculate someone’s inherited risk for the most common form of heart disease and four other serious disorders. The potential cardiac impact: They estimated that up to 25 million Americans may have triple the average person’s risk for coronary artery disease even if they haven’t yet developed warning signs like high cholesterol. “What I foresee is in five years, each person will know this risk number, this ‘polygenic risk score,’ similar to the way each person knows his or her cholesterol,” said Dr. Sekar Kathiresan who led the research team from the Broad Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. If the approach pans out and doctors adopt it, a bad score wouldn’t mean you’d get a disease, just that your genetic makeup increases the chance — one more piece of information in deciding care. For example, when the researchers tested the system using a DNA database from Britain, less than 1 percent of people with the lowest risk scores were diagnosed with coronary artery disease, compared to 11 percent of people with the highest risk score. “There are things you can do to lower the risk,” Kathiresan said — the usual advice about diet, exercise, cholesterol medication and not smoking helps. On the flip side, a low-risk score “doesn’t give you a free pass,” he added. An unhealthy lifestyle could overwhelm the protection of good genes. The scoring system also can predict an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, breast cancer and an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, the team reported in the journal Nature Genetics — noting that next steps include learning what might likewise lower those risks. It doesn’t require the most sophisticated type of genetic testing. Instead, Kathiresan can calculate risk scores for those five diseases — eventually maybe more — simply by reanalyzing the kind of raw data people receive after sending a cheek swab to companies like 23andMe. A geneticist who specializes in cardiovascular disease, he hopes to open a website where people can send in such data to learn their heart risk, as part of continuing research. Kathiresan and co-author Dr. Amit Khera, a Mass General cardiologist, are co-inventors on a patent application for the system. Other scientists and companies have long sought ways to measure risk from multiple, additive gene effects — the “poly” in polygenic — and Myriad Genetics has begun selling a type of polygenic test for breast cancer risk. But specialists in heart disease and genetics who weren’t involved with the research called the new findings exciting because of their scope. “The results should be eye-opening for cardiologists,” said Dr. Charles C. Hong, director of cardiovascular research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The only disappointment is that this score applies only to those with European ancestry, so I wonder if similar scores are in the works for the large majority of the world population that is not white.” Hong pointed to a friend who recently died of a massive heart attack despite being a super-fit marathon runner who’d never smoked, the kind of puzzling death that doctors have long hoped that a better understanding of genetics could help to prevent. “Most of the variation in disease risk comes from an enormous number of very tiny effects” in genes, agreed Stanford University genetics professor Jonathan Pritchard. “This is the first time polygenic scores have really been shown to reach the level of precision where they can have an impact” on patient health. First, the Boston-based team combed previous studies that mapped the DNA of large numbers of people, looking for links to the five diseases — not outright mutations but minor misspellings in the genetic code. Each variation alone would have only a tiny effect on health. They developed a computerized system that analyzed how those effects add up, and tested it using DNA and medical records from 400,000 people stored in Britain’s UK Biobank. Scores more than three times the average person’s risk were deemed high. ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Multi-gene test may find risk for heart disease and more."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5c807c34b3a499a9e6dfcb8cd5002e7",
            "input": "\"Sequestration is serious business. Jobs are on the line. Day care for poor kids is under the ax. Yet even in this budget climate, your federal government still has the money to pay for -- please disregard our blushing -- a study examining duck penises. You read that right: duck penises. This waterfowl kerfuffle erupted earlier this week, when the conservative website CNSNews.com published a story pulling back the curtain on a $384,949 grant from the National Science Foundation for a Yale University study looking at ducks’ sexual behavior and anatomy and the evolutionary consequences. \"\"Many duck penises are corkscrew-shaped and some scientists believe this is because of a form of evolution known as ‘sexual conflict,’\"\" the story said. Twitter quickly took up the cause: Can’t cut spending b/c need $ to fund more studies of duck penis length\"\" @keithcrc, March 20. $384,949 Federal stimulus funds to study \"\"Duck Penis Length\"\". WH still closed to tours @cincinchili, March 21. \"\"His name is Long Duck Dong.\"\" When you're enjoying your furlough, remember that duck penis length matters. @doctrine_man, March 21. So now PolitiFact is making it our cause. We’ll fact-check the Twitter chatter stating that the federal government is funding a study about duck penises amid the austere cuts of sequestration. ‘Anti-screw anatomy’ Richard Prum is an evolutionary ornithologist at Yale University. We got him on the phone to ask: Duck penises -- really? His answer was fascinating, but first here’s a little background. In 2009, Prum applied for and received a National Science Foundation grant for his study titled \"\"Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia.\"\" (It has since been renamed \"\"Conflict, Social Behavior and Evolution,\"\" according to NSF.) The money came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. \"\"The funding was for three years,\"\" Prum said. \"\"We managed to expand to a fourth year by basically being frugal.\"\" Prum and lead investigator Patricia Brennan have published several papers from their research; several are in review now, and more are forthcoming. NSF awards about 11,000 grants a year, and the process is deeply competitive. \"\"Funding rates in this area, animal behavior, are less than 10 percent,\"\" Prum said. \"\"Getting this money is like into getting into Yale as an undergrad.\"\" The nearly $400,000 award paid Brennan’s salary, funded the experiments at the waterfowl laboratory, kept the birds healthy and fed and covered other costs such as publication expenses and equipment. Here, in Prum’s words, is what he studied and learned: \"\"Most birds don’t have a penis. Ducks do. They still have it from the reptilian ancestor that they shared with mammals,\"\" he said. The duck’s penis is stored inside the body, and when it becomes erect, the process of insemination is \"\"explosive,\"\" Prum said. The duck’s penis becomes erect within a third of a second, at the same time it enters the female duck’s body. Ejaculation is immediate, and then the penis starts to regress. The length of the duck penis, as mentioned in the tweets, grows to 8 or 9 inches during the summer mating season. In winter, it shrinks to less than an inch. In duck ponds, Prum said, a lot of forced copulation occurs. Forced copulation is what it sounds like -- rape in nature. Even gang rape happens among ducks. And Prum found that while 40 to 50 percent of duck sex happens by forced copulation, only 2 to 4 percent of inseminations result from it (meaning times the female duck ends up with a fertilized egg). \"\"The question is why does that happen? How does a female prevent fertilization by forced copulation?\"\" he said. \"\"The answer has to do with taking advantage of what males have evolved -- this corkscrew shaped penis.\"\" Prum said the duck penis is a corkscrew whose direction runs counterclockwise. Female ducks, he said, have evolved a complex vagina also shaped like a corkscrew -- but a clockwise one. \"\"This is literally an anti-screw anatomy,\"\" he said. When females choose their own partners -- in other words, solicit copulation -- the muscles in the vagina are dilated and expanded. So the anti-screw effect is negated. \"\"The females are enormously, amazingly successful at preventing fertilization by forced copulation,\"\" he said. Now, if this steamy duck sex talk reminds you of a particular Senate candidate’s controversial rape comments in 2012, Prum is right there with you. Todd Akin, who ultimately lost his Senate contest in Missouri, angered a lot of people when he claimed, \"\"If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.\"\" Said Prum: \"\"What we demonstrated is that what Senate candidate Akin said about rape is actually true of ducks, and why.\"\" \"\"This to me is really about sexual autonomy, and that is why ducks are deeply important,\"\" he said. \"\"In the face of persistent sexual violence, females have developed a mechanism to maintain control over sexual choice.\"\" If that explanation doesn’t meet your standard for useful science, Prum had this to say in defense of pure scientific research: \"\"I have never abandoned my commitment to the notion that the primary commitment of science is to discover new knowledge. You never know when it’s going to be practical. Advanced cultures for all of history have tried to establish new knowledge.\"\" What’s this got to do with sequester? Prum’s grant began in 2009, funded by a law passed early that year that was meant to jumpstart the sputtering economy. The stimulus spending was meant to get out the door as quickly as possible, with much of spending set for 2009 and 2010. Sequestration -- sweeping budget cuts across all federal agencies -- came about from a budget deal in 2011. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans passed sequestration as a means of forcing each other to a broader deal on deficit reduction. The cuts were never meant to be enacted, but since the two sides have not been able to strike a deal, they went into effect March 1. Democrats and Obama have decried the effects on average Americans, such as funding cuts to Head Start programs and delayed airline flights. Republicans, who are keen on trimming federal spending, have generally sounded less dire in their sequester warnings, but they’ve cried foul when the Obama administration announces such things as an end to White House tours. We should point out that in some ways, the sequester and the stimulus are two separate issues. House Republicans tried and failed to cancel unspent stimulus money. Most of the stimulus money is already out the door. The sequester, on the other hand, is intended to reduce government spending in the future. Does Prum’s grant have anything to do with the budgetary state we’re in now? Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told PolitiFact: \"\"A lot of times scientific research is pilloried -- and sometimes deservedly so. It has to be taken in context of the need and results as well as the budgetary environment. \"\"As far as linking stimulus spending and sequestration, you get to the heart of budgetary issues. Sequestration targets budget authority – the right an agency has to write a check, not outlays – the cash out the door. So the budget authority from the stimulus left the building a long time ago. It is well inside the outlay territory and not subject to sequestration.\"\" \"\"All that said,\"\" he added, \"\"the federal budget is a zero sum game and it is fair to compare spending on this here to spending or cuts over there. And the goofy is meant to make a point … but the reality can be quite tricky.\"\" Our ruling Folks in the twitterverse said the federal government is cutting services, furloughing employees and cancelling White House tours, but it still has the money to pay for a study examining duck penises. The study is real, and it does indeed explore the unique sexual behaviors and physical characteristics of ducks. It was funded through a National Science Foundation grant that expires this year. It’s a bit dubious to tie that grant, which was awarded with stimulus dollars, with the current budget cuts, because they arise from different budgetary issues. But is the government subsidizing research on duck penises? It sure is. Editor's note: We updated this item on March 24, 2013, to clarify that ducks reproduce via fertilized eggs.\"",
            "output": [
                "While the sequester is in effect, the federal government is still funding a study on duck penises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04b66e2a8c5349689d0b5a5e1a51b070",
            "input": "Warrick Dunnm who played 12 seasons in the NFL as a running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons, has been supporting single-parent families since his 1997 rookie season, when he started the Homes for the Holidays program to provide economically-disadvantaged single parents and their children with comprehensive programming for first-time homeownership. In September 2018, the former NFL player’s charitable efforts, as well as a few facts about his upbringing and the death of his mother, were boiled down into a meme spread via social media:  This meme, for the most part, provided accurate information about Warrick Dunn and his charitable efforts. Dunn’s mother, Betty Dunn Smothers, was a police officer in Baton Rouge who was killed in 1993 while working a second job as a security guard:  Corporal Betty Smothers was shot and killed in an ambush attack while moonlighting as a security guard. Corporal Smothers was in uniform and driving a marked patrol car when she and the store manager went to a bank to make a night deposit. As they sat in the patrol car, three suspects approached and opened fire. They fatally wounded Corporal Smothers and injured the manager. All three suspects were arrested after the incident and sentenced to death for Corporal Smothers’ murder. Corporal Smothers had been employed with the Baton Rouge City Police Department for 14 years, and is survived by her two daughters and four sons. Smothers’ passing came just a few days before Dunn’s 18th birthday and a month before he committed to playing college football at Florida State University (FSU). He was the eldest of Smothers’ children, and by most accounts he assumed a father-figure role in the life of his five younger siblings. Here’s how the Los Angeles Times described Dunn and his siblings in a December 1994 article headlined “Turning His Grief to Good: Florida State Running Back Warrick Dunn Sets an Example for All”:  Derek is doing well at Catholic High. Travis is fast and Bryson small, but he’s growing. Summer and Samantha are running track and doing well in school. You listen to Warrick Dunn and hear a proud father talking of his children. And then you realize that Dunn is only 19. Still, he’s in charge of his brothers and sisters, ages 11-17, now that Betty is gone. She was his best friend, a mother who worked two jobs, 16 hours a day, to keep the family together and to provide a few of the things that make being a kid a little more fun. If there’s anything harder than a teen-ager being asked to go to the hospital in a police car, identify his mother and then go home to tell his brothers and sisters what happened, he doesn’t want to know about it. It was Dunn, handling things as he always had, the father figure, but now without a mother. “I never really had a childhood,” he says. “I’ve never been able to go out and just go crazy, like most kids, because I grew up staying in the house a lot, baby-sitting.”  Dunn graduated from FSU and was selected in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie running back was challenged by head coach Tony Dungy to give back to the community during his time in Florida, and so Dunn decided to start the “Homes for the Holidays” program in order to help provide homes to single-parent families in honor of his late mother. The program managed to house three families during its first year. By 2018, that number had grown to 159:  “My rookie year in the NFL, in Tampa, I was challenged by coach [Tony] Dungy,” Dunn said. He told us, ‘If you are going to live in this community, you want to be a part of this community and give back.’ From that challenge, I thought about my mom and her dream of home ownership, and that’s how it all started. We did three homes in 1997, and now we’re up to 159. “I grew up in a situation where we needed a lot of support. I lost my mom at 18. Single mom, six kids, and a Baton Rouge police officer. She was gunned down by armed robbers at a bank. When she lost her life, the city of Baton Rouge started a fund for us. And that’s how we were able to survive and pay bills. And when I saw that from the city, that really helped me understand what it means to care about your neighbor and to give back and support. I just think now I have been driven for so many years—this is part of who I am, to want to see people smile and help anyone that I can possibly help.” Our only quibble with this meme is the statement that Dunn “built and paid for over 145 houses for single mothers.” While the former NFL quarterback has certainly donated plenty of time, money, and effort into his charitable endeavors, he did not single-handedly build and pay for all these homes. Dunn’s non-profit, Warrick Dunn Charities, partners with other non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity to build homes for disadvantaged families: Even in retirement, Dunn and his Warrick Dunn Charities are still partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for disadvantaged families across the United States. In December, Dunn and Habitat combined to build homes number 158 (in Detroit) and 159 (in Atlanta) and place two families in them before the holidays. Furnished, as Dunn like to say, “all the way down to the toothbrushes in the bathroom.” Dunn’s charity provides a down payment for the home, completely furnishes it, and provides other services such as financial literacy program in order to assist single parents as they become first time homeowners: Warrick Dunn Charities was created from the belief that a better future starts with hope. We are dedicated to strengthening and transforming communities by combating poverty, hunger and improving the quality of life for families and children. We help families thrive academically, socially, and economically. Warrick Dunn Charities, a 501(c)(3) recognized nonprofit, has helped single parents and children thrive academically, socially and economically. Warrick Dunn Charities has awarded millions in home furnishings, food and other donations to single-parent families and children across the nation to combat poverty, hunger and ensure families have comfortable surroundings and basic necessities to improve their quality of life. This meme’s popularity in September 2018 was likely connected to a controversy surrounding another former NFL player: Colin Kaepernick. A number of social media users shared this meme along with messages stating that Nike should have used Dunn, not Kaepernick, in their latest commercial:  This meme misleadingly suggests that Colin Kaepernick has not similarly sacrificed by using his own money for charitable endeavors. However, in January 2018 Kaepernick completed his pledge to donate a total of $1 million to charity over eighteen months, with a list of all the organizations he donated to  viewable here. And Dunn himself praised Nike’s latest advertising campaign for raising Kaepernick’s profile as the latter drove the conversation about social justice: “I think it’s a brilliant campaign,” Dunn said. “They just raised his profile because Kaepernick the last couple of years has been the face of this movement of social justice.” “To be the first guy to come out and really talk about the issues that black kids, black men are being shot and killed, I commend him,” Dunn said in a CNN interview. When asked if he thought Nike’s stance to create the campaign was a financial or moral decision, Dunn cited the latter. “It’s a moral decision. It can’t be about finances,” Dunn said.",
            "output": [
                "Warrick Dunn started a charitable program to house single-parent families in honor of his mother, a police officer who was killed when he was a teenager."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1dc36f70d8e54c2f8def0593dca21afd",
            "input": "The Lawrence County Health Department said Tuesday the infected Burger King employee worked from May 15-19, and from May 22-24. Patrons who consumed food or drink at the eatery between May 22-24 were urged to get vaccinated by Thursday. Anyone who ate there during the two periods when that employee was working is advised to monitor their health for symptoms up to 50 days and to wash their hands thoroughly. Hepatitis A is a viral disease that can spread through close contact with an infected person. Symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dark urine.",
            "output": [
                "Officials warn after worker with hepatitis A handled food."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-844fc2dedd0c4674a3c7f0663c05d867",
            "input": "\"State lawmakers have a month before they get back to work in the 2015 legislative session and already the debate over medical marijuana has gotten into the, ahem, weeds. State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon serves as co-chair of a joint legislative committee that has studied whether and how to legalize the drug for certain conditions, including seizures in children. Peake has revived a bill aimed at allowing cannabis oil made from marijuana plants for treatment of certain seizure disorders and other health problems. He is finalizing that proposal, pre-filed as House Bill 1 after a similar measure fell short last session. But another committee member, state Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, is proposing a competing bill that would allow vaporized, edible or smokable marijuana. Thompson also has filed a resolution, calling for a statewide referendum on whether to authorize recreational use of the drug. Confusion about the oil form versus a smokeable drug has prompted Peake, who said he does not support expanded use, to speak out. \"\"We believe that the medical cannabis oil –  very low in THC, that doesn’t have a psychoactive component to it, cannot get you high – is a better approach for our citizens,\"\" Peake said in a press conference before a committee meeting last week. Opponents of the oil have raised safety concerns. So PolitiFact Georgia decided to take a closer look at  Peake’s contention that the oil extracted from marijuana won’t get users high. First, a reminder that the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance, defined as \"\"the most dangerous\"\" drug \"\"with no currently accepted medical use.\"\" Despite that designation, 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, allowing access to the drug for a variety of medical conditions. Another 11 states – including neighboring Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee  – have enacted laws allowing cannabis oil products for medical reasons in limited situations. The key difference in allowing the oil, supporters say, is that it is high in cannabidiol and low in tetrahydrocannabinol. Both are compounds found in the marijuana plant that act on cell receptors that control neurotransmitters in the brain and the immune system from various organs, such as the spleen. Cannabidiol, known as CBD, is an antioxidant and not psychoactive. Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is the long-known mind-altering part of pot. Cannabis oil is made from strains of marijuana already bred to be high in CBD and low in THC. For medical use, the oil is made with less than 3 percent THC and is orally ingested. Children’s doses tend to be at 1 percent THC, or lower. Studies are scarce on the medical benefits of such a product, given the Schedule I classification. But research does show that THC is what brings both it and CBD into the brain, where CBD’s antioxidant properties are thought to protect the brain. That evidence helped the federal Department of Health and Human Services earn a patent on medical marijuana in 2003. Anecdotally, parents of children with epilepsy and other seizure diseases back up the findings, reporting marked improvement from the cannabis oil. A London drug company, GW Pharmaceuticals, has created a drug out of highly purified CBD that has shown in preclinical studies that it potentially reduce seizures. The firm is waiting on final approval from Georgia Regents University and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to begin clinical trials in Georgia with children who have severe seizure disorders. None of the existing studies or anecdotes from parents acknowledge or report any \"\"high\"\" from cannabis oil. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse, while acknowledging the federal government does not see marijuana as medicine, reports that CBD as a \"\"non-psychoactive cannabinoid\"\" that may prove useful in treating epilepsy as well as some inflamation disorders and mental illnesses. In other words, while the medical use of cannabis oil can be debated given the limited number of medical and clinic studies, there is some common ground on the product. Marijuana remains officially a more dangerous drug than cocaine, according to the federal government. But the main component of the plant used to make cannabis oil doesn’t have the mind-altering, munchies-inducing effect associated with street use of the plant.\"",
            "output": [
                "Unlike marijuana, medical cannabis oil cannot get you high."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-455c5c0321544a50944e184f40695b4d",
            "input": "On February 11 2020, a tweet (also shared to Facebook) invoked the “mods are asleep” meme in a broader post about former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s purported appearance in the late Jeffrey Epstein’s “little black book”:Mods are asleep post Mike Bloomberg in Epstein’s black book pic.twitter.com/Ji8y5XfyW3— Filthiest Poster Alive (@victoriaxxviii) February 11, 2020A blurry, redacted screenshot featured three names — magician David Blaine, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Mike Bloomberg. Without context, the tweet and screenshots might be confusing to people who are not extremely online, so we have broken it down here.What does “mods are asleep” mean?“Mods are asleep” is a common refrain on Reddit and 4chan; it is both an indication that the information following violates posting rules, and an incitement for other users to share typically restricted content:“Mods Are Asleep” is an expression used to indicate that a website’s moderators are currently inactive and unable to enforce the site’s rules of conduct. The phrase is often followed by a call to action for other users to post material that is typically not allowed.In the context of the tweet, the phrase was used humorously to imply that the appended screenshot perhaps contained forbidden or subversive knowledge.Who are Epstein and Bloomberg?Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender — a wealthy and highly influential pedophile — who died in a New York City jail in 2019. Michael Bloomberg served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and at the time of the tweet in February 2020 was seeking the Democratic nomination for president.Why was Epstein notable?Epstein was primarily notable for his wealth, his philanthropy, hobnobbing with the super-rich and famous — and his alleged involvement in sex trafficking and conspiracy. He was arrested at Teterboro Airport in July 2019 and died in his cell on August 10 2019, spawning conspiracy theories about how he died and who might have killed him. (The death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging. )What was Epstein’s “little black book”? Was it seized after his July 2019 arrest?Long before Epstein’s arrest and jailhouse death, interest in his purported network of well-connected and wealthy people as well as the nature of the crimes of which Epstein stood accused were a subject of massive public interest.In 2015, now-defunct website Gawker.com published a redacted version of Epstein’s “little black book,” reporting:Donald Trump, Courtney Love, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and  -lawyer Alan Dershowitz may have been identified by a butler as potential “material witnesses” to pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes against young girls, according to a copy of Epstein’s little black book obtained by Gawker.An annotated copy of the address book, which also contains entries for Alec Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes, Griffin Dunne, New York Post gossip Richard Johnson, Ted Kennedy, David Koch, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, and all manner of other people you might expect a billionaire to know, turned up in court proceedings after Epstein’s former house manager Alfredo Rodriguez tried to sell it in 2009. About 50 of the entries, including those of many of Epstein’s suspected victims and accomplices as well as Trump, Love, Barak, Dershowitz, and others, were circled by Rodriguez. (The existence of the book has been previously reported by the Daily Mail. Gawker is publishing it in full here for the first time; we have redacted addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and the last names of individuals who may have been underage victims. )Also surviving Gawker’s shuttering was a 92-page supplement to the item linked and quoted above, the redacted “little black book” of Epstein’s.Was Mike Bloomberg listed in that copy of Epstein’s “little black book”?Yes. The document was uploaded in an alphabetized format, and Bloomberg’s appearance on page six was indeed after Blaine and Blair.What significance did appearing in Epstein’s “little black book” have?It’s difficult precisely to pinpoint how or why anyone came to be in Epstein’s register of contacts. A July 2019 New York Magazine/Intelligencer piece on some of the names — which mentioned Bloomberg — began:Perhaps, at long last, a serial rapist and pedophile may be brought to justice, more than a dozen years after he was first charged with crimes that have brutalized countless girls and women. But what won’t change is this: the cesspool of elites, many of them in New York, who allowed Jeffrey Epstein to flourish with impunity. For decades, important, influential, “serious” people attended Epstein’s dinner parties, rode his private jet, and furthered the fiction that he was some kind of genius hedge-fund billionaire. How do we explain why they looked the other way, or flattered Epstein, even as they must have noticed he was often in the company of a young harem? Easy: They got something in exchange from him, whether it was a free ride on that airborne “Lolita Express,” some other form of monetary largesse, entrée into the extravagant celebrity soirées he hosted at his townhouse, or, possibly and harrowingly, a pound or two of female flesh.That article also provided further detail on how the book landed in Gawker’s hands in 2015 — through the investigative work of Nick Bryant:In 2015, Gawker published Epstein’s “little black book,” which had surfaced in court proceedings after a former employee took it from Epstein’s home around 2005 and later tried to sell it. He said that the book had been created by people who worked for Epstein and that it contained the names and phone numbers of more than 100 victims, plus hundreds of social contacts. Along with the logs of Epstein’s private plane, released in 2015, the book paints a picture of a man deeply enmeshed in the highest social circles.Some of those listed in the article distanced themselves from Epstein; Malcolm Gladwell was listed, and he maintained that he had no idea why:“I was invited to the TED conference in maybe 2000 (I can’t remember), and they promised to buy me a plane ticket to California,” Gladwell says now. “Then at the last minute they said, ‘We found you a ride on a private plane instead.’ As I recall, there were maybe two dozen TED conferencegoers onboard. I don’t remember much else, except being slightly baffled as to who this Epstein guy was and why we were all on his plane.”Was Epstein’s “little black book” widely covered in mainstream outlets, or was it the realm of gossip and rumor?After Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the New York Times covered its existence in an article, beginning with the stated confusion of some individuals listed in the ledger:Andrew Rosen, the founder of Theory and owner of numerous racehorses, said he didn’t know him and had never met him. Mr. Rosen couldn’t recall ever attending an event he hosted or crossing his path.Charles Finch, the film producer, brand builder and bon vivant, didn’t know him, either. Vanessa von Bismarck, the glamorous founder of a namesake fashion PR company? She had no idea why her name came up. Nor did Joan Juliet Buck, the former editor of French Vogue.“As far as I know, I never met Epstein,” Ms. Buck said. “I never went to any of those famous parties at the biggest house in New York City.”That’s Jeffrey Epstein, of course. Even though their names were in his notorious little black book, along with those of known associates like Prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Alan Dershowitz, these individuals said they were not sure why they appeared. They weren’t, they said, friends, or even passing acquaintances.A July 2019 profile in Vanity Fair addressed the book in part, reiterating how it originally came to be publicized:Ever since Epstein’s arrest on July 6, there’s been growing scrutiny of his vast network of rich and/or famous and/or powerful friends and acquaintances—or former friends and acquaintances, as it were. There’s a road map to that network in Epstein’s now-infamous black book, filled with many bold-faced names, phone numbers, and addresses, from Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Ehud Barak to Alec Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes, Mick Jagger, and even Courtney Love. “It is a mosaic of Epstein’s social contacts,” the investigative journalist Nick Bryant told me.Bryant first got his hands on a copy of the black book in 2012, after the feds caught Epstein’s former house manager trying to peddle it for $50,000. At the time, Bryant was shopping a feature on Epstein, without success. “My Epstein article would focus on the government malfeasance that enabled Epstein to skate on scores of child abuse charges,” Bryant wrote in a pitch he submitted to various editors, “and I would also look into covert ties that the government may have had with Epstein. Moreover, the little black book opens up multiple vistas of investigation, and I would attempt to amass sufficient corroboration on some of the power broker perps who molested these girls.”Bloomberg’s name did not appear in the article. An article published the same month by Bloomberg.com (“If You Flew Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ Private Jet — the Feds Want to Talk to You”) started off with reporting that federal investigators were interested in chatting with well-connected individuals named in the book:After Jeffrey Epstein’s [July 2019] arrest on sex trafficking charges, some famous people may be squirming. His notorious little black book and private-jet manifests contained a long list of boldface names, including Victoria’s Secret mogul Leslie Wexner and former president Bill Clinton.U.S. prosecutors on Monday encouraged anyone with information about Epstein’s conduct to come forward, not just potential victims. To the socialites, celebrities and politicians who attended lavish parties at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan or Palm Beach in the early 2000s — or hitched rides on his private jet nicknamed the “Lolita Express” by the tabloids — the request carried a clear message: Come talk to us before we seek you out.“You would much rather be visiting the Department of Justice and engaging a conversation about what you saw rather than making the DoJ find you,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor now at Dickinson-Wright. “There’s a much greater potential for influencing the parameters of an interview and the scope of cooperation by going in voluntarily than becoming a compulsory guest” of the government, he said.Bloomberg.com emphasized the number of prominent names in the book — but made no mention of Michael Bloomberg, either in the text of the article or as an editor’s note:The names include well known performers, including Ralph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, David Blaine, Jimmy Buffett and Courtney Love; media figures including Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters; former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former British prime minister Tony Blair, industrialist David Koch and the late Salomon Brothers chief executive officer John Gutfreund and his wife, Susan.Bloomberg himself was named by other outlets in July 2019.Why did the book languish in near-obscurity until Epstein’s 2019 arrest?In the Vanity Fair interview, Bryant provided two answers regarding his long-futile efforts to report on the book and its contents. Bryant described years of resistance to reporting on the “power brokers” in the book, and the massive credibility challenge when it came to the victims of sex abuse and pedophilia:Child abuse is the most horrific of crimes, and editors, I would think, had some cognitive dissonance over what I was pitching them. To assuage their cognitive dissonance, they would much rather decide that I was crazy, or a conspiracy theorist, than to actually address the allegations. But I had the black book, and a lot of the police reports, and some of the FBI reports …… In these types of investigations, you’re gonna deal with some very sordid people. Even the victims, their credibility can be problematic, because they can come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, repeatedly molested at a very young age, some turn to drugs to assuage their pain. That’s what makes this type of thing perfect for the perpetrators. The victims’ credibility is easy to compromise.One month prior to Epstein’s jailhouse death, Bryant was asked for “predictions” about the case trajectory. He referred back to an earlier bit of investigative journalism he did with a similar focus, noting one of the two “primary pimps” died of suicide, as Epstein reportedly did one month later on August 10 2019:I don’t know. In [previous investigation] The Franklin Scandal, there were two primary pimps. One committed suicide, the other did 10 years in prison for embezzlement, and he’s had a pretty comfortable life since. It all depends on whether Epstein’s gonna talk or not. If Epstein talks, there’s gonna be a lot of powerful people who could go down. It’s really contingent upon how far the Department of Justice wants to take this. But like I said earlier, the Epstein scandal will also go all the way up to Mount Olympus.What did it mean when someone was listed in Epstein’s book?That was harder to say with certainty. As noted by many in July 2019, Epstein’s network was vast and contained seemingly unconnected people:A word of caution: just because someone’s name & contact information appear in the Epstein Black Book, which dates from 2004-5, does NOT automatically suggest that he or she was involved with the (“alleged”) sex trafficking … I’d like to think Elie Wiesel, for example, was not being “massaged” by teenagers. Same with Ralph Fiennes, Paul Allen, Julie Taymor, and Simon LeBon. Epstein made a point of meeting influential people, and not all of them shared his depraved sensibilities.On the other hand, there are some people in there who, while probably innocent of raping minors, are villains nonetheless: Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch, David Koch … and Conrad Black, undeserving beneficiary of a Trump pardon … There are Rockefellers & Rothschilds in the Epstein Black Book, a clutch of politicians, numerous Hollywood movers & shakers, fashion-industry big-wigs, and royals including the Duke & Duchess of York (Prince Andrew—“Andy,” to Jeffrey).Other interesting names in the Epstein Black Book: Tom Barrack, Tony Blair, Mike Bloomberg, Jimmy Buffet, Tom Ford, George Hamilton, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Ted Kennedy, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker.So, is the claim true?Yes. Mike Bloomberg was one of numerous contacts listed in Jeffrey Epstein’s “little black book.” Many of the listed sought to distance themselves from Epstein after his arrest renewed interest in the book’s contents. However, what — if any — relationship Bloomberg maintained with Epstein was unknown, and he was far from the only prominent person to appear in the book.",
            "output": [
                "\"Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg appeared in Jeffrey Epstein's \"\"little black book.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a35519b1a9ac47d4a62c45d85afbd488",
            "input": "There was no discussion about the costs associated with including fruits and vegetables in the diet, although it’s reasonable to assume that the reader could figure out the costs. The story not only provided the information that the two groups did not differ in terms of rates for breast cancer recurrence or death, but included the estimates of this from the study summary. There was no discussion of potential harms associated with fruit and vegetable consumption, something some might think is unnecessary. But, for comparison, another story by another news organization did quote the lead investigator as saying there were no harms found with eating fruits and vegetables above a certain threshhold. It could have been addressed in this story. This story included the most relevant information (i.e. breast cancer recurrence and survival rates) from the study but it would been better had it explained that this was a randomized clincial trial and not merely an epidemiologic study. It might have been of interest to readers to know that the two groups differed in terms of the number of daily fruit and vegetable servings were recommended but both groups started out consuming more than the 5 daily servings recommended to the control group and that by the end of the story, self reported intake had dropped off in the intervention group. This story did not engage in disease mongering. This story included comments from two of the study’s authors but failed to get any independent perspective. The story failed to mention other breast cancer recurrence strategies (avoiding weight gain, medications, etc.). Especially as the outcome of the study reported on was to show no benefit, other options that have demonstrated efficacy for decreasing risk recurrence could have been mentioned. This criterion does not apply in this story. The story was explicit that it was reporting on the results of a recently published study. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Breast cancer study: Fruits, veggies not the answer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62c45c85813a49c8abfb4f2ebfe7a34e",
            "input": "Instead of sticking to his original 250,000-pound ($365,000) scheme of picking his perfect wife from the glamorous candidates he had flown to the island, Downes, 50, found himself in the grip of a manic episode, proclaiming himself not only the creator of mankind but the creator of God. That definitely was not in the script. Downes had asked a cameraman to document his unusual plan to find a soulmate. Instead, it was his mania that was caught on film, giving a rare insight into bipolar disorder. “I wanted to find a bride but when I go manic, I become Ya, the creator of Allah and the creator of God and I start thinking of an awful lot of things other than beautiful ladies that are there,” Downes told Reuters in London after the screening of the documentary created out of his 2009 trip to Jamaica. “True Stories: Bipolar Expedition,” by film maker Mark James, aired on British television this week and will become available internationally. “When I went to Jamaica, Paul was in the grip of a developing mania which I obviously hadn’t witnessed before and had no idea what that was, so I filmed all the events as you see in the film,” James told Reuters. “He just got more interested in me and the camera and making speeches which went on every day.”   MODERN-DAY DISEASE   Before being diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 44, Downes was living a high-powered life of luxury, making business deals, playing golf and gambling. But one day, while holidaying in Jamaica, he began acting strangely. He started smoking pot, stopped sleeping, asked a stranger to marry him and eventually jumped off a cliff into the sea without knowing how to swim. “I don’t know what triggered that because if anybody had said that I could possibly have a mental illness in the first 44 years of my life, I’d have said you were the crazy person,” Downes said. Known as the “disease of the 21st century,” bipolar disorder has made headlines with celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Richard Dreyfuss and Sinead O’Connor openly discussing their struggles. It causes mood swings from severe depression to dramatic highs, which can range from a couple times a year, to a couple times a day, depending on the severity of the disorder in the individual, and is often followed by suicidal feelings. “In my last manic episode, I had seven chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces with a private detective visit Prince Charles, Stephen Hawkins and Simon Cowell with DVDs of taped speeches and certain gifts,” Downes said. In the documentary, James suggests that Downes’ first ever manic episode in 2004 was triggered by a business deal gone wrong. Downes strongly denies this, saying he has no idea what sparked it off. There is a lot that is not understood about the condition and the biggest problem medical experts face is actually diagnosing it. “It’s like trying to unravel the origins of the universe,” said James. “We’ve only just really started to scratch the surface of what the whole universe is about and I think it’s the same with the human mind.”   Many studies have shown there is a definite link between bipolar disorder and creative genius. Although Downes is no artist, his wealth allows him to create other worlds — such as the Jamaica wife hunt — that have cost him around 1 million pounds in the past six years. James said the documentary illustrates how multi-faceted the human mind is. “It is a manic episode, but it’s sort of living out something which is so extraordinary and colorful,” he added. “In a way it’s like making a work of art.”   The manic episode on the island didn’t entirely derail Downes’ original quest however — he plans to travel to Ukraine in July to meet two of the women, one of whom he hopes will become his wife.",
            "output": [
                "Film captures mood swings of bipolar disorder."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2d42d816c51448290627c26580391f7",
            "input": "Grant recipient Haichong Zhang, a biomedical engineer at the school, says his surgical imaging robot will be safer and more accurate than current tests, including ultrasounds and biopsies. Zhang tells The Telegram & Gazette he wants to create a minimally invasive, easily accessible and cost-effective way to better detect prostate cancer, which will affect one-fifth of all men at some point in their lives. Zhang is working on the project with Gregory Fischer, a professor of robotics and mechanical engineering at WPI.",
            "output": [
                "WPI gets $1.9M grant to help better detect prostate cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aac9f424caa042bea87265e73a160d89",
            "input": "After nearly disappearing in the United States, the bloodsucking pests have made a comeback in recent years, quickly infesting apartment buildings and stubbornly resisting common insecticides. The city of New York alone spends as much as $40 million a year in bedbug control. A study of bedbug genetics presented on Tuesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia now suggests why. A team of entomologists led by Coby Schal and Ed Vargo of North Carolina State University studied the genes of bedbugs infesting three multistory apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey and found very low genetic diversity — meaning most of them were very close relatives. They were so close in fact that the team suspects it may have taken just one or two founder insects to start an entire infestation. “We find that bedbug infestations basically start from a very small number of individuals,” Schal said in a telephone interview. “A single mated female bedbug starts the infestation. She gives rise to offspring and those offspring mate with each other and with their mother,” he said. “This is different from many animals,” he said, mostly because close inbreeding can result in genetic deformities, adding, “In humans, it is taboo.”   But he said there are some animals that can withstand such close inbreeding without experiencing detrimental effects including cockroaches. Schal said this may be a trait of insects that have evolved an association with humans and rely on them to get from place to place. Typically this happens when humans bring infested furniture into their homes, and he warns people to inspect second-hand furniture carefully. “There is a myth out there that bedbugs get transported on people,” Schal said. Unlike ticks, the wingless, reddish-brown insects stay attached to people for a blood meal for just 5 to 10 minutes, he said. “The chances that a person is carrying bedbugs on them is quite low.”   According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bedbugs do not carry disease, but their bites can cause severe itching and a whole lot of anxiety. Schal said his findings are not likely to lead to new insecticides for bedbugs, but they do underscore the need to move fast once bedbugs are detected. “If you don’t deal with them early they can spread thorough   a building very quickly,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "All in the family: Inbreeding key to bedbug spread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7da3f45b048a46ca84293fb8d160875a",
            "input": "The story reports that these scans typically cost $300-400 and are not generally covered by insurance. The story would have been better if it had clearly pointed out that the potentially huge cost of such a screening program, because hundreds of smokers had to be scanned to extend one life in this trial and follow-up tests and treatments cost much more than the initial scan. Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The New York Times never specified the scans’ costs. This story does a better job than some others in how it portrays the potential benefits of CT screening for lung cancer. The headline and lead report that deaths were reduced somewhat. The third paragraph of the story notes that among the 53,000 participants there were 20 percent fewer deaths among those offered CT scans compared to those offered chest x-rays, but that the “actual number of deaths averted was fairly modest” (354 in the CT group vs. 442 in the x-ray group). This way of presenting the results helps readers put the results in perspective. The story also notes that the National Cancer Institute said “it’s not clear that all smokers should get the scans.” However, the story could have made it more clear that the reduction in lung cancer death rates was seen after five years of folllow-up, which leaves open the question about whether that difference will persist over a longer time frame. It would have been helpful for this story to tell readers that 300 smokers had to be screened in this trial in order to extend the life of one of them. The story points out that such scans can produce false positive results, lead to further tests and treatments that don’t always benefit patients and have their own risks, and that CT scans expose people to radiation that may raise the risk of other types of cancer. It explains that the NCI is “still compiling the rates of false alarms and other risks” but estimates could have been drawn from past research. The story explains that 53,000 current or former smokers were given either CT scans or chest x-rays and that researchers tracked the number who died of lung cancer. However, readers may be confused by a reference to “the eight-year study period.” While it has been eight years since the trial began, the participants were followed for up to five years. Also, the story leads with a vague statement that this trial provides “the first evidence that a screening test may help fight the nation’s top cancer killer.” It would have been better for the story to be clear that this trial provides evidence about a difference in lung cancer death rates. The story could have done a better job of explaining that the randomization and other features of this trial set it above any other investigation of this topic. The story clearly states that this trial only involved people who are or were “very heavy smokers” and that it is not clear that the results are applicable to other smokers. There is no independent source quoted. (Please note: later versions of AP stories carried independent perspectives but we reviewed the first version we found.) This story highlights advice that quitting is the best way for smokers to avoid lung cancer. While this story does call the CT scans used in this trial “special” and different from conventional CT scans, it does not make clear that the trial applied rigorous standards to the equipment, operators and radiologists that may not be followed by other providers who offer CT scans to smokers. The story squeaks by this criterion. It mentions earlier trials that left key questions unresolved, but it does not clearly tell readers what was different about this trial. The only direct quote in the story is from a news release issued by the National Cancer Institute. (http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/NLSTresultsRelease) It is not clear what other sources may have been consulted.",
            "output": [
                "Special CT scans cut lung cancer deaths in major study, but questions remain about screening"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd2cd92af0324cf39d7c799bd4448a3d",
            "input": "The commission released its second report to lawmakers Friday, 10 months after an initial report urged immediate improvements to school safety following killings of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year. Lawmakers responded to the commission’s first set of recommendations by enacting a package of school-safety measures, including raising the legal age for gun purchases, requiring armed security officers on every campus and adopting a “red flag” law. “The needle has moved. We’re in a better place than we were 20 months ago,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who chairs the commission, said in an interview. “But we’re still not in the place where we want to be in many places in Florida, and there’s more work to be done.” The 389-page document released Friday by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission advocates new laws that would allow authorities to act more quickly against threats of violence, including making it a felony to verbally threaten a mass shooting. While the commission’s first report, released in January, focused on the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, and some of the specifics that led to the massacre, this one provides a broader analysis of systemic issues that the commission wants addressed. Key among them, according to the commission, is mental health. Among its findings: Florida’s mental health system is inadequately funded. The commission, noting Florida’s rank among the lowest of any state in per-capita mental health funding, recommended that the Legislature authorize more spending on mental health programs. The commission, however, did not suggest a specific amount and instead recommended an assessment of how mental health resources are being deployed. Gualtieri said the mishmash of mental health services, limited as they currently are, may sometimes prevent children with behavioral problems from getting the help they need. The commission wants better coordination of services, including better information sharing, to help identify trouble before exploding into harmful situations. The commission also wants to empower judges to intervene whenever they identify a child who might benefit from mental health treatment. In his message prefacing the report, Gualtieri said complacency and noncompliance — even resistance to the new laws — undermine the work being done to make schools safer. “Complacency is driven, at least in part, by the erroneous notion that a school shooting will not ‘happen here’,” he wrote. “Everyone needs to proceed with a sense of urgency to make Florida’s schools as safe as possible because there will be another K-12 active assailant attack in this country,” Gualtieri said. “The only questions are when and where.”",
            "output": [
                "Parkland commission urges boost in mental health funding."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2896afd627464979bf9485ee530deddb",
            "input": "The overall cancer death rate has been falling about 1.5% a year since 1991. It fell 2.2% from 2016 to 2017, according to the new American Cancer Society report. That’s the largest drop ever seen in national cancer statistics going back to 1930, said Rebecca Siegel, the lead author. “It’s absolutely driven by lung cancer,” which accounts for about a quarter of all cancer deaths, she said. Take lung cancer out of the mix, and the 2017 rate drop is 1.4%, she added. Government researchers previously reported a slightly lower drop in the cancer death rate for the same period. But the Cancer Society calculates the death rate differently, and on Wednesday said the decline was larger — and record-setting. Most lung cancer cases are tied to smoking, and decades of declining smoking rates led to falling rates of lung cancer illnesses and deaths. But the drop in deaths seems to have been accelerated by recent lung cancer treatment advances, Siegel said. Experts mainly credit advances in treatment. Topping the list are refinements in surgery, better diagnostic scanning, and more precise use of radiation. They also celebrate the impact of newer drugs. Genetic testing can now identify specific cancer cell mutations, which allow more targeted therapy using newer pharmaceuticals that are a step beyond traditional chemotherapy. “It’s an exciting time,” said Dr. Jyoti Patel, a Northwestern University lung cancer expert. Even patients with late-stage cancers are surviving for several years — rather than months — after treatment starts, she said. “That was very, very uncommon a decade ago,” she said. New immunotherapy drugs could accelerate the death rate decline, Patel said. Cancer Society researchers also found: — The overall cancer death rate fell by nearly 30% from 1991 through 2017. — Death rates from one type of skin cancer dropped even more dramatically than lung cancer — falling 7% a year recently. That decline in melanoma patients is attributed to drugs that came on the market about nine years ago. — Declines in the death rates from prostate, breast and colon cancer are slowing, for a range of reasons. — The rising liver cancer death rate seems to have leveled off somewhat. That may be related to better treatment of hepatitis C infections, which are tied to about 25% of liver cancer cases, Siegel said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Cancer group finds biggest one-year drop in U.S. death rate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-097b3897bfc74a66b515e7c47ac90e8e",
            "input": "\"A woman and her dog walk along the beach in this file photo. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen Snuff — ground tobacco that is high in nicotine but doesn’t generate the same additional chemicals as cigarette smoke because it’s not burned — is generally assumed to be safer than cigarettes, said lead researcher Anna Gunnerbeck, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. That’s still the case for many people, but it’s not a good option for pregnant woman, she added. “(It) may have a little bit different effect than smoking, because smoking has the combustion products, but it’s still not safe during pregnancy,” Gunnerbeck told Reuters Health. It’s possible the same may apply to nicotine gum and patches, which some doctors recommend to women trying to stop smoking during pregnancy, the researchers wrote in Pediatrics. Gunnerbeck and her colleagues got their data from records of about 610,000 babies born in Sweden between 1999 and 2006. They compared information gathered from mothers when they were a few months pregnant — including about snuff and cigarette use — with babies’ hospital records. Specifically, they were looking for a diagnosis of “apnea,” which occurs when a newborn stops breathing, sometimes accompanied by an irregular heartbeat. One or two in every 1,000 babies born to mothers who didn’t use snuff or cigarettes developed apnea. For babies whose mothers lit up during pregnancy, that risk increased by about 50 percent. And for those whose mothers used snuff, the rate was more than twice as high as in babies born to mothers who didn’t use any kind of tobacco. When the researchers took into account how early babies were born — prematurity has been linked to both maternal smoking and breathing problems in newborns — smoking alone didn’t have any extra effect on the risk of apnea. But apnea was still more common when mothers used snuff, regardless of whether babies were born early or not. Many babies with apnea will get a bit of extra care after birth and be fine, but it’s also possible that they’re more likely to have breathing problems when they’re older, including sleep apnea. Apnea may also put children at higher risk of infection later. While snuff use is more common in Sweden than elsewhere, pregnant women in other countries may also use nicotine-containing products such as gum and patches, thinking they’re safer than smoking during pregnancy. “They’re raising the concern that Swedish snuff, because it’s largely nicotine, can be a surrogate for nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy, that it might have untoward effects,” said Michael Weitzman, who studies smoking in pregnancy at the New York University Medical Center. Gunnerbeck said the study suggests that women should be urged to stop smoking without nicotine replacements during pregnancy, but added that if looking at the whole picture, smoking is generally more dangerous than using snuff. “I think the best thing for women who smoke during pregnancy is to stop if it’s possible,” she said, adding that avoiding nicotine replacement would be best. \"\"(But) it's really difficult if you have a woman who smokes a lot and can't stop -- what do you do then? Always you have to consider the cases where you need (nicotine replacement) -- the women who can't stop.\"\" SOURCE: bit.ly/qX8QVt\"",
            "output": [
                "Which is worse in pregnancy, snuff or cigarettes?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-235510833c4c4c45bb687716bc2e4a67",
            "input": "The 18,000-square-foot (1,700-square-meter) clinic in Fairview Heights, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of St. Louis, will provide abortion services as well as family planning when it opens in mid-October, Planned Parenthood officials said at a news conference Wednesday. “While health care access in Missouri continues to hang on by a thread, Illinois is well-positioned to serve as a health care hub in the region,” said Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. Planned Parenthood has been battling Missouri’s health department for months to try and keep open its St. Louis clinic. The state has refused to renew its license to perform abortions, citing concerns that include “failed abortions” that required additional surgeries. Missouri’s Administrative Hearing Commission is deciding the fate of the St. Louis clinic. Meanwhile, Missouri women have been increasingly getting abortions at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, another St. Louis suburb. Deputy Director Alison Dreith said 58 percent of the abortions performed at the Hope Clinic through August of this year involved Missouri women, and 37 percent were women from Illinois. Missouri is among several conservative states to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation in May banning abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. A federal judge in August temporarily blocked implementation of the law until the legal challenge plays out in court, which could take several months. During an annual inspection of the St. Louis clinic in March, Missouri health investigators cited numerous concerns, including reports of failed abortions. Planned Parenthood said it has already addressed those concerns and defended its clinic. It claims the state is using the licensing process as an excuse to stop abortions. The state initially let the clinic’s abortion license lapse at the end of May, then announced more definitively in June that it would not renew the license. The clinic remains open while the hearing commission decides its fate. Planned Parenthood officials say construction of the Fairview Heights clinic began last year, but details weren’t released until near completion to avoid protesters and potential construction delays.",
            "output": [
                "New abortion clinic being built in Illinois, near St. Louis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-437def44c2c342969d66fb6261377f78",
            "input": "\"It’s odd that a story that addresses the lack of cardiovascular risk reduction from the drugs in question would fail to discuss the cost of the drugs. More broadly, what is the cost of tight glucose control and the \"\"frequent doses of pills or insulin, blood-sugar monitoring and doctor visits\"\" mentioned in the last paragraph? The story indicated that there didn’t appear to be benefit from tighter control of circulating glucose levels. The main point of the story is the potential for harm associated with intensive treatment for type 2 diabetes. However, cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes may be related to other common factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. While there is evidence that intensive blood sugar treatment may not be beneficial, the story did not note the presence of other factors that may play a role, and therefore, lacked adequate context. The story presents extensive data. Although the initial paragraph is a bit over the top, the statistics related to cardiovascular disease are on target and appropriate. The story quotes three individuals with expertise about diabetes and diabetes treatment. This was a story examining whether tighter control of circulating glucose had beneficial impact on cardiovascular events and/or death as compared with less stringent control goals. The widespread availability of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes is clear from the story. The story highlights the apparently conflicting information coming out of long term studies attempting to define the benefits of intensive glucose control with oral drugs. The information has been evolving over the past decade and continues to evolve. Does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Diabetes drugs may leave heart at greater risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8acce3f0e9164ca3a275cf1818e1e292",
            "input": "Helicopters whirred above the turbid, red-brown flood waters searching for people to ferry back to the port city of Beira, headquarters of the huge rescue operation in Mozambique. The death toll in that country was now 242, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said, adding that the number of dead was rising as rescue workers found bodies that had been hidden by Cyclone Idai’s now-receding floodwaters. Correia told a news conference that around 15,000 people, many of them very ill, still needed to be rescued. “Our biggest fight is against the clock,” he said, adding that 3,000 had been rescued so far. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, the confirmed death toll jumped to 139. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, declaring two days of national mourning from Saturday, described scenes of “unmitigated despair” in Rusitu, near the border with Mozambique. In Malawi, 56 people were confirmed dead. “This is a human catastrophe of the highest order,” businessman Graham Taylor told Reuters, saying he had seen “hundreds of bodies that had been washed up by the floodwater” while trying to return home after visiting his son in Beira. “What struck me first was the number of people on the rooftops and in trees. You could hear communities shouting for help - for hours, for days,” said Taylor, who also described meeting people on the badly damaged highways heading towards the devastated areas in search of family members. “It was a humbling experience,” he said. “I saw no sign of government assistance.”  Even when people are safely out of the floods, the situation is dire. Some 30 percent of the 88 centres set up by the Mozambican government for displaced people still have no food, Environment Minister Correia said. Idai lashed Beira with winds of up to 170 km per hour (105 miles per hour) a week ago, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings. The storm’s torrential rains caused the Buzi and Pungue rivers, whose mouths are in the Beira area, to burst their banks. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is coordinating food drops, said as many as 1.7 million people in Mozambique would need food aid in the next three months. The scale of the flooding is huge - the U.N. satellite agency says floodwaters covered 2,165 sq km (835 sq miles) on March 20. Some 90 percent of the city of Beira was damaged, the WFP said, while aerial assessments over the Buzi valley showed “entire villages wiped out”. Mozambique’s National Disasters Management Institute (INGC) said some 358,000 hectares (885,000 acres) of crops had been destroyed. Thirty-nine hospitals had been damaged, it said. With more rain forecast for Beira on Thursday, Christian worshippers sang hymns on an empty patch of land where a pulpit was all that remained of their Pentecostal church. “Here in Beira, all the churches have collapsed from this cyclone ... Oh my dear brothers, please pray for us,” said Pastor Luis Semente. “Only God can restore this.”   A priority for Thursday was pushing into flooded areas that had not yet been surveyed, said Connor Hartnady, leader of a South African rescue task force. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was sending two emergency units to Beira that would provide drinking water for up to 15,000 people and sanitation facilities for 20,000, as well as shelter kits. “More help is needed, and we are continuing to do all we can to bring in more resources and to reach more people,” said Jamie LeSueur, the IFRC’s operations head in Mozambique. The WFP stepped up airdrops of high-energy biscuits and water purification tablets to isolated pockets of people stranded by the floodwaters. Mnangagwa said in a televised address that in Rusitu he had seen big boulders strewn over what had been a settlement, a banana market and a police post. Floods had washed away police officers and prisoners, he said. The Christian charity Tearfund said the timing of the floods was disastrous, with harvesting due to start in coming weeks. Even before the floods, 5.3 million people had been experiencing food shortages, said its Zimbabwe director, Earnest Maswera. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has said the eventual death toll from the cyclone and ensuing floods could be more than 1,000. Mozambique’s tiny $13 billion (£9.9 billion) economy is still recovering from a currency collapse and debt default. The cyclone knocked out Mozambican electricity exports to South Africa, exacerbating power cuts that were already straining businesses in Africa’s most industrialised economy.",
            "output": [
                "Aid workers rush to rescue African cyclone victims amid mounting death toll."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8847a8024a2b4b8ab101f8b33fdfc081",
            "input": "Indianapolis officials announced some city business restrictions will start being eased on Friday after similar limits being lifted last week around most other parts of the state. Those steps come as Indiana’s death toll from confirmed or probable COVID-19 illnesses has grown past 1,600 people. STATEWIDE STUDY The testing of about 4,600 people at random around the state found 1.7% were infected at the time of the test and 1.1% tested positive for antibodies showing they were previously exposed. The tests were done by IU’s Fairbanks School of Public Health over a week ending May 1. The findings project that Indiana has seen a 0.58% fatality rate among those infected. That rate is almost six times greater than the death rate for seasonal flu, said Nir Menachemi, a professor who led the study. Nearly 45% of those infected reported experiencing no symptoms of the COVID-19 respiratory disease. Menachemi said that highlighted the need for people to practice social distancing and wear masks in public to avoid unknowingly spreading the coronavirus. “The needs to minimize the risk of infection spread will probably not go away until we have a vaccine or a really good treatment that can deal with everyone infected,” Menachemi said. A statewide order from Gov. Eric Holcomb started lifting many business and travel restrictions starting May 4. Menachemi said the IU researchers plan a new round of random testing in early June that will look for any increased coronavirus spread connected with the state’s reopening steps. “We’ll get the first glimpse of how the relaxing of some of the issues have impacted the population,” he said. The projected infection rate would mean about 186,000 Indiana residents had the coronavirus by the end of April, when the state health department reported fewer than 19,000 confirmed infections. The agency reported nearly 25,500 infections as of Wednesday. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. INDIANAPOLIS RESTRICTIONS Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced Wednesday that Indiana’s largest city will begin easing its pandemic restrictions starting Friday after health tracking data showed the city was ready to enter “a path toward reopening, incrementally, our local economy.” Public gatherings — including religious services — will be permitted to increase from the county’s current 10-person limit to 25, and nonessential retail stores, including liquor stores, can begin opening to the public at 50% capacity. The mayor said that starting May 22, the city will allow in-person dining to resume at restaurants but only for outdoor seating “and with strict social-distancing guidelines” and required masks for restaurant workers. However, indoor restaurant dining will continue to not be permitted. Tougher local restrictions have remained in Indianapolis, northwestern Indiana’s Lake County and rural northern Indiana’s Cass County, where a large coronavirus outbreak infected hundreds of Tyson meatpacking plant workers. Hogsett said that if the trajectory of coronavirus cases “continues to stabilize and hopefully decline” more city restrictions could be lifted by June 1. STATE’S TOLL Indiana’s coronavirus death toll has grown past 1,600 people as state health officials on Wednesday added 41 fatalities involving confirmed or probable infections to the tally. The Indiana State Department of Health recorded 38 newly confirmed COVID-19 deaths, most of which occurred Monday or Tuesday, along with three additional deaths considered coronavirus-related by doctors but without confirmation of the illness from test results. One of the newly confirmed deaths dated back to April 22, which gives that date 48 deaths and makes it the state’s deadliest single day during the pandemic. The latest state statistics list 1,482 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, along with 137 deaths with probable infections. ___ Associated Press writer Rick Callahan contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Study estimates 2.8% coronavirus infection rate for Indiana."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea17c9086222445da822fd0dbd570351",
            "input": "The nation’s disaster risk management office says 1,192 cases have been identified. More than two-thirds of cases are of the more virulent pneumonic form. The office says less than 30 percent of people who have had contact with plague patients can be traced, making it more difficult to control the spread of the disease. Plague is endemic in Madagascar. This year’s outbreak is unusual because it has reached the nation’s two largest cities, Antananarivo and Toamasina.",
            "output": [
                "Madagascar’s plague deaths up to 124, island nation says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9da0f665b6114a0995fdeac5c0455e9d",
            "input": "Of that figure, 17 cases were imported via individuals arriving overseas, up from 15 the previous day. Newly discovered asymptomatic cases were at 54, down from 66 a day earlier. Three of the new cases were imported, according to the health ministry. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country reached 82,719, an increase of 300 from the number reported the day prior. The sharp uptake follows revisions in case reporting that the NHC announced on Friday. The ministry placed the total death toll from the virus at 4,632 as of April 17, a number it originally reported on Friday when it publicly announced the revised figures. The new death toll marks an increase of over 1,000.",
            "output": [
                "China reports 27 new coronavirus cases, death toll at 4,632 after data revisions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff1da20c798e497a9eb5fc26d4cc0551",
            "input": "The story does a good job of describing the monthly cost ($850) for women who do not have health insurance. The inference is that insurers will cover the cost for others. The story needed to include more information about the study results–in particular, how both the drug and the placebo performed in the trials. As we learn from the NEJM study, the drug reduced pain for about half of the women who took it–but the placebo also reduced pain for about 35% of the women who took it. That’s a good detail to include as it provides a better sense of the drug’s effectiveness. The text does an impressive job of sharing information about the debits of the drug, including bone loss and symptoms of menopause. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are described, as are cautions, such as the short-term nature of the research. The reader will find ample information about the unpleasant symptoms of endometriosis. In some areas, it comes close to disease-mongering, when pointing out very rare instances of women needing many surgeries, or a case study of one woman having endometrial tissue in her nose. However, endometriosis is a medical condition, and often under-diagnosed, so we’ll rate this satisfactory. The scientist who led the two trials is clearly identified as such, but his consulting relationship with the company now marketing the drug is not mentioned, nor is the fact that that company, now positioned to benefit from selling the drug, paid for the studies. A number of existing pain-reduction alternatives are mentioned, from hormonal treatments to surgery, and their debits discussed. It would have been helpful to try and articulate how many women find the current alternatives insufficient. The text offers a likely date when this just-approved drug would become available at pharmacies. Although the research report describing the trials was published in The New England Journal of Medicine more than a year ago, this story is pegged to a more useful (to readers) “new event,” the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug. Abbvie, the company that funded the Stage 3 clinical trials of elagolix (brand name: Orilissa) and will now market the drug, made available an extensive news release on its web site. The Vox story contains a good bit of enterprise reporting and produced a story that is far more clear than the company’s effort.",
            "output": [
                "Women with endometriosis experience terrible pain. There’s finally a new treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5b5679bad8e486085ca858144042e83",
            "input": "Raluca Alexandru, spokeswoman for Giulesti Maternity hospital, closed Nov. 30 due to the outbreak, said tests have confirmed the latest figure. It is triple the number of newborns diagnosed with antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus last month. Health Minister Sorina Pintea said she will decide later this week whether to keep the hospital closed. The infants are hospitalized in three children’s facilities in Bucharest. No deaths have been reported. The bacteria often live on the skin or in the nostrils without causing symptoms but they can become dangerous if they enter the bloodstream, destroying heart valves or causing other damage. Microbiologists say up to 30 percent of humans are long-term carriers. It is not clear how this outbreak began. Health authorities have suggested that the hospital does too many C-sections and that hygiene standards are not respected. Eleven staff members have tested positive for the superbug. They have been suspended from work and face treatment. In a related development, the National Authority of Quality Health Management said only 23 of 147 hospitals it had checked respected all of the approximately 500 requirements to function. It said 106 facilities partially respected the requirements. The requirements include issues such as hygiene, patient confidentiality, personnel structure, budget, fire risk and data protection. A statement said the results explained the poor public image of Romania’s health care system.",
            "output": [
                "Romania hospital says 39 babies now diagnosed with superbug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ab57fa4d00a46959399329a487c4eb9",
            "input": "There is no mention of the costs of Victoza. This would have been easy to include given the drug is widely prescribed and pricing information is freely available on the internet. The article compares the performance of Victoza against rival diabetes drugs, so it would have been informative to have a comparison of costs as well. The story’s key figure, which features in the headline, is a 13% reduction in the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death. Unfortunately this figure only measures the relative risk reduction; i.e. the change in risk for patients who got Victoza as a percentage of the actual risk of heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular death for patients who didn’t get Victoza. However, the story does also give actual risk figures for the treatment and placebo group (13.0% vs. 14.9%). This allows a keen eyed reader to calculate the absolute risk reduction: a less impressive sounding 1.9%. Because of this, the story rates Satisfactory on this criterion. It’s worth nothing the news release didn’t include the placebo group reductions. The story does a good job of mentioning the side effects of Victoza, even pointing towards whether effects were statistically significant. One omission was that the story did not mention the higher incidence of gallstone disease, a side effect that was highlighted as significant in the paper. Although the strength of the evidence is not directly interrogated, the story provides sufficient details about the study, such as trial size, length of trial, and where it was published. Type II diabetes is a major public health problem and, as the story mentions, patients frequently die of heart disease. No disease-mongering here. No third-party scientist is quoted, although the views of one industry analyst are paraphrased. It’s not clear, however, if this analyst was actually interviewed for the story, and his comments pertain only to the market’s expectations for the drug. We didn’t think this was substantive enough to rate as Satisfactory. The story does mention that Novo Nordisk funded the study and the focus is squarely on the pharmaceutical industry, making the company’s role clear to the reader. How Victoza performs in reducing severe cardiovascular events compared to rival drugs is mentioned numerous times. It is worth noting that there was no mention that the drug is given by injection. For individuals with diabetes reading the article, this oversight is important in that it may make them more inclined to oral medicines that are easier to take. The story makes it clear that the drug is already established on the market, calling it “top-selling” in the first line and mentioning that it is typically prescribed as a third or fourth option. The story makes clear that the purpose of this study was to meet FDA requirements. “Since 2008, U.S. regulators have demanded studies for new diabetes medicines to show there is no increase in heart risk, opening a new battleground between different treatments,” it says. The story is not based solely on Novo Nordisk’s news release. As mentioned, some of the relative risk figures which the story leans on, as well as two sources who are quoted, are found in the news release. But the writer clearly conducted independent interviews and sourced information elsewhere.",
            "output": [
                "Novo diabetes drug cuts heart risks by less-than-hoped 13 percentage"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-89244bbe72c14aeb84506ce075b70343",
            "input": "North Kivu Governor Carly Kasivita, who organized the march, said that anyone spreading misinformation and claiming that “Ebola is a business” will face arrest. “We are very concerned ... Some pastors, some politicians, are venturing into the public health debate and disorienting many of our citizens with misinformation. These pastors who deny the existence of Ebola will be put in jail as soon as they are caught,” Kasivita said. The governor also promised more marches and initiatives to raise awareness in other parts of the province, including Beni and Butembo where Ebola also has spread. “The message is to say we must stop this disease in the province. In the same way that we are concerned about security in the province, we are also concerned about Ebola,” he said. People rode bikes alongside police, soldiers and residents in Goma carrying banners and wearing T-shirts that said STOP. “We do not want other countries to be contaminated through our beautiful province of North Kivu. We want everyone to contribute to Ebola’s end,” Kasivita said. “People need to understand that the disease exists and we call on rebel groups to work with response teams because there are environments where teams cannot get because of insecurity.” The Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 1,800 people since it was declared one year ago in eastern Congo, has not shown signs of slowing down despite new treatments and vaccines given to more than 197,000 people in the region. New cases emerged in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in recent months and have spread to a new province in the past week. Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers. The governor of South Kivu and his Rwandan counterpart in the Western Province signed a bilateral agreement on Wednesday in Bukavu to unite their efforts in the fight against Ebola, while respecting peoples’ rights to cross borders. To help combat further spread of Ebola, however, the two delegations agreed to exchange specific information, including a list of high-risk people, said Daniel Lwaboshi, deputy chief of staff of the governor of South Kivu. “These are those people who have been in contact with the sick, because we have them in our province,” he said. Measures are already in place. Days ago, several people from South Kivu had been prevented from crossing the border.",
            "output": [
                "Hundreds gather in Goma, Congo for “Stop Ebola” march."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5437a98c526648b5851aed819028fa38",
            "input": "\"Along with Doritos and Bud Lite commercials on Super Bowl Sunday, viewers in the Washington area saw a political ad against taxes on food and soft drinks. We wondered if the ad was correct that politicians are seeking to tax sodas and food, so we decided to put the claim to the Truth-O-Meter. The ad features a woman talking to the camera as she shops in a grocery store. It has been airing for several weeks in selected markets on cable channels such as CNN. \"\"Feeding a family is difficult enough in today's economy,\"\" the woman says. \"\"Now, some politicians want the government telling me how I should do it. They want to put new taxes on a lot of groceries I buy, like soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks, even flavored waters, trying to control what we eat and drink with taxes. Give me a break. I can decide what to buy without government help. The government is just getting too involved in our personal lives.\"\" At that point, a narrator says, \"\"Government needs to trim its budget fat and leave our grocery budgets alone.\"\" First, some background on the group airing the ad, Americans Against Food Taxes. The group is spearheaded by the American Beverage Association, which represents the makers of sodas and other drinks. According to Advertising Age,  the American Beverage Association decided to form the coalition in June 2009, when the idea of taxing sodas and other sweet beverages was being considered as a way to fund the Democratic health care bill. The coalition includes dozens of members, including 7-Eleven, Inc., Burger King Corp., Domino’s Pizza, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, McDonalds, the National Association of Convenience Stores, Snack Food Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. Although the food and beverage tax was not included in the health care law, the group has continued to run advertising to forestall any effort to revive such taxes. People watching the ad might think Congress is still considering such a proposal at the federal level. But if you listen closely, the ad played during the Super Bowl is careful to refer to \"\"politicians\"\" and \"\"government\"\" rather than \"\"Washington\"\" or \"\"Congress.\"\" (By contrast, other ads the group has run have mentioned Washington.) The ad is correct that politicians in some cash-strapped states are considering food and drink taxes. In the last two years, many states and cities considered such taxes. According to the Campaign for Healthy Kids, an advocacy group that generally favors such efforts, taxes on soda were enacted in Washington state and proposed -- but not passed -- in Mississippi, New Mexico and the city of Philadelphia. In New York, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a New York City Democrat, has proposed a tax on foods high in calories, fat or carbohydrates, for the past several legislative sessions. Most state lawmakers were sworn in only a few weeks ago, so we can't predict how many states will consider soda-tax proposals this year. But already, legislators have introduced bills to impose or raise the tax on sodas and/or snack foods in Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia, according to separate legislative tracking by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a pro-business advocacy group, and Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. So while Congress has not been active on this proposal since it was dropped from the health care law, it's been proposed in many states. The ad is correct that \"\"some politicians … want to put new taxes on a lot of groceries.\"\" We find the statement .\"",
            "output": [
                "Some politicians … want to put new taxes on a lot of groceries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4bc272197fa54b229283f9a252db5e1d",
            "input": "Vents on Bogoslof Island continue to spew mud, steam and sulfurous gases two years after an eruption sent ash clouds into the path of jetliners passing over the Bering Sea. Still, northern fur seal moms find the remote island’s rocky beaches perfect for giving birth and mothering pups. “The population growth of northern fur seals on Bogoslof has been extraordinary,” said Tom Gelatt, who leads a NOAA Fisheries group that studies northern fur seals. Federal scientists visited the island in August. Geographically speaking, the island is not a particularly unusual place for the seals known for their thick coats to hang out. Most of the world’s roughly 1.1 million northern fur seals breed in the eastern Bering Sea. The animals live in the ocean from November to June and head for land in summer to breed and nurse pups. But why the seals chose volatile Bogoslof over the dozens of other uninhabited Aleutian Islands is unclear. “The surface is covered with these big, ballistic blocks, some as big as 10 meters (33 feet) in length that were exploded out of the vent,” said Chris Waythomas, a U.S. Geological Survey research geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. “They litter the surface. It’s pretty wild.” The eastern Bering Sea population of northern fur seals numbers about 635,000, with their main breeding ground on St. Paul Island, 240 miles (390 kilometers) northwest of Bogoslof. The animals were first spotted on Bogoslof in 1980, and NOAA researchers have since conducted periodic checks on the population. In 2015, biologists estimated an annual growth rate of just over 10% to approximately 28,000 pups on the island. The 2019 estimate likely will be more than 36,000 pups, Gelatt said. A California stock of northern fur seals in the San Miguel, Channel and Farallon Islands is estimated at about 14,000 animals, while an unknown number live in Russian waters. The seals stay on beaches, but on Bogoslof _ which is about a third the size of New York City’s Central Park _ they are never far from signs of volcanic activity. The center of the island supports a field of fumaroles, openings through which hot gases emerge. Some roar “like jet engines” and spurt mud geysers several meters high, Waythomas said. He has visited the last two summers. “It was amazing, the sounds that were being produced,” he said. Eruptions in 2016 and 2017 showered the landscape with rocks and killed all vegetation. They also shrank and grew the island. Explosions destroyed acres of Bogoslof only to have fragmented material blown from lava vents create new real estate. The island remains about 0.5 square miles (1.2 square kilometers). Food in the nearby deep water could be a factor in the seals’ behavior. Bogoslof’s seals eat squid and northern smoothtongue, a deep-water fish that looks like a smelt. Seals on St. Paul, the largest of the Pribilof Islands, forage on the shallow continental shelf for walleye pollock, a fish targeted by commercial fishermen. Females with pups on Bogoslof return from foraging faster than Pribilof mothers, possibly allowing their pups to receive more meals and wean at a larger size, Gelatt said. Bogoslof also is closer to winter feeding grounds south of the Aleutians, possibly allowing pups to reach the grounds with less risk from Bering Sea storms. Northern fur seals are distinct from harbor, ringed, bearded, ribbon and spotted seals in Alaska, which have no ear flaps. Northern fur seals, like sea lions, are eared seals. They were named for their concentrated fur: Fur seals have 350,000 hairs per square inch (60,000 hairs per square centimeter). The animals have a prominent role in the history of colonized Alaska. After hunting sea otters to near-extinction, Russian traders turned to northern fur seals and relocated Aleuts to the Pribilofs to kill and process seals. When Emperor Alexander II needed cash and decided to sell Alaska to the United States in 1867, fur was one of the future state’s known assets. But by 1988, four years after the commercial harvest ended on St. Paul, the northern fur seal population had declined by more than half from its 1950s estimated population of 2.1 million animals. NOAA biologists don’t know why northern fur seals have not made a comeback. “That’s the million-dollar question,” Gelatt said. Competition for prey from the commercial fishing fleet, predation by killer whales, disease and ecosystem changes affecting seal or prey behavior are possibilities. Volcanic activity on Bogoslof has been relatively stable, but Gelatt’s crew chose not to camp there during their weeklong August expedition, fearing a recurrence of explosions that could shoot boulders like bottle rockets. They instead made day trips from an anchored boat. The crew tallied seals and assessed whether aerial images taken from unmanned aircraft could be used in future counts. As fewer seals breed on St. Paul Island, the growth on Bogoslof is significant. “Barring other future catastrophic eruptions that could dramatically change the geography of the island, there is plenty of room for a lot more seals on Bogoslof,” Gelatt said.",
            "output": [
                "Home sweet volcano: Alaska fur seals thrive at unlikely spot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-262d1afe266a4225898e4761ea95b567",
            "input": "\"New airport security measures are coming under fire from pilots and passengers, who fear the latest post-9/11 protocols are too invasive and potentially harmful. You've probably seen the stories. The Transportation Security Administration's new full-body scanners, which are in use at 68 airports nationwide, transfer a potentially harmful amount of radiation and produce what amounts to a naked image, critics say. And the alternative to the scan, an embarrassing pat down, may be even worse. Pilots' unions oppose the measures, as do an increasing number of passengers -- who feel the federal government has taken things too far. PolitiFact can't weigh in on that. But we can explore the safety concerns about the full-body scan. Particularly, we found worth analyzing the defense mounted by John Pistole, head of the TSA. During a Nov. 16, 2010, interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Pistole said the \"\"radiation coming from those machines are equivalent to about three minutes' worth of air travel by anybody, say, at 30,000 feet.\"\" The TSA, on its website, says the radiation emitted from the body scan is equivalent to just two minutes of a plane flight. Are those claims credible? Yes. Though there is some disagreement. Let us explain. In preparing to deploy the scanners to airports across the country, the TSA studied the amount of radiation a person would be exposed to per scan to determine if the machines were safe. Scientists at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory found that the effective dose per screening was 1.58 microrems of radiation, while a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said an adult would be exposed to 2.4 microrems of radiation per scan. We understand those figures mean nothing to most people. So let's put it into perspective. A single chest X-ray exposes a person to between 8,000 and 10,000 microrems (or 8 to 10 millirems), according to experts at Princeton University and the Department of Energy. A pack-a-day smoker exposes himself to 15,000 to 20,000 microrems of radiation a year (tobacco leaves used in making cigarettes contain radioactive lead and polonium). Put simply, it would take at least 3,300 body scans to reach the equivalent of one chest X-ray. What's also important to note -- and a bit scary -- is that you're being exposed to radiation right now. Radiation is naturally occurring in our environment no matter where you are. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that each year, the average adult is exposed to 300 millirems of naturally occurring radiation (300,000 microrems) and 60 millirems (60,000 microrems) of man-made radiation. Pistole, in his claim, is talking about naturally occurring cosmic radiation you're exposed to during airplane travel. The amount of cosmic radiation a person is exposed to varies based on a number of factors, but to oversimplify, a key component is how high you are above sea level. People living in Denver, which is 1 mile above sea level, are exposed to more cosmic radiation than someone living in Florida. And people flying 30,000 feet in the air are exposed to more radiation than people on the ground. The amount of radiation varies depending upon the specific flight plan, but the Environmental Protection Agency, the World Health Organization and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission all say that a person on a six- to eight-hour flight will be exposed to somewhere around 2,000 to 5,000 microrems of radiation. For our analysis, however, we are relying on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which calculates the radiation exposure per hour based on the altitude of the flight. According to NOAA, a person flying at 30,000 feet will be exposed to between 285 and 406 microrems of radiation an hour, or between 4.75 and 6.77 microrems per minute of flight. All the numbers and science back up Pistole's claim -- as little as three minutes of air travel produces the equivalent amount of radiation as one TSA body scan. By most estimates, Pistole's claim actually is conservative. However, all scientists aren't sold on the comparison. Nor are they sold on the safety of the scanners. We think it's important for you hear their side, too. Four faculty members at the University of California, San Francisco, authored a letter in April expressing their concerns about the body scanning devices. Primarily, the professors worried that the radiation was being concentrated in the skin and underlying tissue, and that it was not being dispersed throughout the entire body. That concentration of radiation to the skin could be \"\"dangerously high,\"\" wrote the faculty members -- John Sedat, Marc Shuman, Robert Stroud and David Agard, who said a comparison to cosmic radiation spread over the entire body is misleading. The FDA, in a detailed response, said the concerns were unfounded, and health risks associated with the full body scanners were \"\"minuscule.\"\" To be clear, this fact check isn't declaring TSA's new full-body scanners safe. We're simply looking at the comparative exposure to radiation as suggested by Pistole, who said that the radiation coming from the new TSA body scanners \"\"are equivalent to about three minutes' worth of air travel by anybody, say, at 30,000 feet.\"\" It may sound strange, but it's right.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The radiation coming from the new TSA body scanners is \"\"equivalent to about three minutes' worth of air travel by anybody, say, at 30,000 feet.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39ac1299c02a47449136b2a247341672",
            "input": "Because the treatment is experimental and not on the market, there is no cost of treatment to report. The article fails to describe the nature or size of the symptomatic relief the drug trial showed. The article indicates that serious side effects were not observed in this small, early study of the drug. It mentions in the second paragraph that there may be side effects that were not revealed in this report. The article makes clear that the reported studies are early-phase and insufficient to prove efficacy and safety. The article does nothing to exaggerate the nature or severity of the disease. The author summarizes the results of a study that appeared in a high-quality, peer-reviewed journal, and quotes one knowledgable observer with no ties to the company developing the drug or the current study. The editor did a good job by retaining this information. The article makes clear that there are other drug treatments for schizophrenia whose effectiveness is limited by serious side effects. The article makes clear by the second paragraph that the treatment is still being tested and is at least three or four years from approval under the best circumstances. The article accurately states that the treatment is novel, and could potentially open the way to a new class of drug therapies. This article is an edited version of an article that appeared in the New York Times on the same day.",
            "output": [
                "Schizophrenia drug shows promise in trial"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3815968a279340089644063d007d55a4",
            "input": "Co-owner Nancy Truman prepares a box of donuts for a customer at Fonuts bakery, which offers unfried, gluten-free and vegan donuts, in Los Angeles, California September 19, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Truman is among the estimated 18 million people in the United States who are sensitive to gluten — a hard-to-digest protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Another 3 million-plus Americans are thought to have celiac disease, a potentially life-threatening autoimmune disorder that is treated by eliminating dietary gluten. In business, as in acting, good timing proved crucial for Truman. Sales of gluten-free products have been booming despite the weak U.S. economy. Health advocates and gluten-free celebrities such as 2011 U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic, Chelsea Clinton and TV host Elisabeth Hasselbeck have helped drive demand by raising awareness about celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. Truman also had the good luck of being a friend and neighbor to Waylynn Lucas, one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated pastry chefs, who is a fan of her gluten-free goodies. The two now are partners in (fonuts), a new coffee shop that sells baked, not fried, doughnuts. Gluten-free options account for half of sales at (fonuts). Lucas said customers are either avoiding gluten themselves or “have a friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a cousin, a father, a mother, a whatever, who is gluten intolerant.”   “When they see it can be delicious and a little more healthful, they’re really turned on,” Truman said. GLUTEN-FREE GROWTH   Gluten is everywhere. It is in baked goods, pasta and beer, as well as some unexpected items, such as McDonald’s french fries, lunch meat, lipstick and some medicines. Euromonitor International forecasts 2011 gluten-free sales of $1.31 billion in the United States and $2.67 billion worldwide. Sales have more than doubled since 2005 and are expected to hit $1.68 billion in the United States and $3.38 billion globally in 2015. “Consumers do feel some sort of reward when they eat gluten-free products. They don’t feel bloated. They don’t have belly aches. This usually encourages them to repeat the purchase,” said Ewa Hudson, Euromonitor International’s head of health and wellness research. Europe is ahead of the United States when it comes to celiac disease testing and awareness. Italy, for example, helps people with celiac disease pay for the additional cost of gluten-free foods. But big U.S. companies are jumping into the fray. General Mills Inc is a leader, having reformulated some Chex breakfast cereals, Betty Crocker cake and brownie mixes and Bisquick pancake mix to remove gluten. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA sells a gluten-free beer called Redbridge, which is sold in many mainstream supermarkets. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc for years has had a gluten-free menu and Subway, the popular sandwich chain, is testing gluten-free bread and brownies in Texas and Oregon. Media mogul Oprah Winfrey and actress Gwyneth Paltrow have talked about avoiding gluten as part of detox diets, comments that prompted critics to dub gluten-free the diet du jour. Trend chasers who have no medical reason to be on a gluten-free diet account for more than half of the daily consumption of gluten-free products, said Alessio Fasano, medical director at the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. Top-notch professional athletes are the only other people who get some measurable benefit from cutting out gluten without a doctor’s orders, he said. Eliminating dietary gluten appears to free up energy that otherwise would be used to break down the tough-to-digest protein, said Fasano, who joked that athletes use the diet as a “legal performance enhancer.”   Still, he does not mind that fads are boosting sales. “If anything, it’s good for the market” because the extra customers should help improve quality and lower cost, he said. Interest from big retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc also should help bring down gluten-free product prices, which run 2 percent to 3 percent higher than similar items containing gluten, said Alice Bast, founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Consumers have been preoccupied with food sensitivity for some time (remember lactose intolerance?) and there is growing interest in foods that support digestive and overall health, said Tamara Barnett, ethnographic research manager at the Hartman Group, a research and consulting firm. Gluten-free products overlap those trends, she said. Better-tasting products also help. “They went from being sawdust to being really good,” said “Living Gluten-Free for Dummies” author Danna Korn. Shauna James Ahern was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2005 and recommends focusing on readily available and naturally gluten-free foods such as fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat. The cookbook author and “Gluten-Free Girl” blogger, says the category has staying power and suspects she knows why people who do not have a medical reason for going gluten-free feel better when they do. “They’re eating whole foods for the first time in their lives,” she says.",
            "output": [
                "A gluten-free for all drives product sales."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bfc6c6fa2b2a4d97b2c0ccec435cd3f6",
            "input": "U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama joins the lunch line at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia January 25, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Obama, who has spearheaded a healthy eating and fitness program for children for two years, will lend her voice on Thursday to the military’s efforts to overhaul the food it serves. In an event in Little Rock, Arkansas, Obama will join top Pentagon officials to announce a new obesity and nutritional awareness campaign that will change nutrition standards across the services for the first time in 20 years. The changes will bring more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and food choices that are lower in fat to 1,100 service member dining facilities in the coming months. According to the White House, more than one quarter of 17- to 24-year-olds are too overweight to serve in the military. Active members of the military are also becoming more overweight, a Pentagon official said, and that causes a “readiness problem.”   “The Department of Defense considers obesity not only a national problem but a national security issue,” Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson told reporters in a call to discuss the first lady’s visit to Arkansas and other states to promote healthy eating. “Our primary focus is on the health and well-being of service members, their families, and our retirees,” Woodson said in remarks to be delivered in Little Rock. “Obesity is a preventable problem which, if combated, can help prevent disease and ease the burden on our overall Military Health System.”   There is a lot of money involved. Woodson says the U.S. military spends about $4.65 billion in food services each year. It also spends an estimated $1.1 billion a year on medical care associated with excess weight and obesity. In an effort to promote good choices, the military will redesign menus and try to supply healthier foods in mess halls and on bases and in vending machines and snack bars on military bases. The first lady, who has been doing the rounds of television talk shows and late-night comedy shows to promote her “Let’s Move” campaign to improve the nation’s eating and exercise habits, said changes by the Pentagon would send an important message. “Whenever our men and women in uniform step forward, Americans take notice. When our service members make healthy eating a priority in their lives, the rest of us are more likely to make it a priority in our lives,” she said in remarks prepared for delivery at Little Rock Air Force Base. “Simply put, this is America’s entire military once again stepping forward to lead by example.”",
            "output": [
                "New plan to cut the fat of the military."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6698c9410b4c44bd9925723419eab698",
            "input": "Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was doing its own analysis as well as looking at data on infections compiled elsewhere in the government. “There’s a certain number of places where we have concerns and they’re: Chicago, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana,” Hyten told a group of reporters, when asked where field hospitals could head next. “Those are the areas that we’re looking at and trying to figure out where to go next.”   Confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States reached 100,040 on Friday, the highest number in the world, a Reuters tally showed. The Army Corps of Engineers said on Friday it was aiming to provide facilities for 3,000 people with the coronavirus at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center by April 24 for about $75 million. Lieutenant General Todd Semonite, the Corps’ commander, said the Corps was looking at potentially converting 114 facilities in the United States into hospitals. Asked about Hyten’s remarks, Semonite said he continued to be concerned about Michigan, Florida and Louisiana and had spoken with the governor of Louisiana. He said there could be a high demand for medical resources in Florida because of the aging population and added the Corps was developing options for the state. The military is already deploying field hospitals to Seattle and New York. A Navy hospital ship arrived on Friday in Los Angeles and another one is expected to reach New York City on Monday, where Hyten said the city was still dredging the harbor to allow the massive ship to dock. Each ship has a capacity of about 1,000 beds and would not treat coronavirus patients, instead taking pressure off overwhelmed civilian hospitals. But Hyten cautioned that the U.S. military only had limited medical capacity in the United States and, at some point, it would have to tap the reserve forces — while guarding against  drawing medical staff away from civilian facilities. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order authorizing the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to call up reservists. “We made a decision about five or six years ago that we would downsize our military (health care) capabilities in the United States ... to only really focus on our deployed requirements,” Hyten said. He estimated that the military only had 1,329 adult hospital beds staffed at any one time in the United States. “We’re digging into the active duty force really heavily,” he said. “So the next thing that we’re going to need is to look into the reserves.”",
            "output": [
                "Pentagon eyes Chicago, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana as coronavirus spreads."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf3a34acda2041c0b5f6aaac4d32c67e",
            "input": "The story reports not only the cost of the blood test ($60), but the cost to detect one case (including follow-up), which the researchers calculated to be $28,600. This is excellent context. The story would have been better if it had noted that the people included in this study were at unusually high risk for developing this cancer. The 34 cases found after screening 20,000 people is almost 200 times the typical annual rate in the US and other countries (less than 1 per 100,000 people per year). The ultimate measure of cost is cost-effectiveness (cost per life-year saved) which requires survival data. These analyses can also be adjusted for quality of life. While most of this story is careful to note that this test has yet to show clinical effectiveness, that caution is trampled by the claim that this blood test “boosted patients’ chances of survival,” something that this type of study cannot determine. The claim that this test is more accurate than existing methods is also premature, since the study did not directly compare the blood test to existing methods. Finding more early-stage cancers is a necessary but hardly sufficient step in the pathway of demonstrating benefit for a new screening test. Clinical trials are needed to address issues of false positives, over diagnosis, over treatment, and survival. The story reports that developers of this blood test still need to show low rates of false positive or negative results. A low false negative rate means there are fewer missed cases of serious disease. The trade-off, though, is a higher false positive rate. All positive tests will need to be evaluated with a gold standard diagnostic test and the safety, acceptability, and costs of that gold standard test will profoundly affect the uptake of the new screening test. While the story reports that this study was a “proof-of-concept” experiment, it then says the test boosted survival, something that can only be known after directly comparing the new test to existing methods. Making treatment “dramatically more effective” can be proven only with randomized trials. All screening tests that can detect cancers at an earlier stage will be associated with an apparent increase in survival time, but as explained in more detail below, this does not necessarily mean that patients with screen-detected cancers actually live longer than they would have otherwise. Efficacy can be established only with an RCT. The story could have done a better job pointing out the many limitations in the work. For example, there was no follow-up testing for people who had negative blood test results. Even though the researchers surveyed participants a year after the testing, they didn’t produce any data on how many of the people with negative blood tests actually had cancer. What’s more, the researchers compared the survival rates of their patients to a different group of cancer patients from another study, which raises questions about how comparable the groups really are. There was also no discussion of the possibility that at least some of the tumors discovered through this screening might not have developed into dangerous cancers. The story does not address lead-time bias (that longer survival might be at least partly due to finding the tumor earlier in its natural course, rather than to just the effect of treatment). The researchers noted that the effect of lead time bias can only really be known through a randomized, controlled trial. We will rate the story satisfactory on this criterion because it is careful to note that this test is not ready for clinical use and that the study results apply to only one type of cancer. However, the story would have been better if it had pointed out just how rare this cancer is, less than one case per 100,000 people in the US per year. That is about 3,000 cases in the US per year — out of about 1.7 million cancers diagnosed annually. And the comment that the cancer “is prevalent” in southern China and Southeast Asia may be misleading. While it may occur more often in the region, rates are still on the order of 10 to 20 per 100,000 which is hardly widespread. The story squeaks by on this criterion because it includes a quote from an editorial in the journal that was written by an independent source. It would have been more useful to readers to include more comment and context from someone without financial ties to this study. The story is upfront about the financial interests of the researchers themselves and the company that owns the rights to their work, noting the keen interest in bringing this test to market. Although the story reports that “that nasopharyngeal carcinoma typically goes undetected until later on, when patients report symptoms such as recurring nosebleeds,” it does not tell readers anything about how often these cancers are found at an early stage. Readers are not given a sense of how patients typically fare with existing methods of diagnosis. The story clearly reports that the test is still experimental and that developers have yet to show that it could be practical and effective in clinical practice. The story highlights the desire for a new blood test that could be clinically useful. The story doesn’t appear to rely on a news release. It includes quotes from a telephone interview with an executive at the company developing this test.",
            "output": [
                "Silicon Valley Startup Grail Sees Hope for Cancer Blood Test"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ca75646497b428ebd7d1deec4fb6763",
            "input": "American baseball player Morris “Moe” Berg, whose major league career spanned 15 unillustrious seasons on four different teams between 1923 and 1939, never advanced beyond the positions of backup catcher and substitute shortstop. He spent more time on the bench than he did on the diamond, it was said. “He can speak seven languages but he can’t hit in any of them,” a teammate complained of Berg, who, despite being a Princeton graduate and holding a law degree from Columbia University, led an outwardly unremarkable, even mysterious, life. If not for his secret exploits as a military spy during World War II, in fact, Moe Berg might not be remembered at all today. Thanks to his work for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the progenitor of today’s CIA), Berg will go down in history. Principal shooting began in February 2017 on a feature film about the life of Moe Berg, whose wartime activities, though not unknown to historians, have gone largely unrecognized by the general public. The film, titled The Catcher Was a Spy, focuses on Berg’s mission to track down the famous German physicist Werner Heisenberg in Europe, for purposes of assessing the Nazis’ nuclear capabilities. Some say he was ordered to assassinate Heisenberg, if necessary, to impede the Germans’ atom bomb program. A number of newspaper and magazine articles have been written about Berg’s adventures as a spy (including one by the CIA), not to mention the 1994 book on which the film is based, The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg by Nicholas Dawidoff. To the extent most people are aware of Berg’s name at all these days, however, the more familiar source is probably this anonymous, unabashedly hyperbolic viral article circulating via social media since 2013: Speaking fifteen languages – including Japanese – Moe Berg had two loves: baseball and spying. In Tokyo, garbed in a kimono, Berg took flowers to the daughter of an American diplomat being treated in St. Luke’s Hospital — the tallest building in the Japanese capital. He never delivered the flowers. The ball-player ascended to the hospital roof and photographed the harbor, military installations, railway yards, etc. Eight years later, Colonel Jimmy Doolittle carefully studied Berg’s photos in planning his spectacular raid, later characterized as “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo.” Berg’s father, Bernard Berg, a pharmacist in Newark, New Jersey, taught his son Hebrew and Yiddish. Moe, against his wishes, began playing baseball on the street at age four. His father disapproved and never once watched his son play. In Barringer High School, Moe learned Latin, Greek and French. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton, having added Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit to his linguistic quiver. During further studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, and Columbia Law School, he picked up Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Arabic, Portuguese and Hungarian, plus some regional dialects. During World War II, he parachuted into Yugoslavia to assess the value to the war effort of the two groups of partisans there. He reported back that Marshall Tito’s forces were widely supported by the people and Winston Churchill ordered all-out support for the Yugoslav underground fighter, rather than Mihajlovic’s Serbians. The parachute jump at age 41 undoubtedly was a challenge. But there was more to come in that same year…. [Read full article] The text, which proceeds to recount Berg’s trip to Zurich to find (and possibly kill) Heisenberg, appears to have been drawn from published sources (a 1992 Chicago Tribune article by Ron Grossman titled “Berg — Moe Berg”, for one), but Nicholas Dawidoff’s more thorough research calls some of its more outlandish claims into question. Berg had a natural facility for languages and word origins, for example, but he wasn’t fluent in any foreign language, a New York Times review of Dawifdoff’s book notes (certainly not Sanskrit!). Nor is it known for certain that a critical part of Berg’s mission in Switzerland was to assassinate Heisenberg: As for his spying exploits: Mr. Dawidoff writes that Berg was never ordered to photograph Tokyo; the notion was purely Berg’s invention. Nor were his pictures ever consulted for Doolittle’s raid. And while Berg may well have been assigned to assassinate Heisenberg, Mr. Dawidoff writes that “the whole situation was charged with improbability.” As he concludes: “Only a large dose of O.S.S. wishful thinking finds Heisenberg, with his bomb nearly built, telling a lecture hall full of foreigners about it.” Berg adored being a wartime spy, it seems, and did not do well when he returned to the United States after the war came to an end. Despite accepting occasional work for the CIA, Berg found himself penniless, rootless, and aimless in later years, Dawidoff notes. He lived with his older sister, Ethel, until he died in 1972 at the age of 70. He was cremated and his ashes interred in his parents’ New Jersey cemetery plot, but the urn was exhumed by his sister and moved to an unknown location in Israel.",
            "output": [
                "\"Morris \"\"Moe\"\" Berg, a multilingual Princeton University graduate who played major league baseball throughout the 1920s and '30s, lived a life of danger and intrigue as a U.S. military intelligence officer in Europe during World War II.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e96c702561f94b6ab93c59d44e14907f",
            "input": "News outlets report the Macon County Public Health Department announced Wednesday that a second death within the past three weeks is also suspected to be caused by the disease. That death is still under investigation. No further details were provided, with the department citing privacy laws. County officials say preventative antibiotics are being given to those who came in close contact with people infected with the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria. They’re working with the state Division of Public Health to help contain the outbreak. Officials say anyone experiencing symptoms of bacterial meningitis, which include sudden fever, severed headache, a stiff neck and stomach pain, should go to the emergency room. Macon County is in western North Carolina.",
            "output": [
                "1 confirmed bacterial meningitis death in North Carolina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-124b07f97d124081be3775a89145f0db",
            "input": "The Times of India quoted an official source as saying that a team of 100 drug inspectors had been assigned to examine  different manufacturing facilities, wholesalers and distributors, starting early Wednesday. “Samples of all brands of the powder will be collected and sent for testing,” the unnamed official told the paper. The Mint business daily also quoted an unnamed official as saying that the drug inspectors would visit J&J’s manufacturing operations and draw samples for further investigation. On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) said the Reuters report was “under consideration” but that it was too early to say if a formal investigation would be launched into the baby powder that is ubiquitous in many Indian homes, a potential market of 1.3 billion people. The CDSCO spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. An Indian health ministry spokeswoman declined to comment. J&J in India did not have any immediate comment on the reports of sample seizures by Indian authorities. On Tuesday the company said in a statement that the Reuters article, which was published on Friday, “is one-sided, false and inflammatory”. “Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder is safe and asbestos free,” it added. “Studies of more than 100,000 men and women show that talc does not cause cancer or asbestos-related disease. Thousands of independent tests by regulators and the world’s leading labs prove our baby powder has never contained asbestos,” the company said. A Reuters examination of many company memos, internal reports and other confidential documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos, and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public. The documents also depicted successful efforts to influence U.S. regulators’ plans to limit asbestos in cosmetic talc products and scientific research on the health effects of talc. J&J said on Monday it planned to buy back up to $5 billion of its stock, after the Reuters report wiped about $40 billion from its market value.",
            "output": [
                "Indian regulator to test samples of Johnson & Johnson baby powder: media."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c984a69f377c4d1585e971a606037c93",
            "input": "A skier takes a jump during sunny winter weather at the Swiss mountain area of Hoch-Ybrig, south of Zurich, February 23, 2011. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann Lisa Wheeler, a New York-based fitness instructor, believes it’s never too late to get in shape to make skiing more enjoyable and safe. But don’t overdo it. “Do some basic strength training for the legs, core and arms,” said Wheeler, fitness program director for DailyBurn, an online workout site. “But if you haven’t done anything, dial it back a little.”   Wheeler recommends lunges to strengthen the quadriceps, the long muscles in the front of the thigh. “Lunges are quad-dominant and skiing is very quad dominant because your knees are bent and you’re going downhill,” she said. “And lunges also work the hamstrings and glutes,” she explained, referring to the large muscles that form the buttocks. Wheeler thinks the novice can forgo jumping or hopping lunges and concentrate instead on matrix lunges, basically stepping to and pushing off different directions across the range of motion. “For the last-minute person I recommend taking it easy,” she said. Wheeler said people think of skiing as going in one direction, downhill, and neglect to prepare their hips and core for the considerable demands of the activity. “If you analyze skiing there’s a lot of rotation and lateral movement of the hips,” she said. “I would do some core exercises, such as planks, and rotational movements with the medicine ball,” she said. “Because going down the slopes your body is turning, your hips are turning.”   Jessica Matthews of the American Council on Exercises suggests exercises that mimic the activity of skiing, which along with cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength, demands a measure of speed and agility. “I’m a huge fan of cone drills,” she said. “I just picked up a set for the house.”   Sold in sporting goods stores, cones are smaller and lighter than traffic cones. Matthews, an exercise physiologist, thinks they are ideal for setting up a circuit to train for the movements of weaving down a mountain. “You can work on developing lower body strength, lateral movements, do cone jumps and practice proper landing,” she said. Squats and lunges build lower body strength but for those challenged by a full squat, Matthews suggests the wall sit, which is essentially placing the back against the wall with knees bent. Ideally, she said, you want to begin a pre-ski routine at least six weeks prior to hitting the slopes. “That’s a good time from physiological standpoint,” she said. Another crucial element to skiing is the ability to react quickly. “Downhill is not straight downhill,” said Matthews. “You have to dodge people. You’ve got to be able to make quick changes, you might have to counter a fall, so it’s important to make sure your hips, legs, shoulders, spine are all ready to go.” Wheeler said.",
            "output": [
                "Pre-ski preparations help before hitting the slopes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f845eb80c3494a028a5a7af62da0e7be",
            "input": "On Wednesday, California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg each unveiled their climate plans. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Obama cabinet member Julián Castro each laid out theirs on Tuesday. The flurry of plans comes ahead of a CNN town hall event on global warming, which 10 Democrats seeking the White House plan to attend. The forums come after liberals had demanded that the Democratic Party focus at least one debate on climate change, but a climate debate resolution was defeated at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting last month. Many Democrats see climate change as an urgent crisis. The issue is so urgent among Democratic voters that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee made action to limit the worst extremes of climate change the core of his presidential bid. But Inslee dropped out of the presidential race in August after failing to earn a spot in the September primary debate. Inslee would not have been invited to Wednesday’s climate change forum, either, having fallen short of the polling criteria. Since he abandoned his presidential bid, a number of candidates including Harris and Warren have embraced parts of the agenda he championed. Harris is embracing a “climate pollution fee,” designed to drive down pollution while increasing government revenue. Her $10 trillion plan includes proposals supported by her Democratic rivals. She calls on the United States to achieve a clean economy by 2045 and to reach the goal of 100% carbon-neutral electricity by 2030. She says she will end fossil fuel production on public lands and end federal subsidies for fossil fuels. Harris also calls for the passage of the Climate Equity Act, a bill she introduced with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which would require Congress to measure how potential environmental legislation would impact poorer communities. Warren’s plan, which she released on Tuesday night, embraces the 10-year clean energy plan that Inslee ran on. Warren said Inslee’s ideas “should remain at the center of the agenda,” and she met with him in Seattle when she visited Washington state for a rally before Labor Day, according to two people familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting. She says she will increase her planned spending on research and investment to cut carbon emissions to $3 trillion. She embraces tough deadlines for sharply cutting or eliminating the use of fossil fuels by the U.S. electrical grid, highways and air transit systems and by cities and towns. That includes making sure that new cars, buses and many trucks run on clean energy — instead of gasoline or diesel — by 2030 and that all the country’s electricity comes from solar, wind and other renewable, carbon-free sources by 2035. Buttigieg’s $1.1 trillion climate change plan has a goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and creating more than 3 million clean infrastructure jobs in the next decade. Like other Democrats, Buttigieg would renew the country’s commitment to the Paris climate agreement. He is calling for ending subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and closing public lands to new fossil leases. He also is calling for enacting an economy-wide price on carbon, set to automatically increase each year, as well as more investment in carbon capture techniques. Booker’s $3 trillion plan calls for getting the U.S. economy to carbon neutral no later than 2045. He also is calling for the creation of a “United States Environmental Justice Fund,” which, among its areas of focus, would replace all home, school and day care drinking water lines by the end of his second term. Castro’s $10 trillion plan aims to have all electricity in the United States be clean and renewable by 2035. He wants to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045 and at least a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. And, like Booker, he focuses on environmental racism, in which people of color are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. Among Democrats seeking the presidency, there is little disagreement that climate change is a building disaster. Wednesday’s town halls will give candidates an opportunity to show the distinctions between their plans as the Democratic party’s base increasingly demands aggressive action. Nationally, 72% of Democratic midterm voters said they were very concerned about the effects of climate change, and 20% were somewhat concerned. That’s according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide. Last month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released his $16 trillion plan to fight global warming, the costliest among the Democratic field. His plan, which he is calling The Green New Deal, declares climate change a national emergency, calls for the United States to eliminate fossil fuel use by 2050 and commits $200 billion to help poorer nations reckon with climate change. Former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed $1.7 trillion in spending over 10 years, on clean energy and other initiatives with the goal of eliminating the country’s net carbon emissions by 2050. Some liberals have criticized Biden for not being aggressive enough in confronting a growing crisis. The relatively minor differences among Democrats on climate change come in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who has dismissed and mocked the science of climate change and has reversed course on U.S. climate policy. Trump made pulling the country out of the Paris climate accord one of his administration’s first priorities, and his wholehearted support of the petroleum and coal industries has been one of the enduring themes of his presidency. ___ Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Democrats propose spending trillions fighting climate change."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca4fc0883fb84b6a92d79dcc59bde9fd",
            "input": "Young, professional women are discovering that female-only fitness zones can be what a morning of golf or shooting the hoops is to their male counterparts: a chance to network, negotiate and bond while working out. “Men have been combining fitness and a social aspect for ages, doing business and creating relationships at the same time,” said Leanne Shear, trainer and founder of Uplift Studios, a boutique women-only venue in Manhattan. “Women have not, to their detriment.”  Shear said her studio, which opened in 2012, attracts professional women in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, and aims to provide a social atmosphere where they can come together as a community. As for the workouts, Shear believes that while women are certainly capable of doing everything that men do, many find the gym equipment in weight rooms bulky, off-putting and ill-suited to them. Equipment in Shear’s studio includes an elliptical machine with a smaller stride better suited to women, and instead of huge plates and bars, there are lots of dumbbells, balls, balancing equipment and body weight exercises. A 2014 report by International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) showed that while health club members are equally likely to be male or female, what they do when they visit the club differs considerably. Women are more likely to gravitate to group exercise classes, Pilates, stretching, yoga, boot camps, and cardiovascular exercise machines, while men are drawn to free weights, resistance machines and sports such as racquetball and squash. Curves International, Inc., the large chain of fitness centers for women, is known for its 30-minute circuit of cardio, strength and stretching training. Hannah Karass, vice president of programs and science for Curves, said the circuit is in a circle for a reason. “The members face each other, help each other,” she explained. Karass said Curves has initiated a rigorous high intensity interval training workout designed by trainer Jillian Michaels, of the TV reality show “The Biggest Loser,” to attract younger women. Karass, 50, believes women’s gyms are simply less intimidating than co-ed clubs. “I think of myself in a big co-ed gym,” she said. “If I work with a 10-pound (4.5 kg) dumbbell and I see men lifting 25, there is an emotional reaction.”  Dr. Barbara Bushman, of the American College of Sports Medicine, said both sexes require a balanced exercise program of aerobic activity, resistance training, and flexibility and, for older adults, balance and agility. “To me the women-only gym fits into the enjoyment aspect,” she said. “If someone feels more comfortable in that environment and that helps them to stick with their program better, it’s a great thing.”  She added that women tend to lag behind men in resistance training, which is important for bone health. Being properly fitted on standard machines can also be difficult for smaller women. “At university I was only female in weight room,” said Bushman, whose 5ft 10-inch height mitigated the sizing issue. “It wasn’t an environment that welcomed women.”  Shear sees women-only venues as a place where women are free to work their hardest without feeling self-conscious or trying to impress the opposite sex. “The workouts are just as hard and intense as any man’s,”  she said.",
            "output": [
                "Sisterhood shown to be powerful incentive at women's gyms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df965a70421543adb99888416a26303c",
            "input": "The legislation require the facilities to have a generator capable of keeping nursing homes and assisted living facilities at 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) or lower for at least four days. All of Florida’s 685 nursing homes and 3,089 assisted living facilities must be in compliance by the June 1 start of hurricane season. State agencies can grant an extension until Jan. 1, 2019, for facilities that would face delays in installing equipment or need zoning or other regulatory approval. “As we near hurricane season, families can now know the facilities responsible for caring for their loved ones will have the resources needed to be fully prepared ahead of any potential storms,” Scott said in a statement. Officials from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees nursing homes, and the Department of Elder Affairs, which regulates assisted living facilities, did not have updated numbers on how many facilities were already in compliance. As of January, 108 nursing homes and 138 assisted living facilities had installed the necessary equipment. “Florida faces an annual risk from Mother Nature, and these rules will help keep seniors safe during a possible devastating weather event or ... prolonged power outage,” said Justin Senior, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration. The rule was originally issued by Scott, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Elder Affairs following the deaths at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center after Hurricane Irma in September. The original rule stated that nursing homes and assisted living facilities had to be in compliance by Nov. 15 or face a fine of $1,000 per day. But a state administrative judge sided last October with nursing homes that had challenged the tight deadlines. In January, state nursing homes agreed to the revised rules. The rules also now take into consideration that assisted living facilities are licensed differently based on number of beds. The original rules mandated 50 square feet (4.6 square meters) per resident needed to be kept cool but it has been lowered to 30 square feet (2.7 square meters) for nursing homes and 20 square feet (1.8 square meters) for assisted living facilities. While nursing homes need 96 hours of fuel on site during a weather emergency, the hours vary for assisted living facilities from 48 hours for facilities with 16 beds or less to 72 hours for those with 17 or more beds. State officials estimate it will cost nearly $430 million for facilities to comply. Legislators though during the recently concluded session agreed to waive sales taxes up to $15,000 for facilities that still haven’t purchased generators or did so after July 1, 2017.",
            "output": [
                "Florida Gov. Scott signs bills mandating backup power."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd5215e1699745c2be322e9f514052ae",
            "input": "An Indonesian activist stands behind an AIDS banner during a rally to mark World AIDS Day in Jakarta November 29, 2006. REUTERS/Dadang Tri Liana, who holds an economics degree, is one of 300,000 Indonesians in the world’s most populous Muslim nation who have fallen victim to widespread ignorance about AIDS, and the government’s inability to campaign effectively against it for fear of being accused by conservatives of promoting promiscuity. Social taboos and strict laws that ban prostitution also work against those most vulnerable to the incurable disease, because police often use condoms — one of the best protection against AIDS — as evidence against sex workers. Although HIV prevalence in Indonesia’s population is low at 0.2 percent, the government and health experts are worried because the number of newly confirmed cases has more than doubled to 4,158 in the five years to 2010. “When I started the job, I did not know anything about HIV/AIDS or that condoms can prevent you from getting infected with the disease”, said Liana, who quit her job and turned to prostitution after her husband died in 2007 because she needed to pay off a mortgage and support their daughter. A few months after she started sex work, Liana heard about HIV and tried getting tested. But was turned away two times by healthcare workers, who often do not understand the disease and are afraid of getting infected themselves. Liana tested positive last year after falling ill and is now on AIDS drugs, which cost her 30,000 Indonesian rupiah ($3.5) a month as they are subsidized. Until today, she doesn’t know how she became infected. Her 4-year-old daughter is uninfected. “Thinking it over, I’m not lacking in education. But how is it that I never heard of this disease nor how to prevent it? Why does the government not spread the information,” said Liana, a graduate of an East Java university who now insists all her clients use condoms. “How can we prevent HIV/AIDS if we can’t use the only protection that we have? There is no cure for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), but drugs can help to control the replication of the virus and prolong life. While Liana uses condoms, she says many of her friends do not as they are tempted by offers of more cash from clients who don’t want to practice safe sex. They are also afraid they may be thrown in jail if police find condoms on them. Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih told Reuters the government faced enormous opposition in the fight against AIDS in this country of 238 million people. “We cannot put ads for condoms openly on television or promote their use, or people will say the Ministry of Health promotes promiscuity,” she said in a recent interview. Islam is the dominant religion in Indonesia and society remains largely conservative. “We have a program for methadone substitution and clean needle exchange (for drug users) but it’s very difficult to expand it as it is seen as legalizing narcotics use.”   Indonesia’s approach is in sharp contrast to the aggressive interventions taken in nearby Thailand, which implemented a high-profile “100 percent condom use campaign” in the early 1990s to rein in an explosive HIV epidemic. That campaign was hugely successful and brought down drastically new HIV infection rates particularly in young men. The disease, which has killed 4,539 people so far in Indonesia, used to be spread mainly by injecting drug users. Eight out of 10 addicts have HIV. But in 2010, 65 percent of newly confirmed HIV infections came through unsafe heterosexual sex between sex workers and clients, who went on to infect their wives or girlfriends. The government estimates there are 200,000 female sex workers in the country and a male clientele of up to 3 million. Only 10 to 15 percent of clients use condoms. A sharp jump in mother-to-fetus HIV infections is one of the clearest signs that the AIDS epidemic may be moving from particularly vulnerable groups, such as injecting drug users and sex workers, into the general population. These perinatal infections made up 3 percent of all newly confirmed HIV cases in 2010, up from 0.2 percent in the 1990s. “This means that HIV transmission within the family is increasing ... If we have no new approach for HIV prevention within the family, it (the HIV epidemic) may become generalized. We should think out of the box to protect the family from AIDS,” said Inang Winarso, assistant deputy secretary of the National AIDS Commission for program coordination. When HIV/AIDS becomes generalized and widespread, as in many parts of Africa, it takes a huge toll on countries, draining them of resources and economic productivity. In many parts of Asia, HIV has made a comeback in recent years among vulnerable groups. Governments and concerned groups in China, Hong Kong, Australia and Cambodia are battling hard to contain the epidemic. Through the use of high-profile campaigns, sometimes even involving state leaders as in China, they push hard for the use of condoms and clean needles to prevent the disease from spreading into the general community. But such high-profile interventions cannot be adopted in conservative Indonesia. Winarso, who was involved in a successful campaign against HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men, hopes to stop the virus from spreading among sex workers through empowering the women, quietly. “In every story that was told to me, nobody said they liked or that they trained to be sex workers. They all started because of trafficking or because of poverty, but they have no awareness that they are victims,” he said. Winarso and his colleagues plan to reach out to sex workers in a pilot project in Semarang in East Java. “We will visit brothels, we will avoid the pimps. We will spread awareness, get them to tell us their stories, so that they realize they are victims, and continue to be victims under their pimps,” said Winarso. “How do they fight? They need to fight their customers (for condom use) and they must fight the government to provide them with jobs.”   The World Health Organization estimates there are 300,000 people in Indonesia living with HIV/AIDS, with the worst affected places being Jakarta and Papua province, where 2.3 percent of the population is infected. Some 50,000 HIV patients require drugs but only 20,000 are getting them. “There are several reasons: no access and shortage of drugs even though there are 200 (HIV drug distribution) sites all over the country,” said Khanchit Limpakarnjanarat, the WHO’s representative in Indonesia. The WHO has a 10-member team in Indonesia and one of its missions is to train medical personnel in treating HIV patients. “We need to strengthen the healthcare system in terms of human resources ... To provide HIV services requires human resources, like counseling and testing. Drug treatment is complicated. These remain a challenge,” he said. ($1 = 8,677.5 Rupiah)",
            "output": [
                "With head in the sand, Indonesia struggles to tackle AIDS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-edbbfd9dfa2d44658377b8eeb38a8989",
            "input": "In the first major initiative on air travel tax in years, the conference on Thursday and Friday - which will be attended by about 29 countries - will discuss ticket taxes, kerosene levies and value-added tax (VAT) on air travel. The Netherlands wants to agree on steps toward ending the near complete lack of taxation on air travel and France is also pushing for an end to tax breaks on jet fuel, as European leaders discuss carbon neutrality at a separate summit in Brussels..  “The new president of the commission will have to present plans for the fight against climate change in Europe. It is a no-brainer that the possible contribution of the aviation sector will be put on his agenda in the first week in office,” Dutch deputy finance minister Menno Snel told Reuters. The conference will be attended by European Union economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici and finance and environment ministers. The goal is to present conclusions to the new European Commission, which will be sworn in this autumn. If no EU deal is found, the Netherlands plans to introduce a 7.50 euro ticket tax for departing passengers from 2021. Friends of the Earth estimates that between 1990 and 2016, aviation emissions more than doubled, while overall emissions fell by 43%. A combination of low aviation taxes, a proliferation of budget airlines and the rise of Airbnb have led to a boom in intra-European city-trips. The conference organizers hope that higher taxes will lead to changes in consumer behavior, with fewer people flying and choosing less carbon-intensive transport options instead. Research has shown that if the price of air travel goes up by one percent, demand will likely fall by about one percent, according to IMF tax policy division head Ruud De Mooij. He said that in a typical tank of gas for a car, over half the cost is tax, which not only compensates for CO2 emissions but also for congestion, accidents and road maintenance. “Airline travel is nearly entirely exempt from all tax, despite having many externalities of its own. Ending its undertaxation would level the playing field versus other modes of transport,” he said. Introducing a kerosene levy could be the quickest way to restore the tax imbalance that has given airplane travel a huge cost advantage over cars and trains, activists say. Environmental NGOs such as Transport and Environment (T&E) have long criticized the EU for being a “kerosene tax haven”. “Europe is a sorry story. Even the U.S., Australia and Brazil, where climate change deniers are in charge, all tax aviation more than Europe does,” T&E’s Bill Hemmings said. The US, Australia and Japan charge excise duty on jet fuel according to a European Commission report on aviation tax released this month. But not a single EU country taxes kerosene although a 2003 EU directive allows countries to agree bilaterally to tax fuel on flights between them. “It’s really strange: emissions at high altitude are more dangerous than emissions on the ground, but we tax them on the ground and not in the sky,” Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson told Reuters. Snel said that, contrary to popular belief, the 1944 Chicago Convention does not block countries from taxing kerosene - only from taxing fuel already in a plane’s tanks upon landing. The EU report shows that just six out of 28 EU member states levy ticket taxes on international flights, with Britain’s rates by far the highest at about 14 euros for short-haul economy flights and up to 499 euros for long-haul business class. French ticket taxes are as low as 1 euro for short-haul economy and 45 euros for long-haul business class, while EU-wide the average weighted tax per passenger is around 11 euros. This compares with an average 15 euros in the US and as much as 30-40 euros in Australia, Mexico and Brazil. Tickets for flights between EU cities are exempt from VAT in all EU countries, but 23 EU member states charge VAT on domestic flights at rates ranging from 3% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary with an average weighted EU VAT of 4 euros per ticket. Introducing VAT on intra-EU flights would require agreement from the 28 EU member states, and is widely seen as an unlikely outcome in The Hague. At a subdued Paris Airshow this week, it was evident that environmental pressures are being felt by the aerospace industry which is looking at options such as biofuel and new technology like electric planes. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is also developing the CORSIA carbon offset scheme, under which airlines would fund cuts to CO2 emissions elsewhere. Friends of the Earth says there are no easy answers and that the only way to reduce airline CO2 emissions is by constraining aviation trough taxation, frequent flyer levies and limiting the number of flights at airports. “Flying is the fastest way of frying the planet,” T&E’s Hemmings said.",
            "output": [
                "EU nations aim high with plan to tax air travel."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7cbbad1c628420e97a1f456ccc5f785",
            "input": "Six patients were still responding at 7.5 months of follow-up, according to research presented in San Diego at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). The highest trial dose was discontinued due to toxicity. Nearly a third of trial patients developed serious infections and other side effects included nerve damage and liver failure. Amgen said AMG420, which targets a protein linked to multiple myeloma known as BCMA, has been given fast track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Based on these data, we plan to open an expanded trial,” David Reese, Amgen’s head of research and development, said in an interview. “We want to begin exploring quickly enrollment in earlier lines of therapy.”  Amgen’s pipeline of bispecific antibodies, which are designed to attach to a cancer cell and an immune cell, bringing them together so the body’s immune system can kill the cancer, are a cornerstone of the biotech company’s oncology research. Other companies are exploring different ways to attack the same BCMA target, including bluebird bio Inc, Celgene Corp and Johnson & Johnson. Earlier at the ASH meeting, bluebird and Celgene presented early trial data showing that experimental cell therapy bb21217 induced responses in 10 out of 12 heavily pre-treated myeloma patients. Bb21217 is a next-generation version of bb2121, the companies’ more advanced, but still experimental therapy in a class called CAR-T that requires harvesting a patient’s own disease-fighting T-cells, modifying them in a laboratory so they target specific proteins on cancer cells and infusing them back into the patient. The manufacturing process for bb21217 is designed to improve the persistence of the altered cells. J&J, which licensed BCMA-directed CAR-T LCAR-B38M from a unit of China-based GenScript Biotech Corp, on Monday presented updated results from a Chinese study of the cell therapy in 57 previously treated myeloma patients. It showed that 88 percent of patients responded to the treatment, and 74 percent achieved remission. J&J is currently enrolling patients in an international study aimed at validating those findings. Amgen has suggested the “off the shelf” nature of its antibody platform could be an advantage from both a clinical and commercial standpoint, but oncologists say more data is needed. Trial patients are hospitalized for their first cycle of AMG420, after which they receive the drug by continuous 24-hour infusion for four weeks, followed by two weeks off therapy, for up to 10 cycles. Amgen has another BCMA-targeting antibody that lasts longer in the body, requiring less frequent infusions, but that research is at an earlier stage. In the current study, 42 patients with multiple myeloma that  worsened after at least two prior treatments were given AMG420 at varying doses. A total of 13 patients responded to the treatment, including seven who achieved remission. Of the 20 patients with serious adverse events, 17 required hospitalization and four had prolonged hospitalization.",
            "output": [
                "Amgen antibody shows promise in myeloma trial, gets FDA fast track."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0dba3b17f5fd4b4282ec1fcada555f5d",
            "input": "Texas health officials have been offering the vaccinations since Monday, three days after lawmakers were notified that a page had come down with the highly infectious disease. At least two House members and their staffs received vaccinations, and one representative who often takes her 9-month-old to work called her pediatrician to check what precautions she should take. The whooping cough case is being held up as a warning in the Texas House, where politically active vaccination opponents have tried to claim territory. “I know it’s on people’s minds,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from Houston. “People speculate about which members are going to come down with it because they didn’t get vaccinated.” Vaccinations are a recurring fight in statehouses, including in Washington state, where a measles outbreak has lawmakers trying to limit vaccine exemptions. A bill in New York would let minors get vaccinated without parental consent, while a California proposal would give state health officials — instead of local doctors — the power to decide which children can skip vaccinations before attending school. Whooping cough is a bacterial infection also known as pertussis that often starts with what feels like a mild cold, followed by weeks of intense coughing fits. The disease gets its name from the sound some people make at the end of a coughing jag when they gasp for breath. There are about 10,000 to 40,000 cases of pertussis reported each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. Forty-seven people in the Texas Capitol received pertussis vaccinations supplied by state health officials Monday and Tuesday, said Lara Anton, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of State Health Services. She said she could not disclose any details about the person who contracted whooping cough, citing privacy, but House pages are typically children around middle-school age. “It was a large number of people who were potentially exposed,” Anton said. In Texas, the number of schoolchildren claiming vaccine exemptions has surged from about 2,300 students in 2003 to more than 56,000. Some legislation filed this year would make it easier to opt out of vaccines or prevent state health officials from tracking exemption data. On Wednesday, worries over vaccination exemptions in Texas could even creep into a vote over a new $250 billion state budget. A Democrat filed one amendment that would study vaccination levels at child-care facilities. “That a case of pertussis was confirmed on the House floor should be a wake-up call,” said Rekha Lakshmanan, director of advocacy and public policy for The Immunization Partnership, based in Houston. “The fact it happened inside lawmakers’ own house should give everyone a reality check.” ___ Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pauljweber",
            "output": [
                "Whooping cough case at Texas Capitol leads to vaccinations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-93ad4a4b58dd499a8c0d4eb9db2d0ec2",
            "input": "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday posted data showing nearly 68,000 drug overdose deaths were reported last year. The number may go up as more investigations are completed, but the agency expects the tally will end up below 69,000. Overdose deaths had been climbing each year since 1990, topping 70,000 in 2017. The numbers were celebrated by the U.S. secretary of health and human services. “Lives are being saved, and we’re beginning to win the fight against this crisis,” Alex Azar wrote in a tweet. But the overdose death rate is still about seven times higher than it was a generation ago. “We’re still in a pretty sad situation that we need to address,” said Rebecca Haffajee, a University of Michigan researcher. Researchers do not believe this is the start of a dramatic decline. Data from the first months of this year likely will show that the decrease is not gaining steam, said Farida Ahmad of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The improvement was driven by a drop in deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers. Those falls were offset somewhat by continuing growth in deaths involving a different opioid, fentanyl, as well as other drugs such cocaine and methamphetamines. Overdose deaths often involve more than one drug. The improvement is not uniform: Some states seem to be making dramatic progress, while deaths continue to rise in others. The preliminary CDC data suggested deaths last year were down by as many as 1,000 or more in Ohio and Pennsylvania — each seeing declines of about 20%. Meanwhile, deaths increased by about 17% in Missouri, which had more than 200 additional deaths. It can take months for authorities to complete toxicology tests and other elements of a death investigation involving drugs. And some states report faster than others. The CDC is expected to report more complete data later this year. The current overdose epidemic has killed more people than any other in U.S. history, and it had been on a soaring trajectory. From 2014 to 2017, overdose deaths jumped by 5,000 or more each year. Experts trace the epidemic’s origins to 1995 and the marketing of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. It was meant be safer and more effective than other prescription opioids, but some patients got hooked and found they could crush the tablets and snort or inject them to get high. Gradually, many turned to cheaper street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. In 2015, heroin began causing more deaths than prescription painkillers or other drugs. In 2016, fentanyl and its close cousins became the biggest drug killer, and in 2018 they were involved in about 46% of the reported overdose deaths, according to the preliminary CDC data. Strategies to reduce drug overdose deaths have included tougher policing, treatment program expansions, policies to limit opioid painkiller prescriptions and wider distribution of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. Haffajee and other researchers are trying to figure out what measures are most responsible for the slight improvement. “It’s complicated because there are so many policies going on, and as an evaluator it’s very hard to separate them out and determine which is working,” she said. Valerie Hardcastle, a Northern Kentucky University administrator who oversees research and other work on local health issues, has seen the overdose epidemic play out in her region, near Cincinnati. She believes a major factor is Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, that has been widely distributed through the efforts of philanthropists and local, state, and federal officials. “It’s fantastic that we have fewer deaths, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “But I’m not sure it’s an indication that the opioid problem per se is diminishing. It’s just that we have greater availability of the drugs that will keep us alive.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ This story has been corrected to show Ahmad’s first name is Farida, not Farid.",
            "output": [
                "Number of US overdose deaths appears to be falling."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76f3c5473f994829a3a5a8005f3f519c",
            "input": "The committee sent letters to Juul Labs Inc, 35% owned by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, Fontem Ventures, Japan Tobacco Inc, and Reynolds American Inc, a unit of British American Tobacco Plc. The letter to Juul asked if the company has conducted or financed studies on the health implications of using its products and the effectiveness of Juul in helping users quit smoking. It asked if Juul has sent information to the Food and Drug Administration. Kaelan Hollon, a spokeswoman for Reynolds American, said the company is reviewing the letter and believes “minors should never use tobacco products, including vapor products.”   Japan Tobacco said in a statement it welcomes any opportunity to “set out the responsible approaches” it takes in its marketing. Juul and Fontem Ventures did not respond to requests for comment. The probe comes amid growing scrutiny of the e-cigarette industry by lawmakers. A separate House panel in July released internal Juul emails that committee staff described as attempts to “enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children.”   James Monsees, Juul’s co-founder and chief product officer, told the panel the company’s target audience is adult cigarette smokers. Representative Frank Pallone, the Democratic chair of the committee, cited vaping-related lung illnesses recently reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He requested answers and documents by Sept. 20. The CDC said on Wednesday it is investigating 153 possible cases of severe lung illness associated with e-cigarette use in 16 states. No deaths have been reported, they said.",
            "output": [
                "E-cigarette firms probed over health concerns by U.S. House panel."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d39ee50c5634286a2452ef848cd2a7a",
            "input": "On March 18, less than 10 days later, Khan died at an isolation center for coronavirus patients in the northwestern city of Mardan. He died from COVID-19, the day his test results came back positive. Khan was Pakistan’s first fatality from a disease that is rapidly spreading through the country of 220 million people. The virus has already infected over 317,000 people worldwide, and killed more than 13,000. The number of confirmed cases in Pakistan has soared to more than 750 from 22 last week, largely driven by a wave of pilgrims returning from Iran who Pakistani authorities said were   inadequately tested and improperly isolated. At least four people have died from the disease in Pakistan in the past week. Thousands of people now need to undergo the slow process of retesting, and authorities fear the number of cases could surge in coming days. Health experts say there is a lack of public awareness in Pakistan about the virus and that the cash-strapped government is ill-prepared to tackle its spread. A shortage of quarantine facilities and testing labs have also hampered efforts to effectively deal with high-risk cases. In Sindh, Pakistan’s hardest-hit province, the situation is already grim, said Dr. Naseem Salahuddin, the head of department for infectious diseases at Indus Hospital in Karachi. She said that the few hospitals equipped to handle COVID-19 cases in Karachi are either close to capacity or have shut their doors because they can’t handle the influx of suspected cases. “We’re likely to have a very big outbreak no matter what we do now,” she said. “And we will not be equipped to handle the numbers. There will be breakdowns at many levels.” Better border controls and quarantine measures should have been instituted a lot earlier, she said. “I think the cat’s now out of the bag.”  Zafar Mirza, Pakistan’s health minister, who said last week that some of Pakistan’s quarantine facilities had not been “ideal”, did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The provincial health minister in Khan’s home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters interviewed three doctors involved in the case, as well as four people from Khan’s village, and reviewed medical case notes detailing his travel history. Together, they provide a picture of Khan’s last days, and illustrate why the South Asian nation is rapidly becoming the latest hotbed of the fast-spreading disease. In late February, Khan flew to Saudi Arabia to visit the holy city of Mecca for Umrah, a religious pilgrimage performed by millions of Muslims from across the world each year. Khan entered the country just before it shut its borders to Umrah pilgrims, in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19. Khan was in Saudi Arabia for two to three weeks, according to the doctors handling his case and an acquaintance from his village. (GRAPHIC: Pakistan’s first fatality of COVID-19 may have endangered thousands  - here)  Medical case notes, provided by one of Khan’s doctors, show that he departed from the kingdom’s Jeddah International Airport on March 8 via flight number PK736, which landed the following day at Peshawar International Airport, in northwest Pakistan. At least two people who knew Khan said he was already ill when he got on the plane and needed assistance on arrival in Pakistan. Despite Pakistan having identified its first confirmed cases of COVID-19 two weeks prior, the case notes state Khan was only asked to fill out a form and did not undergo a medical screening at the Peshawar airport. Khan did not mention any illness, and he would have escaped detection anyway if he had taken fever suppressors, said a Peshawar airport official who asked not to be named. Authorities are also scrambling to trace dozens of other passengers on flight PK736 that night, as well as airport staff who assisted Khan. Khan first visited a district hospital close to his village on March 16, complaining of cough, fever and breathing issues. The doctor diagnosed him as a potential COVID-19 patient and had him tested for the virus. The sample was sent to Islamabad for testing, according to the case notes reviewed by Reuters. While it is unclear if doctors could have forced Khan into quarantine, the case notes indicate he refused to be isolated. Instead, he went home, where he lived with his wife, three sons, two daughters-in-law, three daughters and four grandchildren. Hospital officials say Khan returned on March 17, when his symptoms intensified. On March 18, test results confirmed he was infected with COVID-19, and he was moved to an isolation center, where he died the same day. It is the events before his death, though, that have worried medical officials and alarmed many residents of his village. On March 9, Khan was greeted with a mass gathering in his village, as is traditional in Pakistan when someone returns from Umrah. According to local authorities, some 2,000 people were in attendance at the lunch – most of whom embraced Khan. Khan also ran a popular “medical clinic” in his village – though he wasn’t a qualified doctor, say local health officials. As is the case in many rural areas of Pakistan, people with just rudimentary medical knowledge often run such dispensaries to treat patients with ailments like fevers and colds, despite not having any qualifications. Khan had not resumed his practice on returning to Pakistan, but his sons ran it for him while he stayed at home in “self-quarantine,” health officials from the village told Reuters. However, they added, the “self-quarantine” involved his sons staying in the same room as him. The sons in turn also tended to dozens of patients at their father’s clinic during that period. Reuters was unable to speak with anyone in Khan’s family. There is mass panic in the village, local residents told Reuters via phone, adding that no one had taken the coronavirus threat seriously prior to this. “There are hundreds of people believed to have been infected but they are hiding and reluctant to go to hospital,” said Liaqat Ali Shah, a local social worker, adding that villagers feared being ostracized by the community and shunned by healthcare workers. The village, Union Council Mangah, was locked down following Khan’s death, according to an official directive from authorities. A complete lockdown was ordered “with immediate effect and there shall be no entry and no exit,” the order seen by Reuters read. The village of about 7,000 people, has been declared a mass quarantine zone, according to the provincial government, and testing has begun. But residents of Mangah say none of the officials surveying the area have testing kits with them. A medical worker on the ground said test kits were limited so they couldn’t test everyone and were only testing patients displaying symptoms. “There’s a virtual lockdown in the village and movement is restricted,” a school teacher in the village, told Reuters via phone. Despite this, at least four people showing symptoms, including two members of Khan’s family, are now missing and have gone underground, health officials told Reuters. All four had tested positive for COVID-19, the officials said.",
            "output": [
                "Pakistan's first coronavirus death exposes nation's vulnerability."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1968bac3e6b40978e0ef21dc0234261",
            "input": "\"Cost data for flibanserin is not provided. Some projection of cost should be available for any drug this far along in Phase III trials – and for which the company has already begun marketing campaigns. If not from the company, then from stock analysts. The story properly quantifies the reported benefits in absolute terms which allows the reader to see that they are small. (Results are described in Quality of Evidence comments.) In an interview a study researcher conceded that the absolute number of women reporting benefit was not large. The story provided statistics on common side effects including daytime sleepiness, dizziness, fatigue, anxiety, dry mouth, nausea and insomnia. These side effects resulted in 15% of those taking flibanserin vs 7% taking placebo withdrawing from the study. The story does a good job of presenting and evaluating the available evidence. Results are presented in absolute terms, for example that just under one third of women taking flibanserin reported improvement in sexual distress/desire compared to approximately one fifth of women taking placebo. In contrast, these results were presented in relative terms by the manufacturer. Except for the headline, \"\" ‘Female Viagra’ May Treat Low Sexual Desire\"\", this story avoids disease mongering and notes that \"\"hypoactive sexual desire disorder\"\" in women is a controversial diagnosis. The text clarifies that while the popular press is dubbing flibanserin as the \"\"female Viagra\"\", it is not similar to Viagra or other drugs to treat erectile dysfunction. Conflicts of interest are disclosed. The story noted that the study researcher interviewed is a paid consultant for the drug manufacturer. An alternative point of view is provided by two independent experts, a psychologist and a sex-therapist. The independent sources comment on the role that personal relationships play in sexual desire and experience which was not addressed or acknowledged by the researchers. The story indicates that an alternative drug called the Intrinsa testosterone patch is available in Europe, but not in the U.S. The story also notes a difference between these dugs; Intrinsa is a hormonal treatment compared to flibanserin which is a non-hormonal. The story indirectly informs that reader that flibanserin is not available by noting that it is in phase III clinical trials and that the manufacturer is seeking FDA approval (despite early direct to consumer marketing campaigns). The story makes it fairly clear that this is a new treatment – also for a new and controversial diagnosis. The story was apparently based on research presented in abstract form at the annual clinical meeting of the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, although this information has not been published in independently, peer-referred scientific journals. There is no direct evidence that it relied largely on a news release. In fact, the use of interviews with independent experts makes it clear that independent reporting took place.\"",
            "output": [
                "‘Female Viagra’ May Treat Low Sexual Desire"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-650a08400bd24ae4ba2e39dd0f02528b",
            "input": "\"As school districts grapple with how to educate students in the next academic year amid the coronavirus, a list summarizing some of the federal government’s suggestions for how to safely return to the classroom is being shared on social media — but it’s missing some context. Some people reading the list on social media are misinterpreting these suggestions as mandates. But the language throughout the CDC’s actual advice comes with numerous caveats such as \"\"when possible,\"\" \"\"schools may consider,\"\"and \"\"as feasible.\"\" \"\"Here we go,\"\" begins the text of the image being shared widely on Facebook. \"\"New CDC guidelines for reopening schools.\"\" They’re written as follows: \"\"This is off CDC website about school starting back in the fall,\"\" one account wrote about the image, linking to a web page about \"\"considerations for schools\"\" on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The inconsistent punctuation and casual language — \"\"here we go\"\" — were the first clues: this image of \"\"guidelines\"\" isn’t directly from the CDC website. But the CDC did update its \"\"considerations for schools\"\" on May 19, describing \"\"ways in which schools can help protect students, teachers, administrators, and staff and slow the spread of COVID-19.\"\" These are not mandates. Rather, the CDC says, schools can work with state and local health officials to decide \"\"whether and how to implement these considerations while adjusting to meet the unique needs and circumstances of the local community.\"\" Implementation \"\"should be guided by what is feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community.\"\" The agency notes that online classes and activities are the least risky way to educate kids. Small, in-person classes with students social distancing are riskier, while full-sized, in-person classes where students aren’t spaced apart and share supplies pose the highest risk. The CDC also released on May 19 what the Washington Post described as a \"\"low-key guide to reopening,\"\" including \"\"a raft of social distancing policies\"\" schools. Let’s look at what the agency says compared to the list circulating on Facebook. We’ll break it down and show you what the CDC actually said: \"\"Wear masks over the age of 2\"\" Yes, the CDC says children younger than 2 should not wear masks. As for kids over the age of 2, though, it suggests schools \"\"teach and reinforce use of cloth face coverings\"\" and notes that masks are most essential when physical distancing is difficult. \"\"No sharing of any items or supplies, all belongings in individual cubbies or labeled containers; no sharing electronic devices, toys, games, learning aids\"\" The CDC says \"\"schools may consider\"\" implementing strategies that include avoiding sharing electronic devices, toys, books and other games or learning aids, and limiting the use of shared gym or PE equipment, art supplies, toys and games. \"\"Discourage sharing of items that are difficult to clean or disinfect,\"\" it says. \"\"Keep each child’s belongings separated from others’ and in individually labeled containers, cubbies or areas.\"\" \"\"Desks 6 feet apart, all facing the same way\"\" This is mostly right. The CDC does recommend desks and student seats be at least 6 feet apart \"\"when feasible.\"\" And, it says, \"\"turn desks to face in the same direction (rather than facing each other), or have students sit on only one side of tables, space apart.\"\" \"\"Distance on school buses- one child per seat, skip rows\"\" Yes, \"\"when possible\"\" the CDC suggests creating distance between children on buses. It gives as an example the idea of seating only one child per row and skipping rows. \"\"Install sneeze guards and partitions wherever you cannot space 6ft apart\"\" It says to \"\"install physical barriers\"\" in areas where it is hard for people to keep at least 6 feet apart. Sneeze guards and partitions are examples of such barriers. \"\"One way routes in hallways; tape on sidewalks and walls to assure kids stay 6ft apart\"\" In areas where it’s hard for people to keep 6-feet apart, \"\"physical guides, such as tape on floors or sidewalks and signs on walls,\"\" can be used to help make one-way hallway routes. \"\"No communal shared spaces - cafeterias, playgrounds\"\" Yes, the CDC suggests closing communal spaces like dining halls and playgrounds with shared playground equipment \"\"if possible.\"\" \"\"Otherwise,\"\" it says, \"\"stagger use and clean and disinfect between use.\"\" \"\"Physical barriers or screens between sinks in bathrooms\"\" Yes, the CDC suggests adding \"\"physical barriers, such as plastic flexible screens, between bathroom sinks especially when they cannot be at least 6 feet apart.\"\" \"\"Only pre-packaged boxes or bags of food instead of cafeteria food; kids eat in classrooms\"\" \"\"As feasible,\"\" kids should bring their own meals or else schools should \"\"serve individually plated meals in classrooms instead of in a communal dining hall or cafeteria.\"\" At events, the CDC recommends food come in pre-packaged, single-serve boxes or bags instead of a buffet or family-style meal. \"\"No field trips, assemblies, or external organizations in schools. Limit volunteers and visitors.\"\" It does recommend that schools opt for \"\"virtual activities\"\" instead of field trips, student assemblies, special performances, school-wide parent meetings, and spirit nights.\"\" Nonessential visitors and volunteers should also be limited \"\"as possible.\"\" \"\"Same children stay with same staff all day, no switching groups or teachers.\"\" Essentially, yes, but without the hard line: \"\"Ensure that student and staff groupings are as static as possible by having the same group of children stay with the same staff (all day for young children, and as much as possible for older children). Limit mixing between groups, if possible.\"\" \"\"Stagger arrival and departure times for students to limit exposure to crowds of kids.\"\" The CDC suggests staggering arrival and drop-off times or locations in groups of students, or putting protocols in place to limit contact between each group. \"\"If possible, daily health and temperature checks.\"\" \"\"If feasible, conduct daily health checks (e.g., temperature screening and/or symptom checking) of staff and students.\"\" \"\"And several rules about cleaning and disinfecting throughout the day and hand washing frequently.\"\" The CDC says to \"\"teach and reinforce handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds\"\" and advises schools to provide hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t readily available. It also suggests cleaning and disinfecting touched surfaces like playground equipment, door handles, sink handles and water fountains at least daily or between use as much as possible. Our ruling The image being shared on Facebook roughly summarizes some of the CDC’s suggestions for reopening schools amid the new coronavirus. But the guidelines listed are not mandated by the CDC, and they’re not comprehensive — the agency has other suggestions not mentioned in the image, such as offering options to protect staff and students who have a higher risk of severe illness.\"",
            "output": [
                "A long list shows “new CDC guidelines for reopening schools.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf298df57127476682474093a56e7467",
            "input": "Reynolds had planned to announce which business closures that she would allow to expire Friday and which she would extend through May. But she said she was still looking at data, and now expects an announcement Wednesday. Restaurants in 22 counties remain closed. Statewide, bars, salons, barber shops, movie theaters, casinos, museums and several other businesses are ordered closed until Friday. Reynolds has hinted that parts of eastern Iowa that remain under restrictions, such as Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, are on a positive trajectory and could see some lifted. But the Des Moines area has seen a large increase in cases, and cities like Sioux City and Waterloo are still managing the aftermath of huge meatpacking plant outbreaks. Experts have warned that reopening too soon could lead to another wave of infections. Meanwhile, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that 19 inmates at the county jail had tested positive for COVID-19. The office said in a news release that the jail is keeping affected inmates in isolation. The state reported more than 500 new cases Tuesday, including 319 Sioux City-area workers who tested positive at a Tyson beef plant in Nebraska last month. Nebraska had delayed reporting those results to Iowa. The 18 new deaths brought Iowa’s official count to 289.",
            "output": [
                "Governor considers reopening plans as Iowa reports 18 deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d77d38ba9cc49f793b6e326c7fa59ca",
            "input": "The Utah Senate and House of Representatives voted unanimously Monday evening during a special session to send the proposal to Republican Gov. Gary Herbert’s desk. The measure would replace plans for an unusual state-run dispensary system with 14 privately run pharmacies and adopt protections for patients who are concerned they could be prosecuted for drug crimes, among other changes. Utah backtracked from the state-run dispensary after county attorneys expressed concern that such a system would put public employees at risk of being prosecuted under federal drug laws. Republican Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers, who drafted the law, said his team is “doing everything we can” to improve patient access and have product ready by next March. Some lawmakers said they still have heartburn over certain aspects of the bill, sharing reservations about product distribution and a looming fear of federal prosecution. Democratic Sen. Derek Kitchen said he’s concerned patients in rural parts of the state may have to pay more to access marijuana. Before the House vote, Republican Rep. Keven Stratton suggested Utah seek a federal waiver to protect the state program from prosecution under federal drug laws. Marijuana is banned at the federal level, though a congressional amendment blocks the Justice Department from interfering with states’ medical marijuana programs. The measure dictated that the courts may not treat a medical marijuana patient differently than someone who uses any other prescribed, controlled substance. Another change prohibited the state from issuing cultivation and pharmacy licenses to legislators. “A lot of money flows through this industry, some back to legislators,” Vickers said. “We don’t want legislators to have undue influence in an industry they want to have ownership in.” Debates in the chamber reflected ongoing tensions over amendments regarding distribution and prosecution of drug crimes. During a tense public hearing last week, members of the conservative group Utah Eagle Forum lamented the loss of the state-run dispensary system, while some medical marijuana advocates raised concern that there wouldn’t be enough private dispensaries to meet growing patient demand. An earlier version of the law imagined 12 privately run dispensaries instead of the state-run system. In the same meeting, a proposal outlining patient protections caused an emotional back-and-forth between conservative attorneys who argued parents couldn’t take care of children while using marijuana and patients who said the drug makes them better caretakers and helps them manage their pain. Utah residents voted to legalize medical marijuana via ballot measure in November. The revised law became effective in December after a compromise that secured the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and some marijuana advocates. However, the deal drew backlash from other advocates as it banned many marijuana edibles, placed additional restrictions on growing cannabis and made fewer medical conditions eligible for treatment with pot. Other changes addressed issues with land ordinances for cultivation facilities and marijuana research at in-state universities. Marijuana advocates said they are optimistic about the changes adopted. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, we see legislators working together, and they’re willing to work out a plan for patients,” Desiree Hennessy, director of the Utah Patients Coalition, said. Republican Rep. Brad Daw acknowledged the measure as a good first step but expects additional changes to the program in January. “I have close friends who, for them, cannabis is the only option, it relieves the kind of pain they have ... we have every right and responsibility to work toward a law that allows medical cannabis to patients who need it,” he said. “Is this bill perfect? Of course not. Is this done? No, it’s not.”",
            "output": [
                "Utah lawmakers approve changes to medical cannabis law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fdfef221b1ab4edf8c2917a8f3f237cc",
            "input": "Yet his service of tattooing realistic-looking nipples onto women who have had their breasts reconstructed after mastectomies signals the final step of recovery from cancer, and women react with emotion to the process. “They leave crying and hugging me. This is therapy,” says 32-year-old Quesada, who takes time out from his tattoo parlor to attend patients at the hospital. Reconstruction can occur months, or even years, after breast cancer surgery with tissue expanders typically installed to stretch the skin and make room for a future implant. Creating the nipple comes later and involves one more operation. “At this point most patients are exhausted,” said Lorenzo Rabadan, the doctor who first approached Quesada about providing women with an alternative to surgery. He invited the tattoo artist to train staff on the technique. Clutching a pale pink tattoo gun, Quesada creates the three-dimensional illusion of a nipple on a patient’s reconstructed breast, mixing colors with names like ‘rose pink’, ‘brown sugar’ and ‘tribal black’ to mimic the natural shade of an areola. Half-blind, Quesada offers his service free of charge. The national health service did not cover the cost of his false eye after he lost his left eye to a benign tumor. For many, a quick and relatively painless session marks the end of a chapter. “This means it’s over and I can pick up my life again,” said Mamen Malagon, 43. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2011 resulting in the mastectomy or removal of her left breast. “All done,” she sighed as she got dressed. “Do you know what it means to say that it’s over?”",
            "output": [
                "Spanish hospital offers nipple tattoos to breast cancer survivors."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-515301746b8d4b7bb3e622c2ac312fae",
            "input": "\"In the summer of 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about a collage of social media posts that appeared to show the public pronouncements of Ohio man Richard Rose. One image appears to be a screenshot of a Facebook post by Rose, vowing not to wear a face mask in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, while a later image appears to be a screenshot of his obituary, which states that he died on July 4 “due to complications of COVID-19.”  An Ohio man, Richard Rose, who said masks were \"\"hype\"\" in Facebook posts and who went to a crowded pool party in June, has died of COVID-19 coronavirus, his family and friends say: https://t.co/nX35Uj1GLB pic.twitter.com/q1oy3LyTyB — Heavy.com (@HeavySan) July 10, 2020  The story was reported by national and international news outlets, and the collage of Rose’s Facebook posts was presented by some internet users as a stark warning for those who failed to take seriously the risk of spreading and contracting the virus, and in particular, the effectiveness of wearing face masks. However, some expressed skepticism about the story, claiming that Rose was a crisis actor, and that the circumstances of his death, and his earlier social media posts, amounted to a hoax. But the posts and obituary were authentic. Richard Donald Rose III, known as Rick, died on July 4 after suffering complications from COVID-19, with which he was diagnosed three days earlier. Two months earlier, he had indeed vowed not to wear a face mask, dismissing their use as “hype.” Three weeks before his passing, Rose did visit a holiday resort in Ohio, posting a photograph of a crowded swimming pool area there. Rose’s obituary, which was published on the Legacy.com website, in the Sandusky Register, the Port Clinton Beacon, and on the website of Crosser and Priesman funeral home, stated the following: “Richard Donald Rose, III, 37, of Port Clinton passed away Saturday, July 4, 2020 due to complications of Covid-19 at his home. He was born July 25, 1982 in Port Clinton. He graduated from Port Clinton High School. He served his country in the United States Army for nine years serving two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He enjoyed social media, online streaming, paranormal and his two cats Dale and Tucker. He was a fan of NASCAR, Dirt Track Racing and Georgia Bulldogs Football. Surviving are his mother and step-father: Tina and Kenny Heschel of Port Clinton; sister: Krystal Campbell of Genoa; brother: K. C. Heschel of Concord, NC; half-sister: Melissa Rose of Port Clinton. He was preceded in death by his grandparents: Carl and Marla Kessler, Cooper and Janice Heschel, Richard Rose, Mildred DeBlase…” In the months leading up to his death, Rose posted to Facebook several observations regarding COVID-19, but the tone of the posts was not consistent throughout. In general, much of what Rose posted on the site was humorous, and some of his COVID-19-related posts kept the spirit of lightheartedness and mischievousness. At one point, in early April, he appeared to be at the very least curious about the potential benefits of various kinds of face masks, but on the other hand, a meme he posted on May 18 promoted a baseless claim that policies requiring face masks to be worn were a precursor to mandatory Muslim dress codes. Rose was clearly personally aware that COVID-19 was a real phenomenon. In March he noted in a Facebook post that his own cousin had tested positive for the disease, and he requested prayers and “positive vibes” on behalf of that cousin, who was in a medically induced coma at that time.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Richard Rose of Port Clinton, Ohio died of COVID-19 after earlier vowing not to buy a face mask and dismissing advice to use face masks as \"\"hype.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5c36083534740f6bb0d2a99e843050b",
            "input": "\"With the health care bill teetering in the balance, antiabortion Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak's announcement hours before the final vote that an agreement had been reached on the abortion issue marked a momentous shift. For weeks, Stupak insisted he and a group of other abortion foes in the House could not support the Senate bill because it would result in federal funding of abortions, contrary to longstanding federal policy. But on the afternoon of March 21, 2010, Stupak said in a news conference that the promise of an executive order on abortion from President Barack Obama convinced him \"\"there will be no public funding of abortion in this legislation.\"\" Stupak's comments several hours later on the House floor provided some of the most emotionally charged moments of the late-night health care debate. \"\"It is the Democrats who, through the president's executive order, ensure that the sanctity of life is protected,\"\" Stupak said. His comments were interrupted by catcalls from the bill's Republican opponents, one of whom was heard to yell \"\"baby killer!\"\" Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer later said he was the one who shouted. But he said he yelled \"\"It's a baby killer,\"\" referring not to Stupak (to whom he apologized), but to the agreement Stupak helped forge with the president. The abortion issue in the health care reform debate has been thorny from the start. From early on, legislators on both sides of the abortion issue professed a desire to maintain the status quo on abortion in the health care bill. But that quickly proved difficult, if not impossible. Here's why: Since 1976, the federal government has been guided by the Hyde Amendment, a law that prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in peril. Due to that amendment -- which must be renewed every year -- abortion services are not provided in health care plans offered to federal employees and for active and retired military. But the health care reform bill proposes a health care exchange in which private insurance companies could compete for the business of people who do not get their insurance through an employer. The question then: Should private companies be allowed to offer abortion coverage (as most already do)? And what if the people buying policies are getting government subsidies to buy insurance? In the House, Stupak helped add an amendment that bars anyone who accepts federal subsidies for health coverage from buying a plan with abortion coverage on the exchange. The amendment does let them choose a plan with abortion coverage if they pay for it without using federal subsidies. And those who accept subsidies can still buy an abortion \"\"rider\"\" -- that is, a separate policy covering abortion -- as long as they pay for it entirely with their own money. The Senate took a different tack. The Senate language on abortion, written by an abortion opponent, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., would allow companies in the exchange to offer abortion services, even to people who get federal subsidies. But Nelson inserted measures to ensure abortion services would be paid through patient premiums, not federal subsidies. In order to accomplish that, the Senate bill requires that anyone who selects a plan that covers abortion must pay $1 a month toward a segregated fund that would pay for abortion services. One plan in every state exchange must offer coverage that does not include abortions, so there would be an option for those who morally object to $1 of their premiums going toward abortion services. Legislators supporting the bill -- along with President Obama -- insist that segregation of funds stays  to the Hyde Amendment restriction on federal funds for abortions. The Senate bill's proposal on abortion is opposed by activists on both sides of the abortion issue. Abortion rights groups like NARAL Pro Choice America, the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood all put out statements denouncing the requirement that policy owners or their employers write separate checks -- one for abortion services and one for everything else. NARAL called the provision \"\"unacceptable bureaucratic stigmatization (that) could cause insurance carriers to drop abortion coverage, even though more than 85 percent of private plans currently cover this care for women.\"\" Abortion foes like the National Right to Life Committee and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also vehemently opposed the Senate bill's abortion language, arguing that if you send federal subsidies to a person who then chooses a plan that cover abortions, that's federal funding of abortion. They called the plan to segregate money so that abortions are paid only through premiums -- not government subsidies -- nothing more than a bookkeeping scheme. Until March 21, 2010, that was Stupak's consistent position. In a Fox News interview on March 17, 2010, Stupak said of the Senate bill, \"\"It is very clear that abortion is, for the first time ever, a funded benefit by the federal government.\"\" So, what changed on Sunday that prompted Stupak to say \"\"there will be no public funding for abortion in this legislation\"\"? In the hours leading up to the vote, he and several other antiabortion Democrats in the House agreed to back the health bill after Obama promised to sign an executive order reinforcing the commitment that no federal funds would be used for abortions. The Senate bill already spelled out strict payment and accounting requirements to accomplish that, but Obama's executive order went one step further, putting the president's weight behind specific measures to ensure that funds are properly segregated. By our reading, the order mostly restates and reinforces the intent of the Senate bill. But it doesn't fundamentally change the fact that people getting government subsidies for health care will be able to buy a policy on the exchange that covers abortions. That's why some abortion foes -- not all -- believe Stupak essentially traded his vote for a handful of beans. \"\"It was issued for political effect,\"\" said Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee. \"\"We don't see any value in the order.\"\" We don't think Rep. Stupak can credibly claim one day that the bill is federal funding of abortions, and then the next day, after getting the agreement on the executive order, that it does not. Stupak's issue all along was that if federal subsidies went to someone who could then choose a plan that covers abortions, that was federal funding for abortion. And that hasn't changed. The president's order spells out safeguards to ensure the funds are segregated. But if you thought that was a bookkeeping trick before, there's nothing in the executive order that would change your mind. At the climax of the health care debate from the floor, House Republican Leader John Boehner said that even with the executive order from the president, the Senate bill would provide \"\"taxpayer funding of abortions for the first time in 30 years.\"\" We don't agree. It's understandable that abortion foes opposed a proposal that gives more people the opportunity to obtain insurance that cover abortions. But it's another thing to say those abortion services would be paid with federal dollars. The Senate bill states very clearly that public funding through tax credits and government subsidies for elective abortion services offered in the exchange is prohibited. But more than that, the bill sets up a mechanism to ensure that abortion services offered in the exchange are paid entirely from patient premiums, premiums paid by people who have chosen a private plan that covers abortion. The executive order puts the weight of the president's word behind providing a way to ensure two checks go to insurers every month, so that abortion dollars and federal dollars are not commingled. We think that's enough to back up Stupak's claim, \"\"There will be no public funding for abortion in this legislation.\"\" But that's a conclusion we reached before the president promised an executive order, back when Stupak disagreed with us and insisted the bill would have had federal dollars subsidizing abortions. We don't understand how the executive order changes Stupak's logic on this issue, but no matter how he arrived as his conclusion, we think he's right now. And we rule his claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "There will be no public funding for abortion in this legislation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3a5cbfc7b904e259bcb3a802a4982c8",
            "input": "Researchers, who studied about 1,000 teens who said they wanted to quit smoking, wrote in the journal Pediatrics that close to 11 percent of those who got counseling for three months had quit smoking, compared to six percent of those who only received educational pamphlets. “A school nurse-delivered smoking-cessation intervention proved feasible and effective in improving short-term abstinence among adolescent boys and short-term reductions in smoking amount and frequency in both genders,” wrote study author Lori Pbert of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. But a year after the sessions, there was no difference in smoking rates based on what kind of assistance teens had gotten from their nurses. In addition, fewer than one in five teens said they hadn’t smoked recently. “It’s nice that there was some effect at three months, what we really care about is sustained cessation,” said Michael Siegel, who studies tobacco control at the Boston University School of Public health but wasn’t involved in the study. “The overwhelming majority of these kids are not quitting.”   In the 35 Massachusetts schools covered in the study, half the nurses were trained to give their students one-on-one counseling based around goal setting and problem solving, including making a plan to quit and then preventing relapses. The other nurses gave students information pamphlets on quitting smoking and volunteered to answer any questions they had about the process. Both groups of nurses saw their students at four weekly sessions, ranging from 10 to 30 minutes. The counseling intervention appeared to especially help boys in the short run. Those who had made goals and tracked progress with the nurses were three times more likely to say they had stopped smoking than boys in the “control” group. But between 13 and 17 percent of both boys and girls reported they had stopped lighting up a year later, regardless of whether or not they had received counseling. Other smoking cessation experts noted that relapsing into smoking is the biggest hurdle at any age, and that teens were especially likely to do so. But they added that the more options teens had for help, the better. SOURCE: bit.ly/o4z0xc",
            "output": [
                "Study: can school nurses help teens quit smoking?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1fdcfc2c274495f9c34a24a79d39541",
            "input": "The story frames the discussion in terms of income to the company, but doesn’t address the costs to patients or society. The story said the estimated market for a drug that could alter the course of Alzheimer’s “could be worth more than $10 billion in yearly sales.” Some discussion of the cost to society of treating Alzheimer’s would have been a good addition. Or, the story could have explored the cost per patient using the potential revenue estimates to give readers a sense of how much a drug like this might cost. There was no mention of the size of the benefit observed. A STAT news story on this same trial noted that the study failed to meet its primary endpoint, which means the trial failed. As in many past Alzheimer’s drug trials, the company found positive results only in a sub-group of patients. As we’ve written previously, in larger subsequent studies, the drugs have all failed. The story said reported side effects included reactions at the sites of the infusion and swelling around blood vessels observed with brain imaging, and that the companies “said they plan to present the results in detail at [an] academic conference.” The story could have been clearer on how common these side effects are and how serious they were. According to the companies’ news release, infusion-related reactions “were mostly mild to moderate in severity. Incidence of ARIA-E (edema) was not more than 10% in any of the treatment arms, and less than 15% in patients with … the highest dose per the study protocol safety and reporting procedures.” These are concerning potential harms for which no one knows the long-term consequences. Cautions were given early and often about the uncertainty of the evidence. For example, a secondary headline cautioned it’s “too soon to say drug marks real advance,” while the lead mentioned that “a string of failures shadow the efforts” to develop a treatment for Alzheimer’s. The second paragraph further tempered expectations: Alzheimer’s has proved an especially tough drug target. Approved therapies only relieve symptoms temporarily, and one experimental treatment after another promising to stymie the neurodegeneration has ultimately failed to work. Some pharmaceutical companies, after costly failures, pulled out. Also mentioned high in the story was the data were preliminary and based on “a mid-stage study looking for the right dose.” Further down readers were informed of uncertainties around outcomes measures and analytical methods and the need for independent review. There was no disease-mongering. The story offered some perspective on the impact of the the disease: “An estimated 5.7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, a figure expected to rise as the population ages, the Alzheimer’s Association says.” In addition to business analysts, the story quoted Lon S. Schneider, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, who “warned against reading too much” into the announced results. The story mentioned there are 126 therapies in clinical development, according to  the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, with beta amyloid being the most common drug target being tested in human trials. It also mentioned approved therapies that “only relieve symptoms temporarily.” There is also evidence that a healthy lifestyle can be of benefit to people at risk for Alzheimer’s and those with early symptoms. The story made clear this drug is still in development. The story explained that this is one of many attempts to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s. The story didn’t rely on the companies’ news release.",
            "output": [
                "Drugmakers Call Experimental Alzheimer’s Drug Study Positive"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97c3226eb175444e933150ac492a5741",
            "input": "The story did not address costs. Because this ran in the U.S. edition of The Guardian, this is important and useful information for readers stateside, who often have substantial out-of-pocket drug costs. The research examined the side effect profiles of  lithium, valproate, olanzapine, and quetiapine and provided hazard ratios for the most commonly recognized side effects. The Guardian story reflects those findings in a qualitative way with some quantitative details, such as: “Meanwhile, lithium patients were less likely to put on weight than patients on the other drugs. While 15%-20% of those on the three other drugs were more likely to gain more than 15% of their body weight, just 10% of those on lithium put on the same amount of extra pounds.” The story does a reasonable job in outlining the side effects seen with the four drugs in question and provides them in context. The reader is told: “The researchers studied a nationally representative sample of 6,671 patients across the UK who were treated for bipolar disorder between 1995 and 2013. Of those, 2,148 had taken lithium, 1,670 had used valproate, 1,477 had been on olanzapine and 1,376 had taken quetiapine. They experienced side-effects including chronic kidney disease, thyroid disease, weight gain and high blood pressure.” These are important details, but we also wanted to see some nod to the caveats of the study, which were noted by the researchers in their paper in the “strengths and limitations” section. There is no evidence of disease mongering. Given the seriousness of the disorder and its prevalence, we would have liked to have seen read more on how many people it affects. Although the majority of the quotes come from a senior author of the research, the comments of Stephen Buckley, head of information at the charity Mind were welcomed and provided an important second voice. A few words from other clinicians would have been a bonus. The research examined the side effect profiles of the most commonly used drugs to treat bipolar disorder, it also discusses “talk therapy” (but not until the end of the story). The story makes it clear that the four drugs studied are indeed available. The story begins with: The new study is the first to compare the side-effects of the four main mood-stabilising drugs prescribed by the NHS.”  Based on our review of the medical literature, we agree. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Lithium should be more widely used for bipolar disorder, researchers say"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d09c0919c694ea7bbe247c10d0a1e9f",
            "input": "The three states join New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey, home to 101 million Americans combined, as cases nationwide topped 32,000, with more than 415 dead, according to a Reuters tally. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T)   “Every piece of evidence that I can lay my hands on indicates that we’re at an absolutely crucial time in this war and what we do now will make all the difference in the world,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. “What we do now will slow this invader. It will slow this invader so our healthcare system ... will have time to treat casualties.”  In the U.S. Senate, partisan disagreement blocked a massive coronavirus response bill from advancing, with Democrats saying the Republican measure focused too heavily on helping corporations. But Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said he believed differences could be overcome in the next 24 hours. Ohio has 351 cases and three deaths, while Louisiana has 837 cases and 20 deaths, several in a senior-care facility. Louisiana has the third highest number of cases per capita and saw a 10-fold increase in cases in the past week, Governor John Bel Edwards said. Ohio’s order will go into effect at midnight EDT on Monday and stay in effect until April 6. Louisiana’s order goes into effect at 5 p.m. CDT on Monday and lasts through April 12. Delaware’s order starts at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. Dallas County in Texas, home to over 2.5 million people, and Philadelphia, with 1.6 million residents, told non-essential businesses on Sunday to close and residents to stay home. In Kentucky, non-essential businesses must close by 8 p.m. EDT on Monday but authorities stopped short of ordering residents to stay home. Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky on Sunday became the first member of the Senate to announce he had tested positive for the coronavirus. At least two members of the House of Representatives previously said they tested positive. Around the globe, billions are adapting to a new reality, with countries such as Italy, Spain and France on lockdown and several South American nations taking similar measures to try to stay ahead of the contagion, as global cases exceeded 325,000 and deaths topped 14,000. The mayor of New York City, the epicenter of the nation’s coronavirus epidemic, on Sunday described the outbreak as the biggest domestic crisis since the Great Depression and called for the U.S. military to mobilize to help keep the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. “If we don’t get more ventilators in the next 10 days, people will die who don’t have to die,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, as the nation’s most populous city saw COVID-19 cases top 9,600 and deaths climb to 63. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the federal government to take over acquisition of medical supplies so states do not have to compete with each other for desperately needed resources. Help is not coming quickly enough, Cuomo said. “Time matters, minutes count, and this is literally a matter of life and death,” he said. “At the same time, there is not going to be chaos, there is not going to be anarchy. Life is going to go on. Different. But life is going to go on.”    Cuomo gave New York City officials 24 hours to come up with a plan to deal with residents still congregating in parks and other places and not practicing social distancing. De Blasio said New York City was not getting needed medical supplies from the federal government to contend with the rapid spread of the sometimes deadly illness. Hospitals are scrambling for protective equipment for healthcare workers and for ventilators as they brace for a wave of patients who will need help breathing as severe cases often lead to pneumonia and decreased lung function. Over the past week, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has been pushing for aggressive steps to stem the economic hit, after Trump spent several weeks downplaying the virus’ risks. Trump said on Sunday the National Guard would help New York, California and Washington state respond to the coronavirus crisis. He said the U.S. hospital ship Mercy would be in Los Angeles within a week and provided detailed numbers for the first time on the types and quantities of medical supplies sent to outbreak centers. Vice President Mike Pence said 254,000 Americans had been tested for the coronavirus and 10% were positive. The number of cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness in the United States and Spain are exceeded only by China and Italy. Italy reported record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths last week. “This is going to be the greatest crisis domestically since the Great Depression,” de Blasio told CNN, referring to the economic crisis of the 1930s. “This is why we need a full-scale mobilization of the American military.”   Texas Governor Greg Abbott lamented the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for health workers. He said they were seeing delivery dates in July. “That’s not going to work. We need delivery dates tomorrow,” Abbott said at a briefing. “We have ready money today for anybody who can sell us PPE. We’ll cut you a check on the spot.”",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus forces states to order nearly one in three Americans to stay home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1277cdb93c0b4d93a8aa158d71ed3030",
            "input": "Carrasco hasn’t played for Cleveland since May 30. The 32-year-old right-hander says he got a blood test after a spring-training physical prompted some concern, and he was diagnosed with leukemia in May. “I never thought that I would have something like this, because I play baseball, I’m like super healthy or something like that,” Carrasco says in a video posted on the Indians’ Twitter account. “But you never know what’s going on inside your body. “When I found out, it made me even stronger, then I push myself to work through this. Then I have a lot of people behind me, helping me, especially my teammates and family.” Manager Terry Francona said the club knew the details of Carrasco’s condition before the video was released. Carrasco plans to talk to the media in Cleveland next Thursday. Francona declined to talk about the pitcher’s condition beyond what he said in the video. “There’s nothing that came out that we didn’t know,” Francona said before Saturday’s interleague game in Cincinnati. “Carlos is going to talk to you guys Thursday night at our workout. He’s still throwing and doing all that.” Carrasco also told a TV station in the Dominican Republic about his condition while visiting a hospital, where he was seeing patients. He said he feels positive about his prognosis and he’ll be back with the team “at the end of July.” Asked if Carrasco’s optimism about a quick return is realistic, Francona said: “We’re not putting any timetables. I don’t think that’s fair to anybody.” Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. There are numerous forms of the disease, many of which are highly treatable. Carrasco’s announcement led to a wave of support from all over baseball. The Reds tweeted “Reds Country is rooting for you” to Carrasco. Following his diagnosis, Carrasco spoke with long-time teammate Jason Kipnis, who helped him research and understand what he was dealing with. “He’ll get through this with the help of everybody,” Kipnis said last month. “I know the city will be very supportive of him. Every time anyone sees him they will wish him well and ask him how he’s doing. I’m sure he’ll still have a big smile on his face. He’s always in a good mood.” Carrasco initially joined the Indians as a reliever, but has developed into one of the AL’s steadiest front-of-the-rotation pitchers. With a fun-loving personality, he’s also one of the team’s most popular players. Carrasco won 17 games last season and went 18-6 in 2017, when he finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting. Before he was diagnosed, Carrasco was not pitching well. He went 4-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts, and gave up 14 home runs in 65 innings. Carrasco, who is from Venezuela, has been with Cleveland since 2009, when he came over from Philadelphia in the blockbuster trade for ace Cliff Lee. The Indians signed him to a $47 million, four-year contract in December. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Indians pitcher Carrasco being treated for leukemia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50c58a2b593d4f0daa0fcbd4de6e919e",
            "input": "\"Even after all the hollering over health care reform, average citizens remain confused over how the bill will change their lives. Among them are retirees, a powerful voting bloc, which means Democrats who pushed for the reform have some explaining to do. How do they convince them that they have their best interests in mind? Enter Georgia's Democratic Party, whose chair Jane Kidd wrote a column to address these concerns. That opinion piece was e-mailed to the press. Thanks to health care reform, the op-ed said, seniors will get free services that can help keep them healthy. She wrote: \"\"For example, while seniors today must pay for preventative care, health reform eliminates co-pays, deductibles, and other costs for preventative care and provides for free annual wellness checkups starting next year – ensuring that every Georgia senior has the care they need to better maintain their health.\"\"Free? Is this too good to be true? To back up their claim, Georgia's Democrats referred us to an article in The Record newspaper of Troy, N.Y., that cited the AARP. It states that \"\"many preventative services . . . will now be free for Medicare beneficiaries, and they won’t have to shell out co-pays for those services.\"\" They also sent an article from CNN.com that said, \"\"Medicare will provide free annual wellness visits and personalized prevention plans starting in 2011,\"\" and a fact sheet from WhiteHouse.gov that said the same thing. We called the AARP, a group known for its extensive research on issues that affect seniors. They confirmed that seniors who have Medicare will receive annual wellness visits and personalized prevention plans starting in 2011.These benefits were established by Title IV of the massive health care overhaul bill, dubbed \"\"Prevention of Chronic Disease and Improving Public Health.\"\" By 2010, Medicare recipients will receive free \"\"annual wellness visits\"\" from their health care providers. The checkup will include the creation of a personal prevention plan and a schedule of recommended health screenings for the next five to 10 years, the bill states. Since the AARP took sides on the issue, we sought additional verification. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government agency that administers these programs, confirmed the AARP account and gave some additional information. There is some question about whether members of Medicare Advantage plans -- the privately managed plans that operate under the Medicare umbrella -- will also receive these wellness visits for free. A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said federal law requires that Medicare Advantage plans provide, at a minimum, the services included in Medicare. So by 2011, these plans will also have to provide wellness visits without charge. Generally speaking, the health care law has several provisions that attempt to change Medicare so that it pays for good outcomes instead of paying per procedure, a system known as \"\"fee for service.\"\" The free preventive care is part of that overall philosophy.Tests such as cancer screenings that are already free under Medicare will remain so, and additional tests may also be included, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. Still, we at PolitiFact Georgia remained dubious. Is there no provision that will make seniors pay for the \"\"free\"\" preventive services in an indirect way? Well there's free. And then there's \"\"free.\"\" It's free if you paid your Medicare taxes, and make below a certain income. Over time, higher-income seniors will find that their overall Medicare costs increase, according to tax expert Howard Gleckman, a resident fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, Joseph Antos, a health policy expert with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a nonpartisan think tank with conservative roots, and a PolitiFact Georgia review of the legislation.Under the current system, recipients with individual incomes of $85,000 or family incomes of $170,000 pay higher premiums to receive coverage. Under the new system, the pool of people who pay this bigger bill will gradually increase because the income thresholds will not be adjusted for inflation until 2019,according to Section 3402 of the legislation. For those who cross the threshold, this could mean an increase of roughly $50 a month, Antos said. All taxpayers, including seniors, who make more than $200,000 individually or $250,000 as a family will pay more in payroll taxes under Section 9015 of the bill. Also, seniors who like to work on their tans -- whoever you are -- should watch out. Indoor tanning salons will have to pay an excise tax under the new law. That cost will likely be passed on to customers, Gleckman said. But the overwhelming majority of retired seniors will find that free preventive services are just that. Free.\"",
            "output": [
                "Health reform eliminates co-pays, deductibles, and other costs for preventative care and provides for free annual wellness checkups starting next year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-279921e943754df1a2435948e519c4e5",
            "input": "\"There is no mention of cost. The story could have at least reported what the drug costs in its current use against blood cancer. The story did a good job of explaining both the potential benefits and harms of the drugs. This was a particular strength of this story – and made it stand out in comparison with the LA Times blog story that we also reviewed. Harms were emphasized from the outset – even in the headline – in the AP story but were never mentioned in the LA Times story. And this story reminded readers of the side effects encountered with another MS drug, Tysabri. Outstanding job on this issue by the AP. The story did a very good job of explaining the studies. There is no sign of disease-mongering in this story. Two apparently independent sources were quoted. The story did a good job comparing the new drugs with existing approaches to treat MS. Story explains that the drug is already sold to treat a rare blood cancer and stated that \"\"it’s too soon to know if the pills will be approved by the government or widely adopted by physicians.\"\" It does not report, however, as the LA TImes blog did, that \"\"The drug company MD Serono, an affiliate of Merck, has requested approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the tablet. However it recently received a \"\"refuse to file\"\" letter from the FDA, which means the agency is requiring additional information or data. MD Serono said it is pursuing the matter with the FDA and hopes to re-submit its application.\"\" We think that’s a crucial piece of information that affects availability, although, of course, doctors can still prescribe it for off-label use even before the FDA acts on the new request. The novelty of \"\"tests of the first two oral drugs developed for treating MS\"\" was clear in the story. It is clear that this story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "MS pills show promise and risk, studies say"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0f1f68a29bf24cb7add904ae78049a95",
            "input": "This story not only mentions the cost for this drug but also for other treatments for osteoporosis as well. The story did a great job of distinguishing among various fracture types and reporting both relative and absolute risk reduction for vertebra fracture. But then it was disappointing that the risk reduction for hip fractures and that of wrist, leg, or shoulder were reported as only relative risk reduction. Since the story characterized hip fractures as ‘devastating’, it should have provided the reader with some sense of how frequently they occur rather than simply indicating how often they result in a person entering a nursing home or dying within 5 years of having one. Nonethless, because of the elements that were well done, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story gave a rather complete listing of the potential harms associated with the use of this drug, including specific mention of those problems that are unique to this drug as compared with other medications used to manage bone loss. Although the list was complete, the story did not indicate the frequency with which these harms occurred. Nonethless, we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story provided information about the clinical trial it described, including the number of people studied, the length of time they were studied and the impact on various types of fractures. The story only indicated lifetime risks of fracture (i.e. 1 out of every 2 women over the age of 50) and that 25% of people die within 5 years of breaking a hip without providing some context for these concerns. The 5 year risk of fracture for a woman aged 55 is not the same as that for a woman aged 75; similarly, there are other factors compounding the statistic about death following hip fracture. Since the drug is marketed as being for women who are postmenopausal, rather than simply parroting these seemingly alarming pieces of information, the story should have provided more context for these statistics. This was one weak point in an overall strong story – but an important nuance that should not be overlooked. Comments about this drug and its potential utility from two clinicians noted as not having industry ties to this or other osteoporosis drugs were included in this story. This story compared the benefits, harms and costs for the new drug, with those treatments already on the market. The story opens with a statement about this drug’s approval by the FDA. The story provided a useful explanation of how this medication differed from the other treatments available for osteoporosis. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "The pros and cons of Prolia, Amgen’s new osteoporosis drug"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c47247ce48ba48d1bf915784a7a5eae8",
            "input": "The drones will spray a silicone-based liquid on rice paddies, where there are large expanses of stagnant water where malaria-carrying mosquitoes lay their eggs. The substance will spread across the water and prevent the eggs from hatching. It is hoped this will significantly reduce the numbers of the malaria-carrying anopheles mosquitoes in the area. The spraying by drones is a test to see if it will help the government of Zanzibar reach its goal of eliminating malaria on the archipelago by 2023, according to the strategic plan adopted by Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Program. The drone spraying is a relatively inexpensive way to stop the mosquitoes from reproducing, said Bart Knols, a medical entomologist and lead researcher of the program. “We are getting to the bottom of it as we will spray the breeding grounds of mosquitoes,” said Knols, who is with the Dutch Malaria Foundation. The drone will spray Aquatain, a liquid gel that will spread over a section of water and kill mosquitoes’ larvae, said Knols. The substance has been tested internationally and has been found to be harmless to non-target organisms, non-toxic and biodegradable. In the initial test, in the Cheju area of southern Zanzibar, the drone flew over and sprayed the shallow, sunlit water bodies in the rice paddies teeming with mosquito larvae, which were trapped as the gel spread across the water. Without the gel, the larvae would have emerged as adult mosquitoes in search of a blood meal. When those mosquitoes bite humans infected with malaria, they become vectors for the disease and continue its deadly transmission cycle. Along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa, Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania have had a long, well-documented battle with malaria. In the last 10 years, Zanzibar, with a population of 1.2 million people, has embarked on different methods of fighting malaria. Thousands of mosquito nets have been distributed to put over beds and insecticide was supplied to spray in homes. The campaigns have succeeded in decreasing the disease’s prevalence. Some areas of Zanzibar have seen the prevalence of malaria drop from 40% of the population to less than 10%, according to the malaria elimination program. The spraying by drones is a new part of the strategy. The use of drones will be essential to efficiently spraying the large rice fields, which have been identified as malaria hot spots on Zanzibar. The drone is efficient because spraying by hand is very time consuming and using a helicopter is too expensive, said Eduardo Rodriguez of DJI, a Chinese drone manufacturer. With the help of drone pilots from the State University of Zanzibar, the DJI Agras drone is being tested to spray the rice paddies. “The ultimate vision of our fight against malaria is to bring malaria down to zero in year 2023 as our target,“said Abdullah Suleiman Ali, manager of the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Program. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Zanzibar tests drones spraying rice fields to fight malaria."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a66960e41ef54f1c9fb70b2ab2b4dc9a",
            "input": "Brattleboro Retreat Board Chair Elizabeth Catlin said the organization is ready to work “with all willing partners” to help it achieve financial stability. The board began considering its options last week when the state of Vermont rejected a $2 million request for additional funding. “In recent years, the Brattleboro Retreat’s board and its management team have taken a number of creative, cost-conscious steps to reshape and modernize hospital operations while meeting the rising tide of soaring labor costs,” said Catlin’s statement. “The Brattleboro Retreat’s quality of care, even with these financial pressures, continues to be excellent.”   The facility serves more than half the people in Vermont who need psychiatric care and provides all of the child and adolescent psychiatric care in the state. It also provides addiction services including inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and treatment services for those who get Suboxone, a prescription medication used to treat opioid addictions. If it closes, the letter said that would mean finding services for 2,500 inpatients annually as well as filling new gaps for Suboxone treatment services, residential programs for children and meeting other critical health needs. On Sunday, Vermont Human Services Secretary Michael Smith said he had rejected a request for an additional $2 million in funding from the retreat. That request would be added to a financial package valued at an estimated $16 million for new beds and a recent rate increase valued at an estimated $3.5 million per year. Smith said he rejected the request in part because he believes it would constitute a taxpayer bailout of financial miscalculations by Brattleboro Retreat’s management. But Josephson said the state wasn’t paying it enough to care for the patients the state wants cared for. On Friday, Josephson sent a letter Friday to Smith and Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, that said the facility cannot continue operating without more support from the state. He said the board had authorized him to begin planning for the sale or closure of the retreat “in the very near future.”",
            "output": [
                "Psych hospital’s financial woes won’t stop services, for now."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ae9bcec3ed54ec3a8255cf0c481ab6d",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention any costs of the IUD or other treatments. The story quantifies the benefits of the progestin IUD in several ways. The story accurately notes that the study reported no adverse effects. The study’s authors reported only on adverse effects that were sufficient to require suspension of treatment. The story provides important details about the current study that help the reader evaluate the strength of the evidence. It even emphasizes that the new treatment approach is \"\"still uNPRoven\"\". The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of uterine cancer and is clear to point out that this treatment is only appropriate for a small subset of cases. The story quotes several independent experts and notes that none had a conflict of interest. The story compares the progestin IUD with systemic hormones and hysterectomy The progestin IUD is clearly available. The story clearly states that the Mirena IUD is not a new idea, but using it to treat early-stage endometrial cancer is relatively novel. Because the story quotes several independent experts, the reader can assume that the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "IUD Proposed to Treat Uterine Cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc7e2ab593ae4459b7952605886029be",
            "input": "\"Republican U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, whose district stretches from San Antonio north into Austin, recently pressed an official about the government bankrolling a musical. Smith, chairman of the House Science, Space & Technology Committee, listed six National Science Foundation grants as questionable--including, Smith said at the panel’s March 26, 2014, hearing, a \"\"climate change musical that was prepared for Broadway but I’m not sure ever was actually produced, $700,000.\"\" Smith then asked John Holdren, the White House science czar, if the foundation should justify such grants to the public, whose tax dollars fund them, the Texan reminded. Holdren replied that the foundation, which is entrusted with promoting scientific progress, already justifies its grants in online posts. \"\"We’re going to have to agree to disagree,\"\" Smith said. We’ve noted the scientific consensus globally that the Earth is warming. We focused for this article on whether the foundation ponied up for a play about that. Grant confirmed To our inquiry, a foundation spokeswoman, Dana Topousis, said by email the grant was awarded in 2010, adding: \"\"The Civilians, Inc., a Brooklyn, N.Y., theatre company, developed an innovative, out-of-the-box approach to exposing U.S. citizens to science. The project represents the unique cultural leverage of theater in its attempt to inspire the public’s imagination and curiosity about basic science and its relation to their everyday lives.\"\" Topousis continued: \"\"This venture, like other more traditional NSF-funded informal science education projects (e.g., interactive science exhibits, IMAX films, science-based television programming), aims to educate through a focus on understanding the scientific method, its applications, and its unique ability to extract knowledge about our complex natural world. It presents the pursuit of fundamental knowledge through basic research in a neutral manner that does not advocate any position regarding climate change or conservation research,\"\" she said. A foundation summary of the grant award, brought to our attention by Topousis and Zach Kurz, staff spokesman for the Republican side of Smith’s committee, states that a grant totaling $697,177 was awarded in 2010 covering August 2010 through July 2014. Play description The summary describes \"\"The Great Immensity\"\" as a \"\"touring play with songs and video that explores our relationship to the environment, with a focus on critical issues of climate change and biodiversity conservation.\"\" \"\"The play has been created with a network of partners including the Princeton Environmental Institute and Princeton Atelier Program/Lewis Arts Center, which will maintain an ongoing relationship with the project,\"\" the summary says, continuing: \"\"The play uses real places and stories drawn from interviews conducted by the artists to create an experience that is part investigative journalism and part inventive theater. Attendance at the performances is projected to be about 75,000.\"\" The summary also says: \"\"A major goal of the project is to help the public better appreciate how science studies the Earth's biosphere and to promote an inquisitive curiosity about our place in the natural world. The initiative also intends to create and evaluate a new model for how theater can increase public awareness, knowledge, and engagement with important science-related societal issues.\"\" Also, the summary says, the project will lead to the \"\"development and testing of online content, podcasts, and videos as well as special community education and outreach efforts in each community where the play is staged. Performances will be accompanied by post-performance panel discussions with the artists, local scientists and policy makers. After the completion of the initial tour, the play will be published, licensed, and made available to other theaters to produce independently.\"\" Tickets on sale By phone, Sarah Benvenuti, an administrator for the Civilian Theater Co., said the play is slated to run April 11-May 1, 2014, at the Public Theater’s Martinson Hall in New York, which is not on Broadway. Tickets will be $20 each, she said. Benvenuti said the play is about climate change and includes musical numbers, which one can view in online videos. \"\"Margin of Error,\"\" for instance, shows cast members singing about poll results. (Really.) We wondered if the presentation is explicit, say, about human contributions to warming. Benevenuti didn’t say, though she stressed that the play draws on direct conversations with expert scientists. \"\"Climate change is a real thing,\"\" she said. \"\"We have to do something about it.\"\" The script is not published, she said, but she pointed out the Public Theater’s online description of the play as a \"\"continent-hopping thriller following a woman, Phyllis, as she pursues her husband Karl who disappeared from a tropical island while on an assignment for a nature show. Through her search,\"\" the summary says, \"\"Phyllis uncovers a mysterious plot surrounding the upcoming international climate summit in Paris. As the days count down to the summit, Phyllis must decipher the plan and possibly stop it in time. With arresting projected film and video and a wide-ranging score of songs,\"\" the play \"\"is a highly theatrical look into one of the most vital questions of our time: how can we change ourselves and our society in time to solve the enormous environmental challenges that confront us?\"\" Finally, we circled back to the foundation to ask if the musical was an unusual grant beneficiary. Topousis replied by email that while the NSF \"\"research portfolio this falls under--Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)--contains projects at the intersection of science and the arts, NSF’s funding this kind of project--a theatrical production--is rare.\"\" Our ruling Smith said the science foundation awarded $700,000 for a climate change musical. The NSF awarded nearly that much for a theater company to produce a musical play that focuses on climate change and biodiversity conservation.\"",
            "output": [
                "The National Science Foundation awarded $700,000 to fund a climate change musical."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff54dbe549a14ac6bc824a2856f4dd98",
            "input": "Lawmakers approved the government’s bill Thursday with a majority of 459 in favor, 89 against and 105 abstentions. The law means parents who can’t prove their children have been vaccinated for measles by Aug. 1, 2021, will have to pay a fine of up to 2,500 euros ($2,790). Health Minister Jens Spahn has argued that the compulsory vaccination is necessary because of an increase in cases of the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease. Some parents and doctors had opposed the measure Teachers and daycare workers, staff in hospitals and residents of refugee shelters will also have to be vaccinated. Germany has recorded 501 cases of measles so far this year.",
            "output": [
                "German lawmakers approve compulsory measles vaccine plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7fef7df3008b4f709f2aa8b31901373a",
            "input": "“The two drugs work through different mechanisms of action,  but there is a synergistic effect that inhibits the growth of  prostate cancer cells,” said Xi Cheng, assistant research  professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, who  conducted the study. His team administered a combination of Celebrex, a  non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat arthritis  and other pain, and Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering statin, to  cultured mice tumors in order to measure the transition of  early prostate cancer to its more aggressive and potentially  fatal stage. Both drugs are sold by Pfizer Inc, but the company played  no role in the National Institutes of Health-funded study,  Zheng said. The researcher said both drugs have been shown in earlier  studies to have some impact on cancer growth when used alone. The Rutgers team found that the combination of low doses of  Lipitor and Celebrex had a more potent impact on tumor growth  than a higher dose of either agent when used separately. Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death  in men in the United States, with more than a quarter-million  new cases appearing each year, according to the American Cancer  Society. In the early stage of the disease, prostate cancer cells  depend on androgen hormones, such as testosterone, to grow. Treatment involves either decreasing the production of the  hormone or blocking its action. “Anti-androgen therapy slows the prostate cancer but  eventually the cancer becomes androgen-independent, the therapy  becomes ineffective and the cancer cells become more  aggressive,” said Zheng. “Treatments available for the later stage cancers are not  very good,” Allan Conney, director of cancer research at  Rutgers, said in a statement. “Oncologists employ classical  chemotherapy drugs which are very toxic and don’t work all that  well.”    The objective of the Rutgers study was to indefinitely  delay the transition to androgen-independence, prolonging the  time during which the cancer would be responsive to  low-toxicity, anti-hormone therapy. Zheng said it appears that a cell signaling pathway for  tumor cell growth is inhibited by the combination of the two  compounds. He said human clinical trials are being planned.",
            "output": [
                "Celebrex-Lipitor combo may fight prostate cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4bae85f546c44047998f53c01b791939",
            "input": "Earlier this week, officials at the National Health Service (NHS) in England recommended that hospitals cancel all non-urgent appointments and operations until next month. May, during a visit to a hospital outside London, said she recognized it is frustrating for patients who had their operations postponed. “I know it is difficult, I know it is frustrating, I know it is disappointing for people and I apologize,” she told Sky News. A flu outbreak, colder weather and high levels of respiratory illnesses have put hospitals in England under strain with many operating at or near full capacity. The issue is potentially damaging for May, already weakened after losing a parliamentary majority in last year’s election and struggling to pacify her deeply divided party as she navigates the final year of Brexit negotiations. The NHS, which delivers free care for all and accounts for a third of government spending on public services, is typically one of the most important issues for voters during elections and one which is often regarded as a weakness for May’s Conservative party. Opposition parties regularly accuse the government of failing to adequately fund the health service. “Ministers refused to provide the funding top NHS officials said was necessary and now patients are paying the price,” said Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats. Founded in 1948 by the opposition Labour Party, the NHS is a source of huge pride for many Britons who are able to access free care from cradle to grave. But tight budgets, an aging population and increasingly complex medical needs have left many hospitals struggling during the winter in recent years. The pressure continues to grow, according to new data on Thursday. The number of patients stuck in ambulances for at least an hour almost doubled to more 4,700 cases during the Christmas week compared with the week before. Department of Health guidelines say ambulance crews should be able to hand patients over to hospital staff within 15 minutes of arrival at hospital. The average bed occupancy for the Christmas week was 91.7 percent. Doctors say that anything above 85 percent is unsafe. The conditions have led some doctors taking to Twitter to vent their frustrations. One London-based doctor wrote that conditions were so bad that he was practicing “battlefield medicine”, while another apologized for the “3rd world conditions” caused by overcrowding.",
            "output": [
                "British PM May apologizes as overwhelmed hospitals cancel non-emergency operations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4df2ca43c24a47989cf8e4837dfbcf02",
            "input": "The ministry has proposed that the government issue an executive order banning the devices in the public interest, saying it was needed to ensure e-cigarettes don’t become an “epidemic” among children and young adults. “E-cigarettes and similar technologies that encourage tobacco use or adversely impact public health are hazardous for an active as well as passive user,” the health ministry said in an internal note seen by Reuters that the federal cabinet is expected to consider. Health officials are proposing jail terms of up to three years, with a penalty of up to 500,000 rupees ($7,000), for repeat offenders against the new rules, according to a draft of the executive order. First-time offenders would face a prison term of up to one year and a fine of 100,000 rupees. Such orders are typically issued in India as an emergency measure when parliament is not in session. It can lapse if it is not approved when lawmakers convene against in the next session, which will most likely be held around November. It was not immediately clear whether the draft executive order will face changes, or when it will be approved. India’s health ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The ministry’s plans would deal a blow to U.S.-based Juul Labs Inc, which is hoping to launch its e-cigarette in India and has hired several senior executives in recent months. Philip Morris also has plans to launch its heat-not-burn smoking device in India, Reuters has reported. Advocates for the devices say e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking tobacco, because users do not inhale the same dangerous matter. But many tobacco-control activists are opposed to e-cigarettes, saying they could lead to nicotine addiction and push people to consume tobacco. “There is evidence that these products are a gateway to tobacco products and induce adolescents and young adults to nicotine use leading to addiction,” the health ministry said in the document. India has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China in the world, making it a lucrative market for firms such as Juul and Philip Morris. More than 900,000 people die each year in the country due to tobacco-related illnesses. Sixteen state governments in India have prohibited e-cigarettes but there is as yet no federal legislation to deal with what the health ministry termed the “hazardous product”. Justifying its call for a ban, the health ministry argued that e-cigarettes can also be used as delivery devices for other substances such as cannabis, and could promote dual use with conventional cigarettes. “These devices are injurious to health and proliferation of these products has a negative impact on public health,” the draft said. Reuters reported in March the health ministry had called for Juul’s entry into India to be blocked, saying such products were “addictive and could potentially undermine our tobacco control efforts”. Juul, whose sleek vaping devices that resemble USB flash drives have become a sensation in the United States, has previously said it aims to improve the lives of smokers by offering a “satisfying alternative to combustible cigarettes”.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: India proposes ban on e-cigarettes, with jail terms for offenders - government documents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ba74e74bc1d47c99fc5cb60aff3b4e5",
            "input": "On February 17 2020, an odd story came out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa via The Gazette, about the arrest of a man who allegedly forced made a woman watch the mini-series Roots so that she might better understand her own racism:A Cedar Rapids man [Robert Lee Noye, 52] who was arrested [February 17 2020] is accused of holding a woman captive and forcing her to watch “Roots” — a nine-hour miniseries that chronicles author Alex Haley’s family line from the capture and enslavement of his ancestor Kunta Kinte to the liberation of Kinte’s descendants. […]When she tried to move, Noye told her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago,” the complaint said.Mugshots paired with a sensational headline are often employed by “fake news” or “junk news” sites imitating small local outlets, and The Gazette was a small-city paper. Because of this,  many readers encountering the story — including us — were skeptical it was authentic.Not long after its publication, the news was aggregated to other outlets across the country:A criminal complaint stated Noye forced the victim to watch the show, which is a nine-hour historical miniseries about slavery in the U.S. through the post-Civil War era, “so she could better understand her racism.”The complaint also stated the suspect told the victim he would “kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago” if she did not sit and watch the show.We contacted the very responsive Cedar Rapids Police Department, and we spoke to an officer who confirmed that the report was accurate. They also sent over a brief release with additional detail about Noye’s arrest:Robert Lee Noye, DOB [redacted] age 52, was arrested for False Imprisonment and Assault Domestic Abuse Simple. The victim, a 37-year old female, was not allowed to leave a room where the suspect was keeping her. The victim dialed 911 and had an open line with the Joint Communications Center (Cedar Rapids 911 dispatch center). Dispatchers could hear the victim asking to leave and the suspect was screaming at her. The suspect is accused of harassing his girlfriend and threatening to commit a forcible felony by saying that he was going to kill her, then spread her body all over U.S. Interstate 380.On February 17 at 12:14 a.m. Cedar Rapids police officers were dispatched to [redacted] for an open 911 line to the dispatch center with lots of screaming. Dispatchers and officers were able to use GPS to locate the area where the call was coming from and, after checking the neighborhood, determined the incident was occurring at 718 2nd Avenue SW. An intoxicated male, later identified as Robert Noye, answered the door. There was 37-year old female and 12-year old female inside the house who were both upset and crying. The suspect allegedly was calling the victim names while officers were present.According to the victim, Noye was verbally assaulting her all night and she set up a bed in the basement to get away from him. According to the victim, Noye came downstairs and told her to get upstairs and watch the movie “Roots” to understand how racist she was while he continued to verbally assault her. He then made threats to kill her. The victim and her daughter went into a room upstairs where the suspect did not allow them to leave. The victim was able to call 911 and leave the line open.The suspect was arrested and transported to the Linn County Jail.The claim that a man was arrested for allegedly forcing a woman to watch Roots on February 17 2020 was genuine, not “fake news,” not “satire,” and not fabricated to capitalize on Black History Month or for any other reason; the suspect’s girlfriend is the alleged victim. The suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.",
            "output": [
                "\"A man was arrested for allegedly forcing a woman to watch the nine-hour miniseries Roots to \"\"better understand her racism.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c0d27c08f4c146fa9731c52010e07f5b",
            "input": "But one theory about the epic undertaking reserves a special place for a nearby river, now known as the Frome, that may have served as a conduit for ferrying some of the smaller megaliths toward the site on rafts. Today, the placid waterway is once again playing a supporting role in a grand vision, albeit one its architects want to etch in the statute books, not in stone. Frome, a market town in the county of Somerset, is petitioning the British government to grant the River Frome “legal personhood” – in effect, giving it human rights. In throwing down this gauntlet, the town has joined a global “rights of nature” movement linking river basins in New Zealand to rainforests in South America and towns in the U.S. Midwest. In each case, communities are reimagining ways to harness the law to defend the Earth’s living tissues, and the places they call home. Some have dubbed it Mother Earth’s MeToo moment. In practical terms, supporters hope that granting the Frome rights will give lawyers a new avenue to seek redress whenever its waters are sullied by runoff from pig and dairy farms or overflowing sewers. Last month, one of the River Frome’s tributaries turned an unnatural shade of neon blue – highlighting wider concerns over water quality in British rivers. But Peter Macfadyen, an undertaker who redrew Frome’s political map by leading a band of independent candidates to take over the town council, wants to do more than protect one river. In an era of accelerating climate change, Macfadyen and his allies see their quest as part of a struggle to reset the balance between nature and the modern world. “This is much bigger than just wanting to punish people for doing something wrong,” said Macfadyen, who also served as Frome’s mayor. “It’s about trying to change a mindset about the environment in which we live.”   Supporters of the nature’s rights movement see Frome as the first test case for the concept in Europe. Nevertheless, the town has been waiting for months for the government to respond. And just as critics have questioned the effectiveness of campaigns in other countries, some in Frome have their doubts. Neil Howlett, a lawyer who lives by the river in Frome, says he backs many of the community-building steps taken by Macfadyen and other independent local politicians. But he sees the council’s vision for a “river’s rights” bylaw as a distraction. “Having a law which is completely outside the cultural basis of the society in which you pass the law doesn’t make for law that works,” Howlett said. “It’s lovely as an idea. But it’s only lovely as an idea.”   “PROGRAMMED FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION”   Although indigenous peoples have long shared the intuition that rivers, mountains and lakes are in some sense living, sentient beings, American legal scholar Christopher Stone framed the idea in contemporary legal terms. In his 1972 book, “Should Trees Have Standing?”, Stone argued that voiceless natural features would be best protected by granting them the kinds of legal protections and access to courts usually reserved for two-legged plaintiffs. The argument was a novel twist on the long-established principle in the United States that companies can enjoy “legal personality” to distinguish their legal obligations from those of their directors and shareholders. The idea is starting to spread. Campaigners won what is hailed as the first “rights of nature” courtroom victory in Ecuador in 2011 when judges stopped a road-widening project from dumping gravel in the Vilcabamba River. Around the same time, Bolivia enshrined a far-reaching vision of nature’s rights in a statute known as “The Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.”  In 2017, New Zealand’s parliament became the first legislature to acknowledge a river’s legal personhood when it passed a bill recognising the rights of the Whanganui River as an “indivisible and living whole.”  That same year, a high court in India declared the Ganga and Yamuna rivers legal entities – along with two Himalayan glaciers and their meadows, waterfalls and forests. Colombia’s constitutional court made a similar move for the Atrato River basin, where riparian communities face illegal gold mining and paramilitary violence. This summer, Bangladesh recognised the rights of all its rivers. Although legal systems in many developing countries were implanted during colonial times, nature’s rights campaigns in Europe and North America represents a role reversal in which “eco-cratic” indigenous worldviews are enjoying a revival. Advocates see this new “Earth jurisprudence” as a skeleton key to unlock a shift away from the endless pursuit of economic growth, regardless of the ecological consequences. “The current system is programmed for self-destruction, and the legal system is the enabler,” said Mumta Ito, a lawyer and founder of Nature’s Rights, a Scotland-based advocacy group, which is advising Frome town council. “The only way we’ll be able to change things is by creating a new operating system with nature’s rights at its core.”  Although the quest to win legal personhood for the River Frome was started barely a year ago, the roots of the campaign stretch back to a meeting at the Griffin pub in Frome one evening in 2011. Fed up with party divisions hobbling the town council, Macfadyen and a group of like-minded collaborators resolved to stand as independents at the next elections. Nestling in a shallow bowl of hills and noted for picturesque cobbled lanes, Frome has long been a magnet for free thinkers. But in a town of almost 27,000 people, the mavericks had never attempted a takeover. Surprising even themselves, the Independents for Frome movement won 10 seats on the 17-seat council with their model of a new participatory form of decision-making. In 2015, the Independents swept all 17 seats, prompting the Frome Times to dub the town “The People’s Republic of Frome.” In elections this May, independents won almost 80% of the vote. On a recent afternoon, Macfadyen led Reuters on a tour of some council-backed projects grouped loosely along the river, whose green-brown waters curve gently through the town. Wildflowers, nettles and brambles had been deliberately allowed to run riot on its steep, shaded banks. Near the bridge in the town centre, Frome’s “share shop” allows people to rent items such as power tools, musical instruments or camping gear at low rates. Nearby, a community fridge means nobody’s excess fresh vegetables need go to waste. The town council also backed a new renewable energy cooperative, which raised £300,000 from locals to put solar panels on buildings such as the health centre and football club. Macfadyen laid out step-by step instructions for running a town council in his book “Flatpack Democracy” – a play on the idea that thriving localism could be replicated at scale like  self-assembly furniture. Inspired by Frome’s example, independents have taken over more than 20 other town councils and have strong representation on another 20, Macfadyen says. Jamie Kelsey Fry, a contributing editor at the New Internationalist magazine, co-founded a similar initiative in the neighbouring county of Devon. He sees the campaigns as part of a “new municipalism” movement reshaping politics in cities as diverse as Barcelona in Spain, Jackson in Mississippi and Valparaiso in Chile – their organisers often driven at least in part by concerns over climate change. “These groups are going to become exceptionally valuable, because as society functioning in its normal, business-as-usual way begins to collapse, we’re going to have to be in a position to look after ourselves,” Kelsey Fry said. Although the rights of nature movement is growing fast, turning its aspirations into effective restraints on commercial interests remains a challenge. In the United States, the city of Toledo, Ohio, voted in February to amend its charter to state that the giant Lake Erie, plagued by toxic algae blooms, had a right to “exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.” This summer, state lawmakers quashed the move, saying nature did not have appropriate standing. In the case of Frome, legal practitioners would be astonished if the government approves the town’s draft bylaw, partly because there are already laws protecting the river. For example, in 2017, a court in the nearby city of Bath fined a Somerset farmer £22,000 for allowing slurry to spill into the water. The contamination had turned the River Frome brown and foul-smelling and killed at least 1,700 fish. Frome town council said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government informed it last week that a decision on its application was still pending. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment. With the world’s water bodies facing growing pressure from the extremes of heat, drought and rainfall driven by climate change, Macfadyen argues that any initiative that helps people to look at nature with fresh eyes is worthwhile. “We’re in the situation we’re in because we’ve misunderstood our position in the ecosystem,” Macfadyen said. “And unfortunately, we were wrong. We can’t do what we like. If we pour poison over everything, it comes back to bite us.”",
            "output": [
                "Mother Earth's MeToo moment: English town joins campaign for 'nature's rights'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ff4767c959e45919b52704f54a1f86d",
            "input": "Since the beginning of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak in January 2020, Americans relied on hospital patient data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop emergency plans that aimed to lessen the chances of deadly bottlenecks in the country’s health care system during the pandemic. The CDC’s system for collecting COVID-19 data from more than 25,000 health care systems nationwide, called the National Healthcare Safety Network, compiled reports that served to help local politicians, epidemiologists, teachers, and everyone else make responsible decisions to curb the virus’ spread. But in mid-July 2020, tweets and news reports alleged that — under the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump — the federal government changed what had become the standard data-collecting system during the global health crisis and stripped the CDC of its role managing  COVID-19 hospital information. Numerous readers contacted Snopes to investigate the legitimacy of such a claim, which was first reported by The New York Times on July 14, 2020. First, we searched for any evidence of the above-mentioned order by the Trump administration — that his administration announced a change for where on-the-ground health care staff send their observations on staffing and supply shortages, as well as data on testing, bed capacity in intensive care units, ventilators in use, and COVID-19 cases and deaths. We found a 13-page memo titled “COVID-19 Guidance for Hospital Reporting and FAQs” on the website of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS), of which the CDC is an arm, which was updated on July 10, 2020. Here’s a summary of some of the document’s main points: In other words, yes, the federal government in July 2020 —  as the country’s number of coronavirus cases surpassed 3.4 million — modified the guidelines under which medical facilities report COVID-19 patient data and the pandemic’s impact on them. Per the memo, the White House planned to rely on the centralized system — and that system alone — for how it would divvy up supplies such as personal protective gear and potential COVID-19 treatments going forward. In a special bulletin on July 13, 2020, the American Hospital Association, which represents thousands of medical systems nationwide, urged all hospitals to follow the new reporting guidelines and also stressed the federal government’s announcement that they will be used for distributing resources. Next, we considered perhaps the most controversial aspect to the viral claim: that the change initiated by the Trump administration eliminated the CDC’s previous role as overseer of COVID-19 hospital information. To that point, the memo explicitly reads: “As of July 15, 2020, hospitals should no longer report the COVID-19 information in this document to the National Healthcare Safety Network site.” HHS spokesman Michael R. Caputo elaborated in The New York Times’ story, saying the CDC “will certainly participate in this streamlined all-of-government response. They will simply no longer control it.” The details of the CDC’s new role were unclear as of this writing, and that alarmed public health officials, researchers, and critics of the Trump administration who believed the new system would give the federal government greater control over what Americans know — and don’t know — about COVID-19’s toll on communities. That group’s concerns were largely related to unresolved questions over if, or to what extent, the HHS-run system would release the COVID-19 hospital data to the public like the CDC had done — and whether or not the HHS was going to report the hospitals’ observations accurately. For instance, Thomas File, president of the Infections Diseases Society of America, said in a statement: Collecting and reporting public health data is a core function of the CDC, for which the agency has the necessary trained experts and infrastructure. Placing medical data collection outside of the leadership of public health experts could severely weaken the quality and availability of data, add an additional burden to already overwhelmed hospitals and add a new challenge to the U.S. pandemic response.",
            "output": [
                "In July 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration established new guidelines for hospitals to report COVID-19 patient information that eliminates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the leader of data collection."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5a65575e3a54aaba8b643048297aa18",
            "input": "Entitled “Beyond The Physical: A Symposium on Mental Health in Sports,” the forum will feature a series of panels with current and former NFL players as well as mental health organizations, caregivers, medical providers and media personalities. The aim is to raise awareness of mental health and promote a culture in which people, including athletes, are encouraged to seek help and support to achieve overall wellness. Confirmed panelists include NFL wide receiver and co-founder of Project 375 Brandon Marshall;  former NFL cornerback Asher Allen; former Pro Bowl running back Warrick  Dunn; Atlanta Falcons senior director of player affairs Kevin Winston; and representatives from Active Minds, Mental Health America (MHA) of Georgia, the American Psychological Association, and Campaign to Change Direction. “May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the NFL is pleased to partner with the NFLPA and Cigna to increase awareness and decrease the stigma around mental health ...” said Dwight Hollier, the NFL’s vice president of wellness and clinical services. “This effort is especially important in light of the messages young athletes receive about toughness and the need to be strong all the time. Through our discussions with caregivers, athletes, professionals and others, we will shine a light on mental health in sports and discuss ways to support athletes and others on the journey toward total wellness.” ___ For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "NFL, union to host symposium on mental health on May 14."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f207ec8c7e6549c68774e64b461da73d",
            "input": "\"Toilet seats just got political. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a constitutional lawyer recently elected to Congress, says they’re an intimate example of federal overreach. He name-dropped the familiar fixtures in his March 16, 2013, speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. \"\"We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats,\"\" he said. Does the long arm of the law extend into your bathroom? Yes. But some constitutional scholars say that’s too far. Plumbing the Constitution Cruz, a Republican, is no stranger to the nation’s founding documents. He argued before the U.S. Supreme Court as the solicitor general of Texas and has written more than 80 briefs for the nation’s highest court. He might like to flush some of its decisions. Here’s what he told his CPAC audience: \"\"There's the 10th Amendment, something our omnipotent federal government seems to have forgotten all about. The 10th Amendment provides that the powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states and to the people. \"\"How did we get a $16.5 trillion national debt? We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats and our light bulbs. We need to get back to the Constitution.\"\" We’ve written plenty about light bulbs (which, yes, are regulated) but hadn’t taken up the question of toilet seats. Here’s the thing about toilet seats and the Constitution. The 10th Amendment reserves powers for the states and the people — except those given to the federal government. And under current interpretations of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause and 14th Amendment, there’s power to federally regulate toilet seats. (Take that, commode!) How? Well, the federal government can regulate consumer products, access to public facilities for people with disabilities and workplace health and safety. Thus: • The Mine Safety & Health Administration says, \"\"sanitary toilets shall have an attached toilet seat with a hinged lid and a toilet paper holder together with an adequate supply of toilet tissue.\"\" • The Occupational Safety & Health Administration says construction sites with 20 employees or more shall provide \"\"1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 40 workers.\"\" • The U.S. Access Board requires most restrooms to have at least one \"\"accessible\"\" toilet in buildings covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means, in part, a toilet seat at a height of 17 inches to 19 inches. Springs to return seats to a lifted position aren’t allowed. Those MSHA and OSHA rules? Cruz’s office says the federal government \"\"has no business regulating such minutia.\"\" It could be — and has been — worse. Take the Great Horseshoe Seat Scandal of the 1970s. The brand-new Occupational Safety & Health Administration — which draws constitutional authority mainly from the Commerce Clause — had decided to implement a variety of voluntary industry standards as law. And it turned out that plumbers had for decades agreed that public toilets should have open-front, elongated seats rather than the closed rings of home bathroom seats. (Why? Oh, it’s a matter of speculation that’s made us the laughing-stock of Europe, where experts make jokes that the chief of one American lab was too polite to repeat. But it might have something to do with, um, hygiene.) So businesses suddenly faced a federal mandate on seat shape. The \"\"resultant outcries about picayune government regulations,\"\" as one newspaper columnist put it, helped land hundreds of OSHA regulations on a to-delete list. The shape of your public toilet seat was no longer federally regulated by the ‘80s. Plumbing fixtures now generally don’t face federal regulation. Instead, manufacturers follow voluntary industry standards, which often get the force of law from state and local governments. But they could. Commodes and the Commerce Clause Meanwhile, the regulations that yet exist — about workplace seat availability and public restroom seat height — strike Cruz as \"\"regulating down to the minutia\"\" on issues best left to states and local governments, said his press secretary, Catherine Frazier. He’s right that the federal government \"\"thinks\"\" it has that authority, according to constitutional scholars we consulted. Cruz’s former constitutional law professor at Harvard, Laurence Tribe, offered some examples where toilet seats are \"\"obviously subject to federal regulation\"\" under settled law: • The commercial sale of toilet seats, like other commodities, in transactions involving an interstate market are subject to regulation under the Commerce Clause. • The provision of adequate toilet facilities to workers in businesses affecting interstate commerce is subject to federal regulation under the Commerce Clause. • Ensuring that toilet facilities, like others, are made available without regard to race or disability is subject to regulation under the Commerce Clause and equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The question of whether the Constitution should be interpreted to grant such power to the federal government exposes a deep rift among experts. Randy Barnett, who represented opponents of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, argues for a narrower Commerce Clause, as do libertarian scholars such as Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute. A few decisions since the 1990s have gone their way, including the recent ruling that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate wasn’t justified by the Commerce Clause. The framers \"\"gave Congress the power to regulate commerce, not to compel it,\"\" justices ruled. (The mandate was upheld under the government’s taxing power, instead.) But settled law still says toilet seats are fair game. \"\"Basically, Cruz is taking an example that sounds silly — toilet seats! — but if you look at the legal basis for the regulatory authority, it's pretty well-established and not all that silly,\"\" said Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. \"\"This is just political posturing, and Cruz, as a Harvard law grad, presumably knows it.\"\" Our ruling Cruz, railing against modern interpretations of the Commerce Clause and the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, said, \"\"We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats.\"\" While federal attention to toilet seats has dropped since its brief foray into seat shape in the ‘70s, and now mainly addresses toilet access for workers and height for wheelchair users, Cruz is firmly right that the courts, Congress, and executive agencies claim federal power to regulate them. His toilet trivia is . Editor's note: We updated this item on March 26, 2013, to clarify that the U.S. Access Board requires most restrooms in ADA-covered buildings to have at least one accessible toilet.\"",
            "output": [
                "We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8415e9212a6442ea973229111eab9838",
            "input": "\"A model puts on a chocolate accessory backstage before the 9th Annual Chocolate Fashion Show in New York November 9, 2006. REUTERS/Eric Thayer (UNITED STATES) Researchers said the findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, don’t prove that adding a candy bar to your daily diet will help you shed pounds. Nor did the total amount of chocolate consumed have an impact. But the researchers, led by Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California San Diego, said it was possible that antioxidants in chocolate could be behind health benefits including lower blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as decreased body weight. “People have just assumed that because it comes with calories and it’s typically eaten as a sweet, therefore it would inherently have been one way, bad,” said Golomb. She and her colleagues used data from a study on cholesterol-lowering drugs that surveyed 1,000 healthy adults on typical eating habits, including how often they ate chocolate. The participants, who ranged from 20 to 85 years old, ate chocolate an average of twice per week and had an average body mass index, or BMI, of 28, which is considered overweight but not obese. The researchers found that people who ate chocolate with greater frequency tended to eat more calories overall, including more saturated fat, than those who went light on the candy. But even so, chocolate lovers tended to have a lower body weight. That was still the case after researchers accounted for age and gender, as well as how much they exercised. The effect worked out to a 2.3 to 3.2 kg (5 to 7 lb)difference between people who ate five servings of chocolate a week compared to those who didn’t eat any, Golomb said. However, it was only how often they ate chocolate, rather than the total amount, that was linked to their weight. Past studies have tied chocolate to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and better insulin sensitivity, possibly because of antioxidants or other chemicals in cocoa. There are a number of possible explanations for the results, said Eric Ding, a nutritionist at the Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the study. One is that poorer people stick to the basics when they’re buying food and don’t eat as much chocolate. Poverty has been tied to higher body weight. Another possibility is that “people who lost weight reward themselves with chocolate, more than chocolate causing the weight loss,” he told Reuters Health. Because the new study is relatively small and couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, it’s hard to take any lessons from the findings, Ding said. But the key for chocolate lovers seems to be considering calories and knowing that not all chocolate is created equal. For example, past evidence suggests that antioxidants in chocolate called flavonoids are behind any benefits tied to chocolate — and dark chocolate has the most flavonoids. “If you consume chocolate, consume it in place of something else, rather than adding to your net daily calories. Try to consume dark chocolate,” he said. The researchers agreed that moderation is important. \"\"This certainly does not provide support for eating large amounts of chocolate,\"\" Golomb said. \"\"For those of us who do eat a little bit of chocolate regularly, perhaps any guilt associated with that might be qualified.\"\" SOURCE: bit.ly/6D3TRk\"",
            "output": [
                "Chocolate lovers tend to weigh less: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fa853eb28144cb3bb70257f8d95335c",
            "input": "\"Hollywood star Matt Damon has been a champion of bringing clean water and sanitation to the world’s poor for many years, co-founding the group Water.org. The organization links families to microloans so they can tap into safe water supplies. In a conversation with the president of the World Bank, Damon tried to convey a sense of the severity of the problem. \"\"The poor often pay more for water than the middle class,\"\" Damon said. \"\"These people have no savings,  but they’re paying every day, in some cases, up to 25 percent of their income just for water.\"\" People who live in poverty always spend most if not every penny of what little they earn on basic necessities. That is part of the crushing reality of being poor. But we wanted to know about the fraction of their income that goes toward water. The poor often pay more for #water than the middle class. They have no savings, but spend up to 25% of income for water. —Matt Damon @water pic.twitter.com/Ar98ZUOH6X Rosemary Gudelj, spokeswoman for Water.org, told us the statistic was based somewhat on anecdotal evidence. Gudelj said Damon drew on the work of the group’s co-founder Gary White. \"\"Gary’s statement has been, ‘I have met people who pay up to 25 percent of their income on water,’ \"\" Gudelj said. \"\"This comes from Gary’s experience in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, when doing research for his master’s thesis.\"\" That might not seem like much to hang a claim on, but we did find a 2006 United Nations Development Program estimate that confirmed Damon’s point. \"\"In Uganda water payments represent as much as 22 percent of the average income of urban households in the poorest 20 percent of the income distribution,\"\" the report said. The report went on to say that in countries such as Argentina, El Salvador and Jamaica, the bottom fifth of households were spending over 10 percent of their money on water. The core problem, the report said, is the poorest families often pay the highest prices for water because they aren’t connected to the pipes that provide service to middle class and wealthy homes: \"\"In Jakarta, Lima, Manila and Nairobi households living in slums and low-­income settlements typically pay 5–10 times or more for their water than high-income residents of the same city. In Manila an estimated 4 million people receive water resold through kiosks, pushcart vendors or tanker deliveries.\"\" Each of those middlemen take their cut, and the cost of water rises accordingly. Now, that United Nations report is a decade old and progress has been made since. But Damon avoided hard numbers and the risk that some would be outdated. Taken at face value, he only said that some people pay as much as 25 percent of their income on water. To know the reality, the gold standard would be household spending surveys from a range of countries. But it looks like current ones for water expenditures don’t exist. A report from the advocacy group WaterAid used a baseline assumption that someone was buying the 50 liters/day minimum for drinking water and and sanitation set by the World Health Organization in compiling hypothetical water bills for many countries. But Michael Hanemann, an economist who specializes in water at the University of California Berkeley, said that’s a dicey set of calculations. \"\"In economics it is the case that when something is expensive, people buy less of it,\"\" he told PolitiFact. \"\"It is more likely that they are getting by with less water.\"\" Or as likely, they are using unclean water, and paying the price with illness and bad health. By the way, the average water and sewer bill in the United States is about 0.5 percent of household income, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Our ruling Damon said that poor people sometimes pay as much as 25 percent of their income for water. A decade-old United Nations report said that the urban poor in Uganda were paying very nearly that much, about 22 percent of their wages. Damon’s co-founder of Water.org has seen people spending this much in his work in Honduras. More recent hard data appears to be in short supply. But it wouldn’t take much for Damon’s claim to be accurate. Given that poor people pay an inordinate share of whatever money they have for basic needs, and they tend to live in places where water costs more, some people probably do spend as much as Damon said. The facts we have are enough for us to rate this claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Poor people pay \"\"in some cases, up to 25 percent of (their) income for water.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7272ff253dbf47f3a5e0b1303efe62d2",
            "input": "No discussion of costs – not of PSA testing nor of subsequent biopsies. These are big cost issues that warranted at least a line. The story states the 1 in 20 needing biopsy for total PSA vs. the 1 in 7 needing biopsy for PSA velocity. What the article doesn’t quantify is whether there would be fewer false positive findings if PSA velocity was ignored. Better job than its HealthDay competition in actually quantifying the impact on reducing unnecessary biopsies. The story didn’t do as good a a job as its HealthDay competition, which spelled out how men in the study were all from the placebo arm of a drug trial and which provided a bit more detail on the quality of the evidence. Neither story indicated that study subjects were highly selected– normal prostate exam and PSA < 3 as entry criteria. This is important information that may influence how generalizable the findings may be. No disease mongering here. The story included quotes from two independent sources. The HealthDay competition addressed in a much more explcit manner the option of not having the PSA test at all, when it reported: “Current American Cancer Society prostate screening cancer guidelines recommend that men make an informed decision with their doctor about whether to be tested for prostate cancer. “Research has not yet proven that the potential benefits of testing outweigh the harms of testing and treatment,” according to the ACS.” The story stated that most men over 50 get PSA blood tests. The story made it clear that the study was to examine the value in a common practice of doing a biopsy in men with a normal PSA level but in whom an increase in PSA has been detected. Did not appear to rely on a sole news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: PSA rise not good prostate cancer predictor"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac64f16252694047a6d087eca8ce1c79",
            "input": "Blurred vision, dry eyes, glare and double-vision have led  to depression and in some cases suicide, several patients told  a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel. “Since LASIK, I am visually handicapped,” said patient  David Shell, adding that he has near constant eye pain and  depression. “My eyes never feel comfortable... 10 years have  passed and I still suffer from this problem.”    Millions of Americans have had successfully undergone  LASIK, or laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, which uses a  laser to reshape the eye’s cornea, making them less dependent  on glasses or contact lenses. Surgeons and other industry representatives told the FDA’s  outside advisers most LASIK patients are satisfied with their  vision. They noted depression is a complex condition and that  no studies show a direct link to laser eye surgery. Still, the FDA is taking another look at the surgery after  receiving 140 reports of side effects and device malfunctions  between 1998 and 2006. The FDA wants its panelists’ advice on what information it  would add to its website or product labeling to help those  considering undergoing LASIK. “Most of the patients who are having these procedures are  fairly satisfied and are doing well. Clearly there is a group  who are not satisfied and do not get the kind of results they  expect,” Daniel Schultz, head of the FDA’s device center, told  reporters on Thursday ahead of the meeting. Several unhappy patients at the advisory meeting faulted  their surgeon for not ruling them out as a poor candidates for  LASIK, or for failing to stress the severity of possible side  effects. The FDA, which has said the surgery is safe and effective  regulates LASIK devices but not the surgeons or clinics that  offer the procedure. Stock analysts have said the FDA focus on the procedure  could further hurt LASIK companies, which have already seen the  softening U.S. economy dampen demand for the elective surgery  that is usually not covered by health insurance. LASIK device makers include Advanced Medical Optics Inc,  Alcon Inc and Bausch & Lomb, among others. TLC Vision Corp and  LCA-Vision Inc run LASIK clinics. Eric Donnenfeld, an ophthalmologist at New York University  Medical Center, said the surgery aims to improve patients’  lives. “The reality is that, following LASIK, the great majority  of our patients see as well or better than they ever saw with  their glasses or contact lenses with which they were unhappy,”  he told the advisory panel. Still, some patients said that while their vision had  improved, dry-eye and other side effects were overwhelming. The FDA is also planning to begin a study on LASIK patient  satisfaction in 2009 along with the National Eye Institute and  two industry groups: the American Society of Cataract and  Refractive Surgery and the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Patient and consumer advocates at Friday’s meeting objected  to the groups’ involvement with the study, citing conflicts of  interest. Industry representatives said it would help them  understand why some patients are unhappy with their LASIK  results. Advanced Medical Optics shares were off 1.1 percent to  $19.84 in noon trading, while Alcon shares were off 0.2 percent  to $154.68, both on the New York Stock Exchange. TLC Vision shares were down 2.5 percent at $1.19, while  shares of LCA-Vision were off 0.6 percent at $12.03, both on  Nasdaq.",
            "output": [
                "Unhappy LASIK patients urge FDA to take action."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aab1c9851ae44c188a94737f35c38a38",
            "input": "The lawsuit filed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleged the Wood River Refinery in Roxana made operation changes in 2009 leading to more than a dozen violations of the Clean Air Act. The Belleville News-Democrat reports the suit cited the refinery over chemical emissions including sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide and benzene. The refinery is along the Mississippi River about 15 miles northeast of St. Louis is operated by Phillips 66. A company spokesman declined to comment. The agreement also includes a $475,000 fine and requires the refinery to implement a $500,000 project to decrease lead paint hazards at certain homes and buildings. ___ Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com",
            "output": [
                "Illinois oil refinery to upgrade in pollution settlement."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb49e535e57c4b6ab0897b6f28392779",
            "input": "But like the rest of 21st century life, technology is on track to render humans obsolete. A team of UNL plant scientists and biological systems engineers have built an automated system capable of detecting an individual corn leaf and grasping it with robotic precision to screen its temperature, chlorophyll and water content in less than a minute, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. At a time when driverless combines can harvest around the clock, drones can nimbly identify problem spots in a field, and cattle herds are fitted with wearable devices to monitor their individual health, the Plant Phenotyping Robot System marks another leap forward for precision agriculture. James Schnable, an associate professor of plant science who specializes in computational biology, said before hybrid corn “really took off” after World War II, there was little need to measure how a specific breed of corn physically manifested itself in the field. “When we started doing hybrid breeding, there became this mechanism where there was a lot of investment in breeding and suddenly you have this whole discipline of how you collect data to make breeding decisions,” he said. UNL has trained aspiring plant scientists in labs and research fields to phenotype various corn hybrids in the search for breeds with higher heat and drought tolerance that produce better yields. Phenotyping took a leap with the opening of the Greenhouse Innovation Center at Nebraska Innovation Campus, where an automated conveyor belt and camera system can record miniscule changes to individual plants in a controlled environment. That technology has been taken out of the greenhouse and into the field at various places in the state, including the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead, where a Spidercam outfitted with special cameras, like those found at colossal stadiums, records the physical characteristics of plants in the field. “The challenge is we need to score bigger and bigger populations as we do more and more complicated breeding tasks,” Schnable said. “And the total population of students interested in spending their summers in cornfields as steam is coming out of the mud is not getting any bigger. “That’s why we need more complicated technology to look at much bigger experiments across more environment,” he added. Schnable, who partnered with a trio of biological systems engineers at UNL to develop the robot, said the goal is to verify the data collected from the expensive camera systems at ground level, and once perfected, do it faster and with more certainty than an army of human scientists can. Building a robot to automate those processes took years, as the team had to build a system that could identify the leaf from a corn or soybean plant, and then direct a robotic arm where to reach and how to grab it for a battery of measurements, said Abbas Atefi, a Ph.D. candidate in biological systems engineering. “For our task, we needed to find the 3D coordinates of each grasping point on the leaf,” Atefi said. Using a “time-of-flight” camera, rather than a standard color camera, the robot could be given hundreds of options for points to grab on an X, Y and Z axis. Atefi spent two years writing an algorithm that narrowed the hundreds of candidate sites into a single representative point before converting the coordinates into directions for the robotic arm to bend and twist toward a leaf, finally grabbing it without damaging it. Once that was accomplished, the team worked on refining the fiber-optic cable and temperature sensor installed on the gripper, which measure the biochemical and physiological processes of the plant through indicators such as chlorophyll and water content. After hundreds of tweaks to the algorithm, the team ran the robot through a series of tests in the Greenhouse Innovation Center, comparing the results to a series of benchmarks taken by both human researchers and the powerful imaging system already in operation. The results, which will be published in the academic journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture in August, show that the robot is able to determine the temperature of a leaf with comparable accuracy to a human, while tests measuring chlorophyll, water content, and nitrogen still need more fine-tuning. But early results feed into the optimism the team has about the robot’s future, both in the greenhouse and in the field. “Integration is something we think about a lot,” said Yufeng Ge, an associate professor of biological systems engineering at UNL. The robot needs to be able to operate in a wide array of environments — wheeled around on a moveable platform in more conventional greenhouses, or woven seamlessly into the existing conveyor belt system at Innovation Campus — while providing a known degree of accuracy in each, Ge said. “If you have a graduate student, they are human, they will make errors,” he added. “But we can have a system where hundreds of robots are scattered throughout the greenhouse, each carrying a specific sensor to look at one aspect of the plants with great accuracy.” Schnable said automating certain phenotyping processes also frees graduate students to crunch the massive volumes of data looking for patterns that emerge in various hybrids. ″(Graduate students) may not want to stay in grad school if the first two years they are just walking around taking measurements,” he said. “Longer-term, there is a vision that this would be able to go out into the field, where I still do have grad students running around.” Santosh Pitla, an associate professor of biological systems engineering, said the robot will soon be tested on a robotic platform — essentially a small, driverless tractor with a 5-foot clearance and a toolbox full of scientific instruments that can navigate a cornfield on its own — that would allow for automated data collection in hundreds of field acres. If drone imaging or the on-board computers in a combine can sense higher plant temperatures in wider parts of a field, Pitla said robotics is the next leap in precision agriculture, allowing farmers to pinpoint the water, fertilizer or pesticide inputs down to the individual plant. “Right now, we still talk about things in pounds per acre or gallons per acre,” he said. “I think we could get to the point where we’re talking about per plant, and every plant has a name and each robot can go and tend to each plant’s needs. That’s the end goal, treating each plant separately.” ___ Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com",
            "output": [
                "University of Nebraska team creates cornfield robot system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3fbbb90cf6b435aa5eacfe88dcb9702",
            "input": "The Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township says the students from the McKenzie Center for Innovation & Technology were taken to local hospitals for observation after being injected with a “small dosage” of insulin by Community Health Network personnel. The tuberculosis skin test requires an intradermal injection of liquid — 0.1 milliliter of a purified protein derivative called tuberculin — in the lower part of their arm, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A resulting bump is checked two or three days for any signs of latent or active tuberculosis infection. The district says it’s working closely with Community Health Network “to determine the cause of the error.” It’s unclear why the students were receiving the test. “We have full confidence that the events of today are isolated in nature and will be addressed swiftly by the Community Health Network,” District spokeswoman Dana Altemeyer said in a statement. Insulin is administered to person suffering from diabetes, a disease in which blood sugar levels are too high. The insulin, which is produced by a healthy body, helps the glucose, which comes from consumed food, get into the body’s cells to give them energy. The side effects of a too high injection of insulin includes sweating, nervousness, hunger and irritability, according to the Mayo Clinic. Responding to questions on the size of the insulin dosage and how the mistake occurred, Community Health Network released a statement saying it is committed to patient safety and values relationships and partnerships and “consider it a privilege to partner with schools including MSD of Lawrence Township.”",
            "output": [
                "16 Indianapolis students mistakenly injected with insulin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6adf2dcc150247c098fac21f28354e0c",
            "input": "The health department said at least 16 patients admitted to the 210-bed Mount Carmel Grove City hospital after its opening April 28 have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’. The disease is a severe form of pneumonia that’s caused by inhaling tiny water droplets containing the legionella bacteria. One of the patients, a 75-year-old woman, died. Hospital president Sean McKibben said in a statement Thursday that the disease outbreak happened because of inadequate disinfection of the hot water system prior to the hospital’s opening. He said a permanent supplemental disinfection system with constant monitoring and controls has been installed. ___ Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com",
            "output": [
                "Outbreak of Legionnaire’s blamed on hot water system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17e3660e6da441ecbb7e995cdb7c138b",
            "input": "The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office expects to add a second deputy and a clinician from the  UCHealth system by mid-February, The Gazette reported  Sunday. They will form a second team to work alongside an existing two-person team, officials said. A case manager is also expected to join the unit to prioritize follow-up calls to help connect residents with mental health services and decrease future 911 calls, officials said. The sheriff’s office launched its Behavioral Health Connect Unit more than a year ago to divert people into mental health care rather than jail. In its first year, the unit responded to 573 calls and provided services to 450 people, conducting follow-up checks on 212 people, sheriff’s office data showed. The second unit is expected to assist with more than 200 calls related to mental health received each month by the sheriff’s office. The first unit can only respond to an average of 50 to 60 monthly calls, officials said.",
            "output": [
                "Colorado county sheriff to double size of mental health unit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bf0f9236cf34318a09eda8df043018e",
            "input": "Breastfeeding is not an option for all mothers, whether because of medical/physical limitations or because of socioeconomic ones. However, breastfeeding is also not a medical intervention that one can easily place a price tag on. This is a tough one to call. The release clearly lays out the research findings that breastfeeding is associated with reductions in stroke risk, even breaking it down by subgroups. That’s good. However, the release only tells readers about relative reductions in risk, as opposed to absolute reductions in risk. What does that mean? Well, let’s say that the women in a study have a 0.25% risk of getting Disease X. If the study reports that a specific behavior doubles the risk of Disease X, that sounds like a big deal — a 100% increase in risk! But that’s a 100%  relative increase in risk. The absolute risk would go from 0.25% to 0.5%. The difference between relative and absolute risk is something HealthNewsReview.org has written about, and it is a key distinction that we feel is important. So, when the release tells us that breastfeeding was associated with a 23% decrease in stroke risk, readers still don’t know what that means in terms of absolute risk. And because the baseline absolute risk numbers aren’t mentioned, savvy readers can’t even do the calculation for themselves. Breastfeeding may be “natural,” but it’s not effortless. Breastfeeding can be time-consuming and exhausting, and carries risks of dehydration and breast pain. That said, these are not necessarily medical issues that rise to the level of discussion in a news release about an observational study like this one. As such, we’ll rate this criterion as not applicable. The release does a pretty solid job here, describing the study fairly well and acknowledging its limitations. But there are a couple of things that could have been slightly better. For example, the release describes the study in the fifth paragraph. It is not until the 10th paragraph that the release explicitly tells readers that “Because the study was observational, it couldn’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship between breastfeeding and lower stroke risk, meaning that it is possible some other characteristic that distinguishes between women who breastfeed and those who don’t is the factor changing the stroke risk.” For example, it’s possible that women who did not breastfeed had higher levels of stress than women who did breastfeed, which may be a contributing factor to stroke. And it is not until the 12th paragraph that the release tells readers that “The study was also limited by the relatively small number of strokes that occurred during the follow-up period (just 3.4 percent of the women experienced a stroke during the study period and 1.6 percent reported having had a stroke prior to the study) and by the Women’s Health Initiative’s exclusion of women who had already had severe strokes at the time of recruitment.” To be clear, we are very glad that the release includes these valuable qualifiers. However, we think the release would have been stronger if they had not been buried at the bottom of the piece. No disease mongering here. The release offers context on the incidence of U.S. stroke mortality rates. The release clearly discloses the source of research funding. The release also notes that “author disclosures [regarding potential conflicts of interest] are on the manuscript.” It would have been much better to simply disclose the conflicts on the release itself by saying: “The authors report no potential conflicts of interest.” The release does a nice job here, stating: “Breastfeeding is only one of many factors that could potentially protect against stroke. Others include getting adequate exercise, choosing healthy foods, not smoking and seeking treatment if needed to keep your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar in the normal range.” Not all of the alternatives have been proven to protect against stroke but listing them is a worthwhile reminder that lifestyle changes might reduce their risk. The release requests that pregnant women make breastfeeding part of their “birthing plan” and to breastfeed for at least six months to receive the most benefits. It’s assumed readers know that breastfeeding is an available option unless there are medical or lifestyle barriers. The release notes that “This is among the first studies to examine breastfeeding and a possible relationship to stroke risk for mothers.” It would have been helpful to briefly note what the other studies found and whether the results were different or had similar conclusions. The release uses responsible, cautious language. The recommendation to breastfeed to prevent stroke based on observational research may be an overreach, however.",
            "output": [
                "Breastfeeding may help protect mothers against stroke"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0add06fa5b3f4787801f83482292e9ce",
            "input": "Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket blasted off from Wallops Island. The company’s Cygnus capsule should arrive at the space station Friday, just in time for Easter. While there’s no Easter ham or lamb, NASA said plenty of holiday fixings are going up for the space station’s six residents, including smoked turkey, pork chops, asparagus and cobbler. Altogether, more than 800 meals are tucked away. The 7,600-pound (3,450-kilogram) load also included three free-flying robots to be tested as astronaut helpers, 40 black lab mice and 63 tiny student-research satellites. Two of the cube-shaped Astrobee robots will be tested inside by the station crew, while the third — called Seeker and the size of a bread loaf — will wait until the Cygnus departs in July before being released and flying solo in orbit. The mice are part of tetanus-vaccine testing. This particular Cygnus is named the S.S. Roger Chaffee after the youngest of the three astronauts who died in the 1967 Apollo 1 spacecraft fire. Northrop Grumman said it’s honoring Chaffee ahead of the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, because he made the ultimate sacrifice without ever reaching space. Another space station delivery should be coming by month’s end. NASA’s other commercial shipper, SpaceX, is due to launch a shipment from Florida on April 26. SpaceX Dragon capsules have been making station deliveries since 2012 and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsules since 2013. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Space station shipment launched from Virginia seashore."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07af61a105f54d5d963031d841c8873e",
            "input": "“I could not go to the DRC (Congo) without coming to meet the brave inhabitants of this beautiful territory,” U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said. “There are major concerns about health. There is measles, malaria, cholera and now the terrible drama of Ebola. We are fully on the side of the Congolese people to try to meet all these challenges.” Guterres also pledged the U.N. peacekeeping forces’ support with the armed forces of Congo in the fight against extremism “that is threatening not only Congo but Africa and the world.” He is on a three-day trip to Congo. He stopped in Goma earlier and on Monday will meet with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi. “It is important for the people of Beni to know that we have heard their cries of distress. The United Nations as a whole is committed to supporting the Congolese authorities, local communities and civil society actors in the fight against insecurity,” he said while in Beni, adding that he will discuss these issues when he visits Kinshasa on Monday. Guterres’ trip comes as Ebola cases are about the topple 3,000 along with nearly 2,000 deaths in eastern Congo since the outbreak was declared a year ago. Health authorities have faced major challenges trying to stem the spread of the disease amid insecurity and mistrust from communities. Traumatized by Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces rebels since October 2014, residents of Beni say they do not trust the U.N. peacekeepers, who they say have done little to protect them from rebel attacks. The region is home to numerous rebel groups vying for control of the mineral-rich land. “Imagine rebels attacking in the evening but we try to call MONUSCO but they arrive in the morning with cameras,” said Nzanu Nzoli a former resident of the town of Eringeti who traveled to Beni to flee the attacks. “The visit of Antonio Guterres will not change the current state of our situation in Beni because before him we had already received the promises of the Congolese government and the U.N. ... But it will soon be five years without action. ... Nothing will change.” Others in the area said a visit from the head of the U.N. could boost military operations. “I believe that with his visit ... Antonio Guterres will learn about the current situation of the rebels, and the evolution of Ebola. Often he receives reports but he will feel the situation, so I hope for a favorable outcome,” said Kambale Mundoleko, an Ebola survivor near Beni in Mangina who lost her entire family. Upon his arrival in Mangina, Guterres visited an Ebola treatment center and also witnessed the unloading of four Ebola patients.",
            "output": [
                "UN chief visits Congo Ebola region, pledging support."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-306605ce1a344169ad913524ccc7e69f",
            "input": "No mention of the cost of hernia operations, which may play a role in someone opting for watching waiting. The story does not provide enough information on the effect of pain or the limits a hernia might place on daily activities. There is some information on this in the study in JAMA, but little is mentioned in story. 30% of the watchful waiting group decided to have surgery during the 4 years, though reports of pain at 2 years were similar in both groups. More information on why they decided to have surgery and the effect of hernia pain on quality of life would be useful in order to better inform patients who are trying to make a choice. However, overall, this criterion was met. The reporter used absolute numbers, not just relative — always a good idea. The story mentions harms and the frequency of surgical complications in this study, however, the discussion is limited when compared to the discussion of untreated hernias. Does not mention the harm that a hernia can recur even with the surgery (1.4% in this study.) The most significant harm reported may be the one case of nerve injury, which was not mentioned in the story. While the story states 20% had complications, three of them life-threatening, readers could have used more detail. Mentions some evidence from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article. Mentions the randomization and an overview of the study design. Provides some appropriate quantitative evidence. This study raises an interesting question for medicine and for journalism: does the failure to demonstrate a significant difference mean that the treatments are equivalent? We think “no.” The story could have also further scrutinized the evidence by asking about the condition of the men in the trial. One of the trial’s inclusion criteria was having no pain or no interference with activities in the previous six weeks. So it’s not clear whether they really had no symptoms or just minimal symptoms. The story does a satisfactory job of explaining that hernia surgery is a common procedure and that this study challenges the conventional wisdom that all hernias should be fixed. Story includes perspective from editorial writer. In comparing treatment options, the possible harms of surgery could have been explored more fully. The story does not mention specific potential surgical or post-operative complications. 22.3% of those who underwent surgery (this included those randomized to the surgery group or those from watchful waiting who crossed over into the surgery group) had complications which included wound infections, urinary tract infections, and in a few cases, serious cardiovascular problems requiring hospitalization. This rating does not apply, as the story focuses on watchful waiting and active surveillance in lieu of preventative surgery for hernias. Hernia operations are a common procedure and available in most hospitals; the new treatment (no intervention, save for monitoring general health or symptoms typical of a hernia) is also now an evidence-based option for treatment. The story provides accurate information that watchful waiting vs. preventive surgery is a newer approach to treating men with mildly symptomatic hernias.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Not Every Hernia Needs to Be Fixed"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-777790eb5be64f22afd824f5243f39ef",
            "input": "A bill that would allow trained pharmacists to administer the influenza vaccine to children 12 years and older cleared the General Assembly’s Public Health Committee in a 17-7 vote this year, but it later died on the Senate calendar due to inaction. Bill supporter, Nathan Tinker, CEO of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association, said his organization doesn’t plan to push hard for it again in the next regular legislative session because he is worried the debate over the General Assembly’s efforts to scrap a religious exemption for some vaccines will ultimately spill over into discussions about the flu shot and likely doom the bill in the short, three-month session. “There is a community of people who are concerned about the impact or potential impact, whether real or perceived, about vaccines,” Tinker said. “And they get a lot of attention from legislators and that can make it difficult.” When the new legislative session opens in February, lawmakers are expected to consider ending the state’s longstanding religious exemption after newly released data showed a continued decline in immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella among kindergarteners. That proposal has already met resistance and some of the concerns raised are like the ones voiced during this year’s discussion of the flu vaccine bill. Legislators were flooded with testimony earlier this year from parents with concerns about whether making the vaccine more convenient could lead to injuries that pharmacists might not be trained recognize. Others questioned the motives of the pharmaceutical industry and necessity of flu shots. Dr. Sandra Carbonari, a primary care pediatrician in Waterbury and the medical director of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, also opposed the bill, but for different reasons. She questioned whether state regulations for providing the flu vaccine to children who receive Medicaid benefits might ultimately make the shot too expensive, and whether DPH’s vaccine program can handle a large increase in the number of providers. She also noted that immunizing a child can be complicated. “Determining the appropriate vaccine for a pediatric age patient is not simple and requires accurate information about the medical history and current state of health,” she said in written testimony. Supporters of the flu shot bill argue that allowing parents to drop by a pharmacy, rather than make an appointment with a pediatrician, would ultimately lead to higher flu immunization rates. The bill had the support of the state’s Department of Public Health, which noted three children in Connecticut died from flu-related complications during the 2017-18 flu season. Pharmacists in Connecticut are currently allowed to vaccinate people 18 years or older. According to DPH, individuals under 18 can be administered the flu vaccine by advanced practice registered nurses at retail locations, such as a CVS MinuteClinic. Sen. Heather Somers, of Groton, the top Senate Republican on the Public Health Committee who co-sponsored this year’s bill, stressed that the legislation is voluntary and requires the consent of a parent or guardian. Somers contends the legislature just ran out of time to act on the bill earlier this year, and she plans to resurrect it when lawmakers convene again in February for the 2020 session. “This is something that saves lives,” said Somers, who helped to organize a mobile flu clinic in her district last year. “I think accessibility is key in our health care system.”",
            "output": [
                "Bill allowing pharmacists to give kids the flu shot at risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b2c584fa4ddf46fe969773c807fe3897",
            "input": "Although this trial was a preliminary experiment, the proposed intervention is clearly defined as two office visits and two telephone calls with a nurse, so it should have been possible to estimate the cost. Since one purpose of testing this sort of brief intervention is to offer lower-cost alternatives to established behavioral treatment for insomnia, readers should have been given some estimate of the relative costs of the interventions. The story tells readers that 55 percent of people in the active intervention group no longer met the criteria for insomnia after four weeks. However, readers are not told how the researchers defined insomnia. Was it a complete inability to sleep? How frequently did the participants have trouble sleeping? How much more did they sleep after treatment? Without these and other details, it is difficult to get a feel for what effect the treatment had. While this story reported how many people needed to be treated in order to make a difference for at least one… a statistic we encourage journalists to use more… the story reported twice as many people benefited as the researchers actually said they saw. The researchers wrote that one person either had remission (no more insomnia) or response (significantly less insomnia) for every 2.4 people treated. But the story says that for every 2.4 participants treated one responded and one overcame insomnia. We won’t hold this story to this criterion because neither the journal article on the test nor an accompanying commentary noted any adverse events. However, the story could have pointed out that a trial this small generally would miss all but the most common problems. Also, the story could have pointed out that until further evidence is developed, it is not know for certain how this type of intervention compares with alternatives. If it turns out that for some people this treatment is less effective than alternatives, then prescribing it would mean leaving them at greater risk of being harmed by insomnia. The story gives a brief description of the experiment and some of the main outcomes that the researchers measured. The story would have been better if it told readers more about the limitations of this small trial, including what sort of further testing would be needed to determine if the intervention would work for people in the general population, rather than just those who match the profiles of the individuals who volunteered to participate in this test. The story compared this brief intervention to more established behavioral therapy, without noting the pitfalls of trying to compare results from different trials. The story did not tell readers that there is ongoing debate about the best way to measure the results of insomnia studies. The story provides estimates of how many people complain of insomnia. It also portrays this intervention as an alternative to existing treatments, rather than an effort to expand treatment to more people. The story includes comments from the author of a commentary article that appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine along with the research article. In the disclosure section of their article, some of the researchers reported ties to pharmaceutical companies, but since this trial tested a non-drug approach and was funded by public agency and academic grants, it seems reasonable to consider the industry links as not being relevant to this study. We will credit this story for discussing the alternatives of sleeping pills and cognitive behavioral therapy. Although there was no reference to other less-intense non-drug approaches that clinicians may recommend for dealing with insomnia, there was a comment at the end of the story that offered some basic advice that readers could use on their own. The story says this form of “brief behavioral treatment for insomnia is not yet generally available”. It also described this study as being a first step in the process of making such an intervention available without making predictions about a timetable. This story suggests that there are no brief behavioral interventions available to people with insomnia. They story should not have suggested that the only alternative treatments are drugs and expensive cognitive behavioral therapy. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Short-term pill-free therapy may help insomniacs"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8bac8a4ea734bd78e79f001619298c7",
            "input": "Whether he catches one wave or a hundred, this salt water therapy, as Trebilco calls it, is where he finds his happy place. Trebilco was diagnosed with bipolar disorder seven years ago and hospitalized in a mental health facility. Finding himself unable to cope with everyday situations, he did the one thing that brought him happiness. He went surfing. He immediately felt better and realized that one wave was all he needed to get him through the day. Hoping to share this discovery with others, Trebilco put on a fluorescent suit one Friday when getting ready to surf. “Fluoro Fridays” was born. Every Friday morning since that day six years ago, a group of people dressed in bright colors or wearing colorful garlands has sat at the southern end of Bondi Beach in what is called an “anti-bad vibes circle” to discuss depression, anxiety and living with mental illness. Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were invited to join the circle during their visit to Australia last year. The prince has said he sought counseling in his late twenties to deal with the grief of losing his mother, Princess Diana. “Prince Harry said ‘asking for help is not a weakness, it’s a strength’, and that just showed people around the world you don’t have to face mental health challenges alone,” Trebilco said. “Fluoro Friday” now takes place on 150 beaches around the world and Trebilco says that, for some people, it’s the first time they’ve been able to share their mental health struggles. “I think the way the OneWave community helps is that it lets people know it’s OK not to be OK,” Trebilco said. Members of the community say it helps raise their spirits. “Whether you surf or not, you can just come into the water and it just clears your head for the beginning of your Friday and gives you a good start to the weekend,” said Ricky, one of the members of the community.",
            "output": [
                "Sydneysiders find their happy place catching a wave on 'Fluoro Friday'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-484f45d130554683a6025d4faa9195e2",
            "input": "\"While Texas Gov. Rick Perry was debating rivals for the Republican presidential nomination on Oct. 11, his campaign was righting \"\"wrongs\"\" uttered by the other candidates through a Twitter account called \"\"PerryTruthTeam.\"\" During the debate, PerryTruthTeam sent out a familiar message: \"\"Romneycare was model for Obamacare.\"\" The Perry campaign has hit that idea hard. On Oct. 10, Perry posted an online video linking the health care plan that Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, signed in 2006 for his state (dubbed Romneycare by critics) and the one that President Barack Obama signed in 2010 for the country (dubbed Obamacare by critics). We checked whether the Perry campaign’s five-word tweet was on the mark. Perry’s tweet implies that the White House used the Massachusetts law to build its own national law. We’ll begin our examination by noting that even if you’re just looking at the two laws from the outside, without knowing any behind-the-scenes information, they seem pretty similar. Generally, both laws leave in place the major insurance systems: employer-provided insurance for some workers and their families, Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for the poor. Also, both laws require people to buy insurance or pay a penalty, a mechanism called the \"\"individual mandate.\"\" Both laws also seek to reduce the number of people without health insurance by expanding Medicaid and offering tax breaks to help moderate-income people buy insurance. Finally, companies that don't offer insurance have to pay fines, with exceptions for small business. Some other shared elements:     • Health insurance exchanges. Both the Massachusetts and national plans provide for voluntary \"\"exchanges\"\" that individuals and small businesses can use to purchase private-sector health insurance. These exchanges are designed to offer a range of plans with different benefits and premium levels. • Affordability subsidies. Under both plans, lower-income individuals and families can receive government subsidies to help them pay health insurance premiums. In the Massachusetts plan, the subsidies flow to adults living at 150 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, depending on their household size. Under the national plan, the sliding-scale subsidies go up to 400 percent of the poverty level. Still, there remain differences between the federal law and the Massachusetts law. Two of the biggest:        • Cost containment. Critics of the Massachusetts plan have taken it to task for its lack of cost-containment provisions. The federal law makes changes to Medicare that are intended to lower program costs, such as restructuring how payments are made to private insurance plans offered through Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage plans. Since Medicare is a federal program, the Massachusetts plan does not address this issue. • Financing. Both the Massachusetts plan and federal law are financed in part by revenue generated from the individual and employer mandates. But the Massachusetts plan's financing is heavily dependent on leveraging federal matching funds, while the federal law, in addition to cost savings from Medicare, imposes taxes on drug makers, medical device manufacturers, health insurers and indoor tanning services. It also taxes high-cost health care plans. The Massachusetts plan does not do these things. So, the laws, while not identical, share many core elements. Next, we wondered if the federal law was indeed based on the Massachusetts law. Again, it’s difficult to know what people in Congress and in the White House looked at as they drafted the final health care law. But according to independent reports, they consulted people who worked on the Massachusetts law. On its website, the Perry campaign pointed to an NBC News news story published online Oct. 11, 2011, under the headline \"\"White House used Mitt Romney health-care law as blueprint for federal law.\"\" The report refers to White House visitor logs showing that three health care advisers and experts \"\"who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006\"\" had a dozen meetings with senior White House officials in 2009, including one with the president. One of the experts, Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told NBC News that \"\"the White House wanted to lean a lot on what we’d done in Massachusetts.\"\" \"\"They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model,\"\" Gruber said. Gruber received a $380,000 contract from the Obama administration in 2009 to help Congress draft the federal health care law based on the Massachusetts plan, according to the story. He earlier had been hired by the Romney administration to do computer modeling of the costs of various approaches to expanding health-care coverage, the story said. Gruber’s biography on the MIT website says he \"\"was a key architect of Massachusetts’ ambitious health reform effort and in 2006 became an inaugural member of the Health Connector Board, the main implementing body for that effort.\"\" Romney, asked at an Oct. 11 news conference about the NBC report that three of his \"\"aides\"\" had advised Obama on health care, disputed that characterization of the experts, saying they were \"\"consultants,\"\" not \"\"aides.\"\" \"\"I’m sure the president got lots of ideas (on health care reform),\"\" Romney said, \"\"but the one person he should have talked to, that he never talked to, was me.\"\" Romney said he would have told Obama that \"\"the plan he was crafting wouldn’t work\"\" because the nation couldn’t afford more federal spending. And he said that if he were elected president, he would push for the repeal of the federal health care law. Romney’s campaign has also played down Gruber’s influence, telling Politico for an Oct. 11 news story that he was not an adviser to Romney and that Romney’s administration hired him only to run econometric models. However, the Politico story also says that \"\"it is well known that Obama’s health care plan was in part modeled after Romney’s 2006 reforms.\"\" We also reviewed an article in the June 6, 2011, New Yorker magazine on the development of the Massachusetts and federal health care laws. Like the NBC News piece, the New Yorker article notes that people who worked on the Massachusetts law were also consulted by the White House. One was Jon Kingsdale, a former insurance executive whom Romney had hired to implement the Massachusetts law, according to the article. \"\"The policy in Massachusetts was real,\"\" Kingsdale told the New Yorker. \"\"We were very, very influential. I testified a lot. The congressional staffers would constantly ask, ‘Well, how do you handle this? How do you handle that?’ We were the go-to people.\"\" The article also describes a meeting in 2008, before Obama had decided to support an individual federal mandate, that was attended by people who would later become \"\"the key brokers\"\" of the final deal on the federal health care law in 2010. Among those organizing the meeting was John McDonough — a Massachusetts advocate for universal health care during Romney’s governorship who had since been hired by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. During the development of the Massachusetts law, McDonough \"\"was named by Romney aides as a ‘stakeholder’ to represent consumer interests,\"\" according to the NBC News article. At the October 2008 meeting, McDonough laid out three health care policy options that the next president could adopt, one of which he called \"\"Massachusetts Avenue\"\" and was based on Romney’s plan, the New Yorker article says. Fifteen of the 20 people at the meeting — representatives from hospital associations, the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, the labor movement and groups advocating universal health care — backed the \"\"Massachusetts\"\" option, the article says. The following year, Obama health care adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle sent a memo to the president recommending that he support a mandate like the one in Massachusetts, according to the New Yorker article. A few weeks later, Obama told congressional leaders he would back a requirement that every American buy health insurance. Finally, it’s important to note that some of the key ideas in the federal law had been circulating before the Massachusetts law was written. For example, scholars credit Alain C. Enthoven — an emeritus professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business who worked in the Defense Department during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations — with popularizing the idea of health insurance exchanges as many as three decades ago. And at least one previous Republican proposal on health care has included an individual mandate, a plan put forward by Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., during the Clinton administration’s unsuccessful push for universal coverage in the early 1990s. So, what of Perry’s tweet? Although the federal law isn’t an exact replica of the one in Massachusetts, the plan signed by Romney certainly served as a model.\"",
            "output": [
                "Romneycare was model for Obamacare."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a777e15cf91f416cbb4fe60e57fcf11e",
            "input": "\"On 8 March 2016, the Facebook page for the web site Quartz shared a video called “Confessions of a Republican,” which was originally a political advertisement from 1964. The clip rapidly gained traction, and along with it skepticism that the viewpoints expressed too neatly echoed political schisms debated during the 2016 election: // <! [CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\"//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> This “Confessions of a Republican” ad from the 1964 presidential election is going viral, thanks to its uncanny relevance to the 2016 presidential election. Posted by Quartz on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 The speaker (actor Bill Bogert) discussed his lifelong identity as a loyal Republican voter before expressing reservations about the candidacy of then-Senator Barry Goldwater, who unsuccessfully challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Among the concerns he aired (the ad’s full text is at the bottom of the page) were what he described as a tendency of Goldwater to rapidly reverse position or deny statements on key issues, as well as a hawkish attitude during a point in American history when the specter of nuclear destruction loomed: The hardest thing for me about this whole campaign is to sort out one Goldwater statement from another. A reporter will go to Senator Goldwater and he’ll say, “Senator, on such and such a day, you said, and I quote, ‘blah blah blah’ whatever it is, end quote.” And then Goldwater says, “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.” I can’t follow that. Was he serious when he did put it that way? Is he serious when he says I wouldn’t put it that way? I just don’t get it. A President ought to mean what he says. President Johnson, Johnson at least is talking about facts … but Goldwater, often, I can’t figure out just what Goldwater means by the things he says. I read now where he says, “A craven fear of death is sweeping across America. What is that supposed to mean? If he means that people don’t want to fight a nuclear war, he’s right. I don’t. When I read some of these things that Goldwater says about total victory, I get a little worried, you know? I wish I was as sure that Goldwater is as against war as I am that he’s against some of these other things. I wish I could believe that he has the imagination to be able to just shut his eyes and picture what this country would look like after a nuclear war. That portion alone drew comparisons to a fluctuating GOP identity in 2016, as well as objections raised about Donald Trump within the Republican party. Another excerpt paralleled former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke’s endorsement of Trump in February 2016: I wouldn’t have worried so much about party unity because if you unite behind a man you don’t believe in, it’s a lie. I tell you, those people who got control of that convention: Who are they? I mean, when the head of the Ku Klux Klan, when all these weird groups come out in favor of the candidate of my party — either they’re not Republicans or I’m not. Bogert concluded by saying that he planned to vote against Goldwater on Election Day, and that his party made a mistake in its choice of nominee. A voiceover then urged viewers to vote for Johnson. While it’s true many of the expressed sentiments echoed 2016 election rhetoric, the video was not a modern creation. The first appearance of it we found on the internet dated back to at least 2008 (clicking “transcript” revealed identical text to the video that circulated in 2016). The source for the earlier version was the Museum of the Moving Image, which exhaustively catalogued such media as part of an exhibit called The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012: The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012 is an online exhibition presenting more than 300 television commercials from every election year since 1952, when the first campaign TV ads aired. The website will be updated through the 2012 election between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The site includes a searchable database and features commentary, historical background, election results, and navigation organized by year, type of ad, and issue. There is a playlist feature that allows visitors to select, annotate, and share their own groups of ads, and to view playlists by guest contributors. Each selected commercial is accompanied by a list of related ads. There is a transcript for each ad and a feature that allows visitors to search the entire database by title and by words in the transcripts. Remarks on the clip provided further context about the political climate in 1964: The margin of Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964 was partly a repudiation of Barry Goldwater’s extreme right-wing views. Goldwater, an Arizona senator and author of the best-selling book The Conscience of a Conservative, won the Republican nomination after a bitter primary campaign against moderate New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. In his acceptance speech, Goldwater made the infamous statement, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” The assertion, meant as a defense of conservatism, merged in the public consciousness with statements in which Goldwater advocated the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam and argued that Social Security be made voluntary. Film professor and author of the linked book (What’s Fair on the Air: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest) Heather Hendershot said in a 2011 Curator’s Note: The right-wing media explosion of the 1960s has largely been lost to history, but we do have some snapshots of liberal responses to Cold War right-wingers in the form of campaign ads produced for the 1964 Johnson presidential campaign. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) used TV and radio to emphasize that Republican nominee Sen. Barry Goldwater was a nut with his finger on the proverbial button—as in LBJ’s infamous “Daisy Ad.” “Confessions of a Republican” is certainly less well-known, and is undoubtedly one of the strangest political campaign ads ever produced. In it, an actor (not identified as such) expresses his extreme anxieties about Goldwater. As he becomes increasingly nervous, he lights a cigarette to steady his nerves, and the camera moves in closer and closer. Who the hell is this sweaty, perturbed Man in a gray flannel suit? The spot is long on emotion and short on in-depth information, a tactic that should be familiar to TV viewers who have experienced virtually any mass mediated political campaign. Content-wise, what is of greatest interest is our putative Republican’s concerns about the “weird groups” supporting Goldwater, like the Ku Klux Klan. During the 1964 campaign a strange waltz materialized around the idea of “extremism,” with Goldwater insistent that he was not an extremist and the Johnson campaign insistent that he was. Our confessing Republican, a fantasy created by the DNC, distanced himself from the kooks, while revealing himself to be on the edge of instability himself. A 2010 blog post delved into the ad’s historical relevance (describing Goldwater’s campaign as “a naked appeal to Southern white racists to bolt the Democratic Party and support the Republican Party”). The article was written as race and racism once again became enormous issues in American politics following the 2008 election of the United States’ first black president. In November 2014, the actor from the 1964 commercial was interviewed about the “Confessions of a Republican” ad: Mr. Bogert himself was a 28 year-old Republican just as fearful of the man his Party put forth to lead the nation as was his semi-fictional character. “No, I certainly did not vote for Barry Goldwater. I voted for Lyndon Johnson. Ask me how long it’s been since I voted for a Republican.” I did. It’s been a long time. The interviewer noted that they had presumed that the actor in the Johnson campaign clip was a Democrat, but Bogert said that its producers required an actual Republican star in the spot: But just as the agency behind this commercial (Doyle Dane Bernbach) made sure that all of the staff who made this campaign were ardent Democrats, I’d always presumed that the actor in the “Confessions of a Republican” commercial was also a Democrat. Why would a Republican actor sign on to do a commercial at the expense of his own Party? “No, I’m a Republican. I just couldn’t stand Barry Goldwater. I was terrified of him … My father was disappointed that I did this commercial. He thought my performance was good, but he disagreed with the entire thesis.” I learned that when Bill Bogert interviewed to get the gig, the first question that the ad agency asked the young actor was whether or not he was a Republican. It was a pre-requisite for the gig. Not only was the “Confessions of a Republican” ad a legitimate archival clip from the 1964 campaign, but the actor depicted in it was himself a Republican, a casting prerequisite. The clip was likely scripted, but it was not a 2016 creation intended as a critique of the current political discourse. [TEXT: Confessions of a Republican] REPUBLICAN: I don’t know just why they wanted to call this a confession; I certainly don’t feel guilty about being a Republican. I’ve always been a Republican. My father is, his father was, the whole family is a Republican family. I voted for Dwight Eisenhower the first time I ever voted; I voted for Nixon the last time. But when we come to Senator Goldwater, now it seems to me we’re up against a very different kind of a man. This man scares me. Now maybe I’m wrong. A friend of mine just said to me, “Listen, just because a man sounds a little irresponsible during a campaign doesn’t mean he’s going to act irresponsibly.” You know that theory, that the White House makes the man. I don’t buy that. You know what I think makes a President – I mean, aside from his judgement, his experience – are the men behind him, his advisors, the cabinet. And so many men with strange ideas are working for Goldwater. You hear a lot about what these guys are against – they seem to be against just about everything – but what are they for? The hardest thing for me about this whole campaign is to sort out one Goldwater statement from another. A reporter will go to Senator Goldwater and he’ll say, “Senator, on such and such a day, you said, and I quote, ‘blah blah blah’ whatever it is, end quote.” And then Goldwater says, “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.” I can’t follow that. Was he serious when he did put it that way? Is he serious when he says I wouldn’t put it that way? I just don’t get it. A President ought to mean what he says. President Johnson, Johnson at least is talking about facts. He says, “Look, we’ve got the tax cut bill and because of that you get to carry home X number of dollars more every payday. We’ve got the nuclear test ban and because of that there is X percent less radioactivity in the food.” But, but Goldwater, often, I can’t figure out just what Goldwater means by the things he says. I read now where he says, “A craven fear of death is sweeping across America. What is that supposed to mean? If he means that people don’t want to fight a nuclear war, he’s right. I don’t. When I read some of these things that Goldwater says about total victory, I get a little worried, you know? I wish I was as sure that Goldwater is as against war as I am that he’s against some of these other things. I wish I could believe that he has the imagination to be able to just shut his eyes and picture what this country would look like after a nuclear war. Sometimes, I wish I’d been at that convention at San Francisco. I mean, I wish I’d been a delegate, I really do. I would have fought, you know. I wouldn’t have worried so much about party unity because if you unite behind a man you don’t believe in, it’s a lie. I tell you, those people who got control of that convention: Who are they? I mean, when the head of the Ku Klux Klan, when all these weird groups come out in favor of the candidate of my party — either they’re not Republicans or I’m not. I’ve thought about just not voting at this election, just staying home — but you can’t do that, that’s saying you don’t care who wins, and I do care. I think my party made a bad mistake in San Francisco, and I’m going to have to vote against that mistake on the third of November.\"",
            "output": [
                "A 1964 campaign ad for President Lyndon B. Johnson featured a purported Republican voter expressing concerns which eerily echoed threads of debate in the GOP in 2016."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32dfebaa06e240a585d25eb5948fbaad",
            "input": "The “Asbestos in Talc Symposium,” sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration, was dominated by industry hands: Most of the 21 non-government participants had done work for talc companies, such as testing and serving as expert witnesses and consultants, symposium documents and other records show. Key sessions were led by witnesses for Johnson & Johnson in lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn customers that its Baby Powder was tainted with cancer-causing asbestos, the records show. Others who sought invitations were turned away, including a physician who had testified against J&J in trials that resulted in billions of dollars in damage awards against the company. History was repeating itself. Over the past 50 years, the FDA has relied upon - and often deferred to - industry even as outside experts and consumers repeatedly raised serious health concerns about talc powders and cosmetics, a Reuters investigation found. Again and again since at least the 1970s, the agency has downplayed the risk of asbestos contamination and declined to issue warnings or impose safety standards, according to documents produced in court proceedings and in response to public records requests. The agency said it lacks the authority to require manufacturers to test for asbestos in talc or report any results. And it seldom has ordered its own tests - until recently. Amid heightened scrutiny in Congress, a criminal investigation of J&J and costly jury verdicts against the company, the regulator commissioned tests that found asbestos in 11 talc-based cosmetics, including Johnson’s Baby Powder. J&J recalled 33,000 bottles. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois congressman who chairs a U.S. House subcommittee investigating talc safety, told Reuters it was time for regulators to stop relying on manufacturers’ safety assurances. “When something as serious as cancer or carcinogens are at issue,” Krishnamoorthi said, “self-regulation doesn’t make a lot of sense.”  In written responses to questions from Reuters, the FDA said its resources and authority to regulate the cosmetic industry are limited. The agency said it has no power to ensure the safety of cosmetics before they are put on store shelves, nor to force companies to pull them off when potential hazards are discovered. “We are dependent on manufacturers to take steps to ensure the safety of their products,” the FDA said after announcing a voluntary recall of tainted cosmetics in March. FDA officials declined to comment on the decisions of former employees over the years, saying only that the agency relies on the best information available and that studies “have improved our understanding of how and why asbestos fibers are hazardous.”  The agency said it now recognizes, as the World Health Organization and other public health agencies did years ago, that there is no known safe level of asbestos. FDA officials said their current policy is to act swiftly - and if necessary encourage recalls - even when small amounts are discovered. The regulator has stood by its recent tests of Johnson’s Baby Powder, despite pushback from the company. J&J, the world’s largest producer of talc powders, said in a statement that it recalled the 33,000 bottles of Baby Powder out of an “abundance of caution.” Eleven days later, the company announced that tests by labs it hired had determined that there was no asbestos - other than some contamination it said came from an air conditioner - in samples from the one bottle tested by the FDA and the batch it came from. In written responses to Reuters, J&J said it systematically tests its talc and has always found its powders to be safe and pure. “Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, the FDA and other regulatory bodies defended talc,” J&J’s Chief Executive Alex Gorsky testified in an Oct. 3 deposition. “FDA agreed overall with the position that we had taken with the safety of our talc.”  The company told Reuters that it “has long cooperated (with) and supported the FDA in its mission to protect the public health,” and that any suggestion it has unduly influenced the agency to reduce regulation or standards is “just false.”  The FDA now is under increasing pressure to ensure talc powders and cosmetics are free from asbestos. The agency’s testing of talc-based cosmetics this year followed jury verdicts totaling more than $5 billion against J&J in cancer lawsuits, as well as a Dec. 14 Reuters report showing that J&J knew its raw talc and powders sometimes tested positive for asbestos from the 1970s into the early 2000s and did not report those findings to the agency. J&J has disputed the Reuters report as “one-sided, false and inflammatory.”  In the wake of the Reuters report, the company announced it was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to people familiar with the matter, these include a criminal grand jury probe into how forthright J&J has been about the safety of its powders. The FDA began looking into talc safety in 1971 after researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York found what appeared to be asbestos in unnamed brands of talc powder. Two years later, FDA records show, the agency found asbestos in a sample of Shower to Shower, a J&J powder at the time that was made with the same talc as Johnson’s Baby Powder. The FDA never publicly announced the finding. J&J told Reuters the result was not final, citing findings in an FDA table issued in 1976. But that table, reviewed by Reuters, is ambiguous, listing no result for the type of asbestos found in 1973. J&J told Reuters the gap means no asbestos was found. Assured by J&J and other manufacturers that their talc was safe, the FDA eventually ended its inquiry without taking action because “the potential hazard did not warrant a recall,” Heinz J. Eiermann, a former J&J researcher who at the time ran the agency’s cosmetics division, wrote in a March 1976 memo. That same year, J&J, other talc companies and their trade group, the Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association, persuaded FDA officials that manufacturers could monitor the safety of their own products, according to records J&J and the group produced in litigation. The FDA dropped plans to impose testing and purity standards for talc powders and cosmetics. The trade group published its own test, which was voluntary for companies to use. The written standard for that test acknowledges that it cannot detect most types of asbestos at low levels, nor one common type - chrysotile - at all. In a statement to Reuters, the trade group said it believed that chrysotile was not commonly linked to talc used in cosmetics. Chrysotile is the type of asbestos the FDA-commissioned test found in Baby Powder this year. It also was found in several tests conducted by labs for J&J on its talc from 1972 through 2003, according to records produced in litigation. J&J has said that some of the tests were on industrial talc and that others, on Baby Powder talc, reflected background contamination. Asbestos is a loose term for a group of six minerals that readily separate into needles or fibers. Easily inhaled, they are known to cause lung, ovarian and other types of cancer. While most people exposed never get cancer, for some even small amounts are enough to trigger the disease. Just how small has not been established. Talc safety concerns resurfaced in 1983 when a graduate  student scouring geology journals for a toxicology class came across information he considered disturbing: Talc deposits are commonly laced with asbestos, a similar mineral. Philippe Douillet immediately thought of the talc powder his sister used on her baby, he recalled in an interview with Reuters. He urged her to stop using it. Then he petitioned the FDA to require an asbestos warning on talc powders. “It was really obvious to me there was a big issue there,” said Douillet, who now runs a biotechnology company in Miami. When the FDA began evaluating Douillet’s petition, it looked to J&J for key information, agency records show. The FDA’s June 1985 risk assessment relied upon a decade-old letter from the company for the agency’s estimate of the amount of dust babies were exposed to during diapering. That 1974 letter from J&J to the FDA said that, hypothetically, even if babies were exposed to talc powder with as much as 1% asbestos, it would be a far lower concentration than allowed at the time for industrial workers. J&J told Reuters in a statement that “at no point has Johnson & Johnson taken the position that it would consider talc containing 1% asbestos appropriate for sale to consumers.”   In the end, the FDA decided there was no need for an asbestos warning on talc powders. In a July 1986 letter to Douillet, acting associate FDA commissioner J.W. Swanson wrote that the quality of cosmetic talc had improved “and that even when asbestos was present, the levels were so low that no health hazard existed.”  What’s more, Swanson wrote, agency officials had come to question earlier reported findings of asbestos in talc powders. Those doubts, he wrote, were based in part on a paper published in the proceedings of a 1977 scientific conference. Both of the paper’s authors had worked for J&J, one as an asbestos testing contractor and the other as its longtime talc supply manager. The authors argued that some testing methods were apt to misidentify microscopic lookalike rock splinters as asbestos. The industry’s test, the paper said, was designed to avoid this confusion. Other U.S. and European public health authorities have come to regard such splinters as presumptive toxins because of their similarity to asbestos. The FDA defended its 1986 decision to reject Douillet’s petition. In a statement, it said the graduate student “did not provide persuasive evidence that the cosmetic talc produced at the time contained significant amounts of asbestos minerals.”  Eight years later, the regulator received a new request for a warning label on talc powders. This one came from Dr. Samuel Epstein, a University of Illinois environmental medicine professor who chaired the Cancer Prevention Coalition, an advocacy group. Epstein’s 1994 petition didn’t concern asbestos. It raised the possibility that talc, by itself, was a hazard worthy of a warning label. His petition was based on research showing that talc, when used as an antiperspirant and deodorant in underwear, was associated with ovarian cancer. In a brief July 1995 letter, FDA acting cosmetics chief John Bailey told Epstein’s coalition that the agency had taken no action because it had other priorities. Bailey told Reuters in a statement that he issued this “interim” response because the petition lacked scientific support. In 2002, having taken no action on the petition, Bailey moved to the cosmetic trade group, now known as Personal Care Products Council. The council considered him a “key employee” because of his “former employment with the FDA,” according to a tax filing by the group. Now a consultant, Bailey serves as a litigation expert witness to J&J and other talc companies. In his statement to Reuters, Bailey said he had been hired at the council “as a scientist responsible for applying sound science to decision making.” He disputed Reuters’ finding that the FDA deferred to industry, saying the agency takes potential health concerns seriously and does its own evaluations. In 2006, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified use of talc powder in the perineum area - the pelvic region between the legs - as “possibly carcinogenic.” Two years later, Illinois medical scientist Epstein filed a second petition to the FDA seeking a cancer warning label on talc products. J&J went to work to defeat it. In a May 2008 email to colleagues, J&J executive Kathleen K. Wille wrote: “Our response could be a potential source of data and information on which the FDA can base their response.”  Together, J&J, its talc supplier and the Personal Care Products Council arranged for a pair of scientists to assess the published studies that linked talc and ovarian cancer, according to emails and other records produced in litigation. The scientists concluded that the evidence was too weak to consider talc as a cause. At a May 2009 meeting, Bailey, Wille and other industry representatives briefed FDA officials on the assessment, according to a meeting memo produced in litigation by J&J’s talc supplier. Three days later, Wille told colleagues in an email, “We have every confidence that the FDA will dismiss this petition once they have reviewed our submission.”  J&J told Reuters in a statement that the company had been confident because it believed the agency would be swayed by science, which it said supported J&J’s position that talc does not cause ovarian cancer. Before the FDA ruled on the warning requests, however, concerns about asbestos contamination flared again. This time, the FDA’s South Korean counterpart reported finding asbestos in talc powders. Acting on that 2009 report, the FDA commissioned talc tests for the first time in 40 years, hiring Maryland-based AMA Analytical Services Inc, which analyzed 34 samples of talc powders and cosmetics, including Johnson’s Baby Powder. It found no asbestos in any of them. The lab had no experience testing for asbestos in talc. Its prior work focused on building materials such as vinyl flooring, according to the deposition testimony of AMA lab director Andreas Saldivar. The FDA has said Saldivar’s lab used “the most sensitive techniques available” but cautioned that the results were limited to the 34 talc powders and cosmetics tested. The testing had other limitations as well. Saldivar’s lab looked at less talc per sample than other labs that have found asbestos in talc powders. And it did its work in a fraction of the time typical for such analyses, according to a Reuters review of the lab report and interviews with experts who test talc for asbestos. Saldivar’s lab was recently rehired by the FDA. This time, it found the asbestos that led to the first recall of J&J’s iconic Baby Powder. Saldivar declined to comment. In the first verdict of its kind, a South Dakota jury found in October 2013 that J&J had a duty to warn women that research had linked its talc powder to ovarian cancer. No damages were awarded. Then the FDA weighed in on the issue. In April 2014, 20 years after Epstein first contacted the agency, the FDA rejected both of his petitions for warning labels. Its announcement said the science wasn’t strong enough to support a cancer warning, echoing the assessment J&J and its industry partners had presented to the agency in 2009. In court, such arguments have not always proved convincing. In early 2016, a Missouri jury concluded J&J’s powders caused a woman’s ovarian cancer death and awarded her survivors $72 million. An appellate court later set that verdict aside, ruling that the woman had filed her suit in the wrong state. In the aftermath, the FDA asked J&J for “safety literature and data regarding talc,” correspondence shows. The company submitted a report saying no asbestos had “ever been found during any testing” of its talc. Since then, lawsuits have compelled J&J to produce internal documents that show the company knew its talc and powders had tested positive for asbestos on occasion for decades. The company now faces more than 16,000 lawsuits alleging that its powders caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, an incurable cancer. The vast majority are awaiting trial. In court, there have been mixed verdicts, mistrials and some appellate rulings in J&J’s favor. Last year, in response to renewed asbestos concerns, FDA cosmetics chief Dr Linda Katz began organizing the November 2018 symposium and a public hearing on talc testing, now planned for next year. She reached out to J&J for help. J&J vice president Jethro Ekuta responded by sending Katz a letter in June 2018 recommending a list of three talc testing experts. All three had served as defense witnesses or consultants for J&J. Two of the experts Ekuta recommended, as well as a third J&J defense witness, led sessions at the closed-door “Asbestos in Talc Symposium” on Nov. 28, 2018. None of the sessions were led by medical experts who had questioned the safety of talc powders and cosmetics. J&J said that apart from recommending experts, it did not advise the FDA on the symposium. Ekuta, who has left J&J, declined to comment. In a statement to Reuters, the FDA downplayed its role in the symposium, saying the event was “hosted” by the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN), a research group co-founded by the FDA. “No formal or regulatory recommendations were expected or made,” the agency said. In fact, records show, the FDA initiated and paid for the meeting, set the agenda and chose the participants. The meeting set the stage for formal recommendations on how to test products used every day by millions of people. The FDA said a government committee tasked with proposing a standard test for asbestos in talc powders and cosmetics is “continuing to work through issues discussed at the JIFSAN symposium.”  Many FDA meetings are held in public and invite comment. Details on the talc symposium were hard to come by, however, even after it was over. The FDA declined Reuters’ requests to provide a list of participants or any information on what transpired. After Reuters filed a public records request with JIFSAN, the research group posted meeting information online and released planning emails. The guest list showed that more than half of the 54 participants were employed by or recently retired from FDA and other agencies. Of the 21 non-government participants, 17 had either worked for talc companies, done lab testing or served as expert witnesses for the industry, Reuters found. Five of the participants affiliated with talc companies also have served as expert witnesses for plaintiffs. Most of the non-government participants were experts in geology or minerals testing. In a statement, the FDA said it would ordinarily avoid having sessions led by defense or plaintiff witnesses. However, the agency said there are a “limited number of experts worldwide with scientific knowledge” on asbestos testing, standards and results analysis. Not everyone was welcome. Among those turned away was Dr. David Egilman, a clinical professor of family medicine at Brown University. He testified last year in a trial that ended in a $4.69 billion verdict for women alleging J&J’s talc powders caused their ovarian cancers. Egilman told Reuters he was concerned that if the FDA was guided by geologists and industry consultants, it might overlook fundamental questions about which mineral fibers cause cancer. He wanted to offer his expertise, as a physician and researcher, on what technicians should look for under the microscope. Testing hinges “on the determination of what particles or elements should be tested for,” he wrote in a November 2018 email to organizers asking to be included in the symposium. “This is a medical question and not a technical question.”  Katz took a different view. In an email forwarded to Egilman, she said: “This meeting is not intended to discuss health-related issues or concerns.”  She met with Egilman later. Katz also told Egilman that the symposium was not intended to reach any consensus. At its conclusion, however, session leaders, including three who have served as defense witnesses for J&J, drafted what they called “consensus” or “concurrence” reports. Two of the reports reviewed by Reuters embraced industry positions on what fibers should be counted as hazardous, an issue of fierce contention in courtrooms across the country. The reports discouraged counting fibers that may or may not be asbestos, saying that doing so might exaggerate the hazard. That view runs contrary to the positions of other U.S. and European public health officials, who presume mineral fibers that even look like asbestos are toxic. As Arnold Brody, a professor emeritus at Tulane University Medical School, told jurors in a talc powder trial last year, “The lung doesn’t care” what it’s called. These issues are likely to be aired at the public hearing the FDA said it is planning for next year. The gathering could signal how the agency intends to navigate between industry and consumer interests in coming years. Krishnamoorthi, the congressman heading the House investigation into talc safety, said the agency needs to bring consumers and their advocates into the discussion. “In light of the public interest around this particular issue,” he said, “we need to find out what’s going on.”",
            "output": [
                "Special Report: Powder Keg - FDA bowed to industry for decades as alarms were sounded over talc."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d771c4a6df1e4656a4686e76c8c9e74c",
            "input": "The vote — which prompted environmental activists still in council chambers after four hours to break into applause — approved an ordinance that bans the transport, handling and storage of coal and petroleum coke at bulk material facilities or terminals in Oakland. “We want jobs that people can have, and have a long life and they don’t have to rely upon a job of desperation,” said Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney after the vote. “I just believe that we can do better in Oakland.” The ordinance requires a second vote. City leaders have wrestled with the issue for more than a year, as detractors and supporters of the proposed marine terminal argued over the environmental dangers of bringing millions of tons of coal through the area and the economic benefits of good-paying union jobs. The terminal is part of a larger makeover of an army base that closed in 1999, eliminating thousands of jobs. The proposed terminal is in West Oakland, a historically black neighborhood that’s among the poorest and most polluted in the region. The council approved the project before the coal proposal was made. It’s uncertain whether the terminal will continue without shipping coal. A lawyer for the Oregon Bulk and Oversized Terminal on Monday sent the council a letter detailing potential legal consequences. “Politically, no quantity of handling coal or petcoke under whatever extraordinary standard will be tolerated,” said David Smith. “While that may accomplish a political outcome, it is only the first steps towards an unfortunate legal outcome.” City leaders said they were confident they could overcome a legal challenge. More than 150 people on both sides rallied outside the building Monday before the evening meeting. They packed the council’s chamber, cheering and booing as speakers testified. At times, it was so hard to hear speakers that the council president had to ask security to remove some people from the room. Coal proponents railed at the council for what they saw as a pre-ordained vote. They argued that any environmental impact would be mitigated by transporting coal in covered rail cars that are unloaded underground. “We agree 1,000 percent that West Oakland is polluted,” said Ron Muhammad, a fourth-generation resident of West Oakland. “But the project has a plan to mitigate it, to address it, so since the public health portion is taken out of the picture, then it goes back to the jobs.” On the other side, coal opponents argued there was no way to keep coal dust from escaping into the air, and that rail shipment would worsen the health of children already disadvantaged by poverty and bad air. “This whole notion of coal-covered cars is rather ridiculous to say the least because it’s never been done before,” said Derrick Muhammad of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which opposes the shipment of coal. Among the speakers were residents of Utah who were furious that their state lawmakers had pumped more than $50 million in public money to build the facility, hoping to spur investment in the state’s rural counties.",
            "output": [
                "Oakland council bans coal shipments, citing health risks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce27315e6e67404cbade4ea7d767b7bf",
            "input": "They say that could spread the germs lurking on your turkey in the kitchen sink or nearby food. But it’s been a challenge trying to convince cooks to stop rinsing off raw poultry. “If your mother did it and your grandmother did it, and suddenly the (government) says not to wash your turkey, you may take some time to adjust,” said Drusilla Banks, who teaches food sanitation for the University of Illinois Extension. Germs that can make people sick are common in the guts of healthy poultry and are legally allowed to be on raw turkey and chicken. The assumption is that nobody eats their poultry rare, and that thorough cooking will kill the bacteria. So it’s possible that two common causes of food poisoning — salmonella and campylobacter — are on the turkey, said Mindy Brashears, a food safety official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The do-not-wash raw poultry advice from the USDA is relatively new and perhaps hasn’t caught on because it goes against the ingrained belief that washing makes things clean, said Banks. Participants in a food safety study offered their own rationale: “If it’s still slimy — I’m not sure what that is. It just feels good to wash it,” said one. Another said: “My grandmother taught me that. She just said to wash all your food because there’s no telling where it’s been before it got in the pack.” Benjamin Chapman, a study author and food safety expert at North Carolina State University, said the instinct to wash raw poultry goes back at least decades when people relied more on visual cues to spot problems with poultry. TV chef Julia Child was among those who said washing chicken was “just the safer thing to do” before experts began advising against it. But food prep is a juggling act, and germs from poultry can be spread even if it’s not washed, especially when birds are removed from packaging. It’s why washing and sanitizing hands, utensils and surfaces are even more important. The USDA-funded study underscores that point. Researchers sprayed raw chicken with a harmless strain of E. coli and watched volunteer cooks at test kitchens. Among those who washed their raw chicken, about a quarter ended up spreading the bacteria to their lettuce. But even some of those who did not rinse the chicken got germs on the lettuce. There are other opportunities for germs to survive and thrive on turkeys: thawing and cooking. For thawing, experts say frozen birds shouldn’t be left out on counters since germs can start multiplying on the outer parts that defrost first. They instead recommend thawing in fridges, cold water or in microwaves. You can also cook a frozen turkey, but it will take a lot longer. And to ensure a bird is thoroughly cooked, they say to use a thermometer to check that the deepest and thickest parts of it have reached 165 degrees. Even after the meal is cooked, you aren’t out of the danger zone. To keep turkey and other leftovers safe, experts say they should be refrigerated after two hours. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Stop! Washing your Thanksgiving turkey could spread germs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7dd153db407b404f87579e34dfbfd5be",
            "input": "Fearing financial ruin and conservation risks, Frantzen and dozens of other landowners in central Texas have banded together with environmental groups and conservative-leaning city governments in opposing the route of pipeline giant Kinder Morgan’s 430-mile (690-kilometer), $2 billion natural gas expressway. “We know a lot more today about the aquifers, we know a lot more today about the endangered species, we know a lot more today about the sensitivity of the environment,” Frantzen said. “And putting a pipeline project through an area such as this, especially when you can compare it to some of the other places where they could put it even less expensively and with much greater ease — this is an idiotic idea.” But Kinder Morgan has defended its proposal, stating it’s looking to ease a pipeline shortage and help drillers transport gas trapped in West Texas’ thriving Permian Basin to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Now, the company is exercising eminent domain as a nasty legal battle over the path of the pipeline threatens to jeopardize future projects passing through central Texas. Opponents of the route are also challenging state regulators at the Texas Railroad Commission who gave Kinder Morgan the green light while accepting millions of dollars from the oil and gas industry. Unlike the Dakota Access Pipeline project that sparked massive protests in 2016 and 2017 over fears it would hurt the environment and sacred Native American sites, opposition to the Texas pipeline has largely played out of public view. Kinder Morgan’s pipeline project comes as an unprecedented boom in oil and natural gas production in the  Permian Basin has catapulted the nation to the forefront of the global shale market. Last year, the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest crude oil producer, according to an assessment by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling, and without the proper infrastructure to move it from the Permian Basin, companies end up burning off excess through a process known as flaring, Kinder Morgan spokesman Allen Fore said. “That’s the purpose of this project, to capture that natural gas and ship it to market,” Fore said. If completed, the pipeline will deliver up to 2 billion cubic feet (56.6 million cubic meters) of natural gas — enough to fuel 31,500 homes for one day —as it passes through 16 Texas counties. Texas already has the most expansive pipeline network in the country with more than 460,000 miles (740,250 kilometers) of channels zigzagging through it. But the project is at the center of a fight that has grounded an unlikely alliance assembled across the state’s central region, where momentum has grown in calling for the company to reroute the pipeline and in urging for further industry regulation in oil-friendly Texas. Those strange bedfellows have held townhalls, formed grassroots community campaigns, and lodged lawsuits against Kinder Morgan. Opponents of the route have pointed to the potential contamination of the region’s porous Edwards Aquifer, the impact it would have on an environmentally sensitive area, and the lack of public engagement and oversight in the routing process. Kinder Morgan has repeatedly stated the pipeline won’t pose any safety threat. There is also concern that Kinder Morgan’s success would set a precedent for other companies interested in building conduits through Hill Country, said Chuck Lesniak, who serves on an advisory committee for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. “I do know that the industry is paying attention to this project, and the legal issues, because from a legal standpoint, if this goes south on Kinder Morgan, it has enormous impacts on other pipeline projects proposed for Texas,” Lesniak said. A judge has ruled in favor of the Houston-based company in one legal challenge attempting to block the project on grounds that the Texas Railroad Commission doesn’t provide enough state oversight or regulation; that decision is being appealed. Fore said the company has made 150 routing adjustments and is not considering changing the pipeline’s set path. The company has started preliminary work, including marking the construction space and leveling the land, but no pipeline has been laid in the ground. Clashes between rural landowners and companies seeking to seize property are not uncommon in Texas, where an estimated 95% of the land is privately owned. Although landowners are compensated for pipeline operators’ use of easements, they often argue the money provided isn’t enough. Unlike the Texas Public Utility Commission rules that electric, telephone and water utilities must follow, oil and gas companies do not need to seek the approval of the Texas Railroad Commission or affected municipalities for their proposed route. They also have no formal public process to hear from affected landowners. The commission has said it does not approve of whether a pipeline is necessary. “We approve of whether they have met certain requirements and given us information that we need so we know this is a pipeline ... about to be constructed so we can go out and inspect and put it on our inspection schedule,” said Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye. Texas’ lack of oversight on the pipeline industry allows companies to make unilateral determinations about the best route, said Luke Ellis, an attorney representing roughly 40 landowners, including Frantzen, in their disputes with Kinder Morgan. For Frantzen, it could be the end to his way of life at his 260-acre (105-hectare) ranch. He called it a sentimental moment when he picked up an array of deer antler sheds littering his ranch one day this summer. “No one has fought (Kinder Morgan) harder and no one has fought them longer than we have in the Hill Country,” he said. ___ Follow Clarice Silber on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClariceSilber",
            "output": [
                "Unlikely alliance fighting pipeline in Texas Hill Country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-665929f3c3194956bbc58463060d318f",
            "input": "To prevent a rebound of the epidemic as business activity resumes, an increasing number of Chinese provinces have begun offering coronavirus testing to the public. At the same time,  local authorities are offering coupons to residents in hopes they will spend money to revive an economy ravaged by the outbreak. On Friday, China is expected to report that its economy shrank by 6.5% in the first quarter, in what would be the first contraction since at least 1992, when it first started issuing quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) data. New imported cases dropped to 34 on Wednesday from 36 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said, down for the third straight day, amid stringent border checks, reduced international flights, and a ban on entry by foreigners. But the number of locally transmitted cases rose to 12 from 10 a day earlier, with Beijing seeing three new local cases, the first since March 23. The other new local cases on Wednesday were in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Guangdong, both of which have been battling an influx of infected travellers, mostly Chinese nationals returning from abroad. Overall, mainland China reported 46 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, the same as a day earlier, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 82,341. On Thursday, state television reported that President Xi Jinping had approved the withdrawal of 4,000 army medical personnel who had been sent to the central province of Hubei, where the outbreak originated, in another milestone as the province and its capital city Wuhan return towards normal. Earlier this month, Wuhan lifted a lockdown that had paralysed the city of 11 million for more than two months in a drastic effort to contain the virus. The northwestern province of Shanxi said on Thursday it would provide nucleic acid testing to the public “in a bid to spot, quarantine, and treat coronavirus patients as early as possible”. The testing will be partly subsidised and provided to those who are required to undergo a test as well as residents who want one, provincial authorities said. In the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, which is battling an influx of cases from Chinese people crossing the border from Russia, the city of Harbin also began offering virus tests this week to residents who want them, local media said. Meanwhile, more cities are rolling out measures to stimulate consumption. The eastern city of Wenzhou said it would dole out 1.8 billion yuan of shopping coupons. Wuhan will make similar moves soon, its commerce bureau said on its website on Thursday. Heilongjiang saw 16 new imported cases, all among Chinese nationals who came from Russia. The neighbouring Chinese region of Inner Mongolia also saw imported cases from Russia. Guangdong saw five new cases connected to travellers from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases increased to 64 from 57 a day earlier. China does not include patients with no clinical symptoms such as a cough or a fever in its tally of confirmed cases. Some of the new confirmed cases had been counted as asymptomatic previously.",
            "output": [
                "China sees drop in imported coronavirus cases but local infections rise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27bdc8054c17406fa8ffce9dc2e6aacd",
            "input": "\"The story indicated that the robotic procedure was more expensive than a standard surgical prostatectomy. In addition, it included information about the expenses associated with obtaining and running the equipment. It is not clear from this story what, if any, the benefits are of having a robotic prostatectomy instead of a standard surgical prostatectomy. There was no discussion about the decreased hospital stay or reduced recovery time that has been reported with this approach. Although these are short term benefits, they may be of interest to certain patients. In this sense, the story was the flip side of what we often see – exaggerated benefts and no mention of harms. This story mentions harms (although data comes from biased literature review) and no benefits. The story provides readers with some potentially interesting questions to raise with a doctor (e.g. how many of these surgeries have you done using this equipment; is this approach the best for the type of cancer I have, i.e. early or more advanced). The story mentions in passing potential harms such as impotence and incontinence, referencing a study published in October. However – the story did not really follow-up on one of the key issues it raised. For example, the story mentioned that a surgeon will have to do 80 procedures with this equipment to ensure that they don’t leave any cancerous tissue behind. The story could have completed this thought and indicated the ramifications of leaving cancerous tissue behind in terms of health consequences. The story indicated that the publication reported on examined data from a number of previously published reports. The story then extracted several salient facts to highlight some variables that affect outcomes of interest to patients. The story would have been improved by noting the weaknesses or biases associated with a simple literature review. This is not a systematic review of the literature or a meta-analysis. This is simply a literature review and the methods are flawed — for example, the authors chose 68 papers of 412 on basis of selection/inclusion criterion \"\"…those with greatest relevance to the paper.\"\" The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. It might have been useful to note that not all prostate cancers result in morbidity or mortality meaning that not all prostate need active treatment. The story does not use any comments from experts in the field without a direct connection to the study reported on. The story mentioned that the authors of the study reported on did not compare robotic surgery complication rates to traditional surgery rates. In a perfect world, we would have hoped that the story would have investigated these data points anyway. The story mentioned that robotic prostatectomy was the ‘dominant approach’ to this procedure in the United States. But that is an erroneous statement by the physician who is from Australia. It is certainly booming in popularity, but that doesn’t make it the dominant approach. The story indicated that robotic prostatectomy is not a new procedure. Does not appear to rely exclusively on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Robot prostate surgery has downsides, needs more data"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b1a3af5b39fd41b18340b3eeba87cfbf",
            "input": "Herbal, vitamin and mineral pill products in a file photo. REUTERS/File In an undercover probe, investigators at the Government Accountability Office also found that labels for some supplements claim to prevent or cure ailments like diabetes or heart disease — a clear violation of U.S. law. GAO staff targeted supplements most popular with older consumers and posed as elderly buyers in stores or over the telephone. “The most egregious practices included suspect marketing claims that a dietary supplement prevented or cured extremely serious diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease,” the GAO said in a report released on Wednesday at a Senate hearing. For example, one shopper at a supplement specialty store was told that a garlic supplement could be taken instead of prescribed blood pressure drugs. Another staffer posing as a forgetful, elderly consumer was told by a salesperson that he could take aspirin and ginkgo biloba together with no harm. The Food and Drug Administration has said that combination can cause internal bleeding. The GAO, which conducts investigations for Congress, also said it found trace amounts of potentially harmful contaminants such as lead and arsenic, but at levels that do not exceed federal guidelines. Findings of pesticides, however, did exceed the FDA’s advisory levels, the GAO said, and 16 of 40 supplements tested would violate the FDA’s tolerance. Manufacturers told the GAO that they were concerned about the contamination findings but “that the levels identified were too low to raise any issues” during their own testing. “Given the expected generally small consumption of the supplements, we do not believe these levels represent a significant risk to health,” FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein said in remarks prepared for the Senate Committee on Aging. Unlike prescription drugs, the FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they can be sold. The Federal Trade Commission regulates the marketing of herbal supplements, which are not allowed to claim that they treat medical conditions. But calls for stronger oversight have been growing. Experts at the Institute of Medicine have said the FDA needs to use the same strict standards to regulate supplements as it uses for medications, and earlier this week the GAO said the FDA should ask Congress for more power to regulate supplements. Some lawmakers, including Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, have proposed legislation to beef up the agency’s oversight of supplements. Sharfstein said the FDA is obliged to look for problems only after a product is sold by reviewing medical literature and analyzing complaints. The agency has taken action to help recall dozens of tainted supplements and alert consumers to hazardous products, he said.",
            "output": [
                "Herbs, supplements often sold deceptively: U.S. report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f5e288a745e41b1b8d7fc220b1062c8",
            "input": "There were 308 accidental drug overdose deaths in 2019, down from 314 during 2018, and down from a high of 336 in 2016, according to preliminary numbers released by the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. About 83%, or 256 of last year’s deaths, involved opioids, the agency said. “We are pleased to see that the numbers are down for the third straight year,” the agency’s acting director, Kathryn Power, said in an emailed statement. “At the same time, we know that we are still fighting an overdose epidemic, and as we grapple with the coronavirus today, it’s more important than ever that we keep our actions focused and connect Rhode Islanders with critical resources and support.” Before the current reduction that began in 2017, accidental drug overdose deaths increased 143%, from 138 in 2009 to 336 in 2016.",
            "output": [
                "Overdose deaths down slightly last year compared to 2018."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ae43c515c55455daae19cc4c4c8bca8",
            "input": "About 2 years ago my wife and I were on a cruise through the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that all the staff, ships officers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this lady. I asked our waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told she owned the line, but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises, back to back. As we left the dining room one evening I caught her eye and stopped to say hello. We chatted and I said, “I understand you’ve been on this ship for the last four cruises.” She replied, “Yes, that’s true.” I stated, “I don’t understand” and she replied, without a pause, “It’s cheaper than a nursing home.” So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:  1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day. 2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day (of fantastic food, not institutional food) if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week). 3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night. 4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo. 5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you. 6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days! 7. TV broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience. 8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don’t even have to ask for them. 9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip you are on Medicare; if you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life. 10. There is always a doctor on board. Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or name where you want to go? Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don’t look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship. PS: And don’t forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side at no charge. Origins:   Although the “cruise ship” recounting has become the more widespread, the earlier form taken by this piece of e-lore featured not a luxury liner but a hotel. In 2003 this waggish diatribe against the cost of nursing home care had its writer swearing to check into a Holiday Inn when the grey hairs became too many. By 2004, some of the numbered items now found in the “cruise ship” tale were in place, albeit in a version that claimed Holiday Inn rather than Princess as substitute elder care housing (e.g., “TV broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience”). By 2005 more numbered items had been added, including some cruise-specific ones (e.g., “There is always a doctor on board” and “And don’t forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side at no charge”). Also by 2005, what had begun as one writer’s claim about his or her fanciful future plans had come to be presented as the actual remarks of an old woman living that life on a cruise ship. It is at this intersection that folklore and reality: while the account of the “elderly lady” has clearly evolved from earlier pieces about pie-in-the-sky retirement plans involving Holiday Inn, some people of advanced years have indeed made their homes on cruise ships. Bea Muller, an 86-year-old retiree, took up residence on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 on 5 January 2000. Her husband had passed away while the couple was on a world cruise eleven months earlier, and rather than opt for a retirement home, Mrs. Muller sold her house and possessions and booked herself onto the ship. Instead of submitting a monthly or yearly fee, in 2001 Muller was reported to be paying as she went, booking one cruise after another. Thanks to her frequent traveler discounts, her overall costs amounted to about $5,000 a month. (Cruise prices have increased since then, which is something those entertaining similar plans should keep in mind. Also, Muller’s accommodations were small and windowless: a 10×10 foot cabin that barely fits a bed, radio, and television, with a bathroom smaller than the average closet found in a typical home.) Its cramped quarters aside, Muller was happy with her life aboard a ship. “I’ve got full-time maid service, great dining rooms, doctors, medical center (where she volunteers), a spa, beauty salon, computer center, entertainment, cultural activities and, best of all, dancing and bridge.”  (Muller passed away in 2013, and the Queen Elizabeth 2 was retired from service in 2008.) Bea Muller was not the first long-time cruiser: Cunard had a previous guest, Clair MacBeth, who lived aboard ship for 14 years. As to whether living out one’s golden years aboard a cruise ship is a viable alternative to spending them in a retirement home, a geriatrician at Northwestern University says such a plan is a feasible and cost-effective alternative to assisted-living facilities. Dr. Lee Lindquist, an instructor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, compared the costs (over a 20-year life expectancy) of moving to an assisted-living facility, a nursing home and a cruise ship, including the expense of treating acute illnesses, Medicare reimbursement and other factors. She determined that the net cost of cruise-ship living was only about $2,000 more than the alternatives ($230,000 versus $228,000) and offered a higher quality of service. “Cruise ships offer such a range of amenities — such as three meals a day, often with escorts to meals if needed, room service, entertainment, accessible halls and cabins, housekeeping and laundry services and physicians on board — that they could actually be considered a floating assisted-living facility,” says Lindquist. Lindquist says the plan would work best for seniors who need a minimal amount of care. “Seniors who enjoy travel, have good or excellent cognitive function but require some assistance with activities of daily living are the ideal candidates for cruise-ship care. Just as with assisted living, if residents became acutely ill or got to the point that they needed a higher level of care, they would have to leave.” Although Lindquist’s findings would seem to support the premise of it being cheaper to live on a luxury liner than in a retirement home, we’d want to examine her research vis-a-vis the types of care facilities she looked at and the cruise-ship costs she factored in before we’d feel comfortable about offering an opinion on her assessment. (She might have compared only very expensive retirement homes against the cheapest accommodations offered on ships that are less than well thought of, for example.) However, whatever the validity of Lindquist’s findings, cost is but one of the elements to the choice of where to reside after retirement. Golden agers who decide to make their permanent homes on cruise ships sacrifice proximity to family and friends; their nearest and dearest are no longer just a short car ride away. Those devoted to their children and grandchildren might well deem that too high a price to pay, no matter what the spreadsheet says about the relative financial costs. Likewise, those who lack progeny but who are involved in their communities or who are part of a number of strong friendships may not want to opt for the vagabond life, because it would mean abandoning that which gives them joy.",
            "output": [
                "Some people have eschewed retirement homes in favor of living on cruise ships."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f8d135c52754ee48ca06ada984ad78e",
            "input": "That expands on the Swedish company’s announcement last month that it would increase capacity by 60%. Ventilator producers are under pressure to raise output as hospitals around the globe become overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, the pandemic is disrupting the transport and supply of crucial ventilator parts such as hoses, valves, motors and electronics. “The demand for advanced ventilators for the intensive care units in hospitals continues to increase globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak,” Getinge said in a statement. The company said on March 16 it had already raised output substantially, going from one work shift to nearly two at its ventilator factory, and was looking to quickly ramp up further though it was experiencing component shortages. The following day, Getinge, which says it has around a 25% share of the global ventilator market, said it would increase capacity by 60%. In 2019 it produced 10,000 ventilators, equipment that is crucial in the care of patients critically ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. To counter the shortage, some countries including Italy, Britain and the United States have drafted in carmakers and aerospace manufacturers to start producing ventilators. On Sunday, electric carmaker Tesla Inc showed a prototype for a ventilator in a video published on its YouTube channel.",
            "output": [
                "Getinge to ramp up ventilator production capacity by 160% due to coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ed42524856c54356834c2797f608650a",
            "input": "The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment says two deaths in the state have already been directly attributed to influenza as of Monday. Pneumonia has been the direct cause of death in another 38 deaths, and the flu or pneumonia has been contributing factors in an additional 132 deaths. In last week’s KDHE flu report for Kansas, there were 101 outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses. The newborn to 4 years old age group had 29 reported cases for the first week of the flu season. Flu shots are generally recommended for anyone age 6 months and older. Flu symptoms include a fever, body aches, chills, tiredness, cough and headache. ___ Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com",
            "output": [
                "Kansas records its first flu death of the season."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-462744236df848e8952d671a0cf07f66",
            "input": "That’s when the 37-year-old nurse and mother got scared for her family. “I couldn’t sleep that night. I thought, ‘If I brought this home to my mom, she’s probably going to die, and it’s probably going to be my fault.’ So I had to find a different way,” Neuburger said. To protect her family, Neuburger moved from her parents’ home, where she had been living with her son after a recent divorce, and into a camper. Even though she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to hug her 11-year-old boy again, she’s glad she chose to self-isolate — especially since she began feeling sick five days after that hospital scare. Holed up in the camper as she awaits the results of a COVID-19 test, Neuburger is among countless doctors and nurses around the world who are choosing to move to hotels, tents, garages and other temporary housing to protect their loved ones — even as they risk exposing themselves to a virus that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, including a number of medical workers. Hotels, some business owners and people who run Airbnb rental homes are among those offering lodging, sometimes for free, to doctors and nurses needing to self-isolate. Social media is full of efforts to match medical professionals with temporary housing. One Facebook group, RVs 4 MDs, connects RV owners with medical workers. In Ireland, a real estate company has used Instagram to offer up empty flats. The extra layer of isolation means those who are risking their own health to save the lives of others are now sacrificing even more as they resign themselves to virtual contact with their kids, parents, spouses and others they would normally fall back on for emotional support during this stressful time. “It’s upsetting — even though you know it’s the right decision to leave your family,” said Mica Sosa, a floor nurse at an oncology unit at a Phoenix hospital, who moved into a friend’s empty condominium a few weeks ago. “It’s so bizarre to turn around and walk away from the people you normally run to.”  Events Sosa knows she will miss: Easter with her 4-year-old son; her mom’s 71st birthday; and her own 7th wedding anniversary. Some colleagues thought she was moving too soon. But with her mother’s age and her own husband in his 60s, Sosa didn’t want to wait until Phoenix had a surge in cases to take precautions. “Why wait until you are New York to get that radical? You need to protect yourself now,” she said. “I think everyone needs to look at their own family situation and decide what’s best for them.”  For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But the virus can lead to more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems. Outside Portland, Maine, a pregnant Joy Engel is staying home with a toddler son while her husband, Dr. Ben Hagopian, lives in a friend’s empty in-law apartment. “We fought hard for this pregnancy and we weren’t willing to take the risk,” Engel said. For Neuburger, the gravity of the coronavirus took hold in one shift in the intensive care unit at the Minnesota hospital where she works. She felt her mask leaking as she cared for one patient, but she kept doing her job and switched to a protective respiratory device when she could. Then came the patient whose ventilator tube came apart. On the way home from work, she called her dad. She told him to take her son, Xander Ponkin, upstairs, while she went directly to the basement where she had been staying. She kept away from the rest of her family until she could move into a camper two days later. “My dad made me give him a hug even though I didn’t want to. He said, ‘What happens if you get sick and die? I won’t see you again,’” she said. She used Facebook to find the camper, and plans to pay its owner $200 a month. It’s now parked in the driveway of her former in-laws, who are caring for Xander, in the Twin Cities suburb of St. Paul Park. She has been able to play with him in the yard — at a distance. They also use video chat to play games, and she watches from her window as he shoots baskets outside. The hardest part, Neuburger said, is not being able to give him a hug. “I’m making the best of it. I’m trying to,” she said. “Sometimes I just sit here and cry. But then … I feel like I sleep better knowing I’m not possibly infecting my family.”  ___ Associated Press writer David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors, nurses leave homes to protect families from virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-564fe8b888d54db2bc91e577087e5199",
            "input": "\"In the third and final presidential debate, Republican nominee Donald Trump blamed President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for many of the problems faced by people in New Hampshire. Trump said that included drug addiction. \"\"The single-biggest problem is heroin that pours across our southern borders, just pouring, and destroying their youth and is poisoning the blood of their youth and plenty of other people,\"\" Trump said. We’ve all heard of poppy fields blooming in Afghanistan, but is Trump right that heroin is entering the United States largely through the southern border? Yes. Even though Southwest Asia supplies heroin to most of the rest of the world, nearly all of the heroin available in the United States comes from Mexico and South America. \"\"Mexico, and to a lesser extent, Colombia, dominate the U.S. heroin market, because of their proximity, established transportation and distribution infrastructure, and ability to satisfy US heroin demand,\"\" the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wrote in its National Drug Threat Assessment of 2015. \"\"Mexico continues as the primary supplier of heroin to the United States,\"\" the White House’s page on the international heroin market reads. \"\"Estimated cultivation of opium poppy reached 10,500 hectares in 2012, with an estimated pure potential production of 26 metric tons.\"\" Here’s a chart from the DEA report demonstrating the prevalence of heroin from the southern border:  As you can see, South America and Mexico have been the sources for much of the heroin in U.S. markets for the past two decades. In recent years, Mexican traffickers have expanded by simultaneously wedging black tar heroin into Northeastern markets dominated by Colombian white powder heroin and increasing production and distribution of white powder heroin themselves. Mexican heroin accounted for 45 percent of the total weight of heroin the DEA seized and analyzed in 2012 (South American heroin accounted for 51 percent). By 2014, the proportion of Mexican heroin had grown to 79 percent (South American heroin made up about 17 percent), DEA spokesman Russell Baer told PolitiFact in September. This market share is also reflected in the amount of heroin seized at the border and the amount grown in Mexico. From 2013 to 2015, the amount of poppy fields cultivated in Mexico increased by 169 percent from 11,000 hectares to 28,000 hectares, according to Baer. In 2008, the total amount of heroin seized at the U.S.-Mexico border (about 560 kilograms) surpassed the amount seized from commercial airlines for the first time (about 400 kilograms). Border seizures nearly quadrupled from 2008 to 2015 (2,210 kilograms), according to data provided to us by Baer. \"\"The majority of the drugs in the U.S. market are trafficked across the Southwest Border from Mexico into the US. Southwest Border seizures conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while not the complete picture, provide insight into trafficking trends,\"\" he said. Traffickers typically smuggle the drugs in through secret compartments in vehicles across the border (illegally and legally), transport them to stash houses in hub cities like Dallas, Los Angeles and Phoenix, and then distribute to the Midwest and East Coast. Our ruling Trump said heroin \"\"pours across our southern borders.\"\" The vast majority of heroin in the United States comes from Mexico and South America.\"",
            "output": [
                "Heroin .. pours across our southern borders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34fbf10c992d499f898386d62286798f",
            "input": "Viviane Ursule Sanou, head of the National Secretariat against Circumcision, said Tuesday the banned procedure was carried out on girls and young women ranging from 10 months to 24 years old in the capital, Ouagadougou, Kaya in the north and two towns in the central east. She says because the practice is illegal, many people carry out the circumcisions in secret. All of the victims have been admitted to hospitals for treatment of hemorrhage and infection. Burkina Faso adopted measures banning female circumcision in the early ’90s. The penal code adopted this year suggests up to 10 years in prison and severe fines.",
            "output": [
                "Burkina Faso arrests 30 over illegal female circumcisions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-49644601db68437397a5846d56c68a16",
            "input": "The death toll rose by 743 on Tuesday, the second highest daily tally since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on Feb. 21, and up steeply from the 602 recorded on Monday. Italy has seen more fatalities than any other country, with latest figures showing that 6,820 people have died from the infection in barely a month. The total number of confirmed cases hit 69,176 on Tuesday, but with Italy testing only people with severe symptoms, the head of the Civil Protection Agency said the true number of infected people was probably 10 times higher. “A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible,” Angelo Borrelli told La Repubblica newspaper, indicating he believed some 700,000 people could have been infected. The latest data comes as a disappointment to a country that has been in lockdown for two weeks, with schools, bars and restaurants shut and Italians forbidden from leaving their homes for all but essential needs. On Monday the government closed all businesses not deemed to be essential to the nation’s supply chain of vital requirements, and after the latest figures Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stiffened fines for people leaving their homes to up to 3,000 euros ($3,225) from a previous maximum of 206 euros. “Every one of us must play our part,” he told reporters at a news conference held by remote video link to avoid contagion. “If everyone obeys the rules they don’t only protect themselves and their loved ones, but they will enable the whole national community to come out of this emergency.”  Current restrictions are due to remain in place until April 3, but there is speculation the date will have to be pushed back given the continual rise in cases across the country. A decree issued on Tuesday gave the government the power to extend the deadline to July 31. However, Conte denied planning to keep the lockdown in place until that date, saying he hoped to loosen curbs “well before then”. Investment bank Goldman Sachs forecast on Tuesday that the Italian economy, already teetering on recession before the outbreak hit, would shrink by more than 11% this year. Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri told parliament he expected a contraction of “a few percentage points”. The Civil Protection Agency said the biggest difficulty facing the health service was a shortage of masks and ventilators - a problem that has dogged hospitals since the start of the outbreak. Underscoring the problem, the regional governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, ordered the confiscation of ventilators at veterinary surgeries, saying they could be converted to human use. With other countries looking to hoard their own medical supplies, a consortium of Italian textile and fashion companies have converted their production lines and will soon be able to produce half the required amount of masks. “(This) will give our system the ammunition that we need in order to fight this war and avoid our total dependence on imports,” Domenico Arcuri, the national commissioner for the emergency, told reporters. The government has said a number of industrial sectors, including medical suppliers, must keep operating during the crisis, but there is growing unhappiness amongst some unions who think the list of strategic concerns is too wide. Workers in the metal, chemical, textile, rubber-plastic and paper industries are expected to go on strike on Wednesday, alarming the government, which is holding talks with unions to try to stave off the stoppages. “The last thing that Italy can allow itself is industrial conflict in a situation of national emergency,” deputy Economy Minister Antonio Misiani told SkyTG24 television.",
            "output": [
                "Italian coronavirus deaths jump, dashing hopes that worst was over."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4bed07dff58a46a5ab6f97e545afff93",
            "input": "\"It’s the question-du-jour about the new health care law: Are people going to be able to keep their health insurance if they like it? President Barack Obama has several times said yes. But cancellation notices coming in the mail to policyholders tell another story. The contrast between Obama’s promises and what’s playing out in America has led to a fierce political war of words about who lied, who knew what and when, and how Americans will have to deal with the ramifications. Former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn debated the issue Monday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Coburn: \"\"You're no longer eligible to buy your own plan, which was the No. 1 promise that the president made to the American people. You cannot get what you had.\"\" Axelrod: \"\"Most people are going to keep their own plans, senator, and you know that.\"\" Coburn: \"\"That’s not true.\"\" Moments later, Axelrod made his point again: \"\"The majority of people in this country, the vast majority of people in this country, are keeping their plan. People who are uninsured are going to have choices they never had before.\"\" In this fact-check, we wanted to dig into what’s happening to the American health insurance system to see what policies are being canceled, how many, why and how you might be affected. A good starting point is to see how Americans get their insurance right now. Using census data, the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that in 2012, a little less than 50 percent of the public got their coverage through an employer-based plan. That is, a business negotiates a contract with an insurance company and offers health coverage to its workers. The second largest group, about 30 percent, gets insurance through either Medicare, Medicaid or both. A third group of people with insurance, about 6 percent, buy policies directly from insurance companies. This is called the individual market. (The remainder of Americans, around 16 percent, are currently uninsured.) The health care law that was passed in 2010 made changes to all three legs of the health insurance stool, but the biggest changes came in the individual market. Before the health care law was passed, the individual market was widely considered a mess. Insurers could turn you down for pre-existing conditions, and none of the insurance was standardized, so if you bought a policy, it wasn’t always crystal clear what you were getting. The law’s goal always had been to get these people into standardized plans that cover a defined list of benefits. As a result, some existing policies did not meet standards set by the new health care law. This is why people in this group may be seeing cancellation notices. Kaiser estimates that 15 million people are in the individual market. They are likely to have a very different experience from the \"\"vast majority\"\" cited by Axelrod. In New Jersey and Florida, hundreds of thousands of people have received cancellation notices and more are popping up across the country. It’s unclear how many people in the individual market will be forced to change their plan. And what happens to people who are will vary. People can buy another plan from the same company or shop around. Some of them will be eligible for government subsidies and some will not. This group is where the disruptions are most likely. Another group of people -- about 90 million -- are covered through through Medicare or Medicaid. While the Affordable Care Act does make changes, most notably in something called the Medicare Advantage program, they are not being moved into new coverage plans. That leaves the nearly 150 million people who get their insurance through the plans their employer offer. Those plans could change. But it’s tough to say how substantially, and how much as a result of the health care law. Part of that is because plans change every year. Still, some companies are making changes to bring costs down. For example, UPS is telling their employees that if their spouse can receive health insurance through a different employer, UPS will no longer offer them coverage. That certainly could mean people are not keeping their health care plan. How much of the blame should be shouldered by the health care law is a different matter. We asked a variety of experts to comment on the literal accuracy of Axelrod’s statement. For the most part, regardless of their opinion of the new health care law, they gave Axelrod the benefit of the doubt. \"\"It’s probably true -- at least for next year,\"\" said Gail Wilensky, the former head of Medicare and Medicaid under President George H. W. Bush. \"\"Most employers aren’t going to do anything about the insurance they are offering for 2014 because of the Affordable Care Act.\"\" \"\"He is absolutely right,\"\" said Bob Laszewski, a health insurance consultant and head of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. But Laszweski also said Axelrod was intentionally diverting attention from the real problems taking place in the individual market. Gerard Anderson, director of the Center for Hospital Finance and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, \"\"I would make the same comment that David Axelrod makes but without any real facts. The people with large employers are not really being impacted by the (health care law) and neither are the Medicare and Medicaid recipients.\"\" Sabrina Corlette, program director at at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, echoed Anderson’s point. For Ted Marmor, a professor of health policy at Yale University, rejected Axelrod’s claim, largely because no one has the hard evidence to back it up or refute it. \"\"No one has the data to be sure,\"\" Marmor said. \"\"Axelrod has no authority for his claim. It is a hope.\"\" But Marmor is among the minority of the experts we consulted. \"\"It's simply true,\"\" said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a Washington health consulting group. \"\"Most of the lives are in the large corporate customer base and we're seeing virtually no dropping of coverage there.\"\" What does it mean to keep your plan? In the view of some analysts, if the plan offered by an employer changes, it is not the same plan and this would make Axelrod wrong. Chris Conover, a critic of Obamacare and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, said the Affordable Care Act requires that every plan offer certain minimum benefits, such as free preventive care. It also allows children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ plan. Those and other rules drive up premiums and lead to employers offering different plans. Conover said millions of people \"\"actually have had to purchase more expensive coverage even if they were perfectly happy with their old coverage.\"\" Axelrod’s office takes a different view. We contacted them and his staff pointed us to a 2013 survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Based on responses from 966 organizations, including firms both small and large, the survey found that 94 percent were definitely or very likely to continue to offer coverage. In that sense, the majority of Americans would still get insurance through their employer. Still, in the survey, about half of the companies estimated Obamacare would raise costs in the range of 1 to 4 percent. Many businesses, in the range of 30 to 40 percent overall, planned to increase the employee share of premiums, raise their deductibles and in other ways shift costs to workers. But it is important to remember that cost and risk shifting has been with the country for a long time. The Kaiser Family Foundation annual survey of employer plans reports that in the past 10 years, the average share of premiums paid by employees has gone up and the fraction of workers in high-deductible plans has risen steadily since 2006, reaching one fifth of the people in the study in 2013. Richard Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group of insurance companies, said the impact of the health care law takes place within an insurance marketplace that has been far from static. \"\"There have been year to year changes to policies,\"\" Zirkelbach said. Of all the factors that drive those changes -- rising medical costs, changes in the health of the people in the insurance pool, and government regulation -- Zirkelbach believes the Affordable Care Act rules are having the largest impact as employers look to 2014. Zirkelbach points especially to the minimum requirements for every insurance plan. The employee benefit survey reports that about three quarters of all plans meet all minimum requirements and need no further changes. Our ruling Axelrod said the vast majority of people are keeping their health care plans. That’s certainly what the 2010 health care law intended. The law was crafted largely to leave in place the health care delivery systems for people who get health insurance either through their employer (about 50 percent of people with insurance) or through the government-managed Medicare or Medicaid programs (about 30 percent). Some changes may be occurring in the employer market that would stop people from keeping the health care plans they have. But the bigger issues are in the so-called individual market, which accounts for about 6 percent of Americans who now have health care. The health care law, in essence, raises standards that will make many plans offered in the individual market obsolete. Experts told us there is no precise data to determine how many people will be forced to change health care plans, but they generally agreed the number will be small this year. The broad consensus is that, for the time being, most people will see changes in their coverage and what they pay for that coverage consistent with changes they have seen with their insurance over the past decade.\"",
            "output": [
                "The vast majority of people in this country are keeping their (health insurance) plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01dcebe6380a4e5387d3705b457c59a8",
            "input": "\"In the wake of the fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn was interviewed for nearly an hour on Wisconsin Public Radio about the incident and its implications. At one point during the Aug. 20, 2014 interview, Flynn told host Kathleen Dunn \"\"there are many reasons why (police) uses of force are dramatically down, and the main one is training.\"\" Then, alluding back to Ferguson, the chief added: \"\"It's an extraordinarily rare event. But the fact is, (in) 2012, there were 12,197,000 arrests in the United States, OK? And there were 410 uses of deadly force. Now that is, I think, three-thousands of a percent. So, it’s still an extraordinarily rare event.\"\" In the comparison Flynn uses, there is one police killing in 0.00003 percent of all arrests -- an even tinier fraction than he suggested. But expressed another way, the 410 is an average of more than one police killing per day. So, what about the two figures themselves: Are they accurate and do they account for all of the people who are killed by police? Renewed focus Around the country, attention to the use of deadly force by police was heightened after Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, was shot to death on Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb. In Milwaukee, residents held rallies to raise questions about the Brown case and about the April 2014 death of Dontre Hamilton, a 31-year-old who was shot multiple times by a police officer during a struggle in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee. (In Milwaukee, there was one police killing of a citizen in 2012, four in 2013 and two through late August of 2014, the Police Department told us.) PolitiFact National rated Half True a claim by conservative talk show host Michael Medved that \"\"more whites than blacks are victims of deadly police shootings.\"\" The claim ignored the fact that there are more than five times more whites than blacks in America. And our colleagues rated as False a statement that an unarmed black person is shot by a police officer every 28 hours. The report that had been cited by CNN pundit Marc Lamont Hill looked at all deaths, not just those of unarmed individuals. And it rolled in some deaths that did not involve police officers. Flynn’s claim Flynn, who headed the police departments in Arlington, Va., and Springfield, Mass., before becoming Milwaukee’s chief in 2008, is known nationally for his use of data. When we asked for evidence for Flynn’s claim, a Milwaukee police spokesman cited two FBI reports. Both are from 2012, the most recent full-year statistics available. There were 12,196,959 arrests across the country in 2012, which means the figure Flynn used -- 12,197,000 -- was rounded up only slightly. The highest numbers of those arrests were for drug abuse violations, driving under the influence and larceny-theft. There were also 410 cases of justifiable homicide in 2012, according to the FBI, which defines justifiable homicide as the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty. For example: A police officer responding to a bank robbery alarm who shot a suspect after the suspect fired at the officer. But that doesn’t taken into account all police killings of citizens. FiveThirtyEight.com, a news website devoted to data analysis, recently reported that the 410 is a minimum figure. The numbers are self-reported by local police agencies and not audited, not all police agencies report those figures to the FBI and the number doesn’t include homicides that weren’t ruled justifiable. The FBI totals are likely an undercount for another reason, criminologists told us. Researchers who examine police killings of citizens within large metropolitan police departments often find that the number of such incidents recorded by the departments are higher than the number of justifiable homicides reported by the FBI. But the criminologists also noted Flynn’s comparison is one legitimate way to measure the frequency of police killings. Our rating Flynn said that in 2012, there were nearly 12.2 million arrests and \"\"410 uses of deadly force\"\" by police in the United States. The Milwaukee police chief correctly quotes official FBI statistics on arrests and justifiable homicides by law enforcement officers, although it appears the 410 is an undercount of the number of people killed by police. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In 2012, there were nearly 12.2 million arrests and only 410 \"\"uses of deadly force\"\" by police in the United States.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-425e58ccc12d4887b7ea4c363ed64d8c",
            "input": "Ivory Coast, which neighbors two of the three countries where Ebola killed more than 11,300 people since December 2013, lifted its ban on wild animal meat this month. The meat of squirrel, deer, fruit bats and rats has long been a key source of protein for many in the region, but it is also a potential source of the Ebola virus. Though bushmeat hasn’t officially been linked to West Africa’s recent Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in history, infections in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected animals, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The Ebola virus is then spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of victims or corpses. “From a public health standpoint, this decision is unfortunate at best,” said Ben Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. “The only source of Ebola in the world is infected animals, and there’s good evidence that some of these animals, like bats, can be infected for a long time.” However, not all bushmeat is equal, he said. Bats pass on the virus and travel far. Some types of rodents can get the virus. Primate meat is likely not as much of a danger, given that they succumb to Ebola more quickly than people. “There’s a good case for banning the sale of bats as bushmeat. The other sources are a lesser risk,” Neuman said. “I don’t want to see it all legal, but we don’t want to see people go hungry, either.” Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana all warned against, or banned, the sale of bushmeat in 2014 as the outbreak emerged. They began rolling back those restrictions after the World Health Organization said in March that Ebola was no longer an international health emergency. Many in the countries are happy that they can now enjoy the meat they have always relied on. Some believe it is tastier than imported meats or chicken, and it’s often cheaper. “We weren’t happy that the government banned us from eating bushmeat these past two years. But we did what we were told because of Ebola,” said Lucien Douhan while shopping for bushmeat in the Yopougon suburb of Abidjan. In the teeming open-air markets, vendors handled the stiffened meat in recognizable animal form. Bat wings competed for space on worn wooden tables with other meat, some tails and claws still attached. Flies buzzed. A machete hacked. Those who sell the meat say they have been through hard times. “We couldn’t afford for our kids to go to school. It was hard for us. We had to sell frogs so the kids could eat, and we sold snails too,” said Brigitte Gahie. “But today, thanks be to God, the meat is back and the people are coming back.” In Guinea, bushmeat sales are still illegal, said Mohamed Tall, the minister of livestock and animal production there. Despite the ban, people still consume it. “We ate it before Ebola. We eat it after Ebola. Nothing can stop me from eating it,” said Marcel Yombouno in Guinea. Liberia issued a warning against the consumption of bushmeat during Ebola, but now the meat is being sold openly. In Sierra Leone, a bushmeat ban has been lifted. Ebola first appeared in 1976 in Congo and has caused periodic outbreaks there and in other African countries. Its re-emergence is likely, said Neuman, given the densely populated areas where Ebola has occurred. “Ebola will come again,” he said. “Hopefully we will be ready this time.” ___ Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal; AP writers Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea; Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Post-Ebola, West Africans flock back to bushmeat, with risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-26d8f63b0c3944f396a0751a9eb131b9",
            "input": "Williams said in an Instagram post Tuesday that she has “sought help from a great team of health care professionals.” She gave no specifics on her treatment, and a message left with her manager seeking details was not immediately returned. Williams’ post says that for years she has dedicated herself to increasing awareness of mental health and empowering people to seek help. She says she recently decided to listen to the advice she has given, and wants to lead by example in seeking treatment. The 37-year-old Williams was a core member of Destiny’s Child, the trio with Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland that sat atop the R&B world from 1997 to 2006.",
            "output": [
                "Destiny’s Child singer Williams seeks mental health help."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-720238143db14636884744964ff627eb",
            "input": "The school said in a news release that campus and local health officials are working to track down other people who might need testing. The school described the student as cooperative but declined to release the student’s condition or other details, citing student privacy laws. Tuberculosis is a serious disease that usually affects the lungs and can be deadly if not treated. In developed countries, it has largely been brought under control. But it’s a major scourge in less affluent places. Symptoms include persistent coughing, weight loss and fatigue.",
            "output": [
                "University of Missouri reports tuberculosis case on campus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-783b42ebda4e41818b29f5572c7c262e",
            "input": "\"The protests against stay-at-home orders in some state capitals have drawn comparisons to the 2010 tea party movement, but the idea of protesting such rules amid a pandemic is not just a 21st-century phenomenon. There are parallels to a protest a century ago. \"\"During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, several influential San Francisco residents including a few physicians formed the Anti-Mask League which objected to wearing masks to prevent the spread of influenza,\"\" stated an April 22 Facebook post. \"\"They held meetings of thousands of maskless people. San Francisco was ultimately one of the cities that suffered the most with a high death rate.\"\" (The \"\"Spanish flu\"\" is a misnomer — it’s more accurate to refer to it as the flu pandemic of 1918.) The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The post includes a black-and-white photo of policemen wearing masks over their mouths and noses. We did a reverse Google search and found the image matches a photo of policemen in a different city — Seattle — wearing masks in 1918. But there are accurate statements in the text, which draws from a source at the University of Michigan. We found that there was such a thing as the Anti-Mask League in San Francisco in January 1919. The city did have one of the highest death rates from the flu, but the authors said they can’t prove whether the Anti-Mask League played a role. Mak pulled from an essay by J. Alexander Navarro at the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine, a book by Alfred W. Crosby, America’s Forgotten Pandemic and the San Francisco Chronicle archives. As the number of flu cases rose in October 1918 in San Francisco, the city passed an ordinance requiring everyone to wear a mask in public except at mealtime. Mask wearing was promoted as a symbol of patriotism. Gov. William Stephens told Californians it was a \"\"patriotic duty for every American citizen\"\" to wear a mask. City officials and local newspapers reported widespread compliance with the mask order initially, Navarro found. But some resisted the rules, and police arrested 110 people on Oct. 27 for not wearing their masks or for failing to keep them properly adjusted. The majority were fined $5, though some went to jail. In November, with cases declining, the city started to lift restrictions, although it still required masks. People flocked to public venues including theaters and sports arenas. At a boxing match, the city’s mayor and city health officer were photographed not wearing masks, for which they were fined. Later that month, the mayor annulled the ordinance. But new cases quickly emerged, and the mask ordinance was reinstated in January. Opponents formed the Anti-Mask League, multiple news articles in January 1919 show. Crosby wrote in his book that the league consisted of \"\"public-spirited citizens, physicians and fanatics.\"\" At a meeting of the Anti-Mask League \"\"resolutions were passed denouncing the mask ordinance as contrary to the desires of the majority of the people,\"\" the San Francisco Examiner reported. Nearly 2,000 people attended. The league got their wish, and the mask rule was rescinded Feb. 1. Navarro and colleagues studied how 43 cities fared during the 1918 pandemic and published their results in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They found that many cities experienced second waves after ending social distancing. San Francisco had one of the higher excess-death rates: 673 per 100,000 people. \"\"It is impossible to say for certainty that the advent of the Anti-Mask League played a role in that outcome,\"\" Navarro told PolitiFact \"\"Undoubtedly, having over 2,000 people gather would have helped continue to spread influenza.\"\" The main factors in San Francisco’s outcome, however, were failure to implement interventions such as social distancing quickly and failure to keep them in place long enough. Navarro said he didn’t find something similar to the Anti-Mask League in other cities. Only a few other cities implemented mandatory face mask orders, while others recommended that the public use masks. A Facebook post said during the 1918 flu pandemic, San Francisco residents formed an \"\"Anti-Mask League.\"\" San Francisco \"\"was ultimately one of the cities that suffered the most with a high death rate.\"\" Residents angry about the reinstatement of a mask order did form the Anti-Mask League in January 1919. It appeared to be short-lived, as the mask rule was quickly rescinded. Researchers found that San Francisco did have one of the higher death rates in the country, but it is impossible to say whether that was directly related to the mask protests. A photo of masked police officers that accompanies the post is real, but it shows officers in Seattle.\"",
            "output": [
                "During the 1918 flu pandemic, San Francisco residents formed the “Anti-Mask League.” San Francisco “was ultimately one of the cities that suffered the most with a high death rate.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3565c547b27a494b9e3187a17227002f",
            "input": "The state Court of Appeals said retirees don’t have a contract preventing them from being forced to pay part of their health insurance costs under a law passed in 2011. A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that there is no contractual obligation limiting the State Health Plan covering more than 700,000 employees, retirees and their dependents. “Retired state employees are promised nothing more than equal access to health care benefits on an equal basis with active state employees,” Judge John Tyson wrote in the ruling for himself and Judges Wanda Bryant and Robert Hunter. Retirees, including former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake, sued in 2012 after the legislature directed the state employee health insurance plan to mandate that they make monthly contributions to receive what had been standard insurance coverage. The retirees claimed the state had agreed to a non-amendable contract that entitled them to premium-free health benefits for the rest of their lives under a health care plan in which the former workers paid 20 percent of their co-insurance. Retirees still have access to premium-free options in a 70/30 plan and, if qualified, to a Medicare Advantage plan. Active state employees have no premium-free health care options, the judges said. The appeals court reversed a 2017 decision by Gaston County Superior Court Judge Edwin Wilson that retirees had a contractual right to receive the standard coverage without a premium. State Treasurer Dale Folwell, whose office includes the State Health Plan, estimated in 2017 that with more than 220,000 people covered by the lawsuit, Wilson’s decision could cost state taxpayers more than $100 million, plus much more to cover the higher cost for retiree coverage in the future. ___ Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio.",
            "output": [
                "N. Carolina court: State retirees should pay health premiums."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50beee67a72c488fa2afe179b2a8f15c",
            "input": "\"To build opposition to the health care bill, Republicans have been saying it would expand coverage of abortion. To back up that claim, House Republican Leader John Boehner sent a \"\"GOP Leader Alert\"\" that said President Barack Obama was doing that to fulfill a campaign promise. \"\"During his quest for the presidency, now-President Obama declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president,\"\" Boehner wrote in the Sept. 10, 2009, message. There's never been any question that Obama favors abortion rights. On Jan. 22, 2008, for instance, Obama released a statement on the 35th anniversary of the  Roe vs. Wade  decision that legalized abortion that said, \"\"Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100 percent prochoice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.\"\" But he has been somewhat more coy, or perhaps strategically fuzzy, about exactly where he would draw the line on federal funding for abortion in his own health care plan. His comments on abortion rights have often used the phrase \"\"reproductive care\"\" rather than abortion. We'll take a separate look at the three parts of Boehner's sentence. Did candidate Obama say that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care? Did he say that such issues are at the heart of his health care reform plan? And did his definition of \"\"reproductive health\"\" care include abortion? On the first and second questions, we think then-candidate Obama did say something that closely matches what Boehner says he did. In a July 17, 2007, appearance before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Obama said the following: \"\"In my mind, reproductive care is essential care. It is basic care, so it is at the center and at the heart of the plan that I propose. Essentially what we're doing is, we’re going to set up a public plan that all persons and all women can access if they don’t have health insurance. It will be a plan that will provide all essential services, including reproductive services, as well as mental health services and disease management services, because part of our interest is to make sure that we’re putting more money into preventive care.\"\" (This one is not included in our  Obameter  database of promises, but we'll examine next week whether it should be.) The words Obama used are slightly different from the ones cited by Boehner, but we think that to say reproductive care is \"\"essential\"\" means that \"\"everyone deserves\"\" to have it. Meanwhile, inferring from Obama's language that it's a \"\"right\"\" requires a slight leap, but it's close enough that we won't quibble. So the key to whether Boehner is right comes with the third question: Does Obama's definition of \"\"reproductive health care\"\" necessarily include abortion? On this question, the evidence is suggestive but not quite a slam dunk. Abortion opponents rely on a few pieces of evidence to support the assertion that Obama believes reproductive health care includes abortion. One is a story that ran in the  Chicago Tribune  on July 18, 2007, the day after Obama's Planned Parenthood speech. In it, Washington bureau reporter Mike Dorning wrote that when Obama was asked about his proposal for expanded access to health insurance, the candidate \"\"said it would cover 'reproductive health services.' Contacted afterward, an Obama spokesman said that included abortions.\"\" Another source is a candidate questionnaire by RH Reality Check, which describes itself as \"\"an online community and publication serving individuals and organizations committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.\"\" Posted Dec. 21, 2007, the questionnaire was filled out by \"\"Sen. Barack Obama's campaign staff.\"\" The question that's most relevant to Boehner's assertion is this one:   Q: Does Sen. Obama support the Hyde amendment (which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions)? Under what circumstances does he believe that Medicaid should cover abortions (all pregnancies, life- or health-threatening pregnancies, pregnancies that are a result of rape or incest, extreme fetal malformation)? A: Obama does not support the Hyde amendment. He believes that the federal government should not use its dollars to intrude on a poor woman's decision whether to carry to term or to terminate her pregnancy and selectively withhold benefits because she seeks to exercise her right of reproductive choice in a manner the government disfavors. Both of these comments suggest, fairly strongly, that Obama would include access to abortion in his health care plan — but they leave a degree of doubt. While we are not aware of any pushback from the campaign once these two items were published, both statements were made by campaign staffers, not the candidate himself. On his campaign Web site, Obama did not specifically address the federal funding issue. In the \"\"women's issues\"\" section, the campaign said only that \"\"Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under  Roe vs. Wade  a priority as president. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.\"\" Asked for any additional evidence to back up Boehner's assertion that Obama was referring specifically to abortion, Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, told PolitiFact that Obama was speaking in \"\"terms of art\"\" that his Planned Parenthood audience would immediately grasp. \"\"'Reproductive health services' is one of those conventions that all of the players understand. It is not limited to abortion, but it always encompasses abortion. It is like when a prolife candidate says, 'I support strong legal protection for the right to life of unborn children.' Everyone on all sides understands that this means he thinks abortion generally should not be legal, and no doubt he also supports fetal homicide laws . . . I suppose someone could argue that since he didn't specifically mention abortion, there is the theoretical possibility that he wants to keep abortion completely unrestricted and only wants to pass fetal homicide laws. But that would be to ignore the lexicon that groups develop on these issues and the way they are understood in context.\"\" So back to Boehner's claim. He said that candidate Obama \"\"declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president.\"\" The record shows that Obama did indeed make those statements. His message to the abortion rights group may have been deliberately fuzzy, but it's clear what he meant — and it was confirmed by the campaign to the  Tribune  reporter. We find Boehner's claim to be .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"As a candidate, President Obama \"\"declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9a54658d11ee4c8b9305ae41796c8e17",
            "input": "Opening statements and testimony began Monday before a commissioner with the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission. At issue is the state health department’s effort to revoke the license for Planned Parenthood’s clinic in St. Louis. The state has said that part of the reason it is seeking to remove the license is a series of “failed abortions.” Assistant Attorney General John Sauer outlined details of those cases. In one, he said, a woman had to undergo up to five procedures over four days to complete the abortion. In another, a woman bled heavily after doctors failed to recognize a condition that put her at higher than normal risk. Sauer cited a third incident where a woman had an abortion but later had to return for a second one because the doctor missed that she was pregnant with twins. Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, was called as an expert witness by the state and reviewed the records. She said there was no indication that adequate follow-up exams were done on the patient. “There is a much higher risk of infection” if fetal parts remain in a woman’s uterus after an abortion, Harrison said. But Planned Parenthood’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, played a video deposition of William Koebel, director of the section of the health department responsible for abortion clinic licensing, who was asked if the facility was deemed unsafe. “Not that I recall,” Koebel said. Hatfield said that after a March inspection, the health department “moved the goal line” in an effort to take away the clinic’s license. On Monday Koebel said that an inspection on March 11-13 discovered that no complication reports had been filed for a woman who had to undergo multiple procedures before her abortion was complete. That incident prompted Koebel to request records of all incidents of women who had to undergo multiple abortion procedures. Four women were found. Details of the fourth were not outlined Monday. Planned Parenthood officials said at the hearing that the state cherry-picked four difficult cases out of thousands of successful abortions. Missouri would become the first state since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, without a functioning abortion clinic if the license revocation is allowed. The battle also comes as abortion rights supporters raise concerns that conservative-led states, including Missouri, are attempting to end abortion through tough new laws and tighter regulation. Several dozen observers filed the administrative hearing room at a state building in downtown St. Louis, the vast majority of them wearing pink T-shirts to show support for Planned Parenthood. Heightened security was outside amid concerns about possible protests. Planned Parenthood supporters unfurled a large abortion rights banner along a parking garage. Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi is presiding over the hearing, which is expected to last five days. A commission official said that in his role, Dandamudi “acts as an independent trial judge.” A ruling isn’t expected until February at the earliest. The health department has sought to interview physicians involved in those abortions, including medical residents who no longer work there. Planned Parenthood has said it can’t force them to talk and that the state’s concerns were addressed long ago. Attorneys for the health department wrote in legal filings to the commission that physicians’ refusal to talk “presents the final, critical obstacle.” Missouri is among several states to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation in May banning abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. A federal judge in August temporarily blocked implementation of the law until the legal challenge plays out in court, which could take several months. While the Missouri case unfolded, Planned Parenthood quietly built a new abortion clinic in Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The 18,000-square-foot (1,700-square-meter) clinic in Fairview Heights, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of St. Louis, opened Wednesday, in part to meet the demand for abortions from Missouri residents. Missouri women have been increasingly getting abortions at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, another St. Louis suburb. Deputy Director Alison Dreith said 58% of the abortions performed at the Hope Clinic through August of this year involved Missouri women, compared with 37% involving Illinois women. Another abortion clinic sits in Overland Park, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb. The clinic is 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. Information from the state of Kansas shows about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed there last year involved Missouri residents.",
            "output": [
                "Hearing begins on fate of Missouri’s lone abortion clinic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ceb5559a99b4846bf6f8c398bbd4678",
            "input": "“September’s a bad month for me,” she said. The symptoms of the Lyme disease she has suffered for 19 years were affecting her. She acknowledged them — fatigue and brain fog — and then pushed them aside to keep talking about her project, Twin Cities Lyme Foundation, and the $148,000 raised at its first gala this month. The foundation uses an assessment tool to help folks experiencing poor health find out if they have Lyme disease. The foundation donates $1,000 per person toward getting a diagnosis and connects people with doctors who have been certified by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. “My mission is to help people get better,” Najarian said. “I wish I’d had somebody like me to take me under their wing and say, ‘Let me get you to somebody who can help you.’” Najarian doesn’t know when she contracted Lyme. She never had the telltale bulls-eye rash. Her symptoms started in July 1999 while living in Illinois. She woke up one morning and her left ear was plugged and ringing — a symptom she still has today. After that came terrible vertigo, heart palpitations and migraine headaches. She was misdiagnosed with Meniere’s disease, something historians believed Vincent van Gogh may have had when he cut off his ear. In the days and weeks after a person is bitten by a tick, bacteria spreads through the bloodstream. Lyme is often called “the great imitator” because it can appear to be something else, such as Meniere’s disease, fibromyalgia, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) or others. Najarian is married to Pete Najarian, a former Gophers and Vikings linebacker, and they have two children, Lex and Kole. In 2007, the family moved to Connecticut, about an hour from Old Lyme, where the disease was first diagnosed in 1975. While in Connecticut, she had a series of symptoms that sent her to specialists as she tried to understand what was happening to her body. In September 2010, she was hosting friends for dinner when she suddenly felt ill. She excused herself and went to her room, where she was overcome by vertigo and a terrible migraine. “I said, ‘I think I’m going to die,’ ” she said. After a trip to the emergency room that required morphine to mask the pain, she was bedridden for two weeks. “The kids were pretty worried,” Pete Najarian said. “The answer part of it is the most frustrating. She saw so many doctors.” While in Connecticut, she even took a Lyme disease test, but it was negative. She learned later that blood tests are not reliable because the disease pulses, which means it flares up and then appears to go dormant. Najarian said the foundation’s assessment test lists 109 symptoms for Lyme, some of them neurological such as claustrophobia. In 2014, Pete’s brother Paul died and the family moved back to Minnesota to be close to Pete’s parents. His father is John Najarian, the well-known University of Minnesota transplant surgeon. When they bought their house in Grant, they were disturbed to find its 13 acres infested with ticks. They spray the grounds monthly with permethrin to keep them away. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Minnesota had 1,304 confirmed cases of Lyme in 2016. In 2015, Najarian took the Lyme test again and got a positive. She called that moment “a silver lining.” She’s on a regimen of diuretics every two weeks to keep inflammation down. She also uses natural medicine such as Monolaurin and oil of oregano. But the bacteria has been in her system so long that it has caused irreversible damage, such as the hearing in her left ear and the chronic fatigue. She got the idea to start a foundation to help others after talking with Brant Rooney, who maintained the Koi pond on their property. He spoke at the gala, relating how his wife had Lyme. “She suffered from severe migraine headaches,” Najarian said. “He woke up one morning and got the if-you-are reading-this-I’m-already-gone letter.” Rooney’s wife left the note on the bathroom mirror, went to her favorite park and shot herself. Najarian said it’s stories like these that push her to get the word out to people who may have Lyme disease but don’t know it. “Had I been able to get ahold of her, I would have been able to help her,” she said. ___ Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota woman starts support program for Lyme disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a8cdbe6519c4a93bb226d6f814cf9e8",
            "input": "\"Detective Ryan Holets, whose personal story includes the adoption of an infant born to a drug-addicted mother, addressed the Republican National Convention on its second night. He praised President Donald Trump’s efforts in addressing drug and opioid abuse and noted \"\"drug overdose deaths decreased in 2018 for the first time in 30 years.\"\" The detective has worked for the Albuquerque, New Mexico, police department for nine years and was invited by Trump to the 2018 State of the Union address. The year before, Holets promised an addicted mom that he and his wife would adopt her baby — and they did. Holets has seen the results of the nation’s drug crisis both professionally and personally. We reached out to the Albuquerque Police Department for the source of Holets’ data but did not get a response. The nation’s opioid crisis has been a talking point in Trump’s campaign since 2016 — and his administration has touted efforts it has made to provide money to states for treatment and other programs, so we decided to look into it. Did the death rate decline in 2018 as Holets noted? Yes, but that’s not the whole story. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67,367 people died of a drug overdose in 2018. That number exceeded the tally, based on the most recent data available, of those who died either in car wrecks or by firearms. Two-thirds of those drug overdose deaths involved some type of opioid, including those given by prescription or those purchased illicitly, such as heroin. The CDC cites a rise in opioid deaths as coming in three \"\"waves.\"\" The origin of the first wave came after doctors began prescribing more opioids for pain relief in the 1990s, with data showing a rise in deaths emerging around 1999, the CDC said. Another wave began in 2010. This one was fueled by deaths involving the illegal use of heroin. The third wave quickly followed, starting in 2013, with increases in deaths associated with synthetic opioids, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Despite the rising number of deaths, opioid prescribing continued to rise, fueled by marketing campaigns aimed at physicians by drug manufacturers. The total number of opioid prescriptions peaked in 2012 at more than 81 prescriptions per every 100 people in the U.S., according to CDC data. To combat that, a growing number of prescribing recommendations have been issued by physician and hospital groups, aimed at reducing the number of pills per prescription and the total number of prescriptions. The overall prescribing rate fell to 51 prescriptions per 100 people by 2018, according to the CDC. Still, Americans are more likely to fill a prescription painkiller than patients in other countries, and the rate of opioid prescriptions in the U.S. remains among the highest in the world. Deaths associated with all types of opioid use — from prescriptions to street use — are a lagging indicator of the number of people dependent or addicted to the drugs, said experts. Improved access to treatments to help people quit, as well as increased use of overdose reversal treatments, such as naloxone, can suppress death rates. The Trump administration has continued and expanded funding efforts, some of which began under President Barack Obama, to help provide treatment, research and other services. Yet the administration is also actively seeking to end the Affordable Care Act, which includes a provision requiring insurers to offer substance abuse treatment and has expanded access to treatment through Medicaid in the majority of states that fully implemented the law. Drug overdose deaths did decrease from 2017 to 2018, dropping by about 4.1%, according to the CDC. Still, the agency notes that the crisis is far from over, as the number of overdose deaths was four times higher in 2018 than in 1999. Parsing those numbers further, the decrease in deaths in 2018 came in three categories, with prescription-involved opioid deaths falling the most, a 13.5% decrease, followed by heroin deaths, down 4%. Conversely, deaths associated with the use of synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, rose by 10%. So Holets was correct to say drug overdose deaths fell in 2018. But that statistic doesn’t put the issue in perspective. \"\"It did decrease slightly, meaning it went from 134 deaths a day to 130 deaths a day,\"\" noted Dr. Chad Brummett, a director of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, a collaboration of physicians that makes recommendations on prescribing. \"\"It’s disingenuous to pretend that was a huge win,\"\" said Amy Bohnert, associate professor at the University of Michigan. \"\"As someone who does research on this, I would be reluctant to consider a change of that scale to be clearly a sign of a real change as opposed to random error.\"\" Brandeis University professor Andrew Kolodny said it was the first overall downtick in drug overdoses in 30 years, but he would parse it a bit for opioids, saying it was the first decline in 25 years. However, a bigger issue for Kolodny is that the speaker failed to mention that drug overdose numbers went up again last year. \"\"It is misleading to point to a slight reduction in 2018, when deaths went up again in 2019 and we remain at record-high levels of opioid deaths,\"\" said Kolodny, medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The CDC says preliminary data shows reported overdose deaths went up 6% in the 12 months ending in January 2020. Holets is correct in saying that overall drug overdose deaths ticked down in 2018, although a small category of deaths — those related to fentanyl — rose. And it’s pretty close to 30 years since a decline was documented. Still, Holets failed to mention that drug overdose deaths went up again last year, according to preliminary data from the CDC. Also left unsaid were other factors that may contribute to the rising or falling drug death rates — and what that may say about the underlying level of dependence or addiction.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Drug overdose deaths decreased in 2018 for the first time in 30 years.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c347b1947eb4bd791aa83ad051fcff5",
            "input": "Americans are living healthier and longer that ever before. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts boomers will turn 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day for the next decade, making them, along with centenarians, the fastest-growing segment of the population. More than 75 percent of seniors questioned in the poll on aging are optimistic, think the best is yet to come, and expect to have the same quality of life, or better, during their next decade. “The reason they are upbeat is because we have changed our definition of aging. People are working longer. They see people that are older being healthier,” said Donna Shalala, the president of the University of Miami and a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration. Shalala, 71, who will discuss the results of the poll during a panel on successful aging in Miami on Wednesday, said people are buoyed by seeing their relatives living longer. “My mother is 100 years old. Why shouldn’t I be optimistic?” she added. The majority of 2,250 seniors, aged 60 or older, questioned in the telephone survey from the National Council on Aging, medical insurer UnitedHealthcare and the newspaper USA Today said they are confident they will be able to maintain their health and think they manage stress effectively. Although many seniors feel financially secure, nearly half of low- and middle-income seniors questioned in the poll are not confident they will be able to cover their expenses over the next five to 10 years. About a third of older Americans do not think they will be able to afford long-term care, according to the poll, and for 1 in 5 seniors, a major financial event would result in a fiscal crisis. Lower income seniors are also more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses and less likely to exercise. Seventy-two percent of people who make less than $30,000 a year said they live with a lingering health problem. Whether it is out of necessity, a sense of productivity, or the enjoyment of it, about 20 percent of seniors over 65 said they are still working either full- or part-time. “The market absolutely threw this generation off,” Shalala said about the impact of the recession. And just as many seniors are staying in the workplace longer, the vast majority want to “age in place,” or continue to live in their own home for the next decade. It could be a feasible option for most 60 somethings, but less than half of seniors in their 70s said they could live independently. The poll also showed that a lack of services in the community is a concern for seniors. More than 25 percent of people in their 60s were not confident there would be resources and facilities in their communities to allow them to live independently. “With appropriate preventive care and lifestyle changes, growing older doesn’t have to mean living with chronic disease and disability,” said Rhonda Randall, the chief medical officer at United Healthcare & Retirement. The poll was conducted between May 10 and June 6. The margin of error for the general population is +/-3.1 percent.",
            "output": [
                "Older Americans upbeat about aging, future: survey."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d067e2ad3bd845dd87e8d3a21f860c12",
            "input": "The story does not mention costs. At the very least, what does it cost to train dogs? If you can let someone call this the “holy grail,” you can tell people how much the search for the grail costs. The study was not designed to compare CT with dog-sniffing, yet the researcher is allowed to say that the dog-sniffing “even surpasses the combination of chest computed tomography (CT) scan and bronchoscopy.” The story does not explicitly discuss harms from a potential “sniff” test by dogs or machines imitating dogs. It does discuss contradictory research on whether cancer-sniffing dogs can achieve high accuracy. The obvious “harm” of inaccuracy is that a patient goes untreated for cancer, or conversely, is exposed to invasive testing because of a false positive. Without early detection by dogs, patients are already getting exposed to tests such as computer tomography and bronchoscopy. The story shares that the European study involved only 100 samples from patients, and the dogs identified lung cancer accurately in only 71 samples. The story also points out that the length of training of the dogs, and the variability between dogs, makes this technique largely useless for clinical work. A machine equivalent of the sensing system in the dogs is necessary before this can be useful as a clinical tool, one expert says. There is no disease mongering of lung cancer here. The story quotes independent sources and identifies that one expert, who is not tied to the European research, is also working in a related area – developing technology to mimic the canine sniff test. The story does a good job of explaining how lung cancer is detected by existing CT scan and bronchoscopy, and discusses the exposure of the patients to some risk during these procedures. Where it fails is in giving us numbers for how the earlier detection might show an increase in survival for patients. The story explains that this very preliminary research procedure with dogs is not available yet. Yes, the story explains that this new research on canine cancer detection is for lung cancer, which is a new application of a sniff-testing that has already been done for colon and skin cancers. The story shows reporting beyond a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Dogs Sniff Out Lung Cancer in Humans"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e6f20816ece4f19b350459ef6cd2396",
            "input": "An earlier request filed on behalf of the State Department of Health had sought an injunction to stop Bethesda Gardens in Terre Haute from providing nursing care outside the scope of an unlicensed assisted living facility. The Tribune-Star reports, however, that an agreement filed Wednesday in court says the state will file a consent decree allowing the state to have continuing oversight of the facility. The facility was inspected in February after 75-year-old Veronica Hoffman died Jan. 26 of apparent hypothermia after being found outside the center. ___ Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com",
            "output": [
                "State oversight expected at assisted living center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2ed36c7646e6482493a2884f44fb0137",
            "input": "Released Wednesday, the study from the Urban Institute policy research group in Washington explores gaps in medical insurance coverage by race and ethnicity as well as age, location and education level. New Mexico fares relatively well overall in terms of paid access to health care services in comparison with the U.S. as a whole. The study found that 187,000 non-elderly residents go without health insurance — about 10.5% of the state population. The national average is just over 11%. Among Native Americans, 37,000 people go without insurance — or 16.2% of that population. Health insurance coverage also is relatively scarce in the northwest area of the state that is home to the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation announced plans this week to become one of the first Native American tribes to create a managed health care entity by contracting with Molina Healthcare under the state’s Medicaid program. New Mexico is developing an outreach and enrollment strategy for parts of the state where the study found the highest ratios of uninsured residents, said Abuko Estrada, coverage innovation officer for the state Human Services Department Officials will focus on ways to reach Medicaid-eligible patients who are not insured and on matching uninsured people with New Mexico’s federally subsidized individual insurance marketplace. It’s important for Native Americans to have health insurance in coordination with services from the federal Indian Health Services, Estrada said. In part, that’s because the federal program has been underfunded by Congress, he said. The Urban Institute found that Native Americans working in the health care and educational fields are especially prone to go without health insurance. New Mexico’s expansion of federally subsidized Medicaid health care gave coverage in 2014 to more people on the cusp of poverty, cutting in half the number of people without insurance. Currently, health insurance coverage is especially widespread among children and people living in extreme poverty. The first-year administration of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is turning to new technology to facilitate Medicaid enrollment, offering “real time” eligibility checks through mobile devices such as smart phones.",
            "output": [
                "Medical insurance bypasses Native Americans in New Mexico."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6466496046364bc7a8d250d3dc94f047",
            "input": "As part of the shifting casting that often goes on in the lead-up to motion picture productions, the person first cast to play the Tin Woodman in MGM’s 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz was Ray Bolger. Buddy Ebsen (later to become familiar to generations of TV viewers as Jed clampett, the patriarch of The Beverly Hillbillies sitcom family), was originally intended for the role of the Scarecrow, but Ray Bolger eventually managed to convince MGM to allow him to swap parts with Ebsen (not, as is often claimed, because a clause in Bolger’s contract stipulated that he could play the part of the Scarecrow if MGM ever made The Wizard of Oz). MGM initially had no idea exactly how to costume Ebsen for his role. They tried a variety of materials for his clothing (real tin, silver paper, cardboard covered with silver cloth) and makeup before finally settling on aluminum dust (applied over clown white) for the latter. When The Wizard of Oz  began principal photography on 12 October 1938, Ebsen had finished all his costume and makeup tests, recorded his songs for the film soundtrack, and completed four weeks of rehearsal. Nine days later, he was rushed to the hospital and placed in an oxygen tent when his lungs failed. As Ebsen described the onset of symptoms in his autobiography: It was several days later when my cramps began. My first symptoms had been a noticeable shortness of breath. I would breathe and exhale and then get the panicky feeling I hadn’t breathed at all. Then I would gasp for another quick breath with the same result. My fingers began to cramp, and then my toes. For a time I could control this unusual cramping by forcibly straightening out my fingers and toes. One night in bed I woke up screaming. My arms were cramping from my fingers upward and curling simultaneously so that I could not use one arm to uncurl the other. My wife tried to pull my arm straight with some success, just as my toes began to curl; then my feet and legs bent backward at the knees. I panicked. What was happening to me? Next came the worst. The cramps in my arms advanced into my chest to the muscles that controlled my breathing. If this continued, I wouldn’t even be able to take a breath. I was sure I was dying. The aluminum dust used in Ebsen’s makeup had caused an allergic reaction or infection in his lungs that left him scarcely able to breathe, and he ended up spending two weeks in the hospital and another month recuperating in San Diego. While Ebsen was recovering from his illness, producer Mervyn LeRoy hired Jack Haley to replace him. (The aluminum makeup was modified as well, changing from a powder that was brushed on to a paste that was painted on. Haley missed four days of filming when the new makeup caused an eye infection, but treatment was rendered in time to prevent any permanent damage.)",
            "output": [
                "Buddy Ebsen was slated to play the Tin Woodman in the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, but he had to be replaced after the aluminum makeup used with his costume made him gravely ill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b84cdbf956724ab483846e30e06928d6",
            "input": "It’s true that Shell Oil Company warned about the dangers of climate change in a video produced by the company in 1991. The 28-minute video described scientific efforts to gather data from the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans to better understand climate change. The narrator explained how scientists’ views of climate change’s impact had evolved by the end of 1990: “What they see is not a steady and even warming overall, but alterations to the familiar patterns of climate, and the increasing frequency of abnormal weather. No two scenarios fully agree. But their strange, mesmerizing images of possible futures have each prompted the same serious warning, a warning endorsed by a uniquely broad consensus of scientists in their report to the United Nations at the end of 1990.” [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTlYYlRN0LY[/embedyt] The video resurfaced in February 2017 when the Guardian  and Wired both publishes stories on the 1991 film, “Climate of Concern.” The Guardian reported that “Shell knew” about the dangers of climate change for more than 26 years and had failed to take sufficient action to address it: But, despite this early and clear-eyed view of the risks of global warming, Shell invested many billions of dollars in highly polluting tar sand operations and on exploration in the Arctic. It also cited fracking as a “future opportunity” in 2016, despite its own 1998 data showing exploitation of unconventional oil and gas was incompatible with climate goals. The film was obtained by the Correspondent, a Dutch online journalism platform, and shared with the Guardian, and lauds commercial-scale solar and wind power that already existed in 1991. Shell has recently lobbied successfully to undermine European renewable energy targets and is estimated to have spent $22m in 2015 lobbying against climate policies. The company’s investments in low-carbon energy have been minimal compared to its fossil fuel investments. Shell has also been a member of industry lobby groups that have fought climate action, including the so-called Global Climate Coalition until 1998; the far-right American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) until 2015; and remains a member of the Business Roundtable and the American Petroleum Institute today. On its website, Shell describes the company’s current positions on climate change. The company acknowledges hat it remains “primarily an oil and gas company,” but adds, “we know that long-term success depends on our ability to anticipate the types of energy and fuels people will need in the future and remain commercially competitive and environmentally relevant”: Shell has long recognised the climate challenge and the role of energy in enabling a decent quality of life. We believe that, while technological developments will emerge, effective policy and cultural change is essential to drive low-carbon business and consumer choices and opportunities. The transition to low-carbon solutions is best underpinned by meaningful government-led carbon “pricing” mechanisms. We welcome the efforts made by governments to cooperatively reach the global climate agreement and support long-term climate goals that balance environmental pressures with development opportunities. The Paris Agreement of December 12, 2015, could provide greater certainty about how the world can provide more energy with much less CO2. So, reports about Shell Oil Company warnings about climate change are true. Comments",
            "output": [
                " Shell Oil Company released a 1991 video about the “catastrophic risks” of climate change that warned about rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, climate refugees, "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6fc343fb4f54a8ab55cbf9312351972",
            "input": "Most cases are reported in the northern and eastern panhandles probably because of their proximity to the high-incidence states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the Department of Health and Human Resources said. In an advisory Monday to health care providers, Health Commissioner Dr. Rahul Gupta wrote that the increase could be from increased reporting or from more ticks infected with the bacteria. Most cases appear between May and September, but ticks have become more active in winter months, he said. According to the department, 580 cases have been reported so far this year, up from 97 statewide in 2012. “Based on the change, West Virginia is considered a high incidence Lyme disease state,” Gupta wrote. Patients treated early with antibiotics usually recover quickly. He recommended a two-step blood test to confirm evidence of antibodies against the Lyme disease bacteria. Symptoms often include a circular rash around a tick bite and fever, headaches and fatigue, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system. The CDC says there were more than 36,000 probable cases in the U.S. last year, with 26,203 confirmed.",
            "output": [
                "West Virginia reports increasing Lyme disease cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3ee36255b9a4285bbfd8213c7861b8d",
            "input": "The Democratic governor wants the nation’s most populous state to contract with generic drug companies to make medications on its behalf so it could sell them to its nearly 40 million residents. The goal is to lower prices by increasing competition in the generic drug market, Newsom said. His proposal also would create a single market for drug pricing in California, with companies having to bid to sell their medicine at a uniform price. One expert said that piece would have the bigger impact. “Other countries control or negotiate the price of drugs, and if there is one state that could do it, it’s California, which is the size of a country,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation. “A drug company could walk away from Rhode Island. It’s much harder to walk away from California.” Lawmakers would have to approve the proposal before they could become law. A legislative leader in charge of reviewing the plan gave a tentative endorsement Thursday. “If Costco can have a Kirkland brand, why can’t California have our own generic brand?” said Democratic Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, an emergency room doctor from Fresno who chairs the House Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. “I really do think there is quite a bit of merit in having us produce the medications.” Priscilla VanderVeer, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents brand-name drug companies, said she’s waiting for more details from Newsom before commenting. A representative from the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic drug manufacturers, did not respond to a request for comment. The drug plan is part of Newsom’s budget proposal, which he must present to lawmakers by Friday. The state could have as much as a $7 billion surplus this year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. Newsom’s office did not say how much the drug proposal would cost, prompting criticism from some Republican lawmakers who said the state should not compete with private companies. “When the state runs it, it costs more money,” said Republican Assemblyman Devon Mathis, who’s also on the health subcommittee. “The money is coming out of families’ pockets paying all those crazy taxes.” California law requires drug companies to report any price increases to the state. Generic drugs saw a three-year median increase of 37.6%, according to a report from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. That analysis was based on the list prices of the drugs and did not include discounts or rebates. But the report doesn’t include generic drugs that decreased in price because companies are not required to report that. Nationally, generic drug prices have been decreasing overall, according to a report that AARP produced with the University of Minnesota. Supporters say California’s generic drug label could help lower the cost of a common drug that has steadily increased in price — insulin for diabetes patients. Three drug companies control most of the market for insulin. “Consumers would directly benefit if California contracted on its own to manufacture much-needed generic medications like insulin — a drug that has been around for a century yet the price has gone up over tenfold in the last few decades,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California. Jon Roth, CEO of the California Pharmacists Association, said the state might be surprised, however, at how much it ends up charging for its own generic drugs because of factors beyond its control, including raw material shortages and disruptions in the supply chain. “There are other factors in the actual manufacturing that the state may not be able to escape,” he said. While most Americans get generic prescriptions, they only account for a small part of the total drug spending in the U.S. That’s because unlike the name-brand drug market, generics are very competitive, said Jeff Joyce, chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics at USC’s School of Pharmacy. “What he is proposing to do would help in specific cases, but it’s not a panacea by any means,” Joyce said. The proposal is another step in Newsom’s effort to overhaul California’s prescription drug market. Last year, in one of his first acts in office, Newsom ordered the state to take over the Medicaid program’s prescription drug benefits, which affects 13 million people.",
            "output": [
                "California could be 1st state to sell own prescription drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39d4f9d32cf64237b5506b4ec7c4fec9",
            "input": "The New York Times reported Wednesday that 64 hospitals, 103 long-term care nursing homes, a long-term care hospital and three hospice units in New York have cared for patients with an especially virulent germ called Candida auris. Most of the patients were in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The Times said New York health officials disclosed the names of the facilities because Candida auris has been spreading quickly. Michael Craig, an antibiotic resistance expert for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the newspaper that someone in the United States dies of a resistant infection every 15 minutes. The Times said Candida auris has been such a secretive subject that various governments have declined to identify or confirm the names of hospitals and nursing homes where the fungus was present, or even to discuss cases after families or physicians confirmed them. New York health officials said they decided to disclose the names of the facilities with cases in the state over the past three years to help stop its spread and provide transparency to the public. However, the state did not say how many cases were at each institution. More than 800 cases of the fungus have been recorded in the United States — about half of them in New York. The Candida auris germ tends to resist major antifungal medications and is often found in patients with weak immune systems. About half of those who are infected tend to already be in poor health and die within three months. ___ Information from: The New York Times, http://www.newyorktimes.com",
            "output": [
                "New York names facilities that treated drug-resistant fungus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77d37f5a270d43c7b1e5ffd77f876a12",
            "input": "Shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, which makes the drug, Iclusig, rose as much as 40 percent after news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the more restricted use of on Friday. Iclusig was approved a year ago to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients who had failed to respond to at least one other therapy. It was suspended on October 31 after being associated with a higher-than-expected risk of life-threatening blood clots and narrowing of blood vessels. The FDA said it approved a revised label for the drug, limiting its use to patients with a specific genetic mutation and to those who are unable to use alternative treatments such as Novartis AG’s Gleevec or Bristol Myers Squibb Co’s Sprycel. The drug’s label will note that vascular blockages, which have the potential to cause heart attacks, strokes and death, have occurred in at least 27 percent of patients treated with Iclusig. It will also warn of an increased risk of heart failure. “While this new restricted label will clearly cap Iclusig’s sales potential, we still believe it can be a meaningful drug,” Cory Kasimov, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, said in a research note. “The key question will now be whether Iclusig will be relegated to last line of defense (resulting in more modest sales potential) or will it begin to creep up the treatment algorithm.”  Doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs on an “off-label” basis for indications other than those approved by the FDA, though companies are not allowed to market them for such unapproved uses. Ariad said it will start selling the drug, its only approved product, from mid-January. Ariad’s chief executive, Harvey Berger, told analysts on a conference call that about 1,300 patients a year will be eligible for Iclusig under the new label, down from 2,500 previously. The drug is expected to generate sales of $315 million by 2019 according to the average estimate of three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Iclusig costs at least $115,000 a year. The FDA is requiring the company to implement a risk management program to promote awareness of the risks associated with Iclusig. The company must also conduct additional trials to test different, potentially less toxic, doses of the drug. Dr. Richard Pazdur, head of the FDA’s cancer division, said in an interview that if a less toxic dose was to be identified, “it would be reasonable,” though speculative at this stage, to test Iclusig to another therapy for potential use in a broader patient population. Ariad’s Berger said he expects the company to begin the dosing trial in the second half of 2014. “We believe these requirements are straightforward and manageable,” he said. Ariad’s shares rose 24 percent to $6.85 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq. Earlier they rose as high as $7.75.",
            "output": [
                "Ariad to resume sales of cancer drug Iclusig, shares jump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-faf0468b8fa94320b97d36874f6e8b14",
            "input": "The total death toll in the world’s hardest-hit country since its outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 17,127, the Civil Protection Agency said. The total of confirmed cases increased by 3,039 on Tuesday to 135,586, the second successive daily decline, underscoring growing confidence that the illness is on the retreat thanks to a nationwide lockdown introduced on March 9. New cases rose by 3,599 on Monday. Previous daily increases since March 17 had all been in a range of 4,050-6,557. Of those originally infected, 24,392 were declared recovered on Tuesday against 22,837 a day earlier. There were 3,792 people in intensive care against 3,898 on Monday — a fourth consecutive daily decline.",
            "output": [
                "New coronavirus cases in Italy fall to 25-day low, deaths rise by 604."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e31aa3845a5c4ed09678f5824d070cd3",
            "input": "“A tipping point has been reached. Rural Iowans have every reason to be concerned,” said the report released Thursday by retired University of Iowa professors James Merchant and David Osterberg. Merchant is professor emeritus of Public Health and Medicine and founded the College of Public Health and Osterberg is professor emeritus of Occupational and Environmental Health. He is co-founder of the Iowa Policy Project, a liberal-leaning Iowa City-based nonprofit group that offers research on environmental, economic, energy and tax policies, which released the report. They point out that the number of Iowa livestock farms called concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs has grown to more than 10,000 from 722 in 2001. The annual growth has been around 500 new or expanded barns a year for the last decade. Most of them are built to house pigs to satisfy the rapidly growing export market for pork, which grew to nearly $6 billion in 2016, up 7 percent in one year. Exports to the China and Hong Kong markets broke the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2016 and exports are expected to further expand to meet China’s insatiable appetite for pork. The report concludes that livestock production contributes to degradation of water quality, increased cases of asthma and other illnesses among residents near hog confinement operations and a 20 to 40 percent decline in the value of homes near hog farms because of the odor. “The current industrial model is not sustainable given its high input costs, rising energy demands, fresh water needs, climate change, and adverse environmental and public health impacts,” the report concluded. “The very real pushback from rural residents and communities will, however, be sustained.” Merchant and Osterberg made several recommendations including revision of the permitting process for new barns that would allow for increased local input, a moratorium on new construction and establishment of land covenants and other local legal strategies to limit local livestock barn growth. The pork industry acknowledges growth in the industry but considers it good for farmers and good for the economy of Iowa, the nation’s leading pork producer which had nearly 23 million pigs as of the USDA December inventory report. That was nearly a quarter of the national supply of 73.2 million. The next closest state was North Carolina with 9.3 million hogs. “We understand there are concerns out there and we believe those concerns are being addressed by the current system understanding that others don’t,” said Eldon McAfee, an agriculture law attorney who represents the Iowa Pork Producers Association. He said producers believe the current permit system in effect for 16 years has worked and farmers have complied with its requirements and continue to be held responsible when there are accidental spills of manure into creeks or streams. “A moratorium would be devastating to the Iowa economy and livestock producers,” he said. On the health claims, McAfee said he knows of no court case where it has been proven that a hog farm has been proven responsible for causing individual’s illness. A spokeswoman for the Iowa Farm Bureau, one of the state’s largest agriculture lobbying groups, declined to comment on the report and spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which oversees livestock farm permitting and inspections, did not immediately respond to a message. There are signs that a public groundswell is building in opposition to sustained rapid growth. County supervisors from 20 of Iowa’s 99 counties lobbied lawmakers changes in the permit process which has allowed for 97 percent of new livestock barn applications to be approved even when local county officials, local citizens and neighbors have protested. Nine livestock farm nuisance lawsuits are pending in Iowa courts. The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments on Feb. 12 in a case in which a group of southeast Iowa landowners are trying to strike down as unconstitutional a law that provides livestock farms with immunity from nuisance lawsuits.",
            "output": [
                "Report calls for hog farm moratorium, new permit system."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9d12242503e44e586a7744595338de4",
            "input": "Susana Rosas of Stockton, California, thanked people for their prayers and support. The family of five, celebrating a birthday with an activity they enjoyed, was among 34 people presumed dead in the blaze. All were sleeping below deck when the fire started early Monday. Other victims included students from a Northern California charter school serving grades 7-12, a high school science teacher and his daughter, an Arizona couple and a marine biologist who owned the diving company and was leading the tour. Five crew members were rescued, and the bodies of 20 victims have been recovered so far. Many need to be identified by DNA analysis, and officials are collecting samples from family members. Rosas posted that her three daughters — Evan, Nicole and Angela Quitasol — were on the Conception with their father Michael Quitasol and stepmother Fernisa Sison. Evan Quitasol was a nurse at St. Joseph’s Medical Center of Stockton, where her father and Sison had worked after attending nursing school at San Joaquin Delta College. Sison also worked at the college teaching first-year nursing students full-time in 2005 and 2006 and later as an adjunct instructor, according to the school’s spokesman, Alex Breitler. “Everybody’s devastated. It’s a totally unexpected thing that happened,” said Dominic Selga, Sison’s ex-husband. “What caused the fire, that’s the big question, that’s what we all want to know.” Selga said his ex-wife’s family had been on the boat “five or six” times and had been diving for a decade. Selga said the two families spent Mother’s Day and Father’s Day holidays together and called the Quitasols “great people.” Rosas’ husband, Chris, told the Los Angeles Times that Nicole Quitasol worked as a bartender in Coronado near San Diego and her sister, Angela, was a science teacher at a middle school in Stockton. The sisters were on the trip to celebrate their dad’s birthday, Chris Rosas said. He described them as “the most kind, most loving people I’ve ever met — and I’m not just saying that because they’re family.” Scott Chan, a physics teacher at American High School in Fremont, also was on board with his daughter, said Brian Killgore, a spokesman for the Fremont Unified School District. The district said in a statement that Chan taught Advance Placement physics classes for the past three years at the school and was well liked. “His students knew him to be an innovative and inspiring teacher who developed a passion for physics among his students,” the district said in a statement. “His loss is a tremendous tragedy for our school district.” Chan said on his LinkedIn page that his teaching was fed by his “passion and wealth of real-world experience from research laboratories, and the electronics, computer, and high-performance automotive industries.” Also below deck were students from Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz. School director Maria C. Reitano declined Tuesday to say how many students went on the trip, which was not sponsored by the school. ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix reported that an Arizona couple, Patricia Beitzinger and Neal Baltz, were also on the trip. “They went to heaven doing something they loved together,” Neal’s father, John Baltz, told the station. Brett Harmeling of Houston said that his sister Kristy Finstad, 41, was leading the scuba tour off Santa Cruz Island, part of California’s Channel Islands. Harmeling thanked everyone in a post on his Facebook page for their “unconditional love and support during this incredibly tragic time.” Finstad was co-owner of Worldwide Diving Adventures based in Santa Cruz, which is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of Santa Cruz Island. Finstad knew the area well, having done hundreds of dives in the Channel Islands, where she first swam with her father as a toddler. She first dove with a tank off Mexico at age 9, according to her company’s website. Harmeling described his sister to the Los Angeles Times as extremely strong-willed and adventurous. “If there was a one percent chance of her making it, she would have made it,” Harmeling, 31, said. Their mother founded the diving company in the 1970s. Finstad studied damselfish and corals in the Tahitian Islands, dove for black pearls in the French Polynesian Tuamotus Islands and counted salmonids for the city of Santa Cruz, where she lived. She also did research for the Australian Institute of Marine Science and wrote a restoration guidebook for the California Coastal Commission. “My mission is to inspire appreciation for our underwater world,” she wrote on her company’s website. She and her husband had just returned from sailing across the South Pacific. It was part of their 10-year plan that started on the back of a napkin in 2006. They left from the Channel Islands in 2015 on the journey and planned to return in 2018. Before they set off, Finstad wrote: “Our new boss is King Neptune: when it blows we hunker down; when there’s surf we paddle in; when there’s rain we wash up. In terms of time-lines, the best we can do is point in the right direction.” _____ Har contributed from San Francisco and Watson from San Diego.",
            "output": [
                "Teacher, Arizona couple among missing California divers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-189d822c2e774f88aaaed8133d4ddf2d",
            "input": "Registered Nurse Amanda Tyacke (L) injects saline solution through the abdomen of Jazmine Raygoza, 17 (R) into an under-skin port which will fill Raygoza's Lap-Band at Rose Medical Center in Denver August 3, 2011 about 6 weeks after Jazmine's surgery. After trying multiple diets and exercise Raygoza decided on the surgery with the encouragement of her mother Veronica who recently had gastric bypass. At the six week mark Jazmine had lost 21 pounds. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Plastic surgeons said patients either don’t know about this extra surgery, called body contouring, or simply can’t afford it — yet doctors say it’s more than just a cosmetic procedure. “It is surgery that improves patients’ quality of life,” said Jason Spector at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, to Reuters Health. The excess skin that is left after severe weight loss can get in the way of exercising, interfere with patients’ ability to wear clothes properly, and cause rashes and serious infections. Spector said weight loss surgery, also called bariatric surgery, is just the first step. “In order to complete the journey, patients really do need to undergo the appropriate post-bariatric body contouring. Even though that has a slightly cosmetic ring to it, it’s certainly something that we, as plastic surgeons, would consider reconstructive,” he added. To get a sense of how many patients were actually going on to have body contouring surgery, Spector and his team mailed a survey to 1,158 patients whose operations were done by two surgeons between 2003 and 2011. They received 284 responses. Only a quarter of the patients said they discussed body contouring with their surgeon around the time of the operation, with about 12 percent actually undergoing the procedure, said Spector, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The most frequent reasons for not having body contouring were expense and lack of awareness of the procedure. Nearly 30 percent of the patients said they might have chosen differently if they had received more information. The excess skin can pose a very real danger, Spector said. He described a patient whose overhanging skin was caught underneath the electronically controlled seat of her car as she was adjusting it. “A large piece of skin was ripped off and caused a big open wound and subsequent infection. UP to that point, her insurance company had told her, ‘sorry, you can’t have the surgery. You don’t need it.’”   According to Healthcare Blue Book, a consumer guide to healthcare costs in the United States, body contouring comes with a price tag of about $13,000.",
            "output": [
                "Body contouring rare after weight-loss surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2004e84b776c453d820d4504e2126c1e",
            "input": "The outbreak has resulted in at least 200,000 deaths globally and widespread economic hardship as countries impose lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. “It has exposed the fragility of our societies and economies to shocks,” the United Nations chief said, adding that “the only answer is brave, visionary and collaborative leadership.” “The same leadership is needed to address the looming existential threat of climate disruption,” Guterres, noting that the past decade was the hottest  in history since measurements began. Speaking by video link at a two-day international conference on global warming, Guterres warned that the cost of inaction on climate change would be immense, but said that “technology is on our side.” “These are dark days, but they are not without hope,” Guterres said. “We have a rare and short window of opportunity to rebuild our world for the better.” “Let us use the pandemic recovery to provide a foundation for a safe, healthy, inclusive and more resilient world for all people,” he added. The U.N. chief called on all countries to commit to pumping no more carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — into the atmosphere by 2050, and proposed a six-point plan to ensure climate change features prominently in government efforts to recover from the pandemic. The steps proposed by Guterres include making sure that trillions in stimulus spending boost green jobs and sustainable businesses “Where taxpayers’ money is used to rescue businesses, it must be creating green jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth,” he said. “It must not be bailing out outdated, polluting, carbon-intensive industries.” This includes ending fossil fuel subsidies and making sure that polluters pay for the damage they cause, he said. The French government is requiring companies that receive state bailouts to use the money to become more environmentally sustainable. But climate campaigners have noted that recipients include national carrier Air France, which is reopening domestic routes to cities that also have high-speed rail connections. The U.N. chief warned that just like the pandemic, climate change can’t be tackled by any one nation on its own. “Like the coronavirus, greenhouse gases respect no boundaries,” said Guterres. “Isolation is a trap. No country can succeed alone.” Together, the Group of 20 major developed and emerging economies accounts for more than 80% of global emissions, Guterres said. “The Paris Agreement was largely made possible by the engagement of the United States and China,” he said. “Without the contribution of the big emitters, all our efforts will be doomed.” Scientists have warned that there’s little time left if the world wants to achieve the headline goal of the 2015 Paris climate accord — keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally 1.5 C (2.7 F). Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has moved to withdraw from the agreement. Guterres also urged the European Union to show “global leadership” by presenting updated emissions reduction plans by the end of the year that would put it on course to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated Tuesday that her country was willing to support a more ambitious emissions reduction target for the EU by 2030, from 40% at the moment to as much as 55%. Such an increase would likely require Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, to make even steeper cuts nationally to balance out lower reductions by other countries in the bloc. She cautioned that the drop in emissions likely seen due to the pandemic ’s effect on the global economy would be temporary and shouldn’t prompt countries to lessen their efforts to cut greenhouse gases. Merkel’s speech to the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue was beset by technical difficulties at the start. Another planned speaker, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, didn’t attend after recently falling ill with COVID-19. He returned to work Monday. Johnson’s deputy, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, told participants by video link from London that when the threat from coronavirus recedes “it will be the duty of every responsible government to see that our economies are revived and rebuilt in a way that will stand the test of time.” “That means investing in industries and infrastructure that can turn the tide on climate change,” he said. “And it means doing all we can to boost resilience by shaping economies that can withstand everything that nature throws at us.” __ Read all the AP stories about the impact of climate change at https://apnews.com/Climate",
            "output": [
                "UN chief: Use pandemic to ‘rebuild our world for the better’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fbd43c7b48014d1ea4cb1002d52f2fa6",
            "input": "Food and Drug Administration staff said it was possible the cases were associated with the Baxter drug Suprane. But they also said each of the patients was being treated with other drugs that may cause cardiac arrest. The label for Suprane, known generically as desflurane, already carries warnings about other cardiac problems including heart attacks, irregular heart beats and unstable blood pressure. “The contributory role of desflurane could not be excluded” in the three reports of cardiac arrest in children, FDA staff wrote in a summary prepared for an outside advisory panel. “However, the simultaneous use of concomitant medications during anesthesia confounded the causality assessment of these cases,” the agency reviewers said. All three of the patients recovered with treatment. The FDA reviewers said Suprane’s label “should be revised to include cardiac arrest.”    Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said the company would review the FDA staff analysis. “Patient safety is our top priority and we will accordingly evaluate the information in FDA’s document with our clinical data,” Gardiner said in an e-mail. An FDA advisory panel meets Tuesday to hear reports about the safety of Suprane and other drugs used in children.",
            "output": [
                "US FDA staff seek new warning on Baxter anesthetic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-052142962c26414489f756266e20d7d3",
            "input": "No mention of costs of bioidentical, transdermal, oral forms. Doesn’t actually mention outcomes for which hormone therapy is being used, other than “keep feeling good” in the last paragraph. Given the lack of quality of life data for those taking hormone therapy, this deserves attention. Story addresses competing views on harms. Story cites review by American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists that found no evidence of INCREASED efficacy or safety (not clear whether it found them to be AS effective or safe) No disease mongering Good use of multiple sources. Story notes FDA-approved non-oral forms; however, story doesn’t compare their effectiveness w/compounded forms. Story makes clear that compounded hormones are not FDA-approved. FDA-approved transdermal forms long been available",
            "output": [
                "Hormones given through the skin are worth a look"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5cad8b2b62fd44518b0a28ad3912356e",
            "input": "Most of the pillar coral that her team have been monitoring for years are dead. Hower and her colleagues are on a race against time to find what causes a disease dubbed Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, which since 2014 has been raging like an inferno through reefs under the deceptively calm blue paradise of the Caribbean. In just five years, it has wreaked devastation on the fragile coral ecosystems that are already at risk of extinction from the effects of climate change. Of 40 reef sites in the Florida Keys monitored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 38 are already affected. “It is a huge disaster that’s going on underneath the waves,” says Karen Neely, a coral ecologist at Nova. “This is on the level of the Amazon burning. It is on the level of a disease that’s wiping out all of America’s forests.”  Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease attacks the tissue of coral, transforming healthy, vibrant marine ecosystems into drab, dead worlds within weeks. The disease has ravaged much of the Atlantic reef off Florida, spread across parts of the Caribbean, and has recently been reported near Belize in central America. Pillar coral, whose clusters of spiky fingers appear to reach up from the sea bed, is “reproductively extinct” off the Florida coast, says Keri O’Neil, chief coral scientist at the Florida Aquarium. At the aquarium, a rare ray of hope comes from a room that has the lights off for much of the year. Here, an elaborate and expensive system of LED lights is designed to emulate sunrises, sunsets and phases of the moon to coax pillar coral in tanks into reproducing as if they were in the ocean. Neely’s team has also been laboriously applying a paste combined with amoxicillin to the coral, which they say has been effective in treating the disease. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease kills over 20 species of coral, including most of the important ones that build the reef, hold it together and protect the shoreline, says Neely. Scientists are working together to try to find solutions. A Disease Advisory Committee has been set up to help coordinate and scientists are performing fieldwork to bolster each others’ research. They are, they say, like first responders at the scene of a disaster. Despite that, little is known yet about what causes the disease. In Sarasota, Erinn Muller and her team at the Mote Marine Laboratory’s Coral Reef Research & Restoration Center are among those trying to identify the pathogen behind it and how it spread from Florida to the Caribbean. “We’re getting these jumps and so that would suggest that there’s some type of human influence that is allowing that jump to occur,” says Muller. Near the start of 2019, it was spotted off the coast of the Virgin Islands. There, Marilyn Brandt of the University of the Virgin Islands’ Center for Marine and Environmental Studies and her graduate students are ripping out the diseased coral to try to stop it spreading. Her team - like Neely’s and others - are joining forces and working frantically to prevent the loss of this delicate and complex underwater world, with its iridescent colors and rippling textures. Such a loss would represent “a loss of biodiversity which could be a source for future medicines, the loss of fisheries, the loss of tourism value,” says Brandt. “A lot of Caribbean islands have part of their culture based around coral reefs and if you lose those reefs you lose an aspect of their culture.”  Photo essay here reut.rs/2lfuEtX",
            "output": [
                "Disaster under the waves: the race to save the coral of the Caribbean."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2ac3f9f0b77f40d3b96a4cdcf9f9cec1",
            "input": "Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally. Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of  psychotherapy or a combination of both. Yet many patients fail to get better and suffer recurring bouts of illness. MBCT was developed to help such people by teaching them skills to recognize and respond constructively to thoughts and feelings associated with relapse, aiming to prevent a downward spiral into depression. In the first large study to compare MBCT and anti-depressants, researchers found little difference in outcomes. In terms of cost, mindfulness training — often viewed as more costly because it requires more time with a trained therapist — was not significantly more pricey, particularly when given in group sessions, the study found. Richard Byng, a professor at Britain’s Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, said that, while current standard treatment for chronic depression is to keep taking anti-depressants, many people don’t want to take them for long periods and others want to avoid side-effects. In this study, 424 adults with recurrent major depression who were on maintenance anti-depressant drugs were randomly assigned either to come off their anti-depressants slowly and receive MBCT or to stay on their medication. While 212 patients continued taking their anti-depressants, the other 212 attended eight group mindfulness therapy sessions and were given daily home practice as well as an option to have four follow-up sessions over a 12-month period. Study results published in The Lancet medical journal showed that after two years, relapse rates were similar in both groups — at 44 percent in the therapy group versus 47 percent in the anti-depressant drug group. “Whilst this study doesn’t show that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy works any better than maintenance anti-depressant medication in reducing the rate of relapse ... these results suggest a new choice for the millions of people with recurrent depression on repeat prescriptions,” said Willem Kuyken of Oxford University, who worked with Byng on the research.",
            "output": [
                "Mindfulness therapy as good as medication for chronic depression - study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3f899e38a03f4e6591babc3f0590d43c",
            "input": "KOMO-TV reports the outbreak was investigated by Public Health Seattle-King County after at least 30 people reported becoming ill after consuming food and drinks at the tavern on November 23 and 24. During the investigation, inspectors identified at least 11 employees who experienced norovirus symptoms since Nov. 24. At least two of those employees had household members with symptoms dating back to Nov. 20, health officials said Wednesday. In response to those findings, Brave Horse Tavern closed down on Nov. 27 and carried out a thorough cleaning and disinfection. All ready-to-eat foods were discarded as well, and the restaurant reopened on Nov. 29.",
            "output": [
                "Dozens sickened by outbreak of norovirus-like illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2a3c8759e754981a0cd6fdf79fc2723",
            "input": "Trump even suggested Thursday that the release could have been intentional. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearinghouse for the web of U.S. spy agencies, said it had ruled out the virus being man-made but was still investigating the precise source of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people worldwide. Though scientists suggest the likeliest origin of the pandemic remains natural, that it spread from an infected animal to a human, Trump claimed to have seen evidence to support the theory that the origin was an infectious disease lab in Wuhan, the epicenter of the Chinese outbreak. He said the U.S. now “is finding how it came out.” “It’s a terrible thing that happened,” the president said. “Whether they made a mistake or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose.” The intel statement said the federal agencies concur “with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.” “The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” In recent days the Trump administration has sharpened its rhetoric on China, accusing the geopolitical foe and vital trading partner of failing to act swiftly enough to sound the alarm about the outbreak or to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. U.S. officials have said the Chinese government should “pay a price” for its handling of the pandemic. This all comes as the pace of Trump’s own original response continues to come under scrutiny, questioned as too meager and too slow. Earlier Thursday, before Trump’s comments, the Chinese government said that any claims that the coronavirus was released from a laboratory are “unfounded and purely fabricated out of nothing.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang cited the institute’s director, Yuan Zhiming, as saying the lab strictly implements bio-security procedures that would prevent the release of any pathogen. “I would like to point out again that the origin of the virus is a complex scientific issue, and it should be studied by scientists and professionals,” Geng said. He also criticized those in the U.S. who say China should be held accountable for the global pandemic, saying they should spend their time on “better controlling the epidemic situation at home.” At the White House, Trump repeatedly blamed China for its handling of the outbreak, criticizing the country for restricting domestic travel to slow the virus but not international travel to keep it from spreading abroad. “Certainly it could have been stopped,” Trump said during an event in the East Room on his administration’s efforts to aid seniors during the outbreak. “They either couldn’t do it from a competence standpoint, or they let it spread.” “It got loose, let’s say, and they could have capped it.” Earlier this month, Trump addressed the lab theory saying, “More and more, we’re hearing the story.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added at the time, “The mere fact that we don’t know the answers — that China hasn’t shared the answers — I think is very, very telling.” Pompeo also pressed China to let outside experts into the lab “so that we can determine precisely where this virus began.” While Trump and Pompeo have made their feelings clear, a U.S. intelligence official disputed the notion that there was pressure on agencies to bolster a particular theory. The intelligence official was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Scientists say the virus arose naturally in bats. Even so, Pompeo and others have pointed fingers at an institute that is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has done groundbreaking research tracing the likely origins of the SARS virus, finding new bat viruses and discovering how they could jump to people. “We know that there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was,” Pompeo said two weeks ago. The institute has an address 8 miles, or 13 kilometers, from the market that is considered a possible source. U.S. officials say the American Embassy in Beijing flagged concerns about potential safety issues at the lab in Wuhan in 2018, but they have yet to find any evidence the virus originated there nearly two years later. Scientists studying the virus for months have made clear they believe it wasn’t man-made but are still working to determine a point at which it may have jumped from animals to humans. Early attention focused on the live-animal market in Wuhan where the first cases were reported in December. But the first person identified with the disease had no known connection to that market. Kristian Andersen, who studies the virus at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, puts the odds of it being accidentally released by the Wuhan lab at “a million to one,” far less likely than an infection in nature. But virus expert David O’Connor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said he thinks too little is known to rule out any source, except the idea the virus was man-made. Finding the source is important, he said, because it may harbor the next pandemic virus. The U.S. was providing funding to the Wuhan lab for its research on coronaviruses, Michael Morell, former acting director and deputy director of the CIA, said Thursday. He said State Department cables indicate that there have been concerns in past years among U.S. officials about the safety protocols at that lab. If the virus did escape from a Chinese lab, it not only reflects negatively on China but also on the United States for providing research funding to a lab that has safety concerns, Morell said during an online forum hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security at George Mason University. “So if it did escape, we’re all in this together,” Morell said. “This is not a gotcha for China. This is a gotcha for both of us.” ___ Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Washington and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Trump speculates that China released virus in lab ‘mistake’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12d2f59874f04022b5e539532fef6fda",
            "input": "France has already ordered 1 billion masks to ease an acute shortage nationwide that has angered front-line healthcare officials and politicians as the coronavirus outbreak has swept across the country, killing at least 3,523 people. Speaking at a mask-producing factory on Tuesday, Macron said he had ordered a tripling of domestic mask production by the end of April to 10 million and production of 10,000 extra respirators by mid-May. “The priority today is to produce more in Europe and France,” Macron said at the Kolmi-Hopen factory near the western town of Angers. “By the end of the year I want to us to be fully and completely independent (in production),” he said, adding that 4 billion euros ($4.39 billion) had been set aside for the Public Health Authority to buy equipment. The pandemic has triggered a massive surge in demand for protective gear in France and neighboring European countries including Italy and Spain, with the world’s worst and second worst death tolls from the respiratory illness respectively. China, where the virus originated and where countless factories were shut down to contain its spread, accounts for more than half the global production of masks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). New mask producers like car parts maker Faurecia, tire maker Michelin and retailer Intermarché will also push total output to 15 million per week, Macron said. The number of people in France infected with the virus rose to 52,128 on Tuesday, a 17% rise on the previous day. In 2013, France’s previous government took the decision to sharply reduce the number of face masks held in strategic reserve after a public outcry over the cost of bolstering stocks during the H1N1 bird flu crisis. Mask consumption since the onset of the coronavirus crisis has soared from four million per week to more than 40 million, but the state’s pre-crisis inventory of 140 million has proved insufficient as has the import of billions of masks. Nowhere has the shortage been felt more than in hospitals and nursing homes where health professionals have criticized the government’s slow reaction to the unfolding crisis. Sarah, a nurse in a coronavirus wing of a Paris hospital, told Reuters on Tuesday that the lack of masks for staff, but also patients, was getting worse despite government pledges. “Each patient should have their own mask, but we don’t have enough to change them and some don’t even have any. I had one (patient) who coughed on me and we didn’t have any gel left either to disinfect,” she said. “What makes me angry is that we don’t have the equipment to protect ourselves. Who will look after the patients when we fall sick?”    The management of the crisis, which has halt the economy and forced the government to lock down France until at least April 15, has also been condemned by opposition lawmakers. Far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said on Monday the government had lied about “absolutely everything, without any exceptions”. Macron hit back on Tuesday. “When we fight a battle, we must be united to win it and I think that all those who are already trying to hold trials when we have not won the war are irresponsible,” he said. “The time will come for accountability.”",
            "output": [
                "Amid criticism, Macron vows to raise medical gear output to tackle coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2767dd51c724498b835a04c25441d569",
            "input": "\"For the third year in a row, the Milwaukee Brewers’ lights-out closer John Axford faced a challenge when it came to getting to spring training on time. In 2010, it was an auto accident; in 2011 a case of food poisoning. This season it was red tape involving his 8-month-old son, J.B., also known to Axford’s Twitter followers as \"\"Little Ax.\"\" The boy was born in Milwaukee, and is a U.S. citizen. The elder Axford, however, is a Canadian. And his trip to Arizona was delayed because he didn’t have a passport for the baby when he was planning to fly from Canada into the United States. His Twitter followers (@JohnAxford) got a play-by-play of his travel travails. Among the offerings: \"\"Thank you Homeland Security for not letting my AMERICAN son into AMERICA! #3YearValentinesCurse #WontBeSeeingYouTodayWarmWeatherInPhoenix\"\"  He was more expansive in an interview with the Journal Sentinel, which is what prompted us to turn our version of the radar gun -- the Truth-O-Meter -- on Axford. \"\"Homeland Security requires passports for every age, no matter what,\"\" Axford said in the interview. \"\"You can arrive by land or sea if you're under the age of 15 with a birth certificate, but if you go by air Homeland Security requires passports for everybody, no matter what the age.\"\" Is he right? Passports only by air, though birth certificates suffice by car or boat? Now, it’s  Axford is a sports figure. But his statement touches squarely on U.S. policy. So we checked with the State Department, Homeland Security, border control and several federal government websites. Turns out the rules are different for border-crossing babies, depending on the mode of travel. If you’re traveling by air, you need a passport. Period. And, yes, you have to get a photograph of the kid. A kid passport costs $105. However, if you’re coming by land -- such as the border crossing in Detroit -- the rules are less strict, and less expensive. \"\"U.S. children ages 15 and under arriving by land or sea from a contiguous territory may present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate (issued by the Vital Records Department in the state where he or she was born), a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Naturalization Certificate. If the child is a newborn and the actual birth certificate has not arrived from the Vital Records Department, we will accept a Hospital issued birth certificate.\"\" Each year, the federal government issues about 450,000 passports to infants, a spokeswoman for the State Department said in an email. The department even provides helpful hints for how to take a passport picture of your little one. Kiddie passports are valid for five years. In the end, Axford got to spring training the hard way, again. His father drove the family across the border to Detroit and they caught a flight from there to Arizona. Our conclusion  Axford’s trip back to the mound took a detour. He said it was because of travel delays and said federal law required his baby to have a passport to fly back into the country. He learned a valuable lesson about border crossing: The feds are always right.\"",
            "output": [
                "All travelers -- even babies -- arriving in the U.S. by air must have a passport."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0edcdd0f366c41b88e1e20c09dbf181f",
            "input": "At issue before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a September 2018 ruling by a federal judge who threw out National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s rules for fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico, saying Congress never gave the agency authority to make them. An attorney for groups representing commercial and recreational fishing interests, food safety advocates and conservationists urged the three-judge appellate panel to uphold the 2018 ruling. Those groups cite numerous worries about the effect of fish farming on market prices for wild-caught fish and the effects on fishing communities, the environmental consequences of the use of antibiotics to control disease, the unpredictable genetic effects on wild, native fish stocks if farmed fish escape from farm pens and other concerns. NOAA maintains that fish farming, including that on the open sea, is vital to future seafood production and can help provide year-round jobs while rebuilding protected species and habitats. A three-judge appellate panel closely questioned NOAA attorney Frederick Turner on whether current fisheries law enables the agency to develop regulations — and about past failures by Congress to pass legislation addressing the issue. “Why would we step in and say you get what Congress hasn’t given you?” Judge Stephen Higginson asked Turner at one point. Turner argued that the existing law is broad and gives NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service the authority to permit and regulate fish farming, not just the taking of wild-caught fish. The appellate panel is expected to rule later this year. Attorney George Kimbrell, speaking for a variety of groups who say Congress must act first, said after the hearing that NOAA may indeed be the right agency to permit and regulate federal water aquaculture, but not until Congress addresses the issue and passes a law. “Don’t shoehorn it into a law that was never intended for that purpose and whose metrics just don’t match,” Kimbrell said.",
            "output": [
                "Future of fish farming in federal waters at issue in court."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b2d32b38425b4d3db3dc01bcbef03f45",
            "input": "U.S. states are increasingly moving to drop curbs on marijuana following landmark voter initiatives in Colorado and Washington state in 2012 that legalized the drug for recreational use. But in California, where medical marijuana is legal but recreational use is not, state laws are hazy on who is allowed to grow and sell the drug, leading to a chaotic and largely unregulated marketplace of street-corner pot dispensaries, illegal cannabis farms and inappropriate prescribing by unethical doctors. Cities and counties have struggled to impose order on an piecemeal basis as the state wrestles with developing a regulatory framework for the thriving if messy medical marijuana  industry. “A huge number of complaints were received last year from residents with regard to outdoor marijuana cultivation,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan, who introduced the measure to ban marijuana gardens as a public nuisance. “Many were close to schools, group homes and other sensitive uses.”  The fields can also be dangerous, as owners use weapons and dogs to guard their investments. Ten slayings currently under prosecution in the county have been linked to attempted marijuana theft, she said. On Tuesday, the board unanimously signaled its intent to approve MacGlashan’s ordinance, which will be up for a final vote on May 13. The board postponed a decision on banning indoor cultivation of marijuana to study whether an all-out prohibition would infringe on the rights of medical cannabis patients to grow plants for their own use. Sacramento County’s plan would apply to unincorporated areas outside of the city of Sacramento, many of which have large lots and a semi-rural feel. Two state bills to regulate the cultivation, selling and prescribing of medical pot are working their way through the legislature, but differences remain on whether health officials or the alcoholic beverage control department should oversee rules on cultivating and distributing the drug.",
            "output": [
                "California county tries to ban pot farms as medical weed business thrives."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d24e0fe1d5340b4851a48cd5ec69625",
            "input": "\"Deep in the May 2016 Texas Supreme Court ruling that upheld and critiqued the current school funding system is encouraging news about the performance of Texas students. On Page 58 of the majority opinion, Justice Don Willett (who subsequently showed up among individuals that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he’d consider to succeed Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court) refers to a November 2005 decision by the court that required lawmakers to change the system. At the time of the West Orange-Cove II ruling, Willett writes, \"\"the percentage of students meeting the college-readiness standards of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board stood at 28% in English and 42% in math. Those figures stood at 65% and 66% in 2013,\"\" Willett continues. Did Texas high school graduates get so much more college-primed that fast? Best we could tell, the cited figures track with state test results tracked by the Texas Education Agency. Then again, as few as 26 percent of Texas high-school graduates lately show a readiness for college according to a couple of other respected metrics. Texas Success Initiative With help from Texas Education Agency officials, we found figures very close to what Willett presents in the 2016 majority opinion. According to the agency, in 2004, 29 percent of students fulfilled college readiness standards for English language arts and 43 percent did so for math while in 2013, 65 percent of students met readiness standards for English, 66 percent for math. With rare exception, according to the agency, the percentage of students fulfilling each readiness standard escalated steadily through the intervening years. And most recently, in 2014, 68 percent of students met the English readiness standards with 67 percent doing so in math, the agency says. We wondered what the percentages meant. They reflect student test results, TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson advised, in keeping with a state law that requires college and universities to assess incoming high school graduates for their readiness to take college courses and offer remedial instruction as needed. Under the program, called the Texas Success Initiative, the TEA has reported on the readiness of high-school students by calculating the share of students who meet related expectations on the state-mandated English language arts and math 11th grade/exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills. Asked if perhaps standards loosened between 2004 and 2013, Culbertson pointed out by email that in each of the years, a student classified as ready for college needed \"\"scale scores of 2200\"\" on each relevant TAKS including a 3 (out of a possible 4) on the writing portion of the English test. To our inquiry, Shannon Housson, TEA director of performance reporting, said by phone the 124 percent and 54 percent respective improvements in students meeting the readiness standards over nine years reflected schools and students adjusting to and, in some cases, mastering the English and math TAKS, which were given from 2003 through 2011 before yielding to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. At its inception, Housson said, the TAKS added up to a \"\"significant increase in rigor\"\" for students accustomed to the previous state-mandated exams. \"\"I remember the angst in the schools,\"\" Housson said, as teachers and others came to terms with the new focus on \"\"higher-order thinking skills\"\" linked to the state-set curriculum rather than simply academic skills. Finally, Willett’s citation of the 2005 court decision on school finance led us to look back at how that opinion by Justice Nathan Hecht presented the percentages of students meeting the readiness standards. In the ruling, Hecht showed results for all students plus break-outs suggesting considerable performance lags among African American, Hispanic and Limited English Proficient students. Results for 2013 suggest such gaps have closed quite a bit except among students the state deems English Language Learners. Texas Students With Test Scores Suggesting College Readiness, 2004 and 2013 Subject All Students African-American Hispanic White LEP/ELL* English (2004) 29% 19% 20% 36% 3% Math (2004) 43% 21% 29% 56% 13% English (2013) 65% 55% 60% 74% 14% Math (2013) 61% 51% 55% 71% 12% *Limited English Proficient/English Language Learners SAT, ACT scores There are other ways to gauge college readiness. In 2014, nearly 34 percent of the state’s students who took the pre-college SAT (or 32 percent of public school students taking the test) did well enough to demonstrate a readiness for college work without remediation, according to the College Board, which associates an SAT score of 1550 out of 2400 with a 65 percent probability of obtaining a first-year college GPA of B- or higher. The same year, among 60 percent of 116,147 Texas high school graduates to take the ACT scored well enough to show a readiness for college English, the Iowa-based group says, with 47 percent doing so in math and 36 percent demonstrating readiness in science--and only 26 percent clearing all the tests’ college-readiness benchmarks. ACT says its readiness benchmarks are \"\"scores on the ACT subject-area tests that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in corresponding credit-bearing first-year college courses.\"\" Our ruling Willett, writing for the court majority, said that before 2005, \"\"the percentage of\"\" Texas high-school students meeting the coordinating board’s college readiness standards \"\"stood at 28% in English and 42% in math. Those figures stood at 65% and 66% in 2013.\"\" This statement doesn’t acknowledge readiness metrics such as ACT or SAT scores. But it almost perfectly reflects the state’s tallies of high school graduates in 2004 and 2013 who scored high enough on state English and math tests to be considered college-ready. – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Before 2005, \"\"the percentage of\"\" Texas high school \"\"students meeting the college readiness standards of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board stood at 28% in English and 42% in math. Those figures stood at 65% and 66% in 2013.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3aef1fa28c85434da4fa192af11bf35c",
            "input": "Dental practices around the country are cautiously reopening and accepting appointments after the French government eased restrictions on some businesses, services and public activity. Yet getting back to work in the age of coronavirus requires caution, especially for over 40,000 dentists in France who are among the health professionals at highest risk of becoming infected. Because respiratory droplets are a way the virus spreads among people, dentistry demands protecting patients and especially practitioners. That means not only disinfecting tools and surfaces, but layer upon layer of extra screens, wraps, gloves and masks. The World Health Organization has recommended specialized face masks for health care providers performing medical procedures such as ventilation and intubation that produce fine, airborne particles, which might transmit the coronavirus. Drilling teeth for fillings is also known to generate aerosolized viral particles. Paris dentist Sabrine Jendoubi said the trade-off for safety is the discomfort of additional head and body wear. “A surgical suit is something that we wear in the operating theater. Today, we wear it for everything.” Jendoubi said. Of the various filtering face masks certified to protect against viruses in the air, she finds the FFP2-rated model “the most complicated, as it’s really tight.” “It filters out every virus and bacteria, so it’s quite heavy to wear but it protects us and the patients,” Jendoubi said. The additional precautions are also an added expense. An operator of medical clinics and offices in France, Doctocare, told the AP it is costing 50,000 euros ($54,000) to supply each of the company’s centers with the hygiene and protective equipment recommended by the French government. “We will communicate to the government these difficult adjustments in terms of profitability, but for now we’re focused on this public health issue,” Carine Benharrous, director of dental operations at Doctocare, said. The limited distance between the faces of dentists and their patients also is a potential concern, as some experts have theorized that people who get a bigger infectious dose of the coronavirus may become more seriously ill with COVID-19. In Britain, all routine dental care has been suspended except for telephone consultations and prescriptions. While dentists in Denmark are returning to their offices, they are wearing protective suits and plastic face shields while tending to patients lying with their mouths wide open. Cleaning teeth to remove plaque is being done by hand instead of with ultrasonic devices that would increase the risk of producing spit. Yet in some European countries, dental practices never closed because of the virus. Dentists in Italy, one of the nations hit hardest by infections and virus-related deaths, reduced their services to take only urgent cases in person, managing other patients by telephone. Proof that a pandemic wasn’t an excuse to avoid an Italian dentist chair was an April 23 photo on Twitter of U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich wearing a protective hairnet and paper drape. “A trip to the dentist in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gingrich tweeted with emoji of an Italian flag and smiley face in sunglasses. ___ Adamson reported from Leeds, England. Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Maria Cheng in London contributed.",
            "output": [
                "Dentists carefully reopen in France after 2-month lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66f3cbf532eb46ad9025eef3ad7a5711",
            "input": "The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of an Arctic air blast from Canada continuing to provide subzero temperatures for the U.S. Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Wednesday evening and into Thursday. On Wednesday, public school officials in Chicago, Milwaukee and Boston canceled Thursday classes out of caution, saying the frigid temperatures in the forecast pose a danger to children. “Our top priority remains the safety of our students, and tomorrow’s weather conditions could again be dangerous to students traveling to and from school,” said Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett in a statement to parents. Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest U.S. school district with 400,000 students and almost 800 schools, told students on Wednesday to stay home and indoors as temperatures dropped to between 20 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average. Overnight readings were expected to be as low as 16 below zero. There was little snow-day fun for children freed from school. Sledding hills and cross-country ski areas were shut down around Chicago, and in South Dakota, the city of Sioux Falls closed six ice-skating rinks, citing wind chill peril. Pat Powers, 48, of Brookings, S.D., about 50 miles north of Sioux Falls, put on snow gear to go shopping for sugar to take home for his teenaged daughter who wanted to bake on her day off from classes. He said he preferred to run the errand rather than let her out in the cold. “It’s a good day to stay home and blog in your pajamas,” said Powers, a political blogger. Although Chicago was sunny and clear, commuters said uncovered hands and faces became painful after a few seconds in the brutal cold. The National Weather Service warned that frostbite could happen with just 15 minutes of exposure and advised people to keep pets indoors. Chicago’s trains and buses were less crowded than normal as some workers stayed home. There also were some delays of buses and trains due to the weather. The NWS issued wind chill alerts for cities including Chicago and Detroit as strong Arctic high pressure built into the Midwest. Overnight wind chill values could reach 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, the weather service said. “Dangerously cold wind chills will continue Thursday morning,” in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, the weather service said. BLIZZARD-LIKE BLOWING SNOW  The weather service forecast blizzard conditions for parts of South Dakota on Thursday afternoon because of blowing snow, not fresh snow. All Sioux Falls public and parochial schools were shut on Wednesday. Atmospheric pressure hit possible record highs in Aberdeen, S.D., the NWS said. High barometric pressure is associated with cold air from the polar regions. In Chicago, parents scrambled to line up child care after schools closed. Kim Dooley, 52, was on the elevated train into work after rushing to find a nanny for her 6-year-old special-needs daughter. “People aren’t as hardy as they used to be,” she said. In Minneapolis, where the temperature was 8 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, commuters left their parka hoods up inside  trains and pedestrians walked with their hands over their faces. Most Midwesterners took the cold in stride and said the temperatures seemed normal compared to last year’s polar vortex storms. “This is nothing. It does not compare to any of the epic storms that we’ve had,” said businessman Matt Minar, 42. Ohio saw snowfall overnight but nothing unseasonable. “This time last year was worse,” said Steve Carlson, 49, a Cleveland native and customer service worker for AT&T who had calls scheduled for outdoor work all day. Farther south, outdoor workers in Kentucky doubled up on coats to protect against wind chill temperatures of 4 degrees below zero. “I drink a lot of hot chocolate,” said Eddie Rainbolt, 50, in Louisville, a sign holder for Solid Gold, which buys gold and silver. Several Southeastern states also braced for frigid cold. In Atlanta, the medical examiner’s office said it was investigating the death of a man found outside a bus stop that may have been weather-related.",
            "output": [
                "'Baby, It's Cold Outside': large part of U.S. in deep freeze."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-767c75ca22594e41a5866618bdc94d9b",
            "input": "Low doses of the drug FTY720, also called fingolimod, given  to mice once a day for three days eliminated an infection by a  virus that can cause meningitis, an inflammation of the  membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The findings suggest the drug, which boosted anti-viral  immune responses in the mice, may be useful against viruses  that cause high-level, long-lasting infections in people such  as hepatitis C and HIV, the researchers said. Microbiologist and immunologist John Altman of Emory  University in Atlanta, who led the study, said the researchers  plan to assess the effects of the drug on other viruses  including the monkey version of the AIDS virus. Altman, whose findings were published in the journal  Nature, expressed cautious optimism that the drug might work  against certain chronic viral infections in people. “We think it’s crucial that we do experiments to check it  out,” Altman said in a telephone interview. The drug is generally considered to be an immunosuppressant  that works to restrain the body’s natural defenses. That could be helpful in multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune  disease in which the immune system attacks body parts as if  they were foreign invaders. But one effect of the drug seems to facilitate the immune  response, the researchers said. FTY720 among other things traps  white blood cells — key soldiers in the immune system’s fight  against infections — in the lymph nodes, Altman said. With viral infections, the lymph nodes are where the immune  response can get primed and started, Altman said. Some viruses  replicate themselves at high levels in lymph nodes, including  the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. They tested the drug against a mouse virus called  lymphocytic choriomeningitis, which causes chronic infections  by escaping immune responses. “In the absence of treatment (with FTY720) we have an  exhausted immune response. In the presence of treatment, we  regain a robust cellular immune response,” Altman said. Swiss drug maker Novartis said in June two multiple  sclerosis patients taking FTY720 in clinical trials had  problems with infections and one died, but the role of the drug  in the cases was unclear. Novartis plans at the end of 2009 to seek approval by the  European Union for FTY720 to treat MS, spokeswoman Valerie Tate  said by e-mail. The drug is currently in late-stage trials. Altman said his study was backed by the U.S. government’s  National Institutes of Health and was not funded by Novartis.",
            "output": [
                "MS drug may work against viral infection: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c6b88a1430a4c888f5656b1ae098751",
            "input": "EpiPens deliver potentially lifesaving doses of the generic drug epinephrine, via an automatic injector that a patient or caregiver can administer in the event of severe allergic reaction. “We are shipping product. Currently there is no shortage in the U.S.,” said Steve Danehy, a spokesman for Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), which produces the global supply of EpiPens for Mylan out of a single facility near St. Louis, Missouri. Mylan is in charge of managing allocation of the EpiPen supply, Danehy said in an email to Reuters. It was not immediately clear why Canada and the UK would be subject to a shortage at this time. A Mylan spokeswoman was not available for comment. Mylan’s EpiPen sales practices in the United States sparked public outrage in 2016 as consumers saw the price for a pack of two auto-injectors rise sixfold to $600 in less than a decade, making the devices unaffordable for a growing number of families. Since then, the company has launched a generic version of EpiPen for half the price, though the U.S. market is still the most lucrative. Meridian Medical Technologies Inc, the unit of Pfizer that manufactures EpiPens, has been hit by a series of manufacturing problems. In March 2017, Mylan recalled tens of thousands of devices after complaints that some had failed to activate. In September, Meridian received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said Meridian had failed to thoroughly investigate product failures, including EpiPen products that were associated with patient deaths and severe illnesses. It said the company failed to take corrective actions until FDA’s inspection. At the time, Mylan said it did not anticipate any impact on EpiPen supply based on the warning letter. But on Thursday, Pfizer Canada said it was “experiencing supply constraints” for EpiPens used by both adults and children “due to delays at the manufacturing facility,” as well as problems in sourcing a component for the device from an outside supplier. There are no alternatives on the market in Canada, federal health officials there said. They advised patients and caregivers to use expired EpiPens in an emergency if they have nothing else on hand, and then call 911. “Pfizer understands and regrets the challenges that these ongoing supply constraints pose to patients and the healthcare community,” the company said in a statement on its website. On Friday, the UK website for EpiPen notified consumers of “intermittent supply constraints” for the adult injector. It said the next shipment to EpiPen’s distributor in the country was expected toward the end of April. Mylan’s revenue from EpiPen dropped sharply over the last year due to increased competition, the launch of its own cheaper generic and higher rebates that it has had to pay to as a result of a settlement for overcharging the U.S. government.",
            "output": [
                "EpiPen shortages seen in Canada, UK but U.S. supply intact."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c65440cf83a043e698741a86118c23fb",
            "input": "\"The story had a sidebar explaining the cost of Bod Pod testing in Puget Sound locations ranges from $25 – 50. The story indicated one might benefit from the information generated by BOD POD measurement by helping set realistic weight loss goals. It did not actually provide the reader with any information about whether evidence exists demonstrating that it is of benefit for weight loss or improvement in adiposity-related risks. The story indicated that obtaining body composition information could be anxiety or guilt provoking. Although the story stated that ‘Data suggest the BOD POD is accurate’, it didn’t actually indicate what sort of evidence exists documenting this. While there may be evidence that the BOD POD is \"\"accurate\"\" the story did not state whether the evidence is solid or controversial. Most importantly, the story did not address the question as to whether there is any quality evidence that knowing your body fat percentage is truly helpful in improving your health. There also wasn’t any evidence presented about how effective it is to measure body fat percentage prior to engaging in a weight loss program in terms of whether it helps people lose weight. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. In fact, it concluded that having the test is \"\"not a good idea if the number will be just one more thing to obsess over or feel guilty about.\"\" Both professionals interviewed were from the private commercial sector – one from a center that uses the Bod Pod (hardly an independent voice on the topic) and one who is a book author. The story would have been enhanced with the inclusion of insight from a clear expert in the field of body composition assessment. The story did a very nice job of running through the various techniques for measuring body composition and even included a link to an online calculator of body mass index (BMI). The story explained that body composition measurement with the BOD POD is hard to find because there are few locations with the apparatus. The story accurately portrayed the BOD POD as a piece of equipment that had been around for a while. We can’t be sure if the story relied largely or solely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "What are you made of? The BOD POD knows all"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fc51c52ca52c45aab438694260027b37",
            "input": "Berrien County Health Department officials said Monday the victim was one of two people who contracted the mosquito borne virus. The death occurred Saturday. Cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis first appeared in West Michigan at the end of August. The virus has been reported in Barry, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties. The outbreak has resulted in 10 human cases and 46 animal cases. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the risk from the virus continues because there hasn’t been a sustained period of freezing temperatures. He says residents in the affected areas should continue to take precautions against mosquito bites.",
            "output": [
                "6th fatality linked to Eastern Equine Encephalitis reported."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3218a5f5c2aa4628b30fce682d366fa9",
            "input": "\"When you close out the year by ditching America’s 50-year isolation of Cuba, you can expect a few broader questions about your style on the international stage. President Barack Obama said in a year-end interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley that he has been \"\"consistent in saying that where we can solve problems diplomatically, we should do so.\"\" Crowley pressed Obama to respond to the charge that he is too willing to cut deals that produce little in return for the United States. \"\"The gist of it is that you're naive and they're rolling you,\"\" Crowley said, speaking of other world leaders. Obama shot back that on a couple of major fronts, his track record is looking pretty good. Russia now has a crisis on its hands as its economy stalls and the value of the ruble tumbles. On Iran, the president said there have been real gains. \"\"Over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with them, that's probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade,\"\" Obama said. The fear that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a charge that Iran denies, has bedeviled the international community for over 15 years. We decided to take a closer look at whether Iran’s program has advanced or not. We found general agreement that in terms of curtailing the means to produce enriched uranium and plutonium, the essential fuels needed for an atomic bomb, negotiations between the United States, Iran and other United Nations countries contributed to real progress. However, some analysts define Iran’s nuclear program more broadly to include suspected efforts to design nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The negotiations don’t address those elements, however, and what Iran is doing or has done in that area is subject to much debate. By way of refresher, in November 2013, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, and Iran signed an agreement that temporarily stopped or rolled back Iran’s production of potentially weapons grade nuclear material. In November 2014, that agreement was extended by four months, with some additional restrictions on Iran. In exchange, Iran has been able to sell more of its oil and gain access to millions of dollars that had been frozen in overseas bank accounts. The key elements in the agreements Negotiators focused on nuclear fuel. This had three main aspects. Stopping the production and accumulation of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level of the isotope U-235 and converting a large fraction of what it had to a form harder to use in a weapon. Stop the installation of additional centrifuge machines at Iran’s two enrichment facilities. Centrifuges are essential to the enrichment process. Put the brakes on construction of Iran’s heavy water reactor in Arak. If it were operational, this reactor could produce enough plutonium in its spent fuel for one to two nuclear warheads. Importantly, Iran agreed to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. That agency has found that Iran complied with the terms of the original November 2013 agreement. In its November 2014 report, the agency said, \"\"All of the enrichment related activities at Iran’s declared facilities are under Agency safeguards, and all of the nuclear material, installed cascades, and feed and withdrawal stations at those facilities are subject to Agency containment and surveillance.\"\" To be clear, Iran continues to enrich uranium, but only to the level of 5 percent of U-235, a form that falls well short of the needs of weapon makers. Regarding heavy water facilities, the IAEA said that Iran had not stopped all work across all of its heavy water projects, but it had not installed any major components. What the experts say As far as nuclear material is concerned, the experts we reached said the agreements successfully, though perhaps only temporarily, curtailed production. \"\"When President Obama says that for the first time in the past decade Iran has not advanced its nuclear program he is correct,\"\" said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a research group that advocates for arms control policies. \"\"Leading up to the interim deal, Iran had nearly amassed enough 20 percent enriched uranium gas, which when further enriched to weapons grade is enough for one bomb.\"\" That material is no longer available, Kimball said. Matthew Bunn, a principal investigator with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, also said Obama basically has it right on Iran. \"\"They don’t have any more equipment in place for producing bomb material than they had a year and a half ago,\"\" Bunn said. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based group that aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, offered a more qualified view. Albright called progress on enrichment, centrifuges and the heavy water facilities in Arak, a \"\"great accomplishment.\"\" But Albright noted that, \"\"Iran continues to run almost 10,000 centrifuges, enriching and stockpiling 3.5 percent low enriched uranium.\"\" And Iran’s research on advanced centrifuges, with limits, is ongoing. Albright is also concerned that Iran has so far not allowed the international inspectors the access they need to learn more about any nuclear weapons research Iran had in the past. Matthew Kroenig, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University, also focused on the weapons side of the equation. Kroenig noted that the agreements that limited and rolled back the production of nuclear-grade material were silent on this front. \"\"Iran's missile production continues, and we are uncertain about the nuclear weapons design work, although many experts believe that continues as well,\"\" Kroenig said. But Kroenig also described curtailing the production of nuclear fuel as the \"\"most important\"\" piece of the nonproliferation effort with Iran. Two notes on the time elements mentioned in Obama’s comments. He said this is the first time in a decade that Iran’s nuclear program did not advance. Iran restarted its uranium enrichment program in 2005. That would mean it has been a bit over nine years. Also, the president’s year and a half is a bit of a stretch. The first agreement with Iran was signed barely over a year ago, although the terms were announced earlier. Our ruling Obama said that we have seen \"\"probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade.\"\" The agreement signed in November 2013 has made it harder for Iran to produce weapons-grade nuclear material. International observers report that Iran complied with the terms of the temporary agreement. The amount of enriched uranium is less, and the country’s facilities to produce weapons-grade material has been curtailed. But that does not mean the country has completely stopped all activities that could produce nuclear weapons material in the future. There is also concern about broader aspects of a nuclear weapons program, such as weapons design and missile development.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Since the United States began negotiations with Iran, \"\"that's probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b01a4f559c3e474189e224a6ac147a6e",
            "input": "New Delhi, one of the world’s dirtiest cities, saw levels of PM2.5 — tiny particulate matter that can clog lungs — soar to over 900 micrograms per cubic meter on Saturday. That’s more than 90 times the level considered safe by the World Health Organization and 15 times the Indian government’s norms. The severe weekend pollution followed a week of constant gray smog. New Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, told reporters after an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday that schools would be shut for three days, and all construction and demolition activity halted for at least five days. He also said a coal-fueled power plant on the edges of the city would be shut for 10 days. The other measures announced include a 10-day ban on the use of all diesel-powered electricity generators, except at places such as hospitals and cellphone towers. Starting Thursday, all major roads in the city will be vacuum cleaned once a week, Kejriwal said. The chief minister also said people should avoid going outdoors until the pollution levels drop and should try to work from home as much as possible. New Delhi’s air pollution soars during the cooler winter months, bringing health troubles to millions, especially children and older people. Kejriwal said that a major contributor to New Delhi’s pollution is the crop fires in neighboring states. At the start of every winter, farmers in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh begin burning straw from their rice paddy crop to clear the fields for planting wheat. The Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based research and lobbying organization, said government data shows that the smog that has covered the city for the last week is the worst in 17 years. Over the last few years, New Delhi’s government has tried a handful of methods to control air pollution, including stricter emission norms for cars and a tax on diesel-fueled trucks that enter the city. It has also barred the burning of leaves and garbage in the city. Earlier this year, the city reduced the number of cars on the roads during the winter months, when air quality is at its worst. Twice the city imposed a two-week period in which cars were allowed on the roads only on even or odd days, depending on the vehicle’s license plate number. On Sunday, Kejriwal said that the government was assessing whether it needed to reduce the number of cars again.",
            "output": [
                "Delhi shuts schools, halts construction to tackle pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f5a1baf5debe459e8ad9af46486dbb89",
            "input": "Hookah smoking among Californians jumped more than 40 percent between 2005 and 2008, said Dr. Ron Chapman, the state director of public health, citing a 2011 state tobacco survey published in the American Journal of Public Health. He said the trend was particularly pronounced among college-age adults, with nearly a quarter of men 18 to 24 years old reporting they had used a hookah at least once, according to the same study. Experts say the growing popularity of hookahs has been fueled in part by a perception that the water pipes are more socially acceptable than cigarettes and the erroneous belief that inhaling tobacco smoke drawn through the water filters out some of its toxins. But smoke from hookah tobacco — which comes in such flavors as apple, strawberry, honey and mint — retains all the carcinogens of cigarette smoke while adding more carbon monoxide and extra carcinogens from the use of burning coals that are used to keep the nicotine flowing, health officials say. During a typical hour-long session, a hookah user inhales 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is a very, very concerning misperception about the use of hookahs among youth, thinking it’s somehow safer. In fact, it puts you at the same risk,” Chapman said. The warning came as Chapman announced an anti-smoking advertising campaign aimed at those most likely to light up - low-income, minority youth, especially African-Americans. While California has in many ways led the nation in discouraging smoking, “tobacco use is still the No. 1 cause of death and disease in California,” he said. Tobacco kills nearly 34,000 Californians a year and leads to annual healthcare costs of $6.5 billion, or $400 for each state taxpayer, he said. Although pubs and restaurants in California have banned smoking since 1998, hookah bars and cafes are permitted under exemptions for owner-operated tobacco shops or other businesses where no food or beverages are sold without employees or staff, said Corey Egel, a state public health department spokesman. The growing popularity of hookahs among young adults in California mirrors a broader trend nationwide. A study in May by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine of 152 universities nationwide found that over 30 percent of students had smoked tobacco from a hookah during the previous month. Hookah smoking, which originated in Persia and India, has seen a resurgence in Middle Eastern countries and elsewhere, too, with water pipes referred to as narguila in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey and as sheesha in Egypt.",
            "output": [
                "California health officials sound alarm over hookah smoking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b69c9693d2444a1bd1d1cfd8f764d4b",
            "input": "In a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists from the charity Cancer Research UK (CRUK) said hiking taxes by a large amount per cigarette would encourage people to quit smoking altogether rather than switch to cheaper brands, and help stop young people from taking up the habit. As well as causing lung cancer, which is often fatal, smoking is the largest cause of premature death from chronic conditions like heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Tobacco kills around 6 million people a year now, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and that toll is expected to rise above 8 million a year by 2030 if nothing is done to curb smoking rates. Richard Peto, an epidemiologist at CRUK who led the study, said aggressively increasing tobacco taxes would be especially effective in poorer and middle-income countries where the cheapest cigarettes are relatively affordable. Of the 1.3 billion people around the world who smoke, most live in poorer countries where often governments have also not yet introduced smoke-free legislation. But increasing tobacco tax would also be effective in richer countries, Peto said, citing evidence from France, which he said halved cigarette consumption from 1990 to 2005 by raising taxes well above inflation. “The two certainties in life are death and taxes. We want higher tobacco taxes and fewer tobacco deaths,” he said in a statement. “It would help children not to start, and it would help many adults to stop while there’s still time.”  While smokers lose at least 10 years of life, quitting before age 40 avoids more than 90 percent of the increased health risk run by people who continue smoking. Stopping before age 30 avoids more than 97 percent of the risk. Governments around the world have agreed to prioritize reducing premature deaths from cancer and other chronic diseases in the United Nations General Assembly and in the WHO’s World Health Assembly in 2013. They also agreed to a target of reducing smoking by a third by 2025. The CRUK analysis found that doubling the price of cigarettes in the next decade through increased taxes would cut worldwide consumption by about a third by that target, and at the same time increase annual government revenues from tobacco by a third from around $300 billion to $400 billion. This extra income, the researchers suggested, could be spent on boosting health care budgets. Peto noted that the international tobacco industry makes about $50 billion in profits each year, saying this equated to “approximately $10,000 per death from smoking”. “Worldwide, around half a billion children and adults under the age of 35 are already - or soon will be - smokers, and many will be hooked on tobacco for life. So there’s an urgent need for governments to find ways to stop people starting and to help smokers give up,” said Harpal Kumar, CRUK’s chief executive. He said the study, which examined 63 research papers on the causes and consequences of tobacco use in many different countries, showed tobacco taxes are “a hugely powerful lever”. They are also potentially a triple win, Kumar said, cutting the number of people who smoke and die from their addiction, reducing the health care burden and costs linked to smoking and at the same time increasing government income.",
            "output": [
                "Trebling tobacco tax 'could prevent 200 million early deaths'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-077a2f4bf88d4b47975c605d8d2a2053",
            "input": "Brandon Kufalk, a public health educator with the agency’s Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Section, told Wisconsin Public Radio that the increase may be due to more testing. The state had more than 26,400 chlamydia cases, more than 6,600 gonorrhea cases and more than 400 syphilis cases last year. All three STDs can be treated with antibiotics. The data can help public health officials identify communities that may need testing for sexually transmitted diseases. “In some ways it’s good because obviously the more cases that we find, the more we’re able to stop the spread to other people,” Kufalk said. People who test positive for an STD are encouraged to have their sexual partners seek testing and get medication. Southeastern Wisconsin had the most reported cases in the state, with more than 19,000. Specific groups, such as 20- to 24-year-olds or African-Americans, have higher infection rates than other groups. These communities are typically the focus of testing efforts or funding, Kufalk said. “If we can concentrate some resources in that area, we can help reduce the overall rate for everybody,” he said. The nation as a whole saw an increase in STDs in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ___ Information from: Wisconsin Public Radio, http://www.wpr.org",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin sees increase in reports of STDs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0abbe3f9287a482682cf3c9cdfd7ae21",
            "input": "In November 2018, a Grand Rapids, Michigan woman who needed a heart transplant due to complications from chemotherapy was turned down by a Spectrum Health medical committee due to lack of funds:Martin’s son, Alex Britt, said she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and the chemotherapy treatment, while curing her cancer, damaged her heart to the extent that she requires a transplant and had to leave her job on disability. Britt said she walked dogs and would pet-sit to raise funds.Martin said she was supposed to have a procedure Monday for an assistive device to help sustain her while waiting for a new heart. At the time, Martin had already raised $4,600 on GoFundMe for her prior medical bills.Britt set up a new GoFundMe page to raise the additional $10,000 needed to cover the cost of the immunosuppressive drugs. The medical center reportedly would not consider Martin for a heart transplant without her being able to pay for the drugs.The letter to Hedda Martin reportedly said, in part:Your medical situation was presented to our multidisciplinary heart transplant committee on Tuesday, October 20, 2018. The decision made by the committee is that you are not a candidate at this time for a heart transplant due to needing a more secure financial plan for immunosuppressive medication coverage. The Committee is recommending a fundraising effort of $10,000.The story went viral when it was shared by Rep-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York):Insurance groups are recommending GoFundMe as official policy – where customers can die if they can’t raise the goal in time – but sure, single payer healthcare is unreasonable.h/t @DanRiffle pic.twitter.com/zetPW0MgDd— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 24, 2018The story is true. Spectrum Health acknowledged the letter in a lengthy statement on their official website, although the organization stopped short of discussing Martin’s specific circumstances:It is important for patients to understand the long-term commitment they are making when accepting an organ donation. For this reason, we strive to ensure each patient is the best match so the donation contributes to a renewed life.Each transplant candidate is evaluated by our highly-skilled multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, clinical ethicists, dieticians and other experts. Transplant eligibility is a complex process. It requires consideration of a multitude of factors based on established best practice standards used by transplant centers across the country. Physical health, psychological and social well-being, and financial resources are among the factors considered for each patient. The ability to pay for post-transplant care and life-long immunosuppression medications is essential to increase the likelihood of a successful transplant and longevity of the transplant recipient. We help patients understand the long-term health implications of a transplant along with their total financial commitment, such as post-transplant medication expenses paid to pharmacies of their choice.Martin’s GoFundMe has raised more than enough to cover the costs of the immunosuppressant medication she needs, but her story is far from unusual. At least a third of the money raised on GoFundMe in 2017 was to help with medical issues, because health care costs in the United States are so high:It’s become a go-to way for people in need to help pay their doctors. Medical fundraisers now account for 1 in 3 of the website’s campaigns, and they bring in more money than any other GoFundMe category, said GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon.“In the old paradigm you would give $20 to somebody who needed help,” Solomon said. “In the new paradigm, you’ll give $20, you’ll share that and that could turn into 10, 20, 50 or 100 people doing that. So, the $20 could turn in hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.”Since at least 2017, a majority of Americans have listed access to affordable healthcare as one of their most pressing concerns.",
            "output": [
                "\"A medical committee withheld a heart transplant from a woman saying that she needed to have at least $10,000 for immunosuppressant medication and suggested \"\"a fundraising effort.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0553368114094fde873eae2f4081ef30",
            "input": "On June 11, 2020, a disturbing photograph purportedly showing a lung that had been removed from a COVID-19 patient started to circulate on social media:  This is a genuine photograph of a lung removed from such a patient. The picture was shared in a news release from Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital after surgeons there performed a successful double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 coronavirus patient, an otherwise healthy woman in her 20s. Northwestern Medical writes: For the first time, surgeons at Northwestern Medicine performed a double-lung transplant on a patient whose lungs were damaged by COVID-19. The patient, a Hispanic woman in her 20s, spent six weeks in the COVID ICU on a ventilator and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support machine that does the work of the heart and lungs. By early June, the patient’s lungs showed irreversible damage. The lung transplant team listed her for a double-lung transplant, and 48 hours later, performed the life-saving procedure at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows the damage to a person's lung from the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ab2cc8e4df549de9409619d46b6f4e7",
            "input": "\"U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio used his first speech on the Senate floor, on June 14, 2011, to evoke the American dream. The so-called maiden speech is a \"\"big deal for a senator,\"\" said fellow Florida Sen. Bill Nelson — and Rubio went for big ideas. \"\"America is not perfect,\"\" said the freshman Republican, the child of Cuban immigrants. \"\"... But since her earliest days, America has inspired people from all over the world. Inspired them with the hope that one day their own countries would be one like this one. Many others decided they could not wait. And so they came here from everywhere, to pursue their dreams and to work to leave their children better off than themselves. And the result was the American miracle.\"\" As he held the floor for nearly 15 minutes, Rubio highlighted rags-to-riches stories that he said happen \"\"only in America,\"\" describing the founders of Nordstrom, Mattel and eBay. When he finished, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., commended him, saying, \"\"No one expresses American exceptionalism better than Sen. Rubio.\"\" Rubio traced America’s role in the 20th century, from two world wars to the Cold War and the defeat of communism. Then he turned to other contributions:  While our military and foreign policy contributions helped save the world, it was our economic and cultural innovations that helped transform it. The fruits of the American miracle can be found in the daily lives of people everywhere. Anywhere in the world, when someone uses a mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet or GPS, they are enjoying the benefits of the American miracle. Anywhere in the world, when a bone marrow, lung or heart transplant saves a life, they are touched by the value of the American miracle. And on one night in July of 1969, the whole world witnessed the American miracle firsthand. For on that night an American walked on the surface of the moon, and it was clear to the whole world that these Americans… could do anything. We briefly considered wading into fringe conspiracy theories about whether astronauts actually walked on the moon, but got control of ourselves. We were more curious about his other technology claims. Were Americans truly the ones responsible for innovation of the mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet and the global positioning system? We dropped a line to Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos, who provided us with links about inventors of the mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet and GPS. Indeed, stories from The Telegraph (via Huffington Post), NPR, the Internet Society, PBS and MITnews identify American origins for all four technologies. But these are complex systems that have developed over time. We wondered: Was there more to the story? Mobile phone  A lot fits under the umbrella \"\"mobile phone\"\" -- including, say, early radio technology that led to car phones by the 1940s. But Rubio’s spokesman pointed to the inventor of the first portable cellular phone, which is fine by us. (Did you think of dawn-of-the-1900s ship-to-shore communication when Rubio said \"\"mobile phone\"\"? We didn’t think so.) Martin Cooper worked for Illinois company Motorola as it developed the DynaTAC phone and the cellular network behind it in the early 1970s. The lead engineer for the team that developed the phone, Martin made the first wireless call from Manhattan in 1973. The FCC approved the phone -- the world’s first commercial portable cell phone -- for regular folks in 1983. Now, Japan and some European countries were quicker to deploy cellular networks, in the late ‘70s and very early ‘80s. But Paul Levinson, a Fordham University professor who wrote the 2004 book \"\"Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything!\"\" says it’s the phone that matters. \"\"That was the breakthrough,\"\" he said \"\"There were several different companies and scientists working on it. … But no one believed that it could be done. … So everything that came afterwards was based on that first breakthrough.\"\" An American breakthrough. Score one for Rubio. Internet & E-mail  We read the work from the Internet Society and PBS that Burgos sent our way, then exchanged messages with Stephen Stein, who teaches the history of technology at the University of Memphis. Computer networks that led to the Internet we know today include Arpanet , a 1970s project of the U.S. Department of Defense, and NSFnet, created by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s. These projects, with their indisputably American roots, provided two cornerstones of the modern-day Web: the TCP/IP protocol and a major communications backbone. But Stein pointed out that the way we interact with the Internet owes much to the work of Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist who worked for CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland. It was there -- in the late ‘80s as NSFnet was being developed in the United States -- that Berners-Lee \"\"developed the whole concept of the World Wide Web,\"\" Stein said. (There’s more on this in a PBS article related to the one Burgos sent.) HTTP? HTML? Both Berners-Lee. \"\"So, yes, Americans developed the Internet, but Berners-Lee made it user-friendly,\"\" Stein said. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech scholar Janet Abbate says in her 1999 book \"\"Inventing the Internet,\"\" published by MIT Press, that even in the expansion of Arpanet , Americans enlisted the help of computer experts from England and France. She also points to Berners-Lee’s contributions, saying, \"\"The history of the Internet is not … a story of a few heroic inventors; it is a tale of collaboration and conflict among a remarkable variety of players.\"\" The origins of e-mail, as you might expect, are entwined with the Internet. Electronic mail was part of the development of Arpanet in the early ‘70s, according to Stein, Abbate and others. American programmer Ray Tomlinson gets credit (and tongue-in-cheek blame) for the first working network mail program, picked up by users of Arpanet sites. Here's what Abbate told us when we asked her about Rubio's claim. \"\"I think it's an overstatement to call the Internet a purely American product. Certainly other countries were building their own computer networks (and inter-networks) in parallel with the U.S.; these other networks eventually became part of the Internet,\"\" Abbate said. \"\"Also, the Internet itself (as opposed to the earlier Apranet) was a collaborative effort with input from computer scientists in France and elsewhere, and I argue in my book that the diversity of input made the resulting system stronger. I do think the U.S. did a remarkably good job with the Internet design and expansion, maybe better than anyone else would or could have done. But if the resulting Internet hadn't suited other countries' needs, they were perfectly capable of creating their own networks (indeed, for a while there were a number of different competing network systems before TCP/IP eventually became the standard). \"\"And of course, the World Wide Web was invented at CERN, not in the US or by an American. So does that mean we in the U.S. are enjoying the benefits of the \"\"Swiss miracle\"\" every time we use the Web?\"\" GPS  The satellite technology that puts some of the smart in your smart phone and informs your car’s navigation system is a system of satellites funded by taxpayers and operated by the U.S. government. So calling the global positioning system an \"\"American miracle\"\" is no stretch. The technology was born at Aerospace Corp., a military research contractor in El Segundo, Calif. Its founding president was New York native Ivan Getting. That isn’t to say there aren’t foreign navigation satellites. The United States cooperates with Australia, China, the European Union, India, Japan and Russia on global navigation satellite systems, sometimes referred to as GNSS. But Rubio said GPS, and the history there is fairly clear -cut. The ruling  What to make of all of this? Rubio's basic point, that the technology behind mobile phones, e-mail, the Internet and GPS all have American roots, holds up. It’s true \"\"in a general sense,\"\" said Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who writes on our relationship with technology. Or, as the University of Memphis professor, Stein, put it: \"\"The statement is superficially correct, but there is (as usual) more to the story.\"\" Stein was most concerned about the non-American role in the development of the Internet, especially the substantial contribution of England's Berners-Lee. It’s also important to note in the context of Rubio’s \"\"only in America\"\" rhetoric that while the United States led, it wasn’t alone in its innovation. Other nations’ researchers contributed to the early Internet; commercial mobile phone networks were available overseas before they were in America; other nations operate satellite navigation systems. But in these areas and many others, Americans can claim primacy.\"",
            "output": [
                "Anywhere in the world, when someone uses a mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet or GPS, they are enjoying the benefits of the American miracle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-87b8cbd455ba41b9a7aaf37b32957b40",
            "input": "Its ACI-35 vaccine aims to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies which target the tau protein that forms twisted fibers and tangles inside the brain. Many scientists believe tau is an important cause of Alzheimer’s, alongside another protein known as amyloid, that has been the main focus of drug development efforts so far. Although there is still no treatment that can effectively modify the disease or slow its progression, a number of big pharma companies - including Roche, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson - are pursuing a variety of approaches to get to the root cause. AC Immune’s most advanced Alzheimer’s drug is the anti-Abeta antibody crenezumab which it licensed to Roche’s subsidiary Genentech in 2006. Results of a Phase II trial of crenezumab are expected in the first half of this year and will be crucial for the company’s next steps. “At the moment we are keeping all options open,” Chief Executive Andrea Pfeifer said in a telephone interview, adding that the company would consider an initial public offering in the United States as an option. Earlier on Thursday, AC Immune said it had completed a fourth round of financing, raising 20 million Swiss francs ($22 million) from existing investors. The funds will enable the company to start Phase I clinical trials with ACI-35 earlier than expected and Pfeifer said the company would be open for a partner to advance it into later-stage trials that are costlier and require more patients. AC Immune has a further vaccine ACI-24 in Phase I/IIa clinical trials to prevent and clear amyloid plaques, another hallmark of the fatal brain-wasting disease. Despite the company having a promising number of drugs in development for the disease, Pfeifer said it was difficult to predict when one could be on the market. “I would say however that in the next three to five years there should be a medication for Alzheimer’s out there and hopefully it could be one of ours,” she said. Over the past 15 years more than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in tests. Industry analysts believe that the prize for a truly effective drug could be a market worth $10 billion in annual sales. ($1 = 0.9090 Swiss francs)  (This version of the story corrects name of vaccine in para 9 to ACI-24 from ACI-35)",
            "output": [
                "Swiss biotech firm starts new Alzheimer vaccine trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23a7a6204835454180bf840aad9e96be",
            "input": "Corrupted data, client pressures, and looming deadlines work to combine into a lurking potential for disaster in direct mail campaigns. Sometimes that potential gets realized in hilarious fashion when one small thing, one very little thing, is inadvertently overlooked in the maelstrom inherent to getting a project of such nature underway. Such was the case in the following example:  The National Westminster Bank in England admitted last month that it keeps personal information about its customers — such as their political affiliation — on computer. But now Computer Weekly reveals that a financial institution, sadly unnamed, has gone one better and moved into the realm of personal abuse. The institution decided to mass-mail 2000 of its richest customers, inviting them to buy extra services. One of its computer programmers wrote a program to search through the databases and select its customers automatically. He tested the program with an imaginary customer called Rich Bastard. Unfortunately, an error resulted in all 2000 letters being addressed “Dear Rich Bastard”. The luckless programmer was subsequently fired. In the early 1990s, a small UK-based company that performed bureau work for direct marketing campaigns on behalf of third parties did indeed make the “Dear Rich Bastard” gaffe. That gaffe came about after the company had undertaken a project to assist one of the largest UK telecom companies in launching a new ‘gold’ calling card, a project that included drawing information from a database in order to address and personalize letters tendering the product to prospective customers. Some of the data the company had to work with was munged (i.e., badly or inconsistently formatted) beyond fixability, which meant that while most of those who received the offer would get letters properly saluting them as “Dear Dr. Smith” or “Dear Rev. Jones,” others would by nature of the poor quality of their name field data have to be addressed as “Dear Customer,” “Dear Reader,” or by whatever other generic salutation was eventually decided upon. And therein lay the trap. As potential wordings were bandied back and forth, the work on the actual data extraction program had to continue, and some placeholder phrase needed to be assigned for use with records containing munged name field data. A whimsical programmer hit upon his own temporary salutation for such records: “Dear Rich Bastard.”  Such a greeting should have been wholly replaced as soon as word came down about what the official salutation was to be (e.g., “Dear Future Customer”), yet that step was overlooked because the work on the coding project was stopped and restarted a number of times, and during the interim a different programmer — one who did not know about the “Dear Rich Bastard” placeholder — took over the task. When the project finally came to fruition, the “Dear Rich Bastard” placeholder was still in place. Hundreds of thousands of letters were produced and mailed without anyone’s being the wiser as to what those potential customers whose name field data had proved irreparable would receive. Only a very small number of “Dear Rich Bastard” missives actually went out, rather than the 2,000 commonly stated in tellings of this event. (There weren’t that many munged entries in the database, after all.) However, visits to all of the affected companies had to be made and appropriate apologies tendered in person. (At one office so mea culpa’d, an enlargement of the “Dear Rich Bastard” letter was spotted framed and mounted on the wall.) Contrary to the myth that surrounds this story, the programmer responsible for the embarrassing salutation that inadvertently escaped into the wild was not fired. An interesting element not generally related as part of this story just goes to prove you can never please everyone: The little UK firm responsible for the gaffe received a complaint from a potential customer who felt himself qualified to be a rich bastard yet had not received the letter he deemed appropriate to his station in life. Mess-ups have found their way into other mass mailings. A similar situation occurred when U.S. vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s computer sent out letters thanking supporters for their help in her 1984 campaign. Supporters with the title “Mrs.” found themselves addressed as “Rabbi”, while all those with the title “Mr.” were promoted to “Colonel”. Someone performing data entry had mistyped the numeric code for certain fields, requiring 5,000 letters of apology to be sent out to correct the gaffe. In another related tale, also true, a Wells Fargo EquityLine statement of 2 February 1988 carried the following message at the bottom:  You owe your soul to the company store. Why not owe your home to Wells Fargo? An equity advantage loan can help you spend what would have been your children’s inheritance. Nine days later, Wells Fargo sent out the following apology letter:  I wish to extend my personal apology for a message printed on your EquityLine statement dated February 2, 1988. This message was not a legitimate one. It was developed as part of a test program by a staff member, whose sense of humor was somewhat misplaced, and it was inadvertently inserted in that day’s statement mailing. The message in no way conveys the opinion of Wells Fargo Bank or its employees. James G. Jones, Executive Vice President, South Bay Service Center",
            "output": [
                "\"A test message slipped into a live mailing, resulting in prospective customers receiving letters that greeted them with the salutation \"\"Dear Rich Bastard.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-189b511edc4b448897ca02de2e1a20bc",
            "input": "\"Most nonbinding resolutions that come before the Georgia House of Representatives garner little debate, but one involving child labor laws got a little testy. Some House members were angry about a U.S. Department of Labor proposal they say would make it tougher for children to work on the family farm. Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry. So Georgia lawmakers wrote House Resolution 1561, which said the federal agency \"\"seeks to impose harsh, extreme, and uncalled for regulations attempting to ban students from working on farms.\"\" Not so, said Rep. Rashad Taylor, an Atlanta Democrat who opposed the resolution. Taylor said he’s worried about the safety of children working on some farms. He offered several amendments to the resolution, claiming portions of it were incorrect. Taylor’s argument included a claim that some lawmakers quickly disputed. \"\"More children die in agricultural jobs than in any other industry,\"\" he said. One lawmaker suggested more children die playing football than from agricultural work. Another suggested the numbers may be higher because more children work in agriculture than other industries. Rep. Penny Houston, a Republican from South Georgia, asked Taylor several pointed questions that suggested she didn’t think the lawmaker from the big city understood the issue. Her questions included a query wondering if Taylor had ever picked peas. We dug deep on Taylor’s claim. Currently, minors may be employed by their parents at any time in any occupation on a farm owned or operated by his or her parents. Unfortunately, there’s not much research on child labor deaths. The most recent data came to us from a department within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They put together a spreadsheet using Bureau of Labor Statistics data to determine the number of children 18 and under who died on the job between 2003 and 2010. During that time, there were 311 deaths nationwide. Nearly half of those deaths, 151, were in the agriculture industry, the data showed. A CDC spokeswoman told PolitiFact Georgia that 73 percent of all work-related deaths for children 15 and under were in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. They did not have a more specific breakdown for all industries. A 2006 study by two CDC researchers reached similar conclusions. The study was based on two sets of data from 1992 to 2002. In that report, they noted research that found an astounding 79 percent of all work-related deaths for youths 10 years of age and younger occurred in agriculture production. \"\"As a proportion of all young workers, young workers in agriculture production incur a disproportionate share of fatalities,\"\" the 2006 report says. The National Consumers League puts out an annual list of the most dangerous occupations for teenagers. In 2011, the most dangerous industry for young people 18 and younger was agriculture, with a death rate of 21.3 per 100,000 full-time employees, according to the report. Another report we saw, using BLS data, showed between 1992 and 1998 that nearly 43 percent of work-related fatalities for children 18 and younger were due to agricultural work. The second-highest percentage of fatalities was in retail trade. So why are a high proportion of children losing their lives in agriculture industries? One report found the most common cause of death of youths in agriculture is from farm machinery, such as a harvester or tractor. Between 1992 and 1997, 51 deaths of youths in agriculture nationwide could be specifically attributed to overturned tractors. Other research shows a high number of falls from moving vehicles or mobile equipment and being struck by the same. There are few reports on this subject, and there are very few deaths to study. But everything we’ve seen shows a high percentage of work-related deaths among children occur in agriculture. The most recent data shows it is nearly 50 percent. The numbers seem to back up Taylor’s claim. For the record, Taylor’s efforts to amend the resolution failed. The resolution passed. Maybe PolitiFact’s ruling will give Taylor some solace. Maybe not. Update The following section was inadvertently edited out of the print version of Tuesday’s PolitiFact Georgia regarding a statement by state Rep. Stacey Abrams on Georgia’s per-capita spending: (This item will not evaluate Abrams’ moose claim, though we warn her that she may receive calls from irate fans of South Dakota elk. Elk are common there. Their moose cousins tend to live farther north.)\"",
            "output": [
                "More children die in agricultural jobs than in any other industry."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa309502f2364911918e2d81a466ba96",
            "input": "The Roanoke Times reports that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services is adding 56 beds at Catawba Hospital near Roanoke to comply with a state law requiring that no one in need be turned away. The state said the expansion will require hiring 94 employees. Virginia has made increased funding for mental health treatment since the suicide of Sen. Creigh Deeds’ son in 2013 exposed gaps in the state’s mental health system.",
            "output": [
                "Psychiatric hospital to add 56 new spots."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ceced0bcd32c45c9989f7d648bae4d4b",
            "input": "“It’s promoting autonomy and self-empowerment to prioritize reclaiming lost wisdom,” she said. Carr, who is a founding member of The Women’s Action Team, wants to bring back home medicine traditions. She wants people to reclaim that lost knowledge so they can advocate for themselves and their family’s health. That’s why she opened up Old Ways Herbal School. During warm weather months, the school offers several classes and training programs. This year, Carr announced a medicinal gardening class so students could learn to grow their own herbs. Herbal medicine isn’t about making “major changes” to the body, “it’s not heroic medicine,” she said. It’s more about promoting general health and well being. “We’re literally talking about tea,” she said. Carr, who is a firm believer in modern medicine and a registered nurse, doesn’t think herbs can solve all health problems. But she can solve a simple headache. She also makes honey and tinctures that help people focus, or relax, or deal with depression or anxiety. “It works well with modern medicine,” she said. The act of infusing honey or making a cup of tea, she said, is a loving one. “You think of your mom or your grandma making you a cup of tea,” she said. Herbalism wasn’t a skill that belonged to just women, Carr said, but women were seen as the caregivers and herbalism lent itself to that. “I don’t mean that to say that women should stay home,” Carr said. “It’s the traditional role of women in the community and women in families. It’s health promotion, healing and the act of making tea.” Lately, though, she said people have become completely reliant on pharmacies and doctors. At one point, she said, “promoting health was part of our birthright.” The traditions of family-based healing or what Carr calls “rational medicines were taken from our cultural consciousness.” And those who offered home-remedies — your aunt, your mother, your grandmother — lost their power. Carr aims to give her students independence. She wants them to go to the doctor and have the confidence to ask for second opinions or to know for themselves when something’s wrong. “For women, we’re taught to be agreeable, to take ‘no’ for an answer,” she said. For her, herbalism is a way to give back to marginalized communities. Modern medicine, for instance, has a history of experimenting on people of color. The story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cancer cells were used and experimented on without her permission, or the Guatemalan syphilis experiments, where the U.S. infected Guatemalans with syphilis without their consent, serve as of examples of this. Herbalism, Carr said, is a way for people to take back their health. That’s something she talks a lot about with students in her classes. She also works to make her classes accessible to everyone by using a sliding payment scale, instituting a work-trade program, and often using barter to pay for students’ classes. Though, she added, the ability to take time out of your day to do a course implies a certain level of privilege that not everyone has. The addition of the gardening class only helps Carr’s mission to teach independence. It gives people the tools to set up their own ecosystem within their gardens, she said. She’ll be teaching students how medical plants can be used as companion plants in gardens to keep away predators. She’ll be teaching, “how to grow these fussy plants,” she said. Herbs, she said, can be hard to grow and temperamental. She’ll also be teaching the correct way to harvest, soil rotation, and microclimates. There won’t be any actual making of medicine, but Carr encourages her students to make medicine at home. “Herbs are pretty safe,” she said. ___ Online: https://bit.ly/2GJhVFu ___ Information from: Brattleboro Reformer, http://www.reformer.com/",
            "output": [
                "School offers medicinal gardening class."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-337999565725429586a73d6a1dd709ca",
            "input": "\"On September 21 2020, several prominent tweets suggested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added, then removed guidance indicating that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) was airborne — meaning it could potentially be spread through aerosolized droplets in confined spaces:BREAKING: The CDC now pulls down language saying COVID aerisolizes.It’s reasonable to wonder who is calling the shots at the CDC and what the scientists actually think.— Andy Slavitt @ 🏡 (@ASlavitt) September 21, 2020🚨HOLY HELL—CDC has now taken down the “coronavirus is aerosol & airborne” guidance from yesterday!!!! It’s like gone!! Instead it puts up some ‘a draft version was put up in error’ bullshit language. Ummm, HHS censorship??? #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/jps57DZ43R— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) September 21, 2020One tweet highlighted the changes:BREAKINGCDC changes COVID-19 guidance, airborne is primary way the virus spreads, touching surfaces is NOT the main way. #Ventilation is important, as it goes beyond 6 ft and remains suspended in the air.H/T @jljcolorado & @jmcrookston pic.twitter.com/8EZ86q3V6i— David Elfstrom (@DavidElfstrom) September 20, 2020Those tweets often followed tweets referencing and sharing the removed content from the CDC’s website:Huge—CDC now finally says coronavirus can commonly spread \"\"through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as in aerosols,\"\" when a person breathes. \"\"Airborne viruses, including #COVID19, are among the most contagious”➡️Airborne aerosols. #MaskUp 🧵https://t.co/ik2LrH4Iqk— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) September 21, 2020Initial News About the CDC’s ‘Airborne Spread’ ChangesIn the above tweet, published at 7:39 AM on September 21 2020, epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding shared a CNN link to a September 20 2020 article (“Updated CDC guidance acknowledges coronavirus can spread through the air”), which began:The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance on its website to say coronavirus can commonly spread “through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols,” which are produced even when a person breathes.“Airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread,” the site now says.Previously, the CDC page said that Covid-19 was thought to spread mainly between people in close contact — about 6 feet — and “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.”The page, updated [September 18 2020], still says Covid-19 most commonly spreads between people who are in close contact with one another, and now says the virus is known to spread “through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes.”A separate September 21 2020 article also published on CNN.com (“As doctors worry about ‘a very apocalyptic fall,’ the CDC retracts info on how Covid-19 spreads”) addressed the removal of guidance about airborne transmission of COVID-19 from the CDC’s website:Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said she agrees this fall “could be apocalyptic” after recent spikes. […][Marrazzo] cited a recent [September 18 2020] update from the CDC that said you can get Covid-19 just by inhaling tiny particles from an infected person’s breath that linger or travel in the air.“There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet,” the CDC’s website said in an update [added September 18 2020]. “In general, indoor environments without good ventilation increase this risk.”Many doctors have known that for months — hence their pleas for the public to wear masks.“The updated guidance would have been fine if it came out last May [2020],” Hotez said. “We knew all of these things months ago.”But by Monday afternoon [September 21 2020], the CDC’s update was removed.“The fact that they retracted this, even though this is common scientific knowledge at this point, one has to wonder what’s behind it,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and an emergency physician at George Washington University.As for the retraction, a copy of a page titled “How COVID-19 Spreads” was updated September 18 2020, and archived just before 10 AM on September 21 2020. The archived version of the page read:COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly through close contact from person to person, including between people who are physically near each other (within about 6 feet). People who are infected but do not show symptoms can spread the virus to others. We are still learning about how the virus spreads and the severity of illness it causes.COVID-19 most commonly spreadsAs of 5:49 PM on September 21 2020, the same page at the same link did not include the content about airborne transmission:COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly through close contact from person-to-person. Some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus. We are still learning about how the virus spreads and the severity of illness it causes.Person-to-person spread The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.A note at the top of the edited page addressed the changes:A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website. CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted.CDC Officials Explain the Revision and Re-RevisionAccording to the second CNN article, two people with knowledge of the changes (one named, one not) spoke to the network:The removal was not the result of political pressure, according to a federal official familiar with the situation.“This was totally the CDC’s doing,” the official said. “It was posted by mistake. It wasn’t ready to be posted.”The official said the guideline change was published without first being thoroughly reviewed by CDC experts.“Somebody hit the button and shouldn’t have,” the official said.The official added that the guidance is “getting revised,” but didn’t say when the revision would be posted to the CDC’s website … When asked why the CDC retracted its update on aerosolized spread, a spokesman for the agency said it was posted in error.“A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said in an email to CNN.“CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted.”A CNBC article published just after noon on September 21 2020 reported that the World Health Organization had contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the changes:The WHO had not seen any “new evidence” on airborne particles and was checking with the CDC to “better understand” the exact nature of the change, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said during a news conference at the agency’s Geneva headquarters.The WHO has said Covid-19 primarily spreads through respiratory droplets that pass when an infected person coughs, sneezes or breathes. Studies have shown that the coronavirus could spread through aerosols in the air, and the WHO has said it is monitoring “emerging evidence” of possible airborne transmission.The international agency’s position “on this remains the same,” Ryan said, “and we’ve always said going back over months and months about the potential for different kinds of roots of transmission and particularly driven by the context, the proximity, the intensity, the duration and the potential for different forms of transmission.”In the same article, CNBC referenced research supporting the airborne spread of coronavirus:Studies have suggested the virus can spread through the air. A study published by researchers at the National Institutes of Health earlier [in 2020] found that particles of the coronavirus released by talking can remain in the air for eight to 14 minutes.A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Covid-19 was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours.In July [2020], the WHO said there is still no “definitive” evidence that indicates the virus is spreading widely by air, although it added that the possibility of airborne transmission in public settings “cannot be ruled out.”A September 21 2020 Washington Post article quoted CDC deputy director for infectious disease Jay Butler, who said the CDC could not explain how the “airborne” guidance was initially published:But Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious disease, said the Friday update was posted in error. “Unfortunately an early draft of a revision went up without any technical review,” he said.The edited Web page has removed all references to airborne spread, except for a disclaimer that recommendations based on this mode of transmission are under review. “We are returning to the earlier version and revisiting that process,” Butler said. “It was a failure of process at CDC.”SummaryOn September 18 2020, a CDC page called “How COVID-19 Spreads” was updated to include prominent initial language about airborne coronavirus transmission. The changes attracted widespread attention on September 20 2020, and the updates were taken out of the CDC page the next day. Officials later said that “an early draft of a revision went up without any technical review,” because of “a failure of process at [the] CDC,” and that edits to the page were pending.Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In September 2020, the CDC added and then removed \"\"airborne transmission\"\" as a way in which COVID-19 is likely to spread.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b97f18893c3745dbb2400634bdb15300",
            "input": "The findings by scientists from Britain and Finland could have important implications for public health at a time when populations in many countries are rapidly aging and dementia numbers are expected to rise sharply. The researchers found that people who go on to university or college after leaving school appear to be less affected by the brain changes, or pathology, associated with dementia than those who stop education earlier. “More education is not associated with any differences in the damage to the brain, but people with higher education can cope with that damage better,” Hanna Keage from Cambridge University, who worked on the study with an Anglo-Finnish team, said in a telephone interview. Over the past decade, studies on dementia have shown that the more time you spend in education, the lower your risk of dementia — but until now scientists had not known whether this was because education somehow protected the brain against damage, or because it made people better able to cope. In this study, published in the journal Brain, post-mortem examinations showed that the pathology, or changes, in the brain, were similar in those who were educated for longer and those who were not, but the disease’s affects on more educated people was mitigated by their greater ability to cope. Keage said this may be due to psychological strength, which might allow those with more education to think around problems presented by their disease or find ways to overcome them. It also found that for every extra year of education there was an 11 percent decrease in the risk of developing dementia. Around 35 million people around the world have dementia. Its most common form is Alzheimer’s disease, in which patients gradually lose their memory, their ability to understand the world and to look after themselves. Despite decades of research, doctors still have few effective weapons against it. Developing ways of preventing dementia is becoming more and more important for governments worldwide as the number of dementia cases globally is expected to almost double every 20 years to 66 million in 2030 and over 115 million in 2050, and the cost of coping with the disease in aging populations is forecast to rise dramatically in the coming decades. Keage’s team said that in the United States for example, if the onset of dementia could be delayed by two years in those aged over 50, there would be nearly two million fewer cases of dementia over the next 40 years — a reduction that would also dramatically cut the projected economic costs of the disease. The scientists examined the brains of 872 people who were involved in three large European studies of aging and who, before their deaths, had completed questionnaires about their education, when they left school and if they went to university. “Our study shows education in early life appears to enable some people to cope with a lot of changes in their brain before showing dementia symptoms,” Keage said.",
            "output": [
                "Educated people cope better with dementia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2576c2a174e344c2a1250ec8593757ee",
            "input": "“We’re just sicker,” said Rebekah Gee, who until January was the health secretary for Louisiana and now heads Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division. “We already had tremendous healthcare disparities before this pandemic – one can only imagine they are being amplified now.”  Along with New York and Seattle, New Orleans has emerged as one of the early U.S. hot spots for the coronavirus, making it a national test case for how to control and treat the disease it causes. Chief among the concerns raised by doctors working in the Louisiana city is the death rate, which is twice that of New York and over four times that of Seattle, based on Thursday’s publicly reported data. New Orleans residents suffer from obesity, diabetes and hypertension at rates higher than the national average, conditions that doctors and public health officials say can make patients more vulnerable to COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. Some 97% of those killed by COVID-19 in Louisiana had a pre-existing condition, according to the state health department. Diabetes was seen in 40% of the deaths, obesity in 25%, chronic kidney disease in 23% and cardiac problems in 21%. Orleans Parish, which encompasses the city, reported 125 confirmed coronavirus deaths as of Thursday, the equivalent of 32 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 people. That rate for New York City was at 15.9 on Thursday. New Orleans could be a harbinger for the potential toll the pandemic could take in other parts of the South and Midwest that also have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. A host of other factors could contribute to New Orleans’ high death rate from COVID-19, ranging from access to healthcare and hospital quality, to the prevalence of other conditions, including lung disease, health officials say. But they also note that it is clear that obesity-related conditions are playing a role in the deaths. That could be a warning sign for the United States at large, where chronic obesity is more common than in other developed countries, they said. Hospitals are reporting cases across the generations -mothers and daughters, fathers and sons - being intubated and cared for in the same intensive care units, said Tracey Moffatt, the chief nursing officer at Ochsner Health, the largest healthcare provider in Louisiana. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in New Orleans and Louisiana plays into that, she said. Those family members often suffered from the same medical conditions before becoming sick, leaving them similarly vulnerable to the coronavirus despite their age gaps. “We had a case where a mom was already in the ICU and the daughter, who was obese, came in,” she said. “The daughter asked staff to wheel her by her mom’s room so she could say goodbye before she herself was intubated. We knew the mother was going to pass away.”  Both patients suffered from obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week released for the first time a report showing that 78% of COVID-19 patients in ICUs in the United States had an underlying health condition, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic lung disease. The CDC report was based on a sample of under 6% of reported coronavirus infections, but doctors in Louisiana said it was consistent with what they are seeing, and it is in line with what other countries like Italy and China have faced. Those percentages, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, an emergency department doctor and the top public health official in New Orleans, are likely similar in cities across the United States. “What we worry about here is that we have more people in our communities with those conditions,” he said. “We’re more vulnerable than other communities, and the number of deaths we’ve seen illustrates that.”   The New Orleans metropolitan statistical area ranks among the worst in the United States for the percentage of residents with diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, a Reuters analysis of CDC data shows. An estimated 39% have high blood pressure, 36% are obese and about 15% have diabetes. Nationally, the median is 32% with high blood pressure, 31% obese and 11% with diabetes. “The burden of disease in Louisiana and the Deep South is higher than in the rest of the country,” said Gee. “Invariably that means that the South is going to be hard hit by this.”",
            "output": [
                "Why is New Orleans' coronavirus death rate twice New York's? Obesity is a factor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d4992c086e847888fe23e142402f51c",
            "input": "Feinberg has been instructed to meet with lawyers for Bayer and plaintiffs within the next 14 days, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said during a court hearing on Wednesday. Chhabria, who oversees some 900 federal Roundup lawsuits, on April 11 ordered the parties to start confidential mediation. He appointed Feinberg after the parties failed to agree on a mediator. Feinberg is well known for having facilitated dispute resolutions in high-stakes litigations in the past. He led mediation talks over the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal and General Motors ignition switch litigation. Chhabria on Wednesday also scheduled the next federal Roundup trial for February 2020. The case would mark the second bellwether, or test trial, to help determine the range of damages and define settlement options for federal cases. The judge also wants to prepare some 20 cases currently pending before him for trial and send them to other courts across the country. More than 13,400 plaintiffs nationwide allege Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that the company failed to warn about that risk. The majority of lawsuits are pending in state courts across the country. Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in a $63 billion deal last year, denies the allegations, saying studies and regulators have deemed glyphosate and Roundup safe for human use. The company in the past said it would comply with Chhabria’s mediation order in good faith, while believing strongly in the “extensive body of reliable science supporting the safety of Roundup.”  Bayer has also said it would defend itself in all cases and await the appeals process underway for the three cases that have gone to trial and resulted in jury verdicts against it. A California jury on May 13 awarded $2 billion to a couple alleging Roundup caused their cancer. In March, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded $80 million to a California man after finding Roundup caused his cancer. That decision came after another California jury in August 2018 awarded $289 million to a groundskeeper in the first U.S. Roundup trial. That award was later reduced to $78 million.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. judge appoints Ken Feinberg mediator for Bayer Roundup settlement talks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a47da79085b64204824a7d709c8925dc",
            "input": "The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office says jail and public health officials were notified Friday that an inmate had tested positive for the contagious liver infection and was separated from the rest of the jail population. No other inmates or jail staff have shown symptoms of hepatitis A. However, the sheriff’s office says anyone released from the jail on or after Aug. 20 may be at risk for developing the disease. As of Sept. 11, 163 cases have been reported in the state this year, with most of the infected people needing hospitalization. Health officials Thursday announced the first death related to the outbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Boulder County Jail inmate tests positive for hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bbb0472d3c2e4241bf6dd9444ad3560f",
            "input": "\"The article reports that Avastin costs up to $55,000 per year. The reporter does a decent job of describing the results, reporting that 12 percent of Avastin patients in the study developed blood clots, a \"\"30\"\" percent higher risk than those who did not take Avastin. This formulation, which appears in the abstract of the study, provides both absolute and relative risks. But ideally the report would have provided a more apples-to-apples comparison of absolute risk, stating that 12 percent of Avastin patients developed blood clots, compared to 8 percent of controls. The story earns an unsatisfactory rating, though, because it reports the findings incorrectly. The study shows the risk linked to Avastin to be 33 percent greater, not 30 percent. Further, the story fails to indicate the differences in risk for different types of cancers, which vary considerably. This is a significant omission. The story exaggerates the risks associated with the use of Avastin. The opening lines note the seriousness of the clots. The study notes a 12% incidence of venous clots in patients treated with Avastin–yet fails to note that only about half required treatment. This leaves the reader with an incorrect belief about the true risk. By overstating the risks of serious blood clot, the story could leave patients who may benefit from treatment with an inaccurate impression of risk vs. benefit. The article is based on an analysis of previous research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study author is quoted saying the results are more powerful than individual studies because it takes into account the results of 15 high-quality papers involving almost 8,000 patients. The story might have added that results of meta-analyses are often criticized, and rarely considered definitive, because they combine data from studies that used different methologies. This failure is significant in that it may add an undue degree of importance to the analysis. The article doesn’t exaggerate the severity or prevalence of the cancers Avastin treats. The story cites the study itself, the lead author, a company spokesperson, and one independent clinician. This is adequate sourcing for a story of this length. The story mentions, at least briefly, that Avastin treats cancer via a different mechanism from traditional chemotherapies. But the story falls short of a satisfactory rating by mentioning, only at the end and very briefly, that most Avastin patients also use conventional chemotherapy–and are therefore exposed to all of those side effects as well. This raises, but doesn’t answer, the fundamental question of the overall benefit and overall risk of adding Avastin to treatment. A reader exits the story with an unsettling piece of information that should have been put in context earlier. The article makes clear that Avastin is widely available to and used by cancer patients. The story explained the relative new-ness of the drug. With several sources used, it’s a safe bet this story didn’t rely largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "FDA ‘black box’ warning advised for cancer drug Avastin"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8ff06dbfba747558c4991073e5569be",
            "input": "The blast went off Sunday night on the busy Corniche boulevard along the Nile River, setting other cars on fire and injuring at least 47. It damaged Egypt’s main cancer hospital nearby, shattering parts of the facade and some rooms inside, forcing the evacuation of dozens of patients. Authorities had initially said the explosion was caused by a multi-vehicle accident. But later Monday, the Interior Ministry acknowledged that a car bomb was involved. It accused a militant group known as Hasm, which has links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, saying it was moving the car to carry out an attack elsewhere. The ministry did not say what the intended target was. The car had been stolen months earlier in the Nile Delta, it said. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called it a “terrorist incident” in a tweet, expressing condolences for the dead and vowed to “face and root out terrorism.” The attack is the deadliest in Cairo since a bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 30 people during Sunday Mass in December 2016. That attack was claimed by Egypt’s affiliate of the Islamic State group. Smaller bombings, usually by roadside devices, have taken place more often, targeting security forces and in two cases tourists near the Pyramids. Car bombs, however, have been far rarer in the capital. For years, Egypt has battled Islamic militants, led by an IS affiliate, in the Sinai Peninsula. That insurgency has at times spilled over into other parts of the country. Militant attacks increased after el-Sissi, as defence minister, led the military’s 2013 ouster of then-President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, after massive protests against his rule. Since then, the government has waged a major crackdown on the Brotherhood, banning it and declaring it a terrorist organization. Morsi collapsed and died in a Cairo courtroom in June. Sunday’s blast damaged the cancer hospital’s main gate and several patient rooms and wards, according to a statement from the Cairo University, whose medical school uses the institution as an educational facility. Windows and glass doors on the hospital building were shattered. “Parts of the ceiling of the hospital were collapsing as I got out of my room,” said one patient, Mahmoud el-Sayed. “People were running everywhere and shouting.” At least 78 patients were evacuated to other hospitals. The Health Ministry did not say whether any patients or hospital staff were among the casualties. Multiple vehicles on the street were damaged, burning those inside, said another witness, Mohamed Ashraf. “People were struggling to get the passengers out,” he said. In its initial account of the explosion, the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said a vehicle was driving against traffic on the boulevard and collided with up to three other cars, causing an explosion. It didn’t elaborate when it later announced the car bomb, and it was not clear which vehicle in that scenario was the vehicle with explosives. The police quickly cordoned off the area of the crash, as prosecutors began an investigation. Unidentified body parts were being collected in a body bag from the site, Health Minister Hala Zayed said in TV comments. The hospital is close to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which became known internationally as the scene of mass protests in the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. After the blast, some patients with appointments Monday were left stranded, waiting outside the hospital with their relatives. Ahmed Ramadan, a farmer, had brought his daughter from their home 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of Cairo for chemotherapy. “We do not know where to go,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Car bomb collides with vehicles in Egypt capital, killing 20."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9332d30ee6242d3a71d567d8314f1f9",
            "input": "The United Nations health agency called for tighter controls on such marketing, saying tougher regulations were crucial to winning the fight against childhood obesity. “Children are surrounded by adverts urging them to consume high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods, even when they are in places where they should be protected, such as schools and sports facilities,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, director of the WHO’s regional unit for Europe. The promotion of foods high in saturated and trans-fats, sugars and salt has for years been recognized as a significant risk factor for obesity in children and for diet-related chronic diseases such as heart disease and some cancers later in life. In a report on food marketing, WHO Europe said the food industry increasingly uses cheap new marketing channels such as social media and smart phone apps to target children. Television remains the dominant form of advertising and a large majority of children and adolescents watch TV on average for more than two hours a day, it said. “Overweight is one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century: all countries are affected to varying extents, particularly in the lower socioeconomic groups,” Jakab said in a foreword to the report. And the picture is not improving, she added. Data from the WHO’s Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative show that, on average, one child in every three aged 6 to 9 years is overweight or obese. Jakab also said recent data suggest children become obese not just because they watch TV instead of being active but also because of exposure to advertising and other marketing tactics. Leading categories of advertised foods are soft drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals, biscuits, sweets, snacks, ready meals and fast food outlets, the WHO report said. “Unfortunately, marketing unhealthy food to children has been proven to be disastrously effective,” the report said. “Whereas adults are aware when they are being targeted ... children are unable to distinguish, for example, between adverts and cartoons. This makes them particularly receptive and vulnerable to messages that lead to unhealthy choices.”  WHO Europe said that, while all 53 member states of its European region have signed up to restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, most rely on general advertising regulations that do not specifically address the promotion of high-fat, -salt or -sugar products. More comprehensive approaches - via either legislation, self-regulation or co-regulation - have only been adopted in Denmark, France, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, it said.",
            "output": [
                "WHO urges tougher food marketing rules to curb childhood obesity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a6036f555a64d9587524ee7b6af2b62",
            "input": "Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s rival migraine headache preventer is excluded on one list and patients can pay more for it in some cases on a second list, the note said. As with rival PBMs Express Scripts and CVS Health Corp, OptumRx’s lists of covered drugs, or formularies, cover tens of millions of consumers who receive their healthcare from employers and health insurers. About 39 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches, according to the Migraine Research Foundation, and global migraine drug sales could reach $8.7 billion by 2026, according to analytics firm GlobalData. OptumRx’s decision secures easier access to customers for Lilly’s Emgality at all three of the biggest PBMs - including CVS and Express Scripts - and gives Amgen’s Aimovig a leg up after CVS decided not to include it on its preferred drug list. Teva’s Ajovy only has preferred status at CVS, while Amgen also has it at Express Scripts, part of Cigna Corp.  “We are pleased that all three companies have chosen Emgality to be one of the preferred medications, making it accessible to even more patients suffering from migraine,” Lilly said in an emailed statement. Inclusion on a preferred drugs list by the largest PBMs and health insurers is critically important for sales of new medicines. Increasingly, PBMs are choosing a subset of treatments for their coverage list when there are multiple treatments that are considered equivalent. The three treatments, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, belong to a class of drugs called CGRP inhibitors that have proven effective in helping to prevent migraines. A Teva spokeswoman said the company is committed to increasing access to Ajovy regardless of formulary decisions and is still offering discounts that allow patients to pay nothing in some cases, regardless of insurance. “Since Ajovy injection launched in September, we have experienced strong demand and steady growth, and we continue discussions with payers,” the spokeswoman said. An Amgen spokeswoman said that the company was pleased with the decision and is committed to ensuring affordable access to its drug. Amgen, which shares Aimovig U.S. revenue with Novartis AG, earlier this week reported fourth-quarter sales of $95 million, nearly doubling Wall Street estimates. The OptumRx decision becomes effective Feb. 1. The OptumRx select formulary relegates Teva’s drug to a lower access level that would typically require a higher out-of-pocket cost, it said. PBMs typically extract discounts from drugmakers in return for favorable placement on their preferred list of covered drugs, such as through a low co-payment, or coinsurance payment, for their members. All three migraine drugs have a list price of $575 a month, or $6,900 a year. Those prices do not reflect the rebates and discounts to PBMs, who design and negotiate benefits for employers and insurers. All three drugmakers are providing a limited duration supply of the new drugs at no cost directly to patients in addition to other assistance programs. Amgen’s Aimovig was first-to-market from the new class. But the rivals from Teva and Lilly followed soon after. The three large PBMs together cover the majority of the more than 150 million Americans who receive benefits through their employers. Their clients, including insurers and corporations, may choose not to follow a PBM’s recommendations on coverage, but that typically would cost more. Amgen shares were off 28 cents at $186.63, Lilly was up nearly 1 percent at $120.90 and Teva shares traded in New York  were down nearly 1 percent at $19.69.",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: Top U.S. insurer to cover Amgen, Eli Lilly migraine drugs, exclude Teva."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79cae0c347ec443c93010d7a87204889",
            "input": "\"During a press conference on April 30, 2013, President Barack Obama addressed a number of high-profile issues, including the fighting in Syria, the Boston Marathon attack, immigration legislation and the across-the-board cuts to federal spending known as the sequester. On the sequester, Obama expressed his ambivalence about signing a bill that passed Congress a few days earlier. The bill, which would ease the sequester’s hit on the Federal Aviation Administration, moved quickly through the House and Senate amid public frustration. The flight delays stemmed from cuts to air traffic control staffing; the bill shifted $253 million from an airport improvement fund to the air traffic control system. Obama said the pressure on air travelers left him with little choice but to sign the bill, but he also decried the piecemeal approach to solving the nation’s budget and infrastructure challenges. If lawmakers were \"\"seriously concerned about passenger convenience and safety,\"\" Obama said, \"\"then they shouldn't just be thinking about tomorrow or next week or the week after that. They should be thinking about what's going to be happening five years from now, 10 years from now or 15 years from now. … How are we making sure that we're investing in things like rebuilding our airports and our roads and our bridges, and investing in early childhood education?\"\" Obama added: \"\"There was a recent survey of the top airports … in the world, and there was not a single U.S. airport that came in the top 25. Not one U.S. airport was considered by the experts and consumers who use these airports to be in the top 25 in the world. I think Cincinnati airport came in around 30th. What does that say about our long-term competitiveness and future?\"\" We wondered whether this survey really showed U.S. airports to be such a dismal lot. As it turns out, Obama got the numbers right. He was referring to the World Airport Awards, an independent, annual survey of 12 million travelers that ranks nearly 400 airports. The survey has been conducted by a British-based firm called Skytrax since 1999. The top-ranked U.S. airport in the group’s 2013 survey was indeed Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in the 30th spot. The airports ranking higher than that include a dozen in Asia (including the top two, Singapore Changi Airport and Incheon International Airport), seven in Europe, three in Africa, two in Australia, and just one in North America (Vancouver International Airport, at No. 8). In all, 17 U.S. airports cracked the top 100, with Denver 36th, San Francisco 40th, Atlanta 48th and none of the rest ending up higher than 50th. The 2013 results were not a fluke: We checked the 2012 and 2011 surveys as well and found that the top U.S. airport in both years was also Cincinnati, ranking 24th. We checked with Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International, a trade group for airports, to see what she thought of the rankings. She began by expressing skepticism about the survey’s rigor. (The firm says it surveys passengers online and by phone and uses systems to detect fraudulent submissions.) She added that the U.S. faces some stiff challenges competing in a global comparison of this sort. \"\"Major international hubs in the U.S. are sometimes hampered by long immigration and security queues, which would hurt their rankings in comparison to an airport with primarily domestic service, such as Cincinnati,\"\" Gittens said. Cincinnati, which outperformed no fewer than 50 U.S. airports that have larger traffic, is hardly an international hub on the scale of New York’s JFK, Los Angeles or Miami. Peter Miller, a spokesman for Skytrax, agreed. He said the U.S. may be suffering in the survey because of the importance of security processing and immigration to many passengers -- \"\"not just actual waiting times, but also traveler treatment in these areas.\"\" Gittens added that U.S. airports have a hard time competing with newer airports in Asia. In many countries, she said, \"\"the national governments see their airports as key assets for their economic vitality and strive to make the visitors’ journey through the airport as smooth as possible.\"\" So the rankings Obama cited should be taken with a grain of salt. More important, the rankings don’t entirely support the president’s argument that the federal government needs to spend more money \"\"rebuilding our airports\"\" and providing for \"\"passenger convenience and safety.\"\" Of the 39 factors that went into the survey’s rankings, we count only 13 that address airport capital improvements -- projects like terminal and waiting-area design, signage, public transit access, ease of navigation, and baggage-handling systems. Another five factors in the survey involve security. This leaves a slight majority of factors that concern amenities and hospitality -- factors such as choice of bars, shopping options, restaurant prices, entertainment facilities, washroom cleanliness, availability of luggage trolleys, and \"\"friendliness of airport staff.\"\" \"\"The survey covers a wide cross-section of amenities and facilities at every airport, but it is true to say that one of the most prominent sections is the focus on service, staff, convenience, and waiting times,\"\" said Peter Miller, a spokesman for Skytrax. \"\"These are the issues that are of prime importance to travelers, and which cause the biggest distinction between airports worldwide.\"\" Our ruling Obama said the United States needs to invest more in its airports over the long term in part because \"\"there was a recent survey of the top airports … in the world, and there was not a single U.S. airport that came in the top 25.\"\" He is spot-on about the rankings, but the survey in question offers only imperfect support for the argument that the federal government should invest more in its airports, since the survey measures not just major infrastructure aspects of airports (which the federal government would help fund) but also passenger amenities (something the government would not get directly involved in).\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Long-term federal investment in U.S. airports is urgent because \"\"there was a recent survey of the top airports … in the world, and there was not a single U.S. airport that came in the top 25.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8106fd2bd864fc4af16bc7f0a40ec9c",
            "input": "Now aged 56, two years after his retina was deliberately infected with a virus carrying a gene to correct a protein deficiency that was destroying its cells, he is a regular on the tennis court and has a successful career in law. “For the last 30 years I’ve been living under the insidious inevitability of going blind,” Stroh told reporters at a briefing about his experimental treatment. “Now there is a very real prospect I will continue to be able to see.”  Stroh is one of a handful of patients with an inherited cause of progressive blindness called choroideremia who took part in an early stage trial of a potential gene therapy treatment designed to correct a genetic defect that means retina cells gradually die. Although the results are from only six patients in a very early stage Phase I trial, researchers said they suggest more studies should be done to see if similar gene therapies could be developed for other more common genetic causes of blindness such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Choroideremia is caused by a mutation in a gene that makes a protein called REP1. It affects an estimated 1 in 50,000 people and causes sufferers - mainly men - to lose their sight gradually as the cells in the retina degenerate. There is currently no licensed treatment for the condition and eventually the photoreceptor cells - the rods and cones in the retina that respond to light by sending signals to the brain - die completely, leading to blindness by middle age. In the trial, a team led by Robert MacLaren of the University of Oxford, a consultant surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital, injected the patients’ retinas with a vector - in this case a genetically engineered virus - to deliver a corrective copy of the gene to the appropriate part of the eye. “The virus has to be delivered to the target cells, which are the cells of the retina,” MacLaren explained. To do that, the surgeon performs an operation similar to cataract surgery in which the patient’s retina is detached and lifted, and the virus is then injected underneath with a fine needle. “The virus goes in, infects the cells and puts the protein back into the cells - so we’re harnessing the capability of the virus to infect cells and deliver its DNA,” he said. “This is the exciting thing about gene therapy,” said MacLaren, whose trial results were published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday. “We’re talking about a single one-off genetic correction ... that has long-standing effects that so far have not been shown to diminish.”  The results showed that of the six patients treated - each of them only in one eye so the other could act as a comparison - the two with the least good sight before the gene therapy had significantly improved vision six months later. In the other four patients, whose vision was only slightly impaired before treatment as they were at earlier stages of the condition, the results confirmed the gene therapy is safe, with the virus delivering its DNA without damaging the retina. “It is still too early to know if the ... treatment will last indefinitely,” MacLaren said. “But we can say that the vision improvements have been maintained for as long as we have been following up the patients, which is two years in one case.”  He stressed that the therapy is still in the experimental stage, with more trials likely to take up to five years before it could be submitted for a licence with a view to making it available to all patients. “If we were able to treat people early, get them in their teens or late childhood, we’d be getting the virus in before their vision is lost,” he said. “If the treatment works, we would be able to prevent them from going blind.”",
            "output": [
                "Experimental gene therapy improves sight in patients going blind."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8576d6a6a41a4ce2a53dd2462b21c300",
            "input": "The nonprofit group Mental Health America  ranked Nevada 51st among states and the District of Columbia in seven categories of youths at risk, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Factors in the group’s September review included psychological and emotional disturbances, substance abuse disorders, major depressive episodes and children for whom private insurance doesn’t cover treatment. Youth mental health advocate Char Frost in Las Vegas said youth suicide rates are on the rise statewide,  “There are challenges for the state of Nevada, real challenges here in terms of service providers and so on,” Robert Weires, psychological services department director at the Clark County School District, told the Sun. Frost said her adolescent son began to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression around 2005, but few local programs train mental health professionals or specialists, other than the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the UNLV School of Medicine,  Almost every provider told her they don’t serve children, and the one that did had a wait of more than three months. “Our population has been increasing and we just have not been very good about growing our own professionals,” Frost said. The newspaper reported that youth mental health services in and around Las Vegas were hurt by the closure in August of Montevista Hospital, the area’s largest inpatient mental health provider for youth and adolescents. But there have been some improvements, including a new inpatient behavioral health facility at Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas that can accommodate as many as 20 young people. Initially designed to serve children from ages 13-17, the youth pavilion now accommodates children as young as 11 and might lower the age limit further, said Dr. David Gennis, program clinical director. Most young people who use the facility have shown suicidal views or behavioral challenges, Gennis said. Youths receive therapy, sometimes with their family or another group, to identify factors that trigger destructive behavior. They also get help developing coping skills and regulating their emotions. The average length of a stay is less than five days. Gennis said connecting families to geographically accessible outpatient therapy services can be difficult. A new inpatient-to-outpatient transition program for adolescents was expected to give some the opportunity to continue working with their Southern Hills therapists two to three days a week. “I think there’s an opportunity for us to do a better job with our very young children, to start teaching them how to manage negative or uncomfortable feelings and then how do they express behaviors (and) communicate appropriately,” Gennis said. Weires said schools have created a mental health transition team for students, but the Sun found that resources are limited and the district faces a shortage of school psychologists, whose duties include evaluating students in crisis, intervening when students show suicidal tendencies, and helping students after inpatient care. The shortage means school psychologists sometimes cover three schools with little time for anything more than crisis response. “We can’t go as deep, far and wide with any particular skill sets or services for kids if we’re spread out too thin,” Weires said. District officials recently allocated $350,000 a year to contract with an outside company, Columbus Educational Services, for 3.5 full-time school psychologists. In response to a mandate from the Legislature, the district also is working to create a suicide prevention plan that Weires said will involve strengthening relationships among psychologists, counselors, nurses and other specialists. Frost, who is also government affairs manager at United Citizens Foundation, said community organizations can help. The nonprofit delivers therapy to students during the school day because time after-school for working families can be filled with homework, dinner and other activities. Gennis said reducing stigma and reminding parents that mental health problems are no one’s fault remains key to addressing the issue.",
            "output": [
                "Nevada last in states for mental health services for youths ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f8ff07455ce04358bc82d497e09f5101",
            "input": "House Speaker Jose Oliva was unsparing in his criticism of what he called the “healthcare industrial complex,” including drug companies, hospitals and medical device companies that he said were “the great robber-barons of our time.” Oliva sought to build on some of health care initiatives of last year’s legislative session, including passage of a first-in-the-nation drug importation bill. “We did not choose healthcare as our priority,” he said. “No, it chose us. It chose us through the sheer audacity of the defenders of the status quo.” With a presidential election looming this fall, fierce partisan divides could influence the work of lawmakers. But an air of collegiality prevailed Tuesday, as bouquets festooned the chambers and the Capitol halls and rotundas pulsed with activity. Opening day was also important for lobbyists and the activists who seek to influence lawmakers and the legislation that will be crafted over the 60 days the Legislature has to complete its business before adjourning. While DeSantis enjoys strong relationships with lawmakers — particularly his fellow Republicans who run both chambers of the statehouse — he may not necessarily get everything he wants during his second year as the state’s chief executive. His $91.4 billion budget calls for major spending on the environment and education — including a nearly $1 billion outlay for teacher raises and bonuses. Some fiscally conservative lawmakers said they would give the spending intense scrutiny. On the eve of the Legislature’s opening day, thousands of educators and their allies descended on the Capitol to draw attention to the governor’s plan, calling it flawed because of potential pay inequities and because veteran educators and non-teaching school employees would be left out. Some key Republicans have also cast doubt on the governor’s plan to require employers to use a federally operated electronic database known as E-Verify to check the immigration status of workers. E-Verify has been opposed by agriculture, construction, tourism interests and other industries that rely on immigrant labor. Hundreds of bills await, encompassing education spending, health care, the environment and public safety — as well as approving the billions of dollars required to keep the country’s third-most populous state operating day to day. Legislative Democrats are pushing for stronger gun control measures, but face long odds to win over their Republican colleagues. Addressing a joint session of the state House and Senate during his State of the State address, DeSantis urged cooperation — particularly when it comes to approving his agenda on the environment and education. “This is Florida’s season of opportunity,” DeSantis told lawmakers. “We have the chance to build on a strong foundation, the chance to face the challenges before us and the chance to leave a legacy of success that will benefit our people now and in the future.” Rep. Chris Sprowls, a Republican who’s next in line to be House speaker, commended DeSantis for the sweep of his speech -- covering priorities, he said, that were crucial to Florida’s future. “The members of the House want to help the governor because we believe in the same thing,” Sprowls said. However, Sprowls declined to discuss the merits of specific legislation proposed by the governor, saying that task will be undertaken in the days and weeks to come. And while the governor’s agenda appeared “bright,” he said, “nothing is ever a slam dunk.” In his opening remarks, Senate President Bill Galvano, a Republican, reminded lawmakers of their weighty responsibility. “As we go into this session let us continue to show our constituents that we can exchange and debate ideas while maintaining civility and decorum,” he told the chamber. “That we can problem solve together. That we can put aside personalities and politics for good policy. And, that we are not a microcosm of Washington, D.C., but instead will continue to be an example for Washington, D.C.”",
            "output": [
                "Florida Legislature sets sights on education, health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b21d3d44dcf47c5b7aff05c13a65312",
            "input": "Glaxo said on Wednesday the data, from an extended follow-up study, showed the longest duration of sustained neutralizing antibody levels reported against both virus types HPV 16 and 18 with a cervical cancer vaccine to date. Experts believe that neutralizing antibodies — so-called because they have the ability to neutralize cancer-causing virus types and prevent them from infecting cells in the cervix — are essential for cervical cancer protection.",
            "output": [
                "Glaxo says cervical cancer vaccine works for longer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cb3a9b4d232949698c5a03429b60f12c",
            "input": "The Health Ministry said the Giulesti Maternity Hospital in Bucharest would stop admissions after the newborns were diagnosed with antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The hospital said it had canceled dozens of cesarean section operations planned for next week and will be directing pregnant women needing the procedure to other public hospitals in the city. The ministry said 17 babies from Giulesti had recently been admitted to the Grigore Alexandrescu children’s hospital, where tests were being carried out to determine what was wrong with them. The ministry said Giulesti’s maternity wards would be closed for cleaning and disinfection. The Public Health Directorate said 11 hospital employees found to be carriers of the bacteria have been temporarily removed from the hospital to undergo treatment. The bacteria often live on the skin or in the nostrils without causing symptoms but they can become dangerous if they enter the bloodstream, destroying heart valves or causing other damage. Microbiologists say up to 30 percent of humans are long-term carriers of the bug.",
            "output": [
                "Romania shuts hospital after babies diagnosed with superbug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc26a57038b042c797d454afc46b1995",
            "input": "Cost is not mentioned. The story is fairly specific about the fates of two groups of individuals—mostly children—with epileptic seizures resistant to available medications. But since it uses only relative risk reduction figures to quantify the benefit, it doesn’t go far enough to satisfy this criterion. The story says, for example, that “seizure frequency declined by an average 45 percent in all participants.” Did they go from two seizures to one seizure per day or from 10 to 5? Providing the absolute numbers would have clarified the size of the benefit. The subheadline declares that “drug interactions remain a concern,” and story includes reference to a study that found cannabidiol to interact “badly” with anti-seizure medications currently approved for epilepsy treatment. It later specifies the drugs that may be affected. We think this nod in the direction of harms is sufficient for a Satisfactory rating, although we’re concerned that the story mentions no other side effects from the treatment. A news release noted that “Adverse events occurred in more than 10 percent of participants with the most common being somnolence, diarrhea and fatigue and led to discontinuation in 4 percent of patients.” The story makes an early point that neither of the studies that received most of the attention was blinded; that is, both patients and scientists were aware of the procedures. The story also prominently reflects the views of an independent researcher who reminds readers that (1) placebo rates can be quite high and (2) the field won’t know the “real” effects until well-designed clinical studies are conducted. Children whose epileptic seizures are not controlled by current drugs have few options. This is a real problem. There was no disease (or pot) mongering. Although the story does make clear the distinction between researchers involved in the studies discussed and those not involved, there is no mention of funding. Who funded the study is a very important question. It would also be important to know if any of the researchers involved/quoted were consultants/paid by this company. A news release issued in advance of the American Epilepsy Society meeting, where these studies were scheduled to be presented, notes that the medicine used (called Epidiolex) and was supplied by manufacturer GW Pharmaceutical. That information didn’t make it into the story. The interest in marijuana constituents as possible treatments arose because existing alternatives—anti-seizure drugs—do not work with some patients. So a premise of this story is that existing alternatives are unsuccessful in this group of paitents. One of the study investigators makes it clear that federal approval for the drug could take up to five years. However, the story also notes that some activist families have already begun using cannabidiol oils “that are made artisanally.” Since cannabis has been used for the treatment of seizures for centuries, it’s curious why the researchers didn’t test the compound in a better designed trial (randomized, blinded and placebo controlled). The public and patients are still left with the question of whether this works. But the story does briefly mention previous studies that have looked at cannibidiol in adults, so the story gets a pass here. The story reflects some enterprise reporting independent of the news release from the American Epilepsy Society; for example, the reporter solicited information about the study’s validity from an independent researcher.",
            "output": [
                "Marijuana Chemical Shows Promise for Hard-to-Treat Epilepsy in Kids"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21a8255bd2a14fe4816c57eb7e487bc2",
            "input": "Numerous bills on expanding access to health care, and growing training and educational opportunities for residents were included among the 134 new measures the Legislative Council accepted last week. The Portland Press Herald reports only the titles of the bill have been submitted for introduction in the lawmaking session that starts in January. The measures also appear to be a response to the recent leaked propane explosion in a building in Farmington. The state has no current regulation requiring natural gas or propane leak detectors or warning devices. Lawmakers will also take up about 500 other measures either held by Gov. Janet Mills or left over from this year’s session.",
            "output": [
                "Health care, education to lead Maine’s legislative debates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-58f696629285467db2d1160600f79a31",
            "input": "Officials at a briefing in Ottawa said that the case was isolated and there was minimal risk to the general public. The H5N1 strain - normally spread through contact with infected birds - kills about 60 percent of those infected, they added. The person, who traveled to China in December, died in the western province of Alberta on January 3. Officials warned Canadians to avoid coming into contact with birds in China. The Alberta health ministry said in a statement that in 2013, there were 38 world-wide cases of H5N1 avian influenza reported to the World Health Organization and 24 deaths.",
            "output": [
                "Canadian dies from H5N1 avian influenza on return from China."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9666aaac76842b086a492f51801ebbb",
            "input": "On 7 April 2017, conspiracy web site Truth Theory revived a now-deleted 2013 story by the British tabloid the Daily Mail (headlined, “U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime'”). The article’s republishing coincided with an American missile strike retaliating against a chemical attack by the Syrian government on civilians in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun three days earlier. The Daily Mail article reported having evidence of an impending “false flag” attack. (A so-called “false flag” is a common conspiracy theory that asserts governments initiate crises — real or fabricated — to lay the groundwork for unpopular actions such as confiscating guns, or, in this case, removing a president from power.) Conspiracy web sites claimed the reason for the article’s deletion was “unclear,” implying that forces intent on hiding a nefarious plot to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad pressured the publication to do so. The Daily Mail article, originally published 29 January 2013, reported that U.S. officials had told a British defense company they had been given a “green light” for chemical weapons use in Syria that could then be blamed on Assad: Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country. A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme ‘approved by Washington’ is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons. Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people. The idea that the chemical attacks in Syria had been disguised to look like Assad’s work, thus giving his adversaries cover to remove him from power, is a pervasive conspiracy theory that has been disseminated by the Assad-allied Russian government. On 11 April 2017, RT, a Kremlin-funded media outlet, quoted President Vladimir Putin airing that same claim: Russia has information of a potential incident similar to the alleged chemical attack in Idlib province, possibly targeting a Damascus suburb, President Vladimir Putin said. The goal is to discredit the government of Syrian President Assad, he added. “We have reports from multiple sources that false flags like this one – and I cannot call it otherwise – are being prepared in other parts of Syria, including the southern suburbs of Damascus. They plan to plant some chemical there and accuse the Syrian government of an attack,” he said at a joint press conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Moscow. Damascus denied the allegations, noting that the targeted area may have been hosting chemical weapons stockpiles belonging to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) or Al-Nusra Front jihadists. But Truth Theory and other sites that re-posted the old Daily Mail story failed to note that the article wasn’t deleted due to pressure from an evil globalist cabal, but instead was taken down because the publication admitted it was untrue. The Daily Mail apologized to officials of Britam Defence and paid damages for libel after admitting the “leaked e-mails” were actually forged by a hacker. One of the fake e-mails read: Phil We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington. We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record. Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion? Kind regards David Carter-Ruck, the law firm that represented the defense company, wrote in its Autumn 2013 newsletter of the case: The Mail’s allegations were based on emails said to have been sent between two Britam directors, which had been published on the internet after Britam’s computer systems had been illegally hacked. In fact, however,the emails were forgeries. They had been fabricated and published online by the hacker, whose activities remain the subject of a number of criminal investigations. Faced with these facts, the Mail accepted that the allegations it had published were completely false. In addition to publishing a prominent apology on its website and in the High Court, the Mail paid the company and the two directors £110,000 in libel damages, together with their legal costs The 18 April 2013 Daily Mail apology read: An article on 29 January reported allegations on the internet that the US Government had backed a plot to launch a chemicals weapons attack in Syria and blame it on the Assad regime. The reports made reference to an email said to have been from David Goulding, the Business Development Director of Britam Defence, to company founder, Philip Doughty. The email had been published on the internet after Britam’s computer system was illegally hacked in Singapore. It referred to a proposal that Britam would deliver chemical weapons to Syria for enormous financial reward and suggested that the directors were willing to consider the illegal proposal. We now accept that email was fabricated and acknowledge there is no truth in any suggestion that Britam or its directors were willing to consider taking part in such a plot, which may have led to an atrocity. We apologise to each of them and have agreed to pay substantial damages. The Daily Mail‘s publisher paid £110,000 in damages to the firm.",
            "output": [
                "\"The Daily Mail posted, and then deleted, a story saying the U.S. had given the \"\"green light\"\" for a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77177c008ed94f59a90e669dfcc5b2aa",
            "input": "The woman who filed the lawsuit Wednesday, Kerrie Tabaka, said she was hospitalized for a week for treatment of hepatitis A and continues to experience fatigue and other symptoms. Earlier this month, health officials warned consumers in 11 states against eating some berries bought from the Fresh Thyme chain. Federal and state health officials have confirmed 14 cases of hepatitis A, including six in Nebraska, as part of the outbreak in Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. Fresh Thyme officials didn’t immediately respond to the lawsuit filed Wednesday. The company has said it is cooperating with investigators to identify the source of the contamination. Hepatitis A is a virus that infects the liver and can cause mild, flu-like symptoms for several weeks. According to the World Health Organization, a small proportion of people infected with the virus could die from fulminant hepatitis. “Hepatitis A in berries has been generally a problem with imports,” said Tabaka’s lawyer, Bill Marler. “We look forward to getting to the bottom of where these berries were grown and processed and how this potentially deadly pathogen contaminated the berries.” The Food and Drug Administration last week urged consumers in Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania to not to eat any fresh blackberries bought from Fresh Thyme between Sept. 9 and Sept. 30. Anyone who froze the berries for later use should throw them out, the FDA said.",
            "output": [
                "Lawsuit filed over hepatitis A outbreak linked to berries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1935216a2cfa4000ad39cf59c9723237",
            "input": "Thailand and neighbouring Cambodia were among Southeast Asian countries accused by New York-based Human Rights Watch of using the pandemic to crack down on criticism. Both countries reject the accusations and say their measures are needed to keep order and combat disinformation. Thailand has the region’s second highest number of virus cases after Malaysia, with a total of 827 after 106 new infections were reported on Tuesday. Four people have died. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who first seized power in a 2014 coup, said he would invoke powers to help suppress the virus that has swept the world since January, killing some 16,500 people and infecting more than 375,000. The emergency decree is due to take effect on Thursday and Prayuth said details of the specific powers to be used would be set out later. Among the powers in the decree is that “to censor or shut down media if deemed necessary.”  Prayuth ruled by decree until an election early last year which opponents say was engineered to keep him in office, an allegation he denies  Other regional leaders have also taken on additional powers and ordered emergency security measures. The Philippines congress granted President Rodrigo Duterte extra powers overnight as infections also soared there and across the region - rising more than 20-fold across Southeast Asia to more than 4,500. With growing concern in Thailand over the spread of the virus, the government said a man had been arrested after posting false statements about a lack of coronavirus screening at Bangkok’s main international airport. “The post created panic for the public and eroded their confidence in Suvarnabhumi Airport,” the ministry of digital affairs said. Artist Danai Ussama, 42, posted that he had gone through no health screenings and been given no instructions by officials when he arrived on a flight from Barcelona. He was charged under the Computer Crime Act, punishable by up to five years in prison. The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said Ussama was granted bail later on Tuesday and would appear in court on May 12. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch accused Southeast Asian countries of using the virus as an excuse to crackdown on dissent, saying that 17 people had been arrested in Cambodia over social media posts. “What these government ministers forget is in the era of COVID-19, they need the cooperation of the people to share information and act responsibly, and slamming people into prison will achieve the exact opposite,” said the group’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson.",
            "output": [
                "Thai leader to invoke emergency powers as virus infections climb."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bcf7f91504974297b760c81437140ad7",
            "input": "\"As schools across the country open for the uncertain, unprecedented school year to come, opinions are split on how to do so safely. Some districts have opted for completely virtual learning. Others will try a mix of both online and in-person classes, or will send younger children to school while older kids stay home, or will phase students back to the classroom gradually. Others still are calling for schools to reopen completely for those who feel well enough to teach and attend, and who aren’t especially vulnerable to COVID-19. One such voice is U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, who in an Aug. 13, 2020 radio interview with Milwaukee talk show host Steve Scaffidi on WTMJ-AM discussed why he believes students need to return to school in person this fall. For younger people, Johnson asserted, \"\"seasonal flu is actually, in many cases, a deadlier virus if they contract that.\"\" Is Johnson correct that COVID-19 is less deadly for children than the flu? Let’s dig in. COVID was less harsh on kids than the flu, this year’s stats show To back up his claim, Johnson’s office sent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on flu and COVID-19 deaths among Americans under age 18. During the 2018-19 flu season, the CDC reported approximately 480 flu deaths among children ages 0-17, about 30% of whom had a lab-confirmed case of influenza. Comparably, 90 American youth have died from coronavirus complications from the beginning of the pandemic through mid-August, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. More than 46,000 children were hospitalized for flu in that 2018-19 period. The hospitalization rate among children 5 to 17 was 39.2 children per 100,000 children. For COVID-19, that hospitalization rate is 6 per 100,000 children ages 5 to 17, the CDC says. In a report detailing the differences between COVID-19 and the flu, the CDC states that \"\"the risk of complications for healthy children is higher for flu compared to COVID-19.\"\" And data from Wisconsin echoes that sentiment. Since the pandemic began, no children have died from COVID-19 complications, according to state Department of Health Services death data, and 147 people ages 0-19 have been hospitalized. In contrast, three pediatric flu deaths occurred during this year’s flu season, DHS data show, and 605 kids ages 17 and under have been hospitalized. The data show there have been fewer childhood deaths from COVID-19 so far this year than from the seasonal flu. The hold-up, of course, lies in nuance, said Dr. Jon Temte, associate dean for public health and community engagement within UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health. \"\"U.S. schools have been out (and) mostly closed since March, thus extremely limiting cases of SARS-CoV-2 in children. Conversely, we rarely close schools for influenza, thus allowing an attack rate of 30-40% in school-aged children,\"\" Temte wrote in an Aug. 27, 2020 email to PolitiFact Wisconsin. That is, the flu has been able to spread through children more commonly than COVID-19, creating more cases, more complications and more deaths. Other experts agree. Dr. Chad Vercio, chair of pediatrics at Riverside University Health System in California, said children’s risk from the coronavirus depends on how widespread the virus is in any given area, and that \"\"it is unknown\"\" if COVID hospitalization rates would rise once schools reopen. And though the early data suggests that COVID-19 is not as bad for children as the flu, it’s just that: Early. Dr. Vidya Mony, an infectious disease expert with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., said there isn’t enough data yet to say indisputably that COVID risks are lower for kids. Johnson claimed that in many cases, the seasonal flu was a deadlier virus for youth than COVID-19. The numbers show that this year, that was the case. More children died from flu complications than from COVID-19, and were hospitalized at higher rates for the flu. But experts caution that we don’t have enough data to paint the full picture so early in the game, and that schools shutting down in early spring may have driven down coronavirus case rates in children — meaning we can’t be sure exactly how the virus will move through young people when more of them are potentially getting exposed. Our definition for  is \"\"the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"\" That fits here.\"",
            "output": [
                "For younger people, seasonal flu is “in many cases” a deadlier virus than COVID-19"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d52849434f764080a98f6c1de03541df",
            "input": "The findings, from a small but unique study in Botswana, could influence care in Africa and other regions hit hard by the virus. They also might offer a clue in scientists’ quest for a cure. The Harvard-led team found super early treatment limits how HIV takes root in a newborn’s body, shrinking the “reservoir” of virus that hides out, ready to rebound if those youngsters ever stop their medications. “We don’t think the current intervention is itself curative, but it sets the stage” for future attempts, said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who co-authored the study. Giving pregnant women a cocktail of anti-HIV drugs can prevent them from spreading the virus to their unborn children, a step that has dramatically reduced the number of babies born with the virus worldwide. Still, some 300 to 500 infants are estimated to be infected every day in sub-Saharan Africa. Doctors have long known that treating babies in the first weeks to months of life is important, because their developing immune systems are especially vulnerable to HIV. But an infant dubbed the “Mississippi baby” raised a critical question: Should treatment start even earlier? The girl received a three-drug combination within 30 hours of her birth in July 2010, highly unusual for the time. Her family quit treatment when she was a toddler — yet her HIV remained in remission for a remarkable 27 months before she relapsed and restarted therapy. The Botswana study was one of several funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health after doctors learned of the Mississippi baby, to further explore very early treatment. The findings are encouraging, said Dr. Deborah Persaud, a pediatric HIV specialist at Johns Hopkins University who wasn’t involved with the Botswana study but helped evaluate the Mississippi baby. “The study showed what we hypothesized happened in the Mississippi baby, that very early treatment really prevents establishment of these long-lived reservoir cells that currently are the barrier to HIV eradication,” Persaud said. She cautioned: “Very early treatment is important, but prevention should still be our top priority.” In Botswana, researchers tested at-risk newborns, enrolling 40 born with HIV, treating them within hours to a few days, and tracking them for two years. On Wednesday, they reported results from the first 10 patients, comparing them with 10 infants getting regular care — treatment beginning when they were a few months old. Medication brought HIV under control in both groups. But the children treated earliest had a much smaller reservoir of HIV in their blood, starting about six months into treatment, the researchers reported in Science Translational Medicine. The earliest-treated children also got another benefit: more normal functioning of some key parts of the immune system. One big question: Did the HIV reservoir shrink enough to make a long-term difference? To find out, next year the researchers will give these children experimental antibodies designed to help keep HIV in check, and test how they fare with a temporary stop to their anti-HIV drugs. In the U.S., Europe and South Africa, it’s becoming common to test at-risk infants at birth. But in most lower-income countries, babies aren’t tested until they’re 4 to 6 weeks old, said study co-author Dr. Roger Shapiro, a Harvard infectious disease specialist. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Study: For babies born with HIV, start treatment right away."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b3599f2a1f804dd9b3a0e7ac9e7db904",
            "input": "The plan would take now-hidden rebates among industry players like drug companies and insurers and channel them directly to consumers when they go to pay for their medications. Patients with high drug copays stand to benefit from the proposal, while people who take no prescription drugs, or who rely on generics mainly, would probably pay somewhat more, since premiums are expected to rise. A day after unveiling the plan as a proposed regulation, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar raised the stakes by calling on Congress to make it law and broaden it to include people covered by employer health insurance, not just Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. “Congress has an opportunity to follow through on their calls for transparency ... by passing our proposal into law immediately and extending it into the commercial drug market,” Azar said in a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. Ahead of next week’s State of the Union speech, President Donald Trump is under political pressure to show results for his promise to slash prescription drug costs. Data show that prices for brand-name drugs have continued to rise, though at a somewhat slower pace. Polls show consumers across the political spectrum want government action. Democrats say the administration’s plan doesn’t go far enough because it still leaves drug companies free to set high list prices. They say drug pricing is like a black box, and it’s impossible to tell if prices reflect actual costs or if companies are charging what they think the market will bear. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says she’s also worried that the plan would raise premiums. HHS acknowledges Medicare prescription premiums would go up $3 to $5 a month. Nonetheless, the administration’s proposal appears to be in the mix as Congress gears up to craft legislation addressing prescription drug costs. Friday evening, the Republican chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, expressed his support. Rebates “ought to lower costs to patients, and this is a good first step towards that goal,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement. The complex plan would work by doing away with an exemption from federal anti-kickback rules that currently allows drugmakers, insurers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers to negotiate rebates among themselves. Drug companies pay rebates to make sure their medications are covered by insurance plans that are the intermediaries between them and patients. HHS says hidden rebates can amount to up to 30 percent of a drug’s list price. Insurers say they use the money from rebates to hold down premiums for all consumers. Under the plan, the current anti-kickback exemption for industry rebates would be replaced with a new one for discounts offered directly to consumers. Azar said the idea would reshape the drug pricing system, shifting it away from hidden rebates to upfront discounts, creating pressure on drugmakers to keep prices down. The proposal was co-authored with the HHS inspector general’s office. Experts say it will take time to sort out all the potential consequences. Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said the current system of rebates harms patients who take costly drugs with high copays. Think people with cancer, patients with intractable illnesses such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, and those who take brand-name medicines with no generic competition. Patients’ cost sharing is often based on list prices, not the cost of the drug after rebates. “Simply put, those on no medications at all will just see their premiums go up and see no savings because they don’t take any medicine,” said Bach. “Those on generics only may be essentially in this category (as well). “But those on expensive medications ... they will see savings in total,” he added. More than half a million people filled at least $50,000 in prescriptions in 2014, according to an Express Scripts report. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts and CVS oppose the administration plan, saying it will undercut their ability to bargain with drugmakers for lower prices. Drugmakers have applauded the administration’s action. Consumers are worried about prices for brand-name drugs, particularly new medications that promise breakthrough results. Generics account for nearly 90 percent of prescriptions filled, but brand-name drugs account for more than 70 percent of the spending. Azar contends that under the current system everybody but the patient benefits from high prices. A high list price makes room for bigger negotiated rebates for insurers and middlemen. And drugmakers then merely build that expectation into their prices. Before joining the Trump administration, Azar was a top executive for drugmaker Eli Lilly. That led to criticism that he would be an industry pawn. But the drugmakers vehemently disagree with some of his other ideas, including an experiment using lower international drug prices to cut some Medicare costs.",
            "output": [
                "Trump health chief asks Congress to pass drug discount plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d956840102d46ed9e9812755cd10f34",
            "input": "Repeated attacks on treatment centers by armed militiamen and community members who think Ebola is a conspiracy against them have hampered the response to the second-deadliest outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in history. In the latest attack, on a hospital in the city of Butembo, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist from Cameroon was killed and two others wounded last Friday. At a protest on Wednesday in Butembo, the biggest city to be affected by the current outbreak, dozens of Congolese doctors and nurses marched behind a banner reading “Ebola exists” and urged authorities to take additional security measures. “If our security is not guaranteed, we will go on strike from the first week of May,” Dr. Kalima Nzanzu said, reading from a memo to Butembo’s mayor, Sylvain Kanyamanda. Kanyamanda told Reuters that he understood the health workers’ frustrations and that the government was determined to respond to their demands. The latest outbreak of Ebola, which was declared last August and is Congo’s tenth since the virus was discovered in 1976, is believed to have killed 880 people and infected nearly 500 more in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. The military prosecutor’s office in North Kivu said on Wednesday that authorities had captured the suspected ringleader of last week’s attack, as well as about a dozen other suspects. Prosecutors believe the assailants belong to an armed group called the Patriotic Union for the Liberation of Congo (UPLC) based on a tract left at the hospital threatening health workers. Dozens of militia are active in eastern Congo’s borderlands with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, where they run lucrative rackets and fight over land, ethnicity and mineral resources.",
            "output": [
                "Ebola first responders threaten strike if security not improved."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e5231f709a84a40a90eb8a4e243f87f",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention costs of either drug, other than to describe the costs of ellaOne as \"\"three times the price of Plan B.\"\" The story adequately quantifies the benefits of ellaOne by presenting both the number of pregnancies and the pregnancy rate in both groups. The story doesn’t mention any potential harms of the drug, other than unwanted pregnancy. In the study 19% of women experienced headaches and one dizziness. Common side effects of the drug also include stomach pain and nausea, cramps, and vaginal bleeding. None of these were mentioned in the story. The story adequately describes the design of the current study. The story does not engage in disease-mongering. The story quotes two independent health officials who provide very valuable perspectives on the new findings. The story compares the new drug to the existing option, Levonorgestrel. The story clearly states that ellaOne is only available by prescription in Europe, whereas Levonorgestrel is available in many countries worldwide, including the US. The story accurately represents the novelty of ellaOne compared to Levonorgestrel. Because the story quotes independent researchers and health officials, the reader can assume the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "New morning-after pill works for up to 5 days"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94ddce48a43c4eb393153b7d57415db2",
            "input": "In a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers analyzed comedians from Australia, Britain and the United States and found they scored significantly higher on four types of psychotic characteristics compared to a control group of people who had non-creative jobs. The traits included a tendency towards impulsive or anti-social behavior, and a tendency to avoid intimacy. “The creative elements needed to produce humor are strikingly similar to those characterizing the cognitive style of people with psychosis - both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” said Gordon Claridge of the University of Oxford’s department of experimental psychology, who led the study. Although the traits in question are known as “psychotic”, Claridge said, they can also represent healthy equivalents of features such as moodiness, social introversion and the tendency to lateral thinking. “Although schizophrenic psychosis itself can be detrimental to humor, in its lesser form it can increase people’s ability to associate odd or unusual things or to think ‘outside the box’,” he said. “Equally, manic thinking - which is common in people with bipolar disorder - may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections.”  The researchers recruited 523 comedians - 404 men and 119 women - and asked them to complete an online questionnaire designed to measure psychotic traits in healthy people. The traits scored were “unusual experiences”, such as belief in telepathy and paranormal events, “cognitive disorganization” such as difficulty in focusing thoughts, “introvertive anhedonia” - reduced ability to feel social and physical pleasure, and “impulsive non-conformity”, or tendency towards impulsive, antisocial behavior. The same questionnaire was also completed by 364 actors - who are also used to performing in front of an audience - as a control group, and the comedians’ and actors’ results were compared to each other as well as a general group of 831 people who had non-creative jobs. The researchers found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits compared to the general group. Most striking were their high scores for impulsive non-conformity and introverted personality traits, the researchers said. The actors scored higher than the general group on three types - but did not display high levels of introverted personality traits.",
            "output": [
                "Comedians have psychotic personality traits, study finds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eaeef3d35eb243b0baf050338fde0a78",
            "input": "\"Georgians, the rest of the country is laughing at you, former Gov. Roy Barnes says. And that means corporations are reluctant to relocate here and give you jobs. It's because your state Legislature has done some wacky things, according to the Democrat's latest campaign commercial, \"\"Travel for Jobs.\"\" In this bid to win his old job back, Barnes took us on a trip down memory lane to recall some of the Legislature's stranger moments. \"\"[I]t's hard for industry to take us seriously when the Legislature attempts to outlaw stem cell research, passes bills about microchips in the brain and talks about seceding from the union,\"\" an announcer said in the ad. Wait. Microchips? In the brain? And secession? Recently? The Barnes campaign sent us information on all three legislative attempts. All passed the Senate, then withered in the House. On stem cell research:  The campaign cited 2009's Senate Bill 169, the Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act, sponsored by state Sen. Ralph Hudgens of Hull. Typically, when people discuss the stem cell research controversy, they're talking about \"\"embryonic\"\" stem cell research, which can destroy the embryo. This poses ethical problems for people who regard a human embryo as a human life. The legislation stated that the creation of all embryos \"\"shall be solely for the purposes of initiating a human pregnancy.\"\" This means it would have barred scientists from creating human embryos for research. The bill does not ban embryonic stem cell research involving already-existing stem cell lines or lines from out of state. This was by design, Hudgens told PolitiFact Georgia. It passed the state Senate March 12, 2009. So state legislators did try to \"\"outlaw\"\" an important element of embryonic stem cell research, but not all of it. On microchips in the brain:   Barnes cited SB 235, the Microchip Consent Act of 2010, sponsored by state Sen. Chip Pearson, a Republican from Dawsonville. It would have made it a misdemeanor to require a person to be implanted with the device beneath or in the skin. This includes the brain. Proponents had no evidence of large-scale abuses of the technology. \"\"This is proactive,\"\" state Rep. Ed Setzler, who pushed the bill in the House, said at the time. It passed the Senate on Feb. 4. Therefore, while the state Senate did not pass \"\"bills\"\" on \"\"microchips in the brain,\"\" it did pass one of them. And that one only cleared one chamber of the Legislature. On seceding from the Union:  The Barnes camp pointed PolitiFact Georgia to Senate Resolution 632, which was also sponsored by Pearson. He could not be reached to clarify the bill's intent, so we analyzed the language ourselves and read an op-ed he wrote that was published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The six-page resolution does not specifically mention \"\"secession,\"\" but it does lay out how and when states would do it. If the federal government creates laws that states think overstep its constitutional authority, they can \"\"nullify\"\" those laws, or declare them void. Here's where the possibility of secession comes into play. The bill lists six types of laws that, if enacted, would prompt the dissolution of the United States. Some, such as the declaration of martial law, are remote possibilities. Others are not, such as laws that limit the right to bear arms, \"\"including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.\"\" If such laws are passed, the federal government's powers would revert to the states, according to the resolution. States that want to form a new United States can do so. The rest can go off on their own. The resolution passed the state Senate April 1, 2009. In Pearson's op-ed, he disagreed with critics who said that the bill \"\"will likely lead Georgia to secede from and disband the United States.\"\" It is an \"\"extreme view\"\" and \"\"loose interpretation of the measure's language.\"\" That may be true, but whether the bill makes secession \"\"likely\"\" is a separate issue. The bill opens the door to it. Or as Barnes' commercial said, it \"\"talks about seceding from the Union.\"\" We find that Barnes' ad is not entirely correct but does say many accurate things. Georgia's state Senate did try to outlaw types of embryonic stem cell research, though not all of it, as the ad suggests. It passed a law -- not \"\"laws\"\" -- on \"\"microchips in the brain.\"\" And while a bill didn't use the word \"\"secession,\"\" it raised the possibility and outlined what would trigger it. Barnes earns a .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The state Legislature attempted to \"\"outlaw stem cell research, passes bills about microchips in the brain, and talks about seceding from the Union.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-328c8731a6b548f384907a7d2fb6cbac",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of the vitamin supplements. The story quantifies the number of cases of AMD in the vitamin group as well as the control group. The story should have provided a denominator for these numbers so that the reader can get a sense of the size of the risk. The story does not mention any harms of b-vitamin supplements. While they are generally safe, the FDA does not regulate supplements and therefore there is no guarantee of strength, purity or safety of products. Furthermore there are some important contraindications and consumers should talk with their doctor about before taking the vitamins. The story adequately describes the current study and discusses some of its strengthes and weaknesses. The story does a particularly good job of describing the study design, the sample size and duration of follow-up. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of AMD. The story should have explained that there are two types of AMD: dry and wet. Dry AMD is more common, progresses more slowly and may respond to vitamin supplementation, whereas wet AMD, although more rare, progresses rapidly and may not respond to vitamins. The story quotes an expert who is not related to the study or employed by the vitamin manufacturer. The story does a good job of describing potential conflicts of interest of the quoted experts. The story mentions smoking cessation and laser treatment as alternatives. The story however might have mentioned the other prevention methods listed on the National Eye Institute website: control of diet, exercise, weight, and blood pressure. Clearly vitamin-b supplements are available, however the story should have described whether this particular combination of vitamins is available and if so, if they are available over the counter or by prescription only. The story adequately represents the novelty of taking vitamins for AMD, which is not a new idea. Given the fact that an independent expert was interviewed, it’s safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Taking B vitamins can prevent vision loss"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b48aa275e47408a96ec443487f9c5d0",
            "input": "A spokesman for California State University, Los Angeles, said Saturday that 106 staff members and 550 students have been told to stay at home and avoid contact with others. Thirty students and employees from the University of California, Los Angeles, remain quarantined. Those under quarantine were possibly exposed to a person with measles on each campus earlier this month. Many people have been cleared after proving their immunity with medical records or tests. The quarantines mark one of the most sweeping efforts by health officials to contain the nation’s measles outbreak, where cases have reached a 25-year high .",
            "output": [
                "Nearly 700 from LA universities still in measles quarantine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d92d083cee94857b08a43429f5f9a58",
            "input": "Roberts acknowledged during an Associated Press interview that he’s not happy with parts of the latest version of the bill meant to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 Affordable Care Act. His staff said he’s been working with the plan’s drafters on provisions protecting financially stressed hospitals and a home health program for rural states. But Roberts is stressing a broader message about health care: “We have to move.” He argued that whatever flaws fellow Republicans see, delaying a debate is likely to allow conditions in the health insurance market to worsen. “The whole point is to get where we want to get, we have to get on the bill,” Roberts said. “We can’t just sit back and complain about it.” Moran jumped into the spotlight when he and Utah Sen. Mike Lee tweeted early in the week that they couldn’t support the latest version of the Senate GOP plan, denying it the votes it needed to pass. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canceled plans to move forward, though GOP senators now expect a debate in the coming week after public pressure from President Donald Trump. Moran called on Congress to “start fresh” and criticized the “closed-door process” behind the GOP plan. He endorsed an failed plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement ready. Roberts would not directly criticize Moran but he said Congress did start fresh on health care and the Senate GOP’s plan is “what we ended up with.” As for having a Senate committee start over, he said, “My God, that would take months.” “You can create headlines,” Roberts said. “I’m not interested in the headlines.” Bob Beatty, a Washburn University political science professor, doubted that the split between Moran and Roberts on health care reflects significant ideological differences. Instead, he said, it could reflect how they’re in different stages of their political careers, with Moran having more time to build a political legacy. Roberts, 81, is serving his fourth term in the Senate and his career in Congress or as a congressional aide stretches back 50 years. Moran, 63, is in his second Senate term, having first won a safe U.S. House seat in 1996. Beatty said Roberts also appears to have a more “black and white” view of working with Democrats. Roberts suggested during his interview that minority Democrats won’t help pass health legislation at all because they want to move toward government-run coverage similar to Medicare for the elderly. “Roberts seems a little more cynical about what’s possible in Washington,” Beatty said. But Roberts said he sees a need for Congress to move quickly on overhauling health care because he doubts “Obamacare” is sustainable even in the short-term, with health care costs and premiums continuing to rise. Roberts said delaying action will encourage insurers to leave the health care markets set up under the 2010 law to help individuals find coverage. “Premiums keep going up and choices keep going down,” he said. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .",
            "output": [
                "Kansas Sen. Roberts pushing to move GOP health plan forward."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b9a67ea2d4e452ba0814f09b162b483",
            "input": "The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency added the lakes, rivers and streams to its draft list of “impaired waters” that will go to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The 3,416 waterways represent 56% of the state’s waters. The list has been steadily growing over the past decade as researchers evaluate more waterways across the state annually. The popular stretch of the St. Croix River between Taylors Falls and Stillwater, which forms part of Minnesota’s border with Wisconsin, made the proposed updated list because of high phosphorous levels. The stretch includes Minnesota’s William O’Brien State Park and rugged bluffs. “We are very disappointed to see this section of the St. Croix River is proposed to be listed as impaired,” said Deb Ryun, executive director of the St. Croix River Association. “But this potential impairment designation is a reminder that continual work and public action will be necessary to preserve and protect the … St. Croix we all know and love.” The St. Croix was one of the first rivers designated under the national Wild and Scenic Rivers program. The 20-mile stretch from Stillwater south to Prescott, Wisconsin, made the impaired list in 2008 due to excess phosphorus. Most phosphorus, which spurs algae growth, comes from runoff from agricultural or urban areas. Phosphorus levels in the St. Croix actually have been decreasing in recent years due to better controls on wastewater treatment plants and better farming and forestry practices. Julie Galonska, superintendent of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, challenged the idea that the river is deteriorating. She characterized the impairment as an “administrative twist” that resulted from new standards the MPCA recently adopted, not a big increase in pollution. Miranda Nichols, the MPCA’s impaired-waters list coordinator, said that the newly designated stretch had not previously been evaluated for nutrients and algae under the new standards. Although the section of the St. Croix north of Stillwater made Minnesota’s list, it won’t be on Wisconsin’s, Nichols said. Each state sets its own water-quality standards, and Wisconsin has a less stringent phosphorus standard — 90 micrograms per liter compared to Minnesota’s 40, she said. Lakes, rivers and streams on Minnesota’s impaired list have a range of problems, including excess mercury, bacteria, phosphorus, nitrate and other pollutants, as well as struggling fish and insect populations. About one-third of Minnesota’s waterways are considered impaired for recreational use because of high bacteria in streams and phosphorus in lakes. The public has until Jan. 14 to comment on the draft list. Public meetings are planned around the state in December. The MPCA plans to submit the list to the EPA by April 1.",
            "output": [
                "Part of St. Croix River makes Minnesota impaired waters list."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b9088efb8b244a59f26d1842b03edb5",
            "input": "Irish-born William Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. China’s Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease. She is China’s first Nobel laureate in medicine. Some 3.4 billion people, most of them living in poor countries, are at risk of contracting the three parasitic diseases. “These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”  Today, the medicine ivermectin, a derivative of avermectin made by Merck & Co, is used worldwide to fight roundworm parasites, while artemisinin-based drugs from firms including Novartis and Sanofi are the main weapons against malaria. Omura and Campbell made their breakthrough in fighting parasitic worms, or helminths, after studying compounds from soil bacteria. That led to the discovery of avermectin, which was then further modified into ivermectin. The treatment is so successful that river blindness and lymphatic filariasis are now on the verge of being eradicated. Omura, 80, said the real credit for the achievement should go to the ingenuity of the Streptomyces bacteria, whose naturally occurring chemicals were so effective at killing off parasites. “I really wonder if I deserve this,” he said after learning he had won the prize. “I have done all my work depending on microbes and learning from them, so I think the microbes might almost deserve it more than I do.”  Omura is professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan, while Campbell is research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. “This was the work of a team of researchers so it is by no means my work, it’s our work,” said Campbell, 85, who learned of his prize in a pre-dawn phone call from Reuters that woke him at his home in North Andover, Massachusetts. “In the first decade, there were 70 authors that I co-authored papers with. That gives you some idea of the number of people involved,” he said. Tu, meanwhile, turned to a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in her hunt for a better malaria treatment, following the declining success of the older drugs chloroquine and quinine. She found that an extract from the plant Artemisia annua was sometimes effective but the results were inconsistent, so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from AD 350, in the search for clues. This eventually led to the isolation of artemisinin, a new class of anti-malaria drug, which was available in China before it reached the West. Tu, 84, has worked at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1965. World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said the award of a Nobel prize for the discovery was a great tribute to the contribution of Chinese science in fighting malaria. “We now have drugs that kill these parasites very early in their life-cycle,” said Juleen Zierath, chair of the Nobel Committee. “They not only kill these parasites but they stop these infections from spreading.”     Death rates from malaria have plunged 60 percent in the past 15 years, although the disease still kills around half a million people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in the poorest parts of Africa. The 8 million Swedish crowns ($960,000) medicine prize is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. Last year, the medicine prize went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system.",
            "output": [
                "Beating parasites wins three scientists Nobel prize for medicine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6cd662012984eff85c61e5898067e34",
            "input": "Researchers from Durham University and the British Museum discovered the evidence of tumors that had developed and spread throughout the body in a 3,000-year-old skeleton found in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013. Analyzing the skeleton using radiography and a scanning electron microscope, they managed to get clear imaging of lesions on the bones which showed the cancer had spread to cause tumors on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones. “Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases,” said Michaela Binder, a Durham PhD student who led the research and excavated and examined the skeleton. “Our analysis showed that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer ... though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone.”  Despite being one of the world’s leading causes of death today, cancer is virtually absent in archaeological records compared to other diseases - and that has given rise to the idea that cancers are mainly attributable to modern lifestyles and to people living for longer. According to the World Health Organisation’s cancer research agency, new cancer cases rose to an estimated 14 million a year in 2012, a figure seen rising to 22 million within the 20 years. Yet these new findings, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLOS ONE on Monday, suggest cancer is not only a modern disease, but was around in the Nile Valley even in ancient times. Binder said the discovery should help scientists explore the underlying causes of cancer in ancient populations and give fresh clues about the evolution of cancer in the past. Ancient DNA analysis of skeletons and mummies with evidence of cancer can be used to detect mutations in specific genes that are known to be associated with particular types of cancer. The skeleton is of an adult male estimated to be between 25- and 35-years-old when he died. It was found at the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan, on the Nile, 750 km downstream from the capital Khartoum. The researchers said they could only speculate on what may have caused of the young man’s cancer, but it may have been as a result of environmental carcinogens such as smoke from wood fires, or due to genetic factors, or from an infectious disease such as schistosomiasis, which is caused by parasites. Schistosomiasis would be a plausible explanation, they said, since the disease has plagued inhabitants of Egypt and Nubia since at least 1500 BC and is now recognized as a cause of bladder cancer and breast cancer in men.",
            "output": [
                "Archaeologists discover earliest example of human with cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08c5f225c3684a58b129e9950a139c35",
            "input": "The sale of anti-rabies treatment Rabipur and Encepur, used  for the prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, to the Denmark-based biotechnology firm includes an upfront payment of 301 million euros and milestone payments of up to 495 million euros. Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley has been pushing for a leaner structure since she took over in 2017 by spinning off or selling units to focus on reinvigorating GSK’s pharmaceuticals business. It staged a comeback into cancer treatments with a $5.1 billion buyout of U.S. drugmaker Tesaro in December last year. “This agreement with Bavarian Nordic will enable us to commit greater resources to our key growth assets and to our R&D pipeline,” Roger Connor, president of Global Vaccines at GSK said. GSK, which is preparing to separate its consumer-facing products and drugs businesses, acquired the vaccines from Novartis in 2015 as part of a broad asset-swap here in which GSK sold its oncology business to the Swiss drugmaker. The drugmaker reported revenue of 5.89 billion pounds ($7.61 billion) from its vaccines segment in 2018. London-listed GSK said that both vaccines will continue to be manufactured at its Marburg site in Germany until full production is transferred to Bavarian Nordic within five years.",
            "output": [
                "\"JoAnne Kloppenburg Says state Supreme Court candidate Joe Donald twice \"\"supported\"\" incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16b04a8230684018bef8a1d8aecda92f",
            "input": "As the rest of the country celebrates the Festival of Lights, which falls on Wednesday this year, asthma sufferers like Prakash, 22, will be cooped up at home, dreading the blanket of smoke that worsens the already dire air quality. “I don’t step out of the house on Diwali nights,” says Prakash, a marketing professional in Pune. In New Delhi, the morning after Diwali always brings a blanket of thick white smog — and the situation is getting worse. A study conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board showed that noise and air pollution levels were higher during Diwali in 2010 than the previous year despite nationwide campaigns against firecrackers. “It’s a concern that pollution levels go up, noise levels go up, and the doctors in cities have also confirmed that hospital admissions during this time increase, due to symptoms related to pollution-related diseases,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, at the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi. “Every year during Diwali, pollution levels are quite high largely because of the firecrackers, but the traffic intensity also goes up during this time.”   Improvements in air quality after Delhi imposed rules making auto-rickshaws and buses run off liquefied natural gas have been partly offset by new cars on the road — and their numbers have nearly doubled over the last decade, thanks to rising incomes. Indians are at high risk of respiratory ailments, heart disease and lung cancer, according to recent World Health Organization (WHO) data that showed Delhi’s air had almost 10 times the recommended level of PM10 particulate matter, or particles small enough to penetrate to the deepest part of the lungs and cause health problems. The air in the Indian cities measured ranges between 80 and 251 micrograms per cubic meter of PM10. The WHO recommends not exceeding 20 micrograms per cubic meter. But firecracker-free Diwali campaigns have not been entirely successful, with most revelers looking forward to the noise and lights as part of the festival fun. Climate and energy campaigner K. Srinivas has a solution. “If you really want to light up the world with crackers, why not light up with solar lanterns and give them to people, or try to light up a few people’s houses, or a few villages,” Srinivas said. “The amount of money that is spent on crackers can easily power a number of houses in rural areas.”",
            "output": [
                "Smog dims shine of India's festival of lights."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-158440f5967e46d6b5e921a6072a4462",
            "input": "Reacting to news of the doctor’s death, health minister Olivier Veran paid tribute to medical staff confronting the pandemic and urged other workers to keep key services running, even as the lockdown halts many businesses deemed non-essential. “The medical profession is making a heavy sacrifice in our country today,” Veran said on LCI television. The doctor who died was an emergency specialist at the university hospital in Compiegne, north of Paris, where several other staff have tested positive for the virus, according to French media reports. The coronavirus death toll recorded by French hospitals rose by 112 to 674 on Sunday, officials said, while the number of confirmed cases increased by 11% to 16,018 over 24 hours. France’s top administrative court on Sunday rejected demands that it impose stricter confinement rules, but the government is taking its own advice on tougher measures. Those caught defying the order - which has exceptions for essential commuting, shopping and solitary exercise - will also face harsher penalties, ranging from 135 to 3,700 euros ($3,960) and a six-month prison term for repeat breaches, under the health emergency bill approved by lawmakers. Supermarket retailer Auchan [AUCH.UL] separately announced a 1,000 euro ($1,070) bonus for employees, amid concern over staffing levels in critical areas of the economy and public services. The government is considering a tax-free “attendance bonus” for people who need to be at their workplace to carry out key jobs, officials have said. “We’re asking citizens to continue mobilising to keep our economy working,” health minister Veran said. “Not for the sake of economic objectives or budgets, but because a single missing link can bring down the entire production system.”  Veran also said France was expecting preliminary results within two weeks from a clinical test of the effectiveness of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19, the condition caused by the virus. There are as yet no vaccines or treatments approved but trials are under way in the United States and Europe to see whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent, or reduce the severity of, the illness. French hospitals began testing the anti-malarial and three other drugs on Sunday, research institute Inserm said, as part of a European program involving 3,200 COVID-19 patients.",
            "output": [
                "France toughens lockdown penalties as coronavirus kills medic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-448d3f8151f9465abb9b048e80106cb2",
            "input": "International aid agencies as well as North Korea state media have been warning that erratic weather with drought and floods, and a lack of access to resources could lead to a food crisis in a country under strict international sanctions over leader Kim Jong Un’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. “We are already seeing the impacts of this drought on vulnerable people,” Mohamed Babiker, head of the IFRC’s office in North Korea, said in a statement. “Rates of malnutrition and water borne diseases like diarrhea and colitis are on the rise.”  After an assessment in May concluded that this year’s harvest would be less than half what it should be, the IFRC spent 250,000 Swiss francs ($253,787) on deploying mobile water pumps, which were able to double crop yields in the targeted areas, the organization said. “Water pumps and irrigation supplies can make a significant difference,” Babiker said, calling for an additional 472,000 Swiss francs ($479,284) for more agricultural and sanitation supplies. North Korea increased imports of fertilizer and food products last year, according to trade data compiled by the United Nations. But the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a Washington-based think tank, documented in a report this week how North Korea also continues to import millions of dollars worth of luxury goods, including at least two armored limousines valued at $500,000 each. South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers on Tuesday that drought had hit the North Korean economy which already faces difficulties such as widening trade deficits, foreign currency shortages and a deepening cash crunch due to sanctions. Rainfall in North Korea has fallen by more than 30% this year from a year before, and there are signs of a deteriorating food situation, according to Lee Eun-jae, one of the lawmakers briefed by the spy agency. “North Korea is expected to exhaust its crop reserves earlier than usual this year,” Lee told reporters. South Korea has said it would donate $4.5 million to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), and announced it was also providing 50,000 tonnes of rice for delivery to its northern neighbor. South Korea also recently donated $3.5 million to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for humanitarian projects in North Korea. Last week, North Korea state news agency KCNA said a campaign to mitigate the effects of drought was under way by digging canals and wells, installing pumps, and using people and vehicles to transport water. The official television broadcaster on Monday warned of further damage in the upcoming rainy season. It said the country suffered from floods in June, showing submerged buildings and villages where houses were destroyed by landslides. Sporadic famines are common in North Korea, according to experts based in South Korea, but in the 1990s, a nationwide famine killed as many as one million people.",
            "output": [
                "Malnutrition, disease rising in North Korea: aid organization."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4f923550a024225af14a7e3abe6893d",
            "input": "Trump made the announcement at a Rose Garden news conference as he battled to show Americans he is aggressively addressing the health crisis after facing criticism that he was slow to react and played down the threat until the number of cases rose. Trump cautioned that Americans will have to make sacrifices and change their daily practices, a stark difference from two weeks ago when he said people should use common sense but otherwise not change their routines. “It could get worse. The next eight weeks will be critical,” he said. The president appeared on stage with members of his coronavirus task force and business executives after meeting them inside the White House over how to accelerate testing of Americans for the virus to better track the contagion’s spread. Shaking hands freely with the gathered business executives, the 73-year-old Trump later acknowledged he expected to be tested for the virus. He had come into contact with a Brazilian official last Saturday who later tested positive for coronavirus. “Most likely, yeah, most likely. Not for that reason but because I think I will do it anyway,” Trump said. “Fairly soon. We’re working out a schedule.”  “We have no symptoms whatsoever,” he said to a question about whether he should get a test. Trump said Walmart Inc  Chief Executive Doug McMillon had agreed to set up drive-thru testing at store parking lots across the country and that Alphabet Inc’s Google will create a website to help determine whether individuals need a coronavirus test. Trump shrugged off a question about whether he was responsible for what many experts have said was slow progress toward expansion of tests to track the virus. “I don’t take responsibility at all,” he said, blaming rules and regulations he inherited for the inability to mass produce the testing kits. Trump, who on Wednesday ordered citizens from 26 European nations not to enter the United States for 30 days as of midnight Friday, said his administration “may be adding” travel restrictions on the United Kingdom and a couple of other countries. As for whether Americans should take commercial flights, Trump was blunt: “If you stay home, it’s not bad. It’s not bad.”  The virus that emerged in central China in December has now spread to over 130 countries and territories and infected more than 138,000 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. It has so far led to 47 U.S. deaths after six more were reported on Friday in hard-hit Washington state and one in Colorado. Trump said his declaration of a national emergency will “unleash the full power of the federal government” to help states and territories in the fight. The announcement gave Wall Street a much-needed boost with the Dow and benchmark S&P 500 both ending the day more than 9% higher. “Through talent or through luck, call it whatever you want, but through a very collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination, we will overcome the threat of the virus,” Trump said. Trump said the battered cruise ship industry could expect help. “We will be helping them and we will be helping the airline industry if we have to, assuming we have to,” he said. Trump had been heavily focused on hard-hit industries in making sure the U.S. economy is not devastated by a slowdown in consumer activity as a result of the virus. On Friday, he used much of his appearance to focus on the potential human toll of the respiratory illness than can cause pneumonia in severe cases. He urged every state to set up emergency centers to help fight the coronavirus. “We’ll remove or eliminate every obstacle necessary to deliver our people the care that they need and that they’re entitled to. No resource will be spared, nothing whatsoever,” he said. Pressure has been mounting for Trump to declare an infectious disease emergency under the 1988 law that would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide disaster funds to state and local governments and to deploy support teams. President Bill Clinton in 2000 employed the rarely used measure to declare such an emergency for West Nile virus. Trump said the federal government was partnering with the private sector to accelerate production of test kits to make them more widely available to Americans. He said there will be about 5 million coronavirus tests available soon but doubted that that many will be needed. He urged Americans to only seek the test if they feel they need it. “We don’t want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn’t be doing it and we don’t want everyone running out and taking - only if you have certain symptoms,” he said. Alongside Trump was Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health expert who is on Trump’s coronavirus task force. He offered a cautious outlook for what may unfold in the short term. “We still have a long way to go. There will be many more cases. But we’ll take care of that,” said Fauci, long the nation’s top infectious disease expert. “What’s going on here today is going to help it end sooner than it would have.”  Trump said the federal government would waive interest on student loans and ordered the Energy Department to take advantage of low oil prices to top up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.",
            "output": [
                "Trump declares coronavirus national emergency, says he will most likely be tested."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2105df38eb6441c6a61e8002bbb3f52c",
            "input": "More than 2 percent of patients undergoing non-cardiac  vascular surgery — surgery to arteries and veins — die from  heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. Lescol, a so-called statin drug, appears to be effective in  reducing this risk by cutting inflammation and stabilizing  plaques in coronary arteries that might otherwise rupture, Don  Poldermans of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam said. Results of a 500-patient study presented by Poldermans at  the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology showed  only 10.9 percent of vascular surgery patients taking Lescol  suffered myocardial ischemia — reduced blood supply to the  heart muscle — against 18.9 percent of those on placebo. Lescol is less potent than some other statin drugs but  patients in the study were given the highest dose of the  medicine as an extended release formulation, which lasts around  four days. Lescol, known generically as fluvastatin, is one of  Novartis’s older products. Sales in 2007 totaled $665 million,  down 8 percent on a year earlier.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis's Lescol drug protects heart after surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5230868d4004890a4f1fbd5dacf6f2f",
            "input": "\"NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia recently unveiled a video that uses a montage of numbers to criticize Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s stance on funding for sex education programs. Among the claims: \"\"$400,000 -- approximate cost to Virginians to fund ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. $2.5 million -- federal funding for comprehensive sex education programs Virginia lost due to McDonnell’s political agenda.\"\" Are NARAL’s numbers and claims correct? We asked Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, for sources of the information. Let’s start with the statement that abstinence-only education costs the state $400,000. Keene said that’s a reference to match money Virginia provided to receive a federal grant for abstinence-only sex education. The payment allows Virginia to participate in the Title V Abstinence Education Grant Program administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program promotes abstinence until marriage to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. Last September, HHS announced Virginia would receive an $889,973 grant for abstinence education for fiscal 2010. States have until Sept. 30, 2012, to spend the money. The federal cash pays for 57 percent of the cost of abstinence programs approved by HHS. Participating states are required to provide the remaining 43 percent of cost. The match money can come from a variety of sources including from state coffers, foundation dollars and in-kind donations. Virginia was required to come up with about $670,000 to match the grant. Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for the governor, said in an e-mail that the state is paying $382,688 towards the match. The rest is coming from in-kind contributions and community organizations awarded contracts to implement the sexual abstinence programs. So NARAL is near the bull’s-eye in claiming Virginia is paying an \"\"approximate\"\" $400,000 for abstinence-until marriage programs. Caldwell noted that the state received federal abstinence education funding under previous governors going back to the 1990s. But in 2007, Democratic Governor Tim Kaine cut the state’s funding for abstinence-only education. McDonnell reversed that decision last year. At the same time, McDonnell chose not to seek money from another federal grant program that  teaches students about contraception in addition to abstinence -- the Personal Responsibility Education Program. Unlike the federal abstinence-only money, the comprehensive sex education grant requires no match. McDonnell’s refusal to participate drew criticism from NARAL and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. That brings us to the second part of NARAL’s claim, that Virginia lost $2.5 million in federal money for comprehensive sex education under McDonnell. As a source, NARAL cited an HHS 49-page announcement of the PREP grant, which was created under the 2010 health care reform law. The HHS synopsis shows Virginia was estimated to receive a total of $2,593,487 during fiscal years 2010 and 2011. That’s close to NARAL’s number. But NARAL is greatly understating its case. States that didn’t apply for the grant in fiscal 2010 and 2011 are not eligible to seek funding for the 2012-2014 fiscal years. So Virginia potentially missed out on much more than $2.6 million. Estimates for 2012-2014 allotments are not available, said Kenneth Wolfe, an HHS spokesman. Let’s recap:  A video by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said that abstinence-only programs pursued under McDonnell have cost the state about $400,000. Meanwhile, the group says the state missed out on about $2.5 million in federal funding for comprehensive sex education. It’s  the state spent about $400,000 for a federal abstinence-only grant. And it’s  that the McDonnell administration did not apply for a comprehensive sex education grant that would have sent almost $2.6 million to Virginia during fiscal year 2010 and 2011. Because Virginia is now ineligible to apply for the comprehensive grant through 2014, the state will wind up declining a much greater amount of money than NARAL claimed. We won’t penalize NARAL for understating its case. Its statement is .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Virginia spends $400,000 on abstinence programs while losing $2.5 million in federal funds due to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s \"\"political agenda.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab51c8bb283c4ef7a155f82e720b19ce",
            "input": "An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a decent chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say. The last flu season to rev up this early was in 2003-2004 — a bad one. Some experts think the early start may mean a lot of suffering is in store, but others say it’s too early to tell. “It really depends on what viruses are circulating. There’s not a predictable trend as far as if it’s early it’s going to be more severe, or later, less severe,” said Scott Epperson, who tracks flu-like illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are different types of flu viruses, and the one causing illnesses in most parts of the country is a surprise. It’s a version that normally doesn’t abound until March or April. That virus generally isn’t as dangerous to older people — good news, since most flu hospitalizations and deaths each winter occur in the elderly. However, such viruses can be hard on children and people younger than 50. Louisiana was the first state to really get hit hard, with doctors there saying they began seeing large numbers of flu-like illnesses in October. Children’s Hospital New Orleans has already seen more flu cases this fall than it saw all of last winter, said Dr. Toni Gross, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine. Last month was the busiest ever at the hospital’s emergency department. Officials had to set up a triage system and add extra shifts, Gross said. “It is definitely causing symptoms that will put you in bed for a week,” including fever, vomiting and diarrhea. But the hospital has not had any deaths and is not seeing many serious complications, she said. Health officials tend to consider a flu season to be officially underway when — for at least three weeks in a row — a significant percentage of U.S. doctor’s office visits are due to flu-like illnesses. That’s now happened, CDC officials said this week. The agency on Friday estimated that there have already been 1.7 million flu illnesses, 16,000 hospitalizations, and 900 flu-related deaths nationally. The most intense patient traffic had been occurring in a six states stretching from Texas to Georgia. But in new numbers released Friday, CDC officials said the number of states with intense activity rose last week to 12. Flu is widespread in 16 states, though not necessarily at intense levels in each, the CDC said. Last flu season started off as a mild one but turned out to be the longest in 10 years. It ended with around 49,000 flu-related deaths and 590,000 hospitalizations, according to preliminary estimates. It was bad, but not as bad as the one before it, when flu caused an estimated 61,000 deaths and 810,000 hospitalizations. Those 2017-2018 estimates are new: The CDC last month revised them down from previous estimates as more data — including actual death certificates — came in. In both of the previous two flu seasons, the flu vaccine performed poorly against the nasty predominant virus. It’s too early to say how well the vaccine is performing right now, Epperson said. Epperson said there’s a chance the flu season will peak this month, which would be unusually early. Flu season usually doesn’t hit fever pitch until around February. The early start suggests a lot Americans may be sick at the same time, said Dave Osthus, a statistician who does flu forecasting at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “This could be a precursor to something pretty bad. But we don’t know,” he said. Gross is pessimistic. “I, personally, am preparing for the worst,” she said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "US flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9f70862dd2bf413f95b90879fd7abc20",
            "input": "\"As the products used in the study are not commercially available, there was no mention of their presumptive costs. (It might have been interesting to explore how fortified margarines compare in cost to those which are not.) The story indicate that there did not appear to be any advantage from the use of the fortified margarines. However – the study actually found a suggestion of a statistical benefit in the sub-population of individuals who had had a prior heart attack and who also had diabetes. This is a correction of our originally-posted score on this criterion. The story did, indeed, report that \"\"there were no harmful side effects.\"\" Adequate description of the study and of its possible limitations. No overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from sources not involved in the study. The story mentioned the increasing number of foods on the shelves that are fortified with omega-3 fatty acids and perhaps the results of this study will make readers question whether such fortification is actually value added. While indicating that the people in the study were receiving optimal medical therapy, the story did not mention other possible means by which individuals who have had a heart attack can lower their chance of having another one. Even one line of such context would have been appreciated and helpful. While indicating that Unilever makes an omega-3 fortified margarine, the story didn’t mention that the margarines used in the study were specifically formulated for the study and are not commercially available. However – there are commercially available margarines that are fortified with omega-3 fatty acids. Although the story was not clear that the margarines used in the study were prepared exclusively for use in the study, it did indicate that similarly fortified products are commercially available. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: More omega-3 fats didn’t aid heart patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d97e757c55ea4143a922bf18acb637f0",
            "input": "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that officials are urging at-risk people, such as recreational drug users and the homeless, to get vaccinated. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Wednesday that the state has recorded 414 cases in 35 counties since September 2017, mostly in the southeast part of the state. Only about 10 cases per year were reported before then. Health officials say the virus has sent 233 people to the hospital and caused two deaths. Hepatitis A is a viral infection. It usually spreads when a person ingests the virus from objects, food or drinks contaminated by undetected amounts of stool from an infected person. ___ Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com",
            "output": [
                "Health officials raise concerns about hepatitis A outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1121aa7d1ffc4226a7495cb990a6b9f3",
            "input": "The story quotes one price estimate of about $250 for the testing. We would have liked more detail about whether new details on accuracy of the tests might change their status in the marketplace, or whether insurability status might change. Parents who fear their child may inherit gender-linked disorders, such as hemophilia, could use this test earlier in pregnancy and possibly avoid more invasive procedures, such as amniocentesis. Amniocentesis carries a risk of miscarriage. We would have liked some numbers about how many women in the US are facing this dilemma; the situations that carry benefit are few. The average gestational “age” at enrollment in prenatal care in the US is after the window in which most of these tests are marketed. So that means if a couple did not know that they needed to think about X-linked mental retardation “fragile X” (which affect males) or hemophilia, the use of the test would not really be integrated into their care. Could have been more skeptical of why they are really being marketed – closer to entertainment ultrasounds than medical care. Yes, the story lists potential harms. These range from inaccuracy, because the tests are unregulated and the laboratories don’t have to meet medical standards, to the potential for abortions based on fetal gender. This story does not evaluate the quality of the evidence in the new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which prompted the headlines. We applaud some of the details, giving consumers information about the lawsuit about one consumer product, but the discussion leaves readers confused about how to evaluate reliability. We’re surprised that the story didn’t point out in absolute terms that 5 of every 100 tests of girls and 1 of every 100 boys will be wrong – 6 out of a hundred multiplied by millions of pregnancies a year! That’s a lot of errors even if uptake is minimal. This story balances the potential for danger in giving parents early information about the sex of a fetus and the genuine benefit for some in avoiding more invasive testing when a condition is ruled out by knowing the gender information. The story quoted four sources, in addition to the study’s lead author. The story explains how parents who fear a sex-linked genetic problem for their fetus must balance risk against benefit in existing alternatives.It did not do a very detailed job of comparing how the new approach could compare, especially considering there is a risk of inaccurate results in the new approach. The hypothetical target group for these tests is much, much smaller than the broader use is and might become. It did do a better job than the Reuters story in describing other tests (urine tests) that have been developed. Yes, the story explains there are a variety of tests that have been widely available to consumers. But the story could have done a better job of connecting the dots for readers. Exactly how does one get a blood test done for a home test kit? Raises questions like: do I go to a lab? Finger stick? Are their costs other than the test? Shipping? Do I do this at home myself? Working with my medical care team? How soon do I get the results?, etc. Process of using several common kits could have been better described. The new research was on testing that is not novel, but by surveying 57 other studies, they reached a new conclusion about overall accuracy and how early in pregnancy it could predict gender. The story did not rely on a release.",
            "output": [
                "Test Can Tell Fetal Sex at 7 Weeks, Study Says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-039bb12d58a2450d8e19c5a8c6da6e2c",
            "input": "A few weeks later, all three children were dead, victims of the worst measles outbreak on the Indian Ocean island in decades. Measles cases are on the rise globally, including in wealthy nations such as the United States and Germany, where some parents shun life-saving vaccines due to false theories suggesting links between childhood immunizations and autism. In Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries, parents are desperate to vaccinate their children, many trudging for miles to get to clinics for shots. But there are not enough vaccines, the health ministry says, and many people are too poor to afford them. Fisherman Dada – like many Malagasy, he only uses one name – had taken his son Limberaza to be vaccinated once already in their home in the southern district of Fort Dauphin. But a second-dose booster shot cost $15 at a clinic - and the whole family survives on less than $2 a day - so he took the boy to a back-street doctor instead. “I could not afford to take him to the hospital,” Dada said quietly as his young wife silently held Limberaza’s two-year-old brother. In January, Limberaza began to cough. A rash followed. After a week, he died, his body afire with fever. By then Dada’s niece, three-year-old Martina, was also sick. Her weeping mother Martine stroked her face as her fever spiked. She died eight days later. That evening, his other sister Pela’s three-year-old son Mario died as she clutched his hands. “They were so full of life,” Dada said, his voice breaking. The three cousins are among the almost 1,000 people, mostly children, who have died from measles in Madagascar since October. Their deaths show the grim reality for those left unprotected from one of the world’s most contagious diseases. The virus, which can cause blindness, pneumonia, brain swelling and death, is able to survive for up to two hours in the air after a cough or sneeze, where it can easily infect people nearby. Even though there is a highly effective vaccine, globally, around 110,000 people died from measles in 2017, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most, like Limberaza and his cousins, were children under the age of five. During 2000 to 2017, the WHO estimates that widespread use of measles vaccinations prevented 21.1 million deaths - making the shots one of what the United Nations’ health agency calls the “best buys in public health.”  Yet misinformation is knocking confidence in the safety of vaccinations and has jeopardized progress against measles - allowing the disease to gain a hold again in places where it was considered almost beaten. Europe last year saw its highest level of measles cases in a decade, and in January, the WHO named “vaccine hesitancy” - the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate - as one of the top ten global health threats for 2019. In Madagascar, poverty is a bigger risk. While wealthy tourists flock to its rainforests to spot wide-eyed lemurs and business people bargain for its luminous sapphires and fragrant vanilla, nearly half of Madagascar’s children are malnourished, the highest rate in Africa. The former French colony has been battered by decades of coups and instability. Foreign aid plummeted after a 2009 coup sparked bitter political street fighting. Corrupt leaders ignored the crumbling healthcare system despite frequent outbreaks of plague, hemorrhagic fevers and deadly viruses. Measles is endemic on the island but the last vaccination drive was in 2004. Nearly two-thirds of children have not been vaccinated, according to the WHO and coverage needs to be around 95 percent to prevent the virus spreading in communities. The country is $3 million short of the $7 million needed for enough measles vaccines to cover its population, the WHO said last month. There are other hurdles. The vaccines must be kept cold, but less than 15 percent of people in Madagascar have electricity. Roads are mostly mud in the tropical country; journeys are arduous and expensive. At least 922 people - mostly children - have died of measles in Madagascar since October, the WHO says, despite an emergency program that has vaccinated 2.2 million of the 26 million population so far. Some of those, like Limberaza, had previously been vaccinated but had only received one shot, and still needed a second booster jab. Madagascar hopes to roll out a free routine two-dose vaccination program this year. Currently, the first shot is free but the booster is not. Despite the difficulties, some parents walk miles seeking shots, said Jean Benoît Mahnes, deputy representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund in Madagascar. But they often arrive to find the clinic closed, or a doctor with no vaccine, or a vaccine that has expired. “Vaccinating a child can be a real obstacle course here,” he said. Lydia Rahariseheno, 33, said she had to walk an hour and a half to a clinic along a road plagued by robbers to get her three children vaccinated. She has only managed to get one shot so far because the doctor is often not there. The health system’s failures mean poverty-stricken parents often take sick children to traditional healers who prescribe a herb, tingotingo, which is boiled and given to them to drink. The children are only brought to a hospital when their condition deteriorates, said Manitra Rakotoarivony, director of health promotion at the Ministry of Public Health. Limberaza’s father hoped a second, cheaper shot would protect him - but it didn’t. His cousins Mario and Martine weren’t vaccinated at all. Now the family is desperate to protect their remaining children. “We did not expect the failure to vaccinate him would kill him,” wept Pela, Mario’s mother. “My other child, for sure, I am going to take him to get vaccinated.”",
            "output": [
                "Pardoned felons are allowed to vote.",
                "Without vaccine, hundreds of children die in Madagascar measles outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3e00a243c7bc40219001b8059f1a8916",
            "input": "\"When the Senate was debating the farm bill recently, Sen. Ron Wyden highlighted the haphazard nature of the way food is purchased and provided to the school lunch program under a program known as USDA Foods. His point was simple: A lot of the food from one program in particular that ends up in school kitchens comes from points far away from the schools serving it. Using local sources of food might be cheaper, he argued, and it certainly would be more nutritious. Wyden offered an amendment that would establish pilot programs at five locations nationwide to see if using local food could be both cheaper and better. Wyden’s amendment, which passed the Senate, would give school officials in five \"\"pilot\"\" areas far more flexibility in deciding where they purchase food. Right now, schools that agree to take part in the program, USDA Foods, are locked into a system that almost always forces them to purchase food from outside Oregon. That program is small, supplying only 20 percent of the food used in school nutrition programs but Wyden said the $11 million a year spent on it for Oregon schools should be used for food produced in Oregon. So he offered an amendment for give states and local districts more flexibility in navigating the USDA Foods system. The program offers a list of mostly bulk items that states purchase and then supply to local districts. According to a USDA description, \"\"Schools are ordering more bulk products that can be processed into kid-friendly items. … Decisions about what products schools order are not based just on the item’s popularity but on its overall usefulness in meeting nutritional standards.\"\" Wyden’s amendment would allow local officials, working in collaboration with state purchasing agents, more flexibility in where they can buy the food to overcome a system that brings most of the food to Oregon from other states. While small and limited, Wyden said it’s important nonetheless and changing the program would bring extra dollars to the local economy while also providing more nutritious food. After it passed, the Oregon Democrat drove home the point in a news release: \"\"Oregon schools receive millions of dollars per year in federal school lunch assistance and yet they are required to spend that money almost anywhere but Oregon.\"\" That is the kind of statement PolitiFact Oregon can really chew on. There’s no doubt that the federal government spends \"\"millions of dollars\"\" to pay for school meals in Oregon. That part of Wyden’s statement isn’t in doubt. But the second part made us wonder. Is it really  that most of the food purchased for Oregon schools under USDA Foods ended up with food from \"\"almost anywhere but Oregon?\"\" To answer, you have to dive into federal rules governing USDA Foods and some of the department’s school food programs. It is a dense and complicated business that is as close as government gets to an extreme sport. Even the experts admit they don’t always understand all the rules and requirements. Here's just one section:  \"\"At the beginning of each school year, State agencies shall establish the per meal rates of reimbursement for school food authorities participating in the Program. These rates of reimbursement may be assigned at levels based on financial need; except that, the rates are not to exceed the maximum rates of reimbursement established by the Secretary under §210.4(b) and are to permit reimbursement for the total number of lunches in the State from funds available under §210.4. Within each school food authority, the State agency shall assign the same rate of reimbursement from general cash assistance funds for all lunches served to children under the Program.\"\" Had enough? There’s plenty more, but we’ll spare you. The regulations run 65 pages. Wyden’s spokeswoman Jennifer Hoelzer admitted her boss’s statement was based on piles of \"\"anecdotal evidence\"\" derived from talks with school officials as well as those at the Agriculture Department because detailed records are hard to find. But we found some. The best is a spreadsheet compiled by David Jones at the Oregon Department of Education that was also shared with Wyden. It reveals that only seven food purchases out of 166 during the 2011-12 school year came from Oregon from the USDA Foods program. That’s 4 percent for those of you who need help with the math. Cheese came from Missouri and Minnesota as well as other states. Oregon schools used meatless spaghetti sauce bought in Indiana, applesauce from Michigan and peanut butter from New Mexico. And then there was California, a  category killer that supplied Oregon schools with everything from peaches to salsa to something called \"\"Burrito, Beef & Bean Bulk\"\" and frozen strawberries. Forget Oregon cheese and strawberries, foodies. The only products bought from Oregon vendors were green beans, chicken fajita strips and frozen potato rounds. Are the schools \"\"required\"\" to buy out-of-state food if they choose to take part in USDA Foods? No. USDA Foods is voluntary. But most schools take part which means, as a practical matter, the answer is yes. Schools that take federal money for the nutrition must purchase their food through the USDA’s program. And the rules governing the program almost guarantee the sale will be made out of state. So we conclude with records that all point in the same direction. Following federal procurement rules, which schools have to do to get federal money, leaves them little choice about what to buy and where to buy it, at least for USDA Foods. It’s unknown whether the portion of out-of-state food is similarly lopsided for the entire school nutrition effort in Oregon. But for USDA Foods, the one definitive document we found shows unambiguous results -- 96 percent of food served in Oregon schools and purchased with federal dollars came from another state. That fits within any definition of \"\"almost anywhere but Oregon,\"\".\"",
            "output": [
                "Oregon schools receive millions of dollars per year in federal school lunch assistance and yet they are required to spend that money almost anywhere but Oregon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b1e23286a3b40a280589c2dc82e1e76",
            "input": "The World Health Organization has so far resisted describing the crisis as such, saying the word “pandemic” might spook the world further and lead some countries to lose hope of containing the virus. “Unless we’re convinced it’s uncontrollable, why (would) we call it a pandemic?” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week. The U.N. health agency has previously described a pandemic as a situation in which a new virus is causing “sustained community-level outbreaks” in at least two world regions. Many experts say that threshold has long been met: The virus that was first identified in China is now spreading freely in four regions, it has reached every continent but Antarctica, and its advance seems unavoidable. The disease has managed to gain a foothold and multiply quickly even in countries with relatively strong public health systems. On Friday, the virus hit a new milestone, infecting more than 100,000 people worldwide, far more than those sickened by SARS, MERS or Ebola in recent years. “I think it’s pretty clear we’re in a pandemic and I don’t know why WHO is resisting that,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Experts acknowledge that declaring a pandemic is politically fraught because it can rattle markets, lead to more drastic travel and trade restrictions and stigmatize people coming from affected regions. WHO was previously criticized for labeling the 2009 swine flu outbreak a pandemic. But experts said calling this crisis a pandemic could also spur countries to prepare for the virus’s eventual arrival. WHO already declared the virus a “global health emergency’ in late January, putting countries and humanitarian organizations on notice and issuing a broad set of recommendations to curb its spread. Even in countries that moved quickly to shut down their links to China, COVID-19 has managed to sneak in. Within a matter of weeks, officials in Italy, Iran and South Korea went from reporting single new cases to hundreds. “We were the first country to stop flights to China and we were completely surprised by this disease,” said Massimo Galli, an infectious-diseases professor at the University of Milan. “It’s dangerous for the entire world that the virus is able to spread underground like this.” With more than 3,800 cases, Italy is the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak and has shut down schools, closed sports stadiums to fans and urged the elderly not to go outside unless absolutely necessary. But it has still exported cases of the virus to at least 10 countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, South Africa and Nigeria. Devi Sridhar, a professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh who co-chaired a review of WHO’s response to the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said a pandemic declaration is long overdue. “This outbreak meets all the definitions for a pandemic that we had pre-coronavirus,” she said. At a news conference last month, Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said a pandemic is “a unique situation in which we believe that all citizens on the planet” will likely be exposed to a virus “within a defined period of time.”  Several experts said they hadn’t heard that definition. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for its part, defines a pandemic as “an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.” ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "As virus outbreaks multiply, UN declines to declare pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1bdb4392e8c44ea8c032f3a2062da0f",
            "input": "The story of Jean Hilliard, a woman who made a full recovery after she was found frozen stiff in the snow in Minnesota, has been shared in various forms since it was first published in 1980. And with each reiteration the story has grown more astonishing. One of the first reports of the incident, which was published by the Montreal Gazette on 30 December 1980, explained how Hilliard had collapsed on a 22-below-zero night as she tried to seek shelter after a minor car accident. The young woman was found “frozen solid” approximately six hours later and brought to a hospital:   She breathed shallowly two or three times a minute and her heart beat faintly eight times a minute. Dr. George Sather said that “I thought she was dead, but then we picked up an extremely faint whimper. We knew there was a person existing then.”  Jean’s chances of surviving were rated slim — her body temperature didn’t even register on the thermometer, and that meant it was less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. “There was no evidence of a pulse or blood pressure,” said Sather’s brother, Dr. Edgar Sather. “Her body was too frozen to find a vein to get a pulse.”  Most of the stories published about Jean Hilliard immediately after the incident credited electric heating pads and oxygen tanks for her recovery, but with each retelling the story became more miraculous. When Weekly World News (the same publication has brought audiences fantastically fictional stories about the half-bat, half-human “Bat Boy” and Hitler’s UFO escape) published their version of the story in January 1981, quotes from Hilliard’s parents were added that credited her recovery to the power of prayer. Guide Post Magazine took this theme a step further, claiming that a prayer chain had saved Jean Hilliard’s life:  Mrs. Erickson hurried to her office and made a phone call to the prayer chain chairman at the Baptist church where her husband is pastor. The prayer chain was set in motion. The prayer chain was lengthening. Mrs. Erickson called the pastors of the Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist and Bethel Assembly churches in Fosston. They, in turn, called the chairmen of their prayer chain groups, who passed the word along. During the first hours that the prayer chain was underway, my legs and feet, instead of getting darker as Dr. Sather expected, started to lighten and regain their natural color. One after another, the doctors and nurses filed in to marvel at the pinkish tinge appearing at the line of demarcation where the darkness started on my upper thighs — the place where Dr. Sather said he thought they might have to amputate. The prayer chain spread to the nearby towns of Crookston and Bemidji, and into Grand Forks, North Dakota. Soon hundreds, then thousands of people were aware that a young woman had been brought in to the Fosston hospital frozen solid and was in desperate need of God’s miraculous healing. While some may consider Hilliard’s recovery a “miracle” (the New York Times even quoted Dr. Sather’s deeming the young woman’s survival as such), her experience was not a rare one. In an article published by the Spartanburg Herald in January 1981, Dr. Richard Iseke said that it was not unusual for freezing victims to make full recoveries:  The recovery of a Minnesota woman frozen stiff after a nightling ordeal in sub-zero weather was described as a miracle by her doctor. But other physicians say such “miracles” are not all that rare: freezing victims have recovered fully even after prolonged periods without heartbeats. “There’s a term we have that says no one is dead until he’s warm and dead,” said Dr. Richard Iseke, associated director of the Boston Emergency Medical Center, which every winter treats victims of freezing or, more accurately, hypothermia. Although Hilliard is undeniably lucky to survive, Iseke said “there are numerous case reports in the medical literature of people who have survived (with interior body temperatures) as low as 68 or 69 degrees. The human body reacts to extreme cold much like a hibernating animal: internal activity is slowed, which dramatically reduces the cells’ demand for oxygen from the blood. Jean Hilliard’s recovery was incredible — some may even say miraculous — but it is not an “unsolved medical mystery”:",
            "output": [
                "Jean Hilliard made a full recovery after she was found frozen in sub-zero temperatures."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e39d138ff3ef46678b58d624e46901a0",
            "input": "The company’s internal “marketing standards” prohibit it from promoting tobacco products with youth-oriented celebrities or “models who are or appear to be under the age of 25.”  The company told Reuters of the decision late Friday, saying it had launched an internal investigation into marketing posts and photographs that Reuters sent to the company for comment earlier this week. They included a paid post plugging the tobacco product by social media “influencer” Alina Tapilina in Moscow - who listed her age as 21 on Instagram - alongside often seductive photos of herself drinking wine, swimming and posing with little clothing in luxurious settings. “We have taken the decision to suspend all of our product-related digital influencer actions globally,” the company told Reuters. “Whilst the influencer in question is a legal age adult smoker, she is under 25 and our guidance called for influencers to be 25+ years of age. This was a clear breach of that guidance.”  “No laws were broken,” the company told Reuters. “However, we set high standards for ourselves and these facts do not excuse our failure to meet those standards in this instance.”  The company added: “We were deeply disappointed to discover this breach and are grateful that it was brought to our attention.”  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month decided it would allow sales of the IQOS device in the United States after a two-year review process in which Philip Morris repeatedly assured the regulator that it would warn young people away from the product. The FDA declined to comment Friday evening on Philip Morris’s decision to suspend the marketing campaign. The agency earlier said it would “keep a close watch on ... how the company is marketing its products.”  While most of the social media influencers hired by Philip Morris overseas did not list their ages on Instagram, a Reuters review of the firm’s social media marketing of IQOS in Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Romania shows that Tapilina’s online persona was typical of what the company called its social media “ambassadors” for the device - rail-thin young women who revel in the high life. The company did not directly respond to additional questions Friday night regarding the intended audience for its digital influencer campaigns. Many of the messages contained the hashtag “#IQOSambassador,” tying them into a network of social media influencers that the international tobacco giant has relied on to brand the IQOS as a safer alternative to cigarettes and a sexy fashion accessory. “I finally have the new IQOS 3, and I can confidently say yes to change … the level of harmful substances is on average about 90 percent lower than in smoke,” Tapilina wrote in an April post. “You haven’t yet switched to IQOS?”  One Romanian IQOS marketer is 25 years old, according to a separate actress biography, but did not list her age on Instagram. Tapilina and nine other IQOS marketers did not respond to requests for comment. Philip Morris, in its statement to Reuters, said its suspension of the social marketing campaign is “concrete proof” of its “conviction to achieve a smoke-free world through socially responsible practices.”  Matthew Myers, president of The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, had a different take upon hearing of the suspension Friday night. The advocacy group collected some of the IQOS marketing images reviewed by Reuters. Philip Morris, he said, “is changing their behavior only when caught red-handed.”  The company, Myers said, has historically been “the single most successful across the globe in making cigarettes fashionable to young people.”  Over the past year, Philip Morris has increasingly publicized its “mission” to prevent young people from using tobacco products. Last month, it issued a release calling on “all tobacco and e-cigarette companies to do their part to guard against youth nicotine use.”  “Let me be clear: We at Philip Morris International do not, and will not, market or sell our products to youth,” CEO André Calantzopoulos said during a speech in Boston earlier this month. “For Philip Morris International, age matters.”  When Philip Morris submitted marketing plans with an FDA application for IQOS in 2017, its sample advertisements featured models appearing at least a decade older and wearing modest, professional clothes. That application, which is still pending before the FDA, seeks approval to market the IQOS as less harmful than smoking and outlines company plans to ensure it doesn’t market the device to “non-intended audiences.” The device heats up but does not burn packages of ground-up tobacco, which resemble small cigarettes, to create a nicotine-filled aerosol. In Japan, the intended audience for IQOS marketing includes the Instagram followers of Ayame Tachibana, a 27-year-old DJ and model. In one post, she shows off a Valentine’s Day message for the IQOS device, lovingly scrawled with multicolored pens. “Happy Valentine IQOS. Love you sooo much!” reads the Instagram post from February. Alina Eremia, a Romanian actress and singer, holds a gold-colored IQOS in front of a Christmas tree. “My list of resolutions contains 95% fewer moments without a smile,” says Eremia, who is 25 according to her actress biography on multiple movie and celebrity information websites. Philip Morris says the IQOS - an acronym for “I quit ordinary smoking” – contains up to 95 percent fewer toxic compounds than cigarettes. Vlad Parvulescu, a manager for Eremia, confirmed she had been hired to promote IQOS and said she had been contacted by a Romanian public relations agency. He did not respond to additional questions about the financial arrangement. Marketing deals between companies and social media influencers vary widely, according to industry experts. But typically a company will work through third-party public relations or advertising firms that have relationships with online personalities. Compensation typically ranges from $20 to $25,000 or more for each post. Corporations have become increasingly sophisticated in how they approach their social media campaigns in the past two years, said Joe Gagliese, co-founder of Viral Nation, a marketing and talent agency that works with influencers. He once had to explain the basic concept of an “influencer” in pitch meetings. Now, companies approach him with “tailor-made decision briefs saying, ‘this is exactly what we want.’”  Reuters reviewed dozens of social media posts featuring the IQOS device. Many included hashtags such as #IQOSAmbassador, #paidad, and #notriskfree, indicating that they are IQOS marketing posts. Many of the Instagram influencers featuring the products had tens of thousands of followers, and a few had more than a million. Devices such as IQOS and Juul hold potential as a way for cigarette smokers to transition to less harmful nicotine products, but some public health advocates worry the sleek new devices are addicting young people who would have never smoked cigarettes. Among traditional cigarette smokers, 90 percent start smoking before the age of 18, according to federal data. Philip Morris said there have been “no reports” of “worrisome levels” of unintended use of IQOS. As part of the FDA review process, Philip Morris pledged to market only to adult cigarette smokers once it begins selling IQOS this summer through a partnership with Altria Group Inc, which sells Marlboro cigarettes in the U.S. IQOS delivers about the same level of nicotine as a traditional cigarette. Altria did not respond to requests for comment. Social media marketing has become a flashpoint in the debate over regulation of tobacco products, particularly the newest generation of products such as the wildly popular Juul e-cigarettes. Some of Juul’s early social media and YouTube marketing included images of attractive young people, particularly at a 2015 product launch party. Twitter images from that time on Juul’s official account featured sensual images of a young woman breathing out Juul vapor in a group, next to the slogan, “Share a #Juulmoment.”  Those early campaigns sparked an explosion of video and photo posts from young people showing themselves using the product at school or with friends, often under the hashtags #doit4juul or #juullife. Juul Labs Inc has since said it stopped using social media influencers and requires anyone in its ads to be a former cigarette smoker older than 35. Juul Labs Inc said in a statement it recognizes that “some of our earliest marketing initiatives did not fully reflect the goal of our company,” which it describes as helping cigarette smokers transition to its products. “As a young company, we learned from our experiences and instituted changes to help ensure that we are only reaching current adult smokers,” the company said. U.S. laws governing tobacco advertising - which is banned on radio and television - were drawn up long before social media and digital advertising became a dominant force in consumer marketing. Although no current state or federal law restricts tobacco advertising on the Internet - including for e-cigarettes and devices such as IQOS - the FDA can use its authority over new devices to assert sweeping control over a company’s marketing. As a condition for allowing the device to be sold, the FDA is requiring Philip Morris to provide detailed analyses of the age ranges of consumers it reaches through digital advertising. Philip Morris is also required to submit any new advertising campaigns, including digital and social media efforts, to the FDA at least 30 days before it plans to launch them. Any paid influencers promoting the product also must disclose “any relationships between you and entities that create labeling for, advertise, market, and/or promote the products, on your behalf, or at your direction.”  Those rules aim to restrict youth access to tobacco marketing, the FDA said in a statement, “especially in shared digital properties such as social media sites.”",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: Philip Morris suspends social media campaign after Reuters exposes young 'influencers'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4afbdd1ea2674ad591c9c3421e4b80f3",
            "input": "Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland last year after the British parliament bypassed opposition from socially conservative Christian politicians in Belfast to bring the region into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, where abortion has been legal for decades. But the regional health ministry missed an April 1 deadline to begin providing abortion just as the coronavirus pandemic complicated the government’s recommended back-up option of travelling to England for the procedure. “We are in a worse position than we have ever been in,” said abortion rights activist Emma Campbell, co-chair of the Alliance for Choice group, which has seen a five-fold increase in calls for help since the travel restrictions were introduced. “Access is worse than it has been for over 50 years.”  One 39-year-old education worker from County Down who is seven weeks pregnant and seeking an abortion said she had been told by her local doctor that no provision had been set up to provide abortions in Northern Ireland. “I was told I would have to take a ferry, take the pill in the clinic in the morning, then take the other pill and then get the ferry home,” she told Reuters. “What is happening to women in Northern Ireland is inhumane,” she said. “Having to sneak out to get to Liverpool is not what should be happening in 2020.”  The only British clinics currently available for women from Northern Ireland seeking publicly funded abortions are in Manchester and Liverpool, but no direct flights are available due to the coronavirus lock-down, activists say. A spokeswoman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which operates the government’s booking system for Northern Ireland women requiring abortions, said that due to flight cancellations the ferry was currently the only viable route. “Some in the Northern Ireland Executive are clearly attempting to delay the widespread establishment of services, by refusing to commission services for example ...” spokeswoman Katherine O’Brien said. Amnesty International described the situations as “unfair, dangerous and needlessly putting women and girls at risk” and said it was worried it would lead to women attempting unsafe abortions. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster, who like Health Minister Robin Swann describes herself as “pro-life”, on Monday told a press conference she was against “abortion on demand.”  “It’s a retrograde step for our society,” she said. Foster’s Democratic Unionist Party on Monday voted against a proposal to allow doctors to prescribe the abortion pill via telephone consultations - a measure that has been introduced across the rest of the United Kingdom in the wake of coronavirus lockdown while Swann’s Ulster Unionist Party abstained, a source close to the Northern Ireland executive told Reuters. The leader of the non-sectarian Alliance Party Stephen Farry wrote a letter to Swann saying women in Northern Ireland had been left in an “untenable situation.”  The department of health said it was “considering this urgently” but said it would be an issue for the Northern Ireland executive to decide. Alliance for Choice says it has been forced to return to its practice from before abortion was decriminalised and work with other groups to try to source abortion pills from the internet and get a doctor in the Netherlands to assess women and prescribe the pills even though it is not legal to prescribe abortion pills for home use in Northern Ireland. However, even this is dependent on supply of pills which have been severely limited by coronavirus, Campbell said. Activists say that in addition to a surge in calls seeking help, they have seen a number of examples of women self-harming and at least one attempting suicide. Another pregnant woman, a 29 year old beauty industry worker from Belfast, said she had asked a local charity to send her pills but she had no idea if or when they would arrive. “At this time nothing is certain and it’s very scary that it’s completely out of my hands,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Northern Irish women told to sail to England for abortions despite pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95fcd6975f2a496f9ae55fdcfd01745e",
            "input": "This year’s National Health Interview Survey was the first to ask about sexual orientation in addition to health habits in its 57-year history, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Bisexual women were twice as likely to experience serious anxiety while bisexual men were more likely to indulge in binge drinking than others, according to the survey. In the survey of more than 34,500 Americans age 18 and above, 1.6 percent reported that they were gay and 0.7 percent reported that they were bisexual. A total of 96.6 percent reported being straight and 1.1 percent either said they were “something else,” did not know or declined to answer. Roughly twice as many women than men identified as bisexual, with 0.9 percent of female respondents saying they were attracted to both sexes. Bisexual women were twice as likely to report having serious anxiety than any other group, with almost 11 percent saying they had been distressed in the past month. Among bisexual men, almost 52 percent said they had five drinks or more in a night during the past year compared with only 31 percent of straight men. Gays and bisexuals fared as well or better than their straight peers in some areas, like exercising, taking HIV tests and receiving flu vaccines. “The differences went both ways, and it depends on the specific indicator that you were looking at,” said Brian Ward, a lead author on the survey and health statistician for the CDC’s statistical arm. The CDC said the survey findings were in line with other  research on health and sexual orientation, though a smaller proportion of people in this survey identified as bisexual than in other studies.",
            "output": [
                "Government report finds 2.3 percent of Americans gay or bisexual."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-936785cb090d4fc5bcf5b29fd8983d5f",
            "input": "As of Aug. 2, Kansas is requiring a meningitis vaccine for students beginning seventh grade and students entering 11th grade who weren’t vaccinated before their 16th birthdays. And students entering kindergarten or first grade need two doses of the hepatitis A vaccine. The vaccines are required for children in public and private schools and are in addition to five other mandated vaccines. Exceptions are allowed for religious or medical reasons. Connie Newcome, president of Kansans for Health Freedom, said the nonprofit has grown larger since the Kansas Department of Health and Environment held a hearing on the two new vaccination requirements in June, The Kansas City Star reported. “I think most people in Kansas are independent enough that they prefer to make their own family decisions without the government telling them what to do,” said Newcome, a grandmother living outside Hutchinson who says she stopped vaccinating her children decades ago. The new requirements follow recommendations of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. “Both of these illnesses are severe and preventable, and the safety profile of the vaccines is well-recognized, in keeping with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and other scientific authority,” said Kristi Pankratz, a spokeswoman with the state health department. Members of the anti-vaccination group told The Star they worry about the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on scientific studies. Many also discussed their children’s illnesses and disorders, which they claim occurred or grew worse after vaccinations — despite research largely showing the contrary. Christine White, a Johnson County physician, said research shows the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks, especially with life-threatening diseases such as meningitis. “Parents who refuse meningitis (vaccines) often say their children aren’t at risk because they’re homeschooled or aren’t often in group environments. And we try to discuss it only takes one sneeze or one shared drink with a kid who has it to get it,” White said. “I’ve had a few converts with that one. But meningitis scares people. People know that it can kill you.” In 2017, 72% of Kansas teenagers had been vaccinated against meningitis, lower than the national average of 85%. Kansas ranks sixth from the bottom in meningitis vaccination rates in the country. Last year, 90% of Kansas children were vaccinated against hepatitis A, due to a previously approved requirement for children in day cares. ___ Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com",
            "output": [
                "Kansas anti-vaccine groups say membership numbers surging."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ad91801b8b9423f8f271fbeb552b9b8",
            "input": "On September 22 2019, Facebook’s “Man Page” shared the following meme, declaring that hip-hop artist Tekashi 69 — also called 6ix9ine — is “a snitch” and lifestyle personality Martha Stewart is not:On the left side was a photograph of Stewart in a Yankees cap and jersey. To the right, Takeshi 69 was seen in profile. Text underneath both images read:As we watch Tekashi 69 (or whatever his name is) snitch on EVERYBODY, I invite you all to remember Martha Stewart snitched on NOT ONE soul during her trial. Baby girl kept it 10 toes down and ate that prison sentence by herself, like the true baddie she is. 😂😂Text for the meme matched a September 20 2019 tweet, that the New York Post‘s Page Six used as the basis for a gossip column:As we watch Tekashi 69 (or whatever his name is) snitch on EVERYBODY, I invite you all to remember Martha Stewart snitched on NOT ONE soul during her trial. Baby girl kept it 10 toes down and ate that prison sentence by herself, like the true baddie she is. 😂😂😂— Chilla (@Chinchilla_773) September 20, 2019Its text made a number of claims: that Tekashi 69 implicated others during the course of prosecution (presumably in return for a lighter sentence), that Tekashi 69 implicated a number of people, that Martha Stewart conversely did not implicate a single person, that Stewart could have done so to evade prison, and that Stewart instead “ate” her prison sentence rather than herself become a “snitch.”In July 2004, Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and two years of probation after she had been convicted of “conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators about a stock deal” the previous March. A reporter covering Stewart’s sentencing cited reasons the judge agreed to a relatively light sentence:Well, [the judge] gave a couple reasons. She said Martha doesn’t have a prior criminal record, which is true. She also said she’d received over 1500 letters of support saying how Martha had done wonderful things for people and the people supported her.That was a factor in her decision. She also felt that Martha that had suffered enough and she told her that. She said, you have suffered enough and will continue to suffer.In that article, cooperation on Stewart’s part by means of implicating others was not mentioned. In 2018, CNN recapped the basic details of Stewart’s conviction:In December 2001, Stewart sold almost 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems, headed by her friend Samuel Waksal. The problem was that she did it the day before the company announced an FDA ruling about one of its cancer drugs that sent the price of ImClone plummeting. She never faced criminal insider trading charges for the sale, although she later paid $195,000 to settle civil charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her criminal case revolved around charges that she lied to authorities during an investigation of that sale.In October 2004, Stewart reported to prison to begin serving her sentence — despite the fact she was allowed to remain free, pending an appeal:Martha Stewart reported to prison [in October 2004] to begin serving a five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.Stewart, 63, was convicted in March of lying to investigators about why she sold ImClone stock in December 2001, just before the stock price plunged. She was allowed to remain free pending appeal but asked to begin serving her time anyway … Stewart is to remain at the prison until March. A Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman has said inmates who are sentenced to a year or less are not eligible for early release because of good behavior.An aspect of Stewart’s conviction and incarceration had to do with her attitude and demeanor both during and after the “scandal,” by which the “baddie” label in the meme came into play. A woman known for perfectly arranged decor, complex recipes, and crafts demonstrated what was viewed as a relatable amount of honesty and acceptance of her circumstances.A 2009 special edition of People magazine (“Scandals That Rocked America”) characterized the public’s feeling that Stewart “ate that prison sentence by herself, like the true baddie she is”:Some expected America’s goddess of domestic perfection to fall into terminal despair. Instead, with the drive that would make her a billionaire, Stewart took her lemon of a sentence and made lemonade. Heck, she made a lemon soufflé.”Even before Stewart was indicted, her take-charge attitude was evident — resulting in an often-repeated line uttered by Stewart when she was confronted about the ongoing scandal during a morning show cooking segment in 2002:Notably, on June 25, 2002, CBS anchor Jane Clayson grilled Stewart on the air about ImClone during her regular segment on The Early Show. Stewart continued chopping cabbage and responded: “I want to focus on my salad.”In a subsequent non-criminal contract dispute relating to Stewart’s homewares in 2013, she joked about her incarceration in response to an unrelated query:When the Macy’s attorney inquired about her role at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia by asking “How do you do your time?”, she cracked a joke.“I did my time,” she said, referring to her 2005 prison sentence for insider trading. The courtroom erupted in laughter.We examined archival news articles and subsequent material about the trajectory of the case, none of which mention Stewart “snitching.” One article [PDF] noted that a friend of Stewart’s testimony may have damaged her defense, and in effect that friend “snitched” on Stewart:Perhaps one of the more damaging testimonies which sealed Martha Stewart’s fate was the testimony of her then friend Mariana Pasternak. On the witness stand, Pasternak revealed that she believed Stewart had made a statement indicating her involvement with insider trading. According to Pasternak, Stewart had said, “Isn’t it nice to have brokers who will tell you these things” at around the time the alleged misconduct took place. With testimonies such as these and the failure to provide proof that a stop-call order existed, the situation looked bad for Stewart.A young broker also testified against Stewart in exchange for leniency in the investigation. In the same piece linked above emphasized that throughout the investigation, Stewart repeatedly made clear through her lawyers that she refused to provide testimony. Whether against herself or others, Stewart declined:[Congressional investigators for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee] did not call Martha Stewart to testify in front as her lawyers had made it clear that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Investigators, who had been negotiating unsuccessfully with Stewart’s lawyers to arrange for her voluntary testimony, came to believe that Stewart has been “stonewalling” and would not cooperate … Throughout the period after the scandal broke out, however, Stewart and her spokespeople declined to comment or could not be reached … Her refusal to testify made many wonder whether she really was innocent.In the meme, it is implied Stewart not only refused to snitch, but that the opportunity arose and she declined it. No coverage of the case indicated definitively that Stewart was asked to provide information implicating others — but Stewart refused to testify, and she was also “snitched on” by others seeking leniency who were implicated in the same investigation. During a nascent investigation in 2002, Stewart’s refusal to voluntarily provide testimony was likened by the media to “looking like Mafia dons.”In short, Stewart refused to testify, we found no record of her implicating others, and separate individuals ensnared in the investigation testified against her (at least one in exchange for leniency, also known as “snitching”).On Instagram, Stewart’s television co-host Snoop Dogg shared a pointed meme about snitching and wrote “🙅🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️never have never will”:🙅🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️never have never willA post shared by  snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Sep 18, 2019 at 2:38pm PDTCommenters on the post frequently mentioned Tekashi 69. On the same day, Stewart responded to the post in her own comment:That’s why I like you so much Birds of a feather!!!! !Snoop Dogg’s post appeared not long after TMZ’s September 17 2019 claim Tekashi 69 testified against others:Tekashi69 has completed his first day on the stand in federal court where he’s clearly panicked about testifying against his former fellow gang members of the Nine Trey Bloods.Altogether, he spent nearly 2 hours on the stand — wearing blue prison scrubs, a white undershirt and still rocking his rainbow colored hair, styled in pigtails. In a courtroom potentially filled with current or former Nine Trey members, he testified he became a member in November 2017, and participated in violent crimes … including shootings, assaults and drug traffickingAt one point, 6ix9ine even ID’d the 2 men who are on trial. He nervously pointed at the defendants, Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack and Anthony “Harv” Ellison, and ID’d them as Nine Trey Gang Members.Vulture, Daily Dot, and BuzzFeed covered 6ix9ine’s court appearance, with the latter reporting:Rapper Tekashi 69 [on September 19 2019] named fellow rapper Jim Jones as a member of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang, an admission that stunned the court and people following the trial on social media.Tekashi, whose birth name is Daniel Hernandez, is on trial for racketeering, drug trafficking, and other crimes, and was asked by prosecutors who Jones was.“He’s a retired rapper,” Hernandez said in a Manhattan federal courtroom.“Is he a member of the Nine Trey Bloods gang?” prosecutors asked.Hernandez replied, “Yes.”Hernandez also named Cardi B as a member of the gang. She has publicly talked about her affiliation with the gang before, most recently in a 2018 profile by former GQ writer Caity Weaver.The New York Times addressed Hernandez’s court statements, widespread reaction to his testimony, and the leniency promised to him, should his testimony be useful:But when 6ix9ine — whose real name is Daniel Hernandez — stepped off the witness stand on [September 19 2019], he stepped into an uncertain future.The debacle has all but eviscerated Mr. Hernandez’s credibility in rap, where fellow performers have branded him a “snitch.” His safety is similarly suspect; the Nine Trey gang has not historically taken kindly to being double-crossed, and has already threatened to kill him once.“I knew I was going to become a target,” he said in court. “I knew they were going to try and hurt me.”[…]Artists including Snoop Dogg, Future and Lil Durk shared memes or pointed words denouncing 6ix9ine as a snitch, with Meek Mill writing, “Message of the day don’t be a internet gangsta … be yourself!”[…]Mr. Hernandez pleaded guilty in January [2019] to racketeering conspiracy and eight other charges. He faces a minimum of 47 years in prison. If his cooperation is successful, prosecutors agreed earlier this year to lobby for a lighter sentence.In the tweet contrasting Martha Stewart and Tekashi 69 (and in innumerable social media posts and memes), Stewart was lauded for her refusal to “snitch,” and 6ix9ine was criticized for his identification of purported gang members during a September 2019 court appearance. The overall meme was fueled by Snoop Dogg’s anti-snitching Instagram post, and Stewart’s approval of it via comment. It is also possible Stewart’s Instagram response reflects her distaste for those who testified against her — one of whom was a friend with whom she was traveling during the stock sale.“Snitching” behavior on the part of Tekashi 69 was broadly covered in September 2019. As to the claims about Stewart, she reiterated her own disdain for snitching; meanwhile, others provided evidence against her during the investigation, which led to her conviction. At the time, multiple reports described Stewart’s broad refusal to testify, but didn’t indicate whether she was offered the same leniency offered to those snitching upon her. Nevertheless, there’s no evidence Stewart ever snitched; she did “eat her sentence” as described; and Tekashi 69 provided identification of others in court.",
            "output": [
                "\"Although rapper Tekashi 69 \"\"snitched,\"\" lifestyle guru Martha Stewart went to prison without offering evidence about others in order to evade a sentence.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9634c6672da24cf8aeb446699458d346",
            "input": "The coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, has decimated global markets as it quickly moves around the world. It appeared poised for a spike in the United States, in part because of more testing to confirm cases. Florida late Sunday declared a public health emergency as it confirmed its first two cases. Trump administration officials worked Sunday to soothe nerves and calm fears that a global recession was looming, arguing that the public and media were over-reacting and saying that stocks would bounce back because the American economy was fundamentally strong. The total number of confirmed cases in the United States is more than 75 with two reported deaths, both in Washington state. Globally there have been more than 87,000 cases and nearly 3,000 deaths in 60 countries, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, a cluster of cases is centered on a nursing home near Seattle. The Seattle and King County public health department confirmed late Sunday that a man in his 70s who was a resident of the LifeCare long-term care facility in Kirkland and had coronavirus had died the day before. On Saturday, the department had reported the first death of a coronavirus patient in the United States, a man in his 50s who was living in Kirkland - the same city where the nursing home is located. Six of the 10 confirmed coronavirus cases in Washington state have been residents or workers at LifeCare. State officials said an additional 27 residents of the nursing home and 25 staff members were reporting symptoms of the virus, which can be similar to that of the common flu. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed on Twitter his state’s first coronavirus case, a woman in her 30s who caught the virus during a recent trip to Iran and was now in home quarantine. Cuomo did not say where the woman lived, but the New York Times reported she was in the Manhattan borough of New York City, citing state officials. “The patient has respiratory symptoms, but is not in serious condition and has been in a controlled situation since arriving in New York,” Cuomo said. Stock markets plunged last week, with an index of global stocks setting its largest weekly fall since the 2008 financial crisis, and more than $5 trillion wiped off the value of stocks worldwide. A key energy conference in Houston that brings together oil ministers and energy firms was canceled on Sunday with the organizers of CERAWeek noting that border health checks were becoming more restrictive and companies had begun barring non-essential travel to protect workers. A world economy conference with Pope Francis due to take place in Italy later this month was also canceled. Trump said on Sunday that travelers to the United States from countries at high risk of coronavirus would be screened before boarding and on arrival, without specifying which countries. Delta Air Lines Inc said on Sunday it was suspending until May flights to Milan in northern Italy, where most of that country’s coronavirus cases have been reported. Flights will continue to Rome. American Airlines Group Inc announced a similar move late on Saturday. The United States has 75,000 test kits for coronavirus and will expand that number “radically” in coming weeks, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Vice President Mike Pence, appointed last week to run the White House’s coronavirus response, said the government had contracted 3M Co to produce an extra 35 million respiratory masks a month. He urged Americans not to buy the masks, which he said were only needed by healthcare workers. Honeywell International Inc is the other major U.S. mask producer. He also told Fox News that clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine would start in six weeks but that a vaccine would likely not be available this season. Democrats, who will challenge Trump for the presidency in the Nov. 3 election, have criticized his administration for downplaying the crisis and not preparing for the disease to spread in the United States. Pence said Americans should brace for more cases but that the “vast majority” of those who contracted the disease would recover. “Other than in areas where there are individuals that have been infected with the coronavirus, people need to understand that for the average American, the risk does remain low. We’re ready,” Pence told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”",
            "output": [
                "Washington state confirms second U.S. coronavirus death; New York reports first case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6167b41f62b14760a350af482a15e707",
            "input": "Although this therapy only exists for patients in clinical trials, we still think cost should have received more than a single word of attention. “The method is complex and costly,” the story stated. Our quick review identified a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that the cost could be as high as $500,000 per patient — roughly equivalent to a stem cell transplant. The story’s focus on the anecdotal success story of one patient, Bill Ludwig, had the potential to confuse readers — since his experience was not typical. However, we think that the story managed to combine his real-life story along with some generalizable information on the treatment success in a straightforward fashion. The story includes these details: Of the first 14 CLL patients given the T-cell therapy, four had their cancers disappear – including the first two, who are now about five years cancer-free. Four others got better but then their cancer progressed. And six had no response to the T-cell therapy. In addition to those results, published last week in Science Translational Medicine, the Penn team has orally presented data for a total of 38 CLL patients. Cancer disappeared in nine (24 percent), and temporarily regressed in another nine. We especially liked the last line, “They’ve never said ‘cured.’ But ‘cancer-free’ works for me.” The patient, Ludwig, who was ultimately “cancer free,” suffered some serious complications. The story talks about these, but we would have preferred more discussion of the overall risks or harms and not just an anecdotal description. Ludwig “suffered catastrophic side effects as his immune system went into overdrive,” the story stated. He had to spend time in intensive care with his organs failing. The story is silent on whether many or most patients who received the therapy suffered harms. Researcher Walter Urba says, “Everything we do in oncology is a risk-benefit balance.” These clinical trials for T-cell therapy have enrolled a small number of patients nationally, so there is not the typical history of studies in thousands of people that might be available for other treatments. The story clearly describes the small number of subjects treated to date and provides absolute numbers in terms of success and failures of treatment. Researcher Walter Urba gives some context: “I suspect that over time we’ll have better T-cell therapies, maybe given with other immune therapies.” There is no disease mongering. The story quotes an expert who was not involved with the study. It contrasts statements the researcher made 4 years ago about the treatment with his thoughts following publication of the new findings — an interesting comparison. However, we must rate the story Not Satisfactory here for its lack of discussion of funding for the study, which came in part from the pharmaceutical company Novartis. In addition, one of the study authors is a Novartis employee, and the expert mentioned above is a paid consultant to Bristol Myers Squibb, which is also developing immunotherapies. The story does note that “pharmaceutical giant Novartis partnered with Penn, aiming to commercialize the breakthrough,” but the extent of commercial involvement in the study that’s discussed isn’t clear. The story provides a bit of insight into the tough road that many patients with leukemia travel: “The retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., was losing his decadelong battle with CLL when he agreed to try the novel therapy in August 2010. “I didn’t hesitate because I had no options left,” he recalled last week. “And also, these people at Penn had been so wonderful to me and my family for 10 years.”…..“CLL typically progresses more slowly than other types of leukemia, and may be held in check for years with chemotherapy.” Since the story does at least mention one alternative approach — chemotherapy — we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. However, we would have preferred to see just a bit more information on alternative strategies. Single and combination drug therapies are available along with stem cell transplantation; these are all existing alternative to T-cell therapies. The story is clearly about clinical trials only open to select patients. The story explains how the T-cell therapy is novel. The story shows independent reporting beyond any news release.",
            "output": [
                "T-cell therapy results more modest than hoped for chronic leukemia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-809af4f490594756b6288d4770b280ca",
            "input": "The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 17,669, the Civil Protection Agency said, the highest in the world. The number of confirmed cases climbed to 139,422, the third highest global tally behind that of the United States and Spain. There were 3,693 people in intensive care on Wednesday against 3,792 on Tuesday — a fifth consecutive daily decline, underscoring growing hopes that the illness is on the retreat thanks to a nationwide lockdown introduced on March 9. Of those originally infected, 26,491 were declared recovered against 24,392 a day earlier.",
            "output": [
                "Italy's daily coronavirus death toll falls, but new cases accelerate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13835b3fa14f4690bd33b491d8a297c8",
            "input": "Dr. Mark Nichols, an obstetrician/gynecologist who worked for years as the medical director of a Planned Parenthood chapter in Oregon, testified as the first witness for women’s health groups who are suing Virginia over laws they say are overly restrictive and limit access to abortion in the state. Nichols, during cross-examination by a lawyer for the state, acknowledged that complications, though rare, do occur and sometimes require hospitalization. The trial in federal court in Richmond began as the abortion debate intensifies nationwide. Several states have passed tough new anti-abortion laws, including Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio and Kentucky. The Virginia laws being challenged include a physician-only measure that bars nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants from performing abortions. The lawsuit also seeks to overturn Virginia laws mandating that: —All second-trimester abortions must be performed at an outpatient surgical hospital or general hospital. —Women must get an ultrasound at least 24 hours before the procedure. —Abortion providers who provide five or more first-trimester abortions per month must undergo licensing requirements. Lawyers for the women’s health groups suing Virginia skipped their opening statement and began their case by calling Nichols, who currently serves on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s national board of directors. Nichols said he believes the laws being challenged in Virginia are not medically necessary. He said the vast majority of abortions are simple procedures that can be done in an office setting and that he has trained many physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners who have done “just as good a job as the physicians” performing abortions. “There’s no medical reason to add these layers of regulation,” he said. During cross-examination by Courtney Paulk, a lawyer for the state, Nichols acknowledged that he formed his opinion about Virginia’s abortion laws without ever observing an abortion in Virginia or ever talking to any abortion providers in the state. He also acknowledged that although there is a low rate of complications during abortions, some more serious complications would require a woman to be hospitalized. Paulk also questioned Nichols in an attempt to show that Virginia is not an outlier when it comes to its physician-only law. Only 16 states allow nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants to perform medication abortions, and only five allow non-physicians to perform suction aspiration abortions. The trial is expected to last about two weeks. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson will decide the case, not a jury.",
            "output": [
                "Trial begins in challenge to 4 abortion laws in Virginia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad27b7cc0608493e90538f3eeaba9d43",
            "input": "“The first shipments should start next week,” said Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA). India is the world’s largest producer of hydroxychloroquine but last month banned most exports to secure its own supplies, drawing warnings of retaliation from Trump. This week India allowed some exports of the drug and Trump has thanked New Delhi for the decision. Jain said companies in India are ramping up capacity to meet the U.S. demand, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, IPCA Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare. Cadila has increased production tenfold to 30 metric tonnes per month and is ready to produce more if needed, Managing Director Sharvil Patel told Reuters. Companies are ramping up while battling a three-week nationwide lockdown India imposed on March 25. Cadila is based in western India’s Gujarat state, a drug production hub where industry insiders say the shutdown has forced companies to contend with supply chain disruptions and worker shortages. “There are 28 manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine in Gujarat,” said H.G. Koshia, a senior drugs department official. “All of them have enhanced production in view of rise in demand.”  The IPA’s Jain said firms were confident they could produce adequate quantities to meet both global and domestic demand. “The government is getting a lot of requests from other countries,” Jain noted. India is stocking at least four months’ supply and has agreed to export to at least 30 countries, according to export body Pharmexcil’s estimates. Hydroxychloroquine is unproven as a treatment here but its use has soared as the United States has quickly become the epicentre of the pandemic. U.S. deaths due to coronavirus topped 16,400, while India's death toll stands at 199. here",
            "output": [
                "India set to ship drug sought by Trump for coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffb6ebc054274d12a31547c537f18c4f",
            "input": "The deal would repeal a cost-control measure in “Obamacare” known as the Cadillac Tax, an unpopular levy on benefit-rich health insurance plans scheduled to take effect in 2022. That means Congress is upsetting the balance between expanding access and controlling costs that former President Barack Obama tried to strike in his signature law, said Kathleen Sebelius, who served as his health secretary. “President Obama thought it was very important to have additional access paid for,” said Sebelius. “This just takes a big step backwards.” The deal was reached in late stage negotiations between congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as part of a broader agreement to keep the government operating past this weekend. As part of the package, the Trump administration would be barred from using its rule-making authority to take certain actions that would destabilize the ACA’s health insurance markets. But it punts on the two biggest consumer health care issues this year: curbing prescription drug costs and ending surprise medical bills. Lawmakers will try again early next year — when another round of budget legislation is due. The Cadillac Tax was intended as a levy on the most generous plans, pegged at 40% of the value above a certain threshold. In 2022 that threshold would have been $11,200 for single coverage and $30,100 for a family plan, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. One in five employers would have been affected. The tax was widely supported by economists and health policy experts, who argued it would help confront the problem of high U.S. health care spending. That’s because employers were expected to scale back their plans or shift costs to workers to avoid paying. Many employers and labor unions opposed it from the beginning. “It could have meant higher deductibles for employees or less choice,” said Cynthia Cox, who leads research on the Obama health law at the Kaiser Foundation. Repeal will “have a positive effect on a lot of people with health insurance coverage.” But critics said taxpayers will be on the hook for more debt, since repeal of the Cadillac tax and two other unpopular “Obamacare” levies is estimated to add about $400 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years. “The Cadillac tax may have resulted in some modest cost increases when it took effect, but what it was actually going to do is reduce health care costs, which would have raised wages,” said Marc Goldwein, of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for reining in the nation’s $1-trillion deficit. Here’s an overview of some of the other major health care components of the budget deal: — Also repeals the health law’s health insurance tax and its sales tax on medical devices. These taxes were intended to help pay for the cost of expanding coverage under the health law, which currently provides insurance to about 20 million people. Even without these taxes, most of the law’s financing stays in place. —Blocks the Trump administration from issuing regulations that would end the health law’s automatic re-enrollment provision, or from shutting down a state-level workaround called “silver loading,” which has helped stabilize “Obamacare”premiums. —Extends and increases Medicaid funding for U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico.",
            "output": [
                "Budget deal puts access to health care above curbing costs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df9df1330c93479f81f70464fd619683",
            "input": "The question of cost is cited in the final line of the story, which suggests that the scoring system can “address escalating health care cost issues.” But we didn’t think that was specific enough to warrant a Satisfactory score. The story doesn’t clue readers in to the fact that the financial burden can be measured in billions of dollars — a single screening test recommended for millions of Americans can cost thousands of dollars apiece. The other cost issue specific to this test is that it takes valuable time for providers to retrieve a reputable risk calculator when sitting with a patient and enter in the specific data points, including in this case waist circumference, which clinicians often do not measure as a ‘vital sign’ per se. The story cites a study that credits colonoscopy with reducing the risk of death from colon cancer by about 50 percent, by removing polyps. It would have been helpful for the story to explain what that relative reduction in risk means in absolute terms (e.g. did the rate of cancer death go from 50% to 25% or from 2% to around 1%?) The story also notes that the study found that patients with a low to intermediate risk score “still have a risk between of between 1.9 percent to 9.9 percent of harboring a polyp that can develop into cancer.” We’ll give credit here for the story’s provision of these key statistics, which do give a sense as how well the test accurately identifies truly low-risk individuals. However, we’d note that the benefit here should ideally refer to the ability of the algorithm to classify people at all risk levels (including high-risk), and therefore target the highest-risk patients for colonoscopy. The story doesn’t really get into discussion of the predictive power of the test, referred to as a likelihood ratio, which is in the study manuscript. However, this is a difficult concept for most health care providers and patients, and we think it’s understandable that the story did not include a full discussion of this topic. The harm of a screening test such as this really is “getting it wrong” in terms of predicting someone to be at low risk and finding them to have a higher risk polyp or malignancy. As noted above, the story cautions that “low- to intermediate-risk patients still have a risk between of between 1.9 percent to 9.9 percent of harboring a polyp that can develop into cancer.” This story accurately explains that the research was about predictive modeling, and explains the components of the risk score as well as the study design. There are some cautionary notes in the text, including a statement from outside expert that “the data from this study is not strong enough to spur any changes in current screening recommendations,” an opinion shared by an editorialist on the study. We think this is sufficient for a Satisfactory rating. The story does not hype the incidence or seriousness of the disease. The prevalence statistics cited are consistent with these National Cancer Institute figures. The story contains two independent voices. The perspective they provide is a particular strength of the article. We wish that more stories would reach out to experts not affiliated with the studies being reported on for context. The story notes that a variety of screening tests exist, but the relevant alternative here is actually other risk calculators, which the authors of the study describe and cite but are not routinely used. The story doesn’t mention these other calculators and why they are seldom used — context that would have deepened reader understanding of the issue. Although availability isn’t explicitly addressed, this risk calculator is now available (implicitly) by virtue of publication of the paper. It is a simple scoring system that can be implemented based on the information in the paper, and the story makes this clear. We’ll rate this Satisfactory. The story makes it sound as if this is a first-of-its-kind tool. However, risk calculation tools for colon cancer have been in circulation for many years. We could not find a news release related to this study. But in any case, the comments from two independent experts assure us that the story wasn’t based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "'Scoring System' May Spot Those in Greatest Need of Colonoscopy; But one expert cautions that even 'low risk' patients can still develop suspicious polyps"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac11b04eda48449183fbc02dac292370",
            "input": "Democrats on a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform released a cache of internal Juul emails and other documents that committee staff described as early attempts to “enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children.”   Juul’s use of social media influencers to promote its vaping devices in the years after it launched in 2015 also came under scrutiny. James Monsees, Juul’s co-founder and chief product officer, told the committee that the company’s target audience from the beginning has been adult cigarette smokers. Among efforts cited in the Juul documents released were a $134,000 payment to set up a five-week “holistic health education” summer camp at a Maryland charter school, recruiting children from third through 12th grades, and offering $10,000 to schools using the company’s “youth prevention and education” programs for students, including those caught using e-cigarette products. “You don’t think that sounds strange at all?” Representative Katie Hill, a Democrat, asked Juul’s chief administrative officer, Ashley Gould. “All of these educational efforts were intended to keep youth from using the product,” Gould responded. When Juul realized how the school involvement could be perceived as negative, “we stopped the program,” she said. In a statement after the hearing, Juul said the $134,000 donation was to “facilitate already-existing community outreach and youth-prevention programs,” and said the company “did not have any direct interaction with the students.”  Several committee members said Juul’s initiatives appeared similar to past efforts by the tobacco industry to reach young people under the guise of smoking prevention programs. Gould said Juul, which is 35 percent owned by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc (MO.N), halted its program last year once it became aware of the tobacco industry’s past moves. Caleb Mintz, 17, a New York city high school student, testified at a separate hearing on Wednesday that a Juul representative came to his school as part of an educational program on mental health and addiction last year. He said in an interview Thursday that students received “mixed messages” about the product, being told it was safe but not to buy it. Mintz said after the hearing that the Juul presentation seemed to be “playing to the side of teens as rebellious. When a teen is told not to do something, they’re more likely to do it.”    Members of the committee also quizzed Gould and Monsees over the use of social media influencers to promote Juul’s vaping devices. Company executives early on agreed that “younger consumers age 25 to 34 was going to be the target of our initial campaign,” Monsees said. “They would be more receptive to new technology solutions,” such as the Juul device. Amid an enormous uptick in teenage use of e-cigarettes in 2018 — a 78% increase among high school students from 2017 to 2018, according to federal data — Juul said it ended all social media advertising last fall. Juul also pulled many flavored nicotine pods, except mint, menthol and tobacco, from retail stores, which Monsees said represented more than half of the company’s sales at that time.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. lawmakers grill e-cigarette maker Juul over efforts targeted at schoolchildren."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e2122387e43849ffb44f53c1ba565e7a",
            "input": "The Denver Post reports that all pupils and staff members at Aurora Hills Middle School will be tested as a precaution after the infection was revealed in January test results. No one has developed the illness despite the positive tests at the school about nine miles outside of Denver. Treatment will be provided for those who those who tested positive for the infection. Denver Public Health will provide free skin tests at the school March 4-5 at the school and at the Denver Metro Tuberculosis Clinic for those who cannot attend the school screenings. Tuberculosis spreads through airborne germs and can be deadly if untreated. ___ Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com",
            "output": [
                "Colorado middle school to be tested for tuberculosis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14d065d0d67c41beae76629231ae2e44",
            "input": "\"In an announcement, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy said that its efforts to persuade Gorsky to testify included “repeated attempts to accommodate the company” over nearly a month. Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House panel investigating concerns about cancer-causing asbestos in cosmetic talc and powders, said he was disappointed Gorsky turned down the invitation. “Mr. Gorsky refuses to speak to the Subcommittee under oath, yet he has not refrained from making multiple public comments on the topic,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement. J&J spokesman Ernie Knewitz said that the subcommittee had rejected the company’s offers to send a talc testing expert or a J&J executive in charge of consumer products. Gorsky “is not, as we have repeatedly told the Subcommittee, an expert in the stated subject of the hearing,” Knewitz said. “We have respectfully declined the invitation for our CEO to testify.”  Knewitz said that the composition of the hearing, which includes two experts who have testified for plaintiffs against J&J, also factored into the company’s decision. Gorsky has played a lead role in J&J’s efforts to reassure consumers and investors that its talc powders are safe and asbestos free. Last year, he issued a statement vouching for the safety of the products after a jury issued a $4.69 billion verdict in favor of 22 women who sued over allegations their ovarian cancers were caused by J&J powders. Gorsky appeared on CNBC's \"\"Mad Money with Jim Cramer\"\" and in a video posted on J&J's website to rebut a December 2018 Reuters report here that the company knew for decades about the presence of small amounts of asbestos in its talc and powders. “Since tests for asbestos in talc were first developed, J&J’s Baby Powder has never contained asbestos,” Gorsky said in the video. In October, Gorsky testified in a depositihere in a lawsuit filed by an Indiana man, saying, \"\"We unequivocally believe that our talc and our baby powder does not contain asbestos.\"\" J&J faces more than 16,000 similar lawsuits. Concerns over asbestos in talc cosmetics have grown in recent months as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the carcinogen had been found in several products, including a bottle of Baby Powder. J&J said it recalled 33,000 bottles of Baby Powder “out of an abundance of caution.” Later, J&J said labs it hired found no asbestos - other than some contamination it blamed on an air conditioner - in samples from the same Baby Powder bottle and its production lot. The FDA has said it stands by its finding. Chief executives of companies embroiled in controversies routinely comply with lawmakers’ invitations to testify. In recent months, the CEOs of Boeing (BA.N) and Facebook (FB.O) have appeared before congressional committees to answer questions about how their companies were safeguarding consumers. Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said CEOs have a responsibility to go to Washington when Congress calls, just like other citizens. But Elson said Gorsky’s pass was understandable. He said the CEO and his advisers probably figured that the downside was greater to testifying than not. “It’s being invited in for a punch in the nose,” Elson said. For Gorsky, “nothing good will come out of it.”\"",
            "output": [
                "J&J CEO spurns U.S. congressional hearing on carcinogens in talc products."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8254a54ed2b4b6c87644daf74af9c8c",
            "input": "The group also took a dig at Volkswagen AG, lauding it in chemistry for engineering its vehicles to produce fewer emissions “whenever the cars are being tested.”  The prizes will be awarded for a 26th straight year at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday by a group of actual Nobel Prize winners, and are intended to honor accomplishments in science and humanities that make one laugh, then think. “The prizes are for something pretty unusual,” said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, and host of the awards. “Almost any other kind of award is for the best or worst. Best or worst is irrelevant to us.”  Timeliness is also of limited consideration: The Ig Nobel Reproduction Prize went to the late Ahmed Shafik of Egypt, who died in 2007, for a 1993 paper documenting that rats who wore polyester or polyester-cotton blend pants were less sexually active than those who wore cotton or wool pants or conformed to rat norms and wore no garments of any kind. The paper suggested that “electrostatic fields” created by polyester pants could play a role in impotence. “We have never heard of anybody else who carefully spent time examining what happens sexually to rats if you put pants on them,” Abrahams said. Two Britons split this year’s Biology Ig Nobel. Oxford University fellow Charles Foster, was honored for his book “Being a Beast,” chronicling his experiments in living as a badger, including digging a den to sleep in and eating worms. Countryman Thomas Thwaites’ work was in a similar vein; he built a set of prosthetic leg extensions to try living like a goat in Switzerland. Japan’s Atsuki Higashiyama and Kohei Adachi were granted the Perception Ig Nobel for a paper on how objects look different when one bends over and views them through one’s legs. Volkswagen’s award was more ignominious, going to the company for equipping its vehicles with a “defeat device,” which activated the emission controls of an engine undergoing government tests and deactivated them afterward. VW has already agreed to spend up to $16.5 billion to address U.S. environmental, state and owner claims.",
            "output": [
                "Work on sex life of rats, life as a badger honored at Ig Nobel Prizes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c15ad317dd6f4593bc65a75606a5689b",
            "input": "This is a complex story and some of it, such as whether Senator Hillary Clinton’s health        care proposals have merit, is a matter of political, social, and economic        opinion. We don’t have a name for the writer of this eRumor or whether it was        really written from Canada or not, but we can look into some of the        specific topics it raises. First, health care polices and prices in        Canada may differ        from province to province. The national government sends health care        dollars to the provinces but the provincial and territorial governments each establish        their own guidelines. Some of the topics in the eRumor are personal and about people in the        writer’s family and we can’t document those. Other topics are        commentary, but here are some of the issues raised:Canadian health care is not free and is        funded mostly by taxes.   Most Canadians pay an annual health care        premium that averages several hundred dollars per month. Low income        families and those on assistance are exempted. But the bulk of        health care costs is paid for by taxes. Whether the writer is really        in a 55% tax bracket or not is not known. The Canadian Federal        Finance Department estimates, however, that Canadians pay an average of        35% to 40% in income taxes. There are long waiting lists for treatment in Canada.  Even the most enthusiastic of Canadians        admit that the health care system can be sluggish when it comes to getting        treatment. It’s technically illegal for doctors and hospitals to        provide private care for anything that is covered by the government health        care system, but there is a growing industry of private hospitals where        people can pay for services that they would otherwise have to wait a long        time to get. Many Canadians do not have a family doctor.  Most Canadians do have a family doctor        but if you don’t have one, finding one may be difficult. There is a        shortage of physicians in Canada and you must find a family doctor who is        accepting new patients. In 2004 the Canadian Medical Association        estimated that about 14% of Canadians did not have a family physician. You could wait many hours in an        emergency room for treatment.  Almost anybody anywhere in the        world has stories of long waits in emergency rooms–mostly because unless        your problem is life-threatening you’ll not get the attention of those who        are facing more serious problems. But is is true that in Canada the        lines at emergency rooms are legendarily long. Immigrants get health care coverage in        Canada.  According to the Canadian        Government, immigrants are eligible for health care coverage under the        Canada Health Act, although in some provinces there may be a 90-day        waiting period. Drug addicts get free needles but diabetics must pay for needles in        CanadaThe Canadian government began        needle exchange programs in several areas of Canada in the 1980’s. The goal was to fight the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C by reducing the        number of contaminated needles being used. Medical supplies for        diabetics, however, including needles are covered by the health plan. Updated 10/8/07",
            "output": [
                " Prompted by Senator Hillary Clinton’s health        care proposals, the writer of the eRumor says all is not well in Canada        where a universal health care plan has been in effect for a long time.  "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d27a31aee1843318fa2d611957432ec",
            "input": "\"We’ll give the story a satisfactory score on this criterion because it acknowledged that the ThinPrep is \"\"more expensive.\"\" But we wish it had provided the actual cost comparison. The story delivered the key line from one ob-gyn observer, that the study \"\"should serve as a cautionary tale that just because something is new doesn’t mean it’s better. \"\" But the story also included the lead author’s reminder that ThinPrep samples could be used to test for human papillomavirus, which causes nearly all cervical cancers. And the rate at which tests needed to be done again was one-third lower with the ThinPrep than with conventional Pap smears. The story nicely summarized that the authors of the study in JAMA noted that that \"\"because of a lack of well-designed comparative studies, convincing evidence to determine the superiority of either method\"\" didn’t exist. And that it was based on a raondomized trial of 90,000 Dutch women screened with either ThinPrep or a conventional Pap smear. There was no disease mongering in the story. The story included multiple expert perspectives. In a very concise article, the story did a good job comparing the ThinPrep and convention pap smear tests. The story leads with the fact that the ThinPrep test dominates the market. The story was about efficacy of cervical cancer screening tests, so this criterion is not really applicable in this case. It is clear that the story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Regular Pap smear is as effective as ThinPrep"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d1b329ddb5e2498e8d8adfb6cf6cfe5a",
            "input": "Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious disease at Kobe University, said on his blog on Thursday that it’s not clear that the outbreak in Japan will have subsided by the planned start of the Games in July. Also, the flood of foreign visitors could exacerbate the spread of the disease, known as COVID-19. Japanese government officials have said the Olympics will go ahead as scheduled and will not be held behind closed doors. “The Olympics are not just a mass gathering, but a mass gathering from all over the world, while COVID is a global pandemic,” Iwata wrote. “These two things don’t go together.”  Iwata boarded the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in February and his YouTube videos decrying the conditions there garnered more than a million views. Iwata said that bureaucrats, and not infectious disease professionals, were running the quarantine, and that basic protocols on zoning and the use of protective gear were not followed. Japan has recorded more than 1,600 cases of the virus, including about 700 from the Diamond Princess. Thirty nine people have died, including seven from the liner. The virus has spread around the world, with more than 218,000 confirmed cases and 8,900 deaths.",
            "output": [
                "Diamond Princess critic says Tokyo Olympics should be halted."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2530a2a2bc094f34a1f2e24326e34d48",
            "input": "As Christmas 2017 approached, social media users began circulating an image of a vintage-looking box labeled “Asbestos: Pure White Fire Proof Snow.” Some asked if the box really contained artificial snow made out of what is now a widely-recognized carcinogen:  In the early half of the 20th Century, asbestos was widely used as Christmas decor because of its white, fluffy appearance — but that was before it was recognized as a major risk factor for an aggressive form of cancer known as mesothelioma. Asbestos.com reports: Asbestos was once marketed as artificial snow and sprinkled on trees and wreaths and ornaments. Although those products have not been produced for many years, the oldest decorations that were passed down from one generation to the next, may still have small amounts of asbestos. The most famous asbestos snow scene was used during the filming of “The Wizard of Oz,” the 1939 classic with Judy Garland that became the most watched film in history. There is a scene in the movie where snow, made from asbestos, falls on Dorothy and her friends, awakening them from a spell cast by the Wicked Witch of the West. The image above depicts a real item sold to consumers in the mid-20th Century. The picture was taken by Tony Rich, an industrial hygienist and amateur photographer who catalogs asbestos images on the photo-sharing platform Flickr using the moniker Asbestos Hunter. Rich, an anti-asbestos activist, originally shot the image in 2009. Rich told us he has the actual box in storage and directed us to another image that shows the product was manufactured by National Tinsel Manufacturing Company. The product was sold in the late 1940s through the 1950s, Rich said. He told us: This brand actually contains amphibole asbestos “amosite”, very toxic. Generally speaking, asbestos was used by the tens of millions of tons for nearly over a century and a half in modern history for a wide variety of applications, mostly due to its fire resistance, insulating properties, durability/strength, inertness, could be woven, and was cheap and abundant. Major asbestos manufacturers had large [research and development] programs constantly finding new ways to use asbestos. I believe the most tragic use was in cigarette filters. Rich told us many are surprised to learn that, despite its significant link to cancer, asbestos isn’t banned in the United States. Aside from raising awareness with his camera as “Asbestos Hunter,” he serves on the Prevention Advisory Board for the non-profit Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), on whose blog he wrote in 2015: The United States has a very long history of asbestos usage, a tragic history that continues to be written to this day, to the ultimate detriment of its citizens…our loved ones, neighbors, and future generations. During that time, tens of millions of tons of asbestos materials were put into our nation’s buildings and infrastructure, most of which remains in place today. Eventually, laws and regulations were created in an attempt to help protect employees and the public from the toxic legacy left by asbestos. However, despite the volumes of asbestos standards, many still face ongoing problems related to regulatory under-enforcement, poor risk management or by simply failing to identify basic asbestos hazards.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows vintage box of fake snow decor made of the carcinogen asbestos."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-950e769fbfcd4c88ae5f7fa0e1658b2e",
            "input": "Qianjiang, a city of around one million people located about 150 km (90 miles) from the stricken provincial capital of Wuhan, has reported a total of 197 cases so far and is stepping up efforts to ensure its infected people are confined and treated. It is the latest of a number of regions to offer cash rewards to encourage members of the public to volunteer for medical checks. Hubei has reported over 65,000 cases and more than 2,600 deaths from the epidemic. Worldwide, the death toll is about 2,800 and about 80,000 have been infected. The Qianjiang task force handling the epidemic said in a notice that residents would be entitled to the full 10,000 yuan payment if their coronavirus diagnosis is confirmed. Those who have previously been diagnosed will not be eligible. Those who are not immediately ruled out as suffering from the disease will be given 1,000 yuan, while those declared to be “suspected” cases will earn 2,000 yuan, it said. Other parts of Hubei, including the Wuhan district of Hanyang and the neighboring city of Huangguang, have also offered cash rewards for people volunteering for medical checks, but at a much lower rate of around 500 yuan. Media in the provinces of Jiangxi and Hebei have also reported local cities offering handouts of around 300-500 yuan. China has previously made it clear that people showing signs of infection would be able to get checked free of charge, and has also made funds available to local governments to ensure there are no financial disincentives preventing people from coming forward.",
            "output": [
                "China city offers $1,400 reward for virus patients who report to authorities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19c9d5a4efd94a9cb6cc2c686dea54cd",
            "input": "During the 2018-19 school year, the vaccination rate fell below the federally mandated guideline of 95% in 134 schools with more than 30 kindergarten students, according to figures compiled by the state Department of Public Health. That’s compared to 102 such schools during the 2017-2018 school year. The statewide rate still meets the 95% guideline. “While it is good that statewide in Connecticut we are still meeting the federally recommended MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rate of 95% for kindergarteners, I am very concerned that the number of schools falling short of this important immunization level continues to rise,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell said in a written statement. She said there has been a “sharp rise” in the number of religious exemptions being sought, which she said “unnecessarily puts our children at risk for contracting measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.” This latest information was posted on the Department of Public Health’s website , despite a legal challenge from parents who argued the data is flawed and should not be released. An emergency request to block the release was denied Monday morning. The plaintiffs, Brian and Kristen Festa, of Bristol, have argued that releasing the information would harm the privacy of students with vaccine exemptions like their son, who attend small schools and could be harassed or stigmatized. The data includes school-by-school vaccination information but no names of students with religious or medical exemptions. Brian Festa said he had hoped to further appeal his lawsuit to the state Supreme Court and was disappointed the Department of Public Health decided to release the data. “The genie is already out of the bottle,” he said, adding that his planned legal appeals are now moot. Coleman-Mitchell has recommended Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and state lawmakers repeal non-medical exemptions to vaccinations. DPH data show 1,469 of the 81,655 students entering kindergarten during the 2018-19 school year were exempted from vaccination requirements for religious reasons. That’s compared to 1,255 of 83,508 students in 2017-18; 1,100 out of 82,339 in 2016-17; 1,088 out of 84,793 in 2015-2016; and 944 out of 82,471 in 2014-15. The current school year’s immunization rate data will be released next fall. In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Lamont said these latest numbers show how “it’s even more pressing that we work with the General Assembly to repeal the non-medical exemptions in the interest of public health.” But Festa contends the numbers don’t indicate there’s a public health threat, noting that former Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 1998 publicly touted Connecticut’s 91% immunization rate as the highest in the U.S. “There was no public health crisis. There were no calls back then for releasing data or repealing the religious exemption or anything like that,” he said. The next regular legislative session begins in February.",
            "output": [
                "Data show more immunization rates dropped below guidelines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5665971b6fff4a79a11a5c96e5c1ffc3",
            "input": "\"A Maine Coon cat stares at a camera during an international cat exhibition held in Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv December 17, 2011. REUTERS/Amir Cohen And if you do acquire a feline, keep it out of your bedroom. While having a cat as a child may protect against future allergies, getting one in adulthood nearly doubles the chances of developing an immune reaction to it — the first step towards wheezing, sneezing and itchy eyes, a European study found. The same study, which covered thousands of adults and was published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that people with other allergies were at extra high risk of reacting to a new feline in the house. “Our data support that acquiring a cat in adulthood nearly doubles the risk of developing cat sensitization,” wrote Mario Olivieri, from the University Hospital of Verona in Italy. “Hence, cat avoidance should be considered in adults, especially in those sensitized to other allergens and reporting a history of allergic diseases.”   For the study, researchers surveyed more than 6,000 adult Europeans twice over nine years, taking blood samples. None of the participants had antibodies to cats in their blood to start with, meaning they were not sensitized to the animal’s dander. Sensitization can be measured in a skin prick test. It does not necessarily lead to symptoms, but in many cases it is the harbinger of full-blown allergies. About three percent of people who did not have a cat at either time of the survey became sensitized over the course of the study, compared to five percent of those who acquired a cat during those nine years. Four in 10 of the newly sensitized also said they experienced allergy symptoms around animals, four times the rate seen among people without antibodies against cats. It also turned out that only people who let their pet into the bedroom became sensitized. “If you are an adult with asthma and/or allergies, you should think twice about getting a cat and particularly, if you do so, letting it into your bedroom,” said Andy Nish of the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Gainesville, Georgia, who wasn’t involved in the study. The researchers did find, however, that people who had had a cat in childhood had a much smaller risk against becoming sensitized to it than those who were new cat owners. “We thought that having a cat in early childhood may be protective against the development of cat allergy in childhood, but this study seems to indicate that protection extends into adulthood,” Nish told Reuters Health in an email. Noting that he always recommends keeping cats out of the bedroom, he added: “It is remarkable that none who did not allow the cat in the bedroom became sensitized.”   For people who have a cat and have become allergic, he recommended finding a new home for the pet, followed by keeping the cat outdoors at all times. \"\"If it comes in even occasionally, its dander will remain in the house for months. If the cat needs to be indoors, at least keep it out of your bedroom, consider a HEPA filter for your bedroom, and consider washing the cat at least once a week,\"\" he added. SOURCE: bit.ly/vbZHAT\"",
            "output": [
                "Want a pet cat? Think again, researchers say."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-93079e08c0684a489cbfc4d070c90d7b",
            "input": "The story indicated that the device costs around $30,000; and that combined with the costs of surgery, it works out to around $50,200 per year for the two additional years of life that might be obtained. While not essential, it might be reasonable to raise the question of how these costs will likely be covered – i.e. out of pocket, insurance, medicare, hospitals – or some combination. The new trial didn’t produce any mortality benefit at 1 year, and had an increased rate of stroke and bleeding (but less major bleeding and arrythmias than with surgery). These effects were not quantified, however, so it is hard to judge their relative importance. No absolute risk information was provided about potential harms. This may have been the biggest weakness in the story. In the big picture, the story adequately explained that for those in the high-risk category, valve replacement by a “minimally-invasive” procedure “is at least as effective as surgery.” No overt disease mongering, but the story could have been improved by reporting the number of people in the US who fall into the 10% high risk category. Experts who were identified as not being involved in the study reported on were quoted in the story. For those patients who are among the top 10% at risk, the story reported on the results from a study that compared a potential new, catheter based treatment with the existing alternative, which is surgery About 2/3 of the way through the piece, it was mentioned that the device is approved for use in Europe but not in this country, and that an FDA advisory panel is expected to consider it later this summer. The novelty and importance of the new approach was made clear, largely through the quotes of experts. The story does not appear to rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New heart valve replacement procedure hailed"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c7f7b72a031e4f5db48098a55bd39315",
            "input": "You need the right mix of factors to create ground-level ozone: sunlight, snow cover, little to no wind and, of course, emissions from the oil and gas industry — which arrived in force more than a decade ago in the Jonah and Pinedale gas field. And this year the factors have been right more often than usual. Friday was the 12th ozone action day of the season — a warning system from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality that forces industry to pull back when conditions for ozone are expected. It’s a record number for recent years, and action days were issued for Saturday and Sunday as well. But there’s something more troubling in the case of the Boulder area: ground-level ozone is regularly forming despite precautions. Breathing it in can cause a variety of health problems, from chest pain to reduced lung function. For reasons still unclear to state regulators, in one corner of the Upper Green, the rules and regulations that reversed an air quality crisis more than a decade ago haven’t been enough, the Casper Star-Tribune reported . “We don’t have all the answers, yet,” Keith Guille, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said. “It’s definitely not being ignored. We understand that the public is concerned, as we are.” ___ The Upper Green River Basin is a bowl-shaped area wedged between the Wind River and Wyoming ranges. That landscape holds bad air in place when there is no wind. Snowy and sunny years are worse for ozone action days, as was the case in 2017, the last year that ozone action days were a regular occurrence. There was nearly three times the amount of precipitation during the 2017 winter ozone season compared to historical averages, according to a fact sheet from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. But the controllable factor, and the one that once precipitated the great ground level ozone crisis in the basin, is oil and gas. More than a decade ago, oil and gas activity degraded air quality to the point it was comparable to Los Angeles, and it changed the way Wyoming regulated industry in the basin, its pipes and compressor stations, trucks and holding tanks. Those regulations have been effective in driving down emissions. The rules are some of the strongest in the country and have inspired attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management to institute similar rules across federal and Native American land — though in both cases the Trump administration has recently pulled back on some of those standards. In addition to the ozone action days, Upper Green rules cover the use of equipment to track leaks and regular checks of infrastructure for damage. And during ozone season, in late winter and early spring, action days are an important part of how the Upper Green manages emissions. In the mix of ozone contributing factors, oil and gas emissions are the one thing regulators can pull back to try and keep ozone at bay. Action days are declared by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality as having the potential to create ground-level ozone. Operators in the Upper Green respond by following contingency plans to reduce emissions, such as reducing refueling and cutting truck idling. This year industry has had to scale back over and over. ___ Jonah Energy, which operates in a different area of the basin from where the Boulder exceedances have been happening, has scaled back its operations considerably due to action days this year, said Paul Ulrich, spokesman for the oil and gas firm. “Small stuff. We’re turning off air heaters on pads during the day. Big stuff, shutting down workover rigs,” Ulrich said. “Those have immediate production, operational and financial impacts that we are bearing.” Jonah has demobilized its completion crew — holding off on finishing wells and bringing them online until mid-April and it is delaying blowing down wells, he said. “I will tell you though, we plan for it. We train for it and we understand that we have an obligation to do everything we possibly can,” Ulrich added. The outcome of those actions is evidenced in the lack of ozone exceedances, over an eight-hour period, this year near Jonah’s operations, he said. But the rules and practices of today may not be enough, if ozone is still forming in the Upper Green, according to the DEQ. “In 2019, we feel whether or not you have a snow pack or not, we don’t want to see those levels above the standard,” said Guille, of the Department of Environmental Quality. Nancy Vehr, administrator of the Air Quality Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, said she began reaching out to operators in the Boulder area, where more than 30 companies — mostly oil and gas firms — work, when the ozone spike began about two weeks ago. She asked them to find more ways to voluntarily cut emissions. And they did. But what’s been unique about the Boulder problem this year is that the elevated ozone levels have been persistent, Vehr noted. “We’ve never had an eight-day stretch in one location,” she said. But that area has been a problem in the past. Whether it’s temperature or other factors, the Boulder monitor often picks up more air quality concerns than others across the basin, she said. Ulrich of Jonah said the ozone spikes of this year are a mystery, but it does appear to be isolated and not reflected across the basin, he explained. “The challenge for this particular season is it’s been one monitoring station,” he said. “From a scientific standpoint, that’s a very new challenge for us all, to fully understand between operators and DEQ and others what’s going on at that station.” Everyone is going to have to come back to the table, Ulrich said. “We know we need to take a hard look at it after this year,” he said. Vehr echoed that confidence in current rules, noting that it would be easier to look back over the data in retrospect and analyze patterns. When air quality was at its worst in the Upper Green, you could see it like an orange haze, said Bousman of Boulder. Despite the exceedances this year, the rancher said he hadn’t noticed the air quality being any different. Like everyone else, he wondered what was going on at the Boulder monitor, whether it was working properly and how much of the ozone problem was natural. There is deeper snow up that way, he said. Still, the spikes in safe levels had caught everyone’s attention in the Upper Green, even though they’ve been addressing ozone since 2005 or 2006. “I think, collectively, we thought we were on top of it, so to speak,” Bousman said. “Now, I’m not so sure.” ___ Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com",
            "output": [
                "Wyoming ozone levels puzzle officials."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19d3625684ad4e338d3480d9ef018241",
            "input": "\"Quoting the study lead, the cost of ginger dietary supplements ranges from $6 to $30 for 50 to 100 capsules; however, as noted by the researchers, it is not apparent if dietary supplements would be as effective as the formulation developed specifically for the study. The study lead is quoted as saying the use of ginger resulted in a 40% improvement in patients’ nausea. In the placebo group, the study lead indicated that \"\"hardly any difference\"\" was noted. But we’re not given any context on important questions such as how much change in the nausea scale is actually clinical perceptible to patients. This is what’s really needed to understand any potential benefit. While there were no reported adverse effects associated with the use of ginger in this study, the story points out that ginger supplements can interfere with blood clotting, which can be particularly harmful to cancer patients undergoing treatment or surgery. The story suggests that people should talk with their doctors before using it. The story does not make it fully apparent that this research has not yet been published in a medical journal and only the abstract has been released. Unlike published articles, this study has not gone through a review process to check for errors in the methodology. While the story points out that 2/3 of the study participants were being treated for breast cancer, it would also be important to clearly state that the majority (90%) were women, which suggests that the results may not be applicable to the general population. Furthermore, it is not clear from the story or the abstract if patients received different types of chemotherapy or why the researchers included patients with various types of cancer. The story does not appear to exaggerate the prevalence of nausea as a side effect of chemotherapy treatment. In addition to interviewing the research lead, this story also includes quotes from a director at the American Cancer Society, as well as the president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology; however, the president of the oncology society did not comment directly on the research. The story mentions that the study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and researches did not have any ties with the capsule maker who supplied the ginger formulation for this study. The story briefly mentioned anti-emetics, which reduce vomiting, but more detail could have been supplied regarding the efficacy of other medications for chemotherapy-related nausea. Ginger capsules sold as dietary supplements and products containing ginger flavoring, such as ginger teas or ginger spice, are widely available; however, the story notes that they may not provide the same benefits as the formulation used in the study. According to the story, the company that developed the capsule used in this study is seeking approval from the FDA to market the ginger formulation as an anti-nausea drug. Up front, the story points out that ginger has long been used to quell nausea; however, it also mentions that this is the first large-scale study evaluating its efficacy in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Other studies, as this story indicates, have had conflicting results. This story does not appear to rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Ginger capsules ease chemotherapy nausea"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3cda616c2904209a28dc120d7fe8fc8",
            "input": "Singapore has managed to mitigate the spread of the disease among its citizens by rigorous contact tracing and surveillance, earning praise from the World Health Organization. Infections within the migrant community, however, are mounting. As of April 14, out of 3,252 cases recorded in Singapore, 1,625 were linked to outbreaks in migrant worker dormitories. Rights groups, charities and medical experts had flagged the potential for mass infection among the more than 300,000 migrant workers living in often cramped and unsanitary conditions in the wealthy country of 5.7 million. But some of Singapore’s early policy responses did not account for this vulnerable community, according to rights groups and volunteer organisations. For example, a Singapore government order restricting doctors to single hospitals to prevent them spreading the virus sharply reduced volunteer health services depended upon by some workers, they said. And a nationwide mask distribution at the start of the outbreak excluded migrant workers living in dormitories. Moreover, measures introduced recently to confine tens of thousands of workers to packed quarters may increase the risk of infection spread, they added. “We are definitely concerned that this approach exposes a lot more migrant workers to the risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, a Singapore researcher for the rights group Amnesty International. The authorities say they have taken preventative measures to address personal hygiene, inter-mingling and disease detection in migrant housing but that their decision to quarantine thousands of workers was necessary once the virus started spreading. Singapore’s health and manpower ministries did not respond to specific questions for this article. Both referred Reuters to previous statements they had made on their virus containment measures. The situation in the migrant dormitories highlights the different standards applied to the mainly Bangladeshi and Indian manual workers whose labour has helped build the glitzy, modern city-state, and the rest of the population. The government has put up Singapore residents returning from overseas in expensive hotels to limit contagion. Some migrant workers have been confined to bunk rooms that they said had blocked toilets and overflowing refuse bins. The Ministry of Manpower has said it faced “challenges” at the start of the quarantine related to hygiene and the supply of food in the dormitories, but that it had been working with operators to improve conditions. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an address on April 10 that Singapore appreciated the efforts of its migrant workers, and that they would continue to be paid while in quarantine. Some workers depended on getting healthcare at subsidised clinics run by a charity called HealthServe, staffed with volunteer doctors and nurses. But when the government issued a directive on Feb 7 saying that public hospital staff had to restrict their work to one hospital to prevent cross contamination, HealthServe said it had to scale back operations, depriving some of the most needy workers of medical care. HealthServe - which offers consultations for S$8 ($5.65), compared with around S$50 at government clinics - said it had to reduce services by 90% and close two of its three clinics. Jeremy Lim, chairman of the medical services committee at HealthServe, said he flagged the drop in volunteers to the government but was told nothing could be done. The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment on the closure of the clinics. Lim said access to cheap healthcare could have made it easier to spot infections among migrant workers at an earlier stage. Migrant workers living in dormitories - often 12 or 20 to a room - were also excluded from a government initiative in February to distribute masks to every household after retailers ran out of stocks. Lim called this a “blind spot” in the policy response to migrants which “we are now learning to our collective regret”. Singapore has now ordered residents to wear masks in public due to rising evidence of asymptomatic transmission. Deborah Fordyce, president of Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group, on March 23 warned in an editorial in the Straits Times, the country’s main newspaper, that the risk of an outbreak within the migrant community was “undeniable”. Two weeks later, Singapore announced it was sealing off some 20,000 migrant workers in two dormitories. Eight dormitories are now under lockdown, impacting about 62,500 workers, according to Reuters estimates based on government statements and public information about the dormitories under lockdown. The Ministry of Manpower did not respond to a request for comment on the total number of people quarantined. The government has now ordered the rest of the country to stay home and maintain at least a metre distance from others if out for essential needs like food shopping. Singapore has also ramped up testing in dormitories and started to move some workers deemed “essential” into public housing, military camps and industrial accommodation ships, which authorities say is helping create more room in the complexes. The government has defended its virus-prevention measures in dormitories, which include advising operators to monitor workers for fever and preventing mingling in common areas. “It is not as if we have not done anything to try and manage the situation,” Josephine Teo, the manpower minister, said on April 9. Reuters spoke to six workers at four dormitories who said, on condition of anonymity, that precautions such as temperature checks and social distancing were not strictly enforced or only introduced very recently. The potential exposure of Singapore’s migrant workers to infectious diseases was a concern of health experts before the coronavirus outbreak. A review of previous disease outbreaks in Singapore such as malaria, dengue, zika and tuberculosis showed migrant workers were disproportionately affected, in part due to their living and working conditions, according to a study by Singapore scholars published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in 2017. Nilim Baruah, senior migration specialist at the International Labour Organisation, said migrant workers were among the groups most vulnerable to the COVID-19 outbreak. In Singapore, he said, “living conditions for many migrant workers do not favour social distancing”. Majidul Haq, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi worker, stays at one packed quarantined dormitory where authorities say over 700 people have tested positive. “It is difficult to not think about the probability of getting the virus,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "In Singapore, migrant coronavirus cases highlight containment weak link."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54f839cd330743a98a5f976b28519c8a",
            "input": "The tentative settlement, which needs a judge’s approval, will provide compensation ranging from $2,500 up to $250,000 to women who say Dr. George Tyndall abused them between 1988 and 2016, USC Interim President Wanda Austin said in a statement . About 500 current and former students have now made accusations against Tyndall and filed various lawsuits. They contend he routinely made crude comments, took inappropriate photos, forced them to strip naked and groped them under the guise of medical treatment. Tyndall spent about three decades as a USC staff gynecologist before retiring last year after a university investigation concluded there was evidence that he sexually harassed students during exams. Tyndall has denied the allegations and has not been charged with a crime. Los Angeles police and Los Angeles County prosecutors are reviewing the claims. His attorney, Leonard Levine, said in a statement that Tyndall “continues to focus on the criminal investigation” and had no further comment. The proposed settlement applies to a pending federal class-action lawsuit that involves a fraction of the overall accusers but is open to every woman who ever had an appointment with the gynecologist. Three attorneys representing nearly 300 accusers say they’re strongly advising their clients against joining the federal action so they can fight in state court. “The only guaranteed number in this case is $2,500 — $2,500 won’t even get you a 50-yard-line seat at a USC football game, let alone compensate somebody for being sexually assaulted by their doctor when they were 18 or 17,” said John Manly, an attorney who represents 180 accusers. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents 36 women who have accused Tyndall, said in a statement that the amount of money under the proposed settlement is “way too minimal” for what some of the women endured. Manly also criticized the proposed settlement as failing to hold USC accountable and called it an effort to cap future monetary damages. “We still don’t know when did USC first know, how often were they warned, what administrators were involved, was there criminal conduct?” Manly said. “Our clients, more than anything, want those answers and people held accountable, not because it helps their case but to protect the future women at USC.” Tara Lee, an attorney who represents USC, said questions regarding potential criminal conduct are being investigated “and those answers will be available when the investigation itself is completed.” “The settlement process they’re criticizing would not provide for that,” she said. “The settlement process would be very victim-focused to address their needs and make sure they have their claims identified and awarded.” Under the proposal, any woman who had an appointment with Tyndall will get $2,500. Those who submit written claims detailing their allegations and the impact on their lives would be eligible for between $7,500 and $20,000. Women who agree to further detail their allegations in a private interview with a psychologist could see damages of up to $250,000. Lee said the school tried to create a system that would allow women to decide how much to engage in the process. Attorney Mike Arias, who represents 80 accusers, criticized the speed of the proposed settlement, saying he and other attorneys were expecting USC to disclose more information. “USC may quell the depth of the anger and upset by getting hundreds of other victims to join the settlement, but it’s not going to be over,” Arias said, adding that he and other attorneys will fight the settlement’s approval. The university was first criticized in the case after the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that complaints about Tyndall’s care went unheeded for decades and that USC failed to report him to the medical board even after quietly forcing him to retire. Two administrators were fired, and President C.L. Max Nikias stepped down following the criticism. USC has denied accusations of a cover-up. Austin said that since she became interim university president, “a fair and respectful resolution for as many former patients as possible has been a priority for the university and for me personally.” “Many sweeping changes have been made and we continue to work every day to prevent all forms of misconduct on our campuses,” her statement said. On Thursday, 93 women who say Tyndall abused or harassed them announced the latest lawsuit against USC, saying it ignored decades of complaints. Dana Loewy said Tyndall assaulted her during an exam in 1993. “I am part of an accidental sisterhood of hundreds of women because the university we love betrayed our trust,” she said. ___ Associated Press writers John Antczak and Brian Melley in Los Angeles contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "USC agrees to pay $215M to settle doctor sex abuse claims."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b100622897742b49d676aa17679f2d9",
            "input": "Naida lives underneath a Miami highway overpass with several other homeless men and women. She has no safe place to keep her belongings. HIV-positive people who live on the streets are less likely to be successful in suppressing the virus with medication, according to a 2017 National Institute of Health study and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. One reason, health experts say, is that they usually carry all their belongings with them every day, and their medicine, valued at hundreds of dollars per prescription bottle, is often lost or stolen as they navigate life on the streets. “The main thing that you worry about out here is people stealing your stuff,” says Nadia, 33, who was diagnosed with the virus more than a decade ago; she says she contracted it as the result of using illegal injected drugs. A University of Miami-sponsored program called the IDEA Exchange has begun providing infected homeless people with medication lockers: secure locations where participants’ prescriptions are stored. They can pick up their medicine from the lockers at a converted shipping container office in Miami, or have social workers deliver a few days’ worth of the medicine to them. Smaller quantities are easier to safeguard. Prescriptions are paid for by Medicaid or a federal drug assistance program for low-income people living with HIV. Storing medication for the homeless has long been encouraged by public health experts: Washington, D.C., New York, Boston and other cities offer similar services. The Miami initiative began in 2018 after an HIV outbreak among the city’s homeless, says Dr. Hansel Tookes, a University of Miami physician who leads the program. An unprecedented number of homeless people were entering the health system, and a key problem for them was losing track of their possessions, Tookes says. Medication lockers help “avoid hiccups” as health professionals attempt to stabilize the situation, he says. Elisha Ekowo, a social worker who leads the program’s outreach team, says preventing the spread of HIV is a top priority. She notes that if those infected are able to suppress it, there is less of a chance they’ll give it to someone else. The program claims a 100% viral suppression rate among its 13 participants, an accomplishment considering Florida has the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the nearly 28,000 people living with HIV in Miami-Dade County, 58% are virally suppressed, Florida Department Health data shows. Another benefit of the program is that participants, who often have low self-confidence or little emotional support from their families, can develop self-reliance skills while staying on top of their health, Ekowo says. Michael Ferraro says the IDEA Exchange has been vital to his recovery, and he calls staff members his “angels.” Although he is no longer homeless, the 52-year-old former heroin addict still uses his medication locker. Not long ago he was sleeping behind a Taco Bell, where Exchange staff hand-delivered his prescription once a week. “It was unheard of,” says Ferraro, who was estranged from his family at the time. “I was still running around getting high, but they made sure I got my meds.” They stuck by him, and he eventually agreed to enter rehabilitation. He now has permanent housing. On a recent afternoon, Ferraro picked up a three-day supply of his medication, gave Ekowo a hug and rode off on his bicycle. In an interview at her “home” under a shadowy overpass, Naida says the ability to consistently take her pills with the program’s support has given her a new sense of pride. She had previously gone 10 years without taking her meds. Ekowo and her partner, Chevel Collington, drive here once a week to deliver Naida’s pills, along with other supplies. The gregarious social workers also remind Naida of upcoming medical appointments and offer sincere words of encouragement. The program “gives me something to be responsible for,” Naida says.",
            "output": [
                "Medication lockers help Miami’s homeless living with HIV."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bf3b4c444ed40708d5ffbc44ebc368f",
            "input": "The story not only mentions the cost of a scan to individuals ($100 to $500), it also notes that about $50 million dollars was spent on this type of scanning nationwide in 2008. A longer story could have also reported on the costs of additional testing and treatments triggered by screening apparently healthy individuals. As mentioned above, the story notes that while some experts recommend CT screening for coronary artery calcium deposits in order to increase the number of people receiving treatment to reduce the likelihood of a heart, others are skeptical about the real value of this type of screening for apparently health people. The reporter points out that many heart attacks strike people who do not have very high cholesterol levels or other indicators of elevated risk, but also that “no study has linked the use of CT scans with better patient outcomes.”   The potential cancer risk caused by CT screening for signs of heart disease is the point of this story. Also, by highlighting uncertainty about the benefits of the screening and recapping debate over the Texas law mandating coverage of the scans, the story emphasizes the importance of considering potential harms when setting public policy on screening tests. A longer story could have considered other potential harms, including the side effects of treatments prescribed based on screening tests. The story does a good job of summarizing the results of this study of potential cancer risk from CT screening. In addition, it outlines the positions of experts and organizations on the broader body of evidence on the use of CT scans to identify people who may have plaque buildups in their heart arteries. It would have been better if the reporter stated that the estimate was based on several assumptions, that it wasn’t a definitive point estimate, but just the center of a range, and that it was higher than earlier estimates. Readers still got the point that there is a cancer risk which needs to be considered. The story notes that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., but it also points out doubts about whether screening with CT scans for calcium buildup in heart arteries can reduce the toll. The story includes experts and advocates that represent the key perspectives in debate about CT screening for calcium deposits in coronary arteries. However, it does not include information on possible conflicts of interest. Although this story points out that alternative screening techniques are available and it makes reference to cholesterol, it does not include any details about the alternatives. The story says that the CT scanners used for this test are “all over the city” and included an estimate that in 2008 about 200,000 people around the country were scanned for calcium buildups in their coronary arteries. not in question in this story The story includes quotes from independent experts and other information that was not in the news release about the journal article.",
            "output": [
                "Warning sounded on heart scan law"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-392d77932c00410b9f9b303a06c53447",
            "input": "Deals being negotiated between drugmakers and the insurers who buy medicines now sometimes include extra rebates — or even full refunds — if drugs don’t help patients as expected. It’s part of an effort driven by insurers and government health programs to align the cost of care with the quality of care, and slow the relentless growth of prescription drug costs. “We’re spending less money on drugs that are less effective,” said Dr. Michael Sherman, chief medical officer for the not-for-profit insurer Harvard Pilgrim, which has several of these deals and is negotiating more. Sherman says one-fourth of every dollar it spends on patient care goes to prescription drugs. For the patient, it doesn’t mean a check in the mail if cancer comes back after a round of treatment. But it does mean patients could get a drug that an insurer might otherwise be unwilling to pay for and that might help them. And insurers, who now can track how patients fare through electronic medical records, will be reducing wasteful spending and making at least a dent in overall health care costs. “It’s going to be part of the solution” to soaring drug prices, predicts Roger Longman, CEO of Real Endpoints, an analytics company that assesses the value of medicines for drugmakers, insurers and other clients. Many new drugs now top $100,000 per year or course of treatment, even though their benefits are unclear or only marginally better than cheaper, older drugs. Buyers of those new drugs, usually insurance companies, are hesitant to pay without assurance the drugs will help patients. Not only is that bad for patients, it makes insurers spend even more on complications and hospital stays if the drugs don’t work. As a result, insurers often restrict access to expensive new drugs. Sometimes that’s achieved by making patients pay more out of their own pockets, or making doctors wade through red tape to get authorization for a patient’s medicine. Sometimes patients have to try cheaper drugs first, and only when they fail — and the patients’ health has deteriorated — are they allowed to get the pricey new drug. Pharmaceutical companies have an incentive here, too: These deals may help them sell more of the new drug they’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars or more developing. For example, a new generation of injected cholesterol drugs does an impressive job of reducing so-called bad cholesterol. But the drugs, Amgen’s Repatha and Sanofi’s Praluent, cost $14,000 a year, while cheap generic pills do a good job of lowering cholesterol for most people for $300 a year or less. Predictably, insurers often reject prescriptions for these drugs. So Amgen, trying to boost disappointing sales for a drug expected to be a huge seller, is offering full refunds to insurers if patients have a heart attack or stroke while taking its drug. On Tuesday, Amgen announced its first deal to do so, with Harvard Pilgrim. Sanofi has a contract with insurer Cigna to pay extra rebates if patient cholesterol doesn’t fall as much as expected. “It demonstrates the fact that we are standing behind the value the product has, and we’re willing to put some money behind it,” said James Borneman, Sanofi’s head of strategic pricing. Some insurers are now demanding these deals, which are expected to become standard for some drugs: super-expensive medicines for cancer and rare diseases, and others that are used widely enough to cost insurers millions. In addition, the drugs must have a benefit that’s easy to measure, such as keeping kids with asthma out of the emergency room or preventing growth of cancerous tumors for a certain period. Cigna has been pursuing more of these types of deals after finding that some of its earlier efforts “met or exceeded expectations in terms of benefit to our customers, patients,” said Chris Bradbury, who heads Cigna’s prescription benefit program. One of its early deals, with drugmaker Merck for its diabetes pills Januvia and Janumet, dates to 2009, with rebates pegged to how much patients lower blood sugar. “We keep re-signing that agreement, so I think they’re pretty satisfied,” said Bob McMahon, head of U.S. marketing at Merck, which also has such contracts with insurers and hospital systems covering an asthma medicine and is negotiating contracts for an infection drug. Other companies with such deals for one or more medicines include drugmakers Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Roche’s Genentech unit; insurers Aetna and Priority Health, and prescription benefit manager Express Scripts. On their own, these deals are unlikely to reverse the persistent rise in medical spending, experts say. But they improve the chance that the money will at least go to treatments that work best — by making sure insurers and drug companies have something at stake along with the patient. “There’s a risk on both sides with these contracts,” said Dr. Mark Fendrick, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. “Both want to make sure they’ll get the outcome they want.” ___ Follow Linda A. Johnson at https://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma .",
            "output": [
                "New deals for drugs: No heart attack or your money back."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54a3edd4f1304a0a822a7ef911511f9a",
            "input": "The story noted that aspirin is sold for pennies a pill. The printer version of the story reports only relative risk reductions, ignoring the important point that most colorectal cancer patients in this study survived for many years whether or not they took aspirin after their diagnosis; thus it exaggerates the potential benefits of adding aspirin to the treatment mix. Specifically, the story discussed whether aspirin should get credit for “beating cancer,” although there is nothing in the study about aspirin being a cure. To put the results in context, the story should have mentioned that the 10-year survival rates were 69 percent for those not taking aspirin and 74 percent for those who did take aspirin. (PLEASE NOTE:  ABSOLUTE RISK REDUCTION FIGURES APPEARED IN A WEB VERSION OF THE SIDEBAR BUT WE CURRENTLY REVIEW ONLY WHAT APPEARS IN PRINT.) PLEASE NOTE:  WE MISSED THE FACT THAT A SIDEBAR TO THE MAIN STORY DID INCLUDE INFORMATION ON GASTROINTESTINAL BLEEDING. SO WE HAVE CHANGED THIS GRADE TO SATISFACTORY. The story includes several caveats warning that the results of the study are not definitive. It pointed out some of the limitations inherent in this sort of observational study. It also pointed out that a randomized controlled trial would be needed in order to actually prove that aspirin fights cancer. However, the story highlighted the sharply lower rate of colorectal disease deaths among patients who had a type of colorectal cancer that overproduces the COX-2 enzyme and took aspirin after diagnosis… without mentioning either the wide uncertainty in the number or that the overwhelming majority of patients survived for many years, whether or not they took aspirin. (PLEASE NOTE:  THIS INFORMATION DID NOT MAKE IT INTO THE PRINT VERSION BUT WAS INCLUDED IN AN ONLINE VERSION OF THE STORY.) The story did not discuss the prevalence or consequences of colorectal cancer, so we judge this criterion to be not applicable in this case. While the story included a quote from a physician who was not connected to the study and even though this study was funded by public money, the story failed to explain what expertise the independent source has or why his opinion was relied upon. Nonetheless, we give this story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. This story does not mention that the overwhelming majority of patients receiving standard therapy for colorectal cancer survive for many years, thus hyping the potential benefits of aspirin. (THE ABSOLUTE RISK REDUCTION FIGURES DID NOT APPEAR IN THE PRINT VERSION OF THE STORY BUT DID APPEAR IN AN ONLINE VERSION. WE CURRENTLY REVIEW ONLY WHAT APPEARS IN PRINT.) Aspirin is widely available. However, the study focused on the COX-2 inhibitory action of aspirin and the authors suggested that rather than aspirin becoming a standard part of colon cancer treatment, future treatment might rely on a drug specifically designed to use this pathway to fight cancer. By using the term ‘revolutionary’ to describe the study results, this story ignores the many years of research into the potentially beneficial effects of aspirin on colorectal cancer. The story included a physician not connected with the study and the reporter apparently interviewed one of the study authors. So it clearly did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "‘Revolutionary’ use for aspirin? May help colon cancer patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77572aa3ea9f471fac93564ee10ad108",
            "input": "\"New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently took aim at the Peach State. Bloomberg was on CNN several weeks ago to discuss a report that named Georgia among the states with the weakest gun laws. \"\"Do the states where they have weaker laws have more crime?\"\" asked CNN's Kiran Chetry. \"\"There's no argument about that,\"\" Bloomberg replied. National Rifle Association spokeswoman Rachel Parsons called Bloomberg's claim \"\"absolutely ridiculous.\"\" \"\"If that were the case, Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York would be some of the safest cities in our country, and they are simply not,\"\" Parsons said. \"\"Yet, they have some of the strictest gun laws in the country.\"\" The nation's capital had a higher violent crime rate than any of the 50 states in each of the past three years, according to FBI data. New York was at the other end of the spectrum, the data showed. The Big Apple had the lowest crime rate among the nation's 25 largest cities, the FBI data showed. But Bloomberg answered a question about states, so let's dig into his claim a little deeper. The report, \"\"Trace the Guns: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking,\"\" was put together for a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns and completed in September. Bloomberg, an independent, is co-chair of the coalition. Georgia mayors listed as coalition members include Atlanta's Kasim Reed, East Point's Earnestine Pittman, Roswell's Jere Wood and Savannah's Otis Johnson. Ten states, half of them located in the South, are listed in the report as having weak gun laws. They are Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia. Bloomberg, a vocal advocate of gun control, filed lawsuits against eight gun shops in Georgia and in 19 other states in 2006 he argued had relatively lax gun laws. Most of the cases were settled. Others defaulted, and a couple of cases were dismissed. Researchers looked at several topics concerning violence and where the guns came from that were used in the crimes, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In each of the past four years, the report found Georgia led the nation in the number of guns sold here that were used in crimes in other states.Per capita, Georgia was 10th on the list. The researchers reached that conclusion by dividing the number of guns sold by 100,000 residents. Mississippi was first.New York ranked next to last on the list, ahead of Hawaii. The report contains a checklist of 10 \"\"key gun laws\"\" and which states have passed those laws and which ones have not to determine which states have weak gun laws. The laws include whether a state requires background checks for all handgun sales at gun shows, if the state prohibits gun possession by violent misdemeanantsand whether the state requires reporting of lost or stolen guns. Georgia has enacted two of the 10 laws. Georgia requires state inspection of gun dealers. Gun dealers who don’t conduct background checks of prospective gun owners can go to jail. Some groups, such as the National Shooting Sports Foundation, have criticized the findings, saying crime has \"\"plummeted\"\" in states said in the study to have weaker gun laws. We reviewed two sets of data to see whether Bloomberg is correct about states that have weak gun laws still have more crime. One supported his argument; the other one offered mixed results. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps track of firearm deaths by state. Eight of the 10 states said to have \"\"weak\"\" gun laws were in the top half of states with firearm deaths, according to the most recent CDC figures. The most recent figures, from 2007, were adjusted for population. The results were similar from 2003 to 2006. Georgia ranked between 14th and 20th during those five years. We also looked at the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, which show violent crime rates for each state and Washington, D.C. Five of the states said to have \"\"weak\"\" gun laws were in the top half of states of violent crime in 2009. Georgia ranked 20th. Washington, D.C., was first; its violent crime rate was more than twice any state on the list. The results were similar in 2008 and 2007. The FBI warns against using the data to make comparisons, noting they don't take into account variables that might impact a state's crime rate. Harvard University's Department of Health Policy and Management tracks firearm research, frequently does reports on the subject and is considered experts in this field. We talked to two members of its faculty, Matt Miller and David Hemenway, about Bloomberg's answer to the question during the CNN interview. Both men have done studies on similar subjects and believe there is a correlation between places with more guns and homicide. \"\"Where there are more guns, there are more deaths and homicides,\"\" Miller said. They said there's less research and data on whether states with weaker gun laws have more crime or states with more guns have higher crime rates. \"\"Most crimes don't involve guns,\"\" Hemenway said. \"\"If there's causation at all, it's not clear.\"\" So where does this leave us? The CDC numbers do show states with weaker gun laws tend to have more firearm deaths. The FBI data shows some of those states had more violent crime, but others were in the middle of the pack nationally. There are many types of crime, and not all are committed with firearms.\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia and other states with weak gun laws have more crime."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fdf04d0dfbd442639eeee3bbc556957d",
            "input": "Business by its very nature is cut-throat; competitors rarely aid one another because one company’s success almost invariably comes at the expense of the other’s vitality. When such leg-ups occur, they are often inadvertent — the result of one firm’s having failed to take advantage of an opportunity that its competitor later cleaned up on. Such was the case when Mars, Inc. passed on the chance for its flagship product, M&Ms, to be the candy used in 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Its turn-down cleared the way for Hershey Foods Corporation to make a remarkable splash for its Reese’s Pieces. During production of E.T., Amblin Productions approached Mars, Inc. about a possible tie-in between M&Ms and the film. For whatever reason, Mars said “No” to the proposition. Many purported reasons for that negative response have been provided by a variety of sources: Mars decided it didn’t want its bite-size candy associated with an extraterrestrial living with an earth family, or it thought the film’s premise just a bit too otherworldly, or an unnamed M&M executive decided nobody would want to see a movie about an alien adopted by a lonely kid. (M&Ms did survive as the candy used in the 1982 William Kotzwinkle novelization of the film, however.) Lore adds its own details to flesh out stories, details that will cast the one who is perceived as having done something foolish in as absurd a light as possible. When that story is one of a poor business decision made by a large corporation, someone telling the tale is sure to state as rock-solid fact an explanation that is now clearly laughable. No one ever suggests that Mars might have already had its advertising budget locked for that year, or that it might have felt ill at ease at the prospect of dealing with a new advertising medium and the new people who went with it, or any other plausible and purely logical business reason for taking a pass on this offer. No, the “reason” offered in lore will always be something along the lines of “Mars didn’t think much of the planned movie and thus wanted to keep themselves separate from it,” a “reason” that casts the candymaker as unbelievably short-sighted given the breathtaking success of E.T. Whatever the reason for it, Mars’ “No” paved the way for Hershey’s “Yes.” The spurned offer was then tendered to Hershey, and — misgivings aside — that corporation went for it. Hershey did not pay to have Reese’s Pieces used in E.T., but it did agree to do a tie-in between the movie and the candy after the film was released. A deal was inked wherein Hershey Foods agreed to promote E.T. with $1 million of advertising; in return, Hershey could use E.T. in its own ads. Within two weeks of the movie’s premiere, Reese’s Pieces sales went through the roof. (Disagreement exists as to how far through the roof they went: Sales were variously described as having tripled, experienced an 85% jump, or increased by 65%). Whatever the numbers, though, Reese’s Pieces — up until then an underdog confection only faintly known by the U.S. candy-consuming public — were suddenly being consumed in great handfuls. And all thanks to a shy little alien lured from the bushes and into America’s hearts by a trail of peanut-butter-in-a-candy-coated-shell confections. Thus is the potential power of product placement. When it’s done right, it can make a product. Paid product placement in films has come to be one of the ordinary ways of things in Hollywood. Exxon paid $300,000 for its name to appear in Days of Thunder, Pampers paid $50,000 to be featured in Three Men and a Baby, and Cuervo Gold spent $150,000 for placement in Tequila Sunrise, according to Danny Thompson, president of Creative Entertainment Services, in a 1993 New York magazine interview. As for how effective the practice of product placement is, that same article quotes Joel Henrie, a partner at Motion Picture Placement, as saying: “Look what happened to Hermes scarves after Basic Instinct, Ray-Ban sunglasses after Risky Business, and suspenders after Michael Douglas wore them in Wall Street.” Not all product placement deals are “straight-fee” arrangements. There are actually three types of deals, the other two being the provision of costly merchandise (such as automobiles or appliances) for free just for the exposure (which accounts for about half of all placements), and the back-end promotion under which big corporations with huge promotional budgets aim for young audiences through tie-ins with popular films. In most films, product placement, while noticeable, is kept low-key. However, some Hollywood offerings have gone down in the annals of motion picture history as notorious examples of rampant commercialism. The 1988 snoozer Mac and Me could fairly be described as a ninety-minute advert for McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, with an alien thrown in whenever things were running slow. Likewise, the 1987 film Leonard Part 6 was deemed by many to be a never-ending Coca-Cola commercial. But rampant product placement is not merely limited to forgettable films which did poorly at the box office, as 1999’s Runaway Bride proved. (In that film, everyone walks around with a copy of USA Today in his hands.) Product placement in movies is now a corporate fact of life, as are “bonehead” accounts of great marketing opportunities left to the other guy. One company’s gaffe becomes the cautionary tale passed along to those in all manner of industries because the message is universal: This could be us one day if we don’t maintain vigilance. Once again, folklore is called upon to teach by example what might not have effectively been learned from a book. In an odd way, true-life corporate instances of one man’s garbage turning out to be another man’s treasure are almost a rip on the standard Hollywood legend of (pick your favorite movie star) was offered the lead in (now unforgettable, hugely-popular film) but turned it down. Though that scenario has indeed played out a number of times in Tinseltown, it hasn’t happened nearly as often as is reported. In many cases, remembered tidbits of so-and-so’s having been mentioned merely in passing at a studio round-table of “Who could we get?” are mentally embroidered into memories of the role’s having been offered to the star, who waved it away. Or a bit of rumor is later remembered as fact, such as the case of Ronald Reagan, whose name was only kited as part of a press release designed to drum up interest in Casablanca  but is now widely believed to have been the studio’s first choice to play Rick Blaine — a role never intended for anyone but Humphrey Bogart.",
            "output": [
                "M&Ms passed up the chance to be the candy used to lure the shy little alien from his hiding place in the 1982 blockbuster E.T., thereby letting one of the most successful instances of movie product placement fall into the hands of a competitor who benefited mightily from it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77b3ce477b414ad8ab37170943fb7cd3",
            "input": "The dwindling stockpile of crucial medications follows the abrupt departure of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international aid organization whose grants to North Korea supported the treatment of 120,000 TB patients last year. Its support officially ended in June despite an outcry among health officials in North Korea and in the international community that it could spark a major epidemic. Neurosurgeon Kee Park, of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School, said in an email to The Associated Press that the situation is extremely dire and likely to get dramatically worse in the years ahead if it is not properly dealt with. The U.S.-based nonprofit Eugene Bell Foundation, which works on the ground treating tuberculosis in North Korea, said Friday that the crisis is being compounded by U.S.-led sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program. North Korea has one of the world’s highest rates of tuberculosis, a highly infectious disease that, while treatable, globally causes more than 1 million deaths each year. According to the World Health Organization, about 107,000 cases of tuberculosis were reported in North Korea in 2017. Making matters worse, North Korea has estimated that 6-7 percent of its tuberculosis population has the drug-resistant variety, known as MDR-TB, which is far more difficult and costly to cure. “As a result of the loss of the Global Fund grants for the DPRK, we expect a 50-75 percent reduction in treatment capacity for non-MDR-TB patients,” Park said. “Consequently, our model predicts between 155,000 to 210,000 more people will die from TB-related causes within five years. To be clear, these are new deaths that are expected on top of the current mortality rates. We have assumed that the treatment of MDR-TB will continue at current levels.” Drug-resistant tuberculosis generally results from patients not taking the proper amount or combination of medications to completely cure them of the disease, or by coming into contact with someone who has been infected with it already. It is often found among populations that have had some exposure to TB medications, such as cities or other places with populations that are relatively more affluent — or at least affluent enough to have paid for some form of TB medication already. Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, is believed to have a particularly high incidence of the drug-resistant TB strain. Global Fund announced in February that it was ending its grants to North Korea, effectively ending the largest outside public health assistance program ever for the North, because of a lack of transparency and difficult operating conditions. It has said its stockpile would last for a year, which is longer than the average 6- to 9-month course of treatment for a TB patient. But the concern is over what will happen after that, how any new cases can be treated if no one else steps in to fill the gap and whether the limited pool of medications would be “rationed” in an ill-advised effort to spread out what medications are left. “Time is ticking,” Park said. “I have heard from people who have been inside recently that the rationing has already started.” The problem is especially acute because North Korea has a fragile public health system that could easily be overwhelmed by a large outbreak, sending North Koreans streaming across the country’s border with China, making the epidemic a bigger, regional issue. Concerns over such a calamity prompted the North to essentially close its borders during the Ebola scare in 2015 and during the SARS outbreak in 2003 in China, though neither seemed to present much of a threat to the isolated North. Stephen Linton, chairman of the Eugene Bell Foundation, told reporters in Seoul that South Korea lacks the sense of urgency to help groups like his gain sanctions exemptions so that they can deliver supplies to treat patients in North Korea. He likened the problem to having the house next door on fire, and said North Korea’s tuberculosis problem could potentially have health consequences for South Korea. Linton said he believes Global Fund’s decision was at least partially connected to sanctions-related pressure. The U.S. government, which pledged $1.4 billion this year, is one of the biggest donors to Global Fund. He noted that it has also gotten harder for American aid workers to get permission to travel to the North since President Donald Trump announced his travel ban for U.S. citizens more than a year ago. Choi Seemoon, a Eugene Bell director, said that while Eugene Bell and Global Fund have provided MDR-TB medications to about 2,000 patients this year, that’s less than 30 percent of the estimated 8,000 North Koreans with the condition. Global Fund’s stock of regular tuberculosis medicine will run out in early 2020, she warned, while its stock of MDR-TB medicine can only cover patients registered by the autumn of this year. “There needs to be a quick purchase of medicine and supplies to overcome the void left by Global Fund,” Choi said. “Whether the issue is resolved through inter-Korean talks or through international bodies and non-governmental channels, there should be a quick delivery of tuberculosis medicine to North Korea regardless of what channel it takes.” ___ Talmadge is the AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief. He contributed to this report from Tokyo. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @EricTalmadge.",
            "output": [
                "North Korea running low on TB meds, experts fear epidemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bfb7463c199049c69e6f81b3f8b0b14a",
            "input": "Through it all, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has endeavored to rise above the troubles with a focus on one main task: Building international “solidarity” against an outbreak whose confirmed death toll is nearly 300,000 and that quelled economic activity in countries rich and poor. Many health policy experts have praised his handling of the outbreak overall, despite criticism of the U.N. health agency by the Trump administration. Next week, Tedros’ track record and background will come under intensified scrutiny as WHO holds its biggest annual event — the World Health Assembly — in a “virtual” and abbreviated version that focuses on COVID-19. Critics and some analysts cite his background as a government minister in Ethiopia, with its history of authoritarian regimes. Not long after taking office in 2017, Tedros appointed Zimbabwe’s then president, Robert Mugabe, who often traveled abroad to receive health care, as a WHO “goodwill ambassador,” only to revoke the appointment after a wave of outrage erupted. Most recently, Trump has faulted WHO for being too accepting and praising of China’s handling of the early outbreak, wedging Tedros personally in the tense political standoff between the U.S. and China. He has shied away from criticizing the two powerful U.N. members, and has praised both President Donald Trump and Xi — even while leaving hints seemingly directed at Beijing and Washington. “Don’t use this virus as an opportunity to fight against each other or score political points. It’s dangerous,” he said recently, appealing to the world. “It’s the political problem that may fuel further this pandemic.” Tedros, 55, knows about the punishing sides to both politics and pandemics: A malaria expert with a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Nottingham in Britain, he served as health minister and foreign minister in Ethiopia before his election in 2017 in one of WHO’s most competitive races. He’s the first WHO chief from Africa, and the first who doesn’t have a medical degree — seen as a hole in his resume by some critics. Tedros was born in the city of Asmara, before it and the rest of Eritrea split from Ethiopia. Like many Ethiopians, he goes by his first name. A father of five, he has tweeted about riding bikes with his daughter. A few years ago, he tried out the saxophone, but give it up because of a heavy workload. Years ago, Tedros was spotted as a rising star of health policy by Melinda Gates, whose charitable foundation has become WHO’s No. 2 donor. He has been credited for helping expand Ethiopia’s health care workforce as health minister from 2005 to 2012. Tedros often uses wit, feigned ignorance and charm to disarm or sidestep critics. He has drawn on the star power of Lady Gaga and garnered support from European leaders, and called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez “mi hermano”: my brother. He bills himself “Dr. Tedros,” leaning on his doctorate, and actively tweets to a million followers. No stranger to the personal anecdote, Tedros once said it was “pure luck” for him to aspire to the top WHO job, noting that when he was 7, his younger brother died from a childhood disease — and it could just as easily have been him. Dr. Lia Tadesse, Ethiopia’s current health minister, who worked with Tedros when he had her job, said he was known for showing calm, patience and a good ear. “While he was a minister, he was known to really care for people who are considered at the lowest level of the strata, like the cleaner, the security guard and so on,” she said by phone. “He takes time to listen to their problems, and really recognize their efforts.” Tedros has played down death threats against him, but has stood up to defend Africa. He has blasted the government of Taiwan, which isn’t a U.N. member state, for allegedly condoning “racial slurs” against him. Taiwan’s current government has faced intense political pressure from rival China, and has been appealing for admission as an observer to the World Health Assembly on Monday and Tuesday. Political sniping between the U.S. and China, and Tedros’ own political baggage, can make it tough to cut through the noise during a global health emergency. “If you criticize the WHO and Tedros, you’re somehow seen as a supporter of the Trump administration and their clearly self-serving attacks to shift blame from their own failure,” said Jeffrey Smith, director of Washington-based Vanguard Africa, a promoter of democracy. “On the other hand, if you defend Dr. Tedros and the WHO, you’re seen as somehow endorsing his comfort level with the world’s despots and dictators.”  “Yes, Dr. Tedros is the product of a deeply authoritarian regime. And he has long displayed an affinity for dictators,” Smith said. “The WHO does critical work and deserves support. And yes, the WHO also needs reform. All of these things can be true.”  David Shinn, a U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia in the 1990s, said Tedros had a good relationship with both Beijing and Washington while Ethiopia’s foreign minister. Shinn cited a “cautionary note:” Tedros had the job when Ethiopia relied heavily on China for economic and political support, as it does today. “As a result, he probably was willing to accept at face value what he was being told by China with perhaps not questioning as strongly as he might have what the situation really was,” said Shinn, an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Tedros appears to have learned one key thing from his predecessor, Dr. Margaret Chan of China: Be reactive to outbreaks. Amid the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that’s now seemingly on its last legs, Tedros traveled over a dozen times to the region. With COVID-19, he has been omnipresent. “Dr. Tedros has been very much at the helm in terms of being in almost every single press conference, communicating directly with the public, tweeting — really speaking directly to people,” said Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at Geneva’s Graduate Institute. “He’s able to really humanize a situation that’s quite frightening for most people and be a reassuring presence,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "UN health agency chief unbowed amid attacks, Trump criticism."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c955874a46634ac49eccb510e9d7b3b1",
            "input": "WPRI-TV reports that a review of state Department of Health records found at least 450 health violations. The number is likely larger because 56 schools were marked for re-inspection, and some have been inspected multiple times. “Schools are really important because we have a lot of little kids,” said Cathy Feeney, chief of the agency’s retail food service program. “If one thing goes wrong, a lot of people can get sick.”   Rodent droppings were found at the middle school and at an elementary school in East Greenwich. Records show inspectors returned to both schools several times in October and November. Victor Mercurio, the East Greenwich superintendent, said the district is working with a pest control company. Schools in communities including Barrington, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket have also been flagged for pest problems. Inspectors have also found other issues including debris on surfaces, dumpsters in the wrong place and appliances in poor repair. Several schools were forced to throw out food because it was not stored at the proper temperature. None of the violations discovered in any of the schools have resulted in the closure of a cafeteria.",
            "output": [
                "Multiple health code violations found at school cafeterias."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd625f83e37d45fba9b368f31e5c9851",
            "input": "The 1981 film For Your Eyes Only was the twelfth in the James Bond series and marked the fifth appearance of Roger Moore as secret agent 007. Like all Bond offerings, the non-stop action was sprinkled with bodacious babes, about one of whom questions subsequently surfaced. Caroline Cossey, one of the “Bond girls” appearing in that film was a transgender woman. Ms. Cossey began life in 1954 as Barry Cossey but later decided to live as a woman. She changed her name to Caroline in 1972, began taking hormone tablets, had breast augmentation surgery, and in 1974 underwent the final sex reassignment surgery (SRS). From about 1979 to 1986 Caroline worked as a fashion model and actress under the name Tula, and she caught a break in 1980 when she was cast in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Shortly after the film’s release in 1981, however, the UK tabloid News of the World “outed” her and disrupted her modeling and acting career. Caroline’s first attempt at marriage, to Count Glauco, an Italian national, was blocked in 1983 by legal complications (under English law she was still considered male). In 1989 she married Elias Fattal in London, but her husband left her shortly after the honeymoon and the marriage was annulled by the High Court (under a ruling that the bride and groom had not been female and male, respectively). Caroline told her story in the 1982 book, Tula: I Am a Woman and published an autobiography, My Story, in 1991; she has resumed her modelling career and is now married to David Finch, a Canadian. But Caroline Cossey was a ‘Bond girl’ in only the most fleeting of ways: She appeared but briefly on screen in For Your Eyes Only, and film credits describe her as “girl at pool,” a designation she shared with ten other actresses.",
            "output": [
                "One of the women in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only is transgender."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0850f96a2fb744e98dfdbfe25990d3cf",
            "input": "In April 2015 news reports carried an account of a Wisconsin family whose 2-year-old golden retriever had died of severe liver damage after consuming gum containing the sweetener Xylitol:  Luna, a 2-year-old golden retriever, was put down by her owners after she ingesting Xylitol-laden gum. Luna had suffered severe liver damage. “Luna had gotten into a container of gum, actually chewed it open herself,” said Samantha Caress, 22. She, boyfriend Jordan Pellett ,22, and their son, Grady, 7 months, are devastated. “She was like our first child. She was like our family before we even had Grady,” said Caress. Caress and Pellett said the dog ingested the “Ice Breaker” Lemon-flavor gum while the couple was out of the home. That tragedy echoed an example which first reached us in May 2007 and reminds us that Xylitol has been known to be potentially toxic to dogs for a number of years now:  Today we almost lost our puppy Zelda. This is the puppy that we got this same week last year after one of our dogs, Zeus, was hit and killed in our driveway. Great time of year in this household. Anyway, Zelda got into a half pack (thank God only half) of Orbit sugar free gum. Big deal right? Well, apparently the sweetener Xylitol that seems to be in every pack of sugar free gum around is VERY toxic to dogs. Troy was so upset and insistent that I take her to the vet that I did. By the time we got to the vet’s office, about 15 minutes after Zelda had eaten the gum, her blood sugar was already 50 points below normal and she was basically falling asleep or so it appeared. Had they not had her vomit it she most likely would have died of insulin shock/hypoglycemia pretty quickly. If that had not killed her though, the liver damage that this toxin does to dogs would have by the next day or shortly thereafter. Even the vet didn’t realize how toxic the stuff is to dogs until she called the vet poison control center. They told her that 2 pieces of gum or candy (gum sized) with Xylitol would throw a 13 pound dog into severe hypoglycemia, 10 pieces would throw it into liver failure on top of that. We figure she ate somewhere between 5 and 10 pieces of Orbit gum. Anyway, Zelda is now on IV dextrose and fluids all night, with glucose checks at a minimum of every 6 hours once they stabilize her blood sugar and they also have to now run the liver tox screens for the next 72 hours as well. Please pass this on to anyone you know who has dogs. If they’re like me they will have little to no clue that this stuff is a problem. Interestingly, poison control told the vet that some makers of sugar free gum with Xylitol reimburse pet owners whose pets ingest Xylitol for their vet bills — which can be VERY steep I can tell you. Unfortunately, the makers of Orbit wasn’t one of them. But at least I didn’t lose another dog this year!! They’re hoping that she will make a full recovery. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol commonly used in candy and chewing gum (and some other products, such as peanut butter). It is also found in some pharmaceuticals and oral health products such as chewable vitamins and throat lozenges. It can also be used in home baking. While Xylitol is safe for humans, it can be harmful to dogs. The compound doesn’t affect glucose levels in people, but when ingested by dogs it can cause a dangerous surge of insulin. (In as little as 15 minutes, the blood sugar of a dog that has eaten gum containing Xylitol may register a marked drop in blood sugar.) At higher doses, Xylitol is believed toxic to the canine liver. Just three grams of Xylitol can kill a 65-pound dog. Because the amount of sweetener used in sugar-free chewing gums varies by manufacturer and product, the number of sticks of gum that would prove fatal to a pooch of that size can’t be stated with precision. As a general rule of thumb, between eight and ten pieces of gum might be deadly to a 65-pound canine, but a smaller dog could easily die after ingesting far less (perhaps as few as two sticks of gum):  “Certain types of sugar-free gum have huge amounts of Xylitol,” said Dr. Justine Lee, Animal Emergency and Referral Center of Minnesota. “A lot of people do not think about it, but Xylitol’s a product in sugar-free vitamins. They are in toothpaste. They are in dental floss. They are in nasal sprays or in gums or in baked goods and as little as a couple of pieces of gum can result in severe hypoglycemia, so a life threatening drop in blood sugar and actually liver failure.”  A dog that has eaten an item containing Xylitol can be rapidly hit by a dangerous drop in blood sugar that causes weakness, lethargy, loss of coordination, collapse, and seizures. Those symptoms can develop within 30 minutes, and a dog so afflicted will need immediate veterinary treatment to survive. Without help, irreversible brain trauma occurs and the patient dies. Xylitol also appears to cause severe liver damage in dogs within 24 hours. According to a study published in the 1 October 2006 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of eight dogs who had ingested Xylitol, five died of liver failure, and an additional  three canine deaths that occurred after the study was completed were also determined to stem from that cause. While more research needs to be done to categorically prove that Xylitol actually causes canine liver failure, at this time indications point that way. If you think your dog has consumed sugarless gum or any other product containing Xylitol, call your veterinarian immediately. Most likely you will be instructed to bring your pet in to have vomiting induced and IV fluids started, but if you live more than an hour away from a vet, you may have to induce vomiting at home. Veterinary treatment generally involves 24-hour hospitalization and infusion with intravenous fluids containing glucose. Your dog’s blood sugar will be monitored every few hours and the dose of glucose being fed to him by IV adjusted as needed. If liver values are normal after 24 hours, your dog will be sent home. As to how to prevent such poisonings, recognize that dogs are long on sweet tooth and short on judgment and act accordingly. Do not leave tasty items lying around. Put sugar-free gums and candies where dogs can’t get at them. Keep chewable vitamins out of the way too. If you bake with Xylitol, store the resultant goodies well out of your pets’ reach and do not hand-feed them bits of Xylitol-laced muffin as a treat no matter how much they beg. Never rely on the presumption that what is safe for a human to ingest is equally safe for your pets.",
            "output": [
                "Xylitol, a sugar substitute used in sugar-free gum and other products, can be harmful to dogs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4ebf26da5e744a36986120b48db13bc2",
            "input": "In late May 2020, readers searched the Snopes.com website questioning the veracity of a statement attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump, as quoted in a widely shared tweet posted by Washington Post journalist Felicia Sommez:  Sommez’s tweet accurately captures Trump’s statement regarding his diagnostic test result amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Trump made the remark on May 21, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House, as he was about to depart on Marine One for Michigan, where he toured a Ford manufacturing facility. Trump was responding to a reporter who asked how long the president expected to take hydroxychloroquine, a drug that Trump has been promoting as a potential treatment for COVID-19 without medical evidence for its safety or efficacy. Here is a transcription of the exchange between the reporter and Trump, per WhiteHouse.gov: Q Sir, how long do you expect take hydroxychloroquine? THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s another day. I had a two-week regimen of hydroxychloroquine. And I’ve taken it, I think, just about two weeks. I think it’s another day. And I’m still here. I’m still here. And I tested very positively in a — in another sense. So, this morning — Q Negatively?",
            "output": [
                "\"U.S. President Donald Trump said he \"\"tested very positively\"\" for COVID-19, meaning his test results came back negative, and he did not have the coronavirus disease.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5c027b65e5cb440baf9943cb3ccd94ec",
            "input": "These planned “medical observation and monitoring services” would be staffed by nurses and other clinicians, who would monitor the clients’ vital signs, administer oxygen, intravenous fluids, and the overdose-reversing drug naloxone if necessary, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday. The clients will be able to remain anonymous and receive counseling, treatment for infections and wounds, and help with obtaining primary health care and addiction treatment. People will not be allowed to use drugs inside these centers, a marked difference from the concept of “safe consumption sites.”  The state’s Department of Public Health is seeking bids to create three to five monitoring sites. Each would serve  five to 10 people who have taken too much of a sedative, such as heroin or fentanyl, or a stimulant, such as cocaine or methamphetamine. The site locations have not yet been determined. The observation centers were part of a $5 million item in the state budget, which charges the public health department with promoting “harm reduction” to reduce the bad consequences of drug use.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts looks to open new drug-monitoring centers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3ffd047702c4187a1e3b5bae3a7493b",
            "input": "In this file photo, participants of the Mars500 experiment, which simulates a 520-day flight to Mars, pose for a picture before entering a confinement module to start their mission in Moscow June 3, 2010. The crew comprises of (L-R): Alexey Sitev, Wang Yue, Romain Charles, Sukhrob Kamolov, Diego Urbina and Alexander Smoleevskiy. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin The $15-million Mars500 experiment aims to answer one of the big questions of deep-space travel: could people endure the stresses of a voyage of more than six months to the Red Planet? The six male volunteers from Europe, China and Russia are not exposed to weightlessness or solar radiation, but in just about every other way life inside the 550-cubic-meter mock spaceship in Moscow resembles that of a real space flight. Clothed in blue jumpsuits, the would-be astronauts take daily urine and blood samples, eat rations like those of real astronauts and do not shower often. Communication with the outside world comes with a 20-minute lag and the crew have faced power outages and other impromptu glitches. Halfway through, two crew members donned 32-kg (70-pound) spacesuits to clomp about in a dark sand-filled container meant to imitate the surface of Mars. “The research we have points to levels of high stress,” said Igor Ushakov, the head of the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems which runs the “spaceship.”   “The most difficult thing for them was being starved of information.”   Psychologists fear a return to the noise and activity of ordinary life will come as a shock to the crew, and plan a period of rehabilitation. “The key principle is to take it step by step to return them to the world which they left,” Ushakov told Reuters. A previous 420-day experiment ended in drunken disaster in 2000, when two participants got into a fistfight and a third tried to forcibly kiss a female crew member. But Mars500 is being hailed as a success. The emergency exit remained sealed and it proved an unexpected publicity coup for the European Space Agency, a collaborator on the project. “It was not designed to be a PR thing but I think it naturally evolved to be quite a positive and comprehensive advertisement for what we might eventually do next,” ESA’s head of human space flight operations Martin Zell told Reuters. With video cameras tracking the crew everywhere but the toilets, Mars500 has been likened to a scientific reality show. To kill time, China’s Wang Yue practiced calligraphy, France’s Romain Charles strummed his guitar and together the crew, aged from 28-38, played karaoke, chess and Nintendo Wii. The elaborate pretence of their imaginary spaceflight includes four days’ quarantine after they “return.”   “Folks who get close to us will need to go through a small medical examination, so we don’t catch a cold!” Italian Diego Urbina tweeted earlier this month. In another tweet, he said he most yearned for “family, calling my friends, bumping into strangers, going to the beach.”   Over 100 different experiments have crowded in on the Mars500 project, with researchers of every stripe interested in scrutinizing the men. Space officials say space technology is still decades away from being able to land astronauts on the Red Planet, more than 35 million miles (56 million km) away across the solar system. NASA unveiled $10 billion plans last month to build a huge deep-space rocket to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit after 2017, but space-faring nations are still debating whether to target a mission to the Moon, an asteroid or Mars. Among real-life astronauts, support for Mars500 has been tempered by some skepticism. Space veteran Sergei Krikalyov, who has spent a record 803 days in orbit, told Reuters: “It’s useful but, sitting here on Earth, it won’t solve real problems of long human exposure in space.”   But the crew has won praise. “I can’t help but applaud the fact that six people would go ahead and do something like this,” said U.S. astronaut Mark Polansky, who heads NASA operations at Russia’s Star City training center outside Moscow. “It’s really giving up a lot to pretend that you are on you’re way to Mars.”",
            "output": [
                "Fake Mars mission to open hatch on 520 days isolation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da56f6d8c42945a8864e73a99b962ee1",
            "input": "The National Health Commission said on Monday that 78 new asymptomatic cases had been identified as of the end of Sunday, compared with 47 the day before. Imported cases and asymptomatic patients, who show no symptoms but can still pass the virus on, have become China’s chief concern after draconian containment measures succeeded in slashing the overall infection rate. Hubei province, the original epicentre, accounted for almost half the new asymptomatic cases. A total of 705 people with asymptomatic cases were under medical observation around mainland China. The surge in asymptomatic cases, which China only began reporting last week, poses a worry as Hubei’s capital Wuhan prepares to allow people to leave the city on April 8 for the first time since it was locked down in late January. Wuhan officials revoked the “epidemic-free” status of 45 residential compounds due to the emergence of asymptomatic cases and other unspecified reasons, according to a report on Monday by the official Xinhua news agency. “Epidemic-free” status allows people living in Wuhan compounds to leave their homes for two hours at a time. China has now reported a total of 81,708 cases, with 3,331 deaths. One new locally transmitted infection was reported in the latest data, in the southern province of Guangdong, down from five a day earlier in the same province. China has closed its borders to foreigners as the virus spreads globally, though most imported cases have involved Chinese nationals returning from overseas. It began testing all international arrivals for the coronavirus from April 1, customs official Song Yueqian said. Of the new cases showing symptoms, 38 entered China from abroad, compared with 25 a day earlier. Of those, 20 arrived in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang from neighbouring Russia. All were Chinese citizens who had flown from Moscow to Vladivostok and travelled to China overland. China will work to prevent cases being imported through land borders, the government said after a meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Monday，which noted the number of such cases had exceeded cases recorded at airports recently. Those who try to hide their travel history or health condition face a fine of up to 30,000 yuan ($4,230) or even criminal proceedings, Song said, adding such people will be placed on a customs “blacklist” of travellers who will be subject to tighter checks in future. Another possible source of infection are the 1.6 million Chinese who study overseas, many of whom have struggled to return home since international flights were reduced. Charter flights are being arranged to bring home Chinese students in the United States, starting with the youngest, China’s embassy in Washington said. The ambassador, Cui Tiankai, noted in the New York Times on Monday there had been “unpleasant talk” between the two countries about the virus. “But this is not the time for finger-pointing. This is a time for solidarity, collaboration and mutual support,” Cui wrote. Amid criticism China was too slow to warn the international community about the outbreak, Xinhua on Monday published a “detailed timeline” of the country’s coronavirus response and information sharing, from late December 2019 to March 2020. China started reporting to the United States “regularly” on the epidemic and containment measures from Jan. 3, according to the timeline. Click here for an interactive GRAPHIC tracking global spread of coronavirus",
            "output": [
                "China sees rise in asymptomatic coronavirus cases, to tighten controls at land borders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34144721568547299903e1b5ce1700a1",
            "input": "Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources records show that Tyco Fire Products discovered soil and well contamination on the Marinette manufacturer’s fire training property in 2013, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. The contamination involves a class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are linked to cancer and other health issues. The company was found to have some of the highest known concentrations of the chemicals in groundwater and soil in Wisconsin, according to the records. In November 2017, Tyco, a Johnson Controls International unit, acknowledged that the chemicals had spread beyond its Marinette facility and suspended spraying foam products outdoors. The following month, the company started distributing bottled water to residents whose private wells may be affected by the contamination. Tyco tested 168 wells and 56 have shown evidence of the chemicals, the company said. State officials said Wisconsin law requires companies to immediately report pollution , but the company defended its actions by saying that little was known about PFAS at the time. “In 2013, there was not the level of awareness and information as there is today associated with PFOS/PFOA,” said Fraser Engerman, a spokesman for Johnson Controls International. But scientists have warned about the health impacts and other companies have phased out production of the chemicals for more than a decade. Tyco has also claimed that the company didn’t know about contamination beyond the property until 2016. “It wasn’t until 2016 that we had data that showed we had concentrations of these compounds at the edge of the property, so we then began the series of tests which led us to where we are today,” the company’s website states. Doug Oitzinger, the city’s former mayor, dismissed Tyco’s explanation. “This isn’t news to them,” he said. “They know that these pollutants have been judged an environmental danger .” Janell and Duane Goldsmith have twice tested their well water and found chemical contamination above the federal health advisory threshold. Duane Goldsmith has been diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumor cancer and Janell Goldsmith had pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, according to a lawsuit filed in December. The couple’s two sons also have had developmental delays, the lawsuit states. “They’ve known about this for how long — and they have been using these chemicals?” Janell Goldsmith said. “You don’t expect it to happen to your family and to your community. So much crosses your mind.” ___ Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Records: Tyco knew of contamination 4 years before reporting."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc9f7e566c0648c6a07f9f5c66baf5d8",
            "input": "Japan has so far been spared a major spreading of the coronavirus that has hit Europe and North America, but authorities fear a rise in cases with no known source of infection could signal a bigger new wave. Authorities confirmed 28 new coronavirus cases from a cluster related to a home for the disabled in Chiba prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo, NHK said. The outbreak has infected more than 1,800 people in Japan, with 55 deaths as of Sunday afternoon, excluding 712 cases and 10 deaths from a cruise ship that was moored near Tokyo last month, NHK said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday promised an unprecedented package of steps to cushion the world’s third-biggest economy from the coronavirus pandemic, warning that Japan may need to prepare for a national emergency. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has also asked the tens of millions of people in the city and surrounding regions to avoid non-essential, non-urgent outings until April 12, as the city has become the center of Japan’s coronavirus epidemic. Of the 68 new cases in Tokyo, more than 20 are linked to a hospital in the eastern Tokyo ward of Taito, where many patients and staff have already tested positive, NHK said. Tokyo authorities had no immediate comment on the NHK report.",
            "output": [
                "Tokyo coronavirus cases jump in record daily rise: NHK."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd4055036a8d4983a83f445c9958fca7",
            "input": "Britain’s legal bookmakers reported high interest Tuesday in the names Alexander, James and Arthur. They also noted speculation about the name Spencer, the maiden name of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. Royal babies usually have a string of names, opening the way for endless betting possibilities. “Following a flurry of bets last evening, Alexander is now the new favorite at the top of our name betting and the one we are fearing the most,” said John Hill of the Coral betting agency. Alexander has 4/1 odds at Coral, while Arthur is 6/1 and Albert, James and Spencer are all 8/1. Choosing Spencer as a first or middle name is seen as a way for Harry to honor Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when he was only 12. Before he married Meghan last year, Harry spoke about his desire to pay tribute to his mother’s memory during the wedding ceremony. Others believe Meghan could choose a name that reflects her American biracial heritage. One Twitter user suggested Marvin — for the late singer Marvin Gaye. The infant, known only as Baby Sussex for the moment, was born Monday at 5:26 a.m. at a yet-undisclosed location. In a gushing announcement of the birth, Harry said he and Meghan are “thinking” about names and hinted that an announcement might be made Wednesday or shortly thereafter. The couple is also expected to pose with their newborn or release a photo on their Instagram account at some time and to publicly name godparents for the child. The new arrival is the eighth great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, who smiled when asked about the baby’s arrival at a luncheon Tuesday. Asked if life is good, the 93-year-old monarch said: “Yes, thank you.” The baby boy is the first of her great-grandchildren to have an American parent. His mother Meghan is the daughter of a white man and a black woman, bringing a biracial heritage to the House of Windsor. Trevor Phillips, a retired black broadcaster who headed Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, wrote an open letter to the royal baby, saying his arrival reflects British society’s more open attitude nowadays and the increasing inclusiveness of the royal family. “This is a family that lives the reality of a multicultural world daily,” he said. “It’s their job: to interact with people of different backgrounds to themselves on behalf of the nation, and to treat them all with respect. I have to tell you, they are pretty good at it.” He went on to tell the baby: “Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have a special place in the nation’s heart.” Prince William, Harry’s older brother, joked Tuesday that he will be glad “to welcome my own brother into the sleep deprivation society that is parenting!” “Obviously thrilled, absolutely thrilled, and obviously looking forward to seeing them in the next few days when things have quietened down,” William told reporters. The birth produced a moment of high drama likely to be replayed for the rest of Harry’s life. The prince, who has battled mental health challenges since the abrupt loss of his mother at a young age, emerged with the world’s most satisfied grin Monday afternoon to announce the birth of his son before TV news cameras. “We’re both absolutely thrilled and so grateful for all the love and support from everybody out there. It’s been amazing, so we just wanted to share this with everybody,” the normally press-shy royal gushed. Harry also burnished his feminist credentials — and paid tribute to mothers around the world — after witnessing the birth. “It’s been the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined,” he said. “How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension.” ___ Read all Associated Press coverage of the latest royal baby at https://www.apnews.com/RoyalBaby",
            "output": [
                "Will new royal baby’s name honor Princess Diana? Stay tuned."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be6a98fdb1464cc3acbaf17406dc5ba4",
            "input": "Although this therapy is not yet available for patient use, the story makes a point of noting that the cost may well be “stratospheric,” should it make it to market. If approved, such treatments are expected to command stratospheric prices. For example, a separate Spark gene therapy for a rare type of childhood blindness, which is on track for Food and Drug Administration clearance soon, could cost $1 million per patient for infusions in both eyes, according to some Wall Street analysts. Still, the therapies can produce at least some offsetting savings. Porteus noted in his editorial that the hemophilia therapy resulted in savings of about $200,000 a year per patient because of the elimination of clotting-factor infusions. The story summarizes the outcome of the small, 10-person trial that dominates this narrative: Lindsey George, the lead investigator and a hematologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said that nine of the 10 men in the trial didn’t experience any bleeding episodes after the gene therapy treatment. The one patient who needed clotting factor because of bleeding used 91 percent less than before, she said. Although the story does not address harms directly–and should have–it does note that one of the worrying side effects of gene therapy—spurring the body to attack itself—was not present in this study. It is clear from the story that the study is small and an “early-stage trial.” One source also notes that the researchers tracked individuals in the study for no more than a year and a half, making longer term assessments unavailable. The story could have done more, though, to signal to the reader that, despite the encouraging outcomes of the study, the treatment is still very much under development. The next stage—Phase 3 trials—requires more participants, more careful study design, and takes, on average, three years to complete. The treatment described here, if ultimately proved worthy, could have a profound impact on a serious genetic condition. Independent sources are identified in the story, as are the funders. But missing from the text is information describing linkages between the two funders—Spark Therapeutics and Pfizer—and the lead researchers. It’s not clear from the story that there is a financial relationship. Individuals coping with hemophilia B have few options, and the story describes the main one: injections of blood-clotting factor to stem runaway bleeding. Since the story notes that the research is at an early stage with only 10 participants, a reader can easily infer that the treatment is not yet available. However, additional information about remaining evaluation stages for this treatment would have been a useful reinforcing addition. Hemophilia B sufferers who see this story will likely be contacting their doctors. The story establishes novelty with this: The researchers presented earlier findings on the gene therapy a year ago at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting, but the latest data covers a larger patient group and a longer time period. A news release issued by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia did a good job of describing this study; the Post story could have picked up more of the salient details from that text but reveals independent reporting nevertheless by including sources not connected to the study.",
            "output": [
                "Gene therapy makes a big advance treating hemophilia B blood disorder"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba9a5d657a0f4500b7a42829f47aa640",
            "input": "The final recommendations, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, apply to people aged 55 to 80 whose smoking has put them at high risk of cancer. That includes former heavy smokers who have quit within the past 15 years. Heavy smokers are considered to be those who smoked a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. According to a comprehensive review of medical evidence since 2004, the panel found the benefits of screening high-risk individuals with low-dose computed tomography, or CT scans, outweigh the potential harms of overdiagnosis and increased exposure to radiation, which also contribute to cancer risk. The panel, which is comprised of independent experts and advises U.S. policymakers, gave the screening a “B” recommendation, meaning it is at least moderately certain that the benefits of the scans outweigh the harms. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services with a grade of “B” or higher. The guidelines are intended to help prevent some of the 160,000 annual lung cancer deaths in the United States, which exceed the total number of deaths from breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, resulting in about 85 percent of lung cancers in the United States. The guidelines largely fall in line with recommendations from most major groups of cancer experts, including the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. When the initial recommendations were published in July, some doctors expressed concern that the guidelines could lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancers, in much the same way that widespread screening programs for breast and prostate cancers have done.",
            "output": [
                "Some current, former smokers should get annual lung scans: US panel."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef9ea0453a404f4cac4ae95f1bb8e6fd",
            "input": "\"No discussion of costs. Is this OK because this is still experimental? We don’t think so, not when the drug company is allowed to project possible approval within a year. Much better to say, as a Wall Street Journal story did, that the company said it was too early to set pricing. But to ignore costs entirely is a mistake in our view. good job providing absolute benefit data from the trial. Good job on harms as well – \"\"Serious side effects also became clear. Nearly two-thirds of patients on ipilimumab experienced side effects caused by over-active immunity, such as severe itching, intestinal irritation and diarrhea. Researchers linked 14 deaths to the study drugs, half caused by immune-system reactions.\"\" Good job explaining the nationwide study and the local participation. No disease mongering in this story. Story quoted one independent source in addition to one of the study co-authors. The story explained that \"\"Other drug companies are at work on competing versions of the immune-enhancing antibody therapy.\"\" It’s clear from the story that the approach is experimental. The story also states: Minor quibble:  perhaps the story should have reminded readers that a drug company’s timetable predictions may not be the most reliable. For local readers it explained: The relative novelty of the approach is clear in the story – \"\"one of the first antibody-based therapies that use the body’s immune defenses to destroy cancer cells\"\" and \"\"Drug companies are racing to develop competing versions of the immune-enhancing therapy, an antibody produced through genetic engineering.\"\" It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Portland cancer center among those offering experimental immune therapy ipilimumab"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c00cdd5ff15a429a9b977138382b038f",
            "input": "With France’s five million Muslims making up about eight percent of the overall population, the test, similar in size to a pregnancy test, aims to help consumers detect traces of pork not just in food, but also in cosmetics or medicines. The kit comes with a small test tube in which a food sample is mixed with warm water. A test strip is then inserted into the water which delivers its verdict after a few minutes: one line means no trace of pork; two lines means pork is present. Frenchmen Jean-Francois Julien and Algerian-born Abderrahmane Chaoui came up with the idea at university two years ago in the midst of a Europe-wide scandal over mislabeled frozen meals containing horsemeat instead of beef. Julien was already developing tests for people suffering from food intolerance or more serious allergies. “Abderrahmane tells me ‘you know, food allergies and food intolerance are very interesting of course but you should really diversify yourself in animal proteins’,” Julien said. “That’s when we got the idea to develop a specific anti-body for porcine DNA.”       Their company, Capital Biotech, argues no other existing test allows the end user to analyze the content of a food product as easily and cheaply as theirs. The tests cost 6.90 euros per unit and are 99 percent accurate. “HalalTest” will be available for purchase online very soon, the founders said. Despite its name, Capital Biotech says no test can tell whether a meat dish is fully halal. As well as shunning pork, Islam dictates that animals be slaughtered according to a strict method. Even so, Capital Biotech said it had received pre-orders for 10,000 testing kits within 24 hours of the launch on Wednesday. French Muslims have embraced the product. “With this test we can find out whether there really is or isn’t any pork inside,” said halal supermarket Hal’City worker Mohamed Hatmi. Julien and Abderrahmane, who have also launched an alcohol test, have developed several other tests which could, they believe, interest millions of food intolerance sufferers. The first will detect cow’s milk proteins, while another will detect traces of gluten in food for people who have an intolerance to gluten or those who have developed celiac disease, said Capital Biotech co-founder Thomas Nenninger.",
            "output": [
                "French entrepreneurs launch test to detect pork in food."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95a73ee34ba04c7cb332f4f7c2b732ef",
            "input": "Novartis, with exclusive rights to the drug in Europe while cooperating with Amgen in the United States, said it was “disappointed” in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) conclusion. It marks the second time within months the UK agency has rejected reimbursement for a key medicine from the Swiss drugmaker. Novartis, whose U.K. price for Aimovig is about 5,000 pounds ($6,374) annually but which was offering discounts, is counting on the medicine to be a foundation of its neuroscience business and a key part of boosting revenue as older medicines lose patent protection. Some analysts see 2022 sales nearing $1 billion, according to Refinitiv. While NICE said the medicine demonstrated clinical effectiveness, the agency concluded there was not enough evidence to suggest it is more effective than botulinum toxin type A, which is marketed by Allergan as Botox. NICE also raised questions about long-term effectiveness. “We will work with the company to ensure that they are given every opportunity to address the issues highlighted in these provisional recommendations,” NICE said. Novartis, which pledged to work with NICE to address outstanding questions, said patients would lack new treatment options if the decision remains unchanged. “The UK already lags significantly behind other European countries in the ability for patients to access new medicines,” Novartis said. In September, NICE also issued draft guidance concluding Novartis’s cancer cell therapy Kymriah, offered with an undisclosed discount to its list price of 282,000 pounds, was too expensive to recommend to treat adults with lymphoma. Novartis is also seeking to reverse that decision.",
            "output": [
                "Novartis migraine drug not cost effective - UK price watchdog."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64430e61536a44b289a3dba9d9ab4158",
            "input": "Jennifer Hope Mikesell, of Northwood, is charged with ongoing criminal conduct, fraudulent practices and forgery. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press. Authorities said more charges might be filed later. The Worth County Sheriff’s Office said the 43-year-old Mikesell had told people she was diagnosed with cancer and was receiving cancer treatments at Mayo Clinic Health System in Rochester, Minnesota. Iowa court records say Mayo had no record of Mikesell being diagnosed or treated there. Mikesell received multiple donations of money, food and other supplies, as well as a bedroom makeover from My Happy Haven, the court records say. In a media interview about the makeover, Mikesell said she been fighting liposarcoma since 2016. She also said it had spread to her heart and brain. “You do so much to try to do what you can with the energy you have,” Mikesell told KIMT-TV in October. “I have five kids. You still have to try to cook, you still have to make it to their activities. When you come home, you have no energy left. You’re done.”",
            "output": [
                "Woman accused of faking cancer to reap donations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19cdd8e338ef4466bfe86ba2e4b25e2d",
            "input": "Soon the dog’s handler discovered and confiscated a ham sandwich in the purse of a passenger who had flown on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai. The danger? That the food might be contaminated with African swine fever and spread the disease to the United States. China has lost millions of pigs in outbreaks of the disease, pushing its pork prices to record highs, forcing purchases of costly imports and roiling global meat markets. “It’s very likely it may come here if we aren’t more vigilant,” said Jessica Anderson, the handler for the pork-sniffing dog and an agricultural specialist for the border protection agency. Bettie is among an expanded team of specially trained beagles at U.S. airports, part of a larger effort to protect the nation’s $23 billion pork industry from a disease that has decimated China’s hog herd, the world’s largest. Governments worldwide are scrambling to shore up their defenses as the disease spills over China’s borders, according to Reuters reporting from nine countries. The efforts underscore the grave threat to global agriculture. African swine fever has spread to Southeast Asia and eastern Europe, with cases found in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Poland, Belgium and Bulgaria. Around the globe, those countries and others that have so far sidestepped the epidemic are cracking down on travelers, increasing cargo screenings and banning meat imports. GRAPHIC: China’s pig industry crisis - here  Pork-producing countries stand to lose billions of dollars if the disease infects their industries because outbreaks devastate farms and shut export markets. African swine fever does not threaten humans but there’s no vaccine or cure for infected pigs. If the disease enters the United States, the top pork-exporting nation with 77.3 million hogs, the government would struggle to protect the industry, participants in a four-day drill in September told Reuters. “If this gets in, it will destroy our industry as we know it,” said Dave Pyburn, the National Pork Board’s senior vice president of science and technology. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) simulated an outbreak in Mississippi that spread to the nation’s top pig-producing states, including North Carolina, Iowa and Minnesota. Veterinarians, farmers and government officials gathered at command centers where they tested their capacity to swiftly detect, control and clean up after an outbreak. The experience showed the U.S. needs to increase its capacity to quickly test pigs for the disease and to dispose of the animals without spreading it, said Pyburn, who participated in the drill. In China, the top global pork consumer, the disease has been devastating. The exact number of hog deaths is not known. Rabobank estimated the country lost up to 55% of its pig herd last year. But the Chinese government has reported smaller losses in the country’s $1 trillion hog sector since the first case in August 2018. The U.S. government is fielding dogs at airports and seaports, conducting outbreak-response drills and adding capacity to test pigs. France and Germany are killing hundreds of thousands of wild boar that might carry the disease. France also erected 132 kilometers (82 miles) of fencing to keep out wild boar and is planning stricter sanitary rules for pig farming, including requirements to disinfect trucks that transport swine. Thailand culled pigs in a province close to Myanmar, where the disease has been found. South Korea ordered soldiers on its border with North Korea to capture wild boar, while Vietnam used troops to ensure infected pigs were culled. Australia expelled travelers from Vietnam for smuggling pork and banned imports of pork products. Australia also deployed advisors to Pacific islands in an attempt to protect its closest neighbors from African swine fever. If such efforts fail, it could cost the country more than 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) over five years, according to Australian Pork Limited, an industry group. “It is certainly the biggest threat to commercial raising that we have ever seen, and arguably the biggest threat to any commercial livestock species we’ve seen,” said Mark Schipp, Australia’s chief veterinary officer. U.S. officials plan to suspend domestic shipments of pigs among farms and to slaughterhouses if African swine fever is detected. The USDA and states could issue orders halting the movement of livestock in certain areas as a way to contain the disease. The USDA said in a statement to Reuters that the September drill highlighted shortcomings in its guidance to states detailing when and how to limit the movement of pigs. The government is also increasing the number of laboratories it uses to test for African swine fever. “We have identified some gaps,” said Amanda Luitjens, who took part in the drill and is animal welfare auditor for Minnesota-based pork producer Christensen Farms. “The thought of it making it to the United States is scary.”  Travelers transporting meat represent the biggest risk for African swine fever to spread to the United States because the disease can live for weeks in pork products, Pyburn said. Contaminated food can be fed to feral pigs or livestock in a practice known as garbage feeding, which the USDA says has caused outbreaks of swine diseases around the world. U.S. farmers are supposed to obtain a license to feed pigs with food waste that contains meat and cook it to kill disease organisms. African swine fever can also spread from pig to pig, from bites by infectious ticks and through objects such as trucks, clothing and shoes that have come into contact with the virus. China banned the transportation of live pigs from infected provinces and neighboring regions in an unsuccessful bid to contain its outbreaks. It also culled pigs and outlawed the use of kitchen waste for swine feed. The disease has been detected in food products seized at airports in South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and northern Ireland. African swine fever is thought to have arrived in the Philippines through contaminated pork smuggled from China. The Philippines is now conducting mandatory checks on carry-on luggage of passengers from countries with outbreaks. The government of the province of Cebu in central Philippines banned imported products and those from the main Philippine island of Luzon to avoid swine fever. More than 60,000 pigs have died or been culled in Luzon because of the disease. The Philippines Department of Agriculture also banned garbage feeding that included leftover food from airports, airlines and seaports. In the United States, low inspection rates at ports of entry increase the likelihood for illegal pork to enter the country undetected, the USDA said in a report assessing the risk from African swine fever. The agency works with Customs and Border Protection to alert all U.S. ports each time a new country is confirmed to have the disease, requesting increased scrutiny on travelers and shipments. But Customs and Border Protection estimates it needs 3,148 people to specialize in agricultural inspections at entry points like airports and only has about 2,500. The U.S. Senate last year authorized the annual hiring of 240 agricultural specialists a year until the workforce shortage is filled, and the training and assignment of 20 new canine teams a year. The government approved 60 new beagle teams to work at airports and seaports last year, for a total of 179 teams, according to USDA. Those teams face a daunting challenge, said Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat who introduced the legislation with other lawmakers. “Every day, millions of passengers and tens of thousands of shipping containers carrying food products cross our nation’s borders,” he said, “any one of which could do significant damage to America’s food supply and agricultural industries.”",
            "output": [
                "Disease that killed millions of China's pigs poses global threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29879ef9d60b4dc380832a95803267ef",
            "input": "It’s the latest effort by state legislators to give minors more control over their bodies and gender identities. “The fundamental premise of the legislation is that people should make decisions about their own bodies,” said Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, the bill’s sponsor. “In California we strongly believe that people are who they are and that we shouldn’t be telling people who they are supposed to be.” Doctors, though, said the bill may go too far in restricting how they can treat patients. The California Medical Association hasn’t taken a formal position on the bill but has “very serious concerns” that include the bill’s lack of a definition around when a minor is old enough to consent. “Our concern is that the approach in this bill may be being overly prescriptive and not give families and medical professionals the ability to take the specifics of each case into account,” Janus Norman, senior vice president for governmental relations, said in a statement. The bill focuses on intersex minors, defined as someone who is born with atypical physical sex characteristics, which could include genitals or internal organs that don’t conform to a single gender. InterACT, a nonprofit working to expand rights for intersex youth, estimates just less than 2 percent of the U.S. population has some type of intersex characteristic. That includes a broad range of characteristics ranging from an enlarged clitoris or a misplaced urethra opening on the penis to genitalia that don’t clearly match one gender. About one in 2,000 babies are estimated to have visible genital differences putting them at risk of early surgery, said Kimberly Zieselman, the group’s executive director. Unnecessary surgeries could mistakenly identify a child’s preferred gender or, in cases unrelated to gender, leave scarring or affect future fertility, she said. “It’s not just a gender issue,” Zieselman said. “There are a lot of other harms that happen to many intersex people as a result of the interventions that are psychological and physical.” Under Wiener’s bill, doctors and parents wouldn’t be allowed to move ahead with treatment or surgery unless it is medically necessary, such as something that would prevent a child from urinating. Treatments or surgeries outlined in the bill include removal or reduction of the clitoris or removal of the ovaries or testis. It could also bar additional procedures not specifically outlined in the bill. If a doctor considers surgery medically necessary, he or she would need parental consent. If the treatment isn’t necessary, the doctor and parents would have to wait until the child is old enough to give consent and obtain approval for any procedures. The bill doesn’t define when a minor can give consent. It is intentionally vague, Wiener’s office said, and would rely on guidelines already in state law around when a child is able to consent on certain medical procedures. The California Medical Association cited that as a reason for concern. “There are also serious questions about the nature and legal threshold for informed consent as used in the bill,” Norman said. Under current medical guidelines, doctors form teams of experts, including psychologists or urologists, to evaluate each individual circumstance. Considering the physical and emotional health of the future child is a key piece of the evaluation, Norman said. Under the bill, doctors could not be criminally held responsible if they violate the law but could be disciplined by the state’s medical board. Wiener said his office will work with the medical association if it has constructive feedback.",
            "output": [
                "California bill would limit genitalia surgery for children."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-062813b7e4d848128aafde596407d6a7",
            "input": "Former Minister of Health Oly Ilunga was taken into custody, police said in a statement Saturday. Ilunga resigned in July to protest President Felix Tshisekedi’s decision to take over the management of the response to the world’s second deadliest Ebola outbreak, which is ongoing now in eastern Congo, from Ilunga. As he resigned, Ilunga deplored the lack of cooperation between him, the president and the prime minister in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak. Police said Saturday that Ilunga had been arrested less than a month ago for misdemeanor offenses involving the mishandling of funds and he was released. He has since made plans to travel to the neighboring Republic of Congo, they said, adding he was taken into custody to make sure he would not avoid legal proceedings. Congo’s National Ebola Response Committee released the latest Ebola numbers Friday after a discussion in Goma by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church about efforts to help stem the spread of Ebola in communities. A mistrust of health workers and widespread security issues still threaten the fight against the Ebola outbreak in a region where armed groups have fought for decades over the mineral-rich land. The committee reported there were 3,002 confirmed Ebola cases with 1,974 confirmed deaths. The World Health Organization said Friday they recorded 40 new cases of Ebola — the lowest weekly incidence of Ebola since March 2019 — but said it was unclear if this positive trend would continue.",
            "output": [
                "Congo police detain ex-health minister in Ebola funds probe."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d78c75b23ee643479ff2276c6a01b481",
            "input": "It’s one small way the dairy industry is fighting to slow the persistent decline in U.S. milk consumption as eating habits change and rival drinks keep popping up on supermarket shelves. At a high school in North Dakota, a $5,000 grant from a dairy group helped pay for an espresso machine that makes lattes with about 8 ounces of milk each. The drinks used 530 gallons of milk this year. “We buy a lot of milk,” said Lynelle Johnson, the food service director for the Williston Public School District. It’s not clear how much coffee drinks in high schools might help boost milk consumption, or whether the concept will gain traction across the country. But with consumption of milk in the U.S. down 40 percent since 1975, the dairy industry is looking for all the help it can get. The industry famous for its “Got Milk” advertising campaign is hoping its newer “Undeniably Dairy” slogan will help fend off the almond, oat and soy alternatives that are becoming more popular. And regional dairy groups are encouraging schools to serve milky drinks like smoothies and hot chocolate, as well as iced lattes. The efforts come as the dairy industry is also trying to adjust to changing views about diet and nutrition. With fat no longer seen as a dietary evil, skim milk has suffered the sharpest declines in demand in recent years. And it’s difficult for dairy producers to reduce production of skim milk because it is left over after making other products such as butter, cheese and ice cream. As skim milk becomes especially tough to sell, Organic Valley is even drying some of the surplus and mixing it back into low-fat and fat-free milk to boost the nutrients and make it creamier. “We’re just exploring everything we can,” said George Siemon, who was CEO of Organic Valley when the plans were developed, but has recently stepped down. The dairy industry blames rules that limit the fat content of milk in schools for consumption declines, arguing that generations of students are growing up disliking milk because of the watery taste of skim. In the meantime, it’s hoping lattes can make milk go down easier. In Florida, a dairy group said it paid for coffee carts in 21 high schools this past school year. In the Southwest, a dairy group gave grants to seven schools for coffee programs. Not all high school coffee bars get grants from dairy groups, and the money may only cover a small portion of costs. School food operators also say lattes offer other benefits, such as giving teens a reason to stay on school grounds. At a national convention for school lunch officials this month, one session will also detail how schools in Orange County, Florida used coffee drinks to get students to buy lunch. For an extra $2, students can turn the cup of milk served with lunch into a coffee drink at a nearby cart. Without the lunch, it costs $3. The Orange County schools did not receive industry grants for the coffee bars, but the local dairy council provided chalkboard-style signs and menus. Cafeteria directors and dairy groups say coffee drinks in schools have to follow nutrition standards, making them healthier than the lattes students would get anyway outside schools. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which sets rules for schools participating in its meal programs, says high schools can sell espresso drinks that are no bigger than 12 ounces, and that are made with fat-free or 1% milk. The drinks have around 150 calories, school food directors say. But not everyone thinks teens should drink coffee, or that they need milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages caffeine consumption among children, citing potentially harmful effects on developing bodies. And while dairy is an efficient way to get calcium and vitamin D, it’s not the only way to get such nutrients, said Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and representative for the American Academy of Pediatrics. As for lattes, Muth said there are ways to encourage students to get the nutrients of milk without promoting caffeine habits that could lead to headaches, agitation and lack of sleep. “If they’re going to be having that outside of school, that’s one thing. But in schools, the idea is to promote good health and nutrition,” Muth said. Exactly how schools prepare coffee drinks can vary, but milk is a primary ingredient for lattes. “It’s really milk with some coffee, as far as proportion,” said Julie Ostrow of Midwest Dairy. It’s why the group is providing a grant for a coffee bar at a fourth high school in the Fort Zumwalt, Missouri district this upcoming year. In exchange, the group gets data on how much milk is used for the lattes, as well as information for personal pizzas, mozzarella sticks and other products with dairy. But the group might not be happy about one of the newer options: This past year, the coffee bars began offering almond milk for 40 cents extra, said Paul Becker, the district’s food director. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "To boost milk, dairy groups support high school coffee bars."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-713b53b3684846df8fa09183cea8f902",
            "input": "The Minnesota Department of Health learned this week that a non-Minnesota resident with confirmed measles traveled through Minnesota from another state. According to the department, people may have been exposed to measles on April 13 at a McDonald’s on Main Street in Winona and on April 16 at the Freeborn  County Co-op gas station in Albert Lea. Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz tells the Star Tribune the infected person was from Missouri. Health officials in western Wisconsin and in Iowa also are warning people about recent potential exposure to measles. Symptoms of measles include high fever, cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes and a rash. The disease can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials warn of measles exposure in SE Minnesota."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cee22a51682e4a76b13be4636cb06a76",
            "input": "Xuzhou, around 400 miles (640 kilometers) from Beijing, is implementing an “orange alert” pollution control program aimed at “ensuring air quality during the National Day period”, according to a notice reviewed by Reuters and authenticated by industry sources. China’s environment ministry warned on Monday that “unfavorable” weather conditions would lead to a prolonged and widespread outbreak of smog stretching along the eastern coast for around two weeks, and urged local governments throughout affected regions to take swift action. The smog has already forced Beijing and surrounding cities to implement special restrictions on heavy industries, including steel, power and cement, in order to ensure skies remain clear during the Chinese capital’s 70th anniversary parade on Oct. 1. Beijing’s environment bureau said on Wednesday that it had also issued an orange alert, the second highest in a four-tier pollution alarm system, lasting from Thursday until further notice. It will curtail production and restrict traffic. Xuzhou, home to more than a dozen steel firms, started restricting steel output on Wednesday, and will close down all production from Thursday evening. Coking coal producers will also be subject to controls. Restrictions will be placed on freight vehicle deliveries in major industries and on straw burning in rural districts. The city will also work to source its electricity from cleaner and efficient sources over the next few days. In smog-prone Anyang, another major steel producing city in central China’s Henan province, authorities have implemented “red alert” pollution control measures that started on Wednesday, imposing tougher restrictions on industry and transportation. According to a government notice circulated by traders and the local media, Anyang ordered small, independent sintering plants to close on Wednesday, and will shut down all steel production from Thursday evening. Anyang was one of China’s most polluted cities last winter, with concentrations of PM2.5 up 27% over the period. It is located near the Taihang mountain range, which the environment ministry said is currently trapping emissions and channeling them towards Beijing.",
            "output": [
                "China extends pollution curbs ahead of National Day celebrations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7e8d5a92a284a4d8495c7709473a36d",
            "input": "The U.S.-based Carter Center, which leads the eradication campaign, says just 30 cases were reported last year in isolated areas of Ethiopia and Chad. All 15 cases in Ethiopia occurred at a farm where workers drank unfiltered water from a contaminated pond. Mali has not reported any cases in 25 months, and civil war-torn South Sudan has reported no cases in 13 months. The Carter Center called that a “major accomplishment.” The incapacitating disease three decades ago affected more than 3 million people in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. The meter-long worm incubates in people for up to a year before painfully emerging, often through extremely sensitive parts of the body. “It was more painful than giving birth,” one South Sudan resident, Rejina Bodi, told The Associated Press last year. “Childbirth ends but this pain persists.” Unlike other diseases which are controlled by medicines or vaccines, Guinea worm can be eradicated by educating people how to filter and drink clean water. Globally, the Guinea worm program is entering the final stretch, though the World Health Organization warns that the remaining cases can be the most difficult to control as they usually occur in remote and often inaccessible areas. If South Sudan continues to report no cases, the world’s youngest country will be on track to be certified Guinea worm-free in the next couple of years. In an interview last year with the AP, former President Jimmy Carter praised South Sudan for making steady progress despite the “tremendous problems” in the East African nation.",
            "output": [
                "World moves closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c9fa843bc784675a1f6463b0a4ccfbc",
            "input": "The Tompkins County districts have awarded beef procurement contracts to Slate Foods, which purchases cattle from farms that agree to reduce use of antibiotics. It’s the first success in the Oneonta-based Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship’s campaign to grow market demand for safer antibiotic practices. The districts are Dryden, Groton, Ithaca and Trumansburg. Advocates hope to get other districts to award contracts specifying farm management practices that lower the risk of infection in cattle and reduce antibiotic use. Overuse of antibiotics in animals and humans has created a public health crisis by producing bacteria that cause untreatable infections.",
            "output": [
                "Schools agree to buy beef produced with reduced antibiotics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e09b2705e5e446c6963ec50b9ead6523",
            "input": "Montreal Canadiens Max Pacioretty lies on the ice after being hit into a glass stanchion by Boston Bruins Zdeno Chara during the second period of NHL hockey play in Montreal, March 8, 2011. REUTERS/Shaun Best With the National Hockey League playoffs under way after a season where jarring head shots grabbed headlines, researchers said the number of concussions was leveling off. But the ice time a player loses more than doubles with each subsequent concussion, so there were more absences. “Either concussions are becoming more severe or physicians are becoming more conservative with their management decisions,” said Brian Benson, a physician at the University of Calgary’s faculty of kinesiology and the lead author of the report. “We’re uncertain of the exact reason but it’s certainly an observation of the study.”   The report now goes to the NHL’s concussion working group, which will examine ways to prevent concussions, or work out how to respond when they do happen. “The goal in hockey in general is to reduce the risk of this potentially devastating injury without necessarily changing the nature of the game that millions love and enjoy watching,” Benson said. “You don’t want to make haphazard decisions but you certainly want to base it on evidence and try to reduce this foreseeable, predictable risk.”   The league has faced many calls for tougher penalties for potentially career-ending hits to the head, including some this season after a March incident in which Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens was injured after a body check that sent his head into a stanchion. He suffered a concussion and fractured vertebra. Sidney Crosby, Canada’s gold-medal goal-scorer in the 2010 Winter Olympics, has been off the ice since suffering a concussion in January. The researchers worked with the NHL and NHL Players’ Association to analyze 559 doctors’ reports of concussions suffered by players between 1997 and 2004. Their findings are published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The researchers estimated that there were 1.8 concussions per 1,000 player hours, a number that leveled off through the study period. The most-often reported symptom was headache at 71 percent. But players also reported dizziness, nausea, neck pain, fatigue, blurred vision or amnesia. Some 18 percent lost consciousness. For each recurrent concussion, the typical number of days lost increased by 2.25 times. Benson has worked with the NHL and its players union since 1997 studying the medical science behind brain injury.",
            "output": [
                "Concussions keep hockey players off ice for longer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50dc432fdb44441ca0007ee71e8e2bf7",
            "input": "We’ll give the story a “N/A” in this category since it makes clear early on that this research is in the earliest of stages, done in an animal model, and says clearly that clinical trials are a future hope. This is way too early to consider costs which, we assume, would be substantial. The story says the stem cell intervention extended the rodents’ lives “by 10-15% compared to untreated animals.”  At another point, it said, “the mice lived longer than controls, typically several months more, an increase of about 15%.” The story makes no mention of the potential harms that might arise from this approach. Since this has never been tested in humans, we have no idea what they risks are. The story needed to point this out. Theoretically, the stem cells would have to be delivered into human brains via injections, which would make the intervention incredibly risky and possibly a non-starter. In the original paper, the stem cells were injected into the hypothalamus of the mice using viruses as “vectors.” The researchers used lentiviruses, which are used often as vectors for research, but can be deadly in humans. Some discussion of this hurdle also was warranted. The story does a good job at explaining various aspects of the research and depicting the stages through which the research team drew its conclusions. It also is up front about this being animal research, so far untried in humans at even the earliest stages of clinical trials. Of note, the original paper mentions that this study was conducted in very few mice (total of about 20) and only in male mice. That detail would have been useful to include. One thing we wanted to point out that was problematic: The story said “if a similar extension was achieved in humans, a person with a life expectancy of 80 years could live to 92.” We have no idea how this may impact humans; the evidence doesn’t support that kind of speculation. The story doesn’t appear to commit disease mongering, though it could have pointed out that aging in and of itself is not a disease. The story does quote one source unaffiliated with the research and we didn’t detect any conflicts of interest. (The paper itself notes that the authors of the study have no conflicts of interests.) The story is all about basic research that suggests an approach that one day might slow, or possibly reverse, the aging process. There are no real alternatives available now to affect the aging process beyond lifestyle choices that might be healthier and appropriate treatments for illnesses that might otherwise shorten lifespans. It’s clear from the story that this research is preliminary. The story clearly says, “The next step is to create human neural stem cells in the lab for testing.”  It also states that, “Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York hope to launch clinical trials of the procedure soon, but must first produce supplies of human neural stem cells in the lab which can be implanted into volunteers.” The story heralds this research as a “tour de force” and a “breakthrough.” Yet is it accurate in a news story to call anything done in animals a “breakthrough?” That word implies relevance to humans, and this is far from established in a mouse study. Studies in mice are essential but many of them fail to show similar evidence in humans. Likewise, stem cell research is often seen as a magic bullet for some conditions but there have been few cases where the preliminary hope/hype has born out. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Stem cell brain implants could 'slow ageing and extend life', study shows"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3555967eb3e845e986cecf0ee7cf9d56",
            "input": "The news is a boost for the Spanish biotech company, which  already sells Yondelis as a treatment for soft tissue sarcoma,  a rare disease, and now hopes to address a much bigger  commercial opportunity. Bradley Monk, an oncologist from the University of  California Irvine Medical Center who led a Phase III trial of  the drug, said Yondelis could be added to a short list of  active drug therapies for recurrent ovarian cancer. “These are exciting results because positive trials in  recurrent ovarian cancer are rare and have almost always led to  federally approved treatments,” Monk said in a statement. “This treatment undoubtedly will be evaluated carefully by  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and, if approved, will  give women with ovarian cancer another much-needed option.”    Zeltia’s drug, which it is developing with Johnson &  Johnson, is unusual in that it is a synthetic version of a  compound isolated from a type of sea squirt, a tubular marine  animal. It works by binding to the DNA of cancer cells and  blocking their ability to multiply. At 1445 GMT, Zeltia shares were down 5.4 percent at 5.43  euros, regaining ground after a low of 4.99 euros, while  Spain’s IBEX-35 blue chip index dropped 4.1 percent. “The stock’s had a good run. This news is already in the  price,” a Madrid-based trader said. The Spanish company had already announced that Yondelis,  its first product to reach the market, had shown positive  results in the pivotal trial. But the actual results of the study, involving 672 women  whose ovarian cancer had progressed after first-line treatment,  were only disclosed at the annual meeting of the European  Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Stockholm. Monk said the results showed those women given a  combination of Yondelis and Johnson & Johnson’s chemotherapy  drug Doxil had no progression of their cancer for an average of  7.3 months, against 5.8 months for women treated only with  Doxil. In the case of women who had relapsed more than six months  after getting first-line therapy, the median progression-free  time was 9.2 months with Yondelis versus 7.5 months. In common with other anti-cancer agents, this suggests  Yondelis is most active in patients who have gone a long time  since receiving initial chemotherapy treatment. Zeltia plans to submit Yondelis for approval in Europe in  the fourth quarter of this year. Johnson & Johnson is expected  to file in the United States by the end of the year as well. The Spanish group has previously estimated that peak sales  of Yondelis for ovarian cancer could be around 300 million  euros ($420 million) in the European Union alone. Sales of the drug as a treatment for soft tissue sarcoma  are forecast to be about 30 million euros this year. Yondelis, whose generic name is trabectedin, is currently  approved for soft tissue sarcoma in Europe but not the U.S. The product is also being studied in smaller, Phase II  trials for prostate, breast and childhood cancers.",
            "output": [
                "Zeltia drug delays progression of ovarian cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-49e5f042d7e140caa07374342ac82fbc",
            "input": "Gov. Tom Wolf, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Sanders laced into Hahnemann University Hospital’s investment banker owner, blaming him for taking it into bankruptcy and moving to shut down the 496-bed hospital. Joel Freedman insisted he tried to keep the money-losing hospital open, even exploring its transfer it to a not-for-profit organization. But those discussions weren’t successful and no one else offered to take it over, Freedman said in a statement. Wolf and Kenney pledged up to $15 million to help meet the health care needs of Hahnemann patients and the community, and they want the federal government to match that and cover the company’s debts of $40 million to the state and city. “I’m afraid if we don’t do this right that there are going to be people who need acute care and aren’t going to be able to get it when they need it,” Wolf said Monday after a news conference in the Capitol on an unrelated topic. Wolf and Kenney said it isn’t responsible to give taxpayer money to Freedman and his venture capital firm, which bought Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children last year. Wolf and Kenney have accused Freedman of taking Hahnemann into bankruptcy court to protect profits his companies extracted from the hospital and community. Under the state Department of Health’s oversight, Hahnemann will stop admitting patients from the emergency room Wednesday. Meanwhile, Hahnemann and a department-appointed management firm are writing a plan to bring the hospital to a safe and orderly closure, a department spokesman said. The hospital is Drexel University College of Medicine’s primary teaching hospital and traces its beginning back to 1848. It is home to almost 2,500 employees and another roughly 2,000 medical residents, fellows and rotating medical and nursing students. Sanders, in a rally in front of hundreds outside the hospital, said Hahnemann’s closure is an example of corporate greed in health care and called on Freedman to keep it open. He accused Freedman of wanting to cash in on Hahnemann’s real estate and warned that Hahnemann’s plight is a national problem. “If Joel Freedman is able to shut down Hahnemann and make a huge profit by turning this hospital into luxury condos, it will send a signal to every vulture fund on Wall Street that they can do the same thing in community after community after community,” Sanders told the crowd. Sanders said that a Medicaid-for-All system he is proposing would protect hospitals in underserved areas and he pledged to introduce legislation to create a $20 billion emergency fund to help states and communities take over financially distressed hospitals. Freedman’s firm hopes to sell St. Christopher’s to pay off Hahnemann’s debts, its lawyers say. Late June’s bankruptcy filing said Hahnemann’s finances were in unexpectedly bad condition when Freedman’s firm took over last year and it saw a significant reduction in patient volumes, outpatient procedures and surgeries in 2018. It also said delays in the state’s payments, as well as a reduction in payments of approximately $17 million per year, hurt the hospital’s finances. ___ Associated Press reporter Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Philly hospital’s plight spurs aid pledge, Sanders rally."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57fdc5660d094af58aa16437b063b094",
            "input": "A popular (but completely citation-free) science meme suggests that a pregnant mother’s fetus can send its own stem cells to its mother to repair damaged organs. Although any memes of this nature run the gamut from “nodding acquaintance with truth” to “has never met truth and never will,” this particular one is mostly accurate. While the wording of the meme is problematic for two reasons (first, the meme’s text generally says ‘baby’, which is incorrect as that term implies a birth; second the wording implies a conscious decision on the part of the fetus to send its tissues as a heroic gesture), the science behind the claim is actually fairly solid. The transfer and incorporation of fetal stem cells into a mother’s organs is referred to as fetomaternal microchimerism. A 2016 paper in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology defines the phenomenon thusly: Fetal cell microchimerism is defined as the persistence of fetal cells in the mother for decades after pregnancy without any apparent rejection. Fetal microchimeric cells (fmcs) engraft the maternal bone marrow and are able to migrate through the circulation and to reach tissues. Stem cells are essentially blank slates that have ability to turn into a variety of different tissues and, as such, play a big role in the development of a fetus. The idea with fetomaternal chimerism is that those cells can be transported out of the fetal system and become fully integrated into the mother’s system despite the cells’ distinctly different genetics. Scientists have been aware of fetomaternal microchimerism’s existence (in broad terms) for decades. A 1996 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for example, found that in humans, genetically distinct cells from a male fetus persisted in the mother’s body as long as 27 years after birth. Later research has demonstrated that these fetal cells can be found in multiple organs in both human and laboratory mice mothers: Fetomaternal transfer probably occurs in all pregnancies and in humans the fetal cells can persist for decades. Microchimeric fetal cells are found in various maternal tissues and organs including blood, bone marrow, skin and liver. A 2015 study published in the journal Circulation Research addressed the issue of fetal stem cells actually healing maternal organs. In this study, researchers mated female mice with transgenic male mice that were tagged with a fluorescent protein that allowed the researchers to trace the flow of the fetus’s stem cells from the mother’s placenta into its heart while they induced cardiac injury to the mother. They found that fetal stem cells directly targeted the damaged cardiac cells and fully integrated themselves into the mother’s heart. This research, the authors state: Points to the presence of precise signals sensed by cells of fetal origin that enable them to target diseased myocardium specifically and to differentiate into diverse cardiac lineages. Most notable is their differentiation into functional cardiomyocytes that are able to beat in syncytium with neighboring cardiomyocytes, thus potentially uncovering an evolutionary mechanism whereby the fetus assists in protecting the mother’s heart during and after pregnancy.",
            "output": [
                "During pregnancy, if the mother suffers organ damage, the baby in the womb sends stem cells to repair the damaged organ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a7a63122ecd43e0a315b2ebbc039848",
            "input": "Becerra was discussing the findings of a 147-page report prepared by his office that also found that detainees face long periods of confinement without breaks and language barriers in the 10 detention facilities state authorities inspected in 2017. Becerra said the annual report released Tuesday is the first of 10 that the state Legislature requires of the California Department of Justice, which is tasked with inspecting all federal immigration detention facilities in the state. That law was one of three immigration-related “sanctuary state” bills passed in 2017 that the Trump administration unsuccessfully challenged in court. Inspectors spent one day on scheduled visits at 10 facilities in operation in 2017. ICE contracted with four for-profit prison companies and six county sheriffs to house and care for the inmates. Since then and amid growing protests, sheriffs in Sacramento and Contra Costa counties terminated their contracts with ICE to house federal immigration inmates in the local jails. A third facility near Bakersfield is also facing closure after the city of McFarland told ICE it would not renew its contract when it expires in March. Becerra said many of the problems are caused by inadequate federal oversight. He said a common “challenge” inspectors found at most facilities included confining inmates to their cells for up to 22 hours a day. He noted that most of the detainees are not accused of crimes and are awaiting court decisions on their immigration status. ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said the private prison companies and county jails that house detainees “must meet rigorous performance standards.” “The safety, rights and health of detainees in ICE’s care are of paramount concern and all ICE detention facilities are subject to stringent, regular inspections,” Haley said. The attorney general’s report estimated that 74,000 immigrant detainees have been held in California detention centers over a three-year period ending in 2017 with an average stay of 50 days per inmate. Becerra said the state inspections of federal immigration facilities in California were necessary “because everyone in this country has constitutional rights and everyone at the end of the day — child and adult — deserve to be treated in a human way.” In a separate report , California’s state auditor Elaine Howle said cities and counties failed to properly monitor the facilities in their locales. Howle’s report also called on ICE to be more transparent in its detention operations. “The state lacks complete information about how much it costs and what conditions the detainees face,” Howle’s report concluded. “Also unclear are how many detainees are being held throughout California, where they are being held, and for how long.”",
            "output": [
                "California officials: Immigration facilities lack oversight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40b3f9f04c0c4403bdbf6f592b19c05d",
            "input": "Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams made the revelation during the second day of an administrative hearing to determine whether Missouri’s only abortion clinic will lose its license to perform the procedure. Williams said an investigator made a spreadsheet at his request that included the dates of patients’ last periods, The Kansas City Star reported. He said the goal was to find women who needed multiple procedures to complete an abortion. The head of the St. Louis clinic called the move “deeply disturbing.” “Missouri’s top health official, Randall Williams, scrutinized menstrual cycles of women in this state in order to end abortion access,” Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, said in a statement. Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat from Springfield, called for an investigation to see if patient privacy was compromised or if laws were broken. She also was critical of Williams’ actions. “State law requires the health department director to be ‘of recognized character and integrity,’” Quade said in a statement. “This unsettling behavior calls into question whether Dr. Williams meets that high standard.” The state had moved to revoke the clinic’s license in June, citing concerns about a series of “failed abortions,” and a lack of cooperation from some of the doctors involved. While Williams said concerns about the clinic are “grave,” he said the issues are “imminently fixable.” He believes there are solutions that both the state and Planned Parenthood would agree to that would allow for licensure. Planned Parenthood says there are no deals on the table. Wrangling over the license began when an investigator involved in a March inspection of the clinic found that a woman had undergone an abortion that took five attempts to complete. William Koebel, director of the section of the health department responsible for abortion clinic licensing, said Monday that the clinic failed to provide a “complication report” for that incident. That failure led the health department to launch an investigation of other instances where women were required to undergo multiple procedures before an abortion was completed, Koebel said. As part of that investigation, the state obtained medical records of women who had abortions at the clinic. They found four women who required multiple procedures, including one where the physician apparently missed that a woman was pregnant with twins. The woman underwent two procedures five weeks apart. Planned Parenthood officials contend the state “cherry-picked” a handful of difficult cases out of thousands of otherwise successful abortions. They have accused the state of using the licensing process as a tool to eliminate abortions in Missouri, saying the state is among several conservative-led states seeking to end abortion through tough new laws and tighter restrictions. The Administrative Hearing Commission isn’t expected to rule on the licensing issue until February at the earliest. In the meantime, the clinic remains open. Missouri would become the first state since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, without a functioning abortion clinic if the license is revoked. Missouri is among several states to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed legislation in May banning abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. The law is on hold while a legal challenge plays out in court. While the Missouri case unfolded, Planned Parenthood quietly built a new abortion clinic in Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, in part to meet demand from Missouri residents. The clinic in Fairview Heights opened Wednesday. Missouri women have been increasingly getting abortions at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, another St. Louis suburb. Deputy Director Alison Dreith said 58% of the abortions performed at the Hope Clinic through August of this year involved Missouri women, compared with 37% involving Illinois women. Another abortion clinic sits in Overland Park, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb. The clinic is 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line. Information from the state of Kansas shows about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed there last year involved Missouri residents.",
            "output": [
                "Missouri agency tracked Planned Parenthood patients’ periods."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6997ee2c22f042038d0006cdac9a74f4",
            "input": "\"Assembly Democrats want to guarantee access to abortion for New York state residents if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. A bill, commonly referred to as the Reproductive Health Act, would change state law to guarantee women the choice to have or refuse an abortion or contraception if the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade. Different versions of the bill have been introduced for at least seven years in the Legislature. This year’s debate over the measure included tough questions to the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick, from members opposed to the bill. \"\"So, if a baby is born intact and alive but has not yet taken its first breath, it has no rights?\"\" Assemblymember Steven F. McLaughlin asked. \"\"Is that the position you are taking?\"\" \"\"New York state law says you are alive when you begin to breathe,\"\" Glick said. \"\"That’s not me, that’s just the law.\"\" Is Glick right? Is that the law? State abortion law Glick said her definition comes from the current state law on abortion. The definition is included in the state’s penal law, or criminal code, which defines the crime of abortion, where someone intentionally causes a pregnancy to be terminated without consent or justification. The law says a person, \"\"when referring to the victim of a homicide, means a human being who has been born and is alive.\"\" So a fetus inside the womb is not considered a person, and therefore does not have rights under state law. That is why someone can legally have an abortion after being pregnant for 24 weeks to preserve the life of the mother. State health law State health law goes a step further in defining when someone is considered born. Under Public Health Law, live birth is defined as \"\"the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered live born.\"\" It is up to a medical professional to determine if there is evidence of life in the infant. If the medical professional finds evidence, it is legally considered the birth of a person. \"\"The reality is that if they are born and alive they are a person and have full rights,\"\" Glick said in a phone interview. \"\"And that is the determination of a medical person at the time.\"\" Our ruling Glick said during an Assembly debate that \"\"New York state law says you are alive when you begin to breathe.\"\" State law says a person has been born alive when the fetus has exited the woman’s body and shows signs of life. The law specifically mentions breathing as one of the signs. But the law also mentions other evidence of life, such as a beating heart.s .\"",
            "output": [
                "New York state law says you are alive when you begin to breathe."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe987519e74e45f4ab05489097e00254",
            "input": "The FireWagon is equipped with Drier’s tools of the trade: a delicate torch, a small cylinder of propane and a stock of borosilicate — glass that can tolerate heat and is chemically inert. Drier frequently takes the portable lab-on-wheels around the city to demonstrate his passion: scientific glassblowing. But his real home base is his expansive shop in the lower level of the UW-Madison chemistry building, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Here, wearing special dark glasses and using a glassblowing technique called flame-working or lamp-working, Drier makes customized, highly specialized glassware used in cutting-edge research across campus: from chemistry to the departments of medical physics, geology, medicine, food science, molecular and civil engineering, material science, medical engineering, and more. “Definitely a lot of people,” request glassware, he said. “And a lot of work.” Drier’s craft is also showcased at the Madison Children’s Museum, where his Rube Goldberg-esque maze of scientific glassware hangs in a window called the “Sidewalk Surprise.” The piece can be viewed inside the museum’s free community concourse area and also from the street, and will be on display through summer. Drier built the glass bubble columns that are a permanent feature in the “Wayback” area of the museum’s second floor, as well. When he brings his FireWagon to the children’s museum, “the kids just love to watch — because it’s mesmerizing,” said museum exhibit designer and developer Nadia Niggli. “It almost feels like magic.” “It’s such a specialized art,” she said. “He’s got this interesting crossover between art and science. And here (with his ‘Sidewalk Surprise’), he’s using these serious, very functional pieces in a new, more playful way. It has a little of the ‘mad scientist’ feel to it.” Drier, for one, can’t believe his luck. As a scientific glassblower, he’s not just shaping glass, but inventing new processes. “How awesome is that,” he said, as he lit a gas blower and aimed a flame at a glass tube while doing an interview in his shop. “That’s why this job is so fantastic. This is a great job, and every day I give thanks.” Associate Professor of Chemistry Zach Wickens, who came to UW-Madison last fall, was partly lured here because the university has its own resident glassblower. Harvard University, where Wickens previously was a postdoctoral research scholar, does not. “It’s been amazing” to have a scientific glassblower on campus, said Wickens. Along with making a broad range of glassware for chemistry labs across the department, Drier “has been helping me get into a new area of chemistry that there isn’t commercial glassware for, where we’re using electricity to help run chemical reactions. And this lets us reduce chemical waste really dramatically. “I’m actually working with Tracy to design new glassware that we can use to quickly test these ideas,” Wickens said. “With this glassware, we’re going to be able to ask questions we couldn’t otherwise ask, and develop reactions we otherwise couldn’t develop. So it’s pretty profound. I don’t know what I would be doing without him.” Drier first got into glass as a kid, when his father brought home a how-to book from the library. It kindled an avid hobby for Drier, his father and his brother Tim. Tim dove into scientific glassblowing right out of high school, enrolling at Salem Community College in Alloway, New Jersey — the only college in the country offering a two-year degree in scientific glassblowing — and then moved to jobs at Kodak and Dow Chemical. Drier, instead, got a degree in paper engineering from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and went to work in the pulp and paper industry. At age 30, he quit and enrolled at Salem. “Our family always kind of worked with our hands. Engineering is fascinating, but at the end of the day you don’t have much to show,” said Drier, 55. “With glassblowing, you have something at the end of the day that you’ve done.” He came to UW-Madison in 2000 after working as a scientific glassblower at a chemical company in Milwaukee. Having a background in engineering isn’t essential, “but I think it’s what helped me get this job here,” he said. “Breaking things down, critical thinking, is definitely a plus. But also, creativity is a plus,” Drier said. “You have a drawing, and it doesn’t matter how you get there. That’s one of the nice things about this — there’s more than one way to do it.” Drier has become something of an ambassador for the field of scientific glassblowing. He takes his Wisconsin FireWagon to schools and works with students from the glass program at UW-Madison. He also presents papers and shares tips with fellow members of the American Scientific Glassblowers Society, or ASGS. “I’ll share anything that can be useful to the next guy,” he said. At UW-Madison, “I’m one guy here. I don’t know everything. So having the network to say, ‘Hey, Jimmy — I’ve never done these platinum seals. Can you give me something to work with?’ There are a number of books, but nothing beats having someone who’s done it before.” The approximately 500 ASGS members include about 200 who are professional scientific glassblowers, said Jim Cornell, ASGS office co-manager. He estimates about 40 or 50 work in universities. Drier is the only scientific glassblower employed at UW-Madison. The society’s membership also includes students, international members, independent glassblowers and even those who create “functional art” — glass paraphernalia that’s useful in a day when the legalization of medical marijuana is becoming more commonplace. On the science end of things, “there are not enough scientific glassblowers in this world,” said Drier, who makes the job look easy. That’s mainly thanks to “practice, practice, practice.” And patience. “That would be the thing — do you have patience? Because this thing will eat you alive if you don’t,” he said. “Glass breaks. For people watching, I would imagine it’s like watching paint dry. It’s a very slow process. Each of the steps is hand-work, and it does not go fast.” But Drier also loves the puzzles he must solve to turn a researcher’s ideas and diagrams into a working piece of the lab. “One of the beautiful things with this job, specifically, is the collaboration with the scientists,” he said. “That’s some serious science these guys are doing, state of the art, and I get to work with them. They tell me about it, and it’s exciting for me.” At the West Side home he shares with wife Amy Anderson, Drier has a shop in his garage for his main hobby: more glassblowing. “Honestly, what I do here helps me with what I do at home, and what I do at home helps me here,” he said. “This is the greatest job I’ve ever had. I can’t say enough about it,” Drier said. “And I think everybody should be a scientific glassblower.” ___ Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin glassblower customizes glassware for scientists."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-120a733a7158437cb6b4f16e1a7e0cbf",
            "input": "The state’s Division of Public Health Services says the person is an adult from Sullivan County who developed respiratory symptoms and had chest imaging showing evidence of lung injury. This person reported recent vaping of nicotine products. The division said the individual was hospitalized, but has since been discharged. As of Oct. 1, there are 1,080 lung injury cases reported from 48 states and 1 U.S. territory. Of these, 18 deaths have been confirmed in 15 states. All reported patients have a history of e-cigarette/vaping product use. Symptoms of vaping-related lung injuries include cough, shortness of breath or chest pain. Some patients have also experienced nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain.",
            "output": [
                "New Hampshire reports 1st vaping-related lung injury."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05f374ffc93d45bdb7540e2cfae4925c",
            "input": "The story does a good job of explaining how the USPSTF recommendations may affect insurance coverage of mammography screening — which is laudable, given the complexity of the issue. However, the story does not tell readers the bottom line: how much would a mammogram cost if it were not covered by insurance? While we found varying estimates, a 2011 paper stated that the overall cost of a mammogram was $266 — a considerable sum, and likely out of reach for many women. This was a shortcoming of both the New York Times and Washington Post stories. The story does a good job of articulating the benefits of mammography screening for different age groups. For example, it notes that “For every 10,000 women screened repeatedly over 10 years, four lives are saved in women 40 to 49; eight in women 50 to 59; 21 in women 60 to 69; and 13 in women 70 to 74, the task force found.” However, the story does not explain what it means to be “screened repeatedly” — does that mean every year, or could it mean every other year? Still, we’re very happy to see the story include numbers rather than referring solely to a general increase or decrease in benefits. The story also notes that the recommendations apply only to women with average risk of breast cancer. The story would have been significantly stronger if it had explained what “average risk” means — most readers probably don’t know. The quote from the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation demonstrates the importance of reinforcing that these guidelines apply to average risk patients – they express concern that “a lack of coverage would hit ‘high risk and underserved’ women hardest” – high risk women are not affected by these recommendations. A discussion on risk assessment is absent from most stories covering screening mammography, and has led to much confusion. One issue is that there are a variety of risk assessment models, and their use in particular patient populations is not always well understood by physicians. However, a brief discussion about how risk is assessed would be helpful for patients and others reading these stories. This is really a strong point for the story. The story devotes several paragraphs to explaining — and quantifying — the potential harms of false positives and overdiagnosis. It then spends an additional two paragraphs trying to place these harms in context. For example, citing a cancer expert’s position that the potential harms are significantly outweighed by the potential benefits. The story also made clear that there was an emphasis in the recommendations that women be able to decide for themselves on when to begin screening, and how often to be screened. That’s an important point — women should know that they have a role to play in weighing risks against potential benefits and — ultimately — making decisions about their health. The story does not offer a detailed description of the USPSTF review process, but it does make clear that the task force looks only at the scientific evidence, rather than at potential costs or insurance coverage. That’s enough for a satisfactory rating in a story like this one. However, the story would have been stronger if it had explicitly stated that the USPSTF bases its recommendations on an evaluation of all the available research literature on mammography and breast cancer screening. No disease mongering here. The story says nothing that isn’t backed up by the numbers. The story did a good job of incorporating input from multiple independent sources. The alternatives in a story like this one are the recommendations from other organizations, and the story does a good job of explaining the varying recommendations from the USPSTF and three other groups: the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Cancer Society. Well done. The story makes clear that the use of mammograms as breast cancer screening tools is longstanding and well established. The story also discusses insurance coverage issues that would affect availability for many women. The story states, “The recommendations are not immediately expected to affect insurance coverage. In December, Congress passed a bill requiring private insurers to pay for screening mammograms for women 40 and over every one to two years without copays, coinsurance or deductibles, through 2017.” The story does a nice job of placing the new recommendations in context, discussing its similarities (and differences) to the USPSTF’s 2009 recommendations on mammograms and breast cancer screening — and how it fits into a broader, ongoing debate on the subject. The story goes well beyond whatever could be found in a news release on the recommendations.",
            "output": [
                "Panel Reasserts Mammogram Advice That Triggered Breast Cancer Debate"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-631fb9ed748249368fb4a035055c04e5",
            "input": "On September 20 2020, two days after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Facebook user Amber LeBeau shared a post claiming that Ginsburg had intervened on behalf of combat nurse Susan Struck, more broadly addressing the narrative around reproductive choice:LeBeau wrote:It’s disheartening to see the “Pro-life” response to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. It’s very clear that the folks who think RBG was a vehement “baby killer” have never heard of the name Susan Struck.In the 1960s & 1970s, before Roe vs Wade, abortion was not only legal on US military bases, it was actively ENCOURAGED and basically mandated. Yes, really.Captain Susan Struck was a combat nurse in Vietnam. When she got pregnant in 1970, the Air Force starkly gave her two choices. Get an abortion or be discharged. Struck wanted to keep her baby. So she was kicked out of the service.When she got back to the US, Struck sued the US Government for putting women in such a horrible position that they had to choose between either not being able to serve their country or getting an abortion that they didn’t want.Do you know which ACLU lawyer took her case and got the military to change their policy?Ruth Bader GinsburgGinsburg approached this case with the same tenacity she would later use to help Congress draft the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. In the dark days after Roe in 1973, it was perfectly legal for employers in many states to put women in the same situation that Struck was put in–“deal with your pregnancy” or suffer the consequences of a lost job, responsibilities or pay.Ginsburg fought for the rights of women to choose life. She also fought for the rights of women to be able to work without discrimination, purchase homes, have bank accounts and a myriad of other things that make it easier for women in desperate situations to choose life in the first place.Life is never as black & white or simple as it looks through a myopic lens. It’s never either/or. There’s always “ands” and “buts” to everything.So before you paint Ginsburg as some satanic villain, at least acknowledge the many abortions that likely DIDN’T happen because of her tireless advocacy for women and families. #RBGIn her text-only post, LeBeau said that Ginsburg was often characterized as a “vehement” advocate for abortion rights, but that Ginsburg’s advocacy for reproductive rights in general extended well beyond the singular topic of abortion. She pointed to a case involving a woman, Susan Struck, being forced to choose between her pregnancy and her role in the Air Force in 1970.However, the post did not include any citations for the story. Nevertheless, the post proved popular, and was shared over 20,000 times.RBG and Susan StruckIn October 2014, Elle published a profile of Struck’s case, subtitled “When told to pick her job or her unborn baby, Susan Struck found herself a lawyer: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”That article noted that “compromises weren’t an option when Struck discovered that she was pregnant in 1970,”; the choices were either “resign” or “get an abortion”:Air Force rules prohibited pregnant women and mothers from serving.Indeed, military bases were one of the few places abortions were legal in the U.S. at the time. But Struck was Catholic and objected to terminating her pregnancy; she was also single and objected to losing her job just as she was expecting a child. With the help of a young ACLU lawyer named Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Struck sued, arguing that she was a victim of gender discrimination, since male soldiers who got women pregnant or became fathers weren’t treated the same way, and that her Constitutional rights to liberty and personal choice were being violated. In 1972, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, at which point the Department of Defense—perhaps realizing they’d lose, or at least lose in the PR arena—retracted Struck’s discharge, effectively changing its policy and eliminating pregnancy as grounds for dismissal.It was definitely a victory, but Ginsburg had hoped Struck’s case would be the one to establish all American women’s right to control their fertility. “I so much wanted the first reproductive-freedom case to be one where the choice [the plaintiff was making] was for birth,” Ginsburg says. “Roe v. Wade was as much about a doctor’s right to practice his profession as about a woman’s right.”The resulting May 1972 case, Struck v. Secretary of Defense, is available here.The same article noted that Struck managed to hide the fact she was pregnant for seven and a half months, but eventually “a supervisor ordered her to leave Vietnam within 48 hours.”In December 2019, The Guardian profiled Struck’s case and reported that she originally planned to go through with an abortion. But then she had a dream which changed her mind and led to Ginsburg’s later involvement:Air force rules then were as clear as they were coercive: face immediate discharge unless the pregnancy was terminated. Keep your job or keep the pregnancy.So Struck went to bed resolute: she would take early R&R to terminate the pregnancy, probably in Japan. “The sooner the better,” she figured.“But that night I had a dream,” recalled Struck, [in December 2019] aged 75, speaking in a joint interview with the Guardian and WNYC in the city of Sierra Vista, Arizona, some 50 years later.She dreamed about the fetus, and being called “Mommy”, and the next morning she says: “I sat up in bed, and I said, ‘No way. No way are they going to do this. Susan Struck is not going to fall for this crap.’”Her defiance against the air force would lead to a legal fight that could have become the signature abortion case taken up by the supreme court rather than 1973’s Roe v Wade – and in fact Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who would become Struck’s lawyer, thought it was a superior case.That story elaborated on Ginsburg’s interest in Struck’s forced discharge during the Vietnam War:[Struck’s] future attorney would become one of the best recognized names in American law – supreme court justice Ginsburg – who was heading the Women’s Rights Project at the time. Ginsberg believed Struck’s case was powerful because it showed reproductive rights are interconnected – if government could compel pregnancy, as many states limiting abortion access do today, it could also compel abortion.“One thing that conspicuously distinguishes women from men is that only women become pregnant,” Ginsburg said at her confirmation hearings in 1993. “And if you subject a woman to disadvantageous treatment on the basis of her pregnant status, which was what was happening to Captain Struck, you would be denying her equal treatment under the law.“It was her right to decide either way, her right to decide whether or not to bear a child,” Ginsburg said. “In this case, it was her case for childbirth. The government was inhibiting that choice. It came at the price of remaining in the service.”A September 21 2020 New York Times piece on Ginsburg and Roe v. Wade included comment by Mary Hartnett, a law professor at Georgetown University and a co-author of Ginsburg’s biography:The way Justice Ginsburg saw it, Roe v. Wade was focused on the wrong argument — that restricting access to abortion violated a woman’s privacy. What she hoped for instead was a protection of the right to abortion on the basis that restricting it impeded gender equality, said Mary Hartnett, a law professor at Georgetown University who will be a co-writer on the only authorized biography of Justice Ginsburg.Hartnett later addressed Struck’s legal battle, and Ginsburg’s overall view of contemporaneous debate on reproductive law:Justice Ginsburg “believed it would have been better to approach it under the equal protection clause” because that would have made Roe v. Wade less vulnerable to attacks in the years after it was decided, Professor Hartnett said. She and her co-author on the biography, Professor Wendy Williams, spent the last 17 years interviewing Justice Ginsburg for the book and, though it initially didn’t have a release date, they are hoping to publish it some time next year, Professor Hartnett said in an interview. […]During the same term that Roe v. Wade was decided, Justice Ginsburg was preparing to appear before the court, on the other side of the bench, as a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union representing Capt. Susan Struck.In that case, Captain Struck, an Air Force nurse who was stationed in Vietnam, had become pregnant. She was given two choices: have an abortion or leave the military (before Roe, though abortion was prohibited in most states, it was allowed on military bases). When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the Air Force, realizing it had a very real chance of losing, changed its policy and let Captain Struck have her child and keep her job and the court never heard the case.An undated Military.com article published after Ginsburg’s death (“How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helped End the Military’s Policy of Forced Abortion”) concluded:Later, as a Supreme Court Justice, Ginsburg would often remark that she wished Struck had been the first reproductive rights case the Supreme Court heard, rather than Roe v. Wade. The Roe case legalized abortion procedures based on the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. A decision in Struck would have provided for reproductive rights based on the Air Force officer’s rights to equal protection under the law, her right to privacy and her right to free exercise of religion.SummaryA popular September 20 2020 Facebook post asserted that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in the aftermath of her death, left a legacy associated specifically with the right to abortion codified under Roe v. Wade. As the Facebook post described, Ginsburg was instrumental in Struck v. Secretary of Defense as well, successfully contesting Susan Struck’s automatic discharge and preserving her right to choose.Comments",
            "output": [
                "A young Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) fought for a woman named Susan Struck, who sought to avoid being forced to terminate a pregnancy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2cb3a7cf85824a079e446a7aeb768e89",
            "input": "The Assembly’s Education Committee has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday in Albany to review the current programs in place related to student health and fitness. Under a new state law that took effect this year schools are required to teach mental health in traditional physical education and health classes. The mandate is intended to help students understand more about emotional and mental wellness, and help them understand when to seek help for themselves or others. Tuesday’s hearing comes two months before lawmakers return to Albany for the 2019 legislative session.",
            "output": [
                "NY lawmakers to review school health, P.E. programs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e155cb18590140de9668214287141292",
            "input": "But that was before being told by doctors in August that he had a degenerative spinal condition that could have left him paralyzed. Hurley returned to work full time Wednesday, less than two weeks after having surgery to replace two disks in his neck with artificial ones. He expects to make a full recovery, but says as health scares go, this was terrifying. “I started worrying and having a lot of anxiety about my health and my ability to get back to being myself,” he said. “You start playing worst-case scenarios in your head.” Hurley said doctors told him the condition was part hereditary and part a result of years of the wear and tear associated with being a life-long athlete. He said he was hoping to deal with the discomfort and tingling he was feeling through physical therapy or maybe an injection, but doctors quickly told him that he needed immediate surgery and that any hard fall or bump could leave him paralyzed. He had the surgery on Sept. 6, with the doctor using an incision in his throat to get to his spine. He said he was told that for experts, it’s a relatively routine procedure. The 46-year-old coach said he felt better immediately, but still has some restrictions for the next month, such as being prohibited from flying or lifting anything heavier than 10 pounds. Hurley, known for his animated coaching style, said he’s kept recruits informed and is very confident the situation won’t have any long-term effects on his ability to do his job the way he always has done it. But, he said the first major health issue has changed his perspective on life. “How important my faith is to me was reinforced; how important my family is to me was reinforced,” he said. “And just how important I am to my players, to not just succeed and excel in their careers. My true sense and purpose as a coach came into much clearer focus for me.” His players gave him a warm welcome back on Wednesday. He said that meant a lot to him, but didn’t make him go any easier on them. “Any of like that feeling sorry for me or good will toward the coach returning from injury went out the door when I got on guys for their lack of defensive prowess,” he said. “Yeah, all that love is gone.” UConn opens its season Nov. 8 against Sacred Heart.",
            "output": [
                "UConn men’s coach Hurley back at work after spinal surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-718c06984a9c445d84296be42a0b27c7",
            "input": "Discourse regarding personal protective equipment (PPE, including cloth face masks) was a large part of COVID-19 discussion on social media in early April 2020, including a viral Facebook post that repeats purported advice to sterilize cloth masks by microwaving them between uses:The brief post attributed the recommendation to the president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville:If wearing a fabric mask, Meharry Medical president just stated to place mask in ziplock bag and heat in microwave for 2-3 minutes to sanitize after each use.As is the case with most text-based Facebook status updates, the claim appeared without specific citations or links indicating the advice was authentic or correctly described.A quick search led to an April 6 2020 WMOT article (“Nashville Coronavirus Task Force member calls for mask use in public.”) As suggested, the information had to do with new COVID-19 recommendations involving the use of masks in public spaces; as of early April 2020, multiple media reports advised people in all states to wear personal protective equipment if possible.Disposable face masks (as well as N95 respirators) were in notoriously short shrift, meaning that most non-medical workers lacked access to any sort of commercial face mask. Consequently, people began fabricating their own out of household materials such as T-shirts, bandannas or scarves, and dish towels or fabric scraps.WMOT’s article referenced an April 3 2020 press conference, and it highlighted recommendations that people wear cloth face masks:A member of Nashville’s Coronavirus Task Force has called on Metro residents to begin wearing masks in public.Meharry Medical College CEO Dr. James Hildreth made the suggestion [on April 3 2020] during Nashville’s daily pandemic press briefing. Dr. Hildreth noted the latest research suggests infected individuals can spread the illness before they even show symptoms.Hildreth stressed that high-quality manufactured masks need to be reserved for front line medical staff. He [recommended] that individuals using [homemade] masks [] wash their hands each time they take the mask off. He also stressed the need to sterilize the mask regularly.An April 3 2020 YouTube video, titled “Mayor John Cooper News Conference,” was embedded in the story. Just before the 12:30 mark, Meharry President and CEO James E.K. Hildreth Sr., Ph.D., M.D. began speaking.Hildreth first spoke about visible signs of infection with respect to other illnesses, explaining that there were, unfortunately, no visible signs for COVID-19 infection in the general population. He subsequently indicated there was a “reason why” citizens of other countries are known to wear masks, and people in those countries have lower rates of COVID-19 transmission.Hildreth stated that if everyone wore masks, the chain of transmission of COVID-19 would decrease across the board. He emphasized it was necessary to reserve commercial PPE like disposable face masks for medical professionals and those on the front line. Then he added that if you are following recommendations, there are a couple of things “you really need to know,” explaining:There’s a national urgency — and I’m gonna repeat this — that the PPE must be reserved for healthcare providers and those on the front line. So many people have resorted to making homemade masks out of bandanas and other kinds of materials … there are a couple of things you really need to know if you’re doing this:If the mask has served its purpose, there’s every possibility it’s contaminated on the outer surface. What that means is that you should do two things: wash your hands when you take it off, and sterilize it or sanitize it if you’re gonna use it repeatedly.If possible, wash it in soap and water. And if it’s made out of cloth or has no metal staples in it, you can do what I do: stick it in a plastic bag, and microwave it for two or three minutes at the highest setting.Numerous studies show that many, many types of bacteria, fungus, and viruses are killed by microwave radiation. You must make sure that your improvised device is compatible with microwaving, and if it is, stick it in a plastic bag and zap it for two or three minutes at the highest setting.I want to emphasize as you heard earlier that our best strategy still for controlling the virus is to stay at home. My heart breaks every time I hear a new story about a nursing home where the people have gotten infected.The virus is not floating in the air … someone delivered the virus to that facility, that’s how it started.Someone was a vector. Please stay at home — comply with the order to stay at home. Only go out when you absolutely have to, and if you have to go out, please cover your face to avoid becoming a vector.Additional information about sterilizing cloth face masks and PPE from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is available here. That guidance also included instructions for fabricating a coronavirus mask at home.The Facebook post accurately identified both the speaker — Meharry Medical College president and chief executive officer James Hildreth — and the advice. Hildreth made the recommendation on April 3 2020 (the day the post appeared), and he included some important caveats about correct use of improvised face masks to avoid contracting or transmitting COVID-19. Hildreth emphasized the necessity of handling masks as if contaminated, and also checking the mask for any metal parts before microwaving them. In the case of compatible masks, Hildreth suggested two to three minutes of microwaving them “at the highest setting.”",
            "output": [
                "If wearing a fabric mask, Meharry Medical president just stated to place mask in ziplock bag and heat in microwave for 2-3 minutes to sanitize after each use."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b33507b42ab84512bcaf53b780bceda2",
            "input": "The company, before releasing fourth quarter earnings on Friday, released favorable data from four additional Phase III studies of its experimental treatment for the liver disease. AbbVie previously had said it expected approval of the treatment in early 2015. “The excellent hepatitis C safety and efficacy data published today is positive for the shares” of AbbVie, Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said. But he noted that expenses for launching the medicines will now be incurred in 2014, which had not been expected. AbbVie’s treatment is a combination of five oral medications that has been shown to knock out the hepatitis C virus in as soon as eight or 12 weeks of treatment, without serious safety issues. AbbVie’s drugs have produced cure rates well above 90 percent in clinical trials, without the need to be taken with older standard drugs that cause harsh side effects and must be taken for longer periods. But the drugs, which are taken together, could face tough competition from a more convenient and highly effective once-daily pill against the hepatitis C virus being developed by Gilead Sciences Inc.  “Overall, the hepatitis C Phase III results are good” for AbbVie’s drugs, “but not as good as Gilead’s,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said Friday in a research note. But Arfaei said AbbVie’s drugs could capture peak annual sales of $2.8 billion, even if they only claim a 10 to 13 percent share of the hepatitis C market. AbbVie, spun off early last year from Abbott Laboratories Inc, said it earned $1.13 billion, or 70 cents per share, in the quarter. That compared with $1.54 billion, or 98 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding special items, the company earned 82 cents per share, matching the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Global revenue totaled $5.1 billion and was also in line with Wall Street expectations. AbbVie said it expects full-year earnings of $3.00 to $3.10 per share, excluding special items. That is below the average estimate of $3.16, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. Sales of AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, the world’s biggest-selling drug, jumped 13 percent in the quarter to $3.04 billion - more than offsetting lower sales for most of the company’s other medicines. Sales of AndroGel, a gel that delivers the male hormone testosterone, fell 21 percent to $289 million in the quarter, while sales of HIV treatment Kaletra fell almost 9 percent to $228 million. Combined sales of TriCor and Trilipix, treatments for blood fats called triglycerides that are now facing cheaper generics, plunged 85 percent to $29 million. Humira represented 60 percent of total AbbVie sales in the quarter, underscoring the company’s reliance on the injectable product and its need to introduce big-selling new drugs such as its hepatitis C medicines. Although Humira’s U.S. patent lapses in late 2016, AbbVie officials have predicted it will take years longer for other drugmakers to develop their own biosimilar forms of Humira and win approvals for them. Company shares jumped 57 percent last year, on faith that Humira will not be fettered by generic competition for years, and that AbbVie will successfully develop new medicines for hepatitis C, blood cancers and other diseases that will spur continued earnings growth. Hepatitis C affects an estimated 170 million people worldwide, and if left untreated can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer or the need for a new liver. Current treatments include use of interferon, an injectable drug that causes flu-like symptoms. AbbVie shares were trading at $49.93 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.",
            "output": [
                "AbbVie sees 2014 approval of hepatitis drugs, shares rise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-55bcfff805a94e8f965e6f7a54b4e067",
            "input": "The government said in a friend of the court brief filed on Friday that glyphosate, the weed killer’s active ingredient, is not a carcinogen and as a result a warning on the label was not required as California state law demands. The backing by the EPA and Justice Department comes days after Bayer asked a U.S. federal appeals court to throw out a $25 million judgment it was ordered to pay Edwin Hardeman. Bayer had denied its Roundup weed killer causes cancer. In April, the EPA reaffirmed that glyphosate does not cause cancer. Farmers spray glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in U.S. agriculture, on fields of soybeans and other crops that are genetically engineered to resist it. Roundup is also used by consumers on lawns, golf courses and elsewhere. Hardeman’s lawyers previously accused Roundup maker Monsanto, which Bayer acquired last year in a $63 billion deal, of having failed to warn consumers about the herbicide’s cancer risk. Bayer stock has lost about 23% in value since the first Roundup verdict for plaintiffs in August 2018. Bayer argued it would be impossible to comply with the Hardeman verdict, a lawsuit brought under state law, because any warning label would be in conflict with guidance from a federal agency. The EPA and Justice Department agreed in their Friday filing. “It is unlawful for manufacturers and sellers to make claims on their labels that differ from what EPA approves,” the U.S. government said.",
            "output": [
                "More Breast Cancer Patients Should Consider Radiation, New Guidelines Say"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8c9fedb27ce34acf9037f1bd2ec25f8f",
            "input": "Officials in energy-friendly Weld County say the law gives the county complete control over the location of new wells in unincorporated areas. That could challenge the state’s attempts to tighten regulations. Just across the county line in Longmont, environmental activists are trying to use the same statute to revive the city’s ban on hydraulic fracturing, which the courts threw out under the previous laws. Because fracking is standard practice in the area, the ban would essentially prohibit all drilling. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law on April 16. In addition to switching the state’s top priority to public health and the environment, it gives cities and counties new powers to regulate the drilling locations. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is in the early stages of rewriting its rules to comply with the law — referred to as Senate Bill 181 — and several counties are looking at drafting their own regulations. It’s too early to measure the impacts, but the industry is clearly concerned. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association invited Polis to speak Wednesday at a session titled “Can You Still Drill for Oil in a Blue State?” Polis told the audience that was a silly question. He said international markets and overseas instability have more impact on the industry than state regulations. “Energy is not inherently political, it’s inherently economic,” he said. Dan Haley, president of the Oil and Gas Association, asked Polis several times to respond to industry concerns about its standing in the state. The governor eventually replied he values industry jobs but added that they’re part of a diverse state economy. Colorado ranks fifth in the nation for crude oil production and sixth in natural gas, and much of that is concentrated in Weld County northeast of Denver. Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer, a fierce defender of the industry, argued hard against the new bill and led a short-lived campaign to overturn it after it became law. Now she maintains the bill, coupled with older statutes on local government powers, gives counties like hers the final word on land-use decisions that affect the industry in areas outside cities. “Basically what S.B. 181 said is the state no longer has land use authority,” she said in an interview. Weld County established an oil and gas department and adopted its own rules, but Kirkmeyer said energy companies won’t have free rein to drill wherever they want. The county rules are similar to ones the state had before the new law was passed, she said. The goal is to ensure a common-sense approach to regulating oil and gas companies, Kirkmeyer said. “We are willing to work with them for responsible energy development in our county,” she said. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Stephen Fenberg, a sponsor of Senate Bill 181, disputed Kirkmeyer’s interpretation of the law. The intent was to give both the state and local governments a say in regulating the surface impacts of oil and gas, and to allow cities and counties to enact stricter rules than the state’s, but not more lenient ones, he said. “I would argue that the Weld County commissioners know this,” he said, accusing them of “political theater.” Polis said Wednesday that state officials are working on a written agreement with Weld County officials but offered no details. Environmental groups Colorado Rising and Our Longmont say the new law clears the way for Longmont and other local governments to ban oil and gas drilling. Longmont voters approved a fracking ban in 2012, but the Colorado Supreme Court overturned it in 2016, saying only the state could regulate the industry under the laws in force at the time. Senate Bill 181 “flips the script” on state and local control, said Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Singer of Longmont, who supports the ban. “The state does not take precedence over what local governments want to do when it comes to protecting our health and safety,” he said. The two environmental groups asked the courts to restore the ban earlier this month. The case is pending. Fenberg said the law doesn’t specifically allow or prohibit local drilling bans. But he said they could open a city or a county to damage claims from mineral rights owners who can’t access their underground oil and gas reserves. If the goal is to protect public health and safety, strong local regulations are a better option than a ban, he said. ___ Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP .",
            "output": [
                "Oil and gas defenders, critics test Colorado’s new law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-532c40bac84f448aa091b0e352a54ba1",
            "input": "The White House says she has invited a group from the Truth Initiative to participate in a “listening session” Wednesday. It will be the second time this week that the first lady has highlighted e-cigarettes and vaping among youth. Mrs. Trump used a speech Monday to call on companies to leave children out of marketing campaigns for e-cigarettes. Scheduled to join her at Wednesday’s session are Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. The Truth Initiative says it’s the largest nonprofit public health organization dedicated to achieving a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco.",
            "output": [
                "Teens to share their vaping experiences with Melania Trump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-131f952371184ab88f8283b757c28b78",
            "input": "Researchers set out to determine what killed coral near the $205 million dredge work at the port, which was done to make way for the larger ships sailing through an expanded Panama Canal to bring cargo to South Florida. Their study, published this month in the online journal PeerJ, compared work done in the channel to nearby coral. It puts at odds two governmental agencies that clashed over the dredge. Environmentalists had long worried that that $205 million dredging would damage the coral. The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2gFJYNi ) reports the Corps contended a disease outbreak was responsible. State environmental regulators argued that mud stirred up by the dredge or leaked by a barge as it ferried sediment offshore smothered coral. The research team studied pictures taken before, during and after the dredge and said sediment spread across an area about 14 times bigger than the Corps permit allowed for. The study found that warm temperatures in the summer of 2014 triggered widespread bleaching and disease and the coral — stressed by the sediment — died in larger numbers than nearby coral. The project deepened the port’s channel by 6 feet, making it 52-feet deep. It completes a $1 billion makeover that includes a new tunnel at the port. “We now know the Corps dramatically underestimated both the severity and the geographic extent of the sediment impacts on the reef,” said Miami Waterkeeper Rachel Silverstein, whose group joined other conservationists in a legal fight to clean up the dredge. “The monitoring and the protocols that were supposed to protect this reef during the dredge clearly failed and this study is providing peer-reviewed, statistically valid evidence showing that impacts from the dredging resulted in widespread impacts.” Beginning in the summer of 2015, the fisheries service repeatedly warned the Corps that damage appeared to be more widespread and the agency was in danger of violating its permit. The Herald reports that the Corps also failed to provide updated surveys of the work, which prompted the fisheries service to issue a sharp letter accusing the agency of selectively choosing “certain results to downplay the permanent effects” of the dredge. Corps officials said the study used limited data and failed to distinguish between the types of sediment that buried coral during the dredge. “Drawing broad scale conclusions based on limited data is very misleading and not good science,” Corps spokeswoman Susan Jackson told the Herald via email. She said the agency is “committed to understanding potential impacts” and has expanded monitoring efforts, which include cameras on the ocean floor to record conditions. The researchers conclude that the study highlights the need to be more careful when dredging near sensitive reefs and should serve as a warning for the upcoming $374 million expansion at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. ___ Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com",
            "output": [
                "Study: Mud stirred up during PortMiami dredge killed coral."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e970df52546a4a508aad56e99de082d5",
            "input": "The change would increase costs for airlines when they already face multiple challenges, including a drop in demand because of the coronavirus. But critics say the current system has removed the incentive for the sector to tackle its rising emissions. Poland, itself under fire because of its dependency on carbon-intensive coal, proposed the idea at a meeting of environment ministers representing the 27 EU member states. It said the carbon credit handouts - worth 800 million euros ($894 million) in 2019 - undermined the aim of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to cut emissions in a cost-effective way. Free allowances to airlines for flights inside the European Economic Area could not be justified as the sector “is not directly exposed to the risk of carbon leakage,” Poland said. Carbon leakage is the idea industry will relocate beyond Europe to avoid European climate levies. ETS-covered emissions from aviation increased every year from 2013 until 2018, according to EU data. Irish carrier Ryanair RYA.A became one of the carbon market’s 10 largest emitters in 2018, joining nine coal power plants in the top ten. So far aviation accounts for about 3% of the EU’s emissions, but its share is expected to grow rapidly unless checked. Countries, including the Netherlands and Spain, are exploring using environmental taxes to make airlines pay for their pollution. Poland’s proposal, which EU officials speaking on condition of anonymity said had the backing of at least seven member states, said ending free allowances for aviation would have a similar effect to environmental taxes. It would, however, be easier to impose because the EU can only agree on tax changes if all states are unanimous. An ETS review scheduled for 2021 would probably be the EU’s first opportunity to adjust aviation’s free allowances. The sector will face increased scrutiny, as the European Union seeks to meet a goal to reduce its net emissions to zero by 2050. But any plan to tighten the EU carbon market’s grip on aviation could face opposition from ICAO, the UN aviation agency, which next year will launch a global scheme to require airlines to buy carbon offset credits. ICAO, which is meeting in Montreal this week, wants the EU to remove aviation from its carbon market so the U.N. scheme, known as CORSIA, will be the only market-based measure tackling aviation emissions. Brussels has said it will consider doing so, but only if CORSIA upholds strict environmental standards. Environmental groups have criticized CORSIA, saying it would allow aviation emissions to keep rising after 2020 if airlines bought enough carbon offset credits to cover the increase. ($1 = 0.8945 euros)",
            "output": [
                "Support builds to end free EU carbon permits for aviation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14127c1231604bb9a0dfa8d52af98351",
            "input": "\"It would not be necessary for the story to discuss the costs of hormone therapy. The story adequately quantifies the increased risk in breast cancer. While the story does provide quantification in relative terms only for the WHI study (it mentions a 60% increase), it does use absolute numbers to quantify the increase in the American Cancer Society analysis (the story describes how the risk of breast cancer would increase from 1 in 52 to 1 in 26). The story mentions risk of stroke, heart disease and blood clots in addition to breast cancer. The story does a good job of describing the design of the current studies and pointing out that these \"\"observational\"\" retrospective survey studies are less reliable than more robust study designs. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of breast cancer. Everyone quoted was either involved in the study or works for the drug manufacturer. This is the main flaw in an otherwise high quality story. Because the point of the story is to discuss the risk of breast cancer associated with hormone therapy, it would not be necessary for the story to mention alternative treatment options. Clearly hormone therapy is available. Clearly hormone therapy is not a new idea. It’s clear there was enterprise reporting involved in this story.\"",
            "output": [
                "Hormone use: Studies suggest two years max"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a7ef8ae60c94303a982cc9f460e6b02",
            "input": "Of the new cases, 19 patients were linked to previous cases, and three had no links to old cases, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration. One of those infected was in state quarantine, and the cases of seven people who tested positive were being investigated. Since the outbreak escalated in January, Thailand has reported a total of 2,643 cases and 43 fatalities, while 1,497 patients have recovered and gone home.",
            "output": [
                "Thailand reports 30 new coronavirus cases, two new deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c7a2c26c4ce47afa120dfbf65ebadbe",
            "input": "The sun shines through the pillars of a memorial in Hyde Park, in London October 11, 2010. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor Countries across Europe, the United States, Canada and parts of the Middle East mark the start of winter by ending Daylight Saving Time (DST) and putting their clocks back by an hour — often in late October or early November — a move that means it is lighter by the time most people get up to start their day. But this also robs afternoons of an hour of daylight, and some experts argue that in more northern regions, the energy needed to brighten this darkness, and the limits it puts on outdoor activities are harming our health and the environment. Leaving clocks alone as winter approaches would allow an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon and could boost levels of vitamin D as well as encourage people to exercise more. In some countries, such as Britain and Russia, politicians are being asked to consider parliamentary bills suggesting it’s time for a change. “It must be rare to find a means of vastly improving the health and well-being of nearly everyone in the population — and at no cost,” said Mayer Hillman of the Policy Studies Institute in Britain, where a bill on DST is coming up for consideration in parliament soon. “And here we have it.”   Almost half of the world’s population has lower than optimal levels of vitamin D, often called the sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D deficiency is a well-known risk factor for rickets and evidence suggests it may increase susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Hillman conducted a study focused on Scotland, the northern-most part of Britain, which found that switching to Central European Time — to Greenwich Mean Time plus one hour (GMT+1) in the winter and GMT+2 in the summer — would give most adults 300 extra hours of daylight a year. A “lighter later” campaign in Britain has gained support from many of the country’s major sporting bodies. Writing in the British Medical Journal on Friday, Hillman said research shows people feel happier, more energetic and have lower sickness rates in the longer, brighter days of summer, whereas moods and health decline during duller days of winter. Dr. Robert Graham of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York said leaving clocks alone in winter should be considered to encourage people to get out more and get more exercise. High rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity are caused in part by lack of exercise — adults are advised to do 30 minutes moderate or vigorous activity a day, and children at least an hour. “As a society we are always looking for accessible, low cost, little-to-no harm interventions,” he said by telephone. “By not putting the clocks back and increasing the number of accessible daylight hours, we may have found the perfect one.”   A study published earlier this year found that advancing clocks by an hour in the winter would lead to energy savings of at least 0.3 percent of daily demand in Britain. Elizabeth Garnsey, one of the study’s authors and an expert in innovative studies at Cambridge University, said this was equivalent to saving 450,000 metric tons of CO2 during winter alone.",
            "output": [
                "Extending daylight could boost health, help planet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-73c92bc8aebb40c0ad57a20020a41668",
            "input": "“From the time I was in physical therapy school, I wanted to do something like this,” he said, relaxing for a few moments inside his own PT facility. Wonsettler has been a physical therapist for more than a decade, mostly in the Seattle area. He became somewhat disillusioned in the Great Northwest, though, after working at a practice owned by a large company that, he believes, operated in an impersonal manner and compromised his ideal of a PT center. “After three years, I told my wife that I couldn’t do this.” So they relocated to his roots, to Washington County, where Wonsettler decided to “build a building we could grow into.” Two years later, Wonsettler Physical Therapy and Specialized Health is up and going. Cliff and his youngest brother, Charlie, comprise the WPT staff, licensed physical therapists who began serving patients in early February. Cliff owns the business, which operates in a glistening two-story building about 100 yards off Route 40 in North Bethlehem Township. Wonsettler PT is on a flat stretch of the rolling Wonsettler farm - where they grew up. Their father, Chuck, a retired Bentworth School District teacher, is a sixth-generation family farmer there. He raises beef cattle, sheep and pigs on the 154-acre spread, which has stretched to a seventh generation. Cliff, his wife and their two sons live in a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of the PT building, which has 5,000 square feet. “I have a pretty short commute to work,” Cliff said, beaming. So does Charlie, who is engaged to be married in 2020. He resides in the family’s farmhouse. The term “physical” has been a substantial element in the siblings’ lives. Cliff (class of 2000), C.J. (2002) and Charlie (2007) were outstanding wrestlers at Bentworth, where all topped the milestone of 100 victories and were PIAA tournament qualifiers. C.J., the only state champion among them, wrestled at Penn State with Cliff, while Charlie competed at Bucknell University. C.J., or Christopher, is in the military as his brothers are providing services of a different sort. Cliff and Charlie attended graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh, became PTs and practiced out of state for a while. Charlie was a Montana resident for a time, but now is back home with Cliff, working at the center while also handling inpatient rehabilitation assignments in Morgantown, W.Va. Their facility has a postal address of Scenery Hill, and while it isn’t in close proximity of the Century Inn, the center offers a fabulous panorama. You can see for miles and miles. The location was intentional. “A lot of (PT) places are so small and sterile, you don’t feel welcome,” Cliff said. “We wanted a place that is welcoming and comfortable, where you feel everything is working for you. A view like this helps. “We also want to offer more of a fitness component. A lot of physical therapy is reactive. We want to help people who are dealing with something, but we want to offer something that’s preventative.” Although he was turned off by the corporate mindset in a previous job, Cliff admitted, “I can see why a big company wants a physical therapy facility to see 20 to 30 people a day.” But he pledges that will not happen on the Wonsettler property. “We want to see eight patients a day,” he said. “What we lack in dollar amount, we make up with quality treatment.” The brothers’ corporate plan includes a short-term strategy - adding a staffer to handle the front desk - and to have five therapists on board within five years. Wonsettler Physical Therapy, appropriately on Wonsettler Road, is open weekdays only - at least for now. Hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; noon to 7 p.m. Thursday; and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Although both have been out of high school for more than a decade, Charlie and Cliff look as if they could take a brawny opponent to the mat today. Both are trim and well-muscled. Having exercise machinery in their workplace should keep them fit. “Part of this is it gives us a place to work out, too,” Cliff said. “We have to practice what we preach.” ___ Online: https://bit.ly/2HCYd15 ___ Information from: Observer-Reporter, http://www.observer-reporter.com",
            "output": [
                "Wrestling Wonsettlers are now getting physical with therapy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f86ea134e254695849252f2981c2153",
            "input": "\"Remember the classic U.S. Army slogan? \"\"We do more by 9 a.m. than most people do all day,\"\" a voice said in the famous commercial. What you may not know is that the military is doing some significant multitasking. In addition to chasing down terrorists and conducting humanitarian rescue missions in places such as the Philippines, the Defense Department is also working to prevent and cure some of the deadliest diseases known to mankind. U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., recently said the medical research may not be the best use of Defense Department resources. \"\"What I don’t understand is why the … military is spending $80 million a year on prostate cancer research, why we’re spending $25 million a year on ovarian cancer research and $150 million on breast cancer research. We’re also doing lung cancer research,\"\" Chambliss said during a Nov. 7 meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Chambliss wants additional money for the Defense Department, but he says it should be spent wisely. \"\"Now if there are particular needs that the military has regarding military research and there are some, particularly because of the casualties we’ve suffered recently, I can understand it,\"\" the senator continued. \"\"But these are types of research that simply have no place in my opinion in (the Defense Department). They ought to be done in (the National Institutes of Health).\"\" Chambliss complained there is little coordination between the research done by the Defense Department and the National Institutes of Health. PolitiFact Georgia was unaware that the Defense Department was doing that kind of research. We’re not early-risers like the Army. We embarked on a mission to determine whether the senator was correct that the military was conducting research on these serious conditions and whether his math was correct about how much in taxpayer dollars it was spending on such work. In late 1992, Congress began to set aside annual funding toward research of various illnesses and diseases to be done by the Defense Department. Some of the research is for conditions that appeared directly related to the battlefield, such as Gulf War Illness and traumatic brain injuries. Other research is for conditions faced by Americans that are not necessarily military-related. The list of conditions includes, as Chambliss noted, breast cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. As Chambliss told it, the now-deceased Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaskan Republican, asked for some prostate cancer research dollars to be allocated to the Defense Department. Chambliss said Stevens later realized those funds should be allocated to the NIH. We looked up the most recent funding totals for the various forms of research. The Defense Department Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs website said $80 million was spent in fiscal year 2013 on prostate cancer research, but the totals were slightly less for the other forms of cancer Chambliss mentioned. The website said $20 million was spent on ovarian cancer research and $120 million on breast cancer research in FY 2013. The 2013 federal fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2012, and ended Sept. 30. Lauren Claffey, a spokeswoman for Chambliss, said he was using numbers for fiscal year 2010. To sum up, Chambliss said the federal government gives the U.S. Department of Defense $80 million a year for prostate cancer research, $25 million a year for ovarian cancer research and $150 million a year for breast cancer research. The senator is correct that there is such a program. The numbers are slightly off for two of the three forms of research. Chambliss used numbers three years older than the most recent material.\"",
            "output": [
                "The U.S. Department of Defense spends $80 million a year on prostate cancer research, $25 million a year on ovarian cancer research and $150 million a year on breast cancer research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8db078adfd9d45ec9291926908aa54e5",
            "input": "Roehl, of Mandan, was 64 years old and had a state health insurance plan that covered the life-saving medication minus a $10 copay. But when he turned 65 and enrolled in Medicare, the price of the drug skyrocketed to $2,400 for a 30-day supply. Roehl, a retiree living on a fixed income, couldn’t afford the medication, so he stopped taking it. He was warned the leukemia — which was in remission — would come back. Then, a brochure came in the mail from a Canadian pharmacy advertising the drug for a fraction of the price — $684 for 30 days. He purchased a three-month supply and got it in the mail days later. “There are just so many inequities (in prescription drug prices),” he said. “To go from paying $10 to $2,400, that’s a tough pill to swallow.” Roehl joins an unknown number of North Dakotans who seek out lower drug prices in other countries, particularly Canada. Buying his medicine from across the border saves Roehl roughly $20,000 a year, The Bismarck Tribune reported. The pharmaceutical industry has long maintained that high drug prices are necessary to fund expensive research and development of new drugs. Federal and state legislation has been proposed in recent months to combat the rising cost of prescription drugs and to increase price transparency. In Congress, it remains to be seen what, if any, legislation could pass. Members of North Dakota’s all-Republican congressional delegation have signaled their support for various bipartisan measures making their way through Congress aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. These include the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and the Lower Health Care Costs Act, introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said in a statement that two bills he co-sponsored to increase prescription drug price transparency and to “close existing loopholes hindering the development of generic drugs” were included in Alexander’s legislation. North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said he also supports Alexander’s and Grassley’s bills, and Rep. Kelly Armstrong said he also has backed similar drug-pricing legislation in the House. None of these bills have made it to a floor vote. Buying from Canada Roger and Vicki Roehl thought they prepared for retirement. Both had successful careers: Roger Roehl headed the mapping section for the state Department of Transportation, and Vicki Roehl was a high school English teacher and a counselor. They had saved up for retirement and hoped to travel the world. “Haven’t done much of that,” Roger Roehl said. His leukemia diagnosis brought their travel plans to a halt. But the chemotherapy drug Gleevec has brought him and his wife newfound optimism. Roger Roehl is in “hematological remission,” meaning: “The blood is normal and will stay normal as long as I take this pill,” he said. “It’s working. It’s the silver bullet of leukemia,” he said, adding he’s been taking the pill for three years. Roger and Vicki Roehl now have to budget for a three-month supply of the drug and tap into their savings to afford it, even with the north-of-the-border savings. Purchasing prescriptions drugs from Canadian pharmacies is a phenomenon not commonly talked about in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits importing prescription drug medication, except for people who buy drugs in small amounts for personal use. The cost of prescription drugs is lower in Canada and some other countries because their governments run their health care systems and are able to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers. In researching buying prescription medications from Canada, Roger Roehl found that other North Dakotans do it, as well. He said he’s aware of a bus in Minot that takes groups of people across the border. Some states have enacted laws that allow for prescription drug importation from other states, but no such law exists in North Dakota. In July, the Trump administration announced plans to allow for pilot projects developed by states, pharmacies or drug manufacturers to import certain prescription medications from Canada. It’s unclear when these programs could be implemented, as the administration has to go through a rulemaking process that could take months to years. Price transparency In North Dakota, lawmakers are looking to jump-start legislation related to prescription drug price transparency. During an interim Health Care Committee meeting last week, the group’s chairman, Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, proposed a bill draft modeled after drug transparency legislation that passed in Texas this year. The bill draft requires information be reported by drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and health insurance companies. Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are referred to as middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain who negotiate prices with drug manufacturers for health care companies. The bill would require manufacturers to report every time the price of their drugs rises more than 10% in a year or 40% or more over five calendar years. PBMs also would be required report data annually, including the amount of “rebates” they collect from manufacturers, and health insurance companies also would have to report data on prescription drug costs. The information would be submitted to the state Board of Pharmacy and then published on a public website. Committee members last week mostly expressed support for the proposed legislation, which still has a long way to go before it’s introduced during the 2021 legislative session. Keiser told the Tribune the bill likely will go through a number of amendments. “What this is attempting to do is begin to bring transparency to the marketplace and the justification for (increasing drug prices),” Keiser said. “The key to this legislation — the most important element for me — is, you want to increase (the cost of) a drug 10% within a year, that’s fine, just tell us why.” The data will in turn help state health policymakers understand the problem and look for solutions, according to Keiser. “The public doesn’t know what’s involved. But until we can provide information for policymakers and the public, we can’t take the next step,” he said. Several states have enacted laws in recent years related to prescription drug prices, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Keiser said his bill draft is the first of its kind in North Dakota. Lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry contend that drug-pricing and transparency bills don’t result in actual savings for consumers, and that others in the supply chain, such as PBMs, contribute to price increases. ‘An important first step’ Josh Askvig, state director of AARP North Dakota, spoke in support of Keiser’s bill draft at the committee meeting last week. Prescription drug prices are “a very high priority” for his group and a recurring issue he hears among its members. Askvig cited data from his organization that shows the average annual cost of prescription drugs in North Dakota increased 58% from 2012 to 2017, while the average income for North Dakotans increased only 6.7%. AARP recently launched a nationwide campaign aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. Askvig said his organization and its members have been advocating for a number of reforms at the state and national level. “We know that states can’t solve the problem alone, but knowing this committee’s willingness to dig into this, we think, is an important first step,” Askvig said. ___ Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Some North Dakotans turn to Canada for prescription pills."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dff4b312b2d7493aa394155c0e85096d",
            "input": "The story does not talk about any costs. There are a few places where cost might have been valuable. The story could have discussed whether refining corn flour by a different method would cost more than the existing method. The story might have included whether fortified corn flour would be equal or higher in price for consumers than unfortified. We also would have welcomed some comment on the cost of caring for a baby born with a neural tube defect. The story gives the reader an idea of how many neural defects could be prevented by adding folic acid to corn flour. “And studies suggest that fortifying corn masa with folic acid could prevent an additional 40 to 120 cases of neural tube defects among babies born to Hispanic mothers each year.” The story discusses the FDA’s worry that a chemical used on corn flour could interact with the corn masa flour. It quotes the FDA which says: “The FDA is concerned that the breakdown of folic acid in corn masa flour could yield a substance that raises concerns about safety.” It would have been nice for the story to explain more clearly what concerns are raised — this seems pretty vague — but we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. The story mentions a study about the potential impact of fortifying corn flour on Hispanic women at higher risk. The study is a high-quality one. We wish the story had talked more explicitly about the quality of the evidence. There was no disease mongering. The story quotes independent sources. The story never really discusses the alternative of taking vitamin supplements. Standard preventive advice for women of childbearing age who are considering pregnancy is to take a multivitamin in order to have enough folic acid for any future pregnancy. But this advice may be unheeded, vitamins may be too expensive, or pregnancy may be unintended. The story explains that extra folic acid is already widely available in other flours. It notes that there is debate about adding it to corn flour. Concerns about the technical difficulty of adding folic acid that remains in usable effective form is a central point. There is nothing novel about the suggestion (made in 2012) that folic acid be added to corn flour, and the story explains why this issue is newsworthy now. The story quotes multiple sources and does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Why Tortillas May Hold The Key To Healthier Babies"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3eab3b9a410c4b569d9766ac7fd24b96",
            "input": "The story didn’t mention cost. The nicotine patch is readily available over the counter. We found a range of prices online, including one big chain’s patch for roughly $2.70 a day. Quantifying changes in cognitive function for readers is a challenge. Exactly what does a long term memory performance of 46% of normal mean? Are these changes important for daily living or are they statistically significant but clinically irrelevant? The story included that important caveat from the researchers:  “whether these effects are clinically important will require larger studies.” The story reported:  “The study found no problematic side effects associated with the nicotine patch and none of the patients had withdrawal symptoms when it was stopped. However, patients on nicotine did lose a few pounds, which is a known side effect.” The study also reported a small drop in systolic blood pressure in subjected treated with nicotine – an unusual finding which the story did not report. We like that the story, unlike the MSNBC piece, noted that “nicotine might enhance the cancer-causing properties of other substances.” The study design, number of subjects and other information is provided. Both this story and the one by MSNBC used information that we could not find in the journal article, but which did appear in news releases by the American Academy of Neurology and by Vanderbilt – the “46% of normal” and “26% decline in recall” statistics. We liked that this story, unlike the MSNBC piece, stated that “when clinical experts rated overall change in the patients, they did not see a significant difference between the two groups.” That’s an important finding and, possibly, could have led to a different lead and headline for both stories. The story does not resort to disease-mongering. Like the MSNBC story, though, it could have more clearly distinguished between mild cognitive impairment and forgetfulness. We can’t give this a satisfactory score because, unlike the MSNBC story, this one does not include any information from clinical experts not involved in the study. It does, however, note that some of the authors on the study have received drug company funding and funding from tobacco makers. It also noted that the nicotine patches themselves were provided by Pfizer. There is no mention of alternative strategies to either improve or slow down the degradation of cognitive function in people with mild cognitive impairment. We’re going to rule this one Not Applicable because – while availability was not explicitly addressed – this is a product that’s probably well known to most readers. However, both stories we reviewed could have been more specific about the exact types of patches that were studied and in what doses. The story didn’t make any claims of novelty. However, the story could have briefly explained whether there has been other research studying nicotine’s effects on memory. (There has been.) As explained in the “evidence” criterion above, there were numbers used in this story and that by MSNBC that we couldn’t find anywhere in the journal article but which did appear in in news releases by the American Academy of Neurology and by Vanderbilt. But it’s clear that the story didn’t rely solely on news release, as it brought in enough good contextual information, including the conflict of interest information and the information about nicotine and cancer.",
            "output": [
                "Nicotine Patch May Improve Memory"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e1df6ed05d54be79dc370bada44b959",
            "input": "It said 654 of the new cases were linked to migrant workers’ dormitories. The latest count of new infections was much higher than the previous record of 447 reported on Wednesday. No new deaths were reported on Thursday, leaving the toll at 10. Authorities have managed to mitigate the spread of the virus and the COVID-19 respiratory disease it causes among Singapore’s citizens by rigorous contact tracing and surveillance, earning praise from the World Health Organization. But the disease is spreading rapidly within the large migrant worker community, highlighting what rights groups say is a weak link in containment efforts.",
            "output": [
                "Singapore reports 728 new virus cases in biggest daily jump, total 4,427."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76bd51c96d614ffdb7934cb2d6483f1a",
            "input": "\"The article is sufficiently clear that the drug is generic and inexpensive. Because this use would be novel, and not used as an alternative to existing treatments, more information about its cost is not required. While the report uses study data to describe the findings, it does not clarify what those findings mean to people who have had strokes. The findings indicate the drug group (NIHSS scale rating 1.6) had \"\"little nor no disability,\"\" and the placebo group (rating 6.5) \"\"the high end of mild disability.\"\" Translating these into specific symptoms (slurred speech, difficulty walking, cognitive impairment, etc.) would be useful. It’s also not clear how high the stroke scale goes–to 10? 15? 20? Knowing that would help readers understand the magnitude of the difference. Finally, the study found that there was no difference in heart attacks, additional strokes or deaths between the two groups. Data on these critical outcomes should have been reported. One credible source states that the antibiotic has a well established safety record. Other sources confirm this indirectly. Because the potential benefit is so large–preventing permanent brain damage resulting from a stroke–minor side effects are not essential to mention. It would have been useful to know, however, whether this drug could interact with clot-busting medications if they are given within the three-hour window. The article indicates that the study is small and the first to produce these findings. It also explains that it was an \"\"open label\"\" study, meaning the patients knew whether they were getting the antibiotic or a placebo. Several sources reiterate that the findings are preliminary and require replication. The reporter also mentions that a similar study of a neuroprotective agent had promising results but was later shown ineffective in a larger study. This context is very useful; it discourages readers from jumping to conclusions about this study’s value. The article does nothing to exaggerate the effects of stroke or the drug’s capacity to minimize them. The writer interviews four independent sources in addition to the study author, an unusual amount of reporting on a single study that adds to the story’s value. The article makes clear that the study was not funded by an interested party, which also adds credibility to the findings. The article makes clear that there are no treatment options outside the 3-hour treatment window when administration of the IV clot-buster tPA is effective at protecting against brain damage. The article makes clear that the drug is cheap and widely available, but properly adds that any use as a treatment for stroke would be off-label at a doctor’s discretion. The report makes clear that the use of the antibiotic as a neuroprotective agent is novel, though the product is widely used for other purposes. There is no evidence the article was based on the press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Antibiotic might help after stroke, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0da75ad36c8b4e22b06f71df17af416b",
            "input": "The Democrat announced that legislation he’ll propose in his 2020 State of the State agenda on Jan. 8 will also prohibit online, phone and mail-order sale of e-cigarettes to anyone but registered retailers. “Vaping is a public health crisis, claiming too many lives and making countless others sick in a short period of time,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The problem is made worse by unscrupulous vaping companies who are targeting young people with candy flavored products like cotton candy and bubble gum and other marketing ploys.”   The legislation would codify emergency regulations adopted by state health officials in September to ban flavored e-cigarette sales. That ban is on hold pending a court challenge by the vaping industry led by the Vapor Technology Association. Cuomo said nearly 40% of 12th graders and 27% of all high school students are using e-cigarettes, with flavored products driving the increase in use. Cuomo said his legislation will also empower the state Department of Health to ban the sale of vaping carrier oils that have been blamed for respiratory ailments. Action against e-cigarettes has gained urgency amid the rise of a vaping illness nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that as of Dec. 17, more than 2,500 people across the United States have reported respiratory issues related to vaping and 54 people are known to have died.",
            "output": [
                "Cuomo to propose ban on e-cig flavors and ads aimed at youth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ebb468cfaaab4e07ad85effbd6930015",
            "input": "Dr. Ann McKee, director of Boston University’s CTE Center, stressed she could not “connect the dots” between the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy and the behavior of the 27-year-old who hanged himself in April while serving life in prison for murder. But McKee said CTE had significantly impacted key parts of Hernandez’s brain, including the hippocampus — which is associated with memory — and the frontal lobe, which is involved in impulse control, judgment and behavior. “We can say collectively, in our collective experience, that individuals with CTE — and CTE of this severity — have difficulty with impulse control, decision-making, inhibition of impulses or aggression, often emotional volatility and rage behaviors,” said McKee, who has studied hundreds of brains from football players, college athletes and even younger players, donated after their deaths. Hernandez hanged himself in prison days after he was acquitted in the 2012 drive-by shootings of two men in Boston and just hours before his former teammates visited the White House to celebrate their latest Super Bowl victory. Prosecutors contended he gunned the two men down after one accidentally spilled a drink on him in a nightclub — and then got a tattoo of a handgun and the words “God Forgives” to commemorate the crime. He had been serving a life sentence without parole in the 2013 killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd when he killed himself. Hernandez, who said he was innocent, did not raise CTE in his defense at either trial. CTE, which can only be diagnosed in an autopsy, has been found in former members of the military, football players and boxers and others who suffered repeated head trauma. BU researchers confirmed in September that Hernandez was diagnosed with Stage 3, out of 4, of the disease. But McKee had not publicly discussed her findings until a conference at the university on Thursday. After Hernandez’s CTE diagnosis, his attorneys filed a lawsuit against the NFL and football helmet maker Riddell, accusing them of failing to warn Hernandez about the dangers of football. The lawsuit, which seeks damages for Hernandez’s young daughter, said he experienced a “chaotic and horrendous existence” because of his disease. While the outside of Hernandez’s brain appeared normal, the inside was riddled with CTE, said McKee, who showed images of Hernandez’s brain next to those of a typical 27-year-old. In Hernandez’s brain, there was evidence of previous small hemorrhages, which is associated with head impacts, she said. Other parts, like the hippocampus, had begun to shrink and large holes were found in his brain’s membrane, McKee said. Before Hernandez, the youngest brain they’ve examined that showed such severe CTE damage was 46 years old, McKee said. “These are very unusual findings to see in an individual of this age,” McKee said. “We’ve never seen this in our 468 brains, except in individuals some 20 years older,” she said. Hernandez inherited a genetic profile that may have made him more susceptible to the disease, McKee said. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer @aedurkinricher . Read more of her work here .",
            "output": [
                "Doctor: Hernandez’s brain was severely damaged by disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18e931d7771744e88b8289a21346770e",
            "input": "Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said the decision could eliminate insurance coverage for 480,000 people enrolled in Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion program and 850,000 residents who are estimated to have pre-existing conditions. He criticized Attorney General Jeff Landry for joining other Republican attorneys general in support of the Texas lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. Edwards said the lawsuit creates uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana. “Being diagnosed with breast cancer or diabetes should not automatically mean that you are denied coverage to protect an insurance company’s profits, and if you put in a full day’s work, you should not be priced out of coverage,” Edwards said in a statement. “This was a short-sighted lawsuit, to say the least.” Landry defended his decision to join the lawsuit, calling the health law an “unconstitutional federal overreach.” “For John Bel Edwards to say the only solution for health care is Obamacare shows he is more interested in playing politics than solving problems,” Landry said in a statement Monday. “We can truly lower costs, improve health care access and cover pre-existing conditions if people set aside politics and work together.” Edwards said he intends to seek state law changes to require coverage of people with pre-existing conditions, and Landry said he was talking with state lawmakers about the same idea. The governor sent a letter Monday to Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras describing the legislation he’ll support, which also would allow children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until the age of 26 and restrict benefit limits for health coverage. Edwards said Rep. Chad Brown, a Democrat from Plaquemine, will sponsor the measure for consideration in the legislative session that starts in April. Friday’s ruling in the federal court in Texas isn’t expected to take effect during the appeals process, with the federal health department saying it will continue administering and enforcing the law.",
            "output": [
                "Louisiana leaders exchange barbs over health care ruling."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e25502d6935540fd95edd3859a8f526f",
            "input": "The Environment Ministry’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation was also set afire. The offices were torched Friday by miners who were angry with Ibama’s seizure of nearly 40 barges used in the illegal extraction of gold from the bottom of the Madeira River, which cuts through the city of Humaita. Commander of the Amazonas State Police Department Col. David Brandao said Saturday calm has returned to the city and no one was hurt in the incident. It was unclear if anyone has been arrested.",
            "output": [
                "Offices of Brazil’s environmental protection agency torched."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d00e2ecd4d944a28b09c2f8ebe6f6a6b",
            "input": "After Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) donned a gas mask while Congress debated a bill securing emergency funding to fight the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States and beyond, one of his colleagues rebuked both him and an apparent set of double standards.“In 2012, I wore a hoodie on the House Floor to make a statement about the deadly consequences of racial profiling,” Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Illinois) wrote on Twitter. “On Wednesday, @RepMattGaetz wore a gas mask in the chamber, making light of an epidemic that has killed 14 Americans. Guess which one of us was forcibly removed.”Rush’s post, which showed photographs of himself alongside Gaetz, was also picked up on Reddit:Rush, a former member of the Black Panthers liberation group who has represented Illinois’ 1st congressional district since 1993, was indeed stopped from speaking and ordered off of the floor on March 28 2012, after revealing that he was wearing a hooded sweater under his blazer in remarks criticizing racial profiling on the part of law enforcement:As soon as Rush removed his jacket and put the hood on his head, Rep. Greg Harper, R-Mississippi, who was presiding over the House floor, began to gavel Rush down, saying he was out of order.Rush ignored him, and with the hoodie still pulled over his head, continued to speak, citing the Bible.Harper continued to bang the gavel. “The gentleman will suspend. The member is no longer recognized,” he said. “The chair must remind members that clause 5 of rule 17 prohibits the wearing of hats in the chamber when the House is in session.”A floor clerk approached Rush as he finished his remarks and led him away from the podium.Afterward, Rush told CNN he was wearing a tie, suggesting he was appropriately dressed for the House floor. He said the purpose of putting on the hoodie was to send a message to young people, “to stand their ground, stand up and don’t stand down.”Rush’s comments came less than a month after the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by George Zimmerman, a “community watch” member who claimed that he shot and killed the teen in self defense. Martin’s death was the impetus for nationwide demonstrations, including the “Million Hoodie March” in New York City happening the same day Rush made his remarks:Too often, this violent act that resulted in the violent murder of Trayvon Martin is repeated in the streets of our nation. I applaud the young people all across the land who are making a statement about hoodies [and] about the real hoodlums in this nation. Particularly those who tread on our laws wearing official or quasi-official clothes. Racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker. Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.After Rush donned the hood on his sweater, Mississippi Republican and acting Speaker Rep. Greg Harper said, “The gentleman will suspend. The member is no longer recognized.” Harper then ordered an aide to escort Rush from the House floor, citing a rule barring members from wearing coverings on their heads.Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, later commended the lawmaker for his show of solidarity.“My question would be why wasn’t Congressman Rush allowed to address racial profiling. This is something that needs to be talked about,” he said. “This is a country of freedom of speech.”By comparison, Gaetz — a white Republican — was apparently not admonished at all for wearing a gas mask as he and his colleagues voted on the measure allocating $815.2 billion in funding to fighting COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus. He later claimed that he was doing so out of concern for his own safety. “Look, members of Congress are human petri dishes,” he said. “We fly through the dirtiest airports. We touch everyone we meet.”As of March 7 2020, more than 225 COVID-19 cases had been diagnosed in the United States, and at least fourteen deaths have been attributed to the disease.It is true that there has been a ban on hats on the floor while the House is in session since 1837. It’s also true that one could make the argument that a gas mask — which covers the face and part of the head — is not a hat. One could also make the same argument about a hoodie. Finally, it’s true that Rep. Bobby Rush was escorted out for pulling a hoodie over his head in 2012, and Rep. Matt Gaetz and his gas mask were allowed to stay in 2020.",
            "output": [
                "While Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was allowed to wear a gasmask on the House vote, Democrat Bobby L. Rush was removed from the same grounds for wearing a hoodie."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8893caa34e8047dd87ba2f273f01a7ff",
            "input": "General David Rodriguez, head of U.S. forces in Africa, said three mobile labs had deployed to Liberia and four more were being sought to run tests that would distinguish between people infected with Ebola and those who have diseases with similar symptoms, such as malaria. Each lab would be staffed by a team of three to four experts trained to operate in the worst chemical, biological and nuclear environments, Rodriguez told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. The teams operate in full protective clothing. Ebola, which can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhea, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva. The U.S. military is ramping up its response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where it has already killed more than 3,400 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Concern is growing that the virus could spread to other parts of the world. The United States has 348 military personnel in Liberia and Senegal working on combating the spread of Ebola. Rodriguez has been authorized to send some 3,900 troops if needed. He said at this point he expected the effort to last a year and did not think more troops would be necessary. “We’re going to stay as long as we’re needed, but not longer,” said Rodriguez, who estimated the cost of the military operation at $750 million for the next six months. Many of the military personnel due to go to Liberia in the coming months are construction workers who will build up to 17 100-bed Ebola treatment facilities. Rodriguez said health officials estimated at least 70 percent of those diagnosed with the virus need to be in treatment facilities in order to slow the spread of the disease. Assistant Defense Secretary Andy Weber, who is responsible for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, said the Pentagon was working with international partners to ensure there are more beds than patients, aiming to contain the spread by isolating the patients. “If you’ve seen the modeling from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), it’s on a fast rise. But we can turn it. We know what to do,” said Weber, who is leaving the Defense Department to become the deputy to the State Department’s Ebola Coordinator, Ambassador Nancy Powell. “Over half the people infected with Ebola can survive if they have just basic medical support,” he said. “So we can get ahead of this, but right now we’re playing catch-up because it really started to spread at an exponential rate in August.”  Weber said the U.S. departments of Defense and Health and Human Services had been primary investors in the search for drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools to counter the Ebola virus, including the promising experimental drug ZMapp produced by Mapp Biopharmaceutical. “Ebola has always been on the threat list of agents that we’re concerned about,” he said, noting that rare diseases like Ebola are “not a commercial market so big pharma doesn’t have an interest in pursuing these, which is why the government involvement is so important.”",
            "output": [
                "U.S. military specialists in Liberia to conduct Ebola testing: general."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a99784f58fb41e8bd2b72e3709346b2",
            "input": "The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Gov. Kate Brown on Oct. 4 ordered a six-month ban on sales of all flavored vaping products with nicotine or THC. It’s unclear when the ban will start. The governor told state agencies to “immediately” pass emergency rules to ban the products. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least 1,080 people across the country have been struck with lung illnesses connected to vaping and at least 18 have died. Officials do not know what is causing the illness. Medical tests have pointed to oils lodged in victims’ lungs, while others have pointed to lung reactions typical of exposure to toxic chemicals. Of Oregon’s nine victims, at least five used products they bought at legal marijuana retail stores.",
            "output": [
                "Officials: 1 more vaping-related illness in Oregon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a24f5aaa17ab478b8b65208c821e1108",
            "input": "Office workers wearing protective masks, previously a rarity, have become a common sight in recent weeks in downtown Sydney, where record pollution levels have consistently ranked the city above the likes of Jakarta, Shanghai and Mumbai. The world-famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge have regularly been shrouded by thick smoke that has turned the daytime sky a dark orange. Ash has fallen like a shroud over the sky, propelled by strong winds from the fires burning on the outskirts of greater Sydney. Australia has been fighting wildfires across the country’s east coast for weeks, with blazes killing eight people - including two firefighters overnight - destroying more than 700 homes and razing nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of bushland. State health officials have warned people with respiratory conditions to stay inside as much as possible, but health experts said that advice is not a good enough response given the crises has now been running for weeks. “It breaks my heart when I see my patients because they’re like my family and when I see that they’re being punished by the smoke and heat I have felt powerless,” family doctor Kim Loo told protesters at a rally outside Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Sydney residence on Thursday. “I’ve gone to government for the last five years, state and federal, and it looks as though we have no health policies to deal with climate change federally.”  Bunnings Warehouse, one of Australia’s largest retailers, said some of its stores have run out of breathing masks amid warnings the smoke pollution could impact lung function and lead to the development of respiratory diseases. “We’re working closely with suppliers to get more masks into impacted areas,” Bunnings regional operations manager Robyn Hudson said in an emailed statement. Morrison’s conservative Liberal-National coalition government has come under sustained pressure to defend its climate change policies as it has downplayed links to the unprecedented early arrival and severity of this year’s bushfire season. Morrison cut short a family holiday in Hawaii on Friday to head back to Sydney amid the criticism, as worries grew about Australia’s own tourism credentials. “Australia’s reputation as clean and green has been a major contributor to luring tourists,” said David Beirman, senior lecturer in tourism at the University of Technology in Sydney. “The longer this crisis goes on, the more damage it will have to that image and potentially on tourism.”  Medical experts said the health damage to both locals and tourists could be long-running and difficult to immediately diagnose. Edward Jegasothy, an expert at the University of Sydney’s school of public health, said one of the biggest risks came from invisible small particles suspended in the atmosphere that are produced from the burning of wood. Those particles, which can travel long distances, can get down into the lungs and bloodstream, causing inflammation and other system effects, Jegasothy told Reuters. “When air pollution is short, it’s easy to tell people, give people advice about how to avoid it, stay indoors, avoid physical activity,” he said. “But when it’s sustained over a number of days or weeks, then the messaging becomes more complicated.”  GRAPHIC - Forests in flames: Images from space show Australia’s bushfires in different light:",
            "output": [
                "Massive bushfires send Australia's clean and green reputation up in smoke."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d07bad1cba134d5fb0012b18bbbd0bd6",
            "input": "Local officials and residents say the flamingo population is up to about 3,000 at Narta Lagoon, an important waterfowl habitat that greater flamingos returned to in recent years after a long absence. Bird watchers also have noticed more pelicans, herons and other species this spring at the 28-square-kilometer (10-square-mile) lagoon, which is 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of Tirana, the capital. “Isn’t that beautiful to see fearless flamingos all around?” Dhimiter Konomi, part of a local group that manages commercial fishing in Narta Lagoon, said as the big, long-necked birds stood in the shallow water. Operations halting at a nearby saltworks and reduced human activity of all types during the pandemic explains why birds are flocking to the lagoon, said Nexhip Hysolokaj, a regional biodiversity expert. Flamingos are “a very delicate species,” and not having vehicles or visitors around suits them, he said. “They have found food and calmness, and that has likely helped them increase the numbers,” Hysolokaj said. Researchers plan to study the flamingos to see if the coronavirus-induced calm is conducive to establishing the lagoon as a place where they can nest and breed. Konomi says a lagoon crowded with feathered life is a treasure that could boost tourism. But Hysolokaj is less keen to attract conventional tourists to the lagoon, which is part of a protected landscape of sand dunes, wetlands, islands and beaches that supports diverse fauna as well as birds. He described it as the “lung” of Vlora, the nearest city. “There should be a stable but alternative tourism, naturally letting campers come, beaches used, with environmental biking, educational paths and more because it’s so close to Vlora,” Hysolokaj said. ___ Associated Press writer Llazar Semini contributed from Tirana, Albania. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "With fewer humans to fear, flamingos flock to Albania lagoon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f0f4971c41042acb76c6bbebb9dd814",
            "input": "The story mentioned that the cost of this drug treatment was several thousand dollars a month and that this was higher than the costs of other treatments. It would have been better to provide a more concrete estimate of costs (several thousand – does this mean 2,3 or 6 thousand?). The story might have included some information about additional costs that would be encountered with the comparison treatment such as the cost of intraveneous infusions, testing to  evaluate side-effects, and other connected costs. The story did a good job reporting the data comparing patient survival with Iressa as compared to individuals treated with IV chemotherapy. The story skimmed over the side effects; reducing the frequency of bothersome or life threatening side effects would seem to be an advantage. The story mentioned quality of life factors that appear to be better with Iressa but did not  quantify the benefit observed. Borderline satisfactory. The story listed the common side effects of the treatment though it failed to indicate the frequency with which these were seen. In addition, rather than than merely listing these, the story could have included some information about the severity of the side effects (i.e. bothersome vs. fatal). The story provided information about the size of the study conducted, the nature of the patients that were enrolled, and that the drug company that markets the drug funded the study. The study was designed as a non-inferiority survival trial to compare this medication with docotaxel, a chemotherapy treatment often used in individuals who have lung cancer and have had platinum based treatment but who are experiencing a return of their cancer. (While the story did provide information about the survival outcomes, it also included information comparing side effects.) The story ended with a comment from one of the interviewed clinicians about quality of life being better with Iressa. The story should have been clearer about the predetermined endpoint of the study (longevity) and should not have ended with less data driven information. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. However the headline does not hint that the trial is not about first-line cancer treatment, rather just patients who have been treated previously with a platinum-based chemotherapy. The story included quotes from two individuals identified as not being connected with the study reported upon but with relevant expertise. The story provided information about two treatment options for individuals who have recurrence of a previously treated lung cancer. It did not provide information about the natural history of not undergoing additional treatment for this condition which is necessary for evaluating the relative merit of the two treatments discussed. The story did not mention radiation and surgery which are both options for some limited cancers. The story mentions that the medication Iressa (gefitinib) is sold in the United States but that its availability in Europe is limited. The story presented the use of Iressa as a treatment of individuals with lung cancer who had previously been treated with a platinum-based regimen as though it was a novel application. However – this drug was approved by the FDA in 2003 for this purpose. While the results of study reported on are interesting, the story did not provide the reader with a realistic picture of about the novelty of this product. Does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Pill as good as chemo on lung cancer, but costlier"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c02fcad73364401f8867beb58d024e28",
            "input": "The release doesn’t discuss cost at all, which is somewhat surprising given that dexamethasone has been on the market for many years with various clinical applications. It’s not that dexamethasone is especially expensive (it isn’t — though the cost isn’t necessarily negligible), but that cost needs to be addressed. Readers are simply given no information about cost. The release explains that the overall pool of 140 patients was split into four groups: Group One did not receive dexamethasone and was under “deep” anesthesia; Group Two did not receive dexamethasone and was under “superficial” anesthesia; Group Three received dexamethasone before surgery and was under “deep” anesthesia; Group Four received dexamethasone before surgery and was under “superficial” anesthesia. Got all that? The release tells readers that patients in Group Four had a 15.3 percent incidence rate of POCD immediately after surgery, and that none of the Group Four patients had POCD six months after surgery. We’re glad that the release provides a specific, quantified benefit. However, the release does not give readers the information they need to understand what that number means. For example, what was the POCD incidence rate for any of the other groups immediately after surgery? What was the incidence rate for other groups after six months? What does the literature have to say about how common POCD is for patients in this age range and receiving this type of surgery? Without any of that information, it is impossible for readers to determine whether a 15.3 percent incidence rate of POCD is good or bad. While the release refers in general to the risks inherent with both deep and superficial anesthesia, it does not mention any of the potential side effects associated with its recommended intervention, dexamethasone. And there is no shortage of information on dexamethasone available. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus page on dexamethasone, the drug’s side effects range from vomiting to insomnia to depression. The page indicates that dexamethasone may also interact with a  variety of other widely-used drugs. In addition, giving patients steroids, of which dexamethasone is one, increases the risk of infection or worsening severity of existing infections. We don’t expect a release to provide an exhaustive list of side effects, but acknowledging that there are known risks associated with the drug is important. The release explains that “The researchers evaluated 140 patients aged between 60 and 87 who underwent surgery under propofol-induced general anesthesia at the Central Institute of Hospital das Clínicas, FM-USP’s teaching hospital, in most cases for removal of gallstones.” The release further explains that patients were divided into four groups (as we described above, under the Benefits section), and defines what constitutes “deep” anesthesia and “superficial” anesthesia. Those are all good things. However, the release would have been much stronger if it had done three things. First, it should have made clear that all of the surgeries were non-cardiac, non-neurological surgeries. Given how common these surgeries — particularly cardiac ones — are for older patients, this is an important point. Second, the release should have made it more clear that the benefits observed were based on one group (i.e., Group Four) of only 32 patients. This is a preliminary finding, and that needs to be stressed. Third, while the release tells readers that the anesthetic used was propofol, it doesn’t tell readers how common or widely-used this drug is as a surgical anesthetic. That would be valuable context. The release does not engage in disease mongering. The release does not explicitly note who funded the study. However, the study does not appear to have received any external funding. According to the ClinicalTrials.gov page for the study, the work was sponsored primarily by the University of São Paulo and Duke University (where the authors work), with additional support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (or São Paulo Research Foundation), which is public. It’s not unusual for universities to avoid mentioning funding for projects that they funded themselves. But it would have been a stronger release if it didn’t leave readers wondering who paid for the work. Frankly, there’s not a lot of research out there on steps to pro-actively reduce rates of cognitive dysfunction after anesthesia, and we’re not aware of alternative interventions designed to do so. It’s clear from the release that the relevant tools involved in this particular intervention — the use of dexamethasone and avoidance of “deep” anesthesia — are currently available. However, as noted above, this is a relatively small study, and we suspect that more research would be needed before this approach was considered for widespread clinical practice. Since we already dinged it for that point earlier, we’ll give it a satisfactory here. It’s clear from the release that this is a new (and, ergo, novel) approach addressing a well-established problem. The release uses responsible language to discuss the findings, although it could have been more clear about the preliminary nature of the work. A larger study is almost certainly called for on this intervention. We do have some concerns over the use of the acronym “POCD” to describe cognitive dysfunction following anesthesia. It appears to be a coined medical term that few clinicians use.",
            "output": [
                "Simple measures can reduce post-operative cognitive dysfunction in older patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-286e4123c14f494499680f8fc433a49e",
            "input": "E-cigarettes were invented about a decade ago by a Chinese medical researcher and the country supplies nearly all global demand. Puffing on the devices, or vaping, is surging worldwide, but it forms only a tiny part of China’s 1.2 trillion yuan (about $200 billion) cigarette business. Now, rising public awareness about the hazards of smoking, coupled with China’s hardening stance on smoking in public, is opening up an opportunity for e-cigarettes to make inroads into the world’s biggest tobacco market. “As more and more places become off limits to smoking, I find myself using e-cigarettes more often,” said Qu. Since starting using the product six years ago for health reasons, Qu has started selling e-cigarettes himself, expanding the business from exports to the domestic market this year. E-cigarettes are mostly sold online in China, where government regulation around the product is still lax. Countries like Singapore and Brazil currently ban e-cigarettes. Centered in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, Chinese manufacturers including Shenzhen Smoore Technology, FirstUnion Group, Shenzhen Seego Technology Co Ltd and Ruyan Tech make around 95 percent of the world’s e-cigarettes, slim, battery-powered metal tubes that turn nicotine-laced liquid into vapour that is inhaled. Vaping is potentially a healthier alternative to smoking as the absence of combustion averts some of the harmful side-effects of tobacco smoke. But a big issue is the lack of long-term scientific evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarettes, prompting critics like the British Medical Association to warn of the dangers of their unregulated use. Nevertheless, the e-cigarettes market is growing fast, although it is still only a tiny proportion of the global tobacco business. Last weekend, Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Louis-Dreyfus were seen smoking e-cigarettes at the globally televised Golden Globes awards ceremony. Some analysts predict e-cigarettes could outsell conventional cigarettes within a decade, particularly as Big Tobacco grapples with declining sales due to government regulation and health-aware consumers. E-cigarette sales in the United States grew at 115 percent each year between 2009 and 2012, and could grow us much as 240 percent this year, according to experts. The global e-cigarette market could increase fivefold to $10 billion by 2017, according to some estimates. For Chinese manufacturers of e-cigarettes, while the export market is surging, the domestic potential is tantalizing. Even a tiny portion of its 300 million-plus smokers would offer an attractive prize. In 2012, Chinese smoked a total of 2.46 trillion cigarettes - 4.8 per person, per day - and the country accounts for one-third of global consumption. “The harsher control of tobacco is great news for electric cigarettes,” said Lai Baosheng, general manager of e-cigarette maker Smoore, adding lax smoking rules in China had previously slowed the development of the business. Beijing has moved to clamp down on smoking, reinforcing a ban on officials smoking in public and increasing the price of tobacco by 5 percent this month. Health authorities said they would enforce a ban on smoking in public places nationwide this year - a law that has long been in the works. Smoore shipped over 100 million e-cigarettes to mostly Europe and the United States in 2013 with a sales value of 800 million yuan, double the level a year before, although Lai says the company is starting to eye the opportunity within China as smoking rules harden. Analysts say China’s domestic market would have to eventually open up to e-cigarettes. “There’s an unavoidable logic here that eventually no one will smoke regular tobacco on this planet,” said Shane MacGuill, London-based tobacco analyst at Euromonitor. “China won’t be able to become a kind of ghetto of tobacco, so there will have to be some movement towards an alternative, though how soon it’s going to happen I’m not sure. It will happen but it will take longer.”  Tobacco companies such as British American Tobacco Plc and Philip Morris International Inc as well as independent U.S. firms already source e-cigarettes from China. But e-cigarettes could also give them entry into the Chinese market - currently tobacco sales in China are largely governed by a state monopoly. Tobacco imports made up less than 1 percent of China’s market in 2012, according to Euromonitor, with the China National Tobacco Corporation dominating 98 percent of the domestic market, according to a paper from Brookings. E-cigarettes offer a potential route into China’s closely controlled tobacco market for brands such as Lorillard Inc’s blu e-cigarette, Philip Morris parent Altria’s MarkTen, BAT’s Vype or Reynolds American Inc’s Vuse. With China’s large state-owned tobacco firms largely steering clear of e-cigarettes - only one has made an obvious mention of looking into the technology - global Big Tobacco could target wealthier, more health-conscious smokers in China’s urban centers. But regulation of China’s e-cigarettes market is still in flux, and there are serious obstacles, not least China’s reluctance to risk losing the massive tax revenues currently derived from regular tobacco. The country could also decide to control any e-cigarette market as strictly as it does the traditional tobacco industry, leaving little room for outside players. “Nonetheless, I think it has to be seen as a potential way in to the Chinese market,” said Eddy Hargreaves, tobacco analyst at Cannacord Genuity. “The potential generally is huge and we’d expect it (to catch on in China), albeit it at a slower rate to the United States and Europe.” ($1 = 6.0412 Chinese yuan)",
            "output": [
                "\"Vaping\"\" a slow burner in China, world's maker of e-cigarettes.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7169eb9c600445d89ad897137e67e456",
            "input": "The South Orange, New Jersey, residents got the idea for their charity, Girls Helping Girls Period, when Emma learned that federal assistance programs for the indigent do not cover menstruation products, leaving many low-income and homeless women to cope with their cycles on their own. “We found out a lot of people don’t know that,” Emma said. “That’s the point: to educate the public and to eliminate this issue of being afraid to talk about it. It shouldn’t be a thing we hide.”   The project, Girlshelpinggirlsperiod.org, is part of a growing national movement to address the inequities that have sprung up as a result of the stigma that still surrounds menstruation. Some prisons, for example, force female inmates to buy pads at the commissary, and public restrooms rarely provide them free of charge for emergencies. New York and 39 other states impose sales taxes on tampons and sanitary napkins, while exempting the Rogaine hair regrowth treatment, condoms and other products mostly used by men. Advocates have sued in New York, citing a double standard. Women’s advocates say budgets for homeless shelters, schools, prisons and public restrooms should provide free tampons and sanitary napkins, just as they do for soap, toilet paper and other essentials. In a country where erectile dysfunction ads fill television commercial slots and jokes about flatulence and bowel movements have inspired entire books, the bodily function of menstruation endures as a taboo subject. “It goes all the way back to Eve, to religion, misogyny, all the societal norms we’ve been brought up with,” said Maplewood, New Jersey, lawyer Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, who advocates for equitable menstrual policy in the United States. The shame and embarrassment that many women still feel is reflected in the proliferation of euphemisms for menstruation around the world. “Shark week,” “the curse,” “a visit from Aunt Flo” and “having the painters in” are a few of the 5,000 names documented in a 2015 survey of 90,000 people in 190 countries that was carried out by German healthcare company Clue. “We are trained not to talk about it,” Weiss-Wolf said. “When we don’t talk about it, we don’t consider it. We don’t think, ‘Hey, for poor people, this is actually expensive; this can be a problem.’”   Experts say the average woman spends $70 a year on tampons and pads, not to mention the cost of replacing underwear and clothing when accidents inevitably happen. Eighty-six percent of U.S. women aged 18 to 54 say they have experienced the unexpected onset of their period in public without the supplies they needed, according to a 2013 survey conducted on behalf of FreeTheTampons.org, an Ohio-based initiative to provide free tampons in restrooms. “Menstrual products are not luxury items,” said U.S. Representative Grace Meng of Queens, New York. Because of her efforts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency updated its rules to allow homeless people to pay for tampons with funds once restricted to such items as diapers and toothpaste. “We’ve heard stories of young girls using rags, where girls are not able to go to school on days that they get their period,” said Meng. “If you’re missing an average of five days of school each month, this affects more than just menstruation time.”  The problem extends far beyond the United States, with 17 percent of women around the world saying they had missed school, work or an event because they were afraid someone might find out they had their period, the Clue survey found. At the same time, American girls are menstruating at an increasingly earlier age due to improved nutrition. The average girl starts having her period at age 12 and bleeds for up to seven days a month until she is about 50 years old, according to the womenshealth.gov website. A more matter-of-fact attitude toward menstruation appears to be gaining traction, as evidenced by straightforward advertisements on New York City subways touting Thinx “period-proof” underwear as absorbing “2 tampons’ worth of blood.”  In another sign of change, a free tampon dispenser is being installed in a Queens high school as part of a pilot program aimed at putting the machines throughout the New York City public-school system, the nation’s largest, with more than 1 million students. “It used to be a nasty subject in health class,” said 12-year-old Quinn Joy. “But the moment I found out people were missing school and work, I got over it. Now it’s just woman toilet paper.”",
            "output": [
                "U.S. women push back against stigma, cost of menstruation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e4224dfb59644d19b84aaf52d4ee4523",
            "input": "Surgeons performed the transplant on 11-year-old Sofia Sanchez on Monday at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital. The Canadian rapper visited Sofia there after seeing a video of her dancing in a hospital hallway to his song, “In My Feelings.” The video inspired a viral dance craze. Cardiovascular surgeon Carl Backer says Sofia’s nine-hour surgery went extremely well, although the first 48 hours after are critical. A Facebook video shows Sofia being told of the transplant on Sunday and then exclaiming “I’m getting a heart, Mom? Oh my God!” ___ This story has been corrected to show that the surgery took nine, not 12 hours.",
            "output": [
                "11-year-old girl gets heart transplant after visit by Drake."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6e82c82b07264e0da7a8223869cda8b6",
            "input": "In February 2017, Shane Patrick Boyle started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for “a month of insulin.” A few weeks later, he died after developing diabetic ketoacidosis. Although several local outlets reported on Boyle’s death at the time, it wasn’t until November 2017 that Boyle’s story reached many readers, thanks in part to a Facebook post from United States Sen. Bernie Sanders linking to an article in The Nation about the rising cost of insulin: We cannot call ourselves a great country as long our young people are literally dying because they cannot afford life-saving medication. This young man, Shane Patrick Boyle, died on March 18 after his GoFundMe campaign to pay for insulin came up $50 short. Something has got to change. Our job is to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and enact policies that make prescription drugs affordable for everyone—not ones that make the CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry rich. In addition to highlighting the sad circumstances surrounding Boyle’s death, The Nation also pointed to Alec Raeshawn Smith, a 26-year-old who died in June after he lost his insurance and started to ration his insulin: Alec Raeshawn Smith, age 26, was found dead in his apartment on June 27. He was rationing his insulin after he aged out of his parent’s insurance coverage. The sad fact is more people would be alive today if insulin was affordable for all Americans. The deaths of Smith and Boyle and their reported struggles with health insurance were met with skepticism by some readers. Others encountered this news on social media, where it was shared with incomplete or incorrect information. For instance, comedian David Anthony conflated the deaths of these two individuals when he wrote that a 26-year-old had started a GoFundMe to get insulin: For the rest of my life I will never forget a 26 year old started a gofundme to get insulin, didn’t get the amount he needed and died rationing his not costly medicine. Just before Thanksgiving. — Dave Anthony (@daveanthony) November 24, 2017  Alec Raeshawn Smith was 26 years old at the time of his death; however, we have not been able to find anything to indicate that he had set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for insulin. (A fundraiser was set up after his death to cover funeral costs.) Shane Patrick Boyle, on the other hand, was older when he died, and he did set up a fundraiser for medication. Smith passed away on 27 June 2017. In his obituary, his family asked for donations to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and encouraged everyone to sign a petition for affordable health care: In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, www.jdrf.org. We would also like to encourage everyone to go to www.jdrf.org and sign the Coverage 2 Control petition which will provide affordability, choice and coverage for people with Diabetes. Boyle died of the same treatable complication that killed Smith: diabetic ketoacidosis. Before his death on 18 March 2017, he set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for one month of insulin:  The only archived version of this campaign is from 23 March 2017, five days after Boyle’s death. Although this copy shows that Boyle had raised $1,590 of a $750 goal, it appears that the majority of this money was raised after his passing. (All eight comments were posted in the days following Boyle’s death and the visible donations, more than $200, were posted within a day of its archival date.) Ted Closson, a comic book artist and friend of Boyle’s, wrote that Boyle was “$50 shy of his goal” for over two weeks:  A second GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a memorial for Boyle and his mother also suggests that the fundraiser was short of the $750 goal at the time of Boyle’s passing (emphasis ours): The world lost a wonderful man due to complications of type 1 diabetes. My cousin, Shane Boyle, put everything into taking care of his ailing mother at the expense of his own needs. Shane’s mother, Judy Boyle, passed away on March 11th and we lost Shane to diabetes exactly a week later on March 18th. After his death, we learned that Shane lost his prescription benefits when he moved to Mena, Arkansas to care for his mom. We found a GoFundMe where he was trying to raise $750 to get just one more month of insulin and supplies. Unfortunately, he didn’t get help in time. Shane died because he was trying to stretch out his life saving insulin to make it last longer. Shane was working hard to take care of his mother’s funeral arrangements when he died. Her service had to be cancelled because of the unexpected financial burden of losing two family members in a week’s time. I am hoping we can raise the funds for a combined funeral service for Shane and Judy Boyle. If we can raise more than is needed for the service, any remaining funds would go to a charity that provides insulin to diabetics like Shane. We don’t want other families to suffer the pain of losing a loved one because they couldn’t afford medications. Thank you for any help you can provide, even if all you can offer is a kind message or sharing a special memory. Vice also mentioned the circumstances surrounding Boyle’s death in a story about the rising price of insulin. Long before Boyle launched a fundraising campaign, he worried about a Trump presidency’s effects on the price of insulin. Immediately after the election, on 9 November 2016, Boyle wrote on Facebook (emphasis ours):",
            "output": [
                "A man named Shane Patrick Boyle died shortly after starting a GoFundMe fundraiser for insulin."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-224c2768d83b442e8fab84c2a22aa832",
            "input": "The story states that the FlexBar costs between $16 and $33. It could have compared this cost with that of some other treatment options, which can be quite expensive. The story makes no attempt to quantify the benefits associated with the FlexBar, and we don’t think linking to the study abstract is sufficient to satisfy this criterion (especially when the full text of the published study is also available online). The average reader can’t be expected to interpret differences on a “visual analog pain scale” or “DASH questionnaire” without some explanation of what these measures mean. The FlexBar is probably safer than some other commonly used treatments for elbow pain such as steroid injections. However, the story doesn’t really address safety, except to say that traditional hand weights can sometimes make tennis elbow pain worse (and by implication, that the FlexBar won’t). While this isn’t a major concern of ours, we think it’s probably premature, based on a single 21-person study, to suggest that the FlexBar is safer than other noninvasive approaches to treating tennis elbow. The story cites a study which documented improved strength and less pain among patients who used the FlexBar device. Although it links to an abstract of the study presented at a conference, the story made no attempt to evaluate the quality of this research or address its limitations. On the positive side, the study was a randomized, controlled comparison of adding the FlexBar to a traditional physical therapy program for tennis elbow — a relatively strong design. But the study’s very small sample size (21 patients) and short duration (7 weeks) are important limitations that should have been mentioned. Tennis elbow frequently relapses, so it is unclear if the short term relief reported here will translate into a longer-term benefit for patients. The story did not overstate the consequences of tennis elbow, which can cause debilitating pain that interferes with work and activities. The story notes the involvement of the FlexBar manufacturer in the study that is referenced. It also quotes an independent physical therapist who suggests there are other ways to achieve the effect attributed to the FlexBar. The story mentions other treatment approaches to tennis elbow, including ultrasound, strengthening and stretching exercises, cross-friction massage, heat and ice. It is clear from the story that the FlexBar is commercially available. The story earns credit for noting that there are other ways to achieve the effects attributed to the FlexBar (as an expert source points out, “There’s a variety of methods you can use to achieve the strengthening technique.”). However, the story didn’t satisfactorily address what is new and potentially important about this treatment–which is that it allows patients to do isolated eccentric exercises for tennis elbow at home. The only way patients could do this previously was in the clinic using an expensive machine. An at-home treatment would make this kind of therapy much more affordable and easier to access, which might also make it more effective. Nonetheless, we’ll give the brief blog post the benefit of the doubt since it ended with the note: “The FlexBar is easy to use and you can do it at home.” This story wasn’t based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "A Rubber Twist On Treating Tennis Elbow Pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e8434b70e0d441e7bef6c16e6c7861e0",
            "input": "Contrary to expectations, the study also found that average height accelerated in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression, when poverty, food rationing and hardship of war might have been expected to limit people’s growth. The swift advance may have been due to people deciding to have fewer children in this period, the researchers said, and smaller family size has previously been found to be linked to increasing average height. “Increases in human stature are a key indicator of improvements in the average health of populations,” said Timothy Hatton, a professor economics at Britain’s University of Essex who led the study. He said the evidence - which shows the average height of a European male growing from 167 cm to 178 cm in a little over a 100 years - suggests an environment of improving health and decreasing disease “is the single most important factor driving the increase in height”. The study, published online in the journal Oxford Economic Papers, analyzed data on average men’s height at around the age of 21 from the 1870s up to around 1980 in 15 European countries. The study only looked at men, the researchers said, because extensive historical data on women’s heights is hard to come by. For the most recent decades, the data on men were mainly taken from height-by-age surveys, while for the earlier years the analysis used data for the heights of military conscripts and recruits. On average, men’s height had grown by 11 centimeters (cm) in just over a century, the researchers found, but there were differences from country to country. In Spain, for example, average male height rose by around 12 cm from just under 163 cm in 1871-1875 to just under 175 cm in 1971-5, while in Sweden, men’s average height increased by 10 cm from just over 170 cm to almost 180 cm in the same period. The researchers found that in many European countries - including Britain and Ireland, the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Germany - there was a “distinct quickening” in the pace of advance in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression. “This is striking because the period largely predates the wide implementation of major breakthroughs in modern medicine and national health services,” they wrote. Hatton said one possible reason, alongside the decline in infant mortality, for the rapid growth of average male height in this period was that there was a strong downward trend in fertility at the time - and smaller family sizes have previously been found to be linked to increasing height. Other height-boosting factors included higher per capita incomes, more sanitary housing and living conditions, better education about health and nutrition and better social services and health systems.",
            "output": [
                "Bigger and healthier: European men grow 11cm in a century."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8231494fb3f04826abd7b6b9c2eed73c",
            "input": "In April 2019, several news articles from around the world reported that the Australian government had a plan to cull millions of feral cats using poisoned sausages dropped by air. CBS News published an article with the headline “Australia is Trying to Kill Millions of Stray Cats by Airdropping Poisoned Sausages,” which went on to report that: “The Australian government wants to kill two million feral cats by next year — and it wants to do it by airdropping poisonous sausages. There are currently an estimated 2 to 6 million free-roaming cats across the country, and officials say they are threatening native wildlife populations.”  On 29 April, the UK Independent published an article with the headline “Australia Plans to Kill Millions of Feral Cats by Airdropping Sausages Laced With Poison” and on 26 April CNN reported that: “Australia is at war — with feral cats. By 2020, the government wants to kill two million free roaming cats, a large chunk of the total feral cat population, which is estimated to be between 2 and 6 million.” We received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of these reports, and in particular about the claim that the primary or exclusive culling method was to be sausages laced with poison. The Australian government has indeed begun an initiative aimed at culling millions of feral cats, which they have described as “one of the greatest threats to Australia’s land-based mammals” and blamed for driving some species into extinction. However, the culling project was first announced in 2015 and was already well underway when reports happened to emerge about it in April 2019. In 2015, Australia’s government launched the Threatened Species Strategy. One of its four key strategies related to feral cats, and the policy outlined a target of culling 2 million such cats by the year 2020 and eradicating feral cats entirely from five of Australia’s islands, among other goals. A government report launching the initiative stated that: “The scientific evidence is unequivocal that feral cats are one of the greatest threats to Australia’s land-based mammals. They have been a major contributor to the extinction of at least 27 mammals since they were first introduced to Australia. Today, they imperil at least 142 species or more than one third of our threatened mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds. As an extinction driver for so many of our native animals, and a threat that has been relatively neglected in the past, tackling the threat of feral cats is the highest priority of this Action Plan.” By the end of 2016, researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne reported that an estimated 211,000 feral cats had been culled as part of the initiative, but also estimated that 83 percent of those animals had been shot, rather than poisoned. More up-to-date figures were not included in the progress report relating to the period ending in December 2017. In order to achieve the goal of eradicating 2 million feral cats, the first action listed by the government was the “development and deployment of Curiosity, the new humane feral cat bait.” Australia’s Department of Environment and Energy had spent years developing and testing Curiosity, a new form of sausage bait that, according to the government, is less likely than existing baits to be consumed by other animals: The Curiosity bait for feral cats has been a long-term $5.1 million project to develop a humane, broad-scale toxic bait to control feral cats in conservation areas. The Curiosity bait for feral cats comprises a small meat-based sausage containing a small hard plastic pellet encapsulating a humane toxin. Cats do not have molar teeth and tend to chew their food less so they may swallow portions of the sausage including the pellet. Most Australian native animals nibble and chew their food and are likely to reject the pellet. The pellet is designed to dissolve in the cat’s stomach and deliver a rapid dose of the toxin. The Curiosity bait for feral cats uses a new humane toxin called para-aminopropiophenone, or PAPP, which is considered best-practice world-wide. In brief, the toxicant, PAPP, converts the animal’s red blood cells to a form that cannot carry oxygen, causing death through oxygen starvation to the brain and other vital organs. It is considered to be humane and death takes minutes to hours. The RSPCA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] have indicated that PAPP is a clear improvement in humaneness over previous toxins. The mode of action means that secondary poisoning of any other animals from consuming a carcass of a cat that ate a Curiosity bait containing PAPP is much less likely than when using previously employed toxins. (Although the excerpt serves to explain the Australian government’s reasoning in favoring the Curiosity bait, it does contain a factual error: cats do have molar teeth, albeit only two, and they are used for tearing flesh rather than grinding, so the overall claim that cats tend to chew less and swallow more readily than other animals, appears to stand). In government-commissioned field trials of Curiosity, the bait has been distributed on the ground in target areas using both aircraft and ground vehicles. As of April 2019, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority was still assessing the PAPP variant of Curiosity. But the national government appeared confident it would be registered as a pest-control product, because in November 2018 the Department of the Environment and Energy solicited applications for a commercial partner to manufacture and sell the bait. Although no significant developments in relation to the culling program took place in the spring of 2019, interest in the initiative was revived by a 25 April article published by The New York Times, which bore the headline “Australia is Deadly Serious About Killing Millions of Cats,” and mentioned the existing use of another kind of sausage-borne cat bait containing the active ingredient sodium fluoroacetate, known as “1080.”  In February 2019, a group of Australian scientists questioned the basis of the government’s target of culling 2 million feral cats by 2020, in part saying the government had not given a clear metric or scientific rationale for that number; had failed to indicate how or whether the cull would lower the overall population of feral cats (given the rapid rates at which they reproduce) and also increase the populations of endangered species; and because estimates vary widely over how many feral cats actually live in Australia. In a paper published in the journal Conservation Letters, the researchers wrote:",
            "output": [
                "The Australian government's Threatened Species Strategy has as one of its aims the culling of 2 million feral cats by 2020, largely using a sausage bait carrying a lethal toxin. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-770bd20515534b809e6ca0a80b1c3eeb",
            "input": "On May 9 2019, a poster attributed to Delta Airlines apparently urging workers to forgo union dues in favor of purchasing video gaming consoles circulated on Facebook and Twitter:lol fuck off @Delta pic.twitter.com/fMNOeW9uFG— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) May 9, 2019Above a rendering of a video game controller, blue and red text urged Delta employees to purchase expensive consoles instead of paying union dues:UNION DUES COST AROUND $700 A YEARA NEW VIDEO GAME SYSTEM WITH THE LATEST HITS SOUNDS LIKE FUN. PUT YOUR MONEY TOWARDS THAT INSTEAD OF PAYING DUES TO THE UNION.The image also featured Delta’s logo and a website: DontRiskItDontSignIt.com. Eoin Higgins’ tweet above was shared more than 50,000 times in under six hours:Yikes, @Delta. Call us when Xbox makes a model that can raise wages, guarantee paid leave, and make jobs safer and more secure. Until then, we’re sticking with the #union. #1u https://t.co/8Bb8phfzeK— Transp. Trades Dept. (@TTDAFLCIO) May 9, 2019Union contract: ✅ Can afford a new video game system ✅ Guard against bad bosses ✅ If I get laid off my boss has to negotiate the terms with my union ✅ Free access to lawyers ✅ More benefitsVideo game system: you have $700 lessDelta help me I’m not sure what to decide— Brett Banditelli (@banditelli) May 9, 2019Reminder that companies only start printing anti-union myths and propaganda once they start seeing worker power in action and realize what they are up against.Keep it up Delta employees! ✊🏿✊🏼✊🏾 https://t.co/UV8wlJ6tKg— Game Workers Unite ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏾 (@GameWorkers) May 9, 2019Wow. Delta would give you plenty of time to play video games when they fire you for no good reason because you’re an At Will employee. But a union contract protects your paycheck from arbitrary terminations. @AFLCIO @EoinHiggins_ pic.twitter.com/bM9cTtWn0o— RWDSU (@RWDSU) May 9, 2019The image shared by Higgins was also shared to Reddit’s r/WTF and r/ChapoTrapHouse:Gamers please don’t rise up. from ChapoTrapHouseIn response to questions about the origin of the image, Higgins said that he would explain further in an upcoming article:I’ll have answers to that and more in a piece— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) May 9, 2019Delta’s anti-union site DontRiskItDontSignIt.com featured a “printables” section, but the viral “video games” poster had either been removed, or it had never appeared on the site to begin with. However, many of the available images closely resembled the poster:One of the “printables” available as of May 9 2019 (archived here) featured a structure similar to the circulating image:However, we were unable to locate any images of the same poster uploaded to the internet prior to Higgins’ tweet. On the day the tweet began circulating, IAM issued a statement about attacks from Delta on the website IAMDelta.net and on Twitter:Our statement on @Delta's attack on their own employees. #DoBetterDelta pic.twitter.com/2Kby5wTkbu— Machinists Union (@MachinistsUnion) May 9, 2019We contacted Delta and the International Association of Machinists (IAM, the target of Delta’s union-busting efforts) to ask about the origin and authenticity of the “video games” poster. We have received no response from the airline, but the union confirmed their existence on Twitter:In employee break rooms.— Machinists Union (@MachinistsUnion) May 9, 2019There was more than one poster in the same vein, all of which shared the aesthetic of the website:Video games, baseball, and football? Really @Delta? Our workers want a voice on the job. #GameOverDelta #1u pic.twitter.com/AdSgxSxVHh— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 10, 2019According to investigative journalism site Sludge, the site and posters are the work of a public relations firm that is notorious for its aggressive campaigns:FTI employees don’t just create websites and messaging. They also work as undercover agents for some of their clients.Earlier this year, FTI employees posed as journalists for Western Wire—another website that shares a server with Delta’s anti-union site—and attempted to question attorneys working with environmental nonprofit EarthRights International about its lawsuit against ExxonMobil. Legal ethics prohibit attorneys from speaking with representatives for opposing parties without their attorneys being present, so the attempt by FTI to question the EarthRights International attorneys under the guise of journalism can easily be seen as an attempt to circumvent legal ethics to gather intel for their client, ExxonMobil.We asked Delta for comment, but have not yet heard back.",
            "output": [
                "Delta Airlines created a union-busting poster urging workers to buy video gaming consoles with would-be union dues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32538affac49496fb9cb7f5612d2132e",
            "input": "\"While no price has been set, this story still confronts cost by pointing out that other biotech drugs cost thousands of dollars per month of treatment. The story included key details about the difference in survival rates and length between the treatment and control arms of the trial. The story gives both the median survival length and the three-year survival figures for participants in the treatment and placebo arms of the trial. It might have been helpful to say \"\"half the men survived at least\"\" rather than \"\"median survival was.\"\" The story lists the serious side effects reported in the trial and the fact that earlier trials raised worries about strokes related to treatment. Although this story, like the USA Today report that we reviewed, stated in the lead that patients receiving Provenge lived four months longer without specifying that it was four months longer than placebo, not standard therapy, it does a better job of detailing the available results. The story improperly compares the reported survival advantage of the experimental treatment to the expected survival of men receiving standard chemotherapy, implying the two treatments have been tested head-to-head. The story also includes speculation that Provenge could be more effective when given earlier in the course of the disease, even though there is no evidence to support the statement. Quotes at the end of the story from leaders of some patient advocacy groups overstated the evidence of effectiveness, but they seem to accurately reflect the perspective of these activists. The story didn’t discuss the condition of advanced prostate cancer in detail, so this is N/A. The story includes comments from independent experts. It notes that the drug developer paid for the study and that the lead researcher owns company stock. In addition, the story notes how the company stock price was fluctuating; a good reminder that research reports can have substantial financial consequences. The story did not refer to the stock price jump earlier this month that followed the vague company announcement at a meeting with analysts claiming that the treatment extended patient survival. The story mentions that chemotherapy with Taxotere is the only approved treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. It should not have stated that Provenge produces a greater survival benefit, since the treatments have not been directly compared. The story points out that Provenge has not been approved by the FDA. The story reported that Provenge is the first therapeutic cancer vaccine \"\"to meet a preset goal for improving survival in late-stage testing.\"\" The story included original reporting. However, one comment from a spokesman for the American Urological Association appears to have been taken from a news release without specifying that it was contained in a statement, rather than in an interview.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study: Prostate cancer vaccine extends survival"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2e188f88fb0241789605318a79040c31",
            "input": "The former Texas congressman promises to use executive orders to overturn the Trump administration’s transgender troop ban and reverse the practice of discharging HIV-positive service members. O’Rourke wants to work with Congress to pass The Equality Act, which he says would ensure LGBTQ people can “fully participate in public life without discrimination” in employment, housing and “public spaces and services.” The plan released Wednesday includes a universal health care system that would guarantee LGBTQ people access to hormone “and other gender-affirming treatments.” O’Rourke also pledges to make it easier for LGBTQ refugee seeking U.S. asylum. He announced his 2020 campaign in March.",
            "output": [
                "2020 hopeful O’Rourke unveils plan to protect LGBTQ rights."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-904fc16378fa4f96b7dd3b93491c7000",
            "input": "The justices did not comment in refusing to review an appeals court ruling that upheld the law. Enforcement of the law had been on hold pending the legal challenge but will begin shortly, said Steve Pitt, general counsel to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law on behalf of Kentucky’s lone remaining abortion clinic. The ACLU argued that “display and describe” ultrasound laws violate physicians’ speech rights under the First Amendment. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the Kentucky law, but its sister court in Richmond, Virginia, struck down a similar measure in North Carolina. The Supreme Court had previously upheld “informed consent” laws for women seeking abortions. The court will hear an abortion case in March, over Louisiana’s attempt to require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Doctors’ speech also has been an issue in non-abortion cases. The federal appeals court in Atlanta struck down parts of a 2011 Florida law that sought to prohibit doctors from talking about gun safety with their patients. Under the law, doctors faced fines and the possible loss of their medical licenses for discussing guns with patients. In Kentucky, doctors must describe the ultrasound in detail while the pregnant woman listens to the fetal heartbeat. Women can avert their eyes and cover their ears to avoid hearing the description or the fetal heartbeat. Doctors failing to comply face fines and can be referred to the state’s medical licensing board. The ACLU called the law unconstitutional and unethical. ACLU lawyer Alexa Kolbi-Molinas said that the Supreme Court “has rubber-stamped extreme political interference in the doctor-patient relationship.” Pitt painted a different picture of the law. “It’s a five-minute procedure that takes place before the abortion is performed to give women who might have a lack of understanding of what’s actually in the womb, that this is a real living human being there, they might change their mind,” he said. The high court’s decision not to review the ultrasound case came on Bevin’s final day in office. Bevin, a Republican, is an outspoken abortion opponent. During his term, he signed a series of measures passed by the GOP-led legislature that put limits and conditions on abortion, including the 2017 ultrasound law. Those laws have triggered several legal challenges. Bevin was defeated in last month’s election by Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, but Republicans remain in control of the state legislature. ___ Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner contributed to this report from Frankfort, Ky.",
            "output": [
                "Supreme Court leaves Kentucky’s ultrasound law in place."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5e5b6824d7843fa98af1aebf2b7244c",
            "input": "\"A one month supply of Lipozene can cost up to $90 as reported in this story. This article also pointed out that other companies sell similar supplements for a much lower cost. This story is clear and accurate in its overall message that there appear to be no weight-loss benefits from taking Lipozene. This story uses expert opinion to point out the severe diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress would be adverse effects of taking the very large doses of the glucomannan fiber in Lipozene that might help someone to lose weight. This story also noted that glucomannan is not FDA approved as a weight-loss supplement. This authors of this story should be commended for their thorough research in medical literature and in consultation with independent experts to verify the lack of evidence supporting Lipozene’s weight loss claims. The headline of this story \"\"Fiber-based Lipozene’s weight-loss claims rest on thin evidence\"\" sums up the lack of credible evidence on which Lipozene bases its weight-loss claims. This story does a good job at pointing out that Lipozene’s \"\"clinically proven\"\" \"\"fat-reducing power \"\" does not appear to be based on any data published in the medical literature. Perhaps this claim is based upon a small study reporting that individuals taking a fiber supplement similar to Lipozene on a very low calorie diet lost weight. Mathematically the amount of weight lost would be accounted for by diet alone. This story debunks Lipozene claim that people can lose weight without dieting or exercisisng by citing current medical opinion, and common sense. The story does point out that the Federal Trade Commission has taken legal action against the Obesity Research Institute for making false claims about its other gucomannan containing products. As a footnote, the Obesity Research Institute does not appear to conduct any research despite its \"\"lofty\"\" name. This story does not engage in disease mongering but clearly points out that the makers of Lipozene do. The parent company, Obesity Research Institute, capitalizes on the public’s desire for a quick fix weight loss pill. This story took a well balanced approach to presenting both sides of the Lipozene story. Beneficial claims by the manufacturer were balanced with comments by two independent experts who expressed the opposite opinion. The story also tried unsuccessfully to verify claims that could not be otherwise verified with the manufacturer. The only significant omission ofthe story was not including basic information on weight-loss. This story briefly mentions diet and exercise, but could more clearly state these are the proven ways to lose weight. Also, a brief sentence about gastric bypass surgery in cases of severe obesity could have easily been included. There is no shortage of ‘get thin quick products’ being aggressively marketed in the media and widely available in drugstores trhoughout the country. Lipozene is no excpetion, as this story points out at the onset. This story makes it clear that weight-loss supplements including Lipozene are common place. We are confident the story did not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Fiber-based Lipozene’s weight-loss claims rest on thin evidence"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4086e70febd241369363a3ff17cf45e5",
            "input": "The Republican lawmaker’s proposal is similar to legislation introduced recently in Florida and Alabama, while limiting its availability to a handful of medical research facilities. Peake’s interest in the issue was prompted by a constituent’s 4-year-old daughter, who suffers from a seizure disorder. “When I saw her, she reminded me so much of my granddaughter, who is about the same age,” said Peake. “It made me realize that if this was my child or my grandchild, I’d be moving heaven and earth to get this legislation passed to provide some hope and relief to these families.”  Medical marijuana in various forms is currently legal in 20 states, and at least 10 other states are considering legalizing it, including Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, said Erik Altieri, spokesman for the Washington-based pro-marijuana group, NORML. “Traditionally, this was the realm of Democratic lawmakers. But we’re beginning to see a lot more Republicans get behind this issue,” he said. “It really seems like finally, legislators are catching up with the will of the people.”  None of the 20 states where medical marijuana is currently legally available are in the south, Altieri said. If the Georgia medical marijuana bill is enacted, patients would not be able to obtain the drug from their corner drugstore, Peake said. The drugs would be dispensed by five university research centers in the state. Georgia law already allows medical marijuana to be prescribed at medical research facilities for cancer patients and to relieve eye pressure for glaucoma sufferers, though a state board has never been authorized to administer the program, according to Peake. In Alabama, a bill called Carly’s law, initiated to help a toddler with violent seizures was filed in the first days of the 2014 Alabama Legislative session that convened January 14. The bill, which is still in committee review, also makes it legal to possess a prescribed medical grade extract known as cannabidiol, or CBD, which is non-intoxicating. Florida lawmakers are also considering legalizing CBD, which has shown promising results for controlling seizures. The strain is low in TCH, the psychoactive compound that gives users the feeling of being high. The product has no value to traditional marijuana consumers and comes as an oil. Passage of the bill in Georgia would be tough, said Peake, but added it had the key backing of the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG). The association’s president William Silver told Reuters that MAG supported marijuana use for medicinal purposes in academic settings.",
            "output": [
                "Georgia bill would seek limited access to medical marijuana strain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-67363e66e5454eb69ec34cd7b85670cc",
            "input": "The vineyards have so far escaped the direct ravages of the worst bushfires for 30 years but winemakers fear their grapes may have fallen victim to “smoke taint”, which results in wines that taste like an ashtray and can ruin an entire vintage. As fears grow that climate change is lengthening the time and severity of Australia’s bushfire season, government funding to find a solution to the phenomenon is drying up. “It’s a nightmare of a problem,” said Mark Krstic, a specialist in smoke taint at the Australian Wine Research Institute who is liaising with worried growers in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia state. “Smoke taint is one of the symptoms of climate change for the wine industry and it’s only getting worse.”  Smoke taint first caught the industry’s attention when Victoria state’s severe bushfires in 2003 cost grape growers more than A$7.5 million  ($6.05 million) in lost vintages. Since then, it has recurred in vintages around the country in four other years. The contamination occurs when smoke compounds enter vines through the stomata - the minute pores in the epidermis of the leaf - and are transported into grape skins. Those compounds are then released into the wine when the crushed grapes come into contact with the skins during fermentation. Tasters commonly liken the resulting wine to an ashtray, burnt rubber and hospital disinfectant. Grape growers with tainted crops have two options - abandon the vintage or continue the costly harvesting and fermentation process to make a significantly devalued product. “It’s a no-win,” said Chris Pfieffer of Pfieffer Wines in the Rutherglen wine region, who lost his 2003 crop to smoke taint. “It’s a risk that’s at the top of climate change concerns in the industry.”  Australia’s main wine growing regions are growing ever hotter and drier, with temperatures projected to increase by between 0.3 and 1.7 degrees celsius by 2030, according to the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. That has prompted many major growers such as Treasury Wine Estates Ltd to look for cooler climate vineyards in places like the southernmost island state of Tasmania. There are also mitigation measures in place to deal with some of the warming effects, such as new irrigation methods and specially developed sunscreen for grapes. But attempts to find a way to extract the smoke taint compound have so far failed and the industry is concerned about a lack of public money for research into the problem. There are no funds from Australia’s current Conservative-led coalition government, which has played down the role of climate change on agriculture. A A$4 million project over four years run by the Victoria government, the only assistance at state level, ends in the middle of 2015. A complicating factor for growers is that smoke taint is not immediately detectable. Samples of suspected contaminated grapes cannot be taken for clinical testing and a mini-fermentation to determine taste until a couple of weeks before normal harvest time. That can mean an agonizing wait of weeks or months for growers who think they may have affected vines. Worse, as young wines mature the smoke taint can develop further as the guilty compounds continue to break down. That risk means many wine makers like Treasury and Australian Vintage Ltd have in recent years inserted blanket clauses in their contracts with growers saying they reserve the right to reject the grapes if there is any sign of smoke taint, no matter how mild. Chris Pfieffer chose to harvest his 2003 crop “to the ground” and forgo the cost of fermenting. Pfieffer’s grapes were infected again to differing degrees in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013. While a grape grower can command between A$3 and A$4 a liter for good quality grapes, that falls to just 50 to 60 cents a liter for the bulk sale of partially smoke tainted grapes. If the grapes are so badly affected they can only be distilled to recover the alcohol, the price falls to around 10 cents per liter. Those reduced returns line up against the A$2 per liter average cost to grow grapes. “I chose not to work that out,” Pfieffer said when asked about the accumulated financial toll. “If you do that in the wine industry, you’d end up crying, but it’s certainly significant.”  Concerned growers in the Adelaide Hills, many of whom have been evacuated as the current fires rage, are meeting with the AWRC’s Krstic next week to consider their options. “Wine may ultimately be seen as too much of a luxury,” Pfieffer said. “We might be better off using our water to grow lettuces.”",
            "output": [
                "Australian wildfires threaten to produce ashtray wine vintage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b677a403cad04e7a8f69d7a1bbb6056d",
            "input": "The painstaking cleanup work inside Notre Dame itself was suspended last month for safety reasons, as activists and residents accused authorities of underestimating the threat of lead poisoning. Hundreds of tons of lead melted in the fire, which destroyed the cathedral’s metal and wood roof. Authorities have launched multiple lead prevention operations: cleaning up neighborhood schools, de-toxifying surrounding streets, and setting up a stricter new decontamination zone for experts working inside the cathedral. On Tuesday, police blocked several streets and a bridge around the monument, and high fences were erected to keep out Parisians and tourists alike. Experts plan to use two decontamination techniques for the surrounding neighborhoods, according to the culture ministry. One method will feature high pressure water jets with chemical agents. Another involves spreading a gel on public benches, street lights and other fixtures to absorb the lead, letting it dry for several days before removing it. The overall operation is expected to take about three weeks. Police union official Frederic Guillo said that after the current street-cleaning effort is over, authorities “will have to ask the question if we should extend the decontamination zone” to any other neighboring streets. Workers began decontaminating last week some Paris schools tested with unsafe levels of lead, and city authorities say all schools are expected to be decontaminated when children return to school in early September. Separately, work is continuing on the new decontamination zone for workers who’ve been clearing hazardous debris from inside Notre Dame, to ensure that their activities don’t generate any pollution outside the work zone. Authorities expect that to be ready by Aug. 19 and for cleanup work to resume. However that debris cleanup is still just a first step — to ready the cathedral for a massive, multimillion-euro reconstruction effort. French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted Notre Dame rebuilt within five years but experts doubt that’s possible, and the belated lead prevention measures are further slowing down the process.",
            "output": [
                "Paris streets near Notre Dame to be decontaminated from lead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62b6466f427c441589fd8cdde207eade",
            "input": "The Sao Paulo state Environmental Secretary says the virus that killed a monkey was an isolated case and the transmission risk was low. The virus has not been detected in the area occupied by the two parks. Both have been closed since Jan. 23 and were reopened on Thursday. A total of 29 other parks in the city of Sao Paulo remain closed as a preventive measure. On Wednesday, the Health Ministry said that 900 cases of yellow fever were reported since July 2017 nationwide and 300 people have died from the disease. During the same period last year, 610 cases and 196 deaths were reported.",
            "output": [
                "Sao Paulo zoo reopens after yellow fever scare."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46f25eb69b86488e95621485ec339c6c",
            "input": "The first total solar eclipse to cross the U.S. in a century bought millions together in what some could only describe as a primal experience. Thousands of immigrants took the oath of citizenship, realizing their dreams of becoming Americans. And one adorable baby, Fiona the hippopotamus, became a story of survival as she overcame the odds and tumbled into the world’s heart. The stories provided some lighthearted moments amid a series of deadly mass shootings, terrorist attacks, hurricanes, wildfires, sexual harassment scandals and other tragic news in 2017. Here’s a look at a few of the moving, unifying and just plain fun moments of 2017: YAY, SCIENCE! It seems nothing brought Americans together more than the first total solar eclipse to move across the U.S. in a century. For one moment in the middle of an August day, millions of people stopped what they were doing and gazed upward in wonder as the moon slipped over the sun — leaving a path of total darkness that stretched from Oregon to South Carolina. Some eclipse watchers sang, some danced and some were moved to tears. Kids thought it was pure magic, and people traveled to remote sections of the country to get the best glimpse. A study by the University of Michigan, requested by NASA, estimated that 215 million American adults — or 88 percent of the country’s adult population — viewed the eclipse either directly or electronically. That’s 104 million more than the 2017 Super Bowl. “People were really just about nature, about this phenomenon that was happening,” said Mamta Patel Nagaraja, who works on public engagement for NASA. “It didn’t matter what color, creed, race, economic ladder you were on, people just went out and enjoyed it. “It transcended all the other things,” she said. ___ #TEAMFIONA This little one wasn’t expected to make it. Fiona, a Nile hippopotamus, was just 29 pounds (13 kilograms) when she was born prematurely in January. After early health scares, she’s now thriving at more than 600 pounds (272 kilograms). This sassy girl has become a symbol of survival — and the star attraction at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Fiona has captivated the masses and the Team Fiona craze isn’t slowing down. She stars in her own internet video series. Tens of millions have gone online to watch her take a bottle, splash in the pool or learn to run. T-shirts bear her image. She’s the subject of children’s books. An ice cream flavor and local brew are named in her honor. She gets so many cards and letters that she has her own mail bin. Grown men will lean over the pool in their suits and ties to get close to her, said zoo director Thane Maynard. “It’s Fiona’s world, and we’re just living in it,” Maynard said. In her early, most vulnerable days, Fiona received letters and pictures from kids who were preemies themselves, urging her to stay strong. After nurses at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center helped care for the hippo, the zoo sent Fiona-themed onesies to the preemies there. “We are working with Fiona and her story to spread a number of messages — one is a message of not giving up,” Maynard said. __ INSPIRING GENEROSITY Out of cash and out of gas on an interstate exit ramp in Philadelphia, Kate McClure found help from an unlikely source: a homeless man who told her to stay put, then used his last $20 to buy her gas. Johnny Bobbitt Jr.’s selflessness was not lost on McClure. She set up a GoFundMe page for the military veteran and former paramedic, and raised more than $400,000. Now Bobbitt has enough money to buy a home and his dream truck — a 1999 Ford Ranger. An attorney and financial adviser helped create a plan that will allow him to collect a small monthly salary and have some money for retirement. Bobbitt has said he’s overwhelmed. He told “Good Morning America” he plans to pay the generosity forward by donating some of the money to organizations that will help others. “Everybody out there is facing some kind of struggle, so if I can touch their life, the way mine was touched, (it’d be) an amazing feeling,” he told “Good Morning America.” ___ “YES!” OVER ROAST CHICKEN From a simple proposal over roast chicken to plans for a royal wedding, news that Prince Harry is engaged to American actress Meghan Markle has many cheering. The story drew people in for many reasons. For one, it’s fun. The happiness exuded by the couple as they announced their engagement was contagious, while details of their courtship read like a fairy tale. Harry, an army veteran who had a one-time bad-boy image but is now devoted to wounded veterans and charitable causes, met Markle on a blind date. The prince later said that’s when he realized he needed to up his game to win her heart. They grew closer while camping in Botswana, and now there is talk of starting a family. But for some black women the engagement offered more than entertainment. It gave them a Cinderella story they could picture themselves in. Markle, who is divorced, is bi-racial and will be the first woman of color in modern history to join the British royal family. “We all have this fantasy of being swept off our feet by the prince. It’s validation that, of course, we can be princesses,” Essence Magazine Editor-in-Chief Vanessa K. DeLuca said at the time. ___ PROUD AMERICANS Manny Macias came to America when he was just 3 months old. Three decades later, he became a citizen of the only place he’s called home. “The U.S. has always been home for me,” said Macias. “Now it’s official.” The federal government says more than 600,000 people became naturalized U.S. citizens in the first nine months of 2017. The ceremonies can be huge moments for those involved. Many times they are family affairs, complete with proud smiles or tears of joy as the newest Americans realize dreams that were years in the making. Many dress in their best and pose for photos while clutching American flags. Macias, 31, said he’s now glad to be able to vote, have more stability and live without fear of being deported. “It was important to me to get the documentation saying I was a citizen,” he said. “I did get a little emotional, because finally for me, the journey was done.” ___ Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti. More of her work at: https://apnews.com/search/amy%20forliti",
            "output": [
                "Solar eclipse, loveable baby hippo warmed hearts in 2017."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c43775d849ab421686a96df9dbe1a67d",
            "input": "Airlines and hotel chains say it is too early to tell if the Zika epidemic is affecting bookings. But some “babymooners” - parents-to-be taking last-hurrah vacations - have backed out of trips and changed itineraries. “There’s been a lot of cancellations,” said Lauren Machowsky, a travel advisor at New York-based SmartFlyer. “Some people are freaked out.”   Machowsky, who is herself expecting a child and called off a planned vacation to Anguilla, said she is redirecting a lot of people to Florida and pointing clients to travel warnings issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “I refer them to the CDC website and say, ‘Listen, this is my experience. I was going away and had to cancel,’” Machowsky said. On Monday, the World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak an emergency because of evidence that the mosquito-borne virus is linked to a spike in birth defects in Brazil. The current outbreak has spread to at least 25 countries and territories, most of them in the Americas. The CDC has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to areas with an active Zika outbreak. Parenting website babycenter.com asked pregnant readers with plans to travel to Zika-affected areas if they would change course. About half of 1,118 respondents said they planned to cancel, and 27 percent said they were keeping their plans. The rest were undecided. New Hampshire-based travel agent Darcy Allen, of Travel by Darcy, said she’s had a handful of cancellations and estimated 80 percent of her babymoon clients are avoiding Mexico. “It’s certainly a factor in deciding where they want to go,” said Allen. In another sign of Zika’s impact on travelers, sales of trip cancellation insurance have surged among people booking Latin American vacations, RoamRight, a top U.S. provider, told Reuters on Monday. Newlyweds hoping to start a family also are cautiously evaluating honeymoon options, said New Jersey-based Mindy Gilbert of My Vacation Lady. “I have been asking personal questions like, ‘Are you pregnant? Do you plan on conceiving,’ - something I’ve never asked before,” she said. One couple that had hoped to spend their honeymoon in Mexico’s Riviera Maya is now waiting to see how the virus situation develops, she said. Several travel agents said they were steering clients toward Europe and Hawaii. Ilonka Molijn, founder of Netherlands-based BabyMoon Travel, said visiting Mexico and the Caribbean was not a huge draw for her clients before the Zika outbreak, but now “there isn’t any interest in it at all.”  Concerns are extending beyond babymooners and honeymooners. Florida-based Travel Planners Inc owner Marieanne Syverson said 70 percent of her clients in January - only a small portion of whom were honeymooners - had asked about Zika. A few are rethinking their plans, she said, but she’s had no cancellations. “People are considering different destinations, absolutely,” she said. “Those who were thinking of Puerto Rico or Brazil for Carnival and the Olympics are thinking maybe they shouldn’t go there.”",
            "output": [
                "Expectant couples avoiding Latin America, other Zika hotspots."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e7fadc1e9ef54b0397a79c6a9bccb53f",
            "input": "Funding for Crisis Connections, Minnesota’s half-century-old hotline, was a casualty of budget disputes between Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers, leading to the governor’s veto. The timing couldn’t be worse, as statewide suicide rates have been rising. Public health officials agree that early intervention, including a voice on the other end of the phone line, drastically reduces the chance a person will die by suicide. “Treatment works, and suicide is preventable,” said Melissa Heinen, a suicide epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health. Heinen points to the hundreds of calls hotlines like Crisis Connect receive each year compared to the actual number of people who die by suicide. “It must be effective. We’re saving hundreds of lives every day,” she said. Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline are routed to Crisis Connection, which is operated by Canvas Health, a nonprofit based in the Twin Cities area. Following the planned closure, callers will reach out-of-state counselors who might not be as familiar with Minnesota and local services, said Canvas Health CEO Matt Eastwood. Crisis Connections was spared shutdown last year when the Minnesota Department of Health propped up the center with a last-minute cash infusion. The nearly $1 million legislative proposal to fund the call center this year was seven lines in a 990-page document that became bogged down in political gamesmanship between Republicans who control the Legislature and Dayton, a Democrat. “We got caught up like a lot of other valuable proposals and programs that also didn’t get funded,” Eastwood said. Neither the Department of Health nor the Department of Human Services have any plans at present to fund the hotline, spokesmen said. The suburban Twin Cities nonprofit was on pace this year to take more than 55,000 calls per year and linked callers to local mental health professionals and emergency first-responders. Sue Abderholden, director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said it’s a loss for the community. She said Minnesotans still have many options, including 24-hour county crisis hotlines and services in the Twin Cities allowing people to get help by dialing ”(asterisk)(asterisk)crisis” on their cell phones or by texting 741741. State officials don’t anticipate any interruptions during the transition. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed statewide suicide rates have been increasing. Between 1999 and 2016, Minnesota’s suicide rate rose 40.6 percent, though the overall suicide rate remains much lower than in other states. The study confirms what the Minnesota Department of Health has observed in recent years. In 2016, Minnesota’s health department noted 745 suicides, up from 606 in 2010. State health officials have increased efforts to identify at-risk communities to help reduce suicides, especially in growing rural cases and in men ages 35 to 49, who account for the highest share of suicide deaths in the state. “If they are feeling the thoughts themselves, they need to know they can get better and tomorrow will be another day. The sun will still come up, and they should reach out and get the help that they need,” Abderholden said. “It’s not a sign of weakness.” The 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).",
            "output": [
                "Apparent suicides renew concern for end of Minnesota hotline."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9a3c550619814ba3a29b1a1feef4fdbd",
            "input": "On December 8 2019, the Facebook page “Feminists United” shared a screenshot of the following tweet about 235 reports of rape purportedly received by Uber in a year:For every man that doesn't understand why women are fed up. Last year Uber received 235 reports of rape, 280 reports of attempted rape & 5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2018. So, men, I ask you, have you ever called your Uber and feared the driver may rape you?— Michelle Guido (@heyyguido) December 6, 2019In the December 5 2019 tweet, Michelle Guido (@heyyguido) wrote:For every man that doesn’t understand why women are fed up. Last year Uber received 235 reports of rape, 280 reports of attempted rape & 5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2019. So, men, I ask you, have you ever called your Uber and feared the driver may rape you?In a tweet immediately following, the user added context, but she did not link to any substantiating information so readers could learn more about the claim:These are US numbersIn the aggregate, the tweet addressed a broader debate about whether regular taxi cabs were safer than ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft. In 2015, The Atlantic addressed then-percolating reports of assault by Uber drivers and the lack of data regarding the safety of rideshare apps in general across major cities:“There’s no way to search for that,” said Neva Coakley, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department. “We wouldn’t be able to speak to that because we don’t have data to support it. We don’t distinguish between what type of suspects they are.”[…]“We don’t keep specific data with relation to passengers being assaulted,” said Lee Jones, a spokesman for the New York Police Department.“We don’t track offenses by whether they occurred in a taxi cab,” said Gwendolyn Crump of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.“As far as tracking the offenses in taxi cabs specifically, I don’t have a way to look this up,” said Grace Gatpandan, a public information officer with the San Francisco Police Department in the city where Uber is headquartered. Police officers in Chicago did not respond to multiple interview requests.That article included comments from New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission spokesman Allan Fromberg, and it paraphrased his suggestion that “some Uber complaints are invisible to law enforcement” because, he said, Uber received complaints directly.In 2016, the relative risk of Uber or Lyft versus taxis was still a matter of speculation. An Associated Press story after a shooting incident involving an Uber driver reported:[The issue of fingerprinting and background check protocols is where] taxi advocates hit Uber hardest, saying that Uber’s checks fail because they do not include fingerprinting of would-be drivers. Many law enforcement experts say a fingerprint search is the most comprehensive way to check someone’s background, and taxi regulators typically require one.Uber counters that fingerprint checks are imperfect and that its background check process — which it says includes searches of motor vehicle department files and several criminal databases going back seven years — is excellent. But Uber can no longer claim its methods are “industry-leading.” Uber agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a lawsuit (not the one filed by San Francisco) that alleged such safety claims were false. As part of the settlement, Uber’s “safe ride fee” will become a “booking fee.”In that 2016 story, Associated Press cited available statistics from Austin, Texas, but noted that context to fully understand rates of risk were unavailable:Amid a fight over whether Uber drivers should be required to submit to fingerprint checks, Austin, Texas, has released some information. According to a document compiled by the city, in 2015 Uber drivers allegedly were involved in 13 sexual assaults and one rape; taxi drivers, five; and Lyft drivers, six. One sexual assault was listed as Uber or Lyft.But those numbers lack essential context, such as how many miles, trips or hours on the job cabbies log versus Uber drivers. Without that information, it’s impossible to tell whether a passenger is more at risk with one or the other.In reporting in 2015 and 2016, a common element was a lack of data held on rider risk while using Uber and Lyft. Guido didn’t reference any particular news article in the two tweets, but on December 5 2019 (the day the tweet was published) a number of news organizations published reports about statistics about Uber and assault.CNN Business published an article about Uber safety stats, and NBC News reported:• 235 reports of rape in 2018, up from 229 in 2017. • 280 reports of attempted rape in 2018, down from 307 in 2017. • 1,560 reports of groping in 2018, up from 1,440 in 2017. • 376 reports of unwanted kissing to the breast, buttocks or mouth in 2018, down from 390 in 2017. • 594 reports of unwanted kissing to a different body part in 2018, up from 570 in 2017. In all, Uber received 5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2018.Statistics reported across outlets on December 5 2019 came from a December 6 2019 “Safety Report” released by Uber itself. An introduction to the report held:[In 2017], Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi convened a dozen of the company’s top executives in a room to discuss an important issue: the safety of drivers and riders. The topic was broad: how could Uber — with nearly four million trips happening every day in the US alone — become the safest ridesharing app in the world? […]What began that day was a 21-month effort that has included a review of hundreds of thousands of customer support requests; a complete rethink of how we categorize the most serious safety incidents that happen during Uber trips; an overhaul of how we train our support staff; and an even bigger investment in cutting-edge safety technology.All of that work culminates in the Safety Report that we are sharing with you, the public, today.Numbers referenced in both Guido’s tweet and in the media did not appear on the landing page for Uber’s 2017-2018 Safety Report, nor did they appear on a linked “Executive Summary” [PDF]. A “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the main page linked by the introduction defined the scope of the report:Uber’s US Safety Report includes information about Uber’s actions related to safety and data on the most serious safety incidents reported on our ridesharing platform in 2017 and 2018. These incidents include traffic fatalities, fatal physical assaults, and sexual assaults … This report includes sexual assault incidents reported by both drivers and riders, plus fatal physical assaults and fatal motor vehicle crashes that occurred in connection with the Uber platform, regardless of who the victim or acccused [sic] party was.Numbers in the tweet and articles, such as the 235 reported rapes, appeared in an 84-page long “Full Report” [PDF]. Figures of 235 rapes and 280 attempted rapes were on page 59, in a table titled “categories of sexual assault”:Those figures were for incidents reported by Uber in 2018; in 2017 Uber said that there were 229 reports of rape (“non-consensual sexual penetration”) and 307 reports of attempted rape (“attempted non-consensual sexual penetration.”) Each “number of incident reports” entry across the five categories was bookended by a “frequency of incident reports” (tallied in “less than one per X million” units) and “percentage of total trips” (tallied in a fraction of one percent. )A final column calculated a “year over year incident rate change,” contrasting the percentage of reports to trips and recording any changes in those percentages. All five were negative percentages even when the figures were higher in 2018, presumably because the increased number of rides made the relative percentage lower.Of the two widely cited figures, the number of rapes in 2018 (235) was a -17 percent change from 229 in 2017, and the number of attempted rapes (280) was down -26 percent from 307 in 2017. Three remaining categories not frequently referenced in reporting on Uber’s stats were “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part,” “non-consensual touching of a sexual body part,” and “non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part.”In a section immediately following the table, titled “Rate Decrease,” the Uber report reads:From 2017 to 2018, Uber saw approximately a 16% decrease in the average incident rate across the 5 most serious sexual assault categories reported. Additionally, there were rate decreases across each of the 5 individual categories. These decreases may correlate with Uber’s substantial investments in safety over the past 2 years (see Safety commitments), although causation is difficult to determine given the myriad factors that can impact reported sexual assault rates.We also know these decreases may not always be the trend. Experts and advocates have told us that releasing this type of report may actually lead to an increase in the number of reports in the future. That’s because, when it becomes clear that Uber is paying close attention to reports of sexual violence and taking action, survivors may feel more comfortable coming forward.In the tweet and in articles, three figures were commonly cited. One was the number of total rapes reported by Uber for 2018, which was 235. A second was the total number of attempted rapes reported by Uber for 2018, which was 280.A third was a claim that Uber received 5,981 reports of sexual assault in total, a number which appeared nowhere in the various documents but was present in the tweet and CNN’s coverage of the report. That particular number was tallied by adding the numbers from all five categories in the table above for both 2017 and 2018. Added together, the reports numbered 5,981.A factor about the figures that was not commonly expressed in third-party reporting on Uber’s figures was that the numbers themselves were provided by Uber — a business which would benefit from lower rather than higher numbers. The report included sections on methodology for both non-sexual related incidents (such as driver or rider fatalities and accidents) as well as a section on sexual assault methodology.According to Uber, in 2018 the company partnered with experts from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Urban Institute in order to “develop a new taxonomy to better understand the reality of unwanted sexual experiences.” Of its final methodology in compiling the numbers, Uber said on page 15:In order for a sexual assault to be established as Uber-related for purposes of data classification for this report, one or more of the following must be true: • The incident occurred during an active Uber-facilitated trip, not necessarily with parties paired by the Uber app • The incident occurred between parties that were paired by the Uber app, and it occurred within 48 hours of the trip’s completionA footnote next to “48 hours” explained Uber’s reasoning in choosing a 48-hour window:Incidents between parties paired via the Uber app may occur after the trip has ended. In general, post-trip incidents happen either immediately after the trip has ended or within a few hours of the trip’s completion. For audit consistency, and to err on the side of overinclusion, we determined that 48 hours is an auditable standard and adopted it for the purposes of this report only.Another figure which didn’t commonly make it into reports had to do with physical assault-related fatalities, numbering 19 in total in 2017 and 2018:Among the 19 deceased parties in 2017 and 2018 included in this report, 8 were riders using the Uber platform, 7 were drivers using the Uber platform, and 4 were third parties.As for the data source, Uber indicated that “user reports” were their primary source:To prepare for this publication, Uber created a specialized audit team to review and accurately categorize the data contained in this report. This team reviewed approximately hundreds of thousands of user reports, representing a range of safety- and non-safety-related consumer issues to ensure that all necessary information was documented and all incident reports were categorized accurately and comprehensively.Guido’s tweet and myriad articles indicated Uber received “235 reports of rape, 280 reports of attempted rape” and “5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2018.” It is true that Uber’s Safety Report released in December 2019 indicated that the service had received 235 reports of rape and 280 reports of attempted rape in 2018. It is also true that all five categories of unwanted sexual contact on the table containing that data, calculated and combined for 2017 and 2018, added up to 5,981 total reports. Of note is that those figures came from Uber and appeared to be based on reports sent to the company by users; no competing law enforcement dataset appeared to exist to contrast Uber’s self-reported numbers against tallies compiled by a neutral third party.",
            "output": [
                "In 2018, Uber received 235 reports of rape, 280 reports of attempted rape and 5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2018."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc9980bcd98e4781861b3f794ea57e6d",
            "input": "On Sunday, about 700 protesters braved temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) to demand cleaner air. They held banners reading “We want clean skies!” and “Stop poisoning our children!” Low winds helped the thick grey layer of smog called “black sky” by the locals settle over the city of 1.2 million. The Chelyabinsk meteorological office reported that air pollution exceeded healthy levels before the smog dissipated. “The ecological situation in the city is getting worse and worse, and the government does not want to take measures to correct it,” protester Artur Abuzarov said during Sunday’s rally. The protest followed an earlier one in which participants tried unsuccessfully to force their way into the mayor’s office. The situation went unreported in state-controlled media. Locals say the pollution problem has persisted for years and they fear air quality will worsen further if a new copper mining enterprise opens next year as planned. “We are suffocating, children are ill, the ecology is bad,” said another demonstrator, Tatyana Pominova. “What is happening in Chelyabinsk is a complete disgrace. It is impossible to breathe and it is impossible to live.” Anastasia Zubareva, a doctor who specializes in conditions of the ear, nose and throat, attributed the city’s high number of childhood illnesses to air pollution, noting that her patients only feel better when smog dissipates. And it’s not only children. Galina Gurina, 58, attributes her chronic headaches and asthma to industrial emissions. Chelyabinsk officials have dismissed the residents’ protests. Vitaly Bezrukov, a local official who deals with environmental issues, acknowledged that power plants and other sites sporadically produce pollutants in concentrations that exceed permissible levels. But he said they do not pose a danger for people.",
            "output": [
                "Residents of Russian city protest ‘black sky’ air pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ec18eeb2a5e4cc0ac7a154f9d0533c3",
            "input": "Whimpering and badly malnourished, they are among the most vulnerable in a country that remains one of the poorest in the world. Now an expected United States-Taliban agreement to end nearly 18 years of fighting raises questions about whether the foreign aid largely propping up the country will drop as troops withdraw. Much depends on the Taliban, who have indicated they want that aid to continue even as they call for armed “invaders” to leave. But if the insurgent group that already controls roughly half of Afghanistan tries to assert a harsh form of Islamic law across the country or continues its attacks, some donors could walk away. The urgency of aid is seen in Jebul Siraj, a mountainside community north of the capital, Kabul, where a burqa-clad woman held a gaunt, startled-looking boy named Abdullah, just 7 months old. Days ago, he was at an emergency ward. Now he sipped curiously at a supplement as part of a new nutrition monitoring program at a clinic in Parwan province supported by the United Nations children’s agency. Mothers and children lined up outside. Some 2 million children in Afghanistan face acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF, about 600,000 of them so severely malnourished that without urgent treatment they could die. The hospital in nearby Charikar city treats more than 1,000 children a month for malnutrition and the problem is growing, nurse Fariba Hashimi said. “It’s mostly an economic issue, for mothers as well,” she said. “They can’t breastfeed because they don’t have enough income to feed themselves.” Aid has dropped in recent years, with supplemental biscuits and wheat flour that was once provided for patients now unavailable. Health care and other basic services are precarious in a country where the World Bank says grants finance some 75% of total public expenditures. This year it warned against the dire consequences of “any rapid decline in international aid flows.” Afghanistan has been the largest single recipient of American aid since the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001, but despite billions of dollars in assistance more than half of its people still live in poverty. Much of the aid has gone to security efforts, and frustrated Afghans assert that untold amounts have been lost in corruption and mismanagement. U.S. aid to the country was cut in half in 2014, the year that U.S. and NATO forces formally ended their combat mission. About 20,000 forces remain, largely to train and support Afghan counterparts. If a U.S.-Taliban agreement on ending America’s longest war brings badly needed peace, Afghanistan could see an increase in aid, said Alex Thier, who once directed assistance for the country with the U.S. Agency for International Development. But if the peace process drags out or fails, that could “depress enthusiasm for giving,” he warned after a visit to Kabul this month. Some donors could be reluctant to fund a government in which the Taliban wield power and don’t respect the rights of women and others. The Taliban have indicated they want international aid to continue, and understanding how to keep it flowing is part of talks with the U.S., Thier said, citing what he has heard from diplomats, Taliban proxies and people who met with Taliban leaders in intra-Afghan dialogues in Moscow and Qatar this year. “Part of the Taliban motivation in the peace process is, they clearly want to avoid being a pariah state as before,” he said. But no one knows what they will give up to keep receiving support. The local U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Toby Lanzer, who has spoken with “all of the authorities across Afghanistan,” said he believes aid won’t drop, calling the country’s case so compelling that efforts must continue, whatever happens. He has spoken with the United States and other “particularly generous” countries and believes donors are in Afghanistan for the long haul. Asked how the interest of President Donald Trump’s administration in cutting overall foreign aid complicates the situation, Lanzer paused for more than 10 seconds before saying that “when it comes to a strategic location such as Afghanistan, everybody has to chip in, and everybody has been chipping in. And I would very much count on the continued generosity of the people of the United States of America, of institutions such as USAID, to stay the course.” Next year could be Afghanistan’s most pivotal, he said, as the latest round of international aid pledges ends. He expects another pledging conference in 2020 for “the new government, whichever government that might be.” At the Indira Gandhi children’s hospital in Kabul, which treats 70 to 80 malnourished children a month, director Dr. Mohammad Bashir Qurishi worried about how doctors will be paid and medicine purchased if aid follows troops out of the country. Everyone is afraid of losing the progress made since 2001, he said, as the U.S. and the Taliban negotiate the country’s future while excluding the Afghan government. “If Trump wants to take us back to Stone Age time, then it is their policy,” he said. In the ward for malnourished children, decorated with aid stickers from UNICEF and Japan, a nurse pointed out fragile toddlers. One 2-year-old, her face covered in tape to keep a nasal feeding tube in place, breathed with discomfort, a Barbie-like doll next to her on her pillow. Nearby was Bibi Warai. Her 2-year-old granddaughter had just died at home outside the eastern city of Jalalabad, and now the girl’s 3-year-old sister, Humaira, was undergoing treatment. After their hours-long journey to the capital she wished for more such wards so that all Afghans can reach help in time. “My son told me, ’How can you leave us at this time of mourning?”″ she said. “I told him, ‘I can’t stay, I have to take my child for treatment.’ Maybe God will help us, and she will survive.” She placed her hand gently on the girl’s forehead and began to cry. ___ Associated Press video journalist Ahmad Seir in Kabul contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "As troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, will aid stream out?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9fb57f8e836546b1b1e85427b038cd07",
            "input": "The article does not offer any cost information. The article offers general statements about the “dramatic” and rapid effects of UA from Allergan researchers, but does not provide any numerical context or offer summaries of research with that information. The article notes the side effects of UA and potentially two other similar drugs in the pipeline. The main concern about these agents is the effects they may have on the endometrium (uterine lining) over time. The evidence is generally AWOL. A personal testimonial from a celebrity with fibroids does not stand in for evidence one expects to see from a clinical trial or trials. No mongering here. The article quotes one outside expert whose comments focused on the use of an injectable alternative to the oral drug, and the downsides of this alternative. But it also has a comment from Allergan’s researcher noting that longer-time follow up is needed for UA. These source’s commercial relationships are appropriately disclosed. [Editor’s note: Following publication of this review, we learned that Allergan provides financial support to the White Dress Project. The story would have done well to acknowledge this relationship.] The article mentions some alternative treatments in detail. One strength of the article is that it prominently points out that many women with fibroids who have no symptoms do not require treatment of any kind. The article notes the new drug could be available in the US next year. The drug is already available in the US for another indication but is packaged in doses that are much larger than those used for fibroid treatments. The article makes clear that the advantage of the new drug is that it is an oral medication, and is taken for a limited time. However, ulipristal is not the first oral medication. There are some older oral hormonal medications, including pills in some cases, that have been tried. GnRH agonists (delivered by injection or nasal spray) such as Lupron have been used in limited situations to treat fibroids, but their use is limited by side effects related to medically induced menopause. The story includes comments from two experts and it appears as though the second one had no involvement with the study.",
            "output": [
                "New Treatment for Fibroids Without Surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c8c85f772a64627b9fcc472326049b6",
            "input": "The announcement came Friday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which said it believes the exemption is consistent with the tribes’ status as political entities. Early last year, the agency wrote to tribes saying exempting all Native Americans from work requirements could violate equal protection laws. Tribes across the country pushed back, saying the position ignored Supreme Court decisions that allow federally recognized tribes to be treated differently than others, disregarded the U.S. Constitution and violated treaties. They also cited high unemployment rates on reservations and funding shortfalls at the federal Indian Health Service that Medicaid reimbursements help fill. The tribal exemption in Arizona sets a precedent for other states with significant Native American populations. Eight states have taken up the Trump administration on its offer to approve work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid. Now that the administration has granted Arizona’s request, it’s expected to follow suit for any other state seeking the exemption. Arizona initially wanted to include all Native Americans, which might have raised concerns under civil rights laws that the exemption wasn’t allowed based on race, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman Yvonne Hylton said. After negotiating, the request was limited to members of federally recognized tribes. “We have long stressed the importance of meaningful tribal consultation when states are contemplating program reforms, and I’m pleased with how this important process informed Arizona’s approach,” agency Administrator Seema Verma said. The Trump administration urged changes to Medicaid programs to encourage work and independence. Others see work requirements as unfairly targeting the working class. Arizona residents will have a three-month grace period when the work requirements take effect next January. About 120,000 of Arizona’s 1.8 million residents on Medicaid, ages 19 to 49, must work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month and report those hours. If not, coverage will be suspended for two months. Christina Corieri, a senior policy adviser for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, said he believes the requirements will improve residents’ financial situations, help them engage in communities and become healthier. “We believe that those who can work should, and we think that’s backed up by evidence as well,” she said. “This can improve people’s lives.” Arkansas implemented work requirements last summer and has seen 18,000 people lose coverage, said Jessica Schubel, a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It’s just one more burden on people who are more likely already working, but are in jobs that are low-wage jobs, and they are relying on Medicaid to help them treat their condition,” she said. Most of those affected in Arizona were added to the Medicaid rolls in 2013 after the state expanded coverage under former President Barack Obama’s health care law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied Arizona’s request for a five-year limit on coverage for those who fail to meet the work requirements. Others who are exempt in Arizona include the mentally ill, those with disabilities and pregnant women. Arizona has 21 federally recognized tribes, whose reservations take up about a quarter of the state. Navajo President Jonathan Nez said approval of Arizona’s plan is a victory for all of them. Victoria Stevens, vice chairwoman of the governing board for the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corp., said the tribe’s hospital stood to lose $15 million in Medicaid funding if tribal members were forced to work or volunteer. About 70 percent of patients there have Medicaid, she said. She and others worked to pass a law in Arizona last year with similar language. She said classifying tribes as anything but political entities is illegal. “Native American people are entitled to health care because of treaty rights and settlements when tribes were defeated in war,” she said. In Maine and Wisconsin — two other states with work requirements for Medicaid — tribes can satisfy them by participating in tribal work programs, including traditional subsistence activities. Federal regulators approved the plans last year. Maine also exempts tribal members from paying proposed premiums. ___ Associated Press writer Marina Villanueve in Augusta, Maine, and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Arizona is only state where tribes avoid Medicaid work rules."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bebab317b544f4283316d3c96a1bf8e",
            "input": "\"Although this is a very preliminary study, some mention of costs should have been included, even if simply to note that the cost of potential treatments is unknown at the present time. The published study itself does not quantify benefits clearly , perhaps understandable given that it is a laboratory study, not a clinical one. But we give the story a satisfactory rating for doing a reasonable job of putting the study results into context. The brevity of the response and the inconsistent findings across individuals were noted appropriately in the story. While harms are not quantified in the published study itself, this story does well to emphaszie the importance — and current lack — of safety data for an alluded-to use of oxytocin in children with autism. We do know a good deal about the toxicity of oxytocin when given to women to induce labor and for a few hours. In addititon to possible severe allergic reactions, water intoxication is an important side effect. We give the story kudos for noting several limitations in this research, including the wide variations in individual responses and a lack of evidence that the strategy \"\"would be effective at all\"\" in children or young adults. The author also notes a lack of long-term safety data, and she describes  challenges in translating the delivery method to a real-world application. We would have liked to have seen a bit more characterization of the preliminary nature of this laboratory study and its very small sample. The story does not resort to disease-mongering. The story cites several independent sources and provides several quotes for balance. The study authors themselves identified no conflicts of interest. The story does discuss the treatment of autism and that no drug therapies are currently available for the social dysfunction observed in people with Asperger syndrome and other forms of autism. The story is clear that the strategy used in this laboratory study is uNPRoven in the real world, particularly in children and young adults. They even note the issues in translating the delivery method to clinical practice. The article notes that there have been prior studies that also demonstrated an effect of oxytocin in people with autism. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "‘Bonding’ Hormone Might Help Some With Autism"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-716964556f3144d7b45a2c4792dc76c3",
            "input": "Limiting the quantity per dosage unit will reduce the risk of inadvertent overdose, which can lead to liver failure, liver transplant and death, the Food and Drug Administration said. It cited the fact that no available data showed that taking more than the recommended dose provided benefits that outweighed the added risks. (link.reuters.com/nen95v)  Inadvertent overdose from combination drugs containing acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol in most countries outside the United States, accounts for nearly half of all cases of acetaminophen-related liver failure in the United States, the agency said. Combination acetaminophen products are commonly prescribed to patients to treat pain from acute injuries, post-operative pain, or pain following dental procedures. In January 2011, the FDA asked manufacturers of combination drugs containing acetaminophen, sold globally under trade names such as Tylenol and Panadol, to limit acetaminophen doses to no more than 325 mg in each tablet or capsule by January 14, 2014. (link.reuters.com/hyn95v)  Some of these products still remain available, the agency said. The FDA also suggested that pharmacists who receive a prescription for a combination product with more than the recommended dose contact the prescriber to discuss using a lower dose. In the near future, the FDA plans to institute proceedings to withdraw approval for combination drugs that remain on the market, it said in a statement. Acetaminophen, one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States, is widely used in both prescription and over-the-counter products to reduce pain and fever.",
            "output": [
                "FDA asks doctors to limit acetaminophen in combination drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9938bf7405a74016a15887ff83a60385",
            "input": "But a growing number of Europeans are travelling abroad for medical treatment to save money, or maybe to combine a visit to the doctor with some sightseeing, creating a fast-growing market that is still largely untapped by traditional tour operators. “It was simply cheaper for me to go to a dentist in Hungary,” said a 42-year-old physical therapist from Berlin, who did not want to give his name. He chose the clinic near Budapest from an Internet advertisement, enticed by hundreds of euros in savings compared with the same treatment in Germany. He was happy to find when he got there that the clinic was clean, the staff competent and the work thorough. Greater efforts by clinics to lure customers from abroad for routine procedures are creating new opportunities for tour operators looking to expand into faster-growing markets. Helmut Wachowiak, a professor at the International University of Applied Sciences at Bad Honnef in Germany, says the global medical tourism market is worth $40 billion to $60 billion and is growing at about 20 percent per year. “The medical tourism market is still very much passing by traditional tourism, though it is increasingly recognized as an opportunity for the travel industry,” said Wachowiak, an expert on tourism management. People travel abroad for medical treatment for various reasons: it’s cheaper, they face a long wait at home, or the treatment they want is not available in their own country. Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, said some patients who have immigrated may prefer to return to be close to their families when they undergo surgery. “People will want to take the opportunity to seek treatment in places where it might be cheaper and where they have relatives who might be able to look after them. I’m seeing that especially with younger people from eastern Europe,” he said. The British-based Medical Tourist Company refers about 100 patients a year to hospitals in India for treatments including cardiac surgery, knee and hip replacement, in-vitro fertilization and dental work. Chief Executive Premhar Shah reports rapid growth in demand from customers in Africa, where it can be harder to find well-equipped medical facilities for complex surgeries. Shah, a medical doctor by training, said he competes with hospitals that market directly to prospective patients as well as companies trying to expand into medical tourism. “It’s a very competitive market because everybody wants to jump into it,” he told Reuters. HOCKEY-STICK CURVE  Some countries such as Germany market themselves as a destination for medical tourism. According to the German National Tourist Board, about 77,000 foreign patients were treated in the country in 2010, spending 930 million euros ($1.24 billion). They came mostly from other European countries, Russia, Gulf states or the United States. Hospital operator Helios helps organize visas, hotels and sight-seeing trips for patients coming to Germany for treatment, mostly from Russian-speaking countries and the Middle East. “Many patients specifically opt for a city where they can enjoy what the place has to offer alongside the treatment,” Helios manager Stefan Boeckle said. “Provided their medical condition allows for it, of course.”  He cited the example of a Kuwaiti businessman who came to Berlin for a check-up in December and booked a hotel and theatre tickets for himself and his son, plus a limousine to take him to hospital during the two-day stay. Boeckle says patients from the Middle East have tailed off slightly now that countries such as the United Arab Emirates have started building more hospitals to attract medical tourists themselves. A survey by consultancy IPK International has shown that 3-4 percent of the world’s population travels to foreign countries for medical treatment, and as many as 52 percent of Europeans say they could imagine doing so. “I think booking numbers (in health-related tourism) could rise on a hockey stick-shaped curve in coming years,” said Claudia Staedele, a board member of German medical tourism company Dr. Holiday. “There is still incredible room to grow.”  Dr. Holiday, part of Germany’s second-biggest tour operator Rewe, focuses on vacations that have health-related elements such as exercise classes, but also offers trips to Hungary for dental treatment and to Turkey for laser eye surgery. Between 2003 and 2007, the number of trips Dr. Holiday has sold sky-rocketed from 300 to 30,000. Since then, growth rates have been double-digit and Staedele said she sees an 18 percent rise this year. By comparison, overall international tourism grew by 4 percent in 2012, according to the U.N. World Tourism Organisation. Staedele said the combination of an ageing population and growing acceptance of medical treatments abroad will bolster growth in coming years. Companies can also help those with chronic conditions enjoy a holiday like everybody else. Chiara Frattini works for Holiday Dialysis International, part of Germany’s Fresenius Medical Care, which arranges dialysis for people on holiday. The service started in 1996 and has seen growth of around 6 percent a year, she said. Around 2,000 people contact the service each year, with customers mostly from the United States and Japan, where people tend to travel in large tour groups. She has organized dialysis in destinations such as the Philippines, Senegal, Kenya and Thailand. “But in the Saharan countries, it can be very difficult due to lack of good water and treatment facilities, and some places are just not politically advisable,” she said. The company sets up dialysis wards on cruise ships with nurses and a specialist doctor on board. After a lull for the European financial crisis, Frattini is more confident. “If the patient is facing money problems, the first thing they decide to cancel is their vacation. But I expect that this year will be much better,” she said. For some, there is the attraction of free treatment abroad, at which point politics comes into the equation. In Britain, where most medical care is funded by general taxation and delivered free within the National Health Service, health tourism has become a contentious issue. Legislators have called for tighter checks on patients arriving for treatment, amid concerns that foreign citizens are travelling to Britain to take advantage of the free service. ($1 = 0.7490 euros)",
            "output": [
                "Medical tourism offers travel firms untapped growth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e961720dcdff4438bc712b640e252f60",
            "input": "The order targets vape pens, vape cartridges, aerosol products, and inhalers that use oil-based vaping materials. It doesn’t apply to medical marijuana vaping devices designed for marijuana flower, which don’t use oil-based materials. The commission is also asking testing labs if they can check for vitamin E acetate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified vitamin E as a culprit in vaping-associated lung injuries. The labs currently test for contaminants like heavy metals. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins had ruled last week that marijuana cultivated for medical use, including oil-based vaping materials, must be exempted from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban on vaping materials starting Tuesday — unless the cannabis commission took action since the commission is the single state entity authorized to regulate marijuana. Tuesday’s action by the commission continues the ban for oil-based vaping materials for medical use. The vaping industry is also challenging the broader ban in court. Shops caught selling vaping materials during the ban face fines of up to $1,000 per offense. There is no prohibition against individuals owning or using vaping products. The industry has argued the ban will destroy the state’s $331 million nicotine vapor products industry and irreparably harm local businesses. Baker issued the emergency ban in September in response to lung illnesses attributed to use of e-cigarette products. State health officials last week announced that a third state resident died from a vaping-related lung illness. The state Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that a man in his 50s from Worcester County died, after telling officials he vaped both nicotine and the marijuana compound THC. Officials say more than 200 suspected cases of vaping-associated lung injury have been reported to the health department since September. The action by the cannabis commission comes as state lawmakers prepare to debate a bill that would ban flavored vaping and tobacco products, including menthol and mint flavors. Lawmakers argue that the flavored products are meant to entice young teens into smoking. Anti-smoking activists praised the Massachusetts House for taking up the measure. “Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including mint and menthol, is smart public health policy and will prevent thousands of kids in Massachusetts from becoming enticed into a lifetime of addiction,” said Kevin O’Flaherty from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Some convenience store owners oppose the ban on menthol cigarettes and have pressed lawmakers to eliminate that portion of the bill. House lawmakers plan to debate the measure on Wednesday.",
            "output": [
                "Commission’s order supports ban on marijuana vaping products."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8edba67c02e54f4c8d2cadbbe6b26c04",
            "input": "\"Seniors, if you’re struggling to find a doctor that takes Medicare, U.S. Rep. Tom Price has diagnosed your problem. Doctors won’t take patients covered by the federal health insurance program for seniors because Medicare pays them less than what the care actually costs, Price said in a recent op-ed in the Boston Herald. \"\"Already, nearly one in three primary care doctors are forced to limit the number of Medicare patients they see,\"\" said Price, who worked as an orthopedic surgeon. We thought the Roswell Republican’s number was worth a closer look. If there is a problem, it could get worse Feb. 29. That’s when Medicare will cut doctor pay by some 27 percent, unless Congress does something about it. Medicare calculates how much it pays doctors according to a special formula set up in 1997 to keep the federal deficit in check. In 2002, that formula gave doctors a pay cut, but physician backlash was so bad that lawmakers have put off reductions ever since. Each time Congress puts off the problem, the cost of fixing it grows. We asked Price spokesman Ryan Murphy for more information on the congressman’s Medicare figure. He said it was confirmed by a May 2010 survey by the American Medical Association, a group that represents doctors’ interests and promotes medicine and public health. The AMA’s online survey of more than 9,000 physicians found that 31 percent of primary care doctors \"\"restrict\"\" the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Some of these doctors don’t accept new Medicare patients, and only treat the ones they already have. Others have stopped treating them at all. Some 83 percent said they did so because Medicare payment rates are too low, the AMA survey said. And 82 percent said they made the move because they were concerned about the threat of future payment cuts. We asked the AMA for the poll’s methodology and found it has a major shortcoming. It wasn’t scientific. Also, the AMA is a powerful lobbying group with its own set of interests. We therefore sought out data from independent sources that took a scientific approach. The data we found was not strictly comparable to the AMA’s, but it did tell us that the findings of the physicians group did not clash with other research. For instance, there’s a 2008 survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change, which provides research used by the federal government and policymakers on both sides of the aisle. The center conducted a nationally representative mail survey of 4,700 physicians. It found that among primary care physicians, 37 percent said they accept some or no new Medicare patients. Of those, more than 56 percent said that inadequate reimbursements were a moderately important or very important reason why. About 48 percent of those who restricted how many Medicare patients they took on said a moderately important or very important reason why was that their practices were already at capacity. There’s also 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that some 19 percent of primary care physicians did not accept any new Medicare patients. This number is a lot lower than the AMA’s figure, but it doesn’t mean the doctors group is incorrect. About 10 percent of the CDC’s respondents said they did not know if they accepted new Medicare patients. Also, the data did not specify whether the doctors who accept new ones limit how many they bring on. On its face, the AMA data is not unreasonable. None of the data we reviewed expressly contradicts the finding that 31 percent of primary care doctors \"\"restrict\"\" the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Furthermore, data from the Center for Studying Health System Change appear to support the AMA’s finding. So, is Dr. Price right? Are nearly one in three primary care doctors \"\"forced to limit the number of Medicare patients they see\"\"? The congressman’s number seems sensible, but his language is overheated. It’s not clear that the physicians who drop or restrict Medicare were \"\"forced\"\" to do so because of declining reimbursements or red tape. Nearly half of the primary care physicians responding to the Center for Studying Health System Change survey said one of the reasons they accept so few new Medicare patients is that their practices are full. We recommend Price give his feverish rhetoric an aspirin. And it wouldn’t hurt if he got a second or third opinion on the American Medical Association’s data. Price earns a .\"",
            "output": [
                "[N]early one in three primary care doctors are forced to limit the number of Medicare patients they see."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29b4fef46aa84cdbbdbed6a873f0cfb9",
            "input": "An early experiment of immunotherapy against melanoma may be too early to allow for a cost estimate. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt for reporting: “In six of the 11 patients in the trial, the melanoma stopped progressing for 12 to 19 weeks. Another patient was declared in remission because his cancer ceased to spread and, after several months, disappeared altogether. Three years later, researchers continue to detect the presence of the cloned cells they infused into the patient” The story stated: “Currently, the T cells have limited staying power and often die off before their work is done. Doctors give them a boost by administering a growth factor called interleukin-2. But at high doses, it can cause dangerously low blood pressure, breathing problems, kidney failure and heart arrhythmias. Yee’s group showed that by choosing T cells more selectively, patients can get by with much lower doses of interleukin-2, making the treatment less toxic.” But we’re not told what side effects were observed in the 11 patients in the study. In reality the study originally involved a high dose (3 subjects) and low dose (8 subjects) IL-2 arm. The high dose arm was closed by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board prematurely due to unacceptable toxicity. The early, small, preliminary nature of the study was clear from the story. Steven Rosenberg’s comments at the end also gave perspective. No disease mongering at play here. Several independent sources were quoted. Brief reference was made to one patient having had 6 years of chemotherapy “only to have his melanoma return.” And Rosenberg’s comments at the end note a competing immunotherapy approach. But the story didn’t give readers a clear context of melanoma treatments, or of why and for whom immunotherapy would be tried, etc. We think it’s clear from the story that this is only an experimental approach right now. The relative novelty of this approach for melanoma was evident in the story. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Researchers report progress in cancer immunotherapy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e85ab4b955ed48609aa02c5083d88be7",
            "input": "The episode prompted leaders of nine non-governmental organizations on Tuesday to denounce the persecution of activists, academics and scientists since the election last year of Bolsonaro, who has accused many of them of working in the Amazon on behalf of foreigners— including actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The groups have been critical of Bolsonaro’s push to develop the world’s largest tropical rainforest. “The government regards the third sector, Brazilian civil society, as the enemy of the country,” Ricardo Borges, executive coordinator at Pact for Democracy, said on the video call with reporters that also included the Brazilian branches of the World Wildlife Fund and Amnesty International. Police last month accused several volunteer firefighters of setting forest fires to get funding through local NGOs in Alter do Chao, a town of less than 10,000 people on the bank of the Tapajos river in the state of Para. Federal prosecutors quickly said their investigation found no such evidence, the local police officer leading the investigation was removed from the case and a judge ordered the firefighters be released from prison. Still, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, publicly backed the police allegations against the firefighters and NGOs. Television footage of police making arrests and raiding NGO offices served, for some, as confirmation of the claims. Bolsonaro even accused DiCaprio of providing the funds to the NGOs - something the U.S. actor denied. The controversy has cast Alter do Chao, known as “The Caribbean of the Amazon,” into the national spotlight. Speaking at the edge of his verdant yard, Caetano Scannavino, coordinator of Health and Happiness, one of the two nonprofits investigated by local police, told the Associated Press incendiary rhetoric has created a climate of terror, and security consultants have recommended he leave Alter do Chao as soon as possible. Already he’s stopped sleeping at home. “Today we’re in a war of narratives. The country is polarized and unfortunately we’ve created an environment of deconstruction instead of construction, in which people shout at each other and don’t debate,” Scannavino said. “It’s not justifiable to feed more hatred into an environment already polarized with hate.”   The same day, on the other side of Alter do Chao, a group of travelling soy farmers spoke to the AP over breakfast at their hotel and expressed the sort of skepticism about NGOs that Bolsonaro shares. One suggested NGOs outnumber farmers in the surrounding region. Another said most of their funding goes to employee salaries rather than valid projects. The volunteer firefighters and nonprofits deny any wrongdoing and say the investigation is politically motivated. Para state’s government said it won’t comment on the probe until the police inquiry is concluded. The press offices of the president and the environment minister didn’t reply to requests for comments. Bolsonaro has accused NGOs of feeding off the “industry of fines” in the country’s environmental sector and vowed to no longer allocate fine-related revenue to nonprofits. Environment Minister Ricardo Salles also announced earlier this year he was temporarily suspending funding to NGOs, pending review of contracts and partnerships to catch possible irregularities. Such targeting hasn’t been limited to non-profits. In the midst of the international outcry over the Amazon fires in August, Bolsonaro accused the then-head of Brazil’s space research institute, Ricardo Galvão, of manipulating satellite data on deforestation in order to undermine his administration. Galvão publicly countered the claims and was fired. Brazil’s annual deforestation report released last month showed a nearly 30% jump from the prior year. While the government eventually acknowledged logging had increased, the academic community remained shaken by the high-profile dismissal at a scientific institution. “In the Bolsonaro government, there is a group that has a clearly negative view of science,” Galvão said in a phone interview. “They have this idea that all scientists are on the left.” In November, a group of international academics published a research paper in the journal Global Change Biology, debunking the Brazilian government’s claims that Amazon fires in August were normal. More than one of the paper’s authors remained anonymous for fear of reprisal like that Galvão suffered, co-author Erika Berenguer told the AP. “It was really tough for them to make that decision,” she said. In Alter do Chao, the arrest of the firefighters wasn’t the first controversy this year to perturb the town’s peaceful vibe. In July, Brazil’s education minister was eating in the central plaza with his family when indigenous activists staged a short demonstration beside his table. The minister responded by taking a nearby microphone to address the crowd. “I just want to show the difference between the left and people who aren’t on the left,” he said. “I’m here with my family on my vacation, one week of the year, three little kids, and you try to humiliate me in front of my kids. Is that it? Is that what you are?” It quickly escalated into a shouting match, with video of the episode going viral nationwide. Two days later, a list with names of NGOs, activists and professors from the region allegedly responsible for “the mistreatment of the minister” started circulating in local WhatsApp chat groups, according to a local journalist who writes under the name Hellen Joplin, who also works with local activists. She found herself on the list, described as being anti-Bolsonaro and a “leftist of the worst kind.” “It was a total witch hunt: get them and punish them,” Joplin said in an interview. That night, four police officers drove to her home with red lights flashing as she hosted a meeting of indigenous activists. Terrified attendees hopped Joplin’s back fence and hid in the jungle, while officers standing at Joplin’s doorway warned her about supposed motorcycle theft in the area and peered into her home, she said at the AP’s Rio de Janeiro office. She skipped town with her two toddlers and plans to return only to move her things out permanently. For now, the volunteer firefighters and nonprofits remain under investigation in Alter do Chao. For Ana Torrellas, who helps run a restaurant in the town’s plaza, the process looks like arbitrary persecution. “Boom, it was their turn, as can happen with me, as can happen with you,” said Torrellas, who moved to town from Venezuela two years ago. “I don’t need glasses to see the plan. They don’t want people who think differently.” ___ AP writer Diane Jeantet reported from Rio de Janeiro ___ This story was been corrected to reflect that Ricardo Galvão is the former head of Brazil’s space research institute, not the international space agency.",
            "output": [
                "Bolsonaro vs NGOs: Amazon town becomes ground zero for spat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a84a513dc7b74b7b86a89e6210bf2b05",
            "input": "A meme showing a picture of a doctor and the paramedic who saved each others lives has long circulated on social media, in large part due to an April 2016 Unbelievable Facts Facebook post:That meme read at the bottom:In 1981, a pediatrician saved the life of a 3.2-pound premature baby boy by working around the clock to beat the odds & stabilize him. In 2011, the pediatrician was pinned inside a burning vehicle after a car collision, but was saved by the premature baby, who had grown up to become a paramedic.An identical version was shared on November 22 2019 to r/nevertellmetheodds, a subreddit for posts about long-odds scenarios occurring in real life:What goes around comes around from nevertellmetheoddsThe story (and appended photograph) originated with a March 2015 KTLA report about the doctor and the once-premature baby — Dr. Michael Shannon and Chris Trokey — reuniting at a fundraiser four years after Trokey saved Shannon’s life in 2011:Exactly four years ago, on March 29, 2011, Dr. Michael Shannon was driving on Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point when a semi-truck T-boned his SUV, pinning his vehicle underneath the truck as it caught fire.Firefighters from Paramedic Engine 29 were returning from another call and responded within minutes to the fiery crash.By the time they arrived, Shannon’s vehicle was also ablaze and the flames were burning his legs. Fire crews then worked to extinguish the flames and rescue him using the Jaws of Life.The seriously injured Shannon was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo where he spent the next 45 days recovering from internal injuries. He also had to have two of his toes amputated.Among those who had helped save Shannon that day was Orange County Fire Authority paramedic Chris Trokey, whose own life had been saved 30 years earlier by the pediatrician.“I didn’t know about until I went to the hospital and started talking about it, Dr. Shannon. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Dr. Shannon? '” Trokey recalled [in 2015]. “That’s when I found out.”KTLA added:Trokey was just 3.2 pounds at birth, and doctors had initially gave him a 50/50 chance at surviving. But his pediatrician — Dr. Shannon — helped save his life, staying with the infant around the clock until his health improved and he was stable.According to the meme, a pediatrician (Shannon) saved a premature baby (Trokey) in 1981. Thirty years later, the then-grown baby was a paramedic, and a first responder to a serious car accident involving Shannon. When Shannon and Trokey met again in 2015, KTLA reported the story, inspiring memes which circulated for several years thereafter.",
            "output": [
                "In 1981, a pediatrician saved the life of a 3.2-pound premature baby boy by working around the clock to beat the odds & stabilize him. In 2011, the pediatrician was pinned inside a burning vehicle after a car collision, but was saved by the premature baby, who had grown up to become a paramedic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-04afef4b30f84d01a28b0ddab4fd4284",
            "input": "Campaigning in the early caucus state of Nevada, the 78-year-old Vermont senator said one of the things that disturbed him about Thursday’s debate was that he was hoping “to have a serious discussion about the health care crisis in America.” “I was not pleased that Vice President Biden distorted what Medicare for All is and, in fact, simply parroted the line coming from the health care industry,” Sanders told about 300 people at a town hall meeting at the Carson City Community Center gymnasium. “Apparently the vice president thinks it is just wonderful for people to be paying $1,000 a month ... just for health care premiums. Having deductibles of $4,000 or $5,000 or more — not a problem. Paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs — not a problem. Well, I think those are problems,” he said. Sanders took heavy fire on his single-payer health insurance proposal at Thursday night’s debate in Houston, with Biden and others hammering the Vermont senator for the cost and the political palatability of effectively eliminating the existing private insurance market. The former vice president went hardest at Sanders when the senator argued that the estimated $30 trillion cost over a decade is cheaper than the “status quo,” which he put at $50 trillion — with most of the money being what Americans spend privately on premiums, copays and out-of-pocket costs. Sanders’ argument is that most U.S. households would pay less overall under his system, even if their taxes go up. Biden said that Sanders would effectively be handing Americans a pay cut, arguing that employers who now pay a share of workers’ premiums would pocket that money instead of giving workers raises if the government were to cover all health care costs. Biden punctuated the point with one of the quotes of the night: “For a socialist, you’ve got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do.” Biden has aggressively defended the Affordable Care Act that was created while he was vice president under President Barack Obama. Biden released a proposal in July to add a “public option” to the 2010 health care overhaul, with expanded coverage paid for by tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. Sanders repeated his refrain Friday that health care is a human right and that Medicare for All would cover every man, woman and child in the country. It requires no premiums, no deductibles and no out-of-pocket costs and would expand Medicare to include such things as dental care, hearing aids and home health care, he said. “It’s not a terribly radical idea because in one form or another it exists in countries all over the world, including Canada,” Sanders said. “Is it free? No. It is funded out of the general fund in a progressive manner.” Sanders said the primary function of the existing American health care system — the costliest in the world — is to make profits for drug and insurance companies. Sanders and a supporter of President Donald Trump — who said he recently lost his insurance and job — initially shouted over each other when Sanders asked for input from the audience. But they eventually put their arms around each other as Sanders asked him to help deliver the message to health care corporations and pharmaceutical drug companies that “the function of health care is to provide quality care to all of these people.” Sanders dismissed others who suggested Medicare for All would prevent people from selecting their own doctor. “You can go to any doctor you want,” Sanders said. “Anybody who tells you Medicare for All limits your choices of doctors are not telling you the truth.” Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic caucuses in Nevada to Hillary Clinton 55% to 45% primarily because of her strength in Las Vegas and Clark County but has maintained fierce support in the key Western swing state. He carried northern Nevada’s Washoe County, where he drew loud cheers later Friday from hundreds of students at an outdoor “College For All” rally on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. He also planned to campaign Saturday in Las Vegas.",
            "output": [
                "Sanders accuses Biden of distorting ‘Medicare for All’ plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a533ddbe1b23462fb7ae4918402f62e1",
            "input": "\"The Republican Party of Texas marveled — not in a good way — at an admission of sorts by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about the long-stalled health care overhaul before Congress. According to an e-mail the GOP sent Friday, Pelosi said “the Democrats have to pass their terrible health care bill so that the American people can actually find out what's in it.” Talk about a banana-peel moment. Did Pelosi improbably denigrate her party’s promised legislation and say people can find out what’s in it after it passes? GOP spokesman Bryan Preston pointed us to the text of Pelosi’s March 9 speech in Washington to the National Association of Counties. We learned, for starters, that while the Texas GOP thinks the legislation is terrible, Pelosi clearly doesn't. Instead, Pelosi's remarks celebrate aspects such as a ban on denying health coverage because of a pre-existing conditions, “robust support for public health infrastructure,” more spending on community health centers and reductions in uncompensated care by hospitals. Pelosi also says in the speech that the plan won't require anyone to pay a deductible for preventive health care doctor visits. She summarizes: “It’s going to be very, very exciting.” Yet there’s heft to the GOP's claim that Pelosi said the legislation has to pass so people can find out what’s in it. Pelosi adds: “But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” Pelosi's words stirred critics from the right including Marguerite Higgins, a senior editorial services associate at The Heritage Foundation. In a blog, Higgins named the moment the video of the week and called Pelosi’s statement a “stunning demonstration of political condescension.” Separately, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly offered this interpretation of Pelosi's comment: \"\"She meant there was so much talk about process (in Congress) that people have lost sight of what’s actually in the bill. Once it’s passed, we can remind them of all the good things that are in it.\"\" Capital fusses aside, we wondered if Pelosi spoke accurately; will the plan need to pass before people know what's in it? We called the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which has posted side-by-side comparisons online of health care plans approved by the House and Senate. Its spokesman, Craig Palosky, reminded us that Congress posts the entire legislation online. Of course, that's not to say the final deal is settled — or, it stands to reason, open to public view. Palosky declined to comment precisely on Pelosi's forecast, saying her comment seemed more about politics than policy. \"\"It’s not our role to police such comments,\"\" he said. \"\"If you want to know what members of Congress are doing, you have to speak to members of Congress.” His nudge led us to call U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, among a handful of physicians in Congress and an opponent to the Democrats' proposal. Burgess told us it's often true that the ins and outs of legislation aren't widely known until after a measure passes into law; that held true, for instance, for the Republican-steered measure providing government aid toward prescription drugs for seniors. Pelosi's \"\"right,\"\" Burgess said, though \"\"I don’t think that’s a good strategy (to declare as much). I wouldn’t recommend anyone actually broadcasting that.\"\" So how does the GOP's statement shake out? The party's e-mail errs when it makes it sound as if Pelosi thinks the health-care measure is terrible. It's very much the opposite. But it accurately quotes Pelosi as saying people will find out what's in the plan after it passes.\"",
            "output": [
                "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this week that the Democrats have to pass their terrible health care bill so that the American people can actually find out what's in it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3efdde9ae1048e29c0ea692d42a2d95",
            "input": "The Oregon Health Authority said last week that two Oregon victims had died. That escalation prompted the state, lawmakers and Gov. Kate Brown to launch a barrage of anti-vaping messaging, including calls for action. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the five victims Oregon officials reported last week all shopped at legal retail marijuana stores. A health authority spokesman did not say if the three new cases did, too. The state on Friday proposed a six-month ban on vaping products, part of a six-point list of options for the governor’s consideration for stemming the tide of vaping-related illnesses. Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Board of Health to exercise its emergency authority to ban all flavored vaping products, including those with THC. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said as of Sept. 27 there were 805 confirmed and probable cases nationwide. ___ Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com",
            "output": [
                "8 vaping lung illness cases reported in Oregon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-060e8f17f8624b1894c7a094dfc1fbd1",
            "input": "UPMC announced its collaboration with Bon Secours Health System on a joint venture to expand the Maryland-based nonprofit’s campus in Cork, Ireland. The six-story facility will begin offering radiation therapy for cancer patients beginning in 2019. It will be the second radiation center operated by UPMC in Ireland. UPMC opened its first, the Whitfield Cancer Centre in Waterford, in 2006. That facility was the hospital system’s first international cancer center. Bon Secours is Ireland’s biggest independent hospital group. They operate hospitals in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Tralee. UPMC also manages a cancer radiation center in Rome, Italy.",
            "output": [
                "UPMC partners to expand cancer care network in Ireland."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-010d093d80c44ec0a7d6563b474a380d",
            "input": "If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics. A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes. Many mainstream scientists think it’s too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as human experimentation. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have — an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus. He said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done. There is no independent confirmation of He’s claim, and it has not been published in a journal, where it would be vetted by other experts. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing that is set to begin Tuesday, and earlier in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press. “I feel a strong responsibility that it’s not just to make a first, but also make it an example,” He told the AP. “Society will decide what to do next” in terms of allowing or forbidding such science. Some scientists were astounded to hear of the claim and strongly condemned it. It’s “unconscionable ... an experiment on human beings that is not morally or ethically defensible,” said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a University of Pennsylvania gene editing expert and editor of a genetics journal. “This is far too premature,” said Dr. Eric Topol, who heads the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California. “We’re dealing with the operating instructions of a human being. It’s a big deal.” However, one famed geneticist, Harvard University’s George Church, defended attempting gene editing for HIV, which he called “a major and growing public health threat.” “I think this is justifiable,” Church said of that goal. In recent years scientists have discovered a relatively easy way to edit genes, the strands of DNA that govern the body. The tool, called CRISPR-cas9, makes it possible to operate on DNA to supply a needed gene or disable one that’s causing problems. It’s only recently been tried in adults to treat deadly diseases, and the changes are confined to that person. Editing sperm, eggs or embryos is different — the changes can be inherited. In the U.S., it’s not allowed except for lab research. China outlaws human cloning but not specifically gene editing. He Jiankui (HEH JEE’-an-qway), who goes by “JK,” studied at Rice and Stanford universities in the U.S. before returning to his homeland to open a lab at Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, where he also has two genetics companies. The university said He’s work “seriously violated academic ethics and standards” and planned to investigate. A spokesman for He confirmed that he has been on leave from teaching since early this year, but he remains on the faculty and has a lab at the school. The U.S. scientist who worked with him on this project after He returned to China was physics and bioengineering professor Michael Deem, who was his adviser at Rice in Houston. Deem also holds what he called “a small stake” in — and is on the scientific advisory boards of — He’s two companies. The Chinese researcher said he practiced editing mice, monkey and human embryos in the lab for several years and has applied for patents on his methods. He said he chose embryo gene editing for HIV because these infections are a big problem in China. He sought to disable a gene called CCR5 that forms a protein doorway that allows HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to enter a cell. All of the men in the project had HIV and all of the women did not, but the gene editing was not aimed at preventing the small risk of transmission, He said. The fathers had their infections deeply suppressed by standard HIV medicines and there are simple ways to keep them from infecting offspring that do not involve altering genes. Instead, the appeal was to offer couples affected by HIV a chance to have a child that might be protected from a similar fate. He recruited couples through a Beijing-based AIDS advocacy group called Baihualin. Its leader, known by the pseudonym “Bai Hua,” told the AP that it’s not uncommon for people with HIV to lose jobs or have trouble getting medical care if their infections are revealed. Here is how He described the work: The gene editing occurred during IVF, or lab dish fertilization. First, sperm was “washed” to separate it from semen, the fluid where HIV can lurk. A single sperm was placed into a single egg to create an embryo. Then the gene editing tool was added. When the embryos were 3 to 5 days old, a few cells were removed and checked for editing. Couples could choose whether to use edited or unedited embryos for pregnancy attempts. In all, 16 of 22 embryos were edited, and 11 embryos were used in six implant attempts before the twin pregnancy was achieved, He said. Tests suggest that one twin had both copies of the intended gene altered and the other twin had just one altered, with no evidence of harm to other genes, He said. People with one copy of the gene can still get HIV, although some very limited research suggests their health might decline more slowly once they do. Several scientists reviewed materials that He provided to the AP and said tests so far are insufficient to say the editing worked or to rule out harm. They also noted evidence that the editing was incomplete and that at least one twin appears to be a patchwork of cells with various changes. “It’s almost like not editing at all” if only some of certain cells were altered, because HIV infection can still occur, Church said. Church and Musunuru questioned the decision to allow one of the embryos to be used in a pregnancy attempt, because the Chinese researchers said they knew in advance that both copies of the intended gene had not been altered. “In that child, there really was almost nothing to be gained in terms of protection against HIV and yet you’re exposing that child to all the unknown safety risks,” Musunuru said. The use of that embryo suggests that the researchers’ “main emphasis was on testing editing rather than avoiding this disease,” Church said. Even if editing worked perfectly, people without normal CCR5 genes face higher risks of getting certain other viruses, such as West Nile, and of dying from the flu. Since there are many ways to prevent HIV infection and it’s very treatable if it occurs, those other medical risks are a concern, Musunuru said. There also are questions about the way He said he proceeded. He gave official notice of his work long after he said he started it — on Nov. 8, on a Chinese registry of clinical trials. It’s unclear whether participants fully understood the purpose and potential risks and benefits. For example, consent forms called the project an “AIDS vaccine development” program. The Rice scientist, Deem, said he was present in China when potential participants gave their consent and that he “absolutely” thinks they were able to understand the risks. Deem said he worked with He on vaccine research at Rice and considers the gene editing similar to a vaccine. “That might be a layman’s way of describing it,” he said. Both men are physics experts with no experience running human clinical trials. The Chinese scientist, He, said he personally made the goals clear and told participants that embryo gene editing has never been tried before and carries risks. He said he also would provide insurance coverage for any children conceived through the project and plans medical follow-up until the children are 18 and longer if they agree once they’re adults. Further pregnancy attempts are on hold until the safety of this one is analyzed and experts in the field weigh in, but participants were not told in advance that they might not have a chance to try what they signed up for once a “first” was achieved, He acknowledged. Free fertility treatment was part of the deal they were offered. He sought and received approval for his project from Shenzhen Harmonicare Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which is not one of the four hospitals that He said provided embryos for his research or the pregnancy attempts. Some staff at some of the other hospitals were kept in the dark about the nature of the research, which He and Deem said was done to keep some participants’ HIV infection from being disclosed. “We think this is ethical,” said Lin Zhitong, a Harmonicare administrator who heads the ethics panel. Any medical staff who handled samples that might contain HIV were aware, He said. An embryologist in He’s lab, Qin Jinzhou, confirmed to the AP that he did sperm washing and injected the gene editing tool in some of the pregnancy attempts. The study participants are not ethicists, He said, but “are as much authorities on what is correct and what is wrong because it’s their life on the line.” “I believe this is going to help the families and their children,” He said. If it causes unwanted side effects or harm, “I would feel the same pain as they do and it’s going to be my own responsibility.” ___ AP science writer Christina Larson, video journalist Emily Wang and researcher Fu Ting contributed to this report from Beijing and Shenzhen, China. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Chinese researcher claims first gene-edited babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f71fb7033b44d45bf405dd1e4b8c558",
            "input": "Doctors at Children’s Hospital in Oakland have said they intend to disconnect Jahi McMath on Monday evening from a ventilator that has been keeping her heart and lungs going since she lost all brain function more than two weeks ago. An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a restraining order last week barring the hospital from removing Jahi - without the consent of her family - from the ventilator before 5 p.m. local time on Monday, December 30. The judge then denied a petition from relatives to extend that deadline, after two pediatric neurologists who had examined Jahi affirmed the hospital’s medical opinion that the girl was brain dead and beyond recovery. Family members, refusing to accept Jahi’s recovery as impossible, have sought to have her moved to a long-term treatment center in New York, and relatives said they had raised $20,000 in donations needed to pay for a cross-country airlift. The hospital said it would not stand in the way of Jahi’s being moved to another facility. But officials there also refused last week to perform additional procedures that might be required, such as doing a tracheotomy and implanting gastric tubes in her body before a transfer. The family’s lawyer, Christopher Dolan, could not be reached for comment on the status of the family’s efforts on Monday. Jahi’s grandmother Sandra Chatman, herself a registered nurse, told reporters outside the hospital in the afternoon that the girl had started to move her legs and appeared to be responding to voices of loved ones around her. “She’s moving and I’m excited,” Chatman said. “I know we’re going to have victory today.”  Asked about whether it were possible for Jahi to be showing any signs of life at this point, Children’s Hospital spokesman Sam Singer said, “It would be wrong and cruel for anyone to suggest that Jahi McMath is alive.” He added, “The sad truth is that nothing could bring her back.”  He also said it was possible that the family members might believe they had observed something that they wanted to see. According to medical experts, Jahi’s lungs and heart are only continuing to function because of air being forced in and out of her body by the ventilator, without which her breathing and heartbeat would cease. Unlike an individual in a coma or a vegetative state, Jahi lacks any brain activity whatsoever, rendering her unable to breathe on her own, doctors said. Jahi was admitted to the hospital on December 9 for surgery to remove her tonsils as a means of treating her sleep apnea. Shortly after the procedure, she began to bleed severely, suffered a heart attack and brain swelling, Dolan said. Hospital officials declared her brain dead on December 12.",
            "output": [
                "California brain-dead girl nears deadline for ventilator."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3198ad7c02b0433886cf69ffa91b7f44",
            "input": "\"Coronavirus infections are on the rise in Texas, with some areas experiencing a more dramatic increase than others. In Central Texas, Austin and its surrounding counties have reported an increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations. Hays County, which sits to the south of Austin, has been hit particularly hard. On June 19, the county reported more active cases than Austin’s Travis County — a remarkable feat considering that Travis County’s population is five times that of Hays County. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat whose district includes parts of both counties, shared two tweets about the Austin area, including one highlighting the impact of the virus in Hays County. \"\"Hays County is one of the only places in Texas with more trouble: an incredible 845% increase in cases since June 7,\"\" he wrote. There’s no question Hays County has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, but is Doggett’s figure accurate? Hays County increase tied to activities In response to a question from PolitiFact Texas, Hays County spokeswoman Kim Hilsenbeck shared a press release outlining the impact of the coronavirus in the county since the onset of the pandemic. During April and early May — when local and statewide orders to stay at home were in place — the number of new daily cases in the county ranged from zero to ten. In late April, Gov. Greg Abbott initiated the first phase of a plan to reopen the state’s economy and allowed the statewide stay-at-home order to expire. He also allowed restaurants, retail stores, malls and movie theaters to reopen at limited capacity. In subsequent phases, Abbott allowed barbershops and salons to reopen with limited capacity and other restrictions. He also allowed rivers, parks and other natural areas to reopen. County health officials said they believe the gradual reopening of businesses might have contributed to an increase in COVID-19 cases. \"\"Through contact tracing, our health department staff were able to see the rapid increase in COVID-19 totals seemed to coincide with activities such as working at or going to restaurants and bars, activities such as floating the river, and attending large public gatherings,\"\" the release reads. Hilsenbeck also highlighted Mothers Day (May 10), Memorial Day (May 25) and protests against racism and police brutality as significant events in May. By the end of May and early June, the number of new cases in the county started to rise. On May 27 there were 18 new cases. On June 8, there were 43 new cases. More recently, the number of new daily cases in Hays County has ranged from 100 to 200. In April and May, the majority of new cases in the county were primarily in Kyle among people older than 30 who were Hispanic. But since early June, the group experiencing the largest increase in new COVID-19 cases is 20 to 29-year-olds in San Marcos. The number of people who identified as Hispanic has decreased. \"\"While not all 20-29-year-olds are college students, San Marcos has a large student population because of Texas State University, many of whom are now back in town following a period of virtual learning throughout the spring,\"\" the release reads. Examining data on new cases Doggett spokeswoman Kate Stotesbery said the figure he shared came from a graph published by an Austin-area television station. The graph shows the number of new coronavirus cases that have been reported each day in Hays County since April, plus a line showing the 14-day average of daily new cases. An arrow pointing upwards is overlaid on the graphic, with text on top that reads: \"\"845% 14-day average since June 7.\"\" But Doggett’s remark on Twitter is missing that detail — that there has been an 845% increase in the 14-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the county since June 7. The increase in the actual number of cases is much higher. On June 7, the cumulative number of cases in the county was 385 and the number of new daily cases had been fluctuating. There were 24 new cases on June 2, 14 new cases on June 4 and zero new cases on June 7. By June 21, the cumulative count of cases in Hays County was 1,608, with 57 new cases reported that day. Looking at the 14-day average of new cases, it was 8 on June 7 and 87 on June 21. But the 7-day average is a more commonly used measurement by government agencies and news outlets to assess changes in the number of new cases in the area. The change in that figure during this period is substantially higher. Using weekly averages instead of daily tallies offers a more accurate picture of change over time, as it reduces the impact of daily spikes. From June 7 to June 21, Hays County experienced a roughly 1,569% increase in the 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases — from 8 cases on June 7 to 134 on June 21. Our ruling Doggett said that Hays County had experienced \"\"an incredible 845% increase in cases since June 7.\"\" Doggett was actually speaking about an increase in the 14-day average of new COVID-19 cases — a less common measurement of the increase in COVID-19 cases in an area — but his figure is accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "Hays County in Central Texas has seen an “incredible 845% increase in (COVID-19) cases since June 7.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3442ff8229f143ac92a5f1153d99427d",
            "input": "The new rules, which have been opened to the public for consultation, will involve the establishment of a comprehensive “management system” covering the production, sale, utilization and recycling of thin plastic film in the countryside. Chinese farmers, mostly in the arid north and west, cover fields with vast amounts of “plastic mulch” to help maintain soil moisture and protect against pests. The technique has played an important role in boosting yields and raising the quality of crops, the agriculture ministry said in a notice. “But because of excessive use and inadequate recycling, agricultural-use plastic film pollution in some regions has been getting worse and worse, and it has already become a major environmental problem holding back the green development of agriculture,” the ministry said. In areas of northwest China that made use of plastic mulch, contamination rates stood at an average of 36 kilograms per hectare, with the figure as high as 138 kilograms in some regions, it said. The new rules would force farmers to use only film that meets quality standards, and they must also collect plastic waste from fields before its expiry date and deliver to approved recycling outlets. They will also be encouraged to reuse old film. China is said to use about 2 million tonnes of plastic film every year to cover around 200,000 square kilometers of farmland, an area the size of Belarus. But government researchers say the recycling rate stands at just 180,000 tonnes. If uncollected, the plastic waste eventually degrades the soil and could also infiltrate crops, with one parliamentary delegate from Shandong warning in March that some of the province’s exports of ginger and spinach had been contaminated. Beijing is aiming to make around 90% of its total farmland safe for agriculture by the end of next year, part of its efforts to guarantee food security.",
            "output": [
                "China drafts new rules to control rural plastic pollution."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c644757ab0794a3b861d7488a2a21f3b",
            "input": "Dr. Arieh Eldad is a medical doctor specializing in plastic surgery in Israel, and he told of the young burn patient turned suicide bomber in a 2008 interview with the New English Review. Interviewer Jerry Gordon prompted Dr. Eldad to recount a story of the Palestinian burn patient turned suicide bomber after receiving skin transplants from Eldad and others at Beersheba Hospital. Eldad’s response has since been encapsulated in forwarded emails and posts about the would-be Palestinian suicide bomber: I was instrumental in establishing the Israeli National Skin Bank, which is the largest in the world. The National Skin Bank stores skin for every day needs as well as for war time or mass casualty situations. This skin bank is hosted at the Hadassah Ein Kerem University hospital in Jerusalem where I was the chairman of plastic surgery. This is how I was asked to supply skin for an Arab woman from Gaza, who was hospitalized in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba after her family burned her. Usually, such atrocities happen among Arab families when the women are suspected of having an affair. We supplied all the needed Homografts for her treatment. She was successfully treated by my friend and colleague Prof. Lior Rosenberg, and discharged to return to Gaza. She was invited for regular follow up visits to the outpatient clinic in Beersheba. One day she was caught at a border crossing wearing a suicide belt. She meant to explode herself in the outpatient clinic of the hospital where they saved her life. It seems that her family promised her that if she did that, they would forgive her. This is only one example of the war between Jews and Muslims in the Land of Israel. It is not a territorial conflict. This is a civilizational conflict. Dr. Eldad’s account of the Palestinian burn patient turned suicide bomber has since been widely circulated in blog posts and discussion forums. We can confirm it’s authenticity based on the transcript of his 2008 interview. This story was original posted 09/14/13, and it was updated 3/1/17 to provide a more thorough accounting Comments",
            "output": [
                " A forwarded email tells the story of a young Palestinian burn patient who was caught entering Israel wearing a suicide belt with plans to blow up the doctors who saved her life. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-57d348012fbd4990a107b1d92b46df70",
            "input": "Central Connecticut State University President Zulma Toro in a message to the campus community said the state Department of Public Health on Monday confirmed meningitis and is now working to determine the subtype. The Health Department said it was an isolated case and not an outbreak. The infection is spread by close, person-to-person contact. Campus health officials have been in touch with all students who have had close contact with the sick student and they are being given preventative treatment. Most people recover from meningitis but it can be fatal. It can also cause permanent disabilities including brain damage and hearing loss. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, and light sensitivity.",
            "output": [
                "Student at Connecticut university diagnosed with meningitis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af239fd054ed4f1f86a40f3d51d36495",
            "input": "U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced the suspension against Oak Hill Hometown Pharmacy on Thursday. Stuart says the pharmacy filled about 2,000 prescriptions for a widely-abused drug called Subutex over a three-year period despite red flags that the pills were being misused. He says more than half of the prescriptions came from an out-of-state clinic and that almost all prescriptions were paid for in cash. Stuart says the pharmacy constitutes an “imminent danger to the public health or safety.” The Drug Enforcement Administration says Subutex is used to treat opioid addiction but has gained popularity as a drug of abuse. A phone call to the Oak Hill Hometown Pharmacy rang unanswered Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "Feds: Pharmacy ignored red flags when filling prescriptions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98ccaead19c149eb83e7edca9bb87c17",
            "input": "People who were at those locations and nearby areas on April 27 may be at risk of developing the highly contagious disease for up to 21 days. Authorities say there is no current risk of exposure at those locations. Health officials have been dealing with a small outbreak of measles as well as cases among travelers passing through. So far, a large-scale outbreak has been avoided. The Department of Public Health is urging people to be vaccinated against measles, especially if they are traveling internationally.",
            "output": [
                "Person with measles visited popular LA tourist spots."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0ef1c12d1cd4e269c821ab5b6d6de17",
            "input": "Eighteen people who became ill attended the private function Nov. 24 at the Puritan Backroom conference center in Manchester, the state Department of Health and Human Services said. The person who later died was an adult from Hillsborough County. No other details were issued about the person, in accordance with federal and state privacy laws. The state medical examiner’s office completed its final report Tuesday after conducting an autopsy last month. The restaurant is co-owned by U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas. It has been in his family for more than a century and is a frequent stop for presidential candidates of both parties. The manager of the Puritan Backroom said recently that the restaurant’s top priorities are promoting health and excellent food safety and that he was confident it was doing everything possible to maintain those practices. After the outbreak, the Manchester Health Department conducted an inspection of the restaurant. Officials determined there was no ongoing norovirus risk to the public. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.",
            "output": [
                "Officials: Norovirus contributed to restaurant patron death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f433f71619694c31b24c32dfac67d264",
            "input": "Faced with that grim projection and the possibility even more could die in the U.S. without measures to keep people away from one another, President Donald Trump extended federal guidelines recommending people stay home for another 30 days until the end of April to prevent the spread of the virus. Trump’s extension of the original 15-day guidelines was a stark reversal just days after he said he hoped the economy could restart in about two weeks and came after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the dire prediction of fatalities, adding that millions in the U.S. could become infected. “We want to make sure that we don’t prematurely think we’re doing so great,” Fauci said of the extension of the federal guidelines. By Sunday night, the U.S. had over 140,000 infections and 2,400 deaths, according to the running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, though the true number of cases is thought to be considerably higher because of testing shortages and mild illnesses that have gone unreported. Worldwide, more than 720,000 people have been infected and nearly 34,000 have died, almost half of them in Italy and Spain, where the health system is at the breaking point. New York state — where the death toll passed 1,000 — remained the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with the vast majority of the deaths in New York City. But infections were spiking not only in cities but in Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens. West Virginia reported its first death, leaving only two states — Hawaii and Wyoming — with none linked to COVID-19. The virus is moving fast through nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other places that house elderly or otherwise vulnerable people, spreading “like fire through dry grass,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Since the first major outbreak in the U.S. — at a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington — similar facilities around the country have battled infections among residents and staff. A week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 147 nursing homes in 27 states had patients with COVID-19. The problem has only worsened since. In Woodbridge, New Jersey, a nursing home relocated all of its residents after two dozen were confirmed infected and the rest were presumed to be. In Louisiana, at least 11 nursing homes, largely in the New Orleans area, have reported cases. In Mount Airy, Maryland, a death linked to the virus was recorded in a home where 66 people were confirmed infected. The Tennessee governor’s office said a nursing home there had about 60 residents and 33 workers confirmed positive. Residents’ loved ones are being kept away to try to slow the spread. Willa Robinson, whose husband, Vernon, died Thursday, said she last saw him healthy on March 13 — the day before his nursing home in Burbank, California, prohibited visitors. She brought him his favorite meal of baked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and carrots and left with their customary farewell. “I love you,” she told him. “I love you more,” he replied. She sat outside his hospital room days ago and watched through a glass window as he struggled to breathe. Now she must mourn her husband of 55 years in isolation. “Nobody can come to me,” she said. Others feared they may get no goodbye. “I have a feeling that I very likely may never see my mother again,” said James Preller, whose 94-year-old mother, Ann Preller, is a resident at Peconic Landing, a retirement community on New York’s Long Island where seven have died recently. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and can be fatal. In New York, the virus is overwhelming some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, with data showing high rates of infection in densely packed areas with big non-English-speaking populations. Dr. Craig Smith, who heads the surgery department at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, said the hospital will probably be forced into “apocalyptic scenarios” in the coming weeks in which ventilators and intensive care unit beds will need to be rationed. Trump spoke of the haunting images he had seen on television this week of bodies being removed from Elmhurst Hospital in his native Queens and put in large refrigerated trucks. “Body bags all over, in hallways,” Trump said. “I’ve seen things that I’ve never seen before.” New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio asked the federal government to deliver 400 more ventilators and warned that the city will run out of masks, gowns and other supplies in a week if they don’t get reinforcements. Worry for the poorest was being echoed around the world. In India, a lockdown covering the country’s 1.3 billion people has put day laborers out of work and families struggling to eat. With no jobs, those living in the country’s crowded cities are walking back to their native villages. Women in saris held babies on their hips. Others toted their belongings in bags normally used for cement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologized for the hardships but said, “These tough measures were needed to win this battle.” Though the U.S. has the most reported cases, five countries have higher death tolls: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France. Italy reported more than 750 new fatalities Sunday, raising its total to nearly 10,800. But the number of new infections showed signs of easing, with officials expressing cautious optimism that the most severe shutdown in the industrialized West is showing results. Italy’s civil protection agency said more than 5,200 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, the lowest number in four days, for a total of almost 98,000 infections. Spain moved to tighten its lockdown and ban all nonessential work as it hit another daily record of almost 840 dead. The country’s overall official toll was more than 6,500. Egypt shut its beaches as cases in the Mideast surpassed 50,000. Police in the Philippines stepped up arrests of quarantine violators, and more tourists were evacuated from Mount Everest and the Indonesian island of Bali. Russia ordered borders to close on Monday, Moscow all but confined its 12 million residents to their homes, and the head of the Russian Orthodox called on believers to stay away from churches and pray at home instead. A prominent French politician with the virus died, the country’s first death of a senior official. Restrictions that would have been unthinkable weeks ago have been imposed in Europe and elsewhere. Parisians are fined if they try to leave the city, South Africans can’t buy liquor, and Serbians are upset over a ban on walking their dogs. In Italy, burials are being held with only one family member. As others tightened controls, China continued to ease its restrictions: Flights from Hubei province at the epicenter of the country’s outbreak resumed Sunday. The focus of China’s prevention measures has shifted to overseas arrivals, who have made up the bulk of new infections for more than two weeks. Virtually all foreigners are now barred from entering the country. ___ Sedensky reported from Philadelphia. Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Joseph Wilson in Madrid; Colleen Barry in Milan; Angela Charlton in Paris; Joe McDonald in Beijing; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Vanessa Gera in Warsaw; Jacquelyn Martin in Mount Airy, Maryland; Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina; and Marina Villeneuve in Albany, New York. ___ This story has been updated to correct that Hawaii and Wyoming are the only remaining states with no reported deaths linked to the coronavirus, not Hawaii and Montana. ___ Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak  and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "As virus makes goodbyes hard, fears of many more rise in US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33923ba155344ce689c40e9115b9e19e",
            "input": "Home to the two largest ports in the country in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California has roughly 1.5 million medium and heavy duty trucks on the road that spew harmful pollutants as they haul freight to warehouses. The state’s transportation sector accounts for 41% of all greenhouse gas emissions, a cause of climate change, and is a major source of ozone and particulate matter pollution that can cause respiratory problems. Regulators estimate the new rules would result in roughly 74,000 zero emission trucks on the road in California by 2030, or about 4% of all trucks. California already has a rule requiring car makers to offer for sale specific numbers of clean cars. But Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, said the truck rule would be the first of its kind in the world. The board considered the new rule in a public hearing on Thursday that drew more than 100 public comments. The board won’t vote on the proposal until next year. But Thursday was the last chance for advocates and opponents to weigh-in. “Trucks are increasingly a major contributor to air pollution nationwide, but especially in our cities where they are among the largest sources of toxic emissions in vulnerable neighborhoods,” Nichols said. If adopted, at least 15% of sales of heavy duty pickup trucks like the Ford F-250 and full size vans like the Chevrolet Express must be zero emission vehicles by 2030. That standard also applies to the heaviest trucks, including tractor trailers. The standard is tougher for box trucks and delivery trucks, mandating at least half of all new sales be zero-emission vehicles by 2030. The rules are part of the state’s plan to have 100% zero emission truck sales by 2040. By then, state regulators say the phased-in limits could prevent more than 600 premature deaths due to poor air quality in California. Sales requirements for the heaviest trucks would begin in 2024 and gradually increase until 2030. Sales requirements for pickup trucks would not begin until 2027. The proposed rules continue California’s aggressive push on environmental regulations, which already include tougher emission standards on cars and trucks than the federal government imposes and a first-in-the-nation cap-and-trade system that requires big polluters to purchase credits to let them pollute. Most environmental groups support the rule, but they say it is not strong enough. Trucks last longer than passenger vehicles, which is why companies are slower to replace their fleets. While the rules would impact up to 50% of some new truck sales by 2030, it would only result in about 4% of trucks on the road being zero emission vehicles. Andrea Vidaurre, policy analyst for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, said these types of trucks historically are clustered in poorer communities. That includes communities in the Inland Empire, an area next to Los Angeles where warehouses store freight from ports. The group says low-income communities can be most impacted environmental health hazards. “We have so much traffic going in right now just in this area, and the rule currently, it would barely cover it,” she said. Jed Mandel, president of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, said he supports efforts to get more zero-emission trucks on the road. But he said making rules “on a naked sales mandate is fundamentally flawed.” “Trucks are not cars. Our customers invest capital to purchase vehicles that must return a profit,” Mandel said. “We all know today that (zero emission vehicles) are more expensive than traditionally fueled vehicles.” Mandel said California regulators should narrow the rule to apply to trucking segments that are “more readily suited to that technology,” including school buses and municipal fleet step vans.",
            "output": [
                "California considers requiring zero emission truck sales."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-989cc0c815b746dfb2dd3285b4993568",
            "input": "Social media users and officials in a small southern California city condemned photographs spreading online showing an unidentified man shopping in public while wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood as a “face mask” during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.The man was first spotted and photographed at a Vons supermarket in Santee, California on May 2 2020.“Several employees came over together and told the man to either remove the hood or he would have to leave, so he removed the hood,” said Tiam Tellez, who posted his photos of the man on Facebook. “So troublesome in so many ways this is still happening in Santee at Vons. Disgusting!”Tellez’s post was shared 449 times within 24 hours of going live. But within a day of the incident, photos spread on both Facebook and Twitter after being shared by others — including Tammy Gillies, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) San Diego office.“Don’t know which angers me more – the person wearing this or the fact that no one in management [for] @Vons Santee did anything about it,” she wrote. “@ADL_SD⁩ would be happy to educate your team. San Diego is #NoPlaceForHate.”Don’t know which angers me more – the person wearing this or the fact that no one in management @Vons Santee did anything about it. ⁦@ADL_SD⁩ would be happy to educate your team. San Diego is #NoPlaceForHate pic.twitter.com/jMOzQqpcoi— Tammy Gillies (@tgilliesADL) May 3, 2020The story further spread to local media outlets, with other witnesses to the man’s racist display coming forward.“He was behind me in line. Standing quietly,” one woman told the Times of San Diego. “A man in a wheelchair [went] past and saluted him and he laughed. I took the photo because I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. I’ve grown up in Santee and have never seen such racism right before my eyes.”The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement at the time that it had “been made aware” of the incident but that deputies were not called to the store while the man was there.“Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department are looking into the matter and will pursue any appropriate criminal charges,” the department said. “The Sheriff’s Department does not condone hate or any acts of intolerance in our communities. We are a county that is welcoming of people from all backgrounds.”According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, though, the department later said that it would not pursue charges against the man citing “insufficient evidence.”Located in the eastern part of San Diego County, Santee has been derisively nicknamed “Klantee” by other San Diego residents. At least eight white supremacist groups are reportedly still active in the San Diego area, and local white nationalist figure Roger Ogden was identified as the organizer of an event protesting measures seeking to limit the spread of COVID-19 using “freedom” as a pretext. The demonstrations, largely organized via Facebook, have largely attracted white nationalist groups, who have taken the opportunity to spread anti-Semitic and Nazi-related rhetoric.Mayor John Minto released a joint statement with the Santee City Council condemning the unidentified Vons shopper’s behavior.“Many thanks to all who stepped forward to curtail this sad reminder of intolerance,” the statement read. “Santee, its leaders, and I will not tolerate such behavior. Santee and its citizens are great, and this particular individual’s actions are not representative of us as a people and a wonderful city.”Albertsons, the parent company for the Vons chain, also released a statement:At Vons, fostering an environment of courtesy, dignity and respect is one of our highest priorities, and we work hard to hold everyone in our stores to these standards, including customers.Unfortunately, an alarming and isolated incident occurred at our Vons store in Santee, where a customer chose an inflammatory method of wearing a face covering. Needless to say, it was shocking.Several members of our team asked the customer to remove it, and all requests were ignored until the customer was in the checkout area. This was a disturbing incident for our associates and customers, and we are reviewing with our team how to best handle such inappropriate situations in the future.A second man, identified as Dustin Hart, posted video online of himself shopping in a Food 4 Less store in the same community wearing a mask bearing the Nazi swastika symbol on May 7, 2020. Hart has claimed that he wore the symbol to “peaceful protest” stay-at-home measures implemented by Gov. Gavin Newsom. He refused to remove the mask when asked about it by both authorities and store personnel. The Sheriff’s Department is also investigating that incident.During its meeting on May 13, 2020 the city council voted to address the two incidents by allowing Minto to nominate more people to a separate group, the Community Oriented Policing Committee (COMPOP). The mayor said he planned to nominate at least one Black member as well as a member of the ADL. Video of the meeting can be found here.In both late December 2019 and February 2020, our own staff members repeatedly found copies of the Epoch Times publication displayed alongside actual newspapers in at least two different Vons stores in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. The publication has been banned from buying advertising on Facebook due to its penchant for spreading disinformation.We have contacted Albertsons seeking further comment.Update, May 4 2020, 12:55 p.m. PST: Updated with comments from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Update, May 15 2020, 3:40 p.m. PST: Updated with notes on a second racist display in Santee, as well as the response from the Santee City Council.Comments",
            "output": [
                "An unidentified man was seen shopping at a Vons supermarket in Santee, California, while wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46ff254c3d1c424e86b45584effdb651",
            "input": "The nation saw one of the worst flu outbreaks in nearly a decade during the 2017-2018 season, with more than 900,000 cases of hospitalizations and over 80,000 deaths, the CDC estimates here  Between Oct. 1, 2018 and Jan. 5, 2019, about 6 million to 7 million people were reported to have contracted the flu, according to data collected by the health agency. Health regulators have been trying to combat flu outbreaks in the United States and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first new flu medication in nearly two decades last year. The CDC last month signaled the start of the flu season (click here), saying that 24 states and Guam were reporting widespread cases, with the H1N1 virus being the predominant strain. The dominant flu strain during the last season, H3N2, has been linked with severe disease and death, particularly among children and the elderly. The agency continues to recommend vaccination as the best way to reduce the risk of flu and advised people who are at high risk category to approach hospital for treatment with a flu antiviral drug.",
            "output": [
                "Up to 84,000 Americans hospitalized with flu in past three months: CDC."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c2aaec0e28d4a93afea29c226d7950b",
            "input": "The Agency for Health Care Administration banned Floridian Gardens Assisted Living Facility from taking new patients Friday, citing “an immediate serious danger to the public health, safety or welfare” at the Miami facility. The Miami Herald reports a survey uncovered at least two deaths and multiple falls due to “deficient practices.” The facility is owned by the same people that operated the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills. Regulators tried to shut down Floridian Gardens after the Hollywood deaths. A criminal investigation is ongoing into the deaths at the Hollywood facility. A telephone message could not be left Saturday and an email to the facility was not immediately returned. ___ Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com",
            "output": [
                "Admissions ban on Florida nursing home tied to Irma deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f3dd28d086c445aa22bf7bac50b094e",
            "input": "Authorities are hoping large-scale manufacturers can use their low-cost supply chains and digital design expertise, including 3D printing, and repurpose some factories in order to make up the expected shortfall in vital medical hardware. Some of Britain’s biggest aerospace and car companies have formed three teams to produce basic ventilators to help the country’s National Health Service cope with the coronavirus outbreak. Meggitt Plc, which builds components including oxygen systems for civil aerospace and military fighter programs, is leading one consortium alongside engineers GKN, Thales SA and Renishaw Plc. The other two teams are being led by carmakers McLaren, which is looking at how to design a simple version of a ventilator, and Nissan Motor Co, which is working with others to support existing ventilator producers. Ventilators, machines which move air in and out of the lungs, could be the difference between life and death for coronavirus patients suffering breathing difficulties. But getting new production up to speed will not be easy, some in the manufacturing industry said. “Precision milling and 3D printing techniques could help manufacture complex parts,” said Rene-Christopher Wollmann, program and platform director at Automobili Pininfarina, which uses virtual design software to build electric hypercars. “But this depends on how much know-how existing manufacturers (of ventilators) are prepared to share about the design of such a machine,” he added. “Another bottleneck will be assembling such machines under conditions which are adequate for the medical industry.”   The idea of using automakers to supply medical equipment got started in China, where electric car maker BYD earlier this month began turning out 5 million face masks and 300,000 bottles of hand sanitizer a day. The Shenzhen-based automaker is backed by U.S. investor Warren Buffett. Since then the idea has spread to other industries and countries. European aerospace group Airbus is working across its processes to see if its 3D printing or production facilities can be of use. “The aim is for there to be a (ventilator) prototype in two weeks and for manufacturing to start in four weeks,” one person familiar with the situation at the company said. In northern Italy, the epicenter of the virus outbreak outside China, Italian carmakers Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are in talks with the nation’s biggest ventilator manufacturer to help it boost production, company officials said on Thursday. The Italian government has embarked on a big expansion of intensive care beds, many of which will require ventilators. A source familiar with the matter said sports car maker Ferrari NV would be ready to start manufacturing ventilator parts in its famous Maranello headquarters, close to a ventilator factory operated by small medical equipment maker Siare Engineering. The luxury carmaker had yet to make a final decision. “We’re talking to Fiat Chrysler, with Ferrari and (component maker) Marelli to try to understand if they can lend us a hand in this process for the electronics part,” Siare Engineering Chief Executive Gianluca Preziosa told Reuters. Siare could also benefit from the automakers’ purchasing power, Preziosa said. A spokesman for Exor NV, parent firm of both Fiat Chrysler and Ferrari, said meetings had taken place on Thursday with Siare to study the feasibility of the idea and that a decision was expected shortly. The spokesman said two main options were being considered: help Siare to engineer a capacity increase at its plant with the support of technicians provided by Fiat Chrysler and Ferrari; or outsource production of ventilator parts to the carmakers’ facilities. In the United States, the federal government is in talks with Detroit auto giants General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co about how they can help expand ventilator production, the companies and White House officials said on Wednesday. It would not be the first time Detroit retooled auto plants to confront a national crisis. During World War Two Ford, GM and the former Chrysler stopped building cars and directed their factories and engineers to mass-produce airplanes, tanks and other weaponry at unprecedented levels, earning Detroit the nickname the “Arsenal of Democracy.”  On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would invoke the Defense Production Act, a law dating back to the Korean War of the 1950s which grants the president broad authority to “expedite and expand the supply of resources from the U.S. industrial base,” which could allow the government to speed production of masks, respirators, ventilators and other needed equipment. Ford CEO Jim Hackett told employees in a town hall meeting that Ford is working on building ventilators if the idea is feasible. GM CEO Mary Barra spoke to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow about the issue after the company announced it would suspend North American production through March 30. Separately, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used his Twitter account to offer his company’s services. “We will make ventilators if there is a shortage,” Musk tweeted, responding to a suggestion that the billionaire repurpose a factory for the task. The comment immediately drew hundreds of replies urging him to act.",
            "output": [
                "World's governments draft manufacturers for virus treatment arsenal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-852e1380f8234bddb96f5efbef8f1346",
            "input": "The Department of Homeland Security said it would issue the sixth waiver of Donald Trump’s presidency under a 2005 law that empowers the secretary to waive reviews required under environmental laws if the border barrier is deemed to be in national security interests. Those laws include the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act. The waiver, which was announced Thursday and published Friday in the Federal Register, helps clear the way for work to begin this month on replacing a second layer of barrier in San Diego, a steel-mesh wall that worked like a fortress when it was built about a decade ago but is now often breached with powerful battery-operated saws sold in home improvement stores. The waivers avoid time-consuming reviews and lawsuits challenging violation of environmental laws. The government awarded a $101 million contract to SLSCO Ltd. of Galveston, Texas, to build a barrier of 30-feet-high steel bollards, with options for an additional $30 million. Work is scheduled to begin this month. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a public notice that the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector is “an area of high illegal entry,” with more than 38,000 arrests and seizures of more than 4 tons (3,600 kilograms) of marijuana and 1,800 pounds (816 kilograms) of cocaine in the 2018 fiscal year. San Diego was the third busiest corridor for illegal crossings among the Border Patrol’s nine sectors along the Mexican border in 2018 after Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and Tucson, Arizona. Work on replacing the first layer of San Diego barrier is nearly complete, also 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) long and made of steel bollards up to 30 feet (9 meters) high. Environmental groups criticized the latest waiver. “Trump is ignoring laws that protect public health and endangered wildlife so he can fulfill a hateful campaign promise,” said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Communities and ecosystems along the border are being upended by this militarization, but Border Patrol won’t even give residents the decency of a public hearing. This is the definition of lawlessness.” President George W. Bush’s administration issued five waivers, paving the way for barriers to blanket about one-third of the border with Mexico. Barack Obama’s administration didn’t issue any waivers.",
            "output": [
                "US to waive environmental reviews for San Diego border wall."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4f8ef35dec2c4d7bafd2f24b7b91e9ef",
            "input": "The company initially recalled nine lots of multi-dose  vials of the blood thinner in mid-January after a higher than  usual number of reports of adverse patient reactions. Baxter suspended production of multi-dose vials of the drug  earlier this month while officials search for the cause of four  deaths and hundreds of health problems reported in patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has admitted it never  inspected a Chinese plant that supplies an active ingredient  for Baxter’s heparin before approving it because it mixed up  the name with that of another company. FDA officials have said it is unclear if the Chinese site  is linked to the potential reactions, which include breathing  difficulty, vomiting and rapid drops in blood pressure. The agency previously said it planned to start an  inspection last week of the plant in Changzhou, China, which is  owned by Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC  (SPL). FDA officials have said it is agency policy to inspect all  manufacturing sites before granting a drug approval and that  the heparin plant mix-up was an isolated case. “We have assurance from the U.S. Food and Drug  Administration that there is an adequate supply in the market  to meet the demand for these critical and lifesaving drugs,”  Peter Arduini, president of Baxter’s medication delivery  business, said in a statement. Baxter said its recall does not involve heparin premixed  intravenous solutions in bags.",
            "output": [
                "Baxter recalls remaining heparin vial products."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-994e3314c8da40d4b48684667728b75e",
            "input": "That’s a 2% increase over the 608 reported in the 2016 report. The federal Clean Water Act requires states to compile a report every two years. The 622 water body segments on this year’s list had 831 impairments up from 818 in the previous report, DNR officials said. An impairment means a segment of a water body doesn’t meet established quality standards. It doesn’t mean a river or lake is highly polluted, said Roger Bruner, supervisor of the DNR water monitoring and assessment program. He characterized most impairments on the list as “fairly minor” and said people still use impaired rivers and lakes for everyday recreation without impact. “An impairment can be thought of like you going to the doctor and finding out you have elevated cholesterol. It doesn’t mean you’re going to die but means you should be aware of it and work toward improving that,” he said. The most common river impairments in Iowa include the presence of bacteria and fish kills, for which the most common cause is animal waste. Iowa, with more pigs and egg-laying chickens than any other state, constantly struggles to balance water quality interests with those of the powerful agriculture industry which resists mandatory measures to control water contamination. The state’s current agriculture policy pertaining to water quality is primarily a voluntary nutrient reduction effort in which farmers may choose to implement practices that reduce erosion and farm runoff. The most severe problem for lakes is algae growth, often the result of nutrients such as phosphorous from fertilizer washing from corn fields. Iowa also leads the nation in corn production. Environmental activists Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement said the new report is evidence that the state isn’t doing enough to improving water quality. “This is one more sign that the state’s nutrient reduction strategy is a complete failure. The report fails to differentiate the magnitude of impairments in many of Iowa’s waterways. But the reality is that any impairment is unacceptable.” said Cherie Mortice, retired teacher and Iowa CCI member from Des Moines. The group and Food & Water Watch filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging that the state has violated its public trust obligation to protect the Raccoon River by failing to limit the pollution running off industrial agriculture operations. The 31-mile tributary of the Des Moines River is a primary source of drinking water for about 500,000 central Iowa customers of Des Moines Water Works. The lawsuit, which asks the court to order the state to adopt a mandatory clean water plan and moratorium on new hog farms, is currently before the Iowa Supreme Court on an appeal. A spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture said there are water quality improvement projects happening all over the state. “We remain focused on working alongside Iowa State University, DNR and more than 320 private partners to make a measureable impact on Iowa’s water quality,” spokeswoman Keely Coppess said in a statement. Three segments of the Raccoon River are on the impairment list for bacteria presence, fish kills caused by fertilizer and low fish count. Sixteen segments of the Des Moines River are on the list for fish kills, presence of E. coli bacteria or limits placed on fish consumption due to mercury content. ___ Follow David Pitt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/davepitt",
            "output": [
                "Iowa reports 622 impaired water segments, a 2% increase."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2bb36012ee064fcab378f3ae4cfcc619",
            "input": "\"Given the controversies about the benefit of testosterone replacement treatment in andropausal men, the costs of care are an important consideration. Testosterone replacement therapies can range from $10 to $300 a month not including testing and physician visits. This story notes that testosterone has inconsistent effects on sexual function, the primary reason men seek out this type of treatment. Other potential benefits of testosterone therapy are listed as improved muscle mass, increased bone density, decreased body fat and total cholesterol, and improved blood sugar metabolism. As with the harms, this story never provides statistical data on how often these benefits occur and how big a benefit can be expected. However, we’re not sure these numbers with would have been helpful, since the benefits are reflected in some fairly arcane scales (e.g. the \"\"libido scale,\"\" \"\"subjective vitality scale,\"\" etc.) that would be difficult to describe in a relatively brief piece like this. Does a 20% increase in the libido scale number mean anything to anyone other than researchers? We think the piece satisfies the spirit of the criterion and offers enough detail for a satisfactory grade. The story notes that a recent study was halted because of an unexpectedly high rate of cardiac problems in the testosterone group. It also mentions the possibility that testosterone therapy can result in thickening of the blood and may increase the risk of prostate cancer. The story isn’t precise about how often these harms occur, and it also didn’t mention some of the \"\"minor\"\" side effects associated with testosterone use, including acne, hair loss on the scalp, hair growth on the face, increased breast size, and testicular atrophy. A close one here. Overall, we felt the story called appropriate attention to the harms and did not try to minimize them — enough to earn a satisfactory. The point of this article is to call attention to the conflicting evidence on testosterone therapy, a goal which it  achieves in the process of satisfying this criterion. Some high points include: We wish the story had been a bit more thorough in its discussion of a large European study that found that \"\"limited physical vigor\"\" and sexual symptoms were linked to low levels of testosterone. Elsewhere in the story we learn about the perils of relying too heavily on observational studies to guide treatment decisions. The article should have noted that this was an observational study which could not establish whether low testosterone or some other factor was responsible for these individuals’ symptoms. The concept of male \"\"andropause\"\" bears many of the hallmarks of disease-mongering. Low testosterone is common in aging men and has never been conclusively shown to cause the symptoms — such as low sexual desire and erectile dysfunction — that are typically attributed to it. So offering treatment for this \"\"condition\"\" can be seen as an unwarranted medicalization of the normal aging process. This article edges toward the line when it suggests that men being treated in one study had experienced \"\"a decrease in energy, mood, vitality and sexuality as result of low testosterone levels.\"\" The evidence linking these symptoms to low testosterone levels comes from observational studies that cannot prove cause and effect. And many studies show that such non-specific symptoms can be caused by chronic diseases, such heart disease and diabetes, which are also common in aging men with low testosterone. These chronic diseases can also cause testosterone levels to decrease. This doesn’t mean that low testosterone is responsible for the symptoms, or that testosterone therapy will alleviate them. This questionable assertion notwithstanding, the article overall does a good job of presenting conflicting evidence on the subject. Elsewhere in the story it is noted that sexual performance and desire are not reliably linked to testosterone levels. And the story notes that any parallel to menopause — a comparison often made by supporters of testosterone therapy — is tenuous at best, since the hormone decline experienced by men is far more gradual and the symptoms are less disruptive. Although one source, Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, is identified as the author of a book which promotes testosterone therapy, the story does not disclose, as indicated in these recent CME conference materials, that Dr. Morgentaler also receives grant funding and is on the speaker’s bureau of companies which manufacture testosterone products. To avoid the appearance of any potential conflict, the story should have alerted readers to these relationships. The article could have mentioned  lifestyle changes, such as getting more exercise and quitting smoking, that may improve libido, combat fatigue, and increase sexual function. But since there’s not much evidence that these or other approaches are effective, we don’t think the article should be dinged for failing to mention them. We’ll rule it Not Applicable in this case. The study notes that testosterone therapy is available in the U.S. as an intramuscular injection, a skin patch or gel, pellets inserted under the skin, and in oral preparations. The article does not try to oversell the novelty of testosterone replacement therapy. This article is clearly not based on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Hormone Replacement for Men? Perhaps"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1dad8e755ba404bba72264751617c78",
            "input": "Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite on Thursday approved the plan to install defenses at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, about 40 miles from Lake Michigan. The site is a crucial choke point in an aquatic pathway between the lake and the carp-infested Illinois River. The plan represents a compromise between proposals to erect barriers that would seal off Lake Michigan from the river and less drastic measures such as stepped-up commercial fishing. Environmentalists and states including Michigan had argued for physical separation, while Illinois and Indiana contended that it would disrupt cargo shipping and that a Chicago-area electric barrier was keeping the carp at bay. Although only a few live Asian carp have been found past the barrier, the fish’s DNA has turned up there as recently as April, when water samples were taken from Chicago’s Lake Calumet. The Corps says the leading edge of adult bighead and silver carp — the most feared of several Asian species because they gorge on plankton that other fish need — is about four miles from the Brandon Road complex. “The Brandon Road project is the only shot we have to get additional protections in place to stop the carp,” said Marc Smith of the National Wildlife Federation. “It will significantly reduce the risk.” The plan calls for installing a gantlet of technologies intended to repel approaching fish, including additional electric barriers and underwater speakers that would blast loud noises, plus an “air bubble curtain.” A specially designed “flushing lock” would wash away carp that might be floating on the water as vessels pass through. Semonite’s endorsement came more than five years after the Army Corps offered a series of options for blocking the carp’s advance. It’s now up to Congress to decide whether to authorize the project and provide most of the funding. A pending House bill recommends $3.8 million for preconstruction, engineering and design work in 2020. The expected completion date is March 2027. “With the Asian Carp on the doorstep of our region’s most vital natural resource, we have a small window of time to stop this invasive species before it inflicts irreparable damage on our Great Lakes and our $7 billion fishing industry and equally important tourism industry,” said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Republican Reps. Paul Mitchell and Bill Huizenga of Michigan also pledged support. Bipartisan teamwork will be essential, particularly given the plan’s escalating cost, said Molly Flanagan of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. A draft released in 2017 estimated that the project would cost $275 million. The final version put the price tag at $778 million, and that would be under an “expedited” scenario in which the various technologies would be installed at the same time. It could reach $832 million under an alternative “phased” strategy, spokesman Allen Marshall said. Another key will be getting financial support from Great Lakes states. The Army Corps generally requires non-federal partners to pay 35 percent of a project’s construction costs, although Congress could waive some or all of the requirement. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month authorized his state’s cooperation with initial phases of the program but said he wouldn’t commit to long-term support without efforts to limit costs and contributions from other states. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Illinois Democrats, said Friday that they would seek congressional approval “under a cost-share agreement that will ensure Illinois isn’t left footing the bill for a project that will benefit the entire Great Lakes region.” ___ Follow John Flesher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnflesher",
            "output": [
                "Army Corps approves $778M plan to block Asian carp advance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d06a8f62d4714a658b111da2a01b6d5e",
            "input": "\"The story provides the cost of the CT scan as well as angiography. However, the story should have discussed insurance coverage for the scans. The story describes the percentage of patients with blockages that were identified with either the CT scan or the angiogram. The story should have also described the probability of having blockages with a positive scan (positive predictive value). This is the more important piece of information to a consumer. Also not described in the story is whether the CT scans had any impact at all on downstream outcomes, such as heart attacks, deaths, or procedures. The story correctly describes radiation exposure as one of the harms of the heart CT. The story could have described other harms, such as the implications of false positive or false negative test results. The story adequately describes the design of the current study, including a criticism from one expert that the study \"\"cherry-picked\"\" patients to include in the study in order to maximize the findings. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of heart disease. However, the story could have been more clear about who the CT scans are intended for. The study in question was in those with suspected heart disease, not the assymptomatic or \"\"worried well\"\". The use of CT scans in the larger asymptomatic population is controversial. The story quotes multiple independent experts who provide valuable commentary on the implications of the new findings. The story mentions angiography as the alternative to the heart CT. The story clearly states that the CT scans are relatively new and available in many hospitals, however it is not clear how many hospitals have purchased these machines. The story adequately describes the novelty of the scans. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume that the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.\"",
            "output": [
                "‘Super X-rays’ show promise for finding heart disease but produce high radiation dose"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa424dc5b0b3434386a1d318211c6024",
            "input": "\"U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, is again backing programs aimed at identifying mentally ill people who pose a risk for mass killings. Ayotte, saying she has strong bipartisan support, has co-sponsored a bill geared toward education, awareness and intervention relating to mental illness since the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012. Ayotte introduced the Mental Health First Aid Act in January 2013, which never made it past a congressional committee. However, elements of that bill went into the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act that was part of the gun control legislation the Senate voted down in April. Two days after a mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in September 2013, Ayotte and Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, issued a joint statement to Senate leadership advocating programs to educate teachers in recognizing symptoms of mental health illness and how they could defuse potentially dangerous situations. Soon after, she appeared on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper. She said a bill that addresses mental health issues would pass the Senate easily. Ayotte said the mental health amendment that was attached to last April’s gun-control legislation passed easily. However, it was not enacted because the gun bill itself lost. \"\"I actually think it can be taken up separately and easily passed because of the mental health provisions. It got over 90 votes in the Senate and very little gets 90 votes around here,\"\" Ayotte said. We wondered whether the mental health amendment really got such overwhelming support. We looked at the official roll call vote on the amendment and found that it had indeed passed by a 95-2 vote on April 18. Despite voting for the mental health amendment she co-sponsored, Ayotte later became one of 41 Republicans who voted against the gun control proposal sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would have expanded background checks. Five Democrats also voted against it. The mixed messages these votes sent drew sharp criticism from critics. Ayotte responded with a statement that said: \"\"I believe that restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners will not prevent a deranged individual or criminal from obtaining and misusing firearms to commit violence. While steps must be taken to improve the existing background check system, I will not support the Manchin-Toomey legislation, which I believe would place unnecessary burdens on law-abiding gun owners and allow for potential overreach by the federal government into private gun sales.\"\" Our ruling Ayotte said that mental health provisions related to mass shootings \"\"got over 90 votes in the Senate.\"\" While an early version of the bill never made it out of committee, the Senate did eventually vote, 95-2, for a mental-health amendment to a gun control bill. The full bill lacked enough votes to pass and was pulled from the floor, but she is correct that the amendment did get 90 votes.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Mental health provisions related to mass shootings \"\"got over 90 votes in the Senate.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd78aba8a79b449cbf3fd52fb5959647",
            "input": "Producers told nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards that they will have 90 seconds from the time their name is called until when their speech will need to be a concluded. The sprint is needed to keep the Feb. 24 ceremony to three hours, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President John Bailey told this year’s class of nominees Monday at a private, untelevised luncheon to honor them. “It means you can hit the parties by 8:15,” Oscars producer Glenn Weiss reminded the dozens of hopefuls in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, the same room where the Golden Globe Awards are held. Weiss and his co-producer Donna Gigliotti showed the room their ideal acceptance speech — Steven Soderbergh accepting the best director award for “Traffic” and promising to offer individual thanks in private, not public — and implored nominees to speak from the heart and not a sheet of paper. “The thing is, run,” said director Brad Bird, who has learned from experience. “Then keep your speeches short and simple as possible ... and then you get out alive.” Acceptance speech how-to is a standard fixture at the annual luncheon, which provides a chance for the nominees, from Lady Gaga to Rami Malek, to socialize ahead of the Oscars ceremony in a low-pressure environment. But beyond the truncated runtime, no mention was made of the uniqueness of this year’s show, where some awards will be handed out during the commercial break, and there may not even be a host for the first time in 30 years. While some below-the-line nominees in the editing and sound mixing categories complained in private about how “insulting” it is to not air all the awards during the main broadcast, the tenor of the star-studded event was largely celebratory. “Today in its purest sense is a celebration of being part of a collective community,” said film academy governor Laura Dern. “This is our opportunity to recognize your profound input.” Attendees included best actress nominees Glenn Close and Gaga, directors Spike Lee, Alfonso Cuaron, Adam McKay, actors Mahershala Ali, Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Malek and many more. Aside from the famed “class photo” in which every nominee is called individually to the front of the room, mingling is the main game at the luncheon, where many stars, like Gaga, ignore their salads and fish dishes to socialize. Gaga at one point made her way to Bradley Cooper’s table, where she ran into her fellow best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio. At a nearby table, Cuaron, the “Roma” director, had a private conversation with “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly. One of the trickiest feats to coordinate is getting all the socializing nominees to actually take their seats to get the festivities started. With only one minute to go before the “official start,” Regina King, Amy Adams and Richard E. Grant stayed deep in conversation while Marvel chief Kevin Feige snuck in a word with Cooper. The academy joked about the problem on Twitter, writing: “We’ve reached the part of the #OscarsLunch where the announcer asks nominees to take their seats and...the nominees just continue to mingle and have amazing conversations. We get it.” The event often creates a fascinating mix of film stars and newcomers, as nominees are often seated with a mix of people from films that aren’t necessarily their own. One table had Adams, “Black Panther” costume designer Ruth E. Carter and “Bao” director Domee Shi. Another had Gaga, Feige, jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, nominated for “BlacKkKlansman,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” director RaMell Ross. Ron Stallworth, whose story became the basis for “BlacKkKlansman,” headed straight to the bar when he entered the venue and said being there was “crazy.” He was seated at a table with director Spike Lee, who brought Stallworth’s story to the big screen and earned six Oscar nominations, including for best picture and best director. “RBG” director Julie Cohen stopped to say hello to “A Star is Born” nominee Sam Elliott, while Bradley Cooper said hi to the filmmakers of the nominated documentary “Minding the Gap.” Before the luncheon started, Close, “Free Solo” climber Alex Honnold and director Phil Lord spoke in a circle for about 20 minutes as other guests trickled in. The hanging out even continued on the bleachers waiting for all the nominees to be called for the photo. But unlike the Academy Awards broadcast, there was no rush here. All the nominees proudly cheered on their own, one by one. And as if designed to ensure a teary-eyed Gaga, right as the photos were about to be snapped of the full class, “Shallow” started playing faintly in the background.",
            "output": [
                "At Oscar nominees luncheon, a pitch for brevity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4b53481b8074ebab1c45f3ee46e57f6",
            "input": "The company has held back on marketing the pharmacy benefit plan while it talks to these groups, CVS said. The plan, launched a year ago, is based on analyses by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a Boston-based group that assesses effectiveness of drugs to determine appropriate prices. Using ICER’s cost effectiveness assessment, CVS decides whether to include second or third medicines entering the market if there are already similar ones in the plan. Opposition to the CVS plan is part of much broader concerns cited by drug companies and advocacy groups, many of which receive funding from the pharmaceutical industry. Some say that ICER’s analysis based on additional years of “quality life” gained from a given treatment is arbitrary and disregards the costs of drug development and patient needs. More than 50 groups, including drugmakers, PhRMA, the industry’s main lobby group, and other advocacy groups, have provided comment during a public input period included in a review by ICER of its assessment methods. Many asked ICER to eliminate price recommendations from its efficacy analyses. ICER has defended its methods, which are based on a widely-used cost effectiveness analysis. The soft rollout of CVS’ ICER-related product comes as employer health plan sponsors - its biggest clients - are showing increased concern over their cost for new high-priced  drugs, and are considering refusing to pay for them at all, CVS Chief Medical Officer Troy Brennan said in a recent interview. If corporate customers follow through on that threat, CVS said it could change tactics with the plan. Rising drug prices, particularly for expensive specialty treatments for severe or deadly conditions, have pushed annual U.S. healthcare spending to $3.65 trillion, and made them unaffordable for many individuals. Earlier this year, Novartis AG (NOVN.S) launched Zolgensma, a more than $2 million gene therapy for a rare but deadly disease called spinal muscular atrophy. The new CVS program, cited as an example of ICER’s growing influence on U.S. drug pricing, would not apply to such a breakthrough treatment. It is a tiny plan by CVS standards as the company manages pharmaceutical benefits for more than 102 million people and also owns Aetna insurance and a national pharmacy chain. The plan’s scope is limited to so-called me too drugs, those where similar effective treatments already exist, and aims to pressure drugmakers to set lower prices. For example, two of three very similar drugs for migraine approved in 2018 could have been excluded, but drugmakers set prices ICER deemed cost effective. CVS has limited sales and marketing for the plan while it talks to patient groups who oppose it. About 240,000 CVS employees and a few large clients’ employees are enrolled thus far. The company declined to comment on exact membership. “We are not widely promoting this program,” Brennan said, adding that CVS is working to address patient groups’ concerns. Meanwhile, Brennan said some employers are considering  refusing to pay for million-dollar treatments like gene therapy. They are saying, “I’m not going to cover these kinds of therapies no matter what their comparative effectiveness is if they’ve got a really high cost.”  Large healthcare consultant and brokerage Mercer said it has begun to field similar concerns. “We have certainly gotten some plan sponsors saying ‘What if we don’t cover specialty drugs?’” said David Dross, who runs Mercer’s managed pharmacy practice. Two years ago, it never received any such questions, he said. Steve Wojcik, an executive with the National Business Group on Health which represents large employers, said he does not believe many will take that drastic step. Still, ICER President Steven Pearson said employers tell him they worry about their ability to cover everything and have suggested they might drop some high-cost treatments. He said employers can use cost effectiveness analysis to help them manage their spending. ICER has responded to outside criticism by meeting with patient advocates and by adding new measurements for a drug’s effectiveness, such as the value of life years gained, which does not focus on quality of life improvements, Pearson said. Since 2015, ICER has published up to a dozen reviews each year of drugs and classes of medicines. Most U.S. private insurers now use ICER clinical and cost analyses to inform coverage negotiations with drugmakers. ICER funding primarily comes from a non-profit foundation, but drug companies and health insurers provide some funds for ICER-related activities.",
            "output": [
                "CVS drug coverage plan based on outside pricing review is off to a slow start."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef3ca572ac9f4e6ca4b96d894e3eec9a",
            "input": "The case centers on theliabilities Chemours was saddled with after DuPont spun off its former performance chemicals unit in 2015. The judge’s granted Chemours’ request to pause the arbitration on Thursday, one day after he heard arguments on DuPont’s dismissal motion. Chemours sued DuPont earlier this year, alleging that DuPont deliberately lowballed the cost of environmental liabilities Chemours would face in indemnifying DuPont for pollution related to man-made chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The chemicals have been used in firefighting foam, nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing and many other household and personal items. They sometimes are referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their longevity in the environment. The PFAS family of chemicals, which have been associated with increased risk of cancer and other health problems, includes perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which was used in the production of Teflon. At the time of the Chemours spinoff, DuPont was facing multidistrict litigation involving 3,500 personal injury claims related to PFOA. DuPont pegged the maximum liability for those cases at $128 million. It settled 19 months later for $671 million, with DuPont agreeing to pay half the settlement amount, and up to $125 million more toward costs of other PFOA-related litigation. DuPont has argued that the lawsuit must be dismissed because the separation agreement with Chemours mandates that any disputes arising from the 2015 spinoff must be resolved through private arbitration. Chemours says it was never in the position to consent to arbitration and that the arbitration clause is therefore invalid. The judge ruled Thursday that if Chemours is correct, allowing the arbitration to proceed would force Chemours to submit to an arbitration absent a contractual obligation to do so, which he said would amount to irreparable harm to Chemours.",
            "output": [
                "Judge halts arbitration in Chemours-DuPont dispute."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b8086df5b3c4caab0cad4dee8d870c1",
            "input": "Dozens of children and young adults have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and other forms of cancer in a four-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania where energy companies have drilled more than 3,500 wells since 2008. An investigation by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this year identified six Ewing cases in a single school district. The cause of Ewing sarcoma is unknown, and there’s been no evidence linking the Pennsylvania cases to drilling and hydraulic fracturing, the method that energy companies use to extract natural gas from shale rock. The American Cancer Society says there are “no known lifestyle-related or environmental causes” of Ewing, a rare bone cancer that’s diagnosed in about 200 children and teens across the U.S. each year. But the families, joined by anti-drilling activists, demanded that Wolf launch an environmental investigation into the cancers that have devastated their loved ones. “I want answers, and I want answers now. Give us the truth,” said Carla Marratto Cumming, whose 19-year-old brother, Luke Blanock, died of Ewing sarcoma in 2016. “What’s going on is killing our families, and it’s not OK.” The region’s lawmakers recently secured a $100,000 state grant for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to perform genetic testing of Ewing patients, but the families said it’s not enough. They gave Wolf an earful when he met with them in the hallway outside his office at the Capitol on Monday. Luke Blanock’s mother, Janice, invited Wolf to go on a tour of fracking sites “to see exactly how fracking is wreaking havoc on our kids, families, our homes, everything.” Breaking down, she continued: “You have to see it in person. You can’t even understand what we’ve gone through.” Wolf promised to make the childhood cancers a priority and said his health department is looking into the possibility of additional research. In a statement, his spokesman said the potential research would “explore possible effects of natural resource extraction, especially regarding these rare childhood cancers. It is imperative that we more thoroughly research and advance the science on the health effects of fracking by building upon previous research and investigating the concern that there is a relationship between fracking and childhood cancers.” A Pennsylvania Department of Health investigation earlier this year did not confirm a cancer cluster in the region, a finding that was met with skepticism by activists who say the agency failed to include some cases in its study. Gas industry officials, meanwhile, called for an “objective, rigorous and science-based approach” to “these complicated and heartbreaking health matters.” “While some continue to sensationalize tragedy, there’s absolutely no credible link between natural gas-related activities — which are strongly regulated — and instances of rare childhood cancers,” said David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.",
            "output": [
                "Pennsylvania families demand investigation into rare cancers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcdcd4f860ee4086b1a0b02e4a2e392f",
            "input": "Dr. Neelu Pal poses for a portrait in New York, July 23, 2010. Pal was fired weeks after authorities at New York University Langone Medical Center Surgical Weight Loss Program learned she had contacted patients about the dangers of Lap-Band surgery in January 2006. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Pal had previously raised her concerns with hospital officials, complaining — to no avail — about the lack of care given after surgery and incomplete or inaccurate medical forms that were taken prior to surgery. She was fired weeks after hospital authorities learned she had contacted patients in January 2006. She has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit — the case is pending — and enrolled in law school. Pal, who came to the United States from India a little over a decade ago to practice medicine, says she has been blackballed from her chosen profession. The NYU bariatric surgery practice where she worked is widely considered one of the world’s most experienced. But in an interview with Reuters, Pal described the facility as a hectic Lap-Band factory. “My impression at the time was that the practice was disorganized, but once I knew more about the system, I could see what they were trying to do was get as many patients on to the operating table as possible,” she said. During her three months at NYU Langone Medical Center’s Surgical Weight Loss Program in late 2005 and early 2006, two surgeons — Dr. Christine Ren and Dr. George Fielding, who are married — implanted gastric bands into as many as 20 patients in a single day, according to Pal. Known as pioneers in the field, Fielding and Ren are also paid consultants of Allergan Inc, the Botox and breast implant maker which is the leading manufacturer of the gastric band. Though rivals have been gaining, Allergan’s Lap-Band still commands more than two-thirds of a $300 million to $400 million market. To critics, Pal’s allegations — some of which were corroborated by a New York State Health Department investigation around that time — underline the potential risks that go along with the industry’s rapid growth. And the business could soon swell even more if U.S. regulators grant permission to perform the procedure on the nation’s bulging ranks of overweight teens. Ren was an investigator in an Allergan-sponsored clinical trial studying the use of bands on teens. And the company has an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to market the device to teens as young as 14. A decision could come any time. Winning regulatory approval for the gastric band in teenagers would allow the companies that make the devices — Allergan, Johnson & Johnson and others — to target that specific age group. Today, regulators consider performing the procedure on teens “experimental” as it has not been approved for that age group. But, like any device, it may be used on teens at a doctor’s discretion. Allergan declined to comment on Pal’s lawsuit or disclose how much it pays the surgeons, though the company did confirm that both remain on the payroll. Through a NYU spokeswoman, Ren and Fielding — who have been the subject of some controversy — declined to be interviewed for this article, also citing the lawsuit. But in some medical circles, concern over gastric banding for teenagers is growing nearly as fast as American waistlines. In particular, some doctors worry about the device’s long-term safety and effectiveness. A gastric band is just what it sounds like: an inflatable silicone band placed around the top portion of the stomach to create a pouch that restricts food intake. It has become increasingly popular in the United States in recent years, and results in reasonable weight loss. The procedure is considered less invasive and risky than gastric bypass. Banding could also be an especially attractive option for teens, say proponents, because it is reversible, whereas bypass is not. The 30- to 60-minute procedure, typically performed with a laparoscope, might require one night in the hospital but can also be done on an outpatient basis. But certain data show gastric bands are less effective and more problematic for teens than adults, said Dr. Thomas Inge, chair of a government study to assess bariatric surgery in adolescents called Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery, or Teen-LABS for short. The Teen-LABS study aims to determine if adolescence is the best time to intervene with surgery. It was launched in 2007 and is expected to report results in about five years. In more than one in five teens in another study, Inge noted a high rate of “symmetric pouch dilation” — a complication in which the small pouch created at the top of the stomach by the band gets bigger, allowing patients to consume more food. This issue was reported in the journal Obesity Surgery, and later in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “We await the U.S. trial data, PMS (post-marketing surveillance) data, and confirmation from non-industry-run trials to make final recommendations,” said Inge, who is the surgical director of the weight loss program for teens at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. As Inge and others are quick to point out, trials that studied how teens fared with a gastric band over the short term have been few, and those that were conducted show the device generally is safe and effective, with a relatively low risk for complications or death. But there is a dearth of long-term data on the outcomes from gastric band surgery. And that worries Dr. Mary Brandt, an investigator in the Teen-LABS study, among other experts. “I think there’s a fundamental problem with putting a rigid plastic object around a moving organ. You’re asking it to stay in place and not erode over a long period of time,” said Brandt, who is also director of the pediatric surgical program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. “I’ll be happy to reverse my position as soon as I see 10 or 20 year data. Unfortunately, that’s not something that industry is excited about funding.”   She acknowledged a bias against gastric bands, citing a Swiss long-term follow-up study of 167 adults that showed the band failed almost a third of the time after 10 years. About a fifth of the patients required another operation. And while fewer than 8 percent reported complications in the 30 days following surgery, more than 40 percent had problems after a decade. Long-term complications included the erosion and slippage of the band, both of which might require another operation, and a dilation of the esophagus, which could result in difficulty swallowing. Infections around the port that sits below the skin and allows the doctor to add or remove saline with a syringe to tighten or loosen the band, as well as leaks, were also common. “Bands are definitely safe in the short term and definitely work in the short term. What we don’t know is about the long term,” Brandt said. “I’m not saying it should never be used. We just have to be more careful about how we’re using it.”   The Swiss study of adults who had gastric banding, published in Obesity Surgery, came to the same conclusion. Because of complications, the need for another operation, and long-term failure rates, gastric banding should be performed in “selected cases only” until more data are available, it said. Another group of 276 adults who underwent gastric band surgery had similarly disappointing results in a long-term Austrian study published in the same journal. Only a little under 54 percent of the patients still had their original band after nine years, with nearly 18 percent having the original replaced with a new one and nearly 29 percent having it removed. Of those who no longer had any band, more than half had a second bariatric operation. Gastric banding demands that teens do something they often aren’t very good at — sticking to a rigorous follow-up routine. Dr. Roberta Maller Hartman, a psychologist and Lap-Band patient herself, counsels teens and adults after receiving the gastric band. “I’ve worked with a lot of high school students and they just want to be like everyone else and go out and eat pizza with their friends,” she said. “They can, but they have to take little bites and chew a lot.”   Success depends most on a patient’s ability to modify their behavior. “The band doesn’t reduce the desire to eat emotionally. That has to be addressed,” said Dr. Maller. “Teens tend to need more hands-on, one-to-one support.”   Indeed, there are many success stories of obese teens losing weight, keeping it off and staving off a host of related illnesses, such as diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure. Surgery — banding or bypass — has been shown to produce the most sustainable results when compared with diet and exercise. Nevertheless, critics abound. Dr. Susan Woolford, Medical Director of the Pediatric Comprehensive Weight Management Center at the University of Michigan, conducted a study, published in Obesity Surgery, to find out how readily primary care physicians and pediatricians — those in the front lines of obesity treatment — would refer patients for bariatric surgery. Nearly half, or 48 percent of the 381 physicians surveyed, said they would never refer an adolescent for any type of bariatric surgery. The controversies swirling around NYU’s influential bariatric surgery center — as well as its two top surgeons — have done little to ease concerns. An investigation by the New York State Department of Health in 2006 found that Fielding falsified data on Vincent Esposito, a 14-year-old boy who was part of the FDA-authorized study that was looking at the use of the device in obese teens. A week after Esposito’s Lap-Band surgery, he developed an infection with an abscess — a common complication with gastric banding — and returned to the NYU facility, where Fielding performed an appendectomy. The investigation by New York health authorities determined there was no evidence of appendicitis, according to the report. “They told me I was a ticking bomb,” Esposito had told the Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland in 2007, referring to his obesity. Reached by telephone, his father said his son was “fine” and that they are being represented by an attorney and declined to comment. NYU also declined to comment. In its response to the NYDH report, the university maintained no wrongdoing, saying “the surgeon probably misinterpreted his operative findings.” In a statement at the time, the school added, “...we are persuaded that he assumed that the infection did not begin in the gastric band device.”   The response and NYU’s plan to correct the issues were accepted by state regulators. In the NYSHD report, Fielding was also cited for failing to address a post-operative patient’s persistent lack of urine output. The patient went into cardiac arrest and died 36 hours later. This was the death that alarmed Pal and led her to warn patients. The same report said the program director, Ren, had permitted two surgeons to practice without the appropriate licenses, in violation of the law. For four months, the unlicensed physicians “performed multiple surgical procedures, made pre- and post-op assessments, and wrote orders to be carried out by nursing staff,” the report said. After Ren learned she was being investigated by an internal committee, she went back and removed the name of the unlicensed surgeon from the operative report, according to court testimony. She was found to have committed professional misconduct and received a letter of reprimand that was put in her file for a year. Fielding, who got a gastric band himself in 1999, is from Australia, where he left behind multiple personal injury lawsuits, most of which have been settled. Dr. Robert “Skip” Nelson, a pediatric ethicist at FDA, said he had no specific knowledge about the incident at NYU Medical Center. If the agency did learn that an investigator has entered false data, he said, there would be an investigation. He added that if the FDA doubted the integrity of the data, they would not be considered in the decision-making process. An investigator, as doctors who run clinical trials are called, could also be disqualified as a result. Despite the reports of misconduct, the NYU Langone Weight Management Program has retained its status as a “Center of Excellence,” a designation conferred by the Surgical Review Corp, an entity created by the American Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery. Surgical Review Corp CEO Gary Pratt said that he was unaware of the incidents and the NYSHD report. He said the corporation’s reviews maintain the highest standards with the goal of advancing the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery. The company intends to put out a new list of approved bariatric clinics that treat teens later this year — which may coincide with the FDA granting approval, or not. If the FDA does greenlight it, insurers would be more likely to pay for the procedure, which costs the insured patient $2,000 to $4,000. The uninsured, making up about a third of patients who have the surgery in the United States, pay about $15,000 for the surgery. Some health professionals worry that band manufacturers will target teens with direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads on television and radio or in subway stations that have proven effective at luring people to doctors’ offices. The FDA said there is no guidance or regulation on DTC ads to young users. For Allergan, based in Irvine, California, the implications are significant. And the company is acting accordingly. It recently launched a campaign with bariatric surgeons to invite their patients to enter an essay contest and win a chance to go to Washington, D.C. to “share their personal stories with legislators and media.”   Allergan has seen its stock underperform the S&P 500 year to date. Botox remains its key product and has weathered increased competition amid the recession, while obesity intervention was hit hardest by the economy. At the same time, Lap-Band has also been slowly losing market share to Johnson & Johnson’s competing device called Realize. In 2009, Allergan’s obesity products generated revenue of $258 million, down 13 percent from 2008. Management is betting that continued investment in direct-to-consumer advertising will stimulate growth in the obesity segment, said Gleacher & Co analyst Amit Hazan. He estimates there will be 83,500 gastric band procedures in the United States in 2010, up 6 percent from 2009. Sanford Bernstein analyst Aaron Gal said FDA approval of the Lap-Band for teens could increase sales by as much as $20 million for Allergan. Even critics of gastric band surgery acknowledge that there are few good solutions to adolescent obesity. It is a mounting problem, affecting nearly 1 in 5 American teens, and many doctors believe that it should be addressed sooner rather than later when other health problems can develop. Some experts are wary but believe the benefits may outweigh the potential harm. “My conclusion is that it makes sense to intervene sooner because surgery can head off other related problems. Kids are better surgical risks, but the downside is that I suspect most teenagers are doing it less for health and more for social and psychological reasons,” said Dr. Jeffrey Zitsman, who is leading an independently funded teen study at Columbia University. Those who do it out of vanity, he cautioned, may have a harder time. “When health reasons don’t motivate them,” he said, “sometimes there are compliance issues.”   Yet, Dr. Robert Murray, director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, argues that the heavy psychological problems obese teens carry should not be ignored. “They’ve been teased out of school, they have social issues, many are depressed, and their quality of life is equal to that of a kid with cancer,” he said. “If you get them at 14 and reverse weight and health problems, they’ve got a shot at a normal life.”   To critics, at least, the question is at how big a price.",
            "output": [
                "Special report: Targeting teens for gastric bands."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5b7b443aa87c4180beacc282e640ebf0",
            "input": "The article is silent on the price of Rituxan. Since the company is investing a significant sum to research an additional use, the price is worth mentioning. The article does a good job of sketching the benefits shown in this research. Focusing on the clinical endpoint of relapse, and using percentages of relapse with the drug and the placebo, makes it easy for readers to understand. The article explores the issue of whether Rituxan may suppress the immune response too much, making the patient vulnerable to other diseases. It also explains how this effect has been observed in the drug Tysabri, a different immune suppressant used for MS. This article is based on published results of a Phase II trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The news article does a decent job emphasizing the preliminary nature of the findings, and that larger trials are needed to ensure safety, efficacy and long-term benefits. The article does nothing to exaggerate the severity or consequences of MS. The reporter draws on the journal article and the accompanying editorial. Sources interviewed include the primary author, one medical expert representing the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and one clinician who treated some patients in the study but was not an author. This is sufficient sourcing. It is worth pointing out here, however, that Genentech and Biogen Idec, makers of Rituxan, are “Corporate Star” supporters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The article states that six other drugs, all with shortcomings, are available to treat relapsing-remitting MS. The article makes clear that the drug is currently on the market and approved for other uses. But it did not state whether Rituxan is, or may become, used off-label for relapsing-remitting MS. And, as noted in our summary comment below, there are issues surrounding off-label use that could have been addressed. The article makes clear that the drug is on the market and used for related conditions, but its use in relapsing-remitting MS patients is being explored in this research. There is no evidence the article draws from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "MS therapy shows promise in test"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b32b8bf1cb3443abafaef6bf640904b",
            "input": "A surgeon washes his hands before enter in an operating room at a hospital in Marseille, France, April 3, 2008. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier “If you were admitted to hospital tomorrow in any country... your chances of being subjected to an error in your care would be something like 1 in 10. Your chances of dying due to an error in health care would be 1 in 300,” Liam Donaldson, the WHO’s newly appointed envoy for patient safety, told a news briefing. This compared with a risk of dying in an air crash of about 1 in 10 million passengers, according to Donaldson, formerly England’s chief medical officer. “It shows that health care generally worldwide still has a long way to go,” he said. Hundreds of millions of people suffer infections linked to health care each year. Patients should ask questions and be part of decision-making in hospitals, which must use basic hygiene standards and WHO’s checklist to ensure safe surgical procedures were followed. More than 50 percent of acquired infections can be prevented if health care workers clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based handrub before treating patients. Of every 100 hospitalized patients at any given time, 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one health care-associated infection, according to the United Nations agency. “The longer patients stay in an ICU (intensive care unit), the more at risk they become of acquiring an infection,” it said. Medical devices such as urinary catheters and ventilators are associated with high infection rates. ‘HIGH-RISK BUSINESS’   Each year in the United States, 1.7 million infections are acquired in hospital, leading to 100,000 deaths, a far higher rate than in Europe where 4.5 million infections cause 37,000 deaths, according to WHO. “Health care is a high-risk business, inevitably, because people are sick and modern health care is delivered in a fast-moving, high-pressured environment involving a lot of complex technology and a lot of people,” Donaldson said. A heart operation can involve a team of up to 60 people, about the same number needed to run a jumbo jet, he said. “Infection is a big problem, injuries after falls in hospitals is a big problem and then there are problems that are on a smaller scale but result in preventable deaths. Medication errors are common,” he said. Risk is even higher in developing countries, with about 15 percent of patients acquiring infections, said Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi of the WHO’s “Clean Care is Safer Care” program. “The risk is really higher in high-risk areas of the hospitals, in particular ICUs or neonatal units in developing countries.”   About 100,000 hospitals worldwide now use the WHO’s surgical safety checklist, which the agency said has been shown to reduce surgery complications by 33 percent and deaths by 50 percent. If the checklist is effectively used worldwide, an estimated 500,000 deaths could be prevented each year, it says. “Frankly, if I was having an operation tomorrow I wouldn’t go into a hospital that wasn’t using the checklist because I wouldn’t regard it as safe,” said Donaldson.",
            "output": [
                "Going into hospital far riskier than flying: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c044b11361514833a8563185a864efe8",
            "input": "Many sugar-rich packaged and prepared foods are more expensive than home-made foods.But the study was not designed to compare the costs of diets, and most people know how much different types of food that contain sugar cost. So we’ll rate this Not Applicable. On the other hand, it would have been useful to cite estimates of the cost of treating the disorders linked to metabolic syndrome components, such as high blood pressure, as well as the costs of treating the chronic diseases that are a consequence of the syndrome, such as diabetes and heart disease. The quantification of the results does not quite clear our bar here. The story says this: Overall, their fasting blood sugar levels dropped by 53%, along with the amount of insulin their bodies produced since insulin is normally needed to break down carbohydrates and sugars. Their triglyceride and LDL levels also declined and, most importantly, they showed less fat in their liver. We would have preferred more numbers documenting the changes for each outcome, in absolute terms (the “53%” figure is a relative reduction), along with a comment or some description of how meaningful the changes were clinically. It’s hard to say what “harms” or risks would result from cutting sugar from childrens’ diets. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story does a fine job of explaining how the study was done and why the evidence it provides is meaningful. It explains that compared with previous research, which was observational in nature and couldn’t prove cause and effect, the new study suggests that cutting out sugar may be causing the beneficial metabolic changes observed. We do have a problem with the story’s framing, however, which frontloads discussion about how important the findings are, while burying discussion of limitations far down in the text. Experts point out some problems with the study, but we think the story could have gone further — explaining for example that the study was small and time-limited and that it had no control group. Though the story feels slightly unbalanced, we’ll acknowledge that it did make an attempt to critically evaluate the findings — hence the Satisfactory rating. As noted, increased sugar consumption, especially in children, has long been linked to alarmingly high and growing rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases in children and adults. There is no disease mongering here, and indeed, some numbers (prevalence) would have helped the story. The story includes restraining comments from two independent experts, although those comments come far down in the story and should have been placed higher. The story perhaps also could have mentioned that Dr. Lustig is author of a 2012 book called “Fat chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease,” and so may have an intellectual and financial conflict of interest when it comes to sugar. The study was funded by the NIH and Touro University, as well as UCSF — another aspect that could have been mentioned for context. The article did a fairly good job of describing the limitations of previous dietary studies, compared to this one, especially as it relates to the effects of cutting sugar vs. losing weight. It would have also been helpful to mention the role of exercise in controlling metabolic disease. The story explains that the dietary changes they made in the study could be made by anyone. The story says: “We took chicken teriyaki out, and put turkey hot dogs in. We took sweetened yogurt out, and put baked potato chips in. We took pastries out and put bagels in,” says Lustig. “So there was no change in [the children’s] weight and no change in calories.” It’s always risky at best to call something a first of its kind as this story does, without citing any evidence for that or being more specific about what, exactly, was a “first.” But the story does give the general sense of what’s new and important about the study — the fact that it suggests beneficial changes of reducing sugar independent of weight loss. And it also draws a line between previous correlation studies and this experiment. Close call here but we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. There’s enough original reporting here for us to be sure this story didn’t rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Sugar Is Definitely Toxic, a New Study Says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-087b66a6f2b041a78025f84a48ef140a",
            "input": "In November 2018, the “Weird Facts” Facebook page posted a widely-shared meme which outlined the death of Joyce Carol Vincent, summarizing it as “In 2006, a woman (Joyce Carol Vincent) was found in her London flat, skeletonized, after 3 years of being dead — with the TV still running”:  Notwithstanding the somewhat crass imagery used in the meme, this was unfortunately a largely accurate description of the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Joyce Carol Vincent, who did indeed remain undiscovered at home for around two years, dying around December 2003. According to material prepared for release to the news media by the Metropolitan Police, as well as reports by the BBC and the Press Association, the following are the known facts surrounding Vincent’s demise. Some readers might find the details disturbing. On 26 January 2006, Vincent’s remains were discovered at her apartment in Wood Green, north-east London. Workers from the Metropolitan Housing Trust, an organization which provides affordable housing and is now known as Metropolitan Thames Valley, had forced entry while attempting to inquire about thousands of pounds of unpaid rent arrears. Vincent had been placed in the small apartment as part of a scheme for victims of domestic violence. Vincent’s remains were badly decomposed, and pathologist Dr. Simon Poole later described them as being “largely skeletal,” which supports the claim made in the “Weird Facts” meme. According to evidence heard at a coroner’s inquest, Vincent was found lying on her back on the floor of her living room next to a shopping bag and Christmas presents which she had wrapped but never delivered. Her television was indeed still switched on when Vincent was found. She was identified by reference to dental records. Based on the expiration dates of food and medication found in Vincent’s flat, it was estimated that she had died around December 2003, some two years earlier — not three years earlier, as the “Weird Facts” meme and several news reports mistakenly stated. She was born in London to Grenadian immigrant parents in 1965, and was 38 years old at the time of her death. In the years after Vincent was discovered, the filmmaker Carol Morley tracked down her friends, colleagues and associates. In interviews which would ultimately form the basis of the 2011 documentary film Dreams of a Life, those who knew Vincent universally recalled their shock and disbelief at the circumstances of her death and discovery. In the film some friends recounted actually having read news accounts of her death in April 2006, but without an accompanying photograph, they did not connect the horrific circumstances of her discovery with the person they had known. According to those accounts, Vincent had for many years been a very social, popular professional young woman who worked in London’s fast-paced financial district in the 1980s and 1990s, was highly intelligent and charming, and was remarkably attractive and frequently the object of male attention. Vincent, who was at one time an aspiring singer, was acquainted with the soul vocalist Betty Wright, and had dinner with other iconic musical artists, including Gil Scott-Heron, Jimmy Cliff, and Ben E. King. In 1990, Vincent briefly met and conversed with Nelson Mandela backstage at a concert in London’s Wembley Stadium. Although she had many friends, Vincent’s friendships appear to have been somewhat fleeting, and despite the deep affection in which she was held, she was known for “drifting” in and out of social groups and relationships and sometimes appeared troubled. Her acquaintances recalled that she was distant towards her family members. According to Morley’s interviews with friends of Vincent, she became engaged to marry an unidentified man in the late 1990s, and the Metropolitan Police later noted that she had been involved in a “domestic incident” in 1998. In Morley’s documentary, Vincent’s friends observed that she was likely to have been in at least one abusive relationship during that time. By 2001, Vincent left her job at the accounting firm Ernst & Young and progressively lost contact with her family members, friends and former colleagues, working for a time as a cleaner. She changed addresses frequently but moved into her final apartment in Wood Green in February 2003, having been placed there as part of a women’s refuge program for victims of domestic violence. Her friends have speculated that she may have become isolated and withdrawn over time because she was ashamed of the abuse she had suffered and the shift in her professional and personal circumstances, and she may also have been avoiding detection by an abusive former partner. In November 2003, she was briefly hospitalized after vomiting blood and was diagnosed with a peptic ulcer. Although she is believed to have died around a month later, the coroner was unable to arrive at a cause of death due to the decomposition of her remains by January 2006. She also suffered from asthma, which was cited by her friends as a possible cause of death.",
            "output": [
                "In 2006, the skeletal remains of Joyce Carol Vincent were found in her home, with the television on, years after her death. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6757f3a051dc4acf8b360609d242da36",
            "input": "Using the lead researcher as a source, the article states that most insurers cover oxybutynin; that a month’s supply can range from $21 to $42; and that the cost could be less, depending on the type of insurance a patient has. Kudos to HealthDay for explicitly addressing cost. The article reports that the study found the women on oxybutynin had an average of five fewer hot flashes per week, while those on the placebo had three fewer. It’s not clear if the benefit was the same for both doses. The story explains that this was from a group 150 women who experienced at least 28 hot flashes a week. This is enough information to glean the magnitude of benefit. But, the story could have used more context: The drug resulted in five fewer hot flashes a week. That’s not even one less hot flash per day. And those on the placebo, which costs nothing and has no side effects, has three fewer hot flashes a week. That’s a difference of two hot flashes a week–which seems like a really low bar. The article says that side effects included constipation, mild diarrhea, dry mouth, dry eyes, episodes of confusion and difficulty urinating. It’s not noted if these side effects were seen in both the low-dose and high-dose groups. There is also no indication of which side effects were most common or how many women experienced them. Importantly, though, the article does note that the long-term effects of the drug aren’t known and that oxybutynin is in a class of drugs that “have been linked with mental decline” and that previous studies have found “the drugs may raise the risk for problems with short-term memory, reasoning and confusion, and may also hike the risk for dementia among older patients.” Information on ClincalTrials.gov about the trial suggests this study evaluated two doses in an effort to find an effective dose with fewer side effects. The concluding paragraph of the article states that the study was scheduled to be presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and that “studies presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until peer-reviewed for publication in a medical journal.” It’s important to note this. But the wording also indicates that the article was written before the presentation was even given and the the reporter never saw the researcher’s data or slides or heard any questions the audience may have asked regarding the findings. It’s indisputable that many women going through menopause experience hot flashes and that side effects of many breast cancer treatments include hot flashes, in some cases because the treatment puts a woman into immediate menopause. They result from fluctuations in women’s hormones. The article quotes Dr. Alice Police, regional director of breast surgery at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Sleepy Hollow, NY, who was not affiliated with the study. We did not detect any conflicts of interest that should have been disclosed. The article makes it sound like the only option for treating hot flashes is menopausal hormone therapy. But, in fact, there are other ways to treat hot flashes that are currently recommended. These include drugs used for other purposes as well as non-drug options like mind-body approaches. The article states that the drug, which is approved to treat incontinence, is readily available. This is the first time that a drug is this class has been shown to have an effect on hot flashes, and so is newsworthy for this reason. That could have been more explicit in the story, though. The article included original comments not found in the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Incontinence Drug May Cut Hot Flashes in Breast Cancer Survivors"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bb7564a3c66543908dbf98284739c783",
            "input": "Amid mounting global concern over the public health implications of so-called e-cigarettes, Touraine said they faced the same fate as traditional ones: a ban on smoking in public spaces and sales to minors and a blackout on media advertising. In a country where the pungent waft of Gaulloises and Gitanes once seemed an unassailable part of cafe culture, smokers have long been banished to outdoor terrace seats. The near-odorless electronic alternative - battery-driven devices that allow users inhale odorless nicotine-laced vapor rather than smoke - are gaining ground in no-go zones such as bars, cafes, trains, waiting rooms and offices. A government-commissioned report said this week that around 500,000 people in France had turned to e-cigarettes, which are designed to look like cigarettes although some come in different colors, and recommended a crackdown on public use. Health officials in many countries say the impact of electronic cigarettes on health needs further study. Another worry they cite is that the electronic alternative will increase the general temptation to smoke, including enticing those who have quit to start again, or that smokers may use them alongside rather than instead of regular cigarettes. “This is no ordinary product because it encourages mimicking and could promote taking up smoking,” said Touraine, who announced her plans at a news conference. In the United States, the number of smokers who have tried out e-cigarettes doubled to one in five in 2011 and the number of all adults trying it doubled too, to 6 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In France, a country of 66 million, the government says tobacco smoking kills some 66,000 people a year and another 5,000 are killed through passive exposure to smoke. The expert in charge of the French report advised against an outright ban on e-cigarettes, however, saying they still seemed safer than tar-laden tobacco. Electronic cigarettes, whose invention is widely credited to a Chinese pharmacist a decade ago, usually comprise disposable cartridges of liquid such as propylene glycol that is easily turned to vapor and can contain artificial flavors alongside concentrated liquid nicotine.",
            "output": [
                "France to ban electronic cigarettes in public."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d7d77f64c800438dbf7cc6aab148683b",
            "input": "The country’s last case of the wild polio virus was detected on Jan 13, 2011, in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means India can be declared polio-free. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where the disease remains endemic. “We give huge credit to the government... It makes us extremely proud and highly responsible for having helped the government to reach this incredible achievement,” India’s WHO representative, Nata Menabde, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Menabde said the WHO would officially declare India as polio-free by the end of March, when the legal process for certification was completed. Until the 1950s, polio crippled thousands every year in rich countries. It attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. The highly infectious disease often spreads in areas with poor sanitation - a factor that helped it keep a grip on India for many decades - and children under five are the most vulnerable. But it can be prevented by population-wide vaccination. India had been considered one of the toughest places in the world to eradicate polio. Many families in poor, high-risk states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrate for work, while other communities live in remote or inaccessible areas. Menabde said millions were involved in the drive to immunize children by giving them polio drops. They targeted migrant families at bus stations, on trains, at construction sites, and at local festivals. Some used motorcycles or trekked by foot to reach remote villages. As a consequence, over 170 million children are immunized every year, with millions more targeted on house-to-house visits. The drive has cost the government $2.5 billion since 1995. In 2009, 741 Indians fell sick with polio, nearly half the world’s cases that year. The number dropped to 42 in 2010 and only one in 2011. India’s success has given impetus to the global fight against polio, Menabde said. “While the whole global eradication was stagnating, India has been the rescuer of this belief that it is possible,” she said. “Polio eradication is a very costly operation and so donors and partners were losing hope and patience. Now they are all very actively mobilized into channeling their efforts.”  There were 148 cases of polio in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan in 2013, while 224 new cases were detected in non-endemic countries such as Somalia, Syria and Kenya. These countries face a range of challenges such as violent conflicts, weak health systems and poor sanitation. In Pakistan, gunmen frequently attack polio vaccination workers, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to sterilize Muslims.",
            "output": [
                "India breaks free of polio in boost to global immunization drive."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-60b94a58258349eba8d39d34dabb01f7",
            "input": "It’s the first of several legal challenges expected to be announced by Democratic-led states. A national organization representing publicly funded family planning providers said Monday it would file a separate lawsuit over the policy. The new rules announced Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services would bar taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from making abortion referrals. They would also prohibit clinics that receive federal money from sharing office space with abortion providers — a rule that Ferguson said would force many to find new locations, undergo expensive remodels or shut down. Clinics that receive money under Title X, the 1970 law designed to improve access to reproductive health care for communities around the nation, provide a wide array of services, including birth control and screening for diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. Beyond interfering in a patient’s relationship with her doctor, Ferguson said, the rules could leave vast areas without such care for low-income residents. “Rural communities currently have a shortage of health care providers,” Ferguson told reporters. “This rule will make the shortage even more acute.” Abortion is a legal medical procedure, but federal laws prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman. Religious conservatives and abortion opponents have long complained that Title X has been used to indirectly subsidize abortion providers. Chris Plante, policy director of the Christian group Family Policy Institute of Washington, called the legal challenge “wrongheaded” and said the new policy “simply returns the Title X regulations back to their original legislative intent: ‘None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.’” “A doctor can still talk about abortion,” Plante said. “The doctor simply can’t say, ‘There’s an abortion provider three streets down, turn left.’” While the new rule would permit clinic staff to discuss abortion with clients, it would no longer be required that they do so. If patients ask for an abortion referral, staff would be required to give a list of primary care providers with no indication as to which provide abortions. The list would have to include providers who do not offer abortions, and it could not include clinics or organizations that aren’t primary care providers, such as Planned Parenthood, Ferguson said. Ferguson, who has filed nearly three dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration, including over the travel ban, said he would file the challenge in federal court in Spokane, in eastern Washington, after the policy is made official with its publication in the federal register. He intends to seek a court order blocking it from taking effect. Eastern Washington has 20 counties, 11 of which would be left without Title X providers, he said. Across Washington state in 2017, 14,000 patients received federally funded services at 85 of the clinics, many of them operated by Planned Parenthood. Ferguson said Trump’s policy violates the Affordable Care Act, which protects providers and patients from government interference in the health care relationship, and a federal law that requires doctors to provide information about abortion and prenatal care to patients in an unbiased manner. It also violates the Administrative Procedures Act by contradicting Title X regulations without sufficient justification, and it violates doctors’ right to free speech and women’s right to an abortion under Roe v. Wade, he alleged. The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association said it would sue separately. Erin Berry, Washington state medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, was one of many advocates who joined Ferguson at his news conference. “I cannot imagine withholding information from my patients. It’s unethical,” she said. “Politicians have no business telling me what I can talk to my patients about.”",
            "output": [
                "Washington state to sue over Trump’s new abortion policy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad3040e9882b402886e7259be8491476",
            "input": "China, where the outbreak started, showed a marked reduction in pollution after the government imposed travel bans and quarantines, and the data from Italy, which was hit hard several weeks later, suggested a similar pattern. The European Space Agency (ESA) said it had observed a particularly marked decline in emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a noxious gas emitted by power plants, cars and factories, over the Po Valley region in northern Italy. “Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities,” Claus Zehner, who manages the agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite mission, said in a statement. ESA published an animation https://www.esa.int showing how NO2 emissions fluctuated across Europe from Jan. 1-March 11, using a 10-day moving average, clearly showing pollution levels dropping over northern Italy. Italy has been hardest hit by the outbreak in Europe, with more than 15,100 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 dead, and the government has imposed the most severe controls placed on a Western nation since World War Two. Researchers studying the impact of emissions from industry and transport on climate change and human health are scrambling to understand the possible implications of the pandemic as economies slow, flights are disrupted and quarantines imposed. In China, Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air says CO2 emissions fell by a quarter, or an estimated 200 million tonnes in the four weeks to March 1 - about half the amount Britain emits in a year. Satellite data also showed a sharp fall in Chinese emissions of NO2, starting in Wuhan and then spreading over other cities, including the capital, noticeable over a fortnight in mid-February. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that Europe had now become the epicenter of the pandemic, which has claimed 5,000 lives worldwide.",
            "output": [
                "Air pollution clears in northern Italy after coronavirus lockdown, satellite shows."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2ca08023ef843d68461263831c735fd",
            "input": "When researchers compared brain scans of women before and after pregnancy, they spotted some differences in 11 locations. They also found hints that the alterations help women prepare for motherhood. For example, they might help a mother understand the needs of her infant, Elseline Hoekzema, a study author at Leiden University in the Netherlands, explained via email. The women were also given memory tests, and they showed no signs of decline. Hoekzema, a neuroscientist, began working on the study while at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. She and colleagues present the results in a paper released Monday by the journal Nature Neuroscience. The study includes data on 25 Spanish women scanned before and after their first pregnancies, along with 20 women who didn’t get pregnant during the study. The brain changes in the pregnancy group emerged from comparisons of those two groups. The results were consistent: A computer program could tell which women had gotten pregnant just by looking at results of the MRI scans. And the changes, first documented an average of 10 weeks after giving birth, were mostly still present two years after childbirth. That’s based on follow-up with 11 study participants. Further work showed they’re a motherhood thing: No brain changes were seen in first-time fathers. Based on prior research findings, the researchers think the brain changes happened during pregnancy rather than after childbirth. What’s going on? Hoekzema and colleagues think the differences result from sex hormones that flood the brain of a pregnant woman. In the 11 places, the MRI data indicate reductions in volume of the brain’s gray matter, but it’s not clear what that means. For example, it could reflect loss of brain cells or a pruning of the places where brain cells communicate, called synapses. Losing some synapses is not necessarily a bad thing. It happens during a hormonal surge in adolescence, producing more specialized and efficient brain circuits. The researchers suspect that could be happening in the pregnant women. Some study results hint that such upgrades may prepare a woman for motherhood. One analysis linked brain changes to how strongly a woman felt emotionally attached to her infant. And when women viewed pictures of their babies, several brain regions that reacted the most were ones that showed pregnancy-related change. In addition, the affected brain areas overlapped with circuitry that’s involved in figuring out what another person is thinking and feeling. That’s a handy ability for a mother tending to an infant. The idea of synapses being pruned in pregnancy makes a lot of sense, commented Bruce McEwen of Rockefeller University in New York, who studies hormonal effects on the brain but didn’t participate in what he called a terrific study. “The brain is being shaped all the time,” he said, and “sex hormones are part of the whole orchestra of processes that change the brain structurally.” ___ Follow Malcolm Ritter at http://twitter.com/malcolmritter His recent work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/malcolm-ritter",
            "output": [
                "Brain changes seen in pregnancy, may help preparing for baby."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-580aea50a3df44b29bbb3ca528a054aa",
            "input": "The story makes clear that the test is expensive and that Medicare and some other insurance plans cover it. Although the article provides data about the total number of people randomized to the two arms of the study, it does not go beyond what the news release offers about the percentage/relative increases in remission of symptoms and response to drugs. No absolute numbers are given, so it’s impossible to know how many of the patients in each arm actually benefited and to what extent. All it provides is the relative improvement in “response” to medication: “researchers found a 30% greater response to the medicine when the test was applied.” No data is provided for remission. But when you look at the raw numbers regarding remission rates, and compare the results of both groups, they don’t look as impressive: Of those who didn’t receive genetic testing, 10% reached remission. With the tests, it was 15%. This gives the reader perspective that the absolute difference was 5%. Also, the news release hints that at least some of the results might not have been statistically significant, and we’re curious about that and think it should have been explained in the story: “The GeneSight-treated cohort also demonstrated higher symptom improvement which approached statistical significance (Chart 1).” The test itself — using DNA taken from a cheek swab — carries no physical risks. But the story needed more detail about the potential downsides. As noted in more detail in the TIME coverage of the story, the various “scales” that are used to assess drugs aren’t organized by how effective the drugs might be based on genetics, but instead how many adverse events they might cause. So, a person is told to take certain drugs not because they’ll be more effective than other drugs, they’re just less likely to cause problems. Could selecting drugs based on how many problems they cause lead some people to choose drugs that aren’t as effective for treating depression? That would seem to be biggest issue in terms of harms — that the test would simply be wrong for some people. Also, the test appears to show results for drugs beyond antidepressants — including some drugs that are known to cause dependency or can be deadly when taken alone, mixed together or with other drugs, such as hypnotics and benzodiazepines (Ambien and Xanax, for example). This is important to consider in a group of people already at higher risk for suicide. All of this means adverse event data is vital — was it indeed lower in the gene-tested group? If adverse event data were not available from the company or the investigators at the University of Michigan who led the study, the article could have noted the fact. The story did not do enough to establish that this research is still preliminary — it has not been published nor peer-reviewed, and everyone is relying on just a little bit of data released by the company. We should all be skeptical at this point. No disease mongering here; moderate to severe depression is a real and prevalent disorder and danger. We also thought it was wise how the story included a patient narrative with unclear results–she’s feeling better, but not 100%. That is a very powerful way to explain that this new tool isn’t a silver bullet. The story quotes outside experts and notes that the principal investigator is an unpaid consultant to the company that makes the test. We’re also told that the study was funded by the maker of the genetic test. Although quantification is mostly missing, the article properly points out that clinical judgment-based treatment alone misses the mark a lot of the time, and is essentially educated guesswork. The article might have been strengthened even more had it given information about alternatives or adjuncts to drugs, such as behavioral therapy and electroshock therapy. It’s clear from the story that the test, marketed as GeneSight, is available. The story is pretty careful to put the findings of the study — presented at a conference in New York — in the context of overall advances in the use of pharmacogenetics and precision medicine, treatments increasingly tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup. And it notes that the Myriad Genetics test is not the only player in the gene-based medicine field. The story also includes the information that the study was “blinded” and randomized, but (happily) avoids the hyperbole of the news release which calls it a “landmark” study and the largest ever of its kind. As noted above, the article quotes outside sources.",
            "output": [
                "Which Anti-Depressant is Right for You? Your DNA Can Shed Some Light"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54fd778dc7d049389cb0c58cb4474866",
            "input": "The Hall of Fame rocker, who has been an advocate for teen cancer patients for nearly three decades, visited with children, young adults and their families at Rainbow Babies Hospital on Monday. The Who’s front man toured the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute, which was founded in 2012 to better serve young patients while they undergo cancer treatments and following their release. “Teenagers for so long have been overlooked,” said the 73-year-old, still on the road with longtime bandmate Pete Townshend. “Not nearly enough has been done for them.” For years, teenage cancer patients were hospitalized on pediatric floors or placed with older patients. After consulting with doctors researching treatments and recovery, Daltrey understood the need for teens to have a place of their own, where they could recover in surroundings more suited to their interests and maturity level. “The light went on in my head with this one,” said Daltrey, who first got involved with the Teenage Cancer Trust in 1989. “I was in the Who when I was 18 years old and without the support of this age group — adolescents and young adults — our business wouldn’t be there. The music business is built mostly with this age group. It’s an easy way for me to say, ‘Thank you.’” During his visit, Daltrey, whose iconic voice helped make Who songs such as “My Generation,” ″Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” anthems for generations of fans, spent time with young cancer patients who have benefited from their time in facilities like the one at Rainbow Babies Hospital. Daltrey quickly connected with several of the teens, who eagerly shared stories of being diagnosed and lengthy hospital stays. He had a warm word, hug or handshake for each of them and was happy to pose for photos. For Adam Kirk, Daltrey’s visit was a chance to meet a rock hero. The 40-year-old’s daughter, Sawyer, has been fighting leukemia for months and Daltrey’s face lit up when he saw the 1½-year-old being carried toward him. Kirk came prepared for his meeting, getting Daltrey to sign a well-worn copy of “Who’s Next,” regarded as the band’s signature album. As he made his way around an outdoor, rooftop garden, Daltrey was approached by another dad who wanted to show his appreciation for the singer’s charitable work. Tyson Stiles presented Daltrey with a musical gift. While his son, Ryver, spent nearly 300 days in the hospital after being born prematurely, Stiles recorded a short album that included songs he wrote about his son’s ordeal. “I wanted you to have a copy,” Stiles said. “Is it any good?” Daltrey asked. “No, it’s terrible,” Stiles quipped as both men laughed. Later, Daltrey donated a guitar signed by him and Townshend that will be permanently displayed in the Fowler Institute’s in-patient unit. Daltrey also shared memories of his previous visits to Cleveland. He and the Who first came to town in 1967. “It’s a lot different than it used to be,” he said. “It was the dirtiest place I’d ever been to in my life. Everything was covered in soot. But Cleveland audiences were some of the best we ever played for.”",
            "output": [
                "The Who’s Roger Daltrey visits teenage cancer patients."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c09389a3df8408599b86804d58ae7dd",
            "input": "The researchers have no answer why it is so, but they warn that their findings should not be exploited for sex selection. All fertility clinics that took part in the study comply with Australia’s national guidelines that ban gender selection, the researchers wrote in their findings published on Wednesday in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Led by co-author Jishan Dean from the School of Women’s and Children’s Health at the University of New South Wales, the researchers studied records of 13,165 samples who underwent in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Among women who were given standard IVF, 53 percent had male babies, while 50 percent of women who were given intracytoplasmic sperm injection gave birth to boys. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is done when sperm is not motile and has to be injected directly into the egg. In standard IVF, sperm and egg are incubated together in a culture medium for about 18 hours and the egg is usually fertilized within that time. More boys seemed to result from embryos that were transferred to the womb 4 days after fertilization (54.1 percent) compared to 2-3 days after fertilization (49.9 percent), the study found. Over the years there has been a big increase in the proportion of IVF births. Philip Steer, editor-in-chief of the BJOG, said in a statement deliberate sex selection in countries like China and India has already led to significant social problems with men being unable to find a wife. “It is important that we don’t allow such imbalances to occur unintentionally, simply because we have neglected to study the factors that influence sex ratio in the increasing proportion of the population who use assisted reproductive technology,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Fertility treatment may alter gender balance: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72a079734b3043738ee0859424f937ab",
            "input": "The House passed the bill 101-7 Tuesday. The telephone referral system would be available 24 hours a day, seven days of week and would refer people experiencing a mental health crisis to service providers. A spending law approved in 2018 included $3 million to develop, operate and maintain a hotline pilot program. The new legislation is intended as a way to expand that program statewide, which could cost the state between $1 million and $2.5 million more annually. Supporters say the hotline would help those who do not know where to turn — potentially keeping families together and saving lives. A spokeswoman for Whitmer said the bill was under review.",
            "output": [
                "Bill to create Michigan mental health hotline is approved."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-367cf741788040269df45ede99ebba80",
            "input": "Five people were hurt during the attack Friday at the Arndale Centre in Manchester. Thee of the injured needed hospital treatment but none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Police arrested the 41-year-old man on a charge of “the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.” The incident revived uncomfortable memories of another attack in 2017 only a few hundred meters away. A suicide bomber killed 22 people after targeting a concert by pop star Ariana Grande at Manchester Arena,",
            "output": [
                "Knife suspect detained under UK’s Mental Health Act."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27620a4c128f4cb5b7ec65d701097b59",
            "input": "\"An Austin legislator stressed the number of Texans who lack health coverage after applauding the U.S. Supreme Court for upholding federal subsidies under the Obamacare law. On a positive note, Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard said in a June 25, 2015, press release that the share of uninsured Texans has decreased thanks to more people buying insurance, some with help from the subsidies written into Affordable Care Act of 2010. Now, she said, the Republican-led state should act to draw more federal money to insure more residents—perhaps a reference to Texas’ refusal so far to expand Medicaid to more adults with the federal government initially picking up costs. Inaction, Howard said, \"\"has only left Texas with the nation's highest rate and highest number of uninsured.\"\" Whatever the reasons, does Texas lead the nation in its uninsurance rate and its count of uninsured residents? That wasn’t so before. In 2013, we rated a declaration by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, that Texas had the nation’s most uninsured people, 6 million. As of 2011, then the latest year of survey data, Texas led the nation with its 24 percent share of uninsured residents. But more-populous California was home to about 1 million more uninsured residents. Also in 2013, we found True a claim that Texas had the most uninsured children. In 2012. According to federal survey results, Texas ranked first nationally with 1.1 million uninsured children, followed by California with 891,000. California is among states, unlike Texas, that expanded Medicaid access in accord with the Obamacare law. It stands to reason its uninsured population consequently shrunk. Another post-2013 factor: Key provisions of the Obamacare law—including the mandate that most Americans obtain coverage and the offer of subsidies for individuals to buy insurance—took effect in 2014, likely affecting who has a policy. Texas No. 1 in rate of uninsured  Texas has evidently continued to rank No. 1 for its share of uninsured residents. To our inquiry, Scott Daigle, Howard’s chief of staff, noted by email a June 23, 2015, Austin American-Statesman story citing a national survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating Texas had a higher percentage of uninsured adults in 2014 than any other state. Nearly 26 percent of Texas adults were uninsured, the story said, down from about 28 percent in 2013. We wondered about all residents of the states at issue. Separately, the Kaiser Family Foundation, drawing on U.S. Census Bureau survey results, keeps up with how many residents of each state have health coverage. Its latest charts indicate that per the bureau’s 2013 Current Population Survey, Texas and Nevada were tied for No. 1 that year with 20 percent of residents lacking coverage. At the time, according to the survey, 15 percent of California residents lacked coverage. In raw numbers, 5,769,600 Californians were uninsured, compared with 5,357,700 Texans, according to the survey. We also reached out to bureau spokesman Robert Bernstein who suggested by email we consider its American Community Survey results for 2013, the latest available, indicating 22 percent of Texans and 17 percent of Californians were uninsured that year. According to this survey, Nevada had the nation’s No. 2 uninsurance rate, nearly 21 percent. In raw numbers, the survey suggested, 6.5 million Californians lacked coverage compared to more than 5.7 million Texans. California vs. Texas in uninsured residents  In question: Whether California kept its raw-total lead in uninsured residents through 2014. Doesn’t seem so, experts told us, because far fewer Californians continued to lack coverage through the year, causing Texas to end up No. 1 for its uninsured rate and total residents without insurance. However, we fell short of landing governmental confirmation of such a shift. Responding to our request for backup information, Daigle in Howard’s office emailed us a link to a September 2014 Rice University press release stating Texas \"\"has now surpassed California to become the state with the highest number of uninsured residents.\"\" But the related report, from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation, said only that Texas has \"\"potentially surpassed\"\" California in its uninsured count. According to quarterly surveys of Texans undertaken by the researchers, an additional nearly 379,000 Texans aged 18 to 64 had health coverage after the first Obamacare enrollment period, reducing uninsurance rates among such adults from 25 percent in September 2013 to 22 percent in May 2014. An April 2015 follow-up report by the institute and foundation said that thanks to more adults obtaining coverage, the share of uninsured Texans aged 18-64 as of March 2015 had dropped even more to 17 percent. The report said: \"\"Despite this progress, Texas remains the state with the highest percentage of uninsured residents and, for the first time, Texas now has the largest number of uninsured residents.\"\" That report did not say how the researchers decided California no longer had the most uninsured. By email to our inquiry, co-author Elena Marks told us an undated web post on Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, fueled the conclusion. After the Obamacare law took effect, she noted, WalletHub projected that 14.26 percent of Californians and 24.81 percent of Texans lacked coverage. WalletHub also said its estimates were limited to beneficiaries under 64 years of age. Those state-by-state percentages, according to WalletHub’s post, were calculated in part from a June 2014 Kaiser Family Foundation look into insurance sign-ups during the first Obamacare enrollment period, which WalletHub described as \"\"the best estimate to date of the proportion of private health plan enrollees under Obamacare who previously lacked health insurance and therefore would be gaining coverage under the new law.\"\" Marks told us the Texas researchers multiplied the WalletHub projections by each state’s population to estimate that more than 6.8 million Texans and 5.5 million Californians were uninsured once the Obamacare law had rolled into place. Other analysts  Seeking other perspectives, we queried experts including Paul Fronstin of the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute, which says its mission is to enhance the development of public policy through objective research and education. In 2012, Fronstin wrote that the year  before, California had the largest number of people under age 65 without health insurance of any state, at 7.1 million. But he also wrote that with Obamacare taking effect, the western state’s share of uninsured adults would likely drop. As it was, Fronstin told us at the time, his analysis of bureau research released in March 2012 showed more Californians than Texans were lacking coverage. That also held in Fronstin’s latest analysis, published in 2013, which said that nationally in 2010-12, Texas and California were among 14 states with 20 percent or more of residents lacking insurance. California had an average of 7 million uninsured non-elderly residents, according to a chart in the report, outpacing other states including No. 2 Texas, which averaged 6.1 million uninsured non-elderly. Still, those counts reflected conditions before the Obamacare law took fuller effect. By email, Fronstin told us this month that he believes California no longer leads the nation in uninsured residents, likely due to more people there taking advantage of coverage options thanks to the state expanding Medicaid and residents otherwise buying insurance with the subsidies offered thanks to the Obamacare law. Fronstin pointed out Gallup polls taken through 2014 indicating Texas that year had the nation’s greatest share of uninsured adults (24.4 percent) for the seventh straight year. That was a slight improvement from the 27 percent rate Gallup gauged in 2013. From 2013 to 2014, per Gallup’s results, California’s adult uninsurance rate fell from 21.6 percent to 15.3 percent. We considered multiplying the 2014 Gallup percentages by federal population estimates to approximate the number of uninsured adults in each state. But Howard referred to all uninsured residents. We sought the same broad focus. On this front, Anne Dunkelberg of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for programs serving low-income Texans, guided us to a June 23, 2015, report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that according to its surveys undertaken through 2014, 11.5 percent of all Americans were uninsured. Also, a chart in the report indicates 19.4 percent of all Texans were uninsured at the time they were interviewed while 12 percent of Californians reported no coverage. We multiplied these percentages over July 2014 Census Bureau population estimates for each state, reaching estimates of 5.23 million uninsured Texans in 2014 and 4.66 million uninsured Californians. Next, we reached Gerald \"\"Jerry\"\" Kominski, director of UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research, who said by phone that results of its 2014 survey indicating the number of uninsured Californians at that time were to be released later this summer. Kominski otherwise said our calculation using the CDC study and federal population estimates seemed reasonable. \"\"California has been very successful in reducing the number of uninsured,\"\" Kominski said, \"\"because of its aggressive promotion of the Affordable Care Act.\"\" We also ran our calculation by the Kaiser foundation. Researcher Rachel Garfield cautioned by phone against reaching conclusions by making calculations using figures from different sources. Generally, she said, data is not yet available to assess how many people were uninsured in each state in 2014 though the census bureau is expected to release relevant survey results in September 2015. Our ruling  Howard said Texas is No. 1 in its uninsurance rate and its total uninsured residents. Texas leads the nation in its percentage of uninsured. Also, it newly looks like Texas has the greatest raw number of uninsured residents, though that’s evidently backed up only by rough calculations like our own, a clarification missing from this claim. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Texas has \"\"the nation's highest rate and highest number of uninsured.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ba10ab34f404332bb0c4aa94725de61",
            "input": "\"New York continues to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus in the United States, with the lion's share of cases coming from, or around, New York City. The city’s residents have been warned to stay home for weeks, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo formally signing a state-wide \"\"stay-at-home\"\" order on March 20 that banned all non-essential businesses from conducting in-office work and stopped all \"\"non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason.\"\" Yet a photo shared on Facebook April 2 showed an overcrowded NYC subway car along with a caption that seemed almost unbelievable during a time of extreme social distancing: \"\"This is NYC#2 train this afternoon!!!! And their mayor and governor wants to blame trump!!!! Damn what a disgrace!!!! Spread this far and wide!!!!\"\" The image was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) In this case, the post isn’t far off – the image is real and was taken just three days earlier, during rush hour on a Bronx-bound train on March 30. The photo was posted that evening on Twitter by user Hiam Abbas, who wrote: \"\"4:30 PM today, #2 BX bound train. Trains are infrequent. All cars were this crowded. Social distancing? Containment? Essential workers are at risk.\"\" 4:30 PM today, #2 BX bound train. Trains are infrequent. All cars were this crowded. Social distancing? Containment? Essential workers are at risk. @NYCTSubway @WajahatAli @NYCMayor @NYGovCuomo @Gothamist @NY1 @nyc311 @nytimes @JumaaneWilliams @AOC @shaunking @NewYorker @ABC7NY https://t.co/IEx8B9KdyM pic.twitter.com/Wp7Kj5Ca8i Abbas’ post  includes another photo of an overcrowded train, this one heading into Manhattan during the morning commute. With ridership plummeting and fewer crew members working, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced implementation of its \"\"essential service plan,\"\" which aims to  to help move healthcare workers, first responders and essential personnel while scaling back train and bus service overall; some lines are running on modified schedules and others aren’t running at all. But public transit is a commuting lifeline for many essential workers, and the reduction in service can make it difficult to maintain the social distancing that health officials recommend. The MTA responded to Abbas’ photo on Twitter, saying it would be \"\"escalated to supervision for investigation.\"\" In an interview with the news channel New York 1 that same day, Mayor Bill de Blasio said fewer people are riding the subway, so this kind of problem isn’t typical. He said subway cars can get overcrowded sometimes due to a train breaking down or a service delay, but he also concluded that crowding on trains was \"\"not acceptable.\"\" \"\"I understand people are trying to get somewhere, but no one should be getting on a crowded train,\"\" de Blasio said. \"\"Spread out throughout the train. Wait for the next train.\"\" According to a report by the New York Times, although overall subway ridership is down 87%, the steepest declines have occurred in richer neighborhoods. Manhattan, which has a median income around $80,000, saw a 75% decrease in ridership, the Times reports, while the Bronx, where the median household income is about $38,000, saw only a 55% decrease. The post is off on the date of the photo, but only by a few days; it was taken well into New York’s stay-at-home order.\"",
            "output": [
                "Photo shows a crowded New York City subway train during stay-at-home order."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52d703d305704793b67a87828a3e1fd6",
            "input": "The Virginian-Pilot reports that the nonprofit called Kennedy’s Angel Gowns has donated the so-called “Cuddle Cots” to Sentara Leigh Hospital. The cots cool the bodies of stillborn infants to allow parents more time to grieve. The nonprofit was started by Heather and Demetri Wilson. The couple lost a baby girl 36 weeks into a pregnancy 8 ½ years ago. Heather Wilson tells the newspaper she would give anything for just a “couple more minutes” with the infant if she could turn back the hands of time. Nurse clinician Kelly Rockel says the temperature-controlled cots “give our moms more time with their babies” at the Norfolk hospital. The temperature-controlled cots cost about $2,500 each. ___ Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com",
            "output": [
                "Nonprofit donates cots to preserve stillborn babies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9b36369dc274b00a86942c82bdb90bf",
            "input": "Roy treads carefully as the water rises to his knees, seeming for a moment to lose sight of his prey. Then in one swift action he steps back, takes aim and shatters the outback calm, and a crocodile, with a single booming shotgun blast. I am definitely not in Sydney anymore. For more than 10 years I have dreamed of photographing the daily lives of Aboriginal Australians in the northern-most tip of the Northern Territory, Australia’s rugged “Top End”. Their Arnhem Land reserve - closer to Bali than Sydney - covers an area of around 97,000 sq km (37,500 sq miles), has a population of around 16,000 and access for non-Aborigines is by invitation only. Australia’s Aborigines are the custodians of the longest unbroken cultural tradition on Earth, having migrated Down Under from Africa via Asia between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, and connection to the land is practically written into their DNA. But the arrival of European settlers in the 18th century marked the beginning of a painful disenfranchisement. Massacres are still tearfully remembered and today the majority of Aborigines live in abject poverty. Last year, while on patrol with the Indigenous Australian Army unit known as NORFORCE, I met Sergeant Norman Daymirringu, a Yolngu Aborigine, who invited me to go hunting with him near Ramingining, located a bumpy and dusty 600 km drive east of Darwin. Norman is allowed by tradition to share his ancient culture with those he deems worthy, and I was honoured to have been told the Yolngu people’s creation stories and shown their sacred sites. But entering Arnhem Land as a “White Fella” means changing gears and seeing the world through a completely different set of eyes, a great challenge for a photographer. For example, an outsider might struggle to understand a site such as “Dog’s Tongue”, an orange rock amid a barren salt pan, but for Norman it is an integral part of the creation of the universe. The rock has tipped over from its normal position and Norman, as custodian of the land, affords me the rare honor of watching as he puts it back in place, where it has stood for countless millennia. At Yathalamarra, a community consisting of around a dozen houses, we pick up some relatives for the hunt and head on foot to an isolated billabong. With the sun blazing and temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 Fahrenheit, I am getting pessimistic, when suddenly Roy fires his shotgun. At his feet lies a dead crocodile. Roy pulls the beast from the water, while Marcus keeps lookout. Not far from the shoreline the water starts moving. Suddenly Marcus pounces and, from just beneath the surface, he pulls another crocodile, this one a bleating baby. Roy is nervous about crossing the billabong carrying a heavy dead crocodile, but wanders downstream and grabs a boat hidden in the bushes. Using a stick as a paddle he navigates towards us, throwing the two crocs onto the muddy shore. Wow, its over, I think. We can head off with a great catch and potential feast awaiting. Roy has other ideas: “It’s easier to carry them without all that skin,” he tells me. Any butcher would have been extremely impressed with the skill he showed at filleting this massive beast. The baby was carried out alive. As we are leaving, Roy wraps the intestines in leaves, as nothing that can be eaten is wasted, and he and his sons walk the few kilometers back to the car with crocodile meat and a goanna lizard slung over their shoulders. As for me, I walked away with a unique insight into their culture and some photographs that not many others have had the privilege of taking.",
            "output": [
                "Hunting for pictures, and crocodiles, in remote Aboriginal country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5008981b2f294260b35d9eb4465e0eb4",
            "input": "The state Department of Public Health says the person from greater Boston was diagnosed with the highly contagious disease Sunday. They were diagnosed at a clinic in Wellesley. In the week before the diagnosis, the person visited KKatie’s Burger Bar in Plymouth on Tuesday; a Starbucks in Waltham and the Mass Pike rest stop in Framingham on Wednesday; a Staples and a Dunkin’ Donuts in Waltham, a Whole Foods Market in Hyannis, and a Target in Braintree on Thursday. Anyone who thinks they were exposed and begins to develop symptoms of measles should call their health care provider.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts confirms year’s first case of measles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9439d433489a4312a515ea2c1e4b0ae1",
            "input": "Cooper’s office said the two competitive grants, which will be distributed over seven years, come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “The science is just overwhelming as how much of a difference that early childhood education makes in whether a child is going to succeed in school and in life,” Cooper said during a visit to a Cary day care center for the announcement. A $40.2 million Preschool Development Grant from DHHS in part will help pay for professional development and coaching for early childhood teachers, as well as to expand a home-visitation program by nurses for parents of newborns, Cooper’s office said in a news release. The CMS grant, which could reach $16 million, implements “Integrated Care for Kids,” a program for children who receive Medicaid coverage and other services. Speaking at the Bright Beginnings Child Development Center, Cooper said he is working on ways to improve pay for pre-kindergarten teachers and expand Medicaid coverage to more working people, such as those working in child care.",
            "output": [
                "N Carolina to get $56M for early childhood education, health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0958b5ce959641ca8c178260daea6520",
            "input": "Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO, due to objections from China which claims the island as its own, has infuriated the Taipei government during the coronavirus outbreak. Taiwan says it has been unable to get timely information and that Taiwanese lives have become political pawns. The WHO denies this. Taiwan has long described this as a pattern of behaviour that puts it at risk because of Chinese pressure to exclude it from international bodies. On Wednesday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus rejected “racist slurs” against him, which he said had originated in Taiwan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan opposed any form of discrimination. “For years, we have been excluded from international organisations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” she said in a statement. “If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan to see Taiwan’s efforts to fight COVID-19 for himself, he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment.”  Tedros is not a popular figure in Taiwan due to suspicions he is too close to China and the WHO’s listing of Taiwan’s virus case numbers under China’s, despite it being totally separately governed. U.S. President Donald Trump sharply criticised the WHO on Tuesday, accusing it of being too focused on China and issuing bad advice during the coronavirus outbreak. Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said Tedros’ accusations were groundless and “imaginary” and Taiwan had not made any racist comments nor encouraged anyone to do so. Tedros’ comments were irresponsible and he should clarify them and apologise to Taiwan, Ou said. “The concept of racism does not exist in Taiwan. We do not have a problem of racism,” she told reporters. In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry did not directly say whether it believed Taiwan was responsible for racist attacks on Tedros, but said the island was trying “to use the epidemic to seek independence” and that its plots would not succeed. Taiwan has been proud of its early and so far effective measures against the coronavirus, logging just 380 cases and five deaths to date, far lower than many of its neighbours. Taiwan reported just one new case on Thursday. The WHO said last month it was closely following the development of the coronavirus in Taiwan and learning lessons from how they are fighting it. However, Taiwan says the WHO ignored its questions at the start of the outbreak and has not shared with member states information Taiwan has provided, including details on its coronavirus cases and prevention methods. Under the slogan “Taiwan can help”, the government last week announced the donation of 10 million faces masks to the United States, Europe and the 15 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic ties with the island. Ou said Taiwan would donate another six million masks, to northern and eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and U.S. states hardest hit by the pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Taiwan rebuffs accusations it racially attacked WHO chief."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3a6d953ffc14e51a976e95b43d3118c",
            "input": "Amid concerns over possible infection among the more than 80 million tourists who visit Spain annually, the ministry said it was checking another 523 suspected cases. Most confirmed cases have been recorded in the southern region of Andalusia, where the packaged pork plant linked to the outbreak is situated. But there have been others as far away as Catalonia in the northeast and more around 50 people remain in hospital. Listeria, the bacteria behind the infection, usually causes mild illness but can be dangerous to pregnant women, 23 of whom are among those still hospitalized, and those with weakened immune systems. The ministry said it had issued alerts to EU authorities and the World Health Organization over the outbreak, which was on Tuesday confirmed to have killed a 90-year-old woman. The plant in question, owned by Seville-based Magrudis, was inspected by health authorities after lab tests showed the presence of listeria in one of its products, the ministry said. All products manufactured in the plant since May 1 have been recalled. The company has not responded to requests for comment. “Obviously there was a failure to follow the established procedures,” acting health minister Maria Luisa Carcedo told reporters. “Now we need to carry out the inspections and investigations to figure out exactly where this failure took place.”",
            "output": [
                "Spain issues international alert as listeria cases hit 150."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-711d01992e2345e8bc17428fe8e0fb7e",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration will allow 22nd Century Group to begin selling the first low-nicotine cigarettes reviewed by federal health regulators. The products contain roughly 95% less nicotine than standard cigarettes, according to the FDA. Nicotine, which occurs naturally in tobacco plants, is the addictive chemical that makes cigarettes, chew and related products so hard to quit. Past efforts to sell similar low-nicotine products have fallen flat. Regulators stressed that their ruling does not mean the new products are safer than regular cigarettes. The agency noted there are no safe tobacco products. Cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, stroke and a number of other deadly diseases. But the agency’s tobacco chief, Mitch Zeller, noted in a statement that 22nd Century Group’s products are the first cigarettes to show the potential “to help reduce nicotine dependence among addicted smokers.” The FDA is continuing to review a separate application from the company on whether the cigarettes present a reduced risk to smokers. The U.S. smoking rate has fallen to an all-time low of 14% of adults, or roughly 34 million Americans. But smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., responsible for some 480,000 deaths annually Low-nicotine cigarettes are not a new idea. Philip Morris experimented with selling a line of them in the U.S. in the late 1980s, without much success. Since then, most low-nicotine cigarettes have been used for research purposes to study addiction in smokers. Kenneth Warner, a tobacco expert at the University of Michigan’s school of public health, called the idea “good in concept,” but said he would be “astonished if there’s much of a market for this.” There are several techniques for reducing nicotine, including chemical extraction and cross-breeding plants. Williamsville, New York-based 22nd Century Group plans to sell its cigarettes under the brand name Moonlight, in regular and menthol flavor. Last year, the FDA began the process for regulating nicotine in cigarettes to make them minimally or non-addictive. But the agency recently dropped the nicotine plan from its list of regulatory priorities. And tobacco companies have signaled their opposition. The FDA has sponsored several studies showing that when smokers switch to low-nicotine cigarettes they smoke less and are more likely to try quitting. The research was considered pivotal to establishing that smokers won’t compensate by smoking more cigarettes or inhaling more deeply if nicotine levels are low. That was sometimes the case with “light” and “low tar” cigarettes marketed in decades past. Those products were banned as misleading. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "US permits sale of cigarettes with 95% less nicotine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ebe6d462676443f79f24d46d2a359fb4",
            "input": "In July 2020, social media posts and news reports claimed that a Missouri school district asked parents to sign COVID-19 “death” waivers in advance of the academic school year. The waiver went viral after a Twitter user shared it. The focus on the word “death” came from an article published by online tabloid Raw Story that extrapolated language from the waiver meant to release Hazelwood School District (HSD) in Missouri from legal liabilities in the event a child dies “in any way related to COVID-19.” While it is true that HSD issued a waiver related to COVID-19, Anthony Kiekow, HSD director of communication and public relations, told Snopes that parents would only be required to sign if their child planned on participating in summer athletic programs. The waiver asked that a parent confirm their acknowledgment of the public health crisis “related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (‘COVID-19’)” and confirmed that they would not allow a child to participate in programs if they showed any symptoms of COVID-19 or had been exposed to anyone diagnosed with the disease or awaiting test results. It further notes: The undersigned agrees to release, discharge, hold harmless and indemnify the Hazelwood School District, it’s agents, employees, officers, Board of Education members, insurers and others acting on the District’s behalf (the Releasees”), of and from any and all claims, demands, causes of action and/or legal liabilities for injuries to or death of my child occurring during, or resulting from, or participation in the above-mentioned program or activity and related in any way to COVID-19, even if the cause, damages or injuries are alleged to be the fault of or alleged to be caused by the negligence or carelessness of the Releasees. Such verbiage is not uncommon in school athletic waivers and headlines referring to the document as a COVID-19 “death” waiver were “sensationalizing” and largely misleading, added Kiekow. The waiver was created by the Missouri United School Insurance Council (MUSIC), a non-profit program that provides insurance coverage for Missouri public schools and community colleges. Snopes spoke with MUSIC Executive Director Mark Stockwell who said that the organization supplied all member school districts with two waiver templates recommended for summer athletic programs and not necessarily for those that take place during the academic school year. Kiekow confirmed that the waiver was sent in late June 2020 and was intended for parents whose students typically participate in summer athletics. He noted that required athletic waivers and documents from the previous school year were “very different from this waiver,” but that language related to COVID-19 is likely to be the “new norm for sports.” For the 2020-21 school year, the district announced that it would be offering families the option of selecting “100% virtual school” or a blended option that includes both virtual and in-person learning. A statement issued by HSD further reads that: Parents who want their child to participate in athletics are asked to sign a waiver. This year’s waiver includes language about COVID-19 to ensure that parents can make an informed decision… Our district has implemented unprecedented safety precautions in all of our buildings; however, it is important for parents to understand that school districts can only mitigate the risk of COVID-19. No district, organization, or business can offer 100% protection against exposure to a global pandemic. Visit the Centers for Disease Control website for more information about COVID-19. Parents of HSD students who choose to allow their children to attend in-person class would not be required to sign a COVID-19 waiver. When asked why HSD adopted this policy, Keikow replied via text message that “athletics are optional” and that a waiver for in-person instruction is “just not something that we’re requiring.” EdCounsel, a Missouri-based law firm that represents over 200 public school districts, wrote in a blog post that state “law is not clear” on whether school districts can require that families sign a COVID-19 waiver for students attending in-person instruction, but liability waivers for extracurricular activities are largely exempt.",
            "output": [
                "A Missouri school district asked parents to sign a COVID-19 liability waiver in advance of the 2020-2021 school year. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eba8e3efc3ba4e93ab04ec4225bb470a",
            "input": "The Republican governor said the state is gradually moving into stage one of the state’s recovery plan at 5 p.m. Friday, after 14 days of plateauing of key hospital metrics. He also said the decision came after consultation with a state team of public health experts and business leaders. “I want to be very clear: while lifting the stay at home order and gradually moving into stage one of our recovery is a positive step forward, it does not mean that we are safe or that this crisis is over,” Hogan said at a news conference. “Low risk does not mean no risk. All Marylanders, particularly those older and more vulnerable populations, are advised to continue staying home as much as possible.” Retail stores may reopen at up to 50% capacity, with curbside pickup and delivery strongly encouraged and all public health precautions in place. Examples of businesses that may reopen include clothing and shoe stores, pet groomers, animal adoption shelters, car washes, art galleries and bookstores. All manufacturing may resume operations, with multiple shifts encouraged. Churches and houses of worship may start holding religious services, at up to 50% capacity, with outdoor services strongly encouraged. Some personal services, including barbershops and hair salons, may open with up to 50% capacity and by appointment only. Maryland residents are still urged to work from home if they can. A requirement that people wear masks in public areas indoors will remain in effect. Limits prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people will remain in place, with the exception of religious gatherings. The plan provides a flexible and community-based approach that enables individual jurisdictions to make decisions on the timing of stage one reopenings. Local governments can keep restrictions in place, but they can only act within the guidelines announced by the governor. Hogan noted that officials in two of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in the suburbs of the nation’s capital, have made clear they are not ready to move into stage one. Of the state’s 34,812 confirmed cases, 10,072 are in Prince George’s, and 7,283 are in Montgomery. Baltimore County has 4,160 cases, and the city of Baltimore has the fourth-highest number with 3,476. Hogan also noted that other counties in the state feel strongly that they are able to begin stage one. “As our state cautiously moves forward we fully understand that not all counties are in the same situation,” Hogan said. “Just four of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions currently account for more than 70% of our state’s total confirmed cases.” Some counties in rural parts of the state have had far fewer cases. Foe example, Garrett County in western Maryland has had six confirmed cases. Somerset County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, has reported 51 cases — the second fewest number of confirmed cases for a Maryland jurisdiction. As of Wednesday morning, Maryland has confirmed 34,812 virus cases. That was 751 more cases than on Tuesday. Maryland also has had a total of 1,694 confirmed deaths, 51 more than on the day before. Maryland has had 138,762 negative test results. On Wednesday, 1,550 people were hospitalized in the state due to the virus. That’s 13 less than on Tuesday. ___ For more AP coverage of the virus outbreak, visit https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak or https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.",
            "output": [
                "Maryland governor eases restrictions caused by virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af573e9fa45f4a609160b701a929f81a",
            "input": "China, home to some 300 million smokers, is the world’s largest consumer of tobacco, and smoking is a ubiquitous part of social life, particularly for men. Tougher regulation of smoking is a priority this year, officials from the National Health and Family Planning Commission said this week, adding that the agency was pushing lawmakers to toughen laws on tobacco use. “Compared to the damage to health that smoking causes, tobacco’s economic benefits are trivial,” Mao Qun’an, a spokesman for the commission, told a news conference on Tuesday. The drumbeat to reduce tobacco use has grown steadily louder in the past few years, but experts say China’s powerful tobacco industry, which has resisted raising cigarette prices and use of health warnings on cigarette packs, has been a tough opponent. The nationwide smoking ban has long been in the works. Several cities have banned smoking in public places, but enforcement has been lax. Beijing pledged in 2008 to prohibit smoking in most public venues, including government offices, but no-smoking signs are frequently ignored. Steps recommended by the commission range from beefing up education on the dangers of tobacco to banning smoking in schools and hospitals. An official in the tobacco control office of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in December that lawmakers would consider the nationwide ban on smoking in public places this year. The commission’s statement follows a government circular urging Communist Party cadres and government officials not to light up in schools, workplaces, stadiums, and on public transport, among other places, so as to set a positive example.",
            "output": [
                "China aims to ban smoking in public places by end of the year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-906f732c036342c984d3116b6b49c22c",
            "input": "\"SInce the test drug is in the very early stages of development, this criterion is technically not applicable. However, the present treatment regimen of an interferon and ribavirin costs thousands of dollars monthly for 6-12 months and it is likely that any newer antivirals will be additive and not replacements. A comment on the potential for significant additional costs would have been desirable. The story got a little carried away here. It said participants treated with the experimental drug had a \"\"dramatic\"\" reduction in viral load. While this may be true, it would have been helpful to point out, as the HealthDay story did, that the study lasted only a few days. We don’t know whether this benefit can be maintained over a longer period of time, especially considering that the hepatitis C virus has proven to be quite capable of developing resistance to antivirals over time. The story says study participants who took the drug exhibited \"\"few side effects.\"\" But what were those side effects and how serious were they? The story doesn’t say. While the implication here is that the drug seems to be safe — a conclusion that we can’t really draw based on a small, early phase test — the story does include a cautionary quote from an expert about the need for additional testing to demonstrate safety. It also noted that patients taking this drug might still need to be treated with interferon, which many individuals can’t tolerate because of side effects. A close one, but we’ll call it satisfactory. This story includes appropriate caveats about the early nature of this research and includes a restraining quote from an expert who warns that the drug might not make it out of phase II tests. Unlike the competing HealthDay piece, this story resisted getting too worked up about the other experimental drugs for hepatitis-C that are closer to potential FDA approval. This story does not exaggerate the prevalence or severity of hepatitis C. According to disclosure statements from a 2008 CME program, Dr. Bruce Bacon, an expert source for this story, received research funding from Bristol Myers Squibb, which is developing the experimental drug being discussed. He also is a consultant to drug companies developing competing drugs for hepatitis C. To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest it is desirable to identify relationships such as these clearly. This story fails to do so. The story compares the new drug with intravenously administered peg-interferon and ribavirin — the current standard of care for hepatitis C. The story called the research on BMS-790052 \"\"preliminary\"\" and made it clear that the drug was not close to approval. It also was more cautious than the competing HealthDay piece in its description of two other antiviral drugs that are nearing FDA approval. The story notes that there are many other drugs being developed to treat hepatitis C. It explained that a potentially novel advantage of the new compound is that it seems to be effective against all genotypes. We can’t be sure whether this story relied on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Experimental Drug May Treat Hepatitis C"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce0b14e4959b4adaa195a2e0c3cd6ba0",
            "input": "Inflammation in arteries has been associated with an increased risk of stroke. Inflammation and emboli, or small blood clots, were significantly reduced in patients treated with 80 milligrams of Lipitor compared with those who received 10 mg of the drug each day for 12 weeks, said researchers, who presented the data at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting on Monday. The study divided 40 patients with diseased carotid arteries into the two groups. The artery was examined for changes in inflammation at six weeks and 12 weeks using a unique contrast agent with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While the 80 mg Lipitor, known generically as atorvastatin, reduced inflammation, researchers appeared even more enthusiastic about the technique used to measure the results. The arteries were viewed using Ultra Small Particles of Iron Oxide, or USPIO-enhanced, high-resolution MRI. “The real star of this study is this new way of imaging, which allows you to zero in on what is actually going on in these arteries,” said Dr Jonathan Gillard, one of the study’s lead researchers. The study demonstrates that if you treat patients who have inflammation of the carotid artery with “a high dose of atorvastatin, you substantially reduce the amount of inflammation and risk of stroke, whereas low dose atorvastatin does not reduce risk,” Gillard said. “Thanks to this imaging technique, we can now figure out which patients need the aggressive treatment before we begin our therapy,” he added. Lipitor, which lowers levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol in the blood, is the world’s top-selling prescription medicine with some $12 billion in annual sales.",
            "output": [
                "High dose Lipitor reduces artery inflammation: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-269a8b711f9244f4965dee54e882174f",
            "input": "The coronavirus has infected more than 168,000 people worldwide and killed at least 6,610, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). While the bulk of those infected experience only mild symptoms, it is severe or critical in 20% of patients. The virus mortality rate is about 3.4%, the WHO has estimated. As scientists scramble to develop a vaccine, researchers at Australia’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity said they had taken an important step in understanding the virus. By examining the blood results from an unidentified woman in her 40s, they discovered that people’s immune systems respond to coronavirus in the same way it typically fights flu. The findings help scientists understand why some patients recover while others develop more serious respiratory problems, the researchers said. “People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts, and also understand what’s lacking in those who have fatal outcomes,” said Katherine Kedzierska, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Melbourne, which took part in the research. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. As researchers monitored the Australian patient’s immune response, they were able to accurately predict when she would recover. Researchers did not name the patient, but said she was an Australian citizen who was evacuated out of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China. Health Minister Greg Hunt described the development as “world leading” and a major development in research on the disease. “It’s about fast-tracking a vaccine by identifying which candidates are most likely to be successful,” Hunt told reporters. “It’s also about fast-tracking potential therapies and treatments for patients who already have coronavirus.”  At least a dozen drugmakers around the world are working on vaccines or antiviral and other treatments for the fast-spreading contagion. But investment costs for vaccines could run as high as $800 million in a process that, even if accelerated, will likely take more than a year until approval, according to executives from companies involved in the effort.",
            "output": [
                "Australian researchers map immune response to coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e19fb0bad12c486b867ae014ce71b061",
            "input": "\"Conventional wisdom would tell us that most normal folks will never have an interaction with police like the one Eric Garner had that ultimately led to his death. Yale Law School professor Stephen Carter warned that might not necessarily be the case. Citing the work of Rutgers University law scholar Douglas Husak, Carter wrote on Dec. 4 that \"\"70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment.\"\" Carter noted that’s in part because there are 300,000 or more federal regulations that may be enforceable through criminal punishment. It's as though, Carter said, lawmakers tack on imprisonment to give a law heft. To paraphrase the old line, we are not just a nation of laws, we are a nation overrun by laws. Carter suggests reigning things in. The fact that 70 percent of people have committed a jailable offense is part of Carter's evidence. We wanted to know if other legal experts thought it was correct. They do. Before we get to their reasons, let’s be clear about what Carter and Husak are saying. By the way, Husak told us that Carter quoted him accurately. For Husak, the question wasn’t whether any court would be likely to put someone behind bars for a particular offense, but whether the law gives them the power to do so. Husak said one need look no further than the laws on prescription drugs. If a doctor gave you a prescription for the common painkiller vicodin and your spouse brings it to you as you lie in bed, \"\"your spouse is dispensing a controlled substance without a license,\"\" Husak said. Would that ever be enforced? Not likely. But Husak said that is how the law is written. If that were not enough to get to 70 percent of adults, Husak factored in illicit drug use. According to a 2012 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, over half of the people in every age group born after 1950 said they had used an illicit drug at some time in their lives, primarily marijuana or prescription drugs. That alone comes to about 84 million people, or 37 percent of all people over 20. While some legal experts we reached said they didn’t know how you could come up with an exact number, just about all said it would be no trouble to keep adding more. Sonja Starr at the University of Michigan Law School said many people drink and drive. \"\"The Centers for Disease Control found 112 million self-reported incidences of drunk driving,\"\" Starr said, with the caveat that some drivers would report multiple offences. \"\"And that’s just in a single year.\"\" Starr said you could easily get to the 70 percent mark. By and large, Starr’s counterparts at other law schools agreed. Bennett Capers, professor of law, Brooklyn Law School \"\"This doesn't give me pause at all. There are thousands of criminal statutes on the books, criminalizing things that some of us do without thinking. This runs the gamut from the serious (in New Jersey, it is technically a crime to have sex without first receiving \"\"freely given affirmative permission to the specific act of sexual penetration\"\") to the routine (fudging tax returns) to the mundane (illegal downloads).\"\" David Gray, professor of law, University of Maryland School of Law \"\"70 percent seems low to me. Once you factor in illegal drug use, crimes of recklessness (which seldom are detected because no harm accrues), downloading, DUI, failures to report income, and the scores of relatively innocuous offenses that just happen to carry the possibility of jail time in some jurisdictions, I’d be surprised if the percentage wasn’t much higher than 70 percent over the course of most adults’ lifetimes.\"\" Jeffrey Fagan, professor of law and public health, Columbia Law School Fagan said he didn’t know the right percentage, but he could believe the 70 percent figure. \"\"I’ve violated imprisonable offenses while fishing,\"\" Fagan said. Robert Weisberg, professor of law, Stanford Law School \"\"The number is unknowable, but it strikes me as plausible.\"\" Laurie Levenson, professor of law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles \"\"It does seem to exaggerate the likely number of Americans who are at actual risk of prosecution and imprisonment,\"\" Levenson said. \"\"What we really need to pay attention to is the percent of Americans who commit crimes that are on the prosecutors' radar screens.\"\" Levenson’s point gets at a key ambiguity in Carter’s statement. Much depends on the interpretation of \"\"could lead to imprisonment.\"\" In his article, Carter made it clear he did not mean that imprisonment was in any way likely. His point was simply that too many laws carry too hefty a penalty and in theory, anyone could become ensnared. Our ruling Carter said that more than 70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment. Based on a strictly technical reading of existing laws, the consensus among the legal experts we reached is that the number is reasonable. Way more than a majority of Americans have done something in their lives that runs afoul of some law that includes jail or prison time as a potential punishment. That said, experts acknowledged that the likelihood of arrest, prosecution or imprisonment is exceedingly low for many of Americans’ \"\"crimes.\"\"\"",
            "output": [
                "More than 70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7a184c9b37184e9e81aa13b3a30eb3e9",
            "input": "North Pole, Alaska - the Fairbanks suburb, not the spot at the top of the globe - has posted some of the nation’s worst air-quality readings in recent days, thanks to high levels of wood smoke streaming into stagnant cold air. Concentrations of particulates have made North Pole’s air “very unhealthy,” meaning children, the elderly and other vulnerable people should stay indoors and all residents should refrain from prolonged exercise, according to local government officials. The “very unhealthy” classification was given in the past few days. A search of airnow.gov - the government portal which monitors air quality - did not reveal any other U.S. community currently with such poor quality air. The problem stems from residents’ dependence on wood-burning stoves for heat in an extremely cold region prone to pollution-trapping temperature inversions, said officials with the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the regional government. “As long as it’s cold and the air is still, we have a particulate problem,” said Jim McCormick, a technician with the borough’s Air Quality Division. With temperatures in some spots below minus-30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34.4 C) and no relief forecast until next week, the air is expected to stay dirty, McCormick said. As of Friday, particulate pollution in North Pole was worse than in Beijing, which is notorious for chronic air pollution, a Fairbanks newspaper columnist reported, although Reuters was unable to verify the claim independently. Dermot Cole of the Fairbanks News-Miner said his research found only one city in the world, Guangzhou in southern China, with particulate readings that are currently worse than those in North Pole. Alaska’s pristine, mountainous landscapes suggest crystal clean air. But the city of Fairbanks also has had recent problems, with air quality classified by the borough on Friday as “unhealthy” - not as dire as in North Pole, but still triggering warnings against outdoor activities. The entire Fairbanks North Star Borough has been plagued for years with wintertime air pollution. It is consistently in violation of federal air-quality standards and is required under federal and state laws to come up with measures to clear the air, although they have proved elusive. A local program that allowed residents to swap out old wood stoves for more efficient models was halted by an anti-regulation initiative that borough voters passed in October. “That stopped it cold,” McCormick said.",
            "output": [
                "\"Wood stoves, extreme cold blight air at Alaska's \"\"North Pole\"\".\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e8a188d8a926489189c033c4c56d2708",
            "input": "Central to the plan to protect the city, some or all of the 78 barriers will one day be raised when the sea rises more than 110 centimeters (43 inches), to prevent damaging high tides from pushing into the lagoon city, a world heritage site built picturesquely — but somewhat precariously — upon more than 120 islands. Concerns that high tides are becoming more frequent because of climate change have increased the urgency. While the concept is simple, its realization has been anything but. The system of movable underwater barriers, dubbed Moses, has been beset by corruption, cost overruns and delays. Projected at 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) and meant to be completed by 2011, the project has so far cost 5.5 billion euros and is running a decade behind schedule. In the wake of last month’s flooding of Venice, the worst in 53 years, the consortium that oversees construction of Moses is eager to demonstrate that the project — after years of bad news — is on track and will be fully operational by the end of 2021. Venetians say they cannot afford to be wrong. Skeptics and critics say they may be. A recent test of the deepest expanse of barriers — at the Malamocco entrance to the lagoon — was declared a success by the New Venice Consortium. It was the last of the four sections of barriers to be completely raised — but so far only in calm seas. The real test will come when all four are raised at once, and not only in serene waters, but under flood conditions. That isn’t scheduled to take place until the end of next year. It took six years to test each of the four movable sea walls covering the three openings to the lagoon, partly because work was slowed by a 2014 corruption scandal that implicated the three main contractors and sent 35 people to jail. Work is continuing largely with the original subcontractors now contracting directly with the consortium, which itself has been placed under government control as a result of the scandal. The fact that the barriers have not yet been physically tested in rough seas is a concern to critics. Paolo Vielmo, an offshore marine engineer who has long criticized the project, said that tests carried out in a laboratory in the Netherlands in the 1990s indicated that the barriers, under certain conditions, would oscillate out of control — possibly even breaking apart. “Its behavior is not predictable,’’ Vielmo said. He said that the trials so far declared successful have been under only modest sea conditions that fail to represent anywhere near the threat of the phenomenon of extreme oscillation called subharmonic resonance. Vielmo and two other offshore engineers have compiled a report for the Codacons consumer and environment protection advocacy group, which is asking officials to run additional calculations to see if the project is indeed viable. And if it is not, Codacons says Moses should be stopped. “We don’t want to delay by one minute the possibility to make Moses operational. But we say we cannot make it operational until we are sure it will work,’’ said Franco Conte, president of Codacons in Venice. “Naturally, the Venetian community is exasperated and they say, ‘If we did 95%, let’s do 100% and see if that works.’ But that is unconscionable. If we don’t know if it works, we cannot experiment.”  The barrier system is made up of giant flood gates, each 20 meters (66 feet) long. The gates are attached by hinges to giant cement blocks placed on the seabed along the three openings from the sea into the lagoon, Malamocco, Chioggia and the Lido. The gates can be lifted to create a temporary barrier in high tides. Once the water has receded, they can be lowered again — allowing shipping traffic to continue and for the tidal system to flush out the lagoon. The idea behind the project was to create a mobile system that would not impede views of the unique and protected landscape. But Moses has suffered criticism from the start that there were simpler, cheaper systems that could have been deployed. Venetians have been waiting since the record 1.94-meter (6.36-foot) flood of 1966 for a system to protect them from regular inundations. The flooding in November, the second-worst recorded, proved the urgency. In the 150 years that they have been recording the tide levels in Venice, two high tides above 1.5 meters have never been recorded in a year. In November, there were three in one week. Climate scientists note that exceptional tides — those over 1.4 meters — have become much more frequent in the past two decades, with more than half of all recorded occurring since 2000. “One has to realize the kind of existential question that that serious flooding has given rise to,” said Jane Da Mosto, an environmental scientist and executive director of the non-profit group We Are Here Venice, which is working to defend the city against myriad issues, including depopulation, cruise traffic through St. Mark’s basin and overtourism. “People are asking: will Venice be defendable against these kinds of episodes?’’  It’s not just the still-uncalculated damage to landmarks like St. Mark’s Basilica, where corrosive salt water creeps through porous brick and tile. It’s also the boxes of ruined belongings and piles of soaked mattresses discarded in alleyways and loaded onto motorboats and trash barges for disposal. The relentlessness of the Venetian fall and winter tides make one-third of ground floors uninhabitable in the historic canal city. “I am very old, I cannot say that I want to die, but I certainly do not want to be witness to the fact that it does not work,” 84-year-old resident Paola Scarpa said of the Moses barriers, as she walked to check on a family property in the Canareggio neighborhood on a recent December morning. “It would be a pain too great.”  ___  Associated Press journalist Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Venice tide barriers pass another test but skeptics remain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de9825addffd4694bd00929c68ab2d36",
            "input": "Dengue infections appear to be dropping fast in communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Australia that are buzzing with the specially bred mosquitoes, an international research team reported Thursday. It’s the first evidence from large-scale field trials that mosquitoes are less likely to spread dengue and similar viruses when they also carry a type of bacteria that’s common in insects and harmless to people. Rather than using pesticides to wipe out bugs, “this is really about transforming the mosquito,” said Cameron Simmons of the nonprofit World Mosquito Program that is conducting the research. The first hint of success came from Australia. Mosquitoes bred to carry Wolbachia bacteria were released in parts of North Queensland starting in 2011, and gradually spread through the local mosquito population. Dengue is transmitted when a mosquito bites someone who is infected, and then bites another person, but somehow Wolbachia blocks that — and local transmission has nearly disappeared in those North Queensland communities, Simmons said in an interview. The real test would come in dengue-plagued areas in Asia and Latin America that regularly experience outbreaks where millions get the painful and sometimes deadly disease. Thursday, Simmons’ team reported a 76% decline in dengue recorded by local authorities in an Indonesian community near the city of Yogyakarta since the 2016 release of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes. That’s compared to dengue transmission in a nearby area where regular mosquitoes do the biting. Researchers found a similar drop in a community near the southern Vietnamese city of Nha Trang. And preliminary results suggest large declines in dengue and a related virus, chikungunya, in a few neighborhoods in Brazil near Rio de Janeiro. The studies are continuing in those countries and others. But the findings, presented at a meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, suggest it’s possible to turn at least some mosquitoes from a public health threat into nuisance biters. The work marks “exciting progress,” said Michigan State University professor Zhiyong Xi, who wasn’t involved with the project but has long studied how Wolbachia can turn mosquitoes against themselves. Reducing disease “is the ultimate success of our field,” added University of Maryland biologist Brian Lovett, who also wasn’t part of the project. More research is needed, specialists cautioned. These studies used local health groups’ counts of dengue cases rather than blood tests, noted Penn State University professor Elizabeth McGraw. And while Wolbachia has persisted in North Queensland mosquitoes for eight years and counting, whether mosquitoes maintain dengue resistance that long in harder-hit regions remains to be seen. “The results are pretty exciting — strong levels of reductions — but there clearly are going to be things to be learned from the areas where the reductions are not as great,” McGraw said. More than half of insect species, from fruit flies to butterflies, naturally are infected with Wolbachia — but not the main dengue-spreader, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. They’re daytime biters that thrive in hot urban and suburban localities where, for now, widespread pesticide spraying is the main protection. Researchers with the World Mosquito Program first injected mosquito eggs with Wolbachia in a lab. Infected females then pass the bacteria on through their eggs. Releasing enough Wolbachia carriers, both the females that bite and the males that don’t, allows mating to spread the bacteria through a local mosquito population. The approach doesn’t reduce bites. Simmons said the up-front cost is cheaper than years of spraying and medical care. It’s just one of multiple novel mosquito-control methods under study: —Michigan State’s Xi uses Wolbachia in a different way — to eliminate mosquitoes. Release only male Wolbachia carriers and when they mate with uninfected females, the eggs don’t hatch. —Other researchers zap male mosquitoes with a small dose of radiation, sterilizing them before releasing them into the wild. —Genetically modifying mosquitoes is another approach. Furthest in development is Britain’s Oxitec, which gives male mosquitoes a gene to weaken their offspring so they don’t survive to adulthood. Each approach has pros and cons, but “our best hope to control the mosquitoes that make us sick is to box them in with multiple technologies,” said Maryland’s Lovett. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Bacteria-infected mosquitoes take bite out of deadly dengue."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e983cf9429e48eca3648acfc1beb0d5",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs. Costs would include treating the double digit rates of incontinence and erectile dysfunction in these younger men who do have surgery. The surgery may help them live longer, but many, especially since younger at time of surgery, live decades with these potential harms and folllowup costs of the surgical choice. This should get at least a line in such stories. While describing some of the differences observed in general terms without quantification, the story provided absolute percentage of men dying from prostate cancer in the two study groups. The story then went on to explain that the difference was in the men who were less 65 years of age at the time of diagnosis. The story would have been better if it had more clearly explained this important caveat about the benefit seen. The potential harms associated with various approaches to treating prostate cancer as well as the increased risk of prostate cancer progression and death seen in the cohort of men who followed the watchful waiting approach were discussed. The story did a laudable job of providing information about the study reported on including the fact that the results most recently published basically expand the timeframe of followup on these men which have previously been published. It provided insight about the number of men involved in the study, how their prostate cancer was detected and that the men had been randomly assigned to their treatment group. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Two clinicians who were not involved in the study provided quotes which were used in the story. The story included a list of the commonly available treatment options for early stage prostate cancer. But we must give an unsatisfactory score because the story included a factually incorrect statement indicating that watchful waiting is synonymous with active surveillance. It is not. The story went on to misinform readers by indicating “watchful waiting is often recommended when a man is not expected to die of the cancer” by failing to complete the thought by explaining that the reason they are not expected to die of the cancer is because their advanced age makes it unlikely that the cancer will have sufficient time to progress to lethality OR because they have other diseases from which they are likely to succumb before there is time for the prostate cancer to be deadly. An important caveat about how the prostate cancer in the study differed from the way in which prostate cancer is most commonly detected today in the US was explained. The story provided a reasonable view of the novelty of the treatment options detailed in the study along with the critically important caveat that the majority of the men in the study had their prostate cancer first detected at a later state than is seen with the current screening practices in the US. The story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Aggressive Treatment May Be Beneficial for Early Prostate Cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c13f3179ff343939679e1ad36dddeeb",
            "input": "What he can’t tell you is what he would sell it for - because it will all be given away by the Chester County Food Bank in its efforts to grow food for the needy. The fresh produce program gives low-sodium, low-sugar foods to the poorest Americans year-round, including during the holiday season often associated with canned-food drives. “We picked a thousand pounds this weekend and we’ll do another thousand next week,” Shick, the food bank’s agricultural director said, while standing in a greenhouse where the program grows seedlings in a suburban Philadelphia park. Chester County is among about 20 food banks across the country that have started their own farms to boost healthier eating by the needy, said Domenic Vitiello, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied food pantry agricultural operations. Low-income Americans are a demographic often plagued by diet-related ailments such as diabetes and heart disease. Chester County Food Bank opened about five years ago, springing from the ashes of a similar program that relied on nearby Amish farmers. It was started explicitly with the goal of distributing food straight from the field. Canned food that is often donated to food banks because of its long shelf life is typically higher in sodium, which the American Heart Association says may increase risk for heart failure. People with diabetes also are encouraged to limit the sodium in their daily diet to 1,500 mg to help prevent or control high blood pressure, according to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “The cans we’ve gotten in through the years - it’s not the healthiest stuff,” said Larry Welsch, Chester County Food Bank’s executive director. “I’ve gotten cans of pickled cactus with 2,800 (milli) grams of sodium.”  “When we formed this food bank,” Welsch said, “it wasn’t going to be cans in, cans out.”  The farming effort has offered the public new ways to contribute to the food pantry. “People are very excited to volunteer in the field,” Shick said. “It isn’t stuffing envelopes and putting cans in a box.”  In three growing houses in Chester County’s Springton Manor Farm park, the food bank cultivates seedlings for its partners, including private farmers and corporations such as Endo Health Solutions and Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group. Some schools use the seedlings to grow vegetables for student lunches, others raise their own crops in horticulture and culinary programs, and donate to the food bank what they do not use. The charity grows food on more than a dozen acres spread across multiple sites. To supplement its crop yield, the food bank buys from a farm auction in nearby Lancaster County. Fresh produce makes up about 22 percent of the edibles the Chester County Food Bank distributes. It ranks sixth-highest in the nation for the amount of fresh produce it distributes as a percentage of all the food it gives out, according to statistics compiled by a University of Pennsylvania researcher. Growing produce allows food banks to distribute a wider variety, including leafy greens, Shick said. But it also means footing the expense of buying commercial refrigerators and refrigerated trucks, said Ross Fraser, a spokesman for the nonprofit Feeding America. Those costly hurdles have slowed the transition of food cupboards away from canned goods able to last for months in church basements and toward often more nutritious, but perishable food. Nationwide, most food bank agricultural programs are still in the experimental stages, but they share some characteristics, Vitiello said. They are usually located in wealthier areas because of the start-up expense, and they tend to have educational components that can be just as important as feeding people. Chester County is Pennsylvania’s wealthiest, with an economy buoyed by the pharmaceutical industry. But it also has pockets of poverty, particularly in the Kennett Square area, where there are numerous migrant farm workers who pick mushrooms; and Coatesville, a city whose fortunes have declined as a local steel mill closed and then re-opened with fewer jobs. Food bank farming programs have important roles to play in educating people to cook and use healthier food, Vitiello said. “When these programs are training low-income people in learning how to produce their own food, they’re playing a different role in the food system and promoting food justice,” Vitiello said.",
            "output": [
                "Amid holiday canned-food drives, U.S. food banks take up farming."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62797f5fe3ab4f0081ce117d90ce4684",
            "input": "The brand, dubbed Marley Natural, marks the first time the family’s name would adorn packages of cannabis products ranging from strains similar to those Bob might have smoked in his homeland Jamaica to concentrates, oils and infused lotions sold in countries and U.S. states that have taken steps to decriminalize and legalize pot use and sales. Marley, credited with helping to spread Jamaican music to a world-wide audience with hits like “No Woman, No Cry”, and “I Shot the Sheriff,” died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. “He viewed the herb as something spiritual that could awaken our well-being, deepen our reflection, connect us to nature and liberate our creativity,” Cedella Marley, Bob’s daughter, said in a statement announcing the deal. The agreement came weeks after two U.S. states voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in systems that would usher in retail shops similar to those already operating in Colorado and Washington state. The sale of cannabis remains illegal in much of the world, but countries mainly in Europe and the Americas have decrminalized it by varying degrees. The Netherlands permits the sale of marijuana in “coffee shops”, Israel and Canada and nearly half of U.S. states have allowed its medicinal use, and Uruguay has legalized its use. In the United States, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to interview requests about the plans. The Marley Natural brand would likely be seen on cannabis and other products and accessories by late 2015 under the 30-year global licensing arrangement struck between the family and Seattle-based private equity firm Privateer Holdings. The brand, a wholly-owned subsidiary based in New York, would produce and sell hemp-infused topicals and accessories in countries around the world and could enter into licensing agreements governing production and packaging requirements with growers and processors that sell cannabis and cannabis-infused products in U.S. states, among other plans. Marley’s family said in 2009 it would partner with Hilco Consumer Capital to license products ranging from apparel to video games.",
            "output": [
                "Reggae icon Bob Marley's family to lend name to cannabis brand."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fa1842b83f2468daf38c5b4f44d382b",
            "input": "Portage Mayor John Cannon said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and others learned Monday about an ArcelorMittal mill’s cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen spill, but didn’t inform his city until Thursday, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. “The Mayor is calling for action to be taken,” Cannon said in a statement. “Further, the City of Portage will be taking aggressive action with the EPA to ensure the breakdown of communication, like this, does not occur again.” IDEM and the U.S. Environment Agency’s Chicago office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Cannon’s comments left Friday by The Associated Press. The National Park Service said Thursday that in response to the chemical spill it has closed the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk beach areas at Indiana Dunes National Park as well as waters out to 300 feet (91 meters). Portage is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Chicago. The nearby city of Ogden Dunes also closed its beach and while that city’s drinking water was not affected, it has restricted water intake by its filtration plant as a precaution. News of the chemical spill followed reports of a large fish kill in the area of the Marquette Yacht Club and Sammie L. Maletta Public Marina, both in Portage. “There are dead fish everywhere. They’re up on shore, under the docks. I’m saying there are probably hundreds of fish,” Lake Station resident Janice McMullen told The Times when she arrived Wednesday at her boat in the Marquette Yacht Club IDEM said Thursday that ArcelorMittal’s Burns Harbor steel mill had released excess amounts of the chemicals into the Little Calumet River’s east branch. The agency and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources also asked the public Thursday to avoid the river’s east branch while state environmental officials conduct a cleanup. ArcelorMittal said in a statement that it’s investigating and will “continue to work closely with the agencies involved.” Cannon said in his statement he “holds ArcelorMittal responsible for this event, and also parts blame to IDEM for not informing the City of Portage until several days after the first incident.” It was unclear how much of the two chemicals entered the Lake Michigan tributary. IDEM spokesman Barry Sneed said Friday the state agency is awaiting test results on water samples taken from the area in question. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cyanide “is a rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical that can exist in various forms” including cyanide salts, which are used in metallurgy for electroplating, metal cleaning and removing gold from ore.",
            "output": [
                "Mayor: Officials waited days to warn of lake chemical spill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bbb41d1ad4fe4f02b809858702399097",
            "input": "Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi has designated a wing of his jail for the treatment of men civilly committed for substance abuse reasons. It’s the only facility in western Massachusetts housing the men, and just one of three in the entire state for men. While some are trying to end the practice, Cocchi and his supporters — including local mayors and lawmakers — say the jail’s year-old Stonybrook Stabilization and Treatment Centers is key to curbing the opioid problem in the county, which includes the former manufacturing cities of Springfield and Holyoke. Fatal overdoses surged more than 80% in Hampden County from 2017 to 2018 even as they declined statewide for the second straight year in 2018, according to state data. “People coming into our program are angry, violent and sick,” Cocchi said as he and other officials celebrated the program’s anniversary earlier this week. “They are at the end of the road, and their families have recognized that if they don’t intervene, they might not survive.” But the civil rights group Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts has sued the state in an effort to end the use of jails and prisons for forcibly treating men with addiction. The class action lawsuit was filed in March on behalf of 10 men who complained of poor conditions and mistreatment at another civil commitment program run out of a state Department of Corrections prison. A state commission has also recently recommended ending the practice of sending civilly committed men to jails and prisons, as the state did for women three years ago, following a similar lawsuit. Women are now sent to substance abuse treatment facilities run or contracted by public health agencies, as most civilly committed persons are in other states. “This should not be a choice between prison or nothing,” said Bonnie Tenneriello, a staff attorney with Prisoners’ Legal Services. “Why are we giving money to a sheriff to run treatment programs rather than funding civilian treatment?” Under state law, family members can ask a judge to order their relatives into treatment if they’re unwilling to go voluntarily and are deemed a danger to themselves or others. At least 35 states have such civil commitment laws, but Massachusetts is just one of a handful where it’s widely used, The Associated Press found last year. About 9,950 civil commitments requests were filed in state courts in the budget year that ended June 30. That’s down from more than 10,770 the prior year but up significantly from the 6,105 in fiscal year 2016 and the under 3,000 in fiscal year 2006, according to state data. Tenneriello and other opponents say forcing people into jails and prisons for treatment only reinforces the stigma around addiction. And studies, including the state’s own research , also suggest forced treatment largely doesn’t work and could raise the danger of overdose for those who relapse after treatment. Like the state corrections-run civil commitment facility, Hampden County’s program takes place, at least initially, behind the razor wire of its secure jail campus. Civilly committed men are also similarly segregated from the regular inmate population but required to wear corrections-issued uniforms and follow certain corrections protocols. But, in an effort to make the program feel less institutional, cell doors remain largely unlocked and program participants aren’t handcuffed, Cocchi and some recently released patients said. “Yes, it’s a jail setting. There are corrections officers walking around,” said Keith Molyneux, a 40-year-old recovering from heroin addiction who was among the first to complete the program last year. “But they’re more committed to helping you here than to actually being a correctional officer. You definitely feel like they’re there to help.” After a few weeks of detoxing at the jail, most are eventually transferred to a less secure facility located off-campus in a converted nursing home. There, the men can wear civilian clothes and are housed in rooms that are larger and more dorm-like. Early results of the approach — which also includes health care professionals administering addiction treatment medications and leading counselling sessions — are encouraging, Cocchi said. Since opening last May, more than 850 men have gone through the program, staying 47 days, on average — weeks longer than they do at the state’s other two facilities. The longer stays increase the odds that the men will stay sober, Cocchi said. So far, less than 5% have had to be recommitted, though two fatally overdosed after leaving the program. Lawmakers, meanwhile, have committed $1 million to the program in the current state budget, proving the effort has strong support, despite its detractors, he said. “Let us continue doing what we’re doing,” Cocchi said. “No one else is doing this work out here, but we’re doing it, and we’re doing it well. Why shouldn’t we be applauded and supported?” ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. ___ This story has been corrected to identify the Hampden County sheriff as Nick Cocchi, not Thomas Cocchi.",
            "output": [
                "Region hit hard by opioids embraces jail-based treatment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2ceb934bdd74b249f11551b85a5f50e",
            "input": "The 16-year-old climate change activist who has inspired student protests around the world will leave Plymouth, England, later this week bound for New York in a high-tech but decidedly low-comfort sailboat. Highlighting the urgency of cutting carbon emissions, the young Swede last month announced that while she would not fly to environmental conferences, she’d found a way to get there without hurting the planet. Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Monaco’s late Prince Rainier III and American actress Grace Kelly, and fellow yachtsman Boris Herrmann offered her passage on a racing yacht as she travels to U.N. climate summits next month in New York and in Santiago, Chile, in December. “It’s not very luxurious, it’s not very fancy but I don’t need that. I need only a bed and just the basic things,” Thunberg told The Associated Press. “So I think it will be fun, and I also think it will be fun to be isolated and not be so limited.” Sailing on the 60-foot (18-meter) Malizia II, outfitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity, Thunberg will make a zero-carbon trans-Atlantic journey. But to call it a no-frills passage would be an understatement. The sailboat is built for high-speed, offshore racing, with weight kept to a minimum. The only alterations for the voyage are fitting curtains in front of the bunk and adding mattresses for comfort. There is no toilet or fixed shower. There’s a small gas cooker and the food will be freeze dried. Inside, the yacht resembles the interior of a tin can. It is dark and gray, with no windows below deck. Herrmann, who is skippering the boat, will take turns with Casiraghi steering the craft. He described life on board as a mixture of camping and sailing, with a thin mattress and sleeping bag the only comforts. “It’s a very simple life and then the rest of the day depends on the wind,” Herrmann told the AP. “It can be calm and smooth and going along and you can read a book, or it can be really rough and you hold on and try to fight seasickness and can be really hard.” Casiraghi and Herrmann’s Team Malizia was founded to sail the biggest ocean races — the Vendee Globe 2020 and The Ocean Race 2021. They also developed the Malizia Ocean challenge, a science and education project aimed at teaching children about climate change and the ocean. Their vessel has an onboard sensor that measures CO2 levels in seawater, a measure of how atmospheric carbon is changing the oceans. Thunberg became a global celebrity last year when she refused to go to school in the weeks before Sweden’s general election to highlight the impact of climate change and to put pressure on politicians to do something about it. She continued her school strike on Fridays after the election, spurring thousands of young people around the world to follow suit. Since then, she’s met the pope, spoken at Davos and attended anti-coal protests in Germany. She is now taking a year off school to attend the events in North and South America and meet with some of the people most affected by climate change. She decided not to fly to New York because of the emissions caused by air travel and plans to use the least carbon-intensive methods of travel available as she continues her trip. “By this journey I hope to increase awareness among people, to spread information and communicate the science about what is really going on so people can understand what is really going on with the climate and ecological crisis,” she said. “That is what I am hoping to achieve with everything and that will also lead to international opinions so that people come together and put pressure on the people in power so that they will have to do something.” Rising levels of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are already increasing global temperatures, according to the UN. This will lead to shifting weather patterns that threaten food production and rising sea levels, though scientists hope that by curbing emissions catastrophic consequences can be avoided. Thunberg will be accompanied on her trans-Atlantic voyage by her father, Svante, and filmmaker Nathan Grossman of B-Reel Films, who will document the journey. She’s brought audiobooks and has notebooks to fill. Beyond that, everything depends on the wind. The Atlantic Ocean in hurricane season can be a rocky place. Herrmann plans a southern route since three of the five sailors on board have no experience. During a trial run in the Bay of Plymouth on Monday, Thunberg said she was seasick for “five minutes” when the boat stood still. “Of course, I will be a little bit seasick,” she said. “But I don’t think I will be very seasick.”",
            "output": [
                "Greta Thunberg’s sailing adventure no pleasure cruise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d7a4a113d536404c8608fec72259ee9a",
            "input": "The evacuations of workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “a number of individuals” had been brought to the U.S. but didn’t say how many were affected or evacuated. A previous case in Guangzhou, disclosed last month, prompted the tests. Nauert also said that remaining U.S. government personnel and their families in Guangzhou would also be able to request testing if they “noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening.” The incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded. The U.S. government has deemed those incidents “specific attacks” on American workers but hasn’t publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led U.S. investigators to suspect a sonic attack. Symptoms have included dizziness, headaches and an inability to concentrate. The American government worker who previously was removed from China reported “subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure,” the Guangzhou consulate reported last month Security guards outside the Guangzhou consulate on Thursday told reporters to leave the area and not attempt to talk to consulate staff. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the U.S. had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. “If the U.S. makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations in an earnest and responsible manner and maintain close communication and cooperation with the U.S.,” Hua said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China earlier said it had looked into the case announced last month but came up with no clues about the cause of the symptoms. The New York Times identified the latest American employee evacuated as Mark A. Lenzi, a security engineering officer at the consulate who left Wednesday night with his wife and two children. Lenzi told the Times he resided in the same apartment tower as the officer evacuated in April and suffered in recent months from what he called “neurological symptoms.” Lenzi’s apartment was in one of several high-rise buildings in The Canton Place featuring restaurants and galleries spaced around a central plaza. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate, the paper said. A U.S. official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, said the evacuated American government workers were being brought from China for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. That’s where doctors have been treating and studying patients previously evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The preliminary findings of the medical reports on the 24 personnel affected in Cuba showed they had sensory and memory problems similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions. The Penn team said the patients from Cuba experienced persistent disability though rehabilitation therapy customized for them seemed to help. Canada in April also ordered families of diplomatic staff in Cuba to return home after mysterious health symptoms were detected in 10 Canadians stationed on the island. Canada said the 10 continued to show unexplained brain symptoms and that “medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury.” In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month about the first case in China, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had “said all the right things and have demonstrated their willingness to help us identify the vector which led to this medical incident.” The China incidents affect one of the most important of the seven U.S. diplomatic outposts in the country. The Guangzhou consulate opened months after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979 and moved to its new purpose-built facility in 2013. It serves four southern provinces with a combined population of more than 204 million and processes more than 1 million visa applications of all types annually. It is also the only U.S. diplomatic installation in China authorized to process immigrant visas and handle adoptions. People working in The Canton Place complex, a few kilometers (miles) from the consulate, said they were just hearing about the incidents, reflecting a lack of coverage in China’s entirely state-controlled media. Aled Williams, a British teacher at a kindergarten said Thursday that the reports sounded “sci-fi-ish.” “Hard to get my head around how it works,” he said. “Better watch myself.” Linda Chen, who runs a coffee shop in the area, said she was mystified as to why only certain people seemed to have been affected in an area known for its comfort and safety. “For me I feel it’s very strange. But I don’t feel that there’s something to be very afraid of because it’s probably a very special case,” Chen said. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "US screens more staff in China over mystery health issues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-13f10605acca4930a91b336dee44cda6",
            "input": "\"In a press conference on May 5 in which Gov. Greg Abbott updated his reopening plan to add businesses such as hair salons and gyms, he recommended that at-risk populations \"\"remain at home if at all possible\"\" and avoid in-person gatherings, such as a church service, funeral or wedding. \"\"We strongly encourage at-risk populations to try to watch or participate remotely, remembering this very important point, and that is almost 75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older,\"\" Abbott said. Texas was among the first states to start reopening businesses and lifting restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, allowing retail stores and restaurants to open May 1 at 25 percent capacity. Abbott announced the latest set of reopenings Monday, expanding restaurant capacity to 50 percent and granting bars the ability to open at 25 percent capacity within the next couple weeks. This comes as the state continues to see its number of infections and deaths rise and clusters form mostly in rural parts of the state where meatpacking plants are located. Hospitalizations, however, have decreased since mid-April. With that in mind, we had to ask: Is Abbott right that almost 75% of coronavirus deaths in Texas are people older than 65? Looking at the numbers Abbott’s spokesman John Wittman said Abbott’s claim is based on figures from the Texas Department of Health Services, which publishes daily numbers on the state’s COVID-19 testing and cases. The data includes a breakdown of coronavirus deaths by age, race and gender, but only for those cases where the deaths have been investigated by the local and regional health departments. As of Wednesday, the majority, or 489, were still under investigation. \"\"The demographic data on cases and fatalities come from the case investigation forms submitted by local health departments and our regional offices,\"\" said DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen. The purpose of the investigation is to confirm that the person had COVID-19 but also to collect other details about them and the circumstances around their death, Van Deusen said. Wittman said the data showed that 75% of investigated deaths were people 65 and older when Abbott made this statement. \"\"It alternates almost daily, but it’s generally around that range,\"\" Wittman said. As of May 6, the day after the press conference, the death toll in Texas was 948. Fewer than half, or 433, had been investigated. Of those, about 71 percent were Texans 65 and older. It was still about 71 percent, or 345 out of 489 investigated cases, as of Wednesday. The age groups broke down like so: Ages 10 to 19 years old: 2 deaths, or 0.4% Ages 20-29: 10 deaths, or 2.04 % Ages 30-39: 9 deaths, or 1.8% Ages 40-49: 21 deaths, or 4.29% Ages 50-59: 54 deaths, or 11.04% Ages 60-64: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 65-69: 59 deaths, or 12.06% Ages 70-74: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 75-79: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 80+: 196 deaths, or 40.08% Across the United States, about 79% of coronavirus deaths have been people 65 years and older, according to the National Center for Health Statistics data submitted between the beginning of February to the beginning of May. Like Texas’ statistics, the national numbers are also incomplete. The number of deaths represent only those entered between those dates and only include people with confirmed or presumed COVID-19. \"\"While 80% of deaths are electronically processed and coded by NCHS within minutes, most deaths from COVID-19 must be coded by a person, which takes an average of 7 days,\"\" the NCHS states on its website. The data is also always somewhat behind because of the lag time between when a death occurred and when a death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes. The delay can last anywhere from one week to eight or more. Our ruling Abbott said almost \"\"75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older.\"\" Of confirmed coronavirus deaths, close to 75% were people within the age group Abbott provided, but he failed to include the caveat that this statistic leaves out more than half of the total deaths that have not yet been investigated.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Almost 75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5e8150847aee46d4ae6d39d5cb9a2d1a",
            "input": "The British drugmaker said anifrolumab under the TULIP 2 program helped patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly known as SLE. The drug had failed to meet its main goal in the final stage of one of the two clinical trials under the TULIP program last year here  “These are important results and we will now review the full data set and explore pathways to bring this potential new treatment to patients,” said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president BioPharmaceuticals R&D, adding that only one new treatment has been approved for the disease in the last 60 years. SLE is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue in the body, with about five million people affected globally, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. AstraZeneca has been in a race with GlaxoSmithKline  and French biotech company Neovacs to create new treatments for lupus. GSK received here U.S. approval for Benlysta, the first new treatment for lupus in more than half a century, for intravenous use in children with lupus aged five years and above in April. Anifrolumab, which is also given intravenously, is designed for patients with moderate-to-severe lupus and works by targeting interferon, a protein involved in inflammation.",
            "output": [
                "AstraZeneca lupus drug shows promise after set-back last year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2927960416384187af7225f4eddd0878",
            "input": "\"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s handling of the uprising in Ukraine is not surprising if you look at telling comments he made years ago, says former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations turned conservative television pundit John Bolton. A Fox News host asked Bolton if he agreed with Ukraine’s prime minister who said the country is \"\"on the brink of disaster.\"\" Bolton, who served at the U.N. during George W. Bush’s time in the White House, said it seemed pretty accurate. \"\"I think Putin knows that he has the high cards, militarily, economically and politically, and he’s prepared to use them,\"\" Bolton said. \"\"He gave us notice of his strategy seven or eight years ago when he said, in what is now one of the most frequently repeated quotes from his leadership in Russia, when he said, ‘The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.’ \"\"It’s clear he wants to re-establish Russian hegemony within the space of the former Soviet Union. Ukraine is the biggest prize, that’s what he’s after. The occupation of the Crimea is a step in that direction.\"\" We wanted to know if Bolton correctly characterized Putin’s comments. We reached out to Bolton through his political action committee and the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a senior fellow, but did not hear back. Putin’s 2005 speech to Russians Putin, a veteran of the Soviet spy agency called the KGB, made the comments Bolton cites in an April 2005 state of the nation address to the country’s top politicians and parliament. A version is available in English from the Kremlin archives. Putin’s words vary depending on the translation, but the idea remains the same. From the Kremlin: \"\"Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.\"\" The Associated Press translation is a little differently, subbing \"\"catastrophe\"\" for \"\"disaster,\"\" and calling the breakup the \"\"greateast geopolitical catastrophe of the century.\"\" That language is a little more in line with what Bolton said. Whatever the word choice, it’s clear Putin believed there were problems created by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Putin, who had revived some Soviet iconography as president, focused the rest of his speech on developing Russia as a free and democratic country, though he promised to be tough on popular uprisings inspired by surrounding countries. His speech came as President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered public skepticism of the country’s \"\"managed democracy,\"\" leading Putin to declare Russia would \"\"independently determine\"\" its definition of democracy. Still, it was his lament for the dissolved Soviet Union that dominated news coverage. The remark was alarming to westerners, illustrating a deep contrast in perspectives of an event that many consider a glorious moment in time, said Dina Spechler, an Indiana University associate professor of political science who teaches Soviet and Russian foreign policy. Spechler said she did not find a problem with Bolton’s characterization, though she added Putin does not want a return of Soviet-era economic centralization. \"\"I think it’s quite legitimate and fair, and it’s been true for some time now that Putin wants to re-establish Russian hegemony,\"\" Spechler said. \"\"He calls it an area of primary Russian interest -- making sure that these countries remain loyal.\"\" Spechler does not predict a full-scale escalation of force by Russia in Ukraine, she said, but she would not rule it out given the crisis between Russia and Georgia in 2008. Ukraine is a large country with strong cultural links to Russia looked upon as a Slavic brother, she said. \"\"What we’re seeing today is the most significant step Russia has taken, and it is likely to take a while, to fulfill the agenda that was heralded when he called the breakup a tragedy,\"\" she said. The \"\"upshot\"\" of the speech was that if the greatest geopolitical tragedy was the breakup of the USSR, the greatest geopolitical achievement should be the reformulation of a Russian superstate, said Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow in Russian and Eurasian studies at the Heritage Foundation. He wasn’t pining for a new USSR That’s not the only view of Putin’s remarks, however. Other scholars we consulted say there is more nuance in the meaning of Putin’s words. Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, a 2013 book by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy of the Brookings Institution, addresses the \"\"often misquoted line\"\" about the demise of the USSR: \"\"Most references to this line have suggested that Putin was bemoaning the loss of the communist economic and political system,\"\" the book reads, \"\"but Putin has since frequently underscored that he was talking about the collapse of the Russian state itself.\"\" Gaddy elaborated in an interview with PunditFact, saying Putin is not eager to re-establish the USSR, partly because it would be costly for Russia, which subsidized many Soviet countries during that era. He does, however, want to make sure surrounding countries are not used against Russia. Gaddy said Putin does not see Ukraine as a prize, as Bolton suggested, but as a potential liability and realm for anti-Russian activity. \"\"His nightmare has long been that Ukrainian instability would be used to sap Russia’s attention and strength, or worse — that it would be used to entrap Russia into intervening militarily and getting bogged down,\"\" Gaddy said. \"\"The nightmare is coming real.\"\" Lance Janda, chairman of Cameron University’s history and government department, challenged Bolton’s assertion that Putin’s remarks in years past foreshadowed the modern events in Ukraine. It’s more complicated, he said. Yes, Russia moved aggressively into Chechnya, South Ossetia and Crimea, but it was not on a whim -- it was to prevent instability along the border after years of NATO expansions, Janda said. Plus, Russia would not have worked in recent years to stabilize its dealings and cooperation with Western countries if it had planned to invade Ukraine all along, he said. \"\"All Putin meant when he said in 2005 that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe was that it launched protests and uprisings and sectarian violence, which is true,\"\" Janda said. \"\"Those of us in the West are okay with that because we saw in those uprisings the birth of new nations and greater freedom, but that doesn’t mean it came without cost or that the Russians were thrilled by it.\"\" Our ruling Bolton told a Fox News host that Putin once said, \"\"The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.\"\" Putin did say those words, or at least words close to that, in a 2005 address to Russian political leaders. Bolton went on to tell a Fox News host those words are evidence Putin wants to expand Russia’s influence to where it was in the Soviet days. The record there is not as clear. We found some experts who agree with Bolton’s interpretation, while others who say Bolton is extracting a quote that does not quite mean what he says it does. Bolton’s statement is accurate but needs clarification.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"John Bolton Says Vladimir Putin once said, \"\"The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-beaf2852a94047b384a1d4bedcbdf901",
            "input": "The legislation would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, from 18 to 21 nationwide, a step long-sought by health advocates. But in the past year Juul and Altria have emerged as the biggest supporters of the measure, blanketing Capitol Hill with lobbyists and advertisements touting their support for a national “Tobacco 21” law. Tobacco critics contend the companies’ support is calculated to head off even harder-hitting government action: a ban on all flavored tobacco products, including fruit and dessert e-cigarettes. Their stance puts them in the unusual position of criticizing a move they long supported, arguing that the sales restriction isn’t enough. “Altria and Juul clearly support this in order to argue that no other action is necessary,” said Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “If you don’t eliminate the flavors that the industry has used to fuel the epidemic, you won’t solve the youth e-cigarette crisis.” The bipartisan legislation, supported by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has been attached to a package of must-pass spending bills that will keep the government running into next year. Juul and Altria — the vaping company’s biggest investor — threw their support behind the bill earlier this year amid a backlash against e-cigarettes at the local, state and national levels. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that typically heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable aerosol. Current federal law prohibits sales of e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products to those under 18. But more than one in four high school students report vaping regularly, according to the latest government figures. And health officials have called the vaping trend an “epidemic.” Until September, Juul argued that its sweet flavors — including mango, mint and fruit — could help adult smokers switch from traditional cigarettes to vaping. But the company dropped that message as President Donald Trump announced plans to remove virtually all vaping flavors from the market, due to their appeal to children. The Silicon Valley company has halted sales of all but two of its flavors, menthol and tobacco, and pledged not to oppose Trump’s plan. But momentum for the nationwide ban has faded amid pushback from vaping advocates and some conservative groups. And Trump has voiced support for alternative approaches to keep e-cigarettes away from kids, including raising the purchase age to 21. The age hike is expected to limit the supply of all vaping and tobacco products in high schools by putting them out of reach to 12th graders. Myers’ group and other health advocates say Congress should both raise the age limit and ban all “kid-friendly” flavors. Even with most of Juul’s flavors off the market, smaller companies continue to market an array of flavored products, including “grape slushie,” “strawberry cotton candy” and “sea salt blueberry.” And the industry’s main trade association is suing to keep e-cigarettes, including flavors, widely available. Altria, the nation’s largest tobacco company, said it supports a “clean” Tobacco 21 bill — focused exclusively on raising the age limit — because it is the “quickest and most effective” way to address the recent surge in teen vaping. For decades previously, Altria and other tobacco companies aggressively defended the 18-year-old minimum purchase age. Juul has similarly supported legislation that raises the purchase age without touching flavors. And while the companies say they lobby separately, both quickly backed the Tobacco 21 bill introduced in May by McConnell and Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. The companies’ support sapped attention away from other proposals that would have gone much further. For example, a bill from New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallonewould have raised the purchase age to 21 and banned flavors from all vaping and tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes — and prohibited online sales. The bill was endorsed by a dozen health groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. “Flavors attract kids and kids are the tobacco industry — including the e-cigarette industry’s — future,” said Erika Sward, a vice president with the American Lung Association. But efforts to advance flavor restrictions in the Senate fell flat, including a bill sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, that was withdrawn from committee consideration at the last minute. “Because I wasn’t certain that I had the votes at the time,” Murkowski told The Associated Press. “You don’t want to lose.” The logic for hiking the purchase age for cigarettes is clear: most underage teens who use tobacco get it from older friends. An estimated 90 percent of smokers start before age 18. Delaying access to cigarettes is expected to produce major downstream health benefits, with one government-funded report estimating nearly 250,000 fewer deaths due to tobacco over several decades. Still, anti-tobacco experts say age restrictions are only effective when they are vigorously enforced, and tobacco sales can fall through the cracks amid a patchwork of local, state and federal law enforcement. They point to underage drinking as an example of the limited impact of age-based restrictions. State laws banning tobacco sales to those under 18 evolved over several decades and were reinforced by a federal law in 2009. The same law banned all flavors from traditional cigarettes except menthol, which received a special exception at the behest of tobacco lobbyists. More than a third of U.S. states — including California, Illinois, New York and Texas — and the District of Columbia have already raised their minimum purchase age to 21. Anti-smoking groups have tracked the trend with measured support, noting the role of Juul and Altria lobbyists behind many of the efforts. In several cases, anti-tobacco advocates have flagged provisions that they say undercut the state laws’ effectiveness. These provisions, known as pre-emption, can stop city and county officials from imposing stricter tobacco sales limits that go beyond the state law. Juul and Altria said they supported all state Tobacco 21 laws passed this year, regardless of whether they included such provisions. In Washington, D.C., Juul’s lobbying budget ballooned to more than $3.1 million in the first 9 months of 2019 year, nearly twice the company’s spending for all of 2018. Altria has spent $7.4 million in 2019, roughly even with its lobbying budget for 2018. The company’s political action committee and employees have given $37,000 to McConnell’s 2020 re-election campaign, according to federal records compiled by the non-profit Center for Responsive Politics. Among those lobbying on Juul’s behalf are Jim Esquea, who worked during the Obama administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Ted McCann, who was a top policy aide to former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Juul also has directly hired a number of former federal and state government officials as full-time staffers, including Tevi Troy, a former HHS deputy secretary under George W. Bush, and Martha Coakley, the former attorney general of Massachusetts. “Whether you’re a Trump fan or a traditional Republican conservative or a liberal Democrat, they’ve got someone you know,” Myers said.",
            "output": [
                "Bill to raise tobacco age has unlikely allies: Altria, Juul."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a964686d7a184267b344430b2dcb2129",
            "input": "The innovative brain shuttle technology, which has so far been tested in mice, can cross the blood-brain barrier that has been a key obstacle for researchers working on neurological drugs because it acts as a seal against large molecules such as antibodies. Alzheimer’s is a fatal brain-wasting disease that affects 44 million people worldwide, with the number set to triple by 2050, campaign group Alzheimer’s Disease International says. Although there is still no treatment that can effectively modify the disease or slow its progression, a number of companies - including Roche, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson - are pursuing a variety of approaches to get to the root cause. It is proving an uphill battle. Over the past 15 years more than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in tests. Industry analysts believe that the prize for a truly effective drug could be a market worth $10 billion in annual sales. Roche’s new technology works by hijacking a natural transport mechanism called receptor-mediated transcytosis, which is normally used by the body to transfer proteins inside the brain. “We have basically designed this module, called shuttle, that binds to this transport mechanism and shuttles a cargo inside the brain,” Luca Santarelli, Roche’s head of neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases, said in a telephone interview. Results of a study published in the journal Neuron on Wednesday found the technology helped to increase the concentration of antibodies in the brains of mice, reducing the amount of amyloid plaque, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Roche tested a precursor of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug gantenerumab in the pre-clinical trials. The amount of antibody that penetrated the brain increased more than fiftyfold. Santarelli said that the brain shuttle technology is not limited to the memory-robbing disease and could be applied to other neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s disease. The drugmaker is in the process of evaluating which therapeutic targets and diseases to prioritize. Roche has struck a deal with U.S. biotech firm Isis to develop treatments for Huntington’s and aims to engineer a shuttle to increase penetration of drugs into the brain. It is also working on a program with Irish company Prothena in Parkinson’s disease. Santarelli said that all projects are still in pre-clinical testing and the company needs to undertake a few more steps before it can begin clinical trials. Turning to Roche’s Alzheimer’s pipeline, he said that its Phase III trial of gantenerumab in patients who have yet to develop dementia is on track, with results expected in the first half of 2016. Roche has two other drugs in clinical testing, including crenezumab, which has been chosen for a U.S. government-backed trial in a group of Colombians with a genetic mutation that leads to Alzheimer’s in their forties.",
            "output": [
                "Roche 'brain shuttle' technology offers Alzheimer's hope."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be43a450b9dd4492b8dbbd36fd36a969",
            "input": "Poland recorded 55 outbreaks of ASF in wild boars in December, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Thursday. The disease was found only 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Germany, one of Europe’s major pork exporters. ASF is harmless to humans but often deadly in pigs. It originated in Africa before spreading to Europe and Asia and has already killed hundreds of millions of pigs, while reshaping global meat and feed markets. Asian countries including China regularly impose import bans on pork from regions where ASF has been discovered, causing huge loss of business for meat exporters. Wild boars are spreading the disease and their meat is popular in Europe. “We are observing the latest proof of African swine fever relatively close to the German border with great concern,” German junior agriculture minister Uwe Feiler said in a statement. “Up to now the joint federal and state efforts have stopped the disease from entering Germany. But we cannot relax.”  There was no immediate comment from Poland. Feiler said efforts must be intensified to prevent the disease spreading to Germany and it would support Poland in its efforts to stop the disease spreading. There have been fears in Germany that its major exports of pork to China and other Asian regions could be threatened if ASF arrives in the country. German regional governments have started building fences along the Polish border in an attempt to stop infected wild boar roaming into Germany.",
            "output": [
                "Germany concerned about swine fever cases in nearby Poland."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36b915b2d53f478490937506120ee070",
            "input": "The Trump administration has called for 30 days of measures, including staying at least six feet away from other people, that have upended American life as most people stay isolated at home, shuttering schools and closing businesses through at least the end of April, with some states continuing certain closures through May and June. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said such steps must continue but that there are hopeful signs they are working. “If in fact we are successful, it makes sense to at least plan what a re-entry into normality would look like. That doesn’t mean we’re going to do it right now, but it means we need to be prepared to ease into that,” Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told Fox News in an interview. Fauci and other public health experts have said the strict measures are needed to control the fast-spreading and potentially fatal disease that has already led to about 400,000 confirmed COVID-19 U.S. cases and nearly 13,000 deaths, even as the shutdowns have roiled the U.S. economy. Dr. Deborah Birx, another task force member, said isolation measures must continue for now or else the country could risk a repeated spike despite the allure of warmer spring weather. “What’s really important is that people don’t turn these early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread. It’s really critical,” she told NBC News’ “Today” program. “If people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a really acute second wave.”  Asked if 30-day distancing practices would be enough or that steps might have to continue longer, she said officials were looking at each area of the country differently as they weigh the data. “Clearly, there are metro areas that are struggling,” Birx said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. planning ways to 'ease' back to normal if virus efforts work: Fauci."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-222d12240b2145c98761c05f50f33d30",
            "input": "On Sunday, China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, said in a New York Times opinion piece there had been “unpleasant talk” between the two countries about the virus but that now was the time for “solidarity, collaboration and mutual support.”  “If Ambassador Cui is saying that China is willing to cooperate with the U.S., we would appreciate the opportunity to work directly with their Virology labs in Wuhan to share whatever research they have, since they’ve known about it and have been fighting it for at least a month longer than our scientists here in the U.S.,” the official said. The comments come a day before Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated late last year, was poised to lift its lockdown after reporting only two new infections in the past fortnight. “Since the pandemic originated in Wuhan, we think cooperation with PRC medical and disease experts there is critical to saving lives globally,” the administration official added.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. official urges China to allow direct work with Wuhan labs on coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ced0937b5fa4daba7262069ee96d05d",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs. Over and over again – more than 70& of >1,500 stories we’ve reviewed fail to adequately discuss costs. This has to change. The story provided a clear description of the potential benefit seen in the group of men with intermediate risk prostate cancer who were treatment with male hormone therapy in addition to radiation therapy alone. The harms associated with male hormone therapy were listed. The story did a stellar job presenting information about the outcomes of chance of dying and chance of dying of prostate cancer in 10 years differed for men treated with either radiation therapy alone or in conjunction with male hormone therapy depending on whether their prostate cancer was low, intermediate, or high risk at diagnosis. The story did not specifically mention that the study it was reported on was a randomized trial. And the information provided by the lead author indicating that the chance men with low risk prostate cancer had of surviving alone was almost 99% chance should have been that they an almost 99% chance of not dying of prostate cancer. Because the study did not include an active surveillance control group, it cannot be concluded that even radiation alone was beneficial to men with low-risk prostate cancer. This story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from the lead author of the study reported on along with quotes from the expert in the field who wrote an editorial about the study which accompanied its publication. There was some discussion about how current radiation therapy differs from that received by the men in the study reported on. However there was no mention of some of the other forms of radiation therapy that are often used for men with low-risk prostate cancer such as brachytherapy. There was no discussion of alternative approaches to prostate cancer such as surgery or delay of invasive treatment called active surveillance. The story explained about the treatment used in the study reported on as well as how radiation therapy has changed since the men in the study were treated. The story was clear that the treatments in the study, with some modification, are currently available. Does not appear to rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "For Some Prostate Cancer Patients, Combo Treatment Improves Survival"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-043787aaa32e464d957ab9d745c62ece",
            "input": "The story explains the cost of the glasses and lenses and that the lens costs could be recurring. It did not explain if insurance covers this approach. The story allows the manufacturer to state that the lenses can help about 50% of people with dyslexia but that “the true rate is probably much higher.” But then it added repeated notes of skepticism from others: Not applicable. We don’t know what the harm would be, other than consumers pursuing a costly approach for which the evidence base is questioned. The story explains “A search of the medical literature found a single, company-funded study suggesting that ChromaGen lenses could improve the reading skills of people with dyslexia. The study of 47 dyslexics, led by optician and lens inventor David Harris, found that ChromaGen lenses worked significantly better than placebo lenses.” In addition to the study cited in the story, we found another recent article that showed no improvement in reading skill in 44 children aged 7-12 with Irlen Syndrome (a proposed disorder involving distortion of text when reading). (Pediatrics. 2011;128(4):e932.) But, as noted in the “Benefits” criterion above, the story also includes others’ cautions: No disease mongering. In fact, the story explained that dyslexia “is a complex and controversial condition” and that one optometrist said “there are different types of dyslexia, and only people who have trouble with visual distortions while reading are likely to benefit.” The story didn’t settle for the manufacturers’ claims. It turned to four other sources. The column ended with one alternative suggestion from a professor of opthalmology:  “It would make more sense to spend your money on something that’s proven to help. Like a tutor.” The column explained that the lenses are marketed on a company website, which also gives a list of providers. Not applicable. No claims of novelty are made in the column. It’s clear that independent research and reporting was done by the writer.",
            "output": [
                "The Healthy Skeptic: Promise of ChromaGen lenses for dyslexia a bit blurry"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b2e0d51f36447bd8eec8a002bf18cd4",
            "input": "The crippling infectious disease was confirmed in 17 children in Syria in October, the first outbreak there since 1999. A nationwide campaign was launched in November to vaccinate some 2 million Syrian children under five each month until May. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) condemned the halt of the immunization campaign in Raqqa province due to intense fighting in Syria’s civil war. Polio poses a “serious risk” in Syria and the region and all children have the right to be protected from the disease, which can paralyze a child within hours, they said in a statement. “We haven’t reached Raqqa town in this second round of immunization. There are approximately 100,000 children out of reach in the town and its outskirts,” Elizabeth Hoff, WHO representative in Syria, told Reuters from Damascus. Raqqa is the only provincial capital under rebel control and WHO has no direct contact with Islamist groups there, she said. The al Qaeda-linked Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant executed dozens of rival Islamists over the last two days as the group recaptured most territory it had lost in Raqqa, activists said on Sunday. Some 2.15 million children across Syria were reached last week with polio vaccine during this second round of mass immunization, including some in Raqqa province, Hoff said. “The information campaign has been very strong, parents are bringing their children. The uptake is very good,” Hoff said. “At least we haven’t seen any new cases since October,” she added. That month saw 15 cases in Deir al-Zor, in the east, and single cases in Aleppo, in the north, and Douma (Rural Damascus). Syria’s government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. Kerry held talks in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who has convened peace talks in Switzerland next week in an attempt to end the conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), appealed for greater access for aid workers at the end of a three-day visit to Syria. “Health supplies, food and other basic necessities are running dangerously short, especially in besieged areas, where the situation is critical,” Maurer said in a statement. (Corrects figures for polio cases in 2nd and 9th paragraphs)",
            "output": [
                "Fighting halts polio vaccination in northern Syria."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62c008d8fa79458dbc889d7839570b97",
            "input": "The Denver Post reports the death comes two months after Denver health officials announced the city was facing an outbreak of the contagious liver infection. No additional information was reported about the victim. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says the risk of contracting the disease in the outbreak is higher in people who are homeless, incarcerated or dealing with substance-use issues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hepatitis A is transmitted by consuming the virus through contaminated objects, food or drinks. Symptoms include fatigue, limited appetite, stomach pain, and nausea. A state epidemiologist says hepatitis A deaths are rare. ___ Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com",
            "output": [
                "Denver resident’s death linked to outbreak of hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-583a51f96e314f2699b63e077e207777",
            "input": "It’s true that eos lip balm users have reported finding black mold inside the product. Reports of black mold found inside eos lip balm have sporadically appeared on social media for years. In February of 2015, one eos lip balm user’s  account of finding black mold inside a container of half-used lip balm gained a lot of attention on Facebook: “I really liked your lip balm, until I got to the middle of mine and found the bottom was full of mold. I thought there was an air bubble in the middle, but it turns out it was a blob of mold. I tried to scrape it off, but it went all the way down to the bottom of the container. Super disappointed and disgusted. That was a waste of my money, and I won’t be buying any of your products again.” In the comments section under the post, many people uploaded  photos of eos lip balm speckled with what they call black mold. And these reports aren’t necessarily new, either. Online reports of black mold found inside of eos lip balm date back to 2012. For its part, eos responded on Facebook that it “very occasionally” gets reports of its lip balm users finding black mold because it’s a  natural product that doesn’t contain any preservatives: “We do very occasionally hear of this. Mold will grow on many surfaces, especially warm and moist places and on products with natural ingredients. The best way to prevent this is to try to not get the lip balm itself wet when applying it (apply to dry lips) and/or let any moisture that’s on the lip balm dry before you put the top back on. I hope this helps and thank you for using our products. “While mold very rarely grows on our lip balm, it has been known to happen, especially with all-natural ingredients. Our policy is that we’re happy to replace any defective lip balm so long as the customer provides a picture. So if you want to send a picture of the moldy lip balm to  [email protected], we’d be happy to send a coupon for a replacement. Thanks again for the feedback as it helps us improve.” The USDA  reports that most molds found on food and consumer products are not toxic, but it is possible for some varieties to cause allergic reactions or respiratory problems. Comments",
            "output": [
                "  Black mold has been found inside eos lip balm containers. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d641463f748b420485793491188ee5eb",
            "input": "\"One government program putting food on the table for the needy is the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program, most often known by the acronym WIC. The program targets low-income, nutritionally at-risk groups -- mostly pregnant women, new moms, babies and children up to age 5. Participants receive vouchers to buy qualifying healthy foods -- such as fruit, vegetables, peanut butter and milk. (No lobster allowed under WIC, unlike the food stamp program. See food stamps Politifact, March 21.) As its name suggests, the WIC program, which is 100 percent federally funded, is meant to supplement what’s already in the pantry. The average WIC participant received $45.47 worth of groceries a month in 2013, probably not enough on its own to keep body and soul together. During the recent General Assembly session, when GOP lawmakers were pushing through a bill to require drug tests of some food stamp recipients, a reader asked for a fact check on WIC. He jogged our memory last week after seeing a blog from the state Department of Public Health, the agency that administers the program. The post stated: \"\"Georgia has the nation's fifth largest Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition program, serving more than 270,000 mothers, babies and children every day.\"\" \"\"Could this be true?\"\" the reader asked. \"\"Dare I ask what that’s costing us?\"\" We reached out to Nancy Nydam, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health. Based on costs, Georgia’s program ranked fifth among the 50 states, the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia for four years, from 2009 to 2012, Nydam said. But that’s no longer the case. New data show that the Georgia program dropped to seventh in the rankings for 2013, she said. (The blogger was going on 2013 projections, not actual data for the year, Nydam said.) The new data, provided by the Department of Public Health, show that, for 2013, Georgia ranked seventh behind: California, $1,095,910,535; Texas, $482,192,108; New York, $445,559,283; Florida, $354,990,320; Puerto Rico, $242,747,993; and Illinois, $215,142,474. Georgia spent about $215.1 million for food and other services for 289,527 WIC recipients, including nutrition and breast-feeding education, and referrals for health and social services, Nydam said. Enrollment in the program was down 14,340 from 2012. It peaked in 2009, as the economy was crumbling, at 323,353, state data show. Costs for the Georgia program fell by more than $59 million, from $274.5 million in 2012, due to a couple of factors, Nydam said. Besides having fewer women and children on the rolls, Georgia has been working with manufacturers to lower the program’s costs for food. As a result, state spending on food for program participants was reduced from $225 million in 2011 to $204 million in 2012 and to $157 million for 2013, state data show. The feds also have pushed states to do more to combat fraud. After it became a stand-alone agency, the Department of Public Health created an inspector general’s office to investigate fraud in the WIC program and developed and issued new WIC vouchers, complete with a foil seal and watermark designed to deter counterfeiting, Nydam said. The inspector general’s office has prosecuted 16 people for WIC vendor fraud, terminated 183 vendors and recouped $17 million as restitution. Our conclusion: The blog statement said Georgia ranks fifth among the states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories based on the cost of its WIC program. That was true for four years, through 2012. Once Politifact inquired, state officials said there was new data showing the state dropped to seventh for 2013.\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia has the nation's fifth largest Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition program, serving more than 270,000 mothers, babies and children every day."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-994910f94efc41dbb4ce0f622721d65e",
            "input": "The Global Climate Action Summit, organized by California Gov. Jerry Brown, included a report that 27 major cities around the world have seen emissions decrease over a five-year period and are now at least 10 percent lower than their peak. The cities include Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and San Francisco. Together the cities include about 54 million people. The star-studded conference included a rousing call to action by Harrison Ford, who implored the audience to protect forests, fisheries and other natural wonders. Former President Barack Obama, under whose watch the U.S. agreed to the landmark Paris climate accord, made a brief appearance by video. The goal of the conference is to showcase actions already being taken to prevent climate change and to “inspire deeper commitments” among attendees. It was unclear what specific actions might be taken before the summit ends Friday. “Doing nothing is not an option. Going green is a must. Cities all over the world are on the front lines of climate change,” said Frank Jensen, lord mayor of Copenhagen, adding that the bicycle-friendly city wants even more bike lanes. Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, Italy, talked up plans to reduce waste from food and other sources. “I’m very, very proud of waste management. I know it is not a sexy issue, but we commit to a future without waste,” he said. Milan and Copenhagen are among the 27 major cities cited by C40 Cities Climate Leadership, a group whose board is headed by philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. In a speech, Bloomberg called the conference a way to broadcast that the U.S. is still committed to the cause. “Climate change is a global challenge and Washington ought to be leading from the front,” Bloomberg said. Many people around the world wrongly concluded that America was “walking away from climate action” when Trump pulled the country out of the Paris climate accord, Bloomberg said, stressing that “nothing could be further from the truth.” The 2015 Paris agreement commits countries to set their own plans for cutting emissions. Bloomberg and Brown said they calculate the U.S. is within striking distance of the reduction in greenhouse gases it  previously promised. Trump announced last year that he was withdrawing from the l climate accord. His administration is also pursuing policies that would boost methane emissions and roll back California’s strict vehicle emissions standards. In response to a question Thursday at a news briefing, Brown, Democrat, said Trump will likely be remembered poorly when it comes to the environment. “I think he’ll be remembered, on the path he’s now? I don’t know. Liar, criminal, fool,” the governor said. The CEO of Salesforce, one of the world’s largest online business software companies, urged fellow technology leaders at the conference to help fight climate change. CEO Marc Benioff announced that Salesforce and 20 technology companies have signed a pact to “decarbonize” by reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide through supply chains, regulations and customer efforts. Salesforce recently opened a 61-story office tower in San Francisco that it says relies on clean energy to operate. Outside the conference, hundreds of protesters said Brown could do more in California, and about a dozen briefly interrupted Bloomberg’s speech with chants that natural resources were not for sale. “America’s a wonderful country. Here we have environmentalists protesting an environmental conference,” Bloomberg said earlier in the day. Police escorted 10 demonstrators from the meeting hall and briefly detained two protesters outside who were cited for misdemeanors and released. Protesters also called on Brown to ban the practice known as fracking, which injects high-pressure liquid into the ground to extract gas. In response, the governor said California has the most integrated and comprehensive oil reduction plan in America. “You don’t snap your fingers and say now it’s done,” Brown said. “We’re definitely moving in the same direction as the critics. They just like us to go a little faster and we would like to go a little faster ourselves.” The U.S. Climate Alliance, which involves 17 governors, announced Thursday that it would commit to several actions, including making clean energy cheaper for consumers and promoting vehicles and transit that rely on renewable energy. The summit came with 2018 on pace to be the fourth hottest year on record globally. The eight warmest years in more than a century of record keeping have all been in the past 13 years. ___ Associated Press writer Juliet Williams contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Global summit rebukes Trump, cheers on work to aid climate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6861610226cd477e8b09f82bf66aadb8",
            "input": "In contrast to the United States and much of Central America, Mexico has not imposed significant travel curbs to fight coronavirus, opting for a less intrusive approach. Still, on Saturday, officials at the health ministry began ramping up measures aimed at containment, setting out an initiative known as “Sana Distancia” (Healthy Distance) to encourage the public to avoid infecting each other. The health ministry said the Sana Distancia program would take effect for four weeks starting March 23 as the government brought forward Easter holidays to close schools early. “It’s social distancing, it’s about distance to keep us healthy,” Ricardo Cortes, a health ministry official said in a Sunday evening news conference that announced Mexico’s tally of coronavirus infections had risen to 53 from 41 a day earlier. Meanwhile, leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador kept up his busy schedule of rallies around Mexico at the weekend, touring towns in the southwestern state of Guerrero. Some critics and health experts expressed alarm at the sight of the president hugging supporters and kissing their children on Saturday, arguing he was setting a bad example. On Sunday, Lopez Obrador shook hands with dozens of people at a rally in the town of Marquelia, embracing many others as they reached out to take selfies. Speaking at two rallies, Lopez Obrador made no direct references to the virus as he renewed his attacks on critics, telling the Marquelia crowd the days when his “conservative” opponents could defraud the public and steal were over. “That’s why I have great faith that we will move our beloved Mexico forward; the misfortunes, the pandemics, they won’t do anything to us, forget it,” the president said. Later, in videos posted on Twitter, he praised the beauty of the Pacific beaches, and laughed and joked with local residents.",
            "output": [
                "Mexico government urges public to keep distance over coronavirus; president embraces crowds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50649abce6d0484ba07e6130b7709696",
            "input": "Urinary incontinence or loss of bladder control is by far  the most common problem, and childbirth, which can weaken  pelvic floor muscles, is the most frequent cause. “What stands out is such a large number of women had  symptoms of a moderate-to-severe pelvic floor disorder,” said  Dr. Ingrid Nygaard of the University of Utah, whose study  appears in Journal of the American Medical Association. “We know many women leak urine once in a blue moon if they  are doing strenuous exercise. That such a large number leaks on  a regular basis was surprising to see,” she said by telephone. Nygaard’s team studied 1,961 nonpregnant women aged 20 and  older who were part of a national health survey in 2005-2006. They were examined for symptoms of urinary and fecal  incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, in which an organ such  as the bladder drops and pushes against the walls of the  vagina. Overall, 23.7 percent of women reported symptoms of at  least one pelvic floor disorder. Of these, 15.7 percent had  urinary incontinence, 9 percent had fecal incontinence and 2.9  percent had pelvic organ prolapse, in which women reported  seeing or feeling a vaginal bulge. Age plays a major role, with just 10 percent of women 20 to  39 reporting at least one disorder, compared with about a  quarter of women 40 to 59, 37 percent of women 60 to 79, and  nearly half of women 80 and older. Women were considered to have urinary incontinence if they  had at least weekly leakage, or monthly leakage of volumes of  more than just a few drops. If women with occasional leakage were included, the numbers  might be much higher, the researchers said. “The study results underscore the need to identify the  causes of pelvic floor disorders and the means to prevent and  treat them,” Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National  Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a  statement. Treatments for urinary stress incontinence — the kind  linked with laughing, coughing, sneezing or exercise — range  from exercises to surgical options. Urge incontinence or overactive bladder can be treated by  lifestyle changes and a number of drugs, including tolterodine  or Detrol made by Pfizer Inc; Vesicare or solifenacin made by  GlaxoSmithKline and Astellas Pharma Inc; and Enablex or  darifenacin by Novartis AG.",
            "output": [
                "Pelvic disorders common among women: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6a2309a97a5e4ef2817627ec101cc223",
            "input": "The state Supreme Judicial Court said in an order released Friday that Monday’s planned court hearing in an appeal brought by the Vapor Technology Association will be postponed until further notice. The court is awaiting the results of new vaping regulations the state plans to issue next week before making a decision on the case. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker last week signed into law new restrictions on flavored tobacco and vaping products and promised to rescind the state’s emergency ban of the sale of all vaping products. Baker said the state’s Public Health Council will meet Wednesday to adopt new regulations as part of the new state law, at which point he’ll lift the emergency ban. The ban was imposed in September and set to last until the end of December. Neighboring Rhode Island also has a temporary ban on the sale of flavored vaping products. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order in September and the health department issued emergency regulations Oct. 4 to implement a four-month ban, with an optional two-month extension. Rhode Island lawmakers have said they’ll address vaping in the next legislative session, which begins in January. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut is trying to figure out how to regulate vaping, after expressing an interest in banning flavored vaping products. A new law recently took effect in Connecticut that increased the age to 21 for someone to purchase vaping products.",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts high court delays hearing on vaping ban suit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f31bea7940e4a8ea56c571ca02bb669",
            "input": "Moira O’Neill, director of the Office of the Child Advocate, said the center operated by Granite Pathways was unusual in that it was licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services but was not certified by the division that oversees child welfare. While that’s not a requirement because the Division for Children, Youth and Families didn’t directly place children at the facility, without that certification, it is unclear who had oversight over quality and safety, O’Neill said. “We have issues with the extent of oversight DCYF provides to certified agencies, but at a bare minimum, they know who’s there, they re-certify them every two years, they provide technical assistance. There’s some expectation that someone has an idea of what’s going on in the program,” she said in an interview. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and the health department announced on Nov. 27 the state was canceling its contract with Granite Pathways, which had been operating the 36-bed facility in Manchester for just over a year. A summary report released by the department Monday said that in a span of less than two weeks, four of the 10 residents were taken to hospitals after taking drugs one of them smuggled in, a fifth took multiple doses of prescription medication in an apparent suicide attempt and a sixth drank a bottle of hand sanitizer. The remaining residents have since been transferred, and the contract officially ends Dec. 27. Some of the residents at the center were known to the child welfare agency, said O’Neill, who has been reviewing their records. “In our preliminary review, we found that there were children who were placed there who have really complicated needs, and we don’t know if that program had the capacity to serve those needs,” she said. O’Neill said she sent the Department of Health and Human Services a list of questions in late November about what the facility knew about the children, its capacity to meet their needs and how the program was supervised. As of Tuesday, she had not received answers. “If we are going to understand the circumstances that prompted seven ambulance transports, we must understand how those children came to be at the facility and what transpired in assessing and treating them,” she said. Jake Leon, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the department agrees with O’Neill that it is important to ensure that children get the services they need. He said the department has addressed and continues to address similar questions, but responses must remain confidential to protect clients’ privacy. “DHHS monitored Granite Pathways’ compliance with its contractual obligations and is still compiling information regarding the organization’s noncompliance. There is also an ongoing investigation by DCYF that must be kept confidential,” he said in an email. Patrica Reed, state director at Granite Pathways, said the nonprofit’s leaders and board of directors were still reviewing the health department’s report. “The end of this contract does not end Granite Pathways’ commitment to its mission of supporting individuals with substance use disorders and mental illness in achieving their life goals as valued members of their communities,” she said in a statement. But the trouble at the youth treatment center has raised questions about the state’s approach to funding substance abuse treatment in general and Granite Pathways in particular. Since 2016, it has been a subsidiary of The Fedcap Group, a New York-based nonprofit that focuses on helping people overcome barriers to economic well-being through workforce development, education, occupational health and economic development. With close to $300 million in annual revenue, the parent organization has government contracts in 22 states, and its acquisitions include Easterseals programs New York, Rhode Island and parts of Texas. In New Hampshire, Granite Pathways was a year into a four-year, $15.6 million contract for the youth treatment center. According to the state expenditure register, the organization has been paid $4.1 million since 2012, including just under $900,000 in the current fiscal year. Under the hub-and-spoke system the state launched this year to connect people to opioid addiction resources, Granite Pathways was awarded $5 million in federal funding over multiple years to run the two largest hubs, in Manchester and Nashua. Contracts are approved by the five-member Executive Council, and at least one member has expressed concern about Granite Pathways in the past. In June, when the council approved a $345,000 contract related to treatment for adolescents, Councilor Andru Volinsky noted that the organization already was running the opioid response hubs and called for “continued vigilance” to ensure it could keep up with all its responsibilities. “We’ve had, in particular when trying to quickly build out our substance abuse response, a number of instances where the financial management of private nonprofits was not strong. We haven’t really had strong capacity to oversee that at DHHS,” he said in a recent interview. “My concern at the time of this Granite Pathways contract was that we were again placing what I think are state responsibilities onto a private contractor, and we still haven’t built an infrastructure to oversee those private contractors.” Volinsky, a Democrat, said he doesn’t know whether the state should build out its own capacity to respond to the substance abuse crisis, or whether it’s enough to rely on outside groups and closely monitor them. “I could legitimately understand the arguments either way,” he said. “But to almost blithely continue to invest in outside agencies without oversight doesn’t make sense.” In announcing the closing of the youth treatment center, officials said the state is taking 30 days to review all of its contracts with Granite Pathways and may take further action. The health department also has increased its oversight of substance use disorder treatment centers in the last year after one of the largest facilities closed. Those efforts have included financial audits and the appointment of a new director at the Office of Program Integrity.",
            "output": [
                "Child advocate sees lack of oversight at youth treatment hub."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b39502adbc6a48808077ccc60ac112f9",
            "input": "We’ll give this story a Satisfactory rating in this category since it does mention the $1,000 cost of a colonoscopy and that one of the two at-home screening tests costs about $25. But readers would benefit more by knowing the average costs of the two alternatives, rather than just the cost of one. This story focuses on the available methods of colorectal screening, comparing them based on available data, and points out that the two at-home screening kits are comparably effective to the two invasive procedures: sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. One of the at-home tests — the FIT, or fecal immunochemical test — when used, is estimated to prevent 20-23 deaths per thousand people screened, while estimates among those using colonoscopy suggest 22-24 deaths are prevented per thousand people screened. The story is clear in saying that there has been no head-to-head comparative study pitting the techniques against each other. The story gets a Satisfactory rating here since it does mention that with colonoscopy, there’s “a small but real risk of harm, such as a perforation” from the screening test. But, as with all screening methods, there is the possibility of false positives or false negatives with the at-home tests which could produce either false confidence or needless worry, not insignificant issues. We would have liked the story even better had it mentioned these factors. The story is quite open with the fact that comparative data assessing the various screening methods against each other are not available, but it strengthens its offerings by citing recommendations from both the US Preventive Services Task Force and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. The recommendations of these independent groups are based on a rigorous evaluation of the highest-quality evidence available. Colon cancer is the second-leading form of cancer-related death in the country; the story does not disease monger. The story quotes three independent sources for information and the recommendations of agencies from two different governments. There is no suggestion that in a story offering a selection of screening techniques, with no one preferred above another, that there is any issue with conflicts of interest. Since this story is totally about the available alternatives for colorectal cancer screening, it easily gets a Satisfactory rating. Both colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy have been available for years and the at-home screening tests mentioned in the story are said to be available through a patient’s doctor’s office. These details establish the methods’ availability. It also quotes one source as recommending against the use of over-the-counter home screening tests for this disease. The story notes that what’s novel here is that the U.S. Preventive Task Force recently finalized their guidelines on colon cancer screening. There is no indication that this story relied on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "You Could Skip Your Colonoscopy If You’re Willing To Collect Your Poop"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64ed9f0e426d4b1b9f6592cafec45275",
            "input": "Most people know roughly what a bottle of vitamin D supplements might cost them, so the lack of information on cost is not a significant gap. We appreciate that the story provided data showing the large and growing amount our society is spending on vitamin D supplements ($430 million in 2009), with apparently little health benefit to show for it. The story was mostly concerned with discussing the lack of benefit from taking extra vitamin D and calcium. And in this area it excels. While the story does lack precision when it suggests that adolescent girls should be getting more calcium (it never specifies how much they are getting now, how much more they’d need to meet the recommendations, or what benefits they might expect from this increased intake), it would be difficult for a journalist to come up with any sort of quantifiable benefit or harm estimate from the IOM report. The story captured the overall gist of the problem, which is that the evidence base is complex and still inadequate. The story notes that, contrary to the claims of many advocates for increased supplemental vitamin D, there is evidence that high levels of vitamin D may have adverse effects, such as increased risk for fractures and an increase in the overall death rate. The story also explained that too much calcium has been linked to increased risk of kidney stones and, more tentatively, heart disease. The story did a good job of describing how the expert committee conducted its review and what evidence they found. Importantly, it noted that  claims of benefit from extra vitamin D are based on observational studies that most scientists agree “cannot determine cause and effect.” We also like that the story solicited opinions from a variety of experts with no obvious stake in the controversy. This produced a number of quotes that emphasized the need for restraint when interpreting the research on vitamin D. Examples: “I think this report will make people more cautious” and “The onus is on the people who propose extra calcium and vitamin D to show it is safe before they push it on people.” Although we agree with the story’s skeptical overall message, we think it may have slammed the door just a bit too hard on the possibility of benefit from supplemental vitamin D. While claims of benefit may not be supported by the currently available evidence, they have not been conclusively disproved in randomized controlled studies, either. In fact, research is now underway to determine whether the benefits found in observational studies of vitamin D can be replicated in more rigorously designed trials. The story probably should have mentioned this research, and left the door to potential benefits open just a crack. No disease-mongering here. The diversity of independent voices included in this story is a real strength. Although it solicits the obligatory comment from a supplement industry spokesman, it didn’t go out of its way to find any of the more widely known vitamin D experts, some of whom have been issuing recommendations that are untenable based on current evidence. The enthusiasm of some of these researchers might be explained by their significant career and financial interests in promoting vitamin D. Not applicable for this story. The approaches discussed are not new, and there’s not really any alternative to getting adequate amounts of these essential nutrients. The availability of vitamin D from diet, sunlight and supplements is clear from the story. The novelty of vitamin D and calcium is not really in question, so we’ll call this not applicable. This story was not based on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Report Questions Need for 2 Diet Supplements"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6901fad831804a2b9661723653659250",
            "input": "There is no discussion of costs of treatment. The story provided data on the percentage of women who reported improvement. Also – the story was very clear about the scope of the benefit. The story provided data on the side effects of the treatment. The story presented sufficient information about the size of the study and the study design. However, itt would have been desirable to note the study was based on an intention to treat analysis. About 20% of the subjects in each arm of the study did not complete the 8 weeks of treatments either due to lack of effectiveness or simply lost to follow up. While the story doesn’t commit overt diseas-mongering,  it does provide an unverified statistic (more than half) on the incidence of sexual dysfunction while on antidepressant treatment. What is unstated is that the incidence of sexual dysfunction related to depression is as high in some series. While the SSRI antidepressants are associated with sexual dysfunction the true incidence related solely to drug treatment is unclear. A clarifying statement related to the incidence of dysfunction related to the underlying disorder would have been helpful. In addition to relevant information from a company spokesperson and the lead author of the study reported on, the story included quotes from two individuals with relevant expertise who had no ties to the study. The story explained that sexual side effects were among the reasons why women may discontinue use of anti-depressant medication. The story mentioned a few other means for managing this medication side effect other than the medication that was the focus of the piece. The story did not explicitly explain that Viagra is a prescription medication which is FDA approved for treating erectile dysfunction. However, this omission is reasonable giventhe vast marketing and publicity about Viagra. Further, regarding availability, the story had a quote from a company spokesperson that the company would not be pursing approval for the use of this medication as a treatment for sexual dysfunction in women The story put the recent research finding in an accurate perspective by reporting results from previous studies had been ‘inconclusive’. This story does not appear to be based on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Women taking antidepressants may see some sexual benefit from Viagra"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-353f73561e52456cb0c6e7f4467106ad",
            "input": "The report from the Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity also said many fruit and energy drinks, which are popular with teenagers, have as much added sugar and as many calories as regular soda. “Our children are being assaulted by these drinks that are high in sugar and low in nutrition,” said Yale’s Kelly Brownell, co-author of the report. “The companies are marketing them in highly aggressive ways.”   Children’s and teens’ exposure to full-calorie soda ads on television doubled from 2008 to 2010, fueled by increases from Coca-Cola Co and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc, the report found. Children were exposed to 22 percent fewer ads for sugary PepsiCo Inc drinks, it said. Black children and teens saw 80 percent to 90 percent more ads than white children, including twice as many for the 5-Hour Energy drink and Coca-Cola’s vitamin water and Sprite. Hispanic children saw 49 percent more ads for sugary drinks and energy drinks on Spanish-language television, and Hispanic teens saw 99 percent more ads. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 15 percent of children are overweight or obese. Children today are likely to have shorter life spans than their parents, which would affect their ability to work and pay taxes, while threatening to drive up healthcare costs. When it comes to energy drinks such as Red Bull and Amp, the marketing is skewed toward young people, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics says such highly caffeinated beverages are not appropriate for children and adolescents, the report said. In 2010, teens saw 18 percent more TV ads and heard 46 percent more radio ads for energy drinks than adults did. The American Beverage Association, whose members include soft drink companies, disputed the study’s findings as it also battles proposed taxes on sugary drinks and public health campaigns aimed at reducing consumption. “This report is another attack by known critics in an ongoing attempt to single out one product as the cause of obesity when both common sense and widely accepted science have shown that the reality is far more complicated,” the group’s Chief Executive Officer Susan Neely said in a statement. Neely said member companies are “delivering on their commitment to advertise only water, juice and milk on programing for children under 12.”   She cited recent research conducted by Georgetown Economic Services, an economic consulting firm that is a subsidiary of law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, and sponsored by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Association of National Advertisers. That research showed that between 2004 and 2010, advertisements for soft drinks decreased by 96 percent, while those for fruit and vegetable juices increased by 199 percent. Brownell, an outspoken critic of the food and beverage industries, said there has been a lot of research on the issue of marketing unhealthy food to children, especially since U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama made fighting childhood obesity her signature issue. Monday’s report, he said, is the first that analyzed data from several firms, including Nielsen Holdings NV, to measure the full picture of youth exposure to marketing and advertising. Brownell said it is important to consider the online interaction children have with brands, especially since they tend to stay on computers longer than they watch TV commercials. The report shows, for example, that 21 sugary drink brands had YouTube channels in 2010, with more than 229 million views by June 2011. Coca-Cola was the most popular brand on Facebook, with more than 30 million fans. The most-visited websites operated by soft drink brands were MyCokeRewards.com and Capri Sun, which is owned by Kraft Foods Inc.   Coca-Cola said it has a policy of not marketing to children younger than 12. “This means that we do not buy advertising directly targeted at audiences that are made up of more than 35 percent children under 12,” Coca-Cola said in a statement. “This policy applies to all of our beverage brands and to a wide range of media outlets, including television, radio and print, as well as cinema, the Internet, product placement and mobile phones.”   Other findings in the report include an analysis of the drinks themselves. For example, it said an 8-ounce (225-gram) serving of a full-calorie fruit drink has 110 calories and seven teaspoons of sugar — the same amount found in an 8-ounce serving of a soda or energy drink. The full report is available at www.sugarydrinkfacts.org.",
            "output": [
                "Soft drink makers target U.S. youth online: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c84cf7e713cd4d7ca5b085b21c9d7e5d",
            "input": "\"For Tampa Bay residents, the state’s homeless crisis hits home harder than you may think. Discussion of a measure that would allow people applying for or renewing driver’s licenses or motor vehicle registrations to make $1 donations to homeless outreach programs sparked an interesting claim from a Pasco County resident. \"\"Pasco County has the second highest population of homeless in all of Florida,\"\" said Brian Anderson, a homeless advocate from Hudson, on April 9, 2013, before the Senate Rules Committee. Anderson, 30, is a 10-year Army veteran who moved to Hudson in May 2012 to attend Saint Leo University and study social work. He said he just received approval from the Pasco County Commission to hold a \"\"Stand Down\"\" event for homeless veterans transitioning into civilian life at Veterans Memorial Park in September 2013. \"\"We have an epidemic,\"\" he said of homelessness. PolitiFact Florida was skeptical of Pasco being the No. 2 county in Florida for homelessness. Wouldn’t the number of homeless people be higher in counties with substantially more people, such as Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach? To find out, we consulted the 2012 report of the Florida Council on Homelessness, which makes recommendations to the governor and Legislature for addressing the prevalence of homeless adults and children in Florida. The latest report, submitted June 2012, says families with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. In 2012, local homeless coalitions counted 54,300 homeless people living in shelters or on the street on one day and one night in January. Before we get into the data, we’ll stress that the totals are imperfect. Not every county, especially rural counties, has the resources to spread out and tally homeless residents. Still, the report offers the best snapshot we have of how to count the homeless. The homeless count is required every two years by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to receive grants for addressing the homeless problem. Using the 2012 report, we found the homeless counts for the biggest counties in the state. In the chart below, we added in the county’s estimated 2012 population as a point of comparison using U.S. Census Bureau data. 2009 2011 2012 Est. 2012 pop. Broward 4,154 3,801 3,801 1,815,137 Duval 3,244 4,284 2,533 879,602 Hillsborough 7,473 7,336 7,336 1,277,746 Miami-Dade 4,333 3,777 3,817 2,591,035 Orange 2,281 2,872 2,281 1,202,234 Palm Beach 2,147 2,148 2,148 1,356,545 Pasco 4,527 4,442 4,502 470,391 Pinellas 4,163 3,971 3,890 921,319 Statewide 57,687 56,771 54,972 19,317,568 \"\"It just doesn’t make sense for a county with a population under 500,000,\"\" he said. \"\"It’s a hard statement to comprehend.\"\" For the most part, Pasco’s homeless live in the woods, Romagnoli said. Law enforcement advised volunteers not to go as far back into the woods to conduct their count in 2013 because of a couple recent murders, so Romagnoli expects the county’s 2013 total will be lower. Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he has noticed an increase in people reaching out to his office in recent years because they lost their house. \"\"It’s surprising to me,\"\" he said when told about the state’s high homeless count. The higher-than-expected figure may have more to do with how aggressive local coalitions and their volunteers are in getting accurate figures, said Tom Pierce, executive director of the state’s Office on Homelessness. The coalitions need to do the legwork to figure out where the homeless are in advance of the biennial count, he said. A more accurate way to describe the figure may be \"\"reported homeless population.\"\" \"\"It’s obviously fraught with its own limitations, but it’s the best we’ve got,\"\" Pierce said. As for Miami-Dade, the county has been effective getting more homeless people into permanent housing units. Miami-Dade gets more money from the federal government because it raises more money for homeless initiatives from a 1 percent sales tax on food and alcoholic beverage purchases at restaurants and bars. Miami-Dade passed the tax in 1993. \"\"Our community has had no political will to advance that,\"\" said Lesa Weikel, Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County spokeswoman. She wanted to dispute a myth that homeless people come to Florida from other states because of the warm weather. In 2009 and 2011, volunteers asked homeless people in what state did they become homeless. In 2009, 88 percent said Florida. In 2011, it was 90 percent. Pasco County has many programs aimed at curbing the homeless program, such as offering hotel vouchers for families, placing people in jobs suited for each person's abilities and criminal record, and offering bus rides to work, said Rev. Jim Campbell, president of the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County. Our ruling A homeless advocate named Brian Anderson came to Tallahassee to support a bill that would allow people at the DMV to check a box indicating they wanted to donate $1 to homeless programs. Anderson, of Hudson, evoked his home county in his plea, saying \"\"Pasco County has the second highest population of homeless in all of Florida.\"\" Anderson accurately cites the state’s 2012 county-by-county homeless population report. However, there is enough skepticism about the count itself that we think it’s best to proceed with caution. As such,\"",
            "output": [
                "Pasco County has the second highest population of homeless in all of Florida."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cfd721b80d8243748e9045f739002c57",
            "input": "The Alabama Department of Public Health says the tests are free and begin Tuesday, with the first 300 participants to get Walmart gift cards. Officials say multiple cases of pulmonary tuberculosis have been reported in Dothan over the past two years. The department says workers have screened hundreds of people, and they’ve discovered that many who were infected visited nightclubs often. The agency says it’s encouraging tests for patrons of five clubs: The Blue Bar, Chill Lounge, Club Escape, The G-spot and Imani Loungebar. It says it’s had little success working with the establishments. Bar owners say they’re cooperating.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials testing patrons as TB cases linked to bars."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d30deee9421f4021bf4e6699aac165f9",
            "input": "The local money will be added to $56 million already appropriated for the new clinic, which will be part of the VA’s Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System. The $86 million facility will be built on the campus of the current VA hospital in Omaha. “This project will lay the groundwork for future public-private partnerships aimed at providing veterans access to state-of-the-art facilities and will significantly improve the quality of care we are able to provide to our nation’s veterans,” said Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin in a news release. President Barack Obama in December signed a measure, dubbed the Chip In for Vets Act, that allows the public-private partnership. It was sponsored by U.S. Rep Brad Ashford, who represented Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District until losing his bid for re-election in November. VA officials have said the clinic that will be called the Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Center will offer primary, specialty and ambulatory care and operate radiological and surgical facilities. The current hospital will remain standing, and once the ambulatory care center is built, the hospital will be used primarily for administrative operations with some medical services, said Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System spokesman William Ackerman. He couldn’t immediately say where the four other pilot projects will occur. VA officials in Washington didn’t immediately return messages. Design work on the Omaha project will continue through 2017, and officials anticipate site work and construction will begin in early 2018, said Sue Morris, president of Heritage Services, a nonprofit civic group involved in the project. A 2007 study found the current Omaha hospital was plagued by problems in its electrical, heating and cooling systems. In 2011, the VA unveiled plans for a $560 million replacement. Congress approved $56 million to start the project planning, and the new structure tentatively was scheduled to open in 2018. But the plans and work were delayed by funding shortages and changing VA priorities. The public-private project had been projected to cost $136 million — $56 million from federal sources, $80 million from local benefactors. But Ackerman said the figure was decreased after details were refined since the number was discussed after Obama signed the legislation. The local corporation, the Veterans Ambulatory Center Development Corp., which will oversee design, construction and fundraising, was created by Heritage Services. Heritage Services was instrumental in creating major Omaha projects such as the Holland Performing Arts Center and TD Ameritrade Park, where the College World Series is held. ___ Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com",
            "output": [
                "Nonprofit group commits $30M for new Omaha VA facility."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6860ee930fe340d4951b5253be3739d1",
            "input": "Instead, he said, he met them on their front lawn, where he popped the girl’s joint back in. “It is a very easy thing to do, but it made a huge difference for them,” he said. Gulbransen has had to rethink how he runs his pediatric practice on Long Island since the coronavirus crisis started. “We’re in the heart of the storm,” said Gulbransen. His practice remains open and now also welcomes some non-pediatric patients who have had trouble being seen by a doctor. He said his practice has been physically rearranged to keep sick patients away from those who are well. Other recent adjustments include doing telemedicine, although he is unsure how insurance reimbursements will work with such consultations. He said he was worried about his pediatric patients picking up on their parents’ anxieties, as well as the health and financial welfare of his staff. “The anxiety level is palpable,” said Gulbransen. “But it’s a privilege,” he said, adding, “you’re here for your patients. You gotta push and do whatever it takes.”  New York state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, had a coronavirus death toll exceeding 10,000 as of Tuesday, out of more than 28,000 across the country. The disease looks different in children than it tends to with adults, said Gulbransen. “We had a 6-week-old with COVID, and really (the infant had) no other symptom than a runny nose,” said Gulbransen. He has also treated “quite a few toddlers and plenty of schoolage children,” who were all doing well. Cases of the illness involving children are “dwarfed by adult cases, although some of the (child) cases can be quite severe,” according to Dr. Lorry Rubin, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, part of the Northwell Health network. Sometimes previously healthy children, often adolescents, develop pneumonia “and that can be severe and possibly lead to them needing oxygen or ventilatory support,” Rubin said. Still, most pediatric COVID-19 patients do well. Rubin said he was aware of only one child who had died, who also had a terminal congenital illness. Among infants under 60 days old in whom COVID had been detected, “all of them have done quite well,” he added. “The frequency of pediatric illness requiring hospitalization is low,” Rubin said. “No question, it’s not as bad in children and less common than in adults.”  But with New York’s healthcare system at full throttle treating coronavirus patients, Gulbransen wants to take no risks. His motto is: “Whatever you do, don’t send someone from this office to the ER.”",
            "output": [
                "'Don't go to the ER': how a New York pediatrician is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b88aede770eb455793ce5aed044da9e5",
            "input": "\"For most couples, the ideal honeymoon getaway might entail a week of unwinding at a beach resort or a stay in a secluded mountainside cabin. Not Bernie Sanders. He chose a colder route. Sanders and his wife, Jane Sanders, spent their first days as newlyweds in the Soviet Union, claims George Will in a recent Washington Post column. Will’s Aug. 7 column focused mostly on the legacy of Robert Conquest, who died Aug. 3 at age 98, and whose writings on Soviet prisons documented the atrocities of the Stalin regime. A reader asked us to look into the accuracy of the final paragraph of Will’s column, which invoked Sanders’ \"\"honeymoon.\"\" It reads: \"\"Conquest lived to see a current U.S. presidential candidate, a senator, who had chosen, surely as an ideological gesture, to spend his honeymoon in the Soviet Union in 1988. Gulags still functioned, probably including some of the ‘cold Auschwitzes’ in Siberia, described in Conquest’s ‘Kolyma.’ The honeymooner did not mind that in 1988 political prisoners were — as may still be the case — being tortured in psychiatric ‘hospitals.’ Thanks to the unblinking honesty of people like Conquest, the Soviet Union now is such a receding memory that Bernie Sanders’s moral obtuseness — the obverse of Conquest’s character — is considered an amusing eccentricity.\"\" We wanted to see if Sanders actually honeymooned on the turf of the United States’ former adversary during the final years of the Cold War. Sister cities The trip took place while Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vt., from 1981 to 1989. Toward the end of his mayoral tenure, the small city on Lake Champlain launched a sister-city program with Yaroslavl, located 160 miles northeast of Moscow. The program, which is still operating today, has facilitated exchanges between the two cities involving \"\"mayors, business people, firefighters, jazz musicians, youth orchestras, mural painters, high school students, medical students, nurses, librarians and the (Yaroslavl) ice-hockey team,\"\" according to its website. Along with sister-city relationships with Bethlehem in the West Bank and Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, the Yaroslavl program was part of Sanders’ unorthodox attempt to take on international issues from a small city in New England. Sanders also actively pursued his agenda outside of the country, writing letters to world leaders and even traveling to Cuba to meet with the mayor of Havana. \"\"Burlington had a foreign policy,\"\" he wrote in his 1997 book Outsider in the House, \"\"because, as progressives, we understood that we all live in one world.\"\" The bond between Burlington and Yaroslavl solidified when Sanders and his wife, as members of a 12-person delegation from Burlington, paid their Soviet counterparts a visit in 1988. The timing of the trip was unusual. Bernie and Jane were married May 28, 1988. The delegation left Burlington the next day. \"\"Trust me,\"\" Sanders writes in the book. \"\"It was a very strange honeymoon.\"\" When reached for comment, Sanders’ campaign said that the dates for the trip had already been set, and the couple \"\"set their wedding date to coincide with that trip because they didn't want to take more time off.\"\" In a 2007 interview, Jane Sanders also recalled the peculiar timing: \"\"The day after we got married, we marched in a Memorial Day parade, and then we took off in a plane to start the sister city project with Yaroslavl with 10 other people on my honeymoon.\"\" Bernie Sanders also refers to the trip sarcastically as \"\"quiet and romantic\"\" in his book. The \"\"honeymoon\"\" was dotted with meetings, interviews and diplomatic functions. A June 2015 profile in The Guardian described the former mayor’s meeting with Yaroslavl city officials: \"\"After receiving a rundown of central planning, Soviet-style, from Yaroslavl’s mayor, Alexander Riabkov, Sanders notes how the quality of both housing and health care in America appeared to be ‘significantly better’ than in the communist state. ‘However,’ he added, ‘the cost of both services is much, much, higher in the United States.’ \"\" An education in central planning probably wasn’t the only item on Sanders’ itinerary. Yaroslavl is home to historic churches and buildings, and the Sanderses would have been in for some good sightseeing, said Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Will made it sound as if Sanders was visiting to condone Soviet torture practices, but the Burlington trip was more of a dialogue-building exchange program. The Vermont weekly newspaper Seven Days reported in 2009 that the sister-city relationship \"\"helped local residents who sought to ease tensions between the United States and Soviet Union by initiating citizen-to-citizen exchanges with a Russian city.\"\" Also, the Soviet Union was barely intact at the time of the trip. Negotiations had opened up between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev a few years earlier. \"\"It was at the beginning of perestroika,\"\" said Michael Briggs, a spokesman for the Sanders campaign, referring to the restructuring policy Gorbachev instituted in the mid 1980s. Gulags still existed and political prisoners were still held in 1988, said Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. But a watershed moment came when Gorbachev allowed physicist Andrei Sakharov to return from internal exile two years earlier. \"\"The power of the Communist Party was being questioned and the confrontation with the West was winding down through negotiations,\"\" Cohen said. In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and in 1988, Reagan himself spoke in Moscow’s Red Square. One year later brought the fall of the Berlin Wall. Three years later, the Soviet Union collapsed. Participation in the Burlington-Yaroslavl program has waned over the years, though it was viewed as a \"\"glamorous endeavor\"\" by many in Burlington at the time, program leader Howard Seaver said in 2009. Will could not be reached for comment through his researcher. Our ruling Will wrote that Sanders chose \"\"to spend his honeymoon in the Soviet Union in 1988.\"\" Sanders and his wife did travel to Yaroslavl, a city in the Soviet Union, after their wedding in 1988. In the sense that the trip came after the couple were married, the trip was a honeymoon. The two have also referred to the trip that way, albeit sarcastically at times. But it was an unusual honeymoon, to say the least. The trip’s primary purpose was diplomacy, not leisure, and included about 10 extra guests. Will’s claim is accurate but is missing context about the trip’s underlying purpose.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"George Will Says Bernie Sanders chose \"\"to spend his honeymoon in the Soviet Union in 1988.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d6d59e1188440c5be7af218c7efde69",
            "input": "A Berne court found the man guilty of causing bodily harm and spreading the virus which can cause Aids, court secretary Rene Graf told Reuters. He did not give any further details. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 15 years in jail, according to media reports. “The accused and nobody else is responsible for infecting the 16 people,” Swiss news agency SDA quoted court president Urs Herren as saying, adding the man’s motive could have been to seek attention, exact revenge, or prove his omnipotence. The 54-year-old from the Swiss capital Berne had consistently denied the charges, blaming the victims for contracting HIV through unprotected sex and intravenous drug use, Swiss media reported. They did not reveal the man’s identity or nationality, in accordance with rules on Swiss criminal proceedings. The case came to the attention of the authorities after an HIV-positive patient told a hospital he suspected his infection was linked to acupuncture treatments he received from the man. The majority of the infected individuals were students of a music school run by the man, who also had an acupuncture practice. Some of the victims told the court he stabbed them with a needle from behind during treatment, SDA reported. Police stormed the man’s home a week ago after he stopped coming to the trial. The man, who was free on bail, had barricaded himself inside and was armed with a knife, issuing threats to police, according to media reports.",
            "output": [
                "\"Swiss court jails \"\"healer\"\" for infecting 16 with HIV.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66ee7e9cf5b7448f9572ac864d20f7bc",
            "input": "A team of 20 doctors, including surgeons, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses, will be deployed to the region of Marche in central Italy for two weeks, Italian ambassador to Ukraine, Davide La Cecilia told Reuters. “The national health service in our country is very stressed. So we badly need medical personnel and are very happy that Ukraine is sending this humanitarian aid,” said La Cecilia at Kiev’s airport, before the medical mission’s departure. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who accompanied the ambassador, said Kiev would send more medical aid and disinfectant to Italy in the coming days. “It is an honour for us to help Italy during such tough times. We know that many Ukrainians live and work in Italy. By helping Italy, we are helping our citizens,” said Avakov. Ukraine’s health ministry has reported 1,096 cases, including 28 deaths since March 3, when the first case was recorded. But as thousands of Ukrainians have recently returned home from abroad, the ministry expects a much bigger outbreak ahead. The daily tally of new cases increased to 154 on Saturday from 138 on Friday, up from 62 last Monday. The head of the Ukrainian medical mission, neurosurgeon Andriy Miroshnichenko, said that all the team members volunteered to work in Italy. “After they come back home, they will be able to treat patients and work having practical experience and knowledge about the disease,” said Miroshnichenko. Asked whether the Ukrainian doctors were not afraid to catch the virus themselves Glib Bidyukov, a nurse, said it was “a consciously made choice”. “When you choose healthcare, you understand that you put yourself in some danger… Each of us made a choice a long time ago,” Bidyukov said.",
            "output": [
                "Ukrainian doctors fly to Italy to help combat coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e29b479a9bc24ca89f3b9d7a52304233",
            "input": "\"Anyone who follows the constant drum beat of crime news in metro Atlanta might not be surprised by a new study that puts Georgia among the most dangerous states for a very specific crime: women who are murdered by men. A Violence Policy Center report released in September shows Georgia ranks ninth among all states, with a homicide rate of 1.66 per 100,000 women in 2012, the last year data is available. The national rate is 1.16 per 100,000. \"\"We call on Georgia’s lawmakers to make it an urgent priority to keep guns away from domestic abusers and protect women from harm,\"\" Kathryn Grant, co-founder of GunSense Georgia said in a statement related to the study. \"\"This is literally a matter of life and death.\"\" PolitiFact Georgia wanted to know if our state really ranks that high on the list for women murdered by men. We went straight to the website for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Reports. That data showed Georgia had 102 homicides in 2012 – 19 percent more than the 84 tallied in the Violence Policy Center report. The VPC’s study has a lower overall number because it takes that data and then weeds out crimes with more than one victim or perpetrator, said VPC policy analyst Marty Langley, who authored the report. An analysis of the SHR data, available only in hard copy from the FBI, confirms those numbers are accurate for incidents where one woman is killed by one man. James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and analyzed such data for decades, said the adjustment oversimplifies the information. Taking a more narrow slice of victims also allows for further analysis of their characteristics such as age (the victim in Georgia was 38) and race (51 were black and 30 were white in Georgia). And for homicides where the data could be found, 69 percent of victims were killed with guns and 93 percent of them were murdered by someone they knew, the study found. \"\"An overarching point we want to make with this study is that it’s a myth that a woman’s risk of homicide comes from being attacked by a stranger,\"\" said Kristen Rand, the group’s legislative director. \"\"The risk of stranger homicide is really quite low.\"\" But missing from the report is another key fact: the risk of homicide in Georgia is among the highest for any victims. It’s easier to see in lists:  Rank State 2012 Homicide Rate per 100,000, Females Murdered by Males 1 Alaska 2.57 2 South Carolina 2.06 3 Oklahoma 2.03 4 Louisiana 1.92 5 Mississippi 1.89 6 Nevada 1.83 7 Missouri 1.73 8 Arizona 1.70 9 Georgia 1.66 10 Tennessee 1.60 (Source: Violence Policy Center)  Rank State 2012 Homicide Rate per 100,000, Overall 1 Louisiana 10.8 2 Mississippi 7.4 3 Alabama 7.1 4 Michigan 7.0 5 South Carolina 6.9 6 Missouri 6.5 7 Maryland 6.3 8 Delaware 6.2 9 Tennessee 6.0 10 (tie) Arkansas, Georgia 5.9 (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics)  Southern states such as Georgia dominate both lists, Fox said, because of factors beyond gender. Gun ownership rates are higher here. The South also has a long history of  people solving personal conflicts with violence versus lawsuits, Fox said. And, he added, the region is also more diverse than much of the country, and murder rates by and against blacks are higher than those among whites. \"\"The fact that most of the states on (the VPC) list are in the south is not so much an issue of male-female violence,\"\" Fox said. \"\"It’s about homicide, generally.\"\" In summary, the data bears out the study’s findings that rank Georgia ninth in the nation for the rate of women killed by men. One caveat is that tally counts only single victims and perpetrators. It ignores some crimes it hopes to draw attention to, such as a former partner killing a woman before committing suicide or a man killing his ex-partner and a new love interest, if there are two victims. More importantly, the tally also fails to acknowledge Georgia’s dismal rank for the risk of homicide overall, and the other factors that contribute to it. The numbers are right, but it’s also  that there is more to the story.\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia ranks No. 9 in the rate of women murdered by men."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db7939d6b32f4cf7a40a4195a03c49b8",
            "input": "Officials hope more testing will give a better indication of the areas where lockdowns can be eased further. “Spain is already one of the countries making the most daily tests. More than 20,000, and we are increasing the number,” Sanchez told a near-empty parliament. Spain’s daily number of deaths from the coronavirus fell to 523 on Wednesday from 567 the day before, the health ministry said - well below a peak of 950 reached on April 2. The International Monetary Fund has said Spain’s economy is likely to suffer heavily from the pandemic, and the government is keen to reactivate whatever businesses it can as soon as possible, especially ahead of the tourist summer months. The IMF expected an 8% economic slump this year, because of the collapse in tourism and Spain’s high proportion of small and medium-sized businesses, with the debt-to-GDP ratio projected to hit 113% - its highest level in over a century. It put the 2020 budget deficit at 9.5% of GDP, the widest in the euro zone. On Monday and Tuesday, sectors including construction and manufacturing were allowed to reopen but, with most people still confined to their homes, shops, bars and public spaces will stay closed until at least April 26. The government said on Wednesday it would begin to hold meetings with opposition leaders from Thursday on the formation of a “pact for the social and economic reconstruction of Spain”. It seeks to unite political parties, unions, companies and regions behind a common economic reconstruction policy and state welfare funding. The proposal is inspired by the 1977 “Pacts of Moncloa” - named for the presidential palace in Madrid - which aimed to transform the state-run economy along market lines for the post-Franco dictatorship democratic era. For the lockdown to be eased more broadly, officials say testing for the virus has to be expanded to include people who have mild or no symptoms, to track the spread in more detail. The government also said last week it would carry out mass antibody tests on the blood of 60,000 randomly chosen people over three weeks, to begin identifying those who might in theory now be immune after exposure to the virus. However, health and virology experts are not yet certain about the quality of such tests, or how much immunity such antibodies might provide. Spain remains one of the world’s worst-affected countries, with only the United States and Italy recording higher cumulative death tolls than the 18,579 reported on Wednesday. The official tally of cases rose by just over 5,000 to 177,633, although Fernando Simon, the national emergency coordinator, said the expansion of testing had meant more mild or asymptomatic cases were being recorded. Despite signs that public health authorities are slowly getting on top of the pandemic, healthcare workers have had no respite. In Barcelona, a doctor filed a complaint with police after her vehicle was scrawled with grafitti reading “contagious rat”, El Periodico newspaper reported. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that countries should wait at least two weeks before evaluating the impact of loosening their lockdowns and deciding whether to go further. But Spain, having suffered a heavy blow to growth and employment during the euro zone debt crisis, is under acute pressure to restart its economy. The IMF said unemployment, already the highest in the European Union, would jump to nearly 21% from 14% last year. “Those levels of unemployment are not sustainable,” European Central Bank Vice-President Luis de Guindos told Onda Cero radio.",
            "output": [
                "Spain's daily coronavirus deaths decline as testing increases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-48ba729cb2154adf9cc1a980eb14a3b3",
            "input": "PGE and Orsted, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind, said last month they had started discussions over the sale. “We are hoping to finalize the negotiations - meaning signing the basic terms - by the end of this year,” the chief executive of state-run PGE’s offshore wind subsidiary Monika Morawiecka told Reuters on Tuesday. The projects, which have a total capacity of up to 2.5 gigawatts (GW), are key to developing the offshore wind sector in otherwise coal-reliant Poland. International firms including Orsted, oil and gas company Equinor and Germany’s RWE are looking to Poland as the next big growth market for harnessing wind at sea. “Poland is going to be one of the largest offshore wind markets,” Orsted’s Chief Executive of offshore wind Martin Neubert told Reuters. For coal-reliant Poland, offshore wind, together with other renewables, is seen as an opportunity to put the energy industry on a greener path. “We do struggle with our conventional (coal) assets and we see that in the future this part of PGE’s business is going to suffer, so we need to balance it with, for example, offshore wind,” said Morawiecka. She added that she was confident with regards to securing financing for the two projects and that the 1 GW Baltica 3 project would be ready to start construction by 2023 or 2024. The Polish government has set a target of generating at least 10 GW of offshore wind power by 2040 compared to zero today, and is finalizing the legal framework to support this. “Poland has a government which a lot of people thought until recently was not very interested in renewables,” the CEO of industry group WindEurope Giles Dickson told Reuters. Thousands of Polish workers are already employed in producing goods for the offshore wind industry supply chain, but so far these have only been exported. “I think there is a profound interest in creating a strong home market,” said Orsted’s Neubert.",
            "output": [
                "HPV test beats Pap for cervical cancer screening"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f47336ef12a14545b2f7c28e5ed1e6a8",
            "input": "Lawyers for the state, including Attorney General Mike Hunter, told a judge in Norman, Oklahoma that J&J’s “greed” led the drugmaker to carry out a years-long marketing effort that caused “utter confusion” about the addictive painkillers’ risks. Brad Beckworth, a lawyer for the state, said J&J knew opioids were harmful, yet minimized the risk of addiction in their marketing, resulting in a surge in overdose deaths as doctors overprescribed the drugs and they flooded the state. “They didn’t get here from a Mexican cartel,” Beckworth said. “They got here from the pharmaceutical cartel, and the kingpin of them all is Johnson & Johnson.”  The state urged Judge Thad Balkman, who presided over the nonjury trial for six weeks, to find J&J liable for creating a public nuisance and force it to pay up to $17 billion over 30 years to address the epidemic. Larry Ottaway, J&J’s attorney, countered its products, which had included the painkillers Duragesic and Nucynta, were minimally used in Oklahoma and that trial testimony showed doctors were not misled about the drugs’ risks before prescribing them. He said New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J strictly adhered to regulations governing opioids, which served a legitimate purpose, and called Oklahoma’s multi-billion dollar demand “untenable.”  “Only a company that believes its innocence would come in and defend itself against a state, but we take the challenge on because we believe we are right,” Ottaway said in his closing argument. Balkman said he would rule after receiving briefs from both sides, due July 31. The case is one of around 2,000 actions by state and local governments accusing drug manufacturers of contributing to the opioid epidemic. Opioids were linked to a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Oklahoma case is being closely watched by plaintiffs in other opioid lawsuits, particularly in 1,900 cases pending before a federal judge in Ohio who has been pushing for a settlement ahead of an October trial. Purdue and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) were originally also defendants in the case. Purdue reached a $270 million settlement with Oklahoma in March and Teva settled for $85 million in May. Both deny wrongdoing.",
            "output": [
                "Opioid 'kingpin' J&J fueled epidemic, Oklahoma argues at trial's end."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3be34e4aa286453690ea7d8f6a5b71e3",
            "input": "The product, NovoSeven RT, can be stored at room  temperature for up to two years, the Food and Drug  Administration said. An older formulation had to be  refrigerated. NovoSeven RT is a genetically engineered version of Factor  VIIa, a protein found in plasma that is essential for the  clotting of blood. Approved uses of NovoSeven RT include treatment of  bleeding, and prevention of surgical bleeding, in certain  patients with hemophilia. The most commonly observed reactions with NovoSeven RT  include fever, bleeding, injection site reactions, joint  discomfort, headaches, and elevations or falls in blood  pressure, the FDA said. Some elderly patients had an increased risk of arterial  clots when treated with NovoSeven RT for unapproved uses, the  FDA added.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. clears new version of Novo Nordisk clot therapy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88366a010b3b4d0088f240721c5d0b0d",
            "input": "\"On April 6 2020, the New York Post claimed that New York City was considering “temporary mass graves” in public parks such as Central Park in an article bearing the headline, “NYC may temporarily bury coronavirus victims in parks: lawmaker.”The New York Post cited a multi-tweet thread published by New York City councilman Mark Levine. Levine’s ninth tweet was the one which drew widespread interest, and it read:Soon we’ll start “temporary interment”. This likely will be done by using a NYC park for burials (yes you read that right). Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line. It will be done in a dignified, orderly–and temporary–manner. But it will be tough for NYers to take. 9/Levine’s thread began with the first transcribed tweet below, and the preceding seven to eight tweets led up to the “temporary internment” portion:NYC’s healthcare system is being pushed to the limit. And sadly, now so is the city’s system for managing our dead. And it, too, needs more resources. This has big implications for grieving families. And for all of us. 1/NYC’s “city morgue” is the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), which luckily is the best in the world. But they are now dealing w/ the equivalent of an ongoing 9/11. And so are hospital morgues, funeral homes & cemeteries. Every part of this system is now backed up. 2/A typical hospital morgue might hold 15 bodies. Those are now all full. So OCME has sent out 80 refrigerated trailers to hospitals around the city. Each trailer can hold 100 bodies. These are now mostly full too. Some hospitals have had to add a 2nd or even a 3rd trailer. 3/Grieving families report calling as many as half a dozen funeral homes and finding none that can handle their deceased loved ones. Cemeteries are not able to handle the number of burial requests and are turning most down. 4/It’s not just deaths in hospitals which are up. On an average day before this crisis there were 20-25 deaths at home in NYC. Now in the midst of this pandemic the number is 200-215. *Every day*. 5/Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don’t have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. 6/Now only those few who had a test confirmation *before* dying are marked as victims of coronavirus on their death certificate. This almost certainly means we are undercounting the total number of victims of this pandemic. 7/And still the number of bodies continues to increase. The freezers at OCME facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn will soon be full. And then what? 8/Levine continued, concluding with a “recap” tweet:To recap: Nothing matters more in this crisis than saving the living. But we need to face the gruesome reality that we need more resources to manage our dead as well. Or the pain of this crisis will be compounded almost beyond comprehension. 13/13Naturally, Levine’s stark descriptions — particularly of “temporary internment” and mass graves in city parks (like Central Park) generated tremendous interest. That claim proved an eerie follow-up to an unrelated March 27 2020 viral tweet about the semantics (“temporary”) of mass graves:We are, at most, like 10 days away from semantic arguments about what qualifies as a \"\"mass\"\" grave.— Mass for Shut-ins (is a podcast) (@edburmila) March 27, 2020Incidentally, the “arguing about the semantics of mass graves” tweet was published on March 27 2020. Levine’s tweets were dated April 6 2020. That is, in fact, a difference of ten days:Two hours after the first Twitter thread, Levine clarified with a follow-up tweet in which he explained that the temporary mass graves were part of New York City’s contingency plans. He also said they would only be considered if the infection rates for COVID-19 kept climbing:This tweet has gotten a lot of attention. So I want to clarify:  the is a contingency NYC is preparing for BUT if the death rate drops enough it will not be necessary. https://t.co/6wLO8qWtML— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020According to the New York Times, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio acknowledged the existence of such contingency plans, adding that the use of temporary mass graves was “under consideration” but not in place:Mayor Bill de Blasio said on [April 6 2020] that no such plan had been put in place yet, though he acknowledged it was under consideration.“If we need to do temporary burials to be able to tide us over to pass the crisis, and then work with each family on their appropriate arrangements, we have the ability to do that,” he said, adding, “We may well be dealing with temporary burials so we can deal with each family later.”The medical examiner’s office said in a statement, “We are planning for all possibilities, however no decision on this has been made, and there is still adequate capacity at this time.”The Times included some additional information from Levine which slightly contradicted DeBlasio’s remarks; further, Levine noted that the storage for deceased COVID-19 victims was almost at capacity in New York:Mr. Levine, however, said in an interview: “This is definitely not in the hypothetical stage now. I think it’s fair to say we are moving to do this.” … Mr. Levine said plans for the possible use of “temporary interment” had been mapped out as part of that plan. He said the city had to face the reality that “traditional burial system has largely frozen up.”“We are relying on freezers now to hold bodies, but that capacity is almost entirely used up,” he said, describing temporary interment as “essentially an extension of the freezer system.”In the ensuing discussion about the claims, Central Park was often mentioned as a possible site for temporary mass graves. That may have been due to Central Park’s prominence among people not personally familiar with Manhattan as well as its size; Levine referenced an established potter’s field on Hart Island (in the Bronx), but cited “logistical challenges” in accessing that site as well as city parks in general:Mr. Levine said the possible sites for mass burials would be a city park or on Hart Island in the Bronx, where inmates from Rikers Island are typically employed to bury the indigent in potter’s field.Hart Island has logistical challenges because it is inaccessible and it is a secure Department of Correction facility, so there are limitations on who can go there and under what circumstances, Mr. Levine said.The use of labor from Rikers’ Island to dig mass graves was a part of early reporting on COVID-19 in New York. On March 10 2020, Business Insider mentioned the same site Levine did, reporting:New York City’s contingency plan for ‘biological outbreaks’ includes mobile refrigerator units for dead bodies and mass graves dug by inmates… Inmates on Rikers Island would be transported to Hart Island to dig mass graves where the dead could be buried, and cremation efforts would be ramped up.Currently, Hart Island, which once housed a prison for Confederate soldiers, has two prepared mass graves that could accommodate 19,200 bodies, but there is another site that has yet to be cleared.That reporting also noted the plan itself was not new in 2020, but was designed during a previous disease outbreak in 2008 — which did not result in the need for mass graves:The plan was developed by the city’s late chief medical examiner, Charles Hirsch, in 2008, in response to concerns that Bird Flu would cause the next pandemic influenza. But as Hirsch states in the report, the plan can be used to tackle “other biological outbreaks” that cause mass fatalities.On March 31 2020, The Intercept reported that Rikers’ Island inmates were offered $6 hourly to begin digging mass graves for COVID-19 victims:NEW YORK CITY is offering prisoners at Rikers Island jail $6 per hour — a fortune by prison labor standards — and personal protective equipment if they agree to help dig mass graves on Hart Island, according to sources with knowledge of the offer. Avery Cohen, a spokesperson for the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed the general arrangement, but said that it was not “Covid-specific,” noting that prisoners have been digging graves on Hart Island for years.The offer is only being made to those with convictions, not those jailed before trial, as is generally the case. A memo sent to prisoners, according to a source who reviewed it, does not specify what the work on Hart Island will be, but the reference to PPE leaves little doubt. The offer comes as New York City continues to be the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with 38,000 people infected and more than 914 dead so far.That earlier reporting by The Intercept closely echoed details in Levine’s Twitter thread, such as requirements for mass graves and space limitations on Hart Island. It also referenced the March 10 2020 Business Insider piece:Hart Island, though, “has limited burial space,” the report noted, and “may not be able to accommodate a large influx of decedents requiring burial,” which the preparedness plan estimated at between 50,000 and 200,000 in a pandemic with a mortality rate of 2 percent in which 25 to 35 percent of the population is infected.The city document proposed employing the Department of Defense’s “temporary mass internment method,” which places caskets 10 in a row, head to foot, so as not to stack them on top of each other. Hart Island is located off City Island in the Bronx. In 2008, Rikers prisoners were burying roughly 20 to 25 bodies per week there, the report found.Typically, the remains of decedents whose bodies are unclaimed or whose families cannot afford burial are interred on Hart Island. However, the internment of COVID-19 victims amounted to far more burials, far more frequently:Normally, about 25 bodies a week are interred on the island, mostly for people whose families can’t afford a funeral, or who go unclaimed by relatives. But recently, burial operations have increased from one day a week to five days a week, with around 24 burials each day, said Department of Correction spokesman Jason Kersten.It is true that a New York City councilmember — Levine — disclosed the discussion of plans for mass burials or possible “temporary internments” of COVID-19 victims on Hart Island or in unspecified city parks. Levine and DeBlasio provided different information in terms of the planning stages, and existing information indicated that the plans had been in place since as early as 2008. Although all the information appears to be accurate, we are rating the overall trajectory of the reported mass graves plan as Unknown as of April 6 2020.Update, April 10 2020, 1:52 PM: Numerous outlets (such as the BBC and The Guardian) published aerial footage captured on April 9 2020 and depicting mass graves on Hart Island in the Bronx:New York using mass graves amid coronavirus outbreakhttps://t.co/R61mrlbfdc pic.twitter.com/T0EctJmFPR— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 10, 2020NYC Mayor confirms they are now burying many #Covid19 corpses in mass graves on Hart Island. Today alone there were at least 40 coffins. The bodies are wrapped in body bags and placed in pine boxes, with their names scrawled on the top. Source: NY Post #TrumpBurialPits pic.twitter.com/2yb2pVVt3U— Jake Morphonios 🇵🇸 🇹🇭 😷 (@morphonios) April 10, 2020The tragedy is incomprehensible. Caskets buried three on top of one another in mass graves now being dug on New York’s Hart Island. No families present, just workers in hazmat suits. pic.twitter.com/4wF9mIJGZl— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) April 9, 2020New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio tweeted about the images, stating in part:The pictures of our fellow New Yorkers being buried on Hart Island are devastating for all of us.I want to make sure everyone knows what they’re seeing and what is actually happening on Hart Island.Remember, these are human beings. These are neighbors we've lost.— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 10, 2020We have accordingly changed our rating from “unknown” to “true.”\"",
            "output": [
                "\"New York City is planning mass graves (or \"\"temporary mass graves\"\") for COVID-19 victims in Central Park (and other public parks.)\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2cdf53f5e724a1b80019537b2837147",
            "input": "\"In the wake of the Orlando shootings and lacking congressional action regarding gun reform legislation, many are calling attention to the the devastating truths about gun violence in the United States. One of the vocal supporters advocating for tighter gun restrictions is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. Wasserman Schultz took to her Medium page to lament the occurrence at Pulse Night Club and to express the need for stricter gun legislation that she believes can prevent future gun violence fatalities, especially by suspected terrorists. In her June 18, 2016, post, Wasserman Schultz wrote that \"\"40% of Americans know someone who has been killed by a gun — gun violence has touched someone you know.\"\" Many other politicians have made many claims regarding gun violence, but this assertion seemed particularly far-reaching. Do two out of every five Americans know someone whose death can be attributed to a gun? We took a closer look. The evidence We reached out to one of Wasserman Schultz’s campaign representatives, and they told us that the 40 percent figure came from an October 2015 Huffington Post article that cited a YouGov poll from the same month. YouGov is an online market research organization that utilizes a network of over 4 million users who offer their personal views and experiences by participating in surveys. The poll that Wasserman Schultz refers to surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults selected by a random sample stratified by age, gender, race, education and region. One of the questions asked in the survey was, \"\"Do you personally know anyone who has been killed by another person with a gun?\"\" The poll found that 22 percent said yes, with 6 percent saying the person was in their family and the other 16 percent saying it was someone else they knew. Another question asked, \"\"Do you personally know anyone who has committed suicide using a gun?\"\" On that question, 28 percent of participants answered yes, with 7 percent knowing a family member who used a gun to commit suicide and 21 percent saying they knew someone else who committed suicide with a gun. The 40 percent figure asserted by the Huffington Post article as well as in Wasserman Schultz’s Medium post come from the total percentage of participants who had professed to knowing someone who had died because of a gun. The 40 percent figure is reached once you take into account the overlap between the respondents who knew both a homicide and a suicide victim. We reached out to to Peter Moore of YouGov, who published the poll online, to ask if Wasserman Schultz’s claim accurately encapsulated the results. \"\"I’ve had a look at the full dataset, and I can confirm that the 40 percent figure is accurate,\"\" Moore said. \"\"Her statement does properly capture the poll’s findings. It is also consistent with other similar survey data.\"\" We asked Moore about possible sources of error in the survey, and he responded, \"\"There are none in particular beyond the general margins of error associated with surveys,\"\" which was determined to be 4.1 percent by YouGov. To contextualize the YouGov poll, we reached out to James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University. While not debating the results or methodology of the poll, he did offer some caveats. He noted that suicides account for a large share of the deaths -- a fact that may not be obvious from Wasserman Schultz’s statements. He also said that the poll’s wording leaves a fair amount of interpretation to the respondent. Respondents \"\"have to decide how well they know someone,\"\" he said. \"\"There are better ways to write questions like this so it’s not so vague.\"\" In all, the way the questions were worded may make the percentage sound \"\"a lot worse than it is,\"\" Fox said. Past data While there have been many surveys conducted regarding guns and gun violence, the most similar polls to the YouGov poll were surveys conducted in 1993 and 1999 by Gallup. The question in both years was, \"\"Not including military combat, has anyone close to you--such as a friend or relative--ever been shot by a gun?\"\" In 1993, 64 percent responded no and 36 percent responded yes. In 1999, the percentage of people answering yes dropped to 31 percent, compared to 69 percent responding no. It’s important to note that the Gallup questions refer to people getting shot -- a larger universe than those getting shot and killed. So, it’s not a direct comparison. Though the Gallup results can by no means confirm or refute YouGov and Wasserman Schultz’s claim, the numbers do not appear drastically different. With limited inquiry into the number of people who are close to victims of gun violence, it is difficult to ascertain a clear estimate. Our ruling Wasserman Schultz said, \"\"40 percent of Americans know someone who has been killed by a gun .\"\" Wasserman Schultz is right about the 40 percent figure if you consider the YouGov poll findings. It’s important to note that a majority of the 40 percent figure comes from suicide deaths, not homicides. And there is limited research on this topic generally.",
            "output": [
                "40% of Americans know someone who has been killed by a gun."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db857c4ceebc4c2182d5ad2f4ca08fb2",
            "input": "Rather than outline specific recommendations, the 300-page document is meant to be a resource for state regulators as they begin the process in 2020 of drafting formal rules aimed at reducing methane emissions. Despite industry claims that companies have been able to reduce emissions while still setting production records, environmentalists have been pushing hard for more regulations at the state level to target methane leaks and the practice of venting and flaring. The report is the result of numerous meetings over the last four months by the Methane Advisory Panel, a group of more than two dozen experts knowledgeable about various parts of the oil and gas business. The panel included industry representatives, environmental lawyers and experts from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Colorado State University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The discussions centered on topics like compressor engines, storage tanks and pneumatic valves. New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney said the effort put into the report is unparalleled in its thoroughness. “This is exactly the baseline information we need to effectively tackle methane emissions in our state,” he said. The state will be accepting public comment on the report through Feb. 20. XTO Energy President Staale Gjervik said the company’s experience shows methane emissions can be mitigated in a cost-effective way but that full industry participation is important. XTO was among those represented on the panel. The report highlights various strategies to reduce emissions, such as switching to low- or no-bleed pneumatic controllers and increasing leak detection and monitoring equipment. The need for more infrastructure also was identified as a possible way to reduce venting and flaring — although the report stated flaring, or the burning off of excess natural gas during extraction, was a necessary part of the process. The state will host public meetings in the coming months to discuss the findings with community members across the state. Stronger regulations for methane emissions will be critical as the oil boom in New Mexico continues, said Hillary Hull of the Environmental Defense Fund, another member of the advisory panel. She said the state’s process in developing the analysis was been inclusive, representing countless hours of research and input from a diverse cross-section of stakeholders. “Next year will be the critical time for moving forward on enforceable, nationally-leading methane rules that protect our air, address the climate crisis and improve education funding for New Mexico families and future generations,” she said. Earlier this month, trade groups representing the oil and gas industries in New Mexico and Texas release an analysis that showed a decline in methane emissions in both states as production tripled. The research also showed that the amount of methane burned off or emitted per barrel of oil equivalent was reduced by 64 percent in the Permian Basin during the past seven years. Meanwhile, the report cited a 210% increase in oil production in the Permian since 2011. Ryan Flynn, executive director at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said Permian producers are leading the industry when it comes to environmental practices and emissions reductions. “As energy markets across the globe look to America for their energy needs, we are creating the solutions of the future to deliver cleaner, more reliable energy to people and communities in every corner of the planet,” he said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico releases methane emissions report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ab7e9559a1d441e800365e008705a28",
            "input": "People who became ill attended the private function Nov. 24 at the Puritan Backroom conference center in Manchester, the state Department of Health and Human Services said Friday. One person later died, but it was unclear if the death was related to the norovirus outbreak, the department said. The restaurant is co-owned by U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and is famous for its chicken tenders. It has been in his family for more than a century and is a frequent stop for presidential candidates of both parties. The nature of the event was not released, but it didn’t appear that any current presidential candidates attended. The manager of the Puritan Backroom, Erik Zink, said in a written statement that the restaurant’s top priorities are promoting health and excellent food safety and that he was confident it was doing everything possible to maintain those practices. Zink also said the restaurant had reached out to the family of the person who died to express “our condolences” for the death, which he blamed on unidentified causes. After the outbreak, the Manchester Health Department conducted an inspection of the restaurant. Officials determined there was no ongoing norovirus risk to the public. The symptoms of norovirus include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain, health officials said. The state sees 50 to 75 norovirus outbreaks every year.",
            "output": [
                "18 sickened at popular New Hampshire primary campaign stop."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2a432c82d264180a53bd32418174835",
            "input": "He told a daily briefing that President Donald Trump had inaccurately asserted the president had total authority over when states reopen schools and businesses but added that he did not want, or have the time, to fight with Trump. Cuomo said that a total of 18,697 people were hospitalized across New York, down from 18,825 a day earlier and the first tick lower since the crisis began. Patients newly admitted to the hospital for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, came to about 1,600 on Monday, down by more than 300 people compared to the day before. “We think we are at the apex on the plateau,” Cuomo said, though he cautioned that the decline, while part of a flattening trend over the past week or so, was statistically insignificant and warned against relaxing stay-at-home orders too quickly. “We could lose all the progress we made in one week,” he said. Cuomo said an additional 778 New Yorkers died on Monday, up from 671 a day earlier, which had marked the lowest daily death count since April 5. A total of 10,834 New York residents have died due to COVID-19, nearly half the total across the country. On Monday, Cuomo said he was teaming up with neighboring states Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island to devise strategies for easing stay-at-home orders, an action that appeared to upset Trump. At a briefing on Monday, Trump had said he had total authority over when businesses and schools would reopen, a declaration that was immediately challenged by a number of governors on U.S. Constitutional grounds. “The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue,” said Cuomo, who had appeared on TV multiple times since Trump’s comments to push back on them. “The president will have no fight with me. I will not engage in it.”  Cuomo reiterated that he believed rapid, mass testing would be critical to getting people back to work and called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take the lead in procuring tests. He said he wanted to avoid repeating what had happened in the scramble to secure personal protective equipment, with states competing against one another and at times with the federal government, bidding up prices.",
            "output": [
                "New York hospitalizations fall for first time in coronavirus pandemic: governor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-80e830db3a404011b052f2663d529b57",
            "input": "On Sunday, the government lifted a ban on travel between cities within Iranian provinces, while restrictions on trips between provinces will end on April 20, state media reported. “45,983 of those infected with the virus have recovered ... There were 1,617 new infected cases in the past 24 hours,” Alireza Vahabzadeh, an advisor to Iran’s health minister, said on Twitter. Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told Iranian state TV that 3,877 of those infected with the coronavirus were in a critical condition. State TV showed streets packed with people, crowded buses and subway cars in several cities as so-called low-risk businesses - including many shops and workshops - re-opened across Iran from Saturday, with the exception of the capital Tehran, where they will resume activities from April 18. Some health officials and experts have warned the government about a second wave of COVID-19 that they said could hit Tehran hard. Alireza Zali, head of the government-led Coronavirus Taskforce of Tehran, called on people to stay at home. Businesses and services seen as high-risk, including theatres, swimming pools, saunas, beauty salons, schools, shopping centres and restaurants, have yet to re-open. Iran’s clerical rulers, who have been struggling to curb the spread of the disease, are concerned that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy which has already been battered by U.S. sanctions. “We have to fight against the coronavirus and the virus of sanctions together,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a televised weekly news conference. Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers. Iranian authorities have blamed the sanctions for hampering their efforts to combat the disease. However, Iran’s leaders have rejected Washington’s offer of humanitarian assistance to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The effect of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s new coronavirus response will be remembered by the Iranian people, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Monday. “Despite U.S. sanctions, Iran has made significant progress in fighting the pandemic, thanks to its human & scientific resources, and friends abroad,” Zarif wrote. “#Covid19 was (an) opportunity for the U.S. to kick its addiction to sanctions. Instead, it will now live in infamy in the memory of our people.”",
            "output": [
                "Iran records 4,585 coronavirus deaths as restrictions eased."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7d56e37249e42db95f7f5287c33df3f",
            "input": "The university’s Behavioral Health and Family Studies Institute will oversee work to develop training, presentations and events to boost mental health awareness in a partnership with the Indiana Suicide Prevention Coalition. The new programming funded by the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction will then be used by 19 suicide prevention coalitions around the state. Alice Jordan-Miles is director of the university’s Behavioral Health and Family Studies Institute. She says “the bottom line is we want to save lives” by letting adults and young people know it’s a good thing to get help for mental health issues. Jordan-Miles says that last year more than 1,000 Hoosiers died by suicide.",
            "output": [
                "Purdue Fort Wayne to lead new suicide prevention efforts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47d7b22717744c9d903037110934715c",
            "input": "\"The story tells readers the scans cost about $200-$400 and are generally not covered by insurance. The benefits in this case are estimates of 10-year survival in those found to have lung cancer through screening, which is provided. Since there is no control group, there would be no way to provide an absolute risk reduction. But, the story does provide a 5-year chance of death estimate for those diagnosed conventionally, e.g. as a result of symptoms. This provides some relative comparison of what screening MIGHT offer, although it's not known for sure and readers are cautioned that direct comparisons are not possible. The story mentions potential harms from screening, namely \"\"serious health risks from examining and treating tumors that may not be harmful.\"\" The story could have been clearer about what some of these risks are (like undergoing unnecessary surgery with all of its risks and anxiety to the patient), but it appropriately mentions that screening may have harms, which is often overlooked. The story tells readers that the latest study is uncontrolled, meaning direct comparisons cannot be made between groups of people who were screened and groups of people who were not screened. The article does describe this limitation to the study. The story could have been clearer that this is an observational study vs. a randomized controlled trial–which is the gold standard in research. Direct comparisons between groups will be difficult to make in the absence of a future randomized controlled trial. The story tells readers that lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S. The story does also describes the burden of lung cancer, providing estimates of 5-year survival without screening (estimates from the general population who were diagnosed as a result of symptoms). No obvious embellishments or overstatements. The story obtains information from physicians not associated with the research who can provide a range of perspectives on what screening may or may not offer to provide balance. The story provides some historical alternatives to CT screening for lung cancer (serial x-rays in the 1970s) and does indirectly describe the de facto alternative, that is, finding lung cancer as a result of symptoms. It does this by telling readers that lung cancer is rarely found curable in the absence of screening and providing estimates of chance of death within 5 years when diagnosed this way. The story indirectly states that lung cancer screening is not widely available (e.g. \"\"would widespread screening reduce cancer deaths?\"\"). The story tells readers that interest in this technology increased in the late 1990s as a result of early work with lung cancer screening, providing some historical information about when lung cancer screening came onto the scene. The story also indirectly states that this is not widely available, implying that widespread lung cancer screening would be new, although a CT scan, the technology used for lung cancer screening, is not new. The story is well-researched and uses input from many experts, which would not normally be contained within a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Early screening for lung cancer gets mixed reviews"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e5e7bd6d84a249ca89afeefef1d4367e",
            "input": "The money he makes from the hundreds of nose jobs and Botox injections he performs on wealthy Afghans allows him to perform life-changing surgery on low-income patients at a discount or sometimes for free. Ghayur’s practice in the capital Kabul offers a microcosm of Afghan medicine, where doctors, driven by a sense of civic duty, try to fill huge gaps in a public health system devastated by decades of war. The surgeon ticked off parliamentarians, business directors and other “rich people” among his clients, who got their ideas online or during trips abroad and were prepared to pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery. The average Afghan monthly wage is around $35. Income from such treatments, a relatively new phenomenon in Afghanistan, allows him to make a good living as well as treat low-income patients who turn up unannounced seeking reconstructive surgery to treat disease, congenital disorders and post-traumatic wounds. Many of these patients arrive with late stage illnesses and require urgent attention. “If a patient comes and says ‘I can only pay $100’, I can do it for $100. Or $20, or $30,” Ghayur told Reuters during a recent morning consultation. “Because if we decide to wait until the patient has the money, the patient will have no chance of survival.”  He added: “I have treated lots of skin cancer patients for free, because some of them had small tumors that were 100 percent curable.”  Healthcare in Afghanistan has improved since the hardline Islamist Taliban movement was ousted in 2001, according to the World Health Organization, but key indicators like infant and maternal mortality still rank among the worst in the world. Public hospitals are also chronically under-funded and patients are expected to cover basic medical supplies like bandages, medicine and even wages. Nose jobs are the most popular cosmetic surgeries, Ghayur said. He performed over 500 since opening his practice in 2013, many on members of the Hazara ethnic minority who wanted to elongate their distinctive Asian noses. Bibi Zara, an ethnic Pashtun who had come to have the bridge of her nose raised with silicone, said her husband wanted her to look more beautiful. “God made my nose so I am happy with it, but my husband wanted it,” she said, smiling widely, her eyes the same opal blue color of her burqa. Breast procedures were comparatively rare, Ghayur said, and cost around $3-5,000, depending on the patient’s economic status. He has performed five such operations since 2013, when  he returned home from his studies in neighboring Pakistan. Plastic surgery in Afghanistan is a particularly neglected field. The health ministry counts just half a dozen registered practices and says it is not offered as a discipline at medical school. “Most surgeons who perform heart, kidney and other surgeries carry out cosmetic surgeries too,” said Mohammad Ismail Kawusi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health. Ghayur said low-income patients often arrived after one or more botched operations, performed by doctors who were the only practitioners in the area and trained to deal with war wounds. “Usually if patients arrive, doctors will try. They won’t say, ‘this is not my field,’” Ghayur said. He spent six years studying plastic surgery in Pakistan and received further training abroad from the German Cleft Children’s Aid Society. The group has since covered costs for him to treat hundreds of children, including many without access to medical care in less stable parts of the country. Ghayur performs most operations in Kabul, but also works elsewhere. His latest trip was to Kunduz, a province partially under the control of Taliban militants and battered by intense fighting this summer. “I operated in the city, and there was no fighting,” he said of the provincial capital. “Outside the city there was lots of fighting at night, while I was sleeping, about a kilometer away.”",
            "output": [
                "Afghan surgeon earns from rich to help pay for treating poor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c0452093ff0a4ae685a73449115fce24",
            "input": "\"Picking a favorite holiday is almost like picking a favorite child, but PolitiFact Ohio admits to particular fondness for the Fourth of July. We enjoy the invocations of history, especially when they're factually accurate. We like the annual cookout with old friends. And we love fireworks. So we were especially interested to read a newspaper commentary by Bill Weimer, vice president of Youngstown-based Phantom Fireworks, the nation’s largest retailer of consumer fireworks. \"\"Fireworks have never been safer, and their use continues to increase each year,\"\" he wrote. \"\"This alone provides a strong case for the regulated and sensible use of consumer fireworks.\"\" Really? Safer than ever? In 1994, Weimer said, the United States imported 117 million pounds of fireworks, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 12,500 fireworks-related injuries. By 2010,  fireworks imports grew more than 75 percent to 205.9 million pounds, but the number of fireworks-related injuries dropped by more than 30 percent to 8,600. \"\"This is phenomenal progress in safety,\"\" Weimer wrote, calling on Ohio's General Assembly to relax state laws and legalize consumer fireworks. PolitiFact Ohio looked at the law and checked the numbers. Ohio law, which now permits the use of only \"\"novelty and trick\"\" fireworks, is among the more restrictive nationally. Three other states have similar laws, and four ban all consumer fireworks. Forty-one states and Washington, D.C., allow some or all types of consumer fireworks permitted by federal regulations, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. We found that Weimer's numbers, as reported by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group, are accurate. The same day Weimer’s column was published, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, which set standards for consumer fireworks in 1976, issued its annual fireworks report last week. It confirmed the injury number Weimer used -- 8,600 for 2010. CPSC spokeswoman Nikki Fleming said the injury rate as measured by injuries per 100,000 persons has leveled off. The Massachusetts-based National Fire Protection Association takes the position that \"\"using consumer fireworks is simply not worth the risk,\"\" division manager Guy Colonna said. \"\"We don't seem to be trending that rapidly toward zero,\"\" he said of the injury numbers. \"\"You haven't moved the needle so much in terms of saying it's safe for consumers to use.\"\" The NFPA -- which coordinates the national Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks -- said in its annual report in June that there are more fires on a typical July 4th than any other day of the year, and that fireworks account for 40 percent. Colonna acknowledged statistics showing that the rate of injury per 100,000 pounds of imported fireworks has declined, but said it is \"\"still a significant number.\"\" The American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group, cites the latter statistic. It shows that the rate of injuries dropped from 38 per 100,000 pounds of fireworks in 1976 to 7 in 2000 and to 4 per 100,000 pounds of fireworks in 2010. The trade group considers that significant because U.S. fireworks consumption has skyrocketed. It more than doubled between 2000, when the trade group says \"\"the trend in relaxing (state) consumer fireworks laws was first initiated,\"\" and 2011, when 212 million pounds were sold. The trade group credits \"\"safety education efforts and the ever improving quality of its products.\"\" It says that injuries and fires most typically result from illegal fireworks and from improper use, especially involving children. But does that mean that fireworks themselves are safer? We asked Weimer what he had to support his statement. He immediately credited the work of the CPSC and the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory. In the 1970s, the CPSC set federal requirements for consumer fireworks that cover cautionary labeling, the burn time of fuses, explosive powder content, stability for both ground-based and aerial devices and proper performance. In 1988, the CPSC started an inspection and enforcement program for Chinese-manufactured fireworks. China -- which now supplies 98 percent of the fireworks in the United States -- began exporting fireworks to this country in 1973. Initially, 75 percent of fireworks tested  by the CPSC failed to comply with the regulations. \"\"The quality truly wasn't very good,\"\" Weimer said. \"\"The quality was inconsistent. The industry knew that if it didn't so something there would be big issues.\"\" Working with the CPSC, importers established the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory to set additional, stricter requirements for consumer fireworks. The AFSL went to factories in China, conducted seminars, worked with manufacturers and started a testing program in China in 1994. \"\"The linchpin of the system is the testing,\"\" Weimer said. The testing is conducted by an independent laboratory hired from outside China by the AFSL. Each fireworks shipment is tested for compliance with 15 quality standards, Weimer said. If any standard is not met by any of the randomly selected cases, the entire case lot fails. In the program's first year, 1994, 36 percent of the random lots of tested fireworks were rejected. By 2002, that number was less than 10 percent. The compliance rate exceeded 90 percent. CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum, speaking at a symposium in China last January, noted that the agency has been working for years with manufacturers and with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. \"\"While AQSIQ and CPSC may work to improve product safety with somewhat different motivations, everyone benefits from the end result, which is improved product safety,\"\" she said, adding that \"\"we have increased the frequency, scope, and depth of our training in China.\"\" Weimer thinks that the availability of regulated consumer fireworks diminishes the use of the \"\"really lethal\"\" illegal and homemade variety. So what's the grand finale? PolitiFact Ohio is not ruling on the advisability of maintaining, relaxing or tightening Ohio laws regulating fireworks. And we’re not taking a position on whether consumer use of fireworks is even a good idea. Weimer’s statement addressed legal and proper use of fireworks by consumers -- not use of homemade or illegal products. And fireworks are -- as Weimer told us -- a \"\"product with risk associated with it.\"\" But, the statistical record shows that the rate of injury from fireworks declined nationally while their use increased dramatically, and while laws governing their consumer use loosened. There still are injuries, but the annual rate has plateaued even while consumption continues to grow. We found no stronger explanation than the concurrent regulatory and policing work of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory to make fireworks safer. Weimer’s claim is accurate. On the Truth-O-Meter it rates .\"",
            "output": [
                "Fireworks have never been safer, and their use continues to increase each year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8329294b76874996b31fb515b2631364",
            "input": "\"Florida has long had a poor reputation for spending on social services. Bud Chiles, running as an independent for governor, criticizes the state's spending on mental health care. On his website Chiles said: \"\"Nearly $3 billion dollars -- 10 percent of our state’s general fund -- is going to pay for Florida’s prisons. Meanwhile, Florida is 49th in per capita spending on mental health care, and 65 percent of inmates need substance abuse treatment and aren’t getting it. The only way to end this cycle is through community solutions. Let’s stop using a prison cell to solve problems when an ankle bracelet and drug counseling is proven to be more effective. Let’s get resources to communities so that they can provide services locally at less taxpayer expense, creating local jobs and real results.\"\" In this Truth-O-Meter item, we wanted to explore Chiles' claim that Florida is 49th in per capita spending on mental health. We spoke to Chiles on Aug. 31, 2010, who directed us to campaign spokeswoman Katie Ottenweller. She said the source of their information was a July 4, 2010, editorial in the Tallahassee Democrat by David L. Miller, a retired senior vice president of Florida Power Corp. who had been chair of the Florida Substance Abuse and Mental Health Corp. The editorial stated that during the 2010 session, Florida legislators cut the $190,000 needed to continue the corporation, which was an independent, nonprofit created by the Legislature. \"\"The lack of services in Florida is shocking and embarrassing, as well as very costly,\"\" Miller wrote. \"\"Our state ranks 49th in per capita spending for mental-health care, an abysmal ranking borne out by the thousands of people who cannot get treatment and end up in our jails, prisons and on the streets.\"\" Miller did not attribute the per capita spending comparison. PolitiFact Texas looked at a similar claim made by a candidate for lieutenant governor earlier this year. Marc Katz said that Texas ranked 50th -- last -- in per capita mental health spending. PolitiFact ranked that claim Mostly  because one state was lower than Texas: New Mexico. That item cited a report by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, Inc., posted on a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation website statehealthfacts.org that compares 50 states' and the District of Columbia per capita mental health spending. The chart ranked Florida 49th with $38.17 per capita followed by Texas at $34.57 and New Mexico in last place at $25.58. That report was based on fiscal year 2006 data, said Ted Lutterman, director of research analysis, in an interview. The 2007 report showed Florida 48th but Hawaii did not report and if it had, Florida would have been 49th, Lutterman said. The report based on 2008 data will be finished soon, said Lutterman, who said he is missing Alaska. But Alaska has always been ahead of Florida so he expects Florida to rank 49th again. \"\"It's been consistent for several years,\"\" Lutterman said. We reached out to several other organizations in the mental health field to determine if they had any other information about Florida's mental health spending ranking. The National Alliance on Mental Illness gives states a grade, and in 2009 gave Florida a \"\"D.\"\" The \"\"Grading the States 2009\"\" report evaluates measures such as the number of programs delivering evidence-based practices, emergency room wait-times, and the quantity of psychiatric beds by setting and whether Medicaid reimburses providers for all, or part of evidence-based practices; and more. In 2009, the organization gave six states an \"\"F\"\" and 21 states a \"\"D.\"\" The report card is not based on per capita spending but gives us a general sense of how Florida compares -- somewhere in the bottom half of states. The nonprofit Mental Health America published a report in December 2007 called \"\"Ranking America's Mental Health: An Analysis of Depression Across the States.\"\" Appendix B, which compares state mental health authority expenditures per capita for 50 states plus the District of Columbia, stated that Florida spent $35.96 while three states were lower: Arkansas $35.96, New Mexico $27.78 and Kansas $23.14. That report was based on 2004 data, said spokesman Steve Vetzner. A Sept. 10, 2009, letter to the editor in the Sun-Sentinel from Bob Sharpe, CEO and president of the Florida Council for Community Mental Health, states that Florida is 49th in per capita mental health spending but does not attribute the source of the ranking. We left a message for Sharpe but did not hear back. So how does Chiles' claim stack up? He said that Florida was 49th in per capita spending on mental health. The campaign cites an editorial that does not provide the source for the 49th figure. The Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, Inc., concluded in a 2006 report that Florida ranked 49th and that figure has been quoted several times by mental health experts such as Sharpe. Mental Health America wrote in a 2007 report that Florida was 48th -- but it was based on earlier 2004 data. Based on the information we could find.\"",
            "output": [
                "Florida is 49th in per capita spending on mental health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10037b4ed4734b8bb399a31b66453a34",
            "input": "\"Wisconsin’s response to the coronavirus outbreak is under a microscope as cases surge and Republicans and Democrats continue to clash over what -- if anything -- to do about the increase. Tensions boiled over July 30, 2020 after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers issued a statewide face mask mandate, despite opposition from Republicans who contend the move amounts to government overreach. In the days before that, though, the state Senate’s Democratic Committee turned its frustration toward Republican lawmakers. \"\"While neighboring states like Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have already implemented safety precautions like requiring individuals to wear masks, similar pleas in Wisconsin have fallen on deaf ears of Republican legislators,\"\" stated a July 24 news release. Lawmakers in those states have passed more COVID-19-related bills than Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature since the pandemic began. But some precautions, like a mask mandate, came from executive orders and not legislation. How does the committee’s claim stack up? Eric LaGesse, executive director of the Senate’s Democratic committee, did not respond to PolitiFact Wisconsin’s request for evidence to back up their claim. But the claim is pretty straightforward, and there has been a lot of news coverage of the state’s response to the pandemic. Here’s a recap: In March, Evers and Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm issued a series of orders to curb large gatherings as COVID-19 began to emerge in Wisconsin. Those actions culminated in a stay-at-home order on March 24, 2020, which shut down the state to help contain the virus’ spread. In April, lawmakers passed a coronavirus relief package that allowed the state to tap into extra federal Medicaid dollars and suspended a one-week waiting period for collecting unemployment benefits, among other provisions. However, the state lost $25 million in federal funding for unemployment because Republican leaders waited too long to schedule a floor session on the relief package. Evers’ administration extended the stay-at-home order on April 16 and four days later unveiled the Badger Bounce Back plan, which provided a phased approach for reopening based on testing and other public health criteria. In May, acting on a lawsuit from state GOP leaders, the state Supreme Court struck down much of the order and allowed the state to reopen without any protocols in place. After that, not much happened at the state level until the mask mandate despite a recent surge in infections and multiple daily increases of over 1,000 cases. Lawmakers have introduced 10 bills related to the pandemic in recent months, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The relief package we mentioned earlier is the only one that’s passed. The Democratic committee argued neighboring states -- specifically Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan -- have implemented more safety precautions for their residents. According to a database maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Minnesota enacted 25 pieces of legislation related to COVID-19 through July 23 after lawmakers introduced over 200 measures. Illinois has passed 18, and Michigan approved 19. The bills touch on a wide range of issues, from COVID-19 testing to election procedures. The differences between Wisconsin and its neighbors can’t be blamed on partisan gridlock, either. While Democrats control Illinois’ state government, Minnesota’s legislature is split between both parties with a Democrat in the governor’s office. Michigan, like Wisconsin, has a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled legislature. It’s worth noting, though, that some of the precautions in other states came about through executive orders by their governors, not action by the legislature. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzer, for example, issued an order on June 26 requiring residents to wear face coverings -- over a month before Evers enacted a mask mandate in Wisconsin. Governors in other states also enacted stay-at-home orders similar to what Evers implemented. Wisconsin’s state Senate Democratic Committee claimed Republican lawmakers have failed to act while \"\"neighboring states like Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have already implemented safety precautions like requiring individuals to wear masks.\"\" It’s clear that Wisconsin lawmakers are behind the curve on COVID-19 compared to neighboring legislatures. Legislative bodies in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have introduced and passed more bills since the pandemic began. But they didn’t act alone, and safety precautions like mask mandates were ordered by their governors. That leaves us with a statement that’s accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Say Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have done nothing \"\"while neighboring states like Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have already implemented safety precautions like requiring individuals to wear masks.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e16133698ef7495f9ca98cac0cf5edfa",
            "input": "Taiwan has been successful at limiting its number of cases thanks to early prevention and a good public health system but it has faced a large rise in recent weeks as people who were infected overseas come to the island. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the social distancing steps would require people in public spaces to maintain a 1 meter (3.3 feet) distance between each other outside, and 1.5 meters inside. If this is not possible, for example in busy train stations, then people must make sure they wear face masks, he said. “This is a suggestion, but I think people can do it,” Chen told a news conference. More details would be announced on Wednesday, he added. People have generally been quite good at following virus prevention advice so far but if needed stronger measures can be applied, he said. “As I’ve always said, if a special situation comes about, we can use tough methods, with corresponding punishments.”  Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control has already been enforcing the distancing rules for reporters at its daily news conference, and masks are widely worn across the country with government-guaranteed supplies. Taiwan has a harsh system of fines for people who are undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantines and who leave their homes without permission. They can be issued fines of up to T$1 million ($33,000). All people returning to Taiwan from overseas now have to complete a compulsory two-week quarantine period. Taiwan has reported 322 cases, including an additional 16 new patients on Tuesday, and five deaths, a far smaller number than many of its neighbors.",
            "output": [
                "Taiwan to push social distancing in coronavirus fight, but no fines yet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f15458c8ea15424b905ab44dfc582f62",
            "input": "\"Glenn Beck, the conservative former Fox News host who now has a radio show and online live-video program, declared at an Iowa rally for Texan Ted Cruz that he was breaking with his own long history simply by endorsing someone for office. \"\"The press today has been reporting that I’m here to endorse Ted Cruz,\"\" Beck said at an appearance with Cruz in Ankeny, Iowa the same week Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump. \"\"But let me tell you, in 40 years of broadcast, I have never endorsed any candidate. And I haven’t endorsed any candidate mainly because for a lot of those years, nobody really wanted my endorsement,\"\" Beck said with a laugh. \"\"And quite honestly, I have never endorsed anybody because I haven’t trusted any of the weasels, no matter how good they are.\"\" Beck made that comment a little over seven minutes into his half-hour presentation, which concluded with Beck saying the press was right: \"\"I am here to announce that I am officially endorsing Ted Cruz.\"\" We were curious about Beck’s declaration that he hadn't previously endorsed a candidate. We failed to reach Beck for elaboration. Meantime, our search of the Nexis news database indicated no previous Beck endorsement of a presidential aspirant. And while we found we found two reports of Beck endorsing a candidate, further review showed one reported endorsement didn’t happen and the other was a Beck joke. Illinois ‘endorsement’ A Feb. 2, 2010, item, in the Inside the Beltway column in The Washington Times, said Illinois businessman Adam Andrzejewski, among Republicans running for governor, had been drawing fresh \"\"tea-party\"\" support. The item continued: \"\"Fox News host Glenn Beck has also endorsed Mr. Andrzejewski,\"\" as had commentator Rush Limbaugh. We reached Andrzejewski, who replied by email: \"\"In real-time, many people in Glenn Beck’s radio listening audience took his broadcast as an endorsement of my 2010 campaign for governor of Illinois. However, Beck clarified the following day that he did not endorse, but instead had just replayed the endorsement of my candidacy by Polish President and Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa.\"\" Andrzejewski pointed us to a Feb. 2, 2010, post by the American Spectator stating Beck had said on the air that day that he was \"\"getting a lot of mail that I endorsed\"\" Andrzejewski when, Beck said, he’d only intended to share audio of Walesa speaking in favor of the candidate. \"\"I don’t endorse candidates and I don’t know this guy, but I wish him all the best,\"\" Beck said. California ‘endorsement’ On May 16, 2011, Californian Dan Adler’s House campaign issued a press release headlined, \"\"Glenn Beck`s Surprising First Ever Endorsement Goes to Democrat Dan Adler in California`s Special Congressional Election.\"\" The release opened: \"\"For the first time in his life, conservative TV and radio personality Glenn Beck has given an endorsement to a candidate running for Congress in a special election tomorrow. In contrast to conventional wisdom, the endorsement did not go to someone of Beck's political extreme but to Dan Adler, a lifelong Democrat who is socially progressive. Adler, who has been urging voters of the South Bay community area to elect a citizen legislator instead of a career politician, recently caught Beck's eye for populist-themed Send a Mensch to Congress TV spots.\"\" The release continued: \"\"In a posting on Beck’s website today, the conservative talk show host said, ‘people should vote based on principles and values and not race or creed,’ he then moved to ‘heartily endorse’ Adler.\"\" The release said that on Beck’s May 13, 2011, radio show, \"\"Beck and his cohorts ridiculed the Asian American and other minority voters who make up nearly 50% of California’s 36th District. Then a confused Beck endorsed Adler’s candidacy, stating that Californians deserve to see Adler in Congress and that ‘you’re going to love him.’\"\" We clicked next to a May 16, 2011, post on Beck’s website suggesting Beck made his endorsement tongue-in-cheek (and there’s a full Beck-sponsored summary of the not-for-real endorsement here). According to the post, Beck had included an Adler ad on his program the week before as the worst political ad ever. The post on Beck’s site continued: \"\"The ads, promoting Californian Dan Adler, featured a Korean woman who said that she should vote for Adler simply because she’s Korean and he’s Jewish and that minorities should ‘stick together.’ The ad also featured several offensive stereotypes of Koreans and Asians. Glenn took issue with the ad, saying that people should vote based on principles and values, not race or creed.\"\" That doesn’t read like Beck was poised to endorse. The post on Beck’s site went on: \"\"Somehow, Adler took Glenn’s criticism as an endorsement and released a statement declaring himself the candidate endorsed by Glenn Beck. This morning, Dan may regret his statement. ‘It doesn’t make any sense for a progressive to want my endorsement. So, today I heartily endorse — what’s his name? — Dan Adler. I want the voters in California to know that we are practically brothers of the brain,’ Glenn said. ‘We are so like minded, he has the same positions on almost everything, although he’s not coming out and saying those things.’ ‘We both believe that the rich are paying far too much. Pay their fair share? They pay more than their fair share. They deserve a tax break,’ Glenn declared in his support for he and Adler’s shared stance. Let’s see if the progressive Adler decides to run with Glenn’s support.\"\" Next, we reached  Adler, whose current biographical entry on a business website says Adler’s candidacy drew \"\"Beck's first-ever political endorsement.\"\" Adler, describing himself as a liberal Democrat, told us that after Beck criticized his ad, his campaign issued the 2011 release saying Beck had endorsed him toward building a pre-election buzz. \"\"I never saw it as a real official endorsement,\"\" Adler said though he called back to stress Beck’s statement at the time that California deserved Adler. \"\"Tongue in cheek or not, one would certainly count it as an endorsement,\"\" Adler said. Media Matters for America To our inquiry, Laura Keiter of the liberal Media Matters for America, whose declared mission is to monitor and correct conservative misinformation \"\"in the U.S. media,\"\" said by email that while Beck previously made no presidential endorsement, he had made clear who he supported or opposed, \"\"walking a thin line,\"\" Keiter said. Keitor offered instances of Beck seemingly taking a side such as Beck in January 2008 telling Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, on the air that he would vote for him or Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president. Beck went on to say that if the nominee proved to be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee or Sen. John McCain (who later proved the nominee), \"\"I would look at those two guys and go, I can’t do that.\"\" In an October 2010 web post, Media Matters said Beck had repeatedly said he doesn’t endorse candidates yet also had indicated support or opposition to specific hopefuls; that year, Beck urged listeners to oppose Democrat Richard Blumenthal in a Connecticut U.S. Senate race; called Democrat Chris Coons of Nevada a bad Senate candidate; and said he was about to break his no-endorsement policy by endorsing Marco Rubio and another hopeful for the Florida U.S. Senate seat ultimately won by Rubio. Our ruling Beck declared in Iowa he hadn’t previously endorsed a candidate. Beck made a kidding endorsement of a Democrat a few years ago and previously urged support for, or votes against, individuals. But we spotted no evidence of Beck lock-down endorsing a candidate before he stood with Cruz. The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.\"",
            "output": [
                "In 40 years of broadcast, I have never endorsed any candidate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b6f49bb55d63442b86a6e93485028702",
            "input": "Proudly gay and living with HIV, the 41-year-old activist says the rainbow flag will not be his only cause. He intends to begin his congressional career with three main agenda points: Fighting endemic corruption, ensuring Guatemalans’ right to health care and defending human rights, with a focus on the LGBTQ community. “I’m happy, with a lot of mixed feelings,” Dávila said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The worry is I’m putting myself in a snake pit. But at the same time I’m no slouch, and I’m ready and able to fight when it needs to be done.” While it hasn’t been officially confirmed by electoral authorities, experts say Dávila’s left-wing Winaq party won four congressional seats in Sunday’s general election, and he is set to represent a Guatemala City district. “People have to see me as just another citizen, since I was elected democratically,” Dávila said. Guatemala has taken baby steps toward guaranteeing LGBTQ rights, such as adopting measures to identify hate crimes against members of the community and allowing people to change their legal names and choose how they appear in photos on official IDs, which let transgender people better express their identity. It remains a socially conservative society, however, with the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant faiths dominant. Prejudice and fears over HIV are deeply rooted, and LGTBQ people have historically been the targets of discrimination and sometimes assault, although such treatment is slowly becoming less socially acceptable. Neither Dávila’s name nor photo was on the ballot — only the name of his party — and he didn’t emphasize his sexuality during the campaign. So Gabriela Tuch, a lawyer and former human rights prosecutor focusing on the LGBTQ community, said his election can’t be attributed to any significant shift in attitudes. “It’s not that society has said, ‘A gay man, affirmative action, let’s vote for him,’” Tuch said. “He was favored by the votes and the position he was in. Now the challenge begins.” One of the congressman-elect’s first battles will be opposing a bill proposed by the conservative party that would criminalize abortion and codify into law that same-sex couples are barred from marrying or adopting children. He also intends to propose a new commission that would report and investigate all kinds of discrimination. “You cannot be a spectator when your country is falling apart,” Dávila said. “You have to take a leading role.” That’s why Dávila was motivated to accept an offer to run for the party, founded in 2009 by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Rigoberta Menchú. Dávila lives in Guatemala City with his partner of 19 years and their gray Schnauzer, Valentino. Dávila said both inspire his activism and political participation. He said he considers himself lucky because he has the love and support of family members who were always open and accepting of his sexuality. His mother went with him to the country’s first Pride march in 2000. Until recently Dávila was the director of Positive People, an organization supporting those living with HIV. He said that people have often come to him with complaints about discrimination, and that he himself was once dismissed from a job. “Look, here are my diplomas and my trophies,” Dávila said. “But they fired me because they found out that I’m gay, and that’s how things are here.” Dávila said that when he was 22 he suffered from meningitis, which ultimately led him to discover that he had HIV. Today he is in good health, but he knows some may not understand how the virus is transmitted and may be afraid. “It’s very hard, of course, that they’re not even going to want to sit next to me,” he said. “In this country people should no longer be dying of AIDS,” Dávila continued. “It’s the stigma and the discrimination that kill you, and the lack of medicine.” José Arriaza, a 24-year-old who identifies as queer, said Dávila’s election gives him hope because he now sees himself being represented. Guatemalans will have to learn to accept diversity, he added. He “isn’t your typical privileged white man, like a majority of the congressmen nowadays,” Arriaza said. “For me he’s an example to follow, because he is someone empowered with ideals that help the community.” Carlos Valenzuela, a 36-year-old openly gay business administrator, agreed. “It’s fantastic because what we most want is to feel represented,” Valenzuela said. “All minorities should be represented.” Dávila said his path was paved by Sandra Morán, the first Guatemalan lawmaker who openly identified as lesbian. “She is a courageous woman who inspired me,” he said. But she didn’t have it easy, and was even insulted on occasion by some of her colleagues over her sexual orientation. Dávila, who said he’s been subjected to verbal abuse since he was young, is prepared to possibly go through the same thing. “A worker at congress called me and congratulated me and told me to prepare myself,” Dávila said. “But I will try to not respond to the attacks.” “With all the homophobia there is,” he added, “they could even boot me from my seat.” Dávila criticized those who have pushed legislation limiting sexual diversity rights and said he does not believe Guatemalan society will change its views in the short term. “We have to do a lot of work on educating, in demanding that the state be secular and for the church to stop intervening in things that don’t concern it,” he said. “We need to rule with the Constitution and not the Bible.”",
            "output": [
                "Aldo Dávila set to be Guatemala’s 1st openly gay congressman."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8aab3ab0919c4006a0252aa8a9a8a262",
            "input": "Since they had not heard any warnings, they shrugged it off. But within minutes mass panic broke out, said Nicole Montague, 45. They gathered their nine dogs and a few belongings as the trailer park they live in burst into flames. “As we were driving out, the mailboxes were on fire,” Nicole said. “All you could hear were big booms and those were (neighbors’) propane tanks starting to explode.”  California’s deadliest ever wildfire, the innocuous-sounding “Camp Fire,” swept into Paradise early on Nov. 8, as a rapid-moving, wind-fueled disaster that has left at least 76 people dead and more than 1,276 missing. The flames moved so fast that some of the victims died in their cars in a chaotic evacuation as gridlock formed on the two exit routes out of town. Through sheer luck or quick thinking, many of the survivors only barely managed to escape. Retirees Julie Walker and her husband, Lane, had lived in Magalia, a northern suburb of Paradise, since 2003. When the fire threatened their house, the Walkers avoided traffic jams by taking to back roads. They said they knew a route out because they spend a lot of time exploring in their Jeep. So when the fire came, the Walkers led a caravan of relatives and neighbors out to safety along dirt roads that circumvented the traffic jam. “They did not know what to do,” Julie said of those overtaken by the wildfire while trying to escape. “The fire was on us immediately.”  “I DON’T THINK I’M GOING TO MAKE IT”  David Wigham, 51, who splits and sells firewood to support himself, smelled smoke when he woke up early on Nov. 8. Assuming it was far away, he went back to sleep. He awoke hours later to a world turned red. Embers were blowing in through his front door as he tried to stuff his Chihuahua, Dee Dee, into a backpack. “I thought we were going to spontaneously combust,” Wigham said. His pickup truck was aflame, so he fled on foot. Three different strangers gave him rides and eventually he made it south to the town of Oroville. When the Montagues were certain they were going to die, Nicole called her husband Eric, who was trying to flee in a separate vehicle, to say goodbye. “I said, ‘Honey I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here, I love you,’” she recalled. Cars around them caught fire. People behind them on the road got out of their cars, with some fleeing on foot and some jumping into other people’s cars to try to escape. It took them five hours to drive 10 miles (16 km) to Chico, where 15 members of the family are staying in a one-bedroom apartment with nine dogs. Others would have died on the spot without help. Betty Myers, 89, wheelchair-bound and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, was among some 50 residents of an assisted-living facility in Paradise who were evacuated in a caravan of vehicles, Myers’ son Ron Rohde said by phone from the San Francisco area. Fires surrounded them on the road and the sky turned black. One vehicle was abandoned because it was about to run out of gas and they had to try at least two escape routes before making it  out. When Rohde finally reached his mother in Redding, California, she was in bed at a hotel. “Most of the staff lost their homes. They had to worry about their own families, yet they focused on getting those 50 people out to safety,” Rohde said. Not only could his mother not have escaped by herself, Rohde said, but her Alzheimer’s left her unaware of the danger. “She was sitting in the car saying, ‘Oh those are nice lights,’ waving at people,” Rohde said he was told. “When I asked her a couple days later what she thought of the fire, she said ‘What fire?’”",
            "output": [
                "Fiery mailboxes and dogs in bags: fleeing California's wildfire."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b64c60440384ea998d17dc574143537",
            "input": "Coronavirus infections in Russia began rising sharply in April after reporting far fewer infections than many western European countries in the outbreak’s early stages. On Saturday, Russia’s official tally of coronavirus cases was 36,793, a record overnight rise of 4,785, and death toll rose by 40 to 313. The government must “provide a short-term prognosis of the number of citizens who may contract the new infectious disease (COVID-19)” and report its estimates on a daily basis, according to an order published on the Kremlin’s website. In Moscow, a city of 12.7 million people which became the epicentre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, cases jumped by 2,649 to 20,754, and the capital city accounted for half of all new fatalities reported on Saturday. However, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the lockdown measures first introduced in March were bearing fruit. “The disease rate in the city is growing but not exponentially, and far from the worst-case scenario,” Sobyanin wrote on his website. “A week ago, Moscow medical institutions were working at their limit. Today, they have switched to a more normal mode with a good stock of capacity,” Sobyanin said. Initially declared on March 30, the lockdown regime banned residents from leaving their homes unless they were going to buy food or medicines, get urgent medical treatment or walk the dog. The authorities also introduced a travel permit system effective from April 15, and Sobyanin said on Saturday the authorities would use traffic cameras to catch drivers travelling without passes. Authorities and clerics have urged Christians to stay home during the Orthodox Easter weekend, although a senior cleric urged police on Saturday to be lenient on those who still try to make it to their church.",
            "output": [
                "Putin orders daily coronavirus projections as Russia's tally nears 37,000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f4ecfd48c5a048e083c1072340383118",
            "input": "The Arizona Senate approved a resolution this week calling for a systemic effort to prevent exposure to porn that’s increasingly accessible to younger kids online. At least one legislative chamber has adopted a similar resolution in 15 other states. “It is an epidemic in our society, and this makes a statement that we have a problem,” said Arizona Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican who blamed pornography for contributing to violence against women, sexual activity among teens and unintended pregnancies. Linking those social issues to pornography is “compete fear-mongering,” said Mark Kernes, a senior editor at the trade publication Adult Video News media network. Pornography is harmless entertainment meant for adults, he said. “We’re not really a public-health anything,” Kernes said. The Arizona resolution that passed Monday doesn’t ban pornography or create any other legal changes, but it could signal future action. Similar declarations have been passed in GOP-controlled states ranging from Tennessee to Montana and been adopted in the Republican Party’s national platform. Many of the resolutions are based on a model written by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an anti-porn group that cites research linking it to a range of problems and argues that it’s become too ubiquitous for individuals to combat alone. But others say the public-crisis label is a misguided approach. Research has raised questions about the effect of explicit material on young kids, but links to other often-cited issues like human trafficking are tenuous at best, said Emily Rothman, a community health sciences professor at Boston University. The resolutions risk creating a stigma for marginalized groups like LGBTQ people and miss a key piece of the puzzle by leaving out calls for more robust sex education for teenagers, she said. And porn isn’t like a deadly virus, she said. “If you stub your toe, that might be something you can’t solve yourself, but that doesn’t make it a public health issue,” Rothman said. Several Arizona Democrats said the state has more important health threats to confront, such as measles, opioids, homelessness and suicide. Plus, pornography can be part of a healthy sex life for adults, said Albuquerque-based sex therapist David Ley, who sees the resolutions as a backlash against changing attitudes about sexuality. “It’s just virtue signaling, there’s literally no effect,” he said. But the legislation could pave the way for future steps, like keeping publicly funded internet at places like schools and libraries from being used to access porn, said Haley Halverson with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which is working on new model legislation for states taking those next steps. “We think these resolutions are really powerful, although they’re non-binding, because they raise awareness and educate the public, and hopefully can lay the groundwork to make more resources available to those people who potentially struggle with pornography,” she said. Any future steps to restrict access to pornography have to be handled carefully to avoid running afoul of the First Amendment, said David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. “When you declare it as a public health crisis, people see that as a blank check for the government to do something about it,” he said. Utah was the first state to pass an anti-porn resolution in 2016. In the years since, lawmakers have passed bills tightening up filters on wireless internet at public libraries and getting out information to parents about controls available at home, said Republican Rep. Todd Weiler, the effort’s sponsor. Another new state law lets parents sue pornography makers if their kids need treatment for problems related to porn use, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone has made a legal challenge through it. “We’re trying to shed a light on an issue that some people don’t think it’s OK to talk about,” he said. ___ Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.",
            "output": [
                "A growing number of states call porn a public health crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b7366fe5b234b7880a891afc7f7cfb5",
            "input": "There is no mention of costs in the release. Some mention of costs would have been useful and could have taken a number of different forms such as how the cost of these drugs would compare to buying cigarettes on a daily basis, comparing the drug price to other tools for quitting smoking, or providing cost estimates of treating smoking-related diseases. The release may overstate things in the headline which claims, “An FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drug could help smokers quit.” The study didn’t look at quit rates and lasted only 23 days, so the effect on quitting is entirely unknown. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt here though since the release notes that people involved in the trials (there was also an animal trial component) reduced their cigarette use by 2.3 cigarettes a day — a 12% decrease — after being on the drug for two weeks. The volunteers also related that they felt “less satisfied” with smoking after being on the drug, although this benefit was not quantified. The release notes that people may become ill when taking the AD drugs. A source is quoted in the release says, “We know from the literature that upward of 30 percent of patients will report nausea and vomiting [when taking these drugs], and that this will limit their compliance.” The news release gives a fairly clear description of the study parameters. The study, while small with 33 volunteers, involved giving the still-smoking participants either the drug galantamine or a placebo for two weeks and then asked them to refrain from smoking for one week while on either their prescribed galantamine or placebo. The researchers measured cognitive abilities at baseline and after two weeks on the drug to determine if the drug helped reduce side effects people normally encounter while withdrawing off tobacco. The release is clear that much more evidence will be available, including on overall quit rates (the most important and relevant outcome), when the full study is completed. There is really not much of a take-away at this point as the information is so incomplete. It would be difficult to overstate the harms of cigarette smoking. The release does not engage in fear mongering. The release doesn’t explicitly state who funded the study or if there were any conflicts of interest. However, it’s strongly inferred that Penn’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction is the main sponsor. The study itself states that the research received funding from several government and non-profit research organizations and that there were no conflicts of interest. This is not a major omission but must be rated Not Satisfactory. The release nods briefly to the existence of other medications for smoking cessation and how galantamine would differ. “Our goal in investigating these different repurposed medications is not to replace the medications that are already available,” she said. “We know that they’re effective. Our goal is to target different populations of smokers who may be more likely to experience these cognitive deficits.” Although it doesn’t specifically mention any other smoking cessation tools and techniques by name or discuss how successful galantamine might be in comparison, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. The story states that galantamine is FDA approved which speaks to its availability. The release responsibly points out that “There’s no data to suggest that a clinician treating a smoker should prescribe one of these AChEIs now,” according to the lead investigator. The news release makes a tepid reference to novelty with the phrase that researchers are “forging a path” with this research. The study itself says, “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first translational study to demonstrate that repeated AChEI administration decreases nicotine taking in both rats and human smokers.” While this may well be the first “translational” study on this question, a look on PubMed shows that quite a lot has been done in rats on nicotine and the cholinesterase inhibitor drugs. There has been much less in humans, although trials have been done, with mixed success, such as this modestly successful one in alcoholics. (A randomized, controlled trial in 114 patients for 12 weeks, it showed those on galantamine smoked 20% fewer cigarettes than those on placebo.) To earn a Satisfactory rating, we think the release should have acknowledged some of this previous research. There was no reliance on unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Penn research: An FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug could help smokers quit"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7519aa0930f04af088fd077dcf0fb9c7",
            "input": "U.S. travelers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said on Friday in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”. Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading hemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification. The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for comment on the U.S. advisory. Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a year-long outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people. Tanzania and DRC share a border that is separated by a lake. In a rare public rebuke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week said that, contrary to international health regulations, Tanzania was refusing to provide details of suspected cases. Days earlier, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traveled to Tanzania at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticized the country for not sharing information. The WHO said that, while it was concerned by the lack of transparency, it has no evidence on the presence of Ebola in Tanzania, but ruled out punitive action and reiterated it had advised against travel or trade restrictions. Tanzania on Tuesday summoned the WHO’s local representative over its assertion. In mid-September, the health minister said the government had investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they tested negative for Ebola.",
            "output": [
                "The starting salary for teachers increased from £21,600 in 2010 to £24,400 in 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-18c62787a967455eac4497d17d67c066",
            "input": "It’s too early to have a meaningful discussion of costs. The story does not provide a lot of hard data on benefits, and we would have liked to have seen more. For example, it says that “about half of their scar tissue dissolved and the reduction in scar size appears to get bigger after the first six months.” But we appreciated some of the specific details it does provide, including: “Marbán says the amount of new heart tissue that grew was not subtle. [On average] “22 grams (about .78 ounces) of new heart tissue grew,” which he says is quite remarkable considering this had never been done before and the average weight of the part of the heart that is responsible for pumping the blood through the body is about 150 grams (about 5.3 ounces).” Having said that however, the story misses an important point. The patients treated with the stem cells did not have an improvement in their overall heart function. So while there appeared to be a considerable amount of regenerated heart muscle, it did not make any difference in the performance of the heart so that patients did not likely see any benefit to the procedure. The story at least mentioned harms. Another story on the study, by WebMD, did not. This one says, “After 12 months, researchers report only one patient appeared to have a serious side effect that may have been connected to the experimental cells.” Competing coverage discussed a broader group of patients who had bad outcomes, although it is not clear that all of those outcomes were a result of the treatment. Pinpointing the cause of a side effect can be tricky, and given the lead researcher’s financial interest in this stem cell therapy, we think stories should err on the side of providing more information about potential harms. The story did a better job than some of the other coverage of the study in explaining exactly what this study entailed and the study’s limitations. The story says, for example, “She cautions that this procedure has to be tested on many more patients and they have to be observed for longer periods than in the current study, but she says these results are all very positive.” The story does not engage in disease mongering. It makes it clear that this was a study in a particular group of patients, not just any patient with heart disease. “To qualify for this clinical trial, patients had to have suffered a recent heart attack and “had to have a significant amount of damage to begin with and weren’t squeezing [blood into the body] as well as they should have, says Dr. Peter Johnston, one of the study authors who injected the new heart cells into patients treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital.”  The story could have sought a little wider circle of independent experts. But we thought the reporter elicited good comments from Sonia Skarlatos, Ph.D and deputy director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funded the study. We have to give an “unsatisfactory” here, though, because the story failed to mention the financial interest that the lead researcher has in the stem cell therapy. The press release for the study mentions this, as does a competing WebMD story. There is no discussion of alternatives in this story. One might think that the only option for heart attack patients is to wait around until stem cell treatments become available. Even an additional line about alternatives would have been appreciated. The story makes it clear not only that the treatment is experimental but that it has to clear many more hurdles before becoming a clinical option. The story improves on a competing WebMD story by explaining the novelty of this study. “This is the first instance of therapeutic regeneration,” says Dr. Eduardo Marbán, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. He says while nature abounds with examples of spontaneous regeneration of limbs or tissues – like a salamander’s new tail or a human liver regrowing to full size if partially damaged – doctors have not been able to help patients regrow heart tissue. This could change in the future if larger clinical trials and longer patient outcomes confirm the results of this early research published Monday in the journal The Lancet. Marbán and his colleagues first presented this research at an American Heart Association conference in November. The story goes beyond the Cedars-Sinai press release.",
            "output": [
                "Patient’s own stem cells help heal heart, early research shows"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a26229ee00d42a29afb4529fa2bafb9",
            "input": "In a government-commissioned report, researchers at Public Health England (PHE) said evidence showed that “since at least 10 years ago more people are being prescribed more of these medicines and often for longer”. In 2017 to 2018 alone, 11.5 million adults in England - more than a quarter of the adult population - was prescribed one or more of the medicines under review, the PHE analysis found. The medicines included anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines and sleeping pills known as z-drugs, as well as the epilepsy and anxiety medicines gabapentin and pregabalin, antidepressants and opioid pain medicines. Many of these can be addictive and could cause problems for people taking them or coming off them, PHE said. The report also found higher rates of prescribing to women and older people. While the prescription of some drugs, including benzodiazepines and opioids, has dipped a little recently amid fears about the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States, others, such as the gabapentin, pregabalin and some antidepressants, are being prescribed more often and for longer. “This means more people are at risk of becoming addicted to them or having problems when they stop using them,” PHE said. “It also costs the National Health Service a lot of money, some of which is wasted because the medicines do not work for everyone all the time, especially if they are used for too long.”  Responding to the PHE’s findings, the British Medical Association (BMA) doctors union said its members were worried:  “We have seen the devastation that addiction to prescription drugs has had in the United States, and while the problem here is on a lesser scale, doctors ... are concerned at the number of patients being prescribed these medicines, and the length of time they are taking them for,” it said in a statement. An opioid epidemic in the United States has killed almost half a million Americans since 1999, and a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) policy forum earlier this year warned that the United States “is by no means alone in facing this crisis.”   The Paris-based OECD said deaths linked to opioid use were rising sharply in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England and Wales. Campaigners at the UK Addiction Treatment Group (UKAT) said the PHE report showed “a nation crying out for help” and being put on potentially dangerous repeat courses of painkillers and antidepressants as a stop-gap measure. UKAT said the consequences of such prescribing were already in evidence with rising numbers of people seeking treatment for prescription drug addiction. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it was watching the U.S. crisis closely and aiming to take avoiding action in the UK. “We take the experience in the U.S. of dependence and addiction to opioids very seriously and are following ... developments ... to learn from the actions other countries are taking to tackle this issue,” it said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                "UK fears crisis as 11.5 million get potentially addictive drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31f3b01ed1534742a57dd28a14069976",
            "input": "Interior minister Sajid Javid used an exceptional power on Saturday to release medicinal cannabis oil that had been taken from Billy Caldwell, 12, by customs officials at London’s Heathrow Airport. Billy’s mother, Charlotte Caldwell, had been pleading for the medication to be given back because without it her son suffered from life-threatening seizures. “This case .. has shone a light on the use of cannabis medicine in this country and highlighted the need for the government to explore the issue further, and our handling of these issues further,” said Nick Hurd, a junior minister in charge of policing. “As a first step, I can announce today that the government is establishing an expert panel of clinicians to advise ministers on any individual applications to prescribe cannabis-based medicines,” he told parliament. Under British law, cannabis is listed as a schedule 1 drug, meaning that it is not recognized as having a therapeutic value. Schedule 1 drugs can be used for research purposes and clinical trials but only under a Home Office license. “I recognize the need to ensure that the approach to licensing works more effectively,” Hurd said. Billy Caldwell had been receiving medicinal cannabis oil on prescription by his family doctor for more than a year, but supplies ran out after the interior ministry ordered the doctor to stop prescribing it. Charlotte Caldwell and her son, who normally live in Northern Ireland, made a round trip to Canada to buy more supplies, but the oil was confiscated by customs when they re-entered Britain. Billy was hospitalized days later, suffering from seizures. His condition improved after the medicinal cannabis oil was handed back and on Monday he was discharged from hospital. Several members of parliament from different parties voiced support for the Caldwell family and to the idea of loosening the rules on therapeutic uses of cannabis in responses to Hurd’s statement on Monday.",
            "output": [
                "UK signals changes on medicinal cannabis use after epileptic boy's case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-47d733d968054a8391aeb0ef84aa331b",
            "input": "No mention in this lengthy story of the costs of the two procedures or insurance coverage. Readers need this information, and the fact that the duodenal switch may not be covered by most insurance. The total cost of gastric bypass is about $20,000. The story makes clear that the duodenal switch surgery, in comparison with the bariatric surgery, may give patients greater weight loss in pounds but the value of that reduction is not clear. The additional information from the paper published by Livingston demonstrating no advantage to surgery over medical management was very useful. The story shines in its details about the delicate weighing of risk vs. benefits for weight-loss surgery in general, and then for the duodenal vs. gastric bypass method in particular. Some readers might find it confusing that the story includes two separate publications about weight-loss surgery. The story leads with the small study comparing duodenal with gastric bypass, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, but then delves into a larger Veterans Administration study from the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at the longer-term results of all surgeries for obesity. We salute Reuters for providing the context and the controversy within medical practice, and quoting a principal investigator on the VA study, Edward Livingstone, who wrote an editorial that appeared in the Annals beside the duodenal paper. The story reports on a very small study – just 58 patients in total and 29 received the duodenal surgery. Only one comment addressed the quality of the evidence: “Larger, longer-term studies are still needed to show whether the extra weight loss with duodenal switch” improves the health and lengthens the lives of obese patients, explained lead researcher Torgeir Sovik. We would have liked a reminder of the preliminary nature of the conclusions higher up in the story. This story does a good job of probing territory that is under-explored in most media accounts about obesity treatment. It poses the questions of long-term quality of life and life expectancy post treatment. Could obesity itself be less life-threatening than some of the radical treatments aimed at treating it? In addition to quoting the lead author of the Annals article, we liked the balance provided by Edward Livingston in his comments about both the duodenal switch procedure and his comments about the value of surgery in general over medical management. The story concentrates on patients receiving weight-loss surgery, and does not discuss non-surgical alternatives at much length. It does mention the study by Livingston questioning the value of surgery over medical management. Behavior coaching, diet and exercise are all potential treatments for obesity. The story explains that duodenal switch is “less common” and that “Duodenal switch is not a popular procedure.” In a 2008 study, it accounted for just 1 percent of weight-loss, or bariatric, surgeries done in the U.S., and 5 percent in Europe.” The story makes it clear that the duodenal switch procedure has been around for a number of years but is rarely used. No, it does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Rare surgery brings more weight loss, more risks"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-67c636a8b9424230ad6a10fb40a072ab",
            "input": "\"Pushing back against a lawsuit seeking to block his \"\"Safer at Home\"\" extension, Gov. Tony Evers laid out his case for isolation measures in Wisconsin. He said striking down the order would \"\"cripple our ability to respond to the pandemic.\"\" Places without such measures, he said, have yielded \"\"reports of doctors rationing ventilators and having to choose which patients will live or die\"\" and \"\"reports of needing refrigeration trucks for the deceased.\"\" And he made a bold claim about the impact his shelter-in-place order has had in Wisconsin. \"\"It's working,\"\" Evers wrote in an April 21, 2020, Facebook post. \"\"We have flattened the curve here in Wisconsin and have prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1,400 lives.\"\" Disease experts have been clear that social distancing can save lives, but is Evers right about saving at least 300 lives? We checked it out. We’ll start out with the obvious: There’s no way for Evers to know this for sure. He is referring to a hypothetical scenario in which actions taken to this point never occurred. But this is a standard type of statement in disease management and other fields that use predictive models — comparing initial projections with actual observations later. \"\"It’s quite common to project with a model sort of what would be expected in epidemiology,\"\" said Patrick Remington, a former CDC epidemiologist and director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. \"\"What better way to predict than … to say, particularly early in an epidemic, what if we did nothing? The early transmission velocity in an epidemic, what if that were to continue throughout the course of the epidemic?\"\" We should also note this language is in line with claims from the other side of the aisle. President Donald Trump asserted in an April 16, 2020, news conference, \"\"Our experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.\"\" The models used to project the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 are constantly evolving, tweaked to factor in the most up to date trends, new information about the virus and changes in government policies and society’s response to them. The models get better as more data on what is happening is added, which is why the wild swings in projected cases and deaths from early models have leveled out now. Evers is comparing the number of deaths we’ve seen so far to what the earliest version of those models said would happen in Wisconsin. So what did they say? Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said his numbers were based on a model created by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. A version of that released March 18, 2020 projected between 440 and 1,500 deaths in Wisconsin by April 8. The actual death toll on April 8 was 99. Some quick subtraction shows that is in line with Evers’ claim. \"\"While early models of the virus’s spread are less reliable the further out they project, those models showed that, by April 8, Wisconsin would have seen 22,000 cases which would have resulted in 440-1,500 deaths,\"\" Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy DHS secretary, said in an affidavit filed in opposition to the Republican lawsuit. \"\"Therefore, we estimate that the First Safer at Home order saved between 300 and 1,400 lives by April 8th.\"\" Evers’ claim also lines up with early projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, a model that has been widely used by the government and public alike throughout the pandemic. On March 25 it projected 853 deaths in Wisconsin over the following four months. Now that model projects less than half that number. Another model, detailed in an April 24 report from Johns Hopkins University, said their simulations showed about three times as many deaths in Wisconsin by May 1 if \"\"Safer at Home\"\" had not been in place. As of April 30, 316 people had died in Wisconsin of COVID-19, DHS reports. Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said the range of lives saved Evers cited is \"\"consistent with near-term forecasts I had seen.\"\" Remington agreed those figures are \"\"absolutely within the range of what I’d expect,\"\" noting that Evers was wise to cite it as a range since it is an estimate and based on many factors. One key factor here is the matter of credit. Just as the number of deaths is an estimate, so is figuring out how many of those lives saved were due specifically to \"\"Safer at Home.\"\" \"\"You can’t tease out the effect of that order from the daily White House briefings to all the stuff on social media to late night comedy shows,\"\" Remington said. \"\"But you can say the result of all this public education is a change in our behavior.\"\" \"\"Safer at Home\"\" was the cornerstone of the Wisconsin response to coronavirus, though, so it’s certainly fair to credit it with a large share of the change in behavior here. \"\"Without social distancing the virus would have continued to spread like wildfire,\"\" Sethi said. Evers said his \"\"Safer at Home\"\" plan \"\"prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1400 lives.\"\" This claim lines up with projections made by DHS, and experts say it’s in line with what other models projected as well. And Evers was smart to cite a wide range of possible outcomes, since we have no way of knowing precisely how this theoretical future would have played out. But any claim like this is based on a hypothetical scenario of how COVID-19 might have progressed in Wisconsin without the array of government limitations and changes in personal behavior we’ve seen in recent months. And Evers stated this as a knowable fact rather than an estimate. With that missing context in mind.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Tony Evers Says Wisconsin measures have \"\"prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1,400 lives.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ebac7659d7a4519b0663c209be4f935",
            "input": "The story does not discuss costs associated with either AA or the alternative addiction treatment groups. That would be useful information for people who may not understand how these groups work. However, since these groups generally don’t charge members for participation (although they may solicit donations or require the purchase of recovery literature), we’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story reports the researchers’ conclusion that “[Women for Sobriety], LifeRing, and SMART are as effective as 12-step groups for those with AUDs.” The story also quantifies that level of effectiveness when it says that studies broadly find that “about a third of people maintain recovery from alcohol addiction due to 12-step treatment, another third get something out of the treatment but not enough for full recovery, and another third get nothing at all.” The story acknowledges that there were some differences in the data — for example that those who reported SMART as their primary group “seemed to have worse substance use outcomes,” and that “there were lower odds of total abstinence among LifeRing members.” It explains that those differences might be explained by the differing goals of the programs, as LifeRing doesn’t emphasize complete abstinence as intensely as the 12-step programs. While it would be interesting to know just how much worse the outcomes were with these alternate groups, we don’t think the omission is enough to merit a not satisfactory grade. While there is no well-established quantification of harms of mutual-help groups, we feel this potential should be borne in mind, just as we would expect reports of negative side effects and adverse events in a medication study. The story doesn’t mention potential downsides to any of these programs. For example, as a ProPublica investigation pointed out in 2014, some who participate in AA meetings are forced to do so by the criminal justice system. This group of mandatory members may include violent felons who are trading attendance for a lighter sentence. ProPublica noted that in some cases, this can create “a combustible mix of violent ex-felons and newcomers who assume that others ‘in the rooms’ are there voluntarily.”  These conditions may increase the potential for sexual and financial abuse of AA members. This is a strong point of the story. It notes multiple times that the study is not the last word on this subject and calls attention to specific limitations of this type of study via an independent expert source who tells readers: It’s based on an online survey, not the kind of randomized trial that’s typically the gold standard in research. That may have led to some potentially biased results — perhaps participants in specific groups were less likely to report bad outcomes, for instance. And since it’s only one study, it’s possible that the results were biased in some other way. So it’s up to future research to verify the findings. The story references reliable sources regarding the massive impact of alcohol use disorders and doesn’t overstate their toll. The story quotes an expert source who was not affiliated with the research and who provides useful context about key limitations of this study. It doesn’t appear that there are any undisclosed conflicts of interest. The story’s main focus is to compare popular 12-step programs with their alternatives. And it explains why alternatives are necessary, since many people object to the spiritual component of AA. It would have been useful to also include outcomes associated with medication for alcohol use disorder, as well as outcomes when there is no formal treatment. The story thoroughly addresses the gulf in availability between 12-step programs and alternative approaches. Most treatment facilities in America are, according to the survey data and research, at least partly based on the 12 steps — making it the only option for many people. While alternatives like SMART or LifeRing do exist, they’re not nearly as available as AA — and they certainly aren’t built into professional treatment programs in the same way as the 12 steps. The story explains that about two-thirds of AA participants don’t derive much or any benefit from the program, and that’s why this study documenting the effectiveness of alternatives is important news. The story clearly goes beyond any news release.",
            "output": [
                "Alcoholics Anonymous works for some people. A new study suggests the alternatives do too."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fa387d5886104f45ac00c5af2dcce53b",
            "input": "Officials say a surge of such images online and new technology designed to intercept them means more investigators are being hired to review such material, but doing so can have toxic effects on their mental health. The university’s Crimes Against Children Research Center will use a three-year grant to interview police and forensic examiners across the country to identify best practices for workload, counseling and debriefing. The center also will use its findings to develop a screening instrument to help agencies assess whether candidates are suitable for such work. The $886,000 in funding comes from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. It was one of five recent grant awards totaling $3.9 million related to three topics: the impact of fatigue and stress on officer performance, managing stress, burnout and vicarious trauma experienced by forensic workers and improving officer interaction with mentally ill individuals. The other recipients were the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, the Fund for the City of New York, Washington State University and the Research Foundation for SUNY. Their projects include a study of how police officers’ atypical work hours affect their health and an evaluation of a program to divert individuals with mental illness away from jail and toward treatment.",
            "output": [
                "UNH gets grant to help child sex abuse investigators."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6a845fdb5cf412e89ecf7ac9a8a1838",
            "input": "\"A comment about the overall cost of endoscopic sinus surgery, as well as insurance coverage and likely out-of-pocket expenses for patients, would have been appropriate in this story. In addition, the costs associated with the equipment and upkeep are also important considerations. However, the story didn’t mention costs. This story focuses almost exclusively on the experience of one patient, a practice we generally think should be avoided. In this case, however, the patient in question was a health columnist with the Boston Globe who brings a well-informed and appropriately skeptical perspective to the story. Whereas many stories seek out patients who embody the best possible outcome for a new technology or procedure, this patient describes an incremental benefit that was \"\"disappointing\"\" in size but in the end, still worth the trouble. Instead of getting 5 or more sinus infections per year, she now gets 3 or 4 infections that are not as bad as before. In addition, the story emphasizes that surgery is \"\"rarely a cure\"\" and should be viewed as a \"\"last resort\"\" for most patients with sinus problems. We wish more stories were this measured in their assessment of medical benefits. The story refers off-handedly to the possibility of \"\"poking through to the brain or into the orbit of an eye,\"\" but it fails to explain that these events are very rare but real risks of the surgery. While extremely unlikely, it’s possible for surgeons to accidentally damage the optic nerve, resulting in blindness, or to puncture the base of the skull, resulting in cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Other less serious, but more common complications are also possible. The story didn’t mention any of them. While we appreciated this story’s carefully calibrated tone and conspicuous lack of hype, we felt its discussion of the evidence was inadequate. The story  quotes a surgeon who says that endoscopic surgery improves quality of life for patients \"\"probably in over 90 percent of the cases.\"\" But we’re not given enough information to determine how this estimate was formulated or if it is representative of typical patient outcomes. The surgeon might be talking about his own personal experience treating patients, which could be much better than average if he’s an experienced surgeon working at a top-tier institution. Adding to our concerns, there is at least some published evidence suggesting that endoscopic sinus surgery is less effective than this story indicates. For example, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials couldn’t find evidence that the procedure was more effective than medical therapy. Granted, this review included only 3 studies and could have involved slightly different procedures than the one discussed in this story. But if there is more persuasive evidence to substantiate the procedure’s benefits, the story should have referred to it directly instead of passing along the surgeon’s second-hand estimates. There was no disease-mongering in this story. The story makes it clear that the surgery being described is a last-ditch approach for people with intractable problems. The story relies heavily on the perspective of Judy Foreman, the health columnist and patient, and her surgeon, Ralph Metson, neither of whom have any conflicts of interest that we could identify. While it would have been nice to hear from an expert who wasn’t involved in this particular case, the story does enough to satisfy the criterion. The story’s sidebar gives detailed descriptions of alternatives to surgery, including nasal irrigation and corticosteroid nasal sprays. The story states that about 300,000 people a year undergo sinus surgery, making it one of the most commonly performed procedures in the U.S. However, it does not provide statistics on the number or percentage of those procedures that are performed endoscopically and the type of hospital setting in which they are done. Enodoscopic surgery with CT guidance as described in the story may be out of the reach of smaller community based practitioners. We’ll call this satisfactory, but some additional detail would have been appropriate. The story didn’t attempt to oversell the novelty of this procedure. It is clear that this story didn’t rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Surgery For Sinus Misery: Better, But Still No Cure"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5cf2247cbc234768bb8b500265bea04e",
            "input": "Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland found that out by offering what’s usually benign praise of any presidential running mate, telling an audience on Monday that Kaine was, “wonderfully prepared” to “be the president if that ever became necessary.” Asked the same day if there’s more pressure to prove he’s up for the presidency given Clinton’s pneumonia, the usually folksy and expansive Kaine was curt: No, he said, he absolutely does not think that. He did not elaborate. As Clinton recovers from pneumonia and prepares to resume campaigning Thursday, Kaine is emphasizing instead that her “energy staggers me. I have a hard time keeping up with her.” “She is working so hard, even pushing through. She got told, ‘Hey, you’re a little bit sick,’” Kaine told hundreds of supporters from the steps of the graduate library on the University of Michigan campus during a Tuesday rally. He characterized Clinton’s response as: ”‘Well, I’m going to still go at it.’” Clinton’s illness could put more pressure on Kaine to look more presidential — instead of just relishing his usual role as political attack dog or top Clinton cheerleader. But Kaine can’t embrace that too much without calling unwanted attention to Clinton’s health. Clinton’s illness was on the minds of some voters as Kaine briefly visited Michigan, a swing state that he promised was “going to be close” between Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. Kim Clarke chatted with Kaine when the candidate popped into a coffee shop just off the university’s campus shortly before his Tuesday rally. Clarke told Kaine of Clinton, “it’s OK to be sick,” to which Kaine immediately responded that the illness wasn’t a big deal and Clinton would recover soon. Clarke, a 56-year-old who works for the University of Michigan, said afterward that when she heard about Clinton’s health problems “my first thought wasn’t, ’Oh, Tim Kaine, what’s going to happen.” But she also said the stakes have risen for the Virginia senator. “You obviously want your vice presidential candidate to be of the same timber as the presidential candidate because things happen,” Clarke said. “If that person were to have to step in, you’d want to know that they have similar leadership characteristics.” During a campaign stop later Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in Minneapolis, 21-year-old Will Dammann gave Kaine a student government T-shirt. Dammann said he normally voted Republican but that he would support Clinton and Kaine in November because he doesn’t think Trump is good for the GOP. “He’s a very trustworthy person. He comes across as caring and assertive,” Dammann said of Kaine’s qualities as a potential president. But also said he didn’t think it would come to that: “I think Secretary Clinton is going to be fine.” Same goes for Alex Juntti, a 21-year-old English major at the University of Michigan who attended Tuesday’s rally after his Ancient Law class. He said he still sees Kaine as more of a Clinton campaigner-in-chief than someone who needs to prove he’s up for the presidency. “To me, this isn’t his audition for a potential presidency,” Juntti said.",
            "output": [
                "Kaine downplays presidential readiness amid Clinton illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c453f6aa54ed42089feacaff4951a329",
            "input": "But one in three of the children who died in a car crash in 2011 was not using a seat belt or child safety seat, suggesting many more deaths could be prevented, the CDC said. The results were based on a study in the Morbidity and Mortality report, the agency’s weekly report on death and disease. According to the report, more than 9,000 children age 12 and younger died in a car crash from 2002 to 2011. “The good news is motor vehicle deaths decreased by 43 percent over the past decade for children age 12 and younger. The tragic news is still with that decrease, more than 9,000 kids were killed on the road in this period,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters in a telephone news conference. “Thousands of children are at risk on the road because they are not buckled up,” he said. The study found that of the children who died between 2009 to 2010, a much higher proportion of black and Hispanic children were not buckled, compared with white kids. “The difference was nearly half (45 percent for blacks and 46 percent for Hispanics) versus a quarter (26 percent) for white kids,” Frieden said. The study did not investigate why racial differences played such a big role in seat belt use, but it did suggest socio-economic factors may play a role. For the study, CDC researchers analyzed data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find the number of deaths among occupants in cars from 2002 to 2011 for all children aged up to the age of 12. Overall, 9,182 children died in car crashes during the period. But deaths dropped sharply, from 2.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2002, to 1.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2011, a 43 percent decline. According to the report, seat belt use increased from 88 percent in 2002 to 91 percent in 2011 among all children age 7 and under. The study also confirmed earlier findings that older children are less likely to be wearing seat belts than younger children. To prevent future deaths from car crashes, Frieden said parents should make sure their children use appropriate-sized car seats, booster seats and seat belts on every trip. The CDC recommends that children from birth to age 2 should be in a rear-facing car seat. Starting at age 2, children should be in a forward-facing car seat until at least age 5, or when they reach the upper weight or height limit of that seat. Children age 5 and older should use a booster seat until the adult seat belt fits them properly, generally when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt slays across the chest, but not the neck. More information on proper use of child safety seats can be found at www.safekids.org or other websites.",
            "output": [
                "Fewer U.S. children dying in car crashes: CDC."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d89a03882cb4868b472d66f10c9194c",
            "input": "\"The flu season is upon us. But is it hitting the Peach State harder than other places? We wondered after seeing a map on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website Thursday, showing Georgia with the highest flu activity in the country, and hearing television reports repeating the claim. The short answer: Not really. Flu season starts in October and can run into May. It typically peaks in Georgia by early January, with upticks after Thanksgiving and Christmas when germs are often passed like holiday feasts. Flu vaccines are designed to protect against the main flu viruses that research suggests will be the most common of the season. This year’s vaccines protect against three viruses. The CDC develops its \"\"flu view\"\" map based on weekly reports from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico of outpatient visits to doctors for treatment of flu-like symptoms. The information is voluntarily submitted by doctors’ offices to their state public health departments. States on the CDC map are assigned to one of four levels of influenza-like illness activity -- minimal, low, moderate, or high. Georgia was identified as having \"\"low\"\" flu activity in the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10, the most recent period for which outpatient information was available on Thursday. But that was a notch above the rest of the nation, which this early in flu season fell in the minimal range. \"\"The biggest takeaway is the flu is here,\"\" said Nancy Nydam, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Health, \"\"and if you don’t have a flu shot, you need to get one.\"\" Georgia did not report any hospitalizations or deaths due to the flu in that week, Nydam said. South Carolina, meanwhile, had four flu deaths but showed up with less flu activity on the CDC map because the map -- again --  is based on how many people see a doctor, not how many die. \"\"It’s really misleading,\"\" Nydam said. \"\"The numbers (of patients with flu-like symptoms) are so low.\"\" Georgia reported 22,273 patients visiting doctor’ offices in the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10, with 379 of those patients or 1.7 percent exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Compare that to a report from a week in December 2014, when 20,835 people visited doctors, 1,643 or 7.89 percent with flu-like symptoms. Changes come quickly If Georgia was identified as the state with the highest flu activity on Thursday, it was a different story Friday. That’s because on Friday the Georgia Department of Public Health had later, data from the week starting Oct. 11. It showed Georgia’s flu activity down in the minimal range, where the rest of the country had been the week before. (Of 25,876 patients, 355 or 1.37 percent had flu-like symptoms. South Carolina and Alaska jumped ahead of Georgia in activity, but they were just higher in the minimal range, Nydam said. The CDC doesn’t look at the flu activity in isolation, said Lynnette Brammer, CDC epidemiologist. The map is just one of nine resources that the CDC uses to track increases in flu-like illnesses across the country, she said. \"\"You take a look at all those pieces, including laboratory data, and you can get a pretty complete picture of flu that comes in contact with health care systems,\"\" Brammer said. \"\"With flu, you should never look at just one piece.\"\" Doctors report cases where patients complain of flu-like symptoms -- fever, cough or sore throat, she said. \"\"That flu-like illness may have been flu or may not have been,\"\" Brammer said. Our ruling Georgia had the highest flu activity in the country based on data provided by doctors offices across the country and mapped by the CDC for the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. That information factors into the CDC’s efforts to track what goes on through flu season. But it’s based on data submitted voluntarily and that, as we have seen, can change week -to-week. That’s important context that downgrades the statement to .\"",
            "output": [
                "Georgia has the highest flu activity in the country."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83aa89844be04a9f8e79407b420b2d7f",
            "input": "\"Christmas may be a time for giving, but it’s also a time for scams. Internet swindlers attempt to take advantage of people’s generosity during the holiday season with a variety of schemes. This is probably why some people looked at a request for Christmas cards for an 8-year-old burn victim named Safyre Terry with a skeptical eye. The request was originally posted to Facebook by Kevin “Snapshot” Clark on 4 December 2015: Facebook users who were skeptical about Clark’s request must have been a little extra wary when the account disappeared for a few hours on 8 December 2015. But this was not the result of any fraudulent activity: Last night Facebook shut my page down 6 hours… probably because of all the Safyre stuff (I was getting 50/minute friend requests! )… anyways, I made a new page BUT now don’t need it. Ignore it. Today after I nap from working all night I’m meeting Liz Terry-Dolder and Safyre after she gets outta school at her PO BOX so we can all check her mail TOGETHER! *AND A REPORTER /PHOTOGRAPHER FROM THE SCHENECTADY GAZETTE WILL BE THERE TOO! PSYCHED!!! The influx of activity on Clark’s page was likely due to Hulk Hogan’s sudden involvement in the project. On 8 December 2015, the wrestler shared Clark’s message with his loyal “maniacs”: Alright maniacs let’s make Safyre’s Christmas Dream come true! All she wants is Christmas Cards from around the world, but a little extra Christmas magic wouldn’t hurt! HH. The outpouring of support for Safyre Terry has been covered by multiple TV stations and news publications. And while a fundraising page has been set up to cover medical bills (an aspect that occasionally sets off the scam alert) this is a legitimate attempt to raise money for a young girl who suffered through a terrible ordeal. On 2 May 2013, Terry survived a fire that killed her father and three siblings: Elizabeth Dolder never imagined Safyre Terry’s stubborn ways might one day serve the girl well in her battle to stay alive. “She was a stubborn child, but that stubbornness is helping her through this,” Dolder said of her niece. “She’s going to get through this. I can’t lose her, too.” The 5-year-old girl, the only child to survive a ferocious house fire in Schenectady during the early morning hours of May 2 that claimed the lives of three of her siblings and her father, remains hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns to her tiny body. On 9 December 2015 Dodler, Terry’s sole guardian, sent a thank you message out to all of the people who sent Christmas cards and donations: BELIEVE BELIEVE BELIEVE She did. When she said she can’t wait to fill up the card tree my response was I don’t think it’s gonna get filled up but I am sure we will get a few more cards. She BELIEVED and ALL of YOU are making it happen. THANK YOU…..FAITH LOVE HOPE TO ALL Subsequent reports showed huge piles of letters and cards: (function(d, s, id) {  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;  js.src = \"\"//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3\"\";  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); When this all began Sa'fyre wanted 100 Christmas cards. This is her latest delivery. Are you sitting down? I'll wait… Posted by John Gray Fox23 on Monday, December 14, 2015\"",
            "output": [
                "A Facebook message requesting Christmas cards for 8-year-old burn victim Safyre Terry is legit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05eb0bab94594c049965f7a7f0fc4e80",
            "input": "Knox County’s proposed ordinance hasn’t been drafted yet, but County Attorney Yvette Kirchoff said the ordinance wouldn’t be retroactive so homeowners won’t have to remove existing plants. If the measure is approved, Knox County would be the first in Indiana to move forward with such an ordinance, Kirchoff told the Vincennes Sun-Commercial . Invasive species can take over and alter environments, said Will Drews, a natural resource specialist with the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District. They can also disrupt pasture lands and agriculture. “We’ve introduced most of them, unfortunately, over time,” he said. “They’re mostly from other parts of the world, such as Europe or Asia, and the problem is that they have no natural predators, so they just kind of get out of control.” One major issue is that some invasive species — such as wintercreeper, Japanese honeysuckle and burning bush — can be found in local nurseries and are used by landscapers, Drews said. “These are plants that are literally destroying our forests,” Drews said. “That’s frustrating to a lot of the folks that I work with and those who are aware of the problem.” The state Department of Natural Resources and state lawmakers have been working on legislation that would attempt to regulate the spread of invasive species, but the process has been slow, Drews said. Drews and Kirchoff are drafting the ordinance and will present it to the county commissioners soon. ___ Information from: Vincennes Sun-Commercial, http://www.vincennes.com",
            "output": [
                "Indiana county working on invasive plants ordinance."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-897260f9319c48489f75f39c55b6eddb",
            "input": "\"In early November, a Providence fire captain, Zachariah Kenyon, clocked 96 hours in a row — the equivalent of two 48-hour work weeks. The 45-year-old’s marathon tour of duty follows much argument over the restructuring of the firefighters’ shift schedule, ordered in August by Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. Instead of working 42 hours per week in four shifts firefighters are now working in three shifts of 48 hours every six days, or an average of 56 hours per week. One vocal critic of the change, Paul A. Doughty, president of the firefighters’ union, went on Twitter to address the mayor: \"\"...still think your plan is safe? Rescue Captain Kenyon just worked 96 hours straight. 96 hours. Your plan is a disaster!!!\"\" So a firefighter worked 96 hours straight? We wondered if that really happened. And if so, how? We reached out to Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare, Doughty and Kenyon, who also has a leadership position in the union, serving on its board and representing about 80 fire employees in special services divisions. Of course, we were interested in Kenyon’s story, but initially we just wanted to see the records. Kenyon gave us a personnel record that shows he reported to duty on the morning of Friday, Nov. 6, around 8 a.m. and he remained on duty for a 96-hour period that ended Tuesday, Nov. 10, around 8 a.m. The personnel record also shows that Kenyon had originally been scheduled to work two 10-hour shifts, one on Friday and another on Saturday followed by two 14-hour overnight shifts on Sunday into Monday and Monday into Tuesday. This adds up to 48 hours on duty over 5 days. Kenyon ended up on duty for each of the four scheduled shifts plus all hours in between, according to the record. The captain accepted one overtime shift and he was ordered to stand duty for the other three shifts. This is how he explained how he came to be on duty for 96 hours and Pare confirmed it. Ninety-six hours seems like a very long time for someone with public safety responsibilities to be on the clock. For Doughty and other firefighters, \"\"working\"\" and being on duty are the same thing. However, Providence firefighters, unlike police officers, can often climb into bed between emergencies during their shifts. So Kenyon was not on his feet like a construction worker or an emergency room nurse for 96 straight hours. It’s also clear that he got paid for 96 hours of work. Without knowing how much Kenyon slept, it seemed reasonable for Doughty to ask the mayor if this was safe. Pare asserts that the captain had ample opportunity to get the rest necessary to perform effectively in emergency situations and Kenyon could have asked to go home if he felt he hadn’t had enough sleep to operate safely. Kenyon, who doesn’t remember how much sleep he had during the 96 hours, says he was able to operate safely. \"\"I feel I’m pretty capable,\"\" he says. Doughty disagrees, suggesting that sleep deprivation erodes a person’s ability to make good judgments about his or her capabilities. It’s against department policy for firefighters to sleep past 7 a.m., he says, and the noise at fire headquarters, with alarms sounding, is another issue. \"\"It’s not good sleep,\"\" Doughty says. \"\"It’s not rehabilitative sleep.\"\" We looked at public safety records, including dispatch logs, and found that Kenyon and those who also worked on Rescue 4 handled 67 emergency calls over the course of 96 hours. The crew transported 43 patients to hospitals and 15 calls were cancelled en route, according to the records we reviewed, which are not clear on what happened with the other nine calls. Kenyon, who says he doesn’t need as much sleep as others,  recalls sleeping the last seven hours of his 96-hours on duty, but he says he doesn’t remember when he slept during the first 89 hours. Records that Pare provided to PolitiFact indicate there were several other periods within that 89-hour span when Kenyon was not busy with calls and had some opportunity for sleep. The records show three periods of about four hours during the morning hours of Saturday, Nov. 7, Sunday Nov. 8, and Monday Nov. 9. Our ruling No one disputes that Kenyon was on duty for 96 straight hours, Kenyon had some opportunity for sleep and it’s likely he did. But he doesn’t remember when that was, or for how long. He only recalls sleeping during the last 7 of the 96 hours The question that Doughty Tweeted: \"\"@Jorge_Elorza still think your plan is safe?\"\" was fair to ask, even if the public was not at risk as both Pare and the captain assert. (Further, Pare disputes Doughty’s charge that the plan is a \"\"disaster!!!\"\") But without clarification, Doughty’s suggestion that Kenyon \"\"worked 96 hours straight\"\" could leave the impression that Kenyon never slept. He did sleep. To be more accurate, Doughty could have said that Kenyon had been \"\"on duty\"\" for 96 hours. The job, by its nature,  involves a mixture of sleep and work.\"",
            "output": [
                "@Jorge_Elorza still think your plan is safe? Rescue Captain Kenyon just worked 96 hours straight. 96 hours."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f21c90ed814c432f93a89cbaf7794dc8",
            "input": "\"New York City has been hit especially hard by coronavirus, and the city’s homeless population in particular has struggled to comply with social distancing practices that public health officials have urged to contain the pandemic. In an urgent letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on April 3, 2020, a group of service and advocacy groups pressed for action. The letter, spearheaded by the New York City-based Coalition for the Homeless, said that only 16.8% of New York City hotel rooms were occupied at the time, leaving more than 100,000 rooms empty. Yet at the same time, the groups said, more than 3,588 people were living on the streets and over 19,000 were living in shelters. Five days later, Giselle Routhier, the policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, told the New York Daily News, \"\"We could open up tens of thousands of hotel rooms and offer every single person on the subway access to them. The mayor has absolutely to this point refused to do that.\"\" Is this accurate? Yes, though the assertion needs some additional context. (The mayor’s office did not respond to inquiries for this article.) There is longstanding precedent for the city paying hotels to provide emergency housing for New York City residents. In 2018, for instance, the city spent $364 million on annual contracts for emergency housing in hotels for homeless New Yorkers. The challenge is the expense of paying for these hotel rooms. \"\"The city has routinely used hotels as ‘emergency’ housing, but the cost has been exorbitant, ranging from $170 to $250 per night for one dwelling unit,\"\" Roderick M. Hills Jr., a New York University law professor, told PolitiFact. On April 23, Erin Drinkwater, the city’s deputy commissioner of the Department of Social Services, testified that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the department paid $17 million per month to rent approximately 3,500 double-occupancy hotel rooms for homeless single adults. Under proposed legislation requiring single-occupancy rooms, that cost would increase to $28 million per month, due to the cost of additional hotel rooms as well as security and operational needs, Drinkwater testified. In her testimony, Drinkwater said that in addition to the 3,500 individuals already living in hotels, the city planned to move another 2,500 individuals — including people over 70, those with underlying health conditions, and those staying in the 10 most densely populated city shelters — to hotels by the end of April. The Coalition for the Homeless told PolitiFact that Routhier’s reference to tens of thousands of hotel rooms was not the number simply to house \"\"every single person on the subway,\"\" but rather the entire homeless population throughout the city, which is estimated to exceed 22,000. The group did not provide a specific number of homeless New Yorkers living in the subway system. \"\"The coalition has called for (hotels) to be used not only for homeless New Yorkers sheltering in the subway system, but also the many thousands more in congregate homeless shelters where social isolation is impossible and where Covid-19 is spreading,\"\" said Dan Levitan, a spokesman for the coalition. A complication is that some hotel rooms have been converted for hospital use. The city said it planned to convert 250 hotel rooms in five hotels into hospital facilities, the Daily News reported on March 19. Routhier said, \"\"We could open up tens of thousands of hotel rooms and offer every single person on the subway access to them. The mayor has absolutely to this point refused to do that.\"\" The city already does contract with hotels to house New Yorkers facing emergency homelessness, and the number of homeless individuals the city has moved into hotels has increased since the onset of the pandemic. However, the number of rooms being used for this purpose is well short of the \"\"tens of thousands\"\" of rooms needed to house all of New York City’s homeless population. The main reason is the high cost.\"",
            "output": [
                "New York City could pay to house its homeless population in hotel rooms currently sitting vacant, but Mayor Bill de Blasio “has absolutely to this point refused to do that.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-022051734c4e42608c0c0583c3154dd6",
            "input": "The report notes that combined sales of these drugs account for more than $10 billion annually. The article does not mention comparative costs for other ways of managing the medical conditions these drugs treat. The news article does not quantify the potential benefits of treatment with heartburn or antacid drugs. They are very effective in preventing acid-related disease. An additional sentence or two might help readers weigh their pros and cons. The article provides balanced information about the frequency and seriousness of one potential harm of taking antacids—hip fractures. Most other research has turned up relatively minor side effects (e.g. gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea), though a 2005 study suggested that these drugs might make people more susceptible to virulent clostridium difficile infections that produce dangerous watery diarrhea. Though the article ably employs a quote by Dr. Alan Buchman to explain the chief limitation of the study’s design—that it cannot prove cause and effect, and that the patients simply may “have some other problem that increases the risk of fractures”—the story could have stated more clearly the drawbacks inherent in a retrospective study of a large patient database. There are no obvious elements of disease mongering. Hip fracture is common and often devastating. As the article suggests, it is the final insult on the slope toward death for one in five people. It dispatches another one in five to nursing homes for the rest of their lives. However, the article provides information only on relative risk of hip fractures, not their absolute risk. The very large relative risks cited may overstate the absolute risk of these medicines, even if there is a true risk of fracture. The news article reports the funding source for the study, cites three sources—the study’s author, an academic gastroenterologist, and a spokeswoman for the manufacturer of Prevacid—and provides adequate information to judge their potential conflicts of interest. The article explains that heartburn drugs may cause hip fractures by blocking calcium absorption. It suggests two potential solutions – either “simply to consume more calcium,” or to take the drugs in lower doses. Unfortunately, it fails to note that there is conflicting research to support the calcium-blocking hypothesis or that there is little research to show that calcium consumption can offset the increased risk of fracture among people taking antacids. More importantly, the article could have offered three additional recommendations: (1) all patients may not need to take these medicines on a regular basis; (2) lifestyle and dietary changes—cutting back on caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, and acidic foods—can also help; and (3) some patients taking one class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (e.g. Nexium, Prevacid, Prisolec) could safely switch over to another class known as histamine blockers (e.g. Zantac) that were associated with fewer hip fractures in this study. Histamine blockers have a very safe long-term record (20+ years). Most readers are likely to know about heartburn drugs or antacids that suppress the production of gastric acid. They are, as the LA Times says, “among the most widely used in the United States.” Some of these medicines are also available over-the-counter without a prescription, potentially useful information omitted from the news article. The report states that the treatment is widely used and accurately implies that it is not new. No obvious use of text from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Less acid, brittler hips? Some heartburn drugs may be behind an increase in fractures"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-154e77f30d524463a9c63ba97a7abd31",
            "input": "The article does an exemplary job of reporting details of access, insurance coverage, and direct costs. It cites a December 2015 journal article that concludes that PBT for a deadly form of childhood brain cancer is “cost-effective.” The article could have used more data and research results about clinical outcomes to support that statement, but that’s a minor issue on this front. The only discussion of evidence was this passage, which includes no numbers: “Yock co-authored a study published in December 2015 in the journal Cancer, which compared the cost-effectiveness of proton radiation therapy versus traditional radiation among kids with medulloblastoma. The study, which used models to measure long-term side effects and related costs in treatment, work-force participation and quality of life, found that proton therapy was cost-effective.” In pediatric brain cancer, while the numbers are relatively small, there are data to support the claims. Readers would have had a better picture of the controversy by some mention of the relatively sparse research results available about the value of PBT in prostate cancer in adults, for example, a source of heavy marketing by PBT treatment centers. Overall, the article needed more prevalence and outcome data for all forms of pediatric cancer and its therapies. The article notes in some detail the various side effects of PBT and especially of standard forms of radiation and chemotherapy treatments for childhood brain and other cancers. The story focuses on the potential long-term harms, but it would also have been helpful to know more about the short-term risks of these two forms of radiation, as well. We are indirectly told that there’s not really much evidence on this therapy and that it is largely anecdotal: “Proton beam therapy is considered a big advance in cancer therapy by some experts. Others, however, hesitate to get caught up in the early hype without more long-term evidence.” This isn’t a sufficient effort to assess the quality of evidence, so we are rating this Not Satisfactory. The story appropriately comments upon the seriousness of these tumors and the first goal of cure and then the longer-term issue of treatment side effects. The article uses quotes and opinions from a handful of well-placed pediatric oncologists. It could have found one or two sources to comment explicitly on the controversial marketing aspects of proton treatment centers, and perhaps put a bit more balance into the cheerleading aspects of the quotes, but overall, the article offers a calm and reasoned picture of PBT’s value. The article does an excellent job of describing how PBT works compared to conventional radiation, and how newer forms of PBT are reducing “scatter” even more. Very well reported here. The story highlights that there are a limited number of centers in the U.S. that offer this and that they are not evenly distributed around the country. Many patients need to make special travel/housing arrangements to complete a six-week course of therapy. The report puts PBT’s benefits in good perspective and to its great credit, notes from the outset that the treatment is no “magic wand,” but has real potential to avoid one of the big challenges of childhood cancer therapy. No evidence of that.",
            "output": [
                "The Promise (and Limits) of Pediatric Proton Radiation"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2444b13cba7a466cb26ed1cdced11cb7",
            "input": "But while the song is inspiring, it’s what happened before the show that seemed to matter most to her. Lovato, who says that she “thrives” with bipolar disorder, held what can be described as one-hour therapy sessions for a few hundred fans before she taking the stage. “It’s something that I’m passionate about, mental health, and raising the awareness and taking away the stigma away from it. So, if I can do that on tour then awesome,” Lovato said in an interview with The Associated Press. Lovato has been a mental health advocate for several years and worked with a pharmaceutical-sponsored awareness campaign at one time. For her U.S. tour, she partnered with CAST Centers , wellness clinics that treat mental health and substance abuse issues (the sessions are not a part of her European tour that kicks off later this month). Lovato became a co-owner after being treated there in 2011. Before a recent show in Newark, New Jersey, Lovato spoke about her struggles, which besides bipolar disorder have included alcoholism, drug addiction, and eating disorders. “My life has gotten a lot easier as I’ve continued to have more and more sobriety under my belt. And you know, for me it’s just about asking for help when I need it. And I think that’s the key to getting the help that you need is not being afraid to ask people when you need some assistance or support,” Lovato said. The sessions were free to those who purchase tickets to the concert but spots were limited. Lovato attended them, but was not the focus. In Newark, 18-year old Ashley Hill was near the front of the line. She said she waited for hours but was satisfied. “I’ve been in therapy for a couple of years. I just wanted to be a part of this experience,” Hill said. She added: “There (were) a lot of things I struggled with for a long time but Demi being able to come out of it, I was able to be more open about what I’ve gone through.” ___ Online: https://www.castcenters.com/ and https://www.castcenters.com/castontour",
            "output": [
                "Lovato has concert activities for mental health awareness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-574ca66aa9164837a95dadebc99dd3b7",
            "input": "The vehicle unveiled Wednesday by the county’s health department will begin visiting two east side Indianapolis neighborhoods next week. But it could eventually make stops in other neighborhoods, based on recommendations by police and health officials. Marion County’s hepatitis C cases soared 1,000 percent between 2013 and 2017, mostly due to intravenous drug use tied to the opioid epidemic. Public health director Dr. Virginia Caine says needle exchanges aim to reduce needle-sharing that can spread infectious diseases. The Indianapolis Star reports that Marion County will become Indiana’s ninth county with a needle exchange.",
            "output": [
                "Indianapolis’ new needle exchange will enlist mobile vehicle."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ea7eea2fd6d41319457289657aaa948",
            "input": "Subway, Starbucks, KFC and Domino’s Pizza were among the industry leaders graded “F” for their antibiotic policies in the report from consumer and health groups, titled “Chain Reaction,” released on Tuesday. The groups, which did not release results to companies prior to publication, based their grades on public statements, survey responses and correspondence with individual chains. As a result, companies given failing grades were not immediately able to comment. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics important to human health are sold for use in meat and dairy production. Concern is growing among public health experts that the overuse of such drugs, particularly those important to human medicine, are contributing to rising numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria dubbed “superbugs.”  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2 million people are infected with drug resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die. “From bacon cheeseburgers to chicken nuggets, most meat served by America’s chain restaurants comes from animals raised in industrial-scale facilities, where they are routinely fed antibiotics to prevent disease that is easily spread in crowded, unsanitary, stressful conditions,” said Kari Hamerschlag, a lead author of the report who is senior program manager at Friends of the Earth. Subway was cited, in particular, for failing to publicly state a policy or plan to cut antibiotic use in the meats it buys, despite repeated requests by the report’s authors for clarification. Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread, were top finishers with “A” grades. These popular chains have won loyal followings for policies that include strict limits on antibiotic use. Chick-fil-A, which is making meaningful progress toward its goal of only buying chicken raised without antibiotics by 2019, got a “B” in the report. McDonald’s Corp and Dunkin’ Donuts got “C” grades. McDonald’s plans to only source chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine by 2017. Dunkin’ Donuts aims to prohibit suppliers from using medically important antibiotics or antimicrobials in healthy animals, but it has not set a timeline.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. fast-food meat still mostly raised on antibiotics: consumer groups."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fbf1583901b41748988b6632aa63713",
            "input": "This story does not mention cost. Sure, vitamin pills cost only pennies a day, but treating everyone would cost billions of dollars a year. Assuming just a nickel a day for 400 IU of vitamin D (the dose used in this study), the cost of treating everyone in the U.S. would exceed $5 billion a year. That bill has to be compared to the expected benefits of supplements given to healthy people, which in this trial were not statistically significant, so those billions might just be flushed down the drain. As noted above, the body of the story makes clear that the results of this trial did not show a clear benefit from taking 400 IU daily. However, the headline and lead sentence both state that vitamin D might fight colds, something this trial failed to clearly demonstrate. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt for what’s in the middle, not at the top. The story cautions that vitamin D can cause problems including nausea, vomiting, constipation, poor appetite, weight loss and even higher blood pressure or heart rhythm abnormalities. This rating is a close call. The story notes the limitations of the study of vitamin D and winter colds, including the fact that there was no statistically significant difference in the main outcome measure between the treatment and placebo groups, that the study was small, and that the extent of any benefit was not clear. The story also does a nice job of providing readers with some background, including results of other recent trials, as well as recommendations and opinions of health agencies and experts. However, the cautionary notes in the body of the story are drowned out by the headline and the lead sentence that tout potential cold-fighting properties of vitamin D. Also, while the story says that 164 men took part in the trial, it fails to tell readers that 60 of them dropped out before the study was done and that the high number of drop-outs made it impossible for the researchers to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in absenteeism between the treatment and placebo groups. We’ve made our point about the headline and lead, so we won’t ding the story for that again in this criterion. But the grade could have gone either way for reasons noted. This story does not exaggerate the effects of common winter colds. Although this story refers to the findings of other studies and the recommendations of health agencies and experts, there is no identified independent source to comment on the trial. In their journal article, the researchers reported no potential conflicts of interest. It would have been helpful to tell readers that the trial was funded by the Medical Research Fund of Finnish Defence Forces, in order to distinguish this trial from studies funded by supplement manufacturers or others with a vested interest in the results. The story points out that experts generally recommend supplements only when people aren’t getting enough vitamin D from their diet or sunlight. And as noted above, the story points out that supplements expose people to some risks of vitamin D toxicity. The availability of vitamin D supplementation is really not in question. There was no claim that there is anything new about tests of vitamin D for prevention of respiratory illness. This story missed the opportunity to explain what was different about this trial. In their article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the researchers pointed out that by studying military conscripts much of the variability that complicates population studies was filtered out. All the participants were from a narrow age group, had passed the same entry physical examination, lived in the same military housing, ate the same food, followed the same daily routines and so on. Also, the classification of their daily status (healthy or ill) was more uniform than would be expected in a study of people in varied civilian occupations. The strengths of the study would be expected to filter out much of the background noise that fogs typical population studies. It is notable that despite those features, this trial failed to reach statistically significant results (partly because of the high drop out rate, which the story should have mentioned.) One word usage nit: the story refers to military “recruits,” but the study participants were not recruited to join the military, they were performing mandatory service. The story quotes an e-mail exchange with the lead researcher, so it’s clear it didn’t rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Some evidence vitamin D might fight colds"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78f1b3bc138a49759c9f006aca271170",
            "input": "According to a July 24, 2014,  article by KJRH, a CBS news affiliate in Tulsa, OK, Danny Nickerson has made a special request for his birthday, “a big ol’ box of cards.” Nickerson has an inoperable brain tumor and turned 6-years-old on Friday, Jul. 25. The article said that “Danny’s already received a mountain of cards,” and readers are encouraged to send a card to:  Danny Nickerson P.O. Box 212 Foxboro, MA 02035 Posted 07/24/14 Comments",
            "output": [
                " This is a plea to send a boy with an inoperable brain tumor birthday cards. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8f7da0db300497e9cf564cc1b523294",
            "input": "Scientists made an impassioned appeal to governments and businesses worldwide to confront “vested interests” they said were blocking reforms in farming, energy and mining needed to save the Earth’s ecosystems. “If we want to leave a world for our children and grandchildren that has not been destroyed by human activity, we need to act now,” said Robert Watson, who chaired the study, produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which groups 130 countries, including the United States, Russia and China. “If we do not act now, many of the million threatened species will become as extinct as the dodo on this tie,” Watson told a news conference in Paris, gesturing to his tie, which bore a design of the flightless bird. Known as the Global Assessment, the report found that up to one million of Earth’s estimated eight million plant, insect and animal species is at risk of extinction, many within decades. It identified industrial farming and fishing as major drivers of the crisis, with the current rate of species extinction tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the last 10 million years. Climate change caused by burning the coal, oil and gas produced by the fossil fuel industry is exacerbating the losses, the report found. “We are facing a human extinction crisis,” said Hoda Baraka of 350.org, a climate change campaign group based in the United States. “We must work together to push back against the fossil fuel industry fuelling the climate crisis and for long-lasting and meaningful change.”  The largest, most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the conjoined fates of human wellbeing and the natural world, the report was finalised in Paris after intense negotiations between IPBES members that concluded at 0300 a.m. on Saturday. The report represents a cornerstone of an emerging body of research that suggests the world may need to embrace a new “post-growth” form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the cascading effects of pollution, habitat destruction and climate change. Compiled over three years and based on 15,000 scientific papers, the report identified a range of risks, from the disappearance of insects vital for pollinating food crops, to the destruction of coral reefs that support fish populations and the loss of medicinal plants. The threatened list includes more than 40 percent of amphibian species, almost 33 percent of reef-forming corals, sharks and shark relatives, and more than a third of all marine mammals. The picture was less clear for insect species, but a tentative estimate suggests 10 per cent could become extinct. Publication of the report has coincided with an upsurge in environmental activism by groups including Extinction Rebellion, whose civil disobedience campaign forced the British parliament this month to declare a climate emergency. The report’s blunt language echoed the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said in October that profound economic and social changes would be needed to curb greenhouse gases quickly enough to avert the most devastating consequences of a warming world. The findings will also add to pressure for countries to agree bold action to protect wildlife at a major conference on biodiversity due to take place in China towards the end of next year, reinforcing a growing recognition among policy-makers that the extinction and climate crises are deeply interconnected. “We have reconfigured dramatically the life of the planet,” said Eduardo Brondizio, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University in the United States who co-chaired the report. “The key message: business as usual has to end.”",
            "output": [
                "Scientists warn a million species at risk of extinction."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-735d31e97d064225a0df3279b3fcde3a",
            "input": "When Senator John McCain passed away from cancer in his home state of Arizona in August 2018, a memorial service was held for him in the capital city of Phoenix, then his remains were transported to Washington, D.C., to lie in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Another memorial service was held for the late senator in Washington before he was laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis. One of the more prominent elements of the news coverage surrounding John McCain’s death and funereal services was the “disrespect” that critics maintained President Donald Trump had shown towards the late senator, with whom Trump had feuded:  Leadership from two prominent veterans groups blasted White House officials for “disrespect” in their response to the death of former Arizona Sen. John McCain, insisting the Navy veteran deserved more national recognition. Flags at national buildings were lowered when McCain’s death was announced but raised just two days later, bucking a tradition of honoring well-known members of Congress for longer periods of time. President Donald Trump also did not issue an official proclamation marking McCain’s passing, instead writing a tweet that stated, “my deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” AMVETS officials said McCain — “a war hero, twice a presidential contender, and a national treasure who devoted his entire adult life to protecting and improving the American way of life” — deserved more. “It’s outrageous that the White House would mark American hero John McCain’s death with a two-sentence tweet, making no mention of his heroic and inspiring life,” Joe Chenelly, AMVETS national executive director, said in a statement. “By lowering flags for not one second more than the bare minimum required by law, despite a long-standing tradition of lowering flags until the funeral, the White House is openly showcasing its blatant disrespect for Senator McCain’s many decades of service and sacrifice to our country as well as the service of all his fellow veterans.”  It was something of a surprise to many onlookers, then, to learn afterwards that McCain’s body had been flown to Washington on a U.S. government Boeing C-32A typically reserved for the use of the vice president or first lady — an act which would typically require the approval of the President himself. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, however, as President Trump had issued a statement days in advance (only after being pressured to do by intense public disapproval, critics maintained) accommodating the  family’s request by authorizing the use of military transport for Senator McCain’s remains:  Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment. I have asked Vice President Mike Pence to offer an address at the ceremony honoring Senator McCain at the United States Capitol this Friday. At the request of the McCain family, I have also authorized military transportation of Senator McCain’s remains from Arizona to Washington, D.C., military pallbearers and band support, and a horse and caisson transport during the service at the United States Naval Academy. Finally, I have asked General John Kelly, Secretary James Mattis, and Ambassador John Bolton to represent my Administration at his services. Washington television station WUSA described the flight that carried John McCain to Washington for the last time: JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MD — Members of the National Guard loaded the flag-draped casket into the familiar state blue and white aircraft, a symbol of American power serving presidents, vice presidents and first ladies for 20 years. The aircraft normally designated “Air Force Two” carried John McCain and his family to Washington, D.C. as he made his final flight across the country. The plane arrived with clear airspace just before 8 p.m., as President Donald J. Trump held a campaign-style rally in a different time zone, 700 miles away. McCain’s Air Force Boeing C-32A is indeed equipped to carry the president on short-range trips, and is usually reserved for the vice president or first lady. McCain’s motorcade left Andrews for an undisclosed location, awaiting the casket’s procession to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The trip marked the first time McCain returned to the Washington area since he left for Arizona, a week before Christmas 2017.",
            "output": [
                "\"Senator John McCain's remains were carried to Washington, D.C., on a Boeing C-32A airplane commonly used as \"\"Air Force Two.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af9896d7d7304f51aa031f3b64c09a9b",
            "input": "\"The story says statins can cost $5 a day or more. Only relative risk reduction figures were used. So when the story said \"\"30% less likely\"\" – readers need to know \"\"30% of what?\"\" The story explained that statins may cause liver problems and muscle damage, \"\"although the likelihood of that is low.\"\" The story raised ample questions about the quality of the evidence. No disease mongering was evident. The senior study author and one independent expert were quoted. The alternative of NOT taking statins was raised:  \"\"However, not every prostate cancer patient may need to take them.\"\" The story states that \"\"statins are among the most widely prescribed drugs in America.\"\" The story explained that there has been prior conflicting research on this question. Because of multiple sources quoted, it does not appear that the story relied on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Statins May Lower Rates of Prostate Cancer Recurrence"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ad7dc06b40b4173ae9335aabdcdf526",
            "input": "The story says the federal government is paying about $2,250 per patient for a standard 5-day treatment course. It also notes that the approved alternative treatments are less expensive. The story points out that the benefits of peramivir have yet to be proven and that it is being offered only because some patients are not helped by approved drugs or are they are so sick they need a drug that can be given intravenously. The approved antiviral drugs are currently available only in pill or inhaled form. The story should have mentioned the side effects seen in clinical trials so far, as well as the risk that patients could suffer harms like those sometimes seen in people who have been given similar antiviral drugs. These side effects are clearly spelled out in an FDA fact sheet prepared for patients and caregivers: “The most common side effects of PERAMIVIR are: • diarrhea • nausea • vomiting • white blood cell count decreased These side effects may go away after you stop receiving PERAMIVIR. These are not all the possible side effects of PERAMIVIR. Peramivir is still being studied so it is possible that all of the risks are not known at this time. Other medicines that are used to treat people with 2009 H1N1 flu have side effects that may also happen in people who receive PERAMIVIR. These side effects include: • Signs of unusual behavior. People with the flu, especially children and adolescents, may be at a higher risk for seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior early in their illness. These events may happen after starting PERAMIVIR or may happen if the flu is not treated. These events are not common. Patients should be watched for signs of unusual behavior. • Allergic reaction or severe rash Not a lot of people have taken PERAMIVIR for 5 days or longer. Serious and unexpected side effects may happen. The side effects of getting any medicine by vein are brief pain, bleeding, bruising of the skin where the needle enters, soreness and swelling at that spot, and possible infection at that spot.”  Patient fact sheet available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/UCM187799.pdf Provider fact sheet available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/UCM187811.pdf The story points out more than once that peramivir is still being tested and that questions remain about its potential effectiveness. The story points out that the experimental drug is being offered only to patients who are already in the hospital and aren’t being helped by approved drugs. The story did not point out that one of the supporters of faster and broader access to peramivir, Dr. Richard Whitley, has long been a booster of the drug, which is being commercially developed by a spin-off of the University of Alabama department he works in. See Whitley comments in a 2005 article promoting the potential of peramivir: http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=87834 Here we also point out that the story profiled only one patient and includes a quote from the patient’s father crediting peramivir with saving his daughter’s life. The story does not give any examples of similar patients who either survived after getting approved drugs or who received peramivir and yet did not survive. Despite the clear caveats in the story, the reliance on only a single anecdote may give readers a skewed sense of the benefits of the unapproved drug. The story makes clear that the approved antiviral flu drugs are Tamiflu and Relenza. The story makes very clear that peramivir is experimental and is being offered only because some patients cannot take or aren’t helped by approved antiviral drugs. The story is quite clear that peramivir is still being tested. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New Drug for H1N1 Flu Offers Hope"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7c42fa551994778a197171519f793c1",
            "input": "The group stood in the rain outside the state Capitol Tuesday urging lawmakers to protect a state law that permits people not to vaccinate their children for religious reasons. They say that parents are best suited to make medical decisions for their children — even if the vaccines are recommended by public health experts. Some lawmakers have proposed eliminating the religious exemption amid an ongoing measles outbreak. Most of the cases seen in New York are among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities. Measles was once common in the U.S. but gradually became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s.",
            "output": [
                "Parents rally at state Capitol to keep vaccine exemptions."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5afcfb37c7314e238696362fd46d06e8",
            "input": "We were happy to see some attention to the potential cost of the stent and in comparison to the existing drug eluting stents. In addition, the story provided information on the market size at the present time. The story really does not provide a crisp rationale for a bioabsorbable stent. An important limitation of existing stents is that they are associated with increased risk of clots. The absorbable stents are designed to help with this problem, but the story doesn’t communicate this. It only refers to the possibility that the new stents may also cause clots in some people. The comments of the Abbott spokesperson aside, the reader is not provided with any idea of how often the existing stents create difficulties and why the Abbott stent will alleviate the problem. We liked the fact that the potential downsides of the bioabsorbable stent were included in the story. The story notes that the bioabsorbable stent is thicker and may require patients to be on potent anti-clotting drugs, thus exposing the patient to a risk of bleeding. The story also notes that previous studies have shown a low rate of complications. We would have liked to have seen some information about the complications seen. The results of the latest study examining the bioabsorbable stent haven’t yet been released, and the story does not delve into optimistic speculation about what the study may show. We liked the way in which the theoretical advantages are stated and that the many unknowns and questions that remain are included. The story could have provided a bit more information on the previous studies of bioabsorble stents that are alluded to in the story, especially since there are no new data to discuss. There was no disease-mongering in the story. The statements made by a company representative are counterbalanced by comments from Dr. Virmani, an independent expert in coronary artery disease and a very outspoken individual. We would have liked to have a comment or two on the parallel developments ongoing in this field. Coronary artery disease is more than a singe blockage. It is a systemic disease that is progressive unless systemic interventions are employed. Aggressive medical therapy is now viewed as an essential element to ongoing care and should have been included for completeness The story makes it clear that while the absorbable stent is available in Europe, Abbot will not be seeking approval for marketing in the United States until 2015. The idea of a bioabsorbable stent is not new or unique to Abbott. The concept was proposed in the early 1990’s and the other players are also working on their own version. Although the story alludes to the fact that competitors might seek to follow Abbott’s lead, it doesn’t convey that other companies are already quite far along in their research. Since the story quotes an unaffiliated expert in the field of cardiac pathophysiology, it is clear that it did not rely solely on a press release. We do wonder, however, why the story ran prior to the issuance of the preliminary results on the new study.",
            "output": [
                "Patients May Benefit From New Heart Device"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0a9ae7ff353a45ea96d4ab39e93612f1",
            "input": "\"It is less surprising that neither story discussed costs, given that so few stories do. But sample costs could have been obtained by calling any of the numerous medical marijuana outlets in states where it is legal. Both stories did a decent job of quantifying the benefits.This story provided more details, though, including the differences in patient experiences between the three different concentrations of marijuana. It also repeated this important bit of information: \"\"There was also no difference in the quality of life or mood scores that participants reported when they were on any of the four treatments.\"\" The story also does a great job of pointing out that the treatment duration of five days in each dosage phase is too short to judge utility for chronic pain, which is a long-term affliction. Neither story actually quantified the harms, but they both noted there were side effects. This story did a better job, though, by noting that the only dose that seemed to work also seemed to produce the most side effects and by raising the issue of long-term safety concerns. It also was the only story to answer the question that readers surely would have when reading about an illegal narcotic being used as medicine. Did these patients feel high as a result? This story says that most did not. Because of the additional information and context, the rating here is satisfactory. This story, unlike the competing WebMD piece, establishes in the first sentence — even in the first three words — that this was \"\"a small study.\"\" It then discusses the limitations of the study at several points. The second sentence says, \"\"The pain reduction was \"\"modest\"\" – less than 1 point on an 11-point scale for the strongest marijuana – and patients reported no overall difference in their quality of life based on what they smoked.\"\" The writer elegantly and succinctly described the study design — a complex randomized cross-over trial with double blinding and delved into an important feature of the study, that the subjects in retrospect may have been able to detect during which phase of their experience they inhaled placebo versus the most potent drug. This story avoids disease mongering, and, in fact, goes beyond that to note how few people actually suffer from the type of chronic pain that was the subject of the study: \"\"About 1 to 2 percent of adults in the U.S.\"\" The story quotes two outside experts, one of whom is completely independent from the study and the journal, Dr Andrea Hohmann. Beyond that, we would bet that the reporter spent more time interviewing Dr. Mark Ware, the lead researcher, or at least asked tougher questions. Because Ware is more measured in this story than in the WebMD story. He even goes so far as to say, \"\"What about long-term safety issues?\"\" he asked. \"\"These need to be considered before the drug becomes prescribable.\"\" As with the WebMD story, it would have been nice to see who funded the research. Unlike the WebMD story, this one did not point out the conflicts of interest of Dr. Henry McQuay. This story talks about a range of treatment options and even has the study’s lead author suggesting, that \"\"these patients should also be getting behavioral and physical therapy.\"\" Strangely, neither story we reviewed pointed out that marijuana is illegal in most states and in Canada, where the study took place. The story could have, at a minimum, mentioned which states have medical marijuana laws or talked about whether any other countries currently allow cannabis to be sold in pill form the way it was used in this study. The story alludes to the fact that this study \"\"supports a limited number of trials that have suggested marijuana may be helpful for people suffering from chronic pain,\"\" indicating that the treatment is not very novel at all. It would have been nice to see more context around that. The WebMD story provides a little more information in this regard. If the news release is to be believed, \"\"This is the first trial to be conducted where patients have been allowed to smoke cannabis at home and to monitor their responses, daily\"\". That could have been made clear. The story goes well beyond the release. Here’s the release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Pot may provide some chronic pain relief: study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1aa8462aaea8453f9058e761393c3c3e",
            "input": "Groundskeepers cut the grass on the first fairway following the final practice round for the 2008 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, April 9, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn From log splitters to snow blowers, the $15 billion outdoor power equipment industry sells tens of millions of oil-powered machines a year to U.S. landscapers, loggers, homeowners and a litany of other buyers. While lawn mowers get faster, snow blowers cover more ground and handheld products get lighter, their propulsion has barely changed beyond getting more mileage out of gasoline. This week, at the annual Green Industry and Equipment Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, manufacturers will once again unveil new equipment with some promise of a cleaner, greener future. “We do anticipate the trend moving in the direction of alternative energy,” said Jeff Salamon, director of marketing at MTD Products Inc. “Some customers do like the experience of being unencumbered by exhaust and gasoline.”   However, the answers offered will likely be more of the same. “Gas engines, by and large, are the most efficient way to go,” Briggs & Stratton Corp Chief Executive Todd Teske told Reuters in an interview shortly after a press conference to unveil the company’s latest engine. Briggs & Stratton sells electric mowers, but only in Australia. For decades, garden and snow machines were a poster child for harmful emissions. In fact, when auto executives were confronted by regulators for their contributions to pollution, they pointed to the lawn industry as a more offensive culprit. In the mid-1990s, that began to change as the Environmental Protection Agency began pressuring engine makers with tougher standards. “These aren’t your father’s lawn machines,” Kris Keiser, president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, said. At Briggs & Stratton, for example, Teske said emissions have been cut by 75 percent since the mid-1990s thanks to manufacturing upgrades and design improvements. Another 35 percent reduction will come in 2012. The auto and other industries are under constant pressure to raise fuel economy or tap new technologies because their customers often burn through dozens or more gallons of gasoline each month. As gas prices rise, so does the strain on pocketbooks. But outdoor equipment users don’t face these pressures. “People who use our products typically use no more than five gallons of gasoline per year,” Keiser said. This lessens the likelihood that customers will demand huge advances in fuel economy or solutions that lessen their operating expenses. Even commercial landscapers here in Louisville do not seem to be budging, despite high weekly fuel costs. Wang Xiaoguang, general manager of Wenling Leo Garden Machinery Co — which claims to be the largest exporter of Chinese garden machines — is learning this lesson first hand. Standing at his exhibition booth, he talks about Leo’s successful business of exporting electric mowers to Europe. “This customer is different,” Wang said of the U.S. market which Leo has yet to crack. “They have different standards.”   But some companies, including a handful of start-ups, aren’t waiting for customers to change their minds. Lincoln Jore, a 28-year-old entrepreneur from Ronan, Montana, launched a new “GasLess” outdoor equipment company called Core Outdoor Power on Thursday aimed at commercial landscapers and higher-end homeowners. His first product, a $249 weed whacker weighing 11 pounds, is powered by an unconventional motor and lithium-ion battery that slips in and out of the machine so it can be charged on a separate dock. It will begin appearing at independent U.S. dealers early next year. The “market has missed the mark on developing alternative energy products that meet performance expectations,” he said. By 2013, Jore plans to have a broader range of products, including a lawn mower and leaf blower that don’t use gas. But even the most established global players are finding it hard to turn the tide. Honda Motor Co sells thousands of hybrid snow blowers in Japan annually and is bringing a hybrid model to the United States. This model promises to be the Cadillac of its class, capable of clearing 83 tons of snow in an hour and sweep a city sidewalk in one pass. But, at $8,000, this machine is twice as expensive as the company’s previous top-of-the-line model, and hybrid technology is driving up the cost. Honda’s expectations for sales of the Japan-built hybrid are extremely modest, but it wants to test the market before committing to other alternative-energy models. If Wisconsin-based Ariens Co’s experience during last year’s tough winter is any indication, there may be hope for Honda. Ariens put on sale an electric snow blower priced 60 percent higher than a conventional model. The company sold out of its limited quantity of electric snow blowers amid heavy snowfall and tight industry capacity. Stihl Inc, which says it is the No. 1 seller of handheld outdoor power devices, is also branching out. It has a new lineup of chainsaws, leaf blowers, weed whackers and hedge trimmers that are powered by lithium-ion batteries. The products cost 30 percent more than conventional gas-powered versions and, while initial demand has outstripped expectations, the company said it is too early to break out specific sales results. Cub Cadet, a brand owned by MTD, has a lithium-ion-powered product line on display similar to those sold by Stihl, but demand so far is only from a “faction” of customers, Salamon said. Still, Cub Cadet is poised for a shift at some point, even if it is slow going, he noted.",
            "output": [
                "For snow and lawn machines, gasoline remains king."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1795eba16e74cec93afbb96613b157b",
            "input": "A senior administration official outlined the plan on condition of anonymity ahead of the release of Trump’s 2019 budget plan next week. Pharmaceutical companies now pay rebates to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to help their medications gain a bigger slice of the market. Insurers apply savings from rebates to keep premiums more manageable. Under Trump’s proposal, seniors covered by Medicare’s popular “Part D” prescription benefit would be able to share in the rebates for individual drugs that they purchase at the pharmacy. Trump’s budget would also expand Medicare’s “catastrophic” drug benefit so that many seniors with very high costs would not face copayments. Seniors with high drug bills are currently still responsible for 5 percent of the cost of their medications. With some new drugs costing $100,000 a year or more, patient costs add up quickly. The White House proposal would put Trump in the middle of a tug-of-war between drug companies on one side and insurers and pharmacy benefit managers on the other, with billions of dollars at stake. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers say the reason drug costs are so high is that drug companies are free to charge what the market will bear. The pharmaceutical industry says middlemen are the problem, because they keep rebates paid by drug makers instead of passing them on to patients. Insurers counter that rebates are passed on in the form of lower monthly premiums for everybody. The drug industry lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, had no immediate reaction. The Trump administration’s new proposals come on top of a long list of Medicare changes in the congressional budget deal. Medicare is the government’s premier health insurance program, covering about 60 million seniors and disabled people. Lawmakers would shift a greater share of Medicare drug costs to the pharmaceutical industry. They also want to eliminate the drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole” one year earlier than currently scheduled, in 2019 instead of 2020. “On the whole, I think this is a good bill for people with Medicare,” said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said of the congressional legislation. “This tilts toward getting a lot of good things done.” But his group opposes a provision that would raise premiums paid by the wealthiest retirees for coverage of outpatient services and prescription drugs. Here’s a look at some of the major Medicare provisions in the budget deal that Republican leaders are trying to push through Congress. Democrats are split over the overall measure, but the Medicare provisions appear to have support from both parties: — PRESCRIPTION DRUGS Originally, beneficiaries in the “doughnut hole” coverage gap were responsible for the full cost of their medications, but the Affordable Care Act passed under former President Barack Obama gradually closes the gap. The budget deal accelerates the timetable by one year, to 2019. Drug makers are already required to provide discounts to close the coverage gap, but the budget deal raises the level of company discounts, which in turn lowers the government’s costs. That should act as a brake on the monthly premiums paid by beneficiaries. “In theory when Medicare spending goes down, premiums would go down, too,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The drug industry is criticizing the proposal, saying it will mainly benefit insurance companies that act as middlemen providing the benefit. The coverage gap starts when beneficiaries hit $3,750 in total drug costs. — CAPS REPEALED ON REHAB The budget deal permanently repeals limits on therapy services commonly used by stroke patients and people recovering from major surgeries. Those services include physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. In previous years, Congress had routinely held off on applying the caps. Groups including AARP were pressing for a full repeal. It takes effect this year. __HIGHER PREMIUMS FOR WEALTHIEST RETIREES Premiums for outpatient coverage and prescription drugs would rise for about 1 million wealthy seniors with annual incomes of at least $500,000 for an individual, or $750,000 for a couple filing jointly. Hiking premiums on the well-to-do is an idea that has bipartisan support among lawmakers, but advocates worry that Congress will ultimately start raising costs for middle-class seniors as well. __TELEMEDICINE AND CHRONIC CARE The budget deal expands Medicare’s ability to pay for telemedicine in a wide variety of situations, including for patients with stroke symptoms. It also incorporates a bipartisan Senate bill that is intended to improve care coordination for patients with chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. —COST CONTROL BOARD REPEALED The deal would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a Medicare cost-control agency authorized under the Affordable Care Act. It was controversial from the beginning, and the Obama White House did not move forward to set up the board.",
            "output": [
                "Trump aims to reduce drug costs under Medicare."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88f43e188d4d4f71a0e43099ce7737d4",
            "input": "Officials in Cumberland County say the Department of Health was told Saturday that a person affiliated with the university was hospitalized with a “possible diagnosis of a bacterial meningitis infection.” They did not say if the ill individual is a student. Officials say they are coordinating with the school and the state to provide antibiotics to anyone who had direct close contact with the individual. The university sent a campus-wide notification Saturday. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The bacteria that cause the infection can spread through kissing, coughing and sharing beverages. Signs and symptoms of infection include high fever, headache, stiff neck and a rash.",
            "output": [
                "Officials investigate possible meningitis case at NC college."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e37af44ec9ed4aefa7cc68823f48a3e0",
            "input": "Images that appeared on the Internet in early 2005 were photographs of a 10-month-old Egyptian girl named Manar Maged who was born with craniopagus parasiticus, a very rare birth defect that develops when an embryo starts to split into identical twins but does not complete the process. Often the second, undeveloped twin forms as an extra limb or trunk, but in Magar’s extremely unusual case it formed as a second head attached to her skull. The twin could blink and smile but was not capable of independent life:    On 19 February 2005, Manar underwent a 13-hour operation performed by a 13-member surgical team to remove her conjoined twin. As of  mid-April 2005, Reuters reported that Manar had been transferred out of intensive care and was eating normally:  “She has been transferred to ordinary care two weeks ago and she is showing good signs of improvement as she can eat normally without the aid of a tube,” said Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in the paediatric intensive care at Benha Children’s Hospital, north of Cairo. She said Manar’s mother was allowed to have direct contact with her baby after being separated for almost two months after the operation on Feb. 19. “Manar is bonding well with her mother,” Alfy said. Doctors have said Manar’s case was extremely rare and just surviving the operation was a big achievement. “I think she will be able to leave hospital as soon as we feel that her mother is capable of taking care of her,” said Alfy, adding that Maged’s medication was being reduced. Manar had five subsequent surgeries to insert valves to drain excess fluid from her brain. Unfortunately, on 25 March 2006, a little over a year after her original surgery, and just days shy of what would have been her 2nd birthday, Manar Maged died. During the few hours she was in the hospital prior to her death, she was found to be suffering from a brain infection, pneumonia, and heart trouble. Her condition deteriorated rapidly after she failed to respond to medication.",
            "output": [
                "Photographs show an infant Egyptian girl with a second head."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b30230ad6ceb4e60bddd2600153499c5",
            "input": "In October 2019, during a month celebrated annually since the 1980s as Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Snopes received inquiries about the authenticity of a quote attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump. It was shared in meme form on social media as follows:  “Those thought to have Down syndrome also risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth. Every human life possesses immeasurable value, and my Administration will continue to embrace and defend the inherent truth that all of God’s children should be loved and cherished.” The quote is correctly attributed. It consists of two sentences drawn from Trump’s Oct. 1 presidential message on Down Syndrome Awareness Month, presented in full below: Presidential Message on Down Syndrome Awareness Month, 2019 Issued on: October 1, 2019 During Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Melania and I join in celebrating the lives and achievements of Americans with Down syndrome. We thank individuals with Down syndrome for their incredible contributions to their families, their communities, and our great Nation, and we pledge to empower them to achieve their full potential. My Administration also renews its commitment to bring attention to and a deeper understanding of the challenges these remarkable Americans face, including their struggle against discrimination. Those thought to have Down syndrome also risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth. Each year, approximately 6,000 babies are born in the United States with Down syndrome. Though these newborns will experience many challenges, American innovation and research are helping these beautiful souls lead independent, full, and happy lives. My Administration is dedicated to fostering opportunities for persons with Down syndrome, so they are better able to participate in our workforce and pursue their dreams. Every human life possesses immeasurable value, and my Administration will continue to embrace and defend the inherent truth that all of God’s children should be loved and cherished. This month is an important opportunity for Americans to reaffirm our commitment to creating a society that better appreciates and respects the dignity of life at all of its beautiful and miraculous stages. We must devote our efforts to ensure that the United States continues to exhibit reverence for human life—both born and unborn. Together, we can create an inclusive Nation, one where Americans with Down syndrome are embraced in schools, workplaces, and communities—one where discrimination can no longer cast a shadow of inequality. Our country is incredibly enriched by Americans with Down syndrome. As a Nation, we are inspired by the spirit and exuberant joy with which these treasured Americans live each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 6,000 babies (1 in 700) are born in the U.S. each year with Down syndrome, a genetic condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. It affects how an infant’s body and brain develop, potentially creating both mental and physical challenges for persons born with the condition.",
            "output": [
                "\"U.S. President Donald Trump said people with Down syndrome \"\"risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-158e82ae099e4997935babd306b1bc48",
            "input": "Samoa declared a national emergency last month and mandated that all 200,000 people living on the South Pacific island nation get vaccinated. The government has closed all schools and banned children from public gatherings. In all, 53 people have died in the outbreak since late October, including one adult and two older teenagers. Most of those who have died have been babies and young infants, including 23 children aged less than 1 and 25 children aged between 1 and 4. The government said more than 1,100 people have been admitted to hospitals since the outbreak began and about 180 people remain hospitalized. Among those hospitalized are 19 children who are in critical condition. Samoan authorities believe the virus was first spread by a traveler from New Zealand. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that her country was doing everything it could to help curb the epidemic, including sending more than 50 medical professionals and thousands of vaccines to Samoa. Other countries including Britain have also sent teams and supplies. Ardern said the natural curve of infection rates meant that “sometimes things can be worse before they are better.” Figures from the World Health Organization and UNICEF indicate that fewer than 30% of Samoan infants were immunized last year. That low rate was exacerbated by a medical mishap that killed two babies who were administered a vaccine that had been incorrectly mixed, causing wider delays and distrust in the vaccination program. The government said about 33,000 people were vaccinated before last month and since then, another 58,000 people have been vaccinated. The World Health Organization has set a target of wiping out measles from most of the world by next year. It says the disease is entirely preventable thanks to a safe vaccine that has been in use since the 1960s, and that measles deaths worldwide decreased by 84% between 2000 and 2016 to about 90,000 annually thanks to better immunization.",
            "output": [
                "50 children killed by measles in Samoa as outbreak worsens."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5bc667ca56854adcaf809d4a83f2a273",
            "input": "Attorney Will Managhan filed court records saying 27-year-old Tanner Hosek planned to plead guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide by reason of mental disorder. An autopsy found 65-year-old Eric Hosek had been stabbed 10 times. Tanner Hosek’s change-of-plea hearing is set for Nov. 7. He is expected to appear via video from the Montana State Hospital, where he has been committed since last year. Court records say Tanner Hosek has long struggled with mental health issues and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was a ward of his parents as the time of his father’s death. Linda Hosek told investigators her son had been in a psychotic state for two weeks prior to the stabbing.",
            "output": [
                "Whitefish man reaches plea agreement in father’s stabbing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a2b229fca1d040ad85091ed4e7da0d08",
            "input": "In February 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about remarks attributed to U.S. presidential candidate and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, in which the billionaire businessman appeared to say he could teach “anybody” to be a farmer, but that information technology required greater intelligence. On Feb. 16, Wisconsin Republican official Anna Kelly posted a 60-second clip of Bloomberg to Twitter, writing: “Billionaire Bloomberg claims he ‘could teach anybody to be a farmer,’ even implying that farmers don’t have the same level of ‘skill set’ or ‘grey matter’ as folks in tech jobs. So demeaning, elitist, and out-of-touch it’s appalling.” Her post was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump. The younger Trump added: “Bloomberg wouldn’t last 3 seconds as a farmer… you can tell he really hates regular hardworking Americans. He will never fight for them because he couldn’t care less about them.” In the clip, Bloomberg can be heard saying: “I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]: you dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn.” Later, he contrasts the nature of that work with that of the “information economy”: “[…] The information economy is fundamentally different because it’s built around replacing people with technology and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze, and that is a whole degree level different. You have to have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter.” Bloomberg wouldn’t last 3 seconds as a farmer… but like his comments on minorities, you can tell he really hates regular hardworking Americans. He will never fight for them because he couldn’t care less about them. https://t.co/03CmskF5Vn — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 17, 2020  The 60-second clip, and Bloomberg’s remarks, garnered widespread coverage and prompted an angry response from some right-leaning observers. In an interview with Fox News, South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem accused Bloomberg of exhibiting “pompous ignorance” in his comments. The video footage contained in Kelly’s Twitter post, and subsequently shared widely online, was authentic and not doctored. Although clearly it was cut from a much longer video, its removal from its original context did not substantively alter its tone or sense, nor deprive the viewer of context which might significantly change or impinge upon their understanding of Bloomberg’s remarks. As such, the claim that Bloomberg had said he could “teach anybody to be a farmer” and that information technology work required “more gray matter” was accurate. The original video was recorded at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School on Nov. 17, 2016. Bloomberg appeared there as part of the school’s “Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series.” The full video can be viewed on YouTube, below. When he made his remarks about farming and technology, Bloomberg was responding to a question, placed by an audience member, about the role of business leaders in addressing or alleviating public perceptions of economic inequality, especially in the context of Trump’s 2016 election victory, which had taken place only days earlier. The following is a complete transcript of that question, and Bloomberg’s full response. The segment shown in the 60-second clip is in bold type: Ewen Hollingsworth: Ewen Hollingsworth, doing my MBA here. Mr. Bloomberg, Trump got in on a great sense of inequality, not just in the United States but across the world. There’s been a divide, and there’s an increasing divide, between the haves and the have-nots. What do you think business leaders — what’s their responsibility to addressing that divide and uniting, perhaps, the central America [read: ‘Middle America’] and the coasts? Mike Bloomberg: Well, number one, I question whether you’re right. We have, in the last four decades, cut poverty in half in the world, if you measure poverty by people who go to bed without a roof over their head, a meal in their stomach and [who] can’t read. So society is making some progress. Life expectancy is going up, we’re [inaudible] cure more diseases, and we’re about to eradicate — thanks to [Bill] Gates and a little bit of money from us — eradicate polio. So we’re doing some things to help. Number two, the bottom 20% is a lot better off than the bottom 20% in the past. The bottom 20% in America — the bottom 20% in New York City, 80% have cars, 30% have two cars, virtually everybody has a cellphone, they all have 72-inch TV screens and sort of thing. So there is some of this, so you’ve got to be careful in this. And, incidentally, before we address the basic issue, if you measure poverty by the top 1% versus the bottom 20%, you get very different numbers than if you measure it by the two to 20% down from the top here, and the bottom 20%. Because of very low interest rates, you have inflated values of fixed assets, which are almost always owned by the very wealthy, and so, they’ve shot up — maybe it’s the top 5% — but if you adjusted for that, it’s not as disparate as you would think. So that’s what the real world is. We have a problem of income inequality, nevertheless. I would argue what’s more important is we have educational inequality. There was a story on the front page of the FT [Financial Times] today, I think it was, that said there’s nobody from the poor districts of London that comes to this great school, one of the great universities of the whole world, and zero from poor neighborhoods, at least I assume the statistics are right and they didn’t just cherry-pick one neighborhood. So that is more important than net worth because that says what the future is going to be for the young people. Having said all of that, you can fix the inequality. You take money from the rich and you give it to the poor. We’ve always done that, we have a tax system, generally, around the world, that is graduated at the top end, progressive tax system, takes more money from the rich per capita and redistributes it. Tuition in a university, in America certainly, is a Robin Hood plan. You want — the kids are always on the wrong side of that, they always want lower tuition, no you don’t, you want to raise tuition in the university, as high as you can, so the wealthy will contribute more money, and then use the extra money to subsidize those kids who have no money. If you reduce the amount of money you take in from the rich, it’s the poor that get hurt, not helped. So some of these things are a little bit counterintuitive. But you take the money from the rich, you give it to the poor, you do it for altruistic reasons, you do it because you don’t want the poor on your doorstep and there are a variety of things. But I think what you’ve got to understand is the people who are getting the subsidy want the dignity of a job. They want the dignity of being responsible for their family and being able to take care of it. And that’s the conundrum we’re going to have here because technology is reducing the ability to give them the jobs. We just — more and more, if you think about it, the agrarian society lasted 3,000 years, and we could teach processes. I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn. You could learn that. Then you have 300 years of the industrial society. You put the piece of metal on the lathe, you turn the crank in the direction of the arrow and you can have a job. And we created a lot of jobs. [At] one point, 98% of the world worked in agriculture, today it’s 2%, in the United States. Now comes the information economy. And the information economy is fundamentally different because it’s built around replacing people with technology, and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze. And that is a whole degree level different. You have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter. It’s not clear that teachers can teach or the students can learn. So the challenge for society is to find jobs for these people — who we can take care of giving them a roof over their head and a meal in their stomach, and a cellphone and a car and that sort of thing. But the thing that’s the most important, that will stop them from setting up the guillotines some day, is the dignity of a job. And nobody’s yet come up with a simple solution, in this day and age, to how we create jobs, particularly for people already out of school. I can tell you how to fix the school system so that the kids come out with better skills, more ability to appreciate life and to work collaboratively and collectively and read the instruction manual and follow orders. But it’s very hard to figure out where the jobs they’re going to get will come from, and for those that are already out in the work force, to get them back into the system and teach them new skill sets, is almost impossible. It’s very very hard to do and nobody’s really shown they could it. There’s individual cases where you can retrain them, I don’t want to overstate it. But the coal miner I talked about in West Virginia is not going to move, and his family, out to California where the solar jobs are, and even if he got there he’s not going to get those jobs. Nobody’s going to hire an older person. It’s fascinating to me — older people are always willing to hire younger people; younger people are not willing to hire older people. I think it’s just they’re afraid of older people that may have skill sets they don’t have, and you know, they make fun of them, they say they’re not able to change and think — none of those things are true, there are plenty of older people who are really smart and really can do new things if you gave them the opportunity. But there’s a discrimination from young managers to hire older people. It’s reasonably well documented I think, and certainly observable. So your basic premise is, it’s not that bad, it’s better than it was before, but it’s a big problem and the problem is not the redistribution of wealth, it is the job where you’re going every day. And you say ‘What’s business’s responsibility?’ It’s not business’s job. Business’s job is to take the investors’ money and to maximize the money by creating products that the public wants and are willing to pay for. And you can’t say to them they should go and create jobs deliberately. You can have a tax policy that encourages that, and that’s one of the things you should do, and then use the collective wisdom of all of the heads of companies, to create small pockets, and it adds up to a lot of jobs. That’s what I would do right away. Your taxes are lower the more people you hire, and higher the fewer people you hire. And let capitalism work, because government’s not going to be able to solve the problem directly. But short of that, who’s going to create the jobs? Well if it’s not industry, there’s only one group left to do it. And so the next time you want more efficient government, think twice. I’m not so sure you do want more efficient government. Back in the ’30s, we created an inefficient government. We put people to work building infrastructure we needed. They weren’t maybe the — you could have had other people do it more efficiently but we wanted to create jobs and we did, and it took us — World War II was really what took us out of the Depression, but it got us through the Depression. And maybe that is the answer, that we’re going to say ‘government’s got to create no-show jobs,’ or jobs that you have to show but that aren’t needed. We can pass a law that says you’ve got to move all the paper from the left to the right side of the building every day, and back again. Okay. And then the government are going to hire people to do it. But it’s better than people being out on the streets, desperate for a job, not being able to find it, [destabilizing] society.”",
            "output": [
                "\"In 2016 Mike Bloomberg said he \"\"could teach anybody to be a farmer\"\" but information technology required \"\"a lot more gray matter.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f07fb0a89d0248ba95c19ef7f681b290",
            "input": "\"Clifford Clark, weighing 485 pounds waits in line for an open casting call for season 11 of \"\"The Biggest Loser\"\" television show in Broomfield, Colorado July 17, 2010. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the United States by 2030. Some 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women are now obese in the United States, according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York. They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet. In Britain, obesity rates will balloon to between 41-48 percent for men and 35-43 percent for women by 2030 from what is now 26 percent for both sexes, they warned. “An extra 668,000 cases of diabetes, 461,000 of heart disease and 130,000 cancer cases would result,” they wrote. Due to overeating and insufficient exercise, obesity is now a growing problem everywhere and experts are warning about its ripple effects on health and healthcare spending. Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various cancers, hypertension, high cholesterol, among others. Because of obesity, the United States can expect to spend an extra 2.6 percent on its overall healthcare bill, or $66 billion per year, while Britain’s bill will grow by 2 percent, or 2 billion per year, Wang and colleagues warned. In Japan and China, 1 in 20 women is obese, compared with 1 in 10 in the Netherlands, 1 in 4 in Australia and 7 in 10 in Tonga, according to another paper led by Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks of the WHO Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries. “Increased supply of cheap, tasty, energy-dense food, improved food distribution and marketing, and the strong economic forces driving consumption and growth are the key drivers of the obesity epidemic,” Swinburn and Sacks wrote. The health experts urged governments to lead the fight in reversing the obesity epidemic. “These include taxes on unhealthy food and drink (such as sugar sweetened beverages) and restrictions on food and beverage TV advertising to children,” wrote a team led by Steven Gortmaker at the Harvard School of Public Health, which published the fourth paper in the series.\"",
            "output": [
                "Obesity to worsen, weigh heavily on healthcare costs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e4c7bfd50dbe42749ce0ac01b071da82",
            "input": "They said post-menopausal women who took the Novartis AG NOVN.VX drug Femara anywhere from one to seven years after finishing a five-year regimen of tamoxifen reduced the risk the cancer would come back by 63 percent. “What our results have shown for the first time in breast cancer treatment history is that taking an anti-estrogen anywhere along that line appears to have a dramatic reduction in the risk of recurrence,” said Dr. Paul Goss of Massachusetts General Hospital, whose study appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The drug, known generically as letrozole, cut the risk of cancer spreading to other areas of the body by 61 percent, and cut the risk that a tumor would develop in the unaffected breast by more than 80 percent. Letrozole belongs to a new class of breast cancer drugs known as aromatase inhibitors, which block the production of estrogen that can lead to cancer. It is recommended for use in women past menopause. The most widely used estrogen-blocking drug is tamoxifen, which was shown to cut the risk of cancer recurrence by close to 50 percent. But benefits of the pill, sold by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) under the brand Nolvadex and also sold generically, fall significantly after five years. Tamoxifen also raises the risk of death from strokes and endometrial cancer. But more than half of breast cancer recurrences and deaths occur five or more years after completing tamoxifen. “What is important for doctors and patients to recognize unfortunately is that the risk of recurrence of this type of breast cancer does not end at five years,” Goss said in a telephone interview. “The risk continues and the benefit remains substantial of starting late on therapy,” Goss said. Goss’ findings are based on an analysis of 1,579 women who decided to switch to letrozole from a placebo after the trial was halted. Their results were compared to about 800 women who stayed on the placebo. Almost three years after the study ended, those who began letrozole had only a 2 percent risk of tumor recurrence, compared with almost 5 percent in those choosing no treatment. Goss said the findings were limited by the fact that women made the decision about whether they would take the drug or not. Nevertheless, he said the findings are strong and likely to change how women with breast cancer are treated. “The risk that hormone-dependent breast cancer will recur continues indefinitely, and our results imply that aromatase inhibition is effective whenever initiated,” said Goss, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School. He said the study looked at the effects of letrozole only, but said the results will likely apply to all aromatase inhibitors. Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) makes an aromatase inhibitor called exemestane, which it sells under the brand Aromasin, and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) makes anastrozole, sold under the brand Arimidex. Another study in the journal showed that taking another exemestane soon after completing tamoxifen treatment reduced the risk of recurrence by 56 percent. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women after lung cancer. It kills 500,000 people globally every year.",
            "output": [
                "Femara Cuts Cancer Recurrence Even if Started Late."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc0d35ced7c44147b34c161f27e49fae",
            "input": "\"The article provides costs of \"\"regular\"\" colonoscopy and that of CT colography. The article does state that \"\"about the same number of advanced polyps\"\" were found in each group (comparing virtual to regular colonoscopy). It then goes on to give absolute numbers of people with an advanced polyp (the total number of people within groups is also given so that an absolute percentage could be calculated). The story also describes how many people required a regular colonoscopy after virtual colonoscopy and how many people decided to have their polyps watched. The story provides harms of \"\"regular\"\" colonscopy, including the number of people in the study who experienced a perforated bowel and those who also required surgery to repair it. Less objective harms, like embarrassment or inconvenience, are not reported, but are also harder to measure. For virtual colonoscopy, the story includes a reference to a concern that radiation from the CT scanner might be a harm. It also implies that because virtual colonoscopy did not measure smaller growths, this could be a harm if that growth somehow went on to develop into cancer. The story also mentions that a bowel prep is needed for the virtual test, which is often a drawback for people. The story does not mention that it’s quite possible and even likely that if a regular colonoscopy is needed, it will probably be done on a different day requiring the prep to be repeated. While the study arranged to have these performed on the same day, this is not likely in the real world. The article doesn’t mention the type of study that the findings are based on. This study was not a randomized trial, which is important, and is not discussed. Readers don’t know how strong these findings are or are not. The information provided by the article about the condition in general is correct and not exaggerated. However, the article could have been improved if a discussion about how much colon cancer screening could benefit an average person was included. While it’s true that colon cancer screening can reduce the chance of getting or dying from colon cancer, most people aren’t aware that the absolute reduction in risk is quite small. For some, this relatively small benefit may not be worth the risks or inconvenience of the procedure. As above. Multiple sources are used, at least two of whom don’t appear to be affiliated with the research. The story also cites potential conflicts of interest of the researchers. No other screening options are discussed (like FOBT, sigmoidoscopy, or a combination of the two). Additionally, the option of not screening is always valid when describing a screening program and was not mentioned. The article states virtual colonoscopy (or CT colography) is currently available at some hospitals and centers. The article also describes that many, if not most, insurers don’t currently pay for this. The story doesn’t provide information on when virtual colonoscopy started to be used. But, perhaps more importantly, it does make it clear that virtual colonoscopy would be a new option for colon cancer screening with new evidence. Since there a sources of information not affiliated with the research, it appears this story does not rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Studies endorse ‘virtual colonoscopy’"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-657c4c9867624580ab41a8e2782d948b",
            "input": "The state Bureau of Public Health says its Office of Medical Cannabis will open applications on Dec. 19. Citing a state news release, news outlets report applications are due by February 18 and will be online only. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the medical marijuana program created in 2017 was meant launch in July. Delays included the state treasure’s banking vendors refusing to process marijuana funds, per conflicts with federal law. A workaround passed this year allowed credit unions to step in. The cannabis office’s director, Jason Frame, previously said he wanted patients to have access to the drug before the summer of 2021.",
            "output": [
                "W Virginia to open medical marijuana business applications."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f600664f3dcf447d8b1cebeb5b57d1a3",
            "input": "With a bumper crop of blacklegged ticks possible this season, researchers in a Lyme disease-plagued part of New York’s Hudson Valley are tackling tick problems across entire neighborhoods with fungal sprays and bait boxes. The $8.8 million, five-year project aims to find out if treating 24 neighborhoods in Dutchess County for ticks, also known as deer ticks, can significantly reduce cases of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. “We want to do a better job and actually remove the threat from the neighborhoods, from the places where people are actually exposed to infected ticks,” said Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of New York City. Dutchess County is a patchwork of forests, rolling farmland and thick residential developments that has long been a hotbed of Lyme disease. Tick checks are a common end-of-day routine here, as are inspections for the red, target-shaped rashes associated with tick bites. People spray on tick repellents, treat their clothes with insecticide and even spray their yards. But Ostfeld notes that spraying individual lawns has not proved effective in fighting Lyme disease. So he’s scaling up from one backyard to many. The Tick Project involves more than 900 families in neighborhoods that consist of about 30 to 50 participants. Yards are being treated in the spring and early summer with a fungal spray that kills ticks. Researchers also are deploying bait boxes to attract rodents. An insecticide in the box kills any ticks on mice and chipmunks, two animals largely responsible for infecting ticks with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Researchers check in with families every two weeks in season to see whether anyone in the house, including cats and dogs, had ticks on them over the period. The Tick Project is funded mostly through a $5 million grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, created by the hedge fund manager and his wife. Ostfeld said 2021 is set aside for data analysis, thought they will have some sense of early results within a year. Ostfeld would not divulge which neighborhoods are involved or who is participating, citing the need for privacy and of keeping good relations with participants. Edward Blundell, mayor of the village of Red Hook, mentioned during an interview that he had agreed to take part in the study. While he felt he could take personal steps to protect himself from Lyme disease, he would be satisfied if something comes out of the research. “Let’s let the scientists look at this and give them a mini-lab site here, so we felt our yard could be the mini-site,” Blundell said. Tick researchers say such area-wide studies are complex and difficult to do. They are costly. It can be hard to get all the needed permissions. And variabilities in tick densities over study areas can make the science challenging. Thomas Mather, director of the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island, said executing a well-designed study large enough to produce valid results is a “Holy Grail” of tick researchers. Phillip Baker, executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, said the neighborhood approach sounded like a good one but noted that ticks are a resilient parasite. “Ticks have been around for a long, long time,” Baker said, “and there’s no real easy approach to get rid of them.”",
            "output": [
                "Tick towns: Researchers target neighborhoods in Lyme effort."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72085c00a1e04550b7a0d8daeab8dbb5",
            "input": "State environmental and health officials said Tuesday a second mosquito sample trapped at Chapman Swamp in Westerly, Rhode Island tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis and mosquitoes trapped in Tiverton are the first to test positive for West Nile in the state this year. The state said last week that a man over 50 from West Warwick tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis— the first human case in Rhode Island since 2010— and a six-month-old horse in Westerly tested positive. The state has begun trapping mosquitoes in five more communities, for a total of 23 municipalities. Aerial spraying is scheduled to begin at Chapman Swamp Thursday, weather permitting.",
            "output": [
                "State reports new findings of mosquito-borne illnesses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b216b57cd37e4002946c1585448a2a1e",
            "input": "Legislators signed off on the special voting provisions for the 2020 elections shortly before their deadline to pass bills in an unusual session that was interrupted for several weeks because of concerns about the virus that causes COVID-19. Voters currently can request absentee ballots only if they provide an excuse for why they can’t vote in person. Illness is one option, but the law isn’t explicit on whether the illness excuse covers healthy voters concerned about catching or spreading COVID-19. Under the bill sent to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, people considered at-risk of the coronavirus — those age 65 and older, living in a long-term care facility or with certain existing health problems — could vote absentee without needing to have their ballot notarized. Anyone else could cast a mail-in ballot but would need to get it notarized. The bill passed with bipartisan support but received mixed reviews from both parties. Republicans said it doesn’t include enough restrictions to ensure election security, and Democrats said it has too many rules. “When you are not wanting to go to the polls because you are either ill or fearful of becoming ill, but then you have to go get a notary to be able to not go to the polls, it doesn’t really fix the problem,” House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade said. Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Friday said he no longer supported the measure after lawmakers stripped a contested photo ID requirement out of it. Lawmakers returned to the Capitol to work on the state budget and other policies days before Parson lifted his statewide stay-at-home order in early May. Members of the public were allowed in the Capitol to watch debate but were encouraged to stay home, prompting concern from some lawmakers about lack of public involvement in crafting major policy changes. Both lawmakers and visitors were quizzed on their health and had their temperatures checked before they could enter the building. “The work that we did here today I think was important enough that legislators made the decision that they were going to go ahead and come to the building to do work,” Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr said. “We understand the risks involved.” Few lawmakers wore masks in the final days of session, and legislators frequently sat close to one another to vote. Lawmakers also faced pressure to act on crime legislation following a bloody 2019 and a violent start to 2020. The deaths of two men on Tuesday night were Kansas City’s 63rd and 64th homicides this year. St. Louis police reported 53 homicides as of Friday. A bill headed to Parson’s desk would create the crime of vehicle hijacking, expand the number of crimes that are considered dangerous felonies, ban probation for some crimes, and broaden what’s considered a criminal street gang, along with increased penalties for taking part in gang activities. “This is going to help get the most violent habitual offenders off of the streets,” Republican Rep. Nick Schroer said. The bill sparked outrage from House lawmakers who said it could reverse a drop in the state’s prison population following a bipartisan push for criminal justice reform in recent years. “It doesn’t make us safer,” Republican Rep. Shamed Dogan said of longer prison sentences. “It sounds good in campaign ads, but it does not actually increase public safety. This has been shown time and time and time and time again by research.” Longstanding efforts to make Missouri the last state to adopt a prescription drug database to track addictive medications failed. Republican skeptics in the Senate expressed no interest in compromising on the House-backed bill Friday after a feud between the two GOP-led chambers. At issue was a House provision that could thwart efforts to build a wind-energy power line that was slipped onto another Senate bill without senators noticing. Senators on Thursday hurriedly revoked a bill they had just passed, a highly unusual move, when they caught the amendment. Few bills made it across the finish line during lawmaker’s roughly five month session, about 50 compared to more than 90 last year. The Republican-led Legislature this week did succeed in sending a new redistricting plan to the ballot that will ask voters to undo key parts of another redistricting measure they passed less than two years ago. Supporters wanted to accomplish the move this year because new state House and Senate districts will be drawn in 2021. ___ Associated Press writer David A. Lieb contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Missouri lawmakers OK mail-in voting on final day of work."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6899d89fe21e4c04a85073de678daf5f",
            "input": "\"Raising backyard chickens has been satisfying some foodies’ affection for the uber-local egg and lower-fat meat in urban areas, including metro Atlanta, for about a decade. Now the Centers for Disease Control is warning of a downside to the popular trend: salmonella outbreaks traced to some backyard owners kissing and cuddling their flocks. The CDC findings drew some media attention last month, and a PolitiFact reader who heard the health alert on NPR’s \"\"Morning Edition\"\" on July 16 asked us to dig deeper. We went directly to the source, the CDC, which is headquartered in Atlanta and has been investigating four recent Salmonella outbreaks that, as of July 29, had infected 218 people in 41 states. Five of them were in Georgia, 19 were in Alabama, 5 were in North Carolina, 11 were in South Carolina and 6 were in Tennessee. Fifty of the 218 people have required hospitalization for Salmonella, the major symptoms of which are usually diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. No deaths have been reported, CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said. So how exactly do CDC officials know that some of these cases are due to backyard breeders kissing and cuddling live poultry? Dr. Megin Nichols, a veterinarian with the CDC, told PolitiFact the agency has been tracking upward trends in both the number of outbreaks and people infected in the past five years and has been working to trace their causes. \"\"We’ve been trying to interview these people to find out how they are getting sick,\"\" Nichols said. \"\"We are finding a certain proportion that are due to very close contact -- something that surprised us here at the CDC.\"\" Salmonella is a germ that lives naturally in the intestine of chickens, ducks and many other animals. It doesn’t typically make the birds sick, but they can transmit the germs in their droppings and on their feet, feathers and beaks, even when they look clean and healthy, the CDC says. The germs also can get on their cages, coops, feed, water dishes, hay, plants and the area where they live and roam. In addition, the bacteria can rest on the hands, shoes and clothes of those who work around the birds or play with them. And Nichols told us that among the people who became ill between 2008 and 2014 due to baby poultry exposure, 49 percent, or 196 out of 400, reported snuggling and holding baby birds. Another 13 percent, or about 53, reported kissing baby birds, she said. Those people, many of whom were young children, became sick through fecal oral contact, Nichols said. Those same interviews also showed that about 46 percent of backyard breeders are keeping live poultry in their homes, she said. Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback findings have linked the most recent four outbreaks of human Salmonella infections to contact with chicks, ducklings, and other live poultry from multiple hatcheries. Interviews have been conducted with 140 of those who were recently ill and, 117, or 84 percent, reported contact with live poultry in the week before their illness began, according to the CDC website. Additional interviews to determine whether that contact included snuggling and kissing have yet to be conducted, Nichols said. An increasing number of people around the country are choosing to keep live poultry - mostly chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese as part of a greener, healthier lifestyle. Local governments, including several in metro Atlanta, have changed their zoning ordinances in recent years to accommodate the trend, and groups of backyard poultry buffs meet regularly in the region to talk chicken. Backyard owners have told reporters at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the benefits include fresh eggs and meat, a built-in source of fertilizer for their gardens and ready-made bug-killers. Some say they give their chickens names, the freedom to roam the house and yard and cuddle and coddle them like family pets. The larger problem According to the CDC, salmonella, named for an American scientist who discovered the bacteria, is estimated to cause a million illnesses in the United States a year, with 19,000 hospitalizations and 380 deaths. Most people develop diarrhea and the other conditions within 12 to 72 hour after infection and recover without treatment in four to seven days. It has the potential to turn deadly if it spreads from the intestines to the bloodstream, and then to other body sites. Prompt treatment with antibiotics is critical, and the elderly, infants, and people with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness. In the largest recent outbreak, which occurred between March 2013 and July 2014, more than 600 people in 29 states and Puerto Rico were infected with seven outbreak strains. The outbreak was associated with one brand of chicken, which led to a company recall of more than 40,000 pounds of chicken products, according to the CDC. To prevent salmonella infections related to backyard farming, the CDC’s Nichols encourages several common-sense rules. These include thorough handwashing after contact with the chicken, keeping live poultry out of the home, and avoiding snuggling, close contact with the birds’ beaks or other close exposure that would allow ingestion of bacteria. She will be one of the experts featured in a webinar on the topic of practicing backyard bird biosecurity at 7p.m. Thursday. Our conclusion The CDC has issued a warning against kissing or snuggling backyard chickens. It follows four recent Salmonella outbreaks that, as of July 29, had infected 218 people in 41 states. Five of them were in Georgia. Interviews have been conducted with 140 of the ill and 117, or 84 percent, reported contact with live poultry in the week before their illness began, according to the CDC website. The CDC also has evidence from outbreaks between 2008 to 2014. In that period, they found that of the people who became infected with salmonella due to baby poultry exposure, 49 percent, or 196 out of 400 people, reported snuggling and holding baby birds. Another 13 percent, or about 53, reported kissing baby birds.. That’s cause to sound the alarm.\"",
            "output": [
                "Caution: Kissing and cuddling chickens can be hazardous to your health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-196197e72df64808bf47257a661b99b5",
            "input": "\"Indiana’s Religious Freedom law quickly turned into a political and economic minefield for Republican Gov. Mike Pence. One activist group, US Uncut, took the moment to cast Pence as a man who defended religion while acting in ways that fell short of Christian charity. It posted this image on its Facebook page, which has since been shared nearly 70,000 times, comparing Pence to Jesus:  We wanted to look at the claim that Pence provided \"\"zero state funding for homeless shelters.\"\" The 2014 Indiana homeless population was 5,971, according to the state’s annual census. Of that population, officials counted 5,568 living in emergency shelters while 403 were found living on the street. Overall, the homeless count was down 12 percent from 2013, officials said. We looked at Pence’s most recent budget and found no money for emergency shelters. Under the line item for homelessness prevention, Pence requested zero dollars in both years of the biennial budget. There is $1.17 million in homeless assistance grants, but those are federal dollars. They come from the McKinney-Vento program administered through the Housing and Urban Development Department. There is also $1 million in mental health services for the homeless, but those too come from Washington. \"\"There has never been state funding directly for homeless shelters or programs,\"\" said Brad Meadows, communications director for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Meadows added that towns and cities have the option to spend local money to care for the homeless. However, that would still not be state dollars. Barb Anderson is director of Haven House, a homeless shelter in Jeffersonville, Ind., and a long-time homeless advocate. \"\"We’ve tried to get state funding for shelters for over 25 years,\"\" Anderson told PunditFact. \"\"We’ve stayed open, but no one’s taken a salary in four years.\"\" So Pence has not requested funding homeless shelters, but it’s worth noting that’s far from unique in Indiana. The state budget ultimately is the work product of the Legislature, not the governor. And the lack of state funding has been consistent under Republican and Democratic leadership. (Indiana had Democratic governors from 1989-2005, before electing Republican Mitch Daniels and then Pence.) Michael Stoops, director of community organizing with the advocacy group National Coalition for the Homeless, told PunditFact that Indiana follows the pattern of many rural and southern states. \"\"They are getting federal homeless dollars and passing them through to the cities and counties,\"\" Stoops said. \"\"They don’t spend any of their own money.\"\" We contacted staff at Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute and the Indianapolis Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, and they, too, could not identify any state money going toward emergency shelters. Indiana’s State Homeless Planning Council says on its webpage that the priority is on \"\"systematically preventing and ending homelessness for those most vulnerable in our communities.\"\" The Council writes, \"\"Merely managing homelessness is in no one's best interest.\"\" Stoops said many states do put their tax dollars into emergency shelters. That list includes, Colorado, Ohio, Oregon and Florida. \"\"Florida has been doing this since 1989,\"\" Stoops said. Our ruling The activist group US Uncut said Gov. Mike Pence provided zero state funding for homeless shelters. While the state budget and summaries from the experts and staffers we contacted confirmed that, it’s really an approach of the Indiana state government more than that of any particular person. Advocates say the state has never funded homeless shelters, a de facto policy that includes the consent of both the Legislature and former Democratic governors.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"US Uncut Says Indiana Gov. Mike Pence \"\"provides zero state funding for homeless shelters.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6288dfffdf43480c8d2801274065bffe",
            "input": "Farmers from southern Italy presenting their wares at a London food festival this week say their hemp pasta, oil and bread won’t get you high, but do provide a healthy, tasty alternative to the traditional, wheat variety. “Hemp food is truly organic,” said Marzio Ilario Fiore, 30, whose farm in the Molise region produces hemp oil and flour. “Hemp requires no pesticides, no fertilizers, and only moderate amounts of water.”    Cannabis is most often associated with the psychoactive effects of marijuana, but some strains of the plant can also be cultivated for food. High-growing varieties called hemp, which contain negligible levels of the drug THC, have long been grown to produce food and other products. Italy lifted a ban on hemp cultivation in 1998. “My crop gets regularly checked by Italian police inspectors to ensure that THC is within the legal limit,” said Fiore, one of some 200 Italian food artisans in London for the three-day Bellavita (“Beautiful Life”) Expo. As well as spaghetti made from hemp flour, he provided tastings of hemp taralli - hard savory biscuits from southern Italy - and hemp oil, which has a distinctive, nutty flavor. Hemp seeds are one of the richest sources of vegetarian protein, with high concentrations of omega fatty acids, growers say. While most pasta makers have yet to venture into the hemp market, they are finding new ways to present the staple, patenting new pasta shapes and sizes. La Molisana, for example, showed off its square-shaped variety of spaghetti, the so-called ‘spaghetto quadrato’. Wine makers, too, are looking for ways to differentiate their products, with one producer aging its bottles on the sea bed for up to a year before selling them, encrusted with algae. “The lack of light and constant temperature combined with the ‘massage’ effect of the tides produces great results,” said Gianluca Grilli, co-founder of the Tenuta del Paguro which won Bellavita’s best beverage business award, worth 10,000 euros. Tenuta del Paguro uses the wreck of the Paguro oil drilling platform, which sank in the Adriatic Sea in 1965, to store its wine underwater. The three reds and one white are produced in Riolo Terme, near Ravenna, in central Italy, before being sent to mature under the waves. The bottles sell in Italy for 100-150 euros  ($110-160) each, Grilli said. Bellavita offered a maze of hanging salami and cheese from across Italy, including provolone from the milk of the Agerolese cow, a protected crossbreed from the south, as well as cookies flavored with lavender and rosewood extract called ‘Furezze’, from the Venetian dialect word ‘sfureso’, meaning delicacy.",
            "output": [
                "High on the menu: cannabis spaghetti features at Italian foodfest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3cd62be09214cc2b2393810c2547837",
            "input": "A team of health officers in Curacao plans to board the vessel to determine who aboard may have been exposed to a crew member diagnosed with measles and who aboard has previously been vaccinated against the highly contagious disease, the official said. Dr. Izzy Gerstenbluth, chief epidemiologist for the Curacao Biomedical and Health Research Institute, said passengers and crew who can prove they were already vaccinated or have had measles in the past would likely be free to disembark “and go about their business.”  Others would likely be restricted from leaving the vessel for the duration of the incubation period - the time during which they could potentially transmit the disease to others, he told Reuters by telephone. “What we don’t want is for the disease to spread further,” Gerstenbluth said. “There is no other way than ... by not allowing anyone who may be infected off the ship.”  Incubation can last up to 21 days after exposure, with infected individuals most contagious from four days before the onset of tell-tale measles rash - while the person is experiencing cold-like symptoms - to four days after the rash appears. Gerstenbluth said the infected crew member had traveled to Europe and rejoined the ship on April 17, then reported feeling ill on April 22. She remained on the vessel after a blood sample taken several days later came back positive for measles, by which time the ship was already en route to St. Lucia. Health authorities placed the ship under quarantine after its arrival there on April 30, barring anyone from disembarking. St. Lucia also was reported to have furnished 100 doses of measles vaccine to the vessel before it departed on Thursday for Curacao. A total of 318 passengers and crew are believed to be aboard the ship, a Panamanian-flagged cruise liner identified by maritime-tracking records as SMV Freewinds, the name of the 440-foot ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. The church, on its website, describes Freewinds as a floating “religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion.”   It says the boat is based in Curacao, an island once part of the Dutch Antilles north of Venezuela and now an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Scientology officials have not responded to requests for comment. Although the measles-infected crew member has supposedly been restricted to her cabin since diagnosed, the relatively confined interior of a cruise ship and highly communicable nature of the virus - it can linger in an enclosed space for two hours - raises the risk of exposure to others who lack immunity, Gerstenbluth said. The quarantine comes amid a worldwide resurgence of measles blamed by public health officials on declining inoculation rates in some populations due to misinformation about the safety of the vaccine. The number of measles cases in the United States alone in recent months has climbed to more than 700 this week, a 25-year peak. Health authorities in Los Angeles last month ordered quarantines on two university campuses after each one had reported at least one confirmed case.",
            "output": [
                "Scientology cruise ship faces renewed quarantine at home port in Curacao."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9645e1fa82974b418e16c91c8fe1406a",
            "input": "No discussion of cost. The story did an adequate job of summarizing the benefits reported in the study and putting them into context. The story stated that Folfirinox “caused more serious side effects than standard chemo” but never named them nor quantified them. The journal article reports, for example, that: 75 of those in the Folfirinox group (46%) had neutropenia compared with 35 in the Gemcitabine group (21%) 21 of those in the Folfirinox group (13%) had diarrhea compared with 3 in the Gemcitabine group (2%) 15 of those in the Folfirinox group (9%) had sensory neuropathy compared with 0 in the Gemcitabine group Adequate evaluation of the evidence, including a cautionary note from one independent expert. There was no disease-mongering of pancreatic cancer in this story. Two independent sources were quoted. Good sourcing. The focus of the story is comparing the new drug combo with the existing alternative – gemcitabine. The story appropriately ended with this independent expert perspective: “…doctors are testing other drug combinations to treat pancreatic cancer. She’s hopeful that these combinations will work as well or better than Folfirinox, with fewer serious side effects. Folfirinox “is going to be one of a host of options” for patients, Azad says “ The story never explained the availability of the drug in the US or even if it’s FDA approved. The story referred to it as “new…novel combination…I see it becoming the standard of care…going to be one of a host of options” but none of those descriptions explains whether it’s approved and available now. The story refers to Folfirinox as a new drug and a novel combination, but also offers an independent expert’s perspective that “doctors are testing other drug combinations to treat pancreatic cancer. She’s hopeful that these combinations will work as well or better than Folfirinox, with fewer serious side effects…and that Folfirinox “is going to be one of a host of options” for patients.” It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New drug advances the fight against pancreatic cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dbe8e52775f0400db8d593e978d53481",
            "input": "Family members of Democratic state Rep. Wilson Stone posted a message to his personal Facebook page on Sunday. It says Stone “had a spell” while teaching Sunday school. They said testing at a local hospital “revealed some type of brain tumor” and that more tests are scheduled. “He reminded us that the election is 3 weeks from this Tuesday and for everyone to keep his re-election going strong while he recovers!” family members wrote. House Democratic Caucus spokesman Brian Wilkerson confirmed the Facebook account belongs to Stone. Stone faces Republican Brian “Tiger” Gann in the Nov. 6 election. Gann said he is praying for Stone to have a speedy recovery and a return to full health. “He and I are opponents in our race, but we are brothers in Christ,” Gann wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page. Stone has been in the legislature since 2009. When Democrats were in power, Stone had the unofficial job of making the opening motion to begin each day’s session, which included excusing lawmakers who were absent. He was elected House minority whip in 2017, shortly after Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives for the first time in nearly a century. Last month, state Republican Party officials filed an ethics complaint against Stone for using taxpayer money to campaign for votes. Stone sent a survey to his constituents, which is legal. But the survey included the line: “I request your vote and support.” Stone apologized for the mailing and said he would reimburse the state.",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky lawmaker to continue campaign despite brain tumor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5ee2d672939a40b992c1cdecfd28dc96",
            "input": "This article addresses the narrow claim that the U.S. House of Representatives ordered an investigation into whether the Department of Defense experimented with ticks or insects as biological weapons. This claim is true: As first reported by Roll Call on July 15, 2019, the stipulation was added in an amendment to the 2020 Defense Authorization Act and approved with a voice vote on July 11: The amendment is an attempt to confirm or deny reports that Pentagon researchers — at places such as Fort Detrick in Maryland and Plum Island in New York — implanted diseases into insects to learn about the effects of biological weapons and also looked into using such insects to disseminate biological agents. To understand the rationale for such a move, a brief history of U.S. biological weapons research (and its associated controversies) is required. The United States began biological weapons testing during World War I, when the U.S. investigated — but did not use — ricin as a potential weapon. Though President Richard Nixon banned offensive biological weapons research and development in 1969, the period following World War II saw significant experimentation with the use of germs in warfare, primarily as a way to potentially disrupt enemy agriculture, as described by the non-partisan Nuclear Threat Initiative: A September 1945 memo to the Secretary of War detailed the program’s accomplishments: the United States had used pilot plants to mass produce, among other pathogens, Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) and Brucella melitensis (brucellosis); had developed and field tested a new cluster bomb; and had constructed facilities for the large-scale production of several pathogens, including anti-crop agents. [Biological Warfare]-related R&D largely took place at Camp (later Fort) Detrick in Maryland. Plum Island, also mentioned in Smith’s amendment, played a role in the U.S. biological weapons research as well. An island off the eastern end of the coast of Long Island fully owned by the U.S. government, Plum Island has been under civilian control as a Department of Agriculture research station since 1954. In 1993, reports surfaced that some biological weapons research had occurred on Plum Island in the past, as reported in a 1998 New York Times story: For decades, officials denied rumors of biological warfare experiments. But in 1993, Newsday unearthed previously classified documents on plans to disrupt the Soviet economy by spreading diseases to kill its pigs, cattle and horses. Most of the diseases studied, like African swine fever and rinderpest, affect only livestock. But one, Rift Valley fever, also occurs in humans. The warfare plans ended long ago, officials say, and now the laboratory focuses exclusively on preventing diseases. To satisfy their own concerns, Russian scientists inspected the center in 1994. Among the most extreme claims related to U.S. biological weapons research are those that suggest that outbreaks of the tick-borne Lyme disease in the late 60s and early 70s — the first widespread appearances of the condition — and its subsequent spread across much of the nation were the result of the United States government, either intentionally or accidentally. Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium that can live inside ticks and spread to animals and humans. This argument was most recently made in the book “Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons” by science writer Kris Newby. Though the idea predates this book, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has cited “Bitten” as a significant inspiration for the amendment. What that book says it “brings to light is that the U.S. military has conducted thousands of experiments exploring the use of ticks and tick-borne diseases as biological weapons, and in some cases, these agents escaped into the environment.” The book also suggests “there was a deliberate release or an accident” involving biological weapons experimentation with “unintended consequences to the environment.” Newby suggests a “release” of ticks with a transmittable disease in them could have introduced Lyme disease into America. She also suggests that the medically controversial condition of chronic or persistent Lyme disease could be elucidated by records exposing what kind of testing may have been conducted on this bacterial agent. Ultimately, “Bitten” rests on three assertions. First, that U.S. researchers injected transmittable diseases into ticks and other insects. Second, that the first major outbreak of what we now call Lyme Disease in the late ’60s and ’70s happened after the release of infected ticks into the general population. And third, that the agent being experimented with was — or was related to — the bacterial agent now known to cause Lyme Disease: Borrelia burgdorferi. Evidence for each of these pillars comes for the most part from a single source — the U.S. National Institutes of Health scientist for whom that bacterial species is named: William Burgdorfer. Interpreting a video recording of a 2013 interview made of Burgdorfer for a film, Newby writes: [Burgdorfer] seemed to be saying that Lyme wasn’t a naturally occurring germ, one that may have gotten loose and been spread by global warming, an explosion of deer, and other environmental changes. It had been created in a military bioweapons lab for the specific purpose of harming human beings. And somehow it had gotten out. These claims are controversial, and the testimony of Burgdorfer collected by Newby — at the end of his life as he was suffering from Parkinson’s and diabetes — is inconclusive, as conceded by Newby herself in the book’s epilogue: After five years of research, I wasn’t able to find verifiable documents confirming [an alleged release of deer ticks in Long Island]. I’m not sure why Willy [Burgdorfer] refused to fully disclose the details before his death. With his passing, the only way to know the truth is for a whistle-blower to step forward or for a classified report to be released. The primary problem with the notion that Lyme disease was not “a naturally occurring germ” is that the occurrence of Borrelia bacteria living inside ticks goes back to a time at least millions of years before humans existed to insert the bacteria into ticks. In 2014, for example, scientists found a 15-million-year-old tick fossil found in a chunk of amber from the Dominican Republic that showed evidence of being infected with Borrelia bacteria. The existence of Borrelia bacteria in the northeast United States, similarly, predates the U.S. biological weapons program. A study conducted by Yale researchers, who compared B. burgdorferi genomes from different areas collected over a 30-year period, calculated that the bacterium has been in North America longer than humans — at least 60,000 years. This lends support to the more scientifically accepted view about the emergence of Lyme disease: that it had long been dormant in the United States until ecological and economic changes produced conditions that allowed its spread to flourish, as explained in a Yale School of Public Health report on that research effort: [These] findings clarify that the bacterium is not a recent invader. Diverse lineages of B. burgdorferi have long existed in North America and the current Lyme disease epidemic is the result of ecological changes that have allowed deer, ticks and, finally, bacterium to invade. The explosion of deer in the twentieth century into suburban landscapes, free of wolf predators and with strict hunting restrictions, allowed deer ticks to rapidly invade throughout much of New England and the Midwest. Climate change has also contributed. Warmer winters accelerate ticks’ life cycles and allow them to survive an estimated 28 miles further north each year. Ticks expanded into suburbanized landscapes—full of animals like white-footed mice and robins, excellent hosts for B. burgdorferi. The expansion of ticks into habitats with ideal hosts allowed the bacterium to spread. The broader question of whether the United States ever “experimented” on ticks in general, however, has independent support outside of Burgdorfer’s vague claims. In a 2016 interview with the academic journal American Entomologist, Georgia State University entomologist James H. Oliver, who served at Fort Detrick in the ’50s working on biological weapons, stated: They put me in the entomology branch […] so that’s where I started working on ticks and mosquitoes — how to produce a lot of them. Drop them out of airplanes. Everything was very hushhush, very secret. I’m still leery talking about it, because I think they might put me in jail because I’m delivering secrets. It was a crazy time. … We would run all kinds of distribution tests on where these things go when you release them and what were the factors that would cause the migration. Can we drop them out of airplanes and how do we get the bugs to the enemy? As reported in Roll Call, Smith’s amendment would require a report on this topic from the Department of Defense Inspector General: The amendment … says the inspector general “shall conduct a review of whether the Department of Defense experimented with ticks and other insects regarding use as a biological weapon between the years of 1950 and 1975.” If the answer is yes, then the IG must provide the House and Senate Armed Services committees with a report on the experiments’ scope and “whether any ticks or insects used in such experiments were released outside of any laboratory by accident or experiment design.”",
            "output": [
                "The U.S. House of Representatives voted to compel the Department of Defense to disclose if it ever used ticks as part of a biological weapons program."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2345d43da89649c9b43614249ccacac3",
            "input": "The Oakland County Health Division announced the update Wednesday about the outbreak that began in March when an ill traveler from New York visited the area. Forty of the 44 confirmed measles cases in Michigan occurred in Oakland County, and those infected ranged in age from 8 months to 63 years. The county Health Division, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and others administered more than 3,300 measles vaccines and held 17 special vaccine clinics. Other possible exposure sites were in Detroit, mid-Michigan and western Michigan. The number of cases of the highly contagious disease Michigan was the highest since 65 in 1991.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: Oakland County measles outbreak over."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-353b0d20fa444142afba41f2813fbcc3",
            "input": "The story devotes its second paragraph to cost, including how that cost may differ depending on whether patients have insurance. Well done. This is a really close one. The story does a lot of things well here. It notes that, in one trial, there was no difference in the benefits between Xofluza and existing flu treatment drug oseltamivir (better known as Tamiflu). However, it does not actually quantify the benefits associated with Xofluza. Instead, the story states that it “may alleviate some symptoms and shorten the time patients feel sick.” We approve of the cautious language used throughout the story, but we like to see quantified benefits in instances where the information is available. In this case, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September reported that Xofluza reduced the “time to alleviation of symptoms” by a mean of 25-38 hours, compared to placebo (the difference depended on the age group of the patient). Ergo, a not satisfactory rating here. The story addresses this issue head on, earning it a solid satisfactory rating from us. One point that would have made it even stronger would have been to note that the company selling Xofluza warns that pregnant women and nursing mothers may want to avoid the drug, as it is not known whether the drug may harm the fetus or if it would pass into breastmilk for nursing mothers. The story does a good job of describing the supporting evidence clearly and concisely. No disease mongering here. In fact, the story provides good context on the risks posed by influenza. The story incorporates input from two sources at the FDA, but the information appears to stem from an FDA statement. Information from pharmaceutical companies is clearly marked, but we really look for news stories to incorporate input from independent sources — beyond what may be available in a news release. The story addresses the similarities (and differences) to other drugs that address flu symptoms, particularly oseltamivir (Tamiflu). The story notes that Xofluza has received FDA approval. As noted above, the drugs similarities and differences to existing pharmaceutical treatment options was laid out clearly. The news peg here was FDA’s approval of the drug, which is also made clear. The work goes well beyond what you would find in any news release. We particularly applaud the story’s discussion of viruses developing resistance to antiviral drugs.",
            "output": [
                "F.D.A. Approves New Drug for Flu"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10a17d9b6e7b4c19bbf60cd347e86fa5",
            "input": "The story gives no cost information. We wish the story had given the yearly cost of at least one of these therapies, and even some comment on the high cost of recovery from a typical hip fracture for the thousands of elderly women who suffer them. The story did a good job explaining the tradeoffs of benefits and harms and quotes a doctor who worries that fear of rare events may be preventing women from taking drugs that could save them from the typical hip fractures. If only the article took the extra step by talking about treatment benefits in absolute terms, rather than relative. The competing Reuters article tries to put the absolute benefit in perspective by noting that about half of people with osteoporosis will have a fracture in their lifetime. NPR does a good job of parsing the harm described in the JAMA article. Extra credit for including the notion of a “drug holiday” that is a practical reaction from treating physicians to a confusing landscape of discoveries about these drugs. The fact that this was the largest study to date is important, since large groups are needed to evaluate rare events like these thighbone fractures. There is helpful discussion of how to interpet the risk vs. benefits outlined in the study. The story avoids being alarmist and takes pains to point out the low absolute risk of the unsual thigh fracture. If anything, the story could have pointed out how devastating a typical hip fracture can be for an individual and society overall. The CDC estimates that one in four who suffer a hip fracture are dead within a year, and one in five will spend at least a year in a nursing home. NPR provides us with three fresh sources beyond the JAMA article itself. One strength of the story was its ending, with a discussion with a bone specialist about the option of taking a drug “holiday” from time to time, and the question of whether women who stop taking it temporarily should start again. The story describes the drugs as commonly available. The drugs are not novel, and the story says so. It’s clear that the story did not rely solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Drugs To Prevent Weak Bones Linked To Unusual Fractures In Women"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-52c844b415f844948d68e3ce32bc7eb0",
            "input": "\"On August 10 2020, memes appeared purportedly quoting United States President Donald Trump saying that the “Great Pandemic” of 1917 likely ended World War II, because “all the soldiers got sick”:In addition to “Yes he really said that,” the above meme read:“In 1917, the great pandemic … probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”Dear Professor Trump. It was 1918 and World War I. Please don’t try to sound smart. You aren’t.A tweet by John Fugelsang was shared to Imgur and racked up views; it was similarly popular on Twitter:\"\"The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick. \"\"-The US President just spoke this sentence— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 10, 2020Fugelsang wrote:“The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”-The US President just spoke this sentenceWe were able to quickly locate the actual quote. Trump made the comments on August 10 2020:The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War … all the soldiers were sick. That was a terrible situation.A short video of the clip also spread on Twitter:The President says the “1917 pandemic” ended the Second World War pic.twitter.com/jSltuSYim2— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) August 10, 2020Trump was presumably referencing the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, the final death toll of which remains unknown:Did the Second Wave of the 1918 Spanish Flu Kill 20 to 30 Million, While the First Wave Killed 3 to 5 Million?As USA Today (and many other sites) noted, that pandemic took place at the same time as World War I, not World War II, which did not start for another two decades, ending in 1945:The president was alluding to the Spanish Flu, which broke out in 1918. The first infections were identified in March of that year and lasted until 1920. The Second World War started in 1939 and ended in 1945 with the surrender of the Axis powers, specifically when Japan surrendered unconditionally after the United States dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.The memes are accurate — Trump erroneously claimed that the “Great Pandemic of 1917” ended World War II, likely intending to reference World War I; he subsequently added that the outbreak stopped the war because all of the soldiers got “sick.”Comments\"",
            "output": [
                "\"President Trump said the \"\"great pandemic\"\" of 1917 \"\"ended World War II\"\" because all of the soldiers \"\"got sick.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-addbbaf0f18044f88b2b0763b983f466",
            "input": "One in five people are drinking too much alcohol. 21% of adults aged 16+ in England reported to an NHS Digital survey that they usually drank more than the recommended 14 units of alcohol a week in 2017. Alcohol deaths in England at record high after 6% rise in a year. Correct, in terms of deaths that are a direct result of alcohol misuse. However, the number of alcohol-specific deaths per 100,000 people has remained virtually the same over the last ten years. Claim 1 of 3",
            "output": [
                "Alcohol deaths in England at record high after 6% rise in a year."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3653c5464b9c455782f7bcae4925f5da",
            "input": "\"While Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is not up for re-election until 2018, she’s still engaging in at least one of the biggest issues in the 2016 campaign. In January, she co-sponsored legislation to appropriate $10 million to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the next five years for firearm research. To promote her legislation, Baldwin tweeted this on Jan. 24, 2015, citing limits on what the CDC can do: \"\"Over 32,000 people die from #GunViolence every year. Yet, @CDCgov is banned from researching ways to prevent this.\"\" We wondered if Baldwin was right. Gun violence numbers As backup for the statistic that 32,000 people die from gun violence every year, Baldwin’s team pointed to the CDC’s National Vital Statistics database. It’s the most comprehensive source for national statistics as it is a census, pulling information from death certificates. The report shows that in 2013, the latest year for which data is available, there were 33,636 gun-related deaths. Beyond that, from 2009-2013, an average of 32,100 people died each year from gun-related injuries. So Baldwin is on target with the number. About one third of gun-related deaths are homicides, with suicides counting for about two thirds of deaths. PolitiFact Texas examined a similar claim from presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in October 2015: \"\"We lose an average of 90 Americans every day because of guns.\"\" This claim was backed up by taking the number of firearm deaths tallied by the CDC in 2013 and averaging it out over a year. Clinton hit the number, but didn’t mention that most of those deaths are suicides, not homicides. Dickey amendment In the second part of her claim, Baldwin said the CDC is \"\"banned from researching ways to prevent\"\" gun violence. Her tweet linked to a news release that pointed to a 1996 piece of legislation as evidence. The news release said, in part: \"\"Currently, a Republican appropriations rider from 1996 prohibits funding for such critical research at the CDC, even though the original rider’s author, former Republican Jay Dickey, has since announced his opposition to it noting that the rider’s intention was to prevent the CDC from lobbying for gun control, not from conducting gun-violence research.\"\" This 1996 rider is commonly called the Dickey Amendment. In the early 1990s, the New England Journal of Medicine published research that concluded gun ownership, independent of other factors, increased the risk for a homicide in the home. The study was funded by the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In the wake of the research, and subsequent media attention, the National Rifle Association campaigned for the elimination of the injury prevention center. While the center survived, new language in the 1996 budget bill said that \"\"none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.\"\" In some ways the statement was redundant, as general funding cannot be used for advocacy. Congress also took from the CDC’s budget $2.6 million -- the exact amount invested in firearm injury research the previous year. While the language against advocating and promoting gun control did not explicitly ban the CDC from researching gun violence, the CDC stopped the work anyway. Linda Degutis, the former director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said the action by Congress sent a strong message to the CDC. \"\"Even though that language doesn’t say research is prohibited,\"\" Degutis said, \"\"everyone who was making decisions interpreted it to mean that you could not do any research on gun violence.\"\" The language, and lack of funding, has carried on in spending bills and even been expanded to the National Institute of Health, another agency in the Department of Health and Human Services. \"\"It is the equivalent of a ban,\"\" said David Hemenway, director of the Injury Control Research Center at Harvard University. \"\"It’s a touch more nuanced than a ban, but there’s basically no real difference in terms of research.\"\" In the wake of mass shootings in 2013, President Barack Obama requested the CDC be granted new funding to study gun violence. Congress did not appropriate the funds. Our rating Baldwin said \"\"over 32,000 people die from #GunViolence every year. Yet, @CDCgov is banned from researching ways to prevent this.\"\" The most comprehensive data available supports the first part of the claim, that more than 32,000 people die from gun violence every year. On the research ban, while the language from the Dickey Amendment does not explicitly ban the agency from conducting research, its interpretation effectively banned the practice. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Over 32,000 people die from #GunViolence every year. Yet, (The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is banned from researching ways to prevent this."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08b2a352b4c44e35bd7b051137d31f9b",
            "input": "\"President Donald Trump and top health officials in his administration are now openly at odds over hydroxychloroquine. Both Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator for the White House task force, have said careful studies show the drug doesn’t speed recovery from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Still, at an Aug. 3 White House event, Trump said he has taken hydroxychloroquine and it is \"\"very highly thought of.\"\" Trump said the drug is politically toxic because he supports it. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health and overseer of the virus testing effort, said it is time to \"\"move on.\"\" \"\"There have been five randomized controlled, placebo controlled trials that do not show any benefit to Hydroxychloroquine,\"\" Giroir said Aug. 2. \"\"So, at this point in time, we don't recommend that as a treatment. \"\" We asked Giroir’s office to name the five studies he referenced in that interview. Not all of them used placebos, but they all randomly assigned patients to hydroxychloroquine treatment and conventional treatment groups. The drug proved itself in none of them. Before we summarize the studies, a brief word about why this sort of study matters. If you want to know if a drug works, ideally the only difference between a patient who gets it and one who doesn’t is — no surprise — the drug itself. That’s harder to do than meets the eye. People aren’t identical. You can weigh them, look at their medical histories, check their blood oxygen levels and temperature, and yet, you still might miss something. That’s where randomly assigning patients to treatment and non-treatment groups comes in. \"\"You don’t know all the possible things going on in the background and all that noise is what  randomizing helps filter out,\"\" said Boston University infectious disease modeler Brooke Nichols. \"\"It’s the best way to be sure that the only effect is the effect of the drug.\"\" Letting a computer program assign patients also prevents any subconscious choices by doctors from distorting the results. The whole approach is designed to take human foibles out of the picture. To really minimize the human factor, not only do you randomly assign patients to groups, but the patients and the health care workers themselves don’t know what group they are in. So everyone gets a pill, but for half of them, the pill might be just sugar or something equally neutral. That neutral pill is a placebo. \"\"That’s the gold-gold standard of research,\"\" said Nichols. \"\"And just one one small notch below that is the randomized controlled trial without a placebo.\"\" Nichols said that the lack of a placebo takes on more importance when a non-placebo study comes up with different results than one with a placebo. \"\"When the results are in agreement, it doesn’t matter as much,\"\" Nichols said. Giroir’s office sent us a list of the studies he had in mind. All of them used the randomized control approach. Two of them used placebos, and three did not. They all found the drug ineffective. Here’s Giroir’s list (plus a couple more we found ourselves): A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Hydroxychloroquine as Prevention of Covid-19 Transmission and Disease, MedRxIV, July 26, 2020. No placebo. This study out of Spain aimed to see if the drug prevented the disease. It involved about 2,300 people who had been exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus. After random assignment, one group got a dose of hydroxychloroquine for a week, and the other didn’t. The differences were small, too small to be statistically significant. In the treatment group, 5.7% caught the virus. In the non-treatment group, 6.2% did. \"\"Post-exposure therapy with hydroxychloroquine did not prevent SARS-CoV-2 disease and infection,\"\" the authors wrote. Hydroxychloroquine with or without Azithromycin in Mild-to-Moderate Covid-19, New England Journal of Medicine, July 23, 2020. No placebo. This study from Brazil assigned 665 patients (504 with testing-confirmed COVID-19) to three groups: standard care, hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine alone. \"\"Among patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine, alone or with azithromycin, did not improve clinical status at 15 days as compared with standard care,\"\" the authors wrote. Hydroxychloroquine in Nonhospitalized Adults With Early COVID-19, Annals of Internal Medicine, July 16, 2020. Placebo used. This study of 491 patients in the United States and Canada used two groups: one receiving hydroxychloroquine and the other a placebo. Participants either tested positive, or had the symptoms of COVID-19 and lived or worked with someone who had tested positive. They could not have had symptoms for more than four days. \"\"We hypothesized that starting hydroxychloroquine therapy within the first few days of symptoms could alter the course of COVID-19 by reducing symptom severity and duration and preventing hospitalizations,\"\" the authors wrote. They found that the severity of symptoms after 14 days \"\"did not differ between the hydroxychloroquine and placebo groups.\"\" No clinical benefit from use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalised patients with COVID-19, Recovery Trial - University of Oxford, June 5, 2020. No placebo. This study out of the United Kingdom randomly assigned over 4,600 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 to a hydroxychloroquine treatment group and a standard care group. Researchers measured the death rate and symptoms after 28 days. Among the treatment group, 25.7% died, compared to 23.5% for the standard care group. That was not statistically different. And there were no \"\"beneficial effects on hospital stay duration or other outcomes.\"\" \"\"Although it is disappointing that this treatment has been shown to be ineffective, it does allow us to focus care and research on more promising drugs.,\"\" the researchers wrote. The data has yet to be released. A Randomized Trial of Hydroxychloroquine as Postexposure Prophylaxis for Covid-19, New England Journal of Medicine, June 3, 2020. Placebo used. This study focused on hydroxychloroquine as a way to avoid getting the disease. They randomly assigned 821 people with no symptoms — but who had spent time close to a person who tested positive — to a treatment or placebo group. The hydroxychloroquine group was slightly less likely to test positive after two weeks, 11.8% compared to 14.3% in the placebo group, but the numbers were too small to pass statistical muster. We found two other randomized controlled studies in addition to those Grigoir referenced. One out of Spain worked with 293 people with confirmed infections, but who were not hospitalized. There was no placebo. They found that hydroxychloroquine did not cut the risk of hospitalization, or help people recover more quickly. An early study in May in Shanghai, China, assigned 75 COVID-19 patients to a hydroxychloroquine treatment group, and another received typical care. It also found no difference in the speed of recovery. There has been one large study in Detroit that concluded that the drug worked. However, patient data in that study was collected after the fact and there was no randomized control process. Giroir said there were five \"\"randomized controlled, placebo controlled trials that do not show any benefit to hydroxychloroquine.\"\" He is largely correct. There have been more than five randomized controlled trials that found hydroxychloroquine ineffective, either at preventing people from catching the virus, or helping them recover if they become ill. He exaggerated the number of studies that used placebos — out of his list, two did and three did not. The infectious disease modeler we reached said placebos improve the quality of a study, but the lack of one matters less if the results are in line with placebo-driven trials.\"",
            "output": [
                "“There have been five randomized controlled, placebo controlled trials that do not show any benefit to hydroxychloroquine.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fa50f4717f64f71bea2108a4e314d40",
            "input": "Health Secretary Lorenzo González said Saturday that officials discovered a cache of urgently needed personal protective equipment at a hospital in the nearby island of Vieques that remains closed since the Category 4 storm hit the U.S. territory in September 2017. He said the equipment includes face masks, gloves, gowns and face shields that were in good condition and would be distributed to health institutions. “They’re very useful at this moment,” said González, who became the island’s newest health secretary this week, the third in the span of two weeks. He also said officials recently located a warehouse with medicine and medical equipment worth $4 million donated during Hurricane Maria, and that nearly all of it had expired. He did not provide details about what specific items were found. Puerto Rico has reported 18 deaths related to COVID-19, including that of a nurse, and more than 450 confirmed cases, including several police officers who join health workers in demanding more personal protective equipment. “Police are going the extra mile right now, and the government is not protecting us like it should,” said Gregorio Matías, vice president of a police union. The discovery in Vieques outraged many on an island still struggling to recover from Maria and from a series of strong earthquakes that hit Puerto Rico’s southern region in recent months. González said he has ordered an investigation into why those supplies were abandoned in Vieques. The announcement comes two months after a group of Puerto Ricans discovered and broke into a warehouse filled with emergency supplies in southern Puerto Rico at a time local officials sought urgent help for those affected by a string of earthquakes. Other similar discoveries have been made since Maria hit. González said the government still needs other equipment including testing kits and ventilators, noting that there are only 500 available for an island of 3.2 million people with high rates of asthma. “If that’s going to be the difference between life and death, people are going to die,” he said. “Don’t take this lightly.” A doctor who leads a COVID-19 government task force has said the U.S. territory needs at least 3,000 ventilators with the anticipated peak in cases expected in early May. Puerto Rico is in the middle of a month long curfew that is one of the strictest in any U.S. jurisdiction and has shuttered non-essential businesses and banned people from going outside unless they have to buy food, medicine or go to the bank.",
            "output": [
                "Puerto Rico discovers protective supply cache amid COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad69eb3cab8945c8a29ff8d6ac19f3fe",
            "input": "People participate in a YogaWorks class in Santa Monica, California in this handout picture taken early 2009. REUTERS/Handout “We have fit people and deconditioned people who overdo it,” said Geralyn Coopersmith, national director of the Equinox Fitness Training Institute. “Exercise is like a drug, if you don’t have enough, you get no benefits, if you have too much, you have problems,” she said. Shin splints, heel spurs, tendonitis are among the common overuse injuries that Coopersmith, who oversees the training of personal trainers for Equinox fitness centers, sees. “Some days should be intense, some days not so intense,” she said. “Exercise is a stressor. If it’s too much, the body can break down.”   Extreme fatigue, irritability, moodiness, an elevated resting heart rate, fever, and an inability to work your earlier level are among the signs that you’ve overdone it, she said. California-based group fitness instructor Amy Dixon has broached the subject of overtraining with her clients, she said, but delicately, and only when they are ready to listen. “I had a woman come in before my (indoor) cycling class,” said Dixon, creator of the “Give Me 10” DVD series. “I’d see her on the treadmill for an hour, then she’d take my class, then after she would ride longer or go on the elliptical (trainer) for another 40 minutes.”   Poke an exercise addiction, Dixon believes, and you’ll often uncover another addiction. “Maybe they’re a binge eater, or they really party on the weekend,” she said. “If you’re working out morning and night, you’re over-trained. Your body’s getting beaten up.”   For Dixon and her colleagues, overtraining is an occupational hazard. “A lot of group fitness instructors and trainers fall into that category because it’s our job,” she said. “I know instructors who teach over 30 classes a week.”   Connecticut-based exercise physiologist Tom Holland, who has coached people in everything from climbing mountains to running marathons, has actually dropped clients who wanted him to push them too hard. “I have a lot of types that think they’re Lance Armstrongs,” said Holland, author of “Beat the Gym: Personal Trainer Secrets Without the Personal Trainer Price Tag,” said, referring to the seven-time Tour de France winner. He said a lot of his job involves telling clients what not to do. “I try to keep them from getting hurt,” he said. “I design programs on a case-by-case basis but there’s always a rest day. When clients want to eliminate it I try to explain that you don’t get healthier during the workouts, but during the rest days.”   Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, said she has referred several over-trained clients to psychologists. “It’s great to work with other professionals to help them (clients) recognize that they might have a problem,” said Matthews, who is based in San Diego, California. She said symptoms of overtraining can include constant headaches, sleeplessness and severe muscle soreness, as well as diminished performance. “There are so many benefits to exercise, but if they’re exercising excessively even the greatest benefits, like positive mood and better sleep, start to fall away,” she said. Coopersmith puts in another way: “We are a supersized society,” she said, “but we shouldn’t be supersizing exercise.”",
            "output": [
                "When working out is too much of a good thing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9270cc31f2c74946bbf3a83893e0b526",
            "input": "“I will stab anyone who comes to my house with polio drops,” Khan growled, refusing to be filmed or photographed as he shopped in a fly-blown bazaar on the outskirts of Peshawar, a city scarred by years on the frontline of Islamist militancy in Pakistan. This dangerous hostility to immunization teams flared last week after religious hardliners in the city spread false rumors, raising a scare on social media that some children were being poisoned and dying from contaminated polio vaccines. The rumors spread like wildfire, triggering mass panic in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Mobs burned a village health center, blocked a highway and pelted cars with stones. Medical workers were harassed and threatened. Mosques made announcements that children were having cramps, vomiting and diarrhea after they were given “poisonous” polio drops. Word went out on social media that some children had died. Panicked parents rushed their children to hospitals, overwhelming health authorities. In Peshawar alone, about 45,000 children were brought to hospitals complaining of nausea and dizziness. Officials described it as mass hysteria, asserting there had been no deaths confirmed. It is easy to feed the fears of communities that feel under siege, as in northwest Pakistan. Mistrust of outsiders and modernity goes a long way to explaining why Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are two of just three countries in the world - Nigeria is the third - where polio remains endemic. Some Muslim clerics have peddled stories that the vaccines are part of Western plot to make Muslims sterile, while militant groups have killed nearly 100 health workers and their guards since 2012 on the pretext that they could be Western spies. Those killings escalated after a doctor in Peshawar involved in the campaign against polio helped U.S. forces track down and eliminate al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Just late week, militants shot and killed a medical worker and two policemen guarding other vaccination teams in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighboring Baluchistan province. But the scale of the most recent backlash against a campaign to eradicate polio is something new for government officials, who worry that the suspicions and backward thinking of a hardline minority has infected the wider public. “The mistrust in one segment of society, that refuses vaccinations due to religious beliefs, is translating into the rest of the country, which is something not seen in the past,” Babar Atta, the government’s top coordinator in the drive against polio, told Reuters. Every year Pakistan’s government mounts public education campaigns and recruits Muslim religious leaders to reassure people, but their suspicions persist. As a result of last week’s false rumors, families of hundreds of thousands of children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere refused to participate in the latest campaign to eradicate a virus that can cause paralysis or death. “No drops for us in the future!,” Saif-ur-Rehman, a father of eight, repeating the rumors that the vaccines were contaminated or expired. “Even my son was saying: ‘The next time they bring polio drops to school, I am going to get up and run away from school’. I said, ‘Do that’.”  An inquiry found the false stories originated at two schools on the outskirts of Peshawar. Health workers seeking to vaccinate pupils from the Dar-ul-Qalam and Roza-tul-Atfaal schools had met with repeated refusals, according to provincial officials. Investigators also identified and arrested a man seen in a video telling dozens of children to pose as if the vaccine had rendered them unconscious, Farooq Jameel, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s senior-most health official, said. Police also arrested 16 other men, some of whom had  threatened vaccination teams on the streets. A provincial leader of a conservative Islamist party that officials suspected had some links to the schools’ owners denied any connection and went on to endorse the immunization program. “I have been vaccinating my own children and will continue to give them polio vaccine till a certain age, but people have some misconception and doubts about polio vaccine, and the government needs to address their concerns,” Abdul Wasey, secretary-general of Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Reuters. But the damage has been done. Pakistan has made huge strides in tackling polio, but officials say that while the latest immunization drive succeeded in inoculating 37.6 million children, 1.4 million were left unprotected. Citing fears of attacks on health workers, authorities  called off a two-day catch up for the vaccination drive last week. The global campaign against the disease over the past few decades has been a great success story, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting just 33 cases of polio worldwide in 2018. But most of them were in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the danger is that so long as a single child remains infected the virus can quickly spread into polio-free countries and un-immunized populations. There is no known cure for polio, but the disease can be prevented if children are given multiple treatments with the vaccine. Nadia Gul, a housewife, is among the volunteer health workers who make up the vaccination teams. Two children in her close family are victims of polio. Covering her face with a veil to talk with strangers, Gul spoke of the dangers she faces due to the heinous slurs propagated by ill-educated opponents, but she refuses to be cowed. “We have fears in our minds and in our hearts, but we will not lose courage,” Gul told Reuters. “Our aim, the aim of all the polio workers, is that we end this scourge in our country, so that no child, God forbid, is crippled.”",
            "output": [
                "Monstrous rumors stoke hostility to Pakistan's anti-polio drive."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6ca207e6b9f4a54a0274f4652c40a4f",
            "input": "She is in a bind because of her persistent refusal during two straight presidential debates to say whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to pay for the universal health insurance plan known as “Medicare for All.” By not acknowledging taxes would almost certainly increase for a wide range of income earners, Warren avoids becoming a caricature of a Democrat itching to raise them. But she also threatens to undermine the image she’s fostered of a plainspoken former professor ready to tackle any issue in her quest to protect the middle class from the excesses of corporations and the wealthy. Warren’s progressive rival, Bernie Sanders, has said middle-class taxes would have to rise to pay for Medicare for All. Other White House hopefuls said Wednesday that Warren should be just as direct. “Look, I’m not picking on Elizabeth Warren, but this is ridiculous,” said former Vice President Joe Biden, currently Warren’s chief competitor for the Democratic nomination. Warren “is going to have to tell the truth” or face questions about her willingness “to be candid and honest with the American people.” Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Warren “needs to come forward and say” how she’d pay for a new health insurance system. “I’m sure she will eventually,” Klobuchar said. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, echoed that thought from the campaign trail in Ames, Iowa. “Everybody should be prepared to defend their plans,” he said Wednesday. “It’s serving us well to be very clear about how our plan works and to lay out the fact that it’s paid for.” Warren argues pundits are missing the point by focusing on taxes instead of the bottom-line cost that Americans pay for their health care. She insists that eliminating premiums and co-pays under Medicare for All would lower overall costs for all but wealthy Americans. Her top supporters say she should keep pressing that message. “Democratic voters are actually very appreciative that, on the substance, she wants to bring down health care costs, and, on the politics, she’s not taking the bait and giving Republicans and the insurance industry the TV ad moment that they want to deceive voters,” said Adam Green, a liberal activist and close Warren ally. Still, the lack of specificity on paying for Medicare for All is tricky since Warren famously is the candidate who “has a plan” for everything and proudly sweats even the smallest, wonkiest details. On health care, she says that she’s “with Bernie,” referring to the Vermont senator who authored the Medicare for All legislation in Congress. Warren’s campaign says that no one yet knows Medicare for All’s final price tag — but that Warren is still “reviewing the revenue options” previously suggested by Sanders and that she has been very consistent and clear in saying she’ll pay for it by adhering to the principles of lowering overall costs for middle-class families and raising them for rich people and major corporations. Democratic presidential candidates traditionally go to great lengths to avoid the idea that their party is tax happy. But being blunt about raising taxes is not necessarily an election loser, as long as their effect is targeted. President Barack Obama was reelected in 2012 following a pledge to raise taxes on top earners and did so by allowing previous tax cuts on the wealthy to expire. And Warren’s promises of a 2% wealth tax on households with a net worth of more than $50 million elicits chants of “2 cents!” at her rallies, bolstering her reputation as an economic populist. The generous benefits Warren is promising — surpassing other countries with government-run health care — would require tax increases of a historic magnitude to guarantee cradle-to-grave care for every U.S. resident, however. And that will make it harder to finance the program with surgically targeted tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. A study released Wednesday from the Commonwealth Fund and the Urban Institute estimated the government would need $2.7 trillion in additional revenues if Medicare for All were fully implemented next year. That’s more than half the current federal budget, and Washington is already borrowing heavily to meet its obligations. “It’s a huge tax increase,” said Urban Institute health economist John Holahan. “If you just lay it on a small group of people, how do you get those numbers?” Targeting income brackets also means necessarily picking winners and losers — and a person’s health status at any given time could determine what side of the ledger they wind up on. “The success or failure of major health reform plans always hinges on who would win and who would lose, and we don’t have the detail for the Medicare for All plans to judge that,” said Larry Levitt, a senior health policy expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation. Support for Medicare for All has fallen slightly since the beginning of the year, even as Warren and Sanders have championed it. An October poll by the Kaiser Foundation found 51% of Americans favor the plan, while 73% said they support a public option that would compete with private health insurance. Among Democrats, support for a public option has outpaced support for Medicare for All, 85% to 71%. A public option is backed by more moderate Democratic hopefuls, including Biden and Buttigieg. Traditionally, the U.S. has paid for social insurance programs with broad-based taxes. Medicare’s financing includes a payroll tax, money from the Treasury’s general fund and premiums paid by seniors. Sanders has laid out some options for Medicare for All, including a payroll tax on employers, a “premium” tax on households making more than $29,000 for a family of four and higher taxes on the wealthy — which is further than Warren has gone in explaining where the funding will come from. Releasing a more detailed health care proposal of her own could at least start to address these issues for Warren. But her advisers have long maintained that, while she may eventually do so, it isn’t imperative. “What resonates is not an academic version of her plan — it’s her personal story of struggle connecting with the real-world impact of her plan on everyday families,” Green said. “Medicare for All is about the principles, not the micro-mechanisms for putting it altogether.” ___ Associated Press writers Emily Swanson in Washington, Hunter Woodall in Keene, N.H., Thomas Beaumont in Ames, Iowa, and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Warren, candidate with the answers, dodges tax hike question."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ad95a9ce884444f95eb9ddff45132bd",
            "input": "HIIT can blast calories, build muscle and boost endurance with impressive efficiency in just 20 minutes a day, but the catch is finding the right level of intensity outside the comfort zone, fitness trainers say. Sean Bartram, author of the book “High Intensity Interval Training for Women,” said to find that level people should think about what it is like being chased by a rabid dog. “It’s just below that,” he said. “To gain maximum benefits you have to push your body to a place that’s almost uncomfortable.”   The American College of Sports Medicine predicts HIIT will be a top fitness trend in 2015. Bartram said people are drawn to it for its efficiency and almost endless variety of exercises. The bursts can be sprinting or spot jumps and the recovery can be rests or slower paced movements, he explained. “You could alternate 30 seconds of sprinting with 30 seconds of walking, or you could engage in a series of bodyweight exercises, such as push-ups, doing each for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between,” he said. Dr. Michele Olson, a professor of exercise science at Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama, said it’s not high intensity unless the heart rate is elevated to near 90-plus percentage of its maximum. “Many people think they are engaging in HIIT but they are really doing traditional interval training, where the heart rate is around 75 to 85 percent of max,” she said. Maximum heart rate is about 220 minus age, according to the American Heart Association. Olson said that if done properly, HIIT can increase the effectiveness in losing abdominal fat and prompt favorable changes in cholesterol and insulin levels. “There is research showing that you can cut your exercise time nearly in half,” she said. About 20 minutes of HIIT can reap similar benefits of doing 35 to 40 minutes of moderate, steady-state cardio, she added, noting the training level must be intense. Hayley Zawadzki, personal training manager at New York Health and Racquet Club fitness centers, suggests that anyone starting HIIT should have a fitness analysis. “If you have a history of high blood pressure or medications, you cannot push to the absolute max,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Key to High Intensity Interval Training found outside comfort zone."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b07c2f315ef849779c52e4122c2560a3",
            "input": "In June 2016, popular posts on social media claimed that “sea lice” had invaded beaches in Florida. As the term “sea lice” is not widespread, especially among social media users residing in the northern states, these messages were viewed with skepticism. However, these posts stemmed from genuine news articles: Purple flags are popping up all over the Florida panhandle as a nearly-invisible nuisance is causing a headache for beach-goers. Sea lice, also known as beach lice, have been confirmed in South Walton and Santa Rosa Beaches, and they may be moving west towards Alabama. Sea lice are virtually impossible to see underwater, making them difficult to track. They are known to get stuck underneath bathing suits and irritate the skin, causing a rash known as seabather’s eruption. The claim that these creatures have “invaded” the United States’ southern shores is something of an exaggeration, and may have led some to believe that this is a new phenomenon. Actually, the term “sea lice” has been used since at least the 1950s, although researchers preferred the term “seabather’s eruption” as there is an unrelated marine parasite known as a “sea louse”: The term “sea lice” apparently originated during the 1950s and was used by local U.S. residents in describing the condition. This popular term persisted, despite efforts by scientists to discourage use of such an inappropriate designation. Sea lice are actually small parasites that affect fish. While the term “sea lice” can refer to the larval form of several stinging marine creatures, seabather’s eruption is commonly caused by thimble jellyfish larvae: Seabather’s eruption is a rash that occurs when a swimmer is stung by marine life larvae. The condition has many names, including sealice, pika-pika, sea poisoning, sea critters, and ocean itch. Two types of marine life that generally cause this rash are: Thimble jellyfish (Linuche unguiculata). These are found seasonally in the water off the Florida coast and across the Caribbean. The jellyfish breed in the Caribbean throughout the summer, peaking in May. The larvae are barely visible, appearing like a speck of finely ground pepper.",
            "output": [
                "\"Florida beaches have been invaded with \"\"sea lice.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-856b5bc3186446ae8cd1ba42d8610d5f",
            "input": "Combination picture of new graphic cigarette packages, released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration June 21, 2011, shows a varied collection of a man on a ventilator, diseased lungs and dead bodies were among the graphic images for revamped U.S. tobacco labels, unveiled by health officials who hope the warnings will help smokers quit. REUTERS/U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Handout U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided on Monday with tobacco companies and granted a temporary injunction, saying they would likely prevail in their lawsuit challenging the requirement as unconstitutional because it compels speech in violation of the First Amendment. The Food and Drug Administration in June released nine new warnings to go into effect in September of 2012, the first change in U.S. cigarette warning labels in 25 years. Cigarette packs already carry text warnings from the U.S. Surgeon General. The new warnings must cover the top half of the front and back of cigarette packs and 20 percent of printed advertisements and must contain color graphics depicting the health consequences of smoking, including diseased lungs, dead bodies and rotting teeth. Congress instructed FDA to impose the new labels as part of 2009 legislation making the agency responsible for regulating tobacco products. “The sheer size and display requirements for the graphic images are anything but narrowly tailored,” Leon wrote in a 29-page opinion. Just because Congress ordered the size and placement of the new warnings before charging the FDA with carrying out the mandate, “doing so does not enable this requirement to somehow automatically pass constitutional muster,” he said. The content of the images would also not likely survive constitutional muster because the FDA did not attempt to narrowly tailor those either, the judge said. The tobacco lawsuit is the latest effort by corporations to assert a right to free speech, a high-profile legal battle that could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Reynolds American Inc’s R.J. Reynolds unit, Lorillard Inc, Liggett Group LLC and Commonwealth Brands Inc, owned by Britain’s Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, sued the FDA in August. They argued the new graphic warnings force them to “engage in anti-smoking advocacy” on the government’s behalf, breaching their right to free speech. The Obama administration’s options include appealing Leon’s ruling or the FDA could try to rewrite the rules. FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said the agency did not comment on proposed, pending or ongoing litigation. Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the department was aware of the decision and was reviewing it. The White House expressed disappointment in the ruling. “Tobacco companies shouldn’t be standing in the way of common sense measures that will help prevent children from smoking. We are confident big tobacco’s attempt to stop these warnings from going forward will ultimately fail,” White House spokesman Nick Papas said. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, accounting for one in every five deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 21 percent of U.S. adults smoke cigarettes, a number little changed since 2004. Worldwide, tobacco kills nearly 6 million people every year, including more than 600,000 nonsmokers, according to the World Health Organization, which has repeatedly called for graphic images to appear on tobacco packs, saying the pictorial warnings actually work. The tobacco industry had asked Leon to block the FDA’s new requirements, pending a final decision on their constitutionality. They argued they needed a quick ruling because they would have to start in November or December and spend millions of dollars to comply with the requirements. Justice Department attorneys had argued that the money was a small fraction of the companies’ net sales, so they would not suffer irreparable harm without the temporary injunction. Government attorneys said the labels conveyed the dangers of smoking more effectively than words alone, and were needed to stop more people from smoking, especially teenagers. Judge Leon said the images provoked an emotional response rather than just providing factual and noncontroversial information, crossing the line into using company advertising for government advocacy. Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment lawyer representing Lorillard, called Leon’s ruling a “vindication for the well-established First Amendment principle that the government may not compel speech in the commercial area.”   He said the case was in its early stages and there was a “good chance” it will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The Dow Jones tobacco index, whose components include Altria, Lorillard and Reynolds American, was just 0.05 percent higher in afternoon trading amid mixed trading for broader U.S. stock indexes as investors kept a worried eye on European debt problems. Altria Group is not part of the lawsuit. The case is R.J Reynolds Tobacco Co et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 11-cv-1482.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. judge blocks graphic cigarette warnings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ecba859e71464e92878c6f92ecc2633b",
            "input": "“Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told regional leaders via video conference, adding that India would also offer rapid response teams and other expertise to deal with the crisis. Modi said there were fewer than 150 cases in countries comprising the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but the situation ahead was uncertain. “This is why it would be most valuable for all of us to share our perspectives,” Modi told SAARC leaders. On Sunday, India’s federal health ministry reported that the number of coronavirus infections had risen to 107, an increase of 23 from the day before, with a western state home to the country’s financial capital the worst hit. Data from the ministry showed that there were now 31 confirmed coronavirus cases in Maharashtra state, where local authorities have closed down schools, colleges and malls in most cities, including in the financial hub of Mumbai. “The number could go up as we are waiting for test reports of people who were in close contact with patients who have tested positive,” a state health official said, declining to be named since he isn’t authorities to speak to media. In Mumbai, unions involved with its Bollywood film industry - one of the largest in the world - said that they would stop all work until the end of March. “We can’t take any chances,” Kulmeet Makkar, CEO of the Producers Guild of India, told Reuters, adding that around 200,000 people are directly employed with the industry in Mumbai. India, a country of 1.3 billion people, has so far fared better than elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America, with only two deaths because of the virus. But experts say India’s already overstretched medical system would struggle to deal with a major rise in serious cases. India has already suspended most visas to the country and shut many land borders with neighboring countries in a wide-reaching attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus.",
            "output": [
                "India proposes regional fund to fight coronavirus as cases exceed 100."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db0ff2b73e634940be4d9a0bd49cc083",
            "input": "That is the warning from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME), which on Wednesday became the latest group to highlight the problem of regulatory uncertainty once Britain leaves the European Union. As Reuters reported last month, industries from aerospace to pharmaceuticals and chemicals fear Brexit may create a regulatory vacuum. In a new report, the IME called on the British government to harmonize its post-Brexit rules with EU regulations on medical devices - a category covering everything from heart stents to walking aids - or risk losing billions of pounds in exports. “Leaving the EU without the UK medical technology industry suffering considerable long-term damage, particularly for small businesses, will be a huge challenge,” said Helen Meese, IME’s head of healthcare. “As part of the UK’s Brexit deal, it is vital that the UK is able to maintain continuity with the EU CE certification processes, and enable UK manufacturers to export medical devices into the 100 billion euros European med tech market.”  The EU’s system of CE marks offers a single validation for medical devices across the 28-nation bloc, in a similar way that the European Medicines Agency gives an EU-wide license for drugs. British firms would be excluded from this after Brexit unless there was a UK-EU deal for some kind of mutual recognition. Britain’s medical technology sector has annual turnover of 17 billion pounds ($22 billion), with 3,000 firms supporting 90,000 jobs, according to the IME.",
            "output": [
                "Brexit regulatory uncertainty 'threatens UK med tech'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-45384d52fa6242cd88d5191797831e43",
            "input": "The lawsuit marks the first multi-plaintiff trial in the litigation over whether glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is carcinogenic, and is the first trial outside of California. It is being held in St. Louis, where Monsanto was headquartered before Bayer bought the company in a $63 billion deal in 2018. Three consecutive juries found the company liable for causing cancer with damages of tens of millions of dollars awarded to each plaintiff. Bayer is appealing those verdicts. Court-appointed mediator Ken Feinberg has put the number of Roundup cancer claimants at more than 75,000 while Bayer said the claims it has been served with in court were below 50,000. Bayer’s share price has tumbled since the first verdict in August 2018 but the stock rose 3% on Friday after Bloomberg reported a possible out-of-court settlement with some plaintiffs that could lead to a total payout of about $10 billion. While traders said the market likes the idea of Bayer settling the litigation, some cautioned that the prospect of a comprehensive deal remained uncertain. Analysts have estimated the size of any such settlement at $8-$12 billion. While most plaintiffs’ lawyers have agreed to postpone trials pending negotiations, some have decided to pursue their clients’ day in court. The case in Missouri’s Circuit Court for the 22nd Judicial Circuit of the City of St. Louis is scheduled to last several weeks, with both sides presenting extensive scientific evidence through expert witnesses. Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate causes cancer, saying decades of independent studies have shown the world’s most widely used weed killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around the world have approved the product. “At the end of the day, this trial should come down to the weight of the science, and we remain confident in the extensive scientific record and regulatory assessments that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they do not cause cancer,” the company said in a statement. Several court cases have been postponed by both parties in the past to expedite settlement talks. By pursuing the St. Louis trail The Miller Firm LLC, a key player in the litigation, is seeking to increase pressure on Bayer. The case involves the claims of Bryce Batiste from Louisiana, Ann Meeks from Florida, Glen Ashelman from Pennsylvania and Christopher Wade, a St. Louis resident. All four have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cell cancer that plaintiffs in the litigation allege is caused by Roundup. Some legal experts said Bayer could benefit from a home advantage in the St. Louis trial, where Monsanto has century-old roots. But juries in the city are also known to dole out massive damages awards against large corporations.",
            "output": [
                "Bayer faces fourth U.S. Roundup cancer trial in Monsanto's hometown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f1fe37cce874a3eaca642681c5fdc35",
            "input": "On 5 February 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted a link to a junk news site masquerading as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that bore the false headline “ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RAPED HIS ONE MONTH OLD DAUGHTER, LEFT HER WITH 45 BROKEN BONES. PLEASE DEPORT ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT”: This disgusting rape isn’t tolerated in Texas. We won’t deport him, just to have him return. Instead, he’ll spend the next 244 years in jail– which means life. It won’t be a pleasant stay. #txlege https://t.co/7AN5BHANwH — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 6, 2019  Although Abbott’s commentary that “We won’t deport him” was true, it wasn’t for the reason he seemed to believe. Jeremy Desel, director of communications for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) told us in an email that according to TDCJ records, Patricio Medina, the man convicted of raping his infant daughter, was actually a U.S. citizen and not an “illegal immigrant.” Abbott’s tweet linked to an article from the disreputable “BBC-edition.com” website, a site that deceptively appropriated the identity of the real BBC, plagiarized a CBS News report about a horrifying crime, and embellished that report with a false headline about an illegal immigrant for exploitative clickbait purposes. On 10 October 2018, 27-year-old Patricio Medina of Waco, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 244 years in prison for sexually assaulting his daughter, who at the time was one month old. According to TDCJ inmate records, Medina’s prison sentenced was based on five counts associated with the rape. According to local news reports, Medina admitted in 2014 to sexually assaulting the infant while high on methamphetamine. The child suffered 45 broken bones as a result of the abuse and is now living with an adopted family, where she is reportedly doing well. Gov. Abbott’s inaccurate tweet was initially flagged by the local Houston television station KRIV. In a 12 February 2019 run-down, reporter Maria Salazar recounted that the information contained in Abbott’s tweet didn’t look right to her, and she couldn’t find any credible information about Medina’s being undocumented. So she contacted the TDCJ, who confirmed that Medina was in fact a U.S. citizen. “If you spend maybe five seconds on this web site you’d know something is wrong,” she said of the fake BBCweb site in a 12 February 2019 report: FOX 26 News is still waiting for #Texas Governor @GregAbbott_TX to respond with a comment after @MSalazarNews determined he shared a link to an article that falsely identified a convicted man’s immigration status. https://t.co/zBhFL5BTgO pic.twitter.com/zi33DxEICP — FOX26Houston (@FOX26Houston) February 12, 2019  We sent Abbott’s office questions asking whether he was aware he was promoting false information and why he hadn’t responded to KRIV’s report of his citing a bogus website. We have not yet received a response, and although Abbott posted the misleading tweet more than two weeks prior to this writing, he had yet to correct the record.",
            "output": [
                "Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted a tweet falsely claiming a convicted child rapist was an illegal immigrant."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25c0716e96b74aef8b1025c388211f4b",
            "input": "His two attempts to craft legislation replacing Obama’s law have collapsed for lack of GOP support. Republican opposition seems likely to doom a vote next week on his Plan C, a bill simply repealing much of Obama’s statute. Along the way, conservative Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., accused McConnell of a “serious breach of trust” by telling moderates that proposed Medicaid cuts would not occur. His fellow Kentucky Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, was a constant thorn and the most vociferous opponent of McConnell’s effort. And Utah Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, gave party leaders little advance word when he and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, deserted the bill late Monday, effectively killing it in the dark of night. “This has been a very, very challenging experience for all of us,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. McConnell faced a difficult environment. Polls have consistently shown Obama’s statute was far more popular than the GOP effort to repeal it, making his bill a tough sell to colleagues. President Donald Trump’s dismal approval ratings and zigzagging engagement haven’t helped. And facing unbroken Democratic opposition, McConnell needed to win over at least 50 of the 52 GOP senators, a .962 batting average he’s been unable to achieve. “Mitch has a tough, tough job and frankly I cut him a lot of slack on this. He can only do so much,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Democrats, who often grudgingly marvel at McConnell’s moves, kept waiting for him to pull a rabbit from what turned out to be an empty hat. They said he overreached by turning a bill reshaping Obama’s law into one that also cut nearly $1 trillion in taxes over a decade and sliced almost $800 billion from Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients. They say he boxed himself in by rushing to deliver on his party’s seven-year-old overpromise to repeal Obama’s law. That proved an arduous task that angered tens of millions who’ve benefited from the statute, especially with much of McConnell’s work performed behind closed office doors. “I don’t have any sympathy for him,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., his party’s No. 2 Senate leader. “I assume he felt duty-bound as the Republican leader” to pursue repeal of Obama’s law. But he said McConnell should have known that “rewriting the health care system of America on the fly and in secret was not going to work.” McConnell seemed to be trying to turn lemons into lemonade with next week’s likely rejection of a simple repeal of much of Obama’s law. By losing, GOP leaders would send a message to conservative voters that they tried to obliterate the law, while signaling to Republican senators that the votes aren’t there and it is time to move on. A senator for 33 years, the 75-year-old McConnell has a reputation for weaving compromises that avert onrushing political disasters. He cut several such deals during Obama’s years in the White House, including major budget pacts in 2011 and 2013. But once Donald Trump won the presidency and Republicans took House and Senate control this year, it became McConnell’s job to play offense. In particular, he is quarterback of the Senate GOP drive to repeal Obama’s law. But dismantling the law is not going to happen, at least in the immediate future. Assessing Democrats as unwilling to help them scrap Obama’s law — which they were — McConnell ignored them from the start. That tactic ignored his own advice from his 2016 memoir, “The Long Game,” in which he criticized Democrats for passing Obama’s 2010 statute “without regard for the views of the other side.” “Once you only have 52 votes and you try to do a bill just with Republicans, you set yourself up for a nearly impossible task,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. McConnell’s latest bill would cut Medicaid, letting insurers sell policies with negligible coverage and rolling back Obama taxes on the health care industry. Getting GOP votes for it is a Rubik’s cube-like problem because conservatives and moderates have mutually exclusive demands, like whether to slash Medicaid or erase Obama regulations protecting consumers. “You have first- and second-term twerps that think they know the solution to everything,” said former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who retired in 2007. “This was always going to be a difficult process and I’m not sure how we would have handled it differently,” said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas. Movement conservatives who have often accused McConnell of not being an aggressive enough champion of their causes do fault him. “Mitchcare collapses,” read a statement by Ken Cuccinelli, who heads the Senate Conservatives Fund, which has clashed with McConnell. Cuccinelli called the bill’s demise “an embarrassing defeat for someone who portrays himself as a strategic genius.”",
            "output": [
                "Crumbling health bill dents McConnell image as top tactician."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-169b5dfc045b4e07a6d200cfca2baf33",
            "input": "The Georgia Department of Public Health said Monday the family’s cases appear to have originated during travel out of the state. Two other families in Cobb County have been affected, and all 11 people were either not vaccinated or did not have a clear vaccination status. Health officials say they are continuing to notify people who may have been exposed and could face an increased risk of contracting the virus. Measles is highly contagious. The U.S. has experienced a resurgence of the illness that’s fueled by outbreaks in unvaccinated communities.",
            "output": [
                "Georgia officials identify likely source of measles outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b4e4f7221c4487fb8a09f73ee126e18",
            "input": "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources accepted Auwahi Wind Energy’s request to increase the number of allowed hoary bat deaths to 140 by 2037, The Maui News reported Friday. Auwahi Wind Energy submitted the amendments to the incidental take license and habitat conservation plan to federal and state agencies, officials said. The number is up from the 21 bats in its original permit received in 2012. The Department of Land and Natural Resources accepted the final environmental impact statement, the state department said. However, the federal decision must be published in the Federal Register to be made final. Auwahi was one of four Hawaii wind energy projects that applied for a federal permit, officials said. Its request was prepared and signed Sept. 3. The federal agency is expected to issue separate final decisions on each of the four requests through publication in the Federal Register, but the decisions have yet to be published. The risk that the wind turbines pose to bats in Hawaii “was largely unknown and underestimated,” Auwahi said in its original application. There is not enough information to determine the impact wind farms have on bat populations overall, experts confirmed. “We will certainly keep an eye on actual bat take numbers and oppose any additional increase in allowed take since there are known operational changes that would reduce the take to zero or close to it,” said Rob Weltman, president of the Sierra Club Maui Group. Auwahi experimented with changing turbine speeds, and fewer deaths at certain speeds were reported, Sierra Club officials said. Auwahi has worked to reforest bat habitat on Maui, sponsored U.S. Geological Survey bat research, conducted predator control and petrel burrow monitoring, and funded bat pens in the national park, the company said. American Electric Power acquired the west Maui wind farm from Sempra Renewables earlier this year, officials said. ___ Information from: The Maui News, http://www.mauinews.com",
            "output": [
                "Hawaii wind farm allowed to increase incidental bat deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df2214f7d2b44306be66b25b7f22a753",
            "input": "Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf rolled out an initiative that includes more resources and a public outreach campaign, saying the approach was inspired by a similar strategy the state has deployed in response to the opioid crisis. “For those struggling with their mental health, we have one message: your mental health matters and it’s OK to reach out for help,” Wolf said. Wolf said the initiative may need additional funding but said it was probably too early in the information-gathering stage to be seeking money from the Legislature in next month’s annual gubernatorial budget address. “I want to end the silence because I want to end the stigma,” Wolf said at news conference. “The second step in this, of course, is ensuring that every Pennsylvanian has access to the care they need.” The campaign, “Reach Out PA: Your Mental Health Matters,” includes developing new state regulations on health insurance coverage, coordinating services for physical and behavioral health, analyzing pay and other factors for those who provide mental health services, and finding ways to get more social workers into schools. Wolf will host a discussion about mental illness Friday at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, part of an attempt to reduce the stigma that can be a barrier to mental health treatment. Other aspects of the program include training more state workers in suicide prevention, assessing Department of Military and Veterans Affairs resources regarding post-traumatic stress disorder and self-harm, and widening Aging Department information and training about dementia. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania welcomed Wolf’s focus on mental health but said state financial support has lagged while the demand for services has grown. Executive Director Lisa Schaefer said funding for services, beds and other efforts are her group’s top priority, but urged the state to continue to give counties flexibility about how money is spent for mental health and drug and alcohol services for Medicaid recipients.",
            "output": [
                "Governor outlines effort to bolster mental health services."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea1d1dff674c4ce49229778e902968a3",
            "input": "Branagh and Friel were among 11 winning performers and programs spanning eight countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The awards are presented annually by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which represents more than 60 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of TV, including internet and mobile technology. The evening was hosted by Iranian-American comedian-actor Maz Jobrani, who co-stars on the CBS sitcom “Superior Donuts.” “The International Emmys are like the World Cup of TV,” Jobrani cracked, “and like the World Cup a lot of Americans don’t know it’s happening. Presenters included Kevin McKidd (“Grey’s Anatomy”), talk-show veteran Larry King, Freddy Rodriguez (“Bull”) and Melissa Villasenor (“Saturday Night Live”). Branagh won for his role as Swedish detective Kurt Wallander in the popular BBC drama series “Wallander,” which has won an American following on public television’s “Masterpiece.” Friel was awarded for her performance as Sergeant Marcella Backland in the British series “Marcella” (which is available on Netflix). The other winners include: Arts: “Hip-Hop Evolution” (Canada). Comedy: “Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle” (United Kingdom). Documentary: “EXODUS: Our Journey to Europe” (United Kingdom). Drama Series: “Mammon II” (Norway). Non-English Language U.S. Primetime Program: “Sr. Avila” (carried on HBO Latin America). Non-Scripted Entertainment: “Sorry Voor Alles” (“Sorry About That”), (Belgium). Short-Form Series: “The Braun Family” (Germany). Telenovela: “Kara Sevda” (“Endless Love”), (Turkey). TV Movie or Miniseries: “Don’t Leave Me” (France). In addition, the Emmy Directorate Award was presented to Emilio Azcarraga Jean, head of Grupo Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-language content provider as well as Mexico’s largest broadcaster and pay-TV provider. Not present was Kevin Spacey, who had been announced as the 2017 recipient of the International Emmy Founders Award. His award was rescinded last month after allegations of past sexual misconduct became public. “The Academy felt that, in light of recent events, we could not present the award to him,” Academy CEO Bruce L. Paisner told the room in his opening remarks. ___ Online: https://www.iemmys.tv",
            "output": [
                "Branagh, Friel among winners of International Emmy Awards."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-34ccbb84487349dbb5879445ab020e5c",
            "input": "According to two studies published on Wednesday, DNA from these pre-modern humans may play a role in the appearance of hair and skin as well as the risk of certain diseases. Although Neanderthals became extinct 28,000 years ago in Europe, as much as one-fifth of their DNA has survived in human genomes due to interbreeding tens of thousands of years ago, one of the studies found, although any one individual has only about 2 percent of caveman DNA. “The 2 percent of your Neanderthal DNA might be different than my 2 percent of Neanderthal DNA, and it’s found at different places in the genome,” said geneticist Joshua Akey, who led one of the studies. Put it all together in a study of hundreds of people, and “you can recover a substantial proportion of the Neanderthal genome.”  Both studies confirmed earlier findings that the genomes of east Asians harbor more Neanderthal DNA than those of Europeans. This could be 21 percent more, according to an analysis by Akey and Benjamin Vernot, published online in the journal Science. Still, “more” is a relative term. According to the paper by geneticists at Harvard Medical School, published in Nature, about 1.4 percent of the genomes of Han Chinese in Beijing and south China, as well as Japanese in Tokyo come from Neanderthals, compared to 1.1 percent of the genomes of Europeans. Anthropologists expressed caution about the findings. Fewer than half a dozen Neanderthal fossils have yielded genetic material, said Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in  St. Louis, one of the world’s leading experts on early humans. Using this small sample to infer how much Neanderthal DNA persists in today’s genome is therefore questionable, he said. As expected, since Neanderthals never existed in Africa, Africans and those who trace their ancestry to that continent have almost no Neanderthal DNA, the Harvard team found. Human ancestors began migrating out of humanity’s natal continent as early as 1 million years ago, paleoanthropologists infer from fossil evidence, and between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago evolved into the robust, large-browed Homo neanderthalensis in Western Europe. Ever since scientists extracted DNA from the remains of Neanderthals, they have known that people today carry snippets of cavemen genes, in the amounts of 2 percent to 3 percent. That clinched the case that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred, probably 40,000 to 80,000 years ago, soon after the latter arrived in Europe from Africa. The new studies add details about how much DNA and of what kind we inherited. “The story of early human evolution is captivating in itself, yet it also has far-reaching implications for understanding the organization of the modern human genome,” Irene Eckstrand of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partially funded the research, said in a statement. “Every piece of this story that we uncover tells us more about our ancestors’ genetic contributions to modern human health and disease.”  The Harvard team used a novel genetic algorithm to estimate the probability that a particular genetic variant arose from Neanderthals. Basically, they started with the genome of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal, and determined whether pieces of it also appeared in some non-Africans but not in sub-Saharan Africans. The algorithm identified remnants of Neanderthal DNA, called alleles, in genes associated with type 2 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, lupus, biliary cirrhosis and smoking behavior. “But we can’t tell if the Neanderthal alleles are contributing to disease,” said Harvard’s Sriram Sankararaman, lead author of the paper in Nature. Areas “with increased Neanderthal ancestry tend to be higher the farther away you go from genes,” sitting, instead, in regions of the genome that do not actually produce the proteins, enzymes and other working molecules of the body. Neanderthal DNA does sit within some genes, however, such as those for keratin, a fibrous protein that makes skin, hair and nails tough and can be beneficial in colder environments by providing thicker insulation. The endurance of this Neanderthal DNA suggests that our caveman inheritance was adaptive, picked by natural selection to persist in our genome, generation after generation, because it conferred a survival advantage in individuals who carried it. The Harvard team analyzed the genomes of 1,004 people to estimate which populations got more or fewer Neanderthal DNA. Confirming a 2013 study, they found more in the genomes of east Asians than in Europeans. But they also dug deeper. Puerto Ricans and Spaniards have the least Neanderthal DNA, 1.05 percent and 1.07 percent respectively. That is curious because Neanderthals made their last stand on the Iberian peninsula, finally dying out there 28,000 years ago. Across all populations, Neanderthal DNA is conspicuously low in regions of the X chromosome and in testes-specific genes. The paucity of Neanderthal genes among those active in the testes suggests that interbreeding wasn’t a resounding success: It produced viable children, but the males were infertile. Although as much as 20 percent of Neanderthal DNA persists in modern genomes, according to the Washington scientists, vast regions of the latter are Neanderthal deserts. Among them is a region of chromosome 7 that includes a gene called FOXP2. “FOXP2 has previously been implicated in speech and language and may be an example of a gene that influences a uniquely human trait, which is why we find no Neanderthal sequences in these regions,” said Akey.",
            "output": [
                "Modern humans more Neanderthal than once thought, studies suggest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b4de2c284664932871938fed737b88b",
            "input": "Data from the 236-patient trial, which lasted 13 weeks and  compared the effectiveness of Cymbalta with placebos, were  presented at the annual congress of the European Federation of  Neurological Societies in Madrid. Lilly said 31 percent of patients taking Cymbalta  experienced a 50 percent reduction in pain, as measured by a  standard pain scale, compared with 19 percent of  placebo-treated patients. But significantly more patients taking Cymbalta dropped out  of the trial because of side effects, which included nausea,  dry mouth, fatigue, diarrhea, excessive sweating, dizziness and  constipation. Lilly said side effects were similar to those seen in  previous trials of Cymbalta for other conditions. Global second-quarter sales of Cymbalta, one of Lilly’s  biggest products, jumped 26 percent to $654 million, helped by  its other approved uses to treat fibromyalgia and generalized  anxiety disorder. The drug works by maximizing the presence of two messenger  chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine.",
            "output": [
                "Lilly depression drug eases back pain in study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be76158cafcb491db1ae74aa210f5f72",
            "input": "Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s U.N. observer, told journalists that while there has been a de-escalation of fighting in Yemen which is positive news, the Arab world’s poorest nation faces “a very dire humanitarian situation.” It is not only facing an escalation in dengue cases but must also continue to deal with tens of thousands of cholera cases as well as malaria, he said. More than 3,500 cases of dengue have been reported in Taiz, Mardini said. And in Hodeida, where the country’s main port is located, the ICRC heard that 50 people died in late October and early November of dengue fever and malaria, and the local head office reported the number of people infected with dengue fever is 2,000, and close to 3,000 have malaria. “So you can imagine, with the violence and the fighting, it is a big challenge to control this epidemic,” Mardini said. In addition, he said, last year’s “spectacular” cholera epidemic in Yemen isn’t over yet, pointing to more than 56,000 cases reported between January and September. The European Commission’s humanitarian aid operation known as ECHO reported Monday that 10 people died of dengue fever in Taiz governorate last week and local health authorities expected the death toll to increase. As of Thursday, ECHO said, 7,970 cases of dengue fever were reported in the governorate. It said 3,215 were confirmed and 103 patients were under observation in government hospitals. Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating disease caused by viruses transmitted by mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water. Malaria is caused by a parasite also transmitted by mosquitoes, and cholera is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated by bacteria. Mardini said dengue and malaria are endemic in Yemen though in recent years their prevalence had “been extremely low.” But now, because of the weakness of the country’s health system and problems with its water supplies and sanitation, malaria and dengue are appearing again, he said. The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by Iranian-backed Houthis who control much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the internationally recognized government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015. Fighting in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the country to the brink of famine.",
            "output": [
                "Red Cross reports new outbreak of dengue fever in Yemen."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c10da843e8c4927b8a2ff39a9f0a3a9",
            "input": "But he and his colleagues are cooking up something else altogether: yeast that works with chunks of man-made DNA. Scientists have long been able to make specific changes in the DNA code. Now, they’re taking the more radical step of starting over, and building redesigned life forms from scratch. Boeke, a researcher at New York University, directs an international team of 11 labs on four continents working to “rewrite” the yeast genome, following a detailed plan they published in March. Their work is part of a bold and controversial pursuit aimed at creating custom-made DNA codes to be inserted into living cells to change how they function, or even provide a treatment for diseases. It could also someday help give scientists the profound and unsettling ability to create entirely new organisms. The genome is the entire genetic code of a living thing. Learning how to make one from scratch, Boeke said, means “you really can construct something that’s completely new.” The research may reveal basic, hidden rules that govern the structure and functioning of genomes. But it also opens the door to life with new and useful characteristics, like microbes or mammal cells that are better than current ones at pumping out medications in pharmaceutical factories, or new vaccines. The right modifications might make yeast efficiently produce new biofuels, Boeke says. Some scientists look further into the future and see things like trees that purify water supplies and plants that detect explosives at airports and shopping malls. Also on the horizon is redesigning human DNA. That’s not to make genetically altered people, scientists stress. Instead, the synthetic DNA would be put into cells, to make them better at pumping out pharmaceutical proteins, for example, or perhaps to engineer stem cells as a safer source of lab-grown tissue and organs for transplanting into patients. Some have found the idea of remaking human DNA disconcerting, and scientists plan to get guidance from ethicists and the public before they try it. Still, redesigning DNA is alarming to some. Laurie Zoloth of Northwestern University, a bioethicist who’s been following the effort, is concerned about making organisms with “properties we cannot fully know.” And the work would disturb people who believe creating life from scratch would give humans unwarranted power, she said. “It is not only a science project,” Zoloth said in an email. “It is an ethical and moral and theological proposal of significant proportions.” Rewritten DNA has already been put to work in viruses and bacteria. Australian scientists recently announced that they’d built the genome of the Zika virus in a lab, for example, to better understand it and get clues for new treatments. At Harvard University, Jeffrey Way and Pamela Silver are working toward developing a harmless strain of salmonella to use as a vaccine against food poisoning from salmonella and E. coli, as well as the diarrhea-causing disease called shigella. A key goal is to prevent the strain from turning harmful as a result of picking up DNA from other bacteria. That requires changing its genome in 30,000 places. “The only practical way to do that,” Way says, “is to synthesize it from scratch.” The cutting edge for redesigning a genome, though, is yeast. Its genome is bigger and more complex than the viral and bacterial codes altered so far. But it’s well-understood and yeast will readily swap man-made DNA for its own. Still, rewriting the yeast genome is a huge job. It’s like a chain with 12 million chemical links, known by the letters, A, C, G and T. That’s less than one-hundredth the size of the human genome, which has 3.2 billion links. But it’s still such a big job that Boeke’s lab and scientists in the United States, Australia, China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom are splitting up the work. By the time the new yeast genome is completed, researchers will have added, deleted or altered about a million DNA letters. Boeke compares a genome to a book with many chapters, and researchers are coming out with a new edition, with chapters that allow the book to do something it couldn’t do before. To redesign a particular stretch of yeast DNA, scientists begin with its sequence of code letters — nature’s own recipe. They load that sequence into a computer, then tell the computer to make specific kinds of changes. For example one change might let them rearrange the order of genes, which might reveal strategies to make yeast grow better, says NYU researcher Leslie Mitchell. Once the changes are made, the new sequence used as a blueprint. It is sent to a company that builds chunks of DNA containing the new sequence. Then these short chunks are joined together in the lab to build ever longer strands. The project has so far reported building about one-third of the yeast genome. Boeke hopes the rest of the construction will be done by the end of the year. But he says it will take longer to test the new DNA and fix problems, and to finally combine the various chunks into a complete synthetic genome. Last year, Boeke and others announced a separate effort, what is now called Genome Project-write or GP-write . It is chiefly focused on cutting the cost of building and testing large genomes, including human ones, by more than 1,000-fold within 10 years. The project is still seeking funding. In the meantime, leaders of GP-write have started discussions of ethical, legal and social issues. And they realize the idea of making a human genome is a sensitive one. “The notion that we could actually write a human genome is simultaneously thrilling to some and not so thrilling to others,” Boeke said. “So we recognize this is going to take a lot of discussion.” ___ Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter. His recent work can be found here. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists build DNA from scratch to alter life’s blueprint."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c0d8a8ff5784b86bb0cb3456bc0653a",
            "input": "While there was no mention of coffee cost, this element is not particulary germane to this story. The article reported that drinking four eight-ounce cups of coffee was linked to a 30% reduction in the risk of developing diabetes. Rather than relative reduction, the article should have included the absolute reduction. The rate at which women who drank coffee developed type II diabetes was 6.05% while the rate in women who drank 4-5 cups of coffee per day was 4.30%. The relative difference always sounds more convincing; the absolute difference is what is probably most meaningful to viewers. So, in this case, a 30% relative difference equated to an absolute difference of less than 2%. There was no mention of potential harms that might be derived from increased coffee consumption. The article could have included concern about disrupted sleep, heart palpitations, increased urinary frequency, and jitteriness. Because of the design of the study covered in this story (a prospective epidemiologic study), it is not possible to conclude that increasing decaffeinated coffee consumption will decrease the risk of type II diabetes. This important point was covered by one of the physician quotes in the story. The speculation about what was in decaf coffee that resulted in the decreased risk of type II diabetes was not well grounded. Other than painting perhaps a little too rosy picture of all the potential benefits that might be gained from coffee consumption, this article did not practice disease mongering. It did not present any data on the prevalence of type II diabetes. The story could have mentioned that the Type II diabetes has become rather common place and is a public health issue. It appears that this story is based on a research study in the Archives of Internal Medicine and from comments by one physician and one researcher. It certainly would have been better to actually mention where the study was published rather than referring to it as “the study out today”. It would also have been better to give us some perspective about the value of the quotes provided by giving some background on the two people interviewed. Nonethless, we credit the story for having different perspectives. There was no mention of other lifestyle strategies that an individual might pursue in order to lower the risk of type II diabetes. This is a particularly important public health message. Moderate daily physical activity, such as walking, has also been shown to lower the risk of type II diabetes. The story isn’t about a treatment per se, but about the effects of drinking coffee, which is readily available to all. The story is quite clear about the widespread availability and use of coffee. There is a growing body of literature suggesting that coffee drinking can lower one’s risk of type II diabetes. This story covered the latest such evidence, and made it clear that this is part of a growing body of “more intriguing evidence.” There is no evidence that this story relied solely or largely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Coffee found to reduce risk of diabetes"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-27df635ab43848a8af8862296b454bc2",
            "input": "The conditions suggested in the second round of petitions the board received also include a football-related ailment: being a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals or the Cleveland Browns, both teams coming off disappointing seasons. Don’t expect that proposal to make it very far as a board committee reviews the petitions next month. Board members consider information from medical experts and scientific evidence before deciding whether to add a condition to the list. The panel received 28 petitions for potential new qualifying conditions during the latest window for such submissions — far fewer than in the initial round — but hasn’t yet released details about who submitted each petition and the arguments they made. The list already includes conditions such as AIDS, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Last year, the board rejected petitions to add anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.",
            "output": [
                "Petition suggests medical marijuana for Browns, Bengals fans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f03fc2ccea484fe58c3b47d784c80949",
            "input": "Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, will lead “Operation Warp Speed,” Trump’s push to accelerate the vaccine development process for COVID-19, according to an administration official. Slaoui is to serve in a volunteer capacity, and will be assisted by Army Gen. Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command. The move comes as the president and White House aides hope to produce vaccines for the coronavirus faster than what many scientists believe is realistic. The administration is aiming to have 300 million doses to distribute to Americans by the end of the year, believing a reliable vaccine is the only way to promote an economic rebound. “Operation Warp Speed” is operating largely independently of the existing White House coronavirus task force, which is also shifting its focus toward vaccine development. The initiative is being promoted by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and involves officials from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said a vaccine would not be available by the beginning of the next academic year. “The idea of having treatments available or a vaccine to facilitate re-entry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bit of a bridge too far,” he said, “even at the top speed we’re going.”",
            "output": [
                "Trump to name former pharma exec as vaccine czar."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d78b06f5b98048e79ed3723f5bee1b73",
            "input": "In the first study of its kind to look at the effects of childhood bullying beyond early adulthood, the researchers said its impact is “persistent and pervasive”, with people who were bullied when young more likely to have poorer physical and psychological health and poorer cognitive functioning at age 50. “The effects of bullying are still visible nearly four decades later ... with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood,” said Ryu Takizawa, who led the study at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London. The findings, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry on Friday, come from the British National Child Development Study which includes data on all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1958. It included 7,771 children whose parents gave information on their child’s exposure to bullying when they were aged 7 and 11. The children were then followed up until they reached 50. Bullying is characterized by repeated hurtful actions by children of a similar age, where the victim finds it difficult to defend themselves. More than a quarter of children in the study - 28 percent - had been bullied occasionally, and 15 percent were bullied frequently - rates that the researchers said were similar to the situation in Britain today. The study, which adjusted for other factors such as childhood IQ, emotional and behavioral problems and low parental involvement, found people who were frequently bullied in childhood were at an increased risk of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and experiencing suicidal thoughts. Victims of bullying were also more likely to have lower educational levels, less likely to be in a relationship and more likely to report lower quality of life. Men who had been bullied were also more likely to be unemployed and earn less. Louise Arseneault, also from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s and who also worked on the study, said its findings showed how important it is “to move away from any perception that bullying is just an inevitable part of growing-up.”  “Teachers, parents and policy-makers should be aware that what happens in the school playground can have long-term repercussions,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Forty years on, bullying takes its toll on health and wealth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-94c03479f46443d1a576be370165916f",
            "input": "If you die an untimely death, can you have your ashes sent to the person of your choice? What if you would like to send it to your least favorite representative in order to protest legislation they have written or voted for? In theory, it is already possible to have your cremated remains sent to Congress, but the idea has gained traction as a political protest since the passage of the American Health Care Act in the House on 4 May 2017. Shortly after it passed, 20-year-old Zoey Jordan Salsbury revealed that she had created “Mail Me to the GOP”, a web site that offers to help users get their paperwork in order to send their ashes to a “GOP member of Congress” when they die. The site also links to an online fundraiser seeking to unseat the members of Congress who voted for the bill. Salsbury, a junior at American University who won the President’s Volunteer Service Award alongside a friend last year for her online work, lives with depression and anxiety, and was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia in November 2016. She told us: I have several pre-existing conditions that are out of my control. They are things I was born with. And when you have chronic illnesses you befriend others with chronic illness. So I have friends who I see struggle with expensive care, even with insurance. I know they’ll die if the bill is passed by the Senate. I know I’ll die if I can’t afford my psych and pain meds. And I wanted the GOP to see that. The website asks users, “Why will you die because of the Republican health care bill?” and asks them to submit responses. As of 8 May 2017, Salsbury said, just over 1,100 people had signed up to take part in the process, adding: “I’m sure there are a few trolls in there, but from what I’ve scrolled through and seen most are genuine.” However, she said, she will not personally send the cremated remains; instead she planned to help people work with an estate planner in order to make their own arrangements should they choose to follow through with the posthumous protest statement. But as her site has received more notice, Salsbury said, her server has crashed multiple times. She told us: I’m really glad that it’s gotten so much attention. I really hope it makes an impact on GOP members of the Senate. It’s been picked up by some right-wing blogs which has made my Twitter mentions and Facebook messages kind of a nightmare, but it’s worth all the hate if even one member of the Senate votes against this bill because of it. The United States Postal Service does allow the shipment of cremated remains, so long as they are mailed in a package containing padding as well as inner and outer containers. Salsbury said she would do more research”on the legalities of sending ashes to lawmaker after the Senate takes up the matter. “Right now I want to concentrate on making sure this bill dies in the Senate, instead of us dying,” Salsbury told us. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said that her colleagues would start over again “from scratch” instead of considering the House version of the bill. We contacted USPS seeking comment regarding any possible special stipulations regarding mail to the Capitol, but have not yet received a response.",
            "output": [
                "If you die, you can send your ashes to legislators as one final act of protest."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e81174082bd0474b9fd918dcd5b9b169",
            "input": "No longer. More than half of the cane in Brazil’s main sugar-producing area of Sao Paulo state was harvested using machines during the 2009/10 season, a historic first that portends greater efficiency in coming years. The shift is occurring so quickly that some producers face a four-month waiting list to get the right equipment. The transition, driven by both increased competition and tougher Brazilian environmental laws, has been a boon for multinational equipment manufacturers supplying the world’s leading producer of sugar and the second largest ethanol producer after the United States. “Brazil’s market is hot,” said Jose Emilio dos Santos, manager of Tratorag Comercio e Representacao, a John Deere dealer based in Piracicaba, the heart of the center-south’s cane growing region in Sao Paulo state. “Many producers are looking to buy a new machine harvester.”   Last year, Cosan, the world’s largest sugar and ethanol producer, spent 30.5 million reais ($17.3 million) on mechanization and expects to train between 180 and 200 harvester operators per year for the next four years, said Luis Carlos Veguin, the company’s human resources director. Adoption of the technology by big firms has forced many smaller producers to follow suit. In the first six months of 2010, 3,186 harvesters of all types were sold in Brazil, up from 478 in the same period of 2006, according to figures from Anfavea, the vehicle manufacturer’s association. It’s not just companies that are benefiting from the switch. Izaura Freitas Souza, 39, has wielded a machete in the sugar cane harvest since she was a 15 year old and once almost sliced off her big toe in the fields. Today, Souza drives a harvester for Cosan in Piracicaba and says she has tripled her earnings to 1,800 reais a month, which allows her to save to buy a house. “It is clean work now,” she said, “without the physical wear and tear.”   Initial investment in a harvester is expensive but over time is a cheaper alternative to manual labor because wages have been rising in tandem with Brazil’s economy, Veguin said. A new cane harvester from John Deere costs an average 880,000 reais, said dos Santos, the tractor dealer. The company’s main competitor in Brazil is Case IH, a subsidiary of CNH Global. For smaller sugar cane producers who are unable to afford the initial investment, the situation can be dire. Unable to compete with the efficiency of the bigger players, some have been forced to enter into partnerships with Cosan or Bunge, or logistics companies, like Julio Simoes. “Banks request guarantees and the cost of a harvester is quite high,” dos Santos said. “Not all producers can provide sufficient collateral.”   Mechanization is given urgency by environmental laws, which will effectively phase out manual cane cutting in Sao Paulo state by 2017. Before manual harvesting begins, workers set fields alight to clear the undergrowth and flush out snakes and insects. Reducing burning is a priority for producers because the method is a blot on otherwise impressive environmental credentials — Brazilian ethanol from cane is about six times more energy efficient than its U.S. corn-derived counterpart — and they have introduced more stringent schedules. “We have a 100 percent target for the elimination of burning (in areas suitable for mechanization in Sao Paulo state) for 2014,” said Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, a director at Unica, the cane industry association. Cane producers fear that environmental reasons might be used as de facto trade barriers to prevent the entry of Brazilian sugar and ethanol into less competitive domestic markets in Europe and North America. This will be important as Brazil seeks to expand in overseas markets. The country’s 2010/11 sugar cane crop will be the ninth record in a row, up 10 percent from the prior year, according to the government’s supply agency, Conab. But the worst hit by mechanization are the cane cutters, many of whom risk losing their jobs if they can’t retrain. A harvester replaces about 100 cane cutters a day, according to Unica, and creates 30 jobs by way of operators and maintenance teams. An operator trainee must be literate and hold a driving license, which excludes many cutters. Although government and producers have stressed retraining, figures from Unica show there were 140,000 manual cane cutters in Sao Paulo state in 2010, down from 190,000 in 2006. Even Souza, the harvester operator, misses the company in the fields. “During the breaks everyone would joke around,” she said. “In the harvester I can only laugh at the memories.”   (Editing by Brian Winter and Kieran Murray)",
            "output": [
                "From machete to machine in Brazil's cane fields."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02e285a3c6144ec782083cefa825c17d",
            "input": "Although Michael Jackson was seldom out of the public eye for long, in late 2002 and early 2003 he was the subject of even more intense media attention than usual. Granted, his deep-seated proclivity for strange behavior (wearing masks in public, undergoing bout after bout of plastic surgery to the point that his nose was rumored to be about to fall off, naming one his son’s Prince Michael and then a second one Prince Michael II, ongoing whispers about his sexual molestation of young boys, life at his fantasy home of Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez area) kept him perpetually in the spotlight, but two media events caused the unrelenting arc light of celebrity to burn a bit more brightly in the early 2000s: the January 2003 network television broadcast of a British documentary about Jackson’s bizarre private life (followed a month later by “Michael Jackson, Unmasked,” a network special devoted to a study of the pop star’s career through examination of the changes to his face), and a November 2002 incident which drew the ire of parents everywhere when Jackson exuberantly dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, from a fourth-floor hotel balcony in Berlin. A third incident added to this glare: the publication of the 1993 declaration given by 13-year-old “J. Chandler” in a lawsuit against Michael Jackson, in which he alleged the singer had sexually molested him. That suit was settled out of court in January 1994 for an undisclosed amount of money (thought to be between $15 and $40 million, an astounding figure to an ordinary person but a drop in the bucket to Jackson, whose personal fortune was then estimated at $1.7 billion). No criminal charges arising from those allegations were filed against Jackson, and both parties signed a confidentiality agreement as a condition of the settlement. In February 2003, the exposé web site The Smoking Gun published the four-page declaration that kicked off the 1993 suit against Jackson. In it, “J. Chandler,” self-described as a 13-year-old boy then in the eighth grade, detailed his involvement with the singer and the escalation of their friendship (which began in May 1992 and ended in July 1993) into realms of sexual contact. In addition to listing graphic details about the sexual encounters that occurred between them on a number of occasions, the boy made statements about Jackson’s crying when the youngster attempted to halt certain activities. Penetration does not appear to have been among the claims made by the boy, but incidents of oral and manual sex were:  Michael Jackson had me suck one nipple and twist the other nipple while Michael Jackson masturbated. On one occasion when Michael Jackson and I were in bed together, Michael Jackson grabbed my buttock and kissed me while he put his tongue in my ear. I told him I didn’t like that. Michael Jackson started to cry. We’re not going to reproduce the whole thing here, but a copy of this declaration can be viewed at The Smoking Gun’s archives. In a British documentary aired in early February 2003, Jackson, then 44, again denied ever having inappropriate relationships with children, although he admitted sharing his bed with boys.",
            "output": [
                "The court declaration given by the 13-year-old boy Michael Jackson allegedly molested in 1993 has surfaced. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7046cdb44aff4a409eef01032005521a",
            "input": "That’s the premise behind the recent approval of a landmark drug, the first cancer therapy ever cleared based on a tumor’s genetics instead of the body part it struck first. Now thousands of patients with worsening cancer despite standard treatment can try this immunotherapy — as long as genetic testing of the tumor shows they’re a candidate. “It’s like having a lottery ticket,” said Johns Hopkins oncologist Dr. Dung Le, who helped prove the new use for the immunotherapy Keytruda. “We’ve got to figure out how to find these patients, because it’s such a great opportunity for them.” Today, doctors diagnose tumors by where they originate — breast cancer in the breast, colon cancer in the colon — and use therapies specifically tested for that organ. In contrast, the Food and Drug Administration labeled Keytruda the first “tissue-agnostic” treatment, for adults and children. The reason: Seemingly unrelated cancers occasionally carry a common genetic flaw called a mismatch repair defect. Despite small studies,  FDA found the evidence convincing that for a subset of patients, that flaw can make solid tumors susceptible to immunotherapy doctors otherwise wouldn’t have tried. “We thought these would be the hardest tumors to treat. But it’s like an Achilles heel,” said Hopkins cancer geneticist Bert Vogelstein. And last month FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told a Senate subcommittee his agency will simplify drug development for diseases that “all have a similar genetic fingerprint even if they have a slightly different clinical expression.” It’s too early to know if what’s being dubbed precision immunotherapy will have lasting benefits, but here’s a look at the science. WHO’S A CANDIDATE? Hopkins estimates about 4 percent of cancers are mismatch repair-deficient, potentially adding up to 60,000 patients a year. Widely available tests that cost $300 to $600 can tell who’s eligible. The FDA said the flaw is more common in colon, endometrial and gastrointestinal cancers but occasionally occurs in a list of others. “Say, ‘have I been tested for this?’” is Le’s advice for patients. MUTATIONS AND MORE MUTATIONS Most tumors bear 50 or so mutations in various genes, Vogelstein said. Melanomas and lung cancers, spurred by sunlight and tobacco smoke, may have twice as many. But tumors with a mismatch repair defect can harbor 1,500 mutations. Why? When DNA copies itself, sometimes the strands pair up wrong to leave a typo — a mismatch. Normally the body spell checks and repairs those typos. Without that proofreading, mutations build up, not necessarily the kind that trigger cancer but bystanders in a growing tumor. THE PLOT THICKENS Your immune system could be a potent cancer fighter except that too often, tumors shield themselves. Merck’s Keytruda and other so-called checkpoint inhibitors can block one of those shields, allowing immune cells to recognize a tumor as a foreign invader and attack. Until now, those immunotherapies were approved only for a few select cancers — Keytruda hit the market for melanoma in 2014 — and they work incredibly well for some patients but fail in many others. Learning who’s a good candidate is critical for drugs that can cost $150,000 a year and sometimes cause serious side effects. In 2012, Hopkins doctors testing various immunotherapies found the approach failed in all but one of 20 colon cancer patients. When perplexed oncologists told Vogelstein, “a light bulb went off.” Sure enough, the one patient who fared well had a mismatch repair defect and a “mind-boggling” number of tumor mutations. The more mutations, the greater the chance that at least one produces a foreign-looking protein that is a beacon for immune cells, Vogelstein explained. It was time to see if other kinds of cancer might respond, too. WHAT’S THE DATA? The strongest study, published in the journal Science, tested 86 such patients with a dozen different cancers, including some who had entered hospice. Half had their tumors at least shrink significantly, and 18 saw their cancer become undetectable. It’s not clear why the other half didn’t respond. Researchers found a hint, in three patients, that new mutations might form that could resist treatment. But after two years of Keytruda infusions, 11 of the “complete responders” have stopped the drug and remain cancer-free for a median of eight months and counting. Catherine “Katie” Rosenbaum, 67, is one of those successes. The retired teacher had her uterus removed when endometrial cancer first struck, but five years later tumors returned, scattered through her pelvis and colon. She tried treatment after treatment until in 2014, her doctor urged the Hopkins study. Rosenbaum took a train from Richmond, Virginia, to Baltimore for infusions every two weeks and then, after some fatigue and diarrhea side effects, once a month. Then the side effects eased and her tumors started disappearing. A year into the study she was well enough to swim a mile for a Swim Across America cancer fundraiser. “Nothing else had worked, so I guess we could say it was a last hope,” said Rosenbaum, who now wants other patients to know about the option. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Tumor gene testing urged to tell if drug targets your cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee057b9d82d4499098e89100e2b5040a",
            "input": "\"The article does not mention costs. The story provides absolute proportions of children who were overweight or obese at 5 or 7 years old. Groups compared included children of those mothers with normal glucose levels, children of those with a diabetes diagnosis who were treated, and children of those with high blood sugar levels who were not treated. Although it’s not entirely clear which group actually received treatment. The study does not mention any harms of treatment for high blood sugar, which could potentially include severe episodes of low blood sugar (if treated with insulin). Would also have been helpful to say more about the lifestyle/nutrition interventions and to note that they have not been found to cause harm, though the effects of materal stress/worry and the costs of blood glucose monitoring are not well studied. The story does not make it clear what type of evidence the findings are based on. For instance, it’s not clear if results are from a randomized trial (the gold standard) or some other study design. An astute reader may be able to infer that this is not a randomized clinical trial from the statement that data were \"\"analyzed\"\", but one also doesn’t know if the design was prospective or retrospective, which would add to knowledge about the strength of the study. The fact that we actually don’t know what treatment women actually got is also not clearly discussed. There is no obvious embellishment or mistatement about gestational diabetes. The article provides a brief, but accurate description of what it is. The lead line \"\"women who develop diabetes during pregnancy\"\" is somewhat misleading because without clarification of the often transient nature of gestational diabetes, readers could think it means Type II diabetes – women who develop and continue to have diabetes. It would be preferable to define and use the term gestational diabetes or pregnancy-related diabetes much earlier. There is a quote from a researcher at Northwestern University who apparently is not affiliated with the latest findings. The story mentions treatment approaches of gestational diabetes, including diet, exercise, and insulin, which are appropriate. The article does not note the option of not treating (especially in the lower range) which is advocated by some. Assuming \"\"treatment\"\" in this case is \"\"exercise, a special diet, or insulin,\"\" the article does imply that these are available. Most, if not all, people will understand that treatment for high blood sugar is readily available. What’s new is that treatment of women with blood sugar that is high, but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes, may benefit from treatment with exercise, diet, or insulin as well. A more important wrinkle in this particular study is that \"\"treatment\"\" is inferred by practice patterns used at Kaiser and no individual-level data is available to determine if the women in the group that would have been provided with counseling/intervention of gestational diabetes actually received that counsel or acted on it. Thus the \"\"treated group\"\" is actually those who met gestational diabetes criteria by National Diabetes Data Group criteria – thus they are really the treatment eligible group among whom some (likely large) group received some completely not specified treatment. Treatment for gestational diabetes is not new, although the story does not explicitly state this. What the story implies is that diagnosis and treatment of diabetes at lower blood sugar thresholds than those currently treated may have a benefit for children, although more studies are needed. Diagnosing and treating more pregnant women with high blood sugar who don’t necessarily meet the traditional diabetes diagnosis would be new and there is some discussion around this. Since the story used at least one independent perspective, it does not appear to have relied soley or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Diabetes care during pregnancy reduces risk of obese children"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db1fd314c2334936b33211368cdd1ca0",
            "input": "The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin last week lifted the suspension against Oak Hill Hometown Pharmacy that U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart had announced in August. Goodwin says federal prosecutors failed to adequately prove the pharmacy posed a public health risk. Stuart says the pharmacy had filled about 2,000 prescriptions for a widely abused drug used to treat opioid addiction. He says more than half of the prescriptions came from an out-of-state clinic and that almost all prescriptions were paid for in cash. West Virginia by far leads the nation in the rate of drug overdose deaths. ___ Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.",
            "output": [
                "Pharmacy suspension lifted in drug-ravaged West Virginia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f7645b25c284d6e9c1208444162036f",
            "input": "On August 4 2020, a purported photograph of the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia circulated on social media — showing a densely crowded school hallway and only a few students wearing masks:The same image was shared to Reddit’s r/trashy, r/pics, and r/awfuleverything:First day of school in Paulding County, GA from picsFirst day of school in Paulding County, GA from awfuleverythingIt was shared on Twitter, too. and Imgur:This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/fzdidaAABM— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) August 4, 2020Paulding County, Georgia:First day of school.4 masks – if you zoom in — and zero social distancing.This is gonna end badly… pic.twitter.com/pGUwzRr6VN— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) August 4, 2020According to a link shared by the Paulding County School District’s Facebook page and on Twitter, the official first day of school in that county was August 3 2020:The school district has updated its Back to School Q&A with additional questions regarding the Virtual Academy Waiting List and other topics. Download here: https://t.co/u7DkkYutP2— Paulding County BOE (@pauldingboe) August 4, 2020It looked as if the image was sourced from an Instagram account since made private via a tweet shared early on the morning of August 3 2020:First day of 10th grade, 7th grade, 5th grade and first day as a 6th grade science teacher. Watch out Paulding County Schools, these 4 are going to kill it this year! Here is to a safe… https://t.co/A5c1CR6167— Jamie Corn (@cornjd219) August 3, 2020Another prominent iteration involved gossip site TMZ, but they provided no information about the source of the image. An article by 11Alive.com didn’t directly feature the photograph, but included reporting about Paulding County’s in-person school attendance estimates.A headline for that article, “Students who want virtual learning are forced into in-person school because of waiting list,” indicated that families who wished to opt-in to virtual learning were not always able to select that option. While on the waitlist, students were required to attend school in person:There is no requirement that they [wear masks], even after the principal of North Paulding High School sent a letter to parents telling them that members of the school’s football team had tested positive and that their children may have been exposed, as well.The school system’s policies, which are posted on the system’s website, say, in part, that “schools will employ social distancing as it is feasible and practical.” As for masks, the schools “will encourage students, teachers, and bus drivers to wear masks… wearing a face mask is a personal choice….”[…]A school system spokesperson confirms that students on the waiting list for at-home, on-line learning are required to be in school in the meantime.The spokesperson said that parents of 70 percent of Paulding County’s 31,000 students chose to send their children back to school for in-person classes. That’s nearly 22,000 students. The parents of 30 percent of the students, about 9,000 students, opted for at-home, on-line learning. Information on how many of the 9,000 students are on the waiting list for the on-line learning option was not immediately available.Although we were unable to confirm the original source for the “first day of school in Paulding, Georgia” image, it began circulating around August 3 2020 — when school officially opened in Paulding County. Reporting indicated that due to a waitlist for online learning, many of the schools students were required to attend classes in person.On August 5 2020, BuzzFeed News reported that not only were they able to confirm that the photo (and others like it) is real, the situation at the school is even more alarming than the image suggests:North Paulding High School, about an hour outside Atlanta, reopened Monday despite an outbreak among members of its high school football team, many of whom, a Facebook video shows, worked out together in a crowded indoor gym last week as part of a weightlifting fundraiser.Within days of that workout, several North Paulding players had tested positive for the coronavirus. The school’s parents were notified just hours before the first day of class.And multiple teachers at North Paulding say there are positive tests among school staff, including a staff member who came into contact with most teachers at the school while exhibiting symptoms last week. Teachers and staff said the school won’t confirm coronavirus infections among district employees, citing privacy reasons.We have contacted the school district for comment and will update this story when we hear back.Update 8/6/2020, 8:10 am: Changed rating to “True” and added details about the school. -bbComments",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows a crowded high school hallway on the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia in August 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-36ef0e39579a468a812d8fe2f10f23f0",
            "input": "But following a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the 42-year-old vendor has turned to making plastic face shields for frontline medical workers instead. “I was once a patient myself and I feel like my family owes doctors a lot”, said Linh, who received hospital treatment a few years ago for a blood-related illness. “I want to make these shields to keep them healthy. If they are healthy, then they can protect us”. Last week, Vietnam began a 15-day social distancing campaign to slow the spread of the virus that has seen most non-essential businesses shut, including Linh’s stall. There have been 241 reported cases of the coronavirus in Vietnam and no reported deaths, according to the health ministry. Aggressive contact tracing and a mass quarantine programme have helped keep that tally low. When the lockdown began, Linh assembled a group of family members, friends and fellow vendors to start making the face shields. They can be worn in addition to face masks to better protect medical workers from the tiny virus-carrying droplets released by infected patients. In just a few days, Linh and her gang of volunteers made almost 1,000 face shields, she said, and distributed them to at least three nearby hospitals. Linh said she had drawn on her experience as a hat vendor to line the shields with comfortable padding. She watched media reports of doctors in the United States and consulted a friend who works as a nurse there to perfect the design, she said. The finishing touch? A sticker, with an important message to Vietnam’s medical workers: “Fight Covid-19 disease”. “Keep believing, because we are always with you”. (This story is refiled to correct dateline)",
            "output": [
                "Vietnamese hat seller turns to homemade face shields in virus fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd948608cc7c4f93a54ce9a3414212c0",
            "input": "The deal will be announced on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Madrid, a day before the new European Commission lays out its “European Green Deal” policy to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent. The consortium includes EDF, Voith, and General Electric Hydro, as well as universities across Europe. Hydropower can serve as a giant battery, providing a store of energy to balance intermittent renewable energy sources. As big business grapples with reducing emissions, metal processors, such as Norsk Hydro are using hydropower to make products they can market as green. Some environmental campaigners have warned against any expansion of hydropower because of its impact on biodiversity and river systems. But many analysts say all solutions will be needed if the EU has any hope of neutralizing carbon emissions by the middle of the century with investment running to trillions of euros. Under the deal, the “XFLEX HYDRO project” will get funds to explore how hydropower can stabilize variable renewables such as wind and solar, the European Commission said in a statement. Some of the technologies the consortium will test include a battery-turbine hybrid to improve the integration of renewables in Europe’s electric grid.",
            "output": [
                "Study links ADHD medicine with better test scores"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74ed6f2c06b14285864ad50a9b594424",
            "input": "Two people found the boy wrapped in a blanket inside a plastic bag Tuesday afternoon in Stockton, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Sacramento. Officers later found his 15-year-old mother while canvassing the apartment complex, but it’s unclear if she lives there, Stockton Police Department spokesman Officer Joseph Silva said. An apartment complex resident heard cries and notified the manager, who pulled the child from the building’s dumpster, Silva said. The boy, who weighed 6 pounds and 7 ounces (2.9 kilograms) and was 20 inches (51 centimeters) long, still had his umbilical cord and was taken to a hospital, where he was doing well Wednesday, Silva said. It’s unclear how long the child was in the dumpster, when temperatures in the area reached 102 degrees (39 Celsius). The dumpster was under a tree. The police department received several messages via social media asking how the child could be adopted, Silva said. “We refer those calls to Child Protective Services,” which is caring for the baby boy, Silva said. Apartment managers told KTXL-TV they spotted the teen mom walking into the complex Tuesday morning and did not recognize her as one of their renters. No one answered at the unit where she was found. No one living nearby could tell KTXL who lived there. Detectives are still trying to determine her connection to the building, Silva said. Silva called the resident and the building manager who found the boy heroes and said they probably prevented the newborn’s death. “If they did not spring into action so quickly, this incident could have become a tragedy,” he said. Resident Troy Cooper told the Stockton Record he was returning home from visiting a friend when he heard what sounded like a kitten and a baby crying at the same. Something told him to investigate, and it was then that he saw something moving inside the dumpster. Cooper was unable to get into the dumpster so he called on-site manager John Pedebone. “I tried to listen, and I saw the bag was moving,” Pedebone said. “My first thought was that it was probably a dog, but when I listened carefully, I could hear the baby.” Pedebone, who has four children, said that as a father he was left feeling saddened and confused but found comfort in knowing the baby is doing well. “Hopefully,” he said, “everything will be fine.” Pedebone didn’t immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.",
            "output": [
                "Teen accused of leaving newborn in dumpster cited for abuse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-952ee3df6d62497ab4b8699c4321ed7d",
            "input": "Kathryn Carl, a teacher in the Alaska village of Klukwan about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the epicenter, said the magnitude 6.2 quake shook her awake at 4:30 a.m. Carl thought her 80-pound Karelian bear dog had jumped on the bed. “She was sitting there,” Carl said. “She knew about it before we did.” A series of aftershocks, including a magnitude 6.3 quake at 6:18 a.m., kept Carl from getting a restful night’s sleep. Students at Klukwan School, where Carl is head teacher, took the quake in stride. It wasn’t even the main topic of conversation. “They’re going fishing,” Carl said. “They’re getting ready for a hooligan trip.” Hooligan are a type of smelt. The first earthquake struck about 83 miles (134 kilometers) southwest of Whitehorse, Canada. Richard Graham, acting director of infrastructure and operations for the city of Whitehorse, said officials inspected major structures afterward. They found no damage but had to reset traffic lights because the quake knocked out power to parts of the Yukon capital. Jay Massie, manager of Atco Electric Yukon, said the first quake shut down one of three major Whitehorse substations and affected 8,000 customers. Power was almost restored when a shorter, magnitude 6.3 aftershock affected the station again. Power to most customers was restored within two hours. Massie was preparing to take his daughter to swimming lessons when the first quake hit. It started slow, built to a crescendo and woke up everyone in his home, he said. “It even woke up my teenage daughter, which is very hard to do,” he said. The quake was felt in Alaska’s capital, Juneau, about 134 miles (216 kilometers) to the south. It roused state Rep. Charisse Millett from her sleep and knocked plastic dishware off her counters. “I am wide awake and super tired now,” said the Anchorage Republican, who has experienced her share of earthquakes but is used to them being shorter. It’s not uncommon for an aftershock to be larger than the triggering quake, though normally the following quakes are smaller, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Amy Vaughan said. Other aftershocks ranged from magnitudes 2 to 5. Vaughan said the shallow initial quake had the potential to cause damage but the remote location dropped the chances of major problems. Juneau emergency programs manager Tom Mattice said he received no reports of damage. Rep. Scott Kawasaki, who said he sleeps in his Capitol office at least twice a week to get work done, also was jolted awake. The Fairbanks Democrat said he was trying to fall back asleep on the couch when the second quake hit. A video he posted on Twitter showed liquid shaking in an energy drink bottle on a table. He said he was reminded of the recent renovation of the Capitol, meant to fortify it against earthquakes. “I was thinking about all the construction work that went into the Capitol, specifically on seismic control,” he said. “So I’m glad the Capitol didn’t fall into the channel.” Jaimie Lawson, a 911 dispatcher with the Skagway Police Department, said the town 55 miles (89 kilometers) away from the quake did not receive reports of damage or injuries from the initial shaking. Computers slid around in the mobile home that houses police operations in the valley town of 800, she said, and it was the first earthquake she felt that forced her to stand up to get her bearings. Heath Scott, chief of police in Haines, about 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) southeast of the quake epicenter, said it shook a picture frame off his file cabinet. He saw no damage as he toured the city of 2,500. The geological survey website recorded hundreds of reports of people feeling the shaking.",
            "output": [
                "Quake near Canada border jolts Yukon, southeast Alaska."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d124ca8e21b84c71b861c80c202cd78e",
            "input": "The Seattle Times reports the child was elementary-school age and died in a Pierce County hospital Dec. 15, according to a statement from Public Health — Seattle & King County. Three King County adults also have died since the start of this flu season, which began unusually early and is especially affecting children, health officials said. Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said the predominant strain circulating right now is the influenza B virus. Officials are urging people to get vaccinated. There are also anti-viral treatments available after flu-like symptoms appear, which can prevent people from getting sicker or developing complications, Duchin said. Duchin declined to say whether the child who died had been vaccinated but said each year, 80% to 90% of children who die from the flu were not vaccinated. Public Health estimates there are 70 to 500 flu-related deaths in King County each year. People who get the flu can be contagious a day before symptoms develop and up to a week after becoming sick, according to Public Health. Symptoms include fever, cough, weakness and body aches.",
            "output": [
                "King County child dies of flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ec2e236386f48ef906d0f0bdff1ee39",
            "input": "There’s little need to discuss costs of a substance as well known as coffee. The story does a good job of describing groups for comparison: coffee-abstainers, light drinkers (1-6 cups per week), and heavier drinkers (>2 cups per day). However death rates were presented as relative risk. How many of the 18,000-plus subject died during the average 16 years they were followed? What does “18% less likely to have died” look like in absolute numbers? Coffee does have adverse effects, such as insomnia, increasing anxiety, and triggering reflux in certain people. However, the story made no mention of coffee’s downsides. The story makes clear how large the study was, what the methodology was, and that other big risk factors for early death such as smoking were taken into account. Also, the story makes clear that no one is recommending coffee-drinking as a mode to prevent chronic diseases that lead to early death. And it includes a clear caution regarding the limitations of observational studies: “Though the two studies involved hundreds of thousands of people, they weren’t designed to show that drinking more coffee caused people to live longer; that would require a randomized trial.” And yet, it’s important for journalists to avoid language that undercuts this important message. The headline, suggesting that coffee is “good for you” makes a clear cause-and-effect leap. And the use of a hedge like “might” in the following sentence isn’t enough to offset the clear cause-and-effect implication — i.e. that coffee is responsible for “extending” your life. “The best thing about your coffee habit might be that it extends your life by reducing your risk of death from heart disease, diabetes or even cancer.” We’ll rate this a very marginal Satisfactory with room for improvement. Coverage at the BBC, for example, was more successful at capturing the nuances of observational evidence, starting with the headline: “Coffee drinkers live longer – perhaps.” No fear-mongering here. The story includes perspective from an editorial that accompanied the studies in the journal, the Annals of Internal Medicine. And that’s enough for a satisfactory grade. Reaching out to more sources, and actually talking to experts in this field, might have turned up additional insights worth sharing with readers. The story makes clear that the claims of benefit — reduced mortality — are not a reason to drink coffee. Instead the findings suggest there are no long-term effects that should scare coffee-drinkers away from their habit. In any case, the situation does not call for a comparison with alternative methods of living longer. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. Coffee is so widely available that there’s no need to make the point. The story makes clear how the National Cancer Institute study extends previous research on coffee’s health effects from studies of mostly white European-descent subjects to a multi-ethnic population. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Two big studies bolster the claim that coffee – even decaf – is good for you"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19082fb5cc864457b9beb7f250ca52fb",
            "input": "The nature of these see-through teeth had been a mystery, until now. Scientists on Wednesday described what makes these teeth so clear, saying they are made of the same basic material as human teeth but that it has been dramatically reorganized. The researchers studied the dragonfish species called Aristostomias scintillans, caught at depths up to about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) in the Pacific Ocean off California’s coast. This pencil-sized species reaches 10 inches (25 cm) long, but possessing plenty of sci-fi monster qualities despite its small size. It has a black, elongated, eel-like body, with a long, fleshy filament called a barbel hanging from its lower jaw with a bioluminescent organ called a photophore on the end to lure prey. It also has two rows of photophores along the length of its body. Its long, sharp teeth are big relative to its body size. Its face looks like the creatures from the “Alien” movies, and it has a similarly vicious disposition. Its teeth, like ours, are made up of an outer layer of enamel and an inner layer of hard, dense, bony tissue called dentin. But there is a twist. The enamel consists of nanoscale crystals embedded in the surrounding structure. The dentine consists of nanoscale fibers of the protein called collagen coated with a crystalline form of a mineral called hydroxyapatite, common in bones and teeth. These traits prevent any light existing in the near blackness from reflecting off the tooth surface, adding stealth to its hunt for other fish and shrimp. “Thus, the mouth is invisible and the prey is caught more easily,” said materials scientist Marc Andre Meyers of the University of California, San Diego, who led the research published in the journal Matter. “Initially, we thought the teeth were made of another, unknown material,” Meyers said. “However, we discovered that they are made of the same materials as our human teeth: hydroxyapatite and collagen. However, their organization is significantly different from that of other fish and mammals. This was a surprise for us: same building blocks, different scales and hierarchies. Nature is amazing in its ingeniosity.”  A small number of other fish such as the anglerfish and hatchetfish have transparent teeth. “These have not been investigated yet, but I suspect they have a similar structure,” Meyers said.",
            "output": [
                "Scientists solve the mystery of the dragon with transparent teeth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8216f0f141a946f09ad3a87cc5b0f28e",
            "input": "The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said the state’s response to the disease has grown and that current state laboratory staff are unable to complete all duties, according to documents submitted to state budget officials. As of July, 812 people in the state had contracted Legionnaires’ since 2014 and 44 had died, according to the health department. Missouri officials requested funding for a lab scientist and want the state to hire two environmental public health specialists and one epidemiology specialist, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. They would handle fieldwork duties and an influx of Legionella testing samples. The budget line would cost $320,057, which includes travel, training and other expenses, the department said. The DHSS’s request is based partly from new federal guidelines that requires individuals diagnosed with Legionnaires’ be questioned about visits to facilities and public venues 14 days prior to their illness, instead of the current 10-day time frame. The new rule “will substantially grow the staff time that will be dedicated to assessment and investigation,” the DHSS said, adding that existing staff had collected 500 Legionella samples and conducted 60 field inspections of implicated facilities this year. “However, DHSS has no dedicated staff to conduct the environmental health activities tied to Legionnaires’ Disease cases,” the department noted. “As the rigor and intensity associated with Legionella response has grown, existing staff have absorbed more duties.” New testing capabilities introduced in June for potable and non-potable water, and other environmental samples, have led to a surge in testing samples, the department said. “Subsequent to making this testing capability available, the demand for testing has increased well beyond projections,” the budget request said. The State Public Health Laboratory “is unable to provide the necessary Legionella testing to support significant public health investigations in Missouri on an ongoing basis.”",
            "output": [
                "Missouri agency requests state money to fight fatal disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-35e5b4f6fa7147c1956d223c954fa336",
            "input": "Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health, her family issued a statement asking for prayers and saying that the 64-year-old Summitt is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her. It also asked for privacy. The statement was posted on the Pat Summitt Foundation’s website and was issued by Erin Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Summitt family. Former Tennessee player Tamika Catchings was flying to Knoxville to visit the coach instead of returning to Indiana with the WNBA’s Fever. Other former players were issuing support on Twitter through the “PrayForPat” hashtag. Phoenix Mercury center and Tennessee alum Isabelle Harrison said former Lady Volunteers players were keeping up with Summitt’s situation in a group text-message chain. “There are like 30 of us in a group chat right now talking, and people are flying into Knoxville and trying to see her,” Harrison said Sunday after the Mercury’s victory over the New York Liberty. “You just didn’t expect any of this to happen. Everyone’s trying to fill each other in with any information they have.” Harrison said she often went to Summitt’s home and rehabbed with her last year while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that ended the post player’s senior season at Tennessee prematurely. They also occasionally went to practice together. “I was at practice one day watching some of the girls, (and a) freshman took a fast shot,” Harrison said. ”(Summitt) looked at me and was like, ‘What was wrong was that?’ I was like, ‘She shot too quick.’ (She said), ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ (Summitt) still had it.” The update about Summitt’s condition brought a flood of support from throughout the sports world. An outpouring of concern on social media came from rival coaches such as South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and Vanderbilt’s Stephanie White. Other sympathetic tweets came from sports figures as varied as Billie Jean King and Steve Spurrier. Summitt stepped down as Tennessee’s coach in 2012, one year after announcing her diagnosis of early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type. She went 1,098-208 with eight national titles. She has the most career wins of any Division I men’s or women’s basketball coach. Since her diagnosis, Summitt has played a leading role in the fight against Alzheimer’s. She launched the Pat Summitt Foundation, which is dedicated to researching and educating people about the disease while also providing services to patients and caregivers. The Pat Summitt Alzheimer’s Clinic is scheduled to open at the University of Tennessee medical center in December. “When she fights this disease, what she has taught all of us is how to do it with courage,” former Tennessee women’s athletic director Joan Cronan said at a 2015 charity event honoring Summitt. “She’s done that from Day One. It’s been about (how) we can find a cure for this disease, and she has done it facing it straight-on and she’s done it giving back as she always has.” Summitt continues to hold a position as head coach emeritus of the Tennessee women’s basketball team. She attended nearly every home game and many practices in the first year after stepped down as coach, though she had a less visible role in subsequent seasons. She cut back on public appearances in recent years. --- AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in New York contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Past few days ‘difficult’ for former Tennessee coach Summitt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a17cdb6683f344229700a112c5e5ea2b",
            "input": "The Environmental Protection Agency said it was withdrawing the “once-in always-in” policy under the Clean Air Act, which dictated how major sources of hazardous air pollutants are regulated. Under the EPA’s new interpretation, such “major sources” as coal-fired power plants can be reclassified as “area sources” when their emissions fall below mandated limits, subjecting them to differing standards. Though formal notice of the reversal has not yet been filed, EPA said the policy it has followed since 1995 relied on an incorrect interpretation of the landmark anti-pollution law. “This guidance is based on a plain language reading of the statute that is in line with EPA’s guidance for other provisions of the Clean Air Act,” said Bill Wehrum, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “It will reduce regulatory burden for industries and the states, while continuing to ensure stringent and effective controls on hazardous air pollutants.” Prior to his confirmation by the GOP-dominated Senate in November, Wehrum worked as a lawyer representing fossil fuel and chemical companies. The American Petroleum Institute was among the industry groups that had called for the longstanding policy to be scraped. The Clean Air Act defines a “major source” as a one that has the potential to emit 10 tons or more per year of any hazardous air pollutant, or 25 tons per year of any combination of hazardous air pollutants. For more than 20 years, EPA’s “once-in always-in” required major sources to remain subject to stricter control standards, even if they took steps to reduce their pollution below the threshold. Republicans quickly cheered the move by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, especially those from states that produce oil, gas and coal. “The EPA’s decision today is consistent with President Trump’s agenda to keep America’s air clean and our economy growing,” said Senate Environment Committee Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming. “Withdrawal of this policy means manufacturers, oil and gas operations, and other types of industrial facilities will have greater incentive to reduce emissions.” Environmentalists predicted the change would drastically weaken limits on toxic heavy metals emitted from power-plant smokestacks. “This is among the most dangerous actions that the Trump EPA has taken yet against public health,” said John Walke, the director for clean air issues at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Rolling back longstanding protections to allow the greatest increase in hazardous air pollutants in our nation’s history is unconscionable. John Coequyt, who leads climate policy initiatives for the Sierra Club, said the move will lead directly to dirtier air and more deaths. “Trump and Pruitt are essentially creating a massive loophole that will result in huge amounts of toxic mercury, arsenic, and lead being poured into the air we breathe, meaning this change is a threat to anyone who breathes and a benefit only to dangerous corporate polluters,” Coequyt said. ___ Follow Associated Press environmental reporter Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck",
            "output": [
                "EPA ends clean air policy opposed by fossil fuel interests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77dae63e0b244c3f99851b91dc62d48c",
            "input": "The settlements with the patient assistance charities Good Days and Patient Access Network Foundation were the first with foundations linked to an industry-wide probe that has resulted in $840 million in settlements with drugmakers. Both foundations provide assistance to patients seeking to pay out-of-pocket costs for medications. Good Days agreed to pay $2 million while PAN Foundation agreed to pay $4 million. Neither admitted wrongdoing. Good Days in a statement said the settlement will allow it to concentrate on providing help to people in need of life-saving medications. PAN said the settlement involved “legacy matters” rather than its current operations. Drug companies are prohibited from subsidizing co-payments for patients enrolled in the government’s Medicare healthcare program for those aged 65 and older. Companies may donate to non-profits providing co-pay assistance as long as they are independent. But the government has alleged that various drugmakers have used charities like Good Days and PAN as means to improperly pay the co-pay obligations of Medicare patients using their drugs, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The department said Good Days, previously known as the Chronic Disease Fund, from 2010 to 2014 conspired with companies including Novartis AG, Astellas and Questcor, now owned by Mallinckrodt Plc, to pay kickbacks to Medicare patients using their drugs. Those drugs included H.P. Acthar Gel, an expensive treatment for a rare infant seizure disorder and multiple sclerosis that is subject of a related lawsuit by the government against Mallinckrodt over Questcor’s donations to the charity. The Justice Department said Questcor from 2010 to 2014 used the charity as a conduit to improperly subsidize patients’ copays, allowing it to keep raising prices for Acthar, whose price increased from $50 per vial in 2001 to $32,200 in 2014. Mallinckrodt declined to comment. It has said it believed its actions were lawful. PAN similarly permitted Bayer AG, Astellas, Dendreon Pharmaceuticals and Amgen Inc to use it as a conduit to pay patients kickbacks, according to the government’s allegations. Astellas and Amgen in April agreed to pay $100 million and $24.75 million, respectively, to resolve related claims. Dendreon said it takes compliance seriously. Novartis declined to comment. The other companies’ representatives did not respond to requests for comment.",
            "output": [
                "Two charities to pay $6 million to resolve U.S. pharma kickback probe.",
                "In 2006, Donald Trump was hoping for a real estate crash."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e06feca7a2f3456c9a90a657c236804f",
            "input": "Lawmakers said they would introduce a bill that would legalize abortion for pregnancies up to 14 weeks. A similar measure last year passed the lower house of Congress but was defeated in the Senate under heavy opposition by religious groups. The movement behind the legislation came closer than ever to approval and activists promised to continue their campaign to expand women’s reproductive rights. The new legislation was being introduced as demonstrations marking the International Day of Action for Women’s Health were held in Argentina and other nations. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Buenos Aires chanting and waving flags. The Argentine movement has gathered international support, with Penelope Cruz and several other actors at the Cannes film festival holding up the green handkerchiefs that symbolize the abortion movement. “After last year’s rejection, it’s evident that abortion continues to be practiced in terrible conditions and women continue to die,” said Amnesty International Argentina director Mariela Belski. Argentina now allows abortion only in cases of rape or a risk to a woman’s health. But Argentine women continue to undergo illegal abortions and thousands of women, mostly poor, are hospitalized each year for complications. The health ministry estimates more than 350,000 clandestine abortions are carried out each year, while human rights groups put the number as high as a half million. The new legislation differs from last year’s because it doesn’t include a section that would have granted doctors the right “to a conscientious objection” to the process. It also would protect women who carry out their own abortions from any sanctions and includes a section focused on sexual education and counseling for women. The measure would also establish prison terms of three months to one year for health establishments or doctors who “unjustifiably delay,” block or refuse to carry out an elective abortion within the terms of the law. It would set longer prison terms if such actions damaged a woman’s health or caused her death. “Being a mother should be a choice, not an obligation,” said Jenny Duran, a member of the abortion rights campaign. “We call on lawmakers to do the right thing — listen to women’s voices and respect our right to make our own decisions about our bodies.” Ruling party lawmaker Daniel Lipovetzky said “it won’t be so easy” to debate a proposal that divides people so much during an election year. “But this is an issue that needs to be debated by society,” he said. Last year, conservative President Mauricio Macri had promised to sign the legislation if it passed Congress even though he opposes abortion. After it was rejected in the Senate, Macri said the debate would continue. Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage in 2010. More recently, the Ni Una Menos, or Not One Less, movement created in Argentina to fight violence against women has spread worldwide. Efforts to ease or tighten abortion restrictions have repeatedly emerged across Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years as socially conservative countries grapple with shifting views on once-taboo issues and the church continues to lose influence to secularism and a crisis of confidence after an avalanche of clerical sex abuse scandals. Pope Francis last year denounced abortion as the “white glove” equivalent of Nazi-era eugenics programs and urged families “to accept the children that God gives them.” The pope recently said abortion can never be condoned, even when the fetus is seriously ill or likely to die. He also urged doctors and priests to support families to carry such pregnancies to term. “Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem?” the pontiff asked. “Is it licit to hire a hit man to resolve a problem?” His comments came as the abortion debate is rousing renewed debate in the U.S. with state initiatives seeking to restrict the procedure. In 2017, Chile became the last country in South America to drop a ban on abortions in all cases, though some countries in Central America still prohibit abortions without exceptions. __ Associated Press journalists Almudena Calatrava, Debora Rey, Paul Byrne and Leo Lavalle contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Abortion-rights activists renew battle in Argentina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-edaad273eab0435fb712a25a6a36c7cd",
            "input": "Detailed results will be presented at an unspecified medical conference, the company added. ViiV, in which Pfizer and Shionogi have small stakes, is working on two-drug combinations and will use the lower drug burden in comparison with three-drug cocktails such as Gilead’s Biktarvy as its main selling point to patients and physicians. It is banking on longer-term studies to yield hard evidence of fewer side effects over time. ViiV has taken a two-pronged approach. While its once-a-day pill Dovato, also a two-drug combination, won U.S. market approval in April, the company is following up with a longer-acting injection combining the two active ingredients cabotegravir and Janssen’s rilpivirine. The injection has previously proven to be as effective as  standard daily pills with three active ingredients when administered monthly. Thursday’s results showed that doubling the time between injections does not compromise efficacy or safety. Injections - targeted at patients unable to take, or not comfortable with, daily pills - are, however, seen as a smaller market opportunity than oral medicines. “This is further progress in our efforts to reduce the number of medicines a person living with HIV must take while also reducing the frequency of treatments,” said Kimberly Smith, Head of Research & Development at ViiV. The trial focused on the HIV-1 category of the AIDS virus, which has the most widespread strains. If not quelled, an HIV infection causes AIDS, a deadly condition that severely weakens the immune system. U.S. drugmaker Gilead dominates the HIV market and it will keep up the pressure with fast-growing Biktarvy, which was approved early last year. Analysts on average expect sales from the product to reach $5 billion next year, according to Refinitiv data.",
            "output": [
                "GSK's long acting HIV injection gets boost from study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae4df501f79d4ffb950429a098e00712",
            "input": "A ministry team studying clusters of the disease estimated that serious cases needing ventilator intervention could reach 850,000, Kyodo and the Asahi newspaper reported. The projections are based on research from Hokkaido University professor Hiroshi Nishiura, one of the infectious disease experts guiding the government’s response to the outbreak. The health ministry could not immediately confirm the report. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has declared a state of emergency and advised citizens to curtail personal interaction by 70% to 80% to prevent an explosion in cases. Japan has had more than 8,000 cases and 162 deaths from the virus, according to the tally by national broadcaster NHK.",
            "output": [
                "Japan health ministry projects 400,000 deaths without virus containment measures: media."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c17be65fdbc4445082af5a908573c8df",
            "input": "Thousands of suspected drug traffickers and users have been killed in the campaign that Duterte launched soon after he won election in 2016. Vice President Leni Robredo, who was elected separately to the president, and recently served a brief stint as the president’s drug “tsar”, said vast quantities of the highly addictive drug were available because seizures had barely dented the supply. “It is very clear, based on official data, despite the number of Filipinos killed and the budget spent, the volume of shabu supply curbed didn’t exceed 1%,” Robredo told a news conference, referring to methamphetamines. Robredo, a former human rights lawyer, has long been a critic of Duterte’s flagship anti-drugs campaign, the main focus of which has been methamphetamines. Citing police data, she said annual seizures of the drug in the last three years were in a range of about 1,000 kg, compared with estimated consumption of 3,000 kg a week, which translates to 156 tonnes a year, worth about 1.3 trillion pesos ($25 billion). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated the Asia-Pacific methamphetamine trade was worth as much as $61.4 billion in 2018, up from an estimated $15 billion just five years earlier. Duterte appointed Robredo his “drugs tsar” on Nov. 5 after the opposition leader, in a Reuters interview and subsequent public appearances, expressed alarm about the death toll in the anti-narcotics campaign and said it needed a fresh approach. But 18 days later Duterte fired her after she had exposed flaws in the campaign. Robredo said the government must change its strategy and halt police anti-drug operations. “Instead of chasing or killing drug peddlers in street corners, we need to pursue the source of drugs, the big suppliers. They are the real enemy, not the ordinary people,” Robredo said. Responding to Robredo’s comments, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, said her stint as the president’s top anti-drugs official had been a failure. “The fact remains that we have dismantled so many illegal drug factories ... caused the surrender of thousands of drug addicts and pushers ... and neutralized high-value drug suspects,” Panelo said.",
            "output": [
                "Bloody Philippine drug war fails to curb methamphetamine supply: VP."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8659cd1a233b4f4f97d79f786d81f8ed",
            "input": "Russell, 27, wants to use his campaign to raise awareness about people with developmental disabilities and he says he represents an alternative to the scourge of corruption in Peru that has brought down presidents and weakened democratic institutions. “I’m someone clean, honest, transparent,” Russell said in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke while sitting next to Amor, a pet dog he rescued from the street. The purpose of politicking, he said, is to “break the paradigm” that people with Down syndrome can’t be independent. Russell may be the first person with Down syndrome to run for public office anywhere, according to the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. “We are thrilled that Bryan Russell is running for Congress in Peru,” said Michelle Sie Whitten, president and CEO of the foundation. “As far as we know, he is the first professional who has Down syndrome running for a publicly elected office, and he is showing the world that we need diversity in all areas of society including in our governments.”  In 2013, Ángela Bachiller, who has Down syndrome, became a city councilor in Valladolid, Spain. But she didn’t run for election, instead taking over the post after her predecessor resigned because of corruption allegations. Down syndrome is a genetic abnormality that causes developmental delays and medical conditions such as heart defects and respiratory and hearing problems. Russell is a candidate for Peru-Nacion, a center-right party that is not widely known and has fared poorly in past elections. However, Russell’s bold campaign ahead of the Jan. 26 parliamentary elections is getting attention. He was invited to speak at a leftist forum where he asked people to fight for people like him, regardless of political leanings. “I want people with my condition to have a voice,” said Russell, who studied communications at the Peruvian San Ignacio de Loyola University and said his parents encouraged him to find his own way. “I learned how to read and write, walk, run and eat, basically to respect myself,” the candidate has written. “Well this is really impressive, because Bryan is changing the history and that is the most important thing,” said Gladys Mujica, Russell’s mother. Mujica, an English teacher, described her son as a “symbol.”  Some Peruvians are open to Russell’s campaigning, which consists on a normal day of handing out leaflets while carrying a sign with an image of his face. “He’s looking to do his best. The ‘normal’ people try to steal from the country. That’s a very big difference,” said Carlos Maza, a retired man who said he would vote for Russell. “We have to give him a chance,” said Elena Saavedra, a secretary who shook the candidate’s hand. About 3 million Peruvians have some kind of disability in a country of more than 30 million, according to official figures. There is no data for the number of Peruvians with Down syndrome, though historian Liliana Peñaherrera, founder of the Peruvian Society for Down Syndrome, estimates there could be up to 25,000 people with the condition. People with Down syndrome struggle to overcome prejudices, including a perception that they are basically big children and can’t make their own decisions, said psychologist Patricia Andrade. As a result, many with Down Syndrome live on the margins of society because employers prefer to hire people with other kinds of disabilities, filling a quota of 3% and 5% in workplaces of more than 50 people. Last year, Peru changed its laws to allow people described as disabled to exercise their rights without the intervention of a representative on their behalf. Previously, they needed a guardian to marry, vote, sign a work contract, acquire a credit card and do other things. Peñaherrera welcomed Russell’s political candidacy, saying it draws attention to people who struggle against discrimination and the invisibility that society forces upon them. Still, she said, Russell should be held to the same standards as “any other politician” if he gets elected. ___ Franklin Briceño on Twitter:",
            "output": [
                "In a first, Peruvian with Down syndrome runs for parliament ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8dd4f29c2acc4df788c42108c43dc4d0",
            "input": "The lung cancer rate dropped by 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.1 percent per year among women, between 2005 and 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found, using the most recent available data. The largest decline was seen in adults aged 35 to 44, with a 6.4 percent drop per year among men and a 5.9 percent decrease for women in that age group, the study said. “This is a big deal,” said Clifford Hudis, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. But Hudis added that there is still much more work to be done to reduce smoking given all the health problems it creates in addition to lung cancer. More than half of American men and over a third of women were smokers on January 11, 1964, when Dr. Luther Terry delivered the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health outlining the links between tobacco use, lung cancer and death. Since the surgeon general’s 1964 report, the prevalence of smoking by U.S. adults has been cut by half, the CDC said. “I’m not satisfied with reducing smoking,” Hudis said. “It should be eliminated. There’s no upside to it.”  Up to 90 percent of lung cancer cases are linked to cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke, the CDC said. The CDC, whose officials call the fight to reduce tobacco use a “winnable battle,” promotes increased funding for anti-smoking campaigns. In 2007, the CDC recommended spending $3.7 billion on state-level anti-smoking campaigns. But in 2010, states spent $640 million, only 2.4 percent of the money they received from settlements in lawsuits against tobacco companies, the CDC said. More than half of American men and over a third of women were smokers on January 11, 1964, when Dr. Luther Terry delivered the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health outlining the links between tobacco use, lung cancer and death.",
            "output": [
                "Lung cancer rates decline for U.S. men, women: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b638e87ef0ff403e875e48bf959aa272",
            "input": "Peter Magombeyi, president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) and one organizer of an ongoing strike to demand higher wages for state doctors because of soaring living costs, disappeared on Saturday night. ZHDA represents junior and middle level doctors at public hospitals. “As health professionals we are being threatened by security elements. Both nurses and doctors are regularly being told that resisting what the government offers them will result in their death,” according to a doctors petition to parliament. “Evidence of the threats is available in audio and text messages,” the petition said without giving more details. Police said they could not immediately comment. Edric Nhema, secretary general for the country’s nurses union who was part of the salary negotiating team with Magombeyi, told doctors at Parirenyatwa Hospital before the march that he had received death threats from unknown people. State security minister Owen Ncube said in a statement that the government was treating Magombeyi’s case as a disappearance and not an abduction as alleged by the doctor’s colleagues. He said the timing of Magombeyi’s disappearance, ahead of the United Nations annual meeting next week and at a time a U.N. special rapporteur on human rights was in Zimbabwe, pointed to work by a “third force” meant to tarnish the country’s image. Dozens of riot police blocked more than 200 doctors on Wednesday as they marched to parliament to present their petition chanting “no Peter, no work”. Two years after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the army conspired to oust longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, people are suffering from triple-digit inflation that has eroded salaries and shortages of basic goods like fuel and electricity. Human rights groups say they have recorded more than 20 cases of abductions of activists by state security agents since January. The government denies any involvement. Churches under the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) groups said they were worried that after many reported cases of abduction, no one had been arrested. “This has put the security of citizens at the highest level of vulnerability,” ZHOCD said in a statement, adding that Mnangagwa should publicly condemn abductions and torture of civilians.",
            "output": [
                "Zimbabwe doctors say receiving death threats over strike."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f635b75524a4df284d82d249619e63a",
            "input": "The Global Fund said after the conference that Macron, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Bono of the rock band U2 “committed to raise at least a further $100 million during the replenishment period to achieve a total of over $14 billion” - the organization’s goal for its conference in France. The last Global Fund conference brought in $12.2 billion in 2016. To give a boost toward this year’s target, France increased its pledge to $1.42 billion, $60 million more than previously announced, Macron said. “We are absolutely thrilled,” Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands said at a news conference. “With these resources, we can step up the fight.” A dozen heads of state and government, mostly from African countries, attended the two-day event in the French city of Lyon. During his speech, Macron mistakenly detailed the amounts in euros. The French presidency later said he was actually speaking in dollars. The U.S. Congress approved a commitment to give of $4.68 billion over three years, about a third of the overall total. The United States and France are the Global Fund’s biggest public donors. Britain, Germany, Canada and the European Union increased their pledges, too, while private donors pledged more than $1 billion. The donations from governments, philanthropic donors and the private sector will finance health programs in more than 100 countries, the fund said. Major recipients of the fund are Nigeria, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The Global Fund said the money would help save as many as 16 million lives, avert 234 million infections and try to get back on track to end HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics by 2030. The organization said the programs it has supported since its creation in 2002 have saved 32 million lives.",
            "output": [
                "Global Fund raises $13.92 billion to fight AIDS, TB, malaria."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-293eaeb00c2d47898572a29d3ad07d46",
            "input": "Igor is a 13-year old tiger living in the zoo in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged. It has been suffering from hip joint pains for years. The treatment, used more widely on humans than animals, cures injured joints with tissue taken from patients’ own fatty tissue, which contains regenerative stem cells, doctors said. These are injected back into the ailing joints. “The essence of stem-cell treatment is that we can achieve an improvement in the quality of life of patients who cannot be helped by operations or medical treatment,” said Robert Gippert, the veterinarian who operated on Igor’s hip. “Just like in humans, the worn out joint of Igor the tiger will heal due to the regenerative and self-healing effects of stem cells, without the use of external materials,” he added. The sedated tiger was lying peacefully on its side on the operating table, with its big paws sticking out from below a green blanket. After Igor wakes up, it could take two to three weeks before vets can judge the improvement in its movement.",
            "output": [
                "Igor the Siberian tiger gets stem-cell hip treatment in Hungary."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1bddafa299e546cfb899a438dc9af7fb",
            "input": "Dr. Denis Mukwege spoke Sunday at a news conference with Nadia Murad of Iraq, with whom he shared the 9-million Swedish kronor ($1 million) prize. Mukwege was honored for his work helping sexually abused women at the hospital he founded in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Murad, a Yazidi, won for her advocacy for sex abuse victims after being kidnapped by Islamic State militants. “What we see during armed conflicts is that women’s bodies become battlefields and this cannot be acceptable during our time,” Mukwege said, speaking through a translator. “We cannot only denounce it, we now need to act.” Murad, 25, was one of an estimated 3,000 girls and women from Iraq’s Yazidi minority group who were kidnapped in 2014 by IS militants and sold into sexual slavery. She was raped, beaten and tortured before managing to escape three months later. After getting treatment in Germany, she chose to speak to the world about the horrors faced by Yazidi women, despite regardless of the heavy stigma in her culture surrounding rape. She said Sunday it was difficult “for a girl, a woman, to rise up to say that these atrocities have happened.” Mukwege, a 63-year-old surgeon, founded a hospital in the city of Bukavu and over the past 20 years has treated countless women who were raped amid fighting between armed groups seeking to control of some the central African nation’s vast mineral wealth. He expressed concern Sunday that new violence could be coming as Congo holds a general election this month. “We think the conflict might blow up around this electoral period and women and children are always the first victims of such conflicts,” he said. Along with preventing sexual violence, more effort is needed to attend to victims, Mukwege said. “We need to realize that any woman who is a victim of sexual violence within her own country — such women should be allowed treatment and it’s not only medical treatment, also psychological treatment, judicial treatment,” he said. Murad said the psychological burden of her ordeal and her subsequent work is heavy. “I don’t want to live in fear. For the last four years I have been in Germany, in a safe place, but yet I’m living frightfully,” she said. “I’m scared that these people will not just attack me or have an impact on me, but with anybody else.” Murad and Mukwege will receive their prize Monday at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital. The winners of Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and economics will get their prizes Monday in Stockholm. No Nobel literature winner was named this year due to turmoil in the Swedish Academy, which chooses the literature winners. ___ Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this story",
            "output": [
                "Nobel peace winners demand action against sex abuse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-373306155cf8452fb5ba5bdea1bfeb26",
            "input": "The Department of Transportation said such uncertified helmets are unsafe and do not protect riders in crashes despite being sold and marketed for use on the road. Its proposal would further define what makes an acceptable motorcycle helmet, from its thickness to its compression ability, in an attempt to help riders and state law enforcement officials identify inferior helmets. Such proposed changes aim “to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from traffic accidents involving use of motorcycle helmets” that fail to meet federal standards, Department of Transportation regulators said. Deaths stemming from motorcycle crashes are disproportionately high, they said, in part due to the high number of motorcyclists wearing substandard helmets. Novelty helmets generally cover a smaller area of the head, have thin liners and lack the ability to absorb the force of a crash, the department said. They are often sold with disclaimers stating that they are not for highway use “yet they are sold to highway users and used in great numbers by motorcyclists,” the regulators said. It is not clear why so many riders use inferior helmets, but part of the problem seems to be that riders do not understand the risks, the regulators said. Novelty helmets can also be cheaper and appear “more comfortable or stylish,” they added. Tougher standards will help authorities prosecute sellers of noncompliant helmets in states where helmets are mandatory, regulators said. Just three of the 50 U.S. states - Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire - do not require motorcycle riders to wear helmets, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research group. The public can comment on the proposal for 60 days before the department moves to issue its final regulation.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. aims to crack down on 'novelty' motorcycle helmets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-30c10d9736e841ac8fe5fee7f71bcc1c",
            "input": "The Oakland County health department says it was notified of the positive test by state health officials. The health department says Thursday it’s the first blood donation in 2019 that has tested positive for the virus in Oakland County. West Nile virus primarily is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are infected with the virus by biting infected birds. Older people are vulnerable, especially if they have other health problems. Most people who become infected will not develop any symptoms, but some become sick three to 15 days after exposure.",
            "output": [
                "Test shows donated blood positive for West Nile virus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eb4084de348d4c55804958d8454820fe",
            "input": "The measure, which was the last bill taken up by the chamber before a key floor deadline Wednesday, passed on a 28-21 vote. It now heads to the House for consideration. Several groups would be included in the work group, including the public, community health advocates, businesses, health care providers, and state officials. The group would be tasked with determining how best to implement universal health care, and studying options for increasing coverage and access, options to expand health care purchasing in collaboration with neighboring states, and options on how to pay for such a system. The group would report its recommendations to the Legislature by Nov. 15, 2020.",
            "output": [
                "Washington Senate approves universal health care work group."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6e16ddba2ef0455aa6725c306fc180ee",
            "input": "In a palace statement marking her 56th birthday, Masako thanked people who have warmly welcomed the couple after Naruhito succeeded to the throne on May 1, following his father’s abdication. “Many smiley faces I’ve seen in many places are precious memories for me and they will be my big moral support as I move forward,” the statement said. A Harvard-educated former diplomat, Masako had been largely absent from public appearances for years. She developed adjustment disorder, a condition marked by depression and other stress-induced symptoms, after giving birth to the couple’s only child, Princess Aiko, and facing pressure to have a son to continue Japan’s male-only imperial succession. Naruhito’s succession rituals spanned from late April to early December, and Masako was seen smiling and seemed healthy at her public appearances. Her her doctors welcomed her accomplishment as a positive sign, but cautioned the people against raising their expectations too high, saying that could interfere with her recovery. Masako’s long absence from imperial events and trips had raised concern that she could do even part of the work done by hugely popular former Empress Michiko. But she accompanied Naruhito at all events, including his first public greeting as emperor when some 140,000 people gathered. She sat next to Naruhito in an open car during a royal parade in November, enthusiastically waving to 119,000 well-wishers on the roadside, and she was seen overwhelmed with emotion and wiping tears with a handkerchief. Masako thanked Naruhito for his consideration and support for her and said that she hoped to further improve her health so she can give him more support. “I hope to fulfill my duty as Empress, while trying to further improve my health so that I can help His Majesty and work for the people’s happiness, together with him,” the statement released by the Imperial Household Agency said. Her doctors said Masako has been able to expand her activities and regained confidence little by little as she constantly sought ways to maintain her health while taking care of her daughter, Princess Aiko. Warm welcome from the people also gave her encouragement. But the doctors say she managed to complete her duties related to the enthronement ceremonies because of her strong sense of responsibility, not because she had fully recovered. “We believe it’s desirable” that she was able to expand her activity, the doctors said in a statement that was also released by the palace. “But she has not fully recovered and her conditions have ups and downs. She gets tired after a major event or after a series of events,” the doctors said. “Having over-expectations could go counter to her recovery.” The doctors said it is important for Masako to continue her treatment while obtaining understanding and support from around her. “We hope you will continue to warmly watch over her recovery,” they said. There are expectations that Naruhito — who is Japan’s first emperor with a college degree and who studied at Oxford — and Masako will internationalize the imperial household. Many Japanese were particularly impressed when she and Naruhito casually chatted with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania without interpreters during their visit in late May as first state guests of the new emperor. The royal couple also freely conversed many foreign dignitaries who attended state banquets and tea parties to celebrate Naruhito’s enthronement in October. As a former diplomat, Masako expressed concerns about global issues, including marine plastic pollution, poverty, child abuse and people in the conflicts-torn areas. She mourned for the death of Tetsu Nakamura, a Japanese doctor and aid worker who was gunned down in Afghanistan last week.",
            "output": [
                "Japan empress turns 56, still recovering her mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6514bebd4134343970675857f0e5076",
            "input": "Chinese Premier Li Keqiang declared a “war on pollution” in 2014 and the government has spent billions of yuan to bolster monitoring and enforcement, raised industrial standards and shut thousands of small “backward” enterprises. But Reuters calculations based on online monitoring data show 30 out of 39 cities in the key northern pollution control zones of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Fenwei Plain failed to meet air quality targets over the autumn-winter period to end-March, despite imposing special restrictions. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, but it has already warned that momentum had slowed as a result of a slowing economy in some regions. The cities were under pressure to cut concentrations of hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 by around 3 percent year on year, with some targeted to make bigger reductions. Official data shows big improvements in air quality in March, with average PM2.5 readings falling 29 percent to an average of 52 micrograms per cubic meter in the 39 cities. But over the six-month period, concentrations rose 6 percent to 82 micrograms, more than double the national standard of 35 micrograms. PM2.5 actually increased in 24 cities, with central China’s Henan province performing especially badly. The Henan steel city of Anyang was the worst performer, with PM2.5 rising 27 percent to 111 micrograms. Residents blamed the weather and the city’s position downwind from large steel bases in neighboring Hebei province. “The key thing is that Anyang has the strictest pollution controls of all ... but it ranks the worst for air quality,” Li Xianzhong, co-owner of the privately-owned Xinyuan Iron and Steel Corporation, told Reuters. The capital Beijing was one of eight cities to meet its targets. It was ordered only to “improve” from last year and saw average PM2.5 fall by 3 percent, thanks to a cut of 39 percent in March. The environment ministry has vowed not to relent in fighting pollution and will implement special restrictions from October. It also said it would not tolerate attempts by local governments to blame slowing growth on tougher environmental rules. But in a sign China was trying to avoid economic disruptions, ministry spokesman Liu Youbin told a briefing last week that China would not allow overzealous officials to shut large swathes of industry. “We will resolutely oppose anyone using environmental protection as an excuse to perform simplistic and crude actions such as the emergency closure of business operations,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Most northern China cities fail to meet winter smog targets: data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3fc51bf5a2c47289a6def2952254117",
            "input": "Undergoing final tests before the liquid is replaced with weedkiller, the Swiss robot is one of new breed of AI weeders that investors say could disrupt the $100 billion pesticides and seeds industry by reducing the need for universal herbicides and the genetically modified (GM) crops that tolerate them. Dominated by companies such as Bayer, DowDuPont, BASF and Syngenta, the industry is bracing for the impact of digital agricultural technology and some firms are already adapting their business models. The stakes are high. Herbicide sales are worth $26 billion a year and account for 46 percent of pesticides revenue overall while 90 percent of GM seeds have some herbicide tolerance built in, according to market researcher Phillips McDougall. “Some of the profit pools that are now in the hands of the big agrochemical companies will shift, partly to the farmer and partly to the equipment manufacturers,” said Cedric Lecamp, who runs the $1 billion Pictet-Nutrition fund that invests in companies along the food supply chain. In response, producers such as Germany’s Bayer have sought partners for their own precision spraying systems while ChemChina’s Syngenta [CNNCC.UL], for example, is looking to develop crop protection products suited to the new equipment. While still in its infancy, the plant-by-plant approach heralds a marked shift from standard methods of crop production. Now, non-selective weedkillers such as Monsanto’s Roundup are sprayed on vast tracts of land planted with tolerant GM seeds, driving one of the most lucrative business models in the industry. But ecoRobotix www.ecorobotix.com/en, developer of the Swiss weeder, believes its design could reduce the amount of herbicide farmers use by 20 times. The company said it is close to signing a financing round with investors and is due to go on the market by early 2019. Blue River, a Silicon Valley startup bought by U.S. tractor company Deere & Co. for $305 million last year, has also developed a machine using on-board cameras to distinguish weeds from crops and only squirt herbicides where necessary. Its “See and Spray” weed control machine, which has been tested in U.S. cotton fields, is towed by a tractor and the developers estimate it could cut herbicide use by 90 percent once crops have started growing. German engineering company Robert Bosch here is also working on similar precision spraying kits as are other startups such as Denmark's Agrointelli here  ROBO Global www.roboglobal.com/about-us, an advisory firm that runs a robotics and automation investment index tracked by funds worth a combined $4 billion, believes plant-by-plant precision spraying will only gain in importance. “A lot of the technology is already available. It’s just a question of packaging it together at the right cost for the farmers,” said Richard Lightbound, Robo’s CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “If you can reduce herbicides by the factor of 10 it becomes very compelling for the farmer in terms of productivity. It’s also eco friendly and that’s clearly going to be very popular, if not compulsory, at some stage,” he said. While Blue River, based in Sunnyvale, California, is testing a product in cotton fields, it plans to branch into other major crops such as soy. It expects to make the product widely available to farmers in about four to five years, helped by Deere’s vast network of equipment dealers. ROBO’s Lightbound and Pictet’s Lecamp said they were excited by the project and Jeneiv Shah, deputy manager of the 152 million pound ($212 million) Sarasin Food & Agriculture Opportunities fund, said the technology would put Bayer and Syngenta’s crop businesses at risk while seed firms could be hit - albeit to a lesser extent. “The fact that a tractor and row-crop oriented company such as John Deere did this means it won’t be long before corn or soybean farmers in the U.S. Midwest will start using precision spraying,” Shah said. While the technology promises to save money, it could be a tough sell to some U.S. farmers as five years of bumper harvests have depressed prices for staples including corn and soybeans. U.S. farm incomes have dropped by more than half since 2013, reducing spending on equipment, seeds and fertilizer. Still, the developments are giving investors in agrochemicals stocks pause for thought, according to Berenberg analyst Nick Anderson. And agrochemical giants are taking note. Bayer, which will become the world’s biggest seeds and pesticides producer when its acquisition of GM crop pioneer Monsanto completes, teamed up with Bosch in September for a “smart spraying” research project. The German partners plan to outpace rivals by using an on-board arsenal of up to six different herbicides and Bayer hopes the venture will prepare it for a new commercial model - rather than cannibalizing its current business. “I would assume that within three years we would have a robust commercially feasible model,” Liam Condon, the head of Bayer’s crop science division said in February. “I’m not concerned in terms of damping sales because we don’t define ourselves as a volume seller. We rather offer a prescription for a weed-free field, and we get paid based on the quality of the outcome,” he said. Bayer agreed to sell its digital farming ventures, including the Bosch project, to German rival BASF as part of efforts to win antitrust approval to buy Monsanto. But BASF will grant Bayer an unspecified license to the digital assets and products. BASF said the Bosch precision spraying collaboration was very interesting but it was too early to comment further as the transaction had not completed. Syngenta, which was an investor in Blue River before Deere took over, said the advantages of the new technology outweighed any potential threats to its business model. “We will be part of the story, by making formulations and new molecules that are developed specifically for this technology,” said Renaud Deval, global head of weed control at Syngenta, which was bought by ChemChina last year. While it has no plans to invest directly in engineering, Syngenta is looking into partnerships where it can contribute products and services, Deval said. Still, Sarasin’s Shah said the big agrochemical firms would need to accelerate spending on getting their businesses ready for new digital agricultural technology. “The established players need to invest a lot more than they currently are to be positioned better in 10 years’ time. The sense of urgency will increase as farmers start to adopt some of the more advanced kits that are coming out,” he said. Michael Underhill, chief investment officer at Capital Innovations, also said the major players may be underestimating the potential impact on their pesticides businesses. “Precision leads to efficiency, efficiency leads to decreased usage, decreased usage leads to decreased margins or margin compression, and that will lead to companies getting leaner and meaner,” said Underhill. He said the GM seeds market would also take a hit if machine learning takes over the role genetic engineering has played so far in shielding crops from herbicides’ friendly fire. “Instead of buying the Cadillac of seeds or the Tesla of seeds, they may be buying the Chevy version,” Underhill said. The advent of precision weed killing also comes at a time blanket spraying of global blockbusters such as glyphosate is under fire from environmentalists and regulators alike. More than 20 years of near-ubiquitous use of glyphosate, the active substance in Monsanto’s Roundup, has created resistant strains of weeds that are spreading across the U.S. farm belt. Regulators have raised the bar for bringing blanket chemical agents to market and the fear of toxic risks has been heightened by the debate over the potential impact of glyphosate on health. Michael Owen, associate chair at Iowa State University’s Department of Agronomy, reckons it would now cost agrochemical giants up to an almost prohibitive $400 million to develop a next-generation universal weedkiller. Bayer’s Condon said in the current environment precision spraying could well be the final blow to further attempts to develop new broad-spectrum or non-selective herbicides. “Everything that comes tends to be selective in nature. There won’t be a new glyphosate. That was probably a once-in-a-lifetime product,” said Condon. For now, the industry is reviving and reformulating older, broad-spectrum agents known as dicamba and 2,4-D to finish off glyphosate-resistant weeds - and it is selling new GM crops tolerant to those herbicides too. Precision spraying could mean established herbicides whose effect has worn off on some weeds could be used successfully in more potent, targeted doses, said Claude Juriens, head of business development at ecoRobotics in Yverdon-les Bains. But experts say new products will still be needed for the new technology and some chemical firms are considering reviving experimental herbicides once deemed too costly or complex. “Because we’re now giving the grower an order of magnitude reduction in the amount of herbicide they’re using, all of a sudden these more expensive, exotic herbicides are now in play again,” said Willy Pell, Blue River director of new technology. “They’ve actually devoted resources to looking through their backlog, kind of cutting room floor, and rethinking these different materials with our machine in mind,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Robots fight weeds in challenge to agrochemical giants."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8dac499224a742e3b0e7cf16a9017c1c",
            "input": "The Georgia Department of Public Health said Friday at least two of the three new measles patients in Cobb County are not vaccinated. All three are part of the same family. Tests are under way to determine if yet one more person is infected. Cobb County school district officials said Monday that a student at Mabry Middle School in Marietta had measles. State health officials said it’s highly likely all the Cobb County cases are related, but they are still investigating. Measles is highly contagious. The U.S. has experienced a resurgence of the illness that’s fueled by outbreaks in unvaccinated communities.",
            "output": [
                "3 more measles cases confirmed in Georgia county."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4731df0c0adc45aca4c1f362a9b21667",
            "input": "The Southern Nevada Health District is warning that store customers could be at risk of infection. Transmission of hepatitis A from food handlers to patrons is rare. But the health district cautions that customers of a 7-Eleven convenience store on South Maryland Parkway who purchased non-prepackaged foods such as hot dogs or hot deli items from July 26 to Aug. 6 may have been exposed to the virus. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the case is linked to the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak in Clark County. There have been 86 reported cases so far and one person has died. ___ Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com",
            "output": [
                "Store clerk in Las Vegas tests positive for hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8853e9c29184f808877ec2a2665d39a",
            "input": "Cost is not a component of this story. That is an issue, as the story compares three weight-loss surgical options for morbidly obese individuals, and readers might well be interested in the economics. Also, it would be useful to discuss the costs of not having surgery in the matched population. The story does a nice job of making the weight loss comparisons—both over time for gastric bypass surgery and across surgical options—clear. The story makes no mention of harms. Bariatric procedures can lead to an array of complications that are worth considering. And on the flip side, it’s worth noting that research also has indicated that bariatric surgery can both extend quantity and quality of life when compared to not having surgery. Details of the two-part study conducted here are included and clearly described. And we were also pleased to see several study limitations discussed: “For example, the study included mostly men, so the findings may not apply to women.” That said, we do wish more had been said about the study participants, such as average body mass index levels before and after the surgeries. Morbid obesity is a major and growing health issue with frustratingly few treatment options. Sources are clearly identified, along with information about their links to the study itself (one scientist was the study’s lead researcher, and the other quoted in the story was independent). This is another strong point of the story. The study compared the longer term weight-loss outcomes of the three primary bariatric surgical procedures. The story doesn’t make it readily clear how accessible these surgeries are, and who is a good candidate for one. Typically, these procedures are for people over a certain body-mass index, for example. And insurance coverage may or may not pay for it. The story is clear that this study contributes to a growing set of data about long-term weight-loss effects of these surgeries. Duke Medicine issued a news release, and the HealthDay story does not rely solely on it.",
            "output": [
                "Weight-Loss Surgery Sheds Pounds Long Term"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e4080c2a6cb44d329d11ec6b2c5c9a5a",
            "input": "Nelson has worn distinctive goalie uniforms of gray, pink, blue and yellow at various times in her Ute career. Those color choices are her personal expressions, just as her parents once believed about her sexual orientation. Being openly gay as a college athlete is part of Nelson’s complex story that includes a suicide attempt as a teenager in Utah County, an evolving relationship with her family and recent health issues, all while thriving as a face of Ute soccer. The senior leads the Pac-12 with 71 saves in 14 games; the Utes are 6-5-3 overall and 1-2-2 in the Pac-12, tied for seventh place. Nelson needed surgery in June to remove a piece of her jawbone after being diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a rare bone infection. The follow-up treatment required intravenous antibiotics for six weeks, and Nelson even played in a couple of games this past summer for the Utah Royals FC reserve team with a medication tube in her arm. “As far as we know, it’s all better,” she said, although some pain has resurfaced lately. When it was suggested that she has experienced a lot in her 21 years, she laughs good-naturedly. “It could seem like I’ve had a rough time, but . I’ve loved my journey, where I’ve been and what it’s put me through, because it’s made me who I am today,” she said, sitting on the sideline of Utah’s new soccer field. “I genuinely love the person that I am.” Who she is involves many labels, including her self-description of “very loving, understanding, fun, positive, happy; I love life. I’m very passionate about what I do. . People call me intense, but I don’t think I’m that intense.” Emily Ruff, her oldest sister: “Just a rad chick. . sweet and sensitive, tough and resilient.” Eric Nelson, her father, says she’s courageous, humble and kind, caring about teammates throughout the roster. Ute teammate Tavia Leachman: “Hilarious . kind of just a light to be around, just a joy. Always positive, always caring about other people before herself, very goal-oriented. . hyper-focused on the well-being of other people. That’s not something you find in a lot of people.” And she’s lived through a lot, as partly detailed in recent stories on the Utah Athletics website and in the Daily Utah Chronicle student newspaper. The Salt Lake Tribune’s subsequent interviews have covered more of her family dynamics, how her parents went from thinking she could change her sexual orientation after she initially came out to them as a college freshman to radically altering their perspective of the subject. “I’ve apologized to Carly since then, because I did my homework,” said her father, Eric, who raised four daughters with his wife, Joy, in Lindon. “I came to understand that no amount of personal choice and freedom could change orientation. God’s design includes LGBT.” What he describes as “a clear and powerful change in my paradigm” came from reading Christian woman Vicky Beeching’s book, “Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole and Living Free From Shame.” Conversations with a BYU staff member, who’s openly gay and remains a fellow member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, further shaped his outlook. Carly Nelson was hospitalized in ninth grade after attempting suicide. At the time, her family was unaware of her orientation and the accompanying social pressure. “I was super oblivious to everything she was going through, growing up,” said Emily, who’s eight years older. She shares that episode in an effort to “help people realize that, yes, that’s a real issue ... because we don’t feel like we have that support, we don’t feel like we can talk about it,” she said. “We’re isolated, so the only way we feel like we get rid of our pain is to move on with our lives. . It was a very scary thing to admit, but I think a lot of people do struggle with it and it’s more of a big issue than we realize.” When she did come out to her parents, the news shook them and “created a barrier in our relationship,” Carly Nelson said. “It was really bad for two years. . Going through that really rough period of time when we weren’t speaking, just not being in each other’s lives, and to now, I think that was the barrier our relationship needed for it to come back stronger.” Eric Nelson clarifies that he and his wife never “cut her off in any way.” The parents sent encouraging text messages, invited her to family events and covered half of her expenses beyond her athletic scholarship, while hoping to develop self-reliance, he said. “I told her she was loved and would always be welcome in my home,” he said. “And I meant it then as I do now.” Yet he understands why Carly felt isolated, after he told her she could overcome her orientation by “hard work.” “Carly and I have been close throughout her life,” he said, “so for her dad to not understand the most important part of her identity would be crushing.” Her sisters were accepting, with Emily once pushing back after being urged to help Carly change. “Mom,” Emily responded, “she is normal.” Nelson’s parents now view themselves as LGBTQ advocates, hoping to help other parents understand their children’s orientations. Eric Nelson describes his research into the subject as “a great blessing to me, to learn how uninformed I was.” The family has “settled into a nice normalcy,” according to Emily, and Nelson’s teammates admire them. “It’s crazy to think how far she’s come and how hard that was for her and how it was such a battle internally and externally with the environment we’re in,” said Leachman, her teammate for four seasons. “She’s thriving; she has amazing support, amazing family, amazing friends. I’m so proud of her.” Nelson will graduate in December with a psychology degree, while also being interested in real estate development and hoping to play professional soccer. She trained with Royals goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, labeling her a “legend.” Barnhart’s instruction helped her see the game better from the goalkeeper’s position on the field. Away from soccer, Nelson already had developed a clear vision of where she has been and where she is going.",
            "output": [
                "Utah soccer star overcomes challenges as openly gay athlete."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a32dfa5390e4e8b8f7dbd2bcabd0627",
            "input": "\"This is the only of the five stories to actually put a dollar figure on the classes. \"\"Even the cost of a class, which can top $50 a month, is modest compared with the cost of many medications. And unlike drugs, tai chi had no harmful side effects, she says.\"\" Unlike the AP story, which made the mistake of saying that \"\"symptoms improved significantly for the tai chi group and little for the others,\"\" this story, at least, presents some numbers. The trouble is, those numbers are in relative terms. So, instead of saying that three months after the classes ended, 27 patients who took tai chi classes felt better and 17 who tried other therapies also felt better, it presents the difference as 82% versus 53%. That seems more dramatic. Absolute data would be more meaningful. Why make the reader do the math? The story is one of the few stories that covered this study to actually point out that \"\"unlike drugs, tai chi had no harmful side effects.\"\" In the end, because of the comments from Gloria Yeh, the story puts the appropriate caveats on the findings. This sentence does a great job of summarizing some of the problems with the study: \"\"Yeh notes that researchers don’t know which aspects of tai chi were most helpful: the exercise, deep breathing, relaxation exercise, meeting new friends or learning from a charismatic teacher.\"\" This story actually spends too little time talking about the condition itself. The AP devoted a whole paragraph in an eight paragaph story to the condition, and the LA Times led its piece by describing the disease. USA Today instead went with a very nice description of tai chi, putting the emphasis on the beauty and simiplicity of the therapy rather than the difficulty clinicians have had correctly diagnosing and treating fibromyalgia. This is the only story to include the phrase \"\"white crane spreads its wings\"\" or anything like that. The story doesn’t actually quote any of the authors and instead quotes two outside experts, one of whom wrote an accompanying editorial. It fails to fully attribute the comments made by \"\"Callahan.\"\" It appears that the writer means Leigh F. Callahan, who just completed a study of tai chi for arthritis and was quoted by other reporters. (How did this slip through copy editing? Was this a slip-up only in the online version?) But we can’t give credit to an independent source that the story doesn’t adequately identify. The story does not compare the therapy to existing alternatives or even discuss existing alternatives, aside from a passing reference at the very end to medications. This is the only one of the five stories to note that \"\"A study in 2007 from the National Institutes of Health found that 2.3 million American adults had used tai chi in the past year.\"\" This doesn’t tell you whether tai chi classes are as readily available in Oklahoma as they are in New Mexico, but it does give you a sense of how popular they are. It is unclear from this story whether tai chi has been studied before for other conditions. It has. It also is unclear what fibromyalgia patients now do for therapy. The LA Times, for example, pointed out that patients in the study stopped taking drugs for treatment, for example. The story does not rely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Tai chi may ease fibromyalgia pain"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f19f5554289b4f61bbdf3fbb7feed125",
            "input": "A large study by doctors from King’s College London found that rates of PTSD among British armed forces were stable at around 4 percent, but there were higher rates of common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, and of alcohol misuse. “Our view is that alcohol misuse is actually a greater problem for the armed forces than PTSD,” said Simon Wessely of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s, who led the study. The researchers noted that studies in the United States had found high levels PTSD among veterans returning from active service, and said those findings had led some to predict Britain too would suffer a “tidal wave” of mental health problems. PTSD can stem from wartime trauma such as being wounded or seeing others hurt or killed. An estimated 180,000 troops have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. The British study, published in the Lancet medical journal, used data from almost 10,000 UK troops. It was funded by the Ministry of Defense, but the researchers stressed that ministers had no other involvement in the work. Around 4 percent suffered PTSD, 20 percent had symptoms of common mental disorders which would not normally need medical attention, and 13 percent were misusing alcohol, it found. But troops who had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan were 22 percent more likely to abuse alcohol than those who had not. “We’re not seeing this tidal wave of mental health problems, as was predicted, and (our findings) definitely don’t reflect what’s being seen in the U.S,” Nicola Fear, who also worked on the study, told a London briefing. Wessely, however, warned that while rates of trauma stress were low, the sheer numbers of British troops deployed in recent years meant “more and more people with mental health problems” would be coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. “Services that care for veterans are going to get busier and are going to get a higher workload,” he told the briefing. “The numbers will increase as long as the deployment continues.”   “We will see more people — but that does not mean a catastrophic decline in mental health.”   A large U.S. study in 2007 found that U.S. male military veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide than people who had never been in the military. Matthew Hotopf, also from King’s, said the differences between the U.S. and the UK were “quite striking” and may be due to the fact that U.S. troops often deploy for longer periods — up to 15 months, rather than the 6-month deployments usual for British forces. Fear said the team found no increased prevalence of PTSD in soldiers who had been deployed more than once, but they did find a slight rise in rates of stress disorder as the time since troops’ return from deployment increased. “The longer you have been back from deployment, the more likely you are to report symptoms of PTSD,” she said. But she said this was “a very small increase” — with the highest prevalence of PTSD reaching 6 percent in troops that had been back for up to 4 years.",
            "output": [
                "Study finds alcohol abuse a problem in UK forces."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e234c2729e844cc795c784bc83631d1f",
            "input": "“We still have a big problem at hand,” Samoa’s Director General of Health Leausa Take Naseri said in a video statement. He said more than 140 new cases of people contracting the virus had been recorded within the past day, bringing the total to about 2,200 cases since the outbreak began last month. He said there are about 20 critically ill children who remain in hospital intensive care units. Samoa declared a state of emergency nine days ago, closing all its schools, banning children from public gatherings and mandating that everybody get vaccinated. Teams of people have been traveling the country administering thousands of vaccines. The government also shut down a private clinic and is investigating how hundreds of vaccines were taken without authorization and then sold for a fee. The median age of those who have died is 13 months, according to government figures. The deaths include 24 children under the age of 5, 11 of whom were infants under 12 months. The other person who died was in their 30s. In all, 679 people have been admitted to Samoan hospitals with the disease, accounting for two-thirds of all recent hospital admissions. A majority have been discharged, with about 183 remaining in hospitals. “These hospitals are not designed to deal with this,” Dr. Scott Wilson told Newshub in the capital, Apia. “The minute you get hospitals running at 200 to 300 percent capacity — I think it speaks for itself. It’s incredibly serious.” Figures from the World Health Organization and UNICEF indicate that measles immunization rates among Samoan infants have fallen steeply from over 70% in 2013 to under 30% last year. Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at New Zealand’s University of Auckland, said the Samoan government halted its immunization program for several months last year after two infants died from a medical mishap involving a vaccine. Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand have also reported outbreaks of measles but on a smaller scale than in Samoa. American Samoa, which has declared a public health emergency, is requiring that travelers from Samoa and Tonga prove they have been vaccinated or are immune from measles before being allowed into the U.S. territory.",
            "output": [
                "Samoa measles epidemic worsens with 24 children now dead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-351b09dfbbc742c0956266019f3e2989",
            "input": "\"Opponents of a 1 percent sales tax to overhaul the region’s roads and rail are saying the plan will make it harder for metro Atlantans to buy the things they need the most. It’s downright unfair, said state Sen. Vincent Fort, a Democrat who represents a district that stretches from East Point through parts of Atlanta. The proposal goes before voters on Tuesday. \"\"We shouldn't be putting a sales tax on people's food and medicine,\"\" Fort said in a television news story that aired on CBS Atlanta (WGCL-TV) on July 21. Your PolitiFact Georgia reporters have vetted nearly two dozen claims about the upcoming penny-per-dollar tax, which would raise an estimated $8.5 billion (after inflation) for transportation projects over the next 10 years. But we hadn’t heard Fort’s claim. Will the transportation tax really increase taxes on food and medicine? \"\"It’s not in dispute,\"\" Fort told PolitiFact Georgia. Fort said his statement referred to groceries and over-the-counter medicine, and that he was uncertain whether prescription drugs would be taxed under the plan. Later, he called us back to say that a legislative staffer informed him that prescription drugs were exempt. We reviewed state law and consulted with a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Revenue to check Fort’s account. The tax referendum was born out of Georgia’s Transportation Investment Act of 2010, otherwise known as House Bill 277. The bill divided the state into 12 regions so that voters could decide whether to add a 1 percent sales tax to pay for local transportation system upgrades. These regional taxes would have to meet certain criteria, the bill said. One is that the tax would apply to the sale of food and beverages. The sale of \"\"food and food ingredients to an individual consumer for off-premises human consumption\"\" is exempted from the state’s sales tax, but local governments may tax it. Another criteria is that other existing sales tax exemptions would apply. Under current state law, prescription drugs are exempt. The transportation plan would therefore impose a regional tax on groceries such as a loaf of bread or bananas. It also would tax over-the-counter medications such as the aspirin you took for the headache you got from listening to the transportation debate rhetoric. But prescription drugs would remain tax-free. While the bill specifies that groceries will be taxed, it makes sure other items are not. Jet fuel is exempt, as is fuel used for off-road, heavy-duty equipment or locomotives. So are motor fuel and energy used during manufacturing. Fort’s claim holds up well. \"\"Food and medicine\"\" would be taxed under the new plan, just not prescription drugs. Fort got the important stuff right, but he could have been a little more precise and said \"\"non-prescription medicine.\"\" Still, he earns a .\"",
            "output": [
                "Taxes on groceries and medicine will rise under a plan to improve roads and rail for metro Atlanta."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee60088b2697433894f474fdc4f88407",
            "input": "In its latest Strategy Update, the U.N. agency said that the world stands at a “pivotal juncture” in the pandemic and that “speed, scale, and equity must be our guiding principles” when deciding what measures are necessary. Every country should implement comprehensive public health measures to maintain a sustainable steady state of low-level or no transmission and prepare its surge capacity  to react rapidly to control any spread, the WHO said. Some of the countries hardest-hit by the virus are now considering lifting lockdowns and beginning the transition toward a resumption of normal life. The WHO update said any such  steps should be taken gradually, with time to evaluate their impact before new steps are taken. “To reduce the risk of new outbreaks, measures should be lifted in a phased, step-wise manner based on an assessment of the epidemiological risks and socioeconomic benefits  of lifting restrictions on different workplaces, educational institutions, and social activities...,” the WHO said. “Ideally there would be a minimum of 2 weeks (corresponding to the incubation period of COVID-19) between each phase of the transition, to allow sufficient time to understand the  risk of new outbreaks and to respond appropriately,” it added. It warned that the “risk of re-introduction and resurgence of the disease will continue”. The Geneva-based global health organisation issued its advice at a time when it has come under criticism from the United States for its initial response to the pandemic. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Washington, the WHO’s biggest donor, would suspend funding. China has begun lifting some of the toughest restrictions imposed on Hubei province where the disease first emerged at the end of last year. In the United States, which has the largest number of confirmed cases and deaths, Trump has jostled with some state governors over who has the authority to begin reopening U.S. businesses. European countries have begun small-scale steps to reduce severe lockdowns. Some Spanish businesses, including construction and manufacturing, have been allowed to resume, although shops, bars and public spaces are to stay closed until at least April 26. Italy, which has the world’s second-highest death toll at 21,067, maintained some tight restrictions on movement, while Denmark, one of the first European countries to shut down, will reopen daycare centres and schools for children in first to fifth grades on Wednesday.",
            "output": [
                "Lockdowns should be lifted in two-week stages to stem COVID-19 spread: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab58ffa499154e67950df15c83c31214",
            "input": "In a letter, 44 firms, including Allianz, Handelsbanken, Aberdeen Investment and Aegon NV, said a law would give investors more confidence to make long-term decisions on environmentally responsible projects. The move showcases investors’ increased focus on climate change, both as a risk and an opportunity. Quoting the “catastrophic” impact of ignoring the issue, the group said uncontrolled climate change could cost the global economy $23 trillion. “Conversely, greater action on climate change could deliver $26 trillion in global economic benefit by 2030,” the letter, released Friday, said. Most of the 28 EU member states have signed up to an EU-wide pledge to be climate neutral by 2050 but Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are dragging their feet. A law would force all member states to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Union’s executive Commission, has made combating climate change one of her top priorities. She has unveiled a “Sustainable Europe Investment Plan” which would support one trillion euros in investment over the next decade, and pledged to turn the 2050 target, something that will require a near-complete phasing-out of fossil fuels, into the “first European Climate Law.”",
            "output": [
                "Omega-3 margarines fail to help in heart study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4df647a2dcc5453a8f11ba6d8ac323d4",
            "input": "When he entered the NFL, Cook could hardly have envisioned spinach as the centerpiece of one of his meals. Now, he’s made youth nutrition his chief charitable cause, trying to help kids embrace the value of healthy foods. “I just started seeing some of the stuff I was eating, and I was like, ‘I never would’ve had this two years ago,’” Cook said. “So just imagine if I was 10 years old? Just to give them a jump-start on how to do things, to get a message out there and show them how it’s supposed to be done.” Education is one thing, but access is another. When school is out, especially in the summer, many children in low-income households can find meals harder to come by. The Boys & Girls Club of the Twin Cities works with about 9,000 kids, with 90% of them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, according to senior director of corporate and public relations Tim Schober. Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren saw his own awareness rise when his daughter, Peri, founded a food delivery business to bring healthy food to underserved residents of the north side of Minneapolis. “I didn’t quite understand the level of it until I helped her deliver food a couple times on weekends,” Warren said. “There are people right here in our touchpoint that are really struggling, that don’t eat healthy, and it impacts every area of their life.” When the Vikings relaunched their philanthropic arm in 2017, they prioritized childhood hunger, fitness and achievement gaps, with a goal of actively creating their own programs in partnership with local nonprofits rather than the old model of simply issuing grants. The first major initiative was a food truck to serve nutritious meals to needy kids in the area, in conjunction with organizations already addressing food access. This custom-built, converted recreational vehicle energized by rooftop solar panels was unveiled on Thursday. It’s called Vikings Table . “You think about developing countries having hunger issues, but it exists in our own backyard,” said Vikings Foundation executive director Brett Taber. “Food trucks are very popular, so this eliminates some of that social stigma of receiving a free meal.” The association with the local professional football team helps, too. “With the Vikings being involved, it gives it a different feel,” Schober said. “Now, it’s a big special event and everyone is participating and you can take some of the potential embarrassment away.” The concept is similar to an “eye mobile” the Eagles Charitable Foundation has deployed in the Philadelphia area since 1996 to offer free eye exams and prescription glasses to needy children . Boosted by a seven-figure pledge from Xcel Energy, the project also will be funded by sales from the food truck with a separate menu at Vikings games, training camp practices and other events. Profits will be directed back to the summer youth meal service. The back of the truck has an 80-inch monitor to show videos about healthy eating. Local food truck entrepreneurs Tony and Haley Fritz will be operating, maintaining and staffing the truck. “The hope is to have some kind of an effect on people. It’s kind of an event so they want to be a part of that,” Haley Fritz said. “We’re trying to say: ‘Hey, this is cool. The Vikings eat turkey tacos, too.’ The hope is that they just keep us overly busy and we just keep feeding as many people as we can.” ___ More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Vikings unveil community food truck to serve hungry youth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a53400d973a4a79ab7eb3e904b4a532",
            "input": "\"Even ardent gun rights supporters are willing to talk gun control in the wake of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.  During a Dec. 18 grilling by MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston said gun control should be \"\"up for discussion\"\" alongside violent video games and mental health. The Savannah Republican was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2012 and received an A+ grade from the group. Changing gun laws may not be the answer, though. \"\"Connecticut has the fifth toughest gun control laws in the country, including an assault weapons ban that bans 35 different weapons,\"\" Kingston said. A Kingston spokesman did not reply to our request for more information, so we searched for state-by-state comparisons of gun control laws and reviewed Connecticut’s assault weapons statute. The term \"\"assault weapon\"\" is controversial. Various state laws use the phrase, although the National Rifle Association argues that gun control advocates created it to \"\"trick the public into believing that ‘assault weapons’ were fully-automatic machine guns used by the military,\"\" its website says. There’s no formal definition for what counts as an assault weapon. Laws describing them vary. In general, the term refers to a semi-automatic firearm that resembles a fully automatic one or those used by militaries. Connecticut law generally bans the sale, transfer or possession of assault weapons. State statute defines them in two ways: Connecticut’s law lists 37 guns, not 35, so Kingston’s not far from the mark. Technically speaking, the statute is written so that firearms outside the list can be prohibited, but this is a minor problem. What about Connecticut’s ranking? The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence uses a point system to rank states based on whether their statutes met the group’s standards on curbing firearm trafficking; background checks; child safety requirements and other factors. Connecticut’s laws were ranked the fifth strongest in the nation in 2011, the group’s most recent list. It was bested by California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. Georgia tied for 22nd. The nutmeg state scored well consistently. We checked the rankings back to 2007 and found it made the top five each time. Still, Connecticut’s 58 points lagged well behind first place California, which earned 81 points. The state’s assault weapons ban was one reason why. It earned only three out of a possible 10 points because magazines that carry more than 10 rounds remain legal there. Also, the Brady Campaign prefers a different definition for an assault weapon. \"\"While it’s the state with the fifth strongest gun laws, obviously, at 58 points out of 100, there’s a lot more the state can do,\"\" said Brian Malte, a spokesman for the group. We found that groups that push for tougher gun laws consistently give Connecticut high marks. For instance, the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Connecticut fourth in its 2012 report, and fifth in 2010. It assigns points to each state based on 29 aspects of gun law, including the sale and transfer of firearms, owner responsibilities, and rules on their handling in public places. The center Georgia ranked 24th in 2012. And Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which boasts membership of more than 700 mayors, including Atlanta’s Kasim Reed, issued a 2010 report that compared states based on whether they enacted 10 key types of gun laws. Connecticut had put nine of the 10 types in place. Only New York and New Jersey received a 10 out of 10. Georgia had enacted two. Our conclusion:  Kingston is right on this one. Connecticut consistently ranks high in lists of states with stringent gun laws, and literally ranked fifth in recent rankings by the Brady Campaign and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Furthermore, he’s pretty close on the number of assault weapons banned in Connecticut law. Kingston earns a .\"",
            "output": [
                "Connecticut has the fifth toughest gun control laws in the country, including an assault weapons ban that bans 35 different weapons."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-155f41a021e944d19e730c4427ef6b42",
            "input": "In May 2016, well-meaning tourists at Yellowstone National Park put a bison calf into their car and drove it to a ranger station because they thought that the animal was cold. A few days later, park rangers had to euthanize the calf after it was repeatedly rejected by its herd: Yellowstone bison calf euthanized after father & son brought it in car, thinking it was cold https://t.co/JFZIIzF7fE pic.twitter.com/vNVQy5Yd30 — CNN (@CNN) May 16, 2016  While the people may have had good intentions, their actions ultimately led to the bison’s death: Last week in Yellowstone National Park, visitors were cited for placing a newborn bison calf in their vehicle and transporting it to a park facility because of their misplaced concern for the animal’s welfare. In terms of human safety, this was a dangerous activity because adult animals are very protective of their young and will act aggressively to defend them. In addition, interference by people can cause mothers to reject their offspring. In this case, park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the newborn bison calf with the herd. These efforts failed. The bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway. Yellowstone explained the decision to euthanize the bison calf on social media: In order to ship the calf out of the park, it would have had to go through months of quarantine to be monitored for brucellosis. No approved quarantine facilities exist at this time, and we don’t have the capacity to care for a calf that’s too young to forage on its own. Nor is it the mission of the National Park Service to rescue animals: our goal is to maintain the ecological processes of Yellowstone. Even though humans were involved in this case, it is not uncommon for bison, especially young mothers, to lose or abandon their calves. Those animals typically die of starvation or predation. […] The management of wild animals sometimes requires decisions that may seem harsh if you focus on an individual. But when you focus on populations of animals, and the ecological processes that sustain them, things like a bison losing or abandoning a calf is part of the fabric this ecosystem. It’s unfortunate that these visitors intervened: the calf may have been found by its mother, but it’s also likely that the calf would have died naturally of starvation or predation. While the park stopped short of blaming the visitors to the park (and didn’t clarify whether the calf had already been ill or abandoned by its herd before it was placed in a car), the National Park Service also called on visitors to follow rules in order to ensure the safety of both humans and wildlife: Approaching wild animals can drastically affect their well-being and, in this case, their survival. Park regulations require that you stay at least 25 yards (23 m) away from all wildlife (including bison, elk and deer) and at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves. Disregarding these regulations can result in fines, injury, and even death. The safety of these animals, as well as human safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following these simple rules. The tourist who put the calf in his SUV was later cited for violating those rules.",
            "output": [
                "A bison calf was euthanized at Yellowstone National Park after well-meaning tourists put it in their car to keep it warm."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-55b8211290314a90841d7f1fd915c883",
            "input": "Amy Nordness, director of speech-language pathology at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Shannon Todd, a care services specialist with The ALS Association Mid-America Chapter, will lead the discussion. The title: “The Eyes Have It — How the Eyes Keep People with ALS Connected to the World.” The disease claimed famed New York Yankee Lou Gehrig. Its medical name: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord and is characterized by progressive muscle weakness. The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Slowdown. Science Cafés involve face-to-face conversations with scientists about current science topics.",
            "output": [
                "Omaha Science Cafe to focus on Lou Gehrig’s disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01c7c9d71dde47cfb6527f4565e01dc6",
            "input": "The ALS Association funds one study that uses   embryonic stem cell research, according to an August 23, 2014,   article by the   Minneapolis Star Tribune. The ALS Association said that the research was funded by “one specific   donor who is committed to this area of research.”  Additionally, the ALS Association said donors were able to stipulate   that they do not want their donations used to fund any stem cell   research, if they so choose. Human embryonic stem cell lines that are used in research come from   embryos that were left over from in vitro fertilization, or from embryos   that carry genetic mutations like cystic fibrosis or Tay Sachs disease,   according to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s   website. After a couple completes the in vitro fertilization process, they either   continue paying for the leftover embryos to remain frozen or allow them   to thaw, which destroys the cells. Couples in some states, however, also have the choice to donate the   embryos to research or adoptive families, according to the institute. “The discovery that human embryonic stem cells can   be isolated and propagated in culture with the potential of developing   into all tissues of the body is a major medical breakthrough. However it   has raised a great deal of ethical questions,” the ALS Association said   on its   website. Posted 08/25/14      Comments",
            "output": [
                " Religious groups have raised   concerns that the ALS Association, which has seen an overwhelming influx   of donations through its ice bucket challenge, supports embryonic stem   cell research to help find a cure for the degenerative neurological   condition.      "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4fbcd144ec14fc0b9dddae380e577f4",
            "input": "An early-stage cloned embryo called a blastocysts is pictured in this undated handout photo. In a separate vote, parliament also decided to allow parents of children suffering serious diseases to use in-vitro fertilisation to select “savior siblings” who can act as donors for transplants to save their sick brothers and sisters. Parliament defeated an amendment to ban inter-species research — in which human DNA is injected into cells derived from animals — by 336 to 176 after hours of impassioned debate on ethics versus science. The vote means Britain retains its status as a world leader in stem cell research. Human-animal embryo research is banned in some countries including Australia, France, Germany and Italy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown supports the creation of human-animal or “admixed” embryos but some Roman Catholic members of his government oppose the research. Brown allowed members of parliament to vote by conscience rather than on party lines. “If we want to sustain stem cell research and bring new cures and treatments to millions of people, I believe admixed embryos are necessary,” Brown argued in a newspaper article. The human fertilisation and embryology bill prohibits the transfer of the embryos to a human or animal and says they cannot be used for research beyond 14 days. The bill, which updates 1990 laws, is at committee stage when amendments are tabled and will be subject to a final vote in coming weeks. Two groups of scientists have already been given permission to create human-animal admixed embryos. The bill legalizes their research within set guidelines. Some researchers say allowing admixed embryos would open more avenues as they seek cures for conditions like motor neuron disease or Parkinson’s. They say their creation would help ease a deficit of donated human eggs for stem cell research. But other scientists and religious leaders say that creating human-animal embryos is unethical, and using them for research is a blind alley that won’t cure disease. One Catholic cardinal called the research “Frankenstein science”. David King, director of the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, said he feared sufferers of Alzheimer’s and other diseases were being offered false hope. “It is very sad that all these patient groups have been hyped up to believe in this stuff. They are going to be very disappointed. It is very unfair,” he told reporters. Parliamentarians also defeated an amendment which would have banned the creation of “savior siblings” — babies born from embryos selected through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) because they are a tissue match for a sibling with a genetic condition. Supporters say this will help children who cannot find matching tissue donors, but critics worry about the impact on children who have been born to improve a sibling’s health, particularly if the treatment fails. The embryology debate will continue on Tuesday when members of parliament will vote on moves to end the need for IVF clinics to consider a child’s need for a father. This would ease restrictions on lesbian couples and single women but opponents argue that a child needs a father. Parliament will also vote on Tuesday on abortion laws. Some MPs are seeking to lower the 24-week time limit for abortions. Brown favors the status quo.",
            "output": [
                "UK parliament backs human-animal embryo research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de94f418c8514309bc67129c5bd50ec9",
            "input": "The false claims, ranging from there is an Ebola “outbreak” in Texas to reports of a few confirmed cases, have been circulating since April. The erroneous claims are also spreading at a time when Border Patrol officials said last week there has been a “dramatic” rise in the number of migrants arriving at the Texas border from African countries, although they remain a small fraction of the total number of migrants apprehended. “We do not have any suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola right now in Texas,” said Lara Anton, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also unaware of any Ebola cases nationwide, spokesman Benjamin Haynes said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is also adding his voice. On Monday, the Republican governor tweeted that the state was working on “health security” He also linked to an April news story that debunked Ebola rumors in the border city of Laredo. He later responded to a pair of tweets surrounding Ebola fears in Texas, referring them to his earlier post. “In addition to border security, my office is working on Health Security. The Dept. of State Health Services is monitoring immigration sites to protect against infectious disease. In the meantime, Congress must secure the border & prevent a health threat,” Abbott tweeted . Border Patrol officials say more than 500 migrants from Africa have come through the Del Rio sector since May 30, a small fraction of the more than 33,000 total apprehensions that the sector has reported so far this year. Officials say the families from Africa are not just from the Democratic Republic of Congo — where the Ebola outbreak has taken hold — but also the Republic of Congo and Angola. Last week, San Antonio officials put out a call for French-speaking volunteers to help with the expected arrival of Congolese immigrants. An Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed more than 1,300 people since August and is the second-deadliest in history. ___ This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform. ___ Find all AP Fact Checks here: https://www.apnews.com/tag/APFactCheck ___ Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck",
            "output": [
                "NOT REAL NEWS: Reports of Ebola cases in Texas unfounded."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23659cccc3074a6898a37610a09aab10",
            "input": "Alexis Shapiro suffered damage to her pituitary gland, which helps regulate weight, as a result of the brain disease. She has gained about 140 pounds (63.5 kgs) in less than two years because of the problem, her mother said. Her extreme excess of body fat is clinically defined as morbid obesity. “It has been heartbreaking for her and for us. She cannot do the things she used to love,” Jennifer Shapiro, her mother, said on the fundraising site GoFundMe. The mother said she is seeking about $50,000 for life-saving surgery to reduce the size of her daughter’s stomach because the family’s insurance company will not pay for the procedure unless the patient is at least 18 or has achieved full bone growth. Dr. Thomas Inge, a specialist in pediatric obesity at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, told NBC News that Alexis could receive the surgery at the hospital where he works within six weeks now that the funding appears to be in place. “Alexis will be seen this week in Cincinnati, and the preparations for surgery will be made at that time,” Inge told Reuters by email.",
            "output": [
                "Donors pitch in to pay for surgery for extremely obese Texas girl."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-08b4389c3e9c47c58042949e9198d0c2",
            "input": "For one 70-year-old, the goal may be to run a marathon, for another it’s getting out of a chair. “If you are teaching 10-year-olds, it’s perfectly reasonable to do an activity that everybody would participate in,” said Dr. Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, an expert on aging with the American College of Sports Medicine. But 20 80-year-olds could be as different as chalk and cheese.”  Some baby boomer could be athletic, he explained, while others would be unable to get out of bed. There are now more Americans age 65 and older than at any other time in U.S. history, according to Census Bureau figures. Some 40 million people age 65 and over lived in the United States in 2010, accounting for 13 percent of the total population. The older population grew from 3 million in 1900 to 40 million in 2010. Older adults should be doing aerobic activity to help maintain body weight, strengthening exercises to develop and maintain muscle mass and some type of flexibility training, according to Dr. James Graves, Dean of the College of Health at the University of Utah. Physical activity can reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis, he said, as well as improve the quality of life by maintaining functional capacity, such as the ability to climb stairs, open doors, and carry groceries. “A very healthy 70-year-old can safely participate in high-intensity activity while a frail 60-year-old needs to lower the intensity,” said Graves. “My recommendation is to work with a personal trainer or group leader who has knowledge and qualifications to work with the elderly.”  Mary Ann Wilson is the creator and host of the “Sit and Be Fit,” a senior fitness program that has aired on U.S. public television since 1987. The majority of her viewers are women over 65. For that population, she said, the goal of exercise is health and well-being, not physical prowess. “Gravity has been working on them for 70 years,” said Wilson, a registered nurse who specialized in geriatrics. “Gravity is not our friend after many years of pulling our heads, shoulders and upper torsos forward and down.”  The 30-minute class includes warm-up, circulation and strength segments, a finger segment (for stiffness), standing for balance, and final relaxation. Posture, breathing, balance, cognitive functioning and reaction time are among the most important—and neglected—components of elder fitness, she said. “Focusing on gait is really important because as we age our gait changes,” said Wilson. Karen Peterson, author of “Move with Balance: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body,” stresses a mind-body approach in workouts with seniors. “In our society it seems people don’t really like to do things unless they’re good at it already,” said Peterson, a kinesiologist based in Maui. “But what the brain likes is to be challenged.”  Her exercises include tossing a bean bag to improve reaction time, walking a figure-eight pattern for balance, as well as eye stretches, jaw relaxers, childhood games and cognitive challenges to keep body and mind alert. “We take balance exercises and add conversation or math problems,” she said. “The concept is to always progress, always get more challenging.”  To tackle the isolation and diversity of the older population, Peterson initiated a mentoring program in which the fitter seniors work with the frailer. “Some partners will become friends,” she said. “They’ll get really turned on.”  Experts agree that it’s never too late to do something. “Exercise is effective even in the most frail individual,” Wilson said. “If they can wiggle their toes, they can exercise.”",
            "output": [
                "Fitness after 65 is no one-size-fits-all endeavor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ff631776dd9c415896a79df03c900020",
            "input": "In 2007, nearly one-third of all births were Caesarean deliveries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report, noting large rises in all racial, ethnic and age groups over 10 years. The benefits and risks of Caesarean delivery, which involves major abdominal surgery, have been the subject of intense debate for more than a quarter of a century. In addition to health and safety risks for mothers and infants, hospital charges for a Caesarean delivery are almost double those for a vaginal delivery, according to the CDC. Caesarean delivery was the most frequently performed surgery in the United States in 2006, it said. After a drop in the early 1990s, the Caesarean rate rose from 21 percent of all births in 1996 to an all-time high of 32 percent in 2007, the report said. The number of Caesarean births rose 71 percent from 797,119 in 1996 to 1.367 million in 2007, it said. There was a big jump among women under the age of 25 beginning around 2000. Some of the increase may be related to a rise in multiple births and other non-medical factors such as older mothers, the mother’s choice and the doctor’s practice, the CDC said. Caesarean births rose in all states and the District of Columbia but the rates varied widely. Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Nevada, Rhode Island and Washington had increases of more than 70 percent.",
            "output": [
                "Caesarean births hit record high in 2007."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15fefc6a9ab9487a97dbd3b79aee9535",
            "input": "Since at least 2006, a video clip has been making the rounds showing dolphins creating and playing with bubble rings. The video was published just one year after YouTube was created. Before the prominence of social media, it was shared by email: The attached video is of dolphins playing with silver colored rings which they have the ability to make under water to play with. It isn’t known how they learn this, or if it’s an inbred ability. The dolphin does a quick flip of its head and a silver ring appears in front of its pointed beak. The ring is a solid, donut shaped bubble about 2-ft across, yet it doesn’t rise to the surface of the water. The dolphin then pulls a small silver donut from the larger one. Looking at the twisting ring for one last time a bite is taken from it, causing the small ring to collapse into a thousands of tiny bubbles which head upward towards the water’s surface. After a few moments the dolphin creates another ring to play with. There also seems to be a separate mechanism for producing small rings, which a dolphin can accomplish by a quick flip of its head. An explanation of how dolphins make these silver rings is that they are “air-core vortex rings”. Invisible, spinning vortices in the water are generated from the tip of a dolphin’s dorsal fin when it is moving rapidly and turning. When dolphins break the line, the ends are drawn together into a closed ring. The higher velocity fluid around the core of the vortex is at a lower pressure than the fluid circulating farther away. Air is injected into the rings via bubbles released from the dolphin’s blowhole. The energy of the water vortex is enough to keep the bubbles from rising for a reasonably few seconds of play time. We don’t know the specific origins of this video clip, but bottlenose dolphins’ producing and manipulating bubble rings is indeed a real phenomenon that has been observed and described by researchers, as noted in the 2000 article “Bubble Ring Play of Bottlenose Dolphins: Implications for Cognition,” published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology: Ongoing research into the cognitive capabilities of dolphins and other cetaceans has captured the interest and imagination of both the scientific community and the public. Bottlenose dolphins are gregarious mammals that show a strong propensity for play behavior with physical objects and with [each other]. There have been previous reports that both captive and wild dolphins produce their own objects of play, termed “bubble rings”. During these events, dolphins expel air from their blowhole, and the expelled air rises to the surface in a torus or ringlike form. Air-breathing dolphins always produce bubbles when they expel air underwater. Besides bubble rings, dolphins also produce a wide variety of other bubble types. They occasionally emit bubble streams concurrent with vocal activity. When surprised, curious, or excited, dolphins often emit a rapid exhalation termed a “bubble burst”. Breathing in dolphins, unlike in other mammals, is solely under voluntary control, a crucial feature in their adaptation to a fully aquatic existence. Whereas the physics of ring formation is straightforward, the actual production of stable rings may require some practice, expertise, and forethought by the dolphins. Dolphins in different oceanariums have been reported to produce bubble rings. For example, dolphins would swim to the bottom of the pool, stop, assume a horizontal position, and then with a sharp upward jerk of the head, expel a ring of air through their blowhole. Dolphins frequently manipulate their bubble rings by generating vortices around the objects, which cause the bubble rings to turn vertically by 90° or flip in orientation 180°. Bubble play can result in a sequence of two bubble rings, such that the second bubble ring joins the first bubble ring to form a large bubble ring, which is often then further manipulated. Sometimes a third smaller bubble ring extrudes from the larger ring as a result of the force of impact between the first and second bubble rings. This third bubble ring is frequently manipulated by the dolphins in a similar manner as described above for single rings where the dolphins vertically turn the bubble ring or completely flip the ring. A 1996 episode of “Noorderlicht” featured Dr. Ken Marten explaining the bubble rings and the intelligence of dolphins. The TV show was a Dutch scientific documentary series. The bubble rings moments begin at 3:59 in the video: ",
            "output": [
                "A video shows dolphins creating and playing with bubble rings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05ce3d5772d54887a0333da2806dc74b",
            "input": "Plastic mulch, basically thin sheeting placed over individual crops, is used throughout China’s arid and dusty north to improve growing conditions and boost yields by retaining moisture for crops and suppressing weeds. The country deploys about 200,000 square km (77,220 square miles) of plastic mulch, an area the size of Belarus. A notice published by several ministries on Wednesday said China would work to improve the recovery rate of plastic mulch to 80% next year and ensure there is “zero growth” in the amount of plastic mulch used. It will aim to bring recovery rates to 100% and start reducing total land coverage by 2025. The notice said China would also work to improve its monitoring capability and include mulch pollution in the performance indicators of local government officials. Manufacturers will also be put under pressure to improve product standards. China uses about 2 million to 3 million tonnes of plastic mulch every year, but waste treatment capacity amounts to just 180,000 tonnes, Yan Changrong, a researcher with the China Rural Science Institute, said at a recent forum. While the use of plastic film can boost yields significantly in the short term, unrecovered remnants eventually degrade the soil and can also contaminate crops, with Chinese exports of spinach and ginger found to contain traces of plastic, said Xu Jingeng, a parliamentary delegate for Shandong province, in a proposal submitted to the National People’s Congress in March. Handling large volumes of plastic waste has become one of China’s pressing challenges. The country’s recycling capacity stands at around 23 million to 25 million tonnes, only half of total annual plastic waste produced, according to data from the Beijing Chemistry University. The city of Shanghai is gradually restricting the use of single-use plastics in catering, and the island province of Hainan has already vowed to completely eliminate single-use plastic by 2025. [nL4N23Y1YE][nL3N20G7K1]",
            "output": [
                "China vows to raise recycling rates of rural plastic mulch."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3663a0aa57fc4ded816a2cdf901894d9",
            "input": "Cupich, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, needed two dozen young priests to take on the sacred duty of administering the last rites to those dying from the new and highly contagious coronavirus. For the priests, like doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, it means putting their lives at risk to care for the sick in hospitals. “I know the consequences,” said Dorantes, 36. “We are called to do this.”  Throughout history, priests and other clergy have risked their lives ministering to the dying through population-decimating plagues and on the battlefields of wars. But in the face of COVID-19, which has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide and about 33,000 in the United States, the Vatican last month waived the requirement for in-person worship and sacraments, including a special dispensation for believers who cannot receive the last rites. Many faiths and denominations in America have taken similar unprecedented actions, as the coronavirus has upended one of the most sacred duties of clergy of most major faiths - ministering to the dying and comforting the bereaved. The disease has forced clergy to rely on technology. Cell phones or iPads are held at the bedsides of very ill patients by nurses and orderlies. During funerals, they preach to empty pews during services  shared using sites such as Zoom and FaceTime. Graveside prayers can be attended by the barest few, sometimes just three mourners. For clergy, this is the new normal, said United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton, a member of the denomination’s ruling council of bishops, which has halted in-person worship services. Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, head rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Closter, New Jersey, said many hospitals won’t allow bedside visits by anyone, including clergy. “We don’t even bother to ask,” said Kirshner, 46, who leads a conservative congregation of about 800 families. “It’s too dangerous.”  But the rabbi asks nurses or orderlies to hold an iPad so patients can see it. They then pray together. “It’s very, very important that we at least offer that.”  Some burials that under Jewish tradition should be held within a day have to wait a week or more, the rabbi said, in places where cemeteries and funeral homes are beyond capacity. One Muslim imam said many funeral homes in the United States are no longer allowing the Islamic ritual of washing the body before burial, for fear of spreading the disease. “For the family it’s tough because they cannot mourn the same,” Daoud Nassimi, an imam in Washington D.C., told the online publication Middle East Eye. About 3 million Americans identify as members of the Episcopalian Church, which is largely relying on video chats and phone calls by priests to make that last connection with those on the brink of death, according to Reverend Lorenzo Librija of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, he came up with a plan to organize the effort. It is called “Dial-a-Priest” and is aimed at helping people who do not have a relationship with a local church, but still want to receive the last rites. “We picked that name because it’s easy to remember and easy to Google,” said Librija. His group has about 100 retired ministers who have volunteered to man telephones around the clock, ready to give the ritual ministration of death from the Book of Common Prayer. The Archdiocese of Chicago, with its 24-member last rites team, is one of the few places in the nation where in-person visits to patients near death have continued in hospitals. Dorantes, pastor of Chicago’s Saint Mary of the Lake parish, said he has conducted several bedside rituals since he volunteered in late March. He and the other priests don protective jump suits and N95 respirator masks. Wearing gloves, they take a dab of blessed oil and make the sign of the cross on the patient’s forehead and hands using a Q-tip. “Laying on of hands and anointing, this is the sacrament of the church, a visible sign of invisible grace,” he said. “I could see it in their eyes, incredible moments of grace.”",
            "output": [
                "Protective gear, cellphone, video chats: How America's clergy minister to COVID-19 patients."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66a66a861772441fb0267cf513d88e1f",
            "input": "This study was published in December, 2007 in        the Journal of Environmental Health. It was co-authored by Anne        LaGrange Loving and John Perz. The authors collected 76 lemon slices from 21 restaurants on 43 visits in        Patterson, New Jersey. They swabbed both the lemon slice and the        glass on which the slice had been placed and immediately after the glass        had been brought to them. The result was that they found        contamination on both the flesh and the rind of most of the lemon wedges,        although they did not research how it got there. Some of it could        have arrived with the fruit from the field, some of it could have been        through contamination from the hands of employees. Some of it could        have been from contaminated work surfaces. The U.S. Food and Drug        Administration conducted a study in 2004 of both fast food and full        service restaurants. The conclusion was that there was poor personal        hygiene on the part of employees at 31 percent of the fast food        restaurants and more than 41 percent of the full service restaurants. Comments",
            "output": [
                " The forwarded email appears to be an article        featuring the findings of microbiologist Anne LaGrange Loving who found        that two-thirds of the lemons tested from 21 restaurants were contaminated        with bacteria when added as slices to beverages.   "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40f01c3bb97e4356a15cb0373abe74a6",
            "input": "\"The tight Wisconsin U.S. Senate race has been marked by attacks made on GOP incumbent Ron Johnson and Democratic challenger Russ Feingold. (We’ve highlighted 20 of them.) But ahead of the Nov. 8, 2016 election, Johnson and his fellow Republicans are also trying to tie Feingold to the unpopular Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. And Feingold and other Democrats are trying to hitch Johnson to the equally unpopular GOP nominee, Donald Trump. A Feingold radio ad released Oct. 26, 2016 makes a number of claims about Johnson and Trump on women’s issues, including saying they both \"\"oppose a woman's right to choose and Johnson voted against the Violence Against Women Act, denying protections to victims of domestic violence.\"\" Let’s check both parts of the attack. Right to choose On abortion generally, Trump has been controversial. In Green Bay in March 2016, he said women should be punished for having an abortion. (Our In Context item fleshed out those remarks.) Then, hours later, Trump’s campaign posted a statement saying women are victims of abortion. When it comes more specifically to a woman’s right to choose, Trump went from pro-choice to anti-abortion, as our colleagues noted in rating True a claim by former GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina that Trump had \"\"changed his mind\"\" on abortion. As late as 2000, Trump wrote that he was pro-choice. But by 2011, he said he was anti-abortion, a position he has stated as recently as October 2016. Trump has said, including in his Green Bay remarks, that he supports exceptions for the life of the mother, incest and rape. Johnson is also anti-abortion. During his successful campaign to win Feingold’s seat in 2010, Johnson was asked if he Roe v. Wade was \"\"settled law.\"\" He said the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion  \"\"was a real tragedy,\"\" saying it \"\"usurped the democratic process.\"\" In this race, Johnson was endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, which noted his support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a 2015 bill that would have generally banned abortion at 20 weeks and later. And Life News has urged support for Johnson, saying he has a \"\"strong pro-life voting record.\"\" Feingold’s campaign also pointed out that in 2011, Johnson co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, which declared \"\"that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being beginning at the moment of fertilization, cloning, and other moment at which an individual comes into being.\"\" Johnson, however, has supported the three exceptions -- a position that drew some criticism from conservatives when he challenged Feingold in 2010. Violence Against Women Act The Violence Against Women Act was adopted in 1994. When it was reauthorized in 2005, it was set to expire in 2011. New reauthorization votes were taken in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, Johnson was among 31 Republican senators who voted no. The bill passed the Senate, but died in the House. In 2013, the bill passed the Senate again, with Johnson among 22 Senate Republicans to vote no. The measure then passed the House and was signed into law. Like the 1994 version, the renewed law makes it easier to prosecute crimes against women in federal court, and provides such services as domestic abuse hotlines and shelters for battered women. The new bill was also extended to women of Native American tribal lands who are attacked by non-tribal residents, as well as to immigrants, gays and lesbians. It’s worth noting why Johnson said he voted no. Johnson issued a statement after his 2012 vote, saying in part: I believe it’s critical to ensure that laws are in place to prevent and deter crime – against both women and men. Regrettably, the debate over the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act was completely politicized by the Senate Democratic leadership. Republicans offered very reasonable alternatives to extend the Violence Against Women Act. Senate Democrats today defeated proposals to provide U.S. marshals the tools they need to track sex offenders across state lines. They voted against legislation to establish an interstate database for DNA evidence, to ensure sex offenders are brought to justice regardless or the jurisdiction in which they commit their crimes. And they rejected legislation to provide additional funds to allow law enforcement to pursue justice for hundreds of thousands of women. Johnson also issued a statement following his 2013 vote, saying in part: In passing the Violence Against Women Act, the Democrat-controlled Senate turned the renewal of a non-controversial piece of legislation that had a history of strong bipartisan support into a divisive and highly partisan bill. As a result, the Senate has approved a piece of legislation that sounds nice, but which is fatally flawed. By including an unconstitutional expansion of tribal authority and introducing a bill before the Congressional Budget Office could review it to estimate its cost, Senate Democrats made it impossible for me to support a bill covering an issue I would like to address. Most analysts believe it would add more than $2 billion to the deficit. I voted for an alternative that did not have these serious flaws. That alternative would help deter and prosecute violence against women – without the inclusion of unconstitutional provisions. Our rating Feingold says Trump and Johnson \"\"oppose a woman’s right to choose and Johnson voted against the Violence Against Women Act.\"\" Trump and Johnson are anti-abortion, though Trump in particular has said he supports exceptions to allow abortion in certain cases. Johnson did vote no on reauthorizing the violence law, but it’s not as though he opposed protections for women; in fact, he voted for alternative measures that did not pass. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Russ Feingold Says Donald Trump and Ron Johnson \"\"oppose a woman's right to choose and Johnson voted against the Violence Against Women Act.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25f0e719ef11411cbeff6b5c445fa581",
            "input": "Digital editing has been responsible for the creation of images of some fantastically fictional looking creatures, such as seven-headed snakes, pink-horned rhinos, and impossibly small kittens. In July 2018, many social media users wondered if they were witnessing a similar creation in an image of an odd-looking, large animal said to be a “hammerhead bat”:  We have not been able to pinpoint the exact origins of this photograph, but we can say that the hammerhead bat (also known as the “hammer-headed bat”) is a genuine animal that looks like the one pictured here. The hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus) is a megabat found in the tropical forests of central Africa. A profile on the large fruit bat from Bat Magazine provides some more information about this unusual-looking animal: The hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus), widely distributed in equatorial Africa, is one of three species of African fruit bat thought to be asymptomatically infected with the Ebola virus; though scientists do not know if the species is an incidental host or a reservoir of Ebolavirus. The little-collared fruit bat (Myonycteris torquata) and the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) are the other two species. The species is locally common and is typically found in lowland tropical moist forests, riverine forests, swamp forests, mangroves and palm forests, where it roosts in trees. Although colonies up to 25 bats have been observed, the average hammer-headed fruit bat roost is fewer than five bats. The hammer-headed bat, with wingspans up to 38 inches (97 cm), is Africa’s largest bat. Strong sexual dimorphism is observed in the species, as males are significantly larger than females. Males have a large head with enlarged rostrum, larynx and lips that allows for the production of loud honking calls; the appearance of females is similar to most other fruit bats. The species has a “lek” mating system whereby a few hundred males gather into groups (leks) to attract female mates. Although the hammerhead bat is a relatively large bat, the viral image may have given some viewers a false impression of the animal’s true size. The person holding this fruit bat is extending the animal out toward the camera, and since the bat is closer to the lens than the human, the forced perspective makes the animal appear larger than normal. Photographs exhibiting the forced perspective optical illusion have caused confusion about the relative sizes of frogs, rats, snakes, and half-eaten sharks. As noted by Bats Magazine, the hammer-headed bat can possess a wingspan of nearly 40 inches, but it’s average body length is only about 10 inches: H. monstrosus is the largest bat found in Africa, with males being significantly larger than females. Males range in mass from 228 g to 450 g, averaging 377 g. Females are about half the size, weighing from 218 to 377 g, and averaging 275 g. Males range in length from 220 to 280 mm, with an average of 250 mm. Females measure 195 to 225 mm, averaging 210 mm. Males have a wingspan of 686 to 970 mm, and females have an average wingspan of 840 mm. We’ve collected a few other images of the hammerhead bat for comparison:",
            "output": [
                "\"A photograph showing an odd-looking, large bat with an elongated face known as a \"\"hammerhead bat.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-087dfca7e0c047688a3894f2d1f547e0",
            "input": "As the U.S. death toll from the virus passed 1,000 people, hospitals and government authorities in New York, New Orleans and other hot spots have grappled with a rush of cases and a shortage of supplies, staff and sick beds. In Detroit, which had no cases about two weeks ago, the number had grown to 868 confirmed cases and 15 deaths as of midday on Thursday, the city’s chief public health officer, Denise Fair, said on a webcast briefing. Statewide, Michigan authorities have so far reported 2,856 cases and 60 deaths, according to data compiled by Reuters. That puts it behind New York’s more than 37,000 cases and 385 deaths, but closer to New Jersey and California. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the surge in newly confirmed cases in and around the city, partially attributable to expanded testing, was “really concerning”. Michigan was on pace to be among the top three states in the country in confirmed cases, and soon to surpass California, he said. “We are preparing as if we get the kind of surge that New York had,” Duggan said at the briefing, adding that the city’s focus was on expanding capacity to treat the illness. He admonished people to stop gathering in groups in violation of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order, which took effect on Tuesday. Detroit authorities are hoping to expand drive-up testing from 100 slots beginning on Friday to up to 500 starting next week, which would require a doctor’s prescription based on symptoms and an appointment. Still, there is a mass shortage of tests. “There is no question there are thousands and thousands of people in this state who have the virus. We’re just not testing them,” Duggan said. Many clinics were turning away people who complained of fever, shortness of breath and other related symptoms, and under-resourced hospitals were advising individuals not facing emergency conditions to remain at home in quarantine. Aside from occasional food shoppers and dog walkers, the streets of downtown Detroit were nearly deserted Thursday. Brandon Allen, 48, bought groceries in midtown Detroit to drop off for his 72-year-old mother, who he said had tested positive for coronavirus several days ago. Along with the food, he brought her a bouquet of flowers. “I told her my project, from me to you, is to keep these flowers alive,” Allen said. “She’s over there alone. She opened the garage door and I dropped them outside the door. We had to wave at each other through the window,” Allen said. Allen, who was expecting the birth of a daughter next week, said he was worried about “bringing a baby into this pandemic” and criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis. “You hear the stuff that he says and you just know you have to fend for yourself. He has no compassion,” Allen said.",
            "output": [
                "Detroit mayor sounds statewide alarm as coronavirus cases surge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-663e81f4cd1d4328a9b93ff8347edc7a",
            "input": "The local authorities have been trucking in fresh water, built a pipeline to a local dam and will soon start drilling in the hope of finding new supplies. For Mayor Simon Murray, the biggest worry is that Guyra is not alone. “A lot of towns are forecast to run out at the same time - and then where do you get the water from?” he said, referring to an area that is home to some 180,000 people. It is part of a much bigger problem in a country unused to widespread financial hardship; Australia has enjoyed growth for a generation yet livelihoods are now at risk from drought worsened by climate change, a predicament more familiar to developing countries. Parts of northern and inland New South Wales, along with southern Queensland, have been in drought since 2016, severely depleting river and dam levels. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says the drought is being driven, in part, by warmer sea-surface temperatures impacting rainfall patterns. Air temperatures have also warmed over the past century, increasing the ferocity of droughts and fires. In New South Wales, the government has provided some local councils with estimates of an end-date to water supplies in the worst-case scenario which change along with likely demand and supply. Dubbed “day zero” by locals, they are focusing some minds in a wealthy country where plentiful coal resources weigh against pressure for action on climate change. “Day zero - it’s a war-time phrase,” sheep and cattle farmer Richard Daugherty told Reuters on his property, located near the small town of Uralla, 200 km (124 miles) inland from Australia’s eastern coastline. But links between climate change and extreme weather events have become a political football in Australia. The conservative government has argued stronger environmental action would cripple its economy, pitting itself against its Pacific island neighbors which are particularly susceptible to warmer temperatures and rising seas. It came under fire from British naturalist Sir David Attenborough for supporting new coal mines shortly after school children around the globe protested against government inaction on climate change and world leaders met in New York for a climate summit. Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not attend the climate summit. He told the UN General Assembly that critics overlooked Australia’s work on curbing emissions and that the country would meet its Paris emissions reduction goals. He has also pledged A$100 million ($68 million) in extra funding to support drought-striken farmers. Guyra, population 2,000, lies in a region known as New England, where European livestock stations were established almost 200 years ago on land resembling the colonial power’s green countryside. Together with the North-West region, it produced A$2.6 billion ($1.76 billion) in agricultural production in 2017-18, according to commodity forecaster ABARES. Murray, who also oversees the bigger regional center of Armidale, said he first realized the scale of the problem when he noticed entire hillsides of hardy eucalyptuses dying. Some of the region’s biggest towns, which include Dubbo, with 40,000 people, Armidale, 25,000, and Tamworth, 62,000, are forecast to run out of drinking water mid-to-late next year, according to the latest government projections. “This is going to another level - it’s almost unimaginable,” Murray said. Most councils, including Armidale and Dubbo, are trying to extend the deadline by drilling into the earth to tap underground reservoirs in the hope they can access water suitable for drinking. Even Sydney’s biggest dam, Warragamba, has dropped to 50%, after almost being at capacity less than three years ago. The central bank has warned the drought is weighing on Australia’s economic growth. The value of farm production is forecast to decline by 5% to A$59 billion ($40.4 billion) in 2019–20, according to ABARES. There is already a steep daily cost to farmers, towns and governments that are paying to truck-in water that usually drops freely from the sky. Farmers in the Armidale area told Reuters they were now paying well in excess of A$250 ($169) to bring in 10,000 litres of drinking-quality water, which is almost double the cost of pre-drought prices. Australia’s east coast is forecast to continue sweltering for at least three more months, the country’s weather bureau said. Locals are making do. Joe George, 57, used to wash his fleet of nine school buses once a week, but now collects whatever rain falls onto his depot’s rusty roof for a monthly wash to meet his contractual obligation to provide clean vehicles. “Worst drought I’ve ever seen,” he said at the bus depot in Guyra. “We had a bad one in the early 80s but even that was nothing like this.”  s",
            "output": [
                "Drought-hit Australian towns prepare for 'unimaginable' water crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f7c1c4e9d4c4a0ea72f94b8616e2b95",
            "input": "\"The cost of currently available low-dose, pulsed immune suppressing drugs could have been mentioned. It would be good to know if there would be a potential cost-saving for the patient with HiCy therapy. The story does note the economics driving drug research and implications for the development of new treatments for people with difficult-to-treat chronic conditions. The suggestion that results of this study could lead to a cure for MS seems premature, especially given the small number of people involved and outcomes at 2 years; however, the story does note the limited information available for HiCy and the need for future randomized controlled trials with a larger group of patients. The story mentions the harms of treatment typically seen in patients taking the pulsed dose of cyclophosphamide, as well as side effects seen in the small group of patients in the HiCy trial. These included: nausea and hair loss and increased risk of infection. The story also mentioned that some patients’ symptoms became worse before they improved. Researchers do not currently know the long-term effects of this high-dose, concentrated drug regimen. The story adequately describes the small, open-label, pilot-stage study of 9 MS patients and presents findings for the lay reader. The story appropriately notes inclusion criteria for the study (i.e. early stages of aggressive MS) and cautions that the preliminary findings may not apply to other people with different subtypes of MS. The story provides some data on study endpoints, i.e. brain lesions in 7 of 9 people improved and there was a statistically significant reduction in disability in most participants. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story includes U.S. prevalence data and describes different forms of MS, qualifying discussion of the novel treatment with a reminder that HiCy was only tested in very debilitated patients. As mentioned in the press release accompanying this story, the study included the \"\"worst of the worst\"\"  MS patients. The story includes interview with study authors and participants, as well as Dr. Richert, VP of research and clinical programs for MS Society, who puts the results of this study in perspective. The story mentions other FDA-approved treatments for MS and compares  the current use of longer-term pulsed intervals of cyclophosphamide with the higher-concentrated regimen–which lasted only 4 days and was less toxic. The story notes that this experimental delivery system was tested in people in the early stages of a particularly aggressive form of MS, and the treatment is not a long-term cure. The story mentions that high-dose cyclophosphamide  (generic name for Cytoxan, Neosar, Revimmune) (HiCy) is currently being studied via clinical trials, and at this time the concentrated form of the immunosuppressant drug is limited to people in the early stages of an aggressive form of MS. The story mentions that cyclophosphamide is already used in a different dosing regimen for treatment of MS. The high-dose regimen is under study and more information about risk and efficacy is needed before it can be accepted for clinical use. The story describes the pros and cons of this new method of administering an existing drug to a subset of patients in the early stages of a particularly debilitating form of MS. The story discusses why this method of delivery may be an improvement over existing immunosuppressant drugs regimens for difficult-to-treat cases. There is similar language in the press release and news story; however, there is also some independent reporting and the story includes a perspective (MS researcher Dr. Richert) other than those of the researchers and  participants from the HiCy trials.\"",
            "output": [
                "“I’ve gotten my life back”: Hopkins reports success with MS treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-66e3e72a9260473ea84bdbc87b3d664f",
            "input": "\"In the wake of a Oct. 1 shooting spree in Oregon that killed 10, many -- including President Barack Obama -- are calling for more gun control laws. \"\"There is a gun for roughly every man, woman, and child in America,\"\" Obama said in remarks the day of the shooting. \"\"So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that more guns will make us safer? We know that states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths. So the notion that gun laws don't work, or just will make it harder for law-abiding citizens, and criminals will still get their guns is not borne out by the evidence.\"\" There is plenty of debate over the effectiveness of gun control laws, so we decided to dig into Obama’s sweeping claim: that \"\"states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths.\"\" We ran this claim past several experts and found that the statistic generally holds up, but the implications are less clear. Cause and effect The meat of the claim comes from a 2015 National Journal investigation, which concluded that \"\"the states with the most gun laws see the fewest gun-related deaths.\"\" The report considered seven types of gun control: handgun permits, background checks, handgun registries, \"\"stand your ground\"\" laws, concealed carry permits, open carry permits and gun purchase waiting period. It found that states that had generally more restrictive laws within these categories generally had fewer annual gun deaths. Here’s a chart by National Journal showing the states with the fewest and most gun deaths per 100,000 people, compared to each state’s’ gun laws (more blue = more restrictive laws). You should look at the chart that shows all 50 states. There are some limitations to this kind of research, notably that they do not determine cause-and-effect: whether a state has fewer gun deaths because of the law, said Adam Winkler, a University of California Los Angeles law professor and second amendment expert. Other demographic characteristics -- such as education level, marital stability, rural or urban -- might explain the fewer gun deaths in a particular state. Setting that caveat aside, Winkler said Obama’s statement is true. There are also a couple of outliers to National Journal’s report. For example, New Hampshire has some of the least restrictive gun laws but also the seventh-lowest gun death rate. An academic study published by the American Medical Association in 2013 found similar results: \"\"A higher number of firearm laws in a state was associated with a lower rate of firearm fatalities in the state.\"\" In a commentary on the 2013 study, Garen Wintemute, director of UC Davis’ Violence Prevention Research Program, pointed out that the correlation between restrictive laws and fewer deaths \"\"essentially disappeared\"\" when firearm ownership rates were taken into account. \"\"Perhaps these laws decrease mortality by decreasing firearm ownership, in which case firearm ownership mediates the association,\"\" Wintemute wrote. \"\"But perhaps, and more plausibly, these laws are more readily enacted in states where the prevalence of firearm ownership is low — there will be less opposition to them — and firearm ownership confounds the association.\"\" While wary of making such a general claim, Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said Obama’s claim is generally accurate. In many states, individual gun laws have shown to be associated with fewer gun-related deaths. He linked us to some of his own research showing, for example, a reduction in murders committed with firearms followed a handgun purchase permit law in Connecticut. In contrast, the repeal of a permit law in Missouri preceded a rise in firearm-caused murders. We looked for evidence to contradict Obama’s statement, and found several complaints from those who favor gun rights. James Agresti, a gun control expert for the conservative-leaning think tank Just Facts, wrote in an email to reporters that statements like Obama’s are \"\"meaningless\"\" and \"\"subjective and ill-defined,\"\" linking to a Just Facts article that said classification systems that evaluate gun laws state-by-state can be \"\"haphazard.\"\" Agresti added that the claim ignores the number of lives saved by defensive gun use, and the fact that some states with highest gun-ownership rates also have low homicide rates. Overall, though, we found nothing that offered an outright contradiction to the National Journal analysis. States with laws that restrict guns do tend to have lower death rates, as Obama said. Suicide vs. homicide A notable critique of Obama’s claim is that these gun deaths include suicides -- which account for more than half of all gun deaths -- and Obama was delivering remarks in the context of how to prevent future mass shootings. While research does show that gun laws correlate with fewer firearm-caused suicides, there’s not universal agreement on the effect of gun laws on murders. In his commentary on the 2013 study, Wintemute noted that the vast majority of the observed decrease in gun deaths were suicides. Our friends at the Washington Post Fact Checker did a calculation of their own and found that when suicides are taken out of the picture, there’s not as clear a correlation between more gun laws and fewer non-suicide gun deaths. (They rated Obama’s statement as two out of four Pinocchios.) Obama’s use of this factoid is deceptive because he was selling gun control as a way to stymie murders, not suicide by gun, said David Kopel, a gun rights advocate and research director of the conservative Independence Institute in Denver. He likened it to a car salesman telling a family a car is \"\"safe, according to government studies.\"\" The family takes this to mean the car will protect them in an accident, but the salesman was actually referring to the fact that studies have found the car to be safe for the environment. Experts do, though, see reason to believe that stronger gun laws will reduce homicides, as well, even if the research isn’t conclusive yet. One survey of about 150 researchers actively publishing work on guns found that 71 percent believe that strong gun laws reduce the number of homicides, compared with12 percent who disagree. While there are always exceptions, \"\"the research on the whole shows that if you make it more difficult for individuals -- especially individuals with a criminal background -- to obtain firearms you will prevent some gun-related criminal offenses,\"\" said Jay Corzine, a sociology professor at the University of Central Florida who studies homicide and violent crime. Our ruling Obama said, \"\"States with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths.\"\" Research shows that the more gun laws a state has, the fewer gun deaths there are. Obama gets some wiggle room because he said \"\"tend to\"\" as opposed to making a definitive statement. The problem is, however, that this is an overly general statement. The research doesn’t prove a universal cause-and-effect relationship between gun laws and fewer gun deaths; it might just be a correlation. Some laws are more effective than others, and other cultural, demographic or socioeconomic factors might be the driving force behind the number of gun deaths in different states. Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of James Agresti, to clarify his views and to provide links to his original commentaries.\"",
            "output": [
                "States with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee425212b0e84b60963f005e27973b53",
            "input": "A girl sits in the arms of a statue in Rittenhouse Square on a warm fall day in Philadelphia, October 17, 2010. REUTERS/Brian Snyder “Philadelphia doesn’t have great air, but other cities have worst,” said Morgan Brennan, of forbes.com, which conducted the report. “But the Philadelphia area has over 50 Superfund sites, really poor water quality, and a hefty amount of toxic releases.”   New York City and Baton Rouge, in Louisiana rounded out the top five most toxic cities in the country. To compile the list, forbes.com looked at 80 of America’s largest metropolitan areas and examined the number of Superfund locations, unused areas which contain hazardous materials, as well as the local Air Quality Index (AQI) and Toxics Release Index, a measure of how much toxic material is released, recycled or managed by local industries. The Philadelphia metropolitan area includes more than 50 Superfund sites. Cities in California also have particularly poor air quality. In 2009, Bakersfield had 43 days in which the AQI passed 100 on a 500-point scale, with zero being the best possible score. Fresno had 29 days in which the AQI passed 100, and Los Angeles had 14. Most American cities can go an entire year without seeing the AQI pass 100. Los Angeles captured the No. 6 spot on the list, which can found on tinyurl.com/4mhhdbx. Brennan said that high levels of toxicity do not necessarily mean increased health risks for local inhabitants. “For the most part, just because a city ranks high for toxicity doesn’t directly mean that people in those areas are being exposed to or running the risks of cancers that are related to toxicity,” she said. “It’s very difficult to actually measure levels of exposure.”   Brennan also said that many of the cities on the list have taken steps to mitigate the hazardous effects of high toxicity levels. “The good news is that most of these cities have some sort of initiative in place to improve air quality,” she said. “A lot of cities in California have introduced clean air initiatives, for example.”   New York City has plans to clean up the Gowanus Creek Canal in Brooklyn, one of the most polluted waterways in the United States. Philadelphia had the worst water quality of the cities examined, followed by Fresno and New York City. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, suggests that consumers use a water filter to avoid drinking any contaminants when consuming tap water.",
            "output": [
                "Philadelphia tops list of U.S. most toxic cities."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-06db7fbf75404346a18cdffb13ab8b70",
            "input": "In her introductory address for the start of the Human Rights Council’s latest session, Michelle Bachelet aired concerns from unlawful killings and injuries of Palestinians by Israeli security forces to India’s actions against Kashmiris, But the rights chief, who is a former president of Chile, put her main focus on environmental concerns — calling variously for greater participation in the fight against climate change by businesses and greater space for environmental activists to express their views. “We are burning up our future — literally,” Bachelet said. “The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope. This is not a situation where any country, any institution, any policymaker can stand on the sidelines.” Alluding to a Swedish teenage climate campaigner, the human rights chief decried “verbal attacks on young activists such as Greta Thunberg and others.” Looking past personal criticism against her from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in recent days, Bachelet also reiterated her concerns about the “drastic acceleration of deforestation of the Amazon.” “The fires currently raging across the rainforest may have catastrophic impact on humanity as a whole,”  Bachelet said, “but their worst effects are suffered by the women, men and children who live in these areas, among them, many indigenous peoples.” She urged authorities in Brazil, as well as Paraguay and Bolivia, to ensure “longstanding environmental policies” are carried out, “thus preventing future tragedies.” Last week, Bolsonaro praised the 1973 military coup by Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Chile that led to Bachelet’s father’s death a year later in captivity. Asked by The Associated Press to respond to those comments, she declined to comment. As for migrants’ rights in Central America and on the U.S.-border, Bachelet said she was concerned that policies by the United States, Mexico and others in the region “are putting migrants at heightened risk of human rights violations and abuses.” “Notably, I am alarmed that migrant children continue to be detained in centers in both the U.S. and Mexico, contravening the best interests of the child, which is a fundamental tenet of international law,” she said, She said at least 35,000 asylum-seekers have been “pushed back” to Mexican border areas to wait for their hearings this year. The Trump administration pulled the United States out of the council last year, accusing it of an anti-Israel bias and denouncing some member states that Washington says are repeat rights violators. On other issues, Bachelet flagged her concerns about “extensive arrests and police action” in the run-up to Sunday’s local elections in Moscow. She joined calls for “investigations into the allegations of excessive use of force by the police.” She expressed concerns about Kashmir, including restrictions on internet communications and peaceful assembly, and the detention of local political leaders and activists, and said she had “appealed particularly to India to ease the current lockdowns or curfews; to ensure people’s access to basic services” and ensure due process rights. As for Israel, whose government has repeatedly accused the council of anti-Israeli bias, Bachelet decried “very high levels of settler violence, and Israel’s failure to adequately protect Palestinians from such attacks or hold the perpetrators to account.” She cited a recent increase in demolitions of homes under an Israeli zoning and planning framework “which discriminates heavily against Palestinians.” “I continued to be alarmed by reports of unlawful killings and injuries of Palestinians by Israeli security forces across the entire occupied territory, accompanied by a lack of full accountability for instances of possible excessive use of force,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "UN rights chief airs worries on climate change, migrant kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd61ccbd8d73406f8bdea76ce92666bb",
            "input": "It’s a scene that is being repeated at other immigration facilities overwhelmed with too many migrant children and nowhere to put them. “This facility wasn’t even on our radar before we came down here,” said law professor Warren Binford, a member of the team that interviewed dozens of children this week detained in Clint, about a half-hour drive from El Paso. Fifteen children had the flu, another 10 were quarantined. At another Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, attorney Toby Gialluca said all the children she talked to last week were very sick with high fevers, coughing and wearing soiled clothes crusted with mucus and dirt after their long trip north. “Everyone is sick. Everyone. They’re using their clothes to wipe mucus off the children, wipe vomit off the children. Most of the little children are not fully clothed,” she said. Gialluca said migrant teens in McAllen told her they were offered frozen ham sandwiches and rotten food. At both detention facilities, the children told attorneys that guards instructed girls as young as 8 to care for the babies and toddlers. State and federal elected officials Friday demanded change about conditions at Clint, McAllen and other Border Patrol stations. There was plenty of angry fingerpointing as well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed Congress as “a group of reprobates” for failing to provide adequate border security funding. “Every child who is not being taken care of adequately at the border, Congress is an accomplice to any harm they suffer,” he said. Oregon’s Sen. Jeff Merkley pushed the Department of Homeland Security to publish a remediation plan “to immediately end these abuses.” He gave them a deadline of July 12, tweeting: “Children are being held in appalling and unacceptable conditions. Detained children are being left to care for each other - including, in one case, a two-year-old who was left with no diapers. @DHSgov needs to tell us what their plan is to fix this, NOW.” Republican Congressman Will Hurd, whose district includes Clint, said the tragic conditions “further demonstrates the immediate need to reform asylum laws and provide supplemental funding to address the humanitarian crisis at our border.” His Democratic counterpart, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of El Paso, said she has already asked the Customs and Border Protection commissioner for a “full accounting” of the situation. And Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand blamed the Trump administration’s mismanagement of the nation’s immigration system. “This is a dark moment for our country, and history will not be kind to the perpetrators of this cruelty,” Gillibrand said. “All Americans should be alarmed and demand an end to this immediately.” Border Patrol stations are designed to hold people for less than three days, but some children held in Clint and McAllen have been in there for weeks. Legally, migrants under 18 should be moved into Office of Refugee Resettlement care within 72 hours. But federal officials have said they have hit a breaking point. That’s in part because over the last year, migrant children have been staying longer in federal custody than in the past, leading to a shortage of beds in facilities designed for longer-term stays. The lawyers inspected the Border Patrol facilities as part of a Clinton-era legal agreement known as the Flores settlement that governs detention conditions for migrant children and families. In an emailed statement Friday, Customs and Border Protection said the agency leverages its limited resources to provide “the best care possible to those in our custody, especially children.” The statement said “our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis.” In addition, the agency said all allegations of civil rights abuses or mistreatment are taken seriously and investigated. Earlier this week, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders urged Congress to pass a $4.6 billion emergency funding package that includes nearly $3 billion to care for unaccompanied migrant children. He said Customs and Border Protection stations are holding 15,000 people — more than three times their maximum capacity of 4,000. ___ Burke reported from San Francisco. Mendoza reported from Santa Cruz, California.",
            "output": [
                "Lawmakers decry perilous federal lockups for migrant kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e05df898d06b4686a70370dae28c4fd8",
            "input": "The prolific author juggles her time between being a professor, writing (both fiction and nonfiction), and advocating for healthy eating in the Native American community, among many other interests. Mihesuah, a Choctaw historian, is KU’s Cora Lee Beers Price Teaching Professor in International Cultural Understanding. Her 17th book, “Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health,” co-edited with Elizabeth Hoover, is due out this summer. Mihesuah recently spoke to the Lawrence Journal-World in her office at Bailey Hall, surrounded by her books, photos, Native American artwork and a basket of Indian corn similar to what she grows in her own garden. Her membership in the Choctaw Nation is at her core, she said, and it drives her life’s work. She has been featured as one of the Choctaw success stories. Earlier this year she was interviewed on Gastropod for an episode called “Pick a Pawpaw: America’s forgotten fruit.” She talked about growing up eating pawpaws at her grandparents’ home in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She explained how Native American tribes also used the pawpaw tree bark for ropes and string, and ground up seeds to use to combat head lice. Mihesuah, who has a doctorate from Texas Christian University, arrived at KU in 2005 from Northern Arizona University, where she had been a full professor. That same year, her book “Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness” was published. A year later, she launched the American Indian Health and Diet Project. The website has a mission to address the health problems faced by indigenous peoples. “You will find no fry bread recipes here,” Mihesuah wrote in the introduction on the website. Instead, those visiting the site can expect to learn about growing nutritious food, healthy eating habits and exercise. On her Facebook page “Indigenous eating,” she annually sponsors the “Week of Indigenous eating challenge.” “Everything I write has personal meaning for me,” Mihesuah said, as she pulled out her first book, published in 1992: “Cultivating the Rosebuds: The Education of Women at the Cherokee Female Seminary, 1851-1909.” The seminary building on the book cover has a physical connection to one of her most recent books, “Ned Christie: The Creation of an Outlaw and the Cherokee Hero.” Ned Christie, a Cherokee statesman, was accused of killing U.S. Deputy Marshal Daniel Maples across the street from the seminary. The seminary building still stands on the campus of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. “I get emotional about everything I write,” she said. And that’s including her fiction. She drew upon her family’s way of life and their gardens in her first novel, “The Roads of My Relations,” which covers more than two centuries in the lives of a Choctaw family. Every generation of her family has had a garden, she said, all the way back to the 1830s. Every time the Native American families were forced by the government to relocate, they would re-create the garden they had before. At the centerpiece of her first novel is a family trying to re-create its culture, history and homeland — all in the garden. During her time at KU, Mihesuah has bonded with other Native American professors in Lawrence, including Elizabeth Kronk Warner, who teaches law, and Sarah Deer, who teaches in women, gender and sexuality studies and the School of Public Affairs and Administration. “We try to get together for lunch as stress relief,” Mihesuah said. Kronk Warner, director of KU’s Tribal Law & Government Center, was recently appointed as the first female dean at the University of Utah law school, and she has an essay in Mihesuah’s “Indigenous Food Sovereignty” book. “What I like about her new book is there are chapters from academics and a section for short essays by indigenous people who work with food and sustainability, and they wrote what they knew,” Kronk Warner said. When Kronk Warner first arrived at KU, she was told that Mihesuah was a good person on campus to get to know. “She was at the top of the list as someone who was doing very good work,” Kronk Warner said. “She is amazing — a prolific writer and a fantastic leader in her field. She is a role model in terms of what she accomplished in her career.” Deer, who will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in September, knew of Mihesuah’s work before arriving at KU in the fall of 2017. “Before I knew her, I read her book ‘Indigenous American Women’ a hundred times, and it has been useful in my teaching,” Deer said. “Her books have a rigorous scholarship, but they are very readable.” Mihesuah said that when they catch up, they are usually asking one another where they have been or where they are going next. For Mihesuah, it will be a very busy spring finishing up the two online classes she is currently teaching. Plus, she will be heading to Oklahoma City where her Ned Christie book is a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. In mid-May, she’s heading to Phoenix for the Southwest Intertribal Food Summit, where she’ll speak about food sovereignty. Then there is a trip to New Zealand, where she’ll talk about indigenous gardens. But she is never gone for long, especially in the growing season, because it’s her turn to tend the family’s garden. ___ Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com",
            "output": [
                "Choctaw historian to release new book on food sovereignty."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0900f5379a694701a98668636a659afc",
            "input": "Not applicable. The cost of olive oil is not in question. This story did the best job of the three stories we reviewed in quantifying the potential benefits observed in the study. “Over the next five to six years, those intensive users suffered strokes at a rate of 0.3 percent per year. That compared with just over 0.5 percent among non-users, and 0.4 percent among moderate users. When the researchers factored in other diet habits, exercise levels and major risk factors for stroke — like high blood pressure and diabetes — heavy olive oil use was tied to 41 percent reduction in the odds of stroke.” There are better ways to try to communicate numbers of less than one percent. But we applaud the detail provided. Not applicable. Excellent. The story devoted almost 200 words to the potential limitations of such an observational study. Also a clear description of the cohort design. No disease-mongering of stroke in the story. The story included strong input from a researcher who wrote in an editorial on the study. The story at least mentioned other factors that could be at play – “no single food is consumed in isolation, he points out in his editorial. Olive oil is one part of the Mediterranean diet that has been tied to heart benefits. The diet also boasts plenty of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish and moderate amounts of red wine.” Not applicable. The availability of olive oil is not in question. The story attempted to put the new finding into the context of past research on olive oil and the Mediterranean diet. It’s clear the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Olive oil lovers show lower stroke risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2cde95824f354e5ba5396252d41b0244",
            "input": "The notice comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak led to a blanket warning about romaine. Officials urged Americans not to eat the leafy green if the label doesn’t say where it was grown. They also urged supermarkets and restaurants not to serve or sell the lettuce, unless they’re sure it was grown elsewhere. The warning applies to all types of romaine from the Salinas region, include whole heads, hearts and pre-cut salad mixes. “We’re concerned this romaine could be in other products,” said Laura Gieraltowski, lead investigator of the outbreak at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials said their investigation led to farms in Salinas and that they are looking for the source of E. coli tied to the illnesses. Salinas is a major growing region for romaine from around April to this time of year, when growing shifts south to Yuma, Arizona. After last year’s pre-Thanksgiving outbreak tied to romaine, the produce industry agreed to voluntarily label the lettuce with harvest regions. Health officials said that would make it easier to trace romaine and issue more specific public health warnings when outbreaks happen. Officials never identified exactly how romaine might have become contaminated in past outbreaks. But another outbreak in spring 2018 that sickened more than 200 people and killed five was traced to tainted irrigation water near a cattle lot. (E. coli is found in the feces of animals such as cows.) It’s not clear exactly why romaine keeps popping up in outbreaks, but food safety experts note the popularity of romaine lettuce and the difficulty of eliminating risk for produce grown in open fields and eaten raw. Industry groups noted that they tightened safety measures following last year’s outbreaks, including expanding buffer zones between growing fields and livestock. “It’s very, very disturbing. Very frustrating all around,” said Trevor Suslow of the Produce Marketing Association. The CDC says 40 people have been reported sick so far in 16 states. The most recent reported illness started on Nov. 10. The agency says it’s the same E. coli strain tied to previous outbreaks, including the one from last Thanksgiving. The CDC’s Gieraltowski said that suggests there’s a persisting contamination source in the environment. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "US officials: Don’t eat romaine grown in Salinas, California."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab9e3e4039f84dd3866b418a256b88a2",
            "input": "State Department of Health data released to The Providence Journal show chlamydia cases have risen 55 percent from 2007, gonorrhea cases are up 78 percent and syphilis cases have more than tripled. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday released numbers showing record increases in infections from the diseases. The CDC said Rhode Island ranked 12th highest in the nation for the rate of syphilis, with 8.5 cases per 100,000 population. It ranked 27th for cases of chlamydia, with 467.3 cases per 100,000 population and 44th for the rate of gonorrhea cases, with 67.8 cases per 100,000. Rhode Island health officials say they’re not sure why there has been such an increase. They say it could be due to better testing or more people getting tested after getting insurance since health care reform. Dr. Philip Chan, director of the STD clinic at The Miriam Hospital, says it could be a combination of factors, including risky sexual behavior and more people meeting sexual partners online. The state health department has issued an advisory recommending more screening of certain patients at increased risk. ___ Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: Rhode Island STD cases reach 10-year high."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33e3295574c64690a88c8abe9f602ad2",
            "input": "Illinois Public Health Director Nirav Shah told a joint House-Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that his agency denied Senate committee chairman Tom Cullerton’s demand for communication about the crisis under an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act. The Democratic-led committee is reviewing the Republican administration’s handling of the summer 2015 spread of Legionnaires’ disease at Quincy, which returned in 2016 and 2017. It’s contributed to the deaths of 13 residents — 12 in 2015 and one last fall — and sickened dozens more. It’s a respiratory illness caused by bacteria in water vapor that is inhaled. Shah and Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries promised to turn over emails discussing the outbreak when Cullerton requested them at a Jan. 9 hearing. Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, said he followed up with a reminder note to Shah on Jan. 18. Shah considered the reminder a FOIA request. “The FOIA statute describes a process that any public body is to go through regardless of the requestor of that information and we are following that process,” Shah said. Shah’s agency denied the request, using a FOIA exception for “overly broad” requests that would be “unduly burdensome” on the agency. He’s invited Cullerton to narrow the scope of what he’s seeking. “I didn’t realize that as a senator, I had to file a full FOIA request for an agency that the General Assembly is responsible for doing an appropriation on,” Cullerton said. No public body is obligated to follow FOIA. The preamble to the law states a presumption that all government records are public. The law exists to ensure that taxpayers have recourse to get public records from reticent government bodies. “We’re asking you to answer a request to fix a problem where not just one person died ... 13 people died on your watch and you didn’t fix it,” said Sen. Michael Hastings, a Tinley Park Democrat. “And you want to play hide the ball?” Hillside Democratic Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch demanded, “We need those emails, and we need them now.” “There seems to be some type of cover-up,” Welch later suggested. “Your assumption that there is a cover-up at play is 150-thousand percent unfounded,” a defiant Shah responded. “It is totally rejected” Committee members were also flummoxed that Jeffries did not follow through on a promise last month to provide them with what turned out was a 2016 consultants’ report about replacing the Quincy home’s plumbing with new piping less conducive to harboring Legionella bacteria. Jeffries said she didn’t recall making that promise but Rauner’s office produced on Tuesday an updated review by the consultant, which Capital Development Board Director Amy Romano said is expanded over the 2016 edition. In response to a Jan. 12 FOIA request from The Associated Press for information on all proposed capital construction projects at the state’s four veterans’ homes for the past three years, the Capital Development Board indicated it had withheld as exempt “a report that provides recommendations and cost estimates to various options for a capital project at a Veterans’ Home.” It’s unclear if that’s the report Jeffries referenced. Democrats questioned why the administration took no action at the time. Jeffries said federal health regulators did not recommend plumbing replacement then, something Rauner said last month he will do after living at the home for a week. Sen. Cristina Castro, an Elgin Democrat, demanded to see the original report. Romano said she would “look into” providing it. The Associated Press has appealed the CDB’s FOIA denial to the state’s public access counselor in the attorney general’s office. ___ Contact Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/john%20o’connor ___ Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv",
            "output": [
                "Health chief requires FOIA from senator to release emails."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9994feffb44c4eaab2bd043eb8246340",
            "input": "The Rhode Island Department of Heath released the numbers Thursday and urged residents to get flu shots. During the last flu season, there were 39 deaths and 1,032 hospitalizations associated with the flu, according to the department. Health officials use a five-tier system to measure flu activity. The flu in Rhode Island is currently regional, which is just below widespread, the highest tier. But, the department said, neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as more than a dozen states, are reporting widespread flu. Vaccination is particularly important for the elderly, young children, pregnant women, healthcare workers and people with chronic medical conditions, according to the department.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials urge flu shots as virus becomes widespread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af225b9b4ac34a339f1013461400db32",
            "input": "The Paris regional administration suspended the job of removing hazardous substances from the fire-ravaged Paris cathedral last month under pressure from labor inspectors concerned about health risks for workers. The administration had said that when the lead-removal work resumed, stricter safety procedures, new equipment and allowing much fewer workers inside at a time would “prevent any release of polluting elements to the outside.” But representatives from environmental groups and the CGT union said at a news conference Monday they don’t think the government safeguards go far enough. They asked for a regularly updated chart showing the level of lead in the air. Labor and environmental groups are also pushing for the creation of a medical center to monitor of firefighters, workers and residents. Paris Deputy Mayor Anne Souyris said updated measurements of lead levels are set for release on Tuesday. The decontamination work is scheduled to resume Wednesday, starting with the square in front of Notre Dame and adjacent streets, Souyris said. Hundreds of tons of lead that was in Notre Dame’s spire and roof melted during the April 15 fire, which came close to destroying the cathedral. Lead levels remain elevated at some spots inside and in the soil of the adjacent park and forecourt, according to the Paris regional health agency. Those areas have been closed to the public since the fire. The environmental activists and union officials said they want a containment shield built over Notre Dame to keep more lead from being released into the atmosphere. “For the efficiency of the decontamination measures within the area, it is absolutely necessary that the site is confined”, Annie Thebaud-Mony, co-founder of health and environment group Henri Pezerat, said. Notre Dame rector Patrick Chauvet acknowledged that lead can escape into the environment from a big hole in the cathedral’s roof but ruled out building a containment shield before the decontamination work resumes. Paris authorities ordered new checks of schools and day care centers in the Notre Dame neighborhood and recommended blood tests for children under age 7 and pregnant women who live nearby. Children are especially vulnerable to health problems from lead poisoning and exposure.",
            "output": [
                "France: Groups want Notre Dame enclosed during lead cleanup."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3359248c2c4f4c729eb42ecbc7c1ebaf",
            "input": "\"A nurse takes care of a 2-month-old premature infant lying in an incubator at a hospital in Enshi, Hubei province, China May 4, 2010. REUTERS/China Daily “This is an entirely new finding,” said Casey Crump of Stanford University, whose findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Even people born just a couple of weeks early had an increased risk of mortality.”   Previously, preemies were believed to go on to have normal death rates once they have survived their early years. Crump, though, said the results, based on Swedish data, should not cause undue alarm. “The absolute mortality was still less than one per 1,000 people per year, so it’s very low,” he added. His team studied a group of nearly 675,000 Swedes born between 1973 and 1979. They found that children born before 37 weeks of pregnancy were much more likely to die before age five than others. That link disappeared in late childhood and adolescence, but then re-emerged in early adulthood — from 18 to 36 years. The health problems linked to earlier death included heart disease, diabetes and asthma. “It appears that some of these causes have a long period of development,” Crump said. Among young adults born at 22 to 27 weeks’ gestation, the death rate was 0.94 per 1,000 people per year. For those born between weeks 37 and 42, considered full-term, the rate was 0.46 per 1,000. According to Crump, between 12 and 13 percent of babies in the U.S. are now born preterm, and the rate of survival has risen fast over the past few decades. “I think it’s important to be aware of the potential for an increased risk of various health problems through the life course,” he said. \"\"It will be important for survivors of preterm birth to get regular health checkups and screening, and to avoid smoking and obesity to offset those risks.\"\" SOURCE: bit.ly/qPuGqd\"",
            "output": [
                "Preemies may face higher death rates as adults."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-509cba2b00c649ec9be114ee0757701d",
            "input": "The story mentions that Avastin is associated with serious side effects, such as high blood pressure and internal bleeding; however, it did not provide data on how many women in each treatment arm experienced these side effects. The story briefly mentioned the two trials, RIBBON-1 and AVADO, on which the FDA will base their decision whether to revoke approval of the Avastin. The story could have mentioned that both were double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials and enrolled women with HER-2 neu negative tumors. It also would have been helpful if the reader knew that the women in the trials received another chemotherapy agent in combination with Avastin or a placebo. But a bigger issue is",
            "output": [
                "Looming ruling on breast cancer drug splits patient advocates"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c5df3d8cbb8f48a3add8d575969267c9",
            "input": "On 13 March 2018, one day before a scheduled nationwide student walkout protesting Congress’s inaction on gun violence in the United States, reports surfaced that a teacher trained in the use of firearms had accidentally fired his handgun in a California high school classroom, injuring at least one student. According to a local press coverage, the incident occurred during a gun safety class at Seaside High School in Seaside, California. The Monterey County Herald reported: Police were called to Seaside High School on Tuesday afternoon after a report that a teacher accidentally fired a hand gun in a classroom full of students. The teacher was identified as Dennis Alexander, a reserve police officer for Sand City, according to a press release from the Seaside Police Department. Alexander was believed to have been providing instruction related to public safety awareness when he fired a single shot from a semi-automatic handgun into the ceiling. According to Seaside Police Chief Abdul D. Pridgen, a student was struck in the neck by debris or a fragment after the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling. The student was not seriously injured. Pridgen said class resumed after the incident was brought under control. The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) released a statement the same day which read, in part: The safety and well-being of students and staff are high priorities for the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Today, an accident occurred in the Administration of Justice class at Seaside High School. During class, the teacher, who is also a reserve police officer, accidentally discharged his firearm during a lesson while it was pointed at the ceiling, and debris from the ceiling then fell. Upon learning of the incident, school site administration, the District Office, and the Seaside Police Department immediately began investigating, including interviewing students in the class. It was determined that there was no immediate threat to students or staff, and school remained in session. Due to the nature of this personnel incident, we are unable to share any other details at this time. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave for the duration of the on-going investigation. California law prohibits firearms on campus, and MPUSD’s Board of Education policy prohibits any person other than authorized law enforcement or security personnel from possessing weapons, imitation firearms, or dangerous instruments of any kind in school buildings, on school grounds or buses, or at a school-related or school-sponsored activity away from school, or while going to or coming from school. The school district informed us that the teacher has been with Seaside High School since 1994 and formerly taught mathematics, though more recently his only responsibility was teaching the Administration of Justice course during which the accident occurred. MPUSD declined to comment further, noting that the matter is still under investigation and there have been “multiple and differing accounts of the incident and the response immediately following.” Some early press reports said that as many as three students had suffered superficial injuries, but according to the most recent coverage only one student, a 17-year-old male, was confirmed injured. Chief Abdul D. Pridgen of the Seaside Police Department said the wound was caused by a bullet fragment or debris falling from the ceiling. The student was treated at a local hospital and released. MPUSD superintendent Daniel “PK” Diffenbaugh told KSBW-TV News that among the questions that need to be answered is why a teacher was pointing a loaded gun at the ceiling in front of students. “Clearly in this incident protocols were not followed,” he said. Coincidentally, a similar incident occurred the same day at a middle school in Alexandria, Virginia. Police reported that a school resource officer accidentally discharged his pistol while sitting down in his office at George Washington Middle School. No injuries were reported, and the officer, a five-year veteran of the police department, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. The accident brought the total number of confirmed gunfire incidents in U.S. schools so far in 2018 to 32, according to the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.",
            "output": [
                "A teacher trained in the use of firearms accidentally discharged a handgun in a California classroom, causing minor injury to a student."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-59e18423b2404bcbabf059f67d23b37a",
            "input": "In April 2020, images supposedly showing mass graves being dug in New York to bury those who died during the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic started to circulate on social media: NYC Mayor confirms they are now burying many #Covid19 corpses in mass graves on Hart Island. Today alone there were at least 40 coffins. The bodies are wrapped in body bags and placed in pine boxes, with their names scrawled on the top. Source: NY Post #TrumpBurialPits pic.twitter.com/2yb2pVVt3U — Jake Morphonios 🇵🇸 🇹🇭 😷 (@morphonios) April 10, 2020  A drone video supposedly showing these mass graves was also passed around social media: This drone footage captures NYC workers burying bodies in a mass grave on Hart Island, just off the coast of the Bronx. For over a century, the island has served as a potter’s field for deceased with no known next of kin or families unable to pay for funerals. pic.twitter.com/wBVIGlX6aK — NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 9, 2020  While the above-displayed media is genuine — large trenches are being dug on Hart Island in order to accommodate an influx of deceased individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic — there were some misconceptions on social media about these “mass graves.” For starters, some readers seemed to be under the impression that all people who died of COVID-19 in New York would be buried in these graves. But that’s not the case. New York City Mayor Press Secretary Freddi Goldstein told CNN that this burial site, as it has been for the last 150 years, will be used to bury the deceased who have not been claimed by their next of kin. CNN reports: Only people who have not been claimed by relatives or a loved will be buried there, Goldstein highlighted. Despite the new rule from the medical examiner, Goldstein said as long as morgue officials make contact with a relative within 14 days, they will not be moved to Hart Island. “These are people who, for two weeks, we have not been able to find anyone who says ‘I know that person I love that person I will handle the burial,'” Goldstein said. “These are people who we have made zero contact with the family.” Goldstein said that the city morgue typically sends bodies to Hart Island if they go unclaimed for 30 to 60 days. As of this writing, because New York has seen an increase in deaths as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical examiner’s office said that they will send bodies to Hart Island after two weeks. Goldstein said: For decades, Hart Island has been used to lay to rest decedents who have not been claimed by family members. We will continue using the Island in that fashion during this crisis and it is likely that people who have passed away from COVID-19 who fit this description will be buried on the Island in the coming days. Hart Island has also seen an increase in burials. According to Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, which typically oversees the burials, said that prison inmates typically bury about 25 bodies on Hart Island each week. Kersten, who said that inmates are not currently working to bury the deceased due to social distancing rules, said that Hart Island is now seeing about two dozen bodies a day: Reuters reported: Typically, some 25 bodies are interred each week by low-paid jail inmates working on the island, which sits off the east shore of the city’s Bronx borough and is accessible only by boat. That number began increasing in March as the new coronavirus spread rapidly, making New York the epicenter of the global pandemic.",
            "output": [
                "Images show mass graves being dug in New York to bury victims of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic in 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-06b13e3b46284182b56fb54dc5604a3e",
            "input": "“Unlike most politicians, voters are not squeamish about this issue, seeing it as a means to protect the health and safety of performers,” Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and a backer of the measure, said in a statement. “It’s only fair that adult film performers be afforded the same safeguards as other Californians in their workplaces.”  Organizers said they collected 557,138 signatures from registered voters, more than the 365,880 they needed by Monday for the initiative to be on the ballot in November 2016. The signatures must still be verified within 30 working days by election officials. In 2012, the foundation successfully backed a voter-approved measure in Los Angeles County to force the use of condoms in local pornographic film shoots. Porn producers fought that measure in U.S. District Court, arguing it went against their clients’ right to freedom of expression. But in December a regional U.S. federal appeals court upheld the requirement. The new proposal, if approved by voters next year, would mandate that state and municipal officials ensure condoms are used on pornographic film sets statewide. Much of the U.S. adult movie industry, which is worth an estimated $9 billion to $13 billion a year, is based in Los Angeles, especially its San Fernando Valley suburb. Several high-profile adult film performers in the area have suffered HIV infections, shaking the sector and local health officials. AHF has said porn actors are 10 times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease than the public. In the past, producers have argued that some viewers do not want to see visible contraceptives in porn films, saying they distract from their customers’ fantasies by reminding them of real-world worries such as pregnancy and disease.",
            "output": [
                "Activists submit signatures for California condoms-in-porn vote."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-40d60e3d7c844b25b5b175a444aecdb6",
            "input": "A Pennsylvania state lawmaker came under criticism for attempting to compare the transgender community to people refusing to follow guidelines against spreading the COVID-19 pandemic.A statement from State Rep. Russ Diamond allegedly standing up for the “unmasked population” prompted Gov. Tom Wolf to urge Diamond’s fellow Republicans to censure Diamond on July 30 2020.“There are no words that adequately describe my disdain for the antics Rep. Diamond displayed in his latest missive,” Wolf said in his own statement.The uproar around Diamond began a day earlier, when he posted a release that intentionally mimicked remarks from state health director Dr. Rachel Levine addressing transphobic harassment directed at her. She said, in part:The LGBTQ community has made so much progress under Governor Wolf and his leadership during his time in office, but I want to emphasize that while these individuals may think that they are only expressing their displeasure with me, they are, in fact, hurting the thousands of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians who suffered directly from these current demonstrations of harassment.Your actions perpetuate the spirit of intolerance and discrimination against LGBTQ individuals, and specifically transgender individuals.It is only one month ago that the Supreme Court prohibited discrimination in the workplace due to sexual orientation and gender identity, but LGBTQ individuals can still be denied housing, and public accommodations in most places in Pennsylvania, that do not have local nondiscrimination ordinances.In addition, the most vulnerable among us continue to suffer, including LGBTQ individuals of color, LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ seniors, and LGBTQ immigrants. Transgender women of color continue to not only be harassed, but are more likely to suffer, violence, and even murder.Diamond’s statement substituted the “maskless community” — in other words, those who refuse to wear face coverings in public settings amid a global pandemic — for LGBTQ Pennsylvanians:I want to emphasize that while these individuals may think that they are only expressing their displeasure with me, they are, in fact, hurting the thousands of unmasked Pennsylvanians who suffered directly from these current demonstrations of harassment.Your actions perpetuate the spirit of intolerance and discrimination against unmasked individuals, and specifically individuals like myself who are outspoken about it.It is only one month ago that the Department of Health promulgated a mask policy which specifically included exemptions for medical conditions which do not need to be documented. But unmasked individuals still are being access to public accommodations in places in Pennsylvania that are not honoring those exemptions.In addition, the most vulnerable among us continue to suffer, including unmasked individuals of color, unmasked youth and seniors, and unmasked immigrants.Statement on Hateful Comments Toward Unmasked Community pic.twitter.com/uqrqZ7Tt6X— Russ Diamond (@russdiamond) July 29, 2020The state policy on the use of masks in public spaces does provide exemptions for respiratory issues as well as for mental health issues and people who need to read lips in order to communicate. But those opposing similar policies have taken to spreading disinformation claiming that masks themselves cause illness, or creating fake cards or “passes” they claim cover exemptions set forth by the American Disability Act and other legislation.In rebuking Diamond, Wolf called his statement “Abhorrent, disrespectful, [and] dangerous” as well as an attack on Levine and LGBTQ communities.“Virtually no thinking person disputes mask-wearing as an effective means to stop the spread of COVID,” the governor said in his statement. “Proud non-mask-wearers such as Rep. Diamond are not displaying their freedom, but rather their ignorance and lack of respect for themselves, their families, neighbors and communities when they don’t wear a mask, and are likely leading to more spread of this dangerous virus.”Diamond responded online by calling on Wolf to fire Levine and then resign — while also falsely calling her gender identity a “lifestyle.”“Secretary of Health Rachel Levine made a strong statement in defense of her lifestyle and condemned hatred and intolerance. I, of course, condemn all hatred and intolerance,” Diamond’s statement read. “However, I found it ironic that Levine fails to see that her own policies, and those of the governor, are creating similar hatred and intolerance across Pennsylvania.”Diamond has denied that he was intentionally mocking Levine, but he has not directly addressed whether he was comparing transgender communities with people willingly opposing face mask guidelines.“The release accurately speaks to those who have attacked, maligned, and threatened me, as well as others, since I first questioned the ridiculous mask policy months ago,” he told the news outlet Spotlight PA. “Her policy allows for exceptions that apply to a lot of people, yet all we hear is ‘you MUST wear a mask. '”For her part, Levine called Diamond’s statement “another example of harassment against LGBTQ individuals.”“Never mind using my words as a comment on me,” she said during a press briefing in Lancaster. “Really, what I worry about is the other LGBTQ individuals in the commonwealth who regularly face intolerance and harassment and sometimes overt violence.”Comments",
            "output": [
                "Pennsylvania state Rep. Russ Diamond (R) released a statement opposing the use of face mask that mimicked remarks by Dr. Rachel Levine regarding transphobic harassment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca7f619b78984774a72af38ac8511cff",
            "input": "The story lists the costs of this screening tool and notes the cost may not always be covered by insurance. The story also notes the cost to public health spending for additional, and sometimes unnecessary, diagnostic tools. The story provides a good review of the benefits of MRI screening for women at high risk of breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence. The story does an excellent job detailing the pros and cons of MRI screenings for breast cancers in high risk women, and for any woman who is considering this as an adjunct to, or in lieu of mammography. What is particularly noteworthy here is the discussion of the value of early screening and treatment, and whether it is finding cancer that would cause harm. This is not a concept often found in stories like this. The story lists data that 5 percent to 25 percent of MRI tests (not just those for breast cancer) are wrong, causing psychological distress and unnecessary treatment. The story describes the trial design of the MRI screening study cited and provides quantitative evidence from this trial. The story also notes the false positive rates of MRI screenings, but does not list the false positive or false negative rates for the study cited. The story does not engage in disease mongering or test mongering. The story notes who might benefit from the additional screening – only those women at higher risk – and provides the downside to overzealous screening for breast cancer in lower-risk women. The story also notes annual incidence of breast cancer and the estimated risk of a woman developing breast cancer during her lifetime. The story again does an excellent job citing several clinicians and researchers not affiliated with the American Cancer Society or the recently published article in NEJM on the benefit of additional screening in women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. These sources provide balance and sound, evidence-based advice on MRI screening for breast cancer. The story reviews various methods of screening for breast cancer and notes the follow-up procedures (i.e. biopsies and other surgeries) and the medical decisions that must be made if there is a suspicion of cancer. The story mentions that MRI screening should be performed at centers that also do breast biopsies. These centers may not be available to all women. The story also notes the cost of MRI screenings, which may not be covered by insurance, making them unavailable for some women. The story reports on evidence  published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting women diagnosed with breast cancer should consider having their other breast screened via MRI. According to the source article, mammography and physical examination missed cancer in about 3% of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. The story also reports that the  American Cancer Society has recently revised screening guidelines and recommendations that women at higher risk of breast cancer and women whose breasts are difficult to read via mammograms undergo MRI screening. The story includes a great deal of independent reporting and does not appear to be driven by any news release.",
            "output": [
                "MRIs urged in breast cancer detection"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dbf0381a4988406a872503583db3b583",
            "input": "The European Union is trying to nurse its fish stocks back to health after decades of over-exploitation. Deep-sea fish are particularly vulnerable as they reproduce so slowly. The ministers’ decision late on Monday affected just 80 million euros ($104 million) worth of fish, but was seen as an important test case in a series of bruising encounters with European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki. Damanaki, who started her political career in a 1973 uprising against the then Greek dictatorship, has pledged to put the long-term health of fisheries ahead of short-term profits. Earlier this month, fishing nations led by France rejected her advice that bluefin tuna catches should be halved to give the species a fair chance of survival. In the event, quotas were cut by 4 percent. At Monday’s meeting, catch quotas for deep-sea sharks were set at zero, with zero tolerance from 2012 for the sale of sharks netted while trawling for other species. But conservationists, including WWF and the Pew group, said many sharks would still be scooped up accidentally, then dumped overboard, particularly by French and Spanish boats trawling the deep seabed northwest of Scotland and Ireland. The Atlantic’s main scientific authority, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), says all northeast Atlantic deep-sea species are fished beyond safe biological limits. Ministers admitted that the ICES advice, and that of the EU’s own experts, was worrying. “Both advices indicate that most deep-sea stocks are in a precarious situation, and that fishing opportunities for those stocks, in order to assure their sustainability, should be reduced,” they said in a statement. But worries about the livelihoods of fishermen — mainly French, Spanish and Portuguese — prevented deeper quota cuts. “In spite of several years of commitments to the U.N. to manage deep-sea fisheries sustainably, EU ministers failed to deliver,” said Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “Deep-sea fishing will continue at more or less the same level as in recent years to the detriment of deep-sea species and ecosystems,” said Gianni, who was a deep-sea trawlerman off California before the industry declined in the 90s. The ministers agreed to curb important deep-sea fisheries on the eastern continental slopes of the Atlantic in 2011-12: by up to 7.5 percent annually for black scabbardfish and 13 percent for roundnose grenadiers. Quotas for forkbeards and blue ling were unchanged. Fishermen land about 40,000 tonnes a year of about 70 species of deep-sea fish from the northeast Atlantic, representing about 1.2 percent of total EU fishing. Ministers agreed to continue a ban on fishing for orange roughy, a vulnerable, sluggish red fish that can live for more than 100 years. The orange roughy fishery only became commercialised about 25 years ago, as depletion of inshore species forced fishermen to search further offshore with new technology.",
            "output": [
                "Deep-sea sharks protected as EU sets fish quotas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01612d1a77c246b8be7a92a1199fc532",
            "input": "For 15 years, her patient Vestine Uwizeyimana had been in unrelenting pain as disease wore away her spine. She could no longer walk. Her life narrowed to a dark room with a dirt-floor in rural Rwanda, prayer beads hanging on the wall by her side. A year ago, relief came in the form of liquid morphine, locally produced as part of Rwanda’s groundbreaking effort to address one of the world’s great inequities: As thousands die from addiction in rich countries awash with prescription painkillers, millions of people in the poorest nations have no access to opioids at all. Companies don’t make money selling generic morphine to the dying, and most in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford the expensive formulations like oxycodone, prescribed so abundantly in richer nations that thousands became addicted to them. Rwanda’s answer: plastic bottles of morphine, produced for pennies and delivered to homes across the country by health workers like Mukantagara. It is proof, advocates say, that the opioid trade doesn’t have to be guided by how much money can be made. As a palliative care worker, Mukantagara, 56, has long been a witness to death. She watched her sister die of cancer decades ago, in agony without relief. She settled on the edge of Uwizeyimana’s bed. Uwizeyimana was feeling better. “Now I think everything is possible,” she said. They held hands and prayed. Uwizeyimana is not the youngest among the 70 patients Mukantagara sees. Many have cancer. Some have HIV. A few have both. The work is never easy, she said. But with morphine there is a chance for death with dignity. Twenty-five years ago, the killing of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate ethnic Hutus left this country with an intimate knowledge of pain. Those who survived struggled to recover from ghastly machete wounds and cruel amputations. As Rwanda rebuilt itself, resilience was essential. Pain was to be endured, ideally without showing suffering. But medical advances meant more people began living into old age and facing diseases such as cancer. Some thought their pain was punishment from God, recalled Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a palliative care advocate. Yet many doctors remained reluctant to use opioids. In much of the world, the use of opioids was exploding. Consumption has tripled since 1997, according to the International Narcotics Control Board. But the increase was in expensive formulations that are profitable for pharmaceutical companies, according to an AP analysis of INCB data. The use of morphine, the cheapest and most reliable painkiller, stagnated. The use of morphine for hospice patients is undisputed -- when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued guidelines in 2016 calling on doctors to cut back on the flood of prescriptions that fed the addiction crisis, it exempted end-of-life patients. The problem in the United States took hold when companies began campaigning for opioids to be used for chronic conditions like back pain — patients who could be customers for decades, said Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford University professor who has been a witness against pharmaceutical companies. “What makes me mad is the confusion this causes,” said Lukas Radbruch, a German doctor and professor of palliative medicine, who fears the American addiction crisis is causing a backlash and the poorest people in the world will suffer. The INCB reported that some 90 percent of opioids are consumed by the richest nations, where just 17% of people live. In developing nations, cost, onerous regulation and culture aversion to opioids prevents most from accessing them even on their deathbeds. “People should have medication like an American person,”said Diane Mukasahaha, Rwanda’s coordinator of palliative care. “We all are human beings. The body is the same.” Stefano Berterame, chief of the narcotic control for the INCB secretariat, said the agency has implored pharmaceutical companies to help. Commercially made morphine is on average nearly six times more expensive in many poor counties than it is in wealthy ones, the INCB has reported. Experts attribute it in part to countries with low opioid consumption lacking the negotiating power to import drugs at bulk prices. So a some African countries -- Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi -- began to make morphine on their own. They looked to Uganda, where the nonprofit Hospice Africa Uganda was making liquid morphine in a process so basic it was mixed for two decades at a kitchen sink. But the Ugandan operation relies so much on donor support that it nearly shut down this year, founder Dr. Anne Merriman said. By putting production and distribution under government control and covering the costs for patients, Rwanda has become the new model for Africa. The liquid is produced from imported powder, said Richard Niwenshuti Gatera, a pharmacist and director of the production facility. Like all opioids, morphine can be addictive. But the government has control over the supply to prevent what happened in the United States, pills were shipped to tiny towns in quantities far exceeding justifiable medical need, said Meg O’Brien, whose Treat the Pain organization helps poor nations produce morphine. The drug is reserved for the sickest people and there is no marketing effort to expand use. There have been no reports of abuse, said Mukasahaha. The movement is spreading slowly across Africa: Twenty-two of 54 countries now have affordable morphine, according to Hospice Africa Uganda. At a rural home, Mukantagara carried a bottle to 52-year-old Faina Nyirabaguiza, who has cancer. Each of her movements signaled pain. She settled on a wooden bench, rubbing her wrist. Mukantagara poured the green liquid into the bottle cap. Nyirabaguiza drank three. “Maybe it will help me,” she said. “My wish is to die. Really, I’m suffering.” On the nurse’s ride back to the hospital, her vehicle passed a pickup truck with a coffin in the back. Women ran alongside it and sang. ___ This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. ___ The Global Opioids project can be seen here. https://www.apnews.com/GlobalOpioids",
            "output": [
                "Rwanda avoids US-style opioids crisis by making own morphine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bdec032c99e40ac9b733f4994536a31",
            "input": "The story mentions the daily cost of Crestor as well as the CRP test. The story does not adequately quantify the benefits of statins. The story uses language that makes the benefit appear larger than it is. By not presenting the rate of VTE in the study population, the story does not give the reader the adequate context to understand these numbers. In this study, the rate of VTE was 18 per 10,000 in the statin group versus 32 per 10,000 in the placebo group. The story does not adequately describe the harms or side effects of Crestor. The story mentions muscle problems and bleeding as potential harms, but does not mention kidney problems as a potential serious harm and the many side effects people experience, such as constipation and nausea. Interestingly, the subjects treated with Crestor had a small but statistically significant increase in diabetes seen during the trial. The story adequately describes the current study, however there are a few subtle points that are important to note. The story could have mentioned that VTE was not the primary endpoint of the original trial and that the population studied was not exactly healthy. 41% suffered from a condition known as metabolic syndrome (a condition that increases the risk of blood clots). So extrapolating the results of this single study to the general population is a bit of a stretch. The story doesn’t exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The story quotes multiple experts and indicates which experts were related to the study or not, and notes potential conflicts of interest. The story indicates that many doctors believe that other statins other than Crestor may provide similar benefits. Clearly Crestor is widely available. Whether the CRP test is also widely available is not clear. Using statins to treat inflammation is not a new idea and the story portrays it appropriately. Since the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Cholesterol drug lowers blood clot risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef2e2b2903474b208a7fbbcd5c0c4e30",
            "input": "The article does a good job of noting the cost of the combing salons, as well as cost of the medicinal shampoos and other drug treatments, specifically noting also that insurance may not cover the costs. The article cites data from a recent review article in a medical journal that outlines the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the medicinal treatments. “The medications have been found to be from 68% to 87% effective after one or two applications. Most don’t require combing,” the story says. We do wish they story explained what “67% effective” means for a typical person, however. The careful reader will note that the evidence for the effectiveness of the featured combing salons is mostly anecdotal, and it would have greatly strengthened the article to have been more explicit about this, as well as including more solid proof that standard lice medications are not as effective as they used to be. The article notes that various organizations and experts consider the chemical/medicinal treatments to be highly safe as well as effective. The story needed to be more explicit about the quality of evidence for each of the treatment options mentioned–combing, going to a delousing salon, over-the-counter treatments, prescription treatments. Only the latter are mentioned in the context of research. The story references a review article that compares the different approaches, but it provides no details on what kind of evidence the review is based on. No disease mongering here, and we were glad the story pointed out that there are no adverse physical health effects from lice. The article does a very good job of noting the conflicts of interest of those quoted. The story explored alternatives. Good job on this. It’s clear that businesses that assist with combing are easy to find, and over-the-counter shampoos are even easier. What appears to be “new” is the explosion of combing salons and newer prescription shampoos, as well as the review article published last week that evaluates them. This story doesn’t appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "New Ways to Fight Super Lice"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8d0ae163798b43b09584dbdbcec09391",
            "input": "According to WHO figures, there have been more than 68,000 cases of the disease in which 553 deaths were confirmed and another 373 suspected from measles since the outbreak began in September. Those most at risk are infants from nine to 11 months old. The epidemic is blamed on a low immunization rate for measles across the island nation over a period of many years, according to WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. The vaccination rate is estimated to be less than 60 percent, according to figures from WHO and UNICEF figures, he said. Madagascar has launched a nationwide campaign to try to bring the outbreak under control, through mass vaccination campaigns and surveillance.",
            "output": [
                "Measles epidemic in Madagascar kills more than 900, says WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c09d2819cb77419192fe26374a539641",
            "input": "The footage, said to be filmed in January at Planned Parenthood clinics in Falls Church, Charlottesville and Roanoke, Virginia, is the latest in a series of videos made public by Live Action, a California-based group that opposes abortion. Live Action said in a statement that the videos are evidence Planned Parenthood is “willing to aid and abet the sexual trafficking and exploitation of minors and young women.”   Planned Parenthood said the undercover videos are part of a coordinated lobbying effort to advance legislation that would take away funding from the family planning organization. The three videos, one at each clinic, show a man saying he’s involved in sex work and manages teenage girls ask questions about prices and identification requirements for sexually transmitted disease testing, birth control and abortions. In each case he asks if the conversations are confidential. In the videos, Planned Parenthood employees answer questions about health services offered at the clinic and explain requirements associated with different procedures. “It’s very clear to us that these tapes show health professionals doing their job,” said Planned Parenthood spokesman Stuart Schear of the new footage. “What the tapes don’t show is that after these unusual encounters, these health professionals went to their superiors and reported they had unusual encounters with a suspicious individual and Planned Parenthood managers reported their suspicions to local authorities,” Schear said. Planned Parenthood has said previously that the FBI is reviewing evidence and photos related to the encounters. All of the undercover videos were filmed during the same week. The first one, released on Tuesday, focused on a clinic in central New Jersey. The New Jersey clinic employee captured on film was later fired for her behavior. Planned Parenthood said it notified both local and national authorities after the string of unusual visits, which occurred within one week in at least 12 centers in six states, including New Jersey and Virginia. In January, Planned Parenthood said it alerted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that a series of health centers had been approached by visitors whose comments indicated involvement in sex trafficking of minors. Live Action’s founder, Lila Rose, said her group will send the Virginia footage to state law enforcement officials and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli said in a statement released Friday that he plans to review the footage, noting that what he has seen so far “is very disturbing.”   Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Attorney General Paula Dow is aware of the video and has referred the matter to the Division of Criminal Justice for review, spokesman Paul Loriquet said earlier in the week.",
            "output": [
                "Anti-abortion group releases more video of Planned Parenthood."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-84fce967095641af8f19f6416939dee9",
            "input": "\"A super PAC backing Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has launched a $20 million campaign that accuses her Republican opponent Donald Trump of \"\"mocking\"\" a disabled news reporter. The emotionally charged ad focuses on an Ohio couple, Chris and Lauren Glaros, talking about raising their daughter, Grace, who was born with a spinal defect. \"\"When I saw Donald Trump mock a disabled person, I was just shocked,\"\" Lauren Glaros says in the ad, produced by Priorities USA Action. Last fall, Trump was broadly criticized for appearing to physically mimic New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Nov. 24. Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition which limits the movement of his joints. The ad shows a photo of the reporter, whose right hand is sharply angled at the wrist. The ad cuts to a video clip of Trump at the rally. \"\"You gotta see this guy,\"\" says Trump, wildly flailing his arms, his right hand flopping at an odd angle as he shouts in a weird, agitated voice: \"\"Ahh, I don’t know what I said! Ahh, I don’t remember!\"\" \"\"When I saw Donald Trump mock somebody with a disability, it showed me his soul, it showed me his heart. And I didn’t like what I saw,\"\" the father, Chris Glaros, adds. The TV ad (which you can watch in full at the bottom of this fact-check) is airing in seven crucial swing states -- Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire and Iowa. PolitiFact is fact-checking the obvious question: Did Trump mock the man’s disability? But first, we want to separate Trump’s parody of the reporter from the reality. Kovaleski is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who speaks with a normal voice and doesn't wave his arms around. (Watch a video of Kovaleski talking about his ground-breaking reporting on the murder cases against former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez.) Trump tweeted about the ad on Sunday: \"\"Clinton made a false ad about me where I was imitating a reporter GROVELING after he changed his story. I would NEVER mock disabled. Shame!\"\" The Trump campaign did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. PolitiFact also contacted Kovaleski, who declined comment. Here’s why Trump singled out this reporter. At the time of the November rally, Trump was taking heat for his widely debunked claims that he watched in Jersey City, N.J., as  \"\"thousands and thousands of people were cheering\"\" the collapse of the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. To defend this account, Trump seized on a Sept. 18, 2001, story by Kovaleski -- who then worked for the Washington Post -- and another reporter. Near the bottom of the story, they wrote that \"\"law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.\"\" But the reporters couldn’t verify the celebrations actually occurred. \"\"I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember,\"\" Kovaleski later told the Washington Post Fact Checker. Remember, Kovaleski wrote that \"\"a number of people\"\" -- not thousands -- were allegedly seen celebrating. This why Trump, believing that Kovaleski was backing off the 2001 story, wailed in his impersonation, \"\"Ahh, I don’t remember!\"\" Trump’s behavior sparked public outrage. The New York Times rebuked Trump in a statement: \"\"We think it's outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.\"\" Colleagues and friends defended Kovaleski. \"\"@sergenyt is one of the best reporters — and best people — I know. This is despicable,\"\" ESPN reporter and author Don Van Natta Jr. wrote on Twitter. People who share Kovaleski’s condition -- formally known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita or AMC -- and their families launched a social media campaign with the hashtag \"\"AMCStrong.\"\" Trump denied making fun off the reporter’s disability. \"\"I merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago,\"\" he said in a statement at the time. \"\"I don't buy that. (Trump) clearly was mocking his disability,\"\" said Julie Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, an advocacy group, when we asked her about it. \"\"That was very, very obvious, because he disagrees with all kinds of people at other times, and he doesn't use that voice or wave his arms like that.\"\" Reiskin stressed that she was just giving her view of how Trump acted, because her nonprofit group can't endorse or oppose any candidate. Reiskin said Trump’s rally display \"\"portrays people with disabilities as incompetent. That if you can't control your speech or part of your body that you're not competent, which is very destructive\"\" to the image of disabled people facing stereotypes and discrimination, she added. U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, recently withdrew his support for Trump after Trump said an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican descent was incapable of fairly presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump and his defunct Trump University. But Kirk also referred to Trump’s comments. Kirk suffered a serious stroke in 2012 and uses a wheelchair after years of rehabilitation. \"\"Donald Trump’s latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party’s nominee for president,\"\" Kirk said. During the rally backlash, Trump insisted in a statement he couldn’t have known the man was disabled because \"\"I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovaleski is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence. … Despite having one of the all-time great memories I certainly do not remember him.\"\" Kovaleski countered that as a reporter for the New York Daily News in the late 1980s and early 1990s he regularly covered Trump. He told the Washington Post he was sure the businessman remembered him -- and his condition. \"\"Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years,\"\" Kovaleski told the New York Times. In fact, Kovelski recalled spending the day with Trump in 1989 when the reporter and other journalists flew with the billionaire on the \"\"inaugural voyage\"\" of the Trump Shuttle airline. \"\"Flying out of La Guardia, we spent a big chunk of the day flying up and down the east coast with Trump chatting with me and the others on the plane,\"\" Kovaleski told the Daily News. He added that a furious Trump called the next day and screamed at him\"\" because Kovaleski had reported that the Trump Shuttle took off late on its debut flight after Trump had run many ads saying it would be the most on-time airline in the industry. The Daily News story looking back at Kovaleski’s history with Trump included an archived image of his bylined Trump Shuttle story (\"\"Wings of Don\"\") with a photograph of Trump cutting a ceremonial ribbon. In addition, Trump spoke familiarly about Kovelski at the rally, calling him a \"\"nice reporter.\"\" He also described him as \"\"the poor guy\"\" and indicated he knew Kovaleski’s appearance (\"\"you gotta see this guy\"\") before launching into his imitation. Still, the candidate repeatedly denied knowing the reporter. \"\"Serge Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago -- if I ever met him at all, which I doubt. He should stop using his disability to grandstand and get back to reporting for a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes,\"\" Trump said, getting in a shot at the New York Times, in a statement. Our ruling In an ad from Priorities USA Action, parents of a disabled child said Trump \"\"mocked\"\" a disabled reporter at a campaign rally. Trump did mimic the man’s oddly angled right hand while flailing his arms and shouting in a strange voice. Disabled people and advocates said the candidate clearly was mocking him. Trump’s excuses for his comments are at odds with the evidence. Trump said he didn’t remember the man so he couldn’t know he was handicapped. But Kovaleski said he and Trump knew each other well because the reporter regularly covered the New York businessman for years. Archived reports support that. Trump also talked about the reporter with familiarity as a \"\"nice reporter\"\" and a \"\"poor guy\"\" who \"\"you gotta see.\"\" Trump’s denials that he did not mock -- or even know -- the disabled reporter don’t add up.",
            "output": [
                "\"Priorities USA Action Says Donald Trump mocked \"\"someone with a disability.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-74dce85e56804b7c9e0bfd20a07ef192",
            "input": "A total of about 38,000 customers can now use tap water, with residents of the Southside, Southridge and George Washington areas near state capital Charleston cleared to drink or wash with their tap water, West Virginia American Water said in statements. Downtown Charleston and nearby Kanawha City were given the go-ahead on Monday. Consumers were instructed to flush their systems before using the water, which had been barred for use except for toilets since the chemical discharge into the Elk River on Thursday. More than 300,000 consumers were affected after as much as 7,500 gallons (28,000 liters) of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or crude MCHM, leaked into the river. Asked at a news conference if there were enough regulations to prevent such spills, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said the plant had not been inspected since 1991 and there were ample rules on the books. “Somebody ought to be held accountable here,” he said. “What we try to do is look at those regulations that we think are cumbersome, are over the top, and that are costing the economy jobs. That’s where our focus continues to be.”  Officials said on Monday that it might be several days before the entire system, with its hundreds of miles (km) of pipe, was safe to use. The crude MCHM chemical, which is used in coal processing, leaked into the river from a tank at a Freedom Industries site about a mile upriver from an American Water treatment plant, the biggest in the state. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency in nine counties, including Charleston, shutting down schools and businesses. Freedom Industries, which makes specialty chemicals for the cement, mining and steel industries, has apologized for the incident. Water tainted by crude MCHM smells faintly of licorice. Contact with the water can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, rashes and reddened skin. A total of 231 people had visited emergency rooms with symptoms, and 14 had been admitted, officials said. The fouled water has flowed downstream into the Ohio River, and utility spokesmen in Kentucky and Ohio said they were monitoring water quality to be sure consumers were not affected. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia are investigating the spill. West Virginia American Water is a unit of American Water Works Co Inc.",
            "output": [
                "Almost 40,000 cleared to start using water in West Virginia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7734322e6ba4448f8faef1f1bb82b93c",
            "input": "Costs are mentioned reasonably early in the story, and with specificity. This was good to see. Benefits of these tests are touted, but not quantified. An officer of the National Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance, an advocacy group, testifies that the outcomes of women who have surgery from a gynecologic oncologist “are much better.” But we don’t know what that means. Is it longer survival? Later the story explains that combining the two blood tests with assessment by a clinician “better determined the patients who should be referred to a [gynecological oncologist], identifying well over 90 percent of the women who actually had cancer.”  (Note that this statistic reflects only referral to a gyn-onc, not patient survival.) But how does that compare to the standard assessment tools? A 2016 study described as publication “of the first clinical utility data” demonstrating that use of OVA1 resulted in referral of ovarian patients to gynecologic oncologists offers similar outcomes but is not mentioned in the story. We’re told that experts fear that these tests could lead to unnecessary surgery or delayed diagnosis, and that’s sufficient for a Satisfactory rating. The story could have delved into a bit more of the specifics: What is the evidence for these concerns? What are the false positive and false negative rates? These details are useful because the point of the story is that clinicians are not using these tests to try to improve outcomes of ovarian cancer patients. Are the possible debits–or uncertainties driven by lack of clinical data–contributing to these decisions? There isn’t sufficient information on the evidence behind these tests. The FDA has approved ROMA and OVA1 for use, but the studies that led to that decision are not discussed. Nor is there sufficient discussion of why the physician groups that write guidelines haven’t endorsed the tests. Their concerns are raised, but the evidence is not presented or analyzed. A late diagnosis of ovarian cancer is way too common, and the outcome is grim. At the same time, the anecdotes seem to highlight the sad aspect of the disease without necessarily providing a relevant case in which the tests described would have helped (any more than a basic blood test would have). The companies responsible for developing and marketing these two tests are front and center in this story, with scientists affiliated with the companies clearly identified. At least two sources in the story—one of them a scientist affiliated with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network—appear to be independent of the companies. The story makes it clear that no effective early detection screening test exists. Existing strategies—the CA125 blood test and vaginal ultrasound—are mentioned and then discounted, in part via a personal narrative of a young woman who received a late diagnosis of cancer. While data-driven specifics aren’t included on why standard methods aren’t sufficient, this is enough to rate Satisfactory. A direct comparison of survival stemming from existing diagnostic tests relative to survival stemming from ROMA and OVA1 would have strengthened the story. If those numbers aren’t available, that should have been pointed out. The story makes it clear that the two blood tests have been available since 2009. The story mentions that the tests are combinations of existing tests with a “proprietary” formula (essentially a risk prediction tool) to translate the results to likelihood of cancer. But, the article should have talked about whether the tests, other than CA-125, have been used before. This appears to be an enterprise story, and does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Ovarian cancer blood tests: Available, not widely used"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2a79bdab481143cba799b14eb30655ce",
            "input": "Chlamydia cases have been rising since 2010, increasing from 432 cases in Deschutes County a decade ago to 675 last year, The Bulletin newspaper in Bend reported . The number of cases in Crook County has nearly doubled and the number in Jefferson is up 52 percent. Syphilis cases are also on the rise, and gonorrhea diagnoses rose from single digits in the early part of this decade to 65 cases in Deschutes County, 49 in Jefferson and 14 in Crook County last year. “It’s been an increase that I haven’t seen before in all my years of public health in Central Oregon, said Karen Yeargain, communicable disease coordinator for Crook County Health Department. “And it’s been sustained. It hasn’t gone away.” The trends match patterns across the state and country, but for reasons that remain unclear, both Deschutes County and Jefferson County have been well above the national average for STD transmission rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in September that the number of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases in 2016 surpassed 2 million for the first time ever. While those conditions can be cured with antibiotics, left untreated they can lead to serious health consequences including infertility, life-threatening ectopic pregnancies, stillbirth and an increased risk for HIV transmission, CDC officials said. Public health officials say the evolution of HIV infection into a manageable condition has reduced the perceived risk of unprotected sex for many, allowing chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis to spread more rapidly. The emergence of dating apps for phones hasn’t helped. While some of the increase might be attributed to better monitoring or easier testing for the diseases, epidemiological studies have concluded there has been a real increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. And it comes at a time when health departments are least equipped to deal with it. “Unfortunately we’ve had large federal, state and local cutbacks to STD prevention programs and services over the last decade,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. “And this is having a direct impact on the people’s lack of awareness about their risk of getting STDs.” It’s also left smaller health departments struggling to keep up. Jefferson County Health Department relies mainly on part-time staff who must find extra time to do partner notification. “When the nurses are doing that, they’re not able to provide direct services (to patients),” Jefferson County Health Director Michael Baker said. “It takes away from the other services we provide.” ___ Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com",
            "output": [
                "Health officials concerned about STDs in central Oregon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6284e27ef064413bf5be61c0dd3d5c2",
            "input": "\"In a Dec. 15, 2015, interview with actress and writer Lena Dunham in Lenny Letter, Dunham’s feminist email newsletter, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards discussed testifying to Congress, running Planned Parenthood in the wake of the shooting in Colorado Springs and her experiences fighting for reproductive rights. Their conversation came as Republicans in Congress continued to seek an end to any federal aid to Planned Parenthood in the same year videos released by an anti-abortion group purported to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of fetal tissue in medical research. Federal funding to Planned Parenthood does not go toward abortions and is instead used to fund the organization’s other services, such as sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, mammograms and contraceptive services. In the interview, Dunham asked Richards about changes in the politics of abortion rights over Richards’ nine years as president of Planned Parenthood. Richards, eldest daughter to Ann Richards, the late former Texas governor, replied by mentioning the partisan realignment of legislatures in 2010, which mostly benefited Republicans, and the Republican Party’s national shift to the right. \"\"But if you look at the people in this country,\"\" Richards continued, \"\"they are supportive of safe and legal abortion. They support Planned Parenthood. I was just looking at the recent numbers. More than 60 percent of people in America support Planned Parenthood, and only 11 percent approve of Congress.\"\" Those numbers, Richards said, show that \"\"just because the politics are going one way, it’s not because that’s where the people are.\"\" Where the people are is a pretty broad assessment. We focused on whether Richards was right about the relative popularity of Planned Parenthood and unpopularity of Congress. Congressional approval Congress hasn’t been widely admired very often. As we noted in a December 2014 story, the Gallup polling organization started inquiring into attitudes toward Congress in 1974. Its results show Congress never proving very popular, except after the 9/11 attacks, when there was a spike to 84 percent of respondents approving of the job Congress was doing. The most recent Gallup poll available at the time of Richards’ interview placed public approval of Congress at 11 percent. (After that, according to Gallup, support edged up to 13 percent.) The poll, conducted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, 2015, asked respondents, \"\"Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job?\"\" A whopping 86 percent disapproved, and 3 percent had no opinion. Eleven percent approval was a low point for Congress in 2015. Twenty percent approved of Congress in February 2015, and 19 percent approved in May 2015. Approval of Congress declined starting in May 2015, reaching 14 percent in August 2015 and 13 percent in October 2015, before hitting 11 percent the next month. A poll released Dec. 3, 1015, by Rasmussen Reports placed public support for Congress even lower: 9 percent of likely voters said Congress was doing a good or excellent job according to Rasmussen’s methodology, which in 2015 often returned lower favorability numbers than Gallup’s polls. Support for Planned Parenthood funding In reviewing the other end of Richards’ claim, we recognized two ways to gauge \"\"support\"\" for Planned Parenthood. Polls in 2015 inquired into U.S. attitudes about ending federal aid to the group and about general feelings about the group which, we’ve noted, provides family planning and other women’s health services, including abortions. Planned Parenthood, asked for the factual backup to Richards’ statement, pointed us to several surveys showing support for the group itself and support for its funding as well as opposition to shutting down the government rather than continuing its aid. An Oct. 14, 2015, PolitiFact Wisconsin fact-check found True this September 2015 claim by Wisconsin Democrat Gwen Moore: \"\"60 percent of all Americans do not want to see Planned Parenthood defunded.\"\" Three September 2015 surveys--similarly cited by Planned Parenthood when we made our recent inquiry--seemed to back Moore’s claim: • A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of adults asked: \"\"Would you favor or oppose totally eliminating federal funding to Planned Parenthood for family planning and preventative health services?\"\" Sixty-one percent of respondents opposed eliminating federal funding to Planned Parenthood. • A USA Today/Suffolk University poll of likely voters asked: \"\"Do you think all federal funding for Planned Parenthood should be cut off: yes or no?\"\" Sixty-five percent said no. A similar poll conducted in December 2015 saw that number down slightly at 58 percent. • A Pew Research Center poll tied Planned Parenthood funding to a possible government shutdown in its question but got a similar result: 60 percent of adults said any federal budget agreement to avert a government shutdown would have to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood. Another survey, however, did find support for eliminating Planned Parenthood’s funding. Released Dec. 2, 2015, the poll from the Robert Morris University Polling Institute found that 53.3 percent of respondents supported defunding Planned Parenthood, and 31.5 percent opposed it. The RMU polling institute speculated in its news release that the starkly different response stemmed from the wording used in the polling question. The RMU poll asked respondents: \"\"Congressional Republicans favor shifting Planned Parenthood federal funds to community clinics that perform the same services, but do not perform abortions. Would you say you support or oppose this plan?\"\" Other polls generally asked a version of the question, \"\"Do you think all federal funding to Planned Parenthood should be cut off?\"\" without mentioning clinics, services, or abortions. The RMU poll stood alone in finding support for defunding Planned Parenthood. Support for Planned Parenthood Survey questions asking directly about support for Planned Parenthood in itself — rather than its government backing — had positive responses, at lower numbers than the 60 percent mark. These polls all asked a version of the simple question, \"\"Is your opinion of Planned Parenthood favorable or unfavorable?\"\" An Oct. 6, 2015, poll by Rasmussen Reports, which Planned Parenthood also shared with us, found that 53 percent of likely voters had a favorable opinion of Planned Parenthood, with a margin of error of 3 percent. A Bloomberg National Poll in November 2015 got 50 percent favorability for the organization, with the same margin of error. A Sept. 28, 2015, poll from Quinnipiac University delivered lower numbers: it found that 44 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Planned Parenthood, compared with 39 percent unfavorable, with a 2.5 percent margin of error. The lowest favorability ratings came from a September 2015 CBS News/New York Times poll, which found 40 percent in favor and 27 percent not in favor. Thirty-one percent in that poll said they did not know enough to answer the question. By email, Planned Parenthood media relations assistant Claire Barnes pointed to an Aug. 5, 2015, NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that put Planned Parenthood’s favorability ratings in context. The poll found Planned Parenthood’s 45 percent favorability rating was higher than favorability ratings for the NRA, the Supreme Court, Bernie Sanders, President Barack Obama and several Republican presidential candidates included in the survey. Our ruling Richards said that more than 60 percent of people in America support Planned Parenthood, and only 11 percent approve of Congress. Richards had a bead on Congress, which was wallowing in 11-percent approval territory in November 2015. In addition, most polls suggested more than 60 percent of Americans opposed the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood. Still, there’s clarification missing. While more people look favorably on Planned Parenthood than not, polls indicated, that was the opinion of 40 percent to 53 percent of Americans--not more than 60 percent. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "More than 60 percent of people in America support Planned Parenthood and only 11 percent approve of Congress."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bd84131483484f3b846895bea0d28f2a",
            "input": "Dovato, a combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine, was approved in the United States in April for newly-diagnosed patients, boosting the British drugmaker’s prospects against Gilead Sciences Inc, which currently leads the HIV treatment market. Liberium analyst Graham Doyle said the study results will add to the data package supporting Dovato as GSK aims to convince doctors that two drug therapies are just as effective as triple therapies. GSK is betting that a shift to using two drugs rather than three will boost its sales by offering patients a therapy with fewer potentially toxic side effects. The study evaluated the effectiveness of Dovato, a combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine, in adults with the HIV-1 virus who switched to the regimen from at least a triple combination containing Gilead Sciences’ Descovy, the British company’s HIV drugs division ViiV said. ViiV also said adults who used Dovato did not develop any resistance to the treatment. GSK already has a two-drug regimen Juluca on the market, but only for HIV patients that have received prior treatment. Pfizer Inc and Shionogi & Co Ltd also have small stakes in ViiV, which accounted for about 39% of GSK’s group operating profit last year, according to UBS analysts. The HIV-1 category has the most widespread strains of the virus, which severely affects the body’s immune system.",
            "output": [
                "GSK's two-drug HIV Dovato treatment meets main goal in study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f81baec6ad3b4ae0b0dcce09518446fc",
            "input": "The outbreak prompted authorities to call off Friday prayers in the capitals of 23 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including Tehran and the Shi’ite Muslim holy cities of Qom and Mashhad as well as some other infected areas, state TV reported. Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Iran had banned Chinese citizens from entering. Those infected officials include Masoumeh Ebtekar, the vice president for women and family affairs, and Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi. Ebtekar’s case was said to be mild and she had not been admitted to hospital. “In the last 24 hours, we have had 106 (new) confirmed cases ... The death toll has reached 26,” Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, calling on Iranians to avoid “unnecessary trips inside the country”. Iran has also imposed some restrictions on access to shrines in Qom and Mashhad, Health Minister Saeed Namaki told state TV, adding that visitors to the holy sites should “pray and leave”. “Gatherings are not allowed inside the shrines,” he said. Iranian authorities said hundreds of people initially suspected of having the virus had tested negative and been discharged from hospital. Authorities including President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran had no plans to quarantine any cities or districts, despite the sharp rise in numbers in a short time. The government extended the closure of universities and cinemas and a temporary ban on cultural, sports events and conferences for another week. The death rate among confirmed cases of the virus has been running at around 10% in Iran compared to around 3% elsewhere. Iran only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies program, said in Geneva that “the most likely factor is obviously this disease came unseen and undetected into Iran; the extent of infection may be broader than we think”. Ryan said it appeared that, so far, more severe cases had been detected, but that more milder cases would be detected in future: “I don’t suspect it has anything to do with clinical care, more to do with surveillance.”  Iran’s Foreign Ministry said “some 20,000 coronavirus test kits and some other material” would be delivered to the country from China by Iran’s Mahan Air flight on Friday.",
            "output": [
                "Iran coronavirus death toll reaches 26, many Friday prayers canceled."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a83af518c1ce4b8ba219f25f6b58622d",
            "input": "The powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked the Mojave Desert town of Ridgecrest south of Death Valley National Park as darkness fell on Friday, jolting the area with eight times more force than a 6.4 quake that struck the same area 34 hours earlier. California Governor Gavin Newsom placed the state Office of Emergency Services (OES) on its highest alert and requested federal assistance. He told a news conference in Ridgecrest on Saturday that he had just got off a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking a presidential emergency declaration. “I have full confidence that the president will be forthcoming, in immediate terms, with the formal declaration,”  Newsom said, flanked by first responders. There were several minor to moderate injuries, OES Director Mark Ghilarducci told reporters. “No reports of any fatalities, so I think we’re very lucky there,” he said. There were reports of building fires, mostly as a result of gas leaks or gas-line breaks, Ghilarducci said. State officials said all roads damaged by the quakes had been repaired and reopened. Violent shaking also caused water-main breaks and knocked out power and communications to parts of Ridgecrest, home to about 27,000 people some 125 miles (200 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Officials warned there was sure to be a significant number of aftershocks, including possible powerful ones, and advised residents to ensure they had necessary supplies. “I’ve said this ad nauseam: be prepared for the worst,” said Newsom, who on Saturday met victims in the hospital and visited a hardware store where the earthquake hurled products from shelves and left ceiling tiles scattered across the aisles. Standing outside her damaged home in Ridgecrest, life-long  resident Sierra Wood said it was heartbreaking and scary. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” she said. “I mean - they say that it’s happened and you’ve heard about it. But once you’re in it, it’s completely different, it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying.”  Her husband, Keith Wood, said the aftershocks were grueling. “It’s like when, when do we get a break from it?” he said. “When is enough enough? Mother Nature has had her way. Give us a break now, OK?”  The sprawling U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake just northwest of Ridgecrest was evacuated of all non-essential personnel following the quake. The facility, which at more than 1.1 million acres (445,000 hectares) is larger than the state of Rhode Island, reported no injuries. Authorities were assessing any damage to buildings or other infrastructure, according to a post on the base’s Facebook page. Friday’s earthquake was widely felt across Southern California, including greater Los Angeles, where shaking in some areas lasted about 40 seconds. Low-level rumbling extended as far north as the San Francisco Bay area and beyond to Reno, Nevada, and as far east as Phoenix, Arizona. Seismologists said the initial quake on Thursday, and scores of smaller ones that followed it, proved to be foreshocks to Friday’s larger temblor, which now ranks as Southern California’s most powerful since a 7.1 quake that struck near a U.S. Marine Corps base in the Mojave Desert in 1999. The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday’s quake was immediately followed by at least 16 aftershocks of magnitude 4 or greater and warned of a 50 percent chance of another magnitude 6 quake in the coming days. Geologists put the chance of another magnitude 7 tremor at 10 percent over the next week. There were hundreds of aftershocks of 2.5 magnitude or greater in the area surrounding the epicenter, according to USGS data. Victor Abdullatif was helping clean up broken bottles and other debris inside his father’s liquor store, the Eastridge Market, which sustained damage to its ceiling, and found the periodic aftershocks unnerving. “They’re still scary because you almost don’t know, ‘Is this going to be a full earthquake?’ You have to kind of have faith that it’s just an aftershock,” he told Reuters. The last major destructive quake to hit Southern California was the 6.7 magnitude Northridge quake in 1994, which struck a densely populated area of Los Angeles. It killed 57 people and caused billions of dollars in property damage. The comparatively limited damage from Friday’s quake, which packed greater force than the Northridge event, was a function of its location in a remote, less developed area. Its ground motion, however, startled seismically jaded Southern Californians over a wide region. Pools in Los Angeles sloshed wildly, and TV cameras at Dodger Stadium were shaking as they filmed the night Major League Baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. A television anchorwoman ducked out of sight during a local newscast as shouts of “get under a desk” were heard in the background.",
            "output": [
                "Shaken communities take stock of damage after Southern California quakes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-400de6b5efd54821b853c5c62b5cec0e",
            "input": "Good job on this, stating “The cost of the surgery and Hipec, including hospitalization, ranges from $20,000 to more than $100,000, doctors said. While Medicare and insurers generally pay for the operation, the heated treatment may not be covered. But doctors added it may be if it is described merely as chemotherapy.” The story explained: “One randomized trial done more than a decade ago involving 105 patients in the Netherlands did show a striking benefit. The median survival of those getting surgery and Hipec, plus intravenous chemotherapy, was 22.3 months, almost double the 12.6 months for those getting only the intravenous chemotherapy” That being said, the story also included the proviso that newer drugs are now available that have been shown to increase survival. The story explains that one study showed that “8 percent who got the surgery and Hipec died from the treatment itself.”  And it stated: Includes one expert statement:  ““We’re practicing this technique that has almost no basis in science.” No disease mongering. Many different voices with different perspectives were heard in the story. Various comparisons were made – on both sides of the debate. A proponent of the new method said:  ““there are no long-term survivors with systemic chemotherapy — zero.” But the story also said: “critics say that …new drugs have come to market that allow patients with metastatic colorectal cancer to live two years with intravenous chemotherapy alone” The story states that “an increasing number of the nation’s leading medical centers has been offering the costly — and controversial — therapy to patients with the more common colorectal or ovarian cancers” and names some of them. The growing use of the approach was clear in the story. And the fact that one randomized trial was done fully a decade ago. The story benefited from independent reporting.",
            "output": [
                "Hot Chemotherapy Bath: Patients See Hope, Critics Hold Doubts"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2de55d88b54a429ea0aa34b7efc38e27",
            "input": "In late May 2020, Snopes readers asked whether a “brutal” open letter written by British media personality Piers Morgan to U.S. President Donald Trump, ending their years-long friendship, was authentic. Morgan’s letter is real and was published on April 27, 2020, by the British tabloid Daily Mail. The letter is scathing, however it appears Morgan and Trump’s friendship was already on the outs when Morgan wrote it. Morgan’s letter was largely a critique of Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and read in part: You are the most powerful person in America and your words carry enormous weight and consequence. Within hours of you suggesting it might be a good idea to use bleach, one public health hotline in one state – Maryland – received 100 phone calls asking about whether they should use household detergent to combat the virus, and was forced to issue an alert warning people not to try it. New York City’s Poison Control Center took 30 similar calls from the moment your briefing last Thursday night ended to 3pm the next day – and was also forced to release an alert saying that using bleach ‘can put people at great risk.’ This latest debacle came after you previously and repeatedly hyped up an anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as another ‘cure’ – until it turned out to cause more deaths in COVID patients than those who weren’t treated with it.",
            "output": [
                "British media personality Piers Morgan penned a scathing open letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, marking the end of their years-long friendship."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b2f9f88b7be542d9aabf1efc1de8a560",
            "input": "We won’t require a discussion of costs in this story because the use of zoledronic acid for early stage breast cancer is still up in the air. However, since the drug is already being sold for other indications, the story would have been better if it had told readers something about the costs of using the drug for approved indications. The article accurately framed the only potential benefit documented by the AZURE study: that it might provide a recurrence and survival advantage among a subgroup of post-menopausal women… and that this results is something to be studied further. The article accurately reported on the incidence of a serious side effect among the women taking zoledronic acid. The article accurately characterized the main conclusions of the study and the results of a secondary subgroup analysis. It also told readers that an earlier trial reached a different conclusion and that other studies are underway, thus helping make clear that these results are just part of a larger picture. The story emphasized—through the quote of an independent expert—that the subgroup analysis indicating older women with early stage breast cancer might get some benefit should lead to further research rather than changing standard practice now. There was no hint of disease-mongering in this article. The article quoted an independent source. It also addressed conflicts-of-interest among the researchers. The story did point out that the women in this trial did receive standard therapy (and it did so more clearly than the other story we reviewed), though it did not specifically say what that treatment entails. We will give the story a satisfactory rating since it is not clear that there is a proven alternative that would provide the type of recurrence and survival benefits seen in a previous study of zoledronic acid for early stage breast cancer. The article did not make it clear that the FDA has not yet approved zoledronic acid as adjunctive treatment for women with early breast cancer. The article made it clear that zoledronic acid is already in use for other applications. The article did not appear to be overly reliant on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Bone Drug Zometa Flops Overall as Breast Cancer Treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d23106906af64e05b6b9009341c2cb5e",
            "input": "A researcher archives plasma samples from an HIV clinical trial in a file photo. A gel that uses a popular HIV drug to protect women from the AIDS virus is safe and acceptable to women, although it is too early to know if it actually prevents infection, researchers reported on Monday. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne The gel uses the drug tenofovir, sold under the name Viread by Gilead Sciences Inc.. The study, released at a meeting of AIDS researchers in India, is a welcome piece of good news for the struggling field of microbicides. It involved 200 sexually active HIV-negative women in the United States and India. “The gel is safe to use, and well tolerated by HIV-negative women. That’s a key message in our findings,” said Dr. Craig Hoesley of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “This sets the stage for larger studies to see if tenofovir can prevent HIV infection.”   Microbicides are products, such as gels or creams, that can be applied vaginally or anally to prevent transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Just last week a study showed one candidate, called Carraguard, did not protect women from infection. Two other potential microbicides have made women more likely to become infected — a spermicide called nonoxynol-9 and a product called Ushercell, made by Toronto, Canada-based Polydex Pharmaceuticals. The tenofovir product appears to be safe, said the research team, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found. It is the first potential microbicide to use a licensed AIDS drug. It was a phase II clinical trial designed to show safety, not that it was effective. “It is a critical time for all of us engaged in HIV prevention, and I truly believe we are turning a corner,” said Sharon Hillier of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study. Women make up 46 percent of the 33.2 million people infected with the AIDS virus, according to the United Nations Agency UNAIDS. Hillier said it is not clear how long tenofovir stays in a woman’s vagina. “Currently, there are very encouraging studies suggesting that even when tenofovir is gone from the vagina the drug itself is there in the vaginal tissue,” Hillier said in an e-mail. “The important thing we learned is that covert use, or secret use, is not an important parameter for women, and that in fact we found that 12 percent of the women who used to the gel said it made sex more pleasurable and none of the women said that the gel made sex less pleasurable.”   Eighty percent of the women told to use gel within two hours of having sex said they had done so. “We asked women ‘How acceptable is this as a prevention option, is it too messy, is it a nuisance, and will you use it?’ Our study showed they will use it and they’re not bothered by the gel,” Hoesley said.",
            "output": [
                "Tests of new AIDS gel show promise for women."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-92acdc6772a64e58bade214bc45d97e0",
            "input": "The state health department says the victim was more than 65 years and had a history of lung disease. State epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield says the state began looking at the case after the patient died and found the lung injury was associated with vaping THC products. THC is the high-inducing component of marijuana, and many of the vaping illnesses around the country have been linked to use of THC-laden liquids. Minnesota has 17 people with confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related lung injury. Another 15 possible cases are under investigation. U.S. health officials said Friday they have identified 450 possible cases in 33 states, including three deaths in Illinois, Indiana and Oregon.",
            "output": [
                "Minesota officials report state’s 1st vaping death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be669f236180457184d8b4421681735d",
            "input": "\"On March 19 2020, a number of tweets purportedly showed a close-up of United States President Donald Trump’s prepared remarks on the progress of a coronavirus pandemic, where he apparently used a marker to cross out the “corona” of “coronavirus” and add “Chinese” in its place:Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out \"\"Corona\"\" and replaced it with \"\"Chinese\"\" Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House. #trump #trumpnotes pic.twitter.com/i2mvBhHCUa— Looposhi (@22loops) March 19, 2020In the March 19 2020 tweet above, the user wrote:Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out “Corona” and replaced it with “Chinese” Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House. #trump #trumpnotes“Today” in that context was also March 19 2020. At 10:28 AM, @WhiteHouse streamed President Trump’s live briefing with its Coronavirus Task Force, resulting in a one-hour, 21-minute-long clip:LIVE: Press Briefing with Coronavirus Task Force https://t.co/uvFZaWbcME— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 19, 2020CNBC reported on the briefing shortly after it aired, describing how Trump described COVID-19 as a “Chinese virus,” not a coronavirus:President Donald Trump emphatically blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic [on March 19 2020], and again made a point of using the term “Chinese virus.”“The world is paying a very big price for that they did,” Trump said, referring to his claim that Chinese officials did not fully share information sooner about the coronavirus outbreak after it began in China.“It could have been stopped right where it came from, China,” Trump said at a White House news conference.He argued that American officials would have been able to act faster if China’s government had fully shared information about the outbreak, which began around the city of Wuhan.“It would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier,” the president said … in [then] recent days, Trump [had] repeatedly called the coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” and did so again at the beginning of his news conference.PBS also highlighted Trump’s rhetoric:“It’s a war,” he said. “I view it as a, in a sense, a wartime president. It’s a very tough situation.”No longer able to run for reelection on a healthy economy, he was taking on the mantle of a wartime leader after played down the severity of the crisis for weeks. The president also employed more nativist, us-vs-them rhetoric at the briefing, continuing his recent habit of referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” which has been sharply criticized as racist. “It’s not racist at all,” Trump said. “It comes from China, that’s all.”Although the images frequently circulated without links or with creative additions, they originated from a legitimate source: Washington Post staff reporter Jabin Botsford. Botsford shared the photographs shortly after 2PM on March 19 2020, zooming in on the portion of prepared remarks where “Corona Virus” could be seen.On the fourth of six visible lines, “Corona” was marked through with a black line; “CHINESE” was handwritten in in its place:Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out \"\"Corona\"\" and replaced it with \"\"Chinese\"\" Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House. #trump #trumpnotes pic.twitter.com/kVw9yrPPeJ— Jabin Botsford (@jabinbotsford) March 19, 2020Clips of the President of the United States saying “Chinese virus” in place of “coronavirus” were commonplace, and the photograph circulated without context in many iterations. However, the image was originally shared by photojournalist Botsford a few hours after the coronavirus briefing on March 19 2020 ended, and the image was authentic, not manipulated, and reflected in the rhetoric.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Close-up of U.S. President Donald Trump's coronavirus prepared remarks show he crossed out \"\"corona\"\" in \"\"coronavirus,\"\" writing \"\"Chinese\"\" in its place.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-754b180f57de448fa3fe6673c813e377",
            "input": "The deal would resolve alleged violations of civil environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, related to the pollution from a company factory in Waynesboro. It would amount to the largest environmental damage settlement in Virginia history and the eighth largest in the nation, officials said. The money would go to projects including wildlife habitat restoration, water quality enhancement and improvements to recreational areas. “In bringing this settlement to a close, we are finally righting a wrong that has impacted the South River and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River for so many decades,” Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at a news conference announcing the settlement. Wilmington, Delaware-based Dupont Co. used mercury in its process of making synthetic fiber at the plant between 1929 and 1950, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Strict storage and disposal regulations weren’t in place at the time, and some of the mercury seeped into the South River and flowed downstream to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. DuPont discovered the mercury — which accumulates in fish and is especially dangerous to pregnant or breastfeeding women and young children — in the facility’s soil in 1976, officials say. The pollution impacted over 100 miles of river and thousands of acres of floodplain and riparian habitat, affecting fish, mussels, migratory birds and amphibians, the Department of Justice said in a statement. The pollution also has limited some recreational fishing in Waynesboro, a city of about 20,000 in the Shenandoah Valley. The terms of the settlement are outlined in a proposed consent decree that was filed in federal court in Harrisonburg on Thursday. It is subject to a 45-day public comment period and must be approved by the court. The amount of money proposed is “quite impressive,” but mercury is very persistent in the environment and very difficult to remove, said Dr. Thomas Benzing, a professor of integrated science and technology at James Madison University who works with a team of researchers who have been monitoring the mercury levels since 2001. If the settlement goes forward, DuPont would pay slightly more than $42 million toward projects including streamside plantings and erosion control to improve water quality and fish habitat; mussel propagation and restoration; migratory songbird habitat restoration and protection; and recreational fishing access creation or improvement. The company also will pay for renovations at the Front Royal Fish Hatchery to improve production of warm-water fish such as smallmouth bass, at an estimated cost of up to $10 million. “Every dollar is going to be used to clean up the land, the source issues and the water, to where it would have been” if not for the pollution, said Assistant Attorney General John Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division. No one from DuPont — which is awaiting final regulatory approval for its merger with Dow Chemical in a deal to create DowDuPont, a $130 billion conglomerate — spoke at the announcement. But Mike Liberati, South River project director for the DuPont Corporate Remediation Group, said in a statement that DuPont “is committed to a long-term presence in the Waynesboro area and to maintaining transparency with its citizens.” The first phase of remediation, involving part of the riverbank in Waynesboro’s Constitution Park could be complete in February. Soil there containing the highest concentrations of mercury is being excavated and hauled away and replaced by clean topsoil, Liberati said. “It’s going to be a long-term project. It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight,” Benzing said.",
            "output": [
                "DuPont to pay $50M over mercury-contaminated Virginia rivers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-633e9aa8b86844ed8cf57170248437af",
            "input": "In the interview, Bolsonaro also stuck to the government’s assertion that a Greek freighter caused the oil spill scattered across beaches along 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) of coastline even after the shipowner’s denial of any leakage from its vessel. “All signs point to this Greek cargo ship. All of them,” he told Record TV, adding that the leak, “by all accounts looks like it was criminal.” Brazil’s government has been striving to investigate the cause of the spill that has hit 321 beaches along the northeast coast since early September, hurting fishing and tourism. Authorities have described the spill as one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. The crude’s density renders it invisible from above, making it hard to track its origin or to have a clear picture of the amount of oil yet to reach Brazil’s coast. Some 4,000 tons of oil has been collected from northeastern beaches thus far, according to a statement Sunday from the Navy, Brazil’s environmental regulator, and the national petroleum agency. “To say how much oil there still is very difficult to say,” Commander Leonardo Puntel of the Brazilian Navy said at a press conference on Monday. “Since the oil is underwater, we don’t know if there’s still a lot or a little. There is effectively no correct and accurate way to monitor these oil spots,” he said, adding that they have seen a decrease in oil arriving onto beaches in recent days. He called the disaster “unprecedented.” “There is no case in the world of a large-scale oil spill where the origins are totally unknown. This case has no parallel, we don’t know who polluter is,” Puntel said. Brazil’s defense minister, Gen. Fernando Azevedo e Silva, also stressed how challenging it is to calculate the spill’s scope. “It is not detectable by satellite. ... It is imperceptible. We do not know how much will still come,” he said. David Zee, an oceanographer at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said that the 4,000 tons of collected oil is “just the tip of the iceberg,” both because the cleanup effort is mostly limited to sandy beaches in populated areas and also because a large portion of spilled oil is likely spread deep beneath the ocean’s surface. Furthermore, when currents bring oil to sandy shores, it is relatively easy to collect, while is nearly impossible to remove from corals and mangrove forests, which make up part of the affected area, Zee said. Brazilian prosecutors have named Greek shipping company Delta Tankers Ltd as a suspect of the leak’s origins. The company issued a statement earlier saying it found no evidence of leakage after reviewing the ship’s cameras and sensors. “This material will be willingly shared with Brazilian authorities, should they contact the company regarding this investigation. So far, no such contact has been made,” the statement said. Federal Police officer Franco Perazzoni said at Monday’s press conference that the company will be officially notified via Interpol. Brazilian prosecutors said previously that Delta’s oil tanker, named Bouboulina, was navigating through Brazilian waters at the time and location of the spill. The ship was carrying oil from Venezuela to Malaysia. In a search order seen Friday by The Associated Press, Brazilian prosecutors said “there is no indication of another boat” that could have discharged the Venezuelan crude into the sea. Brazilian armed forces along with environmental protection agencies and petroleum authorities are leading an operation to clean, monitor and investigate the oil spill. Several public universities are conducting research about the spill’s origins and impact. Television footage has also shown volunteers flocking to beaches to help with the cleanup, often without government supervision. Of particular concern at the moment is the Abrolhos national marine park, home to Brazil’s largest coral reefs. Authorities said Sunday night that they had removed the fragments of oil that had appeared in the park and so far no new traces had been found. “A very small amount of oil arrived on November 2, on November 3 only a few fragments remained, today there’s none,” Puntel said in the Monday press conference. “Will more oil fragments come? Maybe.”",
            "output": [
                "Brazil reckons with new oil spill mystery: When will it end?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a911156639d4c58aa709be158e64c61",
            "input": "The policy change was made at the request of doctors at hospitals specially designated to treat the new coronavirus, which often causes pneumonia. Tests for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, were producing accurate results only 70%-80% of the time, the doctors said. The policy change is likely to add weight to arguments made by critics who say the official number of new coronavirus cases in Russia is lower than the real figure, because many cases have been classified as simple pneumonia. Reuters reported last month that a sharp spike in the incidence of pneumonia in Moscow had fuelled concerns about the reliability of official data on the number of cases, which at the time was well below levels seen in other European capitals. “The accuracy of existing tests used to detect COVID-19 is at 70%-80%,” Denis Protsenko, chief doctor at Moscow’s main coronavirus hospital, Kommunarka, was cited as saying in a statement, published on the website of the city’s health department. “In some cases, the tests give false negative results, and the proportion of such results is significant,” Protsenko was cited as saying. The doctors, members of a new clinical committee bringing together the heads of Moscow hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, said most pneumonia cases were being caused by the new coronavirus. The proposal would mean that patients diagnosed with pneumonia, who had not yet received COVID-19 test results, would be treated as coronavirus patients and taken to appropriate hospitals. “Based on the consensus of the members of the COVID-19 clinical committee, a Department of Healthcare order has been issued to change the principles of patient routing, diagnosis and clinical decision-making during the admission stage,” the city’s health department head Alexei Khripun was cited as saying. Russia has reported 10,131 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, with 6,698 in Moscow.",
            "output": [
                "Moscow, in U-turn, to assume all pneumonia patients may have coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffd4a8b65e4449069662264bd2103dcc",
            "input": "\"The Sunday news shows broke from their usual coverage of Washington’s inner-workings to examine another institution fraught with controversy: the National Football League. The heat is on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his discipline of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was shown in a video leaked last week punching out his now-wife Janay Rice in an Atlantic City, N.J., casino elevator in February. The video’s release prompted more voices to question Rice’s initial two-game suspension as too lenient, including Goodell, who announced Rice’s indefinite suspension amid fallout from the video. To some sports pundits and victim advocates, that’s not nearly enough to prove Goodell is for real about punishing players accused of domestic violence. Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise said Goodell should lose his job on CNN’s State of the Union. \"\"The thing that bothered me most is Roger Goodell at one point tried to play essentially a marriage counselor with the victim and the perpetrator, Janay and Ray Rice,\"\" Wise said. \"\"He put the victim and the perpetrator together. Every domestic violence agency, every law enforcement agency, that’s a no-no.\"\" Wise continued: \"\"She is sitting, telling her story in front of the person who essentially abused her. And it’s the tone deafness of those types of things that show me that this commissioner does not take domestic violence seriously enough.\"\" PunditFact wondered if Wise is right: Did Goodell talk to victim Janay Rice with Ray Rice present? And does that violate the policy of domestic violence advocacy organizations and law enforcement agencies? The meeting lead-up and fallout An NFL spokesman declined to comment, citing the investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller of the NFL's actions. The meeting in question occurred June 16 at the NFL’s headquarters in New York, three months after a New Jersey grand jury indicted Rice on charges of third-degree aggravated assault from the elevator incident. Ray Rice, who married Janay Rice on March 28, was accepted into a pretrial intervention program to avoid time behind bars in May. The purpose of the mid-June meeting was to discuss disciplinary action by the NFL. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King broke the first details about the meeting, citing anonymous inside sources that the NFL has not contradicted. The meeting included not just Goodell and Ray and Janay Rice, but also Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome, Ravens President Dick Cass, and two NFL executives, King reported. In the meeting, Janay Rice asked Goodell to be lenient to Ray Rice, the source told King, saying major discipline could ruin the running back’s career. On July 24, the NFL announced it would suspend Rice for just two games, setting off early waves of criticism. King’s story is important because it informed the subsequent chorus of columns and punditry that slammed Goodell for not talking to the couple separately. The popular sports blog Deadspin quoted two domestic violence victim advocates -- Rene Renick, vice president of programs and emerging issues with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and attorney adviser Viktoria Kristiansson of prosecutor resource group AEquitas -- who said Goodell’s combined meeting with the couple was inappropriate. \"\"Even having the two of them in the room and thinking that she can speak freely in that kind of a situation is crazy,\"\" Renick told Deadspin. \"\"There is no way she can speak freely. And if there was any chance that she was afraid or coerced, she couldn't have said that. She would have been probably in a whole lot of danger.\"\" A columnist for the Ravens’ hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun’s Dan Rodricks, interviewed a local social worker and counseling professor who echoed that point. And Wise, too, wrote a July 29 column that went into more detail about Goodell’s meeting with the couple than Wise discussed on CNN. In an interview with PunditFact, Wise said the meeting was \"\"ethically irresponsible\"\" and shows Goodell’s background lacks professional mental health training. \"\"I have no qualms whatsoever about maintaining that law enforcement agencies and domestic violence advocates on the whole support not interviewing a perpetrator and the abused together, especially when deciding matters of discipline for the perpetrator,\"\" Wise said. Law enforcement policies Ruth M. Glenn, interim executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, confirmed to PunditFact what other domestic violence advocates told other news organizations: Goodell should not have talked to Janay Rice in front of her husband. \"\"When that incident is being reviewed, investigated, whatever it is, there should never be an opportunity where that inquiry occurs when they’re both present,\"\" Glenn said. \"\"Absolutely, it doesn’t make it any different if it had happened a day before.\"\" Glenn said the domestic violence prevention community has pushed for years for law enforcement agencies to adopt policies that call for interviewing victims and suspects separately (example of model policies and checklists here.) We found plenty of examples of law enforcement agencies that expressly say to separate the victim, suspect and witnesses involved in the dispute, including Santa Clara County (Calif.), Kentucky, Michigan, South Carolina and New Jersey. (We didn’t have time to check each district or state by our deadline, and the U.S. Department of Justice did not offer a comment, but we are comfortable saying this policy is widespread.) Stanford University law professor Robert Weisberg noted that detectives always question witnesses separately. Still, while separation may be required in the immediate aftermath of an incident, it isn’t always maintained throughout the legal process, said said Charles H. Rose III, Stetson University College of Law professor. Sometimes couples in domestic violence cases are interviewed together so officials can judge how they act with one another. \"\"By the time Goodell was involved it was no longer necessary to have them be interviewed apart,\"\" Rose said. \"\"In effect, the wagons had already been circled.\"\" Also left unsaid by Wise: Goodell was not initiating a law enforcement investigation. That already had occurred. \"\"You cannot apply a law enforcement paradigm to an employment issue,\"\" Rose said. \"\"Different standards, different law, and different results.\"\" Goodell’s goal for talking with Ray and Janay Rice may not have been analogous with a law enforcement investigation, cautioned James Acker, a University at Albany-SUNY School of Criminal Justice professor. \"\"If it was, then for the same reasons, such a joint discussion would not likely be appropriate,\"\" Acker said. \"\"On the other hand, for all I know, the context was quite different. Perhaps Goodell already had received a factual account elsewhere; perhaps he wanted to attempt to gauge the Rices' relationship and try to form an impression of them together.\"\" Our ruling Wise has a problem with Goodell meeting with Ray and Janay Rice together as Goodell sought information about the February elevator incident and aftermath that would inform Rice’s discipline by the league. First, there’s little debate that the meeting occurred, as it has been widely reported and not challenged by the NFL. Second, Wise also claimed that \"\"in every domestic violence agency, every law enforcement agency\"\" a meeting like that would be \"\"a no-no.\"\" That’s for the most part correct as well, though experts we spoke to questioned whether it’s the right parallel to draw. Questioning victims separately from suspects in domestic violence cases does appear to be a widespread practice both encouraged by domestic violence advocates and many police and state policies after an incident occurs. But Goodell was not conducting a criminal investigation -- that already had occurred, and he had access to that information. Also, there are occasions when couples involved in domestic violence cases are interviewed together later, allowing police and prosecutors to judge how they act with one another so they can assess credibility and potential prosecution, one expert told us. Setting aside whether the comparison is apt, Wise’s claim is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Mike Wise Says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell interviewed domestic abuse victim Janay Rice with Ray Rice present and for \"\"every domestic violence agency, every law enforcement agency, that’s a no-no.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f835f45c234948e381d95b0d4183d676",
            "input": "The Department of Health Services reported Friday that Wisconsin has seen 459 hospitalizations and 11 deaths due to flu complications this season. The number of hospitalizations is three times higher than last year at this time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has elevated Wisconsin to its high flu category. South-central and southwestern Wisconsin have been hardest hit. And physicians said it could get worse before it gets better. “The best thought is that we are still going to be seeing it rise before we see it fall. Generally, the flu season lasts anywhere between four and 12 weeks, with eight kind of being the average,” said Dr. Joseph McBride, an infectious disease specialist at UW Health in Madison. “I would imagine we are going to remain pretty high throughout January, but we’ll see.”   In Milwaukee: 131 people have been hospitalized with the flu compared with 17 at this time last season. “We know that it’s hitting some families pretty hard,” Aurora Health Care pediatrician Dr. Kevin Dahlman said. State Health Officer Jeanne Ayers urged anyone who has not had an annual flu shot to get one.",
            "output": [
                "Flu hospitalizations spike across Wisconsin with 11 deaths ."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-14265623edd249518c26fc3259725219",
            "input": "Mike Hunter said the New Jersey-based company and its subsidiaries, including Janssen Pharmaceuticals, created a public nuisance by launching a “cunning, cynical and deceitful” marketing campaign that overstated the benefits of opioid drugs for treating chronic pain and understated the risk of addiction. “There was a simple reason for the crisis: greed,” Hunter said. “The greed of the pharmaceutical companies caused the crisis.” After closing arguments, Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman asked both sides to present written summaries of their cases by July 31 and said that he would then take about a month to issue his ruling. Oklahoma’s case is being closely watched because it’s the first state case to proceed to trial. It could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments that have been consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio. Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson argued they participated in a lawful and strictly regulated industry and that their marketed products represented only a tiny fraction of the opioids used in Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s attorneys have pointed out that two former Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Noramco and Tasmanian Alkaloids, produced much of the raw opium that is used by other manufacturers to produce the drugs. Larry Ottaway, an attorney for the company, said opioid drugs serve a critical health need — to address chronic pain that affects thousands of Oklahomans every day. “This problem of untreated chronic pain afflicts people here in Oklahoma,” Ottaway said. “These drugs help these patients function.” During his closing argument, Ottaway played brief clips from a half-dozen Oklahoma doctors who testified about the desperate need some of their patients have to deal with chronic pain. “I trust you to do the right thing,” Ottaway told the judge. “I trust you like I trust these Oklahoma doctors, and I think you should trust them as well.” Attorneys for Oklahoma also outlined a plan developed by state mental health and addiction specialists to abate the opioid crisis that would range between $12.6 billion for 20 years or $17.5 billion over 30 years. Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson say that estimate is wildly overinflated. Included in the abatement estimate is a need for the state of Oklahoma to hire 1,734 new employees at a cost of about $123 million each year, Ottaway said. “The state’s plan is simply untenable,” he said. “It seeks billions of dollars for services already being provided.” Before the start of the trial on May 28, Oklahoma reached a $270 million settlement with Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma and an $85 million deal with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. ___ Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy ___ This version corrects the spelling of the last name of Johnson & Johnson attorney Larry Ottaway.",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma AG calls company ‘kingpin’ in state’s opioid crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad378f22c2c946f3a94cc94d8a211328",
            "input": "Costs of either new treatment approach are not discussed, nor whether they might be covered by insurance. Since the first-ever clinical trial of stem cells to regrow cartilage pads is ongoing, benefits cannot be quantified. A similar challenge in reporting benefits of cartilage plugs is that this approach doesn’t appear to have any studies that support its use in cartilage (vs. bone), since this is an off-label use. While benefits aren’t reported, it doesn’t appear that there are any to actually describe just yet. The stem cell technique is quoted by the lead researcher as having “no safety problems.” While this is suspect, since this is the first clinical trial, side effects or harms in humans may not be known. The article could have countered this quote with a statement that no side effects have been reported yet, which is different than that they don’t exist. A potential harm talked about by someone not apparently involved in the research is that too much cartilage may be re-grown and there may not be a mechanism to turn it off, leading to unforeseen problems. For the cartilage plugs, harms of treatment are not discussed, although a question about their benefit–whether they even work in cartilage–is raised. The story describes on-going research using stem cells to re-grow the cartilage pad, or meniscus, in the knee. The ongoing research is described as a clinical trial, with either a “dummy” or active injection given to patients (so there is a placebo or control group and this also implies patients don’t know which one they’ve received, or that they’re “blinded” to the intervention), and that researchers are blinded to which intervention patients have received. What’s described is a randomized, controlled trial, which is the gold-standard in research. The other technique–cartilage plugs–is being used for treatment that doesn’t appear to have any research to support it, or at least not when used in cartilage (vs. bones). But, the article describes these circumstances to readers. The article provides a brief overview of knee injury or disease (arthritis) and the numbers of people who experience this. The article nicely states that the “holy grail” is repairing the cartilage of knee bones associated with arthritis – typically age-related wear and tear. None of the treatments mentioned are anywhere near this. So for current patients suffering from knee pain due to degenerative arthritis, the options are conservative medicines (like ibuprofen) or knee replacement surgery. This article suggests an intermediate, less invasive approach. The current cartilage repair procedures aren’t thought to work very well (thus the search for new ones). These aren’t the first attempts to repair cartilage. Others have been tried, but generally haven’t offered much benefit to patients. For the stem cell research, the article does quote a source who is apparently uninvolved with the research. This source provides some balance in noting that it’s not clear whether this works, and specifically, whether this process can be turned off once enough cartilage is re-grown. For cartilage plugs, the same source comments with skepticism over whether these really work. Currently, the standard treatment option for meniscus tears is surgical removal of jagged edges that don’t heal, which is mentioned in the story. Treatment alternatives for injured or damaged articular cartilage (vs. use of articular plugs) are described and include total knee replacement and surgery to “rough up” the edges to stimulate natural repair. Framing around what these new treatments hope to provide could have been improved, e.g. many of the intermediate procedures talked about in the article are trying to provide an option in the middle of either a very simple approach, like medications, or a pretty aggressive approach, like joint replacement. There are two treatment options discussed in the article. One uses stem cells from donated bone marrow. This technique is reported as part of the first-ever clinical trial using stem cells to regrow a cartilage pad in the knee, so readers know this option is not available yet outside of this research study. The second treatment approach uses cartilage plugs to fill in gaps or injuries to knee cartilage. The story states these cartilage plugs are FDA-approved for use in bones, but not cartilage, so the use described is “off-label.” The article describes the stem cell option as new, which does appear to be true. It also describes the off-label use of cartilage plugs, implying this technique itself may not be new, but is being used in a new capacity. There have been prior attempts to repair cartilage that are not mentioned in the article, but these attempts have not provided much benefit. There is no obvious reliance on press release material.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors Test Ways to Grow Knee Cartilage"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77c3ae0af5e84beca064b62d5e61d1cc",
            "input": "A lawsuit filed this week in Eagle County District Court contends Vail town officials violated local rules when they approved a Triumph Development project to build high-density worker housing along Interstate 70 where the bighorns forage during winter. The residents also argue that a Vail Resorts employee on the local Planning and Environmental Commission, which approved the project on a 4-3 vote, should have recused himself due to a conflict of interest. Their lawsuit asks Judge Russell Granger to send the case back to town officials with instructions for proper decision-making. “Developers tried to come up with mitigation. But it doesn’t seem the mitigation measures are sufficient to comply with the code,” which requires the implementation of “all necessary mitigating measures,” attorney Kim Perdue said Thursday. “My understanding is that there are other sites … that would be better for residents and also not have catastrophic impacts on this herd,” Perdue said. This battle pits the mountain resort’s economic demands against the needs of wildlife, in this case Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Colorado’s state animal. Bighorns once numbering more than 2 million around the west have been declining, hammered by disease — including sickness spread by domestic sheep — as development eclipses bighorn habitat. The Colorado bighorn population has dwindled to about 6,800, down from about 7,600 in 2012 and 8,000 in 2001, state data shows. Vail Valley bighorns have decreased to about 5% of their historic numbers, along with other species, and the herd that forages east of Vail has been reduced by 40% over the past 12 years to around 50 bighorns. Meanwhile, mountain resort operators around the state have been developing properties and struggling to ensure enough housing for workers as tourism and recreation industries expand. Triumph Development has proposed to construct the housing for Vail on 5.4 acres at one end of a 23.3-acre parcel that Vail obtained from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Local governments have broad discretion. The lawsuit targets town decision-making on narrow grounds, alleging that proposed “mitigation” measures are not sufficient to comply with town rules aimed at protecting the natural environment and wildlife. The developers’ proposals included the construction of a berm between the housing complex and a meadow where bighorns forage, limited lighting and restricted dog ownership. Residents walking to town would have to use an underpass designed for vehicles to cross I-70. The lawsuit also alleges town officials gave improper guidance to planning and environmental commission members by asserting they had no choice but to allow the development of the property, owned by Vail, because otherwise their action would amount to an illegal “regulatory taking” of the property. Vail officials declined to comment on the lawsuit. “We received the complaint, and we have forwarded it to our insurance carrier for review,” assistant town manager Patty McKenny said. Former Mayor Rob Ford, a longtime resident opposing the construction, said even people who recognize a need for affordable worker housing have been questioning Vail leaders’ decision-making. “It was not transparent. Residents were lied to. It is a poorly planned project, a crummy project,” Ford said. The conflict has escalated over the past two years. Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists have provided guidance, warning that bighorns likely would suffer harm and questioning whether mitigation is possible. Vail officials have countered that the resort needs housing for service workers, in part to create a sense of community and reduce worker driving. Only 20% of Vail’s 8,500 workers live in town. Others commute as far as 75 miles. Houses in Vail cost $1.3 million on average. Renting an apartment typically costs around $1,200 a month. The Vail Homeowners Association has opposed the development. A 40-member group called Citizens to Protect Our Wildlife asked Gov. Jared Polis for help. The local chamber of commerce asked Polis to stay out of the matter unless he planned to support the construction. ___ Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com",
            "output": [
                "Lawsuit challenges Vail development in bighorn sheep habitat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3543fae35a9e4feea19c9e3ea4b718b1",
            "input": "The vaccine, Ervebo, is approved for individuals aged 18 years and older and has already been used under emergency guidelines to try to protect against the spread of a deadly Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo. The shot is also being reviewed by U.S. health regulators and a decision is expected in the first quarter of next year. The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever and spreads from person to person through direct contact with body fluids. It kills around half of those it infects. Since the middle of last year, the Congo Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people, making it the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, after the 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300. “The EU is supporting international efforts to combat Ebola on all fronts, from vaccine development to delivering humanitarian aid on the ground,” EU Ebola Coordinator Christos Stylianides said in a statement dated Nov. 10. Merck has said its priority was to get regulatory approval of its Ervebo manufacturing site in Germany so that licensed supply of the vaccine “can be used to support global public health preparedness”.",
            "output": [
                "Merck wins European approval for first-ever Ebola vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-930799d9f1764045aa0a828db82a21dd",
            "input": "\"A viral TikTok post says New York City’s Central Park once was a town called Seneca Village. The video, which was later removed from the platform, boasted over 3 million views. It’s preserved in this tweet. In the video, TikTok user Hannah Stater said in part, \"\"Central Park actually used to be a town called Seneca Village that was founded by freed African American slaves in 1825.\"\" She added that the residents were evicted and that this history is not well known because it’s \"\"uncomfortable.\"\" This description is largely accurate. From 1825 to 1857, Seneca Village consisted of the land between 82nd and 89th Streets and 7th and 8th Avenues. The land was purchased by a white couple, John and Elizabeth Whitehead, in 1824. It was soon subdivided into smaller plots. Columbia University's Seneca Village Project has identified Seneca Village as the first significant community of African American property owners in Manhattan. On Sept. 27,1825, Andrew Williams, a young African American, purchased three lots from the Whiteheads for $125. The same day, trustees of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church purchased six lots near 86th Street. Those trustees included Epiphany Davis, an African American store clerk, who purchased twelve lots for $578. These transactions provided the nucleus for Seneca Village. There were three churches, a school and several cemeteries. The land \"\"was occupied by various groups, including the African American and Irish residents of Seneca Village, as well as scattered small German farmers and Irish households,\"\" Elizabeth Blackmar, a Columbia University historian, told PolitiFact. By 1855, the community had grown to 264 residents, as German and Irish immigrants integrated into the village, according to the New York Times. Map of Seneca Village circa 1857 By the 1840s, lower Manhattan, the original core of the city, had become unsanitary and overcrowded. Affluent and civic-minded New Yorkers grew concerned that commerce and industry were sullying the island. According to the New-York Historical Society, some leading residents resented an influx of poor immigrants and considered how to create new neighborhoods for wealthier New Yorkers. Between 1849 and 1853, New Yorkers debated how a \"\"grand\"\" park might be constructed to stretch from midtown to northern Manhattan could be created. \"\"In the summer of 1853, the city government authorized taking the land between 59th and 106th Streets, between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, to lay grounds for a public park. The city claimed the right of ‘eminent domain,’ which permits the state to take private land for public use, with compensation afforded to the land owners,\"\" wrote the New-York Historical Society. Seneca Village was directly in the path of the planned park. \"\"All residents were forced to vacate beginning in 1856,\"\" the historical society wrote, \"\"Approximately 1,600 people, spread over 7,500 lots of land, were directly affected by this decision. Nearly 300 of them lived in Seneca Village.\"\" The New-York Historical Society has noted that to ease evictions, popular newspapers and magazines at the time portrayed the site of the future park as a \"\"wasteland\"\" occupied by \"\"squatters,\"\" \"\"shanties,\"\" \"\"bloodsuckers\"\" and \"\"insects.\"\" But many of the residents fought to keep their land and requested higher compensation. Ultimately, Seneca Village residents were given final notice to leave in the summer of 1856. Residents were compensated for their land, but many didn’t want to leave or said their land was undervalued in the process, according to a history from the Central Park Conservancy. \"\"That's how Central Park was made, with most newspapers cheering the removal of ‘the insects,’\"\" wrote the New York Times. Some Seneca Village residents moved to different parts of the city, to Long Island, or out of New York state. Williams’ family ultimately settled in California. \"\"By 1857, a substantial community with deep spiritual and familial ties— some that went back more than thirty years—had vanished without leaving much evidence of its past,\"\" the New-York Historical Society wrote. The TikTok video said, \"\"Central Park actually used to be a town called Seneca Village\"\" founded by African Americans in 1825. Many of the earliest residents of Seneca Village were African Americans, and they were evicted through eminent domain before the park was built. The brief history on the TikTok does leave out some of the details, including that Irish and German immigrants were also residents of Seneca Village and that Seneca Village only accounted for a fraction of what became Central Park. But the gist of the story is accurate.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Central Park actually used to be a town called Seneca Village” founded by African Americans in 1825."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-02d84bb268df4e61914ca15c46821c2b",
            "input": "The vaccine, developed by U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co, is already being used under emergency guidelines to try to protect people against the spread of a deadly Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo. It protects against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus - the one that most commonly causes outbreaks. The shot is also being reviewed under a fast-track system by regulators in the United States, with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year. “This vaccine has already saved many lives in the current Ebola outbreak, and the decision by European regulators will help it to eventually save many more,” the WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. The Congo Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people since the middle of last year. It is the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, after a 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300. The Merck vaccine, which the company has now brand-named Ervebo, is likely to get a full marketing license from the European Commission in a few weeks. Roger Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said the company’s priority now was to get regulatory approval of its Ervebo manufacturing site in Germany so that licensed supply of the vaccine “can be used to support global public health preparedness”. Merck’s vaccine is being used in Congo in a so-called “ring vaccination” approach, in which people who may have been in contact with someone newly infected with Ebola are traced and offered the shot to protect them. Charlie Weller, head of vaccines at the Wellcome Trust global heath charity said the Merck shot had already saved “countless lives” in the country. “Having this vaccine available under research conditions has been key in preventing the ongoing outbreak in the DRC spiraling into a repeat of the 2014-16 epidemic, where 11,000 people died,” she told Reuters. Health authorities in Kinshasa said last week they planned to introduce an experimental second Ebola vaccine, developed by  drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, in the country’s eastern provinces in November. The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever and spreads from person to person through direct contact with body fluids. It kills around half of those it infects. There are currently no licensed treatments for the deadly infection, but scientists said in August they were a step closer to being able to cure it after two experimental drugs showed survival rates of as much as 90% in a clinical trial in Congo.",
            "output": [
                " This is a photograph of a   letter from C. Dennis Packee of Reiman’s Harley-Davidson in Kewanee, Ill.,   to Christopher and Jamie Walters. The letter explains that Reiman’s will   store the Walters’ motorcycles at no charge. It is their way of saying   thank you to military members on deployment.        "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e4839b71203b4aa5ab75af87dd4bcebc",
            "input": "\"Costs and the cost-effectiveness of this strategy are not discussed. Any discussion of a preventive strategy should include comments on cost. Avandia and metformin, at the doses used in the study, cost about $195 a month, according to drugstore.com. We get absolute benefits, relative benefits, and the all-important number needed to treat (NNT). Very nice. While harms weren’t quantified, the story provided a good amount of detail, context, and caveat about the safety of this regimen. We get many important details about the study: the number of patients, the enrollment criteria, randomization, placebo control, half doses, and the length of follow-up. It also describes some limitations of the study, such as its inability to detect rare adverse events due to its size. It’s an important caveat, particularly with a cardiovascular cloud hanging over rosiglitazone. The author also points to the editorial’s observation that the approach didn’t affect the problems in the pancreas that underly diabetes and which must be addressed by such a strategy. The author is very specific about the thresholds for the patient population, and who was considered at high risk to progress to diabetes. We note that it was judiciously limited in its use of the term \"\"prevention.\"\" Props to the author for citing the editorial written by two independent experts and published in the same issue of the Lancet. This article selects several of their many cogent comments. Ideally, another independent source outside the publication would’ve been consulted, too. The story describes how GSK has a dog in this fight, funding the study and manufacturing Avandia. The story also provides the institutional affiliations of Zinman and the two editorialists. While it’s probably covered in the GSK funding source, we’ll point out that several investigators had other financial ties to GSK, too. The article talks about the effectiveness of lifestyle changes and the challenge of implementing them. It also reviews the barriers to using full-dose rosi because of adverse events. It’s clear Avandia and metformin are currently available. We’re told of similar prior studies and the novelty of attempting a low-dose regimen to block progression. We don’t see evidence that the article relied on any news releases.\"",
            "output": [
                "Low-dose combination of Avandia and metformin decreases progression to diabetes by two-thirds with few side effects"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1639165392cb4335b038ff57c2244088",
            "input": "The story should have stated how much CAD costs per mammogram, and how that compares to the costs of a radiologist or technician providing a second reading of the images. The story quotes a researcher saying cost-effectiveness needs to be studied. This should have triggered additional reporting comparing costs. The story says Medicare pays $15 per CAD reading, but this does not indicate whether this covers costs. The story does a good job of describing the methodology and the outcomes in terms readers can understand. The study results showed that the recall rates–the percentage of women brought back for a second mammogram–was signficantly higher with CAD than with double readings (3.9 percent vs. 3.5 percent). Yet CAD discovered no more cancers. These additional mammograms without more accurate diagnosis can produce increased anxiety and potentially more biopsies. The report should have mentioned this. This news report is based on a peer-reviewed study published in a top-tier medical journal. The underlying study itself is a randomized, blinded trial involving about 30,000 women. The story does nothing to exaggerate either the prevalence or severity of breast cancer, or the benefits of CAD. The reporter quotes the article itself, the lead author, a breast cancer clinician at a major teaching hospital, a medical society’s breast cancer expert, and a clinician who uses CAD in his practice. This is excellent sourcing. The story reports the study’s funding, as well as two of the researchers’ links to CAD makers. The story clearly compares the options of having two human readers of mammograms against one reader using CAD. Yet the reporter fails to compare the value of these methods with those when a single human reader is used, which remains the common practice in the U.S. The study reports that double readings have been shown to be 4 to 14 percent more effective in detecting cancers than single readings, with a recent meta-analysis showing a 10 percent advantage to double reading. This context would have been very valuable, to demonstrate that U.S. diagnostic practices miss a lot of cancers. The story states that computer-aided dectection (CAD) of breast cancer is used for about a third of mammograms in the U.S. This implies availability at more specialized facilities and teaching hospitals. A more direct statement of this would have been useful. But the story meets minimum standards under this criterion. The story says CAD is used for about one-third of mammograms in the U.S. and is likely to be used more as digital imaging becomes more widespread. The report does not appear to draw on the press release.",
            "output": [
                "Computers help docs spot breast cancer on X-rays"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3593a4fdf6d4062be6e3d3ab5c0433c",
            "input": "The story does not report the price of compression stockings [which range from $20 to $75 per pair through online retailers]. This is a surprising omission. Because in the UK these stockings are so commonly used, the costs of treatment for the population are significant. Even in the US where use is less common, the costs are meaningful. Further, there are costs associated with treatment of skin ulcers and sores which the stockings cause. These should have been mentioned as well. The story adequately describes the study population, size and methodology, and clearly states the key finding–that use of the stockings did not reduce risk of blood clots. It also mentions the important secondary finding, that use of the stockings significantly increased risk of skin problems. The story reports on the harms of stroke patients using compression hose, which include skin problems and blisters. The story is based on a randomized clinical trial done with a large population in multiple centers. The evaluators–who tested the patients for the presence of clots–were blinded, making this a very strong study design. The story could have mentioned this. The story correctly treats the findings as credible. The story does not engage in disease mongering. Having said that, the reporter could have been more diligent about keeping the risk of using the stockings in perspective, particuarly for a U.S. audience. The recommended practice in the U.S. (per medical guidelines) is to use anticoagulants to prevent blood clots in sick hospitalized patients, with stockings as a primary treatment only for those who cannot tolerate the drugs and in some other subgroups. This study is more likely to have impact on practice in the UK, where compression stockings are more commonly used. Additionally, the reader should be cautious in applying the findings among hospitalized stroke patients to patients hospitalized for other reasons. The story quotes one of the study’s authors and two independent medical experts, one of whom represents the American Heart Association. This constitutes adequate sourcing. Since the study showed that compression stockings do not reduce risk of blood clots in stroke patients, the news story should have reported on the treatments that do. Anti-clotting drugs are mentioned briefly but their benefits and risks were not explained sufficiently. The story makes clear that compression stockings are widely available to stroke patients. Compression stockings are widely used for stroke patients, particularly in the UK. No claim is made for their novelty. There does not appear to be a press release linked to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Study: Stockings given to stroke patients don’t work"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a895ba1942d8464182abd9684633cb6f",
            "input": "Two Oregon wineries stepped in to buy the grapes, but getting the Oregon Solidarity wines they produced to markets on time is in doubt because the federal agency that approves labels has a huge backlog, a hangover from the government shutdown. Nationwide, makers of alcoholic drinks face disrupted business and lost revenue. If another shutdown starts in about two weeks, as President Donald Trump has threatened if Congress doesn’t provide money for a border wall, the backlog could persist. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, both Oregon Democrats, warned of “disastrous” consequences in a letter to John Manfreda, administrator of the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. They urged Manfreda to dedicate all resources to clearing the backlog of applications. “This regulatory paralysis disproportionately disadvantages small, craft brewers, vintners, cider makers, and distillers, who depend on new product releases for their businesses’ survival,” Wyden and Blumenauer said Tuesday. Michael Kaiser, vice president of WineAmerica, a national association of U.S. wineries, said the backlog will also stretch the turnaround time on new applications to around 36 days. The federal alcohol agency strives for it to be two to four days. It must issue permits for beverages that will be sold across state lines and approve the labels. “This will impact wineries of all size,” Kaiser said in an email. California winery Copper Cane canceled contracts last fall to buy 2,000 tons (1,814 metric tons) of grapes, saying lab testing showed smoke taint after wildfires last year cloaked much of Oregon in smoke and ash. Jim Blumling, Copper Cane’s vice president of operations, has said both lab and sensory tests showed a high level of smoke taint and that the most effective time to test is as close as possible to harvest. But independent laboratory analysis showed much of the crop was not adversely affected, the local wineries said. Willamette Valley Vineyards head winemaker Joe Ibrahim had sampled a few of the grapes, searching for an ashy taste in the skins that would reveal some taint. He found none. “The wines are actually really beautiful wines,” Ibrahim said, standing next to a huge vat in his winery’s cellar containing rose of pinot noir, the first of the three Oregon Solidarity wines that will be bottled. The vineyard outside the small town of Turner and King Estate Winery in Eugene bought 150 tons (136 metric tons) of the grapes, enough to produce 88,800 bottles of wine. Eyrie Vineyards and Silvan Ridge Winery helped make the wines. Willamette Valley and King Estate would have bought even more grapes, but they were already getting overripe on the vine, Willamette winery director Christine Collier Clair said. One grower also had crop insurance for 1,500 tons (1,360 metric tons), she said. The label application for the rose was sent and approved before the government shutdown, Clair said. The federal agency still must approve labels for Oregon Solidarity chardonnay and pinot noir. Retailers are counting on having the wines and to do promotions, she said. The wines will be sold nationwide and will be available to buy online. Rogue Valley Vintners, a southern Oregon nonprofit made up of wine producers, growers and community partners, will get the proceeds. Clair said she hopes the chardonnay label gets approved on time for its scheduled May release. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau spokesman Thomas Hogue said there are many applications to wade through. “We are still assessing the workload,” Hogue said in an email Monday, when federal employees returned to work after five weeks. “I think it’s safe to say that our backlog has roughly doubled as a result of the shutdown.” ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky",
            "output": [
                "Shutdown casts pall on effort to help Oregon winegrowers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7cee0b3c9e1747b2a9c257719c771241",
            "input": "Only one quarter of children aged 6 to 15 meet the current guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, said Dr. Russell R. Pate, chairman of the non-profit National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) Alliance, which issued the first U.S. report card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. “Fifty percent of waking hours are spent in sedentary activity,” said Pate, professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Fitness experts say it is up to parents and policy makers to get their children to be more active. “It’s not about grading the kids,” said Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk, a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and chairman of the research committee that issued the report card. “Kids want to be active, if they’re given the opportunity.” he said. “This is for us to change.”       The report is based on public data and provides a snapshot of the state of youth physical activity in America. The 2014 grades were bad, without a single top mark. NPAP evaluated 10 key indicators, from overall physical activity to organized sports participation, and the number of children who cycle or walk to school. It found that since 1969, the proportion of elementary and middle-school students walking or cycling to school dropped from 47.7 percent to 12 percent. “More kids these days live too far from the school they attend,” Pate said. “The social norm around this behavior has really changed, and not for the better.”        The report card did not come as a surprise for Brian Sanders of i9 Sports, which provides camps and clinics for boys and girls aged 3 to 14 in sports such as flag (no-contact) football, soccer, basketball and baseball. “Public schools don’t have funding to support athletic programs and both parents working don’t have the time to get kids to activities,” he said. “Then there’s the increase in digital use. It all adds up.”       Sanders added that many parents are also concerned about safety aspects of playing in the neighborhood, and organized sports too often putting the emphasis on competition over fun. Katzmarzyk said the report also reflects socio-economic disparities. “Kids who come from higher incomes are participating (in sports),” he said.”Lower economic groups are not participating. There’s a lot more work to do to make these activities available to everyone.”       Katzmarzyk said the U.S. is one of 15 countries that compiled the report card, which will be the first of many. It is an advocacy tool aimed at the adult decision makers, he added.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. youth activity report card gives poor grades to adults."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7248f02b345846c29c0785090280d326",
            "input": "Now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is questioning the role played by nominee Nancy Beck in the decision to shelve the guidelines. Beck is not a medical doctor and has no background in virology. President Donald Trump has nominated Beck to be chairwoman and commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Beck is scheduled to appear before the Senate committee later this month. Emails obtained by The Associated Press show that Beck was the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s main point of contact in the White House about the proposed recommendations. At issue was a 63-page guide created by the CDC that would give community leaders step-by-step instructions for reopening schools, day care centers, restaurants and other facilities. Beck is currently on detail for the White House with the Office of Management and Budget, where she is coordinating review of pandemic-related stimulus measures, and of the CDC guidance. She has a doctorate in environmental health and has worked as a toxicologist, specializing in the study of the health risks from chemical substances to the human body. “I am deeply concerned by the nominee’s involvement in advocating for the deregulation of toxic chemicals known as PFAS and I also have questions about her potential involvement with the CDC coronavirus guidance,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee, in a statement to AP. Cantwell sent a letter of inquiry on Wednesday to Beck, asking for more information. Beck did not immediately respond to questions from AP sent to her via email. Beck’s role in the coronavirus guidance document was revealed in a series of emails from late April obtained by the AP. On April 10, CDC Director Robert Redfield emailed the guidance to a group that included some of the president’s closest White House advisers, including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert. Redfield wrote that he wanted White House review and clearance to post the documents on the CDC website. By the time the administration had released its “Opening Up America Again” plan on April 17, the process had stalled. The emails show that the CDC’s chief of staff, Robert “Kyle” McGowan, emailed Beck on April 26 seeking an update. “We need them as soon as possible so that we can get them posted,” McGowan wrote. Beck responded that they still needed approval. “WH principals are in touch with the task force so the task force should be aware of status.” The next day McGowan checked with Beck again. “I have no word on revisions yet for the rest of the package. My understanding is it is still being reviewed,” she responded. One of Beck’s colleagues, Satya P. Thallam, followed up saying the White House Principal’s Committee had not yet responded. “However, I am passing along their message: they have given strict and explicit direction that these documents are not yet cleared and cannot go out as of right now — this includes related press statements or other communications that may preview content or timing of guidances.” McGowan responded that White House changes would cause further delay. “The comments and edits we get back will have to be reviewed at the CDC for scientific accuracy,” McGowan responded to Thallam and Beck. “We will not be able to post the document we get back from the WH quickly if there are a substantial number of edits.” On April 30, one day before Trump’s May 1 reopening goal, McGowan was told guidelines will “never see the light of day,” according to three sources inside CDC who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. In her letter, Cantwell said the emails raise “serious questions about whether you believe in preserving and respecting the scientific and professional integrity of scientists and health professionals that work at agencies like the CDC and the CPSC.” On Thursday, another committee Democrat cited AP’s story in calling on the administration to withdraw Beck’s nomination. “Nancy Beck reportedly led efforts to thwart CDC’s science-based guidance for protecting public health — exactly the wrong credential for a nominee to lead the CPSC, and clear reason her nomination should be withdrawn,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.  An OMB spokesperson said the initial submission to the office was the “start of the deliberative process, not the end, and everyone knows that,” and added the White House appreciated that Beck continued “serving her country by helping the government respond to this pandemic while her nomination was pending.” Before joining the Trump administration, Beck was a senior director for policy at the American Chemistry Council, the primary lobbying arm for U.S. chemical manufacturers. In that role, she frequently testified on Capitol Hill against stricter safeguards to protect human health and the environment from toxins. In 2017, she joined the Environmental Protection Agency as a top official in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. She oversaw efforts to block or weaken Obama-era regulations on harmful substances including asbestos, and at the White House was involved in a rewrite of limits on PFAS. Those are class of chemicals used in making nonstick cooking pans and raincoats, and the chemicals have been linked to birth defects. Democrats and environmentalists have opposed her nomination to lead the consumer agency. While she awaits Senate confirmation, Beck has been assigned to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which consults with the president on matters of economic policy. On May 7, the day AP ran a story about the administration shelving the guidance, McGowan emailed Beck and copied Redfield. “When can we expect OMB comments on the rest of the guidance? We would really like to get these moving,” he wrote. Late that afternoon, the White House called the CDC and told the agency to resend a series of detailed “decision trees” that had been shelved. Emails showed staff working on the guidance said they would “stand down.” At a Senate hearing Tuesday on the coronavirus, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked Redfield about the status of that guidance. Redfield replied: “Soon.” ___ Dearen reported from Gainesville, Florida. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP investigative reporters Jason Dearen at http://twitter.com/JHDearen and Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck",
            "output": [
                "Emails: Trump nominee involved in shelving CDC virus guide."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b20df74bd609495cbb49a8aee0bb299b",
            "input": "No information is given on the cost of a typical course of treatment. This study does not aim to quantify the benefits of treatment, rather to show whether there is any difference in risk of death associated with taking hormone therapy for 5 to 7 years. The original Women’s Health Initiative trial was designed to examine whether there was any benefit of hormone therapy for prevention or heart disease, which had been suggested by earlier studies. The story does a good job of outlining the complicated history of findings from hormone replacement studies, and the harms and risks, and uses numbers to explain the risks. There is great nuance in the findings, which can be interpreted differently for women of different ages seeking HRT. Women bring different life risks of cardiovascular disease or breast cancer with them into any discussion of HRT. The conclusion quoted in the story may be less-than-reassuring, but is here: “Hormone therapy has been in and out of favor – first it was good for all menopausal women, then it was dangerous for all women,” McNeil said. “The take-home message now is that for the right patient, hormone therapy is safe and effective.” The story does a good job of describing how the study was done and establishing the high-quality of evidence from a large randomized trial. There was no disease mongering. The story included an independent source and there does not appear any conflicts of interest that should have been disclosed. The story is about alternatives, on its face, about the alternative of taking or not taking hormone replacement therapy. We wish there had been a sentence or two more on how other methods are available to women to ease symptoms. These therapies are widely available and that’s implied in the story. The story makes it clear that this is a new analysis that looks at long-term data on deaths years after use or non-use of hormone therapy. The story includes original reporting and does not rely solely on the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Menopause hormone therapy not linked to premature death"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-af2ed04fb7c74ca8965059d16b783411",
            "input": "E-cigarettes have been marketed as tools to help smokers quit, but rising use among youth in the United States and a spate of severe lung illnesses tied to the devices have triggered a backlash and heightened regulatory scrutiny. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has in the past advised consumers to avoid the devices, but the latest recommendation focused on THC products follows nationwide data that pointed to a large number of cases related to the use of the high-inducing component of marijuana. The CDC and state health officials, along with other health agencies, are investigating 805 confirmed and probable cases and 12 deaths so far from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, as of the latest update on Thursday. According to the research published by CDC on Friday, 514 of the 805 patients knew about substances used in their vaping products, with nearly 77% using THC-containing vapes. However, this does not narrow the focus of the investigation as some users have also reported using e-cigarettes with just nicotine, CDC’s principal deputy director Anne Schuchat told reporters on Friday. The data showed that 56.8% used nicotine in their vapes, while 16% used vapes containing just nicotine in the 30 days preceding their symptoms. “We do not know yet what exactly is making people sick, for example, whether particular solvents or adulterants are leading to lung injury, or whether cases stem from a single supplier or multiple ones,” Schuchat said. Separate data from Wisconsin and Illinois showed that although no single brand name was reported by all patients, two-thirds of consumers reported using a prefilled THC cartridge under the brand name “Dank Vapes”. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this month found that more than half of lung illness patients extensively interviewed in Wisconsin and Illinois reported having used the “Dank Vapes” brand.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. CDC recommends against using vapes with marijuana ingredient."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ac85cd2227d4d6188addfdb25daed1c",
            "input": "NightstaRx plans to develop and sell therapies for retinal dystrophies - degenerative conditions affecting vision - by building on work carried out at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, it said on Thursday. Oxford-based researchers reported two weeks ago that an early-stage clinical trial using gene therapy had shown promise in a handful of patients with a progressive form of blindness called choroideremia. The company has an exclusive license to the intellectual property underpinning the Oxford gene therapy programme. Choroideremia is caused by a mutation in a gene that makes a protein called REP1. It affects an estimated one in 50,000 people and causes sufferers, who are mainly men, to lose their sight gradually as the cells in the retina degenerate. ($1 = 0.6041 British pounds)",
            "output": [
                "New British biotech firm to tap gene therapy for blindness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b0cd8bdef8241e0beba97d90a727e91",
            "input": "Health and fitness experts advise to starve a fever of exercise. But feeding a cold moderately, with a brisk walk, may not be a bad idea. “The classic line from every sports medicine doctor is, ‘If you can do it, do it. If you can’t, don’t,’” said Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, author of “Running Doc’s Guide to Healthy Running.”  Usually if symptoms are confined to above the neck, exercising is OK, he explained. But if you’re running a fever of 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 degrees Celsius) or higher, skip it. Body heat rises during exercise due to increased metabolism, explained Maharam, who practices medicine in New York City. If you start high, your body’s way of cooling you down is out of balance. “If fever gets too high, you break down proteins, maybe in the kidneys or liver,” he said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 425 million case of colds and flu occur annually in the United States. The average person has about three respiratory infections per year. Dr. David C. Nieman, a professor of health sciences at Appalachian State University, North Carolina Research Campus, said research shows that regular, moderate aerobic exercise strengthens the immune system, and that people who exercise report fewer colds than their inactive peers. Nieman said five days or more of aerobic activity per week was found to be a powerful factor in lowering the number of sick days. “Even three to four days was effective. To be avoided was being sedentary,” he explained. But when animals infected with a systemic virus are forced to exercise in fever and pain, studies show that their symptoms are exacerbated, prolonged, and sometimes life-threatening. “It’s very dangerous.” said Nieman, who has written about the impact of exercise on the common cold. “If you have flu or virus with fever and pain, the best remedy is bed rest. The worst thing is to sweat it out with exercise.”  He said common cold and flu viruses can stay on objects, such as door handles, treadmills and computer keyboards, for hours. The main route to infection is through touching one’s mouth or nose with unwashed hands. Patrick Strait, of Snap Fitness, a franchiser of gyms with locations worldwide, said this time of year fitness centers step up cleaning efforts because they see a lot more traffic and so many people catch colds and the flu. “It’s a public place where a lot of people are sweating,” said Strait. “We tell manager/owners to clean once an hour, wash down the equipment with bleach, etc.”  He urged clients to wipe down equipment and wash hands often. “And if you’re sick, don’t come to the gym,” he said. Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, said some days symptoms dictate scaling back your workout or, if you’re contagious, skipping the gym entirely. “Always listen to your body,” she said. “It might be a good idea to exercise at home or privately.”  Nieman said that while moderate exercise strengthens the immune system, elite athletes will experience a rise in stress hormones and a dip in immunity after about 90 minutes of high-intensity activity. Maharam said the immunity of marathoners is decreased for up to 72 hours after a race. During that time, the athletes are more susceptible to colds, flu, and, most commonly, the so-called “marathon sniffles.”  He said symptoms usually subside within 48 hours. “At the end of a race, when you’re all sweaty and they’re all sweaty, you don’t need to be hugging and kissing people,” Maharam said. “Your immune system isn’t as strong as it was.”",
            "output": [
                "Working out when to exercise in the cold and flu season."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ad50b62e50844fbba4af41fa19c65d8",
            "input": "It is one of the first times researchers have shown that a truly autonomous surgical robot can navigate inside the heart, not controlled by a doctor with a joystick, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Science Robotics . Heart surgeons routinely push a thin tube called a catheter through twisting and turning blood vessels to make repairs in the heart without open surgery. But how does a robotic version find its own way through moving heart tissue and with blood swishing in the way? Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital turned the catheter’s camera tip into essentially an “optical whisker,” said cardiac bioengineering chief Pierre Dupont, the lead researcher. Just as cockroaches navigate along walls and rats reach out with their whiskers, the catheter maps its path through the heart, tapping periodically against the heart’s valve and wall ever so lightly — with about the force of a stick of butter sitting in your hand, Dupont said. The technology combines the camera’s images with machine learning to interpret what tissue it’s touching and how hard. “This robot is trying to walk along the wall of the heart until it gets to the valve,” Dr. Uma Duvvuri of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who heads a robotic innovation lab but wasn’t part of Wednesday’s study. “That’s a pretty exciting development but this is still very, very preliminary.” The demonstration technology is still years away from any operating room, and isn’t designed to replace a surgeon, Dupont said. Instead, he said it might free up a surgeon’s time to focus on harder tasks, comparing it to a plane’s autopilot — and also reduce the time patients and medical staff are exposed to X-rays that currently are needed for navigation. “The easiest part of autonomy in surgery is the technology,” Dupont said. “The hardest parts are the politics, the regulatory” approval and legal efforts. Dupont’s team tested the robotic catheter in 83 procedures in live pigs in a lab. The device found its target, on average taking seconds longer than a doctor threading a catheter into place. But Dupont said the robotic catheter will learn, just like humans, and get better and faster with more practice. Russ Taylor, a medical robotics specialist at Johns Hopkins University, called the technology clever and the study “a significant achievement, but I wouldn’t flag it as a breakthrough.” Robots with different levels of autonomy have been used in surgery for radiation therapy and orthopedics, said Taylor, who wasn’t part of the research. And Pittsburgh’s Duvvuri pointed to studies with a robot that can stitch tissues together without human help. Still, true autonomy, “in my humble opinion, it’s still a hammer looking for a nail,” said Duvvuri, who couldn’t think of an area where it would improve a procedure. And while the new study focused on a potential heart use, Duvvuri said adding that sensing technology to catheters could have other uses, such as helping to diagnose risky growths in the colon. Added Hopkins’ Taylor, “I see things evolving where the machine keeps undertaking more and more discrete tasks while working in partnership with the humans.” ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Robotic device winds its own way through beating pig heart."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2f74734cf804a12b74ff82e29ef2a25",
            "input": "Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved the county’s application Friday, making it the ninth county in the state to receive approval to move into phase two of the four-phase reopening process. Those counties can allow restaurants to open at 50% of capacity. Hair and nail salons, tattoo and makeup artists, and stores also can start reopening with additional protections in place. Counties applying for a quicker reopening must currently have a population of less than 75,000 and no new cases of COVID-19 in the last three weeks, among other stipulations, in order to be approved. The other eight counties of the 39 in Washington that can begin the second phase include: Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Stevens and Wahkiakum. Inslee and health officials have said other counties may enter phase two on June 1, depending on public-health COVID-19 data. Reopening businesses must comply with health and safety requirements outlined in their industry’s guidance, officials said. More than 17,950 people in Washington state have tested positive for the coronavirus and at least 992 have died. The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, and the vast majority recover. But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness and death in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.",
            "output": [
                "Whitman County 9th county approved for phase 2 reopening."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db1954b67f454bea9f6b768a755d062a",
            "input": "\"Among the flurry of policies President Donald Trump put in force in his first week was to reimpose a ban on taxpayer dollars going to overseas groups that have anything to do with abortion. The so-called Mexico City policy was born under President Ronald Reagan and since then, with partisan regularity, Republican presidents invoke it and Democratic ones reject it. On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., warned that Trump’s version was even more extreme than those of his GOP predecessors. \"\"Previously, under President Reagan and the Bush administrations, this policy applied only to family planning funding,\"\" Shaheen said. \"\"But under President Trump's order, it applies to every program that falls under global health assistance. This means that it puts at risk 15 times more funding and millions more women and families.\"\" We compared the policies of all four Republican presidents and found that on paper, Shaheen’s number is largely correct, but there’s uncertainty surrounding Trump’s policy. The first Mexico City policy Reagan administration officials announced a new U.S. family planning policy at the 1984 International Conference on Population in Mexico City. It required all nongovernmental organizations, foreign and domestic, receiving aid from the United States to agree that they would not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other countries. This applied to U.S. family planning programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development. President George H. W. Bush left the Reagan policy in place. President Bill Clinton rescinded it, and President George W. Bush brought it back with the focus still on family planning through the U.S. Agency for International Development. But in 2003, Bush expanded the reach of the policy, instructing the secretary of state to apply it to \"\"all assistance for voluntary population planning.\"\" Even as he did that, Bush excluded a number of groups and programs. \"\"Such organizations do not include multilateral organizations that are associations of governments,\"\" Bush wrote. \"\"This policy shall not apply to foreign assistance furnished pursuant to the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003.\"\" With those words, Bush exempted some of the largest and highest profile global health programs. Those programs, experts told us, dwarfed any other programs at the State Department that Bush’s order might have affected. Trump’s presidential memorandum to reinstate the Mexico City policy is broader. In addition to the head of USAID, it is addressed to the departments of State and Health and Human Services. \"\"I direct the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the extent allowable by law, to implement a plan to extend the requirements of the reinstated Memorandum to global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies.\"\" The operative phrase is \"\"global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies.\"\" Trump’s order provides no exceptions. It’s unclear exactly how the Trump administration will interpret those words. We asked the White House press office for details and did not hear back. The experts we reached told us they too were in the dark. Comparing family planning and global health programs The pipeline of family planning and global health programs is more complicated than you might expect. Governments agencies often contract with nonprofits which in turn subcontract out to smaller organizations in countries around the world. Jennifer Kates, director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said this makes it difficult to know the real impact of the order. \"\"Not all of the organizations that directly or indirectly receive U.S. government global health support carry out the activities prohibited by the policy, but figuring that out will take some time,\"\" Kates told us. However, Kates said that in theory, Trump’s policy puts a lot more funding on the line. \"\"Whereas family planning assistance represents about $600 million per year, global health funding overall is close to $10 billion,\"\" Kates said. Data gathered by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation allows us to tease out exactly which programs Bush exempted from the Mexico City policy, but that Trump has included (see this IHME data graphic). Remember, Bush kept money for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis off the table, as well as U.S. support for programs involving multiple nations, the big ones being the Global Fund and United Nations programs. Add all of those up and you get $9.7 billion. That’s about 15 times as much money as the United States spends on family planning, which was the core program affected across all three previous Republican administrations. Shaheen said millions of women and families might be affected. In spending, the single largest global health program is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. According to the latest report to Congress, PEPFAR treated 9.5 million people in 2015, at a cost of about $6.8 billion. Trump, along with his Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, has voiced support for PEPFAR. But in theory, since many HIV/AIDS programs include a family planning component, the programs that touch those people might be affected by Trump’s Mexico City policy. If the policy extends to malaria programs, the numbers climb dramatically. In 2015, American dollars protected over 16 million people with indoor spraying and many more through the distribution of nearly 30 million bed nets. Our ruling Shaheen said Trump’s Mexico City policy has a much broader reach compared to past Republican presidents, putting 15 times as much money \"\"at risk,\"\" as well as millions of women and families. On paper, the numbers support that comparison. Previous Republican administrations applied the abortion funding policy to family planning programs, which amount today to about $600 million. Trump included all global health spending, which is nearly $10 billion. There is no question Trump’s approach is broader and that millions more people could be affected. The White House has not clarified how it will interpret the policy. Its reach could be much narrower than the full scope of global programs, but Shaheen included the caveat that certain dollars were \"\"at risk,\"\" not that they definitely would be affected. It’s also true that organizations facing funding cuts could drop activities related to abortion and the funds would continue to flow.",
            "output": [
                "\"Jeanne Shaheen Says Donald Trump's abortion rule \"\"puts at risk 15 times more funding and millions more women and families ... than previous similar policies by Republican presidents.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-141d9acac7c744d1b88d6e2cd6d0d1c8",
            "input": "NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reported Tuesday that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana has the second-highest rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The CDC’s 2016 STD Surveillance Report was released in late September. Louisiana had roughly 16 syphilis cases per 100,000 people. Gail Bolan with the CDC said that babies born with syphilis represent a systems failure as “all it takes is a simple STD test and antibiotic treatment to prevent this enormous heartache.” Louisiana’s chlamydia rate was nearly 680 cases per 100,000 people. Gonorrhea was around 230 cases per 100,000. A CDC report released last year said Louisiana had the second-highest rate of HIV diagnoses. ___ Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com",
            "output": [
                "Louisiana ranks 2nd for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis rates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a92d6394307a4ae084506c12f0e34c34",
            "input": "The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Thursday that students entering kindergarten and first grade will need two doses of a hepatitis A vaccine. Students entering seventh grade will need one dose of the meningococcal ACWY vaccine. And students starting their junior year will need the meningococcal ACWY vaccine if they have not been vaccinated before their 16th birthday. The new requirements take effect Aug. 2. Kansas allows exemptions from vaccines only for medical and religious reasons. Health department Secretary Lee Norman said the agency collected public input before proposing the new requirements. He said meningitis and hepatitis A are both severe diseases that are preventable with vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "2 new vaccines required for some Kansas school students."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3559a7ac83e471e88f9f7c4b30e33dc",
            "input": "Eric and Ryan Jensen, brothers who are former owners of Colorado-based Jensen Farms, pleaded guilty in October to six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting linked to one of the deadliest U.S. outbreaks of food-borne illness. “I must deliver both justice and mercy at the same time,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty said during a hearing in Denver. Explaining his reason for not sending the brothers to jail, Hegarty said he wanted to preserve their ability to earn enough income to pay restitution of $150,000 each to the families of those who died and other victims in the case. Prosecutors said they recommended probation in the case because of the brothers’ demonstration of remorse and their cooperation with authorities investigating the outbreak. Both will be allowed to leave their homes for work, to attend church and for certain educational purposes under the sentence. Each brother had faced a possible maximum sentence of six years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. The Jensens’ cantaloupes were processed and packed at a plant in Granada, Colorado, but equipment there failed to wash the melons with enough anti-bacterial solution to remove listeria bacteria, prosecutors said in court papers. U.S. health officials have reported that a total of 147 people in 28 states fell ill in the outbreak, including 33 who died. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaime Pena, however, said in court on Tuesday the death toll was closer to 40. Pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable to listeria infection, which has a mortality rate of about 20 percent and is the third-leading cause of death from food poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, nausea or diarrhea, stiff neck, confusion and in severe cases convulsions and meningitis. The infection can also cause pregnant women to miscarry. Pena said the magnitude and scope of the Jensen Farms outbreak was a key reason for prosecuting the brothers, even though he believed they “did not intentionally and knowingly allow adulterated food to leave their premises.”  U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement the sentence “serves as a powerful reminder of farmers’ legal and moral responsibility for ensuring their product is safe.”  Before they were sentenced, the brothers each addressed the packed courtroom to apologize. “This is a huge tragedy for everyone involved, and we’re very sorry,” Eric Jensen said. Although many farmers and ranchers across the United States had expressed outrage that the Jensens were criminally charged for the outbreak, lawyers for both sides in the case said the prosecution had led to improvements in food safety controls.",
            "output": [
                "Colorado farmers get home detention for 2011 listeria outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8fd29fa240634910a45389529171b713",
            "input": "Contrary to regulatory rollbacks in many other environmental areas, the administration has called dealing with lead contamination in drinking water a priority. Communities and families in Flint, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, and elsewhere have had to grapple with high levels of lead in tap water and with regulatory failures dealing with the health threat. Lead in drinking water has been linked to developmental delays in children and can damage the brain, red blood cells and kidneys. It is most often caused by lead service lines — pipes connecting a home to a water main — or lead fixtures in a home or school. At a news conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced changes that include requiring water systems to test lead levels in water at schools and child care facilities. Other changes would require officials to identify the areas with the worst contamination and toughen procedures for sampling tap water. But Wheeler disappointed conservation groups by declining to lower the level of lead contamination in drinking water systems that triggers mandatory remediation. And another change would lower the amount of lead pipe that water systems have to replace each year once the threshold is hit, cutting it from 7% to 3%. That, according to Eric Olson at the Natural Resources Defense Council conservation group, would give water utilities about 20 more years to fully replace all the lead pipes in a contaminated system. Wheeler said a series of other, smaller changes in the new proposals are expected to offset that. Overall, he argued, the rule changes, if the White House ultimately adopts them, would mean leaking old lead pipes are “replaced at a much faster rate than ever before.” Betsy Southerland, a senior EPA water official under the Obama administration, said the new proposals fail to boost the urgency of the country’s rules, issued in 1991, for cleaning up lead in water systems. In Flint on Thursday, the pediatrician and public health official who helped expose the city’s lead crisis treated children at her clinic as usual. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha also told The Associated Press that the EPA’s proposed changes were “a missed opportunity” for not lowering the action level for lead from where it has stood for decades. In that time, “science has taught us so much about lead — we’ve learned there’s no acceptable level,” Hanna-Attisha said. “I was hopeful the new rule would have respected current science.” ____ Jeff Karoub contributed from Detroit.",
            "output": [
                "EPA proposes rewrite of rules on lead contamination in water."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-973f36218f7949dd8e14636fe6e5b83d",
            "input": "The 32-year-old first-term legislator, who owns a business that provides in-home health care, is seeking the seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte. Winter is the first Democrat to announce plans to run for the seat held by Republicans since 1997. Winter said Tuesday he wants to improve access to health care while reducing costs and protecting coverage for people with preexisting conditions. Winter says he has a preexisting condition, which he did not disclose, and that his sister has a life-threatening chronic health condition. He says when he was campaigning for his state House seat he heard numerous concerns about access to health care and its sometimes overwhelming costs.",
            "output": [
                "Montana state Rep. Tom Winter announces run for US House."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a5db7935cf664a5fa902d528e3180dde",
            "input": "“That was the ultimate goal: to drink a beer by myself,” said Sorto, a 34-year-old from Los Angeles who became a quadriplegic after a 2002 gunshot wound. Things may be looking up for Sorto and others with similar disabilities. Scientists on Thursday described a better way to harness mind power to move prosthetic limbs. Microelectrodes, implanted in the part of the brain that controls a person’s intention to perform a movement, enabled a patient to fluidly guide a robotic arm, they said. In a study published in the Science journal, surgeons at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California placed a pair of small electrode arrays into Sorto’s posterior parietal cortex, or PPC. These neural prosthetics were then connected to computers that processed Sorto’s brain signals and determined his intent, allowing him to control a robotic arm mounted to a table nearby, or a computer cursor. “Mr. Sorto was able to learn to grasp different objects, play ‘rock-paper-scissors,’ play video games, drink a beverage,” said California Institute of Technology neuroscientist Richard Andersen, who led the study. “The PPC is a rich source of signals that can be used to determine the goals of a paralyzed subject,” said Andersen. “These signals can be used to control ‘smart’ robotics and computers that can work out the details of movement of external devices such as a robotic limb.”  Neural prosthetic devices have previously been implanted in paralyzed patients’ motor cortex, the part of the brain that directly controls body movement. However, while those patients could control a robotic limb, movement was delayed and jerky. Implanting the neuroprosthetics in the part of the brain that controls the intent to move yielded a more natural motion. Sorto said he had a few tasks lined up. “On the top of the list is that I want to be able to groom myself. I want to be able to brush my teeth by myself,” he said. And he was indeed able to drink his own beer. “When I was able to do it with the robotic arm, it just reassured me that somehow in the future, people with my disability will be able to have some sort of independence,” said Sorto. “And with that will come some sort of self-pride.”",
            "output": [
                "Mind-controlled prosthetic limbs allow precise, smooth movement."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ca7f1318878410eb4ed6d32cd16ae89",
            "input": "Activists and advocates planned to gather at City Hall Plaza on Sunday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the Health Care Rights Law. Organizers say they’re mobilizing in response to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposal that would tell health care providers and insurance companies to ignore the law, which is designed to guard against gender discrimination. It was enacted as part of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition says flouting the law “will deny transgender people access to live-saving care by falsely telling doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies that they can turn away transgender people.”",
            "output": [
                "Rally to demand continued transgender access to health care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9391f545eb324a28b3a95a7711338b69",
            "input": "“This cannot be happening to me, I’m the guy who runs or walks three-five miles every day,” Clarkson recounted of the April 26 incident in guest column provided to media outlets this week. “Looked up at the call-button, hesitated — I thought ‘we’re only 30 minutes out of Seattle, maybe this will get better.’ But something inside my head said, ‘Stop fooling yourself.’ I reached up and hit the button, an act that likely saved my life,′ Clarkson wrote. Clarkson was flying from Louisiana to Seattle when the symptoms of the heart attack started. After he called for help, flight attendants identified a nurse on board the flight who took his blood pressure. “Her eyes got really wide when she saw the results,” Clarkson recalled. The nurse said paramedics would need to be standing by when the plane landed in Seattle. “The paramedics came on the plane while other passengers stayed seated — a big thanks to everyone for their patience — and I walked out to the gate with them. They performed an EKG, looked at it and said ‘yeah, you’re not going home tonight,’ and then called medics to transport me to the nearby hospital,” Clarkson wrote. He went into cardiac arrest just minutes later, with five medical professionals standing around him. “I remember looking up at them from my back on the floor and realizing what had happened. Those guys saved my life and I owe them my thanks,” Clarkson wrote. Clarkson said his heart attack was caused by a sudden blockage of blood flow in his right coronary artery that ruptured and turned into a full blockage. He was taken into surgery, where two stents were placed in his heart to keep the artery open. Before the surgery, Clarkson said the operating staff might have thought he was delusional, however. Every time they asked him how old he was, he replied with the question: “What time is it?” “I finally said, ‘Look, if it’s after midnight then I’m 60,’” he told them. “They wished me a happy birthday. What a party.” Clarkson said his experience has prompted him to urge others to live a healthier lifestyle, cut back on sugar, carbs and salt, and get checked by your doctor. He also said people need to know the signs of a heart attack that include pain in the chest, arm, discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat or arm, sweating, nausea, vomiting or dizziness. “If you experience these symptoms, don’t worry about making a fuss, let someone know or call for help. Better to experience a little embarrassment than to risk losing your life,” Clarkson wrote.",
            "output": [
                "Alaska AG thinks hitting plane’s call button saved his life."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7cb958c4bb1d4a8fa84f4ce9301be336",
            "input": "The Baltimore Sun reported that Catherine Pugh continues to convalesce at home and is under doctors’ supervision. She abruptly took leave April 1. “While her well-known tireless energy has been diminished by this illness, her doctors are confident she will recover her health and strength in due course,” Pugh’s personal attorney, Steven Silverman, told The Sun. “I know she is grateful for the good wishes of concern and support that she’s received.” Pugh was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in late March, before she took leave and just as the scandal began to grow. The scandal involves her sales of her “Healthy Holly” children’s books to the University of Maryland Medical System, where she sat on the board. Details also emerged that she had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for her books from entities doing business with the city of Baltimore. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan asked a state prosecutor to begin a criminal investigation. Many city and state lawmakers have called for her resignation. All but one member of the Baltimore City Council have called for Pugh to step down. U.S. Rep. Andy Harris told The Sun that Baltimore needs a new leader. “There are enough questions — legitimate questions cast about this — that I think the mayor probably can no longer be an effective leader of the city,” the Republican said. But the people closest to Pugh say her health, not the scandal, is keeping her from public view. “She’s recovering day by day,” said James Bentley, her spokesman. “She’s focused on getting healthy, and remains committed to Baltimore.” The Sun reported that Pugh, 69, has not publicly faced serious medical issues previously. Neither she nor her advisers have offered details about the nature of her pneumonia. Dr. Paul Auwaerter, clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the newspaper that recovery times can vary. After people seek treatment, and particularly if they’ve been hospitalized, they are on average “feeling better within 48 to 72 hours,” though it “might take five to seven days” to bounce back completely, he said. But he said it can take longer if complicating factors are involved, such as stress. ___ Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com",
            "output": [
                "Advisers: Baltimore’s mayor still recovering from pneumonia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90c2570bb6f64d9b9bbd62ff697caec8",
            "input": "When the Mercyhurst team arrives at a crime scene, members are tasked with telling the story of how human remains arrived there, how long they were in place, and whether the remains were affected by weather, animals or other humans. “It’s all about reconstructing past events,” said Dennis Dirkmaat, department chairman of the Mercyhurst University forensic science program. Dirkmaat, a forensic anthropologist, has led his students to scenes across Pennsylvania and beyond to help coroners and medical examiners answer questions crucial to each case. With forensic anthropology, he said, investigators don’t bring bones to a lab to be identified, at least not at first. Vital information exists at the scene where a body is found, including the origin and spatial distribution of the remains. “Each particular case is a new scenario,” he said. DNA can easily provide the identity of human remains, Dirkmaat said. But his students are educated in identifying trauma in bone and gathering information at each scene that could show whether the individual died from homicide, suicide, accidental or natural causes, as well as whether remains were moved or scattered by animals, gravity, water, wind or human activity. “We always search for where the body was originally,” Dirkmaat said, and look at whether remains are still articulated - together in the proper order or pattern - or if there are signs of decomposition. “The police or coroners, when they call us in, they have some idea of who this might be and how long ago it occurred, and so we start with that hypothesis and we try to prove or disprove it from the evidence.” Dirkmaat said he’s seen an average of 100 cases each year in the nearly two decades that he and his students have assisted police and coroners at outdoor crime scenes. “In an academic setting, I don’t think anyone’s come close to that number,” he said. ‘Processing the scene’ Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees called Dirkmaat in May concerning human remains discovered near a Johnstown trail. The Mercyhurst team helped local officials identify the remains of Nancy Giles, who had gone missing in October. “Dealing with the remains is one process, but the entire scene has to be cleared methodically,” Lees said. “It’s a diligent and slow process, but one that must be done. (Dirkmaat) and his team are second to none. Processing the scene will have a long-term impact on the investigation.” Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said Dirkmaat was the first person he called last September, when the remains of two homicide victims were found along Ligonier Pike in Conemaugh Township. “Anytime you have skeletal remains, you have to have (the Mercyhurst University team),” Miller said. “They’re qualified as experts in court. (Dennis) is well-known and well-respected.” Rusty Styer, Bedford County coroner, has called in Dirkmaat and his students several times. The latest instance was last October, when remains were located by a hunter near Route 30 in Snake Spring Township. The recovery and mapping capabilities are “top notch,” Styer said, and the Mercyhurst team accurately captures the location of every bone and piece of evidence, which he said is vital to the work of coroners and the police. “It’s essential to have it,” he said. “They turn over every leaf and every rock.” ‘Practical experience’ Dirkmaat said he enjoys his work for a variety of reasons: including seeing his students graduate from the program and earn their own success in the field, while navigating the challenges each case brings. He arrived at Mercyhurst University in 1991 with a doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh. One of his first assignments was to help then-Cambria County Coroner John Barron with a case involving human remains, coincidentally found near the site off Roosevelt Boulevard where Giles’ remains were found in May. From there, “it just expanded,” Dirkmaat said, as coroners spoke with each other about these types of cases they were working through, and the resources he and his team could provide. Dirkmaat said he and his students have worked on cases all over Pennsylvania and in parts of New York and Ohio. “It’s a pretty big territory,” he said. “And I attribute it to the fact that we can do the forensic archaeology. We can process a scene for the police and for the coroner’s office.” The hands-on experience has given the program its good reputation, Dirkmaat said. “The students that I’ve produced are well-trained forensic anthropologists,” he said. “There are really very few, if any, programs that give as much hands-on practical experience as we do. Some of the graduate students that just recently graduated have 15 to 20 forensic cases under their belts.” Dirkmaat recalled getting a call about a plane crash in Westmoreland County the day before that year’s classes started, before he’d even met his new students. On the first day of the semester, he took the students to the scene of that crash. “The first day of classes, they were working a scene,” he said, “right off the bat.” Career opportunities Dr. Erin Chapman, forensic anthropologist with the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office, is one of Dirkmaat’s former students. During a recent lecture at Mercyhurst, Chapman said she is assigned 40 to 50 cases each year, 60 percent of which are trauma-related. Chapman said real-world scenarios encountered at Mercyhurst make that master’s degree program in forensic anthropology stand above similar options at other schools. “I think it’s the difference between having a job and not,” she said. Mercyhurst’s program is an attractive commodity, Dirkmaat said, due to the hands-on experience his students receive in assisting with cases. The approach involves applied learning, because there’s only so much forensic anthropologists can gain from a textbook, Chapman said. Over the past five years, Dirkmaat has seen more of his students explore careers in investigation, he said. About half graduate from the Mercyhurst program and get their doctorate degrees, he said, while the other half go into investigatory positions with coroners’ and medical examiners’ offices. “There’s a lot they can do,” he said of his students. Dirkmaat envisions a day when police will be able to collect DNA from human remains at outdoor scenes with the click of a device. Although the capabilities of forensic anthropology continue to expand - almost daily - through technology and research, Dirkmaat said bone identification will continue to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to processing a scene. “If you just say, ‘I only work with bones,’ you’ll become extinct,” he said. ?___ Glossary of terms . Forensic anthropology: The examination and excavation of human remains to assist law enforcement with identification, signs of trauma, estimated time of death and historical context of a crime scene. . Forensic taphonomy: The study of postmortem changes to human remains, including decomposition of soft tissue, animal activity, bone modification or human interference. . Forensic pathology: The examination of corpses through autopsy to determine a medical cause of death, collect medical evidence, order further laboratory tests such as X-rays, toxicology screens and samples of tissues or organs. . Total Station: A surveying instrument used to map and reconstruct accidents or crime scenes to preserve the locations of evidence and the context in which a death or accident occurred. ___ Local scenes worked by Mercyhurst team . 2010: An unmarked cemetery near site of 1800s location of Somerset Hospital, where an addition to SCI-Laurel Highlands was planned. Tribune-Democrat archives show workers realized they were uncovering rows of coffins during excavation, and officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections postponed work while Mercyhurst graduate students conducted research on each coffin’s contents. The remains were later relocated to a burial place away from the construction site. . November 2011: Dirkmaat and several of his students responded to Bedford Township near the Midway Travel Plaza of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where skeletal remains were found by hunters in a wooded area. The remains were later identified as 30-year-old Audrey Rock Phoenix, of Portland, Oregon, who was entered as an endangered missing person by the Portland Police Department six months prior. . November 2012: The discovery of human remains along the Great Allegheny Passage hiking trail in Larimer Township, Somerset County, were quickly identified by Dirkmaat and his team as 19-year-old Justine Jackson and led to the arrest of her boyfriend, Jonathan Beal. Beal eventually admitted to strangling and killing Jackson, then burying her, and was sentenced in 2013 to serve 10 to 24 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter. . December 2015: Mercyhurst University students helped investigate the scene of a fatal fire in Shade Township, Somerset County. Investigators and Dirkmaat’s students determined that Helen Kalanish, 56, died from smoke inhalation and her death was ruled accidental. . September 2017: Human remains found along Ligonier Pike in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County; later identified as homicide victims Damian Michael Staniszewski, 19, of Duncansville, and James Edward Smith, 32, of Portage, who were both reported missing in March 2017. State police then charged two Ohio men in the murder and allege it was retaliation for allegedly stealing drugs from a “stash house” in Johnstown. Devon Lee Wyrick and Samson Ezekiel Washington are both being held without bond at the Somerset County Jail awaiting trial. . October 2018: Human remains discovered near Route 30 in Bedford County, later identified as Robert E. Cochran, 27, of Canajoharie, New York, who had gone missing in 2013. Investigators said Cochran’s cause of death and the details of why he was in the area may never be determined, but the information from his family and Dirkmaat’s team did not include evidence of anything suspicious. . May 2019: Human remains found in shallow grave near the James Wolfe Sculpture Trail in Johnstown, later determined to be those of 40-year-old Nancy Giles, a city woman who had gone missing in October. According to Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees, Giles’ body was found “approximately two feet off the trail and two feet down,” by a man who was searching for metal objects in the area. Dental records were used to identify the remains, and, to confirm the identification, investigators used the serial number of a medical device found with the remains that matched Giles’ medical records. Lees has called Giles’ death highly suspicious, but has not released her cause or manner of death. Police are still investigating and have not yet made any arrests in the case. ___ Online: https://bit.ly/31YjAC5 https://bit.ly/2NqbvTw ___ Information from: The Tribune-Democrat, http://www.tribune-democrat.com",
            "output": [
                "University forensic science team reveals stories of the dead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9ea69e039a534120a85a192ea4d6b613",
            "input": "Everett, a working-class city of about 108,000 north of Seattle, sued Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma in January, alleging the company knowingly allowed pills to be funneled into the black market and into the city and did nothing to stop it. Purdue filed a motion to dismiss in March. Before hearing arguments Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez called the case an interesting one with some novel legal issues. Purdue attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told the judge the case should be tossed for a number of reasons. Among them, the city fails to show a direct relationship between the company’s conduct and the alleged harms. “It’s a textbook example of remoteness,” Fitzgerald said. He argued there are nine steps — including wrongdoing by pharmacies and criminal gangs — between Purdue’s conduct and the expenses the city incurred in responding to the problems of opioid addiction. The lawyer for the city, Christopher Huck, told the judge that emails and other internal documents show that Purdue knowingly put their painkillers into a supply chain they knew ended at an organized drug ring, and the city has suffered for it. The city should be allowed to make its case at trial, he said. “OxyContin has devastated the community and inflicted enormous harm,” said Huck, who was joined at the table by Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson. The injury here is the diversion and misuse of OxyContin and the damages is what the city had had to deal with that harm, Huck said. Three city council members, the police chief and others filled the benches in the courtroom Monday. “Our city has been significantly damaged. Obviously, we hope the case is not dismissed and goes forward on its merits,” the mayor said outside the courtroom. “Our community needs help. And clearly we believe our city has been damaged by this crisis.” Purdue knew their pills were going into the black market, had an obligation to report it and they didn’t do that, Stephanson said. Fitzgerald argued in court that there’s no proof Purdue was dealing to drug dealers and noted that Purdue provided pills to a wholesaler. The company argued Monday that the statute of limitations has passed for the city to file the lawsuit. In court documents, it also argued that city can’t hold it responsible for illegal trafficking when law enforcement officials knew and were already investigating criminal trafficking at issue. The lawsuit doesn’t say how much money the city is seeking. Stephanson said that will be determined in the weeks and months to come. Everett filed its lawsuit after the Los Angeles Times reported that Purdue had evidence that pointed to illegal trafficking of its pills but in many cases did nothing to notify authorities or stop the flow. That newspaper investigation prompted the city’s lawsuit. Last week, a second city in Washington state, Tacoma, sued Purdue Pharma and two other opioid manufacturers, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. That lawsuit alleges the companies made false and misleading statements about the benefits and risks of opioids to doctors and patients over the past two decades. ___ Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com",
            "output": [
                "City asks judge to let case against OxyContin maker proceed."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c776d60f476a4392bf9f86cb44284428",
            "input": "Castro spoke with party activists at a crowded house party in North Liberty after forming an exploratory committee last month. Castro said that he would announce his presidential campaign on Saturday in San Antonio and that he looked forward to meeting with Iowa voters before the first-in-the-nation caucuses next year. Castro said that he would lay out his vision for making the United States “the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation in the world.” He said that his plans will include expanding Medicare to allow access for all and addressing what he called a housing affordability crisis in which rising rents are squeezing the poor and middle class. Castro, who served as the nation’s housing secretary during President Barack Obama’s second term, also promised that he will not accept money from political action committees tied to corporations and unions. “What you’re going to hear from me is that I’m not taking that PAC money, that I support universal health care, and that I’ve shown in my time in public service an ability to stand with the people instead of the special interests, and I’ve taken action to do that,” said Castro, 44. Castro shook hands, spoke and fielded questions for an hour as guests sipped wine from plastic cups. He received a warm welcome from the activists, who said they were eager for someone who could defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. North Liberty is a fast-growing bedroom community that’s located near Iowa City in Johnson County, which has long been the state’s liberal stronghold. Castro’s visit was the latest activity in Iowa as the field of candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination begins to take shape. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts visited the state over the weekend after forming her own exploratory committee, and several more candidates are expected to join the race soon. Castro acknowledged that some Democrats will view his and other candidates’ decisions to not accept PAC money as tantamount to “bringing a knife to a gun fight.” But he said that the Democratic nominee will have no problem raising money from individuals who want change and that the decision sends an important message. “I think it says something, that if a candidate doesn’t take that money, they’re going to work for you,” he said. “If I’m elected, that’s what I’m going to do.”",
            "output": [
                "Castro vows to champion health care, housing during 2020 bid."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-347e371c924f4283ac8c0959e77a77b2",
            "input": "Cobalt is a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles, a fast-growing sector of the auto industry, and in metal alloys used to make jet engines. It was singled out in LME proposals to embed responsible sourcing principles into metal brands deliverable against its contracts, which include copper and zinc. Most of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, often from artisanal mines where several organizations have cited human rights abuses. The LME plan outlined last October involves suspending cobalt brands trading at a significant discount to its contract on the grounds that they may be seen as tainted. Now, objections by NGOs to a consultation on its plans could leave the exchange at risk of legal challenges from banned cobalt producers, metal industry sources say. The LME will publish its proposals this quarter. “The LME received 39 responses to its recent discussion paper on responsible sourcing,” the exchange said. “The LME’s role is now to identify a path forwards which balances the diverse views of its stakeholders (including civil society organizations), while achieving the LME’s stated aim of helping the broader metals industry embrace key principles of responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship.”  The letter from the NGOs said the LME should not immediately ban cobalt brands and that it should work with firms that produce them to ensure responsible sourcing. “It is short-sighted and irresponsible of the LME to single out cobalt and tin as higher risk metals above others, or to single out (artisanal) material as implicitly higher risk,” the letter signed by 14 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said. All companies involved with the exchange should implement responsible sourcing practices in line with the OECD Guidance, the letter dated Dec. 3 said. The OECD Guidance says companies should report in detail about their supply chains and advises on ways in which they can uncover and address human rights and corruption issues. “Heightened supply chain due diligence on cobalt, as with all other LME metals, must be triggered by assessment of all supply chain risks, including corruption risks,” the NGO letter said. Sources say the business of an exchange is to facilitate trade between buyers and sellers. “The NGOs don’t understand the difference between end consumers and the LME. The LME is a market of last resort, you can’t choose which metal to take or reject,” a metal trading source said. “Consumers can choose where they source their cobalt from, people buying on the LME can’t, that’s why there is such a deep discount between LME cobalt prices and (Fastmarkets MB)”  Cobalt prices published by Fastmarkets MB at around $44,000 a tonne are $12,000 a tonne higher than those for the LME’s contract, which was launched in 2010. However, the NGOs say singling out low-priced cobalt typically produced by artisanal miners ignores other “serious red flags” such as corruption by large-scale miners of all metals. “Is the LME trying to create a reputational green wash that allows it to say its members source responsibly because they tick some boxes,” said Sophie Pickles, who leads Global Witness’ work on conflict mineral. The director of “mines to market” at NGO Pact, Karen Hayes, said the LME’s plan lacked detail on implementation. “We are more than willing to work with the LME or any companies seeking to comply with the LME’s responsible sourcing standards,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "Fourteen NGOs oppose London Metal Exchange plans to ban tainted cobalt."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cef2196b37e4389b6ff5762c9d110f6",
            "input": "Outlining the effort, the Republican governor said it’s designed to lower costs and streamline health care for the future. “We need to prepare our health care system for the future, focus our efforts on achieving the best outcomes for patients and bring down costs,” Baker said in a statement. He said the legislation would “address the challenges associated with supporting an aging population, individuals with a chronic illness, or those in need of behavioral health services.” Baker was state health secretary and the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care before becoming governor and has taken a special interest in the issue. His legislation would outlaw “surprise” bills for emergency room care and rein in certain hospital fees. Baker cited the example of an individual who gets an unexpected bill after going to the emergency room for a broken arm and getting an X-ray by a radiologist who turns out to be out of the patient’s insurance network. Drug companies would be penalized for raising prices on medications by more than 2% a year over any cost adjustments for inflation. Primary care and behavioral health care are two main focuses. Baker’s office said the administration has invested $1.9 billion in behavioral care since January 2015, but the system is still failing patients. “Consumers consistently report long waits for appointments, lack of treatment available at the right time and at the right place and difficulty finding providers who take insurance,” it said. Baker’s overhaul also would require retail clinics and urgent care centers — which are exploding in growth nationwide as health care options after hours and on weekends when traditional doctors’ offices are closed — to provide care to Medicaid patients and other low-income individuals. “There is currently no clear definition of urgent care services in Massachusetts, which can lead to confusion among insurers and patients and differing oversight,” the governor’s office said. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a major industry union, said Friday the legislation “is a good first start as Massachusetts works to make health care more affordable and accessible for patients.”",
            "output": [
                "Baker takes aim at ‘surprise’ bills in health care overhaul."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d35bed69fb7c4d908521af3c50034bac",
            "input": "(01/16/02) The           family of little Michael requests fresh prayer. He is going for           an emergency MRI because of excruciating headaches. (7/12/01)  According           to Michael’s family, a more recent           check-up shows that Michael’s tumor, which showed signs of shrinkage           in a previous check-up, did not shrink any further this time. The doctors are pondering what it means and what to do next. He           may need radiation treatments. He’s been getting headaches and           has had trouble taking the oral chemo treatments. If he does           need radiation, the family will have to move to Boston for six weeks           to be near the treatment center. The family thanks everyone who is praying. Comments",
            "output": [
                " This       is a prayer request for 2 year old Michael Novenche from New York.  The       email says he’s got a brain tumor, underwent surgery, but only a portion       of the tumor was removed and he is now going through       chemotherapy.     "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-163603ac663e40f2b5554313bbbec4b3",
            "input": "Snow King Mountain has developed an operations plan and will open for summer season as scheduled May 23, officials at the ski hill in Jackson announced Thursday. The announcement came as Wyoming prepared to ease up on public health measures. Starting Friday, people could gather in groups as large as 25, up from 10 previously, and dine in at restaurants where servers wear masks and keep tables widely separated. Summer offerings at Snow King will include a scenic lift, mini golf, ropes course and zip lines. The Kings Grill restaurant will open for prepackaged snacks and drinks. Bikes, stand-up paddle boards and kid kayaks will be available for rent and guided hikes will be available for small groups. Employees in close contact with guests will wear masks and enforce social-distancing guidelines. Wyoming on Friday had 701 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, of which 487 had recovered. Seven people had died of the illness. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.",
            "output": [
                "Shut by COVID-19, Wyoming ski hill to reopen for summer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-276a4473c3d649c5aa747ca16848553a",
            "input": "\"Pennsylvania’s heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis is one of the most acute problems facing the state, and the number of overdose deaths has skyrocketed in recent years. Sitting politicians and candidates for office are racing to propose solutions. Among them is Democrat Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County commissioner and a candidate for attorney general who dedicated a page on his campaign website to fighting the opioid epidemic. But it was the stat he used at the beginning of his platform that caught our eye. \"\"Overdosing,\"\" his campaign wrote, \"\"is now the number one accidental killer in our Commonwealth.\"\" At first glance, it’s a stunning statistic. But this one checks out to be , as drug overdose deaths have increased over the years while car crash deaths have been on the decline for decades. We took a look at the numbers to compare the leading causes of death in Pennsylvania and compare those to the number of deaths related to drugs. Drug overdose deaths have sharply risen in recent years. The most recent data shows that upwards of 3,500 people died of a drug overdose in Pennsylvania last year, representing a significant increase from 2014, according to a recent report released by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association. Nearly 2,500 people died in Pennsylvania of a drug overdose in 2014, and Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of drug overdose deaths among young men. A report released last summer by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation put these figures into context: The number of deaths by drug overdose first surpassed car accidents in 2011, and the difference has only become more stark since then. Drug overdose deaths now surpass car accident deaths in 36 states. According to PennDOT, 1,195 were killed as a result of a motor vehicle crash in Pennsylvania in 2014, and the 2014 total of reportable traffic crashes is the fourth lowest total since 1950. (PennDOT defines a crash as one in which an injury or a fatality occurs or at least one of the vehicles involved requires towing from the scene.) That means that in 2014, drug overdoses represented double the number of deaths compared to motor vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania and is by far the leading accidental cause of death in the state. Though drug overdose data is available for 2015 and 2014, the most comprehensive data with regard to the reason for all deaths in the state is from 2013. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported that in 2013, 4,891 people died of an \"\"accident\"\" -- a category that includes drug overdoses. Of those, the Center for Disease Control reports 2,426 were drug overdoses. In 2013, 1,965 people died from an accident that wasn’t a drug overdose or in a vehicle while 1,313 people were killed as a result of a car accident. But it’s important to note: Drug overdoses are the No. 1 form of accidental death in Pennsylvania, not the No. 1 overall reason for death. That’s heart disease, followed by cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease. In addition to illnesses and accidents, there were 630 homicides in Pennsylvania in 2013. Here’s a look at the top five causes of death in the commonwealth in 2013: Heart disease - 31,537 Cancer - 28,418 Chronic lower respiratory disease - 6,702 Cardiovascular disease - 6,575 Total accident deaths (including drug overdoses) - 4,891 The opioid addiction and drug overdose problem is increasing the most in 1. Rural areas of Pennsylvania ravaged by addiction to prescription drugs and 2. In Philadelphia, which had the highest drug-related death rate per 100,000 people in 2014. That year, 655 people died of a drug overdose in Philadelphia and heroin was present in 349 of those deaths. According to a report by the Drug Enforcement Agency, the increasing abuse of heroin and cocaine as well as opioids like fentanyl and oxycodone caused the spike in drug overdoses in the city over the last decade. There was a 33 percent increase in drug-related deaths in Philadelphia between 2013 and 2014 alone. Susquehanna, Cambria, Fayette and Wayne counties round out the top five counties in the state where drug overdose deaths have increased most rapidly. Our ruling Attorney General candidate Josh Shapiro wrote in his campaign platform for fighting the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania that \"\"Overdosing is now the number one accidental killer in our Commonwealth.\"\" Data from The Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control and the several other independent reports shows that overdosing has surpassed car crashes and other accidental causes as the leading accidental cause of death in Pennsylvania.\"",
            "output": [
                "Overdosing is now the number one accidental killer in our Commonwealth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b975c3e62b554aa1b432bfe1e4d94819",
            "input": "The two-time Oscar-winner was able to overcome her insecurity with a strong support base of friends, therapy sessions and by writing a memoir. But she knows others aren’t as fortunate as her, particularly teenagers trying to find themselves while avoiding life’s pitfalls. To help, Fonda started the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential, which has sought to prevent teen pregnancy and improve adolescent health. Fonda founded GCAPP in 1995, when Georgia had one of the highest teen birth and pregnancy rates in the country. Since then, the state saw a 66 percent decrease in the birth rate for teens between the ages of 15 to 19, according to state data. “Teen pregnancy is a factor of poverty and hopelessness,” said Fonda, also known as a political activist. “We have to give kids hope, so they won’t engage in risky behavior.” Fonda’s foundation will hold a fundraiser to help her cause. An 80th birthday celebration called “Eight Decades of Jane” will be held on Saturday with hopes of raising at least $1 million for her nonprofit organization. Singer-songwriters James Taylor and Carole King will perform. Guests expected to attend include CNN founder and ex-husband Ted Turner, Sally Field, Rosie O’Donnell, Diane Lane and Troy Garity, who is Fonda’s son. In a recent interview, Fonda, who stars in the Netflix show “Grace and Frankie,” spoke with The Associated Press about the reason she founded GCAPP, how she continues to grow as an actor and the continuous sexual harassment claims in Hollywood. ____ AP: What made you want to focus on teen pregnancy prevention? Fonda: In 1994, I was traveling around Georgia and taken to a maternity ward in Albany, where I saw a 14-year-old girl who was pregnant. There was nothing much I could do for her. ... I knew that there was a 90 percent chance she was sexual abused at her age. I learned she lived in a tarpaper shack with no windows or plumbing. ... I didn’t say anything to her. I just kissed her forehead and left. I cried. AP: What are the misconceptions about teen pregnancy? Fonda: Middle-class kids don’t get pregnant in large numbers, because they see a future compromised if that happens to them. It has nothing to do with race. White kids who live in poor areas of the country have high rates of teen pregnancy, and so does every other race and ethnicity. It’s a factor of poverty, not race. AP: The fundraiser will also recognize your life achievements. How do you continue to grow as an actress? Fonda: Stay curious. Pay attention. Do the work. Get deep. ... You have to do in the work. There aren’t any shortcuts. AP: You’ve been around Hollywood for decades. Why do you think women are stepping forward now and making sexual harassment claims? Fonda: The reason it’s happening now is because of who our president is. He’s a perpetrator (President Donald Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct but has denied the allegations). Many women are horrified that a man like that has been elected into office. He’s triggered a lot of memories in many women who have been victims. I think that it was white famous actresses who stepped forward and kind of opened the floodgates, and now people are realizing how much of an epidemic it is. Now, they’re doing something about it. AP: How do you feel about those who have made claims in the past, but went unheard? Fonda: African-American women ... including Ida B. Wells and Anita Hill, have spoken out about this and demanded gender equality before white women did. We have to be grateful for the women who have come before us. Sexual harassment and assault is even more rife among restaurant, farm and office workers. Women don’t have any power to speak out without losing their jobs. We are now reaching out in solidarity. AP: What do you want to see changed? Fonda: Where there is equality, and more egalitarian power distribution, sexual abuse is reduced. A lot of what we have to do is not just think about sexual abuse, but also have women in power across industries in decision-making power. Then you’ll see the number of sexual harassment cases drop. ___ Online: www.gcapp.org www.gcapp.org/celebratingjane ___ Follow Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MrLandrum31 . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/jonathan%20landrum",
            "output": [
                "Jane Fonda uses 80th birthday to help others with fundraiser."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe07245271994f3c82893bc6b749221b",
            "input": "We’ll give the story a minimally passing grade on this criterion as well, because it does note that an earlier version of a test that uses some of the same principles costs several hundred dollars. The story would have been better if it more clearly differentiated between tests used to monitor treatment (where a new test might be compared to biopsies or imaging scans) and tests used to screen healthy people, where even relatively low-cost tests could lead to substantial individual and national expenditures on follow-up testing and treatment. The story does point out that this sort of test for circulating cancer cells is just entering clinical trials. However, the repeated emphasis on the potential benefits obscures the lack of actual evidence. The amount of attention given to possible use to screen healthy people for cancer is out of balance with the more likely scenario that this sort of test will be used initially as a research tool to help track the effects of experimental treatments… and then in conjunction with conventional methods to monitor treatment in people with cancer. The lead sentence promise that this sort of test will be coming to “your doctor’s office” is out of step with the available evidence. This story glosses over the substantial harms that tests can cause. The story could have referred to examples from PSA to mammography to remind readers that detecting cancer does not always improve outcomes and that generally many people are subjected to the harms of invasive follow-up testing and treatment for each one who benefits. As Dr. Susan Love noted on the ABC News website: “Having the cells in the bloodstream does not necessarily mean that the cancer will spread and kill you. Just because you find them does not mean you know what to do with the information….We all have cancer cells in our body that are dormant,” Love said. “We need to be careful not to over react to the presence of cancer cells when the treatment may actually be worse than the cure.” Here again, this story does tell readers that this type of test is just entering clinical trials. But as mentioned before, it tends to minimize the amount of research and investment of time and money that will be required before this sort of test could be considered for use outside of experimental settings. This story does not exaggerate the threat of consequences of cancer. However, readers are likely to get the impression that the detection of circulating cancer cells means the person would benefit from early treatment, when actually researchers don’t yet know whether such a test result actually predicts the future health of an individual. The story quotes an expert who was not involved in the development of this test, though he is going to be involved in upcoming clinical trails. The story makes clear that the developers of the test have struck a deal with Johnson & Johnson to do move toward marketing their invention. The story would have been stronger if it had included comments from experts who have written about the substantial hurdles and obstacles that face developers of this test. We would have liked to see a comment like one included in the article by Martin et al. mentioned above:  “Although fluid-based biomarkers seem promising, their reliability has not been determined. Assay sensitivity and specificity need to be improved, techniques must be standardized and validated, and biomarkers are not yet closely legally regulated. Pressing financial, political, and cultural issues have the potential to derail anticipated benefits.” Or some of the cautious analysis offered by Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society, also mentioned above. Finally, we notice that AP profiled the same patient that ABC News profiled. Did the hospital or the company provide their best case scenario? Where is the data on this test to date? The story suggests that this test is inherently superior to existing tests that detect and monitor cancer. While developing a better test is the goal of this line of research, it has a long way to go to reach that goal. As Dr. Len Lichtenfeld wrote on his blog: “…we are seeing many tests that are being touted as important in answering various questions about the future behavior of an individual’s cancer but we are not seeing the type of validation we need to know whether or not such claims are in fact clinically relevant. There are so many markers and genetic tests out there that even the most knowledgeable experts in the clinical treatment of patients with cancer are having a hard time separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff.”  This story sneaks by because it says only that experiments are set to begin and it doesn’t promise that this cancer test will be available within any specific timeframe. However, the overall tone of the story minimizes the difficult challenges ahead. The story started on a confusing note, mixing within the first two sentences phrases that the test is “moving one step closer to being available at your doctor’s office” – yet it’s “experimental” – yet big names are “joining forces to bring it to market.” We think readers heads would be spinning about the state of the research after that lead. The authors of a recent journal article on this concept described the kind of research needed to know if this sort of test really has clinical benefits, ”Determining whether a program is effective could require large (i.e., multithousand patient) clinical trials lasting many years and requiring great expense.” Reference: A Need for Basic Research on Fluid-Based Early Detection Biomarkers Katherine J. Martin, Marcia V. Fournier, G. Prem Veer Reddy, and Arthur B. Pardee. Cancer Research July 1, 2010 70:5203-5206; Published OnlineFirst June 29, 2010; doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-0987 http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/70/13/5203.abstract  The story points out that this test builds on an earlier technology that counted circulating tumor cells and it refers to research articles that have appeared in several medical journals. However, the news (as the story points out) is the business deal between John & Johnson and Massachusetts General Hospital; not any specific research revelation. Readers are likely to infer that there is some scientific advance being announced, when actually all of the facts about the test mentioned in the story were announced over the course of several years. The work was summarized in a Massachusetts General Hospital newsletter article last summer: “Advancers at the Mass General Cancer Center”, Summer 2010.  http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/cancer/assets/pdfs/FINAL_Advances at the MGCancer Center.pdf The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "J&J joins development of blood test that can spot 1 cancer cell in a billion healthy ones"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20de8f86b8eb437685ba93e779651309",
            "input": "Saturday marks the Drug Enforcement Administration’s nationwide “Drug Take Back Day.” Only pills or patches can be accepted, not liquids or needles. A list of collection sites is available on the DEA’s website. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website also provides a list of medication collection sites around the state. People turned in nearly 469 tons of prescription drugs nationwide last year. The Illinois Department of Human Services says turning in unused or expired prescription drugs can prevent abuse or theft of the drugs.",
            "output": [
                "Collection sites available for expired, leftover medications."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-041896629d02403d9d793c564b243703",
            "input": "\"One of the biggest question marks over Florida’s proposed medical marijuana amendment is over who will use it. According to an opposition group, it’s not who you may think. Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot, a campaign run by a coalition of more than 40 organizations opposing Amendment 2, says on its website that most patients don’t suffer from the life-threatening diseases often associated with medical marijuana use. \"\"Less than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical marijuana have cancer or AIDS,\"\" it says. The site ramped up earlier in May, and is run by St. Petersburg lobbyist group Save Our Society From Drugs. They use information from the Florida Sheriffs Association. Cancer and AIDS are often cited by proponents of medical marijuana as the diseases that marijuana can help. We were curious to know if it’s true that only 5 percent of patients who use the drug have those two diseases. Let’s check the registries and find out. Playing percentages Florida’s Amendment 2 specifically names cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, hepatitis C, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis as eligible for treatment. It also allows for \"\"other conditions for which a physician believes that medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.\"\" That provides doctors plenty of latitude to make recommendations for things not on the list, like chronic pain or muscle spasms. Marijuana is typically recommended to cancer patients to treat nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy treatments. AIDS patients often use it to treat nausea, pain and loss of appetite. The big problem with tracking why medical marijuana patients use the drug is that the rules and record-keeping vary widely among the 21 states that allow it. Eric Pounders, spokesman for the Florida Sheriffs Association, said the 5 percent figure comes from an average Save Our Society From Drugs calculated from data from 15 states, which all report things in different ways. For example, statistics from Rhode Island say 4 percent of users there have cancer, and 1 percent have HIV/AIDS. New Jersey says 2.3 percent use marijuana for a terminal illness. Vermont allows conditions to remain confidential. Washington has no database of users or their conditions. California has no mandatory patient registration. The Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that tracks state regulations and favors the Florida amendment, says only six states routinely update comprehensive user data, so Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot’s list of 15 states is suspect. Karen O’Keefe, the project’s director of state policies, says a state like Alaska (which Pounders cited) doesn’t keep very accurate records on patients at all. At any rate, the numbers reflect a trend among the states that report conditions: A very small number of medical marijuana patients have cancer or AIDS. Opponents think that’s a big problem. \"\"We want to show Floridians that the disease groups they are constantly hearing about, are not the ones that marijuana is primarily treating,\"\" Pounders said. He said pro-marijuana groups often use those two diseases to appeal to people’s sympathies. Dr. Gary Reisfield, from the University of Florida’s psychiatry department, agreed. While he said the 5 percent was comparable to research he’d seen, the outsized use of the two diseases as an example was a smokescreen by advocates. \"\"Cancer and HIV are the camel's nose under the tent,\"\" he told PolitiFact Florida. \"\"Physicians, most of whom favor medical cannabis legislation, will acquiesce to their patients' demands for cannabis for other ‘debilitating conditions,’ like pain, muscle spasm, headaches, insomnia and anxiety.\"\" Those are the kinds of conditions for which most patients are treated, said Dr. Barth Wilsey of the University of California Davis Medical Center. He pointed to a University of Michigan study last year that found 87 percent of sample patients from a Michigan clinic sought medical marijuana for pain relief, either on its own or in conjunction with other conditions. Cancer was cited as 3.4 percent of the sample and people with AIDS were combined with hepatitis C under \"\"chronic infection,\"\" and totaled 2.3 percent. Wilsey added that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with patients wanting to relieve pain, especially because most medical marijuana patients turn to the drug only after exhausting other options. He said he thought Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot was \"\"trivializing\"\" patients suffering from very real medical issues. \"\"The significance of this statement is tempered by the fact that millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain. One type, neuropathic pain, is particularly difficult to treat,\"\" Wilsey said. \"\"One thing is certain, we need more research on medical marijuana and less decision-making by legislatures and referendums.\"\" Our ruling Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot said \"\"less than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical marijuana have cancer or AIDS.\"\" The medical marijuana opponents that run the website said they estimated their total using figures from states with current laws allowing the drug. Not all states report figures the same way, however, or may not report them at all. Patients who don’t have cancer or AIDS still may have legitimate reasons to use medical marijuana, including for pain relief. So the statistic Don't Let Florida Go to Pot cites isn't perfect. But the available evidence does suggest fairly strongly that the people who use medical marijuana for cancer or AIDS is a small percentage of all users.\"",
            "output": [
                "Less than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical marijuana have cancer or AIDS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-396700e4a67a42a9a12532b688ababf1",
            "input": "\"A woman takes part in a chocolate eating competition in Tbilisi February 10, 2012. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili The study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that those who reported work burnout were also more likely to have a habit of “emotional” eating, or eating when stressed, anxious or down, rather than just hungry. What’s more, they were more prone to “uncontrolled” eating — the feeling that you’re always hungry or can’t stop eating until all the food’s gone. “Those experiencing burnout may be more vulnerable to emotional eating and uncontrolled eating and have a hindered ability to make changes in their eating behavior,” wrote Nina Nevanpera of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, who led the study. “We recommend that burnout should be treated first and that burnout and eating behavior should be evaluated in obesity treatment.”   The findings are based on 230 women ages 30 to 55 who were part of a clinical trial looking at healthy lifestyle changes. All were employed, and at the start of the trial they completed surveys on job burnout and eating habits. Overall, 22 percent of the women had some degree of work burnout. As a group, they scored higher on measures of emotional eating and uncontrolled eating. On top of that, women who did not have job burnout at the study’s start tended to cut down on uncontrolled eating over one year. But, on average, the burnout group failed to make that change. “Work permeates our lives,” said Sherry Pagoto, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a clinician at the university’s Weight Center. “People may be in a job where they’re unhappy, or a marriage where they’re unhappy, and eating can become one of the few pleasures in their lives,” added Pagoto, who was not involved in the study. There was no obvious effect of burnout on the women’s weight, however. At the outset, half of the women reporting work burnout were normal weight — compared with a third of women reporting no burnout. One reason might be education, Nevanpera said. Women with work burnout generally had a higher education level, and education, in turn, was linked to lower weight. Still, she added, emotional eating is a potential risk factor for becoming heavy in the future. And it’s not particularly healthy, since stressed-out people are more likely to reach for chocolate or fast food than an apple. Pagoto agreed that addressing sources of stress in general was important, adding that big stress triggers in life may make it difficult to lose weight and keep it off. When people are not overweight, emotional eating is still not a good idea, she said. \"\"It's reinforcing a habit that's not healthy.\"\" SOURCE: bit.ly/yeSCiv\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Work burnout tied to \"\"emotional eating\"\" in women: study.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d36ab6df483a4c48aab27585382866a7",
            "input": "Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work “a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification.”  He defined biofortification as “the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people.”  The honorees’ work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru. “The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.",
            "output": [
                "Sweet potato experts win World Food Prize."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc6b0a49e9d745eba89f328ea2789916",
            "input": "Rwanda briefly closed its border with Congo over the virus outbreak in the city of more than 2 million as the painstaking work of finding, tracking and vaccinating people who had contact with the man — and the contacts of those contacts — began. The man died on Wednesday after spending several days at home with his large family while showing symptoms. Congo’s presidency said the entire family was at “high risk” and in quarantine. The Ebola coordinator for North Kivu province, Dr. Aruna Abedi, confirmed the wife’s case to The Associated Press hours after that of the child. “We’re seeing the first active transmission chain in Goma and expect more to come,” the International Rescue Committee’s Ebola response director, Andre Heller, warned in a statement. This outbreak has killed more than 1,800 people, nearly a third of them children. It is now the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, and last month the World Health Organization declared it a rare global emergency. Rwanda’s state minister for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, confirmed the border closure, a day after WHO officials praised African nations for keeping their borders open. Last week Saudi Arabia stopped issuing visas to people from Congo, citing the Ebola outbreak, shortly before the annual hajj pilgrimage there this month. Congo’s presidency condemned Rwanda’s decision, and Congolese at the busy frontier expressed frustration. “I can’t understand why they don’t just test us instead of closing these borders,” said Angel Murhula, who works in Rwanda. Several hours later Congo’s presidency said the border had reopened. A Rwanda health ministry statement called the events a “traffic slowdown” as surveillance for Ebola was reinforced. The ministry advised against unnecessary travel to the Goma area. WHO has recommended against travel restrictions amid the outbreak but says the risk of regional spread is “very high.” Any border closure is likely to push people to avoid official crossings equipped with hand-washing stations and where people are checked for signs of fever or other Ebola symptoms. In June, three people who crossed on an unguarded footpath into Uganda died there before their family members were taken back to Congo for treatment. The death Wednesday in Goma “in such a dense population center underscores the very real risk of further disease transmission, perhaps beyond the country’s borders,” United Nations agencies said in a joint statement marking a year of the outbreak. The man in his 40s was a miner returning from an area of northeastern Ituri province, Mongwalu, where no Ebola cases in this outbreak have been recorded, WHO said. He was exposed to the virus along the roughly 300-mile-long (490-kilometer) route from the city of Komanda to Goma as he took motor taxis over a number of days through the densely populated region at the heart of the outbreak. The man arrived in Goma on July 13 and started showing symptoms on July 22. He was isolated at an Ebola treatment center on Tuesday. He had spent five days being treated at home before going to a health facility, where Ebola was suspected. Symptoms can start to occur between two and 21 days from infection, health experts say. “He may not even have been aware of the exposure that he had,” WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said Wednesday. Symptoms such as fever can be confused with malaria, which is endemic in the region. Congo’s new Ebola response coordinator, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, has said there appears to be no link between the case and a previous one in Goma announced two and a half weeks ago. That case was a 46-year-old preacher who managed to pass through three health checkpoints on the way from Butembo, one of the communities hardest hit by this outbreak. The declaration of a global health emergency — the fifth in history —came days after that first Goma case. It has brought a surge of millions of dollars in new pledges by international donors, but some health workers say a new approach is needed to combat misunderstandings in a part of Congo that had never experienced Ebola before. Health workers responding to the outbreak have been attacked, even killed, in a region where rebel groups are active and the population is wary of outsiders. There is no licensed treatment for Ebola, which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids of those infected, and survival can depend on seeking treatment as quickly as possible. And yet many people in the region don’t believe that the virus is real, health workers have said. This outbreak is second only to the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that left more than 11,300 people dead. ___ Ssuuna reported from Kigali, Rwanda. Associated Press writer Al-Hadji Kudra Maliro contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "1-year-old daughter, wife of Congo’s Goma victim have Ebola."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d488329bfb9443d280c77f77c9ee1908",
            "input": "At least 33 people were killed after cyclone Fani struck the state of Odisha on Friday but a million people emerged unscathed after they moved into storm shelter ahead of landfall. The death toll could have been much greater if not for the massive evacuation in the days before the storm made landfall, officials said. The seaside temple town of Puri, which lay directly in the path of Fani, suffered extensive damage as winds gusting up to 200 kph (124 mph) tore off tin roofs, snapped power lines, and uprooted trees on Friday. “The cyclone has killed 21 people in Puri and about 300 people are injured,” Brajabandhu Dash, medical officer at Puri, told Reuters. Earlier, 12 deaths were reported from other parts of the state. The depression over the Western Meghalaya and adjoining Bangladesh has weakened, and will become insignificant in the next 24 hours, India’s met department said on Twitter early on Sunday. According to preliminary reports, Fani damaged power infrastructure worth more than 12 billion rupees ($173.7 million) and the authorities are trying to restore electricity supply for emergency services, another official said. More than 60,000 people including officials and volunteers were involved in relief operations, said special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, who monitored the evacuation. The relief effort used sirens, loudspeakers and sent more than 20 million mobile messages to the targeted people, he said. The cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal can last from April to December, and storms can be deadly. In 1999, a super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people. Fani was the strongest summer cyclone in 43 years to hit Odisha, disrupting water supplies and transport links, the state’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik said in a statement. “We are in the process of restoring physical infrastructure,” he told reporters. Relief agencies were trying to provide food and medicine to victims in other parts of the state, while hundreds of thousands were still not accessible due to roadblocks and disruption in the communication network, officials said. The town of Puri was littered with tree branches, the debris of damaged houses and broken glass. Relief teams were trying to clear the roads. “There was no wind at night (before landfall). We thought nothing will happen,” P. Chittmma, 45, told Reuters while laying on a bed at a government hospital, showing her fractured leg.",
            "output": [
                "Over 80 percent of our trade deficit today is with countries that are not trade agreement partners, that are not level playing fields for the United States."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6b35b8e0e3643bf8c759ab2f48eb34e",
            "input": "KUSA-TV reports that the lawsuit contends Dr. Paul Jones of Grand Junction committed fraud by using his own sperm to artificially inseminate Cheryl Emmons, allowing her to give birth to two daughters in 1980 and 1985, respectively. The Mesa County District Court suit contends the daughters discovered they shared Jones’ DNA with a number of strangers this year — including cousins of Jones, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Patrick Fitz-Gerald. It alleges negligence, fraud and other causes of action and seeks damages in a civil trial. Attorneys Nicole Black, who represents Jones, and Ivan Sarkissian, who represents Women’s Health Care of Western Colorado, where Jones practiced, didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to telephone messages seeking comment. Plaintiffs include Emmons; her husband, John Emmons; and daughters Maia Boring and Tahnee Scott. They live in Texas. The daughters’ claimed discovery of shared DNA with at least five strangers — people born between 1976 and 1997 — came through use of Ancestry.com and 23andMe.com, KUSA reported. The daughters confronted their mother, who disclosed earlier this year that she had had artificial insemination procedures by Jones to conceive. “I would like to ask him, ’Why? Why did you do this?” said Boring, who lives in San Antonio. Jones, of Grand Junction, refused to answer when asked if he’d donated his own sperm to father the children. “I don’t deny it. I don’t admit it,” he told KUSA. Jones, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, has been licensed to practice medicine in Colorado on July 11, 1972. He co-founded what’s now known as Women’s Health Care of Western Colorado, where the suit claims he saw Cheryl Emmons from 1979 to 1985. Texas this year passed a law barring a fertility doctor from inseminating a patient without her consent. California and Indiana have so-called “fertility fraud” laws, but Colorado does not. ___ Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com",
            "output": [
                "Lawsuit: Fertility doctor used own sperm to impregnate woman."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-01b928825616456c9f94a85f4d772d77",
            "input": "The Star Tribune reported Tuesday that health officials have interviewed eight of 15 patients in Minnesota who have been hospitalized for severe respiratory illnesses with confirmed links to vaping. Rich Danila of the Minnesota Department of Health says all eight inhaled THC, the compound in marijuana that gives it its high. Investigators have not yet confirmed links to vaping in another nine hospitalizations for respiratory injuries reported to the state. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week they are looking at 215 possible cases of lung disease in 25 states involving teens or young adults who have used e-cigarettes or other vaping devices. ___ Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com",
            "output": [
                "Minnesota officials find THC in vaping illness cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b6cb0fc12834ee9b0603c14c3e9934f",
            "input": "Shares of Antigenics Inc, the tiny New York-based  biotechnology company which has been developing the vaccine for  11 years, rose as much as 58 percent on the news. It is the first time the Russian government has approved a  drug that was not first cleared in its country of origin,  according to Antigenics, and clears the way for the company to  start generating revenue from Oncophage later this year. The company plans to file for approval of the vaccine in  Europe by the end of the year, based on a relatively new set of  guidelines in that jurisdiction. Regulators in Russia approved Oncophage based on a subset  of data from a late-stage clinical trial that in 2006 failed to  show the vaccine delayed the recurrence of kidney cancer. In the subset of patients — those whose cancer was least  likely to recur following surgery — Oncophage lengthened the  period before which the disease recurred by 45 percent, or an  average of 1.8 years, versus those in the control group. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not consider  subset analysis a valid measure of success or failure since all  manner of sub-populations can be carved out retrospectively. Therefore the vaccine stands little chance of approval in the  United States. “What this company needs to do now is a trial based on  their findings with the good prognosis patients,” said Dr. Otis  Brawley, Chief Medical Officer at the American Cancer Society. “If they have a positive finding at that point then I’m going  to be excited, and then I believe it would go before the FDA  very quickly.”    Conducting such trials, however, could take up to 10 years  and vast sums of money, and would take the product’s  development cycle to 20 years. “No one in their right mind would authorize that,” said  Garo Armen, the company’s chief executive, in an interview. “Even if we had the money it wouldn’t be practical.”     Unlike their U.S. counterparts, Russian regulators have  accepted the validity of the subset — in part because roughly  a third of the 604 patients enrolled in the late-stage trial  were tested in Russia, and about 70 percent of those fell into  the subset of patients whose prognosis following surgery was  better than that of the total population. Antigenics thinks it will be able to win approval elsewhere  in the world too. European regulators can now approve drugs on a conditional  basis, meaning companies can market their products while  simultaneously conducting additional follow-up of patients or  further clinical studies. If at the end of the trial period the regulatory agency  were not satisfied, it could pull the drug from the market. “Filing in Europe won’t be a slam dunk, and will probably  be more difficult than in Russia,” said Armen, who added that  the European review process would likely take 12 to 18 months. The Russian approval caps years of dogged determination to  bring the vaccine to the market despite multiple setbacks and  investor skepticism of cancer vaccines in general. Oncophage is designed to reprogram a patient’s immune  system to target cancer cells from a specific tumor. The company takes tissue from a tumor following surgery,  extracts proteins it says activate the immune system and then  injects the enriched proteins back into the body through the  skin. Unlike a vaccine such as Merck & Co’s Gardasil, which is  designed to ward off a virus that is believed to cause some 70  percent of cervical cancer cases, Oncophage is designed to  target the cancer directly and delay or prevent it from  spreading once it has developed. There are about 16,000 new cases of kidney cancer a year in  Russia, according to Armen, of which about a quarter fit the  profile of patients most likely to benefit from Oncophage — a  market theoretically worth about $200 million to Antigenics. The Russian pharmaceuticals market is one of the fastest  growing in the world. It will grow by nearly 60 percent to  $19.4 billion in 2009 from about $12.3 billion in 2006, the  research group DSM estimates. Armen said he expects the initial sales growth for  Oncophage to be “modest.”    “We would have to price this probably at the low- to  mid-range of other new-generation cancer drugs,” Armen said. Such drugs can cost as much as $60,000 per patient per  year, he said. “How much of that market we achieve depends on how well we  iron out reimbursement issues and how effectively we can reach  every single patient,” Armen said. Shares of Antigenics were up 62 cents or 25 percent to  $3.09 in late afternoon trading on Nasdaq after touching $3.90  earlier in the day, an increase of about 58 percent.",
            "output": [
                "Antigenics wins Russian approval of cancer vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1dcc01b3df4b451cb8906a32183c107d",
            "input": "The Kate Spade New York Foundation said in a statement Wednesday it is donating $200,000 to The Jed Foundation, which partners with schools to strengthen mental health programs. The fashion brand will match public donations to JED from Wednesday through June 12, up to $100,000, at jedfoundation.org/katespade. The donations follow money already given to other organizations, including the Crisis Text Line. Anna Bakst, brand president and CEO of Kate Spade New York, said the company hopes to encourage more conversation, education and research around mental health. Spade killed herself June 5, 2018, at 55, after years of battling depression and anxiety.",
            "output": [
                "Kate Spade New York fulfills $1 million mental health pledge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f17af8b04c394b648b28290607dbf6a4",
            "input": "Apollo 11′s astronauts had six months to gel as a crew and prepare for humanity’s greatest space feat. The three had never served together on the same spaceflight before, and the “almost frantic” preparation left little if any time for bonding, Collins said. “Apollo 11 was a little different than some of the other flights,” Collins explained. “We didn’t cruise around in color-coordinated Corvettes or anything like that. We were all business. We were all hard work, and we felt the weight of the world upon us.” A brief look at each man: Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon but the least inclined to talk about it. Last year’s film, “First Man,” captured his private nature; his two sons served as movie consultants. Such reticence merely reinforced the mystery surrounding the late astronaut, who by skill, hard work and chance became the first human to set foot on another world. Armstrong was superbly qualified for the job: fighter pilot in Korea, X-15 test pilot, one of only two civilians selected for the second astronaut group in 1962, Gemini 8 command pilot, backup commander of Apollo 8 and, finally, commander of Apollo 11. He’d proven his mettle again and again. He had to gain control of his tumbling Gemini 8 spacecraft in 1966 and bring it down early, and he ejected from a lunar lander training device in 1968 just before it crashed in flames in Houston. Armstrong left NASA two years after Apollo 11 and taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati until 1979. He spent his remaining years in his home state of Ohio. He finally agreed to a biography: 2005′s “First Man” by historian James Hansen, the basis for last year’s film. Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82. ___ Buzz Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon, but the first astronaut to have a doctorate and dance with the stars. Aldrin, now 89, had a long list of accomplishments by the time NASA chose him for the third astronaut group in 1963: third in his class at West Point, fighter pilot in Korea, Air Force officer, a doctorate in astronautics. He was dubbed Dr. Rendezvous for his expertise in orbital dockings. He flew on Gemini 12 in 1966 and was on the backup crew for Apollo 8. Then came Apollo 11. He later legally changed his name from Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. to his childhood nickname Buzz. His name was the inspiration for the character Buzz Lightyear in the animated “Toy Story” films. His mother’s name: Marion Moon. After Apollo 11, Aldrin spent years struggling with mental depression and alcoholism. He left NASA in 1971 and briefly headed the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Drawn toward the spotlight, Aldrin portrayed himself in a 1994 episode of the TV program “The Simpsons” and took a spin in 2010 on TV’s “Dancing with the Stars.” He’s traveled the globe, including the South Pole, pushing for Mars travel. Last year, two of his three children sought to declare him mentally incompetent, then he sued them. Both sides dropped the case in March. Aldrin moves between Satellite Beach, Florida, and Southern California. ___ Michael Collins was “The Forgotten Man” during the Apollo 11 lunar landing: While the two others were walking on the moon, he circled overhead in the command module. For previous Apollo 11 anniversaries, Collins was content to be forgotten. But with the “huge gap” left by Armstrong’s death, Collins, 88, feels compelled to speak up even though “my first inclination for celebrating the 50th anniversary ... is to go hide under a rock somewhere.” His two daughters have helped him navigate the avalanche of requests. The Air Force officer and former test pilot flew on Gemini 10 in 1966, three years after being accepted into the third astronaut group. He was supposed to be command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first manned flight to circle the moon, but was bumped because of a bone spur in his neck. Surgery corrected the problem, and he wound up on Apollo 11. Collins was astounded when reporters later asked him about being lonely as he circled the moon by himself, especially on the lunar far side, out of radio contact. “I felt like I was Neil and Buzz’s meal ticket home,” he said. “I was in no way, shape or form lonely.” Collins left NASA six months after Apollo 11. He briefly served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs and was founding director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. In an updated preface to his 1974 autobiography “Carrying the Fire,” Collins said he enjoys fishing, painting and reading near Florida’s Everglades, and feels “lucky, lucky, lucky.”",
            "output": [
                "Apollo 11′s ‘amiable strangers’ Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07e63a79657b45ec809b1773fe2e780e",
            "input": "The TGV-turned-mobile-intensive-care-unit is just one piece of France’s nationwide mobilization of trains, helicopters, jets and even a warship, deployed to relieve congested hospitals and shuffle hundreds of patients and hundreds more medical personnel in and out of coronavirus hotspots. “We are at war,” President Emmanuel Macron tells his compatriots, again and again, casting himself as a warrior and harnessing the might of the armed forces to fight this invisible foe. But while the extraordinary mobilization seems to be helping, critics charge the 42-year-old leader waited far too long to act in the first place. France, one of the world’s wealthiest countries with one of the best health care systems, they say, should never have found itself so deep in crisis. Macron had just emerged from weeks of damaging retirement strikes and a year of violent “yellow vest” protests over economic injustice when the pandemic hit. Now he is struggling to keep the house running in one of the world’s hardest-hit countries. The Rungis food market south of Paris, Europe’s biggest, is transforming into a morgue as France’s death count races past 8,000. Nearly 7,000 patients are in intensive care, pushing French hospitals to their limit and beyond. Doctors are rationing painkillers and re-using masks. France’s centralized state and powerful presidency make it easier to coordinate the patient-moving efforts, which have crisscrossed the country and even extended to overseas territories. And nearly three weeks of confinement are starting to bear fruit: France reported its lowest number of deaths Sunday in a week, and a slowing growth in infections. But the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the world-renowned state hospital system after decades of cost cuts. When the president visited a Paris hospital on the front lines of the virus battle, an angry neurologist challenged him to reinvest massively. “When it was about saving Notre Dame, many were moved,” Dr. Francois Salachas said, a reference to the Paris cathedral that was severely damaged by fire a year ago, prompting immediate, massive pledges of public and private funds for reconstruction. “This time it’s about saving public hospitals, which are going up in smoke at the same speed as Notre Dame almost did.” Many think Macron did not anticipate the severity with which the virus could hit  and set a bad personal example. Similar criticisms have been leveled at other world leaders including the presidents of Mexico, Brazil and the United States. In February, Macron made a point of repeatedly kissing Italy’s premier on a visit to Naples to show there was nothing to fear. At the time, the virus was already spreading fast across France, but limited testing meant health authorities didn’t yet know. In early March, he toured a retirement home even as he announced that families should no longer visit elderly relatives. That same day he went with his wife to a Paris theater where the owner tweeted that the president wanted to show that “life goes on.” By then, the official virus infection numbers in France were doubling every two days. In mid-March, as COVID-19 was ravaging neighboring Italy, France went ahead with the first round of nationwide municipal elections. First lady Brigitte Macron strolled the banks of the Seine, crowded with Parisians enjoying a sunny day despite recommendations of social distancing. Then on March 16, Macron abruptly changed his tune, declaring war on the virus and announcing nationwide confinement measures. A week later he appeared wearing a face mask for the first time at a field hospital set up by troops outside Mulhouse, the eastern city that saw an eruption of cases  stemming from a five-day evangelical gathering. The armed forces took on a key role, as military and hospital authorities worked out the system to shuttle patients to less-strained hospitals and medics to virus zones in need. The first “medicalized” TGV made its inaugural trip on March 26. Doctors in protective gear pushed gurneys along the nearly empty platform of the train station in the eastern city of Strasbourg as safety warnings echoed from loudspeakers. Inside the double-decker cars, patients and webs of tubes and wires were squeezed past luggage racks and rows of seats. Once they were secured, the train sped off toward less impacted hospitals in the west. While the militarized mobilizations are popular, public debate has mushroomed over the relatively low numbers of people being tested for the virus in France and shortages of medical equipment. Macron ordered all face masks requisitioned for medical personnel after it became evident France entered the crisis well short of the necessary supply. “The question of masks is now the priority question for the French,” said Jean-Daniel Levy of polling agency Harris Interactive, adding that the public feels the government “didn’t take enough responsibility” for masks at the outset. France has had to send some patients for treatment to tiny neighboring Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany, which has conducted massive nationwide testing and confirmed more cases than France while recording a death toll about one-fifth as high so far. Macron, a centrist, has taken fire from both ends of the political spectrum. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen told France 2 television that “the government lied about the preparedness of the country,” while far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said Macron, a former investment banker, “used to think that the free market would meet the country’s needs, so his mental framework collapsed.” Among the broader public, Macron “is seen as relatively authoritarian,” Levy said. That hurt him during the protest movements, but helps his popularity now because “we want to have a strong authority figure” to manage the crisis. In the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, a fact-finding mission is scrutinizing the government’s handling of the emergency. Macron said while visiting a mask manufacturing company that it’s not yet time to focus on what went wrong. “When we’re fighting a battle, we must all be united to win it,” the president said. “And I think those who seek to send people to trial when we have not yet won the war are irresponsible.” ___ Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "France turns to speedy trains to catch up in virus response."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1dcd324c945545d6892bccd792e8b72f",
            "input": "The N.C. Department of Health and Human Resources said in a statement on Friday that its Division of Public Health has confirmed 141 cases involving residents from counties and multiple states. In addition to the deaths, 94 people were hospitalized. Information gathered by local health officials showed that most patients attended the NC Mountain State Fair, which ran from Sept. 6-15 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Officials have said those who were diagnosed with the disease may have walked by the hot tub displays. On Thursday, DHHS reported a case of Legionnaires’ in a person who didn’t attend the fair, but instead went to the Agricultural Center for a quilt show.",
            "output": [
                "4th Legionnaires’ disease death reported in North Carolina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ad016bf3af7549e980e296a4eba6cf6d",
            "input": "Hyperemesis gravidarum is estimated to affect about one to three percent of pregnant women and can result in nausea and vomiting so acute that hospitalization is required. It is thought to be caused by pregnancy hormones, but doctors aren’t sure why some women experience worse symptoms than others. The condition usually begins in the early weeks of pregnancy and in many cases, subsides by about 20 weeks. But for some women, the effects may persist until the baby is born. The condition can be “absolutely devastating,” said Dr. Roger Gadsby of Warwick University, who has studied the issue for decades. “Your life is on hold while the symptoms are present,” he said, noting that some pregnant women may vomit dozens of times per day and be restricted to bed rest. Kensington Palace made the pregnancy announcement Monday, saying the duchess was not feeling well enough to attend an official engagement later in the day. Kate is being cared for at her Kensington Palace home in London. There was no word of when the baby is due. She and Prince William already have two children: Prince George, 4 and Princess Charlotte, 2. In 2012, Kate was hospitalized for several days when she was believed to be suffering from dehydration. There is no evidence that the nausea and vomiting from severe morning sickness will affect the baby’s future health. Women with the condition actually have a slightly lower risk of miscarriage, according to Britain’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In severe cases, however, babies can be born with lower than expected birthweight. Women with the condition are advised to eat small meals often, to avoid any foods or smells that trigger symptoms and to consult their midwife or doctor if their symptoms do not subside. If treatment requires hospitalization, women are typically given vitamins, steroids and anti-nausea drugs intravenously. Patients are also sometimes treated with shots of heparin, to thin their blood: pregnant women are at increased risk of developing blood clots in their legs, and being dehydrated further elevates the risk. Gadsby said he would expect doctors to be able to treat the duchess at Kensington Palace and that there shouldn’t be any lasting effects. She would likely have to cut back on her royal schedule, though. “As long as the mom receives adequate treatment, the mom is usually fine and the baby is fine,” he said. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Science Says: Kate’s morning sickness brutal, not dangerous."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c19ea3502134539a913baed62de7123",
            "input": "The Marshalltown Times-Republican reports UnityPoint Health announced Monday it would make the move in response to a 45 percent decrease in the number of births at the obstetrics unit. As Jennifer Friedly, president of UnityPoint Health — Marshalltown put it, “There simply aren’t enough women choosing to deliver locally.” The closures will result in the loss of 32 jobs but UnityPoint says it’s trying to find work for displaced employees elsewhere in the organization. The closure follows the June 2018 loss of the hospital’s catheterization lab and the November 2018 ending of its intensive care unit. ___ Information from: Times-Republican, http://www.timesrepublican.com",
            "output": [
                "Marshalltown hospital will close obstetrics unit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4c1b4aa66f541b08af18c4c952fef9c",
            "input": "The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis. The collaborative effort between Northwestern University’s medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School showed a direct correlation between the number of times users smoked and abnormalities in the brain. “What we’re seeing is changes in people who are 18 to 25 in core brain regions that you never, ever want to fool around with,” said co-senior study author Dr. Hans Beiter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University. In particular, the study identified changes to the nucleus accumbens and the nucleus amygdala, regions of the brain that are key to regulating emotion and motivation, in marijuana users who smoke between one and seven joints a week. The researchers found changes to the volume, shape and density of those brain regions. But more studies are needed to determine how those changes may have long-term consequences and whether they can be fixed with abstinence, Beiter said. “Our hypothesis from this early work is that these changes may be an early sign of what later becomes amotivation, where people aren’t focused on their goals,” he said. The study, which was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, comes as access to pot is expanding following 2012 votes in Washington state and Colorado to legalize its recreational use. The drug remains illegal under federal law. Medical pot is allowed in 20 U.S. states. Pot legalization advocates make the argument that marijuana is safer than alcohol a central part of their campaigns. Other research has found drinking alcohol alters the brain, Beiter said. But while researchers do not know exactly how the mental rewiring seen in pot users affects their lives, the study shows it physically changes the brain in ways that differ from drinking, he said. This latest study fits with other research showing marijuana use has significant effects on young people because their brains are still developing, and Beiter said he has become convinced that marijuana should only be used by people under 30 if they need it to manage pain from a terminal illness.",
            "output": [
                "Casual pot use causes brain abnormalities in the young: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5af6566fc289432b94464d68e728e3cc",
            "input": "South Africa has reported the most coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and public health experts are worried that the virus could overwhelm the health system if infection rates rise steeply. President Cyril Ramaphosa has been praised for ordering some of the toughest measures on the continent to try to halt the spread of the virus, including a 21-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday, deploying the army to support police and ordering underground mines to suspend operations. Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille told a news conference that her ministry had identified more than 16,000 beds in potential quarantine facilities, including government buildings, hotels, holiday properties and hospitals. De Lille’s spokeswoman and a Health Ministry spokesman were not able to say who would be placed in the quarantine sites. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in an interview with state broadcaster SABC that it was still “early days” in terms of the number of infections. “We are expecting that there is still going to be quite an increase in the number of cases, and we are also expecting that a lot of work needs to be done by South Africans to contain this infection,” Mkhize said. Businesses of all sizes are bracing for a big impact from the lockdown, with Airlink becoming the latest local airline to suspend flights from midnight on Thursday and state power utility Eskom applying for its critical staff to be exempt so that electricity supplies can continue uninterrupted. South African National Parks said it would close all its tourism facilities to the public from Wednesday. Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe said production of gold, chrome, manganese and other minerals would be scaled down but that the processing of platinum group metals would continue. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) launched a bond-buying programme, giving into public and political pressure to intervene more directly in providing stimulus. Government bonds including the 2030 issue rallied on the SARB intervention.",
            "output": [
                "South Africa prepares quarantine sites as coronavirus cases rise to 709."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75241747a1524b2282a5a9b92dafa5e4",
            "input": "No mention of the cost of treatment. This is important if the surgery is not a permanent fix for acute sinusitis. Repeated operations and continued medications need to be compared to cost for traditional surgery. No quantitative estimate of the benefits of the new procedure. There was a study of 10 people that found “no safety concerns”, but readers should be told more about this very small group. What were the long term outcomes and did these patients eventually have to have further sinuplasty, more invasive surgery or continue to take medications to relieve sinusitits? The story mentions that a larger, randomized trial is underway to better understand the risks and benefits of sinuplasty compared to medication and traditional sinus surgery. Mentions that more information is needed and no one knows if balloon sinuplasty works as well as the more traditional surgical option for chronic sinusitis. Mentions that general anesthesia is still needed for balloon procedure and this comes with its own set of health risks. There isn’t much evidence for the story to report. The story did stress the importance of a randomized trial underway comparing medication, traditional sinus surgery and the newer balloon sinuplasty. Story describes this trial and the need for further evidence before this new procedure can be widely recommended. Mentions that this procedure should not have been FDA approved with so little quality evidence. No evidence of disease mongering. The story mentions that this procedure would be for chronic, not acute sinunitis and describes how these are different. Good balance of information on treatment options with input from otolaryngologists not affliated with the makers of the device who are able to provide perspective on the new procedure. They mention that further study is needed. There is a note that one of the physicans studying the new sinuplasty has no financial ties to Acclarent, maker of the balloon devices used in this type of sinuplasty. Mentions that this form of sinuplasty is not for everybody and that it may not prevent the need for more comprehensive surgery in which bone and tissue are removed. There is mention of other options including medication and the more traditional surgery, which is decribed as highly effective, but with a painful recovery and side effects such as scar tissue. Quantification of the incidence of this and other side effects of traditional surgery would be useful. The story is clear that the FDA approved the device but that it still needs to undergo further study via randomized controlled trials. Story mentions that this is a new procedure only offerred by 100 doctors. This story is a blananced presentation of sinuplasty and the information here does not appear to be from a press release. The are quotes from otolaryngologists not affliated with the makers of the device who are able to provide perspective on the new sinuplasty procedure.",
            "output": [
                "A balloon instead of a knife: Sinuplasty for ailing sinuses"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c834beba40c4ba4b6c70527352d23ac",
            "input": "It was the largest of a wave of protests across Ireland in recent days in response to the death of 31-year old Indian woman Savita Halappanavar who died of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy. The Irish health authority (HSE) has launched an inquiry into the death, which has reopened a decades-long debate over whether the government should legislate to explicitly allow abortion when the health of a mother is at risk. Activists in the overwhelmingly Catholic country, which has some of the world’s most restrictive laws on abortion, say the refusal by doctors to terminate the pregnancy earlier may have contributed to Halappanavar’s death. “A vibrant, healthy woman starting her family life has died needlessly ... because of the failure of successive governments to deal with this issue,” independent member of parliament Clare Daly told the crowd, which responded with chants of “shame.”  Irish law does not specify exactly when the threat to the life or health of the mother is high enough to justify a termination, leaving doctors to decide. Critics say this means doctors’ personal beliefs can play a role. Despite a dramatic waning of the influence of the Catholic Church, which dominated politics in Ireland until the 1980s, successive governments have been loath to legislate on an issue they fear could alienate conservative voters. Prime Minister Enda Kenny, whose ruling Fine Gael party made an election pledge not to introduce new laws allowing abortion, on Friday said he would not be rushed into a decision on the issue. Halappanavar was admitted to hospital in severe pain on October 21 and asked for a termination after doctors told her the baby would not survive, according to her husband Praveen. The foetus was surgically removed when its heartbeat stopped days later, but her family believes the delay contributed to the blood poisoning that killed Halappanavar on October 28. “I just feel outrage,” said Mary Sheehan, a midwife in her 50s, who took part in the march with a sign that read “Vatican Republic killed Savita. “I want the message to out her parents that the Irish people are demanding change.”  The crowd also targeted the government’s junior coalition partner, the Labour Party, which is more socially liberal, for not doing more to force change on the issue, chanting “shame on Labour.”",
            "output": [
                "Irish rally for government action on abortion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-619f6d0dc7074a93b4ea67c2d420639d",
            "input": "In a feat of genetic engineering, about half the chestnuts collected at this college experiment station feature a gene that provides resistance to blight that virtually wiped out the American chestnut tree generations ago. Researchers at New York state’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry are seeking federal clearance to distribute thousands of modified trees as part of a restoration effort — a closely-watched move that could expand the frontier for genetically engineered plants beyond farms and into forests. The precedent-setting case adds urgency to a question scientists have already been grappling with: Should genetic engineering be used in the wild to help save or restore trees? Opponents warn of starting “a massive and irreversible experiment” in a highly complex ecosystem. Proponents see a technology already ubiquitous in the supermarket that could help save forests besieged by invasive pests. “We have this technology, it’s a very powerful technology, and we can use that now to save a species,” said Professor William Powell, a molecular plant biologist who directs the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project at the college. The researchers want the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assess an American chestnut tree with a gene from wheat that helps it tolerate cryphonectria parasitica, a fungus unwittingly imported to the United States over 100 years ago. The blight decimated a towering tree species once dominant in forests from Maine to Georgia. Nuts from up to 4 billion trees fattened hogs, and its sturdy wood was used to build cabins. Yet by the time Nat King Cole crooned about “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” after World War II, trees were doomed by the blight. Surviving trees today are typically shrubs sprouting from old roots, yet to be infected. Long-running efforts to breed American chestnut trees with the blight tolerance of Chinese chestnut trees are more complicated than once appreciated. That’s because the Chinese tree’s tolerance comes from a suite of genes, instead of one or two. Powell and his research partner Charles Maynard began working on a complementary track decades ago at the request of the New York chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. The added wheat gene enables trees to produce an enzyme that breaks down harmful acid released by the fungus. Right now, the trees are tightly regulated. Modified trees grow behind the fence of the college’s experiment station near trees without the added gene. Researchers breed the two types of trees for genetic diversity. But flowering branch tips are covered with bags that keep pollen from blowing away. Chestnuts grow and are harvested in the same bags. About half the chestnuts will inherit the gene, the researchers say. The researchers want the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to evaluate the risks of the modified tree and to lift the current regulations. Researchers say they recently sent in their filing, though it needs to be reviewed for completeness before the agency begins its formal assessment. “What we have to make clear is that it’s not going to be any different than the trees produced through conventional means,” Powell said. The USDA commonly authorizes genetically engineered crops. The vast majority of commercial corn and soybean acreage in the United States is used to grow crops engineered to be tolerant to herbicides or insects. There are even some genetically engineered plantation trees, such as papayas resistant to ringspot virus. But engineered trees are not intentionally planted in the forests for conservation. That could change as genetic manipulation becomes more common and trees are increasingly threatened by climate change and invasive pests. “If the chestnut is approved ... I think it’s accurate to say that it does help pave the way for other biotech trees,” said Jason Delborne, an associate professor of science, policy and society at North Carolina State University. Delborne served on a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine committee that this year released a report that said biotechnology has a potential to help protect forests but recommended more study and investment. Some scientists are concerned about the long-term effects of a re-introducing a tree into the woods that can live for more than 200 years. How will the new trees interact with the species that replaced the long-gone chestnuts? What if the trees die off again in 50 years? Forest eco-systems are incredibly complex and the current regulatory framework is not up to the task of evaluating the environmental and societal risks, said biotechnology and sustainable agriculture expert Doug Gurian-Sherman. “I think we have to step back and ask whether our ability to manipulate things is getting ahead of our ability to understand their impacts,” said Gurian-Sherman, a former senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Rachel Smolker, a co-director of the advocacy group Biofuelwatch and co-author of a report critical of the tree’s release, is concerned that the chestnut tree — with its cozy public image — could be a “Trojan horse” for other trees engineered for commercial use instead of conservation. Many scientists see biotech as a promising tool left on the shelf, partly due to opposition they say is grounded more in emotion than science. Meanwhile, trees are dying from scourges such as the emerald ash borer and the spotted lantern fly, and some scientists say biotech could help where other efforts have failed. “Compared to what’s happening in the world with pests and climate change, I think the risks of making a mistake due to tweaking a gene wrong are so small compared to the risks of doing nothing,” said Steven Strauss, a forest biotechnologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Strauss is prominent in efforts to overturn biotech tree bans on certified commercial forest land. If the application clears the USDA, the tree still needs to be considered by the Food and Drug Administration and it may need to be reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Powell believes the review could take two to four years. A green light from the government would clear the way for distribution of the genetically engineered seedlings, pollen, or scions for grafting to volunteers around the chestnut’s traditional range. In rural upstate New York, Allen Nichols is waiting. Nichols, president of the New York chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, has about 100 chestnut trees on a rise by his house. Thanks to his diligent care, some lived long enough to produce chestnuts this year. Other trees are dying while others sprout anew — a steady cycle of life, blight and renewal in a rural orchard. The 69-year-old -retiree looks forward to the day he can graft the genetically engineered tree onto his stock, letting the pollen drift in the wind and bringing back a healthy tree his parents talked fondly about. “If we can do it, we should do it,” Nichols said as he surveyed his trees. “We owe it to the forest to try to correct some of the damage that we’ve done.” ___ Follow Michael Hill on Twitter: @MichaelTHill",
            "output": [
                "High-tech chestnuts: US to consider genetically altered tree."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a78288fa12d43138b77b4cc22ae0bcf",
            "input": "The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly voted Thursday to repeal the exemption, which allows parents to cite religious beliefs to forego getting their child the vaccines required for school enrollment. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the measure minutes after the final vote. The law takes effect immediately but will give unvaccinated students up to 30 days after they enter a school to show they’ve had the first dose of each required immunization. With New York’s move, similar exemptions are still allowed in 45 states, though lawmakers in several of them have introduced their own legislation to eliminate the waiver. The issue is hotly contested and debate around it has often been emotional, pitting cries that religious freedom is being curtailed against warnings that public health is being endangered. After the vote in the Assembly, many of those watching from the gallery erupted in cries of “shame!” One woman yelled obscenities down to the lawmakers below. The debate has only intensified with this year’s measles outbreak , which federal officials recently said has surpassed 1,000 illnesses, the highest in 27 years. “I’m not aware of anything in the Torah, the Bible, the Koran or anything else that suggests you should not get vaccinated,” said Bronx Democrat Jeffrey Dinowitz, the bill’s Assembly sponsor. “If you choose to not vaccinate your child, therefore potentially endangering other children ... then you’re the one choosing not to send your children to school.” Hundreds of parents of unvaccinated children gathered at New York’s Capitol for the vote to protest. Stan Yung, a Long Island attorney and father, said his Russian Orthodox religious views and health concerns about vaccines will prevent him from vaccinating his three young children. His family, he said, may consider leaving the state. “People came to this country to get away from exactly this kind of stuff,” Yung said ahead of Thursday’s votes. Supporters of the bill say religious beliefs about vaccines shouldn’t eclipse scientific evidence that they work, noting the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce compulsory vaccination laws. During the Assembly’s floor debate, supporters brought up scourges of the past that were defeated in the U.S. through vaccines. “I’m old enough to have been around when polio was a real threat,” said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, D-Manhattan. “I believe in science.... Your personal opinions, which may be based on junk science, do not trump the greater good.” Supporters also suggest some parents may be claiming the religious exemption for their children even though their opposition is actually based on scientifically discredited claims about the dangers of vaccines. The bill would not change an existing state exemption given to children who cannot have vaccines for medical reasons, such as a weakened immune system. Cuomo told reporters on Wednesday that he believes public health — and the need to protect those who cannot get vaccinated because for medical reasons — outweighs the concerns about religious freedom. “I understand freedom of religion,” he said. “I have heard the anti-vaxxers’ theory, but I believe both are overwhelmed by the public health risk.” The current measles outbreak has renewed concern about the exemptions in many states. The nation last saw as many cases in 1992, when more than 2,200 were reported. The majority of cases are from outbreaks in New York in Orthodox Jewish communities. California removed personal belief vaccine exemptions for children in both public and private schools in 2015, after a measles outbreak at Disneyland sickened 147 people and spread across the U.S. and into Canada. Maine ended its religious exemption earlier this year. Mississippi and West Virginia also do not allow religious exemptions. Once common in the U.S., measles became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s. A decade ago, there were fewer than 100 cases a year.",
            "output": [
                "New York ends religious exemption to vaccine mandates."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8179054675ed433d9644e3e2599d18bb",
            "input": "As well as the saltshaker, in that instant, they shared the new coronavirus, scientists have since concluded. That their exchange was documented at all is the result of intense scrutiny, part of a rare success story in the global fight against the virus. The co-workers were early links in what was to be the first documented chain of multiple human-to-human transmissions outside Asia of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They are based in Stockdorf, a German town of 4,000 near Munich in Bavaria, and they work at car parts supplier Webasto Group. The company was thrust under a global microscope after it disclosed that one of its employees, a Chinese woman, caught the virus and brought it to Webasto headquarters. There, it was passed to colleagues - including, scientists would learn, a person lunching in the canteen with whom the Chinese patient had no contact. The Jan. 22 canteen scene was one of dozens of mundane incidents that scientists have logged in a medical manhunt to trace, test and isolate infected workers so that the regional government of Bavaria could stop the virus from spreading. That hunt has helped Germany win crucial time to build its COVID-19 defences. The time Germany bought may have saved lives, scientists say. Its first outbreak of locally transmitted COVID-19 began earlier than Italy’s, but Germany has had many fewer deaths. Italy’s first detected local transmission was on Feb. 21. By then Germany had kicked off a health ministry information campaign and a government strategy to tackle the virus which would hinge on widespread testing. In Germany so far, more than 2,100 people have died of COVID-19. In Italy, with a smaller population, the total exceeds 17,600. CHART: Contrasting curves here  “We learned that we must meticulously trace chains of infection in order to interrupt them,” Clemens Wendtner, the doctor who treated the Munich patients, told Reuters. Wendtner teamed up with some of Germany’s top scientists to tackle what became known as the ‘Munich cluster,’ and they advised the Bavarian government on how to respond. Bavaria led the way with the lockdowns, which went nationwide on March 22. Scientists including England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty have credited Germany’s early, widespread testing with slowing the spread of the virus. “‘We all know Germany got ahead in terms of its ability to do testing for the virus and there’s a lot to learn from that,’” he said on TV earlier this week. Christian Drosten, the top virologist at Berlin’s Charite hospital, said Germany was helped by having a clear early cluster. “Because we had this Munich cohort right at the start ... it became clear that with a big push we could inhibit this spreading further,” he said in a daily podcast for NDR radio on the coronavirus. Drosten, who declined to be interviewed for this story, was one of more than 40 scientists involved in scrutiny of the cluster. Their work was documented in preliminary form in a working paper at the end of last month. The paper, not yet peer-reviewed, was shared on the NDR site. It was on Monday, Jan. 27, that Holger Engelmann, Webasto’s CEO, told the authorities that one of his employees had tested positive for the new coronavirus. The woman, who was based in Shanghai, had facilitated several days of workshops and attended meetings at Webasto’s HQ. The woman’s parents, from Wuhan, had visited her before she travelled on Jan. 19 to Stockdorf, the paper said. While in Germany, she felt unusual chest and back aches and was tired for her whole stay. But she put the symptoms down to jet lag. She became feverish on the return flight to China, tested positive after landing and was hospitalised. Her parents also later tested positive. She told her managers of the result and they emailed the CEO. In Germany, Engelmann said he immediately set up a crisis team that alerted the medical authorities and started trying to trace staff members who had been in contact with their Chinese colleague. The CEO himself was among them. “Just four or five days before I received the news, I had shaken hands with her,” he said. Now known as Germany’s “Case #0,” the Shanghai patient is a “long-standing, proven employee from project management” who Engelmann knows personally, he told Reuters. The company has not revealed her identity or that of others involved, saying anonymity has encouraged staff to co-operate in Germany’s effort to contain the virus. The task of finding who had contact with her was made easier by Webasto workers’ electronic calendars – for the most part, all the doctors needed was to look at staff appointments. “It was a stroke of luck,” said Wendtner, the doctor who treated the Munich patients. “We got all the information we needed from the staff to reconstruct the chains of infection.”  For example, case #1 - the first person in Germany to be infected by the Chinese woman - sat next to her in a meeting in a small room on Jan. 20, the scientists wrote. Where calendar data was incomplete, the scientists said, they were often able to use whole genome sequencing, which analyses differences in the genetic code of the virus from different patients, to map its spread. By following all these links, they discovered that case #4 had been in contact several times with the Shanghai patient. Then case #4 sat back-to-back with a colleague in the canteen. When that colleague turned to borrow the salt, the scientists deduced, the virus passed between them. The colleague became case #5. Webasto said on Jan. 28 it was temporarily closing its Stockdorf site. Between Jan. 27 and Feb. 11, a total of 16 COVID-19 cases were identified in the Munich cluster. All but one were to develop symptoms. All those who tested positive were sent to hospital so they could be observed and doctors could learn from the disease. Bavaria closed down public life in mid-March. Germany has since closed schools, shops, restaurants, playgrounds and sports facilities, and many companies have shut to aid the cause. This is not to say Germany has defeated COVID-19. Its coronavirus death rate of 1.9%, based on data collated by Reuters, is the lowest among the countries most affected and compares with 12.6% in Italy. But experts say more deaths in Germany are inevitable. “The death rate will rise,” said Lothar Wieler, president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. The difference between Germany and Italy is partly statistical: Germany’s rate seems so much lower because it has tested widely. Germany has carried out more than 1.3 million tests, according to the Robert Koch Institute. It is now carrying out up to 500,000 tests a week, Drosten said. Italy has conducted more than 807,000 tests since Feb. 21, according to its Civil Protection Agency. With a few local exceptions, Italy only tests people taken to hospital with clear and severe symptoms. Germany’s government is using the weeks gained by the Munich experience to double the number of intensive care beds from about 28,000. The country already has Europe’s highest number of critical care beds per head of the population, according to a 2012 study. Even that may not be enough, however. An Interior Ministry paper sent to other government departments on March 22 included a worst-case scenario with more than 1 million deaths. Another scenario saw 12,000 deaths - with more testing after partial relaxation of restrictions. That scenario was dubbed “hammer and dance,” a term coined by blogger Tomas Pueyo. It refers to the ‘hammer’ of quick aggressive measures for some weeks, including heavy social distancing, followed by the ‘dance’ of calibrating such measures depending on the transmission rate. The German government paper argued that in the ‘hammer and dance’ scenario, the use of big data and location tracking is inevitable. Such monitoring is already proving controversial in Germany, where memories of the East German Stasi secret police and its informants are still fresh in the minds of many. A subsequent draft action plan compiled by the government proposes the rapid tracing of infection chains, mandatory mask-wearing in public and limits on gatherings to help enable a phased return to normal life after Germany’s lockdown. The government is backing the development of a smartphone app to help trace infections. Germany has said it will re-evaluate the lockdown after the Easter holiday; for the car parts maker at the heart of its first outbreak, the immediate crisis is over. Webasto’s office has reopened. All 16 people who caught COVID-19 there have recovered. (This version of story edits final paragraph of top section)",
            "output": [
                "Pass the salt: The minute details that helped Germany build virus defenses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a12dbcb8459469386c9361b5ed0fc79",
            "input": "As the NFL preseason schedule commenced in August 2018, President Donald Trump resumed his fierce criticism of players who protested against racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling or declining to stand on the field during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. After similar protests occurred during several games held on 9 August, President Trump the following morning posted a series of tweets claiming that the players themselves did not understand why they were demonstrating and calling for them to be suspended without pay: The NFL players are at it again – taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem. Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their “outrage” at something that most of them are unable to define. They make a fortune doing what they love…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2018   …..Be happy, be cool! A football game, that fans are paying soooo much money to watch and enjoy, is no place to protest. Most of that money goes to the players anyway. Find another way to protest. Stand proudly for your National Anthem or be Suspended Without Pay! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2018   In response to this tweetstorm, Twitter user Anna Gallardo posted a meme about one particular fatal police shooting of a black man, writing: “Since Donald Trump doesn’t know why NFL players are protesting, let’s retweet this.”   The meme, which was retweeted 120,000 times within three days, gave the following account of the death of an Ohio man named John Crawford III: He was 22 years old. A father to two young sons. He went into Walmart to buy marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to make s’mores at a family cookout. While shopping, he picked up an unpackaged BB/pellet air rifle at the store’s sporting goods section. A customer called 911, claiming that John was pointing the gun at people walking by. Since the security video has been released, the customer has recanted. John was carrying a BB gun in the store that sold the gun, in an open carry state. The police arrived, went directly to John and shot him twice before he even knew what was going on. He died at the hospital soon after. A grand jury decided not to indict the officers. John Crawford III mattered. THE INJUSTICE OF HIS MURDER IS WHY THEY KNEEL. The text of the meme was a modified version of an account which the progressive political action committee Voters for Equality published on Facebook in October 2017: His name was John Crawford III. He was 22 years old, a father to two young sons. He went into Walmart to buy marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to make s’mores at a family cookout. While shopping, he picked up a un-packaged BB/pellet air rifle inside the store’s sporting goods section. Another customer called 911, claiming that John was pointing the gun at people walking by. Since the security video has been released, the customer has recanted, stating “At no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody.” John was carrying a BB gun in the store that sold the gun, in an open carry state. The police arrived. Crawford was talking on his cell phone while holding the BB/Pellet air rifle when officers shot him; store video shows the officers fired immediately without giving any verbal commands and without giving Crawford any time to drop the bb gun, even if he had heard them. He died at the hospital soon after. A grand jury decided not to indict the officers. John Crawford III mattered. His life matters, and the injustice of his murder is #WhyTheyKneel #WhyWeKneel. The widely-shared August 2018 tweet prompted enquiries from readers about the overall veracity of the account presented in the meme. On the whole, the meme is highly accurate, but the claim that Crawford was shot “before he even knew what was going on” is a significant point of contention, based on the accounts presented by the police officers involved. Crawford’s Trip to Walmart John Crawford III was shot dead on 5 August 2014 by Sean Williams, a police officer in the city of Beavercreek, Ohio, near Dayton. Crawford was shopping in the Walmart store at 3360 Pentagon Boulevard in the city. As the meme stated, he was indeed the father of two young sons aged five months and under two years old, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. As reported by the Guardian, Crawford’s girlfriend Tasha Thomas told police in an interview after the shooting that the couple had gone to the Walmart to buy the ingredients to make s’mores for a family cookout, as the meme stated. Multiple news reports confirm the claim in the meme that Crawford picked up an unpackaged pellet gun from a shelf in the Walmart store and walked around with it. The 911 Call Another Walmart customer, later identified as Ronald Ritchie, called 911 to report Crawford to police. Excerpts from an audio recording of the call were later published by multiple news organizations, in which Ritchie told dispatchers that Crawford had loaded a rifle and was “pointing it at people,” including children. Ritchie and his wife’s initial characterizations of Crawford as a threat to shoppers were significantly discredited when surveillance video footage of the incident was released, and when Ritchie himself told the Guardian that “At no point did [Crawford] shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody.”  Several witness statements later seen by the Guardian also negated the notion that Crawford was perceived as a threat by other shoppers: Ritchie and his wife, April, claimed afterwards that Crawford was causing panic among fellow shoppers. Yet only one of seven other customers interviewed by Ohio’s bureau of criminal investigation recalled seeing Crawford. The customer, Billie Brewer, told investigators that he was not alarmed and presumed the 22-year-old was a Walmart employee taking a gun on sale at the store to a storeroom. Ritchie stated repeatedly on his 911 call that Crawford was pointing the gun at people, including two children in particular. This was relayed to the officers on the ground, and before shooting Crawford, [office Sean] Williams called back to the 911 dispatcher to confirm the gun was being pointed at people. In a written statement to Beavercreek police the following day, Ritchie repeated again that Crawford was “pointing the gun at people as they walked by”. Yet Ritchie “later explained that the man with the gun wasn’t actually pointing the gun at the family,” according to a report of his interview with state investigators, but rather “swinging the gun around and flashing the muzzle at children”. Ritchie later made similar remarks to the Guardian in an interview. Later still, the surveillance footage showed Crawford occasionally swinging the gun at his side and pointing it at a shelf, but not in the direction of anyone. April Ritchie gave a similar account to investigators, adding that Crawford was acting “very shady”…[She] said she traveled around warning shoppers about Crawford. No one interviewed by investigators recounted this. Surveillance footage showed Crawford continued to look straight ahead. Yet April Ritchie, who had been standing to his left, “said that despite what the video camera was showing, they maintained eye contact with Crawford”. So while Ritchie did not take back every claim he made during his 911 call (he insisted that Crawford was “waving [the pellet gun] around”), he did later contradict a very significant claim which likely fuelled the escalated police response: that Crawford was pointing the “gun” at other shoppers, including children. The meme is again accurate in this respect. A judge in nearby Fairborn later ruled that sufficient grounds existed to charge Ritchie with raising false alarms, but Hamilton County special prosecutor Mark Piepmeier declined to proceed, deciding that the  evidence was not clear that Ritchie knew his descriptions of Crawford’s movements and actions were factually inaccurate. As the meme stated, Ohio is indeed an “open carry” state, meaning the carrying of a visible firearm (even a rifle) in public is lawful. However, the legality of open carry does not extend to using a firearm to threaten others. Although Crawford was apparently not threatening anyone and was carrying only a pellet gun, it’s worth noting that police arriving at the scene had only one source of information (Ronald Ritchie) who had told them Crawford was carrying a loaded rifle and pointing it at children. The Shooting The claim that police shot Crawford “before he even knew what was going on” is the most contentious assertion made in the meme. The surveillance footage shows that a relatively very short period of time (mere seconds) elapsed between the arrival on the scene of Officer Sean Williams and Sergeant David Darkow, and Williams’ fatal shooting of Crawford. However, Williams asserted that within that period of time, Darkow repeatedly shouted at Crawford to drop what the policemen thought was a loaded rifle, and that Crawford failed to do so. Williams also claimed that Crawford made an aggressive motion just before he fired two shots at Crawford. Here’s how Williams described the incident in a statement he wrote on 5 August 2014: We then made it to the final row of the pet department. Sergeant Darkow checked to the left and I covered his back by checking the long row to the right. As I quickly checked to the right I immediately heard Sergeant Darkow yell, “Drop the weapon!” As I turned towards the pet department I immediately saw a black male standing in the center of the aisle. He was holding a rifle. I quickly identified that he was holding a rifle and I could see the silhouette of the magazine seated in the weapon. Sergeant Darkow repeatedly yelled, “Drop the weapon!” The black male, who matched the description of the black male waving the rifle around (blue pants and blue shirt) did not drop the rifle. After repeated commands to drop the weapon the male turned towards us in an aggressive manner with the rifle in hand. At that time the black male was in a position where he could shoot me or Sergeant Darkow. I felt at that moment that my life was in immediate danger, that Sergeant Darkow’s life was in immediate danger, and that the lives of all the families, children and customers were in immediate danger. I then fired two rounds at the suspect. As I shot the suspect he began to move from my right to my left. Once I fired the shots he retreated backwards and dropped the rifle. He then fell backwards behind the end of the row and out of sight. At that time the rifle was in the open. I then quickly closed the distance between me and the suspect. As I neared the weapon, which was lying on the floor, I identified it again as being a black rifle with a seated magazine. As I neared the rifle the black male jumped from behind the aisle and charged towards the weapon. He began to reach for it as he neared it and I yelled for him to get on the ground. Just before reaching the rifle he collapsed to the floor … Elements of Williams’ account were contradicted both by Darkow and civilian witnesses, as the Guardian reported: Reports from interviews of Williams and the other officer who responded, sergeant David Darkow, said that they apparently did not identify themselves as police to Crawford as they turned the corner into the aisle where he was standing. They specified that they shouted at Crawford repeatedly “drop your weapon”, “drop your gun” or “drop the gun”. Yet three witnesses separately said they heard one, less specific, command: “Put it down, put it down”. Crawford’s family have said surveillance footage suggests that while speaking on his phone, he may not have heard an order or realised that it was directed at him. One witness said she did hear police say “drop your weapon”; another said that he heard “get down”. In a recording of the 911 call, a word that sounds like “down” is shouted as officers round a corner in the Walmart, about a second before two shots ring out. Darkow confirmed to investigators that the time between the “last command” being given and shots being fired was “fairly close”. Darkow also told his interviewers that before opening fire, he and Williams separately instructed Crawford to put down the gun. Yet Williams said that he did “not recall personally giving any commands”, and that only Darkow had done so. Darkow further said that Crawford “made a movement that seemed to indicate an attempt to run or an attempt to take cover” just before the 22-year-old was shot. This description appears to be supported by the store surveillance footage, which was released last week. Williams, however, apparently made no mention of this, telling the officials in his interview that he opened fire after Crawford made an “aggressive” move. He added in a written narrative that the 22-year-old had “turned towards us in an aggressive manner with the rifle in hand”. By the time Darkow filed his own written narrative, 10 days after his interview, he described Crawford’s final action differently. Darkow said only that it was a “quick movement”, and did not repeat his earlier remarks that Crawford appeared to be trying to retreat. In his 911 call, Ritchie can be heard telling a dispatcher that Crawford was “on his phone” thirty seconds before his fatal shooting. It’s plausible that Crawford, distracted by his phone call, was not aware of the presence of police or their instructions until it was too late. Accounts of two other important details also vary: how clear and specific the order police gave to Crawford was (and who exactly issued that order), and whether Crawford made an aggressive or defensive movement immediately before Williams shot him. At the 8:26:54 mark in the video published by WLWT, a voice can be heard shouting what appears to be “Down!” followed by what sounds like “Put the weapon down,” but two shots were seemingly fired before the second order was completed. Crawford also appeared to retreat sharply after the word “Down” was heard rather than moving towards the officers, who had not identified themselves as police. However, it’s unclear whether Williams and Darkow issued any earlier instructions not captured in the background of Ritchie’s 911 call, or how Crawford’s movements and gestures appeared to Williams in person (rather than as seen on somewhat grainy surveillance footage). Ultimately, we can’t say with certainty whether Crawford was shot “before he even knew what was going on,” as the meme claims, but evidence to that effect can be interpreted in various ways. Aftermath Williams shot Crawford in his torso and left arm, and Crawford died later that day at the hospital, as the meme states. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appointed Hamilton County prosecutor Mark Piepmeier to head a grand jury prosecution in Greene County, and in September 2014 that grand jury decided against indicting either Williams or Darkow on charges of murder, reckless homicide or negligent homicide. The U.S. Department of Justice investigated whether the shooting of Crawford involved a civil rights violation but ultimately decided it did not and declined to launch a federal civil rights prosecution against Williams: Based on a legal analysis of the investigative materials, the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to establish that Officer Williams acted with the requisite criminal intent necessary to pursue a federal prosecution. To establish that Officer Williams acted willfully, the government would be required both to disprove his stated reason for the shooting — that he was in fear of death or serious bodily injury — and to affirmatively establish that Officer Williams instead acted with the specific intent to violate Mr. Crawford’s rights. Williams returned to full duty a few days after the Justice Department announced their decision not to proceed with a civil rights prosecution. Crawford’s family is suing Sean Williams, the city of Beavercreek, and Walmart in a federal civil wrongful death lawsuit.",
            "output": [
                "We evaluate the claims made in a viral 2018 meme about the police shooting death of John Crawford III."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ecb731fa2cf4dbb870bae1231a47a09",
            "input": "Maple Leaf Foods President and CEO Michael McCain addresses shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto April 26, 2006. Canadian health officials said on Monday 12 people have died out of 26 confirmed cases of listeriosis, a food poisoning that genetic tests linked to prepared meats from a Toronto plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc <MFI.TO>. REUTERS/J.P. Moczulski There are another 29 suspected cases of listeriosis, officials told reporters, and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government expected more cases in coming days. Maple Leaf Foods, one of Canada’s biggest meat processors, had said it hoped to reopen the Toronto plant associated with the outbreak on Tuesday, but health officials said they will test and hold all meat produced there until they are satisfied it is not contaminated. “The timeframe really isn’t theirs. It belongs more to the (Canadian Food Inspection Agency),” Ritz said. Maple Leaf has voluntarily pulled about 220 products made at the plant in one of the biggest food recalls ever in Canada, with direct costs to the company of about C$20 million ($19 million). Listeria bacteria with the same genetic fingerprint as that found in the ill people was found in two beef products made at the plant. Those products and about 20 others made on the same lines were recalled last week. Listeriosis, an illness that is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, the elderly, infants and people with weak immune systems, was a contributing factor in seven of the deaths, the Public Health Agency of Canada said. Five others had the bacteria in their system, but the causes of their deaths are still under investigation, said the agency’s Mark Raizenne. Previously, four deaths had been attributed to the outbreak. Maple Leaf has said it’s unlikely it will be able to determine how its meat was contaminated, explaining that the listeria bacterium is common and pervasive. “It’s very, very, very difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint a cause,” Chief Financial Officer Michael Vels told analysts on Monday before the latest health announcement. “I don’t know how important that is to consumers. I think our perspective is what’s more important is we let them know what’s going on and we take swift and conservative action to safeguard their health,” Vels said. Maple Leaf is double-checking procedures at all of its 23 plants but has no reason to believe any other products are at risk of contamination, he said. Reimbursing customers for returned products, cleaning the plant and other direct expenses will cost the company C$20 million before taxes, Vels said. On top of the company’s initial cost estimate, it may face reduced sales and increased advertising costs, he said. Maple Leaf shares closed 10 percent lower at C$8.80 ahead of the announcement of the latest deaths. Vels declined to speculate on whether Maple Leaf would have any financial liability from lawsuits, but said the company has product liability insurance. “No definitive link has been made between the listeria causing the illness and deaths, and Maple Leaf products,” Vels told analysts. But a lawyer known for aggressively pursuing class action lawsuits, including against tainted pet food maker Menu Foods Income Fund, said his firm will take action against Maple Leaf. “It’s apparent, immediately, that the company has been downplaying the significance of what’s going on,” Tony Merchant said in an interview with CTV News. ($1=$1.05 Canadian)",
            "output": [
                "Canada says 12 dead in food poisoning outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d6de1966e67468b8f0b91f212907042",
            "input": "Britain’s parliament last year voted to change the law to allow the three-parent in-vitro-fertilisation (IVF) technique known as mitochondrial transfer, which doctors say could help prevent incurable inherited diseases. The technique involves intervening in the fertilisation process to remove mitochondria, which act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and which, if faulty, can cause fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. The treatment is known as “three-parent” IVF because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor. Research teams around the world have tested and trialled the techniques in a series of pre-clinical experiments, but as yet they have not been used to treat patients in Britain. The world’s first and so-far only known mitochondrial transfer baby was born earlier this year after U.S. doctors working at a clinic in Mexico helped a Jordanian couple conceive using the new three-way treatment. In Britain, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will decide whether to issue the first licence to a clinic. It had convened an independent expert panel to explore current scientific evidence and offer recommendations. Publishing its conclusions on Wednesday, the panel said the techniques should now be approved by the HFEA for “cautious” use in “specific circumstances”. Various studies including one published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, have added to significant progress in the development of the techniques, the panel said, and they are “now at an acceptable stage for cautious clinical use”. Specialists welcomed the review’s recommendations. Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive of the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK, said the recommendations, if approved by the HFEA, would be “a major step towards the reality of offering an effective treatment to the 2,500 eligible women in the UK”. Darren Griffin, a professor of genetics at Kent University said that “in the current climate, where it seems that hype and hyperbole appear to outweigh measured decision making based on the facts, it’s pleasing to see a victory of common sense”. He said the review was good news for families at risk of transmitting mitochondrial disorders “and infinitely better than the alternative of children suffering with horrible diseases”.",
            "output": [
                "UK panel says new three-parent IVF technique now safe for 'cautious use'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c1bce9a166841b7a5358187f0474a23",
            "input": "\"The story does not mention costs of multivitamins, but it's safe to assume this is common knowledge. The story provides absolute rates of excess numbers of deaths expected with heavy vitamin use. If treatment is considered to be heavy multivitamin use, harms associated with this treatment are discussed, namely an increased risk of advanced types of prostate cancers. Other harms noted with specific vitamins such as A and E are also mentioned. The article tells readers this is not a randomized controlled trial, where half the group would be randomly assigned to an intervention and half would not. It provides some context for interpreting the results, e.g. the study was not designed to prove vitamins affect cancer risk. No overt disease-mongering. The story does provide two independent sources of information. If treatment is considered to be heavy multivitamin use, alternative options could be considered to be taking recommended doses of multivitamins and/or taking no multivitamins at all, which are discussed. The article states that \"\"studies show that 35% of Americans take vitamins\"\" so we get a good feel for how available they are. The story does not mention whether heavy vitamin use is new or not, but this doesn't seem applicable, given that heavy vitamin use isn't a standard treatment in the first place. The story turned to two different sources from two different studies, so it is unlikely that it relied solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Multivitamin and prostate cancer link studied"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c18648ca906940fbaed6ae2af684ad5c",
            "input": "In September 2017, numerous news accounts reported that the Healthcare.gov web site was scheduled to be shut down for maintenance on several occasions during the 2018 “Obamacare” health insurance open enrollment period, which runs from 1 November to 15 December 2017, prompting queries to us from readers about the issue. Kaiser Health News, a self-described “nonprofit news service committed to in-depth coverage of health care policy and politics,” reported that: The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrollment season. The shutdown will occur from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET on every Sunday except Dec. 10. The Department of Health and Human Services will also shut down the federal exchange — healthcare.gov — overnight on the first day of open enrollment, Nov. 1. More than three dozen states use that exchange for their marketplaces. HHS officials disclosed this information during a webinar with community groups that help people enroll. Kaiser Health News reporter Phil Galewitz tweeted what appeared to be a slide from a related presentation, including details of the scheduled maintenance: ..@HHSGov plans to shut down @HHSGov for 12 hours during all but one Sunday during the upcoming 6 week open enrollment season pic.twitter.com/0d5WUtLc9G — Phil Galewitz (@philgalewitz) September 22, 2017  The same slide was independently tweeted by Vox‘s Sarah Kliff: HHS will take https://t.co/hHpJTTaZfz offline nearly every Sunday from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. of open enrollment, per presentation sent to me. pic.twitter.com/0n5cZ9ENOK — Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) September 22, 2017  A spokesperson for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which runs Healthcare.gov, confirmed the maintenance schedules reported by Kaiser Health News and Sarah Kliff: Maintenance outages are regularly scheduled on HealthCare.gov every year during open enrollment. This year is no different. The maintenance schedule was provided in advance this year in order to accommodate requests from certified application assisters. System downtime is planned for the lowest-traffic time periods on HealthCare.gov including Sunday mornings. That spokesperson also said the periods set out for web site maintenance constituted the maximum anticipated amount of downtime, and averred that the actual amount of downtime might end up being less. (We asked CMS to clarify the times involved in the 1 November downtime, which the presentation slide only describes as “overnight,” but we did not receive a response in time for publication.) The Trump administration has already cut in half the Obamacare open enrollment period, truncating the original period of 1 November 2016 to 31 January 2017 (three months) to the shorter period of 1 November to 15 December 2017 (six weeks). As pointed out by Kaiser Health News, this year’s web site maintenance schedule means that Healthcare.gov will be online for 93% of the total time during the six-week open enrollment period. (If we assume the “overnight” downtime on 1 November will last 12 hours, then the web site will be online for 1,008 out of 1,080 hours.)",
            "output": [
                "The Department of Health and Human Services has scheduled web site maintenance for Healthcare.gov on most Sundays during Obamacare open enrollment."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-83181a62d8a442be9c0edc1f92da0bd2",
            "input": "\"Emily's List is stoking the abortion debate in Colorado's 6th Congressional District race with a fundraising email saying Republican incumbent Mike Coffman \"\"co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape.\"\" Emily's List -- a political organization that supports the election of Democratic women who support abortion rights -- has endorsed Coffman's opponent, state Sen. Morgan Carroll, an Aurora Democrat. Its mailer focused on reproductive rights, abortion and Roe v. Wade. In the email, titled \"\"2016 goal: A Congress that fights for women and families,\"\" Emily's List said, \"\"We wish Congress was less like this\"\" -- citing Mike Coffman's co-sponsorship of the 2011 bill -- \"\"and more like this … Morgan Carroll sponsored a bill to make emergency contraception available to sexual assault survivors.\"\" We wanted to check the accuracy of Emily's List's characterization of Coffman's role in the legislation. Coffman did co-sponsor the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act, which attempted to redefine a ban on federal funding for abortions to exempt \"\"forcible rape\"\" -- and not rape in broader terms. Critics said the \"\"forcible rape\"\" language could rule out other forms of sexual assault that are considered rape, including statutory rape, attacks where women are drugged or threatened, and date rapes. Facing a backlash from women's groups, Republicans amended the bill in committee to remove the word \"\"forcible\"\" and make the exemption for \"\"rape.\"\" Coffman wasn't on this committee and didn't vote on the removal. \"\"The bill was amended in committee, and Congressman Coffman supported the amended bill on the floor,\"\" a Coffman campaign spokesman later said. Congressional records show that Coffman voted for the amended bill in a floor vote, which passed the House but not the Senate. In recent years, Coffman has tempered his position on abortion in one of the country's most competitive \"\"swing\"\" districts, which is nearly evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and independents. In 2012, he said, \"\"I am against all abortions, except when it is necessary to protect the life of the mother.\"\" But a year later, Coffman said that while he supported a House bill to limit late-term abortions, \"\"I strongly support the exceptions for rape, incest, and protecting the life of the mother that have been included in this legislation.\"\" Coffman's Democratic opponent, Morgan Carroll, had blunt criticism of his co-sponsoring the 2011 bill's original \"\"forcible rape\"\" language. \"\"Rape is about the lack of consent -- not the degree of force -- and this definition takes us backwards,\"\" Carroll told Denver7. \"\"I unequivocally support a woman's right to make her own decisions about her own body, including her health care,\"\" she said. Coffman's spokeswoman complained that political opponents have repeatedly raised the 2011 bill and \"\"will twist the facts any way they can in an attempt to mischaracterize and demonize Rep. Coffman.\"\" Our ruling Emily’s List said that Coffman \"\"co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape.\"\" The record shows Coffman did co-sponsor the bill to redefine a ban on federal funding for abortions to exempt \"\"forcible rape.\"\" Yet he later voted on the floor for an amended version that had removed the \"\"forcible\"\" modifier from the bill. Given the totality of his actions on the legislation, we're rating this claim . Correction: This story has been corrected to note that Coffman did not serve on the committee that removed the word \"\"forcible\"\" from the bill.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"As part of legislative fights over abortion rights, \"\"Mike Coffman co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c40bb94cf3646018ea24c5bde1c040f",
            "input": "In May 2020, The New York Times reported that Asian giant hornets, often referred to as “murder hornets,” had been spotted for the first time in the United States. This was not welcome news, and social media sites quickly filled up with alarming images of these large insects. One such photograph supposedly showed four “murder hornets” in the palm of a person’s hand:  This is a genuine photograph of Asian giant hornets. A 2010 article from National Geographic described these hornets as “small but highly efficient killing [machines]” that were approximately 2 inches long with a 3-inch wingspan. Although people have died from this hornet’s painful sting, the insects are only “highly efficient killing machines” when it comes to bees. National Geographic wrote: Bees, other hornet species, and larger insects such as praying mantises are no match for the giant hornets, which often stalk their prey in relentless armies. Just one of these hornets can kill 40 European honeybees a minute; a handful of the creatures can slaughter 30,000 European honeybees within hours, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs. People are not the Japanese giant hornet’s usual prey, but those who have felt its sting describe the pain as excruciating. Masato Ono, an entomologist at Tamagawa University, near Tokyo, said it’s “like a hot nail through my leg.” Someone who is stung by the hornet and doesn’t receive proper treatment soon thereafter can die from the venom, which is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh. About 40 people die each year after being stung by giant hornets, mainly as a result of an allergic reaction to the venom. The above-displayed photograph was taken in 2011 by Devon Henderson and shows four dead Asian giant hornet queens in the palm of the photographer’s hand. This image was originally posted to Henderson’s Flickr account dedicated to Hymenoptera, a large order of insects which includes wasps, bees, and ants.",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows four Asian giant hornets barely fitting on the palm of someone's hand. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97300722ec3f4cdab01edf79563a18f3",
            "input": "The pill is widely considered the most important experimental medicine in Lilly’s pipeline, and its shares rose nearly 3 percent on the news. A priority review means the Food and Drug Administration likely will decide within six months whether to approve the drug, known generically as prasugrel, rather than the usual 10- to 12-month review period. If approved, the drug would compete with Plavix, a blockbuster drug sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) and Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA). “Getting priority review is a positive. Not getting it would have raised some caution,” said Tim Anderson, an analyst for Sanford Bernstein. Anderson, who said he was surprised by the decision, said he still believes the drug will have to go before an advisory panel of experts before the FDA makes its decision. Mixed data on prasugrel were unveiled in November from a study of heart patients slated to receive stents — tiny tubes that prop open coronary arteries after they have been cleared of plaque. In that study, prasugrel was 19 percent more effective than Plavix in preventing cardiovascular death, nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, but caused a significantly higher amount of serious bleeding. The companies filed their application for prasugrel on Dec. 26. If approved, Lilly said the drug’s brand name would be Effient. Shares of Eli Lilly rose 2.9 percent, or $1.43, to $51.25 in after-hours trading following the news. They had closed at $49.82 on the New York Stock Exchange.",
            "output": [
                "Lilly Anti-Clotting Drug Gets U.S. Priority Review."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c14104c91cbd4c7ba9f00366a2c5b713",
            "input": "\"In stark, black-and-white montages of tear-streaked female faces, District 27 state senate hopeful Kevin Rader blasts his Republican opponent in a campaign ad for her anti-abortion views. Rader, a Democrat and state House member, accuses Republican Lizbeth Benacquisto of strongly opposing abortion and having ties to extremist conservative groups that would criminally prosecute rape victims for having abortions. \"\"Lizbeth Benacquisto strongly opposes a woman's right of choice,\"\" the ad states. \"\"The extremist groups who support her would make these women into criminals. She supported an extreme law to require pregnant women to pay for  and view a sonogram before they could exercise their right of choice. Her allies would make choice illegal in all cases, including rape, incest, even to save a woman's life. Vote no on Benacquisto, keep extremism out of our state Senate.\"\" The ad enraged Benacquisto, a city councilwoman in Wellington, who responded with her own ad and the revelation that she was raped 23 years ago as a University of Florida freshman. She underscored her support for an exception to abortion for rape victims, saying she would \"\"never stand down when any woman has been abused,\"\" and demanded Rader pull the ad. Rader's camp said the only way that will happen is if Benacquisto renounces the support given to her by far-right, conservative right-to-life groups. With such a high emotion level in this campaign, we thought Rader's claim about Benacquisto's supporters was worth a look. Benacquisto is pro-life, and she makes no secret of it on her website and in questionnaires. Same with her support of the ultrasound legislation, though she has noted in various interviews she has concerns about its impact on rape victims. In a candidate questionnaire from the Christian Coalition of Florida, she added, \"\"I consistently support this because I am pro-life.\"\" Benacquisto holds support from a handful of conservative, anti-abortion groups. Among those are the Christian Coalition, the Florida Right to Life PAC and the Christian Family Coalition. Though they haven't donated financially, both Florida Right to Life and the former Christian Coalition executive director have offered endorsements, and she headlined at least one event, a breakfast for the Christian Family Coalition on Oct. 16. Florida Right to Life believes life begins at conception and ends at natural death, and all points in between are to be defended. It labels abortion \"\"infanticide,\"\" which is a crime. And the Christian Coalition of Florida states, \"\"Although legal in the United States, we believe abortion is no less than murder of an innocent human life.\"\" Using this logic, abortion equals murder and murder is a crime. Therefore, those who have abortions would be criminals. The Christian Family Coalition, based in Miami, says it \"\"works to introduce pro-family legislation at the state and local levels of government. It informs and educates citizens on where candidates stand on the issues that affect the traditional family unit.\"\" The group’s website includes a link to \"\"abortion,\"\" but contains just news articles and press releases in which it is mentioned. Each of those three organizations also closely follows abortion-related legislation. They post opinions on everything from parental notice to making the violent death of any fetus -- viable or otherwise -- cause for a first-degree murder charge. But none appear to flat-out say they would support abortion regardless of whether a woman was raped, abused by a family member or faced with death. They skirt the issue. For example, Florida Right to Life says, \"\"We promote, uphold and support reverence and respect for human life without regard to condition, quality, age, race, religion, color or whether born or unborn.\"\" On the National Right to Life page, the only reference to exceptions is a 2005 survey indicating only 0.5 percent of women have abortions due to rape, while 4 percent undergo it for the mother's health. Rader's campaign manager, Michael McCall, said, \"\"The problem with something like that is if you take an organization like Florida Right to Life, their very core is making abortion illegal. They won't list every case in which they support banning abortions, because they support banning abortions in all cases.\"\" It's clear that groups supporting Benacquisto have firm stands against abortion, but they're not spelled out precisely. What is clear, though, is that the groups don't offer up any exceptions. So we don't expect Rader's campaign to find any.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Lizbeth Benacquisto's supporters \"\"would make (abortion) illegal in all cases, including rape, incest, even to save a woman's life.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2669acac21674605acad8706765de394",
            "input": "Louise, a black English Labrador, doesn’t ask anything of Casteel except to provide a warm lap to sit in or a ball to chase across the room. For Casteel, it’s about the best therapy she’s ever had. ″(Louise) calms me down,” said Casteel, who lives in the Manhattan area. “She’ll play with you, she’ll sit with you. She knows when you’re sad.” Casteel is a client at Veridian Behavioral Health, a multi-disciplinary mental health care center that is part of the behavioral health department of Salina Regional Health Center. Many of Veridian’s psychiatrists, counselors and nurse practitioners serve individuals and families struggling with common life problems such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, marital problems, parent-child conflicts or grief and loss. Recently, the center added another tool to help clients in their programs — certified therapy dogs. Three dogs specifically, have been introduced to the programs: Louise, a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Phil and a Great Dane named Daisy. These dogs assist adult inpatient and outpatient clients at the hospital, as well as children suffering trauma and other mental health issues at Veridian’s east campus, the Salina Journal reported. Angela Koerperich, an advanced nurse practitioner who owns and supervises Daisy, said Veridian received a grant in October 2015 to add three certified therapy dogs into its mental health program. She and two other Veridian nurse practitioners took on a dog: Louise belongs to Jennifer Pekarek and Phil is owned by Marcia Cleavenger. “We’ve talked about this for years as something that would be great to have in the inpatient unit,” Koerperich said. “We worked together to make it happen. We got in contact with CARES, and the pieces just came together.” CARES, which stands for Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education & Services, is Concordia-based specialty service that offers specially trained canine assistants to people with disabilities throughout the U.S., as well as professional therapy dogs for schools, mental health facilities, hospitals and nursing homes. The majority of dogs that CARES trains are produced from their own breeding programs or are donated ex-show dogs, specifically bred puppies and family pets. Dogs are fostered out to volunteer homes and facilities where they are raised for nine to 18 months, learn basic obedience and become socialized to all aspects of public and private life. Louise and Daisy happened to be trained by inmates at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility, Cleavenger said, which has established a dog training program. “It can be nearly a two year process before they’re certified,” she said. To become a certified therapy animal, a dog has to have the right kind of temperament to interact with subjects who may be going through trauma or other mental or physical issues, Cleavenger said. “A lot of times people come into the clinic, and they’ll be highly anxious or depressed,” she said. “A therapy dog helps to ease the anxiety and make it easier to converse with that person. I’ve had a patient with high blood pressure who, once they spent a little time with Phil, their high blood pressure dropped.” Koerperich said Daisy, who like the other therapy dogs wears an identifiable vest while at “work,” does wonders with children at the Veridian outpatient office. “Sometimes it’s hard to get children to engage or take their medicine, and the dogs can help,” she said. “When you are talking to kids about trauma, it’s nice to have Daisy in the room. Sometimes a child will talk to the dog and not the therapist. They’ll take Daisy outside, walk her around. It’s nice to have that physical distraction.” Pekarek said at Veridian’s inpatient unit at the hospital, Louise has been an immense help when it comes to communicating with patients who are virtually disabled as a result of trauma or mental issues. “Louise seems to warm up to people really fast,” Pekarek said. “I’ll bring Louise into the inpatient units, and she seems to know who needs her the most. She will stay with them, even if that person won’t get out of bed. There was 14-year-old girl here who would not talk to me or her mother, but she talked to Louise. It’s amazing to watch.” For Casteel, having Louise by her side during therapy sessions has given her hope that her life will continue to improve in the future. “I got an animal myself after I met Louise,” she said. “I know now that I need an emotional support animal, that without one I’ll be more depressed than usual. I got a cat, but he’s as gentle as (Louise) is.” ___ Information from: The Salina (Kan.) Journal, http://www.salina.com",
            "output": [
                "Salina center’s therapy dogs help manage mental health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0701dcb5ee9d4cda937eeafb233a1895",
            "input": "Dustin Oedekoven said Wednesday the owner of the 21-month-old female elk noticed the animal was sick and contacted his veterinarian. The USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, later confirmed samples tested positive for the disease. Chronic wasting disease is endemic in free-ranging deer and elk in and around the Black Hills. The disease was last diagnosed in captive elk in South Dakota in 2001. CWD is a fatal disease that strikes the nervous system in deer, elk and moose. Oedekoven says state and federal animal health officials are working with the owner of the affected herd to investigate the disease and mitigate further infection.",
            "output": [
                "Chronic wasting confirmed in a captive elk in Clark County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f677bc6ff7c34fa0b6063336dc703449",
            "input": "Good job on this. The story stated: However, it could have also included at least a line about the costs of following testing and possible treatment of false positives. Excellent. The story put the important number needed to screen in the third sentence of the story:  “A major government study found the screening scans saved the life of one person for every 300 current or former smokers who were scanned.”  It went on to explain “The study was stopped when it was found that the scanning group had a 20 percent lower risk of dying from lung cancer than those being screened with X-rays.” It could have done so in absolute terms, not relative risk reduction, but overall it warrants a satisfactory score. The story was clear on this: In a rarity for such a story, “downsides” was even in the headline. The third paragraph read:  “But now cancer and screening experts are worried that the limited findings will be used by private screening centers to promote the test to a broader group than was studied. That, in turn, could lead to thousands of unnecessary lung scans, causing excess radiation exposure and unnecessary biopsies and surgery.” In clear language, the article explained key points about the study, including its limitations: While the study found a benefit to scanning a specific group of high-risk smokers, that doesn’t mean other groups will get the same benefit. Good job here as well. The quote from Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society was key:  “To take a trial that involves people at high risk for lung cancer and to extrapolate it and say it’s good for people with intermediate or low risk is not appropriate.”  Good sourcing – including quotes from one who promotes the scans and the study findings and from two who have concerns and are skeptical or worried about the impact. The one comparison was the synopsis of the key study finding: “The smokers and former smokers were given either annual CT lung scans or chest X-rays. Compared with conventional X-rays, the CT, or computed tomography, scans create a detailed three-dimensional image of the lungs. The study was stopped when it was found that the scanning group had a 20 percent lower risk of dying from lung cancer than those being screened with X-rays.” The availability of CT scanners to do lung cancer screening was clear from the story. More importantly, though, was the question of interpreting those scans – with questions raised in this excerpt about the problems even experienced radiologists at major cancer centers had: The story explained that some were already promoting the study’s findings in news releases saying that the study “should once and for all settle the controversy” about whether CT lung scans save lives. But it quickly countered that claim with observations from Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society who said that he was worried that the few early press releases and radio advertisements are just the beginning of widespread promotion of screening lung scans. “It was sort of ominous to be working Sunday evening in my home office and this thing comes on the radio,” he said. “A lot of people run out when there is a new announcement and get the new test. We’re very frightened some people are going to be harmed because of this.”  This column did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "The Downside of a Cancer Study Extolling CT Scans"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cf2d8176009547088bf2e7557400991a",
            "input": "The city’s health commission said in a statement Tuesday that 27 people had fallen ill with a strain of viral pneumonia, seven of whom were in serious condition. It said most had visited a seafood market in the sprawling city, apparently pointing to a common origin of the outbreak. Unverified information online said the illnesses were caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged from southern China and killed more than 700 people in several countries and regions. SARS was brought under control through quarantines and other extreme measures, but not before causing a virtual shutdown to travel in China and the region and taking a severe toll on the economy. However, the health commission said the cause of the outbreak was still unclear and called on citizens not to panic.",
            "output": [
                "China investigates respiratory illness outbreak sickening 27."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ddf77d2d56e24d52a28fedad26ae2438",
            "input": "At least 260 workers at Westfleisch’s slaughterhouse in the city of of Coesfeld have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, causing alarm at a time when the country is trying to slowly relax the restrictions that were imposed to curb the pandemic. As authorities scrambled to contain the growing outbreak over the weekend, it emerged that many of those infected were Eastern European migrants working for subcontractors who also provide them with accommodation and shuttle buses to work. “If one person is infected then basically everybody else that sits on the bus or lives in the shared houses is infected,” said Anne-Monika Spallek, a Green Party representative in Coesfeld who has campaigned against the meat industry’s practice of outsourcing much of its back-breaking work to migrants working under precarious conditions. Among them is Iulian, a trained carpenter from Bacau in Romania’s poor northeast who previously worked for a German courier company . He recently got a job at Westfleisch that promised several times what he would make back home. The 48-year-old, who declined to give his last name fearing repercussions, said he still must pay his employer rent for a room he shares with a colleague, but he doesn’t know if he will receive pay while he isn’t working. Standing behind a metal fence erected to stop workers from leaving the house they share about a 15-minute drive from Coesfeld, Iulian waited Tuesday for results from a coronavirus test. Residents inside also awaited results from tests taken four days earlier. “Like a jail,” he said of his current situation. “Like a lion in a cage.” Authorities had stopped the men from going to a nearby supermarket but subsequently groceries had been delivered. “Water, food, salami, it’s OK for now,” Iulian said. As for medical care, so far there is none. “If we do have problem, we call,” he said hopefully. Westfleisch declined a request for an interview. But in a statement, the company said it was “deeply affected” by what had happened in recent days. “We are fully aware of our responsibility,” Westfleisch said, adding it now requires workers at facilities that remain open to wear face masks on site, have their temperature taken at the gate and work in clearly separated small groups. The company said it is also trying to impress upon workers “the importance of hygiene and behavior measures in the company and in private settings.” The outbreak has caused consternation in Berlin, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged Wednesday the “alarming news” about the situation at Westfleisch. “There are significant shortcomings in accommodation – we have all seen that now – and it has to be seen who is held responsible,” Merkel said. “I can tell you in any case that I am not satisfied with what we have seen there.” The outbreak began shortly before Germany’s federal and state governments agreed to trigger an “emergency brake” on relaxing restrictions when the number of new infections passed 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in a week — a threshold that Coesfeld has far surpassed. Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia, where Coesfeld is located, have ordered all 20,000 workers in the meat industry tested for the new coronavirus and delayed the reopening of bars and restaurants in the region by another week. Some enraged restaurant owners have threatened to sue for lost earnings, though it is unclear who they would take to court: Westfleisch, the subcontractors, the workers or regional officials now being accused of acting too slowly. Olaf Klenke of the NGG union, which represents workers in the food industry, says the outbreak could be the right moment to clamp down on outsourcing in the meat industry. “The corona crisis simply reveals the situation that exists in this area,” he said. “We often talk about animal welfare in the industry,“but what happens to the people who work there is at least as important.” While the outbreak in Coesfeld has drawn the most attention, there have been smaller clusters of cases at slaughterhouses across the country in recent days. And though there’s been no death yet among abattoir workers, a 57-year-old farm worker from Romania died of COVID-19 in Germany last month. In the United States, which has also seen a spate of infections at meatpacking plants, experts have cited extremely tight working conditions that make factories natural high risk locations for contagion. Klenk blamed a lack of public interest in the issue and price pressure from large supermarket chains for promoting cut-throat competition in the slaughterhouse business. At a market stall in Coesfeld’s town square, a pork cutlet from a pig butchered by hand costs 15.50 euros per kilogram ($7.63 a pound), compared with 3.29 euros per kilogram ($2.32 a pound) for an industrially processed portion of the same cut at a nearby supermarket. Amid mounting pressure to act, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil pledged late Wednesday to “clean up” conditions in German slaughterhouses. “We as a society mustn’t continue to look on as people from Central and Eastern Europe are exploited,” he said, adding that the subcontractors were the “root of the problem.” Spallek, the Green party politician, said the outbreak has prompted sympathy for the migrants among many Germans who had previously taken little notice of the problem. “Everybody wants these miserable conditions to finally end,” she said. “On the other hand the people are really mad at Westfleisch and at the county official for not closing (the factory) sooner.” Spallek voiced fears that a number of workers might develop serious illnesses in the coming days. “I’m convinced that we’ve yet to see the consequences, including in the hospitals,” she said. ___ Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, and Vadim Ghirda in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "Outbreak at German slaughterhouse reveals migrants’ plight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-88ff8e3eaa5f47f78e07a668de77bbd1",
            "input": "State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos says chronic wasting disease hasn’t spread to New York yet and regulatory changes that took effect this week are aimed at keeping the disease out of the state. Under the regulations, hunters can bring only certain parts of deer and related species into the state. That includes deboned meat, cleaned skull caps, antlers with no flesh, hides, cleaned jaw and finished taxidermy products. DEC officers will be monitoring roadways along state borders and will confiscate and destroy whole carcasses illegally imported.",
            "output": [
                "Updated deer regulations aim to halt chronic wasting disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-746c51cfd7e447c8b5fa1f20d7ed1527",
            "input": "Belgian and French scientists said they’ve detected high accumulations of industrial fluids and mercury in the blubber and skin of dolphins in the Normanno-Breton Gulf, off the northwest coast of France. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers said they measured levels of pollutants similar to those found in dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea, around Florida’s Everglades, off the coast of the Guianas and in Guanabara Bay in Brazil. Many of the chemicals, including so-called PCBs, have been banned since the 1970s and 1980s but persist in the environment, where they can pass through the food chain. Because the compounds are able to dissolve in oils, they accumulate in fatty tissue. In marine mammals, mothers can pass the chemicals to their calves during pregnancy and lactation. “We suspect that elevated concentrations of PCBs can alter the reproduction of marine mammals, leading to a decrease of the number of newborns, affecting the renewal of the population,” said Krishna Das, an associate professor at the University of Liege, Belgium. PCBs, which were once popular as lubricants and hydraulic fluids, can disrupt hormone receptors and affect the immune system, said Das, who co-authored the study. Frank Mattig, an ornithologist at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, who wasn’t involved in the study, said the findings echo what scientists have discovered in other marine species. Mattig, who studies the impact of PCBs and mercury on sea birds, said top predators such as dolphins and whales are particularly likely to accumulate high levels of toxins. It’s unclear what levels of the chemicals are harmful, but other studies show they pose a health risk in high concentrations, he said. “There’s good reason why they’re banned,” he noted. The researchers called for greater efforts to eliminate the dangerous chemicals, including safe disposal of stocks and equipment, reducing leakage from landfills and limiting the dredging of PCB-laden rivers and estuaries.",
            "output": [
                "English Channel dolphins carry ‘toxic cocktail’ of chemicals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a7b8080cb0da47119fc6274c244caf89",
            "input": "Analysis of powdered samples drilled out from inside an ancient and once water-soaked rock at the rover’s Gale Crater landing site show clays, sulfates and other minerals that are all key to life, scientists told reporters at NASA headquarters in Washington and on a conference call on Tuesday. The water that once flowed through the area, known as Yellowknife Bay, was likely drinkable, said Curiosity’s lead scientist John Grotzinger, who is with the California Institute of Technology. The analysis stopped short of a confirmation of organics, which are key to most Earth-like life. But with 17 months left in the rover’s primary mission, scientists said they expect to delve further into that question. Science operations currently are suspended because of a computer glitch, which is expected to be resolved this week. Whether or not Mars has or ever had life, it should have at one time at least had organic compounds delivered to its surface by organic-rich comets and asteroids. Finding places where the organics could have been preserved, however, is a much trickier prospect than finding the environmental niches and chemistry needed to support life, scientists said. In May, following a one-month interruption of radio communications caused by the positions of Earth and Mars, scientists plan to drill a second hole into the Gale Crater rock to look for organic compounds. “If there was organic material there, it could have been preserved,” said David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity’s Chemistry and Mineralogy, or CheMin, experiment. A lack of organics, however, would not rule out the Yellowknife Bay site as suitable for life, scientists added. “You don’t have to have carbon present in a geological environment that’s habitable in order to have microbial metabolism occur,” Grotzinger said. Some micro-organisms on Earth, for example, can feed on inorganic compounds, such as what are found inside rocks. “There does need to be a source of carbon somewhere, but if it’s just CO2 (carbon dioxide), you can have chemoautotrophic organisms that literally feed on rocks and they will metabolize and generate organic compounds based on that carbon,” Grotzinger said. Analysis shows the Gale Crater rock contains carbon dioxide, in addition to hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen. Carbon dioxide provides a key ingredient in the building blocks for life, all of which have now been found in the Mars rock sample, Grotzinger said. The $2.5 billion, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover landed inside the giant Gale Crater impact basin, located near the Martian equator, on August 6 for a two-year mission. Scientists were drawn to the area because of a three-mile (5-km) mountain of sediment, called Mount Sharp, rising from the crater floor. But shortly after the rover’s landing, the team decided to first explore the Yellowknife Bay area, located in the opposite direction from Mount Sharp. Observations from Mars orbiters showed three different types of terrain coming together in Yellowknife Bay, plus a low elevation, all hints that water could have once flowed and pooled on the surface. That hunch was verified with the first chemical analysis of material drilled out from inside what appears to be a slab of bedrock, named John Klein, after a mission manager who died in 2011. Scientists don’t know the rock’s age, nor how it formed. They suspect, however, that the John Klein rock is at least 3 billion years old and that it spent enough time in non-acidic and not-too-salty water for various telltale clays and minerals to form. “This rock, quite frankly, looks like a typical thing that we would get on Earth,” Grotzinger said. “The key thing here is this is an environment that microbes could have lived in and maybe even prospered in.”  The habitable conditions in Yellowknife Bay appear to roughly coincide within a couple of hundred million years of the first evidence for life on Earth. “On Earth, finding organics in very, very ancient rocks is a difficult proposition,” said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument. Finding organics on Mars may be even more challenging. Without much protection from an atmosphere, ultraviolet and cosmic radiation can destroy organics. Mars also apparently is covered with chemicals, known as perchlorates, that consume organics. “The search for organic carbon is an issue for this mission and you want to do this as deliberately as possible. You don’t just want to wander around and try stuff out,” Grotzinger said. Knowing that Mars at least had the ingredients for life, however, makes the search for organics more viable. “This is not a simple problem, but I think the mission is up to it and we’re really excited to get started on that now,” Grotzinger said.",
            "output": [
                "Mars had the right stuff for life, scientists find."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-454bffe0c4724d5ebb66455d58d4e9de",
            "input": "The Winston-Salem Journal reports the Forsyth County Health Department says the source of the outbreak is among people who inject illegal drugs and other substances and share needles, homeless and transient people. It is usually transmitted person-to-person and spreads when a person unknowingly ingests the virus from objects, food, or drinks contaminated by small, undetected amounts of fecal matter from an infected person. According to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, 124 cases of hepatitis A have been reported statewide, and one person has died from the disease. ___ Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com",
            "output": [
                "North Carolina county reports 19 cases of hepatitis A."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cab5c5e005d40f98f186fccaa599e89",
            "input": "Oly Ilunga has overseen Democratic Republic of Congo’s near year-long response to what is the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. It has killed more than 1,700 and been declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). President Felix Tshisekedi on Saturday appointed a team led by Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the head of Congo’s biomedical research institute, to coordinate the government’s response in Ilunga’s place. In his resignation letter, the minister criticised pressure by unnamed “actors” to deploy the second vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and backed by the WHO. It has yet to be used on the ground due to Ilunga’s objections. It is designed to complement a Merck treatment that has been given to 170,000 people and proved effective. Ilunga has said the J&J vaccine has not been proved effective and that deploying a second one would confuse people in eastern Congo, where health workers are struggling to overcome widespread misinformation about the haemorrhagic fever as well as sporadic hostility. Ilunga said it would be “fanciful to think that the new vaccine proposed by actors who have shown an obvious lack of ethics by voluntarily hiding important information from medical authorities, could have a significant impact on the control of the current outbreak”. J&J says the vaccine has been tested on more than 6,000 volunteers and raised no particular safety concerns. Its chief scientific officer, Paul Stoffels, said in a telephone interview that the company had been “very transparent, very open and in full communication” with Congolese authorities. He said J&J had discussed with Muyembe how people could be vaccinated around eastern Congo’s biggest city, Goma, where a first Ebola case was confirmed last week, to create a protective “curtain”. “Whether they use it or not, it’s fine for us,” said Stoffels, referring to Congolese officials. “They have to judge based on their personal knowledge of how and where to use it.”   The WHO and other international donors including medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres have publicly supported using the second vaccine, of which 1.5 million doses are available. A WHO spokesman said the organisation was grateful for Ilunga’s leadership and dedication and looked forward to “working closely with the new coordination team as we have with the previous one”. Last week, the organisation labelled the outbreak an international emergency, a rare designation aimed at galvanising global support as it threatens to gain a foothold in neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda. Only the 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people has been deadlier.",
            "output": [
                "Congo minister's resignation over Ebola snub could unblock new vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-12fdced5aad3480abc8f9d3ff4842809",
            "input": "That is likely the case for William and Leslie Johnson of Jackson County, since the state decided not to expand the Medicaid program for the poor under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. As a result, nearly 300,000 adults there will fall through the cracks of healthcare reform. Many are the working poor - truckers, childcare workers, mechanics - who make too much money each month to qualify for Medicaid under Mississippi’s existing criteria but not quite enough to get government help buying private health insurance on an Obamacare exchange. Nationwide, 25 states have rejected the Medicaid expansion, leaving nearly 7 million adults who would otherwise have qualified for coverage without benefits. These states, many of them Republican-led, have declined government funding for an expansion largely because they say initially generous subsidies would eventually be reduced, leaving them with an unacceptably large burden in a few years’ time. Among those states, Mississippi faces one of the most dire situations. It tops the charts for poor-health indicators: highest in poverty, second-highest in obesity, highest in diabetes and highest in pre-term births. For the Johnsons, the struggle for health coverage has been a years-long battle. In the 16 years since her birth, their daughter, Mackenzie, has already had 10 major surgeries to treat her club foot, dislocated hips and malformed spine, all due to a rare form of spina bifida that causes the spinal cord to split. (The Johnsons also have an 11-year-old son, Tyler.) A major operation to insert two metal rods helped to straighten a 70-degree curve in Mackenzie’s spine that was collapsing her lungs and making it difficult for her to breathe. It improved her condition to the point where she no longer qualified for a special Medicaid program for disabled children living at home. She hasn’t had health insurance since last June. “At this point, we’re still fighting to get her on Medicaid, but being self-employed, if I gross a certain amount of money per month, they kick her off the program,” said William. In Mississippi, a two-parent working family of four earning $10,000 to $23,500 would not be eligible for assistance either through Medicaid or the exchange because the state did not expand Medicaid, said Ed Sivak, director of the nonpartisan Mississippi Economic Policy Center. Twenty percent of Mississippi’s nearly 3 million residents are on the Medicaid rolls. Twelve percent are on Medicare, and 20 percent are uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In rejecting the Medicaid expansion, Republican Governor Phil Bryant is turning down an estimated $426 million in federal funds for next year. He has argued that the administrative costs borne by the state would be too high. A report by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning estimated the cost of Medicaid expansion for the state at $8.5 million in 2014, rising to $159 million in 2025 as more people enroll in the program and federal subsidies step down from 100 percent initially to 90 percent. Mississippi is also among the states that may get the least benefit from healthcare reform in other ways. Only two health insurers are offering coverage in the state on the federally run subsidized exchange for private insurance, with premiums for a benchmark plan costing more than the national average. It was the sole state to apply to run its own exchanges and be turned down by the federal government because of concerns Bryant would not provide enough support to launch it. Instead, the federal government is running Mississippi’s exchange. State House Minority Leader Bobby Moak, a Democrat whose coalition has fought hard for health reform in Mississippi, says Bryant’s arguments are a cover for rejecting anything President Obama supports. “We like to say that the healthcare act was written for Mississippi, but our folks had the ‘good sense’ to turn it down,” he said. In late June, state House Democrats staged a showdown to force a vote on Medicaid expansion, holding up reauthorization of the state’s current Medicaid program, which serves one in five Mississippi residents. A last-minute legislative deal reached on June 28 saved the program but failed to expand it. Bryant declined requests to speak to Reuters, but spokesman Mick Bullock said in an email the governor will not reconsider his position on Medicaid expansion, which he said was “bad policy” and “fiscally unsustainable.”  “Governor Bryant will not put Mississippi taxpayers on the hook for something the state simply cannot afford,” Bullock said. Without coverage, Mackenzie’s family cannot afford to replace the wheelchair she has been using for the past six years. Nor can they afford $850 a month for physical therapy or the cost of replacing the brace she just got for her club foot. It doesn’t fit properly, but “my ankle collapses when I walk without it,” Mackenzie offers politely in an interview at the public library in the Gulf town of Pascagoula, a leading producer of ships for the U.S. Navy. The town is the seat of Jackson County, where nearly 10,000 adults aged 18 to 64 will lose out on Medicaid. Dr. Pamela Banister practices family medicine at Singing River Health System’s clinic in Pascagoula. The not-for-profit hospital system offers a menu of services that all cost $49, from school physicals to treatments for sinus infections and rashes. On bigger-ticket items, the hospital offers a 40 percent discount to patients who can pay cash at the time of service. That allows many patients to have their blood pressure checked or keep track of their diabetes, but often it’s not enough to tackle bigger issues. “I’ve got a man who’s 62. I just know he’s got to have Parkinson’s. I made a stab at throwing a fairly affordable medicine at him, but it’s not doing what he needs,” Banister says. “I say, ‘You need a specialist,’ and he says, ‘I can’t afford it.’”  Mackenzie’s father has had a nerve tumor on his foot since 2006, and he can’t afford the surgery he needs. “It’s extremely painful, but the doctors want $5,000 down. The operating room at the hospital wants another $1,800 down,” he said. “You live with the pain.”  The Johnsons have been working with a program funded through the Affordable Care Act called Health Help Mississippi that helps families negotiate the red tape of applying for Medicaid in Mississippi, a process intentionally made more daunting by former Governor Haley Barbour, who famously charged that some individuals on the state’s Medicaid rolls were driving BMWs. Last year, William’s trucking business made between $23,000 and $24,000, which should qualify Mackenzie for coverage under a Medicaid program that covers children in families who make up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $47,100 for a family of four. But they are just on the edge of qualifying for federal tax credits to help them buy insurance on the federal insurance marketplace, which would cover the whole family. Mackenzie’s mother, Leslie, a Republican, is no fan of health reform and believes people should pay their own way. But her daughter needs treatment. “It’s very hard. I need it and I don’t want it,” she said. Mississippi’s hospitals are also in a precarious position. The 2010 health reform law was designed to reduce payments to safety-net hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of poor patients. It was based on the premise that more people would soon gain coverage through Medicaid expansion. Without Medicaid expansion, hospitals face cuts in these so-called disproportionate share payments. Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg projects a $2.5 million loss for the federal government’s fiscal 2014, which started October 1, due to these reimbursement cuts as well as to across-the-board federal government spending cuts. In a July letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Mississippi’s Bryant asked HHS to delay disproportionate share cuts to hospitals, as it had done in delaying other portions of the law. A month later, Sebelius replied, urging Bryant to expand Medicaid in the state and “take advantage of the generous federal matching funds.”  It costs the state $1.4 billion annually to run Medicaid, its second-highest expense after education. An additional $3.5 billion comes from the federal government in a 4-1 match that substantially props up Mississippi’s entire healthcare system, from hospitals to nursing homes. Roy Mitchell, executive director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, says ultimately the hospital payments issue may force the governor’s hand. “The governor is standing in the tracks in front of a billion-dollar train. He’s going to get run over at some point.”  Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, a Republican who has been friends with Bryant for decades, doubts Bryant will change his mind. “The governor has his reasons. I do not know what they are. He has told me repeatedly he just does not trust the Affordable Care Act to do what it said it would do, and he did not trust the federal government at all to do what they said they would do,” Chaney said. “He’s pretty well set in stone.”  Chaney, who dislikes a law he calls “poorly written” and “ill conceived,” nevertheless says it is “the law of the land.” He worked hard to develop a state-based healthcare exchange that would have given Mississippi more control over the insurance marketplace. But, citing the governor’s fierce opposition to Obamacare, HHS denied Mississippi’s petition - the only state HHS turned down. Moak says he and fellow Democrats will bring up the Medicaid issue again in the next legislative session. “We’re not going to stop talking about it,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Mississippi blues: The cost of rejecting Medicaid expansion."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-436a9d31231742c5b6031142dd5f5a24",
            "input": "\"Ed Stafford of Leicestershire, England walks in between trees as he walks through the Amazon jungle in Brazil in this undated handout photo. Former British army captain Stafford became on Monday the first known person to walk from the origin of the Amazon river, the world's second-longest river, to its mouth, after withstanding \"\"50,000\"\" mosquito bites, scorpion attacks and skin disease in his 859 day odyssey. REUTERS/Handout Ed Stafford, a 34-year-old from Leicestershire, England, dived into the Atlantic Ocean after taking 859 days to walk the length of the world’s second-longest river, starting at the peak of Mount Mismi in Peru in April 2008. “It’s just phenomenal to be here at the end of the journey after 2-1/2 years slogging our way through the jungle,” he told Reuters after arriving at the beach about 90 miles northeast of the Brazilian city of Belem. “It was really difficult to envisage how this was going to feel and I’m completely overwhelmed.”   Stafford briefly collapsed from exhaustion with only 52 miles of the 6,000-mile journey to go, passing out by the roadside after breaking out in a rash. “I feel slightly humbled that my system just decided to shut down so close to the finish,” he wrote on his blog at www.walkingtheamazon.com. Stafford has aimed to use the walk to raise awareness about the threats to the Amazon rain forest and its people, using a portable satellite video to blog about his trek. He had planned to complete the walk in about a year, but the journey was prolonged by floods that forced him to walk a roundabout route that was 2,000 miles longer than the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) length of the Amazon, which is exceeded in length only by Africa’s Nile river. He began the journey with fellow British adventurer Luke Collyer, but the pair had a falling out early in the trek and Stafford continued alone. He was joined in July 2008 by a Peruvian forestry worker, Gadiel Cho Sanchez Rivera, who pledged to walk with him for five days and has been with him on the walk ever since. A statement from Stafford’s media team said that the Briton had been: “wrongly accused of murder on two separate occasions, been imprisoned, had concrete stuffed in his mouth by hostile tribes people, been chased by Ashaninka Indians with bows and arrows, been stung by hundreds of wasps and watched as his guide ‘Cho’ removed a botfly from Ed’s head with superglue and a tree spine.”   It said he had endured “50,000” mosquito bites, lived on a diet of piranha fish, rice and beans, and dodged a variety of snakes, electric eels, scorpions, and ants, as well as contracting a skin-disfiguring disease. Famed British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes was quoted as saying in the statement that Stafford’s feat was “truly extraordinary.”   “No one has ever done this before and the pundits considered the route impossible,” he said.\"",
            "output": [
                "British man becomes first to walk Amazon length."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-502b1f5d1a6a4affaaf8627218d65dc4",
            "input": "In October 2020, readers asked Snopes to examine the authenticity of what appeared to be a tweet, posted on Sept. 18, 2020, predicting that U.S. President Donald Trump would announce he had contracted COVID-19 in October. On Oct. 2, Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 amid dozens of positive tests by White House officials and prominent Republicans. In the days that followed, users of Facebook and Instagram shared a screenshot of a tweet by user @JohnCammo that stated: Trump’s October surprise will be the announcement of “his infection.” Fake, but quite dramatic. This twist will blow Biden off the screens, the “Trump COVID watch” dominating every minute of every day. Then, 14 days later, Trump will emerge, 100% cured by hydroxychloroquine. Those images were screenshots of a real tweet posted on Sept. 18, 2020, by @JohnCammo, whose name is not publicly available but who frequently tweets criticism of Trump and claims to live in rural California. An archived version of the tweet can be viewed here, establishing its authenticity, and the authenticity of its date. No evidence exists to demonstrate that Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis was anything other than real, and @JohnCammo appears to have been engaging in no more than idle speculation. For one thing, Trump “emerged” from his illness — he returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center four days after his diagnosis, not 14 — and as of Oct. 6, the White House has not stated that he was treated with hydroxychloroquine.",
            "output": [
                "On Sept. 18, 2020, Twitter user @JohnCammo predicted that U.S. President Donald Trump would announce in October that he had tested positive for COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17022d41ff634b468083829e786e6aaa",
            "input": "A study led by University of Michigan researchers found that despite a drop-off in plankton, the tiny plants and animals on which bighead and silver carp typically feed, the lake has enough dietary options to sustain individual fish that venture away from nutrient-rich shoreline areas where most would congregate. That improves their prospects for colonizing large sections of Lake Michigan and eventually spreading to the other Great Lakes, said Peter Alsip, an ecological modeling data analyst and lead author of the paper published in the journal Freshwater Biology. “Our study indicates that the carp can survive and grow in much larger areas of the lake than previous studies suggested,” Alsip said. Asian carp were imported in the late 1960s to gobble up algae in Deep South sewage lagoons and fish farms. They escaped into the Mississippi River and have migrated northward, branching into dozens of tributaries. Prolific breeders and voracious eaters, the invaders compete with native fish for food and habitat. They have become the primary fish species in the Illinois River, which forms part of an aquatic pathway that leads to Lake Michigan through a Chicago-area network of rivers and canals. Authorities have long debated how to keep them out of the Great Lakes, where fishing is a $7 billion industry. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this year proposed equipping the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, with noisemakers, electric barriers and other deterrents at a cost of at least $778 million. Some experts have questioned whether the carp would venture from shallow bays and wetland areas into the lake’s deeper waters, where filter-feeding zebra and quagga mussels have coated the bottomlands and consumed huge volumes of plankton and nutrients such as phosphorus. But the University of Michigan team said earlier studies underestimated the carps’ dietary flexibility. They have shown a willingness to feed on other organic material drifting in the water column — including excrement from the mussels, Alsip said. He and his colleagues modeled levels of food availability and water temperatures to estimate the well-being of bighead and silver carp when eating mixtures of plankton and non-living organic material, or “detritus,” at different depths. They concluded that the lake, with its average depth of 280 feet (85 meters), has enough of the mussels’ fecal pellets to keep the carp from starving and even enable them to grow while seeking other fertile territory, such as Wisconsin’s Green Bay, Alsip said. “It definitely increases their chance of surviving the journey,” he said. Duane Chapman, a fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, led previous studies that raised doubts about whether Asian carp could find enough food in most of Lake Michigan. They focused on the availability of microscopic plant life in areas near the surface that could be observed with satellite data, he said. The University of Michigan researchers didn’t contradict the USGS conclusions but built upon them in their model by including estimates of other food sources, including tiny plants in deeper waters as well microscopic animals and the mussel excrement, Chapman said. “I have no quarrel” with their findings, he said. “What they’ve done is just take our work and add more stuff to it, and that’s a perfectly legitimate scientific path.” Lake Michigan’s cold temperatures, depths and lack of food would pose challenges for the carp, said Kevin Irons, aquatic nuisance species program director with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. But the Michigan study underscores their hardiness, he said. “They can fast for long periods of time and travel long distances quickly,” Irons said. “This reinforces the importance of investing in prevention.” Democratic Sen. Gary Peters and Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, both from Michigan, said the study ramps up pressure on Congress to fund programs that protect the lakes from the carp. “We are on the verge of an unstoppable crisis for the Great Lakes region, and now is our best chance to stop these aggressive fish from crashing our economy and environment,” said Molly Flanagan, vice president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an advocacy group that favors the Brandon Road Lock and Dam upgrade. ___ Follow John Flesher on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/johnflesher",
            "output": [
                "Study: Asian carp could find plenty of food in Lake Michigan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4382dcbdb7a5417d9a7dbbceaf9677dd",
            "input": "Exploring online was easy, with hashtags like #scars, #hurt and #brokeninside. Nothing made sense back then, but Theo absorbed what he saw on websites like a religion. All he could focus on was how the exterior he was born with — that of a girl — didn’t look or feel right. That was six years ago, when he had another name and a different gender. Back then, Theo felt that his body was rebelling in disturbing ways. He developed breasts and got his period. He felt like a boy, but every month, the cramps reminded him of reality. He became a child at war with his body. He wasn’t aware of words like gender dysphoria or transgender; those would come later. So would the national debates, the furor over bathrooms, and discussions of how to help children who didn’t feel right in their own skin. “When you’re 10 years old, you really shouldn’t be worried about who you are,” Theo would say years later, in a moment of reflection. “You shouldn’t be having that existential question when you’re in fifth grade. You should be worried about homework and the fifth-grade dance coming up.” He knew he was different from other kids in class. One day in the girls’ bathroom at his South Florida elementary school, Theo made the first of many gouges in his arm, using a paperclip. Pricks of blood bloomed on his fair skin. A teacher and a school nurse whisked Theo to safety. Theo’s mother, Lori Ramos, got the call from the principal. Her child was in the hospital. Ramos burst into the ER: Was it a fall, a fight, a shooting? “What’s going on here?” Ramos demanded of doctors and school staff. The answers were confusing: Her child had asked a teacher to call her by a different name, use different pronouns. Her child didn’t feel normal and wanted to be a boy. Ramos was bewildered — she saw no prior clues her child felt this way. And she was no stranger to transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexual issues — she worked in a clinic for HIV patients. When she’d given birth in 2001, in a hot tub on the family’s back porch in a Florida suburb an hour south of glitzy Miami Beach, she was thrilled. “I had my older son, and I had my girl, and my family was complete,” Ramos said. Her baby. Her “sunshine girl.” One who was no longer filled with light. Theo was involuntarily committed for 72 hours so doctors could determine whether he was a danger to himself or others. Soon, therapists and doctors had a diagnosis: gender dysphoria, a conflict between a person’s physical or assigned gender and the gender with which they identify. But a diagnosis didn’t solve Theo’s problems or make him feel better. When he tried to look like a boy, everyone at school noticed. His mother was accepting; his father wasn’t. He threatened to disown Theo. Theo again turned to the internet. He started cutting around his thighs and hips — his “problem areas.” When Theo saw thin kids online, he looked at his own baby fat and, once again, didn’t fit in. He wouldn’t eat for days, or he’d force himself to throw up. Cutting and vomiting weren’t painful, not exactly. They were more of a stress release, a way to match physical pain to what he felt inside: “I just know that it isn’t right, that the body I have isn’t supposed to be this way.” Small aggressions at school led to outright bullying. Other kids asked what was in Theo’s pants, if he had a penis, if he could show them. Theo started missing school. A therapist diagnosed depression and anxiety disorder. If only Theo could become a boy through hormone therapy — that, he thought, would solve his problems. “It’s just like every time I’m misgendered it feels like a wrench clamping around my heart and it slowly grows tighter and tighter,” he explained. “Being addressed as female or identifying as female never felt right to me; it always gave me this acute sense of discomfort and pain.” Hormone therapy for transgender children is a recent, controversial practice. It hasn’t been studied much. The concept that children can be transgender has been discussed in the open only recently; previously, it was something to be hidden, squashed and ignored. About 150,000 teenagers in the U.S. identify as transgender, according to a 2017 study by the Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law. About 1.4 million U.S. adults identify as transgender. Medical professionals have come up with protocols for children and teens. They recommend that some kids with gender dysphoria essentially pause puberty with hormone blockers until they’re certain they want to live as a different gender. But the child must be prepubescent. It was too late when Theo and his parents learned about the option. Theo could take testosterone, but rigorous counseling sessions were recommended first. This annoyed Theo: Why not become a boy right away? Experts say impatience is common: Transgender children want to transition, and waiting is frustrating. Even under regular circumstances, teens and patience aren’t usually mentioned in the same sentence. Doctors say going slow when treating trans teens is essential for physical and emotional well-being, and note that if a teen’s feelings last until age 16, the desires are probably permanent. Theo insisted testosterone could bring peace with his body: “If I could just start T therapy, I would know I was on the way to being who I’m supposed to be.” His parents, though, worried about the effects on their growing child. Theo wanted testosterone, but his anxiety sometimes made him question his desires. It became a regular topic of conversation between mother and son. “I’m nervous,” Theo said in the spring of 2016. He was 14. “What if I do change my mind?” “Well, what if you do?” asked his mother. “I can always stop,” Theo said. Ramos shook her head. “The changes are permanent.” ____ EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press followed Theo Ramos for more than a year as he grappled with his gender dysphoria. This is the first installment of a three-part story. PART ONE: As a child grappling with gender dysphoria, Theo Ramos found himself at war with his body. PART TWO, coming Tuesday: Living with a transitioning transgender child “is anything but a straight line,” as his mom says. PART THREE, coming Wednesday: Visibility of transgender issues is at a high, but all the talk in the world doesn’t make life any easier as a gender-fluid or transitioning kid. ____ Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tamaralush .",
            "output": [
                "Trans teen’s war with his body started when he was just 10."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dbd5f1c4b002437a81eae1345d8a0fa9",
            "input": "Koch, a North Carolina-born engineer who joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2013, set the record for the longest stay in space by a woman. Her mission will provide researchers valuable data on how weightlessness and space radiation affect the female body on long spaceflights. “Women acclimate well to space, so I think this is a milestone that will be overtaken by women in the future and it’s what we aspire to,” said Lori Garver, NASA’s former deputy administrator. The Soyuz MS-13 capsule touched down on the snowy Kazakh Steppe at 4:12 am ET (0912 GMT) carrying Koch, 41, European astronaut Luca Parmitano of Italy and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. They will be flown by search and recovery teams to the Karaganda region to begin their journey home. “I’m just so overwhelmed and happy right now,” Koch said, sitting in a chair wrapped in blankets as she waited to be carried into a medical tent to restore her balance in gravity. Koch also achieved a gender milestone in a spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir last October that marked the first time two women stepped out of the space station at the same time. They completed two more all-female spacewalks in January. NASA's first attempt at an all-female spacewalk in March 2019 was called off here due to a lack of a spacesuit in the right size, which ignited a gender-equity debate. Koch’s 328 days in space eclipsed Peggy Whitson’s record for an American woman on a single spaceflight at 289 days. Scott Kelly holds the overall American record at 340 days, and Russia’s Valeri Polyakov holds the global record of 437 days aboard the defunct Mir space station. Astronauts on the space station, whose 20th anniversary in low-Earth orbit comes later this year, have made 227 maintenance spacewalks, nearly two dozen of which included women astronauts, according to NASA. Studying the impact of lengthy spaceflights could prove useful for NASA’s aim of building a permanent space station on the moon within the next decade. Kelly’s 340 days demonstrated that long-term spaceflight causes thickening of the carotid artery and retina, changes in gene expression, and slight cognitive impairment for men.",
            "output": [
                "NASA astronaut Christina Koch returns to Earth after record mission."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3cadb0bc818a495f9f1c1f2463d99d69",
            "input": "\"In just over 24 hours, some 12,000 people shared a post from the Kenosha County Democratic party slamming the coronavirus vote by Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation. The emergency measure — which includes free testing for COVID-19, paid emergency leave and other emergency appropriations — easily passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 18, 2020. But it passed without much help from Wisconsin. The Kenosha Democrats seized on that fact in a March 19, 2020, Facebook post. The post explained the bill, commented on gerrymandering and noted the GOP no votes from purple Wisconsin went beyond the breakdown from even the deepest red of the red states. It was accompanied by a graphic with pictures of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Jim Sensenbrenner and Bryan Steil that said this: \"\"WI is the ONLY state where all Republicans voted against protecting its citizens.\"\" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Let’s check it out. The bill passed 363-40 in the U.S. House and 90-8 in the U.S. Senate. Indeed, all five Republicans in the Wisconsin delegation cast a no vote, according to roll calls published by ProPublica. All four state Democrats voted for the bill. And, yes, that clean sweep of Republican votes was unique around the country. In Oklahoma both Republican senators voted against the bill, but two of three Republican representatives supported it. Iowa’s lone Republican representative voted no, but both Republican senators there supported the bill. That leaves us to look at the characterization that Wisconsin Republicans \"\"voted against protecting (the state’s) citizens\"\"? Like anything in politics, it’s more complicated than that. In various statements issued after the votes, the state’s Republican lawmakers didn’t object to the concept of providing help amid the pandemic, but they took issue with numerous specifics in the bill and how the process was handled. Sensenbrenner objected to spending money on a bill that he said stretched 100 pages and was presented with less than 30 minutes to review. \"\"We do not know the full cost of this legislation,\"\" he said in a statement. \"\"I am not a fan of passing bills to find out what is in them.\"\" Steil told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he voted against the bill because it \"\"places a heavy government mandate on Wisconsin small businesses that are already suffering negative consequences from coronavirus.\"\" Gallagher echoed those comments in a statement, saying he feared the bill would hurt small businesses. \"\"This bill, while well-intentioned, contains a number of unclear provisions that could force small businesses in Northeast Wisconsin to lay off workers or cause them to close their doors altogether,\"\" Gallagher said. \"\"Let me be clear: H.R. 6201 contained a number of good provisions like free testing that we’ve already successfully fought for. But I have serious questions as to whether the best way to support those needing paid and sick leave is through tax credits to small businesses instead of direct payments to those affected.\"\" Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, defended the description in the Facebook post. She said the bill guided both testing and treatment to help control the spread of the disease. \"\"A 'no' vote by our elected officials was a vote against protecting their constituents from this highly contagious disease which has already been deadly to residents in Wisconsin,\"\" she said in an email. A viral Facebook post said Wisconsin \"\"is the only state where all Republicans voted against protecting its citizens.\"\" It is indeed the only state where all Republicans opposed the bill, which has now become law. But it’s a bit of an exaggeration to summarize their decisions as a vote \"\"against protecting (Wisconsin) citizens.\"\" And of course this is expected to be just the first of many bills addressing the coronavirus fallout.\"",
            "output": [
                "“Wisconsin is the only state where all Republicans voted against protecting its citizens.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31976945e66c41eb8cf66dd478d22a9b",
            "input": "\"A top Florida Democrat claims that the state's Republican U.S. Sen.-elect Marco Rubio is changing stories on budget earmarks. Rubio has become one of the leading advocates of a proposal from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to seek a nonbinding ban on budget earmarks among Republicans in the chamber. \"\"I think earmarks are bad for our country,\"\" Rubio said in an interview before Election Day. But Rubio didn't always think that way, says former Barack Obama Florida director Steven Schale. \"\"I don't remember Rubio disagreeing with earmarks in the Florida Legislature,\"\" Schale posted on Twitter on Nov. 15, 2010, in reply to a story about Rubio supporting an earmark ban. In a separate post, Schale offered his evidence. \"\"Re: (Marco) Rubio's support of earmark ban: In 2002 alone (a bad budget year in Florida), he requested 37 earmarks worth $43 million.\"\" In this case, we wanted to check Schale's math. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000-2008, the last two years as House speaker. During his U.S. Senate campaign, Rubio was criticized by independent candidate Gov. Charlie Crist for requesting millions of dollars in pork projects, which Crist said he had to veto. We've rated two specific claims when it comes to Rubio and earmarks before -- we called a claim that he supported $800,000 to replace the turf at a field where he played flag football Half  and a claim that he tried to insert $1.5 milllion into the budget for a rowing institute ! Florida's version of the earmark was something called a Community Budget Issue Request -- a budget request legislators made for local projects. Legislators had to file their request ahead of the budget planning process and attach their name to every request. The Legislature stopped the practice in 2009, the year after Rubio left office. In 2002, Rubio's third year, the Florida House requested $1.5 billion in Community Budget Issue Requests, according to data kept by the state. To put that in perspective, the state budget that Gov. Jeb Bush signed that year totaled $50 billion, and legislators had been warned of a tight budget. (They actually were summoned back to Tallahassee to slash $1 billion from the budget in December 2001 to keep the state from going in the red.) Rubio's member budget requests for 2002 remain archived on a state website, which confirms Schale's statement. Rubio requested funding for 37 projects totalling $43,697,787. Here's the complete list. • $7.67 million, requested by Jackson Health System, to provide inpatient and outpatient health care services to people with HIV/AIDS, including medications, psycho-social counseling, education and case management. • $5 million, requested by Miami-Dade County, for an elevated, automated people-mover system connecting three elevated stations in front of the Miami International Airport passenger terminal with the planned Miami Intermodal Center. • $5 million, requested by Miami-Dade County Empowerment Trust, for a federally designated \"\"empowerment zone\"\" that targets county, state, and federal resources to stimulate economic development in distressed, low-income areas. • $2.25 million, requested by the city of Miami Springs, to eliminate recurring flood conditions through stormwater drainage improvements. • $2 million, requested by the Achievement & Rehabilitation Centers, Inc., for ARC Broward Inc., to provide intensive therapeutic & behavioral intervention for children aged 5-12 with severe autism or related disorders. • $1.5 million, requested by the South Florida Water Management District, for construction to permanently mitigate the recurring flood threat. • $1.5 million, requested by the city of West Miami, to reduce a wastewater collection system budget deficit. • $1.3 million, requested by the city of South Miami, to complete an upgrade to the city's stormwater drainage system to eliminate or reduce pollutants from the direct discharge of stormwater runoff and prevent local flooding. • $1.25 million, requested by the city of West Miami, for drainage improvements. • $1.2 million, requested by the city of South Miami, to provide high-quality municipal water and fire protection in the city. • $1.2 million by the city of Miami Springs, to relocate utilities to satisfy state DOT objectives at certain intersections. • $1.18 million, requested by Jackson Health System, for residential care for adjudicated substance abusing adolescents, including physician care, social work, nursing, psychology, medications and education. • $1 million, requested by the University of Miami School of Medicine for programs in spinal cord injury and brain research; to develop improved rehabilitation technologies; protect and prevent nervous system damage; and promote regeneration and recovery of function. • $1 million, requested by the city of Miami Springs, to eliminate infiltration in an existing wastewater treatment system. • Two separate $1 million community budget issues, both requested by Miami-Dade County, to provide hot evening and weekend meals to elderly residents of Miami-Dade County who are assessed as \"\"high risk\"\" or in danger of malnutrition. • $900,000, requested by the city of Miami Springs, to renovate an existing multi-purpose facility. • $787,059, requested by Public Health Trust of Miami for Jackson Health System, for short-term assessment and treatment of ajudicated minors for substance abuse, including medication, social work, education and physician care. • $750,000, requested by RFB&D of Miami for the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic Florida Unit, to meet the educational needs of Florida's print-disabled children and adults through taped and digital audio books. • $750,000, requested by the Department of Environmental Resource Management for the Miami-Dade County DERM, for the stormwater planning component for the C-4 Basin in north central Miami-Dade County. • $684,690, requested by Public Health Trust for Jackson Health System,  for a medical foster care program for 88 children in state custody as an alternative to reducing institutional placements of children with chronic illnesses. • $675,000, requested by the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, to provide post-crisis stabilization unit out-placement in transitional housing for chronic, mentally ill homeless persons recently discharged. • $600,000, requested by Miami Children's Hospital, to maintain and develop its pediatric trauma center. • $500,000, requested by Mayors Summit of the Americas, to create permanent offices in Florida for the Mayors Summit of the Americas, an organization of mayors of all the democratic countries of the hemisphere. • $500,000, requested by Children's Psychiatric Center in Miami, to provide at-risk children in kindergarten through third grade with individual mentoring. • $425,000, requested by the Florida Venture Foundation, to provide outreach, guidance, training, and technical support services to minority businesses in South Florida. • $400,000, requested by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, to facilitate services, trade and investment in Florida through a statewide database, website, out-bound and in-bound missions, one-on-one appointments and seminars. • $350,000, requested by One Nation Inc. of Miami, to help legal permanent residents become U.S. citizens free of charge, and also conduct monthly citizenship and voter registration drives in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. • $269,000, requested by the city of Coral Gables, for intersection improvements along U.S. 1. • $200,000, requested by the Children's Psychiatric Center of Miami, for an in-school program that provides therapeutic and behavioral support to the alternative education classrooms. • $200,000, requested by First Quality Home Care Inc. of Miami, for homebound insulin-dependent diabetics who are unable to self-administer their insulin due to a secondary diagnosis such as blindness. • $200,000, requested by the Achievement & Rehabilitation Centers, Inc., for ARC Broward Inc., to provide intensive specialized behavorial intervention in home and community-based settings; and specialized homebound speech, occupational and family therapies for children with severe autism and related disorders aged 3-18. • $175,000, requested by Curtiss Mansion Inc., to design the renovation of the historically important home of famed naval aviator and inventor Glen Curtiss. • $112,500, requested by the city of South Miami, for improvements to Dante Fascell Park, including drainage in parking lots and tennis courts, ADA-accessible playground equipment and picnic tables, resurfacing tennis and hardball courts, and replacing or repairing individual stations along the exercise path in the park. • $100,000, requested by Allapattah Wynwood Community and Development Center in Miami, for construction of a new child care facility in Miami's Allapattah Wynwood community to introduce early childhood intervention programs that serve 100 children from low/moderate income families. • $50,000, requested by the village of Virginia Gardens, to construct a 20-foot by 20-foot picnic shelter and concrete slab. • $25,000, requested by the city of West Miami, to provide resources to the city's police department to improve homeland security. (We made a link to Rubio's requests, which you can see here). It turns out Rubio requested more money in Community Budget Issue Requests than all but four members of the 120-member Florida House (Democrat Gary Siplin $65.1 million; Republican Mike Bennett $74.8 million; Republican Bev Kilmer $120.4 million; and Democrat Curtis Richardson $130.1 million). In 2001, Rubio actually requested even more money -- $101.2 million for 72 projects -- but Rubio did not make another Community Budget Issue Request after 2002, according to the state database. Not one in six years. But those aren't the years Schale referenced. Schale said Rubio requested 37 earmarks in 2002 worth $43 million -- which he says is at odds with Rubio's current support for an earmark ban. Schale has his math right, according to figures kept by the state. Rubio that year ranked fifth in requests for money among Florida House members.\"",
            "output": [
                "Re: (Marco) Rubio's support of earmark ban: In 2002 alone, he requested 37 earmarks worth $43 million."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aeec3a7e19ef4b9aadc3702823d6f63f",
            "input": "Given the nature of the study we don’t think that this issue is relevant. The story used only relative risk numbers to quantify the benefit. This is inadequate, as we explain in Reporting the findings: Absolute vs relative risk. Also, the story confused association with causation, i.e., “researchers in the U.K. found that weekend exercise appears to be just as effective at preventing heart disease and cancer as exercise done more frequently.” The title of the paper suggests otherwise: “Association of Weekend Warrior and other Leisure Time Activity Patterns with Risk of All Cause Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer Mortality.” See more on the importance of not overstating observational findings. The story does a good job highlighting some of the potential harms associated with vigorous physical activity: “However, experts caution that it is possible to overdo it”  and “more exercise than two and a half hours a week can actually be unhelpful and even harmful.” An expert in the field not associated with the study provides a bit of common sense to the discussion; “There are risks that come with a weekend warrior exercise schedule, especially for people who aren’t used to being active. “I would be more concerned about what’s happening at the point of exercise—not the long-term benefits,” says Dr. Howard Andrew Selinger, chair of family medicine at Quinnipiac University. The story provides adequate information about the study design, the populations involved and some of the limitations of the study design. However, it left out important limitation: The inactive population studied was 7 years older, had more current smokers, and suffered more from unspecified “long standing illness” than the participants who were active. No evidence of disease mongering here. The story does provide some precautionary words from an independent expert in the field related to the risks associated with strenuous exercise. We would have liked to have seen an expert in the field provide comments on the study, the inherent limitations and on the conclusions drawn. Although the focus of the story was the “weekend warrior,” several comments were included suggesting alternative exercise strategies, including: “This could be something as simple as a brisk walk or other low-impact options for vigorous exercise about 20 minutes a day. “In theory, someone who did one bout of 150 minutes of moderate exercise is a weekend warrior,” says O’Donovan. This study shows that it doesn’t matter how you decide to split up the recommended weekly amount of exercise. You just need to do it.” We think that the ability to exercise is generally available, so this is N/A. The story did not establish what’s novel, unlike what we saw in our review of The Guardian’s story. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "‘WEEKEND WARRIOR’ WORKOUTS ARE BENEFICIAL AS JUST 20 MINUTES OF EXERCISE A DAY"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64b458cb25c74e44aab4297434786db9",
            "input": "Douglas County commissioners on Thursday appropriated about $7.7 million for physical safety and set aside $1.3 million for technology for schools to deploy in the future, the Denver Post reported. About $990,000 will go toward mental health programs, including curriculum, training and surveys about school culture. That’s enough to cover schools’ requests related to students’ emotional needs, said Commissioner Abe Laydon. Ninety-one district schools applied for and received some funding, along with 15 charter schools and eight private schools. Laydon said the grants won’t be able to prevent all acts of violence, but they will make it more difficult to harm children in Douglas County. Commissioners also committed an additional $3 million to partially fund 26 police officers in county schools and $331,000 in ongoing funding for a mental health response team that launched Monday. The May 7 shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch south of Denver killed 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo and left eight other students injured. Two former students have been charged in the shooting and their cases are pending. At the meeting, Commissioner Roger Partridge asked for a moment of silence to honor Castillo — who died trying to disarm a gunman — and his parents. “It was time for something to be done,” Partridge said. ___ Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com",
            "output": [
                "114 Colorado schools split $10M for upgrades after shooting."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-62cb39d4982e482c977d2d3dc94ee1e8",
            "input": "\"Explaining why he couldn’t support the Texas Senate’s version of the 2012-13 state budget, Sen. John Whitmire said he didn’t know how state agencies can cope with further budget cuts, singling out the Texas Board of Nursing as an example. \"\"I asked them for their backlog of investigations,\"\" he said. \"\"They’ve got 3,000 complaints against nurses, many of them sexual assaults, malfeasance.\"\" Time to crank up the Truth-O-Meter, starting with the board’s unresolved complaints. Some background: The board investigates and adjudicates complaints about Texas nurses who could be violating the Nursing Practice Act, which imposes regulations on nursing education, licensing and practices in the state including rules against unnecessarily exposing patients to the risk of harm or failing to adequately care for them. At the nursing board, spokesman Bruce Holter told us the senator’s count of 3,000 backlogged complaints is too low, accounting solely for unresolved cases from fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the board resolved 14,429 of 16,890 complaints filed against nurses, leaving 2,461 unresolved cases. As of this March, another 511 complaints filed in 2009 remained unresolved, bringing the total backlog to nearly 3,000. There also are several hundred lingering complaints dating back to May 2006, board officials said. As of March, the board had about 11,000 open investigations, including the backlog. What are the complaints about? \"\"In general,\"\" Holter said, \"\"criminal conduct, drug-related conduct and failure to follow the minimum standard of care are the main types of complaints.\"\" That covers malfeasance. But what about Whitmire’s other charge — that a chunk of the backlogged cases are sexual assault complaints? Lara Wendler, Whitmire’s chief of staff, told us the senator based his statement on conversations with administrators at agencies, including the nursing board. She added, though, that Whitmire was referring to all regulatory agencies, not just the nursing board, when he said backlogged cases included \"\"many\"\" sexual assaults. That was not clear from Whitmire’s floor remarks. Holter said the board checks all nurses licensed in Texas against state and national databases identifying sex offenders. Currently, the board is investigating complaints against four nurses who appear on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s sex offender database, and 12 nurses who appear on a national sex offender registry kept by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. \"\"Sexual assault complaints against nurses make up a small percentage of the overall number of complaints investigated by the board,\"\" Holter said. But he added that other than the nurses found on the sexual offender databases, \"\"it would be difficult for staff to ‘pin down’ the number of complaints involving sexual assault.\"\" Why? The board doesn’t categorize complaints by type, though when disciplinary action has been taken, Holter said, the board can run a data mining program to identify specific rule violations. But because the board doesn't track the number of sexual assault cases, it would have to review each resolved complaint individually. Lastly, why have complaints stacked up? Board employees are barred from discussing the details of individual complaints, but the board’s general counsel Dusty Johnston told us that generally, complaints don’t get resolved for a variety of reasons. He offered several examples: The investigator may be under-performing; extensive due process is required; the medical records of the patient involved in the complaint are difficult to obtain. So, the board says it has about 3,000 backlogged complaints, as Whitmire said. According to the board, many of the complaints allege malfeasance by nurses, as Whitmire also said, and a smaller number involve sexual assaults. But no one can determine the precise breakout without access to confidential board information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"John Whitmire Says the Texas Board of Nursing has a backlog of \"\"3,000 complaints against nurses, many of them sexual assaults, malfeasance.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aa61347c8fc349f5948b85a0a8063e09",
            "input": "In a confidential briefing to member nations obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove cautioned that right-wing extremists and Islamic militants “could view attacks on medical personnel and facilities as highly effective, because these would generate a massive shock in society.” He noted that in the U.S., the FBI in March shot and killed a white supremacist while trying to arrest him for plotting to blow up a hospital treating COVID-19 patients, after initially considering an attack on an African-American school, mosque or synagogue. From past experience, he said it’s known that “terrorists and violent extremists, aiming to change societies and governmental systems through violence, seek to exploit major crises to achieve their objectives”. De Kerchove noted that the Islamic State group, for example, emerged after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and then gained strength during the Arab Spring uprisings. In Europe, left-wing extremists are paying “extensive attention” to the pandemic, blaming governments and “the capitalist system as a whole” for it, saying politicians have underfunded health care services, de Kerchove wrote in the analysis provided to EU member nations on May 7 and first reported Wednesday by Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper’s online edition. IS has “incited its supporters in the West to take advantage of the current crisis to stage attacks,” but so far there has been no uptick in any violence, he said. Currently, most extremists seem to be using the crisis for propaganda purposes, taking advantage of the fact that with lockdown measures people are spending more time online than usual. “To increase their support base, violent extremists use people’s insecurities, vulnerabilities and grievances, creating a simple narrative which ‘explains’ problems by blaming outsiders,” de Kerchove wrote. “’Infidels’ or ‘apostates’ serve as scapegoats for jihadists, members of ethnic and religious minority groups for right-wing extremists, and ‘class enemies’ and ‘capitalists’ for left-wing extremists.”  _____ Frank Jordans contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "EU official warns of extremists exploiting virus outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e8a781130df54c5197714d6a47833b20",
            "input": "Faith Gardens in Sun Prairie was also fined $4,200, the Wisconsin State Journal reported . Alice McGaw was discovered dead outside the facility in December when temperatures were below 10 degrees. McGaw had been transferred to the facility in October after she rolled her wheelchair out of another assisted living facility and was almost hit by a car. “The family decided to be pro-active and look for a smaller facility, and with winter coming they wanted a more secure environment,” according to a state Department of Health Services inspection report released Monday. Faith Gardens didn’t have a front-door alarm, left an inside door propped open and failed to check on the 84-year-old frequently enough, the report said. McGaw’s care plan also required she wear an alarm bracelet, but the facility didn’t employ the bracelet system, the report found. The facility cannot accept new residents until the violations are corrected. The only sanction more serious is having a license revoked. Faith Gardens officials didn’t immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. There are huge regulation gaps when it comes to assisted living facilities, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Monday. Many states don’t have information about abuse, neglect or unexplained deaths at facilities, the agency said. Wisconsin has nearly 4,200 assisted living facilities, which can accommodate more than 59,000 people. ___ Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin sanctions assisted living facility after death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-95ad3a6518b4455eb52bf81c72b6ac04",
            "input": "John Bennett tells The Courier Journal that he was dismissed on Friday. Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokesman Doug Hogan confirmed in an email to the AP that Bennett is no longer with the health department. Bennett says he wasn’t given a specific reason for his dismissal and nothing suggests it was related to Kentucky’s outbreak response. Kentucky said Monday that the outbreak first declared in 2017 has killed 52 people and sickened more than 4,400. Kentucky has had more hepatitis A-related deaths than any other state struggling with similar outbreaks. Hogan says the number of hepatitis A cases has been declining for several months. ___ Information from: Courier Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky health agency now without infectious diseases chief."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0034aa9ed601469bb901da26f5ccaefa",
            "input": "The man who is in his 20s was hospitalized but is now recovering. Officials say they are investigating which products he was using to vape. KING-TV reports there have been 15 cases of severe lung disease associated with vaping in Washington state since April 2019, and 67% of the patients are male, according to the Washington State Department of Health. In addition to the King County cases, the latest numbers show three cases in Snohomish County, two in Spokane County, one in Pierce County, one in Mason County, and one in Kitsap County. Nationwide, there have been more than 2,000 cases and at least 40 people have died. ___ Information from: KING-TV, http://www.king5.com/",
            "output": [
                "King County confirms 7th case of vaping-related lung disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-273d92c4ca7c4f83966574e2ddf478f9",
            "input": "This is the first time Jammeh has been sued in a Gambian court over alleged abuses during his 22-year rule of this tiny West African nation, the advocacy group AIDS-Free World said. Jammeh’s program was “the most egregious premeditated assault on people living with HIV and AIDS in the history of the global AIDS crisis,” said Sarah Bosha, the group’s legal research and policy associate. Survivors Fatou Jatta, Lamin Ceesay and Ousman Sowe filed the lawsuit at the high court in the capital, Banjul. They seek financial damages and a declaration that their rights were violated. “My experience in the presidential treatment program was a horror,” Jatta said in the AIDS-Free World statement. “I could have lost my life.” Jammeh in 2007 declared his AIDS “cure” and launched the program, ordering patients to live in a facility and submit to his “treatment regimen” under armed guards’ surveillance. The “treatment” included foregoing antiretroviral drugs for an herbal concoction patients said often made them violently ill. Other concoctions were rubbed on them amid chanted prayers, and some sessions were broadcast on Gambian television without patient consent, survivors said. Jammeh forced some 1,000 people, many of them part of HIV/AIDS organizations, to participate before the program was shuttered, and two people died, according to an earlier Amnesty International report. An official with the program, Dr. Tamsir Mbowe, said during testimony to a commission of inquiry in April that 311 patients were treated from 2007 to 2012, according to AIDS-Free World. “The precise number of deaths as a consequence of Jammeh’s criminal mistreatment remains difficult to determine,” the organization said. “There is no cure for AIDS. When an individual of great power claimed otherwise, human health was jeopardized, lives were cut short and a deadly epidemic was prolonged — all in the service of the insatiable ego of Yahya Jammeh,” Bosha said. Jammeh has long been accused of human rights abuses during his rule that began after a bloodless coup in 1994. He lost December 2016 elections to now-President Adama Barrow and, after a political standoff, fled into exile to Equatorial Guinea in January 2017. Bosha told The Associated Press that in exceptional situations, “the court can grant an order allowing for civil cases to proceed despite the absence of the defendant, as long as there is sufficient evidence to satisfy the court that the defendant was personally served.” Survivors said they hope the former president will be held accountable. “I believe it is my responsibility to hold Jammeh to account,” said survivor Ousman Sowe. “I knew that one day the real story would be told.” ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa",
            "output": [
                "Gambians file suit against ex-leader over alleged HIV ‘cure’."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e5158a5e4b074158a7382e901df5e7b8",
            "input": "Democratic governors from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania met in New York City with health and legislative officials. Representatives from Massachusetts and Colorado were also on hand for the meeting. “What we want to do is coordinate this on a regional basis,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, noting how the “patchwork quilt of marijuana regulations makes no sense at all.” He said the group came up with “very preliminary” principles concerning how to regulate legalized, recreational marijuana, such as agreeing to have similar policies for THC content, edibles, advertising and taxation in order to dissuade people from turning to the illicit market. Lamont said “different states are going to have different timeframes” to pass marijuana legislation and he didn’t foresee everyone enacting the exact same law at the same time. He said more work needs to be done and staff from the participating states will continue working together on the issue. Several of the governors unsuccessfully pushed for their states to allow recreational pot sales in the last year. “We just want to make sure we go in with our eyes open and we’re consistent,” Lamont said. On vaping, Lamont said there appeared to be “the most unity” among the officials on possibly outlawing flavored e-cigarettes next year, given their appeal to young people and the growing number of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths across the country. “I think you’ll see some unanimity on that at the start,” he said. Earlier this month, a state appeals court temporarily blocked New York from enforcing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 90-day emergency ban on such products after the vaping industry sued to block the regulations. In Massachusetts, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker last month announced a statewide ban on the sale of vaping products, a measure that has been challenged in court. Meanwhile, a new law just took effect in Connecticut that increased the age to 21 for someone to purchase vaping products. Cuomo said a lack of federal action on pot and vaping regulations means it’s up to states to act. He noted that marijuana is often vaped and states should also consider that when considering marijuana legalization.",
            "output": [
                "Northeast officials team up to push pot, vaping regulations."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6a261eaf6a544e00b4aed16087a6d33b",
            "input": "There is no mention of the cost of this new drug, Rydapt (midostaurin), or of the cost of the diagnostic tool, the LeukoStrat CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay, which the FDA approved for use in determining the appropriateness of using this drug. Many patients will need to be tested for this mutation in order to find the individuals who have it and thus may benefit from this new drug. However, the FDA evaluates drugs without considering costs, which is why they are not discussed in this news release. Although the release does provide some numerical context, it’s insufficient to give credit here. The release could have provided much more useful information about the quantitative benefits. For example, a summary of the trial upon which the approval was based stated, “At a median follow-up of 57 months, midostaurin reduced mortality risk by 23% compared with placebo plus chemotherapy. The median OS was 74.7 months for the group receiving midostaurin versus 26 months for the placebo group (P = .007), representing a 23% reduction in the risk for death favoring midostaurin.” The release should have provided both absolute as well as relative benefits, both of which were available from the trials. What the release does say is that patients who received a combination of standard chemotherapy and Rydapt for treating AML “lived longer than patients who received chemotherapy alone, although a specific median survival rate could not be reliably estimated,” compared to patients receiving chemotherapy plus a placebo. That’s pretty vague. In addition, it said that “patients who received Rydapt in combination with chemotherapy in the trial went longer (median 8.2 months) without certain complications (failure to achieve complete remission within 60 days of starting treatment, progression of leukemia or death) than patients who received chemotherapy alone (median three months).” The release effectively reports possible side effects experienced by AML patients receiving Rydapt, including “low levels of white blood cells with fever (febrile neutropenia), nausea, inflammation of the mucous membranes (mucositis), vomiting, headache, spots on the skin due to bleeding (petechiae), musculoskeletal pain, nosebleeds (epistaxis), device-related infection, high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and upper respiratory tract infection.”  It also warns women who are pregnant or breastfeeding to avoid taking Rydapt. It also points out that the FDA approved the use of Rydapt for other patients with “certain types of rare blood disorders” and provides a list of possible side effects they might experience. The release explains that the approval follows the completion of a “randomized trial of 717 patients who had not been treated previously for AML.”  It would have been better if the release would have added how many patients were screened with the diagnostic test to identify the 717 patients studied. While it appears this treatment prolongs survival, it isn’t clear from the release what the time frame is, meaning people may live longer but still may die in the end of the disease. And while the release states that there are almost 20,000 patients diagnosed with AML each year in the US, it doesn’t state how many may have this mutation and thus be potentially treated with this new therapy. According to a review article published last year, “Approximately 30% of patients with AML carry the FLT3 mutation, which is associated with aggressive disease, with poor prognosis and a high risk for relapse.” That means that most patients with AML will not be eligible for this treatment but the release could give the general public the impression that it will help most patients with AML. There is no evidence of disease mongering here. AML is a life-threatening condition and new agents that can prolong life are clearly needed. There’s plenty of context about the disease and how the drug works: “Rydapt is a kinase inhibitor that works by blocking several enzymes that promote cell growth. If the FLT3 mutation is detected in blood or bone marrow samples using the LeukoStrat CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay, the patient may be eligible for treatment with Rydapt in combination with chemotherapy.” The release doesn’t mention who funded the research leading to the approval, although some readers might be able to guess that Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Rydapt, and Invivoscribe Technologies, the makers of the LeukoStrat CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay, sponsored the trials since the approval was given to them. The new medication was used in combination with standard chemotherapy. That tells us the alternative was standard chemotherapy alone, an important comparison. While the release doesn’t specifically state the availability of the drug, the FDA approval for its use suggests that it should start to become available in a matter of months and not years. The release makes clear that the use of this drug for AML patients with the FLT3 mutation is a new approach for a situation where previous therapies have been marginally successful. It also claims that the drug is “the first targeted therapy to treat patients with AML, in combination with chemotherapy,” according to an FDA official. No unjustifiable language here.",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves new combination treatment for acute myeloid leukemia"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-266793118f404a58abf3c19b1fa76eb9",
            "input": "The Agency for Health Care Administration issued its order Friday, saying an administrative law judge correctly concluded the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills “created an unsafe environment” in September 2017 after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning. Patients began dying three days after the storm passed. Investigators say the center did not evacuate patients as temperatures inside rose, even though a fully functional hospital was across the street. The home’s license was suspended days after the storm and it closed. Police have been investigating the deaths, but no charges have been filed. The center’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email Monday seeking comment.",
            "output": [
                "Nursing home where 12 died after storm has license revoked."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d7e4ae71ad44577a7e5d808e99ef474",
            "input": "Samour inherited the skill of bee-sting therapy from his father, who used to raise bees. Then in 2003, the agricultural engineer started to dedicate all his time to studying and developing the alternative medicine treatment of apitherapy, which uses all bee-related products, including honey, propolis - or bee glue used to build hives - and venom. “I am treating serious and chronic diseases which have no cure in regular medicine, I have achieved excellent results,” said Samour, an Egyptian-educated specialist in entomology and bees in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave. “We speak about chondritis in the neck and spine, migraine, loss of hair, alopecia areata, skin diseases, cerebral palsy, autism and cancer,” he said inside an apartment packed with patients on the edge of a beach refugee camp in Gaza City. The 58-year-old Palestinian said he makes bees sting patients at certain points in their bodies that he has carefully studied. A bee dies after being made to sting. “I have been subjected to doubts, but bee-sting therapy has proven itself as an excellent alternative medicine,” he told Reuters. “Some doctors, who value the apitherapy for certain illnesses, are among my patients.”  For a Reuters photo essay, please click on reut.rs/1S3fD28  The Islamist-ruled Gaza is under blockade by neighboring Egypt and Israel, which restricts the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory. So Gaza lacks sophisticated medical equipment and has patchy access to medicines. Seriously ill patients must travel to Israel, Egypt or beyond for specialist medical treatment. Inside Samour’s home, men and women wait their turn in separate rooms. Alya Al-Ghafari, 10, has been suffering from facial palsy for over two years. Mainstream medicine was both expensive and less efficient than apitherapy, according to her father. “Treatment by bee stings has been more effective than treatment by regular medicine but you need to be patient,” said Saeed Al-Ghafari, a government employee. His daughter has been receiving treatment from Samour for nearly nine months. “At the beginning my daughter felt pain but as time passed Alya felt she became better,” said Ghafari. “Her face has become better and now she is the one who reminds us of the therapy sessions.”  Muneera Al-Baba said her son Anas, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has made much more progress in a year and a half than he ever did using mainstream medicine, which also cost twice as much. “Communication between me and him was disconnected,” the 44-year-old mother told Reuters. “He lived in a world of his own, now he responds to me.”",
            "output": [
                "Sting like a bee: alternative therapy in Gaza."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b0dddeb24cd54a04bed739b1ab31be06",
            "input": "An image graphic purportedly featuring an excerpt from a speech President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to deliver on the day that he was assassinated was recirculated on social media in November 2018:  These lines were part of a speech JFK was slated to make to the Texas Democratic State Committee in the Municipal Auditorium in Austin, Texas, on the evening of 22 November 1963. President Kennedy never had the opportunity to deliver that speech, however, as he was assassinated earlier that day while his motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. A transcript of this undelivered speech is available via the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The excerpt included in this meme comes from the penultimate paragraph of that text: Finally, I said in Lubbock in 1960, as I said in every other speech in this State, that if Lyndon Johnson and I were elected, we would get this country moving again. That pledge has been fulfilled. In nearly every field of national activity, this country is moving again — and Texas is moving with it. From public works to public health, wherever Government programs operate, the past 3 years have seen a new burst of action and progress — in Texas and all over America. We have stepped up the fight against crime and slums and poverty in our cities, against the pollution of our streams, against unemployment in our industry, and against waste in the Federal Government. We have built hospitals and clinics and nursing homes. We have launched a broad new attack on mental illness and mental retardation. We have initiated the training of more physicians and dentists. We have provided 4 times as much housing for our elderly citizens, and we have increased benefits for those on social security. Almost everywhere we look, the story is the same. In Latin America, in Africa, in Asia, in the councils of the world and in the jungles of far-off nations, there is now renewed confidence in our country and our convictions. For this country is moving and it must not stop. It cannot stop. For this is a time for courage and a time for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a party is not to our party alone, but to the Nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom. So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation’s future is at stake. Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause–united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future — and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance. Kennedy was expected to deliver two speeches in Texas on the day that he was assassinated. The other, which was scheduled to take place at the Trade Mart in Dallas, was “recreated” by the Times of London and the creative Irish agency Rothco in March 2018: It took eight weeks to bring to life the 2,590 words John F Kennedy never got to speak. Sound engineers pulled 116,777 sound units from 831 of his speeches and radio addresses. These units were then split in half and analysed for pitch and energy. The half units, known as phones, were each about 0.04 seconds long and had to be tested next to each other to ensure that they did not clash. The W sound in weapons, for example, is not the same as the W sound in words. A portion of “JFK Unsilenced” recreation can be glimpsed below:",
            "output": [
                "\"A passage from a speech JFK was supposed to deliver on the day he was assassinated stated that \"\"our duty as a party is not to our party alone, but to the Nation, and, indeed, to all mankind.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b81bf56873c9421ba22d9ccbe1004c38",
            "input": "After its first two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO panel of gene editing experts - which was established in December after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies - said it had agreed a framework for setting future standards. It said a central registry of all human genome editing research was needed “in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work”, and asked the WHO to start setting up such a registry immediately. “The committee will develop essential tools and guidance for all those working on this new technology to ensure maximum benefit and minimal risk to human health,” Soumya Swamanathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, said in a statement. A Chinese scientist last year claimed to have edited the genes of twin baby girls. News of the births prompted global condemnation, in part because it raised the ethical specter of so-called “designer babies” - in which embryos can be genetically modified to produce children with desirable traits. Top scientists and ethicists from seven countries called last week for a global moratorium on gene editing of human eggs, sperm or embryos that would result in such genetically-altered babies - saying this “could have permanent and possibly harmful effects on the species”. The WHO panel’s statement said any human gene editing work should be done for research only, should not be done in human clinical trials, and should be conducted transparently. “It is irresponsible at this time for anyone to proceed with clinical applications of human germline genome editing.”  The WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the panel’s initial plans. “Gene editing holds incredible promise for health, but it also poses some risks, both ethically and medically,” he said in a statement. The committee said it aims over the next two years to produce “a comprehensive governance framework” for national, local and international authorities to ensure human genome editing science progresses within agreed ethical boundaries.",
            "output": [
                "WHO panel calls for registry of all human gene editing research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cbf9fdd4e9a04331a598403fce36dc1c",
            "input": "\"The story cites costs at one center of $3,000 for 40 treatment sessions. As the article makes clear, there is no high-quality research into the treatment’s efficacy. The article fails to make the risks of hyperbaric oxygen treatment clear. Risks include: seizures; problems in the lungs, eyes and vascular system; and isolated pockets of pain. Rarely, the symptoms are very serious. The treatment is contraindicated for certain patients, such as diabetics. The equipment is a serious fire hazard. The story should have cited all this. It should also have warned readers that the risks of side effects and fires are likely to be higher when conducted outside of a hospital environment by non-physicians, which appears to be the way the centers in the article operate. There is no good evidence to demonstrate the efficacy or safety of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for autism. The story makes this very clear in several places and mentions some of the ongoing research whose results are expected soon. The report does nothing to exaggerate the prevalence or severity of autism. While it includes anecdotes that imply efficacy of the oxygen treatment, it does so in a context of appropriately skeptical reportage. The article quotes the following sources: While this sourcing favors supporters, the reporter discloses or implies the conflicts of interest the clinic operators have. The two skeptical medical sources are highly credible. All things considered, the story minimally achieves a \"\"satisfactory\"\" rating on this criterion. While autism is not curable, it is treatable. Early behavioral interventions are showing some promise [though they too are unsupported by gold-standard evidence]. Other approaches, including medications and diet, can control some symptoms associated with the underlying condition. Chelation is another controversial, non-medically-proven treatment. The story should have put oxygen therapy in the context of conventional and other treatments. The story mentions two centers in its circulation area where hyperbaric oxygen treatment is available. It implies it is available in centers and hospital scattered around the country. The report includes the name of a trade group, allowing anybody who wants to find a center to do so. The article makes no claims of novelty. It makes it clear that autism is a \"\"new market\"\" for \"\"an industry that has served mostly scuba divers, stroke victims, and people recovering from wounds.\"\" It correctly describes the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for autism as a rare treatment growing in popularity among parents seeking alternative tratments. It’s clear that this story didn’t rely solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Oxygen therapy breathes new life into autism treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2bc13dcc019746c2b43e7d75a1b45441",
            "input": "Two people who had travelled from Congo died in Uganda last week, the World Health Organization said. A three-year-old boy who was sent back to Congo after testing positive for the disease died at the weekend, Congo’s health ministry said. At least another 1,411 people have died in Congo since August in the second worst outbreak of the disease on record. “Happy to inform you all that we got clearance from both Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and National Drug Authority to bring in the Therapeutic treatment for #Ebola patients in the country,” Uganda’s Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, said on Twitter. The treatments approved for shipment to Uganda were Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s ZMapp, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s REGN-EB3 and Remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences, said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. “The protocols for the fourth being submitted. Logistics underway with MSF support for importation of a few courses about 10 each,” he added in an email. The U.N. health agency has said there have so far been no known cases of Ebola spreading between people in Uganda - all recorded patients had travelled in from Congo. Four experimental therapeutic treatments are already being used in Congo, it added. On Friday, a WHO panel decided not to declare an international emergency over Congo’s Ebola outbreak despite its spread to Uganda, saying such a declaration could cause too much economic harm. “Obviously, the crisis is far from over,” Mark Green, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told a news conference in Nairobi. Health workers and people who came in contact with infected people began receiving a Merck experimental vaccine in Uganda on Saturday. (This story corrects name of drug in 5th paragraph to REGN-EB3, not Regeneron).",
            "output": [
                "Uganda clears three experimental Ebola treatments, watches for spread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e3cb69f1388b41ce9b59501f73e13937",
            "input": "The latest death toll, up from 29 tallied over the weekend, was announced by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea at an evening news conference in the nearby city of Chico after authorities found the bodies of 13 more victims of the devastating blaze dubbed the Camp Fire. The fire already ranked as the most destructive on record in California in terms of property losses, having consumed more than 7,100 homes and other structures since igniting on Thursday in Butte County’s Sierra foothills, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco. Honea said 228 people were officially listed as missing in the disaster, but added that his office had received requests to check on the wellbeing of more than 1,500 people who had not been heard from by loved ones. Of those cases, 231 individuals had turned up safe, he said. Authorities made clear, however, that they are bracing for the number of fatalities to climb. In addition to 13 coroner-led recovery teams working in the fire zone, 150 search-and-recovery personnel were due to arrive on Tuesday, Honea said. (GRAPHIC: Deadly California fires: tmsnrt.rs/2Plpuui )  The sheriff said he also has requested three portable morgue teams from the U.S. military, a “disaster mortuary” crew and an unspecified number of cadaver dog units to assist in the search for human remains. Three groups of forensic anthropologists were also called in to help, he said. The bulk of the destruction and loss of life occurred in and around the town of Paradise, where flames reduced most of the buildings to ash and rubble on Thursday night, just hours after the blaze erupted. Some 52,000 people remained under evacuation orders, the sheriff said. The 42 confirmed fatalities marked the highest death toll in history from a single California wildfire, Honea said, far surpassing the previous record of 29 lives lost in 1933 from the Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles. Authorities reported two more people perished over the weekend in a separate blaze, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, that has destroyed 435 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near Southern California’s Malibu coast, west of Los Angeles. President Donald Trump, who drew criticism over the weekend for erroneously blaming the fires on “gross mismanagement” of forests, approved California Governor Jerry Brown’s request for a major disaster declaration on Monday. The measure hastens availability of federal emergency aid to fire-stricken regions of the state. The fires have spread with an erratic intensity that has strained firefighting resources while catching many residents by surprise. The bodies of some of the Camp Fire victims were found in burned-out wreckage of vehicles that were overrun by walls of fire as evacuees tried to flee, only to be trapped in deadly knots of traffic gridlock on Thursday night. “It was very scary,” Mayor Jody Jones recounted of her family’s own harrowing escape from their home as fire raged all around them. “It took a long time to get out. There was fire on both sides of the car. You could feel the heat coming in through the car,” she told CNN. Jones said her family is now living in their mobile home parked in a vacant lot. More than 15,000 structures were threatened by the Camp Fire on Monday in an area so thick with smoke that visibility was reduced in some places to less than half a mile. Perilous winds that stoked the fire through drought-parched  brush and chaparral abated on Saturday, giving firefighters a chance to gain some ground against the flames. High winds returned on Sunday but fell again Monday morning, with crews managing to carve containment lines around 30 percent of the Camp Fire perimeter, an area encompassing 117,000 acres of scorched, smoldering terrain. The Woolsey Fire has blackened nearly 94,000 acres and was also 30 percent contained as of Monday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire). Winds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 km per hour) were expected to continue in Southern California through Tuesday, heightening the risk of fresh blazes ignited by scattered embers. CalFire said 57,000 structures were still in harm’s way from the Woolsey Fire. Forecasts called for winds to pick up again Monday night in Butte County, though with less force than previous days, National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun told reporters. Nearly 9,000 firefighters, many from out of state, were battling to suppress the Camp Fire, the Woolsey Fire and a handful of smaller Southern California blazes, backed by squadrons of water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers. Some evacuees in Malibu, a seaside community whose residents include a number of Hollywood celebrities, were allowed to return home but were left without power or cellphone service. California has endured two of the worst wildfire seasons in its history over the past couple of years, a situation experts attribute in large part to prolonged drought across much of the Western United States. Forty-six people died in a flurry of wind-driven wildfires that swept northern California’s wine country in October of last year, destroying some 8,900 homes and other structures. The worst of those blazes, dubbed the Tubbs Fire, was blamed for 22 of the deaths.",
            "output": [
                "At least 42 fatalities tallied in California's deadliest wildfire ever."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d0402f9104c4e4b9eb135548d3a911c",
            "input": "The American Academy of Pediatrics, in calling on the legal right for same-sex couples to marry, said children’s well-being is affected far more by other factors such as their parents’ health and economic security than their sexual orientation. “It is better that children have two parents than one parent, and assuming that these parents love each other and love the child and have economic and social security and stability, then that’s the critical ingredient for the optimal growth and development of the child,” said Dr. Benjamin Siegel, head of an AAP committee that studied the issue. Siegel said the academy’s board of directors voted unanimously for the organization, which represents 60,000 pediatricians, to support same-sex marriage as well as the right for gay parents to adopt or foster children. “We need to have laws and regulations that support families to nurture children,” said Siegel, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center and the Boston University School of Medicine. The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to take up two major gay rights cases next week, one on federal benefits for same-sex married couples and another on California’s law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Recent Reuters/Ipsos polls have found a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage and access to federal benefits such as such as tax exemptions for a surviving spouse’s inheritance. Close to 2 million American children already are being raised by gay and lesbian parents, according to the pediatric group. The group previously backed allowing a biological parent’s partner to adopt a child and allowing same-sex spouses to receive federal benefits. But its new statement, published in the journal Pediatrics, is based on more recent data showings kids do just as well when they are raised by parents of the same or different genders. “Scientific evidence affirms that children have similar developmental and emotional needs and receive similar parenting whether they are raised by parents of the same or different genders,” AAP said, citing research over the last 30 years. One 2010 study in the journal Pediatrics found teenagers with lesbian moms performed better in school and had fewer social problems, for example, when compared to teens with a mother and father (reut.rs/i7bS6w). Some gay rights opponents have questioned the long-term effects of gay marriage on children. “There cannot yet be decisive evidence,” George Will, a conservative columnist, wrote in The Washington Post last week about whether same-sex marriage was harmful. Nine states and Washington, D.C., have legalized same-sex marriage. Public and political support for marriage equality has grown in recent years and on Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the latest politician to come out in favor of same-sex marriage. The pediatrician’s group said marriage, not civil unions, is key because it offers families stronger economic security and helps avoid issues of discrimination, intolerance and inequality that can affect parents’ self-esteem. Various state laws on adoption by gay and lesbian parents are also “an inconsistent patchwork,” it added. In Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2004, Siegel sees broad acceptance of kids with gay or lesbian parents. “My experience is that parents are happier (and) the kids are fine,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. pediatricians back gay marriage, adoption rights."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7de90fbdbeb9421a84a304296e5d069f",
            "input": "He Jiankui, associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, attracted condemnation from the global scientific community when he said he had used a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born in November. Chinese authorities launched an investigation into He’s work and said they had halted the kind of research he was undertaking. Under the draft laws sent to China’s legislature for review on Saturday, medical and human trials would face closer scrutiny and stricter requirements, such as ensuring human subjects are properly briefed, state media outlet Xinhua reported. The rules would also require all future trials to be approved by administrative authorities as well as ethical committees, it said. The report did not specify a timeline for the approval of the regulations, or make specific mention of He’s research. In videos posted online and at the November 2018 conference where He made his controversial presentation, He said he believed his gene editing would help protect the girls from infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Chinese authorities and institutions, as well as hundreds of international scientists, condemned him and said any application of gene editing on human embryos for reproductive purposes was against the law and medical ethics of China.",
            "output": [
                "Most Texans aren't millionaires."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b659f7437a4c4377ba2390dbf5a5e73f",
            "input": "Under the current system, people on a work, study or family visa only pay a £400 surcharge to use the NHS. This is the current level the international health surcharge is set at each year, but the taxes that people who come to work in the UK pay also goes towards things like the NHS. Under the current system, people on a work, study or family visa incur average NHS costs of £625 per year. It’s unclear how the Conservatives have calculated this new figure and we’ve asked them for more information. Claim 1 of 3",
            "output": [
                "Under the current system, people on a work, study or family visa only pay a £400 surcharge to use the NHS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-133e33e955064dfb89fb4bdb3d98897f",
            "input": "The bill, which was introduced by the City Council and has the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would make New York City, which already has the highest cigarette taxes in the nation, the first big city or state to set the smoking age at 21. Currently, individuals must be 18 to buy cigarettes. Eight in 10 adult smokers in the city started smoking regularly when they were below the age of 21, and most smokers who are under age 18 obtain cigarettes from individuals who are just a few years older than them, city officials said. While an increase in cigarette taxes contributed to a 15-point drop among youth smokers from 1999 to 2007, the number of high-school-aged smokers has held steady at about 8.5 percent over the last six years. Cigarette packs sold in New York City currently carry a state tax of $4.35 and a city tax of $1.50 - making it the most expensive city in the nation to be a smoker. “Too many adult smokers begin this deadly habit before age 21,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “By delaying our city’s children and young adults access to lethal tobacco products, we’re decreasing the likelihood they ever start smoking, and thus, creating a healthier city.”  The bill marks the latest effort in the city’s decade-long fight to discourage smoking, which the city’s health commissioner, Thomas Farley, said was the most significant cause of preventable death in the city. In 2003, Bloomberg outlawed smoking in bars and restaurants, and smoking has since been banned in other public places, including parks. Quinn, who is running to become the city’s next mayor, made clear that she would continue Bloomberg’s aggressive public health agenda - which has led his detractors to dub him the “nanny mayor.”  While most of the city’s anti-smoking initiatives have originated with Bloomberg, the mayor did not join Quinn in making the announcement on Monday, instead sending Farley to say that the mayor looks forward to signing the bill into law. Every U.S. state prohibits retailers from selling tobacco products to minors and in most states the smoking age is set at 18. Four states - Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah - require that a cigarette purchaser be at least 19 years old. In New York, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island have already boosted their legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products to 19. Nearly all tobacco use starts in childhood and adolescence, according to the 2012 report by the U.S. Surgeon General, which declared smoking a “pediatric epidemic” both in the United States and globally. According to the report, 99 percent of all first use of tobacco occurs by age 26. The report also found that if youth and young adults manage to avoid smoking or other tobacco products, very few will begin smoking after that age. Evidence suggests that once youth start smoking, many find it hard to quit. Of all adult cigarette smokers in the United States who smoke daily, 88 percent started smoking by age 18, according to the report. Currently, about one out of four seniors in high school - youth aged 17 or 18 - smoke on a regular basis. Among those who continue smoking, half will die 13 years earlier than non-smoking peers. It was not immediately clear how the tobacco industry would respond to the proposed legislation, which Quinn said she hoped would become a model for the rest of the country. “Our companies follow the law whatever it is in any jurisdiction,” said Jane Seccombe, spokeswoman for Reynolds American Inc, the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co, American Snuff Co and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. “We believe no minors, however they’re classified in those jurisdictions, should be able to access tobacco products.”  She declined to comment on any potential sales impact from changes in the minimum age.",
            "output": [
                "New York City wants to ban cigarette sales to people under 21."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d3c17c6dd4e406aba2d1070379ebadc",
            "input": "The hospital in the southern city of Gjirokaster said a total of 700 have sought treatment since June for the effects of planting, harvesting, pressing and packing the cannabis in the village of Lazarat. “In the last two months about seven to eight people arrive in the emergency ward each day and many more have come earlier with disorders from hashish,” Gjirokaster doctor Hysni Lluka told Top Channel television. Some 2,000 people, including poor Roma who have set up a camp near Lazarat, have been working for months in the cannabis fields, where producers pay eight euros per 10 kilos of processed drug. The illegal practice has flourished in Lazarat over two decades of turbulent transition in Albania since the end of hardline communist rule. Lazarat has become a byword for lawlessness in Albania, with cannabis growers brazen enough to shoot at police officers who venture near their fields. Aerial pictures suggest some 60 hectares have been cultivated in Lazarat with 300,000 cannabis plants, capable of yielding 500 metric tons (551.156 ton) or half the total cannabis production in Albania. Lluka, the doctor, said women and teenagers, who account for some 40 percent of those working in Lazarat, had sought help for bouts of vomiting, stomach pain, irregular heart beats and high blood pressure. Last week one patient came in a critical state. Lazarat is a stronghold of the Democratic Party, which was in power for eight years before losing a June election to the Socialist Party. The Democrats promised to tackle Albania’s cannabis problem but police shied away from striking Lazarat. Artan Didi, the new director of police appointed by the Socialists, has said the police will no longer “back down to Lazarat”. The U.S. State Department’s international narcotics control report for 2013 listed Albania as a transit and destination country for cannabis, heroin and cocaine. Authorities seized more than 21 tons of cannabis in 2012, double the amount of the previous year, it said, although that could reflect increased production.",
            "output": [
                "Hundreds of cannabis workers fall ill in Albanian village."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d90a6077a58a4d018987aa0c9ab3ac30",
            "input": "There was no discussion of costs. The story clearly mentioned the reduction in hospitalization time, need for blood transfusions, and internal scarring were benefits of the procedure though it did not provide quantitative details. In addition, the story did provide quantitative data on the 30-day risk of  sexual and urinary function complications. Clearly elaborated. The story provided information that would better enable people to read between the lines and ask relevant questions about claims made with respect to outcomes following surgery. It described a study comparing outcomes for men having their prostates removed using different approaches. It also included sufficient detail for readers to understand some of the limitations about the study data. However the story is incorrect in stating that it’s not clear whether either surgery is superior to watchful waiting. In fact, the traditional surgery has been proven to reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to watchful waiting in a controlled trial–the highest level of evidence. But – and this is important in the context of this particular story –  there is no similar evidence for the laparoscopic surgeries. The story did not engage in disease mongering. Comments from several clinicians were included in this piece to point out some of the potential confounders with the study results. It was mildly amusing that one of the clinicians interviewed stated categorically that there are over 800 previous studies on robot-assisted prostate -v the majority of which demonstrate superiority. This is an awfully large number of studies about a relatively new technology; further, one of the important points of this story is that there are both short term and longer term outcomes to be considered. The story mentioned different approaches to the removal of the prostate as well as complete list of the treatment options for early stage prostate cancer. The story indicated that the robotic apparatus needed for the procedure reported on is not available in all facilities though it was becoming more common. The story included the trajectory of use for the treatment. Does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Robotic prostate surgery may mean big trade-off"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b6f5d1221244801acc7344a719d1784",
            "input": "No mention was made of costs, but anyone who has been to a drugstore knows that aspirin is cheap. The story cites a 27 percent decrease among low-dose aspirin users who had taken the drug for five years or more. It also notes the incidence of the disease among different populations, and even gives readers a link to a risk calculator to determine their individual risk. Of course, we almost always prefer stories to use absolute risk reductions over the relative risk reduction reported here (technically an odds ratio — not a “risk” reduction per se). But in a case-control study such as this one, the issue can be complicated. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt. The story is straightforward in saying that all NSAIDs carry risks. “Long-term use can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, for example, so the potential reduction in colon cancer risk needs to be balanced against potential side effects, the authors warn.” It would have been easy to also mention cerebral vascular bleeds, but that’s a minor point. The story cites “several limitations” of the study, including the fact that the researchers did not include patients who bought their aspirin or other NSAIDs without a doctor’s prescription, and that the authors were not able to adjust for some risk factors, such as obesity, diet, alcohol use and family history of colorectal cancer. The study type (retrospective case control) could also have been mentioned along with the relative weakness of this type of study compared with a randomized controlled trial. In addition, the story in several places uses language suggesting a cause and effect relationship between aspirin and colon cancer — e.g. “taking low-dose aspirin continuously for at least five years appeared to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer” — and it quotes an independent source who says flatly that aspirin “reduces the risk of colorectal cancer.” Such a strong statement wasn’t justified by anything we saw in this study — and the paper didn’t point to any other definitive evidence that would warrant such a statement. But despite these concerns, we think that the story overall did enough to merit a Satisfactory rating here. There is no attempt to inflate the incidence or severity of the disease. If anything, the severity of the disease was underplayed by not mentioning death rates. The story includes comment from Dr. Gurpreet Singh-Ranger, who apparently was not involved with the study, so we’ll give it a pass. The story would have been stronger had it told the reader what made him an authority on the topic. The story makes no reference to colonoscopy as a means of identifying and removing polyps before they become cancerous. Other screening approaches that could have been mentioned include sigmoidoscopy and fecal blood tests. The ubiquity of low-dose aspirin is so well known that it did not need to be mentioned. High up in the story, the reader is told what is new about this study: “Earlier studies had suggested that aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen may help protect against colorectal cancer, but it wasn’t clear how much had to be taken, and for how long, to achieve those benefits.” The fact that the story includes comments made directly to Reuters Health shows that it does not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "An aspirin a day – for years – may keep colon cancer away"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1418bb1f4e8e412c9dd0588958f7afe4",
            "input": "Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking Monday at the start of the World Health Organization’s annual assembly, where issues like anti-microbial resistance, universal health care and WHO reform are among the topics up for discussion. Ghebreyesus noted that the current Ebola outbreak, which is the second deadliest on record and has been confirmed to have taken nearly 1,100 lives, is so far contained to two provinces of eastern Congo that are wracked by violence by armed groups. He said the outbreak was “one of the most complex health emergencies any of us have ever faced.”",
            "output": [
                "UN health chief warns of ‘very high’ risk of Ebola spread."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd804519354e4be79d6be8d7e64667a2",
            "input": "Former U.S. Vice President and current contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination Joe Biden has a self-acknowledged reputation for making verbal blunders, one of the more infamous of which he uttered in a speech in Danville, Virginia during the 2012 presidential campaign. That notorious statement was cited in a number of partisan social media posts in late April and early May 2019 (shortly after Biden announced his 2020 candidacy) as an instance of his “playing the race card” to disparage Republicans: Dear Joe Biden. You said to a largely Black audience that the Republican party was, “……..gonna put y’all back in chains.” I didn’t know y’all was a Southerner. Anyway, can y’all tell us what you and Obama did to improve the lives of Black Americans. — George Gamard (@GeorgeGamard) May 10, 2019  Joe Biden told a predominantly black audience in 2012 that Republicans want to “put y’all back in chains!” How do you get more racially divisive that THAT? — Build The Wall (@ditchobama) May 8, 2019  Although it’s unclear, based on contemporaneous press coverage of the event, whether the audience was accurately described as “predominantly” or “largely” black (more about which later), Biden did in fact utter the words attributed to him at a 14 August 2012 campaign attended by a racially mixed crowd, including hundreds of African Americans. The following report is from the New York Times blog “The Caucus,” posted the same day as the event: Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. created a stir at a campaign speech in Virginia when he told the crowd that Mitt Romney’s policies would enable the banking and financial sectors to “put you all back in chains.” The remark came roughly two-thirds of the way through Mr. Biden’s 30-minute speech, which was delivered to a crowd that included many African-Americans at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Va. “Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street,” Mr. Biden said. “They’re going to put you all back in chains.” The moment was captured for posterity in a C-SPAN video (available here in its entirety):  We would probably not be talking about this today had not Biden’s remark been widely interpreted as a reference to slavery. As such, it drew instant condemnation, beginning with the Romney campaign, which released a statement saying: “After weeks of slanderous and baseless accusations leveled against Governor Romney, the Obama campaign has reached a new low. The comments made by the vice president of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything to win this election.” Romney himself echoed that statement in a speech he gave later the same day in which he held President Obama responsible. “His campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the Presidency,” Romney said at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio. “Another outrageous charge came a few hours ago in Virginia. And the White House sinks a little bit lower.” Though he didn’t specifically mention race, Romney accused Obama of pursuing a strategy of divisiveness: “Over the last four years, this President has pushed Republicans and Democrats as far apart as they can go. And now he and his allies are pushing us all even further apart by dividing us into groups. He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces.” Media pundits and campaign surrogates were more explicit in their criticism of Biden. In an opinion piece for Breitbart, conservative Ben Shapiro said the Vice President’s statement was “Race-baiting at its finest.” Former New York Mayor Rudy Giulani, a Republican, declared on Face the Nation that it was “an absolutely blatant appeal to racism.” Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, also a Republican, accused Biden of “play[ing] the race card.” Some Democrats agreed with the criticism. “First of all, without question they were appeals to race,” said former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder. “The important thing I got out of this was Biden separated himself from what he accused the people of doing. As a matter of fact, what he said is they are going to do something to y’all, not to me. Not us. So he was still involved with that separate American.” CBS News reported that then-U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) called Biden’s comment “stupid” during a radio interview: “Was he talking about slavery? You bet your a** he was. Was he using the vernacular? Yes, he was,” said Rangel, a longtime New York Democrat who is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Did he think it was cute … Yes, he did. Was it something stupid to say? You bet your life it was stupid.” Rangel added that if an African-American had made the joke, “We would have been laughing, because we would know that deep down, they may be beating the hell out of us but they ain’t thinking about putting us into any chains.” Ebony contributor Jamil Smith agreed with Rangel’s perception that Biden was “using the vernacular,” or “code-switching,” as Smith called it, “to acclimate to a particular environment or audience.” Phonetically rendered, this is what Biden actually said: “They gonna put y’all back in chains.” But the Vice President stood by the remark in a 14 August campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, insisting that the message he was trying to convey wasn’t about race, but rather the negative impact the opposition party’s vow to “unshackle Wall Street” would have on middle-class Americans: The last time these guys unshackled the economy, to use their term, they put the middle class in shackles. That’s how we got where we are. Nine million jobs lost, wage stagnation, 16 trillion dollars in wealth you all lost, in your home equity, in your 401ks, and your pension plans — you’re the ones that got nailed. All of America except for the very few. And I’m told when I made that comment earlier today in Danville, Virginia, the Romney Campaign put out a Tweet, you know Tweets, and went on the air, went on the airwaves saying “Biden’s outrageous in saying that — I think I said, instead of unshackled, unchained or — anyway, outrageous to say that, that’s what we meant. I’m using their own words. I got a message for them, if you want to know want to know what’s outrageous, it’s their policies, and the effects of their policies on middle class America, that’s what’s outrageous. Biden had, in fact, used precisely the same trope before to characterize the impact of Republican economic policies on the middle class. The day after a Republican primary debate in October 2011, Biden said, referring to economic conditions under the George W. Bush administration: “The last time we liberated the economy under their proposals, the last eight years put the middle class in chains. My lord, how many times we have to go back to that horror movie?” President Obama took Biden’s side, defending his Danville speech in an interview with People magazine: Biden’s comment sparked Romney to call the Obama campaign one of “division and hate and anger.” But Obama, speaking to PEOPLE in Dubuque, Iowa, seemed unrattled by the controversy. He said Biden’s words needed to be considered in context; that he was only saying “you, consumers, the American people, will be a lot worse off if we repeal these [Wall Street reform] laws as the other side is suggesting.” “In no sense was he trying to connote something other than that,” Obama added. The racial composition of the audience is relevant to this debate though not decisive, partly because estimates in the press were rough and contradictory. Although it was consistently reported that approximately 900 people were in attendance, and we know, from both press reports and video of the event, that a significant percentage of the attendees were African-American, the media couldn’t agree on whether more black people were present than white people, fewer black people than white people, or roughly the same number of each. The majority of mainstream news outlets reported that the audience was “predominantly,” “largely,” or “mostly” African-American. Among these were the Los Angeles Times, Politico, CBS News, Fox News, The Daily Beast, National Public Radio, and NBC News. Significantly fewer outlets reported that the audience was “about 50%” African-American. Some described it as “racially mixed.” A small minority of venues said the makeup of the crowd was “partially” African-American. We asked Tiffany Holland, a reporter who live-blogged the event for the Richmond Times-Dispatch website, for her impression of the racial makeup of the crowd. “If memory serves, the crowd was about half-African-American and half-white,” she said in an email, adding that in her experience Democratic Party events in Danville usually drew a “healthy mix of diversity.” But she also said that this was just the impression she came away with, and could be remembering it wrongly. In any case, even if only 50 percent of the attendees were African-American, Biden would have found himself gazing out over an audience that included hundreds of black faces. The crowd need not have been “predominantly” African-American to inspire a politician inclined to do so to engage in racial pandering.",
            "output": [
                "\"Sen. Joe Biden told an audience which included hundreds of African Americans that Republican economic policies would \"\"put y'all back in chains.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4813f0cda28640e29c1a1f1313477dad",
            "input": "The Delaware State News reported Monday that Jessica Scarane plans to run against U.S. Sen. Chris Coons in the state’s Democratic primary. Scarane is a Wilmington-based digital strategist who serves as the board president of the nonprofit Girls Inc. The 34-year-old is running on a progressive platform that includes universal health care and tuition-free college. Her platform is similar to those of more left-leaning Democrats in the U.S. Senate, such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Coons said in a statement that he’s proud to challenge President Donald Trump. But he also said he’s someone who works across the aisle to “get done what we can in this environment to make our state and our community stronger.” ___ Information from: Delaware State News, http://delawarestatenews.net",
            "output": [
                "Coons, US Senator from Delaware, will face primary challenge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe1f6166465c42e6832e4e33f43c729d",
            "input": "Keytruda is already approved as a cost-effective treatment in melanoma and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also on Dec. 2 approved its use in the treatment of lung cancer patients who had started on chemotherapy, after Merck & Co cut the price further for the NHS. But trial data so far on the survival benefit of Keytruda as an initial lung cancer treatment has not been reliable enough,   according to NICE’s draft guidance, which will be subject to public consultation until 21 March. “The exact size of the overall survival gain for Keytruda compared to the current standard of care was uncertain because of the immaturity of the data,” a NICE spokeswoman said. Keytruda has proved effective in fighting non-small cell lung cancer in patients with high levels of a protein called PD-L1, which makes them more receptive to immunotherapy. The average cost of a course of treatment in Britain is around 29,000 pounds ($36,000) at the full list price but the NHS will pay less after getting a confidential discount. ($1 = 0.8042 pounds)",
            "output": [
                "UK rejects Merck's Keytruda as initial treatment for lung cancer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fb4fc20190e04f328e921203760faa5c",
            "input": "On 11 February 2015, a quote attributed to South Carolina state Senator Thomas (Tom) Corbin began to circulate on social media sites. According to the rumor, Corbin compared women to a “lesser cut of meat” during remarks made to a fellow state senator:  The rumor originated on a small, local political blog called FITSNews. The initial account appeared to contain the typical hallmarks of a hoax — no date for the purported dinner was provided, and the source for the claim was unnamed “multiple witnesses”:  Corbin’s comments — made at a legislative dinner held in downtown Columbia, S.C. — were reportedly directed at S.C. Senator Katrina Shealy, the only female member of the 46-person State Senate. According to multiple witnesses who attended the dinner — held at Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse on Main Street (a few blocks from the S.C. State House) — Senate judiciary committee members were discussing the CDV issue, which has been a source of several previous headaches for the GOP. By way of explanation, lawmakers and legislative staffers have previously told FITS about statements made by Corbin — statements reflecting his belief that women do not belong in the S.C. General Assembly and should instead be “at home baking cookies” or “barefoot and pregnant.” At one point in the conversation — which quickly escalated into a confrontation — Shealy is said to have angrily asked Corbin where he “got off” attacking women. “Well, you know God created man first,” Corbin said, reportedly smirking at Shealy. “Then he took the rib out of man to make woman. And you know, a rib is a lesser cut of meat.”  However, a few days later Senator Katrina Shealy posted to Facebook to Facebook to confirm and address the controversial claims, asserting that Corbin had made the remark in question but that he considered it in the nature of a “joke”:  My statement on “Lesser Cut of Meat Story”: “I have proven that women can effectively serve in the Legislature, and one of my colleagues has proven capable of talking like an idiot.” I will agree that Senator Corbin may feel that this is an ongoing joke between the two of us, but he is well aware that I don’t think it is funny. I have asked several times for him to discontinue these type of comments. I am the lone female in the South Carolina Senate and because of that very reason I do not want it to come across that I am weak or whining, so I have repeatedly tried to deal with him myself. In Senator Corbin’s defense, maybe it is a joke to him; but, if you do something over and over again, you must really believe it. It is not a joke with me or with the thousands of other women and girls across this state and country who deserve respect. We are mothers, sisters and daughters. We are homemakers, school teachers, lawyers, judges, businesswomen and – yes, even State Senators who deserve every bit as much respect as any father, brother, son or any male who holds the same position as any female. Can I sit by; sweep this under the rug; and say, “it’s okay”? Sure, I could do that; but not this time! Do not get me wrong; the majority of my colleagues treat me with the utmost respect and with no difference of any of my male counterparts, as it should be. I do not want or expect special treatment. All I ask for is to be treated equally and with respect! Corbin also commented on the controversy and claimed he and Shealy had joked with one another in a similar fashion in the past:  “We were all joking and laughing,” said Corbin. “We cut up together.” Corbin said he can’t recall her ever [asking him to stop joking before], adding that she’s teased him about being overweight and bald. “If it bothers her, I’ll quit joking around with her,” he said. Both agreed the exchange occurred after they disagreed on the gun provision of legislation aimed at curbing domestic violence. That provision seeks to prevent abusers from having easy access to guns. South Carolina has long ranked among the worst nationwide in violence against women, and most domestic violence deaths involve guns.",
            "output": [
                "\"South Carolina state Senator Thomas Corbin told a colleague at a dinner function that women are a \"\"lesser cut of meat.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-355cc3a66ab2442f85840ff0514ed6c3",
            "input": "After Germany’s top administrative court on Tuesday allowed local authorities to bar heavily polluting diesel cars in major cities, the federal government is scrambling to find ways to avert driving bans that would hurt consumers and automakers. Environmental and motorist lobbies are raising the pressure on Volkswagen (VW) and its peers to modify the exhaust systems of older diesels which they say are a major source of toxic nitrogen oxide emissions that can cause respiratory disease. “I don’t want to say now that I’m ruling it out,” VW Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said on Friday at an auto industry event. But he voiced misgivings. Hardware changes would cost between 1,500 ($1,845.30) and 7,000 euros per car, and the development as well as testing of new exhaust cleaning systems would take 2-3 years, Mueller said. Also, retrofitted vehicles might consume more fuel and emit more carbon dioxide, which would affect the level of car tax, he added. Of the 15 million diesel cars on Germany’s roads, only 2.7 million are equipped with the latest Euro-6 emissions technology. Research firm Evercore ISI has estimated that upgrading the exhaust cleaning of the 6 million Euro-5 vehicles could cost up to 14.5 billion euros ($17.9 billion). “I would compare hardware changes on a Euro-5 vehicle to an open-heart surgery,” Mueller said. There is no way that VW could shoulder major costs for such modifications as it is stretched by the costs and fines related to its “Dieselgate” emissions scandal, he said. “We had to pay about 25 billion in America, we cannot again pay 17 billion for hardware refits,” Mueller said. “That is simple not possible.”",
            "output": [
                "Diesel vehicle refits costly and could affect performance, Volkswagen says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d5dac33a483b4f96aad1134c2d9da79c",
            "input": "The 95-year-old Carter and his wife of more than 70 years, Rosalynn, attended services at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains on Sunday, news outlets reported. Parishioners also prayed for the Carters, who were nestled into front-row seats at the church where Carter famously has taught Sunday school. The nation’s oldest-ever ex-president underwent surgery last month at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from a fall. Carter has faced several health issues in recent years. Earlier this month, he was treated at a hospital for a urinary tract infection. In October, he was hospitalized for a fall that fractured his pelvis and another fall in which he hit his head and required 14 stitches. A previous fall required he get hip surgery. In 2015, he was diagnosed with melanoma. After having parts of his liver removed and undergoing radiation, immunotherapy and treatment for brain lesions, he announced that he was cancer-free.",
            "output": [
                "After brain surgery, Jimmy Carter returns to hometown church."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b0b44b40271c4fcba651e08678c3f2f3",
            "input": "They had floated two measures that could have put the Jan. 1 law on hold until voters considered overturning it next year, but did not submit more than 600,000 required signatures before Monday’s deadline. The three official proponents, Denise Aguilar, Heidi Munoz Gleisner and Tara Thornton, said in a statement on behalf of their Freedom Angels Foundation that a “grossly misleading” introduction to the measure “would inevitably make educating the voters to the egregious nature of these laws very difficult.”   The law will allow state public health officials to investigate doctors who grant more than five medical exemptions in a year and schools with vaccination rates of less than 95%, the threshold that experts say means a population is resistant to a disease like measles. Gov. Gavin Newsom demanded, and won, amendments protecting doctors who previously granted a high number of medical exemptions and removing a requirement that doctors swear under penalty of perjury that they are not charging fees to fill out medical exemption forms or conduct related medical examinations. The Democratic governor also required a phase-out period for medical exemptions similar to one allowed when California eliminated personal belief vaccine exemptions in 2015. A kindergartner with an exemption can retain it through sixth grade, for instance, while a seventh grader can be exempted through high school. Opponents were not mollified and vow continued protests. The three women who sought to block the law also unsuccessfully tried to dissuade lawmakers and Newsom from approving it, standing on chairs during a committee hearing and blocking the door to the governor’s office last fall. They were among hundreds of opponents who packed committee hearings and regularly protested at the Capitol, including a woman who threw human blood from the Senate gallery onto senators below during the closing hours of this year’s legislative session. Another opponent earlier shoved Sen. Richard Pan, who authored the legislation, as he was walking on a street near the Capitol in Sacramento. Pan criticized the bills’ opponents for engaging in “theater, a stunt” without following through on the ballot measure. “If (the law) was as bad as they said it was, then they should be fighting it tooth and nail,” Pan said. He was particularly critical of high-profile opponents including actor Rob Schneider and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he said could have put money behind the ballot measure. Opponents previously failed to collect enough signatures to contest the 2015 law eliminating the personal belief exemption, and failed in an attempt to recall Pan in 2016. Legal challenges against that earlier law also failed.",
            "output": [
                "Opponents drop bid to block California vaccination law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16b8c725663a459c90142e2d5e3f741c",
            "input": "The release does not mention cost. The FDA evaluates drugs without consideration of cost, so it’s understandable that they wouldn’t comment on it — and that’s why we’re rating this Not Applicable. But let’s be real here: The value of a new drug is a function not just of how well it works, but its cost-effectiveness. So we look forward to the day when any news release about a new drug — even one from the FDA — will include some mention of cost in its message. This release gives the preliminary results from a single study of 310 patients. Because the drug is experimental, long-term results haven’t been studied. Of the 310 patients enrolled in the lone trial upon which the approval is based, 14.8 percent showed some shrinkage of tumors during the assessment period lasting from 2.1 to about 13.8 months. For a subset of patients who were classified as having a positive response to PD-L1 expression, the response was 26 percent. As noted above, tumor shrinkage doesn’t always lead to improvements in survival or quality of life. It is a surrogate endpoint — a substitute — for the main outcome which is survival. Although this drug looks promising, to be fully transparent about its benefits as currently known, the release should have explained this. As noted in the “Summary,” another larger study is underway to assess the drug’s impact on extending life and improving quality of life. The release includes a description of side effects of this treatment. The most common ones included fatigue, decreased appetite, nausea, urinary tract infection, fever (pyrexia) and constipation. The release also mentions that patients taking the drug have an increased risk of infection and serious side effects that are “immune-mediated.” We would have liked a bit more context on what this term means for patients. The release outlines that this is the very first clinical trial of this compound for safety and efficacy, and under which regulatory paths the drug was assessed, including “breakthrough therapy designation, priority review status and accelerated approval.” We’re giving this release the benefit of the doubt and rating it Satisfactory for its bare bones description of the trial (and since we already addressed the lack of long-term survival data in the “Benefits” section.) As it stands, the results from the small trial were preliminary and short-term and did not reflect long-term survival. We would have liked to see a reference or link to the completed trial where one could look at the results to assess independently or learn more about the outcomes. We think the release should have provided more data on the patient demographics, the treatment regimen (dosing amount and schedule) as well as the range in tumor reduction. There is no disease mongering. This release describes the approval of a new drug by a regulatory agency, but we’d still like to know who sponsored the study that’s the basis for the approval. It’s not enough to state who markets the drug. The release does not give us very much information about alternatives. These patients had already received other therapy and their cancer had recurred, so it is implied that they had no other alternatives. But this isn’t stated very clearly. We can assume (and it seems evident) that the platinum-based therapy that the patients didn’t respond to initially is the usual treatment. The FDA’s approval of a drug clears the way for the drug sponsor to scale up production and begin marketing and selling the product. (The FDA doesn’t state this explicitly but it can be inferred.) A NYT article said the drug would be available in about two months. The release clearly states this product is first of its kind for this type of cancer. We found no unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "FDA approves new, targeted treatment for bladder cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6836a8ce65244796a40b7f462555ed9b",
            "input": "David Bowley’s 72-acre (29 hectares) property in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills was among vineyards in the state’s prominent wine region “completely destroyed” by bush fires. “The worst day in our history. I am completely broken,” Bowley, who owns Vinteloper wines, wrote on Instagram as he shared photos of his burnt property. About 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) south of Vinteloper, James Edward Tilbrook of Tilbrook Estate is seeking help to rebuild his lost assets. “We have nothing left, except a few cases of museum stock at our home and literally 48 bottles of current vintage wine,” Tilbrook wrote on his Facebook page. In a separate post that had images of incinerated bottled wines and melted bottles, he urged his friends and followers to help pay for rebuilding. “First target is to get Vintage. Then the next target is to get the wine in bottle,” he wrote. “That’s 3 to 12 months from Vintage. Once we have wine again we are back in business. It’s just getting to that point and that’s where we need your help.”  Vinteloper’s Bowley estimates his financial loss at A$1 million ($692,200) although he is still assessing damage, as is Tilbrook. Wine industry representatives say the fires have potentially wiped out a third of wine production, or 1,100 hectares (2,718  acres), in the  Adelaide Hills Wine Region. The industry’s potential damage is estimated in excess of A$100 million, according to media reports. Uncontrolled fires are still burning in Adelaide Hills. So far, about 87 homes and 500 other buildings have been destroyed in South Australia by the fire. “There are still a lot of pockets of bush burning, there are a lot of trees that are hot and smouldering and it’s a very dangerous place to be,” South Australia’s Country Fire Service deputy chief officer Andrew Stark said. “If we see very hot and windy conditions, unfortunately, we may see the fire break out.”  Temperatures in South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide are expected to soar to 41 degrees C (105.8°F)on Saturday. “I am going to rebuild. I’m not giving up. That’s not how we roll,” Vinteloper’s Bowley told the Guardian.",
            "output": [
                "F.D.A. Approves Heart Drug Entresto Said to Cut Death Risk by 20%"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d988759324a04b1498ab73f38c84a682",
            "input": "On 21 January 2019, Slate published a article headlined “The Trump Administration Quietly Changed the Definition of Domestic Violence and We Have No Idea What For.” That story highlighted significant changes to the definition of domestic violence appearing on website of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Violence Against Women office. An archived version of that website from April 2018 previously defined domestic violence as:  A pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. By contrast, the current version of that same website encompasses only acts of physical violence under the definition of domestic violence:  The term “domestic violence” includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction. We reached out to the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) for an explanation on what motivated the change in the definition and whether that change was spurred by an actual change in law or policy. We received a response from Allison Randall, Chief of Staff for the OVW, that did not adequately answer either question. Her response is reproduced in full below:  The Department is strongly committed to enforcing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and combating domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking, and to do so in a manner that is consistent with the law enacted by Congress. Domestic violence is clearly defined in VAWA, and OVW has always used the statutory definition in carrying out its mission. By following the statute, the Department ensures the funds made available by Congress are employed in the most effective manner possible to reduce violence and to assist crime victims. In fiscal year 2018, OVW awarded a record $467 million under VAWA. President Trump’s request for fiscal year 2019 OVW funding was the largest ever requested. OVW discretionary grantees serve an average of 125,000 victims every six months and formula subgrantees serve over 400,000 victims each year. VAWA funding supports victim advocates who answer over a million hotline calls and provides over 2 million housing and shelter bed-nights for victims and their children annually. Every year, VAWA-funded professionals assist victims in securing more than 200,000 protection orders. The narrower definition employed in the current version of the OVW website stems from the definition provided in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as it relates to disbursing funds for VAWA grant programs. While it is true this narrow definition has not changed as it relates to the VAWA, it is unclear why the DOJ found it necessary to remove information about non-physical intimate partner violence. Writing in Slate, Natalie Nanasi, a Professor of Law and the Director of the Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Center for Victims of Crimes Against Women at Southern Methodist University, argued that:  A domestic violence relationship rarely begins with physical violence, much less violence that rises to the level of a crime. If you were punched on a first date, odds are there wouldn’t be a second. Intimate partner abuse is insidious: Emotional and psychological abuse escalates to physical violence as an abuser’s need and/or ability to exert power and control increases. In the United States today, more than half of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. If we do not acknowledge the “small” things — yelling or screaming, name-calling, and controlling or monitoring communication and social media — victims may not realize they are in danger until it is too late. In our response to the statement from OVW, we suggested that they had not provided any explanation for the change to their website and requested further clarification; if we receive such clarification, we will update our story.",
            "output": [
                "The DOJ changed the definition of domestic violence on their website without explanation."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8f80f826961b484ebd12a314992c0549",
            "input": "In mid-November 2015, a photograph purportedly showing what resemble common ladybugs and Japanese beetles embedded on the roof of a dog’s mouth began circulating via Facebook: Most of the users who shared the above-displayed image on Facebook included a variation of the following message: SOMEBODY ASKED ME TO PASS THIS ALONG …. Japanese Beetles and Lady Bugs can attach to the roof of your dog’s mouth, and make him/HER become ill. Symptoms include excessive drooling. Check your dog’s mouth and remove any insects. While we haven’t been able to identify who the “Somebody” is in the above-quoted Facebook post, a message posted by the Hands & Paws group did provide some information about the image’s origin: This posted photograph is recent — posted by a vet tech and when I saw the photo started doing research – because I too thought there was no way the photo could be real. There is no photoshop — there is no hidden agenda. It’s just me. The Founder of a tiny little dog rescue in Florida finding the photo and the facts behind the photo amazing, astonishing and wanted to share the information with my fellow dog lovers. We reached out to Hands & Paws for more information about the image without results, but multiple incidents are on record of beetles embedding in dogs’ mouths, such as this one from November 2016: Frances Jiriks brought her pooch Bailey into Hoisington Veterinary Hospital after he refused to eat, she told KAKE. He was also foaming at the mouth and a bit lethargic, the dog owner said. When they arrived at the animal clinic, Dr. Lindsay Mitchell discovered between 30 and 40 lady beetles clinging to the roof of Bailey’s mouth. The beetles look nearly identical to ladybugs though they secrete a mucus which allows them to stick, as they did inside Bailey’s mouth. The bugs were successfully removed from the dog’s mouth, but Mitchell warned their presence could pose a variety of health risks to man’s best friend. [Video here] In 2008, Lindsey Derek published an article in the journal Toxicon about the subject: A six-year old mixed-breed dog presented with severe trauma to the oral mucosa suggestive of chemical burn. Sixteen Harmonia axyridis (Coccinellidae) were removed from the oral cavity, which revealed trauma consistent with chemical burn. The beetles had become embedded in mucosa covering the hard palate and required manual removal. A diagnosis of beetle induced chemical burn was warranted and consistent with the nature of the chemical constituents of H. axyridis hemolymph. That article also included a photograph of the beetles in the dog’s mouth, which closely resembled the image circulated in November 2015:",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows insects embedded in a dog's mouth."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c925081aec940578d43a49d0db99f4e",
            "input": "Chemical engineer Glenanne Johnson was terminated from her position as a lab manager at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center following her complaints about mouse droppings and dead rodents, KOB-TV reports. Johnson said the work environment got her sick and she later tested positive for Hantavirus — an infectious disease spread by rodents. The university would not comment on why she is no longer employed. But lab director Michael Stanley told the station when Johnson first reported the problem and shared pictures of the working conditions, he temporarily shut down the labs. “We want to respond if we see a problem. We want to take care of it and fix it because it’s very important to us that everybody go home safely every day,” said Stanley.",
            "output": [
                "Scientist: Complaints about rodent infestation led to firing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-76817319ebb14b91b10954eea29f2dca",
            "input": "Earlier on Saturday, Jakarta’s governor said the city will close all schools for at least two weeks to curb the spread of coronavirus, as the first cases were also reported in other parts of the archipelago. Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, reported on Saturday 27 more coronavirus cases, bringing the total confirmed infections to 96 and deaths to five. Sumadi’s family had given approval for the announcement after the minister had been on “the front line and a very important part of containing the impact of COVID-19”, Pratikno, who is state secretary in charge of administrative support for the office of president, told a news conference. The condition of Sumadi, 63, who had attended a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, was showing an improvement, said Albertus Budi Sulistya, deputy head of the Gatot Soebroto Hospital. “He was initially being treated for other illnesses in a private hospital until he had difficulty breathing, then some medical equipment had to be brought in,” said Sulistya. The health ministry had conducted some tracing of people Sumadi had recently met and “would immediately begin testing as required”, said Pratikno, who uses one name. The transport minister had sat in a room with number of ministers and the army head during the cabinet meeting earlier this week, which was also attended by President Joko Widodo. While most confirmed coronavirus cases have been clustered in Jakarta, cases were also reported on Saturday in cities in western and central Java, Manado on Sulawesi island and Pontianak on Borneo island. “We must massively, in an integrated way and without panic, search and find and isolate positive cases,” health ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing. Doni Monardo, who leads Indonesia’s task force on coronavirus, said testing will be increased and struggling medical staff will be assisted by medical students and volunteers. As he announced school closures, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said cases had been detected in many parts of the city of 10 million people. “What must be done right now is to reduce interactions between residents,” Baswedan said, urging people to stay at home and not travel unless necessary. Indonesia confirmed its first cases of the virus only last week while some countries in the region had reported scores of cases far earlier, raising concerns among medical experts about infections either not being reported or going undetected. The central government has faced criticism for withholding information regarding the spread of the virus.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia transport minister confirmed to have coronavirus as cases climb."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc64969643844ebf87c762d7ce5ee600",
            "input": "Violence and unrest have hampered the health authorities’ response to the second worst Ebola outbreak on record, which has killed 2,199 people since it was announced in August 2018. Mai Mai militia fighters and local residents have attacked health facilities, sometimes because they believe Ebola does not exist, in other cases because of resentment that they have not benefited from the influx of donor funding. In the latest such violence, Mai Mai fighters simultaneously attacked Ebola centers in Mangina in North Kivu and Byakoto in Ituri, according to Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Ebola response for the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It is a blow to the Ebola response because we were eradicating the disease. These attacks are challenging the efforts to date,” Muyembe told Reuters. The World Health Organization said the dead included a member of a vaccination team, two drivers and a police officer. It said none of its own staff were killed and that most of the five people injured were from Congo’s Ministry of Health. Health workers have lost access to the remaining strongholds of the virus in recent weeks due to deteriorating security, said Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies program, describing the latest attack as the deadliest yet. “The interruption of outbreak response has led to a decrease in over 50% of alerts, a collapse in vaccination, a decrease in contact tracing,” he told a news conference. “Ebola was retreating and now it is likely to resurge,” he said. New infections have been on the decline since August, with just 70 cases identified in all of October, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday. Thursday’s attacks came amid a spate of massacres committed by suspected Islamist rebels in the region, who are believed to have killed at least 80 people in the past month, according to U.N. figures. This week at least four people were also killed during protests fueled by anger at the perceived failure of the army and U.N. peacekeepers to protect civilians from the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). As a result, the WHO and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday evacuated dozens of their staff working on the Ebola epidemic from the town of Beni. WHO staff have now been relocated from Byakoto also, Ryan said.",
            "output": [
                "Four killed in attacks against Ebola response centers in Congo."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fcd2cd0a963424197938924d064d4f6",
            "input": "The agency will judge that benefit with a two-part test: Are e-cigarettes effective in getting smokers to quit? And, if so, does that benefit outweigh the health damage to new e-cigarette users - including teenagers - who never smoked in the first place? That’s a particularly high hurdle for the largest e-cigarette maker, Juul Labs Inc, according to a Reuters analysis of the latest available data on trends in cigarette and e-cigarette use from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data show that e-cigarettes are having little impact in reducing U.S. cigarette smoking, while growth in vaping since 2015 has come entirely from users under 25 years old, including teenagers. Those trends present a special problem for Juul because of its dominance of the U.S. market and its enormous popularity among teenagers, according to more than a half dozen tobacco researchers and medical experts who assessed the data at Reuters’ request. “I don’t see it as a surmountable hurdle,” Suzanne Colby, a tobacco researcher at Brown University, said of the FDA standard for public health benefits. “The data look like their product differentially attracts youth instead of adults, in such great numbers.”  Between 2017 and 2018 - the period when Juul rapidly grew to become the U.S. market leader - e-cigarette use among U.S. adults grew from 2.8% of the population to 3.2%, according to the CDC. But rates of cigarette smoking among adults barely budged, dropping from 14% to 13.7% - not enough to be statistically significant, according to the CDC. (For a graphic showing vaping trends for various age groups, see: here )  Use of e-cigarettes by high-school students, by contrast, shot up by 78% over the same period – from 11.7% to 20.8% of students, data from the CDC and the FDA show. Juul is by far the most popular e-cigarette among teens, with more than half of high school and middle school students naming it as their favorite brand in surveys by the CDC and the FDA. Moreover, the biggest growth in adult e-cigarette use came among the youngest age cohort of adults, people aged 18 to 24. E-cigarette use among young adults is nearly four times more common than among those aged 45 to 64, the CDC numbers show. Another dynamic that undermines the public-health case for e-cigarettes is the large proportion of “dual users.” The most recent federal data show that 41% of adult e-cigarette users continue to also smoke cigarettes. Some studies show dual use could be more harmful than smoking alone. A study last December found people who used both products tested higher than cigarette smokers for a range of volatile organic compounds and other toxins associated with tobacco-related disease. A separate study last year of heart disease risk among e-cigarette users found that dual use was “more dangerous than using either product alone.”  For the industry as a whole, the usage data cast serious doubts on whether e-cigarettes are providing a clear benefit among adult smokers, said Brian King, a deputy director at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “When it comes to net public health impact, you have to consider both ends of the scale,” King said. “Right now it does appear the youth initiation is outweighing the adult use.”  Juul declined a request for an interview with executives including CEO K.C. Crosthwaite, a veteran of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc who took the helm in September, on how it plans to pass the FDA’s regulatory test. As pressure on the company has mounted, Crosthwaite has made the FDA application process a central goal, laying off 650 employees, including many in marketing, last month in an effort to restructure the company to focus on regulatory approval. In written responses to questions from Reuters, Juul said it believes its products “already are playing a critical role in transitioning adult smokers from combustible cigarettes and have the potential to convert tens of millions of smokers in the U.S.” The company cited studies it has commissioned showing that between 30% to 50% of adult smokers who use Juul “switch completely from smoking cigarettes within six months.”  Juul has said its customers are “the world’s 1 billion smokers,” but the company did not directly address questions about the disparity in youth and adult uptake in the United States. Juul acknowledged it must address any potential impact on nonsmokers who start using e-cigarettes. It said it is “committed to working cooperatively with regulators, public health officials and other stakeholders to combat underage use and convert adult smokers.”  In October, Crosthwaite brought on another Altria executive, Joe Murillo, who helped navigate a successful FDA application for IQOS, a Phillip Morris International Inc product that heats up but doesn’t burn packages of ground-up tobacco. Altria has an agreement with Philip Morris to market IQOS in the United States. The IQOS device is one of only two tobacco products that have successfully made it through the FDA process. Juul’s competitors in the U.S. market face the same regulatory challenge. One rival, Japan Tobacco International, says it is confident in the FDA application it filed in August for its Logic products because it contains company data showing the brand - unlike Juul - is used overwhelmingly by older adults. Anthony Hemsley, an executive for Japan Tobacco International’s U.S. division, acknowledged the population-wide trends in e-cigarette and cigarette use. But he pointed out that the FDA’s decision on net public health benefit will be made on a product-by-product basis - not across the entire industry. He added that Juul has “a significant challenge ahead of them, in overcoming the concerns that exist out there.”   The FDA declined requests for an interview with Mitch Zeller, who heads tobacco regulation at the agency, about its oversight of e-cigarettes. In written answers to questions, the agency did not directly address the population-level data on smoking and vaping trends but said it is “tasked with threading a public health needle” in crafting regulations on e-cigarette firms. A Reuters investigation in November detailed how Juul’s developers used tobacco industry research and patents to formulate its smooth but potent “nicotine salts” blend of liquid nicotine, a key factor in its popularity among teenagers. The report showed company leaders were aware of the product’s popularity among teenagers soon after its 2015 launch, contradicting statements that Juul was caught off guard by teenage use last year. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Reuters that he agreed with public health advocates and tobacco researchers that whatever benefits Juul may be having for cigarette smokers are offset by attracting children who otherwise wouldn’t have tried other tobacco products. Before Gottlieb left the department in April, he and his staff explored the option of halting sales of Juul and similar high-nicotine devices if their popularity continued rising among teens. “We could take these products off the market tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t need the applications.”   (For a graphic tracking the rise of vaping amid regulatory delays, see: here)   Juul and the FDA did not respond to questions on Gottlieb’s assertion that the agency should immediately remove Juul and similar products from the market. E-cigarettes have been available in the United States since at least 2007, but the FDA did not formally get authority over the industry until nine years later, in 2016. The agency initially tried to regulate e-cigarettes as a drug, which would have carried more stringent requirements for e-cigarette firms, such as extensive clinical trials or animal testing. E-cigarette makers sued the FDA and won, leaving the agency to regulate the devices as tobacco products. FDA officials started crafting a rule to regulate e-cigarettes in 2011, but the industry pushed back and successfully delayed the rule until May 2016, in the final months of the administration of President Barack Obama. During that time, Juul and dozens of competitors introduced products that were grandfathered into the market because they were already being sold before the regulation took effect. The rule extended certain cigarette restrictions to e-cigarettes, like requiring health warning labels, setting a minimum sales age of 18 and prohibitions on free samples. A key part of the new rule also required e-cigarette makers to submit applications to the agency by August 2018 - demonstrating why their products provide a net benefit to public health - along with studies and data on potential toxins in the products. When Gottlieb was appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the agency in 2017, one of his first moves was to delay that deadline by four years, a decision public health advocates criticized. Just months later, school administrators, parents and politicians raised alarms about the rapid rise of vaping among high schoolers, who were particularly transfixed with the Juul device. Some public health advocates feared the new administration’s commitment to the Obama-era regulations after an initial three-month delay, as the FDA faced litigation from the industry. Gottlieb declined to comment  on whether the some in the administration wanted to kill the regulations but said his effort to push them forward was “not an easy process.” He said he delayed the deadline because the previous administration had not drafted guidelines that companies could follow for the application process, leaving the agency open to a legal challenge from the regulated industries. “They would have sued me, and I would have lost,” he said. But today’s FDA could – and should – pull Juul and other products from the market, Gottlieb said. “I thought that’s where the agency would land,” he said. In March, just before he left the agency, Gottlieb said publicly that the FDA was considering prohibiting sales of cartridge-based e-cigarettes like Juul from the market if teen usage rates went up for a second year in a row. Federal youth tobacco survey data first released in September showed that teenage usage did in fact keep rising, with the percentage of teenagers reporting they used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days growing from nearly 21% to more than 27%. In a statement, the FDA said it has sent more than 1,100 warning letters to retailers selling to minors; issued warning letters to companies marketing teen-friendly e-cigarette products, such as those with sweet flavors; and launched advertising campaigns aimed at e-cigarette prevention in schools. “Taken together, all of these efforts have had a wide-ranging impact on the manufacturing, marketing and selling” of e-cigarettes, the agency said. “FDA’s work is constant in its effort to keep these products out of the hands of kids.”",
            "output": [
                "Special Report: FDA targets e-cigs that hook teens but don't help smokers quit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-09c9c958a9364aeea13f2e11c7c314c9",
            "input": "A spectator holds up inflatable aliens during the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium, London July 7, 2007. REUTERS/Stephen Hird Britain’s Royal Society found that 66 percent of respondents to a survey to mark its 350th anniversary said that disease control and eradication should be a top priority for science. Around 53 percent said they would like science to enable them to extend their lifespan. Royal Society President Martin Rees said the lives of modern humans are hugely different from those of our ancestors because of the scientific advances made since the society was founded in 1660, when science was in its infancy. “Science is an unending quest for understanding and over the coming 350 years our appetite for discovery could see us develop a cure for cancer, a solution to climate change, and even discover extra-terrestrial life,” he said in a statement. In terms of developing new vaccinations - after cancer, preventing HIV/AIDS was seen as important for 60 percent of the 2,000 people surveyed and with malaria 37 percent. “There can be no better way to celebrate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary than to look to the future of science, built on the foundations of today’s cutting-edge research,” Rees said. Nearly half of people in Britain (44 percent) believe in the existence of aliens, according to the poll. Over a third think scientists should be actively searching for and attempting to make contact with aliens, a figure that rises to 46 percent for male respondents. However, fewer than one in 10 people believe that space exploration should be a top priority for the scientific community. After health issues, climate change was the next highest priority for the public with a third of those questioned considering it important. This figure rises to 44 percent among 18 to 24-year-olds, suggesting that younger generations are more in tune with the threat of global warming. As the curtain falls on the 350th anniversary year, the Royal Society is publishing “Science sees further,” a new report examining the most pressing issues facing the world today and asks what the future of science will hold. Launched on Tuesday, it includes chapters on whether we are alone in the universe, how we can manage the increasing demands on our planet’s resources, and whether science can save the lives of millions with new vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "Science should find aliens, halt cancer: survey."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3628650b3984d60a246371852b3654e",
            "input": "Authorities said eight police search and rescue staff were deployed for 75 minutes to an area in which their information suggested one body may remain. “I can say we have found no further bodies in that area,” Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement told a media conference on Sunday. On Friday, six bodies were successfully retrieved from the island by a New Zealand military team and taken to the mainland for disaster victim identification. Police said they remained committed to recovering the two bodies and that police and military divers were continuing to scour the waters around the island. “Everyone went out there absolutely desperate to find bodies and return them to loved ones,” Clement said. On Saturday, divers faced contaminated waters and low visibility as they searched the sea surrounding the island. The volcano, a popular destination for day-trippers, erupted on Monday, spewing ash, steam and gases over the island. Among the 47 people on the island at the time were Australian, U.S., German, Chinese, British and Malaysian tourists. The death toll rose to 16 on Sunday as one more person died in an Australian hospital. That death is the first to occur in Australia following the eruption, where many of the victims were from and have been transferred. The toll may rise further as more than two dozen people are still hospitalized across New Zealand and Australia, most with severe burn injuries. Police on Saturday began formally releasing the names and nationalities of those killed, with 21-year-old Australian Krystal Browitt the first person identified. On Sunday, police also released the names of New Zealander Tipene Maangi and Australians Zoe Hosking, Gavin Dallow and Anthony Langford. There has been criticism that tourists were allowed on the island at all, given signs of increasing tremor activity in the days before the eruption. A minute’s silence will be observed in New Zealand on Monday, December 16 at 2.11 p.m. local time (0111 GMT), exactly one week after the fatal eruption occurred.",
            "output": [
                "Fungus Got Your Toes? Zap It"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ab0e3ec6e2547ccb6259400aa5869e8",
            "input": "The report, written by the Guttmacher Institute and part-funded by the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA, described “a staggering lack of basic sexual and reproductive health services in developing countries” which leaves 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy without access to modern contraceptives. It also found that tens of millions of women do not receive the basic pregnancy and delivery care needed to protect their own and their babies’ health. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA’S executive director, urged all governments to put women’s right to choose how many children to have and when at the heart of national health services. “We know what to do and we know how to do it,” he told a briefing in London. “These investments save lives, empower women and girls, strengthen health systems and have a profound and lasting impact on development.”  Analysing data from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the report said it would cost on average $25 per woman aged between 15 and 49 — roughly double the current level of spending — to provide essential sexual health services to all women in developing countries each year. These include contraception advice and services, pregnancy and newborn care, HIV care including medicines to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, and treatments for four other sexually transmitted infections. Providing these to all women who need them in developing countries would have a dramatic impact, it said — cutting unintended pregnancies by 70 percent, unsafe abortions by 74 percent, dramatically reducing maternal and newborn deaths and virtually eliminating mother-to-baby HIV transmission. “This is an affordable goal that will have a dramatic impact,” said Ann Starrs, CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. While the report was loaded with numbers, she said it was critical “to keep in mind the people behind the statistics”. “That includes adolescent girls, married or not, who know that pregnancy right now will mean the end of their schooling and, very likely, the end of their dreams for a better life. “And women who have already four, five or six children and know that they cannot afford to bear and raise another one.”  (Refiles to clarify report’s authorship)",
            "output": [
                "Sexual health report says $25 per woman per year would reduce deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b66e301b3eef4167b8ef74668da3e2c6",
            "input": "The rulings came in a series of legal actions aimed at blocking steps by various Republican-led states cracking down on abortion during the pandemic. The first of the decisions involved Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s announcement last week that abortion providers were covered by a state order that required postponement of non-urgent medical procedures to preserve hospital beds and equipment during the pandemic. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin ruled that Paxton’s action “prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable.”   The Texas lawsuit was filed last Wednesday after clinics said they were forced to cancel hundreds of appointments for abortions across the state. “Abortion is essential healthcare, and it’s a time-sensitive service, especially during a public health crisis,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider with three clinics in Texas and a plaintiff in the case. “To the politicians who used this global pandemic to push their anti-abortion agenda, shame on you,” she added. Marc Rylander, a spokesman for Paxton, expressed disappointment in the ruling and promised an appeal. Abortion providers in Ohio, Iowa, Alabama and Oklahoma filed similar litigation on Monday to block state officials from using coronavirus-related orders to limit abortion availability. Judges in Ohio and Alabama issued orders later on Monday blocking the states from enforcing the coronavirus-related restrictions against abortion providers. Courts were working on an urgent basis as clinics warned that some patients were reaching the legal time limit to get the procedure. Abortion providers have said the restrictions violate the right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The states have said they have broad powers to issue emergency rules to protect the health and safety of their residents. Texas said in a court filing: “Individual rights, including abortion, may be temporarily curtailed in a time of emergency.”  Paxton said on March 23 the state order meant that any abortion that “is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother” must cease. Failure to comply could result in penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days in jail. Abortion rights advocates have criticized the state actions as political opportunism during the pandemic. “It’s not surprising that the states that are now using the COVID crisis to stop people from getting abortion care are the very same states that have history of passing laws to ban abortion or using sham rationales to shut down clinics,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Jennifer Dalven. COVID-19 is the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The ACLU represents abortion providers in Ohio, Alabama and Iowa. In Ohio, the abortion clinics told U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett in Cincinnati that they feared being immediately shut down and prosecuted if they did not stop providing surgical abortions. “Some of these patients will be forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will and at risk to their health amidst a health system overburdened by responding to COVID-19,” the clinics said in a legal filing.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. judges stop Texas, Ohio, Alabama from curbing abortions during coronavirus crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f46445ea82c48e1813ea0293bd9ab4a",
            "input": "The University of Kansas will have what it says is the smallest four-year medical education site in the country when eight students begin taking classes on Monday on a satellite campus in Salina, Kansas. The move is in response to a shortage of rural doctors in the United States. “By training physicians in a nonmetropolitan area, we are showing young medical students that life can be good, and practice can be stimulating, outside of the big city,” said Dr. William Cathcart-Rake, the physician who directs the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina. Students will get some course work via tele-video and podcasts from the school’s other campuses, but they will also train through visits to doctors’ offices in small communities and at the hospital in Salina, school officials said. “It’s a bold and innovative move,” said Dr. Roland Goertz, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He said students at rural clinics will be exposed to a potential medical career they wouldn’t see in urban hospital settings. Cathcart-Rake said six of the eight students being taught at Salina, as part of their scholarships, have committed to practicing in a rural area. Seven of the eight students are from rural areas to begin with, he said. “They see the value of living in wide open spaces and going back to where their friends are,” Cathcart-Rake said. Attending medical school in a place such as Salina reduces chances they will change their minds, which could happen if they went to a big-city school, he said. Salina, with 46,000 residents, is about 175 miles west of the Kansas City metropolitan region where the university’s main medical school is located. Small-town America has become increasingly under-served by doctors. About 21 percent of U.S. residents live in rural regions but only about 10 percent of physicians practice there, according to data cited by the family physicians group. In Kansas, 12 counties don’t have a full-time doctor at all, said Barbara Atkinson, executive dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Several factors are often cited for a shortage of rural doctors. Rural doctors tend to be paid less, partly because they are more likely to treat patients on Medicare and Medicaid, which reimburses at rates below standard insurance. General practitioners make up the largest share of rural doctors, but until recent years fewer medical students were going into general medicine, putting a strain on rural care. Older doctors who practice in small towns and retire are sometimes not replaced because younger doctors may prefer the greater cultural amenities urban regions tend to offer. Recent changes in federal healthcare laws are intended to make rural practice more acceptable to doctors. Doctors who practice in certain underserved areas will get bonuses beyond the 10 percent boost in Medicare reimbursements they were already receiving, Goertz said. He said another reason why there are fewer rural doctors is that the large majority of medical students come from urban areas, where medical schools are usually located, making them less like to consider rural medicine. “You tend to gravitate to where you grew up,” Goertz said. Cathcart-Rake is optimistic that the Salina medical school will be a success and that in future years admissions may grow from eight to 12 students.",
            "output": [
                "Rural doctor shortage prompts opening of medical school."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3317194f82a444ebb82b5c0c0d1fee96",
            "input": "On 2 April 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a “young bartender” during a fundraising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Trump was, of course, hardly the first to paint Ocasio-Cortez as inexperienced or unqualified for her position in Congress. Ever since she became the youngest woman to be elected to that legislative body during the 2018 midterm elections, we’ve encountered dozens of posts about her résumé. One of the biggest talking points among Ocasio-Cortez’s detractors is that she is uneducated. For example, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson labeled her a “moron” during a segment on his show, the Powerline blog published an article under the rhetorical title “HOW DUMB IS OCASIO-CORTEZ?” and numerous social media users have posted their own derogatory comments insulting the congresswoman’s intelligence. This rhetoric likely helped sow the seeds of doubt over Ocasio-Cortez’s academic record. One email we received here at Snopes, for instance, questioned whether the congresswoman truly had an economics degree: “Much to do about AOC — Ocasio Cortez — of late and questions about her college degree? We read she actually did not get an econ degree, but an International Relations degree. If so, much of her credibility is in question. What is real here?” The satirical Babylon Bee added a bit more confusion to the situation when they latched onto the criticism and published an article stating that the congresswoman’s economics degree had been revoked. Here is the reality: Ocasio-Cortez truly graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2011. In an article about distinguished alumni, the university wrote that “Ocasio-Cortez graduated from Boston University in 2011 with a BA in International Relations and Economics.” We reached out to the university to clarify the issue: Did she earn a degree in international relations with a focus in economics? Or did she major in both international relations and economics? They indicated that the latter was true. A spokesperson for the university told us: “She graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with two majors in International Relations and Economics. Latin Honors awarded was cum laude that is not tied to an individual major but the degree.” A spokesperson for the congresswoman added: “She was awarded a double major [degree] in both International Relations and Economics.” It seems relevant to note that possessing a college degree is not a requirement for becoming a member of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress. The only constitutional requirements are that members must be U.S. citizens, residents of the areas they represent, and at least 25 years of age. While the majority of Congressmembers do have college degrees, a profile of the 115th Congress published in December 2018 found that 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives had no educational degree beyond a high school diploma. The congresswoman’s college years weren’t the only part of her résumé that had been called into question — we’ve also received queries about internships, science projects, and asteroids. A popular meme posted to the Facebook page “Occupy Democrats” summed up a few of the claims about Ocasio-Cortez’s alleged accomplishments:  The claims made in this meme are largely accurate. In high school, she won 2nd place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Before she became a congresswoman, Ocasio-Cortez was a high school student with an interest in microbiology. While the statement reproduced above is largely accurate, we have one small caveat about it: Ocasio-Cortez won second place in the microbiology category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), not second place overall for the entire fair. The Society for Science and the Public, the organization that hosts ISEF, wrote about Ocasio-Cortez’s accomplishment in a 7 November 2018 article and congratulated their former contestant on her congressional victory:   Congratulations to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (ISEF 2007) on winning her election to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District! In 2007, Alexandria placed second in the International Science and Engineering Fair in the Microbiology category with her project on the effect of antioxidants on roundworms. As a science student at Yorktown High School, Alexandria tested the effect of various antioxidants on the lifespan of roundworms, known as Caenorhabditis elegans. When organisms are under oxidative stress, there are more free radicals (chemicals with unpaired electrons) than antioxidants in the body to neutralize them. Those free radicals react quickly with many other chemicals, and without antioxidants to neutralize them, create cellular chaos. Such an unstable cellular environment has been hypothesized to be responsible for wrinkles, neurological diseases and even cancer. In a show of appreciation for her efforts, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez Ocasio-Cortez may have have not won first place at ISEF, but her efforts didn’t go unnoticed. MIT was apparently impressed enough with her work that they named a small asteroid after her. The congresswoman posted about this unique achievement on Twitter: It’s true! Science was my first passion. Asteroid named by @MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in honor of longevity experiments I conducted out of Mt. Sinai. My research won 2nd place globally in Microbiology at @intel ISEF. At BU I started as science major, changed to Econ 🤓#nerdalert https://t.co/MICD5me2Wm — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 12, 2018  Readers interested in the specifics of this asteroid can read more about it on the website of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). For those only interested in how the asteroid got its name, NASA included this note at the bottom of their page:   23238 Ocasio-Cortez: Discovered 2000 Nov. 20 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research Team in Socorro. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (b. 1989) was awarded second place in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for her microbiology project. She attends the Yorktown High School, Yorktown Heights, New York, U.S.A.  She attended Boston University, where she had a John F. Lopez Fellowship The John F. Lopez Fellowship (JFL) program is offered by the National Hispanic Institute and is available to undergraduate students who “demonstrate leadership potential, willingness to face challenges, and ability to share talent and skill with the Hispanic/Latino community.” NHI Magazine noted Ocasio-Cortez’s time as a JFL intern when they named her the National Hispanic Institute’s “Person of the Year” in 2017: Ocasio-Cortez is accustomed to beating the odds and forging forward with determination. She was tutored well by her father throughout her early years, and kept close company with her mother, grandmother, and younger brother. At just 17, her father suddenly became ill and died, but bearing the burden of that heavy and personal loss, she enrolled at Boston University, completed her program in four years, and graduated fourth in her class. As a high school student, she participated in the NHI Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session and became intensely involved in the organization’s work, going on to serve as an LDZ Secretary of State and a John F. Lopez Intern while in college. During college, she interned in the immigration office for U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy Ocasio-Cortez has talked about her internship in Senator Ted Kennedy’s office on numerous occasions. She’s posted about it on Twitter and has discussed the experience in various interviews. Here’s how she described her internship in the foreign affairs and immigration office of Senator Kennedy in a 2018 article published by Mic: After enrolling at Boston University on a scholarship from Intel, Ocasio-Cortez found herself working in the foreign affairs and immigration office of Sen. Ted Kennedy from early 2008 until his death in 2009. “I was the only Spanish speaker, and as a result, as basically a kid — a 19-, 20-year-old kid — whenever a frantic call would come into the office because someone is looking for their husband because they have been snatched off the street by ICE, I was the one that had to pick up that phone,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I was the one that had to help that person navigate that system.” That experience shaped her understanding of the challenges faced by undocumented people in the United States — challenges she says Democrats in Congress have not done enough to fix.",
            "output": [
                "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences in 2011."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-56445938319c40eaa6ff92b220b9fcab",
            "input": "\"Former state Rep. Nicholas Gorham made a surprising claim last month in a commentary in The Providence Journal. \"\"The fact is that we have a General Assembly that has no explicit constitutional authority to impose income, sales, estate and the myriad of other taxes upon us, yet it taxes the people as if there were no limitations on its authority to tax the people,\"\" he wrote in the piece, published Dec. 30. The legislature can’t legally levy taxes? This called for a PolitiFact audit. First, a history lesson. When King Charles II granted a royal charter to the colony in 1663, the document, preserved in a metal and glass case at the State House, established \"\"a form of pure government by an elected assembly presided over by a nearly powerless, elected governor,\"\" according to an account on the General Assembly’s website. The Assembly’s supremacy continued when Rhode Island became a state, and was reaffirmed in the state’s first Constitution, adopted in 1842. Article VI, Section 10 spelled it out, saying \"\"the General Assembly shall continue to exercise the powers it has heretofore exercised, unless prohibited in this Constitution.\"\" The state Supreme Court consistently interpreted that to mean the power of the General Assembly was unlimited unless authority to do something was specifically given to another branch of government. Things changed in 2004, when the General Assembly, responding to pressure from good government groups, passed \"\"separation of powers\"\" legislation, a set of proposed amendments to the state Constitution. The amendments made it clear the government is divided into three separate branches, banned legislators from serving on any executive-branch boards or commissions, and gave the governor power to appoint members of agency boards. And they eliminated the catch-all Section 10. Voters approved the amendments 2-to-1. So is Gorham right that, because of 2004 vote, the General Assembly lost its \"\"explicit\"\" authority to tax? On a literal level, yes. The only reference to setting taxes in the current Constitution is a section that says that the Assembly can set the manner in which property valuations are conducted. But legal experts say on a practical level, implicit can be as good as explicit. Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Flanders Jr., who stepped down in early 2004, says that although much was changed by the 2004 amendments, much abides. From the days of Parliament and the English kings, he said, the power to levy taxes has rested in the legislative body, a legal tradition that was carried on in England’s colonies in the Americas. \"\"Inherent in the legislative power is the power to tax,\"\" Flanders said. \"\"You wouldn’t need an explicit grant.\"\" Richard Raspallo, legal counsel to House Majority Leader Nicholas A. Mattiello, agreed, saying there are several examples of legislative power that is assumed despite a lack of specific language in the Constitution. \"\"Where is it explicitly stated in the Constitution that the General Assembly has the authority to require Rhode Island citizens to follow traffic rules, or have a license, or grant people the right to marry, or require people to have certain educational standards in order to work in certain fields?\"\" he said. \"\"At some point, the General Assembly has been granted power by the people to legislate for the common good,\"\" he said. \"\"That includes the imposition of taxes to pay for the welfare of the citizenry.\"\" Gorham indirectly acknowledged that, but said the ambiguity shows the need for a state constitutional convention to settle the matter definitively. (Voters will be asked in November whether a convention should be convened.) As he wrote in his commentary: \"\"Of course, I plan to pay my taxes, but you really have to wonder sometimes. If the people really wanted to get taxes — and, yes, borrowing — under control and on the people’s terms, the Constitution, just the way it is, would be a great place to start. Let the revolution begin!\"\" Our ruling Nicholas Gorham said the Rhode Island General Assembly ‘‘has no explicit constitutional authority’’ to levy taxes. History tells us he’s right. Had he suggested that the lack of explicit language meant no one had to pay taxes, we’d view his claim in a far different light. But he didn’t, so we rule it . (If you hear a claim you'd like us to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The General Assembly \"\"has no explicit constitutional authority to impose income, sales, estate and the myriad of other taxes upon us.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6c612fc6726c42318a48a466f32d53d8",
            "input": "The third-term Democrat touted past achievements and trumpeted a long list of policy initiatives, many of which he previewed in a series of announcements over the past month. Cuomo also stressed the need for fiscal restraint, with the state staring at a $6 billion budget gap, caused largely by soaring Medicaid spending. The agenda Cuomo outlined in the speech includes plans for expanding anti-discrimination protections in the state constitution, an overhaul for New York City’s Penn Station and a proposed ban on foam food containers. Cuomo also outlined another ban that would cover marketing flavored e-cigarettes to children, initiatives intended to lower the cost of prescription drugs, guaranteed paid sick leave time for more New York workers and expanded universal pre-kindergarten. “New York at her best is the progressive capitol of the nation, and we must fulfill that destiny again this year,” Cuomo said. Cuomo delivered his address at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in downtown Albany to an audience of members of the Legislature and top politicians from around the state. The speech kicked off a legislative session running through June 2. The governor’s address comes after several episodes of violence targeting Jewish people, including an attack by a man who stormed inside the home of a Monsey rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg, and stabbed five people at a Hanukkah celebration. Rottenberg delivered a blessing before Cuomo’s address and called for tolerance. “I will never forget the horror of that night,” Rottenberg said. “But I will also never forget how we continue to celebrate after that day, how we continue to rejoice in the miracle of Hanukkah. I will never forget the resilience on display that night and in the following days, the resilience of Jewish people and the resilience of New York.” Cuomo is proposing a new law targeted at domestic terrorism and said New York would be the first state in the U.S. to enact such legislation. The new law would apply to crimes in which at least one person died and victims were targeted by their race, religion and gender, among other topics. Cuomo called the attack “intolerable” and pledged the state won’t stand for it. “They attacked me, and they attacked you,” Cuomo said. “These are the times, my friends, when New York state is called upon to lead to set a course for a troubled nation searching its way through the fog of confusion,” he said. In a policy briefing book that accompanied his speech, Cuomo said his proposal to legalize marijuana would limit the sale of cannabis products to adults over age 21. But he only briefly mentioned his legalization proposal in his address Wednesday, to tepid applause. A similar proposal to legalize recreational marijuana failed last year among disagreements over funding and hesitation from suburban Democrats. Lawmakers instead scaled back penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana and created a process for expungement. Cuomo has declared “Making Progress Happen” as his slogan for 2020. But any progress will have to come while the state is grappling with a budget gap fueled by soaring Medicaid costs. Debate over how to handle the shortfall is expected to color virtually every policy debate this year. Hundreds of activists rallied in Albany demanding action on issues including the state’s ambitious climate change goals. Cuomo called climate change the “transcendent threat of our times” and proposed sending voters a $3 billion bond in November to fund a flood reduction and habitat restoration program he is calling Restore Mother Nature. “Because no economic strategy, no social justice reform, no education policy will be worth a damn if we don’t have a planet to live on,” he said. Cuomo has yet to share many details about his plans to address soaring costs of the Medicaid program, which serves over 6 million people. The governor called Wednesday for improved accountability in the Medicaid system, saying safeguards were needed to limit potential overspending on the program by municipalities. More details of how the administration plans to address the funding gap may have to wait for his budget proposal, expected in mid-January. Cuomo has cautioned against overspending while pledging not to raise taxes. That budget-conscious message could clash with more left-leaning lawmakers and advocates who want to balance the budget with new taxes on the wealthy. The governor’s party has seen big political wins in recent years, even as some long-time Democratic incumbents have lost to more left-wing challengers. But Cuomo argued Wednesday true progressive politics must be grounded in “reality” and champion results over rhetoric. Republicans, who have seen their clout diminish in Albany, say they will hold down spending and resist new taxes. Republican leaders including state GOP chairman Nick Langworthy criticized the governor for failing to address the budget deficit as well as a mounting debate over bail reforms enacted last year. Cuomo and other Democrats have signaled they are open to making changes to the statute. In his preview announcements over the past month, Cuomo has released proposals to ban untraceable guns, study high speed rail, allow liquor sales in movie theaters, require the use of American-made steel and iron on infrastructure projects and ease rules for prosecuting sexual assault involving intoxicated victims, among other initiatives. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, said lawmakers have their own priorities this year, including working to increase school aid, affordable housing, infrastructure, local businesses, rural hospitals and mental healthcare.",
            "output": [
                "Cuomo’s 2020 agenda: Fight hate, help planet, legalize pot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c391bf7c34549f1a42d3c7886365d2f",
            "input": "The move comes three days after Reuters reported that the CDC published key dosing information involving the two antimalarial drugs based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science. Reuters also reported that the original guidance was crafted by the CDC after President Trump personally pressed federal regulatory and health officials to make the malaria drugs more widely available to treat the novel coronavirus, though the drugs in question had been untested for COVID-19. Initially, the CDC webpage, titled Information for Clinicians on Therapeutic Options for Patients with COVID-19, had said: “Although optimal dosing and duration of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 are unknown, some U.S. clinicians have reported anecdotally” on several ways to prescribe the medication of COVID-19. Medical specialists had told Reuters they were surprised by that language. “Why would CDC be publishing anecdotes?” asked Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. “That doesn’t make sense. This is very unusual.”  Doctors and other health experts had further criticized the guidance as suggesting that doctors might prescribe the medications when it isn’t established whether or not they are effective or harmful. Now the CDC website no longer includes that information. Instead, its first sentence says: “There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19.”  The updated, and shortened, guidance adds that “Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are under investigation in clinical trials” for use on coronavirus patients. To read the new CDC guidance, click here  The CDC did not immediately respond to questions about the removal of the original guidance. In a statement, it had originally told Reuters it had crafted the guidance for doctors at the request of a coronavirus task force, which urged prompt action. Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School who had criticized the original guidance, applauded the updated version, calling it “substantially improved.”  “It states the facts without in effect recommending that physicians prescribe the drugs despite a lack of adequate evidence,” Flier said. The hydroxychloroquine debate has heated up and become more political as President Trump this weekend said he might want to take the drug himself.",
            "output": [
                "CDC removes unusual guidance to doctors about drug favored by Trump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9bf6224d3f6f495983631ccf7033952a",
            "input": "On 11 May 2017, TheFederalistPapers.org, a web site that often posts conservative click bait, reported on a new drug cocktail known as “Gray Death”: The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is warning about the new drug called “Gray Death” that doesn’t just kill the drug users with even the slightest contact – but the first responders who come to help as well. It is a “particularly dangerous mixture of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and other synthetic opioids,” WDRB reports, that is usually used as a tranquilizer for elephants and other large mammals. It is “10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl” and poses a severe threat to first responders because it can be absorbed through the skin or accidentally inhaled through the air. The sensational sounding nature of the story prompted questions whether it is true, but the story is accurate (and largely cribbed from the reporting of local television station WDRB). We followed up with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to confirm details of the report, and  spokesman John Erickson confirmed to us that “very casual contact” with the substance can potentially cause a serious adverse reaction. As far as inhalation, he compared it to closing a bag of flour: some powder will become airborne. But unlike flour, a similar accidental exposure to Gray Death can lead to serious health problems. Authorities are notifying first responders to take necessary precautions. Indiana DHS released a press statement that warns: Gray Death, a particularly dangerous mixture of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and other synthetic opioids, made its way to Indiana this week, causing an overdose in central Indiana. Partners warning about the increased risk are State of Indiana Emergency Medical Services and the State Fire Marshal, part of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security; Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana State Police. A persistent increase in opioid overdoses tied to the synthetic drug carfentanil have been seen around the country, prompting concern. … Carfentanil, which is used as a tranquilizing agent for elephants and other large mammals, is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is often mixed in with other drugs such as cocaine or crystal meth — and often drug users have no idea their drugs have been tainted. Carfentanil and other fentanyl-related compounds are a serious danger to public safety, first responder, medical, treatment, and laboratory personnel. These substances can come in several forms, including powder, blotter paper, tablets, and spray. The substance can be absorbed through the skin or accidental inhalation of airborne powder. “With the pervasive nature of opioids and addiction, there is always the chance that family or friends may come into contact with dangerous substances when working to save their loved one,” said Dr. Michael Olinger, State Emergency Medical Services Medical Director. The release included an image demonstrating how deadly carfentanil is compared to other dangerous substances. It shows how much heroin can kill an average adult versus fentanyl and carfentanil: In February 2016, a 24-year-old Georgia woman died after overdosing on the drug mixture: A Brookhaven woman died from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl known as ‘gray death,’ GBI officials said. Lauren Camp, 24, had ingested the mix before she was found submerged in a bathtub in February, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said. GBI officials found the deadly drugs at the scene. Camp’s “gray death” is the first confirmed in Georgia. The drug has been spreading from state to state and apparently can vary in its constitution. But what sets it apart is its gray color — and its deadliness:  Over the past four months, Georgia police have seized about 50 batches of grey death statewide, with metro Atlanta being a major hotspot. The drug has also started popping up in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania, state and local officials confirmed. Because ingredients change from sample to sample, each batch of grey death is a mystery — right down to its signature color.",
            "output": [
                "\"A dangerous new drug known as \"\"gray death\"\" can kill through the air and skin contact.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ea9b3fe73d38486c99286f20c1272474",
            "input": "A senior administration official outlined the plan Thursday on condition of anonymity ahead of the release of Trump’s 2019 budget plan next week. Pharmaceutical companies now pay rebates to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to help their medications gain a bigger slice of the market. Insurers apply savings from rebates to keep premiums more manageable. Under Trump’s proposal, seniors covered by Medicare’s popular “Part D” prescription benefit would be able to share in the rebates for individual drugs that they purchase at the pharmacy. Trump’s budget would also expand Medicare’s “catastrophic” drug benefit so that many seniors with very high costs would not face copayments. Seniors with high drug bills are currently still responsible for 5 percent of the cost of their medications. With some new drugs costing $100,000 a year or more, patient costs add up quickly. The White House proposal would put Trump in the middle of a tug-of-war between drug companies on one side and insurers and pharmacy benefit managers on the other, with billions of dollars at stake. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers say the reason drug costs are so high is that drug companies are free to charge what the market will bear. The pharmaceutical industry says middlemen are the problem, because they keep rebates paid by drug makers instead of passing them on to patients. Insurers counter that rebates are passed on in the form of lower monthly premiums for everybody. The drug industry lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, had no immediate reaction. The Trump administration’s new proposals come on top of a long list of Medicare changes in the congressional budget deal. Medicare is the government’s premier health insurance program, covering about 60 million seniors and disabled people. Lawmakers would shift a greater share of Medicare drug costs to the pharmaceutical industry. They also want to eliminate the drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole” one year earlier than currently scheduled, in 2019 instead of 2020. “On the whole, I think this is a good bill for people with Medicare,” said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said of the congressional legislation. “This tilts toward getting a lot of good things done.” But his group opposes a provision that would raise premiums paid by the wealthiest retirees for coverage of outpatient services and prescription drugs. Here’s a look at some of the major Medicare provisions in the budget deal that Republican leaders are trying to push through Congress. Democrats are split over the overall measure, but the Medicare provisions appear to have support from both parties: — PRESCRIPTION DRUGS Originally, beneficiaries in the “doughnut hole” coverage gap were responsible for the full cost of their medications, but the Affordable Care Act passed under former President Barack Obama gradually closes the gap. The budget deal accelerates the timetable by one year, to 2019. Drug makers are already required to provide discounts to close the coverage gap, but the budget deal raises the level of company discounts, which in turn lowers the government’s costs. That should act as a brake on the monthly premiums paid by beneficiaries. “In theory when Medicare spending goes down, premiums would go down, too,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The drug industry is criticizing the proposal, saying it will mainly benefit insurance companies that act as middlemen providing the benefit. The coverage gap starts when beneficiaries hit $3,750 in total drug costs. — CAPS REPEALED ON REHAB The budget deal permanently repeals limits on therapy services commonly used by stroke patients and people recovering from major surgeries. Those services include physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. In previous years, Congress had routinely held off on applying the caps. Groups including AARP were pressing for a full repeal. It takes effect this year. __HIGHER PREMIUMS FOR WEALTHIEST RETIREES Premiums for outpatient coverage and prescription drugs would rise for about 1 million wealthy seniors with annual incomes of at least $500,000 for an individual, or $750,000 for a couple filing jointly. Hiking premiums on the well-to-do is an idea that has bipartisan support among lawmakers, but advocates worry that Congress will ultimately start raising costs for middle-class seniors as well. __TELEMEDICINE AND CHRONIC CARE The budget deal expands Medicare’s ability to pay for telemedicine in a wide variety of situations, including for patients with stroke symptoms. It also incorporates a bipartisan Senate bill that is intended to improve care coordination for patients with chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. —COST CONTROL BOARD REPEALED The deal would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a Medicare cost-control agency authorized under the Affordable Care Act. It was controversial from the beginning, and the Obama White House did not move forward to set up the board.",
            "output": [
                "Trump proposes reduction of drug costs under Medicare."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c452b4813194102958b4c560169d940",
            "input": "A booming dairy farming industry, along with a surge in tourists seeking unspoiled natural attractions, has taken its toll on the country’s environment, heavily marketed as ‘100% Pure’. Particularly affected is its vast network of once pristine rivers and lakes, which are now some of the most polluted among OECD countries, according to some experts. About 60 percent of them are unfit for swimming, the Environment Ministry said in a report in 2014. Experts say water quality has deteriorated further since. In a Colmar Brunton survey conducted last month, 82 percent of respondents said they were “extremely or very” concerned about the pollution of rivers and lakes, more than any other issue including living costs, child poverty and climate change. “(New Zealanders) are extremely worried that they are losing their ability to swim, fish and gather food from their rivers, lakes and streams,” said Martin Taylor, the chief executive of Fish & Game New Zealand, a non-government agency that commissioned the survey. “People see those activities as their birthright, but over the last 20 years, that right is being lost because the level of pollution in waterways has increased as farming intensifies.”  With an election coming next year, political experts say water pollution could be a key issue for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Ardern led a coalition to power in 2017 promising social reforms and laws to protect the environment, but business confidence has suffered under her government. More than 13,000 people signed a #toomanycows Greenpeace campaign on Twitter launched last week calling for a ban on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. “New Zealand already has way too many cows, and synthetic nitrogen is the key driver of the dairy intensification and expansion that leads to the dangerous double whammy of harm to rivers and climate,” said Nick Young from Greenpeace. New Zealand has nearly five million cows, more than its human population of about 4.7 million. Popular swimming holes near the famed Mt Taranaki in the west of New Zealand’s North Island were shut this month due to high E.coli bacteria, an indicator of faecal contamination. Tests are underway to determine the cause, but effluent from nearby dairy farms has been blamed in the past for contaminating these waters. DairyNZ Chief Executive Tim Mackle says dairy farmers have been doing their bit, with 97 percent of waterways on dairy farms fenced off from cows, and significant work done to establish riparian margins and wetlands. “The reality is that all types of land use contribute to water quality – and that farming, whether it’s vegetables, fruit, beef, sheep, dairy, deer or even wine – must all work together to make sure waterways are protected,” Mackle said in a statement. “The most polluted rivers actually run through urban centers, and this is where the public can do their bit too.”   Only about 15 percent of New Zealand’s streams run through dairy farms, he added. Dairy and tourism directly contribute about 3.5 percent and 6.1 percent respectively to New Zealand’s $200 billion GDP. Both industries rely on the country’s clean, green image with cascading rivers, unspoiled forests and lush pastures that made it the ideal backdrop for the popular Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie series. The sparsely populated country is spread over a mountainous area about the size of United Kingdom or California, more than a quarter of which is set aside for reserves and national parks. Hoards of tourists are expected to arrive in the country next month during the Chinese New Year, a peak travel season, which residents feel will take a further toll on the natural environment. Chinese are the second largest source of tourists to New Zealand after neighboring Australia, according to 2018 data. Apart from polluting the water, residents also fear mass tourism and freedom campers may destroy the country’s iconic landscape, as seen in places like Venice, Boracay and Bali. Overcrowding in Venice forced the local administration to restrict access to tourists while Boracay was shut down last year, after mass tourism turned the famed Philippines island into a “cesspool”. Richard Davies, tourism policy manager at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said the increase in the number of campers has caused problems in some areas, waste being one of them. “We have a collective duty to care for our environment and for New Zealand, and there have been a number of initiatives to help educate local and international campers on how to camp responsibility, and funding for infrastructure to help local bodies to address the issues that can arise,” he said. Mike Joy, a senior researcher at Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies says the environment is paying the price for hands-off governance and  the intensification of dairy and tourism industries. “It’s an own goal…they are shooting themselves in the foot. The biggest value add this country can have is its clean, green image and they are just ruining that image,” Joy said. The government has said it is committed to improving water quality. In 2017 it set a national target of making 90 percent of New Zealand’s large rivers and lakes swimmable by 2040, with an interim target of 80 percent swimmable by 2030. Joy, who is a member of some government working groups, said change will only happen if governments take on the powerful dairy and tourism industries. “Right now, a lot more money is spent on spin and propaganda but there’s been very little change.”",
            "output": [
                "100% Pure? New Zealand's deteriorating water raises a stink."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96dbc9ec024f478eaa6e54d719b06771",
            "input": "Posthumous sperm donation is technically feasible and morally acceptable, the specialists said in a review published in the Journal of Medical Ethics on Tuesday. They argue it should be seen like organ and other tissue donations as a way of relieving the suffering of others. While infertility is not life-threatening, said Nathan Hodson of Britain’s Leicester University and Joshua Parker of Britain’s Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, it causes great suffering and could be said to be a form of illness. “If it is morally acceptable that individuals can donate their tissues to relieve the suffering of others in ‘life enhancing transplants’ for diseases ... we see no reason why this cannot be extended to other forms of suffering like infertility, which may or may not also be considered a disease,” they said. Such a move would raise questions about consent and family permissions for posthumous donations, Parker and Hodson said, and there would also be concerns about anonymity of the donor. Britain has a shortage of donor sperm, while demand is high, and increasing, the experts said. They cited government data showing that an estimated 4,000 samples are imported to Britain each year from the United States, and 3,000 from Denmark, as well as more from other European Union countries. Sperm can be collected after death either through electrical stimulation of the prostate gland or with surgery. It can then be frozen and stored until required. Parker and Hodson cited studies showing that sperm harvested from dead men can result in healthy pregnancies and children with normal health and development, even when the sperm is retrieved 48 hours after death. Other medical experts said the analysis raised issues that need to be resolved. “Further discussion is needed to understand whether people who need to use donor sperm would even want to use the sperm of a deceased donor,” said Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust. “It is also vital to seek the opinions of donor-conceived people about what they think the impact would be of never being able to meet the donor.”",
            "output": [
                "Posthumous sperm donation should be allowed, say UK experts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-aee29760b7ab4f5cbf9a18dfc2b1942d",
            "input": "Bryant’s action came despite a federal judge’s ruling last year that struck down a less-restrictive law limiting abortions in the state. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights called the new measure “cruel and clearly unconstitutional” and said it would sue Mississippi to try to block the law from taking effect on July 1. After a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol, Bryant told reporters that he’s not worried about lawsuits. “They don’t have to sue us. It’s up to them,” Bryant said. “If they do not believe in the sanctity of life, these that are in organizations like Planned Parenthood, we will have to fight that fight. But it is worth it.” Mississippi is one of several states that have considered bills this year to ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found. Abortion opponents are emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court and are seeking cases to challenge Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A federal judge in 2018 struck down a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying it is unconstitutional. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi. “Lawmakers didn’t get the message,” Hillary Schneller, staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Thursday. “They are determined to rob Mississippians of the right to abortion, and they are doing it at the expense of women’s health and taxpayer money. This ban — just like the 15-week ban the governor signed a year ago — is cruel and clearly unconstitutional.”  The law that Bryant signed Thursday says a physician who performs an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected could face revocation of his or her Mississippi medical license. It also says abortions could be allowed after a fetal heartbeat is found if a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life or one of her major bodily functions. The House and Senate both rejected efforts to allow exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Georgia and Tennessee are among the states considering similar bills. Kentucky’s law banning abortion after the detection of a heartbeat was immediately challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union when Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed it on March 14, and a federal judge temporarily blocked it. A federal judge on Wednesday also blocked another Kentucky law that would ban abortion for women seeking to end their pregnancies because of the gender, race or disability of the fetus. Dr. Leana Wen, a physician who is president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement Thursday that the new Mississippi law “is a dangerous policy that criminalizes a safe, standard medical procedure and will endanger women’s lives.” “Patients must be empowered to make their own health care decisions, in consultation with their doctor and their family, and doctors must be able to provide health care to our patients without the threat of prison time,” Wen said. “We cannot accept a world where the right to abortion care depends on where you live or how much money you make.” Jameson Taylor, vice president for policy at the conservative Mississippi Center for Public Policy, praised Bryant for signing the bill. “The heartbeat bill is popular because everyone knows a heartbeat is a sign of life,” Taylor said in a statement. “Intellectual and scientific honesty demands a reconsideration of Roe, a 50-year-old decision based on old science. 3-D and 4-D ultrasounds are showing women that their unborn child is alive.” ____ Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .",
            "output": [
                "Mississippi governor signs ‘heartbeat’ abortion law."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d8540aabfd374f02836bf239ff8a1ca8",
            "input": "Steinem spoke ahead of her appearance at a centennial gala fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, the state chapter of the abortion and women’s health care provider whose government grants have been targeted by some Republicans. While sponsors of the gala shelled out up to $50,000 to attend the event where Steinem was featured, Ohio Right to Life labeled her a “radical pro-abortion icon” and called Planned Parenthood a de-humanizing organization. “If they supported me, I’d know I was doing something wrong,” Steinem said of the anti-abortion group. “It’s obviously ridiculous to say somebody is ‘pro-abortion.’ Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I think I’ll have an abortion. It’s a pleasurable experience.’ The question is not pro-abortion or anti-abortion, the question is who makes the decision: a woman and her physician, or the government.” Steinem, 83, said she’s accustomed to being both admired and reviled — including in Ohio, her politically divided home state. But she said in past decades supporting Planned Parenthood was “not as electoral as it is now.” She said the organization did not even have a political arm in the early days, “it was a service provider.” That has changed in recent years, as abortion rights groups have sharpened their attacks against Planned Parenthood’s key role in providing legal abortions. Beth Crane, 65, is a past Planned Parenthood board member whose family was a gala sponsor. She is a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton last year, but her late mother, a Republican, also served for years on the Planned Parenthood board, she said. “When I was young I don’t think Planned Parenthood had such a negative connotation,” said Crane, who entered college at Vassar in 1969. “It’s become, ‘It’s a liberal organization.’ ‘They kill babies.’” The organization said it has served 1 in 5 women in the U.S. Emma Mysko, 19, a field assistant with the anti-abortion group Created Equal, joined about 40 protesters outside the gala. “She is standing for a great human injustice,” she said of Steinem. “She is in there helping Planned Parenthood raise money to kill more human beings.” Crane’s daughter-in-law Leah Westwater, 36, credits a Planned Parenthood doctor in California with early detection of her thyroid cancer. She said abortions represent only about 5 percent of the organization’s work. Steinem said she initially thought that the premise that women should be treated as men’s equals would be so obvious that everyone would believe it once it was explained. But she has watched as the same arguments have had to be made over and over again. Having to fight again the battles of the women’s movement’s “grandmothers” has been a key rallying cry for the left since Republican President Donald Trump’s election. “The good news is much better than the bad news,” she said. “But it does mean that all the folks who want the old hierarchy — want ‘America to be great again’ in the old ways of race and sex — are alarmed.” Steinem was critical of a family leave policy supported by first daughter Ivanka Trump during last year’s campaign. The proposal, not yet a formal policy proposal, favors leave only for women who have “physically given birth,” Steinem said. “That isn’t the policy that people want, they want a family-supportive policy,” she said. “Actually, that policy — I’m not saying she knows this — is the policy of every authoritarian regime that I know of, because they pay women to have children to have more soldiers and more workers, but they don’t support parenthood, fathers, adoption.” Ivanka Trump’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Steinem plugged environmentalist Paul Hawken’s new book, which suggests that the top solution to global warming is educating and providing contraception to young women. She said when women are allowed to decide whether to have children, population growth tends to settle down to each generation roughly replacing itself.",
            "output": [
                "Feminist icon Gloria Steinem adored, reviled in divided Ohio."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5051ab87e8c645c882b71f331032683e",
            "input": "By looking for a specific pattern of brain activity in teens with dyslexia, the researchers predicted with 90 percent accuracy which students would learn to read. “This gives us hope that we can identify which children might get better over time,” Dr. Fumiko Hoeft of Stanford University School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a statement. “More study is needed before the technique is clinically useful, but this is a huge step forward.”   Dyslexia is a brain-based learning disability that affects 5 to 17 percent of U.S. children. People with dyslexia have difficulties with reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words. About one-fifth of people with severe dyslexia learn to read. Hoeft and colleagues wanted to see what was occurring in the brain in these students. They studied 45 teens aged 11 to 14 who took a battery of tests to determine their reading abilities. Based on these, they classified 25 of them as dyslexics. The team used two different imaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures oxygen used by the brain during different activities, and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging or DTI, which reveals connections between brain areas. The researchers then showed the teens different pairs of words and asked then to identify which ones rhymed, even though they were spelled differently. They found that about half of the children who were dyslexic had extra activity in a part of the brain near the right temple known as the right inferior frontal gyrus. And some of the children with dyslexia had stronger connections in a network of brain fibers that links the front and the back of the brain. When they checked these same children two and a half years later, they found children who had this unusual brain activity were more likely to have learned to  read than other dyslexics. Paper and pencil tests typically used for these children, however, were unable to predict which students would succeed. “The reason this is exciting is that until now, there have been no known measures that predicted who will learn to compensate,” Hoeft said. Alan Guttmacher, director the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National Institutes of Health, said the finding gives insight into how certain people with dyslexia compensate for reading problems. “Learning why other individuals have difficulty compensating may lead to new treatments to help them overcome reading disability,” Guttmacher, whose agency funded the study, said in a statement. The study is part of a new field called “educational neuroscience” that uses brain imaging studies to help improve learning problems in children and teens.",
            "output": [
                "Brain scans predict which dyslexics will read."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8e9cd390bd4e419680efec137be74bd4",
            "input": "“The cycle is accelerating,” said NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig, a co-author of the report. “The threat of climate change affecting people’s food on their dinner table is increasing.” But if people change the way they eat, grow food and manage forests, it could help save the planet from a far warmer future, scientists said. Earth’s land masses, which are only 30% of the globe, are warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole. While heat-trapping gases are causing problems in the atmosphere, the land has been less talked about as part of climate change. A special report, written by more than 100 scientists and unanimously approved by diplomats from nations around the world Thursday at a meeting in Geneva, proposed possible fixes and made more dire warnings. “The way we use land is both part of the problem and also part of the solution,” said Valerie Masson-Delmotte, a French climate scientist who co-chairs one of the panel’s working groups. “Sustainable land management can help secure a future that is comfortable.” Scientists at Thursday’s press conference emphasized both the seriousness of the problem and the need to make societal changes soon. “We don’t want a message of despair,” said science panel official Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London. “We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference.” Still the stark message hit home hard for some of the authors. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep about what the science is saying. As a person, it’s pretty scary,” Koko Warner, a manager in the U.N. Climate Change secretariat who helped write a report chapter on risk management and decision-making, told The Associated Press after the report was presented at the World Meteorological Organization headquarters in Geneva. “We need to act urgently.” The report said climate change already has worsened land degradation, caused deserts to grow, permafrost to thaw and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. That’s happened even as much of the globe has gotten greener because of extra carbon dioxide in the air. Climate change has also added to the forces that have reduced the number of species on Earth. “Climate change is really slamming the land,” said World Resources Institute researcher Kelly Levin, who wasn’t part of the study. And the future could be worse. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. In the worst-case scenario, food security problems change from moderate to high risk with just a few more tenths of a degree of warming from now. They go from high to “very high” risk with just another 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) of warming from now. “The potential risk of multi-breadbasket failure is increasing,” NASA’s Rosenzweig said. “Just to give examples, the crop yields were effected in Europe just in the last two weeks.” Scientists had long thought one of the few benefits of higher levels of carbon dioxide, the major heat-trapping gas, was that it made plants grow more and the world greener, Rosenzweig said. But numerous studies show that the high levels of carbon dioxide reduce protein and nutrients in many crops. For example, high levels of carbon in the air in experiments show wheat has 6% to 13% less protein, 4% to 7% less zinc and 5% to 8% less iron, she said. But better farming practices — such as no-till agricultural and better targeted fertilizer applications — have the potential to fight global warming too, reducing carbon pollution up to 18% of current emissions levels by 2050, the report said. If people change their diets, reducing red meat and increasing plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and seeds, the world can save as much as another 15% of current emissions by mid-century. It would also make people more healthy, Rosenzweig said. The science panel said they aren’t telling people what to eat because that’s a personal choice. Still, Hans-Otto Pörtner, a panel leader from Germany who said he lost weight and felt better after reducing his meat consumption, told a reporter that if she ate less ribs and more vegetables “that’s a good decision and you will help the planet reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Reducing food waste can fight climate change even more. The report said that between 2010 and 2016, global food waste accounted for 8% to 10% of heat-trapping emissions. “Currently 25%-30% of total food produced is lost or wasted,” the report said. Fixing that would free up millions of square miles of land. With just another 0.9 degrees F of warming (0.5 degrees C), which could happen in the next 10 to 30 years, the risk of unstable food supplies, wildfire damage, thawing permafrost and water shortages in dry areas “are projected to be high,” the report said. At another 1.8 degrees F of warming (1 degree C) from now, which could happen in about 50 years, it said those risks “are projected to be very high.” Most scenarios predict the world’s tropical regions will have “unprecedented climatic conditions by the mid-to-late 21st century,” the report noted. Agriculture and forestry together account for about 23% of the heat-trapping gases that are warming the Earth, slightly less than from cars, trucks, boats and planes. Add in transporting food, energy costs, packaging and that grows to 37%, the report said. But the land is also a great carbon “sink,” which sucks heat-trapping gases out of the air. From about 2007 to 2016, agriculture and forestry every year put 5.7 billion tons (5.2 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air, but pulled 12.3 billion tons (11.2 billion metric tons) of it out. “This additional gift from nature is limited. It’s not going to continue forever,” said study co-author Luis Verchot, a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. “If we continue to degrade ecosystems, if we continue to convert natural ecosystems, we continue to deforest and we continue to destroy our soils, we’re going to lose this natural subsidy.” Overall land emissions are increasing, especially because of cutting down forests in the Amazon in places such as Brazil, Colombia and Peru, Verchot said. Recent forest management changes in Brazil “contradicts all the messages that are coming out of the report,” Pörtner said. Saying “our current way of living and our economic system risks our future and the future of our children,” Germany’s environment minister, Svenja Schulze, questioned whether it makes sense for a country like Germany to import large amounts of soy from Latin America, where forests are being destroyed to plant the crop, to feed unsustainable numbers of livestock in Germany. “We ought to recognize that we have profound limits on the amount of land available and we have to be careful about how we utilize it,” said Stanford University environmental sciences chief Chris Field, who wasn’t part of the report. ___ AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein reported from Washington. Frank Jordans contributed from Berlin. ___ For more Associated Press stories about climate change, go to https://www.apnews.com/Climate ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "UN climate report: Change land use to avoid a hungry future."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-274ed3b56f8b4df8b3542c314d158ef7",
            "input": "Not applicable. The cost of fiber in the diet is not in question. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt, although suggest a minor change in the future. The story only used relative risk reduction figures. It could have included just a line to explain why it may not be statistically appropriate to pool absolute risk reductions in such a meta-analysis. While there are hypothetically potential harms of too much fiber in the diet, this story in this context didn’t need to drill down on them. Strength of the piece. It repeatedly stressed: Perfect, easy to understand explanation of possible confounders. There is no disease-mongering of breast cancer in the story. In fact, it includes an important little line of context: “About one in eight American women get breast cancer at some point, with less than a quarter of them dying from it.” Two expert independent perspectives were included. The story did touch on other risk factors:  “alcohol drinking, weight, hormone replacement therapy and family history” The story explains that fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are all high in fiber. The story wrapped the new analysis into the context of prior work: “While earlier research has yielded mixed conclusions on the link between cancer and fiber, it would make scientific sense: According to the Chinese researchers, people who eat high-fiber diets have lower levels of estrogen, which is a risk factor for breast tumors. So to get more clarity, the researchers combined 10 earlier studies that looked at women’s diets and followed them over seven to 18 years to see who developed cancer.”  The story clearly did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Women who eat lots of fiber have less breast cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0673b0e845f64e79a8069c69d91dcbc5",
            "input": "A woman walks along the boardwalk while leaving the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson  Mark Bear and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of  Technology studied the effects of a chemical that suppresses  appetite by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the  same brain mechanisms that make people hungry when they smoke  marijuana. “I think that the cautionary note is that these mechanisms  play an important role in ... brain development,” said Bear,  whose study appears in the journal Neuron. Sanofi-Aventis’ weight-loss pill rimonabant, also known as  Zimulti and sold under the brand name Acomplia in Europe, is  the first in this new class of drugs. A U.S. expert panel  rejected it last June because of fears it might trigger  suicidal thoughts. Other drugmakers, including Merck & Co Inc, are working on  similar drugs. Bear’s team at MIT was hoping to gain insight into how the  brain adapts and rewires itself through learned experiences. This so-called plasticity is central to the development of  neurons in the brain of children and young animals. Bear said these cannabinoid receptors are known to regulate  signals between neurons, and his team wanted to see if they  would have an effect on plasticity in these young mice. They were specifically testing learning in the visual  cortex of the mouse, a part of the brain that processes  information gathered from what they see. Their experiments tested how well the animals adapted if  one eye was closed. The researchers did not use rimonabant in the study. Instead, they used a chemical analog or copy — in this case a  drug available for laboratory use known as AM 251. When they gave the mice AM 251 to block their cannabinoid  receptors, the animals still behaved as if both eyes were open. This suggested the visual cortex was not adapting as it should. “Our finding of a profound disruption of cortical  plasticity in juvenile mice treated with AM 251 suggests  caution is advised in the use of such compounds in children,”  the researchers wrote. Bear said the finding is similar to the situation with many  drugs. “You have to weigh the benefits against the risks. If the  benefit is related more to vanity than morbidity, I don’t think  the risks are tolerable,” he said. Sanofi-Aventis spokeswoman Julissa Viana said rimonabant is  not approved for use in children. “At this point in time it is approved for use in adults who  are overweight and obese with cardiovascular risk factors,” she  said. “We don’t encourage its use in children and it has not  been studied nor is it indicated for use in children.”   A woman walks along the boardwalk while leaving the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson  The finding is the latest blow for rimonabant, which once  was predicted to be a multibillion-dollar seller. A study last month of the drug in obese heart patients  found more than 40 percent of patients who took the drug  developed psychiatric problems. But last month the drugmaker Sanofi said it still believes  Acomplia can be a winner and reiterated plans to submit the  drug worldwide as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in 2009.",
            "output": [
                "Weight-loss drugs may harm developing brain: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-32168996b5bc4bf8826273f71080bf21",
            "input": "In a city that never sleeps where restaurants and cafes are usually open until the wee hours, shop owners were closing shutters and commuters rushing home before the start of the 7 p.m. curfew that runs until 6 a.m.  Policemen were posted on key roads to stop any violators. Many streets were already almost deserted by 6:30 p.m.  “This is a disease, not a joke. People must stay at home, and should not leave their houses after curfew hours,” Mohamed El-Gabaly, a Cairo resident, told Reuters, as he stood in a major street with little traffic just before the curfew. Egypt has stepped up measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus - closing airports and gyms, as well as suspending classes at schools and universities until mid-April. Restaurants are restricted to just delivering food. Shops other than supermarkets and pharmacies will be required to close at 5 p.m. on weekdays, two hours earlier than the previous curfew, as well as on weekends. Egypt, a country of 100 million, has reported 456 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 21 deaths. Like other countries, Egypt has taken steps to curtail the impact on the economy, including a surprise 3% interest rate cut and an injection of 20 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) to support the stock market.",
            "output": [
                "Cairo, the city that never sleeps, shuts for coronavirus night-time curfew."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ac2995bc71e14a97ab7353bea36abdee",
            "input": "From Oct. 1 to Nov. 18 McDonald’s will offer “McB” burgers, made with organic beef sourced from organic farms in Germany and Austria. The move from the world’s biggest restaurant chain by revenue comes as it is revamping food-sourcing practices as part of new Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook’s effort to transform McDonald’s into a “modern, progressive burger company.”  Germans, known for their love of sausages, are eating less meat and more vegetarian food as concerns grow about health, animal welfare and the environmental cost of livestock farming. In Germany, beef certified as “organic” must come from cattle that eat organically grown feed and graze on pasture where synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not used. “We have made a great effort to secure sufficient quantities of meat which satisfies the organic requirements and our own quality claims,” said Holger Beeck, chief executive of  McDonald’s Germany. McDonald’s has tweaked menus and worked to improve service in Germany, one of its top European markets. The company’s quarterly sales at established restaurants in Germany recently grew for the first time since the middle of 2012. A McDonald’s U.S. spokeswoman declined to say whether the company would roll out the burger to other markets. Sales at McDonald’s have slumped, in part due to competition from newer chains including Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc, which for years has offered meat from animals raised without hormones and antibiotics. McDonald’s USA said in March that within two years, it would stop buying meat from chickens raised with antibiotics vital to human health. That move was cheered by public health and consumer advocates, who are concerned that overuse of antibiotics in meat production is contributing to rising numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria dubbed “superbugs.”  Still, a shareholder group thinks the company has not gone far enough. It is renewing its call for McDonald’s to stop buying any meat from animals raised with antibiotics vital to fighting human infections. Earlier this month, McDonald’s said its 16,000 U.S. and Canadian restaurants would switch cage-free eggs by 2025.",
            "output": [
                "McDonald's to offer first-ever organic burger, in Germany."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-959ac8a8acda475fa936892916fc2024",
            "input": "The headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group in a cramped corner of Delhi were sealed and thousands of followers, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine after it emerged they had attended meetings there in mid-March. Police initially filed a case against Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi, the chief of the centre, for violating a ban on big gatherings but had now invoked the law against culpable homicide, a police spokesman said. “Delhi police had filed a first information report earlier against the Tablighi chief, now section 304 has been added,” the officer said, referring to culpable homicide in the penal code, which carries a maximum punishment of a 10-year prison term. A spokesman for the Tablighi Jamaat group, Mujeeb-ur Rehman, declined to comment saying they had not confirmed reports about the new charges. The Tablighi is one of the world’s biggest Sunni Muslim proselytising organisations with followers in more than 80 countries, promoting a pure form of Islam. Authorities said at the beginning of the month that a third of the nearly 3,000 coronavirus cases at that time were either people who attended the Tablighi gathering or those who were later exposed to them. India’s tally of coronavirus infections has since jumped to 12,380, including 414 deaths, as of Thursday. In the coronavirus hot spot of Delhi, 1,080 of its 1,561 cases were linked to the group’s gathering, according to the city government data on Wednesday. The Tablighi administrators earlier said many of the followers who had visited its offices in a narrow, winding lane in Delhi’s historic Nizamuddin quarter were stranded after the government declared a three-week lockdown, and the centre had to offer them shelter. Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have cautioned against fanning communal tension by laying the blame for the spread of the coronavirus on the Muslim group. Officials have rejected suggestions they were unfairly targeting the Muslim community, but said they had to rebuke the group because it had behaved irresponsibly by ignoring social-distancing rules. The Tablighi was also linked to a surge of cases in neighbouring Pakistan where it cancelled a similar gathering, but only at the last minute when thousands had already arrived at a premises in the city of Lahore. A gathering organised by the group in Malaysia also led to a surge of cases there and in several other Southeast Asian countries. Pakistan has recorded 6,505 cases according to its latest data, a jump of 520 over the previous day. About 60 percent of Pakistan’s cases load was linked to the Tablighi or were people who had gone on religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia and Iran, officials said. Here are official government figures on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia:  * India has 12,380 confirmed cases, including 414 deaths  * Pakistan has 5,988 cases, including 107 deaths  * Bangladesh has 803 cases, including 39 deaths  * Afghanistan has 784 cases, including 29 deaths  * Sri Lanka has 238 cases, including 7 deaths  * Maldives has 21 cases and no deaths  * Nepal has 16 cases and no deaths  * Bhutan has five cases and no deaths  For an interactive graphic on global spread of coronavirus click : here",
            "output": [
                "India charges Muslim leader with culpable homicide for coronavirus surge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9b165754ea047ebb9e904bf699b6ece",
            "input": "\"Memorable and low-budget -- that's the type of election campaign Robert J. Healey Jr. likes to wage. While the other candidates campaigned for months and spent millions in the most expensive governor’s race in Rhode Island history, Healey didn’t enter the contest until shortly after the September primary, when he replaced the Moderate Party’s original candidate, who was unable to run because of illness. Healey, who has repeatedly run for lieutenant governor with the intention of abolishing the office, and who spent the 2002 election season handing out campaign condoms with the slogan \"\"Nothing never felt so good,\"\" got 21.4 percent of the vote after mail ballots were counted in the 2014 gubernatorial election. While the major party candidates, Democrat Gina Raimondo and Republican Allan Fung, saturated the airwaves with commercials, Healey made a few campaign appearances and put up a few signs. But his performance in televised debates in October won him support from a lot of people who like his unconventional style -- or didn’t much like Fung or Raimondo, who won the race. The day after the election, Healey told Providence Journal columnist Edward Fitzpatrick that he spent just $36.29 on his campaign. He made a similar claim on WPRO, where morning host Gene Valicenti congratulated him on his strong showing. \"\"Thank you. For 35, for 38 bucks, not bad,\"\" Healey said. \"\"I probably should have spent twice as much. I would have doubled my numbers and maybe be the governor.\"\" Valicenti joked that he didn't count gas money. \"\"I know,\"\" Healey responded. \"\"(But) I had to go there anyway.\"\" The Moderate Party candidate -- who also founded the Cool Moose Party -- has cited similar numbers in other venues. That prompted a reader to question the accuracy of Healey's statements. \"\"Someone had to spend money for those garish signs over I-195. And those signs weren't cheap,\"\" the reader said. Indeed, there were more than a few Healey signs throughout the state. We decided to check. Healey's most recent filing with the Rhode Island Board of Elections, for the period ending Oct. 27, 2014, shows that he raised no money and spent nothing during the previous 20 days. His previous report shows that he gave himself $35.31 and spent it all on cell phone expenses. Healey told us the amount jumps to $36.29 when you add the price of the only two purchases he made since his last financial report -- a pair of postage stamps. Filings for the Moderate Party itself show that it spent no money on Healey's race either, at least through Oct. 27. So where did the money for the signs come from? Healey said a lot of supporters downloaded the public-domain images of him and his artwork from his website \"\"so anybody could produce anything.\"\" They printed their own. In addition, a local sign maker printed up his own signs and sold them at cost. The candidate also recycled signs from his past campaigns for lieutenant governor. \"\"We just crossed out the word 'lieutenant' and gave those away,\"\" said Healey. He also painted a campaign message on the wall of a building using old black paint. He initially had trouble opening the cans of Rust-Oleum paint because the covers had rusted shut. \"\"I found that rather ironic. They should make cans that don't rust,\"\" he said. In the end, \"\"I didn't spend any money on signs. Not at all,\"\" Healey asserted. In addition, \"\"people printed up a ton of T-shirts. I don't know what people did with them. But we're creating small business in Rhode Island. We're giving people jobs.\"\" \"\"We recycled everything -- anything I could cross out the word 'lieutenant.' We recycled buttons. We had some old bumper stickers from when I ran for governor in '98. In the attic, I found a case of Cool Moose combs, which I had in '86. Yardsticks,\"\" he said. And did he have any leftover condoms? \"\"We did, but they all expired in 2003. We didn't want to be giving out expired condoms.\"\" So when Robert Healey says he spent only about $36 on his campaign, all the evidence points to a truly shoestring operation. (If you have a claim you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "I spent only $36.29 on my campaign for governor."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8cce2272a8f744bf83c141a9d608c0ed",
            "input": "Surgery to remove a healthy ovary, storage of that tissue for as long as a decade, and surgical reimplantation all involve substantial cost. The story doesn’t help the reader begin to put this in context. If the patient requires IVF, in-vitro fertilization, when she hopes to conceive again, the costs will go much higher. Almost half of the pregnancies in the study required IVF, according to the story. The story let the readers down here. (Here’s more about the high costs of infertility treatment from an advocacy group.) The story arguably overstates the impact of transplantation, allowing a researcher to claim that “many” women who survive cancer will be fertile because of this surgery — when the story clearly states that less than a third of the women in this tiny study had a good outcome. But since the main thrust of this criterion is numbers, and the story does provide them, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt here. However, we wish that the story had pushed back harder against this framing — “some” or “a minority” of women would have been a better descriptor here than “many.” The story just barely mentions the risk – which it says is not increased – of a return of cancer. Since that’s likely the main concern with this procedure, we’ll go ahead and award a Satisfactory. But we’d add that women who have their own ovarian tissue removed and then reimplanted in a new surgery could potentially have complications of those procedures (all surgeries carry some risk). No such complications are addressed in the study that’s the basis for this story, and it’s not clear if adverse effects (beyond cancer recurrence) were tracked by the study authors. We wish the story had asked about, and covered, those potential harms. The story does a good job of outlining the evidence. We are glad that the story included details about how many patients required fertility treatments after receiving their own tissue back years after its removal. There was no disease mongering. The story quoted two of the authors of the original study, Jensen and Andersen, as well as a third researcher, Hershlag, who appears to be independent of that group. The inclusion of multiple sources is a strong point in the coverage. The story notes that instead of the removal of the entire ovary and storage, it is possible patients could choose embryo cryopreservation/freezing. A physician is quoted as follows: “The pregnancy rate with frozen embryos is close to 50 percent, and results are getting better,” he said, referring to another option for women hoping for a future pregnancy. “It remains to be seen which method is better.” We’d add that embryo cryopreservation/ freezing requires a woman to have a partner or use donor sperm AND to undergo IVF — a lot to do in the context of cancer treatment. Freezing unfertilized eggs is another approach where there’s the option to attempt to fertilize them later. The story does not say whether this approach, which requires a lot of planning ahead for a cancer patient, is widely available outside of research centers. The research was done in Denmark and it’s not clear if it’s offered here in the United States or how widely. Apparently, it isn’t new to remove an ovary and freeze it. Some of the patients in the study had that done 15 years ago. The story establishes this and explains that the study is new in that it reports on longer-term outcomes. The story did not appear to rely on a news release, and had independent comments.",
            "output": [
                "Ovarian Tissue Transplant Can Help Some Women Have Kids After Cancer Treatment Researchers in Denmark report a success rate of about 30 percent"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd63752383d645d58cedbe4735bb5c6d",
            "input": "\"Speaker Dean Cannon's proposal to create separate criminal and civil divisions of the Florida Supreme Court passed the House 79-38 on April 15, 2011, but not before Democrats and Republicans argued over an alleged purpose of the court expansion -- the handling of death penalty cases. Cannon wants to expand the Supreme Court from seven to 10 members, and then separate them into two five-member panels. One panel, including the three most senior judges (appointed by late Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles) would serve on the criminal side, while the four justices appointed by Republicans would serve on the civil division. Gov. Rick Scott would appoint nominees to fill the other three slots. Republicans argue the expansion is needed to help settle death penalty cases more expeditiously -- 393 people currently are waiting on Florida's death row. \"\"Unreasonable delays plague state post-conviction review, and there is little Florida's current Supreme Court can do to improve or streamline the process,\"\" Cannon, R-Winter Park, wrote in an April 14 op-ed article in USA Today. (We previously checked -- and rated  -- Cannon's claim that more people die on death row of natural causes than are executed.) But Democrats say the appeals process isn't necessarily what's slowing down death penalty cases. In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, said the governor's office is as much, if not more, to blame. \"\"The proponents argue that the Florida Supreme Court should be split because it will allow them to expeditiously resolve capital cases that have languished in the court,\"\" Thompson said. \"\"The facts are the Florida Supreme Court has a capital caseload that is lower this year than last. The facts show that approximately 40 persons on death row have had all of their appellate review completed and await only the governor's signature on a death warrant to end the case. \"\"Perhaps the proponents should pass legislation requiring a governor to sign a death warrant within 60 to 90 days after all appellate review has been denied, if their concern is 'disposing' of death penalty cases.\"\" Are 40 people, more than 10 percent of the current case back-log, waiting on the governor to sign a death warrant? After checking with several agencies, including the Supreme Court and the Department of Corrections, we were directed to the state Commission on Capital Cases, a body created in 1997 by the Legislature to provide oversight on the administering of death penalty cases. Legislators and judges serve as members of the commission, which also has a full-time staff. (Interestingly, another bill passed by the House would eliminate the commission.) The commission keeps a list of what it calls warrant-eligible inmates, said commission executive director Roger Maas. He explained to us that the list covers inmates who have exhausted both their state and federal appeals. That makes the next step toward execution the signing of a death warrant and setting of an execution date, Maas said. A note: For the most part, the governor has discretion over issuing death warrants. In other words, he picks who and when. In fact, the governor can sign a death warrant for any prisoner sentenced to death, though those warrants likely will be stayed until the state and federal appeals process is complete. And the signing of a death warrant can and often does trigger potential additional appeals -- though if no new information is presented, the appeals are more delay tactics. (The Supreme Court can issue a death warrant, based on an application from the attorney general's office, if the governor has committed an \"\"unjustified failure\"\" to issue a warrant). Maas provided us with his warrant-eligible inmate list as of April 7, which you can see for yourself here. According to the commission, 47 inmates currently have exhausted their appeals and the next step is for the governor to sign a death warrant. The list includes Gary Alvord, for instance, who has been on Florida's death row since April 1974 and is awaiting a death warrant. Alvord escaped a Michigan mental hospital and wound up in Tampa, where he killed three women. Alvord, who turned 64 on Jan. 10, has been awaiting execution for 37 years. But many experts say he will never be executed. Alvord has a history of mental illness and has been declared mentally incompetent by several courts. Since 1979, 69 people have been executed -- a rate of a little over two per year. Craig Waters, a spokesman with the Florida Supreme Court, said there is no limit to how many death warrants a governor can sign. But governors have signed just a handful a year despite the backlog of inmates awaiting execution. Gov. Charlie Crist signed six death warrants in his four years in office. Gov. Jeb Bush signed 24 death warrants in the preceding eight years. Of those 30 inmates, 26 were executed. Of the other four, two inmates had their death sentences vacated, one died while awaiting execution, and one inmate's execution was stayed by Bush. Scott has yet to sign a death warrant since taking office. During arguments against a proposal to expand and split the state Supreme Court, Thompson said \"\"approximately 40 persons on death row have had all of their appellate review completed and await only the governor's signature on a death warrant to end the case.\"\" According to the Commission on Capital Cases, the number sits at 47.\"",
            "output": [
                "The facts show that approximately 40 persons on death row have had all of their appellate review completed and await only the governor's signature on a death warrant to end the case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ab303d806ea4b708fd66b33f27a23e6",
            "input": "Previous studies have established a heightened risk for fractures among patients taking both medicines, since they may cause slower bone formation and faster bone loss. The new research sheds light on the scale of the problem by comparing the records of 1,020 diabetic patients with fractures diagnosed by British doctors between 1994 and 2005 against a control group of diabetics who did not have fractures. Christian Meier of University Hospital Basel found those on Avandia or Actos — known generically as rosiglitazone and pioglitazone — had double or triple the odds of non-spine fractures. The odds for fracture were increased among patients who took the drugs for approximately 12 to 18 months and the risk was highest for those with two or more years of therapy. Fractures of the hip and wrist were most notable, according to the findings published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. Avandia and Actos belong to a class of medicines called thiazolidinediones, which are designed to sensitise the body to insulin. But researchers believe they also stimulate the action of a cell that drives the process of reabsorbing bone, making bones more apt to break. Both are blockbuster products but Avandia has lost out to Actos following publication of a U.S. study last May linking it to heart attack risk.",
            "output": [
                "Swiss study suggests diabetes drugs double fracture risk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a9c4395c75b5472c90c0ce38aab72691",
            "input": "Trans people have often been denied treatment in Pakistan because doctors could not decide whether to treat them in a male or female ward, and have even died for lack of care. The government plans to set up separate wards in hospitals around the country for transgender patients, according to Dr. Zafar Mirza, a special aide to Prime Minister Imran Khan for health services. Pakistan — a conservative, majority Muslim nation — officially recognized transgender as a third gender in 2012. Yet transgender people are still largely confined to the margins of society, often taunted in public, ostracized by family and targeted in violent attacks. Most transgender people in Pakistan are forced to survive by begging, dancing or prostitution. Sex reassignment surgery requires a court order, family approval, a psychiatrist’s note and a medical recommendation. The Supreme Court ordered the government to list transgender as a third gender on ID cards, and the national agency responsible for issuing them will also handle the new health cards. The health ministry will immediately start giving health cards to all transgender people who are registered, said Dr. Mirza. He said anyone who wants to change the listing on their ID to transgender will have a “one-time option” to do so. He didn’t specify how long that period would last. Speaking to reporters in the capital of Islamabad, he stressed that the government is legally responsible for ensuring all citizens’ rights, including access to healthcare nationwide. Transgender people face greater peril in more conservative areas of Pakistan, where Islamic extremists associate them with homosexuality and prostitution. But there are also signs of progress. In 2018, Marvia Malik made history by becoming Pakistan’s first transgender newscaster at just 21 years old. ____ Khan reported from Karachi, Pakistan",
            "output": [
                "Pakistan issues health IDs for trans people to improve care."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-930222e4a6bc4da0814c5e3c3350f361",
            "input": "Cost of treatment not mentioned. 5-year estimated outcomes were given after only 2 years of data. No quantitative data on safety presented. Absolute numbers provided. Limited long term data and small absolute benefit are key issues here. Does not mention the increase in cholesterol and cardiovascular disease among the women in the aromatase inhibitor group. Tamoxifen may have a positive, cholesterol-lowering effect, which is also not mentioned. Study design not adequately discussed. It didn’t really describe that some of the data were likely gathered on women with more advanced disease where the benefits would be bigger. Gives estimates of women diagnosed with this type of breast cancer. Perhaps not enough emphasis that this is only for post menopausal women with invasive disease — e.g. last line in story assumes all estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor positive women are eligible. Journalist notes that the study was funded by Novartis, maker of Femara, and that many of the researchers own stock in this company or in companies for rival drugs. Mentions other adjuvant drug treatment, tamoxifen, as well as some side effects of both of the aromatase inhibitor drugs (Femara and Arimide) studied as well as Tamoxifen. Story about FDA approval for women with early-stage invasive disease. Discusses how drug is already in use for women with advanced breast cancer.",
            "output": [
                "Drug OK’d to Fight Breast Cancer Relapse"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5e3b3eac6cac44f585cf21b375349f7a",
            "input": "\"The effort to pass a sweeping immigration law has shifted to the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives where it faces a much tougher challenge than it did in the Senate. Supporters say that any hope for success lies in compromise. House Republican leaders say the Senate bill falls short in significant ways, but Democrats argue that it already contains major concessions. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a long-time advocate for immigration reform from Chicago, highlighted how much his side was willing to give up to get the Senate bill through. \"\"They said to immigrants, 11 million of them, they said, tell you what we're going to do: For 10 years, you pay every tax possible, but you don't get a single benefit,\"\" Gutierrez said on CNN’s State of the Union. Gutierrez gave some examples: Immigrants with provisional legal status would not get help paying their health insurance premiums under Obamacare, and they would get no credit for any Social Security taxes they paid during the time they worked illegally. In this fact-check, we explore the terms of the deal in the Senate bill. Are they as stark as Gutierrez presents, or is the picture more complicated? Gutierrez’s staff clarified that he was using shorthand to refer to means-tested federal benefits.That would include some of the country’s largest programs such as Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF or welfare), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps). What the Senate bill says The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act allows immigrants without documents to get permission to live and work in the country legally. The Social Security Administration expects that nearly three-fourths of the estimated 11.5 million people here will qualify for what is called Registered Provisional Immigrant, status, or RPI. A smaller number of agricultural workers would qualify for a separate program called the blue card. Neither program grants citizenship or permanent legal status, but they provide a pathway to both. Applicants would need to pay a fine, a fee, and pass a criminal background check to qualify for provisional status. The bill has a specific provision that goes to Gutierrez’s claim. For both RPI and blue card holders, it says, \"\"An alien who has been granted blue card (or RPI) status is not eligible for any Federal means-tested public benefit\"\" and to be clear about what those benefits are, the bill refers to a law passed about 15 years ago. In 1996, Congress defined the public benefits that undocumented immigrants couldn’t get. That law listed \"\"Any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit.\"\" Numerous agencies have interpreted this to mean Medicaid and Medicare, SNAP, energy assistance and so forth. The Senate bill also expressly blocks immigrants with temporary status from receiving any health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. However, individuals can use their own money to buy their insurance through the clearinghouses called exchanges. \"\"Rep. Gutierrez is broadly correct, but not 100 percent,\"\" said Leighton Ku, a professor in the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University who analyzed immigrant use of public benefits in a paper for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. \"\"If they are poor enough and meet other eligibility criteria, for example, if they are a child or a low-income parent, RPIs may be eligible for emergency Medicaid, as are unauthorized immigrants.\"\" The 1996 law built in some exceptions for immigrants without legal documents. In addition to Medicaid paying for emergency medical treatment, young children are eligible for reduced school lunch programs and standard immunizations. The Women, Infant and Children program, WIC, can subsidize grocery bills for young families. So for children, women who are pregnant or have recently delivered, and medical emergencies, current law allows benefits for the undocumented and the Senate bill does not change that. Lastly, on the tax side, the Senate bill says \"\"an alien may not file an application for registered provisional immigrant status ... unless the applicant has satisfied any applicable Federal tax liability.\"\" In other words, these provisional residents must pay Uncle Sam. Regarding the 10 years Gutierrez mentioned, some immigrants under provisional status might be eligible for permanent resident status, a green card, sooner. If that happens, then they would gain access to public benefits in less than 10 years. However, both Social Security and Medicare require that a person or their spouse pay into the system for 10 years before they can claim any benefits. This applies to everyone, native born or not. And both programs are available only to citizens or permanent residents. People with provisional status would have Social Security and Medicare taxes deducted from their paychecks but would be ineligible to use those programs for 10 years. A dispute over benefits The U.S. Code defines public benefits, but there are some who say the list is incomplete. Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors limited immigration, said the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit provide aid to lower income workers through the tax code. A working family that owes no taxes and meets other criteria can apply and receive thousands of dollars from the government. \"\"Gutierrez is mistaken,\"\" Camarota said. \"\"These large programs are explicitly available to those in RPI status. Low income immigrants typically work and have children, so their use rates of these two programs are very high, as it will be for RPI folks.\"\" Immigration reform advocates agree that provisional residents would gain from the tax credits. But Tanya Broder, senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, counters that blocking their use of these credits would be a first for the tax code. \"\"Individuals granted RPI status are required to pay the same taxes and are subject to the same deductions from their income as all other taxpayers,\"\" Broder said. \"\"Denying them the ability to claim the EITC would create an unprecedented two-tiered tax system for lawfully present workers.\"\" Regarding the accuracy of Gutierrez’s statement, he was using the federal definition of benefits, and while lawmakers could decide otherwise, we take current law as our guide. For many years, Camarota and others have noted that the children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States are deemed citizens and are eligible for benefits. Their family members could indirectly benefit. The Senate bill makes no change in that. Our ruling Gutierrez said that immigrants with provisional status would pay every tax and get no benefits. His staff said he was talking about means-tested benefits, and to a large extent, Gutierrez was in line with what the Senate immigration bill says. It requires unauthorized immigrants to pay taxes, and so long as they are in a provisional status, they would not be eligible for food, housing or medical assistance. There are exceptions under current law that would allow them to get some public benefits, but these are limited and in any event, the Senate bill does not change the status quo. A subset of immigrants, children brought to the country at a young age and agricultural workers, would be eligible for green cards in less than 10 years, but the majority, about 70 percent, would have to wait the full time.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Luis Gutierrez Says under the Senate immigration bill, newly legalized immigrants will \"\"pay every tax possible, but you don’t get a single benefit\"\" for 10 years.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7443648624a241fd8293c370269fc7fe",
            "input": "Only a fraction of Kenya’s estimated 100,000 healthcare workers had received any instruction in how to protect themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, told Reuters. Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said he would check into the reports of the training and protective gear shortages. Kenya had reported 28 cases of the coronavirus and one death as of Friday. The virus has so far been multiplying across Africa more slowly than in Asia or Europe - but the World Health Organization has warned the continent’s window to curb the infection is narrowing every day. Nurses in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the coastal town of Kilifi ran away when patients with coronavirus symptoms came to their hospitals over the past two weeks, Panyako said on Thursday. Nurses at Nairobi’s Mbagathi County Hospital went on a go-slow protest last week in protest at a lack of protective gear and training. They feared catching the disease and infecting their families, Panyako said. “The government is not taking it seriously when health workers run away,” he said. “My clear message to the government ... give them the protective equipment they need.”  Panyako, whose union represents 30,000 health workers, said he had only heard of 1,200 staff getting training in how to protect themselves. A host of initiatives have sprung up to fill the gaps. Kenyan start-up Rescue.co, whose Flare app functions as the Uber for private ambulances in Kenya, last week began offering training and protective equipment for the 600 nurses and paramedics using its network. One paramedic on a course told Reuters he had previously refused to attend a suspected coronavirus patient because he did not have training. “The team was scared so we didn’t go,” he said, declining to give his name. Caitlin Dolkart, who co-founded rescue.co, said her company had applied for government permission for trained paramedics to carry out coronavirus tests in patients’ homes. “They are on the frontlines of responding to patients,” she said. “They have to be protected.”",
            "output": [
                "Some Kenyan nurses refuse coronavirus patients in protest over shortages: union."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d0d88ec49da4375ba74b4420adeb2be",
            "input": "Sixteen other people were injured, including another minor who was badly hurt, and the 5.3 magnitude quake caused fires and power blackouts in parts of the capital, hospital and emergency services said. People ran from their apartment buildings to their cars as pieces of the facades started falling off. Dozens of cars were also damaged by debris which fell off buildings. Authorities said around 70 buildings were damaged. Ministers warned people not to walk close to buildings and beware of falling debris due to a strong wind. They also urged them to stay apart from one another as the country struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus. “We are fighting two enemies at the moment, one is invisible and the other is unpredictable,” Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said. So far, Croatia has reported 254 cases of the virus and one death. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the government would provide accommodation in the students’ dormitory in Zagreb for up to 1,800 people whose homes were damaged. He said the quake was the biggest to hit Zagreb in 140 years. It struck 6 km (4 miles) north of the city and was felt across the Western Balkans. Zarko Rasic, head of the Zagreb Emergency Medicine Institute, a children’s hospital, said a 15-year-old was in a critical condition after being found by an emergency services team under a collapsed building and another minor had been admitted with head injuries from a falling roof. The Zagreb Fire Department said firefighting and rescue operations were ongoing at several locations. Plenkovic said the army had been called in to help clean up debris in Zagreb and urged citizens to “stay outside and keep your distance”. “We are facing two crises now,” Plenkovic told a news conference. “Let us not forget the coronavirus epidemics ... Individual discipline and responsibility is of utmost importance.”  Local media reported that many people had headed out of Zagreb, prompting police to organize checkpoints on the highway to check if they were violating self-isolation. The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) downgraded the magnitude of the quake to 5.3 from an initial reading of 6.0. Croatia’s state seismology service said there had been 30 aftershocks. The government said it would estimate the damage in the coming weeks and ask the European Commission for aid. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 5.4, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) also reported 5.3 magnitude, followed by another 5.1 magnitude earthquake.",
            "output": [
                "Quake hits Zagreb, PM urges social distancing as residents flee buildings."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1dcbed41d6244bca20ec15c806c07da",
            "input": "The patient is a resident of the Middle East, where they were believed to have contracted the infection before traveling to Britain, PHE said on its website. MERS is thought to be carried by camels and comes from the same family as the coronavirus that caused China’s deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003. Most of the known human-to-human transmission has occurred in healthcare settings, and the World Health Organisation has said hospitals and medical workers should take stringent precautions as standard to stop the disease spreading. PHE said it was the fifth case of the disease diagnosed in England, the others having been identified in 2012 and 2013. PHE deputy medical director Jenny Harries said it would monitor those who had been in close contact with the patient. “It is important to emphasize that although a case has been identified, the overall risk of disease transmission to the public is very low,” she added.",
            "output": [
                "Middle-East resident diagnosed with MERS in Britain."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f136718799f54c8aaf53822ee626bbe9",
            "input": "Although the release doesn’t give actual costs of warfarin versus some of the newer drugs, or factor in the cost of the usual monthly blood testing required of those taking the drug, it does note the cost of the gene testing used for the study, and that the $200 price tag is now less than a month’s prescription of one of the newer anti-coagulants on the market. The release gives results in both actual numbers of patients and the percentage of reduction of adverse events in those given the genetic test and a comparison group. Although it does so in general terms, the release covers the essentials: the risk of using blood thinners like warfarin and the risks of not using them. The release offers a good description of the design of the study. It was randomized and enrolled more than 1,600 older patients at high risk of blood clots following surgeries. The release explains that one group received warfarin dosing based on standard factors (age, height and weight) and the second group was dosed using these clinical factors plus their genetic variants. The release also offers a detailed breakdown on how many fewer side effects occurred among patients had genetic testing completed compared to those who didn’t. No mongering here. Nicely done and quite complete. Although the release briefly mentions the availability of a “newer anticoagulant,” it should have included a sentence or two about these newer injectable drugs and their overall risks and benefits in comparison to warfarin. It would also have been helpful to tell readers whether the genetic testing that appears to play a role in safer warfarin dosing would have clinical relevance for informing the use of the new blood thinners as well. The fact is that genetic testing is irrelevant for the newer anti-coagulants because they operate in a completely different manner. But all the blood thinners — old and new — carry the same risk of bleeding. The problem with warfarin is the variability in blood levels which requires frequent monitoring, hence the genetic tests to guide dosing. The careful reader will get it: testing for these genetic variants is still an experimental practice for the most part, and further testing of how the mutations affect warfarin is needed. But the release could have been more explicit in saying that no one is yet recommending genetic testing for millions of warfarin users. While the genetic tests are “available” in the sense that anyone can order them for the most part, they are not routinely used clinically and probably wouldn’t be covered by insurance so in that sense they are not widely available to most people. The release describes how the genetic test used in the new study differs from previous similar studies. Overall the language is careful and contextual. The headline should have been toned back a bit to note that this is early research and more study is needed before concluding that “Genetic testing helps set safe dose of common blood thinner,” as the headline now states.",
            "output": [
                "Genetic testing helps set safe dose of common blood thinner"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c1ed179ea554e4cb52c69869b4c7699",
            "input": "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday ordered a new trial for GlaxoSmithKline Plc against an Abbott Laboratories spinoff because Abbott excluded the potential juror. The case involved Abbott’s pricing of HIV medications, a controversial issue in the gay community. Glaxo accused Abbott of improperly hiking the price of one drug, Norvir, to help it preserve sales growth of one of its other HIV blockbusters, Kaletra. The jury returned a mixed verdict in 2011, and Glaxo was awarded far less money than it had originally sought. However, Glaxo appealed the lower court’s decision to allow Abbott to exclude the juror, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the constitution prohibits jury strikes because of sexual orientation. “Strikes exercised on the basis of sexual orientation continue this deplorable tradition of treating gays and lesbians as undeserving of participation in our nation’s most cherished rites and rituals,” 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. Glaxo spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said the company is pleased with the ruling. Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel said Abbott passed its HIV portfolio to a new company, AbbVie Inc, last year. AbbVie representative Adelle Infante said the company is evaluating its options. The 9th Circuit on Tuesday cited United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In that case, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the law defining marriage as between one man and one woman violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. However, Kennedy’s ruling was ambiguous on just how far gay rights protections should extend, Northwestern University law professor Andrew Koppelman said. Since the ruling was issued, judges around the country have grappled with how to apply it in a variety of gay rights cases, including rulings that permitted same-sex marriage in Oklahoma and Utah. Those cases are currently under appeal. “The big difference between now and Windsor is a shift in the culture,” Koppelman said. “Discrimination that made intuitive sense to people before doesn’t make a whole lot of sense anymore.”  Norvir plays a key role in AIDS-fighting cocktails because it can boost the effectiveness of other drugs. Glaxo accused Abbott of raising Norvir’s price by 400 percent in 2003, as part of an effort to harm competitors whose drugs were dependent on being used in combination with Norvir. During jury selection in an Oakland, California federal court, a potential juror discussed his partner by using the masculine pronoun “he” several times. The juror also said he did not know whether any of his friends were taking the medications at issue in the case. Abbott’s attorney sought to exclude the juror, and Glaxo objected, saying that Abbott was attempting to use a peremptory challenge in a discriminatory way. However, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken allowed Abbott to exclude the juror. Glaxo had sought $571 million, but after a four-week trial the jury awarded Glaxo $3.5 million. Given the legal reasoning in Windsor, the 9th Circuit held that gays and lesbians deserve the same constitutional protections during jury selection as those enjoyed by African-Americans and women. Juror strikes based on sexual orientation “deprive individuals of the opportunity to participate in perfecting democracy and guarding our ideals of justice on account of a characteristic that has nothing to do with their fitness to serve,” Reinhardt wrote. The case in the 9th Circuit is Smithkline Beecham Corp dba GlaxoSmithKline vs. Abbott Laboratories, 11-17357.",
            "output": [
                "Gay juror's ouster forces new U.S. pharma trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c08a1b5eea5f4ca19edfc6acc59c869d",
            "input": "The FDA said it received 85 reports from patients who switched from Wellbutrin XL to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Impax Laboratories Inc’s cheaper generic, including 78 who said they slipped back into depression. Other patients reported new or worsening side effects, including headaches, fatigue, anxiety and digestion issues. “The question is whether the reported lack of efficacy and/or new onset side effects in these patients who switched suggest a problem with the generic product ... or have some other explanation,” the FDA said in a statement on its website. Agency scientists reviewed 300-milligram versions of the two drugs, which both use once-a-day formulations of the chemical bupropion, and found the data did not show that the problems stemmed from any differences between the two drugs. One factor that could account for the reported problems is the natural recurrence of depression, which can happen despite treatment, the FDA said. Half of the patients who went back on the name-brand drug said they improved, the agency said, adding that it would continue to monitor the issue. FDA officials received the reports during the first half of 2007. Teva and Impax’s version of Wellbutrin was approved in 2006. Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc also makes a 300-mg XL version of bupropion, though it was not part of the FDA’s review. GlaxoSmithKline makes other versions of Wellbutrin that face generic competition. Total sales of Wellbutrin slipped 37 percent last year in the face of generic competition, the company has reported. The drugmaker could not comment on the FDA’s conclusion because it did not have access to the data used but is pleased the agency would continue its monitoring, GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said. Teva spokeswoman Denise Bradley said the company would issue a statement later. Shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 39 cents to $42.47 on the New York Stock Exchange. Teva rose 65 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $46.67 on Nasdaq.",
            "output": [
                "FDA says generic Wellbutrin OK despite reports."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71dde08f49cb48baa4077d81f1e5f1ab",
            "input": "Navajo President Jonathan Nez made the announcement after a spike in deaths that he attributed to shifting traffic patterns after the city of Gallup recently shut down to outside visitors. That lockdown in northwestern New Mexico has since ended. On the Navajo Nation, residents will face citations, with potential fines and jail time, if they leave their homes during the lockdown, which starts Friday night and ends Monday around dawn. Nez urged people to listen and not pack their bags to head out of town during the lockdown. “Stay home, that’s the bottom line. There’s nothing wrong with staying home and taking care of your home, taking care of your family members,” a frustrated Nez said Thursday. “We need to be able to recognize that what you do affects everybody.” While the state of Arizona has loosened its restrictions on residents and businesses, the Navajo Nation has clamped down. The tribe already has daily nighttime curfews and requires people to wear masks when out in public. Government offices are closed or have limited services. The tribe’s stay-at-home order has been extended to June 7, while Arizona’s expired Friday. As of Friday, the tribe reported 127 deaths and 3,740 positive coronavirus cases since it first began tracking the figures. More than 500 people have recovered, tribal health officials said. There were no new deaths reported on Friday. Loretta Christensen, the chief medical officer for the Navajo-area Indian Health Service, said the reservation’s three largest hospitals hit capacity last week — in line with expected predictions — and a significant number of patients were transferred off the reservation. “We’re still getting cases across the area, but not at the velocity we did before,” she said in a call with reporters Thursday. People who have tested positive but no longer need to be hospitalized are being encouraged to stay in one of three isolation centers set up in basketball gyms on and off the reservation to protect their families. Isolation tents also are available for those who would rather not leave their property, Christensen said. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. McKinley County, which includes Gallup, had been the hot spot on the reservation because of a recent outbreak at a detox center. Apache County in Arizona surpassed it with the most COVID-19 cases on the reservation, according to the Thursday figures. Apache County had 948 positive cases, while McKinley County had 928, tribal officials said. Navajo County in Arizona had 757 cases, and San Juan County in New Mexico had 428. Six other counties in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah had smaller numbers. The Navajo Nation’s total cases include 99 that previously weren’t included because they took longer than usual to verify. Tribal officials also cited jurisdictional challenges.",
            "output": [
                "Navajo Nation residents to be under strictest lockdown yet."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7ee2faa86094997a9a7a1dd665eaad0",
            "input": "There’s no mention of how much a gonorrhea vaccine might cost. In the U.S. meningitis B vaccine Bexsero, which contains manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, costs $99 for a pediatric dose and $106 for an adult dose. Two doses are required. A discussion of cost and cost-effectiveness is particularly important when considering a widespread public vaccination campaign. The story just passes the bar, giving actual numbers far down in the story. It states researchers “found people who were vaccinated were 31 percent less likely to be infected with gonorrhea than those who hadn’t received the meningococcal B vaccine.” We would have liked to see that data higher in the story. Instead, the story states in the third paragraph that the gonorrhea rate was “significantly lower” among those who were vaccinated. The story doesn’t give the overall risk of getting gonorrhea, so it’s hard to tell whether a 31 percent drop amounts to a significant benefit for individuals. The study itself states that the findings provide preliminary evidence of “moderate” cross-protection, and we think that should have been given more discussion so people get a better sense of how little is known about the efficacy compared to other vaccines. Any vaccine has potential side effects, and these aren’t mentioned. According to the CDC, more than half of the people who get meningitis B vaccines have mild problems such as headaches or soreness where the shot was given. Fainting, allergic reactions and shoulder pain are less common effects. Also, the vaccine appears to be only moderately effective, meaning people may get infected regardless. Overall, not much is known about this vaccine’s safety–whether it’s being used for meningitis or gonorrhea. As Bloomberg News explained, many health experts decry the lack of data on the vaccine. Discussing this issue would have made the story stronger. The story states that the findings were observational and adds: “Clinical trials will need to be conducted to see if the effect researchers have observed is actually due to the meningococcal B vaccine.” It explains that only a particular vaccine component that protects against one strain of meningitis appears to offer some protection against gonorrhea, while meningococcal vaccines that protect against other strains do not. The story could have mentioned the number of vaccinated young people in the study, which was nearly 15,000. The story dramatizes the threat of antibiotic resistance with an unattributed statement: “The last remaining drugs to cure this sexually transmitted infection are showing signs they may only have a few more years of usefulness left.” It also gives a quote from a GSK spokeswoman who calls the findings “a positive step in the search for a vaccine against this common and distressing disease that is increasingly resistant to antibiotic treatment.” As this Scientific American article explains, that actual rate of antibiotic-resistance–while on the rise–is still pretty small. Independent sources would have been useful on this point, but we wouldn’t say this rises to the level of disease mongering. The story reports that the study was funded by GSK and Auckland Uniservices, the commercialization arm of the University of Auckland. It does not mention that one of the researchers in the study has been a paid consultant for GSK and other drugmakers. The story appears to use one independent source, Dr. Jean Longtin, head of Quebec’s public health laboratory. It also quotes from an accompanying editorial by Kate Seib, of Australia’s Institute for Glycomics, who declared no conflicts. There’s no discussion of other strategies to address the spread of gonorrhea. The CDC has urged the development of new treatments for gonorrhea. Public health education, including condom use, can prevent new cases. A report sponsored by health agencies in the U.S. and the United Kingdom highlighted the need for strong data-driven public health surveillance to better understand how resistant strains evolve and get transmitted, as well as point-of-care diagnostic testing to identify resistant strains. At least a line or two discussing these alternatives would have informed readers that the vaccine isn’t the only solution. The story says the single-component vaccine used in New Zealand is no longer made but that the component is part of GSK’s Bexsero vaccine, which is on the market. The story also distinguishes the B vaccine from others on the market: “Meningococcal vaccines that protect against the other strains do not seem to have the same effect (on gonorrhea).” Significance is conveyed in the headline: “Vaccine shows protection against gonorrhea for first time, study says.” The story does not appear to rely on the news release from The Lancet.",
            "output": [
                "Vaccine shows protection against gonorrhea for first time, study says"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-158ef048821c48d199ffe962d6067ce3",
            "input": "The National Weather Service said “a dangerous heat wave” sent temperatures into the 90s, with high humidity that made it feel considerably hotter. It was expected to stay warm at night, in the upper 70s to low 80s, with more heat on the way Sunday for the East Coast. “It’s brutal,” Jeffrey Glickman said as he paused during a run in Washington. The 37-year-old got out early to try to escape the worst of the heat but still planned to cut his route short on an already 90-degree (32-degree Celsius) morning. “You just have to power through it the best you can,” he said. Many people in areas facing excessive heat this weekend have no air conditioning, and cities opened shelters for people to cool off. With record- or near-record-high temperatures at night when many air conditioned places are closed, the weather can become especially dangerous for people who don’t get a chance to cool down, experts say. The risks are greater for young children, the elderly and the sick. Over three days in July 1995, more than 700 people died during a heat wave in Chicago as temperatures rose above 97 degrees (36 degrees Celsius). Many of the dead were poor, elderly and lived alone. Animals at an Illinois zoo are given icy treats and sprayed with water misters as the Midwest faces temperatures nearing 100 degrees. (July 19) While the Midwest will get some relief Sunday as a cold front brings storms and lower temperatures, the East won’t be so lucky until Monday, the weather service warned. The heat will be the worst from the Carolinas to Maine. In Norwich, Connecticut, Larry Konecny watched as one of his workers a couple of stories up in a boom lift cleaned the outside of an office building. The pair had no choice but to work in 90-degree heat and stifling humidity because the job needed to be done when office workers were away, Konecny said. “He’s pressure-washing, so the water is splashing. So at least there’s some degree of refreshment,” he said. New York City authorities canceled a Times Square commemoration of the 1969 moon landing and an outdoor festival featuring soccer star Megan Rapinoe, musician John Legend and “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah. Still, Megan Vallerie ran 5 miles (8 kilometers) in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. “It’s not the day to be out here. I should have been up much earlier,” she said Saturday morning. “You’ve got to take your time and drink a lot of water and survive, not enjoy. That’s the goal.” The city also directed owners of many office buildings to set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees (26 degrees Celsius) through Sunday to reduce strain on the electrical grid. The measure came after a power outage related to an equipment failure, not heat, caused a roughly five-hour blackout July 13 that affected a 40-block stretch of Manhattan, including Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Storms have knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, heightening the misery. Strong wind and rain were expected to persist Saturday night and into Sunday in the Midwest and Central Plains. In Philadelphia, several hundred people were evacuated from a retirement community due to a partial power outage, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the problem was heat related. Residents were taken to a nearby shelter, and police said some went to a hospital for evaluation. In Chicago, heat nixed several outdoor events, including a 5k run in Grant Park and a morning workout at Millennium Park. It hit 94 degrees (34 degrees Celsius) by first pitch at the San Diego Padres-Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field, but some fans didn’t want to stay away, largely watching from shaded concourses as the Cubs won 6-5. “We’re sticking to water and not having beer. It’s helping a little bit,” said Jaclyn Jendrisak of St. Louis. In New Jersey, operators of the Monmouth Park horse racing track canceled six races and pushed back others, including the $1 million Haskell Invitational, until early evening. Maximum Security, the horse that crossed the finish line first in this year’s Kentucky Derby and then was disqualified, headlines the Haskell field. Races were set to resume just before sunset. Animal rights activists protested outside the New Jersey Shore track, where temperatures hit the high 90s. The track set up misting fans in the paddock and saddling areas for the 14-race card, shortened post parades before the race to limit track time for the horses and hosed them down after they ran. Amid pressure over a series of horse deaths in California, several tracks canceled their Saturday races, including Saratoga Race Course and Finger Lakes in New York and Laurel Park in Maryland. At New York’s Yankee Stadium, the temperature hit 94 degrees when the home team and Colorado Rockies took the field for what turned into an 11-5 Yankees romp. Extra hydration stations were set up in all three decks and the bleachers. Announcements reminded fans to keep drinking water. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was mindful of the heat, too. “You tend to monitor guys a little more closely, want to see how your pitchers are doing,” he said. ___ Associated Press writers Julie Walker and Ronald Blum in New York; Michael Balsamo in Washington; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut, and Tom Canavan in Oceanport, New Jersey, and Michal Dwojak in Chicago contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "‘Survive, not enjoy’: Heat, humidity gripping half the US."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-972af6ea46df4417a96eca1edbe4dd29",
            "input": "They also announced that, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, they’d produced the genome of Lil BUB, a female cat with a large internet following. That followed a notable advance in January: an improved genome for the axolotl, a salamander renowned for regrowing severed limbs and other body parts. Scientists have been uncovering genomes for quite a while. The first from an animal — a worm — came in 1998. Now, the technology has advanced far enough that scientists last year announced a project to produce the genomes for all life forms on Earth other than bacteria and single-celled organisms called archaea. They called it a “moonshot for biology.” But what’s the point of uncovering new genomes? For scientists, a detailed look under the hood of their favorite organism provides a foothold for learning the deepest secrets of their objects of attention, it leads to discoveries about how life works, and possibly how to prevent disease. Take the mosquito. Late last year, researchers published a much-improved description of the DNA code for a particularly dangerous species of mosquito: Aedes aegypti, notorious for spreading Zika, dengue and yellow fever. That achievement came from analyzing the DNA of 80 mosquito brothers. They were born in Leslie Vosshall’s lab at Rockefeller University in New York, where thousands of mosquitoes swarmed in cages recently as Krithika Venkataraman was trying to make some more. She stuck a tube that protruded from her mouth like a straw into a transparent cube filled with male mosquitoes. Then she repeatedly sucked about 30 males at a time into the tube. She counted them, and then blew them into another cube that housed females. Before long, the two sexes were mating. You can think of a genome as an instruction book for building a living thing. Its language is a four-letter alphabet, which stand for the four compounds that make up the innards of the DNA molecule. The order of those compounds along the molecule is the code; it creates “words” that we call genes. The mosquito genome, for example, is about 1.28 billion letters long, a bit less than half the length of the human version. Knowing the DNA sequence lets scientists manipulate it with gene editing techniques, said Ben Matthews of the Vosshall lab, who was part of the international team that published the refined description of the mosquito genome last November. And once researchers started analyzing that version of the DNA code, discoveries began to pop out. — They nearly doubled the known size of a family of genes that help mosquitoes sense information from their environment, such as the odor of humans. That was “totally, mind-blowingly, unexpected,” Vosshall said. (Vosshall’s salary is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports The Associated Press Health & Science Department.) Further study may reveal surprises about what mosquitoes pay attention to, Vosshall said. And that could lead to better lures for mosquito traps, as well as better repellents. Maybe scientists can find something “10,000 times more disgusting” to a mosquito than the old standby, DEET, she said. — They found new details about genes that let some mosquitoes resist certain insecticides. That’s a possible step toward predicting what insecticides would be useless for fighting certain populations, as well as a potential lead for coming up with new chemical weapons against the insect. — They found previously unknown targets for a major class of insecticides. That could open the door to designing new versions that target mosquitoes while sparing beneficial insects and posing less risk to people. — They narrowed the search for genetic variants that prevent some Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from infecting people with dengue, a severe flu-like illness that sickens millions every year. If those variants can be identified, scientists might use genetic engineering to reproduce them in some mosquitoes, which could then be released to spread the variants though wild populations, Vosshall  said. Those variants, or others, might also work for reducing threats of spreading Zika and yellow fever, Vosshall and Matthews said. — A similar strategy might be used to make mosquito populations overproduce males. That would reduce mosquito bites in the short term — only females bite — and open the door to shrinking wild populations through genetic engineering. The new genome revealed details of the DNA stretch that makes mosquitoes develop as males, which Matthews called “step one” in pursuing the make-more-males strategy. The salamander genome published in January built on a previous publication by European scientists last year. Although its genome is about 10 times the size of the human one, which makes the analysis harder, the axolotl’s regenerating capabilities are an obvious lure. Axolotls can replace “almost anything you can cut off of them, as long as you don’t cut off their heads,” says Jeramiah Smith of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, an author of the more recent genome paper. But Smith points to another trick that might pay off sooner for human medicine: The salamander can also heal large wounds without scarring. As for learning how to let people grow back a severed arm, he figures that’s a long way off. “That probably won’t be useful for me,” joked Smith, who’s 42. “I’ll be dead, so I won’t need to grow my arm back.” And Lil BUB ? She’s the size of a kitten even though she’s 8 years old, and has a number of other odd traits. Scientists looked for genetic mutations, and found altered genes that appear to be responsible for her extra toes and for a rare bone disease. ___ Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter. ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Science Says: Why scientists prize plant, animal genomes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54d0352277094c0e8ef716b1c5cc3905",
            "input": "China has been investigating 17 deaths following inoculation with a hepatitis B vaccine, made by Shenzhen-based BioKangtai, from December 13 and 31. The news alarmed many Chinese Internet users, who called on the government to make more information public. Many Chinese people are suspicious that the government tries to cover up bad news about health problems, despite assurances of transparency. In 2003, the government initially tried to cover-up the outbreak of the SARS virus. Nine of the cases have nothing to do with the vaccines, state news agency Xinhua cited the director of the disease control bureau of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, Yu Jingjin, as saying at a press conference. A preliminary analysis of the eight other cases have also found no link between the deaths and the vaccines, but the cause of the deaths will be confirmed only after autopsies, Yu said. Li Guoqing of the China Food and Drug Administration said at a press conference that no problems had been found with BioKangtai vaccines in production practices or product quality, according to Xinhua. BioKangtai said in a statement in December that it rigorously followed safety rules but that they were testing the batches suspected of causing the deaths. China has been beset by a series of product safety scandals over the past few years. At least six children died in 2008 after drinking milk contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine, and there have also been reports of children dying or becoming seriously ill from faulty encephalitis, hepatitis B and rabies vaccines.",
            "output": [
                "China says child deaths not linked to hepatitis vaccine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ffd49664dfcc43de9ed34bb3632342ce",
            "input": "The range of antimicrobial medicines able to kill the growing number of drug-resistant infections is dwindling and health experts warn that within a generation the death toll from such “superbug” infections could reach 10 billion. Announcing its first funding, a new U.S.-U.K. alliance known as CARB-X, short for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, said it would invest an initial $24 million in 11 biotech companies pursing various projects to develop antibiotics and diagnostic. Another $24 million will be given in staged payments over three years as projects progress. Added to private funds from the companies, the CARB-X funding could lead to an investment of more than $75 million in projects that show success, it said in a statement. Britain’s Wellcome Trust global health charity is committing 125 million pounds ($155.5 million) over five years. Public health specialists have been warning for years that the world is facing an urgent global health threat from antibiotic-resistant superbug bacteria and that the pipeline of novel therapies to treat them is precariously thin. Drug-resistant infections kill 700,000 people a year worldwide, and the last new antibiotic class to be approved for market was discovered in 1984. With CARB-X funds, three of the 11 projects are working on potential new classes of antibiotics, while four are exploring new ways of targeting and killing bacteria. Tim Jinks, head of drug resistant infection at the Wellcome Trust, said antibiotic resistance is already “a huge global health challenge” and is getting worse. “Without effective drugs, doctors cannot treat patients,” he said in a statement. Kevin Outterson, CARB-X’s executive director and a professor of law at Boston University in the United States, added: “By accelerating promising research, it is our hope that we can speed up the delivery of new effective antibacterials, vaccines, devices and rapid diagnostics to patients who need them.”",
            "output": [
                "U.S.-UK alliance targets the world's deadliest superbugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0d6042ab4b484d13a6695fde2e4e26c4",
            "input": "\"The Oregon House recently passed a bill that would remove concealed handgun applications from the public record. Proponents of the bill say that there’s too much personal information on individual citizens tied up in the documents. Public records should focus on the government, not private citizens, they say. Here’s Rep. Kim Thatcher’s full-throated defense of the move from the House debate on the day they passed the bill:  \"\"As the law stands now, the information in these applications includes things like, home phone numbers, home address, Social Security numbers, what kinds of guns you have in the house -- that's what's on the application -- whether you were dishonorably discharged from the military, what controlled substances you are taking and were you ever accused of -- accused, mind you -- of stalking,\"\" Thatcher, R-Keizer, said. \"\"And right now all of that would be subject to public records disclosure.\"\" That’s an awful lot of information, indeed. But being our usual suspicious selves, we wondered whether all of that was truly included in the application. So, we did a quick check -- well, we thought it would be a quick check. We’d just pull down the Multnomah County Sheriff’s online license application and take a look, right? Well, it turns out that each of Oregon’s 36 counties has a slightly different application -- some considerably more stringent, some considerably less. After a few days of web searching and phone calling, we got our hands on 34 of the applications. Here’s what we found:  -\"\"Home phone numbers\"\": Yes. This is one of the first things every application we reviewed asks for. -\"\"Home address\"\": Yes, again. You also have to include a mailing address if that’s different. -\"\"Social Security numbers\"\": Sort of. Every application we reviewed asks for a Social Security number, but all, save two, expressly note that \"\"disclosure of your Social Security account number is voluntary.\"\" -\"\"What kinds of guns you have in the house\"\": Not usually. On 24 of the applications we looked through, there was no question asking applicants about current ownership. Of the remaining eight, six asked whether you \"\"currently own or possess a firearm,\"\" but only if you have ever been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, renounced your U.S. citizenship, been ordered to register as a sex offender in any state or use controlled substances. Everybody else can skip the question. The remaining four from Baker, Grant, Gilliam and Klamath counties ask all applicants for this information. -\"\"Whether you were dishonorably discharged from the military\"\": Yes, this is on most applications. If you have been, you also have to say when it happened. -\"\"What controlled substances you are taking\"\": Yep, this is there. Such controlled substances, for those who are curious, include but are not \"\"limited to, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, LSD, or ecstasy.\"\" (That quote is from the Multnomah County application.) -\"\"Were you ever accused of ... stalking\"\": Nope. Eleven applications don’t touch on this subject at all. The other 23 ask only if the applicant is \"\"currently subject to any type of restraining or stalking order by the court.\"\" They also have to include some specifics about that situation if that question applies to them. That said, if the order has been lifted, the question doesn’t apply -- note the word \"\"currently.\"\" For what it’s worth, those last two questions (the one on controlled substances and the one about stalking) are pretty important given that federal law, according to the application, prohibits folks who say yes to those questions from possessing firearms at all, much less handguns of the concealed variety. Thatcher is spot on when it comes to four of her assertions (the phone numbers, home addresses, military discharge and controlled substances), but she’s less accurate on the other three  (social security, current gun ownership and stalking). When we called her office, Rep. Thatcher -- and later her spokeswoman Dawn Phillips -- told us she wasn’t making sweeping proclamations about all of the applications. What matters, they said, is that her comments apply to some of the state’s 36 applications. On that point, she’s pretty close to right. That is, except for the stalking claim. Thatcher makes it sound as though anybody accused of stalking at any point in their lives would have to say so on the application. But that’s just no true. On certain applications, you have to noted whether you are currently under a court order. That’s considerably different, in our view. Still, we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that some of the necessary nuance was left out because her comments were spoken -- not written.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Oregon concealed gun applications include \"\"home phone numbers, home address, Social Security numbers, what kinds of guns you have in the house … whether you were dishonorably discharged from the military, what controlled substances you are taking and  were you ever accused of -- accused, mind you -- of stalking.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df95744937344fc1953dd2a7dff98759",
            "input": "Westminster Council said it had visited the Icecreamists restaurant in London’s Covent Garden and removed all ice cream containing breast milk for testing after being contacted by members of the public and the Food Standards Agency. “Selling foodstuffs made from another person’s bodily fluids can lead to viruses being passed on and in this case, potentially hepatitis,” Brian Connell, Westminster Council’s cabinet member for business, said on Tuesday. He added that the owner had agreed to cease making and serving the ice cream while it was being tested. Matt O’Connor, founder of the restaurant where the “Baby Gaga” ice cream made from breast milk, Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest was launched on Friday, dismissed the concerns, saying they were “complete rubbish.”   He said the breast milk — provided by women who responded to an advert on an online mothers’ forum — had undergone the same “scrupulous” screening procedures as the milk, blood and sperm found in donation banks. “If the ice cream is not safe, then these mothers pose a serious risk to their babies,” he told Reuters on Tuesday.",
            "output": [
                "London council confiscates breast milk ice cream."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bed7216b1a62400695a8a32356c0dce8",
            "input": "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also said it had canceled a shift on Thursday at both its Warren Truck and Sterling Heights Assembly plants and was considering whether it would need to cancel additional shifts. GM said it had been asked by Consumers Energy, a unit of CMS Energy Corp, to suspend operations to allow the utility to manage supply issues after extreme cold temperatures and a fire at a compressor station. It said workers were told not to report for the shifts at its Orion Assembly, Flint Assembly, Lansing Delta Township Assembly and Lansing Grand River Assembly plants, as well as other stamping and transmission plants on Wednesday evening and early Thursday. GM said it was still assessing when employees could return to work. Workers at its Warren Tech Center were also told to stay home on Thursday. In a video message posted on Facebook, CMS Energy Chief Executive Patricia Poppe said large companies, including Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co and GM, had agreed to “interrupt” production schedules through Friday to tackle the issue prompted by a fire at a Michigan facility and the record-breaking cold. Poppe said the usage cuts by large businesses were not enough, and urged 1.8 million Michigan customers to turn down thermostats as much as they could to cut natural gas use in order to protect critical facilities like hospitals and nursing homes. “I need you to take action right now,” she said. Ford Motor said it had also taken steps to reduce energy use at its four Michigan plants supplied by Consumers Energy, but added the situation remained fluid. A spokeswoman said it had reduced heating levels at Livonia Transmission and Van Dyke Transmission, stopped heat treatment processes at Sterling Axle and shut down the paint process at Michigan Assembly. Consumers Energy sent an alert to mobile phones in Michigan asking residents to reduce natural gas use. In a Twitter message, Consumers Energy warned that “without additional reductions, we run the risk of not being able to deliver natural gas to families and critical facilities across Michigan – a scenario none of us want to encounter.”  Consumers Energy said a fire at a gas compressor station in Michigan’s Macomb County Wednesday forced it to halt gas flow from the compressor station until safety and damage assessments could be completed.",
            "output": [
                "\"H. L. Mencken wrote that eventually \"\"the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.\"",
                "GM halts operations at 11 Michigan plants after utility's urgent appeal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db807a25e469431d93b4be1587106e46",
            "input": "Michael, among the strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States, barreled onto the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018, with 160 mph (257 kph) winds, ripping homes from their foundations, flattening others and utterly devastating Tyndall Air Force Base, home to 11,000 airmen. It left 22,000 of Bay County’s then-180,000 residents homeless and resulted in total insured losses of almost $7 billion. This summer, county officials unveiled a nearly 300-page blueprint to rebuild. Among their ideas is to use shipping containers and 3-D technology to build new houses and to offer signing bonuses for doctors to replace those who fled when their offices and equipment were destroyed. They have their work cut out for them: About 5,000 people are still homeless and rent for the few available living quarters has skyrocketed. About 1 in 6 insurance claims are still unresolved, and local government officials are worried about depleted tax coffers as small businesses struggle to reopen. Bay County schools have lost more than 1 in 8 students, which will affect the amount of state education funding they receive. “The community at large is suffering from trauma and grief,” officials said in their report, released in July. “Citizens are fatigued, tired and anxious.” Teri Powell Hord, whose Panama City neighborhood was blasted by Michael, said haggling with insurance companies and contractors has dragged out the recovery process and is taking its toll on residents’ mental health. “It’s frustrating,” Hord said. More people than ever before are in need of mental health services. Such services were fairly limited before Michael hit. Now, officials said in their report, they are “taxed well beyond capacity.” During the past school year alone, 125 students in Bay County schools were placed in custody for a mental health evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act. Because the hurricane left standing only one medical center that can receive Baker Act patients, students were sent to facilities as far as 580 miles (933 kms) away. The school district has a waitlist of 350 students who need mental health services, and the county at large lost 40 percent of its behavioral health specialists after the storm. “We are in the midst of a mental health crisis here in Bay County,” school district officials concluded in a report. County officials also said they had seen a disturbing amount of domestic violence cases but did not provide details immediately. Health care also has suffered. Several months after the hurricane, Daniel Steele’s fiancee, Rebecca Akins, started having breathing problems that he thinks were caused by storm-related mold in their home outside Panama City. He took her to the damaged hospital, Bay Medical Center, but it had lost its intensive care unit. Akins eventually was taken to a hospital in Pensacola, 140 miles (225 kms) away. “The hospital was devastated by the storm and there’s still no ICU. What’s up with that?” Steele said. One of the county’s two hospitals, heavily damaged by the storm, has only about a quarter of the beds it did before. The Bay County recovery blueprint calls for signing bonuses, slashed taxes and student loan forgiveness to physicians and mental health providers who come to Bay County. It recommends building a new hospital in Panama City Beach, a section of the county largely spared the worst of the damage, and enhancing security during emergencies at clinics that house pharmaceuticals. It also calls for acquiring block housing — a large number of apartments in the same building or trailer park — to house mental health providers. In August, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis announced the installation of 63 “telehealth” kiosks where students in public schools that were affected by the hurricane can speak to a mental health professional remotely. Building affordable housing is another priority for the county — both for residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed and the influx of construction workers who are helping to rebuild. Hurricane Michael damaged an estimated 60,000 homes. Since the storm, rental prices have spiked. There have been increases in foreclosures as residents who lost their jobs struggled to keep up with mortgage payments. County leaders are in talks with private builders to construct new affordable housing quickly through nontraditional means such as 3-D printing, modular construction and tiny houses. “It’s a chicken and an egg thing,” said Panama City manager Mark McQueen. “You can’t get employees until you get housing. You can’t get housing without construction workers. We are in a vulnerable state of our recovery without housing. It crosses every sector of our community.” ___ Associated Press reporter Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP",
            "output": [
                "A year after Michael, Florida community still in crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-380cb31902a7414daeff1338720f04aa",
            "input": "\"We may be months — at least — away from a vaccine to protect against COVID-19, but in the meantime the public is turning its eyes to drugs that could be used to treat it. Among the first to be lauded as a possible solution was the antiviral drug remdesivir, which attacks the coronavirus to prevent it from making copies of itself and spreading. A clinical trial run in April found that patients who took the drug were more likely to recover from the disease — and do so faster — than patients who took a placebo pill. But as excitement about remdesivir amps up, criticism has followed over the price that Gilead Sciences, the drug’s manufacturer, wants to charge for it. U.S. insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, will pay $3,120 for a five-day course of the drug, while other developed countries will pay about a third less because they’ll purchase from generic manufacturers to which Gilead has licensed production. The move has angered many, including the progressive advocacy group and think tank Public Citizen, which tweeted on June 29, 2020 about the price declaration, writing, \"\"Taxpayers spent $70,000,000 to develop this drug. It should be in the public domain. Instead, Big Pharma is robbing us blind.\"\" Parts of the tweet, course, are opinions. But the $70 million claim is stated as a fact. How much did taxpayers spend to develop remdesivir? Let’s dig in. To back up the organization’s claim, Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicine director, sent a May 7, 2020 post published on their site titled, \"\"The real story of remdesivir.\"\" Amid the worldwide Ebola outbreak in 2015, the U.S. government partnered with Gilead to identify a drug that targeted the Ebola virus and was successful in blocking the infection in Rhesus monkeys. That drug would later come to be known as remdesivir. In 2017, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report noted that an entity within the Department of Defense would cost-share with Gilead for \"\"continued development of this product,\"\" noting its antiviral activity against a number of viruses, including coronaviruses. The Department of Defense has spent $34.5 million so far on this effort. Also in 2017, the National Institutes of Health issued a $6 million grant to researchers at the University of North Carolina to speed the development of remdesivir. And as the novel coronavirus made its way into the world, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of NIH, announced it would funnel $30 million into the aforementioned clinical trial for remdesivir. Since the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health are funded through federal taxes, these three payments add up to what Public Citizen claimed. Public Citizen wrote that taxpayers paid $70 million to develop remdesivir. Three separate projects from agencies that are funded by taxpayer dollars, adding up to $70 million, have commenced since 2015.",
            "output": [
                "“Taxpayers spent $70,000,000 to develop this drug ( remdesivir)."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e7b8e8c5730b4571904f8c5e24acb419",
            "input": "There are four slashes among the women’s siblings, others among her immediate family, and most family members’ symbols are partially colored in. Each partially filled circle represents a cancer diagnosis. Each slash indicates a death. Although white women get breast cancer more frequently, it’s usually diagnosed later and is more severe in African American women. Breast cancer death rates among black women were about 40 percent higher than among white women between 1999 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Ricks-Santi, director of the Hampton University Cancer Research Center, and another Hampton colleague, John McDonald, recently received a $446,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the genetics behind breast cancer diagnoses in African American women. In particular, they’re trying to refine genetic tests that don’t seem to be as effective for black women as white. “I wanted to make sure that there was equity in the way that genetics and genomics was being applied across populations,” Ricks-Santi said. She has a longstanding interest in cancer research, dating back to when she was a kid. Her family has a history of cancer; her father has prostate cancer. That led her to pursue an undergraduate degree at Hampton University and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. She worked as a post-doctoral fellow in a joint cancer studies program between Georgetown and Howard University. There, she saw a trend among genetic tests for breast cancer, particularly the most common ones, BRCA 1 and 2. They are sometimes an indicator for some of the hardest to treat forms, and they’re also correlated with other kinds of cancer in men and women. At Georgetown’s cancer center, which Ricks-Santi said served mostly white and affluent patients, BRCA tests often helped doctors decide if women were candidates for preventative treatment or if they needed additional testing. At Howard’s cancer center, which served more black patients, BRCA tests often came back inconclusive. This, Ricks-Santi said, makes it hard for oncologists to come up with specific, informed approaches for patients of color. “You can’t do that if you’re not identifying the right risk factor, the right gene,” said Melissa Gomes, a mental health nurse practitioner and a co-investigator on the study. “You can’t make that personalized approach if it wasn’t based on a population that included you.” The study that Ricks-Santi and McDonald are leading uses family history and genetic data from 300 breast cancer patients at Howard, along with relatives without cancer diagnoses and other types of cancer. Ricks-Santi will conduct statistical research to find candidate genes that could provide a better test. McDonald, an assistant professor of physics, will then conduct the laboratory phase of the study, injecting those genes into cancer cells in Petri dishes to determine exactly what kind of effect those have. They’re also working with Hampton University students on the project, who will be paid with grant money. “It’s nice to create that pipeline of researchers that look like the population we want to study,” Gomes said. This round of funding lasts for three years. But they’re already looking toward the next phase. That’s where Gomes’ experience comes in, whose background is clinical psychiatry. She sees patients four days a week. In a second study, once they’ve isolated some possible genes, they want to control for those genes and then investigate social circumstances that might contribute to breast and other kinds of cancer. Gomes hopes to use her background in psychiatry and patient care to help build connections in Hampton Roads in addition to helping with the social research. “Nurses are considered one of the most trusted health professionals,” Gomes said. “I think that the community trusts us and they value their opinion.” Ricks-Santi is hopeful about this holistic approach, citing her father’s own experience. Because of the small size of his tumor, they took a more wait-and-see approach to treatment. He moved to Puerto Rico for six months to relax. It seemed to work. His prostate-specific antigen levels, an indicator of that kind of cancer, dropped significantly and have stayed stable. “It’s scary and exciting,” Ricks-Santi said. “There’s so many possibilities.” ___ Information from: Daily Press, http://www.dailypress.com/",
            "output": [
                "University studies cancer risk and testing for black women."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca7eedb7efa946de83af727402e46d8a",
            "input": "\"There was a time when no presidential candidate's TV ad would trumpet his wife's views on abortion. But Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign does so proudly with an ad featuring James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family in Colorado, praising the Texas senator's spouse. \"\"His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life first lady,\"\" Dobson says in the TV ad, in which he also endorses Ted Cruz for president. The ad has aired about 30 times -- mostly in Iowa before the caucuses -- between November 2015 and late February 2016, according to PoliticalAdArchive.org It is an intriguing claim, so PolitiFact decided to examine its accuracy. For this analysis, we're defining \"\"pro-life\"\" as how the first ladies felt about access to abortion from a policy perspective, not their personal view. We asked the Cruz campaign for information supporting Dobson's claim. (Dobson's spokesman said Dobson was out of the country and unreachable for comment.) The Cruz campaign provided a 2012 Townhall.com report, headlined: \"\"Surprising: Ann Romney would be first Pro-Life First Lady since Roe vs. Wade.\"\" The story says that every first lady from Pat Nixon to Michelle Obama has supported a woman’s freedom of choice on abortion -- even if some first ladies’ personally opposed abortion. Ann Romney, wife of then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in 2012 told ABC’s The View, \"\"I am pro-life. I'm happy to say that.\"\" Clearly, Mrs. Cruz isn't the first candidate's wife to be held up as possibly the first pro-life first lady. And in this election year, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, is also described -- along with Heidi Cruz -- as \"\"Unapologetically Pro-Life.\"\" The New York Times reports that friends and colleagues \"\"detect Mrs. Rubio’s influence on her husband’s outspoken opposition to abortion in almost all cases.\"\" Remember, in the Cruz campaign ad, Dobson says Heidi Cruz \"\"will be the very first pro-life first lady,\"\" while the campaign’s supporting documentation is a story stating that all first ladies since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in 1973, have supported a woman’s choice on abortion. Experts say it is very difficult to find a first lady commenting on abortion before the court ruling, because few Americans publicly discussed the controversial issue, let alone presidents’ wives. \"\"The reason people didn't discuss (abortion) back then was because it was illegal,\"\" said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, who is considered the foremost historian on the political and social power of first ladies. His books include the two-volume First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power, 1789-1990. Anthony said it is known that two pre-Roe vs. Wade first ladies, Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson were \"\"pro-choice.\"\" Yet this is why it’s hard to confirm or refute Dobson’s claim that Heidi Cruz’s anti-abortion stand would be a \"\"first\"\" for first ladies. In the past, if a first lady had opinions on abortion, \"\"they weren’t made public,\"\" said Edith Mayo, a curator emerita at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, who oversaw a first ladies exhibit. \"\"So you'd have a very difficult time tracing it,\"\" added Mayo, whose books include, First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image and The Smithsonian's Book of First Ladies. Anthony said first ladies’ reticence about discussing controversial issues changed during the national upheaval over the Vietnam War. Suddenly presidents’ wives, whose duties had historically tended toward ribbon cuttings and non-controversial projects, were facing tougher questions from reporters. \"\"The Vietnam War is the turning point,\"\" said Anthony, who wrote speeches for Nancy Reagan. \"\"So questions are asked to Pat Nixon that would never have been previously asked of her immediate successors. ... Mrs. Nixon really got to be the first one to be asked about the Equal Rights Amendment, about abortion, about amnesty for guys who didn't go to Vietnam.\"\" \"\"From that point, every single (first lady) has had to address and respond to questions on important issues,\"\" he said. Yet it is true that every first lady since since Roe vs. Wade has publicly expressed their support for a woman’s choice on abortion. Here’s a list: Pat Nixon: In response to questions after the Roe vs. Wade decision, Pat Nixon said, \"\"I believe abortion is a personal choice.\"\" A year before the ruling, she offered a more nuanced opinion: \"\"I'm really not for abortion. I think it's a personal thing. I mean abortion on demand — wholesale.\"\" Betty Ford: When Barbara Walters asked her views on Roe vs. Wade, Ford called it \"\"a great, great decision.\"\" As she later recalled the interview, \"\"I just said, 'Well, I'm delighted because I'm glad they have taken abortion out of the backwoods and put it into the hospitals.' \"\" Rosalynn Carter: At a 1980 press conference, Carter said she and her husband are \"\"personally very opposed to abortion\"\" and always have been. However, she supported the Roe vs. Wade decision while being against federal funding for abortion. \"\"I oppose it for myself, but I have a hard time with deciding for other women what is right or wrong or best for them,\"\" Mrs. Carter once wrote. Nancy Reagan: After President Ronald Reagan had left office, Mrs. Reagan told a George Washington University class in 1994 that while she personally opposed abortion, she supported a woman’s right to choose. \"\"I'm against abortion. On the other hand, I believe in a woman's choice,\"\" she said in response to a question from Anthony, her former speech writer who was teaching a class titled \"\"The President's Spouse.\"\" Her comments were not a total surprise. According to a book by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, Mrs. Reagan once said, \"\"I don't give a damn about the pro-lifers,\"\" and demanded that all mention of abortion be removed from the president's 1987 State of the Union address. Barbara Bush: When her husband ran for president in 1980, Mrs. Bush drew attention by expressing her pro-choice views on abortion. Then, during President George H.W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign against Bill Clinton, Mrs. Bush opposed Republicans placing an uncompromising anti-abortion policy in the GOP platform. She said it was a \"\"personal thing\"\" and added, \"\"The personal things should be left out of, in my opinion, out of platforms and conventions,\"\" she told reporters. She later wrote in her memoirs, \"\"She supports abortion rights. But, her opinion didn’t matter because she’s not elected by the American people.\"\" Hillary Clinton: In January 1999, Hillary Clinton ventured into new territory for a first lady by addressing NARAL -- then known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. She declared her goal of \"\"keeping abortion safe, legal and rare into the next century\"\" -- a phrase that's become her pro-choice mantra. \"\"I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion,\"\" she told the crowd. \"\"Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government in any regard.\"\" Laura Bush: While less of an activist than some first ladies, Laura Bush didn’t shy away from expressing her views -- even when they differed from her husband’s. Katie Couric asked her on the day of George W. Bush’s inauguration if Roe vs. Wade should be overturned, and Mrs. Bush replied \"\"No.\"\" In her 2010 memoir, \"\"Spoken from the Heart,\"\" Laura Bush writes, \"\"While cherishing life, I have always believed that abortion is a private decision, and there, no one can walk in anyone else’s shoes.\"\" Michelle Obama: Mrs. Obama often speaks about her husband's support for a woman's choice on abortion. \"\"And he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care ... that's what my husband stands for,\"\" Mrs. Obama said at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Our ruling In the Ted Cruz campaign ad, James Dobson says, \"\"His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life first lady.\"\" In support of the claim, the campaign provided an article stating that all first ladies since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision have supported a woman’s choice on abortion. That is accurate. Yet, Dobson’s claim went further, stating that Mrs. Cruz would be the \"\"very first pro-life first lady\"\" -- the first in American history. Experts say it’s difficult to confirm or refute the claim because, while abortion has always been a controversial subject, before Roe vs. Wade it was also illegal. None of the experts we spoke with could cite a first lady publicly commenting on the issue before Roe vs. Wade, except for Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson. This raises the possibility that other first ladies may have opposed abortion earlier in the country’s history, but never expressed it publicly. With that caveat.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"James Dobson Says Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi \"\"will be the very first pro-life first lady.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-510540fe89794cb68028fe40e5e33120",
            "input": "He was on his way. The shooting guard was the Longhorns’ leading scoring through the start of what looked like a big season. After a wrist fracture sidelined him for a few games, his return to the lineup was going to be big: the Big 12 season opener against Kansas. He hardly played. Same thing for the next game at Iowa State. Two games, 20 minutes total. The 20-year-old Jones had told his coaches he was tired. No energy. Texas sent him for tests. Then Jones didn’t travel to a game last Saturday just 90 miles away at Baylor. By Tuesday, coach Shaka Smart looked shaken and on the verge of tears when he said he couldn’t discuss what was ailing Jones out of “respect for the family.” On Wednesday, the school announced Jones has been diagnosed with leukemia and had started treatment. “Speaking for our entire team and staff, we love Andrew and will do everything we can to support his family and help him get back to health,” Smart said in the university statement, and no further details were released. “We hope everyone will keep him in your thoughts and prayers,” the Jones family said in the statement. “This is obviously a difficult situation for our family, and we hope everyone will respect our privacy at this time.” Texas hosted No. 16 TCU on Wednesday night and the Longhorns wore “AJ1” patches on their jerseys. During pregame introductions, the Texas bench left a seat open and draped Jones’ jersey across the back. Athletic director Chris Del Conte said the school “will do everything in our power to provide all of the resources we can to assist Andrew and his family.” Jones, who is from Irving in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, averaged nearly 12 points as a freshman and considered leaving for the NBA draft after but returned to Texas after attending the scouting combine. His sister, Alexis, was a standout at Baylor and plays for the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx. Jones’ family has dealt with challenges in the past. Andrew was 7 in 2007 when his father was paralyzed in a car accident on an icy road. Jones was ejected from the car but escaped with only some bruising. The announcement of Andrew Jones’ illness prompted a wave of support on social media, including Twitter messages from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, who has battled cancer. “Gut wrenching news for Andrew Jones. So much love & support for he & his family. We are here for you ,” Rowe wrote on Twitter. The Kansas basketball program used its official Twitter account to send Jones a message. “On behalf of the entire #KUbball family, we send our thoughts and prayers to Andrew and his family. May he stay strong through this difficult time and we are eager to see him back on the court soon,” the Jayhawks program said. ___ For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25",
            "output": [
                "Texas guard Andrew Jones diagnosed with leukemia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c83818d163d4d81a0ba8b82fab4df04",
            "input": "More than 132,000 cases of the virus have been reported in 123 countries since it emerged in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference. “Europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of world combined apart from China,” he said in Geneva. Tedros announced that the WHO was launching a coronavirus Solidarity Response Fund. This would to allow people and organizations to contribute to help fund masks, gloves, gowns and goggles for heath workers, as well as diagnostic kits and investment in research and development, including for vaccines. Facebook will match up to $10 million in donations, while Alphabet Inc’s Google will donate $5 million, the WHO and UN Foundation later announced in a joint statement. Social distancing, where people avoid close proximity or touching, is a “tried and tested method” to slow the spread of a virus but “not a panacea” that will stop transmission, the WHO’s top emergency expert Dr. Mike Ryan said. Each country must decide on its own measures to protect its population, he said, adding: “But we’ve also consistently said that blanket travel measures in their own right will do nothing to protect an individual state.”  Detection and isolation of infected people, as well as tracing their contacts and wider testing, must be part of a comprehensive strategy, Ryan said. “As part of an overall comprehensive strategy, there is a place - particularly inside national borders - for potentially restricting movement between zones, as we’ve seen in certain places,” he said. “But there is rarely a justification for blanket bans, unless of course the context and the risk defines that.”  U.S. President Donald Trump has announced sweeping travel restrictions to prevent people from 26 European countries - except for Britain and Ireland - from traveling to the United States in a bid to limit the virus spread. A number of other countries in recent days have announced stepped up border checks, and canceled flights to other countries, in an effort to contain the spread. Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus, opening the door to providing what he said was about $50 billion in federal aid to fight the disease.",
            "output": [
                "Europe is epicenter of coronavirus pandemic: WHO."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-82279e4e03564bce86d48fe3524d9182",
            "input": "P. Allen Smith rounds up his flock of blue state turkeys at his 650-acre Moss Mountain Farm outside Little Rock, Arkansas, in this 2009 handout image obtained by Reuters on November 23, 2011. REUTERS/Courtesy Heritage Poultry Conservancy/Handout On his 650-acre Moss Mountain Farm outside Little Rock, Smith breeds domestic heritage poultry - turkey, chickens, ducks and geese - threatened with extinction. “The Thanksgiving turkeys that people put on their tables now are not what their great-grandparents ate,” Smith told Reuters. “They ate birds with names like the Bronze, the Black Spanish and the Slate, but the grocery store ones originated from these.”   Smith, a garden and lifestyle designer and author, is known by television viewers around the country for garden design advice and food tips on two PBS shows as well as NBC’s Today show and the Weather Channel. But on his farm, he has cultivated another passion. In 2009, Smith began the Heritage Poultry Conservancy, a non-profit organization, as a way to support threatened breeds and strains of poultry. The conservancy focuses on fowl that were developed or recognized in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. He now has about 600 birds on his farm. These poultry breeds were once very common. They fled the country during some of its most desperate times, such as the Civil War and the Great Depression, Smith said. But as factory farms and hybrid genetics became more prevalent in the last several decades, these birds began to vanish quickly. “My grandmother raised these types of birds and so did a lot of other people’s grandmothers,” Smith said during a tour of his sprawling farm. “Now we have a monoculture when it comes to poultry.”   Smith, a Tennessee native who moved to Little Rock as a child, started showing poultry at 4-H shows at age 10. On his farm, a brown flag, flying below the American flag, promotes the conservancy. Several old cotton wagons from the Arkansas Delta are used for poultry houses. The farm also has an incubator room for eggs in a hatchery on the grounds. The poultry do not have pet names because they are raised for meat and eggs. Farm workers use manure to fertilize Smith’s gardens. “This is not a petting zoo of exotic chickens,” he said. “The eating of these animals is what saves them. These are animals that have lost their jobs and we are trying to put them to work.”   And yes, he will eat one of the Blacks, often referred as the Black Spanish, or blue slate turkeys, for Thanksgiving. Christopher Columbus and other early explorers were given Blacks by various Indian tribes on return voyages to Europe. The Indians often used the feathers in ceremonial dress. The Black became popular among Colonists and then throughout the United States until the early 20th century. They are now extremely rare, as are the Blue Slates. Smith pointed out that turkeys were once much larger than they are now because the industrialized farm setting rushes the growing process. It is important, Smith said, to raise heritage poultry in traditional ways. Birds should naturally reproduce by breeding instead of by artificial insemination, he said. They should have a long, productive outdoor lifespan and adapt to their surroundings. They should have a slow growth rate to develop a strong skeletal structure and healthy organs. To be classified as heritage poultry, birds must be recognized by the American Poultry Association as having parent and grandparent stock prior to the mid-20th century. Only a few farms in the United States have such birds. Smith acquired most of his breeds from Frank Reese’s Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas. Reese has been raising poultry for 60 years. Some of the turkey breeds he remembers as a child such as the White Holland, which Aztec Indians bred in the 1500s, are nearly extinct or are raised only as show birds. But Reese still raises them. This Thanksgiving, Reese sold a few White Hollands along with about 8,000 Bronze, Narragansett, Bourbon Red, and Black turkeys from his farm   “The idea of a white turkey doesn’t appeal to a lot of people,” Reese told Reuters by phone. “People want color and it’s too bad because they are a very practical turkey.”",
            "output": [
                "Arkansas farmer seeks to save historic turkey breeds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9cbbb4a5293e42d8a09183b7101037af",
            "input": "But the Penn State University professor of agricultural and biological engineering in the College of Agricultural Sciences faced a problem. His formula of cellulose from wood and cotton and chitin derived from the exoskeletons of arthropods and such crustaceans as lobsters, crabs and shrimp, just wouldn’t mix. It kept separating. Driving his car and pondering a solution, the professor was staring at the pavement ahead when he realized the solution. He was staring at it. “I was looking at the blacktop and remember when I was a college intern at (The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation), which was using bituminous asphalt that had to be mixed with high-shear mixtures of oil, polymers and water,” he said. “Oil and water don’t mix but if you blend them at ultra high shear, they will form a solution or emulsion.” Milk, for example, is an emulsion of fat and water. Back at his lab, colleagues watched a bit dubiously, he said, as he put the components into a food blender and mixed them at high speed before applying the emulsion to a test surface. It was a eureka moment. The mixture he’d worked on for years formed a waterproof coating that he’d hoped to create, That product, with its multiple potential uses, is described in a recent study published in the Green Chemistry Journal. A cheaper, safer material for food packaging was his primary goal, with sustainability motivating him to develop the all-natural material that still lacks a name. Its components include cellulose pulp from wood or cotton and a material known as chisosan, derived from chitin, a main component of exoskeletons of insects and crustaceans. Cellulose, the main component of wood, is one of the most readily available materials on the planet, Mr. Catchmark said. He now is seeking a patent on the material, which he said could be used in wood-fiber composites for flooring, impervious films and industrial coatings and adhesives. It also could replace formaldehyde-based adhesives in many construction materials as well as uses in eco-friendly cosmetics. “The potential reduction of pollution is immense if these barrier coatings replace millions of tons of petroleum-based plastic associated with food packaging used every year in the United States and much more globally,” he said in a statement describing his new product. Plastic long has raised concern as food packaging including its use to line aluminum cans. Bisphenol A, a component of such plastics, has been linked with health impacts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted two petitions requesting the administration to amend its food additive regulations to no longer provide for the use of certain BPA-based materials in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula packaging. These uses, the FDA said, “have been abandoned” as a result of controversy over their use. In the meantime, the FDA said, “Studies have raised questions about the safety of ingesting the low levels of BPA that can migrate into food from food contact materials. To address these questions the National Toxicology Program, partnering with FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, is carrying out in-depth studies to answer key questions and clarify uncertainties about BPA.” Plastics have other problems. Global production is approaching 300 million tons per year, with about 10 percent ending up as municipal solid waste, half of which is packaging. “It is anticipated that 10 percent of all plastic produced globally will become ocean debris, representing a significant ecological and human health threat,” said Mr. Catchmark, who holds a doctorate in electrical engineering, in a statement about his product. Southern Champion Tray, a leading manufacturer of paperboard packaging including pizza boxes in Chattanooga, Tenn., already is testing the new material in its products. ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2yKxtHg ___ Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com",
            "output": [
                "Penn State creates food packaging material from wood, shells."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c6d2e02173e4babad6461004c55cbc6",
            "input": "The state Department of Environmental Protection is considering new regulations on how much toxins are allowed in the state’s waterways. The Tampa Bay Times reports that environmentalists say the state should set numeric limits on the amount of toxins. However, the state agency believes the new limits should determine when and where to declare a public health emergency, not as a tool to try to prevent such emergencies. Florida had the worst blue-green algae bloom last year in the state’s history. That was coupled with a devastating red tide outbreak along the state’s beaches that caused respiratory irritations in people and killed sea turtles, manatees, dolphins and fish. ___ Information from: Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.), http://www.tampabay.com.",
            "output": [
                "Environmentalists, state officials disagree on toxin limits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-09f631885a0c4a99b8f5f85653f39a64",
            "input": "The county mental health board is collaborating with 17 school districts in August to bring Youth Mental Health First Aid training to instructors and teach them crisis intervention, the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported . “It gives you an opportunity for early intervention,” said Kristin Schmidt, assistant director of special education for Crystal Lake Elementary District 47, one of school districts receiving teacher training. “This will provide them a lens of empathy. They can apply it to how they choose to interact with students in their classroom or change expectations for classroom behaviors; modify workload for students with high anxiety.” The Illinois Association for Behavioral Health has used the nationally known training model to educate instructors, school personnel, parents, and neighbors on how to help teenagers dealing with mental health problems. But the five-day training in August will be primarily for middle and high school administrators, special education staff, social workers and psychologists. It will be provided by expert national trainers and enabled by the Crystal Lake chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness . The class will comprise of a five-step action plan for how to assist adolescents in crisis and non-crisis circumstances. Those steps include: evaluating for danger of suicide or harm; listening nonjudgmentally; providing reassurances and information; encouraging proper professional help; and promoting self-help and other support strategies. One in five children, ages 13 to 18 years, has experienced a serious mental disorder in their lives, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Scott Block, executive director of the McHenry County Mental Health Board, said McHenry County’s evaluation of child and adolescent mental health and psychiatric needs in 2017 underscored a mounting issue and need for improved access to services. “With the pressures of today’s society, both in the educational (and) social environment in which children are using many different social media platforms. There have been anecdotal increases in anxiety, depression, body image issues, and bullying-related concerns, all of which have exacerbated mental health-related issues within our youth,” Block said. “Our response was to increase and bolster some of our community-based services.” In January, the mental health board approved up to $40,000 in subsidies to allocate to the Youth Mental Health First Aid training after a new state mandate required school boards to adopt and implement rules addressing mental health concerns. ___ Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com",
            "output": [
                "McHenry County to give teachers youth mental health training."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9ff48a59fd54e2ea1a021030ab741b3",
            "input": "Finally. Darnold was cleared by doctors Tuesday to play this week after he missed three games while recovering from mononucleosis. He had medical tests to determine if the swelling in his spleen — a common symptom of the illness — had dissipated enough for him to play again. The Jets announced in a Twitter post that Darnold would start Sunday at home against Dallas. It’s some rare good news for the Jets, who are 0-4 — their worst start since 2003 — while dealing with several injuries to key players. And Darnold’s illness is at the top of the list. The team was optimistic last week that Darnold would be able to play at Philadelphia, which was the initial goal for his return. Darnold took first-team snaps last Wednesday and Thursday, but an ultrasound and blood test last Thursday night revealed he was not yet able to be fully cleared. So Luke Falk — on one day of full reps with the first-team offense — started his second straight game for New York. The Jets lost 31-6 and Falk was sacked nine times and had two turnovers returned for touchdowns while New York struggled to get anything going on offense. That has been a common theme during Darnold’s absence, with Adam Gase’s offense ranking at or near the bottom of the league in several categories. New York has just 233 yards of total offense in its last two games combined. With Falk starting, the Jets had 105 against New England two weeks ago and 128 at Philadelphia. “It’s probably more than just Sam getting out there,” Gase said Monday. “We have a lot of other things to clean up. Sam is able to hide things sometimes for us, where if we make a mistake, he covers it up. I think we just need to do a better job as a group making sure that all 11 are on the same page.” Darnold was diagnosed with mono on Sept. 11, three days after the season-opening loss to Buffalo. He acknowledged that he was beginning to experience symptoms leading into that game and was not 100% against the Bills, going 28 of 41 for 175 yards and a touchdown. He was sent home before practice three days later and received the diagnosis that night. Backup Trevor Siemian started in Week 2 against Cleveland, but he suffered season-ending ligament damage in his left ankle in the 23-3 loss. Falk, who had been on the practice squad until shortly before that game, came in and started the next two games for the Jets. Darnold was cleared for non-contact activity last Monday and appeared to be trending toward playing at Philadelphia — until another medical test failed to bring positive results. But the quarterback was eager for the latest round of tests. “I’m excited to hear the news,” Darnold said Monday during his weekly appearance on “The Michael Kay Show” on 98.7 ESPN Radio. “I have a feeling it’s going to be good news. I thought maybe it would come last week, but I had to wait it out again. Hopefully, this week it’s better news and I get to practice and get ready for a game on Sunday.” Darnold is all clear now, and the Jets have their starting quarterback back on the field. “Let’s get it Sammy,” an excited running back Le’Veon Bell wrote on Twitter. Darnold said last week that when he was cleared to play, he would wear customized padding around his ribcage/spleen area to help protect him. That’s something to watch as the Jets have allowed an NFL-leading 23 sacks. New York has two other key players returning this week in second-year tight end Chris Herndon, who was suspended by the NFL for the first four games for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, and outside linebacker Brandon Copeland, who also was banned four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancers. The short-handed Jets are still waiting for linebackers C.J. Mosley (groin) and Jordan Jenkins (calf) to return, and starting left guard Kelechi Osemele is dealing with knee and shoulder injuries. Wide receiver Quincy Enunwa (neck) was lost for the season with a neck injury against Buffalo, further hindering the offense. “We have a lot of talent,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said Monday. “We’re 0-4 right now, but the season isn’t over and we still have a lot to fight for.” ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL",
            "output": [
                "Jets QB Sam Darnold cleared to play, will start vs. Cowboys."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8627eeac506a4f4db179e78d22ad399d",
            "input": "Castro, the Democratic former mayor of San Antonio who served in President Barack Obama’s second term, said that as a presidential candidate, he’s going to be talking about improving public education, equal treatment under the criminal justice system and addressing what he called the existential threat of climate change. Castro, who plans to announce his campaign in San Antonio on Saturday, told a group of Las Vegas high school students that two things at the top of his agenda if elected are to recommit the United States to the Paris climate accord and work to pass universal health care legislation. The next president will also have to rebuild alliances with foreign countries that President Donald Trump has weakened, Castro said, and “spend at least the first two years of their administration trying to clean up the mess of an administration that has been quite corrupt and is just doing a terrible job of managing these federal agencies.” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Renae Eze, in a prepared statement, called Castro’s visit “nothing more than a mandatory campaign rendezvous for an ego-driven politician that only cares about advancing his career, not Nevadans.” She said Castro would “deliver empty promises.” Castro, fighting off a head cold Tuesday afternoon, helped re-arrange tables and chairs to set up his roundtable chat with about a dozen students and teachers in a portable classroom at Rancho High School. The north Las Vegas school is known for political alumni, including U.S. Rep. Ruben Kihuen, and its active Hispanic student union, whose leaders met with Castro. “I remember that when I was in high school, I kind of had mixed feelings about politics because in some ways I felt like I didn’t see what difference it made,” Castro said. “I didn’t see that the people in office were doing much to help the people I was growing up with.” Castro is expected to be among the youngest candidates in the field and the most prominent Latino. On Tuesday night, minutes after Trump wrapped up a prime-time address to the nation about his U.S.-Mexico border wall, Castro told Clark County Democrats that the president “delivered his usual lies about immigration.” “The president has been on a three-year mission to scare the American people on the issue of immigration,” Castro said. He added that America needs to secure its border with personnel and technology and needs to “harness the potential of immigrants in the country, starting with our Dreamers.” The term relates to the never-passed DREAM Act that would have provided protections for young immigrants who were illegally brought to the United States as children. Castro’s visit was the first public one to Nevada by a potential 2020 candidate this year, though he and other potential 2020 contenders made appearances during last year’s campaign season. In August, Castro visited a Nevada Democratic Party office on the heavily Latino east side of Las Vegas and stumped for Democratic candidates north in Reno, the state’s second-most populous area outside of Clark County. Earlier in the day, Castro met with Peter Guzman, the president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, which has backed candidates of both parties in past elections. Guzman, a Republican, said he and Castro spoke about how education and health care are areas where entrepreneurs and business-friendly Democrats can find common ground. “I was very, very impressed with him,” Guzman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I’m impressed with his story. I’m impressed that he comes from San Antonio and was mayor there.” Guzman said he told Castro that he’d be a top contender for vice president if he doesn’t become the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. “If was Joe Biden, I would already be having meetings with him,” Guzman said. ___ Follow Price on Twitter at https://twitter.com/michellelprice .",
            "output": [
                "Castro meets with Nevada Latino leaders ahead of 2020 bid."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a8829d41ca7f4eb9b004c19a7392eca8",
            "input": "About 25 students are enrolled in the new pre-veterinary science program at the Tuscaloosa Career & Technology Academy, The Tuscaloosa News reported . As part of the program, the school has acquired six sheep that will be kept on campus. The first sheep brought to the school was 5-month-old Betsy, who came from a farm in Jefferson County. Last week, several people got to know Betsy when she wandered into the school’s conference hall. Agriscience instructor Carl Hughes had taught a veterinary program at the school that did not involve live animals, and interest in the program grew over the years, The Tuscaloosa newspaper reported. “From there, we decided to put together a pre-vet program,” he said. The biggest change is having the sheep as part of the program. “We wanted to have live specimens to care for and deal with,” he said. The school “is all about hands-on experience, and we thought that was a good way to get that experience,” he added. Hughes decided on sheep for this year’s focus because of their docile nature and the way they are fairly easy to handle, compared with other animals. “Students will explore pets and disease management for animals, as well as explore the different breeds of animals, such as livestock and exotic pets,” he said. “We will begin learn how to check the vital signs for animals and learn about treatment of diseases.” The school is also working with veterinary instructors from Tuskegee University and Auburn University to help the program, perhaps by coming into class to teach and offer their expertise to students. ___ Information from: The Tuscaloosa News, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com",
            "output": [
                "Ewe now have sheep in new program at Tuscaloosa school."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5bc7bdbb48c64e3aaff476f5c1011a61",
            "input": "The Illinois Department of Public Health the adult patient was hospitalized after falling ill following vaping, though it didn’t give other information about the person, including the patient’s name, age, hometown or date of death. The state received the report of the death Thursday, said Dr. Jennifer Layden, the Illinois agency’s chief medical officer. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that 193 people in 22 states have contracted severe respiratory illnesses after vaping. However, they said a clear-cut common cause of the illnesses hasn’t been identified and that they are being called “potential cases” that are still under investigation. All of the sickened have been teens or adults who had used an electronic cigarette or some other kind of vaping device. Doctors say the illnesses resemble an inhalation injury, with the lungs apparently reacting to a caustic substance. So far, infectious diseases have been ruled out. The illnesses have been reported since late June, but the total count has risen quickly in the past week. That may be partly because cases that weren’t initially being linked to vaping have begun to be grouped that way. Among the newest reports are two in Connecticut, four in Iowa and six in Ohio. Health officials are asking doctors and hospitals to tell state health officials about any possible vaping-related lung disease cases they encounter. In its news release, the Illinois agency said the number of people who contracted a respiratory illness after vaping had doubled in the past week, to 22. “The severity of illness people are experiencing is alarming and we must get the word out that using e-cigarettes and vaping can be dangerous,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in the release. Electronic cigarettes have been described as a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes, but health officials have been worried about kids using them. Most of the concern has focused on nicotine, which health officials say is harmful to developing brains and might make kids more likely to take up cigarettes. But some vaping products have been found to contain other potentially harmful substances, including flavoring chemicals and oils used for vaping marijuana, experts say. A number of the people who got sick had vaped products containing THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana. CDC officials said they do not have a breakdown of how many of the sick people vaped THC. The American Vaping Association, an advocacy group, issued a statement arguing that “tainted, black market THC products” are to blame. The group called on federal officials to clear nicotine vaping products of suspicion. Matthew Myers, the head of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the illnesses underscore why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should be looking into e-cigarettes and their impact on health before they can be sold to the public. Health officials said they need to gather more information. “Investigators haven’t identified any specific product or compound that is linked to all of the cases,” Ileana Arias, a CDC official who oversees non-infectious disease, said during a Friday call with reporters. She also said the sickened might be dealing with different illnesses that have similar symptoms. ___ AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe reported from New York.",
            "output": [
                "Illinois patient’s death may be first in US tied to vaping."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5e593061ddea4743b3a2bfa0e210b5ae",
            "input": "Belgium is one of only a few countries in Europe that includes all non-hospitalised people who displayed symptoms of the disease in its daily tally of COVID-19 deaths, even if they had not been confirmed as having had it. That may help to explain why Belgium, a small country of about 11.5 million people that has been in lockdown since mid-March, now has the fifth highest coronavirus death toll in Europe, more than larger countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. On Thursday, Belgian medical authorities said the coronavirus death toll had risen to 4,857 people, of which 49% had been in care homes. Of these, only 6.5% were confirmed as having COVID-19. The vast majority were merely suspected cases. The mass testing at care homes is expected to take around three weeks.",
            "output": [
                "Mass COVID-19 testing underway at stricken Belgian care homes."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05b37546d4274ebf981885a5f1c90639",
            "input": "Chief Executive Andrew Witty said on Wednesday there were still “intriguing” opportunities for its heart drug darapladib and MAGE-A3 therapeutic cancer vaccine. Many analysts stripped out forecasts for darapladib, which is designed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in a completely different way from cholesterol-lowering drugs, after it failed to reduce risks in the first of two big final Phase III trials in November. GSK, however, is continuing to investigate the drug’s role in coronary heart disease and Witty told analysts in a call following full-year results that further data on the approach would be presented at a medical meeting next month. He was also upbeat about prospects for the MAGE-A3 cancer vaccine in other tumor settings, despite initial negative results in melanoma in September. Unlike traditional preventative vaccines, MAGE-A3 is designed for people with established disease, helping their immune systems to prevent the return of tumors after surgery. In fact the head of Britain’s biggest drugmaker said both darapladib and MAGE-3 were among the most promising drugs in the company’s pipeline. He also highlighted a new triple combination respiratory drug, a long-acting integrase inhibitor for HIV and a drug for pre-term labor, all of which could start final Phase III clinical testing this year or next.",
            "output": [
                "GSK upbeat on heart drug, cancer vaccine despite setbacks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc5eba363bb445c796feaef4b89d1a64",
            "input": "Honor, a 10-month-old colt with Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, trotted into the hearts of dozens of children and teens being treated at the Manhattan hospital. Just a handful of young patients were well enough to secure their doctors’ permission to meet Honor in person in a hospital playroom, while others watched him from their beds, viewing an internal television broadcast in their rooms and isolation units. Maria Benitez, who is 19 but looks much younger, broke into a smile when Honor pranced into the playroom. The hospital declined to elaborate on details of Benitez’s medical condition, saying only she is currently being treated as an outpatient. While Maria said her favorite animal is a horse, this one was quite different from what she expected. “He’s smaller,” Maria whispered, staring at the chestnut horse with black eyes. “They are little horses, but they have big jobs,” said Jorge Garcia-Bengochea, co-founder of Gentle Carousel. Miniature horses have comforted trauma victims after such tragedies as the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the 2013 tornadoes that devastated Oklahoma and the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. They also work with families of police officers who have died in the line of duty. “They are herd animals, so they are very intuitive of what other horses are doing, needing. And they treat people that same way. They sense different emotions, different feelings that children have,” Garcia-Bengochea said. “Children have been through very traumatic situations and they’ve shut down. Just being around the animal, they get animated, they start talking and they actually sometimes tell the horse things that they haven’t told other people,” he said. In the hospital, the tiny equines serve as a symbol of hope and beauty, conjuring up an image of outdoor activities, running and strength, said Diane Rode, who heads up the hospital’s child creative arts therapy unit. “When you’re in the hospital, you’re dealing with pain, anxiety, isolation, and it’s easy to get stuck in that. Focusing on the miniature horses creates a relationship back to the world and an interest and pleasure in the world we are working to foster,” she said. “Children need more than medicine to get better,” Rode added. (This version of the story corrects the last name in paragraph four to Benitez)",
            "output": [
                "For New York hospital's patients, miniature horses are a strong medicine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-07dc2b6b1c934601856ef7b3941a3b7b",
            "input": "Jurors in the latest case stemming from the outbreak linked to the now-closed New England Compounding Center are scheduled to return to federal court on Monday after failing to reach a verdict Friday. The former employees face mail fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges. The pharmacy’s co-founder, Barry Cadden, and a pharmacist, Glenn Chin, are already serving prison sentences after being convicted of mail fraud and racketeering. They were both cleared of second-degree murder. The outbreak sickened more than 700 people in 20 states and is considered the worst public health crisis in recent U.S. history.",
            "output": [
                "Jury deliberations to resume latest meningitis outbreak case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-251793a3c4934ccb8073f8e4187c9f3f",
            "input": "Presumably this genotyping is for research purposes only and not ready for public use, and thus no estimates of cost are yet available. This could have been explicitly stated. The article did present quantitative estimates for the accuracy of the test for lung cancer and by including the measures on two different samples, provides the reader with a glimpse into the kind of variability that exists. The story mentions that it can be predicted that 1/3 of lung cancer patients will get worse and die but that few get chemo because doctors currently can’t distinguish between this third and the two thirds that won’t get worse. And it mentions that many women with early breast cancer get chemo even though the majority don’t benefit from it . But no quantitative estimates are given about how many might benefit from these tests. There was no discussion about the burden of treatment decisions based on the results of the tests or the possibility of insurance coverage ramifications based on the results of the tests. These are significant potential harms. The article explained that the information was derived from two articles published in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. However, there was no discussion about the current study design or the prospective clinical trials that will be needed in order to evaluate the value of these genetic screens. The article did not actively disease monger about cancer or cancer risk. However, it painted a perhaps unnecessarily dismal picture for treatment of cancer, stating that “treatment guidelines for cancer are relatively crude — based on a tumor’s size, whether it has spread, and other characteristics” when in fact not all cancers are managed in this way and there are already a number of lymphomas and leukemias, for example, for which treatment is determined by the biology of tumor. The article did mention possible financial conflicts of interest present for one of the two groups of investigators. Although a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society was quoted, it would have been more helpful to have insight provided about what the study results mean in terms of breast or lung cancer treatment decisions that patients could be facing sometime in the future. Although these genetic screens appear to provide information on which to base clinical treatment decisions, prospective clinical trials have yet to be conducted. This was not mentioned in the article. However in presenting the problem of potential over-treatment of early breast cancer and under-treatment of lung cancer, the article provided valuable information for individuals with these conditions to think about when facing treatment decisions for these conditions even with only the widely available treatment options. Atlhough the article did not explicitly mention how widely available the two genetic screens discussed are, or when patients might expect to see analysis such as this in common use, it did state that the tests might “someday” be able to predict which patients should get chemotherapy. With the advent of the human genome project, there are a number of panels of genes being investigated to see whether they can be used to better match treatment to the precise disease of the patient. Although the article failed to put these two new reports within this context, the article also did not make claims about novelty of the approach. Does not appear to rely solely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Tumor profiles can help improve treatment"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8739fc683d45403e863f75ab736cd54f",
            "input": "Several academic laboratories and medical companies are rushing to produce these blood tests, which can quickly identify disease-fighting antibodies in people who already have been infected but may have had mild symptoms or none at all. This is different from the current, sometimes hard-to-come-by diagnostic tests that draw on a nasal swab to confirm active infection. “Ultimately, this (antibody test) might help us figure out who can get the country back to normal,” Florian Krammer, a professor in vaccinology at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, told Reuters. “People who are immune could be the first people to go back to normal life and start everything up again.”  Krammer and his fellow researchers have developed one of the first antibody tests in the United States for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Krammer said his lab is busy distributing key ingredients for the tests to other organizations and sharing the testing procedure. He is transferring the work to Mount Sinai’s clinical lab this week so it can begin testing patient samples. Antibody tests won’t face the same bureaucratic hurdles diagnostic testing initially did. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration relaxed its rules last month, and body-fluid tests can proceed to market without full agency review and approval. Several private companies have begun selling blood tests for COVID-19 antibodies outside the United States, including California-based Biomerica Inc (BMRA.O) and South Korean test maker Sugentech Inc (253840.KQ). Biomerica said its test sells for less than $10 and the company already has orders from Europe and the Middle East. Chembio Diagnostics Inc CMI.O of New York said it received a $4 million order from Brazil for its COVID-19 antibody test, and it plans a study of the test at several sites in the United States. Such tests are relatively inexpensive and simple, usually using blood from a finger prick. Some can produce results in 10 to 15 minutes. That could make ramping up screening much easier than for diagnostic tests. Many questions remain, including how long immunity lasts to this new virus, how accurate the tests are and how testing would roll out, according to researchers and infectious disease experts. For now, the number of people who have been able to fight off the virus is unknown. If testing goes forward on a wider scale, some public health experts and clinicians say healthcare workers and first responders should take priority. Detecting immunity among doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers could spare them from quarantine and enable them to keep treating the growing surge of coronavirus patients, they say. It could also bolster the ranks of first responders, police officers and other essential workers who have already been infected and have at least some period of protection from the virus, the experts say. “If I ever get the virus and then get over it, I’ll want to get back to the front lines ASAP,” said Dr. Adams Dudley, a pulmonologist and professor at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. “I would have a period in which I am immune, effectively making me a ‘corona blocker’ who couldn’t pass the disease on.”  Other workers sidelined by lockdowns also could potentially return to their jobs, providing a much-needed boost to the foundering U.S. economy. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has soared, and business activity slumped to a record low this month as the pandemic battered the manufacturing and service sectors. Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said companies, schools, colleges and professional sports teams could all flock to these tests. He also said a broad sample of testing could give a governor or mayor enough confidence to lift certain restrictions on businesses and schools if there is a strong level of immunity. “These tests would be very attractive if they’re cost effective, readily available and easy to do,” he said. Tony Mazzulli, chief microbiologist with Toronto’s Sinai Health system, sounded a note of caution. It is uncertain whether antibodies would be sufficient protection if a person were to be re-exposed to the virus in very large amounts. That could happen in an emergency room or intensive-care unit, for instance. The timing of a return to work and normal life also matters, he said. Some people who have antibodies to the virus could still be contagious, even if their symptoms have eased. Patients begin to make antibodies while they are still sick, Mazzulli said, and they continue to shed the virus for a few days after they have recovered. It would be “a bit premature” to use the tests to make staffing decisions now, Mazzulli said. “The hope is … (antibodies) do confer protection and they can go to work, ride the subways, whatever they do. But there’s no guarantee.”  Meantime, at the Mayo Clinic MAYO.UL in Rochester, Minnesota, researchers are preparing to start a clinical trial in which patients who test positive for COVID-19 would have their blood collected at the time of diagnosis, and again 15 to 20 days after that in the patient’s home. The trial is designed to show when people who have COVID-19 infections “seroconvert” - when antibodies produced by the body begin to show up in blood tests. That information will be useful in determining the best time to conduct the tests. “You don’t want to do it too soon because of the risk of false negatives,” said Elitza Theel, director of Mayo’s Infectious Diseases Serology Laboratory. Mayo also is evaluating the performance of antibody tests from several companies, including two from China. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is working on its own version of  antibody tests, but it has not given a timetable. The agency has said extensive research is underway. One challenge for the CDC and other labs is to get enough blood samples from people who have already been infected to verify the antibody results. The agency faced heavy criticism for sending a faulty diagnostic test to state and local labs early in the coronavirus epidemic and then taking weeks to fix it. The federal government is still trying to expand diagnostic testing capacity. The potential for antibody testing arises as U.S. President Donald Trump is considering scaling back “social distancing” and stay-at-home advisories in the weeks ahead. His political allies argue that the toll on the U.S. economy is too severe. About half of Americans have been ordered to shelter in place as many schools and businesses remain shuttered indefinitely. On Tuesday, Trump said: “I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”  Reopening offices and businesses without fear of triggering more infections, however, has been complicated by the lack of  testing to diagnose COVID-19 cases across much of the country. On Monday, Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said simple, finger-prick antibody tests could play an important role, and she suggested the federal government is not waiting on the CDC’s version. “Some are developed now. We are looking at the ones in Singapore,” Birx said Monday at a White House press briefing. “We are very quality-oriented. We don’t want false positives.”  False positives are erroneous results that, in this case, could lead to a conclusion that someone has immunity when he or she does not. Researchers at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School said they quickly developed one antibody test that had about 90% accuracy and later introduced a more sophisticated version that was more reliable, according to a report in the Straits Times of Singapore. Infectious disease experts say immunity against COVID-19 may last for several months and perhaps a year or more based on their studies of other coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in 2003. But they caution that there is no way to know precisely how long immunity would last with COVID-19, and it may vary person to person. “You are likely to have immunity for several months,” said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa. “We just don’t know. This is an incredibly important question.”  Perlman said many of the new antibody tests coming on the market now may be highly effective, but researchers want to see  data to back that up. “You want them to be sensitive enough to detect everyone who has had the infection,” Perlman said, “but not so nonspecific that you are picking up other coronaviruses.”   (This story has been refiled to fix Bioamerica Inc RIC)",
            "output": [
                "U.S. companies, labs rush to produce blood test for coronavirus immunity."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc1591b4f64b4df0acdae89d39567ec5",
            "input": "“The water affects everyone,” she said, which is why she believes her job is so important. Reese is studying public health and environmental health at East Carolina University in North Carolina. She will be an intern for the East Shore department, working on the Connecticut shoreline until the end of July. Reese spends her Tuesday mornings driving around to all the public and private natural swimming areas in Branford, North Branford and East Haven, collecting water samples and putting them on ice in her purple cooler. The samples are then collected by state Department of Public Health couriers and brought to the state lab in Rocky Hill for testing. Water quality testing has always been a priority for the East Shore department every summer, but this year, Alex Cinotti, the assistant director of health, has something he’s trying to prove. Every year, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the department collects weekly water samples from 12 water bodies used for swimming, both freshwater and saltwater, to ensure bacteria levels are low enough for public safety. Samples are collected and tested once a week, and as long as bacteria levels fall below state-determined risk levels, the beaches and other water bodies remain open. This year, however, Cinotti would like to take the sampling a step further — to show a direct correlation between rainfall and elevated bacteria levels, he said, as rain will often wash contaminants into public waters and cause bacteria levels to rise. “This is our opportunity to take samples and establish a pattern,” Cinotti said. “Bacteria is bacteria and we consider it pathogenic.” As such, in addition to the weekly sampling of water, Cinotti said that the department is collecting samples after heavy rains to see if bacteria levels rise after rainfall. This kind of analysis could not be done last summer, Cinotti said, because there were few rain events due to the drought. On the state level, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will close public beaches after a significant amount of rainfall, in anticipation of potentially higher bacteria levels. Scott Szalkiewicz, a health program supervisor for the state Health Department, told the Register last summer that because samples take 24 hours to process, it’s helpful to be able to close beaches before test results come in when officials believe bacteria levels will be high based on the amount of rain and visual indicators. The East Shore District Health Department serves Branford, North Branford and East Haven. The 12 bathing waters surveyed each week include the east and west East Haven beaches, the Clark Avenue beach, Branford Point, Stony Creek, Hotchkiss Grove, Turtle Bay, Sunrise Cove, Lanphier Cove, Cedar Lake, Linsley Lake and Clear Lake. According to water quality records from the East Shore District Health Department in 2016, there was only one time when bacteria levels reached a level at which one of the beaches had to close. Sunrise Cove reached a level of 1,000 colonies of bacteria in the sample of 100 milliliters of water on Aug. 2, 2016, according to the records. Cinotti said that the safe levels for salt water are 104 colonies of bacteria per 100 milliliters of water and 235 colonies for fresh water per 100 milliliters of water. Some things that cause heightened bacteria levels include wild animal and dog feces, sewer overflows and leaks, Cinotti said. Rain may wash contaminants such as sewer overflows, nitrogen-rich pollutants and goose and dog feces into the Sound and other bathing water bodies. Potential health risks from swimming in water with high levels of bacteria include possible infections to open wounds and gastrointestinal illness when water is accidentally swallowed, Cinotti said. He added that it’s possible swimmers could contract eye- or ear-related illnesses from high levels of bacteria. “We really need to protect children,” Cinotti said. “They are more vulnerable than adults.” ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2rFTp4s ___ Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com",
            "output": [
                "Officials study link between rain and bacteria in water."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d81b489b2f4b43038baab3834d6000dd",
            "input": "General health has improved worldwide, thanks to significant progress against infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria in the past decade and gains in fighting maternal and child illnesses. But healthy life expectancy has not increased as much, so people are living more years with illness and disability, according to the analysis, published in The Lancet journal. “The world has made great progress in health, but now the challenge is to invest in finding more effective ways of preventing or treating the major causes of illness and disability,” said Theo Vos, a professor at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington who led the analysis. The study’s main findings were that global life expectancy at birth for both sexes rose by 6.2 years  — from 65.3 in 1990 to 71.5 in 2013. Healthy life expectancy at birth rose by 5.4 years — from 56.9 in 1990 to 62.3 in 2013. Healthy life expectancy takes into account both mortality and the impact of non-fatal conditions and chronic illnesses like heart and lung diseases, diabetes and serious injuries. Those detract from quality of life and impose heavy cost and resources burdens. For most of the 188 countries studied, changes in healthy life expectancy between 1990 and 2013 were “significant and positive”, the researchers said. But in many - among them Belize, Botswana and Syria - healthy life expectancy in 2013 was not much higher than in 1990. And in some, including South Africa, Paraguay, and Belarus, healthy life expectancy has dropped. In Lesotho and Swaziland, people born in 2013 could expect to live some 10 fewer healthy years than people born there 20 years earlier. The study also found stark differences between countries with the highest and lowest healthy life expectancies, and in the rates and direction of change. Nicaraguans and Cambodians have seen dramatic increases since 1990, of 14.7 and 13.9 years respectively. People in Botswana and Belize, however, saw declines of two and 1.3 years respectively. In 2013, Lesotho had the world’s lowest healthy life expectancy, at 42 years. Japan had the highest, at 73.4 years.",
            "output": [
                "Global life expectancy rises, but people live sicker for longer."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0eaee6c8289d410a9e82463c235bbc7f",
            "input": "The (Richmond) Palladium-Item reports that 42-year-old Rodney Sintz of West College Corner also has been sentenced to a year and a half of probation. Court documents say an Indiana State Board of Animal Health field veterinarian found the dead cows in various stages of decomposition on March 5. Under state law, animals must be properly disposed of within 24 hours of an owner’s knowledge that they have died. The veterinarian said other cattle appeared below normal body weight and about half of the herd didn’t have access to adequate food and water. ___ Information from: Palladium-Item, http://www.pal-item.com",
            "output": [
                "Farmer enters plea, will serve probation in dead cow case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-006b86638be64ae0a41a18e63d85d0b7",
            "input": "Six people were killed in Monday’s explosion at White Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) off the mainland, with another nine officially listed as missing, and 30 injured. Australian Gavin Dallow, 53, and his stepdaughter Zoe Hosking, 15, were the latest victims to be identified on Wednesday. “Our hearts break at the loss of Zoe at such a young age,” the Dallow family said in an emailed statement. “We mourn the loss of Gavin and Zoe.”  And the death toll could rise with 29 people in intensive care in several hospitals around the country. Twenty seven people have horrific burns to 30% or more of their body and 22 are also on airway support due to the severity of their burns, said medical authorities. “We anticipate we will require an additional 1.2 million square centimeters of skin for the ongoing needs of the patients,” Counties Manukau Chief Medical Officer, Dr Peter Watson, said at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland. “The nature of the burns suffered is complicated by the gases and chemicals in the eruption. This has necessitated more rapid treatment of these burns than is the case for thermal-only burns,” said Watson. Surgical teams were engaged in around-the-clock treatment. “This is just the start of a very long process that for some patients will last several months,” he said. The Australian government said it expected to transfer up to 10 injured citizens from New Zealand starting in the next 24 hours, if medical staff approve them for travel. GRAPHIC: Volcanic Eruption in New Zealand - here  Authorities monitoring the uninhabited island said conditions were worsening and there was now a 40-60% chance of a massive eruption similar to Monday in the next 24 hours. “In summary, yesterday there was a high risk of an eruption. Today there is an even higher risk of an eruption. And the parameters are worsening at the moment,” Graham Leonard, a senior volcanologist at GNS Science, told a news conference in Wellington. A plume of smoke could still be seen coming from the island. “I’ve spoken to many of those involved in the operation and they are very, very eager to get back there, they want to bring people’s loved ones home,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in an interview with Reuters in Wellington. Aerial surveillance has detected no signs of life on the island, where at least one tour group was captured on automated webcams in the crater just a minute before the eruption. GRAPHIC: Volcano map of New Zealand - here  Police said the safety of recovery teams was the priority and are awaiting advice from experts on when they could access the island. That has prompted some criticism authorities are being too cautious. “We cannot put other people in jeopardy to go out there until we’re absolutely certain that the island is actually safe,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Bruce Bird told a media conference in Whakatane, the town that is an access point for tourist trips to the island. There were 47 people on White Island at the time of the eruption. Twenty-four of those were from Australia, nine from the United States, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, two each from China and Britain and one from Malaysia. A mother and daughter were the first Australians to be named as victims, media said on Wednesday. Brisbane woman Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter Jessica, 20, had been confirmed dead, family friend John Mickel told Sky News. The death toll from Monday’s eruption rose to six after one victim died in hospital on Tuesday. Daily tours bring more than 10,000 visitors to the privately owned island every year, marketed as “the world’s most accessible active marine volcano”. GeoNet raised the alert level for the volcano in November because of an increase in volcanic activity. The alert level was increased further after the eruption, and remains elevated. GRAPHIC: Volcanic alerts for White Island since 1995 - here",
            "output": [
                "Tremors worsen on New Zealand volcano island, prevent recovery of bodies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a57dce5a53340249698c09b0d15022e",
            "input": "On 18 April 2016, the “Unbelievable Facts” Facebook page posted an image purportedly showing a paramedic and a doctor who saved each other’s lives:  The story seemed like the most farfetched of urban legends, but it was in fact true. The photograph was taken from a news story from Los Angeles-area outlet KTLA on 29 March 2015, and shows Dr. Michael Shannon, Chris Trokey, and three other firefighters from Orange County Fire Authority’s Paramedic Engine 29. According to KTLA, Shannon saved Trokey’s life in 1981, just after he was born: Trokey was just 3.2 pounds at birth, and doctors had initially gave him a 50/50 chance at surviving. But his pediatrician — Dr. Shannon — helped save his life, staying with the infant around the clock until his health improved and he was stable. Trokey returned the favor in 2011, when Dr. Shannon was involved in a car accident: Firefighters from Paramedic Engine 29 were returning from another call and responded within minutes to the fiery crash. By the time they arrived, Shannon’s vehicle was also ablaze and the flames were burning his legs. Fire crews then worked to extinguish the flames and rescue him using the Jaws of Life. The seriously injured Shannon was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo where he spent the next 45 days recovering from internal injuries. He also had to have two of his toes amputated. Among those who had helped save Shannon that day was Orange County Fire Authority paramedic Chris Trokey, whose own life had been saved 30 years earlier by the pediatrician. “I didn’t know about until I went to the hospital and started talking about it, Dr. Shannon. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Dr. Shannon?’” Trokey recalled on Sunday. “That’s when I found out.”",
            "output": [
                "A paramedic saved the doctor who saved his life as a baby."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e79949d7fff4249bb7ae156d0350b20",
            "input": "Mental health problems, often undiagnosed, are usually involved and experts say knowing warning signs and who is at risk can help stop a crisis from becoming a tragedy. Bourdain, 61, and Spade, 55, died three days and a continent apart this week amid a new U.S. report showing an uptick in suicides rates in nearly every state since 1999. Middle-aged adults — ages 45 to 64 — had the largest rate increase, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous studies have suggested economic downturns and the nation’s opioid crisis contributed to the rise in middle-aged suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said Friday it’s important for everyone to know the warning signs and to intervene when family members, friends or co-workers appear troubled. Asking if they’ve had suicidal thoughts is not harmful and lets them know you care, she said. Behavior that may indicate someone is suicidal includes: —Talking about feeling hopeless, trapped, a burden to others or wanting to die. —Unusual mood swings or withdrawing from family, friends and usual activities. —Giving away important possessions. —Increased use of alcohol or drugs. This week’s report found that many suicides were in people with no known mental illness. But Dr. Joshua Gordon, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said that contradicts years of data, suggesting many have “gone undiagnosed and untreated. It’s very troubling.” Gordon said doctors need to ask patients at every opportunity about their mental health and evaluate their risk for suicide. “When you ask everybody and not just people you might suspect, you double the number you detect,” he said. Gordon noted that psychotherapy and certain psychiatric drugs have been shown to reduce suicidal tendencies. Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said that suicides can be “contagious” — hearing about one may make others who are already at risk turn to self-harm. She said celebrity suicides also typically prompt an increase in calls to suicide help lines. “People should know that suicide is preventable. Anyone contemplating suicide should know that help is available, and that there is no shame in seeking care for your mental health,” Dr. Altha Stewart of the American Psychiatric Association said in a statement. ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner on Twitter: @LindseyTanner . Her work can be found here . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Celebrity suicides highlight troubling trend in midlife."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-22982391d79a41d9aba435123175ab29",
            "input": "\"The partnership, known as the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV), will focus on coordinating regulatory decisions and provide funding to move promising therapies into human trials. \"\"We need to bring the full power of the biomedical research enterprise to bear on this crisis,\"\" NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said in a statement bit.ly/34HYTfk. The participants include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency and drugmakers Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline Plc. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for the coronavirus, which has infected 2.14 million globally, according to a Reuters tally. There are over 100 potential vaccine and therapeutic candidates for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, and the partnership aims to help prioritize development and connect clinical trial networks to test new and repurposed candidates quickly and efficiently.\"",
            "output": [
                "U.S., European health agencies to partner drugmakers in coronavirus fight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6723e4e69b9f4de1b5feff3cfd06d894",
            "input": "\"Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte faces a competitive reelection bid in New Hampshire and Democrats are already taking aim at her record on abortion and women’s health. Gov. Maggie Hassan, the only Democratic candidate in the race, is one of the latest to lob those criticisms. \"\"She has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides healthcare to about 12,000 Granite State women,\"\" Hassan said in a recent interview with the Concord Monitor, referring to Ayotte. \"\"She’s voted to defund them six times.\"\" Planned Parenthood, a women’s health care provider that also offers abortions, has become a lightning rod in recent years as elected officials in Washington and in New Hampshire have taken steps to cut the organization’s funding. The organization is no fan of Ayotte: Planned Parenthood’s political arm took out its first ad of the 2016 cycle this month targeting New Hampshire’s junior Senator. We decided to take a closer look at Hassan’s claim. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England runs five health centers across New Hampshire -- in Manchester, Claremont, Derry, Exeter and Keene. And roughly half of the patients who visit a Planned Parenthood clinic across the border in Vermont -- in White River Junction -- are from New Hampshire. The Planned Parenthood centers in New Hampshire all provide contraception, annual exams, STI testing and treatment, and pregnancy testing. The Manchester location, which saw 4,779 patients in 2014, provides surgical and medical abortions. The Keene location, visited by 1,871 patients in 2014, offers medication abortions, according to Kayla McCarthy, with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. Altogether Planned Parenthood clinics in New Hampshire served just over 11,000 patients during 2014, according according to Vice President for Public Policy Jennifer Frizzell. Another 1,750 were seen in the White River Junction, VT clinic. That would mean Planned Parenthood clinics together saw roughly 12,000 New Hampshire patients in 2014, in line with Hassan’s claim. Now let’s look at how many times Ayotte has voted against Planned Parenthood funding. Ayotte, elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, has been a consistent opponent of abortion and critic of Planned Parenthood. We checked with Hassan’s campaign and they pointed us to six votes. Three votes took place all on the same day, Dec. 3, 2015. 1) That day the Senate voted 52-47 to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood and repeal the Affordable Care Act in one bill. Ayotte voted for it. 2) Ayotte voted against an amendment that would have stripped a provision from the bill to defund Planned Parenthood. (The amendment was defeated.) 3) Another amendment, proposed by Democrats, sought to continue federal funding for Planned Parenthood, but it was tabled (that is, set aside) and Ayotte voted in favor of tabling it. (President Obama ultimately vetoed the bill.) 4) Ayotte voted to advance a bill last August that sought to prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood. But the legislation failed to get the 60 votes it needed to move forward. 5) Ayotte voted in April 2011 for a resolution to prohibit federal dollars from funding Planned Parenthood. It failed, 42 to 58. 6) And in March 2011 Ayotte voted for a bill to fund the federal government, that included dozens of other spending items, but blocked federal funding to Planned Parenthood. The bill failed, 44 to 56. Ayotte said at the time: \"\"Our country is in a fiscal crisis… Everyone is going to have to make sacrifices, including many private organizations that have relied on federal resources,\"\" according to her office. In all, these six votes show some level opposition to funding for Planned Parenthood. However, some of them were procedural, and not all offered a clean up-or-down funding decision, as Hassan’s statement suggests. Ayotte’s office said she supported several other government spending bills that did not defund Planned Parenthood. And in September 2015, Ayotte voted not to move forward with a temporary government spending bill that sought to block federal funds for Planned Parenthood. Ayotte said at the time she supported defunding Planned Parenthood, but didn’t want to shut the government down to do it. \"\"Kelly Ayotte has voted to direct federal funding away from Planned Parenthood in an effort to better use federal dollars to fill gaps in women's health services for low-income women and preserve access to women’s health services,\"\" spokeswoman Liz Johnson said. Our ruling Hassan said Ayotte voted six times to defund Planned Parenthood. Ayotte has been a consistent critic of Planned Parenthood and has shown support for defunding the organization or opposition to continued funding in at least six votes. It’s worth noting that some were procedural votes and several were much larger bills that included a provision on Planned Parenthood funding. Hassan’s claim is accurate, but needs clarification.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Kelly Ayotte \"\"has voted to defund Planned Parenthood\"\" six times.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0f0e3baac5b47e89acd30622e66dbba",
            "input": "Although the United States Secret Service is best known for its service in protecting the President and other assignees, this branch of law enforcement has a second area of responsibility, that of safeguarding the nation’s money supply from counterfeiting. Indeed, the Service was begun in 1865 for that very purpose, because at the close of the Civil War counterfeiting was so commonplace that an estimated one-third to one-half of the currency then in circulation was fake. Protection of the President was added to the Service’s duties only in response to the  assassination of William McKinley in 1901. These days, the Secret Service’s jurisdiction in the financial crimes arena has been expanded beyond the counterfeiting of U.S. currency into forgery, theft of U.S. Treasury checks and bonds, credit card fraud, telecommunications fraud, computer fraud, and identity fraud. The Secret Service routinely rounds up and jails counterfeiters. It also each year destroys millions of dollars of phony U.S. bills, many long before they are loosed upon the public. Theirs is a quietly efficient organization geared for success, with most of the operations undertaken unfolding with clockwork precision. But this is a tale of a counterfeiting investigation that went against that norm, as it unfolded with anything but clockwork precision. This one case bedeviled the Service for a decade and came to a close only through a series of fortuitous events rather than via dogged and effective police work. In New York City in 1938, very poorly executed counterfeits of dollar bills began appearing in that city’s money supply. Turning up at a rate of no more than forty or fifty a month, these bogus bucks were produced on a small hand-driven printing press from a set of plates that could best be described as abysmally crude. And, as crude as they were, they got worse in subsequent editions as their maker sought to improve his product. One of the overhauls of his plates rendered the spelling of the surname of George Washington (whose portrait appears on the one dollar bill) as “Wahsington.” While the Secret Service was at that time routinely rounding up forgers who were doing far more damage to the money supply, they were baffled by this clumsy and unskilled counterfeiter. This hapless mystery man produced dollar bills and only dollar bills, and he never spread more than a handful of them in any given week. And he never seemed to pass his phony bucks more than once at the same place. The Secret Service dubbed him Mr. Eight Eighty, a moniker based on the file number assigned to his case. As the years passed, he came to be known as Old Mr. Eight Eighty, as his file maddeningly remained open while those of all others in its vicinity were closed, with the counterfeiters investigated in those cases being rounded up and jailed. For ten long and very frustrating years, Mr. Eight Eighty remained on the loose, his crudely rendered dollars surfacing in the New York money supply week after week. Attempting to collar him became a quest somewhat akin to the hunt for the Holy Grail for the Secret Service, because what had begun as little more than a lark had over the years escalated into a major manhunt as various agents assigned to the New York field office came to view this crossroader’s continued lack of capture as their personal failure. The pursuit of Mr. Eight Eighty amounted to the most intensive manhunt in the history of counterfeiting up until that time, and it may still stand as a record. Whenever one of Eight Eighty’s dollars surfaced, agents were dispatched to the business where it had been passed to question those working there about the person who might have given it to them. Time was also taken to educate shopkeepers about what to look for in spotting counterfeit currency, in hopes that if Mr. Eight Eighty came back, they’d make especial note of the person passing the bill then call the Secret Service with his description. Maps were dotted with push pins, each one serving to indicate the location of where a bill had appeared. However, such maps were hardly informative because while they did indicate the preponderance of the bills were surfacing in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the bills were also appearing all over the New York area and even well beyond. The region indicated by the cluster of push pins amounted to five square miles and contained a population of approximately a million people. Although the Secret Service hunted high and low, what eventually brought Mr. Eight Eighty to ground wasn’t anything they did, but rather what fate did to the sought-after mystery man. In January 1948, fake dollar bills and a few printing plates were discovered in a garbage-strewn undeveloped lot near Broadway and Ninety-Sixth Street by a group of small boys playing there. The kids thought little of their find, and ten days went by before one of their fathers caught them playing poker among themselves with the funny money and turned it over to the local police precinct. A detective at that station telephoned the Secret Service about the cash and was floored at the reception provoked by what he’d thought was rather mundane news (fake dollar bills, after all). A group of Secret Service agents was there in a trice to examine the bills, confirmed that they were Eight Eighty’s work, then paid a call on the man who’d turned in the false currency. Through him and his young son, they tracked the other children, finally locating the lads who had the plates in their possession. Another group of agents worked on the question of how the plates and the cash had come to be in a deserted lot. From those who lived nearby, they learned that a few weeks earlier there had been a fire on the top floor of a tenement overlooking the lot. They further learned that in an attempt to battle the blaze, the firefighters called to the scene had pitched a great deal of junk from the windows of a top floor apartment into the lot below. The occupant of that flat had not been at home at the time, although his aged mongrel had been, the dog expiring of smoke inhalation. A visit to that apartment settled all questions. In it, agents found the printing press, a pile of Eight Eighty’s famed dollars, and even a drawerful of misprints. They also found Mr. Eight Eighty. The mystery man, the subject of the large and relentless decade-long manhunt, was 73-year-old Emerich Juettner, better known as Edward Mueller, a senior citizen who had given up his job as an apartment superintendent in favor of becoming a junkman after his wife died. The dollars he printed and put into circulation spelled the difference between his being able to support himself and his dog and not being able to make ends meet. Mueller, a likeable and otherwise upstanding man, was charged with counterfeiting and sentenced to a year and a day in jail, but his term was knocked down to four months behind bars. Up until his arrest, neither his son nor his daughter had any idea of what their father had been up to or that he’d been in financial distress. The old man had valued his independence to the point of preferring to engage in a life of crime rather than turn to his children for help, children it appears who would have been all too willing to help their aging father. It took ten years to catch the likeable old codger not because the Secret Service was inept in its pursuit of Mr. Eight Eighty, but rather because three factors inherent to the case worked against it, two having to do with Mueller’s behavior and one with the denomination of the bill he chose to forge. Due to a peculiar turn of ethics, Mueller deliberately did not pass his fake bills at establishments more than once, for the express purpose of limiting the shortfall he caused any one person to no more than a single dollar. Instead of bilking the same places time and again, he spread his bogus bucks far and wide, thereby inadvertently avoiding one of the traps the Secret Service usually has going for it. Typical counterfeiters carelessly repeat their paperhanging at establishments already visited, and proprietors who have previously been burned by accepting fake bills tend to be far more observant afterwards of the currency handed to them and the people from whose hands it comes. The proprietors he left in his wake were rendered suitably alert to any future finagles, but because Eight Eighty didn’t retrace his steps, the quarry they hunted never came back into their range. Also, Mueller was unnaturally frugal in his bilking of others; he never put more of his fake dollars into circulation than he needed to augment his meager earnings and provide himself and his dog with enough to live on. Typical counterfeiters are greedy, dumping large amounts of bogus cash at locations that are close together within a short span of time, thus greatly increasing the chances that someone so swindled will remember what they look like. For example, a fellow seeking to unload a sizeable wad of phonies may well paper every business establishment along a street, all within the space of one afternoon; while any one shopkeeper might not remember what the fellow who spent $500 in counterfeit bills looked like, among a whole street of defrauded businesspeople at least a few will likely produce a very good recollection of the man’s appearance. Mueller was further protected by the denomination of the bill he forged. As amply demonstrated by the following trailer for the 1950 film Mister 880 that was based on this case, people pay precious little attention to the small denomination bills passed to them. As a general rule of thumb, as the value of the bill increases, so does the amount of scrutiny it is subjected to. A dollar bill, therefore, is barely glanced at, if at all:   Mister 880 starred Burt Lancaster as the Secret Service agent in charge of the investigation and Edmund Gwenn, now best remembered as the Santa in Miracle on 34th St., as the counterfeiter.",
            "output": [
                "Law enforcement's search for a prolific counterfeiter of one-dollar bills lasted ten years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2c1d08d3bd174bdcb1be96675d072a38",
            "input": "The state Health Department says the 1-year-old boy from Roosevelt County is among the 52 people who have died of pneumonia and flu-related illnesses since the season started in October. Health officials are warning that flu is still spreading in all regions of the state and that peak activity hasn’t been reached. They say this season is already unusual for how early the illness became widespread. During the first week of January, the percent of visits to outpatient medical clinics for flu-like symptoms was higher and earlier than the peak in the 2017-18 season, which at the time was the most severe season in a decade. Flu hospitalization rates also are higher than expected for this time of year, especially in young children. Officials say the rate of hospitalization for flu in New Mexico is more than double the national rate for newborns to 4 year olds. Officials said even if a person has had the flu this season, getting a flu shot can still help prevent getting sick again with another strain.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico health officials report first child flu death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a1b6993a268d4285bf01995b5f6d2147",
            "input": "The state’s Health and Human Services Department reports the person attended the Quilt Show at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in late September. To date, it’s the only case of Legionnaires’ disease in an individual who didn’t attend the fair, but was at the WNC Ag Center after it ended on Sept. 15. Health officials visited the WNC Ag Center Sept. 25 and 27 and didn’t identify any sources of aerosolized water. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services suspended rental of the Davis Event Center after Legionella bacteria were found in one of six samples.",
            "output": [
                "Legionnaires’ disease found in person who didn’t attend fair."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10735080ff7c4e6ea03d49fdbde59324",
            "input": "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say they will begin taking temperatures and asking about symptoms of passengers at three U.S. airports who traveled from the outbreak city of Wuhan. Officials estimate roughly 5,000 passengers will go through the process in the next couple of weeks at New York City’s Kennedy airport and the Los Angeles and San Francisco airports. The first direct flight was expected Friday night at Kennedy, and the next expected Saturday morning in San Francisco. Doctors began seeing a new type of viral pneumonia — fever, cough, difficulty breathing — in people who worked at or visited a food market in the suburbs of Wuhan late last month. More than 45 cases of the newly identified coronavirus have been confirmed in Asia, most of them in Wuhan, including two deaths — at least one involving a previous medical condition. Officials have said it probably spread from animals to people but haven’t been able to rule out the possibility that it spreads from person to person. So far, the risk to the American public is deemed to be low, but the CDC wants to be prepared and is taking precautions, the CDC’s Dr. Martin Cetron said. “The earlier we detect a case, the better we can protect the public, and the more we can understand about this virus and its risk for spread,” he said in a call with reporters. It’s always possible a virus can mutate to become more dangerous. It’s also likely that more cases will spring up around the world, including at least one at some point in the United States, said another CDC official, Dr. Nancy Messonnier. The CDC is sending in 100 staffers to handle the airport screenings. Passengers who seem like they might be infected will undergo testing for flu or other possible causes. The plan is to place them in isolation at a nearby hospital until doctors know what they’re dealing with, to prevent possible spread of the new virus. Specialized testing for the virus can take a day for results, CDC officials said. At least a half-dozen countries in Asia have started screening incoming airline passengers from central China. The list includes Thailand and Japan, which both have reported cases of the disease in people who had come from Wuhan. Travel is unusually heavy right now as people take trips to and from China to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The CDC said the airport screenings are part of an effort to better detect and prevent the virus from the same family of bugs that caused an international outbreaks of SARS and MERS that began in 2002 and 2012. The CDC did not screen incoming passengers during those outbreaks, and some public health experts questioned whether they should do so now. “It’s not a particularly effective intervention, and it potentially offers a false sense of security,” said Dr. Kamran Khan, a University of Toronto researcher who has studied airport screenings during the SARS and Ebola outbreaks. Screeners likely will flag a lot of people with other germs — it is flu season — while missing infections from the new virus. Experts believe it may take up to two weeks between the time someone is infected and when they come down with a fever and other symptoms. The only other time the CDC has done airport screenings was in 2014, when health officials screened thousands of passengers from three West African countries for Ebola but detected no illnesses. In fact, one passenger who was infected but had no symptoms passed through the screenings and then developed symptoms after arriving in the United States. Some have argued measures like this have less to do with good science than with politicians hoping to convince the public that the government is doing something to protect them. Cetron rejected that notion. “There’s widespread consensus we should be doing this now,” among both political appointees and government scientists, he said. Passengers who don’t have symptoms will be handed cards that tell who to contact for health care if they develop symptoms later. That’s important, Khan said. “Educating travelers about the illness and letting them know what to do if they become sick after they leave the airport can be very helpful” because it can speed up proper diagnosis, treatment and isolation precautions, he said. Health authorities identified the bug this month as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold; others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved into more severe illnesses. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, belongs to the coronavirus family, but Chinese state media say the illness in Wuhan is different from coronaviruses that have been identified in the past. Earlier laboratory tests ruled out SARS and MERS — Middle East respiratory syndrome — as well as influenza, bird flu, adenovirus and other common lung-infecting germs. CDC officials said Friday that they are not certain if China has begun screening passengers before they board airplanes to travel abroad, but it’s been discussed. The New York and San Francisco airports each receive three direct flights from Wuhan each week, Cetron said. Los Angeles International gets significant numbers of passengers who start their journeys in Wuhan but change planes in Beijing. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "US to screen airline passengers from China for new illness."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca9b8894c3424eb6b36d0f07c918aa82",
            "input": "As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic in early March 2020, alarmed readers asked Snopes to verify reports that nearly 200 people died in a 24-hour span in Italy as a result of the disease. Sadly it is true that between March 10 and March 11, 2020, 196 people died in Italy, which was suffering the worst outbreak of COVID-19 outside Asia. Reuters reported on March 11 that, “The death toll from coronaviruses in Italy has risen from 196 to 827, an increase of 31%, Civil Protection [Agency] announced today.”",
            "output": [
                "Almost 200 people in Italy died from the coronavirus in a 24-hour period between March 11 and 12, 2020."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-098f0946fc6640e785bd86872054e064",
            "input": "Unlike the all-out defense that Buxton normally puts on display, the Twins were more than willing to play it safe with this injury. Buxton was placed on the seven-day injured list for players with concussion-like symptoms, just as first baseman C.J. Cron and left fielder Eddie Rosario returned from their injuries. The Twins also designated right-handed reliever Mike Morin for release or assignment Tuesday before their series opener against the New York Mets. “We’re not going to mess around, really, in any way,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “This is serious stuff. The health of Buck is obviously the most important thing. I think it’s something that is already resolving itself in some ways, but something where I think this is the right move.” Buxton was hurt Saturday during his head-first, diving catch of a sinking line drive during a critical win at main division competitor Cleveland, forcing him out of the game in the eighth inning. Buxton, who was sidelined for 13 games last month with a bruised right wrist, has had his promising career so far stunted by a variety of injuries, in part due to the speedster’s fearless style in the outfield and on the bases. Buxton was announced Tuesday as the team’s annual winner of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association’s Heart and Hustle Award. “He hit the ground pretty hard, and this isn’t any sort of light injury,” Baldelli said. “He didn’t graze anything. He made a great play and hit the ground, and he gives his body up for this team every single night that he takes the field.” The Twins, who took a six-game lead in the AL Central over the Indians into Tuesday night, have managed to maintain the highest-scoring offense in the majors despite putting 10 different position players on the injured list over various points of this season. Rosario was out for 13 games with a sprained left ankle. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks when it comes to injuries and things like that, but I’m back today and I know what Buxton is going through is nothing bad and he’ll be back soon as well,” said Rosario, who’s second on the team with 20 homers and still leads the Twins with 60 RBIs. Because of the All-Star break, Cron only missed five games with right thumb inflammation, a condition that has bothered him for most of the season. “I’m just going to try to tape it up, I guess. Try to pretend as if nothing’s wrong and try to just keep going,” Cron said. “That’s really all you can do.” Morin had a 3.18 ERA in 23 appearances after being invited to spring training on a minor league contract. His somewhat surprising removal from the roster could be the precursor to the addition of a reliever or two on the trade market over the next two weeks. “When you make decisions like this, you can look back on them, and you’re not really sure because things are not obvious sometimes, but unfortunately we landed on the thought of designating Mike,” Baldelli said. “I have no doubt he’s going to land on his feet.” ___ More AP baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "As Cron, Rosario return, Twins put Buxton on concussion list."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e0215857ad2b4a82af98d766bad067b7",
            "input": "It had been his mother’s greatest hope that Mabowa would go to college. To do so would require passing the secondary school baccalaureate, or “bac.” But the exams are held only once a year in Congo, and the 21-year-old Mabowa was being held in medical isolation, unable to sit in the same room with other test-takers. So the medical staff members caring for him at an Ebola treatment center run by the Alliance for International Medical Action, or ALIMA, came up with a solution. They found a school official willing to proctor the exam as Mabowa took it safely behind a window. The papers were passed to Mabowa without touching him. After finishing, he held his pages up one by one to the window so they could be photographed with a smartphone and then emailed to officials for scoring. Then his work and his pencil were incinerated. For the oral part of the exam, the questions were asked of him through the glass. On Saturday, Mabowa completed the last of his exams. He is awaiting the results while still in isolation, where he will stay until the virus is gone from his body. He hopes to study political science at the University of Kisangani. “My mother had told me: ‘My son, you must study. If you have your diploma, you will succeed in life. Even if your parents are gone, you still have your life to live,’” he said. The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed more than 1,700 people since it started nearly a year ago. Health workers are racing to contain the outbreak, trying to trace, vaccinate and isolate all people who have come into contact with those carrying the highly contagious virus. The only people allowed in Mabowa’s presence are survivors, who are immune to the virus, and health workers wearing protective gear from head to toe. Mabowa already had lost his older sister when he developed a splitting headache and fever and lost his appetite. But since he had recently been vaccinated against Ebola, he brushed off his symptoms as side effects of the shot. He finally went to the Ebola center in Beni when his illness made him unable to continue studying. After testing positive for Ebola, he began asking the nurses and doctors about how he could still take his exams. Studying was difficult because Mabowa no longer had access to his notebooks and other materials. The ALIMA staff members who were moved by his desire to take his exams even brought Mabowa a school uniform he could wear while taking the bac — a white dress shirt and navy trousers. “The fact we brought the exams to him is an important step for his healing and recovery,” said Goretti Muhumira, a psychologist with ALIMA. The hardest part, Mabowa said, was the oral exams, and not just because he was nervous. “It was difficult for me to hear them well through the glass, so they had to repeat themselves several times before I could understand the question,” he said. Now he waits. “I have not lost everything, and I am confident that I will succeed and honor my mother’s memory,” he said. “If she were still here, I think she’d be proud of me.” ___ Associated Press writer Al-Hadji Kudra Maliro contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Congo student with Ebola still finds a way to take exams."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8ebeee45ecb5424ba22e496d89deef40",
            "input": "Supporters must gather enough petition signatures to ensure the measure will be placed on the 2016 ballot. United With Care, a medical marijuana advocacy group, said on its website it needs to secure 683,149 signatures by Dec. 31 to bring the amendment to a popular vote. Some 400,000 Florida residents have already signed the petition, the group said. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for those suffering from a range of ailments, from HIV to glaucoma and cancer to epilepsy. The language approved by the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee addressed whether the proposed amendment informed voters fairly on the issue and also accepted a financial impact statement prepared by economists, the Tampa Bay Times reported. In a 2014 poll, state residents said they supported the legalization of medical marijuana with 57.6 percent of the vote, the newspaper said. Sixty percent would be required to pass a constitutional amendment. Opponents of the measure saw drawbacks could include the backdoor legalization of recreational marijuana in the state.",
            "output": [
                "Florida Supreme Court approves language of medical marijuana proposal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fce917bfade945b8b6e4ef082d30fe4c",
            "input": "Francis made his appeal on a visit to Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island, which research institutes and aid agencies say has lost about 44% of its forest over the past 60 years, abetted by illegal exports of rosewood and ebony. Francis zeroed in on endemic corruption, linking it with persistent, long-term poverty as well as poaching and illegal exports of natural resources. Addressing Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, his cabinet and other officials, Francis said some people were profiting from excessive deforestation and the associated loss of species. “The deterioration of that biodiversity compromises the future of the country and of the earth, our common home,” he said. Following recent huge fires in the Amazon region, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejected international criticism about his policy to expand farmland, saying it was a domestic issue. “The last forests are menaced by forest fires, poaching, the unrestricted cutting down of valuable woodlands. Plant and animal biodiversity is endangered by contraband and illegal exportation,” Pope Francis said. Jobs must be created for people whose livelihood harms the environment so they will not see it as their only means of survival, the pontiff added. “There can be no true ecological approach or effective efforts to safeguard the environment without the attainment of a social justice capable of respecting the right to the common destination of the Earth’s goods, not only of present generations, but also of those yet to come,” he said. The Amazon fires have lent new urgency to Francis’s calls to protect nature, tackle climate change and promote sustainable development — all themes enshrined in his 2015 encyclical on environmental protection. Madagascar is one of world’s poorest countries. The U.N. Nations World Food Program estimates that more than 90% of its population of 26 million live on less than $2 a day, with chronic child malnutrition widespread. Corruption is also rampant, Transparency International says. Francis urged the nation’s leaders “to fight with strength and determination all endemic forms of corruption and speculation that increase social disparity, and to confront the situations of great instability and exclusion that always create conditions of inhumane poverty”. Conservation groups say that during Rajoelina’s first stint in power, his cash-strapped administration presided over a spike in deforestation to supply rosewood and ebony to China despite a national ban on such exports. Environmental campaign group TRAFFIC estimates that at least one million rosewood logs have been illegally shipped from Madagascar since 2010. As Asian supplies of valuable hardwoods including rosewood used to make luxury furniture have been depleted, Chinese importers have shifted to Africa, according to Chinese customs data cited by U.S.-based non-profit group Forest Trends. Later on Saturday, Francis visited a convent of cloistered nuns and joked about the challenges of dealing with strict superiors. In the evening, he addressed some 100,000 young people at a rally in a field on the outskirts of the capital, urging them to help bring social justice to their country.",
            "output": [
                "Pope says deforestation must be treated as a global threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3cc4e64ff9704470b4d96eb7dce3f1db",
            "input": "The former vice president unveiled the plan after weeks of pressure from rivals and green activists who said he was not taking global warming seriously enough and would rely too heavily on Obama-era ideas. A campaign adviser told Reuters last month that Biden was seeking a “middle-ground” approach he hoped would please environmentalists without turning off the blue-collar voters who swept Republican President Donald Trump to power in 2016..  “I’m calling for a Clean Energy Revolution to confront this crisis and do what America does best - solve big problems with big ideas,” Biden said in a social media video, saying his proposals would go “well beyond” the policies set when he served with former President Barack Obama. The proposal would invest $1.7 trillion over 10 years in clean energy research and modernizing infrastructure to eliminate the emissions of the greenhouse gases that scientists blame for accelerating climate change and its effects - including rising sea levels, droughts, floods and more frequent powerful storms. “The Biden plan will be paid for by reversing the excesses of the Trump tax cuts for corporations, reducing incentives for tax havens, evasion, and outsourcing, ensuring corporations pay their fair share,” according to a statement by his campaign. Former first lady Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency foundered in 2016 after she upset blue-collar voters by saying her aggressive climate proposals would put “a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” underscoring the pitfalls of environmental politics. Trump successfully billed Obama-era environmental protections as job killers to his supporters, and has directed his administration to roll back many of them since taking office. Biden promoted the plan at several campaign stops in New Hampshire on Tuesday. He visited a renewable energy project in Plymouth, where he said his goal as president would be to make the United States the “single greatest exporter of renewable energy technology in the world” and the “single most significant resource for climate change in the world.”  He finished the day by speaking to a local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Concord,  trying to sell them on the merits of his plan. Union members, a backbone of Biden’s support, have been skeptical of sweeping climate-change programs such as the Green New Deal, a non-binding congressional resolution that calls for an end to fossil fuel use within a decade. Biden spoke of building a new “green infrastructure,” which he said meant millions of union jobs. “I’m not joking,” he said. “These are real jobs.”   The Sunrise Movement, one of the main activist groups that had pressured Biden to take a tough stand on climate change in recent weeks, called the plan a “good start” and took some credit for its ambition. “This plan makes it clear: climate change is going to be a defining issue in the 2020 election, and we’ve raised the bar for what it means to be a leader on climate,” said Sunrise President Varshini Prakash. Some of Biden’s Democratic rivals, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have taken tougher stances on climate change by fully endorsing the Green New Deal. Biden said two aspects of the Green New Deal were now at the core of his plan - the urgency for greater ambition to address climate change and the notion that “our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected.”  For the first time, Biden said he would not accept donations from fossil fuel companies or executives and joined nearly a dozen other rivals in the Democratic race in calling for a ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal land and waters - instead focusing on deploying renewables. Environmentalist Bill McKibben said on Twitter that Biden’s support of that position “makes clear that a Democratic consensus has emerged. Oil, coal, and gas (development) on America’s public lands must stop.”  Biden’s plan consists of several executive actions he would take on his first day in office, including creating an enforcement mechanism to put the United States on track to achieve 100% clean energy and a net-zero emissions goal by 2050, and recommitting the United States to the Paris Climate Deal, an international accord to fight global warming that Trump pull the United States out of in June 2017. It lists several other measures that would build on Obama-era policies like regulating methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, developing new fuel economy standards for cars, adopting new energy efficiency standards for appliances, promoting advanced biofuels and accelerating the use of carbon capture, which limits emissions from coal plants and other industrial facilities. For working-class voters, the plan promises to secure coal miners’ benefits and increase coal company payments into a federal program to help miners battling black lung disease. It would create a task force to help communities facing closures of coal mines and power plants gain access to federal funds and private investment “to help create high-paying union jobs.”  The plan also addresses environmental justice issues, and promises to protect vulnerable minority and Native American communities with stronger protections for clean water.",
            "output": [
                "Biden unveils $1.7 trillion climate plan to end U.S. carbon emissions by 2050."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-61e6c355842e43d78fbed24b42ddefdb",
            "input": "As deaths mounted, local officials requested details on the notifications as they increasingly fielded calls by those left in limbo - including health workers. But Washington officials largely brushed off their concerns, according to the correspondence, which has not been previously reported. Frustrated city officials started their own operation to notify people after the state began receiving test results on March 26, nearly a week after testing started. One big problem: The lab initially sent many results with no phone numbers to reach those tested. The delays and confusion created new problems for local officials managing the crisis in one of America’s emerging hot spots. As of Tuesday, Louisiana had more than 21,500 confirmed cases, including more than 1,000 deaths. Timely test results are crucial to containing the virus and enabling essential workers such as doctors and nurses to stay safely on the front lines. The problems in New Orleans underscore the challenges the Trump administration faces in ramping up testing nationwide in hopes of reopening the U.S. economy. On March 25, city health director Jennifer Avegno sent one of the many requests for information to federal officials. “We are receiving many calls today from citizens who went through the drive through testing in the earliest days and have not gotten a call,” she wrote. “Can you update us on how many results have been received, turnaround times, and how many individuals have been contacted?”  Kristina Harder, an official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who was working with the federal call center, did not address the information request and instead suggested telling people to be patient. “The call center should be contacting those folks who were at your sites in the beginning days,” she wrote. “I hope this is helpful!”  Harder did not respond to a request for comment. A day later, Avegno forwarded a doctor’s plea to the Trump administration’s new testing czar, Brett Giroir, and other federal officials. “I’m just looking to get my results,” the surgical resident at Tulane University had written. HHS never provided an accounting of who the call center had notified, city and state officials told Reuters. In a statement, HHS called the drive-through sites “a profound success” with more than 77,000 people tested nationwide. HHS didn’t address specific questions about problems with the operation in Louisiana or elsewhere. The agency said delays in getting results and notifying patients were resolved and results were now being given within three to five days. Lisa Miles, a spokeswoman for the company running the federal call center - Maximus Inc. - declined to comment and referred questions to HHS. In interviews, Louisiana officials said they welcomed the federal testing program despite the problems. About 13,000 people were eventually tested over a three-week period. “Even though there are issues with the processing, it has significantly contributed to our ability to understand and map this disease,” Avegno said. In mid-March, President Donald Trump tapped Giroir, an HHS assistant secretary, to oversee testing nationwide, including the initiative for drive-through operations that would expand to more than 40 sites, including three in the New Orleans area. U.S. officials were eager to show progress after widespread problems with a defective government test kit that delivered inconclusive results, hindering the public-health response for weeks. On March 14, federal officials reached out to Louisiana leaders about hosting testing sites, records show. Two days later, a top Louisiana health official questioned whether drive-through centers were a wise use of scarce testing supplies and protective gear. Alexander Billioux, a Louisiana Department of Health assistant secretary, emailed Giroir and suggested the limited supply of test swabs might be better used at hospital labs that were prioritizing tests for health workers, hospitalized patients and nursing home residents. A drive-through wouldn’t help those people, he told Giroir. He also asked for an estimated wait time for results. Giroir wrote back that he expected a 48-hour turnaround time but said he made no guarantees. On March 20, the first two drive-through sites opened in the New Orleans area. The people tested were told their results should be available in three to five days and advised to call the state health department if they didn’t hear from the federal call center within a week. On March 23, Joseph Kanter, an assistant state health officer and emergency physician, asked how the call center would share notification details with state authorities in an email to Erica Schwartz, the U.S. deputy surgeon general who served as the ordering physician for drive-through tests. “We will need to know which patients remain without knowledge of their results,” Kanter wrote. Schwartz replied that “the call center will not communicate to the state or local health department,” without explaining why. She recommended that the state “go through their normal processes to contact patients with positive results,” a statement that confused state and local officials - who at the time had no test results and had been instructed that the call center would handle all notifications. Schwartz did not respond to a request for comment. On March 26, Billioux emailed Harder at HHS about the high volume of people calling the state for results. He asked for a phone number that people could use to reach someone at the federal level or at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, or LabCorp, the company processing the New Orleans tests. A few hours later, LabCorp sent state officials their first batch of results - but with no corresponding phone numbers for many of those tested, according to the email from Billioux to Harder. Harder replied that she would notify LabCorp and noted “a similar problem receiving partial data in the beginning days.”  That’s when the state transferred the testing data to the city, which on March 28 assigned eight people to field calls and reach out to those tested, which included efforts to track down the people whose information arrived with no phone numbers. As of Monday, the city health department said it still awaited results from LabCorp on about 1,000 tests, some of which have been pending for as long as 10 days. LabCorp spokesman Mike Geller said the company has faced unprecedented demand during the pandemic but now targets delivering results in four to five days. “We understand how disconcerting it is to not receive test results in a reasonable time frame,” he said. Avegno told Reuters that relying on the federal call center was untenable. “We were getting flooded with calls from residents, and we had nothing to tell them,” she said. “It’s important to have a local point of reference ... residents want to hear from someone to walk them through a positive or negative test.”  Last week, the Trump administration said it was encouraging state and local officials to take over many of the drive-through sites. Some local officials expressed concern about losing federal funding and testing supplies. At a White House press briefing on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said the administration would continue to partner with states “to the extent that they prefer us to be part of it.”  Valerie Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County commission outside Philadelphia, said she was surprised by the federal announcement and reached out to Giroir and Schwartz to secure an extension of federal funding until May 30. Arkoosh said her testing site also had trouble getting information from the federal call center and that she’s awaiting results from LabCorp on more than 400 tests. “They were both supportive and helpful,” Arkoosh said of Giroir and Schwartz. “But we are pretty busy here, so it would have been great not to go through all that.”  Louisiana officials said they are looking into moving drive-through operations to other areas of the state that have less access to testing. “Everything with COVID-19 has been difficult. I don’t necessarily put the fault on anybody’s lap,” Billioux said. “The most important thing from our perspective is that we have more and more testing on the ground.”",
            "output": [
                "Exclusive: Emails show U.S. officials brushed off state concerns on drive-through virus tests."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a0edc9b7cdea4f6da713ec2d1e463a90",
            "input": "\"An online campaign video from Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, one of the Republican hopefuls in the 2014 lieutenant governor race, touts his record on defending Second Amendment rights. \"\"I stood alone in passing the Texas concealed-handgun law over the doomsday predictions of blood in the streets, ‘Wild Wild West’ and shootouts at every four-way stop,\"\" Patterson says, \"\"and of course none of that happened. Matter of fact, firearms homicides are down about 40 percent.\"\" As a state senator from Pasadena, Patterson wrote the 1995 legislation that allowed eligible Texans to get licenses to carry concealed handguns, which was approved overwhelmingly after much debate by a Senate vote of 23-7 and a House vote of 101-46. In news stories from the 1995 regular legislative session, Austin Democratic Rep. Sherri Greenberg predicted gunplay in hospital emergency rooms and Dallas lawmakers said frustrated drivers would shoot each other in traffic. A March 16, 1995, Houston Chronicle news story quoted then-Sen. Greg Luna, D-San Antonio, as saying, \"\"It is going to be a much more dangerous and deadly society we have imposed on ourselves in Texas.\"\" Did firearms murders subsequently decrease by 40 percent? By phone, Patterson told us he used national data on firearms homicides rates per 100,000 people since 1993 because he didn’t have state statistics. Nationwide figures were still relevant, he said, \"\"because over the last 20 years, dozens of states have added concealed-handgun (licensing) laws that didn’t have them before.\"\" Patterson campaign spokesman Chris Elam emailed us web links to reports published in May 2013 from the Pew Research Center and the U.S. Bureau of Justics Statistics  showing that in recent years, the rate of firearms homicides nationwide had fallen by 49 percent from a historic peak in 1993. But the Texas law took effect in 1996. Wouldn’t that year be the logical starting point for judging changes in deaths by firearms? Defending his claim, Patterson told us by phone that he used 1993 as a starting point because that was the year when lawmakers initially advanced his proposal, which Gov. Ann Richards vetoed. During this fact-check, he said, he \"\"recognized the flaw in me saying 1993 when it actually didn’t come into effect until 1 January 1996, but I think the message,\"\" that murders did not spike, \"\"is still accurate.\"\" Next, we looked for data on Texas gun murders since 1996. From the CDC, we found reports online covering 1996-2010, drawn from death certificate information reported by medical professionals and coroners, and we got 1996-2012 data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, most recently updated Sept. 16, 2013, with information on murders and other crimes known to law enforcement agencies. By the CDC tally, the rate of firearms homicides in Texas 1996-2010 fell 32.2 percent. Calculating with the FBI data for 1996-2012, the rate fell 42 percent. The U.S. and Texas declines in gun homicides are part of a larger trend -- U.S. violent crimes overall began falling significantly in the 1990s. Crime experts have advanced reasons including a decrease in crack cocaine use, economic factors, tougher police strategies and the aging of the baby-boom generation. Patterson said he does not claim that concealed-handgun laws reduce crime -- rather, he said, he is stating such statutes don’t increase crime, \"\"in spite of the protestations to the contrary.\"\" Our ruling Patterson said firearms homicides decreased 40 percent since Texas passed a law permitting licensed residents to carry concealed guns. That claim was staked to changes nationally and a timeframe unreasonably starting before the law took effect. Still, Patterson’s figure is close to correct. Data for Texas show declines of either 32 percent or 42 percent since the state law took effect. We are not concluding that the measure authored by Patterson explains the decrease, which occurred nationally for multiple reasons. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Firearms homicides are down about 40 percent\"\" since Texas passed concealed-gun permit law.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fbd536dc61d74896be66110983f9d566",
            "input": "They say government policies are partly to blame for a system in which doctors and other staff expect to be paid extra fees to perform operations and take kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms and medical-equipment suppliers. The profession’s ugly underbelly was exposed last week when police accused British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline of bribing officials and doctors for six years to boost sales and the price of its medicines. GSK has called the developments “shameful” and on Monday said some of its Chinese executives appeared to have broken the law. China is an appealing market for pharmaceutical firms and medical-equipment makers, with spending in the industry expected to nearly triple to $1 trillion by 2020 from $357 billion in 2011, according to consulting firm McKinsey. The corruption stems largely from doctors’ low base salaries, which are set in line with a pay scale for government workers. Hospitals can pay bonuses but, given public hospitals are strapped for cash, compensation is usually low, say doctors and industry experts. A doctor fresh out of medical school in Beijing earns about 3,000 yuan ($490) a month including bonuses — roughly the same as a taxi driver. A doctor with 10 years experience makes around 10,000 yuan a month, according to Peter Chen, chief executive of privately run Oasis International Hospital in Beijing. “Without the grey income, doctors would not have the incentive to practice,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Over the past 30 years the Chinese government has made its healthcare sector more market-oriented. That means the country’s 13,500 public hospitals have to balance their own books. Medical services accounted for just over 50 percent of public hospital revenue in 2011, according to Health Ministry data. About 40 percent came from prescribing drugs while the rest was from other income as well as government subsidies, which have fallen steadily since the 1980s. Hospital administrators can set fees for in-patient care, nursing and laboratory tests. But the state fixes the cost of operations to make surgery affordable to ordinary Chinese. And it effectively caps the cost of many prescribed medicines by setting a suggested price. That leaves hospitals little room to top up wages. One Chinese doctor who used to hold a senior position at a prominent hospital in Beijing said 80 percent of his income came from bribes. Without it, he would have earned less than $600 a month, said the doctor, who left China five years ago to live in Britain where he continues practicing medicine. “These sums (bribes) are essential. You cannot survive on your salary,” said the 50-year-old physician, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. An industry executive who has worked in China’s medical sector for more than 15 years said bribery and corruption permeated every level of a public hospital. “They are seen as necessities in the current healthcare system,” said the executive, who also declined to be identified. The Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Officials at the National Development and Reform Commission, which sets the prices of prescribed medicines, also declined to comment. Low base salaries are a legacy of China’s planned economy, said Jia Xijin, associate professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, explaining the dilemma faced by the government. China has also committed to making health care affordable for its 1.37 billion people. The government has spent 2.2 trillion yuan ($358 billion) on the system since 2009, of which more than 680 billion yuan was to provide universal health insurance coverage, state media quoted the Finance Ministry as saying earlier this year. Public hospitals say recruiting new doctors is getting harder as many physicians are turned off by the wages at a time when patient numbers are growing. Health Ministry data showed the overall number of doctors rose 13 percent from 2008 to 2011, while patient visits jumped 28 percent. “There will be no doctors left to treat the current doctors when they retire,” said the accounting director at a Shanghai hospital who declined to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the media. Low salaries have also spawned a system of under-the-table payments from patients. The payments are known as “hongbao” — a reference to the cash-filled red envelopes given as presents during Lunar New Year festivities — and cover various services from jumping the queue for appointments to extra surgical fees. Bob Wang, a 35-year-old businessman in Beijing, said he gave the main surgeon who operated on his aunt’s femur bone transplant last year 5,000 yuan in “hongbao” on top of the 100,000 yuan he paid to the hospital because he was worried the doctor would not take the operation seriously otherwise. There was unstated “hongbao” guidance for each type of surgery, he said. “If my family or myself get sick ... we won’t just go to the hospital. Everything will take forever — from registration to waiting for a bed, to getting seen by a doctor to queuing for surgery,” he said. According to the doctor now living in Britain, patients and their families could sometimes spend two to three times more than the actual fee in “hongbao”. Critics doubt that an anti-corruption campaign by President Xi Jinping will have much impact. Indeed, a former doctor at a major heart hospital in Beijing said eradicating corruption would be nearly impossible. “It would be easy to find out who was taking money if the government wanted to,” said the cardiologist, who has been working in the United States since 2009. “But everyone would be found guilty. How could the hospitals survive?” ($1 = 6.1413 Chinese yuan)",
            "output": [
                "Bribery serves as life-support for Chinese hospitals."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9e6fd2f5b49744059f634482cd65e534",
            "input": "Lily Sulistyowati, the ministry’s spokeswoman, said the  22-month-old girl from Sumatra’s Bukit Tinggi fell sick on  March 19 and the ministry is checking her neighborhood for  possible backyard farming. “Her condition is improving, and she is being treated at a  Padang hospital,” Sulistyowati told Reuters by telephone. Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of  contracting H5N1 virus, which is endemic in bird populations in  most of Indonesia. Indonesia has had 105 human deaths from the bird flu virus,  the highest number in the world. Experts say the danger is the virus may evolve into a form  that people can easily catch and pass to one another, in which  case the transmission rate would soar, causing a pandemic in  which millions of people could die.",
            "output": [
                "Indonesian child tests positive for bird flu."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23cc1dea7e9448fd9d99425514731605",
            "input": "Emily and Dan Goodman instead decided to combine a variety of coronavirus-safe activities for their son, an avid Star Wars fan. The day includes a social-distancing treasure hunt of sorts; dancing in the streets in his Storm Trooper costume, with friends kept at a contagion-proof distance; and a virtual Zoom party featuring treats delivered to the homes of Reuben’s playmates and left outside their front doors. Their aim was to make their pre-schooler feel like the center of the universe on his special day, even though he was unable to have a traditional party this year. “Parents are trying very hard to create positive birthday memories,” said Emily Goodman, a communications executive who has been working at home in self-quarantine since mid-March under orders of her office in New Jersey. “He knows we can’t be close to our friends because of the invisible germs.”  The Goodmans are not the only Americans who have had to adapt to restrictions on social life in the wake of the pandemic, which has forced the cancellation of traditional birthday bashes for both young and old. U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus have topped 25,400, doubling in one week, according to a Reuters tally, as officials debate how to reopen the economy without reigniting the outbreak. Despite the outbreak, Americans are still finding ways to have fun. In many small towns across the country, local police and fire departments are staging parades in front of children’s’ homes on their birthdays, complete with flashing lights and sirens. Friends and families are using Zoom video conferencing to throw virtual parties, featuring renditions of “Happy Birthday,” a song that has become a coronavirus anthem. (Health experts say a thorough hand-washing takes 20 seconds, about the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.) In San Diego, California, when a former U.S. Marine couldn’t go anywhere for her 104th birthday, her friends brought the party to her front lawn. “Well, I can’t believe it. It’s amazing,” Ruth Gallivan gasped, as honking cars festooned with birthday decorations drove by at a safe distance. Anxiety around birthdays is spiking for children struggling with the concept of social distancing, Anthony Field, founder of the Wiggles, a popular Australian musical act, told Reuters in an email. “Parents have told us their child is worried that if no one can come to their party, ‘Does it mean (I) still turn 4?’” said Field, better known as the Blue Wiggle. In a new “Social Distancing” song, with more than 540,000 views since it went online March 29, the Wiggles assure fans that a video party counts as a genuine celebration, Field said. In New Jersey, Reuben’s mother invited more than 20 neighbors to post drawings of Star Wars heroes and villains in their front windows, where her son could see them during a social-distancing walk on Tuesday, his fifth birthday. Neighbors young and old agreed to dress up in futuristic costumes and join Reuben, wearing a new Storm Trooper outfit, as he danced on his front lawn. Adults would make sure everyone stayed at least the recommended six feet apart from one another. Later, his friends were set to join him in a Zoom party that would feature a children’s musician strumming “Happy Birthday”  and enjoy party goodie bags with toys that Reuben ordered from a local store and custom Star Wars cookies ordered from a local bakery. Reuben’s mother, wearing a face bandana and disposable gloves, planned to drop them off at his friends’ front doors, wiping down each one with disinfectant. Reuben said he had another present for all the party-goers, who are presumably as tired of being separated from friends as he was. His special treat? “To look at me,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Despite coronavirus, Americans fight for their right to a birthday party."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6d3b8b5b7e64f48a151c92386197073",
            "input": "The lawsuits were the latest by states and local governments against drugmaker Purdue Pharma as the country grapples with an opioid epidemic. About a dozen states have also targeted Richard Sackler, the company’s former leader, or members of his family. “Purdue and the Sacklers traded the health and well-being of Californians for profit and created an unprecedented national public health crisis in the process,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a news conference announcing the legal action by his state. “We will hold them accountable.” Becerra, echoing allegations lodged against Purdue Pharma by others attorneys general across the country, said the company falsely introduced OxyContin in the 1990s as a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain. However, the California’s lawsuit alleges that Purdue and Sackler knew in 1997 that drugs containing oxycodone, such as OxyContin, were widely abused. Still, company representatives marketed it as not being addictive and downplayed the potential for abuse, the suit states. In a statement Monday, Purdue Pharma and former directors of the company denied the allegations and vowed to defend against the “misleading attacks.” It noted that OxyContin represents less than 2% of total opioid prescriptions and is still approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its intended use as a painkiller as prescribed by doctors and dispensed by pharmacists. “Such allegations demand clear evidence linking the conduct alleged to the harm described,” spokesman Robert Josephson said in a statement. “But we believe the state fails to show such causation and offers little evidence to support its sweeping legal claims.” A spokesman for Sackler did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The family has faced a backlash in recent years amid a growing public outcry around opioid addiction. In addition, activists have targeted institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that the family has supported through large contributions. The museum has said it will no longer take money from members of the family linked to the drugmaker. Purdue stopped marketing OxyContin to doctors last year. It settled a lawsuit by the state of Oklahoma in March for $270 million. The company previously said it is pursuing several options, including bankruptcy, which could upend pending litigation by states as well as about 2,000 local and tribal governments across the country. The lawsuits filed Monday allege that Purdue Pharma pushed doctors to prescribe opioids for longer periods of time at higher doses. “Our complaint alleges that their unrelenting sales visits to doctors and deceptive practices led to a marked increase in opioid prescriptions, and a corresponding increase in the number of Mainers suffering from opioid use disorder,” Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey said. Maine’s lawsuit names Richard Sackler, Jonathan Sackler, Mortimer D.A. Sackler and Kathe Sackler — all of whom have served on the board of Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma. States have also cracked down on doctors who overprescribe the drug. Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors said in a statement Monday that she has filed lawsuits alleging violations of Hawaii’s Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Law. One complaint alleges Purdue deceptively marketed OxyContin and other opioids. Another says manufacturers and distributors sold more opioids than could be “legitimately prescribed.” Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 47,600 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2017, according to the agency. In 2017, it says, prescription opioids were involved in 1,172 overdose deaths in California; 100 overdose deaths in Maine; and 58 in the District of Columbia. Maine set a state record for total drug overdose deaths in 2017 with 417. Jordan Basileu joined Becerra in announcing California’s lawsuit. He said he was prescribed opioid painkillers at 18 following a car crash and became addicted. “People think, ‘it’s from a doctor. How bad can it be?’” Basileu said of the drug. Basileu said he overdosed four times before getting sober three years ago. “I’m still cleaning up the mess that opioids got me in to,” he said. ___ Associated Press reporters Adam Beam and Caleb Jones contributed to this story. Jones reported from Honolulu.",
            "output": [
                "More states sue opioid maker alleging deceptive marketing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bd4d7cf4ce2f4c64adf69e3edaa89e86",
            "input": "U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Wednesday ordered the Forest Service to examine how exploratory drilling by British Columbia-based Otis Gold Corporation could affect groundwater and possibly fish. The company’s Kilgore Project covers about 19 square miles (50 square kilometers) on Forest Service land and land managed by the state of Idaho in Clark County about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Idaho Falls. The company says the area contains about 825,000 ounces (23.4 million grams) of gold. The company in a summary of its plans says it would like to get the gold by digging an open-pit mine. Such a mine would require additional approval from the Forest Service. The Forest Service in August 2018 approved the expansion of the exploration part of the project that includes 10 miles (16 kilometers) of new roads and 140 drill stations. The Idaho Conservation League and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition filed the lawsuit in November 2018 contending the exploratory drilling could pollute groundwater and surface water. The groups also said the drilling would harm grizzly bears, whitebark pine, Yellowstone cutthroat trout and Columbia spotted frogs. Winmill ruled the Forest Service didn’t violate environmental laws in determining the exploratory drilling wouldn’t overly harm grizzly bears, whitebark pine or Columbia spotted frogs. However, Winmill found the Forest Service hadn’t done an adequate analysis involving groundwater quality in the Dog Bone Ridge drainage, home to Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The trout are considered a sensitive species facing threats to its population or habitat. “The Court’s ruling affirms that the Forest Service must fully assess impacts to water and sensitive species before approving mining exploration,” said Laird Lucas of Advocates for the West, a legal firm that is representing the environmental groups. “There should be no doubt: Water is more precious than gold in Idaho.” The U.S. Department of Justice, which defends federal agencies in lawsuits, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press. Craig Lindsay, president and CEO of Otis Gold Corp., didn’t immediately return a call from the AP. Otis Gold Corporation is one of two British Columbia-based companies hoping to mine for gold in Idaho with open-pit mines. The other is Midas Gold, which wants to expand two open pits and create a third in an area about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of McCall. That area has been heavily mined for a century and Midas Gold says it will restore the area as part of its mining plan. The company’s plans are in an environmental review process.",
            "output": [
                "Ruling puts hold on gold exploration plans in eastern Idaho."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-24c14a8e725544a3be8c6927e03e37a8",
            "input": "Trudeau told a briefing that 500,000 N95 surgical masks from Saint Paul, Minnesota-based 3M Co - part of a batch of 4 million ordered by the province of Ontario - should arrive on Wednesday. Canadian officials pressed their U.S. counterparts after Ontario complained the shipment had been blocked. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order last week to stop personal protective equipment from being exported. “We have had constructive and productive conversations that have assured that this particular shipment comes through but we recognize there is still more work to do,” Trudeau said. “We are going to continue to highlight to the American administration the point to which healthcare supplies and services go back and forth across that border.”  The Canadian death toll rose to 345 from 293 on Monday, officials said. The total number of cases was 17,063, compared with 15,822 a day earlier. The coronavirus outbreak looks set to cripple the economy, especially in Alberta, which was already suffering from low oil prices before authorities ordered a shutdown. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that unemployment could increase to 25% from the current 7.2%. “That’s before we even fully account for the impacts of the crash in energy prices,” he told reporters. “This will be the most challenging period in our economy, in relative terms, since the Great Depression.”  He added in an evening address that the province’s budget deficit may almost triple to C$20 billion ($14.27 billion) in this fiscal year. The province’s energy patch needs up to C$30 billion in liquidity, he said. The federal government says it is working on an aid package for the sector. Ottawa says more than 3.7 million people have filed unemployment claims since March 16, including for an emergency benefit that launched on Monday. Canada’s workforce is around 20 million people, according to Statistics Canada. More than half the country’s coronavirus cases are in Quebec, the second-most populous province, which forecast on Tuesday between 1,263 and 8,860 deaths from the respiratory disease by the end of April. Officials said the toll was likely to be closer to the more optimistic prediction. Alberta forecast the coronavirus spread to peak in mid-May under its probable scenario and kill between 400 and 3,100 people by the end of summer. Once it passes the peak, Alberta will gradually reopen its economy with stepped-up testing, contact tracing and additional screening of international arrivals, Kenney said. Ontario, the most-populous province, says it is running out of personal protection equipment. Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Canada had commitments to companies around the world to buy more than 230 million face masks, of which more than 16 million had been delivered. It has also ordered 75 million N95 surgical masks and expects to have 2.3 million by end of the week.",
            "output": [
                "Canada to press U.S. further on medical supplies, Trudeau says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d70dc4f0a103491aa513565568723498",
            "input": "In December 2018, social media users shared a story on the self-publishing site auxx.me bearing the headline, “Drone Footage Reveals Over 100 Whales Trapped in Secret Underwater ‘Jails,'” with many questioning whether the report was real. Aside from the fact that the cages are hardly “secret,” the story is sadly true. The information was originally reported by the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta on 30 October 2018. The paper revealed that more than 100 whales were caged in small enclosures off Russia’s Pacific coast near the city of Nakhodka, possibly in violation of an international ban on commercial whale hunting. The account has since been picked up by reputable English-language news outlets including CBS News and the UK’s Telegraph. According to news reports, 90 belugas and 11 orcas are being held in small enclosures that reporters have dubbed “whale jails” or “whale prison.” Some of the animals have been held there since July 2018 and many suspect they will be sold for entertainment in a burgeoning marine park industry in China, as The Telegraph reported: “An Orca whale can reportedly fetch more than $6 million in the booming ocean theme park industry in neighbouring China. There are more than 60 marine parks in China, and at least a dozen more are under construction.” Although Russian prosecutors are investigating the capture and export of the animals by four companies, identified by Novaya Gazeta as LLC Oceanarium DV, LLC Afalina, LLC Bely Kit and LLC Sochi Dolphinarium, the fate of the animals is currently unclear. Thomas Henningsen, a marine biologist who is head of the Russia program for the international environmental activist organization Greenpeace, confirmed to us via email that as of 19 December 2018 the whales were still in the cages and that the conditions there were “disastrous and cruel.” Experts cited by The Telegraph also opined that many of the whales were likely infants, based on the sheer number of them packed into pens — “even though the capture of whale calves is categorically forbidden.” News reports included an apparent cell phone video that captured the moment one of the whales was lifted by crane and placed into a tank for transport:  ‘Whale prison’ discovered by drone in Far East Russia pic.twitter.com/gkZBVmYwVp — RT (@RT_com) November 8, 2018  According to the animal-oriented web site The Dodo, the process for capturing the whales is harrowing and potentially deadly due to the stress and exhaustion the animals endure: “The capture operators are apparently using ‘purse seining,’” Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), told The Dodo. “They encircle a group of spooked whales with small chase boats. One of these boats drops a net into the water when the whales are huddled together and draws it around the group. The bottom of the net has a line attached and is pulled closed. This is ‘pursing’ — turning the net into a big bag, basically, with the whales inside.” Once the animals are caught, the operators will pick and choose which animals they want to keep. They’re particularly interested in juveniles between 3 and 4 years old, Rose explained. “They then pull the top of the net tighter and tighter until they have corralled off the whale they want … wrestle it onboard with the net or a stretcher, and release the rest,” Rose said. “Sometimes animals get entangled in the net and drown. Or they may exhaust themselves trying to ram through the net and suffer from capture myopathy, a condition that is essentially being exhausted to death — their hearts can simply stop beating.” “The trauma and distress these animals experience during captures is not opinion or emotion — it is fact,” Rose added. “They suffer intense stress-related reactions and their mortality risk spikes sharply soon after capture and then again after transport — they don’t get accustomed to the process. The decimated pods may experience similar stress and trauma — their offspring are being taken from them.” The whales’ situation has caused something of an international outcry. Thousands of people have signed a petition demanding the release of the whales. Orcas are renowned for their intelligence, capacity to feel grief, and complex social and family relationships, and their well-being has been a point of evolving controversy. With many local populations endangered or threatened in the wild, the 2013 documentary Blackfish stoked a national backlash in the United States against marine parks such as Sea World for the treatment of captive animals. The matter has reached the highest office in Russia. On 19 December 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-operated news agency RIA Novosti that Putin was leaning on the local governor in an effort to resolve the issue. In late April 2019, the Russian government enlisted the help of French ocean explorer Jacques-Michel Cousteau of the Ocean Futures Society to help figure out how to safely release the animals in the summer. Criminal charges have been levied against the four companies that have held the whales captive.",
            "output": [
                "More than 100 whales are trapped in an underwater 'jail.'"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3cf73670c19c4fd1887bd9a44b222d3a",
            "input": "Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people across three countries in southeast Africa. Many badly affected areas in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and exacerbating the threat of infection. Although there have been no confirmed cholera deaths in medical centers in Mozambique yet, at least two people died outside hospitals with symptoms including dehydration and diarrhea, the country’s environment minister Celso Correia said. A Reuters reporter saw the body of a dead child being brought out of an emergency clinic in Beira on Wednesday. The child had suffered acute diarrhea, which can be a symptom of cholera. “We expected this, we were prepared for this, we’ve doctors in place,” Correia told reporters. The government said for the first time that there had been confirmed cholera cases on Wednesday. Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute said the local death toll from the tropical storm had increased to 493 people, from 468 previously. That takes the total death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to 738 people, with many more still missing. “Stranded communities are relying on heavily polluted water. This, combined with widespread flooding and poor sanitation, creates fertile grounds for disease outbreaks, including cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. The World Health Organization’s Tarik Jasarevic said 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday. The U.S. Defense Department said on Friday it had authorized an additional $8.5 million in humanitarian assistance for Mozambique, bringing the total to $15 million. About 50 U.S. military personnel have been sent to Mozambique to assist with logistics, including transporting food and medical supplies. Cholera is endemic to Mozambique, which has had regular outbreaks over the past five years. About 2,000 people were infected in the last outbreak, which ended in February 2018, according to the WHO. But the scale of the damage to Beira’s water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with its dense population, have raised fears that another epidemic would be difficult to put down.",
            "output": [
                "Cholera cases jump to 138 in Mozambique's Beira after cyclone."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c4e4d5569e974618931ba589b890b199",
            "input": "The sheriff’s office says one inmate has tested positive for salmonella, a bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness. Other inmates and staff have also reported intestinal illnesses. The source of the bacteria has not been determined. One inmate has also tested positive for hepatitis A, a liver disease caused by contaminated food or water. The source of the virus has not been determined. Inmates and employees that have been potentially exposed are being vaccinated. The jail has suspended visiting and has limited inmate movement and interactions. A professional cleaning company is sanitizing the jail.",
            "output": [
                "Salmonella, hepatitis A reported at Crow Wing County Jail."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-30ce43490b894700b5284d17dd9c5853",
            "input": "\"Harrowing images of wooden caskets being lowered into mass graves in New York City circulated on social media as the city responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The images and related video footage are accurate depictions of recent burials on Hart Island in the Long Island Sound. That said, there have been some misconceptions about the mass graves. Posts about the grave site were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) First, mass burials didn’t begin on Hart Island during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city has used the location as a public cemetery for over 150 years, burying unclaimed people and those whose loved ones can’t afford private burials. Second, not all locals who die from COVID-19 are being buried there, as some posts have suggested. The site is still designated for deceased people with no known next of kin. But as the city struggles with the mounting death toll amid the pandemic, burials on the island have dramatically increased in recent weeks. There are usually about 25 burials on the island each week, the New York mayor’s press secretary Freddie Goldstein told CNN. But that number has climbed to nearly 25 each day. The island’s interment operation is managed by the city’s Department of Correction, and inmates usually assist in the burials. But that has changed since the pandemic. DOC spokesperson Jason Kersten has said that city inmates are not currently involved with the burials: \"\"For social distancing and safety reasons, city-sentenced people in custody are not assisting in burials for the duration of the pandemic. Contracted laborers are performing this important work under DOC supervision,\"\" according to a report by the Gothamist. Bodies are ordinarily held at the city’s morgues anywhere from 30 to 60 days, Goldstein said. But to make room for the influx of deceased individuals during the pandemic, the city’s medical examiner’s office announced a new policy of holding unclaimed bodies for only up to 15 days before they are transferred to the island. New York City’s Hart Island has been used as a public cemetery for unclaimed bodies since the 1800s, but the city’s staggering death toll amid the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the number of burials on the island. Social media posts about the burials are mostly accurate, but many need additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "Images show COVID-19 victims being buried in mass graves in New York City."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7d50a57916c7475cb4ecfa4ebe887a9e",
            "input": "In a report issued Thursday, the U.N. health agency said the number of measles cases from January to June this year is double the number reported for the same period in 2018. Measles is among the world’s most infectious diseases and is spread mostly by coughing, sneezing and close personal contact. Although numerous European countries have introduced stronger vaccination policies, stubborn pockets of vaccine refusal have fueled epidemics across the continent. Last month, the German government proposed making measles immunization mandatory for children and employees at kindergartens and schools; there have been more than 400 cases of measles in Germany this year. With more than 84,000 cases, Ukraine accounted for the vast majority of measles in Europe, followed by Kazakhstan and Georgia. In February, Ukraine’s health ministry said eight people had died of measles. An expert WHO committee said four countries — Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and the U.K. — have now lost their status as having eliminated measles. Measles is preventable with two doses of the vaccine, but there is no effective treatment once people are infected. “If high immunization coverage is not achieved and sustained in every community, both children and adults will suffer unnecessarily and some will tragically die,” said Dr. Guenter Pfaff, chair of a WHO expert committee on measles in Europe. In some developed countries, measles vaccination rates dropped sharply following the publication of a flawed study in the late 1990s that linked the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism. Health officials have struggled to debunk misperceptions about the vaccine’s safety ever since. “Misinformation about vaccines is as contagious and dangerous as the diseases it helps to spread,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement this week. In 2017, WHO estimated about 110,000 people died from measles worldwide, mostly children under 5-years-old.",
            "output": [
                "‘Dramatic resurgence’ of measles seen in Europe, WHO reports."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6852ade57483485980d2531f1fe78930",
            "input": "Invoking provisions of the state Riot Control Act, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered residents of Gallup to remain home except for emergencies and blocked roads leading in and out of town to nonessential travel and any vehicles carrying more than two people. The restrictions were welcomed by local and state officials who have watched COVID-19 infections spread to nursing homes and homeless populations as well as overwhelm hospital intensive care units, leading coronavirus patients to be transferred to Albuquerque. Some visitors were caught off guard as they traveled from the Navajo Nation to stack up on supplies, only to find entire sections of the Gallup Walmart cordoned off as sales were restricted to food and other essential commodities. “They didn’t tell us on the radio or anything,” said Patrick Sandoval of Ganado, Arizona, who came in search of food, games, baby wipes and other items for his family and neighbors. “You don’t find out until you get in there that it’s just essential items.” Despite restrictions, lines of shoppers outside Walmart stretched for hundreds of yards (meters) on Friday afternoon. Stores have been ordered to close under emergency provisions that expire at noon Monday and can be extended by order of the governor. Gallup is a hub for basic household supplies, liquor sales and water-container refills for people living in remote stretches of the Navajo Nation — often without full indoor plumbing — and indigenous Zuni Pueblo. The Navajo Nation has imposed evening and weekend curfews on the reservation spanning parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. State Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup, said the flow of visitors had gotten out of hand with little regard to state social distancing mandates, as federal stimulus checks arrived in March. He believes the crackdown had strong public support in Gallup. COVID-19 infections in Gallup and surrounding McKinley County surpassed 1,110 confirmed cases as of Saturday account for 30% of cases stateside, surpassing infections in much larger communities such as Albuquerque. In all, more than 3,730 cases have been reported in New Mexico as of Saturday, with at least 139 deaths. Federal health officials have linked the severity of the problem in Gallup to an early outbreak at a detox center that was followed by infections among homeless people and nursing homes. Homeless residents who contracted COVID-19 were being offered temporary shelter at four motels at the expense of the state to isolate them and slow the spread of the virus. Lujan Grisham is holding fast to business restrictions and social distancing mandates until at least May 15 in the northwest of the state, including large portions of the Navajo Nation, where infections are surging. She eased some restrictions Friday on nonessential businesses that can provide curbside service and allowed the reopening of gun shops and veterinary offices. Elective surgeries and procedures were reinstated at hospitals that resorted to furloughs and staff reductions as income from traditional sources plummeted. City officials in Gallup requested the new state of emergency under the riot act that can prohibit people from walking the streets and using certain roads. Violations are punishable as misdemeanors on a first offense and as a felony on the second offense. Emergency declarations under the act expire after three days and can be renewed. Gallup officials were correct to ask the governor to lock down the city because the influx of shoppers from the surrounding region makes it difficult to enforce social distancing, said David Conejo, CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services, which operates a Gallup hospital. Gallup’s hospitals send COVID-19 patients to Albuquerque hospitals to keep beds available locally for new patients, Conejo said. “We’re transferring and coordinating with them daily,” he said. “There’s a very structured system to address the COVID epidemic.” In addition to the Rehoboth McKinley’s hospital, the Indian Health Service has a hospital in Gallup where the Army Corps of Engineers recently set up a hospital in a closed Gallup high school. To the east, a pawn shop in Grants has been notified of a possible $60,000 fine for remaining open in defiance of a statewide public health order that restricted nonessential business operations. That city of 9,000 has become a flashpoint of political conflict after Mayor Martin Hicks urged all businesses to reopen against the governor’s orders and advice from nearby Acoma Pueblo. ___ Fonseca contributed from Flagstaff, Arizona. Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport contributed from Phoenix.",
            "output": [
                "New Mexico takes more drastic measures against virus hotspot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6bc4f790e0e944d4bbcfa980e87b745a",
            "input": "“She kept screaming, ‘These African bitches brought Ebola into our country and are making everybody sick!’” said Pewu, 29, who emigrated from Liberia in 2005. “Then she told her son, ‘You know the country that’s called Liberia that they show on the TV? That’s where these bitches are from.’”  Pewu’s experience points to an alarming trend. While many Americans have reached out to help, African communities in the United States are reporting an increasing number of incidents of ostracism. Thursday’s news that a physician who had treated Ebola patients in West Africa has tested positive for the disease in New York heightened anxieties even further. Some Liberians, whose home country has been hardest hit by the worst outbreak of the virus on record, say they are being shunned by friends and co-workers and fear losing their jobs. In California, doctors refused to examine a child believed to have been in contact with someone who traveled to West Africa but turned out to have no risk of Ebola, a nurses’ association said. In Rhode Island, two women said they were disinvited to a baby shower for a co-worker. And in South Carolina, a high school student was sent home for 14 days because the student’s parent had visited Senegal, a country that has had one non-fatal case of Ebola and was declared Ebola-free last week, according to a school spokesman. At least two speeches by Liberians have been canceled by U.S. universities, and a college in Texas refused admission to  Nigerian students over worries about the virus even though that country has had few cases. Oretha Bestman-Yates, a healthcare worker in New York, said she was barred from returning to her job after a trip to Liberia - despite 21 days of quarantine and no signs of illness. “People are looking at Liberians as if we have Ebola in our DNA,” said Ezekiel Solee, 55, a pastor in Rhode Island at a meeting in Providence on Tuesday to discuss the stigma. “Even when you hang your jacket, no one else wants to hang his jacket near you because they are afraid.”  This week, President Barack Obama’s administration issued new guidelines for hospitals treating suspected Ebola cases and ordered all travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - the West African countries most affected by the disease - to be funneled for screening through five selected airports. Four people in the United States have been diagnosed with Ebola, which as of Wednesday had infected 9,911 people in Africa and killed 4,868 since the outbreak began earlier this year, the World Health Organization said. Many Republicans, joined by some Democrats, have called for a travel ban to the region. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh linked the case of Thomas Duncan, a Liberian who died of Ebola in Dallas, to illegal immigration, saying there was a “huge Liberian community of illegal immigrants in Dallas.”  Sociologist Barry Glassner, author of the book “The Culture of Fear,” said the combination of Ebola fear and racial prejudice makes xenophobic reactions to dark-skinned people from West Africa even more likely. “One has to wonder: If these were Swedes, would we be seeing the same response?” he asked. Alexander Kollie, 43, president of the Liberian Ministerial Fellowship of Rhode Island, said he feels increasingly ostracized. “Because we are from Africa and our skin color identifies us as being from Africa, we are being treated differently,” he said. “People avoid us, and they are afraid of us.”  But fear of Ebola also runs deep among West Africans. Several Liberian community associations in the United States have asked members to voluntarily quarantine themselves if they have traveled to the affected countries. In Staten Island’s Little Liberia, where Pewu lives, streets bustle with men and women in bright traditional attire, loudly greeting each other in their native languages. But some here have begun limiting their greetings to verbal salutes. Tamba Aghailas, 42, a human resources specialist who recently traveled to Liberia, said so many people in the community were uncomfortable touching him when he returned that he stopped greeting acquaintances with a handshake. Experts like Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, which treated Ebola-infected cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, urged the public to resist irrational fear of Ebola, which is spread through contact with body fluids of someone who is showing symptoms. “We even have some examples here in our own community – children of parents who are working in our biocontainment unit being shunned,” he said. “That level of paranoia is just not helpful, and it’s just not appropriate.”",
            "output": [
                "With U.S. Ebola fear running high, African immigrants face ostracism."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2fb878a9694e4b07ab795dbc1c689be4",
            "input": "The U.S. Department of Agriculture said 73,500 chickens were destroyed at the facility and will not enter the food system. The H7 avian influenza can be deadly to chickens and turkeys. “Bird flu” is a catch-all phrase for a variety of influenza viruses that spread among poultry. They can be very contagious and deadly among birds, but rarely spread to humans. That said, deadly human flu pandemics have been sparked by viruses that first emerged in birds, and health officials closely track what’s killing poultry. Flu can spread from birds to humans through the air, or when people touch a bird or an infected surface and then touch their eye, nose or mouth. The affected Tennessee breeder supplies the food company Tyson Foods Inc. The company said Monday that it doesn’t expect its chicken business to be disrupted, but the outbreak sent jitters through Wall Street. Shares of Tyson, based in Springdale, Arkansas, fell and the news dragged down shares of other companies in the sectors as well. “We’re responding aggressively, and are working with state and federal officials to contain the virus,” Tyson said in a company release. The company said it already tests all of its flocks for the virus before they leave farms “out of an abundance of caution.” Results are known before the birds are processed, the company said, and animals are not used if bird flu is detected. Tennessee’s Department of Agriculture is not identifying the farm where the chickens were destroyed, saying only that it is located in the state’s Lincoln County, which is just west of Chattanooga and borders Alabama. Only one commercial chicken farm in Alabama was within the six-mile radius, the state said, and all the birds there tested negative for the flu. The Alabama farm was also used by Tyson, according to the state. Alabama said it also began testing chickens in people’s backyards within the affected area, and all the tests have come back negative so far. There have been bird flu outbreaks in China and in Europe in recent months, though they are of differing strains. The USDA said Monday that it does not yet know what type of H7 bird flu is affecting the chickens in Tennessee, but will know within 48 hours. Shares of Tyson Foods Inc. fell $1.61, or 2.5 percent, to close at $61.99 Monday. Shares of Sanderson Farms Inc., based in Laurel, Mississippi, dropped $1.86, or 2 percent, to close at $92.53 and shares of Greeley, Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. fell 25 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $20.70.",
            "output": [
                "Bird flu found at Tyson Foods chicken supplier."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6e05ac08504249858f84c79f2f52861b",
            "input": "Scientists on Monday described evidence of this bitter chapter of South American history preserved deep in an ice cap in the Peruvian Andes in the form of residue from the relentless clouds of metallic dust spewed from the mines starting in the 16th century. The mountaintop mines of Potosí in Bolivia were the world’s richest silver source. While the Incas had long extracted silver, a new processing method introduced by the Spanish in 1572 greatly increased production even as it belched lead dust and other pollutants into the atmosphere. The pollution blew over the entire region, including the Quelccaya Ice Cap some 500 miles (800 km) northwest in southern Peru. The Spanish refining process involved pulverizing silver ore, containing both lead and silver, into powder, which sent metallic dust into the atmosphere. The powder was mixed with mercury. The silver was separated by heating the mixture to allow the mercury to evaporate. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists said they drilled into the glacier at an altitude of about 18,000 feet (5,600 meters) to learn about past air pollution. The age of the ice was determined with precision because it was laid down in discernible layers caused by the annual alternation between wet and dusty dry seasons. The pollutants spawned by the Spanish colonial-era silver operations from the 16th century through the 18th century consisted mostly of lead but also arsenic and others. The researchers called it the earliest evidence of large-scale, human-produced air pollution in South America, beginning more than two centuries before the industrial revolution. The pollutants were reminders of “the sad conditions and fate of tens of thousands locals exploited in the silver mining operations during the colonial period,” Ohio State University environmental scientist Paolo Gabrielli said. “Their work conditions must have been truly terrible. Many died because of the strenuous physical efforts but it was also not infrequent that underground mine galleries collapsed, burying and killing hundreds of people,” Gabrielli said. Ohio State earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson called the Quelccaya ice a “Rosetta Stone” for studying climate history, saying the samples also can reveal past temperatures, aridity and perhaps even the evolution of bacteria and viruses.",
            "output": [
                "Peruvian ice cap harbors evidence of conquistadors' avarice."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d910301e2f4943e28431e08094362169",
            "input": "At about 1:15 p.m. on 26 November 2010 (which was the day after Thanksgiving, better known as “Black Friday”), those manning the surveillance cameras at a Best Buy in Augusta, Georgia, spotted a shopper cutting a Dell laptop computer from its packaging and stuffing it down his pants. According to police, store security personnel approached the suspect, 39-year-old Tracey Attaway of Waynesboro, Georgia, and asked him to return the merchandise. Attaway became angry, released the laptop, and ran out the front door, pulling a knife and knocking down a Best Buy employee in the process. Outside the store’s entrance were four Marines and seven volunteers collecting donations for Toys for Tots. One of the former group, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, clotheslined the running man, bringing him to the ground. The assailant regained his feet and swung his knife, stabbing Duggan, then was quickly tackled by several other Marines and members of the store’s loss-prevention team, who held him in the parking lot until deputies arrived:  The injured Marine was taken to Eisenhower Army Medical Center and released after receiving three stitches. He was well enough the next day to drop off a toy for donation at a nearby WalMart store:  Cpl. Duggan’s attacker, Tracey Attaway, was jailed and charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a knife in the commission of a crime, and in October 2011 he was sentenced to life in prison. (Attaway faced the maximum sentence on all assault and theft charges because he was a convicted felon with 30 prior arrests on his record.) However, what makes this incident an enduring item of interest on the Internet is an account of the crime which was circulated via e-mail in December 2010 and presented as a 27 November Associated Press reporting of the incident:  November 27, 2010 Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. – A U.S. Marine reservist collecting toys for children was stabbed when he helped stop a suspected shoplifter in eastern Georgia. Best Buy sales manager Orvin Smith told The Augusta Chronicle that man was seen on surveillance cameras Friday putting a laptop under his jacket at the Augusta store. When confronted, the man became irate, knocked down an employee, pulled a knife and ran toward the door. Outside were four Marines collecting toys for the service branch’s “Toys For Tots” program. Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of them, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back. The cut did not appear to be severe. The suspect was transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken leg, possible broken ribs, assorted lacerations and bruises he obtained when he fell trying to run after stabbing the Marine. The suspect, whose name was not released, was held until police arrived. The Richmond County Sheriff’s office said it is investigating. Although that account was indeed based on an Associated Press (AP) news article, it contained a paragraph not found in the original report:  The suspect was transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken leg, possible broken ribs, assorted lacerations and bruises he obtained when he fell trying to run after stabbing the Marine. (The audience is supposed to read between the lines quoted above and conclude that the suspect did not fall, but rather was beaten by the other three Marines.) None of the news accounts, police reports, or interviews about this incident indicated that Attaway was injured, either while being subdued or afterwards. That bit was pure invention on the part of some person who inserted the additional paragraph into the news account, thereby transforming it into a “Don’t mess with the Marines” object lesson. A fake image representing a newspaper article was later created for this item, one which added the (apocryphal) statement that the fleeing suspect sustained multiple injuries “when he slipped and fell off the curb”:   Sightings:   In the 1974 film Death Wish, a construction worker who takes part in the chasing down and beating of a would-be mugger (resulting in the mugger’s receiving two broken arms, a broken jaw, and cracked ribs) tells a television reporter that “The poor guy musta fell down.”",
            "output": [
                "A shoplifter who stabbed a Marine collecting Toys for Tots was then whomped by other Marines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c9fb20e4e9994e85a85cb65e4789dbe4",
            "input": "Despite a 25-year-old international ban on most international elephant ivory trade, poachers are illegally slaughtering elephants by the thousands for their tusks and wildlife advocates blame the remaining ivory trade. In the United States, regulations against trading in ivory are tightening. The state of New York has adopted a near total ban and the Obama administration is tightening federal rules. This is unfair, say people like Defrin, whose gallery sells costly figurines, vases and other ivory curios. Such antiques contain ivory taken from elephants in the distant past, sometimes centuries ago, and should not be subject to sales restrictions, they say. Defrin said regulations already in place have damaged his business, drying up European demand for his goods and restricting import of ivory. “They’ve basically ruined the collective antique trade,” he said. “Is this really something that will stop poor African people from killing elephants?”  Yes, say wildlife advocates and regulators. They say an “antique loophole” in existing rules sometimes allows new ivory to be disguised as old, fueling global demand for tusks and keeping illegal poaching profitable. “This poaching crisis in Africa is being driven by demand for ivory,” said Laura Noguchi, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. With the U.S. Congress back this month after a summer break, a fight over ivory trade regulation is taking shape. It will not be a top priority for lawmakers faced with other urgent decisions. But it may get attention due to the involvement of the National Rifle Association. One of Washington’s most powerful special interest groups, the NRA is advocating for the interests of gun enthusiasts with ivory-decorated weapons. Alaska’s Don Young and California’s Ken Calvert, both Republican representatives, are offering legislation to soften  Obama administration restrictions issued over the last year. “The administration’s ivory rule is well-intentioned, but was not crafted carefully enough to account for law-abiding Americans who may possess legally obtained products containing ivory,” Calvert told Reuters in a statement. Ivory has been used for hundreds of years in manufacturing items such as the tips of bows for stringed instruments, piano keys, decorative items for the home, and importantly, for ornamental inlays in rifle and shotgun stocks and handgun grips. Even though the ivory trade is largely curbed globally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an estimated 100,000 African elephants were killed by poachers between 2010 and 2012, according to a study last year by the National Academy of Sciences. Much of the demand for ivory comes from Asia. In China, a growing affluent class has increasingly sought ivory as an ornamental item. Some experts have reported that speculators in eastern Asia are stockpiling raw ivory, hoping it will fetch higher prices in the future. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which regulates ivory sales on a federal level, said the United States is a “significant market” for ivory, though it had no detailed estimates for ivory trading in the country. The agency issued a director’s order last year prohibiting commercial import of all ivory, without exception, and clarified other limits on ivory exports. The agency followed up that order with a proposal in July that would further limit exports of ivory to legally qualified antiques. The proposal would offer an exemption allowing the sale of certain manufactured items that contain less than 200 grams (7 ounces) of ivory, a move the service said should include most firearms and musical instruments. New York state outlawed the sale of ivory last year, offering exceptions only for items proven to be antique and containing only a small amount of ivory. Earlier this month, California’s legislature approved a similar measure. Just how much new illegal ivory may be “laundered” as antique is unclear. A study of ivory for sale in Los Angeles in 2014 commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, found that up to 90 percent of the ivory surveyed may have been illegal under California law, and as much as 60 percent may have been prohibited under federal law. The study’s author, Daniel Stiles, cautioned that determining the age of ivory by visual examination is subjective. The only way to firmly date ivory is based on carbon dating and DNA tests, which are costly and require cutting into the ivory. Wildlife groups have applauded the Obama administration’s actions and are seeking more bans at the state level on even the sale of antique ivory similar to New York’s statute. “The more we can eliminate legal markets in ivory, the more difficult it becomes to sell ivory illegally,” said Andrew Wetzler, director of the wildlife program for the Natural Resources Defense Council.",
            "output": [
                "Push to save African elephants stirs U.S. clash over antique ivory trade."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2000d919de2f415c9f59e2540d46d074",
            "input": "The company declined to discuss details in the so-called  not approvable letter from the Food and Drug Administration. It  would not comment on whether the agency had asked for further  data or new clinical trials. The drug, which was expected to be called Cordaptive,  combines long-acting niacin with a new drug that prevents the  flushing side effect common to niacin — an uncomfortable  sensation of burning in the face and neck that leads many  patients to discontinue taking it. Analysts widely expected the drug to be approved,  especially after a committee of European regulators last week  recommended it be cleared for sale there. The rejection was another blow for Merck, whose share price  has fallen about 30 percent this year amid a controversy and  debate over the effectiveness of the cholesterol drugs its  sells in a joint venture with Schering-Plough Corp. The FDA decision should be a boon to Abbott Laboratories,  whose franchise of niacin-based cholesterol drugs would have  been in direct competition with Merck’s proposed new entry into  the lucrative market. Abbott shares rose 2.7 percent following the Merck news. Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan called the news a  disappointment. “We expected the drug to get approved,” she said. “It’s not  going to have any impact on the earnings outlook for this year,  but certainly as we go out in time they could have had an  important contribution from the drug.”    Merck said it would meet with the FDA to submit additional  information to enable the agency to further evaluate the  benefit/risk profile of the drug, which it has gone back to  calling MK-0524A after the FDA also rejected the prospective  brand name Cordaptive. “We firmly believe that MK-0524A provides physicians with  an important option to manage their patients’ cholesterol,”  Merck’s research chief Peter Kim said in a statement. The company said it did not yet know when a meeting with  FDA officials might take place. In clinical trials, the laropiprant component of the drug  demonstrated an ability to significantly reduce the flushing  effect of niacin. It had been hoped the combination would  enable patients to tolerate niacin at a dose that provides the  most therapeutic benefit. Despite the setback, Merck reaffirmed the 2008 forecast it  issued last week and reiterated confidence in meeting its goal  of double-digit annual earnings per share growth through 2010,  excluding certain items. Some analysts believed that Cordaptive and a planned  follow-up combination drug that also includes Merck’s bad  cholesterol lowering Zocor could eventually garner $1 billion  to $2 billion in annual sales. Merck shares fell to $39.40 in extended trading from their  New York Stock Exchange close at $41.44, while Abbott shares  climbed to $53 from the NYSE close at $51.61.",
            "output": [
                "Merck says FDA rejects its new cholesterol drug."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25fa426098964da387fd754a64f73814",
            "input": "\"The story provides a range of the costs of the procedure for cosmetic purposes and also notes cost of additional surgeries that may be needed to correct for fat-grafting that did not survive after an initial procedure. This procedure may not be approved by health insurance for reconstruction due to the lack of evidence for safety and long-term outcomes. The story provides one surgeon’s average fat-grafting and stem cell survival rate, about 54%. The story notes current research on this new fat-grafting to determine short and long-term health and cosmetic outcomes. The story clearly and carefully explains the procedure and the rationale for the addition of stem cells to a transfer of a woman’s fat to her breast tissue. The story notes that the makers of a machine that would mix fat and stem cells more effectively is sponsoring tests in Europe and is proposing tests in the U.S. The story does an excellent job listing the potential harms of the procedure. The story gives appropriate caveats that this stem cell and fat grafting is relatively unstudied in women with a history of breast cancer, a population possibly more vulnerable to long-term harms of fat injections in the breast area. The story notes the potential need for multiple revision surgeries if the fat transfer does not take. The story notes that women looking for increased bresat volume beyond 1 cup size would likely not be candidates. The story appropriately lists potential long-term harms, including obscured mammograms due to nercrosis and calcifications from the fat. The story notes the lack of evidence for this procedure. The story notes that plastic surgeons are currently enrolling women in clinical trials so this procedure can be studied for safety and positive cosmetic outcomes. The story lists notes an average fat-grafting survival of 54%, which means a high likelihood for additional surgeries. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story is quite balanced in the description of this relatively new cosmetic and reconstructive technique that is being used by some cosmetic and plastic surgeons. The story does an excellent job citing varied sources to provide the reader with multiple perspectives on this new breast augmentation technique. The story provides both positive and cautious testimonials from a range of cosmetic and reconstructive specialists, researchers and a patient who had the procedure. The story notes that this procedure is largely for cosmetic purposes, but it has been used as a reconstructive technique. Fat transfer has been used without stem cells for reconstruction for about 10 years. The story also notes the more common silicone and saline implants as options for breast reconstrution and augmentation. The story focuses on this fat injection with stem cells as a procedure for cosmetic augmentation or reconstruction following breast cancer surgery. The story notes that while some plastic and cosmetic surgeons are experimenting with this procedure, it is a \"\"biologic product\"\" (due to mixture of a person’s own fat w. additional stem cells) which is not currently approved by the FDA. The story notes that this is a newer procedure for breast augmentation and possibly breast reconstruction. Fat grafting is not new in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The additional of stem cells to a person’s own fat is new and the story notes that long-term outcome of fat and stem cells in breast tissue is not known. The story has a great deal of independent reporting and does not rely solely on a press release for information about this procedure.\"",
            "output": [
                "Stem Cells and Breast Surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-160126717b1449d3bfc442b9d4882f42",
            "input": "A day after Australia recorded its hottest day on record, thick smoke blanketed the harbor city, shrouded the Opera House and brought many outdoor activities to a halt. The state of emergency declaration gave firefighters broad powers to control government resources, force evacuations, close roads and shut down utilities across New South Wales, which is home to more than 7 million people. Authorities said nearly 120 fires remained ablaze by late afternoon, more than half of which are uncontrolled, and with temperatures forecast to top 45 degrees Celsius (113°F) in some areas, officials warned residents to be on high alert. “The firefront has been spreading very quickly and intensely,” NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney, adding that two firefighters had been airlifted to hospital with burns to their faces and airways. “It’s still a very difficult and dangerous set of circumstances.”  Days out from Christmas, a time when many Australians head to the coast for the holidays, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised people to make sure “you are prepared to change your plans should circumstances change.”  In Shoalhaven, a popular coastal destination some 190 km (120 miles) south of Sydney, local mayor Amanda Findley said people were poised to evacuate. “There is a large amount of smoke looming over the city, which shows how close the fire is,” Findley told Reuters by telephone. “It is extremely hot and windy now so we are all worried the fire could spread. People are really worried that they may lose everything.”  The RFS posted footage on its official Twitter account showing firefighters tackling one of the three blazes ringing Sydney. A waterbomber aircraft was dwarfed by thick grey and black billowing cloud as it attempted to douse flames in bushland just meters away from homes. Australia has been battling wildfires across much of its east coast for weeks, leaving six people dead, more than 680 homes destroyed and nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of bushland burnt. Berejiklian said as many as 40 homes had been destroyed on Thursday. Australia on Wednesday broke all-time heat records for the second day running, with maximum temperatures reaching an average of 41.9 degree Celsius, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Some 1,700 firefighters have been deployed across NSW, but officials warned that was still not enough to cover every potential danger and urged people in high risk areas to evacuate while it was still safe to do so. The current state of emergency will last for seven days, while a total fire ban that has been in place since Tuesday will remain until midnight on Saturday. The major fires around Sydney, which is home to more than 5 million people, have resulted in days of heavy pollution in the city usually known for its sparkling harbor and blue skies. One megafire in the Kanangra Boyd National Park to the city’s southwest had crept to the very outskirts of Campbelltown, a suburb of 157,000 people. By late afternoon, Sydney was sitting at No.4 on the IQAir AirVisual live rankings of pollution in global cities, above Dhaka, Mumbai, Shanghai and Jakarta. Many commuters have donned breathing masks in recent weeks as air quality has plunged to hazardous levels not previously seen in the city. NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said the service had experienced a 10% surge in call-outs for patients suffering respiratory conditions over the past week and urged susceptible people to remain indoors and keep their medication close. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has weathered a storm of criticism on social media in recent days for going on an overseas holiday during the emergency, adding to criticism that his government is failing to deliver adequate climate change policies. As local media reported Morrison was in Hawaii on a family holiday, about 500 protesters gathered outside his official Sydney residence to demand urgent action on climate change. Morrison’s office refused to confirm his whereabouts. One protestor, wearing an Hawaiian shirt, carried a sign reading, “ScoMo, where the bloody hell are you?” referencing the leader’s nickname and a decade-old international advertisement for Tourism Australia that was banned in several countries because the language was deemed offensive. Australia’s low-lying Pacific neighbors have been particularly critical of the coal-rich nation’s climate policies following modest progress at the U.N. climate talks in Madrid. “It was particularly disappointing to see our Pacific cousins in Australia actively standing in the way of progress at a time when we have been watching in horror as their own country is ablaze,” Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine said in a statement on Wednesday.",
            "output": [
                "Ring of fire: Australian state declares emergency as wildfires approach Sydney."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b4bd2d7dcfb14fd49df1772d1dbc1f47",
            "input": "According to a Today Show story posted on the MSNBC on December 23, 2008, this happened in September 2008 but some of the facts in the eRumor are wrong. Fourteen year old Chelsea Barton was born five weeks prematurely which resulted in developmental disabilities and serious health problems all her life. She was connected to life support at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina for pneumonia and the doctors had told her mother, Colleen Barton, that there was no hope for young Chelsea’s recovery. 14 year old Chelsea Barton at Presbyterian Hospital The Barton family gathered one last time in Chelsea’s hospital room to say their goodbyes and the order was giving to disconnect her from the life support system and “just let nature take its course.” According to the MSNBC Story, it appeared that Chelsea had another visitor just after the life support was disconnected. “As her mother waited for the girl to take her last breath, an image of bright light appeared on a security monitor. Within an hour, the dying girl began a recovery that doctors are at a loss to explain.”  Photo of strange light in the form of an angel from Colleen Barton’s cell phone Colleen Barton and other workers noticed an image of an angel in light on the security surveillance monitor near the hospital room door and Barton managed to capture the image with her cell phone camera. Barton told MSNBC that at first she thought that it was the angel of death coming to take her daughter but shortly afterwards Chelsea Barton started showing signs of improvement. According to the story, “It would be another two months before Chelsea finally left the hospital to return home, where she is about to celebrate her 15th birthday as well as Christmas. Her mother is convinced that Chelsea was saved by divine intervention.” Click here for MSNBC story with video updated 12/26/08 Comments",
            "output": [
                " A forwarded email about the story of how a little girl at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina miraculously recovered from cancer after an angel was seen on a video surveillance monitor. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15ddacddab9340799adce7be1bef66e9",
            "input": "In its annual update on HIV, which it said now infects around 35.3 million people worldwide, UNAIDS said deaths from AIDS and HIV infection rates were falling, while the number of people getting treatment is going up. AIDS-related deaths in 2012 fell to 1.6 million, down from 1.7 million in 2011 and a peak of 2.3 million in 2005. And the number of people newly infected with the disease dropped to 2.3 million in 2012 down from 2.5 million in 2011. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS can be transmitted via blood, breast milk and by semen during sex, but can be kept in check with cocktails of drugs known as antiretroviral treatment or therapy. By the end of 2012, some 9.7 million people in poorer and middle-income countries had access to such AIDS drugs, an increase of nearly 20 percent in a year. Since 2001, the U.N. report said, there has been a 52 percent drop in annual new HIV infections among children and a 33 percent reduction in newly infected adults and children combined. In 2011, UN member states agreed to a target of getting HIV treatment to 15 million people by 2015. As countries scaled up treatment coverage and as evidence showed how treating HIV early also reduces its spread, the World Health Organization set new guidelines this year, expanding the number of people needing treatment by more than 10 million. Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS’ executive director, said the international community should aim to surpass the 2015 goal. “Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment, we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind,” he said in a statement with Monday’s report. The UNAIDS report found that despite a flattening in donor funding for HIV, which has remained near 2008 levels, individual countries’ domestic spending on the epidemic has increased, accounting for 53 percent of global HIV resources in 2012. Total funding for the global fight against HIV and AIDS in 2012 was $18.9 billion, about $3 billion to $5 billion short of the estimated $22 billion to $24 billion needed annually by 2015.",
            "output": [
                "United Nations reports 'dramatic' progress in fight against AIDS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6b1117c61ea948ea9d8c70cd24ea76e3",
            "input": "The story includes some pricing estimates for these products. The story is clear that – despite the claims made by some who stand to profit – there is no quantifiable information about benefits documented about these products. And there’s this closing skepticism from Dr. Lewy: “he was not sure that their other purportedly sleep-inducing ingredients like valerian root work and partly because food delays rather than hastens the absorption of melatonin.” The story explains that dessert makers “are marketing their products as a harmless way to promote relaxation.” While harms are not quantified, it’s clear from the story’s discussions about regulatory questions why that’s impossible to do right now. The harms mentioned are largely hypothetical in that there isn’t good evidence documenting these problems. But the story does a good job in painting, with broad strokes, what might go wrong if one uses these products. The story shows how evidence is elusive, partially due to the lack of regulatory clarity about the products in question. No disease-mongering in this story. Several independent experts – independent of the product manufacturers – were quoted. Not applicable. It isn’t possible to compare existing alternatives to these products because there is no information documenting efficacy of the products. The widening availability of these products is eminently clear from the story. And the fact that melatonin has not approved by the FDA as a food additive is explained. The relative novelty of these products – and their spread – is clear from the story. It’s clear that the story did NOT rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Dessert, Laid-Back and Legal"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29040dc32cd34e61b11d8caf5cf256a2",
            "input": "Researchers affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine, whose network includes a Florida children’s hospital near the school, plan to use results of the screening to select about 50 overweight students and track their activity levels using the Fitbit, a connected wristband. Wearable technology, expected to take off next year when Apple Inc introduces its health-oriented Apple Watch, has shown mixed promise in research. Yet medical literature has little to say about the effectiveness in adolescents, whose obesity rates have quadrupled in the last 30 years, with nearly one in five now being obese, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s cool. You can wear it and it measures your activity,” said Dr. Raquel Hernandez, lead researcher and an assistant professor of pediatrics at John Hopkins Medical School, who works at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. “It also can help the student know what they really are doing,” she added. Students will synch their wristbands to MyFitnessPal, an app that can also track their daily diet. Researchers are using Fitbit tracking to examine sleep patterns as well. When a youngster’s activity level drops, researchers can send a cell phone text or Twitter message, with real-time tips on a healthy excursion or snack. Funded by a $100,000 grant from the philanthropic arm of insurer Florida Blue, the school-based program eliminates the need to talk teenagers into trekking to the doctor’s office. “We are coming right to where they are,” said program coordinator Janelle Garcia, a health educator who hopes to expand nationally if successful. “The goal is to test the feasibility.”   The focus is not on weight loss, but teaching healthy habits at a critical age. Obese adolescents are much more likely to become obese adults, and run the health risks of developing diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Students will meet with nutrition counselors and fitness experts twice a week, as well as attend after-school sessions with a psychologist focused on behavioral change. Such counseling is key, said Corby Martin, an associate professor at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Simply wearing a fitness wristband doesn’t guarantee that adults will shed pounds, research has shown. “The proliferation and availability of these devices and apps doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to miraculously help you lose body weight, increase your activity and be healthier. That takes a lot of work,” said Martin, a spokesman for the Obesity Society, a scientific organization. Teenagers and their parents may be reluctant to talk about weight problems, the Florida researchers acknowledge. “We are fully aware that this may make some families uncomfortable,” said Hernandez, who hopes an accompanying schoolwide health initiative will destigmatize the topic. On Friday morning, 14-year-old Sierra Mieczkowski saw little downside as she arrived for a height and weight check and slipped off her black sneakers, revealing mismatched socks. The ninth-grader, who does not know whether she will be selected for the study, said she tries to eat well and takes frequent walks with her father. But with a wearable fitness tracker, “I could see how much I’m doing,” she said, adding “and know how much I can improve.”",
            "output": [
                "Obesity research takes high-tech twist at Florida school."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9033c2c3e5374d4baf95e746037ecfae",
            "input": "This one is true. Ann Coulter made the remarks during a June 2015 appearance on the Simon Conway Show, a syndicated talk radio program. Coulter was talking about the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) waiving citizenship requirements when she said: “The INS is waiving many English-language requirements for immigrants. And that obviously goes to the heart of it: Are you switching allegiances? Do you love this country? Beyond that, how about the wheelchair only section, how about the section for the blind? Look, we wish these people well, but we’re not running a charity here. It’s insane for any country not to be using its immigration policies to bring in people who are better than us, not people who are going to immediately need taxpayer assistance. We already have our own poor people. And, again, this includes all the immigrants who have come in forever and are here now. It’s people who live in America we should be taking care of, not bringing in people we have to help.” It’s not clear what Ann Coulter is referencing when she talks about a “wheelchair only section” and a “section for the blind.” But, in the past, immigrants who were unable to complete a naturalization interview, a naturalization test and take an oath of allegiance due to a physical disability were unable to be become naturalized citizens. That policy came to light during the 1990s. A 25-year-old immigrant from India who had lived in the U.S. since she was a baby was denied citizenship because she had cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other illnesses that made it impossible for her to recite the oath of allegiance. President Clinton signed a bipartisan bill into law in 2000 that granted a waiver to immigrants who qualified for citizenship but were unable to complete the process because of a disability.",
            "output": [
                " Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator and author, said immigrants who are blind or are in wheelchairs should not be granted citizenship. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d46c2a58046c43859569d48ad37ddf76",
            "input": "\"Editor's note: This fact-check was updated after it first published to included corrected information from the state on one child death. A year ago this month, hearts across Atlanta collectively sank. Dominating the news last June 18 were reports that a 22-month-old Cobb County boy had been left in the back seat of his family’s locked SUV and had been found unresponsive nearly eight hours later. His dad, Justin Ross Harris, would tell family he thought he had dropped off young Ross at daycare before parking the SUV and going into work for the day. Police would later say the dad’s account didn’t add up. Harris, who has denied any wrongdoing, is awaiting trial on several charges, including malice murder. His boy is now part of the statistics that state officials used Wednesday in their ongoing campaign to raise public awareness of the potential dangers of leaving a child alone in a car, especially in the hot Georgia summer. \"\"Since 2010, eight children in Georgia have died due to vehicular heatstroke,\"\" Gov. Nathan Deal said at a press conference outside the state Capitol. The governor, first lady Sandra Deal and a contingent of state leaders gathered to promote a new public service video that encourages parents and caregivers to \"\"look again\"\" before they leave their vehicle to make sure they are not leaving a child behind. PolitiFact Georgia decided to look deeper into the stats Deal cited on child deaths caused by heatstroke. But first a little background. Annually, since the death of 2-year-old Jasmine Green in 2011, state officials have used the kickoff of summer to launch a public campaign to remind the public of the dangers of leaving a child in a hot, closed vehicle. Jasmine was found dead in a day care center van that had returned from a field trip to a Chuck E. Cheese in Jonesboro. Authorities said she had apparently fallen asleep between the seats of the van, and staff didn’t notice she was missing from the center for more than two hours. The state agency that oversees child care centers received 17 reports in fiscal 2013, 18 reports in fiscal 2014 and four reports in fiscal 2015 of children being left in vehicles by child care providers. \"\"We receive calls about incidents where children are left in vehicles from a few minutes to several hours, and we investigate each incident,\"\" Amy M. Jacobs, the commissioner of Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), said Wednesday. \"\"While, thankfully, we have not seen any heatstroke-related deaths in child care centers since 2011, these dangerous close calls are completely unacceptable,\"\" she said. So what about those stats? We contacted DECAL, which provided us information on the eight Georgia deaths. In addition to the deaths of Ross and Jasmine, they include: *a 2-year-old Clarkston girl who was apparently trapped inside her mother’s car for more than an hour in 2014; * a 5-month-old girl was left in the family car outside a Kennesaw day school for five hours in 2011; * a 3-year-old Warner Robins boy left in a car outside a family day care for an hour in 2011; * a 3-year-old Canton girl left outside a church in 2010 for an unknown amount of time in the family minivan; *a 6-year-old girl from Evans who gained access to the family car in her garage for an undetermined amount of time in 2010. *an 18-month-old Monroe County boy was left in 2010 in the family van at an elementary school for seven or eight hours. Nationally, 639 children -- or an average of 37 per year -- died from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle between 1998 and 2014, according to data compiled by Jan Null with the Department of Meteorology & Climate Science at San Jose University. In that same time period, Georgia had 22 deaths, Florida 68, Alabama 14 and South Carolina 9. Our ruling Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference Wednesday to raise public awareness of the potential dangers of leaving a child alone in a car. He and other state officials have been doing similar events since 2012, following the tragic death of a 2-year-old girl. The governor cited statistics showing that since 2010, eight children in Georgia have died due to vehicular heatstroke. The death count is accurate and makes the case that without vigilance on the part of parents and caregivers, there’s the potential for tragedy.\"",
            "output": [
                "Since 2010, eight children in Georgia have died due to vehicular heatstroke."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cc6c8dd6e3204deca0b84a7e9dbcba8f",
            "input": "The drugmaker said in a statement there had been an exponential increase in so-called compassionate-use requests for the drug. The spread of the virus in Europe and the United States has “flooded an emergency treatment access system that was set up for very limited access to investigational medicines and never intended for use in response to a pandemic,” it said. Gilead said it would keep processing previously approved requests. Remdesivir has been touted by many - including President Donald Trump - as one of the more promising potential treatments for the virus. The company said it was shifting from a system of individual compassionate-use requests to expanded access programs, which it expects will start in a similar time frame that new requests for compassionate use would have been processed. Gilead said it would make exceptions for pregnant women and children under 18 with severe COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. “Enrollment in clinical trials is the primary way to access remdesivir to generate critical data that inform the appropriate use of this investigational medicine,” Gilead said. There are currently no approved treatments or preventive vaccines for COVID-19. Researchers are studying existing treatments and working on experimental ones, but most current patients receive only supportive care such as breathing assistance. Other potential treatments - like malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine - are in short supply as demand has surged with the rapid spread of the outbreak. Some states have already taken steps to limit prescriptions of the drugs to those who need them most.",
            "output": [
                "Gilead puts emergency access to experimental coronavirus drug on hold amid surging demand."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3072bdd9602489b81e398f279257e07",
            "input": "Muskegon resident Pamela Anderson said that after hearing about numerous cases, she started a Facebook group about cancer deaths among people who live or have lived near the Butterworth landfill site in Grand Rapids. They plan to bring up the issue at a city commission meeting this week, the Grand Rapids Press reported . The group recently met with Kent County Health Department epidemiologist Brian Hartl, who advised them to collect more information on cancer rates in the area. “If there are rare forms of cancer, or cancers we’re seeing affect a young population, it might trigger further investigation,” Hartl said. But he cautioned that cancer is difficult to study, and that it can take years and multiple triggers to emerge. “Especially in small areas like a neighborhood or a block, it makes it challenging to connect it to environmental exposure,” Hartl said. “Most cancers are due to lifestyle choices, not environmental factors.” The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that theoretical cancer and health risks from the landfill exist, but that they’re limited to regular direct contact with the waste over several decades. The agency conducted a site cleanup in 1999, and removed material contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyl and chromium. The EPA said there is no current exposure at the site. “A lot of those kids in the ’60s and ’70s used to play in the dump,” said Shane Smith, who grew up down the street from Anderson in the Indiana Avenue neighborhood. “It was just starting to alarm to us, because my dad’s entire generation passed away from cancer.” Anderson said she’s having the soil tested for contaminants at a home in the same neighborhood. ___ Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grand-rapids",
            "output": [
                "Residents investigate cancer rates near Michigan landfill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-77361211c00946d1bb713f05f906d723",
            "input": "Authorities have managed to mitigate the spread of the virus and the COVID-19 respiratory disease it causes among Singapore’s citizens by rigorous contact tracing and surveillance, earning praise from the World Health Organization. The Ministry of Health reported just 14 cases among Singaporeans and permanent residents on Saturday. But the disease is spreading rapidly within the large migrant worker community, highlighting what rights groups say is a weak link in containment efforts. Authorities have ramped up testing for the disease in the dormitories. Saturday’s new cases takes the total in the city-state, which is under a partial lockdown, to 5,992. It has reported 11 deaths from the disease.",
            "output": [
                "Singapore reports 942 new COVID-19 cases in record daily jump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e3f258f3cedb4c7dbb9c4aaf56f6ff02",
            "input": "The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education this month removed credentials from the Detroit Medical Center’s program with Wayne State University after a September site visit. The accreditation is slated to end on June 30, The Detroit News reported. Wayne State University School of Medicine Dean Jack Sobel said Thursday that the program will appeal. Neither the council nor Detroit Medical Center, also known as DMC, would comment on why the program was losing its accreditation or how it could restore its credentials. “We are going to appeal together to recreate a teaching environment, with both sides participating, that will create an optimal teaching environment,” Sobel said. The accreditation loss comes as the relationship between Wayne State and the medical center has been worsening over the past several years. The conflict has put at risk the medical attention provided to many impoverished and underserved residents in one of the nation’s poorest metropolitan cities. Sobel added that Wayne State’s top neurosurgical teaching faculty left the college to join the medical center, which then left the school without the necessary teaching credentials to run the program. “The failure of the residency is a failure of one or two teaching individuals. It’s not a conflict between DMC and Wayne State,” he said. “This is an outlier,” he said, noting that other residency programs are not at risk. Accreditation loss is rare, particularly for the seven-year residency programs in neurosurgery, with just 218 positions available nationally each year. They train physicians who perform brain and spine surgeries and treat patients with neurological ailments such as stroke, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors must leave accredited programs to be licensed in their specialty. Beyond the immediate impact, even a threatened loss of status can influence recruiting. The program is unlikely to rank highly among top surgical candidates who fear it is risky. The council accredits 11,000 residency programs in the U.S. This year, eight programs’ credentials have been withdrawn. ___ Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/",
            "output": [
                "Detroit hospital, school losing neurosurgery training permit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-925274d85e0549ca86143fd93fc61fa2",
            "input": "During the warm, waning summer days, fresh air workouts offer a wealth of new ways to boost the mood, channel the inner child and even burn extra calories. Chris Freytag, a personal trainer and health coach with the American Council on Exercise, loves the gym but lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city notorious for brutal winters. “I’m a big believer in change of venue, of getting away from the same treadmill, the same spot. And there’s something about fresh air and moving in space,” said Freytag, who leads boot camp and circuit classes in parks and parking lots during the summer months. The changing terrain can also inspire the solitary exerciser to mix it up. “I’m all about hills: every time you see a hill or steps or stairs, lunge at it,” said Freytag. “Step up and down on curbs and park benches.”  A child’s playground offers core-strengthening possibilities from deep plank pushups, with feet placed on swings, to training with resistance bands slung around poles, to monkey bar pull-ups, she explained. Research suggest the outdoor boost can be mental as well as physical. In a 2014 study on indoor versus outdoor activity published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being researchers analyzed national survey data from Finland. They found that nature provides an added value to the known benefits of physical activity and repeated exercise in nature is, in particular, connected to better emotional well-being. In his book “Beat the Gym,” Connecticut-based running coach and personal trainer Tom Holland said running on a treadmill is slightly easier than running on the ground. “You don’t have to deal with changing terrain, wind resistance,” he said, adding that the zero incline on most treadmills is actually slightly downhill. New York City-based personal trainer JR Allen, said the first benefit of the outdoor workout is balance. “You have to be aware of your surroundings because you could step in a pothole,” Allen said. “It is a less safe, more uncontrolled environment that is more of a strain on your body.”  Allen suggests the newcomer to outdoor exercise should start with a simple walk around the neighborhood. The seasoned exerciser should head to the park for sprints, power push ups, in which hands leave the ground, and walking planks, moving side to side and back to back on hands and feet. Daniel Taylor, author of the book “Conditioning to the Core,” thinks outdoor training is great as long as people take some precautions. “People who utilize children’s playground equipment ought to double check it. Make sure bars aren’t slippery,” he said. “One of the reasons we go to the gym is it’s safe and dry.”",
            "output": [
                "Parks, playgrounds offer fresh air alternatives to gym workouts."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90c8b45b024e49cbb081fab84654f278",
            "input": "\"In her speech to the National Urban League on July 31, Hillary Clinton presented a long list of statistics showing that racial inequality persists in the United States. Among them was this figure: \"\"African-American children are 500 percent — 500 percent — more likely to die from asthma than white kids.\"\" Clinton claimed that it hit particularly close to home, as it reminded her of her time in the early 1970s working for the Children’s Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group for poor and minority children. That number surprised us, so we decided to see if it was  and, if so, why. Clinton may have underestimated Asthma is a chronic lung disease — an inflammation of the airways that causes coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Around 25 million Americans have asthma, and the rate of asthmatics has been steadily increasing since the early 1980s. While most asthmatics function normally, often using inhalers to aid them in their breathing, asthma attacks can present a serious danger, especially in young children. A 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on childhood asthma data from 1980 to 2005 confirms Clinton’s claim almost verbatim: \"\"Compared with white children, black children have a 260 percent higher ED (Emergency Department) visit rate, a 250 percent higher hospitalization rate, and a 500 percent higher death rate from asthma.\"\" (Clinton’s campaign confirmed that this was the source she had used.) The report also notes that even though mortality rates from asthma have decreased since 1999 for children in general, no corresponding drop has been seen in the mortality rate of African-American children. There’s also more recent data available that further confirms Clinton’s claim, and even suggests she may have understated the problem. One study from 2014 examines rates of childhood asthma in black and white children, with the most recent data from 2010. Despite making up a much smaller portion of the population, 106 black children died of asthma in 2010, compared to 68 white children. The corresponding rates of death for black and white children respectively are 8.6 per million and 1.2 per million — that means a black child is about 7.2 times more likely to die of asthma than a white child. Even among those children of each race who already had asthma, black children had a mortality rate about 3.5 times higher than white children. Notably, the study also shows that the racial disparity is not as severe for other problems with asthma; while black children have higher rates of asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations, the difference in those cases is not as large as it is with the death rate. Using CDC Wonder, a database of public health information, PolitiFact also checked the data for 2013, the last available year. In that time, 123 black children died of asthma compared to 83 white children. That corresponds to a death rate of 10.1 per million for black children and 1.5 per million for white children, which just about matches the 2010 numbers. The disparity for 2011 and 2012 was actually even greater, with the difference just about ten-fold. Why the racial disparity? According to the CDC, nobody is quite sure. \"\"Reasons for disparities are not well understood and are the subject of research by numerous investigators in university research centers,\"\" says a statement from the agency’s Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch. However, there are studies that provide a couple of clues. For example, one examination of trends in preventive asthma medication use from 1988 to 2008 found that black and Mexican-American children were less likely to use the medication than white children. Another study from 1997 found that inner-city children are more likely to develop allergies as a result of prolonged exposure to cockroach allergens. Since minorities are more likely to live in urban areas, this may go some way toward explaining higher rates of asthma morbidity and mortality. Our ruling Clinton said, \"\"African-American children are 500 percent — 500 percent — more likely to die from asthma than white kids.\"\" According to a 2006 study from the CDC, she’s right. According to more recent data, she’s slightly off, but only because she has underestimated the gap: In reality, it appears that black children are seven to eight times as likely to die of asthma as white children.\"",
            "output": [
                "African-American children are 500 percent more likely to die from asthma than white kids."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17768e3bb827479e98e41101eab4b333",
            "input": "The total reached 2,001,548 cases after the United Kingdom reported its latest figures. It took 83 days to reach the first million cases worldwide and just 14 days for the second million. The most serious pandemic in a century has killed 131,101 people around the world, according to the tally. The epicentre has moved from China, where the new coronavirus first emerged in December, to the United States, which now has the highest death toll. Countries vary in how much they test for the respiratory disease, which can cause only mild symptoms, and the actual number of people infected is likely to be much higher than the number of recorded cases.",
            "output": [
                "More than two million COVID-19 cases now reported worldwide: Reuters tally."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3b4f02bd26af449aaebf7707e0f54a1d",
            "input": "None of these is in place as Italy experiments with its second week of loosening restrictions and looks ahead to Monday’s reopening of shops and, in some regions, bars and restaurants. Italy’s commissioner for the emergency, Domenico Arcuri, went on the defensive Tuesday to respond to mounting criticism of his Phase II roll-out. He insisted “Italians know well what to do” to protect themselves, even if they don’t have the tests, masks, contact-tracing or other measures that public health authorities deemed necessary for Italy to reopen in safety. “Sometimes I make mistakes for which I expect criticism and, if necessary, reprimand, from Italians,” Arcuri said. But he directed the blame at others and repeated that he was working solely in the public’s interest. Italy is by no means alone in emerging from lockdown without all its infection-prevention pillars in place. And no country has had a blueprint for managing either the COVID-19 outbreak or the reopening phase. But Italy’s problems epitomize the challenges many countries face as they seek to balance economic and health care needs while reassuring terrified citizens with promises that perhaps were overly optimistic. France’s pledge to “protect, test and trace” all those who come into contact with a coronavirus patient was dealt a setback Monday when the constitutional court threw out part of its new virus law. The court objected to the contact-tracing language and ordered the government to take extreme care in protecting privacy. The law, which took effect Tuesday, calls for teams of health care workers to trace the contacts of COVID-19 patients and share that data on a government server, with or without the patients’ consent. French President Emmanuel Macron has also repeatedly pledged that France would be able to test up to 700,000 people per week. The national health authority told The Associated Press on Tuesday that France was averaging around 200,000-270,000 tests per week. Britain, which has Europe’s highest official death toll at over 32,700, has ramped up its testing from 5,000 a day in March to close to 100,000 a day now. But it abandoned contact tracing after the virus’ spread overwhelmed its capacity. A contact-tracing app is in trial stages and 18,000 people are being recruited to do the tracing legwork now. Spain, which like Italy was among the hardest-hit countries  early on, is still ironing out protocols for contact tracing and has no immediate plans to roll out an app. While Spain’s virus testing capacity has improved, the government has left contact tracing largely to the already stressed local health centers. Germany, which has  prided itself on its comparatively low death rate, has engaged more than 10,000 people in contact tracing. An app is planned but is still weeks away. Turkey, meanwhile, has credited its army of contact tracers for its success in slowing the virus’ spread. About 5,850 teams reached out to and tested close to 470,000 people suspected of being infected. Italy abandoned any concerted effort at contact tracing when its  north got overwhelmed in late February. But health care officials say contact tracing, as well as testing, protective masks and social distancing, remain key to further reopening. Italy’s mask problem began when Arcuri, the emergency commissioner, fixed a set price — .50 euro plus tax — for surgical masks that Italy only began producing domestically in recent weeks. Producers balked at the low price and two distributors that had promised to get 12 million masks to pharmacies ended up not having them ready. Another 19 million made it to supermarkets, but the pharmacy shelves remained bare. Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri acknowledged the mask distribution plan had become a “mess” after three-quarters of the 12 million masks hadn’t been certified. Arcuri also promised that Italy would distribute antibody tests to labs on May 4 for a pilot project of 150,000 people. Testing still hasn’t begun. Further delays are expected as health authorities contact the 150,000 people identified as potential subjects, selected for their demographic and geographic distribution. They then must agree and schedule the appointment. Arcuri insisted his team has “done our part” by selecting the type of test and said delays were due to review by the government’s privacy guarantor. He also said another 5 million virus test kits were being distributed to Italian regional health authorities to help boost capacity and isolate new possible clusters. Italy was stymied during the outbreak by testing limitations, and ended up only testing those who went to the hospital or were showing strong symptoms. It has increased capacity and now leads Europe in per-capita testing, with more than 2.5 million tests conducted to date. But regional officials say they can’t conduct more tests because they didn’t receive the extra reagent necessary to process the results. Arcuri said reagent is running low worldwide, and he is now asking domestic makers to boost production “in the coming weeks and months.” Like other European governments, Italy has been racing to develop a contact-tracing app. But technical, logistical and privacy concerns have stymied the launch. Paolo De Rosa, technical chief in the ministry of innovation, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that Italy’s version was expected to be rolled out at the end of May. Like many others in Europe, Italy’s “Immuni” app will be based on a decentralized system using an Apple-Google software interface that experts say is better at preserving privacy. The apps use Bluetooth signals on cellphones to anonymously track users who come nearby, and send an alert if any users test positive. De Rosa said testing would begin Friday, based on a preliminary version. “We are working in your interests,” Arcuri said. “We accept all criticism as long as it’s constructive.” ___ Corbet reported from Paris. AP reporters contributed from across Europe. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak",
            "output": [
                "As Europe reopens, key virus protections are still elusive."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c90d1f796744cda9c5ae373561cf9fd",
            "input": "A temporary restraining order preventing the ban from taking effect expired on Oct. 28, the Department of Public Health and Human Services said. The judge who heard arguments on a motion by vaping shop owners seeking a preliminary injunction to block the ban has not made a ruling six weeks after hearing arguments. “Though the state has thus far declined to enforce the emergency rules pending resolution by the court, the imminent threats to public health and human safety that precipitated the rules are ongoing and demand a public health response,” the health department and Gov. Steve Bullock said in a notice of intent to enforce the emergency rules. The restrictions include the sale of all flavored e-cigarette products including flavored nicotine, THC and CBD e-cigarette products, both in store and online. The rules do not require businesses to destroy their inventory. The health department issued emergency rules on Oct. 8, citing reports of lung injury and deaths by people who had used vaping products and concerns that the flavored products were enticing minors to become addicted to nicotine. Officials argued a 120-day ban would give the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention time to identify the cause of the illnesses and deaths  District Judge Jennifer Lint heard arguments on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 in Hamilton. Business owners argued the lung injuries appeared to be caused by black market vaping products and vaping products that contained THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. They also argued even a temporary ban would put them out of business and that many of their customers were using vaping as a way to stop smoking. After the hearing, Lint noted that Montana law requires that review of emergency rules “takes precedence over all other matters except older matters of the same character.”  The notice of intent to enforce the rules was filed with the District Court in Ravalli County. The court will decide when the clock starts on the 120 days, Raph Graybill, the governor’s chief legal counsel, said Friday. The state will argue that the rules have never been in effect so the 120 days should start on Dec. 18, he said. Fluid samples collected from people who suffered lung injuries, as well as samples from vaping products they had used, contained vitamin E acetate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The additive is used as a thickening agent, but when inhaled it may interfere with normal lung functioning. Federal agencies recommend people not use THC-containing e-cigarette products, particularly those from informal sources like friends, or family or in-person or online sellers. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration say there may be more than one cause of lung injuries because of e-cigarette use and recommended against using all e-cigarette products. Through Dec. 10, the CDC has received reports of 2,409 people being hospitalized because of lung injuries and has confirmed 52 deaths. Montana has had seven reported cases, including one death. Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services is investigating additional cases and is concerned that the level of youth use of and addiction to nicotine remains unchanged. “An alarming number of young Montanans are getting addicted. People are still getting sick,” said Sheila Hogan, director of the health department. “Pediatricians and public health officials agree that this crisis cannot continue unaddressed.”",
            "output": [
                "Montana health department to enforce flavored vaping ban."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b5e1567c6b54cdd9b64ecbcb7f89368",
            "input": "Released on Monday in the journal Health Affairs and based on data for thousands of PepsiCo employees over seven years, the findings “cast doubt on the widely held belief” that workplace wellness programs save employers significantly more than they cost, conclude Soeren Mattke of the RAND Corporation and his co-authors. “Blanket claims of ‘wellness saves money’ are not warranted.”  Workplace wellness programs, a $6 billion-a-year industry, are a favorite of the business community because they promise to improve productivity, cut absenteeism and reduce medical costs by averting expensive illnesses. They aim, for instance, to help employees quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight and have regular screenings for elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer and other conditions, all of which are supposed to reduce healthcare spending. Half of U.S. employers with at least 50 workers offered a wellness program in 2012, as did more than 90 percent of those with 50,000-plus workers, according to a 2013 RAND report. PepsiCo’s was introduced in 2003. The programs are also a pillar of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law. The ACA allows employers to reward workers who participate in wellness programs, and penalize those who refuse, with discounts or increases of as much as 30 percent of their insurance costs. That can be thousands of dollars per year. Some workers have objected to the programs because of the penalties. Others say workplace wellness efforts invade their privacy and promote poor medicine. Last year, for instance, faculty members at Pennsylvania State University rebelled against a workplace wellness program whose “health risk assessment” asked, among other questions, whether male employees examined their testicles every month and whether women employees intended to become pregnant. They also protested its requirement that even healthy young adults receive frequent cholesterol and other screenings, which physicians recommend against, and the steep penalties for opting out: $1,200 a year. “You’re making employees do something that invades their privacy and that goes against medical advice, and now we’re seeing (in the PepsiCo study) that it doesn’t even save the employer money,” said Al Lewis, founder and president of the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium International, which helps self-insured employers and state programs reduce healthcare costs. PepsiCo did not respond to requests for comment on the study. Megan Broderick, senior manager of the company’s health and welfare benefits and a co-author of the Health Affairs paper, said she could not speak to a reporter without permission. The vendor that sold PepsiCo the program, the SHPS division of ADP, also declined to comment, citing “client confidentiality,” said ADP spokesman Dick Wolfe. Maria Ghazal, a vice president of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives of large U.S. corporations, said its members are “as enthusiastic as they have ever been about these (workplace wellness) programs,” adopting them not only to control healthcare costs but also to boost employee morale and improve recruitment. “Wellness is an area where you can distinguish yourself,” she said. “Employers feel they help attract and retain” valued workers. For their study, RAND’s Mattke and his colleagues - including two PepsiCo executives - examined PepsiCo’s “Healthy Living” program, which has two components. One, called disease management, helps people with any of 10 chronic illnesses, among them asthma, diabetes and hypertension. They receive regular phone conversations with a nurse about managing the condition. Disease management produced healthcare savings of $136 per member per month, largely because of a 29 percent reduction in hospital admissions, the researchers found. When hypertension is well controlled, for instance, people are less likely to land in the hospital with a stroke. When asthmatics take their medication, they don’t wind up in the ER unable to breathe. PepsiCo’s disease management program “provides a substantial return for the investment made,” Mattke said. The “lifestyle management component” is what most people think of as a workplace wellness program. It includes a health risk assessment in which workers answer questions about such behavior as eating and exercise habits; smoking cessation programs; and educational materials and telephone sessions with a “wellness coach” to help them lose weight, eat healthy, get fit, manage stress or stop smoking. PepsiCo employees who participated in these lifestyle programs reported a small reduction in absenteeism, but there was no significant effect on healthcare costs. (The study uses costs as a proxy for health, assuming that if people get sick they seek care. But it did not explicitly assess the programs’ effect on participants’ health.) “Participation in lifestyle management interventions,” conclude the PepsiCo researchers, “... has no statistically significant effect on healthcare costs,” and employers considering adopting such a program “should proceed with caution.”  The PepsiCo study is not the first to find that workplace wellness programs fall short of their promise. Last year, Mattke was the lead author of a RAND report that found that healthcare costs of workers who participated in such a program averaged $2.38 less per month than non-participants in the first year of the program and $3.46 less in the fifth year. Neither difference was statistically significant. Researchers who are skeptical of wellness programs’ benefits are concerned that the ACA - “Obamacare” - allows employers to offer substantial financial rewards and penalties tied to something ineffective. “The ACA took a bad idea, workplace wellness programs, and turbocharged it by allowing employers to penalize workers,” said Lewis, co-author of a new e-book titled “Surviving Workplace Wellness.”",
            "output": [
                "PepsiCo's workplace wellness program fails the bottom line: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fdd0e5f971604482901935ad3e71fa22",
            "input": "The story does not mention the costs of the tea, but we can assume that most people are aware of the range of costs of such products at the grocery store. The story provides quantification of benefits in relative terms only. So when the story says “31% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease,” it doesn’t explain “31% of what?” Absolute terms should be given. The story should have provided more context for these numbers. For example, the story does not explain that, in spite of the large number of participants in the study, the actual number of deaths was very small. The death rate among the participants was between 1 and 3% (depending on the subgroup) over the study period. The story does state that tea is generally harmless and has no calories. The story provides an adequate description of the Japanese study as well as the results of other studies that have had conflicting results. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story quotes multiple indpendent experts. The story does not mention alternatives such as diet and exercise. This would have made the story much stronger. Green tea is clearly available. Green tea is clearly not new. Because the story quotes several independent experts, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information",
            "output": [
                "Study finds green tea helpful against strokes, not cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20fa6deb10b547c796e1df143807fecc",
            "input": "\"Senate Republicans’ surprise move to repeal the requirement to have health insurance into their tax reform bill revealed numbers that few people had noted before. (The mandate says that everyone must have coverage or face a fine.) \"\"80 percent of the tax falls on those who make $50,000 a year or less,\"\" Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Nov. 15. \"\"We’re taking a failed policy that punishes people with taxes -- low-income people. (We’re) taking that tax away, giving them tax relief there, and then ploughing that back into tax relief for middle-income families.\"\" This was no throw-away line. Thune is the third-ranking Republican in the party’s Senate leadership, and his colleagues delivered similar versions of the talking point throughout the day. In 2016, the fine for not having insurance stood at $695 for adults. The formula has a few wrinkles that brought the maximum penalty to $2,085 for a family, or 2.5 percent of income, whichever was larger. Going forward, it rises with inflation (unless of course, Congress repeals it). Not everyone without insurance has to pay the fine. The list of exemptions is long. It includes a family with income under $20,800; people who have suffered domestic violence in the household; anyone who has suffered the death of a close family member; someone who has received a utility shut-off notice, and more. Thune’s office said he got his information from 2015 data from the Internal Revenue Service. In one key sense, Thune is correct. Out of all the tax returns sent to the IRS that included a payment of the fine, 79 percent came from households making $50,000 a year or less. (Technically, the income is adjusted gross income, which understates actual income. But on average, the adjustment makes little difference for this check.) However, Thune didn’t specify that he was talking about the number of people. His description of the tax could just as equally refer to the dollars paid. The government collected a little over $3 billion from about 6.6 million households. Of that, about $1.8 billion, 60 percent, came from households with incomes under $50,000. So in dollar terms, about 60 percent of the tax fell on people in that income range, not the 80 percent that Thune said. Thune’s communications staff told us he was talking about the number of people and the number of returns. We reached several health care and tax researchers, and none of them challenged the core numbers. Gordon Mermin with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center ran the numbers and found that as a percentage of income, the tax fell heaviest on the $25,000 to $50,000 group. On average, that group paid 3.1 percent of income. Mermin told us households in this range are more likely to lack insurance, and due to their incomes, are less likely to be able to claim an exemption from the fine. \"\"People shouldn’t be surprised the $25,000 to $50,000 group is affected the most,\"\" Mermin said. But researchers found it odd that people making less than $25,000 had paid as much as they did. The $10,000 to $25,000 group accounted for 22 percent of the payments, and about 36 percent of the households. \"\"Folks are just making a mistake,\"\" said Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare and an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. \"\"Given the exemptions, there is no way such low-income folks should be paying.\"\" The IRS knows this has happened. It’s been sending out letters since 2015, telling filers \"\"it appears that you may have reported owing too much Health Care Shared Responsibility Payment,\"\" the penalty’s formal name. \"\"The IRS has reached out to some taxpayers to let them know they’ve overpaid the penalty, but they don’t have the capacity to do that in all cases,\"\" said Tara Straw at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank. Straw said the IRS targets people who automatically qualify for an exemption because of their income, a factor that is stronger in states that did not expand Medicaid to people making 138 percent of federal poverty. Where the IRS effort falls short, she said, relates to personal circumstances such as a death in the family or a utility service cut-off notice. Larry Levitt at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a neutral source of health care data, also agreed that \"\"there certainly appear to be some low-income people paying the penalty who could be claiming an exemption.\"\" A just-released study from Kaiser suggests the number could be large. The report found that about 5 million uninsured people could get coverage for less than the cost of the penalty. Thanks to the subsidies in Obamacare, the lowest-level plans would be free to many of those people, or if not free, available at a very low cost. If  everyone took advantage of those subsidies, the 6.6 million households paying the penalty because they lack coverage would fall significantly. We don’t know how the numbers would shake out because about 4 million people neither paid the fine nor told the IRS that they had coverage. Republicans offer the repeal of the penalty as a boon to working Americans, and for some it would be. But the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan analytic arm of Congress, has found that removing the penalty makes it less likely that people will seek out insurance, even if it would be free or very affordable. Thune said that 80 percent of the individual mandate penalty falls on those who make $50,000 a year or less. In terms of the number of returns in which people paid the fine, that figure is correct. In terms of the dollars collected, it overshoots the mark. People in that income range account for about 60 percent of the payments. Still, an independent analysis showed that households in the $25,000 to 50,000 income range paid the highest percentage of income on the penalty. There’s strong evidence that many lower income people are paying the fine by mistake, and millions could both avoid it and gain health coverage for less than the cost of the fine. But as far as who is paying the fine.\"",
            "output": [
                "80 percent of the (individual mandate) tax falls on those who make $50,000 a year or less."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03b6fb7be9ae4c4c9a883ad22ef6d3d3",
            "input": "Does the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an American bastion of serious scientific research with dozens of Nobel laureates among its alumni, really offer its over-achieving students something called a “Pirate Certificate”? That’s the claim that the History Hustle Facebook page makes in a widely-shared January 2018 meme that reads: Want to be a pirate? Massachusetts Institute of Technology awards official “Pirate Certificates” to students who complete courses in archery, pistol shooting, sailing and fencing. It’s true. Since the Fall semester of 2011, the university’s Physical Education department has been handing out physical “pirate certificates” to any student — undergraduate or graduate — who has successfully completed courses in archery, fencing, pistol/rifle shooting and sailing. The department appears to hold frequent “Pirate Induction” days; and its Facebook page shows a fairly steady stream of extremely happy-looking MIT students showing off their new pirate certificates, invariably dressed in pirate garb, some of which appears to be provided by the school for the occasion. The certificate itself is made of “faux parchment,” according to the Slice of MIT alumni blog, and has this tongue-in-cheek wording: This document certifies that the below-mentioned salty dog has fulfilled the Physical Education General Institute Requirement by completing Archery, Fencing, Pistol and Sailing [and] therefore is no longer a lily-livered landlubber. And so, MIT Physical Education Confers upon [STUDENT’S NAME] The Pirate Certificate, with all its privileges and obligations. Given at the swashbucklin’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ahoy, Avast and finally, Arrrrrr! Jacob Hurwitz — a 2014 MIT graduate and proud owner of the document shown above — told us that the pirate certificate was a “legend” that had “been around” forever, with some students reputedly printing off t-shirts claiming to be pirates, after completing the four key physical education courses. “As best as I can tell,” Hurwitz told us by email, “the pirate’s license was probably a joke invented by students” before being made official by university authorities. A survey sent out to students in late 2010 shows that the pirate certificate had been requested by a “student focus group,” and that the names “pirate award” and “pirate degree” were also considered. Despite not fulfilling the criteria by completing the four physical education prerequisites, Matt Damon became the most famous recipient of the MIT pirate certificate to date, when he attended the university’s graduation ceremony in 2016 and delivered the commencement address:",
            "output": [
                "\"MIT offers a \"\"pirate certificate\"\" to students who complete four physical education courses.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8cf830de14b942de8e28481ea8434a89",
            "input": "In July 1984, acclaimed author and running guru Jim Fixx died of a heart attack while trotting along a country road in Vermont. Overnight, a nascent global movement of asphalt athletes got a gut check: Just because you run marathons doesn’t mean you’re safe from heart problems. Fast-forward 35 years, and Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray is amplifying that message for marathoners, especially those who have coronary artery disease or a family history of it. “Being fit and being healthy aren’t the same things,” says McGillivray. He should know. Six months ago, the lifelong competitor underwent open-heart triple bypass surgery after suffering chest pain and shortness of breath while running. As marathons, ultramarathons, megamile trail races and swim-bike-run triathlons continue to explode in popularity, doctors are re-prescribing some longstanding advice: Get a checkup first and talk with your primary care physician or cardiologist about the risks and benefits before hitting the road. For McGillivray, 64, the writing was on his artery walls. Both his grandfathers died of heart attacks; his father had multiple bypasses; his siblings have had heart surgery; and a brother recently suffered a stroke. Neither McGillivray’s marathon personal best of 2 hours, 29 minutes, 58 seconds, nor his decades of involvement in the sport could protect him. “I honestly thought that through exercise, cholesterol-lowering medicine, good sleep and the right diet, I’d be fine,” he says. “But you can’t run away from your genetics.” Aerobic exercise such as running, brisk walking, cycling and swimming is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer, and it’s been a key way to fight obesity, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and more. Studies have shown those who exercise regularly are more likely to survive a heart attack and recover more quickly than couch potatoes. But new research is providing a more nuanced look at “extreme exercise” and the pros and cons of running long. In a study published in December in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, researchers in Spain found signs suggesting that full marathons like Boston may strain the heart. They measured substances that can signal stress and found higher levels in runners who covered the classic 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) marathon distance compared with those who raced shorter distances such as a half-marathon or 10K. Only about one in 50,000 marathoners suffers cardiac arrest, the researchers said, but a high proportion of all exercise-induced cardiac events occur during marathons — especially in men ages 35 and older. The Boston Marathon and other major races place defibrillators along the course. “We typically assume that marathon runners are healthy individuals, without risk factors that might predispose them to a cardiac event during or after a race,” writes Dr. Juan Del Coso, the study’s lead investigator, who runs the exercise physiology lab at Madrid’s Camilo José Cela University. Running shorter distances, he says, might reduce the strain, especially in runners who haven’t trained appropriately. Dr. Kevin Harris, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, says he had a patient preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon who struggled to exceed 10 miles (16 kilometers) in training. The man’s family doctor insisted he get a stress test, and he wound up needing double bypass surgery to detour around dangerous blockages in his arteries. “Running is good, and we want people to be active. But your running doesn’t make you invincible,” Harris says. “The bottom line is that individuals with a family history — especially men who are older than 40 and those people who have symptoms they’re concerned about — should have an informed decision with their health care provider before they run a marathon.” That family history is crucial. Fixx, whose 1977 best-seller “The Complete Book of Running” helped ignite America’s running boom, was 52 when he collapsed and died. An autopsy showed he had blockages in two of his heart arteries. He had a mix of risk factors. His father died at 43 of a heart attack, and although Fixx quit smoking, changed his eating habits and dropped 60 pounds, it turned out he couldn’t outrun those risks. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s late husband, tech entrepreneur Dave Goldberg, was 47 when he died while the couple was vacationing in Mexico in 2015. Goldberg had been running on a treadmill when he fell, and an autopsy revealed he had undiagnosed heart disease. Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is 49, has said his own strong family history of heart disease is what motivates him to work out regularly and watch his diet. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather all died of heart attacks in their 50s. “If you’re going to take on strenuous exercise later in life, and especially if you have active heart disease, it’s clearly in your interest to be tested and make sure you can handle it,” says Dr. William Roberts, a fellow and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine. McGillivray says his doctor has cleared him for Monday’s 123rd running of the Boston Marathon, which he’ll run at night after the iconic race he supervises is in the books. It will be his 47th consecutive Boston, and this time, he’s trying to raise $100,000 for a foundation established in memory of a little boy who died of cardiomyopathy — an enlarging and thickening of the heart muscle. “Heartbreak Hill will have special meaning this year,” McGillivray says. “My new mission is to create awareness: If you feel something, do something,” he says. “You have to act. You might not get a second chance.” ___ Follow Bill Kole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/billkole .",
            "output": [
                "Doctors’ long-running advice: Get checked before a marathon."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8b39cd22c770439887ca5fe487a9d941",
            "input": "In the early 1990s, 43 percent of U.S. homes were smoke-free, a figure that rose to 83 percent in 2010-2011, according to the study, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90 percent of homes without a smoker and nearly half of those with at least one adult smoker had smoke-free rules, the study said. “It’s a shift in social norms,” said Brian King, lead author of the CDC study. “People no longer see smoking around non-smokers as socially acceptable behavior.”  Still, he said, more progress is needed, particularly in homes where smokers live, as secondhand smoke from cigarettes kills an estimated 41,000 non-smokers annually. “We know there is no safe level of secondhand smoke,” King said. “The ultimate goal is to not expose people to a known carcinogen.”  The increased number of smoke-free homes is attributable in part to the diminishing segment of Americans who smoke. Some 18 percent of Americans were smokers in 2012, down from 42 percent in 1965, the CDC said. With smoking bans increasingly common at bars, restaurants and in private workplaces, homes are the primary source of secondhand smoke for children and non-smokers, the CDC said. Roughly half of U.S. residents are now covered by laws that ban smoking in public places, the agency said. Smoking bans are now expanding to apartments, public housing and even to cars with children inside, King said. Among states, the percentage of smoke-free homes ranged from a low of 69.4 percent in Kentucky and West Virginia to 93.6% in Utah during 2010–2011, the CDC said. The study did not ask respondents to specify whether they were referring to tobacco or marijuana smoke in the home, the CDC said. (This story has been refiled to fix typo in sixth paragraph, “is” instead of “it”)",
            "output": [
                "More U.S. households smoke-free, study says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d64ab41c00a4423bb841538cbfafeee6",
            "input": "Access to an interactive site for purposes of computing a score predicting one’s risk of dying will be free. However, this should have been stated in the release. We can’t rate the release Satisfactory if there’s no mention of cost at all, so we’ll rate it Not Applicable. Very little about this news release is quantitative. The document repeatedly lauds the benefits of predicting 5-year mortality via self-reports rather than more intrusive physical tests, and it touts the potential use of the “Ubble age” score to assist doctors in identifying “high risk” patients and to improve individuals’ self-awareness. But no studies have been conducted to test effects on either of these audiences, a concern which the release refers to only at the end of the document. The release could have included that information higher up in the release and emphasized it more. The release does mention that the algorithm was validated and shown to have an ~80% accuracy. But as noted above, this is a population level estimate. The overall test characteristics of the model do not translate into an interpretation that is meaningful for an individual. One could argue that this is mainly the fault of the original study rather than the release, as we could find no data in the paper that provides information that an individual could use to determine how accurate their particular calculation was. However, this problem contributes to an overall sense that the release is weighted too far in the direction of benefits without enough attention to potential harms and uncertainties. The text does offer a brief cautionary note when it quotes from the commentary of a couple of UK scientists in The Lancet issue to the effect that “whether this will help individuals improve self-awareness of their health status…or only lead to so-called cyberchondria, is a moot point.” Cyberchondria refers to unfounded anxiety concerning the state of one’s health brought on by visiting health and medical websites, so that term seems apt here. And “moot” conveys the uncertainty surrounding outcomes as, again, the study can offer no evidence. We’ll give a Satisfactory rating, though we wonder if it would have been more effective to say, “it is unclear whether use of this information will lead to actions that will help or harm individuals.” The data used came from a gargantuan epidemiological study involving nearly half a million UK respondents. The news release offers some details about that study, including the number of possible predictors (655) and the nature of the analysis. The text also contains a caveat reminding the reader that prediction is not the same as causation (a variant on the “correlation is not causation” theme), as well as a quote from one of the investigators that cautions against seeing one’s score as a “deterministic prediction.” These are important qualifiers, but they occur lower in the press release, and it is not clear how well those points will get picked up in subsequent stories. We didn’t see anything that implied a doomsday perspective to use of this data. The release also clearly implies this is for UK citizens and not for others. So we’ll award a Satisfactory rating, although we’d note again that there’s an aspect of this test that could possibly lead to increased anxiety and “cyberchondria,” as the release puts it. Funders are clearly identified in the notes at the bottom of the press release. The investigators assert the absence of conflicts of interest in the journal article itself. The study and its press release make much of the potential advantage of predicting death via self-report questions rather than biological tests. So the text makes an overt comparison, admittedly without data. The release could also have included the comparison to doing nothing. Whether providing any risk information (this version or another) or no risk information makes a difference is a legitimate question. Notes at the end of the news release speak to the availability of the interactive “Ubble” website once the research article is published. We could not access the calculator, perhaps due to high traffic levels accompanying the rollout. The news release is explicit about the novelty of the approach to prediction, as well as regarding the scale of the study itself. We suspect it is correct in this assessment, as the epidemiological study on which the work is based is truly huge. One of the investigators refers to the study’s development of a prediction score from self-report data as “exciting,” but most of the quotes, while positive, also convey useful information, including qualifiers.",
            "output": [
                "Simple score predicts risk of death for middle-aged adults in the UK"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a99d773564f54fdcb07f9f728dba2d3b",
            "input": "Though the article does not mention costs or compare costs of garlic and garlic supplements with other treatments, many readers will be familiar with these. The story reports that the consumption of garlic in any of three forms (raw, powdered supplement, aged extract supplement) had no effect on LDL cholesterol or triglycerides. To quantify this non-effect in mm/dL is unnecessary, and would have been numbing for the average health news consumer. A majority (57%) of individuals in the trial who ate garlic-laced sandwiches reported bad breath and body odor, a “harm” the story neglected to mention. The article reflects an appreciation for the hierarchy of evidence, noting that “there was good evidence in test-tube and animal studies” that garlic could lower LDL cholesterol, and explains the randomization methods in the new clinical trial. No obvious elements of disease-mongering. The article cites four sources and provides sufficient information about their potential conflicts of interest. The article fails to mention alternative methods for lowering cholesterol, though many readers may be familiar with these (most prominently exercise, diet, and drugs). Most readers will be familiar with the availability of the health interventions studied—raw garlic and garlic supplements. The story rightly notes that garlic is not a new “treatment” for high cholesterol. No obvious use of text from a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Garlic powerless against cholesterol"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f17ccdb0e13e4f06bd2e5121a31df997",
            "input": "The reported spills, which have not been publicly detailed, occurred at U.S. Oil Recovery, a former petroleum industry waste processing plant contaminated with a dangerous brew of cancer-causing chemicals. On Aug. 29, the day Harvey’s remnants cleared out, a county pollution control team sent photos to the Environmental Protection Agency of three large concrete tanks flooded with water. That led PRP Group, the company overseeing the ongoing cleanup, to call a federal emergency hotline to report a spill affecting nearby Vince Bayou. Over the next several days, the company reported two more spills of potentially contaminated storm water from U.S. Oil Recovery, according to reports and call logs obtained by the AP from the U.S. Coast Guard, which operates the National Response Center hotline. The EPA requires that spills of oil or hazardous substances in quantities that may be harmful to public health or the environment be immediately reported to the 24-hour hotline when public waterways are threatened. The EPA has not publicly acknowledged the three spills that PRP Group reported to the Coast Guard. The agency said an on-scene coordinator was at the site last Wednesday and found no evidence that material had washed off the site. The EPA says it is still assessing the scene. The AP reported in the days after Harvey that at least seven Superfund sites in and around Houston were underwater during the record-shattering storm. Journalists surveyed the sites by boat, vehicle and on foot. U.S. Oil Recovery was not one of the sites visited by AP. EPA said at the time that its personnel had been unable to reach the sites, though they surveyed the locations using aerial photos. Following AP’s report, EPA has been highlighting the federal agency’s response to the flooding at Superfund sites. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt reiterated that safeguarding the intensely polluted sites is among his top priorities, during a visit Friday to the San Jacinto River Waste Pits, one of the sites AP reported about two weeks ago. Pruitt then boarded a Coast Guard aircraft for an aerial tour of other nearby Superfund sites flooded by Harvey, including U.S. Oil Recovery. Photos taken Aug. 31 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show dark-colored water surrounding the site two days after the first spill was reported to the government hotline. While the photos do not prove contaminated materials leaked from U.S. Oil Recovery, they do show that as the murky floodwaters receded, they flowed through Vince Bayou and emptied into the ship channel leading to the San Jacinto River. The hotline caller identified Vince Bayou as the waterway affected by a spill of unknown material in unknown amounts. Thomas Voltaggio, a retired EPA official who oversaw Superfund cleanups and emergency responses for more than two decades, reviewed the aerial photos, hotline reports and other documents obtained by AP. “It is intuitively obvious that the rains and floods of the magnitude that occurred during Hurricane Harvey would have resulted in some level of contamination having been released to the environment,” said Voltaggio, who is now a private consultant. “Any contamination in those tanks would likely have entered Vince Bayou and potentially the Houston Ship Channel.” He said the amount of contaminants spread from the site during the storm will likely never be known, making the environmental impact difficult to measure. The Houston Ship Channel was already a polluted waterway, with Texas state health officials warning that women of childbearing age and children should not eat fish or crabs caught there because of contamination from dioxins and PCBs. PRP Group, the corporation formed to oversee the cleanup at U.S. Oil Recovery, said it reported the spills as legally required but said subsequent testing of storm water remaining in the affected tanks showed it met federal drinking water standards. The company declined to provide AP copies of those lab reports or a list of specific chemicals for which it tested, saying the EPA was expected to release that information soon. U.S. Oil Recovery was shut down in 2010 after regulators determined operations there posed an environmental threat to Vince Bayou, which flows through the property in Pasadena. Pollution at the former hazardous waste treatment plant is so bad that Texas prosecutors charged the company’s owner, Klaus Genssler, with five criminal felonies. The German native fled the United States and is considered a fugitive. Genssler did not respond to efforts to contact him last week through his social media accounts or an email account linked to his website address. More than 100 companies that sent hazardous materials and oily waste to U.S. Oil Recovery for processing are now paying for the multimillion-dollar cleanup there through a court-monitored settlement, including Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations Inc., U.S. Steel Corp. and Dow Chemical Co. Past sampling of materials at the site revealed high concentrations of hazardous chemicals linked to cancer, such as benzene, ethylbenzene and trichloroethylene. The site also potentially contains toxic heavy metals, including mercury and arsenic. A 2012 EPA study of the more than 500 Superfund sites across the United States located in flood zones specifically noted the risk that floodwaters might carry away and spread toxic materials over a wider area. Over the past six years, remediation efforts at U.S. Oil Recovery have focused on the northern half of the site, including demolishing contaminated structures, removing an estimated 500 tons of sludge and hauling away more than 1,000 abandoned containers of waste. PRP Group said the southern portion of the site, including the three waste tanks that flooded during Harvey, has not yet been fully cleaned. Over the years workers have removed more than 1.5 million gallons of liquid waste — enough to fill nearly three Olympic-sized swimming pools. AP began asking the EPA whether contaminated material might have again leaked from U.S. Oil Recovery last week, after reviewing the aerial photos taken Aug. 31. The EPA said it visited the site on Sept. 4, nearly a week after site operators reported an initial spill, and again the following week. The EPA said that its staff saw no evidence that toxins had washed away from the scene during either visit. “Yesterday, an EPA On-scene coordinator conducted an inspection of Vince Bayou to follow up on a rumor that material was offsite and did not find any evidence of a black oily discharge or material from the U.S. Oil Recovery site,” an EPA media release said on Thursday. PRP Group said the spills occurred at the toxic waste site on Aug. 29, Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. One of the EPA’s media releases on Sept. 9, more than 11 days after the first call was made to the hotline, made reference to overflowing water at the scene, but did not describe it as a spill. The company said it reported the first spill after Harvey’s floodwaters swamped the three tanks, filling them. The resulting pressure that built up in the tanks dislodged plugs blocking a series of interconnecting pipes, causing the second and third spills reported to the hotline the following week. The company does not know how much material leaked from the tanks, soaking into the soil or flowing into nearby Vince Bayou. As part of its post-storm cleanup workers have vacuumed 63 truckloads holding about 315,000 gallons from the tanks. The Superfund site is located just a few hundred yards from the Pollution Control Services offices for Harris County, which includes Houston. Its director, Bob Allen, says his team took pictures of the flooding on Aug. 29, when the area that includes the three big tanks was still underwater. The AP requested those photos as public records, but they have not yet been released. Allen said his staff did not note any black water or oily sheen on the surface at the time, and did not collect water samples for testing. He said the EPA later sampled the area to determine whether there was contamination. “We knew that the water probably got into the plant, probably washed out some of the stuff that was in the clarifier,” Allen said, referring to one of the old concrete tanks once used to store toxic waste. “Once they get done with the assessment of that site and the other Superfund Harris County sites, then they’ll probably let us know, let the public know, what’s been going on.” ___ Biesecker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Reese Dunklin in Dallas and Jeff Horwitz in Washington contributed to this reporting. ___ Follow Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck and Bajak at https://twitter.com/fbajak ___ Submit a confidential tip to The Associated Press at https://www.ap.org.tips",
            "output": [
                "AP Exclusive: Evidence of spills at toxic site during floods."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a96ed5ff3d194babb225b5ab2b6a0cc1",
            "input": "\"During a recent visit to Virginia, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul took exception to claims that budget cuts have hurt the National Institute of Health’s efforts to find a cure for Ebola. The Kentucky Republican was the headliner at an Oct. 15 rally in Ashland for Dave Brat, the GOP nominee for the 7th District congressional seat. Paul, a Tea Party favorite, said NIH has money to waste. \"\"Do you know what the NIH spends money on?\"\" he asked the crowd. Paul listed a series of NIH projects he viewed as profligate. \"\"$2.4 million of the NIH dollars was spent on ‘origami’ condoms,\"\"  he said. \"\"This is a family crowd, so I’m not getting into what that means.\"\" But we will. We wondered if his claim is correct. Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper to form animals, flowers and other designs, according to Webster’s New World College Dictionary. We struggled to imagine how this centuries-old craft might improve the condom. Paul’s office backed the senator’s statement by sending us several articles about NIH’s funding of condom research, the earliest one published by the Washington Free Beacon this March. Turns out, there’s a California company, named ORIGAMI, that’s vowing to reinvent the condom, a contraceptive that many men don’t like. The company believes the popularity of condoms  -- which must be unrolled and are typically made of latex -- would greatly improve if they were more pleasing, less cumbersome and safer to use. ORIGAMI is developing condom with accordion-like pleats. They’re made of silicone and, because they’re loose-fitting and don’t have to be unrolled, can be put on faster than traditional condoms. The company is seeking FDA approval and hopes sell its product next year. A number of global health organizations are encouraging condom research and development, convinced that greater use of devices will lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDs. Since 2006, NIH has awarded seven grants totaling almost $2.5 million to help develop male and female ORIGAMI condoms. The money was provided to Strata Various, a product design firm headed by Danny Resnic, ORIGAMI’s founder. Resnic is listed on the grant documents as the project leader of the research. ORIGAMI’s work has been praised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which last year handed out $1.1 million in grants other entrepreneurs seeking to improve condoms. The Foundation said ORIGAMI \"\"provides an excellent example of a private enterprise focused on new condom design to promote consistent use by emphasizing the sexual experience.\"\" Now, let’s return to Paul’s speech. The senator, in lamenting the use of public funds to develop  \"\"origami’ condoms,\"\" never defined the difference between the folded paper art and the name of a company. We asked Brian Darling, a spokesman for Paul, whether his boss was referring to Origami with a capital \"\"O,\"\" meaning the company, or a small \"\"o,\"\" meaning the art form. \"\"The senator’s words speak for themselves,\"\" Darling replied in an email. \"\"I don’t understand the confusion.\"\" The day before he appeared in Ashland, Paul spelled origami with a small \"\"o\"\" in Facebook post and a tweet assailing NIH’s spending. \"\"NIH blames tightening federal budget for its inability to produce #Ebolavaccine, but somehow found $2.4 million to develop 'origami' condoms designed with Japanese folding paper in mind,\"\" Paul wrote on his Facebook page. He tweeted, \"\"@NIH cant afford #Ebola vaccine bc of 'budget cuts' but can spend $2.4 mill to develop 'origami' condoms #Priorities http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-\"\" So what does the company have to say about all this? Mark Bardwell, an ORIGAMI spokesman, defended the grants, saying they are given out \"\"based on scientific merit.\"\" \"\"Condoms are considered a medical device. As such, it must pass FDA safety testing standards through clinical trials that are very expensive,\"\" Bardwell said. \"\"An innovation condom could take 3-4 years and several million dollars for R&D and human testing.\"\" Our ruling In trying to document waste at NIH, Paul said the health agency spent $2.4 million on \"\"origami\"\" condoms. Paul didn’t provide any more information in his speech, leaving the crowd to wonder whether tax dollars are going to the development of paper condoms folded into fancy shapes. What he didn’t say is that ORIGAMI is the name of a company that has received the NIH grants to develop an improved condom that is made of silicone and has fold-out pleats. NIH has long encouraged  condom use to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. We don’t find much fault with Paul, however. The company, by its very name, suggests the principles of origami drive its design.\"",
            "output": [
                "$2.4 million of the NIH dollars was spent on ‘origami’ condoms."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8a7ff6bc46546beb6611ab3530e647e",
            "input": "Financial markets had their worst day in 30 years despite emergency action by global central banks to try to prevent a recession, with U.S. stock markets falling 12% to 13%, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value. Just a month ago, financial markets were hitting record highs on the assumption the outbreak would largely be contained in China and not cause disruptions beyond what was seen with earlier viral outbreaks of Ebola, SARS and MERS. There have now been more cases and more deaths outside mainland China than inside, with 180,000 cases worldwide and over 7,000 deaths. Canada, Chile and other countries closed their borders to visitors. Peru deployed masked military personnel to block major roads, while Ireland launched a campaign to recruit more healthcare workers. Airlines slashed flights, shed jobs and asked governments for billions of dollars in loans and grants. In contrast to much of the world, Mexico and Brazil still held large political rallies and the United Kingdom kept its schools open. GRAPHIC: Track the spread of coronavirus - here  U.S. states pleaded with the Trump administration on Monday to coordinate a national response to the outbreak, saying patchwork measures enacted by state and local authorities were insufficient to confront the coast-to-coast emergency that has killed at least 74 Americans. A few hours later, President Donald Trump urged Americans to halt most social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than 10 people in a newly aggressive effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Calling the highly contagious virus an “invisible enemy,” Trump said the worst of the outbreak could be over by July, August or later and warned a recession was possible. However, the United States was not yet closing its borders or mandating curfews or business closures on a national scale. Many states and cities had already taken those steps or were preparing to. San Francisco area residents will be urged to shelter in place for three weeks starting on Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A White House adviser said the United States could pump $800 billion or more into the economy to minimize economic damage. EU finance ministers were planning a coordinated economic response to the virus, which the European Commission says could push the European Union into recession. The World Health Organization (WHO) called on all countries on Monday to ramp up testing programs as the best way to slow the advance of the pandemic. “We have a simple message to all countries - test, test, test,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva. “All countries should be able to test all suspected cases. They cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded.”    In Italy, another 349 people died on Monday, taking the total to 2,158, with nearly 28,000 cases, after 368 deaths were reported on Sunday, a daily toll more dire than even China was reporting at the peak of the outbreak. “Many children think it is scary,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a news conference dedicated to answering children’s questions about the pandemic. “It is OK to be scared when so many things happen at the same time,” Solberg said. Several countries banned mass gatherings such as sports, cultural and religious events to combat the fast-spreading respiratory disease that has infected nearly 179,000 people globally and killed more than 7,000. Spain and France, where cases and fatalities have begun surging at a pace just days behind that of Italy, imposed severe lockdowns over the weekend. The Middle East business and travel hub of Dubai said it was closing all bars and lounges until the end of March. Thailand plans to close schools, bars, movie theaters and popular cockfighting arenas. Public health experts in the United States and elsewhere are hoping the measures will help spread out the number of new cases over time so as not to overwhelm hospitals and healthcare systems as has happened in Italy. Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told daily Corriere della Sera that the outbreak was still getting worse, though the governor of Lombardy, the northern region that has suffered the worst, said he saw the first signs of a slowdown. The International Olympic Committee will hold talks with heads of international sports organizations on Tuesday, a source close to a federation briefed on the issue said, amid doubts the Tokyo 2020 Olympics set to start on July 24 can proceed.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus causes historic market drop, global scramble to contain 'invisible enemy'."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90730587edef4987b1f154d89646ad06",
            "input": "“If the supply...cannot be guaranteed otherwise, the Federal Council (cabinet) may oblige manufacturers to manufacture important medical goods, to prioritise the production of such goods or to increase the production quantities,” according to an order from Bern. The expanded authority comes as the government doubled the size of its coronavirus emergency loan scheme to 40 billion Swiss francs ($40.94 billion) after being flooded by requests for help by businesses. The nation’s coronavirus deaths are nearing 500, with total confirmed infections approaching 20,000  Swiss ministers also sought to speed access to medicines that could be used against COVID-19, allowing the drugs to be deployed in hospitals quickly before getting formal approval by the country’s regulator, Swissmedic. The exceptions cover generic malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine, which has been donated by Novartis, Abbvie’s HIV drug Kaletra, Gilead Science’s experimental remdesivir and Roche’s Actemra, all of which are now being studied for potential use against coronavirus. Swissmedic also gets new powers to approve deviations from some legal requirements for drugs under review, the government said.",
            "output": [
                "Swiss government expands powers to force firms to make supplies to fight COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4a60b2f11f174709ba685026187a5001",
            "input": "Not long ago, Nabipur was a quiet farming village in northern India. Now the village is home to at least a dozen furnaces burning a steady stream of tires to make low-quality oil in a process known as pyrolysis. Global trade in waste tires has almost doubled in the past five years, mainly to developing countries like India and Malaysia, according to customs data provided to the United Nations. Britain is currently the largest exporter, followed by Italy and the United States. India is by far the biggest buyer, accounting for 32% of global imports last year, up from 7% five years ago, the U.N. data shows. Many of the tires are sent to recycling operations that comply with emissions and waste disposal regulations. But there is also a vast trade to backyard pyrolysis operations that do not, according to local authorities. In May, Reuters revealed that a mass poisoning in southern Malaysia had links to companies engaged in pyrolysis. Using unpublished customs data and interviews with dozens of industry sources, Reuters documented a growing international trade in waste tires that pollute the communities that host them, according to local authorities and health experts. For many developed countries, shipping tires abroad is cheaper than recycling them domestically. That helped drive international trade in rubber waste to nearly 2 million tonnes in 2018, equivalent to 200 million tyres, from 1.1 million tonnes in 2013. The trade has also been fed by ravenous fuel demand for industrial furnaces in countries like India, the emergence of inexpensive Chinese pyrolysis equipment, and weak regulations worldwide. FACTBOX on the tyre trade:  Tires are not defined as hazardous under the Basel Convention, which governs trade in dangerous waste, meaning there are few restrictions on trading them internationally unless specified by the importing country. In most countries, including China and the United States, the majority of scrap tires are handled domestically and dumped in landfills, recycled or used as fuel in factories producing products like cement and paper. (GRAPHIC: Recycling and reuse of tires - here)  Pyrolysis supporters say the process can be a relatively clean way of disposing of tires and turning them into useful fuel. However, controlling emissions and processing waste residue from the burning of a product that is made up a wide range of chemicals, and synthetic and natural rubber is expensive and difficult to make profitable on a mass scale. State-of-the-art plants can cost tens of millions of dollars, whereas basic Chinese-made pyrolysis equipment is available from online retailers for as little as $30,000. An Indian government audit found that as of July 2019 there were 637 licensed pyrolysis plants countrywide, of which 270 were not complying with environmental standards and 116 had been shut down. The audit said most operators used rudimentary equipment that exposed workers to fine carbon particles and led to dust, oil and air pollution leaking into the plant and surroundings. Industry sources say several hundred more unlicensed pyrolysis businesses are operating across India. Pyrolysis plants have mushroomed in the southern Malaysian state of Johor over the last decade, industry sources said, where they supply fuel for ships. At one plant visited by Reuters near the Johor town of Kulai, Bangladeshi immigrants covered in carbon dust shovelled tires imported from Australia and Singapore into a Chinese-made furnace. They lived onsite in a hut next to the kilns. “People don’t know where old tyres go,” said the owner, who gave his name only as Sam. “But if my factory doesn’t exist, where will the tires go?” He said he had a license to operate. Reuters could not verify this. The environmental impact of pyrolysis in places like India and Malaysia is making some exporting countries take notice. Australia, a major exporter of tyres to Southeast Asia and India, said in August it would ban waste exports, including tires, although it did not give a timeline. Australia was “aware of allegations of unsustainable processing of waste tires in some importing countries” and did not want “to be part of such practices”, said a spokesman for Trevor Evans, the official who oversees waste reduction. Burning tyres without adequate emissions controls can release numerous toxic chemicals and gases into the environment, as well as particulates, said Lalit Dandona, head of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, a group of research bodies mapping health issues across India. (GRAPHIC: What's in a tire? - here)  He said the short-term effects for those exposed to smoke from burning tires included skin irritation and lung infections and that prolonged exposure could result in heart attacks and lung cancer. Other government bodies worldwide, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have made similar conclusions. In a 1997 report, the EPA said emissions from burning tires included dioxins, sulphur oxides and a range of metals including mercury and arsenic. Many of the tires that end up in Indian villages like Nabipur start their lives in Britain. Indian waste tire imports from Britain alone in 2018 amounted to 263,000 tonnes - 13% of the total volume of tires traded worldwide - compared with 48,000 tonnes in 2013. (GRAPHIC: Where India imports its waste tires - here)  Most European countries require tyre manufacturers and suppliers to organize tire collection and treatment, meaning there are more home-grown recycling operations. There are no such requirements in Britain, however, which means that small firms can easily obtain licenses to collect waste tires and sell them abroad. Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said it fully implements the rules of the Basel Convention but needs to do more about waste tires. DEFRA said it planned to make producers more responsible for old tires, as well as increase monitoring of shipments. (GRAPHIC: Top tire waste importing countries - here)  Once in India, the tires are dispersed between recyclers who shred them for use in road-building or sports fields, firms that burn them as cheap fuel to make cement or bricks, and legal and illegal pyrolysis plants, importers and exporters said. India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association estimates that most imported waste tyres end up in pyrolysis plants, according to the group’s deputy director, Vinay Vijayvargia. Faced with a growing backlash from environmental groups and residents living near pyrolysis plants, India is considering banning all but the most sophisticated operations. The country’s environmental court is expected to rule on the proposed ban in January. Six years ago, there were no pyrolysis plants in Nabipur, 70 miles south of New Delhi. Now there are 10, with most operating at night to avoid scrutiny, residents said. Reuters visited three small plants in the village. At one, tires embossed with ‘Made in Germany’ and ‘Made in U.S.A.’ lay strewn on the floor and thick sludge seeped from pipes protruding from incineration drums. Most tires used for vehicles in India are made domestically. Workers wore no safety equipment, and their skin and clothes were covered in black soot. The owner, Pankaj, said a trader sells him tires imported from abroad. Villagers said they have suffered from breathing difficulties and eye and throat infections since the plants began expanding, and farmers had found black dust in their soil. Reuters could not independently verify the claims. It was also not possible to verify if the operations were licensed. “Used tires are not available locally, so they import from abroad,” said Shiva Choudhary, a businessman who leases out construction equipment in Nabipur. “They clean their own country and dump their garbage on us.”",
            "output": [
                " A Muslim group has asked for pork-free food to be offered by food banks in Minnesota.   "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-581fa1e5f26f4052942d1b9ef55b5b04",
            "input": "On 18 February 2017, the SpaceX space transport service will launch a capsule to the International Space Station for a resupply mission (CRS-10) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Among the items contained within the capsule will be a sample of the highly infectious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium, along with a device able to monitor that sample at the genomic level. This experiment is the result of the first “Galactic Grant Competition,” a Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) initiative aimed at providing Massachusetts-based biotech companies access to the International Space Station. Among the grant recipients was Harvard physicist Anita Goel’s private research company Nanobiosym, which has developed a mobile pathogen-detection tool that has the potential to detect genetic mutations to bacterial infections in real time. This “tricorder”-style device, dubbed Gene-RADAR by Nanobiosym, is described as follows in a patent filing:  A portable system for extracting, optionally amplifying, and detecting nucleic acids or proteins using a compact integrated chip in combination with a mobile device system for analyzing detected signals. With the receipt of the CASIS grant, Nanobiosym was given the opportunity to refine the technology in space. Not only will this help with the development that technology, but it may also allow scientists to view genetic mutations to bacterial in “fast-forward”, helping scientists predict the ways in which bacterial infections develop antibiotic resistance, as described in the NASA mission summary:  Microgravity may accelerate the rate of bacterial mutations and this pilot investigation analyzes this process in two strains aboard the International Space Station, which may provide insight into how deadly bacteria become drug-resistant. The data can help refine models of drug resistance and support development of better medicines to counter it. This conclusion is far from settled science, as described in a 2015 review paper, but both space-based and low-gravity simulation experiments have demonstrated that it is at least plausible that low gravity affects the mutation rate of some bacterial species:  There is general agreement that microgravity represents the major influence on bacterial growth kinetics and bacterial cell behavior during short orbital flights, although radiation may increase microbial mutation rates during flight [as well]. If, as Goel hypothesizes, mutations rates speed up in space, Scientists may be able to use this information to develop drugs that anticipate potential mechanisms of antibiotic resistance before they occur, as described in a CASIS press release:  The project will attempt to computationally predict bacterial mutations, to evaluate model organisms in space, and to use the empirical results to validate and refine the company’s predictive algorithms. This proof-of-concept experiment will provide data that can be applied to future predictive models for antibiotic resistant pathogen mutations, which will be of significant value to antibiotic drug development.",
            "output": [
                "SpaceX will be transporting a potentially deadly pathogen to the International Space Station as part of their next launch."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9fee00eba8db48e39e08f9ddc101e9c9",
            "input": "The bill would also place a 75% excise tax on vaping products and require health insurers, including the state’s Medicaid program, to cover tobacco cessation counseling. “This nation-leading step will save lives,” Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo said. The ban was passed by the Senate early Thursday before the legislature broke for a holiday recess. It had earlier been passed by the state House of Representatives and now goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. Baker hasn’t indicated whether or when he will sign the ban, but its chances are good. In September, he had declared a public health emergency and ordered a temporary ban on the sale of vaping products. The legislation would immediately ban the sale of flavored vaping products and would outlaw sales of menthol cigarettes starting June 1, 2020. The legislation responds to growing concern about the health effects of vaping products, including deaths. It is the first such statewide legislation in the country, according to Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “This legislation is a critical step to help end the worsening youth e-cigarette epidemic and stop tobacco companies from using appealing flavors to lure kids into a lifetime of addiction,” he said in a written statement. “It would make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products.” The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network also called it first-in-the-nation legislation. “More than 80% of teens who have ever used a tobacco product started with a flavored product, and the tobacco industry knows this,” the organization said in an emailed statement. Studies have shown menthol cigarettes are consumed disproportionately by young people and minorities, and anti-tobacco groups and health experts have argued menthol has been marketed in particular to African Americans. A major retailers’ organization called the legislation disappointing. “We are disappointed the legislature supports bills that disproportionately impact communities of color and have disastrous implications for public health, public safety, state tax revenue and jobs in the Commonwealth,” Jonathan Shaer, president of the New England Convenience Store Owners and Energy Marketers Association said in a statement. He called menthol and mint tobacco as “legal, adult products that aren’t associated with youth overuse.”",
            "output": [
                "Massachusetts OKs ban on flavored vaping, tobacco products."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7b98f43dd9c54815b405655c02a45ece",
            "input": "\"Violence - or the potential for violence -  is everywhere. It’s the reason we have police and laws, jails and federal programs to study the causes and suggest responses. It’s the reason, too, that Congress passes laws to address crime in all its facets. One of those is the Violence Against Women Act, which is intended to protect women from domestic abuse and violence. It provides federal dollars for an array of programs to achieve that goal. Oregon, for example, collected $9.4 million in 2012 for programs to protect women from violence. The law was first passed in 1994 and easily renewed in 2000 and 2005 by lopsided majorities. But it was allowed to lapse in 2011 after a partisan Congress couldn’t reach agreement. (Partisanship in Congress? Shocking, we know.) Now it’s back and in an effort to build momentum and the votes to renew it, supporters like Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.,  have been talking about the law’s benefits. Here’s what Merkley said Feb. 7 during a conference call with reporters: \"\"Since 1994 when VAWA was first passed, incidents of domestic violence have dropped more than 50 percent.\"\" That seems to be a pretty strong selling point and as the bill moves toward a final vote in the Senate it’s something that will be repeated and emphasized during debate. But is it ? First, we need a quick fly-by of the law and what it provides. The law, known by the shorthand VAWA, first passed in 1994 and was written by then senator and now Vice President Joe Biden. It acknowledged domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes, and provided federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating violence. When it was re-authorized in 2000 lawmakers expanded the definition of crime to include dating violence and stalking. Its subsequent reauthorization in 2005 created new programs to meet the emerging needs of communities working to prevent violence. Until it expired in 2011, the law was expansive and reached into every corner of the country. (Some funding continued into 2012.) Among other things, it provided grants to states and local law enforcement to beef up enforcement as well as money to prosecutors to focus on gender-based crime. Included in the array of programs and assistance, VAWA provided money for direct services for victims of sexual assault and for things like transitional housing and legal assistance. According to Merkley, all those programs made a difference. Which brings us back to his claim that since it was first enacted domestic violence has fallen 50 percent. Another fortunate development when it comes to crime is that governments at all levels but especially the federal government go to great lengths to quantify, parse and sub-total crime. Data abounds. It’s also unambiguous. \"\"From 1994 to 2010, the overall rate of intimate partner violence in the United States declined by 64 percent, from 9.8 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to 3.6 per 1,000,\"\" the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in November 2012. The report notes that over that same period \"\"4 in 5 victims of intimate partner violence were female.\"\" A report by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, an interest group focusing on the issue, comes to a similar conclusion. \"\"The rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence against women has decreased by 63 percent and the number of women killed by an intimate partner has decreased 24 percent,\"\" between 1994 and 2010. The group connects the numbers directly to the VAWA, saying the law \"\"has changed the way federal, tribal, state and local entities respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.\"\" Surveys by the American Bar Association and other independent groups had similar findings. That’s a lot of scholarship and paper, sponsored, collected and analyzed by federal and independent researchers. And while the results don’t perfectly align, all agree that the incidence of domestic abuse has dropped by more than 50 percent since the Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994. You can quibble about the minor differences but not the accuracy of Merkley’s statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Jeff Merkley Says, \"\"Since 1994 when VAWA was first passed, incidents of domestic violence have dropped more than 50 percent.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-19ff1a394443477b856cb6b9e359ca38",
            "input": "Sen. Angus King says the proposal would ensure accurate and timely information sharing to help protect residents from health threats like viruses and prescription drug abuse. He’s joined by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia on the proposal. King says the bill is important because “you can’t make good policy without good data.” The bill would dedicate $100 million every year for the next five fiscal years to better public health data. The money would award grants to public health departments to improve data collection and analysis. It would also help develop public-private partnerships to expand and modernize systems.",
            "output": [
                "Maine senator backs push for better public health data."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e5de50fb904d4bef9f2f6d7784871c11",
            "input": "KOMO-TV reports the Snohomish Health District allowed Ashiya Teriyaki to reopen Friday after forcing its closure on Wednesday due to a food worker there who had contracted the highly infectious liver disease. The health department was notified by the worker’s health provider. Hepatitis A is spread from person-to-person contact and is a result of fecal contamination. Authorities say those who ate at the restaurant between August 2 and August 15 may be exposed and should seek medical treatment or evaluation. Symptoms can last weeks or longer and include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dark urine or jaundice. ___ Information from: KOMO-TV, http://www.komotv.com/",
            "output": [
                "Health officials warn restaurant customers about Hep A case."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a79b03d642724c59b2285c53c1296fa6",
            "input": "A new type of snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) is seen in this undated handout of an artist rendering released on October 26, 2010. A new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project, scientists said on Wednesday. They said hunters in Myanmar's Kachin state said the long-tailed black monkey, with white-tufted ears and a white beard, could often be tracked in the rain because its upturned nostrils made it prone to sneezing when water dripped in. REUTERS/Dr Thomas Geissmann/Fauna & Flora International/Handout They said hunters in Myanmar’s Kachin state said the long-tailed black monkey, with white-tufted ears and a white beard, could often be tracked in the rain because its upturned nostrils made it prone to sneezing when water dripped in. “It’s new to science. It’s unusual to travel to a remote area and discover a monkey that looks unlike any other in the world,” Thomas Geissmann, lead author of the study at the University of Zurich-Irchel, told Reuters. Studies of a carcass and four skulls showed the monkey differed from snub-nosed monkeys in China and Vietnam. The experts had no photos of a live Myanmar monkey. The scientists estimated there were between 260 and 330 of the monkeys living in an area of about 270 sq km (100 sq miles) and believed the species to be critically endangered. “The hunting pressure is likely to increase considerably in the next few years as new dam construction and logging roads invade” the monkeys’ habitat, they wrote in the American Journal of Primatology. “The future of the snub-nosed monkey lies in Chinese hands,” said Frank Momberg, of Fauna and Flora International and a co-author of the study. Monkeys were hunted for meat or fur and their body parts were used in traditional medicines in China. He said China Power Investment Corp., leading the dam project further down the valley on a tributary of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, had an economic interest in preserving the forested region where the monkeys live. More roads and logging would cause erosion around the watershed that could clog up the new reservoir with silt, reducing power generation, he said. He praised China for carrying out a study of the dam’s possible effect on the environment. The discovery of the snub-nosed monkey contrasts with a rising trend of extinctions, caused by factors such as land clearance, expansion of cities, pollution and climate change. A U.N. conference in Nagoya, Japan, this week is looking at ways to safeguard biological diversity after the world failed in a goal set in 2002 of a “significant reduction” in the pace of extinctions of animals and plants by 2010. A separate study in the journal Science showed growing numbers of the world’s birds, mammals and amphibians had moved closer to extinction in recent decades. A fifth were classified as threatened.",
            "output": [
                "New monkey found in Myanmar near China dam project."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e2d72328971471981164df7faadc0e1",
            "input": "\"During the first Democratic presidential debate in October 2015, Hillary Clinton proclaimed, \"\"We’ve got to be committed to getting every child to live up to his or her God-given potential.\"\" Cynthia Meyer, who took up the post of deputy press secretary for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in early 2015, fired back with a tweet, \"\"Would help if they had the chance to be born.\"\" About a month later, in the next Democratic debate Nov. 14, 2015, the episode was repeated. Clinton echoed her earlier comment, again declaring, \"\"Every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.\"\" This time, Meyer responded by tweeting, \"\"More black babies are aborted in NYC than born,\"\" followed by the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. NYC meaning the city of New York. The pair of exchanges elicited a strong sense of deja vu, but Meyer’s second tweet raised a more specific question about abortion rates among black women in the Big Apple: Are there more abortions by black women in NYC than births? To our inquiry, over email Meyer said her responses were an effort to highlight the value of human life and call attention to NYC’s \"\"startling\"\" numbers, which come from a 2013 report on pregnancy outcomes compiled by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. The numbers have been widely reported by conservative media outlets, including a National Review article that Meyer emailed to us. \"\"To be clear, that tweet came from my personal Twitter account and I was speaking as a private citizen,\"\" Meyer said in an email. \"\"Happy to defend the stats, though.\"\" Abortions by black women in NYC outpacing births? Figuring out the answer to this question proved rather simple. The first place we went was that 2013 report, the most recent data available, which provides exhaustive breakdowns of birth statistics in New York City. The agency lists pregnancy outcomes by race and ethnicity, as well as by borough, type of birth (live birth, C-section, premature) and health of the mother. According to the report, in 2013 black women accounted for 29,007 terminated pregnancies, representing almost 42 percent of all abortions in the city. That same year, black women in the city gave birth to 24,108 babies. With abortions surpassing live births by nearly 5,000, African American women in the city clearly terminated pregnancies more often than they carried babies to term. Black women terminated pregnancies at a rate of 67.3 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 49, a rate far higher than any other racial or ethnic group. We checked: the statistics were similar the previous year, when African American women in the city had 24,758 births and underwent 31,328 abortions. The numbers for black women in NYC starkly contrasted with women in other racial and ethnic categories. In 2013, births far surpassed abortions for white, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander women. Hispanic women accounted for the second-most abortions in the city with 21,555, but they also had 35,581 live births. Asian women had both the fewest abortions and fewest births, while white women accounted for the most births overall and second-fewest abortions. There was less discrepancy between the number of births and terminated pregnancies for black women statewide. In 2013, black women in New York state gave birth to 36,130 babies and underwent 34,960 abortions, according to the state’s health department. During the previous year, the numbers were almost dead even, with black women accounting for 36,905 births and 36,633 abortions across the state. The numbers are far different for the four biggest cities in Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services reports births by both county and city, but abortions are only reported by county. We examined the numbers in 2013 for Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis Counties, which contain the cities of San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin, respectively. In all four counties, black women had more live births than abortions. The same was  for white women in those counties. For Harris County, which includes Houston, the largest city in Texas and fourth-largest city nationwide, black women had 12,569 live births and 5,515 abortions, while white women accounted for 16,247 births and 2,661 abortions. If you’d like to peruse the numbers for all four counties, we input the data into a Google spreadsheet for easier side-by-side comparison. It’s important to note that abortion access across the state of Texas stands in stark contrast to NYC. Texas currently has 19 operating abortion clinics, but that number would drop to 10 if the U.S. Supreme Court allows the state's contested 2013 law to fully take effect. In contrast, New York state has 80 abortion clinics. Attitudes toward abortion also differ greatly between the two states. Nationally in 2009, black women had abortions far more often than white and Hispanic women, according to data compiled in December 2013 by the National Center for Health Statistics. For some perspective, an online search turned up a 2008 Guttmacher Policy Review article by Susan A. Cohen, a vice president for the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that promotes reproductive health and abortion rights. Cohen, saying the national abortion rate for black women is almost five times the rate for white women, suggested this is greatly explained by higher incidences of unintended pregnancy among African American residents. Higher rates, Cohen wrote, \"\"reflect the particular difficulties that many women in minority communities face in accessing high-quality contraceptive services and in using their chosen method of birth control consistently and effectively over long periods of time. Moreover, these realities must be seen in a larger context in which significant racial and ethnic disparities persist for a wide range of health outcomes, from diabetes to heart disease to breast and cervical cancer to sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV.\"\" In examining the socioeconomic factors behind this phenomena, Cohen disputed the idea that black women are recruited into having more abortions, a sentiment that has been shared by anti-abortion activists and conservative politicians. These issues were also extensively explored last September by Zoe Dutton in a piece for The Atlantic called \"\"Abortion’s Racial Gap.\"\" GOP leaders have used these statistics to argue against abortion, positing that it disproportionately affects black communities. In August, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson articulated this stance in relation to Planned Parenthood, claiming during an appearance on Fox News that the organization has contributed to abortion being \"\"the number one cause of death for black people.\"\" The leading causes of death for black Americans are actually heart disease, cancer and stroke, according to the CDC, but Carson’s rhetoric speaks to the GOP’s broader stance against abortion. The debate over abortion has taken on more fervor in recent years as many states have introduced increased abortion restrictions. Texas has led in this area, in 2013 enacting a law requiring abortion clinics to adhere to the standards of surgical centers and employ doctors with admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. In November 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of those two provisions as undue burdens on women seeking abortions. Our ruling: A Hillary Clinton declaration that every child should be allowed to live up to his potential prompted a tweet from a spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that \"\"More black babies are aborted in NYC than born.\"\" The tweet from Deputy Press Secretary Cynthia Meyer echoes what has become a talking point among anti-abortion activists, that abortion disproportionately affects the nation’s African American population. Nationally, African American women had a higher rate of abortion than whites, Hispanics or Asians, according to 2013 figures. Even so, black women gave birth more than they terminated pregnancies that year. The same was not  for New York City, where more abortions were recorded for black woman than live births in both 2012 and 2013, the most recent available data. -- The statement is accurate and there's nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. CLARIFICATION, 4:20 p.m., Dec. 1, 2015: We amended this fact check to clarify that the described 2013 abortion rate for black women related to women aged 15 to 49. This change did not affect our rating.\"",
            "output": [
                "More black babies are aborted in NYC than born."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7885f6ef833a4de3adfd43c4d20b2d68",
            "input": "The pill, called the PillCam Colon, may be used for detection of colon polyps in patients after an incomplete optical colonoscopy, the Israeli medical device maker said. There are 750,000 patients in the United States alone who experience an incomplete colonoscopy each year, Given Imaging said, and they often incur additional costs, along with the inconvenience and risk associated with other procedures to complete the colorectal examination. Given Imaging is a developer of technology for visualizing, diagnosing and monitoring the digestive system, including its PillCam, a swallowed capsule endoscope. In December, medical device maker Covidien PLC said it would acquire Given Imaging for $860 million. The transaction is expected to be completed by March 31.",
            "output": [
                "Given Imaging gets FDA clearance for colon camera pill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-15d7ae9ad38847a3bc869ac648d205c7",
            "input": "Michelle Obama is visiting Tanzania on the last day of President Barack Obama’s eight-day tour of Africa. She helped Laura Bush open a summit of the wives of African leaders, saying Africa was “at the hub of global development”. The summit aims to promote women’s well-being on the continent. The unusual Obama-Bush combination spotlights U.S. interest in the continent and the importance of Africa to the legacy of the president and his predecessor George W. Bush. For Obama, his three-nation tour has given him a break from a row over spy agency eavesdropping and a chance to promote U.S. commercial interests to a receptive African audience. Bush, who launched a widely praised program to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa when in office, was due to join Obama for a ceremony to remember the victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in the Tanzanian capital. An expansion of a program to detect and treat cervical and breast cancer, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, is due to be announced on Wednesday, organizers said. Former President Bush is due to speak at the first ladies’ summit the same day. The United Nations and non-governmental groups, including Bush’s foundation, launched Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon to provide health services to women in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, building on the U.S. HIV/AIDS prevention program.",
            "output": [
                "Michelle Obama, Laura Bush spotlight Africa women's health."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-29acac50c9164fdfa8dd5b933c6f5358",
            "input": "“There is reason to be hopeful that some of the changes we are observing in infections and perhaps in hospitalizations is now reflecting the benefit of the social distancing,” he told a news conference. “It will be a week or two before the measures that are put in place translate into lower hospitalization rates. But ... in London in the last few days there has been a bit of a plateauing in terms of numbers.”",
            "output": [
                "Some plateauing of London coronavirus outbreak, UK says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d6060f02f2c44fc5b393a70dec4cb5e8",
            "input": "Actress Allison Janney and “Mom” co-creator and co-executive producer Gemma Baker dropped in on Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards to deliver a check for $250,000. They pointed out the show addresses issues that include teen pregnancy. Janney and Baker said the money otherwise would have been spent on a promotional campaign for “Mom” to woo Emmy judges before the nominations are announced on July 13. “We don’t NOT want to be considered for Emmys,” Janney said. “But we decided to use the money instead to support Planned Parenthood.” Gathered in Richards’ office in lower Manhattan, the three women found they had a lot to talk about, such as why a TV comedy might have shared interests with a health care organization. “It just made sense,” Baker said. “We have an all-female cast, and it’s what our show does: We deal with serious issues. Our characters have dealt with teen pregnancy and breast cancer and sexual assault. This just seemed like a way of standing with an organization that is providing health care to millions of women.” “It’s not just about our donation,” Janney added, “but also to raise awareness of what’s happening, and encourage other people to donate as well.” Richards said, “There’s a lot of anxiety among women right now, particularly in the heartland of America where they are desperately concerned about losing access to affordable health care. I think it’s really great when they see an iconic star like Allison on a program like this dealing with the same issues that we deal with in our clinics every day.” Janney said her great-grandmother worked with Margaret Sanger, the pioneering birth-control activist who established what became Planned Parenthood. Janney’s grandmother also worked with Planned Parenthood. So did her mother. “This organization has been close to me and my family for a long time,” she said. Even so, most TV series don’t choose to associate themselves with any organization that, especially these days, is taking political heat. “But our show deals with many issues that are polarizing to a lot of people,” Janney pointed out. Starting its fifth season this fall, “Mom” stars Janney as a recovering drug and alcohol addict who has reunited with her long-estranged daughter (co-star Anna Faris), herself a single mother, too, who has battled substance abuse. “I think for most of the viewers who are hard-core fans of ‘Mom,’ our support of Planned Parenthood will give them all the more reason to watch,” said Janney, who has won two Emmys for her performance. “It’s not incidental that Gemma and Allison are women at the top of their procession,” Richards said. “That speaks to a lot of women who maybe come to Planned Parenthood because they’re just trying to figure out how to take that next step.” The support-from-“Mom” initiative arose with Chuck Lorre, the sitcom mogul who co-created “Mom” with Baker and is one of its executive producers. “I’m proud to work for a man who came up with that idea and made it happen,” said Baker before citing her own past link with Planned Parenthood: “Twenty years ago, I worked in the national office in fundraising.” To be back in its headquarters, she said, felt like homecoming. Richards said the number of sustaining donors who contribute monthly had quintupled since the election. “We’ve been in the cross-hairs of this Congress and this White House for the last several months,” she said. “But women all across this country can’t believe that an organization that is providing health care to one in five women in America is now at risk of not being able to serve patients anymore. We’re fighting very hard to keep that from happening.” _____ EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore@ap.org. _____ Online: The “Mom” campaign to support Planned Parenthood: ppaction.org/MOMsupport Planned Parenthood:  www.plannedparenthood.org",
            "output": [
                "‘Mom’ star Janney visits, donates to Planned Parenthood."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5cbcebec2904557bcf293a12496e27b",
            "input": "Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are often where the public expresses concern and even outrage over perceived miscarriages of justice. In recent years, internet users have been especially prolific in promoting awareness of a perceived tendency among some judges and prosecutors to seek and accept insufficient punishments for sexual crimes particularly against women and children. One such case emerged in 2018 and 2019 and involved the prosecution of Justin Schneider of Anchorage, Alaska who, according to one internet meme, served no jail time despite having seriously assaulted a woman he picked up outside a gas station in August 2017. On October 2018, Facebook user Ed Stonick posted a widely shared meme that contained a photograph of Schneider along with the following text, which some readers might find disturbing: GENOCIDE JUSTIN SCHNEIDER This is Justin Schneider, he is 34 years old and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. He is a white male who picked up a hitch-hiking indigenous female. He strangled her unconscious, masturbated over her body, and left her to die. This week he pled guilty in an Anchorage District Court. Because his victim survived he was given a plea deal. The kidnapping and sexual assault charges were dropped. He was given no time in jail and only received one year of probation. This is the face of American justice. This is the face of white privilege. This is the face of genocide. This fact check won’t examine the broader cultural issues raised by the meme and in other coverage of the Schneider case, namely the extent to which the American criminal justice system is relatively indifferent to crimes experienced by indigenous women, such as the woman at the center of this case. Rather, our article will evaluate the factual claims made in the meme. Much of the content of the meme is quite accurate, though it contains some errors. On 8 August 2017, Schneider pulled up in his vehicle and approached a woman who was standing outside a gas station in Anchorage. She entered his van and some time later, he attacked her, strangled her, masturbated over her and ejaculated on her, acts that Schneider later admitted in a subsequent civil case brought against him by the woman. Using a license plate number provided by the woman, police tracked down Schneider and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree harassment and second-degree assault. Schneider initially pleaded not guilty to all three charges. The woman claimed that Schneider had invited her into his vehicle under false pretenses, calling himself “Dan” and claiming to be an acquaintance of hers, allegations Schneider continues to deny. She also claimed that he had strangled her to the point of unconsciousness. Schneider has admitted strangling her, but denies doing so to the point of her losing consciousness. Despite facing three criminal charges, Schneider and his attorneys were able to persuade the office of Anchorage District Attorney Rick Allen to drop the charges of kidnapping and harassment, in exchange for Schneider pleading guilty to second-degree assault. On 19 September 2018, Alaska Superior Court Judge Michael Corey sentenced Schneider to two years in prison, with one year suspended, and three years of probation, as a result of the plea agreement with prosecutors. However, because Alaska law allows for time spent under house arrest to effectively be regarded as “time served,” Schneider was not required to serve the 12 months remaining on his prison sentence. After the sentencing, the state of Alaska’s Department of Law provided the following explanation for the plea agreement and sentence: Although Mr. Schneider received one year of jail time, Alaska law allows an offender to receive credit for any time spent on an ankle monitor or under house arrest against any jail sentence imposed. The Department of Law heard from a number of concerned citizens that the sentence imposed was too lenient. Criminal Division Director John Skidmore independently reviewed the case and concluded the sentence was consistent with, and reasonable, under current sentencing laws in Alaska. Mr. Schneider plead guilty to one count of assault in the second degree, a class B felony in Alaska, in exchange for the State’s dismissal of the remaining charges – notably, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree harassment. The State dismissed the most serious charge based on the conclusion that the State would be unable to prove the kidnapping at trial. Kidnapping requires that the victim be “restrained” or moved against his or her will. Additional investigation determined that the victim willingly got into Mr. Schneider’s vehicle and willingly drove with him to the location of the assault. Under these circumstances, the criminal charge of kidnapping (as defined under Alaska law) could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Schneider was convicted of the remaining most serious crime: second-degree assault. Based on Mr. Schneider’s lack of criminal history, the sentencing range for the offense was zero to two years in jail. “Though it is understandable that some feel his sentence was not sufficiently harsh,” Director Skidmore explained, “All prosecutors are ethically required to follow the law, no matter how disturbing the facts may be.” While the facts of this case were particularly disturbing, Mr. Schneider’s offensive physical contact with bodily fluid such as semen is not categorized as a sex crime under Alaska law. Despite this limitation, the prosecutor felt Mr. Schneider needed sex offender treatment. The only way to achieve that result was to have Mr. Schneider agree to the probation conditions. Thus, the prosecutor required Mr. Schneider to undergo sex offender treatment and comply with other monitoring conditions as a condition of the plea agreement. In November 2018, Alaskans voted to recall Corey from the bench, after a campaign that criticized his sentencing of Schneider. Speaking in March 2019, Corey said he and the prosecutors in the case were constrained by sentencing guidelines and Alaska state law, and described the outcome of the case as “a horrible result.” Also in November 2018, the woman filed a lawsuit against Schneider, seeking damages, compensation and legal fees and accusing him of assault and battery, negligence and inflicting emotional distress. In his response to the civil complaint, Schneider requested the case be dismissed but admitted to “tackling, strangling and ejaculating on” the woman, and accepted that he had “intentionally or recklessly caused  physical injury or emotional distress.” He denied having tricked the woman into entering his vehicle, and denied that she lost consciousness as a result of his strangling her. As of March 2019, the woman’s civil case against Schneider was still before the Alaska Superior Court. The meme was accurate in stating that Schneider had assaulted, strangled and masturbated over the woman — the core allegations against Schneider, all of which he has admitted. However, Schneider disputes the specific claim that the woman lost consciousness as a result of his strangling her, so we cannot definitively rule on the veracity of that particular allegation. While the meme claimed that Schneider was given one year’s probation, in fact Judge Corey gave him three years’ probation. That’s a significant discrepancy, even if it does not change the view, held by many observers, that Schneider’s punishment was woefully inadequate. Finally, Schneider did serve some jail time in August 2017, after his arrest and before his release on bail, but the principal claim in relation to his case is that his punishment did not include jail time. So the meme’s claim that “he was given no time in jail” is mostly accurate, since Corey did sentence Schneider to two years in prison, but he suspended one year and credited the remainder of the prison sentence with the time Schneider spent under house arrest while on bail. Thus, the actual effect of Schneider’s sentencing was that he did not have to go to jail as part of his punishment.",
            "output": [
                "\"Justin Schneider was \"\"given no jail time,\"\" despite having strangled and assaulted a hitchhiker in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2017.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-586dc9c76518405e8ec36de14ee99a1e",
            "input": "The Fayetteville Observer reports Secretary Robert Wilkie spoke earlier this week about veterans’ mental health during the North Carolina Business Trade Show in Fayetteville. He pointed to the new mental health center being built at the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center as evidence of the VA’s commitment to veterans. Officials say the two-story, 15,400 square-foot building is more than 75% complete. Wilkie also says the VA’s same-day mental health services are now available to veterans who received “other than honorable” discharges. Wilkie says about $9.5 billion — or about 10% — of the VA’s budget goes toward mental health services.",
            "output": [
                "Veteran Affairs head discusses mental health aid in NC visit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-39470609067e4ef59375b47b4f1cc0ae",
            "input": "There were nearly 1,000 drug-related deaths in Scotland last year. Correct, there were 934 registered in 2017. The UK has the highest death rate in the EU from drugs. Estonia had the highest rate of drug-related deaths per million people aged 15 to 64 in the EU, based on research using data from 2015 and 2016. The UK placed joint-third alongside Ireland. Scotland’s drug-related death rate is the highest in the EU. Correct if you compare Scotland to a league table of EU sovereign countries. This is based on a comparison of the drug-related death rate per million people aged 15 to 64 in 2015 and 2016. Claim 1 of 4",
            "output": [
                "Scotland’s drug-related death rate is the highest in the EU."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2bdcc9a32ba344c2a48fbbdb356cef8b",
            "input": "The coffin, one of three brought the same morning, came hours after officials said 13 elderly residents had died in the home since March 11 and that more than 80 others were believed to have the coronavirus. Most of the dead were aged over 90, an official at the regional health authority told Reuters. Authorities have not been able to establish the cause of death in most cases. “The deliveries are non-stop. There are going to be more on Monday,” the delivery man said as he removed the casket’s plastic cover. The facility in Paris’ 12th district is one of several care homes across France to be hit by the coronavirus outbreak. There  have been large numbers of deaths too at retirement homes in Italy and Spain. Almost 1 million people reside in care homes in France. In the Paris region alone, the regional health authority says that 148 out of the 700 homes in its network have reported coronavirus cases and at least 61 residents have died. The Rothschild Foundation home in Paris was put on red alert on March 6 as the epidemic took hold. Staff were given stricter entry protocols, told to wear gloves and masks at all times, disinfect everything and urged to isolate suspected cases. “We knew it was coming. The first two people with symptoms were tested and then isolated, but once it was established that they had it, we stopped testing because it’s then a cluster. You can’t allow it to spread,” said a health worker aware of the situation. Since then all residents have been confined to their rooms where they are fed and washed. But while the number of new cases has slowed, the deaths continue. Executives at the home did not respond to Reuters phone calls seeking detailed information about what was happening in the home, but in a brief exchange, one executive described the situation at the facility as very tough. France’s official coronavirus death toll stands at some 1,100 people, but that does not include deaths outside hospitals. Fatalities in nursing homes have surged recently with dozens of deaths reported across the country. “When you don’t have enough staff and equipment and need to care for fragile people then it leads to a high mortality rate. When it enters into a nursing home, you are going to see 20% of residents die,” said Thierry Amouroux, a nurse and representative at the National Union for Professional Nurses. Senior care home representatives warned the Health Minister in a letter seen by Reuters that workers in the homes needed 500,000 masks. At least 100,000 people could die if the situation was not brought under control, they wrote. Jerome Larche, an intensive care doctor in Montpellier, whose company also operates care homes, said it was critical to avoid mass contaminations. “Most of the residents can’t be taken to intensive care so if there are contaminations, there will be deaths,” Larche said. At the Bergeron-Grenier care home in western France, half of carers have opted to confine themselves within the home to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. “Before, we were always afraid. No matter how careful we were, we still had this fear of infecting our residents by bringing the virus from outside,” administrative assistant Patricia Vandebrouck said.",
            "output": [
                "'Delivering coffins non-stop': coronavirus stalks a Paris nursing home."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8943d26df4b44bceae0f6355768f15de",
            "input": "The story provided no cost estimates for vitamin and mineral supplements. The magnitude of wasted expenditures that could be saved is relevant. The story indicated that there was no cancer risk reduction associated with the vitamin supplements studied. A quote in the story from the author of one of the studies indicated that too little or too much of particular vitamins was associated with increased cancer risk. In addition, the table in the story provided information about vitamins being associated with an increased risk of diabetes and a higher, though not significant increase in the incidence in the case of one cancer. The story did not convey any sense of the quality of the studies on which it was reporting. Were they retrospective observational studies (generally weak designs) or prospective randomized trials (the best type of study). A more insightful explanation about why the current group of studies which find no protective effect are more compelling that the previous studies that found a protective effect of vitamins would have also been useful.. This story did not engage in disease mongering. The story included quotes from one of the study authors, as well as a spokesperson from the American Cancer Society and an expert without connection to the study but who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. The story mentions specific lifestyle interventions which have been shown to be associated with reduction in cancer risk. It inaccurately mentioned screening for colon, cervical, and breast cancer as means of reducing their risk. It should have stated that these screening tests are associated with reduced risk of dying of these cancers, not as means of reducing the chance of developing them. It’s clear that vitamins and mineral supplements are in widespread use. The story correctly indicated that the results of the current study are consistent with the results from several recent studies which demonstrated that vitamin supplementation failed to decrease the chance of developing cancer. The sidebar table, which summarized results and included the journal name and month of publication, provided a resource for interested readers to find more information. Does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "Vitamins get ‘F’ in cancer prevention"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5dd59e4953b9486385861ac2c5969df0",
            "input": "The 2014 settlement went to 10 family members, including Armstrong’s two sons, sister, brother and six grandchildren, according to documents filed with the Hamilton County Probate Court in Cincinnati which were publicly available on Tuesday. Armstrong’s widow, Carol, did not receive any money in the settlement. Armstrong’s sons, Mark and Rick, contended care provided by Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital cost their father his life, according to the New York Times. The 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon was celebrated Saturday. He died on Aug. 25, 2012. A Sept. 24, 2014 motion to seal the settlement said the hospital and its caregivers stood by the treatment they provided. “However, the hospital, on behalf of itself and the health care providers, agreed to a confidential settlement of $6 million to avoid the publicity the Estate might have initiated on behalf of certain members of the family if settlement had not been reached,” the document said. Hospital spokeswoman Maureen Richmond declined to offer specifics on the matter, saying she was unable to discuss any individual’s care. In an email statement to The Associated Press, she added: “The public nature of these details is very disappointing — both for our ministry and the patient’s family who had wished to keep this legal matter private.” Messages were left for Armstrong’s widow and sons, and for Wendy Armstrong, Mark’s sister and a lawyer involved in motions to seal the settlement. Carol Armstrong told the New York Times she signed off on the settlement in her role as executor but received no part of it. Neil Armstrong was admitted to the hospital in August 2012 for vascular bypass surgery, according to a Sept. 24, 2014 motion filed by Carol Armstrong seeking to have the settlement approved. “He underwent the cardiovascular surgery, but post-surgical complications arose and he subsequently died,” the motion said. Most of the settlement, about $5.2 million, was split between Armstrong’s sons. The astronaut’s brother and sister each received $250,000, and six grandchildren each got $24,000. Attorneys’ fees of $160,000 were awarded.",
            "output": [
                "Documents: $6 million to Armstrong family in wrongful death."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c6019809c979405ea3f9298c5d7b1555",
            "input": "As social media users expressed alarm over United States President Donald Trump’s administration’s apparent efforts to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), one Twitter user’s suggestion caught traction on August 14 2020.That account wrote:Heard this from a postal worker- IF you return your ballot BUT place 2 First Class stamps on it (instead of the business reply free postage provided) the USPS MUST deliver your letter AS First Class BECAUSE you PAID for First Class! It CANNOT be put into Bulk Mail! DO IT!A spokesperson for the Portland, Oregon chapter of the American Postal Workers Union — which represents more than 200,000 current and retired USPS workers — confirmed to us that using one first-class stamp would be enough to ensure that a mail-in ballot would be sorted individually.“One 55-cent stamp will get it where it’s supposed to go,” she said.For some voters, the issue could be moot; a USPS staffer told us that because state and local election boards have the ability to design their own ballots and election materials, some boards may already be paying for them to have them classified as first-class mail.The USPS has urged voters to use first-class mail “or an expedited level of service” to send their ballots in, and to be clear on the submission requirements for their local jurisdictions. An agency spokesperson told the Salt Lake City Tribune in a statement:The Postal Service recommends that domestic, nonmilitary voters mail their ballots at least one week prior to their state’s due date to allow for timely receipt by election officials.The Los Angeles Times reported that there is a difference in processing times between regular mail-in ballots and first class mail:Election officials typically use marketing mail (or nonprofit bulk) to send out ballots, which is cheaper than using first class mail. The delivery timelines, however, are different: Marketing mail takes three to 10 days, while first class mail is delivered in two to five days. The postal service has traditionally treated election mail with priority, even if it’s not sent first class.But USPS General Counsel Thomas Marshall implied in letters to election officials that marketing mail delivery standards would be enforced for election mail.“Using Marketing Mail will result in slower delivery times and will increase the risk that voters will not receive their ballots in time to return them by mail,” Marshall wrote in language later repeated in [a USPS] statement.Democratic Party Sen. Chuck Schumer, though, has accused the USPS of price-gouging voters.“The postal service has informed some states they may need to pay a first class rate to deliver ballots rather than the normal rate, nearly tripling the cost at a time when people will have to vote by mail in record numbers because they can’t or won’t go vote in person,” he wrote on August 11, 2020. “This would be an outrageous policy that should alarm every American. Democrats will fight this with every tool at our disposal.”According to the Washington Post, the agency also sent letters to 46 states and the District of Columbia informing them that it could not guarantee that ballots sent by mail would arrive in time to be counted for the November 3 2020 general election:Some states anticipate 10 times the normal volume of election mail. Six states and D.C. received warnings that ballots could be delayed for a narrow set of voters. But the Postal Service gave 40 others — including the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida — more-serious warnings that their long-standing deadlines for requesting, returning or counting ballots were “incongruous” with mail service and that voters who send ballots in close to those deadlines may become disenfranchised.The only states to not receive the warnings from USPS were Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Rhode Island.The Twitter post was shared more than 8,000 times on the platform amid escalating concerns over the United States Postal Service’s autonomy and ability to handle voting by mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic following the appointment of Louis DeJoy — a fundraiser for Trump — as Postmaster General in June 2020. Hours after the tweet began spreading online, CNN reported that the agency’s inspector general launched an investigation into DeJoy’s actions since taking the position, in response to calls by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.The Massachusetts lawmaker had asked the inspector general to investigate not just DeJoy’s new policies for the USPS but whether he had “met all ethics requirements.” DeJoy reportedly still owns a $30 million stake in a separate company that is a USPS contractor and bought stock in Amazon, which operates a delivery service that competes with the agency.Criticism of DeJoy intensified following reports of several mailboxes being removed from use in Portland, Oregon (which the USPS attributed to an overall decline in outgoing mail) and the decommissioning and dismantling of 671 mail-sorting machines around the U.S., which the Post reported had the capacity to sort a combined 21.4 million pieces of paper mail per hour.The American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 current and retired USPS employees, filed a grievance over the scuttling of the sorting machines. But union president Mark Dimondstein expressed confidence to the newspaper that his colleagues could still handle the expected surge in mail-in voting in November.“Piece of cake for postal workers,” he said.DeJoy released a statement on August 18 2020 saying that he would suspend what he called “longstanding operational initiatives” that had raised concern from the public until after the election.“I want to assure all Americans of the following: Retail hours at Post Offices will not change,” the statement read. “Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are. No mail processing facilities will be closed. And we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.”But the skepticism toward DeJoy did not subside; a day after the USPS posted his statement, WOOD-TV in Michigan reported that mail sorting machines inside the agency’s office in downtown Grand Rapids were being dismantled per an order from him.Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office. Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/tNm9pXjcnU— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020Three hours after their initial report, WOOD said that the dismantling had stopped.That same day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement criticizing DeJoy for not reversing course on the actions he had already taken since taking over the USPS.“The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works,” Pelosi said. “All of these changes directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color. At the same time, we are highly concerned that the slowdown of the delivery of medicines to veterans is not being sufficiently addressed.”Trump himself admitted in a Fox News interview that his administration was holding up an agreement with Democratic Party lawmakers over a new stimulus package over the inclusion of $3.5 billion in USPS funding.“They need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” he said. “Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”Did Trump Say That Without a Deal ‘They Can’t Have Universal Mail-in Voting, They Just Can’t Have It’?The suggestion to use first-class mail also gained visibility following the spread of similar posts (presented as “an inside tip from a postal worker”) urged voters to personally take their ballots to their local election boards or polling sites:‘Don’t Mail Ballots In, Drop at Board of Elections, This is an Inside Tip from a Postal Worker, Can’t Say More than That’Trump has repeatedly claimed — entirely falsely — that mail-in voting would lead to a “rigged” election. But both he and First Lady Melania Trump used absentee ballots to vote by mail in Florida. At least fifteen other officials in his administration have done the same.Update August 19, 2020 1:27 p.m. PST: Updated with notes on additional mail sorting machine scuttling and statements from Louis DeJoy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Comments",
            "output": [
                "Mail-in voters in the United States can send their ballots with first-class postage to ensure that it is delivered on time before the November 3 2020 election."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-65e3122f0074438b921d7e9d9381a860",
            "input": "A quote from one of the study’s co-authors mentions “costs” and “patient preferences” as sensible considerations in first choice of antidepressant therapy, but the release offers no information about the comparative costs of the drugs that were studied or even the estimated average annual cost of such therapy. The release would have been strengthened by such data. The release states that “After two years, nonsmokers lost an average of 2.4 pounds on bupropion–compared with gaining an average of 4.6 pounds on fluoxetine (Prozac). So those who took bupropion ended up weighing 7 pounds less than did those on fluoxetine.” With the exception of a mention that some people can’t take buproprion (seizure disorder patients, for example), and the weight gain issue, the release makes no mention of the considerable side effects that accompany antidepressant use, or the often frustrating search patients and physicians must undertake to find an antidepressant that is both effective and tolerable for individual patients. Fatigue, insomnia, increased anxiety, headache and nausea are all fairly common when starting an antidepressant. The release does not make it clear that this is a retrospective study and not one set up to study the effect of antidepressants on weight gain or loss. The published study’s summary offered detailed information about the makeup of the study population and the strengths and weaknesses of the study’s data and analytic approach. Not much of that information was used in the release. To be helpful to readers, the release should have noted at least some of these limitations that were pointed out in the study: The release doesn’t engage in disease mongering. Nor does it give us any context about the prevalence of depression which might have been warranted here. That’s pretty well covered, with lots of information about Group Health and the grantors. In essence, the purpose of this study was to compare alternatives and report their effect on weight gain or loss. The news release notes that fluoxetine was chosen as the “reference” drug to compare with buproprion. The study suggests that in addition to fluoxetine, the researchers looked at data from patients assigned to a number of other drugs, too, but their data sets were incomplete. The release makes clear that all of the antidepressants are available and approved. The release claims that the study was the first to examine weight gain in people using antidepressants for more than a year, in this case up to two years. The release doesn’t rely on unjustifiable language. We would underscore the study author’s comment that “bupropion is the best initial choice of antidepressant for the vast majority of Americans who have depression and are overweight or obese” by adding that each individual needs to be evaluated for their symptoms with a medical professional making a recommendation on the appropriate drug therapy.",
            "output": [
                "One antidepressant shown to control weight during 2-year study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d79c5e48a3f451ab38c07a1969671e2",
            "input": "On 31 July 2017, reports appeared that a 30-year-old man had died from a fat embolism after undergoing penis enhancement surgery in Sweden:  The first case of a man killed by penis enlargement surgery has been reported in Sweden. A healthy 30-year-old had wanted to increase both the girth and length of his genitals using a process where fat is transferred from his stomach. Plastic surgeons first carried out the elongation, which involves making an incision to loosen a ligament at the base of the penis. They then began the enlargement and had planned to inject two fluid ounces of fat cells. Yet, before they finished the injection, his heart began racing, his oxygen levels fell, and his blood pressure dropped, and he then suffered a heart attack, reports the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Doctors performed CPR and sent the man to an emergency room, but he died less than two hours later. It is an extraordinary story, which prompted us to double-check its veracity. (Buzzfeed had published a version of the story two days earlier with a headline reading “A Penis Enlargement Killed a Man in Sweden.”) Both articles accurately recount the facts of what is a real case that was indeed published on 27 July 2017 in a case report in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, an academic journal published by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. It describes a 30-year-old man in Stockholm, Sweden, with no past medical history — apart from mild asthma — undergoing penis enhancement surgery, which the authors say is “generally considered a safe procedure.” The procedure involved fat being suctioned from his abdomen and injected into his penis, but towards the end of the surgery, the man’s heart rate increased abnormally, and surgeons observed low blood pressure and low oxygen levels in the blood. Half an hour later, the man went into cardiac arrest, and 78 minutes after that, he was pronounced dead. At autopsy, the cause of death was found to be pulmonary fat embolism, meaning fat had entered the blood stream and reached the lungs, causing a fatal blockage there. The case report points out that this is the first reported case of penile enhancement surgery causing a fatal fat embolism, but that this outcome had previously been observed in a small number of surgeries where fat was injected into a person’s face or buttocks. Fat embolism is a “rare, but feared complication” of liposuction, the authors write, and is more common after a traumatic event such as a long bone fracture (like the femur and tibia) or orthopaedic surgery (like spinal surgery or hip replacement).",
            "output": [
                "A man in Stockholm, Sweden died from a fat embolism after undergoing penis enlargement surgery."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-611d8f29cf0f4decaeb3830dd729ab72",
            "input": "The power crisis is affecting health and sanitation - because sewage treatment plants can’t run, raw sewage is pouring into the Mediterranean - and now the elderly and sick are desperately trying to handle the heat. Plastic trays and scraps of cardboard are doubling as hand-held fans. Precious piped water is hosed over children and work animals. Those trying to sleep have abandoned clammy mattresses, preferring the relative cool of bare tiled floors. Hoping to pressure the Islamist Hamas group to relinquish control of Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reduced his administration’s payments to Israel for the electricity it supplies to Gaza. That has left the 2 million Palestinians there with only a few hours of power a day. Hospitals and other emergency facilities have made do with back-up generators. Few ordinary Palestinians have that option. A family excursion to the beach that might elsewhere have been a delight was, for Sabah Joudah, a forced decision, especially when having to put up with the sewage problems. “We came here to entertain the children, even though the sea is polluted,” she told Reuters as the dirty surf lapped close by. “It is summer and there is no electricity; no water and no fans are working in our homes. It is very tough, very tough.”   Environment officials say disruptions at sewage treatment facilities have meant more than 100,000 liters of untreated wastewater is discharged along the coast daily. Around 75 percent of the seawater is polluted. Swimming there frequently leaves children with skin inflammations and abdominal complaints, parents say. In the southern town of Khan Younis, a woman bathed her children in a bucket in the street, while a man doused his horse with water. One Khan Younis couple, the Abu Mehsens, both suffer from high blood pressure and said they were so beleaguered by the heat that simply fanning themselves could be too much effort. “When we get tired we rest for a bit before we start fanning again,” Jihan Abu Mehsen said. “We do so all day long.”    The situation has hurt Gaza’s meager retail sector, with vendors saying that sales of electrical appliances have tanked. One exception has been cheap rechargeable fans, which can be stored, with full batteries, in anticipation of the power cuts. “People have turned to alternative power, using batteries,” said appliance salesman Mahmoud Abu Hamda. “Sometimes they use trays and sometimes even the covers of kettles instead of electric fans. This has impacted us very much.”",
            "output": [
                "As temperatures soar, desperate Gazans try any means to beat heat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d9561d1f3e4945feb0e97dcd9a3a82a6",
            "input": "Clearly, the costs involved in cancer treatment already are high. By removing a layer of treatment from an estimated 40,000 patients, those costs would have to drop, but it is unclear from the story by how much. Also, it would have been worth mentioning whether this is likely to affect how insurance companies handle lymph node removals. The story did a good job providing some numbers on benefits, but we wish it had provided more and explained some things a bit more. It says, for example, “In 27 percent of the women who had additional nodes removed, those nodes were cancerous.” How many women had additional nodes removed and, of those, how many had cancerous nodes? A figure like 27% means 1 out of every 4 women had nodes that were, indeed, cancerous, which seems to conflict with other statements in the story about chemotherapy and radiation wiping out the cancer. The story discusses several harms from lymph node removal, and shows that the difference in survival for women who had nodes removed and those who did not was not significant. “Indeed, women in the study who had the nodes taken out were far more likely (70 percent versus 25 percent) to have complications like infections, abnormal sensations and fluid collecting in the armpit. They were also more likely to have lymphedema.” This is where the story really outperformed some of the competition covering the same news. It placed the study into the broader context of a movement in cancer care away from surgeries that don’t provide a clear benefit, and it also explained the study design and the limitations of the study in several ways. “The study, at 115 medical centers, included 891 patients. Their median age was in the mid-50s, and they were followed for a median of 6.3 years. … One potential weakness in the study is that there was not complete follow-up information on 166 women, about equal numbers from each group. The researchers said that did not affect the results. A statistician who was not part of the study said the missing information should have been discussed further, but probably did not have an important impact. It is not known whether the findings also apply to women who do not have radiation and chemotherapy, or to those who have only part of the breast irradiated. Nor is it known whether the findings could be applied to other types of cancer.” It was too bad that it did not mention limitations in terms of lack of enrollment. The targeted enrollment was 1900. There also was an imbalance in the randomization that should have been mentioned. The story is careful to explain to readers that the research findings only apply to a subset of women with breast cancer. “Now, researchers report that for women who meet certain criteria — about 20 percent of patients, or 40,000 women a year in the United States — taking out cancerous nodes has no advantage. It does not change the treatment plan, improve survival or make the cancer less likely to recur. And it can cause complications like infection and lymphedema, a chronic swelling in the arm that ranges from mild to disabling.” The Q&A that ran with the story provided more detail about the different types of cancers and cancer patients, noting, for example, “First of all, 20 percent (the estimate of the study’s lead author, Dr. Armando E. Giuliano) refers to 20 percent of all the newly diagnosed cases of invasive breast cancer each year. This does not include noninvasive breast cancer, or DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ. The total is about 207,000, so 20 percent is roughly 40,000 women. That is about how many women would match those in the study, in terms of tumor status, affected lymph nodes and course of treatment.”  The story also says, “The results mean that women like those in the study will still have to have at least one lymph node removed, to look for cancer and decide whether they will need more treatment. But taking out just one or a few nodes should be enough.” Good quotes including from Dr. Monica Morrow, chief of the breast service at Sloan-Kettering and an author of the study, but also a few fromindependent experts toward the end. Dr. Grant W. Carlson, a professor of surgery at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, and the author of an editorial accompanying the study, provides some soul-searching context by saying that, in taking out so many lymph nodes, “I have a feeling we’ve been doing a lot of harm.” Dr. Elisa R. Port, the chief of breast surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, said, “It’s definitely practice-changing.” And Dr. Alison Estabrook, the chief of the comprehensive breast center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt hospital in New York said, “In the past, surgeons thought our role was to get out all the cancer. … Now he’s saying we don’t really have to do that.” The story does a great job explaining the history of this form of treatment and how it has evolved over time. “But doctors have continued to think that even microscopic disease in the lymph nodes should be cut out to improve the odds of survival. And until recently, they counted cancerous lymph nodes to gauge the severity of the disease and choose chemotherapy. But now the number is not so often used to determine drug treatment, doctors say. What matters more is whether the disease has reached any nodes at all. If any are positive, the disease could become deadly. Chemotherapy is recommended, and the drugs are the same, no matter how many nodes are involved.” The story goes on to do something that stories like this rarely do, it compares compares the harms from different forms of treatment, saying “After armpit surgery, 20 percent to 30 percent of women develop lymphedema, Dr. Port said, and radiation may increase the rate to 40 percent to 50 percent. Physical therapy can help, but there is no cure.” The story makes it clear that removing all under-arm lymph nodes is the standard of care for women with breast cancer and that feelings about that standard are entrenched. The story establishes that a change in treatment protocol away from removing all the lymph nodes under the arms of women with breast cancer would be novel. There is some nuance, here, though that could be missed by a casual reader. Women who have one to two positive lymph nodes would avoid having additional lymph node surgery. The overall tone of the story may make it appear to some readers that women get to avoid lymph node surgery altogether, but they don’t. The story goes well beyond any news release.",
            "output": [
                "Lymph Node Study Shakes Pillar of Breast Cancer Care"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c558f99082b24dd8a95a5eb27f065797",
            "input": "If passed, the legislation would give dying patients in the secular but traditionally Catholic country more power over their own treatment. It would also bolster Socialist President Francois Hollande’s image as a social reformer after a hotly contested move to legalize gay marriage in 2012. Jean Leonetti, a center-right lawmaker and doctor who authored the law, told Reuters the bill would allow patients with “hours or days to live” to request to be placed under general anesthetic right through to the moment they die. “The patient has to be at the end of their life and suffering despite the treatment given,” Leonetti said. “When these elements are present, I (the doctor) am obliged to start sedation that is deep and continues until death.”  Such a request would effectively let patients set their own death in motion, as the state of deep sleep is irreversible. But proponents say it stops short of assisted suicide and differs from euthanasia in that the time of death cannot be determined. Currently, doctors in France can suspend treatment under some circumstances for patients who ask for it, provided they provide palliative care to reduce suffering, similar to other European countries. In Europe only Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland allow euthanasia, with doctors actively assisting patients seeking death. In the United States, Oregon, Washington and Vermont allow doctor-assisted suicide. French law has evolved little since a 2005 reform setting out when doctors could decide to suspend treatment, despite Hollande voicing support for authorizing euthanasia during his 2012 presidential campaign. But the debate returned to the fore last year with the case of Vincent Lambert, a young man who fell into a deep coma after a car crash and whose family members have clashed in French and European courts over whether or not treatment should be pursued. “(Sedation) is not a universal response to suffering at the end of life,” said Stephane Mercier, head of the palliative care unit at Paul-Brousse hospital in Paris, adding that doctors were already equipped to ensure minimal suffering at the end of life. But pro-euthanasia campaigners said the bill does not go far enough. “Everyone says there is no suffering but nobody has ever been in that position (near death),” said Jean-Luc Romero, head of the Right to Die in Dignity association.",
            "output": [
                "French parliament debates 'deep sleep' bill for end of life."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-041d85dd60f6420dba273b744b02e610",
            "input": "President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the 21-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday in an address to the nation on Monday, saying Africa’s most advanced economy needed to escalate its response to curb the spread of the respiratory pandemic. South Africa has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and public health experts are worried that the virus could overwhelm the health system if infection rates rise steeply. Ramaphosa deployed the army in the streets, ordered underground mines to suspend operations and confined tourists who had arrived recently from “high-risk” countries to their hotels - some of the toughest measures on the continent. Rwanda has also imposed severe restrictions on movement, including “non-essential movements outside the home”. Many analysts have praised Ramaphosa for acting swiftly to impose restrictions on movement before the virus has claimed any lives, drawing on the experience of badly affected countries in Europe and Asia. “The numbers, we mustn’t be shocked when we see them increase. But these measures if we all work together must turn the curve around,” said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, adding that two patients were in intensive care. Mkhize said South Africa could reach a turning point in its infection curve two or three weeks after its lockdown restrictions enter into force. Unlike developed economies, South Africa hasn’t promised massive fiscal stimulus to cushion the blow from the coronavirus, partly because it has limited room for new spending as it battles to preserve its last investment-grade credit rating. “We will have to use all what’s possible in terms of reprioritisation to address the current challenges,” senior finance ministry official Dondo Mogajane said on Tuesday. The lockdown will pile added pressure on an economy that is already in recession and where roughly 30% of the population is unemployed. Many business owners are worried, despite a handful of support measures like tax subsidies announced by Ramaphosa. Kristalia Syrrafos, the 31-year-old owner and founder of the Tilt cafe in Johannesburg’s Melville district, said she expected a “real big knock”. “You can’t prepare...We’ll get as much food out of here as possible and then close our doors,” she said. Across town, people ignored government pleas to stop hoarding basic goods. “I was expecting this shutdown, so I already bought quite a lot of things,” Patience Khumalo, 35, a retired security company manager who now drives an Uber, said while loading up his trolley with oil, peppers and rice. “The president made a good move to stop infections early, but some people are going to suffer.”  Johannesburg-listed companies have started taking emergency measures to cut costs and minimise expenditure. Aviation company Comair suspended all its flights for franchise partner British Airways and the kulula.com low-cost airline from Thursday until April 19. Tsogo Sun Gaming said its casinos would be closed by Wednesday, and packaging firm Mpact postponed paying a dividend.",
            "output": [
                "South Africa braces for lockdown as coronavirus cases spike to 554."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-85c80463030049b28c6e1fd4db4605b5",
            "input": "\"Democrats have launched a TV ad accusing Nick Freitas, the Republican congressional candidate in Virginia’s 7th District, of seeking to undermine insurance protections for people with preexisting conditions. The ad, sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, features black-and-white photos of Freitas, ominous -sounding piano notes, and footage of an elderly person in a wheelchair, then a young girl sleeping in bed. \"\"Freitas raked in thousands from the insurance industry and supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes,\"\" the announcer says. Freitas is challenging Democratic incumbent Abigail Spanberger in one of the most closely-watched House races in the nation. He raised $1 million as of June 30 and $3,630 of it - about one-third of 1% - has come from the insurance industry. We’ll let you decide if that would cause a candidate with no tint of scandal to sell out, as the DCCC suggests. What caught our attention was the second part of the sentence, that Freitas \"\"supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes.\"\" We decided to fact check it. The DCCC sources its ad claim with a May 2, 2018 newspaper article in The Virginian-Pilot. Freitas ran unsuccessfully that spring for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, and the article was about a debate he had with one of his opponents - E.W. Jackson. One of the topics was the Affordable Care Act, also called \"\"Obamacare,\"\" which mandates a number of health care reforms, including a requirement that insurers provide health coverage for preexisting conditions. The article quoted Freitas calling Obamacare a \"\"cancer\"\" that will lead to a government-run health care system. The Democratic Party of Virginia sent us several writings by Freitas expressing scorn for Obamacare. \"\"As your next U.S. senator, I will lead the fight to repeal Obamacare full-stop,\"\" he wrote on Facebook on June 1, 2018. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have long called for abolishing Obamacare while promising to keep its popular guarantee of long-term coverage for  preexisting conditions. But they haven’t agreed on a plan. A major issue has been how can they create a free-market healthcare system and still mandate affordable coverage for preexisting conditions. Obamacare forbids an insurer from charging anyone more than three times the premium charged to a healthy 21-year-old for the same policy. If Obamacare was repealed without a replacement plan, insurers could choose to curtail or end coverage for preexisting conditions, or steeply raise the price. Republicans have floated several replacement plans but, as PolitiFact National has written, none protected affordable coverage for preexisting conditions as well as Obamacare. Some Republicans have favored repealing Obamacare before a replacement is found. That includes Freitas. \"\"Obamacare is hurting people...and yet progressives demand that we find an alternative to Obamacare before we can repeal it,\"\" he wrote on Facebook on Dec. 13, 2014. \"\"This is a little like someone repeatedly punching you in the face and demanding that you find an alternative activity for their fist before they agree to stop.\"\" Freitas doesn’t include health care among six issues he addresses on his campaign website. Joe Desilets, Freitas’ campaign manager, told us Freitas still wants to abolish Obamacare. But he said Freitas is dedicated to protecting coverage for preexisting conditions and, contrary to his 2014 statement, wants a replacement plan before the law is repealed. Desilits said Freitas is not committed to any specific replacement plan to guarantee coverage of preexisting conditions. \"\"Tax credits, a more targeted health care system. There’s a number of ways you can do it,\"\" he said. In the Virginia General Assembly in 2018, Freitas supported the Trump-ordered expansion of short-term, inexpensive health policies that don’t comply with Obamacare and don't have to cover preexisting conditions. Former President Barack Obama in 2016 issued a rule limiting short-term policies to 90 days to provide stop-gap policies to people who lost their health coverage and were waiting for enrollment periods to begin on the individual insurance market. In an effort to weaken Obamacare, Trump changed the rule, allowing short-term policies to last 364 days and be renewed twice. Supporters said the Trump rule would help people without employer-provided insurance who had seen steep premium increases in their ACA-compliant policies. Critics said it would lead to \"\"junk insurance\"\" with high deductibles. Our ruling In a TV ad, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says Freitas \"\"supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes.\"\" Freitas has repeatedly called for the abolishing Obamacare, which mandates that long-term health insurance policies cover preexisting conditions. In 2014, he said Obamacare should be repealed even without a replacement plan. In 2018, he voted to significantly expand the duration of short-term insurance plans in which coverage of preexisting conditions can be legally denied. These actions overshadow Freitas’ vague promise this year - made through his campaign manager - to protect preexisting condition coverage while working to end Obamacare.\"",
            "output": [
                "Nick Freitas “supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-053c85bb6d8246d58abb98cbe061f09d",
            "input": "Dr. Brad Black runs the nonprofit Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) and perhaps more than anyone he sees a clear picture of Libby’s plague — but it’s a picture that muddies the further one strays from the former mining town, and away from its medical professionals who have been charting an alarming rate of asbestos-related lung disease here for nearly two decades. A doctor in Libby since 1977, Black has been at the front lines of Libby’s asbestos fight, and despite all the fuss that’s been made over Libby in the last 20 years — despite the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 declaration of a public health emergency, the first such designation since the federal Superfund law passed in 1980; despite the more than $575 million spent in cleanup costs; and despite the well-documented asbestos contamination that’s sickened thousands and killed hundreds — Black is still waging an uphill battle. “We keep on plugging because that’s all we can do,” Black said recently in a basement conference room at the CARD clinic. “When you have new patients coming through the door on a regular basis, your primary objective is to provide them with care. And that’s what we’re trying to do.” Still, there’s more to Black’s work than traditional patient care, particularly as he and his colleagues pioneer new and innovative research in an effort to better understand Libby’s rarefied breed of toxic fibers. He and the CARD staff are also striving to educate the broader medical community about how they’re diagnosing asbestos-related health problems, and why they’re interpreting the faint hues of gray and white that appear on thousands of patients’ X-ray and CT images as disease when other pulmonologist colleagues don’t see it. Lung disease caused from Libby Amphibole asbestos is difficult to detect because it develops subtly and forms a thin layer along the interior chest wall, where it may blend in with shadows, Black said. The scarring of the lungs is progressive in Libby patients exposed to asbestos fibers, so being able to see the scarring and gauge its growth early on through scans is critical for care, he said. “We’ve tried very hard to get people to see what we’re seeing,” Black said. “Radiology is a gray world. You’re looking at gray shadows and everyone sees it differently. If you don’t know the disease, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, if you haven’t been tracking it here for 18 years, you won’t understand. You’ve got to know what you’re looking for.” Unfortunately, what Black’s looking for is precisely what he’s finding. New patients still arrive with metronomic regularity at the CARD clinic, a small medical clinic located off Mineral Avenue. Last year alone, 837 patients were screened and 209 were diagnosed, according to Tracy McNew, CARD’s administrative director. McNew says that’s a figure that falls right in line with the clinic’s annual diagnostic rate of about 25 percent, which, when taking into account its nearly 20-year existence, portrays a bleak picture. “Even after all this time, we’re still receiving new patients all the time,” she said. Two decades ago, the scope of asbestos exposure in Libby came to light when news reports detailed a link between the deadly fibers unearthed at a vermiculite mine operated by W.R. Grace and Co. between 1963 and 1990 and the hundreds of people who were sick and dying because of exposure to asbestos-laden dust. Two of the diseases most commonly associated with asbestos — asbestosis and mesothelioma — have latency periods of up to 40 years. That means people who were exposed to the asbestos dust could continue to develop illnesses for generations to come. “Conservative estimates put us out until 2030, so it won’t go away for a while,” Black said. “Again, those are conservative estimates. It’s really hard to predict how many sick people we’re going to see, but it’s going to be a lot.” Still, even as the volume of patients at the CARD clinic continues to swell, there’s a relative dearth of science. That’s because despite the millions spent by the federal government, no real investment has been made in scientific studies that would help answer some basic questions, such as: Does an effective treatment exist? Are there markers, like blood proteins, to help identify asbestos-related disease in patients before the air-constricting symptoms arrive? To what degree do genetics play a role in determining who gets sick? Do autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus serve as a precursor to asbestos-related disease and lung cancer? And why does Libby’s particular brand of asbestos, a toxic cocktail of several naturally occurring mineral fibers, cause such devastating disease to people with short-term exposure? “There’s a real misunderstanding that there has to be a long-term occupational exposure,” Black said. “Even low levels can lead to very serious lung disease. We have people in our population who had very brief exposures and 10 years later they have the disease. The level that it takes to cause significant disease is really hard to believe. But that’s Libby’s pattern.” Libby’s pattern is unlike that seen in most commercial asbestos, which belongs to a family called chrysotile asbestos, tiny fibers that, when inhaled, spiral into lung tissue like corkscrews. But Libby’s asbestos hails from the amphibole family, dart-shaped fibers that, when inhaled, lodge in the outer lining of the lung, or the pleura, a thin, elastic sac that, when healthy, expands and contracts in time with a person’s breathing. But when the pleura is riddled with rigid, dart-shaped asbestos fibers, it begins to scar over, rendering the soft, pink tissue that was once thin as plastic wrap into something that’s thick as an orange peel. Disease that’s the result of Libby’s asbestos can also be tricky to diagnose because it remains latent for years, then progresses at rates that have stunned medical professionals. Black and his colleagues might read abnormalities on a patient’s X-ray or CT images years before the patient ever exhibits symptoms. Many patients at the CARD clinic request screenings simply because they’ve lived in Libby and may have been inadvertently exposed to the dust. Because of a provision former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, inserted into the Obama administration’s health care reform bill, the Affordable Care Act, victims of asbestos-related disease in Libby are eligible for a range of federal health care benefits, including services not normally covered by Medicare. The provision provides funding for screenings as well as Medicare coverage for all Libby residents with asbestos-related disease. Under a special Medicare pilot program, the government also pays for services not included under Medicare, such as home care, medical equipment, counseling, help with travel, and medications not covered by Medicare prescription plans. It’s a boon to current and former Libby residents unsure whether they’ve been exposed. Studies by the EPA explain how the old vermiculite mine on Zonolite Mountain dispersed about 5,000 pounds of amphibole asbestos fibers over Libby every day the mill operated. It was sprinkled on the local ball field, used on the high school track, piled in heaps around the community, trucked away by train, and used as insulation in millions of homes across the country. “In Libby, there are all kinds of pathways to exposure. It’s not just miners. People played in piles of the stuff when they were kids,” Black said. “A lot of the time we’ll screen hunters who grew up here and suddenly notice they can’t hike uphill any more without stopping every 15 feet to catch their breath.” The findings in Libby could have larger implications for helping doctors across the country better diagnose people who were exposed to the amphibole fibers and moved away or were exposed to the fibers through one of the many products made with asbestos from the Northwest Montana mine. Doctors might not recognize the more progressive form of lung disease caused by amphibole fibers, instead believing patients were exposed to chrysotile fibers, which make up 95 percent of asbestos use, Black said. Still, Black is sympathetic to his colleagues who don’t see what he sees on patients’ scans. “It’s been a challenge since we started,” he said. “Prior to 2000, we didn’t know anything. It was all a new experience for me because what we were seeing was so different than what we were trained to look for. We didn’t know what we were looking for.” “This isn’t your grandfather’s asbestos disease,” he added. In 2017, Black and his colleagues published a groundbreaking study that validated their interpretation of abnormalities they detected in imagery and scans that other radiologists dismissed. The case involved a 74-year-old former Libby resident who worked as a millwright at the vermiculite mine from 1969 until its closure in 1990. He moved out of the area in 1991, and had no other known exposure to asbestos fibers. In 2011, he developed increasing chest pain, and in 2013 lung cancer screening detected a new, solid nodule that continued to grow on follow-up scans. When the patient was referred for a lobectomy, a procedure that involves removing a section of the lung, analysis of the tissue revealed physical proof of what Black and his colleagues had detected on the patient’s scans — it was riddled with asbestos fibers, specifically, 5.5 million fibers per gram of wet lung lining. “Most people would never have interpreted this patient’s scans as positive,” Black said. “And here we had physical proof, not just a radiologist’s interpretation. It was an ideal case because it showed exactly what we have been seeing — a high fiber burden that would not have been recognized as abnormal by most radiologists. Here, we were able to show it and compare it to the finer features of the scan.” It was the first case in which lung tissue from a Libby miner was evaluated for fiber analysis. “We know what we’re looking for but to train other people to see it over time is a challenge,” he said. Even as Black and his colleagues, like Dr. Albert Miller, who specializes in pulmonary medicine and performs work at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, seek to mount more scientific evidence to better understand Libby’s asbestos disease, and better imagery to diagnose it, thousands of lawsuits plod on through the legal channels. Although W.R. Grace is no longer a defendant in legal actions, other defendants remain embroiled in lawsuits: International Paper, which owns the firm that operated a lumber mill in Libby; Grace’s insurance carrier, Maryland Casualty; Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which trucked the asbestos-laced ore to communities across the country; and the state of Montana, which knew about the mine contaminants for decades. Black says the paper warfare waged in the lawsuits is time-consuming, and something he’d “rather do without.” The Montana Supreme Court recently appointed six additional Asbestos Claim Court judges to handle the thousands of claims pending against dozens of defendants, a bloated docket that until the high court’s decision last month fell on a single jurist’s desktop. The Asbestos Claims Court was created in November 2017, with the Honorable Amy Eddy, 11th Judicial District in Kalispell, appointed as the judge for pretrial proceedings for the 545 plaintiffs identified at that time, all of them fighting for reparations stemming from asbestos exposure from a now-defunct vermiculite mine in Libby, owned and operated by W.R. Grace, which derailed the cases for years after the company filed for federal bankruptcy. With the federal proceedings over, the clot of cases is coursing through a constricted legal artery, even as the docket continues to swell. Eddy said an additional six judges is barely scratching the surface of what’s needed to efficiently handle the volume, and they’re performing the work without compensation, on a voluntary basis. “A total of seven judges just isn’t enough with so many hundreds of complex cases based primarily in Northwest Montana,” she said. Now, similar lawsuits are being filed against Johnson & Johnson following reports that some of the company’s talc used in its baby products contained asbestos fibers, including tremolite fibers that have been the culprit in Libby. So if the fundamental science still has yet to be performed in Libby, ground-zero in the nation for asbestos-related disease, what are the implications for new discoveries of asbestos exposure in other corners of industry, which will spawn thousands more lawsuits? “We could have more science and it would still be a battle. It’s the nature of the game,” Black said. “But more science is exactly what we need.” With a limited budget, and in some cases no budget whatsoever to perform the necessary studies, Black says the scientific community is missing out on a monumental opportunity. “We have the perfect population to perform these studies on, but to find the money? Nobody has it,” Black said. “In the world of asbestos, it’s tough to get a fair shake.” “To lose this opportunity with the Libby population is one of the biggest mistakes we can make,” he added.",
            "output": [
                "20 years later, Libby’s asbestos fight goes on."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ab421b9feefd45fe956c8f8d90f0a3be",
            "input": "London hosted the Olympics in 2012, but British officials played down the prospect of taking away the Games from Tokyo, which has been planning the event for seven years since its bid won in 2013. The flu-like coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,000 people in China and infected over 74,000 globally, has had a major impact on the sporting calendar in Asia with a host of events being cancelled and postponed. With the Tokyo Games due to begin on July 24, organisers have set up a task force to coordinate with public health authorities over the epidemic. The International Olympic Committee has said it had been advised by the World Health Organization that there is no case for contingency plans to cancel or relocate the Games. In Japan, hundreds have been infected by the virus with two deaths confirmed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Yokohama port, sparking concerns that the world’s top sporting event may not take place. Despite much of the 2012 infrastructure being repurposed to redevelop parts of east London after the Games, Bailey said the city was well placed to step in for Tokyo if needed and urged the Olympic Committee to consider the city as an alternative. “London can host the #Olympics in 2020,” he said on Twitter. “Given the ongoing disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak, I urge the Olympic Committee to seriously consider how London could stand ready to host the Olympics should the need arise,” Bailey said in a statement. “We have the infrastructure and the experience, and if I am elected I will make sure London is ready to host the biggest sporting celebration again, if we are called on in an hour of need,” he said. The London mayoral election is due to take place on May 7, and Bailey is trailing in opinion polls behind the incumbent, Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party. In London, there was scepticism at Bailey’s comments: sports officials said they were looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics and that London had no plans to usurp the Games. “These are the remarks of a mayoral candidate, not the remarks of Britain or even London,” said one sports official. The Tokyo 2020 organising committee did not comment on Bailey’s remarks. It said in an e-mailed statement that they were taking the necessary steps over the coronavirus. “Tokyo 2020 will continue to collaborate with all relevant organisations which carefully monitor any incidence of infectious diseases and we will review any countermeasures that may be necessary with all relevant organisations,” it said. Nonetheless, Bailey’s comments, carried by several major Japanese media outlets, became a top trending topic on Twitter in the country with nearly 50,000 tweets on the subject. “How dare you! Don’t deprive the Olympics from Japan! In the first place, the UK didn’t take any remedies for the ‘Diamond Princess’ owned by your country!” Twitter user @Gelsomi47388050 said in English. The Diamond Princess is a UK flagged vessel owned by Carnival Corp (CCL.N). Another user said London would be the best back-up option. “Probably the only major city that could, facilities, hotels etc all ready & the weather would be more conducive to both competitions/ spectators than Tokyo,” @twose_brian also tweeted in English in reply to Bailey, tagging #LondonOlympics2020.",
            "output": [
                "London can host 2020 Games if moved over coronavirus - mayor candidate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-251a25c83a224b61994db1560d0077e7",
            "input": "Odd terms sneak into our language every now and then, and this is one of the oddest. Everyone who considers himself in the know about the drug subculture has heard that ‘420’ has something to do with illegal drug use, but when you press them, they never seem to know why, or even what the term supposedly signifies. It’s both more and less than people make it out to be. The term ‘420’ began its sub-rosa linguistic career in 1971 as a bit of slang casually used by a group of high school kids (known as “Waldos”) at San Rafael High School in California. The term ‘420’ (always pronounced “four-twenty,” never “four hundred and twenty”) came to be an accepted part of the argot within that group of about a dozen pot smokers, beginning as a reminder of the time they planned to meet to light up, 4:20 p.m.: [The 420] origins appear to lie in the escapades of a group of friends from San Rafael high school, northern California, in 1971. That autumn, the five teenagers came into possession of a hand-drawn map supposedly locating a marijuana crop at Point Reyes, north-west of San Francisco. The friends — who called themselves the Waldos because they used to hang out by a wall — met after school, at 4:20 pm, and drove off on their treasure hunt. They never found the plot. “We were smoking a lot of weed at the time,” says Dave Reddix or Waldo Dave, now a filmmaker. “Half the fun was just going looking for it.” The group began using the term 420. So did friends and acquaintances, who included — at a couple of steps removed — members of the Grateful Dead rock band. The term spread among the band’s fans, known as Deadheads. Then in 1990 Steve Bloom, an editor at High Times, saw 420 explained on a Grateful Dead concert flyer. Staff on the magazine, long the leading publication on marijuana, started using it. Keep in mind this wasn’t a general call to all dope smokers everywhere to toke up at twenty past four every day; it was twelve kids who’d made a date to meet after school near a certain statue. It’s thus incorrect to deem that ‘420’ originated as the designation of a national or international dope-smoking time, even though the term began as a reference to a particular time of day, as the originators of that term explained: The Waldos met at 4:20 for exactly all of the reasons we have discussed in the past: The time we got out of school was approximately 3 p.m., but some of us had after school sports activities that lasted until after 4 p.m. There was just enough time to get back to the statue of Louis Pasteur to smoke and look for the pot fields drawn in a treasure map. These days ‘420’ is used as a generic way of declaring one likes to use marijuana or just as a term for the substance itself. Its earliest connotation of having to do with the time a certain group of students congregated to smoke wacky tobaccy is unknown to many of those who now employ the term. Indeed, most instead believe one or more of the many spurious explanations that have since grown up about this much abused short form: However, on 1 January 2004 the Governor of California signed that state’s Senate Bill 420, which regulates marijuana used for medical purposes. This bill comes years after the term ‘420’ was associated with marijuana and indeed its number likely was chosen because of the existing pop culture connection. This is the tail wagging the dog, not the other way around. Spurious etymologies and uncertain definition aside, ‘420’ has slipped into a position of semi-respectability within the English lexicon. Various free-wheeling cities annually celebrate “hemp fests” on April 20. There’s a 4:20 record label in California, and a band called 4:20. Atlanta’s Sweetwater Brewing Co. sells its 420 Pale Ale in supermarkets and opens its doors to the public at 4:20 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. New York’s 420 Tours sells low-cost travel packages to the Netherlands and Jamaica. Highway 420 Radio broadcasts “music for the chemically enhanced.” And in 2001, the forReal.org web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Substance Abuse Prevention put out a public service document titled, “It’s 4:20 — Do You Know Where Your Teen Is?” 420s are routinely slipped into popular movies and television shows. In Fast Times at Ridgemont High the score of the football game was 42-0. Most of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are set to 4:20 (but not all: when the kid receives the watch it’s set at 9:00). And there are many other instances, so keep your eyes peeled.",
            "output": [
                "The term '420' entered drug parlance as a term signifying the time to light up a joint."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-866346fa8898478ea7fbdddf414d7d25",
            "input": "Those in the second group likely bear a gene type that not  only increases their addiction risk, but has been implicated in  the development of lung cancer, researchers said on Friday. “If you have this variant, you are going to like your  earliest experiences with smoking,” said Ovide Pomerleau of the  University of Michigan Medical School, whose research appears  in the journal Addiction. Pomerleau said the finding suggests that for some, smoking  even one cigarette is a bad idea. “It’s a trap,” he said in a  telephone interview. “What they don’t realize is if they have this kind of  genetic make-up, they are on their way to dependency,” he said,  and that raises their risk for lung cancer. The research is part of a growing understanding of genetic  factors involved in nicotine addiction and lung cancer. Teams of scientists reported earlier this year that smokers  who had certain changes in three nicotine receptor genes —  which control entry of nicotine into brain cells — were more  likely to develop lung cancer than other smokers. This week, Canadian researchers said that, by manipulating  receptors for the chemical dopamine, they were able to control  which rats in a study enjoyed their first exposure to nicotine  and which were repelled by it. Pomerleau said the field may soon lead to new treatments  for nicotine addiction and tests to assess addiction risks. Smoking causes nine out of 10 cases of lung cancer, the  leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide and the  second-leading cause of cancer death among women. Pomerleau and colleagues studied data from 435 people. Some  had tried a cigarette but never developed a habit; others  smoked at least five cigarettes a day for the past five years. Regular smokers in the study were far more likely than  those who had never smoked to have a change in the CHRNA5  nicotine receptor gene. Smokers were eight times more likely to  report liking cigarettes from the start. Pomerleau said work has begun to develop a genetic screen  for the CHRNA5 variant. Two other researchers on the team,  Laura Bierut and John Rice at Washington University, hold a  patent on the gene variant, which has been licensed by  privately held Perlegen Sciences Inc.    Pfizer Inc, maker of the smoking cessation drug Chantix  owns a $50 million stake in Perlegen. Pomerleau, who has served on Pfizer’s scientific advisory  board, said he favors development of diagnostic tests, as long  as people understand it is not the only risk factor for  nicotine addiction. “What we don’t know is far greater than what we do know,”  he said.",
            "output": [
                "Gene raises risk of lifetime smoking habit: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-73fbfbd3ff3048fc82f93e1a2fbfe7fb",
            "input": "Tim Thornhill, a transplanted Texan who formed the Mendocino Wine Company six years ago in the county north of San Francisco, is one of them. Along with his brother, Tom, and former Fetzer Vineyards winemaker Paul Dolan he bought the Parducci Wine Cellars and revived the wine’s reputation. He also used his background in horticulture to design a wetland area in the middle of the vineyard to reclaim wastewater, which is a byproduct of wine making. “What I run into constantly are people who say ‘I wish I could be environmental, but I can’t afford to be,’” he said. “And it is always clear to me that they haven’t figured out that being environmental is being efficient. And when you’re efficient, money drops to the bottom line.”   Water is a concern in California, where there is always a shortage. Wineries can produce hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater, mostly from the grape-crush, tank and barrel cleaning and bottling operations. Wastewater contains the grapes’ natural sugars that deplete the water’s oxygen. Thornhill designed a system of gravity-fed tanks and trickle towers made from old wooden slats that oxygenate the water. The result is a small wetlands area and a pond that ducklings seem to favor. “When you start seeing life, you know your water is getting clean and you look in here between the beautiful green filaments of algae, the duckweed, the rushes, the insects, the birds we’re seeing. We’ve got life,” he explained. The water will be used for drip irrigation in the vineyards, to hose down redwood tanks where the wine ages slowly in large lots and it will be reclaimed to start the cycle all over. Unlike Thornhill’s vineyards, Chiarito Vineyards uses natural rainfall and runoff for its much smaller production. “This is dry farmed. There is no drip irrigation. There’s no nothing. They are totally dependent on the spring rains and the runoff from the mountains,” John Chiarito said. As a result, the vines send their roots down into the volcanic ash that lies under a topsoil of river deposits and sandstone. With a yield of less than three tons of grapes per acre, Chiarito estimated he makes about 800 cases of Zinfandel and Nero d’Avola. It all started 20 years ago when he bought an abandoned walnut orchard and planted Zinfandel vines in “the old style, eight by eight foot spacing, head-trained. No wires.”   Chiarito farms organically, but his wine is not certified because he said it involves too much paperwork. Last week the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Department of Agriculture issued new rules to clarify what wineries must do to use the word organic on their labels. The same week the European Commission withdrew its proposal to have a wine classified as organic, saying it was unwilling to compromise on organic standards. In addition to wine, Chiarito also makes his own prosciutto. “I’ve been making prosciutto for about 25 years. I guess I’m a bit of a throw back,” he said, which may explain his passion for doing everything by hand.",
            "output": [
                "Green is the new organic in wines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-699eef83f4244c42b3a66d4b62b113c8",
            "input": "The Coast Guard prohibits vessels from getting closer than 984 feet (300 meters) from where Kilauea volcano’s lava oozes into the sea. The agency had been allowing experienced boat operators to apply for a special license to get closer up to 164 feet (50 meters), but it stopped allowing those exceptions Monday morning. A woman in her 20s was transported to Honolulu in serious condition with a broken thigh bone. The other 22 people injured were treated for minor burns and scrapes, including 12 who were treated at a hospital in Hilo. Moku Nui Lava Tours Captain Kanoa Jones, whose boat was not involved in Monday’s incident at Kilauea volcano, said not running the tours would only withhold income from local restaurants and other businesses dependent on tourism, he said. “If we stop operating, it not only hurts us, it hurts the community,” Jones said. The Coast Guard, state and local officials were investigating what happened. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew West said the agency can’t say whether it will change its safety zone rules until it finishes its investigation. The county strictly limits access to the lava on land for safety reasons, making boat and helicopter tours the only options people have to witness volcanic spectacle in person. The ocean and aerial tours each cost about $250. The restrictions have deterred many travelers from visiting the Big Island in general, and Puna near the volcano in particular. Shane Turpin, the owner and captain of the vessel that was hit, said he never saw the explosion. He and his tour group had been in the area for about 20 minutes making passes of the ocean entry about 500 yards — which is the length of five football fields — offshore, Turpin said. He didn’t observe “any major explosions,” so he navigated his vessel closer, to about 250 yards (228 meters) away from the lava. “As we were exiting the zone, all of a sudden everything around us exploded,” he said. “It was everywhere.” The U.S. Geological Survey says explosions of varying sizes occur whenever 2,000-degree (1,093-degree Celsius) lava enters much colder seawater. Monday’s large blast may have been amplified by the relatively shallow water at the point where the lava entered the sea. That’s because explosions occur much closer to the surface in such spots. In contrast, lava that entered the ocean in 2016 hit a steep slope and quickly fell to deeper parts of the sea, said Janet Babb, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. The volcano has also been pumping more lava into the water now compared to past years, Babb said. Kilauea is sending to the sea as much as 26 times the amount of lava per second than it did during the 2016-17 eruption. Officials have warned of the danger of getting close to lava entering the ocean, saying the interaction can create clouds of acid and fine glass. Despite the hazards, several companies operate such tours. The Coast Guard said tour vessels have operated in the area going back at least 20 years. The molten rock is coming from the Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting continuously for the past 35 years. In May, its eruption entered a new phase when it began spurting lava through newly formed fissures in a residential neighborhood. It has destroyed more than 700 homes since then. But the only serious injury over the past two months was to a man who was hit by flying lava that broke his leg. Captain Jones said an evening boat tour left for the ocean-entry site and it was business as usual. “It is Mother Nature,” Jones said. “You never know.”",
            "output": [
                "Hawaii lava boat tours continue after explosion, injuries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8bf4314abb40455383937f18fa2a235b",
            "input": "Peebles, of Princeton University in the United States, was awarded half of the 9-million-Swedish-crown ($910,000) prize while Mayor and Queloz, from Switzerland’s University of Geneva and Britain’s Cambridge University, shared the rest. “This year’s Nobel laureates have painted a picture of our universe far stranger and more wonderful than we could ever have imagined,” Ulf Danielsson, a professor and member of the Nobel Committee for Physics, told reporters as the prize was announced. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the scientists’ research had “transformed our ideas about the cosmos”. Mayor and his one-time doctoral student Queloz said it was “simply extraordinary” to be awarded a Nobel for what they described as “the most exciting discovery of our entire career”. The pair announced the first discovery of a planet outside our own solar system, a so-called “exoplanet”, in 1995. “The study of exoplanets is perhaps the most vibrant field of astronomy,” Martin Rees, a Cambridge University professor and Astronomer Royal, said in a emailed comment. “We now know that most stars are orbited by retinues of planets; there may be a billion planets in our galaxy resembling the Earth,” Rees added. Since their discovery, more than 4,000 exoplanets have been found in the Milky Way, many of them nothing like our own world. Indeed, the first planet they found, 51 Pegasi b, orbits a sun 50 light years away that heats its surface to more than 1,000 degrees centigrade, the award-giving academy said. With numerous ongoing searches for more exoplanets, this science might eventually also “find an answer to the eternal question of whether other life is out there,” it said. At a news conference in London, Queloz said the focus of research had now shifted from finding more planets to finding out more about them - about their atmosphere, chemistry and formation. Queloz also fielded inevitable questions about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. “I can’t believe that we’re the only living entities in the universe,” he said when asked if he believes “aliens” exist. “The chemistry that led to life is everywhere, so I’m a strong believer that there must be life elsewhere.”   Peebles thanked the Nobel committee for the award, although he said his advice to young people wishing to go into science would be not to be lured by the prospect of such prizes. “The awards and prizes, well, they are charming and very much appreciated, but...you should enter science because you are fascinated by it. That’s what I did,” he told reporters by telephone after the award announcement. Physics is the second Nobel to be awarded this week; William Kaelin, Gregg Semenza and Peter Ratcliffe shared the medicine prize on Monday for discoveries about how cells respond to oxygen levels. The Nobel prizes were created in a bequest by Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901. This year’s physics prize will be followed by the awards for chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. Among the Nobels, physics has often taken centre stage with winners featuring some of the greatest names in the history of science such as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie and Niels Bohr, as well as inventors such as radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. Using theoretical tools and calculations, Peebles was able to interpret trace radiation from the infancy of the universe and discover new physical processes, the Nobel academy said. He showed that matter readily seen around us, be it pebbles, mountains or stars, actually make up only 5%, with the rest made up of dark energy and dark matter. For a graphic of Nobel laureates:  here",
            "output": [
                "Science of far-away planets and infant universe wins Nobel prize."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c8764861ae645bdada109fd2bfdc76d",
            "input": "\"The large punitive damages award is likely to be reduced due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9:1. The jury awarded a total of $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages. It was the third consecutive U.S. jury verdict against the company in litigation over the chemical, which Bayer acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto last year. Both other jury verdicts also came in California, one in state court and one in federal court. The jury in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on Monday said the company was liable for plaintiffs Alva and Alberta Pilliod’s contracting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a spokeswoman for the couple said. It awarded $18 million in compensatory and $1 billion in punitive damages to Alva Pilliod, and $37 million in compensatory and $1 billion in punitive damages to his wife, Alberta Pilliod. The jury found Roundup had been defectively designed, that the company failed to warn of the herbicide’s cancer risk and that the company acted negligently. The German chemicals giant faces more than 13,400 U.S. lawsuits over the herbicide’s alleged cancer risk. The next jury trial in the glyphosate litigation is scheduled for August in Missouri state court, the first time a jury outside of California will hear a Roundup case. The trial will take place in St. Louis County, where Monsanto’s former headquarters are located. Bayer in a statement on Monday said it was disappointed with the verdict and will appeal. A spokesman called the jury’s decision “excessive and unjustifiable.”   The company said both Alva and Alberta Pilliod had long histories of illnesses known to be substantial risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “The contrast between today’s verdict and (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s) conclusion that there are ‘no risks to public health from the current registered uses of glyphosate’ could not be more stark,” Bayer said. Bayer says that decades of studies by the company and independent scientists have shown glyphosate and Roundup to be safe for human use. Bayer also points to several regulators around the world that found that glyphosate was not carcinogenic to humans. Brent Wisner, a lawyer for the Pilliods, at a news conference following the verdict said Bayer had to take responsibility for its product. “Monsanto keeps denying that it causes cancer and these two fine people here are casualties of that deception,” Wisner said, standing next to the California couple, who are in their 70s. Alberta Pilliod called on Bayer to add a warning label to Roundup, saying she and her husband would not have used the product had it alerted them to a cancer risk. “We’ve been fighting cancer for more than nine years now and we can’t do any of the things we wanted to do. We really resent Monsanto for that,” Pilliod said. The prior two jury verdicts against Bayer in U.S. Roundup trials triggered steep declines in Bayer shares. A San Francisco state court jury in August 2018 awarded $289 million to a California groundskeeper, finding Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weed killers caused his cancer. That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal. In March, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded $80 million to another California man after finding Roundup caused his cancer. The company also said it would appeal that decision. Adam Zimmerman, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, on Monday said it was too early to speculate about a potential settlement of the litigation by Bayer. “The legal questions on appeal in the previous two cases will ultimately inform how this litigation proceeds,” Zimmerman said. It also remains to be seen how juries in other part of the country react to the evidence in upcoming trials, he said. Shareholders have rebuked the company’s top management over its handling of the Monsanto acquisition and the litigation it inherited, which has wiped around 30 billion euros ($33.68 billion) from Bayer’s market value since the first jury verdict. The Pilliods allege the regular use of Roundup on their property between 1975 and 2011 caused them to develop cancers of the lymph system. They filed their lawsuit in 2017 after being diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and 2015, respectively. Both of them are currently in remission, but their trial had been expedited due to the risk of a relapse and potentially short life expectancy. Plaintiffs in the litigation allege that Monsanto had known about the herbicide’s cancer risk for decades, but failed to warn consumers and instead attempted to influence scientists and regulators to receive favorable assessments of its products. Bayer denies those allegations. Lawsuits are largely based on a 2015 conclusion by the World Health Organization’s cancer arm, which classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”  A 2017 Reuters investigatihere found that the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer had dismissed and edited out \"\"non-carcinogenic\"\" findings that were at odds with its final conclusion that the chemical probably causes cancer. The U.S. EPA, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators have found that glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic to humans.\"",
            "output": [
                "California jury hits Bayer with $2 billion award in Roundup cancer trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-627995d8bf5d40169437a4d0c69a5bb3",
            "input": "Not applicable. It’s understandable that costs wouldn’t be discussed at this early stage of research. Adequate explanation of results observed in study participants at different dosing levels. More importantly, the story simply explained: “Since it’s not completely clear what reductions in brain plaques mean for Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers are unable to say whether treatment with gantenerumab will bring improvement to patients with Alzheimer’s. They are currently involved in a new study that they hope will answer that question.” Better than its HealthDay competition in that WebMD actually told us how many people experienced harms in the study. The story allowed a Roche senior VP to say the results “went beyond our expectations” but countered that with “What is not entirely known is if these plaques cause Alzheimer’s…Therefore, it’s not known if reducing the amount of them will slow or stop the disease.” No disease mongering at play here. The story added an important independent perspective and identified the study co-author as being a senior VP of the drug company making the drug. We preferred how HealthDay explained:  “There are approximately one dozen therapies, including vaccines, that are currently in the pipeline….none are ready for prime time.” The story ends with an appropriate send-off:  “We need more studies to know if it is safe or effective.”  The early, experimental nature of the research is clear. The HealthDay competitor did a better job of explaining where this study fits in the history of research into beta-amyloid. There was clear evidence of independent reporting.",
            "output": [
                "Drug May Reduce Plaque in Brains of Alzheimer’s Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3a28812927cd44d2a243ada0f86255eb",
            "input": "The story does include a discussion of price, reporting that a fluoride varnish treatment can cost $23 to $55, while a filling can cost $86 to $606. That’s enough to be rated Satisfactory. However, the story also should have stated that those numbers aren’t a head-to-head comparison, since the varnish treatment must be repeated many times over many years–which would add up. In fact, a cost-effectiveness analysis done by one of the quoted experts concluded the “Caries Management System” he advocates costs almost $1,800 for every cavity or lost tooth prevented. While the story includes links to some studies that report specific results, the only number reported in the story is a reduction in adult tooth fillings of 30 to 50 percent. But without any absolute numbers, this number isn’t useful. Is it a cavity a year? A cavity a decade? The story refers to people at “high risk” for cavities, but does not define what that term means. Without some anchoring in absolute numbers, all readers are left with is a vague sense that preventive treatment is “better” for some people, without pinning down how much better or for whom. Fluoride for dental health has been extensively studied for decades and is considered safe, so we’ll file this rating as not applicable to the story. But, as some dentists might point out, there is an argument to be made for discussing one known–though minor–risk: Some people living in areas with naturally high levels of fluoride in their water may experience tooth discoloration or other issues if they are given additional fluoride treatment. The story portrays the evidence for fluoride treatments as clear and convincing, when there are actually just a few studies, and a lot of expert opinion. That’s not to say the experts quoted in the story are wrong, but the story elevates beliefs to the level of evidence-based conclusions. Cavities in adults can cause serious health problems if left untreated, and any new effective treatment or trends in this area is worthy of press coverage. However, the studies discussed in the story focused on a relatively small group of people with unusually high risk of tooth decay–and so these results may not apply to the adult population at large, which this piece implies. The story quotes a number of sources discussing this trend in dentistry, instead of just relying on one dentist. But the piece would be more balanced had it included at least one source pointing out that some of the techniques advocated in the story could be overkill or wasteful for many people who are at just average risk for tooth decay. As the piece was written, all the sources are very rosy about more aggressive preventive dental care. We also found via an internet search that source John Featherstone has accepted consultation fees from dental companies that make products for these purposes. However, since he wasn’t specifically endorsing one of these products in this story, we’ll give this a pass. The story does not quantify the benefits of these new preventive treatments, or similar approaches, so it fails to give readers a useful comparison with standard dental care or advice for most adults–such as fluoride toothpastes, community water fluoridation, flossing, and mouthwashes. It is clear that the treatments mentioned in the story are widely available, and we were pleased to see the story went a step further and let us know how insurance impacts availability. The story reports that the concepts are not new, and that fluoride varnishes have normally been the purview of pediatric dentistry, but are now catching on among adult dentists. However, it never really explains why practice would be changing now–did research spur this change? There is a reference to “more effective preventive techniques,” but it’s not clear what that means, and how a reader might act on that. This piece doesn’t appear to rely on a news release; the reporter interviewed a number of experts and referred to several publications.",
            "output": [
                "No-Drill Dentistry: Fluoride Treatments Can Prevent Cavities In Adults"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-90f1e4e85ca747b18eb05db37003fd18",
            "input": "Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis issued statements saying they will vote against Dourson to serve as head of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Environmentalists and Senate Democrats have vehemently opposed Dourson, a toxicologist with close ties to the chemical industry. That means only one more Republican “no” vote would likely be needed to torpedo his nomination. Moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told reporters Thursday she is also leaning against supporting Dourson, but has not yet made a final decision. The White House and EPA did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday or Thursday. Despite the fact he hasn’t yet been confirmed by the Senate, Dourson has already been working at the agency as a senior adviser to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The agency’s press office did not respond to emails seeking how much he is being paid. The Associated Press reported in September that Dourson has for years accepted payments for criticizing studies that raised concerns about the safety of his clients’ products, according to a review of financial records and his published work. Past corporate clients of Dourson and of a research group he ran include Dow Chemical Co., Koch Industries Inc. and Chevron Corp. His research has also been underwritten by industry trade and lobbying groups representing the makers of plastics, pesticides, processed foods and cigarettes. Burr and Tillis, both of whom are considered reliably pro-business conservatives, cited Dourson’s past work and worries among their home-state constituents about tainted drinking water in opposing his nomination. “Over the last several weeks, Senator Tillis has done his due diligence in reviewing Mr. Dourson’s body of work,” said a statement from Tillis’ office. “Senator Tillis still has serious concerns about his record and cannot support his nomination.” Marine veterans and their families blame decades-old contamination of wells at a North Carolina base with solvents and dry-cleaning chemicals for infant deaths and serious health problems that include cancer. More recently, concerns have been raised about undisclosed discharges of chemicals used to manufacture Teflon and GoreTex into the Cape Fear River, a source of municipal drinking water for Wilmington and other southeastern North Carolina communities. Dourson worked at the EPA for more than a decade, leaving in 1994 as the manager at a lab that assessed the health risks of exposure to chemicals. The following year, he founded Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, a private toxicity evaluation nonprofit organization that tests chemicals and produces reports on which chemicals are hazardous in what quantities. Dourson’s views toward industry are consistent with others Trump has selected as top federal regulators. Among them is Pruitt, who in March overruled the findings of his agency’s own scientists to reverse an effort to ban chlorpyrifos, one of the nation’s most widely used pesticides. Court records show Dourson and his work have often been called on when his corporate clients are seeking to fend off lawsuits. DuPont was accused of polluting a West Virginia town with Perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, a chemical that the company’s internal tests had long ago concluded was toxic. Corporate officials discussed hiring Dourson as part of a strategy to defend themselves. Dourson led a team that found in 2002 that PFOA levels up to 150 parts per billion were safe, a level higher than was found in testing of 188 private wells and springs. That was also well above the 1 part per billion that Dupont’s own scientists had concluded could be considered safe years before. The EPA now says that only 70 parts per trillion of PFOA are acceptable — or only 0.05 percent of what Dourson’s team said was safe. DuPont and a former subsidiary, Chemours Co., later paid $761 million to settle 3,550 lawsuits stemming from its use of the chemical. Chemours is the company whose spills of a chemical called GenX, a replacement for PFOA, are now at issue in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River. “I will not be supporting the nomination of Michael Dourson,” said Burr, the state’s senior senator. “With his record and our state’s history of contamination at Camp Lejeune as well as the current GenX water issues in Wilmington, I am not confident he is the best choice for our country.” The stand was quickly praised by environmental advocacy groups that rarely find common ground with the two Tarheel Republicans. “No one who has spent decades arguing on behalf of the chemical industry for weaker safety standards should be charged with reviewing chemicals for the EPA,” said Scott Faber, a senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. “It would be like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.” ___ Follow Associated Press environmental reporter Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck",
            "output": [
                "Trump EPA nominee opposed by GOP senators from NC."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4767e24000e94de7a8fd41177f49d024",
            "input": "These were among the gadgets showcased this week at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas. The four-day show, which opened Tuesday, is a place for companies to unveil their products and services for the coming year, though Apple, Google and other tech giants often hold their own announcement events. Streaming services  and surveillance technologies are among the hot topics this year. Here are some highlights from the show: NUTRITIONAL DNA A London startup believes it can help you make healthier diet choices at the grocery store — using your own DNA. DnaNudge collects your DNA through a cheek swab and sends data related to nutrition to a wristband. Have a genetic predisposition to high blood pressure? Maybe the wristband will tell you to stay away from salty snacks. You scan the barcode on a product, and the wristband turns red or green to indicate whether it may be good for you. A few services have popped up to map DNA in the hopes of helping people make better diet choices, though some scientists say genetic makeup is just one of many factors in living a healthy lifestyle. Currently, DnaNudge does cheek swabs only in person in London, but it’s working on a mail order service. The company says it destroys all DNA records after giving you the wristband. BOOZY BOTS No need to shake or stir. These machines will mix cocktails for you. They’re like Keurig coffee machines, but for booze. Drop in a pod filled with ingredients, slide in a glass, and less than a minute later, you’ll have a martini or a Moscow mule. In fact, one of the gizmos is made by Keurig. Drinkworks by Keurig sells for $299 and can make cosmopolitans and fizzy drinks, such as vodka sodas. Each pod makes one cocktail and costs about $4. Another robotic bartender, the $350 Bartesian, sells pods for $2.50 each, but they don’t have alcohol. Instead, you fill canisters with your own whiskey, vodka, gin and tequila. The pods mix in juices, herbs and other flavorings. A touch screen on the Bartesian lets you choose how stiff you want your drink. There’s even an option for alcohol-free “mocktails.”  Both machines sit on a counter or table at home. The companies hope to target those who like to host parties but don’t want to stock a bar, don’t know how to make drinks or would rather push a button than spend time putting together a mojito. “We do all that for you,” Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis said. “And then allow you to spend time with your guests.” HERE TODAY, HACK TOMORROW Some people go to CES to glimpse the future of consumer technology. Others are looking for the future of what’s going to get hacked. Cybersecurity firm McAfee says it uncovered security flaws in two gadgets on display. One is an internet-connected device for opening garage doors. McAfee’s threat research team says the MyQ Hub made by Illinois-based Chamberlain Group could be hacked by jamming the radio frequency signals while the garage is being remotely closed. That could lead it to open instead. Chamberlain says it’s fixing its app to prevent this, but chances of a real-world hack occurring are “extremely low” and based on an unlikely chain of events. McAfee says it also discovered a flaw in British startup McClear’s “smart ring,” which uses near-field communication wireless technology for unlocking doors. McAfee researchers demonstrated how hackers could easily clone the ring and gain access to a user’s home. McClear didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday. PRIVACY BY VOICE Google is adding a privacy “undo” feature to its Assistant voice technology. Just tell Assistant to disregard something if you happen to notice the device was listening when it wasn’t supposed to. By saying “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you,” Assistant will delete whatever you just said. Although Assistant is supposed to send voice commands out for processing only when it hears “Hey” or “OK, Google,” it can mishear other conversations as the trigger word. Another new feature will let you use your voice to ask Google about your own privacy settings. The new features supplement privacy controls Google rolled out last year to let people delete their voice recording histories with voice commands. That came after pushback that Google and other companies were using human transcribers rather than just machines to listen to some audio recordings. Assistant will also debut new tools such as household notes, which lets people leave virtual notes with voice commands for other members in their families. The notes will show up on Google’s smart Nest Hub displays as reminders. A ROBOTIC FRIEND Samsung’s idea for your new robot friend is a simple ball that rolls along beside you. Its name: Ballie. The technology within Ballie is anything but simple. The artificial intelligence companion has a camera that can record and send video. Ballie can communicate with other smart devices around the house. In its keynote at CES, Samsung showed the bright yellow ball — about the size of a baseball — rolling behind H.S. Kim, CEO of the company’s consumer electronics division. It kept its distance from Kim when asked to, and a video showed Ballie as a companion to pets at home alone. “It’s a vision of technology as an all-around personal life companion,” Kim said. Ballie’s unveiling was part of Samsung’s efforts to show how AI can offer conveniences, peace of mind — and in this case, companionship. Samsung didn’t say when Ballie would go on sale or how much it would cost. Samsung’s chief research scientist, Sebastian Seung, said Ballie would come with strict privacy standards, but didn’t offer details. ___ AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report. ___ AP’s CES coverage: https://apnews.com/Consumerelectronics",
            "output": [
                "CES tech show: Say no to junk food; machines make cocktails."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0c29c2db78614c4a8d858f547e29036c",
            "input": "Nearly 1,500 places to stay have been made available under the scheme amid a slump in bookings on the home rental start-up as travel restrictions and curbs on social gatherings come into force around the world. Britain has looked to bolster its public health service to deal with the crisis, including establishing a field hospital in a one-time Olympic venue and turning a theme park into a testing facility for health workers. “By working together, we can ensure that frontline workers can find a free and convenient place to stay as they continue their critical work,” said Patrick Robinson, Director of Public Policy at Airbnb. Airbnb has done similar schemes in Italy and France in response to the outbreak, and aims to house 100,000 emergency personnel around the world during the epidemic. The company has suspended marketing activities to save money, and executives are taking a pay cut as the firm battles with a downturn in bookings triggered by the spread of coronavirus. Airbnb’s bookings in major cities across the world have suffered as travelers cancel trips and stay at home to protect themselves and prevent the spread of coronavirus.",
            "output": [
                "Airbnb hosts to provide free rooms for British health workers."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ee519494e8f341b0a6880c738aa6140a",
            "input": "Rutine testing confirmed the presence of low-pathogenic H5N2 virus in a turkey flock in Stearns County. The flock of 13-week-old hens has been quarantined. The farm will be allowed to market the turkeys once the birds test negative for the disease. A similar case of the virus was detected last month in a commercial turkey flock in Kandiyohi County. Officials say this mild form of bird flu is not the same strain of virus that caused a devastating outbreak in 2015, and poses no public health or food safety risk.",
            "output": [
                "New case of mild bird flu found in Minnesota turkey flock."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c14f559c9ece48a4acc0aba2726e7935",
            "input": "U.N. officials and donors met in Geneva to discuss how to tackle the world’s second worst epidemic, which has infected 2,500 people and killed 1,655 in the lush farmlands of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A toxic mix of armed militias and a deep-rooted mistrust of health officials by communities have hampered efforts to halt the virus. Goma, a lakeside city more than 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of where the outbreak was first detected, got its first case on Sunday. That raised fears Ebola could accelerate into one of Africa’s most densely populated areas and over the Rwanda border. “The case in Goma could potentially be a gamechanger in this epidemic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the meeting. “It is a gateway to the region and the world.”  The patient who brought Ebola to Goma was a priest who became infected during a visit to the town of Butembo, 200 km (124 miles) north of Goma, where he interacted with Ebola patients, Congo’s health ministry said in a statement. He was taken back to a clinic in Butembo on Monday. “Due to the speed with which the patient has been identified and isolated, as well as the identification of all bus passengers from Butembo, the risk of spreading to the rest of the city of Goma remains low,” the ministry said. WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan said they had identified 60 contacts, including 18 who were on the bus with the priest, and half of them have been vaccinated. Goma had been preparing for the arrival of Ebola for a year, setting up hand-washing stations and making sure moto-taxi drivers do not share helmets. “There is a grave risk of a major increase in numbers, or spread to new locations – as we’ve heard today in Goma,” said Josie Golding, a specialist on epidemics at the Wellcome Trust global health charity. Ebola causes diarrhoea, vomiting and hemorrhagic fever and can be spread through bodily fluids. An epidemic between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa. While the technology for fighting it, including vaccines and special treatment units, is better than ever, trust between health workers and the community is low — and militia violence is preventing them from accessing remote areas. Unidentified attackers killed two Ebola health workers near Mukulia in North Kivu province over the weekend, the latest in a string of assaults this year that have injured or killed dozens of responders. “Every attack gives Ebola an opportunity to spread. Ebola gets a free ride,” Ghebreyesus said. Apart from insecurity, the biggest challenge is money, officials said. “If we don’t raise more resources ... it is not going to be possible to bring this outbreak under control,” the U.N.’s humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told Reuters. “The need is for money, not next week, or next month or later in the year. The need is for money now.”",
            "output": [
                "Ebola spread to east Congo's Goma massively raises risk - U.N."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-056e334d79604bef9b5e25da6184ebfe",
            "input": "Officials at Meharry said the program will focus on seven core areas of health, including: HIV and AIDS, cancer, HPV, late-onset diabetes, hypertension, infectious disease and malnutrition. Meharry President James Hildreth said that in today’s global society the Nashville medical school’s mission is no longer contained to borders or city limits. In his statement, he said the partnership is an important step in serving the underserved, no matter where they live. The exchange program with the historically black medical schools in the U.S and the University of Zambia will begin in the fall.",
            "output": [
                "Meharry, Morehouse partner with the University of Zambia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-be7dccf4d1054598a6f51829acbbbed0",
            "input": "The system preserves the most amount of natural bone, making it a less invasive way to treat diseased joints. Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Stryker, one of the top makers of reconstructive implants, said its system, called Triathlon PKR, is beneficial because it allows surgeons to provide personalized solutions by only shaving off diseased parts of the knee rather than replacing larger parts of it, or the entire knee joint. Partial knee resurfacing requires less operating time than total keep replacements and there is a shorter recovery period, with some patients leaving the hospital in less than 24 hours, Stryker said. Because less bone is removed, there is often less trauma to soft tissue during surgery, which may leave the patient with a more natural feeling knee than with a total knee replacement, the company added.",
            "output": [
                "Stryker launches partial knee resurfacing systems."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-850498e669154c1eb2492d3d37e8bdea",
            "input": "“The woman had experienced symptoms and was later hospitalised” before succumbing to the illness, said Ibrahim Melhem, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the West Bank. The woman was from Bidu, a Palestinian village north of Jerusalem and southwest of Ramallah, Melhem added. There are 62 confirmed coronavirus cases among Palestinians in the West Bank, and two in the Gaza Strip.",
            "output": [
                "Palestinians report first death from coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2763f37678f6489c93042fe8e18c4b39",
            "input": "\"Mitt Romney came to coal country on Aug. 14, standing before a crowd of miners in eastern Ohio and pledging to fight for their jobs. You could be forgiven if you thought this was much ado about 3,150 jobs -- the number employed directly by coal operations in Ohio, at least before two mines announced layoffs recently. But Romney’s greater point was about how coal fires so many power plants in Ohio and the region, and how, he says, environmental regulation from President Barack Obama’s administration threatens jobs at those plants, too. This could drive up the cost of electricity for every Ohioan, Romney said. This debate -- over the cost of electricity, the shift among power plants to natural gas, the environmental and health risks, the role the government should or shouldn’t play -- has been building for years. And after the event, the Obama campaign had a response, saying that Romney’s position on coal has changed substantially since he was governor of Massachusetts. \"\"Immediately after becoming governor, Romney condemned coal-fired plants, saying they kill people,\"\" said an Obama campaign news release. The claim was similar to one the Obama team made in a radio ad, and Obama reelection aides backed it with specific quotes Romney made in February, 2003, when Romney was the freshly elected governor of Massachusetts. The quotes: The Obama campaign also highlighted a Romney quote that had no lethal references but was just as strong. It came from a state of Massachusetts news releasein which Romney said:  \"\"If the choice is between dirty power plants or protecting the health of the people of Massachusetts, there is no choice in my mind. I will always come down on the side of public health.\"\" Romney made each of these statements during a Feb. 6, 2003, showdown over the future of the controversial, coal-burning Salem Harbor Power Station. In 2001, Massachusetts passed new rules to reduce power plant emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and mercury, to be phased in over several years. The mercury standard would not be finalized until 2004. Romney supported the rules, as he made clear repeatedly. Massachusetts singled out its most egregious polluters as the \"\"Filthy Five\"\" plants, including Salem Harbor. Public health and environmental scientists at Harvard studied the emissions from two of the plants in 2000 and concluded that Salem Harbor was responsible for 53 deaths, 570 emergency room visits, 14,400 asthma attacks and 99,000 incidents of upper respiratory symptoms -- all per year. As occurs with similar studies that health authorities cite, local residents and others who wanted to keep the Salem Harbor plant open (for jobs and tax revenue) disputed those figures, saying they resulted from unproven modeling. It turned out that the Harvard scientists had revised their figures in 2002, putting premature deaths from Salem Harbor’s pollution at 30 per year and reducing the number of emergency room visits to 400 and the asthma attacks at 2,000, according to the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. But the scientists stood by the broader conclusion -- that emissions from dirty power plants can be deadly. The Harvard methodology has now been widely replicated and is respected by health scientists, according to several environmental authorities we spoke with. Romney appeared to accept their findings, too. In the above-mentioned news release, the commonwealth of Massachusetts quoted Romney in the third person on the danger factor:  \"\"Romney said that the Salem Harbor plant is responsible for 53 premature deaths, 570 emergency room visits and 14,400 asthma attacks each year. He also pointed out that coal and oil fired plants contribute significantly more air pollution than their gas fired counterparts, exacerbating acid rain and global warming.\"\" This was in a news release issued by the governor’s aides, not some radical outside instigator. It was issued under the name of Romney, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and Romney’s development chief, Douglas Foy. According to the Boston Globe, Romney hired Foy from the  Conservation Law Foundation, or CLF, a leading environmental advocacy group in Massachusetts. The spat with Salem Harbor turned into a testy exchange that February day after Salem Harbor’s then-owner, Pacific Gas and Electric, sought an extension until 2006 to comply with Massachusetts’ emissions rules -- and plant supporters showed up to to demand that the governor back off. Romney was adamant that the company comply by 2004. His statements that day show how he felt: \"\"That plant kills people.\"\" And to those including city officials who argued that this would cost jobs: \"\"I will not create jobs that kill people.\"\" Based on some of the quotes, it might appear that Romney was speaking only about that single plant (which a new owner, Dominion, is phasing out, after which a subsequent third owner will build a natural gas plant there). That’s what we thought when we began looking into this. It is also what the Romney campaign told us in email. So was it accurate for the Obama campaign to imply that Romney’s words characterized his broader attitude toward coal emissions when he was governor? We kept looking, because people in the environmental community told us it was a valid claim. And the news release under Romney’s name suggested it as well. Romney spoke of plants, not just a single one, when he pointed out that coal and oil fired plants contribute significantly more air pollution than their gas fired counterparts, exacerbating acid rain and global warming. Still, to give him the benefit of doubt, what if he really just meant the Salem Harbor plant? Wasn’t that plant particularly egregious when compared with coal-fired plants under attack by federal regulators today? No, say environmentalists who include authorities from the CLF. Their claims are supported by U.S. EPA emissions data we verified independently. \"\"When he said that ‘this plant kills people,’ he was talking about a plant that produced pollution comparable to the emissions of plants in the Midwest,\"\" said Seth Kaplan, vice president for policy and climate advocacy at the conservation foundation. Jonathan Peress, an environmental and regulatory attorney who works for the CLF and was recently chairman of the American Bar Association’s air quality committee, added in a separate interview with PolitiFact Ohio that Romney promoted Massachusetts air standards that were almost identical to those the U.S. EPA wants to enforce -- and that Romney now criticizes. \"\"The levels of emissions that he was talking about were levels that were virtually identical to what the EPA has proposed,\"\" Kaplan agreed. \"\"He was steadfastly standing behind emissions reductions that are the same as those currently attacked.\"\" To see if this was accurate -- that the emissions Romney decried were similar to or even weaker than those under current attack now by the EPA (whose rules Romney now attacks) -- we examined the emissions cuts that Massachusetts wanted and data on the level of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions at Salem Harbor and in the Midwest. The U.S. EPA keeps the information in its extensive Clean Air Markets database. Nitrogen oxides react with sunlight to create ozone and smog. Sulfur dioxide is tied to particulate matter and is considered particularly dangerous to health, said Jonathan Walke, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. The level of both these substances was multiple times lower at Salem Harbor, even when Romney was trying to force the plant to reduce emissions, than at Eastlake in Northeast Ohio and several other Ohio plants we checked. Our comparisons included multiple years, including Salem Harbor in 2003 with Ohio plants in 2011. To compensate for differences in electricity output, number of boilers and hours of operation at different power plants, we checked the data for emissions per megawatt-hour. The pattern held. \"\"It’s all the same pollution, albeit in higher quantities in Ohio,\"\" Walke said. You might ask why we looked at Eastlake. It’s because FirstEnergy Corp. plans to shut down two of that plant’s boilers rather than spend heavily on scrubbers to comply with EPA rules. This is one of several coal-burning plants at the heart of the current jobs-versus-pollution debate, although Romney did not mention it specifically. It’s important to note that the rules on nitrogen and sulfur are not what is prompting the FirstEnergy shutdowns. New EPA rules on mercury and toxic metals are the cause of planned closures in Eastlake. The tougher limits won’t take effect until 2014. The EPA aims to cut mercury emissions by 79 percent. But as the Massachusetts governor, Romney supported mercury reductions in his state, too. In 2004, he signed off on a rule aiming to reduce mercury emissions by 95 percent by 2012. With Romney’s name on the letterhead, Massachusetts in May, 2004, issued a lengthy set of justifications for the mercury rule. Among them:  \"\"First, [new research] confirms and extends our understanding of mercury's harmful effects on learning, attention and other critical cognitive skills in children. Recent studies have found that children exposed to mercury levels may show signs of attention deficit disorder, impaired visual-spatial skills and poor coordination.\"\" Romney was \"\"a champion\"\" of those mercury regulations, said Shanna Cleveland, a staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. \"\"He was one of the reasons we got them through.\"\" Time to clean up: Romney was discussing a specific power plant, Salem Harbor, when he said,  \"\"That plant kills people.\"\" But the public record shows that his comments were part of a broad emissions-cutting program he embraced. And the power plant that he considered deadly had emissions that were no worse, and in many cases lower, than at Midwest plants that he would now wants left alone, citing the use of affordable and abundant coal. If one were to have supported the regulations Romney wanted in 2003, it’s fairly safe to assume that \"\"one would also support such things nationally,\"\" said Jonathan Levy, an environmental scientist at  Boston University and Harvard and co-author of the now heavily replicated study on the correlation between coal-burning power plants and respiratory health. The Obama campaign claimed that as governor, Romney condemned coal plants as killers. He spoke at times of a single plant, but at other times made clear that other plants also needed to cut emissions for the sake of public health. This even included new rules for mercury reductions -- the same substance from coal plants that now is prompting closures in Ohio. The debate over coal involves calculations of costs, the abundance or scarcity of natural resources, health and environmental risks, and attitudes about government regulation. It is not our role to say Romney was right or wrong at one time. But with additional information from emissions data, interviews and the public record of his governorship,  the Obama campaign claim about Romney’s coal position of nine years ago is nearly as clear as a haze-free day. On the Truth-O-Meter, it rates .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Barack Obama Says that as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney \"\"condemned coal-fired plants, saying they kill people.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2ec8b255e1ea49c7a35b38c96d0e5c5a",
            "input": "An analysis of canines at Britain’s Crufts show - held annually since the reign of Queen Victoria - found 74 percent were in ideal condition but 26 percent were overweight. None of the animals studied were underweight, researchers from the University of Liverpool reported in the journal Veterinary Record. The team reached their conclusions after studying 1,000 images of 28 dog breeds placed between first and fifth in their class during competitions from 2001 to 2013. The issue was most pronounced in certain breeds, with 80 percent of pugs, 68 percent of Basset hounds and 63 percent of Labradors proving excessively fat. While obesity at Crufts is still less common than in the general pet population, researcher Alex German said the proportion of overweight animals was a concern because show dogs were assumed to be perfect specimens of their breed. Obesity causes significant health problems in dogs, including arthritis and diabetes.",
            "output": [
                "One in four dogs at top show Crufts found to be overweight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f3888e3ebb504ae7beabcb09bd933046",
            "input": "Dorian has the potential to put millions of people at risk, along with holiday attractions such as Walt Disney World, the NASA launchpads along the Space Coast, and even President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Dorian was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) as it churned an unpredictable path toward Florida. “Although fluctuations in intensity are possible early next week, Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days,” the NHC said in a statement on Friday. On Florida’s east coast, where Dorian’s winds are expected to quickly gather speed on Monday morning, residents snapped up bottled water, plywood and other supplies as fast as they could be restocked. Some gas stations had run out of fuel. “They’re buying everything and anything that applies to a hurricane, flashlights, batteries, generators,” said Amber Hunter, 30, assistant manager at Cape Canaveral’s ACE Handiman hardware store. In the Bahamas, evacuations were already underway, two days before Dorian is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge forecast at up to 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) to the northwest of the islands. NHC Director Ken Graham saw a worrying, unpredictable situation for Florida, with the hurricane set to hit land somewhere up its east coast and potentially linger over the state, spinning slowly. “Slow is not our friend, the longer you keep this around the more rain we get,” Graham said in a Facebook Live video. It was unclear where the hurricane would hit land, but the results were expected to be devastating: “Big-time impacts, catastrophic events, for some areas 140 mph winds, not a good situation,” said Graham. Mindful of that warning, Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik was putting up storm shutters on his Florida home on Friday afternoon and worrying about the flooding Dorian could unleash on his barrier island town. “It’s slowed down, we’re looking at a multiple-day event, we were hoping it would just barrel through and leave,” Malik said of forecasts that Dorian could sit over Florida for up to two days, dumping up to 18 inches (46 cm) of water. “I’m really worried about the amount of rain we’ll be getting.”  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to have in reserve at least a week’s worth of food, water and medicine. President Donald Trump told reporters before leaving for Camp David for the weekend: “We’re thinking about Florida evacuations, but it’s a little bit too soon. We’ll probably make that determination on Sunday.”  But Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson urged its 46,000 residents who planned to evacuate not to delay. “It’s decision time now. Don’t wait until I-95 north and I-75 north and the turnpike are parking lots,” said Hudson, who experienced two devastating hurricanes in 2004. Dorian’s course remains unpredictable. One of Florida’s last major hurricanes, 2017’s Irma, swept up the peninsula, instead of hitting the east coast. Florida residents like Jamison Weeks, general manager at Conchy Joe’s Seafood in Port St. Lucie, planned on staying put. “I’m planning on boarding up my house this evening,” said  Weeks. “The mood is a little tense, everybody’s a little nervous and just trying to prepare as best as possible.”  In the Bahamas, Freeport’s international airport was set to close on Friday night and not reopen until Sept. 3, amid worries that Dorian will slam tourist hotspots on the archipelago. Dorian began on Friday over the Atlantic as a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. By Friday night it was moving at nearly 10 mph (16 kph), giving it time to intensify before making landfall. Two thousand National Guard troops will have been mobilized for the hurricane by the end of Friday, with 2,000 more joining them on Saturday. Florida officials also were making sure all nursing homes and assisted living facilities had generators. Only one in five Florida nursing homes plans to rely on deliveries of temporary generators to keep their air conditioners running if Dorian knocks out power, a state agency said on Friday, short of the standard set by a law passed after a dozen people died in a sweltering nursing home after 2017’s Hurricane Irma. North of Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center’s 400-foot (122-m) launch tower was dragged inside a towering vehicle assembly building to shelter it from Dorian, a video posted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-owned space launch center showed.",
            "output": [
                "Hurricane Dorian swirls toward anxious Florida, packing 140-mph winds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cca11a95b0974b2db7dfee4a416a5358",
            "input": "The Southeast Asian island nation, which is under partial lockdown to try to curb a recent surge in infections, also reported its ninth death from the disease. A large number of the new cases are linked to outbreaks in migrant workers’ dormitories. Singapore has quarantined thousands of workers in dormitories after they were connected to several cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease. To date, a total of 586 people have fully recovered from the infection, the health ministry said.",
            "output": [
                "Singapore confirms 386 more cases of coronavirus in biggest daily jump."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de09bf77531040b38de817548a656985",
            "input": "\"U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas suggested that Barack Obama’s administration bears some responsibility for the mass shooter in a Texas town acquiring guns. In a late-night Nov. 6, 2017, interview with Shannon Bream of Fox News, the Republican senator said that he’d spent the day comforting residents of Sutherland Springs, where the shooter killed 26 people in a church. Cruz said he felt his anger rising on his return flight to Washington \"\"because,\"\" Cruz told Bream, \"\"this should have  been stopped beforehand. Under federal law, it was illegal for this individual to purchase a firearm. He had a conviction for a crime that’s punishable by more than a year in prison and he had a conviction for multiple domestic violence crimes. Both of those, it’s already ineligible. \"\"But several things happened,\"\" Cruz said. \"\"Number one, the Air Force, the Obama administration, didn’t report those convictions to the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) database. That’s an endemic problem; it’s a problem with the federal government, it’s a problem with the states. \"\"And so, when he went in to buy the guns, they ran the background check and they didn’t find it because it wasn’t in the database. But I’ll tell you we could have prevented this. In 2013, in the wake of Sandy Hook, I joined with Chuck Grassley, we introduced legislation, it was called the Grassley-Cruz legislation, and it was aggressive legislation targeting felons and violent criminals to stop them from getting guns.\"\" Cruz went on: \"\"There were a couple elements of that legislation that were critical. One, it mandated that federal agencies including the Air Force report to the NICS because that was a problem back then. But two, and this is an even more critical piece, if it had been reported to the background database, when he went into Academy to buy this, these weapons, he lied on the forms. That is a felony to lie on those forms. The Obama administration didn’t prosecute those cases. In 2010,\"\" Cruz said, \"\"48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. They prosecuted only 44 of them.\"\" Readers request fact-check We’re not checking all of what Cruz said though PolitiFact in Washington found Cruz claim’s in the interview that Democrats filibustered legislation that would’ve resulted in the Texas church shooter being in prison rather than wreaking havoc. Readers asked us if Cruz was correct about the very few prosecutions of individuals for lying while buying a gun from a licensed dealer. Previous fact-checks A 1993 law requires a criminal history background check by the FBI or a state agency. If a potential buyer fails the check, the gun sale is denied and the case is referred to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the lead investigative agency in gun enforcement. The automated national instant background check system began operating in 1998. Some perspective: In 2013, our colleagues at PolitiFact Virginia reviewed federal reports before concluding that the Justice Department hadn’t been prioritizing perjury charges in connection with background checks for at least two administrations. During George W. Bush’s presidency, there had been 70,000 denials for gun purchases a year and some 15/100th of 1 percent of such cases were prosecuted. In the first two years of Obama’s presidency, 8/100th of 1 percent of such cases were prosecuted. By email, a Cruz spokesman, Phil Novack, told us Cruz drew on a 2012 federal report to reach his 2010 figures. Novack noted too that when Cruz made a similar claim in 2013, the Fact Checker at The Washington Post confirmed the declared 44 prosecutions based on information in the report. 2010 statistics In 2010, the report says, FBI background checks led to initial denials of 72,659 applications to purchase a gun--with 34,451 denials attributed to a person’s felony indictment or conviction and 13,862 due to the person being a fugitive from justice--48,313 combined. But most of those denials never made it to prosecutorial consideration. The report says the ATF overturned, canceled or chose not to refer for further investigation 71,410 denial cases sent its way by the FBI; some 4,732 cases were then referred to field offices for further review. Ultimately, the report says, 62 cases were referred for federal prosecution with 18 of those not taken up by a prosecutor--which leaves 44. Then again, that doesn’t mean 44 prosecutions proceeded. That’s because a dozen referrals were still pending action by a prosecutor as of Dec. 13, 2011, the report says. Otherwise, an accompanying chart shows that the 44 possible prosecutions would have been down from 77 prosecutions the year before and 105 in 2008--and prosecutorial referrals also had declined through those years. By phone, we asked the report’s author, Ron Frandsen, about the availability of more recent data. Frandsen, who works for the Missouri-based Regional Justice Information Service, said that to his knowledge, no analyses of post-2010 data have been funded. By email, Frandsen said that most likely, the 48,321 denied applications tallied for felony or fugitive reasons were found in FBI background checks after applicants failed to disclose such information on a form. \"\"FBI denials are referred to ATF, which investigates the cases deemed most worthy of possible prosecution. From the 2010 FBI denials, ATF referred 62 charges (against 33 people) to U.S. or state attorneys for possible prosecution,\"\" Frandsen said, involving nine different federal offenses and two to seven state offenses. Frandsen said Cruz was accurate in his reference to 48,000 denials. He said the reference to 44 prosecutions wasn’t accurate because the \"\"44\"\" from the service’s report refers to charges, not individual people, and those charges involved \"\"more than just felons and fugitives, and,\"\" Frandsen wrote, \"\"because some of the prosecutorial decisions were made by state attorneys.\"\" There’s more data available, PolitiFact reporters have noted, in a 2013 analysis of federal weapons cases by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, based at Syracuse University. The analysis doesn’t mention background checks directly. But a chart lists 123 prosecutions in 2010 in which the lead charge was making false/fictitious statements in order to acquire a firearm or ammunition. The comparable count was 143 in 2011 and 170 in 2012, the chart states. The relevant law says it’s unlawful for anyone acquiring a firearm from a licensed dealer to knowingly make false or fictitious oral or written statements intended to deceive the seller about the sale’s legality. Explaining the few prosecutions Why has Uncle Sam seemingly been reluctant to prosecute these cases? A 2004 report from the Justice Department’s inspector general provided several answers. It said ATF agents viewed the violations \"\"as distracting from more important cases, such as those involving firearms, traffickers, gangs, arson and explosives\"\" and \"\"saw little purpose in investigating a standard case in which the NICS successfully prohibited a person from purchasing a firearm.\"\" The report also said that the cases lack \"\"jury appeal\"\" for prosecutors because it is difficult to prove that a prohibited person intentionally lied on the background check and in many parts of the nation \"\"juries are reluctant to convict a person who attempted to purchase a hunting rifle.\"\" Frandsen told us he hasn’t researched in depth why few violations get prosecuted. But, he said, such cases are hard to prosecute \"\"because the government must prove that the denied person intentionally failed to disclose a prohibition on the federal form (as opposed to just being unaware of what was on their record).\"\" Also, he said, there’s a belief that the main purpose of the background check requirement is to prevent a firearm transfer to a prohibited person--and the additional step of prosecution \"\"should be reserved for the most dangerous people, especially those with an extensive criminal history.\"\" Our ruling Cruz said: \"\"In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns\"\" and the Obama administration \"\"prosecuted only 44 of them.\"\" There may have been even fewer federal prosecutions of such felons and fugitives, figures indicate, though Cruz failed to note that this paucity wasn’t unique to one administration. It’s also worth clarifying that we don’t know if all 48,000 individuals knowingly misled the government. Few of the tallied background checks resulted in further investigation. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"",
            "output": [
                "In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. They [The Obama administration] prosecuted only 44 of them."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98a60aeeab8f4c1ca3d1de871424c1de",
            "input": "The trial results on patients with a gene anomaly known as NTRK fusion, which occurs in less than 1 percent across a range of tumor types, were presented at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Munich on Sunday. Germany’s Bayer and U.S. partner Loxo, in turn, released data for their rival compound larotrectinib, which slightly improved on previous high-efficacy readings in an enlarged trial. Traditionally, oncologists have made treatment decisions based on where in the body a tumor started, increasingly helped by the growing knowledge of cancer’s complex genetic drivers. Under the tumor-agnostic approach, also known as pan-tumor, drugmakers skip the organ-of-origin perspective and regroup patients based only on signature genetic mutations, but success in real life will depend on the fast spread of comprehensive gene-sequencing tools for tissue samples. Individually, the mutations are so rare that cancer units are seen as unlikely to run dedicated tests for each. Roche’s Foundation Medicine supplies the comprehensive kits, competing with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Caris Life Sciences. “It’s one of the reasons we acquired Foundation Medicine, to make this comprehensive genomic profiling routine and upfront in the course of the disease,” said Daniel O’Day, the head of Roche’s Pharmaceuticals division. Loxo’s larotrectinib pill, co-developed with Bayer, was last year shown to shrink tumors in 75 percent of patients with the NTRK fusion gene anomaly, occurring in the lung, pancreas, or more than a dozen other organs. On Sunday, the response rate to larotrectinib within an enlarged group of 122 trial participants - up from 55 initially and now spanning 24 tumor types - was shown to be 81 percent. Roche said the readings from the two NTRK fusion trials were not comparable because they are made up of different patient types. Loxo’s study, for instance, included some cancers in children, while Roche plans to investigate those separately. The Roche compound is designed to tackle several oncogenic mutations and last month, it unveiled data here on entrectinib pushing back tumors in 77 percent of lung cancer patients with a mutation called ROS1. Merck & Co’s Keytruda in May last year became the first drug to win approval for pan-tumor use, though that remains a relatively small market for the mega-selling drug. Bayer and Loxo are testing a second pan-tumor drug, LOXO-195. Roche Pharmaceutical’s O’Day welcomed a wider field. “Both things have to happen: You need genomic profiling and you need enough targeted medicines to encourage physicians to make that diagnosis upfront very complete. This is the world we’re entering,” he said. Though response rates could encourage a race for more such drugs, the need for suitable gene mutations or fusions will be a tall order, said oncologist Ulrik Lassen of Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet, who co-authored the larotrectinib study. “You need to screen a lot of patients to find the needle in the haystack and the method is complicated, costly and time-consuming. When we get better at using these technologies, we can find more oncogenic fusions and companies will be smart enough to find the agents that target them.”  Roche acquired entrectinib as part of its takeover deal with U.S. cancer drug specialist Ignyta Inc for $1.7 billion, agreed in December last year. Immuno-oncology remains another major business area for Roche, which also released positive results on using its Tecentriq drug in a group of breast cancer patients with a particularly poor prognosis.",
            "output": [
                "Roche takes on Loxo, Bayer in gene-defined cancer class."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-707e4931d64b4479934c165b64c4c764",
            "input": "Since Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in September, Arizona is the first state to switch sides in the looming showdown over the privately-held company’s proposed settlement, which it has estimated is worth more than $10 billion. Purdue reached the deal last month with 24 states and the local governments that have filed the bulk of the more than 2,600 lawsuits against the company. The lawsuits allege Purdue and its Sackler family owners contributed to a public health crisis by aggressively marketing opioids while downplaying their addiction and overdose risks, which contributed to nearly 400,000 deaths since 1999, according to U.S. statistics. “Purdue and the Sackler family need to take responsibility for their role in the opioid crisis,” said Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement. Purdue declined to comment. Last week, court filings from states and local governments opposing the settlement asserted that Purdue steered up to $13 billion in profits to the Sackler family, more than triple the amount previously cited in litigation. A lawyer for some of the Sacklers last week said in a statement that much of the money was paid in taxes and reinvested in businesses that will be sold as part of the proposed settlement. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, will on Friday consider Purdue’s request for an injunction to pause the litigation for about nine months. Purdue said it needs time to try to settle the remaining cases. Purdue also asked Drain to shield the Sacklers from litigation, even though they have not filed for bankruptcy, partly because the family has proposed contributing at least $3 billion toward the settlement. Opponents of the settlement accused the family of using Purdue’s bankruptcy to shield their wealth from victims. With Arizona, 25 states now oppose the deal. Kentucky and Oklahoma reached prior settlements with Purdue. Separately on Tuesday, a Massachusetts judge ruled against the Sacklers, who sought to have the state’s lawsuit against them dismissed. The judge rejected their argument they did not personally participate in Purdue’s conduct. Massachusetts was the first state to sue the Sacklers and Attorney General Maura Healey is leading the opposition to the proposed settlement.",
            "output": [
                "\"Florida Democratic Party Says Jeb Bush \"\"oversaw (an) average in-state tuition increase of 48.2 percent during his tenure.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1b826a2a3ea4b31a7ff13bef1255b04",
            "input": "The blunt assessments show just how much has changed in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s predictions that the virus would soon pass, and his suggestions that much of the economy could be up and running by Easter, April 12. But they also point to the suffering and sacrifice ahead until the pandemic begins to abate. The nation’s top doctor, Surgeon General Jerome Allen, said Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded 300,000, with the death toll climbing past 9,000. Nearly 4,200 of those deaths are in the state of New York, but a glimmer of hope there came on Sunday when Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state registered a small dip  in new fatalities over a 24-hour period. Still, Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., said his state may run out of ventilators by week’s end. Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested his party’s presidential nominating convention, already pushed from July into August because of the outbreak, may have to move  fully online to avoid packing thousands of people into an arena in Milwaukee. Also, the Defense Department released new requirements that all individuals on its property “will wear cloth face coverings when they cannot maintain six feet of social distance in public areas or work centers.” The most dire warning, though, came from Adams, who noted it was Palm Sunday, which starts the Christian holy week that concludes with Easter Sunday. “This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,” Adams said. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country. And I want America to understand that.” For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the toll in the coming week is “going to be shocking to some, but that’s what is going to happen before it turns around, so just buckle down.”  He also said the virus probably won’t be wiped out entirely this year, and that unless the world gets it under control, it will “assume a seasonal nature.” “We need to be prepared that, since it unlikely will be completely eradicated from the planet, that as we get into next season, we may see the beginning of a resurgence,” Fauci said. “That’s the reason why we’re pushing so hard in getting our preparedness much better than it was.” Trump has backed away from comments weeks earlier that large swaths of American life would resume by Easter. The president had no public events on his schedule Sunday after a series of two-hour daily briefings on the outbreak. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to participate in a task force conference call from his residence in the afternoon. Much of the country is under orders to stay home, and federal officials said they have seen signs that people are listening to the message about social distancing. A few states, however, have declined to issue such orders and Adams was asked whether they should join the rest of the country. “Ninety percent of Americans are doing their part, even in the states where they haven’t had a shelter in place,” Adams said. “But if you can’t give us 30 days, governors, give us, give us a week, give us what you can, so that we don’t overwhelm our health care systems over this next week.” Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., who has not issued a stay-at-home order, said federal officials who have urged them are “just looking at the nation as a whole.” “But whenever you look at our state, I think Dr. Fauci would be very pleased with the fact that we are beating some of our other states in reducing the spread and the commitment that we have to working every day to accomplish that,” Hutchison said. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., who was among the first in the nation to issue orders that his state’s residents stay home, suggested the federal government should step in and make the remaining states follow suit. “This virus knows no borders. And so it was up to the federal government, to begin with, to advise and to ask all the governors to put in stay-at-home orders,” Pritzker said. “Those governors, Republican governors, would have done it much earlier if the president had suggested it much earlier.”  Adams appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and NBC’s ``Meet the Press.” Fauci was on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Biden was interviewed on ABC’s “This Week” while Hutchinson was on NBC. Pritzker and Edwards were on CNN’s “State of the Union.”",
            "output": [
                "Virus raises specter of gravest attacks in modern US times."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1527a4b377244f49a488021f7ebd9d79",
            "input": "\"Amid a surge in murderous gun violence in Milwaukee, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to repeal a state law that requires a two-day wait for handgun purchases. Just before the April 21, 2015, vote, the author of the bill, state Sen. Van Wanggaard, made this waiting-period claim: \"\"There’s no statistical evidence that it reduces violence whatsoever,\"\" the Racine Republican declared. With the repeal bill moving to the GOP-controlled Assembly, and likely headed for GOP Gov. Scott Walker, let’s see if Wanggaard is right. The law The District of Columbia and 10 states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, have laws that require a waiting period for purchases of at least some types of guns, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Wisconsin’s law, in place since 1976, applies only to handguns and only to purchases from firearms dealers. It prohibits a handgun buyer from taking possession of the weapon until 48 hours after a background check is started -- even if the check comes back clean within a matter of hours or minutes. The City of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Medical Society are among groups that oppose scrapping the law. Some say the cooling-off period can help prevent crimes of passion, such as domestic violence. Under the repeal bill from Wanggaard, who is a retired Racine police traffic investigator, a buyer could take possession of a handgun as soon as the seller completes the background check. Groups backing the repeal include the National Rifle Association, the Milwaukee Police Association union and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. Some say the wait following a successful background check is an \"\"unnecessary time tax on both the purchaser and the dealer,\"\" and that a person who needs a gun for protection can be put at risk. Walker has indicated he supports the repeal. Asked about such a measure in February 2015, he told the NRA: \"\"I think we want to be a leader in this area as well.\"\" Studies Here are highlights from some key studies about the effects of waiting-period laws: A study done by one researcher from Georgetown University and one from Duke University that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2000 examined the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, a 1994 federal law that established a nationwide waiting period and background check for handgun sales. (The waiting period provision was later removed.) The study concluded that the law’s waiting period was associated with reductions in the firearm suicide rate for people age 55 and older, but not associated with reductions in homicide rates or overall suicide rates. Other research has found that people who buy handguns are at a higher risk of committing suicide during the first week after the purchase. For example, an article published in 2000 by members of the Firearm Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin said a Wisconsin study found a \"\"sharp increase\"\" in the risk of suicide within one week of a gun purchase. But a 2003 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that reviewed studies on the effects of waiting periods on violence found that some studies indicated a decrease in violent outcomes associated with the delay, while others indicated an increase. And a 2012 study by one researcher from the University of Cincinnati and another from Arizona State University found no statistical effects from waiting periods on gun crimes. In a nutshell, except for suicide, the studies show Wanggaard’s claim about waiting periods and violence is largely correct. Experts Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Policy and Research, told us there is research linking more thorough background checks -- which take longer than an instant FBI check -- with reduced homicide rates. The more thorough checks are more likely to turn up reasons why a person cannot legally purchase a gun. But Webster said he is not aware of research that shows waiting periods reduce violence. Similarly, Harvard’s David Hemenway said he was aware only of research that links lower suicide rates with wait periods. Many studies link lower levels of lethal violence with strong gun control laws in general, but not with particular laws such as a waiting period, he said. Our rating Wanggaard said, \"\"There’s no statistical evidence that\"\" a waiting period for handgun purchases \"\"reduces violence whatsoever.\"\" There is research to indicate that handgun waiting periods are linked with lower suicide rates. But we did not find evidence that waiting periods coincide with less violence being committed by one person against another. If such evidence emerges, we may revisit this item. As it stands, Wanggaard’s statement is accurate but needs clarification -- our definition of .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"There's no statistical evidence that\"\" a waiting period for handgun purchases \"\"reduces violence whatsoever.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-20c606342cbb42b9b148d9d5376f4f11",
            "input": "The article does not discuss the costs associated with inoculation. However, it’s implied that vaginal microbial transfer is very inexpensive (it only requires a piece of gauze, saline, and a sterile bottle – all standard hospital supplies) so we won’t ding the story for this omission. With that being said, there is a tacit assumption in the article that the transfer of bacteria from the mother’s vaginal fluids to the newborn is always in the best interest of the newborn. Clearly this is not the case as we will articulate later. If there is a risk of the transfer of less than desirable bacteria, it is reasonable to assume that bacterial screening of vaginal secretions might be undertaken (which would add cost). The transfer of pathogens to the newborn inducing infection would also have a cost. While it is beyond the scope of this report, we think that thinking about the potential downsides of a new intervention is in order. The article does a nice job of detailing the potential benefits of the microbial transfer and the results seen in the study, while giving the caveat that longer follow up studies are needed to understand the implications of various microbiome make-ups. But to be fair, the results are from a total of 4 newborns, hardly a number on which to base any strong conclusions. The story says that thus far the procedure “has proved entirely safe,” but we’re talking about only four babies here! The article assumes that all the bacteria in the mother’s vaginal secretions are “friendly.”  This is clearly not the case in all patients. Significant infections can be transmitted to the newborn from bacteria resident in the mothers vaginal secretions from less than friendly bacteria including Chlamydia, Listeria and group B Strep to name a few. Suggesting that the procedure is not recommended but then pointing out that Dr. Brubaker had the procedure done for her newborn supports the notion that this is a harmless procedure — a potentially dangerous message. The story describes the study as small and proof-of-principle, although it arguably should have made more out of the fact that only four babies underwent the swabbing procedure. That’s a very small number. Nevertheless, we think the story injects enough caution to earn a Satisfactory rating. We liked that it spelled out the next phase of study to provide readers with a realistic sense of the scientific process. This article appropriately addresses the issue of increasing C-section use in U.S. and its potential repercussions. The article quotes several outside sources with the comments of Drs. Gilbert and Khoruts. We’ll rate this as Not Applicable. There is an outstanding hypothesis that colonization of the newborn with ‘friendly” bacteria from the mother’s vaginal secretions confers some advantages. This study merely test the ability to colonize a newborn delivered by cesarean delivery artificially. There aren’t really any alternatives to discuss here. The article mentions that this is not widely used among medical professionals but that women are sometimes doing it on their own or “arranging” to have it done. Given the potential risks of colonizing a newborn with less than friendly bacteria, we think that the story’s suggestion (and implicit encouragement) for women to do this on their own are unfortunate. The study was intended to determine if newborns could be colonized artificially and not to study the effects in later life. The article places this concept in proper context. The article clearly goes beyond the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Bacteria From Mother May Colonize Cesarean Births"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a314b1b722854d5181c9a5628efe6d02",
            "input": "“Why should we refuse the charms of the soil to those at the end of their lives? Nothing justifies such an prohibition,” the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center said in statement. The center’s head, Dr. Virginie Guastella, said terminally ill patients had the right to “enjoy themselves”. The bar will be the first in France to offer such a facility for patients and their families. Staff will be specially trained before it opens in the hospital’s palliative care center in September. “Medically supervised tastings will help brighten what is often a difficult daily life,” the hospital said. Although some researchers have long held that an antioxidant found in red wine is good for the heart, some recent research has determined that wine’s health benefits are exaggerated.",
            "output": [
                "French hospital to open wine bar to cheer up terminally ill."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1ca5c059cf4a43f783558eb67e3331a5",
            "input": "\"Sen. Barack Obama, speaking to veterans, lashed into his opponent for poor military judgment, alleging Sen. John McCain had fixated on Iraq immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. \"\"Sen. McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, and he became a leading supporter of an invasion and occupation of a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and that — as despicable as Saddam Hussein was — posed no imminent threat to the American people,\"\" Obama said on Aug. 19, 2008. \"\"Two of the biggest beneficiaries of that decision were al-Qaida's leadership, which no longer faced the pressure of America's focused attention; and Iran, which has advanced its nuclear program, continued its support for terror, and increased its influence in Iraq and the region.\"\" Obama's analysis of the war's consequences aside, we checked the record to see whether he had fairly characterized McCain's views about Iraq after 9/11 and in the run-up to the war. As a military veteran and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain was a prominent voice in late 2001 as the nation grappled with how to respond to the attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, he appeared on  Hardball with Chris Matthews,  where Matthews asked whether the appropriate response should be \"\"a legal matter or a military matter.\"\" \"\"I think it's both,\"\" McCain replied. \"\"As — as we stated, the — a nation has the right to defend itself, No. 1. But No. 2, these organizations could not flourish effectively unless they had the help and assistance and safe harbor of these nations. And it isn't just Afghanistan — we're talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others.\"\" That comment was not particularly specific to Iraq. But in an Oct. 18, 2001, appearance on the  Late Show with David Letterman,  with the nation on edge about the anthrax mailings and in the early stages of the campaign in Afganistan, McCain singled out Iraq. After sharing his views about how events were unfolding in Afghanistan, McCain told Letterman: \"\"I think we'll do fine. The second phase — if I could just make one, very quickly — the second phase is Iraq. There is some indication, and I don't have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.\"\" In January 2002, while touring the flight bridge of an aircraft carrier on the Arabian Sea, McCain shouted: \"\"Next up: Baghdad!\"\" He fleshed out his views in a speech at a NATO security policy conference in Munich on Feb. 2, 2002. \"\"Terrorist training camps exist on Iraqi soil, and Iraqi officials are known to have had a number of contacts with al-Qaida. These were probably not courtesy calls,\"\" he said. \"\"Americans have internalized the mantra that Afghanistan represents only the first front in our global war on terror. The next front is apparent, and we should not shrink from acknowledging it. A terrorist resides in Baghdad, with the resources of an entire state at his disposal, flush with cash from illicit oil revenues and proud of a decade-long record of defying the international community's demands that he come clean on his programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.\"\" We should note that McCain suggested on several occasions that he would prefer alternatives to full-on invasion and occupation as a means of displacing Saddam Hussein, such as on  Meet the Press  on July 14, 2002: \"\"I have always strongly felt that you must try the option of opposition from within — arming, training, equipping and helping oppositions from within; the Kurds in the North, the Shiites in the South,\"\" McCain told the late Tim Russert. \"\"At least try that option before we send Americans into harm's way.\"\" But two days later on  Face the Nation,  he made clear that if it took war to remove Hussein, he was all for it. \"\"Look, we need a regime change in Iraq,\"\" he said. \"\"If we can do it on the cheap by having operations involving just Special Forces and some air power and opponents within, either the Kurds in the south, Shiites in the north [sic], then that's fine. But we have to be prepared to do whatever is necessary to bring about this regime change. I think we also ought to prepare the American public in — in — by way of informing them that Saddam Hussein has these weapons, continues to attempt to improve the — their capability and would not be reluctant to export them to other countries.\"\" He continued, \"\"So we need to keep telling the American people that as well, as well as basically — if I may be so blunt — frightening them — frightening and scaring them every day.\"\" In early 2003, with calls for invasion of Iraq growing more insistent, McCain's was among the most fervent voices. \"\"Sept. 11, 2001 showed that al-Qaida is a grave threat,\"\" he wrote in a Feb. 14, 2003 opinion piece in  USA Today. \"\"Saddam Hussein has the ability to make a far worse day of infamy by turning Iraq into a weapons assembly line for al-Qaida's network. ... Saddam is an international felon who has repeatedly violated the terms of his parole and is planning further crimes with his terrorist accomplices. He must be brought to justice once and for all.\"\" The record clearly supports the contention that McCain \"\"was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11\"\" — indeed he singled out Iraq on  Letterman  — and became a \"\"leading supporter\"\" of the war, as Obama said. We find his claim to be .\"",
            "output": [
                "Sen. McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, and he became a leading supporter of an invasion and occupation of (Iraq)."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e6275ca112a9484bb95fe9e980d1ae8a",
            "input": "The story does not describe the costs of uterine artery embolization or how they compare to costs of surgery. The cost of UAE is quite high and for some women may not be covered by insurance. The story provides adequate quantification of some of the most important things for consumers to know, such as the fact that after a year, there were no differences in the quality of life of the women assigned to uterine artery embolization compared to those assigned to surgery and that 13% of those who underwent UAE had a repeat hospitalization, mostly for surgical intervention because of failure of UAE to achieve the desired results. The story could have provided more quantification of other pieces of information that women would want to know, such as length of hospital stay, time to return to work, or risk of serious adverse events. The story does mention some of the potential harms of uterine artery embolization, such as the need for repeat procedures for treatment of recurrent symptoms and the fact that there are questions about safety of pregnancy after the procedure. The story should have also mentioned the potential for ovarian failure, causing infertility, infection, delayed complications and a small risk of emergency hysterectomy. The story adequately describes the design of the current study. The story accurately describes the prevalence and symptoms of uterine fibroids. The story only uses quotes from the original article and accompanying editorial. It doesn't appear that the authors were even interviewed. The story should have quoted other clinicians/researchers who were not related to the study who could have provided some perspective on what this new information means for clinical practice. The story does mention alternative options such as myomectomy (surgical removal of the fibroids), hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) in addition to uterine artery embolization. The story could have mentioned other treatments such as watchful waiting, pain medications or birth control pills. The story does not state whether uterine artery embolization (UAE) is available and if so, how widely. And availability is a real issue. It requires expertise in interventional vascular radiology and an interest in the female pelvic anatomy. Facilities offering the procedure would need strong links between gynecologists and radiologists to provide coordinated assessment and care. This is not explained in the piece. The story implies that uterine artery embolization is a new procedure. The story could have mentioned that the procedure has been performed for more than 10 years in Europe and the US, although it has been limited to mostly academic hospitals. There is no way to know if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information, although it is noteworthy that the story only uses quotes lifted from the published study and from an accompanying editorial. It doesn't appear that these people were actually interviewed.",
            "output": [
                "Treating fibroids without surgery"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a3615c36ec964fd7bbe1a07c8f61cf41",
            "input": "Some legal experts believe Bayer will have a tough time convincing appellate courts to throw out verdicts and lawsuits on those grounds. Bayer has a better shot if a business-friendly U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case, experts said. But that could take years. Bayer has come under intensifying pressure after a third consecutive U.S. jury on Monday found Roundup to be carcinogenic, awarding more than $2 billion to a couple who used  the chemical on their property - the largest verdict in the glyphosate litigation to date. Bayer, which inherited the Roundup litigation with its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto last year, faces lawsuits by more than 13,400 plaintiffs nationwide, alleging the product causes cancer. The Germany-based company’s shares have been hammered since the first Roundup cancer verdict against it last August, wiping out some 40 billion euros ($44.76 billion) in market value and leaving Bayer worth less than the price it paid for Monsanto. Bayer denies that Roundup causes cancer, saying decades of studies have shown glyphosate and the weed killer to be safe. On Wednesday, the company said it will argue that the lawsuits, which are brought under state law, conflict with guidance from a federal agency, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On April 30, the EPA reaffirmed prior guidance saying that glyphosate is not a carcinogen and not a risk to public health when used in accordance with its current label.. Citing the EPA decision, Bayer has repeatedly rebuked plaintiffs’ calls to add a cancer warning to Roundup, saying the agency would reject that change. Under the legal doctrine of preemption, state law claims are barred if they conflict with federal law. “We have very strong arguments that the claims here are preempted ... and the recent EPA registration decision is an important aspect of that defense,” William Hoffman, one of Bayer’s lawyers, said during a call with reporters on Wednesday. Hoffman said the argument applied to all U.S. Roundup lawsuits. Preemption is generally regarded as a “silver bullet defense” because it stops claims across the board, said Adam Zimmerman, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. But Zimmerman and three other legal experts agreed that Bayer faces a big hurdle convincing appeals courts that the EPA determination on glyphosate shields it from state law claims. They cited a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the EPA’s approval of a product does not necessarily bar state law claims. The ruling, Bates v Dow Agrosciences, gives broad leeway to juries to decide if such claims should proceed, they said. Judges in the three Roundup cases that have gone to trial against Monsanto all rejected the company’s preemption argument, citing this ruling. “In light of the Bates decision, it’s going to be an uphill battle for the company to win on preemption on appeal,” Zimmerman said. Bayer also said it will argue on appeal that trial courts improperly admitted evidence that was not backed up by science. But legal experts said appellate courts generally defer to lower court evidentiary rulings. Lars Noah, a law professor at the University of Florida, said Bayer’s chances of success would increase significantly if the Supreme Court takes up the Roundup appeals. The high court only accepts around 70 cases each year, but a business-friendly majority on the court could be inclined to hear the dispute, said Alexandra Lahav, a law professor at the University of Connecticut. Since 2005, the high court has decided at least three preemption cases in favor of companies, none of which involved the EPA. The Supreme Court will soon rule in another case that rests on whether a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval preempts tort claims. In that case, plaintiffs sued Merck & Co over the company’s alleged failure to warn of the risk of serious bone fractures associated with its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. Merck, which denies the allegations, argued the lawsuits should be preempted because the FDA did not require an additional fracture warning in the drug’s prescribing information. During a January hearing, the Justices appeared to side with the company. Bayer in a statement on Thursday said it does not believe the 2005 Bates ruling posed a barrier for the appellate courts due to other Supreme Court rulings since then. Noah agreed that the Court has more recently signaled its appetite to limit lawsuits that contradict opinions by experts at regulatory agencies. “The Bates decision by now sticks out like a sore thumb,” Noah said. “Bayer has more than enough ammunition in recent Supreme Court cases to show the trial court judges got it wrong.”",
            "output": [
                "Bayer bets on 'silver bullet' defense in Roundup litigation; experts see hurdles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05571233d56a47ab8dc1fe7eb27026bb",
            "input": "\"The story addresses cost by implying there is an overall cost savings when labor is not induced early and the birth process is not medically managed if a mother and fetus are otherwise healthy. This story suggests that savings may be in the form of fewer birth complications, decreased risk of hemorrhage and transfusion, less pain medication for longer labors, shorter hospital stays for infection or unplanned caesarean births and fewer days in neonatal intensive care for problems related to immature lungs and related respiratory problems. It is however, optimistic to think that the sort of data they discuss is sound; actual evidence-based cost data is meager or absent. The article likely overstates the evidence, but we give a satisfactory rating as they do directly address cost issues. The story mentions that sometimes an induced labor is medically-appropriate for the safety of the mother and her infant. The story also mentions recent data published in Annals of Family Medicine suggesting that even in healthy women, labor induction can be safe if women are appropriately selected. However, the focus of the story is on the trend to induce labor for the sake of convenience in otherwise healthy women. The story makes  the strong case that adherence to evidence-based guidelines may reduce some of the harms of this practice. Regarding the title of Nicolson’s work and the concept of \"\"preventive induction\"\", indeed the title of the paper is somewhat insidious and not directly addressed by this article. The concept that retrospective cohort data can support the concept of finding an \"\"optimal time\"\" for medical intervention to prevent risks in normal, uncomplicated pregnancies that are not post dates deserves to be closely examined. The implication is that we will be able to determine through data when it is the best time to \"\"prevent\"\" normal onset of labor. A radical notion that was not much dealt with since we are so accustomed to the concept that aspects of prenatal and birth care can prevent many outcomes which in fact they cannot. The harms they include are well-described (if poorly supported by definitive evidence). The risks may outweigh the benefits if labor is induced early without sufficient medical reason. Among harms listed are potentially longer labors and related dehydration and infection; increased rates of unplanned caesarean births; longer hospital stays for both mother and baby; increased risk of birth injuries and more time spent in the neonatal in-hospital care for babies born with underdeveloped lungs or to heal birth injuries. In the interest of balance it is important to note that few trials are available to determine the risks/benefits and costs. The story presented an advocate, a nay-sayer, some commentators, and included the concept that more research is needed. However, they may have walked-by the fact that meta-analyses of trials to date do not find strong influence on cesearean rates and are underpowered for outcomes like neonatal death, NICU admission, fetal asphyxia, etc. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story is quite balanced and notes practice variation and ways to reduce the trend of medically-managed birth. The inclusion of details about the medicalization of birth and related cultural trends is a plus. The story cites a new mother and several researchers and obstetricians who provide perspective on this issue and list pros and cons of the increasingly common practice of induced labor in the U.S.  All sources are appropriately identified by their practice, related research publications and university or medical center affiliation. This story considers the \"\"treatment option\"\" of electively substituting a medical intervention for a physiologic process without specifically noting that it is an odd concept of \"\"treatment\"\" (except indirectly in Klein’s and the Intermountain representative). The story does a good job of talking about how convenience and \"\"consumer driven\"\" the choice is but falls just short of really closing the loop that most normal things don’t require a treatment to replace them. The story notes the wide range of practice variation. The story also notes that requests for early labor induction may be restricted or denied by certain payers and at some healthcare settings as the practice is not in accordance with most evidence-based guidelines. The story notes that the practice of inducing labor and rates of caesarean births have increased. The story speculates that this practice may be influenced by obstetrician and patient schedules and the idea that it is equally safe to schedule a birth as it is to wait for a natural labor and delivery. Novelty is not invoked though the cultural trends underpinning increased use are handled well. The story has an excellent variety of sources and there is balanced reporting on the trend to induce early labor in medical practices in the U.S.\"",
            "output": [
                "Inducing labor for convenience gets a second look"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-733b4aa283f94ee1b82a380f4269b722",
            "input": "The company said it had received expedited approvals from regulators to trial the drug - an inhaled formulation of interferon-beta-1a - in hospital patients who have COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Explaining the drug’s mechanism, Chief Executive Richard Marsden said interferon-beta was a naturally occurring protein instrumental to the body’s antiviral responses. “Interferon-beta is like the conductor of the orchestra, you make it when you’ve got a cold,” he said in an interview. “It does all kinds of things to counter the effects of viruses.”  He said there was evidence that a deficiency in producing the protein could explain the enhanced susceptibility of at-risk patient groups to develop severe lower respiratory tract disease during respiratory viral infections. “Another quirk to coronavirus is that the disease itself suppresses the production of interferon-beta in the lungs, and it does this to evade the immune system,” he said. The drug, which has already shown benefits in two trials for asthma, aims to boost the amount of interferon-beta in the lungs, helping either prevent or diminish cell damage and viral replication, he said. The pilot phase of the study has been given the green light by Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and Health Research Authority. The study, which is expected to start imminently, will involve 100 COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Britain.",
            "output": [
                "Synairgen gets green light for coronavirus drug trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a9992e004ca4643a13d89d0bf338cba",
            "input": "“Practically all our purchases of equipment in China are not being confirmed,” Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference. An attempt to buy 15,000 ventilators in China failed and Brazil was making a new bid, he said, but the outcome is uncertain in the intense competition for medical supplies in the global pandemic. Last week, Mandetta referred to being outbid for Chinese supplies and on Tuesday he noted “difficulties” in guaranteeing purchases. In one positive sign for Brazil’s supply crunch, a private company said it managed to buy 40 tonnes of masks and test kits from China, with the shipment arriving by cargo plane in Brasilia on Wednesday. The purchase of 6 million masks and other protective equipment worth 160 million reais ($30 million) was undertaken by pharmaceutical and hospital equipment company Nutriex, based in Goiania, 220 km (138 miles) east of Brasilia. The firm plans to donate part of the order to medical institutions. Health authorities began to sound the alarm this week over supply shortages as hospitals faced growing numbers of patients with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. Confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in the country soared to 15,927 on Wednesday, with the death toll rising by 133 in just 24 hours to 800, the ministry said. Rio de Janeiro reported the first deaths from coronavirus in the city’s hillside slums, called favelas, alarming authorities who fear rapid contagion in these crowded communities that have limited access to medical care and often lack running water for hygiene. Two of the six deaths occurred in Rocinha, one of the largest slums in South America. The virus has spread to 10 of Rio’s favelas, potentially affecting 2 million people, the mayor’s office said. Mandetta reported the first case of coronavirus among the  Yanomami people on the country’s largest reservation for indigenous tribes and said the government plans to build a field hospital for tribes that are vulnerable to contagion. “We are extremely concerned about the indigenous communities,” Mandetta said. Anthropologists and health experts warn that the epidemic could have a devastating impact on Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people whose lifestyle in tribal villages rules out social distancing. President Jair Bolsonaro said in an address to the nation that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was saving lives of coronavirus patients and should be used in the initial stages of COVID-19. Due to the absence of scientific evidence on its effectiveness and safety, Brazil’s health authorities limit its use to seriously ill patients who are in hospital. Mandetta said Brazil has hired local unlisted medical equipment maker Magnamed to make 6,000 ventilators in 90 days. Pulp and paper companies Suzano SA and Klabin SA, planemaker Embraer SA, information technology provider Positivo Tecnologia SA and automaker Fiat Chrysler have also offered to help build ventilators, he said.",
            "output": [
                "Brazil turns to local industry to build ventilators as China orders fall through."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f772b49c79c4212957d8902959016d2",
            "input": "The reflection doesn’t pain him anymore. From the outside, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ All-Star forward appears to have it all: A model’s striking looks, a multi-million dollar contract and dream job. At 30, he’s in the prime of his career, and maybe for the first time, truly happy. “I’m getting there,” he said, his voice conveying determination. “It’s still a work in progress.” Nearly a year ago, Love suffered a panic attack during a game against Atlanta. The desperate, life-altering event eventually led to revealing his long-term battle with anxiety and depression. Now Love is hoping to break down stigmas about men’s mental health. He has partnered with Shick Hydro on a website series called “Locker Room Talk” , holding candid conversations with Olympic gold-medal swimming icon Michael Phelps, former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce and Cavs teammate and close friend Channing Frye. No topic is off limits. The first episode with Phelps premieres next month and coincides with fundraising efforts for the Movember Foundation, which promotes men growing moustaches during the month to raise awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide. Love recently filmed the sit-down talks with Phelps, Pierce and Frye on Cleveland’s east side while his Cavs prepared to open their first season in five years without superstar LeBron James, who signed with Los Angeles this summer. While Love knows his 11th year as a pro will be challenging (Cleveland fell to 0-4 on Wednesday night), his focus was on the series, which he views as an important step in his personal development and a natural progression toward a broader platform for more mental health initiatives. Love’s discussions with the three athletes cover a wide range of topics, including “masculinity, traumatic events, women and their roles in our lives, thoughts of suicide, anxiety. Everything.” “We’re changing the paradigm of locker room talk where it’s not just about sports anymore,” he said. “It’s life.” In their talks with Love, Phelps and Pierce open up about their past struggles with mental health. Frye brings a perspective of coping with loss and tragedy following the deaths of his parents within weeks of each other in 2016. Love hopes the frank discussions will touch people to seek help and maybe encourage them to address their problems. It took a distressing experience for Love to take the first steps in his journey. During the second half of a game on Nov. 5 against Atlanta, Love’s career took an unexpected turn and it may have saved him. He suffered a panic attack so severe that Love said he felt like he was dying. He felt trapped, gasped for air and with his heart and mind racing uncontrollably, Love frantically scrambled from room to room deep inside Quicken Loans Arena before finally collapsing on the locker room floor. He was taken to the Cleveland Clinic for tests. Love already had a sense of what was wrong. He had struggled since childhood with depression and mood swings, which he said was passed down through generations in his family. As a teenager, he would often descend into “my dark place” for weeks and experienced fits of rage. “I was angry and would break stuff,” Love said. “I would never hurt anyone, but I would act out against authority and rebel. I didn’t know why I felt that way.” He subsequently sought counseling. But after another panic episode, Love felt compelled to go public after some teammates questioned why he left another game early. Love began his personal admission with a powerful essay for the Players’ Tribune entitled “Everyone Is Going Through Something.” “In the immediate aftermath of Nov. 5, I didn’t want anyone to know. I still don’t know how I came out and played 48 hours later. I wanted to hide. I was so afraid that people were going to find out what had happened. All those events that then followed allowed me to get to a point where I was like, ‘OK, now it’s time for me to tell my story’ and I wanted to tell it in my own words.” Love remains overwhelmed at the outpouring since revealing his struggles. He and All-Star DeMar DeRozan are the most noteworthy players to express their issues, but Love said barely a day goes by that he’s not approached by someone inspired by him. “I can’t tell you how many guys around the league have come up to me and said, ‘How did you get there?’ or ‘How did you get out of it?’ And I’ve had people ask, ‘Hey, can you help me?’ “Not just becoming a sounding board but a way to help them,” he said. “It’s become just a great community, not just in the NBA but everywhere I go.” ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Cavs’ Love raises mental health awareness with ‘locker’ talk."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c993a9b15ab449328156826a1926091d",
            "input": "Britain’s step, which follows France, amounts to a victory for electric cars that if copied globally could hit the wealth of oil producers, as well as transform car industry jobs and one of the icons of 20th Century capitalism: the automobile itself. The mayors of Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens have said they plan to ban diesel vehicles from city centers by 2025, while the French government also aims to end the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040. The British government has been under pressure to take steps to reduce air pollution after losing legal cases brought by campaign groups. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives had pledged to make “almost every car and van” zero-emission by 2050. “There should be no new diesel or petrol vehicles by 2040,” environment minister Michael Gove told BBC Radio. The ban would only apply to conventional rather than hybrid vehicles that have both an electric and combustion engine, Gove’s ministry said. There is a mountain to climb, however. Electric cars currently account for less than 5 percent of new car registrations in Britain, with drivers concerned about the cost and limited availability of charging points and manufacturers worried about making expensive investments before the demand is there. “We could undermine the UK’s successful automotive sector if we don’t allow enough time for the industry to adjust,” warned    Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Hawes said there were only 12,000 public charging points in Britain and new power infrastructure would be needed, as well as steps to ensure the power network could cope with large numbers of people seeking to charge vehicles at the same time. While many automakers may find it hard to countenance the end of the combustion engine, some have embraced a future where electric vehicles, or perhaps even driverless ones, prevail. This month, Volvo became the first major traditional automaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine by saying all its car models launched after 2019 would be electric or hybrids. Renault-Nissan in 2009 announced plans to spend 4 billion euros on electric car development. But until Volkswagen (VW) admitted in 2015 to cheating on U.S. diesel emissions tests, most mainstream auto manufacturers had been slow to sink serious investment into battery cars. The backlash against diesel, without which carmakers would struggle to meet CO2 targets, has since refocused minds and produced a flurry of new commitments. VW itself unveiled ambitious plans last year to roll out 30 new battery-powered models that it expects to account for 2-3 million annual sales by 2025 - or as much as 25 percent of its vehicle production. “Even though modern combustion engines will be relevant for at least another 20 years, it is clear that the future will be ruled by electric drives,” VW chief executive Matthias Mueller said earlier this year. PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares, in the past a vocal defender of diesel technologies, said on Wednesday the French company was ready to embrace mass electrification, provided the required consumer demand and government support were there. “The rise of the electric vehicle is very much dependent on the subsidies and the support governments will be able to give to this technology,” Tavares told analysts during the company’s first-half results presentation. PSA is planning to roll out new pure-electric and plug-in hybrid models from 2019. Toyota, which pioneered hybrids but long resisted battery-only cars, changed tack last year and has since unveiled plans for a new range of pure-electric models. In Europe, so called ‘green cars’ benefit from subsidies, tax breaks and other perks, while combustion engines face mounting penalties including driving and parking restrictions. China, struggling with catastrophic pollution levels in major cities, is pushing plug-in vehicles, though in the United States there is much less appetite so far. Germany, the home of major carmakers such as VW, Daimler and BMW, should soon start phasing out petrol and diesel too, said Oliver Wittke, a transport expert in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. But there is likely to be resistance in Europe’s biggest car market. More than 600,000 jobs could be at risk in Germany from a potential ban on combustion engine cars by 2030, the Ifo economic institute said this month in a study commissioned by Germany’s VDA car industry lobby. Germany’s major carmakers have invested heavily in diesel technology, which offers more efficient fuel burn and lower carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline-powered cars. In response to the British decision, a German government spokeswoman said on Wednesday Merkel had repeatedly warned against “demonizing” diesel vehicles. A spokesman for VW’s Audi brand, two thirds of whose European sales are diesel cars, said it could make diesel “fit for a future with even more stringent emission standards”. Yet Britain’s move will accelerate the decline of diesel cars, whose nitrogen oxide emissions have been blamed for causing respiratory diseases, in Europe’s second biggest market. The government will provide more than 250 million pounds to local authorities for schemes to restrict diesel vehicles’ access to polluted roads but said other options should be exhausted before charging users of polluting vehicles. Any restrictions or charges for polluting vehicles to use affected roads should be time-limited and lifted as soon as air pollution is within legal limits, it added. Gove said he favored road-by-road restrictions for diesel vehicles rather than outright bans from town centers or costly vehicle scrappage schemes, but did not rule them out entirely if they were local authorities’ preferred options. The government also said it would consult later this year on other possible measures including a targeted scrappage scheme. London mayor Sadiq Khan, of the opposition Labour Party, said the government’s commitment was half-hearted and steps needed to be taken before 2040 to tackle air pollution. “We need a fully-funded diesel scrappage fund now to get polluting vehicles off our streets immediately, as well as new powers so that cities across the UK can take the action needed to clean up our air,” Khan said in a statement. Turning away from oil will add to discussions about whether the world is reaching peak oil demand and how additional electric power can be generated. Some companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, expect demand to peak as early as by the end of the next decade. Demand for diesel cars fell 10 percent in the first half of the year in Britain while sales of petrol vehicles rose 5 percent, according to industry data. Sales of electric and hybrid models rose by nearly 30 percent, the fastest growing section of the market albeit from a low base.",
            "output": [
                "Electric cars win? Britain to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2040."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-405415ea37924bb18bd314b884fe0242",
            "input": "\"A food fight recently erupted in the Georgia Legislature over food stamps -- with a morsel of information tossed out by one lawmaker that was too tasty for the Truth-O-Meter to pass up. Before a Senate committee, state Rep. Greg Morris, a Republican from Vidalia, was battling for a bill he authored that would require food stamp recipients to be drug-tested. Morris was asked why no one else spoke in favor of his legislation, House Bill 772, as opposed to representatives of legal groups and other organizations who said they were against it. \"\"What lobbyists are there for just the average worker who’s a taxpayer?\"\" Morris said. \"\"They’re economizing and buying inexpensive cuts of meat, when with (food stamps) you can buy lobster.\"\" So, food stamp recipients can purchase lobster. Is this ? PolitiFact Georgia thought we’d put on a lobster bib and do taste-testing as we researched this claim. A medium-tail lobster costs $7 for 5 ounces at some local supermarkets, so it’s not cheap. Our bosses said lobster was not in the budget. We trudged along. Nearly one in five Georgians, about 1.7 million people, receive food stamps (a program actually called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), and 16,000 receive welfare (called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF), according to the Georgia Department of Human Services. Many of those are children, who would not be drug-tested under the bill. A revised version of HB 772 was passed by both chambers of the Georgia Legislature on Thursday, the final day of the session. HB 772 now heads to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature. Morris did not return a call for comment. The lawmaker’s angst may stem from several Fox News Channel reports about an aspiring musician who used the federal benefits to buy the high-end seafood. The cable outlet showed a day in the life of California resident Jason Greenslate, who was 29 and unemployed and receiving SNAP benefits when Fox News met him. His day began with surfing. Next, he discussed plans for a party with friends. After that, Greenslate made a trip to the supermarket where he bought a rainbow roll of salmon, eel and other ingredients, coconut water and lobster that Greenslate observed was \"\"on special.\"\" The lobster he purchased appeared to have a sale price on the wrapper. Greenslate used his food stamp card at the checkout counter. \"\"All paid for by our wonderful tax dollars,\"\" he said on camera. Greenslate later met with three friends and cooked the lobster on a grill. \"\"EBT lobster,\"\" he said before taking a bite. Electronic Benefits Transfer is the system that transfers the federal funds to food stamp cards. The number of Americans in SNAP has more than doubled in the past decade, from about 21 million people in 2003 to nearly 48 million in 2013, U.S. Food and Drug Administration data shows. The number of SNAP recipients has risen each year since 2000. The amount of money given in benefits has more than tripled from $21 billion in 2003 to $76 billion in 2013. Greenslate said he receives about $190 a month for food stamps, which is about $60 more than the national average benefit per person. He’s been pilloried by some of the network’s commentators for what they describe as his carefree outlook on accepting federal benefits and purchasing luxury food. In a subsequent interview, Greenslate explained he’ll buy food like lobster if he can get a deal on it. \"\"I’ll eat whatever is on sale,\"\" he said. Tales of hipsters and middle-income Americans now down on their luck buying Japanese eggplant or lemon grass with their EBT cards have been reported by news outlets in recent years. Conversely, some politicians have attempted to show the difficulty of living on food stamps by writing about the tough decisions they’ve had to make about what food to purchase. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has no restrictions on SNAP recipients buying luxury items such as steak and seafood. They also can purchase food and soft drinks that are less nutritious, such as ice cream. Alcohol, beer, cigarettes and wine are prohibited. Live animals are off the list as well. The USDA said in a 2007 report that it resisted restrictions of most foods because it says it would be difficult to regulate, considering there are more than 300,000 food products in the country. The federal agency also was worried that further restrictions would embarrass some recipients and discourage them from applying to SNAP. So are there many other food stamp recipients buying lobster? It’s unclear. Messages to the USDA were not returned. Last April, the USDA released a study of the dietary habits of some SNAP recipients once they joined the program. It found they ate more whole fruit and less of some vegetables, such as carrots. The recipients ate food with less sodium and saturated fat. It did not have a breakdown of their consumption of lobster. Most other studies found little or no change in the waistlines of recipients, contrary to thinking that food stamp use leads to obesity. Comedian Jon Stewart said Fox News is exaggerating the scope of the situation. \"\"Congratulations on finding your food stamp abuse Bigfoot,\"\" Stewart said on his Comedy Central television show, referring to Greenslate. \"\"That one guy you found is certainly not someone the food stamp program itself would point to as its greatest success story. But we make fun of you not for finding him, but for pretending that he somehow represents literally millions of Americans.\"\" To sum up, Morris said that you can buy lobster with food stamps. It’s unknown how many other food stamp recipients are cracking open this yummy seafood from its shell. As the Fox News video showed, there is at least one person receiving those federal benefits who bought lobster. The man did say he does so if it’s on sale. From what we’ve seen, there are few people buying such high-end items. But it is possible, just as Morris said.\"",
            "output": [
                "You can buy lobster with food stamps."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-612edbaaa41a4af78295e5e2aa566651",
            "input": "“The federal government has stepped in again and squashed it,” said John Flickner, who uses a wheelchair and has a doctor’s prescription for the drug. After news reports detailed his eviction last week, Flickner, who is now staying at a homeless shelter, said the Niagara Falls program that coordinates his care suddenly dropped him, leaving him without access to doctors and transportation. An attorney for the program, Complete Senior Care, said privacy laws prevent him from discussing individual patients. But generally speaking, attorney Jerry Solomon said that because medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, the federally funded program cannot help clients access it without risking its funding. “Federal guidelines from (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) ban them from prescribing that or allowing access or having anything to do with anyone having medical marijuana,” Solomon said. “To do otherwise would jeopardize being able to service all the other patients that they have.” New York is among states that have legalized medical marijuana, but advocates say it’s not uncommon for people to be evicted from federally subsidized housing for using the drug. Last week in news reports, Flickner described steering his electric wheelchair in freezing temperatures to a center after being evicted. On Sunday, his former landlord reversed course. Flickner said he relies on medical marijuana for back pain dating to a skydiving mishap 50 years ago. “The eviction of Mr. Flickner is not a reflection of who we are or our resident service values. We are rescinding our decision and revisiting our policy for this evolving issue,” LHP Capital of Tennessee said in a statement Sunday. Flickner had not decided Tuesday whether to return. Niagara Towers is subsidized by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which said it gives landlords discretion on whether to evict residents for using medical marijuana. Solomon said Complete Senior Care has no such discretion. CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.",
            "output": [
                "Elderly man evicted over medical marijuana hits another snag."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3ac495a26344cbbb081ffb02f3ee177",
            "input": "Doctors’ letters provided to The Associated Press give glowing medical marks to both men. The AP requested the results of a post-primary physical and, for each, a list of any major health conditions or prescription medications. Neither has any medical problems to speak of. The two have been engaged in one of the year’s most expensive and closely watched Senate contests — though outside groups on both sides have begun pulling money from the race as Strickland fails to gain traction against Portman’s well-funded effort. The 60-year-old Portman, the Republican incumbent, is an avid sportsman who kayaks and cycles. He’s on no medications and has no illnesses or chronic conditions. Strickland, Ohio’s Democratic former governor, takes blood-pressure medicine. His doctor reports the 75-year-old has no illnesses or chronic conditions. Strickland would be the oldest person elected to a first term in the Senate — though he’d be far from the oldest in the chamber. Thirteen sitting senators are 75 or older. That includes eight who are 80 and above. The median age in the Senate is around 63. When questioned about his age, Strickland says longevity runs in his family. The Portman campaign provided a letter from the senator’s longtime doctor, James Hochwalt in Cincinnati, drawn from a July physical. “To my knowledge, there is nothing in his medical history or current medical status that would interfere with his demanding schedule and commitments of United States Senator,” Hochwalt wrote. Strickland’s physician, Paul Dusseau in Hilliard, also saw the candidate in July. In addition to an exam and lab work, Dusseau wrote that he reviewed Strickland’s “past medical history, family medical history, daily habits and activities, and health over the past year.” Dusseau issued what he dubbed an “Excellent Report!” Green Party Senate candidate Joseph DeMare is also in excellent health. His doctor, Matt Roth of Maumee, says in a letter provided to the AP that the 54-year-old takes no medication and has no ongoing medical concerns.",
            "output": [
                "Health reports rosy in Ohio’s otherwise ugly US Senate race."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f7c275d3d94642b6a2bf41c04b867a58",
            "input": "It’s too early to discuss how much one of these experimental drugs might cost. But the article could have reported something about the estimated costs of currently caring for these patients. It’s also worth noting that if a drug is ever approved, it will cost Medicare a bundle. In the story’s descriptions of “promising” drugs from Biogen, Merck and Lilly, there is essentially zero quantification data. There needed to be some, even in a wrap-up or trend article such as this. The story did not cover harms. A problem with these drugs is that they can cause amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIAs), which are findings on brain scans that indicate swelling and small hemorrhages in portions of the brain. These were the most frequent adverse events in the Biogen study and occurred in a lot of people, especially at the higher doses. Overall, the story did a good job explaining why several major pharmaceutical firms think there is still hope for an anti-amyloid strategy for Alzheimer’s disease. As noted in the summary, it might have been useful for the article to have stated earlier–and perhaps more forcefully–that despite the confidence drug developers appear to have in the amyloid hypothesis, the scientific jury is still out. And a discussion of competing hypotheses would have been useful to add, too. No mongering here. The story had no independent sources. It also didn’t disclose the conflict of interest of Dr. Paul Aisen, who has received money from multiple drug companies, including the ones discussed in this piece. The story adequately compares alternatives and discusses the overall lack of any effective medication for Alzheimer’s disease. As noted above, however, a discussion of competing hypotheses about the origins of the disease, along with related potential treatment strategies, would have been useful to include. The article makes pretty darn clear that there will be a) no final answers to the amyloid hypothesis debate any time soon; and b) the advent of a successful anti-amyloid drug that helps those with Alzheimer’s is not close at hand. As noted earlier, this was not a “breaking news” story, but a round up of sorts of what’s happened since the Lilly drug trial for solanezumab reported negative results. But there is news-like information here about the optimism of the companies still working the amyloid hypothesis. Whether a high level of optimism is warranted or not is a good question, but the article could at least inform a healthy discussion. There appears to be original reporting and perhaps use of one (at least) news release.",
            "output": [
                "Why Biogen is breathing a sigh of relief with the latest Alzheimer’s data"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f89b7ea5555d4d5a9a0a61356f35de0b",
            "input": "We’ll rate this “Not Applicable” given the very early nature of the study and the fact that guadecitabine is clearly still far from approval for treating colorectal cancer so it would be difficult to put a precise dollar figure on it. It’s worth noting, however, that guadecitabine is also being considered for use in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) — and is much further along in development for that clinical application. In fact, there is already discussion about whether the potential benefits associated with using guadecitabine to treat AML outweigh the fact that other drugs are available in generic form (and are therefore less expensive). In short, while we don’t expect a release to place a dollar amount on the use of guadecitabine, we always like to see the issue of cost addressed in some way. The release does a good job here in two ways. First, the release makes clear that the goal of this study was not to assess benefits, but to assess potential harms. That places the findings — and the study design — in context. Second, the release notes that 15 of the 22 patients had at least one imaging scan to track the extent and location of their cancers. Twelve of those 15 patients had “stable” disease, while one saw a 30 percent decrease in the size of the tumors. The headline is problematic, but we’ll talk about that under the “Unjustifiable Language” criterion. The rest of the release does a good job of describing potential harms. The release discusses eight potential harms, defines them and offers numbers on all of them (e.g., “two patients developed thrombocytopenia, a lowered count of blood-clotting platelets”). That’s very good. Two things would have made it even better. First, the release could have included an explanation of what the observed adverse effects actually mean. For example, how severe was the thrombocytopenia? And how much of a risk does that pose to a patient’s health — are we talking about the potential for bruising easily? Or a high risk of bleeding to death? Second, it wasn’t clear if the dose of guadecitabine was related to observed effects. I.e., were patients who received higher doses of guadecitabine more likely to exhibit adverse effects? The release does a nice job here. The release sets the tone in its first sentence, which begins with: “In a small, phase I clinical trial…”. The release clearly explains the goals of the clinical trial, the number and type of patients involved, and the study design. The only thing that could have made things more clear would be if the release had told readers the size of the doses each of the four study groups received — and whether dose size was related to observed effects. No disease mongering here. The release clearly states that the study was supported by Astex Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures guadecitabine. There are a lot of drugs, and drug combinations, that are approved for use in colorectal cancer chemotherapy. Given that the release explicitly states that the study was not done to assess the potential benefits of guadecitabine, we don’t expect it to compare the drug’s performance to those other drugs. The release makes clear that this was a preliminary trial and that a phase II trial is ongoing. That’s good. In addition, the release states: “Guadecitabine is an experimental drug that has not been approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” That’s great. We wish all releases were this straight-forward about drug/treatment availability. As noted above, there are a lot of drugs and combinations approved for use in colorectal cancer chemotherapy. The release does a good job of explaining how guadecitabine may act against colorectal cancer. There are currently two FDA approved drugs that are classified as DNA methyltransferase inhibitors; decitabine (Dacogen) and azacitidine (Vidaza). Both had been used in clinical trials in the treatment of colon cancer. The bulk of the release is very good in this regard, but the first thing readers see is the headline. That doesn’t mean the headline is more important, but it does mean that the headline is subject to additional scrutiny. And the headline here reaches too far. Here’s the headline: “Experimental drug guadecitabine found safe in patients with colorectal cancer.” Here’s an excerpt from lower down in the release: “16 patients experienced neutropenia, a low count of the infection-fighting white blood cells called neutrophils; five patients with neutropenia had fevers; three patients became anemic; and two patients developed thrombocytopenia, a lowered count of blood-clotting platelets. Other side effects included diarrhea (three patients), fatigue (two patients) and dehydration (two patients). There was one death during the study, possibly resulting from febrile neutropenia caused by the treatment.” The word “safe” is relative when discussing chemotherapy treatment, but when most readers see something described as “safe” they assume that means it won’t harm them. For that reason, it’s a stretch to apply the word “safe” to any treatment in which a sample size of 22 patients is associated with this many adverse outcomes, and may have contributed to a death.",
            "output": [
                "Experimental drug guadecitabine found safe in patients with colorectal cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-555e56926fea4950bc355bce3abce311",
            "input": "The health ministry said the man who had arrived earlier Sunday in the regional capital had been quickly transported to an Ebola treatment center. Authorities said they had tracked down all the passengers on the bus the man took to Goma from Butembo, one of the towns hardest hit by the disease. “Because of the speed with which the patient was identified and isolated, and the identification of all the other bus passengers coming from Butembo, the risk of it spreading in the rest of the city of Goma is small,” the health ministry said in a statement. The virus has killed more than 1,600 people in Congo and two others who returned home across the border to neighboring Uganda. Health experts have long feared that it could make its way to Goma, which is located on the Rwandan border. The health ministries in Congo’s neighbors have been preparing for months for the possibility of cases, and frontline health workers already have been vaccinated. The confirmed case announced late Sunday in eastern Congo involves a pastor who became ill last Tuesday. He then left Butembo on a bus, and arrived at a health center Sunday showing symptoms of Ebola, the health ministry said. Violent attacks against health workers and treatment facilities have greatly compromised efforts to combat the epidemic in Butembo. Eastern Congo is home to a myriad of armed groups, and Mai Mai militia fighters are active near the hardest hit towns. Health teams have been unable to access violent areas to vaccinate people at risk of infection and to bring infected patients into isolation. Other times the violence against health teams has come from residents who do not want their loved ones taken to treatment centers or buried in accordance with guidelines aimed at reducing Ebola transmission. While the experimental vaccine is believed to have saved countless lives, not all Congolese people have accepted it. Some falsely believe that the vaccine is what is making people sick, in part because people can still develop the disease after getting the shot if they already had been infected. ___ Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo reported from Kinshasa, Congo.",
            "output": [
                "Congo confirms 1st Ebola case in city of Goma."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3435a59fe31544659f9249c9939d7ca9",
            "input": "U.S. scientists said the infection in a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman “heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria” because it could not be controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic reserved for “nightmare” bugs. In Japan, British Prime Minister David Cameron said leading countries needed to tackle resistance by reducing the use of antibiotics and rewarding drug companies for developing new medicines. “In too many cases antibiotics have stopped working. That means people are dying of simple infections or conditions like TB (tuberculosis), tetanus, sepsis, infections that should not mean a death sentence,” he told a news conference at a summit in Japan. “If we do nothing about this there will be a cumulative hit to the world economy of $100 trillion and it is potentially the end of modern medicine as we know it.”  A review commissioned by the British government and published last week said a reward of between $1 billion and $1.5 billion should be paid for any successful new antimicrobial medicine brought to market. If the problem is not brought under control, antimicrobial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year by 2050, the review warned. The U.S. case is a further wake-up call for the world, although it is not the first time that colistin resistance has appeared. Medics around were alarmed last year by the discovery in China of a new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to the medicine. Since then, the deadly strain has also been detected in Europe and Canada. The development of colistin resistance is linked to the drug’s widespread use in livestock and the European Medicines Agency on Thursday called for a 65 percent cut in the amount of the medicine used in farming. “The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are,” Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in Washington. “The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently.”  The problem is aggravated by drugmakers’ reluctance to invest in developing new antibiotics, preferring to focus on more profitable disease areas, although recently there has been some increase in investment, prompted by the superbug threat. In January, 83 companies, including Pfizer (PFE.N), Merck & Co (MRK.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), signed a declaration urging governments to support work on new antibiotics.",
            "output": [
                "G7 told to act on antibiotics as dreaded superbug hits U.S."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bdaee8dd37b34ab88ef430295d3fd89a",
            "input": "\"Editor's note: This fact-check is a excerpt of a longer examination of Herman Cain's business accomplishments, including his work experience before and after Godfather's Pizza. Read the longer story here. Pizza is Herman Cain's biggest selling point. He says his track record running Godfather’s Pizza, a chain that once billed itself as \"\"the cure for the pizza emergency,\"\" shows he has the ability to run the country. The 620-store chain was on the brink of bankruptcy when he arrived in 1986, he says, and he \"\"turned it around with common-sense business principles.\"\" A PolitiFact examination of Godfather’s, based on interviews with industry analysts and company officials, shows Cain is largely correct. The chain wasn’t literally preparing paperwork for bankruptcy, but it was widely considered troubled. Cain changed that by uniting the franchisees, overhauling the chain's advertising, and getting his team focused on its core mission: pizza. 'They got what they paid for' Cain was an executive with The Pillsbury Co. when the company bought Godfather's in 1985. The purchase was almost incidental, according to press reports from the time. Godfather’s was part of Diversifoods Inc., a conglomerate that included more than 300 Burger King franchises. Pillsbury wanted the Burger Kings, and the chain of more than 800 Godfather’s pizza restaurants came with it. \"\"The value of Diversifoods was its ownership of the Burger Kings, and the deal made sense without Godfather's,\"\" John McMillin, an industry analyst, told the Chicago Tribune shortly after the deal. \"\"Pillsbury got Godfather's for nothing, and some said they got what they paid for.\"\" The chain’s problems included franchisee lawsuits, an overly long menu and a dejected workforce. Even its TV ads seemed hapless, showing a car full of executives driving around, unable to find a Godfather's. (\"\"Find one. It's worth it,\"\" the ad lamely concluded.) As Cain said later, the chain had \"\"had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.\"\" Cain attacked problems on every front. He declared the company’s advertising account up for review, pitting ad agencies against each other in a bidding war. He trimmed the menu and enforced quality standards. He pushed more restaurants to offer delivery, and he closed low-performing franchises. He emphasized communication, giving speeches at important moments to employees and franchisees. After his first 60 days at Godfather's, he gave a speech he called \"\"get on the wagon,\"\" which he now uses in political speeches. When he was a boy, Cain said, his grandfather, a potato farmer, would hitch up his mules for the weekly trip to town. Any grandchildren who wanted to go could ride along. Cain would finish the story in his grandfather’s thundering voice: \"\"Them that’s going, get on the wagon! Them that ain’t, get out of the way!\"\" 'Mesmerizing' Charles Henderson, who runs coffee kiosks in Pennsylvania, was Cain’s director of marketing back then. He says Cain is \"\"probably the most inspirational person I’ve ever met in my life.\"\" \"\"He can be mesmerizing. He’s very dynamic. I’m not slamming our current president, but Herman Cain will give a 20- or 30-minute speech extemporaneously, and certainly without teleprompters. He is without a doubt the most dynamic speaker I’ve ever heard,\"\" Henderson said. Henderson said Cain succeeded because he immersed himself in all aspects of the business and wasn’t afraid to get his hands into the dough. Cain baked pies on a weekly basis after he arrived in Omaha. \"\"He loved to make pizzas. We had a test store over on Pacific Street, which wasn’t too far from Godfather’s, and once a week, he’d round us all up and we’d go make pizzas,\"\" Henderson said. Cain directed an overhaul of the Godfather's television ads that focused on Godfather's \"\"hot slice,\"\" a customized pizza slice aimed at the lunch crowd and intended to compete with Pizza Hut's Personal Pan Pizza. The new ads showed a secretary at a desk about to have a \"\"pizza emergency.\"\" Godfather's, of course, was the cure. Later commercials tended toward attention-getting and even bizarre humor. The \"\"Studney twins\"\" – an old white guy and a young black guy in garish blue and green tuxedos – promoted Godfather's two-for-one specials. Another ad featured attorney-turned-actor Ben Stein of  Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a burned-out hipster needing pizza. Cain himself even appeared in a series that Advertising Age named one of the best campaigns of 1989. In one ad, Cain told viewers Godfather's has conducted exhaustive research to find out why customers preferred Godfather's pizza. He introduced his director of research, who unveiled the results by unfolding a piece of paper and reading two words: \"\"More topping.\"\" \"\"Enjoy your Godfather's pizza, and take life one bite at a time,\"\" Cain concluded. 'Steady the course' Jeff Campbell is the retired Pillsbury executive who selected Cain to run Godfather’s. Reached by PolitiFact at his home in San Diego, he said there was no doubt in his mind that Cain turned Godfather's around. \"\"He was the best thing that happened to Godfather’s in a long time,\"\" Campbell said. Cain has said that the chain returned to profitability within 14 months of his arrival. That number wasn’t possible for PolitiFact to independently confirm because the chain did not report its profits as a stand-alone unit, but industry analysts do not dispute that Cain stabilized the company. Technomic, a research and consulting firm focused on the restaurant industry, has research data on Godfather’s going back to the 1970s. At PolitiFact’s request, vice president Darren Tristano examined the revenues and franchise numbers for Godfather’s during the time Cain headed it from 1986 to 1995. It's not possible to determine profitability from those numbers, but they do show Godfather's place in the market, particularly in comparison with its competitors. \"\"It’s really hard from that period to find a strong positive or a strong negative. It’s more like ‘steady the course,’ \"\" Tristano said. Still, \"\"steady the course\"\" isn’t bad for a company that was troubled to start out with and in an industry that’s punishingly competitive, analysts said. Godfather’s position was particularly perilous. It wasn’t as big as chains like Pizza Hut and Domino’s, and it also had to compete with locally owned mom-and-pops in just about every market. \"\"They had to be very innovative to compete with the big three and with the little guys. They couldn’t rest on their laurels,\"\" said John Correll, a Michigan-based pizza industry consultant. \"\"For a number of years, Herman Cain and his management team were able to pull that off.\"\" Pizza Hut, the industry leader at the time, was a particularly difficult foe. After Godfather's launched its \"\"pizza emergency\"\" campaign in 1986, Pizza Hut matched it with ads imitating the emergency broadcast system. In the event of a real pizza emergency, \"\"you should go directly to Pizza Hut and order their famous pan pizza,\"\" the ad said. Pizza Hut executives said the similarity was coincidence. Cain said the alleged thievery wouldn’t matter in the end, and he wouldn’t pursue legal action. \"\"It's not a big deal to us,\"\" Cain told AdWeek, which documented the feud. Godfather’s never grew fast enough to outpace giants like Pizza Hut and Domino’s, but today it still claims about 620 franchises across the country. John Chisholm was a Godfather's franchisee who owned 90 restaurants in five states when Cain arrived to run the company. \"\"His leadership and his ability to deal with people were just outstanding. I have nothing but the highest praise for Herman Cain,\"\" Chisholm said. Cain's primary accomplishment was motivating the people who worked for Godfather's, Chisolm said. The turn-around happened \"\"mostly through motivation and talking to people and getting people to work as a team.\"\" Chisholm recalled Cain's first speech to the entire company as one of the \"\"most charismatic\"\" he ever heard. Cain included a copy of the speech in his 1999 book, Speak as a Leader. \"\"Sixty days ago I came to Godfather's with a curiosity about what I would find. I had already accepted my newly bestowed responsibilities even before I stepped foot on Nebraska soil and before I met or knew anyone or anything about Godfather's. … Sixty days ago, I came to Godfather's anxious to tackle a situation considered by some of our external constituencies to be irreversible. I came without a golden parachute because I never entertained the idea that the situation was irreversible. I came committed to prove the skeptics wrong because I have a personal, fundamental belief in the power of human determination. I came to Godfather's believing in you even before I met you. I challenge you to commit and believe in yourself and Godfather's pizza as a system.\"\" Two years after Cain was named chief executive officer, Pillsbury decided to get out of the pizza business and sell Godfather’s. Cain and his management team decided to buy the chain in a leveraged buyout for an undisclosed sum. Cain left the position in 1996 when he went to work for the National Restaurant Association. Cain now says of his time at the pizza chain, \"\"When I became president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, it was supposed to go bankrupt . . . We turned it around with common sense business principles.\"\" Our ruling A thorough review of business records and interviews with executives who worked with Cain show that the chain was widely considered troubled when he arrived. It's a slight exaggeration to say it was supposed to go bankrupt. But from all accounts, Cain's performance as CEO is widely considered a success.\"",
            "output": [
                "When I became president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, it was supposed to go bankrupt . . . We turned it around with common-sense business principles."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-31e3962dcf3b46d6971e0e2a8d12aa95",
            "input": "Lothar Wieler’s comments came as RKI data on Sunday showed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany had risen to 52,547 and 389 people had died of the disease there. “We cannot rule out that we will have more patients than ventilators in this country ... Of course, we must expect that the capacities will not be sufficient,” Wieler told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said earlier this week that the biggest difficulty facing its health service was a shortage of ventilators and masks — a problem that has dogged hospitals since the start of the outbreak. Compared to other countries hit by the pandemic, Germany has a low mortality rate among coronavirus patients. “This is primarily because we are testing so many people,” Wieler told the paper, adding that the large number of tests means that Germany has many cases in its statistics of younger people suffering only mild symptoms. Initial cases of the disease were mainly among people who contracted it outside Germany — for example on skiing holidays, suggesting those affected were fitter and more active. But the death toll could spike if the virus starts to spread in hospitals and retirement homes, Wieler said. “We are still at the beginning of the wave, and I can only urge everyone to take the pandemic very seriously,” Wieler said, adding that it will not be possible to assess the impact of the adopted measures until Easter at the earliest. China, where the coronavirus started, says it has largely contained domestic transmission but is cracking down on travel to the country to avoid imported cases fanning a second wave of infections. “The disease is a pandemic, it comes in waves ... Germany, too, will probably be affected by a second wave of corona,” Wieler said, adding that once new infections come down, the shutdown could be eased. “Unfortunately we do not yet know exactly where the threshold for (being able to relax some measures) lies.”  More than 662,700 people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to a Reuters tally.",
            "output": [
                "German health institute warns pandemic could overstretch system: paper."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e1dbba8ee9fe4bd2a36f3709b4ad890f",
            "input": "Duck droppings from the central Dutch province tested positive for the highly contagious H5 strain of the disease, the deputy economic affairs minister wrote in a letter to parliament. “Based on this information I am considering follow-up measures,” deputy minister Sharon Dijksma wrote. Dutch authorities said earlier on Monday they will slaughter 50,000 birds at a poultry farm after bird flu was discovered nearby. Separate testing indicated that farm infections, which have led to the culling of around 300,000 birds at four locations, were not all from the same source, the letter said. The H5N8 strain of bird flu detected at the farms has never been founded in humans. It has led to the destruction of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, after an outbreak earlier this year. A government statement said tests had confirmed an outbreak of the H5N8 strain at one farm in the western municipality of Zoeterwoude, where 28,000 laying hens were ordered destroyed on Sunday. A cull at a nearby farm announced on Monday was a precautionary measure, it said. Animal health authorities are testing poultry at other farms in the area. Transport restrictions were imposed on the sector two weeks ago that have hit around 2,000 poultry businesses. The Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of eggs and the largest exporter of poultry meat in the European Union. Some experts believe that wild birds migrating from Asia carried the disease to Europe, where it infected flocks in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.",
            "output": [
                "Dutch discover bird flu in wild ducks, cull continues."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6ac6b089023040c4a42d134165b8111d",
            "input": "His bout with depression reached its nadir in 2014 after a second DUI arrest. That’s when the most decorated Olympian of all time checked himself into a rehabilitative center in a desperate effort to make sense of it all. “When I was in my room and not wanting to talk to anybody for a number of days and not wanting to be alive, I wanted to see what other roads I could take to see if there was help,” Phelps recalled. The treatment he received — and continues to receive — charted his post-Olympic course. “I know it’s something that changed my life and saved my life and allowed me to be able to be where I am today, enjoying the platform of talking about something that’s so important,” Phelps told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. Because he is willing to share his story of depression and raise awareness of mental health issues, Phelps was given the fifth annual Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion on Tuesday night in Boston. After participating in four Olympic Games and collecting 28 medals, including 23 gold, Phelps has dedicated his time and energy to promoting the importance of water safety and advocating for the de-stigmatization of mental health problems through the Michael Phelps Foundation. “When I first really opened up about the struggles that I had in ’15, obviously I dreamed of being able to get more publicity to this and to really share my journey and have other people share their journeys with me as well,” Phelps said. “Honestly, I never thought it would be as big as this, but it’s been a true dream to be able to watch the growth that mental health has taken, almost being at center stage.” To say this endeavor has been fulfilling is an understatement. “Through this, if I can save one life, two lives, five lives, a thousand, a million, to me that’s so much more important than winning a gold medal,” he said. The 33-year-old Phelps believes his bout with depression is a story that many can share, including CEOs and other retired athletes. After accomplishing every goal he set for himself, what was left to do? “Probably my first real depression spell was after 2004, then the next big one was after 2008,” he said. “When you set out to be an Olympian, your whole life is put on hold. All the eggs are in one basket. I would say 2004, 2008, 2012, partly after ’16 (all Olympic years) I’ve dealt with pretty severe depression spells. I was kind of lost at that point.” The Baltimore native is in a far better frame of mind now. “To have my wife (Nicole Johnson), who’s always by my side, two amazing little boys at home and a third one on the way, I’m extremely thankful of the support I’ve had to get me through these times,” Phelps said. The Ruderman Award is given to individuals who are passionate about providing opportunities for others. Phelps certainly fits that description. “Michael Phelps is a unique leader who has used his fame and status as the greatest swimmer of all time to challenge our society to remove stigma surrounding mental health,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “For me, this award means everything because this is where my passion is and the next chapter of my life is really heading,” Phelps said. “We’re kind of scratching the surface of what can be done, and I’m looking forward to continuing this journey and accomplishing some of the goals that I have — de-stigmatizing mental health and just getting the point across that it’s OK to not be OK.” ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-Sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports",
            "output": [
                "Phelps honored for honesty on mental health, helping others."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-67ad08486f0b48f9a805bec82ddffcef",
            "input": "The healthcare conglomerate said it will include both the list price of a product - the price before any rebates or discounts to insurers or pharmacy benefit managers - as well as potential out-of-pocket costs that patients will pay. The move, announced in a statement on J&J’s website, won swift praise from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Last May, Azar’s office released a blueprint for reducing the cost of drug prices, which included a proposal to require disclosure of list prices in TV ads for drugs. “We commend Johnson & Johnson for recognizing the value of informing consumers about list prices and for doing so voluntarily. We call on other manufacturers to follow their lead,” Azar said in a statement. Trump made lowering the cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers a central issue of the 2016 presidential campaign and emphasized it again in his State of the Union Address this week. Ads for the blood thinner Xarelto, J&J’s most widely prescribed medicine, will be the first television spot to include pricing information, the company said. The treatment used to prevent blood clots costs about $450 to $540 a month. Congress has increased its scrutiny of U.S. drug pricing  since Democrats took over control of the House of Representatives in January, while pressure is also coming from the Republican-led Senate. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the committee, on Monday invited executives from seven pharmaceutical companies, including J&J, to testify at a Feb. 26 hearing on rising drug prices.",
            "output": [
                "J&J becomes first drugmaker to add prices to television ads."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc91496758914ed3ac24e09ae333f93c",
            "input": "Dubbed “Operation Double Helix,” the crackdown targeted telemedicine companies, doctors and labs, in a joint effort by the Justice Department , the FBI, U.S. attorneys’ offices, and the Health and Human Services inspector general. Thirty-five people were charged around the country. The alleged fraud flourished at a time when many people are getting DNA tests to trace back their family heritage. Fraudsters preyed on people’s fears of harboring genetic markers for cancer. However, genetic testing is not routinely used to screen for cancer. “A decade ago, it would have given Medicare beneficiaries pause if someone wanted to get a swab from their cheek of their saliva,” said Shimon Richmond, who heads the inspector general’s investigative division . “Today people know and recognize what (genetic testing) is, and they think ‘I can get that done, and I can get it done for free and find out if I have health issues that I need to address.’” It’s a bad decision, said Richmond. Not only does it put the patient’s Medicare ID in the hands of fraudsters who can then keep reselling it for illicit purposes, but it can potentially compromise unique details of an individual’s make-up. Another downside: Medicare might deny future coverage for genetic testing when it’s really needed, since the patient’s record would show such an analysis was already done. Patients should only have genetic testing if their own doctor orders it, officials said. The alleged scheme worked like this: Officials said a telemarketing or in-person “recruiter” would convince a Medicare enrollee to take a genetic test, assuring them that the program would pay the full cost. The patient would provide their Medicare information. A doctor in league with the fraudsters would approve the test, and collect a kickback from the recruiter company. A lab participating in the scheme would run the test, bill Medicare, and share payments collected from the government with the recruiter. Bills to Medicare connected with the scam typically ranged from $7,000 to $12,000, Richmond said, with some much higher. In many cases the patient never got a report back, or the results provided were incomprehensible. Medicare paid out hundreds of millions of dollars before authorities detected the fraud and moved in. There was no single organization behind the fraud. Friday’s operation targeted defendants in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, the Justice Department said. Nine doctors were among those charged. Others included owners of telemedicine companies and testing labs. Medicare enrollee Linda Morris of Parker City, Indiana, said she was roped in at a conference on aging well. The retired high school math and journalism teacher got her cheek swabbed by one of the many health vendors at the event. “Their ploy was, ‘Get a mouth swab and we can analyze how well your system synthesizes the drugs you are taking,’” she said. “It never crossed my mind there was anything wrong with this.” Then her Medicare statements started coming in, showing charges as high as $33,000. The program paid almost $10,000. Morris said she was never billed, and was never sent results. When she looked up the address for the test vendor it was “a house on a back road.” “I feel stupid, and in the meantime, I’m furious,” Morris said. Health fairs, church events, and senior centers are like magnets for the fraudsters, officials said. Dennie Krivokapich of Farmington, New Mexico, said he almost sent in his cheek swab following a telemarketing pitch. The retired accountant is a three-time cancer survivor and concerned about his future risk. The company sent him a kit, but the paperwork that came with it made him suspicious. “The physician who requested it was not my physician,” said Krivokapich. The marketing company kept calling him, until he blocked the number. Government-backed anti-fraud organizations known as the Senior Medicare Patrol have been trying to spread the word about genetic testing scams. Retired federal investigator Jennifer Trussell, a consultant to the groups, said fear of cancer is the scam artists’ most effective tool. “These are bad actors trying to take advantage of good medicine,” she said. Fraud against government health care programs is a pervasive problem that costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year. The true extent is unknown. Experts say part of the problem is that Medicare is required to pay medical bills promptly, which means money often goes out before potential frauds get flagged. Investigators call that “pay and chase.” In recent years, Medicare has tried to adapt techniques used by credit card companies to head off fraud. Law enforcement coordination has grown, with strike forces of federal prosecutors and agents, along with state counterparts, specializing in health care investigations.",
            "output": [
                "Feds crack Medicare gene test fraud that peddled cheek swabs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-75bc9eb4dd5547e9b09cd6cc81de1376",
            "input": "\"Unemployment payments have been a big point of concern in Wisconsin since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites were laid off or furloughed due to the health crisis, putting intense pressure on the state’s unemployment insurance system. And since March 2020, a backlog of unpaid unemployment claims has led to Wisconsinites facing difficult choices when it comes to paying rent, car payments and other bills. As people wait -- some for more than three months -- Republican lawmakers and others have criticized the state Department of Workforce Development, the agency responsible for paying unemployment benefits. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, is one of them. In a June 9, 2020 Facebook post, Vos included an image that listed all 50 states with Wisconsin as the last one to start paying out federal unemployment compensation benefits under the CARES Act, which was signed by President Donald Trump at the end of March. In the image, Wisconsin is listed as starting to make federal PUC payments on April 29, 2020, just behind Connecticut, which is listed as starting its payments three days earlier. At the top: Illinois, listed as starting April 6, 2020 -- more than three weeks before Wisconsin. PUC stands for Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, though most may know this as the extra payments -- generally $600 -- offered by the federal government. Is Vos right, that Wisconsin residents were the last to get those payments? When asked for backup, Vos’ office provided a link to a study by the Hamilton Project, part of the Brookings Institute, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit research group . That study is the genesis of the list Vos shared, and reflects the same results. The study -- and Vos’ list -- specifically focuses on the PUC payments, but there is another program to add to our alphabet soup: The PUA, or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Those payments are available to people who wouldn’t normally qualify for unemployment. While Wisconsin was the final state to start making the PUC payments, the same study showed the state fared better on the PUA ones. The state began processing those applications April 21, 2020, with payments starting a week later -- much earlier than some states. On those payments, Nevada came in last, not processing applications until mid-May, according to the study. Wisconsin ranked nearer to the top of that list, with the earliest processing dates starting on April 13 in Alabama and Texas. Ben Jedd, communications director for the state Department of Workforce Development, acknowledged the state was last to make the enhanced unemployment payments. He blamed the state’s old computer system, as has Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Jedd also said the delay was caused, in part, by the timing of action by Vos and other Republican Legislative leaders in scheduling a vote to suspend a one-week waiting period typically required for newly unemployed Wisconsinites. In late May, Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly didn’t immediately schedule a floor session to take up a package backed by Evers, which included waiving the waiting period. Instead, Republicans waited three weeks for the session, causing the state to miss out on $25 million from the CARES Act to help pay for unemployment benefits. \"\"The reason DWD was the last to pay FPUC is the length of time it took to program our COBOL software and the fact that we had to wait for the legislation repealing the waiting week to be passed to complete programming for that change before we could begin,\"\" Jedd said. He also noted Wisconsin fared better on the PUA program. But that program applies to far fewer people, and the image shared by Vos makes clear that the last-in-the-nation ranking applies to the PUC payments. Vos claimed Wisconsin was the last state to pay out COVID-related federal unemployment money. He is on target about that, but the claim fails to note two important factors: Delays by Republicans played a role in the poor showing by Wisconsin, and the state fared better when it came to payments from a related federal program. Our definition for  is \"\"The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.\"\" That fits here.\"",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin was the last state to start paying COVID-related federal unemployment benefits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5a0159cd28e24a73a7ac10a5cad99a77",
            "input": "During the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic of 2020, many Americans first became acquainted with the phrase “social distancing,” a term referring to the practice of people avoiding gathering in groups and maintaining physical space between themselves in public settings (in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19). The words “isolation” and “quarantine” also saw an increase in usage during the pandemic, but although they are often used synonymously, they have distinctly different meanings, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained on its website: Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick. Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. Thus, persons who have contracted COVID-19 and are staying at home in order to avoid spreading the illness to others are properly said to be self-isolating rather than self-quarantining. Nonetheless, the common use of “quarantine” during the pandemic got some people wondering where that word came from, a question one meme attempted to answer:  The explanation offered in this meme is largely correct, although in its brevity it omits some of the more interesting etymological background. The roots of “quarantine” lay in the multiple outbreaks of bubonic plague (popularly known as the “Black Death“) that hit Europe beginning in 1347 and killed an estimated one-third of the population. According to a 2002 article published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, city officials around the Mediterranean seaport of Ragusa mandated in 1377 that persons who sought to enter the city after traveling from plague areas must first remain in isolation for a 30-day period known as a “trentino” (from the Italian word “trenta,” meaning “thirty”):",
            "output": [
                "\"The word \"\"quarantine\"\" stems from the Italian word for \"\"forty,\"\" representing the number of days persons potentially exposed to communicable diseases had to remain in isolation.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-8a0416f690494af0a45465ed42c6591a",
            "input": "Biogen had announced in March that it would terminate two large clinical trials of aducanumab because they were likely to fail. Within weeks, a group of company researchers set out to understand what went wrong. As they studied data from a larger pool of patients who received the drug, they began to question that conclusion. In the months that followed, Biogen kept its own trial investigators and committee overseeing the trial in the dark about the possibility that some patients had benefited from high doses of the therapy, researchers told Reuters. The company said it brought in outside Alzheimer’s experts and statisticians to help it parse the new findings, and sought feedback from U.S. regulators on whether it could be considered for approval. The result, made public on Tuesday, was an astounding reversal. Biogen will seek U.S. approval for the therapy early next year, once again raising hopes for patients suffering from the brain-wasting disease. Biogen shares gained 27% on investor hopes for a multibillion-dollar blockbuster. The risks for Biogen remain high. Wall Street analysts cast doubt on whether Biogen’s analysis would pass muster with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration without an additional years-long trial to confirm the findings. Several Alzheimer’s researchers questioned why one trial appeared to succeed, while another with the same design failed. Many experts say they are reserving judgment until Biogen presents more detailed data in December. Company executives are reluctant to characterize their interactions with the FDA, but said they worked closely with the agency until they were confident in the findings. Biogen was only willing to move forward with seeking approval for aducanumab after meeting twice with FDA. The final decision was made immediately after the second of those meetings, which took place on Monday, Biogen officials said. For the FDA “to say it’s reasonable to file an application after two extensive discussions with them, formal meetings as well as a number of informal discussions, I think it’s significant,” Biogen research chief Al Sandrock said in an interview. Biogen’s earlier decision to terminate the trials was viewed as the final nail in the coffin for the so-called “amyloid hypothesis” - the theory that removing a protein associated with Alzheimer’s could stave off this fatal form of dementia. Many similar drugs had previously failed. Globally, 131 million people are expected to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s by 2050, up from 50 million today. Any successful treatment could be worth $10 billion or more in annual sales, industry analysts say. The March announcement also raised concerns about a second therapy, BAN2401, that works in a similar way. Biogen is partnering with Japan’s Eisai on both drugs. Ivan Cheung, Eisai’s chief executive, said in an interview that he expects aducanumab’s revival will energize enrollment in a late-stage study of BAN2401, with results expected in 2022. Patients taking the highest dose of BAN2401 showed some encouraging results in a midstage trial last year. “That’s why in the Phase III trial, we are only studying the highest dose,” Cheung said. The two aducanumab trials - Engage and Emerge - started a month apart in 2015. Each had about 1,640 patients. As they progressed, the company made changes in the trial that expanded the number of patients who received a higher dose. As part of a planned “futility analysis,” outside monitors reviewed half of the data as of December 2018 to determine whether the drug had a reasonable chance of success. “So many of us felt that this might be the drug that would cross the finish line,” said Dr. Sharon Cohen, director of the Toronto Memory program, who led one of the studies. In March, she received the answer: the therapy looked like a dud. However, patients continued to receive treatment in the interim. Cohen believes the fact that some patients got a higher dose for longer helped swing results in the Emerge study, which ultimately showed a benefit. A month after announcing the failure, Biogen began analyzing results from both trials, including additional data from patients who later completed treatment. By the time Biogen had its first FDA meeting in mid-June, the company knew that one of the studies had succeeded, and understood that dose was important, said Samantha Budd Haeberlein, who runs Biogen’s Alzheimer’s program. “We did a great deal of analysis in close contact with the FDA to really understand what occurred in these trials,” Haeberlein said. “It took several months to work through that.”  During that entire stretch, Cohen said she and fellow investigators were waiting to hear why the drug had failed. They expected a presentation in July during the Alzheimer’s Association annual meeting, but none came. “I was completely unaware of what had been discovered until last Sunday,” said Dr. Anton Porsteinsson, a principal investigator for the trials from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Porsteinsson said Biogen asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before sharing the new analysis. Cohen said she first reviewed the new data on Monday in what she called a “top secret” meeting. She said the company wanted a few investigators to hear the findings ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, but had concerns about insider trading. Many still question why only one trial succeeded. “The signal from the positive trial was kind of convincing,” said Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s expert Dr. Ronald Petersen, who has been a paid adviser for Biogen. It showed a 23% reduction in a key measure of cognitive decline. “But the other study, which was meant to be identical, didn’t show it,” he said. “That’s the challenge there.”",
            "output": [
                "Austin is number one in Texas in startups, venture capital and patents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d79850fb75db4718b4a0c9c62a0c3cb8",
            "input": "UCB shares dropped as much as 18.4 percent to 21.60 euros,  their lowest level since August 2003, as investors took a dim  view of the latest in a series of setbacks to hit the group. This month, U.S. health officials warned its prescription  cough medicine Tussionex could be fatal for young children if  taken frequently, though it is not approved for those aged  under six. UCB has also yet to convince regulators its would-be  blockbuster Cimzia should be cleared for treating the bowel  disorder Crohn’s disease. The European Medicines Agency on  Thursday reaffirmed its view that Cimzia should not be  approved. Last year, UCB achieved net sales of 52 million euros  ($81.7 million) from Neupro, a relatively new product. “Depending on the resolution timeline of this issue, the  full effect on UCB’s business is not yet known. Therefore,  UCB’s 2008 financial outlook is under review and will be  updated as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement. UCB said the recall decision was not the result of  contamination or toxicity but that the clinical performance of  some samples on the market was not as required. “As a result, there will be an out-of-stock situation with  Neupro in the United States in late April 2008. In the European  Union and most other regions, Neupro supply is sufficient,” it  continued. A spokeswoman said it was not clear how long UCB would be  out of stock in the U.S. and likewise when it would be able to  give a new 2008 outlook. KBC Securities said in a research note it had reduced its  forecast for Neupro sales this year to 88 million euros from  110 million, as well as its peak annual sales estimates and cut  its target price to 33.50 euros from 35.00 euros. “This disruption comes at a crucial time in the launch  phase of this important franchise,” Deutsche Bank wrote, adding  Neupro’s launch for restless legs could be significantly  delayed by regulators’ insistence that quality problems be  resolved. Neupro, delivered to patients in the form of patches stuck  on the skin, is approved to treat early-stage Parkinson’s in  the U.S. and early and late stages of the disease in Europe. The patches were launched in Europe in 2006 and in the U.S.  in July 2007. It filed for approval to treat restless legs syndrome in  the United States and Europe in December. UCB last month forecast revenue would decrease to about 3.4  billion euros in 2008 from 3.6 billion last year. Recurring  core profit (EBITDA) would be about 650 million euros and net  profit was expected to exceed 100 million.",
            "output": [
                "UCB recalls Parkinson's patch, reviews 2008 outlook."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c8df5638183f45e1a737a2b981b9ebd0",
            "input": "\"U.S. senators asked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley about U.N. peacekeeping missions during her confirmation hearing to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations. They were especially concerned about the war-torn nation of South Sudan, but Haley tackled peacekeeping more broadly. Haley said there were red flags. \"\"It's been devastating to see the exploitation, the fraud, abuse that's happening,\"\" Haley said Jan. 18. \"\"We have to acknowledge that some countries are contributing troops because they're making money off of them. So if they are not willing to make sure that they are punishing the violators, then we actually need to pull that country's troops out, because they're harming the peace process.\"\" Haley was referring to cases where peacekeeping troops sexually abused the very people they were sent to protect. The most recent case involved soldiers from France, Chad and Equatorial Guinea. But it was her assertion about countries making money off of peacekeeping that caught our eye. We took a closer look. The experts we reached agreed that yes, there is a financial incentive for certain nations. On the other hand, there was equally broad agreement that money isn’t the only factor. A little background on peacekeeping Under the banner of the United Nations, countries provide troops and equipment to troubled corners of the world to help them bridge the gap between conflict and stability. Right now, the U.N. has 16 operations, and nine of them are in Africa. Between troops, police and military observers, about 100,000 personnel make up the global peacekeeping force at a cost of about $1.9 billion for the year. Who sends the most troops? Ethiopia (8,165), Pakistan (6,774), India (6,752), Bangladesh (5,635) and Rwanda (5,125). Those five countries provide nearly a third of all peacekeepers. Why they send troops Money is a factor. Brett Schaefer, a Heritage Foundation analyst, told us the countries with the largest participation tend to be middle- or lower-income nations. \"\"Their payments to troops are low, and the amount they get from the U.N. is generally above that,\"\" Schaefer said. But he noted that gaining field experience, training and international prestige are powerful drivers too. Paul Williams at George Washington University also said the money should be put into perspective: \"\"It is very rarely, if ever the case, that this is the sole factor behind a state's decision to contribute troops.\"\" For Bruce Jones at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based academic center, India proves that point. \"\"It’s one of the most important contributors to U.N. peacekeeping,\"\" Jones said. \"\"But it no longer makes money from peacekeeping. It now loses money, but it's still doing it. So that should tell us something.\"\" If there’s a red flag to be waved with the U.N.’s African peacekeeping missions, it might have more to do with complex regional politics. Dyan Mazurana, a professor of international affairs at Tufts University, said some countries sending troops have a clear self-interest in the fate of their neighboring states. \"\"They are often playing a blurry role of peacekeepers, peace enforcement and being parties to the conflict, such as supporting various armed parties, selling weapons or extracting and profiting from natural resources,\"\" Mazurana said. None of the experts we reached found any connection between sexual assault and the payments to countries for the troops they send. They gave the U.N. credit for acting more swiftly to crack down on abuse, but they also said continued pressure is needed to ensure that the perpetrators actually face punishment. We reached Haley’s office but never received any comment on her statement. Our ruling Haley said that \"\"some countries\"\" contribute peacekeeping troops because they make money off the U.N. payments. Every expert we reached agreed that for some nations, the financial payoff is a factor. However, they all said that money was not the sole driver, and that countries gained military training and experience from the role they played. Haley offered an accurate but limited comment on peacekeeping troops.\"",
            "output": [
                "Some countries are contributing (peacekeeping) troops because they're making money off of them."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bbf39a5bc009459099875871f1f77e5e",
            "input": "Costs of the MRIdian on-table adaptive radiotherapy in comparison to conventional radiotherapy are not discussed. Given that it is new and more personalized than current treatment options it’s likely to be correspondingly more expensive. Certainly, more frequent MRIs would be very costly. The release provides exact information about increased survival rates in the cohorts of individuals treated with the adaptive versus the convention radiotherapy techniques. “The cohort receiving a higher dose demonstrated a near doubling of median overall survival (Kaplan-Meier estimated median overall survival of 27.8 months compared to 14.8 months).” The news release provides specific results regarding experiences of both groups with regard to toxicity from radiotherapy. We appreciate that the headline of this release starts with the words “early data” because this report deals with preliminary and retrospective research. It was not a clinical trial. Instead, results are based on retrospectively comparing treatment of two groups of patients at four institutions. Respective comparisons can’t account for a host of factors that might influence results. At the end of the news  release readers are told that on the basis of these promising results a clinical trial is being planned. With five-year survival rates of 1 to 14%, it would be hard to engage in disease mongering about pancreatic cancer. This research was sponsored by ViewRay, the company that developed the MRIdian system, and the release does a good job calling attention to this. However, according to the published study, at least one of the co-authors received honoraria from ViewRay Medical Systems. Since this was not included in the release we’re rating this criteria Not Satisfactory. This study was all about comparing alternatives, so it scores Satisfactory on that criterion. It would have helped readers if alternatives would have been described more in laymen’s terms. The news release notes that the next step is a prospective clinical trial and that tells savvy readers that this treatment strategy has a long road of testing ahead. Still, we think the release could have done a better job clarifying that this therapy is not yet ready for patients, outside of the clinical trial. A study that suggests a doubling of median survival is sure to capture the attention of patients newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. These patients and their families are closely aware of the glum statistics for the disease. This is a practical concern that the release should have touched on. This technology is indeed novel and unique to ViewRay, though it is becoming available in more and more cancer treatment centers. No unjustifiable language was identified in the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Early data shows nearly 2x prolonged median survival for inoperable pancreatic cancer"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e081a7b003ab4b649892a4217f661457",
            "input": "Chinese health authorities did not immediately confirm the report from state broadcaster CCTV. Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness. The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, CCTV said. Health authorities ruled out SARS and MERS as possible causes over the weekend. As of Sunday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said 59 people in the central Chinese city were being treated for the respiratory illness. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Eight patients were discharged Wednesday, Xinhua state news agency reported. They had not exhibited any pneumonia symptoms for several days. Chinese researchers used a sample from one patient to conduct gene sequencing of the virus, said Gauden Galea, a World Health Organization representative to China. “Preliminary identification of a novel virus in a short period of time is a notable achievement,” Galea said in a statement, adding that it “demonstrates China’s increased capacity to manage new outbreaks.” Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travelers to Wuhan. Since the end of 2019, Hong Kong public hospitals have reported 38 patients who presented with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms after recent visits to Wuhan. Twenty-one of those patients have since been discharged, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said Wednesday. No serious cases have been found to be related to those in Wuhan, said Hong Kong health chief Sophia Chan. None of the Hong Kong patients had visited the seafood market in Wuhan where some of the mainland Chinese patients worked. The South China Seafood City food market will be suspended and investigated, Wuhan’s health commission said. A Chinese woman who works for a South Korean company was diagnosed Tuesday with pneumonia, according to the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said. Meanwhile, Taiwan authorities said Wednesday that they were quarantining a patient who fell ill with flu symptoms on Jan. 6, more than two weeks after the individual returned from a trip to Wuhan. The new illnesses had raised fears of a recurrence of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The disease first infected people in southern China in late 2002, and spread to more than two dozen countries. More than 8,000 people were sickened and nearly 800 died, but no cases have been reported since 2004. Another coronavirus causes MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, which started in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2012 and spread into about two dozen other countries. About 2,500 lab-confirmed cases have been reported, including more than 800 deaths, with cases continuing to be seen in recent years. On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a health alert advising physicians who treat patients with pneumonia-like illness to consider a possible link to the Chinese outbreak and to wear masks and take other precautions in treating patients who recently traveled to Wuhan. The CDC this week also advised U.S. travelers going to Wuhan to avoid animals and sick people and wash their hands often. ___ Stobbe reported from New York.",
            "output": [
                "Chinese report says illnesses may be from new coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4e1cdfd4f2df411eb45f06f6ab440890",
            "input": "Speaking to a statewide television audience Tuesday night, the state’s new Democratic governor outlined a broad agenda that includes protecting health-care coverage, tackling criminal-justice reform, ending cuts to higher education and embracing new gaming-related revenues. Beshear, who made support for public schools the hallmark of his successful 2019 campaign, said education is the key to breaking cycles of poverty in the state. He called for bipartisan cooperation on education and other issues as Kentucky embarks on a new era of divided government. “It’s time to come together, all of us, in support of public education,” he said. “This is a new opportunity, a new start with a new governor, where we can all pledge to lift up our communities by supporting and investing in our public schools. We can wipe the slate clean, and we can move forward in support of public education together.” Beshear said the budget plan he submits to the legislature later this month will include his campaign pledge for a $2,000 across-the-board pay raise for teachers. “These teachers deserve a raise,” he said. “They are on the front lines of every problem we face as a commonwealth — from family-member addiction, to hunger, to the need for better jobs. And right now, we face a teacher shortage that threatens the education of our children.” Beshear made no mention of his predecessor, former Gov. Matt Bevin, as he touted the need for a new era of civility. It was a contrast to his former Republican rival’s caustic brand of policies. The governor’s approximately 35-minute speech was greeted with polite applause throughout. Beshear pledged to “embrace” higher education as part of his “education-first budget.”″ He also promised to support fully funding the state’s public pension obligations — another big-ticket pledge. He urged lawmakers to take on the health-care issue as part of the road map for a brighter future for the state. “That requires that our Kentucky families don’t have to worry about losing health care coverage because of a preexisting condition,” he said. “I hear members of both parties say those very words. So this session, let’s pass a state law ensuring no one can lose coverage in this state, ever again, based on a preexisting condition.” He urged lawmakers to pass legislation to curb the costs of insulin to help the approximately 530,000 Kentuckians with diabetes. He also embraced legislation to end surprise medical billings. Beshear stressed the need for new revenues to meet the state’s growing needs, endorsing a sports betting bill already introduced. He made another long-shot pitch for legalizing casino gambling — a campaign pledge that appears to face strong resistance in the legislature. “Right now we are watching more than $500 million in gaming revenue go across the border to states like Indiana, Ohio and Illinois,” he said. “It’s time to stop that flow.”  Beshear urged lawmakers to pass criminal-justice reforms to reverse skyrocketing corrections costs that soak up money that could go for education and health care. Such a package should reduce prison populations, reduce repeat offending rates and provide “meaningful” addiction treatment, he said. It also needs to “consolidate and not expand our state prison institutions,” he said. The governor also called for equal pay for women and made a pitch to make Kentucky a leader in agriculture technology. He embraced speeding up the Mountain Parkway project in eastern Kentucky. The Tuesday evening event was the first of two major speeches the governor will deliver to lawmakers this month. Beshear will present his budget plans to lawmakers in late January. Kentucky entered an era of divided government  when Beshear was elected governor last year. He has stressed the need for civility as he and lawmakers work on state policy. The governor continued that theme Tuesday evening, telling lawmakers: “Let me be clear, every moment we focus on partisanship, every moment we focus on national divisions, we fail to address the reality before us.” That reality, he said, includes Kentucky’s dismal rankings in per-capita income, child abuse, education and disease rates,  The legislature’s top two leaders — House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers — later praised the governor’s tone but said his agenda ultimately will be decided by the details of his proposals. “I think at some point in time, we’re going to have to dispense with the pleasantries and talk about governing.” Osborne said. Stivers added: “It’s now time to start having real discussions about real problems and finding real solutions. And that will be the key to this, to see if his rhetoric will be matched by his actions.”",
            "output": [
                "Kentucky governor reaffirms support for teacher pay raise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a23182ea58c748cb8bb0645072501478",
            "input": "\"The article doesn't mention costs of angioplasty or costs of medications, which presumably must be taken for the rest of one's life. The article does mention that angioplasty is expensive, but does not provide real numbers or comparisons. The story provides absolute numbers of the primary endpoint over a 4-year period — \"\"17 percent of those given angioplasty and drugs and nearly 16 percent of those given drugs alone had either died, suffered another heart attack or developed heart failure — results considered to be statistically the same.\"\" The story states that there was a worrisome trend toward more heart attacks in people who received late angioplasty compared to those who received just medications, although the story also tells readers that this could have been a statistical fluke or due to chance. However, other harms of the procedure were not discussed, including risks of the procedure itself, including bleeding, infection, or emotional distress/anxiety. The article also does not discuss risks of the alternative, e.g. medications, which have side effects, costs, or inconvenience. But, the story does discuss the main harm found in the study, e.g. a trend toward increased heart attacks. The research is important because it is a randomized controlled trial and the first such trial to be conducted for the clinical situation of late angioplasty in people with few to no symptoms after their heart attack. The story tells readers that enrollment of patients was delayed because \"\"doctors were unwilling to risk randomly assigning patients to drug treatment alone,\"\" indirectly stating that the study was a randomized trial. While an astute reader could probably pick up that this was a randomized trial, this fact could have been clearer. In addition, there is little context around this being the first randomized trial for this clinical situation (as opposed to retrospective observational studies), although the story does tell readers that the results were surprising and that they could change guidelines. The story appropriately describes a heart attack, and more importantly, reinforces that early opening of the artery to restore blood flow to the heart after heart attack is still beneficial and that these results don't apply to that population or indeed the majority of people receiving angioplasties. No obvious disease mongering. The article provides an independent source of information from the chairman of the American Heart Association program committee that reviewed the research. The story also provides information from the director of the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, but tells readers that this organization largely funded the research, therefore disclosing potential conflicts of interest. The story tells readers that the alternative that was tested in the latest research was medications, including those to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, aspirin, and anti-clotting drugs. The story could have mentioned beta-blockers specifically, since the protective effect of drug treatment may come from this family of drugs, although this is not yet proven. And the story could have been clearer about the course of treatment, e.g. that these medications are generally taken for the rest of one's life. The story tells readers that the usual treatment for people suffering a heart attack is angioplasty, even for a subset of people who weren't treated right away (the study population)/  The article also tells readers that the tendency to perform angioplasty electively (3 to 28 days after the event) was so strong, that recruitment to the study was prolonged in order to find enough patients (and their doctors) willing to participate in the study. It's widely understood that angioplasty and standard drug therapy after heart attack are not new. The article provides independent sources of information not included in the press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study says late angioplasty futile"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d2fcfbd3b92141438ea297fc827332dc",
            "input": "The state’s health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced the death Friday and said Pennsylvania has also reported nine confirmed cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Health Department reported the death on Thursday to the federal agency. State officials aren’t disclosing publicly any other details about the death, such as where or when it occurred. Pennsylvania is also reporting 12 probable cases of vaping-related injury and looking into 63 other cases. The patients have suffered serious lung injuries and most have required hospitalization. Levine is reiterating a recommendation that people do not vape, particularly products that contain THC.",
            "output": [
                "Pennsylvania reports vaping death, investigating injuries."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7de4607666442d1b37481d9b4b8512a",
            "input": "\"The article states clearly that the procedure costs around $10,000. It would have been useful to add whether this includes the cost of multiple cycles of ovarian stimulation, which are often required. The article states that freezing an egg results in a pregnancy only 2 to 4 percent of the time, compared to 25 to 43 percent for typical in vitro fertilization. The article makes clear the procedure is invasive. It would have been useful to specify whether the invasive technique of extracting the eggs can lead to future difficulties with natural pregnancy, serious disability or death. It would have been useful to add that ovulation induction itself carries some risk and may need to be done multiple times. Since the report is a summary of an expert panel’s statement, it does not face the same obligations to describe medical evidence as a story based on a study. Nonetheless, the article usefully includes data drawn from the expert statement about the chances of getting pregnant with the egg-freezing method compared to typical fertility treatments. The article does not exaggerate the emotional consequences of infertility or childlessness. The article draws data from the report–on the likelihood of pregnancy from freezing eggs compared to fresh eggs and the number of births that have resulted from the procedure. But it would have been useful to add the phrase \"\"according to the report,\"\" to improve transparency. Quoting the head of the team that issued the report is necessary but not sufficient. Even in such a short piece, a brief statement from a practioner of the technique is required for balance. The article makes clear that typical IVF using freshly harvested eggs is the main option for women seeking to get pregnant with medical assistance. The article does not state whether egg freezing is available from all, most or just a few fertility treatment centers. It states only that \"\"many fertility clinics\"\" make claims about the effectiveness of egg freezing. The article makes no claims that egg freezing is novel–the implication is that \"\"rainy day\"\" use of the technique is still fairly rare, but growing and increasingly promoted. It seems that the story may have been triggered by the press release from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. But it does not quote the release, and it adds additional reporting.\"",
            "output": [
                "Egg storage untested as a fertility treatment, experts caution"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3d9038d880bd41b99f26c1a773337bb0",
            "input": "It’s true that a former   post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University questioned the safety   and effectiveness of flu vaccines in a scholarly article, but that view   isn’t widely accepted in the epidemiology field. Peter Doshi was a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University   School of Medicine when he published an   article in the   British Medical Journal in May 2013 titled “Influenza: Marketing Vaccine   by Marketing Disease.” Doshi argued in the article that flu vaccines   could be less beneficial and less safe than once believed, and that the   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has overstated the   threat of influenza. After his fellowship ended, Doshi became an   assistant professor of pharmaceutical health services at the University   of Maryland School of Pharmacy, according to the school’s   website. Doshi’s article gained widespread attention when the   website Newsmax Health   reported on it in May 2013. Still, Doshi’s views   are not widely accepted in the epidemiology field. In fact, Johns Hopkins University   requires that its medical staff receive flu vaccinations each fall. The school’s   website says the policy is for “the safety of our patients, trainees,   staff, faculty, physicians and students.”   Posted  10/23/14    Comments",
            "output": [
                " Reports have gone viral that a   scientist from Johns Hopkins University said flu vaccines aren’t as   effective as once thought and that studies used to promote widespread   vaccines are often low quality.      "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-30160ad256c84118ba0ed5b6cfdba590",
            "input": "\"While it could have been more detailed about the actual numbers involved, this story explained that the cost of palliative care is currently comprised primarily of fees for doctor visits. It could have noted that this is the only component of palliative care that is billable currently, and that other members of the interdisciplinary care team usually cannot bill, so the cost of their salaries/time is usually borne by the institution. This story is also the only one of the four we reviewed to directly explain that palliative care might reduce overall health care costs by reducing hospital stays, emergency treatments, and futile end-of-life care. Far from ideal, but a borderline satisfactory in our view. None of the other stories we reviewed even came close to matching this. Although the description of the survival benefit was accurate and other important outcomes were at least mentioned, the story provides relative — not absolute — differences in its reporting on depression scores. It notes that depression \"\"was less than half as common in the palliative care group\"\" compared with the standard care group. So to readers this could mean that depression was found in 2% vs. less than 1% of patients in the standard and palliative care groups — a trivial difference. As it turns out, depression was found in 38% of standard care patients vs. 16% of palliative care patients, which is a very robust finding. Providing the absolute numbers to readers would have allowed them to judge the importance of this finding for themselves. As with the competing coverage, we’ll rule this one not applicable since the harms of palliative care are thought to be minimal. On the positive side, this story did a good job of describing the experiment and its outcomes and explained that the study is \"\"one of the best tests yet of palliative care\"\" — which it is. However, this story, like much of the competing coverage, failed to make note of any limitations in the research. We especially think it should have challenged the assertion, made by an editorialist, that \"\"palliative care should be a routine part of managing any serious illness.\"\" We think it’s a stretch to draw that conclusion considering the limited evidence we have to support it so far. Soliciting a comment from someone outside the field of palliative medicine (a point addressed below under \"\"Sources\"\") may have yielded a counterpoint to this argument. No disease-mongering here. The story included multiple interviews with investigators and other experts and satisfies the criterion. However, we should point out that all of these sources could be loosely described as boosters for this particular study or palliative medicine in general. Two of the experts are the current and former presidents of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine–a professional group that obviously supports increased awareness and use of palliative care. The editorialists quoted are affiliated with the department of palliative medicine at a major medical center. This reporter clearly was not afraid to pick up the phone and talk to people–an instinct which we applaud. But we wish she had spoken to someone — an oncologist, surgeon or geriatrician outside of the palliative care field–more likely to provide a different, perhaps more cautious, perspective on the results. As noted in the competing reviews, the point of the study was to compare early palliative care with existing standard cancer treatment. However, the story could have provided more detail on the existing alternative – \"\"standard of care\"\" oncology care – which many have thought to be \"\"state of the art\"\". This story didn’t mention any of the barriers patients may face in obtaining access to palliative treatments–especially the specific type of care offered in this study. While there is a significant number of larger hospitals that offer inpatient palliative care consultation or services, many fewer offer outpatient palliative care services, which was the intervention in this study. Such an article may encourage cancer centers to initiate such services, but they do not often currently exist. This story did a good job of describing the palliative care offered in this study and how it differed from \"\"comfort care\"\" offered in the last few months of life. It accurately portrayed the novelty of the research. It is clear that this story didn’t rely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Study shows value of quality-of-life cancer care"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-96863d3e44f4422cbf8a62b2b8de4197",
            "input": "The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that Larimer County Department of Health and Environment announced it is the first confirmed case of rabies in a mammal other than a skunk this year. Rabies is most common in skunks and bats but will occasionally cross over into other species. So far this year, Larimer County has the highest confirmed rabies infections in animals across the state with 26 skunks confirmed with rabies. Health officials remind residents to have their animals, including livestock, vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian. This can prevent the spread of the infection to other animals and to humans and can prevent lengthy and costly quarantines if livestock or a pet encounters a rabid animal. ___ Information from: Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, http://www.reporterherald.com/",
            "output": [
                "Rabies found in steer in Larimer County."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-470e788ea46741449b9b3a3e69bd1d31",
            "input": "A bottle of prescription medication rests on a counter at a pharmacy in New York December 23, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Medical negligence cases in the United States are typically handled in civil court, with the victim or victim’s family seeking money damages from the doctor. In the case of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, prosecutors allege his negligence was so extreme that he should be charged with involuntary manslaughter and punished with prison time. Fatal overdoses from prescription painkillers more than tripled to 13,800 in the United States in 1999 through 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consequently, more doctors are finding themselves in the sights of prosecutors as states like Florida and Georgia confront the growth in abuse of prescription drugs. The prosecution of doctors is seen as more effective than bringing cases against their patients. There were just over two dozen reported criminal cases against doctors for malpractice in the two decades from 1981 to 2001, according to Westlaw research by James Filkins, a doctor and lawyer who has written about the criminal prosecution of physicians. Replicating Filkins’ research, Reuters tallied around 37 reported criminal cases in the decade from 2001 to 2011, with most recent cases against doctors for over-prescribing painkillers and other controlled substances. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration information suggests a similar trend. For 2003, the agency reported 15 physician arrests that resulted in convictions. By 2008, the most recent year with comprehensive data, the number had grown to 43. While the number of criminal malpractice cases is not large, the American Medical Association has cautioned that the trend has interfered with the practice of medicine. Civil prosecutions for monetary damages were sufficient to hold doctors accountable, the organization said. In 1995, the group adopted a resolution opposing the “attempted criminalization of health care decision-making especially as represented by the current trend toward the criminalization of malpractice.”   The trend is, in part, due to an expansion in white-collar criminal law and drug control laws to include unintentional violations by doctors, said Diane Hoffmann, a law professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. Many recent cases have been brought under the Controlled Substances Act, enacted in 1970, and similar state laws. To establish guilt under the act, the prosecution must prove the physician knowingly and intentionally prescribed the medication outside “the usual course of professional practice” or not for a “legitimate medical purpose.”   Prosecutors faced this question in the much-publicized case against Anna Nicole Smith’s physician, Sandeep Kapoor, on charges of violating the controlled substances law. The case hinged on whether Kapoor believed in good faith there was a medical purpose for providing the celebrity with an array of prescription drugs that led to her overdose and death in 2007, according to his lawyer Ellyn Garofalo. The jury acquitted Kapoor last year. In the Michael Jackson case, California prosecutors are not charging Murray with violating a controlled substances law. Propofol, the anesthetic Murray is accused of giving to Jackson, is not a controlled substance. The drug, administered intravenously, is used to induce anesthesia and has rarely been abused as a narcotic. Prosecutors instead allege Murray breached the standard of care when he administered the anesthetic to Jackson at home and that his gross negligence caused the singer’s death at age 50. Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted. Murray also faces a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s father. The legal standards in civil and criminal negligence cases are similar. Jackson’s family and prosecutors must prove Murray deviated from accepted medical practices, although the standard for a criminal conviction is “much greater” than for civil cases, said attorney Ed Chernoff, who represents Murray. Chernoff declined to discuss the Murray case specifically. Observers said one tactic he might take is to argue Jackson was addicted to sedatives and painkillers and could have given himself the fatal dose of propofol when Murray was out of the room. Prosecutors will have to prove Murray’s conduct actually caused Jackson’s death. Florida, which has a reputation as the “epicenter” of prescription drug abuse according to state Attorney General Pam Bondi, has indicted dozens of doctors and clinic operators for unnecessarily prescribing pills. The Drug Enforcement Administration says 28 of its 226 successful convictions of doctors — around 12 percent — were in Florida. Bondi and the state’s governor have launched a strike force to address the problem and, under a new law, Florida doctors generally can no longer dispense pills at clinics. “Our marching orders are that we will not turn down a pill case coming into this office,” said state prosecutor Nick Cox. It is more efficient to pursue the source of the pills — the prescribing doctors — than patients abusing the drugs, he said. Critics say the scorched earth assault glosses over tough questions doctors face, especially physicians who treat patients with chronic pain. Because pain is subjective, doctors must rely on the accounts of patients who are sometimes addicted and seeking drugs. “Doctors are not supposed to be law enforcement agents. They’re supposed to believe their patients,” said Hoffmann, the law professor. Murray’s lawyer Chernoff said it is a mistake to prosecute doctors who are not running pill mills but legitimately trying to help their patients. He blames the trend for having a “chilling effect” on the medical profession as doctors change treatment plans out of fear of facing time in prison.",
            "output": [
                "More U.S. doctors facing charges over drug abuse."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b9cf5d40d2db45deae36ab967b874ad6",
            "input": "Australia has avoided the high numbers of coronavirus casualties reported in other countries around the world after closing its borders and imposing strict “social distancing” measures for the past month. Restaurants, bars and other “non-essential” businesses have closed and public gatherings of more than two people have been banned under the threat of fines and even prison - measures that are expected to double the unemployment rate by mid-year. In response, the daily growth rate of reported new infections has steadied in the low percentage single digits, from about 25% several weeks ago, for a total of about 6,500 infections, including 63 deaths. Still, Morrison said the rules would not be relaxed until national testing capacity has been increased, contact tracing of known COVID-19 cases expanded and a response to any future outbreak fully prepared. “We want to be very clear with Australians, baseline restrictions we have in place at the moment, there are no plans to change those for the next four weeks,” Morrison told reporters. Morrison later told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that coronavirus testing may be expanded to include random sampling. An eventual staggered relaxation on restrictions was likely, he said, with curbs on manufacturing and retail industries being  eased first. Morrison has in recent days pushed state and territory leaders to re-open schools. Morrison has cited medical advice that children carry a low risk of transmitting the virus as he advocated for the re-opening schools to help boost the economy, which is headed for its first recession in three decades.. However, some leaders of the eight states and territories - which administer schools - have departed from that policy and ordered schools to remain shut to all but the children of “essential” workers, including those in the health and grocery sectors. In Victoria, the second most populous state where officials have told parents to keep children at home if possible, just 3% of children attended school on Tuesday, the first day after the Easter break. Students in other states and territories remain on mid-term vacation. An agreement on the issue was not reached at a meeting on Thursday of the national cabinet, made up of state and federal leaders, formed to tackle the crisis. Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said Australia’s choice of a “suppression” strategy, as opposed to a full shutdown of public life as adopted by neighbour New Zealand, could free the country of the virus without hefty economic penalties. “We don’t feel the need to hold the country very seriously in lockdown until we have no cases,” Murphy said. “If that happens with the measures we are doing now, that would be fantastic.”  In Sydney, police entered the Villawood immigration detention centre to end rooftop and hunger strike protests begun by some refugee inmates on Saturday. Three detainees who refused to come down from the roof were arrested and taken into custody. Detainees were angry the government has refused pleas to release them from the centre amid the health crisis and denied them testing. While some countries have released some non-violent detainees from prisons and detention centres, Australia has so far refused to do so. (This story was refiled to fix “contract” to “contact” in paragraph 5)",
            "output": [
                "Australia to retain coronavirus curbs for at least another four weeks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7f5c7dec557e4616adf87d42c86ef9e4",
            "input": "Herbert added that President Donald Trump’s messaging sometimes distracts from the administration’s strong policy. During his monthly news conference at KUED-TV on Wednesday, the Republican governor said while he is open to discussing stronger gun control measures, legislators need to consider how mental illness and violent video games contribute to mass shootings. Herbert’s response echoed calls made by Trump after the deadly mass shootings in Ohio and Texas that occurred earlier this month. The president has cited mental illness and video games but steered away from talk of curbing gun sales. “There’s a sense of frustration about why this is happening ... I don’t know if there’s an easy answer on this ... it’s not fair to compare, ‘Well, they do it over here and this is their result’ as opposed to what we’re doing here in America. We are a very free and open society,” he said. Herbert’s comments come one day before Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit to Utah to discuss ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. Pence is scheduled to speak at Merit Medical Systems, a disposable medical device manufacturer Herbert called an “ideal place” to highlight the benefits of the trade agreement as the company conducts business in Mexico and Canada. Referring to Pence “a good friend” of his, Herbert said the visit would be good for Utah Republicans still wary of the president as Pence is well received in the state. “He’s a religious man. He’s conducted his life in such a way as to be considered very honest,” Herbert said. As for Trump, the governor acknowledged his “rhetoric and messaging” sometimes distracts from the administration’s strong policy. “I think what President Trump has done in many ways is really good — as far as what he’s doing,” Herbert said. “We all have a little bit of a pause sometimes with what he says.”",
            "output": [
                "Utah governor talks Trump, gun control ahead of Pence visit."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c52de093fa6a4f1eb308cf729e38d68e",
            "input": "Even before the new figures, the official British death toll was the fifth-highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 5,979 people in England had died by April 3 with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, mentioned on their death certificates - 15% more than numbers published by the health service. “I am not remotely surprised there would be an undercounting,” Bill Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Reuters. “The UK hospital death toll that you are seeing - the one on the news each night - is a composite of things that have been trickling in over a period of time. It is not an exact number and does not include the numbers dying in places such as nursing homes.”   The new numbers, which reflect both deaths caused primarily by COVID-19 and where it is mentioned as a factor, show how limited official data has been so far. Daily figures published by the health ministry record only COVID-19 deaths in hospitals. Public Health England Medical Director Yvonne Doyle said the government was working with the ONS to speed up the information. “We just need to be absolutely clear that the cause of death that is attributed is correct and that is what takes time on the death certificate to get right,” she said, adding the government hoped to produce more rapid data, preferably on a daily basis. Compared with the ONS figures, the daily hospital counts had understated the true death toll for England and Wales by 52% as of April 3, although this had narrowed from 70% a week earlier. Still, it raises the likelihood that the latest death toll for the UK as a whole - 12,107 as of April 13 - is in reality thousands higher when deaths outside hospitals are included. “These new figures ... clearly show the impact of COVID-19 for the first time,” said Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. London was hit particularly hard in the week to April 3, when the ONS said nearly half (46.6%) of deaths in the capital involved COVID-19. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is now recuperating from COVID-19 complications that almost cost him his life, initially refrained from imposing the same stringent controls as other European leaders to counter the outbreak. But as projections showed 250,000 Britons could be lost to the virus, Johnson moved to shutter the world’s fifth-largest economy and told people to stay at home. “The UK response was fractured and it was too late, and allowed a large number of people to become infected who didn’t need to become infected,” said Hanage at Harvard. “This is the start of the pandemic, not the end, and people need to understand that.”  Hanage suggested a focus on testing, using new digital technologies to give targeted advice to the population, or even detecting the virus in sewage. Government scientists have said the United Kingdom will do well if it manages to keep the coronavirus death toll below 20,000. Italy has reported a death toll of more than 20,000. Including Wales, some 6,235 people had died by April 3, the ONS said. Separate data from Scotland last week showed 354 deaths involved COVID-19 as of April 5. In Northern Ireland, the toll stood at 79 as of April 3. Across England and Wales, deaths mentioning COVID-19 accounted for 21.2% of all deaths, compared with 4.8% in the previous week. The broader reading of total deaths showed that 16,387 people died in the week ending April 3 — the highest total since weekly death data started to be compiled in 2005.",
            "output": [
                "UK coronavirus death toll could be far higher than previously shown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f93d2901e5324f8c907a8dec34971aa6",
            "input": "Italy’s Civil Protection officials said the quake, which struck at 3:19 a.m., was part of a swarm of some 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, linked to Etna’s volcanic eruption this week. Italy’s national seismology institute said the quake had a magnitude of 4.8 on the open-ended Richter scale and 4.9 on the moment magnitude scale, which relates to the amount the ground slips. It struck north of Catania, the largest city in the eastern part of the Mediterranean island, but no damage or injuries were reported there. The quake opened up cracks in homes in several towns, sending chunks of concrete debris tumbling to the ground. It toppled a Madonna statue in a church in Santa Venerina and broke up sidewalks and a stretch of highway, forcing it to close. Many people spent the hours after the quake sleeping in their cars. In the town of Piano d’Api, firefighters removed cracked stucco from the bell tower of the damaged Santa Maria della Misericordia church. Italy’s culture ministry said the quake damage to churches was being tallied by experts. “Etna remains a dangerous volcano, and this country of ours is unfortunately fragile,” government undersecretary Vito Crimi said as he reported 10 people injured. The most seriously injured was a 70-year-old man who fractured ribs and was undergoing surgery for chest injuries. A 71-year-old patient was being kept in hospital for observation, while others were treated and released, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Additionally, 18 other people went to local hospitals suffering from panic attacks or shock, news reports said. One 80-year-old man was safely extracted from the rubble of his home, ANSA said, while a woman told state radio that her sister was pulled out from under a heavy armoire that had toppled. A ceiling collapsed in another house, and in other homes parts of exterior walls crumbled. Some stone walls along fields and local roads crumbled. Etna, the largest of Italy’s three active volcanoes, has been particularly active since July. In recent days, Etna’s latest eruption has been shooting volcanic ash, heavy smoke and lava stones into the air, coating roads and homes nearby with ash. A new fracture has opened near Etna’s southeast crater and lava has been flowing down an uninhabited slope. The quake was also felt in the upscale Sicilian resort town of Taormina and in other towns in eastern Sicily. The Civil Protection agency said temporary shelters were being set up in gyms or municipal buildings for people whose houses were damaged or who were too frightened to return to their homes. Similar volcanic activity on Etna has been observed many times in past decades, Andrea Billi, a geologist with the state National Council of Research, told RaiNews24. This kind of activity “can last days or weeks,” he said, “but it’s unpredictable.” Italy’s Civil Protection chief said it appeared the activity at Etna was calming down. “From a scientific point of view, we’re dealing with an isolated event,” Angelo Borrelli told Sky TG24 TV. “The technical experts tell us we’re heading toward a cooling of the lava, and we ought to expect a quiescence of the phenomenon (of earthquakes).” Some residents told reporters that after a similar quake in 1984 which killed a person, many on Mount Etna retrofitted their houses to enable them to withstand more powerful temblors. ___ Frances D’Emilio is on twitter at a href=’http://www.twitter.com/fdemilio%3c’www.twitter.com/fdemilio/a",
            "output": [
                "Quake from Mount Etna volcano jolts Sicily, sparks panic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ca1b0f619ca04b46b26042278000369a",
            "input": "A poster on the wall listed the four warning signs: bloating, feeling of fullness, pelvic pain and frequent need to urinate. “We can justify them to be anything,” Giangreco said. That’s what she had done. Giangreco, 70, started noticing some mild stomach issues in November — an upset stomach one day, constipation another. Nothing she gave much thought. By December, the problems became more frequent, but she shrugged them off. She hadn’t been eating the healthiest. That must be causing the problems, she reasoned. But by January, the discomfort was more regular. One Tuesday evening, Giangreco was so bloated she couldn’t get her pants to fasten. By that Saturday, the pain had become unbearable. Her husband took her to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and referred to Dr. Gina Westhoff, a gynecologic oncologist at Legacy Medical Group in Salmon Creek. A few days later, on Jan. 31, she was sitting in the office looking at the poster outlining the signs for ovarian cancer. After her diagnosis, Giangreco told every woman she knew about the warning signs. Last week, she spent a couple of hours at lunchtime stopping women as they walked through Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center and educating them about the symptoms. She shared her story and passed out bookmarks with the warning signs. “I think it’s unfair to us that there is no test, and there’s not as much education as there needs to be,” Giangreco said. “If I can save one life, then that’s why I’m walking this path.” Westhoff and the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Oregon and Southwest Washington joined in the outreach efforts at Legacy Salmon Creek. They hope to educate women not only about the signs of ovarian cancer but also about symptoms and prevention for other gynecologic cancers (uterine, cervical, vaginal and vulvar). September is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. NO TEST TO DETECT OVARIAN CANCER Knowing the signs is important, Westhoff said, because there is no screening test for most gynecologic cancers. “The only screening test we have is the pap test, and the pap test only detects cervical cancer,” Westhoff said. Cancer is better treated when caught early. But, without screening tests, many gynecologic cancers are caught at more advanced stages, she said. “It you can catch ovarian cancer at stage 1, there is a 95 percent chance you will live five years,” Westhoff said. Five years is considered “survival” for ovarian cancer. “At stage 3, which is considered late, that percentage goes down to 39 or 40 percent,” she said. Many of the warning signs, however, are vague and often ignored, Westhoff said. And because of the organs involved, people often shirk away from talking about the cancers, she said. “Because these cancers are below the belt and are private organs, they’re not talked about,” Westhoff said. “Thirty years ago, the same was true about breast cancer.” Talking about the cancers is not only important to make women aware of the symptoms but also to drive research funding to develop screening tests, Westhoff said. Until those tests exist, though, women need to be their own best advocates, she said. A sentiment echoed by Giangreco. “I just want people to listen to their body,” Giangreco said. “And maybe go to the doctor a little earlier than I did.” ___ Information from: The Columbian, http://www.columbian.com",
            "output": [
                "Vancouver woman sharing signs of ovarian cancer with others."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8e0207202344db1b829b98ce8960c93",
            "input": "Karen Sage of Austin, facing a Tuesday runoff with Mindy Montford of Austin for the Democratic nod for a judgeship, touts her experience as a prosecutor overseeing a new unit focused on defendants with mental illness. With no Republican opponent in November, the winner of the runoff will likely be a shoo-in for Travis County’s 299th state District Court judgeship. In a mailer sent to voters April 3, Sage celebrates the new program, saying that jail “time for non-violent, mentally ill offenders has been reduced by 50 percent.”We wondered if Sage’s statement—echoed in a TV ad she debuted Wednesday—reflects reality. Sage’s campaign initially referred us to Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County district attorney. Lehmberg confirmed that she asked Sage, an assistant district attorney, to helm the felony mental health unit, which was started in January 2009. Claire Dawson-Brown, the DA’s director of strategic prosecutions, said a magistrate started handling a special docket comprised of “mental health” defendants in late April 2009. To be in the program, Dawson-Brown said, defendants must usually be charged with a non-violent crime. They also must be diagnosed with major depression or considered bipolar, schizo-affective or schizophrenic, and seen as unstable in the jail. “It would be someone in a crisis situation,” she said, “or their mental illness is impairing their behavior.” Experts team to address the needs of the mental health inmates, Dawson-Brown said. She said participants get services they need in custody and when they return to the community. Besides Sage, who has a paralegal and a secretary, each defendant has an attorney familiar with mental health issues; she said the magistrate, a jail counselor and officials serving the local mental health and adult probation systems also play roles, with social workers sometimes getting involved. And how has the program affected jail stays? Sage said she reached her 50-percent reduction statement by comparing a baseline estimate that “mental health” inmates facing felony charges were averaging 106 days in jail before the program began to the 42-day average for participants in the program at the time she left the office in mid-December to run for judge. The decrease amounts to 60 percent. Dawson-Brown agreed that as of late 2008 and early 2009, the average Travis County jail stay for all its “mental health” defendants, including violent offenders, was 106 days. We pointed out that the baseline figure sweeps in the longer jail stays of individuals charged with violent crimes who aren’t automatically put in the new program, driving up the pre-program average and potentially skewing before and after comparisons. Dawson-Brown then gave us more detailed jail-stay information enabling an improved review of the change in average jail stays. Based on the new figures, we estimate that defendants who have been through the new program would have averaged 77 days in jail before the program began. The nitty gritty: We multiplied the number of affected defendants categorized by the level of felony they faced--ranging from first-degree felony charges to second- and third-degree felonies to state-jail felony charges--by the days that similarly charged defendants averaged in jail before the program began. Next, we totaled those defendant-days-in-jail and divided the total (19,432) by the number of defendants (253) to reach the pre-program estimate of an average of 77 days in jail. Through February, the magistrate had processed 253 defendants since the program’s start, according to Dawson-Brown, and they averaged 36 days in jail. Best we can tell, the average jail stay for defendants dropped by 41 days, or 53 percent.",
            "output": [
                "\"Karen Sage Says that under a new program jail \"\"time for non-violent, mentally ill offenders has been reduced by 50 percent.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f211a546f46747568c29a66b0653a301",
            "input": "ClientEarth has taken action against the government twice before, in 2015 and 2016. The Supreme Court ordered the government to produce a new air quality plan in 2015. In 2016 the High Court ordered a new plan which came out earlier this year. However, ClientEarth says that the plan stills fall short of what is needed to bring pollution within legal limits as soon as possible and is therefore seeking a judicial review. “We need clarity from the government and for that we’ve been forced to go back to court,” James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, said in a statement. No one at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was immediately available for comment. The firm said the reasons for the judicial review are that the latest government plan backtracks on previous commitments to make five cities in Britain introduce clean air zones by 2020. The plan also does not require any action from 45 local authorities in England, despite them having illegal levels of air pollution and it does not require any action from Wales. Under the EU’s Air Quality Directive, member states were supposed to comply with nitrogen dioxide emission limits in 2010 - or by 2015 if they delivered plans to deal with high levels of the gas, which is produced mainly by diesel engines. Nitrogen oxide emissions reduce air quality and are associated with respiratory and other illnesses.",
            "output": [
                "Britain faces new legal challenge over air quality improvement plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2d8d40481cce4f299dcacdb65ec8f9be",
            "input": "Questions about whether the NHS can survive in its present form are the subject of a long-running British debate, given an aging population and increased costs due to advances in medicine and surgery. Following is a timeline of key events spanning its history. Health minister Aneurin Bevan launches the tax-funded NHS to bring medical services together and provide free healthcare to all. Polio and diphtheria vaccines become available to children under 15, leading to a major fall of cases in both diseases. The Mental Health Act recognizes for the first time that patients with mental health issues should be treated the same as those with other types of illnesses. Kick-starting the “Swinging Sixties”, the contraceptive pill is made widely available amid a major movement for women’s liberation. The number of women on the pill rises from around 50,000 in 1962 to 1 million in 1969. The Abortion Act becomes law, apart from in Northern Ireland, making termination legal up to 28 weeks if it is deemed to be in the best physical and mental interests of the patient. The world’s first test-tube baby, a girl called Louise Brown, is born on July 25 thanks to in vitro fertilization. The first advertising campaign in the fight against AIDS uses slogans such as “Don’t die of ignorance” to raise awareness. The world’s first heart, liver and lung transplant is  conducted in Cambridge. Free mammograms are offered in a bid to reduce breast cancer deaths among women over 50. The NHS Organ Donor Register is set up. More than 12 million people register by 2005, according to the NHS. A four-hour target for waiting times in hospital Accident and Emergency departments is made into an operational standard. The Care Quality Commission, a new regulator which will  monitor health services, is launched. Junior doctors in England go on their first all-out strike, protesting at government plans for a new employment contract.",
            "output": [
                "Timeline: Britain's National Health Service turns 70."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1828f52a054340c887d9acda869e7fba",
            "input": "Sandbar and dusky sharks have been sighted around the power plant for decades, but scientists only started collecting data two years ago. Although they are still trying to count the smatterings of sharks nearby, researcher Aviad Scheinin said the hundreds flocking exclusively to the Hadera power plant every winter qualifies as “a legitimate and rare phenomenon.” “The paradox that we see here is that this is not a natural environment ... and you cannot see it anywhere else in the vicinity,” said Scheinin, manager of the top predator project at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, established by the University of Haifa. “This phenomenon is influenced and created by men, both with the power plant and the sea’s increasingly warm water.” The shifting climate of the Mediterranean Sea has been creating a bizarre boon for sharks, which thrive in and chase warm water. Expert say the warm water stimulates shark metabolisms, improves their breathing cycles and facilitates their pregnancies. “The spectacle is logical, but still very mysterious,” said Alen Soldo, co-president of the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature based in Switzerland. He said the power plant’s water temperature — 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the sea — is what likely attracts the sharks to Hadera from deeper, colder waters during the winter season. Beyond this, though, a great deal remains unknown. “We know sharks love this water, and we can hypothesize, but we can’t say with certainty exactly why,” he said. Soldo added that although he hadn’t heard of sharks congregating at power plants outside Israel, he could name a few other Mediterranean hotspots, such as coral reefs near Beirut, where sharks swarm in a similarly random way, perhaps driven by salinity and temperature levels. Scientists say the Mediterranean Sea has never been warmer, both because of climate change and the recent expansion of the Suez Canal, which opened the floodgates to Red Sea waters, among the warmest in the world. A recent study, published last fall in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that climate change is steadily heating the Mediterranean Sea by 0.4 degrees every decade, making the region among the hardest hit in the world. “The winters are not as cold as they used to be here, and they are no longer a limiting factor for sharks,” Scheinin said. “Many new shark species are coming to the eastern Mediterranean from colder areas and establishing populations.” On a recent trip, Scheinin steered his small boat of researchers along the coast and cut the motor. The team bobbed in the currents of the power plant discharge, straining to spot slender shadows whipping by in the turquoise water. A sudden churning in the water jolted the crew to action. A five-foot-long (1.5 meter-long) sandbar shark, ensnared by ropes, popped up at the boat’s ledge. The researchers leaned over and wrangled with it, planting a high-tech tag on its dorsal fin to track its movements before setting it free. “It’s ironic that all of our knowledge of sharks currently comes from the very fisheries that are threatening them,” said Eyal Bigal, the lab manager of the project. The Morris Kahn Station’s top predator team is working to change this, pulling together the first comprehensive body of data about the understudied and endangered Mediterranean shark species. Overfishing, spurred by demand along with lax fishing laws in neighboring countries like Lebanon and Syria, has depleted the Mediterranean shark population by over 90 percent since the 1950s, researchers say. An absence of top predators imperils the balance of the entire marine ecosystem. “If you erase the ones at the top, the food chain will collapse,” Soldo said. “New species may emerge and start preying on populations crucial to human food security. Whole life forms may go extinct.” Hadera’s hotspot for sharks is now attracting visitors curious about the creatures and the threats they face. The municipality and Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, among other groups, are partnering to build an observation center. Last month, they launched a lecture series to educate tourists about shark behavior and protection. Scheinin said studying the sharks in Hadera could be a harbinger that “helps us assess what will happen to different species when waters elsewhere reach the temperatures we have here now.”",
            "output": [
                "Sharks drawn to warm waters by Israeli coastal power plant."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-439c16d0a7e54dbb908d3e289ff9dca5",
            "input": "A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that three major drug distributors plus two manufacturers were working on the outlines of a settlement. It would include $22 billion in cash over time plus up to $15 billion worth of overdose antidotes and treatment drugs, with distribution of those drugs valued at another $14 billion — a calculation of how much a distributor could charge for them. Under the proposal, the distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson would pay a total of $18 billion over 18 years. Johnson & Johnson would pay $4 billion over time. Drugmaker Teva would contribute the drugs, but not cash. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing and said the details of the deal could change. A $50 billion framework was first reported Wednesday by The New York Times. Samantha Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee attorney general’s office, confirmed to the AP that that report “appears to be correct on the details of the tentative settlement framework.” It’s not clear whether states and local governments will accept the deal. “We await the fine print of the settlement framework so that we can work alongside the 2,600 communities we represent to determine the best path forward,” the lead lawyers for local governments said in a statement Wednesday. “Our priority when assessing settlement proposals is to ensure they will provide urgently-needed relief in the near term and that these resources will be directed exclusively toward efforts to abate the opioid epidemic.” The lawyers said the aim is “to secure funds that will aid law enforcement officers, medical professionals, and treatment facility staff around the country for the decades-long recovery process ahead.” Drug companies and other state attorneys general who are leading the talks either did not return messages or comment. The talks are picking up as a jury is being selected in Cleveland for a trial on claims against some companies in the drug industry being brought by the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga and Summit. They claim the companies engaged in a conspiracy that has damaged their communities should be held accountable. Jury selection began Wednesday and could wrap up Thursday, with opening arguments scheduled Monday. Johnson & Johnson has already settled with the two counties. If the other companies settle, too, it would leave only the pharmacy chain Walgreens — in its role as a distributor to its own stores — and the smaller distributor Henry Schein as defendants. It’s not clear whether the trial would go on in that case. The defendants in the Cleveland trial include Actavis and Cephalon, drug companies now owned by Teva. All the companies say they complied with the law and supplied only drugs that doctors prescribed. While the case concerns only claims for the two counties, it is a bellwether intended to show how legal issues might be resolved in more than 2,000 other lawsuits over the opioid crisis. In court Wednesday, lawyers for the defendants argued that the trial should be postponed in case potential jurors saw any of the coverage and would be tainted when learning of the massive amount of money possibly being discussed. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster said he didn’t believe many of the potential jurors would have been exposed to the stories but that he would question them to determine whether they were aware of the coverage. A delay, he said, could push the trial into next year. The other major question was how to select a dozen jurors for a trial over opioids in a region hit particularly hard by addictions and overdoses. Questionnaires were sent to potential jurors in nine northeast Ohio counties, including Cuyahoga, which along with neighboring Summit County was chosen as the first plaintiff in a trial in what could become the most complicated class action lawsuit in U.S. history. Cuyahoga County is home to Cleveland, and Summit to the city of Akron. The questionnaire asked potential jurors to answer questions about their and immediate family members’ experiences with prescription painkillers and the crisis itself. They were asked to check off whether they had ever used 11 different prescription opioids. Had they or family members ever used heroin or illicit fentanyl? Have they ever been prescribed painkillers after surgery? Have they or a family member ever been treated for addiction? Have they ever overdosed? Those with close connections to the crisis are expected to be excluded from serving on the jury. Counting prescription drugs and illegal ones such as heroin and illicitly made fentanyl, opioids have been blamed for more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. ___ Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Opioid settlement talks broaden ahead of 1st federal trial."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1a3bc3cfe6e440c4a9217e3d43877807",
            "input": "Turkey reported its first infection just over two weeks ago. Since then, a surge in cases to 3,629 has outstripped rates in most other countries and the government has fallen short of its target to conduct 10,000 tests per day. In interviews with Reuters, experts have urged stronger stay-at-home orders and some said it was risky for Ankara to export 500,000 kits to the United States only to turn around and order a million more from China. “Our test numbers are low. We were certainly not prepared. Countries that are ready must have high test numbers,” said Sinan Adiyaman, chairman of the Turkish Medics Association (TTB). The government has said it took timely measures to delay the outbreak. But Adiyaman said Turkey was slow on some steps, including suspending sports leagues and quarantining those coming from abroad, especially the thousands returning this month from an Umrah pilgrimage. “Around 200,000 people arrived from abroad since the outbreak began, and they were just given a simple fever test and released across Turkey in an uncontrolled manner,” he said. “You cannot fight a pandemic this way.”  The coronavirus has so far killed 75 people in Turkey, an international crossroads with one of the world’s biggest airports in Istanbul. About 40,000 tests have been done including about 7,000 in the last 24 hours, suggesting Turkey is edging toward the target Health Minister Fahrettin Koca set out a week ago, but only two-thirds of the way there. South Korea, seen as the global leader, does more tests each day than Turkey’s total. (Click here here for a graphic of global tests; click here here for its global spread.) To contain the virus, Ankara has closed schools, cafes and bars, banned mass prayers, and suspended sports matches and flights. President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey, which has a population of about 83 million, would overcome the outbreak in two to three weeks. Mustafa Cankurtaran, head of geriatrics at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, said his team is following the national guidelines, testing only “risky” patients with cough and fever. But next month will be critical since the outbreak will widen, he said. Earlier this week Koca said the kits sent to the United States were locally produced PCR tests for the coronavirus. He said Turkey had a monthly production capacity of 2 million tests, and added that the tests purchased from China were “rapid tests”, not PCR. The TTB’s Adiyaman said sending the test kits jeopardised the health of the public and medical personnel. “Exporting testing kits to the United States as Turkey needs them and while they need to be used here will be an unforgivable mistake,” he said. Irshad Shaikh, the World Health Organisation’s health security program Leader in Turkey, said the country now had little room for error and must test everyone who has had contact with the virus. He said, however, that the export of test kits to the United States, which he said was in a “perilous situation,” could be seen as a form of capital investment. “From now on, it’s a very slippery slope and razor-thin margin moving forward,” he said. “Now if the U.S. succeeds in vaccine development, we already have our invested cash in the bank in the form of our IOUs,” Shaikh told Reuters. Among the containment measures, Ankara said it quarantined Muslims returning from Umrah in Saudi Arabia. But Nihat Gonul, the local administrator of a village in  Sakarya province some 120 km east of Istanbul, said two returning pilgrims continued their lives normally and attended gatherings for days before authorities came to quarantine them. “There is this atmosphere of uncertainty in the village. People are scared, not sure what to think,” Gonul said.",
            "output": [
                "Turkey struggles to ramp up tests as outbreak reaches critical phase."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd65819f87b541fc918d571db15983e7",
            "input": "Tropical Cyclone Ian, a category-five cyclone, appears to have destroyed up to 90 percent of homes on the northern Ha’apai Islands, which are home to about 8,000 people, the regional governor said on Wednesday. An emergency response team from British aid group Oxfam said the outer islands of Foa, Ha’ano and Mo’unga’one in the Ha’apai Islands chain had been 90 percent destroyed. Pangai, the capital of Ha’apai, suffered about 80 percent damage, it said. International aid organizations, which have just begun to reach the worst-affected areas, are appealing for assistance as it becomes more likely that damage to the water and sanitation systems could lead to widespread illness. Many of the homes on Ha’apai, about 2,630 km (1,630 miles) northeast of the New Zealand capital, Wellington, rely on rooftop collection systems for drinking water. The destruction of those systems, aid workers say, is a cause for alarm. “The main problem right now is water,” Vanessa Lolohea, a member of the Tonga National Youth Council who is working with Oxfam, said in an email to Reuters. “Mosquitoes and other insects are becoming a problem. The waterborne diseases like dengue, etc, may become a problem in the coming weeks.”  There are five stages of tropical storm, with Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 4,000 people and caused widespread destruction in the Philippines in November rated at five, the most powerful.",
            "output": [
                "Specter of disease in Tonga after Cyclone Ian batters islands."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0018c6e6b97f41f0aa57472ddb7c443b",
            "input": "Baldwin, one of the Senate’s most liberal members, beat Vukmir, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, by double digits, based on unofficial results. Baldwin won a number of counties that Trump took in 2016 when he narrowly carried Wisconsin by less than 1 point. Baldwin said in her victory speech Tuesday that her win sends a “loud and clear message” that people in Wisconsin want a senator who will stand up for them against special interests. Baldwin was an early target for outside conservative groups that spent millions attacking her over the summer. But Baldwin outraised Vukmir 5-to-1 and blanketed the airwaves with ads contrasting her support for the Affordable Care Act with votes Vukmir made in the state Legislature in favor of insurance companies. “Democrats, Republicans and independents sent a loud and clear message tonight that they wanted a senator who works not for the special interests, but someone who works for you,” Baldwin said in her victory speech. Vukmir campaigned as the underdog and urged Republicans who supported Trump to surprise the pollsters like they did in 2016. But Democrats came through for Baldwin in a race that marked the first time in Wisconsin history both major party candidates for U.S. Senate were women. Baldwin had recent history on her side: In the last three midterm elections, no incumbent Wisconsin senator from the party not in the White House lost a re-election bid. Baldwin, 56, won her first local race at age 24 and was elected to the Senate in 2012, beating former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, in a year when former President Barack Obama was also on the ballot. Baldwin was the first openly gay person elected to the Senate. Baldwin and Vukmir disagreed on every major issue including health care, immigration, taxes, abortion, national security, gun control and criminal justice. Stephenie Hamen, a 42-year-old artist from Sun Prairie, said she voted for Baldwin, in part as a vote for women’s rights and a vote against Trump. “I don’t know if it was to vent (against the president),” she said. “It’s a way to stand up for women as Americans and be heard. It’s a scary time to be a woman in America. No matter what (Trump) says about being a white man in America, it’s scarier for women and minorities. If the Republicans stay in power, we’re writing a check for that party to do whatever they want. If we continue down that path we have no idea what’s coming next.” While Baldwin campaigned with former President Barack Obama and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vukmir rallied with Trump and forcefully supported his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. Baldwin voted against his confirmation. Baldwin is a supporter of Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill and ran as a defender of the Affordable Care Act. Baldwin cast Vukmir, a nurse, as the potential deciding vote to repeal the law and its guarantees of insurance for people with pre-existing conditions. Vukmir, 60, focused on Baldwin’s handling of the opioid over-prescription crisis at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center, saying her inaction let veterans down. But the widow and parents of a veteran who died there has come out in support of Baldwin, cutting television ads to help her and undercutting Vukmir’s criticism. Baldwin recounted the story of her childhood illness that made her an advocate for universal health coverage, while also speaking in detail for the first time about her mother’s struggles with mental illness and prescription drug abuse. Baldwin said that has fueled her fight against opioid abuse. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP ___ For AP’s complete coverage of the U.S. midterm elections: http://apne.ws/APPolitics",
            "output": [
                "Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Baldwin cruises to second term."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6979f969c93f429cbf61976aef43f414",
            "input": "About 1,000 people showed up for the final “Plunge for Pete” at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, and more than half of those braved the frigid waters on what would have been Frates’ 35th birthday. The event, in its eighth year, raised money for the Pete Frates #3 Fund, which helped pay for Frates’ medical bills. “He is laughing so hard right now at me getting into the ocean,” said Frates’ wife, Julie, who participated in the plunge for the first time wearing the bikini she had on when she first met her husband. “This is the best birthday party he could ask for and wherever he is, he is very grateful.” The former Boston College baseball player, who lived in Beverly, a suburb north of Boston, died Dec. 9 after a seven-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The family has accumulated roughly $500,000 in debt for their son’s medical care, Pete’s father, John Frates said, and the final fundraiser will hopefully help close the gap. The family will continue to raise money for the separate Peter Frates Family Foundation, which helps other ALS patients cover home health care costs, he said. The number of people who signed up to take the actual plunge far exceeded the peak of 250 participants who participated in 2014, the year the ice bucket challenge went viral and raised more than $200 million for ALS research worldwide. The ice bucket challenge involved pouring a bucket of ice water over one’s head and posting a video of it on social media, and then challenging others to do the same or make a donation to charity. Most people did both. The challenge began in 2014 when pro golfer Chris Kennedy challenged his wife’s cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband has ALS. Patient Pat Quinn, of Yonkers, New York, picked up on it and started its spread, but when Frates and his family got involved, the phenomenon exploded on social media. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to paralysis because of the death of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain. There is no known cure.",
            "output": [
                "A final fundraiser for man who boosted ice bucket challenge."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f604bc4ab8e64456a545d6007badec18",
            "input": "In the middle of announcing his plan calling for workers to resume business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was recorded admitting that he knew it would spur an increase in cases of the disease.“How do we know reopening businesses won’t result in faster spread of COVID-19?” Abbott asked during a conference call with state lawmakers on May 1 2020 before adding:Listen, the fact of the matter is, pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening — whether you want to call it a reopening of business or just a reopening of society in the aftermath of something like this — it actually will lead to an increase in spread. It’s almost ipso facto — the more that you have people out there, the greater the possibility there is for transmission.Abbott’s statement was first published by the political group Progress Texas on both Twitter and YouTube:BREAKING: As @GovAbbott reopens the state in the midst of a rising infection and death rate, leaked audio from a call with Texas Legislators reveals that he knows reopening puts more Texans at risk. #txlege pic.twitter.com/kTK4M8gpSY— Progress Texas (@ProgressTX) May 5, 2020As the San Antonio Current reported, the audio was released as the Republican governor announced that hair salons would be allowed to reopen on May 8 2020. Ten days after that, said Abbott, fitness clubs would be allowed to reopen provided they stay at 25 percent capacity, but members would not be allowed to use their facility’s locker room or showers and equipment would have to be sanitized every time it was used.Abbott can also be heard saying on the leaked audio:The goal never has been to get transmission of COVID-19 down to zero. It never can be to keep transmission down to zero, because with a rapidly transmittable disease like this there will be always be a level of transmission. Even when you have an immunization come out, there will be a transmission rate for COVID-19. The goal is to reopen using strategies that can continue to contain the spread of COVID-19. These are strategies that have proven effective in Texas for the past month and a half.A spokesperson for the governor, John Wittman, told the news site The Daily Beast that Abbott’s remarks on the call were in line with previous statements he had made to local news outlets.“The governor has said this from the beginning, as we begin to open up, we will see flare ups, whether we open now or three months from now,” said Wittman. “The key is ensuring we are able to contain that spread, which is where contact tracing comes into play.”However, Progress Texas pointed out that Abbott had minimized the prospect of an increase in COVID-19 cases in those interviews; on April 24 2020, he told KSAT-TV:One thing that all scientists and doctors say is that as we do begin to open up, there could be an increase in the number of coronavirus cases. Two things about it. One reason for an increase is we are going to be doing more testing. We’ll be doing what’s called testing and tracing all across Bexar County to identify any types of hotspots. If there are hotspots where there is a sudden rise or increase in the number of people testing positive, we will provide all the medical care needed in order to quickly address it and to reduce it if it’s widespread.That same day, he told KTBC-TV:When you begin to reopen, there can be spikes or increases in those who test positive for COVID-19. This is nothing to be worried about, in part, because we will be doing far more testing in the future than we have in the past and that alone will identify more people testing positive. Our goal is to make sure that there are not any dramatic spikes that lead to increased hospitalizations or increased deaths.The weekend after his conversation with lawmakers saw a sharp uptick in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses across the state: a combined 2,000 new cases were reported between May 2 and May 3 2020, a record increase for a two-day period. According to the Texas Department of State, 33,369 total cases have been reported as of May 5 2020, with 906 cases reported as fatal. An estimated 16,791 patients have reportedly recovered from the disease — while 15,672 cases are still listed as active.Comments",
            "output": [
                "\"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a phone call that \"\"reopening\"\" his state would be accompanied by an increase in COVID-19 cases.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cae1e0a18ddb4225ad7fd05095ff9425",
            "input": "Health officials confirmed six mumps cases earlier this month at McHenry County Jail, which contracts space to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a Wednesday letter the Democrats cite “serious concern” about conditions and urge a “thorough and urgent” policy review. The group seeks details on the outbreak. They are U.S. Reps. Jesus Garcia and Lauren Underwood and U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. ICE officials say each detainee receives a medical examination upon arrival at the facility. Immigration and health officials have previously said the infected detainees were isolated and those exposed were quarantined. Mumps is a contagious virus causing swollen glands, puffy cheeks, fever and, potentially, hearing loss and meningitis.",
            "output": [
                "Senators urge review after mumps cases at immigrant center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ce839e1a9ca4a0484a2b363dfe51429",
            "input": "Typically, we are asking that a release tell us the “cost” of a therapy or drug, but in this case, we wish the release had given some estimate of the cost savings from active surveillance for patients vs. surgery or radiation or both. This is an important point for both individual patients and the broader society since the population of men with prostate cancer is growing and most are likely to be on Medicare. The release did not provide many numbers. For example, it reported erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence as “more common” in men treated with surgery than radiation, but did not give a quantity for the “more.” The release did include a numeral in this sentence, but it wasn’t very enlightening: “Urinary incontinence was reported as a moderate or big problem in 14 percent of men three years after surgery compared to 5 percent of men who had radiation,” Barocas said.” The study compared benefits and harms for three different situations: surgery, radiation and surveillance. In neglecting to provide us with the number of patients studied the release doesn’t establish the quality of the evidence. We want to emphasize that the study itself, which included more than 2,550 men that were followed for 3 years, appears to be of high quality. But the release did not demonstrate that to the readers. The release also omitted some limitations of the study. One of the main ones is that the study used an observational cohort (a like group followed over a period of time), rather than an experimental design that would show cause and effect, so there may be other unmeasured factors influencing the results. In addition, the study captured patient outcomes through surveys. Surveys after the fact are subject to recall bias. As well, the number and severity of side effects after 3 years may differ by treatment, “and 3 years is inadequate to estimate oncologic outcomes,’ according to the study. Further, the quality of care each individual patient received could influence outcomes. There was no disease mongering. Instead, the release provides some encouraging context on the use of all three therapies: “Three-year survival from prostate cancer was excellent in the study at over 99 percent for patients regardless of whether they chose surgery, radiation or active surveillance.” The release names the grant sources for the research. It would have been better if the release had also stated (as the study did) that there were no conflicts of interest among the authors. The study was about comparison of alternatives and the release did a good job explaining what the alternatives were — surgery, radiation and active surveillance. The release doesn’t say so explicitly but it’s generally understood that all the treatments studied are widely available and applied. The release did not make a strong claim of novelty. It states, “This study shows that, despite technological advances in the treatment of prostate cancer, both surgery and radiation still have a negative effect on quality of life.” That’s not a new finding, but what makes the study newsworthy is that it compared the degree of side effects associated with each treatment. In addition, the published study states that it was designed to be more diverse, representative and more broadly applicable than former studies. “In contrast to previously published studies, this study may be more generalizable, since the cohort is racially diverse, population based, and includes a range of disease severity.” That would have been good to include in the release. We found no unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Active Surveillance Preserves Quality of Life for Prostate Cancer Patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6de37e02ae45444c89b14fe920514dee",
            "input": "More than half of all new HIV infections in 2018 were among sex workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners and the sexual partners of these groups, according to a report by UNAIDS. Many of those populations did not get access to infection prevention services, it said. Progress in some countries has been “impressive”, the U.N. body’s report said, but others are seeing rising numbers of HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. It noted “worrying increases” in new infections in eastern Europe and central Asia, where HIV cases rose by 29%, as well as in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. “Ending AIDS is possible if we focus on people not diseases,” said UNAIDS executive director Gunilla Carlsson. She said now was the time to “create road maps for the people and locations being left behind (and) take a human rights-based approach to reaching people most affected by HIV.”  This would need greater political leadership, she said, starting with adequate and well-targeted investment. Global funding for the AIDS fight dropped off significantly in 2018 - by nearly $1 billion - as international donors gave less and domestic investments did not grow fast enough to plug the gap. Around $19 billion was available for the AIDS response in 2018, UNAIDS said - falling $7.2 billion short of the total $26.2 billion it says is needed by 2020. Globally in 2018, some 770,000 people died of AIDS and almost 38 million people were living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it. HIV cannot be cured but the infection can be kept in check by AIDS drugs known as antiretrovial treatment. Around 23.3 million of the 37.9 million people with HIV worldwide currently get the AIDS drugs they need. Around 1.7 million people were newly infected, the UNAIDS report said, a 16% decline since 2010, driven mostly by steady progress in parts of eastern and southern Africa. South Africa, for example, has cut new HIV infections by more than 40% and AIDS-related deaths by around 40% since 2010. But the report warned there is still a long way to go in many parts of eastern and southern Africa - the regions most affected by HIV.",
            "output": [
                "U.N. wants more urgency in AIDS fight as gains and funding fade."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e48d983eceb64fa387cb2332e4a1bc63",
            "input": "Under her leadership, the organization gained in membership, donor support and political clout but found itself in constant conflict with social conservatives for its role as the leading abortion provider in the United States. The organization provides a range of health services at clinics nationwide, including birth control, cancer screenings and tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Republicans in Congress tried repeatedly to cut off federal funding that helps subsidize Planned Parenthood’s services to some patients, and several congressional committees investigated the organization’s role in providing post-abortion fetal tissue to researchers. In a statement Friday, Richards said she would remain engaged in political activism ahead of the November elections. “There has never been a better moment to be an activist,” said Richards, who was a featured speaker in Las Vegas at one of last weekend’s largest women’s marches. Richards, 60, is the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. Before joining Planned Parenthood, she was a union organizer and deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, among other roles. Reaction to Richards’ announcement reflected the divisive nature of the debate over Planned Parenthood’s role. Pelosi, the House minority leader, hailed her as “a portrait of energy, intellect, and determination” whose impact transcended reproductive rights. “As an organizer, activist, and leader, Cecile has helped launch a nationwide movement to defend and advance women’s rights, and in doing so, she has inspired countless women to march, vote, run, and win.” Pelosi said. Anti-abortion activists seized the occasion to demonize Richards. Her legacy “is one of death and destruction,” said Kristin Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. “She leaves broken lives in her wake.” Many of the key battles for Richards and Planned Parenthood were waged in Congress, where Republicans repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, sought ways to cut off its federal funding. GOP lawmakers also organized multiple investigative committees after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 that they said showed Planned Parenthood employees illegally selling fetal tissue for profit. Planned Parenthood emphatically denied that claim. Thus far there’s been no formal finding by Congress of wrongdoing by the organization, but the dispute over the allegations is not settled. Justice Department officials confirmed in December that the department was considering investigations related to the transfer of fetal tissue. There was no immediate word of a possible successor to Richards. Planned Parenthood said it would be announcing future plans after a meeting of its board of directors next week. Planned Parenthood said Richards helped grow its base of supporters from 3 million to 11 million and build its donor base to its largest ever. She oversaw a notable expansion of services to LGBT people, including sharp increases in HIV testing and the provision of hormone therapy for transgender patients. Richards’ resignation precedes the scheduled publication of her memoir, “Make Trouble,” in April.",
            "output": [
                "Cecile Richards stepping down as Planned Parenthood leader."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-59ff859ccbc24e10af54debafc7e1b1e",
            "input": "\"With fresh questions being raised about how to configure Iraq's government, Vice President Joe Biden was asked about a proposal that he advocated in 2007. \"\"You once advocated for a three-way partition of Iraq because you were not confident that Iraq's government was capable of having a strong central government,\"\" ABC This Week host Jake Tapper said to Biden during a July 18, 2010, interview. Tapper then played a video of Biden speaking from the floor of the Senate on April 24, 2007, in which Biden said, \"\"The most basic premise of President Bush's approach, that the Iraqi people will rally behind a strong central government headed by Maliki, in fact, will look out for their interests equitably, is fundamentally and fatally flawed. It will not happen in anybody's lifetime here, including the pages.\"\" Asked Tapper: \"\"Is it possible that you were right back then that it is just impossible to have a centralized government?\"\" Biden responded by taking issue with the word \"\"partition\"\" -- which was often used to describe Biden's plan at the time -- saying it was never about breaking Iraq into three separate countries. \"\"I don't want to debate history here, but I never called for a partition,\"\" Biden said. \"\"I called for a central government with considerable autonomy in the regions.\"\" \"\"It was to allow them more autonomy,\"\" Biden said, \"\"...And so what's happening here is, there is an election that's taken place. And what happened-- there's 325 plus members of what they call their core, their parliament. And no one party won more than 91 seats. The two major parties, one won 89 and one won 91 seats. That's Maliki and Allawi, Iraqiya and the State of Law, they call them. \"\"They're in negotiations right now to figure out how to allocate the power within that government. In other words, share power. And it is about just that. And it's underway. And it's going to happen. There will be a central government with control of its foreign policy, with control of the military. But you will see that there are going to be significant amounts of autonomy in each of the areas that exist in these provinces. That's what their constitution calls for.\"\" Check the headlines in 2007, and it's clear that the word \"\"partition\"\" or \"\"soft partition\"\" was often used to describe Biden's proposal, which called for boundaries to be drawn for the country's Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite populations. And so we decided to check his claim that he never called for a partition. Biden's strategy was first outlined in an op-ed piece for the New York Times on May 1, 2006, which Biden co-wrote with Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations: \"\"The idea, as in Bosnia, is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group — Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab — room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests.\"\" The plan, they wrote would be to \"\"establish three largely autonomous regions with a viable central government in Baghdad. The Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite regions would each be responsible for their own domestic laws, administration and internal security. The central government would control border defense, foreign affairs and oil revenues. Baghdad would become a federal zone, while densely populated areas of mixed populations would receive both multisectarian and international police protection.\"\" \"\"Some will say moving toward strong regionalism would ignite sectarian cleansing,\"\" Biden wrote. \"\"But that's exactly what is going on already, in ever-bigger waves. Others will argue that it would lead to partition. But a breakup is already under way. As it was in Bosnia, a strong federal system is a viable means to prevent both perils in Iraq.\"\" In 2007, Biden and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, successfully shepherded a nonbinding, \"\"sense of the Senate\"\" resolution that proposed separating Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions with a federal government. The resolution passed the Senate 75 to 23. The resolution called for the U.S. to \"\"actively support a political settlement among Iraq's major factions based upon the provisions of the Constitution of Iraq that create a federal system of government and allow for the creation of federal regions.\"\" And last, we point you to the fuller comments Biden made from the floor of the Senate on April 24, 2007, when Biden said the idea that the Iraqi people would rally behind a strong central government was \"\"fundamentally and fatally flawed.\"\" As an alternative, Biden said, \"\"You make federalism work for the Iraqis. You give them control over the fabric of their daily lives. You separate the parties. You give them breathing room. Let them control their local police, their education, their religion, their marriage. That's the only possibility. \"\"Change the focus to a limited central government and a federal system that their Constitution calls for. I can't guarantee that my strategy will work, but I can guarantee that the road the president (Bush) has us on leads to nowhere with no end in sight.\"\" Biden addressed the \"\"partition\"\" issue head-on in an Oct. 3, 2007 op-ed co-written with Gelb for the Washington Post: \"\"Our plan is not partition, though even some supporters and the media mistakenly call it that. It would hold Iraq together by bringing to life the federal system enshrined in its constitution. A federal Iraq is a united Iraq but one in which power devolves to regional governments, with a limited central government responsible for common concerns such as protecting borders and distributing oil revenue.\"\" So is it fair to call Biden's plan a call to \"\"partition\"\" Iraq? Certainly Biden advocated carving out three semi-autonomous regions. In that sense, we could see why many characterized Biden's proposal as a \"\"soft partition.\"\" But the word \"\"partition\"\" carries heavy political implications, namely the creation of three separate nations. And that was never Biden's plan. He consistently upheld the idea of one Iraq with a central government, albeit a more modest one responsible for such things as defense, foreign affairs and sharing oil revenues. That's an important distinction.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"I never called for a partition\"\" of Iraq.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4d0bc32cd13b48829299639eb15fbcec",
            "input": "\"There are countries where the measures of well-being tell such a bleak story, you have to stop and verify them. South Sudan falls in that group. UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, marked the fifth year since this African nation separated from its northern neighbor with a photo essay about five children. One showed a little girl shyly smiling as she holds an oversized slate chalkboard bearing two perfectly legible number 5s. The caption read, \"\"Only about 10 percent of girls in South Sudan complete primary school, and the typical age of marriage in rural areas is rarely over 15. As a result, more teenage girls die in childbirth than finish high school.\"\" South Sudan emerged as an independent country in 2011 after years of civil war. Its people barely had time to catch their collective breath before friction between two rival factions turned the country back into a battlefield again. The fighting has forced millions from their homes. Under these conditions, it’s plausible that more teenage girls dying in childbirth than graduate from high school, but every claim needs data behind it, and we went looking. Girls in South Sudan who finish high school Ongoing conflict has made education nearly impossible. A 2014 Brookings Institution article noted that \"\"approximately 50 percent of primary school-age children are currently not in school.\"\" So how many girls finish high school? We can’t say for certain, but we know the number is quite low. The South Sudanese government reported that in 2013, just 730 girls were in the last year of secondary school out of a total population over 12 million. Girls in South Sudan who die in childbirth Finding a precise number of teenage girls in South Sudan who die during childbirth is more complicated because accurate data in a war zone is hard to come by. To get even a crude estimate, we had to rely on a couple of figures. First a 2008 survey of South Sudan found that about 10.3 percent of all women in the country were 15-19. That translates to about 610,000 teenage girls. A 2010 government health survey said that \"\"in South Sudan, one-third of the 15-19 year old women start childbearing.\"\" That would mean about 207,000 young women are at risk of dying in childbirth. Based on UNICEF data, the nonprofit aid group International Medical Corps wrote that \"\"with 2,054 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.\"\" When we apply that rate to the number of young women at risk, we get over 4,000 deaths. That’s nearly six times the maximum number of female high school graduates. What experts say People and groups with on-the-ground experience in South Sudan said they have no reason to doubt UNICEF’s comparison. Lydia Stone, now with the British aid organization Social Development Direct, told us that \"\"while there is a dearth of reliable, recent data in South Sudan, this UNICEF claim is almost certainly true.\"\" Stone said that most girls \"\"are married around the age of 15-16 some even younger. Their bodies are not ready to bear children and - outside of aid agencies - the health system is virtually non-existent.\"\" Canada is a major donor of relief services in South Sudan. Global Affairs Department spokeswoman Jessica Seguin said \"\"South Sudanese girls’ face significant inequalities in terms of access to education, and are at a high risk of early and forced child marriage, and accompanying obstetric health problems.\"\" In a 2012 field report, Stone wrote that the society puts a premium on women having as many children as possible. During the first civil war, government leaders cast pregnancy as a patriotic duty. But Stone wrote that in interviews, many women embraced their role quite apart from any overt pressure. \"\"One woman said, ‘There is no limit; if I can have 15 or 20, then I will. It is for God to decide.’\"\" Our ruling UNICEF wrote that in South Sudan, \"\"more teenage girls die in childbirth than finish high school.\"\" The claim is almost certainly correct, experts say. But there is no single data source that can verify the comparison.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"In South Sudan, \"\"more teenage girls die in childbirth than finish high school.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d20a9f6e09184ae5b0ead66d52d0ac38",
            "input": "The dramatic reductions - in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia - mean tens of thousands more babies are now being born free of HIV, UNAIDS said in a report on its Global Plan to tackle the disease in around 20 of the worst affected countries. Overall, across 21 priority countries in Africa, there were 130,000 fewer new HIV infections among children in 2012 - a drop of 38 percent since 2009 - mostly due to increased drug treatment of pregnant women with the virus. “The progress in the majority of countries is a strong signal that with focused efforts every child can be born free from HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS’ executive director. “But progress has stalled in some countries with high numbers of new HIV infections. We need to find out why and remove the bottlenecks which are preventing scale-up.”  Among places causing concern, UNAIDS said, are Angola and Nigeria, where new infections in children have increased and remained unchanged respectively since 2009. Nigeria has the largest number of children acquiring HIV in the region, with nearly 60,000 new infections in 2012. And for those children who do become infected, access to AIDS drugs that can keep their disease in check is “unacceptably low”, UNAIDS said, with only 3 in 10 children getting the AIDS medicines they need in most priority countries. The report said much of the reduction in new HIV cases in children was thanks to more use of AIDS drug treatment for HIV-positive pregnant women. Coverage rates were above 75 percent in many of the priority countries, it said. AIDS medicines known as antiretroviral therapy not only improve the health of mothers with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, but can also prevent HIV from being transmitted to their children. Botswana and South Africa have reduced mother to child HIV transmission rates to 5 percent or less, according to UNAIDS. Eric Goosby, global AIDS coordinator for the United States government, called on the international community to “continue working together to see the day when no children are born with HIV, which is within our reach”.",
            "output": [
                "Seven African countries cut child HIV infections by half."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7e7c510bf078499298e38e45434f7999",
            "input": "With Swedish teen Greta Thunberg and other activists piling pressure on delegates ahead of the Climate Action Summit, U.N. officials expect about 60 countries to build on their commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat global warming. “We are losing the fight against climate change,” Guterres told a news conference on Wednesday. “I expect that there will be the announcement and unveiling of a number of meaningful plans on reducing emissions in the next decade and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050,” he said. On the stage next week will be countries including small island states most vulnerable to sea-level rise and European nations such as France and Germany, according to a draft schedule seen by Reuters. So far, big economies that still build or finance coal plants – such as Japan, South Korea and Australia - are not due to speak - but may still introduce plans. And U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, among the world’s only global leaders that publicly question climate science, are not due to take part, their representatives said. Environmental groups say the summit is coming at a crucial time, as extreme weather events and spiking temperatures affect more people in more parts of the globe. “The meeting couldn’t be more important,” said May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, a climate activism group. “It means countries will need to finally talk about the source of the flames engulfing our planet: fossil fuels.”  Guterres has called for an end to the construction of coal plants from 2020 worldwide, as well as transitions away from subsidies for fossil fuels and a rapid shift toward renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal. He and other U.N. officials also wants China to avoid ramping up coal production in Asia and Africa through its “Belt and Road” infrastructure vision. “I am much more concerned for countries in Africa that need to have the option not to get into coal. They need to have more opportunity for renewables,” U.N. climate change envoy Luis Alfonso de Alba told Reuters in an interview. Among the private sector speakers scheduled at the summit is the chief executive of Danish power company Orsted (ORSTED.CO), which earlier this year divested from its oil and gas assets and shuttered its coal plants. A group of big oil companies called the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, however, will host a meeting on the sidelines of the summit, focused on tempering the climate impact of fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage technology, and methane capture, according to a draft program. Although the Paris Agreement commits governments to a rapid transition to clean energy, the world’s greenhouse gas emissions hit a record high last year. Under current pledges to the accord, the world will still easily overshoot an increase in global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, a threshold the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in an October report would have catastrophic consequences. The IPCC also said last month that far-reaching changes in land use would be needed to avert runaway warming and is due to issue another report on the impact of climate change on oceans next week. While the Trump administration’s support for fossil fuels and U.S.-China trade tensions have undercut hopes of global climate cooperation, diplomats say they also see some encouraging signs. An upsurge in activism has forced climate up the agenda in some countries, particularly in northern Europe, while disasters from floods in the U.S. Midwest to fires raging in the Amazon and Arctic have focused voters’ minds. In Europe, the new European Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen has said she wants to make Europe the world’s first carbon neutral continent. And in the United States, Democratic candidates for next year’s presidential election are championing a proposed Green New Deal to boost renewables and end fossil fuels use. Investors are noticing, moving money to companies that can do well in a clean energy economy, said Nigel Topping, chief executive of We Mean Business, a non-profit coalition working with businesses on climate action. “We see investors becoming clear this change is going to happen.”",
            "output": [
                "A&E four hour targets have been missed more than 10 million times since 2010."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-979fccd9c8de4d289c56a4ed778c71fc",
            "input": "\"The story does not cite the cost of the patch sold in Europe, which could be a marker for possible pricing in the U.S. In a story that discusses the competitive commercial environment of the treatment’s development, this is a serious shortcoming. The report adequately describes the methodology and outcomes of the study in question. It does a good job raising the question of potential harms, while indicating that data supporting those harms aren’t statistically significant. The story reports the potential health risks linked to the patch, primarily breast cancer. The story does a nice job presenting the actual number of events (breast cancer), 3/264 in patch group and none in the placebo group, and goes on to mention that, although not statistically significant, it does support concerns about breast cancer risk. The news report is based on a blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial whose results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The report also clearly mentions that this is a \"\"company-run study.\"\" The story does an excellent job of questioning whether the \"\"disorder\"\" the patch is designed to treat should be considered a medical condition. The only sources contacted for this story are representatives of two companies involved with development of female sexual satisfaction products, including the one studied in the journal report. The viewpoints of independent clincians and researchers would have been valuable. The story does not mention other approaches to dealing with female sexual satisfaction, which include treatment of underlying psychological and physical conditions, and individual or couples therapy. The story makes plain that the female testosterone patch is not available in the United States but is on the market in Europe. The report makes clear that the patch is not novel–it’s sold in Europe and has been under study and development in the U.S. for at least a decade. We can’t be sure if the story relied largely on a news release. We do know that the only sources quoted are drug company representatives.\"",
            "output": [
                "Patch boosts libido for some older women"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1db5cfb762774fb9ae9af68f7309f26c",
            "input": "\"The story mentioned alli would cost between $2-$3 per day. The claim for this over-the-counter version of this medication was that it will have similar effect on weight loss as the dose available by prescription. However, data from the original studies designed to examine effectiveness of this medication show that the weight loss observed was dose dependent. These data suggest that the anticipated weight loss should be about half of that seen with the prescription version. Although the story alluded several times to a 10-20 pound weight loss, it failed to provide a time frame for this weight loss or any indication that weight regain was common after cessation of the drug. Although the story lists some of the gastro-intestinal unpleasantries that occur with the use of this medication, a quote from a paper put out by the FDA  (http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00951.html ) on the prescription strength form of the drug really says it better:  \"\"The most common side effects of orlistat are oily spotting, gas with discharge, fecal urgency, fatty/oily stools and frequent bowel movements.\"\" The story also included concerns regarding the potential for deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins occuring with the use of this medication. The story did not include a warning for organ transplant recipients for whom this medication could cause serious problems. But it did mention concerns regarding the potential for deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins occuring with the use of this medication. The story included a quote from the director of health research at Public Citizen regarding concerns about \"\"precancerous lesions of the colon\"\" derived from a single study in rats. There is currently no published data supporting similar concerns about use of this drug in humans. The story included information from one weight loss specialist that the use of this product results in an average weight loss of 10-16 pounds. It did not mention that this was with the use of the prescription strength product, in the setting of a weight loss practice which likely included supportive interactions with health care professionals as well as reduction in calories consumed and increased exercise. Near the end of the story, there was information (\"\"..eating a low-fat diet containing no more than 15 grams of fat per meal would reduce the risk of the side effect.\"\") attributed to the FDA. This sentence is actually a direct quote from the www.myalli.com website. No overt disease-mongering about obesity; about two thirds of the way through it mentions that ~130 million Americans are overweight, and that about half of these would be considered obese. There were many clinicians, FDA personnel, and company spokesperson quoted for this story. The views from clinicians included those who said that this product will not result in weight loss on its own. It might have been helpful to include a link to the information released by the FDA on this product. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01557.html This story did not discuss other treatment options for the loss of comparable amounts of weight This story is about a new product, alli, which has been approved by the FDA for sale without a prescription. The story reported that it will be available this summer. The story was clear that alli is an over-the-counter strength of a medication that has previously been available by prescription only. Several sources were used, so it appears unlikely the story relied solely or largely on a news release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Nonprescription diet drug gets OK"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-30878ec311044d8e957cc6555bf838c0",
            "input": "In late March 2020, controversy erupted when U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that, despite a deadly COVID-19 pandemic with a rising death toll, Americans should end social-distancing measures and return to work by Easter in order to avert further harm to the economy. Trump’s suggestion flew in the face of the recommendations by health experts, as well as a number of locally-mandated social distancing and shelter-in-place orders. It also raised fears that encouraging people to go back to work before the disease was contained amounted to putting a price on human life. But Trump staffers, supporters, right-wing media personalities, and the president himself all expressed concern that shutting down the economy could be a cure worse than the disease. Amid this debate, national politics and financial news outlet Bloomberg published an article headlined, “Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure.” The story contrasted the fears expressed by one front-line service worker worried about contracting COVID-19 against comments by wealthy business leaders who worried about further damage to the economy if lockdowns persisted. Former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich was quoted as one of the latter. Kovacevich, who was CEO of Wells Fargo until 2007 and chairman until 2009, was quoted in the article as saying: We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know. Do you want to suffer more economically or take some risk that you’ll get flu-like symptoms and a flu-like experience? Do you want to take an economic risk or a health risk? You get to choose. The statement resulted in considerable blowback. And subsequent headlines didn’t help matters for Kovacevich: “‘Some may even die, I don’t know’: Former Wells Fargo CEO wants people to go back to work and ‘see what happens,'” read one from Business Insider. In a followup interview with CNBC two days later, Kovacevich said he felt the remark wasn’t placed within the the proper context in the Bloomberg article. Kovacevich explained that he meant people should start returning to work after various regions in the U.S. had succeeded in “flattening the curve,” meaning when a steep increase of COVID-19 cases had leveled out to more manageable numbers. He gave examples of China, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, which he claimed had succeeded in doing so and commenced restarting their economies after about a month on lockdown. Here are Kovacevich’s comments on CNBC in full:",
            "output": [
                "\"In regards to reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former CEO of Wells Fargo stated, \"\"We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b42995b8e85843b1b493826e0dff853b",
            "input": "ADPH says there’s been a 90 percent increase in reported cases over 2015 in Madison County. The department announced Friday that 54 cases have been reported in Madison County in 2016. Health officials say infection can occur after a person has direct contact with a syphilis sore during vaginal, anal or oral sex. Syphilis can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby. Persons who contract syphilis may develop a sore or rash, but many won’t be aware of infection unless tested. In most cases, syphilis can be cured by antibiotics. ADPH is implementing an enhanced screening program and outreach to those groups most at risk.",
            "output": [
                "Rise in syphilis cases in north Alabama."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cddbe236c3e546278006f598d220aff3",
            "input": "But he was conspicuously quiet Tuesday about one big issue keeping much of the globe on pins and needles: the spread of a deadly new type of coronavirus. It has killed more than 170 people in China, sickened thousands more there and led to a handful of confirmed cases in the U.S., including the  first U.S. case of person-to-person transmission  reported Thursday by health officials. The State Department on Thursday advised all U.S. citizens against traveling to China. Trump, a self-described germaphobe, generally has discussed the virus in broad terms, but he offered some of his most extensive comments on the issue to date during an appearance Thursday at a Michigan manufacturing plant. “Hopefully, it won’t be as bad as some people think it could be, but we’re working very closely with them (Chinese) and with a lot of other people and a lot of other countries,” he said. “We think we have it very well under control.” Trump described the handful of U.S. cases as a “very little problem” and said those people were “recuperating successfully.”  “But we’re working very closely with China and other countries and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us. That I can assure you,” he said. Trump also has discussed the situation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Aides and confidants say Trump’s careful approach is part of a political strategy crafted to avoid upsetting the stock market or angering China by calling too much attention to the virus or blaming Beijing for not managing the situation better, according to a White House official and a Republican close to the White House. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations. Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted photos from a White House Situation Room briefing on the virus, writing that “we have the best experts anywhere in the world and they are on top of it 24/7!”  In keeping with the low-profile approach, the White House announced by email Wednesday night that the meeting included members of a task force that will lead the U.S. response. The 12-person team is chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and coordinated through the National Security Council. The president’s comments contrast sharply with the fierce criticism he lobbed at his predecessor, President Barack Obama, during the 2014-15 Ebola crisis, which left more than 11,000 dead in three West African nations. At the time, Trump ripped into Obama as a “dope” and “incompetent” and called for a travel ban on visitors from Ebola-infected countries. Trump also advocated preventing infected American health care workers from coming home for treatment. Obama faced some criticism from public health officials for being slow to address the Ebola crisis initially, but also received plaudits for eventually attacking it with vigor. He nudged Congress to make a $5.4 billion emergency appropriation to aid the fight and sent 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help with the international response. Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said he’s taken a measure of comfort in the fact that Trump, so far, hasn’t overreacted and has resisted “fanning the flames” as he did with his rhetoric during the Ebola crisis. That leaves room, Gostin said, for public health professionals to take the lead. “As long as that continues and as long as there isn’t political interference or mass quarantines in the U.S. or outright travel bans, I will feel comfortable with how the White House is handling it,” Gostin said. He added that he’d like to see Trump ask Congress for a $1 billion emergency appropriation to help agencies battling to contain the virus. Trump is well aware the virus outbreak in China could create a wild card for the U.S. economy during an election year. And he has long prioritized the U.S. economic relationship with China, especially during trade negotiations, and similarly largely held his tongue during widespread protests in Hong Kong. He also takes enormous pride in the personal relationship he’s developed with Xi and has commended him for demonstrating “transparency” as he deals with the crisis. Asked about the virus while traveling abroad last week, Trump said “we have it totally under control.” In a separate Twitter posting, he offered reassurance but scant detail for his confidence. “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” Trump tweeted. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well.” But some public health experts say Trump’s rosy assessments of the situation don’t match the ground truth. Gostin pointed to Chinese government bureaucratic delays that led to tens of thousands of people traveling outside of Wuhan province, increasing the likelihood that the virus will travel far beyond China. “It’s not accurate at all,” Gostin said of Trump’s assessment of China’s handling of the outbreak. “China manifestly does not have this under control.” Trump’s budgets have proposed cuts to public health, only to be overruled by Congress, where there’s strong bipartisan support for agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Indeed, the money government disease detectives are tapping to fight the latest outbreak was a congressional idea. ___ Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Wary of irking China, Trump offers rosy take on virus threat."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33fde3057be243debe110bd64f881b23",
            "input": "“At this first stage, 100,000 face masks will be produced and ready for delivery on April 2. Half will go to Italy and half to Spain. It is a factory in China that makes the masks,” a H&M spokeswoman said in an email. H&M said last week it was looking into using its supply network to source personal protective equipment for hospitals to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. The masks are of the N95/FFP2 standard that protects from the droplets through which the virus spreads.",
            "output": [
                "H&M starts protective face mask production at Chinese supplier."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-16e60091af3949ef983ecc0c9600cdba",
            "input": "Many areas of Saudi consumption, including the retail industry, housing and travel, have ballooned in the past decade because of oil-fuelled growth in national income. But healthcare has lagged, partly because of government inefficiency and bureaucracy. Now the mediocre quality of state-run healthcare has become a political liability for the government, especially in the wake of the 2011 uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, which underlined the risks of social discontent. Many Saudis complain about overcrowded hospitals and shortages of medications. So the government has embarked on a drive to reform the sector, building hundreds of hospitals, providing interest-free loans to private companies and changing health insurance rules. This could make Saudi Arabia the world’s fastest-growing major healthcare market over the next few years, helping to diversify the economy beyond oil and providing a bonanza to foreign companies selling medicines, equipment and services. “It is a case of chronic underinvestment and reactive overexpenditure,” said Mohammad Kamal, an analyst at financial firm Arqaam Capital in Dubai. The standard of Saudi Arabian healthcare provision has long contrasted with its wealth. The kingdom, which the IMF ranked 30th in the world by GDP per capita for 2012, has 2.2 hospital beds per 1,000 residents, according to Arqaam, lower than the global average of 3.0 and far below the average of 5.5 in developed countries. Local newspapers routinely report complaints about issues such as overcrowding - with some patients receiving intravenous drips in hospital corridors - and poor hygiene and maintenance, resulting in pest infestations and infections. Abdulkarim al-Thobeiti, a Saudi engineer working in the public sector, says he will never set foot in a state-run hospital because they are either fully booked or poorly maintained. “If you want to make an appointment to see a doctor you have to wait for months, unless you have some connection or know someone who can pull a few strings,” Thobeiti said. This may change as the government ramps up healthcare budgets. Spending has already jumped from $8 billion in 2008 to $27 billion last year, and Saudi asset management firm NCB Capital expects it to soar to $46 billion in 2017. In addition to building new state-run facilities, the government is offering private companies interest-free loans covering up to a half of the cost of building new hospitals. And, although the move has yet to be announced officially, Saudis employed in the public sector are expected to become eligible for state-funded health insurance within the next few years, Arqaam and other analysts say. This would enable them to use private healthcare services without paying extra fees out of their own pocket. Today, the overwhelming majority, about 83 percent, of Saudi Arabia’s 8.4 million health insurance holders are expatriates whose employers are legally obliged to cover their insurance costs, according to Arqaam. The insurance reform could swell the pool with more than a million Saudi public servants and about 5 million of their dependents, Arqaam estimates. This implies a surge in demand for private Saudi healthcare firms, which are turning to the stock market to finance expansion. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group and Almana General Hospitals will seek to list their shares on the local bourse in 2014 or early 2015, bankers told Reuters in November. Some companies have already tapped the market. Dallah Healthcare raised 540 million rials ($144 million) in an initial public offering of shares at the end of 2012, while National Medical Care Co conducted a 175 million rial IPO last March. Major global players are also looking for ways to boost their presence. General Electric (GE), one of the biggest manufacturers of medical equipment, has said it will build an assembly facility in Saudi Arabia. “Looking ahead at 2014, we continue to see a buoyant healthcare sector for the kingdom,” said Mazen Dalati, chief executive of GE Healthcare in the country. The development of a private healthcare industry is good news for the Saudi government as it tries to diversify the economy and boost employment of citizens in the private sector to make the country less vulnerable to a big drop in oil prices. Higher state spending will not necessarily translate into quick improvements, however, as shown by the slow progress in the last few years of Saudi Arabia’s $67 billion housing program, which was stalled by red tape and weak coordination between ministries. Analysts doubt in particular that the government will meet its own hospital construction targets. For private providers, human resources could become a bottleneck, especially if the government presses ahead with a plan to gradually replace foreign workers, who hold more than half the jobs in the sector, with Saudi nationals. Today, 20 percent of workers at healthcare companies are required to be Saudi citizens. The government is looking for ways to reduce the shortage of qualified personnel, including through partnerships with foreign firms such as GE. Reflecting such obstacles, healthcare firms’ stock prices have lost steam since the post-IPO rallies commonly enjoyed by new Saudi listings. While the overall stock market has risen 16 percent since June, shares in Dallah are up just 11 percent, and National Medical Care has lost 8 percent. Future expansion of healthcare facilities, however, will be driven not just by increased government spending but also by fundamental factors such as the continuing growth of Saudi Arabia’s young population and the high incidence of lifestyle-related diseases. One in every three people in the country is obese, according to the local Obesity Research Centre, whose researchers are looking into whether Saudis are genetically predisposed to the condition. “Saudi Arabia has an exceptionally high incidence of diabetes, heart disease and congenital disorders,” said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Saudi investment firm MASIC. “The insurance sector changes will provide extra demand for sure.”",
            "output": [
                "Saudi healthcare booms as state scrambles to close welfare gap."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-021e0f4ad2f24cce952d27568f7f9098",
            "input": "While the news release says the research is aimed at lowering costs and reducing the burden for low income patients, we are not given any numbers that describes the value of the intervention. The release only gets as detailed on cost as the excerpts below: The findings, which support earlier research demonstrating positive results of the assessment and treatment method in a university setting, have the potential to transform dental care for high-risk patients at a lower cost to both patients and dental clinics and practices. Results appear online Jan. 22, 2018, in Advances in Dental Research. The authors said now that this has been shown to be effective in a non-academic clinical setting, there also is potential for insurance companies to reimburse CAMBRA and other preventive therapies for adults, thereby lowering patient costs while increasing profits for dental practices. The release also doesn’t address the cost of prescription fluoride toothpaste which may actually result in higher costs overall. The number needed to treat was 4, meaning that you would have to treat 4 people for one additional person to get benefit. This results in the cost of therapy being multiplied by 4 to get the effect found in the study. The release described benefits this way: Among 242 patients (137 intervention, 105 control) initially identified as high risk for caries, only a quarter of the patients remained at high risk in the CAMBRA group at 24 months, while just over half (54 percent) of the control group did. Of the 192 low-risk participants (93 intervention, 99 control), most participants remained low risk. As noted under Evidence criteria below, the release listed as a limitation the fact that only about one-third of the patients who started the study completed the 24 month checkup. There is no mention of harms. We are given enough information to judge the quality of the evidence; it was a randomized study with an experimental and a control group. The release also deserves praise for noting study limitations, including the high study attrition rate (65 percent of volunteers dropped out before their 24 month follow-up). The study quality seems to have been very good considering the difficulty in performing this type of community based study. The blinding was adequate and although the published study states that the blinding was “double” (patient and investigator), it also appears that the treating dentists (participating treaters) were also blinded to the group that the patient was assigned. This could have been mentioned, too, and would have strengthened the release. There is no disease mongering. The funding sources are listed, and there are no apparent conflicts. In the strictest possible way, the release does not directly talk about all the different ways of preventing dental caries. But we were glad that the release discussed the improvements that happened for some patients in the control group who received fewer products. We are glad the release talks about possibly following up on this, in case the lesser products could still benefit many patients. Excerpt: The researchers said the risk reduction among the control group may have been caused by the fluoride toothpaste enhancing tooth repair, as well as the mouth rinse enhancing saliva flow and having bactericidal effects. While not as significant as the CAMBRA group in this study, the risk level of these patients dropped more dramatically over time than for those in the 2012 UCSF CAMBRA study. It was surprising to see the benefits gained by the control group,” Rechmann said. “More research is needed to see if the products and treatment administered to this group function in the way we speculate, and if so, they might be made easily available to dental patients. Doing so can change the whole picture of caries control. This CAMBRA method is available at about half of US schools and colleges of dentistry according to the release. However, the prescription fluoride toothpaste is available from most pharmacies. The release clearly explains that this research began in 2002, and small incremental steps in its validation have been published over many years. This is one more step. There is no unjustifiable language.",
            "output": [
                "Cavity prevention approach effectively reduces tooth decay"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7bea69b9a7554d78bd9e0ff8f22da8da",
            "input": "The 47-nation Council of Europe adopted a non-binding resolution this week that urged a public debate on “non-medically justified operations and interventions” on children. The report highlighted female genital mutilation but also referred to ritual male circumcision and other practices. Israel said the Council should immediately rescind the resolution, which only a third of the 318-member body voted on and 78 supported. “Any comparison of (male circumcision) to the reprehensible and barbaric practice of female genital mutilation is either appalling ignorance, at best, or defamation and anti-religious hatred, at worst,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. It said circumcision of male children was “an ancient religious tradition” in Judaism and Islam and among some Christian groups, and was medically beneficial. The resolution cast “a moral stain on the Council of Europe, and fosters hate and racist trends in Europe.”  The document cited research supporting the medical benefits of male circumcision, but its main advocate, rapporteur Marlene Rupprecht from Germany, said she backed opposing medical opinion, which she quoted in the notes to the resolution. Member states should therefore consider the impact of non-medical interventions in light of the child’s best interests in order to define lines of action, the resolution said. Countries should also define the medical and other conditions to be ensured for certain religious practices “such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys”. The Council promotes democracy and human rights in Europe but does not make laws and has little power to enforce its recommendations. In December, Germany enacted a law to protect the right to circumcise infant boys in a show of support for Muslims and Jews who had been angered by a local court ban on the practice earlier last year. Female genital mutilation - the partial or total removal of external female genitalia - is carried out for religious and cultural reasons in 28 African nations and parts of the Middle East and Asia. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in December urging countries to ban the practice, calling it an “irreparable, irreversible abuse” that threatens about three million girls annually.",
            "output": [
                "Israel attacks Council of Europe move to restrict male circumcision."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ade30957678c4b47b38ab8bfee88c0f9",
            "input": "\"In the Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, installment of the comic strip Doonesbury, Mark Slackmeyer -- a longtime character in the strip who is a liberal radio host -- makes a point about gun violence. \"\"What are we like as a people?\"\" Slackmeyer muses to himself in his studio. \"\"Nine years, ago we were attacked -- 3,000 people died. In response, we started two long, bloody wars and built a vast homeland-security apparatus -- all at a cost of trillions! Now consider this. During those same nine years, 270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home. Our response? We weakened our gun laws.\"\" At that point, a whirring sound comes from off-panel. In the final panel, we see that his guest is a space alien, who says, \"\"Fail. Cannot Comprehend.\"\" To which Slackmeyer cracks, \"\"Well, you may be a little jet-lagged.\"\" A reader asked us to fact-check it. So we’ll look at whether since Sept. 11, 2001, \"\"270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home.\"\" We began by contacting Garry Trudeau, the cartoonist who has drawn Doonesbury for more than four decades. He got back immediately with a summary of his methodology. \"\"The final figure lacks precision, because it's extrapolated,\"\" Trudeau wrote us, noting, correctly, that the most recent data for gun deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is from 2007. \"\"What I had were six years -- 2002-2007 -- of a remarkably stable number, around 30,000\"\" gun deaths per year, Trudeau wrote. \"\"So in my judgment, multiplying 30,000 times nine yielded a figure reasonable and accurate enough for rhetorical purposes without using hyperbole. If anything, it may be slightly on the low side.\"\" We found that Trudeau was basically right. We went to the same CDC database he used -- the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (or WISQARS for short) -- and got virtually identical numbers. Our number came out slightly higher -- 281,757 -- because we not only extrapolated out through the end of 2010 in our calculations but also included the final three months of 2001. We should note the details of Trudeau’s definition of gun deaths, which is also the definition we would have used if we’d been starting from scratch. It includes the following categories:  • Suicides: 102,002 between 2002 and 2007 • Homicides: 73,148 between 2002 and 2007 • Accidental: 4,185 between 2002 and 2007 • Legal shootings: 1,999 between 2002 and 2007 • Undetermined: 1,427 between 2002 and 2007  -- Total: 182,761 between 2002 and 2007  So on the numbers, Trudeau’s methodology was accurate. The only thing that threw us was how the strip had described where the deaths occurred -- \"\"270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home\"\" (our emphasis). Initially, we took that to mean that 270,000 Americans were literally killed in or near their homes. And we knew that couldn’t be right, because the number both we and Trudeau calculated included all gunfire deaths, wherever they had occurred. When we asked criminologists for guidance on what percentage of gun deaths occur at home, they said the statistics on that question are scattershot. James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, provided data on Chicago homicides from an amicus brief he wrote for a Supreme Court case. Since 1965, the ratio of outside-the-home handgun homicides in Chicago to those occurring at home has tended to bounce around from about two-to-one in the 1970s to about five-to-one in the 1990s. So if one interprets \"\"at home\"\" to mean in or near someone’s home, the numbers Trudeau calculated wouldn’t be correct. When we raised this point with Trudeau, he said that wasn’t what he meant: \"\"I didn't say ‘in the home,’ I said ‘at home’ as opposed to abroad, where the wars are. Failure to communicate clearly, I guess. Rats.\"\" Reading through it again, we think Trudeau’s explanation sounds reasonable. But we decided to mark Trudeau down slightly because we think it’s also reasonable for people to make the same initial assumption we did, that \"\"at home\"\" means in or near one’s home. So we’ll rate the comment .\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Since Sept. 11, 2001, \"\"270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-de6074eb1ef54f8494f56a6b56e09514",
            "input": "Pakistan is also the only polio-endemic country in the world where polio cases rose from 2012 to 2013, the statement said. There were 91 cases last year but only 58 the year before. Polio can permanently paralyze or kill victims within hours of infection. Intensive vaccination campaigns have almost eradicated the disease worldwide, but it remains endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. In Pakistan, Taliban commanders have forbidden vaccination teams access in some areas. A handful of religious leaders have also denounced the campaign as a plot to sterilize Muslim children. The rhetoric has fueled violence against the vaccination teams. Many teams travel only with police protection. Last year there were more than 30 attacks on polio teams. But Dr. Elias Durry, the head of the WHO’s polio eradication program in Pakistan, emphasized that campaigns in most parts of the country had been successful. “The virus has not been seen in all parts of Pakistan,” he said. “It’s in very limited areas that we have problems in accessing.”  Some of the attacks took place in Peshawar, the capital of northern Khyber Paktunkhwa province. The old city is a maze of shops and homes where open sewers run through the streets. The city is plagued by Taliban and sectarian violence. Many families fleeing the Taliban insurgency in the north seek refuge there. Peshawar’s huge, mobile population and poor sanitation make it an ideal incubating ground for the disease. More than 90 percent of Pakistani polio cases last year were linked to a strain of disease found in the Peshawar sewers. All but one of the 13 cases in Afghanistan were also linked to Peshawar, WHO said.",
            "output": [
                "Pakistani city is world's biggest reservoir of polio viruses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0537fc0c23a3456d898625f9e657bbca",
            "input": "The 2002-2003 SARS epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Fears of a SARS recurrence arose this month after a slate of patients were hospitalized with an unexplained viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. As of Sunday, 59 people were diagnosed with the condition and have been isolated while they receive treatment, according to the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. The commission said in a statement that initial investigations have ruled out SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome — as well as Middle East respiratory syndrome, influenza, bird flu and adenovirus. The commission previously said the condition’s most common symptom was fever, with shortness of breath and lung infections appearing in a “small number” of cases. There were no clear indications of human-to-human transmission. Several patients were working at the South China Seafood City food market in sprawling Wuhan’s suburbs. The commission said the market would be suspended and investigated. Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said Sunday that a total of 15 patients in Hong Kong were being treated for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. Hospitals and doctors have been directed to report cases of fever in anyone who has traveled to Wuhan in the past 14 days, Hong Kong’s health chief, Sophia Chan, said Sunday. The hospital authority said it has activated a “serious response” level to curb spread of the infection. Chan warned Hong Kong residents against visiting wet markets and eating wild game in mainland China. The World Health Organization said it was closely monitoring the situation and maintaining contact with Chinese authorities. No travel or trade restrictions are necessary at this time, the WHO said.",
            "output": [
                "Local authorities: Mysterious illness in China is not SARS."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-067e90fd0cdf4c50a4afee46133b1caa",
            "input": "The possibility that the coronavirus spreads in a mostly stealthy mode among a population of largely young, healthy people showing no symptoms could have major implications for U.S. policy-makers, who are considering how and when to reopen the economy. It also renews questions about the extent to which U.S. testing of just the people suspected of being infected is actually capturing the spread of the virus in the United States and around the world. The Navy’s testing of the entire 4,800-member crew of the aircraft carrier - which is about 94% complete - was an extraordinary move in a headline-grabbing case that has already led to the firing of the carrier’s captain and the resignation of the Navy’s top civilian official. Roughly 60 percent of the over 600 sailors who tested positive so far have not shown symptoms of COVID-19, the potentially lethal respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, the Navy says. The service did not speculate about how many might later develop symptoms or remain asymptomatic. “With regard to COVID-19, we’re learning that stealth in the form of asymptomatic transmission is this adversary’s secret power,” said Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham, surgeon general of the Navy. The figure is higher than the 25% to 50% range offered on April 5 by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, speaking in a television interview on Thursday, said the number of asymptomatic cases from the carrier was “disconcerting.”   “It has revealed a new dynamic of this virus: that it can be carried by normal, healthy people who have no idea whatsoever that they are carrying it,” Esper told NBC’s “Today” morning show. Such data present challenges to the Pentagon, which is deployed around the world, sometimes in confined environments like submarines, ships and aircraft. Testing the entire military is not yet feasible, given still-limited testing capacity, officials say, and detecting enough cases without tests is impossible if most cases are asymptomatic. The U.S. coronavirus death toll - the highest in the world - surged past 31,000 on Thursday after doubling in a week. It also claimed the life of a sailor from the Theodore Roosevelt this week. Five other members of the crew are hospitalized. Still, the case of the Theodore Roosevelt offers a case study for researchers about how the virus spreads asymptomatically in a confined environment among mostly younger adults. That cohort has been somewhat underrepresented in the epidemiological data so far, said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “The findings are of enormous interest because the proportion of people who are asymptomatic is just simply not known,” Schaffner said, when asked about the Navy’s data. Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, a deputy chief of naval operations at the center of the Navy’s coronavirus response efforts, presented the 60% figure in a call with a small group of reporters on Wednesday. But he declined to speculate about the implications. “I don’t know if we’re proving something different,” Sawyer said. “I do agree that we are providing some data that some other organizations might not have.”",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus clue? Most cases aboard U.S. aircraft carrier are symptom-free."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b1a37cc338a42269fd4d93de22c271f",
            "input": "“In Chinese tradition, a girl and a boy means good, perfect,” said the mother, who requested anonymity. “There’s nothing wrong with girls, but in Hong Kong and Chinese tradition all families like boys.”  The mother is one of hundreds of women from mainland China, Hong Kong and Australia who visit Bangkok each year for in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the option of choosing the child’s gender by discarding fertilized eggs, or embryos, of the unwanted sex. The only other countries where the technique is permitted and available are the United States and South Africa - in both cases at a higher financial cost. The dozen or so clinics that offer the service in Bangkok say it gives parents the chance to “balance” the genders in their growing families, but medical authorities want the practice banned. The Medical Council of Thailand, an independent agency that supervises the country’s medical system, says it could encourage embryo trafficking. Still, its efforts to stop IVF gender selection have been complicated by a number of factors. It has no powers to prevent clinics providing the service because there is no law governing its practice in Thailand. Despite years of lobbying, the issue has remained low on the list of political priorities for successive governments – a point underlined by Thailand’s latest political upheaval and military coup. In standard IVF practice, a woman’s eggs are removed and fertilized before being returned to the womb. In gender selection IVF, only embryos of the desired gender are implanted, a practice mostly shunned amid concerns about couples making a choice on the right to life based on gender. “Sex selection for non-medical reasons is not encouraged, but neither is it prohibited in the U.S., according to the latest guidelines,” the American Medical Association says on its Website. As in Thailand, South Africa currently has no legal provision governing the technique. The business is estimated to be worth about $150 million last year, according to one Hong Kong agent who organizes gender selection packages. Demand is growing about 20 percent a year, some Thai providers told Reuters, with the number of clinics rising to meet it. With parliament dissolved since last December and an army government now in power, calls for legislation remain in limbo. Thailand’s Health Ministry referred questions to the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the only agency in the country which gathers specialized information about IVF treatment. Prof. Clin. Wiboolphan Thitadilok, president of the college, said the agency is working on a fresh set of recommendations on IVF treatment in general. “We have worked to put this issue into law for more than 10 years” she told Reuters. “It’s not an issue that politicians will pay much attention to.”  Thailand now has 44 IVF clinics in total, with seven new facilities opened last year and two or three applications for new clinics being submitted every month, according to the college. The Asian country has become the go-to destination for Chinese couples not willing to leave the gender of their baby to chance. They pay fees that can run close to $30,000 in some cases for packages including a cycle of treatment lasting two to three weeks. Alfred Siu Wing-fung, a Hong Kong agent selling Bangkok gender selection packages to about 200 Chinese couples a year, said as well as people from poorer rural areas his business, Eden Hospitality, had strong demand from wealthy professionals wanting certainty about their offspring. Siu estimates about 10,000 gender selection cycles were carried out in Bangkok last year, at an average cost of $15,000 per treatment. While medical equipment and drugs are imported, clinics are staffed mostly by Thai doctors and nurses trained overseas. He offers two packages: 280,000 Thai baht ($8,700) for a basic service including flights and accommodation, and 900,000 baht ($27,800) for VIP treatment, including nannies and catering. Interest is growing in Australia, where gender selection treatment is unavailable. Dr Robert Woolcott, director of Genea Ltd, the third-largest IVF company in Australia, said Genea routinely recommends that couples wishing to choose the gender of their baby visit Bangkok’s Superior A.R.T. (for Assisted Reproductive Technology), a clinic it partly owns. Overall, Australians numbering “in the hundreds per year” travel to Thailand for gender selection, Woolcott told Reuters. Back in Hong Kong, the mother, now 28 with a healthy 18-month-old son, is planning for her third child. She probably won’t go back to Bangkok. “I think the third one should be natural,” she said. ($1=32.3500 Thai Baht) ($1=1.0639 Australian Dollars)",
            "output": [
                "In Thailand, baby gender selection loophole draws China, HK women to IVF clinics."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fb9272cadcc466d85a01f16f51efb7f",
            "input": "Tuberculosis is North Korea’s biggest public health problem. With this American-made machine, his lab would be able to complete a TB test in just two hours, instead of two months. It took years, but Dr. O got the machines, only to discover that GeneXpert needs cartridges he can’t replace. It’s not entirely clear what about the cartridges would violate international sanctions. For a long time, the producer refused to disclose what agents were inside because that was patented information. But it doesn’t really matter. No one, it seems, is willing to help him procure them from abroad and run the risk of angering Washington. Despite a budding mood of detente on the Korean Peninsula since the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month in Singapore, ongoing sanctions championed by the U.S. and Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy continue to generate an atmosphere of hesitation and the fear of even unintentional violations. And that is keeping lifesaving medicines and supplies from thousands of North Korean tuberculosis patients. Dr. O’s laboratory, built with help from Stanford University and Christian Friends of Korea aid group, has essentially been running on empty since April. But the idle GeneXperts may soon be the least of his troubles. ___ Tuberculosis kills more than 1.6 million people a year. When left untreated it will be fatal in half of those it infects. It’s the world’s most deadly infectious disease and is so contagious that each case can be expected to lead to 10 to 20 more. In developed countries, it has largely been brought under control. There’s a vaccine that prevents it and a cocktail of drugs that can be used to treat, and often cure, it in a matter of months. But it’s a major scourge in less affluent places, including North Korea and sub-Saharan Africa. To help North Korea control its tuberculosis problem, a Geneva-based international aid organization called the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has dispersed more than $100 million in grants since 2010. Last year it supported the treatment of about 190,000 North Korean TB patients. But, two weeks ago, Global Fund ended all of its North Korea-related grants, saying it could no longer accept the North’s “unique operating conditions.” Spokesman Seth Faison said the fund informed Pyongyang in February so it would have time to look for alternative funding sources. He said Global Fund is providing buffer stocks of medicines and health products to help support the treatment of tuberculosis patients through June next year. Faison said Global Fund welcomes the “positive diplomatic efforts underway” between Pyongyang and its neighbors. But the fund’s position stands. The decision shocked the doctors at the Pyongyang tuberculosis lab, who praised Global Fund for the work it had done but accused it of bowing to political pressure from the United States and Trump’s vow to keep the pressure on and not ease sanctions until the North makes major steps toward denuclearization. The United States government, which has pledged $1.4 billion this year, is one of Global Fund’s biggest donors. The fund’s retreat sparked outrage outside of North Korea as well. In an open letter published in the medical journal Lancet, Harvard physician Kee Park, director of North Korea programs for the Korean American Association, warned the fund’s withdrawal could create a “humanitarian and public health crisis” and called the move “a cataclysmic betrayal of the people of the DPRK.” Whatever the reason, its departure is valid cause for concern. When tuberculosis patients reduce or go off their medications prematurely, or begin taking lower quality ones, the bacteria that causes their disease can develop a resistance to the two most powerful anti-TB drugs, making the condition harder and much more expensive to treat. This kind of multi-drug resistant TB is most often found in China, India and Russia. And it’s a big problem in North Korea. ___ North Korea’s health system is fragile and strapped for resources. But in keeping with Kim’s directives to lift the nation’s standard of living, officials are looking for ways to improve. “We have been waging a vigorous struggle with a highly ambitious plan to increase the average life expectancy of the population and bring other health indices in line with those of the world’s most advanced countries,” explained Ri Jong Chang, who is the director of the Central Tuberculosis Prevention Institute and has worked with TB patients for the past 25 years. Ri explained that at the most basic level, the country maintains a network of about 7,000 clinics and a system initiated decades ago that focuses on “household doctors.” Each doctor is responsible for the care of 150 households within their administrative area. Along with primary care, they keep their patients informed and educated about health issues and conduct activities to prevent diseases. If a suspected case of tuberculosis is found, the patient is sent to a county-level hospital for testing. Aware of its needs and vulnerabilities, North Korea, which is generally secretive and deeply suspicious of anything that smacks of foreign “meddling,” has demonstrated a surprising willingness to accept help, allow access and share information with United Nations’ agencies and foreign aid organizations. Along with Global Fund, the most established group treating TB patients in the North is the Eugene Bell Foundation, which supports the treatment of more than 1,000 patients at 12 centers across the country. Unlike Global Fund, since 2008 the Eugene Bell Foundation has been solely focused on fighting multi drug-resistant tuberculosis, which typically takes about 18 months to treat and costs nearly $5,000 per patient. Stephen Linton, who founded the group in 1995, has a grim assessment of the situation. “We are probably only covering about one-tenth of the MDR-TB patients in the country right now,” he told The Associated Press. He said about half of his patients are in Pyongyang, a city of 3 million and the place where most of the North’s elites reside. The reason is straightforward — MDR-TB develops after exposure to medications that failed. In rural areas, fewer people have access to those medicines to begin with. “If you are living in the countryside in North Korea, you are much less likely to get MDR-TB than if you live in Pyongyang. It’s horrendous,” he said. “We can’t get to the bottom of it, even though we focus a lot of resources there.” What really worries him, and the North Korean government, is what will happen if the patients who relied on Global Fund support run out of medications, stop getting help or turn to cheaper, less effective treatments. Many will die. But not before infecting many others. “This is an airborne infection,” he said. “Every time you are in a closed space with a TB patient, you are at risk. So for all the people that travel to North Korea, all the tourists, all the diplomats — they are a risk to everyone who comes near them.” ___ This was supposed to be the year Eugene Bell began to really up its game in North Korea, tripling to 3,000 the number of patients it treats. Many of the sanatoria where TB patients are treated in the North were built 30 or 40 years ago. They have poor insulation, are overcrowded and are often fire hazards. To address those problems and the sort of transparency issues Global Fund was concerned about, Eugene Bell has developed pre-fabricated wards tailor-made to meet the North’s conditions. They are simple, single-story duplexes. Each can be put up quickly by three or four people, meaning the entire process can be monitored while Linton and other Eugene Bell people are in the country on their bi-annual medical team visits. The wards are already paid for when they are shipped from China, so the money isn’t going into the pockets of government officials or funding Kim Jong Un’s missile programs. The idea was to begin putting up 80-100 wards to create large centers in each of North Korea’s nine provinces. A pilot project with 10 wards is now operating on the outskirts of Pyongyang, not far from the airport. Linton said everything was going well until last December. “Then we ran into this sanctions problem,” he said. “It’s officially approved. The design is approved. And it’s not that we can’t send anything in. But these buildings have a metal roof — a panel that has metal in it, aluminum — and that’s the issue.” Linton said Eugene Bell has a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of them “rotting in monsoon weather” in a dockyard outside of Seoul. He believes that until Washington makes it clear it is not against humanitarian aid, other countries and aid organizations will be reluctant to act — or even approve the shipment of items like Dr. O’s GeneXpert cartridges or Eugene Bell’s patient wards that are clearly intended for humanitarian use. As an American, Linton says, he is concerned the U.S. will be held responsible for whatever bad happens with TB in North Korea since no country is as seen as “owning” the sanctions as much as America. “Unless something is done and done soon, this medical emergency will become known in Korea as the ‘Sanctions TB Epidemic,’” he said. “And it will haunt the peninsula for generations.” ___ Talmadge is the AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter: @EricTalmadge",
            "output": [
                "Despite detente, sanctions on North Korea fan TB epidemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dd7e2348b3754c09bc0d990b25890e97",
            "input": "The Justice Department argued in court documents recently that providing the money to the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center would violate an agreement reached in 1975 to settle a class-action lawsuit. For the study, hundreds of black men suffering from the sexually transmitted disease were allowed to go untreated for decades so doctors could analyze the progression of the illness. The government said that it “does not intend in any way to justify, condone, or defend the Tuskegee Syphilis Study,” but allowing remaining money from a $9 million settlement to be used for the museum would violate the settlement’s original provision that any left over money go back to the government. Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney who represented men in the study and made the funding request in 2016, declined comment on the government’s position. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson held a telephone conference on the request on May 30, records show, but hasn’t ruled yet. Starting in 1932 and continuing for four decades, government medical workers operating in rural, segregated Alabama withheld treatment from unsuspecting black men infected with syphilis so doctors could track the disease and dissect their bodies afterward. Revealed by The Associated Press in 1972, the study ended and the men sued, resulting in the settlement negotiated by Gray on behalf of the victims, all of whom have died. The men wanted to be remembered in a memorial that told their story, Gray said in court documents, and a county-owned history museum that already includes exhibits about the study could use the “relatively small” amount of unclaimed money. The men’s names are emblazoned in a circle on the floor of the museum, which only opens during the summer because of funding shortages. The Justice Department said sending the money to the museum would “fundamentally alter the terms of the agreement.” Days after the government made its argument in legal documents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo barring third-party organizations from receiving money from settlements involving the government. Officials say more than 6,000 heirs of the roughly 600 men who were involved in the study received settlement payments through the decades, but an undisclosed amount of mainly interest earnings remains in court-controlled accounts. Court officials say they can’t find additional descendants, if any exist. Some descendants of the men have said they support using the settlement money to help the museum, while others like the idea of a new memorial at Tuskegee University, where the study was based. Still others want new medical screenings on relatives. A judge’s decision could be a step toward ending the study participants’ class-action lawsuit, first filed in 1973.",
            "output": [
                "Trump administration opposing bid for syphilis study museum."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3b0de845693948aaaf8d33e222c33b84",
            "input": "The Antarctic Sabbatical , as the travel company is dubbing it, will give five people the opportunity to study how widely micro plastics have infiltrated the region. Over a month’s time in December, they’ll be trained in lab work in Chile, collect snow samples in Antarctica, climb key glaciers and even visit the South Pole. Scientist Kirstie Jones-Williams, who will be helping to train and guide the volunteer researchers, says the goal of the program isn’t to create more scientists, but moreso global ambassadors on the dangers of pollution and more. “The science itself that we’re doing isn’t enough,” she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “Actually, one of the biggest threats to our sort of natural environment isn’t necessarily the lack of information that we have ... but it’s more the disenfranchisement that can occur with policymakers and apathy and eco-fatigue. “One of the main things is to get a bunch of people that can take the messages that we learn back to their respective countries,” she said. It’s the second offering in Airbnb’s sabbatical program, which offers its users a chance to take time to do more than see the sights but actually do some good. Earlier this year, Airbnb selected five people to spend three months in Grottole in southern Italy to help preserve the way of life in the town, which is in danger of disappearing. Airbnb’s Chris Lehane says both sabbaticals are part of the company’s larger goal of more eco-friendly travel and to raise awareness of tourism’s global footprint. “Airbnb is not going to solve climate change, but we all have a responsibility to do what we can and use our capacity to help take steps forward,” said Lehane, senior vice president of global policy and communications. “A lot of travel in the world takes place in and around big events,” he said. “Can we find ways when people are going to travel around these big events, to make them much more sustainable?” No scientific background is required to be selected for the Antarctic trip: However, a love of the environment and the ability to complete some of the physical tasks, such as collecting samples, climbing glaciers and enduring bitter cold, is paramount. “It is hard to work in cold environments so people that ... perhaps work well under pressure, work well when they’re tired, that’s actually quite key,” Jones-Williams said,” and to actually ask questions, and people that are really hungry to get as much as they can out of this experience. “It’s really people that kind of respect the scientific process,” she added. The five will stay in Airbnb’s in Chile for their training for about two weeks and will stay at a camp provided by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions in Antarctica for about a week or so. Airbnb will partner with Ocean Conservancy to use the research for advocacy. Nick Mallos, a conservation biologist and ocean debris specialist for Ocean Conservancy, called it an “incredible opportunity,” and noted that the group has long worked with “citizen science volunteers” to help clean up the environment. “We’ve seen the power of when you train and empower individuals to perform science, they can generate invaluable information and data that ultimately then can form solutions,” he said. ___ Online: http://airbnb.com/sabbatical",
            "output": [
                "Airbnb to train volunteers for science research sabbatical."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d7b4b761487436696761c37244a9606",
            "input": "Not a word about costs – difficult to comprehend given the estimates the New York Times provided of $120,000 per course of treatment for one and “at least tens of thousands” per year for another. Is this not an issue worthy of a line? Adequate explanation of the benefits reported in both studies. Not a single word about potential harms, as opposed to a New York Times story, which described – variously for the two drugs: Again, is this not worthy of at least a line? Adequate explanation of the evidence. Interestingly, both this story and the one from Reuters provided information from the ASCO meetings and neglected to tell readers that both studies have been published in a peer reviewed journal. The NY Times provided both sources. No disease-mongering of melanoma. Two independent experts were quoted. Adequate job reporting the comparisons seen in the trials of the two drugs. The story makes it clear that vemurafenib is experimental and Yervoy is commercially available. Unfortunately, the story includes a prediction from the ASCO President and others that , “…vemurafenib will almost certainly get FDA approval this year.” While this may occur, it is not certain. And a little shoe leather journalism would easily find someone who would remind readers that FDA approval is not a fait accompli. Because of this, we judge this unsatisfactory. The relative novelty of the two drugs was established. It’s clear the story did not rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Two new drugs extend survival for melanoma patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-090c13c8ac924800b93a31216968ef63",
            "input": "Modi has repeatedly called for greater use of India’s health remedies and exercises, part of a push to promote traditional learning. During his first address at the United Nations in September, he encouraged more people to take up yoga and called for an International Yoga Day. “This is our system and it has not received enough prominence. We will take it to the masses,” said Shripad Naik, who took charge of the ministry on Tuesday. The formation of the ministry comes days after the government unveiled plans to set up a regulator for traditional drugs. India wants to expand its presence in the estimated $100 billion global market for alternative medicine. Ayurvedic and other types of traditional medicine, called unani and siddha, are popular in smaller towns, and yoga has a huge following across India and in the West. Homeopathy also finds wide acceptance in India. Use of traditional medicines is also promoted by country’s most popular yoga guru, Swami Ramdev. He sells ayurvedic medicines and holds yoga camps attended by thousands in India and abroad. But critics often question the effectiveness of traditional remedies over modern medicine. Modi said on Sunday ayurveda and mainstream drugs were not mutually exclusive. “There is a need for larger awareness in ayurveda. It can’t be limited to a doctor only. Our ancestors made good health a part of life,” he said. The success of the new ministry would depend on additional budgetary allocation, a government official told Reuters. The government allocated 10.69 billion rupees ($174 million) to develop and promote traditional health systems in the 2014-15 financial year. “We have not got the attention ... We are looking for a steep rise in our funding for next year,” said the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.",
            "output": [
                "India gets minister for yoga and traditional medicine."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2b3a28c80eb34c6abb9aed200227964d",
            "input": "The air quality index of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi stood at “hazardous” levels of 497 as of 0630 GMT, with levels of airborne PM 2.5 - particles that can reach deep into the lungs - touching nearly 700 in parts of the city. That is more than 10 times the recommended safe limit of 60 for PM 2.5. A dip in wind speed and temperature is making air denser, trapping pollutants and worsening air quality, said Vivek Chattopadhyay, a senior programme manager at New Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment. The city government of Delhi, a metropolis of over 20 million, is restricting the use of private cars until Nov. 15 with an “odd-even” system - allowing cars on alternate days, depending on whether their licence plate ends in an odd or even number. The scheme, which includes a two-day waiver for a  religious festival, has helped little, prompting environmentalists to call for urgent action. “The chief minister (of Delhi) needs to declare an emergency,” said Bharati Chaturvedi, founder of the Chintan environmental advocacy group. “If this was the plague, he would have declared an emergency.”  Every year, as India’s winter season approaches, farmers in Delhi’s neighboring Punjab and Haryana states, where agriculture is a mainstay, burn off rice field stubble in preparation for the sowing season. The smoke from fields mixes with vehicle exhaust and construction dust, making Delhi the world’s most-polluted capital. India’s Supreme Court last week chided authorities for their failure to curb the pollution and asked the city government, its neighboring states and the federal government to work together to help improve air quality.",
            "output": [
                "Haze wraps India's capital again as air quality plummets."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6f4a3169de12419a95e6f83dcf1b1a26",
            "input": "The country went into a 21-day lockdown on Wednesday, and experts have said it faces a tidal wave of infections if rigorous steps are not taken to keep the virus in check. India’s public health care infrastructure is poor and it suffers from an acute shortage of medical staff, who will generally see many patients over a short period. Some doctors in temporary residences had been forcefully evicted by their landlords over infection fears, the Resident Doctor’s Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi said. “(They) are now stranded on the roads with all their luggage, nowhere to go, across the country,” the association - which represents 2,500 doctors - said in a letter to the federal home minister on Tuesday, urging the government to intervene. Late on Tuesday India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, himself a doctor, said on Twitter he was “deeply anguished” to see reports of doctors being ostracized in residential complexes, adding that precautions were being taken to ensure health care workers were not carriers of the infection. A home ministry spokeswoman said the Delhi state administration had issued orders saying penal action would be taken against those evicting doctors. She did not comment on the situation in other states. India, a country of 1.3 billion, has recorded 539 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths. It has just one doctor for every 1,404 people, the government said in February, significantly below the World Health Organization’s norm of one per 1,000. The AIIMS association’s president, Adarsh Pratap Singh, said three doctors in New Delhi and around 15 in the southern city of Hyderabad had already faced issues with their accommodation. He did not have estimates of how many have been impacted overall. “People are not accepting them... The morale of doctors is down because of this, a stigma is being created due to lack of awareness of coronavirus,” he told Reuters on Wednesday. Airline staff have faced similar problems, with state-run carrier Air India and private airline IndiGo saying there had been instances of employees being ostracized from their communities.",
            "output": [
                "Indian doctors evicted over coronavirus transmission fears: medical body."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-78b7a337f7b748b2979324ddf303cfd2",
            "input": "\"As he asked Philadelphia City Council to consider a $300 million investment in the city’s parks and recreation centers, Mayor Jim Kenney told a success story. During his budget address in council chambers last week, the first-year mayor said that when the city and the Fairmount Park Conservancy invested $5 million in Hunting Park, \"\"crime went down 89 percent within a half mile radius of the park over the next three years.\"\" That seemed like a huge drop in a high-crime area of the city, so we decided to check out the claim. The Kenney administration said it got the statistic from a Dickinson College study conducted in conjunction with Philadelphia Police and the Fairmount Park Conservancy, a nonprofit that leads capital projects and programming across 10,200 acres of Fairmount Park and 100 neighborhood parks throughout the city. Meg Holscher, the Conservancy’s senior director of development, said the 87-acre Hunting Park in North Philadelphia was identified in 2008 as an area of development because of how close it was to a high number of families. At the time, prostitution and drug trade were common in and around the park. After community meetings and input from neighbors, the Conservancy -- along with the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation -- presented a master plan for the park in October 2009 that outlined two new playgrounds, a community garden and farmers market, new tennis courts and youth tennis programming, as well as a renovated football and soccer field. One of the most visible changes, though, was 64 lights placed around the park, which Holscher said residents wanted to curb illegal activity and violence. \"\"This project for us was a little bit of a game changer,\"\" she said. \"\"We’ve started to look at parks and how they are tied to healthy eating, healthy living and violence prevention.\"\" Holscher said the $4.5 million Hunting Park capital projects and programming was funded through both public and private funds. In addition to that, another $500,000 was added through grants and corporate donations, bringing the total amount for phase one of the revitalization to some $5 million. After efforts to spruce up the park started in 2010, Conservancy staff started hearing from community members that it seemed like crime in the area had slowed, but an analysis wasn’t completed until 2014. That year, Amanda Vandenburg, then a researcher at Dickinson College in Carlisle, was interested in how parks influence communities. Vandenburg said she analyzed public data from the Philadelphia Police Department and charted crime statistics from 2006, before the revitalization efforts began, through 2013, when the first phase of the project had wrapped up. The data included both part I crimes (violent crimes like homicide, rape and aggravated assault) and part II crimes (like simple assault, prostitution, drug possession and other non-violent offenses.) She mapped instances of crime from inside and a half-mile buffer around the park, and found that there was a spike in crime between 2006 and 2007. After that point, crime began decreasing in 2008 citywide as police enforcement efforts in Philadelphia changed under a new mayoral administration. But crime continued to go down near Hunting Park. Between 2009 and 2013, \"\"there was an 89 percent drop in the number of crimes,\"\" according to Vandenburg’s study. Rape and theft from vehicle crime incidents increased over that time period, but other crimes decreased, including prostitution and drug use. Vandenburg also conducted a \"\"hot spot\"\" analysis that showed areas predicted to have the highest amounts of crime were closer to and in the park in 2009 and moved away from the park by 2013. While she said the revitalization of Hunting Park can’t be attributed as the only reason for a decrease in crime in the immediate area, the data does support the theory that illegal activity in the area decreased as the park was improved. Our Ruling Kenney used the efforts in Hunting Park as an example of why City Council should authorize more funds to revitalize parks and recreation centers throughout the city. He said \"\"when the city and the Fairmount Park Conservancy invested $5 million in Hunting Park, crime went down 89 percent within a half mile radius of the park over the next three years.\"\" The Fairmount Park Conservancy confirmed that it -- along with the city and private donors -- invested about $5 million in revitalizing the park. Vandenburg, who conducted the study, said crime did in fact drop by 89 percent within a half-mile radius over the next three years. We rule the claim .\"",
            "output": [
                "When the City and the Fairmount Park Conservancy invested $5 million in Hunting Park, crime went down 89 percent within a half mile radius of the park over the next three years."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-10cda605d0694650bbd804433350e16d",
            "input": "A yoga, barre or spin class has become the new nine holes of golf, fitness experts said, chased by a post-workout smoothie rather than a three-martini lunch. “Sweatworking was born out of a desire to connect with clients on a deeper level that wasn’t so sales-y,” said Sarah Siciliano, 32, an advertising executive who has been entertaining clients with workouts. “A lot of sales jobs revolve around drinking.”   Siciliano, who is based in New York City, considers taking her mostly female clients, who range in age from 22 to 52, to yoga, spinning, bootcamp and dance studios a great tool to develop relationships. “People like to move along with the trends,” said Siciliano, who organizes her workout events. “I do all the leg work but I exercise everyday anyway so for me it’s a win-win,” she said. “If you can knock out a client event and your workout at the same time, why not?”  Sweatworking began in the advertising world, but has spread to more traditionally conservative professions such as law and banking, according to Alexia Brue, co-founder of the wellness media company Well+Good. “Now a lot of client entertaining in many industries has moved into boutique studios,” she said, “especially to those with workouts that aren’t super awkward, or super-sweaty to do with a client.”  Gabby Etrog Cohen, vice president of public relations and brand strategy at SoulCycle, a national chain of 39 indoor cycling studios, said in four years sweatworking has become a regular part of her business. “We get a mixed bag, a lot of people in financing and advertising,” said Cohen. “We have groups that come in every week. One group comes every Thursday.”  Part of the appeal, she speculates, resides in the dim studio lights. “There’s something about not wanting to sweat in front of clients,” she said. “We ride in the dark so there’s a sense of anonymity.”  For 45 minutes and $35 per class, the studio provides an alternative to the traditional four-hour round of golf. Cohen said the rise of sweatworking marks the distance traveled from the chain-smoking, inebriated lifestyle of the 1960’s portrayed in the hit AMC series “Mad Men.”  “We’ve taken ‘Mad Men’ and turned it on its head,” she said. (This version of the story corrects HBO to AMC in the second-to-last paragraph)",
            "output": [
                "Forget the martini lunch, sweatworking mixes business with exercise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-374f2993d09b4c6dba2e414945cb29fe",
            "input": "The announcement came a day after an Indonesian official said the number of cases could reach 106,000 by July and follows criticism that a low rate of testing has hidden the extent of the spread of the virus. Indonesia has accelerated testing and Achmad Yurianto, a health ministry official, said on Friday 42,000 tests had been performed, up about three-fold in two weeks. “Transmission is still occurring. This has become a national disaster,” Yurianto told a televised broadcast, in which he reported 24 additional deaths, taking the total to 520, the highest number of fatalities from the disease in east Asia outside China. Health researchers have said the number of infections could spike because of the traditional exodus from cities, known in Indonesia as mudik, after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In a model seen by Reuters this week, researchers at the University of Indonesia forecast there could be one million infections by July on Java, the country’s most populous island and home to the capital Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has resisted pressure for a total ban on mudik, though the head of the government’s COVID-19 task-force said those going would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine. In a separate news conference on Friday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said 75 Indonesians out of 717 contracted the coronavirus in India after participating in a gathering of Muslim pilgrims last month. Thirteen had recovered, she said. The Tablighi Jamaat movement behind the gathering in India also hosted an event in Malaysia that drew 16,000 followers and led to more than 500 coronavirus infections. “We already had a plan to evacuate them. But we had to postpone it because everyone in the Tablighi Jamaat in India is in quarantine,” she said, adding some also faced a “legal process”. Authorities in Maharashtra have filed cases against more than 200 members of Tablighi Jamaat for allegedly helping to spread the disease, including by hiding in mosques, a police official said. (This story corrects toll in paragraph 4)",
            "output": [
                "Indonesia reports most coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98c9d57622ea4649a35f2f003db7a57e",
            "input": "Boise television station KTVB reports that Idaho residents fighting serious diseases like lymphoma, multiple myeloma and leukemia previously had to leave the state to get the potentially life-saving treatment, which involves transplanting stem cells or bone marrow from a donor into the patient’s body. On Thursday doctors at St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute in Boise performed the procedure on Patricia Edwards to treat her myeloid leukemia. Edwards was diagnosed in January and told that an allogeneic transplant was the best option. “I said, ‘What are my chances without going this route?’ And (my doctor) said four to six months,” Edwards said. Edwards was happy she didn’t need to travel out of state for the highly complicated procedure. “One of the things that bothered me the most was that I’d have to be there for three months. And I’m a homebody so I like to be home” she said. Edwards’ sister was a perfect match and donated her stem cells. The treatment means staying in the hospital for a month, followed by months more of recovery and treatment. “If it saves my life, it’s well worth it, isn’t it?” Edwards said. Dr. Finn Petersen joined St. Luke’s from Utah as the new MSTI Blood and Transplant Program director. “I think she’s done really well,” Petersen, said. He says the procedure is typically available only at university hospitals because it’s so complicated; the patient is getting a whole new immune system. “Where the trick then is to get this new healthy donor immune system to fight the patient’s cancer,” he said. “We are more and more coming to the understanding that the key to curing the patient is to get the donor immune cells to do the job.” ___ Information from: KTVB-TV, http://www.ktvb.com/",
            "output": [
                "Boise woman receives first allogeneic transplant in Idaho."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-21956eb5a00a4f51b4e869cccf2934cb",
            "input": "The world’s largest yoghurt maker did not say how much money it was seeking, but it has previously said it wanted full compensation for what it says were 350 million euros ($476 million) in lost sales following the recall of the company’s Dumex and Karicare infant formula products. Danone buys a range of dairy ingredients from Fonterra, but is one of its biggest customers for milk powder, according to analysts who cover the sector. Fonterra, which said it would contest the suit “vigorously”, declined to give details on its sales to the French firm. Danone has said that Fonterra supplied about 16 percent of the milk ingredients for its baby food business, which accounts for 20 percent of its total revenue. In August, Fonterra said it had found a potentially fatal ingredient in a range of products sold by multinational companies. After recalls were issued across nine countries including China, the scare turned out to be a false alarm because the ingredient was found to contain a less harmful bacteria. In a statement, Danone said it was starting proceedings in the New Zealand High Court against the world’s largest dairy processor, as well as arbitration proceedings in Singapore to bring all facts to light and obtain compensation. The company said it was also terminating its supply contract with Fonterra and would make any further collaboration contingent on a commitment by Fonterra to full transparency and compliance with Danone’s food safety procedures. “This affair illustrates serious failings on Fonterra’s part in applying the quality standards required in the food industry,” Danone said. Danone told Reuters it would source products from other firms, without elaborating. Other potential suppliers could include Glanbia, which is building a new milk powder plant in Ireland, and Arla Foods, which recently told Reuters it has “massively benefited” from a desire by milk powder buyers to diversify supply after the food safety scare and a drought last year highlighted the risk of over-reliance on one supplier. Some dairy brands in China, for example, have started to look to diversify. Glanbia and Fonterra’s much smaller competitors in New Zealand would not comment on whether they had seen more business from Danone as a result of the dispute. Arla was not immediately available. Danone’s decision to halt purchases may be an effort to distance itself from the source of the perceived problem. “It’s all about trying to rebuild their brand,” said an analyst, who added that Danone was unlikely to face any supply interruption. “This isn’t a panic decision today. They’ve been looking at (diversifying) since the minute it happened.”  Danone has a cushion, the analyst said, since the sudden, sharp drop in consumer demand means there is a large amount of product that still needs to be sold. Fonterra, a farmer-owned co-operative, has denied any legal liability to Danone regarding the recall. “Fonterra has been in ongoing commercial discussions with Danone and is disappointed that they have resulted in legal action,” the company said in a statement. Shares in Fonterra’s trading fund closed down 1.7 percent, while Danone shares were down 0.7 percent at 1245 GMT. The two sides started negotiations in October, after Danone recalled its Dumex formula products in China, where demand for foreign branded infant formula is high due to a series of domestic food quality issues. It is a key growth market at a time of sluggish demand in Europe. Eight companies issued product recalls in August. Danone is the first to take legal action against Fonterra. In December, Fonterra said it had reached agreements to compensate six firms and that it was “very, very close” to an agreement with an affected nutritional company. New Zealand’s largest company controls roughly one-third of global dairy exports and is a major wholesale supplier of milk powder used in milk formula and other food products marketed by Danone, Nestle and other multinationals. A big court settlement in Danone’s favor would hurt Fonterra’s bottom line given that it has already slashed its earnings and dividend forecast on the back of rising production costs at a time when it is struggling to keep up with soaring demand for milk powder. “A large fine of the magnitude that Danone ... has stated would have a material impact. You’d have to either remove your dividend or address your capital structure,” said Rickey Ward, head of equities at Tyndall Investment Management in Auckland. Ward said that given strong global demand for dairy products, particularly from China, Fonterra was unlikely to have problems finding new buyers to replace cancelled orders. “It’s not nice to lose a big customer ... (But) there’s large global demand and short supply so Fonterra may be able to fill that void if there is a big void,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Danone to sue New Zealand's Fonterra over baby formula recall."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b393cc3b6c6042c0b389e32e4bc9cffc",
            "input": "New Jersey’s governor followed four other states - California, New York, Illinois and Connecticut - that have imposed unprecedented restrictions to slow the spread of infections, which have risen exponentially. Governors in other states urged citizens to avoid large gatherings, even if restrictions were not in place. “It’s like we are all lost in a movie that we can’t relate to in any way,” West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said, as he urged residents of his state to take the threat more seriously. At least 23,941 cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported in the United States and 306 people have died from the COVID-19 disease as of Saturday evening, according to a Reuters tally of state and local government websites. In Washington, Republican and Democratic leaders appeared to be nearing a deal to pump more than $1 trillion into the economy, adding to the hundreds of billions of dollars in fiscal and monetary stimulus that has already been deployed to prop up the world’s largest economy. “I think we’re clearly going to get there,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who scheduled a vote for Monday. Hard-hit airlines are pressing for $29 billion in cash, promising in return not to furlough employees before September. But lawmakers said they were inclined to offer loans instead. Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have tested positive, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife tested negative after an unidentified aide was diagnosed with the virus. Pence staffers said the aide had mild symptoms and had not had close contact with Pence or President Donald Trump. Trump tested negative for the virus last week, according to his doctor. Graphic: Tracking the spread of the global coronavirus - here  As hospitals braced for an influx of patients, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, urged Americans to postpone non-essential surgeries to keep beds available. The Trump administration has struggled to line up tests to diagnose the disease, masks to slow its transmission, and medical equipment to treat those who have contracted it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a test that can deliver a result in 45 minutes, rather than days, according to Cepheid, its maker. At the White House, officials said they were delivering more tests and equipment where they were needed, but declined to say whether they had met benchmarks they had laid out earlier in the week. Graphic: The novel coronavirus in the United States - here  State and local officials say they are scrambling for supplies. “We’ve gotten no help from the federal government, or limited help,” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said at a news briefing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state had identified 6,000 ventilators to help sick patients keep breathing, but needed 30,000 more. He said the state is sending 1 million N95 respirator masks to New York City - short of the 3 million city officials are seeking. “We are literally scouring the globe for medical supplies,” Cuomo said. In New York City, where more than 6,000 cases have been diagnosed, about a dozen people waited for a test in the parking lot of the Brooklyn Hospital Center. “That’s insane,” city council member Mark Levine said in a phone interview. “If they’re well enough to stand in a line, they should be home resting, they don’t need a test, and they need to get out of the way.”       Federal authorities briefly stopped flights arriving at New York City-area airports after a trainee at an air traffic control center tested positive. Neighboring New Jersey became the latest state on Saturday to adopt a statewide directive requiring residents to remain indoors except for trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and other “essential businesses.”  Stay-at-home orders now apply to 84 million people in states that account for a third of the nation’s economy. Other states encouraged residents to reduce activity but did not put restrictions in place. Missouri went in a different direction, allowing child-care providers to take on more children. The state directives were for the most part issued without strict enforcement mechanisms to back them up. Cuomo said New York would fine and close businesses that defy the order. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said police would “admonish” people to go home. In Ridgefield, Connecticut, where six new cases were reported on Saturday, town official Rudy Marconi said he would dispatch the police to break up a teenagers’ basketball game. “We have no other tools in our toolbox. We have to rely on the social distancing,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "One in four Americans told to stay home as Congress nears $1 trillion stimulus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9a1899c2bf904fb1b7f886ac6900e7eb",
            "input": "There’s no discussion of cost, even to mention that statins are relatively inexpensive these days and are mostly generically available. To its credit, the article does mention the cost of a calcium scan. We learn that “anywhere from 50 to 200 healthy people need to take a statin daily to prevent a single heart attack for five years.” That’s helpful information. It also notes that the observed benefit is less for older patients. The story could have added that even those numbers might disputed by some experts who perceive no meaningful benefit. For example, one review found being on a statin does not help people with low risk for heart disease live longer. The story does a service by highlighting the harms of statins. It explains: “The most common side effect of these drugs is muscle pain, which usually goes away if patients stop taking the medicines. People taking statins are also at a higher risk of developing diabetes, which is harder to reverse.” It also mentions the potential for overtreatment with the use of coronary calcium scans. However, we wish it had included absolute numbers. The story says harms are “uncommon,” but provides no data to back that up. Rates of adverse effects with statins have been measured at 1 to 10%, which makes them “common” in the definition of the European Medicines Agency. Also noteworthy is that some contend that adverse effects of statins have not been reliably reported. The story doesn’t explain the quality of the study, or of studies on which current guidelines are based. We don’t explicitly learn that this is a modelling study. In other words, this study consisted mostly of reinterpretations of math, not re-evaluations of real-life patients. The researchers said they were unable to obtain enough data on all possible harms and age-specific data on some harm outcomes, “so the risk thresholds we determined may still be too low.” There is no disease-mongering here. This story includes sources that weren’t involved in the study. The study’s authors reported no conflicts of interest. The story could have acknowledged the influence of pharmaceutical companies in creating guidelines for statin use. The alternative of not taking a statin was the key message here, and that’s laudable. However, we have a couple of concerns. First, we learn that “some statins were more effective than others, with atorvastatin (the generic name for Lipitor) being the best of the bunch.”  However, the story doesn’t explain on what basis some statins are “more effective.” In fact, some statins may be more effective at lower cholesterol, but the study found that no statin rises above others when it comes to the outcomes that counts most to patients — reducing cardiovascular deaths. Also, the story doesn’t mention lifestyle interventions — diet and exercise. The story makes it clear that statins are widely prescribed. The story states this an attempt to better weigh the benefits and harms of statin use. There was a good range of interviewees with no reliance on a news release",
            "output": [
                "Before Starting A Statin, Talk It Over With Your Doctor"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a6a6172f41c248058cadf0d3978439bd",
            "input": "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to work toward denuclearization at a landmark summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June but the two sides have made little progress. North Korea raised new doubts about a nuclear agreement on Thursday when its state media said any deal on it giving up its nuclear arsenal had to include the complete elimination of U.S. “nuclear threats”. While the United States and North Korea joust over a nuclear deal, South Korea is keen to improve ties with its old rival and has been taking steps to establish links in various areas including transport and humanitarian assistance. There has been some U.S. concern that the South may be moving too quickly on building such links, given the scant progress on denuclearization. Despite that, Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, said on Wednesday as he arrived in South Korea for talks that he would be looking with aid groups at how to deliver “appropriate assistance” to the North, particularly in the winter. South Korea’s special representative for Korean peace and security affairs, Lee Do-hoon, said after talks with Biegun on Thursday the United States agreed to help supply the North with the flu drug Tamiflu. “The issue of providing Tamiflu to the North Korean people was resolved,” Lee told reporters. South Korea provided 500,000 doses of Tamiflu to the North in 2009 following an outbreak of H1N1 influenza. The Red Cross said in January this year that more than 81,000 North Koreans were affected by the same virus also known as swine flu. Humanitarian aid is not subject to tough sanctions on North Korea aimed at pressing it to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. But officials at U.N. agencies and aid groups have told Reuters that their operations have nearly ground to a halt because of the strict interpretation of U.N. curbs on banking and shipping to North Korea, as well as a travel ban for U.S. citizens. Lee said he had secured U.S. sanctions exemptions over a plan to reconnect rail and road links, as well as the joint excavation of remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War in the Demilitarised Zone, which is administered by the U.S.-led United Nations Command. Biegun said while the United States had no intention of easing sanctions, such cooperation could help advance the nuclear diplomacy. “Of course, all of this is intended to advance what we’re trying to do with North Korea,” Biegun told reporters. “Now that work begins with denuclearization but also includes the strong commitments by both of our countries to transform relations and build a permanent peace regime on the Korean peninsula,” he said. Trump has said a second summit with Kim was likely in January or February, though he wrote on Twitter last week that he was “in no hurry”. Biegun said the United States and North Korea had yet to agree on a date or venue for a second summit, but would work for an “agreeable outcome”. “We’re eager to move to the next stage of discussions with our North Korean partners,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. to help South Korea get flu drugs to North despite stalled nuclear talks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a95932be0d5a4a84bbfee2f295e49a91",
            "input": "\"Patients used to pay $10,000 a year for cancer drugs, but now they’re paying $10,000 a month, according to HBO talk show host Bill Maher. That’s a message circulating on Facebook recently, promoted by the \"\"Bill Maher Fanpage.\"\" A reader asked us to check it out. The quote comes from the Oct. 2 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, where Maher discussed Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company that jacked up the cost of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 essentially overnight. \"\"Not that (Turing CEO Martin) Shkreli is unusual for the pharmaceutical industry,\"\" Maher said on his show. \"\"Fifteen years ago, cancer drugs cost an average of $10,000 a year. Now it’s $10,000 a month because this cartel owns the U.S. government every bit as much as Mexican drug lords own theirs.\"\" It’s well known that the cost of health care is on the rise, but has the annual cost of cancer drugs really increased so dramatically in just a decade and a half? Maher’s team sent us links to some news articles about the rising cost of cancer drugs, and we tracked down information that speaks to his claim. The best information we could nail down is the cost of anticancer drugs at launch, the initial price when the Federal Drug Administration approves a drug. These are the sticker prices set by the pharmaceutical companies, not the prices patients actually pay out of pocket, which are reduced by insurance payments, patient assistance programs and other discounts. Costs increases, though, are often passed on to consumers. Maher has a point that cancer drug costs are on the rise. We charted the launch costs of cancer drugs the FDA approved since 1999, using a list compiled by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The second half of Maher’s statement -- that cancer drugs now cost about $10,000 a month -- is also on solid ground. Of drugs approved in 2015, the monthly average cost is $11,319. And experts in the field often cite that $10,000 figure themselves. Because many cancer drugs are not administered to patients for a full year, it’s difficult to determine an average annual cost, so the first half of Maher’s statement -- that they cost about $10,000 a year 15 years ago -- is hard to nail down. To his point, though, the monthly cost of a new drug was dramatically lower in 2000 than what it is now at about $4,634. One of the news articles that Maher’s team sent us is an academic article in the Journal of Oncology Practice that supports his statement. The report reads, \"\"The average cancer drug price for approximately one year of therapy or a total treatment duration was less than $10,000 before 2000.\"\" Maher’s statement is \"\"in the ballpark,\"\" if not an understatement, said Rena Conti, a health economist at the University of Chicago who researches cancer drug prices. In a 2015 paper Conti authored with three other leading health economists, she examined the launch cost of anticancer drugs controlled for inflation and the benefit to the patient (how much it prolongs life expectancy). For example, in 1995, anticancer drugs cost $54,100 for an additional year of life, the study found. In 2005, drugs cost $139,100 for the same benefit, and the price grew to $207,000 in 2013. In the United States, pharmaceutical companies set their own drug prices. What’s pushing them to increase the costs? It’s not necessarily that cancer drugs are getting better and are thus worth more. Conti’s research concluded that just about one-fifth of the cancer drug cost increase can be attributed to a better product. There are two primary forces behind annual cancer drug cost increases, Conti said: First, pharmaceutical companies estimate a \"\"zone of indifference\"\" -- based on last year’s prices, how much more would buyers be willing to pay? Second, rebates and discounts for drugs have also increased over time, and this creates an incentive for drug companies to increase their costs alongside the discounts. Pharmaceutical companies defend drug price increases by emphasizing that the revenue funds innovative research and that drugs lower overall health care costs by treating illnesses. Because there’s no formal price regulation and competition in the industry is rare, \"\"It really is a system where there’s no downward pressure on drug prices,\"\" said Peter Bach, director of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center for Health Policy and Outcomes in an interview with Fortune. Our ruling Maher said, \"\"15 years ago, cancer drugs cost an average of $10,000 a year. Now it’s $10,000 a month.\"\" The average annual cost of a drug isn’t easy to calculate, given the way cancer drugs are scheduled; many drugs aren’t used every month for an entire year. So the first half of the statement is hard to verify, though we did find one academic source that cites a similar figure. However, Maher has a point that the cost of cancer drugs has increased dramatically since 2000, when the average monthly price of a cancer drug, when it first hit the market, was about $4,600. In 2015, the monthly cost is over $10,000. Maher’s numbers are a little squishy, but they’re in the ballpark.\"",
            "output": [
                "15 years ago, cancer drugs cost an average of $10,000 a year. Now it’s $10,000 a month."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6174d7d101ea4fc0b6a2627f5185d90b",
            "input": "In an important discovery in the evolutionary history of sexual reproduction, the scientists found that male fossils of the Microbrachius dicki, which belong to a placoderm group, developed bony L-shaped genital limbs called claspers to transfer sperm to females. Females, for their part, developed small paired bones to lock the male organs in place for mating. Placoderms are the earliest vertebrate ancestors of humans. “Placoderms were once thought to be a dead-end group with no live relatives, but recent studies show that our own evolution is deeply rooted in placoderms and that many of the features we have — such as jaws, teeth and paired limbs — first originated with this group of fishes,” said John Long, a paleontologist at Flinders University in South Australia who led the research. This new finding, he added, shows that “they gave us the intimate act of sexual intercourse as well”. Matt Friedman, a paleobiologist from Britain’s Oxford University who was not involved in the research, described its findings as “nothing short of remarkable” and said they suggested much more could be learned from the fossil fishes. Long, whose study was published in the journal Nature on Sunday, discovered the ancient fishes’ mating abilities when he stumbled across a single fossil bone in the collections of the University of Technology in Tallinn, Estonia, last year. The research then involved scientists from Australia, Estonia, Britain, Sweden and China, who analyzed fossil specimens from museum collections across the world. These demonstrate the first use of internal fertilization and copulation as a reproductive strategy known in the fossil record. Measuring about 8 centimeters (3 inches) in length, Microbrachius lived in ancient lake habitats in Scotland, as well as parts of Estonia and China. Long explained that “Microbrachius” means little arms, but said scientists have been baffled for centuries by what these bony paired arms were actually there for. “We’ve solved this great mystery,” he said. “They were there for mating, so that the male could position his claspers into the female genital area.”  In one of the more bizarre findings of the study, Long said the fishes probably copulated from a sideways position with their bony jointed arms locked together — making them look more as if they were square dancing than having sex. “This enabled the males to maneuver their genital organs into the right position for mating,” he said.",
            "output": [
                "Humans should thank ancient Scottish fish fossils for joy of sex."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a144e421971f4912a11501c5f479a347",
            "input": "The new drugs, which have not been detailed to investors, will include cancer and respiratory disease medicines, the newspaper said on its website. (link.reuters.com/fup56v)  Britain’s biggest drugmaker is also expected to report that fourth-quarter sales in China, where it is embroiled in a major bribery probe, took a smaller hit than when the scandal first blew up during the summer quarter, the report said. The investigation began in July 2013, after Chinese police accused GSK of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($495.05 million) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to boost its drug sales. ($1 = 6.0600 Chinese yuan)",
            "output": [
                "GSK to launch late-stage clinical trials on 10 new drugs: paper."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d8b4172294d46e2890e5a91c25222ec",
            "input": "Sooner or later, the Grim Reaper comes for us all, but sometimes his mode of operation almost defies explanation. Take the 2004 demise of 24-year-old Phillip Quinn of Kent, Washington, who was done in by his lava lamp. An icon of the 1960s and 1970s that experienced a resurgence in popularity in the mid-1990s, lava lamps are generally considered benign items of the sort one might happily stare at for hours while in a marijuana-infused haze. They consist of blobs of wax suspended in a liquid enclosed by a glass or plastic container, the blobs rising and falling when the container is heated by a bulb at the base of the unit. The motion of the blobs is slow and rhythmic, almost hypnotic. It is therefore hard to conceive that one of these slow, soothing light shows could kill a man. Yet one did. Phillip Quinn was found dead in his trailer home with shards of glass from a lava lamp embedded in his chest, including a shard that pierced his heart. According to the medical examiner’s reconstruction of the events that caused the young man’s death, Quinn had been heating the lamp on the kitchen stove and likely had been standing in front of it when it exploded, then stumbled into his bedroom and died. “Why on earth he was heating a lava lamp on the stove, we don’t know,” said Kent Police spokesman Paul Petersen. Quinn’s death was ruled an accident.",
            "output": [
                "A man was killed by an exploding lava lamp."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a14651d42f794cc781678de91347a35d",
            "input": "State health officials said Tuesday in a news release that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was recently found in southeastern Nebraska’s York County. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says it’s the first time that type of mosquito has been found in Nebraska. Health officials say the Aedes aegypti bites primarily in the daytime, only feeds on people, and can only fly about 500 feet. Besides Zika, it’s been known to spread yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue. State epidemiologist Dr. Tom Safranek says the spread of such diseases would require an infected person to be bitten by the mosquito that would then have to bite an uninfected person, making the risk of such infections in Nebraska low.",
            "output": [
                "Mosquito breed known to carry Zika found in Nebraska."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b1bba788a0af42b693449d34894491f9",
            "input": "\"Legislation to let counties set additional taxes on tobacco squeaked through the Oregon House last week on a 31-to-29 vote. Lawmakers opposed to higher taxes said it wasn’t fair to squeeze more revenue out of cigarette addicts. Lawmakers in support said smoking is a public health hazard and that local governments should be allowed to assert local control. Freshman Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, said she too struggled with aspects of House Bill 2870, but then reeled off some disturbing statistics courtesy of the Coos County public health department, including this one: \"\"A baby in Coos County is two times as likely to be born to a mother who is someone who used tobacco during her pregnancy as is the average baby born in Oregon or the U.S.,\"\" she said. Twice as many smokers? What’s up, Coos County? Studies show that prenatal smoking puts babies at greater risk of low birth weight, respiratory illnesses and other potential health problems. State and county numbers McKeown’s office shared a 2011-12 annual report on the status of public health in Coos County. We also checked with Stephen Brown, a tobacco prevention program coordinator at Coos County. Figures from 2011 birthsshow that in Coos County, 23.4 percent of mothers used tobacco while pregnant. Statewide, the figure was 10.7 percent. That’s more than double. In real numbers, that means 135 of 577 babies born in Coos County in 2011 were born to smokers. Statewide, 4,795 of 45,136 babies born in 2011 were born to smokers. Brown says that studies show that people are less likely to smoke the higher their educational attainment. Prenatal tobacco use is greater among women who don’t finish high school than among women who graduate from college. People living in poorer households are more likely to smoke. Coos County lags the state in educational achievement and in per capita income. Certainly Coos is not the only county to post rates at least twice Oregon’s. Douglas and Josephine counties posted rates at 25 percent, and Lake County was the highest at 26.5 percent. Those are also rural counties similar to Coos in income and education demographics. Multnomah County was at 6.8 percent. National average A national average is harder to come by, mainly because not all states use the same \"\"certificate of live birth\"\" forms to collect prenatal information. The Annie E. Casey Foundation calculates a U.S. figure of 9 percent for births in 2010, but the number leaves out about 20 states. Oregon, which was included, was at 11 percent. Still, the average is backed up by a hefty Oregon Health Authoritydocument, which reports prenatal tobacco use across the country went from 13.6 percent in 1996 to 10.7 percent in 2005. In Oregon, the percentage of women smoking during pregnancy also dropped during that period, from 17.8 percent to 12.4 percent. The ruling: We can say with certainty that babies born in Coos County are twice as likely to have mothers who smoked during pregnancy than the average baby in Oregon. That also looks to be the case using older or incomplete national averages.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Caddy McKeown Says \"\"A baby in Coos County is two times as likely to be born to a mother who is someone who used tobacco during her pregnancy as is the average baby born in Oregon or the U.S.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0ba2f97217f84896adf11b45ec21c67c",
            "input": "A bill to be submitted to parliament later this month would set a minimum of 10 euro cents per gram of alcohol, ban cut-price marketing, restrict “happy hours” and prohibit advertising for drinks near schools, playgrounds and public transport, a health ministry statement said. Alcohol advertisements could only be broadcast after 9 p.m., it said, and would be banned from sports grounds during events where most participants are children. “Ireland needs to change its damaging attitude to alcohol,” it quoted Health Minister Leo Varadkar as saying. “Four out of ten drinkers typically engage in binge drinking.”       The bill, which Varadkar said was the first in Ireland to address alcohol as a public health issue, aims to reduce average annual alcohol consumption in Ireland from one of the highest levels in Europe at 11 liters per person to 9.1 liters by 2020. The statement noted that Advocate General Yves Bot of the European Court of Justice had said in September that a similar plan in Scotland might breach European law, but said it was working with him on drawing up the Irish law. The Scotch Whisky Association and two European federations for spirits and for wines have challenged the Scottish legislation, saying it restricted the trade of drinks between Scotland and EU member states and could distort competition. Ireland’s largest business lobby group IBEC on Wednesday said the legislation failed to tackle alcohol abuse and instead penalizes responsible consumers and could threaten jobs. C&C, the largest alcoholic drinks producer listed on Ireland’s stock exchange, said it welcomed the legislation but warned that the lack of restrictions on international sporting events and media platforms might put it at a disadvantage.",
            "output": [
                "Ireland unveils minimum alcohol price plan to reduce drinking."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1119ec01d3f94e5abff516a9df67beb4",
            "input": "\"Defending the blocked Texas law requiring voters to present photo IDs at the polls, Gov. Rick Perry pointed out that similar identification is already required for some activities. In an interview with Fox News on March 16, 2012, Perry told anchor Bill Hemmer: \"\"It goes without saying that in today’s world, having a photo ID -- whether it’s to get on an airplane, or whether it’s to cash a check or whether it’s to check a library book out -- is pretty standard fare.\"\" Hemmer interjected: \"\"Well, you need a photo ID in New York to buy Sudafed.\"\" Chuckling, Perry replied: \"\"And I might add, in Texas too.\"\" The issue was raised a few days after the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that a Texas mandate that voters present photo IDs could prevent thousands of Hispanic Texas voters from casting ballots — thus violating federal voting-rights laws. According to a March 12, 2012, Associated Press news article, the government’s objection means the Texas law, which Perry signed in 2011, cannot be enforced unless a federal court in Washington clears the way. An aside: Perry may have overstated the hurdle for library books. In December 2010, we rated a similar claim by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.after finding that libraries did not require photo IDs at checkout, though patrons of most libraries had to show a photo ID when applying for a library card. We burrowed in to see if it’s correct that Texas purchasers of Sudafed must present a photo ID. Sudafed, a decongestant, contains pseudoephedrine, which is a precursor drug to manufacturing illegal methamphetamines. A 2005 Texas law required pharmacies to make a person purchasing pills containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or nopseudoephedrine to display a driver's license or other ID containing the purchaser's photograph, as noted online by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. A legislative summary of the proposal, offering the measure’s rationale, said that in 2000, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse reported that 1,821 people were admitted into Texas treatment centers for methamphetamine abuse; as of 2004, that number had risen to 11,238. So, case closed? Pretty much, Gay Dodson, executive director of the state pharmacy board, told us, and she pointed out by email that a federal act, also approved in 2005, includes a photo ID requirement. According to information on a Department of Justice web page, the federal law requires customers purchasing products containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine to show a photo ID issued by a state or federal government. If the purchaser lacks such an ID, other types may be used, such as a U.S. passport, certain unexpired foreign passports, a school ID card with a photograph or voter registration card, among alternatives. The Texas law requires a business making an over-the-counter sale of a product containing ephedrine,  pseudoephedrine or norpseudoephedrine to make the purchaser show a driver’s license or other form of photo ID that indicates the person is 16 or older. Dodson noted, too, that legislators in 2011 amended the law to specify that the presented IDs must be government-issued. Upshot: Perry’s Sudafed statement reflects both state and federal ID requirements. It’s .\"",
            "output": [
                "Rick Perry Says you need a photo ID to purchase Sudafed in Texas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-421c18609cab491b97d0bcececaf6115",
            "input": "Not applicable. The cost of Vitamin A is not in question, although the amount we collectively spend on supplements — most of which are probably unnecessary — is substantial. At least in clearly describing the study’s findings, the story spelled out the absolute numbers: Among the 59,000 people in the study who had never taken vitamin A supplements, there were 506 cases of melanoma, while among the 5,800 people who were currently taking it and had used it regularly over the past 10 years, there were 28 cases. Providing these data as a percentage in addition may have helped some people interpret them, though. The story included the caution “that taking too much vitamin A could lead to such harmful conditions  as birth defects, liver problems and bone loss. As mentioned in the summary above, the story didn’t include one caveat about the limitations of drawing conclusions from observational studies. No disease-mongering about melanoma. A dermatologist not involved in the study was quoted. The story discussed Vitamin A supplements and foods containing the vitamin. And from a risk perspective, the story noted: Reducing sunlight exposure has long been recommended to reduce the risk of melanoma. This includes limiting time in direct sunlight, wearing sun block and avoiding tanning beds. Unfortunately, not all melanoma is a result of sun exposure. There is also a strong genetic component. The availability of Vitamin A from different sources was clear in the story There wasn’t enough context provided about where this study fits into the overall picture of past/other research on this topic in this field. Because of the independent perspective provided, we think the story showed it did not rely solely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Vitamin A may slash melanoma risk"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1cfbbf255be2481a8b60ac721101444a",
            "input": "But experts caution it is premature to say whether the unprecedented double-whammy of storms to hit the southern African nation is a consequence of climate change, and whether these cyclones will become more common. Cyclone Idai, which swamped large parts of central Mozambique last month, killed over 600 people and displaced thousands. Cyclone Kenneth made landfall Thursday evening in the north of the country where no such storm has been recorded since satellite observations began in the 1970s. “There is no record of two storms of such intensity striking Mozambique in the same season,” said Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization. “It is difficult to pronounce on one event like Idai, or even two like Idai and Kenneth. The statistical size of the sample is just too small,” she said. “But one thing is sure: The vulnerability of coastal areas will become worse with the sea-level rise induced by global warming.” Inland areas, too, are at risk because storms are getting wetter. Kenneth, which has weakened to a tropical depression, is expected to bring heavy rainfall to already saturated soil and dams at the end of the rainy season. “While attention is often given to wind speed, we know from experience that it is rainfall — and subsequent flooding and landslides — that can be even more dangerous from a humanitarian perspective,” said Antonio Carabante, an emergency relief delegate with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “This was certainly the case for Cyclone Idai,” Carabante said, adding that many affected areas are prone to flooding and landslides even with normal levels of rainfall. “And this is far from a normal situation.” Such conditions can be particularly devastating for developing countries like Mozambique and neighboring Malawi and Zimbabwe, all hit by Cyclone Idai, where food stores can be quickly depleted in a disaster and the health care system struggles to cope with a sudden disease outbreak like cholera. “Cyclone Kenneth may require a major new humanitarian operation at the same time that the ongoing Cyclone Idai response targeting 3 million people in three countries remains critically underfunded,” said the U.N.’s emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, who described the situation as a “climate-related disaster.” Abubakr Salih Babiker, a meteorologist at the Nairobi-based Intergovernmental Authority on Development, said there are indications that tropical cyclones are becoming more common off East Africa as rising sea surface temperatures are a key ingredient for cyclones to form. “There’s a pattern here,” he said, citing recent violent storms from Somalia in the Horn of Africa down to Mozambique. “What used to be rare is not rare anymore.” And just as warmer seas are helping spark cyclones, hotter air is feeding the resulting rainfall, Salih Babiker said. “If the air is warmer, it has more ability to hold moisture.” The World Meteorological Organization said this year’s cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean has been exceptionally intense, with 15 storms including nine intense cyclones. It is now tied with the record season of 1993-1994. Nullis said the agency is sending an expert delegation to Mozambique to discuss with the government how to improve its resilience to extreme weather. Long and narrow with a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) Indian Ocean coastline, the country is one of the world’s most vulnerable to global warming.",
            "output": [
                "Ocean changes affected deadly duo of Mozambique cyclones."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-50817faa32a04d5bbfdfd36f1e50c13a",
            "input": "\"State Rep. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, made a biting claim about the consequences of poor dental care during debate on a bill that would change the rules for Medicaid coverage. HB 819 is backed by MCNA, a Fort Lauderdale dental benefits company that lost its Medicaid contracts with the state after the 2011 switch to mandatory managed care. The bill allows the Legislature to take dental off the list of services that managed care plans are required to offer people on Medicaid. The state would then be able to contract with vendors like MCNA to provide the dental care instead. (Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry raised eyebrows for discussing the issue with Gov. Rick Scott on behalf of MCNA without first registering as a lobbyist.) Cortes, who voted for the bill, said he wanted to make sure proper dental care would be available for children, maintaining problems can easily arise without treatment. \"\"Anyone can die of a toothache,\"\" he said in a House Health Innovation Subcommittee meeting on Jan. 13, 2016. \"\"Believe it or not, you can.\"\" The bill passed the committee by a 12-1 vote. Given this age of modern medicine, we wondered if Cortes was right. We decided to drill into this one to find out. The whole tooth We didn’t hear back from Cortes’ office, but unfortunately for all you odontophobes, you really should be getting checkups on a regular basis. \"\"Yes, it is possible to die from complications with an infected tooth,\"\" Thomas Porter, a faculty member at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, told PolitiFact Florida. \"\"Every year there are cases where the patient did not receive appropriate and timely treatment of an infected tooth. In most cases, the infected tooth starts as a localized site with pain and infection.\"\" Obviously you’re not going to die of the physical pain, but these problems can start from some form of periodontal issue or, as is most often the case, cavities. The decay leads to abscesses, which are usually infections between the tooth and the gums. \"\"Not treated, the problem progresses and the patient becomes septic, which can lead to death,\"\" Porter said. Dr. Erin Sutton, a Fort Walton Beach dentist, pointed out the infection could either move to bone marrow or the bloodstream, causing sepsis and affecting major organs. This is not a new phenomenon, of course. Dental infections and other tooth-related problems were listed as the fifth- or sixth-leading cause of death in London back in the early 1600s. But it certainly happens today, too. The number of people who die from an untreated tooth problem is small, but the details can be harrowing. An oft-cited case is the 2007 death of Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old Maryland boy who died when bacteria from an abscess infected his brain. He had two brain operations totaling $250,000 before he died, but he could have been saved with a timely tooth extraction that would have cost $80. His family had no health insurance and had lost Medicaid benefits. Kyle Willis, a 24-year-old unemployed father from Cincinnati, died in 2009 after being unable to afford a tooth extraction and prescription antibiotics for an infection. John Schneider of Mt. Orab, Ohio, was 31 when he died in 2014 after what he thought was a sinus infection but was actually an untreated abscess that eventually led to multiple organ failure. The scope of the danger was highlighted four years ago by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which found preventable dental conditions made up more than 830,000 emergency room visits in 2009. That was up 16 percent from 2006. While the number of deaths aren’t regularly examined, a 2013 study published in the Journal of Endodontics offered a quick cross-section of the issue based on one kind of condition. Researchers found that between 2000 and 2008, there were more than 61,000 hospitalizations nationally for periapical abscesses, an infection at the tip of a tooth’s root that is a common symptom of untreated tooth decay. Of those 61,000-plus stays, 66 patients died. Our ruling Cortes said, \"\"Anyone can die of a toothache.\"\" It’s not so much that you’ll die of pain, of course, but dentists and research confirm that an untreated abscess can infect other parts of the body, either through the bones or the bloodstream. Most people won’t die from a toothache, but it’s a condition that if left untreated can lead to the worst: a fatal result.\"",
            "output": [
                "Anyone can die of a toothache."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d78fbc4fa5af47acbf3239042a2d0099",
            "input": "Scientists led by Ali Erturk at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich have developed a technique that uses a solvent to make organs such as the brain and kidneys transparent. The organ is then scanned by lasers in a microscope that allows researchers to capture the entire structure, including the blood vessels and every single cell in its specific location. Using this blueprint, researchers print out the scaffold of the organ. They then load the 3D printer with stem cells which act as “ink” and are injected into the correct position making the organ functional. While 3D printing is already used widely to produce spare parts for industry, Erturk said the development marks a step forward for 3D printing in the medical field. Until now 3D-printed organs lacked detailed cellular structures because they were based on images from computer tomography or MRI machines, he said. “We can see where every single cell is located in transparent human organs. And then we can actually replicate exactly the same, using 3D bioprinting technology to make a real functional organ,” he said. “Therefore, I believe we are much closer to a real human organ for the first time now.”  Erturk’s team plan to start by creating a bioprinted pancreas over the next 2-3 years and also hope to develop a kidney within 5-6 years. The researchers will first test to see whether animals can survive with the bioprinted organs and could start clinical trials within 5-10 years, he said.",
            "output": [
                "German scientists create see-through human organs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a494d84c9b0e4e10a5a3d18b8ff53fad",
            "input": "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures last week in response to the coronavirus outbreak. While many businesses in Tokyo and elsewhere are now shut, most convenience stores have stayed open as they are considered essential. There are around 58,000 convenience stores throughout Japan. Most are open 24 hours and sell everything from pre-made bento lunches to beer and neckties. They also offer package delivery and bill payment services. “I actually feel safer,” said 53-year-old restaurant owner Isao Otsuka, who was shopping at one of the roughly 150 7-Eleven stores, mainly in Tokyo, that have installed the transparent plastic curtains. 7-Eleven’s owner, Seven & i Holdings, has asked convenience store workers to wear masks, check their temperatures, wash their hands frequently and sterilise surfaces. The new coronavirus spreads from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth via coughing or sneezing, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists have also said the virus can remain infectious in droplets in the air for hours and on surfaces for days. Japan had recorded 7,411 cases of infection and 138 deaths from the virus as of Monday, public broadcaster NHK said, with more than 2,000 cases in Tokyo, a sharp rise from late March.",
            "output": [
                "With plastic sheets, Japan's convenience stores target social distancing."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe1614bf47634d96b2fd2bad61fd910a",
            "input": "\"As part of his campaign to become Missouri’s 56th governor, Chris Koster tweeted a statistic about something he has been working to accomplish during his time as attorney general: closing the tobacco loophole. In his tweet, Koster called upon the legislature to #FixTheLoophole, which he says will save Missourians $50 million. The so-called tobacco loophole is money the state hopes to get from five big tobacco companies if it takes a tougher line with smaller ones. We looked into whether $50 million is really on the line. Tobacco background We reached out to the Koster campaign to find out what closing the loophole entailed. We heard back from David Turner, a spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party. Turner told us that the tobacco loophole arose in 1998 as part of a master settlement agreement between the attorneys general of 46 states, along with Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories, and the five largest tobacco companies in the U.S. The states had sued the tobacco companies for selling cigarettes which they knew caused cancer, emphysema and other diseases. The attorneys general wanted to recover the cost of caring for those people. The settlement said that in exchange for dropping the lawsuits, the states would receive roughly $10 billion dollars a year, essentially indefinitely. The annual payment to Missouri is about $130 million. As part of the deal, Missouri passed a law that required all nonparticipating tobacco companies to pay into an escrow fund. This was done in part to ensure that small cigarette makers didn’t gain a market advantage because they would be able to sell cigarettes at reduced prices. But there was a catch. If a state failed to \"\"diligently enforce\"\" the requirement that small companies make escrow payments, and the big tobacco companies lost a set amount of market share as a result, that state would lose a portion of its tobacco settlement money. According to a state auditor, that’s exactly what happened. The big tobacco companies lost an 8 percent market share from 1997 to 2003. As a result, the companies sued Missouri and other states for violating the settlement. In 2013, an arbitration panel found that in Missouri, of the 432 million cigarettes sold by nonparticipating manufacturers in 2002, companies made escrow payments on only $102 million. The panel ruled against Missouri and five other states, meaning the Show-Me State had to pay back $70 million from its 2014 payment. In February, Koster negotiated an agreement with the tobacco companies to return $50 million to Missouri — on the condition the state tighten the rules on the smaller cigarette makers. Which brings us to the loophole. Under current Missouri law, the smaller companies can trim the amount they pay into the escrow fund. Missouri is the only state that has yet to take steps to prevent this. The loophole The way escrow payments are calculated, small tobacco companies can get most of the money they pay back if they restrict their sales to only a few states. In order to close the loophole — and return $50 million to Missouri — the legislature would have to pass Senate Bill 1096. The bill would require all nonparticipating manufacturers to either join the master settlement or be subject to modified escrow rules which prevent the companies from gaming the system to keep their escrow money. SB 1096 has supporters on both sides of the aisle, but it is not without its opponents. Small tobacco companies have been fighting different versions of the bill for more than a decade, calling it a tax on their products and a move on the part of big tobacco to earn more market share at their expense. SB 1096 has yet to pass either chamber of the General Assembly, and the consequences are already being felt. Because the bill failed to pass before April 15, Missouri can no longer receive the $50 million for 2016. In order to receive the money in 2017, the bill must be signed by Gov. Jay Nixon by June 3. Taxpayer impact The loophole is the source of Koster’s $50 million figure, but will recouping the loss actually save taxpayers money? It certainly has cost the state. In October, Nixon withheld $46.1 million of the state's budget, relying on the passage of SB 1096 to fill the gap. Turner said that money would have gone to the Mental Health Department and the Department of Social Services, among others. For these programs to be maintained at their initial levels, Turner explained, taxpayers would be forced to cover the money lost in the tobacco arbitration. Gaining the $50 million dollars would allow those programs to remain uncut without costing the taxpayers any additional money. All things being equal, if the bill passes, taxpayers would win no matter what the state does with the money. If it’s spent on services, citizens get the benefit of $50 million worth of services. If the state cuts spending and lowers taxes, they save money when they file their taxes in April. And that’s just in 2017. If the loophole isn’t closed, Missouri could lose additional money in the years to come. The big tobacco companies have begun arbitration concerning Missouri’s diligent enforcement of the escrow laws in 2004. If an arbitration panel were to find against Missouri again, the state could be forced to forfeit more money. If SB 1096 passes, the companies would not seek arbitration for any of the years 2004 to 2014, per Koster’s agreement. Our ruling Koster said that closing the tobacco loophole would save Missouri taxpayers $50 million. The tobacco settlement and the arbitration that followed is complicated, but ultimately, Koster did reach a settlement to return $50 million dollars to Missouri. If the legislature passes SB 1096 by June 3, that money would come to the state in 2017. If it doesn’t, the state could potentially be on the hook for even more. Any money the state received would be dollars that taxpayers would not have to provide. Taxpayers could get $50 million worth of services or $50 million in tax cuts. Either way, they come out ahead.\"",
            "output": [
                "Closing the tobacco loophole would save Missouri taxpayers $50,000,000"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d43f2b3e8ca54af6ad60c5a512428439",
            "input": "\"If you're looking for reasons why Providence is in financial trouble, Democratic mayoral candidate Jorge Elorza says a good place to start is the city's pension costs. During a Sept. 30, 2014, mayoral debate, he was asked about the city's huge pension debt. Elorza blamed one of his opponents, Vincent A. \"\"Buddy\"\" Cianci Jr., an independent, for signing a consent decree when he was mayor that provided for 5- and 6-percent cost of living allowances for retirees. \"\"Now we have a retiree that is collecting a $17,000 paycheck a month . . . tax free,\"\" Elorza said. \"\"How many families in Providence don't make $17,000 a year.\"\" \"\"You can thank the court for that,\"\" Cianci retorted. We were curious about whether that $17,000 monthly paycheck -- equivalent to $204,000 in annual tax-free income -- is real. Providence officials sent us the 2014 list of the 49 people receiving the largest pension payments. Thirty seven retirees are receiving checks totaling over $100,000 per year, or at least $8,333 each month. All but eight were firefighters. The rest were police officers. At least 28 of those 37 are tax-free disability pensions. Four others may be disability pensions but it's not clear from the list because the money is going to a surviving spouse. At the top of the list: Gilbert McLaughlin of Warwick, who retired in October 1991 with an accidental disability pension. He served as chief for 15 months before retiring, citing health problems stemming from a job-related injury to his neck and shoulders. His annual payment from the city as of May 2014: $196,813. That's $16,401 per month, or $599 shy of the $17,000 cited by Elorza. McLaughlin retired as the city's fire chief at the age of 55. At retirement, his base salary was $63,537 per year plus $6,959 in longevity pay for his 36 years, six months and eleven days of service. Total: $70,496. He received 83.7 percent of that as his pension, or $59,001 a year, according to Lawrence J. Mancini, the city's acting director of administration and finance. His payment grew so large because he received an annual 5-percent compounding cost of living adjustment that was increased to 6 percent in 1996, Mancini said. (Cianci's second stint as Providence mayor ran from 1991 through most of 2002.) All of this was part of a long-running legal war over pensions in the city. The stage was set around 1977, near the beginning of Cianci's first stint as mayor, when the General Assembly gave the city's unions a controlling number of seats on the city's Retirement Board. A 1983 City Charter change, when Cianci was still in office, gave the board extra power to make pension decisions. In 1989, with Joseph Paolino as mayor, the board granted compounded cost-of-living adjustments of 5 and 6 percent for all present and future public safety retirees and 3 percent for non-uniformed workers. In 1991, in the midst of a court battle over pensions, Cianci was back in office and he signed a consent decree that locked in some of the benefits, a decree that he would come to regret. In 2012, in an agreement Mayor Angel Taveras negotiated with the police and fire unions, the city ended the big compounded cost of living adjustments, so his annual pension remains frozen at $196,813. To put this in context, the salary of the current fire chief, Clarence Cunha, is $164,736 a year, including longevity pay. If McLaughlin's initial pension had risen with inflation, and not at 5 or 6 percent, it would be worth $103,036 today, or just under $8,586 a month. Our ruling Jorge Elorza said, \"\"We have a retiree that is collecting a $17,000 paycheck a month . . . tax free.\"\" The city's biggest retirement check goes to a retired fire chief who is getting $16,401. Although Elorza overstated the amount a bit, its close enough to rate his statement . (If you have a claim you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)\"",
            "output": [
                "We have a retiree that is collecting a $17,000 paycheck a month . . . tax free."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bd5ad61549b444b18b7b9e801f58457b",
            "input": "According to news outlets, officials said Thursday that the bacteria were present in the Sheraton Atlanta’s cooling tower and in a decorative fountain in the atrium. The hotel has been closed for about a month since the first cases were confirmed. Health officials say the hotel passed an inspection Thursday and has been cleared to reopen. Hotel management conducted an extensive remediation of the water distribution system. Health officials have confirmed 13 cases of Legionnaires’ disease from the outbreak, including one death , and 66 probable cases. A lawsuit filed Monday accuses the hotel of negligence. Sheraton Atlanta General Manager Ken Peduzzi told the Associated Press that the hotel doesn’t comment on legal matters.",
            "output": [
                "Source confirmed in Legionnaires’ outbreak at Atlanta hotel."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d3a922181aec41e7b0eef88a45b5bc87",
            "input": "“They are heroic, I think there is no other way to describe what they are doing at this moment,” said Howard Catton, a British nurse who is the ICN’s chief executive officer. Infection rates of 9% and 12-14% have been reported among health workers in Italy and Spain, respectively, and deaths among nurses there and in Iran and Indonesia, he said. “We have no doubt that the rate of infections is related in part to the lack of PPE - personal protective equipment,” he told Reuters at the ICN offices along Lake Geneva. “There is a global shortage and nurses obviously are at a higher risk given the people that they are caring for.”  The federation represents 130 national associations and more than 20 million registered nurses. The World Health Organization has called repeatedly for countries and manufacturers to step up production of masks, gloves, gowns and other equipment for vulnerable health workers amidst critical shortages. Nearly 700,000 people have been infected worldwide in the outbreak that began last December in China and has claimed more than 33,000 lives, according to the WHO. Catton said there had been problems with supply chains in hard-hit Italy and Spain, describing their health systems as “very close to being overwhelmed”. Nurses worldwide take samples from COVID-19 patients, give them medicines and oxygen, and help incubate those in serious condition. “They are working under intense pressure, often long hours, some working back-to-back shifts for days on end, even sleeping over in the hospital, the facility, in which they work.”  Some nurses have been forced to re-use their gear or make their own masks and gowns, he added. “Wearing personal protective equipment when it is available is not easy either...Simple things like going to the loo and eating are of course much more difficult,” he said. Nurses across Africa and South Asia could be at greater risk as the virus moves to poorer settings. “We are very concerned that those countries that have weaker, more fragile health care systems could very quickly become overwhelmed by this virus if it takes hold in their countries,” Catton said. Nurses in Zimbabwe, fearing for their own safety, have been on strike due to a lack of information and protective gear, he said.",
            "output": [
                "Heroic nurses need full protection against coronavirus, association says."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1c559b8abe1c49c89a5902e86d85c1ce",
            "input": "In a surprising discovery, a research team led by Oregon Health and & Science University reported Wednesday that embryos can help fix themselves if scientists jump-start the process early enough. It’s laboratory research only, nowhere near ready to be tried in a pregnancy. But it suggests that scientists might alter DNA in a way that protects not just one baby from a disease that runs in the family, but his or her offspring as well. And that raises ethical questions. “I for one believe, and this paper supports the view, that ultimately gene editing of human embryos can be made safe. Then the question truly becomes, if we can do it, should we do it?” said Dr. George Daley, a stem cell scientist and dean of Harvard Medical School. He wasn’t involved in the new research and praised it as “quite remarkable.” “This is definitely a leap forward,” agreed developmental geneticist Robin Lovell-Badge of Britain’s Francis Crick Institute. Today, couples seeking to avoid passing on a bad gene sometimes have embryos created in fertility clinics so they can discard those that inherit the disease and attempt pregnancy only with healthy ones, if there are any. Gene editing in theory could rescue diseased embryos. But so-called “germline” changes — altering sperm, eggs or embryos — are controversial because they would be permanent, passed down to future generations. Critics worry about attempts at “designer babies” instead of just preventing disease, and a few previous attempts at learning to edit embryos, in China, didn’t work well and, more importantly, raised safety concerns. In a series of laboratory experiments reported in the journal Nature, the Oregon researchers tried a different approach. They targeted a gene mutation that causes a heart-weakening disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, that affects about 1 in 500 people. Inheriting just one copy of the bad gene can cause it. The team programmed a gene-editing tool, named CRISPR-Cas9, that acts like a pair of molecular scissors to find that mutation — a missing piece of genetic material. Then came the test. Researchers injected sperm from a patient with the heart condition along with those molecular scissors into healthy donated eggs at the same time. The scissors cut the defective DNA in the sperm. Normally cells will repair a CRISPR-induced cut in DNA by essentially gluing the ends back together. Or scientists can try delivering the missing DNA in a repair package, like a computer’s cut-and-paste program. Instead, the newly forming embryos made their own perfect fix without that outside help, reported Oregon Health & Science University senior researcher Shoukhrat Mitalipov. We all inherit two copies of each gene, one from dad and one from mom — and those embryos just copied the healthy one from the donated egg. “The embryos are really looking for the blueprint,” Mitalipov, who directs OHSU’s Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, said in an interview. “We’re finding embryos will repair themselves if you have another healthy copy.” It worked 72 percent of the time, in 42 out of 58 embryos. Normally a sick parent has a 50-50 chance of passing on the mutation. Previous embryo-editing attempts in China found not every cell was repaired, a safety concern called mosaicism. Beginning the process before fertilization avoided that problem: Until now, “everybody was injecting too late,” Mitalipov said. Nor did intense testing uncover any “off-target” errors, cuts to DNA in the wrong places, reported the team, which also included researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California and South Korea’s Institute for Basic Science. The embryos weren’t allowed to develop beyond eight cells, a standard for laboratory research. The experiments were privately funded; U.S. tax dollars aren’t allowed for embryo research. Genetics and ethics experts not involved in the work say it’s a critical first step — but just one step — toward eventually testing the process in pregnancy, something currently prohibited by U.S. policy. “This is very elegant lab work,” but it’s moving so fast that society needs to catch up and debate how far it should go, said Johns Hopkins University bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn. And lots more research is needed to tell if it’s really safe, added Britain’s Lovell-Badge. He and Kahn were part of a National Academy of Sciences report earlier this year that said if germline editing ever were allowed, it should be only for serious diseases with no good alternatives and done with strict oversight. “What we do not want is for rogue clinicians to start offering treatments” that are unproven, as has happened with some other experimental technologies, he stressed. Among key questions: Would the technique work if mom, not dad, harbored the mutation? Is repair even possible if both parents pass on a bad gene? Mitalipov is “pushing a frontier,” but it’s responsible basic research that’s critical for understanding embryos and disease inheritance, noted University of Pittsburgh professor Kyle Orwig. In fact, Mitalipov said the research should offer critics some reassurance: If embryos prefer self-repair, it would be extremely hard to add traits for “designer babies” rather than just eliminate disease. “All we did is un-modify the already mutated gene.” ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "First embryo gene-repair holds promise for inherited disease."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4bb662128cd44666bbf5b3482a6a40d5",
            "input": "The Department of Public Health says more cases that may be related have been identified in Cherokee and Marshall counties, with March 3 as the latest known symptom onset. Currently, there are 22 cases in Jackson County, 12 in DeKalb County and one case in Marshall County. For more details about the current outbreak, please see Alabama’s Hepatitis A Outbreak Report at http://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/immunization/assets/HepatitisAoutbreakreport.pdf . Health experts say to reduce the spread of the disease, people should get vaccinated as soon as possible. In addition, they should wash hands frequently especially before, during and after preparing food, after using the toilet, after changing diapers and after touching garbage.",
            "output": [
                "NE Alabama hepatitis A outbreak grows."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b187eaccc0254302b4541fb7d0a17e63",
            "input": "The study, which underscored the importance of social distancing to fight the coronavirus outbreak, looked at 243 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, reported in Singapore between January 23 and March 16. It identified seven “clusters” where pre-symptomatic transmission was likely, and in four such groups, where the date of exposure could be determined, pre-symptomatic transmission occurred one-to-three days before symptoms appeared in the source patient. Of the cases in Singapore, 157 were locally acquired and 10 of these were likely transmitted before symptoms started to show. The fast-spreading virus has claimed over 43,000 lives globally, with nearly 4,000 in the United States. The findings suggest that it might not be enough for people showing symptoms to limit their contact to control the pandemic, the researchers wrote in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published online on Wednesday. The findings increase the challenges of containment measures, the researchers wrote, but said the magnitude of the impact depends on the extent and duration of transmissibility while a patient is pre-symptomatic and that has so far not been clearly established. The study authors suggested that public health officials conducting contact tracing should strongly consider including a period before symptom onset to account for the possibility of this type of transmission. Transmissions might take place through respiratory droplets or even speech and other vocal activities such as singing, with the rate of emission corresponding to voice loudness, according to the researchers. While the cases were carefully investigated, the CDC said it was possible an unknown source might have caused the clusters. And, the findings could also be affected by incorrect reporting of cases, especially if people had only mild symptoms. With the focus currently on testing only people who show symptoms, the researchers expect asymptomatic illness to be under-detected. Still, the CDC data adds to previous reports of individual cases in China that indicated the virus could spread before symptoms start to appear.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus can spread one to three days before symptoms appear: CDC study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-79cc74ab204b4600a2dfa6fb6d40202d",
            "input": "The Rhode Island Democrat co-sponsored the Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act, which requires the comptroller general to assess the responsibilities, workload and vacancy rates for suicide prevention coordinators at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Reed praised the Senate for passing the bill last week. Since the House of Representatives already approved the legislation, the bill now heads to the president’s desk. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at stemming a persistently high number of veteran suicides, urging expanded outreach by awarding grants to community programs. The order created a Cabinet-level task force to develop a national roadmap for suicide prevention. VA statistics show suicide prevention coordinators are managing care for almost 11,000 veterans who are clinically at high-risk for suicide, said Reed, who served in the Army. Reed worked on the bill with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, the lead sponsor. “The wounds and scars of war and continued deployments are not always visible, and we’ve got to provide veterans with high quality physical and mental health care,” Reed said in a statement. Separately, Reed proposed shortening the 10-digit national suicide prevention hotline to three digits. The Federal Communications Commission endorsed that idea Thursday.",
            "output": [
                "US Sen. Reed says bill will help prevent veteran suicides."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d013b26dad894af19759439123ffa1f2",
            "input": "The funding will help the clinics provide free or low-cost medical, dental and mental health care services to uninsured and underinsured Michigan residents, according to Blue Cross. The funding also pays for substance use disorder treatment. Grants of up to $25,000 each were awarded to 17 clinics. Another 30 clinics were awarded up to $15,000 each. Recipients expect to provide care to more than 60,000 people this year. More than 50,000 people received services through the program last year. Health care organizations offering primary care services also received more than $190,000 in matched funding through the program. Blue Cross has provided more than $15 million in grants since 2005 so safety net clinics can care for the uninsured and under-insured. Detroit-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a nonprofit mutual insurance company.",
            "output": [
                "Clinics awarded grants to help uninsured, underinsured."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9b5ee71fdd17484787ec529fc2bf0e49",
            "input": "The governor, who is also a pediatric neurologist, worked to comfort victims of Friday’s shooting and their families, while helping coordinate the massive government response. He discussed the shooting with President Donald Trump in a private phone call, stood shoulder to shoulder with other elected officials at a news conference and pressed for tighter gun control to national audiences. The subject of widespread mockery after the racist photo from his medical school yearbook surfaced, the Democratic governor appears determined to project that he’s up to the task. “Actions speak a lot louder than words. And I will have the leadership that’s needed,” Northam said in an interview with NPR after the shooting, while discussing potential plans to push for increased gun regulations. Police said 12 people were killed and several others injured when DeWayne Craddock, an engineer with the city’s utilities department, opened fire inside a municipal building Friday afternoon. Northam quickly left Richmond after the shooting and drove to Virginia Beach, speaking to local, state and other officials on the way down to coordinate responses and share information. After a news conference Friday evening, Northam took a call from Trump to discuss the shooting, with the president offering the federal government’s full support. Michael Berlucchi, a Virginia Beach City Council member, praised the governor and other officials for their work to address the shooting’s aftermath from the city’s emergency operations center. “Nobody carried their baggage into that room,” Berlucchi said Sunday. “The only thing I saw was public servants coming together to address the worst tragedy in the history of our city.” On Saturday, Northam attended a vigil at a church where he told those gathered that “God is in control.” He visited a hospital to meet with survivors and thank doctors and staff. In broadcast interviews with national media, Northam stressed the need for action to prevent similar deadly shootings. “We lost 12 lives yesterday. If you look at the commonwealth of Virginia, we lost over 900 lives over the past two years to gun violence, gun-related accidents,” Northam said on CNN. “So I will make decisions in the upcoming days but we need to look at our laws: are they safe, do they keep people protected in the Commonwealth of Virginia?” The governor has long been an advocate for stricter gun control. He made the issue a top priority of his 2017 gubernatorial campaign, drawing from his experience as a pediatrician and Army doctor who has treated children and soldiers wounded by firearms. But a package of bills Northam pushed this year, including legislation to limit gun magazine size and give local governments broader authority to ban guns in city buildings, went nowhere in a staunchly pro-gun Republican-controlled Virginia General Assembly. Northam hinted Saturday in media interviews that he may be considering some kind of executive action related to gun control efforts that would bypass the legislature, but his office declined to say what specific actions he may take. Any dramatic moves by the governor would face stiff resistance from his political opponents. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said Northam doesn’t have any real power to impose new gun limits and any efforts to do so would be an attempt to deflect attention away his scandal. “He’d be very happy to try and change the focus away from the blackface stuff,” Van Cleave said. Northam has been battling for months to regain a sense of normalcy in office after a picture surfaced in February of man in blackface and another person wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit on his medical school yearbook page. Northam has denied being in the picture, and investigators recently said they can’t conclusively establish the identities of either person in the 35-year-old photo. The governor withstood widespread pressure for him to resign, which weakened after scandal soon enveloped his potential successors . Two women publicly accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, which he denies, and Attorney General Mark Herring announced he’d also worn blackface in college, just days after calling on Northam to resign. Both Fairfax and Herring have also resisted calls to resign. Fairfax was also in Virginia Beach after the shooting. He attended a church service Sunday where and pledged to take “serious action” to prevent future mass shootings. “I think that thoughts and prayers from politicians are not enough,” Fairfax said. “We’ve had too many thoughts and prayers over the years and we’ve not acted in the ways to prevent these mass shootings in the future.” ___ This story has been corrected to say pediatrician, not pedestrian. ___ Contributors include Associated Press writer Ben Finley.",
            "output": [
                "Shooting poses Virginia governor’s first test since scandal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d0afa06e55744dd5b2077c8497c02f1d",
            "input": "The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that of the more than 1,800 cases confirmed by lab reports since the start of the 2019-2020 flu season, 75% have been identified as type B, according to the Virginia Department of Health. That trend is in line with national statistics. Scott Pauley, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the newspaper it’s the first time since the 1992-1993 flu season that influenza B has been identified more often than influenza A nationally. Pauley said that could mean a less severe season in terms of deaths, but still a strong one. The CDC, which recommends that everyone 6 months and older receive a flu vaccine, said  it does not yet have vaccine effectiveness estimates for this season. So far there have been 255 reported pneumonia- and influenza-associated deaths reported by the Virginia Health Department this flu season, the newspaper reported. There have not been any reported pediatric deaths.",
            "output": [
                "Less common flu strain prominent this year in Virginia."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd61dea048ee48419855d896ced0a3e6",
            "input": "The story does not give any estimate of the cost of Doppler ultrasound examinations. The story clearly states the reduction in fetal death rates the review authors calculated by combining the results of the studies ithey looked at. It reports the absolute risk calculation of fetal or newborn deaths (1.7 percent among women who did not receive ultrasound monitoring vs. 1.2 percent among those who did). This reporting of absolute (as opposed to relative) risk reduction is a strong point of the story since it conveys to readers that while the intervention did improve outcomes, the underlying risk is small. We only wish, however, that the story had cited the Number Needed to Test that was included in the study – 203 would need to be tested in order to find one case of fetal distress that would otherwise not have been seen using other routine exams. The story notes that there has been concern that the use of Doppler ultrasound might increase unnecessary interventions, including cesarean section deliveries in cases where it is not actually needed. It says the studies indicated that Doppler ultrasound appeared to lead to better decisions about cesarean sections and inductions of labor. The story explains that this report is a review of other studies. It also points out some shortcomings in the underlying studies. The story also includes a comment from one of the study authors that since the technique is established in current practice it is unlikely that there will be future studies of the use of the technology in high-risk pregnancies. The story clearly states that the evidence on the use of Doppler ultrasound applies only to high-risk pregnancies and that there is no evidence the examinations should be done in low-risk pregnancies. There is no information in the story that appears to come from an independent source. Comments from experts in the field would have helped put the authors’ comments into perspective. The story says other types of testing, including electronic fetal-heart monitoring, may also be done during high-risk pregnancies. The story notes that Doppler is an established technique used to monitor high-risk pregnancies. The story notes that Doppler ultrasound is an established technology and that most of the studies reviewed were done in the 1990s. The story does not appear to rely solely on a news release. It says the lead researcher was interviewed.",
            "output": [
                "Ultrasound may cut deaths in high-risk pregnancies"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eda10133fe014f18864d4fa026dd32d2",
            "input": "\"The rise of Donald Trump is striking not merely because it has come so quickly, but because there’s much in his resumé that clashes with Republican orthodoxy. Conservative columnist Erick Erickson ran down the list in a recent post on RedState.com. Trump has given money to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton. He has supported abortion rights. And \"\"he has supported a Canadian-style universal health care system,\"\" Erickson wrote. We decided to look into Trump’s track record on health care. The billionaire’s 2000 book The America We Deserve makes a strong pitch for universal health care. \"\"I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one,\"\" Trump wrote. \"\"We should not hear so many stories of families ruined by health care expenses. We must not allow citizens with medical problems to go untreated because of financial problems or red tape.\"\" When he turned to how the country might achieve universal coverage, Trump focused like a laser beam on a Canadian-style, single-payer plan. He said it would eliminate many billions of dollars of overhead. \"\"The Canadian plan also helps Canadians live longer and healthier than America,\"\" he wrote. \"\"We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan, as many individual states are doing.\"\" Ever the pragmatist, Trump noted change would not happen overnight. \"\"While we work out details of a new single-payer plan, there are a number of ways to make the health care system now in place work more efficiently,\"\" Trump wrote. So, it’s fair to say that in 2000, Trump supported a Canadian-style health care plan. By 2011, his views had changed. As he contemplated a presidential bid, he told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., that \"\"I will fight to end Obamacare and replace it with something that makes sense for people in business and not bankrupt the country.\"\" In an interview with the New York Times, Trump backed away from a single-payer plan, as well as another of his proposals from a decade earlier, a surtax on the wealthiest Americans. ''We had a much different country when I proposed those two things,'' he said, according to the New York Times reporter. We searched the Nexis database of news reports for any other views Trump might have voiced on universal health care between 2000 and 2011 and found none. In a recent radio interview, Trump did not so much reject his previous support for a Canadian-style plan as describe, in a roundabout fashion, a totally different approach. He gave few details but said, \"\"we're going to have great (private) plans,\"\" and that government should help people \"\"at the lower levels.\"\" \"\"You can’t have a guy that has no money, that’s sick, and he can’t go see a doctor, he can’t go see a hospital,\"\" Trump said. \"\"I mean, because I’m actually a conservative with a heart.\"\" Our ruling Erickson said that Trump has supported a Canadian-style universal health care system. Trump’s own book from 2000 affirms that. By about 10 years later, he had changed his position. Erickson got it right.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Erick Erickson Says Donald Trump \"\"has supported a Canadian-style universal health care system.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c2d45287937148aa801a9d2c95a4da3c",
            "input": "There was no mention of the potential costs of screening women for vitamin D levels (as encouraged in the release in a statement from the principal investigator) or the cost of supplementation. The release does a good job of comparing data and providing explanations for the measurements used. We’ll award a Satisfactory for that precision, but as noted below under “Evidence,” there was no explicit caution regarding the fact that measurements of interleukin-6 (IL-6) are only surrogates for the effects of weight loss and vitamin D on clinical outcomes related to inflammation (e.g. cancer diagnoses). IL-6 levels dropped in both the placebo and vitamin D arms, and it’s not clear whether the statistically significant additional decline in IL-6 observed in the vitamin D group is clinically important. Because some of the participants were vitamin D-deficient and the dose of vitamin D provided was modest (2000 IU/d), this was a tough call. But supplementation is often so misunderstood, overhyped and oversold that some statement cautioning readers to pay attention to the specifics of this study and not apply its recommendations to everyone seems prudent. For the most part, the release provides a cautious and accurate description of what appears to be a well-conducted clinical trial in a well-defined population. For example, it notes that weight loss and vitamin D lowered inflammation LINKED to cancer — not that these things reduced cancer risk itself (something this study couldn’t establish). But as noted above, we would have appreciated an explicit acknowledgment that IL-6 is a surrogate marker for the clinical outcomes that people care about. And more importantly, we’re concerned about the closing comment that women should talk to their doctors about measuring their vitamin D levels to determine the most appropriate dose. The problem is there is no evidence supporting screening or treating to a level — and certainly not from this study. The US Preventive Services Task Force has concluded that evidence is insufficient to recommend routine vitamin D screening and the IOM has said that while there are data supporting the benefits of vitamin D supplementation with bone health and fall prevention, there is no evidence supporting benefits for cancer. While testing may be warranted in those with signs or symptoms of clinical deficiency, the statement made here implies that everyone should be tested so that an appropriate dose of vitamin D can be selected. That goes beyond the available evidence. It’s hard to argue that overweight, vitamin deficiency, chronic inflammation and cancer are not real threats, so no mongering apparent here. Funding sources are well documented. The study didn’t discuss alternative preventive measures or genetic causes of increased cancer risks. But this is such a broad and expansive topic that we don’t think the release should have been expected to address those myriad issues. We’ll rate this Not Applicable. Primary care physicians and other health providers are well positioned to monitor blood levels of vitamin D, along with dietary and exercise regimens. The news release makes that clear, albeit indirectly. As noted above, we think the release goes too far in suggesting that people ask their doctors about having their vitamin D levels checked. But we’ve already docked points for that, so we’ll award a Satisfactory rating here. The release makes a case for this being the first clinical trial of its kind; although it’s always difficult to make that statement absolutely, the writer of the release attributes the statement to the study author. As a general rule, it’s probably best to say “believed to be the first.”  While the release meets our standard here, we also wish it had delved a bit into the background of previous vitamin D research and the conflicting and confusing messages that research has generated. Without that context, the typical reader might wrongly jump to the conclusion, based on the wording of the lede and other parts of the release, that this study of vitamin D supplementation — because it was a controlled clinical trial — has somehow settled the important questions about the role of vitamin D and inflammation in cancer risk. The debate remains alive and well. None detected.",
            "output": [
                "Weight loss plus vitamin D reduces inflammation linked to cancer, chronic disease"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9c48592ee5c24f5398d057fe08642f1e",
            "input": "The number of women and girls using contraceptives in 69 of the world’s poorest countries surpassed 317 million in 2018, representing 46 million more users than in 2012, said the report by Family Planning 2020, a U.N.-backed global advocacy group working to promote rights-based family planning. Access to modern contraception helped prevent over 119 million unintended pregnancies and averted 20 million unsafe abortions between July 2017 and July 2018, although populations continue to soar across Africa and other low income countries, the report said. “The best way to overcome this challenge of rapid population growth is by giving women and girls (the) opportunity to decide how many children they want to have,” Beth Schlachter, executive director of Family Planning 2020, told The Associated Press. The mix of contraceptive methods has improved significantly in 20 of the surveyed countries, “meaning that more women are able to find the short-term, long-acting, emergency, or permanent method that suits their needs and preferences,” the report said. But even as millions of poor women use contraceptives, millions more who want to delay or prevent pregnancy are still unable to access it, often due to lack of information, the report said, citing perceived health side-effects and social disapproval as deterrents. Under Family Planning 2020, which grew out of a summit on family planning held in London in 2012, donors have pledged millions of dollars to bring contraception to 120 million more women and girls in developing countries by the year 2020. Many of the 69 countries surveyed for the report are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is witnessing a population boom even as other parts of the world see dropping birth rates. Over half of the global population growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa, according to U.N. figures. According to the new report, contraceptive use is growing fastest in Africa, even though the region’s fertility rates remain high. The most recent U.N. global population report estimates Africa’s fertility rate to be 5.1 births per woman. Because the region’s growing population is not backed by substantial rises in family incomes and the development of public infrastructure, there are concerns that a population boom may deepen poverty levels for many Africans. Over the years, family planning has often been difficult to sell in heavily paternalistic sub-Saharan Africa, with the matter becoming controversial as some African leaders challenge the view that a growing population is bad for the world’s poorest continent. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni insists Africa needs more people, and has lambasted what he calls “the shrill cries of NGOs about population control.” In February President John Magufuli of Tanzania encouraged polygamy, citing the 10 million more women than men in his country in advising men to marry “two or more wives” to reduce the number of single women. ___ Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.",
            "output": [
                "More women in poor countries use contraception, says report."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae5a5f7f2b994d71b18692d56a04c4da",
            "input": "\"Last weekend, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey recorded a message about how to stop the spread of the coronavirus and posted it on Twitter. His message was simple and direct – start wearing a homemade mask when you leave the house. \"\"My mask will keep someone else safe and their mask will keep me safe,\"\" said Toomey, a Republican from the Lehigh Valley. \"\"I’m not suggesting this is any kind of guarantee. It probably doesn’t have tremendous value for the person wearing the mask but it probably does significantly reduce the risk that people could inadvertently transmit it.\"\" Since masks for health care workers are in such short supply, we wondered whether Toomey’s claim is . For weeks, public health officials advised healthy Americans not to wear masks. But on Friday, President Donald Trump announced that the guidance had changed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now urging everyone to wear homemade cloth masks when they leave the house, just as Toomey called for a week ago. He was the first member of Congress to advocate for the shift. But even as Trump announced the new rules, he said he didn’t plan to follow them himself. \"\"It’s voluntary so you don’t have to do it,\"\" Trump said at Friday’s daily coronavirus briefing. \"\"They suggest it for a period of time. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.\"\" Trump said the guidance shifted because research indicates that people who are infected with the coronavirus but aren’t showing any symptoms can still transmit the disease. He also reiterated that wearing homemade masks is not a replacement for other strategies such as social distancing and hand-washing. \"\"We want to make sure everybody understands it’s not a substitute for the presidential guidelines that have already gone out,\"\" Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said Thursday. Toomey got another thing right. Homemade masks are significantly more effective at preventing asymptomatic carriers of the virus from accidentally spreading it than they are at shielding a healthy person from contracting it. And the efficacy of any homemade mask depends on how it’s made. The most effective homemade masks are made of thick cloth and make a tight seal around the wearer’s face. \"\"Given the current crisis, and lacking an alternative, many layers of densely woven fabric would be the most effective, because it allows for lots of voids in the layers where particles can be trapped,\"\" Richard Peltier, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, told us by email. \"\"The mask needs to seal as tightly as possible to the face to avoid leaks, though this may not be possible with different designs, fabrics, or face shapes. Thin or porous fabrics are the least likely to be effective.\"\" A study published in October 2010 tested how cloth masks and common fabrics fared when sprayed with aerosols at different speeds. All of the materials performed worse than hospital-grade N95 respirators. But some, such as cotton towels and scarves, were in the range of some surgical masks. The authors cautioned that fabric materials \"\"show only marginal filtration performance against virus-size particles when sealed around the edges.\"\" Another study from 2013 found that cotton masks only perform about half as well as surgical masks and \"\"should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals.\"\" More recent research had similar results. So at best, using thick or layered fabric to make a homemade mask could be as effective as using some surgical masks. At worst, it prevents at least some of your respiratory droplets from spreading to others while in public. Under ideal circumstances, no face masks are intended to be worn for more than one encounter. That guidance also extends to homemade masks. \"\"At the end of the day, these cloth masks should be treated as contaminated materials that you bring in to your home — they need to be laundered in hot soapy water, and you’d need to consider sanitizing in bleach or hydrogen peroxide regularly,\"\" Peltier said. Toomey’s claim that his homemade mask would keep someone else safe and that someone else’s homemade mask would keep him safe matches the latest guidance from the CDC.\"",
            "output": [
                "“My mask will keep someone else safe and their mask will keep me safe.”"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a617d012cf93403b990657f57b411c64",
            "input": "\"During his campaign for governor, Nathan Deal has repeatedly cited his work on immigration issues as a U.S. congressman as evidence he has leadership skills. He brought it up in May during a gubernatorial debate in Gwinnett County. Fox Business TV host Neil Cavuto said Deal \"\"led the fight against illegal immigration in the House\"\" during an April 29 interview. And when fellow Republican Karen Handel challenged him to prove he was a leader on the issue during his 17-year tenure, he reiterated the point in a news release. “While Karen Handel was busy preparing her resume to run for Secretary of State or Governor, Nathan Deal was leading in Congress to protect our borders. \"\"The release outlined five of his accomplishments as proof. We will analyze these points one at a time. Deal \"\"led the fight\"\" to require citizenship verification for recipients of Medicaid services under the health care overhaul signed into law this year. He led the fight, but he didn't win it. Deal was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce in July 2009 when he offered an amendment to America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 that would have required citizenship verification for people applying for and renewing their Medicaid benefits. The proposal was narrowly defeated, 29-28. Deal was \"\"lead sponsor\"\" of legislation to prevent automatic citizenship for babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants. Yes he was, again and again. We found four instances in which Deal sponsored bills that would end this path to U.S. citizenship: the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009; the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2007; the Citizenship Reform Act of 2005; and the Citizenship Reform Act of 2003.Even before Deal began sponsoring these birthright bills, he supported similar congressional efforts. He was a regular co-sponsor of such resolutions starting when he took office in 1993. He did so for 10 years before he began to sponsor the bills himself. None of the bills passed. Deal \"\"authored and passed\"\" a law that requires that the citizenship of Medicaid applicants be verified. Deal and the late U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood of Augusta share credit for this successful measure, which attracted widespread media coverage in 2005 and 2006. They introduced this provision as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, a massive budget bill that trimmed funding for entitlement programs. It required that Medicaid recipients show proof of citizenship when they apply for benefits or renew them. Deal was a \"\"longtime leader\"\" in the U.S. House of Representatives' Immigration Reform Caucus. The Immigration Reform Caucus is a group of more than 90 U.S. congressmen, almost all Republicans, that advocates for placing more restrictions on illegal immigrants and immigration, as well as taking a more aggressive approach to enforcing existing laws. Deal was a member of the caucus and was mentioned in a March 2007 Roll Call article as leading its team on birthright citizenship, a cause he has supported since 1993. We have found articles mentioning his membership in the group dating to 2001. The group was founded in May 1999. Deal worked \"\"hand-in-hand\"\" with Norwood on the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act, which proposed to allow local law enforcement to assist federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. This bill \"\"became the origin\"\" of the  287(g) program of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which delegates some immigration law enforcement power to certain state and local law enforcement agencies. Yes. And no. Deal did work closely with Norwood on the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act, according to Greg Louer, who served as Norwood's policy director, and James R. Edwards Jr., a fellow for the conservative Center for Immigration Studies who consulted Norwood on the bill while he was with the conservative think tank the Hudson Institute. They fought for it for years. It was introduced four times, starting in 2003. While the bill never passed, it became influential, Louer said. Portions of its language appeared in as many as 20 similar bills. Deal's campaign argues CLEAR \"\"became the origin\"\" of the 287(g) program, and that it in turn opened the door for the March arrest of Kennesaw State student Jessica Colotl. Colotl entered the country illegally when she was 10 and was taken into custody and cited with immigration violations after she was unable to produce identification during a March traffic stop. Her case has since become a flash point for immigration policy debate. But CLEAR did not originate the 287(g) program. It was named after a section in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 -- seven years before the first CLEAR bill was even introduced. State and local law enforcement agencies began participation in 2002, one year before Norwood submitted the first CLEAR bill to Congress. Yet while CLEAR never made it into law, its popularity among conservative lawmakers did pressure ICE to beef up the 287(g) program, Louer and Edwards said. The program received additional funding. More law enforcement agencies signed up to take on immigration enforcement roles. Plus one of the legislation's major goals -- to improve information sharing on immigration violations between the federal government and local law enforcement -- was adopted administratively by ICE during the later years of the Bush administration.So was Deal a leader on immigration reform while he was in Congress? He certainly was consistent. His approach on illegal immigration stretches back to his first year in Congress. He was also persistent. He was willing to press issues such as birthright citizenship repeatedly. Deal is also recognized by a nationally known immigration watchdog group as taking a lead on the issue. \"\"He certainly was one of the leaders,\"\" said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.And while his success changing actual U.S. immigration law is limited and his campaign's portrayal of the CLEAR bill's influence over the 287(g) program is incorrect, Deal did play a notable behind-the-scenes role beefing up immigration enforcement.o be .\"",
            "output": [
                "While in Congress, Nathan Deal was a leader when it came to protecting our borders."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-25ff0c016b7d4a33b4f9a004ab6e224f",
            "input": "Max Reiss, the governor’s spokesman, said the Democrat “finds this information important” and believes “the public has the right to know,” including state legislators, who’ve discussed possibly ending a religious exemption from vaccines. Reiss’ comments came a day after Department of Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman Mitchell said she only planned to release county-by-county immunization data and not school-by-school vaccination rates, noting there have been no new measles cases in Connecticut since April. DPH is expected this week to release the latest statewide vaccination data, including how many students have sought the religious exemption. Reiss said county-by-county data will be released in October and school-by-school numbers sometime afterward, once it’s been verified for accuracy. House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, a Democrat from Hartford who has voiced concern about the growing number of vaccine exemptions sought on religious grounds, said it’s important for lawmakers to have the school-by-school data to identify pockets of unvaccinated students. He said county-by-county or statewide data gives people the “false impression” there are no issues with vaccinations. While Connecticut has high statewide vaccination rates, school-by-school information released earlier this year showed more than 100 schools with rates that fell below recommended federal guidelines. A Woodstock couple has sued DPH to stop the agency from publicly releasing additional immunization rate information at private and public schools, arguing their unvaccinated son suffered “mental and emotional distress” after the data released in May showed 18.5% of students at his private school in Meriden claimed the religious exemption.",
            "output": [
                "Lamont overrules official, wants more vaccine data released."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-abd15fd07b4240d487f48a35af9bf8b2",
            "input": "The story referred to “extra costs women may incur to get childcare and make it to the doctor’s office — plus the costs to a strained healthcare system of ordering more tests.” Not applicable. The story wasn’t about benefits, but rather, the suggested lack of benefit from screening too often. The story did a good job explaining that there can be harm from screening too often – something that often isn’t explained in screening stories: “…any extra screening increases the chance of getting a “false positive” result on a test — meaning the test finds something that doesn’t turn out to be cancer. In that case, women would need more invasive tests to rule out disease, Roland said, and risk “undue harm” from those procedures. “Some of it is, don’t go looking before you need to go looking because you’ll find stuff that you’d rather not find,” said (one observer), who was not involved in the new study. The story did not make clear who was surveyed. Family practitioners? Ob-gyns? There were other issues. The story never fully described the evidence behind the recommendations that “generally call for a three-year wait after normal tests.”  Reuters may have thought that was outside the scope of the current news on the current study, but it would have better informed readers about the quality of the evidence. Then, of course, there’s the confusion over the screening intervals that was addressed in the review summary above. No disease-mongering at play here. An independent expert from the American Society for Clinical Pathology was interviewed – someone not involved in the study. Comparison of screening intervals was at the heart of the story: “There’s really no advantage to annual screening compared to screening every two or three years,” lead author Katherine Roland told Reuters Health. The entire story was about cervical cancer screening being made TOO available too often. The story reminded readers that this type of survey – and its findings – don’t stand alone: “Results from a survey of the same doctors have shown that many also give the HPV test alongside Pap smears to women under 30 — which is not recommended, because HPV is common in young women and often goes away on its own (see Reuters Health story of July 4, 2011. )” It’s clear the story didn’t rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Doctors screen for cervical cancer too often: study"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9947e4f84a814581abdb410fa8a117c1",
            "input": "On 3 May 2018, the “Occupy Democrats” Facebook page posted a meme which claimed that the president had violated the constitutional separation of church and state by setting up a “religious office”:  President Trump did sign an executive order in May 2018 to establish a new faith-based initiative within the White House, but nobody from his administration called it a “religious office” — that description appears to have come from Occupy Democrats. Furthermore, Trump’s initiative represents significant continuity of, rather than a departure from, the previous two administrations. Although every detail and working of the new initiative has not yet been outlined, it certainly does not represent a radical change. Trump’s White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative bears a striking resemblance to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which George W. Bush set up in 2001, and which Barack Obama continued during his administration but renamed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In brief, Trump’s executive order — which he signed on 3 May 2018, the National Day of Prayer — replaces the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, keeping it within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The executive order also sets out the following: Beyond that, Trump’s order is somewhat vague on the exact workings of the initiative and the duties of the advisor who will lead it: One potentially significant provision in the executive order calls for those in charge of the Faith and Opportunity Initiative to contact the Attorney General if they see potential executive branch violations of a religious liberty memorandum published by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October 2017. The Sessions memorandum reiterated the positions set out by Trump in an earlier executive order, in which the President wrote: It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom…. All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, to the greatest extent practicable and to the extent permitted by law, respect and protect the freedom of persons and organizations to engage in religious and political speech. President Trump has prioritized enhancing legal protections for religious freedom, including when it comes to obligations placed on faith-based organizations that receive federal funding, the freedom of employers and employees to abstain from practices (particularly in health care) which they feel compromise their religious beliefs, and in calling for an end to the Johnson Amendment, a long-standing provision that bars religious 501 (c)(3) non-profit groups from engaging in electoral activism. In his 2001 executive order establishing the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, President George W. Bush emphasized that a driving force behind the policy was a desire to “level the playing field” in the disbursement of federal funding, and enhance the funding opportunities available for religious non-profit organizations — especially those focused on poverty, addiction, crime and other social issues: The paramount goal is compassionate results, and private and charitable community groups, including religious ones, should have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes, such as curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening families and neighborhoods, and overcoming poverty. This delivery of social services must be results oriented and should value the bedrock principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness, and neutrality. The Occupy Democrats meme is largely accurate. In May 2018, Trump did indeed establish an initiative within the White House which would give faith-based organizations what the administration called a “voice in the White House.” However, the description of the initiative as a “religious office” did not come from the Trump administration itself, and that is not its official name. Furthermore, Trump’s 2018 initiative represents significant continuity from predecessor offices set up by George W. Bush in 2001 and Barack Obama in 2009, although the exact focus, workings, and influence of Trump’s initiative remain to be seen. On 5 May, the “Being Liberal” Facebook page and web site published an article with the headline “Trump quietly signed an Executive Order allowing government to fund religious groups.” This is very misleading, and ignores the fact that the federal government has been providing grants, funding and tax write-offs to religious non-profit organizations for many years, including during the Obama administration. Trump’s creation of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative did not usher in that state of affairs.",
            "output": [
                "\"In May 2018, President Donald Trump established a \"\"religious office\"\" to give religious groups a \"\"voice in government.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-98dbb6247c5647e58d6f979cf84515ef",
            "input": "The Department of Environmental Conservation says oak wilt has been found in the Ontario County town of South Bristol. It’s the second location the disease has been found in Ontario County. There was a 2016 outbreak in Canandaigua, a few miles north of the new site. A landowner contacted DEC after several oak trees started dropping discolored leaves in July before rapidly dying. The current treatment method is to remove infected trees as well as nearby oaks that could become infected. Oak wilt made its first appearance in New York in the Schenectady County town of Glenville in 2008. It has since been found in Suffolk and Kings counties.",
            "output": [
                "Oak-killing fungus spreads to more places in New York."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5cc71b4b7e06404caa96d147eca94474",
            "input": "The lawsuit filed Friday by Paul Callicoat and his family, of Sarcoxie, Missouri, came a day after the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services granted 60 licenses  from the more than 500 companies that applied. The Callicoats, who had planned to open a cultivation facility called Sarcoxie Nursery, were not among those who won a license. The family’s lawsuit argues the state’s 60-license limit violates the state constitution’s “right to farm” amendment passed by voters in 2014. The lawsuit also challenges the state’s selection process that gave more points to businesses in high-unemployment ZIP codes, saying that “geographic bonus” was announced after the family had already paid a non-refundable $10,000 application fee. The health department did not respond to a request by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for comment. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Monday. Missouri voters made medical marijuana legal in 2018. The licensing program is expected to wind up by February with the awarding of licenses to applicants seeking to sell cannabis products to Missourians holding doctor-approved cards.",
            "output": [
                "Rejected medical marijuana grower applicant sues Missouri."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7c6032c6f174b73bbd0c171c16a2688",
            "input": "Tyson Foods said in a Tuesday news release that 212 workers at its plant in Madison tested positive for the virus; 74 of them had no symptoms. The numbers were the results from testing from May 1-4 of 1,467 workers, contractors and vendors at the plant, and the results were released jointly by Tyson and the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department . The plant was shut down in early May for deep cleaning and sanitization in the wake of a surge in coronavirus cases among meatpacking plant workers. Tyson workers who test positive receive paid leave and may return to work only when they have been medically cleared to do so, the company said. Tyson said most of those workers who tested positive are considered to be already recovered. Returning workers will undergo daily health screenings and temperature checks before they are allowed to enter the plant, the company said, and all workers will be provided mandatory face masks. A range of social distancing measures — including physical barriers between workstations and in break rooms — will also be practiced. Madison is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Omaha.",
            "output": [
                "212 at Nebraska meat plant test positive for COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1b8571d4246146238acc1c49923071eb",
            "input": "Kudos! This story reported on the costs of the drug Lucentis as well as the less expensive Avastin. The story provided quantitative information about the possible impact on vision. But we wish there information about any measurement of  the patients’ perspective on whether they are functioning better after receiving this treatment versus standard treatment While the story did include the common side effect of the drug in the study, there were other potentially important complications that were not mentioned. The story mentioned that the results reported on were from a phase III clinical trial; it included information about the number of affected eyes included in the study, and the impact on vision. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. Several experts in the field were quoted in this story. In presenting the outcome of the study, the story mentioned in passing treatments currently used for treating diabetic macular edema. The story also mentioned the existence of another drug, Avastin, which was reported as working the same way as the study medication. (A more accurate description comparing Avastin and Lucentis is that they contain the nearly identical active ingredient but the production methods are a little different.) It would have been nice to mention that there is an on-going trial comparing the effectiveness of these two medications for the treatment of macular degeneration (not the condition which was the disease in the study reported on.) The story was crystal clear that the drug reported on, Lucentis, is available as it is FDA approved for another condition; the story also mentioned that it is not yet FDA approved for treatment of diabetic macular edema. The story was very clear that this was a new use for a medication that is already on the market. The story provided some insight that the company underwriting the costs of this study had a very similar but less expensive drug which was FDA approved for other use. It would have been useful to include a little more information comparing the two medications. It might also have been nice to include some information about how the drug studied works as compared to laser treatment, the current standard. Does not appear to rely on a press release.",
            "output": [
                "A Genentech Eye Treatment Is Found to Help Prevent Vision Loss in Diabetics"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a14ef663bc6a48e7bfc35de0dda575c4",
            "input": "The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it would add new warnings to packaging for Neurontin, Lyrica and generic versions, which are used to treat seizures, nerve pain, restless leg syndrome and other conditions. The new labels will warn doctors against prescribing the drugs with other medications that can slow breathing, including opioid painkillers. The breathing risks also apply to elderly patients and those with existing lung problems. The medications, known generically as gabapentin and pregabalin, are among the most prescribed in the U.S. Both physician prescribing and misuse have increased as doctors, hospitals and other health care providers have scaled back their use of opioids amid a national epidemic. Poison control centers have reported increased calls involving the nerve drugs, which are often abused in combination with opioids, cocaine and marijuana. Neurontin and related generics have long been considered nonaddictive and are not tracked as closely by regulators. While the nerve drugs are not FDA-approved for conventional muscle and joint pain, doctors frequently prescribe them for those uses and others, including treatment of migraines and psychiatric conditions. The FDA also said it will require drugmakers to conduct new studies of the abuse risks of the drugs, especially in combination with opioids. The agency said it received nearly 50 reports of breathing problems linked to gabapentin and pregabalin between 2012 and 2017, including 12 deaths. While drugmakers are required to report problems to the FDA, it’s voluntary for doctors and patients. ___  Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___  The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support  from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "FDA warns of breathing risks with popular nerve drugs."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-918c3a4d0fa8488bba23ac4664bd1dac",
            "input": "\"Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, doesn’t tend to throw his personal weight behind many public bills. That’s why the Oregon Capitol stood at attention when Courtney called for more money -- new money, dedicated money -- to pay for a game-changing boost in mental health services for children and adults. In an accompanying press release, his office noted that: \"\"Statistics indicate that one in eight children, and one in 18 adults in Oregon suffers from mental illness. The Oregon Health Authority also reports that the state is currently serving less than half the adults and slightly more than one-third of the young people who need treatment.\"\" PolitiFact Oregon was skeptical. Those stats seem high. The Senate president’s office directed us to the Oregon Health Authority. People there sent us to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, and specifically, to its State Data Infrastructure Coordinating Center. These people take census figures annually and apply a standard formula developed in the late 1990s to determine how many people have a \"\"serious mental illness\"\" or \"\"serious emotional disturbances.\"\" We thought the number of diagnosed cases might drive the statistic, but that’s not the way it works. Instead, the research institute applies a percentage to the civilian adult population -- in this case, 5.4 percent -- to derive the estimated number of people 18 years and older with a \"\"serious mental illness.\"\" The low side of the estimate is 3.7 percent and the upper side is 7.1 percent. In Oregon, 5.4 percent translates into more than 162,000 people out of 3 million adults. That translates into one in 18.5 adults. Let’s move on to the claim that one in eight children suffers from mental illness. Children are treated differently. The institute takes census numbers and applies a poverty formula, so a state that’s considered \"\"high poverty\"\" is calculated to have more children with a serious mental illness -- or in technical terms, \"\"serious emotional disturbances\"\" -- than states considered \"\"low poverty.\"\" Oregon is a mid-poverty state. The percentages do not vary dramatically among the types of states, 9 percent to 11 percent of children for a low poverty state and 11 percent to 13 percent for a high poverty state. In Oregon, an estimated 10 percent to 12 percent of children ages 9 to 17 have a serious emotional disturbance. Ten percent of Oregon children is one in 10. Twelve percent is one in 8.3. The average -- 11 percent -- is one in 9.1 children. Again, this is just for children ages 9 to 17, so the calculation doesn’t capture the entire range of children. Remember that Courtney’s claim is one in eight. Now what do we mean by a serious emotional disturbance? Or rather, what do the experts mean? We spoke with Dr. Ronald Manderscheid, executive director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors. He’s the person who developed the federal algorithm used to estimate the number of adults and children with mental illness or emotional disability. In other words, he’s a solid expert. There is an assessment scale used routinely by mental health professionals. The spectrum spans from 1 to 10 to 91 to 100, and assesses how well a person functions. A child in the top bracket would be \"\"superior\"\" in every facet of life, and have a healthy sense of confidence and take problems in stride. The scale also applies to adults. Anyone in the 51 to 60 bracket, or lower, is considered to have a serious emotional disturbance or mental illness. Adults in this bracket would exhibit \"\"moderate symptoms,\"\" such as occasional panic attacks, or \"\"moderate difficulty\"\" in social, work or school settings. Children in this group would have \"\"sporadic difficulties or symptoms\"\" in several but not all social areas. Symptoms would appear in times of distress. People in the 41 to 50 range would show \"\"serious symptoms,\"\" including frequent shoplifting or severe obsessive rituals, or \"\"serious impairment\"\" in social, work, or school settings. This person might have no friends or be unable to keep a job. Children in the 41 to 50 bracket would show serious impairment in one area or moderate problems with functioning in most social areas. Children may have frequent anxiety attacks or have an unhealthy preoccupation with suicide. The \"\"one in eight\"\" statistic cited by Courtney applies to children who top out at 60. How many children do we have in Oregon, in that age group? An estimated 437,053 in 2011. Just to give you an idea, that means about 48,000 kids in the age bracket who fall within the accepted definition. Again, that’s an average of one in 9.1 kids. We also talked with Bill Bouska, children’s mental health system manager, and Jon C. Collins, manager of health programs analysis and measurement, both at the Oregon Health Authority. We asked why go with the higher percentage? \"\"There’s not a lot of difference between 11 and 12 percent. These numbers are meant to be very general numbers, and to guide states,\"\" Collins said. \"\"They’re not meant to be precise figures, so picking something on the high side is a little bit safer than picking a number on the low side, since they are estimates.\"\" Let’s go to our ruling. Courtney’s office relied on national statistics to claim that one in 8 children and one in 18 adults suffer from mental illness in Oregon. We found those statistics and talked to the person responsible for calculating the federal formula used to derive those statistics. We understand this is all about estimates, but if we’re going to boil it down to percentages, let’s see what they are. A 5.4 percent rate translates into one in 18.5 adults who suffer from a mental illness that makes functioning moderately difficult. Manderscheid, our national expert, says the percentage used now is 5.8 percent, which is one in 17.2 adults, so Courtney’s statement still rings true. (The number of adults who suffer from a mental health disorder in a given year is much higher -- one in four -- but they take medication or receive treatment so condition doesn’t affect their ability to function.) With children, we find that the one-in-eight statement is slightly more alarming than the average would indicate. The average in Oregon is one in 9.1 with a high of one in 8.3. It’s also important to understand that the statistic applies to a narrower subset of children, and that the statistic covers children who show sporadic difficulties in several but not all social areas.. Still, all in all, it’s hard to argue with a nationally accepted standard, so we find these details to be additional information missing from an otherwise accurate statement.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Peter Courtney Says, \"\"Statistics indicate that one in eight children, and one in 18 adults in Oregon suffers from mental illness.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a09abfa15ff343549074c63aabda4a9c",
            "input": "\"One of the arguments Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price made about why substantial changes in federal health care law were needed was that the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, had failed in one of its goals -- to cut down on emergency room use. Because emergency rooms by law cannot turn patients away, they can become a health care provider of last resort, even for more minor conditions that could be handled just as well -- and more inexpensively -- in a doctor’s office. \"\"One of the things that the previous administration said was that they were going to be able to drive folks away from one of the most expensive areas for the provision of health care, and that is the emergency rooms,\"\" Price said at a White House briefing on March 7, 2017. \"\"In fact, they did just the opposite.\"\" Is Price correct that emergency room usage has gone up -- not down -- since passage of the law? Our research suggests that Price has a strong case. Did Obama say the law would lower emergency room use? He certainly expressed hope that it would. He mentioned it during an address on health care to a joint session of Congress, and during a nationally televised town hall on health care on June 24, 2009. During the town hall, Obama said this: \"\"One of the areas where we can potentially see some saving is -- a lot of those patients are being seen in the emergency room anyway, and if we are increasing prevention, if we are increasing wellness programs, we're reducing the amount of emergency room care, then that frees up doctors and resources to provide the kind of primary care that will keep people healthier, but also allow them to see more patients and hopefully give more time to patients, as well.\"\" Has emergency room use gone up since the law has gone into effect? Different pieces of data vary somewhat, but all in all, there’s strong evidence that emergency room usage hasn’t declined much, if at all, since the law largely took effect in 2013. There’s also evidence that it has increased. Here are some examples of studies that looked at this question. • May 2015: A survey of more than 2,000 emergency-room physicians by the American College of Emergency Physicians asked whether the volume of patients in their emergency room had dropped or risen after the law took effect. The results: 28 percent said it had \"\"increased greatly\"\" and 47 percent said it had \"\"increased slightly.\"\" Combined, that means three-quarters of emergency room doctors saw an increase. • February 2016: A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at the change in emergency room use between 2013 (which was largely before the law) and 2014 (which was largely after the law took effect). \"\"ER use overall has not changed significantly after the first full year of ACA implementation,\"\" the report concludes. • August 2016: A study in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine looked at emergency room use in Illinois by adults between 2011 and 2015, separating out patterns of visits before and after the law took effect. The study found that emergency room visits in the state \"\"increased after ACA health insurance expansion. ... A large post-ACA increase in Medicaid visits and a modest increase in privately insured visits outpaced a large reduction in (emergency room) visits by uninsured patients.\"\" So the studies pointed toward a modest increase in ER use. Two other recent studies looked at state-based scenarios that mirrored the types of expansions of coverage in Obama’s law. Both of them -- a March 2014 study of Massachusetts and an October 2016 study of Illinois -- found increased emergency room use after coverage was expanded. Why isn’t emergency room use going down? Experts cite a mix of reasons. Medicaid reimbursement rates are lower than those for private insurance, so appointments at doctors’ offices may be hard to obtain for those who received Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. In addition, \"\"two-thirds of emergency visits occur on weekends and when doctors’ offices are closed,\"\" said Laura Gore, a spokeswoman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. Demographics may play a role, too. Senior citizens are growing as a percentage of the population, and older Americans are likelier to have chronic health problems that require an emergency room visit, Gore said. In fact, the trend of growing emergency room use predates the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. \"\"Emergency department use has been rising since they were popularized after World War II,\"\" said Scott M. Dresden, a physician and assistant professor at Northwestern University who co-wrote the Illinois study. \"\"Research on health services use since the 1970s has shown that providing patients with assistance for health care costs, such as insurance, leads to increased health services use. So it's not particularly surprising that providing patients with insurance didn't decrease emergency department use.\"\" But the biggest factor may be force of habit. \"\"Old habits are hard to break,\"\" said Gail Wilensky, who headed Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush. \"\"People who were used to seeking care in ERs may continue to go there for a while. When Kaiser first started taking Medicaid patients, many continued their use of the ER for routine care like they had always done. It took a while to wean them away.\"\" Katherine Baicker, a professor of health economics at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-author of the Oregon study, agreed. \"\"Expanding health insurance coverage leads to greater use of care across many settings, including the doctor's office, the pharmacy, the hospital, and the emergency room,\"\" she said. \"\"This is what one might expect from the basic economics: Medicaid took health care that was expensive and made it free, so people used more of it.\"\" Our ruling Price said the Obama administration said \"\"they were going to be able to drive folks away from one of the most expensive areas for the provision of health care, and that is the emergency rooms. In fact, they did just the opposite.\"\" While the data varies a bit from study to study, the findings generally fail to provide any evidence that emergency room use has decreased after the law took effect. Indeed, several studies found increases in emergency room use, though modestly. Price overstated the case slightly, but he's basically correct.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"The Obama administration said \"\"they were going to be able to drive folks away from one of the most expensive areas for the provision of health care, and that is the emergency rooms. In fact, they did just the opposite.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7d12cf1a5da4a619b935eb3da4f7875",
            "input": "The World Organization for Animal Health said routine surveillance testing confirmed on Monday the presence of a low-pathogenic N5N2 virus in a flock of 40,000 turkeys in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota’s top turkey producing county. The virus originated in wild birds. The state Board of Animal Health said only one of four barns on the farm, housing 10,000, 13-week-old toms, was affected. The flock has been quarantined but has shown no signs of illness, the agencies said. The farm will be allowed to market the birds normally in a few weeks once the flock tests negative, said Dr. Shauna Voss, senior veterinarian at the board’s poultry testing laboratory in Willmar. The board has stepped up surveillance at nearby poultry farms as a precaution. The virus is different from the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus that caused a massive outbreak in U.S. turkeys and chickens in 2015, which resulted in the deaths of more than 50 million birds. Iowa and Minnesota were by far the hardest hit states. Losses across the U.S. economy were estimated at $3.3 billion. Voss said this was the first detection of any avian influenza virus in commercial poultry in Minnesota since that outbreak, although there was a low-pathogenic case in western Wisconsin last year. The 2015 outbreak led to tighter biosecurity measures on poultry farms to protect them from outside sources of infection, such as wild birds, rodents and farm workers who might track in viruses on their footwear or clothing. Producers now conduct enhanced surveillance during the spring and fall migrations, Voss said. The new detection shows that those security measures have paid off, she said.",
            "output": [
                "Mild form of bird flu found in Minnesota turkey flock."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-059e498300d344a69abfca84e739ef8d",
            "input": "Medics and other rescuers rushed to Ocracoke Island — accessible only by boat or air — to reach those who made the mistake of defying mandatory evacuation orders along the 200-mile (320-kilometer) ribbon of low-lying islands. “We are flooding like crazy,” Ocracoke Island bookshop owner Leslie Lanier texted. “I have been here 32 years and not seen this.” Its winds down to 90 mph (145 kph), Dorian howled over the Outer Banks as a far weaker storm than the brute that wreaked havoc on the Bahamas at the start of the week. Just when it looked as if its run up the Southeast coast was coming to a relatively quiet end, the Category 1 hurricane sent seawater surging over neighborhoods, flooding the first floors of many homes, even ones on stilts. “There is significant concern about hundreds of people trapped on Ocracoke Island,” Gov. Roy Cooper said. Over and over, longtime residents said that they had never seen flooding so bad, and that places in their homes that had never flooded before were inundated. “We were all on social media laughing about how we’d done well and there was really no flooding at all, just rain, typical rain,” Steve Harris, who has lived on Ocracoke Island for most of the last 19 years. And then, “the wall of water just came rushing through the island.” “It just started looking like a bathtub, very quickly,” said Harris, who was safe in his third-floor condo. “We went from almost no water to 4 to 6 feet in a matter of minutes.” The Coast Guard began landing local law enforcement officers on the island via helicopter and airlifting out the sick, the elderly or others in distress, Hyde County authorities said. National Guard helicopters also flew supplies and a rescue team in. Residents were told to get to the highest point in their homes in the meantime. “Several people were rescued from their upper floors or attics by boat by good Samaritans,” Ocracoke Island restaurant owner Jason Wells said in a text message. In Buxton on Hatteras Island, close to where Dorian blew ashore, Radio Hatteras volunteer Mary Helen Goodloe-Murphy said that people were calling in to report that “houses are shaking like crazy” and that “it’s never been like this before.” By evening, the governor said that officials were aware of no serious injuries on the Outer Banks from the storm. One 79-year-old man was airlifted from Ocracoke Island because of a pre-existing condition, authorities said. People in need of temporary housing were being taken to a shelter on the mainland, the governor said. “The hurricane has left behind destruction where storm surge inundated Ocracoke Island,” Cooper said. “Currently the island has no electricity and many homes and buildings are still underwater.” Around midmorning, the eye of the storm came ashore at Cape Hatteras, Dorian’s first landfall in the continental U.S. after a week and a half in which it spread fear up and down the coast and kept people guessing as to where it would go. By late afternoon, Dorian had peeled off the coastline and was finally making its exit out to sea. It is expected to remain a hurricane as it sweeps up the Eastern Seaboard through Saturday, veering far enough offshore that its hurricane-force winds are unlikely to pose any threat to land in the U.S. Power outages had dropped by about one-third, to around 213,000 in the Carolinas and Virginia. At least four deaths in the Southeast were blamed on Dorian. All were men in Florida or North Carolina who died in falls or by electrocution while trimming trees, putting up storm shutters or otherwise getting ready for the hurricane. As Dorian closed in, more than a quarter-million residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate the Outer Banks, which stick out from the Eastern Seaboard like the side-view mirror on a car. But many just tied down their boats, removed objects from their yards that could blow away, and hunkered down. Dorian slammed the Bahamas at the start of the week with 185 mph (295 kph) winds, killing at least 30 people and obliterating countless homes. From there, it swept past Florida and Georgia, then sideswiped the Carolinas on Thursday, spinning off tornadoes that peeled away roofs and flipped recreational vehicles. Still, the damage was far less than feared in many parts of the Carolinas, including historic Charleston, South Carolina, which is prone to flooding even from ordinary storms, and Wilmington, North Carolina, the state’s biggest coastal city. Joseph Pawlick went out Friday morning to rake leaves, twigs and other debris from the sidewalk outside his Wilmington home. “I slept like a baby last night. This, thankfully, was not bad,” he said. ___ Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson, Martha Waggoner and Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina; Tom Foreman Jr. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Seth Borenstein in Washington. ___ For more of AP’s coverage of Hurricane Dorian, go to: https://apnews.com/Hurricanes",
            "output": [
                "Dorian’s floodwaters trap people in attics in North Carolina."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bf310c34cec04ac7811bb53d19d078ae",
            "input": "That’s one reason behind the release Wednesday of their ”State of the World’s Fungi ” report, touted as the first ever global look at the way fungi help provide food, medicine, plant nutrition, lifesaving drugs — and can also spread death and destruction at an alarming pace. The focus on fungi is designed to call attention to potentially vital new uses now being studied — including possible deployment of a fungus that “eats” plastic and degrades it quickly, and one that may clean up radioactive waste — and to warn that climate change is threatening fungi habitat in various parts of the Earth. Director of Science Katherine Willis says researchers know relatively little about fungi — many of them hidden beneath the ground, or invisible to the naked eye, or living in a plant’s cells — even though fungus has been used to ferment food and drink for more than 9,000 years. “We have only just started to scratch the surface of knowledge of this incredible and diverse group of organisms,” she said. “When looking for nature-based solutions to some of our most critical global challenges, fungi could provide many of the answers. We ignore it at our peril.” She argues that fungi have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde profile: Helping 90 percent of the world’s plants get nutrients, while at the same time doing irreversible damage to some ecosystems. Ash dieback fungus, for example, has spread from Poland throughout much of Europe and now threatens not just the ash tree but 955 other species. The report says climate change is already having an impact on fungi reproduction, distribution and activity, but Willis cautioned that much more research is needed to say with confidence how the world’s fungi will be affected as the planet warms. The focus on fungus is new, but Kew’s astonishing collection of fungi samples goes back to the days of evolution theorist Charles Darwin and children’s author Beatrix Potter. She, too, was a devoted fungus fan who clashed with Kew’s top mycologist — as fungus specialists are known. In a sharp break with British decorum of the era, she even suggested he had become a fungus himself. Kew is known for taking a comprehensive approach to field research, but that is impossible in this case. There are up to 3.8 million species of fungi, but only about 144,000 have been identified. New discoveries are made all the time, but no one expects every species to be catalogued anytime soon. Nonetheless, the Kew fungarium, hidden outside of public view, houses roughly 1.25 million specimens, making it the largest fungus collection in the world, said chief mycologist Ester Gaya. Some date back to the 18th Century. It also houses — under lock and key — a rare collection of fungi known colloquially as “magic mushrooms” for their psychedelic properties. Scientists at Kew say more and more different types of psychotropic fungi are being discovered in many parts of the world. Fungi are hailed for their medical uses, having proved vital for antibiotics and for cholesterol-lowering statins, but even fungus fans admit there is a macabre element to some aspects of fungi life. There is the fungus, for example, that invades cicada nymphs and takes up residence inside the cicada’s body, slowly killing them. Then there are the fungi that live inside ants, controlling their movements before killing them. The fungi can infect an entire colony of ants with their spores, said Gaya. “They turn them into zombie ants,” she said But it’s not all bad. She points out that the compounds fungi use to successfully live inside some animals are valuable immunosuppressants that have been used to develop cyclosporine drugs that have proved invaluable in preventing organ rejection after transplants in humans. “It’s really disgusting,” said science director Willis of the way fungi invade ants. But she concedes the associated medical discoveries have helped humanity. “They’re really horrible and really good.”",
            "output": [
                "Royal Botanic Garden seeks respect for world’s fungus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4b1c294d180e4f0ca8eeec0f7bb75f75",
            "input": "The government expects to make Spain the fourth country in Europe to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide before its terms ends in 2020. Right now, helping someone end their life carries a jail term of up to 10 years, and while there are still pockets of resistance in the traditionally Catholic country to dispensing with that penalty, for Lopez the debate is over. The 49-year-old former businessman was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) just over a year ago. He can no longer walk or move his right hand, the first stage of a degenerative process in which sufferers lose the ability to speak, eat and finally breathe. “It advances rapidly ... When a moment comes I want to have the option of deciding whether the life as it is offered to me, is worth it. And if it’s not, I want to end it,” Lopez told Reuters in a soft voice, his speech slightly slurred. The Catholic Church - long a lodestone for public opinion in Spain - considers euthanasia to be morally wrong, and the main conservative opposition People’s Party (PP) also wants it to remain a criminal offense. But the church’s influence has been on the wane ever since Francisco Franco’s dictatorship ended in 1975. The most recent national opinion poll taken last year showed 84 percent support for euthanasia, and most parties other than the PP have said they will back the minority Socialist government’s demineralization bill. The previous Socialist administration demonstrated its liberal credentials in 2005, when Spain became the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriage. Euthanasia has long grabbed public attention in Spain, which has the world’s second-highest life expectancy, and more notably so since Oscar-winning Spanish film ‘The Sea Inside’. The 2004 film was based on the story of Ramon Sampedro, a paralyzed man who for decades campaigned for the legal right to die. Courts denied him that right but he committed assisted suicide nonetheless. This is set to change, but Lopez’s hopes for the bill’s quick passage are mixed with concern that case-by-case evaluations it proposes could be a hindrance when the time comes to decide. He calls euthanasia “an intimate process”, leaving a person free to end a life that has become physically or psychologically unbearable, and would not say how he would proceed if it remained illegal. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, destroys neural links between the brain and the muscles. Most sufferers die within 3-5 years and it affects about 4,000 people in Spain. A year ago, Lopez worked, played golf and cycled, seven months ago he could still drive a car. Now he relies on an electric wheelchair and his father, 78, helps him dress. Breathing problems have become a torture, he says. “In my head, I dream I’m riding a bicycle, going somewhere, but the truth is I can’t even go to the bathroom by myself,” he told said at his sister’s home outside Madrid where he moved after his diagnosis. Lopez plays with his niece who likes to press buttons on his wheelchair, exchanges jokes and small talk with his physical therapist and doctors, and says he wants his family to see him  strong, “so they can move forward”. His 46-year-old sister Gema has not yet come to terms with the brother’s decision, but says his bravery must be respected. “If he wants to go on his own terms, it will be done so, no matter what anyone thinks or says,” she said.",
            "output": [
                "As Spain readies euthanasia law, dying sclerosis victim senses hope."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9e5af239064141f68fa25d1782399ccc",
            "input": "\"As Donald Trump amps up attacks on the Clinton Foundation, Democrats are pointing out that Trump himself has given to the nonprofit he now calls a pay-to-play operation. Recently released emails between Hillary Clinton’s aides when she was secretary of state and officials at the Clinton Foundation have demonstrated that some foundation donors did get access to Clinton, though there’s no evidence of direct favors. Addressing the topic on NBC’s Meet the Press, Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe noted the Clinton Foundation’s work on HIV/AIDS and malaria and Trump’s own ties to the charity. \"\"The Clinton Foundation, I think it’s a universal agreement, has done remarkable work around the world. I think Donald Trump himself contributed $100,000 to the foundation,\"\" he said. Plouffe is right that Trump gave at least $100,000 to the foundation, a fact that Trump and his campaign readily admit. One caveat: It appears that the money came through Trump’s own foundation, not directly from Trump. The Clinton Foundation lists Donald J. Trump as a contributor with a cumulative lifetime donation amount between $100,001 to $250,000. It’s not clear if Trump himself made a personal contribution, but tax forms show that the Donald J. Trump Foundation (which Trump controls) donated $100,000 to the foundation in 2009 and reserved a table at the Clinton Foundation gala for $10,000 in 2010. Trump’s daughter Ivanka is also listed as a donor who gave between $5,001 and $10,000 and her father-in-law, Charles Kushner, gave between $250,001 and $500,000. Trump’s gift amount places him in the top 0.2 percent of the foundation’s donors. Most of its 300,000 donors (85.5 percent) gave less than $250. Breaking it down by dollar amount, however, Trump’s total contribution isn’t that big. We estimated that the foundation has received at least $800 million in donations, over 70 percent of which came from gifts of $1 million or more. In 2009, the Trump Foundation gave $926,750 to some 40 organizations (page 18). The Clinton Foundation received one of the largest gifts that year, matched or surpassed only by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation ($100,000), the New York Presbyterian Hospital ($125,000) and the Police Athletic League ($156,000). Altogether, the Trump Foundation has donated $5.5 million to 298 charities between 2009 and 2013 according to the nonprofit’s tax forms, Forbes found. Trump did not make any personal contributions to his foundations during this time. (Money for the Trump Foundation in these years came from others and from investment income.) Trump doesn’t deny that he donated to the Clinton Foundation that he now calls a criminal enterprise. During the first GOP primary debate in August 2015, Trump voluntarily brought up his giving to the Clinton Foundation when asked about his previous donations to Hillary Clinton. \"\"When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me,\"\" Trump said. \"\"With Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding, and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn’t have a choice, because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world.\"\" For the record, the Clintons did attend Trump’s third wedding to Melania Knauss, but that occurred in 2005, four years before the $100,000 donation. A few months later, Trump gave pretty similar answers when he was asked to explain the Forbes article on his charitable giving record in late January. \"\"I did give to the Clinton Foundation. What I didn't know is they'd be using it for private aircraft and things like that. The Clinton Foundation was helping with Haiti and with lots of other things and I thought it was going to do some good work. So, it didn't make any difference to me,\"\" he said on Jan. 31’s Fox News Sunday. \"\"Again, I was a businessman and it was my obligation to get along with everybody, including the Clintons, including Democrats and liberals and Republicans and conservatives.\"\" Our ruling Plouffe said, \"\"Donald Trump himself gave $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.\"\" Tax records show the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation in 2009, and spent an additional $10,000 for a table at a Clinton Foundation gala the following year. The Clinton Foundation also lists Donald J. Trump (as well his daughter Ivanka and Ivanka’s father-in-law) as a contributor. It’s important to note that Trump made the donation through his foundation, not out of his personal income. But Trump himself acknowledges the donation.",
            "output": [
                "\"David Plouffe Says \"\"Donald Trump himself contributed $100,000\"\" to the Clinton Foundation.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3cf554f44e6944649e155016338086be",
            "input": "Diana Nyad cries as she speaks to reporters and fans after arriving back in Key West, Florida August 9, 2011. An asthma attack, a painful shoulder and battering wind and waves forced 61-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad to abandon early on Tuesday her bid to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. REUTERS/Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/Handout The American, who tried and failed the 103-mile swim more than three decades ago when she was 28, gave up after enduring nearly 30 hours of a crossing expected to last 60, exhausted by her body’s limits and the force of the elements. “I thought this was my time. We set out, thinking the conditions were favorable. They were not. The winds were stronger and the waves were bigger than what I’d expected,” she told Reuters after her escort boat Bellisimo brought her to the Key West Yacht Club on Stock Island. Nyad, a veteran long-distance swimmer, had started out strongly, stroking rhythmically through calm seas after she dived off from the Marina Hemingway on the western outskirts of Cuba’s capital Havana at 7:45 p.m. EDT on Sunday. But, she said in an interview with CNN, she suffered an unexpected bout of asthma that left her gasping for oxygen. An “excruciating pain” also developed in her right shoulder and these physical handicaps combined with contrary winds and seas that pushed her floundering off course. “Last night at midnight, I was trembling, the 11 hours of asthma had taken so much from my body ... I just knew that it wasn’t mind over matter any more, I was absolutely spent,” Nyad, wearing a white bathrobe, told CNN at Stock Island. She said that toward the end she was “limping” and “slapping around” in the water and even resorted to breast stroke instead of her usual crawl. Her doctor joined her in the water at one point to try to give her relief with an inhaler. CNN, which had a producer on one of the boats accompanying Nyad, said she was vomiting when she was brought aboard an escort boat at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT) on Tuesday. Nyad, who later recovered to breakfast on scrambled eggs on her way to Key West, was disappointed but had no regrets about her motives for attempting the swim. She turns 62 this month. She had said her main aim in attempting the Cuba to Florida swim again, without a shark cage, was to help people her age and older realize they can still achieve many things. “I was the best person I could be ... that’s the message. I dug down, I dug deep ... Whatever you’re doing, do your job well,” Nyad, who has the muscled body and the steely resolve of a marathon swimmer, told CNN. Raised in southern Florida, she first tried the crossing from Cuba in 1978, but failed in the face of winds and heavy waves. The same swim was completed successfully in May 1997 by Australian Susan Maroney, who was 22 at the time. But Maroney used a shark cage. Nyad’s flotilla of escort vessels included specially equipped kayaks transmitting an anti-shark shield in the form of an electronic signal that is annoying to the sleek ocean predators that stalk the waters of the Florida Straits. When she was years younger, Nyad put herself into the record books by swimming around Manhattan in 1975 in less than eight hours and by completing a 102.5 mile swim from Bimini in the Bahamas to Florida in 1979. Despite her having to abandon her bid, her fans tweeted their admiration on Tuesday. “That was Diana’s whole point. Rethink old. Sorry she (had) to abandon but my admiration doesn’t waiver. Go Diana,” said one. Asked whether she would attempt the swim again, Nyad told CNN: “You don’t beat Mother Nature ... I think I’m going to have to go to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida.”",
            "output": [
                "Sea defeats body, not spirit, of swimmer, 61."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-219caf63a0c04731a26940878eae7d00",
            "input": "“You name it, I’ve had it,” Wright says. “I’m a very hard case.”  Now, patients like Wright are at the forefront of an experiment, under way in Peoria, Illinois, and hundreds of other U.S. cities, that could transform the way doctors, nurses and hospitals deliver care to patients. Amid the barrage of criticism over the rollout of Obamacare, groups known as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are quietly going about the business of testing the potential for healthcare reform. The efforts, born of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, are part of the biggest experiment yet to fix the costly and error-plagued U.S. healthcare system. The new models of care, which encourage providers to form networks to coordinate care and cut costs, involve close monitoring of the sickest patients to address budding health problems before they cause a costly trip to the emergency room or an extended hospital stay. Providers that succeed in keeping patients healthy and cutting costs are rewarded with a portion of the savings. In Peoria, a city of 116,000 that is often seen as the archetypal middle American community, two hospital systems - OSF Healthcare and UnityPoint Health - are taking on the challenge. Progress so far is largely anecdotal, but early data showing declines in readmissions and emergency room visits offers a tantalizing glimpse into the potential for reform. Still, there are no guarantees that the savings will exceed the costs. OSF is in its second year of participating in the federal Pioneer Accountable Care Organization, a pilot program involving 32 hospital systems across the country that aims to improve quality while cutting costs in the government’s Medicare insurance program for the elderly. The program rewards doctors and medical centers that show gains on 33 measures of quality, including routine cancer and depression screenings, while still managing to cut overall costs. In its first year, 13 hospitals reported savings. OSF was not one of them, but it came close. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not allowed providers to disclose their full first-year results, but Tara Canty, chief operations officer of OSF’s Accountable Care Organization, said the hospital system saw a 30 percent drop in emergency room admissions and a 20 percent drop in inpatient stays among Medicare participants. Canty sees the first two years as a learning process but says she will be “upset personally” if OSF is not achieving savings by year three. Dr. Keith Knepp, chief information officer at UnityPoint Health-Methodist, says reforms are needed, but he sometimes finds it hard to stay optimistic. “Will there be reimbursement to reward the improved quality, or will we spend more money to take in less?”  Success may depend on controlling costs among high-use patients like Wright. She is among the 5 percent of OSF patients who consumes more than 50 percent of the care delivered by the system. Wright spends most of her days in her tidy home in Mackinaw, outside Peoria, tooling around in a motorized wheelchair. Her legs swell up, making her prone to blood clots. Two years ago in November, she had a major complication from her blood thinner drug, Coumadin. “My brain started bleeding. They had to drill holes in my head,” Wright recalls of the ordeal, which kept her in the hospital for nearly a month. “I nearly died twice.”  Wright was among the first of OSF’s Pioneer patients to be assigned a care manager, a nurse charged with keeping her healthy and out of the hospital. “The theory here is if you focus on the people with chronic disease who are your highest utilizers of care … and make a better outcome for those patients, you are able to invest that savings into some of the care for the larger population of patients,” said Michelle Conger, OSF’s chief strategy officer. Like most providers across the country, Peoria’s hospitals have been hit by federal budget cuts and burdened by an outdated reimbursement system focused on how many services they perform rather that quality. OSF, a system of eight acute-care hospitals with $6 billion in annual patient revenue, needs to cut $200 million over the next five years in response to reimbursement cuts from Medicare and other payers. It has adopted the ACO model to help it get there. An actuarial firm is combing through claims data for the 34,000 Medicare patients in OSF’s ACO to help identify patients like Wright, whose high-risk conditions are likely to require more emergency room visits or admissions. The system assigned 35 care managers to work with these patients and come up with ways to prevent more acute health crises. Sometimes that means simply helping patients keep track of their medications or arranging transportation to a pharmacy, said Priscilla Romans, a nurse who works in OSF’s call center. It also means routine checks on high-risk patients. During a call last month, a heart failure patient complained of shortness of breath and a headache. Romans asked whether she could put her shoes on that day. She was only able to get one on, a sign of fluid buildup, and she couldn’t wear her rings. Romans had the woman take her blood pressure, which was too high, and reported the findings to her doctor. The physician doubled the patient’s dose of Lasix to cut the swelling in her hands and feet, and started her on a blood pressure medication. When Romans called the next day, a Friday, the woman felt much better. Romans believes the time she spent on the phone with this patient helped avert a much more costly ER visit. Often, the issues driving health costs are social. In one case, OSF discovered that a patient who kept getting readmitted to the hospital for emphysema had not been taking her medication. “She was squirreling away her money to fix her roof,” said Dr. Stephen Hippler, OSF’s senior vice president for clinical excellence. The Catholic hospital system tapped into a charity program and made the repairs. UnityPoint Health-Methodist, Peoria’s second-biggest provider, has been taking part in Medicare’s Shared Savings ACO, a transitional program in which hospitals assume less risk than in the Pioneer ACO but have fewer potential rewards. The hospital has cared for about 10,000 Medicare ACO patients since July 2012. In November, UnityPoint acquired the 220-bed Procter Hospital, Peoria’s third-largest provider, giving it access to new addiction recovery services and skilled nursing care. The Procter deal follows Methodist’s decision in 2011 to join Iowa-based UnityPoint Health, the 13th-largest non-profit health system in the United States with annual revenue of $2.7 billion. The moves are part of a national consolidation trend among hospitals trying to fill out their menu of services and bring costs under centralized control. “There is a need for size and scale in the new environment,” said Terry Waters, vice president for strategy and development at UnityPoint Health. “You have to be able to diversify your financial risk over a larger patient population.”  According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, an estimated 14 percent of the U.S. population is covered by some form of accountable care organization, including 4 million Medicare beneficiaries. OSF could not say whether it has saved money on Wright’s care in the two years since she has been in care management because the system does not release financial information about individual patients. But Canty said the system “has seen significant and sustained declines in the cost of care for patients in care management.”  As for Wright, she appreciates the quick access she now has to her doctors, but she still needs a lot of care. In May, a hip implant had become infected and had to be replaced. While recovering, Wright developed a bothersome cough that turned out to be pulmonary fibrosis, a dangerous scarring of the lungs. “Between May 21 and July 19, I had been released and admitted five times. Five times! It was dreadful.”  Romans, who has helped coordinate some of Wright’s care, said her job is to try to keep patients out of the hospital, but that’s not always possible. “Here we are trying to be financially prudent with our dollars, but the patient needed the care.”  Now, the goal is to stretch out the period between visits. Wright went from July to September with only one hospitalization. “It was quick. She went back home, and she hasn’t been back to the hospital since,” Romans said.",
            "output": [
                "Health reform's grand experiment: Will it play in Peoria?."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-97a0e791d27c42c8b1bfadfdcaffb23d",
            "input": "Citing states’ rights, jobs and the right to bear arms, congressional Republicans are reversing dozens of Obama-era rules affecting the environment, education and the energy sector. The GOP is using a largely unknown but highly effective legislative tool that allows a simple majority in the House and Senate to overturn regulations that often took years to craft. Indeed, with an overhaul of health insurance going off the rails, Republicans are left pointing to the repeal of various government regulations as their crowning legislative achievement after some 70 days at work. The GOP casts the effort as overturning eight years of excessive government regulation and boosting business. “These things will help get people back to work, and after years of sluggish growth, give a real boost to our economy,” Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this past week. The president has signed eight resolutions revoking regulations issued during the final months of Democrat Barack Obama’s presidency. Six resolutions have cleared Congress and are awaiting the president’s signature. A couple dozen more are on deck, with last Thursday the deadline for filing more. Trump has signed measures eliminating requirements that mining and oil companies report payments made to foreign governments. The rule was designed to shine a light on how much money foreign governments received for their nation’s resources, thus reducing the prospect of corruption. He also signed another measure reversing an Obama plan to prevent coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams. “These actions from Congress and the president are giving hope to businesses that they haven’t had in a long time,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi scoffed at the notion that Republicans were accomplishing anything with the regulatory repeals “because they do not meet the needs of the American people.” “They are about trickle-down. Their life is about giving more money to the high-end and to corporate interests, maybe it will trickle down, that would be good, but if it doesn’t, so be it, that’s the free market,” Pelosi said. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said the regulatory repeals Congress pushed through will actually damage the economy more than it helps. He said that eliminating the stream protection rule may help coal companies, but it hurts other companies that stand to gain through healthier streams and water supplies. “If you look across the terrain of the Congressional Review Act resolutions, they are repeals of public measures that help, consumers, workers and the environment in very substantial ways, but are opposed by powerful corporate interests,” Weissman said. “The Republicans driving these measures are paying back their corporate benefactors at the expense of the public.” In some cases, the regulatory repeal efforts have had nothing to do with the economy, but addressed hot-button social issues that so often dominate Washington politics. Republicans blocked a Social Security Administration rule that would have prevented tens of thousands of mentally disabled beneficiaries from being able to purchase a firearm. The rule was targeted specifically at those beneficiaries with mental disorders who have a third party manage their financial benefits, and it was opposed by the NRA and several advocacy groups for the disabled. The latest repeal effort clearing both chambers required Republicans to bring Vice President Mike Pence to the Capitol so he could cast the tie-breaking vote on the abortion issue. The scrapping of the Health and Human Services rule gave states the go-ahead to deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. One of the more closely contested repeals would kill an online privacy regulation. Fifteen Republicans sided with Democrats in opposing the repeal, which Pelosi said would allow internet providers to sell personal information without a user’s consent. “You should be very, very scared,” she said. The ability of Congress to void regulations with a simple majority was created in 1996 when Congress passed the Congressional Review Act. In the 20 years since, Congress was only able to use it once to repeal a regulation. Congress sent five repeal resolutions to Obama, but he vetoed each of them. Trump made clear early on that he would back the efforts of the GOP-led Congress. “I will keep working with Congress, with every agency, and most importantly with the American people until we eliminate every unnecessary, harmful and job-killing regulation that we can find,” Trump said this past week. “We have a lot more coming.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has encouraged the regulatory rollbacks, weighing in with lawmakers on efforts affecting internet providers, federal contractors and energy companies. Neil Bradley, a senior vice president at the Chamber, acknowledges that it’s hard to say how many jobs are created or saved through the repeal of one particular rule, but he says employers of all sizes tell the chamber government regulations are a top concern that makes it harder for them to flourish. “Any time we can roll back these regulations is another step forward to restoring the economic growth that I think is the top priority of the American people,” Bradley said. ____ On Twitter, reach Kevin Freking at https://twitter.com/APkfreking",
            "output": [
                "GOP Congress rolls back rules on hunting, broadband privacy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bb3c55eb6195480a9a2b48c733479b14",
            "input": "\"Joe Biden berated President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying in a recent speech in Delaware that Trump failed to take the necessary steps to get the virus under control. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said the administration stifled and scaled back the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s initial guidelines on reopening the country. \"\"The CDC tried to develop clear guidelines about what the stages of reopening should look like — the administration delayed and scaled them back,\"\" Biden said June 30. Did they? Here’s what we found out. Biden’s campaign pointed us to a May 7, 2020, Associated Press report, which found that the Trump administration shelved part of a CDC document that contained step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen businesses and public areas amid the pandemic. The 68-page CDC report, titled \"\"Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,\"\" was supposed to publish on May 1, according to the AP, but the White House called it \"\"too prescriptive.\"\" The White House told the agency revise its guide because it didn’t align with Trump’s strategy of giving states the final say. The CDC released the approved 62-page report on May 20. (Some sections were released a few days earlier.) While it’s slightly shorter than the original, it still provides a detailed reopening roadmap for schools, camps, restaurants, child care facilities and transit organizations. In a May 8 press briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany countered that the CDC guidelines weren't ready and said that a rogue employee leaked a draft that was still in the editing process. After the final guidelines were released, she was asked in another briefing why Trump didn’t make an announcement. McEnany said that sections of the document were already out and different appendixes had to be discussed first. \"\"The 60-page document was merely an aggregation of a lot of what was already out there, so it’s not as if this was new information that we were announcing, but it was more guidance pursuant to our ‘reopening of America’ guidance that was issued several weeks ago,\"\" McEnany said. The CDC also said the guidelines are meant to be taken together with the White House’s reopening guidance issued on April 17, 2020. But the White House version makes clear reopening decisions are up to state and local officials, while the CDC’s version includes more details, such as recommendations to help businesses decide when to shut down in the case of future outbreaks. The original plan also included instructions for faith-based organizations, which were stripped out of the final version. CNN reported that this section was one of the main holdups for publishing the CDC documents, because the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights argued that faith-based organizations were being unfairly targeted. The department asked the CDC to ease social distancing recommendations for those groups, according to CNN, and encouraged federal health officials to let churchgoers congregate, saying that this aligned with the president’s agenda. The shelved CDC guide also recommended that nonessential travel should be avoided until the last phase of reopening, while the released version only mentions nonessential travel in relation to high-risk persons. The White House plan is looser on nonessential travel, too, and advises that communities \"\"minimize\"\" travel in Phase 1, and that in Phase 2, \"\"non-essential travel can resume.\"\" Some health experts and officials have criticized the delay, saying that detailed recommendations should have been available earlier. \"\"While it is not unusual for there to be White House review of forthcoming guidance, it is highly unusual for there to be a wholesale rewriting of guidelines at the request of the White House,\"\" said Jeffrey Levi, a professor of health policy and management at George Washington University. \"\"The holding back of recommendations regarding places of worship was particularly egregious given the high level of risk such indoor, mass gatherings can pose,\"\" Levi said. \"\"The shorter versions that were first released diminished their effectiveness, since they didn’t provide as much detail as people needed to know how best to implement them. This delayed implementation of best practices — which could potentially have placed people at greater risk.\"\" But the CDC told PolitiFact the report’s revisions were part of a standard interagency process with the White House coronavirus task force. \"\"There is an iterative effort to ensure effective, clear guidance is presented to the American people,\"\" said Benjamin Haynes, a spokesperson for the CDC. \"\"As part of the Administration’s whole of government approach to combating COVID-19, the CDC followed an inter-agency process of drafting considerations and submitting them to the White House Task Force for review and comment before posting the guidance for states to safely reopen.\"\" PolitiFact reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back. Biden said that the Trump administration \"\"delayed and scaled back\"\" the CDC’s COVID-19 reopening guidelines. Biden is mostly on target. The CDC said that the delays were caused by review and revision that was part of a standard process. Still, the White House did request that the public health agency revise its initial guidelines to align more with Trump’s approach of leaving reopening decisions up to state and local governments.\"",
            "output": [
                "“The CDC tried to develop clear guidelines about what the stages of re-opening should look like — the administration delayed and scaled them back."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5d7ca3dc19344b2a9bc67d48fcb4859c",
            "input": "The call was included in a state Health Department report on the adenovirus outbreak at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. “Ensuring that all staff are regularly trained in proper handwashing protocols and other infection control procedures is the best way to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses in long-term care facilities,” Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal said in a statement. One staff member and 36 residents, ranging in age from toddlers to teens, were diagnosed with a particularly severe strain of adenovirus in the outbreak at the facility in Haskell, which provides care to children and adults. Eleven children died. The report recommended a new law that would require long-term care facilities to put in place detailed plans to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. The department already has guidelines for the control of respiratory viral outbreaks but is calling for a statute to require such planning. Among the other recommendations was that parents and guardians should be notified “immediately following an event of significance.” Some parents of the infected children told newspapers that they didn’t learn about the outbreak until reading about it in news reports. On Thursday, Paul Fishman, an attorney working on behalf of the center, said Wanaque had already adopted the recommendations the state suggested. “Everybody recognizes that if they can prevent what happened, they will do what they can to prevent that,” Fishman said in a phone interview. The report follows the March announcement that the federal government fined the center $600,000 over what it said were lapses. Those included insufficient hand washing and problems with infection control procedures as well as a lack of involvement by the facility’s medical director and other management. The center disputed those findings and has said it planned an appeal. Adenovirus typically causes a mild cold or flu symptoms and usually poses little risk for healthy people. The strain found in the rehab center outbreak — type 7 — is among the more potent types and sometimes causes more serious respiratory illness, especially among those with weak immune systems. The children at the facility all had serious underlying health conditions, and many were on ventilators The first symptoms showed up Sept. 26, and the state was notified of an outbreak Oct. 9, officials said.",
            "output": [
                "State Health Department calls for requiring outbreak plan."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-120e4fae4f3145cf9a867b3c632dec94",
            "input": "The story includes one expert’s estimate of the cost of treating brain and spinal cord defects, but it does not discuss those costs may be affected by folic acid fortification or how the cost of fortification affects food prices. Though individuals don’t face a huge cost, the aggregate cost of fortification is substantial. The story could have mentioned this at least briefly. The story highlights the decline in birth defects that is attributed to folic acid supplementation. However, it does not include a source for the statement that “fortification with the vitamin prevents an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 brain and spinal cord defects in both countries.” By contrast, a CDC web page on folic acid supplementation states that each year in the U.S. “[a]n estimated 1,000 more babies are born healthy since fortification.” http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/folicacid/data.html The story performs a service by bringing attention to the complex and difficult balancing of benefits and harms that comes with decisions about adding supplements to food. As mentioned above, the overall thrust of the story adequately captures the basic point that researchers are struggling to determine whether, what, and for whom folic acid supplementation may present potential harm. However, in some cases the comments of Dr. Mason portray a much stronger association between folic acid supplementation and cancer risk than even his own journal publications put forward. By intertwining the researcher’s personal statements with references to published trials and reviews, the story blurs the distinction between speculation and evidence. The story makes clear the complexity of and uncertainty surrounding possible associations between folic acid supplementation and cancer. However, the story exaggerates what is known about potential cancer risk by highlighting comments supporting a potential link with folic acid supplementation, while failing to provide context or contrary information. The story includes an estimate by Dr. Joel Mason that “excess folic acid consumption may cause an extra 15,000 cases of colorectal cancer each year in the U.S. and Canada.” But the story fails to define excess consumption, nor does it note that the are more than 160,000 new cases of colorectal cancer reported in the U.S. and Canada each year. And while the researcher may have told the reporter that he believes supplementation may be boosting cancer rates, a journal article Mason recently co-authored states that “Future studies need to explore whether a causal relationship exists between supraphysiological levels of folate intake and colorectal carcinogenesis.” Also, while the story states that “researchers noticed that rates of colorectal cancer went up in North America around the same time that fortification began,” the reporter should have explained the apparent discrepancy with CDC statements that between 1998 (when mandatory folic acid supplementation began in the U.S.) and 2005 both colorectal cancer incidence and deaths declined. References: Mason article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19057184 Cancer stats: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/statistics/ http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/statistics/trends.htm http://www.cancer.ca/Canada-wide/About%20cancer/Cancer%20statistics/Canadian%20Cancer%20Statistics.aspx   A story of this length on a subject that is hotly debated among nutrition researchers should include comments from more than one nutrition researcher. The story fails to note that according to a disclosure statement in one of his recent journal articles, Dr. Mason has been a paid consultant to Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, a manufacturer of multivitamins. Reference: Disclosure statement with Joel B. Mason, Aaron Dickstein, Paul F. Jacques, Paul Haggarty, Jacob Selhub, Gerard Dallal, and Irwin H. Rosenberg A Temporal Association between Folic Acid Fortification and an Increase in Colorectal Cancer Rates May Be Illuminating Important Biological Principles: A Hypothesis Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2007 16: 1325-1329. However, because the story does touch on several aspects of the debate, we will give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion even though we wish other sources had been named or that other nutrition experts had been quoted. The story points out the foods that are fortified with folic acid. However, there is no advice about how individuals could estimate their daily intake of folic acid or alter it, if they desired. The story points out that folic acid supplementation of flour has been required in the U.S. since 1998. It would have been helpful to also discuss whether and how consumers could reduce their intake of folic acid, if desired. Questions about potential harms of folic acid supplementation are indeed a hot topic in nutrition research. However, most of the studies and other reports mentioned in this story were published more than two years ago, so the debate is not as new as the story implies. Given the different aspects of the debate reflected in the story, we think it’s safe to assume this didn’t rely solely or largely on a news release – although we wonder why it relied so heavily on one nutrition expert’s perspectives.",
            "output": [
                "Folic acid might be losing its sheen"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6fe69ce40b164f70a15e8571a5f49a8b",
            "input": "The Oklahoma State Department of Health says chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases rose from 29,716 in 2016 to 31,779 in 2017. The health department announcement came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that there were 2.3 million cases of STDs in 2017, an increase of more than 200,000 from the year before. The diseases can be cured with antibiotics. Left untreated, they can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, and increased risk of the virus that causes AIDS. The health department encourages regular testing for STDs, having protected sex, limiting the number of sexual partners and avoiding the use of shared needles.",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma follows national trend in increase in sex diseases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-43351c8f4e7b43e1b0e52e594ab0e9ae",
            "input": "Beginning in high school, Amy McGrath watched her parents battle cancer. Her mother had a mastectomy and her father had disfiguring surgery. She said her mother’s background as a doctor is the only thing that kept insurance companies from fleecing them. Now Barr and McGrath are running for Congress against each other in Kentucky in one of the most competitive and expensive races in the country. But their families’ struggles with insurance companies has led them to different places. Whoever wins could help determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term and shape health policy for millions of Americans. “It’s the No. 1 issue,” said McGrath, a Democrat and retired Marine fighter pilot. “People are worried.” Barr, a Republican first elected in 2012, wants to end Kentucky’s expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults and instead give them refundable tax credits to help them pay for private insurance plans. McGrath wants to keep the Medicaid expansion while broadening other health programs. She’d like to let people buy into Medicare before they turn 65 and wants the government to offer health plans to the public, which she says would keep prices down by competing with private insurers and giving people more options. The public option did not make it into the Affordable Care Act. But it did include nonprofit health care cooperatives to compete with private insurers. But many of those co-ops, including one in Kentucky, failed despite millions of dollars in loans from taxpayers. And Barr says the Medicare buy in plan would just add to the debt of a program already near insolvency. The debate gives voters in the state’s 6th congressional district a fresh chance to weigh in on what has been a deep partisan divide over how effective the Medicaid expansion has been in Kentucky. More than 400,000 people have gotten coverage through the program, reducing Kentucky’s uninsured rate and paying for drug treatment programs amid a devastating opioid epidemic. But it’s been expensive, and the state still lags other states in key health indicators. Amy McGrath’s mother, Marianne McGrath, was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 50s when Amy was in high school. She had a mastectomy and has been cancer free for 25 years. But Amy’s father, Donald McGrath, had a tumor in his face that required surgery, disfiguring him and preventing him from eating or talking. He struggled with health issues for 14 years before his death earlier this year. Amy McGrath said watching her mother battle insurance companies over the years convinced her “the system is really broken.” But she says the Affordable Care Act is “a step in the right direction.” “I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said, ‘Hey, the Affordable Care Act saved my life’,” she said. “The answer is to fix it, not to throw it away and basically throw people with pre-existing conditions under the bus to make it too hard for them.” Barr’s older sister was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as a child, which led to extensive surgeries and treatment. His father was an accountant, and most of his clients were doctors. He said his parents got insurance with a small group plan through his father’s business, but “it wasn’t cheap.” The experience in hospitals led his mother to become an Episcopal deacon and hospital chaplain. Barr’s sister is an Episcopal priest now living in the northeast United States. Through his campaign, she declined to be interviewed for this story and asked that her name not be used. But Barr has described her situation publicly, including touting his membership in the Congressional Arthritis Caucus. “Our family, personally, knows how difficult it is to obtain affordable insurance when you have a problem like that,” he said. But he says expanding Medicaid is not the answer, even though many of the 400,000 people included in Kentucky’s expanded Medicaid program live in his district. Barr said it’s “a good thing” that more people have coverage but questioned the quality of that coverage. Medicaid, he said, “is a waiting line.” “Medicaid is terrible. Medicaid is the worst kind of coverage you can get. I want less people on Medicaid and more people on private commercial insurance with a subsidy to buy it or a tax credit to buy it,” he said. Critics, including the Kaiser Family Foundation, say the tax credits offered in the Republican plan would be smaller than what’s currently available. Barr noted the plan he voted for in the House would have protected people with pre-existing conditions, like his sister, from losing their coverage. That’s true, but it would have also allowed health insurance companies to charge older adults five times more than younger adults instead of three times as much under the Affordable Care Act, according to Dustin Pugel, a research and policy associate for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. “The older you get, the more likely it is you were going to have a pre-existing condition,” he said. “You’ve lived more life.”",
            "output": [
                "Family history leads Kentucky candidates to different places."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-da030b9a60a348a199ab2977295637db",
            "input": "The study could scratch one item off a long list of complications plaguing President Barack Obama’s launch of his sweeping health care law, also known as Obamacare, which kicked in January 1. About half of U.S. states have opted to expand Medicaid eligibility to poor Americans under the law, raising concerns those states could attract low-income people from elsewhere, increasing the burden on state budgets. “This is known as the welfare magnet hypothesis,” according to the study from the Harvard School of Public Health, which said its research into previous state medical aid expansions “found no evidence of significant migration effects.”  The Harvard study used U.S. migration data from 1998 to 2012 to focus on the impact of medical insurance expansions in Arizona, Maine, New York, and also Massachusetts - whose own health care reforms served as a model for the Affordable Care Act. “These results suggest that migration will not be a common way for people to obtain Medicaid coverage under the current expansion and that interstate migration is not likely to be a significant source of costs for states choosing to expand their programs,” according to the study. “Our findings are relevant for forecasting the cost and coverage consequences of states’ decisions about expanding Medicaid eligibility,” it said, noting four states - New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Utah - are still considering whether to expand Medicaid under the law. Arguments in favor of expanding Medicaid eligibility have tended to focus on improving access to medical care for the poor and bringing in federal dollars to bolster states’ social programs, while counterarguments have focused on the potential unintended costs to state budgets. A joint Harvard-MIT study released last week focusing on Oregon’s expanded Medicaid program, for example, showed adults covered by Medicaid used emergency rooms 40 percent more than those in similar circumstances who are uninsured. MIT led another study in 2013 focusing on Oregon that showed “Medicaid coverage generated no significant improvements in measured physical health outcomes in the first 2 years” but “did increase use of health care services, raise rates of diabetes detection and management, lower rates of depression, and reduce financial strain.”  The latest Harvard findings come after a rocky start for the Affordable Care Act, which relies on a website that suffered repeated crashes, glitches, and security concerns that hampered enrollment. After some fixes, more than 2 million people have been able to enroll for coverage under the law, the most sweeping social program since the 1960s. President Obama has also been criticized for telling Americans they would be able to keep their old insurance plans under the new law if they wanted to - an assertion that turned out to be false in many cases. The law was passed in 2010 to help millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans, but Republicans have opposed the reform as an unwarranted expansion of the federal government and say it is too costly and eliminates healthcare choices for many.",
            "output": [
                "Americans unlikely to move to get better Medicaid benefits: study."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f9a7d1a88d042c28e4b35e934e2e996",
            "input": "Vaccinations have been made mandatory this summer for campers and staff in several counties north of New York City that annually fill up with kids from the Orthodox Jewish communities that have been hit hardest by measles. Ulster County took the extra step of mandating the measles vaccine or proof of immunity at all day camps and overnight camps, becoming the latest county in the area to issue immunization requirements. Rockland County announced a similar order this month, following mandates from Sullivan and Orange counties. “We have to make sure our t’s are crossed and our i’s are dotted in making sure all these vaccination records are in and have been fine-combed through to make sure everything is in compliance,” said Rabbi Hanoch Hecht, of Ulster County’s Camp Emunah, which hosts many girls from a Chabad community in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights. “In the past where we accepted religious exemptions for certain things,” said Hecht, who is getting his own blood checked for immunity, “now we cannot.” The state of New York requires summer camps to keep immunization records for all campers, but doesn’t bar children from attending if they haven’t gotten a measles shot. Children are required to get the measles vaccine to attend schools in New York, however, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Thursday eliminating an exemption for kids whose parents object to vaccinations on religious grounds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, as of June 1, more than 1,000 measles cases had been reported in the U.S. since the start of the year, up from fewer than 100 cases a year a decade ago. The bulk of those cases have been diagnosed in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and suburban Rockland County. The CDC recommends everyone over a year old should get the vaccine, except for people who had the disease as children. Those who have had measles are immune. The vaccine, which became available in the 1960s, is considered safe and highly effective — paving the way for measles to be declared all but eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. But it has had a resurgence several times, including 667 cases in 2014. Hecht and others stressed that vaccinations are widely accepted by most members of the Orthodox community, echoing rabbis in Brooklyn and Rockland County who say it is a relatively small group of parents influenced by anti-vaccination propaganda — not religious teachings — who have resisted inoculations. The Orthodox Union said it has previously required up-to-date vaccinations, including the MMR vaccine, for its 37 summer programs. “Most of the leaders and rabbis have taken the approach that vaccination is required,” Hecht said. Health officials in New York City have taken a tough approach, making measles vaccinations mandatory for everyone living in the Brooklyn neighborhood that is the epicenter of the outbreak, fining people for failing to get inoculated and closing 12 schools for failing to exclude staff and students who couldn’t document immunity. The city announced the two most recent closures Thursday. Now, as schools prepare to close down for the summer, the fight is spreading into the Catskills and Hudson River Valley. Sullivan County is in the heart of the traditional Borscht Belt, and the lake-laden area still attracts thousands to its camps and bungalow colonies each summer. Of the 170 state-regulated camps in the county, 139 are Orthodox Jewish camps. “We draw such a population from New York City, where this measles outbreak was,” Sullivan County spokesman Dan Hust said. “It was considered prudent and wise.” Not everyone agrees. The orders from Sullivan and Orange counties were challenged in state courts by parents of various religious faiths. However, civil rights attorney Michael Sussman said Friday he believes those cases will have to be withdrawn given New York’s removal of religious exemptions. Several camp administrators interviewed by The Associated Press expressed no objection to mandatory vaccinations. “We have no issue with that,” said Yoel Landau, director at Camp Rav Tov, a camp for Hasidic boys in Monticello. Landau said schoolboys from New York City attending the camp should have already been vaccinated because of the city’s order in April. Rabbi Dovid Teichman, director of Camp Govoah, which caters to Orthodox campers in rural Greene County, said staffers were “combing through each and every application to make sure that everyone is vaccinated.” “I can’t jeopardize anybody,” he said. “So if I find somebody that’s on the list that’s not vaccinating, I’m not taking them into camp.”",
            "output": [
                "Summer camp is newest front in battle with measles outbreak."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-71e8a26be8434c07a562b3685b25f343",
            "input": "The former New York mayor and Democratic presidential candidate embraced a new government-run “public option” to compete with private insurance and called for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, using an approach similar to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent legislation. “It’s in the Biden-Buttigieg world rather than Sanders-Warren,” said John Holahan, a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank. Holahan reviewed an outline of the plan provided by the Bloomberg campaign. On health care, leading 2020 Democrats are divided between the step-by-step strategy favored by moderates like former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and the “Medicare for All” plan envisioned by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and seconded by progressives wanting a single, government-run system for all Americans. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has that as her ultimate goal. Bloomberg announced his plan during a speech in Memphis. The state of Tennessee is one of 14 that has not expanded Medicaid for low-income people under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Tennessee copes with a high burden of chronic illness and ranked 44th this year in an annual state-by-state report card from the nonprofit United Health Foundation. “Leadership isn’t dreaming up a plan that can never pass Congress,” Bloomberg said, taking a swipe at backers of Medicare for All. “Every American who already has private insurance will be able to keep private insurance if they choose,” he added. “We’ll work aggressively to enroll uninsured Americans.” The Memphis speech came a day after a federal appeals court in New Orleans left “Obamacare’s” future in doubt, ruling that the law’s now toothless requirement for Americans to get health insurance is unconstitutional. The decision keeps the rest of the law in place for now, subject to additional court review. Bloomberg said as president he’d defend the ACA in court. But he wouldn’t reinstate its unpopular “individual mandate,” as the Obama-era coverage requirement is known. Instead, he’s calling for an extensive outreach campaign to voluntarily sign up uninsured people, relying on a strategy he piloted as New York mayor. The campaign said the plan would cover most of the nation’s estimated 27.5 million uninsured people. Key elements of the Bloomberg plan include: — Extending subsidized coverage under the ACA to cover more people and creating a permanent federal program to help insurers pay for the costliest patients, an approach that has been shown to lower premiums. — A new “public option” health insurance plan run by the government and modeled on Medicare. It would be focused on low-income people and residents of states that have not expanded Medicaid. Individuals would be eligible for help paying their premiums through the ACA’s subsidies. — Empowering Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest brand-name drugs, capping prices at 120% of the average in other economically advance countries. Privately insured patients would be able to get Medicare’s prices. Seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines would be capped at $2,000 per year. — Creating a new Medicare benefit for dental, hearing and vision care with a premium of $25 a month for beneficiaries. Expanding Medicaid benefits to include dental care for low-income people. — Ending so-called “surprise medical bills” for people covered by private insurance when they’re treated by a provider outside their plan’s network. The plan would cap out-of-network hospital charges at 200% of what Medicare pays. The Bloomberg campaign said the plan would cost about $1.5 trillion over 10 years, with some of that covered through expected savings on prescription drugs. Officials said Bloomberg intends for the plan to be fully paid for, so it would not add to the government’s mounting debt. Bloomberg said he’s working on a separate plan to improve basic public health throughout the country, striving to reverse recent declines in life expectancy blamed in part on the opioid epidemic.",
            "output": [
                "Bloomberg health plan aims to lower costs, cover more people."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-622e5ad024404628b2acc24354419f83",
            "input": "While the vaccine didn’t offer much protection the past two years, specialists have fine-tuned the recipe in hopes it will better counter a nasty strain this time around. “Getting vaccinated is going to be the best way to prevent whatever happens,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, flu chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Associated Press. Last year’s flu brought double trouble: A new strain started a second wave of illnesses just as the first was winding down, making for one of the longest influenza seasons on record. The year before that marked flu’s highest death toll in recent decades. So far, it doesn’t look like the flu season is getting an early start, Jernigan said. The CDC urges people to get their flu vaccine by the end of October. Typically flu starts widely circulating in November or December, and peaks by February. “Painless,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pronounced after getting his own flu shot at a news conference Thursday. If people shrug at the risk, “it’s not just about you,” Azar said. “Vaccinating yourself may also protect people around you,” such as how newborns have some flu protection if their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy. Scientists are hunting for better flu vaccines, and the Trump administration last week urged a renewed effort to modernize production. Most of today’s vaccine is produced by growing flu virus in chicken eggs, a 70-year-old technology with some flaws. It takes too long to brew new doses if a surprise strain pops up. And intriguingly, newer production techniques just might boost effectiveness. For now, people who get vaccinated and still get sick can expect a milder illness — and a lower risk of pneumonia, hospitalization or death, stressed Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. He’s been known to tell such patients, “I’m always glad to see you’re still here to complain.” Here are some things to know: WHO NEEDS VACCINE? Everybody, starting at 6 months of age, according to the CDC. Flu is most dangerous for people over age 65, young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions such as heart disease, asthma or other lung disorders, even diabetes. But it can kill even the young and otherwise healthy. On average, the CDC says flu kills about 24,000 Americans each year. Last year, 135 children died. Parents wouldn’t “drive off with their child not restrained in a car seat, just in case they’re in an accident,” said Dr. Patricia Whitley-Williams, a pediatrician with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “So why would you not vaccinate your child against the flu?” HOW MANY GET VACCINATED? Not enough, the CDC says. Because flu mutates rapidly, a new vaccine is needed every year. Last year, 45% of adults and 63% of children got vaccinated, according to figures released Thursday. Some groups do a little better. Nearly three-quarters of children under age 5 were vaccinated last year, and just over two-thirds of seniors. HOW BAD WILL THIS YEAR BE? Flu is one of medicine’s most unpredictable foes. For example, last fall started off fairly mild. But in February, a strain notorious for more severe illness, called H3N2, suddenly popped up. Worse, even though each year’s vaccine contains protection against H3N2, the circulating bug had mutated so it wasn’t a good match. A vaccine that had worked well for the first few months of flu season suddenly wasn’t much use. But if that harsh bug returns, this year’s vaccine has been updated to better match it. LOTS OF OPTIONS Manufacturers say up to 169 million vaccine doses will be available this year, and people can ask about different choices. Most will offer protection against four flu strains. Traditional flu shots are for all ages. For needle-phobic adults, one brand uses a needle-free jet injector that pushes vaccine through the skin. And the FluMist nasal spray is for generally healthy people ages 2 through 49, who aren’t pregnant. Two brands are specifically for the 65-plus crowd, whose weakened immune systems don’t respond as well to traditional shots. One is high dose, and the other contains an extra immune-boosting compound. Those brands protect against three flu strains, including the more typically severe ones. And people allergic to eggs have two options, one brand grown in mammal cells instead and another made with genetic technology and insect cells. NO-EGG VACCINES GAINING NEW INTEREST Newer technologies could speed production, which is currently a six-month process. But there’s another reason going egg-free is getting scientists’ attention: Certain strains change a bit while growing in chicken eggs, an adaptation that can make the resulting vaccine a little less protective. It’s mainly a problem for those worrisome H3N2 strains. While it’s not clear how much difference that makes, Schaffner said some doctors already consider using egg-free brands for high-risk patients. OTHER STEPS TO TAKE Cover coughs and sneezes. Wash your hands frequently during flu season. One recent study showed washing is better than hand sanitizers. Ask about anti-flu treatments if you’re at high risk of complications. And most important, stay home if you’re sick to keep from spreading the misery. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Health officials: It’s time to give flu vaccine another shot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c3aca5dbdc16485281796a6158504528",
            "input": "Spain, which has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country except Italy, said the national death toll had increased overnight by 769 to 4,858, a rise of around 19%. “In percentage terms, today’s increase is roughly equivalent to that of the past three days, in which we seem to see a clear stabilisation,” health emergency chief Fernando Simon told a news conference. Businesses across Spain have been forced to close their doors because of the coronavirus, and two of the country’s largest unions have cautioned that as many as 1 million people could permanently lose their jobs. Speaking after an extraordinary cabinet meeting, Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said employers must use temporary layoff programs, known as ERTEs, rather than permanently fire staff. Dismissing staff under ‘just cause’ is now completely banned. “I’m asking employers to set an example, to be responsible to their people and to conserve employment,” she said. Referring to the respiratory illness that can be caused by the coronavirus, she said: “You can’t use COVID-19 to fire people.”  Despite the widespread disruption to business, government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said food supply chains were functioning smoothly in the country of about 46 million, the European Union’s largest exporter of fruit and vegetables. With the number of infections rising overnight to 64,059 from Thursday’s 56,188, Spain is struggling to cope. Real Madrid’s Bernabeu soccer stadium has been converted into a medical supply store, a fairground in Madrid has been turned into a mass testing area and a skating rink is now a morgue. Patients continue to stream into Spanish hospitals, where staff face a shortage of protective gear such as masks. In the Basque capital Vitoria, an early centre of the outbreak, a Reuters reporter witnessed the funeral of a coronavirus victim, one of the few occasions for which Spaniards are allowed to break the lockdown and leave their homes. Undertakers in white overalls and masks lowered the casket while grieving family members stood back, keeping one metre (three foot) apart to minimise the risk of infection. More than 9,400 health workers have tested positive for the virus, Simon said. That is about 15% of those infected in Spain. Spain extended the lockdown on Thursday by a further 15 days to April 11 and said it was fighting a “real war” over medical supplies to contain the death toll. It is turning to China, where the coronavirus originated, for many critical products.",
            "output": [
                "Spain acts to prevent layoffs as rising coronavirus death toll stabilises."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1be2dbf4ac1d42179f6231ba38042efd",
            "input": "Finance Minister Grant Robertson on Thursday unveiled a budget unlike any in the nation’s history. Debt would shoot up from just over 20% of GDP to 54% by 2023, and thousands of jobs created by putting people to work building homes and improving the environment. Still, the increased spending will not be enough to offset the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Unemployment is expected to rise from just over 4% to nearly 10% by June. And Robertson acknowledged that tourism, which had accounted for about 10% of the economy, was not going to be the same for many years to come. “We face a global economic and health crisis not seen since the Great Depression,” Robertson said. The budget was released on the same day the nation lifted most of its lockdown restrictions. Malls, retail stores and restaurants all reopened, and many people returned to their workplaces. That reflected the country’s success to date in its attempts to eliminate the virus. Health authorities on Thursday reported zero new infections for the third day in a row. New Zealand has reported a total of about 1,500 confirmed infections and 21 deaths. Under the budget plan, the government will spend 50 billion New Zealand dollars ($30 billion) over four years to help boost the economy. The government had entered the crisis running a surplus and with its books in good shape compared to many other countries. Robertson said the crisis called for increased spending rather than cutting back. “I’m not a fan of austerity,” he said. More than half of all workers in New Zealand are currently being subsidized by the government under a program that was quickly set up as the nation went into a strict lockdown in March. The budget would extend the scheme for hard-hit businesses. The plan also calls for 11,000 environmental jobs to be created, some of them temporary. People would be put to work killing pests and restoring wetlands. And up to 8,000 new homes would be built, creating thousands of construction jobs. Spending would also be increased on everything from health care and education to school lunches and the postal service. Opposition leader Simon Bridges said the plan lacked detail and accountability and would add the equivalent of a second mortgage of debt per household. “It’s our children and grandchildren who will be paying for it,” Bridges said. Lawmakers started discussions Thursday afternoon and were expected to approve the budget.",
            "output": [
                "New Zealand plans spending spree to counter virus job losses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-9d67520e2d5249788119d78bbc26c4ac",
            "input": "The cost isn’t provided, since the work is not available to the public. But like most other digital aids for smoking cessation, we presume this method would be free. We’re told 36 percent of smokers who received multiple encouraging and informative emails said they didn’t smoke 6 months after the trial, whereas single-email subjects only had a 6-month abstinence rate of 26.5 percent. That’s enough detail for a Satisfactory rating. The story would have been stronger if it had specifically compared these effects with other approaches. The story implies that the email method might not work the first time, or perhaps even the first couple dozen times, since quitting is an incredible challenge. We also appreciated how the story detailed a few risks of popular alternative approaches to quitting smoking, including medications and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). We were pleasantly surprised to see a paragraph dedicated to covering the weaknesses of this study, namely that study participants were well-educated and white, and how future research could make up for this and other shortcomings. The story also describes the controls — quitters who used NRT — and how the email method still seemed to have a positive effect when NRT was subtracted from the results. We didn’t see anything in this story that’d unnecessarily frighten or incense readers. The story quotes two expert sources who don’t appear to be involved with the study, though this fact isn’t pointed out. Both sources emphasize the difficult nature of quitting smoking, and how there’s no silver bullets out there. The story notes that trying multiple cessation methods is the most effective strategy, and that tailored emails are intended to be an additional aid — not a replacement for other methods. But several specific alternatives to quitting smoking are noted, including NRT, a text-message support program, mobile apps to support quitting, professional counseling, and medications such as varenicline and bupropion. The story would have been stronger if it had told readers how the 36% quit rate seen in this study after 6 months compares with other approaches. We’re told the tailored email program isn’t yet available to the public, but that the American Cancer Society hopes to take a similar program live in 2018. Research on tailored messages to help smokers quit goes back nearly two decades, and this isn’t the first study to probe the efficacy of emails. The story doesn’t provide this context. Nor does it note that the BMJ-published study appears to be the largest of its kind — more than 1,000 subjects participated. We didn’t detect any copy-pasted quotes in this story, or other evidence that it leaned on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "You’ve Got Mail About Quitting Smoking"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-64abc054f55b4cdc8dcace39674b0226",
            "input": "Controversial and outright false claims made by Chinese Virologist Dr. Li-Meng-Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, reignited viral internet rumors surrounding the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 and the 2020 pandemic. Yan appeared as a featured guest on the Sept. 15, 2020, episode of Fox News talk show “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” during which she claimed that she had evidence to suggest that the virus was intentionally manufactured and released by the Chinese Communist Party. “I can present solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus, SARS-CoV-2 virus, is actually not from nature,” she told the television host. “It is a man-made virus created in the lab based on the China … the very unique bat coronavirus, which cannot affect people, but after the modification becomes a very harmful virus.” Yan did claim that SARS-CoV-2 was made in a lab, but the suggestion is false, misleading, and based on a non-peer-reviewed report that was published in pre-print server Zenodo, which means that the research had not gone through rigorous editorial critically evaluated by scientific experts with an extra degree of scrutiny. Research that has not been peer-reviewed is akin to a blog — anyone can publish one online with little expertise. A reviewed study, on the other hand, is on par with a well-vetted, expertly researched textbook. To facilitate the quick spread of new scientific information in the midst of the pandemic, pre-publication research has become more common in order to facilitate the quick dissemination of important information, particularly as peer-reviewed research can take a long time to publish. Despite its erroneous claims, the study had been downloaded more than half of a million times and received more than 700,000 views as of this writing. Since SARS-CoV-2 was first discovered in January 2020 and subsequently declared a pandemic the following month, conspiracy theorists have peddled notions that the virus was made in a lab and intentionally released as a biological weapon despite rigorous scientific research proving otherwise. According to one expert:  “This particular conspiracy around deliberate release form a laboratory has been doing the rounds throughout the pandemic. It has been rebutted several times already. Ultimately, it could be damaging to public health if reported uncritically without looking at the wider evidence. If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep COVID-19 cases low and thus there will be more death and illness than there needs to be,” said Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, in a statement. And Yan’s account of the origins of the virus is no different. The controversial doctor first made headlines in July 2020 when she told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she believed the Chinese government failed to tell the world about the virus’ origins at its onset, ignoring her research and potentially putting lives at risk. At the time, Hong Kong University (HKU) issued a news release confirming that Yan had previously been affiliated as a post-doctoral fellow but that she had since left the institution. The news release continued: While HKU respects freedom of expression, Dr Yan’s past or present opinions and views do not represent those of the University. HKU notes that the content of the said news report does not accord with the key facts as we understand them. Specifically, Dr Yan never conducted any research on human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus at HKU during December 2019 and January 2020, her central assertion of the said interview. We further observe that what she might have emphasized in the reported interview has no scientific basis but resembles hearsay. HKU does not act on hearsay and we will not further comment on this matter. Snopes contacted HKU for further comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Emails sent from our team to the address listed on Yan’s report also went unanswered. In a September 2020 interview with the hosts of the British talk show “Loose Women,” Yan claimed that she had been chosen to do a “secret investigation” while studying a cluster of SARS-related viruses in December 2019 when she found out that the Chinese government was manufacturing a virus to use as a bioweapon. After confronting her supervisor, she claimed, she was allegedly forced to flee to the U.S. for her own safety. The story was reiterated in an interview with Tucker Carlson the following day when she directly blamed the Chinese Communist Party for manufacturing the virus. In less than a week after airing, the interview had been viewed more than 2.2 million times. Several media publications reported that Yan’s Twitter account was suspended as of Sept. 21, 2020. The first known mention of the suspension was on Tucker Carlson Tonight, however, Twitter declined to comment on the alleged suspension in an email sent to Snopes, and the platform did not flag the virologist’s interview. A video of the interview is also still available on Facebook and Instagram, however, both platforms flagged the video for its misleading content. The report was primarily authored by Yan and three other researchers who listed an affiliation with the Rule of Law Society on the cover page. The society is a political organization — not a research institution — that was founded by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who fled China in 2014 in advance of corruption charges, and Steve Bannon, an American businessman and political strategist who previously oversaw the far-right publication Breitbart News, and was recently arrested in connection to the “We Build The Wall” fraud scam. Dr. Andrew Preston, a biologist at the University of Bath, highlighted in a statement that the authors’ affiliation with a politically based organization rather than with a research institution was a conflict of interest and added that the “preprint report cannot be given any credibility in its current form,” given its unsubstantiated claims that have not been peer-reviewed. “The report is not based on an objective interpretation of the SARS-CoV2 genome. The interpretations made are not supported by data, are unsubstantiated and the interpretations are largely stated but not explained,” Preston said. The scientists continued that the report does not appear to start with an open hypothesis about the origin of SARS-CoV2. The language of the report is reminiscent of a conspiracy theory.” Yan’s primary argument is that the genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 provided evidence that the virus was manufactured by researchers with the Chinese Communist Party by targeting select parts of the viral genome, a feat that would be nearly impossible, said Craig Wilen, assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunology at the Yale School of Medicine, in an interview with Snopes. But first, it’s important to understand how a virus is sequenced and what researchers know about SARS-CoV-2. When a new virus is discovered, scientists around the world will work as quickly as possible to create a genetic map by sequencing every genome held within the virus. At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, researchers quickly transcribed the genetic makeup of the virus and uploaded what was known about the 30,000 base-pair genomes into a global database for future study. When mapped, the virus was found to contain roughly 30,000 nucleotides, which form the basis of each structural unit of DNA. Once a map of the base pair is determined, synthesizing a virus in a lab is not unheard of. In fact, many commercial companies hold repositories of “chunks” of genomic material, but in order to manufacture a virus such as SARS-CoV-2, a scientist would need to take the 30,000 base-pair genome, make that into ribonucleic acid (RNA), and then turn that RNA into a virus. Wilen said that expert virology labs could, in theory, manipulate SARS-CoV, the virus responsible for the 2002 SARS pandemic, or MERS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2014 MERS pandemic, to hypothetically manufacture a new virus, but would first need to know what each of those individual nucleotides is responsible for, and how to manipulate them to become harmful and infectious to humans — an enormous feat that is beyond the scope of many viral labs and research. “Being off by one could destroy the entire virus. As much as the world has studied this virus now, we have no idea what properties those 30,000 base pairs, which of those are important for infection, which of those make it spread asymptomatically, which of those cause disease,” Wilen said. “So, we are totally ignorant in terms of the biology in terms of being able to come up with the sequence de novo to then make it.” Wilen likened the manufacturing of a virus to taking one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, determining how many words it contains, then chopping up a dictionary and subsequently trying to build a sonnet from those chopped-up words. “Yes, you would get something that is the right length of a sonnet, but almost certainly it’s going to be incoherent and not useful,” he said. In her report, Yan argued that two strains of bat coronavirus were shown to be 89% similar to SARS-CoV-2, which seems at first glance to be quite a bit. Coronaviruses are a large family of closely related viruses that naturally circulate in a number of different species, including bats, camels, pangolins, and rodents. A huge amount of genetic diversity of coronaviruses occurs naturally in the environment, and when it comes to human pandemic coronaviruses, all three have exhibited cross-species transmission from a nonhuman host.",
            "output": [
                "In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, appeared In multiple televised interviews claiming that she had proof SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was manufactured by the Chinese Communist Party in a Wuhan Lab. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d126a09430564a13b2a5004e8a2880b6",
            "input": "While Vice President Mike Pence runs the White House coronavirus task force, his wife is leading a parallel effort to help people deal with anxiety and other unsettling emotions brought on by the pandemic. Two months into the crisis, millions of Americans are struggling to cope with the fallout, whether it’s losing loved ones, losing a job or staying at home more than they ever have. “This is something we’re all going through together, and it’s not like anything we’ve ever gone through before,” Karen Pence told The Associated Press in a recent interview. She is lead ambassador for the PREVENTS task force, an acronym for the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End the National Tragedy of Suicide. It was created in 2019 to focus on veterans’ suicides but recently launched a social media campaign called “More Than Ever Before” to help reach Americans before they get to “the end of their rope,” she said. “We want them to know there’s help out there, and there are things that we can do to prevent some of the effects that this is having on our mental health as a nation,” Mrs. Pence said. She joined the PREVENTS effort early this year, before the extent of the coronavirus threat in the U.S. became clear. A majority of Americans say they have felt at least one negative emotional reaction in the last seven days, according to a new poll  conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation. At least a third of Americans reported feeling nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless at least one day in the past week. But taken together, 61% of Americans say they have felt at least one of those emotions at one point throughout the week. Nine percent also reported having a physical reaction, such as sweating, nausea or hyperventilating, when thinking about their experience with the pandemic on one or more days. The new poll, conducted last week, is the second wave of the COVID-19 Household Impact Survey. Thirty-eight percent of Americans say they felt lonely at least one of the last seven days. Sixteen percent said they felt that way on three or more days. And 38% said they felt hopeless about the future at least once, with 14% saying they felt that way on three or more days. Those patterns are similar for feelings of anxiety and depression. Mrs. Pence says there are four basic things people can do to help them cope with the situation, beginning with a daily “check in” with themselves to gauge how they’re feeling and then reach out to a friend or other individual if they need someone to hear them out. They should also figure out what puts them at ease, whether it’s reading, cooking or another activity, and schedule time for it. Mrs. Pence, a watercolor artist, said she’s been working on a painting of a friend’s house and is designing her family’s Christmas card. People should also talk about their struggles and successes and include children in those conversations. And if they’re concerned about themselves or someone else, they should feel comfortable calling the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. “It’s OK to not be OK,” said Mrs. Pence. She posts tips and information about available resources on her Twitter page. Among those grappling with the new dynamics is Jody Garrison, who works from her Milwaukee home, turning old books into journals and selling them online. It’s the rare trip to the grocery store — or to the auto mechanic shop later this week to pick up her car after a repair — that brings on the anxiety. “You worry about, ‘Am I going to catch something from touching something?’ so I truly don’t go out in public much at all,” she said by telephone. Being retired helps, as Garrison had long settled into a routine. The 68-year-old plays with her grandchildren online and meets friends there, and is exercising and reading more, too. “I think what’s kept my sanity is that I’ve tried really hard to stay focused on things that kept me happy in the past to sustain the thought of being alone,” she said. “I’m trying to stay focused on the positive, and when you do that, it doesn’t seem quite so bad.” Anxious to see the U.S. economy humming again, President Donald Trump has pushed back against those who warn that coronavirus cases will spike after state lockdowns are lifted. He says more people will die from suicide and substance abuse the longer schools, businesses and workplaces remain closed and people stay at home. Experts say rates of suicide and substance abuse were rising before the pandemic, but it’s too soon to know how much they may have increased during the outbreak. Suicide prevention and mental health advocates said they welcome the PREVENTS effort but would like to see more spending on a more coordinated effort to reduce deaths caused by despair. “You don’t have to be a mental health expert to know we’re in deep trouble,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-chair of a new public-private effort to respond to mental health and suicide prevention needs both during and after the coronavirus. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., with 48,000 deaths reported in 2018, said Jerry Reed, who serves with Kennedy on the executive committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which is separate from the virus-related initiative. Reed, a longtime suicide prevention advocate, said he’d like to see the same amount of effort that went into combating the coronavirus put into responding to mental health needs. “I like the fact that we all came together to flatten the physical curve of the virus,” Reed said. “I would suggest we all come together to flatten the mental health curve.” ___ Associated Press writers Tammy Webber in Chicago and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap ___ This story has been corrected to show that Kennedy represented Rhode Island, not Massachusetts.",
            "output": [
                "Karen Pence: ‘It’s OK to not be OK’ during pandemic."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b24b7e83f4a41a9ad9d6ac3012d5513",
            "input": "The following item is a good example of the pitfalls of allowing pure skepticism to overwhelm ordinary evidence:  The stupidity of some people in this world never fails to amaze me. This attached picture is real — not doctored in any way — and was taken last week in Waldorf, MD by a Transportation Supervisor for a company that delivers building materials for 84 Lumber. When he saw it there in the parking lot of IHOP, he went and bought a camera to take pictures. The car is still running as can be witnessed by the exhaust. A woman is either asleep or otherwise out in the front seat passenger side. The guy driving it was over jogging up and down on Rt. 925 in the background. The witnesses said their physical state was OTHER than normal and the police just shook their heads in amazement. The driver finally came back after the police were there and was getting down at the back to cut the twine around the load. They told him to get back until it was taken off. The materials were loaded at Home Depot. The Home Depot store manager made the customer sign a waiver before loading. Both back tires are trashed. The back shocks were driven up through the floorboard. On the roof are many 2X4s, 4X4s and OSL sheets of lumber. The load isn’t all that meets the eye either. In the back seat were ten 80-pound bags of concrete! They estimated the load weight at 3000 lbs. The car is a VW Jetta with FL plates and the guy said he was headed for Annapolis! After we originally put this picture and story up with an “Undetermined” status back in December 2000, we received plenty of mail from self-proclaimed digital photo experts offering numerous reasons (both physical and digital) why the picture couldn’t possibly be real. Then we starting hearing from people who were in Waldorf, Maryland, the day the photograph was taken (including employees of the Home Depot store where the building materials were purchased and the IHoP restaurant seen in the background of the photo) and who saw the car in question, some of whom snapped their own pictures of it and sent them along to us, such as the following:",
            "output": [
                "A photograph shows a small car loaded down with hundreds of pounds of lumber and other building supplies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6cf17935afe74511aa57948639fba76d",
            "input": "\"You hear it often: Social Security is going broke. What you hear less often is an analysis of Social Security’s components -- its old-age retiree program and its disability program. Sen. Rob Portman discussed both parts during a newsmaker breakfast on April 9 sponsored by Politico, the Washington-based newspaper and website. Portman’s remarks on the disability program could be considered jarring to those who don’t pay close attention, so we thought we’d take a step back to check them out. Portman said, \"\"The Social Security disability fund is going belly up in 2016.\"\" And 2016, he noted, is \"\"right around the corner.\"\" Portman is correct -- from an accounting standpoint, and as of right now. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the most recent Social Security trustees’ annual report, the Social Security account that disburses monthly disability payments will not only pay out more money in 2016 than it takes in through taxes, but also will spend the last dollar it has in reserve by the end of that year. As budget documents put it, the Disability Insurance, or DI, Trust Fund -- the account that held surpluses and was tapped to help make up any recent shortfall -- will be \"\"exhausted\"\" that year. This is the \"\"disability fund\"\" Portman was referring to. The same fate isn’t expected to hit the other piece of the Social Security pie, Old Age and Survivors Insurance, until 2036 (or 2038 under a different analysis). Disabled workers and their spouses and dependents account for 18 percent of overall Social Security payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The coming shortfall will occur because disability payments have exceeded the program’s noninterest income since 2005. This occurred for several reasons, including a liberalization of the Social Security screening process with a 1984 law that made certain non-fatal conditions such as back pain, arthritis and mental illness potential qualifiers; a rise in the program’s income-replacement computation, \"\"which strengthened the incentives for workers to seek benefits,\"\" and an increase in the female labor force that expanded the pool of insured workers, according to a 2006 analysis by economists for the National Bureau of Economic Research. The latter provided more tax money but also expanded the pool eligible for benefits. But there is another reason, cited by the CBO last July: the aging of the baby boom generation. \"\"More older people suffer from debilitating conditions; moreover, the program’s qualification standards for older workers are less strict than those for younger workers because older people are assumed to be less able to adapt to new types of work,\"\" the CBO reported. It noted that \"\"between calendar years 1996 and 2009—the approximate period during which the baby-boom generation entered their 50s—the share of disabled worker benefits awarded to older workers (age 45 and older) rose from 67 percent to 76 percent.\"\" But if payroll tax income to the program is insufficient already, why isn’t  the DI program broke now? The answer is that the program still has money left from better days -- held in the Trust Fund in the form of government securities. That makes it still possible to pay 100 percent of all benefits. But in 2016, those savings will be depleted., A few numbers make this clearer. In 2011, the DI program paid out $132.3 billion, including $2.9 billion in administrative expenses. But it only took in $81.9 billion in dedicated payroll taxes and $1.6 billion in income taxes that some beneficiaries must pay (depending on their incomes). To make up the rest, it tapped the Trust Fund. It will not be able to do that and pay full expected benefits in 2016. From a practical standpoint, Congress and the White House are likely to act before then. A number of proposals provide ways to avoid a retiree and disabled-worker calamity, some with changes to the payroll tax, some with benefit cuts, some with both. That makes the odds slim that Social Security’s disability fund will actually go broke. But until that happens, all anybody has are the projections. And they are clear. So is this doomsday for Social Security? Not at all. Social Security will still take in enough money to pay a percentage of the claims. Although federal law says the Trust Fund must have assets for claims to be paid, Congress can change the law. More likely is a broader fix from Congress. Portman recognizes this, as he makes clear often -- and did so again at the Politico  breakfast -- in his calls for entitlement reform. The Social Security trustees report in 2012 recognized this too, saying, \"\"The DI program faces the most immediate financing shortfall of any of the separate trust funds; thus lawmakers need to act soon to avoid reduced payments to DI beneficiaries four years from now.\"\" So yes, we can hope or expect that the problem will be solved before 2016. But as of right now, Portman’s claim -- that the \"\"disability fund is going belly up in 2016\"\" -- is accurate, or as accurate as Social Security’s trustees and the CBO can be.\"",
            "output": [
                "The Social Security disability fund is going belly up in 2016."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6878331274ba427e9b5efb0ba3cdb483",
            "input": "In a Mason City church basement, in a meeting with city leaders in racially diverse Waterloo, at a town hall-style meeting in Cedar Rapids and in a packed home in Iowa City, Booker continually likened domestic problems to the denial of civil rights. “You cannot have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if you don’t have health care,” the Democratic senator told an overwhelmingly white audience of about 100 who turned out despite sub-zero temperatures. “That’s not justice.” Later, in a racially mixed crowd in Waterloo, Booker bemoaned a criminal justice system that disproportionately punishes racial minorities and “ultimately makes us a country that has a cancer on our soul.” Race is shaping up to be central to the Democratic presidential campaign. Democratic prospects have called President Donald Trump’s portrayal of immigrants racist and condemned his reaction to a deadly 2017 demonstration in Virginia as being sympathetic toward white supremacists. Booker, who is African-American, is starting his campaign for the Iowa caucuses by framing the election in terms of a movement, like those for civil and voting rights more than a half century ago. “We are a nation in crisis that is ripping itself apart with leaders who are pitting us against each other because of our race or our political party,” Booker boomed in Iowa City. “I believe we can light this world on fire again, and put the indivisible back in this nation again.” Jeannie Maybanks, who met Booker during an event in Cedar Rapids, called him “an inspirational figure.” “He’s got so much enthusiasm,” Maybanks added. “He says what he says with such conviction. It’s infectious.” Booker voraciously signed autographs, shook hands and stood for selfies, taking the now-commonplace political glad-handing a step further. Booker repeatedly took the phones of people he met and recorded digital video messages of himself and Iowans, smiling and joking with them. In Waterloo, Booker became the first presidential candidate this year to visit Black Hawk County, where the black population — at 9 percent — is more than twice that of Iowa overall. Booker, a former mayor of Newark, held a public panel discussion in Waterloo focusing mainly on issues facing the black community. Booker touted the passage of the a criminal justice reform bill in December as an act that benefits minority men, though University of Iowa law school student Daisy Cruz said the bill didn’t go far enough. “I thought he sounded defensive,” Cruz said. “He told us what he did, but not what more he’s willing to do.” Throughout his events, Booker sprinkled in references to civil rights figure John Lewis, a longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia. In Mason City, Booker bemoaned the influence of corporate and lobbyist money in elections, and told the audience he would not accept such contributions. However, Booker’s candidacy is being encouraged by a super political action committee started by wealthy Democratic donor Steve Phillips, a friend and former classmate of Booker’s at Stanford University. Booker told reporters he was frustrated by super PACs generally, but he did not expressly call for Phillips to shut it down. “I don’t think super PACs should be in a campaign for anybody, including Donald Trump. So, I don’t support the super PAC,” he said. “I’ve said publicly time and time again, I don’t think there should be super PACs in this race.” Phillips was undeterred. “Cory Booker’s candidacy is the best vehicle for inspiring the kinds of large voter turnout in communities of color that will be necessary for progressives to win up and down the ticket in 2020,” he said in an emailed statement. However, he added, the super PAC Dream United would likely support whomever the Democratic Party nominates. “What we are doing goes beyond Booker. We are doing this for our country,” he said. Booker planned to continue campaigning Sunday with stops in Marshalltown and Des Moines. ___ Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Booker urges activists, leaders to heed social justice call."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-067240ce2ec44381869d243bf52e9985",
            "input": "\"President Barack Obama went to Philadelphia on Sept. 13 to campaign for Hillary Clinton, who was recovering from pneumonia. In his speech, Obama didn’t hold back in his critique of Clinton’s opponent, Donald Trump. In one particularly vivid line, Obama took a shot at Trump’s foundation, contrasting it with the Clintons’ foundation, which focuses on improving global health. The Clinton Foundation has been attacked by critics for taking money from donors who might have business before a future President Clinton. But Obama was having none of it. \"\"You want to debate foundations and charities?\"\" Obama said. \"\"One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself.\"\" Obama added, to laughter, \"\"I mean, you know, he had the taste not to go for the 10-foot version, but…\"\" We have previously written about how the Clinton Foundation helped 9 million people receive lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine, as well as the foundation’s controversies. But what about Obama’s statement that Trump’s foundation \"\"took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself\"\"? The White House confirmed that the statement stems from a widely read Washington Post story by reporter David Fahrenthold, who’s written a series of stories about Trump Foundation and has inquired with organizations around the country to see if they actually received money from the real estate mogul. Fahrenthold provided new details of his investigations in a Sept. 10, 2016, Post article headlined, \"\"How Donald Trump retooled his charity to spend other people’s money.\"\" Based on a review of 17 years of tax filings by the Donald J. Trump Foundation and interviews with more than 200 individuals and groups who were listed as recipients of its gifts, Fahrenthold found that \"\"nearly all\"\" of its money in recent years has come from people other than Trump, with his most recent personal gift to the foundation’s coffers dating from 2008. Experts told Fahrenthold that such an arrangement \"\"is almost unheard of for a family foundation.\"\" The story by Fahrenthold includes the anecdote referenced by Obama in Philadelphia, which Fahrenthold wrote was one of two cases he found in which Trump used his money from the charity to \"\"buy himself a gift.\"\" By doing so, he wrote, the foundation appeared to be flouting IRS rules by buying items that only seemed to be for Trump’s benefit. \"\"In 2007, for instance, Trump and his wife, Melania, attended a benefit for a children’s charity held at Mar-a-Lago. The night’s entertainment was Michael Israel, who bills himself as ‘the original speed painter.’ His frenetic act involved painting giant portraits in five to seven minutes — then auctioning off the art he’d just created. \"\"He painted Trump. \"\"Melania Trump bid $10,000. \"\"Nobody tried to outbid her. \"\" ‘The auctioneer was just pretty bold, so he said, \"\"You know what just happened: When you started bidding, nobody’s going to bid against you, and I think it’s only fair that you double the bid,\"\" ' Israel said in an interview last week. \"\"Melania Trump increased her bid to $20,000. \"\" ‘I understand it went to one of his golf courses,’ Israel said of the painting. \"\"The Trump Foundation paid the $20,000, according to the charity that held the benefit.\"\" Fahrenthold’s article notes that the Post submitted detailed questions to the campaign but officials declined to comment. The campaign did not respond to an inquiry from PolitiFact for this article. We asked Fahrenthold whether Obama’s version jibed with his reporting. \"\"It seems pretty accurate to me,\"\" Fahrenthold told PolitiFact. \"\"I talked to both the charity that held the auction and the artist who made the painting. They told me Melania Trump had actually been the one bidding on the painting at the auction, which she won for $20,000 -- half went to charity, half went to the artist. But the actual check came from the Trump Foundation, of which Donald is president and Melania is not an officer of any kind.\"\" He added that the auction seems to have been held in 2006 but the check wasn’t cut until 2007, a year in which \"\"almost all of the money in the Trump Foundation was other people’s money.\"\" Specifically, according to Fahrenthold’s reporting, the Trump Foundation began that year with $4,238 in the bank. Trump himself gave $35,000 to the foundation that year. But other donors gave $4.055 million, primarily a single $4 million gift from Vince and Linda McMahon, the founders of the WWE wrestling empire. Using the most generous calculation, Fahrenthold said, Trump’s own money accounted for less than 1 percent of the total amount that entered the foundation that year, $4,094,238. \"\"So it was almost all other people’s money,\"\" he said. So where is the painting? That’s a bit more mysterious. Even crowdsourcing the search through Twitter hasn’t produced a verified image of the painting. \"\"I can’t find the damn thing,\"\" Fahrenthold said. \"\"It’s out there somewhere. Neither the painter nor the charity -- the Children's Place at Home Safe, in Boca Raton, Fla. -- have been able to provide a picture of it.\"\" Our ruling Obama said that Trump’s \"\"foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself.\"\" Fahrenthold verified the anecdote about the painting with the painter, and his reporting found that, at the time the painting was auctioned, the vast majority of funds in the foundation’s coffers were from other people, not Trump. Based on the information available, the story seems solid.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Barack Obama Says Donald Trump's foundation \"\"took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-db521e8dec2644bfb0c15569c218eaf3",
            "input": "By the time Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington a few hours later, the plan was off. And its future is unclear. For nearly two months, momentum had been building inside the White House to try to halt a youth vaping epidemic that experts feared was hurting as many as 5 million teenagers. Both first lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, pushed for the ban, which was also being championed internally by White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who has taken the lead on some public health issues. But as Trump sat surrounded by political advisers on the flights to and from Lexington, he grew reluctant to sign the ban, convinced it could alienate voters who would be financially or otherwise affected by a vaping ban, according to two White House and campaign officials not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. A news conference scheduled by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to announce the ban was canceled, while more meetings with industry leaders and lobbyists were proposed, according to the officials. Trump tweeted last week that he’ll be meeting with vaping industry representatives, medical professionals and others “to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma.” The White House has yet to announce a date for a meeting. This month, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and others showed the president polling data indicating that e-cigarette users could abandon him if he followed through with the ban, the officials said. Campaign aides also highlighted an aggressive social media campaign — #IVapeIVote — in which advocates claimed a ban would force the closure of vaping shops, eliminating jobs and sending users of electronic cigarettes back to traditional smokes. Parscale also pointed out the risk that a ban could have on e-cigarette users in key battleground states that Trump narrowly won in 2016. Others in the West Wing, including Conway, have argued that a ban could be a winning issue with suburban voters, including mothers, who have fled the president in large numbers. Few would predict where Trump, who is known to abruptly change his mind, would end up since he recently has been consumed with other matters, notably televised impeachments hearings. The vaping industry’s largest trade group said Monday the administration was heading “in the right direction for adult smokers and their families.” “Bans don’t work, they never have,” Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, said in a statement. Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, an advocacy organization, added that the government should put in place “sensible and targeted regulations” before it resorts to prohibition, which opponents of a ban said could lead to the creation of an underground market for e-cigarettes. But Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said Trump would be guilty of “terrible public policy” and “bad politics” if he backs down. “This is one of the very few issues on which public views are unified,” Myers said in a telephone interview. “There are a small number of vape shop owners who are loud and don’t care. But there are millions more moms and dads who are deeply concerned.” Robin Koval, president and CEO of the Truth Initiative, a nonprofit, anti-tobacco organization, called on Trump to implement the original plan. “The health of America’s youth must come first and is not for sale or political gain,” Koval said in a statement. The first lady opened the White House to a group of young people from the Truth Initiative in October to tell her about their experiences with vaping. Trump’s initial pledge Sept. 11 to ban virtually all flavored e-cigarettes stunned vaping proponents and was immediately embraced by anti-tobacco advocates. In an Oval Office appearance with the first lady and Azar, Trump said the government would act within weeks to protect children from fruit, candy, dessert and other sweet vaping flavors, including mint and menthol. The announcement followed a tweet two days earlier by Mrs. Trump expressing concern “about the growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our children.” “We need to do all we can to protect the public from tobacco-related disease and death, and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for a generation of youth,” she said. But within days, Trump tweeted that e-cigarettes might be a less-harmful alternative for smokers, a point long made by the industry. Meanwhile, vaping lobbyists, conservative groups and Republican lawmakers from key states warned Trump that a crackdown could cost him with voters. The Vapor Technology Association launched ads and an online campaign promising to punish Trump and other politicians who support vaping restrictions. Conservative groups that have long promoted vaping as an alternative to smoking, including Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, joined the criticism. That group and others helped organize protests against banning flavors, including one outside the White House. Trump supporters also showed up at some of his campaign rallies holding signs expressing their opposition to a ban. The industry warned some 15,000 to 19,000 vaping shops across the country - and jobs - could be wiped out if flavors were eliminated. The administration was widely expected earlier this month to announce a scaled-back flavor ban that would exempt menthol, citing research that the flavor was not widely used by children. But no decision came. Trump instead told reporters on Nov. 8 — four days after his political advisers buttonholed him on the Kentucky trip — he was considering new approaches to curbing teen use, including raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21. Last week, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson sent Trump a letter warning against “unchecked government action that stifles innovation and restricts adults’ freedom to choose safer alternatives to smoking.” Asked how disappointed the first lady would be if the president did not follow through with a ban, her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, who also speaks for the president, said Mrs. Trump’s priority is the health and safety of children. “She does not believe e-cigarettes or any nicotine products should be marketed or available to children,” Grisham said. Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month. Anticipating a ban on flavors, Juul Labs, the nation’s largest e-cigarette maker, said this month it would stop selling its best-selling, mint-flavored nicotine pods. ___ Lemire reported from New York.",
            "output": [
                "Trump backing off banning vaping flavors popular with teens."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae6464208fe14449aeec8220080bc82a",
            "input": "The state Health Department says Tuesday that 42 days have passed with no new cases in Rockland. That’s the equivalent of two incubation periods and the timeframe when measles outbreaks are typically declared over. The nation’s worst measles epidemic in 27 years emerged a year ago, with most of the cases centered in Orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland and New York City. Health officials administered nearly 30,000 measles vaccinations in Rockland County as part of efforts to stop the outbreak. Over the summer, the state eliminated non-medical exemptions for measles vaccinations required for school children and tightened rules for granting medical exemptions.",
            "output": [
                "Measles outbreak that sickened 312 in Rockland declared over."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e527bd8d1cf048589d53133052ed2bb6",
            "input": "While the story looks at genetic tests for prescribing psychiatric drugs broadly, it also uses one test in particular as a focal point. The story notes that this test, called GeneSight, cost one patient $3,800. The story also notes that GeneSight is covered by Medicare. Those are great points to make in a story like this one. However, since the story also notes that there are a lot of other, similar tests on the market, it would have been good to tell readers a little bit more about cost. Is $3,800 about average for testing costs? Is there a range that these tests fall into? Do other insurers pay for GeneSight? The story would have been stronger if it had touched on these issues. We would have liked to see more detail about the company-funded studies mentioned, especially sample size and the odds ratios or degree of benefit. It is easy and tempting to discredit studies because they are company-funded, but this does not necessarily mean they are wrong — simply that we should proceed with caution in interpreting them. And it’s true that in many cases, the company is the only group interested in investing the time/money to do the necessary research. With that being said, the story does note that “Finding a test to more precisely target treatment could help troubled people find help more quickly, cut down on side effects, and save money.” And, when discussing GeneSight in particular, the story points to “company-funded studies showing that when [patients with depression] took the medications recommended by the test, they had fewer symptoms after eight weeks compared with patients who did not use the test.” We’ll award a Satisfactory and leave the suggestions for next time. This area could have been stronger. The story begins with an anecdote about a patient who was prescribed a drug based in part on the results of a genetic test. That patient became suicidal within three weeks and checked himself into a mental hospital. That sort of story tells readers very little about risks associated with these genetic tests, precisely because it is anecdotal — and there was very little else in the story about potential harms. For example, the story quotes one researcher as saying that claims about such genetic tests are “not harmless and may be quite dangerous.” But the story doesn’t tell us what that means. Why aren’t these claims harmless? Why may they be dangerous? We suspect that the biggest harm here is in the high cost of the test. But what if the test is wrong? It might also cause delays in finding the “right” drug for patients — especially if the genetic test takes time to run and if doctors weigh the test results over clinical judgment or other factors, leading to poorer decisions. The focus of the story is on quality of evidence. It emphasizes the lack of independently-funded studies that have evaluated the efficacy of these genetic tests. Based on a review by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, “virtually all the evidence that these psychiatric tests work is based on limited studies funded by the companies themselves or researchers they fund, including all five studies used to promote GeneSight on the company’s website.” It would have been good to put some numbers there — “virtually all the evidence” is a somewhat vague description — but we think it does address the Quality of Evidence question in a meaningful way. Worth noting: an annotated version of this story that appeared on the New England Center for Investigative Reporting’s site includes links to supporting information that is of interest. It would have been good if the version of the story that appeared in the Globe had let readers know that the annotated version (and supporting documents) were available. No disease mongering here. A very strong point for the story. It quotes multiple industry and expert sources, with industry sources clearly identified. The story looks at the field of genetic testing to identify psychiatric drugs most likely to be effective to treat specific mental conditions in a given patient. The alternative to using such testing is for psychiatrists to prescribe drugs based on their diagnosis, which is often determined by symptoms. The story doesn’t state this explicitly, and that would have been useful. But the story does note that psychiatry does have “a lack of definitive tests for conditions and treatments alike,” and that doctors often take a “trial-and-error approach to medications.” We think the story did enough here to earn a Satisfactory rating. The story makes clear that many of these tests are currently available. The story notes that “Genetic tests to identify the most effective psychiatric drugs are the hot new technology in the race to create personalized treatments based on people’s DNA” and that “[m]ore than 600,000 of these tests have likely been administered in the last three years.” While it may have been nice to mention that genetic testing is done in some other fields (eg. to determine breast cancer risk) to provide context, the story does enough to earn a Satisfactory rating. This work doesn’t appear to be based on a news release at all — and even if it were, it clearly goes far beyond anything a news release might include.",
            "output": [
                "Genetic tests for psychiatric drugs spur hope, doubts"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ae4a2129d3674c4783ea606e9bdfbae1",
            "input": "\"Phony marijuana targeted by recent state legislation sounds worse than the real thing, if you believe Georgia’s governor. Chase’s Law strengthens a ban on \"\"synthetic marijuana,\"\" ground-up plant material laced with chemicals that mimic marijuana. Chase Burnett, the bill’s namesake, was found dead in March in a hot tub at his Fayette County home, a packet of the drugs nearby. He was 16. The bill passed with overwhelming support. On March 27, Gov. Nathan Deal signed it into law. A press release warned of synthetic marijuana’s dangers:  \"\"As the usage has dramatically increased, instances of violence, bodily harm and even death have risen with it,\"\" it said. We’ve heard that the drug is nasty stuff. But what’s this about violence, bodily harm and death? A Deal spokeswoman sent PolitiFact Georgia news stories and poison control data to prove the governor’s point. We also talked to researchers and law enforcement officials and reviewed news stories and scientific studies. The form of synthetic marijuana that’s sparking so much concern is sold at head shops and gas stations under brand names such as \"\"Spice\"\" and \"\"K2.\"\" Georgia made it a felony to manufacture and sell it in 2010. Chase’s Law tries to keep underground chemists from tweaking their recipes to get around state restrictions. There’s little scholarly research on the drug, which appears to be new to the U.S.  Federal labs first detected these drugs in November 2008, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The earliest U.S. news story we found about its rising popularity appeared in a Hutchinson  Kan., newspaper in November 2009. All signs suggest that synthetic marijuana use is increasing dramatically, but data is in short supply. Workers at the American Association of Poison Control Centers began tracking synthetic marijuana calls in 2010 after they noticed more inquiries, a spokeswoman told PolitiFact Georgia. In 2010, they received 2,906  calls; in 2011, there were 6,959. About 11 percent of high school seniors reported using synthetic marijuana in the past year, according to 2011 results of an annual survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It was the first time researchers asked about the drug. Existing data support Deal’s claim that reports of bodily harm have climbed. Georgia Poison Center call data show 10 users were admitted to a hospital’s critical care unit in 2010 after using the drug. Forty-five were admitted in 2011. Rapid heartbeat, agitation, drowsiness, vomiting, hallucinations and nausea were among the drug’s most common effects, researchers have found. Media accounts report drug users injured in car crashes, falls and other accidents -- some fatal. Whether synthetic marijuana is directly responsible for deaths -- and whether they’re increasing -- is a more complicated issue. We found no published studies on the drug’s lethality, but there have been \"\"scattered reports of deaths,\"\" said Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan professor who conducted the National Institute on Drug Abuse survey. A count of news stories suggests there are more deadly cases. But whether the drug is a direct cause or contributing factor is not clear in some instances. Consider Burnett’s death. Toxicology tests are still in the works. Whether the official cause of death was drowning, the drug or something else is unsettled. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead told PolitiFact Georgia of two other recent deaths: We found other accounts of synthetic marijuana-related deaths. For example, a South Carolina coroner ruled that it was directly responsible for the October death of a college basketball player who collapsed during warm-up, according to multiple news accounts. PolitiFact Georgia found less support for Deal’s claim about violence. We found no published studies on the subject. News stories, however, suggest there’s cause for concern. For instance: To sum up:  Evidence supports Deal’s claim that use of the drug has \"\"dramatically increased,\"\" as has synthetic marijuana-related \"\"bodily harm.\"\" Some evidence suggests that deaths have risen, too. The link between the drug and violence is less clear. News accounts suggest there is an increase in both, but we found so few cases it’s hard to tell. Deal’s statement could use clarification. Still, it earns a .\"",
            "output": [
                "As the usage [of synthetic marijuana] has dramatically increased, instances of violence, bodily harm and even death have risen with it."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f0dba13fac004f6293c18206e34a7321",
            "input": "The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it was investigating 14 fake or unlicensed products to treat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. So far 3,605 Britons have died from the coronavirus, the latest data show, and experts have said deaths will continue to rise until the effect of recent lockdown measures filter through and slow the spread of the disease in the coming weeks. MHRA said it was investigating fake self-testing kits, miracle cures and so-called “antiviral misting sprays”. “Don’t be fooled by online offers for medical products to help prevent or treat COVID-19,” Lynda Scammell, MHRA enforcement official said. “There is no medicine licensed specifically to treat or prevent COVID-19, therefore any claiming to do so are not authorised and have not undergone regulatory approvals required for sale on the UK market.”  Scammell added that MHRA was working alongside law enforcement agencies to combat the spread of fake and unlicensed medical products.",
            "output": [
                "Miracle cures? UK investigators go after fake coronavirus medicines."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a68bdf9c84b44507912bc0d768606753",
            "input": "The implant operation was performed on Wednesday at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, the biomedical firm said in a statement. It said that the male patient was awake and talking and he was being monitored in the intensive care unit. “We are delighted with this first implant, although it is premature to draw conclusions given that a single implant has been performed and that we are in the early postoperative phase”, said Carmat’s CEO, Marcello Conviti. Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat’s bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long run, mimicking nature’s work using biological materials and sensors. It is aimed at helping the thousands of patients who die each year while awaiting a donor, and reducing the side-effects associated with transplants. “It’s about giving patients a normal social life with the least dependence on medication as possible,” Alain Carpentier, surgeon and Carmat co-founder, told France 2 television. Carmat estimates around 100,000 patients in the United States and Europe could benefit from its artificial heart, a market worth more than 16 billion euros ($22 billion). “We already had devices of this type but they had a relatively low autonomy. This heart will allow for more movement and less clotting. The study that is starting is being very closely watched in the medical field,” Patrick Nataf, head of heart surgery at Paris Bichat hospital, told BFM TV. France’s Health Minister was quick to tout the operation as a sign of the country’s edge in the field of healthcare. “This news brings great pride to France,” Marisol Touraine told BFM TV. “It shows we are pioneers in healthcare, that we can invent, that we can carry an innovation that will also bring great hope to plenty of people.”  Among Carmat’s competitors for artificial heart implants are privately-held SynCardia Systems and Abiomed, both of the United States. “We’re very happy for them and we wish them the best in their pursuit,” said a spokesman for SynCardia, whose artificial heart is the only one approved both in the United States and the European Union and has been implanted over 1,200 times. The longest a patient has lived with SynCardia’s heart is just under four years. In September, Carmat got the green light from French authorities to test the first human implants of the device on four patients in three hospitals. Earlier this year, it won approval to proceed with human implants in Belgium, Poland, Slovenia and Saudi Arabia. The Paris patient is the first worldwide to be implanted with the device, Carmat said. The patients selected for the trials suffer from terminal heart failure and the success of the device will be judged on whether they survive with the implant for at least a month. Conviti told Reuters last month Carmat hoped to finish human trials of the heart by the end of next year and to obtain approval to market them in the EU by early 2015. The Carmat device, developed by a team of engineers from Airbus parent company EADS, weighs about 900g (around 2 lb)- nearly three times more than an average healthy human heart. It is expected to cost 140,000 to 180,000 euros in Europe. It mimics heart muscle contractions and contains sensors that adapt the blood flow to the patient’s moves. It is powered by external, wearable lithium-ion batteries. Inside the heart, surfaces that come into contact with human blood are made partly from bovine tissue instead of synthetic materials such as plastic that can cause blood clots. Patients that will be implanted with Carmat’s devices are more likely to be men. Heart failure affects more men than women and the sheer size of the artificial heart means it can fit in 86 percent of men but only around 20 percent of women. But Carmat says it could easily manufacture a smaller version to fit the smaller bodies of women as well as patients in India and China. Carmat’s shares have risen five-fold since floating on the Paris stock market in 2010, giving the company a market capitalization of about 436 million euros. ($1 = 0.7315 euros)",
            "output": [
                "France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-e81cb25583c34cca988d81a8cc059623",
            "input": "The story includes a tentative estimate of what this sort of blood test might cost if it is approved. It would be difficult for readers to get a true sense of the value of this test from this story. Readers should have been told more clearly that in this study, the test failed to correctly identify 4 percent of the Alzheimer’s patients and it mislabeled more than 7 percent of the healthy participants. Also, the phrase that “knowing early has many advantages” is likely to create a misperception about the potential benefits of testing – at least until some treatments are developed. The story mentioned only two potential benefits, financial planning and the ability to participate in clinical trials of experimental treatments. The story does not discuss the potential harms of this sort of test. As mentioned above, some healthy people would be told in error that they have signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. Such a misdiagnosis could have profoundly grave consequences. Although the story does include the results reported by the researchers, notes the small number of individuals in the study, and points out the preliminary nature of this work; it falls short. Although the headline proclaims “   Blood Test May Spot Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms Appear,” as the story points out lower down, the researchers have not yet studied people over time, so they cannot make any claims about predictive power. And, indeed, that’s really what people want to know, whether someone with some memory problems is going to progress to Alzheimer’s Disease, something that these researchers have yet to investigate. Then the lead sentence states the test is 96 percent “accurate,” which is not the full story. The researchers reported that this blood test correctly identified 96 percent of Alzheimer’s patients and 92.5 percent of healthy people. The story would have been better if it had pointed out that the second number means that as things stand, for every 100 healthy people tested, seven or eight would be misdiagnosed as having signs of Alzheimer’s, a frightening result for those individuals. The story does not exaggerate the extent or severity of Alzheimer’s Disease. However, it might have been helpful to include some description of the sort of individual who might consider using this sort of test. Stories like this need to be clear that since there is no meaningful treatment currently available for Alzheimer’s disease, many individuals may not want to be burdened with the prospect of impending dementia when there is no known way to do anything about it. The story would have been better if rather than focusing on individuals and the fearful prospect of Alzheimer’s, it had given more attention to the most likely near-term use for Alzheimer’s tests: as aids to researchers studying potential treatments in controlled trials. The story includes a spokesperson from the Alzheimer’s Association. It does not appear that this group was involved with this study. We would have preferred hearing from an independent scientist rather than someone from an advocacy group. Nonetheless the Association spokesman adds some important perspectives. The story does point out near the top that the lead researcher is the founder of the company developing the test. A strength of this story is that it prominently points out that many other potential tests for Alzheimer’s Disease are being developed. The story would have been better if it had explained why some people might choose not to be tested. Deep in the story, it explains that “if all goes well” the developer is hopeful the test could be available within a year. That is followed by an Alzheimer’s Association spokesman saying this is “preliminary.”  So the developer’s optimism is tempered somewhat. This rating is a close call. The story does include comments pointing out that there are a number of other tests for Alzheimer’s Disease being developed, but it might have been better to frame the headline and lead in a way that immediately makes clear to readers where this test fits in the context of other research. The lead could have used a phrase such as “one more potential test for Alzheimer’s enters the pipeline.” The story includes interview quotes and does not appear to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "Blood Test May Spot Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms Appear"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4c401048e2da45159e7e28d6844817b9",
            "input": "\"Sunday show talking heads continued to debate vaccinations of children -- specifically, how there should be no debate -- as they analyzed political missteps from the past week. BBC World News America anchor Katherine \"\"Katty\"\" Kay made a startling comparison to highlight how Americans have been less diligent in making sure their children are properly immunized. \"\"There are countries in Africa where they have higher vaccination rates than here in the United States,\"\" Kay said on NBC’s Meet the Press. \"\"Because when people really need it, and they see the effects that measles can have on their communities, they will make sure that their children vaccinate.\"\" Rhetoric about the measles outbreak stemming from Disneyland in California, home to a significant measles-resistant population, is keeping PunditFact and PolitiFact busy. We wanted to continue our look at this re-emerging viral threat by examining the accuracy of Kay’s claim. While we did not hear back from her by our deadline, we have a pretty good idea of Kay’s source. The World Health Organization, which recommends infants be vaccinated with at least one dose of the MMR vaccine before their first birthday, maintains immunization rates for the measles vaccine among 1-year-olds by country. The most recent data is for 2013. There were 16 African countries that beat the U.S. rate of 91 percent for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine in 2013, according to the WHO data. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the measles immunization rate in the United States is 91.9 percent. But the WHO and CDC measure the statistic in different ways, and as you'll see, it doesn't make a difference.) The countries besting the United States are Algeria, Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. United States 91 percent * Algeria 95 percent Botswana 94 percent Burundi 98 percent Egypt 96 percent Eritrea 96 percent Gambia 96 percent Kenya 93 percent Lesotho 92 percent Libya 98 percent Mauritius 99 percent Morocco 99 percent Rwanda 97 percent Seychelles 97 percent Tanzania 99 percent Tunisia 94 percent Zimbabwe 93 percent  Of course, many African countries facing steep impoverished conditions have lower and substantially lower rates, such as Central African Republic (25 percent), Chad (59 percent), Equatorial Guinea (42 percent), Ethiopia (62 percent), Nigeria (59 percent), South Sudan (30 percent) and South Africa (66 percent). More broadly, it’s not just African countries beating the United States. Latin American countries with rates about the same as or exceeding the United States’ include El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. South Africa-based think tank Good Governance Africa spurred news about the United States trailing some African countries in a Feb. 5 press release highlighting the WHO data. Researcher Kate van Niekerk hailed the improved availability and widespread usage of the vaccine as a \"\"major public health success\"\" that has reduced child deaths even though the disease continues to kill about 400 children every day. Still, Dr. Cathy Troisi, infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, said the nearly universal use of the measles vaccine in some parts of Africa is the result of a large international effort to reduce child mortality. Reducing by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015 was one target of the United Nations millenium goals. Unlike in some regions of Africa, where measles remains a leading cause of child death, some American parents are strangers to scary, eradicated diseases that afflicted prior generations, she said. Americans also generally value individual rights over community needs, she added. \"\"I’m old enough that I was born before the polio vaccine became available,\"\" Troisi said, \"\"and you can bet when it came out, my mom was first in line to get me vaccinated. Part of the reason we’re seeing this refusal is because parents haven’t seen what these diseases can do.\"\" Because we were curious, we wondered how the U.S. vaccination rate stacked up against its more populous companions. The U.S. population is about 319 million, making it the third-most populated country. China, with 1.36 billion people, is at 99 percent. India, with 1.24 billion people, has a rate of 74 percent. Indonesia, at 253 million residents, had a rate of 84 percent. Brazil and its population of more than 200 million residents had a measles vaccination rate of 99 percent. Our ruling Kay said, \"\"There are countries in Africa where they have higher vaccination rates than here in the United States.\"\" We found ample evidence to back up her point, with several African countries boasting better vaccination rates than the United States. Mauritius, Tanzania and Morocco have nearly complete vaccination of 1-year-olds, according to World Health Organization data.\"",
            "output": [
                "There are countries in Africa where they have higher vaccination rates than here in the United States."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dc17908ab120425e8dc43ea13a2d32ab",
            "input": "McLaren Flint Hospital on Friday requested an administrative hearing before the state enforces the terms of an order over issues with the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. The Flint Journal reports McLaren’s attorneys say the order issued Wednesday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs contains allegations, findings and conclusions that are untrue. Flint, while under state financial management, switched to the Flint River for water in 2014 without treating it to reduce corrosion. Lead leached from pipes, contaminating the system. At the same time, a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak occurred that led to criminal charges against government officials. ___ Information from: The Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/flint",
            "output": [
                "Flint hospital wants hearing on order over Legionella risks."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b4705b33a273421aac049d3116cae0f8",
            "input": "Elderly people are especially susceptible to serious illnesses caused by the virus and aged care facilities have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in other countries including the United States and Australia. Nagoya, the capital of Aichi prefecture in Japan’ central industrial heartland, has 99 confirmed cases of the coronavirus outbreak and has been struggling to find beds for patients. Aichi is the country’s second hardest-hit region, with 123 cases. Nagoya accounts for all 14 of the prefecture’s deaths from the virus, a prefecture official said. At least 12 of those were linked to the cluster originating in the elderly day care facility, public broadcaster NHK said, although officials declined to give details. “Many (of the deaths) were elderly,” a Nagoya city official said. In total, 50 cases linked to the elderly day care facility have been confirmed and all the patients are in hospital, a prefecture official said. A city official said an unspecified number of similar facilities had been told to close temporarily. The cluster was one of two identified in Nagoya - the other linked to a sports gym - by the health ministry, which on Monday published a map of 15 clusters of five or more cases nationwide. The biggest cluster was in the Osaka area in western Japan, with more than 50 cases centered around a music venue. Japan had 821 domestic confirmed cases of coronavirus and 28 deaths as of Tuesday morning, not including those who had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship that had been docked for weeks at Yokohama, near Tokyo, according to NHK. Including the cruise ship brought the total to 1,547 cases and 35 deaths, NHK said.",
            "output": [
                "Coronavirus cluster in Japan's Nagoya tied to elderly day care center."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-559e3490557b48608a1650911c188fd2",
            "input": "But the mock apartment — with a lifelike infant doll, candles emitting foul smells and plastic insects — is part of a new simulation lab to train workers who investigate child abuse claims across Illinois. “Sometimes textbooks, they sugarcoat things. Teachers sugarcoat things, but this is real life,” said Beth Brown of Murphysboro, who recently trained at the so-called “dirty apartment.” ″This is what you’re going to experience.” Illinois’ use of such experiential training focused on child welfare workers is being held up by experts as a national leader as the state plans to expand with a third simulation lab and its university experts write new research on the topic. But the accolades come as the agency faces serious systemic deficiencies, with some of its investigators under fire for high-profile deaths — including a 5-year-old suburban Chicago boy this year. The agency is under multiple court orders, including for high caseloads, leading the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and others to question the expansion. “Training is a great thing, but all the training in the world isn’t going to fix the foundational problems that DCFS is struggling with,” said ACLU attorney Heidi Dalenberg, who was involved in the caseloads court order. More than 700 front-line employees have undergone simulation training in Illinois with hundreds more expected to follow suit. Child investigators and experts call it invaluable preparation for a dangerous, high-burnout job at the heart of child protective work. The use of simulation training isn’t unusual for first-responders: Many medical schools have opened multimillion-dollar facilities. However, it’s a newer concept in child welfare, said Victor Vieth, a longtime expert who has trained child protective workers nationwide. The first child welfare simulation labs emerged roughly 15 years ago at universities. Dozens have since added them, and it has spread to state agencies. New Jersey has trained child welfare workers at a New Brunswick academy for about five years. Kansas started offering child protective employees simulation training in 2017. The University of South Carolina Upstate opened a training center in 2010 used by thousands of teachers, students and social service workers. But Illinois is notable in targeting front-line workers through multiple centers and its university experts use the data for some of the first research on the topic. While some state-of-the-art facilities are pricey, Illinois has spent relatively little. The first lab opened in 2016 inside a home on the University of Illinois Springfield campus that was a gift. In Chicago, DCFS officials spent roughly $60,000 to convert existing office space into a lab that opened in April. A third is expected downstate within a year. The state requires all new investigators, who follow hotline calls alleging abuse and neglect, undergo a week of simulation training. That was extended this year to veteran front-line workers, following an outside report on the agency’s systemic issues and high-profile deaths. The labs use real cases, which Illinois officials say helps others avoid missteps. Early Springfield trainings were based on a child who died during a DCFS investigation. “Once they go into a home, they have to use all of their senses,” said Monico Whittington-Eskridge, a DCFS deputy director in Chicago. “We are giving a picture of what are some of the typical things that they may encounter when they go into a home. Not every home is a potential dirty home.” The Chicago lab includes another apartment with less obvious potential trouble: a cabinet of empty liquor bottles. There’s a courtroom to practice witness testimony and space set up as a doctor’s office or police station. All have cameras, two-way mirrors and microphones for observation. The Associated Press recently observed the Chicago lab where more than 60 employees have trained, including walking through the “dirty apartment.” Investigators are taught to look for possible issues as they follow up on abuse claims, for instance asking about the open prescription pill bottles near the baby or checking if televisions are anchored down to protect young children. It all factors into the eventual determination of whether abuse or neglect claims are founded and whether the child will be removed from the home. The state hires actors to portray family. Trainees are instructed to remain calm, plainly state facts and avoid accusations, in hopes of building trust to learn critical details. Brown knocked on the door of the “dirty apartment” and encountered distraught, mistrusting parents. “We don’t abuse our children at all. We take very good care of our kids,” said the actor playing the mother, who grew emotional. “You’re not coming to take our kids, are you?” “That is not my intention,” Brown responded. “This may not even be an accurate report. My job is to see if it is accurate. I’m not here to accuse you of anything.” Brown’s supervisor later entered to debrief, praising her calm demeanor and reminding her not to keep her back to the door, a safety precaution in the risky job. Veteran investigator Stephen Mittens, who’ll soon undergo the training, has witnessed gunfire. Last year, an investigator died after being attacked while trying to take a child into custody. “Oftentimes we’re walking into families’ homes into some of the worst situations,” Mittens said. Investigators are also the first blamed when things go wrong, he said. That includes the death of Andrew “AJ” Freund, the 5-year-old who had extensive DCFS contact for abuse. His parents face murder charges. An investigator and supervisor were removed from casework. Attorneys said they were overloaded, a longtime problem and under court supervision at DCFS. The agency’s other issues have been well-publicized and exacerbated by ongoing state budget problems, including inadequate care for juveniles with mental health problems, a hotline with slow response and over a dozen agency directors in the past decade. There’s also high turnover, typical of child welfare agencies. The Seattle foundation Casey Family Programs estimates average turnover rates from 20% to 40%. First-year Gov. J.B. Pritzker has allocated funds for more investigators and agency officials have conducted a full review. Some experts suggest the simulation training could help, particularly with burnout. Illinois researchers are studying data from the centers. UIS professor Betsy Goulet, who helped design the centers, said early signs suggest trainees are less likely to leave. For Brown, 40, the simulations are refreshing after the classroom. “It’s not something that a teacher can tell you what to do,” she said. “This is something you need to experience in order to get better and understand the job.” ___ Follow Sophia Tareen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiatareen",
            "output": [
                "New lab trains welfare workers who probe child abuse claims."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b5b421b4a1c741208a9304f75b93c644",
            "input": "\"Politics, step aside. The Truth-O-Meter must address a matter of Southern pride. The honor and reputation of our local groundhog General Beauregard Lee. For three decades, the South’s most esteemed weather prognosticator has lived in the stout and lumpy shadow of Punxsutawney Phil. Phil makes the rounds yearly on the morning talk shows. He’s made appearances with Oprah Winfrey and President Ronald Reagan. His agent even scored him a gig with Bill Murray in the 1993 movie \"\"Groundhog Day.\"\" On Wednesday, PolitiFact Georgia scribes rolled our eyes as the public fawned over Phil once again during Wednesday’s annual Groundhog Day celebration. Phil never saw his shadow, news accounts said. Spring will come early. But should you really trust Phil? Beau’s website says our metro Atlanta celebrity is accurate 94 percent of the time. Phil’s record is a measly 85 percent, it said. That stat has been picked up by various news outlets. Does Beau really deserve second place to that Yankee glory hog? PolitiFact Georgia decided to settle this matter once and for all. For the scoop on Beau’s record, we talked to Art Rilling, CEO and founder of Lilburn’s Yellow River Game Ranch, an attraction featuring people-friendly wildlife northeast of Atlanta. Beau lives there in a plantation-style manse named \"\"Weathering Heights.\"\" For the past 10 years, his staff has calculated the General’s accuracy by noting the number of days local temperatures hit the freezing mark during the six weeks after Feb. 2. Beau, like Phil, predicted an early spring for 2011. Sadly, Phil’s staff has not tracked their groundhog’s predictions so diligently. Their official stance is that their marmot is \"\"incapable of error, so his accuracy rate is 100 percent,\"\" said Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Wednesday was Punxsutawney’s 125th groundhog celebration. German settlers brought the tradition, which is based on ancient myths that say hedgehogs, which resemble groundhogs, have the power to predict the weather. Phil’s predictions are not site-specific. If he says that spring will come early, it will, Johnston said. Somewhere. When Phil’s really wrong, Johnston added, it’s the fault of poor Groundhogeese-to-English translation. \"\"People complain and tell us we’re just making it up as we go along,\"\" Johnston said, \"\"but after 125 years of doing it, we don’t need to.\"\" Before we go further, the staff of PolitiFact Georgia feels obliged to mention that meteorologists have officially determined that groundhogs cannot predict the weather. Really. A tongue-in-cheek analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center concluded groundhogs show \"\"no predictive skill.\"\" (Why do this? To help get kids interested in the science of weather.) Or, more bluntly, \"\"you can’t take any stock in a groundhog predicting the weather,\"\" said Tom Ross, a meteorologist who helped put together the NCDC’s report. It showed that between 1988 and 2010, Phil gave accurate national weather predictions 10 times out of 23 for a rate of 43 percent. True, but that won’t stop us. Our groundhog’s honor is at stake. Since the keepers of Beau and Phil do not keep comparable statistics, we performed an independent analysis using the NCDC study and National Weather Service data for 2001 through 2010. We defined \"\"early spring\"\" as a February with above-average temperatures. We then compared each groundhog’s prediction with temperatures nationally and in his respective hometown. The NWS does not keep average February temperatures for the hamlet of Punxsutawney, Pa., so a kindly meteorologist gave us figures for Putneyville, Pa., a town at a similar elevation about 15 miles away. We found that the General predicted whether spring will start early nationally with 60 percent accuracy. Phil’s rate was 30 percent. Beau predicted Atlanta weather with 50 percent accuracy. Phil got Punxsutawney’s right 40 percent of the time. By our analysis, Beau’s staff overestimated his success, but he’s still 10 to 30 percentage points ahead of Phil. Georgia’s underhog is the champion, paws down. General, emerge from the shadows. Stand tall on your stubby legs. The Truth-O-Meter salutes you with a .\"",
            "output": [
                "General Beauregard Lee Says he predicts the weather better than Punxsutawney Phil."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-33770ff04bb94f4baa8f2b53240f40c5",
            "input": "The group, calling themselves Caircraft, believe that big aircraft like A380s and A340s, which are grounded due to coronavirus travel restrictions, could be stripped down and refitted with ICU beds and equipment in seven to ten days. Between 100-150 beds could fit on each aircraft depending on the size of the jet under the group’s design plans, and it is now waiting for government support for funding and coordination. “We’ve had various conversations at various levels. And we absolutely appreciate how busy they are with everything else going on,” aviation economist Chris Tarry said of contact with government. “It’s a question of reaching the right desks at the right time.”  Tarry has joined entrepreneur Nick Dyne, Jonathan Sackier, Visiting Professor of Surgery at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences and others on the plan. The group is also talking to the U.S. government, Canada, Germany and Malaysia about the idea, Dyne said. UK airlines with parked-up widebody jets support the idea, said Dyne without naming them, although they are believed to include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, as well as a number of UK airports and the UK aviation regulator, the CAA. Britain is bracing for the epidemic to peak in the coming weeks, and is building field hospitals in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff to bolster its state-run National Health Service (NHS). Under the Caircraft plans, which the group has been working on for a week, the aircraft would first fly to the place where they were to be needed, before being fitted out. They would not move once treating patients. “What we don’t want to do is to be a flying hospital. The regulatory issues regarding that are just too great,” said Dyne. The group say the advantage of using planes is that not only are they mobile and there are plenty of them now available, but also that their filtered, one-way airflow systems mirror those of an operating theatre. Dyne declined to comment on the how much it would cost to convert each aircraft.",
            "output": [
                "UK group calls for grounded planes to be used as intensive care wards."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-418f99c4e4f244aca54b750474af0e3a",
            "input": "A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously in favor of Amgen’s version of AbbVie’s Humira, a biotech drug that raked in nearly $15 billion last year, according to IMS Health. While not binding, the recommendation likely paves the way for FDA approval of the knockoff drug. For years, biotech drugs faced no competition because there was no regulatory way to approve copycat versions, even after patents had expired. If approved, Amgen’s drug would join a new wave of so-called biosimilars, which have the potential to generate billions in savings for U.S. insurers, doctors and patients. But it could take years for those savings to arrive. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum says the earliest Amgen could launch its product would be March 2017, though that would risk infringing patents which Abbvie says protect its drug until at least 2022. Wall Street analysts expect the patent issue to be fought in court, and then for Amgen’s drug to launch sometime between 2018 and 2022. First approved in 2002, Humira has long been among the most profitable drugs in the world. It accounted for 60 percent of Abbvie’s total revenue last year. The injectable drug, which blocks chemicals linked to inflammation, is approved for multiple uses, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis. Thousand Oaks, Calif-based Amgen is seeking FDA approval to market its version, known only as ABP 501, for seven diseases. Amgen is itself a biotech powerhouse, and it too has medications facing competition from cheaper versions. The company is working to hedge those loses by developing lower-cost versions of competitors’ drugs. Biotech drugs are powerful, injected medicines produced in living cells that are typically much more expensive than traditional, chemical-based drugs. In 2015, six of the 10 top-selling medicines globally were biotech drugs, with more than $56 billion in combined sales. The FDA only approved the first lower-cost biotech drug last March, a Novartis version of the Amgen drug Neupogen. Pfizer won approval to market a second biosimilar in April, a version of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade, but it is not yet for sale. Questions remain about just how much savings U.S. biosimilars will deliver. Novartis’ Zarxio sells for 15 percent less than the original Neupogen. Experts predict biosimilar discounts of 15 percent to 30 percent in the U.S. In Europe, where governments regulate prices, discounts are higher. Development of lower-cost anti-inflammatory drugs like Humira is considered pivotal in reducing U.S. spending on specialty drugs, which has doubled to $150 billion since 2010, according to IMS Health. On Wednesday, the same panel of FDA advisers will review a Novartis version of Enbrel, which is marketed by Amgen.",
            "output": [
                "Lower-cost biotech drug gets thumbs up from FDA panel."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-929fd0b69a57491f9b43f542184d235d",
            "input": "While the story does describe the cost of stenting, it does not provide the cost of the medication for comparison. The story does give the rate of heart attack or death as 19% within 7 years for both the stent and the medication group. Although the study mentions the risk of clotting with drug-coated stents, this is not adequate information on harms. Furthermore, the study does not mention any possible harms of medication. The story adequately describes the design of the current study. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of heart disease. Furthermore, the story clearly states that this study was done on patients at low risk, that is, those with stable heart disease. The story only quotes one cardiologist not associated with the study and gives no rationale for why he was chosen. (Is it because he's in New York and readily available?) The story could have quoted other clinicians or experts who could have provided some valuable perspective on the impact of this new development on the management of heart disease. The story does mention medication as the alternative to stenting. The story clearly states that stenting is very common in the U.S. The story clearly states that stenting is not a new idea. Because the story quotes the lead author of the study and one physician who is not related to the study, the reader can assume the story did not rely on a press release as the sole source of information.",
            "output": [
                "Heart study: Most angioplasties not needed"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3ca7b275d4a44f9b804a0c4860e3f4b1",
            "input": "The Boston Public Health Commission and Mayor Marty Walsh announced the two cases on Wednesday. Officials say both cases have been associated with daycare centers specializing in serving children experiencing homelessness. It is not known if the two cases are connected. The disease is highly infectious and can lead to meningitis, an infection of the brain and spinal cord. According to the commission, the disease is spread through saliva and requires close contact. Any people known to have been in close contact with the children have received antibiotics. The last day either child was at one of the centers was Friday.",
            "output": [
                "2 cases of meningococcal disease detected in Boston."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3c7747419c9647608ffd80d72acba833",
            "input": "California Sen. Kamala Harris, one of three women on the debate stage, said Friday that, “yet again, women’s access to reproductive health care is under full attack,” and that the issue “should have been brought up last night — it wasn’t.” Harris was not the only candidate to note the absence in the Thursday night debate. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke also did so in a tweet, as did South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who said that “when women’s reproductive freedom is under attack ... it’s important we all keep talking about it.” The issue of abortion has emerged as a central topic in the 2020 presidential race. Earlier this year, some Republican-controlled states passed so-called fetal heartbeat bills, which outlaw abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The new restrictions, passed as anti-abortion activists and lawmakers are emboldened by the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, have made support for abortion a key stance for Democratic candidates. While all of the Democrats seeking the presidency support abortion rights, there is debate over how far Democrats should go to combat those new laws and over what they would do if the Supreme Court did overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. “We have moved beyond the point when it’s enough for a candidate to say they are pro-choice,” said Christina Reynolds of EMILY’s List, an organization dedicated to electing women at all levels of government who support abortion rights. “Women deserve to hear from presidential candidates the specific ways in which they will protect Roe v. Wade and our rights. There are real differences in both the records and plans for these candidates and it’s time we discuss it more directly.” A majority of Americans, 57%, say abortion should be legal in at least most cases, while 42% think it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in May. Among Democrats, roughly three-quarters think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That compares with 3 in 10 Republicans. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who abandoned her presidential bid last month, ran as a champion of women and families with a strong emphasis on abortion rights. And the majority of Democratic candidates participated in a health forum hosted by Planned Parenthood in Columbia, South Carolina, in June. Strategists like Amanda Litman, the co-founder of Run for Something and a Hillary Clinton campaign alum, said that the issue is not “siloed” and that abortion will be a “sticking point against Republicans in every single fight.” It was not just questions about reproductive rights that Democratic women noted were missing from the discussion. Valerie Jarrett, who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama through the course of his presidency, said she was disappointed there was no focus on “working family issues,” like paid leave, equal pay and affordable child care, among others. Near the end of the debate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota discussed how she was forced to leave a hospital as a new mother, 24 hours after giving birth, while her daughter remained in intensive care. She said the experience led her to fight for a law to make sure new mothers could have longer stays.",
            "output": [
                "No questions about reproductive rights at Democratic debate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5e4136e05b1a4fae83cfa990b8ccb80e",
            "input": "President George W. Bush speaks about the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit in Sun City Center, Florida May 9, 2006 Medicare spending is increasing at such a fast pace that the president will be required to propose new benefit cuts or higher taxes, trustees for the U.S. senior citizen health care program said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jason Reed  Medicare hospital insurance spending is forecast to exceed  tax revenues for 2008 and all future years and the fund will be  exhausted in 2019, the Medicare trustees said in their annual  report. Last year’s report also predicted the fund would run out of  money in 2019, but the trustees now expect the depletion to  occur somewhat earlier in that year. Trustees for the Social Security retirement benefits system  said their trust fund would be depleted by 2041, unchanged from  a year ago, as lower economic growth projections were offset by  higher assumed rates of immigration. Sounding a familiar refrain, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry  Paulson said the “coming demographic bulge” of the  soon-to-retire baby boom generation jeopardizes both programs’  ability to support older Americans. “Reform is needed and time is of the essence,” Paulson said  in a statement. “The longer we delay, the larger the required  adjustments will be and the more heavily the burden of those  adjustments will fall on future generations.”    The Medicare trustees’ report triggered a “funding warning”  for the second consecutive year because the rate of projected  growth by 2014 will exceed a legal limit. The White House responded to last year’s funding warning in  its fiscal 2009 budget plan by proposing to reduce Medicare  spending by $12.8 billion over five years, drawing sharp  criticism from Democrats in Congress. The latest warning on funding would require the president  to make new proposals for cuts in funding or benefits next year  for the fiscal 2010 budget plan. The report said Medicare could be brought back into  actuarial balance by an immediate 122 percent increase in the  payroll tax or by an immediate 51 percent cut in benefits, or a  combination of the two. Democrats called for efforts to stem the growth of health  care costs through reforms that would lower the price of  prescription drugs and improve preventive    care. Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate  Finance Committee, pledged to “improve Social Security solvency  first without cutting benefits or raising taxes.”    He said this should include closing a $50 billion “gap”  between payroll taxes legally owed and those actually paid. Social Security will start spending more than it takes in  2017, a date unchanged from the last year’s report. The trust  fund’s depletion date is being maintained in the face of a  slowing economy partly due to the impact of higher assumed  immigration, according to the report. For 2009, the Social Security report projects 800,000 to  1.2 million legal immigrants into the United States, compared  with last year’s projections of 675,000 to 1.06 million  immigrants for 2009. The report contains forecasts of real gross domestic  product growth of 2.3 percent for 2008 and 2.8 percent in 2009. This compares with the most recent Bush administration  forecasts of 2.7 percent growth for 2008 and 3.1 percent for  2009. A Treasury official said the trustees use different  forecasts than those used by the White House budget office in  making its semiannual economic growth projections that form the  basis of its federal budget proposal. The report said Social Security could be brought into  actuarial balance over the next 75 years by raising payroll  taxes by 14 percent or reducing benefits by 12 percent, or  combining the two. Paulson failed to gain much traction in discussions with  Congress over the past year for Social Security reforms that  would have included the establishment of private investment  accounts. He called for “bipartisan solutions that will  generate a permanently sustainable Social Security system.”",
            "output": [
                "Medicare spending triggers new funding proposal."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b376878a2af74baab699e21836f53e21",
            "input": "The researchers with the University of Saskatchewan are set to publish their research about the insect-killer imidacloprid in the journal Science on Friday. The insecticide is among a class called neonicotinoids that has been widely studied for its health impacts on bees. The scientists studied white-crowned sparrows that consumed small doses of the pesticide and found that the birds experienced weight loss and delays in migration. Those changes can hinder the birds’ ability to reproduce and survive, and that might be contributing to songbird population declines, said Christy Morrissey, a biology professor at the university and the senior author of the paper. The paper breaks new ground in the study of pesticide effects on birds because it shows a biological link between the chemicals and their population loss, Morrissey said. More than 70 percent of North American farmland birds are showing population declines, she said. “It causatively links a pesticide to something that is really, tangibly negative to birds that is causing their population declines,” Morrissey said. “It’s clear evidence these chemicals can affect populations.” Farmers use imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids — a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine —to control pests that can damage crops. Studies have linked neonicotinoids, and imidacloprid specifically, to decreases in survival of honey bees. The Saskatchewan study shows that the pesticide could be having a major effect in migratory song birds, said Frank Drummond, a University of Maine professor of insect ecology who has studied the impact of neonicotinoids. Drummond, who was not involved in the study, said a major question remains about whether birds are getting exposed to the pesticide during their migration. The researchers conducted their study by capturing and exposing dozens of sparrows to small doses of the pesticide during a stop on their migration in Canada. They measured the birds’ body composition and affixed a radio transmitter when setting them free. They found birds that received higher doses of the pesticide ate less food and lost body mass, which meant they stayed at the migration stopover site longer. Migration is a dangerous time for birds, and the delay could result in exposure to predators and less reproductive success, said Nicole Michel, a senior quantitative ecologist with Audubon. Michel, who was also not involved in the study, said she wouldn’t encourage a ban on neonicotinoids, because that would likely result in more use of other pesticides that could be as harmful or worse. A better outcome would be for farmers to use them more conservatively, she said. “Instead of spraying and treating all these seeds ahead of time, it would be cost efficient to only treat after outbreaks are observed,” she said. The key manufacturer of imidacloprid is agrochemical giant Bayer CropScience. David Fischer, chief scientist for pollinator safety for the company, said the study is solid on a toxicological basis. However, he said it’s not representative of the amount of exposure to the pesticide that birds will experience in the wild. “There’s no support for thinking neonicotinoids are responsible for songbird decline, which they sort of hint at in the study,” he said. ___ Follow Patrick Whittle on Twitter: @pxwhittle",
            "output": [
                "Pesticide criticized in bee deaths could also kill birds."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-72bbf01c0c1c4b62851c042f7d96eb3e",
            "input": "Takeaways from the prime-time event: WARREN, CASTRO LEAD THE WAY Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren dominated the debate’s opening moments, calling for systemic change to the nation’s economy and the end to the private insurance system. Warren was the highest-polling candidate on stage and NBC moderators repeatedly tried to draw her rivals into challenging her liberal policies. But they largely passed on those opportunities, even when Warren was virtually alone in her stance on overhauling the health care industry. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who has struggled for months to break through in the crowded field, asserted himself as a leader on immigration, an issue sure to be at the forefront of the general election campaign against President Donald Trump. He challenged his rivals to join him in rewriting immigration laws so the mere illegal entry into the United States would no longer be a federal crime. The question is whether Warren and Castro’s performances still stand out after night two of the Democratic debate on Thursday, when former Vice President Joe Biden and nine other candidates take the stage. ___ WHOSE ECONOMY IS IT ANYWAY? The debate kicked off with moderator Savannah Guthrie asking Warren if her many ambitious plans — free college, universal child care and health care — would hurt a booming economy. “Who is this economy really working for?” Warren replied. “It’s doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top.” It was soft toss of a question to Warren, and her response was echoed by other Democrats. “Donald Trump just sits in the White House and gloats about what’s going on, when you have so many people that are having trouble affording college and having trouble affording their premiums,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a moderate who declined to swipe at Warren’s ambitious plans. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas slammed Trump’s tax cut as part of “an economy that is rigged to corporations and to the very wealthiest.” And Rep. Tim Ryan, who represents several declining industrial areas in Ohio, said, “This issue we’re talking about has been going on for 40 years.” Only former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland clearly disagreed and said many of Warren’s promises were not realistic. ___ HOW FAR ON IMMIGRATION? No issue in the first Democratic debate showcased the contrast with Trump more than immigration. But the issue also exposed significant rifts among his challengers — namely the two Texans on the stage. Castro took sharp aim at O’Rourke, who has campaigned heavily on border issues, for not proposing decriminalizing illegal migration in his immigration blueprint. Such a step would make a significant change to U.S. immigration law. “If you truly want to change the system, we have to change that section” of federal law, Castro said. O’Rourke said he wanted to keep the provision so authorities could pursue drug and human traffickers. But Castro cut him off, noting there are separate laws that could be used against those crimes, and the entire stage broke down into crosstalk and shouting. Several other contenders — including Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee — have already signed on to Castro’s approach. ___ APPEALS TO DIVERSE BASE The diversity of the modern Democratic Party was on display Wednesday night — three women, one black man and a man of Mexican heritage vying for the presidential nomination. And the candidates made sure they were speaking to the party’s base, which is becoming younger and less white. O’Rourke showed off his fluent Spanish in his opening statement. Booker countered with his Spanish during a discussion of immigration, and also noted that he’s probably the only candidate who lives in a poor, predominantly minority community. (Booker lives in Newark.) Castro spoke in Spanish during his closing statement and talked about saying “adios” to Trump. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio noted he has an African American son as he urged the party to “stop acting like the party of elites.” ___ A NEW DEMOCRATIC BOOGEYMAN? Perhaps the hardest question for Democrats to answer was how the candidates would deal with a Republican. Not Trump, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Republicans have a good chance of still controlling the Senate even if Democrats win the White House in 2020, and it’s unlikely McConnell would allow any of the candidates’ ambitious proposals on government-run health care or green energy to become law. Warren promised she had a plan to deal with McConnell, though it seemed to center on rallying public opinion against him. “We have to push from the outside and lead from the inside,” she said. Booker proposed that the party’s presidential nominee campaign in longshot states like South Carolina in hopes of snaring enough seats to take over the Senate. Inslee suggested eliminating the filibuster — which the president cannot do and which would strengthen McConnell’s hand if the GOP remained in the majority.",
            "output": [
                "Takeaways from the Democratic presidential debate."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-bc85000728c64dc8910362923f39e372",
            "input": "\"Typhoid Mary was a cook. Working at that job made her single-handedly responsible for multiple outbreaks of typhoid fever, in and around New York City, about a century ago. PolitiFact Ohio couldn't help recalling that bit of history recently after reading advice for the flu season from the Centers for Disease Control, which urged sick people to stay home from work and school to avoid the spread of illness. The history was freshened by last week's news that a college cafeteria worker in Indiana had been diagnosed with typhoid fever, and it came to mind when we saw a release from Sen. Sherrod Brown saying that he is co-sponsoring the Healthy Families Act, which is being reintroduced in Congress. Also called the earned sick time initiative, the legislation would allow workers at businesses with 15 or more employees to earn paid sick days. Workers could earn up to one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to a total of seven days. \"\"For far too many Americans, a day home from work means a day without pay,\"\" Brown said. \"\"Some 40 percent of private-sector workers in the U.S. don’t have any paid sick days at all. It’s worse for low-income workers — three in four don’t have any paid sick days available.\"\" We wondered about the numbers. Brown's staff said the source was last year's National Compensation Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its chart for paid leave benefits shows that 61 percent of all workers in the private sector have paid sick days -- meaning about 40 percent don't have them. Among the lowest-paid 25 percent of workers, the chart shows that 29 percent have paid sick days, meaning more than 70 percent don't have them. Among the lowest-paid 10 percent of workers, 18 percent have sick days, so 82 percent do not. (Three in four, the figure used by Brown, is 75 percent.) We found other figures as well:. More than three in four food service and hotel workers (78 percent) don’t have any paid sick days, according to an analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Workers without sick days are more likely to go to work with a contagious illness, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. And a 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick leave helped spread 5 million cases of flu-like illness during the outbreak of 2009. Critics of the sick leave initiative, including the National Association of Independent Businesses, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, say paid sick days add costs to low-margin businesses, are burdensome to business and result in lost jobs. In a recent survey of businesses by the Employment Policies Institute, \"\"Roughly 70 percent of respondents said that Connecticut’s sick leave law was not good for business,\"\" the group said. PolitiFact Ohio is not rating the legislation, however -- only Brown’s statement on the numbers of workers who don’t have access to paid sick days.\"",
            "output": [
                "Three in four low-income workers don’t have any paid sick days available."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ce84aa15d81340b183cd8814c35872a9",
            "input": "The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) hopes a new exhibition opening on Thursday will make sanitation easier to discuss. The show is part of its efforts to help fight diseases causing diarrhea, which kill more children than malaria, HIV/AIDS and measles combined. “People don’t talk about poo enough, and if we don’t talk about poo, how are we going to solve the problem of diarrheal diseases?” asked Val Curtis, director of the LSHTM’s Hygiene Centre. “We want to make shit sexy - make talking about shit possible,” Curtis told AlertNet, a humanitarian news service run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that proper handwashing with soap could prevent 600,000 deaths a year from diseases like diarrhea and respiratory infections. “You’ve got to know your enemy and look your enemy in the face. Some people say it’s not acceptable for academics to go around talking about shit, but it’s not acceptable for 600,000 children to be dying unnecessarily because we don’t talk about shit,” she said. The month-long exhibition, which includes a selection of toilet designs, scientific tools for the study of faeces and a small golden poo sculpture seated on a red cushion, is timed to coincide with Global Handwashing Day on October 15 and World Toilet Day on November 19. The school expects at least 4,000 people to see the show. The poo sculpture is the model for The Golden Poo Award 2012 - the Oscar of the sanitation sector, organized by PooP Creative Ltd and the London Short Film Festival. A film titled “Men, Loos and Number Twos” won the “Number One Award”, and another short film, “Pushing4Change”, won the “Number Two Award”. They are being used in awareness-raising campaigns. “The Golden Poo awards were based around the idea that we wanted to be a little bit shocking and get people thinking about this issue, but do it in an amusing way,” Curtis said. “We gave awards to heroes of sanitation and also to films about poo.”  As well as promoting the LSHTM’s wider efforts to improve hygiene, the exhibition features the composting “Tiger Worm Toilet”, which has a filter layer of worms that digest solid waste, helping break it down and allowing easy odor-free disposal. The toilet doesn’t use very much water - around two liters per flush - so it places less demand on natural water sources and power than conventional septic tank or sewage systems. The LSHTM, a university specializing in public health and tropical medicine, is also researching the human waste found in pit latrines in Africa and Vietnam to help find new ways to dispose of it. It is also looking at human behavior to figure out the best way of getting people to increase handwashing. “If you ask people if they wash their hands with soap, about 90 percent say they do, but actually if you go and measure it - as we have in 20 countries - the average rate of handwashing with soap after going to the toilet is about 17 percent,” Curtis said. The school has its roots in the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases, which was founded in London’s Putney Heath area in 1926. It was named after British doctor Ronald Ross who won a Nobel Prize for his discovery that the female Anopheles mosquito transmits malaria between human beings. The school is now in London’s Bloomsbury district, renowned for its literary heritage. (AlertNet is a humanitarian news website run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation)",
            "output": [
                "\"London sanitation show aims to make \"\"poo\"\" hot topic.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-898da408c0b241f59587a125b4e427ab",
            "input": "On April 18 2020, Tia Barracini published a tweet claiming that the United States accounted for four percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of its deaths from novel coronavirus or COVID-19:Why does the US, with 4% of the world's population, have 25% of the deaths from Coronavirus.It's almost like someone fucked up.— 𝕋𝕚𝕒 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕚 (@TiaBarracini) April 18, 2020That tweet had two layers — one involved specific numbers for the population of the United States and its COVID-19 mortality rate, and another was the opinion that the previous statement was due to government mismanagement of the pandemic. We are looking at the numbers.According to the United States Census, the country’s population was slightly more than 329 million as of April 24 2020, and the world population was roughly 7.6 billion:Using slightly rounded versions of those figures, we estimated the United States at 4.3 percent of the world’s total population:Google and the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) displayed tallies of the number of infections, recoveries, and deaths from COVID-19, both in and outside the United States. When we checked on April 24 2020, the statistics had been updated less than an hour prior:At the time we checked, there had been just under 194,000 deaths from COVID-19 globally:And around 51,209 in the United States:Back to the calculator. Of 194,000, 51,209 was just over 26 percent:By contrast, Italy was also hard-hit by the novel coronavirus. Just under 0.8 percent of the world’s population lives in Italy.As of April 24 2020, more than 25,000 people in Italy had died of COVID-19:That was about 13 percent of global novel coronavirus deaths, against under one percent of the world’s population:A claim that the United States had four percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of its coronavirus deaths was largely true when minor rounding was introduced. But the United States wasn’t the only country to experience a large number of deaths, as Italy was just under one percent of the world’s population and had over 13 percent of total deaths.Comments",
            "output": [
                "The United States accounts for four percent of the world's population, and 25 percent of global COVID-19 deaths."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fd1a15ab56bf48a89766c1a71e9a1c9c",
            "input": "\"Gov. Rick Perry marked the 38th anniversary of what he called \"\"the tragedy\"\" of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision by speaking to fellow abortion opponents at the Jan. 22 Texas Rally for Life outside the Capitol building. Perry said that since the 1973 decision, which established abortion as a constitutional right, \"\"50 million, 50 million children have lost their chances. That is a catastrophic number.\"\" PolitiFact Texas readers asked us to check Perry's statement. But before diving in, we noted two issues with Perry's use of \"\"children\"\" -- a flash point in the political, moral and scientific national debate over abortion. One, abortion rights supporters dispute calling unborn fetuses \"\"children.\"\" Second, an unknown share of the 50 million aborted pregnancies referenced by Perry would not have resulted in live children, due to the natural risk of miscarriages and stillbirths. For our inquiry, we focused on the number of U.S. abortions since Roe was decided. The Roe v. Wade ruling, issued Jan. 22, 1973, struck down a Texas law prohibiting nearly all abortions and held that the right to privacy \"\"is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.\"\" It said states could not prohibit a woman from having an abortion before viability, the time at which a fetus can survive outside a woman's body. It noted that viability \"\"is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.\"\" After fetal viability, the court said, states could limit abortions provided that their policies met certain requirements, including an exception to protect the life of the woman. Since then, other Supreme Court rulings have affirmed states' rights to approve further restrictions. During the early 1960s, every state except Pennsylvania allowed abortions when needed to protect a woman's life, according to a March 2003 article published by the universally respected Guttmacher Institute, which studies and advocates on issues related to reproductive health. At the time Roe was decided, 17 states allowed abortions in certain other situations such as when pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. In 1972, the year before the Roe ruling, about 587,000 legal abortions were reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a 2005 CDC report. And since 1973? Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier pointed us to a January 2010 report from the National Right to Life Committee, a Washington-based group that opposes abortion, that says about 52 million abortions took place from 1973 through 2009. According to the report, the group arrived at the total using figures from the Guttmacher Institute for 1973 through 2005; estimating a number for the next four years; and finally adding 3 percent to account for under-reporting. The National Right to Life publication says 3 percent is the under-reporting rate estimated by Guttmacher. Using a similar methodology, National Right to Life has since updated its numbers. The new report says that more than 53 million abortions took place from 1973 through 2010. Rachel Jones, a senior research associate at Guttmacher, told us the institute doesn't adjust its numbers — which are estimates based on surveys of facilities where abortions are performed, including hospitals and clinics — for under-reporting. She said a 1994 Guttmacher study had found that some small facilities weren't included in the institute's survey, which indicated that the number of abortions in 1992 was actually 3 percent to 4 percent more than reported. Our attempts to reach officials at National Right to Life were unsuccessful. Next, we sought the most up-to-date abortion data from Guttmacher. Spokeswoman Rebecca Wind provided us with a 2011 report that includes annual data on abortions from 1973 through 2008. The total: 49.3 million. We also sought abortion numbers from other sources. Data from the CDC indicate that there were 37.8 million abortions from 1973 through 2006. However, according to the CDC's website, states are not required to report abortion information to the agency, so in some years, the numbers are incomplete. For example, the CDC's 2006 data do not include information on abortions in California, Louisiana or New Hampshire. Representatives of abortion rights organizations Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas told us that the Guttmacher Institute is the best source for this information. Summing up: Perry's statement indicating that there have been 50 million abortions in the United States since 1973 appears to be on target. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that there were 49.3 million abortions in the U.S. through 2008 — 700,000 shy of 50 million. Considering that Guttmacher says there were more than 1 million abortions in both 2007 and 2008, it's reasonable to conclude that the United States has reached the 50 million mark.\"",
            "output": [
                "Rick Perry Says there have been 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade was decided."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5f7685e2b871420a9a6ae27c73cfa335",
            "input": "Jason Wahl, director of the Division of Medical Marijuana, says opening the final dispensary is a milestone for the program. The state has issued more than 1,850 identification cards to qualifying patients, Wahl said. North Dakota is the first in the nation to add an electronic card option for patients, caregivers and agents of dispensaries and manufacturing facilities. Other dispensaries are located in Bismarck, Devils Lake, Fargo, Jamestown, Grand Forks, Minot and Williston. For a qualifying patient or designated caregiver to enter the display area of a dispensary, they must have their registry identification card.",
            "output": [
                "Eighth, final medical marijuana dispensary opening in ND."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-09a995e618004bc598671d689f9a2cfd",
            "input": "Cannabis products are becoming available in Ohio dispensaries over the next few months following delays in rolling out the program last year. Patients need a physician’s recommendation to buy medical marijuana from such dispensaries to treat allowable conditions, which currently include AIDS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, cancer, epilepsy and several other maladies. The medical board on Wednesday reviewed petitions for adding several new conditions and settled on six, which also include general anxiety disorder, depression, insomnia, and opioid addiction. Experts will review these conditions for possible inclusion on the list of allowable treatments. A final decision comes within six months.",
            "output": [
                "State to consider 6 conditions to treat with medical pot."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a7e7053cf7ec4e39bd69a48f03bb8537",
            "input": "“There’s going to be a lot of death,” Trump said at a briefing with reporters. He pushed back on criticism that the federal government has not done enough to get ventilators that many critically ill coronavirus patients need to survive to the states, saying some governors are asking for more machines than they will need. “Fears of shortages have led to inflated requests,” Trump said of submissions his administration has received to dole out equipment from the strategic national stockpile. The United States has the world’s highest number of known cases of COVID-19, the flu-like respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. More than 306,000 people have tested positive in the United States and over 8,300 have died, according to a Reuters tally. White House medical experts have forecast that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could be killed in the pandemic, even if sweeping orders to stay home are followed. “We are coming up to a time that is going to be very horrendous,” Trump said at the White House. “We probably have never seen anything like these kind of numbers. Maybe during the war, during a World War One or Two or something.”  In the grimmest day yet for the U.S. state hit hardest by the pandemic, coronavirus-related illnesses killed 630 people in the last 24 hours in New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday. The disease has now killed 3,565 people in New York and the situation is particularly worrying on Long Island, east of New York City, where the number of cases “is like a fire spreading,” Cuomo told a news conference. Health experts calculate that New York, home both to bustling Manhattan and hilly farm country stretching to the Canadian border, might be around a week away from the worst point in the health crisis which has killed about 60,000 people worldwide. “We’re not yet at the apex, we’re getting closer ... Our reading of the projections is we’re somewhere in the seven-day range,” Cuomo said. “It’s only been 30 days since our first case,” he said. “It feels like an entire lifetime.”      New York City alone accounted for more than a quarter of the U.S. coronavirus deaths tallied by Johns Hopkins University. Hospitals and morgues in the city are struggling to treat the desperately ill and bury the dead. Because of the risk of infection, many people with critically ill relatives in New York City are unable to see their loved ones in their final hours. A resident at New York-Presbyterian hospital said he and his colleagues have made several death notification phone calls every shift this week. “There’s something sort of unquantifiably painful about telling a family their loved one died without letting them see them,” he said. The emergency stockpile of medical equipment maintained by the U.S. government has nearly run out of protective garb for doctors and nurses. Cuomo announced that the Chinese government facilitated a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive at JFK airport on Saturday. “This is a big deal and it’s going to make a significant difference for us,” Cuomo said. The dispatch of the ventilators was a result of a conversation on March 27 between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a source familiar with the discussions said. Almost all Americans are under orders from state and local officials to stay home except for essential outings such as grocery shopping or seeing a doctor. Areas of the country such as Florida and Texas that had been slow to lock down have started practicing social distancing and sheltering at home. “We see what’s going on in New York now, we see that people are dying,” Rick Scott, a U.S. senator from Florida, told Fox News Channel. “People are beginning to understand that the best way that we can slow the spread and actually avoid death is by this stay-at-home standard, going out only for essential services,” Texas governor Greg Abbott told the channel. He was among the last governors to issue a statewide order telling residents to avoid leaving their home. There were still some hold-outs elsewhere, though. Louisiana pastor Tony Spell said he plans to hold three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle megachurch in a suburb of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Palm Sunday this weekend,  defying state orders against assembling in large groups. “We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,” he told Reuters. Louisiana has become a U.S. hot spot for the virus, on Saturday reporting a jump in deaths to 409.",
            "output": [
                "Trump: 'Going to be a lot of death' in U.S. next week from coronavirus."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7dbe1912de014a059db4f532235d82b6",
            "input": "A trader watches the electronic board on the floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange, which closed up 3.08 percent in today's trading in Makati City, Metro Manila November 14, 2008. REUTERS/John Javellana Researchers said a long-term study showed that working more than 11 hours a day increased the risk of heart disease by 67 percent, compared with working a standard 7 to 8 hours a day. They said the findings suggest that information on working hours — used alongside other factors like blood pressure, diabetes and smoking habits — could help doctors work out a patient’s risk of heart disease. However, they also said it was not yet clear whether long working hours themselves contribute to heart disease risk, or whether they act as a “marker” of other factors that can harm heart health — like unhealthy eating habits, a lack of exercise or depression. “This study might make us think twice about the old adage ‘hard work won’t kill you’,” said Stephen Holgate, chair of the population and systems medicine board at Britain’s Medical Research Council, which part-funded the study. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, followed nearly 7,100 British workers for 11 years. “Working long days is associated with a remarkable increase in risk of heart disease,” said Mika Kivimaki of Britain’s University College London, who led the research. He said it may be a “wake-up call for people who overwork themselves.”   “Considering that including a measurement of working hours in a (doctor’s) interview is so simple and useful, our research presents a strong case that it should become standard practice,” he said. Cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes are the world’s largest killers, claiming around 17.1 million lives a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Billions of dollars are spent every year on medical devices and drugs to treat them. The findings of this study support previous research showing a link between working hours and heart disease. But the scientists said hard workers should not necessarily be alarmed about their heart health. “Current evidence on (heart disease) prevention emphasizes the importance of focusing on the total risk, rather than single risk factors,” Kivimaki told Reuters Health in an email. “People who work long hours should be particularly careful in following healthy diets, exercising sufficiently and keeping their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood (sugar) within healthy limits.”   The research used data from a study called Whitehall II which has followed the health and wellbeing of more than 10,000 civil service workers in Britain since 1985. For this study, men and women who worked full time and had no heart disease were selected, giving 7,095 participants. The researchers collected data on heart risk factors like age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and diabetes and also asked participants how many hours they worked — including work during the day and work brought home — on an average weekday. During the 11-year study, 192 participants had heart attacks. Those who worked 11 hours or more a day were 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those with fewer hours.",
            "output": [
                "Working long hours? Watch out for your heart."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7aa594b3976432bb4251cd91c470458",
            "input": "The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there were 47 new infections as of midnight on Sunday compared with 81 recorded a day earlier, taking the national tally to 10,284. The death toll rose by eight to 191, while another 135 people have recovered from the virus for a total of 6,598. South Korea has been bringing the epidemic under control, with about 100 or fewer new daily cases for the past month, but this was the first time the daily tally of new cases was less than 50 since 909 were reported on Feb. 29. In February, South Korea uncovered what was believed to be the biggest outbreak outside of China. But a programme of mass testing and contact tracing helped contain the virus, which has spread far more quickly in other countries. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, held a 25-minute phone call with President Moon Jae-in, praising South Korea’s leadership in containing the virus, Moon’s presidential Blue House said. Moon said in the call that South Korea was “willing to actively support other countries with prevention skills and supplies as the circumstances permit”. Moon said he recently had phone calls with about 20 global leaders. Tedros proposed that Moon help support sub-Saharan African countries with virus-related supplies including test kits, the Blue House said. Despite the encouraging evidence in South Korea, officials have urged even greater vigilance, saying a large epidemic could re-emerge at any time, with smaller outbreaks appearing in churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as among travellers returning from abroad. “We are taking great caution against any optimistic expectations with this one-off figure,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a regular briefing. Click here for an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of coronavirus  On Saturday, the government extended its intensive social distancing campaign by two weeks, citing the sustained small clusters of infections. South Koreans had refrained from socialising in February when the number of cases rose exponentially but more people started going out recently as the weather became warmer and people became weary of the isolation, Kim said. The movement of people spiked about 20% over the weekend compared with the end of February, he said, citing data from the state-run statistics agency and SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile operator. Starting on Sunday, the government toughened penalties for those who violate self-quarantine rules to up to 10 million won ($8,100) in fines or one year in prison from 3 million won  ($2,400) in fines. Authorities have reported several cases of quarantine rules being broken over the past few days. The Gunpo city government south of Seoul said on Sunday it has filed a complaint with police against a couple in their 50s and their children who broke away from isolation and went out even after testing positive for the virus. A Korean student living in the United States sparked public uproar after taking a fever remedy before flying home late last month. The student was found to have contracted the virus, putting some 20 other people who took the same flight in self quarantine. “We cannot maintain social distancing forever,” Kim said. “But it is the most effective measure to help protect others and yourself.”",
            "output": [
                "South Korea reports fewer than 50 new infections, earning WHO praise."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b8e56dda6d3f41b6a99fecbec9c69963",
            "input": "\"Republican House leaders fanned out on the Sunday shows to defend a stop-gap measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security in their ongoing fight against President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration. They did not stray from talking points. TV audiences Sunday heard one specific number several times as hosts pressed the GOP lawmakers to justify the chaos over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. \"\"The president said 22 times, 22 times, that he couldn't do what he eventually did,\"\" House Speaker John Boehner said on CBS’ Face the Nation. Both Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise repeated the \"\"22 times\"\" talking point on NBC’s Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday, respectively. Even Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of 52 Republicans who opposed a three-week funding plan, used the figure to defend his House Freedom Caucus’ actions on CNN’s State of the Union. PolitiFact wanted to see where the number comes from and just how accurate it is. What we’re talking about The controversy stems from Obama’s Nov. 20, 2014, announcement that he would delay deportations of unauthorized immigrants who have lived in the country for more than five years but have children who are citizens or have green cards. More than 4 million people could qualify. An applicant could qualify for a work permit and avoid being deported for three years at a time if he or she can pass a background check and pay a fee. The decision is bound for higher court battles after a Texas federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the action, saying it may have violated procedural rules for using executive power. This action came on top of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012, an executive action to protect \"\"dreamers,\"\" or people brought here illegally as children and have not committed crimes. That move, too, was viewed by critics as an abuse of power, but supporters said it helped provide a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of residents. After Obama’s post-midterm elections announcement on immigration, Boehner’s office unleashed a Buzzfeed-style blog post detailing \"\"22 Times President Obama Said He Couldn’t Ignore or Create His Own Immigration Law.\"\" What’s on Boehner’s list Our PolitiFact Texas colleagues dissected Boehner’s list for similar fact-checks of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the Republican who led the legal challenge of Obama’s actions when he was still attorney general. PolitiFact Texas tracked down each of the citations in Boehner’s post, comparing what they said Obama said with transcripts and news stories. In a nutshell, the majority of the examples are of Obama saying he did not have power to do more on immigration without Congress. Others, as we’ll explain in a moment, say something more nuanced or aren’t specific to immigration. We won’t go through every quote that supports Boehner’s point here, but here are a few we culled from a document created by PolitiFact Texas: In September 2012, Obama was asked if he would follow up his recent protective move for students by doing something similar for non-criminal immigrants such as the parents of U.S.-born children. Obama replied that \"\"as the head of the executive branch, there’s a limit to what I can do… we’re still going to, ultimately, have to change the laws in order to avoid some of the heartbreaking stories that you see coming up occasionally,\"\" as in parents deported. (No. 13 on Boehner’s list.) At a presidential debate in October 2012, Obama and Mitt Romney were asked: \"\"What do you plan on doing with immigrants without their green card that are currently living here as productive members of society?\"\" Obama said: \"\"I've done everything that I can on my own.\"\" (No. 14 on Boehner’s list.) In a January 2013 Telemundo interview, Obama was asked why he couldn’t protect mothers living here without authorization from deportation as he had served law-abiding students. \"\"I’m not a king,\"\" Obama replied, akin to his response the same month to a similar query from Univision. \"\"You know, my job as the head of the executive branch ultimately is to carry out the law. And-- you know, when it comes to enforcement of our immigration laws-- we’ve got some discretion. We can prioritize-- what we do. But we can’t simply ignore the law.\"\" (No. 16 on Boehner’s list.) So clearly there are examples of Obama saying he couldn’t do more with executive action, then later doing exactly that. That’s why PolitiFact previously rated Obama’s claim that \"\"my position hasn’t changed\"\" as False. What should not be counted But also included on Boehner’s list of 22 are quotes where Obama was either suggesting his executive powers did not have hard limits or was silent on his executive power on immigration. Here are a few problems with quotes included on Boehner’s list. In two instances during his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama criticized \"\"signing statements\"\" used by President George W. Bush that interpret laws, but he did not bring up immigration. Immigration was also not part of his reply to a question at a 2010 MTV/BET event when he said, \"\"I can’t simply ignore laws that are out there,\"\" in response to a question about \"\"don’t ask, don’t tell.\"\" (Nos. 1, 2 and 5.) In September 2011, with his deferred-action plan on the horizon, Obama reiterated that he cannot just change laws unilaterally in response to a question about possible administrative relief for students who don’t have legal residency. But he hinted that there might be room within his authority, saying, \"\"what we can do is to prioritize enforcement, since there are limited enforcement resources.\"\" (No. 12 on Boehner’s list.) Obama’s July 2013 Univision interview hit similar notes when he was asked if he could grant amnesty to the undocumented population. He called for a legislative solution and said \"\"probably not,\"\" adding, \"\"I can do some things and have done some things that make a difference in the lives of people by determining how our enforcement should focus.\"\" (No. 18 on Boehner’s list.) In August 2014, Obama told reporters he may \"\"scour our authorities to try to make progress\"\" without congressional cooperation. Obama said, \"\"We’re going to make sure that every time we take one of these steps that we are working within the confines of my executive power. But I promise you the American people don’t want me just standing around twiddling my thumbs and waiting for Congress to get something done.\"\" (No. 22 on Boehner’s list.) Asked why Boehner continues to cite 22 examples, spokesman Michael Steel told PolitiFact \"\"we obviously stand by\"\" the count. Pressed to explain why, he said, \"\"Obviously, we're just going to agree to disagree about the ‘22 times’ figure, which we feel is accurate.\"\" The bigger picture Whether the real number is 22, 15 or something less than that is more complicated by the specifics of Boehner’s claim. Boehner's claim is Obama said he couldn’t do \"\"what he eventually did.\"\" Experts we talked to noted that Obama was not always so specific in the comments Boehner and his team cited. Boehner’s count factors in both instances of Obama talking about how he could not legalize or deport the entire undocumented population as well as more limited executive actions to relieve smaller populations. \"\"It gives me a headache,\"\" said Anna O. Law, a CUNY Brooklyn College political science professor, of the post, \"\"because they’re playing semantics.\"\" Alex Nowrasteh, a Cato Institute immigration analyst, said he did not know what to make of the \"\"very political\"\" claim. Ultimately, much of it depends on your specific interpretation of each quote. Our ruling Boehner said, \"\"The president said 22 times, 22 times, that he couldn't do what he eventually did.\"\" Boehner's broader point -- that Obama said one thing about executive action but did another -- is accurate. But he should refrain from the rhetorical flourish of saying Obama said it 22 times. Clarification: This item was updated on March 2, 2015, to better explain the ruling of a federal judge in Texas.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"On immigration, \"\"the president said 22 times, 22 times, that he couldn't do what he eventually did.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1f8a088aaf2e46969969740bb8c3d8df",
            "input": "In the first sessions of the day, people heard presentations on how activists could work together to push for Medicare for All, a system that would guarantee health care for everyone in the country, including a study on how it to pay the cost. “Only all that we love is on the line,” said Nina Turner, a fellow of the Sanders Institute, who expressed the fervor for universal health care felt by many at the meeting when she helped kicked off the first session. The meeting was held on the shores of Lake Champlain, an area that a half a century ago was grimy and industrial, but has  — in part because of Sanders’ work as mayor of Burlington in the 1980s — been converted into a public park in a vibrant small city with stunning views of New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The event is being hosted by The Sanders Institute, a think-tank formed last year separate from the senator’s political operations that grew out of the ideas generated during his 2016 presidential campaign. The institute and the meeting have attracted a number of high-profile supporters. Hollywood actors Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack and Cynthia Nixon joined intellectuals Cornel West and Simon Sinek. Elected officials such as Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio are also expected at the meeting, which wraps up Saturday. The health care study released Friday morning that looked at Sanders’ 2017 Medicare for All Act. It estimated such a system would save an estimated 9.6 percent over current U.S. health care consumption expenditures, said University of Massachusetts economist Robert Pollin, one of the authors of the study. It estimates people would use an estimated 12 percent under a Medicare for All system. The savings would come from reducing administrative and pharmaceutical costs and establishing uniform Medicare rates for hospitals. Businesses would save about 8 percent of what they currently pay for employee health insurance. The system would need to raise just over $1 trillion in new government income to pay for it. Additional government revenue would come from a 3.75 percent sales tax on non-essential items and other taxes on the wealthiest people in the United States. “The biggest winners are going to be middle-class households,” Pollin said. People at the meeting did not address the prospects of the plan passing in Congress. The meeting comes as the 77-year-old Sanders is considering his political future. Sanders, who lost the 2016 Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, is expected to decide soon whether to launch a second bid for the White House. During a speech Thursday night, Sanders told supporters they had to work harder to convince people of all races, regions and income levels that liberal policies will help them. He also said that there has been a shift in the Democratic establishment which has increasingly embraced his calls for liberal policies such as universal health care and a $15 minimum wage.",
            "output": [
                "Sanders Institute gathering a pep rally for liberal ideas."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-779a93b4a11a42c69e84979337f832d8",
            "input": "People wearing traditional Bavarian clothes toast with beer during the opening day of the 177th Oktoberfest in Munich September 18, 2010. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger German researchers analyzed data from France, Italy, Spain, Britain, The Netherlands, Greece, Germany and Denmark and found 50,400 out of a total of 79,100 cases of certain types of cancers — in including bowel and throat tumors — in 2008 were caused by people drinking more than recommended limits. “Many cancer cases could have been avoided if alcohol consumption was limited to two alcoholic drinks per day in men and one alcoholic drink per day in women, ... the recommendations of many health organizations,” said Madlen Schutze of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who led the study. “And even more cancer cases would be prevented if people reduced their alcohol intake to below recommended guidelines or stopped drinking alcohol at all.”   A standard drink contains about 12 grams of alcohol and is equivalent to one 125 milliliter (ml) glass of wine or a half pint of beer. “Many people just don’t know that drinking alcohol can increase their cancer risk,” said Sara Hiom, director of health information at the charity Cancer Research UK. She noted that in Britain, mouth cancer has become much more common in the last 10 years, and “one reason for this could be because of higher levels of drinking, as this study reflects.”   According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, there is a causal link between alcohol consumption and liver cancer, breast cancer colon or bowel cancer, and cancers of the upper digestive tract such as mouth, throat and oesophageal cancers. The researchers, whose work was published in the British Medical Journal, used data from research known as the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) study in which 363,988 men and women, mostly aged between 35 and 70 when they joined the study, were followed for cancer from the mid-1990s. They calculated that in 2008, alcohol consumption by men was responsible for about 57,600 cases of cancer of the types known to be linked to drinking. More than half of the cases, or 33,000, were due to having more than two drinks a day. Alcohol intake by women in the eight countries caused about 21,500 cases of upper digestive tract, liver, colorectum, and breast cancer, of which more than 80 percent, or 17,400, were due to their having more than one standard drink a day. Manuela Bergmann, who worked with Schutze on the study, said the findings provided solid support for recommended drinking limits and said she hoped more people would stick to them. “It underlines that at the very least, it would be good to stay within the limits,” she said in a telephone interview. “Many people believe it’s only a small group who drink more than the upper limits, but it’s becoming more of a problem because alcohol is cheap and available, so people drink more.”   Estimates from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund published in February said a third of all common cancers in the United States, China and Britain could be prevented each year if people had healthier diets, drank less alcohol and exercised more.",
            "output": [
                "Study shows Europe's alcohol-linked cancer burden."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-4efdfd5a8bc04f0dabf653260c7c3b28",
            "input": "Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 530 cases and seven deaths due to severe lung illnesses. U.S. public health officials have been investigating these illnesses, but have not linked it to any specific e-cigarette product. As of Sept. 24, the confirmed deaths were reported in  California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Oregon, the CDC said. The House of Representatives began public hearings about the illness this week while Massachusetts imposed a four-month ban on sales of all vaping products, including those used for tobacco and marijuana, which is legal in the state. Investigators have, however, pointed to vaping oils containing marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or vitamin E acetate, a substance used in some THC products, as a possible cause of these illnesses. The increased scrutiny also prompted leading e-cigarette maker Juul Labs to suspend all broadcast, print and digital product advertising in the United States and bring in a longtime Altria Group Inc executive as its CEO. Altria owns a 35% stake in Juul. Public health officials have advised consumers to quit vaping and urged those who continue using the devices to avoid buying such products on the street, using marijuana-derived oil with the products or modifying a store-bought vape product.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 12, illnesses climb to 805."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7c6e64d9e7584d7386accbf06acc364d",
            "input": "KIRO-TV reports  the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department noted the child who died there also suffered from underlying health conditions. “Sadly, flu strains currently in circulation this season have hit the young very hard,” said Nigel Turner, division director for the Communicable Disease Control Division. Adrian Pierce told KIRO-7 her grandson Santana Patterson, 12, was diagnosed with influenza at an urgent care clinic, because his doctor was booked up with appointments for flu symptoms. “They said you have the flu, but they caught this flu early,” Patterson said. “I’m going to be OK, because they gave me some medicine and I’m going to be better.” Doctors in Pierce County say a B-strain of the flu virus was the cause of death for the child there, and they say it’s the same strain which also lead to the death of a King County child last week. It was the first child flu-related death there in ten years. “This is the second pediatric influenza death, and we are seeing a lot of influenza in children, which is unusual this time of year and reflects the strain of influenza that we’re seeing in the community this season,” said Turner. Doctors say getting the flu shot should protect you against the new flu strain. They say the vaccine widens the circle of protection for those around you.",
            "output": [
                "Flu blamed for death of another child in Washington state."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7473947fe06e4fa895e5507c6a9cdf35",
            "input": "\"The city of Fort Lauderdale’s latest attempt to regulate outdoor homeless feedings made international news when police nabbed \"\"Chef Arnold\"\" -- a 90-year-old caught in the act of such a public feeding. \"\"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon,\"\" Arnold Abbott said, recalling his early November arrest for the Associated Press. Multiple news reports -- and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report -- recounted the tale of Abbott’s arrest, which reignited a long-running debate about how the city should handle the homeless population downtown and at the beach. On Nov. 5, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler issued a statement in which he said he wanted to \"\"set the record straight\"\" about the city’s services for homeless. He said that the media had misrepresented the facts. \"\"Contrary to reports,\"\" Seiler wrote, \"\"the City of Fort Lauderdale is not banning groups from feeding the homeless.\"\" Seiler said outdoor feeding is legal, but added that a new city law regulates the activity. Then Seiler addressed the situation regarding Abbott: \"\"At two recent outdoor food distributions, citations were rightly issued for non-compliance with the process enacted to ensure public health and safety. Contrary to what was reported in the media, no one was taken into custody. ...\"\" As the public-relations crisis escalated, Seiler gave multiple interviews to the media. On CNN Nov. 11, Seiler said Abbott \"\"was not arrested and taken into custody.\"\" At PolitiFact Florida we agree with Seiler’s goal of setting the record straight. Was Abbott taken into custody? Fort Lauderdale’s laws about the homeless Abbott’s battle with the city has brought notoriety to Seiler, a former state representative who has been mentioned as a future statewide candidate for the Democrats. Seiler faces re-election to a third term in March. So far, no one has filed to run against him. Abbott, who founded an interfaith volunteer organization Love Thy Neighbor to help the homeless, has been battling city leaders for more than a decade. In 1999, the city tried to ban him from holding picnics for the homeless at the beach, offering him an alternative site miles away from downtown. But Abbott prevailed in court when a judge ruled that the city had violated his religious rights and that the city’s new location was too remote. Abbott resumed his feedings and resumed them in visible locations in Stranahan Park in downtown and along the beach. The battle has continued in recent years, with the commission passing a series of laws that attempted to regulate the homeless population, including a ban on soliciting for money at intersections and tougher laws against defecating in public. City officials, including Seiler, have argued that while the homeless should have access to services, including meals, they have heard complaints from some businesses and residents about the homeless population in downtown. Advocates have decried city officials for cracking down on the homeless with a series of laws. At an Oct. 21 meeting, the commission approved the ordinance about outdoor food distribution over the objection of protesters. The ordinance, approved by the Commission 4-1, codified a list of rules for outdoor food distribution, including that sites must be 500 feet away from residential areas, have bathrooms or portable toilets, equipment for hand washing and consent of the owner. The law allows indoor feedings at houses of worship. \"\"You have to balance the interests of everybody in the community,\"\" Seiler told PolitiFact Florida. \"\"What we always try to do is make sure everybody gets to enjoy our parks. Every single thing we have done with the ordinance is a balance.\"\" But while the law itself doesn’t technically ban outdoor feedings, it raises the bar for groups such as Abbott’s in a way that makes it almost impossible to clear. (Abbott argues that the requirement that he get a port-a-potty should be moot since a public restroom is nearby and he says volunteers wash their hands before feedings and use gloves.) At the time of Seiler’s statement, Abbott had three run-ins with law enforcement related to the outdoor feedings: on Oct. 6, Nov. 2 and Nov. 5, police reports show. (The October arrest predated the new ordinance but the city already had a separate law banning social services in the parks.) On the first two occasions, Abbott was given a warning but then continued with the feedings. The third time, Abbott agreed to end the food distribution that day, police reports say. In none of the three instances was he handcuffed or taken to jail. Instead, he was given notices to appear in court. (In one police report, it states that Abbott shook the police officer’s hand before he left.) At least one other person helping with the feedings was also arrested in a similar manner. A city spokesman told PolitiFact Florida that the case stemming from the Nov. 2 arrest has been filed in court. The city has generally avoided referring to Abbott’s case as an \"\"arrest,\"\" but his attorney John David said that just because it’s not a \"\"custodial arrest\"\" doesn’t mean it’s not an arrest. For minor crimes, police use this type of arrest and give defendants notices to appear as long as the person has a connection to the area and is likely to show up in court. Nonetheless, \"\"it's an arrest, no doubt about that,\"\" David said. \"\"He is charged with a criminal offense.\"\" Fort Lauderdale police Capt. Rick Maglione told PolitiFact Florida that \"\"It is similar to a misdemeanor arrest, but we do not have to take the person physically into custody and they can just show up in court and let a judge decide the case.\"\" We interviewed a few criminal defense lawyers in South Florida not involved in the case and they agreed that the police did indeed arrest Abbott. \"\"With all due respect to the mayor, it is an arrest,\"\" said Brian Tannebaum, a Miami criminal defense lawyer. \"\"The fact that someone is not taken into custody does not make it something other than an arrest. Misdemeanor cases are handled with promises to appear all the time. The officer has discretion to take someone into custody, but even if they don't it is still considered an arrest.\"\" City spokesman Chaz Adams told PolitiFact that although a notice to appear is technically an arrest, \"\"the mayor has been consistent in saying that Mr. Abbott was not \"\"arrested and taken into custody.\"\" Abbott faces up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail for each offense. However, lawyers say it’s unlikely that a judge will throw him behind bars. \"\"I can’t imagine anyone putting Arnold in jail,\"\" said Broward public defender Howard Finkelstein. His office is not handling the case, but he has praised Abbott. Abbott’s lawyer filed a motion in Broward court on Nov. 12 that asked a judge to enforce the injunction from the earlier case that allowed Abbott to continue the feedings. The city offered Abbott two alternative sites -- at the city’s aquatic complex near the beach, and at Church by the Sea, located near the beach -- but he rejected both. \"\"I plan to continue my feedings at the same site I have used for the past 23 years,\"\" Abbott told PolitiFact Florida in an email. Seiler says it’s not his call what penalty Abbott faces. \"\"We have to enforce the laws, we have to be consistent,\"\" Seiler told PolitiFact Florida. \"\"What the courts do with Mr. Abbott -- that’s up to the courts.\"\" Seiler has defended his city’s reputation for serving the homeless, which includes working with nonprofits to provide services and allowing the county-run Homeless Assistance center to expand. The city’s police department also has a homeless outreach unit. Fort Lauderdale’s law about feeding the homeless is part of a growing national trend. Since 2007, 71 cities have attempted or enacted some type of rules related to food-sharing activities, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. \"\"The best solution to the food-sharing issue is to have indoor meal programs available to the homeless three times a day, seven days a week,\"\" said Michael Stoops, director of community organizing National Coalition for the Homeless. \"\"If these locations were located conveniently in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, a good number of the homeless would opt to eat inside vs. outside. However, food-sharing with the homeless in public spaces would still be needed.\"\" Our ruling Seiler said that \"\"no one was taken into custody\"\" for feeding the homeless. Seiler is correct that Abbott wasn’t taken into custody -- the activist was not handcuffed or taken to jail but was instead given a notice to appear in court. But his carefully worded claim glosses over the fact that Abbott was indeed arrested on more than one occasion for allegedly feeding the homeless in violation of city ordinances, something that leaves Abbott at least theoretically in peril of being sentenced to jail. Seiler’s claim is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so\"",
            "output": [
                "\"No one was taken into custody\"\" for feeding the homeless.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-46945d04ad354c6b8c886434196c1f60",
            "input": "The YouTube video is real according to an  October 12, 2012 news article by ABC News Nightline. The article said, “Amanda Todd, 15, posted the video called ‘My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm’ on Sept. 7 and was found dead in her home town of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, just over a month later.”    The article also said that Todd had been coaxed by a stranger on the internet to flash her chest via webcam. After about a year of prompting by the stranger she eventually gave in and the events that followed escalated into a teen’s nightmare. A photo of the session was posted on the Internet and someone contact her though Facebook threatening her that if she did not “put on a show” that the photo would be released. The article went on to say, “Over Christmas break, Todd said police came to her house at 4 a.m. to tell her that the photo had been sent to everyone. ‘I then got really sick and got anxiety, major depression and panic disorders,’ she wrote. ‘I then moved and got into drugs and alcohol. '” The cyber-bullies followed her move to a new school in another city and eventually the attacks not only came from the Internet but also from her new classmates who prompted her to find another school. The article said that in the early evening of October 10th law enforcement were called to a home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, “to investigate the sudden death of the tormented teenager.”  Investigators found no evidence of foul play but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have yet to rule her death a suicide. updated 10/15/12 Comments",
            "output": [
                " This is a YouTube video that is circulating the Internet allegedly by a 15 year old girl called Amanda Todd.   She tells how someone on the Internet coaxed her into flashing her chest in a webcam session and how the events that followed led to depression, addiction and her suicide. "
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b968cfa9116844d382afa08f0c843f50",
            "input": "Health department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold on Thursday declined to give the age of the victim or the time or location of the death, citing privacy concerns. According to the department, 166 people in Illinois, ranging in age from 13 to 75 years old, have experienced lung injuries after using e-cigarettes or vaping. Health Department director Dr. Ngozi Ezike says in a statement that more than 80% of the cases in Illinois report recent use of THC-containing products, primarily obtaining them from friends, family members or illegal dealers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 1,888 confirmed and probable vaping cases have been reported in 49 states, with 38 deaths reported in 24 states.",
            "output": [
                "Third Illinois resident dies of vaping-related lung damage."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-822604de3fb84445b93c4450490a92c4",
            "input": "\"State Sen. Doug Whitsett recently took to the Internet to warn Oregonians that the Legislature was within a single vote of passing legislation that he said would have eroded the Second Amendment right to bear arms. We disagreed with Whitsett on the way he described the votes, in another fact check, but he said something else about gun-related homicides and crimes that we thought merited its own analysis: \"\"Unfortunately, too many people are simply unaware of the facts regarding the possession of guns, and the commission of gun related crimes. In fact, most families have been convinced by media reports that gun related crimes are on the increase in America. That simply is not ! Over the past twenty years, the number of homicides committed with a firearm in the United States has decreased by nearly 40 percent. The number of other crimes involving the use of a firearm has also plummeted, declining by nearly 70 percent … … All indicators point to the fact that our society becomes safer as more responsible families own guns.\"\" We’ll be upfront: We have no idea if society is safer as a result of more responsible families owning guns. It’s not certain who owns firearms or how responsible they are. Also, some people would chalk up a decrease in firearm related homicides and crimes to better policing or to a decline in the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, or to other factors. Others would add that we should look at suicide and other statistics to get a fuller picture of how to address firearms policy. For example, more than 30,000 people die from firearms a year, including suicide. There are too many variables and opinions to make a definitive statement on safety and guns and society. But what we can fact check are the statistics Whitsett cites. Has the number of homicides committed with a firearm decreased by nearly 40 percent in the last two decades? Are other crimes involving firearms down nearly 70 percent? The Republican state senator from Klamath Falls said he based his remarks on a Bureau of Justice Statistics report from May 2013, which used statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 11,101 firearm homicides in 2011, down from 18,253 in 1993, according to the BJS report. That is a 39 percent decline. Nonfatal crimes involving firearms declined 69 percent, from more than 1.5 million victims in 1993 to 467,300 victims in 2011. Those numbers back up Whitsett. The Pew Research Center released a separate report in May, also highlighting CDC numbers. It gives the same percentages and offers other calculations that back up the drops, including rates per 100,000 people. The Pew report noted that many Americans are unaware of the declines. The reports do not state definitive reasons for the decreases, but do point out that decreases were much steeper in the 1990s than in the 2000s. Apparently, 1993 was a peak year for homicides and the country has fared better since then. The numbers between 2000 and 2011 have gone up and down. Homicides and other violent crimes involving firearms have declined over the last two decades. Whitsett picked the numbers and years straight from a federal report issued in May, based on CDC statistics. The Pew Research Center, which is nonpartisan, used the same statistics. Readers can argue over what the declines mean, but they can’t take issue with the accuracy of his numbers.\"",
            "output": [
                "Over the past twenty years, the number of homicides committed with a firearm in the United States has decreased by nearly 40 percent. The number of other crimes involving the use of a firearm has also plummeted, declining by nearly 70 percent."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-17de88673bbd45be8b20092084b00434",
            "input": "The cost of MDMA is not mentioned, and likely difficult to forecast. However, the associated therapy is fairly intensive, and it remains to be seen if it would be covered by insurance. Still, a discussion of these potentially significant costs would have been relevant and helpful, even if the story admits they’re largely unknown. We’re told that after two sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy … … a majority of 26 combat veterans and first-responders with chronic PTSD (who had not been helped by traditional methods) saw dramatic decreases in symptoms. The improvements were so dramatic that 68 percent of the patients no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Patients taking the drug also experienced “drastic” improvements in sleep and become more conscientious, according to the study. This is enough to rate Satisfactory, but we think the story needed more details on how the study was designed to help readers understand this result (see evidence quality, below). The article states: Side effects including anxiety, headache, fatigue, muscle tension, and insomnia, were generally minor and limited to the days following the MDMA sessions. Readers might have concerns regarding the long-term consequences of pharmaceutical grade MDMA, but this is unknown. The article does make it clear that the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy model used in the study only involves taking the drug on 2-3 occasions. Also, the article anticipates that some people may (and already do) turn to street sources of MDMA (aka “Ecstasy” or “Molly”) to self medicate. It’s made clear that this could could be dangerous, or even fatal, since street sources can be laced with other psychoactive drugs. In an otherwise comprehensive article, there’s room for improvement here. We’re told a limited amount about the study design; in particular the questionnaire (called “CAPS-IV”) used to measure response in this small group of people. So we have little context with which to understand this outcome: Roughly 2 out of 3 subjects no longer meeting the criteria for PTSD. Also, there’s the issue of the reliability and reproducibility of questionnaires that rely upon the self-reporting of symptoms. Having said that, the article does well to ask: But does it actually work? Large-scale trials, which will include up to 300 participants at 14 sites, may not be able to replicate the success of previous trials, which were limited to a few dozen patients. Lastly, in an editorial that ran in the same issue of the Lancet, the editorialists also make the point that the participants were recruited via the internet and word of mouth, potentially skewing towards those “keen” on trying ecstasy. None. PTSD is fairly common and moderate to severe cases often prove difficult to treat. The unique funding for this project, as well as “who cashes in if MDMA becomes legal” is thoroughly covered and a very nice addition to the article. The lead authors appear to have no financial conflicts of interest, and multiple sources were tapped. The answer is revealing; essentially current interventions — mostly psychotherapy and/or drugs — have been mostly ineffective. It’s made clear that MDMA “is about to enter larger Phase III trials,” the FDA has granted pharmaceutical grade MDMA breakthrough therapy status, and that illegal sources exist but are potentially dangerous. It’s also mentioned that there have already been several other small-scale studies of the drug, and that if MDMA is eventually approved by the FDA it will only be administered by a licensed therapist. We did have one quibble–the story predicts that, if larger studies go well, the drug could be approved for this use “by 2021.” In reality, there’s really no way of knowing what year a drug will get approved. In the section “Is MDMA therapy new?” we learn that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has been both formally, and informally, used in the past. The story did not rely on the news release.",
            "output": [
                "Ecstasy as PTSD Relief for Soldiers: ‘I Was Able to Forgive Myself’"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-2f8a2af7a8aa4232a0a7e0403e7f9420",
            "input": "The family wrote in a statement that Williams has suffered complications from Graves’ disease in the past few days. Treatment is necessary and will include “significant time” in the hospital, according to the family statement provided by show producer and distributor Debmar-Mercury. Williams has a strong desire to return to work but must focus on her “personal and physical well-being,” the family said, adding a request that her privacy be respected. Williams, 54, is married to Kevin Hunter. She is on the mend from another health problem, a shoulder fracture she suffered in December, the statement said. The host revealed the Graves’ disease diagnosis on her show last February, when she announced a three-week hiatus. Graves’ disease leads to the overproduction of thyroid hormones and can cause wide-ranging symptoms and affect overall health. In October 2017, Williams fainted on stage during her show, saying later she became overheated while wearing a bulky Halloween costume. Debmar-Mercury said that it “wholeheartedly” supports Williams’ decision to take the time she needs. She will be welcomed back when she is ready, the company said. Repeats of “The Wendy Williams Show” will air during the week of Jan. 21, to be followed by original episodes with guest hosts.",
            "output": [
                "Wendy Williams to take health-related break from TV show."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-dcd787f1cebe4af49b89769cb0b249b0",
            "input": "\"As part of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, Fulton County hosted a day of awareness events May 27 at the Neighborhood Union Health Center in Vine City. A news release announcing the effort said the following: \"\"Fulton County has successfully reduced the number of pregnancies among 15-19 year olds [sic] in the County. The number of teen pregnancies dropped from 2,608 in the year 2000 to 1,831 in 2006. \"\"In the spirit of the awareness campaign, we at PolitiFact Georgia decided to fact-check Fulton County's news release.Fulton County teen pregnancies are indeed down. Way down. Between 2000 and 2006, the number of pregnancies among Fulton County females age 15 through 19 dropped just as the news release stated -- about 30 percent.In fact, the figures Fulton County published downplay the decrease. Consider its pregnancy rate, a measurement that takes into account changes in population size. When you use this figure, the drop is even more dramatic. In 2000, the rate was 97.1. per 1,000 females in the specified age group. By 2006 it was 58.1 -- a decrease of about 40 percent. But is this truly a \"\"success,\"\" as the news release said? \"\"Success\"\" suggests to us that the decrease is unique or greater than average. For instance, if Fulton teenage pregnancy dropped 30 percent while the state's rate dropped by 90 percent, Fulton's decrease would look more like failure than success. \"\"Success\"\" also implies that county government had something to do with it. The claim was made in a Fulton County news release, after all. To determine whether Fulton's decrease in teen pregnancy is unusual, we looked at county, state and national statistics for females 15 through 19 between 2000 and 2006. Nationally, the pregnancy rate for teens dropped from 48 to 42 per 1,000, or 12.5 percent. Across Georgia, the drop was about 14 percent -- 81.3 to 67.6 per 1,000. For Georgia's nonrural counties, it fell from 79 to 66 per 1,000, or about 16 percent. In the metro area, Clayton County (at 83.4 per 1,000), DeKalb County (at 67.5 per 1,000) and Gwinnett County (at 62.1 per 1,000) all had higher pregnancy rates in 2006. And while Cobb County's pregnancy rate was lower than Fulton's at 51.5 per 1,000, its decrease between 2000 and 2006 was less than half of Fulton's, at about 17 percent.There you go. Fulton County's 40 percent drop was unique. Now, did Fulton County government have anything to do with it? Probably. We interviewed three experts who said it is extremely difficult to measure the exact effect of a community's teen pregnancy prevention efforts. However, it's reasonable to assume that a county that implements programs with a proven record of success has something to do with the drop in the pregnancy rate. Fulton does a share of that work. For years, it has provided pregnancy tests, contraceptives, counseling, health education classes, abstinence-based education, community outreach and five health centers that focus on adolescent health and development. Nongovernment organizations in Fulton do a lot, also. Grady Memorial Hospital, which is located in Fulton County, provides clinical services and outreach. Its clinic saw just under 2,000 teens in 2009. Its educational outreach program reached 3,000 teens. The Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University develops and researches successful sex education methods and disseminates information to teens and professionals. While Grady, the Jane Fonda Center and other resources have likely played a major role in the reduction of teenage pregnancy rates, it's fair to give credit to Fulton County as well.\"",
            "output": [
                "\"Fulton County has successfully reduced the number of pregnancies\"\" among 15- to 19-year-olds.\""
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b10c3904ca534d68a1c96950d6fd3428",
            "input": "New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Obama Cabinet member Julián Castro laid out their plans Tuesday. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar released hers over the weekend. The release of the competing plans comes as issues of climate and the environment have become a central focus of the Democratic primary. On Wednesday, 10 Democrats seeking the White House will participate in back-to-back climate town halls hosted by CNN in New York. A second set of climate-focused town halls will be televised by MSNBC later in the month. Liberals had demanded that the Democratic Party focus at least one debate on climate change, but a climate debate resolution was defeated at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting last month. The issue is so urgent among Democratic voters that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee made action to limit the worst extremes of climate change the core of his presidential bid. But Inslee dropped out of the presidential race in August after failing to earn a spot in the September primary debate. Warren says Inslee’s ideas “should remain at the center of the agenda,” and she met with him in Seattle when she visited the state for a rally before Labor Day, according to two people familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting. Warren’s clean-energy proposal builds on Inslee’s 10-year clean-energy plan in seeking to implement 100% clean-energy standards in three key sectors of the American economy. Warren says she will increase her planned spending on research and investment to cut carbon emissions to $3 trillion. She embraces tough deadlines for sharply cutting or eliminating the use of fossil fuels by the U.S. electrical grid, highways and air transit systems, and by cities and towns. That includes making sure that new cars, buses and many trucks run on clean energy — instead of gasoline or diesel — by 2030 and that all the country’s electricity comes from solar, wind and other renewable, carbon-free sources by 2035. Booker’s $3 trillion plan includes nearly a dozen executive actions to reverse Trump administration moves. He says that by no later than 2045, he wants to get the U.S. economy to carbon neutral — a point at which carbon emissions are supposedly canceled out by carbon-cutting measures, such as planting new forests to suck up carbon from the atmosphere. Booker also urges massive restoration of forests and coastal wetlands as carbon sponges and as buffers against rising seas. He sets a 2030 deadline for getting natural gas and coal out of the electrical grid. He would get there partly by scrapping all subsidies for fossil fuels, banning new oil and gas leases, phasing out fracking and introducing a carbon fee. If elected, Booker says, he will propose legislation creating a “United States Environmental Justice Fund,” which — among its areas of focus — will replace all home, school and day care drinking water lines by the end of his second term. Castro’s $10 trillion plan aims to have all electricity in the United States be clean and renewable by 2035. He wants to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045 and at least a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. And, like Booker, he focuses on environmental racism, in which people of color are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. Castro says that within the first 100 days of his presidency he would propose new legislation to address the impact of environmental discrimination. Among Democrats seeking the presidency, there is little disagreement that climate change is a building disaster. Candidates’ primary differences are over how aggressively the U.S. should move now to cut fossil fuel emissions to stave off the worst of the coming climate extremes. Last month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders toured a California mobile home park ravaged by wildfires as he introduced his $16 trillion plan to fight global warming, the costliest among the Democratic field. His plan declares climate change a national emergency, calls for the United States to eliminate fossil fuel use by 2050 and commits $200 billion to help poorer nations reckon with climate change. Former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed $1.7 trillion in spending over 10 years, on clean energy and other initiatives with the goal of eliminating the country’s net carbon emissions by 2050. Biden has been less absolute than some other Democratic candidates on stamping out consumption of oil, natural gas and coal, calling for eliminating subsidies for the fossil fuels rather than pledging to eliminate all use of them. The relatively minor differences among Democrats on climate change come in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who has dismissed and mocked the science of climate change and has reversed course on U.S. climate policy. Trump made pulling the country out of the Paris climate accord one of his administration’s first priorities, and his wholehearted support of the petroleum and coal industries has been one of the enduring themes of his presidency. Nationally, 72% of Democratic midterm voters said they were very concerned about the effects of climate change, and 20% were somewhat concerned. That’s according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide. ___ Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Democrats release climate plans ahead of town hall spotlight."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ef868e01d5674cb3b5d1c216ed845f12",
            "input": "Mays, speaking to a TV critics’ meeting Friday, pointed to several bottles she had filled with her tap water and challenged the room to taste or even smell it. There were no immediate takers. The activist, who said the battle over water safety continues, is among the residents portrayed in Lifetime’s movie titled “Flint,” debuting Oct. 28. Mays is played by Marin Ireland, who co-stars with Betsy Brandt, Jill Scott and Queen Latifah. Executive producer Neil Meron said the film is intended to spotlight what happened in Flint, including how a united community and “the voice of the people” can force officials to act. Mays said there have been successes, including the outcome of a lawsuit to get half of the service lines replaced, although not the main lines or interior plumbing. “So one of the things we hope come out of this is to let people know it’s still not over. It’s not even close to over,” she said. The movie is intended to honor Flint victims by telling the story “that even in a poor, broken, poisoned town, we banded together, and we fought. We fought, and we win.” In 2014, a switch of Flint’s water source and failure to add corrosion-reducing phosphates allowed lead from old pipes to leach into the water. Elevated levels of lead, a neurotoxin, were detected in children, and 12 people died in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that experts suspect was linked to the improperly treated water. An ongoing investigation has led to charges against 13 current or former government officials, including two managers who Republican Gov. Rick Snyder appointed to run the city. Last January, state officials said Flint’s water system no longer has lead levels exceeding the federal limit. The announcement was promptly met by skepticism from some residents, Mays among them, maintaining the system still contains lead and continues to cause illness. Brandt, the former “Breaking Bad” star who’s a native of Bay City, Michigan, not far from Flint, said the person she portrays, LeeAnne Walters, was among those driven to act when authorities failed to heed complaints about their children becoming ill. “As a mom, it just shakes you, because there’s some things that we just should be able to count on,” Brandt said.",
            "output": [
                "Lifetime movie ‘Flint’ dramatizes city’s water crisis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6118728b83aa4b4bab41c5861c516cce",
            "input": "Even as millions of Americans hunkered down in their homes under strict “stay-at-home” orders, the death toll, as tallied by Reuters, shot up by more than 850 on Tuesday, by far the most for a single day. Nearly half of the new fatalities were in New York state, the epicenter of the pandemic despite closed businesses and deserted streets. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for immediate reinforcements in the country’s biggest city from the Trump administration. “This is the point at which we must be prepared for next week, when we expect a huge increase in the number of cases. What I asked very clearly, last week, was for military medical personnel to be deployed here,” de Blasio said at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, where a field hospital was being hastily built. The sports complex is home to the U.S. Open Tennis Championship, set to begin on Aug. 24. It remains on the calendar despite reports that Wimbledon, the sport’s most prestigious event, is unlikely to go forward as scheduled in June. The U.S. Open and Wimbledon are two of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. De Blasio, a Democrat who last year sought his party’s presidential nomination, said he had asked the White House for an additional 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists and 150 doctors by Sunday. Nearly 3,900 people have already died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in the United States, more than the 2,977 who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The total confirmed U.S. cases rose to 187,000. White House medical experts say 100,000 to 240,000 people could ultimately perish from the respiratory disease in the United States, despite unprecedented orders by state and local governments largely confining Americans to their homes. In addition to the rules issued by at least 30 states, President Donald Trump, reversing course, said this week that most businesses and schools should remain shut at least through the end of April. Trump, speaking at the White House on Tuesday, said the next two weeks would be “very, very painful” for the country. “We want Americans to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We’re going to through a very tough two weeks and then, hopefully, as the experts are predicting ... you’re going to be seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel,” the president said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought hotels, dormitories, convention centers and large open spaces to build as many as 341 temporary hospitals, Lieutenant General Todd Semonite told the ABC News “Good Morning America” program. The corps has already converted New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center into a 1,000-bed hospital. In Los Angeles, the city’s massive convention center was being converted to a federal medical station by the National Guard, Mayor Gil Garcetti said on Twitter. In California, the most populous U.S. state, the number of coronavirus patients has surged over the past few days, with more than 7,600 cases confirmed as of Tuesday and 150 deaths. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said on Tuesday the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile of medical supplies was now empty and the state was “on its own” trying to obtain medical equipment to fight the pandemic. A Dutch cruise ship with confirmed cases of the virus and four fatalities on board sought permission to dock in Florida, even as Governor Ron DeSantis said the state could not afford to take on any additional patients. The pandemic has taken a toll on doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, who are overworked and lack the medical devices and protective gear needed. “The duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference. The governor said his brother, 49-year-old CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, had tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday and would host his nightly show from his basement to avoid infecting family members or others. U.S. coronavirus-related deaths still trail those of Italy and Spain, which have more than 11,000 and 8,000 reported fatalities, respectively. China, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, has reported 3,305. Worldwide, there are now more than 800,000 cases of the highly contagious illness caused by the virus and more than 40,000 deaths reported. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T)     An intensive-care-unit nurse at a major hospital in Manhattan said he had been shocked by the deteriorating condition of young patients with little or no underlying health issues. “A 28-year-old, healthy fellow ICU nurse is currently so sick that he has difficulty walking up a single flight of stairs without gasping for breath,” said the nurse, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.",
            "output": [
                "U.S. death toll spirals amid rush to build field hospitals, find supplies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f2bd101ea10d4631a3d9a672527e9a96",
            "input": "From April 10, 2020, to June 27, 2020, 13 sisters from the same convent in Michigan died from COVID-19, prompting Snopes readers to ask if that particularly concentrated pandemic tragedy was true. Sadly, it is true. Twelve sisters from Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent in Livonia, Michigan, died within 30 days of each other during an outbreak of the coronavirus disease between April 10 and May 10. Another sister died on June 27. Suzanne English, executive director of mission advancement for the Felician Sisters of North America — the congregation that the sisters belonged to — told us in a statement that although not all 13 sisters were tested, their symptoms were “inline with COVID” amid the outbreak at the convent.",
            "output": [
                "Thirteen Felician sisters from one convent died from COVID-19."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-6d1e3db3fe9246648b55670b3ce44e80",
            "input": "Studies declaring health benefits found in cocoa, combined with new chocolate products touting lower fat and calories, have helped manufacturers to capitalize on a growing consumer appetite for these alternative sweets in the United States, the world’s biggest chocolate consumer. Nestle USA says the lower-calorie chocolate line that it launched in 2011 was one of its snack division’s best-ever debuts. A year later, Hershey Co brought out Simple Pleasures, a brand with almost a third less fat than average milk chocolates. The world leading maker of industrial chocolate for retail brand companies, Barry Callebaut, says products with health benefits now make up 5 percent of its sales. Rising demand for these products is increasingly apparent in a recent improvement in the North American cocoa market, where demand slowed throughout much of 2012. A surprising turnaround was seen in the first quarter when “grindings”, the term for processing cocoa beans which is shorthand for commercial demand, rose nearly 6 percent in North America, the biggest annual jump in nearly two years. In Europe and Asia, first quarter grindings tumbled. Also included in the supposedly better-for-you chocolate segment are bars that are gluten- or sugar-free, or that have additives like probiotics to help promote healthy digestion and other possible benefits. Francisco Redruello, Euromonitor International senior industry analyst for foods in London said these “healthier” products are already having an influence on grindings. “There’s really a concern about obesity in the U.S. and this is having an impact on demand for chocolate confectionery,” he said. “So 2012 has seen new concepts, new lines, trying to launch healthier chocolate with low fat.”  The tonnage of reduced fat chocolates sold in the United States jumped 5 percent in 2012, outperforming the overall chocolate confectionary market, according to Euromonitor, an international consumer market research firm. Euromonitor expects U.S. chocolate confectionery retail volume sales will improve and be flat in 2013, and said volume fell roughly 15 percent over the past five years after many companies reduced treat sizes. The United States is the No. 1 chocolate-consuming country, though several European countries consume more per person. About 13 percent of the world’s annual cocoa production, just over 500,000 tonnes, is used for U.S. chocolate candy, according to U.S. Economic Census data analyzed by the National Confectioners Association (NCA). That accounts for two-thirds of total U.S. cocoa consumption. “Today, it is increasingly about consumers weighing not only the costs of goods, but the multitude of benefits they offer as well,” said Todd Hale, a senior vice president, consumer and shopper insights for Nielsen, which provides global consumer information and insights. Nestle USA, a subsidiary of Nestle SA, expanded on its low-fat Skinny Cow frozen snack line with Skinny Cow Candy in 2011. In March, it added Divine Filled Chocolates to their line: 130-calorie pouches of three chocolate candies. Tricia Bowles, communications manager for Nestle Confections & Snacks, Nestle USA, said this was one of the most successful new product launches in her 20 years with the division. “We do not view these products as being healthy but fantastic alternatives to what you might eat when we all know we love chocolate,” Bowles said. Hershey states that its Simple Pleasures line contains 30 percent less fat than the average leading milk chocolates. Swiss-based Barry Callebaut, which manufactures chocolate for large food companies like Hershey Co, Mondelez, Unilever, as well as bakeries and others, has also noticed the shift, said spokesman Raphael Wermuth. Wermuth said the company sees rising demand for chocolates with “health benefits”, such as chocolates with high flavonol content, which scientists have found to positively impact brain performance. Other chocolates that fall into this category include those with less fat or that are sweetened with refined sugar alternatives such as stevia. Meanwhile, a recent study by global market research provider Mintel showed U.S. consumer preferences shifted away from milk chocolate toward dark chocolate, which is considered to have more health benefits. Milk chocolate is still favored overall, and while Simple Pleasures and Skinny Cow have a small following among the diet conscious, they will remain a tiny niche. “In general, people don’t eat chocolate to feel well, they eat it to feel good,” said Marcia Mogelonsky, director of Innovation and Insight at Mintel. “The last thing on most chocolate eaters’ minds is health.”",
            "output": [
                "'Healthier' chocolates gives U.S. cocoa demand a shot in the arm."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-23c45778280c4bbfa7b3d17ccc29e276",
            "input": "Thanks to her oft-aired opinion that homosexuals were a “mistake of nature,” radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger became one of the targets of pro-gay sympathies looking for someone to shake a finger at in the late 1990s. Dr. Schlessinger attracted both adherents and detractors during her years of public life. Through her radio show, she dispenses advice to callers, usually from a conservative point of view. She was an Orthodox Jew at the time the letter quoted above was written (but she announced her renunciation of that faith on her show in July 2003) and often draws upon the Bible or religious teachings for guidance. She is blunt and forthright in her replies, viewing most situations as inherently black or white, right or wrong. Laura Schlessinger is neither a medical doctor nor accredited in a discipline one would traditionally look to for the dispensing of expertise in moral, societal, or spiritual matters (such as divinity, psychology, or sociology). She earned her doctorate in physiology from Columbia University and practiced as a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor for more than a decade (although her California Marriage Family and Child Counseling license has been inactive for many years now). In 1998 nude photos of Laura Schlessinger were published on the Internet. During the commotion over those pictures, their source was revealed  to be veteran Los Angeles radio broadcaster Bill Ballance, a man who was pivotal in getting Schlessinger her start in radio. Ballance claimed he photographed her in 1978, while the pair of them were having an affair during Schlessinger’s first marriage. Some critics considered Schlessinger’s use of the title “Doctor” to be misleading and viewed her stance on the sanctity of marriage and the wrongness of adultery as hypocrisy in light of her decades-earlier affair. Others maintained the title of “Doctor” should not be restricted only to those in the medical field and held that people could change over time, even to the point of full repudiation of previous behaviors and beliefs. In 2000 the state of Vermont permitted homosexual couples to contract “civil unions,” an official recognition that imparted to same-sex partners the legal benefits of marriage, such as the right to be regarded by hospitals as their partners’ next of kin, to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners, and to file joint tax returns. This “everything that is marriage but the name” decision pleased some and angered others, resulting in many heated opinions about same-sex unions in specific, and homosexuality in general, to be bruited in countless public forums. Those looking for someone to crow at over Vermont’s recognition of same-sex unions quickly thought of Dr. Laura. As a counter to the “homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so” argument Dr. Laura frequently offered, Kent Ashcraft penned and sent her a letter that became an Internet-circulated piece after its author e-mailed a copy to one friend whom he thought would find it amusing. She in turn forwarded the item to several of her friends, and the letter went viral within a couple of weeks:  Dear Dr. Laura, Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them. a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them? b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense. d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians? e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself? f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here? h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die? i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging. Your devoted disciple and adoring fan. While some online versions  identified James M. Kauffman as the author of the piece, that gentleman denied authorship of it. In August 2003 a journalist for the Halifax Daily News presented the “Dr. Laura letter” as her own writing. For representing the piece in her column as her own by signing it “Yours truly, Jane,” reporter Jane Kansas was fired from that publication. (Her version also changed “Dear Dr. Laura” to “Dear Holy Father” and added some local references.) This piece struck a note with many people, and by June and July of 2000 it had made its way into a number of newspapers, including the Knoxville News-Sentinel (7 June), Seattle Weekly (8 June), OC Weekly (9 June), The [Syracuse] Post-Standard (11 June), [Madison] Capital Times (13 July), and the Modesto Bee (22 July). Most often the letter was acknowledged as an interesting item gleaned from the Internet, but in a few cases the readers who sent it to newspapers presented it as their own words. The key to this essay was its premise, not the pedantic details of it of how it was defended. Simply put, the letter pointed out a logical flaw in the “homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so” argument: if homosexuality is wrong because it goes against God’s law as outlined in the Bible, why aren’t any number of activities now viewed as innocuous but proscribed as unacceptable in the Bible also offenses against God’s law? How can one part of Leviticus be deemed as etched in stone when other parts have been discarded as archaic? The essay completed with the sarcastic rejoinder “Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.” While this sign-off was presented as a rebuke meant for just one person, it was a general reminder that many belief systems pick and choose their way through biblical teachings in determining what is right and what is wrong, with those assessments changing over time even within sects that pride themselves on strict adherence to the Bible. In early October 2000, Dr. Schlessinger ran a full-page ad in Variety offering an apology for what she called “poorly chosen” words about homosexuality. She had previously referred to gays as “biological errors” and “deviants,” as exemplified by her remarks of 8 December 1998:   I’m sorry — hear it one more time, perfectly clearly: If you’re gay or a lesbian, it’s a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex. The fact that you are intelligent, creative and valuable is all true. The error is in your inability to relate sexually intimately, in a loving way to a member of the opposite sex — it is a biological error. October 2000 was not Dr. Laura’s month. A few weeks after she issued her apology, a version of the “Letter to Dr. Laura” was incorporated into the 18 October episode of the political television drama The West Wing. In “The Midterms,” President Bartlet used his own detailed knowledge of the Bible to make a Schlessinger-esque character named Jenna Jacobs look ridiculous. Kent Ashcraft, the author of the Dr. Laura letter, received a modest sum from Lorimar Productions in payment for their use of parts of his letter in that episode):  Just as the Internet piece gave the West Wing writers fodder for a memorable scene, so did the exposure on a popular television show boost the online circulation of the “Letter to Dr. Laura.” Similarly, a 2004 brouhaha over gay marriage sparked a renewal of this e-missive, causing it to once again be flung from inbox to inbox.",
            "output": [
                "A letter highlighting fallacies in Biblical anti-homosexuality arguments was sent to radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fe6db266505f420db914055dc0ab174d",
            "input": "The four-page letter, the contents of which were confirmed by U.S. officials to Reuters on Tuesday, described a bleak situation onboard the nuclear-powered carrier as more sailors test positive for the virus. The Navy puts the ship’s complement at 5,000, the equivalent of a small American town. The letter was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Captain Brett Crozier, the ship’s commanding officer, wrote that the carrier lacked enough quarantine and isolation facilities and warned the current strategy would slow but fail to eradicate the highly contagious respiratory virus. In the letter dated Monday, he called for “decisive action” and removing over 4,000 sailors from the ship and isolating them. Along with the ship’s crew, naval aviators and others serve aboard the Roosevelt. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset - our sailors,” Crozier wrote. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that nearly 80 people aboard the ship had tested positive for the coronavirus, a number likely to increase as all personnel on the ship are tested. Still, the Navy declined to confirm exactly how many people aboard the Roosevelt had been infected  The carrier was in the Pacific when the Navy reported its first coronavirus case a week ago. It has since pulled into port in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the western Pacific. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday it was not time to evacuate the carrier, adding he had not read the letter in detail. In an interview with CBS News, Esper did not comment directly on Crozier’s proposal, at least in the portions that aired. Asked if it was time to evacuate the carrier, Esper said: “I don’t think we’re at that point.”  Admiral John Aquilino, head of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet, told reporters that the plan was to take some sailors off the ship, test and quarantine them, clean the ship and then rotate them with those on the carrier. He said that there would be some sailors who would be in quarantine and isolation on the vessel. Asked if he was following what the ship’s captain wanted to do, but was not able to do it at the pace the commanding officer wanted, Aquilino said: “That is absolutely the case.”  Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said he had heard about the letter on Tuesday morning and that the Navy had been working for several days to get the sailors off the ship in Guam. Modly said Guam did not have enough beds and the Navy was in talks with the local government to use hotels and set up tents. “We don’t disagree with the (commanding officer) on that ship, and we’re doing it in a very methodical way because it’s not the same as a cruise ship ... that ship has armaments on it, it has aircraft on it,” he said on CNN. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. military had decided it would stop providing some of the more mission-specific data about coronavirus infections within its ranks, citing concern  the information might be used by adversaries as the virus spreads. The Roosevelt is just the latest example of the spread of the virus within the U.S. military. Navy officials say that sailors onboard a number of ships have tested positive,  including an amphibious assault ship at port in San Diego. The first U.S. military service member, a New Jersey Army National Guardsman, died on Saturday from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the Pentagon said on Monday. As of Tuesday, 673 active-duty service members had tested positive for the coronavirus, an increase of more than 100 from the previous day, the Pentagon said in a statement.",
            "output": [
                "'Sailors do not need to die,' warns captain of coronavirus-hit U.S. aircraft carrier."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-cd5342277c5c468d9ddf2152814aeca2",
            "input": "U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, says the Office of Management and Budget approved the study of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, known as PFAs, at New Hampshire’s Pease International Tradeport. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will begin the study this fall. The Air Force has spent almost $58 million to address the contamination that came from firefighting foam. The chemicals, which studies have linked to a range of health problems including thyroid disease and testicular and kidney cancer, were found in the tradeport’s drinking water.",
            "output": [
                "Health study related to chemical at Pease will go ahead."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-1aa6cc3da5a141d983d39a145a6a3dc8",
            "input": "The vaccine uses an inactivated whole H5N1 virus from Vietnam, said an official for Sinovac Biotech, which jointly developed the vaccine with China’s Centers for Disease Control. “We finished our second trial in November. We checked our 402 participants for antibodies and they met international standards used in the United States and the European Union both for safety and immune response,” Sinovac’s publicity supervisor Liu Peicheng told Reuters by telephone. China’s State Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it had authorized production of the vaccine. The vaccine was used in amounts of 5, 10 and 15 micrograms but the 10 microgram dose was found to be ideal. “The 10 and 15 microgram doses met standards but we decided on 10 as it’s good enough. It would use less antigen,” said Liu. Antigens are substances like toxins, viruses and bacteria that stimulate the production of antibodies when introduced into the body. But they can be difficult to culture and scientists have been trying to fix that by using boosters, or adjuvants. Participants in the Chinese trial were between the ages of 18 and 60. Liu said only some minor side effects were recorded, in line with those sometimes seen with seasonal flu vaccines. He did not elaborate. For years now, experts have warned of a flu pandemic and many have held up the H5N1 virus as a prime candidate because people have no immunity against this bird virus, and because of the high mortality rate associated with it so far. The virus has infected 376 people in 14 countries since late 2003 and killed 238 of them, or 63 percent. An eventual vaccine to protect people against a flu pandemic can only be made 4-6 months after the start of such a disaster, when the culprit virus strain has been identified. But human populations still need some form of protection in those initial months of a pandemic, and drug companies are in a race to design what are known as “prepandemic” vaccines, which is what Sinovac is producing now. The company is conducting tests to see if the vaccine may offer cross protection against other strains of the virus found in Indonesia, Turkey and Anhui province in China, Liu said. “This vaccine is reserved for emergencies in the country and we have to get instructions on how much to produce,” he added. On March 2, GlaxoSmithKline company said a vaccine it designed to protect people against H5N1 may be effective in warding off a few different sub-types of the virus.",
            "output": [
                "China approves bird flu vaccine for humans."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-df6f06847eeb48e880479dc1ac881ee8",
            "input": "Newman’s son, Adam, said his mother died Sunday of complications in New York from a longtime lung disorder. Newman won the 1962 Tony for best supporting actress in the musical “Subways Are for Sleeping,” where her costume consisted of a bath towel and which had lyrics co-written by her late husband, Adolph Green. She earned a second Tony Award nomination in 1987 for her performance in the Neil Simon play “Broadway Bound.” She played Aunt Blanche in the Neil Simon play, then began a brief role in the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live.” “I was supposed to do just five episodes of ‘One Life to Live,’” she told The Associated Press in 1988. “I played Renee Devine, an ex-madame from Las Vegas who dressed to kill. The character just took off.” Her other Broadway credits include “On the Town,” ″Awake and Sing!” and “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.” She was standby for Judy Holiday in “Bells Are Ringing” and replaced Barbara Harris in “The Apple Tree.” Her television credits include starring opposite Alan Arkin in “100 Centre Street,” ″Oz,” ”″Coming of Age,” ″Murder, She Wrote,” ″thirtysomething” and “The Jury.” She was the first woman to be a guest host for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” Her films include “The Human Stain,” ″It Had To Be You,” ″For the Time Being, “A Price Above Rubies,” ″The Beautician and the Beast,” ″Mannequin,” ″To Find a Man” and “Bye Bye Braverman.” In later years she focused on fundraising and founded the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative of the Actor’s Fund in 1996. Her work earned her the 2009 Isabelle Stevenson Award from the Tony Awards. She also hosted the annual benefit Breathless on Broadway to raise money for research to combat the lung disease pulmonary hypertension. She started writing her autobiography, “Just in Time: Notes From My Life” after being diagnosed with breast cancer. “I started writing it because I didn’t want to talk about it. Not that it was a secret. After I had 50 pages down, Simon & Schuster bought it,” she said in 1988. “Betty Ford was an example for me in talking about my illness. I’m getting some very terrific letters from women about it.” Newman underwent one mastectomy and then had to have her second breast removed. She described it as “no way to treat a lady.” Soon after her recovery she went back to work, first in a one-woman show, “The Madwoman of Central Park West” — which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents — then in “Broadway Bound.” In addition to her journalist son, Newman is survived by her daughter Amanda, a Tony-nominated songwriter.",
            "output": [
                "Tony-winner and women’s health advocate Phyllis Newman dies."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0e81f95de2c948f4b3bb62d690738ee1",
            "input": "Forensic recovery teams sifting through the charred wreckage recovered the remains of five more victims, bringing the death toll to at least 76, authorities said. Sixty-three of them have been tentatively identified, pending DNA confirmation. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said much of the increase in the number of missing was due to his office’s efforts to comb through a backlog of emergency calls that came in during the first hours of the fire on Nov. 8. He said officials were sifting through the list of missing persons for duplications and people who fled. Some 380 people had been located and taken off the list since Friday, he said. “A lot of progress is being made with regard to that, but this is still raw data,” Honea told a news conference. The sheriff spoke after President Donald Trump visited Paradise, the small community that was home to nearly 27,000 people in the Sierra foothills, 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, before being all but consumed by the blaze. “Nobody could have thought this would ever happen,” Trump told reporters amid the charred wreckage of the town’s Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park. “This is very sad to see. As far as the lives are concerned, nobody knows quite yet,” Trump said. “Right now we want to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.”  Trump was flanked by California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom. Brown said the federal government was doing what it needed to do, including supporting first responders and helping with clean-up and search for victims. The disaster already ranks among the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the turn of the last century. Eighty-seven people perished in the Big Burn firestorm that swept the Northern Rockies in August 1910. Minnesota’s Cloquet Fire in October 1918 killed 450 people. Trump has blamed the recent spate of fires on forest mismanagement, and he said he discussed the issue with Brown and Newsom on the ride into Paradise. Asked whether the scenes of devastation had changed his view on climate change, Trump said: “No. I have a strong opinion. I want great climate and we’re going to have that and we’re going to have forests that are very safe.”  Authorities attribute the high death toll from the blaze - dubbed “Camp Fire” - partly to the speed with which flames raced through the town with little warning, driven by howling winds and fueled by drought-desiccated scrub and trees. More than a week later, firefighters have managed to carve containment lines around 55 percent of the blaze’s perimeter. Besides the toll on human life, property losses from the blaze make it the most destructive in California history, posing the additional challenge of providing long-term shelter for many thousands of displaced residents. With more than 12,700 homes and other structures up in smoke, many refugees have taken up temporary residence with friends and family, while others have pitched tents or were living out of their vehicles. Hundreds of evacuees were being housed in 14 emergency shelters set up in churches, schools and community centers around the region, with more than 46,000 people remaining under evacuation orders, authorities said. Several shelters are full and although authorities say they still have space for everyone, hundreds of people have been camping in tents and cars in the area. The names were being compiled from information received from a special hotline, along with email reports and a review of emergency 911 calls that came in on the first night of the fire, Honea said. Some listed have likely survived but not yet notified family or authorities. Others may not have been immediately listed because of delays in reporting them. Honea bristled at a Friday press conference when asked whether many of those listed, more than a week after the disaster, were expected at this point to end up either deceased or declared missing and presumed dead. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for any of us to sit and speculate about what the future holds,” he said. The sheriff on Saturday emphasized that authorities were largely relying on the public’s cooperation to determine who on the list of missing persons is alive. “I want to tell people that it’s really very important for you to take a look at the list and call us if you’re on the list and let us know.”   Weather conditions have since turned more in the firefighters’ favor, though strong, gusty winds and lower humidity were expected through early Sunday ahead of rain forecast for mid-week. The outbreak of Camp Fire coincided with a series of smaller blazes in Southern California, most notably the Woolsey Fire, which is linked to three fatalities near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles. Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires in California and elsewhere across the West are largely attributable to prolonged drought that is symptomatic of climate change. The precise causes of the Camp and Woolsey Fires were under investigation, but electric utilities have reported equipment problems in the vicinity of both blazes around the time they erupted.",
            "output": [
                "Search on for 1,276 now missing after California's deadliest wildfire."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-ba6d03e013034fcda2e10ae00f727f66",
            "input": "On December 16 2019, social media accounts affiliated with the United States military put up the following image with a post attached to it commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge:The photograph showed a Nazi war criminal, SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper. The image was attached to a post that appeared to be retelling the story of the Battle of the Bulge — but from Peiper’s perspective:DECEMBER 16, 1944: “TODAY WE GAMBLE EVERYTHING” He paused at his desk. He hated to be alone with his thoughts, with the feeling of uncertainty he’d been trying to avoid for weeks. There was an atmosphere of heaviness. This was the way he always thought the end of the world would feel. The others were confident. They believed in der Führer. They believed in their Soldiers. Not him. He picked up the pen. “Today we gamble everything.” He wrote. “If this does not work, we are doomed.” He put down his diary. It was time. ********** 75 years ago today, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper knew that his German forces were running out of weapons, out of men, and out of ammunition. He also knew that the Soviets, the Americans, and the British could continue fighting for months. Five years after Germany began a war in Europe by invading Poland, this surprise western counteroffensive Peiper was set to launch was the only hope for the survival of Nazi Germany. The mission was called “Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein” (“Operation Watch on the Rhine”), and Joachim would lead it. The fate of his beloved nation rested on his ability to lead his men through the American lines. Joachim knew he had an advantage: the ferocious American airborne divisions – the 82nd, the 17th and the 101st, now consolidated under General Matthew Ridgway as the XVIII Airborne Corps – were out of the fight, resting in Wiltshire, England and Reims, France. He also knew that he would attack into the Ardennes region of Belgium at the weakest point of the Allied line, against American forces with little combat experience. The weather would help: daylight was shortest and the fog and snow would limit Allied air support. The moment had it arrived. It was the morning of December 16th, the time Adolf Hitler designated for the start of the attack. There was nothing left to do but give the order. “Forward to and over the Meuse!” Thus began the most critical moment in this Corps’ history. ********* While Joachim Peiper began his push, our heroes, the Soldiers of the XVIII Airborne, were hundreds of miles away, in a group of training camps. That morning they slept, unaware that the die of war had been cast. At approximately 4:30 on the morning of December 16th, the men of the XVIII Airborne Corps unknowingly became actors in a tragedy that would be told for the next 75 years. *******This post is the first in a series that will tell the entire story of the Battle of the Bulge through January 22nd.Reaction on social media was swift and puzzled by the decision to begin the series from the perspective of the notorious SS-Standartenführer and, later, convicted war criminal for his role in the Malmedy Massacre, which incidentally, was mentioned nowhere in the original posts:I am dumbfounded by the decision to prominently display a Nazi on military social media on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. pic.twitter.com/Do0mB7Guvj— Brian Fickel (@USArmyPAO) December 16, 2019The Malmedy Massacre took place on December 17 1944, when Waffen SS soldiers shot and killed 84 American prisoners of war. Survivor Ted Paluch recalled the day in a 2007 article:Having dismounted the vehicles and taking cover in ditches alongside the road, Paluch recognized the troops as members of the vaunted SS by the distinctive skull and crossbones and lightning insignia on their collars. They represented the advance units of the 1st SS Panzer Division, known as Kampfgruppe (Attack Group) Peiper, after their leader, SS Lt. Col. Joachim Peiper, a highly decorated veteran of campaigns in France and Russia. […]Along with members of his unit and others caught off-guard at the crossroads, the group of prisoners was herded into a field at the crossroads to await their fate. They had no warning of what would transpire next.“Then one command car came up and took a couple shots, and every tank and halftrack that came around the corner shot into the group,” he said. “I was real lucky, as I was in the front end and only got hit slightly, but I think when they came around they fired into the center of the group.”Pausing to catch his breath, he glanced over his shoulder and hesitated, almost as if reliving the moment in slow motion, before beginning again.“This was their front line over here at one of these houses, and then anyone that moaned, they came around and they shot. I played dead and just lay there,” he said.Paluch and some of the other survivors, hearts racing, many wounded, listened motionless as the sound of a large German mechanized column sped past. After what seemed an eternity, but from survivor reports was probably more like an hour or two, “all the trucks and halftracks passed and it was a little quiet,” Paluch recalled, his profound relief still evident after the lapse of 63 years.“I didn’t know where they were headed, they didn’t tell me, and I just wanted to know how to get out of there,” he smiled.It was about 4:30 p.m. and starting to get dark. With the noise of the column fading in the ears of the survivors who lay in the field among their dead and dying comrades, many leapt to their feet and raced for the tree line. As survivors sprinted for cover, a number were engaged by German infantry still stationed in the vicinity of the crossroads, killing at least 10.After the end of World War II, the United States Army put 74 of the SS men on trial. All of the defendants were convicted and received sentences of either death or life in prison. However, there were attempts to discredit and overturn their convictions early on, as detailed in a 1949 investigation and subsequent report that was spurred by charges of unfair conduct by the prosecution:Through competent testimony submitted to the subcommittee, it appeared that there are strong reasons to believe that groups within Germany are taking advantage of the understandable efforts of the church and the defense attorneys as well as in other ways to discredit the American occupation forces in general. One ready avenue of approach has been through the attacks on the war-crimes trials in general and the Malmedy case in particular. The subcommittee is convinced that there is an organized effort being made to revive the nationalistic spirit in Germany through every means possible. There is evidence that at least a part of this effort is attempting to establish a close liaison with Communist Russia. These matters, of course, must be judged against the back drop of the current situation in Europe and their probable effect in the event of a war involving Russia and the United States. Everything done to weaken the prestige of the United States and our occupation policies will play an important part in any emergency.Many of the convicted in the various war crimes are former prominent Nazis, both civilian and military. In the Malmedy case alone there are three German generals, one an outstanding SS general, as well as officers of lesser rank who were excellent combat leaders. The desire of their former compatriots to have such persons released is undoubted. The implications are so serious that they cannot be disregarded by our country. In the event of the withdrawal of the American occupation forces, it is quite probable that there would be efforts made to have a general amnesty program to release these former Nazis and SS officers. That in itself is a most important consideration; but, in the event there is a larger plan to associate such individuals with the Communist forces of Europe, the problem is greatly aggravated. The subcommittee believes that such a situation presents dangerous possibilities.These early efforts to delegitimize and cast doubt on the trials was successful; by 1957, every convicted man had been released. Historian Steven Remy researched how successful those efforts were for his 2017 book, The Malmedy Massacre: The War Crimes Trial Controversy, noting the relevance of the disinformation around the trials to the “fake news” that has become a touchstone of the post-2016 world:Q: While you were certainly careful to resist that presentist impulse and let the story of the massacre and its aftermath unfold on its own terms, you also clearly highlight some ways in which The Malmedy Massacre can help us to understand aspects of contemporary political life. Do you worry at all that the resonance of the “fake news” phenomenon could obscure the particular contemporary relevance you had in mind?A. Not at all. I wrote The Malmedy Massacre because I had become fascinated by the post-trial controversy. The present moment was also very much on my mind. I believed we needed a more historically informed debate about both interrogation methods and military courts. Another purpose was to contribute to what I would call the “untangling” of modern German history. For several decades now, German, North American, and Israeli scholars have—often in the face of considerable resistance—revealed the extent to which our understanding of Nazi Germany has been shaped by former Nazis and their sympathizers. Yet another aim was to call attention to a strain of German and American anti-Semitism that became the lifeblood of the Malmedy case controversy.It has been encouraging to read thoughtful responses to the book—most recently by Gabriel Schoenfeld and Lawrence Douglas in The Weekly Standard and Foreign Affairs, respectively—that have engaged with these themes while also pointing out how the media generated a blizzard of fake news and how a small number of conscientious Army officials, Senators, intelligence operatives, and civil servants responded with diligence and honesty.The misdirection and propaganda has persisted among some known disinformation purveyors, however. Disgraced Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly has long pushed alternate versions of what happened at Malmedy, getting the circumstances completely reversed:In Malmedy, as you know, U.S. forces captured SS forces who had their hands in the air, and they were unarmed, and they shot them down. You know that. That’s on the record, been documented. In Iwo Jima, the same thing occurred. Japanese attempted to surrender, and they were burned in their caves.The social media posts were quickly taken down without explanation, but not before a discussion on the Department of Defense’s Facebook page turned to defending the decision:These posts have been deleted. What you missed was a comment thread with people defending Nazi soldiers and an Army acct arguing that the story of the Battle of the Bulge had to start with the German perspective. https://t.co/gVT4jrE9bG— Andrew Dyer (@SDUTdyer) December 17, 2019We have contacted the U.S. Department of Defense for more and will update this story with their response.",
            "output": [
                "The United States Department of Defense posted a commemoration of the Battle of the Bulge on social media — written from the perspective of the Nazis."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a04a44565395493e866a795ffff91a7b",
            "input": "Hungary has officially recorded 980 confirmed cases and 66 deaths in the pandemic, although the government has acknowledged the number of actual cases is probably much higher as the country nears the phase of mass infections. The country introduced stay at home orders last month. That order was about to expire over the Easter weekend, when Hungarians traditionally visit family and men go around playfully spraying women with water or cologne in a fertility ritual. “This Easter will differ from the ones we know,” Orban said in a video recorded in his office and posted on his Facebook page. “The curfew restrictions have been reasonable and successful as they have slowed the spread of the epidemic.”  The government would review the need to maintain the lockdown each week, Orban said, adding that municipal governments would be allowed to impose special restrictions that ensure local communities are protected. As spring weather arrived in recent days, Hungarians sought out leisure spots, prompting mayors and local councils to plead everyone to stay away. More than 100 people were infected in a Budapest retirement home, Surgeon General Cecilia Muller said. The state news agency MTI quoted Muller as saying five of those people have died.",
            "output": [
                "Hungary prolongs coronavirus lockdown indefinitely as infections near 1,000."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-5fc5c27fda124a8b94bb190da7a46644",
            "input": "In October 2019, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of reports that claimed a 22-year-old woman had contracted the HIV virus during a manicure. During that month, social media users widely shared a 2015 article published on the Filipino website TheAsianParent, with the headline “22-Year-Old Woman May Have Contracted HIV During a Manicure.” The article reported that: According to New York Daily News, a 22-year-old Brazilian woman was diagnosed with HIV after getting a manicure using shared equipment. Doctors say the case, which was first reported in the journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses last year, highlights a “new form of transmission for the virus.” She had none of the usual risk factors…The journal article says that when the woman was first diagnosed, she was found to have advanced HIV. However, she didn’t have any of the normal risk factors associated with contracting the virus, such as having sex without a condom, or sharing infected needles. When medical professionals probed further, they discovered that the woman had shared “manicure instruments years before with a cousin who was later found to be HIV-positive.” Blood analysis also suggested that the woman had first got the virus around 10 years ago. The article was originally published on TheAsianParent’s sister website in Singapore, on Nov. 2, 2015. The case attracted widespread media attention in 2014, including articles by Fox News and the New York Daily News. It’s not clear why it began to trend once again online in October 2019. The report is based on a November 2014 paper entitled “An HIV-1 Transmission Case Possibly Associated With Manicure Care,” which was published in the journal Aids Research and Human Retroviruses. That paper can be read in full here. It was written by researchers from the Santo André Aids Program, the Adolfo Lutz Institute, and the University of São Paulo, all located in São Paulo, Brazil. As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, HIV is typically transmitted through the exchange of certain bodily fluids during sexual contact or sharing syringes. Other modes of transmission exist, but they are less common. It is rare for HIV to be contracted through inanimate objects (an inanimate object that transmits an infectious disease is known as a “fomite”). However, the CDC notes: “It’s possible to get HIV from tattooing or body piercing if the equipment used for these procedures has someone else’s blood in it or if the ink is shared. The risk of getting HIV this way is very low …” The 2014 paper described a case involving a Brazilian woman suspected of having contracted HIV a decade earlier, when she was 12 years old, by using cuticle scissors and other manicure implements that had also been used by her cousin, a manicurist. The researchers came to the conclusion that this was probably (though not certainly) the way in which she contracted the disease, after performing what’s known as phylogenetic analysis of each woman’s strain of HIV. The following is a good explanation of how phylogenetic analysis works, from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “When a person becomes infected with HIV, their virus is similar to the virus of the person who infected them. Because HIV mutates quickly, each infected person’s virus evolves differently over time … HIV phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among transmitted viruses. A phylogenetic tree is an illustration of those relationships and HIV transmission dynamics.” After conducting phylogenetic analysis, the São Paulo researchers were able to conclude that the 22-year-old woman probably contracted HIV from her older cousin about 10.81 years earlier. At that time, the older woman knew she had HIV, but her family did not, and she had stopped taking zidovudine and lamivudine, a combination of antiretroviral drugs that can lower the risk of transmitting HIV. The woman at the center of the case denied any sexual abuse by a third party (an account corroborated by her family), and based on interviews with both women, the only remaining plausible method of transmission was their shared use of manicure implements while the younger woman was around 12 years old. The researchers summarized their findings as follows: A recently diagnosed 22-year-old female with no history of transmission risk factors prompted a thorough investigation of possible alternative risk factors. As the patient had evidence of advanced disease and laboratory data compatible with long-standing infection, past events were reviewed. About 10 years ago the patient shared manicure utensils with an older cousin, later known to be HIV infected; this prompted the phylogenetic analysis of the HIV sequences of both patients. Phylogenetic analyses of partial HIV-1 polymerase and envelope sequences from both patients revealed highly related sequences, with an estimated common ancestor date (about 11 years ago) that coincided with the putative sharing of manicure instruments, during a time in which the cousin was not virally suppressed. Taken together, the information about the infection of this patient suggests the use of shared manicure instruments as an alternative route of fomite HIV-1 transmission. Although the woman and her cousin shared manicure implements, the woman did not exactly contract HIV “during a manicure,” a description used by TheAsianParent that has engendered a degree of fear or concern, among some social media users, about visiting nail salons. Those fears appear to be largely unwarranted. The Brazilian case was scientifically notable precisely because it appears to be the first ever documented case of HIV transmission via manicure implements, and the already very low risk of transmission will diminish even further if members of the public visit properly licensed nail salons whose staff thoroughly sanitize all implements. Although TheAsianParent rightly stated that the woman “may have” contracted HIV from the manicure implements, reflecting the probability (rather than certainty) asserted by the researchers, other websites omitted that nuance in their headlines, with Fox News, for example, writing “Woman Contracts HIV Through Shared Manicure Equipment.”",
            "output": [
                "A woman in Brazil contracted HIV during a manicure."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0856250f9a8741098f530366618b4df1",
            "input": "The story does not mention the cost of oral food challenges. That’s too bad because the economics of food challenges are part of the overall newsworthiness of the procedure, although it was not a focus of this particular study. Considering that oral food challenges take three to six hours and require multiple staff to provide adequate supervision, families with inadequate or no insurance may not consider looking into the time-consuming procedure. However, families of patients on special diets spend thousands of extra dollars per year on groceries. Prior research suggests that in the end, having a food challenge earlier rather than later could save money for children assessed as low risk. The story provides the percent of patients who were categorized as having no response, mild allergic response, and anaphylaxis. Because this wasn’t a randomized controlled trial, those numbers summarize the important findings of the study. As the story explains, patients who experienced either mild or serious allergic reactions to the oral food challenge were treated with antihistamines or epinephrine respectively. For the 86% of patients who passed their food challenges with no adverse reactions, no harm was involved. This story is based on a study in which data were obtained via a physician survey in five food allergy centers across the United States. The researchers used a statistical procedure called meta-analysis to pool the proportion of reactions and anaphylaxis. The fact that this study used secondary data generated between 2008 and 2013, and that the data came from clinical records rather than controlled trials isn’t a bad thing, but it should have been mentioned in the story, as well as the limitations that stem from this kind of research (all research has limitations). No disease mongering is present in the story. Severe food allergies can be life threatening, but the story focuses on the daily experience of children who live with them. The story cites one expert not involved in the research, and we could find no potential conflicts of interest that should have been disclosed. The independent source provided a quote that we wished had been explored more in-depth: “But it’s also possible [some of them] never truly had a food allergy.” This is an important point–how much did the study help actually overturn incorrect diagnoses? In one sense, the only alternative to having an oral food challenge is not having an oral food challenge, and possibly not discovering that a child has grown out of an allergy. That issue is covered in this story. Another important point is that skin prick tests have been found to produce misleading results in a large proportion of patients. There is a growing conviction among researchers and practitioners that the only way to confirm beyond doubt that an individual has a food allergy is to conduct a food challenge. That alternative was mentioned in the story, but more emphasis would have presented a fuller picture of the significance of the study findings. The story doesn’t discuss how easy it is to find an allergy clinic that does oral food challenges, but it does refer parents to allergists for further discussion. The study on which this story was based is described by the researchers as being the largest national survey of allergic reactions of clinical open oral food challenges in a nonresearch setting in the United States. The story doesn’t note this, making it unclear what’s novel about the research. The story quotes one outside expert, so it appears not to rely on a news release.",
            "output": [
                "This Test Can Determine Whether You've Outgrown A Food Allergy"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0b41840d4c514eeeb694567815cd7b25",
            "input": "Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top medical adviser, Chris Whitty, said on Wednesday that data on the extent and impact of the outbreak was encouraging but that it was too soon to focus the next phase of the government’s response. “Our view is that it is probably reaching the peak overall,” Whitty said at the government’s daily news conference. “We are not yet at the point where we can say confidently and safely ‘this is now past the peak and we can start thinking very much now about the next phases.’”  So far, more than 12,868 people with COVID-19 have died in British hospitals, though new official data indicates the true death toll could be much larger. Whitty said the daily number of deaths could rise in coming days due reporting lags. The government is widely expected to announce on Thursday that it will extend the most far-reaching restrictions on daily life in Britain’s peacetime history. But Johnson had initially refrained from approving the stringent controls that other European leaders imposed. He later closed down the country when projections showed a quarter of a million people could die in the United Kingdom. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said the prime minister had initially been too slow to impose the lockdown, signalling the political row that is likely to dominate the national discourse for years to come. “I am worried that it looks like we are going to have a higher death rate than any other country in Europe and there will obviously be searching questions about why that has happened,” Starmer told LBC radio. “I did think the government was going too slowly,” Starmer said. “We will have to look back in due course.”  A widespread lockdown came into force on March 23. Prior to that the Conservative government had urged people not to make unnecessary journeys and to cut down on socialising, rather than closing establishments down. But Britons had still packed pubs and restaurants, and even the Cheltenham horse-racing event went ahead, bringing together thousands of punters. Johnson even joked about shaking hands with medical staff during a hospital visit. Starmer, a 57-year-old former prosecutor who won the Labour Party leadership earlier this month, also called on the government to publish its exit strategy from lockdown restrictions. Foreign minister Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Johnson while he recovers from COVID-19, will lead a cabinet meeting on Thursday morning, and in the afternoon chair an emergency response committee meeting to decide on extending the lockdown   The United Kingdom’s hospital death toll from COVID-19 rose by 761 to 12,868 as of 1600 on April 14, the health ministry said. The toll had gone up by 778 the previous day. The official British death toll is the fifth-highest globally after the United States, Italy, Spain and France. The United States has reported more than 28,000 deaths while Italy has reported more than 21,000. Several European countries have announced plans or already begun to relax restrictions, balancing the risk of reversing gains against further damage to battered economies. Starmer said Labour supported extending the measures in Britain but that to “maintain morale and hope”, the public needed to have an idea of what is coming next. Government officials have defended their course of action regarding the start of the lockdown and said it would be a mistake to talk about how to end the lockdown before they were confident the peak had been reached. Amid the doom, though, there were rays of hope. A 106-year-old woman, thought to be the oldest patient in Britain to beat the novel coronavirus, was discharged from hospital. Connie Titchen, born in 1913, had battled suspected pneumonia and COVID-19. A 99-year-old war veteran, Tom Moore, has raised more than 8 million pounds ($10.03 million) for Britain’s health service with a walk around his garden.",
            "output": [
                "UK virus outbreak 'probably' peaking, but too soon to ease lockdown."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-54cb6a8ea3ef43879d774b25652ced6f",
            "input": "Continental AG announced this week that it has given $5 million to Wildlife Mississippi to finance that organization’s purchase of 1,000 acres along Bayou Pierre west of Hazlehurst in Copiah County. One parcel was purchased from a timber company and one was bought from an individual, said James Cummins, executive director of Wildlife Mississippi The waterway, which empties into the Mississippi River in Claiborne County, is the only home of a fish listed as federally threatened, the bayou darter. Cummins said his group plans to improve habitat by planting native hardwood trees on part of the land which is now planted in pines, and by removing invasive species from areas where there are now hardwoods. The initial restoration work is expected to take place over the winter and spring. Wildlife Mississippi already owns an adjoining 320 acres. “What we’re trying to do is build a larger conservation area around Bayou Pierre,” Cummins said. The stream is plagued by erosion because the channel of the Mississippi is deepening, and Bayou Pierre is carving out a deeper channel of its own to get down to the lower level of the river it feeds into. That’s causing erosion of Bayou Pierre’s banks, harming the stream’s water quality and further stressing the bayou darter. The problem has been going on for years, exacerbated by agriculture and gravel mining in the Bayou Pierre watershed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been trying to organize landowners to improve the situation, and Wildlife Mississippi’s entry is one response. Cummins said Wildlife Mississippi was approached by Continental even before the company announced its $1.45 billion tire plant near Clinton in February, and Continental said the transaction was completed in April. “It’s important for Continental to work with local environmental groups to conserve the areas where we’re investing,” Continental Project Manager Grant Bovim said in a statement. Continental ultimately plans 2,500 jobs at the Hinds County site. Wildlife Mississippi will retain the land and is considering public access to the tract in the future. Cummins said the group would like to encourage canoeing and kayaking in Bayou Pierre. ___ Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/jeff-amy .",
            "output": [
                "Tire company gives $5M to protect land around Bayou Pierre."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-038b96ce99754202a65e58abf9a5f8d1",
            "input": "The agreement resolves over 95 percent of the 6,000 cases in which surgeons extracted the company’s Pinnacle implants because they left patients unable to walk and in pain, according to the report. The $1 billion total includes an earlier settlement for more than $400 million and there are still about 4,500 pending suits by patients with artificial hips that were not made totally of metal or haven’t been surgically removed, Bloomberg added. In February, Reuters reported J&J’s DePuy Orthopedics unit, which made the products, was in settlement talks to resolve most individual lawsuits alleging the company’s metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defective and caused severe injuries. The implants were said to cause a build-up of metal ions in the blood, causing groin pain, allergic reactions, bone erosion and tissue death. In 2013, DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations. The Pinnacle system continues to be sold with other material combinations. Texas-based plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier, one of the main attorneys for the consumers, declined to comment. Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.",
            "output": [
                "J&J agrees to pay about $1 billion to resolve hip implant lawsuits: Bloomberg."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-03dd2006208e411ba42b21e6c89ac50b",
            "input": "The 33-year-old could not find help for her toothache even after she fled Islamic State rule and took refuge in northwest Syria. But a dentist in a mobile clinic has now arrived at the Rayyan camp where she lives with her husband and four children in a tent among the trees. “We kept getting uprooted, so we were cut off from doctors,” said Abdelaziz, whose family was smuggled out of Raqqa city some three years ago. They wound up in Syria’s northwest corner, the country’s last major rebel stronghold. The camps are overflowing, the doctors are too few, and many hospitals have collapsed under government bombing. In the camps along the Turkish border, often the only healthcare for people like Abdelaziz comes from mobile doctors and makeshift clinics in tents. “Many just take pills and stay silent about the pain,” said Bassel Maarawi, 57, the dentist who goes around seven camps in the border strip held by Turkey-backed rebels. The dental mobile clinic stays at each camp a few months at a time, treating dozens of patients every day who can not go into town to see a doctor. It belongs to the Independent Doctors Association, a Turkey-based Syrian group also running a free camp facility including a clinic for women, children, and internal medicine as well as a pharmacy. Maarawi himself was uprooted in late 2016 from his city of Aleppo, where the army crushed rebels with Russia and Iran’s help after a bitter siege. The children he treats now, living in the dirt and drinking filthy water, often suffer from malnutrition. “Many people were displaced recently which really affected them mentally, you can see it when they come in,” he said. A new wave of fighting has sparked yet another exodus, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing an army offensive in northwest Syria since April. At a camp for some 14,000 people in the border village of Shamarin, Ammar al-Omar runs a physiotherapy clinic inside a large tent. The staff - a medical professional and three volunteers he trained - made most of the equipment themselves and get by on just a few donations. They treat everything from back pain to battle wounds for patients including rebel fighters and paralyzed children. “There are many injuries because of the fierce bombing,” Omar said. “The patients can’t afford food let alone transportation.”   Um Mhamad, 29, has carried her son from another camp nearby and walked to the tent clinic for more than two years. An injury at birth had crippled the six-year-old boy, whose family was shuttled out of Aleppo in 2016. “He used to not move at all,” she said. “Today, he can crawl and turn on both sides and stand up.”",
            "output": [
                "In border camps, Syrians rely on doctors in trucks and tents."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-c1cae7af94ff4549a97d6588b9cf4a22",
            "input": "No company wants to be the next LM Wind Power. “All it takes is to see something like that happen in a neighboring business or a business similar to yours and everyone gets a lot more fastidious with control measures,” said Dr. Paul Carson, a public health and infectious disease specialist at North Dakota State University, referring to the spread at the Grand Forks plant. Officials with two of the state’s largest plants, window and door maker Marvin and agriculture and construction components producer John Deere Electronic Solutions, say there are new rules of the road. And they’re doing more than the standard protocol of proper hygiene, high-tech protective gear, social distancing and stickers that say, “IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU ARE TOO CLOSE.” Hallways, entrances, and exits are strictly one-way. Other changes have included temperature checks, unique equipment like “no touch” door openers, liberal leave policies and pay provisions, and an added emphasis on communication between management and workers. ’“The stakes are too high right now,” said Paul Marvin, CEO of Marvin, a century-old Warroad, Minnesota-based company with 6,000 employees in eight states, including 1,300 in the Fargo area. “We want to make people feel comfortable and build trust. It costs you a little money in the short term but it pays dividends in the long run.” The John Deere Electronic Solutions plant in Fargo employs about 750 people. A company spokeswoman said “one of the most impactful steps” they’ve taken is to assure employees that they will be paid if they have symptoms of the virus, don’t feel well or believe they could have been exposed. Marvin employees receive paid leave if they are sick and unpaid leave with health benefits if they just don’t feel comfortable going to work. Paul Marvin said employees don’t have to “prove how sick they are” with notes from their doctors. And their jobs will be waiting for them when they return. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has held up a Canada-based potato processing business as the gold standard for protecting employees from the coronavirus, stating that Cavendish Farms plants in North Dakota and elsewhere have not recorded a single COVID-19 case among thousands of workers. The company employs 250 people at its Jamestown plant. “It has been a family owned-business for decades, taking care of their people,” Burgum said. “They have a culture of safety that has been long established. It’s easy for them to take it up another level.” Cavendish Farms spokeswoman Mary Keith said the numerous safeguards include infrared cameras to monitor the temperatures of people entering buildings and hundreds of signs in multiple languages placed throughout the plants to make employees aware of social distancing and other guidelines. The company purchased 2,700 plexiglass face shields for all of its operations and has added floor-to-ceiling barriers made of plexiglass or wood, she said. “We feel that what we did very well is we reacted early and we reacted fast to the risk and escalated our measures,” Keith said, adding that workers awaiting testing or treatment for COVID-19 receive 10 paid days with health benefits. Meanwhile, the number of infected workers at LM Wind Power stands at about 150 at the Grand Forks plant that employs about 900 people. State and local health officials are undertaking a vigorous contact tracing effort, recruiting dozens of people to help find other COVID-19 cases related to the plant. Some LM employees have complained publicly about what they believed to be a lack of safety precautions, which the company has denied. Officials with the Department of Labor and Human Rights have not received any complaints from LM employees, according to Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki. Scott Weislow, Marvin’s director of enterprise risk management, said Marvin had a pandemic blueprint in its library after dealing with the Avian flu and that gave them a head start, he said. “I think we’re going to see an evolution in business; not just us but everybody,” Weislow said. “Working from home will be more acceptable. Some of these social distancing measures are probably going to stick around and you’re going to see other measures like voice activated lights and voice activated door openers.” Carson said when it comes to the coronavirus, even the most stringent measures may not be enough to dodge “the luck of the draw.” It only takes one infected person who’s not showing symptoms to start the spread, he said.",
            "output": [
                "Grand Forks outbreak has other North Dakota plants on alert."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-28f5de39a85042de822eae208339c3cf",
            "input": "Research fields in which fetal tissue is used include HIV, childhood cancers, treatments that enlist the body’s immune system to battle cancer, and the hunt for a vaccine against the Zika virus, a cause of birth defects. Republicans said alternatives to fetal tissue are available and should be used instead. Democrats said that view is at odds with science. Each side called on expert witnesses. “Most of my constituents don’t understand when you harvest baby parts, why that is OK,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who chaired the hearing by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Meadows, leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is one of President Donald Trump’s biggest allies in Congress. But Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., responded, “The consensus in the scientific community is that there is currently no adequate substitute for fetal tissue in all of the cutting-edge research for which it is used today.” The government has funded research using fetal tissue for decades, under administrations of both political parties. Trump has gone out of his way to court social and religious conservatives among his staunchest supporters. The administration’s new review of whether taxpayer dollars are being properly spent on fetal tissue research has raised alarms among medical investigators, who fear their work will be stopped to satisfy anti-abortion activists. Under Secretary Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Department says it is trying to balance “pro-life” and “pro-science” imperatives in its ongoing audit of fetal tissue research. Azar’s office said in a statement that the National Institutes of Health put a pause on procurement of new human fetal tissue in the fall, after the audit was announced. The department says research with fetal tissue already on hand was allowed to proceed, and that it never intended to stop research. The HHS statement left open the possibility of procuring new fetal tissue to prevent research projects from being interrupted. Research involving fetal tissue accounted for $98 million in NIH grants and projects during the 2017 fiscal year, a small fraction of the agency’s overall research budget. NIH said that $98 million figure represents the entire budget for the grants at issue, even if only a portion of a particular grant was devoted to fetal tissue research. HHS has not announced a timeline for completing its audit. Fetal tissue is used to produce research mice that model how the human immune system works. The tissue, from elective abortions, would otherwise be discarded. Biochemist Tara Sander Lee told the committee that alternatives to fetal tissue are available and can be used. “We do not need fetal body parts from aborted babies to achieve future scientific and medical advancements,” said Sander Lee, with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which is opposed to abortion. Tissues from infants who have to undergo heart surgery are among the alternatives, she said. But neuroscientist Sally Temple, testifying on behalf of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, told lawmakers that alternatives to fetal tissue are simply not suitable for every disease and condition being studied. “The consensus opinion is that those alternatives are not sufficient,” she said. Temple explained that tissue samples from different stages of the life cycle are not interchangeable. “It is not the same material,” she said. “It is a different developmental stage. It has unique properties.” Temple said researchers would readily use alternatives to fetal tissue if that was suitable.",
            "output": [
                "Renewed battle over using fetal tissue in medical research."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b07c497d5d1046c696b94921e663d4bf",
            "input": "\"Since the story mentioned the high cost of alternative treatment (weekly \"\"dialysis\"\" type of process costing $3,000/week and \"\"most health plans won't cover\"\"), it could have at least commented on the potential cost of this new approach, even if to simply say that the cost is not yet known. The implicit suggestion is that this new drug will be cheaper than the \"\"dialysis\"\" process, which, of course, is not known. Benefits are reported in relative vs. absolute terms. See our primer on this topic. The story states that fatty liver is a potential serious harm of treatment and provides proportions of people in the very small study that experienced some form of this complication. Of course, given how small the study was, it's not possible to know what this may mean clinically. However, the story points that out, stating that more studies are needed to better understand how serious this complication may be. Plus, the story also discloses that the manufacturer shelved this particular drug because of safety concerns over this side effect. While the potential harms are not fully understood scientifically, this is discussed in the story and the potential safety issues around this are not minimized by the reporting. The type of study is not mentioned, and although some limitations in study design are pointed out, these are not discussed so that an average person would not know that these results are very preliminary and should be interpreted with great caution. No disease mongering. Familial hypercholesterolemia is described as a condition in which very few people who have it live beyond 30 years and that this condition affects very few people in the U.S. One researcher not affiliated with the research is quoted in the story. Of course, her statements are conditional on whether or not the treatment does what researchers claim it does (since she is not involved and the research is very preliminary), but given the very early nature of the research, it may not be reasonable to find an independent expert who knows any more about the findings. The article does describe the only other option for treating (or slowing progression of) this condition, which was some form of dialysis to remove fats. The story also describes the cost information for this alternate treatment. The article states the drug is \"\"experimental,\"\" which implies this is not available outside of research. The story states the drug is experimental, implying this is new. The story quotes an independent source, so it appears the story did not rely solely or largely on a press release.\"",
            "output": [
                "Experimental drug cuts rare, lethal cholesterol levels in patients"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b64b0cf140e3409fa226d27de725b5f6",
            "input": "The black rhinos died of salt poisoning following the decision by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to ignore water test results in Tsavo East National Park, the committee’s report said. The deaths of the endangered animals, being moved to a more secure home in the face of the threat from poachers, were a major embarrassment to Kenya, which sells itself as destination for wildlife tourism. The inquiry said WWF, which donated $1 million for the relocation in June 2018, applied pressure on KWS to speed up the process in a bid to generate positive publicity and secure funding for itself from Germany. WWF denied the allegations in the inquiry report, which was made public last week, saying KWS had carried out hydrological surveys and given assurances the park was safe and suitable. “At no point either before or during the translocations were any issues raised about the quality of the water on the site,”  WWF said by email. “We would never push for a translocation to go ahead against the recommendations of the relevant experts. This was a tragedy we hope will never be repeated.”  The parliamentary committee’s inquiry said the relocation took place during a period in 2018 when the term of one KWS board had ended and before a new one had begun, creating a lack of oversight. The report said KWS’s former board of trustees had rejected the relocation three times in part because of the high salinity levels of the drinking water in the park. The report said Najib Balala, the minister of tourism and wildlife, should take overall responsibility for the rhinos’ deaths because he delayed the appointment of the new KWS board. The minister’s spokesman declined to comment. The KWS could not be immediately reached to comment. However, Richard Leakey, former chairperson of KWS, told the inquiry: “WWF-Kenya, as the funding entity, was alleged to have had a major interference on the board resolution against the translocation, and consequently pushed for the exercise after the exit of the board.”  WWF said it was saddened by the loss of the rhinos and it fully recognized the “serious failings of this operation”. “In response, we have strengthened existing practices and implemented brand new organizational guidelines to mitigate future risk as far as possible.”  Kenya had a rhino population of 1,258 in 2017 of which 745 were black rhinos, 510 were southern white rhinos and three were northern white rhinos, having grown from less than 400 rhinos in the 1980s. Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants for tusks and rhinos for horns. Often the animal parts are shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines.",
            "output": [
                "WWF says it did not push for rhino relocation process where 11 died."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a014b5057eae4e1d8d9d09cf1fa077be",
            "input": "Torrential rain caused floods and triggered landslides in western Japan last week, bringing death and destruction to neighborhoods built decades ago near steep mountain slopes. At least 176 people were killed, the government said, with dozens missing in Japan’s worst weather disaster since 1982. In Kumano, a mountainside community in Hiroshima prefecture that was hit by a landslide last week, Ken Kirioka anxiously watched rescuers toiling through mud, sand and smashed houses to find the missing, including his 76-year-old father, Katsuharu. “He is old and has a heart condition. I prepared myself for the worst when I heard about the landslide on Friday night,” he said, pointing at a pile of mud and rubble where he said his father was buried. “He is an old-fashioned father who is hard-headed and does not talk much,” Kirioka said, adding he would stay until his father was found. “It would be too bad for him if a family member were not around”. Rescuers working under a scorching sun combed through heaps of wood and thickly caked mud in a search for bodies, helped by sniffer dogs. In some cases only the foundation of homes remained as they cut through debris with chain saws. With temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in the devastated areas in Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, attention turned to preventing heat-stroke among rescue workers and in evacuation centers where thousands of people have sought shelter. People sat on thin mats on a gymnasium floor in one center, plastic bags of belongings piled around them and bedding folded off to the side. Portable fans turned slowly as children cried. Abe, who canceled an overseas trip to deal with the disaster, was criticized after a photograph posted on Twitter showed Abe and his defense minister at a party with lawmakers just as the rains intensified. After observing the damage from a helicopter flying over Okayama, one of the hardest-hit areas, Abe visited a crowded evacuation center. He crouched down on the floor to speak with people, many of them elderly, and asked about their health. He clasped one man’s hands as they spoke. Later he told reporters the government would do everything it could to help the survivors. “We’ll cut through all the bureaucracy to secure the goods people need for their lives, to improve life in the evacuation centers - such as air conditioners as the hot days continue - and then secure temporary housing and the other things people need to rebuild their lives,” he said. Abe is up for re-election as party leader in September and has seen his popularity ratings edge back up after taking a hit over a cronyism scandal earlier this year. His government pledged an initial $4 billion toward recovery on Tuesday, and a later special budget if needed. Officials turned to social media to warn of the additional danger of food-borne illnesses, urging people to wash their hands and take other measures against food poisoning. Evacuation orders were issued for 25 households in the city of Fukuyama after cracks were found in a reservoir. Water accumulating behind piles of debris blocking rivers also posed a danger after a swollen river rushed into a Fukuyama residential area on Monday, prompting more evacuation orders. The intensifying heat was expected to trigger thunderstorms on Wednesday, with authorities warning new landslides could be set off on mountainsides saturated with water. Japanese media on Wednesday focused on the timing of evacuation orders issued in the hard-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki city just minutes before a levee broke and water poured into the residential area. A number of the dead in Mabi were found in their homes, suggesting they did not have enough time to flee, media reports said.",
            "output": [
                "Japan PM visits flood disaster zone, promises help as new warnings issued."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-a39b8e0bd9994f7da26effa41c51083b",
            "input": "But when it comes to exercise habits, Americans say they prefer to stick to what’s simple, solo and short. Nearly 75 percent of 1,200 adults, aged 24 to 44, questioned in an online survey about exercise habits said they worked out at least once a week and 77 percent prefer to do it alone. Running was the most popular type of exercise followed by lifting weights and biking/hiking/outdoor activities, according to the survey by the watch company Timex. “If it’s true, it’s good news for the fitness industry,” said Dr. Walter Thompson, who studies exercise trends for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Thompson said the survey probably provides a “useful snapshot” into the behaviors of the responding age group. “Outside that group,” he said, “it’s a little dangerous.”  Sixty one percent of people questioned in the poll during the last two weeks of August said they don’t exercise in a gym, and the average American is no early bird. Only 27 percent said they found time to get in a workout during the work day. Thompson cautions that people tend to exaggerate, at least a little bit. Some 29 percent of those surveyed said they spend between 30 minutes and one hour on their physical activities and 18 percent claim between one and two hours. “Ask people ‘How much do you weigh? How tall are you? And I’m pretty sure most people will tell you they’re taller,” he said in an interview. “We know that among the general population about 20 percent exercise regularly, not say they do but do, and about, 80 percent don’t exercise.”  ACSM recommends adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio-respiratory exercise per week. As for the 26 percent of those polled who don’t exercise, Gregory Chertok, a sport and exercise psychology consultant for Telos Sport Psychology Coaching in New York, said the reason may be simply that they don’t think they can. “It’s called the concept of self-efficacy,” he said of the term coined by psychologist Albert Bandura in the 1970s. “When people doubt their ability to accomplish a task, when they don’t feel competent, motivation plummets,” he said. Conversely, he added, adherence to an exercise routine skyrockets when people consider it non-negotiable. Chertok said even the anonymous closeness of a gym environment can have a positive effect on the lone exerciser in it. Studies have shown that peoples’ happiness depends on the happiness of people in physical proximity to them. “The act of working out near or next to other health-minded gym goers can influence your own desire to be health-minded,” he explained. So how malleable are exercise habits and how can they be changed? “Many experts are jostling with that very question. While it’s tempting to say people aren’t exercising, people are becoming more educated, more influenced by social media,” he said. “Things are going to change. Slowly, over time.”",
            "output": [
                "Americans say they're creatures of simple, solo exercise habits."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d864d70e5c8247e2b23c35539d92fb5b",
            "input": "A trio of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won the Nobel prize for physics for a half-century of work that confirmed the presence of the ripples in space and time predicted by Albert Einstein. The win, the second of the week by U.S. scientists, comes as the administration of President Donald Trump has proposed cutting funding for science research and expressed skepticism over climate change. That reflects skepticism among the broader American public, where a growing number of people reject scientific findings on issues from whether climate change is man-made to the safety of vaccines. “We live in an epoch where rational reasoning associated with evidence isn’t universally accepted and is in fact in jeopardy. That worries me a lot, said Rainer Weiss, an emeritus professor of physics at MIT, and part of the team honored on Tuesday. “If this gives people who are not me but others the credential to be able to stand out and say, ‘Listen to this,’ that is valuable,” Weiss, who won half the $1.1 million prize, said in a phone interview. Barry Barish of Caltech, also an emeritus professor of physics, sounded similar concerns. “Anything that makes us take more seriously scientists, or economists, or chemists, or physicists or biologists, I think is helpful in times when things get distorted because of people not paying attention to all the facts,” Barish said by phone. “It’s crazy that we happen to have a country where it depends on what political party you are in whether you believe in climate change or not,” Barish said. “We have an administration right now that so far seems to be very anti-science.”  Efforts to reach the third of the team, Kip Thorne, also of Caltech, were unsuccessful. Polls of U.S. voters show that Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to believe global warming is caused by humans. One in three Republicans told a Reuters/Ipsos poll from Sept. 1 through 28 that they believed global warming is caused by mostly or totally by human activity. Nearly three out of four Democrats believe the same. The poll included 3,992 respondents and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points. Skepticism about science is not limited to climate. A 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center found that 10 percent of Americans believe the risks of vaccines outweigh their benefits, with 17 percent saying parents should be able to choose not to vaccinate their children even if doing so creates a health risk for others. During his election campaign, Trump described climate change as a hoax invented by the Chinese to make U.S. industry less competitive. As president he said he would pull out of the Paris climate accord, saying it was damaging to business. Weiss’ team was the second group of U.S. scientists to be honored by the Nobel committee this week, after another trio won the 2017 Nobel prize for medicine on Monday for unraveling molecular mechanisms that control our internal body clocks.",
            "output": [
                "Respect for science in jeopardy in polarized U.S., Nobel winners say."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-fce124fdb8874a16a43145c4dad2e28d",
            "input": "The Portland Press Herald reports the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 1,310 Lyme disease cases through Dec. 27. That’s a 29 percent from 1,852 reported cases in 2017. Lyme disease is spread by ticks. Maine Medical Center Research Institute research associate Susan Elias says ticks are easily affected by changes in weather. Experts say hot, dry weather during the summer may have stressed tick populations. Researchers add that snow and colder weather in November probably deterred tick activity. According to biologist Chuck Lubelczyk, researchers are finding “much lower” numbers of ticks in field surveys. Lyme can cause flu-like conditions, neurological problems, joint paint and other symptoms. ___ Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com",
            "output": [
                "Officials: Maine sees decrease in Lyme disease cases."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-0627708c112c4a43950282eca848f300",
            "input": "A nurse prepares a bottle of donated milk for a baby at Son Dureta's Hospital in Palma de Mallorca, Spain March 10, 2006. REUTERS/Dani Cardona The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, is commonly used in plastic food and beverage containers and in the coating of food cans. Until now, environmental and consumer activists who have questioned the safety of BPA have relied on animal studies. But the study by British researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that among 1,455 U.S. adults, those with the highest levels of BPA were more likely to have heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities than those with the lowest levels. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they would review the new findings, which were not yet published when the agency issued a draft conclusion in August that BPA is safe at current exposure levels. “We have confidence in the data that we’ve looked at and the data that we’re relying on to say that the margin of safety is adequate,” FDA official Laura Tarantino said at a meeting of experts advising the agency on whether it made the right call. “There are things you can do if you choose to reduce your level of bisphenol A,” Tarantino said. “But we have not recommended that anyone change their habits or change their use of any of these products because right now we don’t have the evidence in front of us to suggest that people need to.”   Panel chairman Martin Philbert declined to say what the committee’s next move would be. BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastic, a clear shatter-resistant material in products ranging from baby bottles to medical devices. BPA can mimic the hormone estrogen in the body. People can consume BPA when it leaches out of the plastic into baby formula, water or food inside a container. Some retailers and manufacturers are moving away from products with BPA. Canadian officials have concluded BPA was harmful. Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said the study’s design did not allow for anyone to conclude BPA causes heart disease and diabetes. “On the other hand, though, bisphenol A has been very intensively studied in a very large number of laboratory animal studies. And the weight of evidence from those studies ... continues to support the safe use of products containing bisphenol A,” he said in a telephone interview. The British researchers, who acknowledged their findings are not proof that the chemical is causing the harm, analyzed urine samples from a U.S. government health survey of adults ages 18-74 representative of the U.S. population. The 25 percent of people with the highest levels of bisphenol A in their bodies were more than twice as likely to have heart disease, including heart attacks or type 2 diabetes, compared to the 25 percent with the lowest levels. At the FDA panel meeting, several scientists and activists said the FDA ignored animal studies finding health concerns and some called for the chemical to be banned in food containers. Democratic U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who heads the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said the FDA has “focused myopically on industry-funded research.”   Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, released a letter he wrote to FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach asking why the agency has not appointed a safety panel to review BPA. Tarantino said nothing was ignored but industry-funded studies finding no harm were important in the conclusions. The panel is expected to present its advice to the FDA next month. Tarantino, head of the FDA’s office of food additive safety, said there is talk of government scientists doing their own BPA safety studies, but that could take years to conduct.",
            "output": [
                "Common plastics chemical linked to heart problems."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-f40f31736a2043b7bc01aae7f0acaee6",
            "input": "The board said an 8-year-old white-tailed doe tested positive after it was killed by its pen-mate, a white-tailed buck, the only other deer on the site. Test results are pending on the buck, which was euthanized. No deer remain on the site, which has been quarantined, the board said. The board’s senior veterinarian, Dr. Courtney Wheeler, said they’re investigating how the disease might have reached the herd, which was owned by a hobbyist, including the herd’s history and the movements of animals to the property. Chronic wasting disease is caused by abnormally shaped proteins called prions, which can persist in the environment. It spreads from deer to deer. While it’s not known to infect humans, authorities advise against consuming infected meat.",
            "output": [
                "Chronic wasting disease found in 2-deer Douglas County herd."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-05260a043c724ab48f168140437f65db",
            "input": "Pollution composed of tiny particles from car exhaust, factory smokestacks and other sources is dangerous to everyone’s health, and during pregnancy it’s been linked to premature births and low birth weight. But scientists don’t understand why, something that could affect care for women in highly polluted areas. One theory is that the particles lodge in mom’s lungs and trigger potentially harmful inflammation. Tuesday, Belgian researchers reported another possibility, that any risk might be more direct. A novel scanning technique spotted a type of particle pollution — sootlike black carbon — on placentas donated by 28 new mothers, they reported in Nature Communications. The placenta nourishes a developing fetus and tries to block damaging substances in the mother’s bloodstream. The Hasselt University team found the particles accumulated on the side of the placenta closest to the fetus, near where the umbilical cord emerges. That’s not proof the soot actually crossed the placenta to reach the fetus — or that it’s responsible for any ill effects, cautioned Dr. Yoel Sadovsky of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a leading placenta expert who wasn’t involved with the new research. And it’s a small study. Still, “just finding it at the placenta is important,” Sadovsky said. “The next question would be how much of these black carbon particles need to be there to cause damage.” Scientists already had some clues from animal studies that particles could reach the placenta, but Tuesday’s study is a first with human placentas. The Belgian researchers developed a way to scan placenta samples using ultra-short pulses from a laser that made the black carbon particles flash a bright white light, so they could be measured. The researchers included placentas from 10 mothers who lived in areas with high pollution and 10 others from low areas. The higher the exposure to pollution, the more particles the researchers counted in the placentas. “As the fetal organs are under full development, this might have some health risks,” said Hasselt environment and public health specialist Tim Nawrot, the study’s senior author. He is doing additional research to try to tell. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.",
            "output": [
                "Study finds air pollution reaches placenta during pregnancy."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-368226caa0a54b7bbe1ea0ce74ce42ae",
            "input": "The attorney from rural Belmont County, Ohio, became a Republican in 2013 after Democrats embraced environmental policies that he believed were detrimental to the area’s coal mining and fracking industries. As an anti-abortion-rights, pro-gun conservative, he felt unwelcome. “Conservative Democrats have become all but extinct,” said Gagin, who served for a time as county Republican chairman. He’s among many former Democrats in blue-collar Ohio who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and for an all-GOP statewide ticket last year. Those ballots helped turn large swaths of territory along the Ohio River — places that supported Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — from blue to bright red. As Democrats bring their next primary debate to Ohio on Tuesday, they’re grappling with whether the new Republican dominance in those industrial and rural pockets has pushed Ohio out of their reach. Some Democratic presidential campaigns are contemplating once unheard-of White House victory scenarios that leave out Ohio. The storied swing state — a place that sided with the winning presidential candidate in all but one election since 1944 — seems likely to be eclipsed by Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in next year’s election. “Ohio isn’t at the center of the political universe as it used to be,” said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. At this same time during the last presidential campaign, in October 2015, presidential campaigning in Ohio was so vigorous there were fears it was drowning out that year’s elections. A group concerned about one of that year’s ballot issues, the American Policy Roundtable, even bought an online ad reminding voters the presidential election was still a year away. The run-up to the 2020 election has been quieter, with Ohio seeing only a handful of notable campaign events since spring. Trump won Ohio in 2016 by 8 percentage points — a larger margin than any winner since George H.W. Bush in 1988. While Democrats surged in many other swing states in 2018, they lost every statewide race in Ohio but one. Democratic presidential candidates will debate Tuesday in Westerville, a suburb outside Columbus replete with the college-educated women and young voters who Democrats see as representing the party’s best prospects of an Ohio comeback, along with minorities. “I think it’s totally winnable,” said Democratic political consultant Aaron Pickrell, an Ohio campaign director and adviser to Obama’s successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Any victory will depend on finding the right balance of supporters in urban, suburban, rural and former industrial communities, he said. Ohio was long a bellwether because its population resembled that of the United States as a whole. It hasn’t picked a losing presidential candidate since voting for Richard Nixon in 1960. But the state no longer mirrors the nation. It’s whiter and slightly older than the national average. Just 29% of Ohio residents have a college degree, compared with the national average of nearly 32.6%. That education gap has translated into lower earnings. The state’s median household income is $56,111, nearly $6,000 below the national median. Republicans run stronger with those groups. The GOP tilt is even more pronounced in places like Belmont County, which sits on the state line with Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Gagin said voters there are looking for politicians who channel their frustration. Trump took more than two-thirds of the county’s vote in 2016. In 2008, Republican John McCain lost narrowly to Obama. “Not to get racial about it, but lots of white folks feel others are either getting ahead or getting a handout, while they’re just having to go to work every day and just falling further and further behind,” Gagin said. “That’s how you get to the politics of aggrievement.” Republican consultant Karl Rove, who engineered President George W. Bush’s two wins in Ohio, said the numbers don’t tell the whole story. “I’m not one of these people who believes demographics is necessarily destiny, so I do think it has to do with things other than that it’s a blue-collar, white state,” he said. “Maybe it has to do with the quality of the arguments being made rather than simple demographics.” In a twist, one sign of hope for Democrats might be the type of Republicans Ohio elects to state office. The state’s last two Republican governors — John Kasich and now Mike DeWine — are politically pragmatic politicians who have embraced bipartisan ideas, including on health care and guns. Kasich is a vocal Trump detractor and DeWine walked a careful line with the president, appearing with him only at the finale of the 2018 campaign. Democrats also point to consistent statewide victories by Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of his chamber’s most liberal members and the sole Democrat to win statewide last year. The party looks to Brown’s straight-talking, dignity-of-work message as a model for regaining traction in blue-collar areas. “Ohio is in play,” said Gerald Austin, a Cleveland-based Democratic strategist. “The No. 1 way to beat an incumbent is on the incumbent’s record. Did Donald Trump bring back coal jobs? Have more steel plants opened up here? Did something happen on that infrastructure bill he was going to get done that I’m not aware of? You remind voters of what they said and what they haven’t done.” Pickrell said Democrats can win those disenfranchised voters by focusing on health care and the economy. He also argued that views on environmental policy may be shifting and climate change is no longer a fringe issue. “Now people understand the need and utility of solar panels,” he said. “They understand the utility of an electric car. They understand algae blooms in Lake Erie.” Pickrell added: “I don’t think it’s as polarizing as it once was. And in a lot of areas, it’s probably swinging people our way.” Mandi Merritt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said the party is not taking Ohio for granted. She said the GOP is prepared to hit Democrats for “radical” ideas like universal health care and the Green New Deal. They are too expensive and impractical for Midwestern voters, she said. “It’s a race to the left, and it’s not going to resonate with everyday Ohioans,” she said. She said impeachment proceedings in Washington are energizing, not alienating, Trump’s base. That is not the case with Gagin, who resigned as Belmont County GOP chairman last summer after the president appeared to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial that his country interfered in the 2016 election. Though Trump later said he misspoke, Gagin chose the moment to leave the party leadership. He now directs Defending Democracy Together, a group of Republicans pushing back against Trump. Gagin said he is the exception in Belmont County. He doesn’t believe most of rural Ohio has been turned off by the scandals over Russia or Ukraine that have dogged Trump. For him, 2020 remains an open question. But he said he won’t vote for Trump under any circumstances. Conservative Democrats and even card-carrying Republicans are “really in a no man’s land right now,” he said. ___ AP Economics Writer Joshua Boak in Washington contributed to this report.",
            "output": [
                "Is Ohio in play? GOP tilt working against Democrats."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-eaa9e4bdad464cdfbcb17455d52fef0c",
            "input": "“This disease has just occurred in Thailand. We’ve never had it in the past,” director-general of the Department of Livestock Development, Sorawit Thanito, said on Thursday. The government has quarantined sick horses to limit the spread of the disease, Sorawit said. At least 131 horses have died across four provinces, latest government data showed. “We have to investigate how this virus got to Thailand,” he said, adding that the government was notified in late March of AHS in the country. Horses suffering from the illness can have fevers of over 39 Celsius, difficulty breathing and bleeding in the eyes. There have been no reported cases of AHS in humans and it was not related to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Sorawit said. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) suspended Thailand’s status as an “AHS Free Country” on March 27. AHS is endemic in the central tropical regions of Africa, from where it spreads regularly to Southern Africa and occasionally to North Africa, according to the OIE. Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan had their AHS-free statuses suspended in 2018.",
            "output": [
                "Thailand hit by African Horse Sickness, killing over 100 horses."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-3efd1bcc8dfc42908244a4c4bca840e1",
            "input": "A recent count found 350 million purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone — more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. And in Northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, perhaps never to return. Vast “urchin barrens” — stretches of denuded seafloor dotted with nothing but hundreds of the spiny orbs — have spread to coastal Oregon, where kelp forests were once so thick it was impossible to navigate some areas by boat. The underwater annihilation is killing off important fisheries for red abalone and red sea urchins and creating such havoc that scientists in California are partnering with a private business to collect the over-abundant purple urchins and “ranch” them in a controlled environment for ultimate sale to a global seafood market. “We’re in uncharted territory,” said Scott Groth, a shellfish scientist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You can’t just go out and smash them. There’s too many. I don’t know what we can do.” The explosion of purple sea urchins is the latest symptom of a Pacific Northwest marine ecosystem that’s out of whack. Kelp has been struggling because of warmer-than-usual waters in the Pacific Ocean. And, in 2013, a mysterious disease began wiping out tens of millions of starfish, including a species called the sunflower sea star that is the only real predator of the ultra-hardy purple urchin. Around the same time, the purple urchins had two excellent breeding years — and with no predators, those gametes grew up and are now eating everything in sight. “You can imagine all of these small urchins growing up, each one of them looking for food, desperate for food. They’re literally starving out there,” said Steven Rumrill, lead shellfish expert at Oregon’s wildlife agency. “I’ve seen some big-scale fluctuations in the populations of sea stars and urchins, but never on this magnitude.” Scientists are not yet sure if climate change is responsible for the sea urchin explosion, but they suspect it plays a role in the cascade of events that allowed the purple urchins to boom. And kelp, already under siege from warming waters, is not as resilient as it once was, said Norah Eddy, an associate director at the Nature Conservancy California’s oceans program. “We’re going to see climate change as a big driver of changes in kelp forest as we move forward, and we are already seeing that,” said Eddy, who is leading an effort to use drones to map and monitor Northern California’s last remaining kelp forests. The devastation is also economic: Until now, red abalone and red sea urchins, a larger and meatier species of urchin, supported a thriving commercial fishery in both states. But 96% of red abalone have disappeared from California’s northern coast as the number of purple sea urchins increased six fold, according to a study released this week by the University of California, Davis. Last year, California closed its red abalone fishery, which poured an estimated $44 million into the coastal economy per year, and Oregon suspended permits for its 300 abalone divers for three years. The commercial harvest of red sea urchins in California and Oregon also has taken a massive hit. “That’s a huge economic loss for our small coastal communities,” said Cynthia Catton, a research associate with the University of California, Davis Bodega Marine Lab. “In California, there were 30,000 to 40,000 participants in (the abalone) fishery every year for decades, and for the first time ever that fishery had to close.” And while the purple urchins have eaten themselves into starvation as well, unlike other kelp-dependent creatures, the species can go into a dormant state, stop reproducing and live for years with no food. That means the only way to restore the kelp is to remove or destroy the purple urchins. Scientists estimate that in Oregon alone, it would take 15 to 20 years to remove all 100 million pounds (45 million kilograms) of purple urchins recently surveyed on just one large reef. While urchins are in starvation mode, the edible part — known as roe — shrivels, making them commercially worthless. Against this backdrop, conservationists, commercial urchin harvesters, scientists and private interests are coming together with an unusual plan: Pay underemployed red sea urchin divers to collect the shriveled, but living, purple sea urchins and transfer them to carefully tended urchin “ranches” to be fattened up for sale to seafood markets around the world. One company, Urchinomics, is already working on urchin ranching projects in Japan, Canada and California and sees a future where the overwhelming demand for wild urchin roe is replaced by a taste for human-raised purple urchins collected from the seafloor, allowing kelp forests to rebound. “We’re turning an ecological problem into an ecological opportunity and an economic opportunity,” said Brian Takeda, the Urchinomics CEO. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had an economic incentive to get these destructive urchins out of the water.” In Oregon, red urchin divers are a tiny artisanal collective, but they are also exploring ways to try to turn the glut of destructive purple urchins to their advantage. Oregon’s urchin fishery had a boom year last year, when red urchins were scarce in California but before their purple cousins had spread north. Now, they too are hurting. Rumrill, the shellfish expert from Oregon, supports efforts to harvest excess urchins but strikes a less optimistic note when it comes to saving the kelp. “That’s a promising technique. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we’re going to solve this large-scale ecological problem, this literal perfect storm of events, by eating our way out,” he said. “It’s just too big a problem.” ___ Chea reported from Mendocino County, California. ___ Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus .",
            "output": [
                "Swarm of sea urchins wreaks destruction on US West Coast."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-7ae9347694594deebbdcc8305ad7bd40",
            "input": "The proposal outlined on Friday is the fourth iteration of the Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), a comprehensive capital improvement program first approved by city voters in 1993. The council is expected to consider a resolution on Tuesday that calls for a special election on Dec. 10. Funding in the MAPS 4 proposal includes $40 million for mental health and addiction services and $38 million for a family justice center offering services to victims of abuse. Another $50 million would be earmarked for affordable housing for the homeless.",
            "output": [
                "Oklahoma City mulls vote on MAPS 4 sales tax extension."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-d4122d0da1e14309b6e50fcaa06b7d0e",
            "input": "The results ruled out the presence of large animals such as dinosaurs, they said. But there was a lot of eel DNA in the Loch, Professor Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand’s University of Otago, told reporters. “Eels are very plentiful in the loch system - every single sampling site that we went to pretty much had eels and the sheer volume of it was a bit of a surprise,” Gemmell said. “We can’t exclude the possibility that there’s a giant eel in Loch Ness but we don’t know whether these samples we’ve collected are from a giant beast or just an ordinary one - so there’s still this element of ‘we just don’t know.’”  Gemmell noted however that despite the idea of a giant eel having been around for decades, nobody had ever caught a giant one in the Loch. The international team of scientists took their samples of so-called environmental DNA (eDNA) in June last year. The use of eDNA sampling is already well established as a tool for monitoring marine life like whales and sharks. Whenever a creature moves through its environment, it leaves behind tiny fragments of DNA from skin, scales, feathers, fur, faeces and urine. This DNA can be captured, sequenced and then used to identify that creature by comparing the sequence obtained to large databases of known genetic sequences from hundreds of thousands of different organisms. The first written record of a monster relates to the Irish monk St Columba, who is said to have banished a “water beast” to the depths of the River Ness in the 6th century. The most famous picture of Nessie, known as the “surgeon’s photo”, was taken in 1934 and showed a head on a long neck emerging from the water. It was revealed 60 years later to have been a hoax that used a sea monster model attached to a toy submarine. Countless unsuccessful attempts to track down the monster have been made in the years since, notably in 2003 when the BBC funded an extensive scientific search that used 600 sonar beams and satellite tracking to sweep the full length of the loch. The most recent attempt was three years ago when a high-tech marine drone found a monster - but not the one it was looking for. The discovery turned out to be replica used in the 1970 film “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”, which sank nearly 50 years ago. Gemmell’s team included scientists from Britain, Denmark, the United States, Australia and France.",
            "output": [
                "Loch Ness monster might just be a giant eel, say scientists."
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "task1368-b7861d7852404820bb3dce8fdc6237f5",
            "input": "The person died recently, was under the age of 65 and lived in one of five southern counties: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane or Washington, Southwest Utah Public Health Department officials said. They did not release additional information out of privacy concerns. Another 172 people have been hospitalized in what officials are calling a moderate flu season so far. This season has been unusual because of he high number of cases of Influenza B, a strain that typically isn’t seen until the end of the season, said Salt Lake County Health Department Epidemiology Bureau Manager Ilene Risk. Risk said it’s not too late to get a flu vaccine.",
            "output": [
                "First flu death of season recorded in Utah."
            ]
        }
    ],
    "Instance License": [
        "MIT"
    ]
}